Aftermath

[JingleJangle]

For the couple days after Beatrix Reynold’s debut in LAW the woman hadn’t left her apartment. Instead she shut herself away, not willing to have any contact with anyone. Not like she was likely to run into someone she knew, she was new in town and in the country and the only people she knew there were from work and of course Ivan Ramirez, who also was from work. Being completely manhandled by the redheaded guy in her debut truly hurt her. Yes, she had been curious about the nature of hentai wrestling because she thought that wrestling itself was inherently hot, but her first taste couldn’t go worse since nothing there was enticing or alluring, not even thrilling as a competition. What transpired was a fuckfest, a complete domination and destruction of her self until Ivan was satisfied, leaving Bea in shambles. In fact, one of the few things she managed to gather strength to do was to write her resignation letter.

Fate crossed paths with Bea just another time when she heard an e-mail notification. It came from LAW’s intranet so it had to be someone from there that had noticed her. The message was comforting though, trying to give her solace and validate her in just some few sentences before offering for a meeting. It would be in a local café, a well thought neutral ground where Bea wouldn’t have anything to worry about. Her initial reaction would have been trash the e-mail and send her letter, but something prevented her from doing so. Curiosity took over. Could this be a true nice person, a helping hand willing to help her adapt to LAW? Could somehow her first taste of the league be the exception and not the rule? She only had one way to find out, and being honest she didn’t have that many choices left, so she responded to the main confirming her assistance.

After some more time of silent reflection on the latest events Beatrix gathered the strength and courage to get ready and get to the meeting point. It was a café in the city center, a place with lots of people so she could feel safe. Bea almost doesn’t make it in time because it required a lot of will from her part to just get ready and get out of her apartment but now she was at the appointed place, she just needed to scout her whereabouts in search of the person she was looking for, any sign of that person being from LAW, but people don’t have “LAW” written on them for coworkers to identify so Bea started scanning faces in search for any sign of recognition. After all, the person who sent the e-mail said they saw her debut so at least they knew her face.

[DSX93]

Alix Jacques

"Your debut was hard, and I can only imagine how much. But take heart: It was only one night. And you already have fans, myself among them. I believe that you can make it here in LAW, and I would like to help. If you would like to talk, how about we meet at Cafe Alps?"

Alix then left an address, a date, and a time, and signed it, "Allie Cat". She wondered if Bea would recognize the nickname; it had been years since they've last seen each other, and business often kept them on different channels, so to speak.

Cafe Alps

Interior

When the day came, she waited at the table that sat right by the window. A spot that she made sure to reserve days in advance. The view was nice, but more than that, it was a place where they could both be seen. The intention was to provide a sense of safety via that visibility, as not every wrestler felt as bold with their deeds outside of the ring.

And Cafe Alps truly was a neutral ground, being an establishment that she had yet to dine in. But the reviews were good. And boy, did the smells have her empty stomach calling for a good lunch. She already knew what she wanted, but hadn't ordered yet. It was the basic manners she'd been taught growing up: Not even so much as a sip of a beverage was to cross her lips until her company had joined her at the table.

Speaking of which, Beatrice was running late. It was possible that she wasn't even coming. A loss like the one she suffered was already enough to taint wrestling to a deep, irreversible level for many. For it to happen in front of such a heartless crowd? She wasn't certain that she would've been able to come back from that, herself.

It put things into perspective for her. Really made her glad that Reine was pushing her so hard in their workouts, and thankful that she got to Dizzy and Origa when she did. She can give them the tools to keep it from happening to them.

Twenty minutes. Twenty-two. Twenty-five. Oh no. Could she have reached out too late?

Alix had a difficult decision to make that night. She was in the arena, on the way to a meeting when she happened by Bea's locker room. She stopped. Had a hand raised to the door, ready to rap. But there were some major players at the table she'd been called to, and first impressions count for a lot in business. After Dark's ratings have been stellar, but she was a ways away from being entrenched.

She wasn't at all worried about being replaced. Winston had seen to that during that first sit down to work out the particulars of the contract. But the show could still get axed, whether directly or via the cutting of crucial support. There was only so much that she can do with her individual wealth.

