Serious Training (for TheWamts)

Spoiler:

Dani Li had arrived at the AFW training facility with her cell phone to her ear, talking business. After finishing her second cup of coffee in what had to be less than two hours, she was ready for her day and managed to squeeze some training time for her new venture: professional wrestling. Dani Li was probably far more well-known as DJ Li, the ultra popular DJ starting out in America and now in Japan for the purposes of being close to the AFW to branch out her brand make it even more popular. It was a stressful lifestyle, and it wasn't all fun and games, but Li loved every second of it.

Well, maybe not the awful calls with club owners who didn't have their crap together but still wanted her to be their DJ for a few nights. Li rolled her eyes as she listened to the man on the other end talk and stopped to lean against the wall until there was finally a break. "Oh, I can talk now? Really? Great. Like I said when this call started was... do you have a poster. A graphic. An image? Because I just need something to promote this with." Li waited a beat before her face twisted in annoyance. "Oh, you don't? I'll do you a favor and get someone to make one then. And then I'll be reimbursed for the costs, alright? Thanks. Bye." DJ Li hug up her phone and shook her head before saying under her breath, "Amateurs..."

And she continued to make her way through the facility. No matter how frustrating this gig has been for her, Dani had something to look forward to. She got to do some wrestling training, which she loved. She was preparing for her big AFW debut, and she could feel herself getting better with each passing day. She wanted to look good for it, because if she looked good, then DJ Li looked good, and that meant she was that much more popular. That was the plan, at least, and by the time Li changed and got into her professional wrestling gear, she was smiling, looking excited to get in there and grapple with some girls!

And then her phone buzzed as she was about to close her locker. The conversation that followed ended with her looking distraught. "Oh noooooooo! No no no! What am I supposed to do!? I cleared my schedule for this!" exclaimed Li, dropping down onto the bench as she pouted. She got canceled on by her training partner she had lined up, and now she had no idea what to do. "Find someone else!? How am I--" She fumed for a moment before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath to calm herself. "...Fine. I'll find someone else. Bye," she said tensely before standing up.

DJ Li had no partner and sighed, pressing the phone to her forehead. "I need an espresso shot..." And after getting her espresso shot and pounding it down, she was ready to hunt down a new training partner in only the simplest ways she could think of. She started to walk up to the girls in the locker room and asked them. She poked them a few times before asking. The first said no. The second said no. And even the third said no. This was beginning to get frustrating.

Until finally Li walked up to a blonde girl and poked her shoulder a few times and put on a big smile and asked, "Hey! Hi. I had a training partner today, but then my training partner blew me off. Can you train with me? Please? Pretty please?" She said the words as sweetly as she could. It was one of her most tried and true business tactics that worked surprisingly well for her: the begging, desperate strategy. And she felt pretty good about this one.

Lotte had been coming to the gym more frequently for the past few weeks. Perhaps she had finally found some passion for her wrestling career? Or maybe she just wanted a more toned body for one of her planned cosplays. Whichever was the case...it had become dreadfully routine by now. Her longer hours meant that her usual circle of workout partners weren't there half the time anymore. And as much as it was a treat to watch her fellows in Friction sweat and bounce on the training gear, even that was starting to lose its appeal.

The blonde sighed, stuffing her clothes in her locker, changed in her gym gear - a sports bra and a tight fitting set of shorts. She felt someone poke her, and turned around to see what was up. "Hey." The pink haired woman seemed polite enough. "Oh yeah? That sucks... Hmmmmm... weeeell, seeing as how I'm alone for today, I guess I got no excuse to say no. Just... as long it's nothing like just an hourlong session on the treadmill or something."

Huh, she seemed like someone Lotte recognized... but definitely not from the ring. "Oh, I'm Lotte by the way... that's short for Charlotte, eheh~" She introduced herself, trying to match the DJ's face to a name.

DJ Li looked incredibly relieved, heaving a sigh before running a hand through her hair, smiling at the blonde in front of her. "Thank you so much!" It turned out her day wouldn't be a total bust after all. The Chinese-American extended her hand for a handshake when Lotte introduced herself and smiled back, having done what seemed like a million introductions that sculpted her handshakes into firm, professional ones to match a winning smile. "It's so nice to meet you Charlotte. I'm Dani Li."

She paused, noticing that Lotte was looking like she was trying to figure out how she knew her. And Dani, never being one to pass up an opportunity to promote herself in even the most basic and simplest ways, smirked and then said in a sly voice, "But I also go by DJ Li..." She braced herself for the reaction, trying to hide a wide smile in anticipation.

