Gonna Fly Now

Adrian thought she was making progress when she rolled over with Cassie, yeah she was trapped inbetween Cassie's legs but at least it got her out of one situation... and straight into another, much worse one. She should have just stuck with being pinned.

Feeling the choke hold snap on, she wasted very little time in slapping whatever body part of the red-head was most convenient to signify a submission, this was just a friendly spar, no need to stretch it out and risk something going painfully bad. She knew this was going to be one sided, but she didn't expect it to be over that quickly. Still, at least it was better than the first time they met, where Adrian wouldn't have been able to block the first armbar. "Okay..." she breathed once Cassie let her go "Lesson learned... don't roll with you unless I need an ego balloon popped." she wheezed, flopping onto her back

Cassie knew she had it the moment she squeezed, and only waited for the satisfaction of the tap. She let Adrian go and sat up cross legged in front of her, feeling both relieved and embarrassed.

"S-sorry..." She said. "You did okay. I really just wanted to..."

She tugged absently at the front of her purple shirt, and looked down at the smiling, umbrella-wielding panda on the front. She wished she could be as happy in the rain as he appeared to be, but ever since Dark Angel she always saw every potential tragedy. It was a feeling that had made her scarcer around people, and more quiet when she was.

"I know you'll have a good match," she said, obviously referring to Summer Splash. "How are you doing... with that?"

Adrian sat back up, defeated but with a smile on her face as Cassie apologized for kicking her ass. "Don't worry about it Cassie. I knew what I was getting into, and really, you've got like however many years more experience, so getting beaten in like the first few moves and stuff was probably gonna happen. I'm fine, you're fine. It's fine." She tried to reassure the Red-head as she rubbed her neck. This definitely wasn't the Cassie she had first met years ago, or even the same bundle of sunshine and chipmunks that she'd asked for help from when she was recovering from injury. She had mostly stayed out of the Dark Angel saga, focusing on doing her own thing at the time, but even though that was all over, she could see it was still weighing on her heavilly.

"Thanks, prrobably gonna steal the show again." She answered, when Cassie talked about her upcoming match "You're not gonna be... mad at me or anything when I kick Taylor's ass, right?" the former cosplayer asked "I mean, it's not really anything personal other than like egos between us, but she is gonna be really sad or angry about losing and that'll probably take a while to blow over."

Cassie smiled wanly. "I'm sure it'll be a great match. I know you're both going to do your best, and... if you win I'll clap for you too."

She sighed. Everything was so much different here than back home. Jiu jitsu competition, martial arts in general, was very competitive and tempers could flare, but the tenets of respect and sportsmanship were so deeply engrained in it that nothing like what happened in AFW could ever happen there. Pro wrestling, Friction, AFW as a whole, was filled with people who had too much ambition and too much to prove, and not enough respect.

"This match means a lot to you both. You're... the biggest match of Taylor's career. She doesn't stop talking about it, and about you. Even when she's not, I can tell she's thinking about it. I know what it's like to prepare for a big competition, but this is so much more personal... I just hope that whatever happens, it doesn't stay personal."

Adrian sighed as Cassie laid down the gravity of the whole situation to her. Although the former cosplayer had been taking the match somewhat in a more jokey fashion than should probably be expected, she knew just how much winning this: getting the conclusive no-controversy victory over Taylor, almost undoing one of the worst moments in her career, would mean to her. How much going so far and still coming up short would hurt. She couldn't guarantee that it wouldn't become personal. While she didn't talk about it as much as Taylor all they went through still weighed on her, no matter how much of a brave space she wanted to put on.

But if she couldn't guarantee that emotions wouldn't spill over, maybe this would have to do. "Cassie, I promise that no matter what happens in the match or before it, after the final bell and we get carted off to either the locker room, med bay or the hospital. It first, won't be the end of either of us, whoever loses will bounce back from whatever. And secondly: Me and Taylor will be right next to each other, laughing about how fucking stupid we are."

