Dinner For Four

Alaina had partaken in many different interviews, autograph signings and community events before but this was different. She was told there would be an interview of sorts and that it was at a fancy restaurant, the kind of place where you needed a suit and nice evening gown to wear in order to get in.

Alaina had her hair done up, wore a little bit of makeup, had a pearl necklace, a tight black sleeveless form fitting dress with a slit up one side to show plenty of leg along with a pair of black heels. The amazon arrived and walked in, escorted to a private back room. She tilted her head to the side and observed a camera that was set up, no interviewer and four settings in place.

It seemed like a dinner for four although Alaina had no recollection whatsoever of any other mention of others being interviewed. Alaina shrugged it off and took a seat, slinging her purse over the back of the chair while she waited for whomever was coming to interview her to arrive.

So, while Valley was done in Friction, Friction wasn’t quite done with her, it seemed. With her second match against Daisuke in the books and her place in the brand solidified, she’d received a call telling her about an interview back in Tokyo, probably just to give some of her leaving thoughts. She’d been iffy on the concept, wanting to take her time with Ace to get settled into the new routine of things, but when they’d told her the interview would be at a restaurant and that they’d pay for the meal, well…

Old indy wrestling habits died hard. Never say no to a free meal.

So she took a train down to Tokyo, figuring she could do the interview and come back to Ace with good enough time, maybe surprise her girlfriend with a movie night if the stars aligned. She came into the restaurant with a purse slung over her shoulder and a pink dress, along with denim jacket, a cute little number that she was probably a little too old to be wearing, truth told. She stepped into the restaurant and promptly made her way to the designated spot, only to find herself staring at…

”Alaina?”

She canted her head to the side, surprised to see the Amazon here. Judging by the outfit she had on and where she was, she doubted it was a chance meeting, either. ”Hey, good to see you.” She stepped forward and shook her head with a sighing laugh. ”I really need to talk to management about these little surprises.”

When the door opened up Alaina turned and smiled. She was expecting to be greeting whomever it was that was doing the interview. Instead in walked Valley Doll, and while Alaina's smile never wavered a bit of a look of shock appeared on the rest of her face as an eyebrow raised. "Val? Wow I wasn't expecting this! I was told to come to a fancy place to eat and have some sort of interview, although I am really starting to think that this is going to be far from a typical thing." Alaina said as she got up and made her way to Valley Doll to give her a hug. Alaina didn't have to bend down or shrink to do so given the women were the same height, a welcome change for the amazon.

She glanced at the two remaining empty chairs and shrugged a bit, chuckling aloud. "Who else is going to walk through that door?"

Silver Ace let out a small sigh as her Uber pulled up to the side of the street of the fancy restaurant the company had chosen for her interview. <"Ok Miss, here we are."> her driver spoke, and she asked him to give her a minute, the Canadian having a brief feeling of pride in her success in speaking the full sentence in the native tongue. Sure, she was no expert, but those lessons were paying off a bit.

She pulled down the mirror above the windshield, nerviously making sure her silver-dyed hair was just right, and putting in her red eye contacts. She had good reason to be nervous. It had been over a year, since Avalanche 2018, since AFW fans had seen or heard from Silver Ace, the 26 year old Canadian taking an extended break from the ring since her last ppv appearance. After enough time away, she contatced the league and informed them that she was ready to return...and they promptly told her they wanted her to do a special interview, no doubt, she figured, about her long absence.

Originally, she had considered skipping the whole thing, and staying home and continuing her attempts to learn to cook by making dinner for her and Valley, despite her previous mixed results with such endeavors, but the older blonde had been forced to pass on the offer, claiming she was also doing some promotional work for the company, (Ace assumed in Tension, Valley's new wrestling home,) thus leaving the young woman with nothing else to do.

Funny really. Wealthy as Ace was from her still strong inheritance, boosted of course by a well paying AFW contract and a few outside deals, she simply couldn't resist the lure of free food.

She pulled some cash yen out of her purse as a tip for her driver, and got out of the car, straightening out her dress, a backless blue number that stopped just short of her knees, with a light small jacket, one she had admittedly stolen from Valley's half of their shared closet, and heels to match. Perhaps it wasnt super fancy, but she looked good in it, and wanted to look nice for her return to camera.

She entered, being quickly led by the wait staff to the private room...where she found the league had apparantly mislead her about being alone.

"Alaina? Valley? They dragged you into this too!?" She exclaimed with a laugh, giving Alaina a hug, having not seen the Amazon in quite some time. Towards Valley, she flashed a grin. "And here I just thought you were trying to get out of me making Canadian Gumbo."

"Excuse me sir, you can't park here...you need to leave, immediately."

