Post by Charlotte Shimizu on Sept 3, 2024 4:46:01 GMT
Dawn Halliwell… If Charlie were being honest with herself, she’d barely remembered the name when she’d done her records search on former Iron Maidens. It sorta sucked that Dawn was only a former Luchadora champion, a retired championship from over five years ago, but Charlie got her match.
Already, the vultures were circling… Saying she hadn’t really won the championship… Never mind that Charlie had broken records by winning both Iron Maiden and Heiress to the Throne in the same year; all within her first year with Imperial, no less. Did they not realize that vacated belts were often just handed to the top contender? It had happened at least once she could remember while she’d been with Neo-Honshu. At least she’d fought someone to get her title.
And Shea O’Hara was finally cashing in that precious case of hers. She tried to not be angry about her turning against the Birds of Prey in Rome. Charlie had gone in with eyes-open in her brief friendship with Shea. She had known it would be coming eventually, especially after she’d won the Iron Maiden. That win had meant they were on a collision course, sooner or later.
Yet still, Charlie had seen the similarities between them and extended her hand to Shea. It had been her choice. Rini and Nat had never really warmed to her, but Charlie had dismissed it as new people not quite getting along yet.
Of course, now she saw the weakness of character, the pettiness. Even if the report of needing time off for a family emergency were accurate, that still left almost half a year that Shea could’ve cashed her contract in. To Charlie, it meant one thing; that Shea saw her as weak, an easier opponent than Jennie Fenix. Was it true? Maybe, given that Shea had won their one match, and hadn’t won against Fenix last year. The world wouldn’t find out until or if Fenix came back.
Had Shea always planned to use that friendship against her?
Charlie dismissed the thought. Hannah was nattering again about something and she should probably pay attention.
“You’re expected at the studio the day after tomorrow, so you should probably make sure your hair is set before then since you won’t let anyone you don’t know touch it. I have some make-up schemes I’d like you to look over though. I talked to Dave about it. Cameras do terrible things to a complexion without any. I know you don’t like changing your look without good reason, but -”
“You’re shittin’ me… Right?”
Charlie’s eyes flicked between Hannah and Pax, silently begging them to confirm that this was all a horrible joke they were playing on her. There was no way they were serious about her having to spend hours posing for cameras. Any second, they’d start laughing and say ‘Psych!’...
Yep… Any second now…
Instead, as though to make her stomach fall past her feet and possibly to the center of the planet, they started shaking their heads.
“Do I have to?” she asked. She knew she was whining, but she didn’t care.
“Look at it this way, Char… At least it’s not like Senior Pictures where Ma picked out all your outfits and poses…” Hannah attempted to console her.
“Remember? I broke my nose playing football with Jake right before the appointment. It never happened. She had to make due with the one photo the school took.”
“That’s the story you told Ma,” Hannah countered, smiling knowingly.
“And that’s the only story she’s going to know… Right, imōto?” Charlie growled menacingly.
Pax glanced up from the binder of ring gear that Kate had handed over towards him. “It’s not too different than any other photo shoot you’ve done before, Una. Just a bit longer.” He flipped a page and made a thoughtful noise. “Well, OK. A lot longer.”
“Seriously though… They don’t even wait at all?! Not even a little bit?” Charlie sighed and put her face in her hands. Neo-Honshu had rarely made her go to photo shoots, and even then, not for long. They’d mostly made do with stills taken from her entrances. It was honestly a shame that the song they’d picked was so good. Charlie still couldn’t listen to it without hearing the jeers and boos that had generally gone with it.
“It’s not like it’ll kill you, Char… Jeez,” Hannah muttered loudly.
Pax chuckled and shook his head. “No, they aren’t gonna wait, hon. They want to get this out as soon as possible for publicity and stuff. Come on, it won’t be that bad. I’ll be with ya for most of it.”
Charlie grumbled something, unwilling to admit that having Pax with her for even a portion of the time would help. It was still going to be akin to torture. Even school picture days had been an exercise in uphill battles for the faculty to keep her from running off… or her mother to keep the nice clothes in one piece long enough to have the picture taken.
