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Yuta pockets a lock of Mina's hair and hands it off to Marina like he thinks she's going to do something with it. His hubris is boyish, not quite charming. Marina closes her fist around the hair and bops him on the head with it, just hard enough to hurt, then lets it drop into the next trash can she passes. A few hot-pink strands linger, finding their way into her hoodie, where they will emerge periodically over the next week.
Mina is soft. Soft for Toni, for small animals, for treats. Soft in a way Marina imagines touching, before the thought is washed away by more practical concerns (the revealing gear might function well as distraction but there's no way it's secure and comfortable to work in). Sequins, feathers, pearls. Frivolous. Weak.
Marina remembers the way Mina felt in her arms, going limp. She remembers Toni's desperation. She knows how that feels, the need, the devotion, although she cannot quite grasp the willingness to fail. She doesn't know what it's like to have someone expect you to give up for them. The noise, the bright lights, Mina's nose crushed against her chest. Always work on the injured limb.
Mina's eyes go wide when she sees the flowers. Marina reviews the tape. And again, and again. Who does Mina imagine? Out of everyone on the roster - and those departed - who, in her heart of hearts, does Mina wish her secret admirer to be?
They meet in the gym. Or Marina finds her, prowling around the perimeter, watching her do hip-thrusts for a minute before stepping up and spotting her.
Mina narrows her eyes. "Are you going to kill me?" Up, and down.
"Not today," Marina says.
"You sent me flowers." The weights clank as they hit the rack. She squirms under and out.
"I did."
"Oooh, Death Riders, so spooky, big tough guys." Mina wipes the sweat off her face. She hums the opening of their theme song, and giggles. "So cute." She reaches out and taps Marina on the tip of her noise. "Buy me a juice next, I'm thirsty."
Marina scowls, and follows at a distance to the juice bar.
Marina lies in bed, straight-backed, feeling like a tool put away in not quite the right place. Roddy is playing with her hair, mesmerized, wrapping it around his forefinger.
"You do what you have to do, right?" He's talking about her and also about himself. "No one can fault you for that." He starts braiding her hair, plaiting and unplaiting and plaiting again.
Mina closes her mouth around the spoon and pulls it out slow, batting her eyelashes. Frozen yogurt, with sprinkles. "I like that you buy me things. But I have a wife."
"She's not here," Marina points out.
"Hmm."
With Orange, then. "She would leave you alone, so close to a den of - coyotes?" She'd been about to say lions but recalled Jon's most recent manic pep talk. Do coyotes have dens? Probably.
"I can take care of myself," Mina huffs. Another spoonful of yogurt.
"And you don't mind sharing."
She does, at least a little bit. "Toni is - big. A lot to handle. But, there's a lot of her to go around."
"And how do you spend your time, when someone else is handling her? There's a lot of you, too."
Mina laughs, leans over and shakes her tits. "See? Even you want Mina," she says, and blows a kiss.
She holds Yuta's hand and tells herself it's just so he doesn't try and run again. He squeezes hard enough to hurt; she accepts it.
Penny passes her in the hallway and cruises her, blatantly, the up-down eye-drag hot on Marina's skin.
"No," Marina says flatly.
Penny pouts. "No?"
Marina shakes her head emphatically. "I'm not pissing Megabitch off."
"You're scared of her," Penny crows, trying to invade Marina's personal space.
Marina sidesteps her neatly. "No, I just know it would be annoying to deal with. I don't have time." She stalks off.
"She'd kill you," Penny calls after, clearly relishing the thought. "She'd mash you into paste. Like the gruel you freaks probably eat for breakfast."
Jon eats gruel, she eats steak and eggs. Pac likes French toast and a brisk punch in the face. Et cetera. It's a spectrum, not a prison. She doesn't tell Penny this; she can think what she wants.
Marina buys Mina more flowers. It's a tactic, it's a play. She watches Mina's reaction, and again, and again. What are you doing? it feels like she's asking, under the exaggerated expression of "Oh! What a Mystery, Here On All Elite Wrestling!" What are you expecting to happen? What do you want?
Jon is bent over backwards, straining into a bridge. Claudio is writhing beneath him.
"I trust you," Jon says. He does.
Claudio makes a noise, which could be related to their conversation or to the position he's currently in.
"You want to play with your food, I won't stop you." Jon twists, slips easily into Claudio's hold. Claudio rolls his eyes and presses Jon's face into the mat.
"I want to make sure we're on the same page. I know you and Toni have had - interactions."
Claudio stiffens, which is either in response to that or the fact that Jon is trying to worm his way free.
Jon laughs, a sharp bark. "Yeah, she's uh, she's something."
That's resolution enough, for now. "I'll leave you to it," she says. She straightens up from her squat. Jon kicks out, sending Claudio sprawling.
Yuta doesn't approve. She doesn't need his approval, but his bitching is beginning to grate.
"You want to sleep with the enemy," he spits out.
"And you don't?"
"She shaved my hair!"
"Only some of it. And you earned it. Besides, it was time." She pulls off his beanie and pulls him in for a noogie. "You look good. Stop crying. Shave the beard next." She settles him with his head under her arm, like a purse.
"No! Don't even say that. I'd look like a baby."
"You are a baby," she says, and releases him.
He scrambles for his beanie and tugs it back on, glaring.
She watches Danny pull Yuta into a bathroom, furtive. She watches Roddy not meet her eyes when he walks by alongside Kyle and Mark. She watches Jon almost trip over an A/V case. She watches Mina, in a hot pink tracksuit, trying to get her attention, waving, yoo-hoo'ing, finally skipping over.
"Toni doesn't know I'm here." As if stressing that this is cheating, and not a consensual part of a polyamorous relationship, is important to her.
Marina shrugs.
"You want to have fun? Wait, no, you hate fun."
"I don't hate fun. Fun has its uses," Marina protests.
"Of course," Mina says, mock-serious. "You want to have a - useful time? You could come to my room. I can make you tea and then you can fuck me."
"Who says I want to fuck you?"
Mina puts her hands on her hips, thrusting her chest out. "You sent flowers - two times! - and bought me treats because you want to...play mind games? Make a business deal? Gain a tactical advantage? No. You -" Pointing at Marina. "Want Mina." Pointing at herself. "So okay. Let's do it. You can wrestle me first if you want."
Marina stares at her as intently and coldly as she knows how. "What kind of tea?" she asks.