Post by Damon Graves on Oct 9, 2016 4:41:52 GMT -5
Serendipity Bridal Salon
Austin, Texas
Friday, October 7, 2016
Scene fades in on a pair of white chairs, where Damon Graves can be seen sitting with his head tilted back, staring at the ceiling. This time, he’s not alone in his misery, as the other chair is occupied by his trainer, Jason Perry. The two men seem about as out of place as anyone could possibly be, especially Damon, who clearly would rather be anywhere but his current location.
Jason: Get used to it, kid. You’re gonna be a married man soon, and unfortunately, this is all in the job description.
Damon rolls his eyes, tilting his head to the side as he gives the veteran grappler a look that just screams “shoot me now”.
Damon: To sit around, bored out of my fucking mind while she tries on dresses? What happened to the dress she had?
Jason: You don’t remember? Alicia’s sewing machine took a shit, and ended up wrecking the fabric.
The tattooed superstar casts his eyes to the table in front of him, which was covered in (what else) bridal magazines.
Damon: Oh. Tell me... just how many disasters did you have to deal with when you and Alicia got married?
Jason runs a hand through his jet black hair, chuckling at the question.
Jason: Let’s see... her mother tried to have me arrested the day of the wedding... said I’d kidnapped her daughter.
Damon sits back in his chair, gripping the armrests as if he had been sitting in a car that had suddenly slammed on the brakes.
Damon: Damn, and I thought I had parent issues.... She really did that?
Jason: Yeah, she did. Of course, she also got herself thrown in jail for filing a false report. Then, the officiant got stuck on the freeway because of an accident.
Damon: I’m almost afraid to ask; it didn’t rain, did it?
Jason strokes his goatee as he thinks back, then nods his head.
Jason: Actually, it rained a little bit that morning. But by the time I got to the Queen Mary, the roads were bone dry.
Damon: Lucky break, I guess.
Damon’s in-ring mentor leans forward, resting his forearms on his knees. He gives Damon a reassuring smile.
Jason: I look at it like this... if you don’t have a bunch of shit going wrong, it’s not a real wedding. Makes for a great story to tell after a few years.
From the back of the store, Aurora’s voice can be heard. Of course, she is obscured from the men’s line of sight by the sea of bridal white that surrounds them.
Aurora: Nope... it’s just not having the effect I thought it would.
Alicia: Too bad; it looked perfect on the hanger. Oh well... there’s still nine other dresses to try on.
Incredulous, Damon points in the direction of Aurora’s voice as he looks at Jason.
Damon: Did I just hear her right? NINE more dresses?
The big man shakes his head and shrugs.
Jason: Maybe we’ll luck out and she’ll find THE dress sooner than that.
Damon: You know, I just can’t understand why women put so much energy into a dress that they’re only going to wear once.
Jason: It’s simple... ideally, they only do this once, so they want everything to be perfect. Even if it’s just something small, this is the one chance that ANY woman has to feel like royalty.
Aurora: Why am I suddenly reminded of that scene in Runaway Bride?
Alicia: You’re right... that does look like the “Ding Dong Dress”.
Aurora & Alicia: ♪Ding-dong, ding-dong!♪
Aurora: Hey, YOU picked this one out!
Alicia: Touché.... Next!
Both men shake their heads as Jason laughs. Damon lets out a quiet sigh as he looks off in Aurora’s direction, perhaps visualizing what was going on beyond the massive wall of white satin.
Damon: But she IS royalty... to me, anyway.
A proud smile comes over Jason’s face as he looks at his protégé. He nods in approval.
Jason: And that’s all that matters.
The pair sit in awkward silence for a few minutes, with Damon pulling his cell phone out of his pocket. He scrolls through Twitter, rolling his eyes as he gets a look at his feed.
Damon: Ugh... Why did I let Alicia talk me into signing up for Twitter again?
Jason: Because even with all the bullshit you find on there, it’s a great way to get your name out there.
Damon groans in annoyance as he puts his phone away. He slouches into his chair, putting his hand to his forehead.
Damon: Yeah, well when it comes to the amount of STUPID I see, I can only stand a few minutes before I want to douse my eyes in bleach.
Jason chuckles as he sits back in his own chair.
Jason: Amen to that!
There’s another chunk of awkward silence before Damon takes another look in the direction of Aurora and Alicia. Puzzled, he leans forward, tapping Jason on the knee to get his attention.
Damon: Hey, Jason... is it just me, or has it gotten quiet back there?
Jason leans to one side, his eyes narrowing as he tries to listen. Sure enough, he doesn’t hear anything that sounds like the girls.
Jason: You’re right... Think they ditched us?
Damon: Not likely. I...
An alert chimes through Damon’s phone. As he checks it out, his jaw drops and his eyes look like they’re about to pop out of their sockets.
Damon: What the fuck? She just charged HOW much?
Jason: SHHHH! Here come the girls now.
Aurora and Alicia emerge from the back as Jason and Damon stand up. Damon does his best to push back the case of sticker shock, as he notices the huge smile on his bride’s face, and the large black garment bag slung over her shoulder. Jason taps Damon on the shoulder, giving him a knowing look.
Jason: So... all done?
