Post by Evan De Parker on Nov 28, 2012 21:56:01 GMT -4
"Okay... Show me."
Our scene slowly fades in from black. We’re situated on a plaid-designed armchair in front of the familiar fireplace in Evan Envi’s Baltimore, Maryland home. In a rare invasion of nightlife, it appears that Evan’s already comfortable, dressed in a pair of pajama pants that are comically similar to the very chair he’s situated in.
He pokes at the logs in the fire with the fire-iron, looking absently at the embers as they sail from the wood and into the air.
”So did you think about it yet?”
Though unbeknownst to us until this moment, Jenny Knite reclines behind Evan, lying on the carpet, an open copy of Cosmopolitan lying page-down on her chest. The blonde-haired, soft-spoken twenty-something extends her arm out toward Evan, reaching for his left hand-- but Evan retracts it and gives Jenny a sharp look.
”Shouldn’t you be going about now? It’s like, midnight.”
”I thought we were gonna watch X-Men!”
Jenny rolls over onto her stomach and positions her chin in her palms, resting on her elbows as she smiles up at Evan.
”No...”
Evan turns and looks at her steadily from over the arm of the chair, gesturing toward her with the fire-iron as if to emphasize his point.
”I’m going to watch X-Men. You’re gonna head home.”
”I can’t drive home, Evan. We’ve been drinking!”
”No...”
Evan looks at her crookedly.
”You’ve been drinking. All of my wine.”
”And you’re going to send me out there to duel with the elements?”
”I think you’ll be alright. It’s not raining or anything. It’s only twenty miles. I mean, how drunk are you, really?”
”What if I get into an accident?!”
Evan’s eyes narrow at her as he considers this, pausing for only a few seconds to mull it over cerebrally.
”Interesting thought, but I don’t see it happening.”
”What if I get pulled over and they ask why I’m drunk and I tell them it was at your place and they come arrest you?”
”I’m willing to take that risk.”
To make a point of it, Evan pushes himself up from the chair and walks over toward the antiqued wooden coffee table which serves as a bed for many items including Evan’s cell phone, an ash tray which is nearly overflowing with burned, crushed roaches-- and most notably, Jenny Knite’s keys.
Evan snatches them from the table in one grab and pivots to face her.
”Besides, you’re an adult. You think they care where you got drunk?”
”I’m twenty.”
”Bullshit. You told me you were twenty-one, just this morning.”
”I’m twenty.”
She repeats herself firmly and Evan parts his lips to retort, but slowly decides against it as he looks into her eyes. They didn’t flicker or shift with any sort of guilt. She was telling the truth, and Evan groans a bit as he accepts his inconvenient reality.
”What do you want from me?”
”I want what’s best for you. You came to me, looking for my help. You told me you wanted to be the MegaMegaStar, and look. We made you that. You told me you wanted to be in more high-profile matches, and look. You’re getting tha--”
”I’m getting the Sons of the South, Jenny. That’s what I’m getting. Mac Bane and a man that has the balls to go by his name, Buckson Gooch.”
”Is that not high-profile?”
”No!”
”Hm. Tell me why.”
”I shouldn’t have to tell you why! It should be blatantly obvious. How about you tell me why it IS?”
”I asked first.”
”...As far as everybody on Overdrive, and in APW knows, Bane and Gooch are nobodies. They’ve done nothing of merit in APW and this match does nothing to help me. It does nothing to help Delikado. They have no name value and if I’m going to become a name in this company, I should be out there with big names, beating them!”
As Evan is finished, Jenny looks up at him without uttering a word for a few seconds and then speaks, her demeanor not changing and her voice still as gentle, yet unwavering as ever.
”Is it my turn?”
Evan just sighs and drops her keys back on the table, finally able to come to grips that the confirmed twenty-year-old Jenny Knite was not going to be driving off of his property this evening. He makes his way back to the chair in front of the fireplace and falls backwards into it, leaning back as he gazes into the flames.
”This is your high-profile match. They’re in the Tag Team Title tournament. And you’re not.”
