emoH
Apr 5, 2016 19:43:01 GMT -5
Post by The Mason on Apr 5, 2016 19:43:01 GMT -5
04.03.16
“Is it fucked up that when I watched it, the first thing I thought was-- what if she and Banks won?” I sighed, rubbing sweat from my eyes with the heels of my palms. “I mean, I wanted her to be okay, but that’s the first place my mind went. I was like, ‘what would they have done if Emily couldn’t go at Pride’? I…”
We were walking back from the gym, towels around our necks, gym bag with our belongings thrown over my shoulder. We’d watched it again. We’d watched plenty of video on Baroness, on MacRear, but (even though Becky quietly protested) we watched the attack again, this time on her phone. Emily Carter, lain to waste. Like nothing.
Becky turned away with her eyes clamped shut.
“She’s going to be okay, and-- and it doesn’t matter, because we won,” she took a deep breath, eyes still closed and gently shaking her head.
I could see she didn’t mean it in the way it sounded. It was the mindset Rex told us to adopt, maybe because of the nature of Emily’s attack. And attacker. But Becky’s words lingered there between us.
“It matters,” I muttered, eyes drifting away from her, toward the truck parked alongside the street as it came into view. “I may look like a Greek God, Beck, but I am totally human. All breakable and shit, luscious abs be damne-- DON’T make that face! That kinda thing could happen to us!” I cringed, trying to hide it. “Fuckin’... Baroness and MacRear could do it to us if things went that far." Pause. "They would.”
“And we know it, so we’ll be ready,” her eyes finally reopened, a bit of fire in them.
It was haunting, how calm she was in spite of all that'd happened. In spite of what was ahead. I sucked it up and nodded though as we slowed to a stop on opposite sides of the truck.
“Yeah. That’s how it’s gotta be.”
04.05.16
“It’s been really easy for us to feel like we don’t belong here; Beck and I.
The vast majority’s never supported us. They never expected us to make it this far. Never expected us to advance in the tournament to begin with, much less be fighting for the chance to be the first ever APEX Tag Team Champions-- and eventually it’s easy to buy into all that and say ‘bruh, we’ve been so lucky.’ It’s easy to buy into the hype that’s the Crimson Baroness and Prince MacRear and be happy enough that this Cinderella story went this far but… fuck it, why stop now?
We always fed off the energy of the people, not the critics, so why stop at almost? Why not walk out of the Benton Convention Center with brand-new championship belts in our grasp? Like… man, if they still doubt us after the past three months then let that doubt turn to shock when the Camp pulls through again; this time when it counts.
We one-upped them before but I know they’ve studied since then. They’ve improved since then. It wasn’t easy beating them before but now it’s like preparing for an entirely different team and now both sides are fighting with shit to actually lose. Like. It’s real now.
Everything’s different now.
We’re not the same. We’ve tried to take something from every single opponent and every single show the Lion’s Den has had. When I was sitting at home, making the dumbass choice to let Beck go to the Serengeti alone in February, I watched what happens when we stop thinking like a team even for one fucking day. I watched what happened to Banks and-- and Carter.
…
We vowed to never let that shit happen again-- not to either one of us. And you’re gonna have to do something close to that, or worse than that if you’re walking out of Pride with the APEX Tag Team Championships. You knock us down and we’re gonna keep pulling ourselves up, keep charging back at you… keep fighting you until you can’t even raise your heads to look at us anymore. It’s gonna be absolutely fucking Brutal.
Prince MacRear has respect from the same people that used to turn their noses up at him and in less than a year, the Baroness has wrestled from continent to continent, getting the kind of experience that some veterans only WISH they had… and they are two of the greatest individuals we’ve ever faced. They’re probably greater now. Th--
Shit.
I know they are now.
But they’re not the team we are. It could’ve been anybody, but it’s us versus them: the Prince and the Baroness. I swear, they’ll all look at us so much differently after Pride.
We belong here.”
“Is it fucked up that when I watched it, the first thing I thought was-- what if she and Banks won?” I sighed, rubbing sweat from my eyes with the heels of my palms. “I mean, I wanted her to be okay, but that’s the first place my mind went. I was like, ‘what would they have done if Emily couldn’t go at Pride’? I…”
We were walking back from the gym, towels around our necks, gym bag with our belongings thrown over my shoulder. We’d watched it again. We’d watched plenty of video on Baroness, on MacRear, but (even though Becky quietly protested) we watched the attack again, this time on her phone. Emily Carter, lain to waste. Like nothing.
Becky turned away with her eyes clamped shut.
“She’s going to be okay, and-- and it doesn’t matter, because we won,” she took a deep breath, eyes still closed and gently shaking her head.
I could see she didn’t mean it in the way it sounded. It was the mindset Rex told us to adopt, maybe because of the nature of Emily’s attack. And attacker. But Becky’s words lingered there between us.
“It matters,” I muttered, eyes drifting away from her, toward the truck parked alongside the street as it came into view. “I may look like a Greek God, Beck, but I am totally human. All breakable and shit, luscious abs be damne-- DON’T make that face! That kinda thing could happen to us!” I cringed, trying to hide it. “Fuckin’... Baroness and MacRear could do it to us if things went that far." Pause. "They would.”
“And we know it, so we’ll be ready,” her eyes finally reopened, a bit of fire in them.
It was haunting, how calm she was in spite of all that'd happened. In spite of what was ahead. I sucked it up and nodded though as we slowed to a stop on opposite sides of the truck.
“Yeah. That’s how it’s gotta be.”
04.05.16
“It’s been really easy for us to feel like we don’t belong here; Beck and I.
The vast majority’s never supported us. They never expected us to make it this far. Never expected us to advance in the tournament to begin with, much less be fighting for the chance to be the first ever APEX Tag Team Champions-- and eventually it’s easy to buy into all that and say ‘bruh, we’ve been so lucky.’ It’s easy to buy into the hype that’s the Crimson Baroness and Prince MacRear and be happy enough that this Cinderella story went this far but… fuck it, why stop now?
We always fed off the energy of the people, not the critics, so why stop at almost? Why not walk out of the Benton Convention Center with brand-new championship belts in our grasp? Like… man, if they still doubt us after the past three months then let that doubt turn to shock when the Camp pulls through again; this time when it counts.
We one-upped them before but I know they’ve studied since then. They’ve improved since then. It wasn’t easy beating them before but now it’s like preparing for an entirely different team and now both sides are fighting with shit to actually lose. Like. It’s real now.
Everything’s different now.
We’re not the same. We’ve tried to take something from every single opponent and every single show the Lion’s Den has had. When I was sitting at home, making the dumbass choice to let Beck go to the Serengeti alone in February, I watched what happens when we stop thinking like a team even for one fucking day. I watched what happened to Banks and-- and Carter.
…
We vowed to never let that shit happen again-- not to either one of us. And you’re gonna have to do something close to that, or worse than that if you’re walking out of Pride with the APEX Tag Team Championships. You knock us down and we’re gonna keep pulling ourselves up, keep charging back at you… keep fighting you until you can’t even raise your heads to look at us anymore. It’s gonna be absolutely fucking Brutal.
Prince MacRear has respect from the same people that used to turn their noses up at him and in less than a year, the Baroness has wrestled from continent to continent, getting the kind of experience that some veterans only WISH they had… and they are two of the greatest individuals we’ve ever faced. They’re probably greater now. Th--
Shit.
I know they are now.
But they’re not the team we are. It could’ve been anybody, but it’s us versus them: the Prince and the Baroness. I swear, they’ll all look at us so much differently after Pride.
We belong here.”