Damn Fans (Juno)

Cicilia wandered around the grocery store, her wallet in hand as she contemplated what she was going to get Sayumi... It didn't have to be anything big... Nothing extravagant (like you could find that at an average super market) but... just something she could make her smile with. Things had been so hard recently... Yes, even between them... Her poor girlfriend had been so afraid after what happened, her nerves frayed, shot, even though she tried to hide it sometimes... Cicilia was always there to hold her, to hug her, to kiss her and tell her everything was going to be okay but something in the back of her mind kept reminding her that those words were slowly losing their meaning... For her girlfriend...? They were probably already lost...

Hence why she was here! The German wandered into the cooking isle, looking over the various materials. It had been FOREVER since she cooked something for the both of them... Just objectively, Sayumi was better at it and knew more things they actually liked! Whenever she cooked for herself, she felt so... rusty... She was gonna have to fix that. It would be a lie to say this was done purely for Sayumi's benefit... Simply put, the juggernaut wanted to get back into the culinary arts! Yes, the big bad boxer who smashed peoples' faces in for a living and had a inner store-house of rage and hate she used to "wreck" her enemies was also a geek... and an aspiring cook. She had let herself slack off too long on this front! She needed to reclaim her kitchen from her girlfriend who dominated it!

...and what better way to do that then to impress her...?

These little challenges were what kept the boxer lucid... grounded, unaware of the darkness that seemed to linger about her for a time. Looking forward to little things like... say... cooking for the woman she loved helped her relax and prepare herself for the next day, lose or not.

Cicilia smiled to herself as she began grabbing cake-fixings off the shelves, putting them in the little basket she hand hanging off her arm.

There she was…

It had been months since the two had seen one another, yet the cold, hateful eyes that stabbed into the unknowing German’s back burned as fresh and powerful as they did when they had first met. The rage, the indignation, the embarrassment, all of it seethed under the icy expression of Juno Sawyer. She had been visiting this grocery store for months, at least once a week in the hopes of running into her hated enemy.

Juno knew Cicilia frequented this grocery store in particular, or to be more accurate, her girlfriend did. The nurse had poured hours into researching the boxer that had humiliated her, learning all sorts of personal information, such as her completely destroyed family, the stores and shops she frequents, and her beloved girlfriend, Sayumi. All of this led Juno to hunt for the boxer, intent on showing the brute that her intellectual superiority would win out against the raven-haired juggernaut.

And here she was, right at the other end of the isle. Getting cake toppings of all things.

Juno was watching her, dressed in jeans, a white t-shirt, and a tan coat. Her casual appearance was nothing like her nurse persona, but rather far more…well, normal. Her blue hair tied in a low pony tail was the only thing similar to her ring attire, but she knew that she would not be recognized.
She had a plan, and it was time for step one.

As if by magic, the icy expression on Juno’s face changed completely. The cold, hostile look was changed into a bright eyed, curious woman as she walked down the isle towards her target. Walking up behind Cicilia, she spoke out in a quite voice far different from her normal one, calling in a shy manner,

“E-Excuse me?” the now sheepish girl said while shyly playing with her hands, ”U-Um…Well, uh…Y-You wouldn’t happen to be Ms. Cicilia De’Reignhardt, would you?”

Cicilia flinched upon hearing her name called, her thoughtful smile already flickering downward into a suspicious frown. She didn't like hearing her name spoken by those she did not recognize. She had... bad experiences in that regard. The German turned around slowly, her sanguine eyes sending out a defensively barbed look towards the fidgeting girl behind her... Her eyelids narrowed upon seeing her face, looking over every detail... Her hair color should've been enough for her to come up with SOME candidate but... No... She just had one of those faces, she supposed... Cicilia forced her frown upward into a flat, neutral expression, trying to keep her mind from jumping to the worst conclusions... She swore, the next thing she knew, this person would reveal themselves as a creeper and a stalker, wanting to be her best friend and confidant. The only people that should ever know her name is her land-lord who owns her apartment, the man that ferries her to and from work every day in his taxi, Sayumi herself or those that had seen her fight. Nobody else.

