A tough lesson. - ( Cicilia De'Reignhardt, Haruko Ryuzaki, Sayumi Arai )

They had been at it nearly and hour now. Eating up time in the ring in the early afternoon, every so often someone would walk by and walk for a bit or offer some advice. Some of it had been helpful, not just for Cicilia but for Sayumi too. It was a bit weird, remembering how inexperienced she was compared to a lot of the AFW members who frequented this particular gym. Yet here she was, trying to teach. She assumed she was doing good... she was just doing what came natural. To Cicilia's credit, she seemed to be picking things up well enough.

She had set the impromptu lesson last minute, just showed up at Cicilia's apartment with some bottles of water and practically dragged the woman out to the gym. Sayumi felt it important if the boxer was going to step into the ring, she be more familiar with some of the ground work. Today it was specifically some basic holds and pinning variants, ways to win that didn't involve Cicilia committing murder in the ring. This was as much for her benefit as it was the rest of the AFW locker room. Maybe they would give her flowers or a fruit basket for a job well done.

Her method was simple. She'd tell Cicilia what the move was, demonstrating it as best she could with just herself, flip flopping between  both roles as practitioner and victim. From there, she would apply the move on Cicilia, deliberately slow, talking through each key moment for crucial details. From there, she'd have Cicilia perform the technique on her, enough to get her comfortable with the motions. After the boxer understood that, she would walk through all the details of the move. Why to do it, what it actually did to the opponent, how to counter it and so on. It was slow going, but it felt rewarding to teach and spread some of her knowledge to someone else. Sweaty and smiling seemed to be her default setting for the afternoon.

Cicilia:

Spoiler:

One wouldn't BELIEVE Cicilia's surprise when Sayumi showed up at her room as she was just waking up, bottles of water in hand.

"You want to do what...?" She yawned questioningly, staring at the lavender cutie in disbelief. The rest was history.

For the last hour, Cicilia had been learning the very bare basics of wrestling with her girlfriend and so far, she had yet to rip anyone's arms off. That was good, right? Apparently the passersby thought so. Most of them were trying to shout encouragement at her this time rather than boo her for her temper, giving tips that sometimes and sometimes not were helpful. It felt... strange to have people supporting her if just in this very minor way. She was so used to her anger throwing people off and seeing her as the "bad-guy" in most of their fights so to have them now trying to help her... That was... uncomfortable to say the least. No doubt she'd grow to like it once she trusted them but for now... All she cared about was the tips coming from Sayumi.

Today was a lot of studying than actual fighting... Memorizing names, functions and logistics of holds was never something the boxer had fun doing. It was all about learning on your feet, mimicking opponents in battle and keeping what worked in your moveset. Teachers were always so slow and boring, their voices droning almost as if they didn't want to be there as much as she did. With Sayumi though... it was different. Ignoring the fact Cicilia was head-over-heels in love with her, she was actually fun to learn from. Of course, half the time she was preforming the move, the boxer was EXTRA careful to control herself, only ever creating a skeleton of the intended hold. For the last hour they were doing this, studying, preforming, switching and she had to admit... She wasn't bored... Sayumi was making this learning fun and that was just another reason she had to smile today.

Haruko:

Haruko was peeved, and for good reason. The muscular madwoman had gotten up early to go to the gym today, beat up some trainers, and go home or something (She hadn’t planned that far ahead). But instead of having a ring open for her to use to squash said trainers, she found two women playing around in it. It looked as if one was just starting to learn the ropes of wrestling, an omen that told Haruko that she was going to be here a while.

Brooding against the wall as she waited for the girls to finish, the blond would look at the trainers every now and then to see their cheerful faces of not having to be pummeled. Then when one guy asked if she’d like to reschedule for next week, the woman snapped.

“For every day you make me wait…that’s another finger I’m gonna break.” Haruko would say to the man who froze in fear. “…and spread the news to the others...cause that goes for all of you” the muscular woman would add causing a trainer within ear shot to start choking and spraying out the water he had been drinking. That actually made the bitch smile, which was even scarier to them than her serious face.

