Here Goes...

Taylor laughed in Heather's face, but let her finish.

"Oh, yeah, I'm such a 'good girl'. I just think I'm better than everyone, don't I." She said, laying on the sarcasm extra thick. "But I am a brat, you got me there." She grinned, and tossed her blue pigtails back.

She put her hand on her hip and cocked them to one side, never breaking eye contact. In that moment, staring someone in the eyes before you go after them, it was like the outside world was muted. Taylor had heard Mike Tyson talk about staring guys down before fights, and the moment they looked away he knew he had them. Heather didn't have to look away. She already knew she had her.

"And you're right about that, too, man. I'm totally not worth your trouble. I mean, all that work just to take a three-minute ass kicking and go home empty handed. You're better off forgetting about me." She reached out and gave Heather's shoulder a little shove. She couldn't help it. "Too bad we already got a match."

She turned to walk out the door. "Can't wait, man." She said back over her shoulder. Now she could just get this photo shit out of the way quick. She was amped. She was ready to own the camera and go home.

As Taylor laughed in her face, Heather would just glare at her. The girl really had some nerve acting the way she was, and to be honest Heather really just wanted to be rid of her. She couldn't stand staying in this little argument with her much longer, but she wasn't going to back down for a second as Taylor continued on, her tone really just annoying Heather.

"...Exactly how I expected you to respond to that." Heather would say simply, keeping her glare directed at Taylor as the girl grinned at her, flicking back her pigtails.

She would watch as Taylor put her hand on her hip, her eyes still locked with Heather's. Heather wasn't planning on breaking the eye contact with her either, though her expression was one quite different of the one Taylor was putting on. She wasn't enjoying the little games with her in the slightest. She wished that the match was right then and there so she could shut her up, but it wasn't and Taylor seemingly wasn't finished talking.

"Right, you keep telling yourself that. You'll find out what happens when you take me lightly like you are now." Heather would say, gritting her teeth as Taylor shoved her in the shoulder. She had to hold back all that she could to stop herself from lashing out at the girl the second she touched her, but luckily she was somehow able to do just that, hold back.

"Same" Heather would respond as Taylor walked off, looking over her shoulder to say those words. As the girl walked off, Heather would kick the table near her with all her might, cursing out before she sat back down on the chair that she was sitting at earlier. "...Fuck!..What am I doing.." Heather would yell out, burying her head in her hands as she let out a long sigh before biting at her lip.

This really was the last thing that Heather needed. Finally getting the time to relax, but instead this had happened. She had promised Clyde that she would at least try to make less enemies, but it seemed like she had made another one in Taylor. The only solace she had was the fact that Cecilia was going to be tagging with her in their match. She wasn't about to run to Taylor and beg to be friends or any such thing as that, but if it was that simple, if just more people would see it her way, things would be so much easier.

Taylor stood under the lights, in front of a screen, facing her photographer. She had plenty of attitude for him now, and she didn't feel so awkward or dumb standing there anymore. The photographer periodically made requests, which Taylor mostly ignored.

"Getting into trouble out there?" He asked finally.

"Yeah." Taylor responded. "Can we hurry this up? I gotta go train."

She needed to train and push herself in order to prove to herself that she could back up everything she said to Heather. It wasn't that she was afraid of her, she was even less threatening than Natalia, it was more that she was at least a little afraid of everyone she stepped in the ring with. It was their job to take Taylor out, and the only way she could be confident going into a match like that is if she knew that she had done everything possible to prepare.

Her exhaustive, thorough, and extremely difficult training regimen should give her plenty of confidence. Few people would guess to look at her how demanding she was of herself. She was a bit of a perfectionist, and would repeat techniques over and over and over if she didn't feel like she was getting them the way she wanted. If nothing else, her encounter with Heather had given her new motivation to train, and that couldn't be a bad thing.

But she did start to wonder, the way she always did, if she'd just acted like a total ass for no reason. She did want to kick her ass for what she did. Nobody under any circumstances should ever be forced to put any part of their mouth on any one else's sweaty foot. But... maybe she should've handled it differently? Usually she'd ask Akashi and she would tell her straight how she acted and what she could've done. Akashi was smart like that. Taylor wasn't.

As she shifted from one pose to the next, her brash, punky grin slowly faded. The photographer noticed. He paused.

"Taylor? Doing alright? We can be done if you need to go."

"Oh, no, I'm good, just... here. Get some advance shots of us. For the match. That's good, right?" Taylor turned to call back through the door. "Heaather! Get your ass in here and smile pretty for the camera! It'll be your last photo op without being all bruised up for a while."

For a few moments, Heather would just sit there, rubbing her forehead. She was really trying to figure out what happened, trying to get it through her head how she could be blamed for what happened with Natalia. She was almost fully sure that what she had done to Natalia was justified, that the girl had it coming to her. Someone now telling her otherwise, telling her that what she did was wrong, she just couldn't understand it, couldn't get it.

