Post by Envi on Dec 16, 2013 9:36:25 GMT -5
we were born ready
dec.13.thirteen3:03pm
It had been a long time since I’d seen my therapist. Norman N. Nemo was his name… and before, he had been a tall, dark, handsome man. He boasted confidence when he walked into the room and he was able to just pry. He had this way of getting in your head. He had this way of knowing you.
Of course, this summer, he had a bit of an accident. It was during a meeting I had with him, and though I had absolutely nothing at all to do with it, I’d called the ambulance in a panic. Several times I thought we’d lost him. But alas, Nemo pulled through. Throughout my summer and autumn he remained a prominent figure in my life. Things changed, however… maybe around October?
He’d collapsed, walking up his stairs. After spending days in the hospital, Nemo was released in a wheelchair while he was subject to daily physical therapy. I felt for him; truly, I did. He wasn’t physically or mentally capable of performing his duties. He wasn’t able to provide for his wife. Perhaps it was a dilemma that hit a little close to home. Maybe that’s why I decided to pay him a visit on that Friday the thirteenth.
Or maybe I just wanted to see how far he’d fallen.
”Hi.”
He pulled back his sliding glass door and greeted me as I stepped from the patio, into his living room. I smirked as I glanced down at his wheelchair.
”Nice wheels.”
”Nice autoimmune disorder.”
”Eat a dick.”
He smirked at me and closed the door, chuckling a bit to himself.
”I see the past two months have treated you well. Still the same Aubrey. What-- no shiny belt yet?”
”Not quite. Give it a couple of weeks. I’ll have some gold for you, boo.”
”I never got to congratulate you.”
I raised an eyebrow, ready to ask what he was even referring to, before he raised a hand and continued.
”The future Mrs. Talon Wilkinson, eh? Congrats. That’s a big step.”
I smiled faintly and nodded.
”We’ve got the date set. It’s in July… fuck, I can’t remember the day. The twenty-first, maybe? Twenty-second? I dunno.”
”Ah, it’s trivial. Whatever the day is, everyone’s gonna show up. Just don’t lose my invitation.”
I glanced around the house as Nemo wheeled away, guiding himself toward the dimly-lit kitchen which was attached to the living room/dining room hybrid. I followed him idly, taking notice of the abundance of paintings and decor that filled the room as opposed to the last time I’d entered the house, months ago.
”Where’s Brooke?”
”Probably still at work. The elementary school kids don’t get out for another half hour or so.”
He smirked and turned his head toward me as he entered the kitchen.
”You’ll know that soon enough when you and Talon have your--”
”That’s not happening anytime soon. You can forget it. I still have things to do. I still have to take PURE from obscurity to five-star, first-class sports-entertainment. Hell… I still have to partner up with Bails this week and beat Madison and Martinez. There are no little Aubreys in our future.”
”Bailey! Haha, the secret love of your life!”
”Yes, my Nubian prince, Bails. And y’know… this match? It’s been a long time in the making. Ahhh… and it was meant to be! Ebony and ivory, side-by-side, combating the forces of mediocrity and showing these people exactly what their main event at Crisis is going to look like. I mean, we’re the BEST that this place has got.”
”Yeah? Didn’t Bailey--”
”Yeah, yeah, he fucked up against Joe last week, but he’s a fuck-up. That’s just him. Can’t help that. I just have to hope that my brilliance is more than enough to compensate for it. I like Bails. I do. But-- the guy is known for being on the brink of greatness. And that’s what some guys are known for. Some guys can hold World Title after World Title and STILL never be considered great. That’s the guy I’m teaming with this week. Doesn’t have to be… right? He could dig deep and he could be great, right?”
”Can you?”
”What?”
”I mean, you’re sitting here, talking to me like I know him. I don’t know Anthony. Can you be great?”
I was shocked. But why, honestly? This was classic Nemo.
”I’m always great. Look at what I did to Madison in week one. Look what I did to Joey’s friend, Alessandra last week. Look what I did to four other--”
”I get it. I get it. You don’t have to prove aaanything to me.”
He wheeled himself forward and reached onto the island, swiping the keys to his Escalade from the countertop and turning to fix a curious gaze on me.
”Done Christmas shopping?”
”Uhhhh… most of it, I guess. Why?”
I’d asked without really expecting an answer. Whenever I was forward with him he just kept quiet, like he was trying to teach me a lesson or something. I could tell by that sickening smile on his face that he had something swimming in his head. And as he tossed me his keys, wheeling himself toward the door, I followed blindly as if I didn’t have a choice. Needless to say, I'm historically a victim of curiosity.
waking to the dream, aching to be thrown in the ring
dec.13.thirteen11:48pm
”...Norm took you where, exactly?”
”Soul-searching, Cassandra. It’s not a place.”
”And you felt the need to drag me out of bed to tell m?”
”I dragged you out of bed to tell you that I’ve had an epiphany!”