Evan leans forward and grabs the fire-iron, poking at the logs in the fireplace again.
”...And do you know why you’re not?”
He puts the poker down and turns to shoot Jenny another sharp look.
”If you say one more bad word about Delikado--”
”You’ll...”
Jenny raises an eyebrow and pushes herself up to a position where she sits on her heels, leaning back on her palms to give Evan a mischievous grin.
”You’ll what? Get mad? You’re always mad.”
”Am not.”
”You are, and I wasn’t going to say any bad words about your tag team partner. I was going to say that it’s crucial that you guys win because if you beat a team that’s still in the tournament, you’ll automatically be forerunners for the Tag Team Titles when winners are decided.
“But... Evan, you have to admit-- you guys had no business losing to Roy Speede and Donald Deruty last week.”
When he remains silent, her grin devolves into a faint smile.
”Remember what I asked you on Sunday, about how you were going to rebound if the unthinkable happened? If Envikado did get knocked out of the tournament?”
Still, Evan Envi remains quiet. By now, he’s rediscovered the fire-iron, and drums it against the floor, making a satisfying penetrating sound with each strike into the carpet.
”Well, this is your chance. Prove that Delikado’s a reliable tag team partn--”
”He is reliable. We had a hiccup. It happens to everybody.”
Jenny closes her mouth, smirking and nods obnoxiously to illustrate her newfound disinterest in arguing the point with Evan.
”Okay. Well, now is your chance to prove that you guys are a consistent tag team. What was it you said to Speede and Deruty-- that if they failed to win the titles, they’d be done?
“Well... Maybe you should start thinking the same thing. Maybe now that you and Delikado aren’t in the immediate running for the Tag Team Titles, you should be asking yourself how long Envikado’s gonna stick around... And ask yourself if he’s wondering the same things.”
She shrugs.
”I bet Mac Bane and Buckson Gooch aren’t having these thoughts though.”
”Is it so hard to believe that Delikado and I might actually be a unit? That we have no fatal flaw in our design?”
”Well, if you didn’t have a fatal flaw, Roy Speede and Don--”
”Yes, yes, I know. Flawed.”
”Work on it?”
”I just don’t see where we went wrong. We got outsmarted. We got duped...”
”Are you afraid yet?”
”Of what?”
”Of.”
”Jenny, what the fuck are you talking about? You sloppy bitch, my God. Stop babbling about my life. Eat some bread. Drink some water. Get out of my hoouuussse!”
He turns away from her and once more, turns his attention to the fire...
...But throws the fire-iron down against the brick exterior of the fireplace and throws himself to his feet, murmuring obscenities in frustration.
She needn’t say it.
Evan Envi stands, completely aware of what Jenny Knite is inquiring when she asks ”are you afraid yet?” and it pierces him, pricking at his skin with tenacity akin to a tick. He angles himself toward Jenny, who is back to her feet as well, unfazed by his outburst and greeting his bitterness with a warm, mesmerizing smile.
”Would you be disappointed in me if I told you that I wasn’t who everybody thinks I am?”
Jenny looks at Evan with a challenging smirk and then answers, very delicately...
”Yes.”
Evan nods slowly and turns away, walking toward the foot of the stairs. He rests a forearm against the banister and scratches at the wooden finish, aimlessly.
”I’m not afraid of Bane and Gooch.”
Jenny continues to look at him, expectantly.
”...But yeah, it kind of sucks thinking about what happens if we can’t even beat the good ol’ boys, y’know? I don’t like the idea of Envikado after a loss to the Sons of the South. Know what I mean?”
”That makes two of us.”
”Right...”
Evan looks up from the banister and turns away from the stairs, walking toward Jenny with his arms folded in front of his chest.
”Let me ask you a question.”
”Gladly.”
”...Why the hell do you care? Why are you so involved?”
Jenny smiles at Evan and places her hands on her hips, mocking Evan’s “serious” posture.
”I want to be the mastermind behind an international icon. An idol. With you, I don’t have to pull any strings. I don’t have to manipulate you. In fact, you should be thanking me for all of my sound advice, friend... You’re learning from me, and vise versa.”
