Broken Clocks

It was a thankfully short walk to the sushi bar, Fukuzushi, just a few blocks down the road. The place was thankfully not too crowded for this time of day, and they were thankfully able to get seated at a good table in a nice little corner of the room while they waited to be served. Thankfully.

The air was thick with the smell of salted fish, tickling Blossom's nose hair and putting her right on the edge of a sneeze. Sizzling sounds slipped out from the back, along with the rhythmic chops of knives, slicing and dicing.

Blossom leaned back against the chair, quite pleased to have something soft to lay her aching back on. "Ah, that's good. Yeah." She wiggled around and settled into the chair, then looked back at Cooper, hoping the walk drained a little more of her energy. "So, you said you wrestled in high school? What class?"

"Not just in high school, uh, shit, what flowers have I used already? Hibiscus and Rose? Let's go with Dandelion. Not just in high school, Dandelion! I've been wrasslin' in college, and... well, yeah, mostly high school and college. I've consistently clocked in at one sixty pounds, if that means anythin' to you, weight wise!" Sandalwood grins. "I got into wrestlin' so bad because it can get visceral for me, y'know? Especially when the crowd's going. I mean, back in Portland, never really had much of a crowd, not like here, but it still feels so good to just get pumped up. The crowd was really feelin' what I was bringin' in, too! I'm probably gunna be a goddamn sensation! Age of Sandalwood, here we come!" Hell yeah, rad as can be, that's me, Sandalwood. Or 'Coop'. Damn, Coop was good. She'd have to, like, give Blossom something to recognize how great a nickname that was.

"Anyway, enough about me! Tell me about yourself, Sunny! Where you from? Got any hobbies? Have any worst enemies? Weird obsessions? Cute dudes you like? Cute ladies you like? Hey, the Coop don't judge! You in dire financial straits? Or, like, have a sickass car you drive around these little roads? Like, shit, lemme know who Blossom Fields is, man! Gimme yo' bio!"

Blossom slid the glass from hand to hand, before scooping it up and taking a quick gulp. "That would put you right in my class, I think." It was a little hard to see Coop running around on the mats, though. Not that she lacked a wrestler's body. She seemed fit enough. But Blossom had never met a coach who would put up with this much mouth.

Anyway, Q & A time. Blossom took a deep breath, released, and went at it.

"I'm from a little town called Conshohocken in Pennsylvania that no one's heard of, my hobbies include watching old, cheesy movies, toe-nail painting and dancing, don't have any enemies though I'm starting to think Angel and Taylor are kinda jerks, I have a big foot fetish that people say I'm weird for, I'm just gay, so no boys, but I do have a real crush on this wrestler named Death Bunny who has big, floppy ears and purple hair, I'm good on money, though I could use a few coins to get a Twix bar out of the vending machine behind you, and I don't have a car, I drive a scooter."

She stared straight, Blinked. "Did I miss anything?"

Sandalwood blinks. Blinks again, right back at Blossom. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold the phone, here. There's a wrestler at this place named Death Bunny? Who has bunny ears? And... purple hair? Jeeze, man, Japan! Its weird! Anyway. Anyway. Anyway. Now that we've gotten acquainted with one another, let's get down to business. The training. Now, you said you're worst problem is, like, getting close to people, right? On account of you bein' really short? I can fix that!"

Sandalwood hops up out of her chair and starts shadowboxing. People across the restaurant glance over and frown. "I get the feelin' you're a grapplin' type, Blossom, so you gotta try and get in close to grab 'em, but if you're just tryin' to slug 'em in the face, then that might mitigate some of the problems you keep runnin' into! In theory. I ain't no wrestling strategist!" Sandalwood crouches next to Sandalwood, big, crazy grin on her face. "That's where I come in! See, I think the problem here is that I can't take an AFW sized punch, if that Taylor chick is the norm around here! So, like, I teach you how to punch, and you punch me, so I can get used to the quality of fisticuffs around here! I'm sure you frickin' sailor arms will be more'n sufficient for our purposes!"

"And hell, maybe you could show me, like, close range grappling stuff! Because I'm gunna be honest, got no idea how to use those moves. Never had to!"

Blossom stood up with Cooper, just to help her get down before someone called the cops about the two crazy wrestlers in the sushi bar. The AFW had a bit of a reputation in this area, and the last thing they needed was the undue attention. "Bunny's Irish, actually. Don't tell her I told you."

Not that Blossom was really worried, though. If Coop and Death Bunny ever met, it would be a very short conversation.

"I don't know if you'd really call Taylor the 'norm'." She busted out the air quotes as she sat down. "See, it's like a caste, you know? Bottom level is us." She held her hand down low. [color=#008000]"Then you've got your more experienced, good wrestlers. Not big time, probably won't touch the belt, but good for the most part. Like, say Risty or Crimson Daze, people like that. And then at the top, you've got the VIP. Akashi, Kytes, Conway, people like that. People that seem to surround the belts and everything big going on. That's the top tier. That's Taylor's level. There's nothing really 'norm' about it.

