AFW Red Light District

Taylor shook her head. "Oh, no. No fuckin' way. I'm staying right, the fuck, here."

She plodded over to the wall of the ramen shop where she had stood earlier and stubbornly plunked herself down on the sidewalk. She leaned against the wall, and rested an arm on a raised knee in front of her, one boot flat on the sidewalk and the other stretched out in front of her.

She typed out another text to Cassie and rested her phone on her thigh. She sighed so heavily that she looked as if she might collapse in on herself, and rubbed the lingering train-ride sleep out of her tired eyes. "You're still here, huh?" She said to Natasha. "And you saw Cassie. Did she hug you? I bet she did."

She pushed her phone around in little circles on her leg with a finger while her red-streaked bangs dangled down in front of her down-turned face. She looked heavy. Like a soda that had gone flat.

"Hey, as long you're here, I've got another fun question for ya..." She began, still only looking at her phone. "Hentai. Do you ever worry about it? Like... Not even just 'am I the best', or 'what if I'm not good enough'. I mean, just the what if's. Does it ever keep you up at night?"

Natasha actually had to suppress a laugh when she watched Taylor give up on going after Cassie, the woman choosing instead to simply stay put where she was and to wait for Cassie to eventually come back to her. The french woman's eyes glanced between the entrance to the ramen shop and Taylor as she went back and forth whether to remain out here with the woman she didn't exactly bear the best of feelings towards right then, or to go inside the shop and ignore Taylor altogether. With a deep sigh she decided to keep Taylor company while she waited for Cassie, though if Taylor would welcome said company she wasn't sure about.

"I did indeed meet Cassie and she might have hugged me, to be honest I was surprised by just how... I don't know...innocent she seemed." Natasha said, choosing to leave out the serious side she had seen of her.

Walking over to Taylor she took up a spot on the wall beside her only she remained standing, merely leaning her back against the wall while Taylor sat beside her playing with her phone. Looking down at the woman Natasha couldn't shake the feeling that Cassie was right, something looked to be weighing on the mind of the usually confidant Taylor. Not only that but she just seemed worn out, maybe it was just from what had to be a lengthy train ride but she had a suspicion that wasn't the only reason.

"Sure, go ahead." She said simply, her voice lacking any of the confrontational nature it had held earlier in the evening. "Well you just covered two of the major what ifs didn't you?" Natasha answered before she too dropped down to sit beside Taylor. "I'm not quite sure what you mean by the what ifs but...I do wonder sometimes if I made the right choice in joining that division. Don't get me wrong I do enjoy the matches and how competitive they can get, though I'm sure that sounds crazy to you, but I ask myself where I might be if I had chosen to keep to more traditional matches instead."

Natasha hadn't thought she would answer that question so truthfully, especially since that may not have been Taylor's question at all, but after their disagreement earlier and running into Cassie this just felt okay to do.

"Man..." Taylor shook her head. Natasha was surprised by how innocent Cassie was? Not surprised that she wasn't just a naive kid? "Please tell me you didn't bring up Talia."

Taylor knew that the way the world saw Cassie was completely changed because of Talia "Dark Angel" Wilson, and it broke her heart. Of all the people in the world, Cassie didn't deserve that stigma. Being powerless to change it, and unable save Cassie from all the people who thought she was some kind of monster, was worst kind of pain.

"I know, right?" She said. "I think about that. Like, why AFW? When I was in New York, I wasn't making any money, and I just wanted to get away, and AFW was the first big thing I saw. So I went for it. How different would life be, ya know?"

Her phone fell off of her leg and clattered on the sidewalk. She picked it up and dusted it off. "I know this is weird to just ask you this shit, but like, I came all the way here, and apparently Tokyo ate Cassie, so... Trust me, this isn't the first time, either. Me and Kashi both, we can't hold shit in, so if you just happen to be there..."

She leaned her head back against the wall and wearily closed her eyes. C'mon, Cassie. What the fuck.

"Me and Bear trained at the same place in New York. We were the only girls. I didn't give a fuck about her then, but she was there, and sometimes I'd just break down. She'd tell me that everything was okay, and I was going to be the best in the world someday. She told me to try my best. I hope you fuckin' hugged that girl back, man."

Natasha averted her gaze when Taylor mentioned bringing up Talia, something that the french woman could now see was not a topic she should have brought up in her first meeting with Cassie, even if it was a question that had been haunting her thoughts as of late. "Well yes but..." She began to say, pausing as she gave what she was to say next further thought.

Her question had been an innocent one, Natasha simply asking how Talia was doing after making the connection between Cassie and Canada, but now she realized she hadn't asked Cassie how she was doing after that final match. "Guess I shouldn't have, but I heard from Talia's sister the girl had gone to Canada and since Cassie is from there I thought she knew how Talia was doing." Natasha said, hoping that Taylor didn't just assume she had been trying to hurt Cassie as while she wanted to fight Taylor in the ring, she had little desire to get one by angering the woman.

