09-14-2024, 03:49 AM
(This post was last modified: 10-08-2024, 10:56 PM by lemonoppy. Edited 2 times in total.)
Akane uncomfortably sat in front of the mass of reporters, trying to not let the constant flashing of cameras bother her. Trying being the operative word; it didn't take a rocket scientist to see how uncomfortable the woman was, tugging on her hoodie tightly as her eyes glazed forwards. Once the hottest prospect coming into the DSFL, the safety has had to deal with a lot of adversity coming from this past offseason and into the first game of the 2065 season. Indeed, Akane was supposed to do this kind of press conference at the start of last season, building off of the hype of going first overall. A sort of victory lap meant to build up her brand and continue to propel her to stardom within the international American football scene.
However, untimely sickness right at the start of the 2064 season derailed those plans. Instead of hosting this kind of, bluntly, self-congratulatory media circus affairs, the Japanese woman was instead in quarantine. She wasn't even allowed to practice! The safety ended up having an extremely rough start in the DSFL as a result, clearly lagging behind the other prospects during the preseason and first game. While her true rookie campaign would recover somewhat from that debacle, it was clear it was never the same either. Even after she recovered, the talking heads grew bored with the Yajin, and moved on to hype up the other safeties in her draft class. The rest, unfortunately, was history.
But this isn't the time to dwell over the past. That is, at least, was Vega insisted. Sure, the big press conference of last season ended up never happening, but that doesn't mean it couldn't be repurposed for Akane's sophomore campaign. Instead of being a celebration of triumph, her agent claimed, it was just important to get Akane's name back out there in the press. Get the people talking about her. Get the cameras rolling on her. The endorsement of the Weekly Mirror was just the first step in a media blitz campaign to make sure that the safety was once again the number one talk of the scene.
Speaking of which, Vega sat right next to her, her elegant pink dress contrasting almost humorously against the Birddog-branded athleisure that Akane was wearing. The Yajin always hated having to dress up in stiff, pressed clothing. But thankfully, there's always Nike or Adidas or whatever clothing company in vogue that is looking to show off their catalog of cheaply made branded clothing. If anything, Vega was all too eager to get her player to be a walking advertisement. Why not make a few bucks off the side while getting the media's attention? Never let an opportunity for an easy payout go to waste.
After what felt like an eternity, Akane's agent rose from her seat, her face glowing in excitment. At least one of them thrived in the glitz and glamor of the media scene.
"Ladies and gentlemen, Akane is now ready to take your questions regarding her role in the International Simulation Football League and the Dallas Birddogs. Please wait until I call on you."
As the fury of reporters trying to make themselves noticed in the crowded sea, Vega turned to Akane and gave her a warm smile. She didn't say anything audible, but Akane could read her lips as she mouthed a short phrase to her.
"You got this."
"What plan do you have in place regarding your future transition from Dallas to San Jose to make it as smooth and positive as possible?"
The first question asked and Akane already feels a pit in her stomach. What an awful way to start the interview. She doesn't remember a lot of the details, if only because her mind has a way of blocking memories that trigger her rage trances, but she knows that offseason was filled with a lot of drama. No one in Saruta's camp expected her to fall on the draft nearly as much as she did, nor end up on San Jose, a team in which she bluntly had no prior connection with. To say she wasn't exactly happy with the situation was an understatement. Sure, things are looking better now, but a lot of it has to do with the ownership and her deliberately agreeing to kick that particular can down the road as far as she could.
Deflect deflect deflect. That's the only way to disarm this potential landmine of a question.
"Currently," Akane said, trying to regain her composure, "my attention is entirely focused on trying to bring an ultimini back to Dallas. Anything beyond that isn't in my focus."
Gods. Hopefully whatever question comes next isn't as much of a tripwire as the first one.
"Last season, Dallas didn't make the Ultimini, how are you going to work with the new rookie group to get there and try and win it all this time round?"
Ok. This one actually isn't anywhere near as bad. Truthfully, Akane can admit the whole mentoring thing is a bit out of her own wheelhouse. She's there to win games herself, not train other people to win games in her place. While she would obviously want her teammates to be good so she doesn't have to put the entire team on her back, in a way, the Yajin was used to that. Not so much in the DSFL, but in college, where there was a time where she was the only caliber player on the Fighters to note.
However, its not like this question is exactly unfounded either. Akane has a "C" patch on her jersey for a reason. She is the defensive captain of the Birddogs. Granted, Akane always felt she got the job more due to her killer college reputation and personal conduct on the field than necessarily the way she's been treating her teammates. But at the same point, the fact that she retained the captaincy this season goes to show that however she is treating her teammates, the leadership in Dallas certainly approves. Perhaps its her highly competitive spirit inspiring the other players to give it their all? The way she embraced the city of Dallas as a sort of home away from home, becoming a local icon? The Japanese woman isn't exactly sure herself.
"Well, one thing I insisted on doing this season was shifting back to safety, the position I played back in Kwansei Gakuin. In that sense, I definitely needed to prepare my incoming replacement, Xander Le Roux, to take over my old job so I can go back to what I love doing: stuffing ball carriers."
A few muted laughters came from the audience. Good. Keep the muckrakers in attendance entertained. That's a good way to keep the media on her side.
"From both preseason and the starting game, I can tell he's already doing a serviceable job."
Six tackles against Bondi Beach in the opener, the same amount of tackles that Saruta herself got. No splash plays by either player. Not the greatest CB peformance in the world, but definitely on the right track for someone who just entered the league.
"What have you done in the off-season to better your game and role within this team?"
Akane grimaced as she heard the next question presented to her. Her mind was conflicted into two different camps. There is the self-loathing part, that still blames her inability to secure her interception against Norfolk to the house as being directly responsible for why Dallas got bounced last season in the conference championship. The part that realizes international American football is much harder than Japanese collegiate football, and that she has been coasting on a reputation that simply didn't translate well into the new league. That part of her, would think nothing she can do in the off-season would be good enough. She'd always be a bust, a failure, a waste of the roster spot.
