Kindred Spirits

[Ichi]

Ayame watched Blair intently, waiting for Blair's next attack. Blair's movements were quite evasive, using footwork and subtle head movement to make herself a moving target. All of this appeared to be designed to get Blair up close and on the inside---this made sense as Blair was somewhat short, standing at 5'1". The lateral movement would make it difficult for Ayame to launch a takedown and the head movement would make it difficult for Ayame to hit Blair's head.

Then, Ayame would see what appeared to be an opening: Blair had moved her hands away from her face, leaving the side of her face exposed. Ayame immediately threw a left hook to try to capitalize on the opening. However, before the hook could land, Blair had used her arms to block Ayame's punch and had grabbed onto Ayame's wrists!

"Shit!" thought Ayame as Blair pulled her in closer by the wrists. Suddenly, Blair's knee went flying into Ayame's solar plexus, knocking the wind out of Ayame!

"AGH!" The blow caused Ayame to fall to one knee as the pain seemed to radiate out from the center of her being. Despite not being thrown at full power, Blair's knee still hurt as it still had some power to it and it hit a vulnerable area. Fighting through the pain, Ayame would immediately attempt to stumble back and roll onto her back, putting her shins and forearms up to protect herself (i.e. Ayame would attempt to pull guard).

Ayame would be on the defensive.

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It seemed like Blair had finally gotten into the swing of things. Earlier in the sparring session, Blair had not been living up to her credentials as a former Muay Thai and MMA champion. Taking Blair down had felt a little too easy and the side kick had landed a little too cleanly. While Blair had still shown some decent skills, something seemed off about her to Ayame. For whatever reason, it seemed like Blair had not been fighting to her full potential. After all, Ayame had watched Blair deal with strikers that were admittedly at a higher level than Ayame. The Blair from earlier was incongruous with the Blair that Ayame had watched on television.

Now, Blair had started to live up to her credentials. Her quick, evasive footwork and head movement made it difficult for Ayame abuse her range advantage. Furthermore, Blair's clinch work was also quite good, definitely better than Ayame's. At this point, Blair was beginning to live up to her moniker of "Little Dragon of Muay Thai".

Ayame found this shift to be quite intriguing: Blair was not known for being a "slow starter" so it was probably unlikely that Blair had merely "warmed up" or "gotten started"; furthermore, Ayame found it highly doubtful that Blair had been consciously holding back against her.

"Perhaps this has something to do with her losses," thought Ayame. Because she was aware of the fact that Blair had quit both Muay Thai and MMA after losing her titles, Ayame began to speculate that perhaps Blair had been affected by her losses. Even now, Ayame felt like she was not fighting the true "Little Dragon of Muay Thai"---instead, it felt like she was fighting the "Little Dragon of Muay Thai" on a bad day.

[CaptainL]

As she came running toward Ayame, Blair was thinking on her feet. Anything that happened now would require her to adjust her plan in motion, and it would take her full attention and focus to see how Ayame was reacting and to prepare a counter accordingly. Sure enough, as Blair began to lower her fists from where they shielded her face, she noticed Ayame had taken note, and that she was throwing a hook that way.

What Ayame didn't realize, however, was that this fell perfectly into Blair's plans. She had trained in being able to set up a long knee, her lower body strikes being some of the strongest in her arsenal. Going to the clinch was one way she could do this, in using her opponent's momentum to steer them into the path of the blow. But she also knew how she could intercept a punch to the face and turn that into a knee strike, and that was exactly what Ayame had offered her. Blair would have smirked at her good fortune, but to do so would be to take too much time away from setting up her next move, and she needed to time everything perfectly. Catching Ayame's incoming fist, Blair was quick to latch onto her wrists, going for the clinch - and pulling her opponent right into the path of her knee!

Even when Blair was pulling her punches, there was only so much one could dull the impact of a knee to the solar plexus. Ayame dropped to the mat, rolling to her back as she folded her arms and legs over her to defend herself. Seeing this, Blair took a step closer. While fighting on the ground wasn't her strong suit, it was still a vital part of the disciplines she had gone into, and she knew she would need to be prepared. If this sparring session was to prepare her for getting in the ring, she would need to train herself in every aspect of her fighting style, and this would help her get the experience she needed.

Taking in a breath, the Muay Thai fighter drew closer to Ayame, bending in low. She held down Ayame's knees to keep them out of the way, making sure that she wouldn't be able to catch her waist between her legs if she stood in between them for a closed guard; while Blair didn't know how quick Ayame would be to assume such a technique, it never hurt to be safe. Then, swerving to the side, Blair brought herself down, laying atop Ayame's body horizontally as she fell into position.

