A Quiet Dinner Get Together

Alaina was happy to hear Cassie sound more like the Cassie she met in the cafeteria. She was afraid she was bored. "I met Mamouru after one of my losses in May. We were just professional partners at first, but we fell in love along the way." Alaina answered as she looked at Mamouru and smiled warmly. "Finding a guy who gets the business is hard, and before I met Mamouru I felt like no matter how hard I tried my best wasn't good enough. Now because of him I feel like I won't walk away empty handed anymore, and we just.... get each other I guess." With that Alaina brought her hand and gently rubbed Mamouru's back before resting it on his shoulder.

Mamouru frowned at Johnny's words but everyone else seemed perfectly fine with it. Before he could even respond, Cassie and Alaina were talking about heir relationship. Mamouru blushed furiously. How embarrassing. And Alaina was all over him now. Wasn't that GOOD? Wouldn't it make Cassie JEALOUS? Wasn't that something he WANTED after how she treated him? And Alaina had to use the L word. Mamouru had to really keep from literally facepalming.

He was so used to girls saying it that saying it back was just somethign so automatic. it didn't even pphase him and it was probably one of the greatest things that had happened to Alaina. Mamouru was TRYING to clean up his act though and even though Alaina was the type that he would have hit and quit before, he wanted to know if he was capable of real, genuine love. He had felt it for Cassie, or so he thought. Alaina WAS making him a better man too so he was conflicted deeply. When he looked at Cassie, she seemed out of place. Like it wasn't her. There was still a piece of him that wanted her even though there was also a part of him that loathed her.

After giving it some thought, Mamouru finally opened his mouth. "We're both very happy." Mamouru said as he lifted his head and looked at Cassie. His eyes held neither truth nor lies and his lips did not purse. Mamouru closed his eyes and lowered his head. "Alaina only needs to be more confident in her abilities. In herself. She has no reason to doubt herself in the ring or in life. I honestly have no clue where that comes from." That was the truth. He DIDN'T understand and while he didn't objectively believe that she had the same kind of ceiling as Cassie, he also thought she had the mindset to go further than Cassie. Mamouru had learned that Cassie was cut out for being successful in the business but was complacent to achievement as long as she won matches. Alaina, in Mamouru's eyes was far hungrier and certainly stronger physically which would help her if and when she started fighting the cream of the crop.

Johnny knew that Taylor wasn't a fan of Ninjette and he wasn't even going to try to hold it against her when she took digs at Kozue. If the situations were reversed, he doubted he could be fine with the situation either and the Jersey girl didn't exactly help her cause by enjoying antagonizing his wife.

"Well, I've been hittin it harder than usual. Don't really know how to train for a dude like King. I just hope I don't get my face caved in." Johnny said, laughing like it was no big deal. "Hopefully Kozue won't even have to tag in man. But I'm sure she can hold her own and junk." He had to at least give her the benefit of the doubt.

Taylor raised her eyebrows and nodded at Alaina, and tried to keep eating. Cassie fixed her big, perceptive, innocent eyes on the girl until Mamouru spoke, and then looked down at her fork while warmth and color added to her cheeks.

Taylor cringed at first, but tried to laugh along with Johnny's attempt at comic relief, but it came out sounding forced. "Yeah, hopefully," she agreed. "You totally deserve better than Ninjette, but if she's not going to pull her weight then I hope you never need her. She better be working her ass off right now, or else I wouldn't even take her over Bree. And that chick, ya know, that nutty little cat-girl, I kinda want to not like her, but... I kinda do. I dunno. She's just like... mostly harmless and fucking nuts. I think she'd be fun to hang out with if King was out of the picture. So maybe... after you take King out of commission, we could like, I dunno, catch up with Bree and just see what's up? Ha. It seems weird to think about, doesn't it? When you only know someone from TV?"

After having talked for a considerable length of time, the moment of silence that followed was crushing. Taylor realized how much she needed to fill every moment with chatter for fear of things taking a turn. She quickly chewed a bite of steak while she tried to think of something else to say.

But Cassie beat her to it.

"That's the same thing he said about me..." she said, looking in Alaina's direction, but not quite at her eyes.

