Showing the ropes (and something more) - For Galactic Thing

[Galahad]

All the showers and getting ready part was done. Salem and Anne met at the lobby, both women looking more than eager to go outside and get something to eat. Salem looked specially excited about this, teasing Anne about the sandwiches the redhead had set up as amazing. “You can throw me from the third rope the next time if I’m not right about this!”, Anne playfully responded, so sure about her statement to make a bet like that. Just as both women walked outside and were welcomed by the warm and nice sun of that Saturday morning Salem mentioned something about not knowing the city well and asking Anne to be her guide another day. “Well, today you’re learning about where to go grab a bite just after a workout, but if you want we can go exploring some day. Girls’ night? Clubbing? Hell yeah!”, Anne said while casually wrapping her arm with Salem’s before leading the way.

“The sandwich place isn’t far, just a couple minutes walk.”, said Anne as she signalled the direction they were taking. “So, you mentioned you’re new in town? How did you end up here?” Anne’s approach to conversation was casual and carefree, in a way not realizing that she could struck a nerve by touching a delicate subject when digging into people’s past, but that was the Phoenix, more inclined to apologize than to never asking in the first place.

[Galactic Thing]

"I'm taking you on that bet! Not afraid to teach you some moonsaults next time." Salem jabbed right back with a smirk as they left. The idea of this being the first outing of possibly many with her new training partner was something that lit her face up even more, this time more so with anticipation. Ideas rushed through her mind: clubbing, shopping, movies...dinner? For a later time, Salem mentally shoved those to the side, focusing more on the moment. "I'd love that!" another smile beamed on her face, only momentarily wiped due to her pondering, "I'll do some brainstorming later."

Their path took them a decent way, but it wasn't the far, making it a wonderful stop for after a bit of exertion in the gym. Whilst they walked, Anne made an effort to continue their conversation down a different and perhaps touchy path. The question was definitely a bit of a dig, but Salem didn't let her bright look falter too much. After all, she was confident Anne had no malicious intentions. "Well..." she paused, her hesitation betraying her composure, "That's kind of a lot, but long story short my last organization wasn't nearly as welcoming to newcomers as LAW has been so far." She brought an arm up to awkwardly grab at her bicep, keeping it close to her side as her eyes kept on Anne.

[Galahad]

“Wonderful, Anne, you blew it.”, thought the redhead when she noticed Salem’s reaction to her question. What seemed like casual talk had managed to stir some painful memories from the pinkette, so Anne quickly sought for a quick way out of that situation. “Oh I’m so sorry Salem, didn’t want to bring some bad memories.”, she started while giving Salem’s arm a little squeeze to get her attention. “Let’s do this: you have 1 token for an awkward question you can exchange anytime, ‘kay?”, Anne nervously chuckled at the idea. “Well look, we’re here!”, she finished giving thanks to their arrival for giving her a chance to change the mood of the conversation.

The place they set in looked pretty hidden from the outside, like a very anodyne sandwich shop downtown but on the inside it was small but comfortable looking. Only three or four tables on the place since most of the people went there for takeaway, but the seats and tables looked comfy and the place had a carefree but friendly air to it. “We can get that table at the corner, less noise coming in from the street. Why don’t you have a look and order whatever you want? I personally like the turkey and salad special, pretty good sandwich if you ask me...”, she said while getting the cook’s attention and making her order.

[Galactic Thing]

The Shooting Star's eyes looked up at Anne's squeeze, her eyes drifting more to the ground."One token...? Uh, sure why not!" her demeanor certainly seemed to shift at the prospect, cheering a bit as she was brought back to the present moment. Her eyes lit back up, especially so seeing they had arrived at the illustrious sandwich shop!

Whilst some may be turned around with small it looked, the cozy size of the establishment only had Salem more excited to be here. This time though, she wasn't nearly as bouncy, and put both hands on her cheeks as she looked around. "This place is so cozy!" her voice came out in a whisper, as if she was trying not to disturb the scene she stood in.

