A needed change of pace.

Kyoko had been out of it of sorts. Her career had slowed down and it was frustrating her more then it shoukd have. She knew it was unrealistic to expect that her career would take off from a few good wins but she would have preferred at least a steady workflow, anything was better then the inactivity she was currently riding.

Of course that didn't mean she was staying away, she had been working out whenever it was available, but it was just the same routine with the same familiar faces, which got old fast. Kyoko needed something to be different and hoped that she could find it soon.

Alicia was still enjoying her time in Friction – she might have lost that introductory sparring match with Valley Doll but she felt she’d pulled her weight. It’d been a good fight, a lot of fun for her and, while she was seriously hoping for a rematch sometime, that was far more important than just winning.

Right now, she was just waiting on her debut match which was hopefully going to be sooner rather than later, which gave her plenty of time to explore, meet a few people and keep herself in fighting shape when she wasn’t training. Valley had shown her a whole new world of options and the big kickboxer was more than eager to learn the ropes.

Still, she also needed to keep her existing skills sharp – Alicia wasn’t fool enough to think she’d be a pro-wrestler with whatever training she could manage between now and whenever she debuted. Hence why this particular day, she was to be found taking advantage of the AFW gym facilities and their punching bags in particular.

Dressed in a navy blue and black workout top and leggings, hands and feet wrapped with tape, Alicia pounded away at the heavy bag, working it both with powerful kicks and a mix of punches, elbow- and forearm- strikes.

Whatever else there was to like or dislike in this place, the gym certainly wasn’t a problem.

It was also giving her a chance to meet some interesting people. Just like the time she’d been in with Valley Doll, it wasn’t exactly bursting at the seams – not that she cared. She didn’t exactly have much to hide. One of the other women using the machines near where Alicia stood was a Japanese wrestler with a particularly impressive set of abs on full display. Not that her own had anything to be ashamed of, even if her legs were by far her strongest assets, but those were pretty damn noticeable.

It was her blue hair that had caught the kickboxer’s eye though, not to mention the other woman’s odd white eyes – not that she had much room to talk, given hers were an equally striking shade of purple.

What the hell? She was done for now. Grabbing her towel from where she’d left it, the big redhead strode over, wiping the light sweat from her forehead as she went.

”Hey,” She offered as she came close enough to talk, ”I’m Alicia. Nice set of abs you’ve got there.”

If the other wrestler was in a position to accept it, she’d offer her hand politely for a shake.

Kyoko must have really been lost in her thoughts as she didn't notice the introduction unti the girl was halfway done speaking. She turned her head to the see the redhead extending her arm out t her and took a second to process what the girl had said. She smiled at the comment about her abs, she already knew how great they were but it was always nice when someone else noticed. She gave the girl a quick up and down to see any prospects of her body she could compliment in return, stopping at her very impressive legs. Judging by how she used the taping Kyoko guessed she was more MMA styled, or at least a kick boxer.
"Nice to meet you Alicia, the name Kyoko Akan. You may not know this but I pride myself in the strength of my abs so I appreciate it being apparent. Your legs certainly aren't anything to ignore either, you probably practice kicking through concrete with those things. " Kyoko said as she stood up to get at eye level with the girl as she accepted her hand.

She’d apparently caught the other wrestler thinking deep thoughts, given it took her a moment to react. Alicia caught the quick once-over she was given but didn’t have any problem with it.

Kyoko, huh? Nice.

As Kyoko got to her feet, it became clear that she was a few inches shorter than the tall Alicia. She was also curvier though she had the sort of frame that probably hid surprising strength. And there were those abs. She looked like she’d be interesting to fight, even if that wasn’t why Alicia was talking to her. Instead, she was just feeling a little talkative and curious to meet someone else in the league. If it turned into a spar, great. If she got a friend out of it, that worked too.

Shaking hands firmly, she grinned at the other fighter. It was pretty damned apparent, if you asked her, and she could appreciate someone showing off their strengths – she had no problem showing her legs off. So far, she was definitely liking Kyoko. She seemed fun.

”Nice to meet you too. Mostly, I just kick people’s heads off. It’s more fun when they try to fight back, don’t you think?”

She pushed herself up on the balls of her feet, giving Kyoko a good view of the way the powerful muscles flexed under her tight leggings.

”I’ve got a killer scissors too. What’s your style?”

Given the way she talked, she was betting it was something to do with that six pack she was so proud of, like Alicia liked to make use of her frankly lethal legs.

Alicia was definitely the taller of the two but Kyoko wasn't at all bothered by this as the two shook hands. After Alicia talked about her legs more, mainly about how she kicked people's heads off with Kyoko could tell she was someone who wasn't at all modest about them, which suited her just fine. If you got it flaunt it right?

She didn't have to think to hard to believe she had a killer scissors when Alicia began showing off her legs, the muscles apparent from where she stood. And then she asked about her own style of fighting and Kyoko's smile brightened a bit. "Im mostly a brawler, I like to give what I can with strikes but Im all too familiar with wrestling moves to help take some opponents down." Kyoko put her hands behind her head and flexed her ands as she continued. "Of course I'm also known for targeting an opponents belly, can't fight back if they can't breathe right? That and because my own impressive abs people in my old companies started calling me the Belly Queen. A title I wear proudly."

A brawler then. She could definitely see it, given Kyoko’s build and general attitude. And the kickboxer gave a nod of definite agreement at the idea that people couldn’t fight back when they couldn’t breathe. True, her means of getting there was definitely different but same result.

