Post by Charlotte Shimizu on Dec 4, 2023 7:18:35 GMT
Immediately on entering her parents’ home, Charlotte’s mother stomped up to her, thrusting a scrap of paper at her. “I am not your answering service. Let your old friends know your new number so they stop calling here.”
Charlotte barely caught the paper before her mother released it, blinking in confusion. “Mom… What old friends? I didn’t have friends.”
While that might be a pathetic statement for anyone else, Charlotte had no real ill feelings about it. Her interests had made her a pariah among the girls, and while she had some luck with some guys, more often their male egos were threatened by her physical abilities. She’d managed nothing beyond a superficial relationship with many over being a fan of various sports, but it was strained at best with her refusing their explanations when she already knew what they were talking about.
“Well obviously you had some, or I wouldn’t be fielding calls every other day. Something about promising you’d call when you got back from Japan?”
Charlotte blinked at her mother’s response. Had she told anyone she’d call them? Other than her family, she couldn’t think who it might’ve been. Charlotte sighed, deciding to deal with it later. “Hi Mom. It’s nice to see you too. Just spent the last two weeks getting my ass kicked in Canada… How are you?”
Melissa Hensley Shimizu pressed her lips into a thin line at her daughter’s attitude then sighed. “Come on then, savage daughter. Your brother should be rising from his lair shortly.”
Even though she’d been back in the states over the past two months, Charlotte couldn’t help but feel something akin to awkwardness as she went through the entryway into the living room. She knew she could’ve moved back in if she’d wanted to. Her other siblings had certainly maintained their presence there… But Charlotte couldn’t imagine slipping back into the small room that shared a bathroom with Hannah. As she caught sight of the game on the television there, her father ensconced on the sofa, she smiled slightly at the familiar setting. “How’re Tyler Lacey and Jason Taylor doing, Dad?”
Her dad huffed and set his mug to one side as he rose from the couch and turned the tv off. “The Jaguars are crap and they won’t even get a decent draft pick out of it, while the Rams seem to think that anything better than last in the division is good enough. The Ravens are at least keeping themselves alive through the slaughter house that is the AFC-North, even with all the injuries.” Charlotte smiled slightly at her father’s irritation. It was never easy to find a team to follow when there wasn’t a professional franchise closer than Kansas City or Dallas, and the local favor seemed to go with whatever star player had been drafted most recently from Oklahoma State.
Charlotte allowed herself a chuckle. “Well at least one of your teams is doing well then,” she offered consolingly. Aidan Shimizu was not much taller than her, since David and she had inherited their inches from their mother’s side, so he could not quite tuck her under his arm to walk with her into the dining room, but he could put his arm across her shoulders easily.
“Hai… It’s true enough, Una-musume,” her father agreed with a slight squeeze of a hug before they parted to take their seats at the table. Hannah was already seated, nose-deep sketching something on a tablet.
“Oy!” Melissa called from the kitchen. “Tski! Tablet off the table. Dinner’s ready.”
Hannah sighed and clicked the tablet off before setting it on the floor beside her chair. Charlotte eyed her warily. “You’re not still trying to come up with some design for merch, are you?” she asked her younger sister warily. The first attempt, made with fabric paint and a teeshirt bought at a craft store the day before the Winnipeg show, seemed to have set some sort of fire under Hannah’s seat, and it only boded poorly for Charlotte.
“So what if I am? I’m your manager. It’s in my interests to see that you’re promoted properly!” Hannah’s defensive response only made Charlotte groan.
“She does have a point there, Char.”
Charlotte groaned as even her brother weighed in on the subject. “Don’t you have a hole to crawl back into?” she snapped.
“Oh I do… but if Mom won’t let you hide from family dinners, for all you’re all moved out and adult and shit, then she sure as hell won’t let me hide…” David replied with a smirk as he slid into his own chair across from her
“David Chimu Shimizu! You will keep a civil tongue in your head while you’re at my table!”
