Where's that Taco stand?

"Charlie, she is gong to love that thing. Seriously I barely did anything you did a hell of a job picking it out!" Alaina said to Charlie as the two were traveling through the mall. It was cone of the few times they were alone, sans LC the energetic but aging corgi. Alaina smiled as she looked at the engagement ring Charlie picked out for Talia. It was gold, with a diamond in the center flanked by two beautiful purple gemstones that matched her eyes perfectly. Alaina had to give it to Talia, she had a goofy but wonderful boyfriend in Charlie.

"Thanks, but I really needed a female giving it the OK before I was confident in my selection at all." Charlie responded, looking the ring over once more before closing the box and putting it in the bag. "I have the spot all picked out. She likes pink so we're going to go through a park filled with those blossom trees she likes and when we're alone I will ask her." Charlie's tone was nervous and anxious. He'd never proposed to anyone before. He was never in a true, serious relationship before. This was all new territory for him.

"You will do fine. I see the way she looks at you when you two are together, its super cute and I know she is totally in love with you big guy. She'll say yes for sure!" Alaina added encouragingly. "Do you have any other shopping we need to do?"

"Nah, I'm just really hungry right now Al. How about you?"

"Yeah, I am pretty hungry myself." Alaina began looking around the food court. There were a lot of good but typical places. She tilted her head and looked over at Charlie, who was already reading her mind....

"Tai's Taco Stand?" Charlie asked, although it was more a statement than a question.

"Tai's Taco Stand." Alaina said in affirmation. "Nothing proclaims a victorious engagement ring shopping adventure like eating good authentic Mexican food in Japan."

The most basic available baseball case at this hobby shop ran 500 yen, or about the cost of a nice sandwich. It was a complete piece of shit- a cube of thin glass barely hanging on at its epoxied edges. A good sneeze would startle it into shattering.

The most expensive available option cost an astounding 200,000 yen. It was a monster of a case, built to hang and big enough to hold twelve balls. The frame was shaped like home plate, built from polished mahogany (imported), lined with black velvet (really? What’s the point? Why not felt? No one’s gonna feel the inside of the case) then set with an SAR acrylic display (just in case the baseballs started talking shit to some dude with a gun, I guess). The glass was emblazoned with the American MLB logo, licensing that can’t have come cheap. But the bulk of the cost probably came from the one baseball already inside- a game ball signed by NPB All-Star and Texas Ranger starting pitcher Yu Darvish. She liked Army, but did she 400 sandwiches like him? Well, yeah, maybe, probably, but she wasn’t about to drop that much on a gift, and definitely not on a late-or-half birthday gift just weeks into the relationship. Besides, she already had the baseball part covered.

Amy opted for a nice middle ground: a handsome keyaki base with a mirrored inset and a simple clear acrylic cover. Compact and solid, with enough space to make whatever put inside seem really important. Which it was.

In total, her purchase came to about 4000 yen; not exactly breaking the bank, but still more than she’d intended to spend today. But that was okay; she was pretty into her boyfriend. And the solid wood base just felt so much better than the cheaper plastic alternative.

The old man behind the counter dutifully placed her purchase in a cardboard box, then placed that box in a big paper shopping bag with the hobby store’s name and logo plastered against the side. Amy thanked the man then walked out of the store. She lifted her bag up and smiled. Heavy. Nice.

Her errands run, Amy had the rest of the day free to do as she wished. The mall was not one that she’d been to before, since there was a larger one closer to where she lived. It was decided: she would shop. But first, lunch.

Amy meandered over to the mall food court and glanced over its offerings: a ramen shop, an oden shop, a katsu shop, a curry shop... Amy sighed. She loved Japanese food, don’t get her wrong, but she just… she just really missed Mexican. She hadn’t had a proper taco since she was last in the States, and, to be honest, she was getting withdrawals. Her craving showed on her face- her eyes stared at a point far on the horizon, and her eyebrows and mouth both pulled down at the sides, an expression filled with the polar opposite emotion from the one with which she had left the shop.

