Water And Oil

Julia had been asked to do plenty of things by AFW. Interviews, photoshoots, autograph signings, commercials and more, and she had been glad to do them all. What she had been asked to do this time, however, was by far the most unusual thing that had ever been requested of her by management. As it was explained to her, apparently an experimentory blind date was being arranged, and Julia had been one of the people selected for it either by a vote or a random name drawing. Not so much as a single hint was given regarding the identity of the other person selected. Julia was only told it would be at a nice restaurant that evening and that cameras would film the date, and was asked to sign some sort of consent form.

This was the first time Julia had been asked by management to do something that she wasn’t sure she was alright with. On the surface, a blind date alone seemed pretty harmless. But something in the cowgirl’s gut told her there was more to it than she was being told. Still, she hadn’t been on a date since Domino had been around. Julia hadn’t made her dating life a priority since then at all, but she couldn’t deny there was a part of her that wouldn’t mind changing that. Besides, this was just one date. Worst case scenario, things don’t click, and they both go their separate ways. No harm, no foul, right? So, she signed her name on the dotted line.

A car was sent to pick Julia up that evening and took her to the restaurant. She couldn’t tell what the place was called, since the name was displayed in kanji. Julia could speak pretty fluent Japanese, but reading it was still a different story. In any case, she could tell just by the look of the place and the clothes of the people coming in and out that it was a rather high end establishment. She was glad she dressed her best tonight.

When her driver came around to open the door for Julia, she took his offered hand and stepped out. The luchadora was clad in a beautiful, scarlet silk dress. The skirt came just above her ankle, with a slit near the side to reveal some of her leg. With the dress she wore snow-white high-heeled shoes and a pearl necklace, and carried a matching purse. And of course, she had on her mask. This was an AFW function and was going to be filmed, after all. Speaking of which, cameras were on her within seconds of her getting out of the car. It almost felt like she was walking the red carpet for a big Hollywood premier or something…

“Mrs. Rogers!” a man with a microphone said to grab her attention. “Tell us a bit about your hopes and expectations for tonight, please.”

“Well… This is my first time doin’ a blind date, so I don’t have any idea what to expect in there. I’m just gonna have a nice meal, try to have a good time and be myself, and I guess we’ll see where things go from there,” she answered with a smile and a shrug, then headed on into the restaurant. The host seemed informed of the situation already. The second he saw Julia, he bowed politely before leading the way to a table set for two, and pulled out the masked blonde’s seat for her.

“Thanks,” she said to him with a friendly smile as she sat down and looked around, noting the table arrangement. Many of the tables around hers had clearly been reserved for members of the camera crew, who had their cameras set up near or on their tables to be ready to catch every angle. Currently all of them were aimed right at Julia, who couldn’t help but feel a bit awkward, but did her best to act natural. Crossing a leg over the other, she made herself comfortable and began looking over the menu. Everything on it was so wildly expensive Julia had to avoid letting her surprise show, and did her best to keep her mind focused on that rather than the rising anxiety that accompanied the suspense while she patiently awaited the arrival of her mystery date...

Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown...a poignant piece of literary advice extolled to Gwendolyn by her dearest mother at a fairly young age, and one she couldn't help but call back on amongst those lonely nights twirling her index finger around the edges of a champagne glass when they're happened to be no further executive duties on her schedule needing to be performed on her timetable. No boardroom meetings for her to sit at the head of...no beach-side photoshoots or other contractually obligated AFW occasion she delighted in flaunting her dignified beauty and extravagance. Merely her alone to wallow in her palatial estate with butlers and groundskeepers scurrying about and performing their mundane, menial, utterly droll tasks. The Ojou-Heiress usually being caught huffing out a deep sigh upon her balcony whilst lackadaisically spiraling her finger around the aforementioned glass of champagne...whiling away the time before her schedule can pick where it had left her off. Though during these sparse moments of downtime, Gwendolyn was allowed to ruminate on the lack of...spark, when it comes to her personal going's on. In all her fiscal prudence when to comes to leading her conglomerate into new ventures and keeping that crown on her head...perhaps she's neglected to tend to matters of the heart and develop a kinship, as it were. Her recent four person dinner date having weighed heavily on her mind when it came to that particular topic and her own spiteful retort when it came to romantic endeavors...

