Description: Poor, poor Benimaru, getting saddled with the witch, and the young girl that hates his guts. Or is that poor Alexis and Naerose, to be saddled with a 'bad' teacher? Either way, the chances of teamwork actually /working/ for this mismatched Teacher/Student team are slim. Very slim. Benimaru either needs to learn more about dealing with women, or he needs to stop being Benimaru. (And he really shouldn't have made the mistake of feeding Naerose... don't read if you have a weak stomach... who ever heard of mufruits?)
While it isn't entirely clear to Benimaru yet if the offer had been taken, the blonde model had offered to provide rooming at a local hotel for his teammates. Obviously he's not in the same room and due to some 'rumors', he had also made clear that they were on their own for any room service they were interested in.
Today was important though, because he managed to (by some miracle) get in contact with his teammates and suggested the group meet on the third floor room 307.. The third floor being significant because it's mainly office spaces that are available for renting out.. Not bad! It's a pretty generic looking area though, square in shape, white walls, and the space where tables were lined up have been pushed off to the side for a nice please space.
Benimaru is likely the first to arrive, dressed pretty much as one would expect, a zebra-print half-shirt and black jeans, with his hair pulled up into twin tails. Of cours he's a bit nervous, pacing back and forth in the room; it's a problem when he's not even sure the girls are even going to show up!
He has a good reason to doubt too. Alexis doesn't ever seem to want to show up and Naerose well... The phone conversation one kind of one sided. Benimaru being the one side. The witch who was presumed on the other side only managed to mumble in the phone with sleepy moans. One could argue she was actually being attacked by zombies, that she was the zombie, who knows, there was moaning ,but not like, good moaning, sleepy moaning. Yes sleepy moaning.
And then... she shows up. Naerose is in her pajamas, which isn't a bad thing. They're red, with a button down red satiny thing with red satiny pants... worn over her usual red dress with her red hat on and black shades and a red pillow in a red pillow case and a red blankey. You might ask how she afforded all of this.. But that is another story. The witch drags herself in, you cant' tell if her eyes are opened or - *bump* they're probably closed.
"Oooo" she complains after being bested by a wall. The witch sits down in the hall to the room and complains a little more with incoherent whining, sets her head on the pillow and.. is she snoring?
Why would Alexis /want/ to show up? Her allegiance is to another, and she feels quite a bit of ire that she was paired with what she deems a rival. Oh, she showed up to the fight, she took care of the scary claw guy that likes peeking in the girl's locker rooms, but that wasn't out of any loyalty to Benimaru at all. That was to prove herself as a fighter -- late though it came.
The two are quite different, you see. The difference being, she doesn't really care if the team wins or not.
Winding through the halls of the hotel that she's not bothered to stay at, the young gymnast neatly avoids tripping over the witch by executing an aerial frontflip with an easy grace. Landing to the side, she nudges Naerose with the toe of her sneaker. "Wake up, sleepyhead," quips the girl with the butterfly mask firmly in place. "The all powerful annoyance has demanded our presence."
Yes, she's wearing a mask with her leotard and warm-up jacket. She needs to keep her identity hidden -- even though Naerose inadvertently revealed it during their match.
Benimaru has no idea what Naerose said, no, which was a little puzzling considering the girl was somewhat coherant when announcing, one would expect her to be pretty easy to hear on the phone. The world is truly a mysterious place. So he does hear the sound of something hitting the wall, but he didn't really give it a second thought as he's pretty lost within his own. The model has yet to have made the connection with Alexis being Angel Papillion (sp?).. Um, honest. When he talked to Drake he specifically said Angel and not Alexis, it doesn't matter what the logs say.
Another glance is given to the clock. And a huff of exasperation follows. And while he would certainly like to win the tournament, it wasn't his main reason for signing up. He wanted to prove that he had what it takes to be a leader, for himself and (more importantly) to Kyo, the shadow he's stuck in. Unfortunatly that isn't quite working to well. Oh Krauser, haha, what will you think of next you clever bastard.
