A Small World

”I can’t believe you didn’t tag me in! We’re a tag team. That means we tag each other in to win the match! What was even the point of coming out with me if you weren’t going to let me wrestle? All this talk about showing me the right way to do things, but when the time comes, you just make me sit on the bench. Come on, Dad! That is so lame of you. It wasn’t even like they were big, crazy dude or something. Like, I could see if we were fighting Killer King or something, sure, but they were a couple of bondage chicks? You don’t think I can handle two nutjobs in leather? God, I knew you’d do this! Ugh!”

As Wolf sat in the gorilla position with an ice pack pressed against his head and his daughter laying into him with a tirade as she stomped around nearby, he couldn't help but think how similar she was to her mother. She had given him similar lectures in her time, too, and she had a way of really drilling into him. She could works his nerves, but he loved her. Heck, that was one of the reasons for that love. He tried to keep his walls up all the time, but she had a way of breaking them down. For better or worse.

Seeing it in Cheyenne was often endearing. Today, though, he had to admit, it was working his nerves.

Losing in their debut match would’ve been bad enough, but losing to PDSM and losing like that was, well, a humiliation. Wolf had suffered some bad loses in his time, but that one was on a new low. Taken out by two lecherous leather enthusiasts. A poor look. He’d just wanted to keep Cheyenne safe, but…

”Look. Cub.” She threw a hard grumble his way and stamped her foot at that, and he coud feel her glare on him. Maybe now wasn’t the best time for nicknames. ”Cheyenne. You’re made. I understand. Let’s just…get our stuff, head back to the apartment, and we’ll talk about it over dinner, okay? Pizza. My treat.”

The mention of food seemed to settle Cheyenne a bit - at least, it got her to quiet down. She sighed, an exasperated one, and retreated to her cellphone, probably to do some venting on Twitter. Usually, that would irritate him, but at least he didn't’ have to hear it that way.

It took him a few, painful seconds, but Wolf pushed his way out of the seat and rose to his feet, groaning every inch of the way. ”Let’s go, come on.” An icepack to his skull in one hand and a gym bag in the other, he began to make his way down the Tension corridors with Cheyenne behind him, hoping the parking lot was closer than he remembered.

"Keep having performances like that and it might be time to take doggy out back and put him down." A voice coolly cut through the awkward silent shuffling of the pair within the empty halls. Her comments had come from the side, an intersection crossing in which the father daughter combo had been passing when Viper had spoken up. She was propped up against the wall in a lazy lean, arms folded across her chest. She was fully suited and ready to go… possibly even wrestling tonight. When Wolf looked her way, she would flash him a grin as the hall lighting glinted off her vintage pink visor glasses.

In the middle of the hall beside her way an unfamiliar face. Some slender girl with a baseball cap and a bandana over her face like some street thug. Her attire fit the stereotypical "gangsta" scene, making her look like some wild, hyperactive thing as they paced the area nearby Viper. She seemed to be nodding to herself and it wasn't until the blond canted her head towards Wolf that the Korean girl reached up to take off her headphones, becoming aware of the situation. Her music was still audible as they headset rested around her neck, giving the hallway meeting a backdrop of Korean rap.

"바보 메이크업 노인... 당신은 화난 광대입니까?" Gyuri tilted her head at an odd angle, slinking towards Wolf with a chuckle. Once she was close enough, just about to invade his personal space, she caught sight of Cheyenne and paused. She turned her head back to look to Viper questioningly. "이 하나?" To which the blond gave a small nod. With a soft snicker, the young Korean girl eased away from all three of them, sauntering to the other hall that Wolf had originally been walking down, lazily circling the family duo.

"Looking good Chey-bae, all grown up. You taking care of this dusty relic or is he still doing everything on his own like tonight?" Viper turned her attention to Cub, reaching up to judge the glasses down the bridge of her nose to peer over the tops of them at the young girl. Her expression and tone were notably softer and friendlier when addressing Wolf's daughter though it was unclear how genuine she was being.