However, there was the second part of her, highly competitive and prideful, that almost scoffs at the entire premise of the question altogether. Better her game? In what universe does she need to better her game? With the possible exception of Leeroy Jenkins, Akane had the statistically best season of all safeties who played in the 2064 season! 76 tackles, 3 forced fumbles-- two of which she recovered-- and 17 recorded deflections and an additional interception. Sure, she was nominally lined up as a cornerback that season, but numbers don't lie here. The other safeties might have had higher interception rates-- a stat that Akane feels overblown due to her designation as specifically a strong safety-- but none hit as hard or as often as she did. And yet, people fawned and drafted those scrubs before her, being the last notable safety taken off the 2065 board. The fuck is she even supposed to do at that point? If no one in the ISFL is going to recognize talent when they see it, then frankly that's more on the GMs than her.
Of course, saying that she couldn't improve, or that she doesn't need to improve, are both really toxic answers that would help no one. She could already feel the "what the fuck is wrong with you" stare that would come out from Vega if she started to speak her actual mind on this question. Best, again, to just give a more noncommittal answer and move on, rather than sinking her reputation further.
"I have been training in a state-of-the-art facility in the Swiss Alps with my agent, Vega. I've been pushing my body as hard as it can go, and to go even further beyond that. This season, I hope other teams notice it when I knock out their receivers and backs out of games."
Akane devilishly grinned as she gave out that threat. She wants it known that she is here to hurt people. That's what she enjoys out of football, and she is going to make no pretenses in trying to hide that. Injury is just a testament to how strong she is.
"What goals do you have?"
Well that's not an open ended question to ask! Not at all! Akane's not even entirely sure what is being asked here. Is it goals for this season? Goals for her entire career? Personal life goals? Purely on the field? Depending on exactly how the safety chooses to interpret this question, there is so many angles that she could tackle this question from. In the end, though, perhaps it was best to build off of the answer she gave in her prior question, and build up her destructive hype.
"My goal for this season is to lead the league in forced fumbles and sacks. I want to show these Americans what its like to play against the Yajin, to rule the gridiron again and to destroy anyone who is foolish enough to hold the stone in my presence. No survivors."
The manic grin on Akane's face only grew wilder. She could taste the blood in her mouth as she's talking about performing those big splash plays. There's a part of her, a part she needs to repress, that just wants to beat up those reporters, to get the anger out of her system, to get violent again. She knows she needs to save it for the gridiron. But damn, it'd feel nice.
"Do you have an NFL player you'd like to be compared to?"
Akane's manic expression continued to consume her face. Why yes, there was indeed, a player in the old NFL that was a huge inspiration for her once she became more aware of the football. Being a childhood fan of the Silverbacks means that she had to be aware of New York City's other football teams, including the storied history of the Giants. While he would become more famous for his work on the Patriots, Bill Belichick-- aka the Darth Hoodie-- started as the defensive coordinator of the Giants during their time of glory in the 80s. And the greatest defensive coach of all time had a particular favorite player he similarly thought was the greatest of all time, a player that Akane absolutely agreed with. There was no doubt in her mind.
"Lawrence Taylor, of the old 1980s Giants. 20th century NFL might be a distant memory to us in the 2060s, but its impossible to understate how much Taylor revolutionized the game. He hit harder and more often than any other player I know, and didn't make any excuses for what he did to the quarterbacks he destroyed. The whole way we saw defense shifted as a result of his combination of speed and strength-- linebackers are considered the soul of the defense now because of him. And remember, I started playing as linebacker, back in high school. If coaches thought a tiny woman like me had the physicals to be a true linebacker, I would gladly go back to lining up in the front seven again. If I even have half the opportunity to redefine the physicality of defensive backs like Taylor did with linebackers, I think it'd be one hell of a legacy."
There was even more to the comparison that worked than what Akane was willing to publicly state. Taylor infamously had a cocaine problem during his career, and would consistently be high during his games. However, being blitzed on cocaine did seemingly nothing to slow him down, and may have arguably even helped his aggression. He'd talk about not remembering entire seasons due to the amount of drugs he was taking in his prime, but purely relying on aggressive instinct to win games for the G-Men. Now, Akane needs to make it clear that she hasn't taken anything harder than weed herself. But, she can strangely empathize a lot with her rage trances in a similar manner to how LT would play blitzed out of his mind. There are many games that Saruta simply has no recollection of whatsoever. She just suited up, and let the thrill of anger and violence direct her to be in the right direction. In that sense, she could empathize a lot with his struggles then. Football was the only (productive) release for the inner turmoil inside of her, and it was a struggle to not let the inner demons take control of her and blow the second chance that Vega helped her get. She could always end up being homeless again, just fighting everyone and thing that looks at her funny...
Just... hopefully Akane won't have the same kind of meltdown he had after his career. You know, the stuff other than the drugs. The less said about that vile stuff, the better.
"If you could only eat one cuisine for the rest of your life, what would it be?"
And with that, the aggressive hype in Akane's face vanished. Not only does it have nothing to do with violence, but it was just kind of an odd question in general. Granted, better than questions poking at insecurities like the first one, but is this really the type of question the media is actually interested in hearing about? Are people really clamoring to know about her food opinions in the gossip rags? Just seems like an odd thing to focus on, in her mind.
But then it suddenly hits her. Right. Part of the lead up to this press conference was a rush of endorsements to get Akane's name back in the public discourse. Now, the primary endorsement was of the Weekly Mirror, a fact that Saruta was somewhat surprised never came up in this interview so far. But a secondary endorsement that Akane made, one that didn't register in her mind as much at the time, was the creation of a new energy drink, Saruta Splash. It was supposedly made with real howler monkey extract, although what exactly they're extracting from the poor monkey is left unsaid. Probably hormones. At least, she hopes its hormones, and she isn't tricking people to drink monkey piss. But regardless, the drink bills itself as being the source of Akane's rage trances (or at least hyping them out) and they're sold under the premise that it'd encourage the same aggression in others. Sounds extremely far fetched to Akane if you asked her, but hey, a payout is a payout.
So is this reporter a plant, then? Is this meant to be an opportunity to plug in her sports drink that Vega set up without properly briefing Akane on? She would assume so, given that there is a convenient bottle of the drink placed near her, except that the reporter specifically said eat. You don't eat energy drinks, you drink them. Not only that, but the guy even said cuisine, and not just food, so it implies a family of food rather than one specific dish. So if this is the case, the reporter really mangled up the question. If the reporter was a plant, then Vega must be pissed she's not getting her money's worth.
