A Wolf Among Sheep

The slight smile she had dinner slowly faded as Bethany drew attention to it, squandering much of the good will she had just earned with the more broody actress. She rolled her eyes, not waiting for the other woman as she basked in the moment. Once she had gotten a bit of distance she looked over a shoulder to find her missing. Just as she was about to call out she felt something heavy on her arm. Bethany's cheek nuzzling her made her hair stand up on it's ends, jolting her upright as if she had just picked an electrical socket.

She kept her grumbling to a minimum, humoring the woman hanging off her arm so long as she kept up. She owed her, it was true, but just like the earlier "favor", these were problems she could have solved on her own or were manufactured to begin with but Bethany herself. Leaving the convention floor proper took them from one crowded space to the other, leaving her a bit overwhelmed by the turnout.

In past conversions she didn't walk the crowds really. There were closed off back halls to travel unharassed and VIP buffets in the back for keynote celebrities. Being among the masses as it turned out was not very glamorous. When they finally pushed through to the food court she was visibly annoyed to find it so congested.

"That's fine, I'll cover it." She spoke softly in a tone that was very telling she had only been paying half attention. At this rate they would be waiting in line for awhile… she considered saying something but a sidelong glance at Bethany told her that if she did the woman was going to pull another trick to clear the room by making a scene or devise a plan to cut in line.

"Maybe we should just blow this place. You don't happen to know any local places that won't be swarmed at the moment, do you?" Getting away from the crowds would be nice, especially in dealing with her intrusive little friend here. All those peeping eyes were leverage keeping her in check after all. She was also hungry… more so now that the wafting scent of prepared food filled her nostrils.

Paige supposed that that's what she gets for designing her outfit with precisely zero pockets or any areas in general where she could hide money, aside from behind the strap betwixt her breasts anyway. Plus what little she could hide away barely managed to cover the cost of Lucia's intricately detailed replication of herself, those deceitful bargaining tactics of Paige's not done simply to save a buck, but more out of necessity. But luckily, her wolfen cuddle buddy so graciously opted to cover the day's eating expenses...that is until, it became apparent that the day's meal was going to cost them not just money, but precious time as well given the obscenely elongated lines stretching outward and promising at least forty-five minutes of wait time before any food could reach their mouths. Paige's shoulders trembled from the repressed chuckling behind her hand after overhearing Lucia's proposed solution to their problem, than glancing toward her with a cock-eyed glance.

"...You don't spent much time on convention floors, do you? There's not a restaurant, maid cafe, or falafel stand within a two block radius that isn't crawling with carnivorous conventioneers. Come, come...the solution to this problem is far less...deceptive." Paige merrily imparted before tugging Lucia along the circular array of fast food stands until coming across one that specializes in Japanese bento boxes, though with a line that was just as lengthy as any other.

"Ah, perfect...See all the customers lined up? Young, male anime fans not in costume and with schedule books in their hands. No-one stopping them in line to take pictures, no gossiping lady friends to chat up a storm at the register, and all clearly ready to head on to the next panel. This line shouldn't take more than few minutes, tops. Now, you stay on line, order me a Tori bento, and I'll go secure us a delightful table with as romantic a view I can scrounge up~..." Paige gleefully broke down the gameplan before leaving Lucia all to her lonesome with a chipper pep to her step. Unknowingly providing Lucia the perfect, and perhaps ONLY opportunity to make a break for the nearest exit, and leave the enamored dominatrix waiting for hours at a table set for two. But she wouldn't do that......would she?

"Well… no, not really." While she attended a fair share of conventions, most of them had backstage catering or at the very least, take out ordering services. Panels and signings were one thing, but never had she hit the convention floor to eat before. In America she would have been swarmed in an instant by a small pod of cultlike superfans that would hound her relentlessly… here, people seemed more respectful about distance. That or their act was working well to dissuade people from thinking they were the real actresses behind their costumes.

