Peace offerings...

Natalia washed her face doing her best to hide any trace that she had been crying deeply. She could heard Taylor outside talking about her own parents, apparently hoping that Natalia talked about hers. Natalia really didn't felt like sharing life stories with Taylor, but she guessed the punk girl was trying to relate with her. She didn't wanted to be rude either, at this moment the smallest slip could end up in a mess again. So she guessed that maybe a polite but blunt answer would help her end this conversation... and there was nothing more blunt than the true.

" I never meet my parents." she said still from the bathroom. "I was bought from a sort of orphanage by a woman who had very particular ideas about how to raise children. I really really hope she doesn't knows where I am. If I ever find out where SHE is..." Natalia made a pause there because she didn't knew how to finish that sentence."...I guess... I guess..I'll call the police..."

She left the bathroom and looked at Taylor, feeling strangely good after having said that...and at the prospect of punching Taylor. "We are sparring in the gym, right?" she asked, seeing Taylor all ready to go at it right there in the corridor.

"If you don't mind people seeing you looking like your dog just died, sure." Taylor said. If Natalia wasn't just making up stories, it sounded like she had a pretty weird upbringing. Probably not good, either. She didn't press her on it, and instead she just went off to the gym and pushed her way through the doors.

"No one'll steal my shoes, right?" She asked, not really caring either way. She'd prefer to have shoes for her walk home, but there was only so much she could care about at one time. She made her way off to an empty area on the mats and turned to face Natalia. She tried jumping in place, hopping from foot to foot, hoping some of her energy would come back and she'd be able to move like usual, but she still felt pretty heavy.

"Have you ever thrown a punch before, cupcake?" She asked. She just assumed that everyone did the same things she did, but certainly not every wrestler in AFW was going to be a competent kickboxer. Didn't matter, though, she didn't have to be any good to flail around at Taylor for a while.

"I'm fine." Natalia said quite happy that Taylor didn't pressed her on the subject of her 'family'. She quickly took of her shoes and put on the kickboxing gear. Natalia though she looked kind of silly with cutoff jeans, a pink tank top and pads, but she didn't mind.

"Don't worry. Nobody sane would take your shoes." the blue-eyed cutie said with a giggle feeling more cheerful. Fighting somehow always cheered her up. "Sorry. I couldn't resist that one..." she apologized quickly. "And my shoes are there too, so we are even."

Natalia stepped on the mats and stood in front of Taylor; she raised her padded fist into a boxing stance, but they felt so heavy, The Dream was finding it hard to gather any strength to fight. She begun to bounce on the balls of her feet and quickly realized that not wearing a bra had some serious implications as her breasts began to bounce too in a kind of unconfortable way.

She blushed, closing her guard to try to hold her orbs in place and looked at Taylor a bit ashamed and stopped hopping. "Well... I did some boxing...muay thai... and... Tae Kwan Do...not my choice... Never really liked it..." Natalia explained, and then she fired a quick right hand jab towards Taylor's cute mouth.

Taylor wasn't surprised at all by Natalia's jab about her shoes. There was nothing wrong with her shoes. What did she wear to run, or was she too good to run at all? Taylor took her stance, hands held a little lower than if they were only boxing. Normally, she kept up her usual high-speed approach, constantly moving, leaving openings and daring an opponent to go for them. What she lacked in her hands she compensated for with her fleet, tricky footwork. This time, her feet were done for the day, and she stayed mostly rooted in place.

She wasn't surprised by Natalia's second jab, either. Not that she was supposed to be, but she had her gloves up in front of her face in time for Natalia's punch to thump against them. She took a couple quick circling steps and threw back with a quick right cross and left hook, not really throwing with any sort of power. She had nothing to prove, there was no point in her trying to go heavy with Natalia. If she wanted to go all out with her, that was fine. Taylor didn't have the will to do it, though.

"Sucks to be you, hitting stuff is my favorite." Taylor thought that Natalia seemed more the wrestler-type, whereas Taylor was a striker through and through. She wrestled plenty, too, but she was most fond of hitting things and people with her hands and shins and knees and elbows and sometimes her forehead. She loved the impact, the clean feeling of the fast, crisp motion. She also noted that Natalia was a total idiot who had never heard of wearing a bra, and she was sure her giant boobs would be sagging to her waist by the time they were done.

Natalia had to raise her arms in a hurry to block Taylor's punches that fortunately didn't carried much power, but nevertheless gave The Dream a good idea of how fast Taylor could be. "I could have guessed..." the blue-eyed cutie said as she began to slowly circle Taylor. "I've found you brawlers all have a similar attitude...a...blunt personality..." she added giggling.

"I prefere to grab girls and make pretzels with them...or lift them and slam them...but I guess striking is also necesary..." Natalia said and immediately attacked, faking another jab to Taylor's nose to then shift her weight and aim a left hand cross to Taylor's tummy, not putting much power in the hit, trying to tag Taylor's belly buttom.

Taylor put her arms up in front, knuckles out, and tucked her chin, ready to absorb more punches, but Natalia's body shot snuck in underneath. She hardened her abs and breathed out as she took the shot. Without a pause, she immediately countered with a fast right hook to the side of Natalia's face while her left arm was still in transit.

