Something Wicked This Way Comes
Apr 28, 2016 17:14:37 GMT -5
Post by Johnny Karma on Apr 28, 2016 17:14:37 GMT -5
A long way away from the world of Frontier Grappling Arts, we find ourselves in the world of Erin Mariani as she enjoys a little Me Time, where she is casually dressed in a pair of slim black jeans and a purple cold shoulder shirt as she sits on her sofa with an episode of American Horror Story: Coven streaming on her TV with the lights off and curtains drawn, and the combined scent of incense and candle wax hang heavy in the air
As she watches the origins of Delphine LaLaurie, the moment of blissful tranquility is interrupted as her phone begins to vibrate. At first Mariani's response is of pure irritation, as she first snatches the remove from the arm of the sofa next to her so she can pause what she is watching, and then she grabs the phone from the empty cushion next to her and casts her eyes upon the face of her phone, wanting to know who is responsible for such an insolent interruption. For a moment it looks as if Mariani is going to put the phrase "if looks could kill" to the test - yet once she sees the caller ID her face relaxes, and a satisfied smile creeps across her lips before she flicks a black-painted fingernail across the face of her phone to answer
Why hello there, I was expecting to hear back from you...
Listening intently to the call, the self-satisfied smile on Mariani's pursed lips grows a little more and she moistens her lips with her tongue as she listens, awaiting the moment where she can respond to what she is hearing
Thank you for letting me know so soon. Will you be sending me the information for the show now, or at a later date?
Mariani listens for a few seconds more, admiring her purple-painted toenails as she does so
Good, good. I'll be hearing from you shortly. Goodbye.
Once the call has finished, Mariani uses her thumb to swipe the phone once again to end the call, and once the call has finished she grabs the remote to switch off the TV before she peels herself off of the sofa and walks towards the incense sticks that have been giving the room its heady aroma before she picks up a bronze bell snuffer to extinguish each stick in turn, and with this task she approaches the set of candles that have been casting their light over the room so she can snuff all but one of the flames, at which point she leaves the room for a moment – and when she re-enters, wearing a black leather jacket, she opens the curtains to reveal it is daylight in the outside world, and with some light being cast inside the room she uses the snuffer to extinguish the final candle, before she licks her thumb and index finger so she can pinch the wick to snuff out the last embers of the flame with a satisfying hiss, before she addresses an unseen person
I’ll be going outside for a while.
Once she has divulged this piece of information, all of a sudden a man clad in nothing more than a blindfold and his boxer shorts who has been on all fours to serve as Mariani’s foot stool as she watches AHS in peace lifts his head and looks in her direction
I shall wait…
Before he can finish speaking, however, he is cut off by Mariani unleashing a hellacious slap across his face with an impact that echoes through the room and leaves a perfect impression of her handprint across his face, before she looks at the man with a look of pure disgust
Did I give you permission to speak?
The man’s head drops towards the floor, as he slowly shakes his head from side to side to say he has learned his lesson – but Mariani’s expression does not change, as she continues to look upon him like he is less than nothing. After letting him squirm for a few moments, Mariani turns and walks out of the room, and we can hear her in the hallway picking up her keys – but rather than leave, instead she returns to the living room once more and slaps a handcuff onto his wrist, before he slaps the other cuff onto the leg of the sofa
You’ll be staying here until I get back.
Satisfied that he knows his place, Mariani picks her phone off of the sofa cushion and she exits the room, and as she leaves we hear she has called somebody and is arranging a meetup
I just heard back, and they want us. I’ll see you at the usual place in ten minutes?
We hear the apartment door slam shut behind Mariani as she leaves
We join Mariani as she sits at her table at Purple Café & Wine Bar, a local hotspot for those with a taste of the finer things in life, where she is drinking a glass of her preferred single malt whisky as she surveys the bar as if it is her domain – that is, until, her attention is caught by the arrival of Sara Mason, wearing a black double breasted winter coat over a white tank top and a pair of black leather jeans, and once Mason has spotted Mariani she approaches the table and takes a seat, before looking over her shoulder to draw a waiter’s attention
So I hear we’ve got a gig coming up.