It was so hard to walk away after hearing the sobbing on the other side of the door. She kept reminding herself again and again that it was for the greater good: With After Dark to her name, she can do more to help. And after the meeting, she'd get started on a message the moment she got her phone out of her pocket.

That meeting could've waited. She could've done something.

Alix lifted her eyes from the table to look for a waiter to flag down. She was going to have their lemon tea and place an order for something to go. Guilt had claimed her appetite, but she still wanted to give the cafe some form of business as thanks for their accommodations. It was basic dining manners.

That was when she saw her. She raised her hand up high and waved, with a warm, welcoming smile adorning her features.

[JingleJangle]

Bea wasn’t sure what to expect from that mysterious meeting. Judging the e-mail she got and its contents she expected some kind of ally? Of course given her recent experience in LAW it all could be a ruse to fool the rookie and take advantage of her once again. The thought immediately terrified the blonde woman, making her shudder and instantly regretting getting in that situation, but running from the café wasn’t an option. After not so much time scanning through the room in search for any signal of who her mysterious supporter was suddenly happened the thing that Bea was expecting the least: she saw someone from her previous life, from back when she was still Beatrice Tremblay and had the acomodated life of an heir to an empire, waving at her from one of the tables.

Suddenly, Beatrix felt a little stupid. Of course! The note was signed “Allie Cat”. It had been some years since Alix Jaques and her had last met, but their families had mutual business and deals with each other and being two young women of around the same age and belonging to the high society it was just a natural thing for them to coincide now and then, and given their characters it was only logical for the two of them to get along well. They weren’t the best of confidants or anything like that, but they got to know the other well and they enjoyed the other’s company during boring galas and such. It felt so strange to see Alix after so much time in there. Then realization hit just when Beatrix was getting in front of the table Alix was sitting at and the blonde blushed. She had seen her debut! Beatrix felt her palms getting sweaty and her legs getting weak like spaghetti. Any words she planned to use to greet Alix choked in her throat and she started hyperventilating, unable to compose herself from the embarrassment she was feeling, frozen in place in front of Alix, distressed beyond reason, almost reaching for a rescuing hand.

[DSX93]

That warm smile turned, in concert with Beatrice's own change, into a look of concern. That they knew each other was ironically something that would present a hurdle from the onset. Her mind grew awash with the possibilities that come with having a friend bearing witness to such a vulnerable moment, and it was written all over her face. Her legs. The entirety of her: The negative thoughts -- the fear, the embarrassment -- they were overcoming her. Turning Alix into another face in the crowd as it went back to that night.

Alix didn't want to think about how her mind was having her react in the replay. So she didn't, taking care not to move too suddenly as she got out of her chair, lest Beatrice mistake it for the beginning of another attack. Then she offered that rescuing hand, slowly reaching out.

"It's okay, Bea." She spoke with the softness of a mother tending to her crying child. "It's okay." Some of the other patrons turned their eyes their way. Alix alone had already garnered some attention from the moment she walked in, simply by virtue of being the only person in the Kamurocho hotspot who wasn't Japanese. Now there were two of them.

Simple curiosity, unaware of what was happening. Not everyone watches wrestling.

Alix paid them no mind. Beatrice was all that mattered. She didn't want to make her too aware of the others in the building.

[JingleJangle]

Going to that café to find someone from her previous life felt for Bea as seeing a ghost. Suddenly and without her willing she reconnected with a life she had left behind for good reasons, all her pain and regrets coming back to her and it became too much to bear. Luckily as she was about to break Alix had got up and held her hand. For Bea it wasn’t enough. She leaned forwards and embraced her, burying her head on the side of Alix’s, resting against her shoulder as she let it go. She didn’t care anymore about the possibility of that being a trap, even if she couldn’t think of Alix doing something like that. For the moment the only thing she did was to rest against her friend of old while sobbing against her shoulder. “Y- you saw everything...”, she said in between hiccups, clearly still distressed but feeling some catharsis in finally being capable of opening to someone about what she had endured for the last days.