She had to admit, even under the circumstances, dead tired and offering herself up for another girl to beat on for her own therapy, it felt really good to train WITH someone. She always loved boxing and kickboxing and sparring, but it had been so long since she'd had anyone to train with. It was a small victory of sorts, but she'd take it.

She realized she was smiling and quickly erased it from her face.

Natalia was smiling too. She actually liked boxing, she had come to hate brawlers for the only reason that she was forced to fight barefisted and with little or no rules. But in this soft sparring with proper padding and not really going hard at each other, she found that she was enjoying it a lot.

Also she enjoyed hitting Taylor's tummy. There was something about hitting another girl's belly that she loved. It was twice as good for being Taylor's tummy, although the blue-eyed cutie wasn't trying to hurt her, it felt good to hit Taylor; Natalia could feel a lot of bad energy getting released there, which made her smile grow wider.

Unfortunately Natalia's cute smile was quickly erased from her lovely face as Taylor hit her with a hook while she was still recovering from her attack. Although the punch did carried much power, Natalia wasn't really expecting such quick precise counter, and it rocked her head. She staggered back and rubbed her cheek with one hand, pouting although she was really hurt.

"ughhh... I think I need a mouthguard...and headgear..." she said almost whinning, but then she smiled and showed her wet pink tongue to Taylor with a teasing gesture. Natalia raised her gloves again and moved to Taylor, a bit more carefull now.

"We are kickboxing, right?" she asked at the same time she aimed a quick side kick to Taylor's left shin, being very careful to make sure she hit pad against pad.

"I got you headgear, dumbass. Did you just not want to mess up your hair?"

Taylor bobbed back and forth a bit. She kept her head moving and her hands up, but still showed no sign of her usual roadrunner-y style. When Natalia mentioned kicking, she instinctively lowered her guard a bit in anticipation of a body kick. Again, the actual shot came in lower than expected.

She leaned into it, putting her weight on her front leg as Natalia's foot smacked against her shin guard. It caused her some pain, despite the pad, but her feet were left set to return with another punch. She countered again with a long, straight right aimed at Natalia's forehead.

"Didn´t though I´ll need it..." Natalia said remembering seeing a piece of headgear in the bag Taylor had offered her that she decided not to put on to avoid messing her hair, as Taylor had guessed correctly... but Natalia wasn´t going to admit it.

And then Taylor countered with a high punch. The blue-eyed cutie raised her gloves to protect her lovely face, but the punch was too high and hit her forehead making her head bob painfully backwards. "oughh!" Natalia complained as she took a couple of steps back, her head buzzing a little. "ok..ok...I´m going to pick that headgear" she said pouting, realizing that she was going to have to mess her hair, but she didn´t wanted to take any more of those punches without protection.

Natalia turned back and ran to find the gear, returning to the mats real quickly, she then placed the headgear between her legs and began to brush her hair with her fingers, taking well over five minutes before she was done making a french braid with it, and only then she put the headgear back on.

"ok... I am ready"

Taylor stuck her tongue out and grinned at Natalia. She was getting the feel for Natalia, but only a little because it seemed as if she was just easing herself into striking. Taylor was a natural, and while Natalia had the movements, she didn't seem to plan and anticipate the way a striker does. Taylor, for all her impulsiveness, did think ahead, in that little part in the back of her mind that buzzed when all the rest quieted down, when standing in front of an opponent.

"Yeah, you go get that headgear. It's not going to help your hands, though." She wasn't throwing to hurt Natalia, especially not with the thickly padded sparring gloves, but she didn't mind being a bit rough with her. Being rough was their job, and Natalia seemed to have a little bit coming in just the same way that Taylor always had always deserved a bit of a beating.

While Natalia was on her way back to the mats, headgear in hand, Taylor's mind drifted to the last Friction event, where Natalia had been beaten senseless and humiliated by Heather Sunderland. Taylor had seen Heather before, and was unimpressed. She was somewhat surprised that she'd managed to beat Natalia. She expected more from her, for some reason. Regardless of how she felt about Natalia, though, Taylor couldn't help but be just a little broken hearted for her. She'd been there herself, after all, beaten and helpless and feeling like she'd lost everything in the world.

She caught herself staring at Natalia while she took forever braiding her stupid hair. She shook her head and relaxed her knit brow and sympathetic eyes. "Alright, ready to go?" She asked. She wasn't. Natalia was still braiding. Taylor became impatient.

"Really..." She folded her arms, a little awkward with her gloves, and tapped her barefoot against the mat, making a small pat, pat, pat sound. "If you're not done in five seconds, I'm going to shave your head." She said irritably.

Finally, Natalia was done. They still didn't have mouthguards. They probably should. How bad would it be for them to end up with chipped teeth? They were fighters first and foremost, but no one disputed the visual aspect of their work. Taylor punched her fists together and stretched her neck while she got back into her stance.

"Fuck Heather, man." It just came out. She didn't think about it. If she had thought about it, she'd have realized how unnecessary and uncomfortable it would be to bring up Natalia's worst loss on record, and she would have decided against saying anything at all. Taylor sighed. Her impulsiveness had it's downsides.