David smirked and rolled his eyes at Charlotte. It was a mere flash of an expression, before he settled himself again in his chair and smiled towards the kitchen “Yes, Mother.”
The matriarch of the family brought the dishes from the kitchen and started passing the serving plates around. “That said, Hannah does have a point. Advertising is important. How are your fans supposed to know what to put on their signs to show their support if you don’t have any sort of tagline either?”
Charlotte groaned, narrowly avoiding the serving bowl of mashed potatoes. “Just… Not that ‘half-half’ line Hannah was touting? Please?” she begged, almost whining.
The feed again opens on Charlotte sitting at a desk in three-quarter profile, seeming distracted by the computer screen as she clicks and taps at the keyboard. “Oh good… Back on the schedule.”
Charlotte looks up and turns to more fully face the camera as she leans back in her chair, the computer forgotten for the moment.
“So… Zasshu the second, student to the infamous Zasshu… I will say that you’re definitely correct. Our styles are a contrast and compliment. You probably missed her in your search for me, but if you like, I have recordings of all my shows from Neo-Honshu. My best friend was a lot like you… She of course had the benefit of being fully Japanese and not relegated to being the villain who never wins… or if I did win, it was just for the face to have a more dramatic victory later. But that doesn’t really matter right now…”
Charlotte sighs, leaning forward to rest her elbows on the desk. “There was another thing you were right about Zasshu, second of their name,” she continues with a slight smirk at the vague reference to a popular book series and tv show. “You will need luck. In case you missed it, I took on Stepanov about a month ago and got a win… She has the best footwork in the sport, to say nothing of amazing technical skills and she couldn’t pin me down.”
“Pound for pound, inch for inch, you and I are so far equal, Zasshu-Two… I’m not on a holy crusade for tomorrow. Not yet anyways… I’m still settling in. Still trying to figure out how to tell my story outside the ring. But inside those ropes?” Charlotte pauses, smiling slightly. “Not to brag, but I’m pretty good. See ya in Portland girlie.”
Charlotte grabs a fob from the desktop and points it at the camera. The feed cuts.
Charlotte barely caught the paper before her mother released it, blinking in confusion. “Mom… What old friends? I didn’t have friends.”
While that might be a pathetic statement for anyone else, Charlotte had no real ill feelings about it. Her interests had made her a pariah among the girls, and while she had some luck with some guys, more often their male egos were threatened by her physical abilities. She’d managed nothing beyond a superficial relationship with many over being a fan of various sports, but it was strained at best with her refusing their explanations when she already knew what they were talking about.
“Well obviously you had some, or I wouldn’t be fielding calls every other day. Something about promising you’d call when you got back from Japan?”
Charlotte blinked at her mother’s response. Had she told anyone she’d call them? Other than her family, she couldn’t think who it might’ve been. Charlotte sighed, deciding to deal with it later. “Hi Mom. It’s nice to see you too. Just spent the last two weeks getting my ass kicked in Canada… How are you?”
Melissa Hensley Shimizu pressed her lips into a thin line at her daughter’s attitude then sighed. “Come on then, savage daughter. Your brother should be rising from his lair shortly.”
Even though she’d been back in the states over the past two months, Charlotte couldn’t help but feel something akin to awkwardness as she went through the entryway into the living room. She knew she could’ve moved back in if she’d wanted to. Her other siblings had certainly maintained their presence there… But Charlotte couldn’t imagine slipping back into the small room that shared a bathroom with Hannah. As she caught sight of the game on the television there, her father ensconced on the sofa, she smiled slightly at the familiar setting. “How’re Tyler Lacey and Jason Taylor doing, Dad?”
Her dad huffed and set his mug to one side as he rose from the couch and turned the tv off. “The Jaguars are crap and they won’t even get a decent draft pick out of it, while the Rams seem to think that anything better than last in the division is good enough. The Ravens are at least keeping themselves alive through the slaughter house that is the AFC-North, even with all the injuries.” Charlotte smiled slightly at her father’s irritation. It was never easy to find a team to follow when there wasn’t a professional franchise closer than Kansas City or Dallas, and the local favor seemed to go with whatever star player had been drafted most recently from Oklahoma State.
