Fiesta's Over - It's Pow-Wow Time

[Charlotte Shimizu]

Locke at East Side Gallery, Friedrichshain
Berlin, Germany
7 May 2004


As Charlie neared the door to the hotel room, her nerves started jangling. Some part of her knew that Rini wouldn’t turn away from her, but it was still a fear that Charlie couldn’t silence. Would their bond be the final thing Neo-Honshu destroyed?

She needn’t have worried. The moment she stepped inside the room, Rini’s head snapped up from Nat’s shoulder and she nearly threw herself at Charlie, only hampered by extricating herself from Nat’s arms. For a moment, Charlie felt jealous that Nat had been the one to support Rini, but then reminded herself that it was because of her that Rini had needed comforting. The fact that Rini nearly bowled her over with a hug that was more like a tackle helped.

Rini was nearly incoherent, practically gibbering in her native language. Charlie just held Rini tightly to her. “I’m sorry, Rini…”

Charlie’s quiet apology made Rini jerk back enough to gaze up at her. “No, I’m sorry, Una.” Rini’s use of her name hit Charlie like a suckerpunch, making tears jump to her eyes. “I should have tol-”

“No,” Charlie cut her off sharply. This guilt would eat them both alive. It had to be stopped. “Rini… What could we have done if I’d known?” Charlie saw the words forming, Rini’s mouth opening to protest, but Charlie charged on. “Nothing, Rini. We couldn’t change it. The best we could have done was go back to the Dojo… That or hide our friendship.”

Rini’s furious scowl at that idea told Charlie that her guess about Rini’s reaction to such a suggestion was spot-on. “Never. Absolutely never!” Rini declared, her whole body seeming to vibrate with her vehemence. It made Charlie smile; this was the girl she’d met in 2016.

The moment was broken up by a small commotion by the door. Hannah was attempting to block Nat from leaving. She was only succeeding because she’d managed to throw the deadbolt and was keeping Nat from removing it.

“Nuh-uh, Nat. I got Charlie back here, now you gotta fess up to your part in this mess!” Hannah scolded, slapping Nat’s hands away from the door.

Both Charlie and Rini exchanged confused looks, then turned back to the scene the younger women made by the door. Just as the pieces clicked together in Charlie’s mind, Rini moved like lightning to tackle Nat.

“You told her!” Rini accused, hanging off Nat like a monkey. Charlie was reasonably sure that if they’d been in one of the animes Rini loved so much, she’d be chewing on Nat’s head.

Charlie took a brief moment to be amused at Rini’s antics before moving to disentangle the pair. “Rini, Nat didn’t tell me anything… She only asked a question that pointed out some rather glaring holes.”

“Honestly, if Nat hadn’t said something, I was about a day shy of leaving some articles from Japan I found laying where Charlie could find them,” Hannah chimed in, her expression one of unrepentant smugness.

“Wait… You knew too?” Charlie asked, starting to feel left out again.

Hannah shrugged. “Not my fault when no one notices I’m nearby,” she quipped with a pointed glance at Rini and Nat, who had the grace to look embarrassed at being caught. Charlie sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

“Goddamn Imōto powers… Just tell me you weren’t actively spying on them?” Charlie pleaded.

“I wasn’t spying,” Hannah retorted defensively. “More like… Protecting my income from destroying itself.”

Charlie sighed again then leveled a flat look at her fellow wrestlers. “Welcome to the wonderful world of having a younger sister. Congratudolences.”

“Konguratu-nani?” Rini tried to repeat the word, but broke off in confusion, looking at everyone else for some sort of explanation.

“I think it means 'Good Job, but I hope you know you’re screwed'… Am I right?” Nat asked, gaining a shrug and a nod from Hannah, who was far more accustomed to Charlie’s random vocabulary. Accepting that as the confirmation it was, Nat shrugs. “Imma need a manual on how to be an Older Sister…”

“Maybe Shea’s got a copy that isn’t full of Middle Child shit like Charlie’s…” Hannah suggested. Despite knowing it was a direct jab at her, Charlie laughed, setting everyone else in the room off as well.

---

The feed opens on a view of the Spree and Berlin from a balcony. The camera turns to show Charlotte relaxing against the railing. Her beaded braids hang loose around her face and the rest of her hair is down, fluttering in the light breeze wafting from the river. Instead of her priestess outfit, or anything resembling her ring gear, she’s dressed simply in a brown leather jacket and yellow ribbon skirt.

“So… Ethan King couldn’t put The Big Bad Lucha away, so now it’s my turn. Okay… That’s fine. Game on.”

She turns around to lean back against the rail instead of looking out over the river, taking a moment to keep her hair from being trapped. “I imagine Señor Malo must be riding pretty high on that win… I don’t totally blame him for that. I felt much the same high after I won over Stepanov… But that’s where the similarities end.”

Charlotte idly tucks one braid behind her ear before she continues, her head cocked to one side, eyeing the audience with a curious expression. “What have your tricks and mischief really gotten you, Malo? One win since I’ve been around, two if you’re counting the team win against the Ravens.” She starts ticking names off on her fingers. “Dhillon Michaels, Chris Diamond, Jason Hathaway, Masao Akiyama and… I’ve honestly lost track of what he’s calling himself these days, but the TV Champion… They’ve all busted your piñata, and that’s just since September.”

“That’s not even considering how lackadaisical your commitment to IWF seems to be. You’ve been with IWF since I was at Hachimangū Dojo, but only in sprints. Seven months here, six months there… Did you hurt yourself with that one month jog in ‘21?” she asks with a smirk. “It seems to me you don’t got what it takes to do more than show your face, make grand proclamations, get put into the mats half a dozen times, and then you take a six month… one year… two year siesta.”

Charlotte rolls her eyes expressively then shrugs. “Still… If I don’t take you seriously, I run the risk of being made as much of a joke as Ethan King or the Ravens. I can’t risk that happening, not this close to Night of the Immortals… or ever really. You’ve got some good footwork, Mal, but we all know that won’t work against me. You think you can pull me from the sky? It ain’t happenin’. The wrestlers who have managed that are worlds better than you… Yes, even that disgrace, HIJOU.”

Charlotte tosses her hair in a dismissive gesture, her beaded braids swinging about her face as she turns to fully face the camera. Despite the casualness of her posture, there’s a poise - a tension - that conveys the impression of a predator ready to strike.

“Fiesta’s over, Malo, and if you think you can play the Big Bad Wolf and crash my pow-wow, you got another thing comin’ because I built with iron. Go huff and puff at someone else’s door.”

Charlotte waves Malo away dismissively, then covers the lens. The feed cuts.

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