Lunchtime at AFW

Jessica was beginning to get a bit flustered. This was weird for her. She wasn't winning, and she was having a difficult time of it. A sense of being lost came over her. She screwed up her face and really looked at Kandi now. Defeat was not an option. Not against Kandi. Even if she did amend the rules in her favor. This was a lot harder than she thought it would be when she threw down the game. Hell, she didn't even want the fry that much. She just thought she could get Kandi to bet on it.

"Hundred. Has to be one hundred." Jessica's voice was a little less sure now. Wheels turned in Jessica's mind, wondering if Kandi would play a similar game with her. If she did, Jessica would of course lie to one up her. Although Kandi might think of what age she lost her virginity. She let out a huff through her nose. It had to be one hundred. She had to be right.

"Sorry hon, the answer was seventy six," Kandi said with a grin, although she tried to make it sound jovial rather than smug. She had a feeling that even the suggestion of rubbing it in might set off Jessica's more aggressive side, given how competitive she had gotten at even such a simple game. To show willing though, she nudged her plate closer to Jessica, offering her the fry regardless, "Now if you were to count some of the other stuff I've done with people that isn't sex, you'd be a lot closer with that last number."

Kandi leaned back in her chair, her hands resting on the bulge of her belly that pillowed out her sweatshirt, and gave a contented sigh. The food had been relatively simple, but satisfying, and she found her thoughts drifting to the possibility of dessert. She was about to ask if Jessica knew anywhere close by that did a good cheesecake, but stopped herself short - she doubted that Jessica indulged much of a sweet tooth. Still, perhaps she needed to let her hair down a little? Kandi had only really just met her, and while she was a good judge of character she hardly knew the ins and outs of this tall woman's personality, but she didn't seem to talk to others much, and her opening up was probably doing her some good - perhaps a treat for herself was something that could do her some good?

"Say, we're both pretty much done here, and I'm pretty sure I saw a cute little cake shop nearby on the way. Figured I'd see what they have available if you fancy coming along? My treat." she offered, uncertain whether Jessica would accept or not, but willing to take the chance. The worst she could do was say no after all.

Jessica slumped her shoulders and looked off to the side, sulking. Damn. She was off by quite a bit. Jessica saw Kandi pushing the fry towards her and shot her a dubious look. No one in hell was she going to take it. But seventy six did not surprise her in the least. She didn't even raise an eyebrow. She could totally see it now, and she felt a little pride knowing her first guess wasn't off by that much. Losing still stung, even with Kandi's consolation.

She looked down at her empty plate and sighed. It felt good to know that she was going to be stronger today than she was yesterday. She hit the gym daily and could feel the strength in her muscles. A few tilts in the ring seemed to show that it had paid off. All her reactions were a little bit slower than they needed to be. Only so many ways to work on speed.

Jessica looked up in surprise at Kandi's offer. Kandi, this rotund girl, wanted to go eat cake with Jessica? What was this, tea time? "Uhh, sure," she mumbled. It came out more than Jessica answered. There was nothing wrong with cake every now and then, even if she didn't love most Japanese food. She was too accustomed to overly sugary American food to truly appreciate the culinary arts of Japan. She began to scratch her head. Why on Earth would Kandi want to get cake with Jessica? She mulled it over. After all, what was the worst that could happen? "You will have to order though. My Japanese isn't spectacular." She collected her trash and bag and stood up.

Kandi was pleasantly surprised when Jessica accepted the offer to join her, albeit with a degree of hesitance and uncertainty, her eyes studying Kandi critically like she was looking for some kind of scam or joke at her expense. She met those violet eyes with an honest smile - she had no ulterior motive beyond just hanging out a little more.

<"That's OK, I'm pretty good at it,"> Kandi said, switching smoothly from English to Japanese. It was certainly true that the plump woman had a talent for linguistics (in more ways than one, her mind automatically made the joke), as she spoke French, German and Spanish in addition to her native tongue, and even a little Russian. Japanese had been a bit of a hurdle for her, but while the various written forms still gave her headaches, she'd managed to get herself at least conversationally fluent in the language. Sliding her seat back, she scooped up her bag, slung it over one shoulder and collected her tray, heading over to the disposal bin. She paused, reluctant to let good food go to waste, and swiftly popped the last fry into her mouth before setting the empty dish and tray in their respective piles.

"OK, it's not too far from here," Kandi said, as they made their way towards the exit, "It's just straight along the street, about a block away, so we can't really miss it."

Jessica was still not quite sure what to make of Kandi. Through it all, she kept smiling. Jessica wondered if she was too jaded to recognize an actually good person. Maybe some people were just friendly. Jessica supposed these sorts of things could happen, even if they were a bit rare. Her bag didn't feel heavy on her shoulder. The jumble of clothes and pre-workout inside didn't make a noise as she threw her refuse away. There wasn't much that could sate Jessica's hearty appetite, but she did enjoy the nice full meal.

Jessica walked alongside Kandi. Her Japanese sounded pretty good, much better than Jessica's. "You'll have to lead. I've done a bit of exploring, but I am not quite familiar with this part of Tokyo. I live pretty far away from here, actually." Jessica was sure she was quite a sight to see in the subway to and from these parts. Her violet hair stuck out like a sore thumb. The locals always gave her a wide berth, which she appreciated. Her lemon of a car wasn't much use in the packed traffic of Tokyo, but it was still nice to have.

"Do you have any matches lined up? I am really curious to see how you work a match." Jessica tried to return Kandi's friendliness as much as she could. She was sure she sounded awkward as they made their way out of the cafeteria.

