Out And About

Felina didn’t flinch away from Edgar as their faces pressed and he continued to lay into her. They were hair’s breadth from coming to blows, she knew it, and every part of her brain was telling her to not do it and that it would ruin her friendship with a person that she liked far more than she’d expected to and that it might even end up with her spending a night in jail or maybe even deported, all things she wanted to avoid for numerous reasons.

It was just hard to process those reasons when Edgar was right there. In her face. Daring her.

She clenched her teeth as he grabbed her finger and twisted it about, but she didn’t pull away and she didn’t make him stop, enduring the pain as best as she could. She wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of making her give in, she’d already given him far too much of that as it was. The only thing that she was willing to react to was the venom coming out of his mouth.

”Yeah, you beat me. Sure.” No sense in denying the obvious, but the fire in her eyes showed just what she thought of that, and she was willing to elaborate. ”You got me, with your wimp act. Next time, straight up? Not happening. Remember that kick that dropped you, ‘cause there’s a lot-”

She was just about to launch into a rant when Leah called, and she was quick to follow Edgar’s lead and default to a neutral position, hopping back on the stool and crossing her legs, tossing back her hair and leaning against the table, keeping her everything in check. She could’ve taken him on right here and now, she swore she was ready for it, almost as much as she swore she could handle him this time. That was the part that stuck in her craw the most, truth be told. She’d beaten guys before. She’d even beaten bigger guys. She’d beaten Army. There wasn’t anything Edgar brought to the table that she couldn’t handle if she was ready, and she chomping at the bit to prove it.

Just wait. Just wait.

She was surprised - and a tad relieved, for the sake of the afternoon - when Edgar said he’d be leaving, meaning that she and Leah could get a little more time together. After she retreated back behind the beads once again, Felina replied to his glare with a quick middle finger, then eased back on the table as he went to change into something more…’presentable’ probably wasn’t the right word, but the only one that came to mind.

It was an eerily familiar sight, reminding her of Army in the morning. ”The Sniff Test?” She canted her head. ”Really?”

“Not sure if that was you giving me crap or offering to buy me a dresser.” He spoke rather offhandedly to Felina, not even turning to regard her as he lifted another shirt, the flannel that Leah had been using, to give it a sniff. His eyes narrowed briefly before he gave the article of clothing a toss towards the other woman. “It's a tried and true method. One of those if it ain't broke, don't fix it things. After seeing you fight, I guess I understand why something like that is just… woosh.” He waved a hand back over his head.

He had found some jeans by now and one of his shirts with cutoff sleeves that seemed to be fresh enough for him to make the round trip for pizza. Folding them over an arm he moved to one of the boxes piled against the wall to fish out some socks at random. Mismatched, but workable. Nobody but the three of them were likely to ever know his secret. Moving over to the couch, he sat himself.on the arm to start working on the socks.

“On the plus side, as far as your career goes you aren't losing ground on the rest of your crew. Heard all of them aren't doing so hot lately. Especially that dude you had in your corner. Saw him get waster by some random nobody. Rough stuff. Maybe he should stick to being a corner man… well actually no. He didn't do so hot there either, did he.” Edgar glanced up to Felina, flashing her a cheeky little smirk.

“So, question, since apparently my little act was the only thing that threw you off and not being pounded into next week. Was it your brilliant idea to suckerpunch me or his?” While he didn't go out of his way to track down her family's matches he happened upon them easily enough while sitting backstage, waiting to see if he got used that evening between naps. Leah was adamant about attending shows they weren't booked on in case interesting opening challenges hit the ring.

For the most part, Felina was doing a decent job of withstanding Edgar’s verbal jabs. Oh, he was annoying, had a way of cutting right into her, but she’d grown up with two older brothers and Army, who was as close to being a brother as a cousin could ever be. That gave her some patience to work with, and she needed it as Edgar continued to rub in his win. And other things.

”Wow, do you like to talk.” She looked on and shook her head as Edgar chose his wardrobe with the same care and skill as a blind man. ”Look, Ed? You get to talk crap about ‘my crew’ when you get a belt. Or a medal. Or...oh, wait, what was your record again?” She snapped her fingers. ”Right, right, you don’t really have one, do you? Come back in a year, maybe two, then see how you’re looking.”

