Where The Wisterias Bloom

"I can't move tanks," Hana was quick to correct, shaking her head back and forth. "I've moved a couple taxis, and I managed to stop a bus in it's tracks once, but I've never been able to budge a tank." Her teasing stopped though, as she listened to Carmen's explanation of why she joined the AFW. She kept the ball going as she listened, not speaking up again until Carmen had finished.

"Lorenza...I've seen some of her stuff. She's pretty good. Change up!" She suddenly shifted directions again, moving the ball back into the opposite rotation. "I missed your match against her though. I think I'll have to look it up." She smiled. "Was it as brutal as I'm imagining it was?"

Carmen switched up and had a little laugh at the image of Hana pushing some taxis - farfetched, yes, but she would've gotten a lot closer than just about any other woman she'd met in the AFW this side of Rebecca Tomko.

"Probably more brutal. Ten rounds, grueling, and we both ended up in the hospital afterwards. Which sucked, but it gave us the chance to talk and really hash out how we felt about each other." She gave Hana a quick nudge. "Slow it down a bit." Carmen started to bring down the pace, working towards a cool down. The more they talked about fighting, the more she was anxious to actually do it, even if it was just a spar.

"We decided to have a tie-breaker. Street fight, NHB. Had it right here, in this gym, before I bought it and renovated the place." She sighed, looking all over and replaying the match in her head. "Now, that was brutal. We fought in the ring, we fought outside, we fought in the locker rooms, we fought up the stairs, we threw equipment at each other, we fell down the stairs, we broke bones, we lost teeth...it was crazy."

She broke away from her reverie to throw a quick, cautious look over her shoulder. "Lorenza's a special case, I'm not usually that rough with my friends. Just so you know."

"Whoops, sorry about that," Hana answered sheepishly again, slowing down her movements as Carmen began to bring down the pace. She kept listening to Carmen, letting out a whistle towards her description of what had happened.

"It sounds brutal, but street fights usually are, I guess." She passed the ball a few more times, then gave Carmen a quick nudge in return. "But I'm not worried about you. I can deal with rough." She grinned, and went quiet for a few seconds, focusing on the ball before she spoke up again.

"So...who won?"

Carmen brought things down to a crawl, controlling her breathing as they reached the home stretch. Her body was burning, but definitely in the best ways. The sort of ache that she'd feel, but not enough to slow her down just yet.

"Neither of us won. Ended up in a draw, after a crazy fight. Lorenza grew up on the street, so she's a lot better when it comes to raw fighting than I am, but I'd picked up a lot of stuff wrestling that helped me pull through. It was just too close, and we wound up canceling each other out, I guess." She had a long, wistful sigh, like it was the warmest memory of her life and not a brutal, bloody battle.

Carmen came to a rest and took a knee, cradling the medicine ball in her arms while she recovered. After a moment, she looked over her shoulder, with the barest hint of a devilish smirk. "But you're not worried about me, huh?" She let the medicine ball drop and roll off."Any chance of me changing that?"

Once the ball stopped moving, Hana stepped forward and turned to face Carmen, lowering herself to the floor so that she could take a seat and get a moment of rest herself. She smirked right back at Carmen, and leaned backwards, resting her hands against the floor behind her, and gave the Latina an easy, lazy shrug.

"Mmm. I don't know about that," she teased, turning her gaze upwards, towards the ceiling. "I mean, I took down your brother, so I can't imagine the sister being too much more of a challenge."

She wouldn't deny that part of her was trying to get Carmen riled up, just to see how the woman would react to her. The idea of seeing Carmen try to change her mind felt exciting, and Hana could feel her competitive streak starting to flare up. "Besides, you should look at me. Did you not notice that I'm made of iron?" She lowered her head back down, looking towards Carmen again, and raised a hand, gently petting her own hard abs. "I know your punches are damn strong, Miss Boxer, but are they strong enough to punch through metal?"

Now, this Carmen liked. There was nothing quite like a little friendly trash-talking to really get her in a good mood for a match, even if it was nothing more than a spar. She recognized that look in Hana's eye, that tone in her voice, those subtle twitches in her body. This was a competitive woman. Those were always fun to fight. And defeat.

"Well, yeah, that's true, you did beat Army." She nodded, keeping her cool aside from a growing, wild smile on her face. "And so did I. Granted, I didn't go toe-to-toe with him like you did, but that just means I've got a lot more up my sleeve that you won't see coming."

She rolled the ball off to the corner and stood up, making her way over to the bench where some tape was waiting. "And yeah, I did notice that body of yours." There was probably a hint of attraction in that, but Carmen kept from being too obvious in  her tone. "Iron is tough. But if you hit it hard enough, often enough? It breaks. Everything breaks, eventually."

Hana watched Carmen closely as the woman rose to her feet, her eyes tracing up and down over her body, watching her move, watching every motion the Latina made. Not for the first time she wondered what it would be like to go up against her, and it wasn't long before she was rising back up to her own feet, taking a step after her.

"You're right. Everything breaks, eventually," she answered, stating her words plainly, as if what she was saying was common knowledge. "Here's the thing, though...it's not easy breaking down iron. You have to hit it again, and again, and again..."

She looked over Carmen again, her eyes settling on the woman's fists, staring at them intently before moving her gaze back up to her face. "So the question is...how long can you keep hitting it? How many times can you strike it before your own tool breaks under it's strength...?"

Oh, there was that feeling.

Carmen felt it when she looked up and saw that eager gaze on Hana's face. It was the sort of look she rarely saw these days - sure, she wrestled some good guys, and some of them had even beat her. But, outside of Kyo Akamatsu, she couldn't remember any of them that had that spirit in their eyes. That drive. That hunger.

It made Carmen all the more attracted to Hana, while she simultaneously wanted to beat her up. Odd mix, but she liked it.

"That is an excellent question, muchachota." She gave her fists a quick wrap up, tying them around as she'd done a thousand times and  ripping them off with her teeth. When she was finished, she offered the tape to Hana, then nodded towards the ring. "One way to find out."

Hana didn't have to be told twice. She eagerly took the tape from Carmen, wrapped herself up, and headed to the ring. She slid into it and hopped to her feet, turning back to face Carmen as she stepped towards one of the corners.

"So, how do you want to do this?" She asked, her grin wide and excited, a fierce, competitive glint in her eyes. "It's your gym, so I'll be nice this time and let you decide how we're going to do it."

Carmen made her way into the ring while Hana tapped up, starting to bounce on her heels and fall into the rhythm. She made her way over into her corner as the giantess did the same, biting her lip the whole way. It was hard not to smile like a giddy schoolgirl, but she managed it.

"Well," She called back from the other side of the ring, her voice echoing throughout the silent gym. "Don't know about you, but I don't have a match for a few weeks. I don't mind taking some damage. So you can come at me like you came at Army, like it's the real thing. Or you can try, anyway."

She cracked her knuckles, pummeled her palm, and brought her guard up. She took a standard wrestling stance as she moved out of the corner, keeping her hands low and ready while her feet slid along the floor. She'd keep her distance for now and let Hana make the first move, eager to see how she'd approach an opponent when she had the clear size advantage. "Ring the bell whenever you're ready."