Post by "Lady Luck" Fujiko Mine on May 28, 2015 3:29:53 GMT -5
Drops of blood slowly fell from her face into the pale porcelain sink, creating sickly little splatters on its concave surface before drizzling down the incline and towards the drain. Fujiko winced as she watched a few of them fall.
It was her blood. It brought her back to times in her youth, where she’d get a bloody nose. Her first instinct then, like it was now, was to run to a sink so that the escaping droplets would have someplace to go that was easy for her to clean up while she dealt with the problem. She remembered the copper taste that offended her so much when she swallowed. She remembered being more annoyed than frightful over blood loss.
This time was different, however. The blood was from a laceration on her forehead, just over her left eyebrow. It was caused by her opponent earlier in the evening: “Oni” Kymiku, who took it upon herself to try and open the laceration further. It seemed to be her goal to win the match by outlasting Fujiko via blood loss.
The tactic failed. Fujiko had proof of that. There was tangible evidence of the victory on the stand next to the sink in her dressing room. She’d defeated Oni, and her reward for the victory was the Ladies’ All-Star Wrestling Championship. It was her first major title, and quite the hard fought victory.
Fujiko was drawn from her thoughts by white gloved hands that invaded her field of vision. She turned her head to follow the source, and squinted out of mild fear of the blood seeping into her eye. It had done so during the match, and she wasn’t looking forward to the encore.
"Hold still, Ms. Mine."
Fujiko did her best to do so, but the stinging of the wound made her fidget in place a little. the Physician, Daniel McCormick, rolled his eyes. He found it a bit silly that a woman that was paid to take the abuse that she did would be so squeamish at the sight of blood. But he had to admit, there was a lot of it left behind. He was surprised that she was in the state she was in, considering how much of her life water was left behind.
"How are you feeling?"
"I honestly don't feel as woozy as I did before. I don't know if it's adrenaline coming or going, or what...but better. I'm feeling a little better."
She focused on him for a moment. She assumed that his focus was strictly on the cut that adorned her face, and she did her best to stay still as she inspected it. He then backed away, to give Fujiko a little bit of space.
"Well, Ms. Mine...I think that somehow, you are going to be fine. Looking at this laceration, I think you are going to escape this without major damage. I think that we should get some water in your system, get your blood sugar stabilized, and you should be okay. We’ll close that cut up, and you should be good."
Fujiko winced as she saw the white gloved hands come back. This time, she could feel him spreading something along the cut. He followed it up with a large bandage that stuck over the cut. She felt compelled to bring her hand up to the bandage, but was stopped by a look by Daniel.
"Sorry. It’s...kind of a new thing for me."
Daniel gave her a knowing look. Fujiko wasn’t telling a lie, though. She had been through many matches in her career, and even though her career had taken an upswing, this was the first time she’d ever been cut, and bled in a match.
She thought that it would hinder her, but it empowered her. It drove her forward. She kept moving forward, and was able to hold out long enough for Oni to run out of options. The second Lucky Shot was enough to get Fujiko the victory, and now her career was back on the upswing.
A knock on the door distracted her, and she peered over to see the door open, and Kayden Jade Jones peered her head in.
"Hey, Fuji-cakes...got someone out here who wanted to say hello."
Fujiko knew who it was, and she felt her pulse quicken. Thinking of who it was reminded her of the roller coaster that was her life lately. Fujiko shot her glance from Kayden over to Daniel. He merely nodded, before heading over to take care of over business that was on his plate. Fujiko could only shrug before reaching over and grasping the...no. her LAW championship. She held it weakly, heading towards the door and slipping out of it and into the hallway. There was exactly who she thought would be there.
Her mother. A tear-filled, worrisome face greeted her. It made her own eyes sting, seeing it. She could tell that seeing Fujiko in the state she was in had wrecked havoc on her heart.
"Hi. Hi there."
She stopped short of calling her mother. The awkwardness between them, their newfound relationship was still fresh. She wasn’t sure if her hesitation went noticed by Marcia, but she tried to play it off with a smile. Marcia smiled back, but Fujiko could tell that she was still worried about what she just witnessed.
"I’m okay, I promise you."
She emphasized this by pulling up the LAW championship and placing it on her shoulder. She couldn’t help but feel a little bit of pride holding it up there.
"I can’t quite say that I agree with what I just saw, Katharine."
