The Touchdown KO Fightclub

[Overseer]

Louis's fightclub.

[Ethan Corell]

[Louis Briggs]

The Touchdown K.O. was the kind of gym where fighters trained, rather than athletes. It was housed on the edge of one of Athos' poorer districts, though unlike the surrounding buildings, it wasn't marked with graffiti or gang signs.
Inside, the air rang with the sound of gloves hitting training mitts and punching bags. In the far corner, an old stereo set provided music for those that were training. The training equipment, though old-fashioned by some standards, was well-kept, and the ring that dominated the main hall was sturdilly built.
Louis stood in the ring, facing a man ten years younger and quite a bit faster than him. He was wearing training mitts, instructing the younger boxer on where to punch and where to guard.

[Ethan Corell]

If anything, he was nervous today. He felt like he was walking into a lion's den after he being kicked out of the pride. But he knew he needed to do this in order to make things better - or worse. Whatever the result, it was necessary to move on.

An unknown man walked into the training area, wearing worn sports-shoes, an old looking sweat suit with a brown leather jacket covering the top half. His short beard was already showing some gray here and there and his copper-brown hair looked scruffy and slightly curly beneath the cowboy-hat he was wearing. His eyes were hidden behind large pilot sunglasses and he was smoking a cigarette. He was carrying a sports bag over his shoulder.

He had walked toward the ring after he had looked around and observed the two men training, crossing his arms and nodded now and then as Louis corrected the kid. He coughed now and then, as if he was a long time smoker with some unrecognized health problems. His entire posture was roguish, and the way he was watching them was slightly annoying in some way, as if he was laughing at them as he chuckled several times.

[Louis Briggs]

The stranger noticed that he was drawing the attention of some of the other fighters at ringside, who in turn exchanged looks with one another.
The young boxer inside the ring darted a glance at him as well, only to be punished with a quick strike to the forehead by his instructor, who had yet to take his eyes of his student.
"Eyes on your opponent," Louis chided the fighter with a low growl. "Until that final bell is rung, there is nothing beyond the ring." He returned the mitts to their position. "There's only you, your opponent, and whatever the two of you brought along to win."
The young boxer composed himself, met Louis' gaze and gave him a nod, before returning to his practice routine.
A blonde woman, probably in her late forties, walked up to stand beside the stranger and crossed her arms. "I don't like people smoking in my gym, cowboy," she told him. "Either it goes out, or you go outside." Her tone was neither threatening nor demanding - it was as though she was simply stating a fact.

[Ethan Corell]

It took some time before the man crossed the woman's gaze, although it was only to measure by the way he had turned his head towards her and took a deep breath, the tip of the cigarette turning bright red with heat. He gazed at her from to toe and chuckled again, annoyingly so, as if he didn't take her seriously. After taking another deep breath he dropped the cigarette casually and stepped on it.

"You must be the lady who runs this place, ain't ye?" He said in a very fitting, Western accent, with a clearly smoked-through voice, "I'm looking for a worthy opponent, missy. Ye got any 'ere?"

He turned his gaze to the ring again, lifting his eyebrow at the young lad that obviously didn't impress him.

[Louis Briggs]

The change in the woman's expression was subtle, but the stranger could tell from the look in her eyes that feathers had been ruffled.
Her gaze suddenly darted to his upper arms, before moving to his hands and from there to his legs. When the woman looked him in the eyes again, her own eyes had narrowed, as though she was trying to determine something.
"That's quite a set of manners you've got there," she told him. "I'll have your name before I even consider letting you glove up."

[Ethan Corell]

After a moment of certain thought, it seemed, he slightly moved his cowboy hat so it was a bit further back on his head, so his face became more visible.

"Wyatt's the name," he said, as he reached out his hand towards the woman in front of him, "But they'be callin' me Wolf more often, so that's what you can call me, Miss."
He raised his chin in the air and let out a wolfish howl, finishing it with a chuckle and a cough.

"Miss Meredith, ain't ye? Pleasure to meet ye, heard lots 'bout ye. Lots 'e good things that be," he said with a grin. "I just ain't used to them manners, Miss, I hope ye forgive me for that."

He put his bag on the ground between his legs and crossed his arms again. "I like me a good fight now and then, so I thought I'd be doing it the good way rather than them bars in town."

[Louis Briggs]

'Wyatt' noticed that the sounds coming from the ring had died down. When he looked back at the ring, he noticed that the young boxer was down on one knee, with Louis towering over him.
The large man was visibly agitated. If the faces of the fighters at ringside were any indication, he'd dealt the younger boxer a considerable blow. "I don't like repeating myself," Louis said, taking off the traning mitts, "You can come back into this ring when you can show me that you're serious about your training."
One of the assistants entered the ring to help the young boxer up.
"Briggs," Meredith sighed.
For a moment, she looked troubled, but it melted away as she turned back to Wyatt. "Well, Wolf, I run a boxing gym, not a brawl ring. If you're serious about doing some proper training and playing by the rules, I'll let you spar with one of my boys."

[Ethan Corell]

The man made a sound that seemed he was impressed by Louis' skills and looked at him for a moment before turning his gaze back to Meredith.

"I don't see no brawling ring here, Miss," he said with a lifted eyebrow, "and I ain't no cheat. I'd like to see what that guy up there is made of."

He apparently didn't feel like he needed permission from Meredith to participate in the boxing ring, or at least he felt like he knew what she hoped to see from him. He fluently opened his bag, got his own boxing gloves out and removed his leather jacket.

Without any hesitation he said: "You there," to Louis, "you might be done with the young lad, but I ain't anywhere like him. You seem someone worthy of being in that ring, and I like to prove who I am."

His Western accent was remarkably well done, but Louis noticed that his way of words had slightly became different from before, as if he was subtly dropping his act. Meredith wouldn't notice the difference.