War and Peace

Spoiler:

Akiha was exhausted from the match she had just lost with Gwendolyn.  The last hit she had taken had left a massive headache in the Japanese wrestler, resulting in the raven hair wrestler taking some Advil.  She had now finished changing out of her wrestling outfit and into her casual clothing, after taking a shower of course.  Akiha had made sure to make sure she and her maids had finished all their business in AFW quickly before making their way to the main entrance so that they could catch Gwendolyn before she left the stadium.

Upon arriving at the main entrance, she would spot two limo's.  One was her own while the other she assumed was Gwendolyn.  She was glad that she had made it in time.  With her were also Kohaku and Hisui, standing just a bit behind her, ready to help their mistress at a moment notice.  Now all Akiha had to do was just wait for her fellow wrestler to show up.

Akiha had never met a person like Gwendolyn before.  To her, there were two types of wrestlers, the respectful ones who followed the rules and the cheaters who disrespected their opponents.  Gwendolyn, on the other hand, was a cheater but she was still somewhat respectful, which has very similar to Akiha.  That was also not to mention the fact they were both rich and of the upper class.  She remembered how Gwen said they stick together and Akiha was now acting on that advice, thinking that she could get along with her blond counterpart.

Though Akiha might have felt like that, Kohaku and Hisui did not feel the same about Yayoi.  As she had cowardly attack the two from behind using a weapon after numbers had failed her.  The two craved for vengeance, wanting to teach their new rival a lesson.  Still they couldn't do so in an open manner, as that would ruin Akiha plans.  Instead, they would have to do without anyone noticing it was them.  Still they were willing to take their time, as revenge was dish best-served cold.

Spoiler:

Emerging victorious in her first match since being unjustly striped of her Entropy title was the perfect catapulting momentum Gwendolyn needed to regain her briefly questionable status in the company. The match per se was a bothersome and horribly exhausting ordeal, which in the end only emphasized the intended statement from her earlier promo. That Gwendolyn was every iota the exemplification of regal superiority she professed herself to be...

...though with the night's festivities in the past, the heiress only pined to return to her humble abode and retire for the evening. Accompanying her out of the elevator was her casual cadre of trainers alongside her indispensable assistant Yayoi, detailing every facet of her schedule for the next day as they traipsed through the emptied lobby. The heiress was unaccustomed to leaving the facilities at this late hour, but her post match bathing and massage therapy had taken up more of her time than anticipated considering the thoroughly disheveled manner the match had left her.

Though as she approached her luxurious limousine at the curb, her attention was drawn to the similarly poised lady and her own entourage accompanying her. Normally encountering your defeated opponent after a match boded ill for you, but Gwen surmised that even if Akiha fostered lingering animosity, that she shared in Gwen's exhaustion at this point. What's more, acts of bitter reprisal of that calibre were boorish and undignified amongst ladies of their status~...though rubbing in a satisfying victory certainly wasn't...

"If you intend to bargain and plead for a rematch, I'm afraid you'll have to go through the proper channels, Madam Kosha." The heiress commented in her posh voice as she confidently strode aside Akiha to investigate further, marching victoriously alongside Yayoi. "Or perhaps they're here to issue a formal apology for calling my skills into question in the first place? Those forms would have to be filled out in triplicate, but I would be more than willing to accept your admission of your own shortcomings in a verbal statement. Simply to speed the process along, right Yayoi?"

Akiha and her maids had now been waiting a while at the AFW entrance.  In fact, most of the crowd had left and at this point, there was barely anyone left.  The raven hair wrestler was now growing irritated by waiting for so long.  The trio all had the same thoughts in their head, that Gwendolyn had possibly left and the two would be waiting out here all night.  That being said, the Limo was still there and Akiha was too stubborn to leave while her maids were to scare to even suggest for her to leave.

Then finally, Gwendolyn appeared, causing Kohaku and Hisui to both exhale in relief.  Akiha, on the other hand, kept a calm and professional demeanor.  Yet before she could speak, Gwendolyn would start talking, telling Akiha if she wanted a rematch she would need to go through the proper channels.  Akiha would hold her tongue, waiting to see if her counterpart had anything to add, which she did by stating that if Akiha wanted to apologize she would need to do it in forms.

Then finally, she was given a moment to talk and decided to speak before anyone else could, cutting off Yayoi before she could even say a word. “There is a famous saying, revenge is a sucker game.  I currently have no intentions of asking you for a rematch.  Unlike the other rabble you face, I don't make excuses or cry foul, after all, cheating is part of the business here.  As for apologizing, I feel no need to do so as you proved yourself in the match we just had.” stated Akiha in a slightly aggressive tone as she would then pause for a moment to let everything she said to sink in.

