I Wanted To See You Again, So... [Isabelle/Shouhei]

This has to be the place…  Shouhei mentally noted.  He had spent the better part of his morning scouring the District of Suzie Q, searching for gyms.  More specifically- the gym that Isabelle Salinov had mentioned to him- the gym that she frequented.  Simply put he wanted to see the first person to befriend him in this city once again.

Shouhei opened the doors, hoping to see her all too recognizable yet indomitable stature and gorgeous face.

Isabelle had gone to the gym that day, more to work out the slight bit of cabin fever she had been having and she knew the gym was the place to do it, and so she had been working out for a while on the speed bag and the heavy bag, before moving on to some simple weights. It didn't take long for some new guy to the place to start hitting on her as she was sitting down doing the free weights ether, and soon he was trying to show off to her by doing a quite heavy dead lift.

Just by looking at the weights she could tell he would have issue, but she didn't say anything as she watched him try....and fail...to lift the heavy weights leading to a simple "Yeah I might not be a power lifter but I rule in the ring" And of course...Astarte started to urge Isabelle to take up that challenge "Oh really? you box?" she asked him

"Hell yeah I do, I bet I could beat anyone in this place! Go ahead pick someone and I bet I can beat them in the ring" He bragged as he looked around to everyone in there.

now...most of the other people knew Isabelle was a regular, and they had seen this all before, so no one got ready to hop into the ring as they all knew who she would end up picking and they all just started to take seats on the bleachers to watch what was about to happen.

"Okay then....hop in the ring" she said as she grabbed her own gloves, as the man did just that. The look of confusion on his face was one she always loved to see as she climbed into the ring with gloves on.

"Umm..hey babe Where is my opponent?" he asked trying to stay sounding confident and smug as he slowly realized who his opponent was as he seen her getting ready.

"Opponent is right here big mouth you said anyone...so your fighting me..." she said with a smile as the owner rang the little bell.

By the time Shouhei walked in he would see two people in the ring, one man, and one Towering Woman who was deftly dodging the punches was aiming at her, the guy had some skill that was obvious, he seemed to know now to move and how to throw a proper punch, but the woman was faster, and as she landed a painful looking Jab the man staggered back and she moved around him. That's when Shouhei would get a good look and see it was Isabelle in the ring.

There was no mistaking it.  The real life amazon was displaying her skills for all to see.  Quite frankly, to a former delinquent and brawler like Shouhei, watching Isabelle move was poetry in motion.  Despite her size Isabelle’s movements were effortless and graceful, her footwork easily dancing around her opponent.  Any punches she had thrown were swift and merciless, connecting immediately, with resounding blows to echo throughout the gym.  It was violent and beautiful.

“Hell yeah, Isabelle!  Fuck ‘im up!” Hollered Shouhei between cupped hands.

The cheering from a few other regulars of the gym mixed in with Shouhei's, Not that Isabelle would have noticed even if he was the only guy there, Astarte and herself were both engrossed in this fight, it wasn't a hard fight, really for Isabelle it was just a way to shake the dust off, speed bags and heavy bags were fine, but a real sparring match, that was different, the target tried to hit back and that's what made it all the more fun.

As she side stepped another hard jab from the guy she did a rapid spin and landed a vicious back hand across the guys face a smile on her own the whole time, and as the guy threw a few jabs at her she bobbed and weaved through them, not attack through the openings he was leaving that she could easily see, she didn't want the fight to end yet, Astarte wanted to play with the guy more, and so did Isabelle as she danced through the punches the guy was sending at her.

It was obvious he was out matched, Isabelle looked like she was fresh into the ring still, while the guy was bruised and slowing down, that's not to say she wasn't sweating, just she was far less exhausted then her opponent, and she smiled and laughed as she weaved through attacks, taking a few to be a good sport, but they didn't even seem to phase her.

Then the guy landed a hard strait right to Isabelle's face, and she only moved with it reducing the impact and using the momentum to spin around and come in with a heavy uppercut, lifting the man from the mat as she put her whole body into the hit, taking his feet from the ring and lifting him at least two feet into the air before he came down, and it was rather clear that, while he was able to sit up and move, he was in no condition to continue the bout and he was smart enough to realize it "I...I'm out..." he said as she sat there shaking his head to clear it.

"Well maybe next time you won't go saying you can beat anyone in here hm? but...if you can learn to be a little more humble...welcome to the Gym" she said with a cheerful smile as she offered a hand and helped the guy up, the bleachers full of the regulars laughing and cheering a bit before getting up to return to their own activities, not one of them where cat calling her though, the place was nice and comfy for her, and the regulars respected each other.

