Melody and Domino - An Encounter in the Gym

[Vc0m]

With Melody's career not taking off how she planned, and her win/loss record being less than stellar, she's being working harder than ever before. Every loss she endured, whether clean or by her opponent cheating, has forced to make her workout schedule even harder, and to look for sparring partners every time she visited gyms, whether local or LAW's personal gyms. In a way, it became her mission to try every single gym within the vicinity of her house in Tokyo.

Today she decided to visit one of the local gym's nearby fairly early in the morning. Although Navi accompanied Melody most of the time to train alongside her, today wasn't one of those days, as the blonde seemed to party fairly late into the night in a bar the previous day.

As Melody entered the gym, it didn't have too many people in it, most of them going through a morning work out. And although it was a public gym, there were a few rings for either boxing and wrestling spars.

Even though she wasn't in an LAW, or any other wrestling company, licensed gym, Melody hoped that she would find a fellow wrestler in the gym's building.

However, she wanted to do a bit of workout before asking anyone about anything. As such, once she came out of the changing room, wearing a green sports bra and trunks as she would hit the treadmill for 15-30 minutes of light jogging.

[CyanDimitrik]

Melody isn't the only one on a quest to find a gym. Drake's motivations line up with Melody's, for sure, in that rigorous training is required. He'll need to keep on the bleeding edge of performance if he intends to consistently defy expectations in the ring. But there also comes a time when someone would rather just focus on the training and not have to tune out the background noise of a patronizing roster. Make no mistake, that in itself is motivation to train. But absorbing too much negativity is a bad thing.

Unlike Melody, Drake's been here for a short while already. He catches sight of her as he lowers a free weight back onto its rack, not far from the treadmills in question. Unblemished skin bears only the first traces of a glean of sweat, wearing a pair of black shorts and matching cross-trainers, with a loose-fitted black shirt to end the ensemble. Normally, she'd only get a passing glance - she has a cool look, keeps herself in shape, but he's here to train. Only this is a little different; he recognizes her.

The weight is placed down, and he makes his way over to her, hoping to catch her before she begins her run. "Hey," he greets casually. "Melody, isn't it? I've seen your show." The likelihood of her having seen him is there, he realizes. It's part of why he decided to talk to her. Call it a self-indulgent test. He's getting zero promoting in his federation, and about as far removed from the main events as one can be. The other part is far less internalized - he's simply interested.

[Vc0m]

Right before Melody pressed the "Run" button on the treadmill, she heard a voice of a man. Sure enough, when she turned her head, she saw a tall, black haired guy coming towards her.

"Y-you did?", Melody would ask him, slightly surprised that someone recognised her, especially in a local gym filled with variety of people. She had encounters with fans in crowds before (with her being fairly recognisable thanks to her green hair), so an encounter in a gym shouldn't have been anything out of the ordinary.

"What did you think?", she would ask, this time with a smile on her face with curiousity in her voice. She thought that the man before her was just a wrestling fan who frequented the gym to stay in shape (although, considering his shirt, it wasn't clear to her in just how good of a shape he was in), with it being clear in her gaze that she didn't recognise the man before her from anywhere...

[CyanDimitrik]

Predictably, she doesn't recognize him. There's a moment, just a moment, of disappointment on his face. But it vanishes almost immediately, replaced with an approachable smile. He seems to've taken her a little off guard, and for some reason, that's amusing to him - not in a negative way. Rather, it makes him wonder if she's actually a humble individual. That'd be refreshing.

"I think I was really pulling for you in that Dubois match," he says. "Talk about a bad attitude, right?" His hands prop to his hip, head tilting to the side. A few of those hanging bangs waft with the motion, further framing his face. "I think you're tough. You're quick'n didn't give up. I think if that other chick didn't cheat, you would've had'er."

The head then uptilts, and his smile spreads a touch. Time to sneak in a little something about himself. "The name's Drake. Or Domino, in the ring."

[Vc0m]

As she continued to look at the man's face, she could swear she saw a tint of disappointment on his face for less than a second. However, she didn't give it much thought as he smiled at her, though she did keep that split-second in mind.

