Where The Wisterias Bloom

Hana took the card from Carmen and glanced over it, reading over the details on the card before slipping it into her pocket.

"That sounds good to me. I like some privacy when I'm working out anyway. It helps me stay focused." She leaned down to the bench again, and grabbed her jacket, slipping her arms into the sleeves and pulling it over her body as she spoke. "I like getting an early start, so I'll probably be there first thing in the morning. That's fine, right?" She pulled the front of the jacket shut, then zipped it about halfway up, before something suddenly hit her, the woman looking quizzically towards Carmen.

"Wait a minute. You have your own gym?"

"Yes and no."Carmen had a sheepish laugh, trying not to sound too pleased with herself. Even though she almost felt she'd earned the right to be pleased with herself after everything she'd went through with that gym. "It's got my name on it, but it's not exactly 'my own' gym. That'd imply I paid for it by myself, and I really didn't. Army chipped in, my sponsers helped out, took out a loan, and I still scrape by. It's not much, but like I said, female boxing's got to get better. That's my contribution, training girls. If I can get it to work in Japan, I can make it work anywhere."

She shrugged it off and took a few steps down the hallway. "It's not like I'm Cecilia Northman with a ring in her basement or so crazy crap like that. It's not much. But it's my dream, you know?" Carmen sighed and let her it go with a slight smile. "I'm rambling, sorry."

Hana tugged on her jacket, then went to grab her duffel bag, slinging it over one shoulder as she listened to Carmen ramble on.

"You're not rambling," she spoke up, moving to follow Carmen out into the hallway. "I asked you about it, so you're allowed to explain things." She smiled, shutting the locker room door behind herself, then turned to follow Carmen further. "That's still impressive. It sounds like you have a good goal to work towards."

She gave Carmen a lopsided grin and tried not to laugh. "That's more then I've got, anyway. My only goal for right now is to kick anyone's ass that gets into the ring with me. Not as impressive as wanting to train the future of Japan's female boxers, right?"

Carmen returned the smile and moved on with Hana, appreciating the gesture. Politeness and maturity. Two traits she'd love to see in more wrestlers.  "Oh, I am rambling. I'm a rambler. But it's sweet of you to stay different. Thanks."

She held the door open for  Hana, making sure to step back enough for her to clear it, easy. "There are worse things that I could be doing with my time, I guess. And it's sort of family tradition, anyway. We fight, we train, we fight, we train. My dad, his dad, his dad's dad. It's what we do."

It was Carmen's turn to give Hana a quizzical look, though, as what she said pushed out a question that had been rattling around her brain cells for the past few minutes. "Hey, stop me if it's a little too personal to ask, but...why'd you join Tension? I mean, instead of Friction."

Ah, there it was. Hana had a feeling that question would come up eventually, and she was already ready to answer it.

"Easy enough question. I'm used to fighting men more then I am women." She shrugged again towards Carmen, not for the first time and probably not for the last, and reached up to adjust the bag hanging over her shoulder. "There weren't many women back home in the company, and most of them couldn't give me a real challenge anyway."

She glanced away from the Latina for a moment, looking thoughtful as she continued. "I've looked at the Friction roster. There's some real talent there, but...I don't think there's that many that could give me a real challenge. Don't get me wrong, there's a couple women over there I wouldn't mind throwing down with. I'd love to face off with Akashi one day, and it would be fun to face off against Rebecca sometime. It's not often I get to fight women who are actually bigger then me, after all."

She looked back to Carmen and smiled. "The real challenge is over here in Tension, against guys like your brother. Like the champion John. Like..." She hesitated for a moment, feeling a lump in her throat, as her voice suddenly grew more serious then before.

"Like King..."

Carmen couldn't help but burst out with a laugh when Rebecca's name came up. Not that it would be a bad match, but given everything she knew about Tomko and all the stuff she'd gone through, Carmen would pay good money to see her old 'friend' get taken down a peg or two. From the sound of things, she could use it.

She knew where Hana was coming from, though. Outside of Lorenza Saldano, there wasn't much in Friction for her, really. Not a career. Nothing long term. She might dip in that pool every now and then, but she had no intent on diving headfirst.

But Tension wasn't without it's problems, either. "Yeah. King." Somehow, it always came back to that monster. He was like the big stain that Tension could never wash out no matter how clean it got, and no one had any idea how to get him out."You'll kick his ass if you ever get in the ring with him. He's big, but he's stupid and he's a coward. You're smart, you're skilled, and you're twice as big as anyone he's ever picked on. He won't know what to do with you."

Carmen stepped out in the hallway and gave Hana a little punch in the arm. She probably couldn't even feel it. "And you can add me on that list. Tension girls can fight, too. No rules against it."