There had been something about Bethany that rubbed her in a weird way… aside from the woman literally rubbing her in weird ways. It was the way she explained thing. At first Lucia had thought nothing of it really, but as it happened over and over, it left something nagging at her.

She was like teacher. That was it. The breakdown, her cadence, the air of authority about her. As if the wolfen actress didn't have enough confused emotions swirling around inside her brain, the sexy teacher routine wasn't helping… wait, had she just thought of Bethany as sexy? A faint blush former on her cheeks as she listened to the woman prattle on about food lines of all things.

"I know how lines work." She snorted loudly in rebellious protest to being dictated every little detail. She seemed to have accepted her role in the plan with little protest, saving the two a spot while the villainous woman skipped away like bottled sunshine. It would have been easy to run off now, make an excuse about a missed appointment or something similar.

Lucia remained. She had given her word more or less, and had no intention of breaking it. Bethany was an insufferable, selfish, arrogant woman… well, the raven haired actress had thought that before now. It was far harder to pigeonhole her into that role now and hate her after their interactions on the show floor. She wasn't sure what to make of the touchy feely obsession the other woman had, but she was hard pressed to really hate her as vehemently as she had before today.

Sure enough, the line moved at a decent pace. She hates to admit Bethany was right about something else… so she wouldn't mention it at all. Lucia instead spent her time in waiting with grumbling about the idea of a "romantic" spot in the convention cafeteria and checking her phone. When it was time to place an order she put in the requested tori bento as directed a d got herself a plate of teriyaki chicken over white rice.

With hands full of food and a bag dangling from her forearm she turned to the cafeteria not unlike a waitress, looking for her partner in crime. With no hands free, she had two pairs of bagged chopsticks hung from her lips, trying to make a hurry of getting seated before something else could go wrong. If Bethany wasn't in sight at first, she would wander in search of her

"MMMwah~..."

The reflection in the circular mirror of Bethany's pocket sized powder compact case helped the television actress reapply her luscious lip gloss with a pursed smack of her lips. Miraculously being able to not just secure a table for two amidst the hustle and bustle of teenage conventioneers, but one that was placed aside a bordered balcony allowing for a breath-taking view of the convention floor and the sea of humanity beneath. One that also had the adjacent streets and buildings visible via the glass-walled architecture of the convention center. Bethany did have to embellish certain rumors about a sale on anime swords to the people who were sitting there previously in order to help "coerce" them into scurrying off, but the Mistress figured she already lied once today to get her way. May as well go all in on it. It sometimes amazed her how good she was at acting when it came to fabricating false truths in order to sway the gullible into believing every word she says.

Bethany than snapping her compact closed with a snap after beautifying herself as best she could after a light powdering of her cheeks, figuring that was the most effective usage of her time until her wolfen lady friend gifted her with her presence once more. Never for once thinking that Lucia would ditch her sultry companion...but...she did ponder as to whether she was making any actual progress in softening up that prickly demeanor of Lucia's. Much like an actual wolf snapping at the hands of someone getting closer, her wolfen darling seemed to be perpetually on guard. As if showing the slightest bit of weakness, or a chink in her armor, would be the end of the world. Maybe Bethany was ratcheting up the charm to one degree too many. Maybe she should think about easing back...not being so aggressively affectionate...give Lucia some space and time to process her emotions.

*Hmm...* Bethany rested her chin on her folded fingers as she leaned forward in earnest contemplation, pursing her lips in thought and believing herself about to come to some profound revelation...until she caught a side-ways glance of Lucia making her way to the food court. Bubbly pink hearts popping over her head as she promptly forgot whatever she was thinking about and started frantically waving her arms to get her beloved wolf-girl's attention.

