Cruisin' on high (for a bruisin')

Rebecca was in a rare mood as she walked down the streets of Kyoto. A positive one, in fact. Despite being away from Adrian for the day or more the giantess was feeling good about how her career was going for the first time in quite some time. Here she was, going from a freak show to a serious contender within a week. It may not have been the most conventional career turnaround... actually, things getting better because one of your buddies got the title was pretty common in wrestling. Either way! the going was getting good and Rebecca was going to pass her good mood around. Starting with a family friend.

"Hey people!" She called out in english as she stepped into the Rodriguez's boxing gym, looking out for the short haired pugilist who she got into many who's dad could win arguments with.

Carmen was in a rare mood as she shaved her head in the bathroom. A negative one.

When she’d lost that hair vs. hair match to Soledad Vega a month back, she’d thought the one good thing about it would be saving time and energy of hair upkeep. She had never cared much for that sort of thing in the first place, typically getting her hair cut short once week and forgetting about it.

Being bald was more of a hassle than she’d ever imagined. She had to keep the razor at the right pressure, couldn’t push too hard or too light, had to worry about the bumps and getting just the right length to keep from a sloppy, uneven length. And the shaving cream, a new pain. Hated the smell.

Carmen had come to the gym to get a workout in, hoping to lose some stress with the treadmill and the heavy bag. Thanks to this, she had excess to work with. She was dressed for a good, hard, private work out, going barefoot with her black workout shorts and her sports bra. All the girls were out for the day, and she didn’t have any appointments scheduled. Army was getting into some craziness with Mariko that she didn’t want to know about. Little chance of being interrupted.

So, when she heard Rebecca’s cheerful voice bellowing through the gym, it didn’t lighten her mood like it would have done on a better day. Truth was, she was not in the mood or company today. At all. That included one Rebecca Tomko.

After a long, deep sigh, she called out from the locker room. ”Back here! Give me a minute!” She turned to the mirror and finished off a few straggling hairs, before deciding she was presentable enough for the outside world. A nip here, there, and done.

She washed her head off one last time, cleaned the hairs out of the sink, and made her way out, running a towel over her head as she approached Rebecca. ”Hey, Tomko.” She didn’t put much effort into hiding the annoyance in her voice or her face. She had a token smile, small and light, but little more than that. ”Long time, no see. What’s up?”

Rebecca realised as she came through the quiet gym that she hadn't actually met up with Carmen ever since she got her head shaved, and being a head taller than everyone made it very difficult to ignore what was missing as the towel slipped off her head, beyond the 24/7 title belt. "Hey Carmen," she said, a lot quieter than she had on her entry as she shuffled to say something that didn't go back to the Puerto Rican's baldness. "Things started to uh... pick up for me and I'd thought I'd get some training in. How's things for you?"

When Carmen first got her head shaved, she thought she’d quickly get used to being looked at like she was an alien. Turned out not to be the case, unfortunately. She still noticed that pause in Rebecca’s voice, that stare, that look, that awkward feeling…

It did nothing to improve her mood, unsurprisingly.

”I’m just dandy, thank you for asking.” She sighed and finished drying off her head, letting the towel rest on her shoulder. ”Army’s not here, so I don’t know what to tell you. Maybe use an actual punching bag instead.”

Carmen moved past her, heading towards the weight area as she tried her best not to look at the six plus foot tall Amazon. ”Why are you so chipper all of the sudden, anyway?”

Even the most insensitive person could tell from Carmen's voice that everything was not "fine and dandy," pretty much the opposite in fact as she walked past the giantess. "I was thinking you might want to go a while with me if you were up for it. You can't just have everyone beat up your little brother for you." Rebecca said, sighing slightly as she was told to just hit the bags. "I got kinda booted out of my regular spot. Not that I can complain, I did fuck it up a bit 'cause Adrian needed a distraction but that's well..." she began, stretching her arms behind her before she went off in search of gloves.

"You know Cecilia's the champ in Tokyo, right? Well since we've been friends for about 4, 5 years give or take, she thinks its a good thing to get me a shot at the belt for once. I mean, I might not get it straight away, they'll probably want to throw a few road blocks... in fact I'm kind of hoping they do, 'cause I don't want to be champ 'cause Cec handed the belt to me." The amazon explained, trying not to sound too cheerful about the sudden turn around, even if this was the most high-profile she'd been in years.

Carmen was about to open her mouth and ask exactly why Rebecca got kicked out of the last place, wherever that was, when she noticed that the giantess - her ‘friend’ - was already going for the gloves. Making herself at home. Typically not the sort of thing that Carmen would’ve paid much mind to. She’d let Rebecca and Adrian have free reign of the place before. Today, though, the cavalier attitude was grating. Either Rebecca Tomko wasn’t that great at reading a room, or she just didn’t care to.

Carmen moved over to the free weights and started on some bicep curls - less for the exercise and more for something to focus her energy on. Something to keep her from dwelling on the fact that Rebecca seemed to think her sole priority at the moment was being a sparring partner.

”I have a phone, you could’ve called. Texted. Something.” Up. Down. ”I guess they’ll try to put someone in your way for the belt, but I don’t see much point.” Up. Down. “Akashi’s gone, she was about the only one in Friction who could beat you honest, right?” Up. Down. ”Nobody’s keeping track of contenders. Just go for the belt.” Up. Down. ”Don’t see the problem.”

If she didn't feel bad enough about looking at her friend like she was a completely different person, Carmen was doing a great job at making the giantess feel worse about her actions even as she tried to just carry on as normal, just with the weight lifter working the heavy bag and the boxer on the free weights for a change. Throwing a couple of sloppy hooks to get the bag swinging, Rebecca's punching technique had never been the most efficient use of her dizzying power, but the giantess' strikes weren't up to their usual standard by a long shot. "Carmen..." she began, holding out her arms to stop the swinging "I'm sorry, I should have called ahead." the ebony amazon apologised, trying to at least make some ground back up.

Carmen opened her mouth, as if her brain was preparing to spit back, but she shut it just as quick. "Oh, god damn it."

Part of Carmen, a large part, wished Rebecca could’ve just been aggressive and pushed her as much as she was getting pushed. It would’ve been easier to deal with that. It would’ve fit her mood. But, instead, she was coming off contrite, like she didn’t want Carmen to get mad, which ironically made her even moreso.

”It’s…” She finally sagged. ”It’s fine. You’re fine. I just…” Carmen turned to the weight set and leaned forward, taking a moment to compose her words. ”I feel off. Every since I lost that title, and it’s not just hair. What Soledad did to me, the way she just dominated me at the end and took away my belt, and then you come in here talking about your shot, and-”

She just shrugged and turned back to Rebecca, looking her way, letting all the confusion play on her face. "I feel like picking a fight. I know that's dumb, but I do."