Valley Doll and Chris Morgan vs. the IRS

"You'd be surprised - twelve years is a long time to make mistakes." Valley groaned as she sat back in the chair, tossing her hair back. "Like doing a match with a barbwire ring lit in flames. That was insanity. And I had this one match against two dwarfs..." She ran a hand over her face, the mere memory made her want to retch. "Little people, sorry. Two little people in a tag match. That was when the company was really starting to go down the drain, we were trying to cash in on the Extreme Midget Wrestling thing, and oh, God, does it sound so obviously stupid now that I say it out loud. Uuuuuuuuuuuuugh."

She dropped back down and sighed, knocking a few of the papers away. "But yeah, sticking it to them was fun. And they're not the only ones you need to look out for - I've actually ran into more than my share of problem people since I got here, which is...actually pretty annoying, because I really wanted to stay low-key while I was in Japan." She looked up at the ceiling, ticking off her problems. "The masks, obviously they're a thing. But my first match here was a hardcore shot against this complete psychopath, Amethyst Velour. Beat her, now she's got a serious Joker/Batman hard-on for me. And then there's the really weird girl that got a cheap hit on my girlfriend in the World Cup tourney. Jane...Jocelyn? I think that was her name. Anyway, she's a thing I want to deal with sometime, too."

Valley leaned to the side, looking at the computer screen as all the tax laws popped up. Her Japanese was improving - she could read enough of it all to tell that she had no idea what any of it meant. It might as well have been in tagalog.

"Yeah, I kept them under my bed like a sensible person." She sat back, deciding it was best to let the master do her work.

Chris chuckled as Valley recounted her early wrestling history, particularly the match against the little people.
"See, but that's funny. Cute, funny shenanigans. Especially the part about wrestling the little people. And I think it's little people."
She paused in her work.
"But see that kind of bothers me, you know. Cause calling someone little seems demeaning, like they're not as important as a normally...heighted person." Chris said. "Heighted....that's not a word."
Shaking her head, Chris went back to sorting through the papers.
"It sucks though, having a psycho put you on her playmate list. But hey, at least when people see you, they know you. All people see whenever I come down to the ring is...." she began, but stopped for a moment before continuing.
"....the woman who broke up their favorite federation." she completed her sentence.

Giving a wan grin over in Valley's direction Chris added "So, at least you and Ace don't have that going for you. And yeah, Ace is a tough girl. She's young, so she's got some learning to do, but she'll make it through. Especially with the marvelously preserved Valley Doll watching over her."
"Side note though, for future reference, shoe boxes for your tax documents. Just scrawl the year that the documents are from and stow them somewhere. If you ever need them, at least the papers will be in some sort of chronological order..." she advised, briefly reverting back to her role as Valley's financial adviser. "It's not so bad though. I mean, I helped a guy who was putting his tax return documents in a box in a walk in freezer in his restaurant."

Valley sat back and let Chris do her thing. It was kind of impressive, really, and not in the usual way that Valley was impressed by things. Chris had a practiced eye as she sort through the papers like some sort of tall, blonde tax-filing machine. She wasn't the least bit intimidated by the pile, and Valley couldn't imagine what was going through her head. Heck, even if she could imagine it, it would probably all read like Greek to her.

She let out a low sigh as Chris mentioned her perception, the history with Wrestling Angels. They'd talked about it for the briefest of moments during the match, but clearly it was still a sore point, a mine field Valley was curious to navigate.

"Shoe boxes. Right. Just have to remember to put them someplace I can find them - organization isn't exactly my specialty." Speaking of which, her kitchen could use a little tidying. Dishes were soaking, dried dishes needed to be put up. It wasn't like she could really do much to help Chris besides signing some papers, so she pushed off from the chair and went to work.

"About the company, though...Wrestle Angels." She moved over to the sink and started to run some hot water, mixing in the soap. "Stop me if I'm prying too much, but what happened with that? I mean, really happened. I kind of got the impression there was a little more to it." She looked over shoulder, trying her best to look sympathetic. It was just them now. No cameras, no crowd.

"Yeah, finding them would be good." the wrestler turned tax consultant grinned back at her fellow blonde.

