Post by Coda on Sept 28, 2017 7:47:43 GMT -5
DATE: 09.28.17
CAMERA STATUS: ON
Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
-Nothing Gold Can Stay by Robert Frost
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
-Nothing Gold Can Stay by Robert Frost
You watch as the poem etches across the screen without a word once the video began. As you take the time to read the italicized words marred against the black background, thoughts of grief began to flood your mind as you wondered what it could mean in this context. Could it be superficial — the gold symbolizing the gold of the Young Lions Championship or could it be much more significant? Before you could begin to pick apart the meaning of it all, the poem slowly faded out in favor of the sight you were expecting from the beginning.
Coda sits quietly in a park with her delicate hands gripped tightly around the two ropes surrounding her. White-knuckling the long blue threads at her sides, The Destroyer swung to and fro with an eerily stern expression straight in your direction despite the cheerful setting.
"Do you understand what I have done?"
Her vague verbiage caught your attention straight away as she continued swinging back and forth in the park with the sun wide slowly setting behind the woman known as Coda. The brand new NGW Young Lions Championship was draped over a second seat of the swing, folded neatly and kindly as it listened to her every word, almost as eager as you to hear what the champion would have to say.
"I have held onto the Young Lions Championship longer than anyone ever held onto this championship before. I have made it prestigious while it was little more than a prop when it was not in my possession. I am sure you can agree, yes?"
Matter-a-fact in delivery, her words never wavered in confidence.
"Hardly defended and hardly spoken about in the same reverent tones as it is spoken today, I have managed to rip out the Young Lions Championship from the cold, lifeless hands of obscurity with strength and skill the likes of which NGW or Redemption Wrestling have never seen. I hold this accolade with respect. I carry this pride with me wherever I go, so long as the rules and regulations allow me to do so. I fight to defend it whenever necessary in the face of a challenge which may make me stronger in the end — something other champions do not understand."
With a soft smile, Coda continued to push herself back with the soles of her shoes meeting the light brown dirt.
"I do not know Yujiro well but in this respect... We seem to be similar."
Without much more explanation, 'The Seoul Of NGW' continued her deliberate plotting.
"I have accomplished much in such a short tenure. I have knocked out alleged 'monsters' and I have tapped out alleged 'gods'. I have claimed the crowning jewel that is the Young Lions Championship at a speed of which would more than likely impress most and I did it all... without losing my heart."
You noticed her words were echoing the same words Kayla Richards spoke in her own promo video recently. As your eyes widened, you wondered why Coda would do this or maybe it was a coincidence?
"I did not need to strip away my humanity to be successful under Devlin Scott's regime. I did not need to become something I was not in order to climb the ranks when NGW was called Redemption Wrestling. I embraced humanity and I made the rest who believed themselves better than the same creatures inching our planet closer and closer to the apocalypse as global warming wroughts this planet and animals become hunted to extinction look like fools. I embrace humanity and all its follies despite the fact that many would refer to me as less than human like it is a disposable term given to the people who carry some semblance of normalcy — an idea that continues to mean less and less with each passing tick of the clock."
"I will not bore you and repeat the words I have been saying since I have walked into this federation but I will say this: All my life, people have attempted to strip away my humanity with their words and their actions. Employers refused to hire me because of what I am and small-minded individuals made me feel like I was a blemish in the eyes of an otherwise 'perfect' society. I was made to feel like I was worthless. I was made to feel like I was not like the others when all I wanted was to feel some sort of intrinsic value to the world around me."
Coda paused carefully as she spoke with a passion, plotting her words carefully as you watched with wide eyes. You could tell she meant every single word and while it might not have been the most conventional way to say it — those Coda-isms sprinkled overtop as she was known to do in everything she did — it still spoke to you in a way that was loud and clear.
"I wanted to feel human while others wanted to surpass it like it was a crutch. I do not understand them. I never will."
