A helping hand? (feat. Dirk Lewser)

Ayesha looked up in surprise at Dirk mentioning he's an American. Though she realized that's maybe not too surprising. Americans get everywhere, Anne herself was one.

However, his question of where SHE was from caught her offguard as pretty much no one had asked her that before to the point she almost didn't want to answer because she wasn't sure how he'd take it. Her eyes looked skywards, then sideways, before going, "I'm from Algeria, actually. No, the orange skin ain't normal there," she said as she looked at her hands backside, "I'm just a weirdo born with a skin condition that looks like this." She looked back at Dirk, going, "I'm...well this may sound dumb, but I'm actually here for the....ah, never mind, it's really stupid," she said as she looked away again, "I haven't even actually done a proper pro anything yet, let alone do it without causing a disaster."

Dirk listened intently to Ayesha's response. He could tell she didn't fully want to tell him.
He almost wanted to tell her that she didn't have to tell him if she didn't want to. Everyone has their secrets. But, before he could get a word out, Ayehsa immediately followed up by saying that she was from Algeria. Although, her skin tone wasn't the norm where she was from apparently. She then took the chance to look at the back of her hands, calling herself a weirdo with a skin condition. Self loathing. A feeling Dirk knew all too well himself as he looked down at the ground.

Suddenly, she spoke again. This time she mentioned the reason she was here in Japan. Before stopping herself and continue to downplay herself.

Well, your reason for being here couldn't be any less stupid than my reason for being here. I mean, I'm a pro-wrestler! I'm a fish outta water, miles away from home! And for the little bit I've been here, let's just say that I haven't had the best of luck either. Heh-heh.

After his small sheepish chuckle, Dirk turned away from Ayesha and looked down at the ground with a somewhat sad grin on his face.

On hearing that Dirk was a pro wrestler, this caused Ayesha to perk up in surprise.

"Ah, wh-wait, you too?" she looked him up and down. "I've...never seen you befo...oh, oh you must be with Tension!" she said with a little laugh, "i-im one of the Friction girls. Aaah, well, technically speaking. I haven't actually done a single pro match yet, just mostly been, you know," she said as her fingers tapped on each other, "practicing, work out, preparing, sparring.... getting beat up in spars .......I even found a stable! Though I'm sure the agency's gonna...want me to get out on a proper ring some day....and..." She shuddered, "I haven't quite...gotten the confidence set up...yet......" She gave a gulp.

"It looks so scary! All the audience, the crowds, and then trying to focus on one person trying to throw you down like a bag of books! Like, how do you even keep a level head for that?! I often just, just...panic a lot when a round starts, and...aaah...." she said with a groan as she unballed herself, rubbing the back of her head, "yeah I...I really suck at it. Got thrown around by someone who was half a head shorter than me, got trounced last week by a crazy girl in the gym." Ayesha shuddered at the uncomfortable memory. She still had no clue what the hell THAT had been all about.

"Ah, wh-wait, you too?" Dirk looked back Ayesha who was surprised to know that she was talking with another wrestler working under the AFW banner.

Ye-yeah. Yep. I'm with Tension. I also did plenty of stuff on the American independents as well...Mostly near my hometown. He said with a nervous chuckle. Then, his ears perked up when he heard Ayesha mention Friction. The brand that unlike Tension, featured exclusively female talent. Dirk listened to Ayesha mention that she has mostly been training and sparring so far. Then, she mentioned her fear of potentially stepping out into the ring for the first time. It reminded him when he tried to wrestle for the first time.

I know how you feel. But, you have to try at least. That's what my brother's trainer always told me. 'Ignore other's opinions. Get out there and live YOUR life. Let nothing hold you back!'

Dirk said trying to imitate the voice of a coach with a deep voice.

Of course, that's easier said than done. No one's the same. I mean, look at me. I wasn't always ready to step into the ring myself. I was much skinnier, I barely had friends and I've been bullied all my life. Not to go into too much detail, I was basically made to feel less than worthless at one point in my life. But, after some help from my family and discovering wrestling in person, I told myself that I want to experience that. No matter what. I had to try at least.

Dirk stopped himself and looked away from Ayesha. He didn't want ramble her ears off. But, talking about wrestling lights a fire behind his eyes that can barely contained. He chose to clear his throat and sheepishly chuckle.

Ahem! Sorry. I didn't mean to sound like a motivational speaker there.

Dirk would then listen to Ayesha's wrestling experience so far.

I haven't had the nicest of welcomes either. My first day, I was brought along as enhancement talent for a small pink french girl. She sucker punched me across the face and then she spat on me. Then, a week or so later, when I became a contracted wrestler, I met a wannabe supermodel and got struck in the back via chair by her elusive prick of a brother. Apparently, the sister was a former Tension world champion. Heh! Unfortunately, I lost to her due to interference from the brother. I'm still waiting for my match against him so I can get my revenge.

Dirk clenched his right fist in anger and looked at the ground. But then, he calmed himself and sighed.

But... That will come in time. For now, I'm just getting my name out there in the thoughts in minds of the fans and fellow wrestlers. I'm not trying to step on anyone's toes. I'm just...happy to be here. And if a title opportunity does come my way... Then, I'll do my very best! But, if I don't. Oh well. Back to the lab, y'know?

On hearing Dirk enter motivational coach phase, Ayesha couldn't help suppress a few sniggers because it sounded really funny. If she had a weakness, it was funny imitated accents and voices. She just couldn't help it. Her attention actually did get picked towards the latter half of it though, and frankly, it was hard to disagree with!

