Fenix Rising

Stone paused at Vida's question, as if she'd just been asked to give the square root of pi off the top of her head. That might have even been an easier question to answer. Certainly less embarrassing.

"It's complicated." It wasn't, not really. Not nearly as much as she would have liked."She wasn't always this bad. I know that's hard to swallow, believe me, but..." She sighed and shook her head. Might as well explain the whole thing.

"I got kicked out of the Army, just for being who I am. That was a big deal for my family, we've got a long history in service, so I was a pretty big disappointment." Stone rubbed her eyes, fighting off the sleepiness."So I was just out there for a while. Adrift. Roaming. But the Valkyries took me in. Mako accepted me. For a while it was really nice. I mean, okay, we were a gang, but we were pretty harmless."

She was starry for a moment as she recalled the better days, but it didn't last."Somewhere it just went wrong. I don't know how or when, but it did."

Vida listened attentively, wrapping her arms around herself and settling in, on the cot. The aspiring luchadora pushed her hair, still a bit thick with sweat from the match, out of her eyes. Some degree of confusion was evident on the young woman's face, as she listened to Stone. She never took her wide eyes off of the other woman, as she spoke. All the while, however, it was evident from her expression that she simply wasn't fully understanding everything that Stone was saying.

“Kicked out?” she asked, silently. Vida didn't want to interrupt, but she couldn't hold back how bewildered she was, at what Stone was telling her. “For who you are? That- that doesn't make any sense. It's horrible, why would they do that?” she said, her head cocking to the side.

As Vida sat back and listened, however, some things started to fall into place, began to slowly make some sort of sense. At least, as it pertained to Stone's relationship to the violent Mako. If someone was willing to accept Stone when others wouldn't, it only made sense for her to latch on to that. Really, if nothing else, it reminded Vida vividly of her first days in the orphanage. Still, however, it seemed like Stone was pained about something more, than that. “What do you mean,” Vida asked, earnestly. “How exactly did things go wrong? I … I went to an orphanage, when my parents left me behind. I can't imagine how hard it would be on me, if that went wrong somehow. Whatever happened, it must have been pretty hard, on you.”

Stone sighed at the looked on Vida's face and ran a hand through her spiky hair. Vida lead a cloistered life from the sound of things, about as far from the crap in America as you could possibly get. It wasn't the easiest thing to understand if you lived there, explaining it to someone out of the element was going to be a choir.

She leaned forward and paused, steepling her fingers. "I'm attracted to other women. I'm gay." She wobbled her head from side to side and shrugged. "If you're in the AFW, I'm guessing you know what that's about. But people in America aren't all that accepting of it. When I joined, they had this thing, this policy - 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'. Basically, people like me got to be in the army, so long as we didn't tell anyone who we were. Bullsh-" She paused and looked off to the side. "Nonsense, total nonsense. Someone asked, I told, and I got kicked out."

She started to move on, but Stone stopped to get a read on Vida before she did. After all, there was never anyway to tell how someone felt on the subject from a glance, and it would hardly be the first time she got burned for assuming someone would be more accepting of her orientation than they really were. Clarity was best. "That's not a problem for you, is it? Me being gay, I mean."

Vida nodded, while Stone clarified things, for her. She'd been so utterly bewildered, with no clue what the woman meant about “being who she was.” Even now, the whole story wasn't entirely making sense to her. Her brow furrowed a bit, as she mulled the powerfully built blonde's words over. “It doesn't bother me, no,” Vida said, as she thought.

She got settled in on the cot, and brushed her hair away from her face. “It's not something I saw much of, growing up. I don't know if any of the other girls at the orphanage were that way, but I didn't get to know them, really. It's just not something anyone really talked about. Maybe the sisters thought we had other things to worry about, maybe they didn't feel like dealing with it. I don't know.

“My only experience with … that sort of thing, came from lucha, actually. It was a show I went to, where a visiting wrestler was coming in. They said he was an exotico, a male luchadore who dresses like a woman, wears makeup, and acts melodramatically. 'A gay lucha,' they told me. I didn't understand, but the crowd seemed to hate her. She was a tecnico, 'a good guy.' She upheld all the rules, performed amazing moves, and still the crowd turned on her. She was even facing one of the most hated rudos in town, even, but they didn't seem to care.

