Wrestling with equality (for Caroline)

After Jesse reentered she heard Caroline's rant.  She shook her a head a little bit and told her "Yeah, well sometimes shit like that happens."  She looked like she was going to go after her again when the bell sounded she stopped dead in her tracks.  Wes tells them, and everyone else that is there that it is late.  He was right as this training session ran long, past its usual end time.  He tells them they go at it again if they want another time.  "...Whatever."  Jesse commented as she left the ring, grabbing the goggles after she exited the ring and went to change.  One of the other students was about to say something about it but Wes mentioned that he thinks she should be left alone.

While there were others changing where Jesse was she didn't want to talk to anyone as she sat alone, not in a corner but it kind of felt like it.  While that was going on Wes was attending to Caroline and the opening on her forehead that had blood coming out of it and going down her face.  "I think it should close up on its own eventually, it doesn't appear to be too deep of a cut, just keep applying pressure to it. He handed her a towel of some kind to do just that.  He stayed close by as he checked other things near by, just to make sure she was fine.

Everyone else finished and headed off. A good number of them told Caroline she did well today, while the rest just left without saying much or anything at all. Those people weren't wanting to blow her off, it just was a long day that they weren't thinking about much else. The guy that choked her earlier during her and Jesse time in the ring apologized to her and said said Caroline's not disliked, it was just a matter of getting caught in the moment and it felt like a good idea at the time to throw a curve ball like that, but now knows it shouldn't have happened. Caroline is also told that person thinks she was kind of cute. She's told again that she did good out there before the person leaves.


After everyone else had left the change area Jesse remained alone in the room.  Still in her workout clothing she stood up and walked towards the sink.  She took a look in the mirror and after looking at her reflection for a bit reality hit her.  She realized what she did and she felt terrible.  Part of her wanted wanted to go check on Caroline and see how she was doing, and apologize for how far things went, but another part of her was afraid to.  What if Caroline was waiting for her with a baseball bat or something?  She still had the goggles with her and she sunk down to the floor and sighed, unsure of what to do.

Steven was supposed to pick up Jesse quite a while ago, true enough that he had been on time but it would appear that Jesse had gotten herself into some trouble with another girl. This was very familiar to Steven, he himself used to train with Kei initially and remembers a day when he bit off more than he could chew by challenging Kei to a fight- a fight he wishes he had never gotten himself into. He saw how Jesse went a bit over the top with the other girl in the ring and Steven thought that his girlfriend was a bit harsh there- good thing she's not like that when she's around Steven!

Steven wanted to stop her but he couldnt really and it was only when everyone left on their own things, did Steven went after Jesse. He stood outside her changing room, taking a deep breath before knocking on the door *knock*knock* "Hey, can I come in?" he said as he turned the doorknob to enter the room. He gave Jesse a warm smile as soon as he entered the room, "Heeey, whats up? we ready....to....um....go?" his toned went from cheerful to a little gloomy as he noticed her lost in thought, watching herself in the mirror before dropping down on the floor, like she did something horribly wrong- which she probably did.

"Umm, whats wrong babe?" he said, not wanting to risk an emotional break down from her. He went over towards to place his hand on her shoulder gently."Come on Jess, get up" he said concerned.

While Wes didn't notice Steven show up he did see him going to the locker room area. He didn't object to it since he knew him and was most likely there to pick up Jesse, that and he was still attending to Caroline. In the room, Jesse tells Steven that he that she feels like she became a monster. While he doesn't go into detail of it he does tell her that he did see some of the match up the two girls had. Jesse hoped he wouldn't ask how it started, at least not now. It would take her a bit to feel comfortable to talk about it in detail, but she says she fells that she may have over done it.

After sitting there for a tiny bit longer she does stand back up and goes over to where her stuff is. She begins to undress and packs her workout clothes, as well as the goggles, forgetting for a moment that she still had them as ended up with some of her clothes in a tiny pile when she undressed. Before she got in the shower she would hug Steven, and hugged him pretty tight before loosening her grip. She then asks him "Could you please check on her? I'll try to be quick." She looked like just being around Steven helped her settle down and that she could shower and at the very least not stand there in a depressive state for an extended period of time.

She was in the shower for a bit longer that what she would have been after a regular in-ring workout, but nothing that would make someone be alarmed and wonder what she's doing. After coming out of the shower stall she looked again at the mirror. She did feel a little better, but she still hoped she didn't terrorize Caroline to the point where she may feel too traumatized to come back. When she was ready she left the locker room and went to catch up with Steven. She was ready to leave but she wanted to first see how Caroline was talk with her, if Caroline was willing to though.