"Who's asking?" She spoke sharply, unable to keep the edge out of her voice. She didn't like strangers... Experience has taught her that there were wackos and nutjobs that would do anything to get in your life... From stalking... to selling her stupid crap at her door. Recent experience had only reinforced this... as evidenced by the new scars that were etched over one of her eyes and across her arms and chest. Her so-called "flawless De'Reignhardt Beauty" was now tarnished.

"Who are you?" She asked, placing her free hand on her hip. "...And what do you want?"

The girl Juno was playing noticeably flinched at Cicilia’s sharp and suspicious tone. Despite Juno being the same height as the boxer, the girl was noticeably shorter, due to her bent knees and slightly defensive form causing her to hunch over and bring her arms close. The girl’s blue eyes seemed to have trouble looking into the Germans suspicious features, only getting as close as her chin or her forehead before darting away to look at someone or something else.

Why is she making this difficult? A cute, shy girl walks up asking if she know you, and you give her this kind of treatment? Just how despicable are you, so-called Juggernaut?

Juno seethed inside, but kept pace with Cicilia, never dropping character for even a second. The girl sputtered, opening and closing her mouth as if she didn’t know what to say. If no one knew better, it might look like she was getting mugged right in the middle of the store.

“I-I’m sorry! I’m just a fan! I didn’t mean to bother you!” the girl spouted off quickly, “I just thought, well, you look like her a-and maybe you are her, and I saw you buying cake, and I thought it was kinda funny, a boxer making cake, and well…”

The girl seemed to force herself to slow down, taking a shaky breath, but still avoiding eye contact. “I’m sorry, it’s just…I dunno…wanted to meet her….I guess…”

The nurse inside wanted to puke from the display. She hated acting, but throughout the years she had grown good at it, usually hiding her feelings of disdain. She could be bubbly, sad, cute, or vulnerable, basically the complete opposite of how she truly was. Now she was putting her skills to the test, trying to lower her foes defenses in a subtl manner.

"Just a fan," huh? Cicilia mused to herself, conflicted how she should feel about this... fan. Cicilia had her own share of those... as small a group as they might've been. She saw them screaming their heads off alongside their rivals up in the stands, separated only by the other viewers that knew not what train to jump on. They were always completely off the handle with their signs and posters and such. On the other hand, though, she recognized those were just the people on national television encouraging their favorite sports star. As everyone knows, exposure to a TV camera made everyone nuts... This girl could've been one of those girls that watched from the safety of her own home... Something easily bought given her demeanor, so nervous and closed off. That's a story easily bought if this "fan" didn't introduce herself as simply such!

What person...EVER introduces themselves as just something...? This wasn't some wild western where everyone was just a stranger or a nobody. In real life, saying things like that only made people MORE suspicious, not less. People would only ever try to hide their identities as such only when they had something to hide and ONLY in a dramatic fashion as if to clue in the audience that they were more than they were letting on. Cicilia was a nerd... a high-quality anime nerd so she picked up on classic and reused story elements constantly... but never had she been so callow as to try and use them in real life! The Juggernaut continued to stare down at the girl before breaking her gaze to nab a bag of chocolate chips off the rack. Not for the cake... But Sayumi and her to share.

"You aren't answering my questions..." Cicilia noted, going back to rumaging through the isle racks, grabbing a few more items and throwing them into her basket. "...So how about we drop the pretense and get down to it, hmm?"  She glanced back over towards her supposed "fan", before glancing up at the store cameras that dotted the ceiling of the store.

"My name is Cicilia De'Reignhardt. Who are you?"

The girl continued to fidget underneath Cicilia’s scrupulous gaze. Somehow, the German seemed even MORE suspicious after hearing her story. Juno had devised that spiel to quickly sweep her name under the rug while staying in character, thinking her characters shy demeanor and over all none threatening helplessness would make the story both believable and convenient. After all, what right minded woman would give her name to a stranger covered in scars, while speaking to her in a threatening tone?

