It Is Not Your Fault // Lovey vs.The Basket Of Deplorable

[Lord Blake]

Lord Blake pulls another yellow sheet off the top of the stack and holds it up against the tree.

“I can’t remember if you ever met Hammer, our golden retriever pup, but when my dad lost him I put up these flyers for weeks afterwards. I mean, this didn’t bring him home and I never saw him again. But there has to be someone around here who has seen this.”

He staples that flyer in place with his gun and moves up to do the same thing to the next trunk on tree-lined Chestnut Street in San Francisco. Raven MacDemare follows closely behind him with the sheets piled neatly in her hands. A small breeze kicks up and the sheets begin to flutter in her arms, but she is careful - almost too careful - about making sure not a single one floats away. Lord notices her take a deep breath to refocus herself after this and wraps her up in his arms. His hands instinctively find the back of her head where Emma Douglas clobbered her from behind on Vendetta. She wants to look towards the ground embarrassed but he tilts her head back up and places a kiss on her forehead.

“You really don't have to be out here, Rave. I hate taking away a day from your training with Hail. You've been doing incredible there lately. I'm so proud of you.”

She smiles weakly and pulls away.

“Thanks, that's sweet of you to say. But you know I absolutely need to be out here with you. It's the least I can do.”

Lord pulls back and looks her dead in the eyes.

“Raven Elizabeth MacDemare, I will never stop telling you that this -” he jabs a finger into the photo at the center the flyer. “- is not your doing. You were jumped from behind. It's becoming the M.O. of these people and it's getting tiring. It's the only way they can get an upper hand on us - on any of us. Two months ago, Archer had to use his light bulb on you, and even last week Van Zant had to whack Hails with a pipe and they had to go two-on-one against Hoff. I don't know if we will be better or worse off next week being in the Arena against two teams who have to resort to that kind of bullshit to get their wins, but I do know I won't let anything happen you.

“If you feel like you let me down when my Supreme Championship was ripped from your loving arms, imagine how I felt when Jackson nabbed you, or when Archer cuffed me and made me watch as he choked the life out of you? This whole time you haven’t said a peep that implies you blame me for any of these things, just as I don’t blame you for this.”

Again, his finger jabs at the photo. A wind kicks up and six sheets sweep off the top of Raven’s pile; she only manages to catch one of them, just as she only managed to catch one win in her first six matches with RSW. She begins to chase the other pages down the street but Lord catches her arm and again pulls her towards him.

“Let them go. C’mon, chin up, baby-girl. This match at Vendetta won’t be easy but we have a ton of things going for us. Jace has two contendership matches and five competitors for his Bay Area Championship to keep an eye on that night before he ever steps into my main event. And Emma has already lost to a third-generation wrestler so we already know she doesn't fair well against people like us. And everyone has already seen me pin Mondae and Archer.”

Lord takes a sheet off the top and spins around to staple it to the tree next to him.

“Half the people in this match are in a basket of deplorable. Emma and Archer are only joined by bloodlust while Jace and Mondae clearly had no problem being separated for so long while they conned Georgia. Together you and I are unbreakable. Our bond is far stronger than theirs combined. There's nothing we can't do."

Looking back, every single tree on Chestnut Street has at least one of these flyers on them. It’s clear Lord and Raven want this belt back and there is nothing they won't staple this flyer to.