"So sleepy..." Naerose whines, picks herself up, uses Alexis as a pillow like object. Something she could lean on and let do the dragging.
"All powerful.. breakfast.." The witch clutches her blankey and pillow and would probably suck on her thumb except instead it occurs to her to naw on her hat. "Soo ohungry."
It quickly becomes clear that she doesn't even remember the phone call because she was still asleep, but she did remember continental breakfast and for some reason ended up heading toward the third floor. It was mostly chance and a little subconscious from the phone call.
Why was Naerose in the tournament? Because she remembered Jinchuu. She remembered some bikini clad women who totally used it as a cruise that paid you to be there. The witch was all about that and no one bothered to tell her that Germany was cold this time of year and by no stretch a vacation spot. Winning didn't matter to her. She just wanted a free vacation.
"Maaaaan! I totally wish I could sleep late like this, like you! I've been up training for hours already!" Gymnastics training, that is. Not fight training. Hey! Just because she entered herself into some silly old fighting tournament doesn't mean she can't keep up her strict regimen of training for the Olympics! That is her dream, after all.
"There's gonna be lots'a food in there. Muffins, croissants, fruit, orange juice, probably a bunch'a other stuff too. C'mon, I can't drag you all that way!"
She does manage to get them to the door, whereupon she twists her body and uses the witch's elbow to knock at the door.
TUNK.
The door opens, and naturally Benimaru is quick to reach the door and pull it open.
He wishes he could be surprised by what he sees, but it's actually funnier that the pair would end up entering in such a way! He raises a hand to his mouth to fight back a chuckle, instead clearing his throat.
It's just basic stuff in the room, though, cold cereal, milk, muffins fruits, and juice just as Alexis has said. No coffee, though. Which Benimaru ends up regretting after realizing that it may have been helpful in this situation. He greets the duo with a wave as he steps to the side to keep the door open, "Ah.. Good morning." he offers somewhat awkwardly.. And tries not to look overly joyed that the pair showed up after all. "So.. Is she hung over?"
Awake.
The witch goes from hanging on Alexis to crossing the room to stuffing her face. She like goes from zero to sixty in about two tenths of a second. Sure she brings her pillow and blanket and has no bowl for the cereal.. That's okay, she'll just use her mouth. First she tips her head back, pours cereal into the gaping maw then some milk. She even adds a spoon - before realizing it isn't necessary and just puts that right back thank you very much. And oh the muffins, the muffins the muffins the muffins. Nothing wakes a witch up like food stuffs. Fruit? Yes thank you. Juice? Yes please. She even tries to add all together at once. Why not?
Num Num num num.
"Dunno. Just found'er sleeping in the hall." Alexis shrugs her shoulders, going on the search for a bottle of water. Upon finding one, she opens it, takes a swig, and settles it on a table -- far enough away from Naerose so that the plastic doesn't get devoured.
"All I gotta say is that this better be important. I have training, and I can't really afford to be missing it, y'know." That likely goes without saying, but she's doing her utmost to be difficult for Benimaru.
Because she doesn't like him.
Benimaru's tails brush with the wind of the witches speed, he at first not realizing what happened, then double-takes when he realizes she's gone.. And at the food table. "..." He really doesn't know what to say to that, and therefore just decides to accept it for what it is. An Unsolved Mystery.
He gives a patient smirk to Alexis though and he nods his head over toward the food table. "It shouldn't take too long, I just want to give a brief talk about our last fight and discuss about our upcoming match. I've heard about who we'll be up against next that I think you'll find to be pretty interesting."
At least that's what he's banking on. If Alexis doesn't get interested in the next match, their group's going to be in trouble. Naerose may be a little easier to manipulate.. But he really doesn't enjoy having to manipulate his teammates to get them to do what he wants- It's.. Pretty much the exact opposite of teamwork, isn't it?
The food table is being put away at amazing speed. The muffins become mufruits as Naerose experiments with taking a muffin, eating out the middle and making a fruit cocktail of banananana and strawberry by nomnomnoming them and then cutting the fruit up with her teeth and adding it to the hole in the muffin and then she needs a sprinkle, yes sprinkles! Cereal sprinkle and dip it into a dip.. JUICE! The desert-breakfast food thing is.. GREAT! Of course Naerose would eat anything.
