Post by Charlotte Shimizu on Jul 29, 2024 3:41:22 GMT
“Una?”
The tentative tone alone would’ve set Charlie on high alert. The fact that it was also Rini, calling her by anything other than “Maasu” was also cause for immediate concern. Charlie looked up from her book of basic Ojibwe to see Rini with a tray laid out with about a day’s worth of baked goods. From the burned edges, Charlie privately bet that Rini’d been stress-baking again. Sighing, Charlie set the book down on the table and beckoned her over.
“Alright Rini… Are you gonna tell me what’s going on?” After the few words Charlie had pried out of her, Nat had closed up tighter than a lockbox. So now Charlie only had Rini to pull information from as to why her two best friends were struggling to talk to each other… and to her.
Rini carefully slid the tray onto the table beside the book and sat next to Charlie, pulling her knees up under her chin and staring at the lackluster offerings. “How did you figure out your crush on Pax?”
Charlie couldn’t help it; she laughed. “I didn’t! Remember? I kissed him in the middle of Gorilla, in full view of most of Imperial, and then ran away… Then Ma pulled a stunt and got us talking.”
Rini frowned but nodded, her chin rubbing against her knees. Charlie sighed, put an arm around Rini and leaned against her. “You could always try kissing them and figuring it out that way…”
Rini blushed brightly, averting her eyes. “I already did.”
“Hol’up…” Charlie blinked rapidly and tried to keep up with the drama that had apparently been unfolding right under her nose. “You kissed both of them? Already? As in before now?”
“Well… Masao kissed me while we were visiting the Dojo, and then I kissed Nat to see if it was different but it wasn’t and-” Rini trailed off as Charlie pulled back to stare at her.
Charlie could only sigh and pulled Rini back to her, their heads resting together. “I’m sorry, Muun… I wish there were something I could say or do to help, but I’m possibly the worst person to ask about this sorta thing.”
Rini sighed as well, leaning forward only briefly to snag a cookie before returning back to Charlie’s comforting presence. She nibbled on it morosely. “I know… I just wish I knew what to do…”
Charlie smiled fondly at Rini. “You’ll figure it out, I’m sure.”
“Our lives are made by our choices.”
Charlotte’s voice is heard before the woman herself is seen. With no transition from the black screen, the feed starts showing Charlotte wearing black palazzo pants and a plain white short-sleeved blouse. She leans idly against the railing at one end of Kanshinbashi Bridge in Yokohama’s famous Sankeien Garden.
“Once we make a choice, we can’t undo them. All we can do is accept the consequences and try to make a better one the next time. There’s always, of course, the wallowing and wailing you could do when you make a bad decision, watching the bridge burn and gnashing your teeth, lamenting that you didn’t see what would happen. It’s natural, but it wastes time.
“So April… Ya made a mistake. Ya trusted someone that you shouldn’t have… I sympathize entirely.”
Charlotte’s mouth twists with her obvious distaste for the reminder.
“It sucks, don’t it? You think you found someone who gets it, who has something in common, and at the first bump in the road, the first sign you’re more threatening than useful, BAM!” Charlotte punches her open left palm with her right fist, jerking her head back like she’d just been hit. Her gaze snaps back to the camera. “It’s only made worse because you brought them around people who only trusted this person because you said it was okay. And you thank whatever higher power you believe in that only you were actually hurt this time.”
Charlotte sighs and shakes her head.
“But we already know how alike we are, don’t we, April? Why else were we the ones that secured our spots in the Iron Maiden before anyone else? You could make the argument that we were the only ones that could look past the differences long enough to work together, but again, that just highlights another similarity, don’t it? We did it despite the misgivings of those we trust most. It was at least one time when our trust was not misplaced, where we made the right choice.
“Of course, then you went and followed that up with a whole bunch of bad choices, not the least’a which was pissing me off.” Charlotte shrugs, her expression turning pensive. “It’s like you want someone else in charge of your life… Maybe you want the chains tying you down, keeping you from jumping as far as you can. I dunno. I spent some time trying to puzzle you out, but I gave up about a week after High Stakes.
