Seventh Circle
May 26, 2016 13:26:23 GMT -5
Post by Johnny Karma on May 26, 2016 13:26:23 GMT -5
Having successfully vanquished Dragons Unleashed to continue their march through the Dynamic Duos Tournament, we find the two members of Silk & Cyanide have discovered that, as irredeemably pathetic as Johnson City may be, at least there is one individual who is trying to crawl out of the mire by selling the more divine things in life, namely the bottle of Moët & Chandon that Sara Mason is swigging as the pair are celebrating backstage at the exact moment a cameraman decides to poke his nose in a place he really, really shouldn’t - an infraction that does not go unnoticed by Mariani, who slowly turns her head towards the camera to give an utterly disdainful look
Did nobody tell you that the polite thing to do is knock? Or maybe you weren’t thinking of being polite, and instead you were hoping to catch a glimpse of a little skin? Some thigh, perhaps, or were you hoping for something that little bit more…explicit?
As Mariani interrogates the cameraman, Mason slickers as she takes a long glug of champagne
I asked you a question, boy. Do you have the manners of an ape, or were you merely hoping to see something that you could think of as you beat yourself senseless tonight? Because either way…
Without the merest hint of warning Mariani grabs the camera from the cameraman’s grasp and slams the door shut in his face, an action that causes a remarkably pleased smirk to cross her lips as she takes a moment to adjust the viewing screen so she can see what’s being recorded before setting it down
The dumb son of a bitch never saw it coming.
Mason snickers as she takes yet another sip
So what’s the plan, now that we have our own camera to…
Finding herself being interrupted by the cameraman banging on the door, Mason hands the bottle to mariani before opening the door to let the cameraman have it
You’ll get the camera back when we say so. Not before, when we have finished. So if you want it back, you’d better sit there in silence and wait like a good little boy.
If the words were not enough to give the cameraman the hint, the borderline murderous look Mason fixes him with when she’s finished speaking should make it abundantly clear who’s in charge – and with her point made it’s her turn to slam the door in his face, clicking her tongue as she wanders away from the door while Mariani takes a sip from the bottle
So, yeah, what’s the plan for the camera?
I was thinking that we could do that worm’s job and talk about the match we had tonight, and in doing so we can show a few people that barging into places where they aren’t wanted just to jam a camera in their face is not the way to approach their obvious superior. Maybe they will learn, maybe they will not, but why should we lower ourselves to the ordinary when the ordinary is what has been left a broken shell in our path twice already?
Rather than answer verbally, Mason answers non-verbally as a wicked smile crosses her face as she thinks of a few things she’d like to say about their recently vanquished opponents – but first she gestures for Mariani to hand over the bottle once more
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: the two of us…
Mason flicks her finger back and forth to indicate herself and Mariani
…go up against a team that all those oh-so-wise and knowledgeable people who think they’ve seen and know it all are convinced will walk over us because those wise and knowledgeable people actually know who the other team is and that counts for everything – and all that happens is they learn just how little they know.
MagiCastle? We broke them. Dragons Unleashed? We broke them. And the thing is we said exactly what we were going to do in order to break them, we warned them what was headed their way, but did they listen? No, they thought they knew better too. But you know what? We’re not a pair of heartless, unfeeling monsters who thrive on our opponents’ suffering, so the right thing to do is pour one out for what once was Dragons Unleashed…
Mason holds up the bottle, looking as if she’s going to pour some out on the locker room floor – only to quickly take another swig out of the bottle as she maintains eye contact with the camera, before spitting the contents on the floor
That’s all you’ll ever get from us, and don’t you forget it.
Her point being made, Mason hands the bottle over to Mariani – but rather than take a sip from the bottle, instead Mariani runs her thumb over the champagne that’s dripping from Mason’s lip before she licks the champagne off of her thumb, at which point she takes a sip from the bottle
You see, FGA, this is the difference between the rest of you and us: all of you hope to one day be called a Dynamic Duo, but do you think we’re interested in a title that is so…mediocre?
Rather than be called “Dynamic” like so many who have come before us have or hoped to, we want a title that is more fitting for what we have done and will do to every poor individual who crosses our path – and I have to say that being referred to as the DOMINANT Duo certainly seems far more fitting for what we have in mind. If your opinions mattered, I am sure your mind, your body and your soul would be yelling in agreement.