"Its alright, this actually happens to me a lot believe it or not." She said softly before going quiet, listening to Taylor's short telling of the history she had with Cassie while only nodding when appropriate. "She didn't give me the time to hug her back actually." She said with a soft chuckle, "I was surprised by it and before I could even move my arms up she had already dashed into the crowd in search of you."

Natasha glanced down at Taylor's phone without thinking about it and somewhere in the back of her mind she wished Cassie would send another text to Taylor telling her she was almost there, wanting to give her that hug she deserved.

"Its funny. I have now met both Talia and Cassie and unless I had seen their matches I would never have thought either of them could do to one another what I saw on tv. They just both seem too sweet and kind for wrestling, an image of them I have even now despite having seen what they are capable of. " Natasha set her eyes upon the ground as she spoke, her voice low as she shifted through her memories of the two girls. "I imagine they both just want to forget about the whole affair. I know thats how I was after my last match with Adrian and..."

"Hey so mind if I let something out, while you're here that is? I'm not really any better at holding stuff in than you are it seems." Natasha said with a bit of forced laughter before she took in a deep breath, her ocean blue eyes remaining fixed upon her knees which she brought up close to her chest.

"Well I didn't want to forget my fight with Adrian because I lost but...and maybe Cassie and Talia feel this way too...because a side of me came out in that match that I was even scared of. You see I never saw myself as someone willing to injure an opponent to win a match, always thinking I could win without doing that, but with Adrian I found myself not just willing but eager to do just that. I didn't even care about winning I just wanted to cause her pain. Has Cassie ever asked you if that side of her which put Talia in a hospital to win was just a product of extreme circumstances, her simply defending herself, or if she had had it inside her all along? Cause its one I ask myself every time I look back on that match."

Taylor's face darkened considerably. "I don't like what you're asking," she said, shaking her head.

After a moment, she continued. "When I was out injured, with the broken ribs and internal shit, stuff happened and Johnny and me, we took a little break. Talia had it bad for Johnny, so she was all set to grab him and run off. Once I offered to show her around Friction, because she was new in town and everything. Once we got to the gym, she flipped the fuck out on me, tackled me, started hammering me in my broken ribs, busted up my face. Twice, she came at me. I thought... We were alone, and the thought crossed my mind that if nothing stopped her, I could've died. With my body the way it was, all I could do was lay there and be tough.

"Once I was good enough to come back to Friction, I had that match with Chigusa. I put everything into it. I was winning. I climbed the cage, I was just about to hop over and end it, and fuckin' Talia Wilson showed up out of nowhere and booted me off. Chigusa didn't miss a beat, started kicking my ass while I was still down from the fall. I still would've beaten her after that, but eventually fuckin' Talia Wilson shows up with a chair, knocks out Chigusa, I get DQ'd, and she goes to work on me with the chair. Who knows what she would've done to me if Cassie hadn't showed up.

"So Talia started picking fights with Cassie instead. Went after her all the time, hit her with a pipe in their match, tried to break her arm after it was over. During Cassie's match against that one chick, Talia showed up and beat down her manager with a pipe, my brother-in-law, and started choking him, just to get to Cassie. I know what I would've done. I wouldn't have even bothered with a match."

She looked over at Natasha. "After that, it wasn't about winning. What if your sweet little Talia had showed up again with that pipe, and this time there was no one to stop her? What if she put Mamouru, or me, or anyone else in the hospital? What if she killed somebody, because you weren't willing to step up and do what needed to be done? You're comparing yourself to Cassie, but you fought like a fucking scumbag just because you wanted to win a match. Imagine what you would've done to protect the people you care about."

She drew a long, slow breath that caught in her chest, and twisted her hips to cram her phone in the back pocket of her jeans. It was all so incredibly unfair. "It ruined her. Talia ruined her. She's better now, but she's not the same. When I look at her, I don't see the same... smile. Talia took a piece of her that she'll never get back. She told me..." Her voice cut off as her throat closed up. Her face tightened pitifully, and she wiped a tear away before it could roll down her cheek. "She said 'I give up'. She told me she wanted to die." She cringed at the sound of her own voice, and each word was like a knife in her chest.

What felt like a long time passed before Taylor could speak again. "And now they're buddies, because that's Cassie. That's Cassie. After all that, she looked after Talia. I can't ever do anything, out of respect, but I don't care how lovey-dovey your precious little Talia is, I'll never forgive her for the things she did."

Natasha remained absolutely silent as Taylor told the story of Talia and Cassie, one she had only seen play out on the AFW stage. It was enlightening to the say the least listening to Taylor's side of the story as it finally revealed to her what had set everything off in the beginning, and that it had originally been Taylor and Talia feuding instead. The tale certainly painted Talia in a negative light and more than ever Natasha was having a difficult time believing that the sweet girl she had met at a bar after she had drunk a bit too much, with the infamous Dark Angel who had gone after everyone in Taylor's life.