As the conversation shifted to King, Hana felt her muscles tensing up. Her hands began to tighten into fists at the thoughts of him. She had seen plenty of King's matches, and she didn't like him, not one bit. As far as she could see, there was nothing good about him, and someone needed to give him a solid, heavy beatdown. He deserved it, and she was just dying for the chance to have a match with him, and put the big cat into his place.

"I am going to get into the ring with him," Hana answered Carmen, her gaze like steel, her voice tense. "He's at the top of the mountain around here, right? Even if he's not the champion, everyone knows that he's the one. He's the goal at the end of the track." She looked towards Carmen and gave her a cold stare. "You're right. He won't know what to do with me. Few people do, and he's too stupid to realize that I'm not like the smaller girls he likes to push around."

When Carmen punched her in the arm though, Hana relaxed, seeming to go back to normal, to how she was before. She sighed, then flashed a smirk to the boxer, lifting her arm to punch her playfully in return in her shoulder. "I'm down for it. Just say when." She paused for a moment, then grinned, throwing a wink towards Carmen. "Just don't get upset when I beat you like I did your brother, little girl."

Carmen saw the fire in Hana's eyes, and she liked every bit of it. She'd been hanging around the wrestling community long enough to know that bravado and tough talk were par for the course, and even when she was a boxer, trash talk was fairly routine. But the way Hana spoke, she could tell it wasn't just your everyday fluff. This woman would beat the crap out of King if she ever got into the ring with him.

"He was a champ. He had the 24/7 title for about five seconds, but he lost because, again, he's stupid, and he was so wrapped up in hurting people and doing his torture thing that he ddin't even think to watch his back." She shook her head. "You do your thing. Hit him with the same move you finished Army with, show the whole world how much trash he really is. That's how you handle bullies."

Carmen choked back a laugh and rubbed her arm where Hana had struck it. It didn't hurt, of course, but it did make her wonder a few things. "Not bad. You ever get tired of wrestling, give me a call, I'll set you up with some boxing gloves. You would dominate the female heavyweight division in Japan, trust me. As long as I stayed out of it, anyway." Carmen had a cocky smile as she took a step back and gave Hana a final look over. "As for when, well...bring your gear with you when you come. Maybe after we lift some weights, I can show you how not like my brother I really am."

Hana smiled back at Carmen and let her own eyes trace down the woman's body, then back upwards to meet her gaze again. "I'll hold you to that. Might be nice to take over the boxing world once I'm done getting to the top in Tension." She was joking, of course, but part of her couldn't help but think about what it'd be like to step into a boxing ring now.

"I'm holding you to that, too," she continued, raising her arms up, stretching them out in front of herself. She could feel the competitive spark inside of her starting to build up, and she had to admit she was excited at the idea of going toe-to-tie with Carmen. There was something about the woman she liked, and was already eager to step into a ring with her, even if it was just for a sparring bout. "I'll bring my gear along and we'll go at it. It'll be nice to have a good sparring partner too." She smiled wider, and lowered her arms back down to her sides. "I just hope you're ready for me."

They were playing around, of course, but Carmen wouldn't have minded training Hana at all. She was the sort of student most trainers dreamed of working with - already athletic, strong, determined, with a good set of skills that would transition nicely into a boxing ring. Carmen meant what she said about the  heavyweight division, too. Most Japanese boxers didn't even come close to Hana's size, male or female. They'd probably have to let her take on men there, too, just to get her a decent set of opponents.

But she pushed that thought aside for now, because the prospect of wrestling Hana was definitely tipping her interest. Carmen had been focusing on her wrestling techniques, and after a year of training, she finally felt like a real wrestler, and not just a boxer with a few throws tossed in for flavor. Sparringa aginst someone like Hana would be the perfect way to put that to the test. "I'm ready for anything." She enjoyed the sight of Hana one last time, before she started to walk off. Maybe subconsciously putting a little more bounce into her step than usual. "See you then, big girl."

A few days passed, came and went, nothing too eventful - Carmen's time was spent in a tepid whirlwind of business meetings, paperwork, and working out whenever she could take a break from the former two things. So, by the time Saturday morning rolled around, she was more than ready for something a little more fun. She needed it. Desperately.

Carmen was an early riser herself, so she was at the gym before the sun rose, cleaning it up a little and getting the wrestling ring set up and cleaning off the workout equipment on the far side. Nice, presentable, clean, and she was dressed up in much of the same way. She wore her black workout pants and shoes, along with the same red and black stripe workout bra that she brought to her matches - it would do fine, here, and it would be one less thing to change into when they moved to the ring.

When she was done cleaning, she put the mop away and surveyed the room  - fairly spacious, with enough room to hold two wrestlings rings. Bag and boxing equipment on one side, plenty of freeweights set up on the other. Not much, nothing compared to some of the fancier setups she'd seen when she worked the Olympics. But it was nice. A little rusty, here and there, but that was the charm. A slice of Puerto Rico in the middle of Japan.