Dolores Reales

After her recent encounter with Daisuke Takeuchi in the Tension gym, Felina was now set to face the self-proclaimed “wrestling prince” in a few days. And that meant she would be using her time training as hard as she could to make sure she was ready for that match when the time came. Yet, that wasn’t happening at all. She was nowhere to be found in Tension’s gym, nor was she training in Carmen’s gym either.

So where was Felina? Sitting in bed, leaning against the wall, with her head buried in her knees. She was only wearing the same loose t-shirt and shorts she’d fallen asleep in the night before. She hadn’t showered. She hadn’t put any makeup on. Her hair was a jumbled mess on her head. And she felt just as awful as she looked.

Since her spar with Daisuke, everything he’d said had been eating away at her like a disease. Felina had heard the same criticizing words a thousand times from different people, but she’d always managed to dismiss it without a second thought before. But not this time. It was all she could think about, and each second she thought about it made her feel more and more that Daisuke, and so many others before him might be right; that she didn’t belong here.

Carmen stood on the other side of Felina’s door, dressed in her workout attire. The pants, her red Tension sleeveless shirt, and the 24/7 Belt that she required to bring along with her whenever she left the house, just in case someone tried to challenge her on the street. She had her gym bag set up and packed, more than ready to head to the gym for a hard day of training. There was just one thing she needed, now: her cousin.

She chewed her lip, more than a little nervous. Something had been eating Felina, she could tell that much, but she hadn’t wanted to pry. This wasn’t like when they were younger, and Carmen was the big, older cousin taking care of her little primata. Felina was a big girl. A woman. Proud, strong, and skilled. If she kept it up and stayed focused, it wouldn’t be too long before she had gold of her own. She didn’t need to be babied and coddled.

On the other hand, though, Carmen had promised her aunt that she would look out for her, make sure she had everything she needed. Felina was ultimately her responsibility in Kyoto. She lived in her apartment, ate the food she cooked, trained together. If something happened to her, anything at all, the blame would partly fall on her. And rightly so.

It was a fine line to walk, and that was why Carmen was standing in front of the door, listening for any movement inside. After a moment, she decided it was best to just dive right in. ”Felina?” She gave the door a light knock. ”Prima, you in there?”

The door was unlocked, if her cousin wanted to come in. Though Felina was torn as to whether she wanted her to. Part of her simply wanted stay there and wallow in her self-pity, pathetic as that was. But, Carmen had also always been like the big sister Felina never had. Her older cousin was one of the few people she wouldn’t mind seeing in a time like this.

Felina didn’t get up to answer the door when she heard Carmen knock and call for her. She didn’t even budge from her position on the bed, or raise her head from her knees. All she did in response was call back with a simple, “Yeah..” Her voice was muffled, but she’d said it just loud and clear enough that Carmen would probably be able to hear her.

Ah, Carmen knew that tone. Granted, this was the first time she'd heard it with Felina's grown up voice, but it was still unmistakeable: her cousin was in need of a hug. Bare minimum.

She opened the door and immediately regretted it, as her nose came under assault from a bit of a funk. The room had a musty smell to it, the kind that typically comes around when the person inside it hasn't been outside of it in quite a while. "Phew." She muttered and opened the door wide, letting the room air out a bit.

She laid the 24/7 Belt on Felina's dresser and moved across the room, taking care not to step on anything valuable, before she came to a seat on the edge of her cousin's bed. Carmen looked at her for a moment, curious, before she reached over and gave her a tap on the shoulder. "Prima." She spoke in a low, soft, soothing voice. "Look at me."

Felina heard the door opening and her cousin’s entering footsteps, but still neither moved nor spoke. She remained right where she was while Carmen moved to set her belt down and take a seat on the edge of the bed. And it wasn’t until she felt the touch on her shoulder and heard the soft voice that she finally raised her head from her knees to look at Carmen.

She sniffled, and her eyes were red, an obvious sign she’d been crying. Her wrist briefly brushed across her face in a poor attempt to wipe away any evidence. And at the same time, she was trying hard to keep herself from crying again. It wasn’t an easy fight.

“Carmen...” she started. But as Felina looked at her cousin, her eyes started to water again, and she just barely managed to re-bury her face from sight just before she started sobbing again.

Carmen didn't even think about what she did next. She automatically lifted up her shirt and stretched it out, using it as a handkercheif to dry Felina's eyes and face off the moment she saw the tears start up, but Felina buried her face before she had the chance. "Ssh, ssh, it's okay. I'm here, it's just you and me."

