Looking for Help [Dahaaru]

Spoiler:

It had been quite a while since Aoko had suffered her defeat at the hands of Janet...but she had sort of come back from that in gaining a win over Akiha....still she wasn't doing all too well in the league. She wasn't doing awful but she was nowhere near catching up to her rival at the moment. She still hadn't found a good dedicated wrestler to train her the way she had wanted, the ever odd spar and such just didn't cut it. She knew that if she could just get a bit more hands on help she could beat Janet for sure! After all....the rumors that were going around was that Janet had been training with Cecilia Northman of all people for quite some time...." Peh...maybe it's just too late for me to catch up." Aoko whispered out to herself under her breath as she stood in the gym.

She had just gotten off of the rowing machine after doing a few sets...a light sheen of sweat on her lovely fair skinned frame as she stood in her training gear. Her long red hair tied up into a very attractive pony-tail at the moment. She went over towards her bag and pulled out a bottle of water, taking a few big gulps of the liquid to help her cool down and keep her hydrated. Following her drink she remained still...with bottle in hand she simply stared blankly at it. " maybe I can't do this..." Aoko let out....she would take a few more seconds, standing there in silence before she brought a hand up and gave herself a light slap on the cheek.

" Come on! Be tough dammit." Aoko let out as she'd try and bounce on her feet a little, trying to psych herself up. " I just need to train harder that's all! Yeah!" The actress once again let out to herself. She was happy that it was pretty late and she seemed to be the only one in the gym at the moment....or was she ?

Lately, Odessa Brock had been spending more time in the gym. While she could have given a thousand excuses for why she had been spending more time training as opposed to her usual schedule—which included considerably greater levels of social interaction and alcohol consumption—the reason for her newfound vigor when it came to her gym visits could, of course, be found in her last fight with her dear friend and rival Cecilia. It was partly a practical decision, as after that match she had been so injured she had had to rest up with hardly any physical activity for several days. And, partly, Odessa wanted to be certain that she destroyed Cecilia in their next encounter. As much as the two were friends—and as sexual as things usually got between the two of them—their rivalry was an intense one. The last several minutes of their fight had seen plenty of names tossed between them—slut, cunt, hoebag—and the fact that Odessa had not been able to follow through on all of the trash talk she had flung at the blonde frustrated her.

It was not as if she was brooding. If anything, the loss had been healthy for her, as she ended every training session feeling tired but strangely refreshed, leaving the Friction gym with a smile on her face. It allowed her to rest easily, satisfied that she had had a productive day, and satisfied that she would be more fit than Cecilia the next time the two of them fought. The record between them was now tied at one win, one draw, and one loss each.

Odessa did not realize how late it had gotten, as she had primarily busied herself with some free weight training in the back of the gym. During a break for water, she happened to look up at the big clock on the wall, the only clock presently available to her. When she looked up, she was shocked to see that nearly half an hour had passed since she had last looked at the clock. She had intended to be out of the gym by this time, but then, with no other plans for the evening, she didn't mind that little extra push to gain that ounce of extra raw strength which might be all she needed to overcome Cecilia in the future—not to mention punish other friends, like Eri, and Isabella, and Liberty.

As Odessa walked back over to her gym bag and pulled out a bottle of water, she scanned the gym, seeing only one other girl still here at this late hour. The girl, who had a mane of brilliant red hair and workout attire which was almost identical to Odessa's—a shape-hugging black sports bra and tiny spandex shorts—was also taking a break from her workout, about twenty feet or so away from the nook in the wall where the free weights were kept. The girl was talking, probably just to herself, in a voice that was just low enough that Odessa couldn't hear. But she did see the slap on the cheek. She chuckled, and started walking slowly over to the girl, her tall, statuesque, flawless brown body glistening with a light sheen of sweat as she moved. As soon as the redhead looked her way, Odessa would wave. "Hello there!"

Aoko hadn't really expected too many people to be here this late in the evening, she kind of wanted to be alone...for now at least. She knew that the only way that she'd be able to beat Janet was if she could find herself someone to teach her, after all...the rumors she had been hearing was that Janet was being trained by none other than Cecilia Northman a name as famous as they come...or perhaps infamous in a sense.

Though it seemed as if her little attempts to psych herself up had earned her the visit of a stunning woman who caught her attention with her sweet sounding voice. It dripped like fresh honey as she spoke. The redhead practically jumped up a little bit at the surprise though, she turned around to face the taller and bustier woman. Eyes widening a bit as she was all too familiar with who it was. After all...who stood before Aoko right now was none other than Odessa Brock herself....the blue eyed Aoko stood silent for a several seconds before she would bow as quickly as she had jumped to face Odessa.

