Kita-Ku, Saturday, 7pm

"Babe, what the hell am I gonna wear?" Taylor called from the bedroom while sorting clothes into piles on her bed. She grouped them by outfit, and in order of skankiness. On one side, her favorite skinny jeans, a lighter pair with shredded knees, a pair of unseasonably short denim shorts, next to a stack of t-shirts and tank tops. Then came a pile of pleated skirts, a red plaid Catholic school skirt, a red-and-black plaid, and a short, solid black wrap skirt, next to more tank-tops, tight-fitting pseudo-dress shirts, and punky polo shirts. Continuing onto the floor was a vast array of socks, from short athletic socks to cable-knit thigh-highs and fishnets.

She surveyed the mess, and sighed. "Helllllp meeeeeeeee!" She wailed. "Like, maybe I should just go simple?"

It was a party. She had to look her best. It just wouldn't do for a Friction star like herself to host a party in sweats, but then she didn't want to look like she was trying to hard or whatever, and it didn't make sense to be a skank. Or whatever. It was just a bunch of girls and family and Johnny's buddy and stuff, and all things considered her wardrobe was the least of her concerns. Keeping track of the guest list was enough work, though as long as Akashi brought Cassie somewhere near on time, she'd be happy.

"I think I'll give Ace a call," she continued. "She might be weird about the invite. I know Mercy's in, and I think Jessica's coming. Remember her? You met her before. Is your buddy coming for sure?"

She stepped out into the hallway in just her underwear so she could yell down the stairs to Johnny without having to shout across the whole house. "Have you talked to your brother?"

"Clothes, man." Johnny shouted back and laughed. "Just wear clothes, dude. They're seein our house and junk! We're already kinda exposed, ya know?" He said from the bathroom. He was just brushing his teeth. he'd been dressed and ready hours ago and decided to wear some ripped up stone washed jeans and his Misfits " Fiend Club" shirt to seem more inviting.

Johnny stepped through the bathroom and kissed Taylor on the cheek. "Simple? If you wanna go naked babe, I'm all for that." He said grinning. "But if there's going to be touching involved, at least make sure I'm a part of it." He teased and gave her sexy butt a healthy squeeze, pulling away when he heard a throat clear in the background.

"I'll help." Morrigan said as she came into the bedroom. "Junko's been taking care of that." She added and looked at Johnny. "Everything's set, just make sure and give a once over." She said nudging Johnny out of the room.

"Ace and Akashi don't like each other." Morrigan said. "Not that anyone coming seems to like anyone else." She added, still in PA mode. "Pick something that's not going to flash your cooch at everyone if you get tipsy... or exhibition-y..." She suggested. "If you want to go skanky, go skanky with the top, not the bottoms." Morrigan then grinned. "No one's going to care if you flash them with that boy chest of yours anyway." She added with a smirk.

Morrigan flipped through her cellphone. "Junko and Mamouru should be here any moment, same with Akashi and Cassie. Let's just get all that drama out of the way first. All the actual guests should be here by 7:30 or eight. I told Lilith come at nine so the party's in full swing by the time she gets here. Not that I'm expecting her to make a mess or anything but I wanna be off duty when she shows up so I can focus on her." Morrigan said with her cheeks flushed a bit. "I'll find a spot where no one will find us if things get hot and heavy and I'll clean up any messes we make." She added with a grin, turning to leave herself.

"Did you pick out any movies you thought might be good? Isn't that the plan?" She said over her shoulder. "Do you like the catering? Will it be enough or should I call in back up?"

"Eek!" Taylor hopped back behind Johnny and instinctively covered her chest with her arms when Morrigan stepped into view. Not that it was anything she hadn't seen a million times before in the locker rooms or whatever. Well, it was a little better. But still.

"Makes sense to me!" She grinned, and scampered back to the bedroom to get dressed.

"Everything is awesome!" She called to Morrigan from the next room. "Seriously, Morg, thanks, man. If I didn't know any better, I'd think that you were getting to like working with us!"