One gig, two gigs, three gigs – it all depends on how easily dispatched our opponents will be.
Quite…
At this point a waiter appears at the table, and in that moment Mason switches on a kittenish smile and bats her eyelashes at the waiter
A glass of the Malbec, my good man.
As the waiter turns and walks to the bar, Mason sniggers at how easily he was fooled by that act – and at that same moment a second waiter is about to pass the table, but the moment he spots Mason he suddenly changes direction, which draws a chuckle from her
You didn’t.
Mason doesn’t look in any way apologetic as she shrugs a dismissive shrug
I have my needs, and he was useful for that half hour…okay, twenty minutes, and that’s including the foreplay.
Foreplay?
Mason checks over her shoulder to see where the waiter has snuck off too
He could do a better job hiding those rope marks, though. Poor little lamb put up a struggle...
The two women chuckle, and with perfect timing the first waiter returns to the table with Mason’s glass of red, and once again she switches on the kittenish act as she takes a sip of her wine and smiles at the waiter to say she’s satisfied with her order, and once again the mask is dropped the moment he turns and leaves
So do you think they have any idea what they are in for? This company who booked us, I mean, not the designated fuck over there who is trying so hard not to look over here.
Pondering the question, Mariani raises her glass for a moment and watches as she swirls the liquor inside, before a knowing smile crosses her lips
And where would the fun be in that? If they knew what was heading there way, one or two people might try and get their defences up, instead we can give a few people a remarkably unpleasant surprise. That sounds much more entertaining, doesn’t it?
The two women chuckle to themselves before they both take a celebratory drink from their respective glasses, all while sharing a conspiratorial look between the two of them
A few weeks after receiving confirmation that they will be taking part in the Dynamic Duos Tournament, we catch up with Mariani and Mason as they train at a local gym, and we catch up as Mariani is tying back her hair and doing a few stretches prior to her workout
So you heard about our opponents? What's their names...Ryan LeCavalier and...?
Salem Cartier.
Salem? Cute.
Mason lets out a wry chuckle at the irony of facing an opponent who shares a name with her hometown
So what do we know about the pair of them? Other than their calling themselves MagiCastle, which Twitter so helpfully informed us about.
Rather than answer, Mariani holds up a finger to tell Mason she needs a moment - and the reason she needs a moment is quite clear, as they are interrupted by a guy who has been skulking around the gym looking to hit on any women he sees, and at this very moment he's decided to hit on Mariani
So hey there, girl, can I help you with something?
The look on Mariani's face already says that he can indeed offer his assistance, although judging by the smirk on Mason's face that the guy doesn't see what he's actually done is walk into a situation he thinks he is control of but is anything but - and he is going to find out very soon
As a matter of fact there is something you can help me with. Could you help me by holding that punching bag over there?
Mariani gestures towards a punching bag that is hanging from the ceiling and the guys eyes follow her direction, before returning back to Mariani so he can flash his cheesiest smile
No trouble at all.
The guy walks towards the bag and steps behind it, placing his hands around it to hold it in place - and just for a moment he appears to caress the bag, something which doesn't go unnoticed by Mariani before she adjusts her posture and quickly unleashes a couple of hard shoot kicks to the bag, the force of which takes the guy by surprise before he tries to regain his composure
That was...pretty good. Can you do that again?
Although the guy seems a little rattled by Mariani's unexpected show of force, he still believes that he can get out of this situation with a set of digits and his subtle negging tactics will go a long way, so he takes up his position behind the bag once more as Mariani sets her posture once more - but this time she connects with a thrust kick directly into the bag, the impact of which causes the guy to stumble back a few steps before he finally loses his footing and drops directly onto his ass
Oops...
With a wicked glint in her eye, Mariani leaves the guy on the floor and returns to her conversation with Mason, giving the guy the perfect opportunity to do exactly what Mariani wanted him to do in the first place: piss off
So where were we? Oh yes, our opponents - although it does disappoint me that we’re facing one of the all-girl teams in the tournament, because I was looking forward to educating somebody about how that precious Y-chromosome of theirs doesn’t carry as much weight as they like to think. C’est la vie and all that.
