L.A.W. - League of Anime Wrestling

Tonight's a special night. Maybe not for most of the roster, but it is for Katsumi Oshiro. Tonight, she's going to face someone she's actually watched in the ring before she even became a wrestler. Before she was allowed to wrestle. Back when she thought the ladies in the ring were the bees' various and multiple knees. She picked out a few favorites to watch for a number of reasons, all entirely decided by whim. But one was close to her age when she first started wrestling. She was young, and did well, and was all about Japanese pride, and seemed cool. In some ways, she wanted to be her. And now, she has to fight her.

She can't be sure if her nerves are worse tonight than when she first debuted with LAW or not. At least when she debuted, she was pegged to fight a rookie in the roster. This is different. Ugh.

The Punk Princess is already dressed for her match later in the evening. She's wearing her sleek black wrestling boots and black short-shorts, complete with the feline-themed belt. She wears a sportsbra-esque wrestling top, also black, beneath a simple long-sleeved pink shirt destined to be removed before her match begins. The accessories are her typical fair, consisting only of a black choker and, if it could be counted as such, a light application of pink lip gloss.

Katsumi

Everything is ready for her scheduled bout. She picked her intro music, she color-coordinated the laser lights herself, her highlight reel is good to go. All is in place. Creativity is usually a good stress reliever for her, but she's still not settled. And so, she falls back on older methods - still in the creative vein, but methods used before she ever stepped into a ring.

The brassy agitator is seated on a folding chair as out of the way as possible from the general clamor and fuss of other wrestlers and stagehands getting things ready and moving the show along. In her lap is a warm-hued acoustic guitar. Nimble fingers dance over the strings, following the chords and lilting background melody of Sugar Ray's "Someday", gently humming the lyrical melody and tapping the toe of her right boot. Hunched a little over the instrument and head low, her hair shadows over her eyes.

The Tune

Echo just arrived at the arena and she was now pacing back and forth in the hallways, with her headphones on and at full volume. She wasn’t nervous at all, despite the fact that this business what completely new to her: in fact, she was excited to get things going, to go out there and make her mark. And judging by the faces she meet while wandering in the backstage area, she was sure that she was going to have plenty of potential enemies to choose from, which was a good thing in her mind.

She was dressed in her casual attire, since she didn’t stop by the locker room yet. And so she spent quite some time walking back and forth in the backstage area, until she somehow found herself in a more secluded part of the arena, we her attention was caught by another person: she was sitting on a chair, holding a guitar in her hands and she seemed like she was completely immersed in her music.

Spoiler

Echo took off her headphones, so she could hear her playing. She recognized the tune right away, since she lost count of how many times she heard that song on the radio back in the days. She kept quiet for a bit and then started humming the tune along with Katsumi…

“Some say better things will come our way
No matter what they try to say you were always there for me
Some way, when the sun begins to shine
I hear a song from another time and fade away
And fade away
Just close your eyes and I'll take you there
This place is warm and without a care
We'll take a swim in the deep blue sea
I go to leave and you reach for me”

She then quickly blushed, realising how awkward that sounded. She would then offer a handshake to Katsumi, while she was still sitting in front of her “Sorry, I got caught up by the rythm” she said “My name is Echo, by the way. This is my first night in LAW”

Sugar Ray certainly made his way around the world. Less so for Asia, but for a music aficionado like Katsumi, it should come as little surprise. She likes the chill, upbeat vibe she gets from it. It doesn't strike the nostalgia nerve-centers like her plethora of remixed Streets of Rage tunes do for her, though. It doesn't mean she fails to recognize the words, however; whether in their native English or Japanese.

The girl's head lifts and turns, peeking through the curtain of hair that had fallen disheveled around her eyes. Without ceasing the smooth roll of the acoustic melody, the punkette tosses her head to scatter said bangs and get a less obstructed view of the interloper. She looks a smidge punky, herself. Blonde hair, blue eyes, fit, very pretty, and English accent. Her knee-jerk reaction is to make the same verbal jabs she'd used on Tina, but she just isn't feeling it. Maybe it's the tranquil tune she's playing, maybe it's the nerves. Whatever it is, it stays the jocular venom she typically employs. So instead, Echo is treated with a simple, direct: "The Hell kind'a name is 'Echo'? Wait, like the dolphin?" Katsumi has all the old-school references. Especially when it pertains to gaming.

Despite her words, the delivery is given with a mild smile. She continues, "Katsumi Oshiro. They call me the Punk Princess. I call myself 'future champ'." Her gaze falls to the guitar in her lap after the assertion, a dark look briefly crossing her features before the previous smile is cast back to the blonde. "You let me know if you need me to translate that into dolphin-screech."

Echo wasn’t really expecting hugs, smiles and kind words from a stranger. LAW was a wrestling company after all, and for some reason this sort of business had the tendency to employ tons of ego-maniacal, self-centered, loudmouth “talents”. She knew that very well by now, even though the peaceful tune she was listening to somehow tricked her into thinking she was going to meet a new friend.

But still, maybe that was just Kasumi’s way to approach newcomers and it wasn’t meant to sound rude. She sure wasn’t lacking in confidence, calling herself a future champion, so making fun of Echo’s ring name was somehow understandable. Maybe it was just a joke, a funny way to break the ice. No need to see black helicopters or conspiracies everywhere.
“Echo like the NATO phonetic alphabet, you know?” she replied “My actual name is Elisabeth, but they told me it was too long for a wrestler name. So I kept the “E” and I used the equivalent in military forces’ alphabet. And that’s Echo”

She awkwardly crossed her arms, still humming the tune to herself. “Future champ, you say?” Echo asked “Is the tonight going to be "The Night" of your career?”

