The After-After-Party Is Where The Real Fun Begins

Cassie was confused. "But... Junichi..." She would never have guessed that they'd only met so recently. She was surprised and a little disappointed. She was expecting some romantic backstory, she always did, and meeting in a club didn't really seem like it. Cassie had never been to a club, though, so what did she know.

"Oh." Cassie wasn't sure what to say, and Taylor sat quietly, uncharacteristically so, and watched her search for something to say. "I saw all your matches." Cassie said. She couldn't remember if she'd already said that.

"Cool, then you've seen me get my ass beat by everyone in the company."

"No... I think you've done really well. You're a lot different than you were in school." It wasn't clear if she was referring to Taylor performances in the ring, or Taylor herself. Cassie always referred to their time at the gym as "school".

"Right, well, you do what you've got to do. They don't take it easy on you here, but I think you found that out too."

Cassie smiled, thinking back on the other guys at the gym in New York, how they were always so careful with the two of them. They were so young and tiny compared to the big, muscle-y guys. There were times when certain guys wouldn't take it so easy on them, though, mostly on Taylor.

There was an awkward silence. Why was it so uncomfortable to be reunited with her old friend? Cassie wondered if maybe Taylor was embarrassed to see her in front of Johnny. Maybe she'd been too pushy in corralling them up into her room. In her head she saw things going much better.

Taylor spoke up. "This little pipsqueak used to kick my ass." She said to Johnny. "With all of her tricky shit. It's good, though, I used some of that against Gatt, but it didn't do me any good. I guess we can't all be jujitsu girl-wonders. I was learning, though, all the time. You didn't think I was, but I was. I was getting better all the way up until I..."

Oh. Taylor suddenly became acutely aware of a particular source of tension. She'd never admitted to Cassie that she considered her a friend, still wouldn't say it out loud, and she was well aware that she didn't really treat her like one. When Taylor left New York to come to Japan and sign on with AFW, she didn't tell anyone. Not her family, but she hadn't talked to them for a while at that point, and no one at the gym, not even Cassie. Apparently Cassie figured it out, though, because as soon as she turned 18 she was right there in Friction.

"Hey, um, Cass, look..." Taylor was almost starting to get used to the horrible gut wrenching feeling that came with trying to wring out an apology. "I'm sorry, I should've told, uh..."

"I know." Cassie interjected quickly, not wanting Taylor to have to suffer through the whole thing, not in front of Johnny. "It's okay. I knew you were leaving. You're not as sneaky as you think."

"You did?" Taylor was a little surprised. "Well... I guess here we are, right? A year later and everything's different, right? Except you. Well, your hair is."

Cassie nodded. Everything was different. Taylor was different. She felt an overwhelming wave of sadness when the thought struck her that things would never be the way they were again. She'd never have a friend in Taylor the way she used to. The experiences they shared were done, and now Taylor had moved on. Cassie had too, probably, but she wasn't sure what she was moving on to. In that moment, Cassie felt totally lost, more alone than before she'd run into Taylor and Johnny.

Taylor knew Cassie well enough to be able to read her face. "Hey Johnny," she spoke up quickly to change the subject before Cassie started bawling. "Why don't we introduce Cass to your brother? They'd get along great, right? He'd try to sweet talk and manipulate her and she'd have no idea. He'd go home alone, totally pissed, and she'd be thinking it was the greatest time. Sorry, the awesome-est." She laughed. "Maybe they should just fight instead. Maybe YOU should fight."

A giant grin spread across Taylor's face. "Wouldn't that be something? Cass can teach you everything you did wrong against the moose, and then beat you so easily that you feel so bad about yourself that you just feel like quitting. If she does it enough, then the other Tension girls won't seem so bad, right?"

Cassie beamed, her eyes still glistened a little from tears that never quite came. She didn't say anything, just tucked her chin down to her chest the way she did. It was embarrassing for Taylor to talk about her like that. She wasn't that good.

Johnny raised an eyebrow at Cassie. Why was she still calling him Junichi? Was she wigging out cause they didn't have a fairy tale beginning or because she really liked calling him Junichi and didn't want him to rebuke her.

Johnny smiled through most of the conversation between the girls. Cassie did kinda look like she could beat up people. Well, she didn't look like she could but she looked so much like she COULDN'T that Johnny thought she was one of those little crazy guys that gets into a fight and just goes off and kicks everyone's as at the end. Johnny wondered at that moment if Cassie was a biter. She seemed like one to him.

Johnny suddenly found, as he listened to the girls speak that they seemed to be reflecting on how things were. He furrowed his brow. "Fuck that noise, man." He said to the two of them. "If you're bros, then you're bros, right? What's so different? You're can still look at each other and not get pissed off. You can still hang out and shit, right? What's so different?"

