Dinner For Four

Alaina wasn't oblivious to the shot Gwen just took at Valley at all. It wasn't even thinly veiled. Alaina nodded as Valely spoke about Tension and wanting to test herself. Alaina smiled a bit as she thought of Trent and his little crew over in Tension. The two spoke regularly and saw each other when they could, careers and distance being a pain to deal with. Alaina was looking for something to eat when she saw some nice seafood pasta combinations that less calorie consumers would cringe at but Alaina and her muscular build fed on that. She had planned ahead and made sure she would be able to use today as a rest day, full of rebuilding.

Alaina looked around at the three women and realized all were Entropy champions, and starting with the title run of Ace the belt really gained its notoriety. Alaina realized all had memorable moments during their time with the belt, and in the case of Ace with the hardcore title as well as Gwendolyn with the tag title it led to further gold. Alaina also realized there were points of contention between her and the three women during that long stretch. Her title shot against Gwen as Ace had to sit back. That title match where Alaina won but the slow count of Gwens pin followed by the fast count on Alaina by a referee who hadn't worked a match since. Alaina winning in a triple threat and the co-champion with Julia before her title reign full of defenses. Valley then seemingly unstoppable against Alaina defeating her for the belt and having her own long run leading to a Tension takeover by the doll herself.... including beating Charlie so bad he retired because he just didn't have "it" anymore. Lots of moments intricately linked to Alaina's career and really Alaina's being as a wrestler.

"Well, it is interesting that we're all very linked together by our consecutive Entropy title runs as well as roughly starting in AFW at the same time period." Alaina said before pausing a second. "The Entropy title gained its notoriety at that time, and we've all moved on to other belts, Tension takeovers and the like. Gwen has wrestled successfully over there, as have I on occasion but I know Valley is going to shock them and dominate.... but go easy on Trent, if you do face him don't tire him out too much okay?" Alaina said with a smile and wink. "I guess our careers being intertwined is a reason they have all of us here but what do you all think of that?"

Silver Ace rolled her eyes at Gwen's boasting and taking of potshots towards her girlfriend. Gwen and Ace had, through bizarre circumstances, managed to put aside their issues with each other and actually established at least the start of a friendship...though it was still new and raw, and Gwen certainly still had her own annoying tendencies.

To give Valley a little more encouragement, Ace reached under the table with one hand, lightly stroking and rubbing the older blondes knee to get her ignore the attempted taunting before joining her in looking at the menu.

"Babe, your looking for Bisque or Gazpacho." She whispered. She was more than aware of Valleys enjoyment of tomato soup, but as time spent in fancy restaurants as a child had taught here, these places never actually wanted to use the word "soup".

Honestly, despite being a rich kid herself, Ace never liked uptight snobby crap like that. Soup was soup, just call it soup.

She looked over the menu herself, personally enjoying the idea of french onion soup as an appetizer, while listening to Alaina bring up their connection to the Entropy title, which, in hindsight, seemed a pretty obvious reason for this interview.

"Huh. I guess that makes sense. An interview with four former Entropy Champions seems pretty cool idea. We do get credit for making the belt as big a deal as it is now...though I admit, my reign was the shortest and least impressive...thanks to someone's maid....and then apparently nobody decided to offer me a title shot." she said with a slight edge, shooting a quick look towards Gwen and Alaina.

While she had won a title since and done other things, Ace had to admit, it still stung, just a little bit, that the three women around her were so heavily involved with that title, while Ace, despite being the first one to debut and win the belt, was pretty much kicked out of the title scene immediately.

But she shrugged it off, returning to her menu and perusing the sections before continuing to speak. "...Actually, since Alaina brought it up, I should probably mention...now that I'm back in Japan and coming back to AFW...I'm going to be joining Tension as well." she said, rather casually dropping that bomb.

Gwendolyn started perusing the menu's paltry selections with glib indifference as her surrounding competitors took it upon themselves to begin nostalgically reminiscing about their individual Entropy title reigns. Valley narrowly shielding herself from the squinting scowl directed towards the Californian after her sly jab at Gwen's title reign. Though it was a defensive barrier Gwen herself raised upward with a clearing of her throat and sly look elsewhere when Ace mentioned the manner in which the heiress had proclaimed the Entropy title belt from her. A rather nasty bit of business involving chloroform rags that was a topic thankfully long since buried and assuredly NOT in need of unearthing. Especially considering she inwardly holds scant regard nor sense of longing for her own title reign. Twas nothing more than unfettered disaster in her refined eyes, and she was therefore relieved when the opportunity came for a change of topic...but the reversal was one that was hardly welcomed, a somewhat sickened groan from overhearing Ace's next step in her career.

"...UGH...As if my mine own resplendent coattails were not cumbersomely overburdened enough already...*sigh*...At the very least that settles my choice in refreshment. I'll most definitely be in need of something stronger than the norm tonight. Garçon~..." A snap of her gloved fingers signaled the ushering of a rather dapper waiter biding his time in the shadows to be called upon, Gwendolyn's highborn sensibilities noticing him first among the ladies as she took it upon herself to get the proverbial ball rolling after having already examined their wine list. "A glass of Dom Perignon, if you would. Whichever your finest vintage is..." Gwendolyn nonchalantly ordered to the waiter's scribbling acceptance, the heiress continuing to scan through the menu as that waiter raised his head to take the rest of the ladies drinks, to which he assured them that this would all be put on the company's tab.

