Don't Hate, Rate (Gina Neon RP vs Horsewomen)

I

The sign flickered in the storefront window, its colors changing every few seconds from blue to red to greenish-hued, but always highlighting the same word:

To full-bladdered eight-year-old Gina Carelli, those words were like a beacon in the night; the promise of salvation from her current, highly uncomfortable situation.

Angelo assessed the shop front and frowned. 'C'mon, Gigi. You don't want to go in there.'

He began to lead his daughter away, but she planted her feet. 'But Daddy', she pleaded, 'I gotta go, like, right now!'

'You can go somewhere else, Gina', Angelo said, unwavering. 'They don't let little girls in there.'

Gina had no reason to believe her father was lying; still, his denial came as a crushing blow to her. Not only did she not think she could hold it in much longer, she was also certain the window she had just seen belonged to some sort of restroom. Maybe it was a grown-ups-only restroom she thought. Maybe that's why her Dad wouldn't let her go in.

She cast one last, longing look at the brightly flashing neon sign...and a lump formed in her throat. For out of the door of the supposed restroom had just stepped the scariest woman she had ever seen. From the waist down, she looked like a regular lady, in tight jeans and boots with really high heels. But the top part of her outfit consisted of what looked like a series of leather straps, which only covered her torso. Her arms were bare, and covered with more tattoos than Gina had ever seen at any one time – even more than her friend Mandy's oldest brother had. As she leant against the wall and lit up a cigarette, she caught Gina's eye and grinned evilly.

Gina looked away quickly, her heart beating a pattern on her chest. Her urgent need for a toilet all but forgotten, she then tugged at her older brother's shirt.

'Vinny', she muttered, 'look!'

Vincent Carelli followed his younger sister's outstretched finger and saw the scary-looking woman, still propped against the wall and smoking a cigarette. He did not have more than a moment to assess her, however, before his sister demanded his attention again.

'Is she a witch?' Gina's eyes were as wide as wagon wheels, her voice trembling slightly. Vinny was about to assuage her fears, but then thought better of it. Gina was already scared out of her wits; why not have a little fun?

'Yuh-uh.' He nodded seriously. 'You bet your butt she's a witch. That's how come Dad ain't lettin' you go there. 'Cause that ain't no bathroom. It ain't even no store.' He leaned over, whispering dramatically: 'That's a witches' dungeon!'

'Nuh-uh!' Vinny could tell Gina was trying to keep herself from being scared. It was not entirely working. 'Everyone knows witches don't have dungeons in the city, dum-dum!'

'Well, these witches do', Vinny continued, struggling to hold back laughter. 'An' they disguise their lair like a bathroom, so when kids go in there to take a leak or whatever...they snatch 'em up and put 'em in a cage, like Hansel an' Gretel. An' then...when they're fat enough...'

He was pleased to see Gina was covering her ears and screwing up her eyes, trying not to listen.

'...when they're fat enough', he gleefully concluded, 'they eat 'em!'

That was too much for Gina to take. Despite her best efforts to be brave, she could not prevent a shriek from escaping her lips. Its high, clear timbre echoed across the afternoon air, and caused Angelo Carelli to whip around, glaring.

'Vincent! Stop bothering your sister!' He once again held his hand out towards Gina. 'C'mon, honey...nevermind your mook of a brother. Let's go find you a bathroom.'

As he began to lead his daughter away, however, he was surprised to see her resist yet again. This time, however, his inquisitive look was met with an expression, not of curiosity, but of shame.

Gina's cheeks turned bright red as she brought her knees apart from one another to reveal a dark, damp patch on the front of her jeans.

'Daddy', she mumbled down at her sneakers, 'I don't need a bathroom no more.'

II

Nicole Evans whirled around as she heard her tag team's partner's excited voice calling out; then, as she saw what Gina was preparing to do, she tottered forward urgently.

'No-no-no-no-no, darling', she said, gently grasping Gina by the shoulders. 'We have no time for that. We're going to be late getting to the club!'

'It's only nine o'clock at night, Nicky', Gina scoffed.

'Even still...' Nicole tried her best to hide her discomfort from her partner, but felt herself starting to sweat and fluster nonetheless. 'We still want to eat something beforehand, and restaurants are going to be crowded at this time in the evening.'

She once again made an effort to gently lead her friend away; Gina, however, shrugged herself free, and once again began to walk towards the nearest store-front, as if hypnotized by the sign in the window, promising, in flashing blue, red, and greenish tones:

'Gigi, come on!' Nicole pulled her fur coat tighter around her, reckoning perhaps a display of discomfort would dissuade her partner, but no such luck – Gina continued to inexorably pace towards the sign, and the door beside it.