Alicia definitely approved of anyone who enjoyed talking about their fighting style and it was immediately obvious that Kyoko did just that. Between the spark in her odd eyes and the enthusiasm in her voice, this was definitely someone who loved what they did. Alicia could relate. The redhead let out a low whistle as the other girl flexed her abdomen, but her attention was more on what was said about how she fought.

”I’m pretty new here,” She offered, ”So I don’t have a cool name yet, but seems to me you’ve definitely got that title nailed down.”

Really, Alicia simultaneously didn’t really care what people called her and viewed it as pretty inevitable. Honestly, ‘Scissor Queen’ had a nice ring to it, but she was well aware that lots of people thought they had the goods in that regard. Maybe something with Huntress in it…

Folding her arms across her chest, she continued. ”And seriously, I love making people tap to bodyscissors. I generally go for the KO but there’s something special about someone tapping out on my thigh, all nice and breathless.”

The big redhead flashed a decidedly shark-like grin, an idea coming to mind and immediately taking her fancy. ”Like I said, I’m new but maybe we ought to team up sometime. Sounds like we'd have a lot of fun.”

Was that how things were done around here? She really had no idea, her notion being decidedly spur of the moment. At the very least, Kyoko seemed like someone it was worth knowing.

Alicia seemed to appreciate the show, if her whistle was anything to go off of. Kyoko liked to talk about her skills and it seemed Alicia was the same, which made this conversation all the more enjoyable. It was hard to tell if people wanted something from you when they came to talk but Alicia seemed friendly enough. "Thanks, I wouldn't worry about cool names just yet, I never started the nickname, and to me that feels better because it means I earned it. Maybe something will come along for you." she encouraged.
"I'm not know for submissions, I can do them but a pinfall or a knockout suit me just fine. Although I can see the appeal of it." Kyoko admitted submissions were special since it was bad enough to lose, but to have to concede to your opponent was all the more satisfying.
Kyoko raised her eyes at her next comment. Team up? I'm not known for doing so but I certainly wouldn't mind doing so, tag teams can be fun. Hell I wouldn't mind working out or sparring with someone like you."

”Yeah, I’d rather be known for being a badass, to be honest. If that means a nickname, I’m game. If not…” Alicia shrugged. ”I’m not losing sleep over it.”

She had a MA thesis to lose sleep over, not to mention a hopefully burgeoning wrestling career. What the hell she was called hereabouts didn’t even rate the top ten, frankly. Alicia was here to have fun, kick ass and have fun kicking ass. Still, she appreciated the encouragement. Not that she needed it but, hey, just further confirmation that Kyoko seemed like someone it was good to know.

When it came to knockouts versus submissions, Alicia had to admit she generally sided with Kyoko there. ”Yeah, knockouts are usually how I go – like I said, kicking my opponent’s head off pretty much ends most fights, you know? Submissions are a pretty close second – I just like squeezing people, I guess. Or if I don’t like someone. Pins… Eh.” She shrugged again, ”Not my thing. If it works for you though.”

Probably, that was a reflection of her MMA background – knockouts and submissions were what she knew – as well as her just liking them better. Although Alicia supposed she could see herself pinning someone. It’s just she’d probably have knocked them out first.

But she let out a brief chuckle at Kyoko’s comment. ”Never been in a tag team in my life. But there’s a first time for everything, right? But working out sounds like it could be fun. What were you thinking?”

Now it was her turn to be the one looking curious. Sparring was obvious. Working out? Sounded interesting.

Kyoko smiled as Alicia spoke and even more so when the redhead expressed interest in her ideas. Tag-teams opportunities could wait, and she had definetltly sparked her interest as far as some kind of spar with her, of course I always helped to do things differently. "Well we both seem to have some distinctive styles, and we both also have some decent assets. Why don't we show each other just how strong those are?"

Kyoko slapped her bare stomach as she continued. "I have no problem working on my endurance, so I can gladly show you how much my abs can take, and maybe we can see how good those legs of yours are, or since we're both strikers of a sort, we can work on that if you'd like? Maybe you have an idea of how to proceed." Kyoko offered so she wasn't the only one suggesting things.

This sounded interesting. She hadn’t known what Kyoko meant by working out but she hadn’t exactly expected this. Still, she had to admit, Alicia was more than a little curious about that herself. She prided herself both on the strength of her legs and on the skill with which she applied her scissors, meaning that she hadn’t ever met anyone who she wasn’t able to break down with enough time and pressure. Valley didn’t count against that in her head – there had been mitigating circumstances, that was all. Next time she got her thighs around the blonde, Alicia meant to show her just how much damage she could do.

So, while Kyoko had some well-defined and clearly tough abs, the kickboxer was more than confident she’d be able to wreck them. Kyoko, of course, seemed equally confident that her belly could stand up to anything the big redhead could dish out. And a part of her was very happy to prove her own opinion was right.

But the idea of doing some stand-up fighting appealed too. It’d been a while since she sparred with a striker, since she came here at least, and the idea of seeing how her kicks and Kyoko’s brawling matched up was pretty intriguing as well.

Decisions, decisions.

”So, what?” Alicia asked, just to check she had the blue-haired woman’s intent down straight, ”You lay down, I scissor you – see if my legs can beat your abs?”

She grinned. Not a fight but, hey, like Kyoko said – she got to show off her abs and work her endurance, Alicia got to show off her legs and technique. Everyone’s a winner.

”Sounds fun. I promise not to crack any ribs.”