Cafe Research (Open to anyone)

Ryoko was confused, but not at AJ’s outburst. That made total sense. The woman clearly had passion, real passion, not like a lot of the fly-by-night, one-and-done wrestlerettes who popped up in the AFW and disappeared overnight. It was a great thing to see, and she could only wish that people would say the same for her.

What confused her, though, was why AJ felt the need to apologize for it. Aside from the incidental hot chocolate spill, at least.

”Owowowow…” Ryoko hissed as some of the searing liquid hit her lap, and she immediately scooted away from the table to make some distance. A little overenthusiastic, there. Just a wee bit. ”It’s okay, okay.” She waved it - and her lap - off with a halfhearted laugh, putting on her best smile despite the sting. Not enough to make her immediately abandon the interesting foreign, but she would be sitting at a distance if she got a refill.

”I think I get where you're coming from, really. It’s nice to see wrestlers who really care about the sport, you know? Really care. Not just showing up for a paycheck or to beat people up or because they’re looking for a cheap-”

Ryoko was just about to pick up where things left off, having a lot to say in response, tempted to reveal her own secret identity...when a new voice came into the conversation. Ryoko crossed her leg and look to the side, glancing towards the new woman - another foreigner, another face she didn’t recognize. But she seemed amicable enough. No harm. ”Hey.” She grinned her way. ”Sorry if we’re a little loud over here, didn’t mean to bug you.”

Her attention shifted to Ryoko as she fanned off her lap, a looks of concern accented by a fierce blush of embarrassment. She almost shorted out her laptop and assaulted her new cafe buddy in one fell swoop. If only she could use her gifts for good! Alexa was clearly more concerned about the living breathing person beside her, setting her craptop aside as she pulled napkins one after another from the table dispenser. "Did it get you bad?" She seemed on the verge of another appology as she reached out about to try and dab off the other woman of the spilled drink before she stopped herself. Considering how rude and presumptuous that would be, she instead offers the impressive ball of paper napkins to Ryoko.

Blinking, her gaze fell on the newcomer. "Good eye." She breathed out quietly, more to herself than the other two. "Or nose, I guess." She followed, snickering at her own observation. " At least it smells nice?" She grimaced, shoulder rolling back in a shrug as she looked like someone from a sitcom who just did something expectantly zany and was now confronted with it. That's so Alexa. Queue the studio laugh track.

She leaned down conspiratorially to speak to Ryoko in a small hushed tone. "It means a lot to hear you say that, thanks." She stood upright again, not trying to alienate the new arrival by having a whispered conversation back and forth in front of her. " Yeah... I just got a bit carried away." She slicked a hand back through her hair, grinning sheepishly. Ryoko didn't seem to be sweating it, so there was no point in crying over spilled chocolate milk. "AJ." She announced to Rebecca, thrusting a thumb in the direction of herself. She gestured towards Ryoko with a flourish as if presenting a game show prize, letting the woman introduce herself.

"Not a problem, madam." She replied to Ryoko calmly, despite the mini chocolate madness that had occurred. Even she could chuckle about that as they clean up the mess, some of it spilling over the table and off AJ's laptop like chocolate rain. All the while sipping her own tea, albeit a bit faster in case Earthquake Shay decided to come here. Not that it would but you could never know these days.

It is possible that her eardrums haven't been wrecked by the noisy blasts in the warzone as Rebecca caught a little bit of what AJ said. "Hmm?" She remained with her calm demeanor, taking her time to warm up to the two women sitting on the other table. Rebecca felt unsure if she should go back to her drink as AJ went to speak to Ryoko for a bit, but she smiled as soon as the other foreigner turned to her again.

Lovely to meet you, AJ. And like I said, no problem at all. Although, mind my tea." Grinning towards AJ before she turned to the Japanese woman sitting on the same table. "And you are?"

Ryoko took a moment to scan over the new foreigner, hoping she didn’t appear to weird or rude while she did so. It was funny how the AFW had changed the landscape around Tokyo, making her think back to life before it had come along to dominate the wrestling scene. It had never been out of the ordinary to see tourists and outsiders, but in the past few years, the concentration had skyrocketed. If you spit out a window, there was a fairly good chance you’d hit someone visiting the island.

