One Oversized Teddybear (For LARIATO)

Mirrors are a Hell of a thing. They can make someone believe a couple disco magicians are flying a white tiger, and they can surround you with scores of someone who isn't even there. Guess which one Drake's seeing now.

It's the thump that first alerts him. The teen whirls around, the sound seeming to come from behind him. He moves quickly back down the hall, fingertips gliding along the smooth glass to keep his bearing. And there she is; Julia, Julia, Julia, Julia, and her close friend, Julia. He pounces forward at the most conspicuous of blondes, and-

Bonk.

The glass reverberates with his impact, causing him to stagger back... and ultimately bump his back into the actual blonde in question. With a startled jump, he spins around to face her.

"Whoa. I had no idea I looked so pretty today," he muses while looking her over. He lifts a hand to whisk through his hanging bangs.

Julia took a moment to rub her nose as she sat back up, just glad she hadn’t broken it or anything when she smashed into that mirror. But then another crash drew the blonde’s attention, causing her to quickly begin shifting her gaze from side to side. Once again she saw lots of clones of herself, and just as many of Drake, but had no way of distinguishing which was the real one.

Slowly pulling herself to her feet, Julia began to inch backward, before her back and Drake’s suddenly bumped into each other. “Kyah!” she gasped, practically jumping right out of her skin as she turned to face him, only to laugh a second later once she’d gotten over being startled.

“Yeah, must be all the makeup.” she teased in response, sticking her tongue out at him, before laughter again flowed from Julia’s mouth. She’d had a tour or two through the house of mirrors at carnivals before, but she couldn’t remember ever having as much fun in one as this. “Well, ya found me. Guess that’s the second game ya won today. Too bad you don’t get a prize for this one, huh?” she said, flashing him a playful smirk.

Drake laughs along with her, but quickly stifles it in an effort to mirror her actions. This includes sticking his tongue out. But that lasts less than even three seconds before the laughter takes him again, ending his attempt flat. What she says sets him up entirely too perfectly to make some claim to a kiss, and it's right on the tip of his tongue.

But he holds back.

That nagging feeling of this being a doomed scenario keeps him from fully letting loose. He doesn't want to give her mixed signals, or make what feels inevitable any harder than it has to be. Instead, he takes it in a different direction - or tries to, at least. "We'll call that money in the bank, then," is his quip. To play up with irony, he playfully jabs a fist at her shoulder, "Get it? 'Cuz we're wrestlers."

After a beat, Drake adds honestly, "And I have no idea where we are. I'm totally lost. You?"

"Heh. Yeah…" Julia replied with a light chuckle as he jabbed her shoulder, her playful grin dulling down to a faint smile. The model remained friendly, but to the blonde, it was clear something was weighing heavy on his mind.

Fortunately, Drake didn't know how to get out of there. And neither did Julia. She couldn't have asked for a better opportunity to fix the mess she'd made. Shaking her head, she finally answered.

"No, I don't… Drake, is something bothering you?" she asked. Julia knew how much she'd regret it if they left with their friendship any less strong than it had been when they arrived, and she'd be damned if she just let that happen.

Oh. Dang. Drake knows that sound when it comes to someone's voice. She's onto him. He never was very good at hiding his thoughts or feelings. He's a projector, not an internalizer. And while that may work on camera with spectators, it can really backfire socially.

"Uh...," Drake stalls, placing a hand to the back of his neck, allowing his eyes to drift to the side. ...And that does him no good. Everywhere he looks, there she is. Damn you, mirror house! "...Maybe a couple things. Something you said earlier about hentai matches. How you basically have to do them to get the furthest, or have the most potential." He's done some that allow the moves, but don't require the finishes. But it should be obvious he's referring to the latter category when he mentions, "Makes me wonder if I'm wasting my time with this league. If all anyone cares about in the end is getting a cheap thrill."

He picks a direction to start walking, uncomfortable just standing there in a crowd of two. His hands extend to either side to begin feeling out what's real and what isn't. "If that's what Japanese professional wrestling has become, then yeah. I'm old-fashioned. Outdated. Obsolete. This isn't where I'm going to be taken seriously. It's not where I'm gonna get my fair shot."

Once Drake spoke, it finally seemed to click in Julia's head. And as he started walking, Julia moved right along with him. "I'm sorry. That wasn't what I meant..." she said, hoping to explain herself better.

"No one has to do things like that to have success. I just meant it can help when people have a varied skill set. That doesn't have to include hentai." she said. And as he reached out to feel along the walls, Julia reached out to take one of his hands in hers.

"And you're not outdated. Far from it. You're young, and have tons of potential, and you've already gotten off to one of the best starts developing it anyone could ask for!" Julia said before pulling on his hand, hoping to turn him around so he'd face her again. "You know I'm telling the truth, don't you?"

It's nice, what he's hearing her say. But her words versus her convictions seem to not add up for him. She doesn't want to do those things, but she's doing it anyway to maximize her potential. So how is his refusal to do them anything other than a wasted effort? The fact that this smacks so heavily of a very recent conversation with a dark-haired gal doesn't make things easier.

Drake feels his hand tugged, and he wheels around on his heels to face her. He's smiling, but it's subdued. "I guess. Kind of. But..." Screw it. He may as well be forthright. "...I had a really similar conversation with someone else about this. And I get that I'm... not normal for the guys in the Tension roster. Or, Hell, the girls in the Friction group, from what I've heard. It's hard to not think I'm just spinning my wheels here, and turning the fans down from what they want to see. But I can't cross that line. And I don't... share." He turns his head slightly and matches his eyes to hers, hoping she'll pick up what he's dropping.

Once she had his attention, Julia listened intently as Drake spoke. She wanted to stand there and refute every word that came out of his mouth. She knew he had what it took to make it, whether he was like anyone else around or not.

But then that last part came, and for a moment a confused expression formed on Julia's face. Share? What does he mean…? It took a few moments, but the meaning behind his words finally sunk in, and confusion was replaced with realization in her expression.

Oh… So that's was what was bothering him. It all suddenly made so much sense. Deciding to take a risk, Julia moved her hands up to his cheeks and pulled him in while pressing her lips right against his for a kiss, a scene which reflected in every surrounding mirror. After several seconds, she would finally pull back before finally speaking again.

"Nor would you have to…"

The longer the look remains between them, the more uncertain Drake grows that she got his meaning. He nips onto his bottom lip, and he's weighing the pros and cons of either being completely blunt with her, or just dropping it and letting the poor girl off the hook. She doesn't need pressure. She's new. She's grabbing him. She's kissing him.

When released, Drake stands there in a daze, mouth slightly hung open. When his mind starts working again, albeit slowly, his tone is soft, "Are you.. sure..? I don't want you to.. feel stunted.. or held back..." Did that just happen?

Julia had no idea how Drake would react to her sudden kiss. After all, this wasn't even meant to be a date. Did she just make things worse?

Fortunately, that didn't seem to be the case. Drake was just as surprised by what Julia had done as Julia herself was. But he was still there. And his words, though unsure, seemed to be a good sign to her.

"I wouldn't be. Just because I'm not afraid of doing those kinds of matches doesn't mean I want to do them. And if avoiding that stuff keeps you around, it's more than worth it." she replied, offering a reassuring smile as she spoke.