When Tempers Collide

Alaina had been backstage for a minute, staying close by the ramp. Taylor had politely told her to make her way to the back, in probably the loudest voice she had ever heard Taylor use. Alaina knew she was pissed at her. Sure, she shouldn't have slapped the snot out of Talia but couldn't Taylor see that the big reason Alaina ran out in the first place was to stop Taylor from being double-teamed?

Sure, Nikolette was there for that very reason it seemed but no one had bothered to tell Alaina. As Alaina waited, she began to stew. The negativity from what had transpired out on the ramp had seemingly embedded itself into her. She always seemed to be the last to know of any dojo related things.... Taylor had done tag matches with everyone in the dojo against coalition members, except Alaina. She shook her head, trying to look at things more objectively and not look at strictly emotional reactions to everything.

How does someone not chose Akashi as a tag partner when she is available? Julia is on a tear, how do you not want to work with someone as explosive, and who brings so much momentum? Alaina took a deep breath, and tried to calm herself even though she knew she was also coming down from her adrenaline.

Right now, Alaina wanted to keep her cool, and to explain where she was coming from like a responsible human being. However, she wasn't quite sure if thats how it would go down....

Taylor backed her way out of the arena, and when she was sure that Nikolette was safe from Kelly and Talia she turned and thundered down the hallway with a look that had everyone steer clear. She was fuming, her heart pounding from the shot of adrenaline that followed the altercation in the arena, the one that ended with her knocking Talia Wilson, Dark Angel, out cold with a lightning fast superkick.

And all of her fury, at the moment, was directed at... her.

When she spotted Alaina, she stormed up to the bigger Amazon and got right up in her face. "YOU gotta check your head, Alaina!" She barked. "What the hell is with you? Your guy-friend gets sad over a breakup, and you're just gonna go all psycho killer? Just like that? HELL. NO."

She felt stupid with her arm in a sling, like no one would take her seriously while she was gimped, so she pulled it off and rolled her shoulder once. It was stiff, but she was okay without the sling now. Her eyes never left Alaina's, and they demanded answers.

Alaina had foreseen the words, but not the intense anger from Taylor.  "My personal life is mine, so don't you worry about it.  Also, since when was me coming out to keep you from getting double teamed with your back turned 'psycho killer' huh?"

The tone of Taylors voice, the anger in her words... it all seemed to rub off on Alaina.  "Was I wrong to try to help, and stick up for people?  Or is there some rule I don't know about where you are the only one who is allowed to come out and try to save the day?"  Alaina hissed back.  How many times had Taylor reacted from her gut and emotions in her career?  Who the hell was she to call Alaina crazy?  These questions raced through Alaina's mind as she met Taylor's glare, returning it in full.

Taylor wasn't surprised at Alaina's angry tone. She just couldn't believe it was coming out of Alaina.

She bared her teeth at that last remark, though. That was uncool.

"No! You should always be ready to get someone's back when they need it!" Taylor retaliated. "But how many times have I needed help? How many times has someone we know needed help? Or someone we don't know? Why is it that the one time you show up, it's when Talia Wilson is in the arena?"

She leaned in closer and lowered her voice like she was asking Alaina a personal question. "Did you come out to get my back, Alaina? Or did you really just want to hurt Talia for making your... whatever he is sad?"

Alaina squinted her eyes her vision was now tunneled right at Taylor. "If I wasn't at the arena that night what the hell do ya want me to to do? Every other time you had faced off against to coalition you had other people with you, and left me back at the dojo to train. When Kelly pulled her bullshit and cheated her way to the title you told people to stay away!" Alaina said, equal parts angry and confused.

"Tonight I was around and I came out! Yeah, Talia was there. Yeah I did enjoy slapping her. There's more to it than just 'guy get sad, girl gets mad' but you probably don't give a shit. I saw you about to get attacked and I acted!" Alaina added. "And my 'whatever he is' is the big brother I never had! I know this place is nutty with the sex stuff but a male and female can have an entirely platonic friendship!" Alaina was shouting now, and she never meant to get that loud. Her voice just escalated on its own. She took a few deep breaths and put her hands up on her head, letting out a loud sigh. Alaina felt like she could explain everything from watching her friend fall apart and struggle with an addiction to her dad back home doing worse and worse by the day. She also felt like Taylor could possibly understand, but just didn't want to understand.