“What? You gonna let Davey do something better than you?” Hannah taunted. It had the desired effect.
Pax sat in a chair, drinking from a bottle of water that he had grabbed from the craft table as he watched Charlotte go through her shoot. He didn’t quite get why she had made such a fuss about it beforehand. She looked to be doing fine, save for the panicked glances she shot his way between takes. Still, he had no problem standing by for her and offering her a reassuring smile or fetching water for her at breaks. Way he figured, that’s just how you supported your partner.
Plus, he was booked for another shoot after the fact anyways. But he would have been here for her anyways. The fact that she was looking hella gorgeous today was certainly a bonus as well. He took another drink from his water and settled back in to watch when a voice at his shoulder startled him out of his thoughts.
“If you can take a break from ogling your girlfriend, we got business to discuss Pax.”
He turned to look at Kate with a small frown.
“I wasn’t ogling.”
“Sure you weren’t.” She lifted her tablet and tapped a couple buttons on the screen. “I just sent you your schedule for this week. After the shoot today, we are booked all day tomorrow for film. We got three commercial lines they want you in, a welcome video, and an orientation video.”
“Jesus Kate, a whole day of film?” He groaned softly and sagged back in the chair.
“Listen, you were the one that went and lost your belt right away the last time you were a champion so the lot had to be scrapped. They are moving while it’s hot right now.”
“Way to have faith in me.”
“We have faith in money, Pax. Everything else is up in the air. You have a meet and greet on Sunday, and then two more in Phoenix on Friday and Saturday. Saturday you’re with Charlotte so that should make you happy. Which is good, cause we need you in Chicago on Wednesday.”
“What the shit, why Chicago?” Pax had been hoping for more of a chance to recover from the flight back from Tokyo.
“Family day at Corporate. They want you there to show up and talk to the kids. Give em some inspirational stuff. Do a photo op. You know the drill. Then cocktails after hours with the board and some other higher ups. I can have a speech prepared if you need it.”
“Jesus Kate, kids are like half my fans. I can talk to kids.”
“With that mouth of yours?” She lifted her brows at him as she tapped on her screen. “Can’t get you out of this one though. You’ve been gone for four months. They want you showing your face around. They wanted you at the Minnesota State Fair at their booth this weekend…”
“Hey look, I would have loved to have been there.”
“Ya, but there’s no way possible for it. Not with you competing. Don’t worry, I told them.”
Pax sighed heavily and pulled out his phone, flipping through the info she had passed over. But then he found a PDF folder that she hadn’t mentioned. He frowned slightly as he downloaded and opened it.
“Hey Kate, what the fuck is this?”
She shifted on her feet and chewed on her lower lip for a moment.
“Those are the opening offers that the Company is willing to offer Charlotte, Jack, and Nate for signing with them.”
“Oh ya? Why send them to me then?” He scowled at her from his chair as he tossed his phone onto the table.
“A very generous referral reward?” She offered him a half smile. “Look, we don’t have to talk about it now. But think about it. You’ve done really well here. They could too.”
Pax pinched the bridge of his nose and groaned heavily. “Ya, ok. I will.”
The vlog opens with a generic background of a hotel room, with Pax seated at a desk. He smiles brightly at the camera.
“What up neechies, it's ya boi…”
“And ya girl!” Charlotte slips into frame, resting her arm to lean on Pax’s shoulder with an equally bright smile.
“We said we’d do it and we fucking did. We said we were gonna clean house in Heir to the Throne and we did. We said we were coming for the world championships and we did. We said we was the power couple of IWF after Uneasy Alliance and some folks said that titles were needed for that. Well, these titles good enough for ya?”
Charlotte and Pax both lift their hands, revealing the Men and Women’s World Champions in their hands.
“And management said we ain’t done. Once management got us teaming up once more. Some of you asked for it, and I’m sure some of you never wanted to see us dominate the tag division again, but here we are.”