---

Time passed, and the sparring continued. Eventually, though, Blair's stamina was running low, and she realized she needed to call it a day. Breaking away from Ayame as she caught her breath, she wiped the sweat off her brow. "I have to say," Blair said, "I enjoyed this. About time I had someone I could spar with."

[Ichi]

Ayame tried to keep her legs in-between herself and Blair in an attempt to prevent Blair from getting on top of her. Ideally, Ayame would have been able to use her legs to keep Blair at a distance and find an opening to get up. However, despite Ayame's best efforts, Blair managed to push Ayame's knees to the side and pass into side control---and based on the way Blair moved, Ayame could tell that Blair was a competent grappler.

--------

By the end of the sparring session, Ayame was breathing heavily. Despite not going all-out, between mounting her own offense and defending herself against Blair, Ayame had been forced to use up a lot of energy. Since Ayame's muscles were built for explosiveness rather than endurance, this sparring session had taken a fair amount out of her. While the earlier parts of the spar were not particularly tiring, the sparring really began to pick up once Blair seemed to have gotten into the swing of things.

"I have to say," Blair said, "I enjoyed this. About time I had someone I could spar with."

"Ah... yeah, me too," said Ayame somewhat awkwardly, not knowing what to say. It also did not help that her thoughts elsewhere at the moment as after the sparring session had concluded, Ayame's mind briefly wandered, reflecting on what she had just experienced.

Ayame's thoughts

Ayame's thoughts were along these lines

Blair had admittedly not been living up to her credentials as a former Muay Thai and MMA champion during the early parts of the sparring session. Taking Blair down had felt a little too easy and Ayame's strikes landed a little too cleanly. While Blair had still shown some decent skills during that time, something seemed off about her to Ayame: it seemed like Blair had not been fighting to her full potential. After all, Ayame had watched Blair deal with strikers that were admittedly at a higher level than Ayame. The Blair from earlier was incongruous with the Blair that Ayame had watched on television.

Gradually though, Blair began to live up to her moniker of "Little Dragon of Muay Thai". Despite the questionable start, Blair eventually began to demonstrate her skills, proving herself to be a quick and evasive fighter. She utilized footwork and head movement to good effect, making it difficult for Ayame to utilize her range advantage. Blair's clinching skills were also quite formidable, and in spite of her short stature, Blair managed to put Ayame on the defensive whenever they entered the clinch. Unsurprisingly though, Blair's weakest aspect was her ground game, but even then, Blair was able to competently handle herself on the ground.

Ayame was intrigued that it took so long for Blair to show her skills---after all, Blair was not known for being a "slow starter" so it was probably unlikely that Blair had merely "warmed up" or "gotten started"; furthermore, Ayame found it highly doubtful that Blair had been consciously holding back against her. Although...

"Perhaps this has something to do with her losses," thought Ayame. Being familiar with the MMA world, Ayame was aware of the fact that Blair had quit both Muay Thai and MMA after losing her titles. Between this knowledge and what she had observed earlier, Ayame figured that Blair probably had little tolerance for personal failure. So perhaps Blair was being held back psychologically.

Admittedly, despite being challenged quite a bit, Ayame did not feel like she sparred with the true "Little Dragon of Muay Thai". Instead, Ayame felt like she was sparring against the "Little Dragon of Muay Thai" on a bad day. Ayame rationalized this as being due to Blair having been away from MMA for a while and due to possible psychological factors.

Ayame would stand there for a short while, clearly deep in thought. Eventually though, Ayame would snap out of her thoughts and look to see what Blair was doing.

[CaptainL]

The sparring session had taken its toll on Blair, too. As she got up from Ayame, she rolled her shoulders and caught her breath, her face red and dripping with sweat. Reaching for a towel to wipe herself off, Blair had some time to sink into her own thoughts, the highlights of their duel playing through her head now that she had a moment to think.

As a matter of fact, such thoughts followed along the same lines as Ayame's own in many regards. Blair was well aware that she hadn't been fighting to her full potential, and the thought of that weighed on her, causing her to bite her lip in frustration as her body tensed. She knew she was better than this, she told herself; why wasn't she doing a better job, especially when she knew that she had it in her? Ayame was someone she barely knew of, and while she had been impressed with her abilities, Blair still had her pride. She was sure that in a perfect world she would have been dominating Ayame from the beginning, never allowing her to so much as get a hit in in retaliation. So why hadn't that happened now?

