Stop me if you've heard this one. A cowgirl and a rabbit...

Lia Cross rarely drank alone. Since alcohol had truly awful effects on her girlfriend... no, fiancee, Chesna Matuschanskavasky, that meant she rarely drank period. But she had a lot to think about and she rather wished she could stop thinking about a great deal of it. Chesna had shoved the ring on her finger and... that changed so many things. And, yet, not three minutes later, she was trying to pleasure another woman. And then Lia herself was chasing a cute little belly fetishist. Some things did not change, and Lia was not sure if she was okay with that. Chesna's unusual sexual affliction had to be dealt with at some point, and Lia needed to develop some impulse control of her own if this was going to work out.

And then she was trying to work with Lukretia von Creuzfeldt. She NEEDED the money now; most of her nest egg was spent on that last operation she ran, the final one if she had any say in it. But Lukretia was by any standard a loathsome human being. It was not a pleasant environment.

So this brought Lia to a small bar in the American style not too far from the AFW building. She sat at the counter, nursing a tall glass of beer as she thought through the many problems ahead of her.

What a dump... Dixie thought to herself, stepping into the small bar and glancing slowly around the place. She didn't drink much, especially not after a match, but she was in a foul mood, and she had a lot on her mind. Just hours before, she had been in one of the hardest matches of her career, and had taken a hell of a beating during it...and then another beating after it, her opponent turning on her after the match, keeping the punishment going. Dixie's body was still pretty sore, she was still pretty bruised up and aching, but she didn't care. She was tough, she'd be able to ignore the pain. For the time being, all the cowgirl wanted was to drink her troubles away, to get her nasty opponent off of her mind. That wasn't too much to ask, was it?

She stepped up to the bar, nodding at the bartender and gesturing for a beer, and took a seat at the counter. Reaching up, Dixie slipped off the cowboy hat she was wearing and placed it on the bar nearby, letting out a deep sigh as she waited for her drink.

It had been a hell of a night, so she planned on getting drunk as hell to make up for it. That seemed like a perfectly fair deal to her.

Lia had lost focus on her surroundings... until she saw that cowboy hat hit the bar. You did not see too many of those in Japan. And you also did not see too many tall, blonde beauties (At least outside the AFW arena.). And you rarely saw more than one Dixie Clemets. Lia's fake rabbit ears immediately perked up as she turned away from her stolen glance quickly. THE Dixie Clemets, the Three Count Cowgirl, the most eligible bachelorette in Texas just sat down right next to her. Lia was her biggest fan some years back. She never missed Rumble Roses when she was abroad. Dixie had been her hero, her inspiration, and, in a few lonely nights, her fantasy. And she JUST WALKED IN AND SAT DOWN RIGHT NEXT TO HER HOLY CRAP. Lia could only keep her eyes on Dixie's hat and her drink and away from the cowgirl herself for a scant few heartbeats.

"H-holy..." Lia bit her tongue, she tried to keep her cool, but it just was not happening. It was all she could do to tighten her throat and keep herself from screaming it across the bar, "Holy crap! Y-you're Dixie Clemets!" Lia grinned like a schoolgirl at the cowgirl, "You were... totes my hero in Rumble Roses! I, I, uh..." Lia glanced away nervously before looking back at Dixie, a bit ashamed of her outburst. "H-hi. I'm Lia..." She offered her hand to Dixie for a shake.

Dixie stared down at the bar, lost in her own thoughts, until her beer arrived...which, of course, she promptly scooped up and lifted to her lips, tilting her head back and taking a nice, long drink out of the glass. It tasted like piss, but she didn't care. Not yet, at least. She was sure she'd be regretting this in the morning, but for now, she didn't care. She took another drink, then lowered the glass back to the counter top, staring down into the swirling yellow liquid within. Another sigh escaped the cowgirl. Drinking alone was no fun at all, and part of her, just a tiny part, was already regretting coming to this shitty little bar.

It wasn't until the woman sitting next to her started to speak up that Dixie lifted her gaze from her glass, turning her head slowly towards her, the blonde's eyes taking a moment to glance over the bunnygirl. It wasn't too often that someone recognized Dixie. Her Rumble Roses days had long since passed, and in the AFW she was a midcarder at best, as much as she hated to admit it. She had never really had anyone react like this to her before, and she couldn't help but feel a swell of pride inside as the bunnygirl stammered and stuttered out her greeting.

"Heh, that's right. Ah'm the great Dixie Clemets," she responded as a grin began to cross her face, sitting up and turning slightly towards Lia, reaching out to accept her handshake. Her grip was firm, but not overly so. "I was yer hero, huh...? Gotta say, don't think ah've ever heard that before. Makes me feel kind of good inside, you know?"

