A Penny With A Hole In It

Blossom,s omehow, managed to keep her quiet while Death Bunny explained herself. It wasn't easy, and she nearly burst out several time in one minute. In the end, she managed to keep herself calm by sliding out of her sandals and sliding her bare feet on the floor. It just gave her something to fidget with while she waited for the chance to get her say in. When it was finally her turn to speak, she knew just the word to start off with.

”Yes!”

Blossom answered Death Bunny’s question instantly. There was, maybe, a half-second’s pause between the time she asked it and the response, since it had been on her tongue since they began. She might’ve been a little too loud, though. Attracted some curious glances from the other patrons and the confused waitress who was trying very hard not to stare at Death Bunny's ears. And failing.

”Sorry, sorry.” She shrunk back down into the seat, before looking back at Death Bunny with furrowed brows. ”But heck yes, I disapprove. Kelly Conway is a total butt! I mean...” She took a quick sip of water. ”Okay, yes, I know it can be tough to get ahead in Friction. If anybody knows that, I know that. But still. Kelly Conway? You are so much better than that. You’re better than her. You shouldn’t be her, her…” What was the word, what was the word. ”...lackey. And I don’t like seeing you following her. And I don’t like seeing you hurting people. Like, ganging up on people. It’s wrong.”

The soothing tea in D.B.'s hands swayed and rippled along with Blossom's impassioned reaction, although Bunny masterfully kept even a single drop from spilling over with her stone-walled and unflappable posture. Bunny anticipated that this was at the core of what Blossom wanted to discuss that night, and unlike during their slumber party, she was dead set on not letting Blossom cause her to waste a perfectly pleasing cup of tea by spilling it onto her lap...

"Ha...she is, isn't she? I should call her that to her face one of these days..." Although Blossom may not have been intending it, D.B. couldn't help but laugh slightly at Blossom's succinct summation of Kelly Conway as a person. A bit of levity she appreciated, sipping once again from her cup before continuing. "Listen, I knew signing up with her meant learning to swallow my pride in the process, that part was a given. I'm no goddamn lackey, but I'm willing to sacrifice little bits of myself if it means working my way up the bullshit hierarchy these people pride themselves on. I needed to do this...it was the only road laid out ahead of me that kept me in this business. Trust me, nothing happened to Taylor that that little tart didn't bring on herself..."

D.B. wistfully looked to her side and out the window to take in the scenery as she lowered her cup to the table, watching bustling Tokyo streets lit up with luminous billboards and uniformly conformed crowds of people politely waiting their turns at crosswalks. "But, if seeing me do these types of things bothers you so much...maybe you should stop watching me..."

Blossom was getting loud. She hated getting loud. She didn't have a good voice for it - too sqeauky, too nasally, too high-pitched. On top of that, it just felt wrong to not speak with her inside voice. Too rash and brash for her tastes. That was why a big part of her was dreading the next few minutes. She had the feeling her tone was about to go up a few octaves.

"I don't want to stop watching you. I love-" Blossom cut herself off and sat back, keeping that sentence forever unfinished. "I really enjoy watching you wrestle, I always have. I want to keep on enjoying it. I want to see you, you know, actually wrestling. Being good. Doing good."

She sighed and slumped forward, propping her elbows up on the table. She steepled her fingers for a moment, then looked up at Death Bunny, mustering the most serious face she could create. It probably didn't convey the feelings she was going for, but she was trying. "Okay, just tell me this - what do you want? As a wrestler? What are you trying to get out of all of this?"

Staring outside and losing herself in the metropolitan scenery wasn't done simply to take in the sights. Moreso for most people there were certain things easier to say when you weren't looking the other person directly in the eye, and this was Bunny's sly way of doing just that. By now D.B. should have known better than to once again attempt to slink her way out of Blossoms life, but it was an old habit not easily forgotten. D.B. wondered if it would make working with Kelly easier though...knowing she wasn't watching her...

D.B. turned away from the window to face Blossom when she thought she heard something she was not ready to hear. If by some manner of absurd happenstance, a thundering pickup truck would careen down the street and give the both of them a welcome distraction. She clenched her tea cup tighter when Blossom started to heap on the praise and admiration ending with what was a legitimate question, the retired grappler striking D.B. more like her therapist at this point.

"I’m not some mystery box you need to unravel, Blossom. Maybe I want to be World Champion because I come from a long line of wrestlers and I wanna make my parents proud. Maybe I want to win that championship just so I can drop it in a trash bin and light it on fire. Maybe the mere sight of that wholesome fucking Higurashi dojo compelled me to tear away at it's foundation just to see if it would still be standing once I was done with it. What the hell difference does it make in the end, as long as you know this is the only way I can attain it? And you know, I'd think after what Taylor said to you, you'd see what happened to her as just long overdue karma biting her in the ass..." D.B.'s own tone would start to get more confrontational, staring right back at Blossom with the same piercing glare she would be intimately familiar with by now.

God, this was hard. Harder than it should be. Harder than it had to be. Everything just felt so off, like it was some weird parody of the way she wanted her life to go down. She should've been enjoying this time with her friend, but instead, they were glaring at each other. Death Bunny's stare was piercing, like this crystal gaze that shot right into her heart. She hadn't seen that kind of look since the first time they'd met, when they hadn't even known each other. She didn't want to see it again.

She withered under the look for a moment, before shaking her head and straightening up, staring Death Bunny back in the eye. She couldn't back down. Not now.