“What are you trying to prove here? That you’re more than your sister’s shadow? That those who teach are still capable of doing?”
Charlotte shrugs. “I know you are, on both counts… but you have to know it, not just in your head. You have to feel it, live it, breathe it… And I don’t think you do.”
Charlotte sighs, looks up at the sky as though pleading for strength, and says, softly, “I said I wasn’t going to bring this up again, but it’s relevant.”
When Charlotte turns back to the camera, her expression is an almost emotionless mask but for the sadness that doesn’t quite leave her eyes. “April… I do know where you are right now. I was there seven years ago. I’d gone out on a limb, ignoring the warnings of my father and brother, and came to Japan in search of my father’s family, trying to connect with a part of myself I couldn’t reach back in Oklahoma.
“I spent weeks after that disaster avoiding their calls, dreading all the ‘I told you so’s. But you know what? My dad and brother never said a word on that. They only wanted to know that I was alright, that I was safe.
“That is how family should respond when you’re betrayed, when you’re hurt. Given I ain’t seen hide or hair of her, I’m guessin’ Big Sis bailed on ya… maybe she’s doing the shitty thing and blaming you for it too. It’d be what I’d expect from Brooky, but I bet it’s a bitter dose of reality for ya.
“Don’t it suck to give everything to someone and get jack shit back for your trouble? But April, you keep doing it, reducing yourself to a stepping stone for someone who apparently cares more about their fish tacos than their sibling. Girl, please… just stop already. You’re so concerned about supporting everyone else but who the fuck’s supporting you? Stop giving a damn about people who clearly don’t give a damn about you…”
With a shake of her head, the mild sympathy that’s been in her eyes vanishes. “That is what you chose.
“And that, April St. Croix… is why we’re different.”
Instead of her usual outro, Charlotte merely turns her back on the camera and crosses the bridge towards the large three-story pagoda in the background. The scene fades to black; the feed cuts. It’s later released in Japanese and Cherokee.
The tentative tone alone would’ve set Charlie on high alert. The fact that it was also Rini, calling her by anything other than “Maasu” was also cause for immediate concern. Charlie looked up from her book of basic Ojibwe to see Rini with a tray laid out with about a day’s worth of baked goods. From the burned edges, Charlie privately bet that Rini’d been stress-baking again. Sighing, Charlie set the book down on the table and beckoned her over.
“Alright Rini… Are you gonna tell me what’s going on?” After the few words Charlie had pried out of her, Nat had closed up tighter than a lockbox. So now Charlie only had Rini to pull information from as to why her two best friends were struggling to talk to each other… and to her.
Rini carefully slid the tray onto the table beside the book and sat next to Charlie, pulling her knees up under her chin and staring at the lackluster offerings. “How did you figure out your crush on Pax?”
Charlie couldn’t help it; she laughed. “I didn’t! Remember? I kissed him in the middle of Gorilla, in full view of most of Imperial, and then ran away… Then Ma pulled a stunt and got us talking.”
Rini frowned but nodded, her chin rubbing against her knees. Charlie sighed, put an arm around Rini and leaned against her. “You could always try kissing them and figuring it out that way…”
Rini blushed brightly, averting her eyes. “I already did.”
“Hol’up…” Charlie blinked rapidly and tried to keep up with the drama that had apparently been unfolding right under her nose. “You kissed both of them? Already? As in before now?”
“Well… Masao kissed me while we were visiting the Dojo, and then I kissed Nat to see if it was different but it wasn’t and-” Rini trailed off as Charlie pulled back to stare at her.
Charlie could only sigh and pulled Rini back to her, their heads resting together. “I’m sorry, Muun… I wish there were something I could say or do to help, but I’m possibly the worst person to ask about this sorta thing.”
Rini sighed as well, leaning forward only briefly to snag a cookie before returning back to Charlie’s comforting presence. She nibbled on it morosely. “I know… I just wish I knew what to do…”
Charlie smiled fondly at Rini. “You’ll figure it out, I’m sure.”
