Tokyo is Gorgeous on Winter Evenings

Compared to who this woman was in the ring, out here she was little more than a shade of herself. Without the lights, the jeering and the graciously supplied fresh meat thrown at her feet from the AFW roster, she was just a woman. A strange solitary woman. It wasn't unique for her to wander the darkened cities in which she inhabited. Finding small nooks and crannies tucked off the beaten path to just observe the day to day of normal people. Boring people. Despite their obvious lack of purpose, she struggled to grasp what made people other than herself tick. It all seemed very small, very empty, though in truth that was just her. Hollow when left to her own devices. She was never alone though.

In the crisp night air she had found a worn bench and claimed it for her own. Her clothing spoke to expensive tastes, but they weren't her own taste. She was bundled up, a bit too much. Over prepared for a cold evening that paled in comparison to what she was use to from back home. A long black coat lined with a deep brown faux fur at the cuffs and collar, which opened into a hood which she wore draped over her head. With a few fashionable leather strap serving as mere decoration it could have easily been mistaken as a bizarre mix of modern fashion and dressings from something akin to Game of Thrones. Long gray lacks which were swallowed up at the knee by black leather boots adorned with far too many buckles. Had they all actually been used to secure the footwear, it wouldn't have been worth it. As it stood however, all of them were merely for show, the trick was a small hard to see zipper along the length of the calf.

She mere wore what was presented to her. Dressing herself was a chore. She could claim to have greater things to care about, but that was a lie. She had no real obligation, nothing to worry on, she had nearly everything she wanted set before her. Perhaps that was why she failed to find meaning in anything. The only struggles she faced were those imposed upon her by herself. It's what made things real, made her feel alive.

Upon her lap sat Baby, a small strange creature crafted from leather cloth, stuffing and the odd few weights lovingly inserted beneath the folds of its body. A sturdy hand crafted thing, to most it was ugly, some horribly misshapen dead eyed doll which resembled more of a tiny corpse than a plaything. It had been with her from a young age, and while Baby had gone from a few transformative phases to become the bludgeoning companion they were today, she held firm to the fact she and it were bond. Inseparable friends. Her sole confidant. Her fingers barely visibly through the fuzzy cuffs of her coat idly scratched as his belly as she stared into the distant, buildings beyond the edge of the park. She had been able to make out movements even at this distance and had been piecing together stories to fill in the blanks.

Her head turned slightly, sunken eyes shifting down the nearby path she was seated beside. The sound of crunching gravel and heavy footfalls. She hadn't seen another soul in the park all evening. Perhaps it was by design. She breathed out in a long huff, her breath turning to mist against the cool sky. He slowly sat up, a small cluster of misshapen battered plushies which dangled on a chain from beneath her coat jingled softly as they swung suspended in a state of constant torment.

Seren's attention had been drawn to Jessica from a distance, perhaps it was the way she carried herself or something about her outward appearance. Her head slowly turned to keep the stranger in her unblinking sights. The light cast on her from a nearby lamp did  little to illuminate her shaded features beneath her hood save for her mouth. Gentle strokes upon the belly of Baby slowed to a stop along with the woman, the moment souring between them before it had even begun. Why did she stop? The doll maker who had been lazily lounging now slowly shifted back straightening as she posed herself upright on the bench. The chain gang of plushies hanging from a thin glinting chain dangled ominously.

Depending on how familiar Jessica was with the AFW locker room, one of the plushies muddied on the chain was Allison Heart, the ridiculously large curly blond locks were a clear give away. It looked to be the newest addition of the ones attached together, the others had been sewn back together so many times they looked like frankenstein's monster.

Seren blow out a long stream of misty breath, curtly responding to the question which didn't really need answering. "No." Her sunken eyes flicked down to Baby as her head bobbed, nodding along. He wasn't a fan of Jessica. She could agree, the woman hadn't put her best food forward. As she peered back up at the woman, she knew that look. Her eyes narrowed as her imagination took her on a flight of fancy in which she bloodied the stone at their feet by raking her smug smile through the gravel. The corners of her mouth twitched, lips curling into a small smirk.

"A bit late to be out alone." The statement in itself was simple but there was something off. There was a subtle twinge of a threat in her tone, clearly she hadn't taken kindly to Jessica's attempted jab her her handiwork. She didn't need to spell it out, the looming violence seemed to drip into her words.