Sensing a strand of hair is fighting loose, Mariani brushes it back before she takes a sip of water
There is the obvious comfort, though, in that Salem Cartier is a full-time member of their roster, rather than being somebody guesting in the tournament – so there’s more than a little comfort to be gained from the thought of showing up in her house, and then asking her one simple question: “Your house?”
From what I’ve seen, the pair of them like to bounce around the ring like a couple of horny jackrabbits, blissfully unaware that one hop too many will see them caught in the hunter’s snare and suddenly they go from living happy, carefree lives to wishing it will end as quickly as possible.
I don’t know, maybe the next time Salem walks into Hot Topic for her weekly shop she can enquire about some sort of protection spell. That seems to be her understanding of witchcraft…
Quite…
The thought of Cartier’s suspect witchcraft credentials almost has Mariani turning up her nose at the thought
The pair of them seem to love coming up with fun little monikers for themselves, one of them deciding she’s a witch because she spent her teenage years eating cookie dough watching Charmed reruns while the other decided she’s a monarch because she wants to play princess but skipped the history class that told her most of the world’s monarchs met with the guillotine or the firing squad. What strikes me most about LeCavalier is how she prides herself as being unique, wearing this description of herself as a badge – but if she believes herself to be this unique creature, she’s going to be a little bit upset when she discovers she is not so unique, and she is certainly not so superior.
The pair of them have this air, this…arrogance, this idea that nothing can hurt them because they’re a pair of free spirits and nothing bothers them. I’d call it the ignorance of youth, but why qualify it? They are just ignorant. After all, what sort of idiot spends a match sprinting around the ring at full speed? It’s a marathon, not a sprint. If you see me running around the ring with as much direction or purpose as a headlines chicken, do us both a favour and tag in. There’s only one way Salem will be drawing short gasps in the match, and it’s because she’s taking the sort of punishment she doesn’t think will happen to her because she’s so damn free-spirited.
With a dismissive shake of her head, Mariani takes another sip of water
I hear that Salem’s got a little boo-boo between a couple of her vertebrae, too. You’d think she’d learn that flinging herself around the ring don’t always work out for her, but apparently that’s not the case. I’m starting to think she landed on her head a few times too many, or maybe all that sugar has rotted her brain. Similar can be said for LeCavalier; she’s picked up her fair share of injuries, yet she wants to go full-on and pretend that they won’t be coming back to bite her on that bony ass of hers. Does she really think nobody knows she’s a handful of matches away from being held together with gaffer tape and goodwill? There’s a weakness there, and that’s easy to exploit.
Ahh yes, the idea that you’re invincible – until somebody hits you and you find you are not. Saying you have an encyclopaedic knowledge of half a dozen martial arts might be enough to get into the head of somebody weak, but weak people don’t know better – the real question is what good her knowledge will be when my knee has left its mark on her pretty face, because I don’t recall seeing somebody having their hand raised after a kickboxing bout because they bled all over their opponent. At that point, she may as well have an encyclopaedic knowledge of half a dozen ways to mix a Manhattan for all the good it will do her…
I wouldn’t know about that: a good stiff drink does ease the pain, both the physical pain and the pain of defeat. She might need that knowledge when the world she and Salem live in goes bye-bye.
Mason smirks a devious little smirk
And what other talents would she have to fall back on? I don’t think there’s much growth in the “cute portmanteau” industry – although I’d say Salem was the one pushing for the MagiCastle name, as LeCavalier strikes me as somebody who’d prefer a name that would look good on an Affliction t-shirt.
I would have thought the two spent a whole night brainstorming that name, as that sounds about their level – they think it sounds cute, but it’s just stupid and a waste of everyone’s time. And if they thought that was a waste of everyone’s time, wait until they look back on their “performance” in this tournament, which should not take them too long as they only had one match to watch. So many hopes, so many dreams…all crushed, and all it took to crush those hopes and dreams was my boot applying a little downward pressure in the right place, and *CRACK* there’s nothing but a few shards of what they once had, and there isn’t a glue on earth that can put that back together again.
