Never Too Late: Izumi and Sofia

[Bare]

[Takes place in a public gym in Tokyo]

{only appearance, not clothing}

Spoiler

Izumi hummed softly as she stretched and prepared herself for a workout, actually her first workout in a proper gym in... years. Since traveling China she had gotten too used to just doing her work out wherever she was and using her environment as exercise machines. However she had forgotten that Japan, especially urban Japan did not exactly have the open space neccessary to really workout that way, so she figured it was time to give the gym another chance.

Wearing a pair of loose fitting orange athletic pants and a simple lack sports bra while barefoot she was ready to get going. Entering the gym she would look around, humming softly in thought. She had chosen a public gym as opposed to the LAW one in hopes of a more relaxed workout since she heard things could get... chaotic and violent at times. But there was hardly anyone at all! Now it wasn't like that was particularly bad, she had certainly worked out solo before, but she was used to doing so in places where there was noise of those around her or nature at least.

But in here there was just the dull hum of the lights and air conditioner, it would be utterly maddening to work out in.. "Ah." Izumi said to herself, spotting one of the only other people in the gym, a older looking, but fairly fit woman lifting dumbbells not too far away. Smiling Izumi would walk towards the woman and give a small wave as she neared. "Hello! So sorry to interrupt, but it's just a bit... quiet for my tastes you know? Would you mind a workout partner at all? I promise I'm good company." Izumi said in a friendly manner while smiling sweetly at the older woman who Izumi was only now realizing she had to look up a bit to meet her eyes.

[ThatPolishDude]

Living in Japan took some getting used to, technically Sophia lived here for a number of years at this point but her prior work kept her busy, out of the civilian side of things or simply out of the country anyway so she was basically learning how to live in a place on her retirement... It was not all bad of course, bringing a certain level of excitement that she certainly appreciated but that too was too much sometimes. In these moments she liked to get busy in a way that for once did not make her stick out like a sore thumb and one of the things that worked the same no matter where in the world you went was training.

Of course, even then she picked the time when the place was basically empty and in a place full of modern advanced equipment, she still stuck to the good old free weights. 'Way to bland in, huh...' she thought to herself about the irony of a situation she just put herself in only knocked out of the support when a woman waving at her caught her eye.

"No worries, it's a welcome distraction, this place is like a graveyard today..." She waved off the concern the woman had about interrupting aside with a smile before setting the dumbells down "Any particular workout you had in mind? Oh, and I'm Sophia by the way." She said, reaching her hand out to shake

[Bare]

Approaching new people could always be awkward, especially at a public gym where no one necessarily knew the motivations or reasons behind others being there. It could make misunderstandings more likely but Izumi, sweet and emphatic as she was rarely ran into such problems, even if she was aware of it.

Luckily it wouldn't even be a factor as the older woman she had talked too seemed to reciprocate Izumi's thoughts and seemed just as eager for some company as herself! "Izumi. Lovely to meet you and you're quite right, hopefully some company will quell that." Izumi said with a smile as she reached out to meet Sophia's handshake with a firm squeeze and shake before releasing it.

"As far as anything in mind I like to get come cardio in on the treadmills, I've started wrestling for LAW recently if you know it, and find my stamina has been a bit lacking you know?" Izumi said with a simple explanation while also subtly sharing some information about herself as both a ice breaker and possibly to see if the same was true for Sophia. After all with a physique like that she wouldn't be surprised if she too was a wrestler, if not involved in some form of combat sport.

[ThatPolishDude]

Sophia was about to reply to the offer of doing some cardio when the mention of LAW struck her, the world really was a small place. "LAW you say?" She asked though not really expecting an answer, just making sure she heard right. "I'm off the clock of course but I do coach for LAW, and my daughters are actually competing there."

She took a bit of an awkward pause after saying that, running into someone related to work was not something she expected, not that she minded much, then she gestured to the treadmills and started walking over. "A lot of new wrestlers seem to struggle with stamina from what I saw. It is pretty unique in the way you exert yourself..." She paused "It's like say, boxing or an MMA match is a series of sprints with breaks in between, wreastling is a marathon, hard in different ways. But you probably know that..." She fought herself, Izumi didn't ask for a lecture so she would try not to give one against the first impulse she recently developed with coaching. "Anyway... What were you doing before LAW?"

[Bare]

Izumi wasn't exactly sure how her saying she worked for LAW would go, it could make things awkward but she wasn't really expecting it too, really she figured if anything the woman may not know. What she didn't expect however was for Sofia to not only know LAW but to say she was a coach and had daughters that worked there! "Really? That's quite the coincidence, hopefully their not someone I've fought yet." She said jokingly before following Sofia over to the treadmills.