Cassie bowed her head, her eyes closed. "That would be great."


Taylor kept her hands jammed in the pockets of her faded black, vaguely military styled jacket to guard against the chill in the brisk morning air. Otherwise, she had only black leggings and scuffed, ruby-colored Doc Marten's to keep her warm. Her lean, athletic body had little by way of body fat, and when she stopped moving she very quickly began to freeze. The strategy, then, was to never stop moving.

She jumped up and down on the balls of her feet and hopped side to side, keeping her arms pressed tightly against her sides while her perky blonde ponytail bounced around behind her head. The line in front of her was still long, and the wait was killing her. The healthiest food available around Friction was two blocks away, in the form of a humble outdoor stall that served fresh fish steamed with miso, with sweet potatoes and seaweed on the side. The only problem was that come lunch time, it seemed like every health-conscious person in the area who neglected to pack a lunch got the same idea.

She had entertained herself for the first couple minutes by texting anyone she could think of, but that didn't last long. Now she could only let her eyes wander around the street while she slowly inched her way up toward delicious, healthy food.

One could tell so much about a Japanese person by their clothes. Each occupation had its own uniform, from the stiff, suit-wearing business crowd to the students in their school-issued clothes. It was no big surprise that Tokyo street fashion got so crazy so fast as soon as eager young people were given the freedom to wear what they wanted. It was easy to stand out...

...Especially if you were a hulking, tawny-skinned, six-foot-six woman in a nation of mousey women around five-foot-two. Rebecca Tomko was hard not to spot, all you had to do was follow the gawking eyes of everyone else on the street.

"Hey, what's up, Grizzly Yamamoto?" She called out to her. "I spotted you before I before I got off the train, but here I am without my cattle prod."

"Yeah... It would be." Adrian said, ruffling up Cassie's hair a bit. "So I guess it's back to the treadmills for us, huh?"

---

It was difficult to be subtle when you towered above everyone, and trying not to be noticed often had the consequence of being noticed by everyone. At least it made it somewhat easier to walk through the crowded Tokyo streets as people stepped aside, looking up in a mixture of fear and awe at the size of this Amazon. Well, fear and awe from everyone expect one, and she had a pretty good idea of who. "Oh great." She groaned, hearing a familiar voice. "What do you want, Taylor?" the giantess growled out, not really in the mood to spend it talking with the blonde.

"That'd actually be a good name for you, right? Grizzly Tomko. Of course, you're a foot taller than Yamamoto was. She had you beat in the waistline, though." Taylor said, still bouncing in place and becoming playfully animated while she talked at a characteristically accelerated rate.

The people around her in line cast cautious glances at Taylor and the giant, and did their best not to stare.

"So I guess you heard that I'm gonna beat down your girl in a few weeks," she grinned. "Should be pretty cool. Did you get your tickets yet? Seating is limited, though, wherever the hell they decide to put it. It'll be my first Summer Splash, too, so I'm kinda pumped. It'd be pretty awesome if it was in New York, but that'd be like, the least summery place in the world to put it. How 'bout you, Grizzly, any big plans coming up, or are you still just making room for Adrian?"

Having known Adrian for so long, keeping up with Taylor's blisteringly fast speech was fairly easy, not that Rebecca really wanted to listen what the New York Native had to say. "What, they still haven't figured out where they're gonna hold it? Idiots." she sighed, trying to cut through the line and keep walking on. "It doesn't matter where it is, you're still gonna get you ass kicked. So get out of my way, I'm walking here."

"I dunno, I think they just haven't announced it." Taylor did a little dance and wiggled her hips back and forth, and then hopped a step with both when the line inched forward.

"Hey man, this sidewalk is big enough for the three of us, a'right? Just honk your horn to let people know you're coming through. But hey, I actually wanted to ask you..." She said, her bouncing in place a bit more subdued. "Like, can I be for real for a minute? Or are you just gonna be all grr, grr, grr. Can you just chill out for a second?"