When Drifter met a Shadow Lord - [GASTER/Drifter]

[thesteedman]

If Katherine Scarlett had known the LAW contract covered medical insurance, she would have went to the hospital much sooner. Whilst she was not in ill health, her life on the streets had no doubt not exactly been good for her either. She was probably over a decade due for a medical check up, and after receiving a vicious cut in a spar just above her brow, she found herself being forced to get checked out by LAW head figures to make sure she was alright. Given the LAW insurance she was previously unaware of, she was offered to be seen right away, but opted to wait in line like the others who had arrived previously.

Katherine was nothing but patient, and after two hours she finally got her check up. The cut was nowhere near as bad as it looked. She was spared stitches, instead having a heavy duty plaster after a good clean up to prevent infection. After a general check up, Katherine was good to go. Taking up her rucksack she made tracks, going through corridors and several rooms... and more corridors, and a couple of other rooms... a dead end, the janitors closet. It took Katherine a good fifteen minutes before she realised she was hopelessly lost in this hospital. She was still learning Japanese. She could speak the most basics, pleases and thank yous, but she was still getting to grasps with the language, and certainly could not read it. What she thought was the exit simply put her into the center of the hospital, and with very few English speaking natives present and free, Katherine realised she would have to help herself.

Picking a single direction, Katherine set off, excusing herself when entering patient rooms and the X-Ray triage. Still, she figured if she went in one general direction she would find a door that led out. After the fifth wrong room Katherine entered, Katherine got a little more than she bargained for. It was a small miracle within itself that it had not happened already, but when the LAW lightweight entered the room, she caught sight of a young woman roughly around her own age in little more than trousers and a bra, holding a top that she was no doubt in the process of putting on. Having walked, Katherine's cheeks turned a shade of red, as a rush of panic took her core.
"Whoa! I am so sorry!" Katherine gasped out, not realising that she might have been able to slip out quietly without being noticed if it wasn't for the sheer alarm.

She averted her eyes quickly, reaching for the door handle to try and close it. In her frantic effort to do, she missed, reaching for nothing but air, with the motion forcing Katherine to head butt the door with a loud thud, naturally just on the part of her forehead where she had just received her heavy duty plaster.
"Ow!" Katherine exclaimed, stumbling back. She grasped at her head as a small line of crimson began to build up below the plaster, collecting up enough to run down the side of Drifter's brow. She rubbed her head, biting on her lower lip hard, with a hand frantically trying to reach for the door handle again.
"So sorry!" Drifter yelped, her cheeks turning a shade of red that near matched the bleed, trying to get out of the room.

[Vc0m]

It has been quite a busy...and really painful, 2 days for Clara Gaster. On Monday, she fought a crazy, sadomasochistic woman by the name of Stephanie Renaud, better known in LAW as "Baroness", and despite winning, she may have as well lost with how she looked by the end of it. The icy woman would torture poor chuuni's spine to hell and beyond during the match, putting her through physical pain the likes of which the Shadow Lord has never felt before. And even after she won, the Baroness wasn't done, torturing her into unconsciousness and beyond that until she was satisfied, and left on her own accord, while the poor Brit was loaded onto the stretcher, and taken away to the nearest hospital.

She awakened 12 hours later to find herself in a cozy hospital room...and trying to move proved to be a task onto itself, as her spine let her know of the punishment the Baroness put her through yesterday. A groan from her would immediately get a doctor onto the scene, telling her to take it easy, before he gave Clara some painkillers, asking Clara to lie down for a bit before telling her her situation.

Her spine, thankfully, did not endure lasting damage, though the amount of pressure put on it meant that GASTER couldn't do much physical activity for a month. Outside of wrestling, even training was forbidden by the doctor, which made the Brit panic. The lightweight tourney was coming up. Taking a month off before training might mean death to her chances at the Lightweight tournament's first round!

As the pain in her back dulled, and as Clara got more and more nervous, the doctor would prescribe her a schedule to take her medicine in active order for the next month. She would be able to leave the hospital today during the day.

At 2 PM, she got her wish, and was allowed to get dressed to discharge herself from the hospital. The hours of waiting, looking at her phone and at the worried messages from Alice, Lya and Melody on her phone...and all the worried words from her fans made her even more nervous about potentially missing the Lightweight qualifiers...and the training needed beforehand.