...though in a rather odd bit of serendipitous happenstance, AFW had soon afterward approached her representatives once again for arranging yet another one of these taped dinner segments, except this was to be arranged as a blind date. AFW executives working feverishly to convince Gwendolyn of the validity of their claim this time around considering they used trickery and deceit to convince her to attend the "Dinner For Four" segment. Although they never made much headway in winning her over in the discussions until they mentioned that her opening up about herself was by far the biggest ratings draw and reason for it's popularity online. Such was her curse...her cross to bare. The lamentable fate of being a refined and dignified noblewoman that the common masses can't help themselves but marvel in thanks to her beauteous grace and divine prestige~...Gwendolyn soon afterward agreeing to the terms and stipulations of the blind date, including her decision to depart whenever she so chose...a proviso she alone secured. Curiosity abounding as to who they could have possibly chosen to sit across the table from her, but perhaps this rather unorthodox manner of random matchmaking was just what the doctor ordered considered she was inundated with noblemen calling for her hand in companionship on a daily basis. And if not, Gwendolyn can at the very least say she put in the effort of trying to put herself back out there...or whatever the riffraff commoners refer to it these days.

Once again donning her silken royal blue dress with blue/white tippet and regal high-heel shoes, the dignified socialite made her entrance known to all via her extravagant limousine and accompanying entourage. Clearing the way for her and opening her limo door to a star-studded entrance upon that same red carpet, glamorously bejeweled in a diamond encrusted necklace and dangling earrings which alone cost more than some actual houses. The same AFW interviewer with a microphone approaching Gwendolyn with his own bit of questioning once more.

"Mrs. Bettencourt!!! Tell us a bit about your hopes and-WHOAH!!!" The poor interviewer getting tackled and bullied back several feet by the noblewoman's security detail after a carefree flick of her wrist in his general direction signaled her intention to not to be bothered with his inane blather. The foppish restaurant owner standing at it's entrance and steeling himself to greet Gwendolyn once again considering he now saw the consequences of earning her ire, nervously escorting her to her table for the evening. To which she found her "date" perusing the menu and shielding her face from view. Miffed with a posh pout from not being formally greeted, the heiress opted to take her seat and begin doing the same. "...Hmph...I take it this is your first time partaking in this restaurant's cuisine? I recommend the pasta with foie gras and truffles if you seek an...*ahem*...educated opinion on the matter..." Gwendolyn advised with a clearing of her throat, her own prudish face hidden behind her upheld menu.

In hindsight Julia would have kicked herself for becoming as engrossed in the menu as she did. It hadn’t been intentional, but there were a number of details that grabbed her attention. For one, it was entirely in Japanese. That made enough sense. A place this high end likely wasn’t exactly meant to be a destination spot for casual tourists. Julia had learned to speak Japanese fairly fluently by now, but reading it was a much more difficult challenge for her. She could make out most of the kana used for spelling foreign words after looking at them long enough, but the other kanji were mostly indecipherable to the American. Each item on the menu had become like separate puzzles to Julia’s mind, and she’d taken to the challenge of solving them a bit more earnestly than intended. The game came to an abrupt and immediate end the moment she heard the voice of her “date,” who was now joining her at the table.

Instantly she froze, eyes practically bulging out of her mask with shock, and she came dangerously close to gasping out loud. Julia knew that voice all too well. She had recognized it greeting her soon after she’d recently arrived back in Japan, and she recognized it just as quickly now. Her head turned toward a few of the crew members filming this, as if looking for some kind of help. One was visibly having to stop himself from laughing at the surprise on Julia’s face. Another eyed the door, then looked back at Julia and shook his head, reminding her that leaving wasn’t an option, leaving her to seriously regret her lack of foresight in negotiating this whole affair.

Lowering her menu, she looked across the table to find...the back of Gwen’s menu. The heiress didn’t seem to notice Julia yet. What the hell was she supposed to do now? Under normal circumstances she’d be up and storming for the door already. But that didn’t appear to be an option, and she had promised to try to make this work, no matter how futile such an effort felt like it would be. So Julia took a deep, quiet breath while gathering her thoughts, then finally spoke.

“I was gonna suggest maybe seeing if we should get a cake somewhere for dessert later, but… I’ve got a gut feeling you might not be up for that.” Julia doubted Gwen would enjoy the reference nearly as much as she did, but it was almost bound to get a response, that much she was confident of. And she was more than a little curious to see just how her rival would react once she knew it was Julia seated with her at the table...

Skimming through the menu with an aura of snooty scrutinization prompted Gwendolyn to involuntary reminiscence in regards to the last time she was subjected to this restaurant's paltry selection of entree's that Gwendolyn would grade from somewhat piquant, to barely comestible. If it weren't for the company afforded to her last time and the readied access to high class champagne, her prompt departure from the restaurant that night would have been swift and without any fleeting notion of regret. Neither of which were present today considering her mystery companion remained just that, and their incompetent waiter had yet to come service their table. But bemoaning her current situation seemed unjustified this time around considering she herself elected to patronize the AFW executives by choosing to waltz back through those doors for what was assuredly going to be yet another humdrum attempt at winning over the heiress from a lovelorn admirer by endlessly fawning her with praise by detailing her elegance, grace, and captivating beauty...not that she minded such adulation, of course. But a little variance to the typical pining infatuation would be a dandy opportunity to perhaps shake things up a bit so to speak now that she's officially back on the dating sce-...

