Rodriguez Reunion (for acuya)

Ordinarily jazz wouldn’t have been Felina’s first choice either, but this song did have a rather catchy tune. And besides, though she was more a rock enthusiast, she had a feeling not understanding a bit of the lyrics of any Japanese rock songs might hurt her chances of really enjoying them. So this was perfectly acceptable.

She chuckled when Carmen reached over and slapped her stomach, and quickly moved a hand over it on instinct. “Well if you didn’t make them so well, I’d be more likely to agree. Empanadas do sound good right about now though.”

She was about to ask more about the club Carmen mentioned, but was cut off as her cousin went on to tell her about working with the AFW. The way she talked about it, it was almost like it was so vast and varied it couldn’t really be “explained.” She’d have to experience it herself to fully understand, though the though only made the adventurous latina even more excited. “Sounds amazing. If I hadn’t just been on a long-ass flight I’d want to jump right in there today if I could.”

She let her mind wind down for a moment, and simply listened to the soothing jazz music as she thought about everything Carmen had told her. After a moment, though, another thought popped into her head, and she grinned while glancing over at Carmen. “Oh yeah, forgot to ask. How’s Army? Excited as always to see me?” she asked half-sarcastically, knowing full well that most likely wasn’t the case.

Carmen only touched Felina's stomach for the briefest of seconds, but it was more than long enough to tell that her little cousin had a stomach worthy of taking much, much harder hits. She'd been initially worried - while she didn't doubt Felina's skill, taking on men in regular matches wasn't something every woman had any business doing. The more they talked, though, the more her fears began to ease. "You'll be filled up soon, I promise. As long as I have a kitchen, you won't go hungry for long while you're in Japan. I could use a guinea pig for my new recipes. Besides," She gave Felina a quick wink, before quickly turning back to the road. "A little more skin on those bones wouldn't kill you."

Carmen hit the highway and took it nice and steady, making good time as they neared the gym. She'd been around the city enough to navigate it well, and on days like these, where she had to squeeze around traffic, it paid off. "Army is Army." She shrugged. "Doing better than usual, these days. Has this cute little girlfriend he hangs out with now, sweet thing. With any luck, he won't mess that up." Carmen gave Felina a quick nudge in the side. "And he's trying to put on a good face about you being here, but he doesn't know exactly why you came. So that might change when he figures out you're part of the competition, now."

Ordinarily the idea of being a guinea pig for recipes wouldn’t have been appealing for Felina. But the fact the Carmen was the cook definitely made a difference. She was damn good at it, and Felina couldn’t remember ever not liking something her cousin had made. So if her cooking was all she ate while she was here in Japan, she wouldn’t mind one bit. “That sounds great to me. Just don’t fatten me up too much.” she said with a chuckle.

Her eyes looked out at the roads as they drove, and she couldn’t help but feel strange about them being on this side of the road. It was completely backwards from the way people drove back home, and she could tell getting used to it would take some time. It seemed Carmen wasn’t kidding when she said it was different as different gets here. Though the comments about Army drew her attention away from those thoughts. Especially the part about him having a girlfriend, which drew a bit of light laughter from Felina.

“Army’s got a girlfriend? Now that I can’t wait to see.” Not that she thought he was incapable of finding one, or anything. He was a handsome guy, after all. But considering the nearly countless arguments, fights and contests she’d gotten into with him over the years, her perception of him was likely rather different from others. “Ah, so you haven’t told him yet? Heh. Bet he’ll just be thrilled when he finds out.”

It would certainly be good to have someone around who was actually used to her food. Most of the people she'd cooked for since coming to Japan hadn't quite had the palette for it, not that it was their fault. Taste buds could be stubborn things, and not many of the ones on these islands had ever sampled fine Mexican cuisine. A shame.

Then again, Army ate her food, but Army was a trash compacter. He'd eat just about anything you put in front of him.

"I think you'll like her, if you two ever meet." Carmen took the last turn, putting the gym in their sigths. Because of the weather, the place looked like it was mostly empty. A bad thing, most of the time, but a little privacy would be nice with Felina there. No distractions away from her primata. "She's a wrestler, Amy Poford. Cute little blonde girl, crazy tough, and she keeps him in line."

Carmen pulled up to the closest parking spot by the entrance and slid in, noting that it might be a good idea to install some sort of rain covering near the entrance. It was only a few yards to the entrance, but they would be wet yards. "And no, haven't told him yet." She nodded towards the gym."The honor's all yours."

Something about the mental image of a cute little blonde girl “keeping Army in line” made Felina giggle. But then the thought rang a bell in the latina’s head. Why did that thought seem so familiar...? And then realization hit her like a freight train, and her eyes shot wide open. “Wait! Is that the same girl he had that match with recently?” Felina had seen that one, and had been immensely surprised and impressed at how good a fight the girl had put up against Army, in a contest that was as much a boxing match as a wrestling match no less. “Well dang, had no clue they were a couple. Even though I haven’t met her yet, in a weird way it seems kinda fitting now that I think about it.”

As they turned and came within viewing distance of the gym, the emptiness didn’t bother Felina one bit. She couldn’t remember ever seeing a gym packed on days with bad weather like this anyway. But the sight of the place still brought a small smile to her lips. She’d known she was making a big choice for her life by coming here, but for whatever reason, seeing the place she knew she’d be in quite a bit to train and practice for the foreseeable future just made that really sink in. “Home sweet home...”

