A "Blossoming" Friendship

Welp here Laura was, finally at the wrestling league she had chosen, eager to battle with the best of them. Sadly her time to debut had yet to come. Instead she was training to be ready for that first fight in one of the gyms on the AFW complex. She already had a few different attires lined up for her matches, one being a red and black one piece with similarly colored boots and purple elbow pads. While the her secondary attire was a black sports bra and shorts with similarly colored boots/other accessories.

Currently in on of the training rooms in her red one piece attire, Laura was starting to warm up at the bench press. The bright haired brunette was lifting about 150 pounds while being spotted by a friendly female trainer who seemed quite impressed by her strength. She was an olympian gold medalist after all, and her strength was the woman’s greatest weapon. Though she didn’t like to flaunt the "gold” part for certain reasons, Laura was always quick to mention her status as being in the olympics since it was still a great honor for her.

Then after enough reps, Laura would hand the barbell off to the trainer and breath a bit heavily. She wasn’t done yet, though, not by a long shot. But enough with weights, Laura wanted some action, some one on one action in the ring. The gym was pretty empty, though, and the brunette wasn’t seeing anyone that promising.

“Hmm…what to do, what to do…what…to…do…” Laura would say to herself as she looked around a bit, eyeing up the potential sparring partners. Out of the corner of her eye though, Laura would see just what she was looking for in the form of a short and adorable woman just across the room. Laura had actually seen the woman’s matches before, and thought the women had a lot of potential. Plus seeing that she was a grappler like herself, the former olympian was more than eager to call over the potential sparring partner.

“HEY YOU!” the brunette would shout in a loud but friendly tone. “Yes you! Come here I wanna ask you something!” Laura would shout with a big smile on her face as she waved the potential sparring partner to come over. Hopefully it was time for the real work out to begin...

”Oh!” Blossom spun about when she picked up on the woman yelling at from across the way. ”Oh, sure, gimme a sec.”

It was weird being back in the gym - well, to be specific, it was weird for Blossom to be back in this gym as a wrestler, and not a trainer. When she was on her hiatus, she’d taken up the job, and spent every other day in the place cleaning it up, maintaining the hardware, helping incoming wrestlers became better outgoing wrestlers. At first, Blossom thought she’d hate the job, but it became a home away from home after a while. A way for her to be close to the sport she loved without actually being in the sport she loved.

But now, she really was back, and in active competition, and in dire need of some training, herself. She’d come to the gym today, clad in her Star Spangled ring gear, hoping to get in some good sparring and some weight lifting if she still had the energy for it. There was always someone hanging around the gym, looking to test herself in the ring, and she knew there wouldn’t be a long wait for that certain someone to show up. Maybe not long at all.

Sure enough, someone called her after too long, and she found herself walking over to...a familiar face, actually. Blossom craned her head to the side as she approach her fellow brunette, trying to place where she’d seen this woman before. She wasn’t an AFW regular, she was sure of that much, but she couldn’t ignore the tinge of nostalgia tickling the back of her brain.

She put it aside for the moment, figuring it would occur to her if she let it marinate long enough. ”Hey! What’s up?”

Laura watched as the smaller woman made her away across the gym over to her. Blossom was tilting her head to the side as if she were trying to think hard about something. Maybe it was why Laura was calling her over, maybe she was wondering who she was, either way the former olympian was fine with answering her questions.

“Yo, thanks for coming over. So here’s the deal…I’m looking for a sparing partner but the place seems pretty low on them…besides you I mean…you’re Blossom Fields right? I mean I’ve seen some of your matches and you're a pretty cool grappler from what I've seen...but I can be bad with faces haha” Laura would explain before letting out a nervous laugh while scratching the back of her head.

“Anyway I’m talking too much sorry…my name’s Laura Connors, and I was wondering if you’d be up for a spar. You’re just what I need honestly cause ‘A’ you’re a grappler like me and ‘B’ you’ve been here for a while so it’ll be a good test run to see how I’ll do here…and I’m still rambling…sorry...” Laura would explain before covering her face with one hand somewhat embarrassed.

“So...you wanna try your luck against a former olympian?” Laura would say with a big grin on her face while she put her hands on her hips and tried to look cool. It might’ve been silly, but Laura wanted to make a good impression on Blossom. She was the first wrestler she had met at the AFW and it was always good to make friends in new places. God knew she was having trouble adjusting to Japan, maybe the smaller woman could help her do that as well. She needed to take baby steps first, though. After all, Laura hadn’t even gotten her to agree to the spar yet.

‘Laura Conners’.

By the time she’d revealed her name, the gears had fully turned in Blossom’s head, and she’d fully remembered where she’d seen her from. She’d always kept with the Olympics, loving every single event, and she never missed a single second of the wrestling competition. How could she not recognize Laura? The different attire had thrown her off a bit, and it was always different seeing someone in real life that you’d only previously seen through a TV screen, but sure enough, it was her.

What was more surprising than seeing her here in Japan was knowing that she knew who Blossom was. She didn’t have that many matches under her belt, and the few there weren’t didn’t rate high on anyone’s list of impressive showings. Still, if that bothered her, she didn’t show it.

”Oh!” She snapped out of it at the mention of a spar. She was never not down for that sort of thing, but the idea of going up against someone with a style like her own...that was a rare treat. One she could savor. ”Sure, I’d love a good spar. I mean, I don’t know how good it’ll be for your experience, but…”

Blossom rubbed the back of her head, a tad sheepish. As much as she wanted to do it, there was no ignoring the skill gap, here.

