Come into my Parlour...

Oh, you have no idea, Dmitri. No idea at all just how hard she could squeeze or how strong her legs were.

That was ok though. Maybe he was going to find out.

Solid was a good word though. She did like that.

”Thank you,” The words were meant entirely sincerely, because she’d been brought up too well not to appreciate an honest compliment. ”Nice to meet a guy who can appreciate all that effort.”

Careful, he almost sounded like he was catching on there. If she wasn’t careful, he might cotton on to the idea that this wasn’t really a date so much as an audition. She was seriously out of practice with this routine, not helped by Alicia being constitutionally incapable of doing half the stuff that most guys expected women to do on dates. Sigh, bat their eyes, let them lead the conversation… None of that was her style and it showed. It was the old ‘men couldn’t cope with strong women’ cliché, except apparently it was a cliché for a reason.

Dmitri didn’t sound too bothered, but then she’d expect that. Given the sort of competition hanging around in Tension, at least from what she’d heard, it’d take a really solid skull not to admit that women could easily hang in the ring with men.

”Sure, I can show you how I train,” She agreed, finishing off her coffee and setting the cup back down with a final clink. ”It’ll be fun. Though lots of running and gymnastics helped too.”

Hopefully her smile wasn’t too predatory. Seriously, he’d just asked for it. Any of the Friction trainers could have told him exactly what he’d just let himself in for and Dmitri had asked for it. Oh, that was too good.

”You're welcome. It’s just my opinion.” Dmitri replied, glad that she appreciated the compliment. He’d meant it. Alicia was a very beautiful woman, svelte and strong, with the red hair to give her an exotic look. She seemed a tad aggressive, but then, so were many women in their business. Timidness was not a trait that went well with their profession.

”That's why I like Friction so much - I think there's a lot of appeal behind a strong woman. And in Tension, you have women who are willing to go up against men, and they don’t think twice about it. It helps make the AFW unique.”

That was quite true - AFW’s stock was strong, and though there were a few imitators out there, none of them quite had the appeal and reach. He might’ve disagreed with some of the seedier aspects, but the charts didn’t lie. Sex sold.

Managing to tear his gaze away from Alicia’s prodigious thighs for a moment, Dmitri sat up as the waitress came over and gave them a check - a check that he, of course, paid. Pretty much required.

”I’m thinking of getting more active now that my workload is dropping off, though.” He handed the check off and looked back Alicia’s way, leaning forward with his elbows on the table. ”Small chance they might even have us wrestle, sometime. They like to do crossover matches every now and then, keep things spicy and spontaneous. I know I’m overdue for one.”

Dmitri kept his smile light and joking, just idle chat. While he would have to do a crossover match at some point, they probably wouldn’t put him against Alicia. Chances were he’d be facing someone bigger, with more of a record in the league. They did like their squashes…

”And some just wasting space too,” Alicia rolled her eyes, ”My debut match was against some idiot called Gallium Heart – what sort of name is that anyway – who shouldn’t even be in a ring. Totally useless, even with a veteran coaching her.”

She cheered up a bit. ”Still, I’m hoping I get a crossover match sometime. Fighting men is a lot of fun – it’s different from fighting another woman, mostly they’ve got different styles.”

And that uniqueness was one of the reasons she’d picked the AFW. Yes, being in Friction meant she was usually fighting other girls and that was fine with her, given the massive range of opponents on offer. But she’d got the chance to go up against guys too – as Dmitri was suggesting, that there was a chance that the two of them might be thrown together sometime.

Seriously, he’d better hope not.

”If they do, you’d better not pull any punches. Well, kicks,” Alicia might be grinning at her bad joke as she rose sinuously to her feet, but her warning was deadly serious – not that she thought it’d help him much. But that was one guaranteed way to get her mad and fast, even more so than pushovers like Gallium. At least they were trying. People who held back, particularly because they thought they were being noble, wound Alicia up like nobody’s business. ”Seriously, I hate that.”

Warning issued and probably ignored, she stretched, balling her hands into fists and rising up on the balls of her feet with a throaty groan. It wasn’t meant to be seductive in the slightest and it certainly wasn’t for his benefit, though the way her t-shirt rode up to bare a slice of her toned belly meant it might have had that effect anyway.

”Thanks for the drink. Come on, you can walk me back to my apartment.”

And yes, that had very much been anything but a question – he was going to walk her back and the direct, unapologetic gaze she had levelled on him would have made that clear if her tone hadn’t.

