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Your Problem
San Diego, CALIFORNIA -- Shoreline Recovery Center
24th NOVEMBER 2023
OFF-Camera
Oz had mistakenly thought that things would have gotten back to normal by now. He thought that the speed bump that he and Eiley had hit at High Stakes was going to be easy to overcome. He thought that Court would rebound and get back to the top instantly. He thought that Jaycee would be back on the road with them, and everything would fall back into place the way that they had been over the summer. As it turns out, it had simply been wishful thinking. Ruby made her return to Court’s side, but things had only continued to spiral out of control for the two of them. He and Eiley were so out of sync that he wasn’t sure if they were ever going to be able to break out of the cycle. To top it all off, the thirty days that Jaycee was supposed to spend in rehab had turned into sixty, and then that sixty had turned into Jaycee not quite knowing when he was going to be able to trust himself back out in the real world. He hoped that the pit in his stomach was just impatience. Oz didn’t want to believe that the dominance of Jet City had come and gone basically within the span of a summer, and a few weeks ago he still would have been able to laugh off their struggles. That wasn’t the case anymore though.
OZ: I understand that you’re working on yourself and all that, but things are really falling apart without you.
JAYCEE: Don’t put that on me. That’s not fair.
OZ: I wasn’t putting it on you, it’s just a fact. The two things might not have anything to do with one another, but it certainly feels like it does. And I get it! You are here working on yourself, and I totally support that…
JAYCEE: Sure doesn’t sound like it. It sounds like you would be much happier if I was out there getting beaten up for money, just because it would put you back in your comfort zone.
OZ: Well if you say it like that of course it sounds bad.
JAYCEE: Say it in a way that doesn’t sound bad then.
OZ: All I am saying is that it would be nice to have you back out there with us.
JAYCEE: For me, or for you?
OZ: Why can’t it be both?
JAYCEE: ...because it’s not. You want me out there because the whole Jet City house of cards fell down. I don’t see why you can’t just be happy about the ride you got to take during the summer. You exceeded all expectations. As a group, we dominated everyone. That kind of thing isn’t meant to last though. It was always going to slow down. You just gotta build it back up, ya know?
OZ: ...and all that I am saying, is that would be easier if we had you back out there with us.
JAYCEE: Who is this “us” you keep talking about? You’re here alone. The last five or six times you have showed up you’ve been alone. Have you and Eiley even spoken since you lost the titles?
OZ: Not much.
JAYCEE: ...and you don’t think that is a bigger problem then coming and messing up what I have going on here?
OZ: I think that if you were around as a buffer, that would be an easier problem to solve.
JAYCEE: No. It would give you a way to avoid the problem without ever fixing it because the two of you would have to act normal around me.
OZ: And?
JAYCEE: Grow up.
OZ: It’s never been something that I was good at.
JAYCEE: Well then put some effort into it, bitch! You keep coming here like I am going to have some kind of answer for you, but the thing you need to be doing is talking to your girl.
OZ: She’s not my--
JAYCEE: Isn’t she though?
OZ: It’s not like that.
JAYCEE: Isn’t it though?
OZ: No, and it never really has been. We’re friends.
JAYCEE: Friends that have a history of being more than. Friends that live together. Friends that travel together, and share hotel rooms. Friends that share a car. You two had to split bed at Summer XXXtreme after you fucked up and got caught trying to steal rooms. You two are a lot of things, but “just friends” ain’t one of them.
OZ: Somebody should probably let Eiley know that then…
JAYCEE: Yeah, YOU should do that, and you don’t need me standing there living through the awkwardness with you. You need to do that shit on your own, and then the two of you need to get your heads out of your asses, because they ain’t going to hand you rematch after rematch until you get things right. If you want to get back to where you were, there’s really only one way to do that and it don’t have shit to do with me.
OZ: Well, it would still be nice to have you back out there with us…
JAYCEE: I don’t know if or when that will be a thing, so stop holding your breath.
OZ: They aren’t going to let you stay here forever, ya know?
