Chaah with a Pander on it!

“Ohhhhh come on! Youâ€re not even trying!” Amanda giggled as she watched the spectacle before her. Using a table for leverage, and having pulled two chairs up on either side of it, Amanda was watching her two best friendâ€s arm wrestle.

John was here to train for his upcoming title match, originally he had intended to go over some moves and maybe spar with his friend Ro, but soon Amanda arrived. Naturally, the three old friends accomplished absolutely nothing except to fool around and act like children, which was always a worthy endeavor. They likely hadnâ€t even started exercising, and instead had been using the gym to talk, joke around, and apparently arm wrestle now.

Ro strained a bit as Amanda taunted them from her position. “Hey shut the fuck uuuuupaa!” She growled out a bit, smirking. Amanda couldnâ€t beat either of them in arm wrestling; it was easier for her to tease. Ro was dressed quite simply, wearing a black tea shirt and tight yoga-like pants.

“Seriously, Iâ€ma break yo face.” John said shortly thereafter to Amanda, putting on a fake Staten Island/Brooklyn accent (to mock Ro a bit, who had slipped back into it). Despite John having a bit of a size advantage on Ro, Ro was clearly holding her own and John was struggling to keep his arm up. For his part, John was wearing simple exercise clothes, a black pair of shorts with a blue tee shirt. On the back, the shirt read “VFW POST 12080: NEW YORK, NY” in white lettering. On the front, by the top right corner, was the emblem for the Veterans of Foreign Warâ€s organization. The shirt was slightly worn, probably because he often used this particular one whenever he was working outside or exercising.

Ro then decided to get a little cheeky, lifting her foot up to rub on the side of Johnâ€s leg under the table, but John just smirked. “Has that ever worked?” Ro just laughed, and the two of them started to groan and grunt a bit as their contest became more intense. First, the balance shifted in Roâ€s favor and John began to falter. With an exasperated groan, John brought the pressure back to Ro and pivoted the other way, now Ro was losing.

“Donâ€t let him Ro! The pride of….the…DONâ€T LET JOHN WIN!” Amanda was laughing excitably, banging her hands on the table. Amanda was clearly not dressed to exercise. She was wearing casual clothes, a tight pair of jeans and a blue tank top, covered with a very light plaid jacket. Naturally, it did nothing to cover her notoriously large bosom. For reasons she would refuse to explain, she was wearing a Homestar Runner style propeller cap. At her side was a stylish bag, and in her hand was a stuffed Panda.

”Shut uuuuuuuup!” Ro let out again, then with a final rush of energy, she forced their arms back to the center, then slammed Johnâ€s arm against the table.

“BOLLOCKS!” “AH HA HA HA HA HA!” “YAAAAAAY ROOOOOO!” All three of them shouted out at the same time, gathering the attention (and the glares) of other people trying to use the gym for its intended purpose.

Ro got out of her seat and laughed, hugging Amanda and picking her up, while John just kept laughing and sat back in the chair. “The WORLD CHAMPION arm wrestler!” Ro declared, then Ro scooped Amanda up and tried to put the shorter girl on her shoulders. Amanda laughed as she was hauled up, tossing the Panda onto Ro's chair. Clearly, they had no intention of being quite in the gym or acting like anything resembling adults.

"I'm not sure this is a good idea, Taylor."

"Bear, you had all day to back out on this, but we're here now. It'll be fine, anyway, don't worry."

Taylor and Cassie walked side by side from the train station to the Tension building. Each of them wore a jacket and carried a bag. Taylor had a stretchy black zip-up jacket with a collar that covered her neck and thumb holes to keep the sleeves down to her hands. Cassie had a white windbreaker, zippered all the way up. Cassie's coat was not much heavier, but Taylor was shivering while Cassie was comfortable.

Taylor had a gym bag slung over her shoulder and Cassie wore a backpack, each filled with workout and overnight stuff. They were meeting John at the gym, and came prepared to work out if need be. Taylor was already wearing her workout clothes under her jacket, stretchy, black, mid-shin length pants and minimal running shoes, while Cassie was dressed in black leggings and fuzzy brown Ugg boots.