"Someone fed you so much crap," giggles the punkette at the explanation. "We Japanese hold the market in long names. I think someone just wanted you to have a cooler one, something less... what's the word.."

Emerald gaze lifts in thought, lips pursing. The melody continues to roll.

"...pedestrian?," she concludes.

Her eyes shift back to the blonde, noting her body language; those crossed arms, the tilt of her shoulders, the angle of her head, she even thinks she might be picking up on something in her voice. Predatory personalities like Oshiro-san's develop a sense for what could be considered 'prey' - vulnerabilities, shyness, awkwardness; it's all exploitable for whatever sake. Fortunately in Katsumi's case, that sake is usually just for her own personal amusement. Just ask poor Suzume Sheska. But her heart just isn't in it tonight. She's even starting to feel a little guilty.

"Hey," she says with a cant of her head, her voice adjusting to a less airy, teasing quality. "I'm just busting your chops, doll. It's my thing. Echo's a cool.. sort'a-confusing.. name." Scorpions have to sting, and Katsumi has to tease - even when she's trying not to. There's a tiny uptick at the corner of her lips that might give away more mirth than criticism, though.

"As for tonight? Ahhh..." Her eyes return to the guitar, that grin disappearing. "..no. No, it won't be. I'm not facing the champ. I'm fighting a chick who goes by Thunder Ryuko."

Echo promised to herself to at least try to look cool on her first day, given how important it is to leave a good first impression on her future adversaries. She wasn’t your typical wallflower by any means: she perfectly knew what she wanted and how to get it, but the difference between constantly portraying herself as a role model and being mistaken for a shy snowflake sometimes was slim. And something was telling her that Katsumi was probably seeing her that way, but that wasn’t exactly a problem. Not being considered a threat was always a good thing in her mind, even though she couldn’t possibly be one hundred percent sure about what the punkette was thinking.

“As you can tell by my accent, I’m not from here” she replied, seemingly more relaxed than before “And wrestling is very different in Europe, you know. It’s all about marketing and t-shirts, really. I can already see the creative team coming up with weird word-plays for my merchandise: “Can you hear the Echo?” or “Long live our Echo-system” and so on”

“Not sure how many people would buy that, but hey” Echo shrugged.

As she noticed how Katsumi suddenly changed expression when her upcoming match was mentioned, Echo couldn’t help but wondering how she was feeling about it “So… this Thunder Ryuko…” she said slowly, like she walking in a verbal minefield “Who is she? You think you are going to win?”

"H'yeah. Well," begins Katsumi dryly, "you're more likely to get fanficced into yuri junk around here. Enjoy."

The hentai angle of the federation still doesn't set well enough with Katsumi to participate. She's all for giving them a show, but she's here to wrestle. Sure, there's a level of eroticism that can't be escaped, but that's it for her. And thanks in no small part to her more recent ventures with some, shall we say "aggressive" opponents, she's bristling a little more at the prospect. Though no doubt there are some people who're already drawing illustrations of her face smooshing against some other chick in the roster.

In reality, the comment was a hopeful stalling tactic in the face of answering the Brit's question. "Ryuko.. Ryuuuuko..," repeats Katsumi under her breath. "Of c-" A finger slips a string. The music hitches, and she quickly resumes. "Of course I'm gonna win. She's in the way between me'n my reign, so I've gotta put'er down." Her voice is shockingly mild in this assertion compared to her usual bravado. "She's a veteran from Wrestle Angels."

Strum, strum.

"I used to watch'er back home."

Strum, strum.

"Back before I, y'know-" Strum. "-started."

Echo’s face turned into a thinking emoji for a moment, when Katsumi started talking about hentai angles. She shivered at the idea of some weirdos writing silly fanfictions about her, and the concept of erotic wrestling was even more repulsive.

“You will always see me competing in actual wrestling gear” Echo firmly stated “Hopefully, that will keep the more imaginative fans at bay”

Then Echo giggled as she realized that she was no longer the most insecure looking of the two. Or at least, that was the impression Katsumi gave her: her tone drastically changed when she mentioned Ryuko, even though, to be fair, there could have been multiple reasons behind it.

“Oh, really?” Echo couldn’t keep herself from smiling, even though she was not planning on mocking her.

“Something tells me that you are more worried about this match than you look”

Of all the reactions Echo could have had, the worst would have been sassing Katsumi. But it's second only to the reaction she did give, which was giggle. The guitar-strumming halts abruptly and the punk-girl shoots an icy, dagger-sharp glare at the blonde. It's the sort of look that strongly suggests she doesn't care to throw down here and now. She didn't pull back on her own sass only to let this new chick mock her.

"Watch it."

The guitar is overturned and she gets to her feet, supporting it by the neck in her right hand.

What Echo said wasn't untrue, but damned if Katsumi is going to put forward a weak image. That would undermine everything she's worked for here, her entire reputation, all of it. She's not going to compromise all of that for a stranger!

Despite her attempts to be somehow friendly, Echo always had the innate ability to get on people’s nerves, even though often she didn’t even know how she constantly managed to do it. She took a quick step backwards, thinking for a moment that Katsumi was actually going to smash that guitar on her head. Not saying it wasn’t deserved, but still, her intentions were good.

“Chill out, cowgirl” Echo said, throwing her hands up “I didn’t mean to offend you”

She knew damn well that reputation was everything in the wrestling business, but she thought for a moment that since nobody was really watching them, Katsumi could have been free to express herself without the fear of being judged. But apparently she was wrong.

She would then cross her arms once again, looking away from Katsumi.

“Besides…” Echo muttered to herself “Your reaction already told me everything…”