Post by SalTal on Dec 22, 2012 9:12:01 GMT -4
Internet Explorer-*click*-Favorites-*click*-APW.com-*click*-Christmas Chaos-*click*-Sally Talfourd-*click*-Loading...
"Sally Talfourd presents ..."
is written across the screen, fades out, then
"In association with Action Packed Wrestling..."
is next to appear, holds, then fades out for
"Happy Endings T.V."
Which finally fades to a shot of Sally Talfourd. She’s stripped bare. No, not that bare. She’s just...looking normal. You know, civilian and casual. There’s no flare, no razzle-dazzle. It’s just Sally Talfourd, that girl from Seattle. Yeah, ok, her world title sits draped over the arm of the couch that she’s sitting on, but that’s as impressive as it is. She’s staring off, out of the shot, to the TV that’s making that annoying background noise - though it does sound familiar.
[Shane] What’cha watching?
[Sally] One Night in Hell. It’s on repeat. This hotel isn’t so bad for TV, but not much else.
Sally digs around the pillows on the couch to find the remote, then clicks it off. She pulls up her legs under her chin, staring down at her feet. Looking like this - stripped down from the “showtime” and the “spotlight” - she looks almost small, almost tiny. Both in mind and body. Her eyes, vacant for the moment, just stare. After a moment, Shane has to break the silence.
[Shane] Penny for your thoughts?
[Sally] Ha! A penny? That’s a bit overpriced. *Sally looks up, finally, with a smile*[/b] Plus, maybe you don’t want to know what I’m thinking.[/color]
[Shane] It’s about business, isn’t it?
[Sally] Maybe. Maybe not. You’ll never know...
[Shane] Bet you I can guess.
[Sally] I bet you every person who knows that Christmas Chaos is on tomorrow can guess!
[Shane] A-ha! I knew it was business. Come on: spill the beans. What’s troubling you?
[Sally] It’s not trou...troubling isn’t the right word. It’s something else. More like...what’s a softer word than obsessed?
[Shane] I don’t know.
[Sally] Well, whatever it is. That’s it. I can’t stop thinking about this match, you see. It’s Asylum’s most important for the night. Heck, it’s the most important for the year! It’s going to be the last thing written about 2012 and the first thing written about 2013. I’m worried that what we’re doing...what the Pillars are doing...I’m worried it’s it’s going to be left in 2012 or be allowed to grow to full potential in 2013. I mean, if it;s the case that a Phil Atken victory is the best thing for Asylum, then fine. But what it what’s best for Asylum isn’t best for me or for the Pillars?
Sally started all this by saying she was going to make Asylum all the better. The Pillars are fighting for that even now. Each week they have done it since they formed. They promised to bring the best matches and the best champions. But could it be that while the Pillars can put on the best matches...they might not be the best champions?
[Sally] Are you recording this? If you are, I think we should leave this out or save it for behind the scene or something.
[Shane] Why’s that?
[Sally] Because the Pillars are here to represent strength, not weakness. We’re pillars of virtue, of something people should aspire to be in their own lives. And that’s what I’ll be in my match against Atken - strong, determined, virtuous. But if he sees this doubt? *Sally sighs*[/b] I tell you what, Shane. I think I want to do this episode alone. Just, put the camera on the chair...take a thirty minute break. I’ll meet you down in the lobby and we’ll go out for dinner later.[/color]
[Shane] You sure?
Sally nods, and behind the camera, Shane understands. It’s a big match, this one. And he’s seen her like this before. It’s always right before the title defenses, the night before. Sally needs a moment with her thoughts, the quash the doubts that every wrestler has. And she does it best alone. The camera shakes around as Shane just leaves it on the chair he was sitting on. A moment later, there’s a door opening and a door closing, then Sally untucking herself to lean into the camera.
