Down Time

Taylor looked a little put off, and gave Akashi a look like she'd said the most stupid and inflammatory thing ever.

"Dude. Maybe I don't belong anywhere else, but I'd hardly call it home when I'm surrounded by people who, in the states, would have to be registered with that website that tells people where you live. Home wasn't like a happy place for me, but I never had to worry about getting beaten so badly I'd need hospital time, and I never had to worry about being raped or humiliated or taken advantage of. I mean I'm used to fending off creeps and everything, but this is like a colony of super-freaks."

She thought for a moment, then added "And it's like I'm bait, and every match I lose, I become more of a target. Screw that. Screw you guys. I'm not looking for home, I'm here to prove something to mySELF. And maybe in another 10 or 15 years I'll end up like bunny-girl, and that's fine. That'll make things like this little soiree more fun. But....well, please, bunny-girl, since everyone knows that you just act like you do to cover up how much you're dying to tell someone about all your problems, let's hear it."

Taylor had a jumbled mess of feelings surrounding Lia. On the one hand, they sort of got along, and they were sort of incredibly irritating in similar ways. She saw a bit of herself in Lia, and she didn't necessarily like it... but she also didn't trust her, or anyone, for that matter. Still, someone about Lia seemed weird, and it wasn't just the bunny ears.

Lia kept her face buried in Akashi's chest, wiggling it in deeper as Taylor talked, purring cutely. Oblivious to the younger girl's taunting, Lia would suddenly throw her head back, hair flying up around her, her eyes closed and mouth open, letting out a loud sigh and taking a deep breath. After a dramatic second, Lia's eyes would open, still staring at the ceiling, she would sigh happily.

"You smell... wonderful..." Lia whispered.

Shaking her head from side to side, Lia would turn back toward Taylor, placing her elbows on the table, shifting into her usual smiling self effortlessly. "Oh, I'm sorry. I was off in my happy place. I thought I heard a little school drop-out," She scratched her head as though thinking, looking away from Taylor for a moment, "Fresh with all that youthful arrogance. That sense you have all the answers... I THOUGHT I heard someone like that trying to play armchair Freud with me... Shit, even I dropped that habit back in college." She smiled sweetly at Taylor, "Because, I finally figured out that just because the contents of my stupid little 17 year old life could fit on a post-it-note, that didn't NECESSARILY mean everyone else was quite so easy to read."

Lia rested her chin on her hand, taking a brief glance at Akashi's boobs before turning back toward Taylor, "You ARE absolutely right though. I'm a failed porn star. Spent the last ten years of my life trying to get the porn world to take me seriously." Her bunny ears drooped over her head, "It's these damn ears! 'Nobody in porn wears rabbit ears, freakshow!'" She imitated in a husky voice. Dejectedly, she let out a puff of air directed up, sending the rabbit ears back up to bobbing freely above Lia's head. "Really, I've been wearing these ears, this tie, all of this... I came here, to the AFW, to this very bar... EVERYTHING so that I could one day find that ONE magical, know-it-all, misanthrope little girl with a chip on her shoulder bigger than Bigtits'... er... boobies..." Lia smiled at Akashi, "Who could explain my life... like... perfectly, better than I could EVER tell it. Because the only thing I love MORE than describing every detail of my business to bratty punk kids is to have them dictate it for me!" She gave a thumbs up and a wink to Taylor, "Thanks, Ball Joint! You're the best!"

Akashi, in turn, was offended by Taylor's offense and shook her head. "No, that's not right!" she said. "Well.. maybe it's right but if that's the case. If all those things were said then why stay? Sure there may be beatings and rapings but... no one forces you to STAY. You can leave anytime. And if you start winning then you'll be on the foot end of all the asskickings and the top end of all the rapings." Akashi grinned. "If you are so inclined. Afw... feels like a big jungle where it's survival of the fittest. Kill or be killed. Bakas like me... we think we can have our cake and eat it too. Just cause I'm on top doesn't mean I'm not a target though. I'm constantly getting challenged and assaulted. I can't even COUNT the amount of times someone's smashed a pair of brass knuckles against my head but you now what.. I wouldn't trade it for ANYTHING and...." Akashi sighed and took a drink. "And that's saying a lot. Before I came here... and even for a long time afterward the only thing I wanted was to be able to be a real sumo wrestler. Now... Now... I am happy and probably happier than I would have been if I had left this place even with all that.

