Come Undone

Morrigan narrowed her eyes as Taylor spoke. She looked down at the contract and then back at Taylor. "I think you need to get something straight too." She said. "Lukretia didn't fire me. I left." She said. "As a servant I did everything I needed to do. That's why I was the head maid." Though she didn't really think it sounded very good. to boast about the fact that she was just a maid. Then again, it was for Lukretia.

"I don't really care if you remember it or not. It's not so much of a problem for you if you're trying to hire me, is it?" Morrigan said and shrugged. She could work for Taylor and do whatever she wanted outside of work hours. She was still under contract for the AFW as well. Technically she was still under Lukretia's employ, though she wasn't being paid anymore. What was signing one more contract going to do?

She lifted up the pen and then looked down at the contract, reading it over. "And you definitely are." She said, putting her name on the dotted line and then dropping the pen over it. She lifted her head up and looked at Taylor, grinning at her. "So, when do I start, boss."

Taylor found herself holding her breath while she watched Morrigan put her signature down on the contract. It was done. She felt a pang of anxiety stab into her chest as she considered what a monumental mistake she may have just made, bringing a deranged psycho, with a history of attacking her and her family, into her life. She must be nuts.

"Man," Taylor said, with a lopsided smile. "How does that feel?"

She could imagine the answer to that. Now that it was done, she couldn't imagine a scenario in which Morgan wouldn't try to ruin her life. People could even get hurt, and it'd be Taylor's fault for not just meeting them head on and beating them down. But did that ever really stop anyone? What did that solve for people like Brittany?

"You just started," she said. "But you can take the rest of the day to either think about how you're going to come after me, or chill out and think it over. I think... I might be the only one willing to trust you with this stuff. I don't know if it is a good idea, but I know it can be good thing." She leaned across the table and gave her a slap on the shoulder. "Now beat it. We've got to talk about you behind your back and shit. See ya, Morgan, I'll call you in the morning."

Morrigan looked at Taylor as she spoke. "To me?" She said and shrugged. "I guess we'll see." It didn't really feel any different to her right now. She had a lot to think about. She'd put herself in a good position anyway she wanted to slice it. All the doors of possibility were open and Taylor was the one who always had to live with the idea that at any point Morrigan could put a knife in her back. That alone was worth enough for the time being.

When Taylor told her to beat it. Morrigan smiled. She grinned at Taylor, feeling pretty good. "Yeah. I've got a hot piece of ass waiting for me I need to get to." She chuckled deviously and gave Taylor a salute. "See ya boss. See ya, gammer." She said to Junko and strolled out of the noodle shop.

Junko watched Morrigan leave and then sighed. She looked at Taylor with expectant eyes, not saying the words but giving her a look that clearly said the younger girl had some explaining to do.

"Yeah, but you don't, though..." Taylor said, not specifically loud enough, once Morgan was behind her on her way out the door.

She looked over her shoulder and watched the door, and as soon as it swung shut again Taylor collapsed onto the table. She bumped her bowl of udon with her head and spilled a little broth on the table. She straightened up and absently used her napkin to mop it up.

"Ohmigawd, du- er, Jun- um..." Fuck it. She still didn't know what she wanted to call Junko. She buried her face in her hands. "Please tell me I didn't just make the biggest fucking mistake in the history of fucking up." The words were carried along on her breath as she deflated into a state of hysterical regret. She looked up at Junko and leaned back in her chair and tried not to panic.

"I'm so stupid. Of course she'll try to fuck me over. But what if she goes after Johnny? What if she goes after you? Or Cassie or Kashi or anybody?" She drew a deep breath and let it out very slowly. She tried to compose herself, and then started over. "I think it's important to give people a fair shot. A real one. If you expect people like her to always do bad stuff, that's probably what they'll do. At some point, something's got to give, though. Someone's got to trust them enough to expect them to do something good. That's the idea."

She let the words sink in, for Junko and herself. That was her whole idea, and it may have been hopelessly naive, but that was what she had set her mind to, and she could never back down. And if Morgan and Brittany decided that they wanted to try to ruin Taylor's life just for the hell of it... Then it would really suck to be them.

She suddenly realized she was blinking back tears, and one of them escaped down her cheek. She quickly got rid of it.