”Awesome. Tell me about it in the mor--”
”This place… this system in PURE… every step of the way, it’s like a fucking test, and I’ve been failing.”
Cassandra yawned and pushed herself up onto an elbow in her bed, looking at me with the tiny bit of light available leaking in through the open door.
”I’ll entertain you for about five seconds, alright? Youuuuu have done nothing but win in PURE Wrestling. So this conversation? I deem it irrelevant. You’re fine. Just learn to work with Bailey and… and be fine… blah. I’m going to sleep.”
With that, she flopped back down onto her pillow.
”That’s the thing. I’ve done nothing but win, except in tag team matches. This is supposed to be the chink in my armor; my fatal flaw. It's the part where big, bad AJP gets taken down by the bottom-dwellers because they’ve figured out that she can’t work with others. Maybe the ego’s too big and the flesh is too weak. Or maybe it’s a conspiracy, y’know? But it’s orchestrated by very, very clever minds, that may go farther than even Mike. They want me to--”
”You’re tipsy. Or drunk. Go to bed.”
”The people in that locker-room want to hate me!”
”I kinda hate you.”
”But nobody should! That’s why Norm and I went out, and we--”
”AUBREY!”
Cassandra sat up and although I couldn’t entirely distinguish her features in the darkness of her bedroom, I could tell that she was fixing a heated glare in my direction.
”Cool it. You are obsessing over this job, and you’re going to stress yourself out, and you’re going to make yourself more sick. If you’re so worried about the outcome of this match, then take into consideration that if you show up less than a hundred percent once again, then Martinez and Madison are going to hurt you. They can, and I know you know that. You can’t afford to get put on the shelf. You’ve already sacrificed too much. Now you’re forced to play a smart game-- and this? This isn’t it. They’re all in your head… even your own partner… even Callahan, who is probably doing absolutely nothing to screw with you. And now you’re waking me up at God-knows-what-hour, obsessing, and I’m about one monologue away from headbutting you. So how about this...”
Cassandra leaned closer.
”Sleep on it. And if you still feel like you need to talk to someone about all of this in the morning, then I’m your girl. Or-- or here’s an idea…”
”Hm?”
”Why don’t you give your tag team partner, Anthony Bailey himself a telephone call?”
I had nothing to say. My eyes had adjusted to the darkness and I could see the seriousness etched across Cassandra’s face, mixed with annoyance. I don’t know if her suggestion was truly an action to consider, or her last-ditch effort to persuade me out of the room, but I nodded as if I understood. Placing my hands on the edge of the mattress, I guided myself to my feet and leaned down to give Cass a kiss on the top of the head.
”Sorry for waking you up. You always come up with the best ideas, hm?”
”I try to.”
She ducked beneath the sheets again and muttered a muffled ”goodnight” from under the blanket.
I don’t know how long I lingered in the doorway after that, just kind of observing her under the blanket. Like-- you could tell from her outline how relaxed and carefree she was. I kind of longed for that kind of mentality. It’d been weeks since I’d slept peacefully throughout the night. It had been months since I’d lied my head on my pillow without a care. I must’ve watched her until she fell asleep, because she never poked her head out from under those sheets, even as the pattern of her breathing changed.
You don’t know how lucky you have it.
dec.15.thirteen6:54am
”I’ve been going about this the wrong way. Since week one, I’ve had the wrong idea about my role here in PURE Wrestling.
I thought that I was supposed to be this… this sort of anti-hero. I figured that was what these people needed, and sure, it was behind the guise of saying that I was PURE’s heroine, but you all know what to expect from Aubrey J. Parker at this point. You know that I simply can’t play that role for you, and believe me, I tried. I tried to do what was right… but it’s like bitches don’t want me to.
Last week, I had to slap Alessandra Nayara back into reality. I had this urge to shake her hand before the match… after the match… but you know what? I didn’t. Because she ran her mouth about stuff she knows absolutely nothing about. About what it takes to EXCEL in this business. She talked about how I wasn’t as good as the world said I was. It made me mad, ha. It… it made me wanna do bad things to her, but I didn’t; at least nothing as bad as I originally pictured.
So here I am, pacing around backstage before the match, thinking about what might happen if I went a little too far and sent Alessandra home with a torn ACL or a shattered meniscus. I thought about how that might affect Joe Martinez… but I figured that the two of them don’t give enough of a damn about each other for it to change much in the grand scheme of things. He wouldn’t learn a lesson from it. He knows he’s stronger than her. He knows he’s stronger than most.
No. Joe wouldn’t get the message through somebody else. Joe’s the kind of guy that you have to hand-deliver that shit to.
But regardless, I went out there and I fought her like she was Joe. I fought Alessandra Nayara and I beat her the same way I’ve beaten everybody else in this company, but I wasn’t able to walk away satisfied. I went into this match hoping that I’d be able to get some sort of feel for Joe… I was hoping that she’d give up something that I could hold onto and use against him, but that didn’t happen. She was worthless. It made me wonder how much of a connection they have as a team anyway.
