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Climax Control Roleplays / No More Uncertainty
« Last post by Alexandra Calaway on December 19, 2025, 10:34:56 PM »
As the World Falls Down
LJ’s Apartment
Las Vegas, Nevada


Here we are, the end of the year is upon us, Christmas is here and we are staring down the barrel of the annual Toy’s for Tot’s, Sin City Wrestling, Winter Wonderslam show. Now I’ve done many Toys For Tots events while in this industry, but this year, I don’t know, it just seems so different. It’s more than just another stop on the road for me. It’s another chance to show that despite the horrible showing this year, I’m still one of the best Sin City Wrestling has.

Now, with the holiday season upon us, let’s start from the top of my December. Why don’t we? First off, a ghost from my past arrives and basically slaps some sense into me. Thanks Jubal by the way for reminding me just who the fuck I am. I needed that, seriously, I mean it. Then we fast forward to Climax Control and what happens, my boyfriend got injured by a piece of shit, a worthless joke of a man, who thought that attacking someone on the ramp was the way to go. Then pokes the bear by verbally berating my family and he thought I wouldn’t find a way to be out there when he faced off against LJ’s brother Miles, my best friend Miles, the same man who by no surprise, beat the ever loving shit out of Billy boy. And I made sure that his little wifey-poo manager couldn’t get involved, since they like to accuse others of doing the very same thing they are WELL known for doing. Which leads me to that night.

Enter Victoria Lyons, I did exactly what I said I would. I defeated Victoria Lyons, finally closing that chapter of what is really a life-long feud. Will she and I ever see eye to eye? No. I doubt it, because while we both carry that same flame for destruction, it was time that the tides changed for her. Though I know, give it time and we will find our ways back to each other. It’s only a matter of where and when. Just know Vicky, I’ll be waiting to remind you that diamond you think you are.. It was me that made the pressure happen. I was the one who sharpened your sword. And you used it to stab me in the back. But instead of crumbling and never returning, I came back and used that sword and took you down.

I’m making a bee-line for Inception and my match against Alicia Lukas for the Bombshell Roulette title. I’m not going to waste it. I had Victoria in my path there and I put her down. Now Frankie finds herself standing on the tracks and this train isn’t stopping. If she wants to play chicken with this train, I’ll put her down the same way I did Victoria. I will go into Inception primed and ready to remove the burden of the Bombshell Roulette Championship from Alicia. Frankie, if you think that Climax Control is going to be a walk in the park, I’m going to need you to just take a look at everything that’s happened in the past few weeks and ask yourself, is it really going to be that easy?

As for LJ, since I’ve been asked many questions. He’s doing well, healing up and looking forward to being back at work in the new year. Doctor’s said he’s healing up well and that there wasn’t any major damage. Bill should thank his God for that. Or this would be a different message. Now, I’m going to finish decorating for Christmas in our new home and mentally prepare to tear into Frankie and go into Inception on top.

Alexandra Calaway



Soul Sisters
Goldfield Hotel
Goldfield, Nevada


The doors of the Goldfield Hotel open with a sound that feels older than rust, a low, dragging complaint that echoes deeper than it should. Alexandra steps inside alone, and the air changes immediately; thick, stale, heavy with a silence that doesn’t feel empty so much as occupied. Dust hangs in the dim light like something suspended mid-breath, unwilling to settle, unwilling to move on. The outside world seals itself shut behind her, and the hotel receives her without ceremony, without welcome, the way a place that has swallowed too many people learns to do.

She doesn’t rush. She never does anymore. Her boots carry her forward at an unhurried pace, each step measured, deliberate, the sound of leather on warped floorboards traveling farther than it should through the cavernous lobby. The building feels hollowed out, like something vital was taken from it and never returned, leaving behind only structure and memory. Alexandra’s shoulders square instinctively, not out of fear, but recognition. She knows this kind of space. She has lived inside it.

The hotel belongs to Mika now; ownership stamped on paper, keys exchanged, history claimed by someone still breathing, but the walls don’t seem to acknowledge that fact. Ownership is a shallow concept here. The Goldfield Hotel does not feel possessed so much as endured. It stands the way something stands after realizing escape was never an option, only survival.

