Post by Zane on Jul 12, 2013 11:43:54 GMT -5
A lone match strike shatters the darkness, banishing it in a flash of yellow and white. What it casts its pale glow upon is the eerie countenance of Zane Scott. His eyes are possessed by a dangerous and slightly manic focus, a focus that’s accentuated by the crooked grin that’ is etched into his face like the inscription on a war monument. Beyond the small sphere of sight that has been created by the match, the rest of the environment remains smothered in absolute darkness, forcing one’s attention to fall squarely onto his face.
It forces it more specifically onto his eyes.
"Illumination" he says with a chuckle. "Light."
"They are common visual metaphors for the sudden appearance of knowledge and understanding. People have used them for centuries to denote such rare and special occurrences in their lives. They make such a pointed counter emphasis to the willing darkness that they tend to carry on their business in. I should know."
An expression of amused acceptance crosses his slightly bearded face.
"I used to be one of them."
He looks up at the match, focusing on the flickering of it as he speaks. His tone is relaxed, if not a slight bit distant.
"Illumination comes in many forms and manners. Some of them are delicate while still impactful, while others are like getting struck in the face by a brick. For most of my life the brick was always the method for bringing knowledge into my life. Whether it was a verbal "brick" or a literal one didn’t make any difference, knowledge and illumination always had to be delivered forcefully."
Although his body can't be seen, it is easy to envision him shrugging as the response to this.
"I accepted this as being normal."
He laughs to himself and closes his eyes.
"I accepted that I wasn’t smart enough to develop my mind and learn as people such as Damarest, Spyder, Colin and Dirge do. I, like most, blindly accepted what I was given on face value and willingly left myself awash in this intellectual darkness. I had no idea that actually using my brain could be so enjoyable."
He opens his eyes and stares down into the match light.
"Enjoyable for me anyway."
He looks forward again, locking his gaze on the camera as he continues to speak.
"It took a very long time for this revelation to dawn on me, or in keeping with the metaphor, for this flash of illumination to momentarily blind me before cleansing the darkness from my mind. Once this occurred and I willed myself to learn from these great men and soak up their knowledge, I didn't want to stop. Knowledge is as narcotic as darkness is smothering."
A knowing and appreciative smirk takes its place on his face.
"Isn't that right, Eden ?"
He lifts his hands up just enough to make them visible in the low light and rubs them together repeatedly in an excited manner.
"Over the past couple of weeks you and I have come to know each other very well. I've been granted a great deal of illumination about you, Little Red Riding Hood. It is said that "hands on" experience is the best teacher of all and I for one can tell you one thing about that."
He slowly licks his lips for emphasis.
"It's absolutely true."
His eyes momentarily roll back into his head, giving his face an eerie and disturbed quality. He appears to involuntarily shiver, although it’s hard to tell in the extremely focused light. The match light dances in his left hand, flickering and fighting for its life.
"You see Eden, you can tell everyone in the world that I'm not in your head. You can tell everyone in the world that you’ve overcome last week and that what I did to you is in your rear-view. Jet and his pet, Pierce, might be blind enough to believe you because it is simply what they want to believe. Your trainer may believe it, because if he doesn’t, if you continue to be a quivering and terrified mess and he doesn’t get paid. You can stand on top of the PMN building in Atlanta and yell it out to the entire world while billboards are erected all around Atlanta that you aren't afraid anymore."
His eyes remain rolled back in his head, starkly magnifying the whiteness of his eyeballs.
"The problem with that is that while you may be able to fool all of them into believing that I’m not in your head anymore, thereby sustaining the darkness of ignorance that they continue to allow themselves to be blinded by, there is one person who deep down you cannot fool."
His eyes roll forward and back into place, his expression completely earnest.
"Yourself."
One can assume the shrug taking its place as his momentarily prominent mannerism yet again.
"Deep down you know that you can't shake those feelings. They are a part of you whether you want them or not."
He licks his lips again before punctuating the gesture with a sick smirk of pleasure. The flame of the candle continues its delicate dance between life and death.
