Good To See You Again, Alice Cooper

Haley instantly regretted her decision. So much regret.

But it was done, and for what it was worth, the two were officially on better terms than they had ever been before, and she was being helped towards a sauna while listening to this new, "humble" Gwen...talk...and talk...and more talking!

The mentioning of River Styx put a frown on Haley's face for sure, but the fellow blonde bit her tongue. No point in causing a fuss over Gwens choice in friends right now. Certainly not when this...whatever this was...was so fresh, and the woman's entourage had her surrounded on all sides.

*Some short time later*

Haley limped into the steam room, robe on, attendants having already heated the rocks in the sauna. Her braces lay in the changing room, in a locker with her clothes. She wasn't an idiot after all. Undoing her robe, she slipped it off, hanging it on a hook outside the door to the steam room, leaving herself clad in just a simple white string bikini...granted, one that was a bit small on her, still covering everything, but exposing more skin than her normal bikini would. Originally, she had bought it to surprise Valley with...but now she was waiting in a sauna, not for her girlfriend, but for her former opponent!

"Geez...good thing I didn't tell any AFW officials about this, or they'd have made a match out of it..."

Gwendolyn's dutiful entourage steadfastly obeyed their benevolent employeer's request upon being instructed to await her arrival in the hallway outside of the locker room. But not without some reservations about allowing their reviled employer step into a public facility teeming with muscled heavyweights and an honor bound roster that perhaps weren't too keen on being chummy with the heiress. Most of whom didn't take too kindly to years of Gwendolyn's egotistic persona and penchant for outright cheating her way to the top...

"Ah~...There's simply nothing quite like the soothing confines of a therapeutic sauna session to alleviate ones aches and pains~..." Gwendolyn merrily chirped upon entering the stiflingly humid room a few seconds after Haley, the heiress now clad in a royal blue bikini that showcased just as much of her flawless skin as Haley's own outfit. The heiress remaining blissfully unaware of the gawking stares she would get from the other occupants of the sauna who had NEVER seen Gwendolyn climb down from her ivory tower in the executive suite. One third of the room would immediately empty out in a bitter huff while the rest would direct confused or irate glares towards Gwendolyn...and Haley.

"Though, these facilities are perhaps not quite as accommodating as I would have hoped given a distinct lack of attentive servants and due cleanliness. Nevertheless, I'm finding it quite refreshing to break from the norm and drudgery of everyday life to go "slumming it"...so to speak " Gwendolyn elegantly stated while taking the white towel over her shoulder and daintily draping it beside Haley before seating herself on it, the pompous aristocrat now so close to Haley that their thighs faintly grazed eachothers.

"So, you simply must regale me as to your reasoning behind wishing to earn the ire of someone of such...questionable, moral standings as the esteemed Madam Styx. Certainly there were less roundabout methods of wishing to inflict grievous bodily harm upon yourself~..." Gwendolyn queried with a wincing inflection as she extended her arms skyward to stretch out her back while puffing out her voluptuous chest.

So the first thing Haley noticed once Gwen entered the room was how the atmosphere changed. A large group of people left to avoid the heiress, and Haley could practically feel the way the other patrons of the sauna glaring her way, hearing whispered mutterings pass between them. It was...unsettling. She'd had negative reception from the audience before, and her various feuds, but she'd never had THIS kind of reaction from her fellow co-workers...

The second thing she noticed was Gwen herself. and noticed. and kept noticing. Sure, it was obvious Gwen was attractive, the thought had passed through her head before. But that was just seeing her in her ring gear, or at rare times they made similar promotional appearances. Seeing her in a bikini was...vastly different. To put bluntly, Gwen was hot. Like, really hot. Like, Haley's jaw actually dropped and she just stared at Gwen as the blonde sat next to her, not snapping out of it until Gwen mentioned River Styx.

"I...well I mean, I never intended to mess with her in the first place.
The woman and her friends attacked me out of the blue. They hurt me, they hurt my friends. How could I not respond to that?"

She sighed, then stiffened a little, as Gwen leaned back and Haley got a great view of her entire toned body...God she was hot. Blushing, Haley turned her head, hoping Gwen didn't catch that. "H-How do you and her know each other?"

