Chaah with a Pander on it!

John rolled with her, watching as Taylor took a seat and he readjusted himself so that he also sat across from her, tucking his legs in pretzel-style. “Heh, yes, well, perhaps. Amandaâ€s beaten me and sheâ€s about the same size.” It took a moment of thought for him to realize that ‘Bear†was Cassie. It fit, she was like a teddy bear. Mayeb she would be interesting, to train technique with or even just talk shop. Of course, what Taylor would next say was far more interesting.

John narrowed his eyes and frowned at what she seemed to be implying. “Yeah, yeah, yeah…Iâ€ve known those too since we were kids, weâ€ve always done everything together.” John chuckled a bit, “Second…okay, they look like strippers. I gave up on them…third, truth is I got to know Cassie for about five seconds before this…fucking guy I know had a complete fucking spaz attack and scared her off. I barley even know the guy, I thought Iâ€d hang with her, introduce her to my friends, so she wouldnâ€t think thatâ€s who I normally keep as company.” John shrugged a bit, “And I had already known her from the television, I dunno, I wanted to hang out.” John didnâ€t have any more to say on the subject.

Taylor nodded. She pressed her fingertip into the mat so that a little trail of indentation followed behind it, and she began drawing stick figures. She listened to John and when he had finished, she looked him in the eye.

"So, you and Ro and Amanda. Do you guys fuck?"

John didnâ€t bat an eye at that question. “Yeah. Less with Ro, actually not at all since she got a real boyfriend. As for Amanda, saying no to her is not always wise.” There was an implication that Amanda was using John, rather than the other way around, but no specificity in what he said.

If Taylor had anything to say in return, she was interrupted by the door opening and the three girls returning with bags filled with containers of takeout. She nodded, without taking her eyes off John, her face betraying not even a hint of an expression.

"Okay," she said. "Thanks."

She stood up and went to meet Cassie and help with the food.

"I got you stuff, in case you're going to be vegan again," Cassie smiled.

"What?"

"Because you're training again."

"Oh," Taylor gave Cassie's hair a gentle tug. "Thanks, Bear." She hadn't planned on going back vegan. Her training regimen was different, anyway, and she was different. Everything was, and at the very least she had Johnny to worry about too. He'd never be able to go vegan. "So, are you guys gonna be, like, each other's maids of honor now, after your half hour with Cassiepants?"

Johnâ€s eyes also didnâ€t break contact with Taylor, he wondered what she thought of that. He answered quickly, not having second thoughts. The atmosphere here was very disinhibited, but then again, she might worry John wanted something sexual from Cassie. In fact, he didnâ€t really feel any sort of sexual attraction too her. He just wanted to be friends, as silly as that sounded.

“Lunch time, get the fuck up.” Ro said as she grinned. “Heheeh, yus! Cassie-cass is my favorite new person! I shall had her to my collection.” Amanda laughed out in response to Taylorâ€s question. “Yeah, we like Cassie. We approve.”

John also got up, smiling, though still thinking about what Taylor thought. “Wacha get me?”

“Meat, meat, and more meat, you barbarous philistine.” Amanda said, first looking stern, then giggling a bit. Ro began to take out the food and divide it up, using a bench obviously made for sitting and not food to put the pages on. She put out the food which they had bought for John, the food she had bought, and the food Amanda had brought. “Are we allowed to eat in here?” Ro rolled her eyes, “Do we care?”

"Mmmmm, veggies..." Taylor separated out a few containers and grabbed a pair of chopsticks. She didn't waste any time eating, which, for her, was more of a victory than she cared to admit. She had never been able to eat in front of people, for most of her life, if she wasn't comfortable. Eating with new people around and not even thinking twice about it meant that she really was growing up.

"Mmmmm, yakitori!" Cassie grabbed a stick and began nibbling chicken off of it. Taylor went to work on a mix of mushrooms, greens, and eggplant. She'd get around to the meat.

"So Taylor," Cassie said between bites. "Did you beat up John?"

Taylor laughed. "Nah. He mostly beat me up. You should totally roll with him, you'd have fun."

"Really?" She glanced at John. "O-okay." She took a bite and chewed thoughtfully for a moment. "While I do that, are you going to beat up Ro?"

"Uhhhhhh..." Taylor laughed again. "Maybe. Maybe not. I kinda have to, right? Family honor and stuff. I'm married to a Japanese dude, so I've got to, like, avenge him or something. Maybe I can ask- OH MY GOD!" Taylor stopped, and grabbed a different container. "SHISHITO!" She pulled the lid off and grabbed a salted, flash fried shishito pepper with her chopsticks and took a big bite. "You really did get everything, didn't you?"

Cassie nodded and giggled. Taylor had weird tastes, but Cassie knew what she liked. She turned to the rest of the group. "Taylor doesn't eat candy," she explained.

"I do too!" Taylor defended herself, waving a chopstick in the air. "I like Pocky, and... nectarines..." Cassie giggled.

After Ro declared that she didnâ€t care if they were meant to eat in here, they began to tuck into their meals as well. It was fortunate that they all grew up where Chinese food was common, because they didnâ€t have to learn chopsticks when they got into Japan. Though, John didnâ€t need a chopstick to eat his meal, most of which was in stick form.

