Masane's return (Psychopatrick88 x Bluemouse)

The lights in the lockers flick on, quickly illuminating the area before a fighter who had not stepped foot in these lockers in so long, finally does so again. The karateka enters, carrying a duffelbag over her shoulders, and steps onto the tile flooring, barefoot. She steps her way towards her old locker, glancing at it for a moment before slowly sitting down on the bench behind her. She had changed her look, the pink headband gone from her hair, letting it flow behind her shoulders. She wore wraps around her ribs, securing her breasts close to her body. She also had a large red phoenix tattoo on her back, and wraps laced around her fingers and hands, stained lightly with blood.

She continues to stare at the door of her locker before she slowly closes her eyes, and breathes in deeply through her nose. The nostalgia of the place brought a slight smile to her face, but it quickly fades as she opens her eyes back up, and starts to work the combination to her locker. She surprised she could remember it at all, yet it was still there, fresh in her head. She opens it successfully in the first try, and opens it up. The door had grown a bit rusty from its lack of use, making a loud metallic squeak as it opens. She stares at the inside of her locker for a moment. Blank. Just like how she had to be. She reaches for her bag, and unzips it, beginning to put her belongings into it.

"Hey, what's up, dickface?" Taylor asked brightly and quickly dialed in the combination to her locker, only a few away from Masane's. She was breathing a little heavily still from the run from her apartment, and she looked over at Masane from under the hood of her gray sweatshirt.

"I saw your stuff, man, pretty intense." She said. With all of Masane's melodramatic, Man On Fire act, Taylor just couldn't take her too seriously. "You've been around, though, right? Like you were Friction... like a long time ago. Right? I think I've seen you. You look different."

Taylor opened her locker and stuffed her backpack in it along with her sweatshirt. She gave her bright blue ponytail a toss and sat down on the bench to untie her running shoes and pull on her pair of minimal sneakers that fit like gloves, like sprint spikes without the cleats. Her black workout pants fit like a second skin and came to the middle of her shin, and her white racerback tank top left her shoulders completely bare.

"You've gotta know that you're last in a long, long line of people wanting a piece of Sarah. We've all got our reasons, right? But damn, dude, you win the best actress award by a mile." She said with a laugh while tying her shoes up tightly. "And you should probably wash your shit once and a while. Maybe replace it when it's all stained and stuff."

Masane heard a woman speaking towards her. She pauses for a second as she's putting her stuff in, and listens to the woman quietly. She let her say her piece, then stood up and shut the door to her locker, ignoring her and turning to walk off.

"I suggest you watch who you run your mouth to." She states as she starts to walk away. "A lesser woman would've tried to hurt you for words like that." She proceeds to walk away from Taylor if she didn't try to stop her.

"Oh, come on, don't be like that." Taylor said. "You can't be a big, bad tough girl all the... oh." She looked up to see Masane walking away. Whatever. "You're just as cuddly in person as you are on TV." She called after her.

What a nice girl, Taylor thought sarcastically. Another self important jerk-off fueding with whoever was the first to look at her the wrong way. Not that she could really blame her for wanting to go after Sarah, but EVERYONE wanted Sarah. People should just learn to motivate themselves instead of trying to devote their lives to killing a skeeze-bag pro wrestler.

As she began to ponder her own motivations for the training she was about to put in, she finished double knotting her shoes, stuffed her running shoes in her locker and swung it shut, and then headed for the gym. She and Akashi were going to put in a technique day, and she had plenty of time before lunch. It was going to be a good day.

After Masane rounded a corner, she stopped at Taylor's words. She paused for a second, then shook her head. She couldn't allow any distractions from her goal. She needed to not let what others say bother her, yet, she could still feel herself twisting inside a little bit for not going with the friendly greeting she normally went with. She then growled in frustration, and tried to shut out that remorseful feeling before continuing on, heading to the gym for a small work out.