Dmitri thought Gallium Heart was a good wrestling name, honestly. Sounded wrestling-y. Probably not best to voice his opinion, there. ”I certainly agree that the ring’s not for everyone, no. I guess if I did have one complaint about the company, it’s that they’re a little too inclusive. They tend to hire just about anybody - which is, yeah, good for variety, but it also means you get some of the good with the bad.”

Dmitri scratched his head and nodded, feeling he could somewhat get where she was coming from. Granted, it was that inclusiveness that made it easy for him to get a job there at a time when he really needed it, but he could also recognize that they let just about everything slip through the cracks. One of his biggest fears was fighting some poor girl who had no business in the ring. Which, with his luck, would probably happen.

It was a sobering thought, but he broke away from it with a little laugh when Alicia told him something he didn’t need told: don’t hold back. ”Oh, yeah, beleive me, I’m way past the point of holding back in a Tension match. Haven’t had too many matches, but enough to know why that’s a bad idea.”

He probably figured that one out around the time a woman powerbombed him into oblivion. Not saying that out loud, though.

Dmitri watched Alicia stretch, admiring her powerful, taut body along the way, coming just shy of oogling her. He managed to avert his gaze before he reached that point, and stood up himself, ready to part ways and hopefully plan their next meeting.

Alicia had something else in mind.

”Oh.” He blinked at the suggestion, then nodded. ”Sure, sure, lead the way.” Dmitri certainly didn’t mind walking Alicia home. Japan was a fairly safe country and she could certainly handle herself, but maybe she just wanted the company. Definitely a good sign.

”So long as they don’t expect me to fight the bad ones, I don’t care much.”

Variety was good, of course it was good, and Alicia appreciated everyone needed someone to fight, but she’d prefer they did it without involving her. Squash matches bored her and – in a rare moment of self-awareness – they didn’t make her many friends either given how they were pretty much always going to end.

The same way as the match with Gallium.

Still, she wasn’t unhappy to hear somebody in Tension had taught – beaten – that lesson to Dmitri.

Though, she raised an eyebrow at that bit.

”How’s that square with ‘won a few, lost a few’?” Alicia asked, curious about whether she’d just caught him in a lie.

As Dmitri was probably already coming to expect, Alicia hadn’t bothered to wait for him to tell her to lead on. She was already leading on, having turned on her heel the second he’d agreed and made for the door with long strides.

She’d never been one to hang about; once she was outside, the big redhead took a moment to reorient herself. And then she was off again. Alicia walked with a purpose and the grace of a former gymnast, shoulders back, head held high, and if Dmitri didn’t get a move on she’d leave him behind.

That wasn’t on purpose, that was just the way she moved. Though it’d give him a good look at her from behind into the bargain, which was something to see in her shorts.

The café wasn’t too far from her apartment, maybe ten or fifteen minutes’ walk for athletes with their conditioning. Like – she imagined at least – a lot of the newer wrestlers, Alicia lived in a complex of apartments leased chiefly to AFW employees. Hers wasn’t bad and she’d got a bit of privacy thanks to not having immediate neighbours. Which was going to be handy.

Japan had taken some getting used to after living all her life in the UK, still was taking some getting used to if she was honest.

”It’s not far,” She told Dmitri when he caught up with her.

Dmitri could certainly understand Alicia’s distaste for fighting weak opponents. He didn’t like hurting people who weren’t up for it, and he didn’t like winning easy matches. Did nothing for him or anyone.

Unfortunately, it probably wouldn’t be up to her all that much. ”Management can be a little weird with their choices, yeah. I don’t think they actually pick matchups from a hat, but it does feel that way, sometimes.”

In particular, he’d often wondered whose idea it was to put him up against a woman with a weird clown gimmick. Strange times.

Dmitri kneeled and reached under the table, where his backpack had been nestled. He was on the move a lot, helped to bring his essentials along with him in case he needed them. Water, change of clothes, some extra food, stuff like that.

”Oh, I mean-” He perked up when Alicia called him out on his slight exaggeration. ”Well, you know, matches in general. Including my Tae Kwon Do record a bit in there, too. And I’ve had enough matches in Tension to get that impression, I think. Not to mention, I’ve watched plenty, so I can-”

He looked up and she was already out of earshot. ”Ah, come on…”

With a little skip in his step, Dmitri made his way out and followed after her. With an ordinary Japanese woman, he might have lost her in the bustling thrones, but since she was a nearly six-foot-tall Englishwoman with bright red hair, she stood out. He probably could’ve picked her out from half a mile away.

Dmitri came up behind her - taking a moment to enjoy the view along the way, he had to admit - and walked at her side, keeping up. ”Got it, right beside you.” Dmitri had to put a little more effort into walking than usual just to match her stride, but he managed.

