Matryoshka

At the far end of the counter of a tiny bar in Tokyo sat Natasha Han. She didn't usually go out to bars, and she didn't normally drink too much, but tonight was different. There was a lot riding on what happened tonight, and she needed something to help take the edge off. She had picked out a decent bar, too. A bit classier then the usual ones that most of the AFW roster seemed to frequent. A bit safer, and a bit more suited to private conversations.

The Russian seemed anxious, and for good reason. She glanced at her phone every so often, counting down the minutes until her guest arrived. She was waiting on Valley Doll, of all people, something that Natasha could barely believe she was doing.

She had left the former Slamazon a note, a handwritten, unsigned letter taped to the outside of her locker, a simple request to meet her here, at the bar, to have a talk with each other. She honestly didn't know if Valley would even show up, but she had a feeling she would.

She hoped she would, anyway. She was eager to get this done with, so she could begin preparations for what would come after.

At the door on the other side of the room, Valley Doll entered. She went to bars quite frequently, but usually with her girlfriend. Never to just meet someone. Especially an anonymous someone. Life was full of surprises.

For instance, she was surprised to see the note on her locker, asking her to meet up at some bar. A nice bar, really. Not the shady, downtrodden, low rent place you’d expect someone to ambush you at, though that didn’t rule out the possibility. Amethyst? Jocelyn? She’d made a little laundry list of people who might want to beat her up and be public about it. Maybe it was just Ace, trying to be spontaneous.

As she walked through the bar, wearing her pink turtleneck sweater and her white khakis, she went over her list, and she scanned around the room for all of the potential suspects. She was, once again, surprised when she found the one wrestler in the room who was on the bottom, and the likely culprit by default: Natasha Han. She barely even recognized her in casual wear, but yep, it was her. She couldn’t forget a frame like that.

She walked over with her hands in her pockets and a slightly raised eyebrow, not sure what to make of this. Natasha wanted to wrestle her in the past, but she always seemed like she wanted to keep it in the ring. Valley really hoped that hadn’t changed.

”Hey…” She stood by a stool near Natasha, but didn’t sit quite yet. ”Note on the locker is a little old school. High schoolish. I’m on Twitter, you know.”

The sound of Valley's voice caused Natasha to softly sigh in relief. She was glad that Valley had finally shown up - hell, she was glad she had shown up, period - but now came the hard part of the evening.

She didn't turn to face Valley, nor did she reply to her quip about high school. Instead, she grabbed her drink and lifted it to her lips, finishing the glass in a single gulp. Then, she gestured to the stool beside her, gesturing for Valley to take a seat.

"Kukla," she began, turning her head very slightly to glance over her shoulder towards the blonde. "I am glad you came. Please, be taking a seat, and I will be making this quick, and to the point."

Well, they were at the point of using nicknames, so that was a good sign. Though, if she remembered correctly, Natasha called her the last time they'd met, too, only a minute before she nearly sliced her in half with a knife edge chop. So.

She bit her lip, remebering the rather harsh words they'd exchanged last time, but Valley decided that she was more curious than cautious. She sat down and motioned to the bartender. "I'll have what she's having." She asked, mostly because she wanted to figure out if Natasha was drinking something Russian, but thought it would be a little rude to ask.

"All right, you've got me." She idly swung her legs back and forth, as she turned her head ever-so-slightly to look at Natasha. "Quick and to the point. I'm listening."

The bartender nodded to Valley, and set a glass down in front of her, reaching for a bottle and tipping it into the glass. Vodka, of course. It was cliched, and Natasha knew it, but she liked the taste, and it reminded her of home.

As Valley sat down, Natasha reached down to the bar top, lifting a folder that had been sitting in front of her. She slid it towards Valley so that it was sitting in front of her, then slid over a pen as well.

"Sign," she said plainly, still not looking directly at Valley, looking down at her empty glass. "It is contract, for rematch. We will fight one more time, settle things between us." She looked up and gestured to the bartender, signalling for a refill. She went quiet, to take a long drink from her glass, then continued on.

"One more fight. That will be good, yes? Then win or lose, you will not have to be hearing from me again and we can go our separate ways."

Valley lifted the glass up and gave it a little sniff. Vodka. A little strong for her typical tastes, but she could make an exception. She was paying for it, might as well drink it.