“Love y’all but both us got our own tag teams we’d rather be teamed with. No need to go crazy here just ‘cause the new Tag Champs are an established couple.”
“Lucky for all y'all to be honest cause we’d wipe the floor with ya.”
They both laugh at the same time, looking up at each other for a moment before Pax turns to look at the camera.
“So, Una and I got ourselves a match against a pair that be looking ahead. Caleb calls himself the future. Serenity calls herself the 22nd century girl. That's all fine and good. Honestly y'all might be. Ya both got talent, I ain't even gonna lie. But if you're the future, that just means that you ain't ready. This ain't about the future, this about right now. And right now? We the ones on top and we aren't about to give that up anytime soon. Especially not to a couple of boot licker simps.”
“To be honest, I’d completely missed Caleb… Yeah he shows up, but what’s he actually doing, other than being a toady and getting his ass handed to him on the regular?” Charlotte asks thoughtfully.
“I mean for real. Caleb you had a rocket on your ass after you won the Joker in the Pack. You made it look like all that talk about being the future was no joke. But then what did ya do? You sat on it. You sat on it so long management went and changed the rules to make it so you had to cash it in. You squandered all that momentum just to be Berto's lap dog, and that's not gonna be enough when you are standing across the ring from me. Trust.”
Pax gives a slow, almost sad shake of his head before focusing once more on the camera.
“I mean, let’s be honest Caleb. The man you couldn’t beat the day after he went through hell to beat Dean fucking Harper? The guy you came up short against? I faced him fresh as a daisy and I choked him out. I am one of the best god damn technicians in this company. I mean no hate on you though. When you are firing on all cylinders you can work a body like a pro. I’ve seen you do it. Hell, I’ve felt it myself. But let’s be honest Caleb, when was the last time you were really at the top of your game? How long has it been? Cause between you and me, I think if you really felt like you were the same man that won Joker in the Pack last year, you wouldn’t have tied yourself as Verona’s lapdog. You are too good for that.”
Pax pushes his chair back and looks up at Charlotte. She tucks her braids back behind her ears before she shifts forward to take a seat on Pax’s knee.
“So let’s move on to the other half of Team Sell-Out; Lil Miss Ren Ren… Let’s actually compare notes here. The only time ya actually won a match we were both in the ring for was the battle royale to determine entry order for the Iron Maiden, and for that, you just had to toss me over the top rope. You have never gotten a pin on me, no matter how hard you tried. Your best ain’t good enough. It never was, which is why you needed the boss’ helpin’ hand.”
“Ya never won in a true singles match without some bullshit involved. You got a bye for the first phase of Heiress to the Throne and ya still couldn’t make it through the first round. Ya needed to use the ropes and a fist full of tights to keep your belt.”
Charlotte irritably waves her hand like there’s an annoying fly buzzing in her face.
“You gonna come at me for losin’ to Fenix in Rome? For having a shitty start? Sure. But losses ain’t the end of the world. They ain’t some horrible mark of dark shame like you wish I thought they were… I call ‘em Learning Opportunities. Never make the same mistake twice and all that. And I don’t. Since Rome, I haven’t lost a single match, which is more than you can say when you weren’t sitting on Verona’s lap like a good lil dog, and I’ve done it clean.”
Charlotte starts ticking points off on her fingers.
“I’ve torn through the Iron Maiden. I sent everyone packing in Heiress to the Throne. I’ve beaten the best Imperial can throw at me, and I done it all before my One Year with Imperial… What have you done other than be a whiny bitch who couldn’t take a loss?”
“Ren Ren, ma Homie… You weren’t enough without a title… So you’ll never be enough with one.”
Pax leans past Charlotte's shoulder with a smile. “Look, point is we are a tried and true team. We beat some of the best this company has to offer and ya’ll are just a couple of people that Berto took on. Ya ain’t got no chance.”
Pax thumps his chest and starts to flash his usual peace sign, but Charlotte reaches forward to grab the camera to stare daggers into it.
