Rodriguez Reunion (for acuya)

Felina Rodriguez couldn’t remember the last time she was this excited. A few instances came to mind, though not many of them were all that recent. She was on a plane bound for Kyoto, carrying her to the next big chapter of her life. For years she had competed as a professional kickboxer, but now she was going to be joining her cousins as a wrestler for the famous AFW! For the first few hours of her flight she could hardly contain herself, though eventually she was able to calm herself down enough to take a couple naps, which helped the trip go by pretty fast.

But then the excitement returned once the pilot announced they were making their descent. And once they landed, Felina grabbed her things and quickly got off the plane, only to almost immediately realize she had no idea where she was going. As more people poured out of the plane, she followed the traffic to the baggage claim area and grabbed her suitcase. Now she just had to figure out where to go from here. There were signs everywhere, but Felina’s lack of knowledge of the Japanese language wasn’t doing her any favors.

Dressed in a pair of jean shorts, a green tank top and flip flops, the latina probably stood out quite a bit from most of the people around her, though she didn't seem to care. Felina looked around and saw multitudes of people standing around and waiting for friends, family and acquaintances they were there to pick up. Felina had emailed Carmen letting her know she’d be coming. Hoping her cousin was among the crowd somewhere, she squinted her eyes a bit and started looking around for her.

Carmen drove down the narrow streets of Japan, carefully navigating the tight corners with her truck as she neared the airport. Getting through traffic in Kyoto was tricky on the best of days and torture on the worst, but being wrapped in thought didn't hardly helped things. She was caught in a bit of a paradox.

On one hand, she was legitimately looking forward to seeing Felina again. It had been far too long since she'd been in the same place as her little cousin - they'd shared emails, talked on Skype, and Carmen always caught her matches, but it was nothing compared to having the real thing. Aside from Army, being with her family was a rare treat these days. She missed the get-togethers, the reunions, the completely unplanned instances when one of her uncles would drop by and they'd have to rush to clean the house. Getting around the world and seeing all there was to see was nice, but she craved these little slices of home.

On the other hand, she wasn't looking forward to the marathon of whining that was surely going to occur when Felina and Army were in the same room. That had always been a headache to endure, and she seriously doubted it would get better with age. If anything, it would be worse. Especially when he found out that Felina planned to do a lot more than just stay with them.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. Army was hanging with Amy more these days, and Felina was good about finding things to do with her time. They might rarely even cross paths. Yeah.

"Take the good with the bad, take the good with the bad." Carmen muttered under her breath as she  finally found a good parking spot near the entrance of the airport. Busy day, nice and hectic, but she doubted finding Felina would be a problem. Puerto Rican's tended to stand out in this city.

She made her way through the crowd, wearing her usual causual clothes - red Tapout shirt, the ripped jeans, the sandals. There wasn't any point in really hiding who she was. The AFW was popular and Tension was doing better than ever before, but she wasn't a megastar by any measure. She got a few looks as she made her way through the crowd, a few  fans wondering if she really was who they thought she was. Nothing serious, and she was glad - the exact last thing she wanted was a scene.

Sure enough, she found Felina in short order, looking around like a lost child in the woods. Still so cute, even after all this time, though she'd filled out a bit since Carmen had left the island. She would be a good fit in the AFW, in more ways than one.

She made her way in from behind, tapped Felina on the shoulder, then stepped back with her arms wide and her smile even wider. She started to speak in Japanese, purely on reflex, but she cut that out before a word could get out. Speaking Spanish was one of the best things about having her family over, after all. "A little lost, primata?"

It seemed like almost everywhere Felina looked, all she saw was an endless see of Japanese people hurrying along to wherever it was they were going. And there were so damn many of them! Even if Carmen had an appearance that would stand out, how was she supposed to find a needle in this haystack of people? Or, perhaps more importantly, would Carmen be able to find her?

But like a superhero arriving just in the nick of time, Carmen spotted the lost and confused Felina just as she was about to really start worrying. She felt a finger tap against her shoulder, and half expected some Japanese person who worked there to start asking if she was lost or something. But the thought was quickly dismissed altogether as she turned and saw her cousin, and a bright, joyous smile overtook Felina’s expression.

