Calling for Cavalry

Akashi grinned at Marc when he spoke. "Hai!" She said enthusiastically. "Now, that I can certainly manage." She said with a grin. Akashi nodded at his next comment but was left a little stupefied by what came after. Was he suggesting something. Maybe Akashi was reading into it too much, right? Jacob was certainly a friendly boy, why wouldn't they get along? Before she could form an answer, Cassie burst in.

She raised an eyebrow at the cheerfulness of it. It was pretty normal to her and she smiled at Cassie as she bounded away as quickly as she came. "I only have a tattoo on me because of her!" She yelled out to Cassie's disappearing form. She then turned to Marc and grinned a little slyly. As he held out his arm, she gave him a playful jab in the ribs with her elbow. "This way, Ojii-sama." She said teasing him as she escorted him back into the house.

Mamouru couldn't help but furrow his brow at Rachel's words. But it wasn't her fault as he looked away from the woman. 'Well, my mother thinks she's young enough to be my older sister, so... He thought dryly as he turned and looked at Taylor to see if she was doing alright. His own mother had a youthful charm that belied the cunning and experience she'd gained from a lifetime. In some ways the two seemed similar but in others they couldn't be more far apart. His mother acted worse than some five year olds when the mood struck her and Mamouru couldn't ever see Rachel acting in that manner. However, the thought was amusing and soon his frown perked back into a rueful grin.

Mamouru blinked at Jacob's words and lowered his head. "Ah, I suppose that would be the right thing to do. I never envisioned myself as a chef but it seems for the moment I have no choice but to take up the mantle." Mamouru lifted his head. "Not that I mind, of course." He added.

He then looked at Taylor again and gave her a dirty little smile that was accompanied with a look that said 'good luck' as he passed by her and out of the slightly cramped room. Not that he was particularly looking forward to cooking with Jacob but He'd busy himself well enough. By the time dinner was served, Cassie, Taylor and everyone else would be embroiled in one another and catching up and reminiscing. Maybe by the time dinner was finished, the previous night's events would be a distant memory.

Jacob waited until they were out of earshot, and near the bottom of the stairs and after they passed Marc, Akashi, and Cassie, he leaned closer to Mamouru and lowered his voice.

"So... back home?" He said, wide-eyed. "That girl is on my wall." He followed into the kitchen, but was mostly too preoccupied to think about food. "A poster, I mean. Of her. Right there." He motioned with his hands as if spreading the poster across an imaginary wall. "I just didn't think she'd look so... in person, I mean, she's... I mean, meeting Akashi was really awesome, but..." He shook his head. He couldn't think like that. "Sorry, sorry. I know she's married now. And to your brother! That's got to be so awesome. I didn't think girls like her got married!"

He cleared his head and began emptying things out of the refrigerator that he had bought with Cassie earlier in the day. He wanted to ask what Taylor liked to eat, but he thought better of it. He thought about maybe asking what Akashi liked to eat, but... probably most things. Was that offensive? He wouldn't call her fat. Being fat was a bad thing.

"So anyway, what's it like working with Bear?" He asked, as a change of subject.

Mamouru was surprised at Jacob's words when he began going on about Taylor. He listened with soft features. It was sort of awkward for Mamouru. The fact that Taylor was, and still to some degree, a huge star never really even went through his thought process. He'd been around famous wrestlers his whole life. And someone like Taylor wasn't anyone Mamouru considered to be special in regards to her fame. But, he had shared a similar feeling with Jacob concerning her in the being a male department. Still, the relationship between himself and Taylor was something that he didn't even want to consider right now. She was married to Johnny and her and his brother were both happy and that was, mostly, what mattered.

But Jacob's enthusiasm made him smile. "I suppose so." He said. He wasn't going to start dogging on Taylor, even if she wasn't the shining princess Jacob was making her out to be. "It's... interesting, I suppose." He said, trying to put the finest point he could on it. "But I have been around famous wrestlers my whole life. Taylor-san is just another girl to me, really."

As he started to wash some of the vegetables and begin prepping the food that Jacob was handing him, he was surprised at the sudden change. "It's... " He stopped, trying to think of just what to say. "I couldn't have asked for a better client for my first tie as a manager." He decided with a nod. He decided to go with a bit more clinical of an answer. "Though, there's not a whole lot I even need to do. I think sometimes I just do busy work to make sure I feel like I am doing my job. She's very dedicated and has more raw talent than maybe anyone int he league. If she ever gets any kind of killer instinct, the AFW will be in trouble." Mamouru frowned. "I just wish she'd let me come out to the ring more than she does."

"Pff..." Jacob shook his head. Just another girl, huh? "What are you compensating for?" He said with a laugh. "Just another girl, Mamouru, she's beautiful! Maybe you've noticed?"

He put a pot of crabs on the counter and filled another large pot with water and a large amount of salt. He nodded while he listened to Mamouru. "Killer instinct?" He laughed. Had he even met Cassie? As for keeping Mamouru away from the ring, "Well... I'm surprised she doesn't, actually. Cassie needs people around her. If everyone just left her alone, she'd coast to a stop. I don't know if she really thinks anything is worth doing by yourself."

Mamouru lowered her head and shook it at Jacob's words. "Have you noticed anything else?" He retorted back. Obviously Taylor was pretty but there was a lot more to the girl than just her beauty and Mamouru had seen quite a bit of it. Jacob was just still looking at the picture on the wall. Or maybe he liked that kind of girl? Mamouru couldn't say he didn't but there was way more to it than that.

