Raising the Bar

Blossom nodded along as Millie explained her reasoning, trying as best as she could to put herself in the Flight Lieutenant’s shoes. She’d never even been close to military life, so it wasn’t the easiest thing to fathom, but she could understand the idea of wanting to be recognized for what you were, at least.

”I guess that makes sense.” She folded her arms and sat back, pondering for a second. ”Maybe you could meet it halfway? Like, became ‘Lieutenant Millie’? It’d be more accurate, and it still kind of has a ring to it.”

With that out, Blossom started back on her drink, this time taking more than tepid sips, drinking it normally. She was small, so she doubted she could have too much of the stuff before the effects really started sinking in, but she was enjoying it for now.

”But yeah, I’d like to meet her, sure. Mmm.” She licked her lips and had another mouthful. ”I’m really just getting back into the ring after a long hiatus, and I’m training, but I could use some help figuring things out. I workout with my girlfriend, but, well, that can get a bit...heated.” Blossom blushed and had a soft smile. A typical effect whenever she thought of Death Bunny.

”It would be nice to have some backup, someone to help me get things together. Plus, we could train together a lot, right? That’d be fun, I think.”

"Lieutenant Walker... Lieutenant Millie Walker? Hmm..." Millie muttered to herself, taking a long moment to stare down at her drinks in silent contemplation, her brow furrowing. Finally she looked back up with a sigh, "No, it doesn't sound as good, does it?"

She leaned back in her chair, looking up at the ceiling and letting out the low groan of someone that's just realized they've lost. "Suppose I'm just stuck with it for now." She sighed, taking the moment to wallow in self pity, a luxury she rarely afforded herself. Once the moment was over, she'd settle back into her chair, take a drink, and look over at Blossom with a friendly smile. "Thank you for the suggestion." She said, pausing for a moment. "And for putting up with my silly problems."

Millie couldn't help but laugh a little and shake her head, "I can arrange that." She offered, before perking up a little at the mention of training. She could definitely think of a few places that she could learn from Blossom in. Strength mostly. Strength was definitely the big one.

"I'd like that," Millie replied. "I'd definitely appreciate some tips from you, though, I should warn you, I can get a little..." She trailed off, remembering her earlier outburst at Blossom during their match. "Intense sometimes."

Blossom echoed Millie’s sigh, taking the time to mull it over along with her. ”Yeah, it is a bit of a mouthful. Too many syllables, and it doesn’t have the same alliteration going on. Not as, you know, ‘marketable’.”

Blossom waved off the apology and vigorously shook her head. ”Hey, wrestling names are kind of a big deal, it’s no problem. A lot of what we do is for the show, right? So we’ve got to get the name right, so we can start off strong. Something that rolls off the tongue well. I’m happy to help.”

Maybe the alcohol was starting to really kick in. Maybe.

”Anyway, yeah.” She snapped her finger. ”Intensity is great. Intensity is perfect. I need more of that.” Blossom chewed on her lip, still lucid enough to not want to say what she was about to. It came out, regardless. ”See, part of the reason I was so happy when I won was because, well...you were the first person I’ve ever beaten in the AFW. Well, not counting my first match against this really lame girl who couldn’t even wrestle and was acting all silly and-”

Blossom pinched her nose and stopped that little tirade in its tracks. ”The point is, I used to not really go full throttle in my matches, and it cost me a lot. I even quit wrestling for a while and became a trainer. But now I’m back, and I’m trying to go at with real focus this time. And I can tell, you a super-focused. So yeah. Training. Please.”

"It is very much appreciated," Millie smiled over at the American. She was glad that she'd been lucky enough to find someone so friendly in a match, and someone who could teach her so much.

Millie tried not to laugh at Blossom's next comment, especially at the explanation and the rant that followed it, but she'd had a few, and any self-restraint she had once held was worn away at by now. "Sorry, sorry. That does explain why you were so excited though." She said, letting the smile and the little giggle fit last for as long as they could, before she fell back into military officer mode.

"Well, if you think you're up for it I can help you train. But you have to mean it, do you mean it?" She asked, giving Blossom an intense stare, evaluating the girl. Challenging Blossom had gotten a response in the ring, so she'd try it here too, just a little less intense to start. "If you're serious about this, we start tomorrow morning. Five am. Meet me at the AFW parking lot entrance, and wear good running clothes."

Blossom’s first inclination was to scoff at the idea of getting up that early to train. She’d never been that much of an early riser, and it didn’t help that she’d just had a hard match and a bit of a late night to follow it. At best, she was looking at four, maybe five hours of good sleep, and that was only if the cats in her apartment didn’t decide to have another collaborative meowing session.