“No Peace.”
Pax blinks a few times and then shrugs his shoulders.
“Fuck, ya heard the lady.”
They both reach out and slam the laptop closed together, ending the feed.
Already, the vultures were circling… Saying she hadn’t really won the championship… Never mind that Charlie had broken records by winning both Iron Maiden and Heiress to the Throne in the same year; all within her first year with Imperial, no less. Did they not realize that vacated belts were often just handed to the top contender? It had happened at least once she could remember while she’d been with Neo-Honshu. At least she’d fought someone to get her title.
And Shea O’Hara was finally cashing in that precious case of hers. She tried to not be angry about her turning against the Birds of Prey in Rome. Charlie had gone in with eyes-open in her brief friendship with Shea. She had known it would be coming eventually, especially after she’d won the Iron Maiden. That win had meant they were on a collision course, sooner or later.
Yet still, Charlie had seen the similarities between them and extended her hand to Shea. It had been her choice. Rini and Nat had never really warmed to her, but Charlie had dismissed it as new people not quite getting along yet.
Of course, now she saw the weakness of character, the pettiness. Even if the report of needing time off for a family emergency were accurate, that still left almost half a year that Shea could’ve cashed her contract in. To Charlie, it meant one thing; that Shea saw her as weak, an easier opponent than Jennie Fenix. Was it true? Maybe, given that Shea had won their one match, and hadn’t won against Fenix last year. The world wouldn’t find out until or if Fenix came back.
Had Shea always planned to use that friendship against her?
Charlie dismissed the thought. Hannah was nattering again about something and she should probably pay attention.
“You’re expected at the studio the day after tomorrow, so you should probably make sure your hair is set before then since you won’t let anyone you don’t know touch it. I have some make-up schemes I’d like you to look over though. I talked to Dave about it. Cameras do terrible things to a complexion without any. I know you don’t like changing your look without good reason, but -”
“You’re shittin’ me… Right?”
Charlie’s eyes flicked between Hannah and Pax, silently begging them to confirm that this was all a horrible joke they were playing on her. There was no way they were serious about her having to spend hours posing for cameras. Any second, they’d start laughing and say ‘Psych!’...
Yep… Any second now…
Instead, as though to make her stomach fall past her feet and possibly to the center of the planet, they started shaking their heads.
“Do I have to?” she asked. She knew she was whining, but she didn’t care.
“Look at it this way, Char… At least it’s not like Senior Pictures where Ma picked out all your outfits and poses…” Hannah attempted to console her.
“Remember? I broke my nose playing football with Jake right before the appointment. It never happened. She had to make due with the one photo the school took.”
“That’s the story you told Ma,” Hannah countered, smiling knowingly.
“And that’s the only story she’s going to know… Right, imōto?” Charlie growled menacingly.
Pax glanced up from the binder of ring gear that Kate had handed over towards him. “It’s not too different than any other photo shoot you’ve done before, Una. Just a bit longer.” He flipped a page and made a thoughtful noise. “Well, OK. A lot longer.”
“Seriously though… They don’t even wait at all?! Not even a little bit?” Charlie sighed and put her face in her hands. Neo-Honshu had rarely made her go to photo shoots, and even then, not for long. They’d mostly made do with stills taken from her entrances. It was honestly a shame that the song they’d picked was so good. Charlie still couldn’t listen to it without hearing the jeers and boos that had generally gone with it.
“It’s not like it’ll kill you, Char… Jeez,” Hannah muttered loudly.
Pax chuckled and shook his head. “No, they aren’t gonna wait, hon. They want to get this out as soon as possible for publicity and stuff. Come on, it won’t be that bad. I’ll be with ya for most of it.”
Charlie grumbled something, unwilling to admit that having Pax with her for even a portion of the time would help. It was still going to be akin to torture. Even school picture days had been an exercise in uphill battles for the faculty to keep her from running off… or her mother to keep the nice clothes in one piece long enough to have the picture taken.
“What? You gonna let Davey do something better than you?” Hannah taunted. It had the desired effect.