That being said, as much as Vega presumably would like her to, does Akane really want to be known as just a shill? Isn't it more interesting to answer this question more honestly? But then again, the payday...
She can thread the needle on this, she's sure.
"So, firstly, I would be remiss to not mention Saruta Splash Energy Drink, the only energy drink to contain 1300 mg of howler monkey extract, which will imbue the same type of primate rage. When I want to hurt offensive players and swing games in favor of Dallas, I choose Saruta Splash."
At this point, Akane picks up the conveniently placed bottle and holds it high up in front of her. Got to make sure the cameras catch her with the red drink. Of course it was red-- she is Akane; her name literally means red. It's part of the brand. Also, cherry does taste nice on top of it, and it is, supposedly, cherry flavor. Not like you can really taste it over the fucking monkey hormone/piss, but she digresses.
"That being said, I assume a hearty energy drink like that would be already included in my cuisine--especially when I'm on clock for the job-- so instead I want to focus on cuisine as a whole. All my life, I've been privy to barbecue and the taste of savory meat. Back in Kyoto, we had Yakiniku-- think of it like a Japanified version of Korean BBQ-- which I loved a lot growing up. For you gai-"
Akane could feel Vegs lightly poking her on the shoulder before she was able to finish that word.
"Americans, Yakiniku restaurants give you raw meat, that you're then supposed to cook yourself and then dip in lots of different provided sauces. And let me tell you, the meat is fantastic. You can have short ribs, pork belly, squid, chicken, you name it. And since you're grilling it yourself, there's a bit of a communal aspect to it with whoever you're going out with. Some of my best childhood memories were with my family, grilling those meats."
There's a wistful sigh as Akane says that. Not a lot of happy memories of her childhood, if she can be blunt. Always hard talking about it.
"That being said, one thing I can say since moving to America is just how amazing your barbecue is. The ribs I have had in Dallas bluntly blow out anything I ever had in Japan. They don't even normally serve them on the bone in Japan. Can you imagine that? And the wings? Especially super hot wings? God, I can see why you guys are so proud of your cook-outs. I pick American BBQ, easily, for the one cuisine I can keep."
Well, fuck, now she's hungry. Maybe she'll stop at The Hounddog after this conference, if Vega doesn't need her for anything.
"Why are [the] Birddogs the best DSFL team?"
Well, the food diversion was fun, but now it was back to football. At least this was a softball question. She wasn't taking this conference decked out in specifically Birddog gear just because she's currently playing with them. If there is one thing Akane can speak positively about her time in the international American football community, it is how much Dallas has been a great organization to work in. It's hard to imagine that Dallas used to be considered the worst team in the DSFL right before they grabbed Akane first overall. Already, she and the rest of the troublemakers have already dragged them to a conference championship, and despite a disappointing loss against Bondi Beach, there really is no sign that they stopped firing on all cylinders either.
"Well, for starters, the culture is actually damn good."
Akane could hear one or two muted chuckles. At least someone in the audience appreciated old NFL references.
"But seriously, the reason for the Birddogs having the best team in the DSFL starts from the culture at the top. I'm unfortunately aware of the poor performance the Birddogs had since their last ultimini win in 2061. And yet, almost as if by magic, new leadership enters Dallas at the same time I enter the league and has one of the historic best drafts of all time. They turned a team with the single worst defense into the team with the best, in one draft, using true rookies. That shows a real eye for talent, and that isn't just because they saw me as the lynchpin of it all. Although I won't lie, of course it helps."
This time, a little more pronounced laughter.
"And of course, who could boast a better defense in the league than the Troublemakers? We were the only team in the DSFL with a negative point differential that also had a positive record. Now, I know some people would like to point fingers and say that's just the result of poor offensive play, but I perfer to look at it as our performance being so dominant, that we would make games competitive. Just like the Steelers teams in the old NFL under Tomlin back in the day. We just need game managers on offense, and then we keep things nice and low scoring and just grind out wins. That's the Dallas way, and I'd say its been extremely effective. We went to a conference championship with that gameplan, and I assure you, now that our defensive core is more experienced, we're going to an ultimini this year with it."
"How [are you] handling the positional switch from designated CB to box safety?"
Akane's face glows again. To a degree, Akane blames her slump in her standing in the league a lot on the experiment to switch to playing corner for a season. It simply didn't fit her skillset. She was asked, to an uncomfortable degree, to always drop back into coverage. Sure, it meant that in the pass-heavy DSFL, she was closer to the heart of the action than when she would play as a true safety, but on the other hand, she lived for the thrilling violencee of the scrum, not to just play one on one with the receivers. She got quite a few tackles, but since her expertise was more on said tackling than stopping the pass, she knew she got burnt on her routes a bit more than she cared to admit. Therefore, while she had statistically the best season out of all designated safeties, if you compared her to cornerbacks specifically... it was still maybe above average? Probably? Still no better than 7/10 at best, though. Point is, it caused her to get overshadowed by people who had lesser expectations pushed on them than her. Of course someone who doesn't train to intercept balls would do worse in the position based around intercepting balls! There's a reason she's not a free safety, after all!
"I'm loving it. I'm finally getting sacks again, even if it was just the preseason so far. I'm finally tackling for loss again. Yeah, maybe my raw tackle count is slumping a bit, but I'm back where I feel the most comfortable; right in the thick of it, knocking people down on their asses. I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm here to kick ass and take names, not just prance around in coverage. I'm sure you're going to see a lot more explosive version of me this season as a result."
Nothing much there for Akane to add, either externally or internally. She's excited for this change! She enjoys playing box safety again! Sometimes she wonders what would happen if a team gambled on putting her in as an undersized linebacker and truly let her act like a mini LT again, but for now, this is pretty much exactly what she was looking for.
"Why are the Norfolk Seawolves stinky?"
Akane couldn't help but confusingly chuckle at the question. Not only was that an inflammatory question in itself, but the reporter managed to ask it in perhaps one of the most juvenile ways she could imagine. Is she... is she really going to trash talk another team in her presser? Is this seriously what the DSFL has descended into?
You know, fuck it, why not?
