Beauty And The Brawn

"...and this right here is the backstage area of the prestigious Tension arena. S'got all of the basic amenities for keeping this flawless physique in such quality shape, but you'd think that for all of the money AFW pumps into this place they could afford to teach these uggo competitor's proper exfoliating techniques, hair styling, and about respecting personal space..."

Ever since getting downright cheated out of his glorious victory in the Nekketsu tournament by one miraculously lucky roll-up pin and a clearly incompetent referee, Bryan had opted to forego further legal action against that pin-stripped pinhead at the suggestion of his blue-haired better half. Fighting, and most importantly winning, another day was the key to rebounding off of his loss, as was retaining his trademark calm, cool and composed demeanor. Following the wrestling advice of a former Tension World Champion was a no duh, in his book. A wrestler of his expert caliber with a face as shockingly handsome as his practically ensures that he'd be given another chance by AFW executives to flaunt his skills with all of the glamorous flair of someone who was ranked in Vanity Fair magazine as having 2020's Most Captivating Jawline. All that frustration and outrage had been chilled out by now as a result, and besides, there are scientific studies that proved a connection between anger and early onset gray hairs and crow's feet.

"Weight Room's around the corner, Locker rooms are back there, but don't expect to see anyone as beautiful as yours truly of course~...Whoops bout to run outta time. Catch all my homies on the flip-side. Stay pretty, B-RY signing out~..."

As it just so happened to be, recording videos for his Instagram page was one method B-RY utilized to chill himself out and keep his mind occupied in between photo shoots and his exercise/beautifying regiment's. Decked out in some navy blue designer torn jeans, which he paid top dollar for, and a matching fish net shirt, Bryan was currently offering a tour of the backstage facilities of the arena in his downtime. Of course keeping his gorgeous visage in the center of the shot at all times as he masterfully bobbed and weaved around all of the personnel and wrestlers walking past him in both directions. Everyone seemingly inconvenienced by Bryan taking up such a large section of crosswalking realty in the hallway and shooting him sideways glances on their way out of the shot. Eventually Bryan did start to meet the 60 second limit of his video and signed off with his catchphrase and puckered lips...but still opting to take a few selfies while he had the time, mainly in admiration of himself as he shifted his face from side to side to try different angles.

For Shin Utaka, life was going normally for her. She had just recently joined the league a few weeks ago and she was still trying to get used to the maze that was the backstage area. The Afw arena was massive and provided all the items that both the wrestlers and average employee would need from a small cafeteria, offices for management, and locker rooms near the gorilla position for competitors.

Admittedly though, it seemed that the friction arena was bigger than tension. Though considering the size difference between the two rosters, it made sense. But truthfully, Shin didn’t mind or care. She was still trying to figure out the layout of the entire building so she wouldn’t get lost when prepping for a match. The last thing that any wrestler wanted to do was be late to the ring. Not only would it put you in hot water with management, but your image with the crowd would plummet.

Luckily, the ravenette didn’t have to worry about such things. There was no match scheduled for her tonight so she could take her time learning the layout at her own pace. Instead of her black and green leotard she wore to the ring, she instead wore her casual clothes. A pair of black sneakers, tight jeans, a white shirt that partially exposed her midriff, and to finish all off, a simple black jacket unzipped.

And things were going well, until she entered a particular hallway with a particular annoyance. Such annoyance was a man waving around a selfie stick and talking to the phone attached to it like a blog. The only problem was that the hallway wasn’t that wide, and much to her and every other passerby’s annoyance, he was in the complete middle of it. Not that he seemed to care or even notice what he was doing as he stopped his blog and instead began to take pictures of himself.

Shin could only watch in bewilderment as she stared down the hallway. He must be one of those fashion stars she heard about. It wasn’t surprising that afw would have an abundance of them, just that she wished she never had to run into one of them. “I don’t have time for this.” the large woman muttered as she decided to just walk past him. The man was so far in his little bubble that he would probably not even notice her, even as another picture flashed just as she passed by.

This was exactly the reason why all professional photo shoots employed a contingent of muscled security guards wearing all black clothing to block off whatever outdoor venue was being utilized that day. Because people nowadays don't appreciate the level of artistry at play there, and would just stumble on through in between the photographer and the fashion model before them. Lighting composition, shadows, framing...everything had to be just perfect. A benchmark that Bryan had long since achieved when concerning his absolutely stunning facial features, but the rest of his task was still being usurped by wrestlers and other employees constantly waltzing on by as if this were some sort of...public hallway, or something. Not only were they nudging his shoulders and wobbling his selfie stick in the process, but some were even getting their mundane, plain-featured faces into his shot. Luckily B-RY had managed to get in some respectful pictures in spite of the rudeness of other people, until one particular irksome pedestrian personally invaded his private space.

"Hey, Hey!!!...eXCUSE you Gigantor..." Bryan blurted out after getting jostled by her enough to almost knock his phone out of his selfie stick. B-RY luckily adjusting himself and lowering his fluffy metal stick before any damage can be done, but that didn't mean he wasn't right miffed towards the musclebound oaf he started addressing while walking towards her. "I don't know if you were paying attention or not, but I was right in the middle of capturing my glorious face in a picture perfect pose before you shuffled your grotesquely misshapen physique right into me. It's hard for me to tell which was worse. You almost knocking my phone out of my hand, or getting that uggo face of yours in my shot...*breathes*..." Bryan stopped himself mid-rant and took a breath, remembering that he was trying not to get his temper all riled up today. "Alright, look...it was an accident, and these things happen. So if you'll just apologize, and admit that you were blinded by my captivating handsomeness in mid-walk...I can see fit to forgive you..." Crossing his arms and holding his head up high, Bryan patiently awaited this pedestrian's expression of regret.

Shin had thought that the annoying picturesque blogger would be a one and done deal. She walked past him and was unlikely to see him for the rest of the day, or maybe even her career. But it seemed that luck just wasn’t on her side today as Shin could swear she heard an exaggerated gasp that would belong more in a cartoon than reality as she heard the man shout at her. She knew it was her because it was just her and him in the hallway at the time and she was the only one that seemed qualified for the title of “gigantor”.

Turning around Shin found herself the victim of a rant that she didn’t know whether to laugh at how self absorbed this man was, or at how he couldn’t seem to comprehend that this indeed was a public hallway for competitors and staff alike. And to be honest, if the man said glorious or wonderful three more times she didn’t know if she could stop herself from punching him in the face.

She actually began to consider that more and more the longer this man talked. Finally it seemed that the ginger had run out of air from his little spiels and was now willing to talk like a human being. A downright ass of a human being considering her then ordered Shin to apologize for seemingly trying to brush past him as he selfishly took up most of the hallway. If he thought that he was going to get something other than a piece of her mind, then he had another thing coming.

“Ok pal, listen up.” she said as she walked up to him, her chest nearly pressing against his own. “One: In case you haven’t noticed, this is a public hallway and if you think that I’m going to apologize for walking in an AFW hallway while some jackass took pictures of himself while sporting Magnum, then you have another thing coming. Two: I wasn’t the one who decided to not look at where I was going and ended up running into people. I’m honestly surprised that it doesn’t happen to you on a regular basis. Three: What the hell are you going to do about it anyway? I don’t know about you Zoolander, but I have no time for a walk off and I’m damn certain you don’t have David Bowie on speed dial.”

Typically, Bryan showered himself with compliments ranging from his chiseled jawline to his perfectly coifed hair. But today he was fawning over himself from how perfectly he was handling what could have become a particularly ugly situation. Well, uglier than it had already devolved into thanks to this misshapen grotesque that just came barreling into him like a lumbering oaf with little regard for the craftsmanship that goes into sculpting his stunning features. Nor the angled mastery that goes into perfectly capturing it within the bordered frame of his cell phone camera. Regardless, rather than continuing to fly off the handle, he caught himself in mid-tirade, and centered himself into a serene zen-like state with some deep yoga breathing that his fellow male models hooked him up with a few months ago.