Hayley’s advice was actually helpful for finding what Valley wanted - sure enough, she found the tomato bisque nestled away in the back of the menu. Not called soup, but the ingredients told enough of the story for her to suss that out. Nice, zesty, flavorful, and it would be perfect with a smattering of croutons. The date was set.

She folded it up, having made her decision, and focused on the conversation at hand, getting a little calmer now that Ace was giving her some physical contact. It was just Gwen being Gwen, and while she doubted it was the last time a barb came her way, she had to learn to let it go. The two of them would have a chance to more properly settle things, she was sure. She could save all her feelings on the haughty heiress until that happened, then pay her back with interest.

”I’ll take it under advisement, Alaina, but I’m not making any promises on Trent. I like to be a little playful with the boys.” She winked at her towering rival and sat back as the waitress came over to take her order, keeping it simple - the bisque and some water to go along with. And lemon, naturally.

”Oh, really now?” Valley lit up at Hayley’s revelation, smiling, glad that her girlfriend was coming along to Tension. It would make things a lot easier with logistics, that was for sure, and it made her reconsider her thoughts about another shot at being a tag team. Welcome news.

”It’s great that we’re all still evolving in our careers, I think. Finding new ways to challenge ourselves. Nothing wrong with the Friction crowd, it’s great and it’s growing, but I’m really looking forward to trying out a whole new field, you know?” She settled into her seat and just smiled, thinking of the possibilities. ”What pushed you to make the switch, Hayley? Just wanting to spice things up?”

Ace kept looking over the menu after her announcement, flashing a smile at Valley as her lover showed her support for her decision.

With the waiter looking at her expectantly, she looked through the starters again, before ordering some french onion soup, a glass of water...and, a glass of Chataeu Lafite, a small fun little way of letting Gwen know that she wasn't the only girl at the table to come from money.

"Well..." she said at Valley's question, handing her starter menu to the waiter and turning back to her friends, though her eyes looked downward at the table before continuing to speak.

"Valley knows this, but I don't think you two do." she said, gesturing to Alaina and Gwennie. "When I was younger and paying for wrestling training around the world, I spent a long time in Mexico, where I was mentored by the wrestler Silver King. He actually gave me my wrestling name."

She smiled at the memory, before continuing. "We stayed in contact over the years, and he would watch my matches when he had the chance. After that whole hardcore title stuff and my last loss, I...wanted a break. Some time off to clear my head, so I went went to Mexico, spent some time visiting him."

"He helped me get my head back together, kinda helped me get back to basics in a sense, while working on my in ring style. He had this saying..."Al mal tiempo, buena cara"

She said in excellent spanish, before translating. "A brave face towards bad weather. It just reminded me that I can't let my setbacks discourage me like they had been, that I had to keep pushing forward. So when I was ready to come back to AFW, I felt Tension was the perfect place to start. New fighters, new challengers...and a few friendly familiar faces, who, by the way, I owe a LOT for sticking by me through all of that phase and not being mad at me for not being around more."

She said with a smile, leaning over to kiss Valley Doll on the cheek before turning towards the rest of the table again, taking a sip of her wine when it arrived.

"So yeah. I'll still do some Friction too. Kinda bounce back and forth I think. But I'm here to be the best, you know? That means the best at everything, against everyone....whiiiiich actually brings me to something else..."

The former entropy champion suddenly looked nervous, looking over at her blonde girlfriend. "I uh...was gonna bring this up at home...but since we're here now and all...I might as well drop the bomb...I was thinking...um...that like...because its a challenge...and we have no experience with...or defense against it...and we want to be the best and all..."

Penny in the air...

She stammered, taking another sip of her wine, feeling all eyes on her as she got up the guts to say what she needed to say. "I've been considering the possibility of me...or maybe both of us...doing hentai matches..." she said with a nervous chuckle.

Penny dropped.

Alaina sat back and crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow at the comment made by Valley about the men of Tension.  She simply shook her head and let it go as Ace began to drop quite the big bomb on the room!

Alaina was silent for a moment before speaking up."I will miss you over in Friction but Inget wanting to change.  I almost did a while back but decided against it.  If any of you are running away from me though I will head down there to find ya between the ropes though!" Alaina said with a laugh, trying to make it obvious that she knew they weren't running.... even if she was more than happy to throw down with any of them again on their home turf.

"I will miss you though Ace even if we haven't crossed paths as much the past few years.
Hell I will even miss slamming Gwendolyn flat just like a pan Gwenniecake."

