Royal Gathering (Himeko and Ayane)

[dlamp]

Himeko had to admit, the more she looked into Yamamoto Ayane's background, the more she got curious about the woman. A woman of status and got through the wrestling world with tricks, skill, and brutality. Someone that had a decent championship run, global infamy and had a big lost before vanishing off the face of the earth with only her next generation to show for it. In any other situation Himeko would swear that sounded like some old oyabun from a lesser family. But no, the information checked out, this woman was a big shot, vanished like a ghost, and reappeared as if rising from the damn grave to become a manager and advisor of sorts.

And Himeko had to admit, the woman had her interest. From the moment she saw the woman's promo she felt a resonance with her. Not some spiritual connection or anything, but something about her tone clicked with the Princess. She didn't care much for the woman's theatrics or bragging, but the sharp words underneath the arrogance, the energy the woman spoke, the earnest she felt from her words, the drive to show the world what a real fighter was capable of... It had sparked a fire in the Princess.

And so, the Princess set up a meeting with the Empress.

Nothing serious, nothing threatening, just a general meet-and-greet, a chance to feel each other out and see what the other was about in person. She even brought a gift, one of the fancier sake bottles from her father's collection to break the ice and show she came in peace unlike half the people in this damn company that threw tantrums with every promo. This was a simple meeting, nothing more.

And as she she stood outside Ayane's office door with her bodyguard Nanase right behind her. She knocked. Three times.

"It's Taishuya,"

[Fairy Dragon]

Ayane had been working behind the scenes since her promo, While she longed to be in the spotlight she deserved again going back just to talk more was pointless and she would look like a pompous ass with no bite to her bark. Until she had something of value to bring up she had to stay her hand and wait, but her words did inspire someone. Soon after she was done she got a call from a wrestler wanting to schedule an appointment to meet her, she knew it was only a matter of time but she was impressed someone actually had the guts to see that they might have a problem and wanted to fix it.

She accepted it almost immediately and was waiting in her office when she finally showed up. "Yes come in." Ayane said finishing something on her computer waiting for Himeko to enter. She had done some research on her, while she was new to LAW meaning she had little to go off from the records of the building she felt she could still see any potential with a face to face meeting, waiting for her to finally get situated inside before she spoke. "I'm happy to see you. Please have a seat, depending on how this goes we may be here awhile." Ayane said as she closed her laptop making it clear that her guest had undivided attention...at least for the time being.

[dlamp]

Nanase opened the door, letting Himeko walk in first. The office was... normal. A desk, some chairs, a laptop on said desk. A very... basic look that almost clashed with the glowing aura of the one that owned it. And as she looked over the woman herself Himeko found her... normal. The confidence was there, the aura and tone she had was that of a woman that clearly was eager to do business and make conversation. But... well, the research and the videos she watched had the Princess expecting more... pomp.Still, it was a relief that the Himeko was going to be talking to an honest manager and not have to endure loudmouth asshole number three... at least so far.

"Well, if we're gonna' talk a while then I'm glad I brought this." She presented the sake bottle in her hand, setting it down on Ayane's desk before taking a seat herself, three sake glasses beside the bottle for the three of them... well, if Nanase chose to drink anyway. This honestly felt like one of her dad's meetings given the atmosphere. The alcohol might be needed depending on how this went.

"Anyway, mind if I get to the point?" Himeko only paused for a moment before continuing. "Yamamoto-san, how bad is this company to you?" She started. "I'm coming from an old-school martial arts background. Judo, kendo, a little bit of MMA, stuff like that. I even helped keep my dad's records and numbers for our family gyms and dojo, so I know a bit of the presentation stuff and representing fighters and the like. But LAW... hell, wrestling in general ain't exactly two guys swinging punches and doing throws for points." She let out a sigh. "I did enough research on you to know you get this business more than me, so... what's your take on things? I don't trust any corporate shill to give me a straight answer, the last wrestler I asked just fed me bullshit, and my -what do you guys call it- stable are new to this wrestling thing too. At least as a business." She paused again, this time truly letting her words hang. "But what about you?"

[Fairy Dragon]

Ayane's face didn't show much emotion she just stared sternly at the two who had arrived as if already judging them, but she said nothing not even reacting to the sake pulled out and put in glasses for the three of them to drink. She finally spoke when Himeko asked her a question she was willing to answer. "I'd much prefer if did get to the point. I'm not here to chit chat and neither should you." Ayane bluntly said and thankfully Himeko did just that asking what about LAW sucked and how everything worked. Ayane smirked as she sat back in her chair after grabbing the cup made for her.

