White-Maned Lionesses

Odessa knew that her response had probably been a little too pitying, when she hadn't really meant to make Isabella feel overly sentimental or wishy-washy. Isabella obviously didn't want to be pitied, and so Odessa wouldn't press the issue any further. She knew that Isabella was a strong, gorgeous woman now, and while she wanted to learn more about Isabella's past, she would save further inquiries for another time.

"I understand," Odessa would reply, as the taxi cab slid to a stop on the side of the road. The ebony beauty got out and offered her hand to Isabella to help her out of the vehicle, as well. "I could call you Izzy, I suppose, couldn't I? Although that one doesn't really fit you very well at all..." She chuckled as she would grasp Isabella's hand and lift her up onto her feet. She would have let go of the other woman's hand, but, somewhat unexpectedly, Isabella would keep her hold on Odessa's hand, and slide her arm around Odessa's to intertwine them, as well. Odessa would smile and squeeze Isabella's hand affectionately.

Odessa was glad to hear that she had surprised Isabella. The fact that the Northern Queen could admit to being surprised by that sort of thing meant that she was opening up, a little bit, and Odessa was very much looking forward to their dinner date. The Aqua Blue Roppongi was the perfect setting for it. It was the holder of three Michelin stars, widely regarded as not only one of the best restaurants in Japan, but even one of the best in all the world. As wealthy as she was, Odessa was lucky to have been able to get a reservation here at short notice. It had required a little shmoozing and a last-minute cancellation from another couple to get it done. Odessa looked up at the building's facade, which looked as though it were carved from ice into the shape of a giant ocean wave, with blue lights of many shades pulsing gently within it.

While the restaurant grabbed her attention, Odessa was surprised when she felt warm, plump lips touching her own. As Isabella pulled away, Odessa smiled, too, but also wagged a finger playfully at her fellow white-haired beauty. "That's hardly fair, Isabella dear. If I have to restrain myself when it comes to kissing, you should, too," she would teasingly chastise. She started walking into the restaurant, gently pulling on Isabella's hand. "And you may try to take what you want, when you want, but don't be too surprised, Isabella, when I take all of it and much, much more right back from you."

Isabella flashed the woman a sideways glance when Odessa suggested calling her Izzy of all things, one eyebrow raised and her lips curled up into a smirk that said quite clearly she should never, ever call her that unless she wanted violence to ensue. She opened her mouth to tell her as much but Odessa admitted the pet name wasn't suitable in the very next breath, Isabella more than a little surprised that the woman hadn't insisted upon using the name, torturing her with it at least a few times before retiring it. Of course Odessa could still use the name later on but Isabella got the feeling she truly did find it every bit as ill suited to Isabella as she did herself did.

Just from looking at the outside of the restaurant and the line of valets standing outside Isabella could see Odessa was not sparing any expense on this date. Isabella was by no means a poor woman any longer, the AFW paid its wrestlers well enough that no one had to worry about money if they weren't fools with their finances, but she was quite confident she could never have afforded to eat here without saving up first. It made her look at Odessa with a curious gaze, wondering just where the woman at her side got the money to pay for such an extravagant dinner.

"Just because you made a choice doesn't mean I can't do as I please Odessa." Isabella replied without even a quick glance in Odessa's direction while she led the two of them through the front doors and inside the establishment. The interior was every bit as richly designed and ornate as the exterior, blue glass and water dominated the large circular room with a massive aquarium built into the wall running around the room with only doors breaking it up. "And watch what you say Odessa...that almost sounded like a challenge and you know I don't turn down a fight." She whispered into Odessa's ear while the hostess asked for their reservation.

Once she had it the woman had one of the waiters lead them to their table, Isabella half surprised to find Odessa really did have a reservation to this place. "On the subject of nicknames by the way, I wonder what I could call you?" She said just as they reached the table which was located against the wall with fish swimming by right beside them.

Odessa and Isabella walked inside, and the elegant, marine interior of the Aqua Blue Roppongi enveloped them and gently pulled them deeper in, faint watery reflections of light, as if refracted through the ocean waves themselves, passed over them and danced away, and Odessa felt almost as if there was some sort of current that pulled them in deeper and deeper. There were no right angles in the restaurant, nothing that could really be thought of as a wall.