The next second, however, came the slight dissapointment on Melody's face, as the man recalled her first match in LAW against Helena Dubois. The guy did recognise that if Helena didn't cheat, Melody would've had the match. That did brighten her mood slightly. Even if she lost to nefarious tactics like that, she still had people on her side, be it her friends or fans. That had to count for something, she thought. "Thanks!", Melody would say to him with a smile.

Finally, the man introduce himself...and his in ring name. Slightly surprised, Melody would ask him: "Are you...a wrestler?", thinking that with having a ring name, the only other possibility was that Drake was a boxer...

[CyanDimitrik]

Or a circus performer. He hadn't really thought of that. Actually, he hadn't even considered boxer. His otherwise ingenious and subtle clue had some holes in it! But it doesn't matter. She asked the natural follow-up, and it would surely dispel any confusion or second guesses.

"Yep," he says with a nod. "I am. I'm with the local federation." Not LAW, obviously. But his head cants to her. "And I know skill and tenacity when I see it. Don't let something cheap like that drag you down. Not saying it is, just- don't let it bug you. If she had to cheat to win, what's it say about you?"

His smile brightens up at her. "Anyway, I don't mean to distract you from your workout too much. Just wanted to give you that little bit of unsolicited pep. It's a shame I didn't see the match in person."

[Vc0m]

With Domino confirming that he was indeed, a wrestler himself, Melody's bad mood disappeared almost completely. It was one thing if a fan told her she was great, but since a wrestler from a completely different promotion complemented her on her skills, she felt that the praise was coming from a real place, since this was someone who likely endured similar hardships to her. Additionally, that would explain the dissapointment on Domino's face earlier, since he was probably disappointed about Melody not recognizing him. The green-ette felt a bit guilty for not seeing him in other promotions.

"You are right! I'll definitely kick her ass next time. So look forward to the rematch!', Melody would say with a smirk.

And now, with Domino seemingly ready to leave to allow Melody to continue her workout, a thought popped in Melody's head. With Drake saddened by the fact that he didn't see the match live, wasn't there another way he could see Melody's skills in person?

After taking a quick look to nearby wrestling rings, Melody thought about what she was about to challange Domino to. Although some people felt weird at the idea of wrestling a man vs woman match (and some being weirded out at even seeing it), Melody was fine wrestling anyone, be they a man or a woman, especially since her wrestling school did encourage wrestling anyone.

After a second of thought, Melody would ask what she had on her mind with a smirk on her face, pointing at the nearby rings: "Don't you think there is another way for you to see personally how great a wrestler I am?"

[CyanDimitrik]

Amethyst eyes shift to the ring, and a slow smile spreads over his face. Wrestle her? Heck yeah. That could be fun. And if she's as tough as she seems on t.v., he can expect a decent workout from her. So he motions to the ring with his left hand. "Ladies first."

And assuming she takes the initiative, he'll follow her towards the ring in question. As he walks along, he takes ahold of the collar of his loose-fitted shirt, drawing it up and over his head before tossing it onto the ring apron. His sleekly-toned upper-body is left bare, muscles tensed as he winds his shoulders to loosen up.

And finally, he'll slide under the bottom rope to approach the center of the ring, anxious to get things going. "Lookin' forward to your rematch and pinning you here tonight!," he offers in light trash-talk.

[Vc0m]

As Domino would motion to her towards the ring, Melody would smirk at her sparring partner's politeness and made her way towards the ring.

As the two of them walked, she turned her head to see Domino taking off his shirt, to reveal that the guy is in a very good shape. If she took a look at how well-built he was earlier, she might've guessed that he was a wrestler based on that... or a boxer.

As Melody would slid into the ring under the bottom rope, Drake did so a bit later. She chuckled at his trash-talk, before answering: "You wish, pretty boy,"

After a few seconds, Melody would take her usual fighting stance, and as Domino "Are you ready?"

[CyanDimitrik]

"Ding," says Domino.

He suddenly lunges at her, attempting to lock up with her. His hands go for her shoulder and collar, but he doesn't intend to lead with a simple struggle for leverage. No, as soon as the grapple is initiated, he attempts to take early control by driving a knee up towards her bare midsection to get the ball rolling!