Young, Beautiful, and Bad Ass

"Man..." Taylor mused, shaking her head at Morrigan with a twinkle in her eye that she just knew the Irish girl had to hate. "It seems like just yesterday I was calling your crazy ass out for being a psycho bitch. And now look at us! I'm... I'm getting a lil misty..."

She held out her arms and gave the girl an impish smile. "Okay, bring it in," she said, and began shuffling her feet toward her for an impending hug.


Taylor cradled a tall glass between her hands, filled with a frozen, blended mix of milk, banana, honey, and little flecks of dark chocolate. On the other side of the booth was a mug off strong coffee that Jess Ciora had spiked with whatever she had on her. The diner was lit like a cafeteria, with only a single row of booths on the side along the large pane windows, and a single waitress resting her feet in the end booth while she busied herself with place settings.

Jess seemed to move like she was blowing in the wind, or floating under water, or like a cat just finding a place to settle down. Her smile was easy and rarely left her face, and she laughed freely and often. Taylor watched her with her bright eyes and listened to her stories, and kept Morrigan firmly sandwiched against the window.

"I'm literally a magnet for creepy Japanese guys! And then one time, this older guy offered me money for me to take a nap!" Jess gestured at the other two girls while she took a quick sip of her coffee. "Of course, I did it, but still! So weird! He was just lucky that I was suuuuper tired. He just sat there next to me on a couch in the club, and he left me enough to pay off my tab and then some, so that was pretty great. But you guys, like, you must totally get so much attention from guys here. Right? And... Morgan? Right? Ohmigod, I. Love. Your. Hair. Ohmigod, I can't even deal, it's so gorgeous, you're so beautiful."

Taylor subtly nudged Morrigan with her elbow.

Morrigan blushed at Jess' words but threw a glance at Taylor. Just because she wanted Morrigan to be more friendly with people didn't mean she had to try and get her friends right then and there!

"T-Thaaanks." Morrigan said, furrowing her brow a bit as she brought up a handful of her wild, red hair and inspected it. She looked back up and smiled at Jess. "I know it looks like bed head but I work on it a lot..." She said and looked Jess over. "Yeah, you can call me whatever." She said. "Morgan is fine. It's... my name. I don't really get attention from guys. Not weirdo Japs at least." She said.

"Except to stare like I'm some alien or something." Morrigan shook her head. "This place is kind of stupid, but at least most of the people in it aren't total twats." Morrigan shrugged and took a sip from her beer.

"But, getting paid to sleep... There's worse and creepier things going on than that. As weird as this place is, most are pretty tame and just want to be creepos near you instead of with you."

Morrigan looked at Taylor and then back to Jess. "I didn't really know you were Taylor's friend friend. I honestly thought you were just someone's cunt girlfriend who showed up to drink Taylor's booze and make out with her friends." She knew those types, unfortunately, and blushed in irritation at her own hypocritical words.

"Not me, I'm a good girl," Jess replied with a smile.

"Jess is like the most normal person I know. I don't know many normal people, like... whose lives don't revolve around beating people up. Though we don't see each other that much, we're all pretty busy."

"I'm not really a plan-in-advance kind of girl," Jess explained. "But I like my wrestler friends. I'm not really wrestling right now, but even when I was, I wasn't like Taylor. Or... you, right? You're a wrestler too?" She gestured at Morrigan and nodded. "I could never do what you do, with like the blood and guts and broken bones and always fighting it out. But you guys inspire me. Like... I'm the cheap entertainment, and you guys are the heroes."

"Yeah. It's tough to get anything done when you're so busy. I don't really have much time to hang out or find friends." Morrigan glanced wryly at Taylor. "This bitch, though." She said, jabbing a thumb at the blonde. "Her schedule is so tight but it's workable. There's always a spot open if she needs something or someone penciled in."

Morrigan took another drink and thought about what Jess said. "Taylor's the hero. She's into all that shite too. I wrestle but I'm just a cunt who likes beating up other cunts." She looked over Jess. "I mean... I guess I used to..." Morrigan shrugged.

"So you like to entertain? How the fuck did you end up wrestling? Bitches want to wreck a pretty lass like you. There's got to be something safer that lets you entertain people..."

Taylor didn't say anything, but she raised an eyebrow and looked over at Morrigan. What a world, where the white trash punk rock bitch from Staten Island was the hero. It was the same world where Taylor had been in Morrigan's shoes only a few years ago. Though Taylor had never been a sadistic monster like Morrigan, she had still changed a lot.

Meanwhile, Jess didn't miss a beat, and kept right on talking. "Oh, yeah, totally. Dance was my thing, I was a professional dancer and sometimes backup singer for pop and hip hop acts, and I sort of got into wrestling during that. It was my big act of rebellion." She laughed, and took a long sip of her spiked coffee.

"She's being modest, man. She's actually not a bad wrestler at all," Taylor chimed in.

"Aw, thanks. I used to wrestle all over in America. Not every place is like here, ya know, and I tended to do better or worse depending on the rules. Some places, there was no punching of kicking or anything, just wrestling, and that was way better for me. My favorite, though, were the semi-competitive ones... They were usually just in bars, and every night someone grabs your ass, but those were reaaally fun. Like, winning was nice, but putting on a show was focus. Some girls didn't get that, and some people got hurt, but those girls that came in trying to kill people would just get fired, which was nice."