Gwendolyn's thought process immediately slammed on the brakes as she balked from overhearing a distinctly familiar voice from across yonder table...at first she believed herself to having misheard that voice due to the classical music being played in the background. A wide-eyed peer over the top of her menu confirmed her first assumption to be correct however...and as if on cue, all notion of apprehension or anxiety dissolved behind her chesire smile masked behind her erected menu shield. Her devious smirk becoming less malicious in appearance as she promptly snapped her menu closed and primly placed it down, the smug blueblood than propping her chin atop her netted fingers with her attention honed in on the masked cowgirl sitting across from her. "Oh...never you mind inquiring about my preference in pastry delicacies for the night, for what I see before mine lovely eyes could naught but be the sweetest of surprises~..." Gwendolyn elegantly imparted in her dulcet vocals, appearing angelic in spite of the proverbial devil horns atop her golden-curled head. "Well, Well, WELL...What can this be but fated serendipity that we should be brought together once again? Or mayhaps this is an elaborate scheme on your part to secure yourself a romantic rendezvous with yours truly...*giggle*...No Amazonian bodyguard with you tonight?"

Julia didn’t consider herself a particularly vindictive or mean-spirited woman. But she couldn’t deny that a part of her hoped the cake reference would anger, or at least annoy Gwen. And maybe it did. But either way, the moment the menu snapped shut and Julia saw that confident smile on her old rival’s face, she knew Gwen was ready to fire back. Ironically enough, though Gwen’s verbal jabs were fairly light, they seemed to hit harder than Julia’s had, and the cowgirl had a noticeably harder time maintaining a smile of her own.

“Don’t flatter ‘yerself,” she said, rolling her eyes at the ridiculous notion that she had somehow put this all together just to get closer to Gwen. “I don’t have a bodyguard. Don’t need one either, for your information. But no, Alaina’s not here. Just me. Why, plannin’ to have your people jump me again sometime tonight, are ya?”

"Well...I'd wager that depends entirely on whether you see fit to perpetrate yet another insidious ambuscade upon myself. Viciously assaulting a fellow roster-mate once they've shown you their back...*tsk*tsk*tsk*...Such dirty pool is most unbecoming, wouldn't you agree~..." Gwendolyn chided with a disapproving clicking of her tongue and wagging of her index finger from side to side, all in reference to what caused the blueblood to sic her bodyguards on Julia in the first place.

"Although, is it such a ludicrous notion that I would inquire as to whether Alaina would be lurking in the shadows somewhere? Why, you've only been able to best me when that Amazonian bruiser is picking up the slack for your own inadequacies. I must say, I duly sympathize with Alaina having to shoulder such a burdensome albatross around her neck. One that weighs her down, is clearly the less talented and preposterously inept one on the team, and cannot help but hilariously embarrass oneself whenever in direct grappling competition with moi~...but whatsay we peruse our menu's. I am particularly famished, aren't you~..." A blissful humming coming from her lips as she picked up the menu to scroll down it's listings, going about her scrutinous examination of the wine listing...

“Oh, please. Don’t even try to pretend ya didn’t provoke me,” Julia said while rolling her eyes. Gwen knew exactly what she was doing that night, of that the cowgirl had not a single doubt in her mind. If anything, knowing she had played right into Gwen’s trap annoyed her as much as the memory of the attack itself.

The tirade that followed came to surprise Julia in a multitude of ways, the least of which being that, albeit in her own roundabout way, Gwen was actually being complimentary of Alaina. There was one inaccuracy in the criticism of the cowgirl: she had pinned the heiress once without any sort of involvement from the Amazon, during a two-out-of-three-falls match. It hadn’t ended the match, but in fact, Julia recalled it later being mentioned to her that she had been the first person to score a pinfall over her in quite a while at the time.

But the luchadora couldn’t bring herself to mention that point. She was too stunned by how much the rest of it stung. Gwen wasn’t wrong there. Ever since Julia had come back to Japan, she had clearly struggled to find her old groove. With all due respect to Suzumi Ishikawa, two or three years ago a singles match between them would not have been ten minutes of Julia being thrown around like a ragdoll and having to steal the win with a fluke rollup. The tag team reunion match for Sonic Boom had started off as a promising showing for Julia, until she took a horribly stupid risk on a dive she never should’ve attempted. As a result, a team that once seemed destined for gold came dangerously close to posting a sub-3-minute defeat against a rookie team who was only on their second or third match in the league.

