Wild Animals

"Ohmigod, Bear, what are you doing?!"

"I just want to say hi."

"Well, then say it from like, a reasonable distance! That things gonna claw your face off and give you rabies!"

"Look how cute he is!"

"He's only cute now because you're not bleeding from the face yet!"

Taylor girlishly clutched her fists against her chest while Cassie slowly inched her way closer to the little raccoon at the end of the short alleyway. Cassie had spotted the movement when it was attempting to make a getaway after feasting in a dumpster, but it ended up cornered. The animal regarded Cassie like a predator coming to eat it, and Cassie looked at the raccoon like her little baby new best friend, while Taylor watched in slack-jawed, abject horror while the redhead squatted down with one hand on her knees and the other held out toward it. She obviously didn't have any food. Even if she did, the raccoon knew better.

"Look in the dumpster for some food."

Taylor blinked like the suggestion had physically stunned her. "Wh- I am not going to go dumpster diving[i] for [i]any reason, let alone for that."

"But what if she has babies, Taylor! What then?"

"I dunno! Who cares! You're not like, the raccoon whisperer, so just leave it alone and let's go! C'mon, we have reservations and stuff. Do you want to miss dinner?"

Cassie paused, sitting on her haunches, and peered upward in thought. "No... Hm. I wanna pet him. I bet their fur is like a dog." She inched forward again, and the raccoon bared its teeth and arched it's back.

"Ohh my GAWD!" Taylor flailed her hands and took two steps back. "Are you crazy? You're on your own." She turned away, standing with her toes on the sidewalk and her heels in the alley. She couldn't watch. Any moment now she'd hear the sounds of Cassie being attacked by a wild animal, and it would be all Cassie's fault.

Heading out felt like a mistake. Gemma Faraday was still just off of what was probably the worst night of her career, with not just one, but two decisive losses in a row. Gemma had spent the last few nights kicking herself for being goaded into that second match, and it didn't help that every glance into a mirror gave her a clear view of the consequences.

Her unseasonably large jacket did a good job of covering the bruises. Much to her chagrin, however, there was little Gemma could do for her poor face. A bit of gauze taped over her cheek (which her opponent Syd had nearly chewed off) covered some stiches she'd had to get. She wore some bandages over the bridge of her nose, which had nearly been broken in the ring. Wrestling in her old, sideshow-style fed never left the young Brit nearly this banged up. It didn't offer the same rewards, sure, but what level of fame going to be worth leaving home looking like this, after every show?

And she had to leave the apartment, Gemma reminded herself. All too easy to keep moping around, keep wallowing in self-pity and boxes of cheap takeaway. No, she had to get out. She had talked herself into taking a walk, grabbing herself a tofu dog and taking a break from the one-girl pity-party she'd been throwing herself. Several times already, however, Gemma felt the leering eyes of passers-by staring at her a bit too hard, for a bit too long. She didn't know that anyone had recognized her, but the possibility that they weren't recalling graphic images of her horribly public humiliation wasn't enough to put her mind at ease.

Quickly, however, Gemma was roused out of her self-conscious worrying. Just a moment away from taking a bite out of her tofu dog, she caught wind of a conversation in a nearby alleyway. Two young women, and possibly a cornered ... raccoon, maybe? Gemma looked down the alley, from the blonde standing at the edge of the sidewalk, to the redhead further in, clearly very invested in the animal. There was something familiar about the girls, but Gemma's focus wasn't really on them, at the moment.

“Is … is everything alright?” Gemma asked, lowering the food from her mouth, a bit, her confusion spelled out clear as day across her face. She could feel the bandages tugging at her face as she spoke, pulling and hurting a bit with each word, but she paid it no mind. “You two seem to be having a bit of difficulty, there ...”

Taylor didn't miss a beat. "Oh, I'm just fine. My friend here is the one with the problem."

Cassie looked up at the passing girl with a shy smile from her squat, with her hands on her knees. "I found a raccoon."

