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New on the Scene (Ren Olvry & Gravitas)

Ren Olvry

Ren Olvry

Supernova
Joined
Dec 22, 2012
It was practically the premier fighting game, at the premier scene; most any and every gamer at least knew about it, if they weren't there. Diverse characters, stringed-together combos, and a 'combo breaker' system defined it in most people's minds, especially while the game had been going strong on its own for a number of years, and this was, as most would say, the pinnacle. A large main floor with similarly large screens for each of the top match-ups, practice areas here and there off to the side, and 'throwaway' preliminaries dotted the floor along with a good amount of seating for anyone who wanted it, and an option to get in for anyone who wanted it and could pay a small admission fee.

And the scene on one of the screens that was ending the preliminaries to lead into the bracket stages of the tournament? A fluke. Some random upstart fox kid getting lucky with a well-timed combo break, and subsequent finish at practically no hp remaining on his character, against someone relatively well-known among the game's streaming community; maybe not one of the top dogs, so to speak, but definitely a few steps above the average players. To some nobody who occasionally streamed quiet and focused, with his tongue sticking out slightly when he was really going for his best play.

With that match finished, and his spot secured in the brackets in just two days' time, Jax, as he was generally known, hastily gathered up his controller and nearly tripped off the stage, only saved for the fact of his generally good balance. Grumbling slightly to himself at the further little embarrassment, especially when he'd royally messed up the first round on stage and gotten pounded into the ground, the young fox practically darted off to the furthest practice area, his relatively large ears sticking up making him relatively easy to discern from the crowd. Much as he could ask around here and there, though, it was soon enough just him, in his little corner, practicing in the game's training mode.

Not that that was stopping him, granted; everything else was drowned out as he leaned forward slightly, his tongue sticking out a little as it usually did as he put his full focus on just the game itself, and getting his combos settled a bit better. Or trying to, at the very least.
 
"Hey babe, if you like games, I got a-" "Stop right there. If you make a joke about your 'joystick,' I swear I will rip it off your 'gamepad' and then tweet about finding the smallest one known to man." The red head didn't even look at the target of her ridicule, staring at the giant screen in front of them with her arms crossed. He frowned, looking down in embarrassment, only compounded by the fact that his friends had heard. The woman bit her lip, eye occasionally twitching as she watched the fight take place on the large screen. Every move of the game played out in her head, picturing the controls moving and the coordination required. She shook her head, turning and walking away. No, not what she was looking for. Talented, sure. Good, sure. That combo, though, the way he moved his character? He was cocky, he already 'knew how to play right.' Not one for her to get on board with.

"Well, fuck" she murmured, pulling out her phone and tapping through a list, crossing out one of the names on it. Well, player handles, really. That's what mattered here, your persona, your handle, your skill. Amanda had that, a few years ago. 'Arro' as she was known, won quite a few tournaments around the time the game had come out. She'd made a name for herself, and could have gotten to the top, had she not had to drop out of it all. Family issues, some bad stuff happened on that front, took her out of a lot of things. Back on her feet, Amanda wanted back into the scene. She'd kept up as much as she could, the updates, the patches, the new characters, the expansion that included the new fight modes, she'd analyzed it all when she could. She was good, but being a player was behind her. It was very much about the new crowd, the newbies that were coming in on the heels of the expansion. Sure, she could get in, eventually. That was too far away, though. She didn't want to be 'that chick that used to play,' anyway. Putting herself behind someone, one of these rookies, building them up and riding that out: that's where her path lay.

The next name, Jax: his match was starting soon. She made her way over, spotting the ears of the fox on the stage, smirking slightly. Something about the kid made her like him. The game played out, and just, just barely, he made it through with the win. Amanda nodded to herself, green eyes watching him move through the crowd to the isolated practice spots. He got lucky, sure. Had his opponent been really watching, Jax would have been pounded just like the first round. Even so, there was something there. Potential.

Slipping easily through the people, Amanda stood just behind the fox. She watched his screen, smirking slightly as he got through a few decent combos. Her eyes glanced, suppressing a giggle at the sight of his tongue sticking out. It was cute. "Sup?" she said, trying to make herself known.
 