“I love all the great tecnicos, so I cheered my throat sore, for her. I think because the others booed her, so hard. But halfway through the match, I noticed that half those people that hated her, started cheering, too. She fought so well, and so hard, the exotico won over so many people who were crying out for her blood. But not all of them, and that always bothered me. There was no reason to be so hateful. Her dropkicks were flawless. The snap in her hurricanrana is something I try to this day to get right. When she did a springboard armdrag, it was so smooth, so flawless. I had no idea how they could hate someone who could do such amazing things.”

Vida leaned back, a look in her eye as the wheels turned, in her head. “I don't know why, but you made me remember that, just now. I don't know if it even means anything, to what you were saying, and I'm sorry if I sound ignorant. But I guess I did learn that some people will hate those that are different, even when they obviously don't have a good reason for it. So, no, Miss Stone, it does not bother me. I am sorry if I talked too much about it, though.” Vida was suddenly quite self-conscious at having ranted so long, and offered an apologetic smile to Stone, as she tried to settle back in, on her cot.

Stone loved a good story, and she had her parents to thank for that. Even though she didn't particularly believe in it anymore, her father did an excellent job of making the Bible sound so exciting, retelling the stories with his booming baritone voice during Sunday School. Sometimes it was nice just to hear people talk, wind them up and let them go. You could learn so much by actually listening and not just hearing.

She listened carefully throughout the tale, not just paying attention to the story itself, but the way Vida told it. On the surface it might not have seemed like much, but she noted that Vida referred to the tecnico as a 'she', even though she was physically a 'he'. A small, seemingly insignificant detail, a nuance many people wouldn't bother to do - referring to someone not by their physical gender but by the way they identified. It gave Stone some immediate respect for Vida, and that feeling only broadened. There was calmness about her, a gentle wisdom that was beyond her years.

'There's no shame in ignorance, Vida." She reached over and patted the young girl's leg, making sure to avoid the sore spot. "Everyone's ignorant about something, sometimes. But you're willing to learn and you don't let your judgment get clouded by what others think. That's important. Don't lose that, okay?" Stone gave her the warmest smile she could muster, the sort of grin she hadn't donned in years. "Thank you for telling me that story. I really appreciate it, I can't tell you how much."

Vida smiled, still looking a bit self-conscious. She was still feeling like she'd been talking too much, but at least it seemed like Stone enjoyed the story. Or she got something out of it, maybe. And God knew Stone's words and show of affection were some much-needed comfort, at the moment. Not just for the awkwardness, but it helped to take the edge off of the pain in her leg, and the sting of having suffered another loss. “Thank you, Stone,” Vida said, nodding, “I- I'll do my best. If it was any help at all, I'm glad.”

And at the very least, the story did help Vida to think some things through. She found herself wondering whatever had become of that exotico from all those years, ago, but pushed the thought out of her mind. She needed to focus on the here and now. And all that besides, Vida found herself feeling a bit worried, for Stone.

Vida couldn't begin to guess at how Stone was feeling, exactly, but she felt like she had some educated guesses. Acceptance was an incredibly important thing, and that's what Stone had gotten from Mako and her gang. Vida didn't like to think what would have happened to her, without the Sisters, or the luchas, and all of their care and support. And if Stone was here, now, instead of with her gang, that probably wasn't the the easiest thing to be going through.

“So,” Vida said, after a moment, “how are you feeling? Are you doing okay, right now?”

Stone sighed and stood up, finally calming all the way down now that were probably having the most comfortable conversation she'd had in years. Given the way they talked, it was hard to believe they'd been fighting less than an hour ago, and that Vida had been completely and rightfully freaked out by the craziness of it in the past two minutes. She was peaceful sort of girl, pure and happy, and it made Stone wonder how Mako could have wound up if things had been just a little different in her laugh. Maybe if someone had cared more for, had spent a little more time...

Maybe...

She snapped out of her thoughts and looked down at Vida, chuckling. "Me? I'm fine. This crazy little luchadore slammed her body on me and worked me over all around the ring, but I'm pretty sure I'll survive. Know I look delicate, but I'm actually pretty tough." Stone stepped back and paused, a blank expression over her face. An awkward moment. Two. "That was a joke, how did it work?"

