Post by Charlotte Shimizu on Aug 12, 2024 5:02:03 GMT
Charlie had to get out. She’d just about worn a track around the second floor of the rented house. There was a kitchen and dining room on that floor, but because Hannah had taken the bedroom on this level, the rest of the house had mostly stuck to the living area on the fourth floor.
She hated the prospect she was looking at. Even if she forgot about the implications of Jennie’s actions at Lineage, the fact that Fenix had been declared medically unfit for competition put the newly minted Heiress to the Throne in a predicament of possibly being forced to accept a belt being handed to her.
It was absolutely unacceptable on so many levels. Which left her with what she would do if it all came to pass. How could she prove she was worthy of the Women’s Championship without facing the reigning champion?
“Char… You pace much more, you’ll fall through the floor.”
Charlie almost whirled on her sister. Hannah, as was her norm, was hiding in her room, and Charlie could see through her sliding door all the paperwork surrounding an open laptop, her propped up tablet and her phone on a stand all on a low table she’d commandeered from elsewhere in the house.
“How would you feel if you were just handed your honors degree without actually earning it?” Charlie snapped, grasping for the nearest analogy she could think of that Hannah might understand. Hannah merely gave her a look that clearly implied that if Hannah wore glasses, she’d be peering at Charlie over the tops of them.
“Charlie… It hasn’t happened… Yet,” Hannah quickly added when she saw Charlie open her mouth to protest. “Your match with Fenix hasn’t been canceled. Worry about it when it happens, Char. You’ve got better things to worry about right now… Like the match against Nat… Or the fact that your boyfriend’s been moping in your room all week watching the Olympics… Or maybe that your sister is going crazy fending off reporters with only a Big Business stooge for assistance while simultaneously with all the Imperial paperwork for three wrestlers and all this is happening?”
Charlie sighed and slipped into Hannah’s room, sitting on the tatami mats. “Sorry Hanners… Is there something I can do that’ll help?”
Hannah reached over to a pile of papers and passed them to Charlie. “Approve these for me to release. You can adjust the tone and wording but try to keep the information in. I’m dancing a line here with answering questions while respecting your privacy. The more info I can give, the less I have to deal with in the future…”
Charlotte grimaced, eyeing the printouts like they were about to turn into some form of snake. “Can it wait a bit?” she asked plaintively, hoping she could get Pax out of his gloom long enough to help her wade through them. She was sure there’d be something in there that she’d need his approval for.
“No later than Monday, Char.”
Charlie regarded her sister for a long moment before her eyes flicked to the tablet. It showed a local map, but she didn’t need to see it clearly to recognize some of the landmarks. “Why do you have a map of Chichi’s cousins’ neighborhood up?”
The moment Charlie spoke, Hannah reached over to the tablet and swiped the screen. Normally, it would’ve changed the screen to another app, but her vehement action knocked it over instead. Hannah sighed, annoyed. “Because…”
“You think it might be different for you? Since you look more Japanese?” Charlie offered, surprising Hannah out of her irritation. Charlie sighed at her sister’s obviousness.
“Well… I mean… it migh-”
“It won’t be different, Hanners,” Charlie cut her off, her tone as gentle as she could manage. “The moment you tell them that you’re Chichi’s daughter, they won’t treat you any better than they did Davey or I. We’re all haafu… It doesn’t matter what we look like.”
Hannah sighed. “You’re doing that thing you did in high school again, aren’t you?” she asked. “Where you’re protecting me without me asking you to.”
“Well what else are big sisters for?” Charlie asked with a smirk. “Other than being terminal crimps on any relationships you might develop?”
“Clearly, to be a source of chronic stress headaches…” Hannah said and turned back to straighten out her desk. “And just for that, you get to make sure those are ready by Sunday night.”
Charlie sighed, but didn’t protest. As far as penances went, it wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been.
The feed opens to show Charlotte leaning back on a sofa, all casualness in red leggings and a “Techno Tsuchiguomo” t-shirt.