Akashi huffed and threw the beer she had back and slammed it down, reaching up to call for another beer as Lia pulled her hand out of her chest. The Sumo's eyes widened at Lia's dramatic display and then blushed and turned her head slightly, grinning at the words she whispered. "Arigatou... inaba..." She muttered back in a whisper as she listened to Lia's tirade.

Akashi's eyebrows arched in confusion as Lia seemed to go off. Were they going to fight? She wondered but quickly her eyes widened in delight when Lia said she was a failed porn actress. Immediately Akashi hoped that it was the girl on girl stuff and remained oblivious for most of the rest of it, lost in dreamland, only looking down when Lia called her by her mammoric title. "Eh?' She said to herself as she glanced down at her own impressive cleavage.

The situation seemed a little tense and she pushed herself close to the bunny girl and tried to put her hand on her shoulder, sloppily rubbing it as one would rub down a boxer in between rounds. "H-hey now..." Akashi said, glancing over at Taylor. "Maybe you should do what Taylor-san and I did and just... just got at it? It's a real blast and It'll just make all that tension melt away."

At that moment the waitress came back with another beer and Akashi snatched it up and took a big swig. "Unless you'd like another one of theeese." Akashi said waving the bottom close to Lia.

"Eh," Lia shrugged, "This place is a shithole, but it is perfect for a slutty, past-her-prime, bitter, frequently dumped, rampaging lesbo sex addict l-like meself." Lia winked at Akashi before looking away, gasping, a look of realization crossing her face. "Who sucks at fighting, too! Can't forget that! Absolute trash at it!" Lia gave a smug grin.

"Mmm," Lia sighed as Akashi rubbed her shoulder and suggested a fight or a beer, "No thanks. I'm already starting to feel a little icky... And I don't want your sloppy seconds either, Crusher." Lia shrugged, "Besides, Joint Lock will lay me out in one punch. Easy. I'm garbage at this. She's zippo for two and I'm only zilch for one so she's TWICE as good as me at least, and if we count time in the ring?... Eh... let's not talk about it. She'll fuck me. That's all there is to it... BESIDES!" Lia suddenly shouted, "I am TOTALLY agreeing with everything she says so what's the dealio?" Lia was wobbling a bit, her face definitely flushed.

Taylor bristled at the words "if you start winning" from Akashi. She reddened and sank a little lower in her seat, stewing over the comment more than she was listening to the rest.

By the time Lia was finished she was starting to lose it. She slammed her fist on the table, rattling the growing pile of bottles. "Dammit! I'm here because I'm fucking going to win! I'm better than both of you and half the rest of you psychos put together! And I'm NOT going to leave because I DON'T HAVE TO! I'm NOT going to be a fucking...victim. Screw you guys, I could kick both your asses at the same time. You better check yourself. Talking all your shit to me, you don't even know who I am."

She stopped. She was breathing a little heavy and her face was red, but not from the alcohol. She forced a smile. "If either of you want to find out, feel free to take a swing at me anytime."

She looked away and scowled and took a swig of beer.

Lia rolled her eyes, "Hey, Lock Jaw. Nobody said you weren't going to win. Pay the fuck some attention, girlie." Exasperatedly, Lia leaned on Akashi's shoulder. Maybe Taylor's increasingly erratic behavior was throwing Lia off her game or Lia had bought Akashi's routine, but she was certainly no longer wary of the sumo.

Of course, it could have been her cleavage.

Within a second, Lia was up again, "I mean, fuck. You lost twice. That's it! Nobody gave you a license to be a damn drama queen about it." Lia slammed her hands on the table, "This is a SPORT! You don't WIN every single match! The point is the COMPETITION! The game! The sport! Fight a good match? Who the FUCK cares who wins or loses? It won't matter even five years from now! I don't even know the first THING about fighting and I know that much!" Lia began to scoot around the booth, "You know, if this is what the company is going to be for the rest of the night, I think I've got better things to do. Hangovers are bad enough, and if I have to hear this kid's whining voice bouncing around my head all morning, I'll just shoot myself."

