Getting Strong Now

Adrian's apartment was, to be polite, a dump. It had always been a dump. Anything Adrian lived in for more than 3 weeks slid down the path to becoming a dump, and a high class apartment in downtown Tokyo that was technically a gift was no different in it's inevitable dump status. Usually this was a combination of various magazines, manikins for costume design and scraps of fabric scattered across, with a little section cleared out for eating, watching stuff and bonus funtimes. But now the TV was covered up, the consoles were packed away and the scraps of fabric had become an impromptu laundry pile in order to make room for the new additions: A heavy bag and a speed bag.

It may only be a one-of thing, but Adrian was going all out for the upcoming chessboxing match against Taylor. She didn't just want to outsmart her at Chess, she wanted to get unequivical proof that whatever Taylor was good at, she could always go one better. It had been a tough grind, watching various instruction videos and old boxing matches in lieu of having an actual trainer, but she hoped she was making progress as she hammered the speedball into just the sound it made when it hit the board. A mental playlist of various montage songs playing in her head only for her concentration to be broken by the sound of her phone alert. Just a text, so she didn't have to rush for it. Still, reading the name her smile grew. It looks like Rebecca had something special for her.

"Hey Addy, found you a boxing instructor. U'll kick Parkers ass anyway, but still, helps. Be there in 30 min" Read the text, the fromer cosplayer wiping off the sweat from her brow as she tried to text back quickly. "Cool, just let me shower off first."

"Can't u wait till I'm there 4 that? " title="Wink" /> "

To be honest, Carmen was a little nervous about this whole training thing. It wasn't just jitters from working with Adrian or anything like that, either. She got this feeling every time she started training someone.

It was a little like taking a test, she figured. She had been studying Adrian and Taylor's matches for the past week and a half, mostly their recent fights, and she knew there was a lot of work to be done and not much time to do it. Adrian was a good athlete, there was no question there, but Taylor was the more physically accomplished between the two of them, and she was the only one between the two of them that Carmen could find any boxing footage at all from, drawing on a little match Taylor had with Akashi. Closing that gap wasn't something that would go away in a heartbeat, but she saw some potential in Adrian, too - the girl had spent most of her career as a bit of a cheat, but it seemed like she was at least trying to get more serious, now. Carmen respected that. She hated cheaters with a burning passion, but there was something noble about wanting to turn over a new leaf.

Carmen would do her best to help, even if she still wasn't at her full. She'd managed to get the cast and the eyepatch off, so she had all her tools to work with - they were just a little blunted. Her eye was still a little sore and her wrist was still a little tender. She wasn't ready for a match just yet, but she could handle training.

After picking Rebecca up, she showed up at Adrian's apartment with her gear slung over her shoulder, dressed up in her black and white trackpants and a matching black wifebeater. It was a nice apartment. At least, Carmen assumed there was a nice apartment somewhere underneath all the crap that was laid around. Carmen wasn't a neat freak, but she kept her floor clean. Not counting Army's room.

She took a look around before turning back to Rebecca, with the word 'Really?' practically written all over her face.

It was Rebecca's apartment too, but that didn't mean it was going to get any cleaner. "There's..." the amazon began to try and explain. "A lot of stuff goes on here, by the time its all finished and we've done the day's training, not much gets done." She admits "Most of it is Adrian's." Where was Adrian by the way? She had called ahead, but the former cosplayer seemed to have dissapeared. She couldn't hear the shower running, so where was she?

Carmen just chuckled, rolling her eyes. "RIght, I'm sure."

She laid the bag down and started to walk around, taking note of the costumes and manikins as she went. It reminded her of a comic convention her brother dragged her to last year. She'd caught a few of Adrian's earlier matches, when she was still doing the cosplay thing in the ring - it was a cute little gimmick. Unique.

Weaving around and making sure not to crash over anything, she made her way to the punching bag and started stretching her arms, looking around as he did. "Did she say she was stepping out? Not much space left to hide in here..."

Rebecca nervously scratched her head "She didn't... where the hell did she vanish to?" It wasn't as though the place looked like it hadn't been disturbed recently. There was a pair of still sweaty boxing gloves discarded right by the various bags. "When did those even get here?" the amazon asked to no-one, negotiating the pathways of carpet to try and find the place where Adrian was. The bedroom? She said she was upping her training regimine, maybe she was just taking a lie down. Even so, she should have at least responded when Rebecca and Carmen got to the door, unless she fell asleep Rebecca thought, trying to rationalize the mysterious disapearence.

"Addy?" She asked softly, gently opening the door so if she was asleep, didn't get shocked awake. But... nothing, the bed was as empty as the rest of the place, walking out confused, the giantess shrugged her shoulders at the Puerto Rican boxer. She didn't have a clue what was going on. "Can't find her." She admitted, trying to think of where the former cosplayer could have gone, she stepped outside the apartment, about to turn to the elevator before she found her. Jumping at the Amazon at high speed.

