Pet Peeves

Valley finished the glass earlier than expected, and she was tempted to ask for a refill - Chris would probably give it to her, too. But she did have to go home, and it wasn't like Valentine was going to drive. Staying sober would be a good idea. As much as she wanted a damn drink.

"She's mad that I don't let her get beat up, pretty much. Like, okay." Valley sat up, making a frame with her fingers, setting the scene. "At the World Cup, Jocelyn cheated and started mauling Ace in the ring. I came down and helped her out - I've seen what Jocelyn does to people when they can't fight back. She's raped two girls since I've been here. Rape, right in the middle of the ring."

Valley threw her hands up, hardly believing she said all those words in the same sentence. "So, I mean, you can understand why seeing that woman beating up on my girlfriend would get me a little stressed, right? Why I might want to intervene? Not wanting my girlfriend to get molested isn't asking too much."

"Jesus..." Chris breathed as Valley told her about the events that happened at the Friction World Cup. "Yeah the AFW likes its crazy, it seems. That Lukretia woman....does she set any standards?"
The towering blonde shook her head while taking another drink.
"For the record, I watched your match at Summer Splash. That Allison woman is full of it. That talk of beating on someone half your size or something? Pure nonsense. Jocelyn knew martial arts, some form of kung fu. Once she stepped in the ring, she's the same as any other fighter. Top it off with a healthy dash of insanity and, she's dangerous. You might have....lost track of things a bit, but that's my thought. But, I get you...I know why'd you'd jump in, why you did what you did. Does Ace know that?"


Noticing Valley's empty glass, Chris held up the bottle.
"Another? And if you're worried about getting home, I can drive you. I'm stopping after this glass." she explained. "It sounds like you might need the drinking a lot more than I do."

"No." Valley sighed at the mention of Lukretia. "She really doesn't."

Valley didn't regret her decision to join the AFW - she knew what she was getting into. It was an opportunity to go up against some of the best wrestlers in the world and do what she loved for a living. But at the same time, there was no getting around the fact that standards were pretty lax in the AFW. Borderline non-existent, at times. She couldn't even imagine all the hush money an organization like this had to pay in order to keep the authorities away. Even the mafia wouldn't have the balls to do some of the things people got away with here on live TV and think they could get away with it. The AFW seemed to allow everything short of straight up murder.

Not to mention that the whole match smelled like a setup from the start, she just couldn't figure out the motive behind it.

"I don't know if she does. I mean, I guess she doesn't, otherwise we wouldn't be having this conversation, but..." She accepted the second drink with more than a handful of rue. All she ever seemed to do was take from Chris, and she still hadn't given her anything back. "Thanks."

Chris sighed as took her glass back In her hand, thinking about the situation at hand. The defeat would've been devastating to the two, but would that have been enough to break the two of them apart? Unlikely, she guessed. They'd argue, but after some time, if one of them reached out, the other would surely be there.
She looked at Valley.
"Well, it's been awhile since Summer Splash. You know, enough time for heads to clear and get over things that might have been said after the match." the blonde gave a toss of her hair "You should call her. Invite her over. Borrow the rest of this bottle, wear something with a low neckline, because I'm sure you can make that work quite nicely."
She gave a grin to the woman sitting next to her on the couch before continuing on.
"But right, get back to yourselves. Take some time off from the AFW. Build over the wreckage of what happened and make what happened at Summer Splash a memory. When the both of you come back, you'll be healed up, in body and mind. Nothing to distract you guys from whatever goals you set."

She gave out a soft sigh as Chris described the ideal scenario. It sounded like something out of a soap opera. Ace would come in through the door accompanied by a sweeping orchestral score. Valley would be waiting for by the window, while a gentle breeze came in and made her hair dance about. Kind words would be exchanged while they gently embraced, and just like that, all the things they said would be unsaid.

If it only it were so easy.

"Yes, I can rock a low neckline when I want to." She gave Chris a sly grin and tapped her chest. "Not sure now is the best time to try that, though. The last time we talked, things got pretty hot - plus, I kinda maybe sorta made an ass out of myself the other night with Akashi." Just thinking about that slaughter of a match seemed to erase whatever good mood she had started to build up. Three drinks. She needed three.

Due to her busy schedule, Chris had missed that particular show. She had been meaning to get around and watch it, and regretted having done so. It helped to stay up to date on current events after all.

"I've got the other night's show recorded, but I haven't watched it yet." she told Valley. "So I'm a little behind on the times. But, that show was right after Summer Splash. You didn't take any time off to heal up and get your head on straight?"