[Sally] You got me, Phil. You really got me. You got me thinking and you got me wondering. You got all sorts of ideas going through my head. Even though I trained hard. Even though I prepared better. Even though I scouted you out something fierce... you’ve still got me thinking. Thinking about the alternatives, about the outcomes. Yes, I expect a hard contest and yes I expected one hell of a match, but I knew not to think right to the end. Don’t think about the outcomes, think about the process. The outcome will take care of itself. But you got me thinking. Think about what happens if either of us win.
Sally rests back on the couch, a big smile across her face. It’s a smile of disbelief, given that she’s entertaining the idea of Atken raising the title at the end of the match.
[Sally] Phil, if you win, I’ll be the first to congratulate you. I’ll be the first to shake your hand and I’ll hand you the title. We Pillars, we want to make Asylum better. And, you want to know a secret? It doesn’t matter who the winner is, Asylum will be better for it. How can it not? *Sally smirks at the camrea, a touch of sarcasm in amongst those words*[/b] I mean, here you are Atken. You’ve come from no where to be Johnny on the Spot. You’ve come from being the punchline to being the punching contender. You’ve come from being the laughing stock to being the cream of the crop. You’re the inspiring story of Asylum this year, aren’t you? And doesn’t that make for a great Asylum - the champion who fought hard, came from obscurity, and defeated one of the biggest names APW has ever had? It’s the feel-good story of the year, Phil! And what a great Asylum we would have there. You’ll have shown everyone that a person can come from obscurity to rule the world! That people’s lives can be turned around because of fate and golden opportunities. That’s what your career’s been like, Phil. That’s what life’s like.
Or is it?[/color]
Sally slides to the edge of the couch, reaches over to take up the camera, then brings it real close to herself, resting it on her knees. She’s looking right down the camera, right down at anyone watching, but uncomfortably close. As if in the process of tell one of life’s real secrets.
[Sally] Is that what real life is like, Phil? Is the real world like that? Please, we both know the truth. For every great success story we hear...for every Hallmark movie made...there’s someone failing. There’s someone losing. There’s someone who is looking at you and wondering why is it that you, Phil, can get to the top and they can’t? Why so many othershave to climb to the top and fail along the way while you can take a chairlift right to the peak! That’s right, Phil. You’ve had an easy right. Heck, you’d had the best ride of any Asylum megastar to vie for this title.
Sally fumbles the camera over to get a real close up on the APW World Heavyweight Title. Glistening, radiant, gold. But the dominant thing of the shot: The black letters spelling out Sally Talfourd. She doesn’t bring the camera back to herself just yet, she holds on the title.
[Sally] I’m sure you remember coming so close to getting this, Phil. I’m sure you remember One Night in Hell and how tantalizingly close you got to winning this title. I bet it burns you inside. But Phil, that fire you feel is nothing but a match compared to the wildfire the burns in me. The tests and the failures and the fights I’ve had to go through to get this? They have stoked my fire. They’ve stoked it so that it won’t go out any time soon. But you...you don’t have this fire yet. You don’t have the history to have it. You’ve been handled in cotton wool every day you’ve been in APW. You’ve been handed opportunities where others...*It’s at this point Sally brings the camera back to herself, that awkward shot from before, to remind everyone who one of these ‘others’ is*[/b]...others have had to fight and earn their opportunities. Look at the last time you came close to getting this belt.
Who did you have to qualify against? Who did I have to qualify against?
Who did you have to ‘beat the clock’ against? Who did I have to?
When did you come into the chamber match? When did I?
Let’s face it Phil: You’re a protected species here. A child whose innocence so many people have been trying to protect. A piece of art that everyone can look at, but never, ever touch. You have always got an easy ride, a good ride. And if that’s the system’s fault or management’s fault or your fault...ok, whatever. Maybe you’re to blame, maybe you’re not. But no matter what the case, you’ve had it easy. And now? Now you’re about to get a taste of what the real world is like, Atken. You’re about to step into my arena - an arena where to even think about winning, you need to have been through the testing fires. You need to have been to the very top, come crashing down, and then climb all the way back up. Have you been through that? Where is your Level-One at Rasslemania? Where is your start to finish chamber match twice? Where is your Undisputed Title? Where is your World Heavyweight Title? Where is your ... well, where is your anything? Show me, Phil. Show us all. Yes, we all start somewhere. But you’re not starting with me.[/color]
Sally’s face, animated and almost furious, settles down. That mind - that racing mind behind her eyes - starts to fall back a gear, go back to her normal pace, her normal routine. She lets out a sigh, then stands up, wobbles the shot over to the camera where Shane originally left the camera, and takes her seat back across from it. The intimacy is over - back to professionalism.