She suspected she might need a little more of it, too, after Natasha made her offer clear. Valley was, for the third time today, surprised - after what Natasha had said after their last match, she didn't think they would be meeting in the ring anytime soon.

She stared at the folder for a moment, with a blank look on her face, before she turned back to her former opponent. "First off," She took a sip of the vodka and her face scrunched up. She'd forgotten how much of a kick it could have. "Whoo. Wow, that's rough. But yeah, first off, I don't have some problem seeing you. If you don't want to hang around me, fine, but you're a great wrestler. I like to make friends with great wrestlers."

Valley sighed and put a hand on the folder. "Second, though. While I appreciate the offer..." She put her hand on the folder and slowly slid it back to Natasha. "I've got to say no."

When Valley refused the contract, sliding it back towards Natasha, the Russian finally turned her head to look at her, sitting up straighter on her stool.

"Do not be misunderstanding," she said quietly. "I am not asking. We will be fighting one more time."

She reached for the folder, and slid it back towards Valley. "Surely you would not turn down a challenge like this, yes?" She reached for her glass, and downed the rest of her vodka, setting the empty container back down. "Sign. This is not a request, kukla. You will face me again in the ring."

Valley almost saw a vieled threat in what Natasha was saying, but she quickly thought better of it as she turned around to face her head on. Natasha wasn't the sort of person to get dirty with her - she had too much honor for that. But she was determined, too, and Valley fully believed she would do everything in her power to get what she wanted. That didn't mean it was going to happen, though.

"I did answer the challenge. Twice." She slid the folder back once again. "There aren't a whole lot of rules with what we do, but typically, after you beat someone twice in a row, you don't take them on a third time. There's no rubber match. We had two awesome bouts, I came out on top with them both. That's it."

Valley tried to down her entire glass, too, but she only made it a fourth of the way before she had to set it down. "Christ." She shook her head and leaned back. "You're a great competitor. You're amazingly talented and strong and smart, and you'd wipe the floor with about 99% of the wrestlers in Friction. No question. I don't have a belt. I'm popular, but I'm not Akashi or Taylor Parker or Angel or whoever. Why do you want to beat me so bad?"

Natasha sat up straighter, and turned fully to face Valley. If she wanted to do this, then Natasha would do this.

"You beat me twice. No one has been beating me twice," she began, staying calm as she stared towards Valley. "I cannot be letting that go without trying one more time." She shook her head, then continued. "You beat me fair and square first match. I will give you that. But second match?"

She turned away from Valley, back towards the bar, and lowered her gaze, focusing on her glass again, staring at it as she continued. "I was not being of right mind. I was angry. I was not focused. I should have been winning that fight." Her voice had grown quiet, her words starting to spill out faster. "I had you. I had you beat. But...I was not thinking right. I was not in right mindset. I messed up and you won instead. That..."

She shook her head again then raised it back up, looking at Valley once more. "You did not win that fight. I lost that fight. There is difference between them."

She reached for the folder one more time and slid it right back towards Valley. "I cannot move on until we have fought one more time...so we will fight one more time." She gestured towards the pen with her hand, motioning for Valley to take it.

"So...sign. Sign the contract and let us meet one more time in the ring."

Valley canted her head and narrowed her eyes, as some slight hints of anger began to show up across her face. This had been reasonable cordial from the start - at least, as cordial as Natasha seemed capable of. But after those comments, the Slamazon was feeling a little less friendly.

"No offense, Nattie, but what you just said? It's crap." She tapped her finger on the folder. "I don't know what it's like in Russia, but I imagine sports work about the same as they do anywhere. And in sports, even ours, you don't get to say a win doesn't count because of reasons X, Y, and Z. You don't get to have another Super Bowl because your best player is going through a nasty divorce and not thinking right. You don't get another shot at the title because your dog died. You bring everything you have to the table, and if it's not enough, it's not enough. Period."

Valley stood up now and pointed at her chest. What remainded of it these days, at least. "You're good. You're, maybe, the best technical wrestler I've ever gone against in my entire career. You're one of the best, but the fact of the matter is that I'm better. And I don't need to prove that, because I've already proven that. Twice."

She held up two fingers, then brought them down and used them to slide the folder back. She could do it all night. "Read my lips, Ms. Han: Nyet."