She knew right where to find the clothes she was looking for. She pulled on a pair of lavender footed tights, and slid the black skirt up over her hips and zipped it in place. She stretched a black, spaghetti-strap Dillinger Escape Plan tank top over her head, and strapped on a black choker and leather bracelet. She put the tiny ruby stud Johnny had given her in her right nostril, a small silver ring in her eyebrow, two studs in each earlobe and a ring on top, and then finally a little silver belly-button ring under her shirt.

She emerged a few minutes later and picked up a foot, spreading her purple-webbed toes and wiggling them at Johnny. "How's this? I think I'll go with pigtails, too," she said, and stretched a hair elastic over each wrist before standing next to Johnny in front of the mirror and putting her hair up in two tails that left her bangs hanging down over one eye.

"it's just an elaborate ruse." Morrigan said in as serious a tone as possible as she skimmed her phone. "And I'm still not interested no matter how much you want me." She grinned and strolled away to the basement, holding her phone to her ear.

Johnny eyed his wife in the mirror and then turned to look at her for reall, holding onto her hips and pressing his into hers. "You look great, babe." He said. "I'm sure you'll wow them all." He added. He then began to kiss her neck softly as a hand trailed up underneath her top. "Don't we have time for a little fun before everyone gets here? I could lock the bathroom door then we wouldn't even have to worry about Morgan and junk." He WAS teasing, but there was certainly a part of him that wanted to see what he could get away with.

just as he was about to turn Taylor and push her against the sink, he heard a familiar voice echo through the house.

"Heeellloooooooooooo~<3"

Junko's stepped through the house, instantly going towards the bedroom and stopping at the sink. "Ohoho!" She said when she caught the young couple in an embrace. "If you two want to sneak off tot he bedreoom before company arrives, I'll keep them entertained, fufu~<3"

Johnny sighed. "Not as cool when it's ma's idea too..." He said. As he pulled away from Taylor, Junko intercepted them and hugged them both against her. "How are my babies doing?" She said, squeezing them and giving them each a kiss on the cheek. She had a bright grin on her face as she looked them over.

"This is just going to be wonderful, isn't it!?"

"Mother, they aren't children." Mamouru's voice said from outside of the bathroom. "Give them time to get ready so they aren't running around when guests are here."

Junko turned around and shook her head. "Oh, hush." She said wagging her finger at Mamouru. "Say hello to your brother and Taylor-chan." Junko said as she stepped away from the bathroom, leaving Mamouru to stand before them.

He nodded his head. "Junichi, Nee-san." He said and turned to leave. "I'm only here to make sure mother doesn't get out of hand. I'll find a place out of the way, don't worry." He said and turned to leave himself.

Taylor quickly took a step back from Johnny and innocently put her hands behind her back. "Hi mom," she said, and then shook her head at Johnny. "I know. She's so lame." She pretended to take a big bite out of Johnny's neck, and then skipped off to the living room, passing Mamouru on the way. She ignored him for now.

"Morgan, if you can keep Brittany out of trouble I'll love you forever," she said while she looked around for her phone. "Not that I don't now, but we've got other things to worry about... And we've got movies and stuff, sure. We should probably leave AFW out of it for tonight. You just make sure you have fun, okay?"

She picked up her phone and thumbed through her list to find Ace's number. It was tricky, sometimes, since very few contacts in her phone were listed under their actual names. She paused over one of them, listed as "Dickbag". That one was Adrian. Their match and the incalculable stakes of it loomed over her every day. She couldn't wait to get it over with.

Ace, though, was just listed as "Ace". It was already a nickname, anyway. She hit call and did a little dance while she waited, shaking her hips back and forth and humming to herself.

Ace had been enjoying a day off, relaxing at home, enjoying the view of Tokyo from her apartment building.

Hearing her phone go off, she pulled it out of her pocket. Since joining AFW, she had only given her number to a couple of people, Valley being the one who called her the most. Seeing Taylor's name on her screen, Tai and Junko having exchanged their clients numbers so they could set up their initial meeting, she answered it quickly.