Fujiko caught her breath in her throat. She still wasn’t sure how she felt about the name. Marcia insisted on calling her that, claiming it was the name she was given at birth, and the only name she knew her daughter by.
"How bad was it?"
Fujiko did her best to try and downplay the severity of it.
"It’s a cut, on my face. I am going to be okay. I know it looks like a big deal, but the doctor says I will be fine."
Marcia looked unconvinced as she stood there, looking at the nasty bandage on Fujiko’s head.
"Katharine, was this quite worth it? You are quite the worse for wear. Yes, you won, but at what cost? She could have killed you! And for what? A championship that will mean little if you are permanently injured?!"
Fujiko tried to do her best to remember that Marcia was new to this world. A small part of her understood where Marcia was coming from. She remembered similar feelings from watching Tj go through the pain he went through. She was terribly grateful the worst she had to experience thus far was a cut to the forehead. Marcia thought this was bad? This? She was used to it at this point.
"No, she couldn’t have. I wasn’t about to let her. And if she tries anything like that again...I’ll make her regret it."
Marcia closed the gap between them, trying to keep her voice down as she spoke.
"I am not amused nor impressed, Katharine. I just got you back, and now I am subjected to watching you tortured for the amusement of these...these pigs! I watched someone try to choke you to death, and now I learn that you have less than a week before you are expected to step into this death trap with someone else?!"
The woman nicknamed Lady Luck clenched her jaw. She was becoming very tired of the lows keeping her down. She just achieved her dream, and had to be subjected to the selfish worry of her mother.
"This is what I do, this is who I am. This is who I’ve been. It may not have been your fault you weren’t around, but your retroactive worrying isn’t helping. A small part of me was hoping that you would at least let me enjoy this moment long enough to make it worthwhile, instead of making me feel absolutely horrible about all of it."
Her mother spoke at Fujiko through her teeth.
"Not when I watched you systematically be tortured and maimed!"
Fujiko grunted, pains and aches ringing through her body. She wished she could have a reprieve from the pain. Her patience with the discussion-turned-argument wore incredibly thin.
"I can take care of myself. I proved that. THIS proves it. As for next week, as far as I know, Izzy isn’t like Oni. She’s not a psychopathic ‘demon’. It may not be an ideal for you, but this is my dream, and it has been for years now. If you don’t like it, maybe you should go back to pretending that I’m dead. It got you through everything before--"
Fujiko was cut off by a loud gasp. Marcia’s breath seemed to be caught in her throat, shock and hurt evident on her face.
"You say that like I was ABLE to get past thinking that you were dead! It hurt me every single day knowing that I wasn’t able to save you. What I just watched you go through existed in my night terrors for YEARS, Katharine. You will have to forgive me if I cannot set that aside to congratulate you on winning this."
She gestures sarcastically to the championship on Fujiko’s shoulder. Marcia doesn’t bother giving her daughter a chance to respond, turning around instead and storming away. Fujiko felt tears in her eyes, tears of frustration and sadness. Kayden, meanwhile, gave Fujiko a look of sympathy and slowly approached her.
"You...you gonna be okay, Fuji-cakes?"
Fujiko took a second to respond, her mind elsewhere for a moment before she tuned back into reality and looked at her friend. She shook her head.
"No. I should have figured she was going to react that way. Doesn’t make it any easier. Not by a long shot. But I am going to get past this and move forward. I don’t have a choice otherwise."
Kayden shook her head and drew Fujiko in. She stopped when she felt her pull away from the embrace. She winced, but gave away an understanding nod.
"I get it. You still tender in your feelings. I don’t blame you. I would be too. But hey, at least you A: still have your mother and B: know that she genuinely cares for you. I’ll let you chill out for a moment, but I want you to know that the rest of your family is incredibly proud of you."
Kayden gave her a warm smile, and then turned and headed off in the same direction that Marcia Gardener did. Fujiko unconsciously touched the bandage on her forehead, and then took a moment to think about Kayden just said.
A year ago, Fujiko thought she shared that trait with the Jones family. Tj, Kayden Jade, and Angel Jones had lost their mother last year, but were not broken up about it. Their mother was abusive, rotten, and nasty. They weren’t exactly happy to see her pass on, but they were not exactly mourning it either. She gave it a little more thought before deciding that Kayden was right. She watched Kayden head out towards the parking lot, before turning around and heading back to her dressing room. She had to gather her things, and then start preparing for Izzypop. Likely Izzy was already prepared for her.