Ultimately, it had hardly failed to dawn on him that nearly everyone around had someone. Friends, family, teammates, rivals... whatever it might be. He was just one of the nobodies, someone that shouldn't be here, least of all shouldn't have made it to the bracket stages where the real names resided. He knew it, and yet he remained through no shortage of jeering and being looked down upon. Then again, he supposed, that was why he was in this little corner, completely lost to the world around him. So far as he was concerned, if he was paying attention, it would probably just be more of the same anyway. This was a huge crowd of fans of the game; he was just some fox who happened to have a small online following that were probably nowhere in sight anyway, or a hardly even vocal minority.

And, indeed, while Jax's ears seemed to perk slightly to a nearby voice, everything else just remained focused on the TV screen in front of him, and the fightpad on his lap. Fingers moving back and forth, moving the joystick this way and that as necessary, tapping each button he needed, eyes flicking to each little movement his chosen character made; for all intents and purposes, that seemed to be all that mattered to the young fox at the moment. Even his bushy tail seemed to give the occasional little flick behind him, most especially when he managed to not slip up on a combo.

"Forget him; I don't think the kid even knows that other people around can see some of his failed combos," a passerby spoke in a slight huff. "See?" the man offered, even going so far as to give the fox a little tap atop the head... but nothing. His ears seemed to twitch just slightly, but otherwise, there was no reaction whatsoever from the fox himself. "Some of the bigger names are getting up on the stage soon anyway; don't you wanna go watch them instead?" he suggested, pointing his thumb momentarily back to the stage, and the cheer from the crowd as some of the names they actually knew came up on the big screens.
 
Amanda frowned, no reaction coming from the fox at all. She didn't like being ignored. Mostly, she wasn't used to it. Just for a moment, her thoughts raced. Was this the right choice? Some kid that's ignoring her, can't even make time for a potential fan? Plenty of people were good, plenty of others practicing this hard. Glancing down again, her mind settled; no, this was her man. It was everything together that made him, he had room to grow, but skill, potential for her to mold and make into something awesome.

Her eyes perked up as someone else came up, seeming to observe their one-sided exchange. It was true, the big names were going up, something she wanted to watch. "Eh, the VODs will be up later. I'll get the highlights. Thanks for the tip, but I think I wanna watch him try these combos some more. S'fun" she said, giving an innocent grin to the man, waiting for him to leave to follow his own advice. Most of the crowds were gathering up for the bigger players, the ones that already had the huge followings, the sponsorships, the renown. Jax would get there, she would make sure.

And, as he started another round, Amanda gave a deeper frown. Clearly nothing was breaking him out of this little practice trance. They'd have to work on that. An idea sparked in her mind. She moved around to the front of him, dipping down. Her tank-top hung as her cleavage showed, black fabric with the faded logo of another game on it. She wore skinny jeans on her bottom, Cons on her feet, a purple tie in her hair holding it up in a messy ponytail. "You asked for it," she said, leaning in to kiss the boy's muzzle, her tongue playing a bit with the tiny part of his that stuck out.
 
"Suit yourself. This kid's gonna be out first round anyway, guaranteed," the man suggested with a little shrug, seeming to give another quick, spiteful tap atop the young fox's head before walking off to watch the 'real event', so to speak. And once again, Jax himself showed no slight reaction even to the touch; his mind seemingly focused completely and totally on the game itself. After all, if such a touch wasn't enough to get him out of his effective trance, nor even the loud, cheering crowd not too far off, there probably wouldn't be all that much that could actually get to him.

Even Amanda moving in front of him seemed to provoke little reaction; ultimately, all the fox boy did was lean over slightly, making sure he at least had just enough view of the screen around the obstruction that his mind wasn't registering as anything more than that, even with the view otherwise provided. At the first touch of her lips against his, however, the fox definitely seemed to notice. Merely blinking in surprise at first as his mind started to register what was going on, his fingers stilled and his eyes suddenly shot wide open as the girl's tongue started to toy with his. For just a moment, his tongue even seemed to move into the contact, rubbing slightly against Amanda's own tongue, before the trance ended completely and he shot back in his seat, quite nearly tilting it back far enough for him to fall off; though, just as he'd managed to save himself from falling off the stage, he only just managed to catch himself with one foot before he fell this time.

