Broken Clocks

Ashura frowned. Blossom was absolutely right, she was nothing like the Russian. She sounded like a real loser, nowhere near the level of a titan like herself. Those were all things she would have told the girl quite explicitly if she had been an opponent, but this didn't seem like the right time for that. Ashura shrugged instead, "Jobbers are an important part of wrestling too." she unhelpfully offered. The blonde seemed smart enough though recognizing the powerful Ashura's inherent talents.

Ashura had intended to say something about how she had no weaknesses and was the perfect fighting machine, but Blossom had made a good point. "My weakness is that I need to be more wary of dirty tricks from cowards. That is the only way weaklings like that could ever defeat me." she scowled and stood up. Her dizziness was appeared to be gone now. "I am feeling more steady. I think I will go now. She began to quickly rummage through her locker for her belongings.

"Aw, you goin'? I was hoping we could like, hang, or something. Grab something to eat. Thanks for the carry, anyway. Peace out, Ash! We totes gotta discuss strategy sometime."

Sandalwood spun around on the bench again, looking back to Blossom. "Oy, so--oh, what the heck? Where are your clothes?" Sandalwood had been a flurry of activity, despite her body's best efforts, since she had awoken. When had Blossom lost all her clothes? Had she taken them off? She had probably--wait, this was a locker room, duh. Showers. Obviously. Whoops. "Oh, right, yeah, gotta get yourself scrubbed after physical exertion! Doy. Obviously. Anyway!"

"Look, yo, Blossom, here's a simple truth for you--if you don't believe you can do something, you can't do it! Its that simple. If you want to like, start winning and jazz, you need to start believing you can win, ya dig? That's your weakness, not your height--your self confidence is shot! And also, you don't dropkick enough. Every wrestling style is better with more dropkicks, trust me." She grinned, widely. "We should, like, organize some sort of mutual beneficial training regimen or some shit like that!"

Blossom stared at Cooper for a second. Not because she had trouble understanding what her fellow wrestler said. She could process the words, it was just that she talked so fast and said so much and flew to so many different subjects...it was like her brain was experiencing lag. Really weird. And people told Blossom she was hyper. She was Ben Stein compared to Cooper.

She did have a point, though - if she didn't think she could win, she would prove herself right every single time. Not that just thinking she could do it would be enough to ever beat Angel, but it was a start in the right direction.

"That's...not a bad idea, actually." She gave Ashura friendly of a wave and smile to Ashura as she could, even though she'd called her a jobber. Blossom was reasonably sure she'd meant that as a compliment. In her own way. She did seem like a nicer person that she'd originally thought, and she hoped they had the chance to meet again, sometime. Just not in the ring.

"Maybe we should get to know each other a little, though. Besides just names, I mean. Like where you're from." She stood up and started digging into her bag and took out her underwear. She could already feel the heat rushing to her face as she looked Cooper's way. "Turn around? Please?"

Ashura tossed her duffel over her shoulder and nodded, "Yes, maybe some other time." she responded to Sandalwood. It came out a bit less dismissively than she had intended, deep down there was something about the American that appealed to her in some way. She waved to Blossom politely and then made her way out.

"Yooo, you don't gotta worry about me getting my ogle on with your bod! I ain't got no time for dirty thoughts, too busy being awesome!" Sandalwood says, spinning around on her bench to face the other direction! "Yo, so, OK, the name's Sandalwood Cooper, which is basically the worst in the world, besides Douchebag McGee or something. I'm named after, like, the incense. My parents were total hippies. Hailin' from good ole Portland, Oregon!"

Sandalwood flexes, still not glancing at her now nude buddy. "I've rocked every sport I've been associated with by storm! Y'know, the basics--golf, bowling, table tennis, wrestling. Gone full ham on all of them, local champ at all the leagues! Won a free plane ride to the AFW, decide to grab a championship title at a higher level than before, y'know what I'm saying? Things haven't gone, ah, quite as planned yet, but its gunna be hyyyyypeeee, believe me!"

"But, like, for now, I think I need to get to know this league a little better. Scout it out, ya dig? Send out the feelers. Find out who's head honcho, who's middle honcho, who's lowest honcho. Who's dangerous and who's the opposite! Find the good places to eat, the hide aways, the taxi cabs with the best rates. Y'know what I'm saying, Hibiscus? Gotta dig my roots in this bitch!"

"Uh. Yeah."

Cooper's energy sponginess was sucking all the power out of the room. Blossom had to get a little back before she started sounding flaccid.