Caroline's heart skipped a beat when it briefly looked like Jesse would continue her brutal assault, and the sound of Wes calling the end of the spar was downright angelic to her. Mentally and physically exhausted, the young trainee's body started locking up on her as the adrenaline that had been keeping her active dissipated. A lot had gone down in her first spar, and the rough experience was going to leave her shaken up in the near future, but right now she could only think about her desire to rest and tend to the gash on her forehead. She didn't even have the guts to ask for her goggles back, allowing Jesse to take them without a fight. The fact that Jesse wasn't giving them back worried Caroline, however. To her, it implied that her tussle with Jesse wasn't quite over. At some point, she would be expected to face her in the ring for another round, a prospect that had her deeply scared after the result of this one.

Sitting with her back to the ring ropes, Caroline tried to wriggle into a comfortable position while the pain in her body ran its course. She smiled at the oddly high number of students who congratulated her on today's performance. It went a long way toward making her feel like the effort was worthwhile and showing her that the students didn't have some axe to grind against her, like she'd previously thought. Odd that the guy who choked her had only done it out of a light-hearted desire to make the fight more interesting, and Caroline's surprise approached embarrassment when he also expressed some affection for her looks. That guy was a weird one, but undeniably charming. Too bad Caroline was a lesbian, otherwise they may have had something together...maybe.

When Wes came over to examine her cut, Caroline gave soft, breathless thanks to him and asked to be shown to a first aid kit, so she could bandage herself up properly. Before she could leave, however, she looked up and realized suddenly that a new person was waiting their turn to speak to Caroline. It was Jesse's boyfriend, come to check on the girl she had been sparring with, but without her goggles or glasses, Caroline couldn't even tell what gender he was, let alone make out any details about him. She also wasn't aware that Jesse herself would soon be coming to check on her too.

“Uh, hi...have you and I met, before?” Caroline asked shyly, incapable of discerning who the man was.

Oh boy, it seems that Steven was about to get mixed up in the middle of some awkward moments of wrestling intensity between Kei's students. He should know better though, he was too once a student of Kei and things were always not so smooth around Kei's gym. Steven listened with some awkward facial expressions when Jesse told him about the situation on what happened and he hugged her back reassuringly. However the 'Teenwrestler' was not so sure what would HIS role be in all this. He was almost tempted to ask his girlfriend what was he supposed to do, what could he possibly say to Caroline?

Nevertheless Jesse went into the shower, leaving him no choice but to go outside and check up on the girl she just beat up and probably traumatized. Steven let out a tiring *sigh* before heading back out towards the main gym hall. He entered in the ring and smiled at the girl leaning in the ropes, she looked absolutely exhausted. Steven cleared his throat and looked around a bit before finally trying to break the ice. "Um, hi. I'm Steven...a-are you alright? Jesse....umm well she, she probably didnt mean to well...you know?" he babbled unsure what exactly he wanted to say in this situation.

When Jesse was finished getting changed after getting out of the shower and all packed up she took another minute to calm herself before heading out and joining Steven and Caroline. She seemed to have forgotten about the goggles, not totally aware that she packed them but she appears to be in a better mental state from when Steven saw her moments ago. She would go up to Caroline and ask her if she was alright. Before she would go any further she would then ask what her and Steven were talking about? She knew she asked Steven to check on her but didn't know if he would have said anything or not.

Regardless of how Caroline would answer that question Jesse would then sat down beside her and apologized for what happened in the ring. She didn't know what came over hear and didn't expect things to be taken that far. She does admit though from what she can remember Caroline hung in there and should be proud.

Wes would hear this and nod in agreement, but would remain quiet so the girls could talk it out.

Caroline closed her eyes and inhaled a deep breath, then exhaled slowly. She still couldn't find the strength to move, and didn't do much to react to Steven's presence. “I'll be okay,” she tried to reassure him, although she wasn't so sure herself, “I just need some time to myself, to think things over.”

A few yards away, Jesse climbed into the ring to rejoin the group. As soon as Caroline became aware of her presence, the girl looked up at Wes. She really needed to start bandaging up her head, but she couldn't leave as Jesse's presence, her tiredness, and her blindness would all make it impossible for her to simply walk away. “Do you think you could get me the first aid kit?” she asked him, before turning to Jesse to hear the woman out.

“Thanks for saying all that,” Caroline said, managing a smile as she looked up at Jesse. “To be honest, I thought you were mad at me or something. Like, you wanted to scare me away from this place. I'm glad I was wrong, but I still think I'm gonna stay out of the ring for a few days...if that's okay with you. We'll talk more after we're a bit rested up. Oh, and thanks to you too, Steven,” Caroline turned toward the man, her poor eyes guided only by the dull, yellow patch of hair on his head. “If you're ever around again, maybe we can practice in the ring together.”

Wes told Caroline that he had it with him and that he was already two steps ahead of her as he was attending to her injuries, mainly where she was bleeding from the ladder. "Tell me if this is too tight." he asks her as he was bandaging her up already after he got some of the blood cleaned off. He would hear her Steven talk but wouldn't get involved in their conversation.