The girl's accent sounded like she was from... America? Although with the pink hair, she didn't feel confident in taking a guess. She was very very polite through, giving a business-level handshake inside the gym lockers. Dani Li... having a name to go with the face cut down who it could be... but not enough for Lotte to recognize her.

A second alias however, did the trick. DJ Li... Ah, right, from that show a few weeks ago. Lotte had attended actually one event where Li had been DJing. Of course, she wasn't exactly paying close attention to the person behind all the music equipment so much as the people grinding into her... But still, this was an honest to goodness celebrity! "Oooh really? Wow, what's a superstar like you doing here then?"

The bubbling joy that Dani felt inside her when Lotte recognized her could barely be contained. She loved to be recognized. It was a sign that she had started to become more and more popular to the masses, and even cute blonde wrestling girls. Every little bit counted though. Still, she always found a way to hide that excitement and keep on looking cool. DJ Li smiled and brushed some hair back, looking casual as she answered, "Oh, well I wouldn't say I'm a superstar. Yet. I'm just working towards that. And the next step is becoming a wrestler here. Figure it'll get more more publicity, right?"

She winked and grinned at her new training partner and said, "That doesn't mean I want you to go easy on me during training though, alright?" She really didn't want anyone to go easy on her, mostly because Li wanted to get better. She thought she was extremely close to being ready, but she wanted to make absolutely certain. She noticed that Lotte had at least put in the work to look good. She was very fit, so she assumed that meant she would be a formidable competitor.

Dani was here to push her name out even more? Surely there were more normal channels for self-promotion... but who was Lotte to discourage her? "Heh, is that so...? The exposure you're gonna get here is a bit... different... but I guess you already knew that." The blonde said with a wink.

"Oh nono, of course not. Although you seem super fit already, I might not be able to hold back if I wanted to!" Lotte complimented the DJ. It was a bit strange that a global name like Dani was treating a hobbyist cosplayer like an equal, but she sure wasn't going to complain.

The DJ smiled at Lotte's compliment. She had tried to work hard on improving her physique due to her modeling career and appreciated when anyone made note of it. "Aw, thanks!" Dani Li had been humble enough to treat others well, and the blonde was doing her a great favor by training with her on such short notice. She was still new to this wrestling thing and knew better than to try and act like she was better than any of the girls competing now. That kind of attitude would just be more likely to get her butt kicked than anything.

Li nodded towards the exit and started to walk with Lotte out of the locker room and began to head down the hallway. "You are a total life saver, by the way. My whole day would be ruined if you weren't willing to train with me," said Dani glancing over at Lotte with a smile. "It's hard to find reliable people around sometimes, you know?"

"Heh, it's no trouble... I'm sure you'd have found someone eventually..." Her thoughts suddenly shifted to that one time with Mai in the gym... that was an unforgettable day. Maybe it was best that Dani didn't ask around too for too many people. "Heh, yeah, especially here. I know all the girls here look super cute and everything, but they also can be pretty rough around here... I learned that the hard way, eheh~" Lotte giggled, laughing off what might've been a traumatizing memory for most people.

"You sure you trust me though, Miss Dani? Not too late to back off before you find yourself waaaaay over your head. No offense, I mean."

DJ Li gave Lotte an amused look and shook her head before putting her arm around the girl's shoulders as the walked, not being afraid of closer contact with the blonde. "I've seen some people be... a little rough before. But listen Charlotte, I'm tough. I can handle it. I've faced off against business men who are like ten times scarier than any of these girls."

A coy look crossed Li's face as she asked in a dubious tone, "But I trust you. Should I have a reason not to? Do you have some deep, dark thoughts in that cut little head of yours?" Dani watched the girl's expression for her response. She was usually good at sniffing out liars, having been burned by enough of them through her ascent to where she was right now in her career, but she always found it a cute game to try and judge people's honesty.

"Heeh, is that so? Well then I guess you're ready for this place after all. Here I was trying to spook you a bit, and now I'm kinda scared of you!" Lotte grinned, letting Dani drape her arm around her without incidence.

"And as for myself... I'm a pretty simple girl, I like dressing up in cute costumes, I like having fun with people and I like making things fun for people. Suuuper scaaary, right?" The blonde giggled, walking the two into the heavily air conditioned gym, goosebumps appearing on her barely covered body. "Uaah, every time..."