Wolf drowse up, stuff as a board, the moment he heard the voice. It was one that was instantly familiar, but at the same time, wasn’t. The last time he’d heard it, it had far more youth in it. Less gravel, less scratch, less bass, though it was still far more pleasant than he remembered - probably because it was screaming the last time he heard it. Or crying. He could remember the subject of their last conversation, but time was nibbling on the smaller details.

He turned to look Charlotte’s way and found her standing there, a shadow of the woman he knew. He almost didn’t recognize her, and it wasn’t just because of the outfit and her age. She was more muscular than he remembered. Better built. Had a different air about her than the younger, innocent girl he’d trained. A kind of danger.

Wolf could’ve stared at her for hours, gobsmacked, and he very well might’ve if given half the chance. The Asian woman she was with made sure that wasn’t happening, though, as she suddenly got in his face, looking him over and speaking...well, it wasn’t Japanese, he’d been in the country long enough to pick that up. He wasn’t sure what she said, but he didn’t care much for the way she said it, and hardened his face in response, giving her all the warning signs. She did back off, though he got the sense it wasn’t out of respect. Not for him, anyway.

”Charlotte.” He turned his attention back her way. ”You’re looking-”

”Aunt Charlie?” Cheyenne cut him off as she stepped forward, staring right at the blonde with wide, unblinking eyes. She’d had that look for a while now, as her memories began to resurface, dealing with the deluge of emotions rushing through her brain. Confusion gave way to excitement in an instant, as she jumped up and squealed, nearly dropping her precious phone in the process. ”Ohmygawd, Aunt Charlie!”

Wolf couldn’t help a small smile, just for a few seconds, as his daughter temporarily became ten years younger, rushing to meet Charlotte with a big, wide hug, nearly tackling her to the floor. ”It’s been so long, I’ve missed you, how’ve you been?” She pulled away with her hands on Charlotte’s shoulder, looking her over with that goofy smile of hers, ear to ear. ”And what are you wearing?” She bit her lip to keep back the giggles. “I mean, I love it, it’s badass, for real. It’s like that Pam Anderson movie, the comic book one with the, uh…”

”Barb Wire. And when did you-”

”Netflix.”

”Of course.” Wolf dropped the gym bag, knowing they’d be here for a minute, before he nodded towards the Asian. ”Who’s the little scamp?”

Viper leaned off the wall as Cheyenne charged in on her, squaring up as the girl who used to be only as high as her hips came barreling into her a full grown woman. Her arms uncrossed, opening up at the last minute to return the hug. She was a solid wall of a woman, barely budged by the young girl bowling into her. She felt a twinge of a smile on her face and an overwhelming urge to pick Cheyenne up and give her a spin, but resisted. When the other girl was done with her hug, the blond took a moment to adjust her leather jacket.

"Been making due. Traveling." Her eyes briefly flicked to Gyuri before shifting back to Cheyenne. Reaching up she slipped off the shades, folding them up to tuck into the low cut slit of her top. "Like it? Got it made custom, with a few interesting tricks. You'd like it. Check out when I debut and tell me what you think."

"I'll take that as a compliment. Though, to be clear, I'm all natural." Viper riser an arm, giving a hard flex to let Cheyenne get a feel for her raw physical power before dropping it back down. She leaned forward to butt shoulders with the other girl, a playful shove that still demonstrated how sturdy Viper was these days.

"건달? 이 사람이 나를 짧게 부르고 있습니까?" Gyuri let out a near bark in her native tongue, eyes narrowing at Wolf as she bounced a bit on her feet, looking ready to throw down at a moment's notice. When Viper looked her way and the Korean native caught the blond's look, she settled back down, almost like a puppy tucking its tail.

"진정해. 그녀와 놀러가." Viper responded in slower more broken Korean, clearly not as practiced in speaking it as the younger girl. "That's Gyuri. My foreign exchange student. I'm showing her the ropes... The right way." The rapper walked back around Wolf, giving him one more dirty look, moving back to where the blond was. Viper gave Cheyenne a small wink.  

"We can catch up later. If you don't mind I wanted to chat with the old man." Without another word she would slip past the girls, leaving them behind her as she walked up to Wolf, tilting her chin to look him in the eye. Gyuri watched quietly as her mentor squared up to the giant man before her before looking towards Cheyenne.