Chris took a breath as she thought about Val's question. No cameras, and no crowd. Not to mention Valley wasn't involved with anybody from Wrestle Angels in any way. It was a rare moment to get things off of her ample chest, to confess as it were. And Valley was somewhat impartial, not having her opinion swayed by any of the collapse's fallout.
"I got into the Wrestle Angels a few years out of high school. Well, their training camp at least. I was young, getting shot at living my dream. I wanted to be a wrestler ever since I saw Hulk Hogan."
She chuckled as she even posed, one arm extended straight and the other flexed. Although, the imagery was made even more ridiculous by Chris's glasses and outfit. Resuming her work, she shook her head ruefully.
"God I was such a dork." she said. "But, yes, I spent a year in training camp, and another in one of Wrestle Angel's little development leagues. I learned the basics pretty quick, and after I showed off my strength a bit, I got my debut in the Wrestle Angel's main show. I still remember it, they dyed my hair green for my debut against Jena Megalight. Oh, Val, I looked hideous!" she laughed. "You should go online and see if you can find a picture of it, oh it was bad. "Anyway, this Jena, she was a veteran and a beast of a woman. A big girl, like me. I think her nickname was the 'Suplex Monster.' We hit each other with everything we had, kicking out of finishers, and suplexes. I hit her with a piledriver and she kicked out at one. One, Val. But finally, I think because she got desperate, she went for a top rope move that I rolled away from. One massive running lariat later, I became the Phenomenon, the woman who not only won her debut, but did so against one of the biggest, strongest heels in the league's history."
Chris's eyes had taken on a faraway look as she drummed a pen against a pad of paper. It was her first match, and a hard fought win she felt proud of. Then her eyes hardened.
"Anyway, the president of the company caught the match and visited me later that night. He told me that he had never saw anything like it, or like me, and knew, right away, I was going to be a champion. 'Keep up the good work' he told me."
Checking some numbers for a moment, Chris paused and worked a bit before continuing her tale....

Valley was glad she could finally get the real story from Chris. She'd done some research on the Blonde Phenom after their match, but it didn't turn up anything more concrete than their little chat in the ring had. It was mostly tabloid crap, ruminations from the rumor mill, and while Valley was hardly A-list, she was close enough to stardom to develop a pretty good nose for manure. The internet was full of it when it came to Chris Morgan.

Despite the respect, though, even she couldn't help but burst out with a laugh when Chris mentioned that green. "Sorry! Sorry." She covered her mouth as she turned around, leaning against the sink to look down at Chris in full. "For the record, my agent tried to get me to dye my hair red, like that girl from Rumble Roses. Becky? I think that's her name. He said that blondes were too out of style, some crap like that, didn't want me to have the 'Pam Anderson' look, whatever that means." She turned back and started drying off the dishing, polishing them to a fine shine before she put them away. "Anyway, I know who Jena is, saw a picture for her a few years back. I thought she was a man at first glance, surprised they started you out. Even more surprised you won."

She got a little more quiet when Chris settled down, knowing they were about to step into dangerous territory. Landmines, here. Tread lightly. "So...what happened from there?"

Chris chuckled at Val's tale about refusing to be turned into a redhead. "You know, the producer for the show said kind of the same thing, that it was harder for blondes to get over with a crowd in Japan. I should've took your stance and refused. But I bet you would've looked better as a redhead than I did with green hair. It was atrocious. But right, continuing on."

"The president of the company came to my locker room after the match, while I was still celebrating with the few friends I made in training camp. He took me aside, congratulated me on the win, saying that it was the best debut he had ever seen, and the best match the league had so far that year. He told me to keep up the good work, and keep doing my best, and that he was taking a personal interest in my career. I asked him, if I could go back to being blonde, if I could please. I was oh so timid. But here I was, a foreign wrestler right out of the training camp, and suddenly the president of the company you wrestle for decides he's taking me under his wing. He said most definitely to the hair, he had the perfect thing for my image." she continued her own tale. "I went back to being a blonde, was dressed all in white and given these gold-ish arm bands and was billed the 'Phenomenon of Heaven.' Much better. It was hokey, sure, but I went with it. I found it pretty flattering, to be honest. An angel among the Wrestle Angels."
The statuesque blond shook her head.