'Hang on, Nicky', she said, off-hand. 'I always wanted to know what's in here...'

Nicole watched on in horror as Gina took the final few steps towards the threshold, hovering in it for a moment, as if steeling herself, before taking the first, determined step in...

Nicky let out a sigh of relief as Gina found herself intercepted by a squarely-built, muscular, leather-clad bouncer.

'Please, sir', she said, hurriedly stepping forward, 'I tried to tell her not to go in there...my friend's just a little stubborn...' She once again began to tug at Gina's jean jacket, but her friend would not be moved.

'What's in there?' Gina, not looking the least bit frightened, pointed past the security guard and down the hallway.

'None a'yer business', was the gruff reply. ''Less you show me some ID, you ain't goin' in.'

'I got ID', Gina said, fishing in her pocket. 'But I ain't twenty-one yet.'

'Well, then you ain't goin' in anyway', the bouncer grunted.

'But I just wanna see what's in there', Gina pleaded. 'When I was little, we used to walk right by here, and one time, my brother told me this was a witch's lair.' The bouncer seemed about to make some sort of sarcastic retort, but Gina did not give him the chance. 'Now, I know that ain't the case, baby! But what I'm wonderin' is...what is this place?'

'It's a bar', the security guard barked. 'You wouldn't like it in'ere.'

'How d'you know?' Nicky rolled her eyes as Gina stuck her lip out and glowered. 'You don't know what I like!'

'Trust me, honey', the bouncer said, his tone now more gentle. 'I know.'

Gina seemed poised to retort yet again, but whatever objection she might have had died in her throat, as a figure came striding out of the dark hallway behind the security guard. As she stepped out, the slender, pale, dark-haired lady clad entirely in leather gave Gina and Nicky a quizzical look.

'A li'l out of your depth, aren't you, honey?' She smirked at Gina, then turned to the bouncer. 'Max, you gotta light?'

'Sure thing, Miss Dee.' The bouncer whipped out a Zippo and lit the pale woman's proffered cigarette. The woman took one delighted drag before offering her interloper a grin and stepping away from the entrance, towards an alley at the side of the bar.

'Excuse me', Gina called out, beginning to pace after the woman. Nicole made a desperate lunge forward, but was too late to stop her friend, who followed the leather-clad apparition into the alleyway.

'Usually, it's 'Mistress', not 'Ma'am'', the woman said. 'But you don't look like the type of people that would know that.' She took a long drag from her cigarette. 'What you doin' out here, anyways?'

'Gigi, let's go', Nicole hissed. If Gina heard her, however, she gave no sign of it.

'I wanna know what's in there', she stated, pointing at the bar door yet again. The woman chortled.

'Why does everyone keep sayin' that?' Gina stamped her foot in frustrated irritation. 'First my Dad wouldn't let me go in there when I was little, an' now that I'm grown up, that butthead doesn't want me to go in, you don't want me to go in...'

'...look, sweetie', the woman cut across. 'You really want to know what's in there?'

Gina's eyes immediately lit up in excitement. 'Yeah!'

'It's a bar', the woman said. 'Y'know...people drink there, and dance...that kind of stuff.'

Gina, however, did not seem to be buying it. 'If it's just a bar, how come everybody freaks out when I say I wanna go in there? It can't be just 'cause I'm not twenty-one...!'

The woman stalled for a minute, looking up at the surrounding buildings as if looking for an answer to fall from the sky. 

'It's a bar for people with certain...interests', she finally managed. 'A certain...lifestyle.'

'You mean people like you?' Nicole cringed as Gina momentarily shut her usually sensitive filter off.

'People like me?' The woman chuckled. 'You mean people who like knitting to Guns'n'Roses?'

'No', Gina said. 'Y'know...people who dress like you and stuff.'

The woman shrugged. 'I guess you could say that, yeah.'

For a few moments, there was silence. Nicky heaved a sigh of relief, believing her partner's spurt of curiosity to be over. Just as she was preparing to make a hasty goodbye and lead Gina away, however, the rookie spoke again.

The woman gave Gina another searching look. 'Weird stuff?'

The pale woman chuckled. 'Not to kids. And not to anyone who doesn't want to.'

'But you actually torture people?' Nicky counted Gina lucky she was not eating or drinking, or she might have choked from the shock.

Their interloped shrugged again 'Only if they ask us... Look, honey, why so interested?'

For a moment, Gina did not reply, seemingly more interested in studying the tips of her shoes. Then, after a moment, she confessed:

'I'm a wrestler...you know wrestling, right?' The woman nodded. 'Well, I'm a wrestler, an' I'm facin' this lady who's kind'a like you, and...I just wanna, like, understand her better. Y'know?'

