"Business" Dinner

mercy rolled her eyes at Angel's inquiry. If she was being serious about the question, then the girl was hopeless and Mercy wasn't going to explain about handlers and such. It was bad enough trying to get these meatheads to figure out how to use their email.

"it's my job to be worried, you know? I know that you all get to have your fun and punch each other in the face, but there's more to wrestling than just wrestling. There's so many people that work at this company that do their jobs so you don't have to think about anything else BUT punching some other girl in the face!" Mercy shivered. "It's just so..." She let it go.

"i know the reaction you got at Summer Splash. That sort of proves my point though. Maybe you are getting that reacton because people don't know if it's the last time they are going to see you." Mercy pulled up her hands and pushed them at Angel, trying to ward off any retort. "I mean, I know it's NOT, but how do the fans know?" She asked. "Don't you see where I'm coming from?" Mercy nodded and took a big drink of her big girl drink and sighed contentedly. It was just what she needed.

"I know you're a good girl, Angel." She said. "I'm not worried about you, I'm worried about your future." At least, she was paid to worry about it.

Angel took another drink of her water, listening to Mercy ramble on, and when she finished the Latina gave her a helpless look of resignation.

"Alright, alright. I get it," she responded, throwing her hands up into the air. "I get it. So tell me then, Pinky. What do I need to do?" She squirmed in her seat, once again starting to feel out of place, as she stole a quick look around the restaurant, then glanced back towards Mercy.

"Obviously you have something in mind, right? Then tell me, what do you want me to do? What do I need to do to make things all better?"

"You need to show the people you aren't going anywhere!" Mercy said, not missing a beat. "You need to do a tour, get involved with the fans. Let them see you, touch you, talk to you!" She paused. "Well, not touch, but you know!" She nodded. "Maybe you should do some international dates or even some house shows. You have put yourself on a lofty pedestal, and rightfully so, but let's climb down a bit and let the people know who the real Angel is, you know?"

Mercy took a sip from her drink. "I've been on some of these tours and the people love it. They think it's really special when they think they have a direct line to you girls. I mean, Taylor does it all the time and I think it's helped her tremendously. Then again, she's still on the air a lot." Mercy shrugged, barely thinking about it. "But she doesn't know how to use a computer either. If you want to get connected, you need to figure out how to live in the world you live in! It's the digital age, so figure out how to use a tablet or a smart phone, ok?" Mercy said grinning. "That way you can send out your own tweets." Mercy grinned widely. "Well, within reason, we still have handlers, you know."

"International tours?" Angel raised an eyebrow at Mercy. "So you want me to prove that I'm still around by...not being around here?"

She traced a finger along the rim of her glass, and frowned towards Mercy, not liking the way it felt like she was being talked down to. "I know how to use a smart phone," she was quick to reply, reaching into her pocket to pull out her own phone, dropping it on the table in front of her. "I'm not stupid. I know how to use Twitter, I've just never needed to use it before."

She sighed, forcing herself to calm down, and looked away from Mercy again. "I get it though. Touring. Alright. Let's get that set up then." She paused, then looked back at the pink-haired paralegal. "But, if we want people to know the real Angel, then we're doing it right. I'll take care of my own social media stuff. No handlers or anything, alright? I can do it myself."

"Nnnngh..."

Mercy gave Angel a sidelong glance at her response. She was not in the mood for semantics! Still, Angel seemed to get the idea and Mercy liked that. "it's really just easier for me when i assume you people are computer retarded, ok?" She said and opened her mouth just as the server arrived. Mercy squealed as the big drink, fancy water and octopus plates were set down in front of her and immediately went for the big drink. She took a deep sip.

"Ohmigod!" She said and pushed it towards Angel. "You have to try this!" She exclaimed and went for the octopus, busting out her chopsticks and stabbing at the cephalopod greedily and stuffed a tentacle in he rmouth. Her eyes rolled. "Oooooh, man... I'd say it's at least as good as octopus' Garden, but probably better! Like, oh man." She said as she chewed. She took a bite and poked her Chopsticks at the Latina.

