Rivals Turned Training Buddies (for Devastated)

[Underdoggo]

"fifteen....sixteen...sev...fuck...seventeeaaAARGH...'

With a final, exhausted gasp, Makie let the weights clang down against their rests, and took the opportunity to collapse into a panting heap against the weight bed. Sweat was starting to soak through her white t-shirt, and she pressed a palm against her forehead to wipe away some of the excess moisture. She kept falling short of twenty. At this rate, she knew, she was not going to get done with her reps any time soon.

Lately, she had been hard at work. Her life, and career, here at LAW had felt like it had been dovetailing, with her losing match after match; she had seen more than one online commenter call her a "jobber" or "a pretty f-tier," and that had been humiliating enough. But then, of course, some opponents had also gone out of their way to actually humiliate her in the ring. For a time, Makie had, honestly, been considering quitting.

But then two things happened: first, she had met the original Valley Doll, her idol, who had openly shown support for her and for her skills as a wrestler. Then, she had had a great training session with a former opponent, Tina Armstrong, who had put her mind at ease and had managed to give her some tips and, more importantly, some much-needed context. Yes, she was in a slump right now, and yes, it was humiliating; but she was not the first wrestler who would be in a losing streak, and she wouldn't be the last, and like all of those other wrestlers, she could climb her way out of this pitfall.

And that was exactly what Makie intended to do: to get better. To become good enough for LAW, good enough for her fans...but above all, good enough not to be thought of as just Kyo's teammate. To shut up all the people who had been calling her a jobber.

And that was why she was here, in the gym, working her ass off. That was why she was going to train relentlessly and improve her skills.

She just wished Tina were here. Unfortunately, the Tigress was unavailable. Which sucked, because the one thing Makie could have used right now was a training buddy...

[Devastated]

She always tried to find some time to spend some time working out, it was a six day a week hobby, usually twice a day. Morning and Evenings. Unless something came up, though it wasn't always at the gym. Sometimes it had to be split up between home and gym workouts. Today though, well Belinda found herself at the gym in the afternoon, mostly because she had been held up this morning dealing with other matters. She had considered skipping and treating today as a cheat day but truth be told she had gotten a bit bored.

Normally she would have taken today to watch some detective show or something of that nature, just binges like a whole season. Though for some reason she found herself feeling rather restless. She wanted to get her body moving and her blood pumping and she felt like she had to go to the gym to make up for missing her morning workout. No matter what, she always felt she got more out of it with a gym workout than a home workout.

As she found herself inside the gym she began to walk to the weight bench, figuring it would be best to start off after some stretching with the heavy weights. What caught her eye though as she approached was a familiar figure, her eyes settled on Makie pushing up the weights for a little bit as she held back for a second. When she had finished and set the weights down on their rests, she took a second to study Makie. She wanted to make sure that she wasn't in any mood like if she wanted to be left alone then she'd just slip away and go do some other workout for now, but if it looked like Makie wasn't in that sort of headspace.

The blonde decided to approach. She walked up to Makie and would tsk at Makie as she stepped up next to her. "Seems to me like you could use a spotter." Belinda spoke with a cheerful tone as she began to remove her yellow flannel shirt. "That means we're both in luck, cause I could use a spotter too." She said with a big grin on her face.

Spoiler

[Underdoggo]

Makie nearly jumped at the voice. Nearly. It wasn't often that people approached her in the gym: aside from the occasional fan or some conceited guy trying his luck, she was used to being left undisturbed when she was working out-- which was why this voice coming out of the blue was so startling.

Except, thankfully, this voice was a familiar one. Makie whirled around and there she was, standing over with that same warm, enthusiastic smile, wearing a tight training bra and baggy gym pants that allowed her to show off her impressive six pack.

"Belinda!" Makie gasped, genuinely surprised. She had not expected to see Belinda Northman in this gym; indeed, she hadn't run into the Swede ever since her debut match-- a debut match where she had gotten her ass well and thoroughly kicked by the blonde powerhouse. Still, as far as former opponents who kicked her ass went, Belinda was undoubtedly one of the good ones.

She swiveled off of the bench and stood up to meet Belinda, though she didn't quite reach the Swede's height. "Oh god, I haven't seen you since our first match! How've you been?"

[Devastated]

Belinda felt a bit bad about letting out a soft laugh upon seeing Makie nearly jump out of her seat upon the blonde approaching and speaking to her. She couldn't help but found the reaction rather adorable, especially how she practically gasped out her name. As she watched Makie rise up to greet her, Belinda would tilt her head to the side for a moment as if she was thinking about the answer.

"Good I'd say. Been a bit off schedule today so a bit of a later workout than usual." Belinda answered as she would look Makie over for a second. "How about you, how have you been?" Belinda would give Makie a pat on the shoulder as she looked over at the weight bench. "I see you're working hard. Though if you are gonna be lifting weights you really should have a spot." Belinda pointed out as she would give Makie another pat on the shoulder before retracting her arm. She had already seen signs of Makie pushing herself too far in their match, she wasn't too sure she wanted to see that in the gym as well.