Without warning the Korean girl would spin about to the other direction, forcefully hooking arms with her as if they were a couple and start walking away with the young girl in tow. "섹시하게 따라와."

In Cheyenne’s experience, her father rarely laughed at anything. Like, he tried to actively avoid it at all times, really leaning into the stoic warchief thing, and the only thing that could consistently get him to break it was old MST3K episodes.

For whatever reason, though. he had a nice, hard single laugh when Aunt Charlie said she was ‘all natural’, and it took her off guard so much that she didn’t even laugh at it herself. Cheyenne looked back at him, raised eyebrow, waiting for an explanation that never came. He just waved it off.

Weird. Thankfully, she had something else to keep her attention, with the fourth wheel in all this.

”Gyuri. Gyuri? Gyuri.” Cheyenne gave the new girl’s name a few tries, making sure she got the pronunciation right since she always hated people mispronouncing her own name. She’d finally managed to take her attention away from Aunt Charlie long enough to look at her, and she liked what she saw, smiling and waving her way. Gyuri looked like she’d raided Cheyenne’s imaginary closet, wearing all the wild clothes her Dad wouldn’t let her wear. Those colors. That style. Oh, and the hair, that hair.

Also, she kept getting in her Dad’s face, which was the funniest thing. She was loving this so much, she’d almost forgotten about having to watch her father get knocked around by two BDSM enthusiasts no less than twenty minutes ago.

While she wanted to stay and feel up Charlie’s arms so more - in particular, she wanted to see if she could still use them like a swing - she didn’t fight when Gyuri hooked her arm and led her off, all too happy to sashay side by side. She could read the room enough to know the ‘adults’ needed to do some private catching up, sure, and while she had some questions, they could wait. In fact, it was probably better if she asked them when her Dad wasn’t around, come to think of it. ”Okay, okay, going off.” She wagged a finger Aunt Charlie’s way as she looked over her shoulder. ”Just remember, you and me, selfies, it is happening!”/

Wolf, meanwhile, had his reservations about Cheyenne going off with the pint-sized hooligan Charlotte had found, but figured it wouldn’t be such a big deal. The girl didn’t even seem to speak or understand English, she could only do so much. His former pupil on the other hand…

”’The right way’?” Her started off speaking low, only rising his voice once he was sure Cheyenne was out of earshot “Doesn’t involve a syringe, I hope.” He groaned after he said it, partly because of the headache and partly because he knew that was a bad way to kick off. Getting his skull kicked in wasn’t doing wonders for his mood. With the ice pack still pressed hard to his forehead, he moved to the side of the hall and leaned back up against it. ”Why are you here, Charlotte?”

Viper stared up at Wolf as the footfalls of Cheyenne and Gyuri faded down the hall until they were little more than an afterthought. Her expression had steadily soured, offering her former mentor a flat empty look by the time he had opened his mouth. It seemed they both had a mutual understanding of keeping up appearances in front of his daughter… now that she was gone all bets were off.

"Hph. Old age certainly hasn't made you more endearing." The blond sneered, looking as though she was a second away from spitting in Wolf's eye. She held her ground, stewing in her own way before giving a lighthearted shrug. "It really isn't any of your fucking business anymore, not that it ever was."

Her head turned to follow his move to the wall, choosing to command the middle of the hall and simply pivot to continue to stare the veteran wrestler down. "It's Viper now, and I'm working. Just so happens we are both wrestling tonight. Funny coincidence. Had a gander at your new setup with Cheyenne. You intend to actually let her wrestle or is she just some eye candy to keep you relevant as you get ripped up by some hyper hookers? Good job with that by the way."

Gyuri led Cheyenne through the halls, practically dragging her along. She didn't stop to chat, just pulled the other girl with her and narrowly avoiding shouldering into passerbys. It wasn't until they had reached a collection of sound equipment boxes that she stopped, finally unhooking their arms. The Korean girl hopped up, turning in mid leap to pool herself down on a box and kick her feet.