"Damn her..but..damn..I didn't mean.." Heather would let out, conflicting feelings running through her as Taylor seemed to be completely clear of her sight. She would shake her head, her body feeling heavy as she slouched back in her chair again. She was trying to think of some kind of good thing out of all of this, but it just wasn't there. Making another enemy was never a good thing when it came down to it, but she was just going to have to deal with it and show her that she isn't someone to be taken lightly.

Suddenly however, she would hear that voice again, the one that she was just thinking of as Taylor called to her from the other room. Heather would raise her head up slowly as she sat there, blinking a few times before she was actually able to comprehend what it was that the girl had said. "..huh?"

Heather would stand up, taking a few seconds before laughing to herself slightly. "You want me in there? Not the smartest idea when I'll be the one taking all the spotlight in the pictures." Heather would say out loud back to Taylor as she would walk towards the room where she went to. "Hope you aren't expecting me to hug up close for a nice friendly photo after all you said." Heather would say, clearly jokingly with a grin, hoping that this was somehow meaning the girl was at least slightly understanding where she was coming from in their chat just seconds earlier.

"Dude, if you ever tried to hug me, I would yank your ugly bangs off and make a tiny broom out of them." Taylor sassed.

The photographer raised an eyebrow, but he wasn't about to pass up the opportunity. Taylor wasn't sure, there were plenty around who weren't but she had him pegged as a fan. It was sort of reassuring.

Taylor backed up to make room for Heather while the photographer gestured for her to move this way or that. Standing face to face with Heather, it occurred to her that they were almost the exact same size, and built very similarly too. That was sort of neat. She stepped up to get in Heather's face while the photographer began to snap away. She fixed her eyes unflinchingly on Heather's, and stood up straight with her shoulders back.

Then, without breaking her facial expression, she brought one knee up and spread her arms out wide into what any connoisseur of 80's cinema would instantly recognize as the dreaded crane stance. She held it for a moment to let the intimidation it surely held sink in, and then she raised her foot up higher and stomped down into a wide sumo stance and slapped her thighs and clapped her hands once in front of her. The photographer took more pictures and cracked a smile. She looked ridiculous.

Next she slid one foot back into a deep approximation of a Karate stance, she obviously didn't know anything resembling Karate, and grabbed the ends of her pigtails and pulled them out straight as if she were holding a bo staff of some sort. Certainly by now, Heather would know better than to tangle with Taylor. She could see her practically shaking in her boots.

"I can see you." She said, deadly serious. "Shaking in your boots. Had enough?" She gave her another rough shove on the shoulder. "All day long, skank. I'm for real." And then she turned and walked off, flashing a peace sign behind her at the photographer.

Maybe it wasn't the time to be clowning. But Heather was just so serious. Taylor was too, she supposed. It's sort of how Friction girls worked. She sighed. Time to train.

"Hah! Really now? Im not so sure that you would be able to if it came to that." Heather would say in response to Taylor's words, still keeping her grin directed on her. She was expecting her reaction to be like that, and it didn't really take as much away from the moment as it might have had Heather not been expecting it.

Heather would turn to the photographer, shaking her head slightly as Taylor backed up a bit to give her room. Heather would step up into the sight of the camera, turning back to Taylor as they stood face to face. The similarities in their height and build was obvious as they stood as close to eachother as they were. It only made sense in Heather's mind as she knew Taylor did do some similar moves to what Heather did, but they were also quite different in that aspect at the same time.

As the photographer took his pictures of the two, getting some shots that would be quite good for any sort of promotional advertising, Heather's expression would shift from a grin to a serious one. This was the girl that she had to beat now in her mind. She wasn't in the way of her contendership, she wasn't a direct threat to her in anyway, and she wasn't holding the title that she wanted to go after, but she was someone that Heather had to prove herself to it seemed.

As Taylor got in her stance though, Heather's expression would slowly change to one of perplexity. She blinked a few times, staring at her in almost disbelief before she would bring her hand up to her mouth, unable to stop herself from smiling wide and breaking her composure, laughing at the sight. "Haha! You..can't be serious??" Heather would let out before she heard Taylor's words.

"Ooh yeah, real scared. You really got me." Heather would say with a sarcastic tone, a big smile on her face as she placed her hands on her hips, clearly amused by what just went down. Though when Taylor shoved her hard in the shoulder, Heather's smile would fade for a second, her expression getting a bit more serious. "H...hold on..what did you just call me??" Heather would let out as Taylor began to walk off. Heather would just cross her arms under her chest and shake her head. "Ooh I'll show her..Cecilia and I...Teach her for underestimating me." Heather would say, letting out a sigh as she went to walk off as well.