New Kids on the Block

It was an early weekend morning and Vivienne -- who had yet been scheduled for a major match-up -- was in the AFW Stadium gym taking a long run on one of its treadmills. For the most part, it had been a slow day at the gymnasium; only a handful of other AFW wrestlers coming in and out to do their usual routines. Vivienne recognized some of the other girls under Chibi’s management and took a few moments to converse while they went about doing their workouts. By now, they had all broken off to their own things and most had already left.

Vivienne had been at it for nearly two hours, quietly listening to music, when a girl she had not previously seen before come in sporting shorts and a sleeveless t-shirt with her hair tied in a tight pony-tail. She pulled out a mat near one of the more open areas in the gym, took a pair of weights, and stretched for a moment before finally sitting herself down to start a rep of sit-ups. The British girl paused her run and watched a for a few minutes, observing her sit-ups, before taking a sip of water from her bottle, getting off the treadmill, and making her way to her.

“You know,” she chimed in, “It’s always better if you have a partner to hold your feet down -- it’s also good for you if you came up all the way so that you almost touch your knees.” Vivienne set her towel and water down nearby and sat in front of her, holding her feet down. “Alright, now give it a try. That should help you a lot. Name’s Vivienne by the way, I can’t say we’ve met. Are you new here?”

Being a weekend didn't prevent Karen from waking up early to attend to her exercise routine. It was always good to start the day with a breath of fresh air and a one-hour jog through the park, a far more appealing space to be in than her small room. Then, it was time to head to the AFW Stadium's gym, since running alone wasn't enough to help her become a better wrestler. The combination of the distance between her house and the gym, and the early hour, usually meant that she arrived when the gym was either empty or very sparsely inhabited, making her exercises a rather solitary pursuit. She usually did them on their own without any musical background, since she didn't have a portable music player and her normal headphones remained at her computer.

Karen usually tried to enter and leave the gym as low-key as possible, to not disturb fellow wrestlers during their own workouts. When she'd first entered the gym, she'd spotted a girl on the treadmill out of the corner of her eye, but had not focused enough to get an idea of her appearance. Instead, she used this information to move onto the other side of the room and head for the space where she could do sit-ups. They were one of her least favourite exercises since she had trouble sitting entirely still doing them - without weights, she ended up often assisting herself by moving her legs -, so she wanted to get rid of them first. Despite her best attempts, she couldn't entirely suppress her strained grunts as she pushed her body upwards to her knees.

Vivienne's intervention was an unexpectedly pleasant surprise. Karen's facial expression changed from the focused gaze and clenched teeth of her push-ups to her quiet smile. "Indeed it is.", she replied. "That's always been my problem with push-ups, haha. Without something there I move my feet. That, and I usually only get my head up about perpendicular to the ground before I think, 'good enough', and dive back for another one." Seeing Vivienne move into position, she smiled gratefully and said, "Thank you very much. I really appreciate the help."

Her suggestions had an immediate effect, as Karen seemed to be able to do push-ups much faster now, without the time wasted nudging herself the last couple of centimetres straight that usually caused her feet to drift out of position. Not to mention, having a partner seemed to make them go by more pleasantly - gym devices to keep the feet in place weren't exactly known for their gregariousness. "Yes, that's indeed a great help. Thank you once again.", she said, between breaths as she pushed her body up and down. "Vivienne?" She thought for a moment whether she'd heard that name before, but all her mind could come up with was some fashion designer. "It's a fine name, if you don't mind me saying so.", she continued. "Has a nice ring to it."

Stickler for tradition as ever, Karen took a small break after completing one sit-up, and stretched out one of her hands to shake Vivienne's. "No, I believe this is our first encounter. Pleasure to meet you, I'm Karen Kawashima.", she said. She then returned to sit-ups. "Mm, so to speak. I've only moved here this year to try to make a career in the AFW. I've been preparing for my first match, mostly. And yourself?"

“The pleasure’s mine, Karen,” Vivienne responded as she shook her hand, “And I understand that. I only just recently moved here myself -- did so with my friend, Andrija, who also happens to by my manager. She’s a good friend and her skills are already showing, she’s got four other girls under her managerial eye already!” Vivienne envisaged the twinkling and mischievous smile that so characterized Andrija’s comical personality. “I’ve got an upcoming Tension match, actually, pretty nervous but excited at the same time!”

“I can’t quite place your accent…” Vivienne said somewhat to herself and to Karen. “It’s not American. I want to say Canadian, but I apologize if I’ve gotten it wrong! It’s a little more difficult to distinguish between English speakers than lots of people like to make it to be. If it wasn’t already obvious, I’m from the UK. London, specifically, and I got into this stuff because I’m a huge anime fan. I also like wrestling. I also kind of enjoy sex, so hentai matches are mostly my kind of thing.” Vivienne smiled and laughed, placing a hand behind her head in embarrassment, “Listen to me yap! Man, I need to learn how to shut up. Apologies!”

Karen smiled and listened to Vivienne's story as she continued her push-ups. Some company during exercise was always welcome, of course, but she also found Karen's voice soothing - like a nice song left to play on repeat to provide a warm atmosphere. It's probably the accent., she lightheartedly thought to herself. I'll have to ask her if she's a UKer... "Sounds like you have a good deal going.", she replied to Vivienne's mention of her manager friend. "A friend who's a manager is a precious commodity. If you spend too much time reading about bands and counting just how many of them suffered from a lack one..." She chuckled slyly at the last sentence, recalling her own propensity for being caught up on a train of thought and lose track of time because she wouldn't just quit something after starting to read it. "Happy to hear you and her have already established yourselves a base of sorts, and I wish you the best of luck with expanding."

She paused for one of her sit-ups, to nod in Vivienne's direction, before resuming. "I sympathise completely. My first wrestling match, oddest of all things, just provokes a wrestling match within myself between exhilaration and fear. In a way, it's almost more interesting, contemplating which of them will win, since I know full well I can't have too high expectations from the get-go... I think a draw is probably the most I can hope for." She giggled. "I wish you the best of luck with your match, and I'd be happy to attend and cheer you from the stands if that's possible." She looked at Vivienne intently for a second, before adding, "I certainly have no doubt so far that you are far more suited to the spotlight. I can easily see you pumping up a crowd with a flashy entrance, perhaps with some special effects, culminating with you standing in the ring with arms akimbo, and a triumphant grin. I don't know why, you just exude that kind of vibe." She punctuated the last sentence with a wink.

Karen casually took one of her hands from the back of her head mid-sit-up and waved it reassuringly. "No reason to apologise, Vivienne, you've guessed it right. I've been more often mistaken for American, but I suppose it's not my fault. I'd probably be easier to place if I had a Québecois accent, hehe. I'm bilingual, though, so sometimes I accidentally tip my hand by having a bit of Japanese leak into my English... like unconsciously putting silent 'u's in consonant clusters, or spelling something out loud in morae instead of syllables. That kinda thing."

"Yeah, believe me, it's quite obvious.", she said playfully. "I got into it for similar reasons, though in my case it was also the fact that I already had studied martial arts."

Upon hearing Vivienne's last apology, Karen burst into laughter, and took a small break after finishing a last sit-up. "My dear Vivienne, I enjoy listening to you yap, actually.", she said, affecting a refined accent for humour. "In fact, if I should ask you a favour, please do the opposite around me and learn how to yap to your heart's content! As it were. If anything, I should be the one apologising for my verbosity. But if you'd have minded it, you would've told me so already."

She grinned and extended her hand again, in Vivienne's direction. "So, what do you say? Partners in prolixity?"