Starting it up on low setting at first Izumi would hop on and start running while listening to what Sofia said, actually quite interested with what she was saying. It was honestly very insightful and not something she would have really thought about given most of her fighting was 'unofficial' by nature. At least in comparison to mma and boxing.

Izumi would have responded if not for the question from Sofia. "You can say I traveled. Mostly around china where I developed my kung fu, and I spent a lot of time living in a Shaolin temple. After though I did a bit of modeling and acting before jumping into wrestling in indie promotions around europe." Izumi explained casually despite how non standard such a background was.

[ThatPolishDude]

Sneaking a look at how Izumi wanted to start the workout, Sophia would hop on the treadmill and match the program her training partner put on, it was easy enough to start with, though Sophia would probably need to stay a few levels back as they got further, she was still in good shape but definitely not akin to an athlete at the peak of their life like Izumi. "I would have remembered you if you did fight them." She said as she was following her daughters careers quite closely, even if they themselves did not know of that. "Probably inevitable you run into one of them at some point, such is the business" She added nonchalantly.

When Izumi mentioned living at a Shaolin temple, Sophia glanced at her curiously, at first wondering if the woman was pulling her leg but it was pretty clear she was not. "That's not something you hear every day." Sophia said, sounding quite impressed, then went silent for a moment as if trying to think of something. "Nope, got nothing to match you there, spent the last twenty years pretty much entirely with the army..."

[Bare]

Izumi smiled softly at what Sofia said, finding it rather cute how simultaneously protective yet proud the woman was of her daughters, in fact it kinda reminded her of her own mother. "Hehe, someday I'm sure, and if their anywhere near as fit as you I'm sure they'll be quite the challenge." Izumi said as both a compliment to Sofia as well as her daughters before starting to turn up the speed on her treadmill to where she was now doing a brisk jog.

As she did so though she would chuckle softly knowing that she almost always earned such a gob smacked reaction when she mentioned that bit of her life, and for what it was worth it WAS legitimately hard to beat in terms of how interesting it was. Even so Izumi though felt the woman was selling herself short. "I actually think that's quite interesting. It certainly explains the shape you're in, and I'm sure you must have seen and done a lot, really impressive honestly." Izumi said with a smile as she kept giving Sofia her flowers.

[ThatPolishDude]

"Now, miss, you are selling yourself short. I'm past my best days, and certainly have no Shaolin training on my side, I doubt I'd be that much of a challenge." Sophia said, it felt true enough given the gap between them and all she learned so far about the woman though to not be too sickly sweet she added "My girls are another thing though." She said, just hinting at how she felt about her daughter's capabilities but wanting to avoid dwelling too long on them.

Seeing that Izumi turned up the speed on her machine, Sophia did the same, she could keep up for a while longer, after all, they did just get started. "Well, I've certainly seen a fair chunk of the world with the army, I deployed basically any time I could. Not the best decision in hindsight but I like to think I did some good by doing so." She said, taking a small pause "But that's already passed, plenty of interesting stuff to do in the now!" She added with a smile

[Bare]

Izumi raised an eyebrow at what her training partner said, a little surprised at how dismissive she was of herself. Not that she agreed but she at least appreciated the complement of the woman, and noticed one other thing. "Wellll I don't know, but I'm even more excited to possibly get in the ring with them now." Izumi said with a smile, a light layer of sweat now gracing her skin as she ran.

Though something else Sofia said had garnered Izumi's attention. "I see. Well seeing the world through deploying must have also been a nice little perk no? It's definitely what I've enjoyed most through my journey." Izumi said, feeling they could relate, at least partially, and there was one other thing they could agree on.

"Indeed. Though I'm surprised you're limiting yourself to coaching, given your... conditioning." Izumi noted, taking another shot at acknowledging the potential she saw in Sofia based on how physically fit she looked.

[ThatPolishDude]

"Well..." Sophia chuckled "Deploying ain't exactly tourism, especially in active combat zones but I did see my fair share, that's true." She said, finding a good rhythm for herself, she knew keeping up with the younger woman would not be in the cards, especially given she already started her workout a bit earlier but she could still pace herself for quite a while. "Seeing much more of what I actually want to see now, to be honest with you, much easier to appreciate your surroundings when you don't have to worry about being shot." She joked.

"There is more to wrestling than conditioning though." Sophia retorted "I never did pro wrestling or trained in it particularly. I can help someone with their striking or grappling but the whole deal is a bit beyond me." She said before a slight smirk found its way onto her face "That and I'm getting old, too old for most sports..."