Initially, Alaina had no idea what to make of Cassie's remark. A moment later it hit her. The awkwardness and unease suddenly made sense. "He.. used to manage you." Alaina said before burying her head in her hands. The old client Mamouru spoke of when they first met was Cassie. The "punk...bitch" was Taylor. They were Alaina's friends, at least thats how she thought of them. But she did love Mamouru, and whatever happened between all them caused Mamouru a lot of pain. Pain he still hadn't fully disclosed to her.

"Did I unwittingly bring a bunch of people together who really have no interest, hell, negative interest in seeing each other?" More silence. Alaina didn't know how it could get worse. L.C waddled over and jumped up onto her lap with all his corgi might, licking her face as if he wanted to at least make her feel better.

Charlie coughed as he opened the bathroom door, not knowing at all what was going on."Damn man, it was bad in there but I sprayed enough pine-fresh goodness to kill a rhino so its still safe to use." He said as he walked out into the silence, noticing L.C on Alaina's lap. "Soooooo.... s' up?"

Mamouru sighed loudly as Alaina finally understood what was up. He was about to speak when Charlie Funtimes showed up and rudely commented about his bathroom dealings. Mamouru dropped his fork and let it clang against his plate just loud enough.

He turned and looked at Alaina and smiled, ignoring the man otherwise. "You did nothing wrong, Alaina-san." He said as he patted her hand. "Junichi-kun and nee-san are my family. Why wouldn't I want to see them?" He then looked at Cassie, making eye contact as if to speak to her. "And there is no issue between Cassie-san and I that would upset the evening, I assure you."

Mamouru began to eat once more and after a bite looked at Cassie again, this time less directly int he eyes. "I was right then, too. Now you're doing quite well and you're on a good pace. You could win titles if you wanted to." He commented.

Cassie returned Mamouru's eye contact, closed-mouthed and still. She had to roll her eyes at his next line, though. Yes, Mamouru. I haven't won any titles because I just can't be bothered to go get them. What a narcissist, he only ever saw things his way.

Taylor did her best to segue into a new topic as smoothly as she knew how, though it might not have been any better than the last one. "So have you met Aurora?" She asked Charlie. "Her and Dark Angel are the reasons why Mamouru is managing your girl instead of Bear. She's a swell gal, that one, I wouldn't be in any kind of a hurry to meet her, if you haven't yet." She took a long drink of water while Cassie fidgeted.

"So I had a date," she beamed, somewhat abruptly. "With Shinobu Fujiwara. Have you guys heard of him?"

Oh boy. Ohhhhhhhhh boy. Charlie didn't know what he walked out of the bathroom into but it didn't seem good. If the talk of Talia had a borderline icy tone before, this was straight up frigid. "Uh, yeah I've met her already. Kinda funny story... but Aurora, Alaina and I all overlapped in the same highschool back in San Diego." Charlie said with a shrug and nervous smile. "She, ah... well she was pretty chill with me when I met her."

Alaina already felt bad about the uneasiness with Mamouru, but now Aurora too? Did half of Alaina's friends hate the other half? Was she in the middle of some bizzaro AFW civil war she didn't know about? She smiled nervously and rubbed her temple a bit, nodding in agreement as Charlie pointed out the San Diego connection. "Aurora and I played on a few of the same teams for a year or two." She added matter of factly, not wanting to sound too enthusiastic about it even though she got along very well with Aurora.

Right before Alaina figured things would explode Cassie saved the day. Alaina perked right up as the change in topics was music to her ears. Also, everything she knew about Cassie pointed at her being a sweet young lady. She deserved someone nice. Part of Alaina also felt a bit guilty. Mamouru and Cassie fell apart because of one of her friends, leading to Alaina being with Mamouru? "I can't say I know him, but its awesome that you went on a date! Did he take you anywhere nice?" Alaina asked out of genuine curiosity.

"Isn't he in movies or something? Ya landed quite the catch huh?" Charlie said. "Thats like.... totally badass." Charlie said to Cassie, more than happy to not talk about the animosity around his girlfriends sister.