Alexandra slows near the center of the lobby, her gaze lifting toward the ceiling where shadows gather in corners that light never quite reaches. She can feel the weight of expectation pressing down, the invisible pressure of roles long assigned and never questioned. Wife. Ornament. Proof. Ghost. The hotel hums softly, a frequency just below sound, and something in her chest tightens in response.

“I know,” she murmurs, not sure who the words are meant for.

The thought arrives uninvited, unwelcome, and unmistakably clear: You were never meant to leave. Not the hotel. Not life. Not the shape someone else decided you would take.

Alexandra exhales slowly, her breath fogging faintly in the cold interior air. She doesn’t believe in coincidence, not anymore. Places like this attract the discarded, the contained, the women who were built into cages and told it was love. She takes a step toward the grand staircase, fingers trailing lightly along the banister, the wood worn smooth by hands that once climbed it daily, hands that belonged to someone who had nowhere else to go.

Elizabeth.

The name doesn’t echo. It settles.

She doesn’t see her; not the way stories want you to, not a figure in white or a shadow at the edge of vision. What Alexandra feels instead is presence, dense and intimate, like a thought that has been thinking itself for decades and finally found someone capable of hearing it. Elizabeth is not angry here. She is not a spectacle. She is a restraint that never broke, longing that calcified into permanence.

Alexandra ascends the stairs slowly, each step creaking beneath her weight, the sound swallowed by the hotel as if even noise knows better than to linger. Her hand tightens on the railing as understanding blooms, sharp and unwelcome. Elizabeth was not trapped by walls alone. She was trapped by expectation, by the rigid architecture of what she was supposed to be, who she was supposed to serve, how small she was required to remain in order to be acceptable.

Alexandra stops halfway up the staircase, pulse steady, jaw set.

“I filled those roles too,” she says quietly, voice carrying just enough to feel honest. “I wore them until they started cutting into me.”

The hotel seems to lean in. Floorboards groan softly, not in protest, but acknowledgment.

Alexandra has spent her life being shaped by other people’s needs. The disciplined one. The controlled one. The reliable one. The one who could take it. Every expectation stacked neatly on her shoulders, each one praised as strength while quietly erasing her autonomy. She thinks of the way Elizabeth’s life was defined by proximity to someone else’s ambition, someone else’s image of success, until even her suffering had to be contained, sanitized, and made palatable.

Until there was nowhere left to go but inward.

Alexandra resumes climbing, the stairwell narrowing, shadows thickening with every step. She doesn’t feel watched so much as understood, and the realization unsettles her more than fear ever could. Elizabeth didn’t choose to stay. Staying was the consequence of being molded into something that no longer fit through the door.

The hallway at the top is long and dim, wallpaper peeling like old scabs, the air heavy with the residue of lives half-lived. Alexandra walks it slowly, her thoughts spiraling inward despite her efforts to keep them contained. She recognizes the pattern now; the way control disguises itself as care, the way cages are sold as protection. The way obedience is mistaken for virtue.

“I thought if I did everything right,” she whispers, stopping near a door left permanently ajar, “they’d let me be free eventually.”

The silence answers her, thick and knowing.

Elizabeth never got that freedom. She became part of the building instead, her presence woven into the beams and corridors, a permanent reminder of what happens when a woman’s will is treated as negotiable. Alexandra presses her palm flat against the wall, feeling the cold seep into her skin, grounding her in the moment.

“I didn’t disappear,” she says, more firmly now. “I refused.”

The hotel does not respond with warmth or comfort. It doesn’t absolve. It doesn’t forgive. It simply exists, bearing witness. That feels more honest than any consolation ever could.

Alexandra stands there for a long moment, alone but not lonely, surrounded by the weight of a history she did not live but understands intimately. Elizabeth’s presence does not cling to her, does not ask her to stay. It only mirrors something Alexandra has already survived. The suffocating stillness of being owned by expectation, the slow death of becoming an idea instead of a person.

When she finally turns back toward the stairs, her posture is unchanged, but something inside her has settled into place. She carries the understanding with her, not as a burden, but as a confirmation. She was never meant to be contained. Neither was Elizabeth.

One of them learned that too late.

The other will not.