Pax sat in a chair, drinking from a bottle of water that he had grabbed from the craft table as he watched Charlotte go through her shoot. He didn’t quite get why she had made such a fuss about it beforehand. She looked to be doing fine, save for the panicked glances she shot his way between takes. Still, he had no problem standing by for her and offering her a reassuring smile or fetching water for her at breaks. Way he figured, that’s just how you supported your partner.
Plus, he was booked for another shoot after the fact anyways. But he would have been here for her anyways. The fact that she was looking hella gorgeous today was certainly a bonus as well. He took another drink from his water and settled back in to watch when a voice at his shoulder startled him out of his thoughts.
“If you can take a break from ogling your girlfriend, we got business to discuss Pax.”
He turned to look at Kate with a small frown.
“I wasn’t ogling.”
“Sure you weren’t.” She lifted her tablet and tapped a couple buttons on the screen. “I just sent you your schedule for this week. After the shoot today, we are booked all day tomorrow for film. We got three commercial lines they want you in, a welcome video, and an orientation video.”
“Jesus Kate, a whole day of film?” He groaned softly and sagged back in the chair.
“Listen, you were the one that went and lost your belt right away the last time you were a champion so the lot had to be scrapped. They are moving while it’s hot right now.”
“Way to have faith in me.”
“We have faith in money, Pax. Everything else is up in the air. You have a meet and greet on Sunday, and then two more in Phoenix on Friday and Saturday. Saturday you’re with Charlotte so that should make you happy. Which is good, cause we need you in Chicago on Wednesday.”
“What the shit, why Chicago?” Pax had been hoping for more of a chance to recover from the flight back from Tokyo.
“Family day at Corporate. They want you there to show up and talk to the kids. Give em some inspirational stuff. Do a photo op. You know the drill. Then cocktails after hours with the board and some other higher ups. I can have a speech prepared if you need it.”
“Jesus Kate, kids are like half my fans. I can talk to kids.”
“With that mouth of yours?” She lifted her brows at him as she tapped on her screen. “Can’t get you out of this one though. You’ve been gone for four months. They want you showing your face around. They wanted you at the Minnesota State Fair at their booth this weekend…”
“Hey look, I would have loved to have been there.”
“Ya, but there’s no way possible for it. Not with you competing. Don’t worry, I told them.”
Pax sighed heavily and pulled out his phone, flipping through the info she had passed over. But then he found a PDF folder that she hadn’t mentioned. He frowned slightly as he downloaded and opened it.
“Hey Kate, what the fuck is this?”
She shifted on her feet and chewed on her lower lip for a moment.
“Those are the opening offers that the Company is willing to offer Charlotte, Jack, and Nate for signing with them.”
“Oh ya? Why send them to me then?” He scowled at her from his chair as he tossed his phone onto the table.
“A very generous referral reward?” She offered him a half smile. “Look, we don’t have to talk about it now. But think about it. You’ve done really well here. They could too.”
Pax pinched the bridge of his nose and groaned heavily. “Ya, ok. I will.”
The vlog opens with a generic background of a hotel room, with Pax seated at a desk. He smiles brightly at the camera.
“What up neechies, it's ya boi…”
“And ya girl!” Charlotte slips into frame, resting her arm to lean on Pax’s shoulder with an equally bright smile.
“We said we’d do it and we fucking did. We said we were gonna clean house in Heir to the Throne and we did. We said we were coming for the world championships and we did. We said we was the power couple of IWF after Uneasy Alliance and some folks said that titles were needed for that. Well, these titles good enough for ya?”
Charlotte and Pax both lift their hands, revealing the Men and Women’s World Champions in their hands.
“And management said we ain’t done. Once management got us teaming up once more. Some of you asked for it, and I’m sure some of you never wanted to see us dominate the tag division again, but here we are.”
“Love y’all but both us got our own tag teams we’d rather be teamed with. No need to go crazy here just ‘cause the new Tag Champs are an established couple.”