"A few weeks later, I faced the champion." Chris continued abruptly. "The Wrestle Angels world champion, Bomber Kishima. She was another veteran, had this tough as nails reputation, you know. She and the fan favorite, Mighty Yukiko were best friends. I didn't know why I was given this chance, but I knew I was going to be in for a fight, but...it was a war. Kishima came to the ring pissed. Right from the opening bell she started brawling with me, before I even had a chance to offer to shake hands. I thought she wanted to make an example out of me, the gaijin newbie, so I fought back hard. I caught her early with a double axe handle on her back that made her writhe around holding her back, so I worked on that whenever I could. Bomber though, she earned her name I found out, with the massive bombs she had for strikes. We both had the same finisher, we found out, when we hit each other with running lariats. After that, well, I had meant to go for a powerbomb, one of the gutwrench ones, but once I got her over my shoulder and she was bent over backwards on top of it, she started screaming and thrashing, so I just....held her there. Brought myself up to my full height and squeezed down on her middle as hard as I could. She quit the match a few moments later. I couldn't believe it. I just knelt there, the belt in my lap. I noticed that Yukiko came to help her friend out of the ring. I figured I would go to help too....but the look she gave me was pure death. The president came into the ring then and raised my hand and led me out of the ring while I still confused by that. I asked him about it, and he told me that there were some that hated the fact an American was rising rapidly in the league, and that Yukiko and Kishima must've been part of that crowd. But he was different. He was truly making the Wrestle Angels international, by putting his faith in me now that I won the belt. He would take the hate from the more 'ignorant' types, but with me as the champion it would be the dawn of a new age in the organization. All I had to do was keep fighting at his side. And I swallowed that, Val."

Chris double checked some numbers before going on.

"I defended that title successfully for a year straight, against any and all comers. But, the rest of the roster grew more and more distant. The fans did too for that matter. They even began booing me. I couldn't figure it out. I mean, I never did anything to any of them, aside from what went on in the ring. And I never went crazy, always stopped when the bell sounded, never attacked anybody with chairs or anything. Hell, I never gave any of those girls as much as a low blow. But eventually, I got a match against Panther Risako. She...well she was sort of the den mother of the roster. Everyone respected her, myself included. But she always had given me the cold shoulder. So, I was pretty surprised when she strode to the ring and called me out. When I came down, she dropped a challenge for the title that very night on television. Of course I agreed to take the unscheduled match. The president was furious, though, which surprised me. I mean, I fought everyone he set me up with, why was he freaking out over an unscheduled match? So yeah, I fought Risako. The woman is a combat genius, Val. I mean, she never sticks with one style, is pretty well versed in every strike and slam in the book. She deserves the Queen of the Ring nickname she had. But she also fought me with the intent to break me down, and she revealed why after used her finisher, that capture suplex, crazily enough, as a counter to my running big boot. She brought me up to my knees and told me that this is what happens when my opponent's aren't hand picked for me. Then she kicked me in the head to put me all the way out, and won the match."

"Needless to say, the president wasn't happy, I wasn't happy. So our discussion after I came to wasn't a happy one. He was yelling about what we'd have to do to fix this, I wasn't convinced it was something that needed to be fixed since the better woman won the match. I stormed off, and spent the better part of a week doing my research on the president and the Wrestle Angels. Turns out, as you probably knew pretty early on, the president was kind of a morally bankrupt person. My match against Kishima came the night after she had competed against Beauty Ichigaya and was suffering from a back injury she got during that match. Came to find out, I wound up putting her out of action the rest of the year. All of my title defenses were either against people who just weren't good enough to be in the ring for the title, or against people who, like Bomber Kishima, had been softened up through tournaments or other qualifying matches. And the fans knew it, which was why, to this day, they've got reason to hate me. But yeah...I was a fool. A moron who couldn't see past the dream she thought she was living out. But my eyes were finally open. I went to the president and confronted him, only to find out that the Wrestle Angels was in financial trouble. I had mentioned to him, before, that I was good at accounting, and so he asked me to look at the company's financial records to see if there was something I could do. At first I refused, but he told me if things continued the way they were, Wrestle Angels would shut down. So, in interest of keeping everyone from wrestlers to maintenance crew employed, I did." Chris said. "The man was, as I said, morally bankrupt, and was driving the league financially bankrupt. Really, with the taking some of the women on the roster on vacations all over Japan, horrible investing, and some of the money outright disappearing, I was surprised the league was still going. I did what I could over the next few years. I was named the chief financial officer, when I told the president the company would be utter penniless in a year. I cut spending where I could....first with the crew, then on the roster, while trying to find new ways to bring in income. Swimsuit calenders, posters whatever I could legally, and morally sign people up for. I even wrestled under the president's banner again, letting myself be a hated heel to draw attention to matches. I did at least, get my title back from Panther Risako, no tricks or gimmicks. So that was a high point for me. But, yeah, eventually, the company did fall. It was a matter of time before it did, I guess. Sponsors were pulling out faster than anyone could bring in new ones, the president couldn't seem to stop making bad business decisions, and honestly, I don't know if I was good enough to be doing the books for such a large company, given my skill at the time. The rest is pretty much as you've heard it, I moved back to America, got out of the wrestling scene and followed my parents' advice and went into the business world. Well, until now obviously."
She looked back at Valley.
"So, given how things went with the Wrestle Angels, do you still feel comfortable about me messing around with your taxes?" Chris asked with a wry grin.