"You don't happen to have a rabies shot on you, do ya? She could also use like twenty cc's of common sense, if you-" She stopped short when she looked back and saw Cassie cautiously reaching out with one hand in an offer of friendship to the hissing raccoon, that looked like it was preparing to leap onto her face. "OH MAI GAWD, BEAR! STOP IT!" She shouted, with another uncharacteristically girly flailing of her hands. She clutched her fists against her chest and danced in place like the raccoon had just crawled up her leg.

"Would you tell her that it's a bad idea to try to make friends with a random, weirdo raccoon, even if you are a Disney princess? Maybe she'll listen to- what happened to your face?"

Taking a couple of tentative steps into the alley, Gemma kept a keen eye on the redhead and her new, snarling, potentially-rabid friend. Gemma could certainly understand the blonde's apprehension; the Brit gave a sympathetic (albeit nervous) chuckle, to her comments. "Well, yes, afraid I sort of left my 'common sense' kit, back at the apartme-" Gemma was cut short, however, nearly jumping out of her boots when the blond started shouting at her friend. Taking a second to get her heart rate back under control, Gemma smoothed over her bangs, a bit disheveled, and tried her best to get her bearings. It didn't seem like either girl was too terribly used to dealing with animals, which made the ex-carnie-current-vegan-perpetual-bleeding-heart feel all the more obligated to help out.

Gemma couldn't suppress a wince, however, when the blonde reacted to Gemma's current facial situation. “Ah,” she said, “it was … work-related. Apparently, professional wrestling is trying to get some cross-appeal going, with the 'Walking Dead' crowd … ” The Brit giggled, weakly, strongly suspecting that her attempt at humor had utterly failed to mask how mortified she was, by her appearance. “Also, Snow White lived with seven hairy miners and let stray animals do all of her housework,” she added. “It's no wonder that the first thing she ate in that hovel nearly killed her ...”

Still, she took a few steps towards the redhead, slowly, trying her level best not to spook the raccoon any worse than it already was. Honestly, the redhead seemed like a sweet girl, and she likely had the best intentions, but everything about this screamed bad idea. Gemma had no desire to find out what a call to animal control entailed, in Japan. Reaching forward with the tofu dog, Gemma cleared her throat. “Ahem. Um, perhaps you could give him this, if you'd like? You know, instead of trying to pet him? I'm sure he'd appreciate something to chew on. Something that isn't, you know, your face.” With her free hand, Gemma tried to frame her own gauzed cheek. “Trust me, it's not a terribly fun prospect, being noms.”

Taylor nodded, and after a cursory inspection of the pale-haired Brit she realized that she probably should've seen that coming. She was pretty hot, busty, a little weird, a little sturdier than your average girl, and she was all busted up. It just screamed AFW.

She watched Gemma step past her to offer some bait to Cassie, and Cassie looked up at her with a great big smile.

"Oh, why thank you!" She said, with a near-perfect English accent that closely resembled Gemma's. Taylor was used to it. It happened sometimes. Cassie wasn't sure why, but she often picked up accents without realizing it. "Raccoons love a good hot dog!" She said in a silly voice.

"That's not a hot dog, though. Right?"

Cassie pulled off a piece and extended it out toward the furious raccoon. When it showed no signs of being swayed by the bribe, she tossed it a little closer to him. He still didn't seem thrilled.

"Aw," Cassie said. "But I can't just leave him here, he'll probably get hit by a car or something! I'll bring him home. Me and Akashi can start a zoo." She looked up at Gemma and stuck her hand out from her squatting position. "Hi! I'm Cassie. Thanks for your hot dog-"

"Tofu dog."

"-I guess he's not hungry, though. Maybe. Um... Can we get you a new hot dog?"

"Actually, we have lunch reservations next door in a few minutes. We can see if they'll just add one to the table, if you wanna join..." Taylor said with a friendly smile. Since Gemma had apparently not recognized either one of them, she figured she was new. Well, to be fair, Taylor hadn't recognized her, either. So she must have been new.

Gemma was a little taken aback by the sudden accent, when the redhead accepted the offered tofu dog. Trying to suppress her shock, the Brit initially suspected she was being picked on, but it didn't seem to really fit with the girl's otherwise bright-eyed attitude. Shaking it off, Gemma concluded that the last few weeks had made simply left her more than a little self-conscious.