" Ahh! H-hello!" She let out as she bowed....wait why did she bow ? Quickly she shot back up straight as she'd blush lightly and look up at the buxom ebony beauty in front of her, her gaze shifting away a bit as she felt rather embarrassed and nervous right now. " S-sorry..did I disturb you or something ? I-I will try and keep it d-down.." she mumbled out as she kept her gaze averted, hands clasping behind her back.

The way the slightly shorter redhead looked at her, it seemed as if the girl knew who Odessa was. That wasn't surprising, after all of the matches Odessa had fought here for AFW, and her top contender match for the hardcore title and her championship match for the Friction world title. Odessa was one of AFW's highest-profile wrestlers, and, thanks to her beautiful ebony complexion, striking white hair, and sophisticated, charming demeanour, she knew she left quite an impression on fans and fellow wrestlers alike.

But this girl was not a newbie on the AFW scene, nor was she unfamiliar with that sort of enduring, omnipresent fame which Odessa had around these parts. If anything, this girl was the most famous AFW wrestler of all time, though most of her fame did not come from her wrestling career. Aoko Reinhardt's movies were not the slightly more artistic films which Odessa generally preferred, but no woman in Japan could help but see one of her Scarlet Witch movies at some point or another, and Odessa had enjoyed the movies she had seen—especially their cute-as-a-button leading lady.

The girl was not exactly an extrovert, however, or so Odessa gathered from her awkward bow and mumbled promise to keep her voice down. Odessa smiled and shook her head. "Oh, you're hardly disturbing me. If anything, it's comforting not to be alone here at this hour. If we were here a couple of hours ago, the whole gym would be full of beautiful women. As it is, I think you and I are beautiful enough to make up for that." Odessa would lean against the wall and sigh, feeling herself beginning to cool down. If she wanted to keep up her workout, she would have to get back to it soon, or else she would be too tight and tired to do it. "This is the first time I've met you in person, I do believe, Miss Reinhardt. Though I've seen a few of your matches—and your movies, for that matter."

Watching Odessa lean up against the wall like that the head of Aoko tilted to the side, she was exactly sure what to do about this situation as she herself was a bit star-struck...she had a great deal of respect for many of the wrestlers in this league and few commanded as much respect as Odessa Brock.

Aoko would straighten up and widen her eyes a bit as Odessa started to talk about how she knew of her, of course Aoko had come to expect most people knowing her from her movies, but Odessa seemed to have seen a few of her matches too...she was also quite the charmer...quite a dangerous woman for Aoko to meet. " Ah?..m-my matches ?" Aoko let out as she looked on at the beautiful ebony skinned titaness before her. " That's...I don't really know what to say about that. It's been a bit rocky I guess ? Though I've done okay." Aoko let out as she kicked her foot against the floor a little...

" Ah..." Aoko was about to say something but stopped herself, she took a moment to compose herself a little. " I'm kinda..." She didn't really know how to say this, she had to find a way to get what she was trying to say come out without making her seem all whiny about it, cause she wasn't. "I just, you know...I don't know if i'm cut out for it ? Like I love it and all, but losing just....it kinda hurts a lot." Aoko let out as she would turn her gaze away from Odessa, taking a moment before she'd shake her head. " Especially losing to her..." The actress mumbled out under her breath.

Odessa could tell that Aoko was intimidated by her, even when Odessa made a conscious effort to put up a friendly, even unassuming front. She was an impressive woman, and she was proud enough to not try to dance around that fact. But she was a gracious woman, too, one who always wanted to lend someone a helping hand or dispense some advice. And right now, it seemed to her that this sweet little actress needed a pep talk, at the very least. The girl who was so confident and strong in her movies seemed to be a bit of a wreck right now in the gym.

Odessa listened to Aoko's frustrations, but she pretended that she didn't hear the last sentence that Aoko mumbled under her breath. She didn't want Aoko to feel as if Odessa was trying to intrude on something personal. "Oh, losing most certainly can be painful. I know that," Odessa would say. "Both in the literal and the figurative sense, isn't it? I've had matches where I finished with chipped teeth, a deformed nose, and broken cheek and rib bones...and I've had other matches which temporarily turned me into someone who I really wasn't." Both types of pain were tough to deal with. "If you don't like the results you're getting, it doesn't mean you're not cut out for it. If you get knocked down, then you train. And you prepare yourself. That's what I'm doing now. And you came here for the same thing, didn't you?"

Odessa seemed to be listening to her at least and was giving her more than some helpful advice, talking her through the current process and what it was like. Aoko would straighten up a bit and smile lightly at what Odessa said. " I guess so...but it's kinda hard, you know ?" Aoko spoke out, she was being as truthful and earnest as she could be with her words, she didn't exactly want to lie or anything to a person she could pretty much count as one of her own idols....perhaps it was weird for people to think that a super famous actress like Aoko would have many idols but...she did. Here in AFW there were more than a few, and Odessa had without a doubt become one of them over the years.