A few thoughts crossed Blair's mind as she tried to rationalize her own decisions. She was going easy on Ayame in the hopes of making this a fair fight, maybe. But no. As much as Blair might have wanted to convince herself as such, just to live more comfortably with the results, she knew she wasn't someone who went easy on anyone. She wasn't here to make friends; she was here for herself. If Ayame couldn't catch up, that would have been on her. Blair sighed, as it became clear that all the potential options she could think of to excuse her performance wouldn't hold up to scrutiny. Maybe...she really was off her game. The early upset Ayame had taken certainly wouldn't help with that - if Blair was frustrated by her inability to secure the advantage, it was something that would weigh on her, dragging her down. The fact that she'd fallen into that trap only angered her further, as she balled a fist at her side. She was better than this. She should have been.

But...perhaps she owed something to Ayame, too. It had been thanks to the redhead that Blair had been able to identify that in herself. Perhaps that was something she'd keep in mind in the future - if only to beat it out of herself like she tried to do for everything else she perceived as a weakness, anyway. And Ayame had certainly put her to the test. In a way, she was thankful for that. She'd made Blair work to prove herself and to keep her skills sharp, and perhaps that was all she needed. Perhaps, when she went into her next match, this wouldn't happen again.

As she picked up her gym bag and slung it over her shoulder, Blair looked back in Ayame's direction, seeing her still standing where she had left her a minute ago. For a moment, Blair was puzzled, wondering why she hadn't left by now. "...You alright?" she asked, watching Ayame out of the corner of her eye.

[Ichi]

"...You alright?" asked Blair. Those words brought Ayame out of her thoughts and into the present.

"Shit!" thought Ayame, her eyes slightly widening as she realized that Blair was about to leave. For a brief moment, Ayame's mouth hung open as if she were about to speak. Truth was, Ayame had really enjoyed that sparring session. It was intense and forced Ayame to draw upon nearly all of her skills---yet, at the same time, the sparring was controlled so there was very little risk of serious injury. There really was not much more that one could ask for in a sparring session. Because of that, Ayame really wanted to ask for future sparring sessions.

But Ayame was not used to reaching out to people like that. In fact, Ayame was woefully under-practiced when it came to forming ties with people. Ayame would always keep her distance from people because the idea of becoming closer with others gave her anxiety. In recent years, only person had been able to pierce through Ayame's icy shell:

Claire.

And yet, even then, Ayame had not been forced to go out of her way to form that friendship---it naturally developed from Ayame and Claire being constantly being around each other for a week. While living with Claire would not have been Ayame's first choice, since the alternative was being homeless on the streets, Ayame naturally chose the to live with Claire. Moreover, the kindness and acceptance that Claire showed Ayame helped Ayame to feel less anxious around Claire---this kindness was especially significant given what had happened between Ayame and Claire roughly three years prior.

However, unlike the situation with Claire, Ayame would have to be more assertive in this situation. Would you like to... ummm... do this again sometime?" stammered Ayame. "We can exchange phone numbers if you like." Ayame's heart beat rapidly as she anxiously awaited a response---to Ayame, this was much scarier than sparring or fighting.

"Fuck! Fuck! Shit! Fuck!" thought Ayame as she waited nervously for Blair's response.

[CaptainL]

Blair didn't know what to make of the signals Ayame was giving her. Tilting her head to the side, she regarded her sparring partner with a quizzical expression. Blair and Ayame shared a lot in common, as the two had come to realize since the beginning of their training session together. Among those was the fact that neither of the two women were particularly used to social interaction. Where they differed was in how they dealt with that. While Blair simply tuned out the outside world as unnecessary to her, preferring to focus only on herself and improving her abilities in martial arts, Ayame, as was becoming apparent now, was more the type to freeze up and not know what to do.

Blair hadn't been prepared for that. But she didn't really give the thoughts of others much attention anyway. She didn't look at Ayame with concern so much as confusion. All the same, that meant that when Ayame's anxiety came through in her voice, Blair didn't judge, or even really think twice about what she was hearing.

"Oh? Yeah...sounds good to me. I'd say this has helped." With a casual shrug, she reached into her bag, pulling out her phone and starting to open her contacts list so she could add a new entry. "What's your number?"

[Ichi]

Ayame was a very anxious person. However, very few people got to see that side of Ayame as she generally kept her distance from others. Ayame was not one to open up to people, nor was the the sort of person who would typically let her emotions show. Instead, Ayame would usually mask her anxiety behind a facade of stoic coldness, unwilling to outwardly show her anxiety out of fear that it would overtake her if she did---but she never let that happen. Instead, Ayame often utilized her anxiety to her advantage, using it as an impetus to train harder---and smarter.