Still, Cicilia had yet to rule out that the girl in front of her was a just a strange, yet genuine fan. Otherwise, things would likely have taken a nasty turn.
“Perhaps…” Juno said in a tone, “It is because you answered my question with three of your own.” After the last item Cicilia had grabbed hit the bottom of the basket, the shy girls tone came back, her eyes tracing Cicilia’s towards the grocery cameras. “It’s just that, well, I heard it’s impolite to answer a question with a question, and well…you’ve been glaring at me…”

Finally, months after the two met at the gym, the German finally introduced herself to the nurse.

“Oh? Um, well, I sorta figured that. I don’t know why a high-profile boxer would try to hide from a fan, but judging by those scars, maybe you have some rabid ones? I don’t remember any of those since I last saw you.” She stepped closer, her sapphire eyes observing the scarred tissue, “They didn’t get your arms, did they?”

The nurse figured by now she was pushing her luck. Cicilia seemed to have a short fuse, and while messing with her was indeed satisfying, it was not what Juno had come here to do. Still, there was one curiosity she had left.

“Quite the assault, judging by the wounds it would have taken you some time to recover…

Did Sayumi take it well?”

Taking a tone with Cicilia was no way to get her to be receptive to one's plight, fan or not. If anything, it only got a cold glare from the juggernaut, no remorse visable in her eyes. Whoever this girl was, she had better leave before things got... loud. No fight would be started here, in the store but nobody ever said she couldn't raise her voice.

"I am not here to be polite." She responded flatly, taking on a solid, stalwart stance. She was neither aggressive nor defensive, but she wasn't giving any ground here either. "I am here to shop for someone so if you would kindly shove off, I'll get back too it and it'll be better for both of us." Yeah... Suffice it to say, Cicilia wasn't used to the life of a famous athlete. She never had a following, let alone FANS of her craft before... not even in the smaller leagues before she joined something as huge as AFW. Back in Germany, Cicilia was a mere minnow, a tiny fish in an ocean of WHALES such as her family name and her sister alone! She couldn't even cling to them like the barnacle on the back of one of these animals due to her poisoned reputation, she being EASILY the weakest of the family! All of her entrances and appearances there were met by the collective boos and jeers of the other side, whatever support she DID possess drowned out by the loud and populous majority. This didn't effect her personally, hardly a trouble at all considering her home-life but what it did do was strengthen a wall between her and the fans as a collective. She was not a show-woman. She was not a celebrity. She did not care for the people that came to fight her because she was here for the fight, to hone her abilities as a boxer and... well... a wrestler. The second thing was to pay the bills and WAY down at third was how people saw her.

1: Fighting
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2nd: Bills
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3rd: Public image.

The Juggernaut was aware that she would probably feel bad about this once she got home and her defenses lowered, once she had time to actually examine her encounter with this girl. She could sense the future as it was, Cicilia going to bed with a heavy heart because she refused to be human for once in a damn moment... That was later, though. She didn't know this girl.... What she did know was that strangers were dangerous... deathly. People she didn't know almost killed her. Twice: Elfrida. Margaux. One she had grown up with and never knew, one she just met and knew all about. Both tyrants that broke her body.

No more.

The German turned to leave without another word... But froze as the "fan" mused about her scars... specifically the ones running down her wrists. A chill ran down the boxer's spine, her sanguine eyes flicking back over her shoulder.

How did she know about those...? Cicilia thought to herself, a hostile aura INSTANTLY flaring up like an immune response. My hoodie is covering my arms... They can't be seen!

She blinked as the woman's voice finally clicked with the boxer, the voice no longer muffled by a nurse's face mask. If this were an anime, a blazing pillar of flames would've been swirling around the boxer, the force of which obliterating everything that stood within a meter's radius... but as it stood, Cicilia's body only quaked with the restrain it took to keep herself from doing something drastic.

... It didn't last...