"You know? Norfolk likes to act like just because they had such a strong ending to the 2064 season, that they act like they're the better team out of the two of us. But compare the numbers. Dallas was a team, last season, of practically all true rookies. Norfolk was a team of seasoned vets, at least seasoned by DSFL standards. And despite their dominant position, we still managed to stun them with that tie. We were the ones that ruined London's perfect season last year, and then went back and did it again. Norfolk couldn't beat the regular season champs twice, despite all their star talent last season.
And have you seen what Norfolk's roster looks like nowadays? Their precious, vaunted offense is all gone. They got Jack Cannon and Ganjasmoke. That's it. All of their other receivers? Called up. Their running back corps? Called up. Their offensive line? Mind as well not exist. Meanwhile, the only defensive player we lost was William Strong. And that's not me trying to minimize him, Strong was a great teammate and his missing presence is felt. But, we still got Hordle, we still got Templeton, we still got Spears, and of course, we still got me. Trust me, when the Troublemakers meet up with Norfolk? We're going to bully them so hard that Cannon is going to get the first live wedgie in a game. Trust me on that."
Akane smirked. Vega wanted Akane back in the news? A comment like that is going to certainly be on the news. Now, she's got to make sure Dallas can actually deliver on her promise. She has no fear that they can't, though.
"[W]hat differences have you felt going into this new season vs your rookie season? Are you more confident? Less?"
This is a question that, bluntly, Akane felt like she already answered in this presser previously. She already talked about the experience of switching back to her college position, she already talked about training in between seasons, she already talked about how stacked the Dallas roster is compared to their rivals. What exactly anything new can she add to the table with this question? Best to just quickly summarize her thoughts on this topic and move on to the next one.
"I feel far more confident this season than the last. Everything that made Dallas so good last season, with minor exceptions, is still in place this season, but more refined. Me, and the rest of the Birddogs, have the tools in place to go all the way to the ultimini. It's just a matter of showing up to the matches and imposing our physical will on the other teams."
A little generic, but again, Akane isn't exactly sure what great last minute revelation she can add. Talk about finding a girlfriend over the offseason? Yeah, like she's going to get into her personal life like that to the media. Although, she won't lie, Elena does give her some extra motivation to try her best on the gridiron, at the very least.
"[A]s the dust has settled, do you feel any better about your landing spot in San Jose? They clearly need the help at your preferred position, so it seems like a great fit on paper."
Oh, now people want to go back to the San Jose landmine? Right near the end of the presser? What the fuck kind of timing was that question? In fact, you know what? She'd take talking about her new girlfriend to the media over addressing San Jose at this point. At least Elena makes Akane happy. This is just not a fun subject matter to address at all.
"As I said earlier, my intention is to focus exclusively on Dallas and winning the ultimini. My thoughts about San Jose and my role in the International Sim Football League are a problem for future Akane."
To at least answer the question internally, yes, she does feel a little bit better about San Jose than when she got the call on draft night. There is an element of getting to know the team representatives in San Jose better that is contributing partially to it, but bluntly its more just realizing if the other GMs that did want her as badly as they claimed they did, they would have drafted them. And they didn't. So fuck them. She's still not entirely convinced San Jose actually wanted her, versus not really having another choice in the draft given the way the chips fell, but at the end of the day, all the other ISFL teams had their chance to grab her and didn't. So bluntly she was equally no one's first choice, and whilst that hurt, she'll make sure to hurt their offenses even more in return. That's how she'll pay them back.
Vega, at this point, could sense Akane's growing resentment and frustration at the direction of the presser, and chimed in.
"We got time for one more question."
More hands went up, and one lucky person got called.
"[F]inally, as a Yajin, how do you feel your unique skillset and background set you apart from your contemporaries from the S50 class?"
OK, while there was a genuine point to this question that Akane could appreciate, she couldn't help but notice that the reporter called her a Yajin. A Yajin? What other fucking Yajins are out there in Japan anymore? No one lived in the fucking woods after thrown out of the house like she did. No one else had to fucking scavenge trash bins and literally trap game for a while in order to eat. No one would get into these anger trances and fight off an entire unit of cops by herself. No, there was no one else quite like her in the world. She wasn't a yajin, she was the Yajin! The Wildman! Or... wildwoman? Technically? The word contains the word "man"-- jin-- but its not really gendered in that sense though. Kind of like the word "manpower" in English, Akane guesses? Eh, that's not important. The important part is that there's only one of her in this world, thank you very much!
"Other football players will talk about growing up in adversity, but I assure you, I did the walking in adversity. I don't need to run my mouth about how hard I had it growing up, because I saw the problems in my life and fought them off as much as I could. I don't need to whinge about it after the fact. It happened, and I dealt with it to the best of my abilities, and its beyond me now. Didn't always succeed in everything, but its more about the struggle for the will of life than necessarily the results of it. I'm a fighter, and not just because I played for Kwansei Gakuin.
I highly doubt you take any of the other players in my class, and put them in the life situation I was in during the lowest part of my life, and that they'd even survive. Maybe they wouldn't have gotten to the lows I did in the first place-- some of my problems were ultimately self inflicted and could perhaps been avoided. I could have done things differently. But I managed to, with some help, pull myself up from the deliberating anger trances and survive and dare I say even thrive. I... I doubt few people in the league could have done the same, if they reached the same lows as me.
That's what any team that drafted me would have gotten. A true warrior, someone who actually had to fight to eat at one point. Not just someone playing the role for millions of dollars. No one in the league is going to know what true hunger feels like quite like me, what true desperation is like. That's why I always fight hard and play hard. Because I know what my alternative was, and I will be damned if I end up like that again."
Wow. That was... more raw than Akane was expecting to get into. She could feel her eyes watering a bit as the memories of those times, between losing everything and meeting Vega rushed into her head. The struggle to survive, the struggle to not get thrown into a box, the constant struggle to even eat. Its just all too much for her right now.
She can't break down now. Not in front of the media. Her reputation. It'd be over if she started to cry.
No.
Before Vega could even dismiss the media, Akane rushed out of her seat and dashed towards the backstage. Akane could hear Vega's confused reaction as the Japanese woman rushed out of her seat, but bluntly, Akane didn't care what exact words she said. She just needed to get out of there. Away from everyone. To be at peace again.
What a fucking first presser.