"First off, I think I'll call you 'Coop', if that's all right." She slid into her underwear, taking care to stay right out of Coop's line of sight. [color=#008000]"And you've got to be careful. I mean, I get that you're eager, that's cool, but there is such a thing as being too eager, you know? A lot of people around here know other people, so if you mess with one of them, you could wind up taking on a whole group. Things can snowball really fast if you're not careful."[color]

Blossom leaned back against the wall as she slid into her black stockings. "Let's just take it one step at a time. Like, ask me something about the place you really want to know, something that might help you move up." Her smile was starting to come back, a little energy seeping into her voice. It was always good to talk shop.

"Coop. Shit, that's good. Jesus Christ, why the hell did no one at my High School think of that? Way frickin' better than Sandal, lemme tell you that much!" Sandalwood slowly stood up--the dizzynes was leaving her now. Stronger, faster--damn, she was awesome. Already basically completely recovered from her greivous ringside injuries. Yeah, that's the spirit. Gotta stay positive. "Yoo, I don't intend to like, spit on any families graves or nothin', but I'm not gunna treat peeps with respect just because they threaten to beat the shit outta me! That's a whimpy-ass way to live through life, y'all gotta go full hog, take the bull by the horns, spank the monkey, dropkick the president, ya dig? OK, shit, actually, no, half of those things are stupid, and thanks for the advice, but still, I ain't gunna let people walk all over me, no matter who they are."

She glanced over her shoulder. "You done yet, Rose Petals?" Yeah, yeah, looked like she had reached underwear stage. That was good. Good progress, Blossom. She looked back ahead. "OK, one question? Hell yeah, I got the perfect one? Which joint in this city has the best eats? Because I kinda skipped lunch today, and I'm frickin' starvin' right now!"

"Tact." She put her shirt on squeezing into it. Green, with four-leaf clovers decorating the chest. Rocking her best color, as usual. "That's what we've got to work out with you, I think. You've got t his amazing energy in you, I love it, but we've just got to work on turning it down a little before you go batty. I'm not saying you take it slow, just...pick your battles."

She sat down and started shimmying her way into a green flower skirt., pulling it up her rippling legs. "And I dunno, depends on what you're in the mood for. They've got a lot of the same stuff we have back home, Burger KIngs, KFCs, McDonalds. I know a good sushi place not far from here, though, if you don't mind the chopsticks."

She slid on her sandals and wiggled her toes, then turned back to her new 'partner'. "You want to go? The squid tastes sooooooooo good. It even wiggles down your throat as it goes. Tickles."

Cooper briefly imagined a squid wiggling down her throat as she tried to consume it. "That sounds completely disgusting. Let's do it."

Tact, ey? Work on her tact? Sounded fishy. If they were going to create a mutually beneficial training relationship, though, she'd probably have to humor her associate a little, at least. Who knows, maybe something good would come of it?

Sandalwood hopped to the locker she had kept her stuff in before the game and grabbed her coat--it was gettin' kinda chilly out recently--and hopped next to Blossom. "Alright, Tokyo veteran! Why don't you lead the way, because I sure as shit ain't got no idea where we're goin'!"

"Fuck me, man. I've got a hard head and everything, but she fucked up my jaw. Those fucking kicks, man, I'm gonna have to-"

Taylor cut herself off and her ears perked up. From the next row of lockers came the now-familiar voices of the rookies. Some of them, anyway...

"Oh." Taylor's eyebrows went up and she made a cringe-face. "They don't sound happy."

She sat on a bench, leaning back with her head resting against the lockers, one hand to the side of her bruised face. She stared quietly at Akashi while the two of them listened to the complaints of the newcomers.

"Well..." She said, quieter now. "Like, shit, I mean, this is the job, right? I mean, I got wrecked by Gatt when I was a newbie, and like... I'm definitely not Gatt. Shit, that girl should be so lucky to get me, because now she knows what she's in for, ya know? Now she knows the work she's gotta do. Better that than going around thinking you're the best when you suck."

She paused, and listened some more. She heard the big Russian girl leave, and then Sandalwood and Blossom started to make nice. Talking about training and stuff, which was hilarious considering one of them was Blossom. What were they going to do, put on capes and play pretend?

"Well..." She relented. "I do kinda feel like a dick. Maybe I should go apologize to little miss Portland City champ..."

She made a face, and then smiled sheepishly at Akashi.

"Maybe I'll give her some time."