Alexandra descends the staircase in silence, the hotel closing around her again as if sealing a confession into its walls. The doors wait at the far end of the lobby, patient, indifferent. When she reaches them, she pauses, not out of hesitation, but respect for the woman who stayed, and for the version of herself that never will.

The doors open. Night air rushes in. Alexandra steps through without looking back.

No Uncertainty Here
Red Rocks Amphitheatre
Denver, Colorado


Red Rocks Amphitheatre looms behind Alexandra like the ribcage of a long-dead god, jagged sandstone rising on both sides, carved by time, pressure, and violence. The stage is empty. The seats stretched into darkness, row after row of silent witnesses waiting for a show to begin. The wind cut sharply carrying the distant hum of Denver far below, but up here there is no civilization; only exposure, only stone, only the sense that something ancient is watching.

Alexandra stood alone on the stage, her back to the camera, her posture rigid. The wind tugged at her hair, trying to pull something loose, something buried beneath muscle and memory, and she did not fight it. For a long moment, she said nothing, her head slightly bowed but not in defeat, in concentration. Her voice broke the silence, steady and low, echoing faintly off the stone. “I can feel it now. The silence after a war.”

She turns her head slightly, enough so the camera catches the edge of her profile, the tension set deep in her jaw. “Victoria and I?” Her breath slows. “That wasn’t chaos. That was violence with purpose. That was understanding. Two women who knew exactly what the other was capable of and chose to walk into the fire anyway.”

She turns fully now, facing the camera, expression unreadable. No smile. No anger. Just something simmering beneath the surface, dangerous in its restraint. “Climax Control wasn’t about proving who was better. It was about survival. About refusing to disappear. About dragging the truth out of each other whether we wanted to see it or not.”

Her boots scrape softly against the stone as she steps forward. “And when it was over, when my hand was raised and hers wasn’t, I didn’t feel relief.” She exhales slowly through her nose. “I felt clarity.”

Clarity didn’t arrive gently. It didn’t come with peace or relief or the quiet satisfaction people like to imagine follows victory. It arrived like a blade sliding into place, like something locking shut behind her ribs. Standing there afterward, sweat cooling on her skin, lungs burning, hands still trembling from the violence she had just survived, Alexandra realized that winning hadn’t ended anything at all. It had stripped the excuses away. It had left her alone with the truth.

Victory didn’t heal her.

It sharpened her.

That understanding sits heavy in her chest now as the wind claws across the open stage, tugging at fabric, at hair, at memory. Red Rocks amplifies everything; sound, breath, silence. Even her thoughts feel louder here, echoing back at her with nowhere to hide.

She had expected to feel finished after Victoria. Vindicated. Proven. Instead, she felt exposed, like something ancient inside her had been dragged into the light and refused to go back into hiding. Victoria hadn’t just fought her. She had seen her. Had met her head-on and dared her not to look away from what stared back.

That kind of encounter changes you.

Alexandra inhales slowly, grounding herself in the cold bite of the air, in the solidity of stone beneath her boots. This place understands endurance. It understands what it means to remain standing long after softer things have crumbled into dust.

Her voice, when she speaks again, carries farther now, fuller, as if the amphitheatre itself has decided to listen. “People think winning is the end of the story,” she says quietly. “They think it closes a chapter. Ties things off. Makes sense of the damage.” A faint shake of her head. “It doesn’t.”

She turns slightly, eyes scanning the empty seats, imagining them filled, not with cheers, but with expectation. With judgment. With the weight of being seen. “Winning just removes the lies you tell yourself to survive losing.”

After Victoria, there was no lie left to cling to. No illusion that restraint made her noble. No fantasy that discipline alone could protect her from cruelty. She had crossed a line she could never uncross, and instead of destroying her, it had steadied her.

That scared her more than defeat ever had.

Alexandra takes another step forward, shoulders rolling back as if settling into her own skin more completely. “I stopped pretending pain was a tax you paid for belonging,” she continues. “I stopped believing suffering earned respect.” Her eyes narrow. “I realized the people who thrive in this world don’t endure pain, they apply it.”

The wind surges, rushing through the stands, howling like a warning siren. She lets it wash over her, lets it punctuate the thought. “And that’s when I started thinking about you again, Frankie.”

