Every rose has it's thorn

Aoi clapped politely and sipped her drink. Even if most of the girls were unseemly, to do what Miss Sellers wanted would require some brutes in their rankes. It was not as though Aoi herself was completely innocent ina ll of this and she'd already seen her compatriots scoff at her own methods. Methods which had gotten the desired results and which was probably more of a reason for Reira's victory than anything else that had happened. At least, in her own mind.

She put on a smile and looked at the older red head. "I know that everyone is very happy to have you in our group. Welcome, Kirishima-sama." She said with a polite nod of her head. "Especially if the battle royale was a mere taste of things to come.

"Yeah, I'm sure you girls just love having someone like me around..."

Reira replied, though she nodded back.

"You know it is. I'll have that belt off John and around my waist soon enough. I'm sure we can all agree having the main Tension Title as the centerpiece of this group would make us all look good, and taking out John Mitchell would serve as a good message for anybody who would dare try and get in our way. With all due respect to Miss Sellers, once we have that belt, the Thorns would own this place."

Angela merely nodded not doing her best to remain civil even if she didn't cared much for Reira bragging. Poison on the other hand sulked on her chair, keeping her arms crossed and looking at Reira with a disdainful bitter smile. "You sure talk big for someone who has fought five minutes and needed help to win.... " Poison couldn't resist saying.

Angela who didn't wanted another confrontation, at least not here, moved a hand under the table to place it on Poison's leg trying to calm her down, but Poison seemed like she was not going to have any of it. She turned to look at Melissa directly with a wry smile. "You sure are putting a lot of money behind this loser.... are you sure she is up to the task?"

Melissa happily just cradled her cup in both hands, allowing the steam and aroma to gently heat her lips and the tip of her nose. It was pleasing that at least Aoi stepped up to welcome Reira, it took a lot of the fire away from Poison obvious reservations for the red head being here. As Poison made her cynical comment, Melissa regarded her

"I am more than happy to back anyone I believe in... Ms. Kirishima, as with Ms. Tamazaki, as with Ms. Keyes... As with yourself Ms. Poison. And to ensure that there is no hard feeling about Reira going on to have a shot at the Tension world title and you missing out on the opportunity... I have a little prize in mind just for you." Melissa took a lengthy sip of her beverage, keeping them on the edge of their seats with anticipation...

"I'm sure you'll like this, I'm going to give you a chance to get revenge on Mr. Gastin... A match, the loser has to depart from Tension. Their contract will be terminated."

Reira couldn't resist an outburst.

"HA! Excellent! Sounds like a win/win for me. If Pinky here wins, that annoying cowboy will finally be gone, and if she loses, then its bye bye Pinky. Either way, I win."

Reira grinned smugly, looking over at Poison.

"Tell ya what Pinky, do me a favor and try to win alright? Your a bitch, but I'd prefer you over that pathetic John Wayne ripoff..."

"Ms. Poison shall not be losing this match.." Melissa said, putting emphasis on Poison's name.. Perhaps very subtly advising Reira that maybe she should refer to her as such rather than as "Pinky"

"I am quite certain that Ms. Minetti, who will be backstage, might have something to say about it should the match be turning towards a certain direction.. Wouldn't you agree?"

"Right, Poison. Well, whatever you have planned, lets hope it works. I've been wanting that cowboy gone for years."

The champ-to-be replied, taking a drink of her water, wishing again that it was beer.

Poison liked the idea, she liked it a lot. Kicking Clyde out of the league sounded so good, and she was pretty sure she could win it easily, and even if for some strange reason Clyde got the advantage she was more than sure that Angela would have her back. It was great... Now if only that stupid monkey face Reira could shut her yapper.

"Sounds like a plan. So at least we will have something to celebrate once that stupid cowboy is out of the way, even if 'we' fail to get the world championship... " Poison said with a smirk. This was going to be so much fun, she was sure of it.

Melissa carefully brought her cup to her lips, closed her eyes and took another sip... At least it seemed that the state of discordance had lessened with the news.

"Also.." Melissa said as she opened her eyes and regarded Kelli, Emi and Aoi

"The Tension pay per view event is approaching. I would like to see you three again in a tag team event, you did a splendid job on Mr. Gastin and it would be nice to display to the AFW fans that you can handle yourself against an equal number of opponents as well."

Aoi lowered her head and politely bowed to Melissa and smiled. "It's a wonderful idea, Sellers-sama. I know we will b eable to prove that the Tension boys are no match for us, however many we face."