So I guess it’s kind of an odd coincidence that we find ourselves in this predicament on PURE-TV this week. On one side of the ring is Martinez, a man who seemingly has zero chemistry with anyone else in this company, and his partner is Madison, a guy who knows alllllllll about me and what I can do in that ring. Right, Chris?
But on the other, we have… Anthony Bailey and myself. And for anybody that’s followed history, Anthony and I have been what you can call ‘rivals’ for over a year. I can’t think of any juncture of my career since 2012 that hasn’t in some way, shape, or form featured Bails at some turn. On paper, it doesn’t favor our team. We’ve never had to rely on one another before. Hell-- the one time we DID consider forming an alliance, for ONE MATCH in this company, we threw it out the window during the opening seconds. History would suggest that the two of us are incapable of working together. Period.
But I’m all about defying expectations. It’s what keeps us interesting. I like SURPRISING people.
Funny thing is, I know Anthony’s the exact same way.
I like to do it inside and outside of the ring, so I’ve decided to SURPRISE the three of you. I went Christmas shopping today and I got you guys some gifts. Because I care. And… it’s really easy, ESPECIALLY in this line of work, to kinda resent your co-workers around the holidays. And why wouldn’t it?! You’re trading punches and headlocks in the ring during the most wonderful time of the year! And I took it upon myself to bring some holiday spirit to our main event. Joe, I’ll start with you.”
I did something that I rarely do during these interviews, and I popped the lens-cap from the camera, revealing my tired, barely made-up 7:00 A.M. face, though I quickly shifted the attention toward the corner of the room where a fully inflated, anatomically correct blowup doll (which, for all intents and purposes, is named “Ally”) sat against the north wall of the Seattle hotel suite.
”I bought you a fucking friend, because it seems that’s the only way you’re gonna find a REAL one in this business. Ally’s gonna leave you the moment she surpasses you and Chris? Ha… after tonight, Chris Madison isn’t gonna wanna have anything to do with you unless it involves pinning or submitting you for that PURE Wrestling Heavyweight Championship.
You’re the X-factor in that Fatal-Four-Way at Crisis, Joe, but I’m gonna find out everything I possibly can about you tonight. I’m gonna take you to the limit, and with a little help from Bails, we’re gonna beat you. It seems like only two of us can have momentum heading into Crisis… I wish it were one, but I’ll make do. And you? At least when you’re done tapping out, clawing at the mat, screaming in agony, you’ll have a friend that you can turn to. Mmmm… kinda. Merry Christmas, boo.
AND MY OWN PARTNER! Anthony! I got you somethin’...”
I could barely suppressed my smile as I reached out of frame into the crate that I had kept Anthony's present in. With a little bit more flair than what was necessary I retrieve a single case from the crate bearing the name "Beyoncé."
"There's nothing underhanded about it. This isn't some metaphor for your afeminine tendencies. No... This is exactly what you asked for and this is me showing you that I can listen... I can come through even when the world expects me not to.. Whether it's something as trivial as getting the right Christmas gift or something as a momentous as winning the main event-- I got you, boo.
I always come through, by any means necessary.
And that's more than I can say for the last guest at our little Christmas party tonight. CHRISTOPHER MADISON! I'm still not quite sure how you even got invited to this thing!
Your gift is a little bit different. It's not something that you can keep or take home with you but it's something that you can think long and hard about...-
I'm going to give you the worst beating of your entire professional career. I found this gift of the most fitting... because I can't fucking stand you.
I looked you right in your eyes when you ran your mouth two weeks ago and told me that you didn't see it. In fact, I'll quote you! You said 'Call me stupid, call me foolish, I'm not impressed with what I've seen from you!' I am the only person here that's been able to break Chris Madison but you're not impressed! Let's not ignore the fact that this contradicts what you say on a daily basis. Let's not sweep under the rug the fact that you KISS MY ASS ON THAT MICROPHONE EVERY OPPORTUNITY YOU GET, BUT-- ha.
But the moment I walk into the door you decide it's time to put on your big boy pants so the rest of the world doesn't realize how fragile you actually are... Physically... Mentally... It's like you understand that I'm the best wrestler under contract in this entire industry, but you haven't fully come to terms with it. I'm breaking barriers but you can barely break out of an Armbar.
Submission specialist. Ell oh ell.
You're not special, Maddie. I prove that from the get-go but if you want another reminder then look no further. I hope you're not worried about your disheveled family or Mannie this week-- because it'll kill you, baby. I promise.
You know my name. You know what I can do aaaand what I'm willing to do!
Respect me, but don't hate me, boys. After all, I come bearing gifts! And maybe this whole time I was wrong the play the hero. Maybe I don't have what it takes to put the negativity and the haters behind me. Maybe I'm just not the PURE heroine you all need.
But whether I have someone at my side or I'm going it alone... I'm going to fight like I'm all you've got left."
fin.
