A Wolf Among Sheep

It was a bittersweet release as she found herself free from Paige's impressive sideboob. Hunched over she supported herself with palm clapped to her knees, wheezing softly to catch the breath that had been denied to her while her face was buried in the bosom of her adversary.

Through a falling cascade of raven hair her golden eyes peered back up at the other woman, face scrunched in an undeniable look that read as “Really?”. It did managed to get a small snicker from her all the same, feeling as if for the moment the two were bickering friends or something… it was nice, until she really remembered who and what Paige was.

“Was trying to get your attention. It worked, didn't it?” Lucia sighed softly, blowing some hair from her face as she stood upright, tilting her head to either side to crack her neck. There was an urge to slap the other woman's rump again, this time for shits and giggles now that a complaint had been lobbied against her method and force. Was she being petty now though? Maybe a bit. She still felt she was owed a bit more after being fondled in public.

Her eyes drifted to the retreating fans, never so happy to have shed off public attention as she was right now. This entire chance encounter with Paige was a disaster. In a place like this where someone as shameless as her could take advantage of the circumstances… it wasn't exactly fair.

“Good job on… ya'know.” She throughout a casual wave her her hand, motioning between the two of them. She felt obligated to give credit to where it was due after feeling the sting of being underappreciated for so long. She had no intention on making reference to it ever again however, soon this would be all a bad memory and she could go on with her life.

Luckily for Paige she was relatively quick on the uptake, otherwise she might have been subjected to more of Lucia's clenching claws. To the point where she would have to do the rest of her convention autograph signings standing up. She soothed her stinging backside with a bristled pout while Lucia regained her own composure by breathing in a steady intake of fresh air. Although Lucia was correct in pointing out that it did indeed get the job done, Paige simply had to believe that their were less painful methods of getting the message across...that message being "Let's wrap this up already."

"Ara~...first you refer to me by my real name...now your flinging compliments my way. Perhaps I'm finally starting to slowly win over the heart of the rebellious wolf-girl~..." Paige quipped with a devious smirk back while straightening up her posture and dusting the side of her boob from where Lucia's face was comfortably nestled. A joking reply that Mistress inwardly knew probably wasn't the case given the sarcastic tone of her voice...which was now a tad more relaxed and subdued. "Ah...that was nothing. Just a little talent for improv I've always had...*sigh*...if only you could have seen me in my prime~...sometimes I would end up teaching our acting class and show the instructor a thing or two..." Paige nostalgically mused with folded arms while watching the crowd scurry away, briefly lost in her own flashback almost as if she were watching her own past far off in the distance.

"You didn't do so bad yourself though. It looks like you and I make up quite the acting duet...still...there is one way you can pay me back for getting you out of that jam..." Paige calmly uttered in what must have been a jarring sight, as the melodramatic domme was almost acting reserved and normal...before she scurried back up to Lucia and folded her hands together with pleading innocence to her watery, sparkling eyes directed solely on the wolfen actress. "PleasePleasePleaseCan we PLEASE spend the rest of the day together? I've missed you so much and it's so terribly lonely at my autograph booth~...Maybe just for my lunch break at least!!! No one will know it's you and me if we keep pretending to be cosplayers!!!" Paige upping the sympathy quotient by looking horribly forlorn with a quivering lower lip...and appearing assuredly heartbroken if Lucia rebuked her offer.

The lone wolf was finding it difficult to hold a small fanged smirk at bay, bearing witness to Paige massage her derriere. With hindsight firmly within her side of the pen, she could now see the allure that her rival had been enticed by when she had groped with impunity. She didn't feel bad in the least though, even if she had been a bit rough. Paige deserved it after all, Lucia just considered it payback.

Her smirk faded into a tight lipped expression of noncommittal disagreement as Paige had taken yet another small thing out of context in their exchange. Why was everything like a sign from the heavens to this woman? The raven haired actress caught the tone as the other woman finished, loosening up in clear relief that the villainess seemed at least somewhat aware of where the two of them stood.

Lucia quirked a brow at Paige's recanting of the good old days, finding it hard to imagine the other woman leading a class unless she did so in force. A vivid landscape rolled out within her mind of dimly lit classroom bathed in red light. Desks lined in rows filled with picture perfect women, the products of a sterilized Hollywood where each of them could have been an airbrushed copy of the next. Faces she filled in were ones she had recalled, etched in her mind as she waited along a sea of blonds for the next failed audition.