She reached over and wrapped her arms around Felina's back, pulling her in for a tight hug, mirroring the same technique that her mother used to do during her teenage years. Carmen wasn't as good a hugger as her mother, but she felt she could come close enough.

"Baby, baby, baby." She patted Felina's back and rest their foreheads against each other. "Tell me what happened. Did Army do something to get you like this?"

Felina leaned into Carmen as her cousin pulled her into the hug, and she continued to sob as Carmen asked her question. She sniffled again and lightly shook her head. “No...” she managed to say, then used a hand to wipe the fresh tears away before attempting to compose herself as much as possible so she could explain.

“I... I was in the gym the other day. And there was a guy there. Daisuke. He... He started talking shit about my kickboxing. Said I didn’t have what it took to make it here. And...” She’d almost gone into the specifics of what he’d said, but thinking about it brought her to the verge of breaking out into sobs once again. So she tried to leave that alone and move on.

“I challenged him to a spar. And I...lost... But it’s not just that. The stuff he was saying, I’ve been hearing that same kinda shit ever since I started fighting!” The tears were starting to come back again, but this time she just kept talking without trying to stop it. “It’s just... I’m so fucking sick of hearing people say I don’t have what it takes! But...what if they’re right? What if I’m not cut out for it? What if all these years of training have just been a giant waste..?” Saying the words felt every bit as painful as thinking about them had.

“...I’m supposed to have a match against Daisuke in a few days. But...maybe i should just forfeit...”

Daisuke.

That was a name she knew. She'd never met the man in person, but his reputation preceeded him like a foul stench. Had enough rumors pass by that she could get a good feel for what sort of person he way. Army had crossed paths were her crazy sister a while ago, and things hadn't gone well for him, too - cheating, seduction, all that crap. It all came together to paint a vivid picture: the Takeuchis were some of the worst Tension had to offer.

She didn't hold on to the thought for too long, and instead chose to focus on attending to Felina's needs. Daisuke could come later. Daisuke would come later.

"Hey. Come here." She lifted Felina's head up by the cheeks and planted a soft, motehrly kiss on her forehead. "You're a Rodriguez. We don't always win, but we never forfiet. And more to the point, you're Felina Rodriguez. You're a very special Rodriguez. And it's not just because you kick like a mule." She gave Felina's thigh a playful pat. Even with the brief touch, she could feel the rock hard muscle.

Special. Felina had heard that word quite a bit, and in so many different contexts it was almost hard to tell if she should take Carmen’s words as the encouraging compliment they were intended to be. Still it was much better than being called pathetic, a wannabe, or anything of that sort. And though for only a brief moment, she did crack the slightest of smiles when her cousin playfully patted her toned thigh.

Sensitive as Felina could be sometimes, especially with matters like the one currently troubling her, she was also a girl with a lot of pride, particularly in her legs. They’d always been her ticket into the fighting world, and one of the biggest focuses of her brief modeling career. You couldn’t ever go wrong with complimenting her legs. Carmen almost certainly was aware of this, but Felina appreciated it all the same.

But there was still the issue of Daisuke. As glad as Felina was to hear Carmen’s encouraging words, she still wasn’t convinced he was wrong about her. “Hey, Carmen...” she said, pausing a moment to wipe her eyes again before continuing. “..Tell me the truth. Am I..less of a fighter than the rest of the family?”

"No."

Carmen answered Felina without a single second of hesitation, as if she'd expected the question to come her way all day long. She sat up straight and shifted a bit on the bed, giving them both some space. ”I won’t lie.” She bobbed her head from side to side. ”There was a time when I might’ve thought that, maybe. When you started out, I was happy for you, I wanted you to succeed, but there was a part of me that wanted to stick with tradition, too. I wanted us to be side by side in the ranks, maybe even box each other someday. And I know that makes me a hypocrite, and it’s not something I’m proud of, but it’s the truth.”

She turned around and leaned forward, locking eyes with her cousin. ”But when I saw you in action, the way you moved around the ring in your matches, the passion you had, your style, all of it - I realized how foolish I’d been. You used different tools, but you were every bit the fighter I was, Army was, or Dad, or any of us. You had the heart, and that was the important thing.”

Carmen gave her chest a good thumping and smiled. ”And I know that’s a little cheesy, but it’s true. You’ve got what’s important.” Her eyes narrowed. ”Daisuke’s a pampered brat. He has money, but what you have isn’t something he could ever buy.”