December 30, 2016
Seattle, Washington
[OFF-CAMERA]
When Jessica landed in Seattle, she walked off the plane swaying her hips effortlessly in her skin tight jeans and much too revealing top. She wanted to make an entrance. But as she looked around through the sea of people, she noticed that Jason wasn't watching. He had his back to her as he was talking to someone. Probably a fan or something. As she made her way over there, Jessica spoke when she got close enough.
Jessica: "Hope I'm not interrupting anything...."
Jason spins around, handing off whatever the fan had given him and asked him to sign without another word to the person. As he turns, his eyes drop down her body, and then come all the way back up to meet her eyes.
Jason: “You are more impressive looking in person than you are in all of those pictures that you are always posting.”
He offers her a wide smile.
Jason: “Hopefully you were not expecting me to be anything like my idiot brother. He told me you guys worked together a little. Something about hitting you in the face. Nobody ever accused him of being smart.”
Jessica: "Your brother's alright."
She said it with a laugh, but Jason knew that she thought more highly of him than that. The two of them had never met before, so she was essentially coming out to talk to Jason based on her opinion of his brother.
Jessica: "He did his best to make it up to me by getting me drunk afterwards."
It was funny. Jason had heard about that exchange, but knew it as a very different story from the one that Jessica probably thought she knew. That was not a conversation for this meeting though. He would only push her away by telling her the truth, and that was the last thing that he wanted.
Jason: "Sounds like something he'd do."
Jason laughs, trying to make it sound genuine.
Jessica: "Is that so?"
Jessica questioned as she tilted her head to the side. She could tell that he was not being completely open with her, but could not put her finger on exactly what the issue was.
Jessica: "He might have told me a bit about you that night. Not that I remember. As I said, I was pretty drunk. So maybe, you can refresh my memory."
He laughs, and they start to walk to the baggage claim area of the airport.
Jason: “I imagine that anything he said about me would be less than positive. For the most part we don’t get along. We got our shit together to win the SCW Tag Team Championships though. He likes to tell people that I am less fun than he is, but that is because half of the things that he thinks are fun involve making people uncomfortable, or whipping his dick out in public. He is a strange guy.”
She, herself, thought Kris was a pretty cool dude. But then again, he could have been just trying to impress her. It was their first night out, after all. Jessica thought about what Jason said for a moment, then asked.
Jessica: "So what makes you less strange?"
She listened for his answer as she waited for her luggage to come around.
Jason: “I have a little more restraint is all, and just a shitload more common sense.”
When her bag got to her, she reaches out to get it, but he stops her, and pulls it off of the carousel himself, extending the handle and trailing it behind him as they walked towards the door exiting to the parking area.
Jason: “Kris does nothing but run his mouth, get into trouble, and act without thinking. He is impulsive and reckless. Most importantly, deep down inside he only cares about one person, and everyone else can be damned.”
He shrugs as he finishes. It was a definition of his brother that he had given several dozen times before, albeit not being entirely true. Again though, this trip was about luring Jessica into the fold, so total, brutal honesty was not going to be the best way to go about doing that.
Jason: “He is not someone to trust. Not that he isn’t really fun to be around in small doses.”
Jessica: "Well, I only had drinks with him the one night. So I can't say one way or another for sure. But you obviously know him a lot better. So you might be right about that."
As they reached his car, Jessica watched as he went over and put her luggage in the trunk before coming back over and opening the passenger side door for her.
Jessica: "Quite the gentlemen. That's always nice to see."
Jason offers her a smile as she drops down into the seat, and he gently closes it once she is situated. He walked around what should have been the passenger side of the car after she gets in, and sits down in the driver’s seat. He looks over at her with a wide smile on his face.He pulls each strap of the seat belts over his shoulders, and snaps them together in front of his chest.
Jason: “I learned all on my own to treat ladies the right way, and they won’t flake out or be overly bitchy to you. Being that you flew all the way across the country to be here, I wouldn’t want to piss you off.”
This draws a light chuckle from her.
Jessica: "Keep treating me like this and I might not be in any hurry to leave."
Jessica hoped it came off more as a joke. She chuckled as she reached around for her own seatbelt. He lets her off the hook easily, choosing not to comment and instead starting the car. He backs out of the parking area, quickly following the exit ramps onto the highway, and speeding off towards his house.