“Our lives are made by our choices.”
Charlotte’s voice is heard before the woman herself is seen. With no transition from the black screen, the feed starts showing Charlotte wearing black palazzo pants and a plain white short-sleeved blouse. She leans idly against the railing at one end of Kanshinbashi Bridge in Yokohama’s famous Sankeien Garden.
“Once we make a choice, we can’t undo them. All we can do is accept the consequences and try to make a better one the next time. There’s always, of course, the wallowing and wailing you could do when you make a bad decision, watching the bridge burn and gnashing your teeth, lamenting that you didn’t see what would happen. It’s natural, but it wastes time.
“So April… Ya made a mistake. Ya trusted someone that you shouldn’t have… I sympathize entirely.”
Charlotte’s mouth twists with her obvious distaste for the reminder.
“It sucks, don’t it? You think you found someone who gets it, who has something in common, and at the first bump in the road, the first sign you’re more threatening than useful, BAM!” Charlotte punches her open left palm with her right fist, jerking her head back like she’d just been hit. Her gaze snaps back to the camera. “It’s only made worse because you brought them around people who only trusted this person because you said it was okay. And you thank whatever higher power you believe in that only you were actually hurt this time.”
Charlotte sighs and shakes her head.
“But we already know how alike we are, don’t we, April? Why else were we the ones that secured our spots in the Iron Maiden before anyone else? You could make the argument that we were the only ones that could look past the differences long enough to work together, but again, that just highlights another similarity, don’t it? We did it despite the misgivings of those we trust most. It was at least one time when our trust was not misplaced, where we made the right choice.
“Of course, then you went and followed that up with a whole bunch of bad choices, not the least’a which was pissing me off.” Charlotte shrugs, her expression turning pensive. “It’s like you want someone else in charge of your life… Maybe you want the chains tying you down, keeping you from jumping as far as you can. I dunno. I spent some time trying to puzzle you out, but I gave up about a week after High Stakes.
“What are you trying to prove here? That you’re more than your sister’s shadow? That those who teach are still capable of doing?”
Charlotte shrugs. “I know you are, on both counts… but you have to know it, not just in your head. You have to feel it, live it, breathe it… And I don’t think you do.”
Charlotte sighs, looks up at the sky as though pleading for strength, and says, softly, “I said I wasn’t going to bring this up again, but it’s relevant.”
When Charlotte turns back to the camera, her expression is an almost emotionless mask but for the sadness that doesn’t quite leave her eyes. “April… I do know where you are right now. I was there seven years ago. I’d gone out on a limb, ignoring the warnings of my father and brother, and came to Japan in search of my father’s family, trying to connect with a part of myself I couldn’t reach back in Oklahoma.
“I spent weeks after that disaster avoiding their calls, dreading all the ‘I told you so’s. But you know what? My dad and brother never said a word on that. They only wanted to know that I was alright, that I was safe.
“That is how family should respond when you’re betrayed, when you’re hurt. Given I ain’t seen hide or hair of her, I’m guessin’ Big Sis bailed on ya… maybe she’s doing the shitty thing and blaming you for it too. It’d be what I’d expect from Brooky, but I bet it’s a bitter dose of reality for ya.
“Don’t it suck to give everything to someone and get jack shit back for your trouble? But April, you keep doing it, reducing yourself to a stepping stone for someone who apparently cares more about their fish tacos than their sibling. Girl, please… just stop already. You’re so concerned about supporting everyone else but who the fuck’s supporting you? Stop giving a damn about people who clearly don’t give a damn about you…”
With a shake of her head, the mild sympathy that’s been in her eyes vanishes. “That is what you chose.
“And that, April St. Croix… is why we’re different.”
Instead of her usual outro, Charlotte merely turns her back on the camera and crosses the bridge towards the large three-story pagoda in the background. The scene fades to black; the feed cuts. It’s later released in Japanese and Cherokee.
Well howdy there pardner.