China Syndrome

Jocelyn growled as inaudibly as possible when he heard the two pad off away from her position. She clenched her fists and peeked her head out. Cassie had Lan by the arm. Jocelyn's mouth dropped open as she sucked in a breath. Her cheeks flushed and her shocked face melted into anger.

She stepped away from her position and used all her will not to stomp loudly after them. With her fists clenching tighter, Jocelyn tried to causally follow them from a distance. She tried hard to pick up their cover station but she couldn't get too close.

'Going to the gym' seemed to come up a lot. Jocelyn's cheeks reddened. They were going to train together?! Did Allison somehow get Cassie to train Lan? The two people she hated working together to train that walking... girl shaped reminder of Jocelyn's shame.

The Chistralian had enough. She was tired of just being a puppet. She began to grind her teeth as she stared at the girls walking in front of her.

Jocelyn broke into a sprint. She veered towards Lan and when she was close, reached out for her hair and coat to grab them and steer Lan into the wall. She pressed her body into Lan and mashed her nose into Lan's cheek and screamed.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING HERE!?"

Despite Cassieâ€s incredulity at the idea of Lan becoming a wrestler, the Chinese girl had taken a little bit of a liking to this orange-haired AFW veteran. She was probably the nicest person Lan had met since she arrived in Tokyo, and this pleasant interaction was already helping Lan to forget the strange, terrifying encounter she had had in the spa earlier that week.

Of course, when the very personification of that encounter—and all the confusing emotions it had aroused in Lan—tackled her into the wall and pinned her there, screaming at her, the memory of her visit to the spa reemerged, clearer than ever, into the very front of her mind.

“A-ah! Ah!” Lan yelped, as she looked back over her shoulder into the burning eyes of Lu Jiao Jocelyn. Her eyes widened a little. “G…gh…Lu J-Jiao!” Lan exclaimed, surprised to find the Chinese-Australian girl here. She didnâ€t recall hearing that Jocelyn was a wrestler at AFW.

She switched over to Mandarin as she answered her attackerâ€s question. <P-please…l-let me go…I just, I, j-just…I w-was going to join, uh, join AFW…a-and I got lost…this b-building isnâ€t easy to n-n-n-navigate…>

Jocelyn snorted against Lan's face as she heard Lan whimper in their native tongue. She was ready to start screaming but she still new Cassie was there and she let go of Lan's coat, keeping a tight grip on Lan's hair as she swung an arm backwards and pointed her index finger at Cassie.

"Stay the fuck out of this, red. It doesn't fucking concern you." She warned. She then turned her head enough just to meet Cassie's gaze. "At least, it had better not." She threatened. She turned back to Lan, grabbing her arm and holding it in place as she pressed her nose into the girl's cheek again. As if to prove her point to Cassie, she responded to Lan in Chinese.

<Why!? Who told you to!? Was it Sarah!?> Jocelyn demanded, not realizing that Lan my not know who Sarah, who went by Allison, was. <Was it that drongo?> She said and let go of Lan's arm to point back at Cassie. Though the words were in Chinese, Cassie might have heard the words "Sarah" and "drongo" which were spoken in English. <Don't trust her!> Jocelyn growled as she continued to waggle her finger at Cassie. <Understand!? She's nothing! She's no one! She'll put you in the hospital if you turn your back on her!> Jocelyn's cheeks were so red as she was in this position. So close to Lan, yet, doing everything in her power to create a divide between them.

Cassie jumped back in shock with the sudden appearance of the snarling Aussie. She started to reach for her when she shoved Lan against the wall, but she paused when she saw it wasn't going any further. She didn't want to escalate things and make them worse than they had to be.

"Ah..." She watched, wide-eyed, while Jocelyn stabbed her finger at her and shouted at Lan in Chinese. Did they know each other? Were they related?

She stepped forward and placed her hand gently on Jocelyn's shoulder. She didn't say anything, as if suddenly Jocelyn only spoke Chinese, but she pleaded with her eyes for her to not doing anything.