Clara would rise from her bed, and take off the hospital gown, taking on her underwear (with LAW crewmembers thankfully getting her things out of her locker and delivering them to her hospital room), put on a set of light trousers, picking up a shirt...

...right as someone entered the room...

...who she absolutely sure was not a doctor.

"WAAAAAAAAAAH!!!", she screamed out in surprise...but the woman, a cute, slightly taller than her, redhead, would quickly apologize, try to take her leave...

...and accidentally end up bumping her head on the door!

"'Gasp'! Are you ok?", she said, quickly approaching the woman as she kept trying to leave:

"T-take it easy for a second, sit down...! Oh no!", she would say, as she tried to lead the unknown woman onto her hospital bed to sit her down for a few moments...before noticing she had a large plaster on her forehead...and it turning a shade of red.

"Are you alright, Ms?"

[thesteedman]

"No... It's okay! I'll just... I'll just get out of your way." Katherine whispered with a wince of discomfort, only half composed and half still reeling from the impact. She felt so embarrassed, her cheeks turning a slight shade of pink as her eyes were mostly squinting with the throbbing pain plaguing the side of her temple. She just about found her way to the door when she felt a hand gently grasp her own arm. Still gathering her bearings, she wasn't able to resist when the stranger guided her into the room and away from the door she had somehow lost a fight against. Carefully settled to sit on the side of the bed, Katherine rubbed her head, feeling the plaster had become loose before seeing the blood on the tips of her fingers. She cursed her clumsiness under her breathe before listening to the young woman.

Finally regaining her composure, Katherine looked up at the lady she had walked in on, noticing her striking jade eyes before anything else. She was a beautiful woman, of that there was no doubt, blessed with long silk like dark hair and beautiful features upon her face. Quite embarrassingly, Katherine had already seen what her stunning figure and form was like, and her heart seemed to sink further into her chest realising she had walked in on this poor young woman who wanted nothing more than her privacy getting changed. Her cheeks turned a slightly deeper shade of red, as Katherine could barely look her in the eyes.
"I'm so sorry." Katherine whispered. "I... I'm Katherine, Katherine Scarlett. People just call me Kat though." Katherine added, her tone naturally awkward.
"I didn't mean to walk in on you like that. I'm... just kind of lost. I don't know a lot of Japanese and... well... I know barely any Japanese and I couldn't find the way out." Kat explained, before realising it probably made her seem all the more like a klutz after already banging her head.

"Listen... I'm alright. I just... thank you. It's nice to meet you, I just.. feel really stupid walking in on you like that." Katherine added, managing a pleasant giggle finally, trying to make light of the situation. She rubbed her temple as she tried to re-secure the bandage on the side her forehead. The bleed wasn't too bad, but a few lines had trickled down the side of her face with another threatening to seep into her eye. Kat was either trying to play it mellow or was simply unaware, but she managed a smile as she looked upon the stranger, realising that her manners had escaped her.
" W.. What's your name?"

[Vc0m]

"It's not a problem! I was leaving soon anyway...", Clara would reply, as she tried to reapply the redhead's plaster, to make sure it fully covered the hurt spot:

"Don't rub it, it will come even more loose, then it won't stick anymore. Plus you might get germs in there...", she would explain, carefully moving the woman's arms out of the way to stop her from rubbing her hurt spot to soothe it. As she did so, the redhead introduced herself as Katherine Scarlett...a name she definitely felt she heard from somewhere...

"Oh...But...there should be plenty of people working here speaking english...I somehow managed to get by in the country with barely a word of Japanese...", Clara would explain, trying to look the girl in the eye...only for her to escape her gaze as her cheeks turned a shade of pink...

It was then when Clara realized she was still wearing only her bra with no shirt.

"A-ah! Please, excuse me for a second...", she would explain, standing up and picking up her dropped shirt, quickly putting it on to hide her torso:

"It's not a problem...I have clumsy days like this too. ...we should visit a doctor to maybe reapply the plaster, Ms. Kat...", she would say as she picked up her bag, and waited for Katherine to get up from the bed...as she continued to rub the hurt spot on her temple, with blood seeping down. The plaster was definitely not going to attach firmly again. Still, despite the light pain, the girl smiled at her quite optimistically.

