Mom Business

Junko stood in front of one of the opulent suits in the Palaestra Hotel. The grand opening coincided with Summer Splash and the wrestlers had been treated with being the very first guests in the majestic building. She had had her own suite so she didn't come for the view.

Somewhere on the other side of the door was Adrian Kytes. A former cosplayer and rival of her own daughter-in-law, Taylor Parker. The two had nearly killed each other in their Summer Splash match. It had been painful for Junko to watch at times even after Taylor had edged out a victory. It was probably the toughest fight Taylor had been in in her career. Probably Adrian's as well. However, as much blood sweat and tears had been left in the ring that night, neither girl had come away with a serious or debilitating injury. Superficially, they'd look far worse, which made the dainty mother sad, but they wouldn't miss any action, really. Junko didn't know how they managed that, but she was certainly glad.

Now Adrian was probably packing to go home. Junko hadn't gotten a chance to visit her while she was in the infirmary because she had needed to be with her own daughter. Now, however, she wanted to catch Adrian before everyone shuffled back to Japan just to make sure that everything was ok. That everything was settled.

Junko had packed herself already, waking up early in the morning. Still, it didn't seem like she was being casual about it. She wore a pink kimono with flower patterns on it. She had forgone her clunky wooden geta sandals for the more comfortable zori sandals.

Under one arm she had a crutch. She had sprained her ankle during the match but it wasn't severe. She could even walk without the crutch but if she was standing for a long time, she could use it to keep weight off her tender foot.

The other hand held a bouquet of flowers. Various kinds she had had ordered. The service in the hotel was just simply too much! Tucked inside was a small card. She hoped Adrian would like them, even if she probably couldn't take them with her. Junko sighed. She adjusted her glasses and smiled as she leaned forward to knock on the door to the suite, hoping to greet Adrian with a bright smile.

Adrian's suitcase and various clothes were all sprayed out across the bed, a jumbled mess of T-shirts, shorts, her wrestling gear, one still neatly folded blue business attire and various electronics while the former cosplayer was in the bathroom, sighing as she stared at her bandaged up nose. For how intense the match was, a broken nose and a stiff back was probably getting away lightly. That was the theme of her match it seemed: harsh enough to leave a mark but nobody walked away too scarred by it, probably for the best.

The knock on the door came as a surprise, most of her friends didn't get to come along due to various obligations. The only person she could think off seeing her right now was Cecilia and they hadn't shared room details, maybe it was the maid? Whoever she suspected it was, not on the list of potential door-knockers was Junko: on one crutch with a bunch of flowers in her other hand.

"Uh..." Adrian stumbled, her voice still distorted by her broken nose "...Wrong room?" She suggested, eyeing the flowers and card "Taylor's room is... I don't know where."

Junko's smile widened as the look of confusion on Adrian's face spread after she recognized who she was looking at. "Adrian-chan." She said. "I have the wrong room unless you're not in Adrian' Kyte's room. And if you aren't, then it's a pretty strange coincidence because I came looking for you, fufu.' Junko chuckled.

"May I come in?" She asked keeping her coy grin. "These are for you, dear." She said, handing the bouquet to Adrian. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything. If it's a bad time..." She asked. "I just wanted to see how you were doing...'

"Ohhh," Adrian realized what Junko was on about, taking the flowers and opening the door fully. She couldn't really say no to the Japanese woman, not when she'd made the effort like this. Although she had nowhere to put the flowers so they'd have to settle for the bathroom sink for water. It was a pretty sink at least. "Right, right: come in, I'll just um... clear some of the stuff away." She said, sweeping some of the clothes off the bed and onto the floor while making careful measures to place the electronics and the suit somewhere safer. "Thanks? I mean, you kinda look like you got the worst of the match, and you weren't even fighting in it. Yeah my nose is pretty fucked and it's making my voice weird and stuff but I'm walking around fine, just as long as I don't spray blood everywhere I'm good."