Feeling that there is nothing more that needs to be said, Mariani picks up the camera once more and walks towards the door, opening it and shoving the camera into the hands of the cameraman who is still waiting in the hallway
Now go away.
A few days later and we find ourselves once again inside Mariani’s living room, where once more the curtains are drawn and the air is thick with the scent of wax from the candles that illuminate the room and casting shadows as the flames flicker – yet they are not the sole source of light in the room, as there is plenty of light being cast by the TV screen that is airing the match between Le Pacte de Immortels and Justice Riot from the last edition of Vertigo
Across the room from the screen we find both Mariani and Mason perched on the leather chaise longue, with Mariani draping her arm across the headrest while Mason sits in the lotus position at the other end - and just at the point where Sophie El is about to connect with Electrotherapy on Jolyne Dysart, Mariani hits the pause button to leave the image of Jolyne being half a second away from meeting Sophie’s knee on the screen – or to be more accurate, the image of Jolyne with a look on her face that combines fear and resignation as she knows what is about to happen but cannot do a damn thing to prevent it
With the action paused, Mariani turns toward Mason to ask just one question…
Well…?
Fully understanding what would appear to be a vague question from Mariani, Mason uncrosses her legs so she can adjust her sitting position as she turns towards Mariani
If I didn’t know any better, it would appear that our new Francophone friend has designs on being the Queen Bee of the tournament and thinks the cutie with her head in the clouds is the piece of the jigsaw that she’s been looking for to make that happen - something they no doubt feel that little bit more confident about as they were given a bye into the quarter finals, giving them a little bit more time to prepare for their match and make sure that Sophie wasn’t feeling any after effects from the long list of meds she’s obviously on before they graced the tournament with their presence.
While she says the last part, Mason rolls her eyes at the thought of it
Although if we’re going to talk about the meds she’s on, one incredibly obvious question needs to be asked: is she so strong because she’s some kind of savant, or is it that some of her medication is…shall we say, more of the “performance enhancing” variety and she hopes nobody finds out her dirty little secret? Because it certainly makes sense, given she’s so fixated on this one time she took a horrible beating, so to overcome it she needed to become big and strong – and there’s a well-known shortcut to make that happen, and it’s quite convenient for her to say she can’t remember if that’s what happened because she got a little bump on the noggin.
Once she hears Mason’s analysis of their opponents, a knowing smile crosses Mariani’s lips
She does seem to have a hang-up on that one match, doesn’t she? So much so that the match has come to define her – literally.
Yet she does not understand that there is a word for somebody who refuses to confront their past and instead throw themselves head-first through the looking glass as they hope to find a rabbit hole that’s safe enough for them to dream a little dream for themselves – and that word is COWARDLY. Rather than accept her obvious inferiority to Emma Carlisle, an inferiority made that much obvious that she pretends that chapter of her life happened to someone else, she wants to try again as somebody else and pretend that life gave her a do-over. It’s pathetic, really it is, because what sort of person wants to expend all that energy going through life pretending that somebody else was beaten to a pulp before they got choked within half an inch of their life?
And as for the one cracking the whip…
A wicked glint flickers in Mariani’s eye at the thought of the last comment
…as much as she believes herself to be Queen, she has little idea of what that entails. A true Queen rules by force of will, force of personality, and knowing when and where she needs to make her moves in the great game. That is not the same as hoping her damaged attack dog will bare its teeth at those who pose a threat to her, because if you starve a dog for a few days it will no longer feel a scrap of loyalty towards its master as all it will see is a source of food that needs to stop screaming.
What’s more, hiding in the shadows behind the dumb muscle is hardly a demonstration of power - it is another demonstration of cowardice from the duo, a refusal to get her hands dirty just as it underlines how reliant she is on her clueless lapdog. Just look at the match they had, just how much she needed to sic the dog on the opposition to stay in the match, let alone turn it in her favour. Does she not realise there will come a point where the dog will be hit in the head one time too many and the clouds will clear, and then the dog will have their first thought since the day that chokehold sent her to dreamland – and that thought will be what she is getting from the arrangement? That’s the day where doggy slips the leash, and that day will see the subjects have no reason to fear their so-called Queen and that will spell her swift yet bloody demise.