"You may think that I’m just some sick, demented pervert who will rise to the bait of a cheap insult. As you noticed last week, part of me did rise."
His eyebrows rise in a manic and somewhat childish manner as his smirk widens.
"As you know, it wasn’t due to cheap insults."
He laughs again.
"Go ahead and tell everyone that you didn’t enjoy what we shared last week. Tell yourself that if it helps you to sleep at night. I know differently. I felt your body react to my touch, inviting the contact that your mind tried to run away from. I felt the heat rise under your skin while your supple, pink flesh danced under the tactile sensations that were caused by my fingers. You may have acted in front of the entire world like you didn’t enjoy the signals that your body was threatening to override your brain with when I was laying on top of you in the ring, but I saw your pupils dilate and your lips puff up when I breathed on you and I felt your breasts swell underneath your shirt when I pressed my chest against yours. You can deny it all you like Eden, but your body didn’t and couldn’t lie."
"You enjoyed it."
His eyes roll back into his head again as his jaw momentarily tenses as if he’s re-living a moment of pleasure.
"Little Red Riding Hood enjoyed the attention that was placed on her by the Big Bad Wolf."
"Incidentally Eden, keep doing those squats. They’re working."
His crooked grin widens and he shakes his head in appreciation.
"Conversely though, you need to do a better job of washing your hands. That was pretty unpleasant. Consider a different moisturizer. Your hands tasted like a New Jersey breeze on a hot day. It’s a major turn off."
His jaw relaxes and the smirk reasserts itself on his face.
“You need to learn that any attention is good attention. I see how you fawn over Travis Pierce. I’ve heard how you comment on his “pretty” he looks to you. I can tell you now that his face isn’t as nice anymore. Repeated chair shots will do that.”
The smirk suddenly evaporates and his expression becomes one of absolute, if not dire seriousness.
"He has no one to blame for his misery but you."
The badly mangled chair appears in his right hand and he points towards a spot of coppery dried blood that sits on it. It has “Pierce” written above it in black permanent marker.
"What we did to him was entirely your[/b] fault. I saw the way that you looked at him and had to deal with it. A lesson had to be taught and an example made and Travis served both ends perfectly."
He laughs darkly and places the chair out of sight again.
"Speaking of "ends", he says with an expression of manic pleasure. "I noticed while running my hands through your hair that you have a few split ends. You’re the Champion, Eden, not some cheap bar slut."
He reaches behind his back and pulls something around to the front. It’s a small black leather cord. When he pulls his hand away, it reveals a small cluster of black locks that have been artistically set together to form a talisman.
"Look the part."
A coarse and crass laugh rumbles from deep within him, flowing through the air like silk on the water.
"So what now, little Eden ? Does the little girl accept her place and finally become a woman, or does the big, bad wolf have to keep putting Little Red Riding Hood in her place ? I could spend the entire match re-acquainting your body with mine while Chaos dismantles that geriatric clown, Robert Ooley. Chances are, once he finishes with that he’ll just throw money on us. He seemed to enjoy our little show last week."
"Why should we disappoint the charter member of the audience ?"
He stops speaking for a moment and rolls his eyes, laughing to himself. When he continues, the laughing tone remains in his voice.
"Oh, and that whole gimmick with the phone. Please, that proves nothing and we both know it. Consider this, however..."
He raises his right hand wit his fist balled and facing outward.
"Let’s say that I did get your phone number, and let’s further state for the sake of argument that I did repeatedly call you and hang up that night. If I did that and if I can send you flowers any time that I want to, thereby gaining access to you at any time that I want to..."
He raises his pointer finger.
"What’s to say that I can’t get to you while you’re safe and sound in the PMN building ?"
His middle finger raises.
"How do you know that I haven’t already been in your room, watching you while you slept ? How do you know that I didn’t hijack the security feed in the PMN building that watches you while you strut around the complex, feeling all safe and sound. For all you know, I could be watching you while you shower. Just consider that...I could be watching you while you soap that lithe little body up, caress it up and down and enjoy the feeling of your own womanhood when you think that no one can see you."
Up goes the ring finger.