Jason: “So why are you calling off all of your traveling just because one place closed?”
Jessica:"It's not like I'm against it. Just haven't found the right offer."
She shrugged her shoulders from her seat. It was almost exactly the thing that Jason wanted to hear.
Jessica: "If something comes along that is worth my while, I'll definitely go for it. However, it is nice to have some downtime. It allows me to do things like this. Come to Seattle on a whim."
The way she puts it makes it sound like a social call. Jason could work under that guise. It made segwaying into what he actually wanted much easier.
Jason: "I am glad you decided to come out. There was something I wanted to talk to you about."
They do not make it far away from the airport before he pulls off of the highway, not quite outside the city. A few quick turns after they pull off, and they are sitting curbside in front of a sizable house. Jason stops in front of it, and taps at the security panel to open the gate and garage so they can pull in. He kills the engine on the car, and pops the trunk before stuffing the keys into his pocket.
Jason: “As promised, the hot tub on the back balcony from the second floor is already on and waiting in case you were interested.”
He pushes open his door, and shrugs his seatbelt aside before getting out. He moves around to her side of the car and opens her door for her, even going as far as to extend a hand to help her to her feet.
Jason: “Not that we have to use it at all. I mentioned it when you were thinking about coming out, so I thought I should make it ready.”
She laughs, but waves off his attempt at backtracking away from it.
Jessica: "I'm sure we'll be putting it to good use once I get settled in."
Jessica takes his hand to get out of the car, but he releases it as she stands so that he can move to the back of the car. He stops there briefly so he could grab her luggage.
Jessica: "...but how about a tour first."
Jason nodded as her lead the way inside. After entering from the garage, the first room they step into is an oversized kitchen that never gets used. The two make their way around the house, from the giant gym in the basement, to all of the handful of different guest rooms before finally coming to a living room on the second floor. Along the wall are giant bay windows that point out towards the city, giving it a beautiful view at night. There are no lights on the balcony attached, but on it sits a hot tub that is bubbling already. Jason had turned it on and uncovered it before heading to the airport. He opens one of the doors leading out to it before turning back to JJ, and motioning for her to follow.
Jason: “Last stop on the tour is the view.”
She gives him a once over before heading out the door he held open for her.
Jessica: "The view is lovely."
She made her way over and crouched down as she put her hand in the hot tub.
Jessica: "And that is nice and toasty."
He smiles, and looks back over into the living area. Her bag was positioned on the couch at the other end of the room.
Jason: “If you want to hop in, you can change in any of the guest rooms. It won’t really matter which one, someone else has to clean up the house, and I am indifferent.”
She seems to think it over for a second, before nodding.
Jessica: "Hmm, I might just have to do that, but…. you might want to change yourself as I'm not going in alone.”
With that, Jessica headed into the house to collect her bag before walking off for one of the guest rooms Jason had showed her along the way. He did not have to go so far, moving along the balcony to a set of cabinet drawers.He pulls two towels from it and places them close to the hot tub before removing his clothes, and stuffing them into the cabinet. He pulls shorts off of the top shelf, and slides them on before closing the cabinet up. He is already stepping into the hot tub by the time she returns. When Jessica walked back out onto the balcony, she was wearing one of her bikinis that left enough of herself exposed to catch a cold chill from stepping outside. To cure this, she moves quickly across the balcony, dipping her toes into the water before sliding all the way in.
Jessica: "So, I guess I should thank you for the invitation. Wasn't sure about all this at first. Still seems kind of sudden to me. But I'm glad I came."
He laughs.
Jason: “I am glad that you decided to come out too. It was a lot easier than me trying to get out there, and…”
He gestures out at the view they have from the balcony.
Jason: “... it may not be the ocean or anything, but I think it is still pretty nice.”
Jessica: "....but now that you got me here, the real question is...why were you so intent on getting me to come out here?"
She finished her question with a little devilish look of curiosity. He offers her a shrug, not blowing her question off, but trying to figure out exactly what she was wanting from the evening before showing any hint of why he had asked her here.
Jason: “In very uncharacteristic fashion, I had not thought that far ahead. I thought we could get to know each other possibly. You are the guest here, I assume we are just going to talk about what you want to talk about, and do whatever it is that your heart desires doing. I am just a host trying to figure you out.”