In fairness, it was probably pretty good that Alicia was only five minutes off on her estimation – it was just over twenty minutes between them stepping out of the café and her slowing to a stop outside the door to her apartment. She hadn’t seen anyone as they’d climbed the stairs or walked the

”This is me,” She absently explained, fishing in her own bag for her key taking up more of her attention before her fingers closed around it. Then it was the work of a moment before the lock clicked open and she swung the door wide. The living room beyond was small and plain, decorated with a couple of trophies from school and uni competitions, some pictures of Alicia before she’d moved to Japan – at the beach, at the gym, mounting another girl in the centre of an MMA ring, with her parents at her graduation in full gown and so on. Her laptop sat on the small table, next to a heaping stack of books on Roman history in all its forms. Beyond, doors led to her bedroom and the bathroom, the kitchen, and the spare room. That door stood shut.

Home sweet home-away-from-home.

”Thanks for walking me back, Dmitri. Don’t just stand there, come on.”

She’d kept the spare room empty and covered the floor with mats so she could train in the apartment if she needed to, or for moments like this. It wasn’t perfect but it was good enough for government work as the saying went. All she really needed to do was get him back there and get him to agree to a little fun sparring.

Easy.

Dmitri was perfectly fine waking Alicia home. It got them a few odd stares along the way - they did make an odd couple, to put it mildly - but he hardly cared. Ever since the AFW took root, foreign women were more and more of a common sight in Tokyo, particularly around the arena.

For some reason, though, it never crossed Dmitri’s mind that she'd want him to come inside her apartment. Not even because he thought she was after something more sensual. It just seemed like a big step for a first date, bringing someone you'd just met into a private space.

Maybe he’d said something right. Maybe Westerners were just faster than the women he was used to.

Either way, he didn't question it much and stepped right on in, closing the door behind him and taking a look around her apartment. It was Spartan, not much to it, but he did see some things that caught his interest. Namely the pictures, the trophies, and the book on Roman history.

”Oh, hello.” He picked up the book and thumbed through it. Dmitri did remember her profile had said something about a degree, but he hadn't thought to bring it up until now. Good a time as any. ”I went through a bit of this during my first years. Always liked history - not my best subject, but I enjoyed reading about it, anyway.”

Alicia didn’t do seductive very well. Not deliberately anyway, and she knew it. Manipulation hadn’t ever been one of her strengths, partly because she lacked the patience for it and partly because it always just seemed easier to ask if she wanted something. Add to that that being tongue-tied wasn’t a problem and it was more or less certain that she’d just go right for the heart of any subject. Wasting time beating around the bush – not her style.

So, once they were inside, she put her keys back in the back and went to tuck it away safely out of sight. It also gave her a chance to grab her trusty MMA gloves from the bedroom and it was while pulling one on that she walked back into the living area to find Dmitri’s head bent over one of the work books she’d left out.

”I’m midway through my Master’s,” She explained, tugging the glove firmly into place and starting on the other. ”It’s on the late Republic – Sulla and Marius and lots of dead guys like that. Don’t worry, doesn’t matter if you’ve never heard of them, I’m used to it.”

Walking over, she firmly shut the book, taking it from his hands and putting it back on the pile to make absolutely certain his attention was fully on her.

”Seeing as you’re here though, I wanted to suggest something.”

Casually, like she did this every day, Alicia reached down and pulled her t-shirt up and over her head in one smooth motion, before tossing it over the chair. Underneath, she wore a simple black sports bra that did an excellent job of showing off its contents, not to mention the rest of her toned upper body. It might not have been as honed to perfection as her legs, but still.

”Up for a little sparring? I promise not to bite…”

No, she wouldn’t bite.

”No, it's a little familiar.” Dmitri slipped more towards the back of the book, getting close to the Index. ”Most of my work was on the latter days, though. I remember for my final, I had to write this big report on Romulus Augustus, and my professor, he wanted-”

Dmitri had started to smile as he begun a funny little anecdote, but Alicia didn't seem all that interested in hearing it. In hindsight, it was a little rude to just come into her home and start messing with her valuables, but that wasn't the only reason she wanted the book away.

A spar. She wanted to spar.

”Oh, well…” He blinked and looked her over, taking in her toned body from head to toe. She certainly had no reservations showing off, but he wasn't quite sure how to take it. Was this a come on? Some kind of foreplay?

A pretty woman wants to roll around with you, Dmitri. Don't question it.

”Okay, we can do that, let's do that.” He tapped his backpack.“I have some of my training gear in here, so that works. Just need a minute to change, and…” He looked around, confused. ”Do you want to do it right here or go outside or…”