Junko came in when Adrian invited. She furrowed her brow as Adrian cleared a path. She sat down on the bed and shook her head. "You don't need to fuss about for me, Adrian-chan." Junko said, trying to keep the former cosplayer from fretting.

"My ankle's just sprained!" Junko said. "I just got crutch to draw sympathies from the pretty young girls and sturdy, slightly young, men, fufu~" Junko teased before sighing softly. "They just gave me the crutch just in case. Don't worry about it, Adrian-chan." Junko smiled reassuringly.

Junko then patted the seat next to her. "Come, sit, Adrian-chan. You told me how your body is, but that doesn't tell me how you're doing. I wanted to make sure you were alright. I just can't help but be a little worried." She said, frowning sadly a bit, hoping Adrian would assuage her fears.

Adrian recoiled slightly at Junko's teasing. "Uh... TMI." she said quickly before the Japanese woman reassured her that it was just for making sure she didn't hurt herself before sitting down next to her nervously. "Me?" Adrian asked "I'm uh... I'm fine! Really, yeah, I'll be fine. Nothing to worry about." She lied badly, it was always easy to tell when the former cosplayer was trying to just put a brave face on things but she wasn't willing to give Junko the truth flat out.

"Mmmm..."

Junko thought over Adrian's words. She was obviously lying but the older woman didn't just want to openly call the former cosplayer out.

Junko smiled and patted Adrian's leg. "I'm glad. A match like that can take a lot out of a girl. More than she might even realize. Not just physically but mentally, emotionally too. I was worried about you, Adrian-chan, but there's obviously a reason you were able to fight so well against my daughter."

Junko smiled. "Taylor-chan's fought Akashi and Iron Maiden and Sarah Gatt. Some of the league's toughest girls. But, I'm sure she'd say, without hesitation, that this was her toughest match yet."

Junko smiled pleasantly at Adrian. "I'm still so proud of both of you. I want you to know that, Adrian-chan.

"You're not my mom," Adrian sighed as she flopped back on the bed, her heat falling into a pile of T-shirts "you don't have to worry about how I'm doing all the time, some people might... er... take it the wrong way, think you're patronizing them and stuff." she said, trying not to implicate that was pretty much what she thought Junko was doing. "But yeah... toughest opponent. Yay. Not exactly what I was going for, but whatever. Elite club and stuff I guess." She said flatly as she looked up at the lights, unable to keep her fake smile on any longer.

Junko leaned over so she was looking down at Adrian. "And why, exactly, would they think that, Adrian-chan?" Junko said with a completely serious face. "Believe it or not, I don't like to see girls get hurt in the ring. I'm interested in good competition and good sport. I know what you and Taylor-chan have been through and whether you like to admit it or not, that match was special."

Junko turned her head and blushed. "It's hard for me not to worry about my girls and after a match like that, I consider you part of the family. Like, a niece maybe..." Junko put her finger to her lips.She'd probably like Adrian's dad much better than she liked her own brother but she certainly wasn't going to say THAT out loud.

"Speaking of family, how IS yours taking it?"

"Because," Adrian began scowling "You were managing Taylor, my opponent. For professionalism's sake alone you should have kept your distance until we made it back off camera." She pointed out "If Taylor wanted to check if I was okay and stuff, then that's her thing and fair enough, 'snot like I could have done much to stop her anyway, but she went through the same hell I did so she's kind of got the right to do that sort of thing, but managers don't really have the right to check on anyone but their clients, no matte how messed up the match was." She explained, it wasn't as though she didn't think it was an important match between her and Taylor, but it was between her and Taylor. Not her and Taylor plus one, she didn't really have any connection with Junko beyond her being an aspect of that match, not the focus, and she certainly didn't feel like family "And the worst comes to worst and I do need help getting out, it's the ref's job to get the medics out there."

She instintivley turned away when the Japanese woman mentioned her family. "They know I'm fine." she said quickly, almost mumbling out her words.