”WHAT?! What do you MEAN you don’t have to manipulate me?! You lied about your age for months! And the only ‘advice’ you’ve given me has consisted of don’t lose and plan for what happens when you lose.”
”That’s good advice, Evan. Some people would pay hundreds of dollars on the internet for that advice.”
Jenny and Evan’s eyes both dart toward the coffee table as Evan’s phone vibrates and rings erratically, screaming the lyrics of his ringtone-- the ringtone that played only when his girlfriend, Michelle Weaver was calling.
”Push it to the limit!
Walk along the razor's edge!
But don't look down just keep your head, or you'll be finiiiii--!”
Evan gasps in horror as Jenny makes a wild grab for the phone. He dives for it, and falls to his knees on the carpet in front of the table, but is a second too late! His fingertips graze the screen of the iPhone as Jenny pulls it up off of the table and brings it to her ear.
That bitch.
”Hello?”
Evan’s heart sinks as he watches. He hears the hesitation in Michelle Weaver’s voice as she responds on the other end, but can’t, for the life of him distinguish what she’s saying. Jenny’s eyes travel toward Evan, although still intent on the call. She grins.
”That’s wonderful! Yes-- he’s right here. Would you like to talk to him?”
More hesitation. Evan feels his face growing red, and he knows it’s obvious, but he finds himself unable to care. With each passing second, he likes Jennifer Knite a little bit less. His jaw clenches and he holds his hand out, silently demanding the phone.
”Kaaaay. Here he is.”
Before Jenny can complete the “transaction”, Evan snatches the phone from her hand and turns away from her, talking as he marches up the stairs.
”Hello?”
Evan doesn’t realize it, but he holds his breath as he awaits for the now-expected hesitant response.
”Evan...”
...And he can only breathe a loud sigh of relief when he hears that the person on the other end is not Michelle Weaver, but ten-year-old Chastity Weaver, the demon child that Evan found himself more-or-less in charge of far more often than he’d like.
”What? No Mr. Evan today, kid?”
”Who was your friend?”
”...Jenny.”
”Sounded cute.”
Evan is the person to hesitate this time, strolling into his bedroom and closing the door behind him. He sits down on the edge of his bed and speaks in a hushed voice.
”She’s my agent. Kind of. It’s a long story.”
”Is it not late for a business meeting, sir?”
Evan starts to respond, but stops and furrows his brow as a thought crosses his mind.
”Um. Isn’t it late for a child to be making phone calls? From someone else’s phone, no less-- what do you want?”
”I need you to pick me up from school tomorrow.”
”When?”
”One.”
”Hah. You’re F’d, kid. I’m going to be packing up and making the trip to Providence at one.”
”I know. You’re taking me with you.”
”No. I’m n--”
”You and your I-make-house-calls-at-midnight business associate are in no position to tell me no, sir.
“...You won’t be able to reach me at this number again. See you at noon, Mr. Evan.”
”Wha--!”
Click.
Evan looks at the screen which boasts the words Call Ended. He rolls his eyes and puts the phone down, lying back in his bed with his hands over his face, groaning. It was becoming obvious, in very short order, that Evan Envi was losing control over any and all aspects of his life.
”You’d probably be better off without them, you know.”
Evan sits upright, looking dead ahead at Jenny as she stands in the doorway, clearly having pushed the door open silently sometime after the phone call.
”I guess that’s your opinion.”
”I wish you’d take the things I said seriously, Evan.”
”I bet.”
Evan leans slightly to his left to gaze past Jenny and point to a darkened room at the far end of the hall.
”There’s the guest room. You can sleep there tonight.”
Jenny turns and looks down the hall into the room. It appears that she’s preparing herself to say something but instead she stops, turns to Evan, and flings herself onto him, wrapping her arms around his neck into a tight embrace. Evan has to steady himself to not fall backwards, wrapping one arm around her back for support and another palm on the mattress.
