Post by Damon Graves on Oct 29, 2017 21:12:49 GMT -5
Count’s Vamp’d Bar
Las Vegas, Nevada
Sitting at a table by himself, we find NGW competitor Damon Graves, nursing a draft beer and halfway listening to the house band playing onstage. His eyes are closed and his breathing denotes something serious going on inside his head. His reverie is broken by the sound of someone clearing their throat. His eyes snap open to see his trainer, Jason Perry, standing on the other side of the table with a bottle of Jeremiah Weed bourbon liqueur and a couple of shot glasses.
Jason: You sure you're old enough to be in place like this, kid?
Damon gives a half-hearted chuckle.
Damon: Thanks for meeting me here, Jason.
Jason: I have to admit, toy threw me for a loop when you asked me to meet you HERE of all places.
Damon: To be honest, I'm not quite sure WHY I chose this bar….
Jason: Not trying to sound like an ass, but people only come to a place like this to do some heavy drinking…
The ebon-haired behemoth pulls up a chair next to Damon and press one of the shot glasses in front of Damon. A second later, it's full of the amber liquid.
Jason: So… if you're gonna be drinking, you may as well do it right.
After pouring himself a shot, he holds it up and waits for Damon to do the same. The two men knock their shots back. Damon, Not being much of a drinker, coughs and sputters as the liquor burns it way down his throat.
Damon: Gah! How can you stand to drink this stuff?
Jason: Years of practice. Now then, what's going on in your head?
Damon pauses for a moment.
Damon: It's about the adoption.
Jason raises an eyebrow.
Jason: Complications in the process?
Damon: No, nothing like that….
Jason: Then what's the issue?
Another pause.
Damon: (softly) I'm scared…
Jason pours Damon another shot, which he downs, not reacting quite as bad as with the first one.
Jason: Let me guess, first-time father jitters?
Damon nods.
Damon: Right now, I'm scared shitless…
Jason: Nothing to be ashamed for admitting…
Damon: What about you? How were you before the twins were born?
Jason: Petrified. Couldn't talk to my old man for advice…
Damon: And I'd just as soon call myself an orphan than have anything further to do with Martin.
Jason: Yeah, Saybrook kept me up to date about the trial. Remorseless son of a bitch, your father….
Damon: DON'T CALL HIM THAT!!
Patrons from nearby tables turn around to see what the commotion is all about. Jason turns to face them.
Jason: Nothing here that concerns any of you, so go about your business.
The people turn away as quickly as their necks will let them. Damon runs his hand through his hair, blushing slightly.
Damon: Wow, that made me look like a total ass….
Jason: No, that one was on me. I should have known how you felt about that subject.
Damon: I just have this fear that I'll turn out to be just like him. It was bad enough dealing with that shit when I was a kid. I don't want to subject Aurora or our child to that kind of hell.
Jason: Just the fact that you can vocalize that fear means you're a lot closer to overcoming it than you realize.
Damon: But what if I make a mistake?
Jason: News flash, Damon, you're GOING to make mistakes; so will Aurora. Part and parcel of being new parents. The best you can do is to make sure that those mistakes are little ones and try to learn from them.
Damon: Aurora seems to be handling this a lot better than I am…
Jason: Stands to reason. Comparatively speaking, she had a much more stable upbringing than you did.
Damon: No shit.
Jason: But trust me, she had concerns, too. She needs you just as much you need her. Be there for each other and your child, and you'll find that it's not as scary as you thought it was.
Damon: Thanks for the advice.
Jason: No problem.
Damon eyes the bottle of liquor sitting on the table warily.
Damon: We’re gonna have to finish this off, aren’t we?
Jason: ‘Fraid so. It’s already paid for, but they aren’t gonna let either of us walk out of here with it.
Damon: This might take a while….
Jason: Yeah, but I know of something that’ll make it a lot easier to deal with…
Damon: Bar food?
Jason: Yup. But I’ve been here before; the food is actually pretty good here. So, I’ll go grab us something to chow down on. Sound good?
Damon: Sounds good.
Jason stands up and heads off to place their order, leaving Damon alone with the bottle of booze. Damon stares at it for a few seconds.
Damon: Ah, fuck it….
He pours himself another shot.
Damon: Well, Johnny, at the next Dissension, you and I face off. No special stipulations, no big hoopla, nothing. On paper, this match could be chalked up to being a “filler” bout. Just a match to keep people's asses in the seats between the curtain jerkers and the main eventers. No hype, just two guys having a match that nobody's going to give a shit about.
Fuck that, Maverick.
I am not consigning myself to some career limbo. I didn't dedicate my career to being mediocre, Johnny. I started out with dreams of being a champion, and even now, they still flutter around in the back of my mind. Like a lot of us, I bounced around the independent circuit, winning a few titles here and there, but outside of those rinky-dink outfits, nobody knew who the hell I was.
Now that I've struck out on my my own, so to speak, I'm literally the last man anybody would expect to make any sort of waves in the title scene, and I won't lie, Maverick, that gets to me. In the past, I put up a brave facade and acted as if this sorta shit didn't affect me. Now, the way I see it, I can do one of two things: I can accept how people view me in this business and just kick back and collect a paycheck.
Or….
I can take all the negative bullshit people have been spewing, pack it into a great big ball, and make these cocksuckers fucking choke on it!
See which way I'm leaning, Johnny? I knew you could, even without your “psychic powers”....
Buuuutttt….
Damon slams back the shot. He still winces a bit as it goes down.
Damon: That leaves us with this little “dilemma” on our hands. Well, it's a dilemma that depends on who's looking at it. From my point of view, it's not so much a dilemma as it is an object lesson. And that lesson is not to take me lightly.
I'm done playing the dancing clown for everyone to laugh at. If this industry wants to not take me seriously, then I'm going to MAKE it take me seriously. If that means going through you to do so, then it sucks to be you, Maverick.
When people talk about the up and comers in NGW, they’ll throw out names like Jack Tillman or Coda. Nothing against either of them, but when they get to me, it’s more like “what the fuck is this guy doing in the rankings?”
So if I want to change opinions around here, something’s gotta change. Playing the smartass with an attitude just ain’t cutting it. It’s time for me to dial down the smartass, turn up the attitude, and crank the intensity up to 11.
The joke’s over, folks. I’ve stopped laughing, and after Dissension, so will everybody else.
Scene fades out as Damon pours himself another drink.