(OOC: I'm going to be doing this presser in-character! Therefore, I would really appreciate if you guys asked questions that would be reasonable for a real press conference; I'm trying to take this seriously. But feel free to ask about anything I may have touched in any of my media posts. Gossip is the only thing faster than light, after all~)
(OOC: Well, that concludes the first presser! I want to thank everyone who contributed questions to make this piece happen! I had a lot of fun writing this. I really enjoyed this format, and i'd love to do this again sometime after Akane's story progreses more! Consider this ready to grade)
However, untimely sickness right at the start of the 2064 season derailed those plans. Instead of hosting this kind of, bluntly, self-congratulatory media circus affairs, the Japanese woman was instead in quarantine. She wasn't even allowed to practice! The safety ended up having an extremely rough start in the DSFL as a result, clearly lagging behind the other prospects during the preseason and first game. While her true rookie campaign would recover somewhat from that debacle, it was clear it was never the same either. Even after she recovered, the talking heads grew bored with the Yajin, and moved on to hype up the other safeties in her draft class. The rest, unfortunately, was history.
But this isn't the time to dwell over the past. That is, at least, was Vega insisted. Sure, the big press conference of last season ended up never happening, but that doesn't mean it couldn't be repurposed for Akane's sophomore campaign. Instead of being a celebration of triumph, her agent claimed, it was just important to get Akane's name back out there in the press. Get the people talking about her. Get the cameras rolling on her. The endorsement of the Weekly Mirror was just the first step in a media blitz campaign to make sure that the safety was once again the number one talk of the scene.
Speaking of which, Vega sat right next to her, her elegant pink dress contrasting almost humorously against the Birddog-branded athleisure that Akane was wearing. The Yajin always hated having to dress up in stiff, pressed clothing. But thankfully, there's always Nike or Adidas or whatever clothing company in vogue that is looking to show off their catalog of cheaply made branded clothing. If anything, Vega was all too eager to get her player to be a walking advertisement. Why not make a few bucks off the side while getting the media's attention? Never let an opportunity for an easy payout go to waste.
After what felt like an eternity, Akane's agent rose from her seat, her face glowing in excitment. At least one of them thrived in the glitz and glamor of the media scene.
"Ladies and gentlemen, Akane is now ready to take your questions regarding her role in the International Simulation Football League and the Dallas Birddogs. Please wait until I call on you."
As the fury of reporters trying to make themselves noticed in the crowded sea, Vega turned to Akane and gave her a warm smile. She didn't say anything audible, but Akane could read her lips as she mouthed a short phrase to her.
"You got this."
"What plan do you have in place regarding your future transition from Dallas to San Jose to make it as smooth and positive as possible?"
The first question asked and Akane already feels a pit in her stomach. What an awful way to start the interview. She doesn't remember a lot of the details, if only because her mind has a way of blocking memories that trigger her rage trances, but she knows that offseason was filled with a lot of drama. No one in Saruta's camp expected her to fall on the draft nearly as much as she did, nor end up on San Jose, a team in which she bluntly had no prior connection with. To say she wasn't exactly happy with the situation was an understatement. Sure, things are looking better now, but a lot of it has to do with the ownership and her deliberately agreeing to kick that particular can down the road as far as she could.
Deflect deflect deflect. That's the only way to disarm this potential landmine of a question.
"Currently," Akane said, trying to regain her composure, "my attention is entirely focused on trying to bring an ultimini back to Dallas. Anything beyond that isn't in my focus."
Gods. Hopefully whatever question comes next isn't as much of a tripwire as the first one.
"Last season, Dallas didn't make the Ultimini, how are you going to work with the new rookie group to get there and try and win it all this time round?"
Ok. This one actually isn't anywhere near as bad. Truthfully, Akane can admit the whole mentoring thing is a bit out of her own wheelhouse. She's there to win games herself, not train other people to win games in her place. While she would obviously want her teammates to be good so she doesn't have to put the entire team on her back, in a way, the Yajin was used to that. Not so much in the DSFL, but in college, where there was a time where she was the only caliber player on the Fighters to note.
However, its not like this question is exactly unfounded either. Akane has a "C" patch on her jersey for a reason. She is the defensive captain of the Birddogs. Granted, Akane always felt she got the job more due to her killer college reputation and personal conduct on the field than necessarily the way she's been treating her teammates. But at the same point, the fact that she retained the captaincy this season goes to show that however she is treating her teammates, the leadership in Dallas certainly approves. Perhaps its her highly competitive spirit inspiring the other players to give it their all? The way she embraced the city of Dallas as a sort of home away from home, becoming a local icon? The Japanese woman isn't exactly sure herself.
"Well, one thing I insisted on doing this season was shifting back to safety, the position I played back in Kwansei Gakuin. In that sense, I definitely needed to prepare my incoming replacement, Xander Le Roux, to take over my old job so I can go back to what I love doing: stuffing ball carriers."
A few muted laughters came from the audience. Good. Keep the muckrakers in attendance entertained. That's a good way to keep the media on her side.
"From both preseason and the starting game, I can tell he's already doing a serviceable job."
Six tackles against Bondi Beach in the opener, the same amount of tackles that Saruta herself got. No splash plays by either player. Not the greatest CB peformance in the world, but definitely on the right track for someone who just entered the league.
"What have you done in the off-season to better your game and role within this team?"
Akane grimaced as she heard the next question presented to her. Her mind was conflicted into two different camps. There is the self-loathing part, that still blames her inability to secure her interception against Norfolk to the house as being directly responsible for why Dallas got bounced last season in the conference championship. The part that realizes international American football is much harder than Japanese collegiate football, and that she has been coasting on a reputation that simply didn't translate well into the new league. That part of her, would think nothing she can do in the off-season would be good enough. She'd always be a bust, a failure, a waste of the roster spot.
However, there was the second part of her, highly competitive and prideful, that almost scoffs at the entire premise of the question altogether. Better her game? In what universe does she need to better her game? With the possible exception of Leeroy Jenkins, Akane had the statistically best season of all safeties who played in the 2064 season! 76 tackles, 3 forced fumbles-- two of which she recovered-- and 17 recorded deflections and an additional interception. Sure, she was nominally lined up as a cornerback that season, but numbers don't lie here. The other safeties might have had higher interception rates-- a stat that Akane feels overblown due to her designation as specifically a strong safety-- but none hit as hard or as often as she did. And yet, people fawned and drafted those scrubs before her, being the last notable safety taken off the 2065 board. The fuck is she even supposed to do at that point? If no one in the ISFL is going to recognize talent when they see it, then frankly that's more on the GMs than her.