"You don’t know that I can’t. Your "safety" might be even more of an illusion than you think it is."
His pinky finger finally goes up until he is making the “four” gesture with his hand.
"I have resources that you, and for that matter PMN, can’t even begin to touch."
Another short and disturbing chuckle comes from inside of him as his thumb opens up to create the full “five” count. It’s followed by a sound that resembles an animalistic purr or growl of pleasure.
"And what a nice touch it was too."
He flexes his hand in a squeezing gesture before making a tickling and stroking motion wit his fingers.
"I'm coming for you Edie. We’re going to rekindle that fire that we started on Synergy."
"We're both going to win at “Wrestlestock”.
Three of his fingers close, leaving the pointer and middle fingers protruding. He makes a very blatant rubbing gesture with them before putting them back into his mouth and slowly licking them from bottom to top. His eyes slowly roll back into his head as he does it.
"I may also walk out with another trophy."
"It will be very illuminating."
The word “illuminating” is punctuated by a macabre chuckle.
"Speaking of “illumination”, Ol”Bob and Chaos..."
He rolls his eyes in disgust.
"Bob…Bob…Bob…"
He punctuates his repetition of the name of the UGWC “Human Resources Director” by spitting onto the floor in disgust.
"What kind of corrupt official places himself in a position to win a Championship that it would be a clear conflict of interest for him to defend ? We all know that you’re a pompous, inept fool. We all know that you carry that stupid bat with you everywhere because you just can’t hang with the big kids. Face it old man, you’re washed up. Do yourself a favor and stay in the back. Do the “Administrator” thing that you so poorly do. If I don’t destroy you at “Wrestlestock”, I have no doubt that Chaos will take “Louis” and use him as your personal proctologist."
He makes a violent thrusting gesture with his balled fist before smiling darkly.
"He can make a geriatric vanilla Popsicle out of you."
He chuckles again, causing the flame to dance a little beside him.
"How ironic would that be ?"
He places his pointer and middle finger in his mouth, pressing them against the side of it. He holds them there for a few seconds before abruptly pulling them from it, producing a “pop” sound. He chuckles to himself again and continues.
"Chaos."
"You’re a tough bastard and unlike Ooley you’re clearly not washed up. Just ask Eden and Seito. I hold no illusions that you and I are allies of any kind during the World Championship match. You’re walking in there with the plan of taking apart everyone in your way. With that said though, we do have a common enemy in the match, as well as a common annoyance. Between the two of us, I think that it would be quite easy for us to neutralize Ooley and remove that annoyance from our sights so that we can turn them towards Eden. We both want the same thing, and that is for PMN not to have the World Championship anymore. We may see ourselves at cross purposes as to how or even when this should happen."
He stops for a moment and grins conspiratorially.
"What we do agree on, and oddly enough even perhaps agree with Jet on, even if he wanted to paint it as a motivational tactic, is that Eden isn’t cut out for this business. She is the weak link in the PMN chain. She may not see it that way because Jet and Travis are always inflating her confidence with false bravado, but we both know it to be the truth."
"At Wrestlestock, we should make that fact simple and inarguable to any and all."
He holds his hand out in the gesture of an offering.
"What do you say ?"
He looks at the flame as it flickers and dances and resumes speaking without taking his eyes off of it. They appear to lose their focus after a few seconds.
"Eden...keep marching out to the ring with your magnificent chest thrown out. We don’t mind that. Keep strutting around as if you really are as unbeatable as you keep being told that you are. We don’t mind that either. I won’t speak for Chaos here, but I for one know what false bravado is."
A tight smirk pulls itself across his face.
"You reek of it."
"Let Jet, Travis and this new cheerleader, Jason, keep inflating you."
He makes a pumping gesture wit his free hand.
"I look forward to puncturing that bravado..."
He places his thumb and pointer finger and makes an abrupt puncturing gesture with them.
"And perhaps something else as well."
He raises his eyebrows and grins, causing his face to take on a truly deranged expression.
"See you soon, Little Red Riding Hood."