They were handcuffed to their desks, looking on in abstract terror as Paige presided over the class. At the mistresses heel was the teacher of the class who happened to resemble the last "auteur" director she had the misfortune of getting into an argument over in regards to scope and vision.

Lucia cracked a faint smile watching her rival ground in her heel into his spine, snapping her cat o nine tails down across his upper back. He was trying to protest but his cries were muffled by that hideous designer scarf he had sported which was now balled up in his mouth like a gag. This fop of a man who had the balls to tell her she looked "too athletic" to be cast in his movie. Jackass…

"Hm?" Lucia hummed thoughtfully, still bathing in the fading images of the villainess being set loose on the dozens of people she had grievances with most recently. It took her a moment to catch everything Paige has said, playing it back in her mind. "Pay you back... What?! You got me into the jam to begin with!"

A few stray passerbys glanced her way at the raised voices. She met their gaze briefly before they flicked to the hanging speakers which had been piping in theme music from shows she was unfamiliar with. Good beat, but she couldn't understand most of the Japanese lyrics. She bobbed her head and rolled her hips into a small sway, pretending to be into this. "Thanks for getting me into these jams, totally killer." A soft click from a camera phone as one of the stranger snapped off a picture before things returned to normal and they moved on.

Lucia's cheeks puffed up a bit, looking back to Paige indignantly as if this had also been something the Mistress was to be blamed for only to be met by the pleading Bethany, completely taken off guard by the sight of the puppy dog eyed woman begging her.

The lone wolf took a reflexive step back, attention drawn between the pleading actress before her and the people passing by, hoping that this wouldn't make a scene again. She held out her hands, motioning with her palms to suppress the other woman's volume and keep it down. Lucia wanted to say "No". Just outright deny Paige anything that was asked of her… but she looked so sad and genuine. It was likely an act to make her feel guilty… and despite knowing that, it was still working.

"Listen, Bethany, I am really really busy…" She most certainly wasn't, but that didn't stop her from slipping out her phone to check the screen as if a full scheduled calendar was presented on it. "Just caught me at a bad time…" Golden eyes peered past the edge of her cell, brow furrowed at the look Paige was giving her… there was a compromise on the table. Maybe if she took that she could avoid being pursued down the road.

"Just your lunch break?" Fifteen, thirty minutes at tops, right? No sweat. They could grab something quick and easy and by the time they found a place to sit they would almost be done. She weighed the options between simply ditching the woman and humoring her for a good long while before responding.

"I could maybe pencil you in for lunch." Lucia tucked her phone back into her pocket, snorting softly. "Just… stop that and let's go."

Paige hoped that Lucia was falling for her act to make the wolfen actress so overcome with despondent guilt that only the most heartless and callous of savages would dare turn a blind-eye to this fair maiden's heavenly tears. Although intentionally exaggerated to get the desired effect, Paige's heartfelt plea for the briefest of moments of companionship came from a place of genuine honesty. The forlorn actress having been so smitten with puppy love nary a day transpired without reminiscing to the wolfen's amber eyes, stalwart pride, statuesque beauty...and how deliciously sinful it felt to bring such a noble and dignified creature to heel by dragging her down into the cavernous depths of depravity where from they could indulge their warped, wicked and carnal impulses~...Mistress adorned in skintight dominatrix leather, tapping her riding crop onto her other palm with Lucia on her knees in a  thonged bikini...fluffy, fake doggy ears on her head with the ball gag tied around her mouth muffling out her barking yelps and yapps~...

Ah...how romantic~...

But filling up Lucia's e-mail box and droning longingly into her answering machine were, shockingly enough, having the exact opposite side-effect she had intended. Hence why the lovesick actress knew that this anime convention may be her one and only opportunity to reconnect with her beloved wolfie. Paige knowing full well that she was teetering on the edge of being issued a restraining order from Lucia's troublesome talent agent acting who was acting as an insurmountable communication barrier between them, and that meeting face to face by indiscriminate luck like this was the only way she would see her wolfen crush once more. This was a fateful and serendipitous rejoining of starcrossed lovers that, no pun intended, occurred only once in a blue moon. Paige pulling out all the stops to garner whatever sympathy she could...even bringing out the big guns with the quivering lower lip and furrowing of her brow while meekly glancing upward like a forlorn child pleading for more food in Oliver Twist. At first her hopes were seemingly being dashed by Lucia backpedaling and feigning a full schedule on her cell phone, which was the first bit of bad acting Paige could say she's seen from Lucia.