[Sally] Atken, you might give hope to the ‘down and out’ people of the world, but it’s nothing more than false hope. You give people a dream...but that’s all it ever is for most people. A dream. You winning would be a dream...but that’s all it will ever be as well, Atken. *Smirk from Sally*[/b] What do I bring? What do I give the fans that separates me from you? I don’t put dreams in their head, but ideas. Thoughts. Knowledge. I teach, I don’t deceive. I don’t fill the fan’s heads with lies, I fill them with lessons that they need to know. The lessons that they need to become someone like me, and avoid ending up like you at the end of Christmas Chaos: Down and out. There’s our difference, Atken. I teach those children watching that being like you...that’s the quick and cheap route to success. And even that success is temporary, much like your stint here at the top.
You see, we will fight at Christmas Chaos and the world will see you for your skills and talent and ability - and it will amount to little enough to beat Mr. Dangerous over on OverDrive.
Things like hard work gets you ahead. That determination is essential. That the way to the top is through the hard road, not the Atken road. On our last Asylum, you were trying to stack the match. You were trying to stop our progress. You were trying to get another opportunity handed to you all over again. I show the world that yes, sometimes the odds are against you but that you don’t always win. Think of all the failures I’ve had in my career here. Then think about what the fans have learned from it, not to mention all the things I’ve learned from it. I’ve lost some of the biggest matches, the biggest opportunities, the biggest chances at greatness that APW has ever offered me. But when I’ve lost, I’ve worked hard to get to a place like this. Atken, you’ve wallowed in the Asylum trough for years and then you get handed everything on a silver platter to get a shot at what I’ve worked for.[/color]
Sally goes to speak again, but doesn’t. She cuts herself off, thinks, then starts up again with a satisfied nod.
[Sally] When you see this episode, Atken, you’re going to see that at the start I wanted to cut out a bit where I talked about my self-doubt. I’m going to leave that in for you, Phil. Leave that in so that you can hear how real I am, what sort of challenges I’ve been through, and how I’ve come out at the end. I want you to listen to those words of hardened experience and ask yourself: Why don’t I sound like that? Why don’t you have the doubts that I do? Because you don’t know what it’s like up there in the main event. You don’t know the level of competition that I’m expecting from you. I’m preparing for one hell of a fight...a fight that you might not be able to bring. *Sally holds up her hands in defense of herself*[/b] Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think you’re an easy beat and I don’t think you’re a fool. You know that second chances are rare in our business and you’ll fight hard. You’ll dig deep and you’ll fight hard in this match. And you’ll push me further than someone like a Kash or a Bailey because they’ve been here before. Giving them a shot is rewarding mediocracy, because that’s what lost them their spot in the first place. You’re slightly above them. But even then, you’re mind isn’t ready yet. [/color]
Sally pushes off from the couch, walks around the table between the camera and herself, and crouches down. All this with her darling smile thet drew the fans to her some years ago.
[Sally] Phil, you think you’re ready for this. I know you do. But something else I know is that you’re not. I know you haven’t got that drive, deep down, that you’re going to need at the 40...50...60 minute mark. When I’ve run you ragged for the first half of the match and you’re sucking in breaths twice as fast as you were expecting. When I’ve not only worn down but ruin your shoulders or your knees or you neck. I know you’re not going to have that strength, deep down, that you need to push out of that pin after you’ve tasted your last Happy Ending.
Sally smiles, a smile to her fans and a smile out to Atken, then reaches towards the camera. There’s a shaky bit then, bzzz. It’s switches off. After a moment, there’s a slow fade out to a blank, black screen and then into...
Sally Talfourd
written across the screen, which in turn fades away as the episode comes to a close.
"Sally Talfourd presents ..."
is written across the screen, fades out, then
"In association with Action Packed Wrestling..."
is next to appear, holds, then fades out for
"Happy Endings T.V."
Which finally fades to a shot of Sally Talfourd. She’s stripped bare. No, not that bare. She’s just...looking normal. You know, civilian and casual. There’s no flare, no razzle-dazzle. It’s just Sally Talfourd, that girl from Seattle. Yeah, ok, her world title sits draped over the arm of the couch that she’s sitting on, but that’s as impressive as it is. She’s staring off, out of the shot, to the TV that’s making that annoying background noise - though it does sound familiar.
[Shane] What’cha watching?
[Sally] One Night in Hell. It’s on repeat. This hotel isn’t so bad for TV, but not much else.
Sally digs around the pillows on the couch to find the remote, then clicks it off. She pulls up her legs under her chin, staring down at her feet. Looking like this - stripped down from the “showtime” and the “spotlight” - she looks almost small, almost tiny. Both in mind and body. Her eyes, vacant for the moment, just stare. After a moment, Shane has to break the silence.
[Shane] Penny for your thoughts?
[Sally] Ha! A penny? That’s a bit overpriced. *Sally looks up, finally, with a smile*[/b] Plus, maybe you don’t want to know what I’m thinking.[/color]
[Shane] It’s about business, isn’t it?
[Sally] Maybe. Maybe not. You’ll never know...
[Shane] Bet you I can guess.
[Sally] I bet you every person who knows that Christmas Chaos is on tomorrow can guess!
[Shane] A-ha! I knew it was business. Come on: spill the beans. What’s troubling you?
[Sally] It’s not trou...troubling isn’t the right word. It’s something else. More like...what’s a softer word than obsessed?
[Shane] I don’t know.
[Sally] Well, whatever it is. That’s it. I can’t stop thinking about this match, you see. It’s Asylum’s most important for the night. Heck, it’s the most important for the year! It’s going to be the last thing written about 2012 and the first thing written about 2013. I’m worried that what we’re doing...what the Pillars are doing...I’m worried it’s it’s going to be left in 2012 or be allowed to grow to full potential in 2013. I mean, if it;s the case that a Phil Atken victory is the best thing for Asylum, then fine. But what it what’s best for Asylum isn’t best for me or for the Pillars?
Sally started all this by saying she was going to make Asylum all the better. The Pillars are fighting for that even now. Each week they have done it since they formed. They promised to bring the best matches and the best champions. But could it be that while the Pillars can put on the best matches...they might not be the best champions?
[Sally] Are you recording this? If you are, I think we should leave this out or save it for behind the scene or something.
[Shane] Why’s that?
[Sally] Because the Pillars are here to represent strength, not weakness. We’re pillars of virtue, of something people should aspire to be in their own lives. And that’s what I’ll be in my match against Atken - strong, determined, virtuous. But if he sees this doubt? *Sally sighs*[/b] I tell you what, Shane. I think I want to do this episode alone. Just, put the camera on the chair...take a thirty minute break. I’ll meet you down in the lobby and we’ll go out for dinner later.[/color]
[Shane] You sure?
Sally nods, and behind the camera, Shane understands. It’s a big match, this one. And he’s seen her like this before. It’s always right before the title defenses, the night before. Sally needs a moment with her thoughts, the quash the doubts that every wrestler has. And she does it best alone. The camera shakes around as Shane just leaves it on the chair he was sitting on. A moment later, there’s a door opening and a door closing, then Sally untucking herself to lean into the camera.
[Sally] You got me, Phil. You really got me. You got me thinking and you got me wondering. You got all sorts of ideas going through my head. Even though I trained hard. Even though I prepared better. Even though I scouted you out something fierce... you’ve still got me thinking. Thinking about the alternatives, about the outcomes. Yes, I expect a hard contest and yes I expected one hell of a match, but I knew not to think right to the end. Don’t think about the outcomes, think about the process. The outcome will take care of itself. But you got me thinking. Think about what happens if either of us win.
