Chapter Text
“He's nervous, but on the surface he looks calm and ready”
Left, two, three, right, left, right, two, three, left, right, left, two, three…
“It don't matter, he's dope, he knows that, but he's broke”
Ok Mori, speed up your pace. Right, left, right, two, three…
“This opportunity comes once in a lifetime”
Slow down a bit and change the pattern. Two, three, left, two, right, left, two, right, two, left, right two, left, two…
“Make me king, as we move toward a New World Order”
Looking good Mori, now add speed again. Two, left, two, right, left, two, right, two, left, two…
“You better lose yourself in the music, the moment”
Let’s get a little fancy with it, shall we? X time baby. Left, two, right, two, left, two, right…
“No more games, I'ma change what you call rage”
Smooth transition, I liked it my dude. Let’s punch this out…
“This is my life and these times are so hard”
*slash bing*
Works a calling.
Calliope Mori steps away from the speed bag that has been at her mercy for the past few minutes. Reaching her hand up to stop the metronome sounds of the bag, making it go still. She raises her arm to wipe the sweat on her job-issued hoodie. One of the many perks of working at Death’s Ring Kickboxing, free swag. She ducked down to get her water bottle and brought it to her lips. Once she was rehydrated, she reached into her signature red and black sweatpants to retrieve her phone. Pausing her music, and seeing that she was being called to the front desk. Time to bring the A+ customer service skills. She took off her headphones and let them chill on her neck, and started making her way towards the front.
As she approached the front, she saw her boss/teacher talking with a young woman with bright orange hair with teal highlights, interesting combination. The next thing she noticed was that this woman was not in clothes you would exercise in. She had on some jean shorts, a pretty white blouse, and some kitten heels, cute at least. She finally reached the desk and slid next to her boss.
“So, what can I do ya for Death Sensei?”
The old, but not so old, man turned to her and smiled. “Mori! This young lady here just happened to see our sign out front and wanted to check it out.”
Calli shifted her attention from her sensei towards the girl on the other side of the counter. She extended her wrapped hands, “Howdy! I’m Calliope Mori, one of the trainers here.”
The girl reached for her hand to shake, “I’m Takanashi Kiara, it’s nice to meet you.” She spoke with a high voice that was laced with an accent, wonder where that’s from.
Once they let go Calliope turned her attention back to her boss, waiting for further instructions. “She wanted to check the place out, so I thought why not let our star employee show her around.”
She did her best to try not to outwardly cringe at the title. “Sure, thing Sensei, just leave it to me.”
He put a hand on Calliope’s shoulder and turned to Kiara, “Always can count on this one.” He patted Calli’s back and grabbed his cane to start making his rounds.
Never change old man, she smiled and shook her head, turning her attention fully to the young woman. Kiara was smiling fondly at the exchange between the two. Ok, enough f-ing around time to work.
“So, you wanted a tour of the facilities?” Calli flashed a charming smile.
Kiara turned up to look at Calli, “Yes, please… I mean if you aren’t too busy.” She sent Calli a shy but still radiant smile, before turning her view away.
A shy one I see. She looked warmly at Kiara, trying to convey some form of comfort. “Ah don’t worry about that dude. It would be my pleasure to show you around… plus it’s kinda my job ya know.” She ended with a chuckle, trying to reassure her with a joke.
“Are you sure you weren’t doing something important? I can wander around and then look for you once I’m done.” She said still avoiding eye contact, shifting her weight on her feet.
REALLY REALLY shy. “No, it’s ok, seriously. I was just doing punches until I was needed. So, I should be thanking you for stopping me from overdoing it… again heh”
“Ok.”
“Ok then, let me show you around the place.” And with that she turned on her platform, signaling for Kiara to follow her. Which she did, slightly back but next to her.
“So, Death Sensei said that the sign caught your eye, what made you come inside right away?” She said approaching the locker rooms.
“I’ve wanted to learn a martial art for some time now, and it seemed like a sign.” She finished with a determined look before it turned into a slight frown. “And I was out with some friends and they say I have noodles for arms, I want to show them wrong.” She ended it with a huff.
Calliope couldn’t help but chuckle, “Well we can definitely help with that. They better watch out in the future for sure if you decide to go with us.”
“Yeah, they better watch out for these hands.” She said seriously, with a determined glint in her eye.
Another chuckle escaped; she looks like an angry kitten. “Oh definitely.” And with that, she turned toward the rooms. “Well as you can see here, we have 3 different changing rooms. One for ladies, one for gents, and another for everyone in between or outside. Or as I like to call it, the cool people's room.”
Kiara looked at her with no real reaction, at least she didn’t have a bad reaction. We don't need that energy here. “Every room has lockers, restrooms, and a full-length mirror. As well as a sauna, showers, and bathtubs for ice baths. And just the ice is included.”
Kiara was nodding. “Any questions so far?” She shook her head. “Ok then let’s move on to the main attractions, right this way.” And with that, she continued down the halls.
As she started walking, she heard Kiara speak, “It’s pretty amazing that you guys are so inclusive.” She turns to see Kiara look shyly around the place.
“Death doesn’t discriminate, so why should we? We here at Death’s Ring are here to serve everyone, as long as they aren’t an asshole.” Calli said with confidence, the world is hell but here everyone can escape it for a bit.
Kiara giggled at Calli letting out a curse, “That’s a nice Philosophy you guys have here.” For the first time, Calli saw a real smile, as well as her eyes. Wow.
And with that, they continued the tour. Calli showing her all the different rooms with certain equipment, and in between changing rooms, they started talking more. Kiara started to open up more and get comfortable around her.
They made it back to the front desk, Calli going behind the sales desk to finish up the details.
“We are open Monday through Friday from 7 am to 8 pm, and on Saturday and Sunday from 8 am to 12 pm for training.”
“Is there a reason why you close so early on the weekends?”
“Oh no, we don’t close. Well for like an hour we do, but that’s just to set up for the main events. You see on the weekends we open to the public so they can see matches.”
“Matches?” Kiara looked visibly confused.
“We allow our clients to show off their skills in real matches here. It’s a great way for them to see their progress, as well as a chance for us to get donos during the event. It’s a win-win.”
“Oh wow! That’s so cool! Do you participate in the matches?” Kiara looked up in amazement.
“Eh not anymore. Don’t wanna show everyone up eh eh.” Calli said awkwardly and instantly tried to change the subject as smoothly as she could. “Anyways, that is just one of the many things we offer. Another is complementary gloves and hand wraps with our sick ass logo.” She signaled to the logo behind her. “Soo whatcha think?”
“I think it’s so fooling great!!! And you guys have pretty affordable prices for all you offer.”
“It’s all thanks to our weekend donations as well as donors honestly.” She beamed with pride. “But anyways, do you wanna sign up? Remember you can come in whenever to work out and trainer at the ready to help!”
Kiara put on a thoughtful, humming to make a show of her thinking it over. And with a beaming smile, she replied, “DUH! Only a fool would say no, and mami didn’t raise a fool.”
“AWESOME!!! Ok, let’s get all the paperwork out of the way and get you a tag so you can scan in whenever. Once we are done you will officially be part of Death’s Ring starting today, glad to have ya!” Nice work Calli, another sale closed.
“Yay! Thank you so much for the help!”
“No problem, ok let me get the paperwork.”