Hearing Anne's order, Salem would stop gazing at the space in general and hone in at the sign showing off the menu. "Hmmm..." her thought process was vocalized in the single tone, before a light bulb seemed to go off. "I think I'll order this chicken katsu one! she points to the menu and then to at salad, adding that to her order. Afterwards, she thanks the cook, before heading to sit down at the table her partner had mentioned earlier.

[Galahad]

Anne had her doubts about showing her little sandwich corner to Salem. Would the pinkette like it or not? Fortunately when they entered the place she looked impressed by its coziness despite how centric it was, which made Anne let out a sigh of relief. The thought of proposing a place for it to be not to her partner’s taste was a terrible one. Just after taking seat the two women started perusing the menu in search for their preferred sandwich for the day. Hearing Salem go for some chicken katsu, Anne added: “You know what? Let’s make that two.” while signalling the cook. “You gotta get out of your comfort zone and try new stuff, after all!”

Returning her attention towards Salem and their conversation, Anne took the reins one more time. “So, a fledging talent joining LAW! I’m sure your debut’s gonna be amazing. For how long have you wrestled? Don’t try to fool me, I’ve seen you perform some amazing moves there, girl!”, she added with a chuckle while they waited for their lunch to arrive.

[Galactic Thing]

Hearing Anne make her little addendum, Salem gave her confused look, but swiftly changed it to a smile and a nod upon hearing the explanation. She was very right, and this little place was exactly the sort of thing that she would want to go to try in order to expand her horizons. But with her partner but her side, it was less intimidating, even without her as a guide. Her name wasn't just for show it would seem, as she acted like a beacon of blazing light to follow and learn from!

With both ladies of LAW sat at the corner table and their choices of food ordered, they settled in for a far less thrilling and much more cozy bit of conversation. Not that Salem was complaining herself, in fact it was exactly what she could've hoped for. The more casual setting and talk was a wonderful change of pace from their intense training session; one that started off as much slower than it ended being. It was productive sure, but Salem was in desperate need of relaxation.

"Well, let me think..." she started to ponder her years of being in the ring, both in her older organization but also the handful of indie leagues at the beginning. "I think it's been five years? At the very least I'll have my fifth year of wrestling ending in LAW, so I'm pumped for that! In her mind, half a decade of being in the ring was quite an accomplishment, but it paled in comparison to a lot of the people she had the honor of sharing the ring with. "What about you? How much experience do you have under your belt Anne?" she flipped the question right back after she judges her reaction, definitely not quite as curious as she was but close.

[Galahad]

Anne comfortably rested on her seat, laying back a little listening to what Salem had to tell about her story with wrestling. Hearing the pinkette so casually talk about how she had been wrestling for five years gave the redhead a lot of perspective as her eyes widened in surprise. It showed her how some of the people she had faced in the ring had been working on their careers for long years and it somehow gave Anne a little feeling of imposter’s syndrome since she just arrived to that world and landed on a top spot as LAW.

“Wait, that must mean... you have been wrestling as a teen?” Anne couldn’t hide her surprise, being completely taken by surprise by that fact. Then the question turned at the redhead and it was her time to talk about her previous experience. “Let me see, since… last spring?”, she managed to get rid of her nervousness of admitting this with a chuckle. “You see, I moved to Japan last winter due to some… family drama. Here I make a pause to remind you about your awkward question token. When I arrived in here I needed some heavy change in career and priorities, and I started connecting with puroresu wrestling. I hired a personal trainer and I started getting into shape, learning the very basics and it turned out I was decent at it. From there my gaze turned towards more… sultry and lewd kinds of wrestling and LAW’s name showed up. They were making an open tryout just weeks after I first learned about them so I jumped at the opportunity and landed a spot in the roster.” Anne’s gaze then shifter towards somewhere else, hinting how she didn’t want to maintain eye contact for this next fact. “Somehow hearing about how most wrestlers took years to arrive here makes me feel… I dunno, like I hit some lucky jackpot I didn’t truly deserve? It’s a strange feeling...” Anne instantly felt a little melancholic, sad about the fact she was bumming out the atmosphere.

