Getting Adjusted

Felina hadn’t had a day that felt “ordinary” to her in quite some time. Since arriving in Japan, every single day felt like a new adventure for her as she tried to get accustomed to a completely new lifestyle in a completely new culture. But through all days filled with unique events for her, today felt like the closest thing to “ordinary” Felina had felt since coming to this country.

The reason was pretty simple. She’d headed to Tension’s gym, both to get a good workout in and take a look around the facility. But after taking in the newness of everything, Felina had gotten into her normal workout routine. Dressed only in black spandex shorts and a matching sports bra, the latina started with some simple stretches and a few minutes of jogging on the treadmill to warm up, and then it was off to the punching bag.

Standing in front of the bag, Felina put up her fists and crouched just a tad, then began to fire off a series of kickboxing combos into the bag. Her heavy strikes echoed out throughout the surprisingly mostly empty gym. Oh well, no matter. A part of her had hoped for a chance to meet some other wrestlers. But if Felina was just in for a simple workout today, it wouldn’t be anything to complain about either as far as she was concerned.

There was never any shortage of people in the gym looking for a fight, it was the glorious nature of the business called wrestling and he loved that about it, especially on days like today when he just wanted to hit something and get hit back in return. He stopped by the locker room just long enough to change out of his street clothes and into a pair of black gym shorts and a crimson tank top before stepping into the gym itself. What he found though was not the crowded place he had expected, instead he had walked into a sparsely populated room with only a handful of people working out as far from one another as was possible.

Ronan grumbled for a few moments but eventually his eyes fell upon a striking woman who was well striking, really taking it to a punching bag that had never done anything to anyone. Intrigued to say the least Ronan walked over to the woman and stood on the other side of the bag, grabbing onto it to hold it steady for her. "Want a hand?" He said while peering around the side of the bag.

Aside from very minimal noises coming from the few others occupying the gym, there was nothing disrupting Felina’s concentration at the moment. And she zoned everything else out to the point that she genuinely felt like she was the only one there as she fired off punch after kick after punch and so on against the poor punching bag. She almost felt like she was reliving some of her biggest kickboxing matches she’d competed in before making the transition to pro wrestling.

But suddenly, Felina was brought right out of her thoughts as a stranger entered her view and grabbed onto the punching bag to hold it still. Her right leg was halfway into a kick at the time, but froze for a moment before lowering the leg as she looked at the face sticking out from behind the bag. He was cute. Really cute. So when he offered to lend a hand, Felina gave a small grin and nodded to the stranger. “That’d be great. Thanks.” she said, then quickly got right back into her stance and resumed her routine of relentless punches and kicks.

“I’m Felina, by the way. One of Tension’s new girls.” she said, briefly introducing herself in between a combo of punches, which she then followed with a heavy roundhouse kick. “Probably a dumb question, but I’m guessing you’re a wrestler here too, right?” Felina asked. It might be the Tension gym in Tension’s arena, but no one had ever told her whether anyone other than wrestlers used the area. For all she knew it could be open to anyone. So asking didn’t really feel all that dumb to her.

Ronan blinked when he saw a leg snapping up towards his face but made no move to duck back behind the bag, willing to bet that someone who could throw a kick like that knew how to stop it or at least slow it enough that it didn't break his nose completely. His gamble paid off as the woman brought her leg to a stop halfway through the kick and lowered it back down to the floor, Ronan letting out a soft sigh of relief and then smiling himself when he saw the grin on her face, a very cute face now that he was up close enough to appreciate it. "No problem, you just looked like you could use a bit of help is all. Holding the bag that is." He quickly added the last part when he realized she might take offense at hearing that she needed help, a good number of women in this league would have but luckily she didn't seem to take offense.

"Names Ronan, been here a couple years now." Ronan replied with an introduction of his own, nodding in acknowledgment. He found himself having to set his feet once she began throwing some serious combinations, Ronan admiring the force she was able to put into each of her heavy but quick blows. "Oh yea I am, I enjoy fighting and theres few places better to do that than right here."

Nice save. Felina wasn’t shy about her talent as a kickboxer, and took quite a bit of pride in it. If not for that added specification at the end, the latina very easily could’ve taken that the wrong way. And the chances that this conversation remained friendly would’ve decreased exponentially. Fortunately, Ronan’s quick thinking prevented anything of the sort from happening. “I appreciate it. Didn’t think I’d be fortunate enough to have a spotter today.” she replied in between a pair of quick punching combos. Truthfully, she probably could’ve come with Carmen or Army... or Carmen, and that would’ve solved the spotter issue. But Felina had wanted a chance to get acquainted with Tension’s arena and gym on her own, and hopefully meet some other wrestlers in the process. So this actually ended up working out quite nicely.

“Heh. That’s what I hear.” Felina replied with a little grin as she kicked into the punching bag again. “I’ve pretty much been a kickboxer my whole life. This whole wrestling thing’s pretty new to me, but I’ve got some family in it here, and it looked pretty fun. Decided I might as well try my hand at it too, you know?” After a few more punches and one more heavy kick, Felina stopped for a moment and reached over to grab a water bottle she’d brought with her. She lifted the bottle and took a quick drink.

“Oh, nice to meet ya, by the way.” Felina said, offering a hand for a handshake. “Mind if I ask what kinda style you use, Ronan?” From what she knew about AFW, even though it was a place for professional wrestling, it seemed there was just about every style imaginable here. So she was curious to hear about Ronan’s.