Mariani lets out a self-satisfied laugh at the thought of it
We’ve proven that we can break an opponent who wants to pretend their scars have healed, and we have proven that not once but twice – but now we face opponents who are damaged in a very different way, not of the body but of the mind. On the face of it that means we can’t claim victory by focusing on one body part again and again until it becomes too much for them to take a moment longer, but there’s plenty of triggers that will break this pairing in just the same way. For the Queen Termite, all we have to do is show her that she’s not the only person out there who lives to mindfuck those sad little individuals that crawl into her lair, and we’ll see just how capable she is when the boot is not just on the other foot but is placed upon her throat until the boot’s wearer decides she is permitted to breathe once more. Or to look at it from a more basic viewpoint, we take away her kicks and see how little she has left.
As for her poodle…
Mariani throws her head back as she laughs
Where do I start? There are so many ways to take her apart that it will lead to the one thing Lady Magdalena does not want: Lady Magdalena having to be a soldier in the trenches rather than the general sending men to their deaths many miles away from battle. And all we have to do to make that happen is say one little name and the best that can happen is that Sophie loses her head – and at worst she gets the pair disqualified, and all because she lacks the courage or the intelligence to accept there are some fights she was never going to win no matter how hard she tried.
This pairing claim superiority because they have not yet been told what inferiority is, and it is time they were taught this is a manner where they realise they are not physically dominant and they certainly do not have psychological dominance, instead they are little more than a pairing who were fortunate for a time – but the thing about fortune is that it favours the brave, which is not a word I would use to describe either of the cowards who are hiding behind masks as they are terrified of engaging the reality of their situation for just one second, because that will cause them to crumble into ash before they are dissipated on the winds to never be whole again. And when that happens, no doubt we will hear about how we had yet another “upset” victory when the reality is something far different – our dominance is reflected only in our superiority.
Her words handing in the air, Mariani reclines on her headrest somewhat, as Mason seizes on the mood to speak her mind
Seriously, what is it with this “upset” crap anyway? Were we supposed to make some other team look good before we got dumped out on our asses at the earliest opportunity, remembering to shake hands and say a few empty platitudes before the door slammed shut on us as we left? Isn’t the whole point that a bunch of teams sign up so they can win? Or is it that nobody wants to admit there’s a whole bunch of teams that signed up and assumed that a win or two were guaranteed without them having to break a sweat? If knocking out some teams that thought they knew better is an “upset”, I dread to think what it’ll be when we knock out a team that think they’re superior.
Hearing this, a thought crosses Mariani’s mind
It will be glorious, my friend. Glorious.
With that said, mariani picks up the remote and presses the play button, and as the match begins to play once more Mariani picks up her glass of finest scotch and takes a long, satisfying sip as she watches the match unfold before her – and with it, a myriad of ideas of how to eliminate another team begin to form within her mind
Did nobody tell you that the polite thing to do is knock? Or maybe you weren’t thinking of being polite, and instead you were hoping to catch a glimpse of a little skin? Some thigh, perhaps, or were you hoping for something that little bit more…explicit?
As Mariani interrogates the cameraman, Mason slickers as she takes a long glug of champagne
I asked you a question, boy. Do you have the manners of an ape, or were you merely hoping to see something that you could think of as you beat yourself senseless tonight? Because either way…
Without the merest hint of warning Mariani grabs the camera from the cameraman’s grasp and slams the door shut in his face, an action that causes a remarkably pleased smirk to cross her lips as she takes a moment to adjust the viewing screen so she can see what’s being recorded before setting it down
The dumb son of a bitch never saw it coming.
Mason snickers as she takes yet another sip
So what’s the plan, now that we have our own camera to…
Finding herself being interrupted by the cameraman banging on the door, Mason hands the bottle to mariani before opening the door to let the cameraman have it
You’ll get the camera back when we say so. Not before, when we have finished. So if you want it back, you’d better sit there in silence and wait like a good little boy.
If the words were not enough to give the cameraman the hint, the borderline murderous look Mason fixes him with when she’s finished speaking should make it abundantly clear who’s in charge – and with her point made it’s her turn to slam the door in his face, clicking her tongue as she wanders away from the door while Mariani takes a sip from the bottle
So, yeah, what’s the plan for the camera?
I was thinking that we could do that worm’s job and talk about the match we had tonight, and in doing so we can show a few people that barging into places where they aren’t wanted just to jam a camera in their face is not the way to approach their obvious superior. Maybe they will learn, maybe they will not, but why should we lower ourselves to the ordinary when the ordinary is what has been left a broken shell in our path twice already?
