An Interesting Contender(For Bluemouse)

After watching Hitomo get shuffled away into the hospital wards, Thomas Drake turned his eye to Cassie, the girl who had just completely defeated one of his wrestlers. It was surprising how well this newcomer fought; Hitomi could be considered a veteran of two leagues now, and Cassie made defeating her look easy. It wasn't often that talent like this came around. While the match was going on, all Thomas was doing was trying to find information about this girl, searching the internet on his phone for Cassie Elliot. Unfortunately, he didn't find much. This girl was a complete rookie it seemed.

He was about to go talk to her when he realized Cassie was walking straight for the girl's changing room. Knowing that he couldn't go in there (not without getting an earful from Chigusa, at least), he decided to head back to his office. Before going into his office, he found the door to the room adjacent, the Eclipse private changing room, open. He carefully opened the door and peered inside. The most of the lights were off, except for one lamp on a small nightstand in the corner. On the large couch at the back of the room a girl lay sleeping.

Drake walked over and tapped her on the forehead. "Wake up Tomomi," he said. The girl's eyes slowly opened, and she sat up, rubbing her eyes.

"Ah, Drake-san," she said. She yawned and stretched out, before sitting up properly. "I'm supposed to give you this," she said, handing Drake a file, "It's some information about the upcoming matches." She stood up, brushing off her t-shirt and her shorts. "Well, I should go. I've stayed here for too long," she said, making to leave the room. But before she could, Drake suddenly spoke up.

"Hey, can you help me out with something?" he asked. Tomomi turned around, nodding. "Listen, there's this new girl here, she looks like this," Drake said, pulling out his phone and showing Tomomi a picture of Cassie Elliot, "Can you find her and bring her to my office?" he asked.

"Why don't you do it?" Tomomi asked, "I mean, I was watching that match that just finished, she should still be here."

"Yeah, well she's in the girl's changing rooms right now," Thomas said, "I can't really go in there. So can you go find her?"

Tomomi nodded, understanding and not making any comments. She quickly left the room, heading for the girls changing rooms. Once she got inside, she began searching. The place was rather quiet, so Tomomi could hear almost everything going on. She heard some sound coming from the showers, and decided that that place was her best shot at finding Cassie.

As much as Cassie was enjoying a hot shower after her successful debut, she didn't want to linger too long. She didn't know what was worse... the reputation that the AFW girls had, specifically with regards to the shower, or the fact that the place was almost empty. She would've thought that there'd be a lot more people everywhere... maybe the management just scheduled her match for an off time. She supposed that without a reputation and a ll that should couldn't really expect to be a main eventer right away but still... she would've liked the reassurance of some life signs.

But signs of life somewhere other than the showers. It was okay to be alone in there. She was just going to scrub down, enjoy the hot water for a minute, then towel off, get dressed, and go. It wasn't that she was some kind of scaredy cat, but it was a new place, and she didn't know anyone, and the creepiness of the partially darkened echoing halls had her nerves a bit up in arms.

Which is why after shutting the water off, slinging her hair back and grabbing a towel, she almost jumped out of her skin when she saw a little pink-haired girl wander in. She made a noise resembling a frightened mouse and popped the towel out between herself and the girl before hurriedly wrapping it around herself. She took one deep breath to calm back down and looked more closely at the girl.

She wasn't really little, per se, since she looked to be almost exactly Cassie's size. Which kind of did make her little, but not to Cassie... She also reminded Cassie a bit of Hitomi. She was exceedingly pretty, like Hitomi, in a very skillfully kept, model-y sort of way. Her hair was a bit matted like she'd been sleeping, though. Most importantly, she wasn't just passing by, she looked like she'd come looking for Cassie.