Sally rests back on the couch, a big smile across her face. It’s a smile of disbelief, given that she’s entertaining the idea of Atken raising the title at the end of the match.
[Sally] Phil, if you win, I’ll be the first to congratulate you. I’ll be the first to shake your hand and I’ll hand you the title. We Pillars, we want to make Asylum better. And, you want to know a secret? It doesn’t matter who the winner is, Asylum will be better for it. How can it not? *Sally smirks at the camrea, a touch of sarcasm in amongst those words*[/b] I mean, here you are Atken. You’ve come from no where to be Johnny on the Spot. You’ve come from being the punchline to being the punching contender. You’ve come from being the laughing stock to being the cream of the crop. You’re the inspiring story of Asylum this year, aren’t you? And doesn’t that make for a great Asylum - the champion who fought hard, came from obscurity, and defeated one of the biggest names APW has ever had? It’s the feel-good story of the year, Phil! And what a great Asylum we would have there. You’ll have shown everyone that a person can come from obscurity to rule the world! That people’s lives can be turned around because of fate and golden opportunities. That’s what your career’s been like, Phil. That’s what life’s like.
Or is it?[/color]
Sally slides to the edge of the couch, reaches over to take up the camera, then brings it real close to herself, resting it on her knees. She’s looking right down the camera, right down at anyone watching, but uncomfortably close. As if in the process of tell one of life’s real secrets.
[Sally] Is that what real life is like, Phil? Is the real world like that? Please, we both know the truth. For every great success story we hear...for every Hallmark movie made...there’s someone failing. There’s someone losing. There’s someone who is looking at you and wondering why is it that you, Phil, can get to the top and they can’t? Why so many othershave to climb to the top and fail along the way while you can take a chairlift right to the peak! That’s right, Phil. You’ve had an easy right. Heck, you’d had the best ride of any Asylum megastar to vie for this title.
Sally fumbles the camera over to get a real close up on the APW World Heavyweight Title. Glistening, radiant, gold. But the dominant thing of the shot: The black letters spelling out Sally Talfourd. She doesn’t bring the camera back to herself just yet, she holds on the title.
[Sally] I’m sure you remember coming so close to getting this, Phil. I’m sure you remember One Night in Hell and how tantalizingly close you got to winning this title. I bet it burns you inside. But Phil, that fire you feel is nothing but a match compared to the wildfire the burns in me. The tests and the failures and the fights I’ve had to go through to get this? They have stoked my fire. They’ve stoked it so that it won’t go out any time soon. But you...you don’t have this fire yet. You don’t have the history to have it. You’ve been handled in cotton wool every day you’ve been in APW. You’ve been handed opportunities where others...*It’s at this point Sally brings the camera back to herself, that awkward shot from before, to remind everyone who one of these ‘others’ is*[/b]...others have had to fight and earn their opportunities. Look at the last time you came close to getting this belt.
Who did you have to qualify against? Who did I have to qualify against?
Who did you have to ‘beat the clock’ against? Who did I have to?
When did you come into the chamber match? When did I?
Let’s face it Phil: You’re a protected species here. A child whose innocence so many people have been trying to protect. A piece of art that everyone can look at, but never, ever touch. You have always got an easy ride, a good ride. And if that’s the system’s fault or management’s fault or your fault...ok, whatever. Maybe you’re to blame, maybe you’re not. But no matter what the case, you’ve had it easy. And now? Now you’re about to get a taste of what the real world is like, Atken. You’re about to step into my arena - an arena where to even think about winning, you need to have been through the testing fires. You need to have been to the very top, come crashing down, and then climb all the way back up. Have you been through that? Where is your Level-One at Rasslemania? Where is your start to finish chamber match twice? Where is your Undisputed Title? Where is your World Heavyweight Title? Where is your ... well, where is your anything? Show me, Phil. Show us all. Yes, we all start somewhere. But you’re not starting with me.[/color]
Sally’s face, animated and almost furious, settles down. That mind - that racing mind behind her eyes - starts to fall back a gear, go back to her normal pace, her normal routine. She lets out a sigh, then stands up, wobbles the shot over to the camera where Shane originally left the camera, and takes her seat back across from it. The intimacy is over - back to professionalism.
