Thicker Than Water
Mar 31, 2016 14:07:42 GMT -5
Post by The Silver Tongued Devil on Mar 31, 2016 14:07:42 GMT -5
then...
january 20, 2015
dead in hollywood
staples arena
los angeles, california
Although he could hear the roar of the Exodus crowd inside of the Staples Arena, it doesn’t even phase the man known as the Blackest Sun, he’s done something that only a few people can lay claim to and only within a few months of his tenure upon the Main Roster here in Exodus, Aries Reed and GRENDEL have done exactly what they set out to do.
“Baby… it’s beautiful..”
He didn’t say anything to her, he just continued to sit in the locker room of the Staples Arena looking down at the Exodus Pro Tag Team Championship that sits face up in his hands. The gold is smudged with random fingerprints as drops of sweat fell from the tip of Aries’ nose splattering into several smaller droplets onto the gold face of the title.
And for the first time in what seems to be… well, forever… Aries Reed is completely speechless.
He ran his gloved hand over the gold and black faceplate slowly as if he was stroking the cheek of a newborn babe, the feeling that he was now a champion continued to wash over him like the tide.
Slowly, he lifted up his head to look into the eyes of his beau and recently signed Exodus Pro talent, Melody Torres as a wide smile slowly spreads over his lips.
“You’re a champion, now. Just like you said you were going to be...you’re a goddamn champion now.”
Placing her small caramel colored hands on his cheeks, she leans over and places a gentle kiss on his forehead. Looking up at her, Aries slowly stands to his feet hoisting the his half of the Exodus Pro Tag Team Titles up and over his right shoulder. Melody takes a step back for a moment to admire the man who she followed from Arlington, Texas to San Diego for.
Crossing her arms underneath her supple breasts, a soft smile spreads over her lips as she cocks her head to the side, giving him a nod of approval.
“How do I look?”
Finally breaking his silence, Aries places his gloved hands on his waist as the recessed lighting in the locker room shined off of the Championship face-plate.
"Like the champion you were always meant to be."
interlude
The snow is crisp underfoot, packed tight.
The ash rains upon it, mixing with the blizzard, descending from the thick, black cloud above.
As the footprints from, darkness follows… black smoke, engulfing all.
As the lights appear, red and blue painting the landscape, they’re gone.
All that’s left is snow.
then...
february 12, 2015
thrawn compound
mount fuji, japan
The reception at the breakfast table can be described as cold at best. As a small army of serving staff fuss around them, the three diners eat in silence. Facing each other, a giant of a man, and a smaller, pretty woman, exchange fleeting glances over their meals, distractedly picking at the food before them. At the head of the table sits an older man, tanned, seemingly dressed only in a plain black kimono. He ignores the pair before him, busying himself eating a grapefruit, making the consumption of the usually messy fruit into something of an artform. After a few more minutes of total silence, the older man raises a hand, seemingly the signal for an attendant to move away from the wall, stepping effortlessly through the sea of staff before him, bending down to bring his ear level with his master’s mouth. The older man does not divert his attention from his breakfast for even a moment, and the younger pair, still exchanging quick, furtive glances, don’t even notice the movement. Nodding his head, the attendant, Togo, stands, and clears his throat.
“Thrawn-san wishes to know if you are going to apologise for your absence from dinner last night, or if you would simply like us to leave so you can continue your fucking?”
There’s the lightest hint of a smirk as the older man brings a spoonful of grapefruit to his mouth, as the giant almost chokes on the mouthful he’s just taken in. The young woman, Devan Whitmore, flushes instantly, partly with embarrassment, but mostly with rage.
“Uncle Jericho!”
He’s unable to suppress a laugh as she slams her fist onto the table.
“Calm yourself, girl. My little joke.”
Her eyes dart to the giant of a man opposite her, the man known only as GRENDEL, as he buries his head in shame. She directs her attention back to her uncle.
“Can you see what you’ve done? I swear, I…
“Sit.”
The fight leaves her in an instant, the authority in the voice driving it out of her, however the embarrassment and rage remain. She sits, heavily.
“You do not think I knew about how this young man felt for you? My child, it was so painfully obvious that seemingly the whole world but you perceived it.”
“But…”
“He tore down a tree in jealousy over you.”
She stares at GRENDEL, enquiring with her eyes, but he dodges her gaze.
“Don’t be like that, child. You were just as bad. What is it they say, love is blind? All but yourselves seemed to know you were attracted to one another.”
He takes a another scoop from his grapefruit.
“I’m just glad I didn’t have to lock you both in a room together for you to discover it.”
“You… you planned this?”
He pointedly ignores the question/accusation, and turns his attention to the young man.
“You. Speak to me, clearly and truthfully. Is this animal lust? Is this the desire to have what is someone else’s…
“Uncle!”
“DO NOT INTERRUPT ME! What is this? What do you want? Success? Money? You think that bedding her will gain you access to funds? You wish to fuck your way into an inheritance…
“UNCLE!”
“SILENCE FROM YOU! And you, boy, answer me. What is it that you want?”