Learning English had turned out to be one of the best moves of her entire life. Definitely paying off. ”Not a problem.” She winked towards AJ before turning to face the newest member of their party. The first thing that caught her attention was the beret. A strange enough thing to see around here, but even more so because it was so well-made and posh. There was a distinctly regal feel to her all over, one that was humbling just to be around.

”Ryoko Urameshi.” She bowed in the new woman’s direction. ”Welcome to Japan. Unless you’ve been here for a while. In which case, I hope you’ve been enjoying your stay.”

Though she would likely never admit it, there was a faint sensation of jealousy nipping at her heels when it came to Rebecca. She definitely had a air of confidence about her, even just standing there her cool and collective demeanour was making an impression. Which was to say nothing about how smartly this girl dressed. She was drawn in particular to her crisp red coat, wishing she had one of her own in a similiar style but was certain she wouldn't wear it half as well. 

The accent was the cherry on top, though she couldn't place it. She thought the woman it was brittish, almost conditioned to think so from years of soaking in tv broadcasting and going to the movies. In the past she had learned not to assume. She had once offended an australian friend back home when they first met by being unable to identify the difference. 

Conditioned with 'Good'ay mates' and 'shrimp on the barbie'. The idea that she had been lead astray had been a blow to her childhood when encountering the equally as posh accent instead. Alexa's own accent was more or less non-existent in her day to day dealings. By no means intentionally suppressed it simply didn't exist outside of most family dealings or the odd bout of frustration. It was not unlike a magic trick, here and gone within a blink of the eye.

Poof.

Those things really set the woman in red apart from Ryoko and herself, who by comparison looked ready to go on a jog with their respective hoodies. Classy was the first word that came to mind... She had even called her madam for heaven's sake. "You're more than welcome to join us Ms... " She furrowed her brow. Had she missed Rebecca's name or she didn't give it yet? "Ma'am." She settled with to be safe. She felt the need to be a bit more formal in Rebecca's presence, punctuating the offer with a smile.

Alexa slipped a brief sidelong glance to Ryoko She figured the native girl wouldn't mind, but one could never be certain. She took a moment to clean off her laptop and fix up the prearranged items on the table to consolidate the clutter in case Rebecca did sit with them, letting introductions continue while she worked to tidy.

"Lovely to meet you, Ryoko. And I have just came here not too long ago, I believe..." Rebecca was a bit unsure of the exact time now in Tokyo, she hadn't set her time yet on her watch. That and her brain was running on fumes and she was quite tired from the trip. The pit stop to the cafe was to refuel and calm herself. Guess the effects of the tea is taking its time.

One worry that Rebecca had was the fact that she would have to learn some Japanese while she was there. That would be one barrier of communication that she would have to try to break down. So far, she met another foreigner and a Japanese who does know English, and she could only count it to luck. It took a while to learn some of the Arabic languages when she was on tour, and Rebecca knew it was gonna be the same here. Still, she does love to explore newer things and learning Japanese would be rather handy. She had hoped that AFW does have some English-speakers, just until she could have a firm grasp of the language.

As AJ had invited the Lieutenant to join the cool wrestler table, Rebecca had just about a quarter of her tea to finish. They seem rather amicable and nice so far. And it wouldn't hurt making some friends here. "Oh, pardon my manners. Rebecca Addington." AJ didn't need to call her "Ma'am" but it's a nice touch. She stood up from her seat and walked towards the table where the two sat. "And no need to call me Ma'am. Rebecca would be fine.
I'm no WO or anything." Only now does she notice how...formal she looks compared to the other two. Not to say she is the kinda person to look down on others because she is of higher class or anything but it would look a bit out of place. Hopefully they don't mind. "Oh, can I have a cookie please, madam?" She called to the barista, who gives a nod back to the Briton.

Drinking tea? Check.

Prim and proper accent? Check.

One of those last names that had a distinct Olde English feel to it? Check.

Definitely English, and for some reason, Ryoko was getting a distinct military flavor mixed, going off the regimented and refined way she spoke. It occurred to Ryoko that she was interacting with more culture at this table than in her entire time in school. ”Pleasure meeting you.” She gave Rebecca a little salute as she came over.