The witch has hardly noticed what Benimaru said, she hasn't even noticed that Alexis hates him, well maybe she hasn't, she cerrtainly seems to only notice the food right now and only just drags herself away long enough to ask,
"Is there any whip cream?" That would be sooo perfect!
"Dude. It's not that I'm not interested in the fights, it's that I don't want to make you look good." Alexis actually tries to snub him, sticking her nose up into the air. HMPH!
"And you totally have nothing to complain about the last fight. Your team won, didn't it? Should be happy I showed up at all after you gave up."
She can't even /look/ at Naerose. Just thinking about what the witch is doing is causing her stomach to churn. "I... I don't think so," she answers finally.
"Whipped cream?" Benimaru both corrects and asks to Naerose, once he looks to the table, wondering what the hesitance is about, he actually seems to pale a touch. But only a touch, because when it comes down to it, Benimaru likes a woman with an appetite. It is a little different actually seeing the consuming in action though, and thinks it's a little wiser to focus a little more on Alexis for the time being.
Whom she gives a slightly raised brow, "Well while I wouldn't exactly call it a complaint, I would like to call it a problem. I've seen firsthand what Naerose can do, it was nothing short of impressive. But you, I only saw you finish a job that was mostly done for you. Frankly, I have zero idea of your combat potential. In short, I have to place you against the weakest opponent in the next match."
There's a bit of psychological play here. If Alexis on purposly loses a match to someone deemed 'weak', that would have to hurt her pride the model figures.
"I gave up in hopes that you would show up. It looks like it worked though, which I'm pleased about." Benimaru then adds with a smirk. "I'm thinking to avoid the evaluation problem you and I need to fight one on one. Neither of us holding back." he then says, his smiling vanishing and eyes going cold.
"Huh? Wait you actually gave up? I thought she was being kind in finding a different new way to say that you lost? I mean did you really give up? That doesn't even make sense." Naerose says and then frowns.
"What are we talking about anyway?" She scratches her head and sniffs her fingers before realizing they smell tasty. She wipes them off with a napkin and then daintily cleans her lips and thanks Benimaru for the nice meal.
"Hey thanks, this room service is great? When's lunch?" A brow shoots way up over the round rim of the shades, accompanied with a biiiig smile.
"Hey wait, are you arguing or something?"
"Duh! Never said I was the world's strongest woman, did I?" Alexis rolls her eyes, then clenches her fist around the bottle of water, causing the plastic to make a crinkly sound. "Also never said I was stupid. Reverse psychology isn't going to work on me. If you don't want me to fight, just say so. I can easily catch the next flight back to Southtown. Got school assignments to hand in /anyhow/." Again, she snubs him.
"But if I go, I'm totally taking the witch with me, and how's that gonna make /you/ look, Benimaru? Not being able to control your students. Losing your team before the second round. Man, they'd laugh you right out of the place wouldn't they?"
Then again, is that what Lexi's hoping for? To make him look bad, because he figures he's better than Drake?
"Or something," she offers to Naerose with a shrug of her shoulders.
And then Benimaru looks caught off-guard. That wasn't the reponse he was expecting at all, the gymnast came up with a conclusion he wasn't trying to push. To Naerose's question, though, he gives a small shrug. "Somewhat, I'd actually call it taking a gamble. If I won, chances are Angel would have left. If I lost and she didn't show up it'd be the same so there was really nothing left to lose."
The blonde's serious expression draws back though, his thumbs hooking into his pockets. "That wasn't what I was doing, I was trying to make you upset so that you'd fight harder, not that you'd go away, what's the point in trying to make you leave? And if you were the world's strongest woman, I think you'd be the teacher here, not me. My job as the leader in matches is to put us against opponents we have an advantage over, get what I'm saying now?"