This finally seemed to pacify the leather-clad beauty, who crouched slightly so she was at eye level with Gina.

'Tell you what, hon. This place don't open for another while. Why don't we go somewhere, an' I'll explain it to you?' She looked over Gina's shoulder at Nicole. 'If your friend's okay with it...'

'Well', Nicole began, 'Actually, we were just going to a club...'

'...but we can change our plans. Right, Nicky?' Gina's smile was so infectious, her excitement so genuine, that Nicole could not bring herself to argue.

'Right, Gina', she yielded. Then, to the woman: 'Lead the way.'

III

Nicole Evans dropped her chicken wing mid-way to her mouth, and gaped at the woman sitting across from her. She smiled. 'Nope. That's basically all there is.'

'But...but I always thought it was...it had...all these weird rules and things...For instance, the one we are facing always walks out there with...' Nicole shuddered. '...a...girl...on...a leash...'

'Yes', the woman sighed. 'People still have a lot of misconceptions about the lifestyle. But trust me, when we're not...' She hesitated. '...playing...most of us are perfectly regular people. Of course, some of us are more gung-ho about our image than others – sounds like that girl of yours is one of those types. But mainly, we just like things most people don't, at a sexual level. I'm sure you have your own kinks, Nicole...'

'LA-LA-LA-LAAAAAH, I can't hear youuuu....!!' The two older women chuckled as Gina pointedly stuck her fingers in her ears and chanted at the top of her lungs.

'Yep.' Their new acquaintance nodded. 'It's fine, Gina.'

This succeeded in getting Gina to rejoin the conversation, but for a long moment afterwards, the youth was still wary. Only after she had made sure the topic would not slide back into indecent territory did she offer up a suggestion:

This instantly caused both older women to stare at Gina.

'Yeah.' Gina shrugged. 'I want Miss Dee in it, an' she's gotta go to work, an' I don't know when she can again, so...'

Nicole sighed. 'Fine. But we can't do it here. There's too much noise.'

Gina reflected on this for a moment. 'Maybe we could go outside or something?'

'Sounds like a plan.' Dee pushed her beer aside and slid herself off her high bench to the floor. Then, not bothering to wait for her companions to catch up, she located the door leading out into the back and made her way outside. By the time Nicole and Gina caught up, she was propped up against the outer wall, calmly enjoying her cigarette.

'Erm, yes', Nicole said. 'We can use my phone. I know it's not your vintage camera, Gigi, but it will have to do this time.' She pulled her last-generation phone out of her handbag and looked around. Then, seeing a patron just stepping out for a cigarette of his own, she strode up to him.

'Excuse me, darling', she said, fluttering her lashes and smiling appealingly. 'Terribly sorry to bother you, but would you mind filming my friends and me?'

'Um...sure', the young man said, unquestioningly following Nicole as she rejoined her party.

'You're about to be a part of history, dude', Gina said. Then: 'Everybody ready?' Dee and Nicole both nodded, and Gina turned to the erstwhile cameraman:

The young man pressed the record button on Nicole's phone and gave a thumbs-up – Gina's cue to step forward, her finger already stretched out towards the camera:

Her warning out of the way, the youth's tone softened.

Behind Gina, Nicole shook her head in agreement.

The youngster's tone once again became more serious.

'They did say they were going to make us pay', Nicole cut in. Gina nodded, her expression hardened, as much as such a thing was possible.

Nicole Evans nodded determinedly, a set expression on her features, but otherwise deferred to her partner; this was, after all, Gina's video. And the rookie wasted no time in continuing:

Gina threw her arm up in a fist-pump before turning back around to face the camera.

Gina leaned in a little further as she concluded.

Picking up on her cue, Nicole stepped forward. '...Neon...'

Nicole signalled for the cameraman to cut the feed, before stepping forward into a high-five from Gina. The two team-mates then huddled together in a proud hug, one broken only by a question from the impromptu camera holder:

'...that's 'cause it was a wrestlin' thing! You heard of VoW?' The young man shook his head. 'Well, you have now, baby!' She called out to her tag team partner. 'Hey, Nicky, you think we can get some free tickets for our friend here? What's your name, dude?'

'Well, there's a first time for everythin', baby!' She slapped the young man on the back, once again calling out to her partner. 'Hey Nicky, can we get a coupl'a tickets for Steve an' Miss Dee?'

'I'm sure we can', Nicole replied. 

Gina fist-pumped. 'All right! You're gonna get to see li'l Gina in action, Stevie baby!'

Then, grinning up at her second new friend of the day, she added: