Words That We Couldn't Say

The moment Carmen stepped into the Space Lion jazz club, many eyes shot her way. There were probably a few reasons for this.

Firstly, she was a Puerto Rican in Japan. Despite living here for a while now, that was still quite an uncommon sight, and she’d grown accustomed to sticking out in a crowd. That was the same case here, even in such a cultured place as this, the Japanese patrons turned in their stools, looking up from their drinks, and brought their focus away from the band on stage.

It could’ve been her clothes, too. She’d just got in from a workout at her gym, and she was still dressed for it. The black pants, the red Tension sleeveless t-shirt, the MMA gloves. None of it was exactly standard attire for a high-class establishment like this.

But, most likely, it had to do with the 24/7 TItle Belt hanging on her shoulder. The dim lights of the club didn’t keep it from shining as she made her way down the stairs, standing out like a golden beacon. The few patrons who didn’t know who she was were whispering to the ones that did, learning fast.

She didn’t much care how much attention she attracted, really. Carmen hadn’t come here for the jazz.

She made her way over to the bar and waved at the bartender, getting her attention. ”Excuse me.” Carmen laid the belt down in one seat and sat next to it. ”Mariko Ishii, is she in? Carmen Rodriguez. She asked to see me.”

Mariko had arrived to the club a while ago, and was seated alone at a table near the middle of the room. The Japanese beauty wore a black dress that came just about halfway down her thighs, and a pair of matching high heels. In her hand was a glass of wine, and resting on the table in front of her was an open magazine she’d been reading. Partly to kill time, and because it was likely going to come in handy later.

When several conversations around her suddenly went silent, Mariko looked up to see what was going on. Sure enough, her reason for being here today had just walked in the door. Mariko had some things she needed to discuss with the 24/7 Champion, and had asked her to meet her here. And the moment she saw Carmen, she picked up the magazine and stood to walk over to the bar.

“I certainly did. Glad you could make it,” Mariko replied with a friendly smile from behind Carmen, then moved up to stand next to her. “Nice to finally meet you,” she said, extending a hand to offer a handshake. She briefly glanced over at the band playing on stage, then turned back to face Carmen again, quickly scanning over the boxer’s clothes. Most of these people were here to relax and have a good time, but Carmen almost looked like she’d come expecting a fight. Well, she was the 24/7 Champion. But Mariko had no intention of trying to take that belt from her today. This was just a friendly meeting.

“I’ve got a table over there. Nice view of the band,” she said, nodding toward the table. “We can chat over there, or if you’d rather hang out here at the bar that’s fine too. Your pick, champ.”

Carmen hadn’t suspected that Mariko Ishii would challenge her to a 24/7 match in the middle of a jazz club - though it wouldn’t have been the most surprising thing to happen to her since she’d taken the belt. Still, she was required to carry it around wherever she went, always needing to be ready to defend it. Or hand it over.

Regardless, seeing Mariko in that dress helped calm her a bit. Not that she would’ve minded fighting the purple-haired beauty at some point. She’d seen good things, and she especially appreciated the dominant way she approached her opponents.

”Likewise. I’m a fan of your work.” Instead of shaking Mariko’s hand, she took the vixen’s hand and placed a gentle kiss on top. Felt like the right way to approach things, and it helped calm a few minds around the club.

”Over there is fine.” Carmen stepped back and let Mariko lead the way back to her table.

Mariko had no earthly idea what sort of person Carmen Rodriguez was like outside of the ring, though she had a feeling she could expect the boxer to be polite and professional. So she wasn’t surprised when the 24/7 champion took her hand, but she was surprised when Carmen gently kissed it.

“Oh my. You’re quite a charmer~” Mariko said with a small grin. It certainly hadn’t been unwelcome, though the temptress within her now found herself tempted to playfully nudge the envelope just a bit further. But she quickly decided against it. She had a relationship not worth jeopardizing over something small, and even with that aside it wouldn’t be very appropriate given the reason she’d asked Carmen to meet her.

Casting the thought aside, Mariko nodded at Carmen’s answer. “Wonderful,” she replied, then started to turn, only to stop when a thought entered her head. “Oh right, how rude of me. I forgot about your drink. Please, order whatever you’d like. It’s on me.” She giggled then turned to face the counter again and spoke to the waiter in Japanese. < Excuse me. Please put anything Rodriguez-san orders on my tab.> She smiled to Carmen again, then led the way back to their table and took her seat.

‘Charming’ wasn’t a word often used to describe Carmen, but it was often she was invited to jazz clubs by beautiful women, either. She liked to think she was a ladies woman when she had to be. It was the right move for the occasion. ”I try to be.”

Carmen nodded at Mariko’s generosity and helped herself, doing a quick eyeballing across the bar. She was hardly a wine aficionado, but after a moment she found somehting familar - Captain Morgan’s would do.