"Excuse me?"

Taylor cocked her head at Alaina and raised a finger in her face. "I don't give a shit? Are you fucking serious?"

She backed up a step and put her hands up in front, though her bad arm sagged lower than the other one, her sling still in her hand. "Look, all I'm trying to say is that you're in trouble right now, a'right? You're pissed that Talia messed up your buddy. There's all this bad shit happening with her and Kelly and The Coalition. And I can see it happening, man, you've got a chip on your shoulder. You haven't had the same success as the rest of the Dojo yet. You're not a former champ like me and Akashi, you weren't an undefeated hotshot rookie like Julia. You weren't in the tag match with me. And now you've got this chip on your shoulder, and I'm just saying, man, be careful. Check your head.

"And you can tell me I'm full of shit, or that I've got an ego or I'm stupid or whatever, but don't FUCKING tell me I don't care!"

Alaina listened to Taylor and took a second before she answered. She realized how she must have sounded to Taylor and everyone else within ear shot. "Listen... I just, I didn't mean it like that. I'm sorry." Alaina said much more calmly than before, but still with more edge in her voice than she normally had.

"I guess you are right, my head isn't on straight. Everything inside the ring has been secondary lately. I watched someone get stuck in a rut with addiction, and my dad isn't doing well... at all. I know I haven't been keeping up lately, and normally that would bug me into training more but right now I really don't even care. When I saw Talia coming after you I saw red. She... well, she did what she did AND she was about to try to go after you while you were injured agian!"

Alaina leaned up against a wall and slumped against it, raising both her hands up to her head and running them back through her hair. She was frustrated, stumped, and had no idea what to do... or really even what she was doing.

Taylor sighed and put her hands on her hips, troubled eyes downcast while she thought.

"Man... I mean, I knew they were probably gonna try something, but... Thanks for coming out. I just need you on my team, know what I mean? I don't want to have to protect Talia from you. Like, she sure as shit deserves a beating, but we handle people in the ring, in a fair fight. That's wrestling. We can't just assault whoever we're mad at, or else we're no different from them!"

Alaina knew perfectly well who they were, and no just Talia and Kelly. They were the people Taylor had always fought, and the people who made a mockery of their sport.

Taylor put her hands on Alaina's shoulders and looked up into the taller girl's eyes. "I need you to keep it together. You're a wrestler, and you're representing your sport, and the Dojo. You're too good to just lose control."

She stepped back and drew a breath, but she felt no relief. Not yet.

"Now... What's this stuff I hear about the Entropy belt?"

Alaina paused, trying to take in everything Taylor said. It was all true, but sometimes it was easy to lose sight of. Especially when a normally cheerful person is pushed straight into anger. "Triple threat match. Julia, Gwendolyn and myself for the title." Alaina said plainly.

She knew Taylor wasn't a fan of that setup. Based on what she had just finished telling Alaina, she knew why Taylor didn't like things like that. "I know what it looks like on the surface but we just want a fair fight. Getting a belt through shady means isn't really winning the belt ya know?" Taylor knew that for sure. Alaina knew Kelly's treachery was fresh in her mind and likely would be until Taylor beat Kelly in the ring, for title or not.

Taylor's shoulders slumped, and she shook her head. "That's what I heard," she said, though she had hoped to be wrong.

"You want a fair fight, so you're gonna double team the poor bitch?" Taylor held up her hands at Alaina as if the stupidity of that setup should be painfully obvious. "So you're going to gang up on one girl, and then kill each other for the belt. Just..."

She kept shaking her head and waved both hands at Alaina. She couldn't look at her. "I've got nothing to do with it. I won't train either of you for that match. You're on your own. That whole thing is just gonna be disaster for all of us. We're gonna end up having a spot to fill in the Dojo, I just fucking know it."