Shifting Gears (For Cyan)

[Noob]

Suzume had expected some laughter but was instead met with what seemed to be a fairly stressed out Katsumi. "I...sorry. I really don't plan on breaking anything." She said, wondering if her friend actually thought she meant to smash her car. The smaller woman would agree with her friend and decided to roll out of the parking lot at a snail's pace which hardly picked up as she drove around the block.

Turning a corner and seeing no one around Suzume would finally pick up some speed and stop perhaps a bit shorter than she should have before rounding another corner. "Woah...this really is a cool car. I can see why it's special. Soooo much better than my dumb corolla." She commented. Finally as she approached the parking lot again, Suzume's rather uneventful joyride came to a close. After pulling into the lot she once again put the car into neutral and revved the engine for a second, just to hear it. "So I'm guessing I can't keep it?" She teased.

[CyanDimitrik]

No, Katsumi is not loving this. She's not laughing. She's trying not to curl into a ball so tight that she creates an astronomical singularity. It's a losing battle. But Suzume has exchanged her devil horns for a halo, and is trying now to not freak her out. As she cruises at a gentle, even lethargic pace, the punkette begins to uncurl. At last, she takes a heavy breath. Her limbs hurt. Not from the match so much, but from the stress of the situation. Everything is tensed.

"No," she says, voice small. As if she didn't even get Suzume was joking. "Me'n this car have.. uh.. history."

[Noob]

As she put the car into park, Suzume's "payback" for the match had finally concluded. Turning to face Katsumi though it appeared she had caused a bit more trauma to the woman than she had intended. Her friend seemed unexpectedly shaken by the experience which was odd to Suzume since she tried to be on her best behavior after the initial tease. "Oh ummm well. Darn." She said with a chuckle. Quickly unbuckling her seat belt she opened the door and hopped out of the car. "You'll have to tell me the history sometime. Or now actually! I'm more into military history really but you can never know too much." She said with a smile.

Now finally out of the car Suzume started to realize how exhausted she really was. The brunette leaned against the adjacent car as she fumbled around for her keys that she just realized she might have misplaced. Finally finding them she held the keys up in triumph. "Duh duh duh...duuuuuhhhhhh!" She exclaimed, mimicking the noise that usually accompanies a certain Hyrulian after he opens a treasure chest and receives an important item. "But yeah anyways story time right? Don't make me wait until next time on Katsumi Z." Suzume commented before finally finding her keys and holding them up in triumph

[CyanDimitrik]

Suzume hops out of the car, and Katsumi is still sitting there, looking frazzled. Her head turns to watch the shorter girl circle the vehicle, right up until she produces the keys a-la Zelda reference. Oh, that brings back memories of her match with Navi - specifically, how she mentally tortured her. Good times.

Katsumi pushes a button on the armrest. The window rolls down with an electric hum. Her arms fold over the opening, her chin coming to rest on her forearms. It was a funny reference, Suzume made. The whole Katsumi Z thing. She doesn't get all of Suzu-chan's references, but that one she caught. It's hard to laugh right now, though.

"If you're gonna get the reason this car's special, you've gotta understand my parents really didn't want me wrestling."

[Noob]

"Ugh parents...I know." Suzume groaned. She didn't want to think about what would happen if her parents found out about what she was doing. "But yeah...don't just leave it there! I wanna know the story!" The smaller girl whined. It was clear she was curious and Katsumi seemed intent on leaving her hanging and asking for more. "Next page!" She declared before grabbing Katsumi's arm and trying to turn it like the page of a book.

Eventually she'd lean back against an adjacent car, waiting as patiently as she could for story time to continue. At the very least she was hoping this might give her some sort of fun idea to write about, not that she'd say that out loud.

[CyanDimitrik]

Katsumi offers no resistance as Suzume manipulates her arm about in animated fashion. She just looks up at her through her eyelashes like a sulky cat. "Okay, okay.."

Her shoulders rise with an inhale, then slump with a puffy sigh. She hates reliving this stuff. It makes her sound weak. But her insides are still a little quaky from Suzume's (extremely slow and controlled) joyride. She's in no position to try to act tough.

"They weren't my real parents. My real parents ditched me. They adopted me. Anyway, they didn't want me anywhere near wrestling. Unlady-like and all that. But they loved that I was into music. So they pushed me towards that. And I was fine with it, right? Cuz I'm good at it."

She tilts her head, tucking her chin into her arms and letting her hair curtain over her eyes.

"I got into so many fights at school. I was so sure they'd send me away, like, each time something would happen. But they never did. And then it was time to start University, and I was gonna go study music. Path set. Squeaked by, but they'n I were both totally sure everything would work out just fine. And it did! They were all happy about it. I finally wasn't a fuckin' embarrassment. But.. y'know.."