Kat would apologize and ask for the Brit's name:

"O-oh...I am Clara! Clara Gaster, nice to meet you, Kat."

[thesteedman]

Katherine felt Clara's hands slowly take her own to stop her from further damaging her plaster. No doubt it could no longer be salvaged after Kat messed around with it. That was the least of Kat's worries however as her cheeks turned a slight shade even pinker once her arms were guided away, giving Kat a very close view of Clara's bra clad torso. She had a fine figure, her skin soft and curved in all the right places and her build slender with a modest chest that only complimented her beautiful frame. Naturally Kat turned her head and tried to avert her eyes, trying to make out that it wasn't a big deal, thought it soon appeared that the kind stranger realised she wore little herself, soon correcting the issue by slipping on the top she dropped on the floor.

Soon enough Clara had introduced herself, and seemed ready to help Kat out, gathering her things ready to leave the patient room. Katherine managed a smile and her cheeks had finally calmed some as she stood up to join Clara Gaster....
Gaster... that name was very familiar to her. No doubt it was going to bug her for some time trying to recall where she had heard such a unique name. Either way, Kat joined Clara, having finally recomposed herself since her dramatic loss to the door.
"I love that accent." Kat mentioned. "Where are you from?" She politely asked, before the questions in her mind finally fabricated into a viable answer. Kat stopped suddenly, looking upon Clara with a bewildering expression. She blinked a few times, making comparisons from her memory to the beautiful young woman who stood before her.

"Gaster... wait... you said Gaster didn't you? Are you... the GASTER?! From the LAW?!" Kat spoke, not being able to contain a strong hint of excitement from creeping into her voice.
"Oh wow! That's amazing! I'm... I'm from LAW too! I'm known as Drifter there. I'm just starting out there. It's... wow.. it's really cool to meet you! I didn't think you'd be so pretty under the mask." Kat spoke with a beaming smile. It dropped a little after a second or two when she realised what she said... though she meant well she realised such a comment could be taken in various ways with not all of them being good.
"I mean... well... Sorry, that did not come out the way it was suppose to." Kat gasped a little awkwardly. "I'm just sayin'... I never could have guessed what you'd look like. That mask is so badass and mysterious... just like you." Katherine added, scratching the back of her head, hoping she had saved a little face.

[Vc0m]

As Clara stood ready to go by the door, her face was still read from Kat seeing her topless...and it turned a shade darker as she took a good look on the girl while she stood up, and both of them walked out of the hospital room.

The girl was slightly taller than her, but slightly slimmer...yet she could tell there was a fair bit of muscle to the redhead. Her face, despite the slightly awkward look, was beaming with positivity, and and her light brown eyes and red hair only accentuated how cute the woman was.

She had almost lost herself in slightly admiring Kat's body and face as the woman commented on Clara's accent and place of birth:

"I am from Newcastle...in England, how about yourse---?", she tried to continue the conversation, as Kat looked at her with bewilderment for a second, the Brit thinking that Kat was seeing a ghost behind her...

...before she revealed the root of the problem, Clara realizing that she let her surname spill from her mouth:

"Y-yes. I am the evil Shadow Lord GASTER!", she rubbed the back of her head. Now she was the one with an awkward expression on her face...

...but her interest would rise when Kat revealed that she was a wrestler for LAW as well!

"Oh! I thought I recognized your name. I did see the name "Drifter" on LAW website."

Kat would continue, letting Clara know how pretty she looked under her mask...and the awkwardness would give way to a redder blush on her cheeks...and a wider smile on her face from the compliment...

And Kat continued showering her with praises. It was one thing to have someone on the internet compliment you...but having her peer in the Drifter say how cool she was definitely warmed her heart, and put it slightly at ease from the worry about the lightweight tourney she had not even 10 minutes ago:

"Thank you so much, Kat...You have no idea how much this means to me.", she replied to the Drifter.

[thesteedman]

Kat smiled, following Clara's lead as she took her through the hospital towards where they needed to be. She was very glad to have encountered her both for her knowledge of the area and the fact that it was the Shadow Lord of LAW. It was hard to remove the smile from Kat's face as she eagerly followed Clara, knowing she was a fellow colleague/potential rival. Kat felt the plaster on her head, knowing by now that it was only just holding onto the small laceration. Viewing the dried up blood on the tips of her fingers indicated the bleeding had largely ceased, but no doubt a cleanup and a new heavy duty plaster was in order to prevent any infection.