Blissfully unaware of the polarizing effect she had on her immediate surroundings, Gwendolyn interpreted whatever murmured whispers sounding off around her as merely gossipers who were no doubt taken aback from having a prominent celebrity in their midst. Her only concern being that one of the captivated competitors in the sauna would attempt to engage in some manner of inane banter with them, but the fact remained that the wrestlers in that room were less starstruck as they were ready to strike Gwendolyn until she saw stars.

"...*sigh*...The prolonged history between myself and Madam Styx is a muddled and at times baffling tale whose origins involve an utterly chaotic tag match and a six foot tall gargantuan giantess dressed as an infant. It was a footnote in my wrestling career that I would prefer be forgotten within the annals of time..." Gwendolyn sullenly stated with a slight slump to her posture and despondency to her tone as she recalled her Random Select Tag Match almost as if she was recalling old war stories that had left their fair share of mental scarring. Gwendolyn sighed and perked back up to notice Haley having turned away. She was a tad perplexed...but continued onward anyway...

"Still...in regards to your issues with your own hulking brute, this is when the merits of a cold and calculated mind could have come into play and aided you thusly..." Gwen chirped with her smirking head held high while fancifully placing her right hand on her chest to accentuate the obvious fact that she was talking about herself. "However, whilst I have no intention of physically coming to your aid and being within one mile of the Hardcore division, allow me to offer something infinitely more valuable. My own illustrious guidance, advice, aaaaaand unfettered access to my own illustrious executive training quarters in AFW and it's top-notch rehab facilities until you're back on your feet...both figuratively, and literally."

Haley found herself actually completely not noticing the various looks and hisses coming their way anymore, completely engrossed by the story of the random tag match the woman had participated in. While Gwen didn't share much, what she did share sounded...downright weird.

Before she could inquire more though, she was caught off guard by the heiresses next comment. "Wait...you're not serious...you have your own exclusive training quarters...and you're willing to let me use them!? That's...that is really generous of you Gwen...um...thank you!"

She exclaimed excitedly, leaning forward, one hand ending up unintentionally pressing against the blondes thigh...

Bestowing her affluent accommodations upon her one-time adversary turned fawning devotee may have seemed like an act of heart-warming generosity, but in Gwendolyn's deluded mind, she was simply rewarding Haley for her fanatical worship of the high-handed noblewoman. The heiress knew she was long overdue for amassing new followers, and she couldn't deny that her Rolodex of companions, or "friends", in AFW was decidedly...lacking. It started in the "A"s, with her tag partner Akiha...and ended in the "A"s, with her tag partner Akiha.

"Yes well, someone of my illustrious prestige simply must know when to take others under their Imperial Wing and allow them to flourish gracefully from within~...Consider it an investment in the future of this decidedly plebeian wrestling league and my own ongoing and illustrious campaign to reign triumphant within. What good is being lavished in championship gold if the competition beneath you is of subpar quality?" Gwendolyn boastfully claimed with a dramatic flourish of her golden drills over her shoulder before unintentionally lowering her hand and placing it atop Haley's...cupping it briefly in a decidedly awkward situation before recoiling it back. A slight smile with a red tinge to her cheeks from the accidental faux pas...

While Gwen had...something of a point, though she chose a very long and grandiose way of saying it, Haley couldn't respond to it, as the accidental cupping of her hand by Gwens caused Haley to blush even brighter red, removing her hand from her former rivals thigh...though not without noticing just how soft that thigh was...

They sat in silence for a few seconds, avoiding eye contact, before Haley sat up and looked Gwens way. "Hey...legit question. How the hell did you get Iron Maiden to perform for you at Summer Splash a few years back? I didn't know you even liked heavy metal!"

Gwendolyn's eyes followed Haley as she stood up and presented one of the most random questions the heiress could have thought of. The regal prestige of Gwen's countenance and posture began to erode as she fought to hold back her burgeoning smile before finally breaking down. The girlish chuckles and earnest laughter being covered by her hand as she arched over herself before her giggle-fit came to an end with some deep breaths.

"M-My apologies...*giggle*...I'm ever so sorry...it's...it's just of all the innumerable questions you could have posited towards me after all these years...*chuckle*...For that to be the one your most curious about..and the way in which you presented it...Ah...that was delightful..." Gwendolyn stated while brushing the side of her index finger against her eyes moistened with tears that were close to falling but never did. She sat back up after having collected herself, crossing her toned legs and folding her hands across her knee.