“It’s funny how Fate works, ain’t it? By the strangest quirk of Life, you, me and Rini have this one huge thing in common… And I ain’t just talkin’ about us all being in the same career, Nat, and you know it. By some crazy happen random-stance, we were in the same general place at the same time, and one event tied us together.
“That don’t even consider the fact that we’re disciples of some of Puroresu’s finest examples; Minamoto Kai, Sugioka Keiko and Hitasho Benkei. Regardless, it was Japan that brought us all together… These three random people who never quite fit anywhere else, and now look at us, and where we are.”
Charlotte spreads her arms in an expansive gesture, referring to more than her domestic surroundings.
“Y’know what my first thought when that guy handed us the booking for this week was, Nat?” Charlotte asks as she drops her arms back into her lap and leans forward, elbows on knees. “It was ‘well shit… there goes my training plan for Legacy’, because you’re the only one I know that I can train with for Fenix-Shimizu Part Two… But honestly? I’m going into this with the mindset that this is just our usual training game… on air and for a live audience… at the Budokan, of all places.
“And what better place to finally settle the question that’s been hanging over our heads since High Stakes than the temple of Puroresu itself? We’ve been pretty good at ignoring it, haven’t we? I mean… We had a lot happen since then, and we’ve had other shit to deal with… But it’s always been there, in every practice we have. I see it in you just as much as you see it in me.
“But in the end, does it really matter, between us, who’s better? It’ll always change, because we’re always pushing each other to be better than we were the last time. It may be me by the numbers, or rankings or whatever else right now, but you’re easily my most dangerous opponent because you know me like no other opponent will. The reverse is also true though. So let’s show ‘em what the Iron Hawk and Techno Tsuchiguomo can do when we pull out the stops.”
Charlotte pauses a moment and then adds, “Speaking of, can someone warn Medical to have a sedative on hand for our manager? She’s gonna be hyperventilating in Gorilla.”
With that, Charlotte leans back against the sofa cushions, her arms spread across the back.
“Now let’s talk about the Special Ref and Commentator… I ain’t worried about Rini favoring one of us. She knows how we get when we’re letting loose so she’ll let us play.” Charlotte chuckles. “Frankly, I’ll be surprised if she remembers to count. You know how excited she gets. She’ll probably spend most of the time cheering us on…”
Charlotte leans forward again, tugging at her shirt to readjust it and her expression turning to stone, before she continues, “I’m more concerned about Homie sittin’ at the desk. Not because it’s Homie… Though that certainly don’t help my blood pressure any… Almost every time there's been a ‘special commentator’ for one of my matches, something has gone tits-up.”
Charlotte starts ticking off the incidents on her fingers. “O’Hara at commentary while Itami, Homie and I were in the ring? We all know what happened there… Fowler commenting on the Murder-Birds of Prey match? Yeah… The less said about that, the better, even if it wasn’t Fowler’s fault. And then we got whatever happened last week with Fenix and just… Yeah… I’m a little not happy about the idea of anyone ‘special’ commentating on my matches right now. Throw in that ma girl Nat is on a collision course with Homie? Just like O’Hara and Homie were? Yeah… I’m expecting something, even if I don’t want it.”
Charlotte levels an icy glare at the camera as though speaking directly to Holmes. “There’s nothing that pisses me off more than interference in a match, so Homie… Stay behind the desk if you know what’s good for your health. This don’t have nothin’ to do with you. Nat knows better than to take her eyes off me, unlike you, but if you make a move, you will regret it. That ain’t a threat, it’s a promise… Because if I don’t put you back behind the desk by putting you through it, Nat sure as hell will.”
She sighs, slumping briefly in her seat before shaking herself and turning with a brighter, friendly expression to the camera.
“Oh… and for those that might be wondering what my second thought was?” Charlotte grins, brown eyes glittering with mirth. “Tanjōbi omedetō.”