Growing a little tired of just sitting there while he lambasted her, Felina hopped off the chair and started to idly make her way around the room, taking a miniature tour of the place while he continued to throw barbs her way. She’d just opened up a book she found laying around - Tales of Adventure #2 -when something he said really sank in and forced her to straighten up, her eyebrows dancing about as she processed it.

”Suckerpunch? When did I…” Her mind processed the match over, rewound it, which was something she’d done countless times over the past few weeks. This time, though, she tried to lock in on what he was talking about. She’d only really hit him twice, if she recalled correctly. That spinning heel kick to the face, so satisfying, and…

”Wait.” She held up her hands, cocked her head to the side, furrowed her brows. ”Are you seriously giving me crap for that punch at the start of the fight? After the bell rang? I pretended to do one move, only to do another - that’s a feint, cowlick, not a suckerpunch. It’s pretty common in, you know...all combat sport, ever. Where’d you learn to box, Tae Bo?”

She had to laugh now, shaking her head as she turned away from him and strolled back to the kitchen. ”Make it sound like a gave you a nutshot or something. Come on...” She threw her hands up and spun back around with her fists up. ”Were the gloves not enough of a hint that I might punch you? Should I have told you about it in advance, gave you a heads up?”

"I'm undefeated." He threw it out with as much ease with someone who had been on a streak of one hundred matches straight. Regardless of what she knew about him, he didn't need some tacty piece of jewelry to validate himself. He had been knocking people on their asses for years before this whole wrestling thing, both inside of a ring and on the streets. It was cute she thought she could pull the internet culture card of needing to hit X criteria in order to have a legitimate say in whatever topic he was talking about. "I guess I have you to thank for that though." Another one of those cheeky smiles, boy or boy did he have such a punchable face just begging for it. Though, both of them seemed to understand if it wasn't for the girl in the other room it would have already been war.

Edgar slipped the shirt over his head, working the red cloth down little by little. It stopped half way, not exactly the loosest article of clothing, but it was mostly to do with something she had said. He snorted, a small bubble of air rippling out beneath the shirt as he drew it down fully, slipping his arms through the large holes in the side. "It was a sucker punch." He furrowed his brow, not at the conversation, but at the fact he had slipped the garment on backwards. With a grumble he tucked his arms back in and worked it around him into the right position before letting his arms back out. He glanced sidelong at her, expression flat as she seemed to be enjoying herself at his expense all of a sudden.  He let her have her moment for a change, though it was unclear if he had nothing more to say or was just letting it go.

One leg than the other he slipped into his black jeans, faded at the knees and shredded at the hem of the ankles, they looked old and well loved. He stood up to work them on properly, hopping a few times to get them setting right. The sound of his zipper cut through the silence, he was unphased with this exchange, casually smoothing out his shirt over his waistline. He brushed a can aside off the coffee table, scooping up his gloves to slip on. He gave the wrists a strong tuck, flexing each finger so it all felt right.

"For the record, if you had hit me in the manbits I would have turned your face into meat pudding." Reaching back, he pressed his fists to his spine, arching until it popped audibly. He winced at first, jerking his body back for one more crack before sighing. All was good. The price of sleeping like a broken puppet on the couch never ceased. Finally he turned to face her, still not terribly happy she was in his home, clearly.  He was quiet for a time, simply staring at her, though anyone could tell there were gears turning. Perhaps he started to see her ease of movement, or admired her athletic form. Maybe he was finally starting to appreciate her wit, another sharp tongued person to keep up with him.

"I hope you don't make this a regular thing." Nope. Just more of the same.

She’d been joshing him about it before, but the more she thought about it, the more she was wondering where, exactly, Edgar had trained. His style was too refined for something he’d picked up from lame Youtube videos. Carmen’s gym got idiots like that from time to time, meatheads who thought they could train for a couple of weeks and take on the 24/7 Champ - even though she didn’t even have the title anymore. They wound up coming in on their feet and leaving on their faces.

Edgar wasn’t like that, but he wasn’t unlike it, either. Rough around the edges, but with better instincts than any brawler she’d crossed up with. There were questions she’d like to ask him if they could stop trading barbs for a second, but that didn’t seem too likely to happen anytime soon. Pity.