"Hey, Taylor! Hows it going? Get any more pics for that calender?"

She answered cheerfully, apparently having no hard feelings about how Taylor had nearly cracked her skull the last time they met.

"Hey!" Taylor answered. "Yeah, dude, did you see? Me and Kashi hit a sick double team Death Valley Bomb last time. It was even worse than what I did to [i]you[/]!" She said with a good-natured laugh.

"Hey, so, I just wanted to give you a call to see if you were coming tonight. Did you get the invite? Like, in the mail or whatever. Should be pretty cool, man, you can come check out the new place and junk. And you can meet Cassie! I waved to make sure you didn't feel weird or anything, since, like, me and Kashi kinda both beat your ass. It's all good, ya know?"

Ace laughed, having no hard feelings regarding the match.

"FUCK! That's today!? Holy crap I'm late! I'll catch the next train I can! I've heard a lot about how great Cassie is, so I don't want to miss out on meeting another great Canadian talent."


She sad, getting up to start getting ready.


"Oh I'm sure it'll be fine. It's not like I didn't put up a fight. At least I didn't go down as easily as Tai did when you guys fought him. Besides, I've still got some respect for Kashi not to treat her like shit, and I'm not looking to fight at a party, so it's all cool. What time should I be there? I forgot."

"Yeah, definitely. Your fuckin' kicks knocked some IQ points out of me. And I don't have any of those to spare!" Taylor joked. "Seven o'clock-ish. Or later, whatever, we'll be here all night. The address and the trains and everything are on the invitation. See you later!"

She ended the call, and then went back to find Johnny. She took him by the sleeve and dragged him around the corner into the bedroom where they could be alone.

"Hey," she said in a hushed voice and squared up to him, looking him straight in the eye the way she did when she was not fucking around. "Did you talk to your brother? Remember I told you to talk to him? I will not have him ruining Cassie's night. If just looking at him upsets her, Mamouru can spend the night in the garage or something."

Johnny was just milling about waiting for the party to start when Taylor grabbed him and pulled him into the bedroom. When she spoke to him, Johnny furrowed his brow. "No, man, I didn't." He said. "What do you want me to say to him? He doesn't even want to be here. If you want to talk to him because you're worried and junk, then go talk to him. Believe it or not, he doesn't like to cause trouble, babe." Johnny knew the kind of looks his brother had and that Taylor kept asking about it was something he didn't know how to respond to. There was nothing to say and Taylor didn't seem to accept it. Johnny sighed. "Listen, babe." he said. "If you're really THAT worried about it, you need to talk to ma, not Mamouru. And anyway, shorty can take care of herself. I don't think it's gonna be a big deal." Johnny leaned in to kiss Taylor. "Just worry about havin fun, babe." He said with a reassuring smile.

Once more the sounds of arriving guests could be heard. There was a loud knock on the door followed by a padding of feet from the house. "Iiiii'lll get iiiiiit~<3" Junko called and opened the door.

Akashi burst forward, smiling widely at Junko with Cassie in tow. "Konbaaanwaaaa!" She chirped and clicked off her geta sandals and stepped into the house with a fancy paper bag with kanji scrawled on it in one hand. She bowed to Junko who bowed back. Akashi trotted off, stomping around and looking about the place. "Imooooutooo-chaaaan!" She barked, trying to summon Taylor to her.

Junko filled the gap where Akashi left and stood in front of Cassie. She reached into the sleeve of her kimono and with a quick gesture unfolded her fan and held it in front of her lips. "Fufufu~" She chuckled and fanned her face casually. "Oh my~<3 Now I see what wall the fuss is about." She said, looking at Cassie with sparkling eyes. She closed her fan and slipped it back into her sleeve. Junko then bowed politely. "Cassie-chan, it's nice to finally meet you, fufu~ I am Higurashi Junko, future grandmother, fufu~"