That was not to say that the restaurant had only a single large dining room. On the contrary—the twenty tables in the restaurant were each located in their own individual circular alcove, separated from the others by branches of the larger surrounding aquarium that swept in elegant arcs down around the tables to floor level, surrounding the diners on all sides with fish and other marine life, save for the small break in the watery circle through which they and the wait staff entered and exited.

"Well, then, since my choice has been made, and you understand all of this is in only the best of faith, I suppose there's no harm in this," Odessa would reply with a smirk, as she would place her hand on Isabella's cheek, pulling the Northern Queen's face towards her and giving her a quick peck on the lips while the hostess was locating the reservation in the system. She pulled back with an impish grin, licking her lips hungrily.

"And if what I said sounded like a challenge, well...then perhaps you should take it as such," Odessa would continue as they were escorted to their table. The last challenge the two of them had proposed to each other had resulted in seven hours of some of the best sex Odessa had ever had. If this challenge ended in the same place, Odessa would be perfectly happy.

Odessa and Isabella were seated at a table on the far side of the restaurant. Once they sat down and the wait staff had finished filling up their water glasses and departed, they were all alone in their own little bubble in the middle of the ocean, with fish swimming beside them and around them. They could see the other diners in other bubbles only as very vague shapes on the other side of several feet of water. For all intents and purposes, they were all by themselves.

When Isabella asked what she could call Odessa, the ebony beauty smiled and shrugged. "My name is not as easy to shorten as yours, Isabella. I've been called Dessa, Dess, Essa...none of them really roll off the tongue, I'm afraid."

As they stood there waiting for the hostess to locate their names in the reservation book Isabella let her eyes wander around the restaurant and its numerous aquariums with exotic fish swimming within. Odessa, ever the opportunist, seized upon Isabella dropping her guard to reach up and gently cup the pale beauty's cheek before stealing a kiss of her own. It would have lasted but a moment if Isabella had let it, but she didn't let Odessa pull away quite so easily, their kiss lasting several long seconds with the hostess standing there waiting patiently for them to finish. Odessa might have thought her mad for the stolen kiss but Isabella didn't mind, in truth it was the very response she had been waiting for since she did it to her, she only wondered why it had taken Odessa so long.

"No harm at all so long as you don't begin to presume too much Odessa." Isabella replied with a wicked grin of her own, "Whatever happens tonight does so because I allow it, just like how any challenge between us will go." She added as they reached their table, the two women sitting down across from one another at a table that was clearly meant for couples with its smaller size.

Isabella lifted one of the two glasses to her lips, tilting it back to slowly pour the crystal clear ice water down her throat while she watched a clown fish swim into view in front of her eyes. She followed it for a few seconds and then put her glass down, the fish vanishing into one of the coral reefs along the bottom of the tank. She then reached for a menu only to find there were none, Isabella realizing this was the kind of place where the menu was spoken by the server rather than written down.

With nothing to read her icy blue gaze settled upon the lovely woman across from her, Isabella brushing a lock of her snowy mane back behind her shoulder as she listened to the various nicknames Odessa had been called over the years. "I don't know, Essa doesn't sound too bad." She mused, not making an effort to sound as if she believed that. "But I'll just stick with Odessa for now, besides you went through all the trouble of bringing me out here, I'm sure you have questions right?"

Odessa intended to only give Isabella a quick peck on the lips to match the one that Isabella gave her, as she didn't want Isabella to start doubting her intentions in taking her to the lovely Aqua Blue Roppongi tonight. But the lighter-skinned beauty surprised Odessa by grabbing onto her in response and holding their faces close, continuing the kiss for several long, passionate seconds as they waited to be seated at their table. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the waitress watching them, a funny little smile on the girl's face as she would lead the two liplocked wrestlers to their table. They would break apart soon enough to avoid running into one of the gently curving aquariums.

Odessa smiled as Isabella proclaimed how she intended to control everything that happened on this night. She knew that Isabella meant it, too, but she also knew that there was no way for her date to back that up. Odessa had chosen the restaurant, and she had plenty of other things that she wanted to do with—and do to—Isabella before the night was over. Isabella would have to come along for the ride. "As confident as ever, I see, Isabella dear. But you will have no more success in controlling me tonight than you did the last time we spent the night together. And if you're not vigilant, you'll end up wearing a leash and collar as my obedient little pet..." She chuckled softly.