Not with anger. Not with obsession. With analysis.

Alexandra has always studied her opponents, but before, it had been technical. Mechanical. Footwork. Timing. Conditioning. Against Frankie, she learned something else entirely: how control functions as a weapon. How confidence, when wielded correctly, can suffocate someone before the first blow ever lands.

Frankie didn’t just beat her.

Frankie contained her.

“She didn’t rush me,” Alexandra says, voice low, deliberate. “Didn’t overpower me. Didn’t panic.” A faint, almost appreciative tilt of her head. “She let me exhaust myself trying to prove something.”

That memory still burns, not because it hurts, but because it taught her too much. Frankie’s greatest strength wasn’t speed or strength or even strategy. It was a certainty. The calm assurance that the match would bend to her will if she simply waited long enough.

“That kind of confidence is intoxicating,” Alexandra admits. “Especially when you haven’t earned your own yet.”

Back then, Alexandra had been chasing validation disguised as victory. Every move had carried the weight of please see me. Frankie had sensed it immediately. Had slowed the pace just enough to let doubt creep in. Had turned patience into a cage.

Alexandra stops pacing, eyes darkening as she stares straight into the camera. “You didn’t beat me because you were better,” she says evenly. “You beat me because you were certain. And I wasn’t.”

The silence that follows is thick, charged.

“I fixed that.” The words land without flourish, without heat. They don’t need it.

Certainty didn’t come from winning. It came from understanding exactly who she was willing to be when stripped of approval, of hope, of the need to be liked. It came from accepting that restraint had limits and that crossing them didn’t make her monstrous.

It made her effective.

Alexandra gestures again toward the stone, fingers brushing its surface as if reading a language only pressure understands. “These rocks weren’t formed gently,” she says. “They weren’t shaped by kindness. They were broken down layer by layer until only what could endure remained.”

Her hand presses flat against the cold stone. “I know what that feels like.” Every loss had taken something unnecessary with it. Every humiliation had peeled away a layer she no longer needed. Every time she’d been dismissed, underestimated, overlooked, something inside her had hardened instead of cracking.

She turns back to the camera slowly. “Victoria forced me to stop lying to myself. She showed me that survival isn’t enough.” Her eyes burn brighter. “Jubal reinforced it. Iron sharpens iron. And I learned that if I was going to exist in this world, truly exist, I couldn’t do it half-armed.”

Her pacing resumes, tighter now, more purposeful. “Everyone wants to diagnose me. To label the cracks they see. Call them instability. Call them weakness.” A low laugh. “They don’t understand geology.”

She stops sharply. “Cracks don’t mean collapse. They mean movement.”

The wind surges again, as if answering her. “I am not unraveling,” Alexandra says, voice steady, resolute. “I am shifting. Repositioning. Preparing.”

She steps closer, presence filling the frame. “You thrive on control, Frankie. On dictating rhythm. On pulling people into your pace until they forget their own.” Her lips curve, not quite a smile. “That only works on people who need permission to act.” She doesn’t. “I don’t care about your tempo,” she continues. “I don’t care about your confidence. I don’t care how calm you look while doing violence.” Her voice drops. “I care about results.”

Alexandra leans in slightly, eyes unblinking. “And the result of underestimating me will be catastrophic to your certainty.”

Another pause. This one was deliberate.

“I’m not haunted by my past anymore,” she says. “I’ve mastered it. Every hesitation you exploited is now cataloged. Every moment they waited for me to blink is now a weapon I know how to turn outward.”

She straightens. “I rebuilt myself from that loss. Reinforced every weak point. Burned down everything that depended on approval to function.”

The wind howls through Red Rocks, carrying her words far beyond the empty seats. “You don’t get to face the version of me that hoped hard work would be enough.” Her eyes lock in. “You get the version that understands consequence.”

Alexandra exhales slowly, controlled. “When that bell rings, I won’t be fighting to belong. I won’t be fighting to rewrite history.” Her expression turns feral. “I’ll be fighting to take something from you.

She points at the camera again, unwavering. “Your certainty.” The finality in her voice is unmistakable. “You lit the fuse when you beat me,” she says. “You walked away thinking the explosion had already happened.” A thin, dangerous smile crosses her lips. “You were wrong.”

