Audrey's Training day

[MappleMan7]

*Author's note: RP takes place after the kings and queens tournament

Oscar sat on a bench in the gym wearing a red tank top and a black pair of gym shorts as he waited for a certain fellow freckled redhead to arrive. It had been some time since the grand finals of the Kings and Queens tournament- when Oscar fought and overcame many foes and even his own self-doubt to become LAW's first even male fighter to hold a championship in the company. True, the belt wasn't an official belt in LAW, but Oscar was proud of it all the same. Now, after some rest and relaxation, the Barbarian Prince planned to come through on a promise he made.

Audrey Travolta. Oscar was familiar with Audrey's reputation in LAW as a serious jobber who constantly found herself coming up short in her matches- but in the Kings and Queens tournament, Audrey was the opponent he fought in the opening round. Oscar, of course, won the match; but was shocked to learn that Audrey legitimately had ZERO knowledge or training in wrestling- which definitely explained why she was having such a tough time in the company. It still bothered Oscar that someone decided to put someone who clearly needed some proper training into the opening round of a championship tournament looking back on it. However, Audrey had a TON of heart- and even managed to get a few holds on Oscar despite the massive experience gap. Because of that, Oscar decided that the best way to kick off his new championship position wasn't to start challenging opponents... but to take Audrey under his wing and teach her the basics- giving Audrey the training she so desperately needed... once he figured out where she was.

[ThurmanMermanPlx]

It wasn't every day that Audrey was in position to meet with a pseudo-celebrity - and rarer still to be spending any time with them. Oscar had made it all the way to the top of the heap at the end of the Kings & Queens tournament, and had gone through Audrey in the first round to do so. Some might have called it a soft, easy bye into the next round, but as far as Audrey was concerned, it was one of her better performances to date, especially with her track record against men. She'd even managed to pull off a move or two herself... although, none that Oscar's experience hadn't allowed him to deal with.

And therein lay the firecracker's problem. It was difficult for her to even get into a position to apply any holds to a foe, and on those occasions she did, her inexperience kept her from succeeding; whether it be from not applying it correctly, or not knowing how to keep an opponent from breaking free once she'd gotten settled. She'd never had a teacher, other than herself. She'd watched countless videos, guide, and tutorials, but in her mind, she was living proof that there was only so much that could be learned from the Internet without a proper hands-on approach.

So when Oscar offered to show her the ropes, as it were, she secretly jumped at the opportunity. His status as tournament champion was just icing on that cake; she'd be getting to learn from a proven competitor! This was a golden opportunity handed to her on a silver platter, and she would be nothing short of a fool to ignore it.

None of that made it any easier to admit to her faults. At least, not openly to another person, even one who'd witnessed them firsthand. So when Audrey arrived at the gym,

, she paused at the door and took a deep, calming breath. It wasn't that she was afraid or nervous so much as her own self-doubt creeping in. What if even training with a champion didn't help her improve? What if she was just impossible to train? What would she do then?

But she was determined to give it a shot, for better or for worse. At the very least, she could say she tried, and no one would be able to deny her that.

Having collected herself, she strolled as casually as she could through the door. Oscar, it seemed, had beaten her here - no surprise there. She offered him a polite nod and a shy smile.

"Sorry I'm late," she said, setting her gym bag down at her feet. "Apparently, my sister can't even support me finding a teacher." She rolled her eyes with a shrug. "Anyways, it's good to see you! And I don't think I've had a proper chance to say this, so congratulations on winning the tournament."

[MappleMan7]

Oscar perked up as his Audrey arrived, standing up to greet her with a friendly smile as he offered her a handshake.

"Hey, Audrey! Don't sweat it- you're all good. Awesome to see you up and about- and thank you so much! I'm still coming to terms at becoming the champ. Unofficial or not, I couldn't be happier!"

Oscar looked completely full of joy as Audrey congratulated him on the big win- the tournament victory still sending the Barbarian Prince over the moon.

"How are you holding up after our match in the opening round? You feeling up to get a full crash course today?"

[ThurmanMermanPlx]

Audrey smiled at the show of respect, accepting the handshake eagerly. "Good, you deserve it. It's as official as can be, given the circumstances, but for now that's more than enough for me - and everyone else who competed for it, I'm sure."

She paused, head tilted slightly. "As for me? It'll take a lot more than that to keep me down and out for long. I'm..." she trailed off for a moment, expression slipping, but caught herself; the smile she put back on was a touch more forced. "...I'm used to it by now."

She shrugged again, realizing the direction she had been about to steer the conversation in, and clasped her hands together behind her back. She made sure to add some pep to her voice when she continued, hoping not to dwell on her loss. The last thing she wanted was a pity party. "But that's why we're here, isn't it! So, uh..." She took a moment to look around the gym; it wasn't too different in setup to the room she normally used, and she wondered briefly if they all just looked the same here. "So what's on the agenda? Where do we begin? You got a training dummy somewhere around here, or are you gonna let me practice on you? Or... uh... something else?" She didn't voice what was really on her mind; Are you gonna do stuff to me?

[MappleMan7]

Oscar listened to Audrey speak, catching some of her tone despite her attempt to hide it. Giving Audrey a reinforcing smile, Oscar would lead Audrey over to a weight rack!

