Post by Lord Blake on Aug 3, 2016 14:23:27 GMT
HOME VIDEO - JUNE 8, 2003 - BLAKE FAMILY ESTATE
Helium-filled balloons and barbecue smoke fill the air of the expansive backyard. Kids slip, slide and dive into the pool while others take turns riding the elephants in the makeshift zoo. A small girl sits at the edge of the pool kicking her feet lazily in the water when a little boy, slightly older, runs up behind her and slaps her a bit too hard on the back.
“TAG! YOU'RE IT!”
He starts to run away giggling but turns back to see the girl isn’t chasing him, only scowling. She doesn't move a muscle and glares at the boy, so he finally takes off in the other direction telling one of the weird twins he has to be “it” now.
We are looking between the shoulders of two men, both familiar to anyone who watched wrestling a decade ago. They’re holding a can of beer, Budweiser for one and Canadian for the other, as they watch over the barbecuing hamburgers and hotdogs.
“Wouldn’t it be great if they ended up together, man? The only children of the Blake and Chaos patriarchies.They would be wrestling royalty.”
“Chris, it would be an honor to fund a wedding with you. Maybe one day, buddy.”
The two men cheers their beer cans. In the background, a co-worker known only as Big Daddy chases the kids around the yard, enjoying their game of tag with them at the birthday party.
Lord Blake isn't in the mood to party tonight, even though it's Wednesday and there’s a party raging one storey below him. He's barricaded himself in the master with nothing but a blue Solo cup of rumcola.
He hadn’t seen Driver in a few days. The last conversation he had with him was at the hospital. Driver still hadn't apologized for suggesting that Lord was better off not drawing Archer in the next round and that Raven should forfeit her match so Lord could have the opportunity to meet him in the tournament finals. To him, that meant Driver wasn’t on his side. Being on his side would mean advocating for Lord and Raven to compete in the main event of the RSW pay-per-view to determine the first Supreme Champion. And as he told Driver, if he wasn't on his side then Lord Blake would be going forward alone.
So Lord Blake is alone.
He sits in the middle of the bed he shares with his girlfriend on his laptop wearing an old Global Wrestling Alliance hoodie to shield himself from the house’s air conditioning. His screen is open to three YouTube windows of Mondae Chaos matches as well as her profile on RSW’s website. If there was one thing he learned at the Theta Chi annual charity poker tournament, it was that you always play the cards you're dealt, and this week he was dealt the apple of Chris Chaos's eye.
Researching is all stuff that would usually be done for him any other week, but this match he finds himself doing it on his own. His fingers rub his temples as he tries to make sense of the visual overload in front of him.
“...she’s good with submissions. GREAT with submission, to be honest. I mean, way better than I am. Sure, I’m decent at getting out of ‘em but that’s like, one of her main things... Obviously I could hit harder, but she’s still got heavy hands too… Damn, she’s fast. Real fast… God, she just keeps going, she's like some kind of battery-powered rabbit. Slow down! Ugh, she's wrestling circles around these people. I'm smarter than this girl - I KNOW I am. I just don't know how much smarter I can be until I get inside the ring her… how am I?...”
He sighs in frustration and, easily distracted by anything except what he should be concentrating on, Lord clicks off the page. He briefly looks up the departure schedule and layovers from San Francisco International to Chattanooga Metropolitan, but when he minimizes that page he is met with the image of Archer standing over his body, lead pipe in hand.
He looks up to the mirror on the wall and reflects on the person there: bandaged and stitched forehead; girlfriend who is far from recovered after her week; GWA hoodie faded with the years.
It is there he finds his motivation.
“I'm going to beat Mondae Chaos.”