Cassie took the initiative. "Hi! Sorry, you scared me a little. I wasn't expecting anyone. Are you...looking for me?" Saying it out loud set her a bit on edge. She didn't know what to expect from the other girls. There was a cautious voice in the back of her mind that warned against getting jumped by a friend of Hitomi or some crazy prison-thug kind of girl or some deranged shower stalker... she was getting a bit ahead of herself. This girl looked nice enough.

"Well you found me!" She gave the girl a warm smile and started to slink by her to get to her locker.

Tomomi didn't mean to just burst in on Cassie while she was showering, though luckily they managed to avoid any awkwardness since Cassie already had a towel around her. Tomomi gave Cassie a long look, making sure this was the girl that Drake wanted. It would be rather embarrassing if it wasn't. At the very least, this girl resembled the one in the picture, with the short orange hair and big green eyes. She was a bit shorter than Tomomi expected though, not a hair taller than herself.

"Hmm? I think I am..." Tomomi said, a thoughtful expression on her face. She took a step closer, as if to examine Cassie some more just to make sure.

"Yep, you're the one!" Tomomi said, clapping her hands together, a smile on her face. "Get dressed quickly, someone very important wants to see you," Tomomi said, walking to the door of the showers, "I'll be waiting outside. Hurry up now!"

Cassie poked her head back around the corner from the locker room. "Someone...important?"

She popped open her locker and pulled out the clothes she'd hung in it and her gym bag. She stuffed her yellow suit in the bag and fit her boots on top. She glanced around quickly to see if the girl was watching and threw on her clothes in record time. It was always nice to be back in street clothes after ring gear, in the same way that it was exciting to be in ring gear after street clothes. Her more mundane t-shirt jeans and sneakers meant that the excitement of the night was over and it was time to relax. Maybe not though... who wanted to see her.

"Who wants to see me? And what's your name?" She called out to the girl in the other room. She took a moment at the small mirror on the inside of her locker to quickly brush her hair into place, then tousled it a little with her fingers so it wouldn't sit so flat. She looked herself over... she'd feel under dressed if there really was someone important to see her. Her little yellow t-shirt had a big white star on the front. It seemed a little cutesy for something...important. Well, at least she did look kind of cute, maybe that would do.

Cassie emerged from the locker room back into the hallway. "Ready! Where are we going?"

Tomomi wasn't about to peep at Cassie when the girl was getting dressed. She remained outside the locker room, waiting patiently for Cassie to finish. She could still hear Cassie of course, and responded to the girl's questions.

"My manager wants to see you," she said, "He probably thinks you're some good talent. I'm Tomomi Watanabe." She only had to wait a few moments more before Cassie emerged, dressed in her street clothes. Tomomi nodded, and pointed down the hallway.

"His office is over there," she said. She led Cassie at a brisk pace over to Thomas Drake's office. The door only had a very simple sign on it: "Thomas Drake: Manager." It seemed to lack importance, and belied just who Drake was. Tomomi didn't bother knocking, turning the knob and pushing open the door. Inside, Drake was sitting at his dest, reading the contents of the file Tomomi gave him a few minutes before.

"Ah, you've brought her?" Drake said, looking up. Tomomi nodded, stepping aside to let Cassie enter. Drake's office was quite large and spacious, rather unlike that of a simple manager. There was enough room to fit a set of couches and a tea table, with a large couch facing Drake's desk. Shelves lined the back of the room, some filled with books, others containing lots and lots of anime figurines. On the walls were several large posters, most of them depicting the idol group Eclipse. Indeed, almost right across from Cassie was a life-sized poster of Tomomi singing.

"Please sit down," Drake said, gesturing at the large couch in front of his desk.

"Does everybody's manager want to see me?" Cassie said to herself.

As Tomomi pushed open the door to Drake's office Cassie suddenly felt like a fish out of water. Who was this guy? She got the distinct impression that this guy wasn't a small time wrestling manager. For a few seconds she could only marvel at the office... she thought about what her apartment looked like and felt a little bit low class. When her eyes fell across the poster of Tomomi she stopped, studied it, then looked back at Tomomi over her shoulder. She reaally felt like a fish out of water.