The silence that fills the room is primal. Not even the air dares move in such tension. Tears of fury, beginning to stream down the woman’s face, seem even too scared to fall. In the face of the stress, GRENDEL turns to the old man.
“Her. I want her.”
He speaks quiet, measured words, yet they seem to echo as if cannonfire across a ravine.
“Success means nothing. I have sampled it, and found it wanting. Money means nothing. There is nothing I desire that money can achieve that I can not, have not, attained with my own two hands. But her…”
He looks over to Devan, sitting there. A calm comes over the beast, as he stares into her eyes.
“I need her. She… she gives me purpose.”
The rage washes from her, a smile forcing itself upon her lips. The moment is interrupted only by a loud clapping from Jericho Thrawn at the head of the table.
“Excellent. This pleases me. To see you like this… the couple you were always meant to be.”
interlude
They want to see me fail. They want to see me fall.
They want to see me stumble. They want to see me lost.
But I am the only with the Silver Tongue
I’m the one who answers the Devil’s Door.
I will do more than survive.
I will thrive.
I am the Blackest Sun.
And I will always shine the brightest
then...
august, 2015
san diego, california
We spent countless nights fine tooling our craft… showing me what I was capable of. Proving what we were both able to accomplish when we had a singular goal in mind.
He helped in sharpening my mind, showing me that I could be as a great as I wanted to be.
When the news came that GRENDEL was leaving San Diego...leaving Exodus after the deconstruction of REVOLUTION, I knew it was coming and despite my own selfish need to keep my friend in San Diego, I knew what he had to do and so did he. As his taxi made the wide left turn, I turned the opposite direction and pulled a pair of headphones into my ears, slid my black hood over my head and pressed play on the iPod and I started my three mile run back to the gym. I could hear the pounding of my sneakers against the hard pavement over the beating bass of the rap music pouring into my ears as I keep a fairly long stride, throwing short fury of punches as my taped fists cut through the warm air of another late San Diego summer.
One monkey didn't stop the show.
With GRENDEL gone, I still had training to complete; I still had a job to do.
My life didn't change because one man.
And one man didn't change my course.
I would make it out of EXODUS… I would make it out of this shit hole...
… I would make my own name… I would make my own fortunes… I would make my own life.
I knew I would see him again, but until then I had to get better, I had to get stronger, I had to get faster.
I was going to prove them wrong; I was going to prove them all wrong.
I was going to change the world.
I was going to change the sport.
And I would do it one man at it time if I had to.
I never said my journey would be easy or paved with gold.
This was going to be hard, this was going to be filled with torment...this wasn't going to be for the faint of heart.
But then again, things in life were never easy.
Why should it be different for some poor black kid from the hood of Atlanta?
then...
august, 2015
san diego, california
He could feel the stare on the back of his head, as he carefully guided his delicate cargo into the taxi. Taking care to not jerk the braced neck of his love, he ignored that itch, the heat from the stare burning a hole in the back of his head.
Aries. His friend. His brother.
The early days drift in front of his eyes, back when he was held captive by that infernal mask. It was hard to bond friendships whilst under a vow of silence. Back then, only Aries and Brando had ever given him the time. Those… and Ana.
He feels his fist clench involuntarily as she comes to mind. Quickly, he looks down to his injured paramore, and feels calm begin to radiate over him, his hand releasing tension.
Those early days… before the REVOLUTION… those days forged a friendship stronger than any family he had ever known. And now he was leaving… no. Abandoning him. Exactly as he had accused… her… of doing, It sickened him, to the core. He contemplates turning round… to stay, at least to stop and explain… but he looks down at her. He looks down at those proud, defiant eyes, pained by the helplessness of her situation, and knows his path is locked.
The events of the past week had split his fledgling family asunder, the pain all too real in his heart. They could stay, sure… but the betrayal would be there. The man who had hospitalised his love… there. SHOZO would have his comeuppance at his hands, that was a given, but for now… the only that mattered… was her.
When her Uncle had made the offer, to move both of them to his Greek residence, to aid in her convalescence, GRENDEL was torn. They had just made this place their home… forged it out of sweat and hatred… and all for what? For it to be destroyed at the whim of one madman’s insecurities? To be seen to be driven from their home? It made his blood boil… but that was all the point. His blood. Not hers. This is what she needed. This is what she deserved.
And so, pointedly not turning around, he entered the taxi himself, not even daring to look around. As the taxi made the wide left turn, he dared look, seeing the solitary figure step from the shadows, lifting his hood up.
He would return.
No. They would return. And all those who had caused his family pain would suffer, a pain unlike any other rendered upon them.
The message would be heard.
They would all have the opportunity to make the choice.
This was going to be difficult. To restrain himself… for her. The hardest thing he had ever done.
But then again, things in life were never easy.
Why should it be different for the man from nowhere?
now…
theblackestsun.com/promos
fga presents vertigo
blood brothers v. team nox
hype i
… Jim Beam, of course.
Setting the glass back down on the side table, he stares into the small flames as it flickers over the wooden logs, eating away its fuel as Aries sits back allowing himself the chance to contemplate the past few weeks.
