Kita-Ku, Saturday, 7pm

Ro had just assumed Shinob would follow them when she yanked Johnny away, so she was alittle surprised that he did not. “Your friend get lost?” Ro said as she sat next to Johnny…probably a little closer than she needed to, but after a second she realized that and sat rather rigidly. “Ohhh, a friend showed up.”

The film continued, and Ro was getting really into it! It was a pretty good film, good action flic, which was right up Roâ€s alley. She loved this stuff. Soon the film ended, and Ro clapped. “Hahah, so I helped your house loose itâ€s virginity? Fucking A!” Ro laughed with Johnny. After a while, the crowed at the party began to distribute and Ro was left on her own with Taylor, Johnny, and Shinobi.

When Taylor spoke to him, Ro turned around to watch. “Pffft, ditching us for a better party? Ro said, giving him a teasing wink. “I see how it is, I know rejection when I see it.” It was quite clear that Ro was mocking him juuuust a bit and was very obviously not really upset, she was joking, and her tone showed it.

"Seriously, though, before you go leme give you my number so we can have that spar. You seem like a cool guy."

"Hey," Taylor shot Ro a look. "Take it easy."

Then her pretty smile was back and she returned her attention to Shinobu. "That's cool. We like the company, too... She's cute, though, huh?" She said, and brushed her bangs out of her face with her middle finger and tucked them behind her ear. "Like a little sister, I mean. She's our little Baby Bear."

She looked Shinobu down and up, at his snappy clothes and his blonde hair and his professionally practiced smile. Johnny and Mamouru both gave all the girls funny feelings, but grown-up girls could tell the difference between the two. Cassie still had trouble with that part, she got mushy around every guy with a jaw-line and a nice smile, but Taylor had been around enough Mamouru's to be able to sniff one out.

Not that she was suspicious of Shinobu. Not yet, anyway.

"But I guess she's not a baby anymore..."

Shinobu chuckled as Taylor stifled Ro. She WAS very energetic. However, Shinobu raised an eyebrow when Taylor came back at her. She looked friendly enough but her words felt as though they had a deeper point to be made. "Cassie-san is a very pretty girl." He said, turning his head. He was an actor first and foremost and understood what it might do to girls.

"Taylor-san." He said with a soft smile "I think she's a lot better than the starlets I'm used to being around but if you're worried, then why don't you and Johnny-kun come with me to my next party as well? We can all take a limo. You two count as celebrities. I'm sure no one will say anything. You may even be hounded a bit."

Johnny shook his head at the way things were going. Shinobu was a handsome guy but it didn't seem at all like he was as bad as his brother. In fact, Shinobu had told him what had happened the night that he went out with Jess. In Johnny's mind, that seemed to make him a decent enough guy.

"It's cool man." He said. "Go and have fun with Shorty. If somethin happens, we'll just kick yer butt!" Johnny laughed. He then looked at Ro and gave her a nudge with his foot. "So when are we gonna spar again, dude? Or have another match? It's been too long since I beat yer ass, man."

Ro only just now realized that something a teeny bit more serious than her teasing of Shinobi was going on, and her jokes were a little incongruous with the atmosphere. Ro calmed down as she was asked, but still had a slight smirk as she listened in.

Was Johnny about to leave with Shinobi? Ro didnâ€t tense up or anything, but isnce Johnny and Taylor were about the only people she knew here, thatâ€d probably make her call it a night or go bug one of her friends. Really she was just here because Johnny invited her.

When Johnny said he was gonna stay, she smiled, then she laughed when Johnny nudged her. She gave him a hard poke in the chest. “Youâ€re right, Mr. Higgs, we oughta go tear up the arena next chance we get.” Ro chuckled, “First chance we get! How about we try to set up a match this week?” Ro then glanced at Taylor, “And when do WE get a match?” She said, a mischievous and fun tone to her voice.

Taylor mirrored Shinobu with her easy, agreeable smile, and nodded her head. "Oh, yeah? We really don't get out much these days, so that could be cool. Right, Bug? We can show up like trailer park rockstars and try to explain to people why we decided to get beat up for a living instead of going to college."

She swallowed and gestured to the air with her hand. "And keep Cassie out of trouble, who knows who she'd meet at places like that. We don't want her getting a crush on the wrong guy. We all know how that goes, right?" She laughed grimly.

She cast a sidelong glance at Ro with a hint of a wry grin and raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, dude. We're not getting a match as long as you're still off playing with the boys, but I've been wondering when you were gonna get around to asking me that. I am always willing to kick your top-heavy ass around a ring. I'm a very giving person." She reached around Johnny and gave Ro a playful shove on the shoulder.