It was her blood. It brought her back to times in her youth, where she’d get a bloody nose. Her first instinct then, like it was now, was to run to a sink so that the escaping droplets would have someplace to go that was easy for her to clean up while she dealt with the problem. She remembered the copper taste that offended her so much when she swallowed. She remembered being more annoyed than frightful over blood loss.
This time was different, however. The blood was from a laceration on her forehead, just over her left eyebrow. It was caused by her opponent earlier in the evening: “Oni” Kymiku, who took it upon herself to try and open the laceration further. It seemed to be her goal to win the match by outlasting Fujiko via blood loss.
The tactic failed. Fujiko had proof of that. There was tangible evidence of the victory on the stand next to the sink in her dressing room. She’d defeated Oni, and her reward for the victory was the Ladies’ All-Star Wrestling Championship. It was her first major title, and quite the hard fought victory.
Fujiko was drawn from her thoughts by white gloved hands that invaded her field of vision. She turned her head to follow the source, and squinted out of mild fear of the blood seeping into her eye. It had done so during the match, and she wasn’t looking forward to the encore.
"Hold still, Ms. Mine."
Fujiko did her best to do so, but the stinging of the wound made her fidget in place a little. the Physician, Daniel McCormick, rolled his eyes. He found it a bit silly that a woman that was paid to take the abuse that she did would be so squeamish at the sight of blood. But he had to admit, there was a lot of it left behind. He was surprised that she was in the state she was in, considering how much of her life water was left behind.
"How are you feeling?"
"I honestly don't feel as woozy as I did before. I don't know if it's adrenaline coming or going, or what...but better. I'm feeling a little better."
She focused on him for a moment. She assumed that his focus was strictly on the cut that adorned her face, and she did her best to stay still as she inspected it. He then backed away, to give Fujiko a little bit of space.
"Well, Ms. Mine...I think that somehow, you are going to be fine. Looking at this laceration, I think you are going to escape this without major damage. I think that we should get some water in your system, get your blood sugar stabilized, and you should be okay. We’ll close that cut up, and you should be good."
Fujiko winced as she saw the white gloved hands come back. This time, she could feel him spreading something along the cut. He followed it up with a large bandage that stuck over the cut. She felt compelled to bring her hand up to the bandage, but was stopped by a look by Daniel.
"Sorry. It’s...kind of a new thing for me."
Daniel gave her a knowing look. Fujiko wasn’t telling a lie, though. She had been through many matches in her career, and even though her career had taken an upswing, this was the first time she’d ever been cut, and bled in a match.
She thought that it would hinder her, but it empowered her. It drove her forward. She kept moving forward, and was able to hold out long enough for Oni to run out of options. The second Lucky Shot was enough to get Fujiko the victory, and now her career was back on the upswing.
A knock on the door distracted her, and she peered over to see the door open, and Kayden Jade Jones peered her head in.
"Hey, Fuji-cakes...got someone out here who wanted to say hello."
Fujiko knew who it was, and she felt her pulse quicken. Thinking of who it was reminded her of the roller coaster that was her life lately. Fujiko shot her glance from Kayden over to Daniel. He merely nodded, before heading over to take care of over business that was on his plate. Fujiko could only shrug before reaching over and grasping the...no. her LAW championship. She held it weakly, heading towards the door and slipping out of it and into the hallway. There was exactly who she thought would be there.
Her mother. A tear-filled, worrisome face greeted her. It made her own eyes sting, seeing it. She could tell that seeing Fujiko in the state she was in had wrecked havoc on her heart.
"Hi. Hi there."
She stopped short of calling her mother. The awkwardness between them, their newfound relationship was still fresh. She wasn’t sure if her hesitation went noticed by Marcia, but she tried to play it off with a smile. Marcia smiled back, but Fujiko could tell that she was still worried about what she just witnessed.
"I’m okay, I promise you."
She emphasized this by pulling up the LAW championship and placing it on her shoulder. She couldn’t help but feel a little bit of pride holding it up there.
"I can’t quite say that I agree with what I just saw, Katharine."
Fujiko caught her breath in her throat. She still wasn’t sure how she felt about the name. Marcia insisted on calling her that, claiming it was the name she was given at birth, and the only name she knew her daughter by.