To illustrate the point, Mariani snaps her fingers as a wicked smile crosses her face
So when we leave a couple of girls broken in our wake, nobody will be asking "Who are these two?" because a much more delicious question will be on their lips: "How do we avoid them?" - yet when they ask this question, I will look straight back into their eyes and tell them "Too late, you fool, too late" and in that moment we will know that we have their attention, and it's up to us to do exactly what we want with it.
As she watches the origins of Delphine LaLaurie, the moment of blissful tranquility is interrupted as her phone begins to vibrate. At first Mariani's response is of pure irritation, as she first snatches the remove from the arm of the sofa next to her so she can pause what she is watching, and then she grabs the phone from the empty cushion next to her and casts her eyes upon the face of her phone, wanting to know who is responsible for such an insolent interruption. For a moment it looks as if Mariani is going to put the phrase "if looks could kill" to the test - yet once she sees the caller ID her face relaxes, and a satisfied smile creeps across her lips before she flicks a black-painted fingernail across the face of her phone to answer
Why hello there, I was expecting to hear back from you...
Listening intently to the call, the self-satisfied smile on Mariani's pursed lips grows a little more and she moistens her lips with her tongue as she listens, awaiting the moment where she can respond to what she is hearing
Thank you for letting me know so soon. Will you be sending me the information for the show now, or at a later date?
Mariani listens for a few seconds more, admiring her purple-painted toenails as she does so
Good, good. I'll be hearing from you shortly. Goodbye.
Once the call has finished, Mariani uses her thumb to swipe the phone once again to end the call, and once the call has finished she grabs the remote to switch off the TV before she peels herself off of the sofa and walks towards the incense sticks that have been giving the room its heady aroma before she picks up a bronze bell snuffer to extinguish each stick in turn, and with this task she approaches the set of candles that have been casting their light over the room so she can snuff all but one of the flames, at which point she leaves the room for a moment – and when she re-enters, wearing a black leather jacket, she opens the curtains to reveal it is daylight in the outside world, and with some light being cast inside the room she uses the snuffer to extinguish the final candle, before she licks her thumb and index finger so she can pinch the wick to snuff out the last embers of the flame with a satisfying hiss, before she addresses an unseen person
I’ll be going outside for a while.
Once she has divulged this piece of information, all of a sudden a man clad in nothing more than a blindfold and his boxer shorts who has been on all fours to serve as Mariani’s foot stool as she watches AHS in peace lifts his head and looks in her direction
I shall wait…
Before he can finish speaking, however, he is cut off by Mariani unleashing a hellacious slap across his face with an impact that echoes through the room and leaves a perfect impression of her handprint across his face, before she looks at the man with a look of pure disgust
Did I give you permission to speak?
The man’s head drops towards the floor, as he slowly shakes his head from side to side to say he has learned his lesson – but Mariani’s expression does not change, as she continues to look upon him like he is less than nothing. After letting him squirm for a few moments, Mariani turns and walks out of the room, and we can hear her in the hallway picking up her keys – but rather than leave, instead she returns to the living room once more and slaps a handcuff onto his wrist, before he slaps the other cuff onto the leg of the sofa
You’ll be staying here until I get back.
Satisfied that he knows his place, Mariani picks her phone off of the sofa cushion and she exits the room, and as she leaves we hear she has called somebody and is arranging a meetup
I just heard back, and they want us. I’ll see you at the usual place in ten minutes?
We hear the apartment door slam shut behind Mariani as she leaves
~ ~ ~
We join Mariani as she sits at her table at Purple Café & Wine Bar, a local hotspot for those with a taste of the finer things in life, where she is drinking a glass of her preferred single malt whisky as she surveys the bar as if it is her domain – that is, until, her attention is caught by the arrival of Sara Mason, wearing a black double breasted winter coat over a white tank top and a pair of black leather jeans, and once Mason has spotted Mariani she approaches the table and takes a seat, before looking over her shoulder to draw a waiter’s attention
So I hear we’ve got a gig coming up.
One gig, two gigs, three gigs – it all depends on how easily dispatched our opponents will be.
Quite…
At this point a waiter appears at the table, and in that moment Mason switches on a kittenish smile and bats her eyelashes at the waiter
A glass of the Malbec, my good man.