You wondered if you were starting to understand Coda better than you ever had before with just those few simple words. Maybe she wasn't that much different from you whatsoever, you pondered.
"On the debuting episode of NGW Dissension... I defend the NGW Young Lions Championship I hold dear against quite possibly my strongest challenge yet — Honey. While some of you might scoff at this proclamation, I understand. She is innocent. She is pure. She is gold. She is everything others in this sport lack and while this might have its obvious downsides in a world where innocence has become a rare commodity... I believe it is a quality to be admired rather than looked down upon."
Coda stopped her swinging as if to counter her own words and looked straight into the camera.
"She is different, yes. She is unique. Even Alechs, Adrien Cochrane, and the rest of The Guardians would tell you the same. I cannot speak for her but I believe Honey believes it to be true as well. However, she is The Super Falcon Cup 2017 winner as well. She is a NGW Tag Team Champion and I believe she can become one of the strongest fighters in wrestling today although I am unsure of the cost that she would need to pay to accomplish this task."
She huffed.
"Would more confidence somehow squander the innocence she has become known for? Would she grow arrogant and abandon the qualities I admire in an attempt to be known as the one wrestler who stands far above all others? Would she sacrifice the gold of innocence in an attempt to capture the gold of a championship she wants so desperately to call her own?"
She thought about it for a moment, her head slouched down slightly.
"Although I know she would answer with a resounding no should she be watching right now... I am afraid to know the answer. I am afraid to know she will one day change in a fundamental way and I am afraid that one day, she will become like me."
"I do not know how to explain this adequately. It might seem ludicrous to you but I am sure you have seen countless people in this sport sacrifice themselves in order to get ahead. You see people like Kayla Richards discarding her humanity like a crutch and people watch as it becomes normalized beyond belief. How much longer until this happens to Honey? How much longer until this happens to all the others I consider friends? How much longer until—"
The words caught in her throat, the emotion of the thought coming out in full force.
"How much longer until the rest of the world uses up all its gold?"
Running a palm over her forehead and rubbing it down her features, she let her arm drop down to her side.
"What I am attempting to say is... I would like to discover a way in which Honey can find great success far beyond what she expects to achieve while at the same time assuring that she stays the same Honey we have all grown to know. I want to protect her. She is my friend. The world is not a place that accommodates people like us. I know I cannot change it. All I can do is protect her from it. All I can do is assure she is ready."
You noticed it was hard for her to form the proper words, to express her feelings on the subject. You knew she was trying hard, though.
"At times... Honey feels like a little sister. I might insult her from time to time. I might tease her. However... I feel like it is my duty to protect her."
"I have suggested this match. I have suggested that Honey and I fight for the prize I hold so dearly. I do this in an attempt to make her stronger as well as make myself stronger. I do this because Honey deserves this chance."
"My words might be an unpopular opinion regarding the people I have aligned myself with in The Destroyers but I do not care. I see no reason to lie. I speak the truth as I see fit."
"And should I lose to the woman I consider a little sister and should I need to give her the NGW Young Lions Championship... She will have deserved it. I would be discouraged, yes. I would be upset that I was not able to defeat her, however, I would be proud of Honey at the same time. It is a feeling I am struggling to grasp."
Coda briefly smiled softly as she started to swing back and forth on the playset again.
"I will do everything in my power to show Honey everything I am capable of doing inside the ring, however. I will not hold back. I will show her what it takes to be the NGW Young Lions Champion and I will see whether or not she can stand toe to toe against every challenge she may have to face in the future."
As she paused for an inordinate period of time, she suddenly glanced at the camera as she attempted to swing all the way around the center axis of the swing.
"Stay gold... Keep your humanity... Believing you can surpass this is a waste of time and a waste of everything good about you."
She focuses on swinging for a moment longer as she stares straight ahead with a small smile on her face.
"Are you listening, Kayla? Please... Do not allow me to lose faith in you."
With that, the YouTube video abruptly came to an end.
