Concrete Poetry

Emily made a sour face at Jocelyn, who was obviously just trying to entice her into... something. She didn't know. But she knew her aunt Allison, or at least her name, and that was weird. How did she know that she had anything to do with her? And how did she know to bring AFW into it?

She turned to leave, but curiosity quickly got the best of her. "Allison's my aunt." She said. That probably wasn't the best thing to lead with, she didn't know why she said it. "I have a friend who is training me to be a wrestler when I turn 18. Who are you again?" Emily's even, meticulous, somewhat stiff tone helped mask her nervousness.

She should probably just go. Anyone legitimate should probably not be talking to her on the street at night, but if her aunt had convinced her to find Emily... maybe it was Allison's roundabout way of giving Emily something. She couldn't just leave.

Jocelyn's eyes shot wide at Emily's confession. 'Aunt!?' Jocelyn wasn't expecting that at all. Allison wanted to have her own niece beaten to a pulp. And then she continued. She... wasn't even 18? Jocelyn swallowed hard. This was suddenly becoming a difficult prospect. She had all but discarded thoughts about beating her in an Alley. Jocelyn was petulant, but she wasn't without some amount of morale standing no matter now little there was.

"I'm Jocelyn. Lu Jiao Jocelyn." She said in an even tone. "I'm friends with your auntie Sarah, she said in her thick Austrlian accent. "We're... very close.." She turned her head and blushed, smiling at how their relationship was. They WERE close. If only in Jocelyn's mind. In Allison's too, eventually, even if Jocelyn had to beat that into her.

"She wanted me to make sure you could handle wrestling so she sent me after you. She thought this was the best way to get hold of you. I'm certain I can prepare you better for a professional career than your friend. I'm in the league after all..."

"She did that?" Emily asked. An ounce of hopefulness crept into her decidedly even voice. A part of her tugged at the rest to believe Jocelyn, and the validation that doing so implied, but the rest of her was skeptical.

"That... doesn't sound right. If she'd changed her mind so much about things, she should tell me herself. And if you are here to help me, how do I know you're better than my current trainer? She's also in the league. You may even know her."

Emily pulled her long brown coat tightly around herself and folded her arms. She wasn't cold, but guarded. "I want to speak to Allison. Perhaps I will go find her." She didn't know where she lived. She knew where to find the spa that she owned, but she doubted she would be there so late, if at all. She watched carefully to see how Jocelyn would react.

Jocelyn furrowed her brow at Emily's questioning. She then looked around. "You'll just get in her way if you go after her!" She blurted out. She'd get in Jocelyn's way too. She stepped past Emily a few feet towards the gym. "It's... not like I care. If you don't want to be properly prepared fro wrestling then whatever. I'm doing this as a favor. I don't really care either way." She let out a sigh. She was frustrated but it also helped give across an air that Jocelyne really had no interest in dealing with this girl, which, was also mostly true. Emily was certainly making it easier to want to beat her up.

"I'm not going to stand here in the middle of the street and bicker with you. If you're interested then we can go back to the gym. If not then I'll tell Sarah you were always just planning on wasting her time from the beginning."

Emily made a face. Jocelyn was just trying to scare her by throwing her aunt's name around. The problem, though, was that she really didn't want to make her aunt mad, and if doing this was something she approved of... Well, it'd be a step up from what she had been doing, which was training with someone Allison did not approve of at all. She made that much abundantly clear.

The gym was a public place, although it was mostly empty at this time of the evening. She'd be safe there. She came halfway around the world by herself and had been living off of her wits and nothing else, of course she could handle this Aussie bottom feeder. She looked too stupid to be able to conceive of a crime more complex than stealing her money, but she had none with her.

She decided, somewhat reluctantly, to follow Jocelyn to the gym.

"You don't seem like the sort of person my aunt would keep around." She said bluntly.

Jocelyn smirked when Emily reluctantly began to follow her. Hopefully the worst of it would be over but she somehow doubted it. She then smiled when Emily said that she didn't seem like the kind of person that Allison wouldn't keep around.

"Yeah." She began. "I didn't think that I was the kind of girl who would want to hang around your auntie either." It was true, she admitted it. "But I guess that Sarah's just got that kinda charm."

Jocelyn led Emily tot he gym and back to the ring portion of the place. She began to stretch and kicked off her shoes. This dress wasn't exactly meant for wrestling in but her usual wrestling outfit wasn't TOO much different. She climbed into the ring. "So tell me, Emily." She said looking the girl over. "What has your mate taught you about wrestling?"

"Everyone wants to be like her." Emily said, which was also true for her. She wanted to be like Allison so badly, to have her class and intelligence and confidence. She was never under anyone's thumb.

She cautiously allowed herself to marvel at Jocelyn's tattoos while she followed behind her. They made her look dangerous, tougher than her body should've allowed. And the way she was dressed... She couldn't help but wonder if she was also making an effort to emulate Allison.

"Oh, I don't know." Emily said, a bit weary of the question, as if she was in school. "We've done a lot of exercising and stretching. More than we have actual wrestling. But we've gone through the clinch and a few basics... Some holds and things. They're... fun." She said, trying to conceal her excitement about the subject.

She shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot and couldn't decide whether to take her coat off yet or not. She opted to leave it on, not wanting to seem too eager.

"Something like that..." Jocelyn said when Emily spoke. She wanted to be LIKE Allison. Certain things about her. But she didn't want to BE her. Allison was an old lady who was prowling around like some young chick. A cougar at the very least and a huge bitch at that. There was no way a woman like that was HAPPY. Jocelyn wasn't very happy. There was no way Allison was either.

"Crickey!" Jocelyn said when she heard Emily's expanation. She had a pretty good idea of how she'd work this girl and wanted to test her plan int he waters a bit. "With all that, you'd be ready for wrestling in maybe five years!" She said. Her friends slow approach probably was the right idea. Emily needed to be conditioned and properly trained on the basics before she did anything complicated. But Emily didn't need to know that. "Bloody hell." She said in her thick Australian accent. "Well, we don't have any time to waste now do we?! She said as she rolled her shoulders back and crouched.

"Come one then. Show me a proper lockup. Let's see if you can even manage that much." Jocelyn lifted up her arms, fully intending to let Emily put her int he lock up.

Emily looked around nervously. "I, er... At least let me take my coat off." She said. She wasn't in her gym clothes and she wasn't really prepared for another work out, but she slipped her long coat off and draped it over the ropes.

She approached Jocelyn. She kept asking herself what she was doing, sparring with a total stranger late at night in a gym, it certainly didn't seem smart. Or safe. The lure of doing something to please her aunt was too much. She had to go for it.

She lunged at Jocelyn and slapped one hand on the back of her neck and the other on Jocelyn's elbow and held firm. They were about the same size, the same height and build, but Jocelyn seemed so much bigger than her. Her body was harder. Her posture was different. Emily felt in her hands on Jocelyn's skin the difference between a wrestler and a wannabe. She pushed as hard as she could to try to back Jocelyn up.

Jocelyn nodded when Emily said she wanted to take off her coat. That was fine. She looked the girl over. She wasn't in wrestling clothes either. That was disappointing but Jocelyn could work with it. She stepped forward and let Emily tie up. She felt the girl's grip and how she pushed forward. Jocelyn wasn't the strongest girl around but she wasn't the weakest either. She was pretty certain she could bully this girl around if she wanted though. She put up some resistance and then let Emily push her back a step before lowering her head, grunting and trying to shove Emily as hard as she could backwards, hoping to shove her to the ground. She would then smile cheerfully.

"Great! That's really great, Emily!" She would praise the young girl.