Johnny smiled. "I hate my bro. He's a bastard and needs to get his ass kicked but he's still my bro. At the end of the day, we're still cool." A perfect Segue. Johnny sized Cassie up. She looked like a little kid. Mamouru would probably love to try and get after he. At least Johnny liked to believe the worst of his brother. "No way, man. She's too cute for that. And if she's half as innocent as she looks, I wouldn't subject her to that ass no matter how colossally he'd fail."

Johnny then lowered his head and blushed. 'I know what I did wrong..." He mumbled.

"Alright, miss pro wrestling goddess..." He said winking at Cassie. "What the heck am I supposed to do about THESE!?" He then reached up and poked Taylor's boob. Not hard, but enough tease her.

"Cause unless you can make them magically disappear during a fight, THAT'S where I'm having issues." Johnny then blushed. "Um... also... I 'm not really cool with hitting a girl so I was just trying to mostly stick with grapples and holds but... you know..." Johnny poked Taylor's boob again for emphasis.

"Heeey." Taylor said in a low voice and bumped her elbow against Johnny's crotch. "Those are serious business."

Meanwhile, Cassie was blushing. "I, uh, I dunno. I never thought about it. I guess, uh, go for leg locks? I dunno, all these girls are so big, but most of them can't grapple. Like, technical grappling. But... I know what you mean. About the hitting. I don't like to either... but submission holds can hurt just as much, and do a lot more damage! I like to use chokes." She said, a little nervous to be talking about that sort of thing in front of Johnny. "Right Taylor?" She said with a bashful giggle.

"Oh. My. God. Pipsqueak is talking trash." Taylor suppressed a smile and wriggled her way free from the chair. "Johnny, are you going to let her talk to me like that? Aren't you supposed to defend me and shit?"

"Ha...uh...I..." Cassie stammered. She wasn't totally sure if Taylor was playing along or if she was actually going to get upset. She hoped she wasn't upset. She didn't mean to upset her.

"Hey, if you're not going to straighten her out, then I'll have to, and since we're both wearing dresses it could get messy."

Cassie looked down at her yellow sundress and red converse and took a small step back.

Johnny's eyes shot wide as Taylor nudged his crotch. "Not as serious as that, dude!" He stammered out nervously before huffing out a sigh. Johnny then listened to Cassie's explanation. "Uh... damn... you're pretty twisted man." Johnny said to Cassie.

A biter AND a choker? She must be one wild ride in the sack.

Johnny thought and then shook his head. What the heck was wrong with him? He certainly wasn't attracted to the girl but the way she just pronounced herself like that made it hard to ignore. Johnny lifted up his hands and made choking motion and then furrowed his brow. "That doesn't seem very cool either, man. He supposed that he'd be stuck with bear hugs and leg locks for his professional career.

Johnny laughed at Taylor's sudden declaration chivalry on his part. He rolled up invisible sleeves and then fake glowered at Cassie. "That's it, shrimp!" He could barely stop laughing as he followed Taylor and stood up. He then tapped an invisible lead pipe against his hand as though Taylor and him were about to go old school mafia on Cassie's ass.

But then Johnny stopped at Taylor's words. Well messy was probably not the way he would describe it. He had seen things get "messy" earlier and he was pretty much fine with it. Now he was faced with the ultimate moral decision, watch or join in?

Cassie smiled and backed up another step. She loved being part of the fun, but she was still a little worried that she was missing something.

Taylor bent her knees and looked like a coiled spring, ready to move at any second. Cassie's eyes widened and after a moment she put her hands up. Taylor pounced.

She took a bit lead step in, went low, and shot for Cassie's legs, pinning her up against the wall between the bed and the opposite wall. She adjusted and yanked Cassie's legs out from under her, anticipating a choke attempt, careful to defend her neck. Cassie had other plans. She put her arm under Taylor's neck to threaten the choke, but as she went down, she took Taylor's arm and slid it up behind her back. She pushed with one foot to turn her body to the side and apply her kimura, bending Taylor's arm painfully up behind her.

Just like that, Taylor tapped. Cassie let go and the two exchanged knowing smiles, Taylor only briefly, and stood up. "See what I mean? It's bullshit. Too tricky." Taylor raised her eyebrows at Johnny and plopped back in the chair. "I never too the time to learn too much of it, but I can hold my own against the usual Friction crowd with that. You can take a crack at her if you want, she can make us look stupid all day. What a world."

Cassie beamed some more. That was high praise from Taylor. Maybe Johnny was right, maybe things were different, but they didn't have to be friends any less. They just hadn't seen each other in a year, that was all. She looked at Johnny and grabbed a piece of chocolate from the bed and held it out to him.

"Chocolate?"