But she erased those thoughts, quick and fast. Millie was offering to help her out, and she needed all the help she could get. Besides, Millie was fun. She’d had more fun with Millie than just about anyone in the past year or so, not including a certain fuzzy fighter.

”Bright and early.” Blossom smiled, raised her glass with one hand and gave a salute with the other. ”I’ll be there.”

And Blossom was there. At 5:00 AM, right on the dot, she showed up at the AFW, clad in her blue gym shorts and her Pink Floyd t-shirt, doing some stretches in front of the entrance. She couldn’t help but yawn every minute or so, still fighting off the efforts of a short sleep and a minor hangover, but all in all she was fit enough to get through this. She hoped.

Eager and ready, she waited for Millie to show…

Millie watched Blossom, gauging her reaction. Not everyone was up to the early start - hell, she wasn't up to it some days, but the Brit still forced herself into it, and it seemed to be working out for her. Plus, it kept her in a good routine, which was definitely nice. Even if she did strain it by staying out drinking on occasion.

"Glad to hear it," Millie responded, shooting back a polished salute. "See you there.

Even with the American's verbal confirmation, Millie was surprised to not only find Blossom there, but there before her. Jogging up to the parking lot in a pair of green shorts, a dark grey shirt with a blue, white, and red bullseye printed across the front, and a giant rucksack strapped to her back, the Brit was already part way into her morning jog.

"You made it!" Millie smiled happily over at her new friend, panting as she slowed to a stop, leaning against the nearest lightpost and pulling a water bottle from her backpack, and taking a greedy gulp from it. "Hope you aren't too hungover?"

The great thing about Japan was that it was easy for Blossom to pick out non-Japanese people when they were coming her way. It was especially easy when the person in question was a six-foot tall British soldier with striking pink hair.

As such, she saw Millie coming her way from far off, sure enough on time. Blossom waved to her as she neared and jogged a little bit towards, sliding about passerbys as she neared. Her new friend was every bit as bright and cheerful as she’d been last night for the most part, albeit more sweaty.

”I guess?” She shrugged. ”I’ve never been hungover before, so I don’t really have a way to know what’s the appropriate level of...hangoverness, I guess. But I’m fine!” She tapped her head. ”Little headache, but nothing too bad. What about you?”

Millie couldn't help but give a little chuckle. Blossom had mentioned that she didn't drink much, so it shouldn't have surprised the Brit that the American wasn't particularly familiar with hangovers, but it was still funny to her.

"Well, it's a bad sign if you feel like you've been hit by a lorry," Millie joked, smiling at her friend. "But if you have a headache, that's not awful. I'm fine, feel a bit worse than you, but I've had time to perfect this." She replied with a small laugh. The favoured trick of her drill officers in basic, and every field exercise following that, seemed to be letting the troops go out and get drunk, and then wake everyone up at some horrid hour. Millie hadn't stopped drinking, instead just learning how to push herself through the inevitable hangover that followed those days.

"So, how do you want to start? Little jog before we hit the gym?" She asked, starting to stretch her arms and legs as she placed her water bottle back in its pocket.

Blossom had no idea what it was like to get hit by a lorry, in large part because she wasn’t sure what a ‘lorry’ was. Still, she got the general gist. While she’d had fun with Millie last night and would do it again in a heartbeat, she didn’t see herself getting too drunk often. Or ever, really. Just a little bit every now and then, with special people. Friends.

”Sure!” She chirped and bent down to make sure her shoes were properly tied and ready. It was a nice day for jogging, really, and a perfect time for it - while Japan was usually fairly cold around this time, the temperature’s had been unusually high for the last week or so, and the air still had that crisp, fresh, early-morning scent to it. Not too hot, not too cold, just right.

”Just try not to leave me behind.” She made her way over to Millie’s side and waited for her to kick things off, eager to follow behind. ”I’m not slow or anything, but I think you, uh, cover more ground when you make steps.”

Blossom reached over and gave one of Millie’s long legs a tap.

"I'll do my best." Millie gave a little laugh, shaking out her legs a little after Blossom tapped her. "I'll slow down a bit for you, how's that?" the Brit asked, walking over to the sidewalk and mentally making a map in her mind.

Millie figured just to start off, she'd take Blossom for a little jog around the AFW campus. It was big enough that they'd get a good amount of exercise, but small enough that it shouldn't scare the American off of jogging again. Plus, if Blossom did ever feel winded, they could call it a day and head to the gym without having to travel too far.

"I'll lead. You good to go?" She asked, turning back to the American with a happy smile.