Mercy, A Lot.

Mercedes Wrenn bit her lip as she tried her best to multitask. One eye kept firmly down at her phone as she texted away, trying her hardest to keep logistical control of the situation that she had been put in charge of. Her other eye tried to scan the room from her peripheral vision, looking out to make sure none of the 'talent' was doing anything they shouldn't be.

The Chief Manager of Talent Relations, Aurelia Fortuna, or Rally, as she liked to be so informally called, had decided it was a good idea to get some of her talent together for a little bit of promotional work. Mercy's orders were to "Get as many of the girls together and see how they handle each other in a non-ring setting. Videotape it, package it and turn it into a commercial. After I see the film for myself, of course.'

Of course.

Mercy thought to herself as she frowned. Once she started asking around for talent, it had inevitably gotten around to Tension and she had received a call from Melissa Sellers. (Or, Rally had and passed the information on to her) To include prominent members of Tension as well.

Mercy was not pleased at the idea of having to go back and forth between Tokyo and Kyoto for a week straight. Though, it HAD been all expenses paid AND she had avoided most of her other duties. She certainly couldn't complain about that.

But now that she was faced to face with a veritable zoo of muscle bound men and ditzy divas. An uncontrollable mass packed into what amounted to a very large and fancifully decorated green room with an endless supply of super egos ready to explode faster than lit dynamite.

Mercy clicked her phone closed and let out a sigh. Her name tag CLEARLY stated that SHE was in charge but she mostly felt like a baby sitter. To her, this wasn't the kind of responsibilities she was looking for. No, this was exactly the sort of sheep herding that people in charge got rubes like her to take care of.

Her fist clenched when she saw some goofing off and Mercy furrowed her brow. "Knock it off! You can't eat the food yet!" An unimpressed glare was returned to her, slapping her "Authoritative command of the situation" right back in her face. "The photo shoots will commence shortly!" She barked out to someone else before finding the coffee maker and pouring herself a shaky cup. She took a sip and retreated to a corner where she could meekly survey the situation. What she needed was to find someone that could help her wrest control of the situation when it inevitably lost control. She just hoped she wasn't in front of a camera when some angry thuggish chick with muscles the size of her head went all rage-a-holic on her ass.

"Hey." Taylor said as she approached Mercy from the side.

She'd spotted her a few minutes earlier, and had watched with some amusement as the girl made her futile, self-conscious efforts to control the generally unruly talent. Mercy was smart, and Taylor figured that she'd learn her lesson pretty quickly.

Taylor herself was again professionally done up for the cameras. Her eyes were darkly lined and highlighted with a blue-gray eyeshadow. Her blue hair, in the usual pigtails, had a silky sheen to it that only came from expert attention. Her makeup person had commented about how she didn't even have to do much of anything with her skin, it was already so clear and even. Taylor attributed that to her very clean diet, and the fact that she didn't spend time in tanning beds or anything like that. She wore a very flashy variation on her ring gear, pleated miniskirt and short cropped top with 3/4 length sleeves, with white knee pads and boots, all of it blue and white with some gold embellishments that Taylor wasn't sure if it was okay to like.

She flashed a grin at Mercy and nodded toward the group of insubordinate fighters. "Want me to take 'em out for ya?" She joked. "What's up?"

"Hey."

Mercy lifted a half hearted hand and waved to Taylor. Her lips twitched up into a genuine smile but quickly faded away. It was pretty hard not to see Taylor coming from a mile away. Still, as glad as she was to see her new friend, She didn't feel right just going up to her and mingling when she was technically in charge of her. Still, as Taylor made the first contact, Mercy let out a sigh of relief, thanks for the company and settled into a more relaxed posture next to Taylor and returned a fuller smile back to Taylor's infectious grin.

"Yes, please. Beat them all up." She said and then sighed. "This is a nightmare. How Rally thought putting ME in charge of all these muscle bound freaks, I'll never understand!" She then looked at Taylor. "Not you, though. You look hot." Mercy's compliment prompted her to subconsciously pull out a compact, check herself over and fluff her pink hair before closing it and shoving it away again.

"Well, we better get started." Mercy said and left her position against the wall. "C'mon!" She chirped and went over to where the photo shoot area was set up. "Once they see you, everyone will want to get their picture taken." Mercy then went to work, once she got Taylor in front of the camera. She posed her like a doll with her tongue sticking out as she pulled Taylor's fists up so she looked like she was boxing. "Yes, look tough. You're tough. Stick out your leg a bet. Yes, like that. You have to show off some leg. Bend your knee just a bit. Now.. look mean. But pouty. Yes. Just like that. Good! Great!" Mercy looked over her work and flashed a quick glance tot he photographer who seemed a little bewildered by Mercy's micromanaging.

Mercy then scanned the crowd. "But you need something..." She saw a man near by with his back turned, wearing a belt over his shoulder. "Yes, that'll do." She muttered to herself. "You, get over here." She said as she reached out and tugged the man's hand and pulled him quickly to the photo shoot area, not looking back.

"Just stand here, back to back with Taylor. It'll look good if you..." Mercy froze as she finally saw the man and was about to pose him as well.

"Oh... Oh God..." She said and stepped back. She bent over and covered her mouth with one hand and waved at the duo with the other, while her face blanched a pale white. "I.. I think I have to barf."

Upon receiving an odd text from the offices of AFW that told the alcoholic southern gaijin to head to Tokyo for a surprisingly unexpected and ultimately unwanted promotional event this afternoon. "...Aww Hell..." Muttered Clyde Gastin of AFW Tension in a weary manner before he flopped down on his bed and laid there, staring up at the ceiling what felt like hours before he slowly dragged himself out of bed to take a nice cold shower to not only clean himself up but to also help him get through a buzzing hangover that was plaguing him this morning due to another long night of drinking before bed. Either way, the headache he awakened with, would dissipate quite a bit.

Clyde had been in AFW for quite a while now and had never been called up for any real promotional business before, so it felt nice to finally be called up for something like this but at the same time Clyde would have preferred staying home to watch the Takeshi's Castle Marathon on TV instead of doing this thing. Clyde knew how to get into the ring and fight and that was pretty much it for him. He liked being able to talk shit on the mic a lot but that was mostly Clyde being himself and spur of the moment kind of things. If these people were expecting him to act a certain way for whatever they wanted out of him they should have called someone more camera friendly, but whatever. Hopefully he'll get paid extra for this.

He figured that the big bosses wanted their employees to look presentable for this shindig. Clyde just kept it casual and wore a pair of dark blue jeans, his worn out brown cowboy boots, a black [url=http://cn1.kaboodle.com/hi/img/c/0/0/17/2/AAAADP1Kb-gAAAAAABcgbw.jpg?v=1228869036000:9zqyy6jd]Slayer T-Shirt[/url:9zqyy6jd], a black leather jacket and his trusty cowboy hat, leaving the trenchcoat behind for once. He then walked out the door and headed for the train station to make his way towards Tokyo. Not bothering to dry his messy mane. He never caught colds anyway.

Three and a half hours later, Clyde arrived at his destination and stood amongst a packed crowd of other AFW wrestlers within the large green room. "Ugh." Clyde scoffed, he hated this shit already, being stuck with this clusterfuck of people he didn't know for some stupid thing that was probably going to be the biggest waste of time ever. Some of the girls were kinda cute, others looked like they were fresh outta high school and some girls were really big and built like Rebecca, except a little more scary looking. And then you had the "Bros" who were at least 6ft tall and about a buck eighty to two hundred pounds in muscle, most of them showing off in front of the ladies there. Clyde felt like a scrawny dwarf. This place sucked.

Wanting to see just what the hell they were planning here, Clyde went to make his way forth into the room to find whoever was in charge here and figure out what they planned to do in this promotional event. But before he did, Clyde spotted a table filled with glorious, delicious looking and apparently freshly cooked food! "Aww Shit..." Clyde muttered to himself with a grin as his stomach began to growl, not even remembering the last time he age a good meal since that steak he had at the omega hotel! He then began to march himself towards the catering table, noticing another girl around there supposedly getting some food as well but then suddenly a voice from afar barked out order to not eat the food, Clyde was less then pleased.

"...Goddamn Bitch..." Clyde muttered to himself before turning away, clearly upset and dissapointed but even more so when that same voice declared that photo shoots were about to begin.

"Photo Shoots!? Man, I ain't doin' none of that gay-ass shit!" Clyde declared. He hated photoshoots, thought they were girly and honestly just not his thing at all, he was ugly as shit anyway and sure as hell wasn't going to pose for no camera like some gay ass male model, he thought. The women of planet earth had Clyde's full blessing to line up for the camera, they were made for that stuff practically! Either way this Cowboy was out, he then pulled down on the brim of his cowboy hat before and turned around to make his exit before he felt a soft, feminine hand grab his own and begin to pull him away. "E-Ey! What gives!?" Clyde let out as he was tugged away, about to tell this person as he turned his head around to say something when he saw that familiar lock of pink hair in that cute pinned up style, that formal business attire. Clyde's jaw dropped immediately and his heart skipped a beat, feeling like time itself was slowing down as he looked at this young woman. "No way." He thought in disbelief, it couldn't be her, but it was and Clyde's face blushed a deep shade of red.

"That pink haired chick..." Clyde thought to himself before a genuine happy smile crept over his lips. She no doubt found him in the crowd and wanted him again. "Hell Fucking Yeah!" Clyde thought, the feeling was definitely mutual!

Sadly, this fantasy was all fiction.

Clyde looked up and saw where she was dragging him and his eyes filled with horror. Fucking Photoshoot! He opened his mouth to say something but Mercy cut him off and told him to stand back to back with Taylor. "Wh-" Clyde let out quietly and began to sweat. He expected another fucking tackle from the blue haired punk. But he was sober now so he could defend himself but still this isn't what he hoped for or wanted! Things only became worse when he and Mercy locked eyes for a brief moment and he saw the look on her face that was hands down one of the worst indirect rejections Clyde had ever faced. Ever. He saw Mercy go pale, bend over, cover her mouth and declare that she thought she had to barf.

Shot through the heart again.

"...Missed you too, Babe." Clyde muttered dully in a sarcastic manner, even though his words were quite true. He then turned his head to look at Taylor over his shoulder. "...Why you keep followin' me, Parker? Why? " He mused to her in a deadpan tone, noting that it was the first time meeting her while he wasn't drunk.

Clyde then looked to Mercy, upset at the situation, but a little concerned. "Hey... Uh.... You gon' be alright?" He asked. Feeling a little bad about making her get like this but couldn't help his frustration as well. What the hell I do!? I AIN'T DONE NOTHIN'! he kept thinking.

"Bitch, please. We both know you want me." Taylor retorted, unimpressed, with a toss of her hair and a haughty cocking of her hips to one side. She'd gone along with Mercy's pose-job, all while repressing a smile, but the addition of the drunk cowboy who made her couch smell like whiskey ended her cooperation. She didn't turn around to face him, he wasn't there to see her, after all.

"Weird, right? Usually you're the one puking." Taylor taunted. She tilted her head to the side and gave the camera a roguish look, her shoulders cocked and her back straight in a relaxed but strong pose. The photographer got a shot of a very intense Taylor on one side, and Clyde turned away looking after Mercy on the other.

"Props on the sobriety, by the way. You're a lot easier to stomach when you're not drunk as shit." She said, looking at Mercy. Maybe he was even easier to stomach while drunk yourself. Mercy must have a weak stomach. The photographer took a few more shots, but none of them amounted to much.

She looked back and forth between Mercy and Clyde. "This is a little awkward, isn't it? Want me to go chill? Or like, want me to get rid of this dude for you? I'm real good at it." She said with an evil grin as she flicked her eyes toward Clyde.

Mercy barely registered the words that sailed past her as she tried to keep her lunch digested. The first thing she did was step in front of the camera and throw her hand backwards awkwardly so they didn't start taking pictures of her cute slack covered ass. The next thing she did was throw up her head and flashed Taylor a look that she hoped conveyed what she wanted. Follow, but not too close. Just have my back in case.

The next thing that happened was that Mercy pulled her hand off her mouth and shot it at Clyde. She reached out to snatch his wrist and drag him off tot he quietest corner she could find. She postured herself so that her shoulders were raised and she was punched over to try and loom as much as her petite stature would allow.

"What are you doing here!?" Her tone was the loudest it could be to still be a whisper as she stared at him. "You are not allowed here! If you're stalking me then I'll definitely get a restraining order! Understand!? G-Get out! Get ... out!" Mercy pointed frantically with her free hand as she still held on tightly to Clyde's wrist, scolding him deeply with her eyes.

That was when it suddenly hit her. Before they had gone tot he Love Hotel, when they met at the bar, this guy had been all too proud to give out his life story much to Mercy's chagrin. All those things he said. The belt. Mercy froze and her hand instantly cupped the name tag over her chest. "No..." She said as she began to understand just what was going on. She dropped to a squat in front of Clyde and dug her fingers into her pink locks with her free hand. "No, no no..." She muttered as her other hand came up and did the same. "Things were finally starting to go well! And then... no... just no..." She said as she rocked in place like a madwoman in an insane asylum, repeating her two letter mantra over and over again while she swore int he background she could hear people calling her name.

"...Miss Wrenn what about..." "...Miss Wrenn we need you for..." "...Mercy, what do we do I do about..." The words thundered in her ears. 'Quit saying that! Why does everyone need my attention NOW!?' The thoughts ran through her head even though when she peeked up, all she could see was the cowboy from the waist down. A quick glance to either side in her peripheral revealed business as usual from everyone else. Even the camera operator seemed to be finding new wrestlers to take pictures of. However was she going to get out of this mess now without the whole damn company knowing she was a huge slut that would sex up anybody if she got a little tipsy and a little desperate? She glanced up at Clyde with a fearful look.

Anybody!

"Ha! Like hell, Woman. Not when I know where you've been dippin'..." Clyde shot back to Taylor as he rolled eyes at the attitude in her body language, he really didn't need this from Taylor right now. He had to admit though that she did look a lot more attractive now that he had a clear head but that was about the only good thing he could say about her.

"...It ain't you I want, anyway..." Clyde whispered to himself quietly before he turned his attention back on Mercy. He doubted he'd EVER see Her again but told himself that if he ever did, he would try and smooth out the situation regarding their drunken one night stand and try to restart things the right way with her, sadly their reunion did not go as well as Clyde hoped it would happen.

He then turned his head back to Taylor upon hearing her remark about his sobriety and shot a deadpan glare at her. He could already feel his headache returning. "'Fraid I can't say the same, Missy." Clyde would shoot back at Taylor in an uncaring fashion before returning his gaze towards Mercy, feeling concerned, a bit guilty, frustrated and downright confused as hell. Taylor wasn't helping either with how she offered to get rid of him, quickly earning Clyde's disdain.

"Pfft. Please... Clyde Gastin don't stay where he ain't wanted. I was just 'bout to leave anyway." Clyde informed Taylor in a factual tone with his back turned to her, raising his chin in a proud manner. His declaration was at least half true, he wasn't going to reluctantly stay in a place where he was the bad guy and hadn't even done anything. He didn't want to take any stupid, gay-ass photos anyway, so he had all the reason to not care and just go. But he couldn't deny his own bitterness and disappointment as he took a small look at Mercy out the corner of his eye while tried to pretend his stone cold heart was still as strong as ever.