Rather than answer verbally, Mason answers non-verbally as a wicked smile crosses her face as she thinks of a few things she’d like to say about their recently vanquished opponents – but first she gestures for Mariani to hand over the bottle once more
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: the two of us…
Mason flicks her finger back and forth to indicate herself and Mariani
…go up against a team that all those oh-so-wise and knowledgeable people who think they’ve seen and know it all are convinced will walk over us because those wise and knowledgeable people actually know who the other team is and that counts for everything – and all that happens is they learn just how little they know.
MagiCastle? We broke them. Dragons Unleashed? We broke them. And the thing is we said exactly what we were going to do in order to break them, we warned them what was headed their way, but did they listen? No, they thought they knew better too. But you know what? We’re not a pair of heartless, unfeeling monsters who thrive on our opponents’ suffering, so the right thing to do is pour one out for what once was Dragons Unleashed…
Mason holds up the bottle, looking as if she’s going to pour some out on the locker room floor – only to quickly take another swig out of the bottle as she maintains eye contact with the camera, before spitting the contents on the floor
That’s all you’ll ever get from us, and don’t you forget it.
Her point being made, Mason hands the bottle over to Mariani – but rather than take a sip from the bottle, instead Mariani runs her thumb over the champagne that’s dripping from Mason’s lip before she licks the champagne off of her thumb, at which point she takes a sip from the bottle
You see, FGA, this is the difference between the rest of you and us: all of you hope to one day be called a Dynamic Duo, but do you think we’re interested in a title that is so…mediocre?
Rather than be called “Dynamic” like so many who have come before us have or hoped to, we want a title that is more fitting for what we have done and will do to every poor individual who crosses our path – and I have to say that being referred to as the DOMINANT Duo certainly seems far more fitting for what we have in mind. If your opinions mattered, I am sure your mind, your body and your soul would be yelling in agreement.
Feeling that there is nothing more that needs to be said, Mariani picks up the camera once more and walks towards the door, opening it and shoving the camera into the hands of the cameraman who is still waiting in the hallway
Now go away.
~ ~ ~
A few days later and we find ourselves once again inside Mariani’s living room, where once more the curtains are drawn and the air is thick with the scent of wax from the candles that illuminate the room and casting shadows as the flames flicker – yet they are not the sole source of light in the room, as there is plenty of light being cast by the TV screen that is airing the match between Le Pacte de Immortels and Justice Riot from the last edition of Vertigo
Across the room from the screen we find both Mariani and Mason perched on the leather chaise longue, with Mariani draping her arm across the headrest while Mason sits in the lotus position at the other end - and just at the point where Sophie El is about to connect with Electrotherapy on Jolyne Dysart, Mariani hits the pause button to leave the image of Jolyne being half a second away from meeting Sophie’s knee on the screen – or to be more accurate, the image of Jolyne with a look on her face that combines fear and resignation as she knows what is about to happen but cannot do a damn thing to prevent it
With the action paused, Mariani turns toward Mason to ask just one question…
Well…?
Fully understanding what would appear to be a vague question from Mariani, Mason uncrosses her legs so she can adjust her sitting position as she turns towards Mariani
If I didn’t know any better, it would appear that our new Francophone friend has designs on being the Queen Bee of the tournament and thinks the cutie with her head in the clouds is the piece of the jigsaw that she’s been looking for to make that happen - something they no doubt feel that little bit more confident about as they were given a bye into the quarter finals, giving them a little bit more time to prepare for their match and make sure that Sophie wasn’t feeling any after effects from the long list of meds she’s obviously on before they graced the tournament with their presence.
While she says the last part, Mason rolls her eyes at the thought of it
Although if we’re going to talk about the meds she’s on, one incredibly obvious question needs to be asked: is she so strong because she’s some kind of savant, or is it that some of her medication is…shall we say, more of the “performance enhancing” variety and she hopes nobody finds out her dirty little secret? Because it certainly makes sense, given she’s so fixated on this one time she took a horrible beating, so to overcome it she needed to become big and strong – and there’s a well-known shortcut to make that happen, and it’s quite convenient for her to say she can’t remember if that’s what happened because she got a little bump on the noggin.
Once she hears Mason’s analysis of their opponents, a knowing smile crosses Mariani’s lips
She does seem to have a hang-up on that one match, doesn’t she? So much so that the match has come to define her – literally.
