Meeting in the barracks (For LadyX)

The Tension gym. A place to spar and workout, frequented many a time by the Warriors Without Borders formerly known as UK Elite. Ryan Knight and John Carnaby, the pair had been at it each day of the week pretty much until they got the call for a match. After all they were former holders of champion gold, just because they had been away for awhile didn't mean they slacked off any less. Far from it even, since coming back to Tension it had been arriving in the morning. Breaking in the afternoon, then back in till nightfall. Even with their change in demeanour in the ring this was the one thing that they kept going with.

Currently John Carnaby was hitting the weights and the bench with his boss and best friend Ryan Knight acting as his spotter, the pair were dressed in their usual ring attire. John's grunts of effort were audible, this was a new set he was working on. Powerhousing was never his main gameplan, but Ryan was insisting on his practise of some upper body stuff. The Rebelling Paragon, ambitious in his dream of conquering Tension as he and John had once done before was putting in a new gameplan. Ryan watched his friend with his one eye, intent on making sure the artist had reached his quota.

"46......nhg......47......48......49........50!" John said, these weights sure were something. But Ryan was making certain John didn't stop until he was done, once the 50 was reached John set the weights on the holder and breathed a sigh of relief. To which the Rebelling Paragon chuckled slightly and offered a water bottle for the artist.

"Very good John, let's take a short breather my friend." he said with John grabbing the bottle as he sat upright. The Rebelling Paragon would sit next to him and place a hand on his chin in contemplation as he looked at a nearby wrestling ring, they hadn't been getting much in the way of action. Not enough in Ryan's mind, not to mention John had come up short in his previous match. At least it wasn't aired though, but still it was an issue he deemed. Hence why he had the artist taking a more intense regime.

"It won't be long, we're making our statements. Soon we'll grasp that flame that we once held." Ryan muttered, wincing shortly after. The pain from his eyepatch flared up again, it was less frequent though at least. Still though Mr Knight would like to see what John could do in the ring, they sparred against each other on a frequent basis as well as with Lucy. Lucy was taking a raincheck today it seemed, though she'd not escape being made sure she too was following the right path. But still, perhaps some wrestlers would be keen on sparring sometime?

Ryan Knight:

John Carnaby:

Daphne and Astra Andronikos walked arm-in-arm toward the tension gym, with very differing attitudes. There was normally a relative difference in demeanor between the two, given their personalities and the fact that they were two unique people. However, on this occasion it seemed more pronounced than normal.

Daphne was visibly gung-ho as she charged toward the doors in her form-fitting exercise shorts and sports bra. She'd heard that the Tension gym had more heavy-duty machines than what the Friction gym offered, and she was psyched to check it out. She felt she had gotten to where she could with the machines offered by her division, and so she was excited to check out the famous - to her, at least - Tension gym, which she'd heard about from overhearing some of the Tension stars earlier in the week.

Astra, on the other hand, was practically being dragged along by her older sister as the fiery redhead charged forward. Not only was Astra extremely nervous about using the gym of a division that wasn't theirs, but she also felt slightly awkward standing next to Daphne wearing yoga pants and an old t-shirt while her sister was wearing... well, what she was wearing. Not that she would ever shame her sister for it. That aside, she decided to put her foot down and stop as Daphne reached the doors which would admit them into the gym.

"What gives, Astra?" Daphne looked at her sister, slightly impatient as she shifted from foot to foot. She was aching to try out those machines, and was loathe to just go back to their apartment just because Astra was getting cold feet.

"Den eínai dikó mas." Astra's eyes darted around as she spoke, clearly nervous about getting caught. Daphne facepalmed and rolled her eyes.

"That's the point. We got all the use we could out of the Friction gym, now we're going to use this one." Daphne pulled her sister inside, eyes widening with excitement as she gazed across the array of well-maintained  machines. Her eyes caught on one pair of guys, mostly because one was sporting a kickass eyepatch and she wanted to compliment him on it. She marched over, dragging Astra behind her.

"Greetings, gentlemen! I'm Daphne, this is Astra. We go by Nike and Artemis in the ring. You, sir!" She pointed at Ryan, going into her outgoing, slightly performative 'people mode.'

"I admire your eyepatch." She spoke decisively as Astra seemed to be trying to make herself seem as small as possible to escape further notice.