"Did I take pleasure in the beating of Luke Jackson?”
"Did I take joy in watching GRENDEL arise and put Luke down like a rabid dog?"
"No… I didn't… I -absolutely- LOVED it."
“But yet it had to be done. And let’s not lie to ourselves, we know that if the shoe was on the other foot, they’d have taken the chance to beat me too.”
“But from it, I evolved as I was finally gifted the ability to see what GRENDEL was trying to say all along.”
“We aren’t above evolution and just because we strive to for the evolution in others, we shouldn’t forsake the evolution in ourselves.”
“I wish I could say that I was the first to evolve, but I like to the think that man who I call brother all those months ago, in GRENDEL, holds that honor.”
“I’ve watched him turn all of that hate, anger, resentment, and frustration and put it towards a singular goal. In the process, shaking off the shackles that others would want to put on him, shedding the stereotypes that those who sit in the driving seat of this business would want to fit him in.”
“He became his own man, he became his own Monster.”
“The Maker of his own destiny.”
“There was a reason why GRENDEL was to be feared in and out of that ring.”
“And it’s why that I wouldn’t want to have anyone else but him in my corner.”
“He’s is my family.”
“He’s my brother.”
“He’s my blood.”
There’s movement in the shadows, as a form detaches itself from the darkness. Behind the chair, the tall, grim figure of GRENDEL now looms. His face paint takes on a disturbing life of it’s own as it dances in the flickering of the flames.
“And he is mine.”
“We’ve become so much more than those two individuals who sought to hold those Championships around their waists.”
He shrugs his shoulders slightly as he reaches over and grabs his glass, finishing off the drink slowly.
“Title are meaningless, in the grand scheme of things. This business is old and failing, choking on the failure of its past. It needs to move on, to progress. To evolve. We will lead the charge…”
"... and it starts with The Team of Nox."
Slowly his head shakes his head as a smile spreads over his lips for the first time.
"You wanted a challenge several weeks ago; instead you got the team of Blayde and Vector, two men who couldn't wrestle their ways out of a wet paper bag. But this week..."
Slowly, he swirls the glass around, the ice cubes clinking in the empty vessel before setting it back on the table.
“... this week is going to be much, much different."
"This week you get to stand in the middle of the ring with two men who honestly...don't give a fuck about you, where you come from or what you're dreams are. We don't give a damn how long if you've been a fan...it's not going to matter because what you're standing in front of Natural Selection personified. You're looking at two individuals, each of whom in their own right is able to cause a level of chaos and destruction that can bring a organization to it's knees, so you can only imagine what type of hell that will be unleashed when we're standing side by side. Gentlemen...what you're looking at, bluntly, is what happens when Bad meets Evil."
“We foresaw the fall of EXODUS. We tried to warn them. Instead, the simple minded fools they were took our warning to be a threat. Evolve or die… A simple choice, you’d think. The same rot is endemic here. The same posturing and bravado, the same narcissism and nepotism, abounds.”
“But this isn't Exodus, but the message is still the same, boys and girls.”
“What it comes down to… as with so many things... is motivation. What motivates you? What motivates Team Nox? A championship? A desire to be recognised as a “brand?”
He spits into the fire. It sizzles in response.
“I hate them. I hate how they take this industry, and seek to trivialise it into little more than a media driven financial venture. There’s not even the thin veil of social responsibility as they pretend to seek to inspire the new generation. No. Straight up, they seek only to further themselves. Their motivation is nothing more than the narcissistic desire to see their “brand” whored out across this globe, screen printed onto the cheap cotton offerings of sweatshop children.”
“When G and I spoke about getting the band back together, we knew things had to be different… things had to evolve. We are not immune to it; in fact, we embrace it. As a team… as family… as brothers, we had to change for the better and while the message remains the same, the shackles are off.”
“The muzzles have been removed.”
“And we are the masters of our own destinies.”
Aries stands at this point, focusing intently on the camera.
“And lo, he did stand amongst them, and he did dictate unto them the third commandment of the Book of Reed and I quote:”
“Commandment Three: ‘Thou shalt look upon the fucks we have to give, and thou shalt see that they are barren.’ Luke Jackson about the Gospel and it feel on deaf ears and in the end he paid for his transgression two fold, once by the hands of Aries Reed and the second by the hands of GRENDEL. Nox, you see it as an act of cowardice, to beat upon a man who’s already been beaten but what you fail to realize is that it’s when a man has reached such a low point, it’s ONLY THEN when that same man can truly open his eyes and evolve. And it’ll be shame if the two of you don’t learn that same lesson from Jackson’s mistake...but then again, I hope that you don’t. This isn’t some brand name, this isn’t some catchy phrase...this is life, this is our calling...you come into this business because you’re fans and your trained for it. We on the other hand are here because we were bred for it.”
“We don’t want your love. We don’t need your respect. You can hate us, you can despise us… but in the end, it won’t matter. There’s only the choice.”
“So. Team Nox. Will you evolve?”
A truly malevolent smile emerges over the face of Aries.
“Or will you die?”
