Dragon and Pheonix Dancing (for cyandimitrik)

[Bare]

Izumi's excitement might have gotten the best of her as she initially assumed that Blaise had chosen his motif for similar reasons as herself which clearly wasn't the case as after a few moments it was clear that Blaise had no idea and just began spouting some legendary pokemon instead. Which admittedly he still did so with confidence, a charming kind that made Izumi giggle despite the very wrong answer.

"Hehe, no worries. The Cardinal Beasts were this legend from China, the Black Tortoise of the north, White Tiger of the west.." Here Izumi would then point at Blaise. "Red Phoenix of the south, and..." At this point Izumi would point to herself. "Azure Dragon of the East."

After giving the abridged version of things Izumi would then wave her hand casually towards him. "But I don't blame you for not knowing, the Phoenix is one of those that's traveled pretty far into the west and those traits are all quite admirable regardless." Izumi said with a little bit of a bashful tone before smiling. "That being said I DO love Pokemon too." Izumi said with a wink.

[CyanDimitrik]

The explanation isn't entirely alien to him - he'd heard the tiger one somewhere before. The tortoise earned a small tilt of the head; not exactly a legendary animal, in his book! As a matter of fact, what makes a tiger so legendary?

He catches himself before he gets too distracted in the minutiae, choosing instead to focus on the female before him. The one who evidently loves Pokemon. Given what he's seen of her so far, this doesn't strike him as particularly surprising. Any girl who knows what a Hadouken is, or would at least attempt a Chun-Li move, has to be at least a little bit of a nerd.

"I fell off the wagon when I started training for the ring," Blaise admits, complete with a little scuff of his shoe against the ground. As though it were some mark of shame to bear. He's no longer admitted to the cool kids table. "But." What she'd said just before didn't go unnoticed; was it a flirt? "What traits would you say you represent from the dragon?"

With the question posed, he finally lets his gaze dip to glance her over in a less discreet way. Not lecherous, but not hiding the fact that he's really taking her in. From the way she styles her hair, to the outfit she chooses to wear, and, in fact, the way she looks in it. Her lower half is obscured by baggy bottoms, but the smooth curvature of her bare waist is appreciated, as well as the soft swell of her chest.

[Bare]

Having given her explanation to her newfound compatriot it would seem at least that it didn't go completely over the man's head. Although admittedly maybe it helped a bit that she grounded things somewhat by mentioning that she was in fact a fan of Pokemon as well. Even if Blaise admitted he fell off a bit ago it didn't matter too much too her since it helped to normalize the conversation a bit regardless.

When asked what traits she embodied from a dragon to make her choose the name though she would chuckle. "Well its less the traits I embody and more so what it represents, prosperity, strength, a fresh start. Those are all the things I wanted when I started as a wrestler, so I took the nickname hoping it would come and it did. It stuck ever since." She said, pausing for a moment before chuckling.

"Also between you and me, admittedly, the fact I have blue hair and practice dragon style Kung Fu also may have played a role hehe." Izumi said with a bashful smile on her face as the admitted the shallower reasons for her name choice.

[CyanDimitrik]

It's on the tip of his tongue to make a joke about it when Izumi mentions prosperity. It practically writes itself. 'Oh,' he would say, 'So what you're telling me is you're rich?' But that falls flat immediately when she adds the latter bit. He's glad he held his tongue; it would've been kind of a dumb thing to say, given it sounds like exactly what a lot of people are looking for when they sign up to wrestle. And with it, Blaise's smile softens to a more natural, relaxed state.

"I get that. I wanted those things, too," he admits. "I just wasn't smart enough to make a whole image out of it."

So he couldn't avoid making a joke in the end. At least this one is at his own expense!

"Add in fun there, and you've got me down. The lights, the pyros, the fans, the competition - it all seemed really exciting. Really called to me. I idolized a lotta' wrestlers, y'know?," he explains. "And I might have had some bad crushes on a few of the Wrestle Angels. But, uh..." He pauses, quickly lifting a hand to brush over the back of his neck. Why did he admit that? Hurrying on, he adds, "-I was stuck in training way longer than I think anyone else ever has been. Parents just would not sign off on me taking the leap. And when I actually got my start? Man, I ate more L's than a Spanish linguistics class."

That joke might get a little lost in translation, given he's talking to a Japanese girl. It's bad enough he's using English idioms in Japanese! L to El might not make sense! But he's taking the risk!

"I still loved it, though. S'all that mattered to me." But then things happened. He doesn't articulate that, but the subtle shift of his gaze away from her into the distance may indicate there's more to be told. And as he begins to reflect on that, he quickly snaps his focus back to her. She's much more inviting, much less complicated. "I like the blue hair," he notes with an assertive nod. "Kinda odd that a Japanese girl is studying Chinese Kung-Fu, though, huh?"

[Bare]

Blaise seemed a little taken aback at her reasoning, or maybe he found some humor in it. Izumi wasn't totally sure but she found his expression cute if nothing else as he thought about how to enter. In general he seemed very determined to make a good impression on her which she appreciated, but she'd make sure later that he knew it wasn't necessary. For now though she'd let him fumble with his words a bit and appreciate the show for what it was worth.