She found herself walking through the kitchen, wondering if it would be too rude to take a look through the refrigerator and see if there was a bottle of water or something of the like - Leah told her to make herself at home, but few people really meant that, in her experience.

”Fient.” She threw it right back at him, and might’ve given him more on top, if she didn’t have to stop and laugh at his poor attempt at putting on a shirt. ”Wow, Ace. You need any help over there? You got it? Don’t hurt yourself.”

As he continued his strangely elaborate clothing session to go out and get pizza, she cast her gaze towards Leah’s room, wondering how much of this she was hearing. She was a simple girl, Felina picked up on that much, but she wasn’t stupid. She had to know the two of them would be going at it, and those beads weren’t going to do much to muffle the noise, even with Netflix blaring.

Was she listening in? What did she think of all this?

Felina was chewing on her lip when Edgar threw another kinda-sorta threat her way, one she recoiled away from with mock shock and fear before she rolled her eyes and went about her way. It was the last thing he said, though, that got her full attention, and she leaned on the kitchen counter as she looked his way, her wild hair dangling about her face. ”I don’t care what you ‘hope’, Ed. I like Leah. I think she kind of likes me. If she asks me to come, I’m going to come. If you don’t like it...I don’t know, man. Find a belt to bite down on. Go out and get a haircut. Deal with it like a normal human being.”

She’d been jokey for a bit, but she kept it serious for this. She had a small list of people to hang out with in Japan, and she could guess that Leah was in a similar boat. There was no way she’d give up on this, no matter how much of a professional jackass Edgar was.

“There is a joke in there about a shirt being harder to deal with than you, but this is getting beat to death. Stop making it so easy to take shots at you… though, after our match we can see you needed some serious work on that, so no surprise.” He didn't seem flustered by the banter, though there was a slight tone of annoyance. Not that he cared much about her trying her best to fit in her knocks on him, but just having to constantly give a rebuttal what she was saying was getting on his nerves. The idea that he could just let something go to break the cycle was lost on him.

Edgar continued to stare at Felina with a flat, unimpressed look. Leah had said she had been a model or something, he r called that from before their match. He could see it now that she was in street clothes. The way she moved about the space and carried herself. Those small stops, little poses she likely didn't even know she was striking. What may have come off as endearing and beautiful just made her dislike her more. She wasn't allowed to have redeeming qualities, he had already decided she wasn’t worth his time.

“Normal people huh? You made to bite down on a belt pretty regularly? Is that a kink thing? Pretty sure we aren't at that stage of our relationship yet.” He reached down for the remote, turning down the TV to a respectable volume level. With a light toss he threw the remote onto one of the pillows laying beside the arm of the couch and stepped away. “Wow. Yeah, it isn't like two people live here or nothing. What a shitty house guest.”

He made his way to the kitchen, at first it appeared as though he was moving towards her until he promptly swerved and walked to the fridge. He cracked it open, peering inside, brushing back a few plastic containers and styrofoam carton to pull out a bottle of hard lemonade. “Attractively” he chomped down on the metal cap, twisting it off with his teeth. Leaning off to the side he spit the bent crown into the trash before taking a sip from his drink. “So what do you two have planned now that you are ruining my day?”

“O-kay!” Leah came from her room, practically skipping with phone in hand. She was all smiles, either oblivious to the exchanges between the two or an incredibly skilled actress able to mask her true emotions… likely the former, she seemed to be overjoyed at the thought of effort free pizza, enough so that she shut out she was paying for it. “They said it will be ready in twenty.”

“So I should start walking.” He tipped back his bottle, taking a large swig. He made a face, lowering the bottle. Capping it with his thumb, he gave it a rough shake over the sink. Now better mixed, he drank from it casually. “You girls need anything else while I am out?” While it voiced for the both of them, he was looking strictly at Leah. Felina’s inclusion in the question seemed to be the smallest of curiosities.

As Edgar continued to rail on her, Felina found herself wondering if he was like this with everyone. This was only the second time they’d met, so it probably wasn’t fair to judge his social life, but just going off the state of the place and the general disarray and how eager Leah was to bring her back...they didn’t entertain guests often. Couldn’t imagine why that would be.

