New Kid In The Gym

"Whoa.... this place is even bigger than they said it would be! Isn't it great Charlie!" A wide-eyed, and exuberant young lady said to the young man next to her as he himself looked around.

"You ain't kidding Allie, this place is pretty legit." Charlie said as he tapped his cane on the ground and made his way towards a nearby ring. "Now its time to get to work, I'll wait here and go over a warmup schedule while you get changed."

"The Amazon" Alaina Sanders made her way to the locker room which was nearly empty at the time. No one paid much attention to her as far as she could tell. As she changed into a pair of black yoga pants and a sports bra it really began to hit her. She was in a big-time promotion with top tier talent. Everything about this gym seemed downright surreal to her. The shine of the floor, and even the "new ring smell" of the training facility all seemed to hit her at once. She threw her belongings in a locker and ran back out to the ring where Charlie waited, grinning the entire time.

Alaina found Charlie taking a punching bag down and hooking up a 150 lb dummy to use for strike practice. Alaina ran over and began to land a few punches, forearms, knees and kicks before moving on to a combo she has been wanting to try out: Alaina landed a hard knee to the abdomen of the dummy, followed by a strong right and capped off by a dropkick to the head! She felt the dummy swing back as she landed a solid dropkick. As she got up the dummy continued to sway back and forth. Alaina was quite pleased with the results and decided to try it out a few more times.

Taylor was starting to see a little wisdom in Morrigan's taser habit. Her psychotic enemy-turned-personal-assistant was best known in the ring for savage violence, and for always taking the upper hand with a billion volts of unfair, and after getting jumped by baby bear, mama bear, and big fucking papa bear Taylor sort of wished she could've had one in her back pocket.

The huge dude in the black mask who beat the shit out of her and tried to rip her leg off had knocked something loose in her finely tuned body. Something wasn't right, and it just wouldn't get better on its own, and the very last thing Taylor needed was an injury to keep her from training.

So today was her third dose of Friction PT. Her physical therapist was pretty cool, very professional, obviously knew his shit. She felt good knowing that he would help her get back to one hundred percent as quickly as possible.

She stuck around afterward to put in some time at the Friction gym, with her blonde hair in a pony tail and her gym bag over her shoulder. On her way to the locker room she was clipped on the shoulder by a big, giddy brunette at full speed. She looked back at her. Probably a rookie.

She was already wearing her workout clothes, black spandex workout pants that stopped just below her knee and a tight black tank top with a white, pencil-sketched raised fist on the front and the word "FIGHT" scrawled across it, along with a pair of very minimal black sneakers. She left her leather bracelet buckled around one wrist, and a few brightly colored rubber ones on the other.

Back in the gym, she passed the rampaging brunette, who was talking to some dude. She raised an eyebrow at him, guys were a rare site in the Friction gym, or anywhere in the building, really.

"Sup."

She stepped onto a treadmill and started it off at a pace that for her was leisurely, but that amounted to a brisk walk. She didn't have her iPod with her, and so she had to look for other things to occupy her mind while she bored herself half to death. She hated just walking. Off to the side, the big brunette was beating up some hanging Bobby Bully or something, and she found herself watching her. She drew a breath to say something, but decided against it and wordlessly closed her mouth again.

"Oh, hey whats good?"

Charlie replied politely as he gave this new woman a small nod, smile and wave before turning his attention back to Alaina.

Alaina was so into the punching dummy that she didn't notice anyone walk in. She began to ease up on the dummy and was about to go ask Charlie if they were going to work on holds when she saw a very fit and stern looking woman walking on a treadmill nearby.

"Oh hey! I didn't see you come in, are you one of the wrestlers? Alaina was very excited and her heart raced. She wanted to say hello but was slightly nervous. What if this lady was a champ? New rookies can't just approach a champ! However, she already spoke to her so at this point she had to say something else. As she began working her way over she felt as if not saying anything would be the worst thing to do, reaffirming some measure of confidence in her decision. At the very least if she was polite they would surely forgive a minor etiquette gaffe, right? Alaina stood tall and casually headed over to the treadmill
"Oh where are my manners, my name is Alaina Sanders, I'm new here. And you are....?" Alaina said as she walked next to the treadmill and extended her hand with a small smile forming on her lips.

"Yeah, man."