"Usually this place has plenty of people who could spot you but I guess I missed the memo where everyone was taking today off." Ronan said as he glanced around the rather empty room, the gym feeling far too quiet for his liking for he had grown accustomed to thuds of bags being struck and of weights getting dropped at the end of a set. Being from New York he didn't feel at home unless there was a fair bit of background noise.

So she was a kickboxer, he might have guessed as much judging from how she was attacking the bag. She seemed like a good one too as he was having to keep his focus on holding the bag steady, Felina was making him work that was for sure. "Who is your family? I might know them." He replied, stepping around the bag to shake her hand properly.

"And same here, nice to meet ya, don't think I know any other kickboxers." He said before turning around and throwing a few punches of his own, the bag swinging with each hit. "Can't say I've got much of a.style, I just fight is all."

Felina chuckled a bit at Ronan’s comment, a part of her feeling relieved the gym wasn’t typically so empty. She didn’t mind the quiet atmosphere so much, but she had to admit it did feel just a bit awkward walking in here and working out as it was. Every little noise she made sounded like it could be heard all around the arena. Even her conversation with Ronan, though neither of them were speaking unusually loudly, she felt could likely be heard by everyone else present. But whatever. It wasn’t like either of them was saying anything particularly personal, nor were they disturbing anyone.

“Carmen and Army Rodriguez. They’re my cousins.” Felina answered when Ronan asked about her family, curious to find out how well he knew them, then shook his hand as he moved around the bag to accept the handshake. Neither Army nor Carmen had told her much of anything about the other wrestlers. She knew Army had a girlfriend in Tension, though she hadn’t had a chance to meet her yet. And that was about it. Anything else she knew was just what she’d seen when watching some of her cousins’ matches.

She was pretty surprised to hear that he didn’t know of other kickboxers on the roster. “Really? No others, huh?” Felina couldn’t explain why, exactly, but something about that made the latina feel pretty good about herself. And as Ronan took a turn throwing some punches into the bag, Felina grinned and rested a hand on her hips. “For someone with ‘no style’ you look like you’ve got a pretty damn good punch, if ya don’t mind me saying.”

Ronan turned his vacant gaze to the ceiling when Felina dropped the names of her cousins, trying to put faces to the names but despite how familiar those names sounded he just couldn't wring the visuals from his memory. "I mean the names sound like ones I should know...but I don't think I've ever met them personally...probably just seen them listed on the fight card before." Ronan timed his punches with the brief pauses in his reply, throwing throwing quick combinations where four or five blows landed in a matter of seconds and rocking the bag violently. "And I mean...I haven't gone around asking either...but no I don't think theres many kickboxers at least."

It was after a particularly hard hit from his elbow that he heard her complimenting his punch, Ronan turning his head to look at her directly and quite nearly getting hit by the bag as it rocked back towards him. Without even looking back at it though Ronan grabbed onto the bag and stopped it, flashing Felina a broad grin and nodding his head. "Ha! Of course I don't mind, getting compliments from a gorgeous woman who knows how to fight herself is one of my top five favorite things. I'd say number two." Ronan's eyes traveled down along Felina's body for a few moments, just long enough for anyone to notice his admiration for Felina's body.

"I've never really thought about how I fight, I just do. Ro says I just fight on instinct, no style or anything to speak of."

“Oh well.” Felina replied with a light shrug when Ronan said he had yet to meet either Army or Carmen. “They’re both good fighters too. You’d probably like them.” She watched the near lightning-quick punches smash against the bag with impressive force. If those same hits had been used on a person in the ring, there’s no doubt it’d either by collapsing to the ground and curling up in pain right now, or reeling back into a corner or some ropes, especially after an intense strike blasted into the bag to end the flurries.

Felina’s grin then widened hen he turned to compliment her right back. “Yeah? Well, you’ll have to tell me all about number one sometime.” she said with a playful wink, pretty sure she could already guess what it was. Felina wasn’t dumb or naive. She’d worked as a model before, and could easily tell when she was being checked out. Not that she minded. In fact, she even adjusted her stance just a bit to ever so subtly show off her gorgeous legs.

“Just on instinct, huh? Interesting.” she said, then nodded her head over toward the empty ring not too far away. “How’d you feel about a little spar to test out those instincts?”

Ronan wasn't exactly the most attentive guy around but even he noticed how Felina shifted her body to give him a better look at those impossibly long and well toned legs, being less than subtle himself as he looked them over nice and slow. "Anytime Felina, I'd be happy to show you myself actually..." Ronan said, his voice trailing off as his eyes traveled further up her body for a second look, a closer one. Felina wasn't just gorgeous she was incredibly fit as well and judging from how she was working over the bag a moment ago she was a good fighter too, all the traits Ronan found hard to say no to.

He turned towards the ring when she brought it up, his smile only growing wider as she brought up his third favorite thing. "How could I possibly say no? You do seem like you'd be a lot of fun in a fight...and in other things." He said with a wink before making his way over to the empty ring, climbing up onto the apron and stepping through the ropes. He hopped from one foot to the other as he moved about the ring, loosening himself up for the sparring fight. "So did you have anything special in mind for rules or are we just going at it until one of us decides its enough?"