The smile doesn’t last. It never does. Alexandra lets it fade as quickly as it came, because this isn’t about theatrics or satisfaction. It’s about truth, and truth doesn’t linger in expressions meant for other people. Truth settles deeper than that. It takes root. It waits.

She turns away from the camera again, slow and deliberate, facing the vast, empty sweep of Red Rocks as if the amphitheatre itself deserves the rest of what she has to say. The wind surges harder now, tearing through the open air, rushing past her ears until it almost sounds like voices layered on top of one another; old echoes, imagined crowds, memories of impact and breath and bone colliding under lights that never cared who survived them.

“This is the part no one sees,” she says quietly, not turning back. “The space after realization. After the moment where you understand there’s no going back.”

She inhales deeply, filling her lungs with cold air until it burns, until it grounds her in the present. “People think transformation is loud. Violent. Obvious.” A faint shake of her head. “They think it comes with explosions and spectacle.” Her hands flex at her sides. “They’re wrong.”

Transformation, she learned, happens in silence. In the moments when no one is watching. When you’re alone with the knowledge of what you’re capable of and you don’t flinch. When you stop asking yourself should I? and start asking how far? Alexandra steps closer to the edge of the stage again, looking down at the drop, at the distance between where she stands and where the city glows faintly below. The height doesn’t frighten her. It never has. Heights are honest. They don’t pretend there’s safety where there isn’t.

“I used to think restraint made me strong,” she continues. “That holding back meant I was disciplined. Controlled. Better.” Her lips press together briefly. “All it really meant was that I was afraid of what would happen if I stopped apologizing for my instincts.”

She remembers the first time she realized that mercy had limits. The first time she felt hesitation cost her something she couldn’t get back. The first time she understood that the world doesn’t reward potential. It rewards finality.

“I am done negotiating with myself,” Alexandra says, voice steady. “Done softening my edges so other people don’t bleed when they get too close.”

The wind whips around her again, stronger now, as if the amphitheatre itself is pushing back, testing her resolve. She welcomes it. Let it batter against her like resistance in training. Pressure reveals structure. It always has.

“I know exactly what I am,” she says. “I know what it costs. I know what it takes.”

She turns back toward the camera one final time, eyes dark, focused, stripped of anything unnecessary. There is no anger in them now. Just certainty, sharpened and cold.

“I am not fighting for redemption,” she says. “I am not fighting for validation. I am not fighting to prove I belong in any room, any ring, any conversation.”

Her voice lowers, grounded, immovable. “I fight because I finish what I start.” She takes a step forward, then another, until she stands exactly where she began; center stage, alone, perfectly framed by stone that has endured everything the world could throw at it.

“Every loss I’ve taken taught me something,” Alexandra continues. “Every scar stripped away something that didn’t matter. Every time I was underestimated, something inside me recalibrated.”

She places a hand over her sternum, not dramatic, just present. “What’s left isn’t fragile. It isn’t uncertain. It doesn’t hesitate.”

A pause. Heavy. Intentional. “I don’t spiral,” she says flatly. “I descend.”

The words hang there, unadorned. “Downward is where pressure lives. Where foundations are tested. Where only what’s real survives.” Her gaze never wavers. “And I am very real.”

She straightens fully now, posture relaxed but coiled, like something that knows it doesn’t need to rush. The fight will come. The bell will ring. Time will compress into moments where instinct decides everything.

“And when it does,” Alexandra says, “I won’t be looking for openings.” Her jaw sets. “I’ll be creating them.”

She lets the silence stretch again, long enough to feel uncomfortable, long enough to force attention. The wind roars through the stands, relentless, ancient, carrying her words outward whether anyone is there to hear them or not.

“This isn’t about revenge,” she finishes. “It’s about inevitability.”

One last breath. Calm. Centered. “I am the version of myself that remains when hope is removed from the equation,” Alexandra says. “I am what’s left after fear burns off. After doubt collapses. After permission is no longer required.” Her eyes harden, final and absolute. “I don’t ask,” she says. “I don’t wait. I won't stop.”

She turned from the camera once more, silhouette framed against the dark stone and open sky as the wind howled through Red Rocks like a warning etched into the bones of the earth itself.