Julia wasn’t stupid. Of course Alaina had surpassed her while the cowgirl had been away. Hell, it might’ve happened even before then. That didn’t bother Julia. She was proud of Alaina. As far as she was concerned, that woman worked harder than anyone Julia had met in this industry, and deserved to be considered one of the best in Friction history. But Julia’s struggles since coming back, that was a different story. She knew she had been letting her partner and her fans down with her poor performances. She was embarrassing everyone who had trained her, both in Japan and in Mexico. Those thoughts had weighed on her a lot recently. And for Gwen to hammer away at that fact with her unbearable condescension… She might as well have taken the knife next to her plate and stabbed Julia in the chest with it. She was so taken aback by it she didn’t notice the waiter had arrived and was trying to take their orders. Astonishment suddenly turned to anger, and in a matter of seconds Julia's face was about as red as her mask and dress. Suddenly she bolted up out of her seat, knocking it over in the process, and a swift swing of her right arm sent everything on Julia's side of the table, including her glass of wine, crashing off onto the floor!

"Who the HELL do you think you are to try to tell me what I'm worth?! HUH?!" she roared at Gwen while glaring a fiery hole through her, hands slamming onto the table while she leaned forward. "You think I can't take ya? How 'bout we put that to the test then? Friction gym, tomorrow night."

Palatable selections for appetizers were being skimmed through after Gwendolyn's scathing rebuke was imparted with dulcet eloquence despite the inflammatory rhetoric of her overall implications. All of which were fully intended to light a fire within her colleague's spirit, and what served to be extra gasoline thrown into the mix was how the aristocrat's words were truthfully accurate...given one or two liberties taken, mind you. Their shared history was indeed one rife with spite-fueled contention, genuine disdain, and even begrudging team-ups when neither one were capable of fending off certain Amazonian encumbrances on their own in a triple-threat. Although what Gwendolyn delighted in most when it came to conversing with the short-fused cowgirl was blatantly goading her onward and poking the proverbial bear purely to satiate her mirthful curiosity in regards to what Julia's impulsive and hot tempered reaction would be. These delightful dalliances were perhaps what the posh blueblood missed the most about conversing with her masked compatriot, and it seemed Julia had scarcely lost her touch when it came to flying off the handle given the sounds Gwendolyn heard from behind her menu.

Those being the thudding collapse of Julia's chair, glass shattering from the swiped glass of champagne, and Julia's bellowing declaration halting everyone else's conversations and making the unorthodox pairing the sudden center of attention within the lavish restaurant. Even the live band ceasing their instrumental set to eye the disturbance, to which Gwen would nonchalantly close the menu and daintily place it back down on the table. Her fingers interlocked beneath her chin as she curiously examined the seething cowgirl and her boisterous challenge with hummed pondering, eyes briefly averted towards the chandelier on the ceiling before darting back to Julia with her terse response "Mmmmmmm~...NO." Gwen smiled primly while taking her own champagne glass in hand. "...that is to say, NO to your choice of locale. Given that your practically starting your wrestling career from the ground up once again, and one such as I is considered to be of higher-rank than yourself, why I'd scarcely imagine that puts you in any position to have the final say on such details. Besides, such a location is antithetical to your own intention of proving yourself my superior in the ring. So what-say we settle the matter within mine own home turf, so to say. My humble abode can accommodate our grappling endeavors perfectly, and we needn't worry about any possible...*giggle*...interruptions. Does that suffice?~..."  

Once she had time to cool down and think everything over, Julia was likely going to feel foolish remembering the abrupt silence that took over the restaurant while all eyes observed the cowgirl losing her cool. But for now, she was way too pissed off to give a damn what anyone in this building thought of her, although that anger was momentarily replaced with shock as Gwen initially seemed to decline her challenge.

“What…?!” she started to say, but trailed off as her rival continued. Julia’s irritation quickly began to rise again while she listened to Gwen’s condescending tone, only for her anger to be drowned out in surprise for the second time in a matter of...maybe a minute? The counter offer for a clash in the heiress’ own home was not something Julia expected, putting it lightly. And something about the reassurance that there would be no “interruptions” drew a faint blush on the American’s cheeks, fortunately hidden behind her mask. Someone familiar with the history between the two might take that comment to mean there would be no interference on either side. But the way Gwen said it, especially punctuated with that giggle...it reminded Julia of a few times in high school she had enticed boyfriends over to her place when she knew the rest of the family would be out for a while. Blinking and shaking her head, she pushed that thought aside and forced herself to focus on the task at hand.

“....Fine, have it your way. I’ll see ya there,” the masked blonde replied while still angrily glaring a hole through her rival, before turning on her heel and marching out of the restaurant. Julia could scarcely remember a date of hers going so horribly. But out of it had come a chance to make Gwen eat her words. That silver lining alone just might be worth it. Tomorrow couldn’t get here soon enough...