Gemma simply shook her head at the question. “No, just tofu,” she said, “though I don't know how much he'll care to eat it, right now. He's probably a bit nervous. Might go ahead and pick it up, if we leave him be, for a bit.” Gemma didn't know how to respond to the zoo comment, but the Brit forgot it immediately as Cassie offered her hand. Taking it gratefully, she gave a small smile, “Gemma Faraday. Nice to meet you, Cassie.” For as much as the Brit had wanted to hole herself up and hide her bandaged face like so much Phantom of the Opera, it felt good to actually be making someone's acquaintance, finally. There had been a woeful lack of that, since she came to Japan.

When the somewhat familiar blonde girl made her offer of coming along for dinner, Gemma's back went a bit straight. Instinctively, she kind of wanted to run screaming into the night. Maybe start making raccoon noises, to scare her off. Things had gone so badly for her, since she'd started at AFW, that she really didn't want to sit back and wait for this to blow up in her face, too.

On the other hand, though, her alternative was to go home and continue to fail at understanding Japanese television. Or cave to the temptation to watch her match videos, again, and wallow in angst all night. So, the given alternative to go out to dinner, get out of her rut, and possibly even make new friends was more than enticing enough to win out. Besides, the mix of vague familiarity and the friendly smile did a lot, to put Gemma at ease.

“You know,” Gemma said, her shoulders relaxing as she returned the smile, “that sounds lovely, actually. Better than cheap take-away in front of the television, at the very least. If it's not too much bother, then I would love to join you. What sort of place is it?” Gemma stooped down, to leave the rest of her near-dinner on the pavement for the Cassie's furry little almost-friend, and put her hands back in her pockets. “Also, I'm sorry, but I don't think I caught your name?”

"It's like... healthy stuff. Salad and soup and curry and some other stuff," Taylor explained, and then smiled at Gemma. "I'm Taylor Parker. This is Cassie Elliot. That's a wild raccoon."

Cassie finally stood up and went back to the sidewalk, leaving her unwilling animal companion behind. Once she was out of the way, the raccoon scurried quickly back into the hole it had crawled out of, which Cassie had been blocking.

"Nice to meet you too, Gemma!" She said, full of sunshine and cheer. "Sorry about your match. Don't worry, there's always next time!"

"Yeah, dude. Don't let the biters get you down, right?" Taylor led the way into the restaurant and spoke to the hostess in Japanese until she led them to a table.

The restaurant was small, but crowded. It was easy to see why reservations were a good idea. People sat crowded against small tables laden with plates of fresh vegetables and bowls of soup and a variety of Japanese and western-style food, all of it undeniably good for you.

“Oh, God,” Gemma said in an excited whisper, “I haven't had a curry in forever!” Gemma was shaken out of her reminisces, however, as proper introductions happened. Gemma froze, now that she had some names to ascribe to that vague sense of familiarity. Stepping out of the alley, the Brit tried to play it cool and hope she could hide the sudden wave of intimidation that washed over her, upon learning who exactly she had just met. “Taylor. Cassie,” she said, with a slightly nervous chuckle. “Wild raccoon. It's a pleasure.”

The smile got a little more forced, however, as Cassie offered her condolences. Gemma could tell the girl was being sincerely cheerful. That, and it seemed Taylor did want her to feel better, with her comments about 'the biters.' Somehow, though, it didn't help the Brit to keep from bristling a bit defensively. “Yeah,” she said, offering an unconvincing smile. “Next time …”

Some of that nervousness dissipated, however, as the three women entered the restaurant. The place was bustling, packed from wall to wall. A panoply of smells wafted into Gemma's nose, while she watched Taylor secure their table. Following Taylor and their hostess to a table, Gemma found herself feeling suddenly and infinitely grateful that her fellow wrestlers were able to get her a seat, tonight. “Do you lot do this often?” she asked, turning to Cassie with a grin and an upturned eyebrow. “I've just recently been finding myself able to leave my new apartment, let alone sniff out a place like this.” Taking her seat, Gemma tried not to look too hungry, as she looked around at the plates on neighboring tables. It suddenly hit her how little she'd been eating, since arriving in AFW.

"Do we do what often?" Taylor leaned in toward Gemma to hear over the din.