"That'd be me," Taylor squinted, and slurped at her drink.

"Oh, don't say that. I bet if you got in the ring with me back then, you'd have so much fun. But those ones aren't really around now, since the sport's getting more legit..." She sighed.

"It is..." Taylor nodded. "And it's gonna be better. It's cool if it's not your thing now, but Morgan, whatya think?"

Morrigan finisher her beer and decided she was fine with ordering another one as she listened to the two girls. "I don't know if I could do that shite." Morrigan admitted. "Just rolling around like that." The red heads cheeks flushed. "But... I wouldn't mind watching it, I guess."

Morrigan lowered her head a bit. "I've been fighting my whole life. All that Irish bullshit is pretty true for me. I like to drink and I like to fight. I figured if I was going to be fighting no matter what I did, then I might as well get paid for it, so I found a ratty gym where they liked to pretend like they were training me. Fucking twats... I think they just set me up." Morrigan growled. "Oh, yeah, if you get your arse kicked enough, you'll figure out how to keep it from happening eventually." Morrigan said mocking her own Irish accent with an even more superfluous one.

"Fuck that." She said. "Maybe I like to hurt bitches but when I was trying to end their careers, I think that was something else. I wouldn't do that now." She said. "I've been fighting clean and I've been doing ok. I feel better about it.... and I can still get my kicks..." Morrigan then smiled at Jess. "I'm sure I'd wreck you if we had a match." Morrigan's grin widened. "But maybe I wouldn't punch your nose sideways."

"Ooh, a challenge," Jess purred, meeting Morrigan's gaze with a coy smile.

"And we're proud of the person you've become," Taylor said, and then added "My money's on whoever asks me to train 'em. If I can get Mercy Wrenn to the winners circle, I can do anything!" She laughed, and then shook her head. "To tell the truth, I'd kinda like someone new to train... I don't even know what to do with my girls anymore. Julia and Alaina, they just... They've been such bitches, and Alaina went fucking nuts over this stuff... I guess ive got Gabbie, though. She's a little chewy on the outside, but she's great. But... I don't know how far shell be able to go."

"Sounds like the Dojo just needs to get away and have a little fun," sad Jess.

"You think so?" Taylor nudged Morrigan with her elbow. "Morg, whatya think?"

Morrigan finally grinned a bit wider. "Not for me." She teased back, meeting Jess' gaze before Taylor interrupted their playful stare down. She turned and looked at Taylor skeptically. "Thanks, I think..." She said and then continued to listen.

Morrigan stayed out of Dojo politics. She worked for Taylor and because of that she interacted with the Dojo girls, but she didn't work for any of them and what she needed to do for Taylor alone kept her busy almost all of the time. She liked it better that way anyway, but she heard Taylor's opinion about what was going on and Junko's when she was there. Apparently they were now all cunts though. Except for the one who was but not really. She was thankful Jess broke in before she had to give an opinion.

"Huh?" Morrigan blinked. "I don't know." She said at first and shook her head before she paused. "You know Junko would say yes, but she just wants to get everyone to go up to the hotsprings. She's creepier than I am." Morrigan said with only the faintest smile to indicate that she was teasing.

"But, yeah... why not? You lasses might enjoy each other way more when you're not just running ropes and beating the hell out of each other. Even though you just got done with a vacation, I think you could always use some time off. Sometimes you get really cranky." Morrigan grinned widely at the last part.

"A few drinks or a shopping trip or a weekend away or something. What's the point if you're not having fun?" Jess offered reasonably.

"Yeah, right, but, well..." Taylor floundered. "I kinda just got back from a vacation, and it was great. And... I dunno if that would really work so great right now. I'm pretty pissed at them both with all the shit they've done lately and how they've been acting, and I don't want to like, take a trip to Thailand and then get there and have everything be suuuuper awkward. Ya know?"

"Well, I guess you have some things to talk over first. And you know what's great for that!" Jess said with a sunny laugh. "Drinks! Go have a few with the girls, enough to get them talking, but not enough to get them fighting. I know how parties go with you guys!" Jess laughed good-naturedly. If it weren't for her harmless nature, Taylor might've taken offense.

She just nodded, though, and restlessly slid her glass back and forth between her hands. "Ya know, Morg, when I first went to you, a lot of people were like... they had their doubts, and I defended you tooth and nail. But this just feels different... I had expectations for Julia and Alaina, and I thought they agreed to them when they joined, ya know?"

"Yeah, but I'm a cunt who is trying not to be." Morrigan said. She had nodded along with Jess but she thought the green haired girl might have been trying to get the two to bring her along. At least it seemed well intentioned and maybe having an outsider would be the best thing for everyone. "They aren't cunts and they're kind of acting like ones." She finished her thought.

"They've been winning a lot lately, yeah? Doing pretty good? Maybe it's just going to their head. I mean, Julia hasn't even lost yet. She probably thinks she can take you and Akashi at the same time right now. They probably need to be humbled a bit, but that doesn't mean kicking the ladder out from under them. Despite what they say, I think you're pretty reasonable. A night out might not be so bad. You can say your peace and if it's awkward or something, then it's just one night."

Morrigan looked at Jess and shrugged. Did that sound ok? She then smiled, deciding to make her initial thoughts known. "You're just trying to hitch a ride on a dojo party wagon, aren't you?" She said with a small smile.