Love and Grace

Cassandra Grace Elliot was glowing as she marched into the AFW gym. She was feeling particularly chipper, even for a person who was naturally rather chipper. She wore a constant smile under bright green eyes, her jaw-length orange hair was still a little tousled by the wind during the walk, and though her bangs were tucked neatly behind her right ear, an ever-out of place lock of hair curved out over her forehead at a diagonal, sort of passing between her eyes and sort of covering her right. She had a new dress, as well, that she was particularly pleased with. It was very simple and light and airy and all bright white, and she wore it with a brown belt at her waist and cowboy boots that almost came up to her knees, given her vertical handicap. She grasped the skirt over each leg and swished it back and forth with each step while she hummed happily.

Taylor and her were the closest they'd ever been. She might even be moving in with her. Just like old times! Only better. So much better! And she had finally found her reason for being in Japan, and in AFW, and it gave her so much peace about the whole thing. It was awesome. She had a mission, for the sake of the people she loved most. But that didn't mean she didn't still want to talk to new people! She loved talking to new people. She loved the gym. Everything was so awesome!

She pranced happily through the doors and skirted around some mats on her way across to the locker room, opting to enter through the gym first so she could get a look at the other girls. She wore a backpack containing her stuff that bounced along with each step. She was so busy humming and swishing her dress and prancing while surveying the gym that she pranced herself right into another girl, almost knocking both of them over in the process.

"Oh! Excuse me, I'm so sorry!" She said, putting a hand apologetically to the girl's shoulder, her big eyes knitting nervously. "Sorry, I just wasn't... hey, are you new?" She said, with a nervous, hopeful smile.

Talia had been spending a few days training at the Friction gym. It was becoming part of her routine. Soon, she expected she was going to officially transfer from Tension to Friction. Wanting to get use to the change in scenery, Talia had given herself tours of the place enough to know where everything was. She had hoped to meet a few people so she wouldn't be alone her first few weeks. She knew what it was like being alone in Tension, and she wasn't about to repeat that experience.

Talia had worn her normal workout clothes. She had on a loose gray t-shirt that partially covered a pink sports bra. She had on a purple pair of gym shorts and had her long orange hair tied back in a ponytail (as usual). After a quick look around to make sure there weren't any undesirable people present, she got to work stretching. It didn't take long before someone bumped right into the girl. She stumbled but caught herself before falling. She immediately turned around to face the person, though surprisingly was not at all upset about what had happened.

Talia smiled to the girl and nodded. "It's okay. Happens to the best of us." The girl did notice, though, that Talia was new. She didn't want to be embarrassed or labeled as a rookie all over again, even if she was. Still, she nodded once more. "Yes, I'm going to be starting here soon...or later I really don't know." Sooner seemed better, but she didn't want to rush the decision without giving it enough time and thought. "My name is Talia," she said with a friendly smile and held out her hand to the other girl. She may very well have been the first girl Talia met who was not only younger, but of comparable size. And that made Talia all the more happy to meet her. "What's yours?"

Cassie leaped up in the air and jauntily kicked her feet up behind her, and then grabbed Talia's hand and gave it a pump. "I'm Cassandra Grace Elliot!" She announced, and added a nervous laugh, afraid that she had just come off as dorky. "Or Cass." She said. "Ee. Cassie. Or Cass, that's okay too. Um, you can call me whatever, really, but... that's my name, so..." She trailed off.

"So!" She grinned. "You're new! That's so awesome, I just know you'll do great. I've been here for a while, but I haven't had many matches... I had a... management issue. I'm so glad I bumped into you!" Her eyes got really big. "...Get it?" She let out a long string of giggling that eventually rose in pitch and lost steam as she was again feeling embarrassed. She swished her dress around and blew at the lock of hair in her face, which moved an inch for a moment and fell right back into place.

She looked blankly at Talia for a moment while she struggled to come up with something to say next. Suddenly, her eyes widened again and she grabbed Talia's arm. "Stretch with me! We can warm up together! Just let me change into my..." She slipped her backpack off of her shoulders, undid a couple buttons on her dress, loosened the belt, and then tugged the whole thing off over her head. Underneath she was wearing a green tank top and black workout shorts.

"Bam!" More giggling. "Ready! Or, oops..." She hopped around on one foot while she tugged off her cowboy boots. She had exceptional balance, but the boots were really hard to get off. After much hopping, she laid her boots down in a corner next to her dress and her backpack.

"So do you have any experience with wrestling?" She asked as she started twisting back and forth to limber up.

Talia was overcome with relief at how cheerful the girl was. She was starting to fear that everyone in the AFW was a serious, selfish spoilsport. "It's nice to meet you Cass," Talia said with a friendly smile. Cass's string of laughing that usually ended with her getting embarrassed made Talia's smile greater. It was adorable, even to her. Even though she didn't understand what Cass meant by the management issue, she nodded when Cass suggested they stretch together. "Okay!" she answered quickly, laughing with how quickly Cass changed into her workout clothes. "Wow, you are always ready for this aren't you?"

As Talia started to stretch her legs, she tilted her back up and cringed. It was still hurting from her previous matches. "I have a little experience with actual wrestling yes. A lot of experience losing unfortunately." Talia tried to laugh it off but chose to just look away from Cass as an easier solution. "I use to wrestle with Tension. It was a little...harsh there so I don't think I'll be wrestling there anymore." Harsh was putting it lightly. Catastrophic would've been more accurate. "How many matches have you had? Any good wins?" she added with a smile.