Side Note

Back when she used to train, Ayame would often fall asleep actively reflecting on her training. Among other things, she would analyze the flaws in her techniques and visualize her training partners. Inside her mind, Ayame would paint pictures of her opponents and imagine ways to overcome them. These simulacra that Ayame crafted in her mind were usually quite accurate, managing to capture the subtle habits and tendencies of the people whom they represented. Oftentimes, the solutions that Ayame came up with in her mind translated over to real life: a setup that worked against Ayame on one day would not necessarily work the next day.

These sorts of tendencies quickly made Ayame into a formidable MMA fighter. Even Ayame's older-sister figure, Fumie Kimura, who was noted to be an unusually-talented mixed martial artist, had trouble keeping ahead of Ayame---and perhaps if things had been different, Ayame could have overtaken Fumie.

However, when it came to interacting with people on a deeper level or forming friendships, this anxiety hamstringed Ayame, turning her into a flustering mess. For once, she had to let her guard down and make herself vulnerable. Whether or not Blair decided to accept Ayame's invitation was not up to Ayame to decide, and that made Ayame feel terrified.

"Oh? Yeah...sounds good to me. I'd say this has helped. What's your number?"

Upon hearing those words, all the tension and fear that had build up inside Ayame dispersed. Ayame let out a silent sigh of relief as a slight smile appeared on her face. She was safe.

"My number is +81-XXX1618033," stated Ayame, her voice filled with confidence once more. Sure, Ayame still felt anxious about interacting with Blair outside of a training context, but the scariest part was over.

[CaptainL]

The battle raging inside of Ayame's head was perhaps one just as fiercely fought as the sparring session she had just been in, as she struggled just to voice her offer to meet with Blair again. But despite it all, Blair had come away from the encounter with only the slightest inkling of what had been going through Ayame's mind. It didn't matter to her what she grappled with internally, and Blair wasn't the type to give much thought to the inner workings of other people save for what she would need to be aware of in a fight with them. As far as she was concerned, she had met someone she could learn from, and who could benefit her training - something Blair would be perfectly content with keeping up with. That was all that mattered.

Hearing Ayame read her number, Blair typed it into her phone, nodding as she checked it over to make sure all the digits were in the right place. There was only one thing left to do - to put a name to that contact. It was then that Blair realized she was still missing one thing. In all of this, she hadn't felt that asking who this girl was was relevant, or necessary.

She glanced up from the phone, making eye contact with Ayame. "By the way, I don't think I got your name..."

[Ichi]

"Aoi Ayame," stated Ayame. As Ayame said that, she realized that she had given her name in last name, first name form---something more common in East Asian countries---instead of first name, last name form. "Scratch that. It's Ayame Aoi. First name, last name."

After saying her name, Ayame would walk towards her bag to retrieve her cellphone. Once she retrieved her cellphone, she would look back at Blair and say "Text me so that---I mean, can you text me so that I have your number?" Ayame had to catch herself: she was used to being blunt rather than polite so her first instinct was to issue an imperative. But Ayame knew that was not the way to make friends or allies.

[CaptainL]

Ayame was starting to get Blair's attention now, and the Muay Thai fighter turned her head closer to her. She raised one eyebrow quizzically, as she crossed her arms and leaned back. Though she still didn't care either way, even someone as detached as Blair could tell that Ayame was less than comfortable with talking to others, given the awkwardness of her speech and how she was second-guessing herself about how to address her, and a part of her had to wonder what she was thinking. Blair would have pointed out that she had competed and trained in Japan for some time, even before coming to LAW, and she knew enough about Asian naming customs so it wouldn't matter to her if Ayame addressed her with her last name first, but she decided that wouldn't be necessary when the conversation moved on and Ayame went looking around for her phone. Blair shrugged her shoulders all the same. Though she might have been curious as to what was on Ayame's mind, she could accept that now wasn't the time for it.

What really mattered was that, even if Ayame might have been a bit awkward, she had impressive skills when it came to fighting, and she was a worthy partner for Blair if the two of them were to hone their talents.

"Yeah, no problem," she responded, looking back to the phone to write up a quick text - just saying "Hi, this is Blair;" nothing special, but it would do the job. As she sent it off, she didn't give much thought to Ayame's hesitancy - all she was concerned with was the practical purpose of their message. All Blair really felt was that Ayame was someone she would be happy to meet again.