"Listen," Blossom bit her lip for a moment, carefully considering her words. She wished she could make a script out of this. Take her time. Pick the words more carefully. "I met with Taylor, we ran into each other at the park. We talked. She's not..." Blossom laid her hands down on the table, nice and soft. "She means well. She's a good person. And, being honest, she was right - I didn't belong in the ring. And I'm happier now than I ever was, before. And even if she was this terrible person, even if she was just this mean bully picking on me, that wouldn't excuse you working for someone who's even worse than she is. It can't be to get at the title, because Kelly's a coward. She's not going to face you if she can help it, and if she does, she'll just cheat. She cheated to get the title, you don't think she'll cheat to keep it? This isn't a situation where you come out ahead."

As if debating philosophical musings on some mountainous landscape, the conversation the pair of them were having was slowly becoming something more substantial. Though the more Blossom prodded and probed with her inquisition the more D.B. realized she was finding herself actually defending her actions to Blossom. As if she was not only seeking out her opinion, but perhaps more accurately, her approval, which was becoming more and more unlikely. That realization and the sudden impasse in their debate made D.B. realize the futility in all of this, her voice raising slightly to reflect her frustration.

"And yet if it wasn't for Conway I would have left this league without a care given, and who knows where I would have gone from there? Certainly not any place where you could see me wrestle again, maybe out of your life for good. Where this situation takes me has yet to be determined, and I'm not looking for excuses or vindication or your fucking approval over what I've done!! Just...*sigh*...we're going around in circles now." D.B. would slump back in her chair and pinch the bridge of her nose briefly to settle herself down, now speaking with her much more restrained in-door voice. "What's done is done, and I don't regret tearing into your hero Taylor one freaking iota just because she may have found some humility after I beat it into her. I haven't heard from Conway since that night, and I'd just as well assume that our business is concluded, so this is all moot anyway. Let's just finish eating so we can end this night already. Was a stupid fucking idea in the first place...

As if on cue the over-worked waitress would slide in and serve them their plates of food, for D.B. a plate of Japanese curry with a side dish of Oshizushi which she quietly began to dig in to. The waitress forced a smile while serving them food, not attempting any light-hearted banter intended to garner a hefty tip given the heated discussion they were just having.

It got quiet for a while. Too quiet.

Blossom absent mindedly picked at her meal, looking down at it while she tried to think of what to say. Or, more accurately, how to say it. She knew the words, it was just the delivery that would be hard. But she had to get it out. She'd spent the past year with this woman, knew her better than anyone else on this island, had stronger feelings for her than just about anybody she could name. If she didn't say it now, she never would.

She looked up from her food and took a deep breath. "I love you."

"....."

There would be no thundering pickup truck this time around. Only several seconds of deadening silence that accompanied those words. D.B. was already slouched over, looking down at her food and was about to scoop in another mouthful. Instead she placed her utensils down and placed a gripping hand over her face.

...She always knew it. But up until now it was something not spoken aloud, easily ignored. Now no matter where the conversation went, things would be different...

In a huff D.B. would slide out of her seat, scrounge through her gym bag and put the money she owed for the meal on the table. "Finish your food. Or not. I'll be waiting outside to take you home..." During her sudden departure and beeline trek out the restaurant and towards mounting her bike outside, Bunny made sure not to make eye contact with Blossom.

It was in that moment that Blossom knew exactly what a deer in the headlights felt like. As Death Bunny said what she said, all she could do was sit there. Still and quiet. All the sudden she was alone, sitting at a table meant for two and staring at a couple of meals that would never be eaten.

Blossom left a healthy tip - seemed like the least she could do after wasting the waitresses time and making a fuss. And then she stood up and left the restaurant. But she didn't go out the front entrance, where Death Bunny was with her bike. She went to the side and started walking on the sidewalk, heading towards her apartment.

It would be a two mile walk, more or less, but she'd get there. Not the way she wanted to spend her night, but she couldn't go on that bike, right now. She couldn't sit behind her and take the silence she knew was coming. Maybe what Taylor had said was true, maybe she was tough, but even she couldn't endure that.

So, Blossom started walking home. Alone.She kept her head low and her breathes controlled, trying hard to fight back the watering of her eyes.

For her it was just so strange...and foreign. It was never in her blood to run from anything, but when confronted with responding to what Blossom had said, and laying everything on the table like that...it was all she could think to do. A gut reaction that caused her fight or flight response to immediately switch scripts. Now she stayed there, hunched over on her bike not knowing how to feel or what to say. So lost in swirling thought and emotion that it took about ten minutes before she realized that Blossom had ditched her after looking back inside to find her missing from their table.

*Tch!!...That idiot...!!* Speeding off down the side streets would turn up nothing, D.B.'s motorcycle weaving in between traffic down the jam-packed streets as she scoped out the sidewalks. You'd think finding someone dressed like that wouldn't have been such an issue, but anyone could get lost in this never-ending sea of pedestrians. At some point in her futile searching she found herself starting to worry. Panic actually. Her heart was racing until she was nearly side-swiped by a speeding SUV. The brush with death worked wonders for her though, slowing things down to a halt and making her calm down and focus after pulling over.

*...This is ridiculous...I already know where she's going...* With that clear revelation coming to her later than she would have liked, D.B. drove the rest of the way back to Blossom's apartment and parked just outside. Coincidentally in the same space since last time she was here. Gauging her timing with how fast she was going, Bunny knew she had beaten her here, even if Blossom was able to catch a cab. She approached the familiar building and sat herself down right by the main entrance, curled into a ball with her head low and her arms wrapped around her bent legs.

She looked like a vagrant, though the bunny ears made her look more like a mental patient so no one dropped any change. Nevertheless she waited patiently....and pondered. Maybe Blossom had somehow gotten here first without her knowing...or decided to go somewhere else. But rational thought had it's chance. Now she was relying on her gut instinct, which told her this was the best chance she had of meeting up with her again before the night was over. Even though that was what caused her to leave Blossom in that restaurant...

"...*sigh.*..."

...she just wanted to see her friend again.