The Uber driver still counting his tip was startled to find his modest town-car swarmed upon by restaurant employees, one of whom was now tapping on his driver's side window and ushering him along. The majority of them quite literally rolling out a freshly cleaned red carpet and setting up a velvet rope from the curb of the sidewalk towards the restaurant's entrance doors, behind which would come the restaurant's owner. An uptight, prudish individual adjusting his bow-tie and dabbing a handkerchief against his sweaty forehead as he tried to settle himself down from having just been informed of whom was about to make their arrival. AFW maintaining absolute secrecy amongst all else to curtail any chances of a media circus given the assortment of world renowned sports entertainers gathering together under one opulent roof...the last of whom just now arriving in an elongated Mercedes-Benz limousine with an SUV both leading and following it. A security detail leaving those SUV's to take point all amongst the restaurant as the driver of the limo opened the passenger side door with a respectful bow...a pair of designer high-heeled shoes clacking upon the sidewalk with their owner stepping outside.

"M-Madam Bettencourt~...Allow me to just say that it will be an honor to serve-"

"YesYesYes...the honor is all yours, I'm patently aware. Do me the courtesy of withholding such banal formalities and kindly show me to where this supposed interview will be taking place."

Standing tall with a primp and perfect posture, Gwendolyn Dupont Bettencourt swiftly dispelled the owner's patronizing with a dramatic flick of her golden locks. The dignified socialite dressed for elegance in a royal blue dress with blue/white tippet, a hint of wafting aroma from her dainty perfume as she started making headway in approaching the restaurant, arms folded beneath her bosom and each hand clasping the elbow of her other arm. The flummoxed owner scampering ahead so he could lead the way inside the restaurant himself. Such dull proceeding's would ordinarily be beneath Gwen, and a stipulation of her AFW contract bequeaths her full freedom to disregard any interview requests. A proviso she utilizes quite often given how limited her time normally is, especially since deciding to frequent Tension's arena. However...when she was informed that the interview segment was to be titled "Gwendolyn: The Beauteous Rose Of The Wrestling World."...she opted to allow AFW the exquisite privilege of basking in her radiance and peppering her with various, pre-approved softball questions. The owner opening the door to their private dinner quarters and staying outside while the heiress arrived as only she can. Arms extended widely to her sides and eyes tightly shut as she proclaimed to the heavens.

"Rejoice!!!, and let not your eyes deceive you~...For the paragon of upper-class sophistication...The beau idéal of civility amongst the nobility...and the topic of your quaint interview segment has arrive-" Gwendolyn balked from the slightest opening of her eyes, recognizing the three occupants immediately and adopting a disappointed, banal glower with slumped lifelessness to her arms and shoulders. "...oh, it's just you three. Two of my most competitive, combative, contentious wrestling rivals......and Valley." A snipe at the Californian being taken as she lumbered onward towards the dinner table. "If this is some manner of trickery meant to hoodwink me into one of those ghastly food matches, I'll have you know that my security detail is but one high-pitched whistle away..."

Alaina saw Ace come in and smiled at her, but before she could approach and greet her another woman walked in, this one in a much more contentious manner. "Ace it is great to see you again! I've missed.... Gwendolyn?" Alaina said in shock as she saw the socialite walking in. Alaina cleared her throat and motioned to the seats as the amazon herself sat down.

"Okay.... since there are four of us and four seats I think this interview is sort of self-directed? At least that is my guess. So ladies we may as well take a seat although I can't figure out why Gwendolyn is here." Alaina said shaking her head as she sat down. Valley, Ace and herself were known to be far more of a face or fan favorite. Gwendolyn was something of.... well.... Gwendolyn was her own beast in Alaina's mind. She used trickery yet she had tons of talent to the point she didn't actually need to resort to anything.

Not sure where to start or begin Alaina did have a question in mind, and one she hoped wasn't going to ruffle too many feathers. "So Ace where have you been? I haven't seen you around the ring in forever it seems. Is everything all right?"

Valley saw some movement out of the corner of her eye and gave it a half glance as her mind registered who was coming her way. ”Ace?” She perked up at the sight of her girlfriend coming in, dressed in…

”Hey, my jacket!” She chuckled and moved in to hug her and give her a quick kiss, blushing a little bit. The two of them had been so busy this time of year, moving all over the place with conflicting plans, this was exactly the kindof thing she’d been hoping to do at some point - just have a night out with a good friend. ”Sorry, didn’t communicate better. Kind of a last minute thing.”

She was just about go on and sit down when, well...Gwendolyn happened. She spun about as the woman came in all her bluster, announcing herself in the expected bombastic way. She had a long, hard sigh, realizing that her night was about to become a lot more aggravating than she’d previously expected.

But Ace and Gwen were on relatively good terms. She could play nice. For now.

”Good to see you, too, Gwen.” Valley put on the biggest, fakest smile she could muster without vomiting. ”Glad you could find the time to mingle with us mortals.”