"Anyway, I was just joking about the one on one thing, let me talk about our next match." pause, "Twelve pm sharp, Naerose, not a minute less." pause. "We arguably went up against our toughest opponents this tournament. Next up we're going up against Ryu and his students. If you want to impress the so-called legend, then you two better bring your 'A' game, he's normally harder to find than a needle in a haystack so think of it as a once in a lifetime opportunity."
"Ryu.. Ryu ... Ryu, Oh right! I remember him, I interviewed him a while back, he was very nice to be interviewed and all and . er wait, my A game? Are we going to all go interview Ryu or something?" Naerose looks and sounds utterly as clueless as what she is saying. There is a sort of unrealness to what she is doing and saying. Is it humanly possible that she actually doesn't get what is going on at all?
"So I'm not sure what is going on here, but I am all about this lunch thing. Hey anyone know what time it is by the way?" Of course she is worried she'll miss the 12 pm date!
"Prob'ly would'a left anyhow, but I don't like that skeevy perv either!" Alexis has never had to deal with Choi one on one, but oh has she heard stories from some of the students at Seijyun.
"Reverse psychology, dude. Make me upset so I do what you want me to do. Daddy does it all the time. Never really worked for him either. He's learned that he gets his way better when he lets me do what I want, and in this instance what I /want/ is to not make you look good." There. She went and said it. If nothing else, Alexis will be known for her utmost loyalty to those she cares for.
But he went and mentioned Ryu.
Peridot eyes twinkle, almost getting stars in them -- a typical fangirl thing to have. Not quite as starry-eyed as she's been for some, but Ryu is like... one of those legends. He's not /real/.
"Fine. I'll be there. Just don't be all surprised if I switch up and fight /for/ Ryu. I mean, he's totally the superior fighter. He deserves to look good in the tournament."
Queue cheeky little tooth-ping.
"That's a little difficult to do.." Benimaru grumbles under his breath. What he does know about Alexis isn't really helping him in the long-run, but there were a couple of ideas he had that might help push things into his favor. Unfortunatly they're just 'mights'.
Benimaru isn't surprised by Alexis' reaction, but this one in particular is actually a little annoying. Seriously, what does Ryu have that he doesn't? A cardboard box home, peraps. Ugh. "I still don't get it. Ryu is absolutely nothing like your boyfriend, in fact I'd almost say they're nearly polar opposites. Why do you like him so much?" pause, and he smirks, "Oh wait, I get it, you don't like him at all, you're just saying that to annoy me. It isn't going to work this time, Angel. You'll need to come up with something new."
The model gives a confused look to Naerose; there's a girl whom he understands even less other than she likes to eat. He feels like he's talking to a real life Osaka. Yes, Osaka from Azumanga Daioh. "We're having another fight soon, and it's against them." he says to the witch patiently. "And lunch isn't for another four hours, Naerose, you really should invest in a watch."
"So first you and Lexi fight and then we fight Ryu? I don't really get this, but if it has to do with lunch somehow.. I guess I'm okay with it." Naerose shrugs a little then puzzles some more, "How come you keep calling Lexi Angel? You know it isn't her name right?" The witch frowns now at Benimaru cause he is making no sense to her at all and that's a criminal offense!
"Anyway, soo.. I don't really get what's going on, but this Ryu fella is pretty fierce, I did totally have a interview that included a lot of feet, his, in my face! He has a weird sense of journalism. I say if we have to do anything with him we should all focus on him and umm.. " She realizes Alexis isn't happy, or at least seems to,
"I think you should say you're sorry. Cause when you make people sad you say you're sorry." She doesn't specify who to who.
"Bwaaaaah?!?"
Alexis looks perplexed. He thinks she's just fanning up on Ryu to annoy him? So not the case!
"Dude! Ryu is like... he's just one of the world's most talented fighters! He won the World Warrior tournament! He's got cool students! What's /not/ to like about him? Man! I wish I had someone like him training me in the use of energy I'd totally be /so/ much better at it!"
Not that she doesn't (or didn't?) have a great teacher. She just kind've scared him off and hasn't seen him since... uhh... well, before school started anyhow.
