The friend of the enemy of my... habitual rapist

Cardia had long ago resigned herself to the fact that she was very good at making very, very awful choices. She had almost become numb to the 'This is a retarded idea' impulse that usually governed rational behavior. This inability to screen out stupid decisions explained so much of her life since, and probably including, signing on to the AFW.

And it also explained why Cardia was now seeking out Rika Smart, friend of the Queen of Brawl, Sarah Gatt. Cardia had enjoyed a very invigorating fight with Sarah... for the first few minutes until she got the tar pounded out of her and left on a stretcher. Sarah Gatt then went on to fight Lukretia von Creuzfeldt, Cardia's... well, mistress isn't really the right word... (it's complicated between them, but Cardia could very easily be said to be her bitch, so let's leave it at that), to a draw.

Since Cardia was seeking to become tougher in hopes of being treated slightly less like a doormat by Lukretia, she reasoned that she'd need to have women as tough as Lukretia share some of their skills with her. Of course, Sarah Gatt was... not an approachable person. But, apparently, Rika Smart was close friends with Sarah, and reportedly averaged out to be a bit more personable than Sarah. Since she no doubt was learning the arts of badassery from Sarah, maybe, just maybe, a bit of second order knowledge might be a good idea... if she could convince Rika to part with a bit of it, that is.

Now, unfortunately for Cardia, she only tended to watch matches that actually had Lukretia on the billing, and didn't get around to watching Rika's matches more than she needed to to see what Rika looked like, or else she'd know why this was a terrible idea, as opposed to merely a bad one. Lukretia had beaten and almost successfully violated Rika in an earlier match until Sarah saved her.

That information would have been quite useful for Cardia to ponder now as she finally found Rika, thankfully alone, in the gym, training by herself. Straightening her hair, and adopting a practiced, hopefully disarming smile, she approached Rika, offering her enough distance so as to hopefully be as non-threatening as possible, and called out nervously, "Hi... er, I'm Cardia Waters." Cardia treated Rika almost as she would an angry grizzly bear. She knew only a little of this girl's temperament but was expecting the worst. "Could I... uh, please, ask a favor of you... please?"

Rika Smart didn't usually go to the gym alone. Usually she went with her friend Sarah Gatt to use the AFW's facilities, though not for the moe obvious reasons. The gym had been labled Sarah and Rika's unofficial 'hunting grounds', where they would gang up and beat on any unsuspecting wrestler that was unlucky enough to catch their eye. But Sarah was out of commision for a few days after a brutal and bloody match that pushed the Queen of Brawl to her limits and beyond. Though knowing Sarah, she would be up and kicking ass in no time.

And so Rika was on her own today, beating the tar out of a punching bag she had set up, pretending it was the woman that put Sarah in the state she was in.

Then someone adressed her, which most frequenters to the gym knew was a bad idea, and turned to face the one who did it. Her eyes widened at who it was. Cardia Waters. Rika knew exactly who she was. After watching Sarah's legendary brawl against Lukretia von Creuzfeldt, which resulted in a draw, Rika did more research on the German dom. Cardia's name came up quite, though the relationship between the two was rather sketchy, Rika surmised that they were leader and subordinate.

A couple of months ago Rika had been beaten and violated by Lukretia in front of an arena full of people. Just thinking about it made Rika clench her fists. And now one of her whores had the nerve to come up and talk to her? "What do you want?" she growled, keeping much of her anger in check. For now.

Rika's growling confirmed that this was a poor choice, but Cardia's second bad habit was the belief that the best way through a bad situation was through.

In the face of hostility, Cardia upped the non-threatening mousiness in hopes of defusing the situation, "Uh, well, I've... had an awful habit of getting the tar beat out of me as of late," Self-deprecation was also a defense mechanism, and you're friends with... one of the AFW's biggest badasses. I w-would know... Sarah hits like a truck," Flattery with the truth, although indirect. Phantom pain in Cardia's jaw lit up at the memory.