Mamouru went to work on his stuff while he thought about what Jacob said about Cassie. "Yes. Killer instinct. She doesn't have it. She still thinks she's in a Judo competition where everyone bows and shakes after the match regardless of the outcome. They don't. half the girls are in the league just to feed their twisted notions of sadism. They'd rather lose a match and break a girl's leg. It's not that she's soft. She's not. She's just playing by a different set of rules than everyone else and, unfortunately, those rules restrict her performance in the ring."

Mamouru sighed. "I don't know how it was when she was home,but it feels like she's trying to shoulder everything on her own. I'm sure she appreciates my help, but for someone who is so outgoing, I feel like she's put herself in a bit of a cocoon. An extroverted cocoon...." Mamouru said and smiled. "Yes. That sounds like her." Mamouru frowned suddenly. "But there's a lot of complicated issues going on as well. I'm sure that's putting undo stress on her as well. She's at her best when she's loose and carefree. She hasn't been. That's why I wanted to bring you and your family here. To try and get her to loosen up and get rid of some of the weight on her.

Jacob was quiet for a while. He poked at the pot of crabs and tried to get them to snap their claws onto the back end of a wooden spoon.

"I think..." He began thoughtfully. "Well, maybe that's not totally true. Cassie will never be a killer. She's made of sunshine and happiness with a healthy dose of hormonal craziness and maternal instinct. Have you ever seen her in jujitsu competition?" He asked, with raised eyebrows. "Well, we have plenty of family videos, as you could imagine. She's a finisher. She's not exactly aggressive... she was playful and tricky, crafty, and the second anyone forgot that she was an Elliot too she made them pay. She didn't hesitate, maybe because she was so comfortable with the terms of engagement. But she's a little finisher, don't ever doubt that."

He picked up a crab and made it dance on the counter, hopping back and forth. "So maybe she just needs to get her head in the game. It's new, it's very different, but maybe she can settle in with that too." And then in the same breath without even a pause, asked "So do you think making out with the clients kinda complicates things, or..."

Mamouru started pulling out dishes and setting the dinner table while Jacob started talking. When he was finished with the dishes, he put some rice into the cooker. When Jacob was finished, Mamouru lowered his head.

"Please excuse me, but none of that matters. She's not finishing in the AFW. No one she faces knows or cares that she's a member of the Elliot family. Her pedigree and background in jiujitsu doesn't matter. I've seen what I've seen and I believe in her talent and abilities more than anyone, but this world is different and I just hope she can become accustom to it before it swallows her up." Mamouru shook his head. "As long as she will let me, I'll keep trying to push her forward. She'll find her groove and then she'll be just fine."

Mamouru began pulling some of the finished food and putting it into servable dishes. Jacob's comments was something he didn't need right now. Did the guy think he was stupid or something? That Mamouru didn't know what was going on? "No, I think that it complicates things." Mamouru said. "Which is why I didn't do it."

Jacob looked down sheepishly. "Sorry, I didn't mean for that to come out so harsh," he said sincerely. "But... you told me... in the laundry room, I asked if you guys had a fight and you said 'in fact, it was the opposite'. Which led me to believe, you understand, that you had... you know. Stuff."

The idea of Cassie being physical with a guy was at once perfectly natural an incomprehensible to Jacob. Since she was little, Cassie was in the gym, rolling with guys. It was never anything sexual, though, no one in the gym would ever even dare try it. Thinking of Cassie and romantic relationships... it wasn't just that it was his sister, it just seemed weird to him. She'd always been such a tomboy and such an adorable baby sister that it was just not something he ever associated with her.

"Look, I don't know what's going on because you and Cassie both won't talk about it. Do you want to date my sister? Is that it? I can see how that would cause some tension in the working relationship, but if you wanted to do that, what's stopping you?"

There was a crash from upstairs, the by now familiar sound of bodies impacting the floor of the workout room. Jacob glanced up, and then back at Mamouru to wait for his answer.

Mamouru watched Jacob carefully when he spoke and did not look away from him except to glance up at the crashing upstairs. He wondered what was going on but he could piece things together pretty easily. At least they would be occupied for a while. When Jacob went back to talking, Mamouru listened intently. When he was finished, Mamouru crossed his arms under his chest and stared at Jacob in silence while he processed his thoughts.

"Cassie-san is a good girl. She deserves someone who will treat her like she is everything in the world. As it stands right now, I'm afraid that I'm not the man for the job. Maybe someday I will be and, if I'm lucky, I won't have lost my chance with her. But right now, the best thing I can do for both of us is put my nose to the grind stone and make sure that she succeeds here in Japan." Mamouru turned himself away from Jacob. "I'm going to call them down for dinner." He was curious to see how Jacob would react to that, but he also did not want to see it and tried to walk swiftly away and fetch the others.

"Well, if you say so. If you're that worried, you can't be all bad, but you know yourself better than Cassie does. I appreciate you not... forcing the issue, I guess."

Halfway to the stairs, Mamouru was met by Marc. He had one hand cupped over his nose and mouth, with his eyebrows up in an amused and slightly embarrassed expression. There was a bit of fresh blood oozing through his fingers as he made his way swiftly to the kitchen.

"Jake, can you help me clean up? I don't want to bleed on anything important, can you just get me something to pack on this?"

Jacob looked at him with surprise and confusion on his face, and then he grinned. "What happened?" He asked, suppressing a laugh.

A moment later, Cassie came downstairs with Taylor sheepishly following behind. Taylor's face was bright red, and her eyes were glued to the floor, one hand holding her elbow.

"I'm really sorry..." She said in a quiet version of a voice for calling across the house.

Cassie didn't say anything, but the gleam in her eye said she was at least as amused as Jacob, and for that matter, Marc.