"Wh-what... what was that for?" the fox protested, briefly licking his lips before his ears drooped forward a little in pure embarrassment. "Is that the new way of teasing me for having my tongue out a little like that?" he asked, almost habitually reaching back to fiddle with the hood of his dark grey vest; the only thing he wore besides a small black wrist guard on his left wrist, and the simple, if slightly baggy, jeans. "I-I mean, um... was there something you needed?" he asked, hardly able to hold a thought for the way his mind was going all over the place from that sudden kiss.
 
Hm. He returned it a bit. That was surprising. Not unpleasant, either, for the short moment it lasted before he jolted back. You'd think she'd slapped him rather than kiss him, how terrified he looked. She smirked, he was so damn cute. She could work with that. The whole innocence thing too, whether that was real or a front, they could use it. She leaned back up, looking down at him as he caught himself and collected his calm again.

"Well, if that's the new way to tease you, sounds like you're the lucky one there," she said, scanning him up and down, taking in his clothes, his overall appearance again. Glancing over, she eyed the seat next to him, moving to sit down. Her legs crossed under her as she sat. "Amanda. You're pretty good at Lockheed. Got his Nail Kick down to a T, huh? You know if you time it right, you can follow up with a Drill Stomp and keep the combo going. The animation makes it look like you can't but you can flip out of it early," she said, looking to the screen for a moment, then to him. "What do you want to do here? What's your goal?"
 
Breathe, the fox soon enough reminded himself. Just... breathe. Try and calm down at least a little, the fact that he'd had a kiss stolen out of nowhere notwithstanding. Maybe try and ignore that not so little fact, while he was at it, but... that didn't seem likely. Not when he could so clearly recall the feeling of her lips and tongue, and even the taste. Now was certainly one of those times that he cursed having such good senses, at least a little, with how much was flooding in, how much was still lingering...

Still, he could hardly help but bite his lip slightly in embarrassment at the girl's little retort, his green eyes wandering off to the side at nothing in particular. Even then, he vaguely noticed the sounds of her moving to take a seat in the chair just next to him, his ears perking back up as Amanda spoke next. She... certainly knew her stuff, didn't she? Finally on that question, he scratched a little at the back of his head, starting for a moment to reach for the hood nearby before seeming to think better of it and letting his hand idly fall back to his fightpad.

"...to..." he started, before sticking his tongue out just slightly in thought. Something he caught himself doing a moment later, just for him to quickly slip his tongue back into his mouth in embarrassment. "To see how far some 'nobody' like me can get... sort of. Really... to try and take the top," he concluded. "Um... what about you? You're competing, right? Sounds like you know more than enough to, even if you don't play the same character; gotta be able to at least know what all of them can do, after all," he asked. Though, on reflection, she didn't seem to have a fightpad or anything of the sort... though as his eyes started to wander a little over her form, he quickly enough tore them back up to her face as soon as he started to notice.

"R-right, and... I'm Jackson... Jax... nice to meet you, Amanda... or... err... should I know you?" the fox blinked in curiosity, tilting his head a little as he tried to work out where this mild familiar feeling seemed to be coming from.
 
Her green eyes watched him sit in the chair, squirming a bit as he just...reacted to everything that happened. So different than most of the other players in the tournament. Most of them were so annoying, so cocky. If she'd had to pull the kissing stunt on them, they'd try to be all over her, basically ruining any chance she'd have to get where she wanted to get. He had that confidence without the arrogance, which was good. Plus he was so damn cute, it was hard to get over it.

The tongue thing again...she smirked as he thought and finally came out with an answer. The woman nodded. "Okay. Good answer. Shows ambition but humility, you know where you are, but still have eyes for the top. I like it," she said, pulling out her phone. She went to his pages, digging through them again to refresh herself now that she was focusing on him at the moment. A small following, but that wasn't a bad thing.

"Not competing, no. It's a pleasure to meet you too, Jackson," she said, glancing up from the screen to him, a small smile on her face. "Should you know me, absolutely. Do you know me though...how long have you kept up with the pro scene?" she said, raising an eyebrow in curiosity. Time to really get to know him.
 
She liked it. There was, at least, some pride he could take in that... though he didn't really show it. 'Humility' was certainly right, after all; he had some following, so perhaps he wasn't a complete nobody, but he'd certainly never be seen in the realm of the top dogs, at least not anytime soon. So far as he was concerned, the most he could do was practice while he had the chance, then put up the best fight he could... whatever that might be.