Just because Jessica was a bit taken back by his answer doesn't mean she showed it.
Jessica: "Getting to know each other doesn't seem like such a bad idea. Most people would tell you I'm hard to deal with. But I don't think that's entirely true. Just got to know how to handle me. I think you'll do just fine as long as you give me an honest chance."
Jessica let that sink in for a moment before going on.
Jessica: "... but what would you like to know about me? I'm willing to answer anything."
Jason raises his hand to his face, scratching at the beard starting to take over his face.
Jason: “Well it is not easy for just anyone to get an invite to be here. I like to think that I was giving you an honest chance just by doing that. But I think it would be less than honest of me to give you the impression that this was a personal call. I am way too selfish for that.”
He laughs, and shrugs lightly. The smile on her face shortens, and her eyes narrow a little, confused by his words.
Jason: “See, you hit it off with Kris, which is a feat unto itself. I wanted to see if we would get along. You have been around the business, but find yourself not up to much now. I was thinking that maybe I could fill your schedule.”
Jessica: "Oh, what did you have in mind?"
Jessica questioned as she joined him in looking out towards the city. She pauses, almost long enough for him to respond, but adds a little clarification to her motives here.
Jessica: "...and just so you know, things haven't exactly gone my way in the personal sense. If that was all I thought this was, I wouldn’t have come out. I've been engaged twice and never made it down the aisle. The first time, my fiance left to deal with his own demons. The second time, he turned gay on me."
He turns his attention back to her, his eyes wide.
Jason: "Seriously?"
Jason sounded almost stunned by that.
Jessica: "Yeah, it baffles me too. Then as it turned out, he went back to being bi and got engaged to a redhead I had fought a time or two in the ring. Not to mention, more recently I dated someone who left me as soon as his ex resurfaced."
Jessica sighed in disgust.
Jessica: "But it is what it is. Can't really say I'm in a hurry to jump back into anything serious, just yet.”
Jessica let that hang in the air for a moment, then added.
Jessica: "...so what were you saying about filling up my schedule?"
He takes a few moments, running over everything she said. It was not so different from a few of his own stories. He smiles.
Jason: “I have some experience with bad relationships. I have had a handful of them as well. That is why I have become a very private person. What I do is nobody’s business but mine. It is Kris that likes all that confrontation and attention.”
His words on their personal lives seem to lead right back around into actual business.
Jason: “...and speaking of confrontation and attention is exactly what I think we can use you for. Someone to hang out with Jet City. Look out for our interests. Point us in the right direction, and look damn good doing so. That way, maybe I have to do a little bit less of the whole talking part.”
She was clearly taken by surprise.
Jessica: "Hmm..."
Jessica seemed to be thinking this all over.
Jessica: "...I don't have a problem with that. And Kris shouldn't either. Like you said, we did hit it off well enough. It really should work out just fine."
Jessica nodded before switching gears again.
Jessica: "I understand the part about wanting to keep your life private more than anyone else. I've been there. So if you ever need to tell me to get lost for awhile, feel free to do so.”
He sighs.
Jason: “There is kind of one major hangup that I have about all of this. If we are going to work together, then we really cannot have anyone thinking that this is the kind of conversation we are having in a hot tub. That kind of completely undermines everything that we would do in a ring. At that point you are a possible distraction instead of a help. Another talking point to be used against us. Even worse, a possible point of contention between myself and Kris.”
He shrugs.
Jason: “...so I guess that leaves the decision up to you.”
He searches her face for an answer in the pause between his finishing, and her answer. To his surprise, she does not give him much.
Jessica: "Well, the whole purpose of me coming out here was hear you out, and I’m not hating the idea.”
Her eyes sparkled with a certain mischief.
Jessica: "...and don't worry, I know how to be all professional when I need to be."
He nods, liking the sound of that.
Jason: “Then this will work out pretty well for the three of us.”
She gives him a weird look, so he clarifies.
Jason: “Me, you, and Kris. If we can make this whole thing work, and there is really nothing that can get in the way of Jet City being something worth writing down in a record book. I cannot say that there are going to be a lot of hot tub meetings in our future. I had to sweeten the deal with something this first time out. I’m glad it is something you are at least a little interested in though.”