Alexandra gestures broadly to the empty amphitheatre, to the towering rock formations that frame her like a cathedral built by indifference. “This place is built for sound. For impact. For voices meant to carry.” Her gaze sharpens. “And tonight, I’m not here to whisper.”

She begins to pace the stage, slow and deliberate, a predator mapping territory. “Beating Victoria reminded me of something I had forgotten. Not how to win. I never forgot that.” She stops, eyes distant for a brief moment. “It reminded me how far I’m willing to go when someone stands across from me and decides my story is finished.”

Her focus snaps back to the lens. “And that brings me to you, Frankie Holliday.”

She lets the name linger, heavy. “You’ve been quiet. Confidence. Watching. Smiling like someone who already knows how this ends.” A faint, humorless chuckle slips free. “I know that smile.”

Her pacing resumes, slower now, heavier. “It’s the smile of someone who’s already beaten me once and thinks that moment is frozen in time. Preserved. Untouchable.” She shakes her head. “Nothing stays untouched. Not even me.”

Alexandra reaches the edge of the stage, Denver’s lights flickering far below like something fragile and small. “You beat me in a different era of my life. Back when I believed effort was enough. Back when I thought discipline and heart could carry me through anything if I followed the rules long enough.”

She turns back toward the camera, eyes darkening. “That version of me didn’t understand cruelty. She thought pain was something to endure, not something to wield. She thought suffering would earn respect. She thought it would change the minds of the people who looked past her.”

A pause. Her jaw tightens. “You took advantage of that.” She lifts her chin. “And I don’t blame you. That’s what predators do. They sense hesitation. They smell uncertainty. They strike before the other side has accepted what they are.”

Alexandra steps closer, the frame filling with her presence. “But here’s what you didn’t account for.” Her voice drops. “I learned.”

She gestures toward her chest, then slowly toward the towering stones behind her. “These weren’t shaped by comfort. They weren’t formed by patience or fairness. They were carved by pressure. By erosion. By forces that didn’t care what cracked along the way.” Her fingers curl into a fist. “That’s what I’ve become.”

She turns, running her hand along the cold rock face, grounding herself in its permanence. “I have been broken. Pushed to the edges. Dismissed. Beaten.” Her eyes blaze as she faces the camera again. “And I survived. Not just survived; I was remade.”

Her voice sharpens. “Victoria forced me to confront the cracks I’d been hiding. She held a mirror up to everything I was afraid to lose. Jubal did the same. Iron sharpens iron. They reminded me who I am when survival isn’t enough.”

She resumes pacing, faster now, energy building. “Everyone thinks I’ve been spiraling. That the cracks they see are weak.” A low laugh escapes her, cold and unsettling. “No. They’re fault lines.”

She stops abruptly. “And fault lines only matter when the ground starts to move.”

Alexandra leans forward slightly, eyes locked in. “I’ve replayed our match more times than I can count. Every misstep. Every hesitation. Every moment I second-guess myself instead of trusting my instincts.” Her voice steadies. “That doesn’t haunt me anymore. It educated me.”

She straightens. “You don’t live rent-free in my head anymore, Frankie. I renovated the place. Reinforced it. Turned it into something fortified.”

The wind howls louder, tearing through the amphitheatre. “You thrive on control. On dictating pace. On dragging people into your rhythm and drowning them in it.” A slow shake of her head. “That won’t work this time.”

Her eyes burn. “I don’t care about your strategy. I don’t care about your certainty. I don’t care how many times you’ve walked out thinking you had someone figured out.” She steps forward again. “I’m not a puzzle anymore.” Her voice lowers. “I’m a consequence.”

A heavy pause settles over the stone.

“When that bell rings, I won’t be fighting to prove I belong. I won’t be fighting to erase the past.” Her expression turns feral. “I’ll be fighting to take something from you.”

She points directly at the camera. “Your certainty.”

Alexandra straightens, breath controlled but intense. “You helped create this version of me when you beat me. You lit the fuse and walked away thinking the explosion was behind you.”

A smile crosses her lips. “You were wrong.”