"BEEEECKS!" Adrian yelled excitably as she leaped at Rebecca. The amazon not even budging from the collision as Adrian wrapped herself around her. "Sorry I wasn't in but I thought I could prepare the gym a bit before you got back and make sure the ring was ready and we had a spare set of gloves but when I went to head back up and get back in the thing was already probably moving you up so I had to wait and the gyms in the basement and were on the way-too-high floor so it took really long but how was Kyoto?" the former cosplayer rattled off, hugging the giantess tightly before even noticing Carmen. "Oh... uh... hi."

While Rebecca looked around, Carmen inspected the bags, feeling them over from top to bottom. New bags, clearly, but Carmen could feel some deformation in heavy as she ran her hands over it. It had taken quite a few impacts for something so fresh, and not meek ones, either. It wasn't like she could read it like a palm, but Adrian had put some serious effort into it, and that brought a slight smile to Carmen's face. Adrian was determined, which meant she'd have some good clay to mold.

She threw a few practice punches into it the speed bag, then followed Rebecca outside, dragging her bag behind her - it felt a little rude being in someone's apartment when that someone wasn't in the apartment herself. Fortunately, they didn't have to go to far before Adrian popped out of the elevator with all the subtly of a Jack-in-the-Box, glomping the gentle giant.

Carmen just watched the display for a moment, more than a tad envious, and gave Adrian a wave when she was finally noticed. "Hey." She extended a taped hand Adrian's way. "Carmen Rodriguez, nice meeting you. 'Becca's been saying good things."

Adrian slid down off Rebecca, standing back on the ground before walking over to shake Carmen's hand. "Nice to meet you?" She said nervously, not really sure what to make of Carmen quite yet. Yes she was here to help get her trained and stuff, but she really knew nothing about her. Well, Rebecca seemed to trust her so that would have to do. Bad things happened to people who broke Rebecca's trust bond. Defenstration bad. "Adrian Kytes, I guess Becks told you most of the stuff about me already so uh..."

"A bit." She gave the girl a strong shake, feeling the grip and looking her over and getting a good feel for her up close. Good body. "Looked over a lot of your matches, too, so I could get a good feel for what we need to work with - I know we don't have long to really work, but I think we can make some progress. You got a good shot."

She gave her bag a good pat and motioned to the elevator, eager to get downstairs and start hitting. "I'm ready if you're ready."

"Huh? we're starting now?" Adrian asked, she'd only really just met Carmen and now she was expected to start hitting her? "I mean that's great! I need all the training I can get," the former cosplayer recovered, diving in the apartment to find her gloves. "Okay my headgear's downstairs, I think there's a spare that might possibly fit you, so uh... let's go!" She said, clutching the green gloves in her hands as she sprinted for the elavator.

Rebecca had never seen Adrian so motivated to train before, even with what was to the smaller girl a complete stranger, she was more than willing to learn. Usually if she got this determined to prepare for a match, it usually manifested in more self-destructive ways but for now: Adrian seemed not just brighter, but a much better fighter for it. As the three rode down to the private gym in the basement she kind of wanted to see what Adrian could do. Even if she was still hurting Carmen would probably wipe the floor with Adrian in a straight up boxing match if she didn't hold back, but it might be interesting to see what Adrian had picked up on her own. "So this whole building is like owned by the Northman family to use if they ever come to Tokyo for business deals so they don't have to use a hotel or something but Cecilia lives here so the Penthouse is all hers and she got a gym in the basement too which only a few people have access too. Me, Cec and Becks normally use it instead of the AFW gym when we don't feel like dealing with assholes or getting into fights. Which is a lot of the time. Plus the weights don't go high enough for Becks there and they won't add more so she has to do the serious weightlifting here, and only goes there if she wants to rub in the fact that she can bench 450 pounds or something huge."

"I got everything I need in here." She threw the bag over her shoulder and followed after Adrian. "But thanks." She always hated wearing other people's equipment, anyway. Like wearing their underwear. Even if it's clean and fits, it's just...weird.

Carmen let some of Adrian's eagerness rub off on her and brandished a light smile of her own. She would have worked with her regardless, but training with someone who was really into it? That was a treat. Carmen hadn't planned to go too advanced, but if Adrian had really been working as hard as it seemed, maybe they could skip the basics and get her going on some of the more intricate stuff.

She listened and nodded along as Adrian explained explained pretty much everything there was to explain. The girl wasn't shy, no question there. "Yeah, was about t ask why there was a ring in the basement, thanks for explaining that." Made sense, if this was really the Northman's building. Carmen knew about them, but not through the same avenue the other two did - she knew about through reading about Akane Yamamoto, a cousin to the family and a fine boxer, if the article she read about her was right.

She whistled at that last statement, turning back to Rebecca and giving her another look over. "450 pounds? Nice. Very nice." Carmen knew Rebecca was strong - anyone with working vision could tell that - but that sort of power went beyond natural strength. Carmen wagered Rebecca would still be vastly stronger than her even if they were the same size, and she had to admire the countless hours that went into such a physique. Impressive to look at and think about.

She turned back, hiding a little blush as she glanced Adrian's way. "So, I saw your heavy bag's been taking a pounding, lately. What all have you been working on? Drills?"