”It’s not trouble at all, really. We were just sitting down to watch…”

Huh. This whole time, Ryoko hadn’t taken notice of the exact match AJ was watching. She leaned back to get a good glance on the screen, and her eyes widened, recognition setting in right away. ”Ooooooh, that’s Avalanche, right? That was a good card. Not quite as good as last year’s, but still solid.”

She made a point not to mention that she’d been there to watch it live, and not as a member of the audience. Granted, she was just on an untelevised pre-show match, but still.

”Are you into wrestling, Rebecca?” She scooted over, giving the Englishwoman enough space to get comfy.

"Rebecca it is then. Pleased to meet you." She had a real urge to call her Ms. Addington based solely on how proper she seemed, but ultimately she wasn't going to overshadow a direct request to call her by her first name. She settled back into her chair, scooting it closer to the table. Alexa considered for a moment warning the woman in red about how dry the cookie she had gotten was, but given how kind the staff had been to her she thought better of it. Maybe the other girl wouldn't mind.

She found herself second guessing herself at Ryoko's question, mouth opening to respond before she shook her head, sure that it wasn't. "Summer Splash, this year's big title match. Very... uh... it was something." She shuddered slightly, turning her laptop to face herself again. She carefully navigated back out of the match she had been watching to browse through the rest of the card for that pay-per view as they conversed. She was mindful not to become engrossed, glancing between her table mates as she looked over the site.

"If you are, you came to the right place." She cracked a dorky grin, wiggling her eyebrows. Surely, this was the best table in the cafe to be part of, the other patrons didn't know what they were missing. "If not that's fine too, just strangers in a strange land gotta stick together, right?" She blinked, looking over to Ryoko with an apologetic smirk, figuring she wouldn't take the friendly banter personally. "No offense."

"Ah, thank you." The barista gave Rebecca a chocolate chip cookie. Her favourite. "Why yes, I am. I wouldn't say I've been a fan since childhood but I'm a fan nonetheless." She replied. The Briton was already looking like the odd one out on this table. Gotta have at least some common ground. Rebecca wasn't the kind of person that have been watching Wrestling shows since she was a child, she caught the bug way later. Blame her army buddies for that. But it was for the better. And why she came here in the first place. "None taken, by the way."

The names of those shows sound familiar though. Where did she hear them again? She took a peak of the laptop that had survived the chocolate puddle, seeing a pay-per-view. Seemed recent enough. Wait. Is that-

"Oh! Was that AFW that you ladies were talking about?" She knew she recognised that particular match, she gotten a glimpse before AJ pulled the laptop away from the eyes of the Brit and the Japanese woman. After she had asked the question, Rebecca took a bite out of that cookie...which she paused for a moment because of the realisation of how dry that thing was!

"Mmmnn....Hold on...let me get my cup...*ahem*" She had hoped that the tea is still warm enough for it to get it down her throat, briefly leaving the table to pick her tea. In fact, she would have went to brought it regardless.

Just had to be that dry cookie to give her that kick up the arse to do it.

”Oh, right, Splash, duh.” Ryoko gave herself a smack upside the head, not exactly happy with the lame first impression she was leaving. It probably didn’t speak well for her memory or her involvement with the company that she was having a hard time remembering a title match with one of their longest running stars.

Ryoko’s first thought was to be surprised to learn that Rebecca was a wrestling fan, too, but her second thought tempered that a bit. The UK wrestling scene was hot and getting hotter all the time, and while most of the wrestlers who came over were Americans, there was a growing European block.

She managed to take her prying eyes off of Rebecca long enough to wave AJ’s worries away. There was an awful lot of politeness at this table, she was noticing. ”No offense taken. I’ve lived here all my life, the place still kind of freaks me out every now and then.” She shifted about in the seat as Rebecca momentarily stepped off, getting comfy enough to watch the match without getting into AJ’s personal space.

”So, what are you aiming for in the AFW?” She finished off the last bit of her pastry and licked her fingers, not wanting to waste a bit. “Anyone you want to take on?”