Cassie nodded, with an enthusiasm that was genuine, though embittered somewhat by the knowledge of the effect that it might have on her company. "Yup, he's an actor. He's Sensui Uematsu, the main character in the Phantom Detective movies. They're really awesome, and pretty much everywhere. He took me to the premier of his newest movie, so I got to dress up and talk to all the famous people."

Taylor couldn't help but smile. She was so happy that Cassie had finally managed to hit it off with a guy who wasn't a total scumbag. Or her husband. Cassie and Johnny got along great, and Johnny thought of her like a little sister, but it was no secret that Cassie had always carried a massive crush on him. If Taylor was out of the picture, maybe they could even have been a thing. Either way, it was good she found Shinobu.

"We're going to have a second date soon. I'm really excited. He's really sweet, and he's very... like, dashing and... suave. He knows how to act with people. Not like all my wrestling friends!" She laughed. "It's an accomplishment if we get through a night without getting into a fight."

Taylor nodded. She had to give that one to her.

Mamouru quieted down when the topic of conversation shifted. He was thankful though it didn't really drift far from all the nerves that had been struck in the evening. Maybe it was even worse once he thought about it. How was he going to explain that he and Aurora had dated? That he'd slept with her quite a bit while they were dating. It was rather awkward indeed. And she clearly hadn't seen the match with Aurora and Cassie. That accursed match! Mamouru looked at Taylor. she was just saying it offhandedly but she couldn't be more right. Aurora and Talia had ruined his life. Aurora on accident but Talia very much on purpose.

And if that wasn't unfair enough?

Now everyone seemed to love Tali and they STILL hated HIM. Why was it like that? Mamouru closed his fist tightly as Cassie began to speak about her apparently perfect new boyfriend.

Mamouru lifted his hands and rubbed his temples. Why was he getting jealous? Alaina was right there and she was definitely a catch as well. That's what he had to tell himself. But why did he have to TELL himself? He looked at Cassie as she spoke. She was genuinely happy. He remembered when she talked about him that way.

Why was it the one thing he had done good in his life had been the worst mistake he'd ever made? He could have been dating her. He could have been WITH her and he threw it away to try and show her that he WAS good.

"He's your friend, right, Junichi-kun?" Mamouru asked as though he was a deflating balloon.


"Yeah, dude. Like, he didn't know shit about wrestling and I totally helped him in the gym. he was signed up with us for some movie and junk. Dunno if it ever got made or anything though." Johnny shrugged. "And like, maybe for some publicity, I guess? Dude's never even had a match yet. Who knows if he actually WILL but he's a pretty cool guy." Johnny looked at Cassie and grinned. "But I'll still beat his face in if he fucks around with you, shorty."

Mamouru turned his head. "Well, it sounds like Cassie-san's in good hands." He said, forcing a smile. His fist remained tightly clenched and the other hand which cupped Alaina's began to tighten around her hand as well.

"Alaina-san did well in her Summer Splash match." Mamouru said abruptly changing the subject. "She's looking to toughen up though in case those pirate girls try to mess with her again. I don't see that they will though. I think Alaina took the one out of commission for a while." Mamouru laughed sharply. "Though next time I'm at Summer Splash, I'll have to wear a helmet. That's two years in a row, I've managed to get assaulted by someone not involved in the match."

"I'd almost feel safer IN the ring!" He said, laughing at his own joke while he looked at Cassie. It was only a year ago when Cassie was trying to SAVE him and now she was almost openly dragging a knife through his heart with satisfaction in front of everyone he cared about. And yet, they all still loved her.

Cassie's forehead creased with concern and she looked at Alaina as if reassessing her. She wondered what kind of person she really was.

Though Mamouru's words were innocuous enough, Taylor clearly saw the rumblings beneath the surface. Forget everything else, this party was a time bomb, and she was starting to sweat.

"Mamouru..." She said, in a low voice, as evenly as she could. She only wanted to calm him down and avoid dragging Cassie into another catastrophe. She shook her head, and then looked from Alaina to Charlie. "How much do you know, really? You. Like... everyone with a TV or a computer or a phone or whatever has seen all of it, with... you know. What did she tell you about it? Why did..." She cringed at the direction her own words were leading them. "Ya know what, never mind. I'm sorry. Let's talk about something else, right? Like, fuckin'... shit, I dunno, seen any good movies lately?"