This was actually better than Ace had expected. With her recent time off, and Valley in Tension, there hadn't been much time to just chill with each other and friends, so whatever plan AFW had cooked up seemed pretty nice at the moment.

Ace had just been about to joke that anything Valley had that fit her was going to be worn, when a fourth person arrived. Very loudly arrived. Very loudly and boastfully arrived.

Ah. Gwendolyn.

Of course.

"Play nice and you get ear nibbles." she whispered to her long time girlfriend, patting her on the shoulder before turning towards her former rival. "Gwen, heya! Certainly wasn't expecting to see you here. Kinda weird the company we all work for wouldn't tell us any of this in advance, eh?" she said, slipping into an exaggerated Canadian accent at the end before taking her seat.

"Noooo way, I'm not throwing any food at you Gwenny, I saw your Tension debut, I dunno what your planning to do to that cute speedo boy who caked you, but knowing what you can do, I don't want any of that wrath coming down on my head." She said with a chuckle, before turning back towards Alaina.

"Right, uh, kinda weird to interview without a host, but yeah, guess this is some kind of special..."sit down with the wrestlers" kind of thing then? Just chill and eat and enjoy each others company? I'm...actually pretty down with that. To answer your question, I'm fine, really. I just needed a year off. Had a lot of small injuries build up that I wanted to heal from, wanted to head home to visit my parents, kinda...kinda just wanted some time to really clear my head ya know? Re-energize, re-focus, that kinda thing."

She picked up a menu, starting to look through it before looking up again. "What's got me curious though, is why these two hot blondes next to me..." she said, indicating Valley and Gwen "...decided to ditch the land of hot half naked babes and join the land of half naked dudes. I mean, they have BOYS there." she said, making a face of mock disgust.

Immediately ascertaining that her proposed interview segment, "Gwendolyn: The Beauteous Rose Of The Wrestling World", was indeed nothing but a conjured up farce to ensure her participation in this clandestine rendezvous, the heiress sulked onward. She'd already determined that this night was nothing but a complete wash considering she'd cleared her schedule for the rest of the night not knowing how long this would all take. So it was that she opted to make the most of this treacherous debacle by partaking in whatever culinary comforts this restaurant had to offer, perhaps they could satiate her palate enough to distract her from the rambunctious company she'd been scheduled to dine with. Gwendolyn primly ignoring the bombardment of disparaging remarks, crass comments, and flippant tones directed towards her as she demonstrated her upper-class mannerisms towards royal etiquette by seating herself and crossing her legs at the ankles, taking the handkerchief beneath the silver ware and folding it over knee while responding in kind.

"My reasons for partaking in both brands are mine and mine alone. Though one can hardly fault a lady of my robust wresting expertise to seek other venues of worthwhile challengers when the current federation is failing to provide adequate opponent's for whom I can spar with~..." The haughty socialite's snooty head held high as she responded, eyes listlessly half-lidded while taking the time to meticulously arrange the cutlery and utensils in front of her in proper fashion. "Whatever my reasons are, I assure you they are of more noble intentions than scrapping and clawing for some manner of long-since expended popularity and definitive relevance in the public's eyes in the waning twilight of my career~..." A not so subtle jab at the only other blonde lady at the table who just so happened to join Tension at the same time she did.

Valley still wasn’t sure what she thought of Gwen. The two of them had only been opponents once, and never in single competition, but that had been more than enough time to get her measure and see that she was a formidable opponent. She had to respect the woman’s skills, but that encounter had always left a bad taste in her mouth. She was over not getting the tag titles, but a very real part of her wanted another crack at the woman, wanted to see how they’d stack in a one-on-one affair. The Power That Be just hadn’t seen fit to make that happen yet.

But she was a patient sort, and she wouldn’t push it today. Not with the promise of ear nibbles coming her way. ”They better be some good ear nibbles...and licks, too…” She negotiated through her whispers, then accepted the terms. She’d play nice. Nice-ish, at least.

Valley sat down like a good girl and started perusing the menu, scanning for something simple - she had an odd taste for tomato soup, but doubted they’d have anything that low-class on the menu. At least, they wouldn’t just call it tomato soup, if it was.

She threw Gwen a hard glare over the menu, before dipping back behind it to hide the annoyance on her face. ”Well, I had a nice run with the Entropy Title. Not something that every woman who held it can say.” She peeked back out over the menu at Gwen, looking for reactions, before retreating again. ”I’ve had a lot of good matches. That match with Natasha Han, the stuff with Alicia, a few good streaks...it was a good run. Tension is a good place to start fresh, take on new opponents, mix up my career a bit. It’s all about testing myself. If I want to say I’m the best in the AFW, I have to take on all chromosomes.”