She probably should’ve just ignored him. Just let it go. Be the bigger person, take the high road, whatever cliche applied. With anyone else, that would’ve been the case - but the more Edgar talked, the less she wanted to let him get away with what he was saying. A crazy little feedback loop.

”You really want to talk about kink, dude?” She spoke with her back to him, as she fished a water bottle out of the fridge and claimed it. ”Because one of us came down to the ring with leather gimp cuffs on, and it wasn’t me.” She snickered, making sure she was just loud enough for him to hear. ”You looked so cute with your little fingerless gloves and your sleeveless jacket and your Hot Topic shirt and-”

She stopped in mid-jab when Edgar came her way, rising up when he started towards her like he was about to pop off. While Felina wasn’t keen on starting a fight in this apartment - with Leah around - she wasn’t about to stand by and let herself get wailed on, either. He could fire the first shot, but she would get the second.

Luckily or unluckily, Edgar just moved on to the fridge, took out a bottle, and proceeded to open it with his teeth, because...she had no idea why he did it that way, honestly. She matched him, though, twisting off the plastic cap of her water bottle in the same way. Just one little poke, before Leah came back in.

Felina leaned against the counter and sipped away as Edgar prepared to head out, and she would’ve been content to stay there without a peep, until he went and asked what they wanted. Not just Leah, but both of them. Probably didn’t mean much of anything, just an offhanded comment on his part. Still, she was curious whether or not he’d do something she asked. No harm and giving it a small test.

”Could go for a Sprite. If you pass a gas station.” She fished out her wallet and pulled out some cash. No way was she trusting him with a card.

Edgar didn't really get bent out of shape by most things. Even when he got pissed, it tended to pass by without leaving any lasting marks. He wouldn't say he was enjoying her company, but he wasn't delusional enough to not understand he was having fun getting her riled up. To what end? Her presence had been an inconvenience to him, for that she was paying the troll toll. This was the proverbial bridge she was being made to cross. All she had to do was blow up on him and he would win, again. No real downside here.

Leah’s coming had robbed him of his chance to slip in the last word, which was unfortunate, but not something he couldn't always get around later if he wanted to take another few verbal jabs at Felina. After all, she was apparently going to be here for a bit and had intentions of maybe returning. He would give her credit for bravery if he wasn't as well acquainted with what it actually was, brazen stupidity and pride.

“Something fruity, please. We’re out of juice… at least my kind of juice.” Leah gave a small smile, eyeing the emptied hard lemonade glass Edgar had set down on the counter. She was a bit of a lightweight, normally avoiding alcohol even when it was diluted to such a degree. It wasn't hard to imagine her with a juice box either, sipping it with a brown bagged lunch.

Edgar gave a small nod, not making direct mention of either request. “Using the joint card for the pizza, Ms. Moneybags.” He made his way out of the kitchen, accidently bumping shoulders with Felina. So clumsy. It did nothing to slow his stride, stopping briefly at the door to slip on his loosely tied boots and heading out. The door shut heavily behind him leaving the two women alone in the apartment.

Leah peered over at Felina, expression brightening. “Pizza. Yay.” plastered on her face was a large childlike grin, as if this were a rare treat. Given how the two lived, it was unlikely they didn't order out several times a week though. Perhaps some of her excitement with having her new friend here was bleeding over into that though, which knowing her, was likely.

Pizza ordered, brother sent off, and left idle, she finally slipped away to start tidying up the apartment a bit to make it look presentable. She didn't seem too embarrassed about it, just tossing Edgar's clean clothes in a box and dirty ones in a hamper very matter of factly. Unlike him, she seemed to know the difference at a glance. “So should be binge something on Netflix, or watch a movie? Oh! We could play videogames too if you want to, ya’know, kick butt or something.”

The more she thought about it, the weirder it was, but Felina was kind of enjoying her little verbal sparring with Edgar, getting into it far more than she had any right to. Why? Couldn’t say. If she had to guess, it was because of the extreme dearth of boys to mess around with in Japan - she’d improved with the language enough to get around without Carmen’s help, but not enough for anything beyond a cursory conversation.