Katsumi huddles into her arms a little more.

"Local federation was having these tryouts. Like, this special show. Anyone who could wrestle could take on the talent. I gave it a shot, totally.. like.. blew their minds'n all. They wanted to train me. And I wanted it more than anything. Suzu-bee, I ached for it." There's a beat, and she tilts her head again - this time to look up at Suzume. "Obviously I took it, right? Well," she glances aside, "when my parents found out, they disowned me. Like, flat out. They won't talk to me. Won't answer calls. Nothing. That was it. They don't want anything to do with me. I've been, like.. escorted off the property when I tried to visit."

Katsumi focuses on the chassis of the car and finally unfolds her arms to draw a hand along the blue door. "This was a going-away gift from'em when I first left for University. From when they gave a damn. It's all I've got left to hold onto."

[Noob]

Suzume listened carefully as Katsumi told her the whole story. Her head nodded a few times to indicate she was paying attention. She didn't quite think it was too appropriate to interject though. Then finally the tale was over and Suzume at least understood her friend a little better. She wasn't quite sure the appropriate words for the situation however and would keep silent.

By the end of the story Suzume looked up at Kat all watery eyed and sniffley. "I...I...That's so saaaaaaad! Why wouldn't they...and sorry I kicked...and but they should..." She stammered, unable to get any words out and instead electing to just bawl. The woman shuffled forward and flopped against the car, her upper body managing to fit through the opened window so she could wrap her arms around Katsumi.

[CyanDimitrik]

Katsumi lifts her dark green eyes to her smaller friend, and she notices her teary condition. Her cheeks flush. Her jaw sets, but her lip wobbles. When Suzume invades the window to hug her, Katsumi is leaning in to bury herself against her. She's trying to maintain. She has to maintain. She can't lose control in front of Suzume. In front of anyone. But as Suzume leans into the window to hug and bawl, the dam cracks. So when she says, "S-stop crying, you bi-hi-hiitch!," it comes out with sobbing hiccups of her own.

The pressure of trying to hold it together while her car was being driven around and kicked was hard enough. Her usual go-to in those situations is violence, but she couldn't do that to Suzume. Then, having to vocalize the pain of rejection on a deep level, after internalizing it for years, made the normally hard-edged punk girl vulnerable. And finally, Suzume latching onto her and giving her no judgment was too much to bear. It feels good to purge the emotions, at least. She'll worry about the ramifications after. But for now, she's clinging to her smolfriend.

[Noob]

Despite Katsumi's weak attempt to get her to stop, the tears kept flowing and Suzume only latched onto the other woman tighter. She was in a bit of an awkward position with half of her body now in the car but that would not stop the hug. "Sh...shut up you...dummmmmy!!!!" The brunette managed to say between sobs. "It's your fault! This is...this is like the third time." She said, referring to the amount of times she thought Katsumi had already made her cry today. This time at least it wasn't due to anything mean.

Finally Suzume let go with one hand to dry her eyes. She squirmed around a little bit, unsure whether to just continue her progress forward into the car or to reverse. Unfortunately the former was the easier choice for her and so she inched her way forward since she was really starting to get uncomfortable in her current position. "Nnnng...I...hmmm..." Suzume started to whine, now kicking her legs as she found them off the ground. She looked up at Katsumi with tears still lingering in her eyes. "I...I'm stuuuuck."

[CyanDimitrik]

Katsumi might have teased Suzume about being so weepy. But given her current state of uncontrollable emotion, she's decided to keep her mouth shut. But the last thing to enter her mind is the fact that Suzume is dangling out of her car window. She's just hugging her and ruining her clothes. That's the order of the evening.

All things end, and so too does the moment. And the instant it does, Katsumi is attempting to recollect her composure. Still with one arm around Suzume's shoulders, Katsumi turns her head away and tries to paw away the dampness all over her face with her palm and the back of her wrist. "Oh my god," she mutters in disbelief at herself. Hair more a mess than usual, eyes puffy and red, cheeks flushed - no, this is not the Punk Princess the media enjoys.

Her attention reverts to Suzume as the oddball seems to be trying to climb into her car through the window. "S-Suzu--! Quit- what are- hey!" The end result is Suzume's upper-half more or less in Katsumi's lap. "Dammit, Lil' Bit!," breathlessly fusses the punkette. "You were trying to make moves on me!" She's kidding, probably. But she's back to teasing poor Suzume. "Get your goofy ass in here."

She grabs at Suzume's torso awkwardly and just pulls, attempting to drag-flip the rest of herself into the car. "Watch the gearshift!" She's never seen a car perform a backbreaker, but she somehow suspects that'd be how they'd do it.