Turning her attention back to the two ladies who had ruined her fun day, though, Haruko couldn’t help but feel left out. In her mind she should’ve be in the ring having all the fun, though at the expense of others. Then it hit her. Why not try to…join in on the fun? Make it a threesome…and maybe get a little payback~

So with a smile, thankfully one that was far less menacing, Haruko would walk over to the girl in her gym shorts and white top. that did not cover her impressive abs at all. Underneath was the same green bikini she always wore, but she’d save that for later. It’d be bad if her skimpy attire scared off her new friends…right?

“Hey! You two mind if other people use that ring today?” Haruko would ask as she walked closer. “I’m not saying you need to leave…but maybe we can help each other out?” the blond would say rather…politely. God only knew how long this act would last...

Sayumi was dressed pretty modestly compared to her normal late night gym attire. A simple white T-shirt hugged her form loosely tucked into a sleek black pair of short-shorts, some ankle high pink socks and crisp white sneakers that while they didn't look new, seemed well cared for to maintain their color. She had crouched, part way through explaining a rollup situation when Haruko caught her ear. Turning she rose to her feet, smiling with a laugh. "Ah... my apologies. Teaching has a way of making time fly." She clasped her hands before her, bowing deeply in apology.

"You're more than welcome to share it with us, more than enough room." She tilted her head curiously to the offer of helping out. She eyed Haruko, the woman looked incredibly strong, to say the least. Perhaps this would be a good opportunity to showcase Cicilia some mores that were more fitted for the boxer's power. No doubt this giant of a woman would be able to display quite a few feats of strength. "That... sounds really good actually. I'm Arai Sayumi, this is Cicilia." She gestures to the boxer before bowing her head politely. "She is still acclimating to the wrestling side of things. Perhaps you'd be willing to help demonstrate some techniques?"

As soon as they were approached, those walls Sayumi had broken down for herself immediately shot right back up, the red-eyed girl eyeing the approaching woman with suspicion. Where her girlfriend was sweet and inviting, offering the stranger a place in their training session, Cicilia said nothing, not even nodding in greeting as she was introduced. There was a slight hint of defensiveness peppered across the boxer's expression, almost as if she expected the boxer to pull something vicious out of her hat... It was almost as if she believed that this woman would instantly attack Sayumi out of nowhere and that she had to be ready at all times just like with everyone else.

She had learned that those who didn't keep to their business and approached you probably didn't have the best in mind and the last thing she wanted to do was to have her sweet, innocent girlfriend learn that as she had.

As Sayumi bowed before her, Cicilia crossed her arms as if she were the bouncer of this ring, though she looked nowhere near as intimidating as the rippling muscles padded on the blonde's back.

Body-builder, huh? Cicilia guessed, her sanguine eyes narrowing. All talk. Big women always thought themselves the strongest, presumably because they always LOOKED the strongest and treated as such. Standing 6 feet tall... having muscles like armor... Cicilia had dismantled more than her fair share of them in the boxing ring through sheer persistence alone so this newcomer didn't impress her in the least...

She glanced at the lavender cutie as she invited this utter stranger to join them for a demonstration, looking at her as if she was COMPLETELY INSANE. Why didn't she just say no...? Why couldn't they just get back to their time...? The boxer let out a heavy sigh of discontent as she waiting to hear the newcomer's answer, her expression growing more distrustful of her by the second.

Haruko smiled as the woman named Sayumi played right into her hand. The blond could tell she was a friendly woman at heart, which meant she would be easy to manipulate. Cicilia however was going to be a harder sell. The muscular predator could tell she was not only cautious, but didn't like having a third wheel. It was a good thing Sayumi already invited her to join. If the woman had asked for Cici's permission, or even thoughts, her plan would've been in trouble.

"Oh sure! That does sound like a fun idea~" Haruko would say with a big, semi-fake smile. After all, it took a lot to make the blond smile like this...so some acting would be needed to pull her plan off. So after climbing up and though the ropes, the muscular goddess would stand tall in the middle of the ring.

"So what were you thinking of showing her? I'm down for anything really, grapples, holds, maybe some soft spots of the body to aim for?" the woman would ask as she stretched her arms and legs a bit. "Oh hey do mind if I get comfortable for this? I always get annoyed with extra clothes when I train" Haruko would explain as she took off her white top to reveal her extremely well built bod. She'd keep the shorts on for now...it'd be a little too risky to just take everything off when she had just met them.

