Super Best Friend Time! Yay!

"All right, I'll make a note of it, order a black and grey bikini outfit for you!"

Haley replied, sticking her tongue out to show Alicia she was just teasing her, before hearing out what she had to say about Adrian, before nodding.

"Well...look, I get it, she's not your favorite person, and I'm not going to ask you to change your mind on that and become best friends with her or anything like that...if you really think she's the wrong person to ask to join, then I'll take your word for it and find someone else."

She replied, grabbing a shirt from the closet and putting it on. Valley hadn't shown up yet, and it was just getting a bit too awkward being this exposed around Alicia, even if she wasn't the type to try anything...plus, she figured she didn't want Valley showing up and getting the wrong idea.

"If you know anybody that could be good to talk to, feel free to name them...but maybe don't discard Adrian right out of hand just yet. We are pretty outnumbered, and having someone who knows how Styx thinks and has beaten her...that wouldn't be so bad to have on our side, ya know?"

There was that tongue stuck out at her again. Well, that was mature. Alicia just rolled her eyes but said nothing on that topic.

As for Adrian… Yeah.

”Seems to me that, if we’re complaining about how toxic Styx’s crew is, teaming up with someone who’s almost as bad isn’t a great plan,” She pointed out, folding her arms, ”Plus she doesn’t strike me as much of a joiner.”

Not that she’d had that much experience of the Hardcore champ but… yeah. That was her read. And no, she didn’t like Adrian much. She didn’t like how she fought, she didn’t think she liked her on a personal level and she’d really rather have someone with some actual combat skill on her side.

Not a borderline cheater with a bag of tricks and a bad attitude.

Still, she could see Ace’s point. Sort of.

Alicia frowned, not really looking at the other wrestler as she dressed.

Three to two wasn’t that bad as far as odds went, but she supposed she could see Ace’s point. On the other hand, there was a very, very obvious candidate here to the point that Alicia couldn’t be bothered to talk about Adrian Kytes any longer.

She doubted Kytes had really beaten Styx anyway. Not in any way that mattered, not as far as she was concerned anyway.

”Why isn’t Valley here?”

She raised her eyebrows at Ace, now very curious as to why the blonde wasn’t present or involved seemingly at all.

"You know, that's a good question. This lingerie was not cheap, and I was hoping to surprise her with...Oh...that's uh...that's not what you meant...right..."

Haley groaned, realizing Alicia was wanting to know why Valley Doll wasn't involved in the meeting and why she hadn't volunteered her girlfriend to fight with them.

"It's...It's complicated really. For starters, because of the whole age thing between us, I've never really liked Valley getting involved in my stuff. We had that problem when we first got together...I was just getting started in AFW, so I got into a bit of trouble and she would keep jumping in for me, over and over, and...I dunno. It was like she didn't think I could handle my own business without her, like I was just a dumb kid.

We got in a fight about it, broke up over it, then later worked it out. I always wanted to prove that, while I valued her experience and knowledge, that I didn't have to run to her every time I had a problem."

She sighed, opening her mini fridge and bending over to grab a drink, her pantie covered booty in Alicia's line of sight unintentionally.

"The other reason, honestly, is that I'm worried about getting her involved, because we'd just distract each other. It's why we've only teamed up once. We were more focused on making sure the other one was alright whenever they took a hit, we got distracted and lost.

Fighting WAR is going to be incredibly difficult, and I need to be free to fight as fast, reckless, and dangerous as possible to beat them, and I can't do that if I'm constantly worried over Valley and she wouldn't be able to fight if she was worried about me. I've already had my oldest friend and my surrogate sister injured by WAR, I don't want to see my girlfriend get hurt by them too."

She sighed, sitting back on the couch.

"Besides, she's getting ready to go after the Entropy Belt and all that, what am I supposed to do, tell her to give up a title shot to help me out? No way. I need people on my side, but if I'm connected to them, I'm not going to be able to fight the way I need to. That's not meant as an insult, but I know you understand what I mean."

Well, that was a longer way of saying what needed to be said that Alicia had been looking for but fair enough she supposed. At least the second reason – she could appreciate not wanting to run to Valley every time she had a problem but, when dealing with Styx and her goon squad, she’d have thought that wasn’t an issue.

Or, hey, maybe Valley would want to be asked but the two could sort that out between themselves. Thankfully, it wasn’t Alicia’s problem.

”No offence taken,” Alicia actually sounded amused, ”It’s not like you’re my best friend either. I’d just rather have her on my side than Adrian.”

She shrugged. ”Though, given Styx and her buddies, I wouldn’t bet on them leaving her out of it anyway. So you might end up being distracted whether you want it or not. But it’s your choice.”

The big redhead wasn’t quite as glib about it as she might have sounded. She did see where Ace was coming from, she could just also see Valley ending up involved anyway. It wasn’t like WAR were going to respect boundaries, not given the way they’d acted so far.

If Abattoir’s desired rematch with Alicia wasn’t going to be respected, why would Ace’s leaving Valley out of it?

But, again, it wasn’t her choice to make. And, if Ace was going to be distracted, well – that would definitely be a problem for her.

She shrugged again, settling back in her chair.

"Fair enough...I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get to it, maybe just you and I will be enough."

With that, the matter seemed settled. While Alicia certainly had a good point, Ace was still set on trying to not involve Valley into things and that was that, at least until circumstances proved different.

But rather than send the girl off, there was something she felt she had to say, rattling around in the back of her head.

