”I Know Secrets”
Wednesday
8 August 2018
3:30pm
[OFF-Camera]
I wasn’t exactly sure what I was doing in New York, but it hadn’t stopped me from coming. Kris had helped me with Fenris, even though the fucker blindsided me and made it all for nothing. Those kinds of favors are nice to keep moving though. I prefer to have a dozen or more than I can call in at any time. I really just think of it as insurance against all of life’s shitty moments.
There are occasional drawbacks though. I mean, you could find yourself in a half-finished gym with a bunch of overly-physically-fit people that seem to be preparing for some kind of war. With thirty something people, whatever Kris was planning was going to be painful. I was just hoping that I was not going to be on the shit end of it. That is why I was relieved to see Fenris walk in at Kris’ side.
It didn’t take much to put together from that point. Kris made his little speech, and introduction. It was helpful for me to be able to put some of the names with the faces in the crowd. Sure, they were all there just to throw every mix of talent at this makeshift tag team so that they would be prepared for their match. Kris had to of noticed that I wasn’t looking as enthused as the rest, because after the dust settled from the grand announcements, he climbed out of the ring and came right up to me.
Kyle Kavanagh: “Anyone ever tell you that you enjoy hearing yourself talk way more than any normal person should?”
He didn’t even field the comment. Kris wasn’t the type to let someone else dictate where the conversation went, so I wasn’t the least bit surprised that he blew it off. If he was coming over, it was for a purpose, and the only game that we were going to be allowed to play was his. It didn’t mean that I had to be particularly helpful though.
Kristopher Ryans: “I thought you were supposed to be bringing that loudmouthed midget with you.”
I knew for a fact that Kris knew Zaylee’s name, but he always refused to reference her by it. Maybe she got under his skin by refusing to play his games, even though they basically act the exact same way. It was almost as if by blowing him off, she gave Kris the impression that she was better at it than he was. That was not something that he was able to live with, but the only way he could vent out that frustration were these little jabs at me. He knew that I would play with him, and I knew the right buttons to push to win.
Kyle Kavanagh: “As soon as I mentioned your name she said that she had more important things to do.”
I tried to keep the words flowing at a pace that made them sound anything but practiced. From the look on his face, I knew he had seen straight through it anyways.The smirk creeped onto his face, and he gave the slightest hint of a shrug before laughing through his words.
Kristopher Ryans: “Oh, so she ghosted off the face of the Earth again?”
Kris’ mistake was thinking that anything involved Zaylee was capable of bothering me. We had been through the same routine for several years, so the fact that she was gone just meant that at some point she would be back. I learned a long time ago not to sweat her absence. I looked at it more like a vacation from her.
Kyle Kavanagh: “At least I don’t have to fight for the covers at night, you know?”
He opened his mouth to try and respond, and his wit was as quick as ever, but I still managed to beat him to the punch with an over-the-top amount of enthusiasm.
Kyle Kavanagh: “Speaking of! There are all sorts of nasty rumors afloat about who has been fighting over bed sheets with you. Sounds awfully scandalous.”
Kris gave another roll of his shoulders, and almost the exact response that I thought that he would.
Kristopher Ryans: “That me and Mikah stuff has been a rumor for forever. Just because Crimson wants to throw it out there again now, doesn’t make it more newsworthy than it was a year ago.”
I baited the hook, and he took it without even realizing that it was a trap. I tilted my head in the direction of the ring, where the current SCW World Heavyweight Champion was shaking hands with a few of the Jet City trainers.
Kyle Kavanagh: “I have been hearing something a little different.”
Kris’ eyes trailed the direction that I motioned in, and I watched the realization sweep over his face. He couldn’t hide the shift on his face that told me everything that I needed to know about whether or not it was true. The only real question that I had was what he was going to choose to do afterwards. He had to know that I wouldn’t have brought it up without being absolutely certain. He also had to know that his body language was going to give him away long before his words would. When his eyes came back to mine, he noticed me studying his reaction, but blew it off anyways.
Kristopher Ryans: “You can’t go believing everything that you hear.”
It may have worked on anyone else trying to push the topic, but it was not going to get him anywhere with me, and I think that he knew it.
Kyle Kavanagh: “I’m pretty good with separating the rumors from the facts.”
I expected to see just a moment of defeat on his face, but Kris is never so easily backed into a corner. If you give him any kind of window to escape out of, you are never going to be able to nail him down.
Kristopher Ryans: “Maybe that is where your real talent lies then. You should start interviewing people instead of getting knocked out in the ring.”
He flashed that stupid smirk again, and started to backpedal away from me, knowing that he was not going to keep the upper hand if he tried to stick around. I would just keep steering the conversation back to the one topic that he was not going to talk about.
Kyle Kavanagh: “That’s what today is for. This isn’t just you two working on teamwork in order to compete against a team that is definitely going to implode. This is about me getting to stack up against the best in my company, and a few others that might have been impressive at some point in their careers.”
Kris looked away from me and around the group of his friends and family.
Kristopher Ryans: “I’ll make sure I let them know not to hold back against you...”
I could have responded, but I knew he would have just come up with another quip to get the last word. I shook my head, knowing that poking at him would probably only improve my chances of getting pummeled, but where was the fun in playing things safe?
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”Some Kind Of Joke”
[ON-Camera]
”Holy ten-pounds-of-shit-in-a-nine-pound-bag, Batman! They have me stepping back onto the scene after getting my head caved in by Fenris, and the person that they put across from me is a legitimate fucking giant. I mean sure, he might be a giant that cannot manage to pick up a win, but nobody accused those big bastards of being smart. Any typical ogre is just as big and stupid as Casey Williams looks, and likely just a sloppy on his feet.”
“I would hope that any of the rest of them would be smarter than to call out the SCW World Heavyweight Champion for no reason though. I mean, if you already look like the mild mannered retard from Of Mice and Men, you probably shouldn’t be petting any rabbits, you know? No? Not smart enough to follow?”
“Casey, you might be big, and you might be strong, but you are most certainly dumb as a brick. Fenris might look small to you, but that guy kicked me in the face so hard that it ended a match before it really even got started. You can’t manage to best guys like Tony Thorn and you want a shot at the big time? The guy is faster than you, hits like a freight train, and will out-think you inside the ring with ease. You will lose that match before even stepping foot off the short bus that brings you to the arena.”
But, you ask for that match and they give you this one. You reach for the stars, and they give you the guy at the bottom that has not even managed to win his first match here yet. Maybe they just think that both of us are losers. That kind of thing is not going to bother me, but I have a feeling it is not going to sit all that well with you.
The best thing about two losers fighting though, is that one of them has to win.
Best believe I am going to make sure it’s me.