"랩 좋아하세요?" Gyuri tugged down her bandana, letting it fall around her neck as she watched Cheyenne expectantly. When it was apparent the other girl didn't know what she said, she would save her over, close enough that she could kick one of her legs up and over the girls shoulder to pull her flush against the box near her. Gyuri pulled off her headset, trying to force it down over the brunette's ears. If she did, she would reach into her jacket and pull out of phone, changing the track that played to be one of hers straight from her private SoundCloud.

"Listen." She said simply, giving Cheyenne a small box with wide eyes as if to convey the other girl needed to follow her direction. She would lift her leg to let the other girl free, allowing her to hear the track in its entirety while keeping track of the duration on the face of her phone. When it finally ended, she would pause the next track and look expectantly at Cheyenne. "Well?"

Wolf let Charlotte know what he thought of that look of hers with his daughter’s eye roll, doing a perfect imitation as she cursed his way. There was the attitude. She’d always had a little of it, even when they were on the best of terms, and he’d found it endearing back in the day. Far less so, now.

”’Viper’.” The mocking tone in his voice should’ve been enough to convey what he thought of her choice, but he’d elaborate, just in case.“I am not calling you that, Charlotte. Wrestlers have ring names, not whatever it is you are these days. Oh, and your coincidence?” He shifted on the wall, leaning on with his shoulder to look at her straight on, so she could see the full, incredulous look in his eyes. ”The AFW has to be, just about, the only major fed that wouldn’t do the background check and slam the door in your face. You could’ve come here anytime you wanted, anytime. But you just so happened to show up for your first match on the same day we do. That’s a coincidence?” He shook his head. ”I may be old, but I’m not senile.”

Wolf wanted to leave it there. In fact, he was sorely tempted to just walk away and bring Cheyenne with him, knowing there would be an article about this meeting on some internet dirt sheet within the hour, spinning all kinds of rumors. But there was no way he was letting Charlotte get off with that critique unanswered. ”How I choose to raise and train my daughter is none of your business.” He pointed a finger her way, one she would be quite familiar with. ”I’m keeping her close, so she doesn’t make the same mistakes you did.” He threw his hand up. ”Hell, probably still are.”

A dozen or so yards away, the mood was notably more pleasant with Cheyenne and Gyuri, especially considering the two of them couldn’t even speak the same language. That was made apparent when the colorful Asian still spoke in that language of hers, even with them away from her Dad - she’d thought it might be an act, but no, this was just going to be a thing. ”Yeah, sorry.” Cheyenne tilted her head and shrugged when Gyuri...well, she could tell she’d been asked a question from the inflection, but not much beyond that.

”Uuuuuuuuuuh, what’re you doing?” Cheyenne’s eyes shifted about, confused, as she was pulled up against the box with Gyuri’s - admittedly toned - leg. Her intentions were made clear enough, though, when she dropped the headphones on her ear. It didn’t take much to follow the direction, figuring there was something she wanted her to hear, and she found out what soon enough.

Cheyenne backed away from Gyuri as the track started up and the rapping started. For the first thirty or so seconds, she had a little trouble getting into it, the language barrier being a problem. But soon, she could ignore that and focus on the other aspects. The flow was great, in perfect rhythm with a solid beat. Good switches up, every now and then, kept it from getting too monotonous. Good speed, too, and she could make out what was being said - well, she thought she could’ve if she understood the language, anyway.

Soon enough, she was into it, dancing along the beat and giving Gyuri a little show. She threw a quick look over her shoulder to make sure her Dad wasn’t looking their way - he wasn’t - then got a little raunchy with it, twisting with her hips like she had an invisible partner behind her, biting her lip, dipping down, even throwing in a little rain dancing for a culture clash twist. She even managed to rap along with the chorus a little, though she probably mangled more of it than she got right.

When it was over, she popped the earphone and chuckled as she looked down at them, as if she’d just done magic. ”Whew, loved it! That was good stuff, that was-” Her eyes popped wide as she looked back up to Gyuri, then down at the headphones, then back up again. She couldn’t be 100% sure, but the voice in the song sounded familiar, almost like…

”Hey, was that…” She gave Gyuri the side eye as she pointed from her to the headphones and back again, with a knowing grin. ”Was that you?”