He shrugs, looking back to him, and smiling.
Jessica: “It’s something new for me. At the very least it will be a good learning experience.”
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[ON-CAMERA]
The scene opens with with Jet City standing in front of the camera. Both of them are brandishing their SCW Tag Team Championship around their waists. They would not normally garner so much attention other than the fact that they are both upside down. They are surrounded by the obstacle course in the basement of what has been referred to as "The Jet City Compound" which was, in reality, just a house. They are both smiling widely, and Kris brings up his hands to slowly, and sarcastically clap. Jason does not break his gaze from the camera, and is the first to talk.
Jason: Congratulations James and Dmitri. As much as both bosses seem to hate us, they must really like the two of you. First you come out and lose to The Monstimals, and yet, you still get an opportunity in the ring against us. It may not be for a championship, but it is one hell of a way to leapfrog people that have already beaten you, right? I mean, you lose a match to a better team, it would make sense that those guys get the match with the champions. Yet, here we are. Jet City against what cannot even be described as the second best team in the entire company.
Kris stops his sarcastic slow clap as Jason finishes. He shakes his head in disappointment, but does not necessarily agree with his brothers words.
Kris: On the other hand, maybe they do not really like you guys at all. First they put you in front of The Monstimals, and you got your asses kicked. Now they put you in a match against Jet City, without the titles on the line. Once you lose this match, you have to imagine that the two of you get shuffled way down the line. With new teams forming, and new teams coming in to challenge us, maybe they are just trying to remove you two from the conversation all together. I mean, SCW has already had to sit through Dmitri challenging for, and failing to capture gold on several occasions. They were just treated to James doing the same thing as the last thing they saw from SCW in 2016. Maybe you two have been given this match, because SCW has already written you off as individuals and this is their way of writing you off as a team as well. It is almost sad if you think about it.
Kris offers a shrug, and a genuine frown of sadness as he finishes. Jason breaks his gaze from the camera to look over, and clap his hand on Kris' shoulder for reassurance.
Jason: It is okay Kris, because the way that SCW seems to handle things, they will probably get more opportunities even if they do lose. I mean, they recently had a former world champion, past his prime, come into the company with a junkie, and they gave those two fools a shot at the SCW Tag Team Championships before they really even had a chance to prove that they could function as a team. Of course, after they won, management pretended like they did them a favor by "handing" them something they did not deserve, and then didn't even let them compete together for over a month.
Kris' face scrunches up a little bit as he thinks it over.
Kris: Are you talking about us?
Jason's smile fades, and his eyes narrow on his brother. There was silliness, and then there was taking it too far.
Jason: Is that really all that you took away from that?
The sadness fades from Kris' face, and he smiles, his eyes widening.
Kris: Nah, what I took away from it, is that The Elders called themselves one of the greatest tag teams that SCW has ever seen, and at this point, we have managed to hang onto the titles longer than they have. Not only that, but since we came here, neither of us have even been pinned. The only match that we did not get our arms raised at the end of, was when that choad J2H got you disqualified because his overgrown man-child couldn't hack it. At the end of the night though, you walked away unscathed, and without a broken jaw so he looked like a damn fool.
Jason nods, thinking about all of it from Kris' perspective.
Jason: I had not thought about it like that, actually. If you think about it, we probably are the only two people, holding championships, that can say that they closed out 2016 without an actual loss. We won these...
He pats the title that hangs, inverted, around his waist.
Jason: ... in our debut, and so far nobody has pinned us, made us tap out, or even gotten us counted out.
Kris interrupts to add an addition to the list.
Kris: And we have not gotten our asses kicked so badly that someone had to throw in a towel on our behalf so that we do not literally get murdered in the middle of the ring.
Jason snaps his fingers and points to his brother.
Jason: You know? I had actually forgotten about that. That is a good point.
Kris smiles, and nods, proud of himself.
Kris: I know. You're welcome.
Jason peels his eyes away from his brother to turn back to the camera.