Once they were seated and had their water glasses filled, Odessa would pick up her goblet, feeling the cool condensation on her hand as she would bring the rim to her lips and take a long sip. As she set her glass down, she would find Isabella's icy blue gaze and lock her eyes onto her date's, staring deeply into those sharp blue eyes across the small table. As Isabella teased her about possibly using Essa as a nickname for her, Odessa would smile and reach across the table to caress Isabella's pale cheek with a fond, gentle, lover-like touch. "Perhaps we'll find suitable nicknames for each other, given some time," she would suggest, before Isabella asked her whether she had any more questions.

"I have many questions for you, Isabella dear. And I hope that you have questions for me, too," Odessa would reply, her fingers still tracing gently along Isabella's cheek. "I suppose we should first address the fact that we still have not fought each other to a decisive conclusion. The tag team match was hardly decisive when it comes to you and I, my darling. I'm sure that you're just as eager to test yourself against me another time as I am to challenge you again."

Of course, they may test themselves against each other again tonight, after dinner, if all went well. But Odessa had a feeling that things would not be settled with another night of passion. The two of them had to meet in the ring.

Isabella was actually starting to enjoy herself and why not she asked herself, it wasn't every day she went out to a restaurant as nice as this one nor with company as intriguing as Odessa had become. Truth be told Isabella had developed a bit of a fascination with the dark skinned beauty from England, one that Rosaria had once or twice seen fit to jokingly describe as a crush though a glance from Isabella had made her friend change the subject rather quickly. For Isabella the woman sitting across from her was a mystery and an enigma, a mountain she was determined to conquer after coming close two times before, nights that were learning opportunities as far as she was concerned. Was there a sexual aspect to her fascination? Of course there was, but the lust involved was what made it so entertaining.

Still no amount of interest in Odessa would change the kind of woman Isabella was, such as her disdain for someone thinking they could so casually mention putting her on a leash without repercussions. "You must have a hazy memory of that night Odessa...and next time you think to call me a pet..." Isabella's voice faded into barely a whisper while she leaned over the table to bring her face to face with Odessa. "You'll be spending the night out cold on this floor."

A wide smile on her lips she made no attempt to kiss Odessa this time nor would she let the woman do so either, leaning back into her chair still grinning as she brought a glass of wine newly poured for each of them to her lips and drank. Her eyes drifted down to watch the hand whose fingers were running along her cheek, Isabella's smile fading as she then turn her gaze upon Odessa. "Perhaps, and yes you're right...twice we have fought and yet nothing conclusive has been established. This will change soon I'm sure, but perhaps you should focus on the now rather than this later date."

"As I recall," Odessa would say, "you never had much success at all in attempting to control me that night. And, admittedly, I had very little success controlling you. But that will not always be so. Someday one of us will have to overcome the other—that's what's called the Law of Averages, my dear." She would lift her wine glass to her lips, taking a long sip, letting the wine marinate on her tongue before letting it slide warmly down her throat. "And I do intend to come out victorious in that inevitable confrontation, Isabella. It is not because I do not respect you, but precisely because I do respect you that I intend it to be so. You are an incredible woman, and I would be remiss if I did not make every effort that I could to make you mine."

She would sit up a little straighter, smile, and shrug her shoulders slightly. It seemed that Isabella did not want to figure out any specifics for their future contests right at this moment. That was understandable. Odessa was of the mind that they could settle on some specifics so that they would not be hanging over the rest of their night together, but if Isabella felt differently, Odessa did not feel compelled to hash out the details right away. Odessa took another sip of her wine.

"We will discuss that later, then," Odessa would say, "and focus, as you suggest, on the now. I should not let visions of the lovely Isabella of the future distract me from the equally lovely Isabella who is sitting before me right now." She would set her wine glass down and lean forward again, resting her chin on her knuckles as she would examine Isabella intently, smiling happily as her eyes took in every little inch of Isabella's beauty. "So, how about you ask a question of me, Isabella dear? It seems that I have been on the...offensive for most of the night. I would like for you to fire a question my way, and I will field it and answer it as best as I can."

Isabella merely smiled and took another drink of her wine, letting the warm liquid dance upon her tongue for a few moments while she gazed into the eyes of Odessa, daring the woman to look away while they spoke. Odessa of course never did just as Isabella had both expected and hoped, if she had it would have just ruined the high regard Isabella held her in. Anyone could talk and sound convinced of what came out of their mouths but Odessa truly believed it, if she hadn't she would never have been able to hold Isabella's gaze like she had, yet another reason why Isabella liked the woman. "You intend it to be so but I will make the opposite true Odessa. When we do finally meet to settle this lingering question between us it will be I who comes out on top...in more ways than one."