Charlotte allowed herself a chuckle. “Well at least one of your teams is doing well then,” she offered consolingly. Aidan Shimizu was not much taller than her, since David and she had inherited their inches from their mother’s side, so he could not quite tuck her under his arm to walk with her into the dining room, but he could put his arm across her shoulders easily.
“Hai… It’s true enough, Una-musume,” her father agreed with a slight squeeze of a hug before they parted to take their seats at the table. Hannah was already seated, nose-deep sketching something on a tablet.
“Oy!” Melissa called from the kitchen. “Tski! Tablet off the table. Dinner’s ready.”
Hannah sighed and clicked the tablet off before setting it on the floor beside her chair. Charlotte eyed her warily. “You’re not still trying to come up with some design for merch, are you?” she asked her younger sister warily. The first attempt, made with fabric paint and a teeshirt bought at a craft store the day before the Winnipeg show, seemed to have set some sort of fire under Hannah’s seat, and it only boded poorly for Charlotte.
“So what if I am? I’m your manager. It’s in my interests to see that you’re promoted properly!” Hannah’s defensive response only made Charlotte groan.
“She does have a point there, Char.”
Charlotte groaned as even her brother weighed in on the subject. “Don’t you have a hole to crawl back into?” she snapped.
“Oh I do… but if Mom won’t let you hide from family dinners, for all you’re all moved out and adult and shit, then she sure as hell won’t let me hide…” David replied with a smirk as he slid into his own chair across from her
“David Chimu Shimizu! You will keep a civil tongue in your head while you’re at my table!”
David smirked and rolled his eyes at Charlotte. It was a mere flash of an expression, before he settled himself again in his chair and smiled towards the kitchen “Yes, Mother.”
The matriarch of the family brought the dishes from the kitchen and started passing the serving plates around. “That said, Hannah does have a point. Advertising is important. How are your fans supposed to know what to put on their signs to show their support if you don’t have any sort of tagline either?”
Charlotte groaned, narrowly avoiding the serving bowl of mashed potatoes. “Just… Not that ‘half-half’ line Hannah was touting? Please?” she begged, almost whining.
The feed again opens on Charlotte sitting at a desk in three-quarter profile, seeming distracted by the computer screen as she clicks and taps at the keyboard. “Oh good… Back on the schedule.”
Charlotte looks up and turns to more fully face the camera as she leans back in her chair, the computer forgotten for the moment.
“So… Zasshu the second, student to the infamous Zasshu… I will say that you’re definitely correct. Our styles are a contrast and compliment. You probably missed her in your search for me, but if you like, I have recordings of all my shows from Neo-Honshu. My best friend was a lot like you… She of course had the benefit of being fully Japanese and not relegated to being the villain who never wins… or if I did win, it was just for the face to have a more dramatic victory later. But that doesn’t really matter right now…”
Charlotte sighs, leaning forward to rest her elbows on the desk. “There was another thing you were right about Zasshu, second of their name,” she continues with a slight smirk at the vague reference to a popular book series and tv show. “You will need luck. In case you missed it, I took on Stepanov about a month ago and got a win… She has the best footwork in the sport, to say nothing of amazing technical skills and she couldn’t pin me down.”
“Pound for pound, inch for inch, you and I are so far equal, Zasshu-Two… I’m not on a holy crusade for tomorrow. Not yet anyways… I’m still settling in. Still trying to figure out how to tell my story outside the ring. But inside those ropes?” Charlotte pauses, smiling slightly. “Not to brag, but I’m pretty good. See ya in Portland girlie.”
Charlotte grabs a fob from the desktop and points it at the camera. The feed cuts.
Well howdy there pardner.