"Yeah..sorry about that...a..any way" the guy said as he got out of the ring to go get himself something from the little eatery they had next to the place.

Isabelle herself turned to get out of the ring and seen Shouhei standing there and she raised a glove to him from the ring "Oh hey there, I see you found the place...Welcome to the Golden Gloves" she said with a smile, not even looking like she had just finished a match.

From the start it was obvious that Isabelle’s opponent was outmatched and he was easily put in his place with a proper welcome.  Shouhei admired how she handled it all and judging by the loud and raucous voices of the gym members, it seemed like everyone looked up to Isabelle (not just literally, but metaphorically).  Of course she was a goddess around here.

“...I’d offer you a towel but I don’t think you even broke a sweat,” a widely grinning Shouhei motioned to his bag but cut it short.  With a chuckle he added, “And you’re telling me, my dumbass wandered around for a while trying to find this place.”

As he offered the towel she shook her head "Naw is a rule here no towel sharing, to easy to catch something someone might have if you do, the place also has it's own towels if you forgot your own" she said with a smile as she looked down at him from the ring. Honestly it was a good rule, she understood the reason for it, besides the fact that if people forgot a towel it meant they had to buy one from the gym, but they were good towels at least, with a nice emblem of the Gym embroidered on them, with a nice loud golden color for the gloves of course, it was quite eye catching, and a reason she loved them, she had a few herself and she wanted to support the gym of course.

As he mentioned wandering around she smiled a bit more, then she started to giggle, before going into full blown laughter, it wasn't mocking laughter it was just genuinely honest laughter, "Well considering I never told you the address of the name of the Gym I am surprised you even found the place...I mean you must have checked every gym you could find within a large area of where I live" she said with a large smile on her face.

"Well mister stalker , I have to give you and A for effort at least" she said in a playful tone "First I find you ogling my clothing when your delivering them then you search all over the place to find the Gym I go to. Some would say that's pretty creepy...Good thing I already know the clothing Incident was an accident but the whole finding my Gym hmm...suspicious " she said in a teasing manner as she looked at him from the ring

“Hey now, that’s a low blow,” huffed Shouhei as his cheeks began to flush, his stride taking him closer to the boxing ring.  He returned his own cheeky grin.  “If I was really your stalker, wouldn’t I just hang around your apartment?  I already know your address.”

In his own display of agility he leapt onto the ring without using his hands.  That hop almost looked like a springboard as he fluidly vaulted over the ropes with one hand.  Both maneuvers barely shook the arena; Shouhei was that lithe.

“I wanted to see you again, so…” he averted his gaze from the giantess towering over him for a moment, but locked back on with a cool blue stare.  “Don’t make me sound all creepy about it, yeah?”

She watched as he walked over, the display was ether him trying to act col, or trying to impress her, honestly it was a bit like the guy that was Bragging, he didn't do it because it was practical, he did it to show off, at least that's what she could guess "To be fair...You know where I live ye, but then you took the time to look for the Gym I was talking about, and I have my suspicions that you started with the Gyms nearest to my apartment" she said with a smile as she looked at him.

"And honestly if anyone heard that first part they would assume you were being quite the creep, I mean you basically used the whole 'I know where you live' line on me" she clarified with a smirk, not that she felt threatened even if he meant it like that, again she had to admit it could also come across as desperate after all he wanted to see her again? so he hunted her down? Interesting to say the least.

"Well you're here now and you see me you done?" she said teasingly, she honestly didn't mind but she was going to get her monies worth out of teasing him now, "Or are you here to do something else?" she asked as she reclined a bit against the ropes.

“...Am I sure I’m talking to the same Isabelle I met the other day?  She was a helluva lot nicer, lot less mouth on her,” Shouhei shook his head with a wry smile.  “You know, that Isabelle that day said she wanted to see me again, when I wasn’t working, but didn’t leave me any contact information and kind of left me to go on a hunt…”

He rolled his eyes at her with a corner of his lips raised in a smirk.  “But if that’s the kinda game you play with people, no wonder I’m getting all these mixed signals.”

She smiled back as her responded "Well to be fair I said I would like to meet you off work sometime, but I wanted to go to the bar with some friends first and meet you there first remember? and besides I am not the one that hunted you down on a free day...what would you have done if I hadn't decided to show up here today hmm? Would you have then headed to my apartment to see if I was home?" she teased him a bit more as she stood there arms crossed and a smirk on her face as she looked at him.

