Tokyo Blues

Eka blinked. Alicia would rather quit than get into a hentai match. If it came down to it Eka supposed she would too. It wasn't even wrestling in her estimation and Eka could not imagine being in one of those matches. She enjoyed watching them in the privacy of her dorm room occasionally but was not wont to admit it. The Georgian girl wiggled a little bit as she tried to find a comfortable place to sit. This conversation was currently going to a rather awkward place and Eka wasn't quite sure what to do.

"I know the hentai champion." Eka blurted out. "Her house is....big." Her words were almost as insipid as her tone. "But I wonder where all that comes from. Like why would you submit yourself to that? The origin of it is a complete mystery, yes?" Eka collected herself for a second. "It hardly bears any resemblance to wrestling. Love is one thing, but in the ring, there is no passion." Eka tilted her head and weighed her words.

"At least not that kind of passion. A match can get to you, yes? But not that way. Never that way." Eka stopped. "I assure you, Eka is not a stage name." She said jokingly.

Eka had some good questions there, as far as Alicia was concerned, and she didn’t have any answers to offer. So far as she was concerned, the closest to a hentai move she’d ever used in a fight was a breast smother with her sports bra firmly in place. And that, in her view at least, had been far more about the humiliation factor of having a woman’s chest used to smother a man into unconsciousness.

Compared to some of what she’d heard about or seen on AFW’s shows, that was tame in the extreme. So, no, she had no idea why anyone would willingly put themselves through that, let alone enjoy being on the giving end. Alright, it wasn’t just AFW. She’d heard of a MMA fighter who’d been very much into the sexual humiliation post her matches, which this girl had won most of. But it hadn’t ever been her thing even if she didn’t judge other people’s kinks. As long as nobody expected her to wrestle a hentai match, there wouldn’t be a problem.

Or, if they tried anything in a normal match, Alicia would break their ribs. End of problem.

And, alright, sometimes she did enjoy what she did a shade too much. But, like Eka had said, not that way. Never that way.

”I guess it pays well,” The redhead suggested out loud, for want of anything else to say, ”And lots of people will do stuff they wouldn’t otherwise if it pays. For me, I’m more interested in… well, satisfaction I guess you’d call it. The thrill of the fight, if you want to be all poetic.”

She managed a brief laugh. ”And Alicia’s not a stage name either. I like to think I’d have picked a better one if it was.” Not that there was anything wrong with her name but, well, it wasn’t exactly the sort of name you’d pick for a character was it?

Eka considered it. She didn't really need the money. At least not more than anyone else did. Wrestling at AFW covered everything that her scholarships didn't, which was a whole heck of a lot. The girls who made the marquee were paid a lot more than her obviously but she never wanted for cash. She never spent her money on frivolous things anyways. Except new leather pants when her old ones got a little bit too musty, but that was as much a business expense as it was a fun expense. Either way she was always going to have money for coffee.

"There is nothing wrong with Alicia." Eka said, opening the palm of her hand to the ceiling. "Just as there is nothing wrong with the name Eka. We accept many things from our parents, yes?" The Georgian girl reflected on her partner's words. "The thrill of the fight is important. I grant this. I just want to participate in something that a thousand people did before me and do so with pride. If I can leave the ring with pride," Eka gulped, "then that is all that matters."

Eka leaned back in her chair. Her hair kept falling in front of her face. She had always hated hair bands and rejected ponytails outright, despite the fact that her mane occasionally obscured her vision in the heat of a wrestling match. "Listen," she began, "I hate to cut the conversation short. But I have a meeting with one of my professors. I will call you, yes? And then we can spar a little bit."

Pride. Hmm, well, Alicia could get behind that as a motivation. To her, it didn’t seem a million miles away from her own thinking, and the need to have a good fight. There wasn’t any… well, anything worth having in a fight like the one she’d had with Gallium. Certainly, she hadn’t felt proud for having stomped an incompetent, poorly trained novice flat. While it wasn’t fun or thrilling either – in her opinion to watch or to be fighting in – it wasn’t something to boast about either.

”Oh, there’s nothing wrong with Alicia – or Eka. But, if I had to pick a stage name, I think it’d be something…” She shrugged helplessly, ”More, I’d don’t know. Exotic. Maybe better was the wrong word.”

With that, she subsided into a thoughtful reverie for a moment, considering Eka’s words until the other woman declared she’d got to go – that led the kickboxer to glance at her own watch. That was a very good point. Time flew when you were having fun and, well, that had clearly been a fun chat given how much time had passed versus how much she’d thought had passed.

”No problem,” Alicia agreed, rising to her feet and stretching entirely un-self-consciously, almost purring as she did so, ”I ought to get going too. But it was great meeting you, Eka – drop me a line and we’ll have that sparring session.”

The redhead leant down to snag her empty cup, taking the opportunity to grin at the other wrestler.

”It’ll be fun.”

"Yeah, it was...nice. It was really lovely to meet you. I will definitely call you. The AFW gym is really nice, yes?" Eka collected her backpack and swung it on her back. The bag was laden with heavy books and she nearly lost her balance because she swung it so quickly. She looked back at the table and grabbed the book that had started the conversation in the first place. "And I am sure it will be fun." The Georgian girl did lots of lower back exercises to help her with her wrestling and to help her haul all of her books around campus.

"Bye bye!" She said with a wave and a smile. Eka marched towards the door, her feet making a scraping sound as she hardly ever lifted them. When she reached the door, she looked back. Eka honestly didn't know what she should have expected, but there was Alicia, whole and singular, looking very good. Her thighs were like tree trunks and Eka knew even a spar against her was going to be difficult.

She turned and left the small coffee shop, scanning the horizon. The Georgian girl knew exactly where she needed to go.