"Heh, I'm only speaking the truth." Kat added, when Clara voiced her appreciation. "Who knows, maybe in time my name will grow into something just as well known." Kat spoke, revealing a pleasant smile on her beautiful features as she turned to GASTER. In truth she had not really joined the LAW for fame, but rather just for the fortune. That wasn't to say she only cared about the money, but rather she simply needed it to keep the Orphanage back at home going, along with funds for the family she had nearly ruined in her naive adolescent days. The money she received from her contract covered those expenses, but not much else. Still, Drifter was largely content with her situation...

"Sorry, I kinda side tracked the conversation a little didn't I? I just got excited. Newcastle, England? Heh, a name like that it must have a really cool Castle. Would love to visit Merry Ol' England someday, perhaps I should add Newcastle to the list should I ever find myself in England. As for me, I was born in Halifax, in Nova Scotia Canada, but as you can tell from the accent I was pretty much brought up most my life in the States, Vancouver... in Washington. Apparently, I've kept some traces of my Canadian accent, but I bet it's hard to tell for a Brit like yourself." Kat began to explain, now noticeably at greater ease around Clara. Her cheeks had calmed down now, though it was clear to see Kat was still a little nervous in her body language, though she was also seemingly giddy, no doubt pleased to meet the woman behind the Shadow Lord GASTER.

As Clara began to slow her pace, Kat recognised the door they approached, seeing it as the room she had first come from. She turned to Clara, realising they had reached their destination.
"Well... thanks so much again Clara. I'll make sure I get directions this time after my plaster is fixed. Also, if I encounter that door again, I'll make sure I win the rematch." Kat spoke, holding a light tone as she jested. There was a small delay in her speech as she turned away, knowing this was the part she should have been saying goodbye and thanks again. She opened her lips to say such things, but different words began to spill out, as her nervousness came back with a vengeance.

"Wanna'.. either wait here or come in with me? Shouldn't take too long I imagine." Kat asked with a low voice.
"'Thinking afterwards we could... if you're not busy that is... we could go grab a coffee and talk some more. Or maybe even have a friendly spar since we're both... like... professional wrestlers and stuff." Kat suggested, struggling to maintain eye contact. She didn't know why she was so nervous, Kat was only asking if Clara wanted to basically hangout with her, it wasn't exactly asking her for a date or the such, but something about Clara made Kat struggle to get the words to come out as casual as she'd like.

[Vc0m]

With a happy smile on her face, Clara lead Kat towards the doctor's office in the facility, knowing the hospital like the back of her hand due to how much she had been in here already in her last 2 years in Tokyo. The two continued their chat as they turned the corner:

"It will...I guarantee you, if you keep working hard and connect with the crowd. And with a romantic name like Drifter, you have half of that in the bag already"

As the talk reached the two wrestlers' respective homes: "Yeah, it feels new, but not much of a "castle" anymore, I feel...", Clara chuckled: "But it's a good city...haven't been there for a while now...Tokyo and a couple of other towns in Japan for house shows is all I've been to in recent months...", Clara would comment...realizing that despite their wealth of worldwide talent, LAW didn't really branch out that match around the world...

"I am not the best when it comes to telling people's accents apart, hahaha. Sadly, never been to either Canada...or North America in general.", the Brit would reply, before realizing the duo had arrived to the office Kat was at earlier.

She chuckled at Kat's joke...before feeling sadness over Kat turning to say good bye to her...she had nothing to do except go to her house and sulk over her injury. Alice was in Kyoto for a LAW house show, Lya was likely teaching at her wrestling school and her other friends were busy with their own things...she really didn't want to be alone in her apartment...

Thankfully, a good bye would not be what the Drifter would say, instead inquiring whether Clara could wait for the duo to continue their chat after the plaster was reapplied!

"Yes! Absolutely...but...I...actually got injured in my last match. I was told to not do anything physical for a month...but I am definitely up for coffee! There is a Starbucks right next door!", Clara got unusually excited as Kat offered to hang out some more.