Jason: Of course, it really does not matter what we say here. We can go on and on about our point of view, but I doubt many people on the roster, and likely nobody in management, will agree with us. If you take what we did in 2016 at face value, it seems impressive. It becomes a lot less so when you talk about the fact that we have been here for almost two months, and have had three matches. Kris won his. We won these titles. Then J2H's man bitch skated on a technicality. If you look at that, Jet City didn't really do anything worth talking about. We beat a team for these tag team titles that probably only won them because the last team was on the way out. After all, Team BJ have not competed as a team since, and have had a match against each other in the mean time. Come time for this match between Jet City and the Unholy Alliance, they may even be retired for good.
Jason pauses, and Kris takes over from where he stops.
Kris: We are champions of a depleted tag team division, and we have not put in the legwork to actually make being champions mean anything worth talking about. Not that it is our fault though. Both Mark Ward and Christian Underwood have been straight forward about the fact that we didn't deserve the chance for these titles and they were gifted to us. They try to invalidate us at every turn. We are casualties of some feud over which one of them is the bigger bitch. Here is the problem with the things they say though: If these titles were a gift, why are they stopping us from earning them? Why is it that we have only had three matches in two months? Why is it that the two of you are okay with shitting all over two of your champions, while denying them the opportunity to make something of themselves?
Jason looks down, shaking his head in disgust.
Kris: And before you two get all up in arms about this, and talk about the match that we have right now being an opportunity, just stop. Jet City signed contracts with SCW at Halloween. Our second match as a team didn't happen until the turn of the year. Do we not have a right to bitch about that a little? We have been sidelined in order to sit on commentary, throw parties, and act like assholes backstage in order to provide some additional time in between matches taking place. That is not what we signed up for. Granted, we are not to people to shy away from the opportunity to steal a little spotlight, and we love hearing ourselves talk, but that is not exclusively what we signed on here to do. We signed here to be in the ring. We signed here to be real champions, not two people just to hold something backstage while management spends a couple months measuring dicks.
Jason looks up, and holds up an index finger, interrupting just momentarily.
Jason: And we realize that saying that may be more offensive to Mark than it is Christian, so we will just level the playing field by saying, from out perspective, Mark has the lead, albeit both measurements being short and disappointing.
It is Kris' turn to interject.
Kris: Short and disappointing, but not to be confused the SCW Tag Team Championship reign of The Elder Bitches.
Again, Jason interrupts.
Jason: The Elder Bitches, not to be confused with The Female Elders.
Kris nods in agreement.
Kris: Because God forbid we call them bitches and people get bent out of shape on Twitter, and flood our timeline with shit trying to make us feel bad.
The two turn away from the camera, and share a laugh with one another before Jason tries to get them back on track.
Jason: The fact remains that Jet City came here to make something of themselves. We have held up our end of that bargain. Anyone that has been put in front of us has either lost, or cheaply swindled out a way to walk away.
Kris interrupts a final time, but this time Jason does not find it funny.
Kris: You didn't even get to hit him with that title did you? Totally got disqualified without the satisfaction of actually doing it. Does that not grate on you?
Jason sighs, frustrated, but does not turn from the camera or acknowledge Kris' words.
Jason: Jet City has not gotten the opportunity do to anything worthwhile. The jokes that people make, the insults that management throws at us, they all kind of ring true. 2017 is going to be the year that all of that changes. We at Jet City, are going to be making those changes, starting right now.
They stop, looking off camera, and nodding for their silent partner to step into the frame. The fans are treated to a sight of a blonde woman in a blue dress that sinks almost too low on her chest and ends nearly unacceptably high on her thing. She steps around the two of them, coming to rest between them, in the center of the frame.
Kris: Since SCW is not going to look our for the interests of Jet City, we are just going to have to do it ourselves. If people want to get involved from ringside, then those people are going to do so in our favor. If someone is going to go into the office and nag at the people making the matches, then we are going to make sure that person is about as high maintenance, demanding, and unrelenting as they come. If we cannot change the image that you people get in your head when you think of us by ourselves, then we will just give all of you a little something else to look at while we do our thing.
The three of them exchange glances, all showing a similar smile on their faces.
Jason: It was dangerous enough to allow my and my brother to work in the same company, at the same time, as a team. Since that wasn't taken seriously, we decided to up the ante a little. Jet City now has all of the same maliciousness...
Kris: With a walking bombshell of a distraction to help it all happen so much more smoothly.
The two brothers unstrap the SCW Tag Team Championships from their waists and hold them up.
Jason: We are....
All: Jet City!
