Roommate Wanted!

Cassie shrugged and devoured the thing like a pitbull eating a pork chop. "It's... I dunno. Fish? Next! Let go find ramen!" She paid for the food with money from her little bag, stuffed it back in her back pocket and then took off down the sidewalk toward another cart. "Comin'?"

"And I like pizza and stuff, but I like being all fit and fight-worthy more. I don't wanna get all soft and loser-y." Cassie jabbed Ash's very trim stomach with her finger several times and giggled. "That's right, I'm jiggling your tummy. What are you gonna do about, miss sleep-till-noon-and-don't-train?" She said with a grin.

Ash gave Cassie a mighty scowl as the younger girl prodded her. Thoughts of violence flashed through her mind, but she tabled them. It would not do to beat up on such a small girl. (Left buried was the gnawing feeling. This girl knew "that MMA shit" as Ash would put it. Maybe her restraint was borne of fear more than shrewdness, however.)

Slowly, surely, Ash reached down and grabbed for Cassie's offending hand, raising a finger of her own on the other hand. "You know, I could military press you." She hissed, wearing a cold smile. "And you are practically perfectly sized for the lockers over at the AFW building..."

Cassie grinned widely and laughed. She bounced with delight and squeezed Ash's bicep. "But... you're so skinny! And I think I'm a little big for the lockers. Not by much though. Anyway, you'd be tired before we got there, then I'd just choke you out and stick you in a garbage can!"

With that, on came another giggle fit. Playfully, she pushed Ash's shoulder. In a way she was curious about what Ash had to offer, how good she was. If she was any good at all, really, she didn't know, but she was just having fun. "Are you trying to intimidate me? I'm not easily intimidated by people who don't eat, eh." She gave Ash another pushed and bounced back on the balls of her feet.

Ash's right eye began to twitch as Cassie taunted her. She was just being told she could not intimidate a girl half her size, and it was even more humiliating to be seen trying.

It would have been worse to actually swing though. Breaking beer bottles and leaping off of tables onto people bigger than her was easy. The runts with the alcohol induced Napoleon complexes were another matter. Part of the game was looking good while you worked and nobody looks good beating up on a smaller foe. Ash just could not bring herself to start anything.

She threw her hands up in a resigned shrug, "Whatever. Isn't it almost your bedtime anyway, shorty?"

"Sort of. I usually take a nap after lunch. But we're not done lunching yet!" Cassie approached a ramen stand and after a brief but laborious exchange with the owner she managed to purchase a bowl for each of them. She handed one to Ash with a smile.

"Do you speak any Japanese? I've got to learn more, so I can at least order food. After food do you want to do some shopping for the apartment? I've got some money from my match. Once you start winning matches you can do it too. Maybe we can put something in it other than wrestling mats and everything." Then she smirked. "And you're totally scared of me. It's okay." She giggled. She wasn't actually serious, but she enjoyed razzing Ash on what bordered on the truth.

Ash grumbled to herself as she took the bowl of noodles, "Thanks." She hissed it like the obligation it was. "Just a little bit. Not much more than you. Worthless-ass language, if you ask me." She shrugged.

Ash did not even bother with the double take as they found a makeshift concrete bench to sit down and eat on. Of course she's getting more matches than me. Big money in the greasy pedo market. "Just something to sleep on would be good. A cot... a blanket, a pillow, hell, a satchel would do."

Okay, seriously, there's no way this girl really is good at this. She's just name dropping, right? She gave Cassie a crude smile, "Yeah, that Kudo Fu Taki whatever shit is so totally scary." She waved her hands in a fake martial arts pose. "Whatever they teach you at the kids classes must be some powerful stuff. I just don't want to throw you down on this pavement. You look soft enough to bounce, but I don't want to test it right now. I ain't even officially moved in yet."

Cassie narrowed her eyes and glared at Ash as if she was going to attack. "Even if you did get me down on the pavement, you'd love the arm you did it with." Then her smile inevitably overpowered her efforts to keep it away and she laughed. "Just kidding. I wouldn't want to hurt you."

She slurped some noodles while she thought. "Yeah, beds. That'd be good. They probably have some pretty compact stuff here. If everyone here had a big bed the whole country would just be never ending beds. The mats are getting a little stiff for my back." She arched her back a little thinking about it.

"So let's do that! And don't look so surprised about me winning. I've only had one match and it went pretty well, so it's not like I'm a veteran or anything but I don't plan on losing any time soon. And with my new manager hopefully I'll have no problem getting matches and money and stuff."

For a second, it seemed Cassie had taken on an air... a... metal air, maybe. Something Ash almost liked. But it was gone so quick, it barely registered, Ash was not even sure she had seen it. Ash chuckled, "Oh, you wouldn't have to worry about that, sweetie."

Cassie's logic regarding beds caused Ash to swallow that last bite of noodles a bit too hard. Her eyes widened and she let out a cough to clear her throat. "Ack... Ah, ahem..." She took a deep breath and downed her water in a solid gulp, "That... makes sense," she lied.

Ash arched an eyebrow, "I'm not that surprised. You're not really the smallest girl here." She sipped up her noodles. A bit better than the ramen she survived on otherwise, but just a bit. "A manager, though? Tell me about that. I'm not exactly in the music business any more, so I think my 'don't sell out' bona fides are safe if I seek one out..."

"Oh, yeah, his name is Drake... um... something." Cassie stopped to try to think of his last name, or first name, or... his other name. Oh, Thomas Drake. He manages this pop band called Eclipse and I guess all the members in it are also in AFW. I met them when I had my match against Hitomi... Fujishima and she introduced me. There's Tomomi and Chigusa and other people... they all seem really nice. It should work out really well for me. I can train with them and stuff."

Cassie slurped up the last of her noodles and drained the broth. She was always a bottomless pit at lunch time. "I don't really know anything about the business and stuff, to having a manager like that is a good thing for me. It couldn't hurt for you, I guess, seeing as how you haven't had a match yet. How do you think you'd do? Would you do alright?" Cassie asked, concerned, with a tone that indicated that she was worried that Ask would just lose badly.

Ash's face noticeably twitched at the mention of the words 'pop band.' The concept of a wrestling pop band twisted the knife. She had to repeat it out loud to vent the steam, "A wrestling pop band..." she muttered with an icy tone, "That's something else."

She had her fill of noodles and slid the last of the bowl away from her. Cassie's last question should have tweaked her, but Ash had accepted being in a constantly pissed off state around Cassie, and it was just a drop in the bucket.

Doubly annoying was how damned sweet she was. Ash could not bring herself to swing at someone for being TOO sweet. "Eh, this isn't my first rodeo, Shortie. I think I'll be fine." She let out with just enough volume to belie a sense of irritation. A beat, and then she smiled again. Turning the question back, "How did your first match go anyway? Did they have to dig for someone smaller than you? Did you snap any of her limbs?" She asked almost half jokingly... though it would be totally awesome if Cassie said yes.