"So uh...Valley, you know...talks about you a lot. Always praising your matches and your skill and stuff, she likes to rewatch the match you guys had, I even caught her rewatching when you choked out Gallium...This...is an awkward question, but is there...something between you two? I mean, I trust her, I do, and you don't seem the type to be part of an affair...but I...just can't help asking. Maybe I'm just insecure. I mean, you can flirt and sleep with Gallium if you want and if she's open to it, but I like to think my Doll is off limits, ya know?"

With the question of who they might be teaming with done, at least for the moment, Alicia was curious about whether they had anything left to talk about. But Ace seemed to have something else on her mind.

The big redhead hadn’t expected the turn it took though.

And thus Silver Ace got the uncommon distinction of seeing Alicia at least temporarily lost for words. And, if she was entirely honest, she wasn’t quite sure whether it was the idea of her going after Valley or the idea of her screwing Gallium that caused it.

The idea of her wanting to sleep with Gallium was hard enough to wrap her head around. Gallium. Although part of Alicia was oddly offended at the idea that she needed Ace’s consent to flirt with anyone.

”So good to know I’ve got your permission,” she drawled sarcastically, eyes slightly narrowed, ”But Gallium’s definitely not my type.”

And if that seemed like it was very deliberately not answering the bit about Valley, then that was absolutely the case. Alicia was happy to team up with Ace to take down WAR but, end of the day, she didn’t really like Ace. Didn’t dislike her either, but she wasn’t here to deal with the blonde’s insecurities about her relationship.

If she was that worried, she could go talk to Valley herself and stop wasting Alicia’s time. Or she could just keep on being all insecure about it. Also fine.

But she was not interested at all in this conversation. Or Valley, as it happened – except in the sense that the blonde and her were going to dance again.

For now, she just waited to see how Ace took it.

Well, as if this meeting hadn't been awkward enough, that certainly hadn't helped much, had it?

While Alicia may not have known it, or hell, she probably did and just didn't care, Ace wasn't exactly fond of the other woman either. Too serious. Too dark. Too punchy.

But, for whatever reason, Valley seemed to like her, and Ace would need her if they were going to fight WAR, so it would be rather stupid to pick a fight with her now. Putting her hands up, palms out, Ace attempted to ease things.

"Relax, I was just kidding about Gallium, and I'm not actually trying to accuse you of sleeping with my girlfriend or anything, alright? I'm just curious is all."

Given the first time Alicia and Ace had met had ended with Ace’s precious pet apprentice snoozing like the failure of a fighter she was…

Yeah, Alicia was pretty sure Ace didn’t like her much. That was fine. She wasn’t there to make friends, and she was absolutely certain that she and Ace would be facing off in a match someday. Not, of course, that being friends with Ace would stop Alicia giving the Canadian her all.

She wouldn’t even mind being friends with Ace. She just didn’t see it happening any time soon and particularly not if the other wrestler kept making comments like the one that had brought on the present chill in the conversation.

The backtracking seemed to help, at least the British woman stayed seated and didn’t storm out.

For a long, long moment, Alicia just sat there, violet eyes trained on Ace as if she was trying to peer through the silver-haired phenom’s pupils into her soul. Or as if she was trying to bore out the back of the Canadian’s skull with sheer willpower.

Could be either.

Regardless, after a deathly silence, the redhead shifted slightly.

”The only thing between me and Valley – so far as I’m concerned – is unfinished business. She owes me a rematch.”

It was on her mind to say they were friends but, well, were they? Alicia’s definition of friendship could be slightly idiosyncratic to say the least, possibly even eccentric. But did it apply to Valley? She truthfully wasn’t sure.

It wasn’t like she wasn’t attracted to Valley either. The blonde was, in no uncertain terms, hot.

But Alicia’s only interest in her was professional. At least, so far as wanting to crush Valley into unconsciousness with her thighs could be considered professional.

Right, well...that settled that, didn't it?

Little did Alicia know, but Ace had other plans with Valley, that involved her between Ace's thighs...

That thought gave her some comfort, as Alicia kept staring at her for a long while.

"Right, fair enough. I'm just being dumb...so..."

The awkward silence seemed to last a bit longer, before the bra and pantie clad Ace shook her head and sighed.

"This...is ridiculous. Two hot and half naked girls in the same room should never be this awkward. We're going to be working together in this, we should find something that makes us get along. I'm sure there's SOME common ground we have besides just hating Styx....the wrestler, not the rock band."

She said, raising and lightly stretching her leg against the wall, trying to ease a small cramp.

"Just saying"

That ‘so’ was definitely left to hang in the air as Alicia, whatever else she might or might not think, didn’t feel any need to break the awkward silence that had descended. Really, she was still a little grouchy that she’d been all but accused on fairly shaky grounds of going after Ace’s girlfriend.

Which, well, she supposed she was. Just not in that way, thank you. It was entirely, definitely professional, even if Alicia was going to get a hell of a kick out of taking the blonde on for the third time.

In short, she was quite happy to leave Ace to trip over her own words, though the Canadian’s next comment – when it finally came – did make her grin.

”Let’s see…”

Alicia started ticking things off on her fingers.

”We’re both human and female. We both speak English. We’re both from Commonwealth countries. We’ve both got short hair…”

She broke off with a short laugh.

”We’ve got plenty in common, though I’m not sure it’s going to help us get along… I’m kind of curious though – how are you planning to explain me being in here and half-naked to your girlfriend when she turns up?”

Not that Alicia considered herself half-naked. She was perfectly decent; Ace was the one hanging around in her underwear and it was her locker room so that wasn’t a problem either.