"Hehe, well I don't just mean monetarily, more of a metaphorical type of thing." Izumi stated with a little wave before focusing on Blaise as he went into his deeper reasons and a bit of his history, apparently having been stuck in training of a long time before being allowed to compete and losing quite a bit after having done so."Ah I see. Well you certainly seem to be doing better now."" Izumi said with a sweet smile before he asked about how she came to learn Kung Fu despite being Japanese which only made her smile wider.

"Oh! Well you see in the village I grew up this older man ran a small school for martial arts. I started learning from him and after high school I was so taken with it I traveled to China, learned Wushu in a monastery for a few years before traveling for quite a while afterwards, trying to find myself and all that. At least until I discovered my sister wrestled here, thats what really got me interested in this business to be honest but it was so much fun that I couldn't help but stick with it." Izumi explained, offering a bit of insight into her own background as she did so.

[CyanDimitrik]

"Huh," says Blaise in conclusion. It sounds so fantastical, so... well, anime. Distant lands, learning Wushu, and then applying it in a field that totally doesn't make sense for it. Actually, did she say that? Or did he just assume? It's worth exploring!

With a newfound focus behind his eyes, Blaise asks, "So, wait, do you wrestle, or are you Kung-Fu Fighting? I incorporate strikes'n stuff, sure, but I'm all about the grapples, slams, and locks. What do you do in the ring?"

And then, a thought crosses his mind. "Hey! Let's hit the mat! We can go a round, you'n me. You show me what you're bringing to the table, I'll...," he pauses, hands lifting with a playful smile, "...do my best to impress ya. Soft-style, though. I dunno when your next match is, and I wouldn't wanna mess up your chances of winning."

[Bare]

It seemed the greater context of her past was a bit surprising for Blaise as the man seemed a bit shocked. Admittedly it was a lot but for Izumi it didn't seem all too crazy, especially for LAW standard bit no matter. She hum in thought on how to answer his next question however.

"Well generally I try to keep it to basic strikes, high kicks, chop, palm thrusts etcetera. But I try to refrain from going... full martial arts mode in matches unless I absolutely have too and use more... traditional wrestling offense. Keep things fair you know?" Izumi said with a smile before Blaise suggested that they take things to the ring to have a friendly spar.

"Sure. A spar would be a good way to finish up this work out and likewise I'll try not to mess up that handsome face of yours." Izumi said teasingly with a wink as she walked past Blaise and towards the ring with a confident gait to her steps.

[CyanDimitrik]

She avoids martial arts to keep it fair! Why, most others might take offense at the implication. But Blaise? At the end of the day, he's still the extremely agreeable, pleasant person he's always been. Give or take a little teasing. "How very benevolent of you," he chides, giving the girl a playful squint.

As she moves past him, Blaise turns to smirk at her. "My handsome face appreciates it," he quips.

Following after her for much of the trek, Blaise skips ahead of her to hop up onto the ring apron. Turning, he sits on the middle rope and pushes the top rope upwards, creating a convenient gap for her; the professional wrestling equivalent of holding the door for a lady. He has no idea if that's really a thing in Japan, but his American roots are showing.

[Bare]

Izumi chuckled slightly at what Blaise said thought she had a feeling it may not be entirely genuine, but he was still being rather charming so she wouldn't dwell on it too much. Besides the two were about to spar, so if nothing else she could maybe give him a full sampling of her skills to show why she didn't use her martial arts on everyone. "I try to be." She replied casually while approaching the ring she would blink as he suddenly zipped past her and to the ring. "Oh?" Izumi breathed out taking note of Blaise's perch on the apron, holding the ropes open for her.

"OH! How gentlemanly of you Blaise." Izumi said chipperly with a mock hand on her chest as she got onto the apron and began to slide into the larger gap, but made sure to lean closer towards his face as she did so before lowering down and coming back up, once more with her face closer towards his before fully stepping all the way into the ring. "Ok... Before we get started are there any rules or conditions you'd like to observe?" Izumi asked while casually stretching her arms behind her head before turning around and looking at Blaise with a smile in preparation for the bout ahead.

[CyanDimitrik]

Her reaction to the gap in the ropes is just as pleasant as Blaise had hoped; she's a nice girl. Points in her favor. And then any thoughts of that are quickly lost as she deliberately brings her face quite close to his in passing, making that eye contact. He can't be sure it was on purpose, of course - but it seems so... inherently flirtatious. It had to be intentional. Right? Even though they were about to get very acquainted with one another's body in a grappling match, that's different!

He's overthinking it.

Relaxing the ropes, Blaise focuses his grip on the top cable, leans back to stretch it, then smoothly vaults up and over to land spritely on his feet.

"Other than what we already said?," he asks. "I dunno! Count your own pins, don't get too crazy." He pauses, then smiles slyly. "But if I win, I get to take you out sometime."