Pet Peeves

Somewhere between traveling to New Jersey, having a dinner argument with her parents over her girlfriend, having a tag match with her girlfriend, having a tag match with Allison and Jocelyn instead of the people they were supposed to be facing, losing and getting served a humiliating defeat by them, getting in an argument with her girlfriend, losing her girlfriend, accepting a challenge by Akashi Tanikaze, getting curbstomped in record time, and subsequently leaving the ring to a chorus of jeers and taunts...somewhere, in the midst of all that mess, Valley forgot about her cat. Like she didn't feel bad enough.

She had left Valentine - poor, fluffy, ignored Valentine - with Chris while she went off to Summer Splash, and the plan had been to pick him back up after she landed back in Japan. Unfortunately, everything was such a rush and her head had been tugged in so many different places that she hadn't really had much time to stop and take stock.

Of course, there's nothing quite like having your head nearly caved in by a sumo wrestler to give one a sense of clarity. It would be a couple weeks or so before she had another match, so she had some downtime. It was time to pick up pretty much the only individual she could trust never to get into an argument with her.

She made her way to Chris' apartment complex and stepped out of the car into the noonday sun, wearing some baggy blue jeans and a grey shirt with the cover from Led Zepplin's Physical Graffiti album on it. Good Summer clothes. She got a few looks from passerbys as she walked in, something she was starting to get used to ever since her PPV match. It wasn't the kind of publicity she wanted, but doing Summer Splash and fighting Akashi soon after made her a very recognizable figure. Being a beach-blonde white girl in the middle of Japan helped her stand out, too...though Valley was glad she couldn't understand must of the mutters she overhead whenever she was around. Her grasp on Japanese was still shaky, but she didn't like the tone of what she heard.

She pushed it off and made her way inside, finding Chris' apartment soon enough and giving her doorbell a ring. She started revving up an apology - Chris had just catsat Valentine for free after doing Valley's taxes for free. This was no way to repay favors.

Chris sat with Valentine in her lap, scratching the cats ears absently as she watched television. On the set the characters of the Game of Thrones series played out their deadly drama. Clad in a pair of black yoga pants and matching sports bra, the Californian was settled on the couch for an evening in. Healed from her match with Mikoto, Chris's days were full of workouts and training sessions as she strove to become ready for the trials ahead.
The doorbell rang, getting her attention.

"Well, I wonder who that is." she mused as she set the cat aside.

Going to the door, Chris crossed the large living room with its comfortable furniture brought from America and looked through the peephole. Seeing Valley at the other side, she unlocked the door and opened it.
"Valley!" she exclaimed. "Come in!"

Stepping aside, Chris motioned for her to come in, inviting her into the spacious apartment.

Hey, look, someone actually happy to see her. Valley was starting to forget what that was like.

Chris didn't seem to peeved about the extra time with Valentine, even though she had every right to be, and Valley gave her a wide but apologetic smile as she stepped in. It faded as she stepped back and marveled at the apartment. It was a lot of space, though that really shouldn't have surprised her given the giant who lived inside it. Very much in the American style, too, not too different from Valley's own apartment in the overall feel.

"Hey, right back at you. Nice place. Really, really...you. In a good way." She gave the taller blonde a sly wink before she spun around a little bit, taking a wide angle look. "Sorry I took so long to get over here. Things got a little hectic after I landed."

Following behind Valley, Chris motioned towards the couch where Valentine remained.
"It's no problem, Val really." she said as she turned off the television.
Taking a seat on the couch, she motioned for Val to sit as well.
"I heard about Summer Splash, Val." she replied. "Something like that....it takes awhile to bounce back from. I can understand how things wouldn't click for awhile, that you'd need time to get back to normal. How is Ace dealing with it?"

Although Chris had read about Summer Splash, she had no idea of what went on behind the scenes, the aftermath of the match. And with her on her rigorous training regimen, Chris had missed the confrontation between her and Akashi. Needless to say, Chris was behind on current events with Valley.

Valley looked around and found Valentine soon enough, laying about on Chris' sofa like he owned it. Which he probably thought he did. He could be a hedonist little jerk when he wanted.