Soon enough, she lets go and turns, skipping with a newfound pep, only pausing once outside the doorway to turn and give him a smile.
”Night.”
With that, she turns and disappears into the shadows that make up the guest room. Evan sits cross-legged on the bed, looking down at her, and finds himself uneasy at the fact that he can no longer see Jenny Knite.
He turns and reaches toward his bedside table, tuggin a small chain beneath the lampshade to execute the light from the entire room.
"Has it ever occurred to you that part of being a parent is tryin' to kill your kids?"
We slowly fade into a scene where Evan sits before us, quite possibly in the same couch that we saw earlier. The lights are completely off, and the delicate embers of the flame, coupled with the teal glow of moonlight coming from the late night or laughably early-morning sky, are the only thing that give us even the slightest view of Evan’s face. The scene is so serene that Evan nearly seems out of place when he does begin speaking.
”Winning starts with the beginning.”
Evan exhales and relaxes in the armchair.
”Usually this is the point in the night where I tell you guys how I’m going to win, and how amazing and brilliant my tag-team partner Delikado is, and that Envikado is unstoppable...
“But due to recent events, I don’t feel that it’s appropriate to say that. It’s no secret that while Delikado and I couldn’t even beat a team bred solely from Meltdown, people like Mac Bane and Buckson Gooch have been turning heads every single week... For twenty-eight days.”
Evan laughs a little and runs a hand through his hair.
”It took twenty-eight days for the Sons of the South to get the call up from Meltdown to big brother Overdrive, and I applaud that. That’s an achievement that I can’t even lay claim to. While I struggled, and fought, and clawed my way to the top on Monday Night Meltdown for three months, Bane and Gooch make it here and land a match against the original Meltdown Megastar, me, in four weeks.
“Even while competing on Monday nights, you guys managed to beat an Asylum star in... Johnny Knuckles... But an Asylum star nonetheless, so I have to give credit where credit is due. Props. I can see why Rebel and Diamond were so eager to draft you.
“Twenty-eight days.
“Twenty... Eight... Days...”
Again, Evan laughs, and he’s not as quick to stop this time. A few seconds later, he settles into the still that we’ve become accustomed to these past moments.
”Twenty-eight days and they fed you to the wolves, gentlemen.
“You see, you guys came into APW with the right idea-- you each have somebody watching your back, making sure that nobody else can come up and wedge a knife in it. And for a while, that gig’s gonna take you places. Pay-per-views. Main events. And it may even secure you a Tag Team Title reign, but in the environment that we’re in, you two are going to have to face an overwhelming pressure to adapt and survive to the extreme conditions of Thursday Night Overdrive.
“One of you might get a shot at a championship while the other is left toying around in the undercard. We might find out a lot about the Sons of the South during their journey through Overdrive, ladies and gentlemen. We might find out who’s better between Mac Bane and Buckson Gooch. And you wanna know somethin’?
“I think it’s Gooch.”
We can’t see his face entirely, but we see enough to recognize that Evan Envi is smirking, pleased with the gravity of his latest comment and, likewise, unwanted opinion.
”I think Buckson Gooch has the ability to be an Undisputed Champion in this business one day and I say it because I wrestled him last week, and despite his unfortunate and borderline-inappropriate name, I couldn’t sit here with a straight face and tell you that he’s going nowhere. I didn’t get a chance to lock up with Bane, but I think the powers-that-be on Overdrive made a judgment call last week.
“They decided for themselves which one of you two had the star power, and it wasn’t Bane.
“By the time you headed to the back, Gooch, you were bruised, bloodied, and confused because you got beat by a makeshift team that, combined, didn’t even equal your size. You were given a really graphic teaser-trailer for things to come from now on Thursday nights... But that’s not a bad thing. You got to experience that match because you have something your partner lacks.
“Charisma.”
He leans forward and prods at the logs, casting more embers into the air.
”Twenty-eight days.”
Evan laughs aloud and turns to the camera, gesturing toward us with the fire-iron, bringing the point dangerously close to the lens.
