Post by EmbodimentOfFear on Mar 17, 2018 13:44:41 GMT -5
“Welcome to Makin’ Coppis, I am your host, Grey Coppi, and joining me tonight as part of our Lord of Trios preview special, is one of the two challengers to the World Heavyweight Title, please welcome Phrixus Deimos.”
“Grey.”
“I think we’re all happy to see you making something of a comeback, it has been a series of recent successes for you this year in UGWC, coming off a victory at Infinity, now set alongside Dave Rydell to challenge Zane Scott for the World Title this Monday in Milwaukee.”
“Our fates do seem linked, do they not? I have faced both of these men on the grand stage at Horizons, I have faced Zane Scott in the Hall of Mirrors, I have a deeper history with Rydell that perhaps any other recurring for that I have faced in my career.”
“Let’s take a moment to reflect on that history, having been there for much of it myself. You and Rydell first clashed nearly fifteen years ago, when he competed under his Red Fusion persona, after the U-”
“All of this has been discussed to death, was reflected upon mere months ago before Horizons. There is too much looking back, too much perseveration over the past as though it provides a roadmap to the future. There is no debt to be paid, nothing that we are owed as a consequence of our past actions.”
“Well let’s focus on the present then, and this championship match on Monday. What kind of strategy do you see yourself taking, focusing on the defending champion, could we see a temporary alliance of some sort?”
“This is not a situation where there is a benefit to taking a part of the whole. There are not three separate components that operate free of one another. This is a dance with three participants, and each must react to the other two. Look too closely at any one part, and the larger picture is lost. Focus on Zane Scott, and Rydell swoops in with a Virus of Life and steals the victory. Focus on Rydell, and Zane runs through us both. No, the key is to keep the full picture in view.”
“There is talk that your best days are behind you, as perhaps evidenced by your defeat at Rydell’s hands at Horizons, and the fact that you most significant win in some time was your victory at Infinity over Travis Pierce, whose own recent struggles are well documented.”
“So often we devalue a victory because of our perception of its quality. Tell me, against what opponent should a person not try to win?”
“Let me put it this way, then. Your career began seventeen years ago. What might you say to someone looks at Phrixus Deimos headlining events in 2018 and wonders why that is something that should be happening?”
“I might ask that person who they would rather see in that place. Where is this new wave of talent that is meant to replace me? Gabriel Baal seems to have willingly stepped back. Rogan MacLean has faltered. Yes, there are shining stars of tomorrow, legitimately this time around, in the likes of Le Bord de Dieu, Maggie Lockheart, Angelica Vaughn, even Mizore Payne. Talented, yes, but ready to carry the wave into the future? No. As for those that could be considered by contemporaries, the Dave Rydells or Jet Somers or Zane Scotts of the world, they have no more right to this position than do I.”
“But after seventeen years, Phrixus, I hate to do it but I have to ask, what is left? What more do you have to offer us?”
“For the moment, a simple reminder that there is more to me than Fear.”
“Hello, old friend.”
A cool breeze blows through the cemetery, as Phrixus stands in front of the grave of his former partner.
“I wonder what you would make of all this, after all that has happened and all the time that has passed. You would laugh at me, I am sure.”
A knowing smile crosses his face.
“I find that I never tire of this game. There are others that play, certainly. The Puppet Masters felt they could do it best in their time, now the Court seeks to pull on the strings, yet no one has ever done it better than I do. You would know that. You were both the benefactor and the wronged, suffered both fates at my hands over the years. There was a period of time when I let the game slip away from me, allowed others the free reign that I should have culled a long time ago. It is time to bring the world to order.”
Phrixus thinks for a few moments.
“Zane Scott has diminished into self-parody. He cannot be tolerated in his position a moment longer. I am loathe to depress myself into the opinions of sheep, but even I find the idea of Rydell as the new World Heavyweight Champion to be a concept that would drive me into apoplexy. Yet Zane is primed for a fall, and Rydell has taken advantage of opportunities in the past. He is vicious and relentless, and if given an opening he is undeniably a risk to make the most of it. This opportunity is mine to take, and I must make certain to be cautious with Rydell, as he has proven an asset to this point, but can become a liability as quickly as it takes to execute a single Virus of Life.”
Phrixus steps forward and places his hand atop the stone.
“I can tell you this. Phrixus Deimos is the talk of the town again. Something tells me that would make you proud.”
Phrixus smiles gently, and turns and walks into the night.
Synergy, moments after the broadcast has ended. The Lord-Director of Creativity seethes in the hallway of the UGWC arena, as Dave Rydell and Zane Scott continue their vicious brawl out of sight.