“There is very little meat in the known universes which cannot be enhanced by cooking it…on a stick.” John said with a happy smile as he bit into his chicken, chewing on it. He then chuckled “Hey if you wana practice or something, that sounds fun. Taylor tells me youâ€re great with submissions. I try to make that my specialty.”

Now there was a bit of cross-talk, as everyone was eating and talking. “Yeeeeah, well,” Ro began, but paused to finish the food in her mouth. “I think weâ€d have a fun match. You know whatâ€d be even more fun? We could do it as a tag match.”

“Hey! You just voluntelling me to go do a match?” John laughed.

Amanda then spoke up over them to Cassie and Taylor “Hey! You donâ€t like Candy? Do you like Meiji Chocolate?” Amanda suddenly jumped up and brought a box of chocolate covered almonds up to Taylor. “Nectarines arenâ€t candy--” “Theyâ€re almost as good as Jelly Babies! HAVE SOME! HAVE SOME! Youâ€ll like candy again!” Amanda said as she tried to shove it into her face.

Taylor paused and bit her lip. It seemed like Ro only cared about having fun in her matches, and immediately Taylor wanted to call her out on it. She was going to be the best. She didn't come here to make friends. If she wanted to be champ, she couldn't just go out there to have fun. But-

Then Amanda was shoving more candy in her face. She leaned back and shooed her away with her chopsticks. "Get outta here."

Cassie shook her head and swallowed some chicken. "See? She doesn't like it. She doesn't eat chocolate."

"Ohmigod, Pants." Taylor rolled her eyes. Bring around Ro really drove the point home: she wasn't any fun anymore. Her and Johnny had been busy lately, with her return to Friction and working in different cities and everything. The increased training and the AFW schedule had taken away some energy that she'd been used to giving to Johnny. And she wondered if she even was having any fun in her matches anymore. As far as she could tell, the answer was... not really.

"So, this one time, Taylor and I had a tag match against Johnny and... against the Higurashis, when Taylor and Johnny were dating. Taylor almost died when she fell out of the ring, but, well... we won. It was so much fun."

"Yeah, we won because Johnny had a little too much fun," Taylor said, and reached for a stick of whatever meat. "So Ro, was that like, your first match here? I'd never heard of you before that."

Amanda giggled as she was shoved with the chopsticks, “Awww, your no fun. People who only eat healthy foods turn into giant broccolis.”

Ro had no idea of what Taylor thought, but if she were asked if all she cared about was fun, sheâ€d have to think about it. Why was she here? She loved wrestling, and she didnâ€t want to go to school just yet (no matter what Amanda or John said). While Amanda and John were both looking into schooling here (though hadnâ€t applied) and were practicing their Japanese, Ro just wanted to keep wrestling. It wasnâ€t that Ro wasnâ€t interested in being the best, or wasnâ€t interested in fame and glory, or wasnâ€t competitive. She was, in fact, a fiercely competitive person. But she also LOVED what she was doing. She had FUN every time she got out into that ring, and the best thing about her job was hitting it off with an opponent who knew how to bring their all and still have fun.

To Ro, she was being paid to play her favorite game. Dam right she wanted to be the best at it, but if she stopped enjoying the game then it was time to find a new job. If Ro had been asked, she couldnâ€t see herself like Taylor, no longer taking joy in her work. Of course, Ro said none of this. She had no idea what Taylor thought about her.

“Heh, somehow Iâ€m not too surprised that you guys won…or that Taylor nearly died.” John said with a slight chuckle. “You get me any candy?” He then said to Amanda, who tossed Meiji Macadamia Nut chocolates at him.

Now, Ro responded to Taylorâ€s question. “Second tension match. Iâ€d done some stuff in friction, but I ended up deciding on being in Tension.” She said with a slight nod, “Iâ€m pretty new, actually, but havenâ€t been bored for a second. How is Friction, though? I had matches with Cecilia Northman, that was about it for memorable matches.”

“Itâ€s only memorable ‘cause she tied your hair to the ropes.” John laughed and nudged Ro, who also laughed.

Taylor and Cassie exchanged looks, and then Cassie went back to her food.

"You had a match with Cecelia, huh?" Taylor said, with a hint of a smirk. "I kinda did once. She got the hell out of the ring the second I stepped in, so I didn't really get a piece of her." She did before that, though. In the club, in Kyoto, after Johnny and Cecelia's match. After a lot of talk, the two came to blows. Cecelia hit first. "Well, I bet that was loads of fun."

"I could beat her," Cassie gave her honest opinion. "She's good at... well... She's sort of nice. But I'd win."

Taylor grinned and ruffled her red hair, and took another bite of a shishito pepper. "Oh, wait," she said, with a slight sinking feeling. "Wait, you guys... Cassie said you guys know Clyde, but I don't remember how... Are you guys, like, friends with Heather Southerland?"

"Sunderland."

"Yeah," Taylor waved a hand and explained. "I used to get her name wrong on purpose, but I did that for so long I really can't remember her actual name half the time."

Cassie squirmed a little on her place on the mat while she ate. She loved Taylor, she did, but it seemed like the more time passed and the more experience she got in AFW, the more negativity she carried with her. She did come to see John and talk and everything, but sometimes she wished she'd just... shut up.

"I'll probably never get a match against someone really famous until I can get Talia to leave me alone. Dark Angel, I mean," she said without looking up from her food.