Johnny watched the spectacle in partial awe and partial amusement. it was interesting sight but it was over pretty quickly. He grinned as Cassie did. It was pretty infectious though Johnny liked smiling anyway and didn't really need an excuse. "Well... I was just going to go after her with this fake lead pipe.." He said and then tossed it away like it was real. "Ahh..." He chuckled a little and then looked between Cassie and Taylor.

Johnny then scratched the back of his head. "Well... I already feel stupid enough sometimes. I think I'm good. Johnny wasn't dumb, but he was no particle physicist either and sometimes he was caught feeling dumb. Especially around people like his brother. He didn't really need to be shown up by a pint-sized destroyer like Cassie at the moment.

"Sure thing, slugger." When she offered him some chocolate, Johnny nodded and took a small piece and popped it into his mouth. It was really delicious and he nodded his approval. Then he looked at Cassie. "So do you ever go to any matches or do you just watch them? Ever thought about fighting in Tension too or just down here visiting?" He meandered back to Taylor and leaned against the wall next to her, flashing her a grin.

"What about you?" Johnny said. "I saw that fight you and Akashi had down here against those two dudes." He looked away from her sheepishly. He had gotten recordings of all of Taylor's matches and had watched them extensively since he had nothing else to do down here.

"I've had a few matches. In Friction though, I don't know if I could... with the guys..." Cassie chose to pretend that half of the things that happened in Tension didn't happen.

"Yeah, how about that one. I feel bad that I even got touched at all, those two losers were embarrassing." Taylor said, thinking back to her experience with Tai and Brad Chad. "I thought we'd be getting like the best of the best of Tension, but... that can't be. Everyone else can't be worse than that."

Cassie crawled across the bed, picking her way around the candy pile, and got down on the other side. While Taylor was talking, she picked up her backpack and started rummaging through it.

"HEY!" She shouted, so loudly and suddenly that Taylor almost jumped out of her chair. She threw the backpack aside as she pulled out... nothing. She held an imaginary something in her hand, like a stick or a club or something like that by the way she handled it. She brandished it and waved it at Johnny.

"You better watch it, I know how to use this!" Cassie warned Johnny sternly, not letting at all that she was playing. She pantomimed jabbing Johnny in the belly with her imaginary object. "I don't like people threatening me with stuff, fella, alright?" Her voice began to take on a tone and accent strikingly similar to Taylor's New York accent. "I'm walkin' out that door and if you tries to stops me, whack! You'll be pushin' up daisies in the... in the... out there!" She gestured wildly outside.

Taylor buried her face in her palm.

Johnny looked at Taylor and nodded a little solemnly. "Yeah..." He said in a quiet tone. He wouldn't want Cassie wrestling those pigs either even if she could kick their butts. He was doubtful if she had the fortitude to stand up tot he rest of it, or the stomach. And was far too innocent. The women of Friction sometimes seemed bad enough, but there were a few of them who weren't solely interested in the wholesale raping of the innocence of young impressionable girls. A few of them, like Taylor, just wanted a good clean fight.

Johnny knew, almost from experience, that guys did not share that same sensibility. His motives for joining Tension wasn't exactly pure and he had Taylor to thank for allowing him to keep his dignity as a man in the ring.

Johnny raised an eyebrow when Cassie suddenly shouted. He stifled a quick laugh as Taylor jumped and then looked at Cassie. "What's up?" he asked.

But then she stalked towards him menacingly brandishing her invisible club. He raised his hands up and grinned. "Shit man, it's cool!" He said, trying not to laugh. When she threatened him he laughed loudly and then shook his head at her. "Man, whatever you say, boss!" He said as he could barely contain himself now. It was amusing seeing a little short girl like Cassie trying to do her best Al Capone. It was not very convincing but actually pretty funny.

Cassie narrowed her eyes at Johnny and pointed her stick at Taylor. "You! Get up!"

"Oh, god."

"I said get up!" She shouted again, brandishing her stick menacingly. Taylor begrudgingly complied.

"Now get over- wait, grab some candy first! Just grab a bunch!" Taylor gave Cassie a tired look but picked up a couple bits of candy from the bed. "Now turn around! Get over here! I mean it!"

Cassie grabbed Taylor's arm and took cover behind her, holding her stick at Johnny from over her shoulder as the two backed their way out the door. "Now don't try to stop me, ya hear? This is the last you'll see of me, OR your little GIRLfriend! Cat-feesh?" She began backing down the hallway toward the stairs.

Johnny watched with a confused look as Cassie seemed to keep on going with her little act. He tried to shrug it off until she began to kidnap his hopeful beau. "Um... Taylor?" He said raising an eyebrow at her. For some reason he still had his hands up.

Johnny then looked at Cassie as best as he could. "Yo, dude, are you really leaving?" He asked in a mostly serious tone. Now he just wasn't sure what was going on and brought his hand down and scratched his head.