"...Yes...most definitely something stronger." Gwendolyn uttered drolly with a deadpaned, wry expression on her face from Haley's second career announcement of the night. Upon the waiter taking her order of pasta with foie gras/truffles and pouring the snobbish highborn her little bit of the bubbly, she tactfully pinched the neck of the champagne bottle from his serving table as he departed and placed the bottle back on their dining table. Hearing Haley's rather salacious swerve in topics making it crystal clear to the heiress that she was going to need two...maybe three refills of her champagne glass before the night was complete. She brought the glass to her lips and sipped it tenderly to supplant her having to respond to wanton sex acts in the wrestling ring which allowed time for Allie to speak her peace in the matter. Eliciting a raised eyebrow and mischievous smirk from the aristocrat seeing an opportunity to have a little bit of fun.

"Ohhhh~...No need to mask your amorous feeling's for me behind veiled threats and affectionate pet names, my Amazonian Sweetheart~...Why it's blatantly obvious that your entire one-woman campaign to thwart me in the ring was just a paltry justification for wrapping me in your muscled arms once more~...Our lovebirds across from us can't seem to keep their hands off each-other for one second, what with their alluring whispers into each-other's ears and lovey-dovey affection, so why shouldn't we do the same?...We certainly can't let our forbidden romance be left in the dust, can we? Shall we announce our intentions as well to become the first dual Hentai champions to one-up them, my Snuggly-Cuddly Teddy Bear?~..." Gwendolyn lovingly enunciated like a lovesick puppy dog, her baby-talk culminating with a smecking of her puckered lips to blow kisses towards Allie with her hands folded besides her face whilst leaning in Allie's direction to have them nudging shoulders. An impish giggle from her afterwards in what was a rare instance of Gwendolyn loosening up?...albeit from poking and prodding at Val and Ace going all googoo and gaagaa over eachother all night.

How long did it take this conversation to get awkward? Five minutes, tops? That had to be some kind of record.

Valley had just been settling into the moment, trying to get used to the way this was going. Even with Gwen’s sniping, this was a nice little setup, one that reminded her of the girl’s nights she used to have with the other Slamazon’s back in the day. Talking about their matches, making playful threats at each other, discussing the nuances of their moves, Bubbles nearly getting them kicked out because she kept trying to flirt with the waitress who was clearly not into it, that time they got into a bar fight with the drunk frat boys who wanted them to all make out with each other...fun times.

So she was in that happy mood, easing into this, getting comfortable.

And then Hayley dropped that she wanted to do hentai matches.

Even with her darkened skin, the blush on Valley’s face was apparent, and she lacked the imagination to come up with an immediate response. Gwen, naturally, used it as an opportunity to throw some verbal body blows, but Valley couldn’t even bring herself to mind much. It was just buying her more time to come up with a coherent response.

This wasn’t the place for it, really, but they were here now, and they were adults. Might as well address the elephant, particularly when Hayley had been so gracious about the whole Kaylee situation.

She straightened up, took a deep breath, prepared herself to say something profound...then sagged and closed her eyes, nodded. She didn’t need to make a big deal out of this, did she? It was simple, and she could deal with it simply.

She reached over and planted a soft hand on her girlfriend’s thigh, giving her a reassuring rub. ”I trust you, Hayley.”

Well...this was all rather awkward wasn't it? Ace had actually been grateful for Gwen's rather ridiculous, over the top way of making fun of everyone else at the table, as it gave her a few seconds to come to terms that she had just announced that in front of all of them, and let her build up the strength to look at Valley again.

Her answer was short, simple, and too the point, just rubbing her thigh and telling her she trusted her. That...was fair, she supposed. Not really the time or place for such a discussion, and while she felt she had some ammo she could use, the whole "Kaylee Situation", that wasn't something she wanted to bring up right now.

So instead, she took a gulp of wine...a rather big gulp, before pressing on, determined not to let this ruin the night.

"But yeah. Was thinking that could be a new challenge we could try together. I'm all about new challenges right now. My ambition is back in a big way. There's wrestlers I want to fight, pay per views I want to compete at, and titles I want to win. So Alaina, while I appreciate the sentiment, you and I are still 1 and 1 against each other, so you might not be rid of me for good just yet."

She took another sip of the fancy wine, motioning to pour Valley a glass and, if she accepted, pouring it, before pointing at Alaina and Gwen. "Also, you two as a tag team would be pretty cool to see now that Gwen mentioned it...but aside from that, Gwen, I have to ask, cause I'm just curious...what is your type anyway? I swear, all these years at AFW, all your fame, and yet I never hear anything about you dating anybody or showing up at events with anyone. I'm going to assume speedo's aren't your type, but you must have SOME kind of dating life, right?" She asked, both legitimately curious and somewhat needling the heiress after her earlier joke.

"Good, I would love to face all of you many times again if I had my way. I just need Friction to stop giving me match after match, although for you guys I'd wrestle two or three matches in a day to step in the ring with you again." Alaina said as she looked at Gwen and Ace. Alaina sipped her wine although she glanced back at Gwen again. Alaina was much heavier than anyone here and.... well.... she may enjoy the occasional drink more than the others present. The thought of Gwen and Ace drunk nearly made her laugh out loud, as she disguised the near laugh as a cough.

"I think Gwen needs a refill too, gotta keep that glass topped off don't we?" Alaina said with a grin. "After the stupid mist trick Imperial Order used to prevent Sonic Boom from winning the tag titles I think Gwen and I would be the most at-its-own-throat tag team in the history of wrestling."