She reaches forward and covers the lens of the camera. The feed cuts. It’s later released in Cherokee and Japanese languages.
She hated the prospect she was looking at. Even if she forgot about the implications of Jennie’s actions at Lineage, the fact that Fenix had been declared medically unfit for competition put the newly minted Heiress to the Throne in a predicament of possibly being forced to accept a belt being handed to her.
It was absolutely unacceptable on so many levels. Which left her with what she would do if it all came to pass. How could she prove she was worthy of the Women’s Championship without facing the reigning champion?
“Char… You pace much more, you’ll fall through the floor.”
Charlie almost whirled on her sister. Hannah, as was her norm, was hiding in her room, and Charlie could see through her sliding door all the paperwork surrounding an open laptop, her propped up tablet and her phone on a stand all on a low table she’d commandeered from elsewhere in the house.
“How would you feel if you were just handed your honors degree without actually earning it?” Charlie snapped, grasping for the nearest analogy she could think of that Hannah might understand. Hannah merely gave her a look that clearly implied that if Hannah wore glasses, she’d be peering at Charlie over the tops of them.
“Charlie… It hasn’t happened… Yet,” Hannah quickly added when she saw Charlie open her mouth to protest. “Your match with Fenix hasn’t been canceled. Worry about it when it happens, Char. You’ve got better things to worry about right now… Like the match against Nat… Or the fact that your boyfriend’s been moping in your room all week watching the Olympics… Or maybe that your sister is going crazy fending off reporters with only a Big Business stooge for assistance while simultaneously with all the Imperial paperwork for three wrestlers and all this is happening?”
Charlie sighed and slipped into Hannah’s room, sitting on the tatami mats. “Sorry Hanners… Is there something I can do that’ll help?”
Hannah reached over to a pile of papers and passed them to Charlie. “Approve these for me to release. You can adjust the tone and wording but try to keep the information in. I’m dancing a line here with answering questions while respecting your privacy. The more info I can give, the less I have to deal with in the future…”
Charlotte grimaced, eyeing the printouts like they were about to turn into some form of snake. “Can it wait a bit?” she asked plaintively, hoping she could get Pax out of his gloom long enough to help her wade through them. She was sure there’d be something in there that she’d need his approval for.
“No later than Monday, Char.”
Charlie regarded her sister for a long moment before her eyes flicked to the tablet. It showed a local map, but she didn’t need to see it clearly to recognize some of the landmarks. “Why do you have a map of Chichi’s cousins’ neighborhood up?”
The moment Charlie spoke, Hannah reached over to the tablet and swiped the screen. Normally, it would’ve changed the screen to another app, but her vehement action knocked it over instead. Hannah sighed, annoyed. “Because…”
“You think it might be different for you? Since you look more Japanese?” Charlie offered, surprising Hannah out of her irritation. Charlie sighed at her sister’s obviousness.
“Well… I mean… it migh-”
“It won’t be different, Hanners,” Charlie cut her off, her tone as gentle as she could manage. “The moment you tell them that you’re Chichi’s daughter, they won’t treat you any better than they did Davey or I. We’re all haafu… It doesn’t matter what we look like.”
Hannah sighed. “You’re doing that thing you did in high school again, aren’t you?” she asked. “Where you’re protecting me without me asking you to.”
“Well what else are big sisters for?” Charlie asked with a smirk. “Other than being terminal crimps on any relationships you might develop?”
“Clearly, to be a source of chronic stress headaches…” Hannah said and turned back to straighten out her desk. “And just for that, you get to make sure those are ready by Sunday night.”
Charlie sighed, but didn’t protest. As far as penances went, it wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been.
The feed opens to show Charlotte leaning back on a sofa, all casualness in red leggings and a “Techno Tsuchiguomo” t-shirt.