"Anyway, I always found the best way to... learn something is to teach someone else. If you're learning from S-Sarah, could I... train with... l... learn from you, please... if it'd help you as well?" Rika's countenance caused her to continue purely on nervous energy, "I'm just trying to avoid getting r--..." She caught herself from saying 'getting raped quite as often.' Probably not a good idea to let that out. "I'm trying to cut down on the amount of time I spend hospitalized after every freaking match." She muttered, an inelegant save, but a bit more self-deprecation couldn't hurt. She hadn't been in the ring in a while, but her fight card was a tour de force of AFW's toughest fighters. None ending well for her, and that was public record so she may as well let it out.

The intense glare in Rika's eyes would only further quaile Cardia's efforts to befriend her. Despite the obvious height difference between the two of them the smaller brawler was proving to be the one with the stronger will. You've got to be kidding me, Rika growled in her head. Her boss nearly rapes me and now she wants my help? Cardia obviously didn't know what happened between Rika and Lukretia, else she wouldn't be here today. Rika was about to put her thoughts into action, really give Cardia a piece of her mind, when something in her head clicked. Something about Cardia's offer made her stop....

Rika hid a wicked grin that spread across her face.

"Oh, is that so?" Rika asjed, her tone much sweeter and understanding than what it was before. "You looking for someone to train with? I can do that!" Rika gave Cardia a big grin. "I'm not much of a teacher, but I can show you some of the things I know." Rika pointed out one of the practice rings. "Look, we can go practice there!"

Cardia's natural instinct was to befriend, to reduce tension, to try to keep everyone happy. She was usually up for a good fight, but between friends, a sporting affair. The way she saw it, she didn't need any more enemies.

Rika's more pleasant demeanor caused Cardia to respond in kind, a bit more relaxed. She still didn't entirely trust her. Still, it was nice to see someone who could respond to a smile. She definitely didn't get that in Lukretia's house. "Thank you so much!" She gave a gentle bow, going with Rika to one of the rings, "I really, really appreciate this. I promise, I'll buy you lunch or something... it'd have to not be that expensive though... Thank you."

She continued to the ring, climbing inside, taking off her jacket. revealing a white t-shirt beneath, and tossing it aside. "Trust me, no matter what, you'll be a better teacher than the folks I've... tried to train with."

"Oh, don't worry about paying me back," Rika said as she follwed Cardia into the ring. "We'l....figure something out." She hid her wicked grin again as she said this.

Hopping into the ring Rika moved to stand across from Cardia. Standing there in a tang top and orange shorts Rika clasped her hands together. "Alright, why don't we start by telling me what you can do? And what do you expect from me?" Rika sounded like a life coach as she said these things but like she said, she had never taught somebody anything before.

Cardia beamed, "Thank you so much... I promise I'm good for a favor."

She thought about Rika's words for a while before answering, "Well, I'm pretty scrappy... Good at taking a punch... I'd have to be by now. I can hit pretty well. Know a few decent moves." She shrugs, "I had a martial arts background but the class I learned it from just called it 'Martial Arts' so I'm not exactly some world class badass, but I'm alright." She shrugged, "I'm just not fast enough, or able to hit hard enough, or whatever it takes to outmatch my foes."

"And I was hoping you could... I don't know... Maybe rub off a bit of the old Sarah Gatt skill down on me. I know someone that tough has to have a better grasp on the art of ass-kicking than I do, so maybe there's something I'm missing."

Rika nodded and silently took note of that....for the purposes of teaching of course. The girl before her wasn't much of a fighter, an amateur to actual battle at best. No wonder she kept getting her ass kicked. "Alright, I get it," she said. "Sounds like the first thing you need to do is learn how to throw a decent punch." She stepped back a from Cardia and pointed at her stomach. "Come one. Show me your best punch."

Cardia nodded, "I dunno, I thought I threw a pretty good punch." She shrugged, "Just you have to throw a REALLY good punch to phase people like Sarah and Lukretia." She nervously approached Rika, taking a deep breath to try to convince herself to not pull it because Rika was being nice. "Okay..." She would aim to slug Rika in the stomach almost as hard as she could.

Rika didn't try to stop the punch and took it just like she said she would. She grunted as the blow impacted against her taut stomach. It wasn't bad, better than Rika thought. But there was definitely room for improvement. "Not bad," she admitted, rubbing the spot tenderly. "There may be hope for you yet." She moved closer to Cardia and grinned. "Alright! My turn." She pointed at Cardia's gut. "I'll show you what a real punch is like."