As the story went on Taylor grew more and more defensive in how she spoke, spinning off into a what if scenario asking her what she would have done in her stead. Natasha turned away from the woman, giving that question some thought even as Taylor continued on until she even told her what Cassie had told Taylor in what had to have been her darkest hour. Natasha said nothing throughout the long pause that followed that reveal, one that Taylor likely hadn't intended to let slip but now it was out in the open and even the sounds of Tokyo seemed to go quiet to Natasha.

How did my trip for ramen turn into this? Natasha asked herself while gently shaking her head from side to side. "I knew some of that but this is the first I've heard it all." She said softly, more to herself than to Taylor, her eyes drifting back to the blonde's face.

Despite what she had just said Natasha didn't believe she had heard the whole story for as of right now she had only heard Taylor's side, she had yet to hear the tale from Talia's perspective. She wasn't going to change her opinion on Talia just from what she had learned tonight, she needed both time to think on it and to hear Talia's version of the story, but she did feel like she knew both Taylor and Cassie a lot better now.

"I don't know what I would do, but I doubt theres much I wouldn't do if someone came after Heather or Elenor. Hopefully I will never to find that out like Cassie did."

"Exactly." Taylor affirmed. "You'd do whatever it took, even if it killed you. But because Talia goes crying to everyone like a little bitch and tells them stories about big mean Cassie, the whole fucking world thinks she started it," she huffed. "And, just so you know, I promise the worst thing I'll ever do to Heather is pin her."

She shook her head, disgusted with all of it. She hadn't meant to dump the whole story on Natasha, but if it saved Cassie from having to face one more uninformed Talia-sympathizer then it was time well spent.

It was odd that she had come to Tokyo to spend time with Cassie because of a problem of her own. Cassie was always good at calming Taylor down and keeping her from getting tangled up in her own mind until she went crazy. Now that she was here, she only wanted to reassure Cassie, and for things that had ended months ago.

Meanwhile, the little redhead emerged again from the crowd and looked around before she spotted Taylor and Natasha sitting against the wall. That was strange. Cassie expected to see bruises or something as she approached.

"Hi, Taylor," she said.

"Hey, Bear."

Taylor stood up and the two hugged.

"Everything will be okay," Cassie said quietly.

"Yeah. Everything will be okay," Taylor said back to her.

After a moment, they separated and Cassie looked down at Natasha, unsure of what to do about her. It felt like it would be rude to just walk away. "Hi again," she waved at the Frenchwoman. "Sorry about that. So... what did you guys talk about?"

"Just fight stuff," Taylor answered readily. "You ready?"

While Natasha still didn't agree with Taylor when it came to Talia she had no intention of continuing that discussion any further, content to let the matter drop as she didn't want to start an argument without having heard from Talia first. Taylor was many things but a liar was not one of them, giving Natasha no reason to doubt the stories she had just heard about the vicious acts Talia had carried out on not just Taylor, but her friends as well. Even so she refused to condemn the woman before she had a chance to hear her side of events, Natasha desperate to know just what had driven the sweet Talia to become Dark Angel, and more importantly how she was coping with the aftermath.

"I didn't mean to dredge all that back up Taylor...You sound like you already had something weighing on you and that can't have helped." Natasha replied with her eyes resting on Taylor, ignoring the passerby who occasionally glanced down at them as they passed. "Just know I'm not after Cassie or anything."

Just as she spoke the name the red head emerged from the crowd and made her way over, the pair having finally managed to find each other. Natasha rose from the ground while the two embraced, smiling softly even as she felt like a third wheel who shouldn't have been there to watch this moment between such good friends. Natasha glanced between the two and when Taylor answered she decided to play along.

"Right. Just remember what I said Taylor, anytime you feel like proving your theory about being able to beat me just say the word, I will be happy to prove you wrong." Natasha added casually, flashing Taylor a smirk and a wink before she stepped forward and gave Cassie a quick hug. "You ran off so fast earlier I didn't get the chance and it would have been rude not to return the hug don;t you agree?" She said as she pulled away. "I don't suppose I could interest either of you in some ramen, I hear its pretty good here."

"Careful what you wish for, Hotshot."

Cassie hugged Natasha back. "Oh, it's okay. I don't think you're rude."

Natasha's offer made Taylor and Cassie glance at each other. "Oh, uh..." Taylor said, but it was Cassie who answered first.

"Another time, definitely, that would be awesome! But Taylor and I have some kinda personal stuff to talk about, soooo I think we're just going to take a walk back to my place, eh?" She looked at Taylor for confirmation, and then apologetically lifted her eyebrows at Natasha. "Sorry."

"Yeah, I'm not sure I wanna find out who you're meeting in there, anyway. Dude, like, all the people that can't stand me like to stick together or something. They travel in packs. It's probably a conspiracy."

"I don't think Natasha doesn't like you, Taylor, otherwise she wouldn't have invited us," Cassie said, with the gentle tone of a mother instilling some manners in her daughter.

Taylor nodded, and took and appraising look at the busty Frenchwoman. "Yeah, well... Thanks anyway, man. I'll catch you later."

"Bye Natasha!" Cassie waved, and then the two set off side by side down the sidewalk, taking a leisurely pace back to the house Cassie shared with Akashi.