She had started quietly fussing on the train, wringing her hands and checking her phone and glancing out the window. It was Cassie's idea to come, not Taylor's, but Taylor was going to do everything she could to help get her there. If nothing else, maybe she could have just a little bit of fun. Best case scenario, it helped her forget about Mamouru. Either way, Taylor just wanted to see Cassie smile again.

"Do you think he'll... I wonder what his friends are like."

"It'll be great. Everyone's always happy to see you. I'll beat up his friends if they get out of line. Like New York." Out of the corner of her eye, Taylor saw Cassie very nearly crack a smile. They'd trained at the same pro wrestling gym in New York City, and while Taylor didn't consider Cassie a friend then she defended her like a rabid bulldog when she thought one of the guys was picking on her. She had a reputation from that gym. They both did, but two very different kinds.

Taylor was well familiar with the Tension building from the time she spent there accompanying Johnny. She navigated the hallways until the came to the gym, and to a ruckus inside.

Cassie paused at the door and looked up at Taylor, who didn't break stride.

"Oh, wow, it's Over The Top." Cassie always marveled at Taylor's swagger. She was always at her best with a crowd like she didn't even care that there were people... watching. Taylor instantly recognized the big girl from her recent match with Johnny. She drew a handlebar mustache over her face with a finger. "If you're the champ, where's your handlebar? Sorry we didn't bring our flannels- oh, wait, did you lose?" She turned and looked down at John. "Ohmigod, that's hilarious! Here, let me help you up." She laughed and grabbed him by the wrist to haul him upright.

Cassie appeared, meekly facing him. "Hi John."

Ro, Amanda, and John weâ€re still laughing hysterically after their little fun when Taylor and Cassie came into the gym. It actually took a few minutes for the Trio to notice that people weâ€re coming over to them, but soon Taylor made it clear as she came over and pretended to draw a mustache on Ro. This made Ro, and Amanda who was on Roâ€s shoulders, giggle.

John laughed again as Taylor teased him, “You say that now, feel how tough those arms are!” John said, his face positively glowing as he was pulled up. Out of the ring, John was usually amazingly upbeat. With his friends, he exuded joy and energy. “Cassie! Iâ€m so glad you came, I wasnâ€t sure if you were going to.” John said, smiling widley as he took in everyone.

“Are these your frieeends?” Amanda said from atop Ro, while she moved her friends to cover Roâ€s eyes, which made a gasp escape Roâ€s lips. “I will introduce us! Iâ€m the Empress of the trio…” That got a sarcastic laugh out of both John and Ro. Amanda went on unabated, “This, as you know, is Johny.” She said, pointing to John and using the name only Amanda used to describe him, while also uncovering Roâ€s right eye. “My imperial walker beneath me is Ro Larren, Iâ€m Amanda Clare, this is a table, those are the chairs, over yonder is the gym, that is a chair with a panda on it…” Amanda said, gesturing grandly to the chair where she had tossed a stuff panda upon, “Sheer poetry, my good fellows!........nooow whoâ€re friends, Johnny?”

John was still grinning and trying not to burst into laugher at that. “Uhm….haha…this is Cassie Elliot from friction….and…friend.” John said, not knowing Taylorâ€s name at first… “annnd friend…TAYLOR PARKER! I just saw your match with Iron Maiden, very impressive. Iâ€m pleased to meat you.”

When Taylorâ€s name came up, Roâ€s eyes widened slightly. “Taylor! Youu are Johnny Higur…Hig…your Johnyâ€s husband! Me and him met after I knocked him out.” Ro laughed, “I was hoping Iâ€d meet you!”

"Thanks," Taylor glanced at John and returned to her place in front of Ro. She hadn't been sure how she would feel when she met the girl, and now that she had... she still didn't know. She rolled her shoulders and folded her arms over her chest, and stared up into the taller girl's dark eyes. "Yeah, me too."

Cassie shifted her feet and stepped on her toes. She was used to Taylor being the center of attention, which was a good thing, but she didn't know Ro would be there. She hoped nothing bad happened.

"Umm..." She peered up at Amanda and stepped closer to John, as if to use him to shelter her from the rest. "So... how's your training going? Are you ready for Kent? He's... really big, but I've never seen him fight, so..." Cassie was sure John could beat him. Strength wasn't everything, after all.

