Lunch of MYSTERY!!!!!!

Vrooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooom vroooooooom vrooooooooooooooooooooom

That’s the sound of a motorcycle.

John had two bikes, both antiques. One passed down from his grandfather, the other he bought really cheap and fixed up himself. Right now, he was riding the latter. A World War II British (Australian, in this case) Norton 16H Motorcycle.

He didn’t have a car, which was fine since parking was a bit of a bitch in Kyoto anyway, but he had fun on his motorcycle. Plus, he enjoyed working on it and restoring it. He’d spent the whole morning, in fact, trying to fix up what just turned out to be a bad spark plug, and he was giving it a test ride to Tension. Maybe he’d hit the gym and grab lunch.

John parked the car in the garage, removing his helmet and taking off his old army jacket. He flung the jacket over his shoulder and held onto the helmet, until his phone gave a buz.

Looking down, he saw a message from Tali. Huh, he hadn’t heard from her in a while.

"Hey! I wanted to chat about something, want to get lunch?"

He put his helmet down so he could type, leaning against a wall in the garage.

“Sure. Im at Tension now. Where are you? We can meet up.”

After all, he had little else to do, and Tali was good company.

Talia's phone vibrated almost instantly after she had hit send. The answer made her grin, John had taken the bait. Now she just needed to convince him. She thumbed out a reply.

"I'm nearby. How about that noodle house next door?"

She hopped out of her chair and put on her winter coat. She left the office and headed down the elevator and out the tension building into the cold air. Her outfit wasn't particularly suited for the weather. She put her hands in her pocket as she walked down the sidewalk towards the restaurant.

!!!! BAIT !!!! Clearly, this would be a lunch of mystery.

But, alas, John did not know that.

He was still leaning on the wall, waiting for a reply, when his phone buzzed. Immediately, when he read the word noodle house, he had the image of the noodle restaurant from Bladerunner…naturally, though, the place was nothing like that. He kenw this noodle house, the image was just a thought that floated through his head.

”Sure. Be there in 5.”

Fortunately for him, his Army jacket was a lot better suited for the weather, and he was already wearing gloves. Taking his helmet and tucking it between his arm and his side, he started out towards the noodle house.

It wasn’t long before he arrived, walking in the door and scanning real quick with his eyes, seeing if Tali was already in there or not.

(OOC: Relayed Talia's post)

TaliZorah wrote:Talia waved when she noticed the motorcyclist walking towards her was John. "Hey there John!" She was wearing her winter coat and a work formal suit, a far cry from him. "How have you been?"

Ah ha, there she was. John noticed Talia waving, and then talking to her. With a smile, he sat down and tucked his helmet underneath his legs. A quick glance told him that she was wearing her work clothes and must have been in the office.

"I'm pretty good." He said as he sat down. "How have you been holding up? He was a little curious as to what brought this lunch on, though he was just happy to socialize and content that this was probably nothing more than that. He looked down to see a menu on the table, glancing at it.

Talia smiled at John as she sat down. He seemed to be doing well enough for himself. Almost a year before, he had been one of the few people that left a good enough impression on her before she left. He was one of the things that brought her back, though realistically it was just a small part. She ignored the menu at first, as there were other things on her mind at that moment. "I've been good. Just kinda doing whatever." That much was true, whatever was a vague term. Wrestling in a ninja qualified as 'whatever' in her book.

"Been to this place before?" she asked as she flipped through the menu without actually looking at it. "I've walked by it a hundred times now and never been." In her mind she was curious just how to bring up her question. She didn't want to just ask out of the blue, but she wasn't sure casually segwaying into it was appropriate either. What if he said no? "Still champion?" she asked with a grin while looking up from the menu.

John smiled a bit as he watched Talia go through the menu, though food didn’t seem to be on her mind. “Nope, never been. Looks good, though.” he said as he thumbed through the menu. He needed to work a little more on his Japanese, he ahd no idea what half of this said. Well, he can just point randomly and take a chance.

John chuckled when she asked her next question. “For now, I’m getting a little long in the tooth and there’s a LOT of hot shots coming up, and some really skilled girls. Not worried, more excited.” He thought about his answer for a second. Yeah, he did feel excited. That’s why he was here, after all. Paid to compete in his favorite sport.

John, though, knew awkward small talk when he heard it. She was He put the menu down, leaving it open on the table. “Talia…I’m always happy to just hang out, but I get the fealing you’ve got a specific thing you wanted to talk about…am I right?”

Talia smiled a little bit. She didn't really expect to be able to fool John but she at least wanted to be polite about the whole thing. "Yea...yea I wanted to ask you something semi-serious. It's not dramatic or anything...but...it'd be a big deal if you said yes." The orange-head coughed and put the menu down.

"I've been thinking...well let's be real I have actually tried wrestling again. But..." She randomly pulled up her shirt to her abdomen, revealing two nasty, black and purple bruises. "It didn't go so well." It wasn't normal in a match to get roughed up so badly, that was just the end result of a rather nasty opponent.

"But...I was wondering if...well if you were willing or able to train me? You're far and away the most talented wrestler I know and I've never actually trained with someone who was in the business. I know it can be a big deal so don't be afraid to say no. I'd fully understand." She offered a smile. "I'll buy you lunch if you say yes," she added with a little laugh as if it somehow made up for it all.

John watched Tali smile, he was perfectly fine with there being something she wanted to ask him. Something semi serious? Well, Ro always said he was too serious, so serious stuff was probably up his aley.

“Well, shit.” John said as she lifted her shirt up. At first he wasn’t sure why, but then he saw the bruises. “Yeah that’s….how the hell did that even happen? It looks like someone went at you with the end of a billy club.”

John let out a chuckle as she offered to buy him lunch. Enticing, very enticing. He’d have said yes anyway, of course. “Talia, it actually sounds fun. Don’t worry about it, I’d be happy to train with you, anything you need…hell it’ll probably be a good deal for me, too. From what I remember, you run circles around big guys like me. We can help each other out.” John smiled warmly; he could tell that she was nervous about that request. No need to be, he was very amenable to it.

Talia's face lit up as she could make out the approval in John's face. "T-That's great!" she exclaimed as if surprised. She couldn't imagine him ever saying no but that didn't take away from the relief. And he seemed so humble about her own contribution to it. She wasn't entirely sure what she could actually teach a champion like John. "Yea, we can work together on all that!"

She casually ignored the question of how she got the injuries, but she hoped that'd be null in the future anyways. With a training partner like John, she envisioned herself being untouchable by people like Mamouru. That was all in the past.