As the waiter turns and walks to the bar, Mason sniggers at how easily he was fooled by that act – and at that same moment a second waiter is about to pass the table, but the moment he spots Mason he suddenly changes direction, which draws a chuckle from her
You didn’t.
Mason doesn’t look in any way apologetic as she shrugs a dismissive shrug
I have my needs, and he was useful for that half hour…okay, twenty minutes, and that’s including the foreplay.
Foreplay?
Mason checks over her shoulder to see where the waiter has snuck off too
He could do a better job hiding those rope marks, though. Poor little lamb put up a struggle...
The two women chuckle, and with perfect timing the first waiter returns to the table with Mason’s glass of red, and once again she switches on the kittenish act as she takes a sip of her wine and smiles at the waiter to say she’s satisfied with her order, and once again the mask is dropped the moment he turns and leaves
So do you think they have any idea what they are in for? This company who booked us, I mean, not the designated fuck over there who is trying so hard not to look over here.
Pondering the question, Mariani raises her glass for a moment and watches as she swirls the liquor inside, before a knowing smile crosses her lips
And where would the fun be in that? If they knew what was heading there way, one or two people might try and get their defences up, instead we can give a few people a remarkably unpleasant surprise. That sounds much more entertaining, doesn’t it?
The two women chuckle to themselves before they both take a celebratory drink from their respective glasses, all while sharing a conspiratorial look between the two of them
~ ~ ~
A few weeks after receiving confirmation that they will be taking part in the Dynamic Duos Tournament, we catch up with Mariani and Mason as they train at a local gym, and we catch up as Mariani is tying back her hair and doing a few stretches prior to her workout
So you heard about our opponents? What's their names...Ryan LeCavalier and...?
Salem Cartier.
Salem? Cute.
Mason lets out a wry chuckle at the irony of facing an opponent who shares a name with her hometown
So what do we know about the pair of them? Other than their calling themselves MagiCastle, which Twitter so helpfully informed us about.
Rather than answer, Mariani holds up a finger to tell Mason she needs a moment - and the reason she needs a moment is quite clear, as they are interrupted by a guy who has been skulking around the gym looking to hit on any women he sees, and at this very moment he's decided to hit on Mariani
So hey there, girl, can I help you with something?
The look on Mariani's face already says that he can indeed offer his assistance, although judging by the smirk on Mason's face that the guy doesn't see what he's actually done is walk into a situation he thinks he is control of but is anything but - and he is going to find out very soon
As a matter of fact there is something you can help me with. Could you help me by holding that punching bag over there?
Mariani gestures towards a punching bag that is hanging from the ceiling and the guys eyes follow her direction, before returning back to Mariani so he can flash his cheesiest smile
No trouble at all.
The guy walks towards the bag and steps behind it, placing his hands around it to hold it in place - and just for a moment he appears to caress the bag, something which doesn't go unnoticed by Mariani before she adjusts her posture and quickly unleashes a couple of hard shoot kicks to the bag, the force of which takes the guy by surprise before he tries to regain his composure
That was...pretty good. Can you do that again?
Although the guy seems a little rattled by Mariani's unexpected show of force, he still believes that he can get out of this situation with a set of digits and his subtle negging tactics will go a long way, so he takes up his position behind the bag once more as Mariani sets her posture once more - but this time she connects with a thrust kick directly into the bag, the impact of which causes the guy to stumble back a few steps before he finally loses his footing and drops directly onto his ass
Oops...
With a wicked glint in her eye, Mariani leaves the guy on the floor and returns to her conversation with Mason, giving the guy the perfect opportunity to do exactly what Mariani wanted him to do in the first place: piss off
So where were we? Oh yes, our opponents - although it does disappoint me that we’re facing one of the all-girl teams in the tournament, because I was looking forward to educating somebody about how that precious Y-chromosome of theirs doesn’t carry as much weight as they like to think. C’est la vie and all that.
Sensing a strand of hair is fighting loose, Mariani brushes it back before she takes a sip of water
There is the obvious comfort, though, in that Salem Cartier is a full-time member of their roster, rather than being somebody guesting in the tournament – so there’s more than a little comfort to be gained from the thought of showing up in her house, and then asking her one simple question: “Your house?”