Of course, saying that she couldn't improve, or that she doesn't need to improve, are both really toxic answers that would help no one. She could already feel the "what the fuck is wrong with you" stare that would come out from Vega if she started to speak her actual mind on this question. Best, again, to just give a more noncommittal answer and move on, rather than sinking her reputation further.
"I have been training in a state-of-the-art facility in the Swiss Alps with my agent, Vega. I've been pushing my body as hard as it can go, and to go even further beyond that. This season, I hope other teams notice it when I knock out their receivers and backs out of games."
Akane devilishly grinned as she gave out that threat. She wants it known that she is here to hurt people. That's what she enjoys out of football, and she is going to make no pretenses in trying to hide that. Injury is just a testament to how strong she is.
"What goals do you have?"
Well that's not an open ended question to ask! Not at all! Akane's not even entirely sure what is being asked here. Is it goals for this season? Goals for her entire career? Personal life goals? Purely on the field? Depending on exactly how the safety chooses to interpret this question, there is so many angles that she could tackle this question from. In the end, though, perhaps it was best to build off of the answer she gave in her prior question, and build up her destructive hype.
"My goal for this season is to lead the league in forced fumbles and sacks. I want to show these Americans what its like to play against the Yajin, to rule the gridiron again and to destroy anyone who is foolish enough to hold the stone in my presence. No survivors."
The manic grin on Akane's face only grew wilder. She could taste the blood in her mouth as she's talking about performing those big splash plays. There's a part of her, a part she needs to repress, that just wants to beat up those reporters, to get the anger out of her system, to get violent again. She knows she needs to save it for the gridiron. But damn, it'd feel nice.
"Do you have an NFL player you'd like to be compared to?"
Akane's manic expression continued to consume her face. Why yes, there was indeed, a player in the old NFL that was a huge inspiration for her once she became more aware of the football. Being a childhood fan of the Silverbacks means that she had to be aware of New York City's other football teams, including the storied history of the Giants. While he would become more famous for his work on the Patriots, Bill Belichick-- aka the Darth Hoodie-- started as the defensive coordinator of the Giants during their time of glory in the 80s. And the greatest defensive coach of all time had a particular favorite player he similarly thought was the greatest of all time, a player that Akane absolutely agreed with. There was no doubt in her mind.
"Lawrence Taylor, of the old 1980s Giants. 20th century NFL might be a distant memory to us in the 2060s, but its impossible to understate how much Taylor revolutionized the game. He hit harder and more often than any other player I know, and didn't make any excuses for what he did to the quarterbacks he destroyed. The whole way we saw defense shifted as a result of his combination of speed and strength-- linebackers are considered the soul of the defense now because of him. And remember, I started playing as linebacker, back in high school. If coaches thought a tiny woman like me had the physicals to be a true linebacker, I would gladly go back to lining up in the front seven again. If I even have half the opportunity to redefine the physicality of defensive backs like Taylor did with linebackers, I think it'd be one hell of a legacy."
There was even more to the comparison that worked than what Akane was willing to publicly state. Taylor infamously had a cocaine problem during his career, and would consistently be high during his games. However, being blitzed on cocaine did seemingly nothing to slow him down, and may have arguably even helped his aggression. He'd talk about not remembering entire seasons due to the amount of drugs he was taking in his prime, but purely relying on aggressive instinct to win games for the G-Men. Now, Akane needs to make it clear that she hasn't taken anything harder than weed herself. But, she can strangely empathize a lot with her rage trances in a similar manner to how LT would play blitzed out of his mind. There are many games that Saruta simply has no recollection of whatsoever. She just suited up, and let the thrill of anger and violence direct her to be in the right direction. In that sense, she could empathize a lot with his struggles then. Football was the only (productive) release for the inner turmoil inside of her, and it was a struggle to not let the inner demons take control of her and blow the second chance that Vega helped her get. She could always end up being homeless again, just fighting everyone and thing that looks at her funny...
Just... hopefully Akane won't have the same kind of meltdown he had after his career. You know, the stuff other than the drugs. The less said about that vile stuff, the better.
"If you could only eat one cuisine for the rest of your life, what would it be?"
And with that, the aggressive hype in Akane's face vanished. Not only does it have nothing to do with violence, but it was just kind of an odd question in general. Granted, better than questions poking at insecurities like the first one, but is this really the type of question the media is actually interested in hearing about? Are people really clamoring to know about her food opinions in the gossip rags? Just seems like an odd thing to focus on, in her mind.
But then it suddenly hits her. Right. Part of the lead up to this press conference was a rush of endorsements to get Akane's name back in the public discourse. Now, the primary endorsement was of the Weekly Mirror, a fact that Saruta was somewhat surprised never came up in this interview so far. But a secondary endorsement that Akane made, one that didn't register in her mind as much at the time, was the creation of a new energy drink, Saruta Splash. It was supposedly made with real howler monkey extract, although what exactly they're extracting from the poor monkey is left unsaid. Probably hormones. At least, she hopes its hormones, and she isn't tricking people to drink monkey piss. But regardless, the drink bills itself as being the source of Akane's rage trances (or at least hyping them out) and they're sold under the premise that it'd encourage the same aggression in others. Sounds extremely far fetched to Akane if you asked her, but hey, a payout is a payout.
So is this reporter a plant, then? Is this meant to be an opportunity to plug in her sports drink that Vega set up without properly briefing Akane on? She would assume so, given that there is a convenient bottle of the drink placed near her, except that the reporter specifically said eat. You don't eat energy drinks, you drink them. Not only that, but the guy even said cuisine, and not just food, so it implies a family of food rather than one specific dish. So if this is the case, the reporter really mangled up the question. If the reporter was a plant, then Vega must be pissed she's not getting her money's worth.
That being said, as much as Vega presumably would like her to, does Akane really want to be known as just a shill? Isn't it more interesting to answer this question more honestly? But then again, the payday...
She can thread the needle on this, she's sure.
"So, firstly, I would be remiss to not mention Saruta Splash Energy Drink, the only energy drink to contain 1300 mg of howler monkey extract, which will imbue the same type of primate rage. When I want to hurt offensive players and swing games in favor of Dallas, I choose Saruta Splash."