She threw up her hands and shrugged as the waiter brought them back a plate with some chopped sushi to share. Hot off the stove, still sizzling. "But yeah, I'd love to hang out and swap notes with you, learn a little bit. And I could give you a few moves. Don't know how well it'll fit your style, but we can try them out."

"What? Duuuude, fuck the tier system! That shit is--that shit is shit! Anyone can beat anybody if they frickin' work for it! I know, like, shit, maybe I didn't put on the best show tonight, but I'm gunna be goddamn world champion of this place! Its gunna be frickin' hype, lemme tell you that much now!" Sandalwood crosses her arms, her eyebrows furrowed angrily, nose scrunched up, mouth scowling. "Don't be talkin' like that, Blossom. Don't put anybody on a pedestal and treat 'em like gods, or they're gunna start believin' they're gods, and then a bunch of stupid shit happens and everybody's upset."

Sandalwood pauses, her expression switching from grumpy wrath to a more thoughtful gaze. "Huh. So, miss pigtails is the top, quote unquote, tier then, huh? I can do this. Shit, I can take her. Maybe not yet, but I can. And I will. And I'll beat Angel, too. And Akashi. I think I saw her, actually. Ain't she the big one who's like a sumo or some shit? She was on a commercial, I think. Anyway." Sandalwood switches to a big, shit eating grin. "Trust me, Blossom, you're gunna be glad you got in on the bottom floor with Sandalwood Cooper. When I'm top dog in this joint, you'll be able to say you were my first ever training buddy! Who knows, maybe we'll rock the top together!"

Blossom held up the chopsticks. Focused on them. Pulled them apart just right and got the coveted even break, right down the middle. Perfect. Maybe this day wasn't so bad after all.

"Hey, no, I'm not saying they're unreachable. Okay, maybe, 'castes' weren't the best comparison. Maybe it's more like a ladder, and we're on the bottom rungs. We've got a long way to go, but I'm confident we'll get there. Long and hard, but I'm with you. Just slow and steady. Think that's the best way. For now."

She wielded the chopsticks with practiced ease and started picking at the spring rolls, snagging a particularly tasty looking one and claiming it for her mouth. Mastering the art of chopsticks had been a long and arduous process, but her fingers finally had it down. "You're ambitious as all get out, though, I'll give you that. You really were the champ in that league you came from?"

Sandalwood help up the chopsticks with unsteady fingers. She had never mastered the art of using these tools, and it was coming back to bite her in a big way as the redhead struggled to consume the spring rolls and sushi. "Aw, c'mon, you slippery little bastard..." She muttered, flicking it around, before glancing up. "Hell yeah. Hit champ in like, two weeks. I am kinda gettin' the feeling that the reason wasn't that I was a wrestling prodigy and more'n that everyone else was awful. Still, though, I was a champion! And I'm going to be a champion again, for sure."

Hah-ha! Gotcha, ya daft lil' bugger. Sandalwood triumphantly smashes the food into her mouth, crouching over the table ferally like a creature ripping meat off a kill, minimized the distance between mouth and plate and being horribly impolite in the process. "Thishf shtuff ain't bad. Not badfh at all!"

Blossom reached over and gave Coop a little tip-tap on the forehead with the chopstick. "Steafy hanfs." She said, speaking as she chomped down on the roll. "Watch."

She dipped down and took out a little squid, daintily snatching it up and popping it into her mouth, holding the chopsticks like a surgeon's scalpel. Showing off a little bit. Maybe. Blossom sucked the poor guy on down into his new home, right in the middle of her stomach. And to think, her parents wanted her to go Vegan.

"With an attitude like that, I think you might. Mind if I ask a personal question, though?" She leaned forward and propped her hand on the table. "You said you've been into a lot of stuff, right? Why'd you settle on wrestling?"

"Yeah, uh, I'm just gunna... use my hands... when nobody's watching..." Sandalwood glanced left, than right. Dammit. Folks were still sneaking glances at them. She hunkered down, waiting. Patience was a virtue. She'd wait. And when no one was watching, when everyone was distracted by their own food, she'd goddamn strike.

"Well, the reason wrestlin' is my sport of choice is, like... its so exciting, y'know? Like modern day gladiators, or somethin' like that. And people get so into single wrestlers! It can be, like, stardom. I hope so, at least. I'm gunna be popular." She flashes Blossom another wide-toothed grin. "And I'm good at wrestling! Crushed everyone in my home city. Given, home city may not have been the beating heart of competitive wrestling, but still, that counts for somethin'! And another besides, I took Intro to Japanese my freshman year of college, and the premier wrestling league in the world is in Japan! So that worked out. And its cheap to live here, too. So, yeah, buncha little reasons, mainly. And bowling is kinda dull professionally."

She steeples her hands together, before NAB, snags an octopus tail in her fingers and eats it in a flash. "What 'bout 'chu? Why you doin' dish?"