The instant Sayumi's name escaped Juno's lips, Cicilia whirled around, throwing a fist at the Nurse's face... only BARELY managing to stop herself before it got close! She stood there, froze, her eyes lighting up burning glow from underneath the shadow her hood had cast, her fist a hammer ready to destroy the virus that was Juno. Slowly, she reigned herself in, her frustrated eyes flicking back to the cameras up on the pillars that held up the store ceiling.

"Why do you know that name?" The German growled, reason, like a survival instinct, taking control before her rage did her in again! Almost dying at taught her a lesson: Lashing out could get you killed... and your girlfriend in just as much trouble... Not with two people... not again. Not while she had breath in her body would Sayumi ever know this person. "What do you want...?" Cicilia glanced down at her hammer-like fist before shoving it in her hoodie pocket, more for Juno's safety than her own.

The instant Cicilia turned her back, the girl had disappeared, the slightly nervous, yet envious voice dropped to the cold, almost monotone speech pattern the nurse was know for. Somehow, the nurse was able to completely deliver her strange sense of superiority and disdain with her tone alone, twisting what was the happy, pure name of Cicilia’s lover into a cold, insulting dagger, meant to inflict pain on the boxer using her emotions.

The results were near instantaneous.

Cicilia’s punch was as powerful as Juno had come to expect. Despite having her back to her foe, the juggernaut was still able to spin around and throw a punch that seemed easily comparable to a missile, coming in harder and faster than any punch she had seen before. Juno was expecting a rough impact, but as fast as the German launched her punch, she seemed to abort it, the fist stopping before it got any where near Juno’s face. The nurse’s freezing gaze went from Cicilia’s knuckle to her burning rage filled eyes. Once again, the two were locked in a hateful gaze, but this time the slight smile on Juno’s face was no longer hiding behind a mask. Juno let Cicilia look up towards the security cameras the littered the ceiling like flies.

“That was almost assault, Cicilia.” Juno mused, “I’m a bit surprised you were smart enough not to follow through with that punch. You never struck me as one that thought of the consequences to her actions…nor who they effect.”

Straightening up to her full size, her posture completely different from how it was moments ago. Straight and respectable, the pair seemed to be complete opposites: red and blue, fire and ice, rough and refined, love and hate.

Juno’s eyes fell towards Cicilia’s basket once again, the chocolate chips still on the top of the cake toppers. What a peculiar choice for a topping. Considering the boxers line of work, her recent “accident”, rage issues and doubtless relationship vices, Juno couldn’t help but speculate on her health. The amount of stress the boxer must have dealt with recently must have been tremendous, and now she was making a cake. Juno could only imagine what that would do to her blood sugar. The nurse did not really care for the woman’s wellbeing, but the interest in the human body still lingered in her, causing her to mutter simply, “Dark chocolate is healthier…”

“I told you I would find the ones you love, and do I keep my word. If I am being completely honest, I only heard of a rumor that you and Sayumi were a couple, but judging by your reaction, I take it that it is not simply a rumor. As for your second question, I should think that would be fairly obvious.”

Juno took a step closer towards Cicilia, purposefully getting in her personal space, “Lets you and me have another…appointment, to follow up with our previous one.” Her voice seemed to lower as she got closer, the pleasant smile on her face seemingly mocking the boxer as her tone softened, “Or perhaps I can introduce myself to your sweet Sayumi? I’m always willing to take new patients.”

Cicilia nearly had to wire her own jaw shut to keep herself from spitting back something scathing in Juno's direction, the name of her lover hanging over her head like the executioner's axe. Now that she got a better look at this girl's face, she recognized her! She pieced it together those eyes, that hair... this must've been what Juno looked like out of uniform! She couldn't BELIEVE she hadn't caught on sooner! The German only stared quietly, hatefully, locations such as these always seeming to work for those that had leverage. Margaux in the coffee-shop. Juno in the store. Yeah. She was convinced that Japan was full of maniacs, each one lacking the dignity that would stop them from stalking their betters, from blackmailing them without ever directly stating a threat. In society, the juggernaut's hands were tied. She couldn't beat on the people that deserved it, she could throttle those that threatened her lover... As tempting as it was to choke Juno into critical condition for DARING to approach her in public... Jail and legalities were not worth it... Not by a long shot. Her reason had gotten stronger through tempering but so had her rage... There was still a monster inside that the nurse just seemed to love poking with a stick... They all did.