Zane blows the match out, engulfing the room in a sudden and complete blanket of smothering darkness. The last thing that we hear before the promo ends is his coarse laugh, followed by him singing to himself.
"Hey there, little red riding hood,
You sure are lookin’ good,
You’re everything a Big, Bad Wolf could want..."
It forces it more specifically onto his eyes.
"Illumination" he says with a chuckle. "Light."
"They are common visual metaphors for the sudden appearance of knowledge and understanding. People have used them for centuries to denote such rare and special occurrences in their lives. They make such a pointed counter emphasis to the willing darkness that they tend to carry on their business in. I should know."
An expression of amused acceptance crosses his slightly bearded face.
"I used to be one of them."
He looks up at the match, focusing on the flickering of it as he speaks. His tone is relaxed, if not a slight bit distant.
"Illumination comes in many forms and manners. Some of them are delicate while still impactful, while others are like getting struck in the face by a brick. For most of my life the brick was always the method for bringing knowledge into my life. Whether it was a verbal "brick" or a literal one didn’t make any difference, knowledge and illumination always had to be delivered forcefully."
Although his body can't be seen, it is easy to envision him shrugging as the response to this.
"I accepted this as being normal."
He laughs to himself and closes his eyes.
"I accepted that I wasn’t smart enough to develop my mind and learn as people such as Damarest, Spyder, Colin and Dirge do. I, like most, blindly accepted what I was given on face value and willingly left myself awash in this intellectual darkness. I had no idea that actually using my brain could be so enjoyable."
He opens his eyes and stares down into the match light.
"Enjoyable for me anyway."
He looks forward again, locking his gaze on the camera as he continues to speak.
"It took a very long time for this revelation to dawn on me, or in keeping with the metaphor, for this flash of illumination to momentarily blind me before cleansing the darkness from my mind. Once this occurred and I willed myself to learn from these great men and soak up their knowledge, I didn't want to stop. Knowledge is as narcotic as darkness is smothering."
A knowing and appreciative smirk takes its place on his face.
"Isn't that right, Eden ?"
He lifts his hands up just enough to make them visible in the low light and rubs them together repeatedly in an excited manner.
"Over the past couple of weeks you and I have come to know each other very well. I've been granted a great deal of illumination about you, Little Red Riding Hood. It is said that "hands on" experience is the best teacher of all and I for one can tell you one thing about that."
He slowly licks his lips for emphasis.
"It's absolutely true."
His eyes momentarily roll back into his head, giving his face an eerie and disturbed quality. He appears to involuntarily shiver, although it’s hard to tell in the extremely focused light. The match light dances in his left hand, flickering and fighting for its life.
"You see Eden, you can tell everyone in the world that I'm not in your head. You can tell everyone in the world that you’ve overcome last week and that what I did to you is in your rear-view. Jet and his pet, Pierce, might be blind enough to believe you because it is simply what they want to believe. Your trainer may believe it, because if he doesn’t, if you continue to be a quivering and terrified mess and he doesn’t get paid. You can stand on top of the PMN building in Atlanta and yell it out to the entire world while billboards are erected all around Atlanta that you aren't afraid anymore."
His eyes remain rolled back in his head, starkly magnifying the whiteness of his eyeballs.
"The problem with that is that while you may be able to fool all of them into believing that I’m not in your head anymore, thereby sustaining the darkness of ignorance that they continue to allow themselves to be blinded by, there is one person who deep down you cannot fool."
His eyes roll forward and back into place, his expression completely earnest.
"Yourself."
One can assume the shrug taking its place as his momentarily prominent mannerism yet again.
"Deep down you know that you can't shake those feelings. They are a part of you whether you want them or not."
He licks his lips again before punctuating the gesture with a sick smirk of pleasure. The flame of the candle continues its delicate dance between life and death.
"You may think that I’m just some sick, demented pervert who will rise to the bait of a cheap insult. As you noticed last week, part of me did rise."
His eyebrows rise in a manic and somewhat childish manner as his smirk widens.
"As you know, it wasn’t due to cheap insults."
He laughs again.
