When Tempers Collide

"I never said you shouldn't fight her, when you are healthy did I? Given all she's done to you I thought you would understand where I was coming from instead of telling me to stand in the corner with a dunce cap while you did what myself and half of Friction seems to want to do!" Alaina looked at Taylor and let out a sigh, rubbing her temples with her fingers. All this screaming was giving her a headache.

No one seeming to get where she was coming from, at least from what she could tell, might have added to that.

"I never said you DID!" Taylor shouted back, taking an aggressive step in even closer. "But while you were throwing your temper tantrum, I was keeping everything together!"

She paused, and her royal blue eyes smoldered at her kohai. Alaina was at once one of the nicest, sweetest people she'd ever known, but somehow, at the same time, she could be a real pain in the ass.

"Ya know what your problem is?" She growled, ready to say exactly what she thought.

Nikolette watched as they got in each other's faces. Her body tensed, but she let them speak. Blowing off some steam was good as long as things didn't come to blows.

However, as Taylor looked ready to get a little personal, Nikolette spoke up. "Taylor... our problem is Kelly and her gals."

Alaina stood still and kept eye contact with Taylor, not budging one inch. Normally, she didn't argue with someone she respected as much as Taylor. The last time she argued with someone she held in high regard like this, it was a doctor at the hospital she worked at and that was from their relationship falling apart. While this wasn't an extreme like that, Alaina had seemingly abandoned all civility.

She leaned in close to Taylor, not in a threatening way but in a confident way showing that she wasn't intimidated. "I'm being pulled in ten directions and have more problems than I can count, but you seem to have all the answers so why not fucking enlighten me."

"Alaina..."

Nikolette urged. "Don't. Not right now." Not with Taylor. "We all need to calm down and focus."

Taylor let her eyes linger on Alaina while she clenched her jaw tightly, bottling in the words she might have said.

She glanced at Nikolette, and then looked back at Alaina. "Yeah," she said. "Let's call it a night."

She narrowed her eyes at Alaina and then turned to leave, and didn't wait up for either of them. She smashed her way through one of the big hallway doors and stomped out of sight.

"You're not the only one with a million fuckin' problems..." She muttered.

A few hours later, Alaina was sitting in the kitchen drinking some coffee. She couldn't really sleep, she was still riled up from what happened earlier. However getting yelled at wasn't what kept her up. Alaina was thinking about everything Taylor said. Was she becoming unhinged? She thought she was just sticking up for Taylor. Still..... did everything that went down with Charlie mess with Alaina that much?

She had to concede that it bothered her for sure, and more than she might have wanted to admit before. As Alaina leaned back, looking up at the ceiling she heard someone walking in. As she turned to look, expecting Julia, she saw Junko instead. "Oh, hey Junko. What brings you out here?" Alaina asked, curious as to what Junko was up to. She seemed like a happy old lady, but Alaina knew there was always a method to her madness so to speak.

Junko had heard about what had happened after the promo. She wasn't there, but her eyes and ears found a way. As Alaina sat in the kitchen, Junko walked in and gave the girl a coy look as if she wasn't expecting anyone else. "Well, this is my kitchen, fufu." She teased. "I like to check up on it once in a while, you know, whenever my belly starts to rumble, fufu~"

Junko shuffled to the fridge and looked at it. She tilted her head back and forth and decided that she wanted to cook something. "Well, I'm going to make some taiyaki. Would you like any?" She said as she began pulling out everything she needed from the fridge.

She hummed as she began her preparations as if Alaina wasn't there but as she began to get the other ingredients out, she spoke rather casually. "You girls are getting along, right?" She said. "I know that there's a lot of pressure on everyone and I'd hate it if things started to fester among yourselves. There's too much outside to focus on to be distracted. Especially when we are supposed to be a family."

"No thanks Junko, I am not hungry." Alaina said quietly, sipping on her coffee again. Junko's humor at least put a small smile on Alaina's face.

However, that smile faded once Junko asked if the dojo family was all on the same page. Alaina let out a sigh.  She somehow caused her "family" to hate her earlier.  "Yeah... I guess I pissed off Taylor earlier.  Like, I thought I was sticking up for her but she got pissed at me for losing my cool.  I guess you can't please everyone all the time huh?"  Alaina said as she leaned back in her chair.

Family... Junko was Taylors family.  She was her ex boyfriends family.  Alaina took a breath and waited for Junko to tell her how Alaina screwed up and should apologize to Taylor.  Part of that might be true.  Alaina probably shouldn't have slapped Talia's jaw into tomorrow.  However Alaina should have absolutely stepped in when the two were coming at Taylor from behind.... at least thats what she thought.

just because Alaina didn't want any taiyaki didn't mean that Junko was going to stop making it. She practically had everything out already. While she started making the batter, she listened to Alaina.

"Well, Alaina-chan..." Junko began in a quiet voice. "Did you only attack Talia for the sake of your senpai?" She asked seriously. "I know that most of you are not from around here but pride is a very important thing in Japan. It must be considered very carefully before action is taken. Taylor-chan too, had wounded pride when it came to your attack, even if it does not seem like it. Everyone has a history with Talia-chan, unfortunately and Kelly-chan knows it, so all she needs to do is put her in the picture. Talia-chan is a lit match and everyone's feelings for her are black powder."

Junko was very calm and very philosophical on the matter. It wouldn't do to rile Alaina up when she was here alone. A deft hand was needed from the sensei.