Establishing Networks

So many Asians...eh...Japanese people. Aurora felt like she was walking in circles around Tokyo. Her phone died an hour before so she was without any form of navigation. All she had was an address. While there were tons of people to ask, they were all Japanese. And she only knew how to answer the phone in Japanese. She stood out so much too. She was wearing a baseball cap, a blue tanktop and a skirt that was bought purely because it looked like it was part of a schoolgirl's outfit. "Damnit..." she muttered to herself while recognizing a sign. She was going in circles. As she came back to what she thought was a main street, she looked both ways. Fuck it. She walked back in the direction of her hotel. This wasn't worth the trouble, she planned on coming back the next day when her phone was recharged.

Then, as if right on queue, the AFW building appeared around the corner. She must have just walked right by it earlier. "Well...at least I made it..." Aurora walked into the building with her excitement renewed. She was finally here. Now she just had to find the office and...convince someone to give her a chance or something. God this was such a bad plan. At least the tapes of her wrestling in the US in her backpack would help her with that. She was sure they'd want her. She just needed to find the right person. She saw an official looking man get onto an elevator and spontaneously decided he was her best bet.

"Hey, could you hold that?" Aurora shouted as she ran over to the elevator.

Mamouru was not in the best of moods after just getting fired by his client, Cassie Elliot. He knew that she was not thinking clearly in all of this but he also knew that he wasn't going to convince her at the moment. What he NEEDED to do was figure out what HE could do if ANYTHING about Dark Angel. Or, what he would do next for himself. He supposed that if Cassie really was dumping him, he could go back to thinking about doing more wrestling. But, he also knew he wasn't just going to abandon Cassie the way she had just done to him.

He sighed and adjusted his tie as he stepped into the elevator. He pushed his button, ready to just spend some time watching film alone when he saw someone shouting at him and running towards the elevators. His eyes widened. She was definitely a pretty girl from what he managed to see. But also not someone familiar.

He wedged his arm into the door as it shut and it quickly opened back up. He lowered his head into a polite bow and slipped his foot in front of the door to keep it from closing as he stepped aside to let her in.

Aurora slipped into the elevator with a relieved sigh. "Whew...thank you," she said with a nod right back at the man. He looked like he belonged here. "Do you...do you work here?" She asked hesitantly. The question sounded much stupider in her head but had to ask it anyways. "I'm looking for...I suppose whoever is in charge of talent relations." Okay now she was sounding stupid. Now she was just ambushing someone who was polite enough to hold open the elevator. "I'm a friction hopeful but I need to...I suppose...pitch myself to someone important." As Aurora finished that sentence, though, she noticed her reflection in the mirror. This hat looks awful. Aurora took off the hat and combed her fingers through her hair to straighten it down to her shoulders. It was better. Not great. But better.

"Do you know where I need to go for that?" She asked the man suddenly concerned about her appearance. She needed to look good if someone was to sign her to the AFW.

Mamouru lifted up his head, smiled and bowed it low once more. As Aurora began to explain herself, Mamouru slide his hand out and pushed the stop elevator button so that the doors would close but the elevator would not whir to life.

"Aurelia Fortuna." He said. "She is the one in charge of Talent relations. Or, if you're feeling adventurous, you could talk to Lukretia Von Creuzfeldt. She is Friction's general manager but is... a rather notorious woman."

Mamouru then slid his hand into his breast pocket. "However, you seem to be quite lucky. My name is Mamouru Higurashi. I am a manager here at Friction. I am certain I could help you get your foot in the door." Mamouru chuckled softly and flashed a coy smile at Aurora. "However, if your skill is even a fraction of your beauty, I think that you would not need my help in the least."

Aurora turned away from her reflection and back to Mamouru. "A manager?" she repeated back to him. "Like...the kind of person who would do all the busy stuff like paperwork and scheduling and stuff?" Aurora already knew the answer to her own question but she wanted certainty on the matter. It was like an agent except that a manager wouldn't mind doing whatever it took for their client to win sometimes. Including cheating and/or distracting during a match. Aurora didn't think she needed help like that. But the whole "speaking" for her thing seemed god awfully convenient.

She grinned at his remark about her perceived skill. He certainly was a smooth talker. "My name is Aurora by the way." No last name seemed necessary. Only her in-ring name mattered anyways here. "I just got here a few days ago. I competed in the U.S for a few years and...well I can show you these," she added as she reached into her bag and pulled out some DVDs. VHS tapes were so outdated anyways. "Some of my matches are on these...I think I can make a name for myself here as well." With a confident but not cocky smile, Aurora shifted the things around in her backpack. "So Mr. Higurashi, how would you go about getting my foot in the door?" That figure of speech didn't really work when paraphrased like that. But at least it got her question across.

Mamouru beamed at Aurora's words. it seemed as though when one client abandoned him, another was already stepping forward to take her place. It seemed serendipitous. But enough to make him question it. It's not like he was just going to forget about Cassie. It was the opposite.! At least, he told himself that. if he could show Cassie what it was like for someone else to succeed WITH him, especially if she made a foolish mistake and got herself injured, then she'd HAVE to come back and take him back as a manager.

"Yes. It is as you say. Contract negotiations, paperwork, all of the details that keeps a wrestler from focusing on her wrestling. Also ring accompaniment, morale support and I, personally, provide my services as a personal trainer if you were to allow me the honor of representing you." He said with a low bow of his head.