Lia's grin could hardly be contained. She could not believe this. "Holy crap, of course you were my hero! I watched Rumble Roses all the time! Was it as cool as it looked? What was it like fighting a ninja? I've always wanted to fight a ninja! I know Reiko was a wrestling scion but she looked SO CUTE and I bet she made the cutest noises when you had her in a submission hold." Lia caught herself, "Oh man, I'm babbling, it's just... I've wanted to meet you for so long. Hell, when I started at AFW, I almost wanted to do the southern cowgirl gimmick, but I thought, 'No way. I can't copy the Dixinator. No how.' Plus, my Texan accent is awful." A look of realization crossed her face and she stopped herself once more, "Holy cow, I'm in the same league as Dixie Clemets!" She took a second to parse this information, "Wow... It's a small world after all, ain't it?"

She leaned in, almost engaging Dixie in a conspiratorial whisper, "Hey, hey, I've just gotta know. It was a fan theory on the internet but we never found out for real. And I know it sounds really dumb but, I HAVE to know... Was Anesthesia really stealing all you girls'... uh... girly juices to make some sorta evil super wrestling genetic freak robot thingy? I mean, my g... friend collects them too but she's a LOT more boring with them... Okay that was an overshare, sorry, but I am so excited!"

Dixie leaned away as Lia began to babble and rant on. She was taken aback by just how big a fangirl Lia seemed to be. Dixie knew she had fans, of course, but she had never met anyone that was this excited to meet her before. She really didn't know how to react. So, she did the only thing she could think of. She grabbed her beer and down a big, long drink, nearly emptying the glass as she waited for a break in Lia's words to respond.

"Calm down, calm down," she started, grinning sheepishly at Lia. Yer babblin' so fast, ah don't know where to start answerin' ya!" She shook her head, setting her glass down and turning fully on her stool to the bunnygirl. Her eyes darted down again, looking over Lia again, this time taking greater care to size the woman up. Girl looked strong, that was for sure. She a good looking body on her. Was she really a wrestler in the AFW? Dixie could see that.

She started to respond to Lia again, when the woman piped up and blurted out her last question. The Texan's eyes went wide, and something of a blush crossed over her cheeks, as stared in disbelief at Lia. "R...robots?! Stealin' our girly juices?!" Anesthesia was a complete bitch, and had made everyone's life miserable, but she wasn't that crazy. Did Lia really think she was some kind of a mad scientist? "Yer crazy, girl! Don't listen to everything ya hear on the internet!"

Thinking fast, Dixie decided to change the subject. "So, yer part of the AFW? Yer really a wrestler too?"

Lia blushed a bit as Dixie told her to cool it and sighed dejectedly at Dixie's flat out rejection of the "genetic robot" theory. "Ah well, I figured it was too cool to be true." She took another sip of her beer, "Sorry for being such a freako. I've... well, I imagine you get this sort of thing a lot from all those Roseheads out there. Man, only thing that could make this day better is if I met Miss Spencer too..." Lia had a bit of trouble keeping her eyes on Dixie's face. The Yankee Rose still looked every bit as dynamite as they did on all those crappy TVs Lia caught RR on when she was operating throughout Asia.

Lia beamed with no small amount of pride when Dixie asked if she was in AFW. "You betcha. I, er, haven't ... been in too many big matches though. Not that I mind, I don't have anything to prove. I'm just happy to be here." The pride petered out pretty quickly but Lia's smile did not fade. Her eyes lost focus as she reminisced, "Hell, last one I was in I took a pretty nasty chair shot to the head, and that was a while ago." She took another sip of beer, focusing again on Dixie, She winced at that last sip, "Eugh. Man, the Japs don't know crap about beer, do they?" She recovered quickly though, "Anyway, weird thing about chair shots. They look so, so cool in the audience. And then when you wake up in the infirmary after taking one and rewatch the match, it STILL looks cool, but it is the total opposite of cool when you're actually taking one."

Lia shifted gears completely once more, now a wild grin on her face, her eyes locked on Dixie's. "Okay, let's do this. You and me, womano a womano." She slammed her elbow on the bar with a fearsome resolve, "Arm wrasslin'. While I got you here, I gotta cross this one off my bucket list."

Dixie shook her head at Lia again, giving the girl a friendly smile. She took another sip from her own beer, finishing off the glass, then gesturing at the bartender to fill both her and Lia's glasses back up. "Ain't nothing to be sorry about," she replied with a bit of a shrug towards the bunnygirl. "Ah don't mind at all. Ain't really many...what'd you call 'em? Roseheads? Ain't many of them left these days. The Rumble Roses been dead fer a long time, girl..." She voice trailed off, a bit of a wistful look spreading over her face. The Texan honestly missed her Rumble Roses days. Sure, the company wasn't as big as the AFW or anywhere near as popular, but there was something about it that seemed nicer to her. It was more like home to her than the AFW had ever been.