Akashi listened tot he both of them. She clutched her bottle tightly, gripping it tighter than she even realized. Lia was right. "I lost my first match here too." She said. "And ..." She furrowed her brow, turning her head. "Even though I'm the champ if you look at my record it's certainly not the best around. I have my fair share of losses and I'll tell you what. Loosing sucks!" She glanced at Lia momentarily. "It sucks bad! I hate it more than anything!" She then turned back to Taylor. "But I learned a HELL of a lot more about fighting when I lost than when I won. If it wasn't for the fact that I could learn from and bounce back from a loss, I wouldn't be where I am right now."

Akashi then stood up and slammed her beer down on the table and indeed took up Taylor on her offer, launching a right cross right at her face!

Taylor started to get defensive and ready to fire back when Lia began yelling at her. She opened her mouth to yell back but stopped dead. Lia was right. God.

She wordlessly closed her mouth and was quiet, looking back at Lia as though she was being scolded by her mother. What particularly stung at that moment was when Lia threatened to leave because of Taylor. She didn't want her to leave. She wasn't sure if she even liked Lia, she didn't feel safe enough to make that call, but she definitely didn't want her to leave. She averted her eyes. Her cheeks were burning hot and bright red and she awkwardly rubbed her bare shoulder.

Barely audible, she started "S-s...so..." she couldn't get the word out, but she was sorry. She felt like a total jerk, completely ridiculous. She looked back up at the two women across the table, tearing up despite her best efforts not to. Akashi's scolding really drove the point home. She felt like a stupid, loud-mouthed, self absorbed little kid. It sucked. She wanted to cry.

Lucky for her, the urge to cry vanished the moment she saw Akashi's fist. In that moment, she didn't know what to do. Her mind was still stuck on how she felt about Akashi, and it didn't change gears fast enough to worry about moving her head. So Akashi's fist crashed into Taylor's cheek, throwing her back against the wall. Ow.

Instinctively she squirmed out of the booth and scrambled away. She came up standing over where she'd dumped her sweatshirt, and she hooked it with her foot and kicked it up in the air and caught it. Her bravado was again silent, and she looked at the two women with pyretic emotion. It wasn't a fight that she wanted, despite anything she said, but she set her feet, ready to move, and beckoned for them to come.

"You must be pretty drunk if that's all you've got." It really hurt, though. She'd rather not get hit like that again. She'd also rather have a billion dollars. Whatever.

Lia had stood up and taken one last drink of beer only to just about spit it out when she saw Akashi take Taylor up on her challenge. Lia set the beer down as shock turned to a wide grin, a genuine grin of shocked, barely stifled laughter. She quickly brought her hand to her mouth to cover it. The sight of Taylor finally getting some comeuppance was just hilarious.

As much as Taylor had been asking for it, Lia was not really a big fan of picking fights over insults, especially given how abrasive she could be... Still... the door HAD been opened... Lia slid off her jacket and tossed it into the booth, revealing a fully sleeved button down dress shirt beneath. "Gee, Champ. You don't remember what she said? Alone, neither of us really stand a chance. But, together, well, we just MIGHT be able to beat Lock Jaw here." She laid an arm on Akashi's shoulder while she undid her tie with the other hand and tossed it into her seat. "What do you say, partner? It's the fight she wants to have..." Lia extended her hand toward Akashi.

Taylor wore an expression that looked as though the bar had suddenly caught fire, and she knew she'd have to try to put it out but really she just wanted to get the hell out.

Shit, she thought. Shit shit shit. She would have reflected on how the ways in which she related to people were destructive and counter-productive, but she really just felt like she did when she knew she was about to get jumped by a group on her way home from school. How much of her life would've been different if she hadn't lived so close to school? A mile farther away and she'd have had to ride the bus, and wouldn't have felt like doing so was just running away from the other girls and admitting she was afraid of them. It was a familiar feeling. The sick feeling in her stomach she learned to medicate with anger and violence of her own, and by distracting herself from it by running her mouth.

"Sh-shouldn't you see if anyone else here wants to help? Is the chick-dude still here? There's only... two of you."

That'll get you out of trouble, Taylor. Good going. No use in stopping now.

She cocked her hips and her head to one side, hand on her hip, and flashed a well-practiced cocky grin and a middle finger. "Go back to your shanties, you're in over your head here."