Laura would smile as the smaller woman would quickly agree to a spar. But as Blossom added how she wasn't sure how good of an experience it would be, the iron woman would simply chuckle and shake her head. Clearly she was a bit shy, but luckily for her, Laura was pretty damn friendly. And that meant she wasn't going to let her potential friend act like this right in front of her.

"Hahah, don't get all sheepish on me now, Blossom...You're just what I need to get ready! Trust me this'll do us both some good!" Laura would reassure as she gave the fellow wrestler a firm slap on the back. Then with an arm around her sparring partner's shoulder, the former olympian would begin to walk towards the ring with Blossom.

"So how do you wanna do this? I was thinking something simple. Win by either pin or submission...OH and maybe a focus on grapples and slams...seeing as those are our biggest strengths." Laura would explain as she approached the ring apron. Then pushing herself up and onto it, the former olympian would open the middle and bottom ropes for Blossom by pressing down with her boot and pulling up the on the middle one.

"After you, friend!" she would say with a big smile as she waited for the shorter woman to get inside.

Wow, Laura was perky. People told Blossom she was perky, and she wore that perkiness on her sleeve, but Laura was putting her to shame. She’d known the woman for all of exactly one minute, but already she could see the way she just seemed to radiate positive energy. Cool. Very cool.

She winced at the hard slap on her back, but followed along with her larger counterpart, making their way over to the ring. She went up first and Blossom came in right behind her, slipping in between the offered ropes.

”Well, okay. I’d love to work on my chain wrestling, so that’s a good place to start.” She took a few steps forward as she stretched her arms out, getting her bones ready for action.

”Pins and submissions are good, but we should keep it kind of simple, make it safe. Like, for instance, if you get held in a submission for longer than ten seconds, you’re automatically counted out. Less risk, that way.”

Laura would soon follow Blossom into the ring after helping her through the ropes. It seemed like she was pretty cool with her offer, but the addition of having a ten second rule for submissions seemed interesting to say the least. It was a good way to keep things safe like Blossom said...but it made things a little easier too.

"Hmm...sounds good to me, but then we might want to make it...about three submission holds to win? Heheh, we don't wanna make this too short by locking in one lucky hold you know?" Laura would say with a smile as she started to stretch as well by going low and doing some side lunges on each leg. She wanted to be loose and ready to take on this woman after all.

Then after standing back up, Laura would get into a ready position with her hands raised while hunching over. The former Olympian seemed to be eager to lock up with Blossom. Which was understandable since this would be her first time facing another woman here in the AFW. It didn't really matter that this would be unofficial, to Laura this would be a fight to remember.

Yeah, ‘eager’ was really the best word to describe Laura. To watch this from the outside, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Blossom was the world-class Olympic wrestler with a gold medal under her belt and that Laura was the comparatively unknown wrestler who’d won two matches in her entire three-year career.

Blossom wasn’t sure whether she should be creeped out or flattered. For now, she went with the latter.

”That’s fair.” Blossom chirped back, after taking a moment to think of her suggestion. It would certainly make the contest more like, well, a contest, and it would help her get the most of the session. It wouldn’t do to just get caught and then part ways with Laura. This could be a learning experience.

”All right!” Blossom drew up, clapped, then leaned forward into a mirror image of Laura’s own pose, only smaller. With an imaginary bell ringing in her head, she started to circle around the Olympian, occasionally reached out and pulling her hand back quick, trying to test and assess her foe before she committed to anything.

Laura smiled as all the rules were settled and the two could begin their spar. Clearly excited to compete, she would watch Blossom as if her eyes were glued on the shorter woman as she began to circle the former olympian (Who would quickly follow her opponent’s example and begin to move in circle as well). Then as her sparing partner reached out, Laura would attempt to reach out as well and grab the hand. Blossom would pull back quickly though as it became clear she was judging the medalist’s abilities before she’d make her move.

It was definitely a smart strategy. After all, Laura was much larger than her opponent, so it only made sense that she’d be evaluated before attempting anything serious.

Maybe the former Olympian should’ve done the same…instead of letting her eagerness take control and heading into this all willy nilly.

“Ok Blossom, since you’re the veteran here, how about you make the first move? You know? Show the rookie how it’s done!” Laura would say with a grin as they continued to circle one another. It was kind of a tease since her opponent seemed to think between the two, the former olympian was by far superior. Laura had a feeling that Blossom could still give her a challenge, though. And she was never wrong about these kinds of things…well almost never…BUT with Blossom she wouldn’t be. That was for certain.

Blossom was sorely tempted to point out that Laura was actually older than her - yes, she’d been in the AFW longer, but it was still hard to think of herself as the ‘veteran’ between them in any real sense of the word. She kept it to herself, though. Mostly because Laura seemed so bent on giving out compliments, and she wasn’t used to getting them from any source that wasn’t Death Bunny.

Ah. Death Bunny.

With that pleasant thought in her head, Blossom found her smile and decided to move in against her fellow amatuer wrestler, taking the initiative. Laura was big and built like a shotputter, and while Blossom was no slouch in that department, either, she was willing to bet that, even if they had similar strength, the height advantage would make the difference.

This time, she wouldn’t take Laura head-on. Instead, she decided to get tricky and play it safe together.

She moved with arms raised, looking like she wanted to lock horns. Instead, she ducked down and used her smaller size to weave under Laura’s arms, quickly sliding behind her. Her arms shot out and wrapped around her foe’s waist, trying to catch her and pull her with a tight waistlock.