Though that didn't stop him from wanting to step all the way up to the top. What was even the point of being here if he didn't seek that much?

"Erm... just 'Jax' is fine... Jackson hardly even sounds like a first name..." the fox muttered in mild embarrassment, half wishing his parents had chosen some other name for him... but at least he could make something good, like 'Jax', out of it. That was something, to him. Rather than immediately respond to her next question with something like 'years now', which would be true, Jax instead narrowed his eyes and stuck out his tongue slightly in thought. She said he should know her, so it would hardly be right to not at least guess, would it? When he seemed to come to something after a short time of thinking, he blinked, his eyes widening a little in surprise. "Wait... you're Arro? With the Naru and some of those odd combos, since you were practically the only one to play her?" he spoke, making sure he was quiet enough that nobody around would overhear... not that there was much risk of that with nobody else in the immediate vicinity, and most all the people here merged in with the crowd watching the big screens. "You're, um... sure I at least know that, I've been keeping up with the scene practically since it came around..." he muttered in mild embarrassment for the fact that it took him this long to notice.
 
A bit selfishly, she grinned and nodded. "In the flesh. Glad to see you know your stuff about the scene as well as the game itself. Just as important to keep up with the culture of the sport," she said. She poked through his page some more, using some of the other tools she had to peek at his history, top streams, his success levels with the various characters, biggest wins and biggest losses, any particular rivals or other players he might be associated with. She'd flashed over most of this earlier, but it seemed this might pan out...she needed to embed all of this into her mind now.

"Jax, Jax, Jax. Good, simple, short, I like it. You've done well for yourself so far," she said, setting her phone down and leaning forward. She knelt in the chair, elbows on the arm of it as she leaned up to stare at him, chest hanging low under her face. Her eyes narrowed, taking him in again, fully. "You got goals, know what you want to do. Thing is," she says, stopping to nod over at the giant crowd formed around the main stage, cheering for the players currently going. "So do a ton of them. Some of them got the skill to back it up, others don't. You're in a unique position. Fairly new to all of this, professionally, at least, got the potential and the skill to back it up, but you're also likable. You're cute, you got the charm of someone that people would love to follow behind, they just need to know who the hell you are first. Jax, you're on the freeway in a sedan. The place you're trying to get is off in the horizon, and you're on the way there with no signs of stopping" she says, motioning with her hand as if to point down this imaginary road, drawing his attention.

"Are you gonna get there eventually? Sure, no doubt about it. Might not be room for you though, with all these jackoffs driving along in their cars that are way faster than yours. Whether they deserve it or not, they're faster than you. You're steady, but in this day and age, slow and steady doesn't always win the race. You get there fast, and then turn your car into a tank and stay there, don't let anyone take that place from you. Any of this making sense, Jaxxy?" she said, finally pausing for him, tilting her head in curiosity.
 
So it was her after all. Still embarrassed about not noticing sooner, even that was rather eclipsed by one simple thought: he'd been kissed out of the blue by a former pro. Sure, fine, he could well enough realize by now that it was just meant to get his attention -- which it most assuredly had -- but that fact still remained. Passing the preliminaries, and now this... wasn't this turning out to be quite the interesting day for him so far?

Thus, all Jax could do for now was give a little nod in agreement to that first statement; he wasn't so amateurish as to not know some of the bigger names, even if he'd never actually beaten any of them. Well, except just earlier on stage, arguably; a bigger name than him, at any rate. As Amanda leaned a bit closer and started to speak again, the fox merely tilted his head a little in curiosity for now, wondering... well, most of all, what all this was about. In the midst of that, he bit his lip a little in embarrassment once again as she went so far as to call him 'cute', his ears starting to perk up a little as the woman went on.

"Y-yeah... basically, you're saying I still need more," he offered with a little nod in response. Well, he knew that much, at least; was painfully aware of it after the beating he took in that first round, where nothing at all had gone right for him. As he considered what exactly she was saying, though, one of his ears tilted slightly off to the side. "And, if I'm figuring things right... that you don't like a lot of the 'top dogs', and..." he trailed off a little, seeming to take a moment for a single, further thought, "...are you... saying you'll help me? Or, I mean... would you help me?" he asked, somewhat hopefully, at that. "I could... really use it, and I'd pay you back however you want..."
 