"How bad was it?"
Fujiko did her best to try and downplay the severity of it.
"It’s a cut, on my face. I am going to be okay. I know it looks like a big deal, but the doctor says I will be fine."
Marcia looked unconvinced as she stood there, looking at the nasty bandage on Fujiko’s head.
"Katharine, was this quite worth it? You are quite the worse for wear. Yes, you won, but at what cost? She could have killed you! And for what? A championship that will mean little if you are permanently injured?!"
Fujiko tried to do her best to remember that Marcia was new to this world. A small part of her understood where Marcia was coming from. She remembered similar feelings from watching Tj go through the pain he went through. She was terribly grateful the worst she had to experience thus far was a cut to the forehead. Marcia thought this was bad? This? She was used to it at this point.
"No, she couldn’t have. I wasn’t about to let her. And if she tries anything like that again...I’ll make her regret it."
Marcia closed the gap between them, trying to keep her voice down as she spoke.
"I am not amused nor impressed, Katharine. I just got you back, and now I am subjected to watching you tortured for the amusement of these...these pigs! I watched someone try to choke you to death, and now I learn that you have less than a week before you are expected to step into this death trap with someone else?!"
The woman nicknamed Lady Luck clenched her jaw. She was becoming very tired of the lows keeping her down. She just achieved her dream, and had to be subjected to the selfish worry of her mother.
"This is what I do, this is who I am. This is who I’ve been. It may not have been your fault you weren’t around, but your retroactive worrying isn’t helping. A small part of me was hoping that you would at least let me enjoy this moment long enough to make it worthwhile, instead of making me feel absolutely horrible about all of it."
Her mother spoke at Fujiko through her teeth.
"Not when I watched you systematically be tortured and maimed!"
Fujiko grunted, pains and aches ringing through her body. She wished she could have a reprieve from the pain. Her patience with the discussion-turned-argument wore incredibly thin.
"I can take care of myself. I proved that. THIS proves it. As for next week, as far as I know, Izzy isn’t like Oni. She’s not a psychopathic ‘demon’. It may not be an ideal for you, but this is my dream, and it has been for years now. If you don’t like it, maybe you should go back to pretending that I’m dead. It got you through everything before--"
Fujiko was cut off by a loud gasp. Marcia’s breath seemed to be caught in her throat, shock and hurt evident on her face.
"You say that like I was ABLE to get past thinking that you were dead! It hurt me every single day knowing that I wasn’t able to save you. What I just watched you go through existed in my night terrors for YEARS, Katharine. You will have to forgive me if I cannot set that aside to congratulate you on winning this."
She gestures sarcastically to the championship on Fujiko’s shoulder. Marcia doesn’t bother giving her daughter a chance to respond, turning around instead and storming away. Fujiko felt tears in her eyes, tears of frustration and sadness. Kayden, meanwhile, gave Fujiko a look of sympathy and slowly approached her.
"You...you gonna be okay, Fuji-cakes?"
Fujiko took a second to respond, her mind elsewhere for a moment before she tuned back into reality and looked at her friend. She shook her head.
"No. I should have figured she was going to react that way. Doesn’t make it any easier. Not by a long shot. But I am going to get past this and move forward. I don’t have a choice otherwise."
Kayden shook her head and drew Fujiko in. She stopped when she felt her pull away from the embrace. She winced, but gave away an understanding nod.
"I get it. You still tender in your feelings. I don’t blame you. I would be too. But hey, at least you A: still have your mother and B: know that she genuinely cares for you. I’ll let you chill out for a moment, but I want you to know that the rest of your family is incredibly proud of you."
Kayden gave her a warm smile, and then turned and headed off in the same direction that Marcia Gardener did. Fujiko unconsciously touched the bandage on her forehead, and then took a moment to think about Kayden just said.
A year ago, Fujiko thought she shared that trait with the Jones family. Tj, Kayden Jade, and Angel Jones had lost their mother last year, but were not broken up about it. Their mother was abusive, rotten, and nasty. They weren’t exactly happy to see her pass on, but they were not exactly mourning it either. She gave it a little more thought before deciding that Kayden was right. She watched Kayden head out towards the parking lot, before turning around and heading back to her dressing room. She had to gather her things, and then start preparing for Izzypop. Likely Izzy was already prepared for her.