“CARMEN!” she shouted out, dropping her bags and lunging forward to wrap her arms around the girl in a tight hug. “It’s so great to see you! It’s been way too long!” she said, before finally letting go of the hug. The noise she was making drew some looks from people passing by, particularly those who recognized Carmen from the AFW. But Felina was just so glad to see Carmen after so long she didn’t even notice.

“How’ve you been, chica? Still looking great, I see. Love those jeans, by the way!” There were about a million different thoughts running through her head right now. Stories she wanted to tell, seemingly questions she wanted to ask about Japan, the AFW and so much more. But somehow, she managed to restrain herself. Probably just a little tired from the flight.

Carmen was almost bowled over when Felina plowed into her and the squeeze took her by surprise, too. She knew her cousin had plenty of power to spare - one minute from any of her matches was enough to draw that conclusion, and her opponents would agree. But experiencing it was another thing, and it made her swell up with pride. Her little cousin was getting bigger by the day.

"Doing good and getting better. Let me get a look at you, baby bird."

Carmen moved away and ran her hands down Felina's shoulders, before moving away to get a full look. "God, you went and turned into a full woman when I wasn't looking. Beautiful." She let out a wistful sigh as her mind became awash and nearly drowned under a sea of memories.

She stepped over and picked up some of Felina's luggage. "Come on, let's get you back to the car." She looked around as a few more fingers pointed their way..Cell phones were coming out. "People expect things when two pretty girls hug around here. You'll get used to the looks."

As Carmen moved back to get a look at her, Felina moved her hands to her hips while shifting most of her weight to one leg and slightly pivoting the other. A very simple pose, but one she’d often been asked to do during her brief time as a fitness model. Probably because it ever so subtly showed off her legs, which she’d been told by many were one of her most attractive features. But she giggled and quickly went back to her normal posture after hearing Carmen’s words.

“Gracias.” she said, before moving to pick up one of her bags while Carmen grabbed the other. It was only then that she noticed the pointing fingers and the cell phones, though she initially assumed the people holding them were just fans of Carmen or something. “Ah, got it.” she said when her cousin explained, laughing a bit at the thought. Though, she still felt like her theory might be just as true.

Once she picked up her bag, Felina would then follow Carmen’s lead as the two made their way to the car. “Father said to say hi, both mine and yours.” she said. Her curious green eyes continued to look around at the unfamiliar environment as they moved, though she always stayed close to Carmen to avoid getting lost. “So, I gotta ask. How different is it gonna be living here? Anything particularly important I should know?”

Carmen raised an eyebrow at the pose, smirked, but didn't say much of anything. Yes, Felina was going to fit in perfectly with the AFW. Maybe even better than she did, herself.

She kept her eyes on the road as they moved outside, looking left and right and left and right to make sure they didn't get run over while they crossed the streets. People in Japan were nice enough, but they hadn't yet mastered the fine art of texting and driving. Slightly better than Americans.

"Differences? Aside from being a bunch islands, it's as different as different gets." She hurried towards the car as a light drizzle came over the parking lot, popping open the trunk as she neared. From the look of the clouds, it would only be coming heavier. "Food is different, transportation is different, the people are different, different culture, different values, different laws, different...everything." She reached in the trunkle and shuffled around some of her wrestling equipment, fitting Felina's luggage next to the gym bag she always kept ready for matches.

"Would probably be easier if you got a little more specific. Anything you might see as a problem?"

Felina followed right behind her cousin, looking both ways before crossing the street with her. She then felt a drop of rain against her arm, and looked up at the dark clouds gathering overhead. Looks like her plane had landed it just in time.

Hurrying along with Carmen, she came up to the trunk, while listening to her cousin. For some reason, the prospect of Japan being as different as she said just intrigued Felina even further about it, almost enough to even make her forget the light rain that was just starting to fall. After Carmen put one bag in the trunk, Felina put the other right next to it.

“Maybe not a ‘problem,’ necessarily, but...hold on just a sec.” With the rain starting to come down more and more by the second, she decided to get in the car before continuing, and opened the door to the passenger side before getting in and closing the door. “Ok. So I know like...maybe two or three Japanese words. Is that gonna be a problem, or do most people at least speak some English?” She doubted Spanish was extremely popular here, but she could definitely get by with English if enough people spoke it.