"Yup!" Cassie chirped. "Well, I came here to work out, but I wanted to wear my new dress. So... I came prepared."

Cassie's face changed dramatically at Talia's mention of her losing streak. First her mouth fell open in a look of overwhelming sympathy, then she closed it tightly and furrowed her brow in a look of concern. Without warning, she suddenly wrapped her arms around Talia in a tight, reassuring hug.

"Don't worry. Tension is stupid. They either match you up against skinny guys that aren't very good, or big huge guys that... Well, don't worry about that. I'm sure you'll do just fine here." She stepped back and gave her a big, warm smile.

"I've had a few... My record is even right now. I've had some trouble getting used to pro wrestling. My last match, I... lost. It didn't take long." She said, and blushed. She quickly began cycling through a warmup routine to get her blood moving and to get ready to roll with Talia.

She was excited, but not so much that she hadn't noticed Talia's discomfort. "Hey, let me help you with that." She said. "Um, you can lay down on your stomach, or you can stand or sit or something, it doesn't matter. Don't worry, I'm pretty good." She began to circle around behind Talia, without specifically mentioning that she intended to massage her back.

Talia was surprised but delighted by Cass's hug. She knew the girl was friendly but not to this extent. Apart from Johnny, an opponent of hers, she had never received a hug of sympathy before. It seemed Talia was the last person to figure out what the roster was like over at Tension. Oh well, she thought to herself. I won't have to worry about that anymore. But even Cass seemed to have had some troubles in Friction. "What happened?" she asked in reference to her last match. She hadn't meant to ask so suddenly. The way Cass had said it meant she probably didn't enjoy the story of it that much.

Talia was already laying on her stomach and stretching up when Cass told her to lay down. "Oh...O-Okay." She flattened herself on the mat and looked to the left to barely see Cass out of the corner of her eye. "What are you doing?" she finally asked, unsure of Cass's intent.

"I lost." Cassie said with a smile.

She knelt down next to Talia and pushed her shoulders down to make her lie flat, and then she began to probe around in Talia's back with her finger tips. She knew exactly where to look, everyone who hurt their back in pro wrestling tended to get the same sorts of injuries, usually from either being slammed around or holds like a boston crab.

"Ohhhh..." She said absently. "You're so tight!" She leaned down and tilted her head to look Talia in the eyes. "Are you always this tight?" She went to work, probing around to find the knots in her mid-lower back. "Probably not..."

She pushed up Talia's gray workout shirt and began rubbing either side of her spine like she was kneading dough, and then once Talia felt warm enough she bunched up her fingers on one hand, put her other hand on top, found a knot and slowly eased on pressure until she was putting almost all of her weight on it.

"Oh, my goodness! I don't know if I'm even big enough!" Cassie said. "Do you feel that? I might have to use my elbow." Cassie's approach to deep tissue massage was usually to find the knots and relentlessly go after them, figuring that was the best way to help. She generally failed to take into account, however, how much pain doing so all at once could cause.

Talia didn't probe any further into the details of Cass's match. If she didn't want to willingly explain what had happened, it probably wasn't a memory she was particularly proud of. She could relate to her in that regard. "I've been there," she muttered quietly from the floor. She lightly bit her lip to not make a noise as Cass got to the pained spot. Her face became a little red at Cass's comment of her being tight. Obviously she didn't mean it in that way but her gentle yet straightforward fingers could argue otherwise. Talia continued to bite down as Cass pushed against her back roughly enough to stretch and relax certain muscles.

When she was taking the full weight of Cass on her back, Talia's leg shook a little subconsciously wanting to escape it. "Y-Yes I feel that," she said with a hint of pain and a strained face that Cass couldn't see. "N-No I think...I don't think an elbow would be best," she stated flatly trying not to show any pain. "I...I think you got it, it's fine," she followed up to try and get Cass to stop though she didn't move at all from her laying down position.

Cassie refrained from using her elbow, but she only let up to find a new spot. She slowly worked her way through several knots, first putting pressure on them and then slowly pushing her thumb through until they squished. Once she was done, she laid down on her back next to Talia.

"Okay, flip over and do this." She spread her arms out to the sides and kept one leg straight and bent the other up while she turned her hips to the side to touch her bent knee on the mat beside her. After a moment, she switched and stretched the other side, then got up to a kneeling position.

"How's that?" She asked Talia hopefully, wide eyes glued to her, waiting for her reaction with a smile .

Talia was relieved that Cass finished. It felt good to get massaged like that, but at the same time it hurt a little bit. She rolled to her back as instructed and lifted her legs in the same way Cass showed to her. It stretched her back from side to side which made her cringe a little. It did feel good to stretch it out so finely, though. "Ah..." Talia muttered to herself before rolling back to her front and her knees. "That...that actually feels better!" the girl said as she twisted her back to look around. She tilted her head back and stretched her arms high and together to arch her back. "Much better!" She turned her head back toward Cass with a smile. "Thank you. I wish I had you around everytime I get thrown around the ring. It'd save me a lot of hassle for sure."

Talia returned to her knee-sitting position and tilted her head at Cass. "So...what do you normally do to train?" she asked curiously. Cass had mentioned winning as many times as she had lost. It felt logical to copy her routine if it meant Talia could learn more than a few stretches from her.