It was kind of nice to just interact with a guy. A non-Army guy. Even if they were just throwing insults at each other, it was a step up from her usual activities around this time of day: shopping, training, cruising through Netflix in desperate search of something that wouldn’t bore her. She’d take it.

At least, that was her rationalization for why she was somewhat disappointed when he left. Just a tinge, but it was a weird thing for her to be thinking about a man who’d warred with her like Edgar did, but there it was.

That was the last thought she processed before Edgar rammed her shoulder into hers on the way out. Because of course he did that. ”You’re excused, it’s okay.” She called after him, just as he was leaving. Probably didn’t hear her. Oh, well.

With him gone, Felina was free to focus on more pleasant things: Leah, for one. She followed the blonde out of the kitchen, sipping her water as she went, and sat down into the same spot Edgar had been lounging on a minute later. After a quick sniff, she thought better of it and moved over.

”I’m not really good at videogames, so fair warning, but sure, I’m down. I’m good for whatevr you’re good for.” Felina propped her arm up on the chair and looked back as Leah busied herself, cleaning up Edgar’s mess. ”So, tell me a little more about yourself, Leah. What was life like Pre-Tension?”

Leah, on most days, couldn't really be described as graceful. While she tended to have an ease of movement, it tended to be related more to her energy than any real sense of skill for the girls ability of movement. Here however, it was a bit of a show. Gliding about the apartment tidying things up as the girls conversed, she almost appeared to be dancing. Scooping, dropping, spinning to survey the landscape and flitting from place to place.

She had made short work of the pilee clothes than moved on to collecting cans, bottles and boxes. Recycling for one, a small stack on the kitchen counter for larger pizza containers to be brought out on their own. She made sure to separate everything properly, as Japan was rather strict on how things needed to be organized.

“Before Tension? Lots of moving around. I guess you could say I am pretty worldly.” She giggled at the thought, it was surprisingly true. The siblings had been to a rather large number of places over the years. Neither had opted to further their education past high school level and had instead remained in their parent's care into their young adulthood rather than moving off on their own.

“My dad is like, a big deal with the military, so we were here or their for awhile before shipping off to someplace new. It was pretty cool actually, seeing all these new places, learning all sorts of new things.” It fit Leah well, perhaps a bit too well in that it played in to her trend of picking up the newest and shiniest thing as a hobby before dropping it when it lost her interest. As of yet, wrestling seemed to be one of those constants. She wanted it in her youth and now she was participating.

Her task to clean the apartment up coming to a close, the blond made her way back to the couch. She hopped backwards into Edgar’s spot that Felina had left open. Kicking her legs up, she twisted on her backside to dramatically lay herself up across Felina’s lap and let her legs dangle over the arm of the couch. Her head leaned back, body falling limp as she played dead on the spot, worn out by the cleaning. “Bleh…”

She remained still for a few moments, eyes closed, arm lifelessly draped over onto the floor. She then continued talking softly, as if still trying to maintain the illusion she wasn't alive. “I don't think I have changed much since before or after Tension. Just more busy now. It's like having a job.” It was in fact having a job. It was a bit telling she didn't seem to think of it as one. There seemed to be a rather small disconnect with her and reality… but what else was new.

Leah opened her eyes to look up and Felina, cracking a smirk. She had read an awful lot about the other woman while doing research for Edgar’s match. While Leah may have been a big question mark in the eyes of many, she had a pretty good idea who Felina was and what she was about. That said, she didn’t seem to ever use those facts to manipulate the two’s budding friendship, she was too genuine q person for that.

“You 've done a whole lot of stuff. Like, cool, important stuff. Way more than me so far. You have a head start though, since you’re a bit older.” The girl reached up to attempt to boop Felina’s nose with a finger. She would finally haul herself back up off her friend to sit up beside her, twisting in place to sit half facing the woman. She tucked one leg up underneath herself to sit on it, leaving the other to hang off the side.

“Question.” Leah perked up a bit, there was a clear sign of interest in her big blue eyes. “You were like… a really awesome kickboxer right? I mean, you still are, but you left that to do wrestling. Why?” Her head tilted to the side enough for her short hair to fall along her cheek on one side and fan out along the other. She slipped her hand into her own lap, one over the other. Times like these she looked almost like a curious child, the fact she was an adult seemed like an afterthought.