Valentine's head lifted up as she came over, and he immediately popped off the sofa and made his way over as she dropped down, coming into her open arms. "There you are, you dumb cat." She chuckled, picking him up and stroking his back as he broke into a purring fit. Chris had done a good job taking care of him, no doubt, but Valley knew all his favorite spots. "Momma missed you, too."

Valley sighed as the topic moved to Summer Splash - the other reason she wasn't looking forward to the pickup. "Ace is...I'm not sure, honestly." She shrugged, hoping Chris would leave it at but knowing she wouldn't. "We haven't spoken since that day, really. Had a fight."

*Well, way to blunder into that one.* Chris chided herself.

"Wait here." she told Valley.
The taller blonde went into the kitchen. When she returned, Chris was carrying a bottle of wine and a pair of wine glasses. Setting them down on top of a small table near the couch, Chris asked. "How bad? This bad?"
Then she placed her finger at about the halfway point of one of the glasses.
"Or this bad?"
Her finger would then tap at near the top of the glass, as Chris readied herself to fill Valley's glass to the level her guest indicated.

She sighed as Chris sprang into action, a soft smile on her face. After all the storytelling she'd given out the last time they met, there was no way Valley would escape without doing at least a little explaining.

Valley nuzzled with Valentine until the taller blonde came back and started pouring drinks, graciously bringing the fine wine. It wasn't her style to get drunk before nightfall, but she could hardly refuse the generosity. A drink or two wouldn't kill her. "Let's see, let's see, let us see..." She propped her head on her arm and tapped at about 3/4s of the glass. "There. That'll do it."

After filling first Valley's glass, then her own, to the indicated level with the red wine, Chris set a glass down in front of each of them as she sat on the couch.
Picking up her glass, she studied it, remarking "Well, that's pretty bad."

Taking a sip, Chris considered her words. Breakups were bad, and even though this wasn't one officially, a fight and then saying nothing to each for such a period of time wasn't a good sign, in her opinion. Then again, her own romantic history wasn't exactly a long tale to pull inspiration from. There were quite a few boyfriends in high school, but there was always something....missing there. Once she was in the Wrestle Angels, she found out what that was once she and another wrestler discovered and began a romance. But when things started going downhill, for both her and the federation, Chris reached out to her, needing understanding, but got no such thing. Instead mistrust, suspicion and misplaced anger had wound up poisoning their relationship, and destroying something Chris had viewed as a beautiful thing. However, she learned a lesson during the time afterwards, and as it was most of the time with Chris, that lesson had come the hard way. Getting into the ring carrying the pain and anger of a failed relationship was a bad idea. It either made for sloppy wrestling, or worse in her eyes, brought out a side of you that had no place in a civilized contest.

"You know....bottling these things up isn't good for you. If you need to talk, well, I'm here, not going anywhere, and my silence is a given. You might have to worry about Valentine though." she said with a wry grin and a poke at the cat in Valley's care.

Valentine settle down in her lap, trying to resume his nap. He'd be disappointed, since Valley didn't plan on staying or even sitting down quite that long. But she would at least hang around long enough to talk with Chris a little. Her mother had been too busy giving her crap about her botch of a match, and she never cared that much about the relationship with Ace in the first place. Hardly an ideal ear to whisper into.

Valley took the glass and drank it down to about half way with a few furtive sips, making it last. "It's..." She sighed and indulged in a long gulp. "It's just craziness. After the match, Ace got a little silly, and she just..."

Valley rubbed her temples, stopping herself before she could get knee deep into a rant. "Okay, tell me - is there anything wrong with wanting to keep the people you care about safe? Is there anything weird about not wanting to stand by when they're getting hurt and you can do something about it? That's normal. It's normal to care."

Sighing, Chris set down her glass. She didn't know the particulars about Ace and Valley's argument but the tanned blonde's query made her wonder something.
"No. No, of course not." she replied instantly to Valley's comment about the weirdness of keeping the ones you love safe. "There is nothing wrong with caring. But...."

Here she paused. This line of questioning could get her into trouble.

"Well, it's take to two to tango, and to fight. What exactly was Ace being silly about?" Chris asked, scratching her head thoughtfully.