Rookies always made Taylor just a little bit sad. It seemed like most rookies came into AFW like the living room on Christmas morning, but once they got a dose of reality and realized they didn't get what they wanted they all ended up disappointed. Taylor remembered trying to drink her way through that disappointment one night at a dive bar and meeting Akashi Tanikaze, the then-champ of Friction, in the process. So maybe it wasn't all bad.

"Oh, hey, I'm Taylor. Sorry, did you say Elaina, or Alaina?" She said, and gave Alaina's hand a firm shake. "First time here? You look like a tourist in Times Square, you just need like a camera and a jacket tied around your waist. Who's your dude over there?"

"I'm Alaina, and that's Charlie Haines. We were originally both signed up together for the Tension roster but when we arrived someone in all his wisdom decided to drive his challenger entirely too fast on a back country road! Alaina bluntly and loudly explained as she glared back at Charlie who simply shrugged. "He's still technically a part of the Tension roster, and will wrestle once his injury is rehabbed. I also can't stay mad at him for nearly killing himself either since he's been helping me train."

"Yeah well a gimps gotta do what a gimps gotta do. Listen, I'll let you guys do your thing and run out to grab food so we can stay here on our lunchbreak and watch old matchtapes as we eat, ok? Oh, Taylor do you want me to pick you up some grub while I'm out?" Charlie asked as he got to his feet and looked over at Taylor waiting for a response.

"We are American after all, and eating good food while getting fat is what we are best at!" Alaina jokingly added before continuing. "Seriously, we don't mind if you want something."

Alaina was very excited. Taylor didn't just spit in her face for being new, and she seemed to be genuine. In Alaina's book, honest earns a lot of points. As she waited to hear Taylor's response she couldn't help but give her a quick looking over. Taylor had a very solid build and confident demeanor, yet she was walking slowly on the treadmill....

"Like a Dodge Challenger?" Taylor's attention suddenly piqued for... reasons. "Oh, that sucks."

Taylor bumped up her pace just a little, and couldn't help but crack a smile at Alaina's comment. "Not all of us," she said. The definition in her flat abs and her shoulders and back were completely at odds with the fat American stereotype, especially in her form fitting workout gear. Her slim, ripped body just didn't look the part.

She shook her head. "Nah, I'm good, dude," she said. "I'm kind of a pain in the ass to shop for with food. It's actually hard for me to find good food out, so I've got nuts and seeds and avocado, spinach, brown rice, some raw brocolli... a white peach. I'm good to go. Thanks, though..."

She took a moment to size up the two of them. Charlie didn't concern her as much, but she looked Alaina up and down in the same way every Friction girl looks at every other Friction girl. She was big, looked strong. She didn't quite look like she was obsessive about her body or her fitness. She had probably got by so far on her natural physical gifts and had never really been pushed to the point of failure.

"So where are you from?"

Mercy Wrenn had an arm full of folders in one hand and a clip board in the other as she inched her way through the AFW gyms. She wrinkled her nose as she caught the air. It certainly wasn't boy musk, but sweaty girls running around still didn't compete with her senses either. Sweating should be done to the oldies int he privacy of ones home or with a personal trainer. She just didn't get it at all. Either way, she had a job to do. She'd gathered up all the necessities for a field trip from her office and hiked down to where the talent hung around. Every so often a pile would form of various things that needed signed or initialed. Some piece of information that needed to be passed on or a rookie that needed tracked down and Mercy would just take care of it in one fell swoop rather than form a line at Rally's office and have to deal with a whole different kind of headache.

The gym seemed pretty sparse today but she thought that might be good. She was looking for a rookie in particular but ended up finding Taylor. Her eyes lit up. She had been wanting to speak to the girl for some time after a few "incidents" and rushed up to her.

"Taylor, hey!" She called out with a cheery smile. "You never stop in, you never come see me at the office anymore! I know that you've got a big hunk of man meat but that doesn't mean you get to be a hermit!" She teased, giggling a bit. She had ignored the other two for the moment but turned her head to address them, raising her clip boarded hand and adjusting her rimmed spectacles.

"Hello. You must be new." She said, looking the girl over. "My name is Mercy Wrenn, the Assistant to the Chief Manager of Talent Relations, "Rally" Fortuna." She liked giving out the full title it made her seem important. She was. "I'd offer you a hand but mine are full." She quipped.

Mercy turned her attention back to Taylor quickly. "So what brings you down? I have to do paperwork and deal with some rookies. Ugh." Mercy wrinkled her nose. She then glanced at Alaina. "Uh, no offense." She said dismissively.