[Sally] Atken, you might give hope to the ‘down and out’ people of the world, but it’s nothing more than false hope. You give people a dream...but that’s all it ever is for most people. A dream. You winning would be a dream...but that’s all it will ever be as well, Atken. *Smirk from Sally*[/b] What do I bring? What do I give the fans that separates me from you? I don’t put dreams in their head, but ideas. Thoughts. Knowledge. I teach, I don’t deceive. I don’t fill the fan’s heads with lies, I fill them with lessons that they need to know. The lessons that they need to become someone like me, and avoid ending up like you at the end of Christmas Chaos: Down and out. There’s our difference, Atken. I teach those children watching that being like you...that’s the quick and cheap route to success. And even that success is temporary, much like your stint here at the top.
You see, we will fight at Christmas Chaos and the world will see you for your skills and talent and ability - and it will amount to little enough to beat Mr. Dangerous over on OverDrive.
Things like hard work gets you ahead. That determination is essential. That the way to the top is through the hard road, not the Atken road. On our last Asylum, you were trying to stack the match. You were trying to stop our progress. You were trying to get another opportunity handed to you all over again. I show the world that yes, sometimes the odds are against you but that you don’t always win. Think of all the failures I’ve had in my career here. Then think about what the fans have learned from it, not to mention all the things I’ve learned from it. I’ve lost some of the biggest matches, the biggest opportunities, the biggest chances at greatness that APW has ever offered me. But when I’ve lost, I’ve worked hard to get to a place like this. Atken, you’ve wallowed in the Asylum trough for years and then you get handed everything on a silver platter to get a shot at what I’ve worked for.[/color]
Sally goes to speak again, but doesn’t. She cuts herself off, thinks, then starts up again with a satisfied nod.
[Sally] When you see this episode, Atken, you’re going to see that at the start I wanted to cut out a bit where I talked about my self-doubt. I’m going to leave that in for you, Phil. Leave that in so that you can hear how real I am, what sort of challenges I’ve been through, and how I’ve come out at the end. I want you to listen to those words of hardened experience and ask yourself: Why don’t I sound like that? Why don’t you have the doubts that I do? Because you don’t know what it’s like up there in the main event. You don’t know the level of competition that I’m expecting from you. I’m preparing for one hell of a fight...a fight that you might not be able to bring. *Sally holds up her hands in defense of herself*[/b] Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think you’re an easy beat and I don’t think you’re a fool. You know that second chances are rare in our business and you’ll fight hard. You’ll dig deep and you’ll fight hard in this match. And you’ll push me further than someone like a Kash or a Bailey because they’ve been here before. Giving them a shot is rewarding mediocracy, because that’s what lost them their spot in the first place. You’re slightly above them. But even then, you’re mind isn’t ready yet. [/color]
Sally pushes off from the couch, walks around the table between the camera and herself, and crouches down. All this with her darling smile thet drew the fans to her some years ago.
[Sally] Phil, you think you’re ready for this. I know you do. But something else I know is that you’re not. I know you haven’t got that drive, deep down, that you’re going to need at the 40...50...60 minute mark. When I’ve run you ragged for the first half of the match and you’re sucking in breaths twice as fast as you were expecting. When I’ve not only worn down but ruin your shoulders or your knees or you neck. I know you’re not going to have that strength, deep down, that you need to push out of that pin after you’ve tasted your last Happy Ending.
Sally smiles, a smile to her fans and a smile out to Atken, then reaches towards the camera. There’s a shaky bit then, bzzz. It’s switches off. After a moment, there’s a slow fade out to a blank, black screen and then into...
Sally Talfourd
written across the screen, which in turn fades away as the episode comes to a close.