But her face turned to one of surprise and sympathy on hearing Dirks endeavors and introductions to this business. It also sent some shivers down her spine at the idea of getting ambushed with a chair. She gulped, "Sheesh, some people just have no chill, huh? Does the business just regularly hire people who'd jump you in an alley with a massive ego or something? My last run in kept calling me a puny weakling while attacking me from behind in the gym, then pummeled my face in when I called her mom gay."

Ayesha gave a dejected sigh. "I guess some people are willing to take full advantage of the nice ones no matter what, huh?" she looked down at the ground again, kicking one of the little pebbles away with some force into it, a clear sign of her frustrations she had pent up over tue months.

Dirk was pleased to realize that his coach impression made Ayesha smile a little. It wasn't much but, it helped to uplift her a little from her life of bad luck. Then, she responded to his intro to AFW. He could only nod and listen intently to her as he absorbed all the information she was telling him. Dirk looked ahead and looked down at the concrete walk way, not focusing on anything in particular.

Indeed. Some people live to tear down others because nothing else is going well for them. That or, they seem to get a high from it. Either way, it makes them scum in my eyes.

Ayesha didn't respond to his statement much, but in all frankness? At the rate things had been going, she'd be hard pressed to disagree. What else do you call people who attack you from behind or take full advantage of you in every way?

That said, Ayesha looked down at her shoes again and realized how her cardio practice today had been ruined. She slowly stood up, before turning to Dirk, "Well, my scheduling for today got a bit wonked, just my luck as usual. But I still can't thank you enough for your help. If you hadn't, I'd have had to walk home like a trash can!" she gave a light laugh, before sheepishly asking, "So uh...I'm gonna...go home now, do..do you wanna....walk with me a bit to the intersection? You know...just in...in case..." her voice slowly squeaked out and faded as she seemed to be at a loss for words on how to vocalize her invitation for a walk-along.

Dirk looked in Ayesha's direction as she stood up and looked at him. It was then, she talked about her schedule and she stated that she couldn't thank Dirk enough for his help. She also mentioned that if he hadn't, she would've had to walk home with a trash can on her head. As crazy as it sounded, Dirk couldn't help but chuckle at the thought. This made Dirk smirk a bit as he responded.

Oh, it's no problem, Ayesha. I was happy to help.

After the two shared another sheepish chuckle, Ayesha invited Dirk to walk with her. He initially wanted to let her walk on her own, because of his own nervousness being alone with a woman. But, on the other hand, from what he learned about her today, it would probably be for the best if he did joined her. Just in case something were to happen to her once again. Plus, he wasn't doing anything now. And, they seem to have developed a bit of a friendly relationship. So, "What's the worse that could happen?", he asked himself. He listened as her voice faded out as she seemingly couldn't find the words to end her sentence.

Uhh... sure. I can walk with you. I was thinking of leaving too.

He said as he stood up off the bench. He only hoped that he didn't sound creepy or overenthusiastic for accepting her invitation.

Ayesha took a sigh of relief as Dirk agreed. She honestly didn't want to walk home alone this time, especially as she had felt a disturbance in the air today. The earlier debacle with the trash and static charges was not comforting and she felt like the bush had only cemented that maybe something was going to go wrong, VERY wrong. So having Dirk along made her feel a bit more secure.

As she gave a big smile and said "Thanks a lot, Dirk! I really appreciate it!", her suspicions were confirmed as she felt something land on her shoulder. With an unwavering smile, she looked down to see the bird poop that had just freshly landed on her shoulder. One cast up, and one look at Dirk, her big smile still plastered, she said, "Shit."

-THE EXIT GATE OF THE PARK-

Having cleaned the foul excrement off, Ayesha, with Dirk tagging along, eyed the way she was supposed to go. With a quick glance skywards every now and then, she said, "Its just a 10 minute walk that way, and a turn to the left. Shouldn't be...." with that her voice flickered, as she suddenly looked everywhere, almost like she was expecting an ambush, "....that....far......" she then turned to Dirk, like as if she was suddenly too scared to walk. "Its uh, its gonna be fine. Right?" With that, she panickedly looked ahead to the road, almost too afraid to take a step.

Dirk grinned in reaction to Ayesha's happiness. No prob-

Dirk's kind response was immediately cut off by sound a small liquid Plop! sounding from a very close distance. Dirk looked around for the source of the sound only to discover that a bird flew by dropping his excrement on Ayesha's shoulder. Not exactly knowing how to respond in this exact situation, Dirk could say...

...Oh. With Ayesha replying with a word of her own pertaining to how she felt in the situation. And honestly, what other word could she say in that exact situation?

A bit after helping clean her shoulder, the two wrestlers arrived at the exit of the park. Ayesha occasionally looked up at the sky every now and while informing Dirk that the trip would a 10 minute walk, before she started looking in various directions, as if preparing herself for any more unfortunate surprises fate had in store. It made Dirk worry about himself for a little bit.
But, he stowed those feelings deep down and decided that to be brave and help his new friend. Because, his mother didn't raise a scumbag that would leave a woman high and dry like that. He looked at Ayesha and nodded.

Yeah. No problem on my side. Lead the way. Don't worry, I'll be close by.

Then, he made walked next to her while still keeping a safe distance, again not wanting to come off as creepy.