"Go out to eat? Oh, all the time. Well, I eat at home a lot, but I live here in Tokyo."

"Yeah, I'm in Hamamatsu, kinda between here and Kyoto. Where Tension is," she clarified for Gemma. "But yeah, I'm all over the place, so I've gotta eat how I can. I usually have like, containers of sweet potatoes and brown rice and tofu and beans and kale and spinach in my gym bag. I eat out a lot, but I have to eat clean, so I can't just..." She trailed off while she glanced around for a waitress. One thing Taylor and Cassie had in common was that hunger was a very serious and pressing matter for them.

"I'm not as picky as Taylor," Cassie said to Gemma with a guilty little smile. "Taylor used to be a vegan before she retired. Now she just only eats really healthy stuff. I try to, too, but... I still love french fries and pizza. I think I like the pizza better here than back home!"

"That's because you're from Canada! Like, the worst pizza shop in New York still beats anything here-"

"Wait," Cassie spoke up, and reached her hand into the middle of the table. She leaned forward, tucking one ankle under her as she sat, and looked over at Gemma. "Do you know who we are?" The question seemed so silly she had to laugh, and she waved a hand apologetically. "Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry. We're both wrestlers in AFW Friction. I guess we kind of assumed you were too, because of... of..."

"Yeah. Because someone ate your face," Taylor said with a lopsided grin. "You're still pretty pissed about that, huh? We've been there, man, so just chill out and eat up, a'right? It's on me, get whatever you want."

Taylor and Cassie realized at the same time that poor Gemma had hardly got a word in edgewise. They both paused and looked at the pale-haired British girl, like they were waiting to see how she would take the whole thing.

From the moment they'd stepped into the restaurant, everything seemed like a whirlwind to Gemma. She did her best to keep up with the conversation, pigtails whipping as her head bobbed from speaker to speaker. Gemma's menu twisted and fidgeted between her fingers, as she struggled between paying attention to each of the girls while still trying to finally find herself something decent to eat.

Here and there, she offered quick and polite responses, to what was said. “It's pretty tough to eat well on the road, yes,” she said, at one point. At another, “Really? I'm vegan, too! When I'm not getting forced dog food, anyways ...” A timid, “I've heard nice things about Canada. Mostly,” at another point. She stopped, though, when Cassie's hand reached the table and drew the entirety of her attention.

Gemma couldn't help but share in Cassie's laugh, though. It felt good to acknowledge that recognition, instead of trying to play it cool, and that relief came off of the Brit in waves. When the table finally fell silent, Gemma seemed massively relieved at the chance for some conversation.

“I, uhm, I knew the names, anyways. When you introduced yourselves,” Gemma began, as her laughter died down, a bit. She rubbed the back of her neck, self-consciously. “Delighted to meet you, by the way. Kind of a big fan,” she nodded, politely. “Would never have expected to just run into you on the street, like this. Glad to hear you'd assumed I was a wrestler too, though. I'd hate to think girls running around with their faces half-eaten was that common, around here. Also, If it's not too much bother, I'd love to take you up on that offer, for dinner. I haven't had a chance to come out and find decent places to eat, since I've gotten here. Seems I live between the arena, the gym and my apartment, since I've arrived. I'll pay you the favor back, as soon as possible.”

Gemma squared her shoulders, picking up her menu. “And just to answer your question, Taylor, I suppose I am still quite a bit ragey about that whole thing. I've lost matches before, of course. Here, back home in Blackpool. It happens. It sucks, but you learn. I've never been through one like that, though. And it didn't help that the girl who did all of this to me had her little skankabelle manager, on top of it all, making matters worse.” Gemma sighed. “I should probably let it go. I'm just kind of … well … I'm kind of terrified of ending up a jobber out here, you know? Do you ever run into that? That sorry, I mean? About feeling like you're nothing but an easy target?” Gemma suddenly felt very self-conscious about how much she'd been talking, and clammed up. She shifted uncomfortably, eyes going back down to her menu. The Brit was waiting to hear their response, the entire time hoping she hadn't just said too much and exposed herself for the deer-in-the-headlights rookie she felt herself to be, at the moment.