”I’m not counting you out though, Bane. You’re not a slouch in the ring and I will take great pleasure in systematically destroying every part of your body until your own brain is screaming at you to stop... To submit.
“I say that because when I watch you week-in and week-out preparing for the match at hand, there’s a large part of me that thinks you don’t entirely understand what’s at stake. I fear that you look at this match as something that just fills up a spot on the card, but here’s how I see things...
“If you can’t make it past Delikado and I tomorrow night then what in the hell makes you think you’re gonna make it past Jair Hopkins and the former World Heavyweight Champion, Anthony Bailey next Monday on Overdrive? If you can’t beat Envikado, what makes you or anybody else thinks that you’re worthy of competing for Tag Team gold?
“If I don’t go out there with the intention of leaving you a broken shell of YesterBane, then I’m not being fair to our beloved new Meltdown draftees.”
He snickers.
”In all reality though?”
Evan reaches out of frame, behind the couch, retrieving another long, rectangular piece of firewood. He tosses it into the fire and within seconds, the flames grow brighter, finally giving us a clear look at the face of Envi despite being illuminated by a now-brilliant orange.
”I couldn’t care less if you guys succeed here on Overdrive or not. And if you wanna know why...
“It’s because I know for a fact Delikado doesn’t. I know my tag team partner won’t hesitate to beat you... To death... In between those ropes, and by default, I’m not allowed to care. I’m not allowed to have compassion. I’m not allowed to have this tick in my head that lets me know when to stop. And Gooch, Bane, that’s the way I prefer it.
“As a unit, Envikado has one goal on Overdrive, and it’s to completely assimilate the Sons of the South. We want that gold. We may not be getting it by Christmas Chaos, but I will be DAMNED if we don’t get it. And if you guys, by some stroke of luck-- by some blessing of the gods manage to win those championships, we want you to remember the one team that was able to put you down.
“That’s us.
“We’re gonna make you guys famous on Overdrive, and we’re going to do it with a style and a fierceness that you’ve never bore witness to prior. We’re going to put on the biggest, most memorable tag team clinic in Action Packed Wrestling’s history, and we’re going to remind everybody watching why those championships mean a damn.
“Twenty-eight days... And it all comes to this.”
Evan looks directly into the camera now, and for a second in his position, the flames can be seen dancing in the reflection of his eye.
With each passing second, it grows brighter and angrier.
”After tomorrow, nobody’s going to forget your names-- we promise. And don’t-- don’t confuse this with arrogance. Don’t think that I’ve retracted my statements from this beginning of this message. I won’t promise a victory. I don’t make promises.
“...I can say, with confidence though, that we’ll make you. Deli and I? We’re gonna make you boys into something special. Something spectacular. Something Mega... Mega, if you will.
“We’ll create you.
“And then we’ll murder you in cold blood.”
There is no flinch, and no changing of tone as Evan says this. He continues to look calmly into the camera, and as the flames grow higher, we can now hear them licking the wood, popping as they collide with the oncoming oxygen.
”It’s all figurative, though, isn’t it?”
The words drift out eerily. Finally, Evan’s eyes drift away from the camera and back into the belly of the contained fire.
”Win or lose, we’ll make sure to leave you with the kind of battle scars that they base nicknames after.
“After a short twenty-eight days, gentlemen, you find yourselves coming face to face with reality, and it looks a hell of a lot like us. You’ll try. You’ll fight a great battle, and in spite of our creation, we’ll strike you down. There will be no hesitation. Hah... And there’ll be no remorse.
“Just the ring, your blood, and the sound of thunderous applause as the masses praise your failed... Attempt... At survival.”
We blink out to darkness, and for a few seconds we can only hear the crackling of the fireplace.
”Winning starts with the beginning. Gooch. Bane.
“Pick a new beginning.”
After a few seconds, the crackling ceases and we are no longer accompanied by the persistent nipping of the flames, but embraced by silence.
"You know, when someone believes in you, man, you can do anything, any fucking thing in the entire universe. And when you believe right back in that someone, then watch out world, because nobody can stop you then, nobody! Ever!"