[Galactic Thing]

"Oh yeah! But not for too long anyways, only a year or two." Salem clarified, although given Anne's reaction to that information...perhaps it wasn't the best thing to say. She had been wrestling for as long as she could remember, but only seriously doing so when she got into her adult years. Being quite experienced in general when it came to wrestling brought her a lot of perspective about the industry, and whilst she wasn't familiar with LAW yet or other circuits outside the US, she figured it wasn't too far off what she was familiar with.

Seeing Anne's reaction made this perspective shift a bit, and her words even further so. Salem listened to everything she had to say, even though words hung in her throat, begging to be released to interject at the rather downtrodden ending to her story as a wrestler. With compassionate eyes, Salem offered an upturned hand across the table. "After all my time here," she began sounding much older than she actually was, "As much as this industry is about skill, talent and hard work, it's also luck. I can tell that you're a fantastic competitor, and you've earned your space at LAW...I mean after all you're teaching me a whole bunch of things! And if I'm so much more experienced than you...that would be a bit ridiculous that I'd be the one to learn the most. So, it just means that you're extremely talented, like crazy talented." The pinkette did her best to reassure her, knowing her feeling all to well. It was something she tried to get over many times, but it has been a constant feeling throughout her journey in the wrestling world, especially one as sporadic as hers. Mental tribulations existed in tandem with physical ones, something a fan or simple spectator would often forget or simply never think of.

[Galahad]

Just when Anne had allowed a crack in her inner defenses it all started to spill out. Unavertedly some of her feelings of insecurity leaked and she presented a much more different face to the uplifting and carefree woman she actually was. A small window to the darkest corners of her mind and soul, and one that Salem instantly helped closing, giving testament to her character and personality. Anne accepted Salem’s upturned hand, searching for some contact, some feeling of empathy and camaraderie, and that was just what the pinkette delivered. She gave a diligent and calm speech about some things that were pretty logical but that had escaped the spiral of Anne’s rethorics. She talked about how despite how important training and experience was they weren’t the only variables in play there, that raw talent and also a speck of luck were always needed in order to progress not only in wrestling but in life. In some way it wasn’t much about what Salem said but how she said it, about the fact that she was willing to say it.

“Makes sense… That’s so sweet of you...”, Anne almost whispered while giving Salem’s hand a squeeze, getting the most out of their almost intimate moment. But it wouldn’t last long because the waiter would suddenly snap them back to reality when he put the two dishes with amazingly looking sandwiches there. Anne snapped to reality and quickly broke the hand holding so there would be space on the table for them and for an instant remained there, a little taken aback by the surprise so it would be Salem’s turn to break the ice a little more and return the situation to a happier one.

[Galactic Thing]

Seeing Anne start to come around and her reaction to Salem's words, the pinkette gave a warm smile that actually wasn't forced. Not that she was forcing it for anything but good intentions before, nor were they not genuine, but this came much more naturally. For but a moment, they would squeeze their hands together, a rather gentle and nearly deeper moment that was interrupted by the unintended intrusion of the waitress. With a light clink, each plate was set down, including both of Anne's sandwiches plus her salad, as well as her own order.

For a moment, the pinkette simply looked at the array of food in front of them, almost stunned by the display! She nearly began to drool from the sight of all of it, and forgot entirely about the tense moment beforehand...at least for a few seconds. Peeling her gaze from the wonderful spread, she would look back to the other woman across from her, incidentally trying to break the ice without meaning to even try to. "This looks amazing! You've definitely got wonderful taste in places for meals if the sights have anything to say about it." she thought of another question to ask, this time conscientiously straying away from the past for now. "Alright, my turn! How did you come up with your gimmick? Assuming you uhm, have one, that is!" Salem's confident start trudged along until the end, realizing her assumption.