"There's one thing I haven't told you yet. I think you'll like it more than I do." There was a note of guilt in her voice, and she didn't look at Junko when she said it.

Junko remained poised as Taylor seemed to instantly break down. All of the moment of what she had done sinking in. She kept her hands folded in her lap and just continued to look at Taylor with her look until finally she was done. At that point, she reached over and patted Taylor on the head, mussing up her hair just a bit. "Well... I don't trust her.' She said, stating the obvious. "But I do trust you." She said. "As long as you're prepared to live with the consequences of your actions, bad or good, then you made the right choice." She said smiling at Taylor.

She then picked up her bowl and slurped down the remainder of her soup and wiped her mouth. "You need to eat, dear." She said simply. "Just because it's cold doesn't mean you can just waste it." She then tilted her head and looked Taylor over, smiling a bit more wryly. "What's that?" She asked.

Taylor grabbed her chopsticks and began arranging the contents of the bowl in the order that she planned on eating them. She kept her head down, like she was fixated on the soup.

"Well..." She said. "It's about the contract." She ate a single fat noodle out of the bowl. "You know how... Wrestlers, AFW people, how the AFW kind of... covers their asses? Our asses?" She glanced up at Junko to see if she followed. "I mean like, anywhere else in the world if people did half the shit that goes on here, they'd be in jail forever."

She ate another noodle, and took her time. "Well... I was talking to Mercy, ya know. And... as a wrestler under contract with AFW, Morgan, Morrigan, she can pretty much do whatever she wants, and she's safe." She paused, with another noodle in her chopsticks halfway to her mouth. "Well, as my personal assistant... She's not."

She slurped up the noodle and while she chewed it she tried not to think too hard about all the horrible possibilities that she had just created.

Junko watched Taylor continue to not eat and shook her head. She just needed to dive right in but thankfully she started speaking to distract the older woman. "Yes, there's a lot of leeway given to people who beat each other up for a living." She said. She was curious where Taylor was going with things and tilted her head as she listened. "Well, what do you mean?" She asked., intrigued at what Taylor had up her sleeve.

"Um..." Taylor paused to think about it. "I'm really not sure how it works in the contract, like, it doesn't specifically come right out and say it. But I guess it's like a loophole or something, in the legal stuff."

She ate another noodle. "It means that if she tries to pull some shit and hurt you or Johnny or anyone, outside of the ring, that we can get her ass arrested and press charges. I feel like such a pussy just talking about it..." She scowled and shook her head. "Especially because I didn't tell her before she signed the contract. Like, I feel really dishonest. But... I wanted to make sure that I could protect you guys. And I wanted to make sure that she didn't do anything stupid."

She got a bunch of noodles in her chopsticks and sucked them down in a hurry. She was done being there, and she wanted to go home and hug Johnny.

Junko listened to Taylor's words and nodded along witht hem. She had a straight face as the girl explained that Morrigan might be legally liable if she did anything outside of the arena. It was a smart move but she could also understand Taylor's feelings. When Taylor finished her big gulp of noodles, Junko stood up. She cleared the table and was standing next to Taylor. She placed an arm on one side of her head and pushed Taylor's head against her chest and looked down. "She hasn't done anything outside of the arena yet." She said ina reassuring tone. "You're doing what you need to do as a responsible adult, Taylor-chan."

Junko let go. "Everything will be fine." She said and smiled. "There's nothing pussy-ish about covering your ass, fufu." Junko paused briefly. "Ja ne, Taylor-chan." Junko said as she pivoted and headed for the register to pay the bill. "I've got to get back to the house."

Taylor limply let Junko pull her head into her chest. She closed her eyes breathed a deep sigh. It was an indescribable feeling. One hand hesitantly wandered around behind Junko's back, but couldn't quite hug her before she was released.

"Thanks." Taylor got up and lagged behind Junko to the register. "Yeah, I'll see you later."

She pulled her phone out of her pocket, intending to call Johnny on her way to the train station. She needed his voice, and she really needed to vent and to get cozy on the couch with him. She turned the phone over in her hand and paused by the front door.

"Hey..." She said. Clearly she had something else to say, and not saying it was making her squirm. "I had a question for you, but..."