Ryan was glad of the progress he and John had been making, before long the lad would once again lead his comrades to victory in the ring once again. Once they were done in the gym for today however Ryan would allow John to indulge in his creatives hobbies, all work after all. John to his credit was a loyal dogsbody and gave it his all, which would be needed for the storm that was to come. However the Paragon was drawn out of his daydreaming by a sharp voice, seemingly addressing both him and the scribe? The gym was pretty large, there were likely other people but regardless Ryan turned his body to see what the fuss was about with John lifting his. It seemed they were the ones being spoken to.

The woman was certainly that, with curves that could make anyone wonder how her sports bra and shorts hadn't exploded trying to contain them and she had hair the colour of flames to boot. She must have been new to this place given how the Warriors were clear regulars of this gym. Ryan lifted the eyebrow of his covered eye, his other was unmoving as he assessed this woman. Even with half of his vision lost the Paragon detected someone behind her a fair distance. This was the same pretty much for the artist John, who titled his head as he wondered what was going on here.....

So they were Daphne and Astra? Or Nike and Artemis? Greek myth references there, Ryan and John having been learned men of culture could understand the lore there. Still Daphne.....complimented Ryan's eyepatch?!

At the mention of that John who was behind Ryan had the colour drain from his skin as he looked at his boss from behind, with an expression that had a sense of dread on it. He was a bit concerned as to what his boss might have to say about that, he could be a tad random when it came to reactions to it........

But Ryan simply put his hands on his hips and laughed, grinning at Ms Daphne before saying "Why thank you Ms! Its not just for show though......" John quietly breathed a sigh of relief there. After all they weren't competing in a match at any rate.

"Well hello at any rate, I am Ryan Knight and this is my right hand man John Carnaby. Pleasure." the Rebelling Paragon said with a light bow and motioned for John to respond.

The artist would stand up and give a polite nod to the two ladies and say "Nice to meet you both. So uh yeah hope the day is alright, how's the wrestling front for you both?" John couldn't say he heard of these two before, but they sure looked the part at any rate......

Daphne nodded sympathetically as Ryan stated that his eyepatch wasn't for show. She was glad the man had a sense of humor about the injury, but still felt bad for him all the same. She couldn't imagine how difficult it would be to wrestle with only one eye, and was thankful that she'd likely never have to find out for herself. She hadn't seemed to notice John's reaction to her apparent faux pas, but luckily for everyone involved nothing came of it beyond some banter.

"It's quite impressive that you wrestle despite it. I admire those who are able to overcome such adversity." Daphne smiled, hoping she wouldn't be touching a nerve by saying so. She turned to John and smiled at him as he asked how wrestling was going for them. Astra remained silent, perfectly happy to let her sister do the talking.

"Fine, fine. Win some. Lose some. Standard stuff." Daphne blustered, trying not to let on that they hadn't had many matches yet with the promotion. She glanced around at the machines.

"It looks to me like you folks here get some more impressive stuff than us Friction ladies." Daphne teased with a wink.

Ryan was used to comments about his eyepatch, because over time it would simply be a part of him that none would comment on. Best to just press on with it, after all it would pale in comparison to the grand conquest that the Paragon would be doing and when all was said and done it'd simply add to his image of the returning lord of Tension! John inwardly breathed a sigh of relief, masked by him rubbing his chin as he sized up the two ladies. He wasn't eating the eye candy there, if the ring names were any indication these two ladies were Greek symbols of beauty. The cultured side of Mr Carnaby was shining through there.

Mr Knight grinned at Daphne's respectful remark at being able to fight handicapped to which the Paragon chuckled and leaned to one side and said "Why thank you Ms! I stood up and said 'Tis but a scratch' and simply pressed on!" making a gesture tracing around his eyes to emphasize the fact. Even if Ryan was no longer a paragon of Britain, he was still partial to a bit of Monty Python here and there.

John had casted his gaze off the blazing redhead there and casted an eye at Astra, being the right hand man of a guy like Ryan meant you saw everyone in the room. If the quiet Greek made eye contact with the artist he'd give a polite and welcoming little smile, he could respect the sort that was more withdrawn and let things unfold.

So it seemed Ms Daphne had been getting stuck in with the records, Ryan smiled and said "Excellent to hear! We're back after a....leave of absence, we're former champions ourselves right John?" the Paragon nudged the artist.

Said artist would quickly look back and say "Yep! It was hectic as hell hehe, we're back to have another go at it all. Really we've got better machines? I'd have thought it the other way round?" John inwardly reasoned however that the Friction gym probably had a loooot more going on in it than Tension. Even the most pristine pieces would wear away sometimes.