John realized that Amandaâ€s madness was probably overwhelming Cassie, she seemed to step closer to him, probably unconsciously due to discomfort. Amanda was nothing if not vocal. Johnâ€s face became a comforting, warm smile as he looked down at Cassie. “Heh…Kent Quick is either a coward or is genuinely afraid that heâ€ll catch ‘the gays†from me. Heâ€s manipulated the staff into letting some girl fight in his name, a woman whom Iâ€ve not meant. Apparently, sheâ€s Killer Kingâ€s sidekick.” John snickered a bit, finding the whole thing somewhat amusing, somewhat sad, and somewhat insulting. “But, yeah, Iâ€m training up pretty well…not gonna slouch cause heâ€s not gonna fight me.” John smirked again, “How, uh, howâ€re doing?” The implied ending to that sentence was ‘after your match,†but he left it open ended. If Cassie didnâ€t want to talk about it, she could easily back out of it without being rude. But it was pretty clear thatâ€s what John meant.

Ro, meanwhile, began to realize that while she was eager to meet and befriend Taylor, Taylor may not have been entirely comfortable with her. Weather it was because of the brutality of her match with her husband or because she wasnâ€t comfortable with Johnny H. having an female friend like Ro, she couldnâ€t begin to guess. “Small world though, yeah? John meeting your friend and me meeting Johnny.” Ro said, still smiling and trying to make conversation with Taylor. The last thing she wanted was for Taylor to not like her, after all.

“I like your shoes!” Amanda interrupted everyone to look at Cassieâ€s fuzzy boots. “Am I the only one who hasnâ€t met any of you guys?”

"Oh," Cassie said. She furrowed her brow and looked down while she thought about it. "I'm confused. He has a match where he has to defend his title, but he doesn't want to fight so he got his friend's girlfriend to do it?" She frowned. "Does he know that men's wrestling has been the standard everywhere in the world, and has been for thousands of years, and that he-" Before she could get too far into her history lesson, John's question quieted her down.

"I'm fine." She said quietly.


"I know, right?" Taylor said, still fiercely holding her eye contact. The girl looked like a typical Tension chick, big, with an enormous rack. Taylor could not reconcile with herself how this skank had beaten Johnny, but the feelings that ran through her when she watched it happen were quick to resurface. She was perfectly fine with Johnny being a Tension wrestler, it certainly wasn't like women all couldn't fight. Johnny did a good job of fending off the girls' sluttier advances, but lately his matches had been getting more and more brutal. She wasn't sure what she thought about it, but it just felt awful. Looking at Ro's smug, smiling face, and imagining what she did... made her sick.

She smiled, and shook it off. She looked up at Amanda and nearly fell over backwards. "Holy shit, dude! How's your back?" She laughed. "Both of you, man, Jesus! They just started pumping you full of silicone and you forgot to say when?"

“My…my breastâ€s arenâ€t fake…” Amandaâ€s lips quivered a bit as she looked down with big, teddy bear eyes. It was a sort of act, but when Amanda wanted to she could look and sound like a small, innocent child. “Why…why would you say something…like that? I wansâ€t mean to you.” Amanda began to look down, as if to cry.

While that happned, John gave a wink to Cassie, then leaned in and booped Amanda behind the head with his hand. “Mandy…no oneâ€s buying it, lady.” Ro was chuckling as well, she found the comment funny but she found Amandaâ€s routine even funnier. But when John booped her, Amanda smirked and looked to Taylor again again. “Maybe we should have a smother match so you can get a closer look!” Amanda said, and then began laughing. Now it was clear, if it wasnâ€t already, that Amanda was playing around with Taylor.

“Anyway…Kentâ€s kinda pathetic. I think everyone can agree on that.” John said, to the group in general. “Well actually, I think Kentâ€s dealing with repressed homosexuality. Itâ€s hard, I think if he gets one good look at John without a shirt on heâ€s afraid he wonâ€t be able to resist.” Ro was clearly a psychologist. (No. No, she wasnâ€t.)