“Lucky for all y'all to be honest cause we’d wipe the floor with ya.”
They both laugh at the same time, looking up at each other for a moment before Pax turns to look at the camera.
“So, Una and I got ourselves a match against a pair that be looking ahead. Caleb calls himself the future. Serenity calls herself the 22nd century girl. That's all fine and good. Honestly y'all might be. Ya both got talent, I ain't even gonna lie. But if you're the future, that just means that you ain't ready. This ain't about the future, this about right now. And right now? We the ones on top and we aren't about to give that up anytime soon. Especially not to a couple of boot licker simps.”
“To be honest, I’d completely missed Caleb… Yeah he shows up, but what’s he actually doing, other than being a toady and getting his ass handed to him on the regular?” Charlotte asks thoughtfully.
“I mean for real. Caleb you had a rocket on your ass after you won the Joker in the Pack. You made it look like all that talk about being the future was no joke. But then what did ya do? You sat on it. You sat on it so long management went and changed the rules to make it so you had to cash it in. You squandered all that momentum just to be Berto's lap dog, and that's not gonna be enough when you are standing across the ring from me. Trust.”
Pax gives a slow, almost sad shake of his head before focusing once more on the camera.
“I mean, let’s be honest Caleb. The man you couldn’t beat the day after he went through hell to beat Dean fucking Harper? The guy you came up short against? I faced him fresh as a daisy and I choked him out. I am one of the best god damn technicians in this company. I mean no hate on you though. When you are firing on all cylinders you can work a body like a pro. I’ve seen you do it. Hell, I’ve felt it myself. But let’s be honest Caleb, when was the last time you were really at the top of your game? How long has it been? Cause between you and me, I think if you really felt like you were the same man that won Joker in the Pack last year, you wouldn’t have tied yourself as Verona’s lapdog. You are too good for that.”
Pax pushes his chair back and looks up at Charlotte. She tucks her braids back behind her ears before she shifts forward to take a seat on Pax’s knee.
“So let’s move on to the other half of Team Sell-Out; Lil Miss Ren Ren… Let’s actually compare notes here. The only time ya actually won a match we were both in the ring for was the battle royale to determine entry order for the Iron Maiden, and for that, you just had to toss me over the top rope. You have never gotten a pin on me, no matter how hard you tried. Your best ain’t good enough. It never was, which is why you needed the boss’ helpin’ hand.”
“Ya never won in a true singles match without some bullshit involved. You got a bye for the first phase of Heiress to the Throne and ya still couldn’t make it through the first round. Ya needed to use the ropes and a fist full of tights to keep your belt.”
Charlotte irritably waves her hand like there’s an annoying fly buzzing in her face.
“You gonna come at me for losin’ to Fenix in Rome? For having a shitty start? Sure. But losses ain’t the end of the world. They ain’t some horrible mark of dark shame like you wish I thought they were… I call ‘em Learning Opportunities. Never make the same mistake twice and all that. And I don’t. Since Rome, I haven’t lost a single match, which is more than you can say when you weren’t sitting on Verona’s lap like a good lil dog, and I’ve done it clean.”
Charlotte starts ticking points off on her fingers.
“I’ve torn through the Iron Maiden. I sent everyone packing in Heiress to the Throne. I’ve beaten the best Imperial can throw at me, and I done it all before my One Year with Imperial… What have you done other than be a whiny bitch who couldn’t take a loss?”
“Ren Ren, ma Homie… You weren’t enough without a title… So you’ll never be enough with one.”
Pax leans past Charlotte's shoulder with a smile. “Look, point is we are a tried and true team. We beat some of the best this company has to offer and ya’ll are just a couple of people that Berto took on. Ya ain’t got no chance.”
Pax thumps his chest and starts to flash his usual peace sign, but Charlotte reaches forward to grab the camera to stare daggers into it.
“No Peace.”
Pax blinks a few times and then shrugs his shoulders.
“Fuck, ya heard the lady.”
They both reach out and slam the laptop closed together, ending the feed.