"Go ahead and tell everyone that you didn’t enjoy what we shared last week. Tell yourself that if it helps you to sleep at night. I know differently. I felt your body react to my touch, inviting the contact that your mind tried to run away from. I felt the heat rise under your skin while your supple, pink flesh danced under the tactile sensations that were caused by my fingers. You may have acted in front of the entire world like you didn’t enjoy the signals that your body was threatening to override your brain with when I was laying on top of you in the ring, but I saw your pupils dilate and your lips puff up when I breathed on you and I felt your breasts swell underneath your shirt when I pressed my chest against yours. You can deny it all you like Eden, but your body didn’t and couldn’t lie."
"You enjoyed it."
His eyes roll back into his head again as his jaw momentarily tenses as if he’s re-living a moment of pleasure.
"Little Red Riding Hood enjoyed the attention that was placed on her by the Big Bad Wolf."
"Incidentally Eden, keep doing those squats. They’re working."
His crooked grin widens and he shakes his head in appreciation.
"Conversely though, you need to do a better job of washing your hands. That was pretty unpleasant. Consider a different moisturizer. Your hands tasted like a New Jersey breeze on a hot day. It’s a major turn off."
His jaw relaxes and the smirk reasserts itself on his face.
“You need to learn that any attention is good attention. I see how you fawn over Travis Pierce. I’ve heard how you comment on his “pretty” he looks to you. I can tell you now that his face isn’t as nice anymore. Repeated chair shots will do that.”
The smirk suddenly evaporates and his expression becomes one of absolute, if not dire seriousness.
"He has no one to blame for his misery but you."
The badly mangled chair appears in his right hand and he points towards a spot of coppery dried blood that sits on it. It has “Pierce” written above it in black permanent marker.
"What we did to him was entirely your[/b] fault. I saw the way that you looked at him and had to deal with it. A lesson had to be taught and an example made and Travis served both ends perfectly."
He laughs darkly and places the chair out of sight again.
"Speaking of "ends", he says with an expression of manic pleasure. "I noticed while running my hands through your hair that you have a few split ends. You’re the Champion, Eden, not some cheap bar slut."
He reaches behind his back and pulls something around to the front. It’s a small black leather cord. When he pulls his hand away, it reveals a small cluster of black locks that have been artistically set together to form a talisman.
"Look the part."
A coarse and crass laugh rumbles from deep within him, flowing through the air like silk on the water.
"So what now, little Eden ? Does the little girl accept her place and finally become a woman, or does the big, bad wolf have to keep putting Little Red Riding Hood in her place ? I could spend the entire match re-acquainting your body with mine while Chaos dismantles that geriatric clown, Robert Ooley. Chances are, once he finishes with that he’ll just throw money on us. He seemed to enjoy our little show last week."
"Why should we disappoint the charter member of the audience ?"
He stops speaking for a moment and rolls his eyes, laughing to himself. When he continues, the laughing tone remains in his voice.
"Oh, and that whole gimmick with the phone. Please, that proves nothing and we both know it. Consider this, however..."
He raises his right hand wit his fist balled and facing outward.
"Let’s say that I did get your phone number, and let’s further state for the sake of argument that I did repeatedly call you and hang up that night. If I did that and if I can send you flowers any time that I want to, thereby gaining access to you at any time that I want to..."
He raises his pointer finger.
"What’s to say that I can’t get to you while you’re safe and sound in the PMN building ?"
His middle finger raises.
"How do you know that I haven’t already been in your room, watching you while you slept ? How do you know that I didn’t hijack the security feed in the PMN building that watches you while you strut around the complex, feeling all safe and sound. For all you know, I could be watching you while you shower. Just consider that...I could be watching you while you soap that lithe little body up, caress it up and down and enjoy the feeling of your own womanhood when you think that no one can see you."
Up goes the ring finger.
"You don’t know that I can’t. Your "safety" might be even more of an illusion than you think it is."
His pinky finger finally goes up until he is making the “four” gesture with his hand.
"I have resources that you, and for that matter PMN, can’t even begin to touch."