He wasn't used to this sort of attention, that much was sure. Every compliment made his ears twitch, made him squirm a bit. Admittedly, it just made him even cuter. People would love that. She stared at him as he took in what she said, responding and seeming to understand what her intent was. Her head nodded slowly as he worked through it. "Exactly," she said, looking to the stage as he mentioned the 'top dogs.' Ironically, MadDawg, a Rottweiler, one of the well known players, stood up at that moment and cheered, the crowd around him woofing in rhythm as the screen showed his victory. He was good. He was also a douche.

"That's exactly what I'm saying, Jaxxy. I know how to get there, what to do, more importantly, what not to do. You got something here," she said, putting her weight on the chair as she leaned forward even more to poke him in the chest as she said that. "Gotta tune it up though, get you on the right path or else you might run out of gas, or like I said, get there, and there's no spots left. I think I've taken this car metaphor about as far as I can," she said, shaking her head and pulling back, still leaning on the arm and looking into his eyes. "I want to help you. I want to take you as far as you can go. You just need to play, just be you, and I'll be your manager, your guide, your friend, whatever you need me to be," she said, a glint in her eyes as she smiled again, picturing it.
 
'Jaxxy'... he supposed he'd have to get used to that quickly enough, not that he minded it too much. The noise from the crowd he could certainly do without, now that he wasn't in the middle of a game and easily able to drown out absolutely everything. Neither of those, though, could distract him very much from what was happening here and now, right next to him. "Probably," Jax offered with a small, amused smirk as Amanda seemed to trail off on the strange, though easily enough understandable for him, route she'd set herself on. When she seemed to conclude, though, he gave a little nod, before tilting his head in curiosity. Sure, the practice area was... fine enough for now, but the rounds would be ending soon enough, and they'd have to go as things moved over to a different game in the overall event. That would be... an issue, perhaps.

"Erm... where should we start, then? Practicing the moves, or against each other, or something? We've still got... maybe half an hour here for now, from the look of things..." he considered, glancing momentarily over to the large screens here and there to try and get some gauge on that. It was hardly perfect, but, well, it was something. "I mean... I have my game and system and everything over in my room at the hotel next door, so if it's just the training mode or something, I can do that whenever... can't really get online, but it's still something," he suggested, scratching at the back of his head in thought. "Though, well... you saw for yourself how lost I get when I'm in a game... not that I minded being pulled out that way..." he spoke, quickly enough biting his lip in embarrassment.

"Erm... overall, though, I'm up for anything. Working on combos, reactions, different characters if I need to... anything, really. And... if you could be all those things, that'd be great," he concluded with a friendly little grin.
 
She got a bright smile as he seemed to accept, giving the fox a nod. "Excellent! Great!" she said, pushing up off the chair and placing her hands on her hips. "We'll be unstoppable," she said, staring at the crowd for a moment, before looking back to him. "I've got drills and practice ideas in mind for you, most importantly, we need to get your next opponent and figure out what they're all about. Train for that, train specifically now, broaden it once we're done here and have more time. Let's head to your room, you can do some practicing there. Not that you need the isolation, focused as you get, but it'll be good to have a place to ourselves to discuss things as we need," she said, smirking at him. "If I need to pull you out of your trance again, I'll keep that in mind," she said, giving him a wink.

She grabbed her phone from where she was sitting, checking it and a few notifications she'd gotten while they were talking. "Hm. I need to tend to some things," she said, slipping the phone into her pocket. "You at that hotel next door? Good. I'll meet you there in forty-five minutes or so? Leave me a key at the front desk, I'll head up after I get some things and take care of a few errands," she said, stepping over and smiling at him, leaning in to put her hands on his shoulders. "This is the start of something great, Jaxxy. Trust me," she said, giving a slow nod, then leaned back. "You hungry? What's your favorite? I'll bring something when I come up. Gyros? Pizza? Tacos? You a salad guy? Tell me what you need."
 
Blinking in surprise as the woman suddenly pushed herself up to her feet, he couldn't help but chuckle slightly at her enthusiasm, tilting his head a little in curiosity as she started to speak. Already his mind was wandering a little to the brackets -- which he'd not actually looked at at all yet, on the assumption that he'd never even make it that far -- and what he could possibly do. Maybe even come in with a second character, catch people even more off-guard? Or was there even a point to that, since he was already mostly just a no-name?

