Locker Room Meeting

Her match had been over for some time now, having been earlier on the card. It had been hard fought and rather painful, yet her win over Great Kali was earned. The medics had cleared her, but she had come out with plenty of bruises littering her body. Even with the cold compacts, it would be awhile before Aisha could shake all the damage off. Fortunately her next match wasn't scheduled until far into next week.

One or two wrestlers and staff congratulated her on the successful debut on her way to the locker rooms. It didn't feel like a win, and more like a fluke to her, but it was a win in the books and a benchmark of what to expect in the organisation in the future. Now, all she had to do was change and get her paycheck, a decent hotel room bed awaited her. Opening her locker, she began to change, wanting to hit the shower. The showers, they'd wash some of the pain away, she thought to herself.

Soon after that, Great Kali would enter the locker room, whistling a tune as she headed to her locker, which was conveniently located next to Aisha's. The Indian woman did not notice the pinkette who beat her in their match earlier as she took out a towel from her locker because she wanted to take a shower shortly after this.

"Hmm?" Then, she noticed Aisha next to her. Unlike before, Kali was wearing a neutral expression, making her rather... normal in appearance. It also helped that she had washed off her make-up, making her look like a normal woman rather than a wild goddess of destruction.

"Hey..." She said to Aisha. "Good job out there. Congrats," she grinned at her, and unlike before, her grin look normal.

The voice of Kali nearly made her jump out of her wrestling boots, turning around to face her, preparing for retaliation. To her surprise came what was definitely not the same woman she had fought in the ring. Although she wore the same exposing costume, she lacked those predatory eyes that saw her like meat in the ring. Even her makeup, now gone, couldn't add to that.

"Tha...thank you," she responds albeit somewhat confused at the change of face. Aisha put a hand to her hip, still in costume herself, "You did really good yourself, had me on the ropes the whole match."

"Well, I thought I almost got you back then." The Indian woman shrugged. "Oh well... stuff like this happen sometimes," she grinned pleasantly at Aisha. "By the way, my real name's Deepika. Has been in AFW for a while now. The pay's good, I tell you that..." It was an undeniable fact that AFW was pretty loaded, with AFW itself being a monster in the wrestling industry, it made sense.

Still, Deepika noticed that Aisha was a little confused and apprehensive with her, which was understandable, considering how different she acted in and outside the ring. "So... are you surprised?" She asked, referring to her somewhat normal appearance outside the ring.

"Nice to meet you Deepika. My actual name is Aisha. Love though is my stage name, it's nice to meet you. Does pay better," Aisha nodded, agreeing with her. The pay was good, if not great, even though she really was a just newbie in the AFW roster. She wasn't sure what Kali's, or now Deepika's motives exactly were but she played along and acted polite.

She responds, "Well, yea. You were a monster in the ring, vicious. You know, typical baddie in the ring. I thought ya to kill me the next time ya saw me. No need to take offense to just pretty surprised you'd be so.... friendly," Aisha said, taking a seat down on the locker room bench.

Deepika laughed heartily after hearing Aisha's words. "Hahaha, well... gotta put up the show, y'know? The crowd want to be entertained, after all..." She said. "Well... don't worry. As long as I'm outside the ring, I'm not gonna kill you or anything, unless if we are to meet again in the ring," still smiling pleasantly, Deepika added, "Then I'd need to beat you up senseless."

She shrugged again. "Wrestlers nowadays are always the same, in and outside the ring," she said. "So, I thought that becoming someone I'm not will make me different compared to them..."

"Kayfabe dead huh," Aisha jokes. The last sort of comment somewhat scared her, Kali saying it in such a nonchalant way, "I can understand that, you to."

"So what are ya then? When I got out there I wasn't expecting someone like you coming out and givin' me a thrashin'. Complete 360 if anything how you are talking to me right now," Aisha says, deciding to take her boots off now feeling relaxed in the vicinity of her former opponent.

"Well... let's just say that I'm acting that way in the ring to let out some of my frustration and stuff like that..." Deepika said as she took off her bracelets. "It's pretty normal, actually. Most people will always think about going wild and let their inner beast free, and... well, let's just say that I use wrestling as some kind of outlet for me to actually express myself," she said.

"Hmm... when I think about it again, to say that Great Kali is not me is kind of false," Deepika continued. "My Great Kali persona is just a part of me that I only use in the ring," then, she jokingly added, "Or maybe the goddess Kali herself is possessing me while I'm in the ring, maybe?"

"Well I can agree with that. In the ring, no matter how much I get beat, I just feel alive you know. I got bruises all over me, but that don't stop me from coming out again. Like relaxation, ya know. Just feels good afterwards, like a strong high of adrenaline," she tosses her boots into a duffel bag. She stands up, working to get off her dirty uniform, "Mind if I?" she asks her with a more friendly smile.

"You sure do look like a Human version of her, you know how to put the whoop in whoop ass. Wouldn't mind myself doing a whole goddess thing, wear a mask or something to cover for awhile. It'd be fun."

Deepika laughed. "Well, speaking of masks, I once thought about using a mask during a match. Well, I occasionally wear masks sometimes, but I have to take it off because they always get in my way..." She sometimes wore a half-mask during her entrances, but most of the times, she would take it off (and destroy it) before stepping into the ring.

When Aisha asked if it's okay for her to take off her uniform, Deepika nodded.

"Still... it can be quite a hassle to keep myself in-character," Deepika said. "Maybe I should just come up with a new persona that doesn't require me to act like some kind of psycho goddess..." She sighed. "It'll be hard to do, though, since things here in AFW are all real instead of being kayfabe..."