After he finished he asked Caroline if she needed anything else. Which around that time Jesse returned.


"If you think you should" Jesse tells her. "I was thinking of taking a day or two myself, cause I don't know what or why that happened and I think the down time might help." Wes would nod in agreement with what Jesse was thinking of doing. "There's nothing wrong with that if you feel that you need the rest. We'll still be here when you get back. Hopefully Lina will understand with whatever your reasons are Caroline."


Wes was trying to be as supportive as he could given what was currently going on and the nature of it.

Before Jesse took off with Steven she would hold her hand out to Caroline. She wouldn't say anything but would still shake her hand if Caroline was willing. Regardless if she did or not Jesse would head off with Steven, leaning a bit against his shoulder.

The bandages weren't too tight...not for Caroline. The girl always wore her goggles very tightly on her head when she was in the ring, to keep them securely on her face. It was why she had known that Jesse's act of getting her goggles off had been intentional. Nothing could dislodge them by accident.

“Thanks for understanding, everyone,” Caroline said, although she didn't intend to stop her exercises altogether since missing a day of those could throw her off her training schedule. The young girl was rattled, but she didn't intend to simply fold so easily. Still, she had some soul-searching to do after today.

With the gym closing down for the day, Caroline lifted herself uneasily onto her feet and shook Jesse's hand, hoping that Jesse didn't mind how sweat-drenched Caroline's palms were. Having Jesse so much as touch her sent a shiver down Caroline's spine after their exchange in the ring. She wasn't proud to be shaken so easily, and hoped that Jesse didn't notice her shudder. Waving her good-byes to everyone, Caroline headed into the depths of Kei's gym, where she would unroll a sleeping bag she'd packed for the journey. She wasn't willing to burden Wes by staying in his home overnight, and since she was here purely for her training, she had elected to simply make a sort of camp for herself inside. A little known detail of her life that she never shared was the fact that she'd literally lived inside a church for the previous two years of her life, so she was more than used to the vagrant type of lifestyle by now.

~~~~~

Days passed by as Caroline kept up her regimen as best she could. Jesse still had her goggles, which reinforced her apprehension to make her way back into the ring for proper wrestling practice, but a pair of prescription glasses served her needs for everything else. As the weekend rolled by, Wes bid Caroline and Jesse goodbye as he departed to join his wife on vacation, leaving Jesse as the gym's sole attendant.

In her off hours, Caroline would pass the time by watching AFW reruns on an old television, depending somewhat on her ears to pick up on what was happening since television could irritate her damaged eyes and make her sick. The young girl was still haunted and perplexed by her initial encounter with Jesse in the ring. Why would a woman who was so nice outside the ring act so barbaric inside it? Caroline knew now that Jesse didn't have any sort of grudge against her, and apparently was as rough as she was in the ring by default. So, what had happened inside Jesse's head to push her to such extremes? Caroline hoped that the AFW reruns might give her some insight into the mind of a veteran wrestler. After all, the women in these broadcasts were all veterans of the AFW, many with even more experience than Jesse.

Finally, on a Wednesday night around the gym's closing time, Caroline would muster the courage to confront Jesse for the first time since their spar together. When the other students had all departed, Caroline would seize a chance to talk with Jesse alone by walking up to her. “Hey, can I talk to you for a bit?” she asked, gazing somberly at the woman.

Just like Caroline, Jesse too took some time away from the ring. During one of those days she thought she saw Caroline out and about but wasn't sure if it was her or not so she said nothing just to avoid embarrassment if she was wrong.

The day before Caroline took her break Lina sent her an e-mail saying she heard she had a rough day of practice, but didn't get told specifics. She did tell her that days like that happen to everyone and not to get discouraged.

Jesse came back on the Wednesday as well, but she kept her workout light, not noticing Caroline was there. She did realize when she arrived that she still had Caroline's goggles and did want to talk with her about that. As the students were heading out, except for Jesse as she was just working out alone, one of the female students came up to her (who may or may not have done some drills with Caroline that day) and mentioned that she has some old VHS tapes of some of Kei's old matches against a guy named Yamato Takeuchi. While she did hear Caroline was trying to get into the AFW fed in Japan that those two were long time rivals before having a few battles there and wanted to share some footage of them she came across that she might like to study. She warns Caroline though that one of the tapes is mixed in the sense of good technical style matches, but some where they almost killed each other. If Caroline is interested she would be willing to bring them next time she comes by, since she too has to take a day or two off for something. She does tell that on some of the matches the video quality is far from perfect though.


When Caroline came up to Jesse that night Jesse was figuring out what to do next with so little time left. She turns and sees Caroline when she is spoken to. "Oh hey Caroline. Sure." She notices the look at that Caroline has and asks her if she's alright.