"Well I didn't pull my little rant out of nothing. This company has all the tools to succeed which is why I'm here but has done an abysmal job maintaining its momentum. All this money and strong signings and yet, LAW has been so slow in growth, nothing to show for it outside of it's slow walls, when the first company I worked for was starting out we quickly ran across the country, and took full advantage of the fact we had good foreign relations. Several years after its creation this place is still trying to figure out what it is. No promotion should be so clueless early on, the direction should have been made before the building was created. Rather then smart minded business folk this promotion acts...well like a bunch of fools who act on whatever whims cross their tiny little minds." Ayane ranted before taking a sip of the sake both to catch her breathe and calm herself before she got aggressive. "This place and the wrestlers need to stop worrying about what this crowd and that crowd thinks and start learning how to reach out and take control. They think just because they get cheers from each crowd that it's the right course of action. Fans never cared for me much...but they paid for the house 10 times over to see me at my peak. Does that help make a picture?" Ayane said gesturing towards Himeko with her hand holding her glass.

[dlamp]

"Hm..." It was a lot of information to take in, but Himeko could understand the woman's view. From a business perspective, LAW had practically gobbled up all the competition within Japanese combat entertainment and even some international names too, but did little with all that weight it had. The money was there, the resources were there, but the actually heads in charge mostly sat on their asses and counted their money. She had seen a few gyms get bought up that way when they got big enough, the managers and heads thinking they could just count the money and let their stars do all the hard work before those same stars went somewhere with more ambition, namely to her father's gyms.

From an outside view, it wasn't hard to see LAW falling into that same trap.

"So this place has the money, but not the brains or drive..." She poured a cup herself, taking a quick swig. "Yeah, it makes sense." She answered. "I get where you're coming from Yamamoto-san." Himeko sat up straight. "But that just leaves one question on my mind..." Himeko paused, looking Ayane in the eye. "Are you here to prop this place up like you said in the promo... or are you just waiting to pick up the good bits when it crashes down?" She sat her cup on the desk.

"The way I see it, you made yourself look like a more reasonable voice among a sea of people that are too coked out on sex and violence to be seen as reasonable." She began. "But... to the people that saw past the callout, the people that saw your stunt as a rallying cry and not a war cry..." -The people like Himeko- "-You get a small banner of people worth a damn in this company that'll at least hear you out and run with whatever plan you got. Even if this place crashes and burns, you've got your foot in the door, your voice out, and can take good chunk of this place from the inside with a small, elite team of a rising stars and big names that you picked up." She turned to Nanase.

"Isn't that how we bought out Shinzo's joint two years back? Grabbed their good fighters when their coaches had their heads up their asses, bloodied up their rising stars in amateur fights, and bought the place for cheap when it collapsed from the inside?"

"I believe so..."

"Heh," Himeko smirked, turning back to Ayane. "Anyway, did I hit bullseye?"

[Fairy Dragon]

Himeko seemed to comprehend what she was talking about, giving an estimate of what she said to show what she got out of her words. Ayane was slightly impressed but once again besides a slight nod of her head she didn't show that in anyway. Her question on the other hand had taken an approach that Ayane had no considered and she slowly shook her head after she asked if she was really planning to take what she could and run. While she could do that it was not on her agenda, at her age she saw little reason to grip more power then she already had.

"Not quite, you are on the right track, but not quite." Ayane said taking another sip of of her drink before she continued. "I do intend to make a small little force here in LAW, I can't make an impact otherwise if no one listens to me. But rather then destroy LAW I merely seek to get the ones willing to listen to prove my point for me, pushing for matters I deem important. Once they produce results, the rest of LAW will fall in line, if they don't that't on them but businessmen like money and the more I make them the more they listen to me." Ayane declared and finally a smile started to form on her face.

[dlamp]

"Huh..." Himeko refilled her cup, taking a deeper swig. A small flash of irritation on her face showed for a moment. Okay, so it was a matter of making a point more than crushing a business. It made sense, a lot more sense really. Having a small group throw their weight around in the company, especially if that group gets popular and starts shaking the foundation a bit, would start getting more and more people to around them to shape up. A domino effect of forcing professionalism... not a bad idea all things considered.

"Okay. I think I get you a bit better Yamamoto-san."

