"I'm excited to meet everyone and get started," Tessa said. She was in the back of Sonya and Mandy's car, about to arrive at the Performance Centre for the first time.
"You'll get along great with everyone," Mandy said from the driver's seat. "It's such a friendly locker room. Everyone's super nice, and Zelina Vega is especially awesome."
"You might be a bit biased there, you have been on a team with her for a couple of years," Tessa pointed out with amusement.
"True," Sonya acknowledged. "But she's like a big sister to us. Honestly, she's helped us to learn so much during our time together. It's heart-breaking to have to leave her behind."
"I get that," Tessa said sympathetically.
A moment of silence hung heavily in the car until Mandy decided to break it. "You'll also meet Coach Purrazzo. She's a hard ass, like, a serious hard ass. If you ever make her smile, you'll know you're doing something seriously right. But she's an excellent teacher. The more you work with her, the more you realise how much better you're getting under her tuition."
"Just don't expect her to roll out the red carpet," Sonya said. She immediately regretted the choice of phrase because she knew that Tessa wasn't about to show up with that kind of attitude anyway.
"Good," Tessa said. "The first thing I want to prove is that I'm here to learn. I was good at MMA, that doesn't mean I can roll into WWE like I know it all. People would get hurt if I did that."
"That's a very good way to approach it," Sonya smiled as Mandy drove into the parking lot.
"Any idea what the coach will have me do first?" Tessa asked while Mandy started backing into an empty spot.
"First you'll have a tour around the facility," Sonya said. "After that, I don't know. It will depend what Purrazzo wants to see you do first. Maybe running the ropes, that's usually one of the starter lessons."
"Let's get started!" Tessa said excitedly.
Mandy had just parked up and killed the engine. The three of them got out and fetched bags containing their ring attire from the trunk.
"Hunter's not in today," Mandy noticed, seeing that his parking space was empty.
"I bet he would have been here for your first day," Sonya said.
"Serves me right for starting early," Tessa said simply.
As they walked inside and through to the locker room, Sonya reminisced about her first day at the Performance Centre. It was a fond memory, not least because it had been then that she had met her fiancée. What she certainly hadn't gotten was people going out of their way to come over and say hi the way that people did with Tessa. They had to stop five or six times between the entrance and the locker room. Sonya recognised the kind of star struck expression that must have been on her own face when she had first met Tessa. It had to be crazy to be the person on the receiving end of that kind of thing.
The performance was repeated again when the group walked into the locker room. Zelina was in there, along with Bianca Belair. Sonya stood back, watching on with interest and some amusement while they introduced themselves to Tessa, treating her like a true megastar. True to form, Tessa acted like an equal to the people she was talking to.
"Okay, we have a locker for you over here," Mandy said. "This one used to belong to Bayley, as you can see."
"So it did. That's really great," Tessa said, walking over and looking at Bayley's name written above the locker.
"You'll have to write your own name on it now," Sonya said. "It's a bit of a ceremonial thing we do here, so wait for Coach Purrazzo to tell you about it. Speaking of, where is the coach?" she asked Zelina.
"She was in one of the rings when I came in," Zelina said. "She wasn't there just now?"
"No," Sonya said.
The locker room door opened. Coach Purrazzo walked in, wearing ring attire. Apparently she had been having a practice match with someone at some point.
"Morning, Coach," Sonya said. "Meet Tessa Blanchard. She's staying with Mandy and I for a while, so she decided to make an early start on her training."
"Good to meet you," Purrazzo said, nodding to Tessa. "I'm Coach Purrazzo. You can call me Coach or ma'am."
"Nice to meet you, Coach," Tessa said respectfully. "I'm told I'll need to start with a tour around the facility."
"That's right," Purrazzo said. "Since you haven't started training yet, come with me. We'll do the introduction now."
"Let's do it," Tessa said positively.
Sonya gave Tessa an encouraging smile as she followed Purrazzo to the door.
About fifteen minutes later, Tessa returned, along with the coach. By then, Zelina and Bianca had gone out to train, and Sonya and Mandy were changed into their ring attire.
"This place is seriously impressive," Tessa said to her new teammates.
"Isn't it?" Mandy agreed.
"I'm glad you two are still here, since you're going to be teaming up," Purrazzo said. "Tessa, before you get changed, I want to have a look at you in character. It's all well and good putting some face paint on to make yourself look like this Terminator character you're going to play, but the fact remains that most weeks that's not how you're going to look. So, what I want to see is how you're going to convince the audience you're a robot that looks human, rather than a woman wearing face paint to look like a robot."
