Flying Lessons

[Charlotte Shimizu]

The video opens to show a new room with gentle lighting along the ceiling and pale earthy tones on the walls with a beaded tapestry and a scroll with Japanese calligraphy on the wall. Charlotte is leaning against the wall between them, initially seeming to not notice she’s on camera, then smiling brightly.

“Siyu, konnichiwa, and hello again, friends,” she starts with a wave and a short bow and smiling somewhat sheepishly. “So… Rough start. Attano got the better of me. I guess I built up a little ring rust while settling my shit in Japan, but that’s fine.”

Charlotte shrugs, bouncing the long braid across her shoulders, a pensive look in her eyes. “I’ve been thinking about cages recently. Everyone has one, made by the society we’re born into. From the moment we take our first breath, there are expectations placed on us. Our parents lay the foundations of the cage; where we’ll go, what we’ll do… Sometimes, those things are what we want, so it’s not really a cage. More like a fenced-in area that we can escape if we try. As we grow older, there are other expectations that get loaded onto us by those around us; how we should look, how we should act.”

She sighs, turning slightly to look at the calligraphy scroll with what might almost be sadness, regret coloring her voice. “It’s our choice if we let those opinions confine us; we can accept the demands, or refuse them. Sometimes it’s easy to refuse, but other times? It’s not. You want to accept them to please the person or people making them, even if it makes you miserable in the process.”

She pulls her eyes away from the wall scroll, looking back towards the camera with a snap of motion that sends her braid swinging down her back, resolute confidence quickly replacing regret. “You either have the strength, or lack thereof, to accept that self-imposed prison… Or you learn that you’re strong enough to break out of that cage. This redbird won’t spend her life trying to appease people who would rather she not exist.”

Charlotte tilts her head to the right, a questioning expression on her face. “Which are you, Virginia? I’ve seen all your matches. Do you think you’re still in a cage, even after all this time? Or maybe you’re afraid of flying. Is that why you try to ground everyone who gets between the ropes with you?”

She shakes her head in disappointment. “I was in a cage for longer than you were, Virginia. You’re only using half the ring and you don’t win that way.”

She strides the few steps towards the camera until only her face is in frame, staring out as though peering into a soul. A confident grin spreads across her face and a spark ignites behind her eyes. “It’s time for your first flying lesson. See ya in Regina.”

Her hand comes up to cover the camera, and the feed cuts.

The video is also released in both Cherokee and Japanese languages.

---

David carefully cleaned the lens of the camera and set it on the table presently serving as Charlotte’s desk in the studio and office.

Charlotte sighed, pulled the tie from her braid and finger-combed the braid out. “Thanks again for the help Dave. I appreciate it a lot.”

David merely snorted. “After seeing the last debacle, I wasn’t about to let you and Hanners torture another camera.”

Charlotte winced but smiled ruefully. “Well… I think you can understand why I don’t necessarily wanna deal with the pros IWF has…”

It was David’s turn to wince then. “Yeah… I do understand. There’s nothing worse than feeling like a puppet on strings.”

There was something in his tone that made Charlotte stop pulling the hairpins that kept her smaller braids away from her face. She looked at him curiously. “Davey?”

“It’s nothing.”

Charlotte knew that whatever was bothering her brother wasn’t ‘nothing’. She’d known him all her life. Her brother was changed from the one who’d told her to be careful before she’d left for Japan. Fundamentally, he was still the same, but there was a new reserve, like the stiff formality she’d seen in Japan. She briefly debated whether it was any of her business, but decided she was probably the only one who could understand if he was feeling like a puppet.

“Davey… Don’t try to bullshit me. That might work on Hannah, but not on me. Is it the modeling jobs you’ve gotten lately?” David grimaced, letting Charlotte know she’d hit the mark, but his face quickly smoothed back into the smooth mask. “Stop that. I’m your sister, not a marketer,” she snapped. “Don’t do what I did and put up with it because you’re hoping they’ll stop turning your heritage into a gimmick.”

“It’s not the same, Char,” David retorted hotly. “You can tell your producers to go fly a kite and still be able to get a job after, but if I do that, I'll be blacklisted by every photographer in the industry for being ‘difficult’.” He turned away from her then, seeming to regret his outburst.

Charlotte thought she heard a tinge of jealousy in his voice, but she wasn’t sure. And even if she had, what was there for her to do about it? David was right; raising any sort of fuss as a model would result in him effectively losing any opportunities in the future, something she didn’t have to worry about. All she had to abide by were brief non-compete periods as long as she hadn’t actually hurt anyone on her way out the door. Her quitting had caused Neo Honshu’s new favorite to walk out on them, but she hadn’t actually hurt anyone physically, however much she had wanted to.

“Davey… I’m sorry. We both handle the bullshit differently, but you know I’m here if you need me. If there’s anything I can do, I hope you’ll let me know.”

Charlotte was glad to see the stiff expression fade from his face, replaced by a dry smile that made her think of Benkei. “Unless you want to quit wrestling and be my bodyguard-date for any formal event I have to go to, I somehow doubt I’ll be taking you up on that offer, Lottie.”

Charlotte smirked, amused that he was resorting to her oldest nickname. “You can’t afford me,” she retorted, teasing.

David sighed, but he was also amused. “I mean… With money, I could… But you’d use it as blackmail for the rest of my life, no doubt.”

“Nah. Only seven years, at most… or until I find something better to hang over your head… like whatever girl you decide to bring home.”

David snorted. “That’s about as likely as you bringing someone home.”

The siblings shared an amused laugh. Charlotte had never found a guy that could handle her interests, or the likelihood that she was physically stronger than them. She could easily imagine that any girl who met David would only see the model, and not the man.

Part of her wanted to comfort him. Growing up, she had never really joined him in his fights with Hannah when he was trying to get the youngest to do chores, or obey the rules. Nor had he intervened in Charlotte and Hannah’s battles over space or clothing. When there were real all-parties fights, it was Hannah and Charlotte against David for the ‘crime’ of being oldest… or male.

Charlotte huffed in irritation with herself. They weren’t children fighting over rules or for precedence anymore. She moved to half-sit on the table beside him, with him facing the table while she faced the rest of the room. “Once Rini’s got her paperwork in order, why don’t you come with me to Sapporo and fly back with us? I think you’d like Benkei, and it might be good for you to be treated like a piece of garbage for a few days. Can’t let your ego over all your fancy shit get too big.”

Playfully, she nudged his shoulder with hers. His head snapped up, a heated reply clearly formed, but it faded as he saw her teasing grin. He snorted again. “How can my ego get too big when I’ve got you and Hannah begging me for rides and constantly reminding me I still live in the basement?”

“Yeah but you like it down there, ya troll.” Charlotte teased again. “And just think… You’re like… Sixty years old in Model Years… Soon you’ll have to find something else to do or you won’t be able to afford that fancy car.”

“Something else? Like getting my head bashed in on a regular basis like you? You’ve got brain damage already if you think that’ll ever happen.” David retorted, relaxing enough to grin back at her.

“Naw,” Charlotte said dismissively, waving that idea away. “Couldn’t have you ruining that pretty face of yours.”

“Explains why you’re so ugly then.”

“OY!”