"He watched her pull out her DVD's and smiled. "Aurora-san, I think you'll do fine. You are charming enough that I could not see why they would not accept you. In fact, I have seen them accept women of much lower caliber of experience and enthusiasm. However, what I can do is expedite the process and get you settled in much faster than you could on your own. If you were to allow me to take you on as a client, I am certain i could have you in tights and wrestling in a match by the end of the week."

Mamouru lifted up his head and smiled. "How is that for getting the foot in the door?" He said with a sly wink.

"End of the week?" She asked rather shocked. She wasn't ready for that! There was so much additional training she had to do to get back into shape. Not to mention the fact that she was still settling in to this new country. "That'd be awesome!" Aurora stated enthusiastically. Despite all the problems, the girl lived for all of this. The challenge of it all was exhilarating. Plus, she found an English speaking trainer as well! She was a little skeptical about that, but it wasn't an uncommon thing to see others doing. At the very least he seemed to be in shape so he more or less knew what to do.

It was all very spontaneous and unexpected. It was something that should've been thought about a lot. But it seemed like such a good deal to have. It'd unload a lot of her uncertainties at once. Aurora smiled and said, "I think I'd like that actually. I probably would have needed someone like you anyways to get by in a business like this." She offered out her hand.

"So like...how does this work?" She asked with a tilt of her head. "Do...do I pay you upfront or do you negotiate part of the contract for yourself or...or what?" Clearly she wasn't very business savvy. But that was why she needed a manager like Mamouru anyways as the non-wrestling side of her job annoyed the hell out of her.

Mamouru looked down at Aurora's hand and raised an eyebrow. Americans and their hand shaking. He smiled and took her hand, giving it a firm grip as he smiled at her. "I am surprised at how fortuitous your arrival was as well." He said. "I think that we would both be foolish not to seize upon this opportunity, Auriora-san."

Mamouru finally pushed the button for the upper level offices and the elevator whirred to life. "We'll negotiate a contract together that is fair for both of us and then We'll negotiate another contract for the AFW. I think I should be able to get you more than the rookie salary if you're as good as the DVD's say you are. of course, I'll have to review them as well." He said as the elevator stopped and the doors open. A small crowd of irritated business people shuffled into the elevator, complaining about what took so long and Mamouru quickly stepped out, flashed his credentials to the security guard and turned to face Aurora.

He motioned for her to follow and continued through the hallway. "I'll show you where Fortuna-san's office is. I'll set up an appointment and hopefully tomorrow we can get you on the roster officially." He then stopped at an office door and opened it, letting Aurora step through first. It opened up to a secretary's office with another closed door behind it and a pink haired girl clacking away at a computer.

She stopped typing when she heard the door open and raised her eyes. "Mr. Higurashi, how can I help you?" She as she instantly glanced at Aurora. She had no clue who the girl was and that could only mean one thing: she was not on the roster. It was easy to see what was coming next.

Aurora smiled as Mamouru shook her hand. She felt like she was really making progress. As they left the elevator, she held onto her stuff tightly as they brushed through the busy people and entered the office. When the pink-haired girl looked up, Aurora nodded with a friendly smile. "Hi there," she stated with a new found confidence. "My name's Aurora Wilson, I'm hoping to join Friction." That was rather straightforward. "I'm not new at this, I wrestled a few years over in the U.S." the woman added with the hopes that somehow it'd increase her chances of getting an appointment. "I have all these tapes...um...dvds with matches on them of what I can do." When she remembered that this wasn't the actual signup, she suddenly pointed at Mamouru. "He...he's my manager," she finally added hoping in someway it'd make all the awkward things she just said okay.

Mercy raised an eyebrow at Aurora's words. She incredulously watched as the girl tried to push herself upon the pink haired paralegal. "Uhhhh huh...." She said and formed her confused face into a polite smile. "It's nice to meet you Miss Wilson, I'm sure with such an eager attitude you'll be perfect for this place." She glanced to Aurora's duffel bag. "But... I'm not the one you need to pitch yourself to. I'm just Ms. Fortuna's personal assistant."

Mamouru stepped forward, clearing his throat a bit as he lightly set his hand upon Aurora's shoulders. "That's right. I'll be representing Aurora-san. We're only here to set up an appointment with Fortuna-san. I hope that it would be possible to squeeze her in tomorrow morning. If you wcould, Wrenn-san, I would be most appreciative."

Mercy wrinkled her nose. "Eugh... I can't get used to that Japanese stuff." She stood up and waved her hand at Mamouru. "Ms. Wrenn is fine, really. Or, you could just call me Mercy." She glanced back at the door behind her. "Since we're so informal around here..." She muttered.

"So, Aurora. When you meet Ms. Fortuna, just call her Rally. If you don't, she'll insist. She makes me do it." She said with a huff. She stepped forward and took Aurora's hand and gave it a healthy shake. She then backed up and glanced at her computer, leaning over her chair to grab her mouth. A few clicks later she turned back tot he duo. "Yeah, I guess she's free in the morning. I'll pencil you in." She said and smiled at the two.

"Arigatou, Ms. Wrenn." Mamouru said and bowed as Mercy slid back into her chair.

"You're very welcome, Mr. Higurashi." She said with a soft chuckle. She couldn't help but be amused by his charm. She started clacking away at her keyboard as if she was no longer acknowledging the two. However, she suddenly spoke out, not even breaking stride in what she was doing. "Wilson. Wilson. That sounds familiar." She said. "Are you related to anyone else working for this company?" She knew there was a Wilson around somewhere. Mercy didn't forget a lot of clearly American names amongst a sea of international, and mostly Japanese, ones.