"YOO-HOO!!!! OVER HERE!!!! HEY, IT'S ME!!!! I FOUND A PERFECT SPOT FOR OUR ROMANTIC RENDEZVOUS, MY WOLFEN HONEY BUN!!!!...*whistle*...DO YA SEE ME??? RIGHT HERE, CUTIE PIE!!!!" Bethany's giddy cheeriness was impossible to contain as she bellowed loud enough to make herself the center of attention of the entire food court. Everyone seated at their tables now directing their perplexed, judgmental attention to the chipper dominatrix and the lady in the tattered black trenchcoat...

Lucia was lost in a sea of tables, golden eyes scanning head as she tried to find the super villainess among a mixed of plane and costumed commonfolk. Her ears perked at the distant shout, turning her head to snap directly into the right direction where she easily spied Bethany in the back by the large windows. It was a good catch on the domme's part, one that had the wolfen actress raising a hand in acknowledgement.

It hadn't stopped at that however. Bethany just kept going… her pace which had been brisk started to slow as her lunch date prattled on. Hot embarrassment burning at her cheeks as people turned in their chairs to see what the commotion was about. What the hell was Paige doing! Her jaw tightened as teeth ground down on one another as she traded in her shame for annoyance which fast was becoming anger. They had a talk about this! They were suppose to be laying low!

Lucia tried to avoid eye contact though a few passersbys were hard to ignore. She gave a snap, curt up nod, daring them to say something about this. They seemed to get the picture, hurrying past. The path clear, she jogged the rest of the distance, unburdening her hands with the two food stand boxes and her shopping bag across the table.

Lucia leaned in close, a twitch in her eye as she fought the urge to lash out. It would cause a scene, more of one anyway. For a brief moment a dark part of her mind considered tossing Paige out the window, but as she settled she considered jumping through it herself to avoid the PR nightmare all this would be if people knew this was actually them.

"Shush." She settled on aggressively slapping one of her fingers over Bethany's lips in a universal gesture of silence. She didn't want any more loss in translation mishaps or loopholes.

"Beth. We are suppose to be keeping a low profile… remember?" She spoke slow and hushed but there was an underlining intensity to her words that almost came across as threatening. "Either you do that, or you don't talk for however long it takes me to finish my chicken and walk away. You feel me? Nod if you understand."

Lucia's narrowed eyes enlarged with lifted brows as she stared Bethany down, waiting for the visual sense of understanding to reach her… along with straightforward confirmation the other woman was ready to comply. Only when she received it would she remove the finger, attempting to slip back to take a seat across from the other woman with the table between them.

Her flair for the theatrical and complete lack of inhibitions sometimes makes Mistress Paige the center of attention. At times such as these, even unknowingly. The delighted actress simply wishing to make doubly sure Lucia knew where she was...although it was in a manner that made every living soul in the food court know where she was. Unbeknownst to her creating a scene similar to a mortified teenager witnessing their enthusiastic, cornball mother make an embarrassing spectacle out of themselves in front of the entire school body. Paige not seeing what the big deal was anyway...their cosplaying cover remained intact so long as she didn't outright refer to Lucia by name. Although the fact that the action movie star may have had more of a badass reputation to protect not quite dawning on Paige given she had no such prestige to remain unsullied. But she would certainly get reminded of their opposing positions in the public eye when Lucia silenced her via the index finger pressed against her lush lips. Paige startled by the zipping of her lips and timidly clung to Lucia's every word, timidly frozen in fear and leaning as far back in her chair that she could as if the actress' menacing aura was making her shrink into the background.

Paige nodding rapidly before meekly muttering a mousey "...yessum..." from the side of her mouth. The shadow of the wolfen protagonist darkening Paige's side of the table until the leather-clad actress maneuvered towards her side of the table. Mistress' eyes following along until Lucia was seated and began taking the cover off of her meal, Paige turning to face her and letting a few more seconds pass before piping up.