But Clyde knew how he felt. He wanted Mercy and he wished she wanted him just the same instead of obviously wanting him gone. He hoped that maybe there was a way to make the latter happen if they just got a chance to know eachother and did things the old fashioned way instead of what happened at the love motel. That was why Clyde didn't want leave. But before he even had the chance to decide, Clyde was once again snatched up by Mercy's hand and pulled away. He could only sigh in reaction, not expecting anything good as he was hauled off into a far, quiet corner here he watched the pink haired paralegal raised up her shoulders and leaned forth, making Clyde arch himself back a bit and scratch the side of his head nervously.

"I was told to-" He tried to tell her with a matching whispering yell but was cut off as she continued to grill him, saying he wasn't allowed here and even suggested the possibility that he was stalking her! The sheer thought made Clyde's mouth open a little before he narrowed his eyes at her and listened to her tell him to get out. Twice. While she gripped his wrist ever so tightly.

He returned her glare into his eyes with a glare of his own into her blue eyes covered by her glasses before he huffed out some air in bitter frustration. The hell was her problem? He thought. "Goddamn. It wasn't like I tired to be a real good gentleman to you and put up with ya and shit. I done Paid for every goddamn thing. Why the hell was I even missing you anyway?" Clyde thought to himself as he glared back at Mercy, he didn't need this.

"Fine. Let go of me then." He told her firmly while adjusting his title belt with his free hand that rested on his shoulder before he saw another weird look on her face that confused Clyde, watching her cup the tag on her chest and mutter "No..." before dropping into a squat right in front of him, digging her fingers into her hair while muttering "No, no, no..." over and over like some kind of crazy person or something.

"Uh..." Clyde let out heavily confused and a bit wierded out now, along with mildly concerned as she let go of him and started rambling only to them just rock in place like a definite crazy person! Things were getting really weird now.

"No what? What's wrong?" Clyde would ask with loud whisper just for the two of them to hear while he looked down at Mercy with great concern before he looked around the room, seeing everyone else except Taylor preoccupied with everything else going while Mercy was apparently having a breakdown. At least that was what it looked like, Clyde didn't really know and he was starting to get a little scared for Mercy. He didn't know why she was getting like this but he felt he was the problem at hand and felt extremely guilty. I mean she clearly didn't give a shit about him but Clyde couldn't deny that he still cared and honestly didn't like seeing anyone get this way. It was like someone precious to her just died or something. It looked bad and it worried Clyde, he had to try and help.

Clyde then quickly dropped his belt and knelt down and grabbed Mercy by the shoulders firmly, shaking her, but not too violently, he just wanted to snap her out of this stupor. "H-Hey! D-Don't play around like this, you're kinda scarin' me, Ma'am. Relax!" He called to her with concern, trying to look her in eyes before turning to Taylor if she was there, expecting her to say or do something that would help!

If need be Clyde was more than willing to knock some sense into Mercy, but he had to see if she had indeed lost it before he did that. He didn't want to jump the gun and doing anything stupid after all.

Taylor strolled along behind Mercy and Clyde. It was still a little funny to her that Mercy had hooked up with the cowboy. She felt her pain. Clyde was... Well, he reminded her of Tai. Corny. Tried too hard. Except Clyde tried to act tougher than he was, had like a short guy complex or something. Tai knew he wasn't tough.

"Hey, do you..." Taylor began, and then trailed off when she caught the look on Mercy's face. It all very quickly stopped being funny, and Taylor's gut told her it must be Clyde's fault. Did he do something to her? Maybe there was more that Mercy hadn't told her. She knew she didn't trust Clyde, or most Tension wrestlers in general, especially the melodramatic drunks.

She shook her head and stepped in to intervene, and Clyde was shaking Mercy. She reacted before she thought. She gave him a swift slap upside the head and pulled his shoulder back.

"Hey, back up, dude! Get your hands off her!" She snapped. "Mercy, do you, like, do you wanna... w-what do you need?" She said more softly to the distraught little girl. She didn't know what to do. She was hoping Mercy would tell her.