[Underdoggo]

Makie allowed herself to catch her breath after getting jumpscared like that by Belinda. Truth to be told, she was a little exhausted from having pushed herself on the weights like that; the more sensible part of her brain was finally catching up to her and telling her that no, she shouldn't push herself any further unless she wanted to risk hurting herself, and that yes, she could use a breather. Sitting on the edge of the bench, she took a swig from her water bottle, and gave Belinda a weary smile.

"Yeah...bit of an off day for me as well." She hadn't been getting many matches scheduled lately, so, as much as she hated to admit it, she had plenty of time off. She pouted a little at Belinda's follow up comment. "I was doing fine, really," she breathed, capping her water bottle...and wincing as a sore pain shot up in her shoulder. She had definitely been working too hard.

"Or then again, yeah, I think I could use a spotter. Are, um...are you offering?"

[Devastated]

The blonde would tilt her head at Makie's words, she would however not interject at least not now. Firstly she didn't know Makie too well, after all they had just met for a single match. Though Belinda was the kind of person who thought you got to learn about someone more so in competition with them than just a casual conversation, she didn't want to impose upon Makie's thoughts just yet...

Hearing the retort from Makie though caused her to narrow her eyes a bit and release a soft sigh. When Makie asked if she was offering...Belinda would bring her hand forward and give the young Japanese wrestler a firm flick on the forehead with her finger. She brought her hand back and placed them on her hips.

"Of course I am." Belinda said as she would look over Makie for a second, considering she was wincing from her moments she would squat a bit so she was a bit more level with the seated Makie. She didn't exactly want to tower over someone when she was talking to them. " Though I think you need a breather first. Clearly you've been pushing yourself, and you've got a rather serious look on your face. Something wrong? I don't know what I can do, but I'm willing to hear you out."

[Underdoggo]

"H-hey!" Makie cried in annoyance as Belinda teasingly flicked her head. Almost just as quickly, though, Belinda was sitting down opposite her. The suited Makie just fine, admittedly: Belinda wasn't wrong, she had been overworking herself quite a bit. She could use the time to just sit, recover, and relax a little, and Belinda, perceptive as she was, seemed to recognize that.

As Belinda squatted opposite her, though, she asked her a question that took her by surprise. "What?? I'm fine," she replied. "Everything's fine, I don't know what you..."

She sighed. She realized she was fooling no one, least of all Belinda.

She brushed the hair out of her forehead before she went on."Just...Belinda, do you think I'm a jobber at all?"

[Devastated]

Belinda having gone more eye level with Makie to approach her at a more neutral and level position. After all, if she wanted to talk to Makie about something that seemed to bother her, she couldn't very well loom over her like a parental figure or a teacher, she had to approach her like a friend. At first Makie's reaction was about what Belinda expected, she tried to deflect any problems, to pretend as if everything is fine.

Though it seemed as if she did want to talk. If she didn't then she wouldn't have dropped the ruse even if she knew that Belinda wasn't about to be fooled but such a blatant bluff.

The blonde would tilt her head at Makie's words. "Hmmm." She'd think for a moment. " What makes you ask such a question?" Belinda would ask of Makie, she didn't want to just dismiss her worries by brushing them aside as if it was nothing. That wouldn't solve much, and it would in Belinda's mind be more of a platitude than anything. If she wanted to figure out what was bothering Makie and try to find a way to help, she needed to get to the root cause of this problem. She couldn't herself imagine why Makie would feel that way, after all she had put up a more than admirable effort in their match.

[Underdoggo]

It took a lot to say that out loud, especially to someone like Belinda. She had voiced these concerns before to Kyo; he had assured her that she was not a jobber, that a losing streak could be recovered from, etc etc...but he was family. It was his job to be supportive. Belinda was someone who Makie liked to think of as a friend, but it still took a lot to admit this to her.

She sat down near the exercise bike. "Nothing. Just...I don't think I've won a single match since I first arrived here in LAW," she admitted. "I thought I was better than this. I used to be better than this, in the league I used to be in. But now? Every time I've gone into that ring I've gotten beaten. I don't think anyone here thinks of me as a serious competitor."

[Devastated]

Belinda would nod as she listened to Makie's words. She didn't interrupt or make much in terms of noises, what gesture she made to indicate that she was following along was those small nods. She processed what Makie was telling her. Once she had spoken, Belinda would place her hand on her chin for a moment, tilting her head to the side as she would look over at Makie...

She wanted to tell Makie that she was wrong, but to deny the way that Makie was feeling could be met with very different reactions. Instead, Belinda would take a deep breath and speak as truthfully and earnest as she could.

"While I can't say much about others. I can assure you that I think of you as a serious competitor." Belinda said as she kept her eyes fixed on Makie. " I wouldn't have approached you and offered to be your spotter if I didn't. Well...I probably would have actually. Hah..." Belinda corrected herself, " Point being, I meant exactly what I told you after our match. You belong here." Belinda would push up to a stand, rising from her squatted position.

She would roll her shoulders as she would gaze around for a second, her eyes locked onto a sight for a couple seconds and then she spoke out. " Follow me." The blonde began to walk towards the practice ring. "Best way to get rid of frustration is working out. The best way to get rid of a wrestling slump is to get more training partners." Belinda climbed the ring apron and would take a seat on the middle rope as she raised the top one with her arm, offering Makie an easy way in. " We'll talk and work through whatever troubles you in the ring." A bright and cheerful smile on her face she offered to help out Makie in the one way she figured she could.