“Now that's all been said, I was wondering if we could perhaps be friends.  As you stated yourself, people of our class should hang together.  Perhaps we could even form a tag team.” stated Akiha in a far more calm manner as she still kept her professional appearance up.

"Oui, Maîtresse." Yayoi said, nodding to Gwendolyn's words. Naturally the admission was more important than the form, but as Akiha pleaded her case, Yayoi slipped over to the two maids. Unlike the two beautiful aristocrats, servants not only had no issues with doing the petty jobs that were far beneath their lofty mistresses, they were duty bound to do so.

Yayoi pulled a small piece of paper from her Primol jumpsuit and offered it to the maids. "This is what I wrote up while my Maîtresse was recovering. It is an invoice. The Primol staff that serves directly under Miss Dupont Bettencourt are in dire need of clean and pressed track suits. I know you'll do a wonderful job, since you're just glorified laundry folders."

Yayoi nodded and then glanced back at Gwendolyn and Akiha and then back at the maids. Yayoi smirked proudly. "And don't complain about having a numbers disadvantage." Yayoi said, waving her hand at the two. "That's just unseemly. Accept your loss with dignity like your mistress."

Riding high atop her imperious high horse, Gwendolyn took exceptional relish in her denigrating pokes towards Akiha. Hardly subtle, but not exceptionally malicious considering the lofty braggadocio the heiress was infamously capable of. Gwendolyn had truthfully anticipated some manner of private reconciliation between them considering the amicable manner they had parted ways after the match. Though there was good reason as to why Gwen was offering Akiha such leniency...

"Ah, such must be the supposed proposal you mentioned previously. I see you remain as consistently straightforward with your intentions as ever, Madam Kosha. Nary a word of idle chit-chat to be found. Hmm...I must say, I appreciate the candor...and the willingness to graciously accept your defeat with such grace and poise. All too often my vanquished competitors would incessantly darken my doorstep with their stubborn impertinence hounding me for rematches. Your words, are a sincere breath of fresh air..." Gwen said in a relaxed tone before unfolding her arms and dramatically brushing her golden curls off her shoulder with a dainty flick of her wrist.

"In a league rife with presumptuous and insolent peons denigrating my very name...I must admit, having a fellow competitor of the same regal cloth to call a companion, would indeed be a rare convenience..." Gwen would extend her hand to Akiha as a gesture of good will and to settle their differences for the time being, unaware of perhaps slightly more volatile interactions taking place between Yayoi and Akiha's own subordinates.

Akiha had stated her part and was now waiting for Gwen to make a response.  She would hear the blond wrestler began to talk about how everyone else kept asking her for a rematch.  Akiha could understand Gwen frustration, constantly being hounding by her opponents for another match.  It seemed that the change in pace was something welcomed by her counterpart.  Yet she would also keep her ears open to what was going on with her maids as she began to shake Gwen's hand.

“It must be annoying to have all your defeated opponents cry for a rematch.  Though I have won most of my matches, none of really cried for a rematch expect maybe one.  But enough talk about such petty actions.  Let us focus on more interesting manners, such as how a partnership can benefit the both of us.  Can you excuse me for a moment.” stated Akiha as her attention then started to shift towards Yayoi.  

“Madam Yayoi, if you have a request to make to my maids, you are to come through me first.  Having only two maids, allows me to micro-mange them.  Do I make myself clear?” ask Akiha in a professional tone but the expression on her face was that of a warning.  She would then focus her attention back to Gwen.  “Sorry about that, but those two maids have been with me since I can remember.  They are family to me.” stated Akiha in a polite tone but she hoped her message of don't tell them what to do without my permission had gone through to Gwen and Yayoi.

- - - - -

While Akiha and Gwen were talking, the two maids would focus their attention on Yayoi who was now making her way towards them.  Gwen servant then took out a list and began to give the two of them orders, as if she was their boss.  This really got on both maids nerves but the two both had different ways of showing it.  “Oh sure, I will gladly wash them!” stated Kohaku as she already had a devious plan in her mind as she then covered her mouth and gave a giggle.  

Hisui was then about to speak but before she could, Akiha would make her statement towards Yayoi. “As the mistress said, please direct all requests to her, we only serve her and those she wishes for us to serve.” stated Hisui in a polite manner as she then gave a bow.

Yayoi narrowed her eyes as Akiha interrupted the servant's conversation. For being an aristocrat, the Japanese girl was extremely disrespectful. The matter had not gotten out of hand, so mistresses did not need to get involved. It was a matter that could be settled between servants.

Yayoi lowered her head in a respectful bow to Akiha, to reassure the Japanese woman, but that was definitely not the end of it. Akiha had thrown the first stone and her maids were not going to be able to hide under their mistresses skirt is Yayoi had anything to say about it.