Akashi was a name she had heard about after she had her first match against Valley. Some fansites and forums had mentioned her as someone who should stop her 'reign of terror' before it could begin. Having searched about, she had dug up some information about the sumo and discovered she was a powerful and experienced competitor, and in her eyes, not someone to pick a fight with after nearly having your pelvic bone shattered.
"Val....what else happened?" she asked gently.

"Honestly, I didn't need healing." It felt a little cocky to say that out loud, but it was really quite true. She wasn't 100% going into the match, but she was hardly so off that she could blame her loss on that alone, or even say it was the major factor. "I mean, yes, the Summer Splash match sucked, sure, but I didn't get hurt all that much. I was competition ready, Chris, believe me. I wouldn't have tried it if I wasn't."

She finished off the third cup and sat it down on the table. Valentine moved to start licking at the rim, but Valley pulled him over before he could try. She was reasonably certain cats weren't supposed to ingest alcohol. "But yeah. It was a massacre." She exhaled and let her hair fall down in front of her face. "I got some good hits in at the start, but once Akashi got into a groove, it was over. Under five minutes. Dead bang."

It was especially embarrassing considering that, while she hadn't beaten Chris, either, she'd certainly done better than that. So it wasn't like she couldn't hold her own against bigger opponents.

Five minutes? The former Wrestle Angel couldn't think of a time she was in a match that short. Well, unless it was against some jobber, and then it was Chris getting the win. She couldn't imagine being able to not last five minutes against another wrestler. Then again, she did enjoy a considerable size advantage against most of the others. Still though....Val was pretty damn good. She didn't think Akashi was so talented that she could overwhelm the Slamazon so completely unless something was wrong.
Chris set aside her glass, empty.
"Well, it's not just physical injuries, Val. I mean, not to be all corny and everything, but you needed to heal up here." she said, tapping the side of her head. "I mean, your problems with Ace had to have been in your mind, maybe even keeping you out of your own groove."
Here, in her next sentence, the Californian unknowingly echoed Valley's line of reasoning.

"You held your own against me for a lot longer than five minutes, Val. At the top of your game, you would've been able to run circles around Akashi for longer than you did." Chris went on, reaching out to pet Valentine's head, rubbing a thumb against the side of the cat's face.

"You're right. That is corny." She stuck her tongue out, managing a small smile as she ran an idle finger along the rim of the glass. Three was enough. If Chris let her, she would probably drink the phenom dry.

Valley joined in the petting, double-teaming Valentine and making the cat purr in pure bliss. "You're right, though. Of course you're right. What happened with Ace..." She sighed, looking out the window for a moment while she gathered her thoughts. "It affected me. It's affecting me, right now, much as I hate to admit it."

She cleared the hair out of her face as she slumped back in the sofa. "Her birthday's coming up, soon. Think that's a good time to try and reconnect?"

"Oh, shut up...." Chris replied, laughing as Valley stuck her tongue out at her. "You saw the Karate Kid back in the day."
She went into a really bad impression of the late Pat Morita.
"You lack focus, Daniel-san!" she proclaimed.
Noticing that Valley's glass was emptied for the third time, she motioned towards the bottle of wine, inviting her to drink another glass.

Then Valley brought up the matter of Ace's birthday.
"Oh...that's a tricky one." she replied. "I mean on one hand, if you show up, you could wind up bringing her down on what is supposed to be her day. But, if you don't, you might come across as uncaring."
Drumming her fingers against the armrest of the couch, Chris weighted the options for a moment in silence.
"You know, maybe you shouldn't like, visit her, or find her at her birthday party. Just a phone call, something to let her know you care, and acknowledging what day it is." she advised. "But...there's something else I think needs to be said."

Now that Valley's hair was out of her face, Chris looked her in the eyes, to show her how serious she was.
"I think you need to focus on you." she said evenly. "Maybe what happened with Akashi was a sign, you know."
She explained this line of thought the best she was able to.
"Look, there was a Valley Doll long before there was a Valley and Ace. I'm willing to bet that if she was in the ring with Akashi, she would at make that sushi-slurping-sumo know that she was in a fight. This business with Ace, it's got you in bad state, to be sure. But, you know what? If she doesn't want to come around, then fine, that's her loss. Because you had goals when you came here. And I don't imagine they involved being squashed in less time than it takes to warm up microwave lasagna." she said. "I guess what I mean to say is...get back to business. Remember the reasons that brought you out here in the first place."