Sunshine and Chipmunks

Adrian was still in distress when Cassie put a hand on her shoulder, causing the off-kilter cosplayer to flinch away "Oh... heh... that probably wasn't the best way to uh... escape, was it?" She asked, trying to save face a little, wiping away the tears and hoping that the redness in her eyes would go away.

"Well... it worked." Cassie said softly with a gentle smile, still resting her hand on Adrian's back. She scooted a little closer.

"So... something's wrong. What's wrong? I don't have such an amazing top game that people just start crying. Heh."

Maybe today wasn't about training, but maybe she could still be helpful. Cassie rubbed Adrian's back a little and sat cross-legged on the mat beside her.

"Uh..." Adrian stuttered "It's not that..." she said "I just... well... you saw what happens when I get put in sleepers and stuff..." she said, nervously. "It's kinda of a ... thing... fear." the cosplayer tried to explain.

"Sorry..." she said, resting her head on Cassie's shoulder.

"I saw? Oh, do you mean in the match against, uh, Taylor? I did see that... I didn't like it. Neither of you fought like yourselves. I... didn't like it." Cassie said, putting her arms around Adrian and patting her on the back.

"But you're afraid of being choked? I used to be. Everyone is at some point, I guess, but you get over it from being choked in practice, ya know, where everything is controlled. But... have you, um, had like a bad experience with being choked? Not that people have good experiences with choking, I guess, but... and I guess you did get choked a bunch in that match. Like, with a belt... and your hair. Wig. It was a rough match but you did really well, and you have nothing to be ashamed of for losing."

"You saw that match? I meant just now! Not then! Aww man..." Adrian yelped before looking back down at the mat, no sense in hiding it "Lots of people have probably seen it and know I'm crazy now, don't they..."she said, looking dejected. If Cassie knew, than anyone who kept even relatively up to date would know.

"That match was the third time I've been choked out. First time, someone wrapped a power cord around me and pulled back, second time was in a match against a bunch of sadists: I passed out before I could tap because I freaked out and lost too much air, but even if I did they would have probably kept it on until I did pass out and... you saw the third time." She explained. "I always had a fear of being choked but... I kinda kept most of it under control in that match, trying to find ways out of it quickly instead of wasting my energy until I... you know, completely lost it. Now it's just worse, when you placed the arm across my throat it made me flash back to then... couldn't help it."

"Worst thing is I technically won that stupid match." She sobbed,trying to wrap her arms around Cassie an bury her face into her shoulder. "Now everyone expects me to be good and stuff, when all it is is some stupid bitch felt sorry for me at the last moment!"

"Hey, don't call her that." Cassie corrected in a soothing voice. "My dad taught me to be proud of what you accomplish, and you won the match but you didn't win the fight. But, you fought hard so you can be proud of that. He also taught me that respect was the most important thing in martial arts, so even if you don't like someone or an opponent or something you can still have respect. She was definitely a worthy opponent for you, ya know, so... I guess don't say bad things about people."

Cassie wished her dad was there to help her talk to Adrian. He knew how to straighten these things out. Still, she could do her best. She rocked gently back and forth and continued. "Don't worry about what other people think. What do they know, eh? Just be a respectable sort of person." She recited. She didn't know for sure if she had any words of her own on the matter, but the words of her parents were good enough for her, and maybe they'd help Adrian.

"Respect?" Adrian asked, shocked "Why would I have respect for someone who's done nothing but insult me, humiliate me and beat me up. She's not gonna respect anyone other than her fat tag partner, and that's because she seems to be the only one immune to her 'piss people off' radius and stuff..." She grumbled "I won't respect her until she respects me and she clearly isn't gonna be doing that any time this millennium." Cassie's pep talk not doing much for her attitude towards the Blue haired menace to her sanity "And it's hard to be 'respectable' when you fight for a living and go crazy whenever someone goes near your neck."

"And then she goes and throws the match, just to freaking show that not only she's the freaking better fighter but to everyone in the world she's the better person despite being a huge bully. Hate her, she's probably laughing up how pathetic I looked now that she doesn't have to see any blood on herself." The cosplayer continued to rant and whine, it felt good to get it all out of her system, to have a nice friendly stranger to just rant stuff at. Now she knew why people talked to bartenders in cheap bars where the music didn't override every other sense.

It broke Cassie's heart to hear Adrian talk about Taylor like that, and to hear about their rocky history. She closed her eyes. "You can do it, though. I know you can. You don't know Taylor, so maybe you've just got the worst of each other. It's no fun when other people assume things about you when they don't know you, is it. I... don't think she's laughing at you."

She breathed a light sigh. What could she say? What does someone do to help someone in this situation? As usual, Cassie just wanted there to be one magic thing that makes everything better, but she also knew that that never happened. It all made her sad. They weren't so different, anyway, nobody was, it was just that sometimes people didn't take the time to understand people and ended up hating them instead. She didn't like it.

"Keep talking, tell me about something. Anything." Cassie didn't know what else to do but to just let Adrian talk. Maybe that was enough.

"Well... yeah, I mean making assumptions about people is kind of what started the whole thing... so maybe I can respect her a bit. I don't have to say it to her face though? Just admit to myself she probably could... along with 90% of the roster, kick my ass... when she gets lucky." Adrian said, trying to reach a comprimise "so what's your deal? Don't like people thinking that someone else is a huge jerk?" She asked, trying to think of something... "I uh... what style is that? I mean it's not anything I picked up back in Philly where I trained and worked indies. Is it something every Canadian knows?"

"No, I don't..." Cassie said honestly. Why couldn't everyone just get along.

"Oh, ha, is it so obvious that I'm Canadian? Well, it's something every Brazilian knows, and a bunch of Japanese people and stuff. My dad runs a jujitsu school in Canada and I kinda grew up in it. It's my secret weapon. Well, it's my only weapon." She said with a nervous laugh. "I'm not strong like anyone else here, but almost no one here has any real submission defense, so I've won a couple matches. It's not easy, though."

It seemed like maybe Adrian was settling down. That was good. Cassie didn't know if she should change the subject and distract her with some more training, or if it'd be a better idea to call it a day there.