No, never mind; sinking too far into his own thoughts wasn't going to do much good now anyway. In the meantime, the fox gave a little nod, returning the game to the menu screen and unplugging his fightpad to take with him. "W-well... it does seem to work, I guess..." Jax offered with a slight nod at that suggestion; certainly, there'd been no doubt in that. "Yeah, I'm just up in room 204. Should be easy enough to find me just by 'Jax', but... yeah, I'll have them hold onto a key for you, in case I don't notice you at the door or anything..." he offered in slight embarrassment, remembering well enough how he got. "Erm... gyros sound pretty good, actually... I'll make sure to pay you back, at least. For anything," he replied with a little grin. "I'll just... be over there, then..." he concluded with an idle nod. Seeming to think something over for a moment, he leaned over to place a quick peck on the woman's cheek before running off, through the little crowds here and there and back next door to his hotel.

And, just as he'd promised, he made sure on the way to arrange the front desk to have a key ready for her, considering... well, he could hardly help but not practice a bit more while he had the chance. And even just being in the middle of the training mode, knocks at the door and just about anything else were just going to pass completely by in that trance-like state of his. Though the fact that he'd be trying Naru by the time Amanda got there would likely be difficult not to notice when she came in, the fox boy himself sitting at the edge of his chosen bed in the center of the room out of the two available, just across from the TV.
 
"Got it, champ. I'll be up with some then," she said, already holding her phone and tapping away at it. She waved her hand at his offer to repay her. "Psh, don't you worry your furry little head about paying for anything, I got this," she said, nodding and looking up from the screen just to catch him leaning up to peck her on the cheek. Her eyes widened a bit, much as she hated it her face turned a bit red as he ran off. Amanda watched him scurry away, sighing and shaking her head. "Stupid, cute, little bastard," she muttered to herself, looking back to the screen as she headed off herself, avoiding people as she kept typing.

Just as she said, right on time forty-five minutes later, a knock came on room 204. A few moments passed, and a muffled curse was heard behind it. Some shuffling noises, and then the Shink...Beep! of a keycard sliding into the handle and unlocking the door. It opened, Amanda pushing her way into the room. Were he not entranced by the game, it would be quite a sight. Hanging around her were a duffel bag and a laptop bag, hanging from her arms were a few more smaller luggage bags and a longer one you would use for taking dress clothes on travel. In her left hand was the room key, her right hand held a carrying sleeve with two drinks, and hanging from her teeth was a plastic bag. "Mff, fnks fuh da hurp!" she called through the plastic, moving into the room and getting to the other bed. She laid her things out all on it, finally taking just the food and moving to sit next to him on the bed.

"Naru, huh? Interesting. People think she's all about aggro, but she's way more useful as a control-damn it, you're not listening," she said, a drawn out sigh following. She'd have to get used to that. "Hey, Jaxxy," she said, leaning over, sticking her tongue out and quickly licking along one of his ears. "Food" she added, holding a wrapped up gyro.
 
Much as she could say that, he still intended to pay her back, somehow or other. That would have to be for later, though; for now, much as part of him knew he should at least have some attention paid to his surroundings, he just... couldn't. Not for the knocking, not for the sound of the door opening, not for the smell of food. Not even for the sound of the woman's voice nearby, which at best his ears seemed to perk up slightly to, at worst he didn't even notice in the first place.

Just as with the kiss earlier, however, the lick to his ear most certainly did the trick. Jolting up in surprise, the fox boy blinked as he started to register his surroundings again, one hand idly moving up to rub a little against that ear in an embarrassed fashion. "S-sorry, I just... figured I'd get a bit more practice in..." Jax muttered in apology, his ears only drooping a little more as he caught a view of everything else Amanda had brought along. Really should've been paying attention, even if just for that much... well, bit late now. Claiming it as a fair distraction, he reached up to carefully take the offered gyro, unwrapping part of it and taking a fairly generous bite.