From what I’ve seen, the pair of them like to bounce around the ring like a couple of horny jackrabbits, blissfully unaware that one hop too many will see them caught in the hunter’s snare and suddenly they go from living happy, carefree lives to wishing it will end as quickly as possible.
I don’t know, maybe the next time Salem walks into Hot Topic for her weekly shop she can enquire about some sort of protection spell. That seems to be her understanding of witchcraft…
Quite…
The thought of Cartier’s suspect witchcraft credentials almost has Mariani turning up her nose at the thought
The pair of them seem to love coming up with fun little monikers for themselves, one of them deciding she’s a witch because she spent her teenage years eating cookie dough watching Charmed reruns while the other decided she’s a monarch because she wants to play princess but skipped the history class that told her most of the world’s monarchs met with the guillotine or the firing squad. What strikes me most about LeCavalier is how she prides herself as being unique, wearing this description of herself as a badge – but if she believes herself to be this unique creature, she’s going to be a little bit upset when she discovers she is not so unique, and she is certainly not so superior.
The pair of them have this air, this…arrogance, this idea that nothing can hurt them because they’re a pair of free spirits and nothing bothers them. I’d call it the ignorance of youth, but why qualify it? They are just ignorant. After all, what sort of idiot spends a match sprinting around the ring at full speed? It’s a marathon, not a sprint. If you see me running around the ring with as much direction or purpose as a headlines chicken, do us both a favour and tag in. There’s only one way Salem will be drawing short gasps in the match, and it’s because she’s taking the sort of punishment she doesn’t think will happen to her because she’s so damn free-spirited.
With a dismissive shake of her head, Mariani takes another sip of water
I hear that Salem’s got a little boo-boo between a couple of her vertebrae, too. You’d think she’d learn that flinging herself around the ring don’t always work out for her, but apparently that’s not the case. I’m starting to think she landed on her head a few times too many, or maybe all that sugar has rotted her brain. Similar can be said for LeCavalier; she’s picked up her fair share of injuries, yet she wants to go full-on and pretend that they won’t be coming back to bite her on that bony ass of hers. Does she really think nobody knows she’s a handful of matches away from being held together with gaffer tape and goodwill? There’s a weakness there, and that’s easy to exploit.
Ahh yes, the idea that you’re invincible – until somebody hits you and you find you are not. Saying you have an encyclopaedic knowledge of half a dozen martial arts might be enough to get into the head of somebody weak, but weak people don’t know better – the real question is what good her knowledge will be when my knee has left its mark on her pretty face, because I don’t recall seeing somebody having their hand raised after a kickboxing bout because they bled all over their opponent. At that point, she may as well have an encyclopaedic knowledge of half a dozen ways to mix a Manhattan for all the good it will do her…
I wouldn’t know about that: a good stiff drink does ease the pain, both the physical pain and the pain of defeat. She might need that knowledge when the world she and Salem live in goes bye-bye.
Mason smirks a devious little smirk
And what other talents would she have to fall back on? I don’t think there’s much growth in the “cute portmanteau” industry – although I’d say Salem was the one pushing for the MagiCastle name, as LeCavalier strikes me as somebody who’d prefer a name that would look good on an Affliction t-shirt.
I would have thought the two spent a whole night brainstorming that name, as that sounds about their level – they think it sounds cute, but it’s just stupid and a waste of everyone’s time. And if they thought that was a waste of everyone’s time, wait until they look back on their “performance” in this tournament, which should not take them too long as they only had one match to watch. So many hopes, so many dreams…all crushed, and all it took to crush those hopes and dreams was my boot applying a little downward pressure in the right place, and *CRACK* there’s nothing but a few shards of what they once had, and there isn’t a glue on earth that can put that back together again.
To illustrate the point, Mariani snaps her fingers as a wicked smile crosses her face
So when we leave a couple of girls broken in our wake, nobody will be asking "Who are these two?" because a much more delicious question will be on their lips: "How do we avoid them?" - yet when they ask this question, I will look straight back into their eyes and tell them "Too late, you fool, too late" and in that moment we will know that we have their attention, and it's up to us to do exactly what we want with it.