"Maîtresse." She said and then looked back at the maids. <Render unto Ceasar that which is Ceasar's and render unto the servants that which is the servants!> She said in French, fairly certain that no one else spoke it but herself and Gwendolyn. <This is a matter between the maids and myself! Having another mistress address another mistresses' servant is improper!>

The burgeoning 'friendship' unraveling between their servants would go unnoticed by the regal aristocrat until Akiha interrupted their dignified discourse to bring her attention to it. Playing catch up was fairly easy once she heard out all sides of the argument, the heiress eyes darting between each speaker and feeling as if she were a den mother hearing out the cases of squabbling children.

Gwen gracefully raised her gloved hand in front of Yayoi and slowly lowered it down, signaling for her to calm herself down and refrain from making any more of a scene. < Patience, Yayoi. The truest test of good manners is to be able to tolerate bad manners pleasantly...> It was in a rather roundabout way, but Yayoi was astutely correct in terms of proper decorum when lady's of nobility address eachother.

"Well...it appears our alliance is off to a rather smashing start, aren't we?" Gwen replied sarcastically with a pleasant grin towards Akiha, holding her hands below her waist. "By all means, be under no obligation to explain your actions any further. I took note of your devotion towards your handmaidens earlier in our match. Though I would be remiss if I were to not impart similar guidelines myself. Please, address me...not Yayoi, if you feel my assistant has overstepped her bounds. And I will handle the situation of my own accord. I hope I've made myself perfectly clear on that matter..." Gwen replied with an authoritarian tone, coming to Yayoi's defense and issuing boundaries about speaking to her employees like that.

"I can earnestly understand your attachment to your housekeepers, Akiha. The head butler and chief of staff of my entourage, Winston, has been my caretaker since I was an infant, and is by extension like a second father to me. However, our assistants seem perfectly capable of handling affairs on their own and without our interference. Burdening ourselves with matters they can settle for themselves seems rather counter-productive, especially when there's a venue for just such an occasion right here~..." Gwen pondered towards Akiha in her more pleasant vocals, confident that she understood Gwens implied proposal of allowing them to have a match.

It seemed that Akiha comment was not well received. It was true that usually servants would give each other tasks but the raven hair wrestler made an exception to this rule when it came to Kohaku and Hisui. She would now hear Gwen began to talk about how their alliance was off to great start in an obviously sarcastic way before stating that Akiha should do the same and talk to Gwen before making any comments to Yayoi. “Very well, I will remember that in the future. You have made yourself clear, my apologies and thank you for understanding.” stated Akiha in a humble manner. Hopefully, this would all become water under the bridge.

She then took a moment to listen to Gwen proposal. “Hmm... an interesting idea but perhaps we should give them a day to rest? I mean it is quite late and I feel no need to rush the matter. Though what kind of match would it be? A simple two versus one handicap match or perhaps you have something else in mind?” ask Akiha as she took a moment to think about it and see what her counterpart Gwen would have to say about it.

- - - - -

Kohaku and Hisui would watch as Yayoi seemed to go annoyed but what just happened. Hisui would have a neutral face but Kohaku would cover her mouth as she gave a quiet giggle, enjoying how Yayoi seemed to complain. The maids didn't know what she was saying but it was clear she was upset with Akiha stepping in.

Then the conversation began to change as Gwen and Akiha began to speak about their servants having their own match. Kohaku and Hisui were both surprised by this but it was a great way for the two of them to not only get revenge but also a way to restore Akiha reputation. The two remained quiet, waiting to see what Gwen and Yayoi would have to say about it.

Instructing Akiha on the basics of civilized discourse was a lesson Gwen had no qualms with repeating, chalking up Akiha's misstep with perhaps being unaccustomed to addressing a fellow aristocrat. An understandable faux pas if she had only the brutish rogues on this roster to cavort with. Gwendolyn's tumultuous schedule kept her social interactions diversified, from dining with the elite upper-class in grandiose ballrooms to addressing the uncultured masses in a slovenly arena with a microphone. Perhaps Akiha will come away from their partnership having regained that much needed balance.

"...*Ahem*...I fear we may have made our influence known well enough by this juncture. I do believe match arrangements are the exact forms of paltry details best left for them to decide, wouldn't you agree?" Gwen queried with a pleasant as pie smile on her face, reinforcing her earlier insistence at allowing their servants to dictate their own fates. "Pride in micro-management is a noble feat, but true leadership in the business world teaches compartmentalization. Trusting those under your employ to handle matters out of your purview, lest you become overwhelmed by the heaping responsibilities that should be beneath you. It involves trusting in your own judgment...just as I trust that my dear assistant Yayoi will emerge victorious in whatever manner of altercation she chooses~..." Gwen maintained eye contact with Akiha as she spoke. Not even sparing a glance in Yayoi's direction and keeping up an invisible boundary that was separating the aristocrat's world from their servants.