...until her world lit up immediately from the instant Lucia said MAYBE. Paige's face brightening up with hopeful exuberance and repressed elation, shining her brightest smile and hopping in place while rapidly clapping her hands together in front of her before stopping herself. She put an index finger to her pursed lips to stifle the ecstatic shriek she wanted so desperately sing to the heavens. "OhOhyeah...don't you worry you're pretty little head~...I know you want to keep all of this hushhush and under the radar and all that jazz. So I super duper promise to be on my best behavior for the entire time we're together. Cross my heart~..." Paige softly uttered before making a cross symbol over her chest and holding her hand up as if she were about to give testimony in court, than allowing Lucia to lead the way down an aisle with Paige calmly walking beside her. Only a few steps taken before she succumbed to the urge of wrapping her arms around Lucia's arm and softly nuzzling her cheek against her beloved's shoulder. Already beginning to test the boundaries of her promise. "Soooo...do tell me what you've been up to since last we met. I want to hear ALLLLL about it~..."

Lucia was often portrayed as a bad girl. It came with the image of a dark brooding asskicker werewolf girl who could actually go if push came to shove. She still had a bit of a bleeding heart, one that held her back both outside and inside the ring. She lacked that true cutthroat mentality that got someone positioned where they needed to be… it's why she hired people to help with that. When face to face with what seemed like genuine human connection, it was a hard sell to turn it down.

Bethany seemed so happy like this. It obscured most of what made the lone wolf want to dislike her for in terms of what she deemed as personality flaws. Her mind kept reminding jabbing at her, reminding her about how their last match went to keep her from truly ever becoming comfortable with their situation though. Mistress Paige represented a real danger to her. Her image, her dignity, her brand. She was an unhealthy attraction not unlike smoking.

The raven haired wolf girl's glaze flattened at the show of the seductresses "promise". The simple gesture took her out of the moment of sympathy, filling their relationship within her mind back to where it actually was with bold paint by number colors. There were immediate regrets once the deed had been done as if a simple lunch date had become a deal with the devil. She did her best to push them back down as she turned away, not wanting to cause a scene here. How bad could it be?

Even in her moment in the spotlight she hadn't been a picky eater. Good metabolism, a hardy workout routine, and professionals to help for get in "fighting shape" worker in her favor when it came to feeding her less than stellar dietary vices. The food court offerings weren't exactly fine dining, but she wasn't trying to impress anyone here least of all Bethany so fast food seemed like a no-brainer to her.

When their arms were suddenly interlocked she didn't even so much as glance Bethany's way, instead her tensed body and suddenly jutted jaw told a story of already mounting frustration. Give an inch, they take a mile. Should she be surprised the other woman was going into business for herself here? Not really. She had hoped it wasn't going to be this way though… her want to remain low-key allowed the seductress a bit of wiggle room to abuse, facing no real repercussions as she snuggled in close.

"Oh… you know how it goes. Busy busy. Hard to fit in me time between all the appearances, video shoots, and training days. Have some big stuff coming up on the horizon, but it's all very hush hush." While "big stuff" was a bit of a stretch, the rest wasn't so far off. She had been doubling down on just about everything she could here in Japan to maximize her exposure and popularity to mixed results. Her two loses in AFW were a bit of a sore spot but hadn't seemed to damage her reputation much at all… in fact her publicist was insisting her social media accounts had only jumped in engagement after tasting defeat. What a weird circumstance.

Bethany was never the most adept at keeping her promises...call it a character quirk, a personality flaw...or just what happens when she gives in to her rampantly impulsive nature. And how could you ask her to behave any differently when her day had brightened up like the most radiant sunshine thanks to the gloomy wolf girl's sudden cameo appearance in her humdrum life. The batting of her tearful blue eyes and blubbering of her lower lip doing the job perfectly of weaseling her way into the dour wolf-girl's "jam-packed" itinerary...even if it was just for a quick bite to eat before Lucia would probably callously kick the forlorn dominatrix to the proverbial curb. But it would still be a day worth remembering just for that simple 20-30 minutes of affectionately nuzzling up to the bad-ass wolf girls shoulder~...