“And what’s the best stuff to eat here? Oh, and what’s there to do here when you’re not training or kicking ass in the ring?” It felt like she had a million questions like these waiting their turn to be asked, though she then realized she still hadn’t even asked anything about the very reason she’d come to Japan in the first place. “And, what’s it like working in the AFW? I mean, especially in comparison to boxing.”

Carmen shut the truck and slid her way back inside the car, just as the rain started to pick up outside. She ran a hand through her hair and dried it off a bit while Felina spoke. And spoke. And spoke. In hindsight, Carmen should've given her a list of things like this when they were throwing emails back and forth, given her some time to acclimate. Better late than ever.

"There are a lot of English speakers, but all the same, you should learn the language." Carmen turned the car on and let it sit for a moment, as the windshield wiper swept back and forth. "It makes everything so much easier, trust me. It took Army about a year, but he's finally got it, pretty much. So you should be able to get it in two, maybe three months. The AFW can get you in touch with some teachers to help."

Carmen flipped on the radio and started going through the stations, seeing if she could find something for the mood. "And the best stuff to eat is in my kitchen." She flicked her tongue at Felina and smiled. "But there are some good places I can take you to. As far as what to do outside of training goes, though, you're best bet is to talk to Army - I  spend the bulk of my time either training or doing business for the gym. So 'fun' isn't a subject I know too much about. But I do hit the club, from time to time. So we'll see."

Carmen finally shifted the car in gear and started to back out, sparing a quick glance to Felina while she  peered over her shoulder. "But the AFW...well, before I answer that, you answer this: what do you think it's like?"

Felina sighed when Carmen suggested learning the language. That sounded like a giant pain in the ass, and she felt like any suggestion her cousin made would probably be worth taking, which meant she was going to have to buckle down and do it. Although, the comment about Army brought a little smirk and chuckle from the latina.

When Carmen turned on the radio and began to flip through the stations, Felina heard noting but similar-sounding Japanese voices on every one of them, the only difference being some had singing while others were just talking, so she instead focused more on her cousin’s answers to her questions. “Oh yeah? Still make those legendary grilled cheese sandwiches?” she asked with a grin. It had been years since she’d had one of those. Far too long for her taste, and just the thought was making her hungry, which became evident with the loud rumbling grown that came from her stomach a moment later. “A club, huh?” she said, quickly trying to draw attention away from her stomach. “Sounds like fun. What kinda club is it?”

It wasn’t pouring outside just yet, but Felina had a feeling it’d be getting there soon. And once Carmen asked her question, she paused for a moment to think about it. “Well... I think it’s completely different from anything I’ve ever done before. I mean, I took like a year of grappling lessons to get ready for it, and that was completely new for me. I’ve seen yours and Army’s matches and stuff, and I can see how different a world it is. And it’s not just the grappling. There’s...lots of other stuff too.” she said, knowing Carmen would understand as well as everyone what those other things were.

“But for you both to still be here, I think it must be fun at least, right?” Really, she had little to no idea what to think the AFW would be like, so anything that came to mind was a best a vague guess.

Carmen finally settled on some smooth Jazz - not her favorite choice of music, but it was something her cousin wouldn't have any trouble understanding, so it would do. This whole experience would be weird enough, and Felina didn't need to be thrust into it any faster than was absolutely necessary.

"I was thinking more along the lines of empanadas. Get some protien in that tiny stomach of yours. You're getting a little old for grilled cheese, primata." Carmen reached over and gave her a quick slap on the stomach, then shifted gears and drove out of the airport.

"It's a special club." Carmen quickly threw that in, then moved on - she wasn't ashamed of her BDSM lifestyle, but it wasn't something she wanted to immediately drop on the same little cousin who used to come over and play wrestle with her on the trampoline. There'd probably be a time, just not now.

"But, the 'other' stuff, yeah." She had a little chuckle herself, there. "I don't those sorts of matches, but it's something that's available. They're a very free organization, little restrictions, and it can be fun to do so many things. I've met such a wide variety of competition here, it's crazy. Different styles from different countries. Every match is totally different from the last. It's..." Carmen bit her lip. "It can be overwhelming. In a good way. For the most part. Pretty much. Certainly much less judging than back home."