They were able to get a parking spot about as close to the entrance as possible, which Felina was definitely glad for. Her luggage was still in the trunk, though she didn’t need any of it right now. “If it’s cool with you I’ll just come back for the bags once it stops raining.” she said, before opening the door and hurrying for the door, just hoping to avoid getting soaked by the rain as much as possible in those brief seconds!

Carmen couldn't help but giggle as she watched the gears turning in Felina's head. It was a bit to process, after all - Army wasn't known for his stable relationship. But Japan was all about change for the Rodriguez family, and he'd certainly changed. More than he cared to admit.

He was still the same Army they'd grown up with in many ways, though, which meant that the usual fireworks would be flying soon enough.

Carmen skipped after Felina and made her way into the gym, the water out of her hair as soon as they were both inside. The place was pretty much empty - a couple of her girls were having a little sparring match in the ring, but aside from that, they had the place all to themselves. Except for, of course, Army.

He was over by the assisted pull-up machine, finishing a set. Steady movements, up and down, as his back surged with the power and he got into the rhythm. His body was soaked in sweat, drenching his black trackpants. It would've drenched his shirt, too, if he'd bothered to wear one.

Carmen nodded towards the practice ring and gave Felina a nudge in the side. "I'm going to give my girls a little instruction, get them straightened out." They were doing a good job, but they still hadn't quite gotten the proper footing down. "You two get reacquainted. And play nice."

Felina wrung the water out of her hair and brushed it out a bit with her hand as she made it to the door and entered the gym. And once she was inside, for a moment she looked around with eyes so wide it almost made her look like a kid walking into Disney World for the first time. Actually setting foot in the place where her cousins trained was giving her that same sense of genuine realization that had started to build once the building had first come into view.

Her eyes shifted to the girls in the ring having a sparring match, and she followed their movements. In a way, they reminded Felina a lot of herself. Their form was good, but not excellent. Felina noticed their missteps, which she easily could’ve done better. But their combos were much better calculated, and the punches looked like they packed a bit more sting behind them than hers would. But if Carmen was teaching them, she knew they’d be just fine.

She then noticed Army’s sweat-drenched form working out over in another part of the gym, only seconds before Carmen nudged her in the side. She smiled and nodded. “Heh. I’ll try. Later, chica.” Felina said with a little wave, before making her way over toward Army, unable to help but grin just a bit. One way or another, she knew this was sure to be interesting. Standing just a few feet away from the machine he was using, she rested her hands on her hips and watched him finish up his set.

“Not too shabby, Army.” Despite the half-teasing tone to her voice, she did actually mean it. “You’ve really bulked up since the last time I saw you.”

"And 8...and 9...and 10..."

Army gritted and groaned as he finished the last few reps in his set, as his muscles buldged and strained. Good workout, today. One of the best he'd had in weeks, and exactly what he needed for the crap he was no doubt going to have to go through in a very short amount of time.

"And...11. Yeah." He finished off and slowly lowered down, coming down softly on his feet, turning around finding...her.

Yup. It was Felina.

It was always a little weird to see her. First, he had to shut off the part of his mind that had to acknowlegde how hot she was - even by AFW standards, that was way too creepy to be thinking. It was kind of weird - he was used to seeing Carmen naked since they'd grown up in the same house. Her body didn't bother him at all, but Felina was just unfamiliar enough to him that it was unsettling in an unspeakable way. Major shivers.

"Pretty sure I was always this big, but yeah, thanks." Not entirely true, but he couldn't help but feel there was an unspoken implication in there. He grabbed a towel and ran it over his face for a quick dry, while he glanced at the Men's Locker Room from the corner of his eye. His escape route, in case it got nasty. "Welcome to the Land of the Rising Sun. Like it, so far?"

The childish, immature side of Felina couldn’t help but chuckle ever so slightly at Army’s response. And she simply shrugged, rather than try to retort the statement. Even if he hadn’t always been this big, per se, he had pretty much always been bigger than Felina.

“Oh, you know. Haven’t really gotten to see much of it yet.” she said with a shrug. “The airport was crowded, and riding on the left side of the road made me feel like the world was backwards or something. But that’s about it so far. Looking forward to seeing more of it, though. And I really wanna meet this girlfriend of yours I’ve heard about.” Felina said with a little grin. “Gotta say, you actually had me a bit worried in that match with her. Didn’t know something that small or cute could paint you black and blue like that.”

Again she giggled, before briefly glancing back at the ring and the girls Carmen was working with, then turning her focus right back to Army again. “By the way, I appreciate you guys letting me stay here. Can’t really afford my own place yet, you know? But I’ll keep the place looking good. Promise.” Felina knew Army didn’t know why she was there, but she was also curious how long he’d expected her to be in Japan in general.

Army groaned, but managed to keep it from getting too loud. That was one of the problems with fighting on live TV - back home, when he fucked up, he could keep it in a small circle, talk it off, no one would call him on. When he got spanked in the AFW, though,  it was immortalized for the entire world.

"Pretty sure she didn't bruise me, think you need to get your TV fixed." Amy did crack a few of his ribs, though, and he was feeling the fight for a good, long time. Not that he was going to share that fact with Felina, but... "But yeah, Amy's pretty good. You should take notes - next time we spar, you might actually be able to do something, you know? Give me a challenge."

Army smirked and started to walk towards a water bottle he had off to the side, when the next thing that came out Felina's - always talkative - mouth surprised him. "Afford your own..." He raised an eyebrow. Super high. "You're looking to stay here? For how long?"