At this point, Akane picks up the conveniently placed bottle and holds it high up in front of her. Got to make sure the cameras catch her with the red drink. Of course it was red-- she is Akane; her name literally means red. It's part of the brand. Also, cherry does taste nice on top of it, and it is, supposedly, cherry flavor. Not like you can really taste it over the fucking monkey hormone/piss, but she digresses.
"That being said, I assume a hearty energy drink like that would be already included in my cuisine--especially when I'm on clock for the job-- so instead I want to focus on cuisine as a whole. All my life, I've been privy to barbecue and the taste of savory meat. Back in Kyoto, we had Yakiniku-- think of it like a Japanified version of Korean BBQ-- which I loved a lot growing up. For you gai-"
Akane could feel Vegs lightly poking her on the shoulder before she was able to finish that word.
"Americans, Yakiniku restaurants give you raw meat, that you're then supposed to cook yourself and then dip in lots of different provided sauces. And let me tell you, the meat is fantastic. You can have short ribs, pork belly, squid, chicken, you name it. And since you're grilling it yourself, there's a bit of a communal aspect to it with whoever you're going out with. Some of my best childhood memories were with my family, grilling those meats."
There's a wistful sigh as Akane says that. Not a lot of happy memories of her childhood, if she can be blunt. Always hard talking about it.
"That being said, one thing I can say since moving to America is just how amazing your barbecue is. The ribs I have had in Dallas bluntly blow out anything I ever had in Japan. They don't even normally serve them on the bone in Japan. Can you imagine that? And the wings? Especially super hot wings? God, I can see why you guys are so proud of your cook-outs. I pick American BBQ, easily, for the one cuisine I can keep."
Well, fuck, now she's hungry. Maybe she'll stop at The Hounddog after this conference, if Vega doesn't need her for anything.
"Why are [the] Birddogs the best DSFL team?"
Well, the food diversion was fun, but now it was back to football. At least this was a softball question. She wasn't taking this conference decked out in specifically Birddog gear just because she's currently playing with them. If there is one thing Akane can speak positively about her time in the international American football community, it is how much Dallas has been a great organization to work in. It's hard to imagine that Dallas used to be considered the worst team in the DSFL right before they grabbed Akane first overall. Already, she and the rest of the troublemakers have already dragged them to a conference championship, and despite a disappointing loss against Bondi Beach, there really is no sign that they stopped firing on all cylinders either.
"Well, for starters, the culture is actually damn good."
Akane could hear one or two muted chuckles. At least someone in the audience appreciated old NFL references.
"But seriously, the reason for the Birddogs having the best team in the DSFL starts from the culture at the top. I'm unfortunately aware of the poor performance the Birddogs had since their last ultimini win in 2061. And yet, almost as if by magic, new leadership enters Dallas at the same time I enter the league and has one of the historic best drafts of all time. They turned a team with the single worst defense into the team with the best, in one draft, using true rookies. That shows a real eye for talent, and that isn't just because they saw me as the lynchpin of it all. Although I won't lie, of course it helps."
This time, a little more pronounced laughter.
"And of course, who could boast a better defense in the league than the Troublemakers? We were the only team in the DSFL with a negative point differential that also had a positive record. Now, I know some people would like to point fingers and say that's just the result of poor offensive play, but I perfer to look at it as our performance being so dominant, that we would make games competitive. Just like the Steelers teams in the old NFL under Tomlin back in the day. We just need game managers on offense, and then we keep things nice and low scoring and just grind out wins. That's the Dallas way, and I'd say its been extremely effective. We went to a conference championship with that gameplan, and I assure you, now that our defensive core is more experienced, we're going to an ultimini this year with it."
"How [are you] handling the positional switch from designated CB to box safety?"
Akane's face glows again. To a degree, Akane blames her slump in her standing in the league a lot on the experiment to switch to playing corner for a season. It simply didn't fit her skillset. She was asked, to an uncomfortable degree, to always drop back into coverage. Sure, it meant that in the pass-heavy DSFL, she was closer to the heart of the action than when she would play as a true safety, but on the other hand, she lived for the thrilling violencee of the scrum, not to just play one on one with the receivers. She got quite a few tackles, but since her expertise was more on said tackling than stopping the pass, she knew she got burnt on her routes a bit more than she cared to admit. Therefore, while she had statistically the best season out of all designated safeties, if you compared her to cornerbacks specifically... it was still maybe above average? Probably? Still no better than 7/10 at best, though. Point is, it caused her to get overshadowed by people who had lesser expectations pushed on them than her. Of course someone who doesn't train to intercept balls would do worse in the position based around intercepting balls! There's a reason she's not a free safety, after all!
"I'm loving it. I'm finally getting sacks again, even if it was just the preseason so far. I'm finally tackling for loss again. Yeah, maybe my raw tackle count is slumping a bit, but I'm back where I feel the most comfortable; right in the thick of it, knocking people down on their asses. I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm here to kick ass and take names, not just prance around in coverage. I'm sure you're going to see a lot more explosive version of me this season as a result."
Nothing much there for Akane to add, either externally or internally. She's excited for this change! She enjoys playing box safety again! Sometimes she wonders what would happen if a team gambled on putting her in as an undersized linebacker and truly let her act like a mini LT again, but for now, this is pretty much exactly what she was looking for.
"Why are the Norfolk Seawolves stinky?"
Akane couldn't help but confusingly chuckle at the question. Not only was that an inflammatory question in itself, but the reporter managed to ask it in perhaps one of the most juvenile ways she could imagine. Is she... is she really going to trash talk another team in her presser? Is this seriously what the DSFL has descended into?
You know, fuck it, why not?
"You know? Norfolk likes to act like just because they had such a strong ending to the 2064 season, that they act like they're the better team out of the two of us. But compare the numbers. Dallas was a team, last season, of practically all true rookies. Norfolk was a team of seasoned vets, at least seasoned by DSFL standards. And despite their dominant position, we still managed to stun them with that tie. We were the ones that ruined London's perfect season last year, and then went back and did it again. Norfolk couldn't beat the regular season champs twice, despite all their star talent last season.