Another short and disturbing chuckle comes from inside of him as his thumb opens up to create the full “five” count. It’s followed by a sound that resembles an animalistic purr or growl of pleasure.
"And what a nice touch it was too."
He flexes his hand in a squeezing gesture before making a tickling and stroking motion wit his fingers.
"I'm coming for you Edie. We’re going to rekindle that fire that we started on Synergy."
"We're both going to win at “Wrestlestock”.
Three of his fingers close, leaving the pointer and middle fingers protruding. He makes a very blatant rubbing gesture with them before putting them back into his mouth and slowly licking them from bottom to top. His eyes slowly roll back into his head as he does it.
"I may also walk out with another trophy."
"It will be very illuminating."
The word “illuminating” is punctuated by a macabre chuckle.
"Speaking of “illumination”, Ol”Bob and Chaos..."
He rolls his eyes in disgust.
"Bob…Bob…Bob…"
He punctuates his repetition of the name of the UGWC “Human Resources Director” by spitting onto the floor in disgust.
"What kind of corrupt official places himself in a position to win a Championship that it would be a clear conflict of interest for him to defend ? We all know that you’re a pompous, inept fool. We all know that you carry that stupid bat with you everywhere because you just can’t hang with the big kids. Face it old man, you’re washed up. Do yourself a favor and stay in the back. Do the “Administrator” thing that you so poorly do. If I don’t destroy you at “Wrestlestock”, I have no doubt that Chaos will take “Louis” and use him as your personal proctologist."
He makes a violent thrusting gesture with his balled fist before smiling darkly.
"He can make a geriatric vanilla Popsicle out of you."
He chuckles again, causing the flame to dance a little beside him.
"How ironic would that be ?"
He places his pointer and middle finger in his mouth, pressing them against the side of it. He holds them there for a few seconds before abruptly pulling them from it, producing a “pop” sound. He chuckles to himself again and continues.
"Chaos."
"You’re a tough bastard and unlike Ooley you’re clearly not washed up. Just ask Eden and Seito. I hold no illusions that you and I are allies of any kind during the World Championship match. You’re walking in there with the plan of taking apart everyone in your way. With that said though, we do have a common enemy in the match, as well as a common annoyance. Between the two of us, I think that it would be quite easy for us to neutralize Ooley and remove that annoyance from our sights so that we can turn them towards Eden. We both want the same thing, and that is for PMN not to have the World Championship anymore. We may see ourselves at cross purposes as to how or even when this should happen."
He stops for a moment and grins conspiratorially.
"What we do agree on, and oddly enough even perhaps agree with Jet on, even if he wanted to paint it as a motivational tactic, is that Eden isn’t cut out for this business. She is the weak link in the PMN chain. She may not see it that way because Jet and Travis are always inflating her confidence with false bravado, but we both know it to be the truth."
"At Wrestlestock, we should make that fact simple and inarguable to any and all."
He holds his hand out in the gesture of an offering.
"What do you say ?"
He looks at the flame as it flickers and dances and resumes speaking without taking his eyes off of it. They appear to lose their focus after a few seconds.
"Eden...keep marching out to the ring with your magnificent chest thrown out. We don’t mind that. Keep strutting around as if you really are as unbeatable as you keep being told that you are. We don’t mind that either. I won’t speak for Chaos here, but I for one know what false bravado is."
A tight smirk pulls itself across his face.
"You reek of it."
"Let Jet, Travis and this new cheerleader, Jason, keep inflating you."
He makes a pumping gesture wit his free hand.
"I look forward to puncturing that bravado..."
He places his thumb and pointer finger and makes an abrupt puncturing gesture with them.
"And perhaps something else as well."
He raises his eyebrows and grins, causing his face to take on a truly deranged expression.
"See you soon, Little Red Riding Hood."
Zane blows the match out, engulfing the room in a sudden and complete blanket of smothering darkness. The last thing that we hear before the promo ends is his coarse laugh, followed by him singing to himself.
"Hey there, little red riding hood,
You sure are lookin’ good,
You’re everything a Big, Bad Wolf could want..."
2013, '18, '23 
2013 