...and besides, maybe Paige could worm her way into the rest of Lucia's day with some clever-wordplay or further tugging on the heartstrings of the wolfen protagonist so she could occupy even more of her day. Be it attached at the arm while casually strolling amongst a sea of costumed fanatics, or waving exuberantly to Lucia from amongst a crowd of movie snobs as the wolf-girl sits at a convention panel and fields questions about her role in whatever latest high-budget production she has her name attached to. Whatever way she could manipulate the situation into spending more time with Luci, the better. There were heart's practically fluttering around Paige's head as she hummed pleasantly against the wolfen's shoulder while they strolled wherever Lucia was leading them.

"...*giggle*...Look at you, acting all gruff and secretive as if I was going to go blabbing all over social media the instant you let slip the future movie plans of THE Lucia Lynch. And here I was hoping that by now you would have just a little more trust in me than that. Why, if called upon I can be as tight-lipped and discreet as even the most hardened of-*GASP* OH LOOK LOOKIE OVER HERE!!!!" Paige gleefully yanked Lucia by the arm to a nearby stall hawking all manner of movie blue-rays, high-priced model figurines of scantily clad anime girls, and in particular...a decent display dedicated to the "Full Moon" franchise. Merchandise and apparel of all manner was up for sale, with a nearby mini HD monitor showing clips of Lucia in her starring roles...as well as her peddling various wares and products.

"Ah~...to be granted even a smidgen of the exposure you receive on a daily basis would be such a boon to my career..." Paige sullenly uttered with a bit of longing in her half-lidded azure blue eyes. Though her somber smile denoted no signs of jealousy or resentment, instead imagining herself sparking glamorously in Tinseltown. "...*sigh*...I can't imagine what it must be like to be appreciated with all that fame and glamour, and being at the pinnacle of your talent as a respected actress~..." Right as Paige finished talking the HD monitor would show a cheesy commercial of Lucia riding her motorcycle while cutting down monsters left and right with a katana before pulling up to a soda machine and taking a refreshing bottle of Coca-cola, the wolfen taking a thirst-quenching gulp before turning and smirking for the camera.

The simple walk from one side of the convention hall to the other fast became a chore. She could swear Bethany was weighing her down, maybe even dragging her heels a bit to milk the moment for everything it was worth. Still, she pressed on, trying her best to ignore this woman's attempts at being cutesy. It was probably another act. That's all things were to this woman after all. She kept her head raised high, freely roaming the crowd as the two hid in plain sight.

Lucia spared the dominatrix the occasional golden eyes glance, though her expression never changed much from a cold indifference. It didn't take a studied scientific mind to link the correlation between when Bethany talked, at least about Lucia, to how little the wolfen actress seemed to really care. The flattery came across as disingenuous white noise not unlike any number of conversations she had had with many a producer in her day.

"You haven't really done anything to warrant me trusting you…" She muttered softly, enough for the two women to share the quiet exchange without prying ears getting involved. No sooner had the words left her mouth then she was pulled off to the side, away from their intended destination. She stumbled, forced to lean into Bethany to keep from falling as she was dragged along as if the two were an actual couple out on the town. "H-hey!"

"We are suppose to be getting…" The raven haired woman fell silent as her eyes drifted over the table set before her. The promotional reel playing on the monitor was nothing new as were the majority of the items laid out. Posters ranging from the movie covers to full on pin ups she had posed for after the decline of the series after the third movie. A faint smirk tugged at the corner of her lips… she looked really good in those.

One particular item though seemed to gather her attention the most though, a set of packaged figures. They weren't the cheap stiff action figures from the first movie or the knock off Barbie dolls she had for the rest. This was something entirely new… fully posable with swappable facial expressions and hands… even some pop on and off battle damage for her clothes. The writing on the box was in full Japanese, but despite her face being… animefied, that was most certainly her. Why had she never known about this… or received any money for her likeness?

