Familiar Faces (for kerflubble)

"No, it's a big world, it just looks small when you're a skyscraper with legs." She stepped back and put her hand on her hips. "The puberty fairy was really kind to you. Little jealous."

It was a rare treat to meet another boxer's daughter like this, especially one who'd gone into combat sports, too. Funny how things had ended - Carmen would never have imagined meeting her again, especially not here of all places. "You're in wrestling now? Did not see that coming, would've thought you'd put on the gloves like your Dad. Sandwoman. You would, uh..." She chuckled. "You'd be very successful, I think."

Rebecca scratched the back of her head with embarrassment. "If it makes you feel any better, I went through hell during school and have to duck through every door in japan." She half-joked, before she started really putting on muscle she was just freakishly tall, standing out at a time where all anyone wanted to do was blend in. It was nice talking to someone from way back then, but as the topic turned to her potential boxing career the amazon's mood soured. "Old Sandy wouldn't let me." She growled. "Trained both brothers, didn't wanna train me. He said he didn't want his little angel getting hurt."

"Sorry, just me and the old man haven't been on the best of terms for a while." She admitted, taking a calming sigh. "Plus I doubt there'd be any opposition in my weight class. I'm a heavyweight by guy standards. So how's everything with you, don't you have a little brother as well?"

Carmen shook her head. "Hey, you don't have to tell me about it. Had to get on my hands and knees before mine would even let me touch a heavy bag, and even then he didn't go nearly as hard as he did with my little brother. Same excuse. But it really boiled down to the family legacy and all that." She rolled her eyes and dropped a sneer. "Old boy's club."

She started to walk for the locker room, motioning for Rebecca to follow. "Know the funny thing? Funny slash fucked-up thing? I boxed for years, went undefeated for a long time. Been here for only a few months, had four, maybe five matches, and I've already made more money than my whole boxing career. Not counting the title shot." She threw out a frustrated jab, slicing the air with her good hand. "And I'll pass that pretty soon. Guys make ten times as much per bout, it's crazy. There's a handful of female heavyweights, but only two or three are really all that much to talk about, and I think only one is your size." She spun around walking backwards as she looked Rebecca over, comparing her. "So you'd dominate it, but...yeah, you're right, not much to dominate. Wrestling was a good career choice. Especially here."

Wow, this was getting a little depressing. When she said it out loud, it almost felt like she was running from her own dream. Still, it was nice to talk about this sort of thing with someone who had at least some idea of where she was coming from. "Rambling, sorry." She bounced on her toes a bit before turning back around. "Life's been good in Japan. Weird as hell, but good. You?"

Rebecca put a sympathetic hand on Carmen's shoulder. "Yeah, it is kinda fucked up how low women boxers get paid, but lower league wrestling's probably way worse on that front. Got paid in food stamps if I was lucky and the guy didn't bail. Still, Japan's been okay. Had some bad moments, had some good ones to, but I know what you mean about weird." The big amazon agreed with the Puerto Rican pugilist "You up for anything later? Maybe get a meal out or have the doctors got you on some sort of diet while healing up?"

"Food stamps? Jesus, yeah, you got me there." She shook her head. "Come a long way, still far to go."

Carmen smiled at the hand on her shoulder. It was a nice little gesture, and having a sympathetic ear was appreciated. From the sound of things, Rebecca'd been leading an interesting life since they parted ways, and Carmen was itching to learn more.

She lit up at the mention of food. Always a favorite topic. "I would love to eat out, but I'd really love to cook for you, if you don't mind stopping by my apartment. Cooking's my second love. Got a lot of ingredients stocked up, so if you've got a taste for something, maybe something you don't find too much in Japan...name it, I'll make it."

"I just hope you got enough stuff. Big girl means big appetite you know." Rebecca chuckled, "I can do that, just got to let my girlfriend know where I am and stuff, in case she gets worried and I miss a candlelit dinner or something." Not that she thought Adrian was the type to prepare a candlelit dinner. The former cosplayer's cooking skills were limited to microwave, and anything with explicit timing instructions. Beyond that... they were ordering or eating out. Healthy stuff, but still nothing they cooked themselves. She should probably learn to, someday.

"Eh, my brother's not your size, but he can stuff it down fast when he wants to. I'm used to making big portions." She brought out a business card for her boxing lessons and pressed it to the wall, writing on the back. She took a second to get the proper grip with her good hand. "I'm a righty, forgive the shitty handwriting."

She had a little sigh when Rebecca mentioned her girlfriend. She was a fine woman, and Carmen had vaguely wondered if she was available. But it was no big deal, and it was interesting that they had the same orientation. One more thing to talk about. "Girlfriend, huh?" She glanced back with a smirk, before going back to the task of writing legibly with her left-hand. "Who's the lucky lady?"

Rebecca raised an eyebrow at the business card, "You're doing lessons?" She wondered out loud, before snapping back. "Oh yeah! Adrian Kytes, friends from Middle School when I moved to Philly. We were always close, but you never really know how close close is. If that means anything, sorry. Rambling."

"In my downtime, yeah." She nodded and went in for a squint, finishing off the last few letters. "Pretty much live in the gym, kind of like teaching, little extra money. Japan's got a lot of untapped talent, too." She raised an eyebrow of her own and threw back a playful grin. "Come by sometime, I'll give it to you free. Remember your Dad being a bit slow with the hooks, might be genetic, I can fix it."

She finished off the card and handed it off, as she ran that name through her head. She had only really started paying attention to Friction recently, but Kytes did ring a bell. "Adrian, Adrian, Adrian Kytes...yeah." She snapped. "She's the girl going up against the bigmouth, what's-her-name...Parker? Yeah. Muy bonita, nice catch. Happy for you, glad you found her. Single in Japan isn't fun, I know."

"Don't think slow hooks stopped him from making a mess of your dad's face." Rebecca retorted, "Besides, I got enough power that I just have to walk into someone to flatten them. Thanks but no thanks but... ever hear of Chess-Boxing?" She asked, slowly remembering why Adrian had looked for boxing lessons from her, and why she needed them so badly.