There was a pause after that, Himeko taking in the new information. All things considered, it wouldn't be a bad move to throw her hat in with Ayane. Given what she's heard already this woman was much better head for the business than Himeko, her ideals and professionalism was much more preferable to most other people she's glanced over in the company, and she even giving Himeko business education a run for its money with her understanding of things.

Honestly, it had been a while since she had this much fun picking someone brain.

Still, best to get an idea of the woman herself before making any big moves. "Alright then," Himeko poured herself another cup of sake. "Let's say you get your crew together. You got about three decent folks that seems like they can go places and are on board for whatever you got planned. Maybe two other on the fence but they'll hear you out so long as the money's good." She took a swig of her cup.

"That's your third, Hime."

Himeko waved Nanase off. "Anyway, you got your small team... what's your first move? Do another promo and show 'em off? Throw 'em to the loins and see if they can actually make it? Market the shit out of 'em and put 'em in specialty matches?" She leaned back. "You don't gotta' give me every little detail, but... what's the game plan?"

[Fairy Dragon]

Himeko seemed hooked on what she was selling but if she would start buying was another matter. Ayane knew well enough that she had a good plan so she wasn't surprised it made sense but now it seemed Himeko was contemplating joining up with her and began asking questions about what she would do once she did get them on board. Ayane of course already had an answer for that as well and watching Himeko contemplate what she said next she smiled as she spoke.

"Let them prove my point. Under my teaching and management I simply allow them to do the one thing they should be doing which is wrestle. Let them prove my way is right and gets results, and after they do that we can finally start pushing them to the top. Through promos and statistics that prove they deserve it of course." Ayane said watching Himeko to see if she was really interested, it didn't matter if she knew since it's not like there was anyway she could actually stop it if that was her goal for some reason.

[dlamp]

"Hm..." Himeko's eyes lowered, taking in Ayane's words and plan. It wasn't as detailed as she'd like. It was... vague. Not completely, Himeko could follow what she meant, the words still resonated with her, and she did ask Ayane to be more general in the explanation. The fault was hers for not being specific in what she wanted to hear. Still, that hiccup aside the plan in question made sense. Have the people on board become an example through action, have those people prove Ayane's point and rake in the money that came with it, and use that money to be a better example. It was textbook tactics for promotions and management.

And honestly... it was almost a bit annoying that something so textbook was so lacking in LAW.

Himeko let out a sigh. "Y'know Yamamoto-san..." She said, taking a final swig of her cup. "It's kind of scary how someone like you is making so much sense despite what this company does." She sat her cup down, giving a wry smile. "Me and my dad spent months wondering how LAW nearly bought out our gyms and dojo, and yet here we are talking about how much of a shitshow this place is when it comes to book-keeping." She let out another sigh, shaking her head.

"Okay, tell me about you, Yamamoto-san." She said, gesturing to the woman. "I've read about you, saw a few highlights back when you were active, but I wanna' hear about the Empress from her own mouth." She explained. "Like I said, I'm a judo and MMA girl, only kept up with all this wrestling stuff when I first came here, and... well, you've seen how this place is. Plus..." She leaned back in her seat, her eyes sharpening. "I'm curious. How would you convince someone like me that only things all this wrestling stuff as theater, set-dressing, and screaming perverts compared to other combat sports?" She crossed her legs. "I'm done drinking, and despite what Nanana implied I'm barely buzzed. So... impress me a little. What makes you someone worth betting on?"

[Fairy Dragon]

Well they had somehow moved from talking about her plan to talking about her, which was still on a subject she liked talking about but she was wondering what the plan was. Ayane was not one to be hesitant to give out her history since she deemed it one of great importance for wrestling, so it only made sense Himeko would take an interest. Ayane didn't take another sip wanting to make sure to get her point across on this subject and be as clear as possible.

"Since the day I debuted I've caught the eyes of promotions all across Japan, wrestling women and men because I was confident in being the best wrestler in the world. Which I proved when I won, those matches, and won championships, some of which I would hold for years, and one of which I arguably never lost since I only ended up having to vacate it when I was pregnant. I traveled and wrestled in America, Mexico, the UK, and Canada to take on the best talent because people wanted to meet me so they could take on the best. But I remained the best no matter what. My skills didn't end with just my work in the ring either. You see Cyber Widow? One of the girls I trained when they were just starting, in fact you can look at most of the veterans here in LAW and know they were beaten or inspired by me at one point or another. And for the record, this is me being humble about my career. Details anyone could tell you if they looked hard enough." Ayane boasted, not at all humbly.