This is why she couldn't have nice things. A short uneven name scratched gently under the misshapen plushie's chin as her attention was drawn down to it. "What do you think?" Her head bobbed, features guarded from view. "Hmm? ...Oh." Her head slowly turned back towards Jessica. Her legs stiffened as she pulled herself up, rising bizarrely without the use of her arms as she cradled the weighted plaything in her arms, rocking it gently. She tilted her head slightly, the lights overhead shining down into her enough to display her pearlie white teeth laid bare in on display in a wide grin. "He doesn't appreciate your tone... And would like an apology." The chain at her hip jingled pleasantly in the wind, providing stark contrast between the building tension between the two.

She stepped from the bench, half turning to peer at Jessica through the brown speckled fax fur of her hood, sunken dead eyes transfixed in waiting for something to give. She had made a statement, but there was no mistaking her tone implied it was an ultimatum. Of all the chance encounters in the dead of night, what really were the odd in these two volatile personalities meeting. It was almost as if the counter had been penned by a twisted mind beyond either woman's comprehension. Her slender digits curled around one of Baby's arms, bringing her precious companion to hand ragged at her side. It hung heavy, visibly off from something that should be filled with stuffing.

The doll maker stood, waiting expectantly as one of her boots slid along the gravel, a clear indication she had staggered her footing in the immediate case the "request" wasn't honored.

Seren hadn't moved much at all. Had it not been for the visible trail her breath left in the breeze someone might have assumed she was a rather convincing statue rather than a person. This woman was talking an awful lot, and none of it sounded remotely like an apology. Was it an unreasonable request? Did it even matter? She stared long and hard at Jessica as her words slowly devolved into hollow animal like grunts in her mind, both were equally devoid of meaning. They knew this tone, this poison laden tone. All her life she had been faced with people who buried the truth behind sweet lies. It was revolting. She never understood the point of it all.

"Jessica Wright?" It seemed she had caught something of interest in the dribble that had been poured out at her feet. Her head tilted slightly as she stared for long moment, eyes flicking between the woman's face and her outstretched hand. She nodded slowly to seemingly nothing. Her fingers clenched around Baby's arm as she lifted the plushie slightly. "My name is Seren... You're right, let's get this off on the right foot."

She slide forward, dragging the side of her foot deep through the pathway collecting as much of it as she could along her boot. With a swift soccer kick she had thrown a plume of gravel and who knew what other particles lined the path towards Jessica's face in an effort to blind the woman.  No time was wasted on waiting for a reaction, she was already out for blood. The doll maker moved in on the woman, brandishing Baby like a weapon, because the doll was one. Baby's body had long ago had its stuffing removed  to be replaced by heavy lead weights making the unfortunate plaything into a lethal morning star. She brought the plushie around in a violent arch aiming for the woman's face through the dissipating cloud of debris. She didn't want to simple wipe this grin off of Jessica's face, she wanted to tear it off entirely.

Seren has swung wide, following through with baby as if she were swinging towards the stands. Her hand back up to meet baby as it lingered overhead mid swing, with both hands she brought the doll down attempting to end Jessica's existence with a crippling strike. Her attempt to follow through with the doll for a second blow narrowly missed as Jessica scrambled back, fumbling along the gravel. The doll maker wasn't known for giving quarter to those she marked, Jessica was no exception to this. Recovering from he second swing had given the purple haired woman time to right herself, but Seren was already charging, more than happy to help barrel through the thick fog of tension between them for another chance to sink her teeth into the stranger... possibly literally? It was hard to tell with her.

Getting in close wouldn't be an issue as both women seemed to want it. She came in hot, tucking back her arm back before releasing. Her elbow flew out like a shotgun blast point blank, trying to catch the purple hair woman under the chin, possibly even her throat. The intent of the blow was nothing short of seeking to hurt this woman. Her other arm reared back, Baby in hand. preparing to bring forth another devastating blow with her cuddle cudgel.

Jessica's arms hooked around her body snugly, she hadn't tried to avoid it opting instead to blitz the woman down rather than preserve her own well being. Her body snapped backwards, cutting off her efforts to swing Baby again as she was slammed into the gravel with a sickening crunch. She bounced on impact, back arching at the sting. A plumb of misty air billowed from her mouth like flames from the maw of a great dragon as sir left her lungs.

Her wild eyes snapped to Jessica as the light shined down into her hood. Half of her face was stained off color, in contrast to her pale complexion. The pinkish red wound on the mend looked as if someone had dragged her face along the ground... probability because they had. In the fall she had lost Baby, the weighed plush had tumbled out of her grasp to rest below the bench. Even breathless and grounded she seemed to keep her wits about her, it was just a new position in which to inflict herself upon this woman. Her boot snapped out at Jessica's left knee in retaliation. Her blows had no discretion behind them, the malicious nature of each one painting a very clear picture of who she was here and now. What she was? That was a harder question to answer.