A babbled apology from this manner-less lunkhead, today, should be enough to bring this shoulder jostling encounter to a swift and expedient end. Where B-RY can go about his beautifying day in time to make his 2:00 PM sauna with little other hiccups in his itinerary, and this meathead can go back to dead-lifting dumbbells or whatever it is she planned on doing. So, imagine Bryan's chagrin when he was downright pelted with one stereotypical misconception after another about his cherished profession, mainly stemming from one particular movie that perpetrated these stereotypes. Bryan casting his gaze off to the side while biting down his lips and his tongue in the process as he allowed this obstinate woman to her infuriating peace.

"OH is that a fact?!...Well let me hit you with some knowledge that may even make it through that thick neanderthal skull of yours, Gigantor. In list form too, just to help you follow along. One: That movie paints a bias interpretation of my coveted profession, and I take supreme offense to all your cute little call backs to it. Plus MY Magnum, blows Stiller's away any day of the week. Two: If you're not gonna apologize like the humble little rook you are, what-say we settle this in a match than? Where I'll have those lips of yours quivering out a submission along with an apology, right alongside those tree trunk legs of yours quaking from my touch. And Three: Learn to spend some time in a tanning bed. Might just make that pasty white skin of yours less of an eyesore...might." B-RY spitefully uttered while stepping back with a cocked eyebrow and satisfied with that stinging burn.

It looks like zoolander didn’t take getting compared to the movie very well, if the way that his face changed before going on another rant told her anything. Shin actually struggled to keep her laughter in check as the man in front of her raved about how’s his version of magnum looked far better than Stillers. Shin wasn’t too sure about that, she had yet to see any of his stupid faces stop a throwing star in its tracks like his did. But hey anything’s possible.

“Are you sure though? Because from the way I’ve been hearing you, that movie has been pretty accurate so far. But be careful that you and your friends accidentally kill yourselves in a freak gasoline fight accident hehe.” She giggled, honestly enjoying how just mentioning a scene from the movie pushed a lot of this guys buttons, and really she’s been called worse than gigantor. She already had another insult involving a building for ants when the man continued his tirade.

”I’m sorry what?” The dark haired woman asked, ignoring the insult about her skin and instead focusing on what the model said before that. ”Please say that again, because that sounded like a challenge. I’ll admit you look fit enough to be a wrestler but the way you’ve been acting now suggests you’re more used in a studio than a ring. But if you seriously want to go a few rounds, I’ll be more than happy to put you in your place.” Shin said as she glared down at him, the implication of his “touch” going right over the bear’s head.

Alright than...Bryan's designer labeled leather fashion gloves were officially off. He offered this genetic defect all the opportunities in the world to rightfully apologize for barging straight into his photo shoot and acknowledge just how much of a pea-brained doofus she is, but instead she had spat in the face of his generous offer for amicable peace. In that case, the dashingly handsome male model was now clearly intent on settling matters the traditional way around the Tension locker-room. Inside of a wrestling ring with a pin-striped official between them and raising the victor's hand when it's all said and done. Perhaps schooling this noob on how to wrestle and gifting this grotesque meat-castle an experience of a lifetime with the one and only B-RY, will be just what Bryan needs recoup from his loss.

"Try and get the wax out of your over-sized ears, Big Bertha. I know having men pay the slightest iota of attention towards you must only happen once in a blue moon, but try and stay with me on this, mkay?" Bryan scoffed while flicking on his aviator sunglasses, afterward compressing his selfie stick and putting his phone away while starting to backpedal. "Yah, it's an in-ring challenge, from ME. The sultan of sexy, prince of pretty, THE Bryan Daniels. I'm about to make you famous, greenhorn. Just try not to faint or be starstruck from gazing into these gorgeous eyes mid-match, otherwise the next stars you see will be the ones staring back down at you from the roof once your flat on your back. My people will make this match happen. Till then, Ciao, Boo-Boo~..." Bryan pursed his lips and with a waft of his hair turned around and bid Shin adieu...