Taking another sip from her freshly refilled beer, she continued on. "Miss Spencer, huh? Yer a fan of the teach, are ya?" She forced a grin onto her face, leaning over to nudge Lia with her elbow. "Ah need to track 'er down sometime and see how she's doin'. Ah ain't seen 'er in ferever. Last ah heard, she was causing trouble fer that sumo that used to be the champion." She rolled her eyes as she leaned back against the bar, taking another slow drink. "She never did know when to keep 'er mouth shut and stay out of trouble..."

She continued listening to Lia, listening to the woman talk about the AFW. She couldn't help but chuckle at Lia's comment about the beer though. "Tell me about it. This shit tastes worse than piss." She took another drink out of her glass anyway though, relaxing as she listened to Lia talk. "Chair shots...ungh. They're the worst, girl. Ah'm lucky ah I had to deal with any of 'em since ah came back to the AFW. Ah'm sure some jackass'll try it though. It's jes' a matter of time. Hell, I probably just jinxed mahself talkin' about it to ya!"

When Lia locked her eyes with Dixie's, the cowgirl couldn't help but perk up a little, sitting up a little straighter on her stool. She knew what was coming as soon as Lia's elbow hit the bar, and she couldn't help but feel a tinge of excitement as Lia openly declared her challenge. Was Dixie still hurting from her match earlier? Still sore and bruised and in rough shape? Damn right she was. The Texan never turned down a challenge though, and was eager to see just how strong Lia was. She looked like she had a good amount of strength behind her, and Dixie wanted to know just how much she was packing.

She leaned towards the bar, slamming her own elbow down onto the wood (and wincing for a brief moment afterwards). Her hand came forward, grabbing onto Lia's own, clasping it tight in her grip, as she gave a big grin back to the bunny. "Ya want it, ya got it, girly. Jes' don't get too upset when I kick yer ass here, alright?"

Lia gave Dixie a friendly pat on the shoulder. "Psh, it's as we say on the forums. Once a Rose, always a Rose. The show might be over, but as long as you all are still carrying the torch, Rumble Roses will never die... Holy crap that sounds cheesy when I say it out loud." Lia chuckled and took another sip. Dixie was able to swill that awful beer a lot quicker than Lia could suck it down. "Anesthesia's still carrying the torch. Don't know if you saw. She kept the Rose of Roses belt."

Lia rarely blushed but she did get a tinge of red on her cheeks when Dixie nudged her. She cursed how hero worship fangirly she had been getting to almost wig out just from being touched by her. "Yyyep. My top three were always you, Miss Spence, and... well, don't hate me, but Anesthesia. Yeah she was an asshole and I wanted you to beat her down so, so, SO bad but she could kick ass and look dynamite doing it... B-but you were better at both the ass-kicking and looking good though." Lia grinned sheepishly, but her walk-backs seemed genuine enough.

She gave Dixie a playful light punch on the shoulder. "Ah, don't look so down about it, Dixie-baby. Chair shots build character. I don't even mind the one I took now. She was a sweetheart, really..." Lia took another sip of the beer and sighed, "It's an occupational hazard. And, an opportunity, really. They just guaranteed you a reason and a chance to go to town on them. Just beat the everloving bejeesus out of 'em next time ya see them. Ehe. Friendly, handshakey matches are great, but, you know, sometimes you just want a chance to unleash the beast. Know what I'm saying?"

Lia grabbed Dixie's hand and squeezed it tight. Lia had always viewed Dixie as a kindred. A cowgirl warrior with a lot of strength and spirit. To match muscle against her was a dream come true. "Ah, it'll be something I'll never forget either way. But doubly so when I kick your luscious ass right back to Texas, sweetie. On zero... Three, two, one, hit it!" Lia poured all of her strength into the hold right out of the gate. Gritting her teeth, her lips curled in a smile that illustrated the joy she felt in this moment. Her jovial gaze never wavered from Dixie's eyes even as she began to shiver with the strain of matching the cowgirl's strength.

Dixie shrugged off the rest of Lia's words (for now, anyway), wanting to focus fully on the arm wrestling for the time being. She's get back to Lia's conversation later on, after she kicked the bunnygirl's ass.

She stared right back into Lia's eyes, never once breaking her gaze. "Don't worry, girl. I ain't gonna be the one losin' this. Ah plan on kickin' yer ass right back to yer rabbit hutch!" The moment Lia finished her countdown, Dixie's arm began to flex, pushing back with all of the power that the mighty cowgirl could muster. Her own lips curling up, giving the bunny a smile to match her own, her white teeth flashing in the light of the bar. She could feel a bead of sweat already running down the side of her face, and thoughts of her match earlier against Doom came racing back to her. She honestly wasn't sure if she could muster the strength to topple Lia here, but she was sure as hell going to try!