"Yeah, okay. If yours are real, then mine are fake." Taylor laughed. She put her hands up, palms out. "We can fight about it if you want, but those big fucking water balloons aren't coming anywhere near my head." She grinned up at Ro. "Or how about both of you? If you subtract your giant boobs, the two of you together probably weigh as much as my last chick. How 'bout it, eh?" She hopped back and bounced lightly on the balls of her feet.

Cassie nodded. "Um... I've never met him, and I'm sure he has a reason, but... I can't think of another one." She shrugged. Taylor suddenly caught up on that half of the conversation.

"Wait, that dude is gay?" Her eyebrows lifted up and she laughed. "Well, could've been worse for him, right? No offense," she added to John. He wasn't a bad looking guy, but he was no Johnny.

"Well, I guess that match won't be so bad, then." Cassie didn't know anything about the girl who was to take Kent's place, but she assumed that if she was particularly skilled she would've heard about her. "So... I'm pretty hungry. We didn't eat on the train. Did you guys want to order something, or..."

“Heh..all right, if you wana take us on just name the time and place. I bet weâ€ll sell out the arena, between the two of us.” Ro said, smirking at Taylor a bit. “But watch out, this isnâ€t even my final form and I already have Amanda-Rocket Launching Action!” Ro laughed, jostling Amanda as if she were going to toss her at Taylor.

“Heh…all right you two, itâ€s getting a little old. Theyâ€re real I promise, take a look for yourself if you donâ€t believe me.” All though Ro was taking the teasing like a champ, Amanda had a hint of resentment on her lips. Taylorâ€s joke was funny the first time, now it was beginning to get on her nerves. Ro looked up to the girl on her shoulders, who was still clinging to her, and sighed. “Awww…poor Mandy…” she grinned, and Ro smiled.

Meanwhile, John was looking at them with a bit of a curious smile until Taylor spoke. “Why thank you, Taylor. And, while I normally like the muscley guys, Kent just….isnâ€t my type, so maybe itâ€s better. Though maybe…maybe his obsession with women and his constant objectification of them is more proof of his latened homosexuality!” John said with a laugh. After that, he heard Cassie say she was hungry. John was about to say something, before Amanda yanked up her pocket book and pulled a white paper bag out of it. “Oooo! Would you like a jelly baby?” Amanda said, offering the candy to Cassie.

“Theyâ€re good, try them…” John assured her. “But as for a meal…I mean…I guess they could deliver here, or we could walk over to the lounge and order something there. What do you guys feel like? Sushi? Maybe pizza? They pizza here isnâ€t as good as back hom…..HOLY SHIT!” John suddenly shouted out, letting out an audible gasp. He quickly raised his hand and pointed his index finger at Taylor.

“YOU!....YOU! Midtown Pro in Manhattan, the wrestling gym, Taylor Sparks. I knew you, we both trained there!” John couldn't believe it, he leaned back against the table and burst out laughing. "And dam if you aren't as intense as you were back then!"

Amanda opened her mouth to object, “We never saw her!, but John just shook his head. “That was after I came home from the Army."

"Dude, I got a look from back there!" Taylor grinned, pointing back at the door.

Cassie nodded slowly. It all made sense, and she figured John would know. He seemed to know about that sort of thing. "Yeah, I don't like the way they objectify- ack!" Suddenly, jelly babies, and Cassie jumped. "Oh, um, no, thanks, I don't want to... ya know, spoil my appetite. But I'll pretty much eat anything, I'm not- ack!" John's sudden outburst made her jump again.

She quietly looked with wide eyes while Taylor quickly reddened. It was pretty rare to see Taylor embarrassed, but the redder Taylor got the more Cassie smiled.

With her eyes on the floor, Taylor said "Yeah, I actually recognized you too." She shrugged at John. "Well, I was pretty sure. But... thanks? I think. You look pretty different. Is that where you went? The Army?" She stopped as a thought suddenly occurred to her. "Wait. Do you remember Cassie? She was there too, man. I don't really remember the timing and stuff all that much."

"Taylor!"

"What?"

"You're blushing!"

"Shut up," Taylor noticed the smile on Cassie's face and smiled back at her. That alone was worth the trip.