She slowly slipped an arm free from Bethany, walking up to the table. She reached down, carefully picking up one of the sealed boxes to look it over a bit closely. Then wolfen actress turned it over, visibly brighten at a few of the live action still from her second movie on the back with images of the figure posed to replicate the scenes. She needed this… two of them. She wanted to keep one boxed and have the other one to actually play with… was this her being vain?

"How much?" She asked quietly, sparing a glance over to Bethany as the woman lamented, just so she knew Lucia was still listening. The man working the stand eyed the boxed collectable then eyed a laminated sheet of paper set before them. After a brief look down it, he turned the paper over and tapped an item. Her eyes scanned the page, sliding across to the price. "21,000 yen? Holy shit." She looked back and forth between the price and the figure. Did she really want to blow her budget for the month on two of these?

Carefully she set the box back down, nudging it back to where she had picked it up from. She needed time to think on that one. The crack of a can caught her ears, looking up to the monitor. A faint blush reddening her cheeks as she watched herself drinking a simple can of soda overly dramatic. She remembered that shoot well. "They wouldn't let me actually drive the bike." She snickered. "I do all my own stunts in the damn movie and they wouldn't let me drive the motorcycle for a stupid commercial." She was speaking low again, perhaps this time only to herself.

The strength of Paige's fanciful imagination was in full effect as she envisioned herself taking up just as much real estate on the convention table besides the wolfen actress with rows of bankable merchandise brandishing her alluring visage from all manners of iconic movie roles. A Casablanca type romance besides a square-jawed heartthrob in a movie that answers the question if love can be found on the battlefield...or perhaps a sci-fi action thriller where she's a genetically enhanced assassin gone rogue with the movie title simply being her first name...and of course, the Oscar bait film where she portrays a despondent widow/doctor who's helping a child to walk again after a horrifying car crash, and they end up teaching each-other to move forward through the darkness of their lives towards a brighter future~...

*pop*

Paige was plucked from her star-studded daydream as if someone popped her thought bubble with a needle. A look of wide-eyed perplexity at Lucia inquiring about the articulately detailed action figure in front of them. It was most definitely the center piece attraction of the display...eye-catching enough to grab the attention of people who may not even have the faintest clue as to what movie franchise it was birthed from. And well out of the price range of most any casual otaku fan who passingly inquired about it...even the sullen wolf-girl who opted to play the frugal customer and not part with her money. Well...this assuredly would not do. Paige cleared her voice with a scoff and taking a breath through her nostrils so she could get into character before waltzing up and examining the action figure and it's price tag with hands on her bodacious hips and cock-eyed curiosity as if she's seen it before someplace else. Than suddenly speaking up in a faux conversation with the wolf-girl beside her.

"Wow, that's not bad...but where have I seen it before...OH, I know. At that OTHER stall a few rows back at like, half the price. Phew, it's a good thing I saw it here before we left the convention. It reminded me to stop by that OTHER stall and buy it before we're done for the day. As a matter of fact, why don't we go pick it up now and-..." Paige said while making motions to turn away from the stand before she was interrupted by the fidgety salesman.

"Uhhhhh...wai-wai-wait...why don't you save yourselves the trip, ladies. I'll be willing to let it go for 15,000 yen...oh and I'll toss in a Lucia Lynch POP figure to boot." said the guy behind the stand clearly itching for a sale.

"OH, that's downright thoughtful of you~.........12,000.

"...14,000."

"...13,000...and I'll spread all over social media about which stall at Anime Japan has the hottest products, at the best prices~..."

"Oh, wow...you've got a deal!!"

Paige flashed a chipper smile before taking out the last of her spending cash from betwixt her boobs to pay the jolly salesman, than wrapping and bagging the action figure before handing it to the master haggler herself. Upon taking a few steps and waving back at the salesman, Paige promptly gifted it to Lucia beside her, free of charge. "Towards the end of a convention, the guys at the stalls are more open to bartering with customers so they can unload all their merchandise and not have to take it home with them. Just takes a little finagling and perhaps a little white lie about the prices at "other stalls." Paige threw up some air quotes with her fingers.

Lucia shoot an accusatory glance back to Bethany. Her default setting was one of distrust so when her darker half began to engage in haggling it took everything she had to keep her mouth shut. Clearly this wouldn't work, what was the other woman thinking?