"...*Ahem*...But to answer your question, having them agree to perform was not all that difficult in the slightest. It was an open arena event that just so happen to take place in London, they had an album to promote, I desired to imbue a sense of nationalistic pride into that Summer-slam match...it was actually mutually benefit to all parties involved. I sampled a track or two back in my high school days, and they were simply the first band I thought of...I also paid them an exorbitant amount of money." Gwendolyn let that last bit linger for a few more seconds with a beguiling smile before speaking back up.

"So...any other questions you wish to volley my way? I'm quite enjoying this quaint little tête-à-tête of ours~..."

Haley blinked, looking at Gwen in surprise as the woman began giggling. It wasn't the first time she had ever heard the woman laugh, but it was the first time she had heard the other blonde laugh out of mirth and enjoyment. All her other laughs that Haley had heard had been that annoyingly loud "OH HO HO" style laugh, that she used whenever mocking an opponent or boasting about her own superiority.

To hear her laugh now though, as a genuine happy expression...it actually felt...nice to hear it.

She soon had Haley giggling as well, following up on her understandable, accurate, and well planned explanation...and followed it up with what was probably the most likely reason, that she paid them a bunch of money.

"Well, to be fair..." Haley said, in between stifled giggling, "That's pretty much the same way I got Rush to perform for me at Avalanche in Toronto last year. Even though it was their hometown, and mine, they weren't all that interested...then I doubled my offer, and they said yes."

She smiled, probably the first non-awkward or nervous smile she had given since Gwen showed up backstage and confronted her.

"Actually yeah, I gotta ask, where do you get the idea for your ring gear?"

Now eager to ask more, Haley turned back towards Gwen, leaning a little closer to her former opponent.

"Like, I've always been nervous about showing so much of my body to the crowd, especially after that first year where I tried wearing that heavy dress-shirt over my outfit, so now I just wear full tights and try not to show more than my stomach...except for Avalanche last year..." She blushed a little at that, briefly hoping Gwen hadn't seen her strip said heavy dress, making a one night comeback, off of her and wrestling in just a sports bra and tight spandex shorts the rest of the match.

Shaking her head, she continued. "But you, you're outfit has always been pretty awesome. It's really elegant, and really fits your form, and manages to look really stylish and badass, and shows skin in a way that is still, you know, really classy. Did you design that yourself?"

A stern upbringing in a sterilized world of proper etiquette, refined social graces, and distinguishing the salad fork from the fish fork at a dinner table were token examples of Gwen's earliest childhood memories. All leaving the heiress quite humorless when it wasn't at the expense of others. But the frankness and doe-eyed honesty with which Haley blurted out such a decidedly random question was a delight cocktail of sheer absurdity that Gwendolyn couldn't help but double over herself before regaining her composure. She now looked forward to whatever popped into Haley's head next~...

"Hmm...well, it should go without saying that nothing touches this body without having been been given my approval, though that wrestling attire you speak of was indeed a design of my own concoction whilst I was whiling away the hours on the plane ride here to Japan all those years ago. However...this query about my wrestling attire appears to be but a branch of a tree...wherein I believe I have ascertained the root of your question~..." Gwen elegantly enunciated before rising back to her feet with a knowing and alluring gaze to her eyes, the heiress taking poised steps towards Haley with one leg crossing over the other as if she was modeling the latest fashion on a catwalk.  

"The earnest admiration of my flawless beauty and physique...Inquiring so intently about my wrestling attire, of all conceivable topics...Don't think me so blind that I wouldn't parse together the scattered clues that form together to reveal your true desires~..." Gwendolyn's sensual stride not stopping until their toweled chests faintly touched and her smirking face was inches from Haley's. The faintest touches could be felt on Haley's hip and shoulder from Gwen's exploring hands, the refined noblewoman opening her luscious lips to say...

"...You wish for me to design your new wrestling attire, don't you?~~~..." Gwendolyn merrily blurted out with a wholesome and friendly smile. The roving hands on Haley now being brought up to stretch out the Canadians' arms as if Gwen was trying to get the right dimensions for her figure. "...*giggle*...you need only have asked, you know? Why with the my own fashion expertise and the proper tailor's, I can see you being the proverbial bell of the ball with an entirely revamped look that perhaps mimics my own illustrious beauty~...Though it won't match up to the original, of course~.."