"Viper." The blond woman reaffirmed with all the seriousness of a marine holding someone at rifle point. Her new choice of names seemed to be a strong sticking point she was trying to make or more than likely a small way to make Wolf do what she wanted out of the guise of common courtesy. "Might want to look into getting some glasses because you are still as blind as I remember, old man."

"Is that what you want, people all turning their back on me like you did? Would that make you feel better? Sorry to say, but I've been pretty successful after I cut ties with dead weight like you." Viper leaned close, bringing a finger to give the veteran's chest a firm jab with a finger at the end of her sentence. She would ease back into her boot heels after, folding her arms.

"That would be round about the textbook definition of a coincidence, yes. Do you have any other questions you need me to take you by the hand to answer?" Viper rolled her shoulders into a shrug, cracking a small smirk along the way. She scowled at his words, barely letting him finish before rebutting Wolf with her own thoughts. "So now I'm not even a wrestler huh? All those long hours I busted my ass for you, destroying my body, for you… now all of that doesn't mean a thing because I fell out of your good graces? I was damn good back then. I am twice the woman now." Viper narrowed her eyes into thin violent slits, her entire body tensing up as if things were about to pop off here and now.

"You are going to lose her you know. It's only a matter of time before you fuck up things with her. Just like with your wife. Just like with me. I found out you were still even in the business because I read a story online about Chey blowing up. Now you are here, tanking her career by saddling her fresh look and style by making her a bench warmer to the one man show that is the dying dog himself, Wolf. You are a real piece of work, telling me I don't get a say. She isn't my blood, but I sure as shit helped raise her when I was still around and you were too busy to be a father."

"I'm clean. Been for ages. Is that so hard to swallow, that I could be doing better on my own than I ever was with you? Bet that eats you up, huh? Maybe one day I'll get the chance to show you just how good I got, first hand. For now, you'll have to make due with watching me tear through the roster here while you are still working on taking the training wheels off being a dad." Her eyes followed each and every gesture Wolf made. Dismissive side eyed glances and small chuckles aplenty. It was clear to anyone without a personal stake in this that these two weren't going to make any real headway in a discussion.

Gyuri books the headset around her neck, tapping her phone to start the music up again so it provided a faint soundtrack to their backstage hangout. She gave Cheyenne a smirk, letting her piece things together before nodding and giving the girl the universal sign of approval in a thumbs up. "Bingo." The Korean girl thrust a thumb back towards herself, head held high. "Straight fire. Watch out."

"레슬링 외에 무엇을합니까? ...또는 오늘 밤 씨름하지 않고." The Korean girl grinned down at Cheyenne, having what seemed to be a good laugh to herself. She reached out with a curled finger, giving the feather in the other girl's headband a small flick. "What you do, eh? Dress up? What else." Gyuri waved a hand in a small circle, wanting the other girl to sell herself and show what she could do. Even with her slow broken English, her words and expression were filled to the brim with character. She felt raw and unapologetic more or less bossing the other girl into performing for her.

”Straight fire.” Cheyenne leaned forward, tapped her lips, and leaned back like she was blowing flames, coming back down with a devilish grin. ”I like it.”

If Cheyenne minded being made to put on a show, she wasn’t about to show it one bit. She was all too eager to keep dancing as Gyuri put her music back on, breaking back into her dance. Now that she had a better feel for the music and knew she was performing for its creator, she put a little more effort into it, showing off grace that wasn’t common on the dance floor. Cheyenne was light on her feet, had the moves of a real dancer, showed complete awareness and control of her body with each step. She could even do a little belly dancing, undulating her stomach with seductive sways as she spun. It wasn’t often she had an audience for this sort of thing, and she was taking full advantage.

”What I do, huh?” Cheyenne did a quick spin on her heel, whipping her ponytail about before she came back to face Gyuri. ”I don’t just ‘dress up, I-”

Cheyenne snapped her fingers, almost going into a little speech before she remembered that Gyuri wouldn’t understand a bit of it. Thanks to her phone, however, she had access to the universal language: Instagram.