"Other then that what was the plan coming down here hmm? Have something to talk to me about?" she asked genuinely curious now the teasing over with as she seen he was at least able to take a bit of Friendly Ribbing, honestly had he reacted poorly she would have considered that a red flag, thankfully he seemed to at least have a sense of humor.

Isabelle did make a good point about the possibility of her not being here today… Shouhei really didn’t think this through.  Then again this whole hunt was entirely on impulse anyway; there was no forethought involved whatsoever.  Her questions may have been in jest but the more Shouhei thought about it the more he realized how dumb this was.

“The plan was… I didn’t really have one, haha,” Shouhei scratched the back of his head with an idiotic grin on his face.  “This was all spur of the moment, you know?  Honestly I just wanted to see you go to work in a boxing ring, which I did, and you gave one helluva show.  I thought maybe we could hang out a bit.  Spot each other on the weights some.”

Hearing he had no plan...well that was kind of obvious to her as she stood there smiling, well it seemed it hadn't been that obvious for Shouhei as it only had just dawned on him, but hey have to admit he at least followed his gut on this one, and he just happened to get lucky on the fact that she had decided to head to the Gm today, hell he was lucky that she decided to head to the 'Golden Gloves' rather then  the underground arena's Gym which truth be told she could have gone to as well and maybe found a partner for the night if she was feeling particularly annoyed by Astarte and wanted to just quite her down....not that she would have minded personally all that much.

As he finished she gave a little laugh "That's really wasn't much, just showing a guy not to boast to much really, and besides he wasn't as good as some of the other people I have seen  in the ring, though don't take apparent ease for malice, I mean I still had to make sure I wasn't hit, and the hits I did take I had to make sure did as little as possible, you pick things up like this from being around rings all the time" she said with a confidant smile.

Though the last part was a little interesting, Shouhei didn't seem the type to work out, and honestly she could probably easily lift him, but a spotter was always a good Idea if someone was planning to lift larger weights. Granted that's not what she was planing, she didn't power lift after all, but she nodded a bit "Well if you want to hang out sure, as for spotting each other I guess we can do that too, though I am not one to do power lifting, I just like to do it to keep in shape" she said with a kind smile as she headed for the other side of the ring and slipped through the ropes as she exited near her things and waited for him to join her.

Alleviating his thoughts, Isabelle decided to keep him company and Shouhei followed suit.  Other thoughts came to mind however.  With his rough knowledge of fighting with his fists for most of his life, Shouhei knew that Isabelle was leagues beyond most people.  Her mentioning pulling punches didn’t surprise him in the slightest.  He could see it in her match; he could see that her skills had been honed to its finest, through countless years of training.  Just being “around” rings wasn’t enough either- she couldn’t have been a mere ring girl.

“So, how many years have you been boxing, Isabelle?”  Might as well strike while the iron was hot.  “Are you trained in any other martial arts?”

"Boxing? oh I don't really box, boss of mine just said that learning a few things could be handy if some of the guys get grabby...helps a lot to if I need to defend myself, thankfully haven't really needed to do that at all, oh and well coming here every day you end up learning some thing from watching others in the ring" she said with a smile as she then drank from her water bottle and looked at Shouhei.

"Martial arts? Phhfftt...No I don't really study much of anything other then a few things to defend myself, what about you though? you seem to know a lot about it, or at least enough to notice I have some skills" she said, she was being fairly honest, most of her skill came thanks to Astarte, though it was also Astarte that pushed her to train and get better at it to the point where she was now.

He was highly dubious regarding her answer.  There was no way, pure and simple, that Isabelle  could achieve that kind of movement by just barely scraping by and learning the basics.  Unless she was like one of those supermen from the comics he’d read before, the one with “photographic reflexes,” allowing Isabelle to instantly replicate the physical movement of peak-level humans.  If that were the case Shouhei honestly wouldn’t be surprised, given this world with Psyche Terrorists and the like.

Her smile melted away any further thoughts and doubts however.

“But ah… me?”  Shouhei rolled his blue eyes to look away.  His past would always surround him, always be a part of him.  The memories would always linger. “I don’t really wanna talk about my past, but let’s just say… I wasn’t too good a guy growin’ up.  But don’t worry about that now, I’m just a working guy at the Academy nowadays.  Anyway, I like to watch pro boxing and anybody with eyes could see that you’re on those guys’ level.  At least that’s what I think.”