For The Fans

Alaina was all too happy to walk inside the Friction Arena and get out of the cold. Because it was official business, Alaina showed up looking the part of a professional wearing a black skirt, shined black heels, a light blue dress shirt, and black suit jacket. She went light on jewelry, wearing only a small gold necklace, pearl earrings and a small ring Mamouru recently bought for her. In all honesty she hated dressing up, but felt like showing up in jeans and a t-shirt was a little too underdressed.

Coming in the back from the parking garage was a necessity as today was a fan appreciation day. Friction had a few of the more fan friendly women show up for autographs. Alaina, who had caught some people's attention as of late, much of it due to her association with Taylor Parker was one of those invited. She was honestly a bit surprised but more than happy to do this.

An employee showed Alaina where to sit and as soon as she walked out she saw various tables set up. She saw one that had her name on it complete with a couple cutouts propped up behind her: One was her in her ring attire waving to the fans as she walked to the ring, One was a referee raising her arm in the air and in between them was her delivering an Amabomb to Sayoko, just before defeating her in the ring. As soon as Alaina sat down, she had what was at first a trickle of fans appear for her autograph. That soon turned into a steady, but not overwhelming stream of them.

Alaina smiled warmly and asked how everyone was doing as she signed away. A teenage female asked for a picture and Alaina happily obliged, as Alaina held up the fans cell phone and the two smiled in one photo and did a lip pucker for a second photo. Another fan, who apparently loved sci-fi stuff had light sabers. While Alaina was scratching her head a bit, she couldn't resist taking a couple pictures with him as the two posed for a mock light saber fight. As she signed stuff, Alaina did hear a few whistles from fans and cat calls similar to when she walked to the ring. She was attractive, but apparently a lot of fans saw her as something of a sex symbol. While grateful for the attention she'd rather be known as a wrestler first and pretty face second.

Regardless, this was turning into a ton of fun as over an hour passed even though it only felt like ten minutes.

It figured, it just figured.

While Ace's debut had some fanfare to it, it had almost completely died down over her last year. Sure, she had signed the odd autograph here and there, for a fan backstage or at the gym, but she had never been part of any promotional work, or had any merchandise for herself, not even when she was Entropy champ.

Then came Avalanche, where she was cheated out of her belt in one of the most painful matches of her career, and instead of getting to rest and recover like everybody else, she found herself called back to Japan just a couple days later....for an official autograph signing. Apparently the company wanted a fighter from Avalanche there, and since everybody else was either still recovering from injury, or taking a brief vacation, Ace was chosen to be called back instead.


Honestly, Ace did love the fans that supported her, and normally would have leaped at this opportunity, but between her injuries and depression over losing her belt, she was in no mood to play happy wrestler, and her attire showed it, clad in a Black Sabbath T-shirt and cargo pants, hardly the most professional attire. Grumbling, running a hand through her quickly dyed silver hair, wearing a pair of sunglasses to hide the shiner under her eye, while the few bruises on the rest of her face showed clearly, Ace soon found herself sitting at her table, signing away. The fans were mostly polite, asking for a quick signature and walking off. Some that came by her table didn't even notice the recent champ. Most seemed more interested in the table next to her.

Looking over, Ace got a good look at her signing partner who was attracting a fair bit of attention, but....some woman. She seemed familiar, though Ace couldn't place who she was yet. Still, she was doing well, taking pictures and signing autographs, Ace frowning a little as she noticed the woman was granted a bigger table and even had cardboard cutouts of herself behind her to attract attention, while Ace had nothing of the sort.

When there was a lull, Ace scooted her chair in closer to the girl, reaching out and poking her arm.

"Hey there....Silver Ace, Entro....former Entropy Champion....I'm sorry but...have we met before? You seem familiar somehow..."

Alaina had a break in fans as she sipped on a bottle of water. Her voice was starting to tire, but that sweet hydration helped.

It was then that she felt a poke on her arm. "Oh? Hey, I'm Alaina Sanders! I got the amazon nickname from school... even though I am no giant like Rebecca Tomko." Alaina said with a smile, extending her hand. Alaina knew she was the entropy champ until a screwjob happened. She also thought she knew her from somewhere else....

"Silver Ace... hey, your match at Avalanche was pretty awesome until you got screwed over. I am sure you will be back in title contention before long even if I am hoping to get my name in the mix by the end of the year." Alaina said with a wink. Itvwas then that she recalled where she previously heard Ace brought up.... "Ace, do you know Valley Doll? I had a match with her before and I think she mentioned you?"

Ace's face went a little blank as she shook Alaina's hand, not enjoying having her Avalanche match brought up, but it quickly changed as Valley's name was mentioned, Ace perking up.

"Oh right, your the girl Valley fought! That's where I've heard of you! Yeah, Valley said you were pretty tough, after she beat you, she boasted she could totally beat anybody younger than her....of course, then I beat her, so that didn't go to well for her."

Ace looked back at the multiple cardboard cutouts, focusing on the one of Alaina's powerbomb.

"You have uh....some interesting ring attire there....You must have a lot of confidence to go out in something like that..."

Alaina's smik e disappeared as Ace brought upmthe fact that Alaina lost to Valley while Ace was victorious. Then... the age. Alaina knew she was years older than a lot of women on the roster with a lot less fighting experience. "Valley was a tough opponent, I imagine that beating her must not have been easy." Alaina said matter of factly. "I guess that happens when you jump into the wrestling game later than most."

A slight grin returned when Ace mentioned her wrestling attire. "I wear a one piece swimsuit sometimes for a classic feel, but yeah... I work hard to stay in shape and the fans seem to like it." Alaina said with a shrug, tilting her head at the mob of people that she recently signed autographs for. "Unless you see some reason I shouldn't wear that?"

"Oh no, don;t get me wrong, its a great outfit, and you look pretty hot in it. I just don't have the confidence, I guess, to walk out to a match in something like that."

Ace replied, looking at the other cutouts and looking at the fans milling around the area, more of them having gone to Alaina's table then her own, irking the former champ. Smirking a little, she turned back to the older blonde.

"Of course, confidence aside, I also prefer people respecting me as a wrestler, not just cause I look good in a bikini and feel like flaunting it."

Ace's comment sank in Alaina like a knife. She had made a lot of improvement since starting, and thought people respected her as an athlete. Still... deep down she knew a lot of her fanbase was more attracted to some of her "assets" than her ring performance.

"Flaunt is an interesting word." Alaina said as she looked Ace in the eye. "You talk about me like I am some airheaded stripper who shakes her ass at the crowd. I can do more in the ring than you think. A LOT more." A few nearby fans whistled as they seemingly picked up on the conversation. A few fans of each woman called out, saying that their favorite would take the other apart at this point.

"Oh you can? Well that's good to hear. Though I'll warn you, I'm not gonna be as easy to powerbomb as whoever this girl was. I dunno how long you've been here, but I'm a whole different level from who you've faced before."

Ace replied, jerking her thumb at the cardboard cutout behind them.

"So whaddya say? You and me, one on one, on Friction?"

Alaina grinned and held out her hand. "Consider it done on my end, and whatever match type you like is fine with me" Alaina said confidently looking over Ace. "You may be a higher level but than poor Sayoko, but I will show you that I am on my way towards holding your old title."

Ace smirked, shaking Alaina's hand.

"Maybe, maybe, but you've still got a long way to go, "kid", and I'll be proving it to you and your fan club here..."

She replied, casting a small glare at the watching fans, clearly irked that they seemed to like Alaina better, though when Ace moved back to her chair and people started coming to get autographs again, the increase in people wanting her autograph made her grin.