Still hopping from heel to heel and bobbing to the beat, she plucked her phone out and started the app up, moving over to her personal page. It didn’t take long for her to find what she needed, and she spun it around to show her new potential friend. Pictures and miniclips of her time on the reservation for family reunions and festivals, dancing in tribal garb, singing the old songs, the rituals and the paints and all of it. The reservation was too far out for them to live on with his wrestling career, but his father made sure to bring her over when he could, making sure his daughter had a good understanding and respect of their people. In his defense, it hadn’t been in vain.

As she scrolled on through the pics, Gyuri could also see Cheyenne was an industrious little lady - there were a few photos of her in the process of designing things. She wove dreamcatchers and different outfits, some of which were on display, including the one she had on now, and some links to a Youtube page that seemed to be doing fairly well. Online diary, match recordings, even a little Twitch stream action, with her fans currently heckling her to play Assassin’s Creed 3.

There was also a couple of pictures of her in a dance club getting a little handsy with another girl she met there, but she was quick to scroll through those. ”Ssssh.” She put a finger to her lips and nodded her head back towards the ‘grown ups’.

At the same time, his daughter’s late night escapades were the last thing on Wolf’s mind. ”Here it comes.” Wolf closed his eyes as Charlotte launched into the tirade he knew was coming. ”Get it out of your system.”

And Charlotte proceed to do exactly that, laying into him with the heavy artillery. She had a lot to say, and he had the strong impression she’d been waiting to say it for a while. Practiced, as if she’d said it to an imaginary version of him quite a few times. But he wasn’t an illusion, he wasn’t some verbal punching bag that was going to take all of this without a word in response.

He stood there, quiet, his face only darkening when she had the nerve to bring his wife into the conversation. He waited for her to finish, as hard as it was, and then he spoke.

”Lord above, where do I even start?” He exhaled as he brought the icebag down, revealing the growing lump on his forehead. The damn thing was mostly melted now, anyway, not doing much good. ”You have learned absolutely nothing.”

He stepped to the side and dumped the ice bag into the nearest trashcan, before turning back her way. ”You blame me for all these things, you complain and you try to make me the bad guy, but let’s review here, okay?” He leveled a finger her way, pointing straight at her face. ”I didn’t make you take the drugs. I didn’t make you fail the drug test. I didn’t make you lie and hide things and I’m not responsible for the decisions you made. You did things, things that have consequences, but instead of accepting those consequences, you try to pass the buck. Like a child.” He patted his chest and backed up a step, giving her some distance. ”So you’ll forgive me if I don’t buy the Brand New You act. From where I stand, it’s a different package for the same product...maybe you’re clean now, but things’ll get hard for you, they won’t go your way, and you’ll start to cut corners.”

Wolf started to walk away, took a couple of steps, then doubled back as another thought occurred to him, this time with more bitterness to go along with it. ”And no, you do not get a say. You had a say, once, but you gave that up when you left, and don’t tell yourself any different. You knew what would happen, you did it anyway, your choice.” He flicked a finger Cheyenne’s way, before focusing back on Charlotte, too heated to really process what his daughter was doing at the moment. ”She talks about you more than her mother, you know that? We barely see Elaine anymore, she’s off in Europe with some hippie Greenpeace guy, Cheyenne hates him, so she spends most of her time with me and I have to support her, because you know, I’m such a bad father. But it doesn’t matter, she couldn't care less about her mother. But you? When we’re training, she mentions your moves, when we’re eating she talks about the way you used to make food, your jokes and your games and just…”

Wolf caught himself before he got too worked up, bringing his hands together and forcing some calm to take over. This was the last thing his blood pressure needed, truth be told, but they were here now. ”She idolizes you. But you left her, and I was still there, and I took care of her, and I raised her, and I’m training her, and I’m providing for her, so no. No. You do not get a say. Period.”

The Korean native mimicked the gesture of blowing flames, bringing a hand up to accentuate the mannerism with her fingers flicking out to be the tendrils of flames supposedly pouring from her lips. She leaned back after, bobbing her head to the tiny audio coming from her headphones, eyeing Cheyenne. Truth be told, she was a bit surprised at just how willing she had been to let loose… also the way she moved was nice to look at. Gyuri pulled her bandana back up over her features, hiding her pleased expression as she locked her fellow rookie dancing.