"Um... where did you want to start, then? Maybe replays, or working on combos or reactions or a different character or something in the game? I guess... if you're going to stay here, we've got all the time in the world," the fox boy asked, glancing over to the woman next to him just in curiosity. "And, erm... I guess I'm probably gonna have to get used to you trying some different stuff to snap me back to attention, huh...?"
 
"No need to apologize. We'll work on it. For now, eat, replenish your body's needs," she said, waving the wrap a bit as she spoke. He took it, and she reached down to grab her own. Unwrapping it, she bit into the pita and chewed, looking at the screen, then back to him as he spoke. With a swallow, she nodded. "Yes, of course I'm staying here. We have to get used to the other being around all the time, being in each other's space, our minds connecting. How else am I supposed to be the perfect manager?" she said, as if that were just a known fact of life or being in the business. Another bite, and she reached to grab the drinks, setting them on the ground between their feet. She chuckled at his question of her methods, how she had to break him free. " Guess you will have to get used to that," she said, winking, before pointing to the drinks. Got you a water for now; you need an energy drink, tea, soda, hell, even beer or vodka, whatever, let me know. There's a SuperMart around the corner with a great selection."

She scooted and moved a bit, sitting cross legged on the bed. She was quite close to him, very much in his personal bubble. Chewing, she stared at his face, trying to get a read, slowly swallowing the bite. "How do you feel? In general, and about the last match. What are you thinking? If you could do one thing differently, what would it be?" she asked, face leaning in, very close.
 
Granting a little nod to that statement, the fox boy moved the fightpad off of his lap for now to instead just occupy himself with the food Amanda had brought along. Scratching his head a little at that next statement of hers, he gave another little nod. He wasn't sure he quite got it, but... while they were here and had time, at least, it did make sense to him to stick around each other and get in as much practice of whatever sort as needed. "I guess... and water's fine. I don't really need anything special," Jax offered with a little shrug, taking another bite of his gyro before blinking in some surprise as the woman moved closer still.

Biting his lip a little in embarrassment as she leaned even closer still, he glanced thoughtfully up to the ceiling... if partly to avoid the fact that she was so close. "I guess... I'd have actually focused and not completely thrown away the first round thanks to being on stage for the first time..." he offered. "Not to mention the two combos I dropped, and the combo break that I screwed up..." he added, grumbling slightly to himself as he recalled those fairly big errors, when it came to it. "Other than that... I don't feel like I'm good enough to get much further just yet... I think I might mostly just need to work on some of my timing, and some of the match-ups..." the fox suggested with a slight shrug, finally glancing back down to the woman right next to him.
 
"Ah," she said, a hand coming up to bop him on his nose. "Bad. We don't sulk. We push. You look back, see how something went, and determine if you gave it your all. If you know you didn't, you pick something to do better. Facts are important. You are good enough, at least your potential is there. We have to hone that. This is how," she said, giving a short nod, then quickly scoots away to go to her things. Whether she meant for anything to happen, being that close, is up in the air, like most things about her, apparently.

"Next up for you is Hashi. He likes quick characters, got a few he uses depending on what you take. Little bastard's got the movements on the selection screen down to a science, he can swap across with less than a second left. So, we don't fight that. We get you good with someone. He's methodical, predictable, just very quick about it. Breaks are going to be your friend," she said, bent over through her talk as she digs through one of her bags.
 
Blinking in surprise at the little tap to his nose, the fox boy grumbled slightly, reaching up to rub it a little. Tilting his head in curiosity as the woman finally backed off, wondering in the first place what that was even about -- and remembering that kiss from before well enough -- Jax gave a little nod at her suggestion. Well, it was easy enough to say that, but considering he'd missed a few of the same in the last round... well, there was obviously some work to be done.

"I mostly just have Lockheed so far, but I have put in practice on some others; felt like I kinda had to to at least learn the general patterns and stuff," he offered. "I don't think it'd take too long to get good enough with another character or two," he suggested in turn, watching for... whatever Amanda might be bringing out. "So... are we gonna be watching some of his matches for now, or something?" he asked, figuring if she was looking for anything, it was probably something like that. Or just something he couldn't have guessed at in the first place, which... given the relative oddity so far, seemed just about as likely.
 
