Post by Damon Graves on May 27, 2018 3:18:04 GMT -5
Inglewood Park Cemetery
Inglewood, California
Friday, May 25th, 2018
Scene opens with the Graves family walking slowly amongst the tombstones and grave markers. Damon pushes his daughter's stroller while Aurora carries a small basket with her. Damon doesn't pause to look around, as the route to his destination is permanently etched in his memory.
Damon: We're here….
He reaches down into the stroller and gently picks up his infant daughter.
Damon: Hello, Mom…
Damon sniffles just a little as he looks down to read the inscription on the grave marker:
Anna Andrea Adams Graves
1975 - 2007
Beloved Daughter and Mother
Aurora: I see that apart from her name, there’s no mention of Martin...
Damon: Yeah… when she died, Martin proved just what a heartless bastard he really was. He was content to just leave her in the morgue to rot. Grandpa Ted had to claim her body.
Aurora: Here’s hoping that our daughter will never have to meet him.
Damon: Amen to that, Harley…
Damon kneels down and lets Ysera reach out and touch the stone. She coos while patting her tiny hand against the memorial.
Damon: Mom, meet Ysera Amber Quinn Graves… (choking) your granddaughter. I'm sorry I wasn't here to visit on Mother's Day...
Aurora lays a comforting hand on Damon's shoulder.
Aurora: You couldn't help that you were in the other side of the country, Puddin. I don't know if it's any comfort, but better late than never….
Damon sits Ysera down, letting her feel the grass around her for a moment.
Damon: Yeah, it does help, Harley. (Sighs) Anyway, can I see the basket for a sec?
Aurora hands the basket over to Damon. He opens the lid and pulls out three lilies. He places them one at a time on his mother's marker.
Damon: One for me, one for Aurora, and one for Ysera… Happy belated Mother's Day, Mom. I'll do my best not to stay away for so long….
Damon picks up Ysera and hands her back to Aurora. She starts to fuss as she sticks her hand out in the general direction of the marker.
Aurora: Don't worry, sweetie. We’ll let you stretch out some more in a few minutes.
The Graves’ make their way over to a different tombstone. The camera pens down once more to read the inscription:
Theodore J Adams
CPO
US Navy
Vietnam
Jan 18 1946
Mar 14 2017
Loving Husband
Father And
Grandfather
This time, Aurora picks up Ysera while Damon kneels down next to the tombstone.
Damon: Hey, Grandpa Ted….
The camera catches Damon's face, where tears are welling up in the corners of his eyes. He closes them and breathes for a minute, composing himself. Once he calms down, he motions for Aurora to pass Ysera over to him.
Damon: Sweetie, this is Daddy's Grandpa Ted…. Grandpa, this is my daughter, Ysera Amber Quinn Graves.
He sets Ysera down, so that she can explore some more.
Damon: Gods, I wish you could see me now…. A loving wife, a beautiful daughter, a successful business… right now, I'm the happiest I've been since…. Damn, I can't even remember when I've been this happy. But I regret that it didn't happen soon enough for me to share it with you while you were still here.
Aurora: Puddin, I have the feeling that he IS watching you, and that he's proud of you. I know I am, and I'm not the only one….
Damon: And that's what keeps me sane sometimes.
He reaches over and opens up the basket, which is now sitting in the stroller. He pulls out what appears to be a photograph, which he places at the base of the tombstone. He gently brushes his fingertips over the inscription before turning away. He picks up Ysera and cradles her as he places her back in the stroller. Damon and Aurora walk away from his grandfather’s grave with their daughter in tow, while there, on the tombstone, sits the image of Damon Graves and his Young Lions Championship.
With that, the scene fades out.
Saturday, May 26th, 2018
Scene cuts back in abruptly. It's obvious that this is being shot with a handheld camera, albeit a high quality one. We’re greeted with the image of Damon’s face filling the screen, the usual cocky smirk plastered on his face.
Damon: You're gonna have to excuse the quality of this, but considering where we're at…
Damon turns the camera around and sweeps across the interior of a Boeing Business jet, richly decked out in black leather.
Damon: ...it's not quite spacious enough for a full camera crew.
We've got a real busy weekend ahead of us…
Damon pans over to an area of the cabin set aside with a desk. Sitting at the desk is Damon’s manager, Alicia Perry, busy scanning her laptop and jotting down notes on a pad.
Damon: Here we have our manager, who's hard at work, as usual, making sure her clients are all taken care of, and take it from me, she does a phenomenal job.
He pans across to the other side of the jet, stopping to film his trainer, Jason Perry, studying something on a tablet. Upon seeing Damon pointing the camera at him, the massive grappler looks up and scowls through strands of long black hair that have fallen in front of his eyes.
Damon: Ain't that a friendly looking face? More than likely, he's studying up on the opponents he and Alicia are facing in the Tag Team Trials going on later tonight…
Boy, are they fucked…
Speaking of the Tag Team Trials, Alicia would probably kill me if I didn't mention the fact that another one of her clients, Donovan Basch, is also competing. He and his partner are representing West Coast Genesis, and as recent events have shown, you really can't dismiss any of them as scrubs.
Damon continues down the aisle, stopping to film Aurora as she shares some playtime with Ysera. She looks up, smiles and waves Ysera’s little hand at the camera.
Damon: Next up is my beautiful, talented wife, who's going up against a well respected veteran, Dead Eye, who recently returned to NGW. Hell, I've wracked my brain, but I really can't badmouth the guy. Still, I'm rooting for my Harley….
Damon finds an empty seat, sits down, and turns the camera back so that the lens is facing him again.
Damon: Me? Well, depending on how you look at things, I've either got a cakewalk…. Or I'm in for a long fucking night. I get the… honor of defending my Young Lions Championship against Levi Adams….
Yay….
I get to face Mr. Tragedy…. “ Ooh, look at me. I'm all morose and mysterious. Nobody knows the real me….”
You're right, Captain Bitchcakes, nobody knows the real you… or the fake you… or ANY fucking version of you. And there's a very good reason for that. Apart from a whiny attitude, sprinkled liberally with some f-bombs, why the hell would anyone WANT to get to know you?
But I'm not in the position to choose who I defend my title against, and it's just as well, because I enjoy a good fight, so the “who” doesn't really factor into it all that much.
So, if you can drag yourself away from your latest pity party, I'll see you in the ring at Victory and Honor. I won't be hard to find, Adams. I'll be the guy with the tattoos and the shiny gold championship belt...
Before he can say anything else, the sounds of “Love The Way You Hate Me” begin to play out of Damon’s phone. He sets down the camera and pulls out his phone to answer the call. An unseen hand positions the camera so that Damon is in frame.
Damon: Hey, Avery… What’s up?
Damon’s expression sours.
Damon: No, Avery, I'm not going to fuck things up by disregarding Shields’ bullshit injunction…. Yeah, I know I'm the hothead in Rebel Society, but this isn't just about me… if I mess things up, we all pay for it.... Oh, no, I still plan on giving that scroungy-looking fuck some payback, but give me some credit, man. I'm not gonna be THAT obvious about it. Yeah, I'll see you in Pittsburgh, Avery…
He ends the call.
Damon: (to himself) He ain't the only one I'll be seeing in Pittsburgh…
Scene fades to black.