Excellently thought out, Sonya considered, keeping her face impassive. The character that Tessa had been given had the potential to be awesome, but it wouldn't be easy to play by any means. Much like The Undertaker, it would only work if it was done right. If not, it would look stupid. Coach Purrazzo had honed in on that as possibly the biggest thing that she needed to work on with the new signing.
"I've been putting a lot of thought into that since Ms Thorne first told me the character she wanted me to have," Tessa said. "I feel like I can walk and move in a way that looks like an emotionless robot going about its purpose. Honestly, I practiced it at home. I can also keep a hard-faced expression up for extended periods, and I can run very fast. I only mention that in case there are scenes where I need to chase people."
"Segments," Purrazzo corrected. "We call them segments, not scenes. What you're saying sounds encouraging, so here's what we're going to do: The four of us are going to go out into the parking lot, and you're going to practice interacting with Sonya and Mandy as a Terminator. You're going to talk to them as if they're your allies, and you're going to chase them as if they're your intended victims. I want to be convinced that you're a Terminator."
"This is going to be great," Mandy said excitedly.
Day number one of Tessa's training had gone well, in Sonya's opinion. In truth, it plainly hadn't been day one of her training at all. It had been pretty clear that there had been a lot of practice already put into the things that Purrazzo had wanted to see. Tessa already looked and moved like a Terminator, and Sonya had found it quite intimidating to watch. That, of course, was a good thing.
To celebrate the successful day, and as a kind of welcome to Tessa as their new housemate, Mandy had suggested buying a few bottles of wine on the way home. The alcohol had helped to loosen them up even more, meaning that as the night wore on, Sonya started to feel more like Tessa was an established friend than a famous person who was randomly living in their apartment. She could tell that Tessa was warming to the situation, too.
As the night progressed, more drink was consumed. Laughter and silliness started to take the place of proper conversation.
"Alright, this has been on my mind since yesterday," Tessa said. "Why was is that when I found those rubber gloves under my bed, you went as red as a strawberry, Mandy?"
Sonya burst out laughing, even though she knew her fiancée was about to die of embarrassment. Sure enough, Mandy's cheeks started reddening again, and she deliberately focused her attention on drinking some wine.
"You're going red again!" Tessa cried, laughing. "So, you like Sonya to wear rubber gloves in the bedroom, huh?"
"We all have our fetishes," Mandy said defensively.
"Hey, I'm not judging," Tessa said quickly, worried that she might have caused offense. "Well all have things we like when it comes to sex. Rubber gloves isn't one I've come across before, but there's nothing wrong with it."
"I just find them really sexy. I can't help it," Mandy said, still not looking at Tessa.
Sonya decided to step in. "She didn't mean to upset you, honey. You must admit, finding a pair of rubber gloves under your bed the first day you move into a house share is pretty funny."
"I guess," Mandy said, lightening up. "So, what's your fetish, Tessa? You know mine, so fair is fair."
"I like leather," Tessa said openly. "I like wearing it, I like guys dressed in it, I like women dressed in it. Yes, I'm bisexual," she confirmed before she was asked. And she was currently wearing leather pants, confirming that part of her story too.
"Leather can be sexy," Sonya said. "I like wearing leather jackets, and Mand has a few pairs of leather pants."
"That only leaves you, Sonya," Tessa said. "Mandy likes rubber gloves, I like leather, what's your thing? Everyone has at least one."
"Now who's laughing?" Mandy grinned at her lover.
Sonya shrugged. "I'll tell her. I'm not ashamed or shy about it." She looked at Tessa. "I like bondage, specifically involving duct tape. I have an alter ego that comes out when the tape does. Her name is Daria. I'll let Mandy tell you about her."
"Please do," Tessa said, showing some excitement.
"Oh my god, where do I start?" Mandy gushed. "Daria's strong, powerful, dominant, so sexy, and she makes me have the most intense orgasms, I can't even describe it. There's something about being restrained, gagged and pleasured that's on a different level to regular sex. Daria indulges my every desire, as well as her own."
"It sounds like you're the one with the bondage fetish," Tessa grinned.
"No, that's Daria," Mandy assured her. "But that doesn't mean the sex doesn't blow my mind."
"I've got her well trained," Sonya said with a smile.
Tessa downed half a glass of wine in one hit. "Tell me, ladies, have you ever had a threesome?"
A/N: Many thanks to everyone who left a review last time.
Yes, I really did leave it with that question hanging out there!