"Seriously! Why're you so down on Ryu? Is it 'cuz you're jealous of him, just like you are Drake?" Grinning from ear to ear, she opens up the bottle of water and takes another sip from it, now that her hand is no longer squeezing it in a deathgrip.
"Naerose, tell him! I mean, you /interviewed/ Ryu! That was an awesome interview, wasn't it?" Little does she know that Naerose was once a potential student of Ansatsuken through the teachings of Sakura... or well, briefly. The brief amount of time is likely why Alexis doesn't know that little piece of fighter trivia!
That's when she hears Naerose. Behind the mask, peridot eyes grow to an extremely large proportion. They look much like over-sized anime eyes at this point, and the tiny little gymnast tosses the bottle at the witch and begins to flail her arms about.
"Duuuuuude! You're not supposed to know! How'd you figure it out?"
Pout.
Benimaru looks to Naerose. Looks to Alexis. Looks to Naerose again and back. He doesn't seem to be accepting of the gymnasts admiration of the fighter, "All right, so I don't have any official students, but I'm a King of Fighters champion, and I can do a lot more with my chi than just turn it into a ball and throw it really small or really large. So the way I see it, you're either just annoying me, or completely delusional. And I don't think you're delusional."
He isn't going to talk about Drake, he just isn't. Which is a point in itself. "Anyway yeah you've probably noticed that I'm not a big fan of Ryu, but there isn't anything Naerose can tell me that I don't already know. He and I have had more arguments and fights than I can count on my fingers." Granted, they were one-sided arguments; but he doesn't believe they were one-sided at all. One might even say what Alexis is doing to him, he did to the ansatsuken master. "But unfortunatly, I'm not willing to share why I'm mad at him. And after our last fight we promised to let it go." Obviously he didn't though.
Beni looks to Naerose once more and his expression falls. How she managed to mix that up and then come up with a fairly brilliant strategy is just... Perplexing. "I.. Ah.. W- Well, I suppose.. .. Who's 'Lexi?" he looks to Angel. "Oh."
".. Who?"
"Man, don't you two know anything?" Asks the wtich looking exasperated that the answer is probably no. Actually it is almost certainly no, in Nae world at the very least where she seems to have some sort of sense making talent that clearly doesn't extend into the real world.
"Umm, I'm .." She picks up her pillow and blanket and shoves a muffin half in her mouth.
"Sweelpy." Nom nom nom.
"Was there anything else you wanted to talk about? Cause I still think there needs to be some apologizing. Or I might cry." The witch fixes her hat and shades then smiles. Smiles big.
The flailing continues. Alexis has been doing her best to keep things a /secret/! It's bad enough Aranha figured her out during their exhibition match, she really didn't need anyone else finding out.
Oh man. This is bad. She's /totally/ going to get grounded and forced to stay in the Embassy over Christmas now, and that's gonna suck, considering she'd much rather be somewhere else for the holidays!
"You suck," she says to Naerose finally, with a pout.
"And you're a jerk," she nearly shouts at Benimaru.
"You may be a King of Fighters champion, but you're so /not/ anything like Ryu. How'd you win? Did you insult someone /else/ so they just gave up on you or what?" Hmph.
"Okay, you don't suck," she says with a sigh to the witch. "M'sorry I said that."
Well it looks like Naerose is nearing naptime, Benimaru thinks maybe he'd better start wrapping things up before he loses her completely. He simply just doesn't understand what's going on, and as a result he's not going to try to ask to clarify either, getting the feeling that will only make things worse.
So Benimaru knows that Angel Papillion is Alexis now, but having not the slightest clue of the gymnasts predicament, it doesn't mean very much to him in the end so he lets that go. So how did he win? "Teamwork." is his answer. He's nothing like Ryu? ".. Who would want to be?" is his other answer. "All right so I guess I'd better wrap things up, let's.. Just do our best. And I'm sorry you guys. I know things weren't working out the way you'd hoped."
He's starting to look a little tired, running ahand through his hair and decides to leave it at that, making his exit.
Log created on 19:28:23 12/03/2008 by Alexis, and last modified on 11:53:28 12/04/2008.