Although these kinds of things sometimes went over Roâ€s head, who was more direct about her feelings, she was starting to realize that there was some pretense and subtly going on here. Maybe Taylor wasnâ€t happy with this guy taking Cassie out? Bah, Ro saw Cassie fight. She could handle herself…then again, she was sometimes more like a teddy bear than a wrestler. Well, it was hardly Roâ€s problem. Shoving her face into other peopleâ€s business was Johnâ€s thing…helping a friend was one thing, she barely knew Cassie. None of her business.

But…while she was thinking about that, the conversation suddenly took a turn that grabbed Roâ€s attention. Her ears burned a bit as her face went a teeny bit flush. The way Taylor said that…‘why was she looking at me? Why is she smirking?...oh, I said something to her…â€

‘Crush on the wrong person…I havenâ€t done anything wrong though. Feelings arenâ€t wrong…†It took Ro a split second longer than it should have to catch Taylorâ€s joke. “Heh, I can take the train over to girl land.” She chuckled, rubbing her shoulder and giving Taylor a wink. “Naaah, your right, but that doesnâ€t stop us having our own match. You know, for funzies. Letâ€s do it sometime!”

Shinobu's phone buzzed while he was chatting. He looked at it and read the angry text from his Agent. He was still about an hour and a half away from Tokyo. If he waited any longer, he'd miss the party. That was way beyond fashionably late. He hopped up and bowed politely to the group. "I'm really sorry I couldn't stay any longer but I'm afraid my time has come. Thank you for inviting me, Taylor-san." He said, nodding to the hostess.

"See you later, Johnny-kun." He then exchanged numbers with Ro and took off. On his way towards the stairs, he saw Cassie and stopped. "Cassie-san." He said with a bow. 'It was nice to meet you. If you still would like to come to a party with me sometime, I'd like to give you my number.' He said, flipping out his phone.

Cassie noticed with considerable excitement that Shinobu was on his way over. She clasped her hands together in front and tucked her chin down shyly, peering up at him with gleaming green eyes.

When he pulled out his phone, she reached into a pocket on her cute white sundress and stuck out her hand. In it was a piece of paper, folded in half, with her phone number written on it in her friendly, immaculately neat handwriting, affectionately signed "Cassie☺".

"Here you go," she said. "Maybe after we go to a party I could take you to the gym, because... that's the only place I go, really. That, and food. Eheh." She waved. "Bye, Shinobu! Have fun! Thanks for coming!"

She stood smiling and still while she watched Shinobu leave. Once he was out of sight and the spell was broken, she shook her head and remembered that there were other people around too. She looked around and saw the taller, short-haired blonde standing nearby. It stilled seemed a little weird to call her Ace. It made her think of Jim Carey.

"Hi, Ace," she said, turning to face her with usual air of timid sweetness and sunshine. "Are you having fun?"

Ace was lead to the basement, enjoying the brief glimpses of Taylor and her husbands home. She might have to get some decorating tips from Taylor sometime. Her own apartment, while nothing to sneeze at, could do with a few changes.

Coming down the stairs, Ace let out an appreciative whistle, taking in the size of the home theater, big screen and all. There was even food in the back, something Ace planned on taking full advantage of, because free food was always amazing.

She turned as she heard her name, Cassie standing nearby, the blonde starting to take a half step back before noticing that the sumo wasn't next to her, having either gone on ahead or behind for the moment, allowing Ace to relax, smiling back at Cassie.

"Hm? Yeah! This place is pretty cool. I might have to ask Taylor for some tips on re decorating my apartment after this. This theater is awesome!"

She chuckled, noticing how sunny Cassie was. The girl had a reputation for snapping a couple peoples limbs in the ring before, but, while Ace wasn't the best judge of character, She found it extremely hard to believe that the girl was some kind of monster or out to hurt people, even if they had only just met. Hell, she was cute!

"Hey uh...if calling me Ace is awkward, you can just call me Haley if you like."

"Decorating?" Cassie echoed in confusion. Taylor decorated?

"Oh, okay. That's a nice name." She nodded her head. "How come you don't go by that? You could be... Silver Haley, or... well, I guess Haley Silver. Or something." She frowned as she thought about it. She wondered for a moment if she would ever consider wrestling under a different name. Maybe she could wear a mask and be a superhero! But she'd always considered herself the cape, no mask kind of superhero.

"So how are your matches going? I only kind of saw Iron Maiden... I was busy that night with stuff. But I was there for the Taylor match! You did really well!" She held her hands together like she was clapping. "I was so nervous! Because, of course I wanted Taylor to win, but it was a really good match. I hope you never kick me in the head!" She giggled, and wondered if that was a weird thing to say. It felt weird. She giggled weirdly.

"I just beat... Toshiko Nada. She was... really easy, but I think something was wrong with her. How about you?"