Aurora: Yup! And this time, no one’s touching a stitch on this dress until the day of the wedding!
Damon looks at Aurora with his eyebrow raised, a look of mild disapproval on his face. Aurora brushes it off.
Aurora: Don’t look at me like that, Puddin. It was a necessary expense...
Damon rolls his eyes and groans.
Damon: Ugh... after this, I’m never getting married again.
Aurora: That’s kinda the idea...
The four of them laugh as they walk out of the shop.
End Scene.
Barton Creek
Austin, Texas
Scene fades back in on a rocky section of the creek, with the water breaking past trees and boulders of various sizes. Sitting on one of the larger boulders that jutted up from the creek bed sits Aurora Knight, with Damon Graves standing close beside her. The two rising stars take a moment to take in the scenery before looking into the camera.
Damon: You know, with all the shit that’s gone down over the past few weeks, a lot of people would think that Aurora and me would’ve crumbled. After all, the business that we put so much of ourselves into gets firebombed, and then, in a match where Rebel Ink was the odds-on favorite to win the Redemption Wrestling Tag Team Championships… we didn’t. I’m not going to lie and say that we took all of it in stride. Speaking for myself, there was a little while there where I wanted to say “fuck it” and crawl under a rock….
Worst 30 seconds of my life….
But once i came to my senses… thanks to my beautiful bride, Aurora and a good, swift kick in the ass…
Damon takes a hold of Aurora’s hand as he smiles at her before turning back to the camera.
Damon: I calmed down and started putting things into perspective.
Aurora: With everything on our plates, going at all of it without some sort of game plan would be pretty damned stupid, and despite what our critics may say, neither of us are stupid people.
Our business? That can be rebuilt. Yeah, it’ll suck to have to start over from scratch, but eventually, we will see that dream come to fruition, and Rebel Ink will be back in business and better than ever.
Damon: Our wedding? That’s back on track. It’s a hectic situation, to say the least, but by the end of this month, Aurora and I will be husband and wife, and that’s the only thing that matters to me... to US.
Yet, neither of those things are the number one priority at the moment….
Aurora: The number one priority is to correct the one ugly blemish on our record in Redemption Wrestling. Rebel Ink never expected to be handed the Tag Team Championships on a silver platter, we’ve made that perfectly clear. But the match at Zero Hour left a bad taste in my mouth, and there’s only one thing I can think of to get rid of it.
Chaos Love, I hope you’ve savored every single moment you could holding onto those belts… After all, you made history. You are the very first Redemption Wrestling Tag Team Champions, and that’s something nobody can take away from you. What CAN be taken away from you are the belts themselves, and Rebel Ink is the team that plans on doing exactly that.
And I gotta tell you, you’re not exactly making it difficult for us.
Damon helps Aurora get down from the boulder, her boots making a crunching sound as the smaller rocks shift beneath her feet. Together, they move at a slow pace along the edge of the creek bed.
Damon: If your intention was to put us to sleep, you almost succeeded… almost.
What were you thinking, folks? Did the idea to put up the most generic, insipid piece of drivel really run through your minds? So, ten out of ten for chutzpah, but minus several million for good thinking, huh? Or has the concept of actually WINNING those belts left you so completely dumbfounded that anything more profound than the blatantly obvious is beyond your capability?
As champions, you and Carrot Top are supposed to bring EXCITEMENT to Redemption Wrestling, but the whole “humble” shtick just isn’t gonna work, Tucker. Frankly, if the two of you were any more unhip, your asses would fall off! On the flip side of the coin, Rebel Ink MAKES the fans want to tune into Glory, because they know that they’ll be entertained. We bring in ratings, and that’s not bragging, it’s undisputable fact.
Aurora: So, being the magnanimous kind of people we are, we’re going to do the fans a favor and give them champions that they can get behind, champions that will give them their money's worth each and every time we appear.
Seriously, give us one good reason that anyone would pay to see you. With a name like Chaos Love, there's a certain expectation of something interesting happening. Hate to break it to you, but you ain't living up to the hype. Perhaps you may want to think about changing your name before someone decides to sue you for false advertising. I mean, the “love” part is there. That couldn't be more obvious if you ran around with Cupid himself chasing you, shooting arrows into both your asses. You love each other, we get it.
Damon: What we DON'T get is the chaos.
He rolls his eyes as Aurora kicks at a loose rock. It bounces off the trunk of a tree and into the water.
Damon: What about you is so fucking chaotic? Sure as hell isn't anything inside the ring…
I mean yeah... technically, it went down in the record books that Chaos Love defeated The Pride, Radicalliance ‘85, and Rebel Ink at Zero Hour, but let something sink in for a second; winning the belts wasn't the hardest thing…. Now you actually have to defend them. And it's a whole different ball game, kids.
This time, there aren't any glamour models or time-warped twits in the ring to fuck things up. Just the four of us, with no goddamned distractions. You're getting Rebel Ink’s full attention, and that’s something you just aren't prepared to handle.
Aurora: In the relatively short time we’ve been a team, we’ve set a standard that other teams take years to achieve, and neither of you are even close to matching up.
Damon: And there’s a price to pay for not measuring up, and in your case, the price is going to be those tag team championship belts that you cherish so much.
Scene fades to black