" Training is all fine and good and I keep trying you know...but it just kinda feels like there are some people I can't measure up to no matter how hard I got at it on my own. Especially when you hear about them having these crazy good teachers..." Aoko let out as she would start to walk over towards the dumbells to pick up a 4kg weight and start to do some simple hammer curls with her right hand. " I spent some time at the start looking around for that kind of help...but it kinda seemed as if most people didn't want to take me on as a 'pet project' " Aoko said as she turned over to Odessa, " If I had to guess it was probably cause of the press ? If rumors got out that I was being trained by someone it would put pressure on that person and my performance in the ring would affect their name....*sigh* so I hired some other trainers who wouldn't care as much and...it's gone well but they just aren't up to snuff...or maybe I'm not up to snuff, haha."

Odessa thought back to some of the matches that she had watched between Aoko and some of her rivals. When she talked about some of her opponents having "crazy good teachers," Odessa recalled a comment Cecilia had made to her a while back, and the Briton smiled a little bit as she figured she had put those pieces together. She had an opportunity to both help this cute girl and open another front on which she and Cecilia could challenge each other at the same time, and, while it would require a good bit of investment from both herself and Aoko, Odessa honestly would have been happy to do it in any case, even without the Ceci connection.

"Well, I can understand how some people could look at it that way, I suppose. But I've never really seen the issue that way. I've trained with plenty of other wrestlers, both learning and teaching, and if you want to raise your profile in a league like this I really do think that that's the only way." She would shift her weight back to both feet as she stood up straight, standing a few inches taller than Aoko. She put her hands on her hips and sighed happily. "Obviously, you've got very little training to do physically. You're beautiful, and you're strong. All you really need to do is maintain the physique you already have. But when it comes to techniques, you really need a training partner. If you'd like, I would be more than happy to give you a little help!"

Odessa certainly had a lot of wisdom to share which was something which Aoko greatly appreciated, getting to hear the tall ebony beauty's words on her ....dilemma was without a doubt refreshing and it was something that Aoko would take to heart. She kept hearing those words come out of Odessa's mouth and she nodded her head every time, she stood firm as the beautiful fellow Briton left the comfort of leaning against the wall...She certainly was a tall one, and a beautiful one at that.

Aoko's eyes trailed a bit along that magnificent stature before settling her blue eyes right at the pretty face of Odessa, When she heard Odessa say that she would be happy to give her a little help the eyes of Aoko went wide, her mouth opened up slightly as she gaped at the beautiful woman, stunned for a brief few seconds as she soon moved up to Odessa at neat break-neck speed, taking a hold of the woman's right hand with both her hands and shaking it rather vigorously. " T-thank you! I greatly appreciate it Miss Brock! " She said as she bowed lightly before her. She soon backed up...realizing how embarrassingly she was acting. " A-ah...uh...my apologize ?" She let out as she would fold her arms behind her back, which pushed out her generous chest a little bit. " I would love to have you train me, it would be a great honor." She responded as a faint smile and blush could be seen on her face, her heart was racing with joy...

Aoko really was a beautiful young woman, and, as Odessa recalled, she was physically just as strong and swift as the girl to whom she had lost a few weeks earlier. The difference was the training that the wrestlers had received, the knowledge that they held in their minds which they could apply to any particular match scenario as they arose. Aoko had spent her teenage years memorizing scripts and choreographing movie fight scenes while her rivals learned how to wrestle. Now, Aoko needed to catch up. She was such a talented athlete that it would only take a halfway-decent teacher and a few weeks, at most, to get her into fighting shape.

But she was not getting only a halfway-decent teacher. She was getting Odessa Brock, former top contender for two different AFW titles. One of the most powerful and admired women in AFW today, if she did say so herself. And Odessa was going to help this darling little redhead achieve every one of her goals.

Aoko got excited when Odessa offered to help her, running up to the ebony beauty and shaking her hand vigorously. She would soon step back and try to respond in a more conservative fashion, but Odessa enjoyed seeing the little show Aoko had put on at first. She could tell that the girl was appreciative, and she couldn't help but smile as she looked down at the slightly smaller, slightly younger wrestler, a current film superstar whose wrestling career was about to surpass even her movie fame, once Odessa had trained her. "How could I say no to such a darling face?" Odessa would ask with a warm smile.

"What I would like to do is focus on any specific areas in which you feel that you may be lacking. Once we've solved those trouble spots, I'd like to show you some of my favorite techniques. If there's any general advice I can give you, of course, I will more than happily provide you with it, as well."