Once Cassie snapped out of her daze she realized that Drake was still looking at her. He'd told her to sit down. She sat, hurriedly, flashing a nervous smile. "Hi, I'm Cassie." She said politely. "You... this is a nice office, eh? What did, um, what... you wanted to talk to me?"

She couldn't possibly imagine what someone like this guy would want with her. She'd only arrived in the country a little while ago, no one knew her name, and though she'd won her first match she hardly thought that would be enough to bring her into the limelight. It was all really weird. She didn't know what to make of this guy, either, but she hoped something good would come of it. She'd be pretty disappointed if he turned out to be some kind of scumbag.

Drake nodded, putting down the file to give Cassie a much better look. "So, you're Cassie Elliot," he said, surprisingly enough switching from Japanese into fluent, New York accented English. "I was watching your match, have to say I'm rather impressed that a rookie like you could beat one of my veterans like that." He was referring to Hitomi, of course.

"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Thomas Drake, and I am both a manager here and the proprietor of Starlight Productions," he continued, "Basically what I do is I find girls with extraordinary talent, and I turn them into stars!" He gestured around the room, as if to show off his accomplishments. "Now, from what I've seen from you, I think you've got some real talent," he continued, "You've got some good wrestling skill, you're pretty, and since you're new here, you're obviously in need of some kind of assistance to show you how things work around here."

He opened a drawer and took out a few pieces of paper. "So here's what I'm offering," he said, "I can become your manager, which would not only ease your burden a bit, but also provide protection and a lot of useful services. I understand if this is a bit sudden, but you should consider this. Here." He held out the papers, which dictated the terms of such a contract.

Cassie stared down at the papers like a deer in headlights.

"Gosh. Um..." She had no idea what to say. She had to say something though. "Thanks, I, um, I mean I like competing and everything, I don't know if I'd ever be a... star. I'm just a fighter, and I'm pretty new at this.

"I mean, I've done martial arts my whole life, but, like, the AFW... I guess I am a bit lost. So... maybe it would be good to have some help. I don't really know anyone here." She took the contract and idly pawed through it. "I think I'd have to email this to my dad, I don't really know what to do, er, how to, ya know." She stopped, feeling a bit embarrassed.

"OH! Hitomi! I'm really sorry about that. I mean I didn't want to hurt her that much, but... she just wouldn't tap! I hope she's okay and everything. She's real tough. Are all your girls like her?" She looked around to see if Tomomi was still there. "They're all so pretty, but... that one doesn't look like a fighter." She said sheepishly, pointing at the posted of Tomomi.

"Well, I'm not going to pressure you into accepting this, it is quite a big deal," Drake said, sitting back down behind his desk, "But do consider it. If you don't have a manager here, you'll just get taken advantage of. It's too hard to work alone in a place like this."

He leaned back, turning to look at a poster of Hitomi that hung on the side wall. "Don't worry about her," he said, "She'll be fine. She's made of tougher stuff than that." He turned back to Cassie, a small smile on his face. "Yeah, all the active wrestlers I have right now are something like Hitomi, though I'd say she's got a bit more gimmick going for her, considering she's trained as a geisha..."

Tomomi was standing outside the door, listening in to the conversation. She heard Drake bring up her name. "Oh Tomomi? She's more of a fighter than you think," he said, "She's a pretty good grappler, though in all honesty she's better at singing."

"Gimmick... I don't have a gimmick. I'm just me." She set the contract down on her lap and fidgeted.

"Oh. I'm sure she's a better singer than me. Do you.. uh, do you know what sort of grappling she does? I'd love to find new people to learn from and train with. Hitomi could definitely get better. If I did sign this I'd love to work with your girls and teach them some things. Teaching martial arts was the only other job I've ever had."

She let her eyes wander over the office. "So... why do you manage wrestlers who are also singers?"