Jocelyn sucked in a breath when she felt the soft hand on her shoulder. She froze except for the soft pants that loudly filled the silence and slashed against Lan's cheek. She turned her head and looked at Cassie in disbelief. She shrugged her shoulder to pull Cassie's hand off her shoulder and then after a moment, her brow knit and she swung her body and twisted her hand so that she backhanded Cassie hard.

Jocelyn released Lan and tried to grab Cassie by the collar. "S-Stay out of my LIFE!" She shrieked. "Can't you see Lan and I are trying to have a conversation!?" Jocelyn could barely even focus as she looked at Cassie. "WHY!? Why are you always in my business!?" She demanded, shaking Cassie.

Smack! "Ah!" Cassie staggered to the side and brought a hand up to her reddened cheek while she turned back to face Jocelyn. She furrowed her brow and tucked her chin down while she endured another outburst, but she wasn't going to back down. How could she?

When she looked at Jocelyn, she saw Dark Angel, or rather Talia. She wondered what events in the girl's life had led her to be the way she was, so angry and uncontrollable, and she wondered what anyone could do now.

"I..." She didn't have anything to say to that. She wasn't always in her business. They'd only met once before, outside of their match. She glanced at Lan, and she hoped that she understood that these were the sorts of people she'd be dealing with if she signed up.

She set her mouth in a firm line, and stepped in to wrap her arms around Jocelyn in a hug, her head tucked against the girl's shoulder. She gave her a squeeze, and though it was only a hug she was prepared to tighten it in order to restrain Jocelyn and do what she needed to make sure she wouldn't get too violent.

"Is your leg all better?" She asked quietly, hoping to god that it was.

When Jocelyn demanded to know who it was who had told Lan to join AFW, the ash-blonde Chinese girl was at a complete loss for how to reply. Why did Jocelyn think that someone had told her to join? Was it so crazy that someone like Lan would want to join a wrestling league of her own accord? No one seemed to understand why a girl like her would want to do something like this.

<I…I…w-well, no…> Lan stuttered and slurred, as Jocelyn asked her if some woman named Sarah had been the one who had instructed her to join, then pointed at Cassie and asked if it was her. <It w-w-was no one…it was m-m-my i-idea…> Lan whispered, almost silently, as her countrywoman turned her attention to the smaller orange-haired wrestler, yelling about how she wasnâ€t to be trusted and would put a girl in the hospital as soon as she turned her back. Lan couldnâ€t believe that this meek, awkward little creature was capable of that, especially not after Cassie came forward to gently rest her hand on Jocelynâ€s shoulder, eliciting a strong reaction from the Chistralian girl.

“A-ah!” Lan yelped, as the sound of the smack echoed throughout the hallway. <Y-you donâ€t have...to hurt her, Jiao! Sh-she was…she w-w-was j-just showing me…h-how to get to the, uh, th-the cafeteria.> As she was released, and Jocelyn grabbed Cassie instead, Lan would slump against the wall, feeling powerless as her fellow Chinese woman went after the redhead, only to have Cassie pull her into a hug and ask her if her leg was better! Lan had no idea how to react. She didnâ€t know what had happened to Lu Jiaoâ€s leg, whether or not Cassie had anything to do with that. She could only watch helplessly, her eyes wide with fear, waiting for one of the women to address her again.

Jocelyn stiffened when Cassie hugged her. She could feel the tightness and her first instinct was to thrash like a crocodile and try and break free. She remained still as Cassie hugged her, feeling the red head's warmth but being indignant, especially when she spoke. Jocelyn's eyes widened and then narrowed suddenly. She turned her head and shook it.

"It's fine!" She growled. "What do you care anyway, you DID it to me!" Jocelyn's fists clenched and opened repeatedly as she caught Lan's eye. The way she fearfully braced herself against the wall like Jocelyn was some kind of monster. The way she helplessly spoke to Jocelyn in their native tongue. Jocelyn began to shake and she pulled up her arms. She gripped Cassie's coat tightly and tugged at it just enough.