Ryan then put a hand to his chin and said "So you here to simply workout? We'd be glad to spar with you if you'd be curious." he then slapped John on the shoulder and the artist responded with a bemused expression.

"Hope you don't mind me saying but I'd be happy to try my luck against the Greek goddesses of victory and hunting. They called me master of creation at one point hehe....." John said with a light chuckle, being a studied lad he of course was well familiar with the legends......

Daphne noted John looking her and Astra over, and smiled at him politely. Astra waved briefly as John smiled at her. Meanwhile, Daphne was engaged thoroughly with Mr. Knight. "Oh, wow! You're former champions? You must be super tough, then, huh?" Daphne grinned, stars practically shooting out of her eyes. When John reasoned about the Friction gym having better machines, she scratched her neck.

"Aheh... yeah, quality-wise they might be better, but I kinda feel like we've plateaued there. Friction girls are usually fairly soft so it's hard to find heavier weights." She laughed. When John remarked about their namesakes, she lit up.

"Master of Creation, huh? Guess we could call you Prometheus! Or would you prefer Daedalus?"

It seemed that regardless of what happened down the line the fact that Ryan and John were former title holders would at least have some clout, granted it usually seemed to come with a target being painted on your back but they were fine with that all the same. Ryan simply smiled, after all he wasn't one to really brag about things as he was more keen on simply proving himself with actions and not words when it came to the end of the day. John replied with "We just give it our best Ms, so that we can say we did so~"

Regardless it seemed as though the Olympians were keen to see what they could face in Tension, seeking to test themselves against a larger sort of foe perhaps? Well the two Brits before them were strappingly tall and broad lads with good looks, so they needless to say could certainly fit the bill here. Ryan didn't live up to his moniker of Paragon for nothing after all and John was created from the stone of the earth as he would say. It seemed the artist's playful remarks on Greek myth helped him in regards to getting in close with the two lovely ladies. 

With that John lightly chuckled and said "I'm more of a Prometheus guy myself, Ryan here can be Heracles!" to which Ryan simply smirked, it wasn't far from the case given how well framed Ryan was. The artist then rolled his hands together and said "Well if your down for it why don't we have a little throwdown then? Nothing too serious of course, but would be happy to show what we can do~." were the Olympians to take up the pair of Brits on their offer John would motion to the nearby ring and being ever the gentleman offered to open the ropes to let the ladies in. Ryan meanwhile would hand around outside near the apron. 

"I'll join in later, John will be happy to entertain you in the meantime though don't worry~" Ryan said with a wink of his one good eye. The Paragon would relax as John meanwhile proceeded to bounce on the balls of his feet and shuffled around to get himself loosened up, time to show what the scribe was capable of here and give the Olympians a nice welcome to Tension!

Daphne nodded with a grin as John joked about him and Ryan being like Prometheus and Heracles. He gained extra points in her mind for saying 'Heracles', rather than the Roman bastardization 'Hercules'.

"Sounds good. Y'know, I always felt like Prometheus getting punished was a bit unfair. But I might be biased, since we wouldn't be here without him." She spoke while strolling toward the ring and climbing in, giving John another small smile in thanks as he held the ropes open for her. Astra, who was still silent and clearly more than a little intimidated by the two strapping young men, remained on the apron with Ryan as Daphne started warming up, her chest bouncing a bit as she stretched and limbered up.

"Alright Mr. Prometheus, let's see just how well we can keep pace with each other!" She grinned, rubbing the scar across the bridge of her nose with her thumb.

Alright it was go time, Daphne was keen it seemed to start grappling with the handsome artist here. John truth be told was also just as eager, his current sparring partner looked ever bit a fire laden redhead and he was expecting her to bring that level of eagerness to this bout. Ryan meanwhile simply stood with his one eye casually observing it all, he expected John to be able to put on a good show at least so for now the Paragon simply remained silent. 

The artist meanwhile got himself ready for this bout, he didn't know what Daphne was capable of but she was confident in her gameplan and in her body it seemed as her ample chest bounced in place. John kept himself focused however. After all it wouldn't behove a warrior of his standing to be so easily distracted as it was the artist would smirk back at Daphne and say "You bet, let's not go too rough here though. Even deities require to go easy too~"

As usual for the artist he tended to play it safer in the opening of any engagement, John would have his arms slightly outstretched with his hands poised and tensed. Ready for grappling, the scribe would motion to Daphne to see if she'd be willing to try and lockup with the handsome artist. Moreover from just being a way to open the event up it allowed John to see and gauge what sort of style Daphne might go for against the dashing lad!