“Don’t slink away now. We aren’t finished!”
For several moments there is no response, as Donovan glances from corner to corner.
“As you wish.”
Phrixus steps forward from the shadows into view.
“Just what the hell was that?”
“Two machines of war, tugged to their purpose with the gentlest nudge, their rage like gravity.”
“Nevermind. Forget I said anything, I don’t need the headache.”
“You need me.”
“I hardly think so.”
“Oh, but you do, Donovan. You so sorely do.”
“I’m sure you’ll tell me why.”
“UGWC has a sickness, a fever run rampant that threatens to destroy it. Zane Scott is that sickness, an infection spread from the pain to his paradox. We have been spoon-fed this new and improved, this redeemed Zane, a new leaf turned away from the monster of the past. Yet he remains the same person that he always was at his core.”
“Enlighten me.”
“You have propped him up so gently, so much so that he has not yet noticed, yes? You moved your pawn ever so remarkably across the board, positioned him to secure not one, not two, but three championships, and in his astonishment and gratitude he has fallen under your thrall. Remarkably well played. Yet now you toy with him, poking to see what you can get away with, test what he will endure and tolerate. You force him to essentially compete in handicap matches while concurrently embarrassing himself, suffering defeat after defeat while you pat him on the back and point him towards the next. It was fitting that his road to the championship took him through Eden Morgan. The two are opposite sides of a single coin, both obsessed with their own image and incapable of processing setback. Both driven by impulse to wave a bigger stick, and a need to get the final word.”
“What does Eden have to do with any of this?”
“She has something to do with everything, does she not? You poked at her and her Court, tasked them to win this tournament, and win it they likely will, if for no reason other than to spite you. Then the World Championship may see a challenger in the form of Eden Morgan, with the full power of the Court behind her, or perhaps Jet Somers or Gabriel Baal, each of whom has beaten Zane Scott before. What will happen then, if Zane remains your champion? These children who connive weekly to get the latest last laugh. This is a game of tactics, one that requires a long term vision. I know you to have it, a lesson doubtless learned from me, but the weapon you wield does not, nor do those who seek to challenge him.”
“And what are you proposing?”
“As I said, UGWC is sick. I am the cure.”
“So, what? You think I’m going to abandon Zane and back you?”
Phrixus smirks.
“Nothing so droll. Yet play your cards right, and you may find you get exactly what you need.”
“And what is that?”
“For me to back you.”
Phrixus steps back into the darkness.
“Grey.”
“I think we’re all happy to see you making something of a comeback, it has been a series of recent successes for you this year in UGWC, coming off a victory at Infinity, now set alongside Dave Rydell to challenge Zane Scott for the World Title this Monday in Milwaukee.”
“Our fates do seem linked, do they not? I have faced both of these men on the grand stage at Horizons, I have faced Zane Scott in the Hall of Mirrors, I have a deeper history with Rydell that perhaps any other recurring for that I have faced in my career.”
“Let’s take a moment to reflect on that history, having been there for much of it myself. You and Rydell first clashed nearly fifteen years ago, when he competed under his Red Fusion persona, after the U-”
“All of this has been discussed to death, was reflected upon mere months ago before Horizons. There is too much looking back, too much perseveration over the past as though it provides a roadmap to the future. There is no debt to be paid, nothing that we are owed as a consequence of our past actions.”
“Well let’s focus on the present then, and this championship match on Monday. What kind of strategy do you see yourself taking, focusing on the defending champion, could we see a temporary alliance of some sort?”
“This is not a situation where there is a benefit to taking a part of the whole. There are not three separate components that operate free of one another. This is a dance with three participants, and each must react to the other two. Look too closely at any one part, and the larger picture is lost. Focus on Zane Scott, and Rydell swoops in with a Virus of Life and steals the victory. Focus on Rydell, and Zane runs through us both. No, the key is to keep the full picture in view.”
“There is talk that your best days are behind you, as perhaps evidenced by your defeat at Rydell’s hands at Horizons, and the fact that you most significant win in some time was your victory at Infinity over Travis Pierce, whose own recent struggles are well documented.”
“So often we devalue a victory because of our perception of its quality. Tell me, against what opponent should a person not try to win?”
“Let me put it this way, then. Your career began seventeen years ago. What might you say to someone looks at Phrixus Deimos headlining events in 2018 and wonders why that is something that should be happening?”