The thing was though, it was working. It was working exceedingly well. The whole thing seemed otherworldly to Lucia as the mistress played the salesman along with a degree of expertise she had never really witnessed. Haggling had never crossed her mind. Things had a price and you paid for them… this seemed like magic.


Frugality was something she had only recently started to wrong in her life after poor money management found her where she was now in Japan. Stardom had hit her fast, becoming far too successful far too fast. Money came almost as fast as she made it without really ever looking as the expenses. She didn't need to. She had a guy to do that for her. A guy who had done a terrible job reigning in her bad spending habits, leaving her with very little of the small fortune she had made at the height of her success.

Once the deal was struck, she found herself watching confused as Bethany fished the money from her cleavage, caught staring red cheeked before turning away with a cough. Fidgeting in place as the tag along child, waiting for the cashier to finish. Had did she suddenly become the third wheel here she wasn't entirely sure.

When Bethany made to leave, Lucia followed giving the man at the counter an uncharacteristically sheepish smile. It felt like the two of them had just taken part in some sort of a heist. The raven haired actresses listened intently to the explanation of how the other woman managed to pull off the caper. Smart. She knew far more about these things than Lucia did, clearly.

When she was handed the bagged figure her pace slowed slightly, opening it just enough to peek inside at her brand new toy. She felt young again, like a giddy kid who had just got a new toy on her birthday… then the embarrassment set in. Bethany had just dropped a decent chunk of change on her… for what? Good will? Coercion? She was just as suspicion as she was ashamed that she had let the other woman do something like this for her without protesting at all.

To think, she was going to treat her to fast food. It didn't feel right to do that now… she felt bad for considering it now, even with how aggressive Bethany had been with her earlier. Why's she had to go and do that and make it harder for her to write the other actress off?

"Slick. Guess that's why you're the Mistress, eh?" A bit of lighthearted banter to establish herself again, bring the two of them back to a zero sum. Lucia looped the bag on her arm, the very same the two had shared moments prior as a subtle way to keep them separated for the rest of the walk towards the food court.  "Thanks. You didn't have to do that you know. I was going to head back and get it after we ate most likely."

Penny pinching and squeezing every ounce of vitality from her savings was a subtle art form and were life-lessons taught by the cruel fate imbued upon those who dedicate their lives to the world of performance theater~...so let's just say, Paige knew very well how the term "Starving Actor" came about. The humble years before landing her premiere defining role were littered with pasta dinners and and depressingly arduous bargain basement hunts at thrift stores. Acting roles early on in her career simply didn't accommodate the kind of lavish lifestyle she dreamed/fantasized of, so to survive on her meager paycheck, she wisely opted to put her acting skills to use outside of local theater and random commercials. Whether it was through sweet-talking a naive convention merchant, thinking up elaborate excuses to peddle to her landlord when the rent was due, or perhaps for a teeny tiney bit of deceitful tomfoolery some maybe constitute as a "con." Paige did know one thing though...acting in such a law-bending manner was useful experience when it came time for her role as a villain.

"Ah~...ACTUAL words of appreciation and praise from my beloved woofey wolfey~...that, along with that not so well hidden smile on your face was worth every yen~..." Paige dreamily uttered while resting her soft cheek against the side of her folded hands, her smitten elation compelling her to twirl about in front of Lucia until cleverly coming to a stop on the other side of the wolfen actress. Mistress resuming her arm hugging attachment to her gloomy beloved as they continued onward with Paige snuggling up to the badass actress' shoulder, though not without making good on her arrangement and tweeting on her cell phone about the "great savings" at the booth they just departed from. The odd coupling matching their steps and taking their waltz out of the convention floor and towards the hustle and bustle of the jam-packed food court. Cosplayers and random fans alike mixed together with convention passes hung around their neck as they impatiently waited their turn to buy whatever deep-fried foodstuff they could stuff into their gullet to continue their anime appreciating experience. "Now...what kinda food do you fancy? I'll chow down on whatever cuisine you prefer, just so long as you foot the bill. I'm kinda sorta maybe broke as a joke now...hehe..." Paige uttered with a nervous smile while scratching the side of her face, this being one of the times where she is not acting in the slightest and is being completely 100% honest here.