Her head fell and slumped against Cassie's neck. Her body relaxed and she exhaled deeply against Cassie's neck. "I... hate... you..." Jocelyn growled in a low tone that only Cassie could hear. Despite that, she seemed to be returning Cassie's hug, almost clinging against the red head.

After a long moment, Jocelyn muscled her way out of Cassie's hug and brushed her hands down her shirt, tugging at the hem and looking between both of them. She stared at Lan and looked her up and down. <You still shouldn't trust her.> She said, her tone almost normal. <Lan... I...> She said, turning her head and blushing deeply. She then quickly looked at Cassie and then down at the floor. She pointed down the hall the way that Cassie and Lan had been walking. <It's down that hall. Then turn right follow that to the end and turn left.>

Jocelyn sighed again and covered her stomach with one hand as it rumbled. Her cheeks continued to flush. Cassie was going to eat with Lan. Why couldn't she eat with Lan? They had a lot more in common. All she had to do was speak up but the scene she had just made. It was impossible. She turned back and gave Cassie a shove and furrowed her brow.

"If I see your ugly freckle face around here, I'll show you how to fucking tear up a leg! Just like I did against that fuckin chunder headed blonde! So, fuck you!" She said, flipped Cassie and Lan off and stormed off in the opposite direction with her head lowered and her body shaking as she gripped one arm with her other hand. She'd have to find somewhere else to eat. She obviously wasn't going to be able to go to the cafeteria now.

Cassie let Jocelyn out of her hug without any trouble. She figured that she wasn't going to try to fight at that point, and she only looked on with concern while the two Chinese girls spoke in their own language.

She wondered what they were saying, but she figured she at least got the gist of it. She followed Jocelyn's finger down the hall, and figured she was giving her directions, but she didn't understand why.

And then Jocelyn was screaming in her face again, and she like a mother at her troubled daughter. She gave Lan a look while Jocelyn stormed off, she could either go on her own or wait around, but Cassie couldn't just let this go. There was too much at stake for people in these situations. After her experience with Dark Angel, she was convinced that everyone's life hung in the balance with every moment, and that even if you did the right thing, things could still go wrong. That's why people needed to look out for people, and even if it was all for nothing, always, always, always be willing to try to help.

She trotted off after Jocelyn, and settled into an uncomfortably fast walking pace to keep up with her, lagging just a step behind her. "Hey," she said, and tried to get in front of her.

Lan saw Jocelyn relax in Cassieâ€s grip, and her face brightened a little. It seemed like things with the Chinese-Australian woman were tense pretty much as a matter of course, but, in that all-too-brief moment, it seemed like there was a chance that any misunderstanding between the two AFW wrestlers could be worked out with words and rational discussion, rather than slaps and mindless screaming. Jocelyn seemed to remain calm as she pulled away from Cassie and gave Lan concise directions in their native tongue. Lan smiled, and was about to thank her fellow Chinese girl when the calm moment ended and the dark-haired fighter began screaming again.

When Jocelyn stormed off, and Cassie, after giving Lan a glance, went after her, the blonde Chinese girl had a split-second decision to make. Under normal circumstances, she would probably welcome the opportunity to be separated from what was sure to be an explosive situation. These circumstances, however, were far from ordinary. She had heard Jocelynâ€s tummy rumbling, and the look she had on her face when that happened. Lan wanted to invite her to eat together, so that they might finally have a chance to really converse with each other, and maybe resolve some of that residual awkwardness from their encounter at the spa. But then Jocelyn ran off. Lan didnâ€t want to let that be it. With only a momentâ€s hesitation, she followed the wrestlers, managing to keep up with the shorter girls relatively easily.

“W-wait!” she called after Lu Jiao Jocelyn. <Y-you donâ€t have to go anywhere!> she added in Mandarin.