Gee, wow, I didn't know that. Cicilia growled internally as Juno remarked on her chocolate. I think that's one of the things I WON'T file under malpractice, you quack fucking doc!

On the outside, Cicilia looked like a classic iron ball bomb with it's fuse slowly burning down the fuse, Juno only shortening it and shortening it with each word she spoke!

The German couldn't help but flinch as Juno confirmed her vow to find her and her loved ones and that Cicilia's blatant hostility had simply confirmed her suspicions about Sayumi. Stealth and intrigue were not arts Cicilia De'Reignhardt had honed alongside her fists. Never once had she told a lie to misdirect someone or hid her feelings well enough for it to mean something. She could be cagey but for those (twisted fucking) minds determined enough to press, her emotional veils quickly fell apart. The german was a blunt as a club and hit just as hard. In situations like these... it was an agonizing weakness.

"Blackmail..?" Cicilia snarled, her cheeks flaring up in embarrassment that she had been caught by this same trick again! "Doesn't that hurt your pride that think you can't just challenge me? That you think you have to hold someone hostage to get what you want?" Probably a dumb question. These flat-headed broads always had an ego that resembled a blimp and morals just as fragile. No code... No restraint... Fucking monsters...

"...She will never see your face or know your name." Cicilia hissed. "...And when I fight you again, you will make another promise to yourself: That you will never involve anyone in our fights except you... and me."

Cicilia tone was harsh and violent, every feature in her face screamed her disdain for Juno and what she was doing. Every word Juno spoke made the fire in Cicilia’s eyes burn brighter with hatred, threatening to burst forth in a devastating eclipse of violence against the antagonizing Nurse. Juno witnessed expressions she had longed to see since they first met: Shame, embarrassment, but most importantly, fear. Fear for her loved one, and how it was the lack of the German's control that fed her lover up on a silver platter for the enemy standing across from her. Juno savored it all, but once the German asked her questions in a venom soaked tone, she delivered an expression few had ever seen on her face before.

Genuine surprise.

Even the icy stare cracked under the sheer shock the question had wrought, the nurse processing the question in her head, repeating the questions, then processing them again. Slowly, she turned her head, looking away from the German as her had slowly covered her mouth. Her shoulders shook, slowly at first, but then the shook more quickly, violently. Juno was…laughing at Cicilia. To the point where the nurse was bent over, silently laughing into both hands before she could get control of herself. Turning back to the boxer, Juno smoothed out her clothes, trying to act as she had previously.

“You can’t possibly be this naïve.” Her tone suggested she still found the idea amusing, “To answer your question, no, it does not. Would you like to know why? It’s because I didn’t think for a moment you had enough self-control to listen to my proposal, much less sit here and speak with me face to face. With a simple drop of a name, you almost assaulted a complete stranger in public, and yet you stand here and act as if you can be reasoned with? No…You only understand force, and so that is what I have to use, whether I like it or not.” Juno finally broke eye contact, looking at the bake mix Cicilia had chosen, “I won’t lie, though. I enjoy making you squirm like this. It’s the least I can do after what you did to me.”

The nurse grabbed her own box of cake mix, reading the nutritional value tab on the side of the box while Cicilia declared Juno and Sayumi would never meet. Juno’s face had frozen back into her normal uncaring mask, only letting out a slight “tsk” when the raven-haired woman told her to make a promise not to involve anyone else in their fight.

“You really are not in a position to negotiate, Cicilia.” the cold glare that passed into her enemy’s eyes would have sent a chill up anyone else’s spine, but it likely would not effect the boxer so much, “But you really do not have much to worry about. I don’t need anyone else to beat you, and so long as you arrive on time to our appointment, I simply won’t have time to visit anyone else…”