Yet she does not understand that there is a word for somebody who refuses to confront their past and instead throw themselves head-first through the looking glass as they hope to find a rabbit hole that’s safe enough for them to dream a little dream for themselves – and that word is COWARDLY. Rather than accept her obvious inferiority to Emma Carlisle, an inferiority made that much obvious that she pretends that chapter of her life happened to someone else, she wants to try again as somebody else and pretend that life gave her a do-over. It’s pathetic, really it is, because what sort of person wants to expend all that energy going through life pretending that somebody else was beaten to a pulp before they got choked within half an inch of their life?
And as for the one cracking the whip…
A wicked glint flickers in Mariani’s eye at the thought of the last comment
…as much as she believes herself to be Queen, she has little idea of what that entails. A true Queen rules by force of will, force of personality, and knowing when and where she needs to make her moves in the great game. That is not the same as hoping her damaged attack dog will bare its teeth at those who pose a threat to her, because if you starve a dog for a few days it will no longer feel a scrap of loyalty towards its master as all it will see is a source of food that needs to stop screaming.
What’s more, hiding in the shadows behind the dumb muscle is hardly a demonstration of power - it is another demonstration of cowardice from the duo, a refusal to get her hands dirty just as it underlines how reliant she is on her clueless lapdog. Just look at the match they had, just how much she needed to sic the dog on the opposition to stay in the match, let alone turn it in her favour. Does she not realise there will come a point where the dog will be hit in the head one time too many and the clouds will clear, and then the dog will have their first thought since the day that chokehold sent her to dreamland – and that thought will be what she is getting from the arrangement? That’s the day where doggy slips the leash, and that day will see the subjects have no reason to fear their so-called Queen and that will spell her swift yet bloody demise.
Mariani lets out a self-satisfied laugh at the thought of it
We’ve proven that we can break an opponent who wants to pretend their scars have healed, and we have proven that not once but twice – but now we face opponents who are damaged in a very different way, not of the body but of the mind. On the face of it that means we can’t claim victory by focusing on one body part again and again until it becomes too much for them to take a moment longer, but there’s plenty of triggers that will break this pairing in just the same way. For the Queen Termite, all we have to do is show her that she’s not the only person out there who lives to mindfuck those sad little individuals that crawl into her lair, and we’ll see just how capable she is when the boot is not just on the other foot but is placed upon her throat until the boot’s wearer decides she is permitted to breathe once more. Or to look at it from a more basic viewpoint, we take away her kicks and see how little she has left.
As for her poodle…
Mariani throws her head back as she laughs
Where do I start? There are so many ways to take her apart that it will lead to the one thing Lady Magdalena does not want: Lady Magdalena having to be a soldier in the trenches rather than the general sending men to their deaths many miles away from battle. And all we have to do to make that happen is say one little name and the best that can happen is that Sophie loses her head – and at worst she gets the pair disqualified, and all because she lacks the courage or the intelligence to accept there are some fights she was never going to win no matter how hard she tried.
This pairing claim superiority because they have not yet been told what inferiority is, and it is time they were taught this is a manner where they realise they are not physically dominant and they certainly do not have psychological dominance, instead they are little more than a pairing who were fortunate for a time – but the thing about fortune is that it favours the brave, which is not a word I would use to describe either of the cowards who are hiding behind masks as they are terrified of engaging the reality of their situation for just one second, because that will cause them to crumble into ash before they are dissipated on the winds to never be whole again. And when that happens, no doubt we will hear about how we had yet another “upset” victory when the reality is something far different – our dominance is reflected only in our superiority.
Her words handing in the air, Mariani reclines on her headrest somewhat, as Mason seizes on the mood to speak her mind
Seriously, what is it with this “upset” crap anyway? Were we supposed to make some other team look good before we got dumped out on our asses at the earliest opportunity, remembering to shake hands and say a few empty platitudes before the door slammed shut on us as we left? Isn’t the whole point that a bunch of teams sign up so they can win? Or is it that nobody wants to admit there’s a whole bunch of teams that signed up and assumed that a win or two were guaranteed without them having to break a sweat? If knocking out some teams that thought they knew better is an “upset”, I dread to think what it’ll be when we knock out a team that think they’re superior.
Hearing this, a thought crosses Mariani’s mind
It will be glorious, my friend. Glorious.
With that said, mariani picks up the remote and presses the play button, and as the match begins to play once more Mariani picks up her glass of finest scotch and takes a long, satisfying sip as she watches the match unfold before her – and with it, a myriad of ideas of how to eliminate another team begin to form within her mind