She took a glass and made her way over to table, sitting across from Mariko. ”Thank you for the invitation.” Carmen slid in under the table and began to sip, trying to make the taste last. ”It’s nice to meet someone from Tension on the streets who doesn’t attack me on sight.”

There was a little smile to go along with it, but it wasn’t a joke. Not really.

Mariko smiled warmly as Carmen joined her at the table, and chuckled at the half-joking comment. “I can only imagine,” she replied. “But you have nothing to worry about here. This place is about as close to a church as anything I have. Listening to the band and enjoying a nice glass or two of wine, that’s my prayer and meditation,” she said, nodding over to the band on stage and taking a second to enjoy the soft tune.

“Congratulations on your victory in Ueno, by the way. That was quite an intense battle,” she said before taking a sip of her wine. Before Mariko went any further, she wanted to hear Carmen’s response. Whether it was the boxer’s words or body language, the 24/7 champ’s reaction would likely advise Mariko on how to say what she needed to. She didn’t want to manipulate Carmen’s emotions, but she did want to at least try to ensure what she intended to address would be addressed in the nature and tone that it warranted.

”I’m not a particularly religious person.” Carmen took another sip, then wagged a quick finger. ”Anymore. But I suppose I get what you mean. It’s nice to have a place like this. Sanctuary.”

She hadn’t lied when she said jazz wasn’t really her thing - Carmen had always been more into energetic music, the kind you could dance to, train to, spar to, fight to. But she could see the appeal, here, as the soothing melody washed over her. It was easy to get lost in the moment.

Mariko’s words brought her back, and Carmen went ramrod straight at the mention of the fight. She’d been trying to push it out of her head, but there was a lot to digest. The fight itself, the decisions she’d made, the ugliness that came after, all of it was still stuck in the gutter of her mind. It just wouldn’t go down, no matter how hard she tried.

Still, that wasn’t something she wanted to bother Mariko with. Not now, not here. She settled back down and tried to regain her poise, getting some of it back, but not nearly enough. ”Thanks, it was…” She tried to find a good word for it, before settling on the one Mariko had used. ”Intense, yes. But worth it.”

Carmen took another sip from her glass. A bit of a longer one, this time.

Mariko was an observant woman, but she really didn’t have to be to see that thinking about the Ueno match was less than pleasant for Carmen. Well, chances were both of them were going to thoroughly appreciate the alcohol in their glasses. Because the Ueno match was largely what Mariko wished to speak about.

“I see...” Mariko took a sip from her wine, buying herself a few seconds to carefully decide how to proceed. Not out of fear of Carmen, but because sensitive topics like these tended to require a certain level of delicacy when delving into them. “I’ve heard the aftermath was...unpleasant. If you don’t mind me asking, how have you been doing since then?”

She could probably guess, but there was little point in making assumptions. There was only so much she could guess based on what she’d heard or read. The rest was going to have to come from Carmen herself.

Carmen took a longer sip from the glass, wishing she’d gotten a bigger one, now. Or just taken the whole bottle. That would be better. It seemed like Mariko was going to center around this point, and as much as Carmen didn’t want to dwell, it had to be addressed.

”I…” She sat her glass down and ran her fingers around the rim. ”Akino and I are friends.” She had a quick huff. ‘Friend’ wasn’t the best word to describe someone you had sex and bondage play with. [color]”We just had a disagreement about some of the moves I used in the match, is all.”[/color]

She looked over to the band, trying to appear more interested in the music than she actually was. Possibly change the subject. ”Who’s playing?”

“Hmm...” Again Mariko didn’t immediately respond, though nothing about her expression said she believed what Carmen was saying. Or rather, it was easy to tell there was much more to the story than she was telling. That much was clear just from looking at Carmen’s face as she spoke, not even taking into account all the other evidence, which included social media comments made by people who’d been backstage after the match and the magazine resting in front of Mariko on the tabletop.

When Carmen tried to change the subject, Mariko elected to go along with it for a moment, to make sure she didn’t bombard the 24/7 champ with uncomfortable questions right off the bat. “Oh, just a few locals who come by and play here now and then,” Mariko answered, turning to glance at the stage and took in the tune. “From what I can tell they just do covers, but they’re quite good... Lee Morgan, Ceora. Sounds almost just like the original too.” She closed her eyes and hummed along to the trumpet for a few refreshing seconds, before opening her eyes and looking at Carmen again. It was time to get back on topic again.

“I owe you an apology, Carmen-san. When I was organizing the show, I didn’t know you two were...close. If I did I wouldn’t have put you two against each other. If I hadn’t made that match, there likely wouldn’t have been any disagreement between you to begin with.”