The duo began making their way to the end of the foodcourt towards one of the mall exits when Alaina noticed a woman who appeared lost and looked totally out of place. Alaina immediately felt bad for her. Was she alone in a strange place? Was she looking for someone? Alaina could tell she was either American or European, and decided to call out to her.

"Excuse me, are you lost or something?" She said in English, loudly enough for the woman to hear. Alaina moved forward as well, figuring that she'd stick out just as much once this woman turned her way.

Charlie didn't notice anything other than the growling of his stomach and satisfaction of being one step closer to proposing to Talia. Once he heard Alaina call out he looked around and saw the same woman. Alaina was moving towards her and Charlie followed suit. Once in her line of sight, he would wave and call out himself. "Hey, whats up?"

Amy was shaken out of her solemn longing by a clear voice, a voice made more prominent by the fact that it was speaking English. Amy blinked and turned; a well-built woman and a less-well-built man regarded her with concerned eyes. Americans, judging from the accent. Amy gave them a reassuring smile.

“No, I’m not lost, but thank you.” Amy almost turned back around to go about her day and get herself some noodles, but something about the pair in front of her kept her attention. Amy squinted. Her unencumbered hand came up and gestured toward the woman. “I know you...” Then the hand drifted to point at the man. “...and I know you.” They were wrestlers; at least, the odds were good that they were. There were only so many environments in which she encountered non-Japanese non-wrestlers, and she knew all the regulars at her session spot by name. But as to where specifically she'd seen them was as of yet unclear. Her hand dropped. “Hey, you guys work for the AFW, right?”

Alaina smiled as the woman correctly identified them. "Guilty. I am Alaina Sanders in Friction and this is Charlie Haines in Tension!" Alaina happily said as she extended her hand with a smile.

Charlie did the same and nodded. "Whats up?" Charlie also extended his hand. "I am gonna guess that you are also involved in AFW. Whats your name?" Charlie asked the young lady.

Both Charlie and Alaina were fairly sure this woman was in AFW, they just weren't sure if she was Tension or Friction. It really didn't matter. If she was cool they were cool. They waited for her to speak and introduce herself when Alaina spoke up once more. "So, are ya hungry? We were just about to head out and grab something to eat, would you like to join us?"

Bingo. Fucking wrestlers everywhere, dude.

Amy took Alaina’s hand. Girl had a strong grip. “Pleasure to meet you.” Then she moved to take Charlie’s. “I’m Amy. Nominally Tension, but functionally I’m hybrid.” Though she’d only had that one Friction match so far… but you know, whatever. Management knew where she stood on the issue, and it’s not like Friction organizers were against the notion of having another fighter to play around with. It was just a matter of time.

Amy released Charlie’s hand, then she perked up as she finally figured it out. “Charlie Haines? You were at Showdown with N… you fought at Showdown, right?” He, along with her very first official Tension opponent Daisuke Takeuchi, was on Nathan’s team against a trio of ball-busting bitches; it was not a fun match to watch, probably even less fun to fight in. But great, one mystery solved.

Amy raised an eyebrow at Alaina’s frank invitation. Sure, Amy was hungry, and she had no problem jumping in on their date, but Alaina sure was quick to accept people, wasn’t she? What if Amy was one of those evil wrestlers? What if Amy was, in fact, Amy “the Eviscerator” Poford? I mean, she wasn't, but they had no way of knowing. That's fine, though; Amy wasn't against eating with people she'd just met. She just figured Alaina to be one of those uncommonly friendly people. “Sure! I mean, are you sure you don't mind? I wouldn't want to intrude.” Then she swung her arm in a slow arc out over the bustling food court. “What’d you guys have in mind?”