Sayumi smiled, clapping her hands excitedly. "Great!" She looked back to Cicilia giving her a giant smile. "This will a good time for you to see some things in action." She reached out, poking at Cicilia's nose. "Chin up, you look like someone just stole your lunch or something..." She furrowed her brow. "I... am not the lunch in this scenario. Um... whatever, this is gonna be good, you'll see." She looked back to Haruko. Despite the fact she wasn't that much taller, she was certainly built out of sterner stuff than Sayumi was. Now that she was in the ring with them that was very apparent.

"Well, I'm not sure how familiar you are with wrestling techniques but I'm showing her the basics. Maybe we could have a little spar, to show off some stuff? Nothing too fancy." She blinked as Haruko asked about taking off her top but went a\head and did it anyhow. She peered back at Cicilia, shrugging. Sayumi was pretty proud of her body as well, so she supposed she understood on some level. Turning back to Haruko she nodded. "How does that sound? It will be like a fun impromptu match."

"I'm not so sure." Cicilia mumbled. Even with Sayumi's enthusiasm, she wasn't quite convinced. Who just invites strangers to spar with? They didn't know anything about this woman! Noticing Cicilia's inflexibility, the lavender cutie poked her nose, forcing the boxer to blink, snapping her out of her brooding assessment. The boxer blushed if only a little as her girlfriend noted how miserable she appeared... only to have her finger nipped. Cicilia clung to her finger with her teeth for only a moment before letting her go, actually cracking a smile.

"You will be.".... is what she thought. The boxer didn't say a word, though she did look longingly at her partner before glaring sharply at the newcomer. She squinted in surprise, however, as the woman just... tore off her shirt to reveal a... uh... revealing bikini-top underneath as well as the majority of her upper body as it didn't hide anything. Both Sayumi and Cicilia shared a glance, the two of them seeming to share an opinion: Okaaaaaaaay....?

Extra clothes indeed... How little did this chick need to actually do anything? Did she even wear pants when she was in the ring...? Cicilia's opinion of the woman seemed to worsen with the more clothes she discarded, shaking her head as Sayumi posed a fight between herself and Haruko, a demonstration if you will. Something told her that just saying "No" wouldn't get her point across... Sayumi just seemed too determined.

"Yeah, fine, whatever." Cicilia sighed before leaning in by her ear. "Be careful, hot-stuff..." She whispered before slipping out of the ring, standing at it's side.

Uncomfortable.

Haruko was glad to see that her removal of clothes didn't seem too odd. That made things much easier for her as she also removed her shorts to reveal everything that wasn't covered by her tight attire. So now that the muscular blond felt all nice and un-contained, she was ready to fight. She thought Cicilia was going to be more of an issue, but the woman seemed to be putty in Sayumi's cute little palms.

"Ok then! I'm ready for some fun!~" Haruko would shout as raised up her hands into a fighting stance. Now that Cicilia was out of the ring, the blond would slowly approach Sayumi for a test of strength.

"Don't worry about hurting me or anything. I'm as durable as they come! So just come at me with everything you've got and we'll go from there~" the muscular goddess would explain as she kept her hands ready to lock onto the pinkette's. Haruko had a devious smile on her lips, but to others it would probably just seem like she was overeager. Now all she had to do was wait for the cute little grappler to make the first move.

Blinked as Haruko continued to disrobe, leaving her in what amounted to a bikini. She vaguely wondered if they were on a hidden camera show for a minute. Leaning back she ducked through the ropes motioning Cicilia closer. In a whisper she explained. "Just so you know, this isn't usual  behavior in Japan." She really thought she should clarify to the foreigner. She slipped back into the ring, bouncing on her feet.

She slipped away from her corner, casually strolling to to Haruko. "So..." She spoke a little louder for Cicilia to hear. Her hand gesturing to Haruko. "This is called is called a test of strength. It's another type of lock up, like the one I showed you. Instead of linking your arms and bodies, it's all about your hands and leverage."

She wiggled her fingers reaching out to interlock hers with Haruko's. "Just like in a real bout, height and weight can play a big part, but smaller opponents can also make up for that by manipulating the joints, wrists and elbows primarily." Sayumi would now actively engaged in the struggle with Haruko, in raw power she was nothing compared to the bigger woman.

She did however try to make use of what she talked about. She rolled her wrists and twisted them, trying to gain a superior grip over the woman's hands to balance out her control with Haruko's brute strength. It was there that she actually started to fight to assert herself in this lockup.