Somewhere over the course of the story - Valley couldn't be sure, she wasn't really thinking much about - Valley stopped washing the dishes and just turned to Chris, listening to her tale. And boy, it was a lot to listen to.

Valley understood. Wrestling was a lot like living in a soap opera, sometimes. Superstition, fear, jealousy, and it looked like Chris had been through it all. The woman had been through the wring, and Valley could hear it in her voice. Being a blond wrestler in Japan was tough enough, but it was like life had just piled on her to the point of absurdity.

But she raised a good question. Knowing everything she knew, could she still trust Chris to do her taxes? As helpful as she was, Valley did have the option of just going to Ace and having find someone else who could do it. She'd probably even pay for it herself, whether Valley wanted her to or not. Chris was being helpful and Valley appreciated, but she wasn't 100% needed.

"Yeah." Valley responded after a moment to take some serious thought. "Yeah, I'm comfortable." She leaned back against the counter with her palms pressed flat on it, staring up at the ceiling. "I mean, you had a lot of stuff happen to you, Chris. A lot. Even for this business, you've taken way more than your fair share of nonsense. But I don't see how any of it is your fault. You're a good wrestler, a great wrestler, and it just looks like you' ran into some bad people. Or a bad person, really. It happens to all of us, sooner or later."

She looked back down and nodded. "So yeah, yeah, I'm comfortable. Don't worry about it." She waved it off with a swipe of her hand towel, before going back to the dishes. "Besides, it's not like I could kick you out if I wanted to. Got to save my strength for Summer Splash."

Chris gave a smile back at Valley's answer. It's good to know she was still trusted, at least by one person.

Even if it was for tax advice.
"Thanks for saying that." she replied. "Seriously, it's good to hear it from somebody else, every once in awhile."

After a moment of silence, Chris continued on.
"So, back to the business of the night. I'm going to ask a few questions. The first, aside from the AFW, have you held any other jobs here in Japan?" she asked, her professional manner seemingly back in place.

Valley looked over her shoulder and nodded Chris way, letting her smile peek out through her long locks. Valley thought she was a halfway decent judge of character, especially when it came to wrestling, and she could tell - Chris was one of the good ones. If the AFW had more women like her - honest, fun, decent - it would probably be a more pleasant place overall. Not quite as good on the rating, but with less worrying about stumbling into a feud every other match.

"Jobs? No. Not that I haven't looked for a little extra money on the side." She opened up a cabinet and started laying up her dried glasses, getting them into a neat little row and making sure her collector's edition Star Wars cups weren't bothered. "Not much work for a thirty year old blonde wrestler who speaks Japanese about as well as a six-year old."

She reached over to the side and started up her radio, searching for some light jazz while they worked. "What about you? You do this tax thing often, these days?"

"Well, I worked at an accounting firm up until recently, handling the finances of clients. Taxes was one of the many things I'd have to take care of. These days though, not really. Aside from you and the one other client I decided to keep, this modeling agency. It was started by a wrestler....or sorts, and she's a friend, so I let her keep me on retainer, as long as I can still have enough time to train and stuff." Chris replied.
With a grin, she also replied to Valley's earlier statement.
"In Japan, you'd be surprised in the jobs a thirty year old blonde wrestler can get. The only problem is, none of them are very....decent." she grinned. "Now on to the next question. Have you had a Japanese citizen stay in your home as a permanent resident within the past year?"