"...wooooow...that...was...AMAZ-" Paige stifling the uptick in the volume of her voice by putting a hand over it. "...amazing~... " Before just whispering it under her breath after removing her hand, flashing a sunny smile and from than on dedicating herself to talking in a more subdued tone of voice. "That was such an authentic, convincing, and down right terrifying performance~...It sent shivers down my spine and everything. You really had me going for a second there. I thought you were actually pissed off enough to, I dunno...throw me off the balcony or something." Paige uttered with a laughing inflection to her voice as if the very notion was the height of ludicrousness...despite it being a fantasy played out in the most evil section of Lucia's subconscious. She continued on while merrily seeing towards unboxing her own meal as well. "I don't care what those pretentious film critics say, you've still got it~...where DID you learn your acting trade anyway?"

Lucia sat across from the remarkably sunny villainous, a cloud of perpetual gloom hanging over her head. She quietly sucked on her teeth as the other woman spoke, tearing the paper from the top of her chopsticks. Taking the two bit of woods between her fingers she gave them a hard snap just as Bethany made mention of being thrown from the balcony. It seemed the two were more in sync than she imagined after all. Quietly she cast her narrowed eyes down to her plate, mixing the bowl together to more evenly distribute its contents within the rice.

There was a sharp twinge in the corner of her eye at the mention of critics. Even if both of them were on the same page with them being pretensions, but the act of even bringing this up had managed to cast an even darker shadow over her. Despite all of this though, she still couldn't hide the faintest of half smiles on her lips at the compliment. It was pretty nice to hear that from someone who wasn't just a fan at one of these conventions.

"You know... classes." She punctuated the end of her statement by spearing a piece of meat with a chopstick to pop it into her mouth. She hadn't really started as an actress or with aspirations of being one. She had wanted to play sports. Her prowess on the lacrosse field had gotten her through high school but fell off when she hit the college scene. To help make ends meet she took some questionable acting gigs in horror movies where she was more or less just an attractive face for the killer to off. She was uncredited in those old roles which had helped keep them buried, not that it had helped her career as of late. Her role in Full Moon Rising had been a similar one off thing, until a cult following had suddenly made her desirable. Then they asked her to come back in a starting role.

That had lit a fire under her ass and really work to improve her acting chops. She had wanted to be known as something other than a pair of tits in form for leather. It's why she insisted on doing all her own stunts and why this role had become something of a passion project for her even as sequels and television pilots had started to drag it through the mud. All that work didn't really pay off though, had it. That's why she was here and not back in Hollywood. What had gone so wrong?

Lucia's eyes had drifted lazily back to Bethany, idly gnawing on the end of one of her chopsticks while being momentarily lost in thought. Had the other woman said something else? She wasn't sure. With a small shake of the head she leaned back in her chair, picking at her teriyaki and rice. "What about you? You seem like you have been doing this stuff since you were five."

You'll have to excuse Paige. She was still positively glowing after witnessing such a stellar performance from her wolfen date for the afternoon. She merrily unpacked her lunch and matched Lucia in her meal-eating motions when it came to mixing the juicy meat about with the rice to soak in more of the meat's flavor. she was dazzled by Lucia's raw acting ability to the point she, nor perhaps Lucia, noticed the distant onlookers still trying to piece together what the deal was with what some assumed to be a bickering couple...and why the terrifying wolfen hero was casting more of an ominous aura than the supposed villainous dominatrix still aglow and jubilantly picking up rice clusters with savory meat morsels with her chopsticks for some much needed nourishment after a long day manning an autograph booth.

"...ah...classes...right...uh, yeah yeah...I uh...know all about those. " Paige nodded affirmatively while munching her food, elbows propped atop the table with her chopsticks positioned right in front of her mouth. Well...that was about as succinct an answer she could have gotten. And one that didn't exactly give Paige a lot to respond with. It was at times like these where she was reminded of the grim, taciturn shell Lucia seems content to wallow away in. The same shell she kept squirreling herself deeper inside of whenever Paige started getting too inquisitive or rambunctious in her affections. *Hmm...perhaps a more repressed approach is the best way to get her to lighten up some...* Paige pondered before clearing her throat and sitting back in her chair, dutifully enjoying her meal and inviting an awkward silence to cast a drab pall over their day. Several seconds of radio silence aside passing on aside from the digesting of their foods before Lucia chirped up with a slightly more detailed reciprocation of Paige's question.