"Training dummy comes later. For now, why don't we start with some weight lifting? Nothing like getting the blood flowing before we get down to smacking stuff around, yeah? We'll be starting small and working our way up from there. Tell me- how much do you lift, Audrey?"

Oscar hummed as he took some one-handed weights in hand. Each one weighing about fifty pounds as he started doing some bicep curls. The Barbarian Prince would give Audrey a curious look at what kind of weights Audrey would go for- wishing to see more about Audrey in action.

[ThurmanMermanPlx]

After a moment's hesitation, Audrey followed behind Oscar, the smile he'd returned helping to settle her nerves somewhat and push her in the direction of feeling more at ease.

He stopped in front of the weights. Curious, but Audrey was confident enough that he wasn't about to pick one up and throw it at her. She nodded along in agreement; it make sense to loosen up a bit before getting down to the real work.

"Tell me- how much do you lift, Audrey?"

The question caught her off-guard, and as such, she hesitated in her response. That in itself, she knew, was not a good sign, embarrassed as she was at the answer. And she knew it would only get worse, knowing she wouldn't even be able to fudge the answer - as soon as she had to demonstrate it, she'd be given away. She tried instead to steal a peek at the ones Oscar was using - fifty-pounders, and he lifted them with all the ease one might lift a water bottle.

"Oh, you know... um... usually just two, one in each hand!" A somewhat forced laugh followed her attempt at drowning her feeling of inadequacy with humor.

Moving as casually as she could, she stepped up to the rack of weights, resisting the urge to bite her lip. Her hand hovered over the forty-pound ones for a moment before drifting towards the thirty. She picked them up and attempted to distract herself by copying Oscar's motions, observing carefully how he was moving in the hopes of confirming she wasn't somehow doing it incorrectly. They didn't appear to be giving her terrible difficulty at first glance... but the longer they went on, a trained eye like Oscar's might detect the tremble in her arms as she struggled to keep pace, the weight beginning to take a toll on her arms.

After a while, she signed and admitted, "You know, I don't go for these that often... I usually spend my time jogging or stretching, sometimes hitting the punching bags... y'know, working on my reflexes and flexibility." In other words, her defensive and endurance abilities.

[MappleMan7]

Oscar would look at Audrey as she lifts the weights of her choice with a suspicious gaze. He's been doing this stuff for three years at this point- and he knew when someone was struggling with their set. He'd set his weights down and go to look for two sets of five pound weights, placing them near her.

"I appreciate the attempt to mimic me, but you so don't want to start that high. That's how you pull muscles and hurt yourself, dude. With weights, you gotta start low and build yourself up over time"

Oscar chuckled as he went back to his own weights, continuing his set as he spoke.

"Jogging and punching bags are good too- but all your doing is training your defensive skills and your durability. It was clear in our match you could take a lot of punishment, but without any offensive skill to back it up, you're kinda screwed. Even more lean body types like you can benefit from weight lifting, y'know. It'll increase your endurance and under the right conditions, even make you faster"

[ThurmanMermanPlx]

Again, Audrey would let out a sheepish laugh as Oscar set down a pair of lighter weights in front of her, avoiding meeting his gaze. She fixed her eyes on the weights themselves instead - only 5 pounds each. Internally, she sighed. Looked like there weren't going to be any shortcuts. Well... she had to start somewhere, didn't she?

"This is going to take a lot longer than I thought."

The difference in the strain on her arms was drastic, and as Audrey began imitating Oscar again, the relief was visible on her face. Five pounds was gravy, even for her. At least, for now... She suspected she'd be feeling it again in ten minutes time or so. But at present, she matched Oscar's motions and pace well.

"Tell me about it," she replied with a sigh, head turning toward each arm in turn as she alternated. "That's been my issue for... a while. My endurance seems fine, at least by my measurements, which, well, might need to be adjusted. But anyway, I can never seem to get into position to turn it around."

And then the last thing he said sunk in. "Wait, huh? Lifting weights for my arms... can make me faster?"

[MappleMan7]

"Well, not your arms. I'm thinking more lifting weights with your legs. Strengthening them with a combination of jogging and weights can help with your movement speed. That, or you could go the extra mile by doing what a friend of mine does and try wearing weights. Heavy bands for the wrists ir ankles, or even weighted clothes. Any is a good idea"

Oscar smiled as he switched his set up, giving Audrey a physical example as he secured some weights to his ankles and started some nice and easy reps with his legs!

"Pop quiz- what type of fighting styles exist in wrestling? Figured I should ask just to see how much you already know about the sport"

[ThurmanMermanPlx]

"Right, makes sense, why would arm training make you run faster, right? Heh..." Audrey paused a moment to observe the weight in her right hand. Before she could ask the question on her mind, though, Oscar demonstrated - using those special bands he mentioned. It looked much simpler than somehow tying the weight she was currently holding to her ankles. Which she was not imagining was how they they worked. Nope, not at all, not her.

"Um..." Again, Oscar's question put her on the spot. Her mouth set into a firm line as she pondered the question, at first coming up blank. She wasn't even sure what he meant by 'fighting styles'. The first thing that came to mind was like, Jackie Chan-style karate, but surely that wasn't what he meant; it wasn't wrestling, for one thing. She'd thought wrestling itself was the style of fighting... but, she supposed it did make sense that there was different types of wrestlers.

She changed tracks. What would she consider her fighting style?

"Um... like, technicians, aerialists, submissionists... that sort of thing? Is that what you mean?"