And have you seen what Norfolk's roster looks like nowadays? Their precious, vaunted offense is all gone. They got Jack Cannon and Ganjasmoke. That's it. All of their other receivers? Called up. Their running back corps? Called up. Their offensive line? Mind as well not exist. Meanwhile, the only defensive player we lost was William Strong. And that's not me trying to minimize him, Strong was a great teammate and his missing presence is felt. But, we still got Hordle, we still got Templeton, we still got Spears, and of course, we still got me. Trust me, when the Troublemakers meet up with Norfolk? We're going to bully them so hard that Cannon is going to get the first live wedgie in a game. Trust me on that."
Akane smirked. Vega wanted Akane back in the news? A comment like that is going to certainly be on the news. Now, she's got to make sure Dallas can actually deliver on her promise. She has no fear that they can't, though.
"[W]hat differences have you felt going into this new season vs your rookie season? Are you more confident? Less?"
This is a question that, bluntly, Akane felt like she already answered in this presser previously. She already talked about the experience of switching back to her college position, she already talked about training in between seasons, she already talked about how stacked the Dallas roster is compared to their rivals. What exactly anything new can she add to the table with this question? Best to just quickly summarize her thoughts on this topic and move on to the next one.
"I feel far more confident this season than the last. Everything that made Dallas so good last season, with minor exceptions, is still in place this season, but more refined. Me, and the rest of the Birddogs, have the tools in place to go all the way to the ultimini. It's just a matter of showing up to the matches and imposing our physical will on the other teams."
A little generic, but again, Akane isn't exactly sure what great last minute revelation she can add. Talk about finding a girlfriend over the offseason? Yeah, like she's going to get into her personal life like that to the media. Although, she won't lie, Elena does give her some extra motivation to try her best on the gridiron, at the very least.
"[A]s the dust has settled, do you feel any better about your landing spot in San Jose? They clearly need the help at your preferred position, so it seems like a great fit on paper."
Oh, now people want to go back to the San Jose landmine? Right near the end of the presser? What the fuck kind of timing was that question? In fact, you know what? She'd take talking about her new girlfriend to the media over addressing San Jose at this point. At least Elena makes Akane happy. This is just not a fun subject matter to address at all.
"As I said earlier, my intention is to focus exclusively on Dallas and winning the ultimini. My thoughts about San Jose and my role in the International Sim Football League are a problem for future Akane."
To at least answer the question internally, yes, she does feel a little bit better about San Jose than when she got the call on draft night. There is an element of getting to know the team representatives in San Jose better that is contributing partially to it, but bluntly its more just realizing if the other GMs that did want her as badly as they claimed they did, they would have drafted them. And they didn't. So fuck them. She's still not entirely convinced San Jose actually wanted her, versus not really having another choice in the draft given the way the chips fell, but at the end of the day, all the other ISFL teams had their chance to grab her and didn't. So bluntly she was equally no one's first choice, and whilst that hurt, she'll make sure to hurt their offenses even more in return. That's how she'll pay them back.
Vega, at this point, could sense Akane's growing resentment and frustration at the direction of the presser, and chimed in.
"We got time for one more question."
More hands went up, and one lucky person got called.
"[F]inally, as a Yajin, how do you feel your unique skillset and background set you apart from your contemporaries from the S50 class?"
OK, while there was a genuine point to this question that Akane could appreciate, she couldn't help but notice that the reporter called her a Yajin. A Yajin? What other fucking Yajins are out there in Japan anymore? No one lived in the fucking woods after thrown out of the house like she did. No one else had to fucking scavenge trash bins and literally trap game for a while in order to eat. No one would get into these anger trances and fight off an entire unit of cops by herself. No, there was no one else quite like her in the world. She wasn't a yajin, she was the Yajin! The Wildman! Or... wildwoman? Technically? The word contains the word "man"-- jin-- but its not really gendered in that sense though. Kind of like the word "manpower" in English, Akane guesses? Eh, that's not important. The important part is that there's only one of her in this world, thank you very much!
"Other football players will talk about growing up in adversity, but I assure you, I did the walking in adversity. I don't need to run my mouth about how hard I had it growing up, because I saw the problems in my life and fought them off as much as I could. I don't need to whinge about it after the fact. It happened, and I dealt with it to the best of my abilities, and its beyond me now. Didn't always succeed in everything, but its more about the struggle for the will of life than necessarily the results of it. I'm a fighter, and not just because I played for Kwansei Gakuin.
I highly doubt you take any of the other players in my class, and put them in the life situation I was in during the lowest part of my life, and that they'd even survive. Maybe they wouldn't have gotten to the lows I did in the first place-- some of my problems were ultimately self inflicted and could perhaps been avoided. I could have done things differently. But I managed to, with some help, pull myself up from the deliberating anger trances and survive and dare I say even thrive. I... I doubt few people in the league could have done the same, if they reached the same lows as me.
That's what any team that drafted me would have gotten. A true warrior, someone who actually had to fight to eat at one point. Not just someone playing the role for millions of dollars. No one in the league is going to know what true hunger feels like quite like me, what true desperation is like. That's why I always fight hard and play hard. Because I know what my alternative was, and I will be damned if I end up like that again."
Wow. That was... more raw than Akane was expecting to get into. She could feel her eyes watering a bit as the memories of those times, between losing everything and meeting Vega rushed into her head. The struggle to survive, the struggle to not get thrown into a box, the constant struggle to even eat. Its just all too much for her right now.
She can't break down now. Not in front of the media. Her reputation. It'd be over if she started to cry.
No.
Before Vega could even dismiss the media, Akane rushed out of her seat and dashed towards the backstage. Akane could hear Vega's confused reaction as the Japanese woman rushed out of her seat, but bluntly, Akane didn't care what exact words she said. She just needed to get out of there. Away from everyone. To be at peace again.
What a fucking first presser.
(OOC: I'm going to be doing this presser in-character! Therefore, I would really appreciate if you guys asked questions that would be reasonable for a real press conference; I'm trying to take this seriously. But feel free to ask about anything I may have touched in any of my media posts. Gossip is the only thing faster than light, after all~)
(OOC: Well, that concludes the first presser! I want to thank everyone who contributed questions to make this piece happen! I had a lot of fun writing this. I really enjoyed this format, and i'd love to do this again sometime after Akane's story progreses more! Consider this ready to grade)
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