"...Oh, Oh my no..." Paige disapprovingly corrected with a waving shake of her chopsticks left and right at the very notion of herself doing anything remotely similar to theater at that age. "I know you were just being sarcastic, but at that age, you'd be lucky to see me scrounge up the courage to introduce myself let alone step on stage. Speech therapists thought the worst of me when they couldn't get me to speak until they realized it was just because I was just horribly introverted. Just imagine the most soft-spoken and bashful booknerd you can imagine, and I'd say you'll have a rough approximation, I believe. No, I didn't start acting until I was in my early teens." Paige ended that interesting talking point at that and took a sip of the accompanying drink that came with the meal, deciding to cut back on her outgoing vivaciousness with a more calm and restrained demeanor. This was how Lucia wanted the rest of their clandestine meeting to progress anyway given her rather stern words of warning earlier. So, that's what she would get. The radiant smile Paige once had replaced with a banal, humdrum non-expression as that awkward silence started creeping back on them again.

"Introverted… you? Seriously?" Lucia looked genuinely surprised by the admission finding it hard to believe the woman behind Mistress Paige would have ever had a settling dialed below an eleven. Every time they had met she was always so upfront and loud… it was easy to picture her being bookish only because of the stereotypes that came with glasses but the other detail was harder to swallow than the rice she couldn't quite get to her mouth with these damn chopsticks.

"So… about this…" the wolfen actress pointed a chopstick towards Bethany, swirling it through the air to gesture a circle that encompassed all of the other woman's look. "What made you get into this sort of thing. The whole… sentai right? The power ranger bad girl thing. That stuff is really big over here isn't it?" Bethany was a bit of a puzzle to Lucia. One that she found herself rather curious about understanding, the problem however was looking past her issues to really want to know her more. Here and now though, in a slightly more intimate setting of. Squirreled away table in the corner and without Bethany causing a scene, she seemed far more willing to prod.

She listened intently, golden eyes fixed on the woman across from her as she clumsily ate with her chopsticks. The chunks of meat and specked rice was easy enough to grab, but when it came to just the rice her poor technique really showed… she should have tried to ask for a fork like the dirty foreigner she was.

...What? Was it really so difficult to fathom a timid, withdrawn, and bashful five-year old version of Bethany cowering behind the the legs of her mother whenever she tried introducing her daughter to the family friends? In fact it may have been all of that reserved introversion that had Paige so fascinated by the art of theater to begin with. On stage she could envision herself being anyone she wanted...and she admired the courage it took for actor's to stand up on that stage and offer themselves up to be judged by the criteria of their acting talent alone. Bethany remembering being mesmerized when taken to her first play...and once the acting bug had officially bitten deep, she couldn't wait to start practicing back home with stuffed animals as her audience/costars.

"Hmm...Lucy...I think, and stop me if I'm wrong on this one...but I'm beginning to get this nagging suspicion that you might just be having some trouble acclimating to life here in Japan. Given how you don't already know that Japanese Sentai's are some of the more profitable and popular television shows out there...that, and you're holding your chopsticks wrong." Paige chipperly pointed out before raising her hand up a little, showing Paige holding her chopsticks like a pencil with her thumb holding the other stick. Explaining why Lucia was having trouble with her rice. Paige than reaching forward to pick up the clump of rice Lucia was having trouble with and presenting it to her to nibble on, if she so chose. "It's alright to ask for help everyone once in a while, you know...it's called learning~..." Her voice having a non-judgmental, melodic, and sweet inflection to them.