Charlie let out a little laugh as Amy mentioned Showdown. "Yeah, that was me. I was the guy who got in all of like 3 moves and otherwise existed to get his ass kicked." Charlie said, critical of his poor performance. Granted, had there not been any Aoi dirty tricks he knew he would have done better. A lot better. he felt like Emi was a good brawler but would not have stood up to his speed, flying, throws and new suplexes he'd worked on. "I can't help but feel like my team wasn't just thrown together we would have more of a gameplan and would have won, or at least fared way better."

Alaina shook her head at Charlie. Normally he didn't care about wins and losses. Maybe he felt bad because he was going to try to form a tag team with his hopeful future wife. He probably didn't want to let her down or look bad for her. "We're going to this little place we found once that has good Mexican food, Tai's Taco Stand." Alaina said with a smile. "Its better Mexican than I ever thought I would find over here." Alaina said patting Amy on the back. "I bet you will love it!"

Amy froze, and the hair on her neck stood up on end, but Amy told herself to keep calm. "Tacos, huh? Nice. Lead the way."

As they walked, Amy maintained a straight expression. Easy, girl. You've had your heart broken too many times before. The tacos she'd had in Japan, like most any extra-cultural food the Japanese adapt, were beautiful and delicious in their own way- neatly plated, with hardly a lettuce leaf out of place, tortilla totally unblemished, beef probably of an even better quality than back home. It was clean. It was fancy.

But that's not what tacos are supposed to be. She missed the smoky, SRO taco shops with the assembly line of taco ladies behind the counter expertly ladling sauces or haphazardly throwing vegetables or what have you. They called out your number in Spanish, served you your three tacos on a styrofoam plate, then waved you away so that the people behind could get at their food, too. You ate at a table squished next to a man in a suit rushing his way through lunch and a mom trying to control her three unruly children- or, if you were there late night, next to wannabe Asian gangsters and drunk hipster college kids who, despite not having no idea how to impress a girl, tried so hard to pick you up.

The tacos here just tasted off, and looking at a taco plate in Japan was like looking at a sterile plastic model of Mexican food in a museum. Plus, they only had hard taco shells- blasphemy. Finally, they ran you about 1200 yen, or about ten bucks American. Just, no.

"Better Mexican than [they'd] ever thought [they'd] find over here," was promising, but, at the same time, it didn't mean shit if her new friends were from the Midwest, where they wouldn't know decent Mexican if it ground up against them at the club, or even Texas, where they would have been so infected by (delicious, sure, but bastardized) Tex-Mex that they’d be similarly ignorant.

But despite her endeavor to keep her excitement down, her heartbeat began to accelerate. Casually, she ventured, "So: Americans, right? Where do you guys hail from?"

"We're from San Diego." Charlie responded. "Now when we found this place it was because of my corgi." Charlie said with a chuckle.

Alaina laughed as well, speaking after a hearty fit of laughter. "Its down the sketchiest alleyway in Japan but we promise we aren't those shady shitheads on the roster who try to rob people." Alaina began to say. She knew the notion of the two being shitheads wouldn't even enter Charlie's mind. However, Alaina knew that the other lady might be a bit worried about the two strangers. Alaina gave her a warm, motherly smile in an attempt to ease any apprehension she might be feeling.

"Yeah, so like my corgi Little Charlie was walking with us and took off down a couple back alleys. We were chasing after him hoping we weren't about to get jumped and when we looked up we saw... and smelled Tai's Taco Shack." Charlie added. "Of course, LC was peeing on the side of the building but his nose picked up something that reminded him of home so we knew it had to be good."

Amy laughed. That story was adorable. “Aww you have a corgi? I love corgis!” No, wait, focus, that’s not the takeaway here. They’re from San Diego; San Diegans know their shit. And it's puppy approved? Amy let herself believe a little.

Amy shook her head as Alaina led them into the parking garage. Normally getting into a stranger’s car would be a big no-no, but something about these two just put her at ease. “You’re from SD? I’m Californian, too, from LA. Small world, huh? SD’s a great town.” She paused as they approached a black beemer convertible. Surely not? “I’d love to meet LC someday, Charlie. I don’t get as much doggy exposure as I’m used to out here.”