"Hey, Mercy." Taylor smiled back. "And you're only saying that because you don't have one." She wondered if Mercy was still dating Clyde Gastin... She hoped she wasn't. She figured that would've died out a long time ago, and thought that was for the best. Mercy was a little too prone to drama to be dating the world's most dramatic man.

"Oh, I, uh... Nothing, really. Just trying to keep warm and stuff. I was in the area. 'N junk." She shrugged and raked her long bangs to one side and out of her eyes. "This is Alaina, and that's her boy Charlie. They're tourists, or rookies or something."

"We're from San Diego California." Alaina replied as Charlie began to chime in, sounding oddly like Ron Burgundy....

"San Diego... its a German word meaning a whales v.."

"Don't even start the movie quotes and impressions Charlie! If ya hurry back with sushi for me and whatever you have in place of your old In N' Out burger for you I'll do the dishes tonight." Alaina added with a smile and wink. She usually found Charlie's odd habit of voice impersonations funny but wasn't sure if her present company would have been offended.

"Anyhow, we are from San Diego. I was actually a nurse and part-time fitness competitor for a while until I saw him at a small regional wrestling promotion. He was quiet in school so seeing him do a moonsault from the top rope onto a guy, sending them both crashing into empty folding chairs at ringside was a shock to say the least!" Alaina said as she smiled and chuckled a bit. "After I saw that show about a year ago, I kept up with nursing but ditched fitness competitions for wrestling in that small local promotion with Charlie. I've only been waiting a year for a shot at a big-time place like this, but Charlie's been at it since he got out of highschool just about 9 years ago."

Alaina's attention turned immediately to the women who just walked in past Charlie. She began speaking to Taylor and had what looked like a truckload of paperwork with her. Alaina didn't think she looked intimidating at all, looking much more like a secretary than wrestler. Alaina chuckled a bit at the comment about rookies made by the secretary who introduced herself as Mercy Wrenn. "Hey Mercy I'm "The Amazon" Alaina Sanders. I know I look out of place like a tourist but I'm just a rookie here."

"I'm Charlie Haines, future rookie on the Tension roster once my knee decides to stop being jacked up. To be more well rounded I'll wear sandals and socks tomorrow, that way I can check off rookie and tourist." Charlie added before heading to the door. "I'd love to stay but when my roomie over there needs sushi and doesn't get it quickly enough she gets cranky. I'll be back!" Charlie was out the door and Alaina looked as if she was sad to see him go, but happy knowing that an overdue lunch was on the way.

Alaina quickly turned towards Taylor after she heard "her boy Charlie" come out of her mouth. She was best friends with Charlie but she also didn't want anyone getting the wrong impression either. "Oh Taylor, Charlie's not like my boyfriend or anything. We are roommates together in a 3-bedroom apartment but we're not a thing. The two of us and his Welsh Corgi, Little Charlie all have a platonic, harmonious living arrangement."

After making what she thought was a necessary clarification, she got on a treadmill herself but looked over at Mercy. Mercy, I wouldn't happen to be one of the rookies you were looking for am I?

Mercy bristled inwardly at Taylor's comment. She turned her head and blushed. Clyde wasn't much but at the moment that was what she was stuck with. For better or for worse. Mostly for worse. She sighed, ignoring Taylor and turning to Alaina and Charlie while the pair introduced themselves. Mercy completely ignored Charlie. Tension? Ew.

Mercy raised an eyebrow at Alaina's clarification of her relationship with her friend. She lifted up her clipboard and coughed, clearing her throat while she looked at Taylor, grinning. 'They are TOTALLY doing it!' She mouthed and grinned.

She turned her attention back to Alaina and with a deft maneuver, managed to slide some papers from the middle of her folder stack onto a clip board. She then shoved the clipboard into Alaina's gut and smiled at her. "As a matter of fact, I am!" She said cheerfully. "I have some papers for you to initial and date to set everything in order so you can get your first match in." She then tilted her head. "You know that there are, like, a BILLION Amazons running around here, right?" She said with a bit of a snide tone. She'd met a few of them and didn't care for hardly any of them except maybe her boss. "You really don't LOOK like an Amazon either. Aren't they supposed to be, super tall and have muscles on their muscles or something? You're not even any bigger than Taylor." She said thumbing back at the blonde.

She turned her attention back to Taylor. "I swear it's like when they fill the nickname hat up, they only put in "Amazon" and "Queen." There's more names to choose from, you know." Mercy said, looking back at Alaina while she waited for the girl to sign her life away some more.