JAYCEE: I know, but I’ve been thinking about just taking a job at Jet City like Court did and kind of laying low for a little while. I am not sure the spotlights and the travel are what I want out of life. It would be enough to get to be normal, which is what I like about this place.
OZ: ....normal. That does sound nice.
JAYCEE: Then go talk to your partner.
OZ: Maybe I’ll stop being afraid to do that when you stop being afraid to sign yourself out of here.
JAYCEE: ...something tells me I will probably win that race too, so you don’t want to take that bet.
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>The Sky is Falling
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”I see the snide little jabs at us that everyone is taking…”
”The problem is these days, it doesn’t seem like Jet City has a leg to stand on anymore. Over the last month we have truly lost everything. Court has fallen from the top of the mountain. Jaycee has run away to find himself, and Eiley and I can’t seem to figure out exactly where we went wrong…”
”...but all of you seem to know exactly where we went wrong. I mean, you have pointed it out over, and over, and over again since High Stakes. Hell, you shoved it in my face during that entire show as well. Eiley was the Future Star of the Year. Eiley is the one that all of the legends recognize as the rookie that might actually go somewhere in this business. She has earned every bit of our success, and I have been the one to shoulder every bit of our failure.”
”It doesn’t matter that I was just as impressive in Blast from the Past as she was this past spring. It didn’t matter that the only reason that we won the Mixed Tag Team Championships was because I saved her ass. It didn’t matter that I stepped in and took the beatings from Austin and Tempest that helped up keep the titles around our waists. The only thing that any of you people saw was that when we fell short, it was me that was taking the fall. When we didn’t live up to expectations, it was because I was the weak link. At every single turn I have been reminded that as far as Limitless goes, I’m not shit.”
”...and that is how this week came about. I mean, this isn’t my thing. I don’t like competing on my own. I don’t enjoy walking down the aisle as a solo act. Something about it has never felt right to me, but it feels like it is a necessity at this point. I need to be able to step into that ring and start to disprove some of the disparaging chatter coming out of the locker room. I need to rise and shine on my own in order to silence the social media dirt sheets. I need to change the narrative, because I can’t stomach being killed by all of you people, week after week, even when Eiley and I were successful.”
”...and the only way that I can do that is on my own. Even if I was the one picking up the fall to regain the Mixed Tag Team Championships, it wouldn’t be enough. There would always be something for people to nitpick. I would be accused of simply picking my perfect spot to strike, and nothing would change. The only way that I can force anything to change is to do the thing that makes me uncomfortable. I have to come out to that ring by myself and handle something that Limitless has failed to get done as a team.”
”That’s where Carter comes into it.”
”...and sure, he has had his own colorful history with Jet City. Eiley and I had fun at his expense back when he was being left off of shows that we were winning championships on. Court called Carter and his tag team partner failures in order to get under Ariana’s skin months ago. Jaycee even made a joke out of him before their match at Summer XXXtreme. Yet, Ariana has done more to get Court off her game than just about everyone in this company. Carter shut down Jaycee before he could even get back into a groove in Sin City. And then Carter and Ariana finally got their shot to take the legs out from under Eiley and I and they did it without breaking a sweat. All of us have taken shots at him, but it has been Carter with the last laugh at every turn.”
”Unwittingly, we have turned Carter into the perfect foil for all of us. He and Ariana proved that when the two of them beat Eiley and I at our own game. But it wasn’t the two of us that lost, it was me. Just like it has always been. I was the one that was embarrassed. I was the one that got beaten, and the only way that I can fix that is to go out and hand him a loss myself. Everyone else is banned from ringside. There won’t be any background bullshit for people to point to. If I go out and win this one, it is something that nobody will be able to take away from me, and it will be a big step back in the right direction.”
”So that is why this match has to happen. This is the way that I turn everything back around. This is where I make everything right. I am going to walk into Climax Control by myself, and I am going to do everything in my power to make sure that by the end of the night, nobody thinks of me as the weak link anymore. Over the last month or so, Jet City has lost everything. I have lost everything. I may have even lost my partner. But if I can find some way to pull this off on my own, maybe things can start to get back on track.”
”...and it would be about time too, because I don’t have anything left to lose.”