As the two of them worked their way out the main doors and onto the bustling street outside, Kandi realised that the two of them must have been quite the sight in very different ways. Jessica was tall enough to tower over the vast majority of the local populace, and Kandi probably had the average pedestrian outweighed twice over with some to spare. That wasn't even factoring in the workout clothing they still wore, nor their hair, pink and purple amid a sea of black and dark brown. They stood out more than a couple of gaudy Ganguro girls, but Kandi was unfazed by the myriad glances that were cast in their direction, focusing her attention on finding that cake shop and continuing to chat with Jessica as they walked.

"Yeah, this city can be crazy to get around in," she moaned, "The trains are fast and frequent, sure, but they're crammed enough without having me trying to find room too. And God, the housing! Seriously, it was murder trying to find a place big enough for myself and my two flatmates."

Kandi squinted as she glanced back and forth, seeking out the store front she'd noticed on the way in. She was certain it was around her somewhere, she certainly recognized the giant anime-looking fish statue in front of the sushi bar across from them. She realised with a start that Jessica had asked her a question.

"Oh, funny story about that actually! I got approached early by someone while I was in the gym," she said, smiling as she recalled the meeting fondly, "She said her name was Lily Belle, and she was managing a small stable of wrestlers. Asked if I wanted to debut against one of her girls named Lamya, so I agreed, just need to sort out the details and I'll have my first match in the AFW ready to go. Oh, I think I spotted it!" Kandi added excitedly, pointing it out as the crowd parted briefly, but long enough to catch the familiar sign of a stylishly presented slice of cake etched in silvery patterns upon the store window.

Jessica had to slow her pace to stay alongside Kandi. She took long strides. Somehow she doubted that a curvy girl like Kandi would keep such a pace. She had grown accustomed to the glances that were cast at her. She was a tall gawky gaijin after all. Low hanging door frames were the bane of her existence and she had bumped her head on them more times than she would admit. She absentmindedly ran her hand over her head as she listened to Kandi talk.

"Yeah, the trains here are god-awful. I don't like being a sardine. Beats the shit out of driving though. Yeah, I have a nice little apartment in the Roppongi Hills. It's not the nicest part of town though."

Jessica looked around like she was being helpful. Honestly, she had no idea what Kandi was talking about and the neon signs were difficult to read. She imagined the store would resemble a giant cake for some reason. She thought it might fit in with how tacky everything else was here.

She wheeled and looked at Kandi at the mention of Lamya. She smiled a broad grin. "Oh you can say I know Lamya pretty well. She is more bark than bite. Not at all bad looking too." Jessica looked to where Kandi was pointing. It did appear to be a cake shop, to Kandi's credit. Jessica gave a cursory glance left and right and took a step out across the street. Traffic lights were for other people.

Kandi winced slightly as Jessica simply loped into the street, the advancing traffic forced to slow a little in order to give her time to pass, and sensing she could be waiting for a while otherwise, the plumper woman hurried after her. At least she wasn't going to lose Jessica in the press of the crowd, and they were both headed to the same place anyway. She offered a hasty apology as her hips almost collided with a rather stunned young woman, and tried her best to work her way through the flow of people towards the store front. With some effort, she reached the door not long after Jessica, giving a deep sigh of relief that that ordeal was behind her.

"God, it's like being back in London, there's so many people on the streets," she said, flashing a smile as she peered in through the window, taking in some of the confectionary delights on display. Kandi could already feel herself salivating as her eyes darted across each in turn, "So Jess, got any special favourites when it comes to sweets? If you're not sure what one of them are, just point it out and I can translate for you."

No one honked, which was surprising to Jessica. Maybe the Japanese were too polite or too intimidated to say or do anything. She was sure they would all rage inwardly about it. Jessica didn't mind one bit what they did. "Well, we are a long way from London, aren't we?"

Jessica was used to towering over everyone but didn't have to look down much to see Kandi. She couldn't really appreciate her height as she was sitting down. She perused the various cakes and sweets they had in the tiny shop. She recognized a few words. She spoke Japanese better than she read it. And she didn't speak it too terribly well. There was a cake that was green, which slightly worried Jessica. She made a disgusted face as she glanced over the goods one more time.

"I want something chocolate-y. But not too sweet. There is such a thing as too much sugar." Jessica bent over to get a better look. "Actually, can you ask if they have pecan pie? I haven't had a piece of it in forever and I am just dying for it." Pecan pie was her favorite, and it was always her special treat when she was good. Growing up, she always looked forward to getting it on a Saturday if she had been good all week. Which wasn't too common.

Kandi listened to Jessica's request, turning her attention back to the window display as she sought out the requested items. While there was plenty of chocolate-y stuff to choose from, she didn't see anything pie-like.

"Hmm, well there's nothing in the display, but we might have more luck inside," she said, pushing open the door and squeezing inside. Kandi was getting into the habit of tilting her body slightly to allow easier passage through the typically too-narrow doorways, as her hips would otherwise tend to get wedged rather awkwardly, though even at an angle aspects of her sizeable frame still tended to be jostled somewhat. She gave a beaming smile to the man behind the counter.

<"Hi there, I was hoping you could help me out,"> she said politely in Japanese as she approached the counter, <"My friend and I were wondering if you make anything like pecan pie?">

The man blinked slowly, turning from Kandi to Jessica and back again as he processed the unlikely pair. Eventually something seemed to click and he gave a slightly apologetic smile, bowing slightly.

<"I'm terribly sorry, we do not make pies here, only cakes,"> he said, but quickly raised a hand as he offered consolation, <"But we do make pecan maple cake if that would be something you would like?">

Kandi glanced over (and up) at Jessica, offering an abridged translation, "Seems like the pie is a no-go, but they do a pecan maple cake if that tickles your fancy?"