She takes one last look around Red Rocks, empty but waiting. “This place will be full someday. People are screaming. Chanting. Watching bodies collide under the lights.” Her gaze snaps back. "But right now? This moment is just for you.”

Her voice drops to a dangerous whisper. “You don’t get the version of Alexandra that wants approval. You don’t get the one that hopes.” Her eyes lock in, unflinching. “You get the one that finishes things.”

Alexandra turns her back on the camera, staring into the darkness as the wind roars through Red Rocks like a warning carved into ancient stone.
62
~*~Lights, Ladders, and the Law of O’Connell Christmas~*~

The inside of the house had been perfect for weeks. The tree stood tall in the front window, a real one, fat and full, trimmed in white lights and ornaments that told the story of a family still becoming itself. Baby handprints in clay. A tiny wrestling boot ornament Mal pretended not to be emotional about. One with Máire’s name painted in crooked gold letters that Bella insisted was staying forever. The whole place smelled like pine, cinnamon, and whatever Bella’s mom had baked and left behind “by accident” the last time she visited.

Inside? They had crushed it.

Outside? Outside was where they’d dropped the ball.

Bella hadn’t even realized it until Máire, who was bundled in her pink coat and tiny knit hat before they left for some quick shopping, pressed her hands to the big front window and frowned like she’d just uncovered a betrayal.

“No lights,” she announced solemnly.

Bella paused mid-coffee sip, "What was that, baby?”

Máire turned around slowly, eyes wide with concern, "No lights, Mama. House look sad.”

Malachi froze where he stood, halfway through tying his boots. He glanced out the window, then back at his daughter, then at Bella, "Well,” he said carefully, “That feels like a personal attack.”

Bella bit her lip, "She’s not wrong. I can’t believe we completely forgot about the outside of the house.”

“Well, it is the first year and we have been super busy as of late.”

“Well, we are going out, I wonder if we can find anything.” Bella said with Mal giving her that look that told her she was absolutely nuts for it, “Look, I know that look but it’s not just for me, it’s for your daughter.”

“Ok...ok fine, but just ONE store, I’m not bloody driving all over creation for just a few twinkle lights....”

It was five hours later, a very long long trip to three different stores, a big ouch to the credit card and dealing with an over-caffeinated Bella and Máire who was a bundle of energy in her own right, and Malachi O’Connell found himself on the roof of their wrap-around porch.

The porch roof wasn’t especially high, but it was high enough that Bella had planted herself directly below with her hands on her hips, issuing commentary like a very stressed foreman, “Don’t lean like that.”

“I’m fine.” Mal grunted moving a line.

“You said that last time and you slipped.”

“That was one time.”

“ONE TIME TOO MANY.”

Mal, dressed in a heavy jacket, beanie pulled low, gloves on, carefully clipped another string of warm white lights into place, "You married a professional fighter, Bells. I think I can handle a ladder.”

“Yeah, and I’ve taped ribs on that ‘professional fighter’ before,” she shot back, "You fall, I’m dragging your ass inside myself.”

Máire stood next to her in the driveway, holding Luka’s leash with both mittened hands like it was a sacred responsibility. Luka, the husky menace herself, sprinted in frantic circles every time Mal shifted above them, barking like she was attempting a rescue operation. Thankfully she wasn’t yanking little Máire around.

“Luka thinks you’re in danger,” Bella called up.

Mal glanced down, "Luka thinks the mailman is a threat to national security.”

As if on cue, Luka skidded to a stop and let out a furious bark at nothing.

“See?” Mal added.

The yard had slowly transformed around them. From a glowing reindeer family stood near the walkway to a row of candy-cane lights marked the path to the porch. There was also a cheerful inflatable Santa waved near the front steps, already threatening to tip over every time the wind kicked up. And then there was the 10 foot Abominable Snowman. The inflatable had actually been Mal’s idea.

“I thought it’d be funny,” he’d said.

Now, as the blower kicked on when Bella plugged it in, the massive white creature slowly rose from the ground, blue face stretching into existence, arms lifting in a permanent roar. It was at this point that Luka lost her ever loving husky mind. She barked, lunged, skidded, tried to circle it like it was a living enemy, fur bristling, tail whipping behind her.

“DOG,” Máire shouted excitedly, pointing, "BIG MONSTER DOG!”