Amanda hummed as she went through her things, suddenly standing back up. She held a laptop, and a gamepad of her own. "Yes and no. Watching the matches will help some, but not going to really sink in until you play against them," she said, moving over to the TV to plug in her computer, getting it to display on the larger screen. She opened up a folder, containing a bunch more within, all named after the various players in the tournaments and online, some famous, others not so well known. He would probably notice once she scrolled down in the letters, there was a folder labeled 'Jax' along with all of the others. She opened Hashi's folder, and within were a large number of videos, a few documents, some spreadsheets. Pulling up one, she moved back with her mouse, sitting next to him on the bed again, of course just as close, her leg touching his.

"This is from an event last year, he got to second before losing it in the last round. Nothing too big, but he did very well. Watch what he does with Kitz," she said, pointing to the screen as the video starts. It goes through a few matches, seeming to be cut up from a longer stream to focus on Hashi's matches. He uses a few different characters, ones with different range usage, but all of them are about the quick game, nailing someone as fast as he can without giving them a chance to do anything. The few times he loses are when the opponent gets in a good break and can overcome the speed with some big drops in his health. "What do you think?"
 
Tilting his head a little in curiosity, he gave a little nod in response. True, knowing the character and everything was one thing; being able to play against it efficiently was something a little different. As she sat so closely next to him again, though, the fox boy bit his lip slightly in embarrassment, his eyes remaining on the enlarged television view of Amanda's laptop for now. 'What did he think,' then, after he watched it... well, for one, that she must have been compiling this for some time. For another, that he wished his tail hadn't given an idle little flick enough to rest slightly against the woman's waist. Well, he needed to at least try and focus more on the sort of thing she was actually looking for...

"I think... I can probably see some good points to get a break in, but I'd have to practice it a bit..." Jax considered, tilting his head a little in thought. "Maybe... try a bit of rush of my own? Either try and beat him to the punch if I have a basic idea what he's going to do, or try and bait him in?" he suggested, glancing back over to the woman just next to him. "And, um... how long have you been putting all this together, anyway?"
 
"Yeah. That's a way to do it. Beat him to the rush. His thing is to overwhelm you, get you freaking out right away so you lose focus. Beating him to it could work, but you would be trying to beat him at his own game, one he's spent a long time playing. Baiting him is good, feign an opening and being ready for the strike. Whatever you're comfortable with," she said, nodding, watching another round go through on the screen. Her brow furrowed a bit, her eyes twitched around as they took in the movements on the screen and analyzed them. The woman bit her lip a bit in thought, resting her head in a hand and tapping her cheek.

"Yeah, that could do. You've got a couple characters you've played that could work out in a strat like that. Working out exactly how to move, how to fake a weakness and in that instant, be ready to block him and send your own right back," she said, nodding a few times, lifting her head, looking to him with a smile. Oh, he'd said something else, hadn't he? Thinking, processing what he'd said, she frowned a bit. "A while now. Had a lot of time on my hands..." she said, looking back to the screen. "Biggest thing will be his speed at selection. If he knows what we're doing, he might have a counter and switch before you can even react. Maybe we play him there, do a few swaps before settling, act like you're being indecisive." She turned the topic right back, either not willing to go further or just wanting to focus on the task at hand.
 
As she agreed, the fox's ears perked up a bit. She... had a point, though. Sure, he definitely had rushdown up there in his repertoire, but at that level, least of all for that amount of time? Well... not so much. Nor even playing against it; most of the folks he played were middle of the table like him, and seemed rather averse to it. Maybe because of getting beaten out by the same by someone higher, or something, he wasn't honestly sure. Or maybe just because of the character he tended to play.

"That'd be... a new one for me. I usually like to settle on someone to play... but then I'm usually just playing online anyway," Jax admitted, scratching a little at the back of his head in thought. About that, and another thing... but he could leave it for now. He wasn't exactly in a place to pry, at least not yet. "I doubt he'll see this as much more than a throwaway match, but, well... you're already here, anyway. I definitely plan to get everything I can out of this," he offered with a little grin.

"Did you have a fightstick or anything, though? Since I figure actual practical practice might be better than, well... the practice mode and just a standing bot for a lot of stuff, like putting things into action and everything," he asked, glancing over to Amanda's things momentarily, though he wouldn't have been able to tell. "I have a smaller spare of my own, but one of the buttons is... not quite working right. Never managed to fix it. Besides, I'd kinda like to see for myself how a pro plays."
 
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