Isabella paused there to take another sip of wine, already feeling the all too familiar warming sensation running down her throat and throughout the rest of her body. It would take more than one glass to rob Isabella of her senses, several in fact, and she intended to enjoy every last drop so long as Odessa continued to drink right along with her. It simply wouldn't do to have the two of them on unequal ground.

"You say you respect me and I don't doubt that, the look in your eyes is proof enough of that. Its mutual though, I'll admit you've earned to be regarded as a credible threat and because of that I won't hold back in the least. I'll conquer you with all I have Odessa, count on it." Isabella then smirked and reached over for the bottle of wine sitting upon the table, taking it upon herself to refill both of their glass nearly to the brim. "Now as for a question I must admit I've been wondering about where you come from...and I don't mean England. You're a good fighter, surely you've fought in places before coming here am I right?"

Odessa chuckled as Isabella would counter her declaration with one of her own; that she intended to be the one to dominate Odessa, to come out on top and to control the ebony beauty. Of course they both would want to be the dominant one in this burgeoning relationship. Dominance was a trait that was ingrained in both Odessa's and Isabella's nature. But so was competitiveness. When it came down to it, no matter how much she loved to dominate, Odessa wanted to earn it, to fight for every inch that she was able to take. And while she did not speak for Isabella, Odessa felt confident in assuming that her fellow white-haired beauty felt the same way.

"We will just have to see, then, which of us will prove victorious in the end," Odessa would reply. "While it may not turn out the way you might expect, I promise that you will enjoy every single minute—and the journey to that decisive conclusion will certainly be thrilling for the both of us." She took another sip of wine, and found that her glass was already almost empty. Of course, Odessa could tolerate far more alcohol than might be expected at first blush. And she knew from experience that Isabella was the same way. So long as they drank together, there would be no harm on splurging and indulging in however much alcohol they desired.

Isabella thoughtfully refilled both of their wine glasses almost to the brim. Odessa lifted her goblet and would tilt it forward slightly to clink it against Isabella's. "Cheers, darling," she would say, before taking another nice, long sip. As she did, Isabella spoke of their mutual respect and her desire to conquer Odessa. The words were enough to make the ebony beauty's body warm, just a bit, as she loved the sound of engaging in all-out war against Isabella with their bodies as both weapons and spoils of war. Isabella next asked Odessa an interesting question, about where the British wrestler came from, from a career perspective.

"I do indeed have quite a bit of experience under my belt," Odessa would reply. "I learned to wrestle as a way of staying active when I was a young woman. I decided to make a career out of it while attending university—I wrestled semi-professionally in a local London league for a number of years, then began wrestling full-time upon my graduation. It soon became apparent that none of the other wrestlers in that league were up to the task of attempting to tame me, so I emigrated to the United States and spent several years wrestling there, primarily in the California area." She paused to take a breath and take another sip of wine. "And then, when the States had no more to offer me, I came here."

There was a flash of wickedness in Isabella's eyes when Odessa spoke of the inevitable fight between the two of them, words of a retort already upon her tongue but in the end they were not needed as Odessa chose her words well. Isabella smiled and leaned forward, her elbows resting upon the table with her chin resting in the palms of her hands while she gazed into the woman's eyes, narrowing her gaze while she waited to hear what the woman would say next. When Odessa raised her glass Isabella did the same, keeping her chin atop one hand while her other gripped her own glass and clinked it with Odessa's. "Yes, cheers indeed Odessa."And with that said she drank deeply, draining the entirety of the glass's contents in one go, daring Odessa to do the same.

She posed the question that had been on her mind as of late to Odessa and while she waited for her to answer Isabella went about refilling her glass, though this time she took but a small sip from it. She listened attentively to Odessa's response even if she didn't look like she was, her gaze seemingly roaming around the table at the fish swimming within the beautifully designed aquariums. Isabella didn't want to make Odessa too comfortable after all, it wouldn't be as much fun if the woman wasn't a tiny bit on her toes.

Her story was not an unusual one and much of it Isabella had guessed before that night, but there were a couple surprises such as her having spent time in America, Isabella's native country. "While attending University? You sound like one of those stereotypical English ladies you know, though I must admit I've never heard of one into wrestling. I'm not surprised to hear no one in England could keep up with you, I'm sure California held more opportunity for a woman such as yourself when it came to wrestling, is that where you learned your hentai talents?"