Vida watched Stone rise, slowly, and settled into her cot. She was still nervously hoping she hadn't said too much, or overstepped her bounds, but it seemed like the powerful blond might actually be relaxing. Both in the ring, and here backstage, Vida had quickly grown to respect and truly like Stone. For all of the obvious power that Stone could bring to the table, there was an undercurrent of honor and dignity to everything she did. The fact that she'd even shown up here, after the doctors had tended to Vida, was testament in Vida's mind, to the young woman's honor. Had things been different, Vida imagined that Stone wouldn't have been out of place amongst herself and her trainers, back home.

Vida stared up at her recent opponent, looking confused as Stone began to chuckle. At first, the luchadora looked bashful, and a bit ashamed as Stone began to detail getting 'worked over' by the 'crazy little luchadore.' She knew immediately what Stone was talking about, she simply had to fight off the initial wave of guilt. Her shoulders slouched in relief, however, after Stone broke her pause. “Never mind that!” she shouted, sitting stock-straight in her cot, raising a fist into the air. With a look of grim seriousness that didn't seem to fit the luchadora's features at all, Vida continued, “We have to find this crazy luchadora that tried to brutalize my friend! We must make her pay, for such dishonor! Maybe even smash her leg, the monster!” As she said this, Vida was visibly trying to suppress a giggle. She looked up at Stone from beneath trembling, disheveled bangs, trying and failing to hold her composure and appear as deathly serious as possible.

Stone burst out with a full laugh at that one - an honest, genuine, full laugh. It had been ages since she'd had one of those, and she probably wouldn't be getting it again for a nice, long while. There'd be hell to pay when she met up with Mako back at their apartment, that was for sure. A long night of annoying arguments and broken things awaited her. Not looking forward to that one bit.

Something had to change with Mako. Stone just wasn't sure how. Or when. Or even what, exactly. But something.

She kept her smile up and reached over to pinch Mako's cheek. "You are ridiculously cute, you know that? I should probably leave before you give me cavities." She stood up and started to fumble in her pocket. "Besides, I'm pretty sure the doctor's want to have another look at you and they're just too afraid to come in while I'm here. So, yeah, shouldn't linger."

She pulled out a small AFW flyer she'd taken from backstage, put it facedown on Vida's bed, and started writing on it. "Here." She handed her the flyer, now with her number on it. "If you ever get into any trouble around here, Mako or anyone else, you call me, okay? I'll come back you up, anytime."

Vida couldn't help but burst into giggling, when Stone laughed. It felt good to let loose like that, especially given the tension that the two of them had just been wrapped up, in. Plus, Stone's laugh sounded nice. Full, heartfelt, it seemed to Vida that it filled up the room, a bit, and she hoped that Stone got as much out of getting to let loose that way, as Vida got out of hearing it. As her own fit of giggling died down, the rookie leaned back on her cot. As Stone pinched her cheek, a slight snicker came from the luchadora. “Oh noes,” she said, with faux desperation, “you've got way too nice a smile, for me to go messing it up! Run away, run away!”

Out of the corner of her eye, however, Vida had noticed the medical staff popping their heads in and out of the room, trying to focus on that ankle. “Aaahh, I'm sure it's be fine,” she said. “Besides, I'm glad that I had a friend here, with me, while I'm recovering.” She stopped short, however, as Stone began scribbling things down on the flyer. The rookie's eyes lit up a bit, as she watched Stone write down the numbers on the flyer, and accepted the offering with a degree of reverance. “I- Thank you, Stone,” Vida said, some awe in her voice. The gesture clearly meant the world to the young rookie; here she was, still so completely new to AFW, and making her first, actual friend. “And- And if you ever need any help, anything at all, even just somebody to talk to, I will so be there, for you! I'm not big and strong, like you, but I will totally have your back, any time. I, um, don't have anything to write my phone number on … Also, I don't know my phone number … But I will totally learn it, so I can give it to you! That is a thing that will totally happen!”

Feeling a bit self-conscious, after her little outburst, Vida sank back into her cot. She knew full well that she'd just gotten far too excited, but she still couldn't contain herself. The smile on the luchadora's face seemed implacable, as she soaked in the moment. Regardless of having lost yet another match, tonight, Vida could help but feel like this had been the best possible outcome, for her.