Mercy began to pant softly as Clyde dropped to her level and grabbed him. She gasped and flushed. She shrugged Clyde off her and then turned her head, her ear twitching as Taylor spoke. Mercy looked up at the girl with her mouth open and her bottom lip quivering a bit. Her eyes lost focus for a moment and she blinked. Her eyes darted around at the rest of the room and everyone seemed to be getting along just fine. She hadn't created a commotion. Yet... Her eyes widened and her cheeks flushed.

Mercy stood up and instantly adjusted her tie and looked down at Clyde Sternly before lightening her face and looking at Taylor. "Fresh Air. I need it. Come... just in case..." Mercy broke down as she spoke to Taylor, her stern demeanor diminishing into pleading eyes. "Please?" She added meekly before shaking her head and looking at Clyde.

She crossed her arms under her chest. "You too, mister." She said in a scolring tone and reached out to yank him towards the door by the arm. "You have a lot to explain! Especially why you're dressed like an absolute slob! Eugh!" She said as she dragged Clyde out of the green room, making sure Taylor was in tow all the while.

When she was outside, she let go of Clyde's hand and spun around. She crossed her arms under her chest again and then began tapping her foot impatiently. "Well!?" She blurted out.

Clyde wanted to try and help and Mercy, the way she got just now had really freaked him out and he hated to see her like that. Like she was losing her mind. But he wouldn't even be allowed to help a little since Mercy tried to shrug him off, making Clyde click his tongue in irritation. "Goddammit I don't have a disease, I'm just tryin' to help! Stop pushin' me away!" Thought Clyde as he kept himself from boiling over but ultimately let go of Mercy after taking a sharp slap upside his head that made him wince silently before he found himself being pulled away at the shoulder by Taylor who told him to back off while she attended to Mercy.

Already frustrated and angered further by her actions, Clyde retaliated instantly and jabbed his palm into Taylor shoulder. Letting his anger and pride get the better of him instead of worrying about something more important. "The hell's your fuckin' problem, lady!? Im just tryin' to-" Clyde barked at Taylor angrily before he saw Mercy stand up and froze in silence to hear what she had to say, looking up at her while she gazed down at him before turning to Taylor asking for fresh air and Taylor to join her with a cute and almost innocent please that made Clyde a tad jealous when he saw how nicely Mercy talked to Taylor in contrast to the way she talked to him.

"Oh joy." Clyde responded to Mercy in a dispirited manner. Expecting more problems and a splitting headache by the end of this as Mercy yanked him up and hauled him along, managing to bend over and grab his title belt as Mercy yelled at him more while going outside. Clyde then found himself with Mercy in front him, giving him That Look while tapping impatiently, expecting an explanation. What Explanation!?

"Well 'What'!?? If you wonderin' why I'm here it's only 'cause I got this text message to show up for this here promotional thing. See?" Clyde would say before he flipped out his phone and turning the screen of his flip phone over to Mercy to have her look at the message and show her the real reason he arrived. "It's prolly 'cause I'm Tension's 24/7 Champion and all... Heh... I don't mean to brag but I'm... Ehh... N-Nevermind." Clyde started getting a little cocky and was just about to basically voice how high up he was on the roster to try and impress Mercy with his status, but felt that was a bad move.

"And as far as the slob thing goes... I honestly could care less 'bout what I look like. Or this dang ol' Promo thing either." He admitted honestly with a lazy eyed stare, roguish stance and an uncaring shrug that was followed with a coy smile before he turned his head to let out a deep shaky sigh before he spoke again.

"But If I knew You were gon' be here I prolly woulda... I mean, I Know I woulda... Dressed a lot nicer." Said Clyde in an uneasy manner, keeping his eyes fixated on Mercy as he spoke to her before he let them avert, scratching the back of his head nervously as he did so. Trying to choose his words more carefully while being honest.

He couldn't help but question why he was being honest with his feelings to her when she just told him to hit the road a few moments ago. She clearly didn't want him around. "Why the hell am I even tryin'?" He thought.

"What exactly do you want me to explain anyway?"