She had started to lean so far forward to watch that when the brunette twirled, the urban dragon had to jerk back suddenly to avoid getting hit in the face with her ponytail. It left her blinking with a slight bit to her cool, working to ease back into a more chill lean while Cheyenne whipped out her phone. Her eyes followed the scrolling images she was presented from afar until something seemingly caught her eye that warranted close inspection.

With a sudden snap of her wrist, she threw out her arm to deftly snatch the phone from an unsuspecting Cheyenne and pull it close to go through what was posted at her own leisure. If the other girl protested or tried to get the phone back, she would kick up a sneaker to plant on her face to hold her at bay at her leg's distance while perusing. Almost like holding a short person at arm's reach by the forehead in a sham of a fight.

While most of what Viper said we're things that had been stewing for years, her speech was far from practiced. In her mind their first reunion was very different, involving a great deal more physical violence. In those dreams however, Cheyenne wasn't lingering about to make her think twice about brutalizing her former mentor. It was just the two of them… the location changed depending on the day. A back alley, at the gym they use to train at, one those those shithole dives she boxes in over the years, even in the ring. She wanted to dismantle him, show him just how much better she was without his influence while laying on the hurt.

"I've learned quite a lot, the hard way. So don't patronize me." Strangely enough, Viper's expression seemed to darken even more than it had been while he defaulted back to the drugs. They had spent hours, days, arguing about this very thing all those years ago. She wasn't about to slip back into her rookie days and going back and forth with him over this like a child he was already accusing her of being. The man was unyieldingly stubborn, and in their time together, impossible to truly please. She had broken her body over his grueling training regiment to the point of years every night… the drugs had been the only way to make it through and take the pain. Her only regrets were not standing up to his hard knock training sooner… and getting caught.

"Cutting corners…" Viper sneered at the idea. Things hadn't started like that, back in the day. She worked hard, she always worked hard. Her drug use had become a desperate last resort to keep going as much as she could in an industry that seemed to strive on knocking people like her down into obscurity. It had never been about getting ahead of taking shortcuts… these days however it was a bit different. More personal… but she was managing her problem. Fuck him for thinking he had her pegged. "I won't forgive you. For any of it. Ever."

"This isn't All-Star anymore. You aren't some larger than life hero, you're just another fish in the pond… who gets throttled by bondage bimbos. Keep telling yourself you are doing right by her or by anyone. There is a reason people are pushed away from you and it's this, right here."  She had been about to battle him again, turning to face Wolf as he moved away. When he began talking about how Cheyenne still looked up to her though, she stopped and simply listened. A floor of old memories of memories threatening to drown her.

Long times spent at Wolf's old house playing older sister for Cheyenne. Just chilling and watching cartoons, or on the rare occasion some more maturely rated action and horror flicks when the girl had been good, as a reward. Those early days trying to cook where Cheyenne wanted to help and she had to bullshit through knowing what the hell she was doing… why did she need to impress a child back then? All the piggyback rides she suffered though and half melted cartoon ice cream pops bought during the summer they used to laugh at. It felt like being evicted from her home when she fell out with Wolf. Not just for Cheyenne but the illusion she had been part of their family and things could just break down like that so fast, so easy.

"You're a piece of shit." She said simply, drawing in a deep breath through her nose. Her leaving hadn't been just her choice. There was clear finality to what her drug use had done to their relationship. While Wolf never expressly told her to leave, they both knew it was what he wanted. For his career, for Cheyenne, probably for his ego as well, he couldn't be associated with a cheater. It had been a hard choice but their rights had made it easier at the time to go through with it.

"I'm sure all of that will count for something once she realizes she can actually make a life for herself without you fronting bills, especially if you hang that shit over her like she owes you. You're her dad. It's your job to provide. It's not a fucking gold belt you need recognition for." Viper unfolded her arms, jamming her hands into her jacket pockets. Fingers clenched, balling up out of sight. She hadn't intended to get tangled in a verbal dispute tonight. The plan had been to take a few jabs, lay on the menace, and get out before things got personal.

"You should go, before she sneaks off and does something fun instead of getting shitty Japanese pizza with her old man… You know, like all grown women dream of doing." Viper gave a small flip of her hair, glancing down the hall where the two girls had wandered off too.