[thesteedman]

"That's great! I shouldn't be any more than a few minutes!" Katherine spoke out, with a clear tone of delight heavily present within her voice. She found it hard to remove the gleeful smile from her lips, and found herself fortunate she had some time to recompose herself by entering the doctors room. Katherine did not want to seem like she was fan girling too much over meeting up with GASTER, the last thing she wanted to do was freak out or scare away the fellow wrestling colleague. As such, she was indeed able to compose herself somewhat after a brief minutes break, spending that time wincing as her doctor reapplied a fresh plaster once she explained the situation. The doctor was a lot more forceful this time around, no doubt trying to drill it into Katherine subconsciously not to mess around with her plaster again.

In no time at all she was back with Clara who patiently waited for her. Katherine managed a more subtle smile this time, trying to play it cool... (but not too cool... it was hard finding a balance between casual and being too forceful).
"All good! Lead the way!" Kathy spoke.
As expected, Clara was right about the Starbucks, having a much better grasp of the hospital and the surrounding area than Katherine did herself. In mere minutes the two were entering the Starbucks, with Drifter finally taking point and kindly opening the door for Clara. The two had naturally continued talking, or rather Drifter had been for now in the short time it had taken to reach their new destination.

"... it was pretty intense. I should have known the gym would be closed in such bad weather really, but more fool me. I was lucky I happened to run into Irelia that night." Katherine spoke, talking of her experience of the recent storm. The two approached the counter, fortunate that the people in front had just finished being served. Katherine walked towards the attendant, managing an awkward smile as she tried to speak Japanese, ordering two coffees. All things considered, she did alright, still learning to speak the native language. There was a bit of pointing and confusion to get her full order across, but it wasn't too awkward as both Katherine and the one serving her managed to giggle about it.

It became awkward however when the price was revealed, as Katherine dipped into her pink wallet to get the required amount... only to find herself a fair bit short. She felt her head dip just a little as those nerves returned with a passion. She thought she had a little more Yen than she possessed, and realised it was a few days until she received her next payment, as little as it would be the moment she paid off all her outstanding debts, (or what she considered debts when in reality it was charity). Katherine struggled to turn to Clara, realising she couldn't pay for both their coffee's.

She felt embarrassed and ashamed. Katherine had been trying her best to shadow the reality that she was in a really tough financial situation, but the cracks were already beginning to appear. It became obvious that she couldn't pay for the coffees.
"Oh.... I uhh..." Katherine struggled to speak, feeling her heart sink a little deeper, feeling too ashamed to ask for help. Right now... she felt like running out of the store and simply finding a dark place to bury herself away from the world.

[Vc0m]

"Mm-hmm!", Clara would positively nod towards the Canadian, before calmly waiting for her by the bench next to the door of the doctor's office, taking some time to respond to the worried messages from her family and friends, being too nervous about their reaction to do so earlier...

A few minutes later, Kathy walked out with a big smile on her face, calling on Clara to lead the way to Starbucks.

Another few short minutes later, as Kathy opened the door for Clara, the two lightweights discussed a situation that happened to the Drifter a few days ago, caught up in a storm by the gym, but being picked up by a newfound friend there:

"Ooof...getting caught in a storm doesn't sound like a nice experience...did Irelia take you to your house right after that? Or did you take to her house until the storm passed?", she questioned Kat, as the two girls approached the counter, telling her both her and Clara's order, asking the Brit to do that to check her Japanese.

Despite it likely being broken, and despite the barista rechecking the order with the two 4 times...eventually, they managed to get their point across. The moment the price was revealed, Clara reached for her bag to get her wallet...but couldn't find it!

"Hmmm...oh...no...but I remember I put it with me! Did I leave it in the locker?", Clara grew worried: "Um...Kathy, if it's not too difficult, could you pay for me? I promise to..."

Kat, however, turned to her as well with pleading eyes...letting Clara know that money was a sensitive subject on the taller lightweight's side of things, getting red in the face with the awkwardness...

Just then Clara felt her wallet through the wall of the bag, turning out to have been in the side pocket!

Clara quickly paid for both their drinks as the two gals waited for their drinks by the side of the counter, as Clara awkwardly told Kat:

"I-it's not an issue if you are short on money! I always forget my wallet at my house, today was an exception!", she joked...but felt there was something else behind the fact of Katherine being short on cash...LAW employees, even low ranking ones, got sizable salary...and it seemed strange that Kat didn't have enough to pay for even one coffee...