“It’s funny how Fate works, ain’t it? By the strangest quirk of Life, you, me and Rini have this one huge thing in common… And I ain’t just talkin’ about us all being in the same career, Nat, and you know it. By some crazy happen random-stance, we were in the same general place at the same time, and one event tied us together.
“That don’t even consider the fact that we’re disciples of some of Puroresu’s finest examples; Minamoto Kai, Sugioka Keiko and Hitasho Benkei. Regardless, it was Japan that brought us all together… These three random people who never quite fit anywhere else, and now look at us, and where we are.”
Charlotte spreads her arms in an expansive gesture, referring to more than her domestic surroundings.
“Y’know what my first thought when that guy handed us the booking for this week was, Nat?” Charlotte asks as she drops her arms back into her lap and leans forward, elbows on knees. “It was ‘well shit… there goes my training plan for Legacy’, because you’re the only one I know that I can train with for Fenix-Shimizu Part Two… But honestly? I’m going into this with the mindset that this is just our usual training game… on air and for a live audience… at the Budokan, of all places.
“And what better place to finally settle the question that’s been hanging over our heads since High Stakes than the temple of Puroresu itself? We’ve been pretty good at ignoring it, haven’t we? I mean… We had a lot happen since then, and we’ve had other shit to deal with… But it’s always been there, in every practice we have. I see it in you just as much as you see it in me.
“But in the end, does it really matter, between us, who’s better? It’ll always change, because we’re always pushing each other to be better than we were the last time. It may be me by the numbers, or rankings or whatever else right now, but you’re easily my most dangerous opponent because you know me like no other opponent will. The reverse is also true though. So let’s show ‘em what the Iron Hawk and Techno Tsuchiguomo can do when we pull out the stops.”
Charlotte pauses a moment and then adds, “Speaking of, can someone warn Medical to have a sedative on hand for our manager? She’s gonna be hyperventilating in Gorilla.”
With that, Charlotte leans back against the sofa cushions, her arms spread across the back.
“Now let’s talk about the Special Ref and Commentator… I ain’t worried about Rini favoring one of us. She knows how we get when we’re letting loose so she’ll let us play.” Charlotte chuckles. “Frankly, I’ll be surprised if she remembers to count. You know how excited she gets. She’ll probably spend most of the time cheering us on…”
Charlotte leans forward again, tugging at her shirt to readjust it and her expression turning to stone, before she continues, “I’m more concerned about Homie sittin’ at the desk. Not because it’s Homie… Though that certainly don’t help my blood pressure any… Almost every time there's been a ‘special commentator’ for one of my matches, something has gone tits-up.”
Charlotte starts ticking off the incidents on her fingers. “O’Hara at commentary while Itami, Homie and I were in the ring? We all know what happened there… Fowler commenting on the Murder-Birds of Prey match? Yeah… The less said about that, the better, even if it wasn’t Fowler’s fault. And then we got whatever happened last week with Fenix and just… Yeah… I’m a little not happy about the idea of anyone ‘special’ commentating on my matches right now. Throw in that ma girl Nat is on a collision course with Homie? Just like O’Hara and Homie were? Yeah… I’m expecting something, even if I don’t want it.”
Charlotte levels an icy glare at the camera as though speaking directly to Holmes. “There’s nothing that pisses me off more than interference in a match, so Homie… Stay behind the desk if you know what’s good for your health. This don’t have nothin’ to do with you. Nat knows better than to take her eyes off me, unlike you, but if you make a move, you will regret it. That ain’t a threat, it’s a promise… Because if I don’t put you back behind the desk by putting you through it, Nat sure as hell will.”
She sighs, slumping briefly in her seat before shaking herself and turning with a brighter, friendly expression to the camera.
“Oh… and for those that might be wondering what my second thought was?” Charlotte grins, brown eyes glittering with mirth. “Tanjōbi omedetō.”
She reaches forward and covers the lens of the camera. The feed cuts. It’s later released in Cherokee and Japanese languages.
Well howdy there pardner.