“I might ask that person who they would rather see in that place. Where is this new wave of talent that is meant to replace me? Gabriel Baal seems to have willingly stepped back. Rogan MacLean has faltered. Yes, there are shining stars of tomorrow, legitimately this time around, in the likes of Le Bord de Dieu, Maggie Lockheart, Angelica Vaughn, even Mizore Payne. Talented, yes, but ready to carry the wave into the future? No. As for those that could be considered by contemporaries, the Dave Rydells or Jet Somers or Zane Scotts of the world, they have no more right to this position than do I.”
“But after seventeen years, Phrixus, I hate to do it but I have to ask, what is left? What more do you have to offer us?”
“For the moment, a simple reminder that there is more to me than Fear.”
-Apoplexy-
“Hello, old friend.”
A cool breeze blows through the cemetery, as Phrixus stands in front of the grave of his former partner.
“I wonder what you would make of all this, after all that has happened and all the time that has passed. You would laugh at me, I am sure.”
A knowing smile crosses his face.
“I find that I never tire of this game. There are others that play, certainly. The Puppet Masters felt they could do it best in their time, now the Court seeks to pull on the strings, yet no one has ever done it better than I do. You would know that. You were both the benefactor and the wronged, suffered both fates at my hands over the years. There was a period of time when I let the game slip away from me, allowed others the free reign that I should have culled a long time ago. It is time to bring the world to order.”
Phrixus thinks for a few moments.
“Zane Scott has diminished into self-parody. He cannot be tolerated in his position a moment longer. I am loathe to depress myself into the opinions of sheep, but even I find the idea of Rydell as the new World Heavyweight Champion to be a concept that would drive me into apoplexy. Yet Zane is primed for a fall, and Rydell has taken advantage of opportunities in the past. He is vicious and relentless, and if given an opening he is undeniably a risk to make the most of it. This opportunity is mine to take, and I must make certain to be cautious with Rydell, as he has proven an asset to this point, but can become a liability as quickly as it takes to execute a single Virus of Life.”
Phrixus steps forward and places his hand atop the stone.
“I can tell you this. Phrixus Deimos is the talk of the town again. Something tells me that would make you proud.”
Phrixus smiles gently, and turns and walks into the night.
-Antipyretic-
Synergy, moments after the broadcast has ended. The Lord-Director of Creativity seethes in the hallway of the UGWC arena, as Dave Rydell and Zane Scott continue their vicious brawl out of sight.
“Don’t slink away now. We aren’t finished!”
For several moments there is no response, as Donovan glances from corner to corner.
“As you wish.”
Phrixus steps forward from the shadows into view.
“Just what the hell was that?”
“Two machines of war, tugged to their purpose with the gentlest nudge, their rage like gravity.”
“Nevermind. Forget I said anything, I don’t need the headache.”
“You need me.”
“I hardly think so.”
“Oh, but you do, Donovan. You so sorely do.”
“I’m sure you’ll tell me why.”
“UGWC has a sickness, a fever run rampant that threatens to destroy it. Zane Scott is that sickness, an infection spread from the pain to his paradox. We have been spoon-fed this new and improved, this redeemed Zane, a new leaf turned away from the monster of the past. Yet he remains the same person that he always was at his core.”
“Enlighten me.”
“You have propped him up so gently, so much so that he has not yet noticed, yes? You moved your pawn ever so remarkably across the board, positioned him to secure not one, not two, but three championships, and in his astonishment and gratitude he has fallen under your thrall. Remarkably well played. Yet now you toy with him, poking to see what you can get away with, test what he will endure and tolerate. You force him to essentially compete in handicap matches while concurrently embarrassing himself, suffering defeat after defeat while you pat him on the back and point him towards the next. It was fitting that his road to the championship took him through Eden Morgan. The two are opposite sides of a single coin, both obsessed with their own image and incapable of processing setback. Both driven by impulse to wave a bigger stick, and a need to get the final word.”
“What does Eden have to do with any of this?”
“She has something to do with everything, does she not? You poked at her and her Court, tasked them to win this tournament, and win it they likely will, if for no reason other than to spite you. Then the World Championship may see a challenger in the form of Eden Morgan, with the full power of the Court behind her, or perhaps Jet Somers or Gabriel Baal, each of whom has beaten Zane Scott before. What will happen then, if Zane remains your champion? These children who connive weekly to get the latest last laugh. This is a game of tactics, one that requires a long term vision. I know you to have it, a lesson doubtless learned from me, but the weapon you wield does not, nor do those who seek to challenge him.”
“And what are you proposing?”
“As I said, UGWC is sick. I am the cure.”
“So, what? You think I’m going to abandon Zane and back you?”
Phrixus smirks.
“Nothing so droll. Yet play your cards right, and you may find you get exactly what you need.”
“And what is that?”
“For me to back you.”
Phrixus steps back into the darkness.