"Someone's got to check what you're doing, but yeah! I want you to do your own social media. Believe it or not we don't like it when we have to do everything unless it's cleaning up people's messes. ugh. You could even do an @AFW if you wanted to, those look pretty fun and very fan interactive!" Mercy nodded along to her own words. "Is there anything you'd like to do?" She asked.

"You people..." Angel muttered, and opened her mouth to reply, only to be interrupted by the sudden appearance of the server. It was probably better for the both of them that way.

She lifted her own chopsticks and and took a piece of the octopus as Mercy continued ranting on, chewing it slowly as she listened to her. It wasn't bad. On the contrary, it was pretty tasty.

"You can check up on me, but I want to do everything myself. I don't want someone else posing as me and posting stuff under my name." She hated the thought of that, and she had a feeling she was going to have a lot of things to clear up once she took a look at her Twitter. She took another bite of the octopus, chewing it up and swallowing it down before answering Mercy's last question, giving her another helpless shrug.

"I don't know," she answered honestly, reaching for the new drink to take a sip. "I guess that's why we're doing this. I just want to get out there and keep kicking ass, you know? That's what I'm good at." She took a long drink and then set the glass down, going for another piece of octopus, but then stopped, looking back up at Mercy.

"Actually? I think I have an idea..."

"Fine, fine."

Mercy waved her hand at Angel as she ate more of her delicious food. "Well, if you want to be a star, then you also have to be good at marketing yourself. You're a brand, not just a wrestler and your brand reflects our company, so you have a lot of pressure on you, but if you're good, you'll be fine."

Mercy took another bite of her food and washed it down with a sip from her big girl drink. "What was your idea?"

Angel took her second piece of octopus and chewed it slowly, thinking over her sudden idea before speaking up again.

"Okay. You want people to see 'the real Angel' or whatever, right? Then let's do just that. Go ahead and schedule my next match. I don't care against who, just give me someone that'll put up a good fight."

She leaned forward, getting a little excited as she continued. "Then you'll get a camera crew, right? And like, for the week leading up to the match, they can follow me around every day. They can record me training and getting ready for the match. They can see what I do to prepare for my fights and then see what I do in my free time afterwards." She grabbed another piece of octopus with her chopsticks, jabbing it towards Mercy as she spoke.

"We can like...air it as a special, or something. Put up a live feed on the website or whatever. 'A Week In the Life of Angel', something like that, chica. The whole thing can end with my entrance into the arena for the match, and then after I kick the shit out of whoever's in the ring, we can get an interviewer to give me a live interview backstage afterwards." She popped the octopus into her mouth, chewed it up, then swallowed, leaning back into her seat again.

"It'll give people a look into my life and let them know the real me. We can hype it up and make a big deal out of it. It'll keep my name in people's mouths and get hits on the website. What do you think about that, Pinky?"

Mercy listened intently while Angel came up with her plan, nodding along while she alternated between bites of delicious octopus and sips of delicious alcohol. Angel seemed to want to stick with water, so Mercy had been hitting her giant drink pretty hard and was starting to feel gooood.

Once Angel was finished, Mercy nodded and grinned widely. "I like it!" She said. "It's got a really reality television feel. It's just what you need! I'll set everything up." She was genuinely excited about it and eagerly considered the possibilities while she ate her food.

"So." She said between bites. "Now that we got some business out of the way, let's talk about pleasure." She giggled a bit. "What does a spicy girl like you do in a crazy town like Tokyo for some fun?"

Angel paused, hesitating when Mercy sudden shifted topics. She lifted an eyebrow at her, leaning back in her seat again, snatching another piece of octopus. She chewed it up, and swallowed it down, and started to look a little sheepish.

"I...don't, usually," she answered honestly. "I usually spend so much time working out and staying in shape and shit that I end up resting at home more then I go out." She didn't add in the part about how until recently, she didn't have many friends to go out with anyway.

She took another sip of her water, and grinned at Mercy. "I guess I'm not as spicy outside of the ring as I am on the inside, huh?"