Bella laughed so hard she had to lean against the ladder, "Oh my God, she thinks it’s real.”

The Abominable finished inflating, towering proudly over the lawn. Luka planted herself in front of it and barked again and again and again. Mal leaned over the edge of the roof to look, "Is she... guarding us?”

“She is 100% prepared to die for this family,” Bella said, wiping tears from her eyes from laughing at her dog and her daughter losing it.

Máire giggled, the sound bright and pure in the cold air, "Good girl, Luka!”

Luka puffed her chest out like she understood the praise and barked louder.

Mal shook his head, smiling despite himself, "This is my life now. I fight grown adults for a living and lose to inflatable snow monsters.”

Bella looked up at him, lights glowing behind him, snow crunching under her boots, their daughter laughing beside her.

“Pretty good life,” she said softly.

He met her eyes and nodded, "Yeah. It really is.”

Finally, Mal climbed down, stepping onto the driveway as Bella reached out to steady him despite his protests. She brushed snow off his jacket, tugged his beanie down straight, kissed him once, quick and warm.

Máire clapped, "Daddy done!”

Mal spread his arms wide, "Daddy is ALL done. All that’s left is for mama to turn it on. You ready?”

“READY!!! MAMA!!! LIGHTS ON!!!”

Bella quickly ran over to the door, opened it and flipped the switch. The house came alive with warm white lights that traced the porch and roofline. The tree inside glowed proudly through the massive front window, visible from the street like a promise. The reindeer shimmered, Santa waved and the Abominable Snowman loomed triumphantly.

Máire gasped, "WOW.”

Bella crouched beside her, arm around her tiny shoulders, "What do you think, kiddo?”

Máire nodded seriously, "House happy now.”

Mal laughed quietly behind them, sliding an arm around Bella’s waist. Luka barked one last triumphant warning at the Abominable before flopping into the snow, exhausted but victorious.

Bella leaned into Mal, watching the lights twinkle against the night sky. It was their First Christmas in the house. First year like this. It was hard-earned, well-loved, chaotic and perfect. And for the first time in a long time, Bella felt something settle in her chest that had nothing to do with fighting.

Home.


~*~Steam, Scars, and the Things That Don’t Wash Away~*~

The bathroom was warm in that quiet, cocooned way that only happened late at night, when the house had finally exhaled.

Steam fogged the mirror, blurring the edges of reality until the world felt smaller, safer. The only sounds were the low hum of the heater, the gentle slosh of water, and the faint, rhythmic creak of the house settling into sleep. Lavender bubbles piled high in the tub, a ridiculous amount of them, spilling over the porcelain edge like Bella had lost a personal vendetta against moderation. She sank deeper into the bath with a contented sigh, shoulders slipping beneath the surface, muscles loosening one knot at a time.

Blessed the Gods, this felt good.

Her blonde hair was twisted up into a messy bun, a few damp curls already escaping and clinging to her neck. Her skin flushed pink from the heat. For once, there was no rush, no crazy schedule, no wrist to tape and at the moment, no flight to catch. Just warmth and stillness and the kind of quiet she didn’t trust but secretly craved.

Malachi leaned against the bathroom counter, arms folded, still fully dressed in a worn hoodie and sweats, watching her with the expression of a man who knew he’d already lost any argument he might attempt tonight.

“You’ve officially used all the bubbles,” he said mildly amused to watch his wife in the large bathtub. There would be every so often that he would join her but he didn’t think now would have been the time, especially with the 2 year old knowing to wake up at any given moment.

Bella cracked one eye open, "That is completely incorrect, sir. I left some in case of emotional emergencies.”

Mal snorted, "That explains why the bathroom looks like a rabid unicorn exploded in here.”

She grinned, lifting one foot out of the water just enough to flick bubbles in his direction, "You love it.”

“I tolerate it,” he corrected, swiping a bubble off his sleeve, "Out of deep marital devotion.”

“Damndabe lies,” Bella said lazily, "You’re just jealous because I’m warm and you’re not.”

“False. I’m emotionally warm and a few other feelings sitting here watching you..”

She rolled her eyes, sinking again, arms floating atop the foam. For a moment, she let herself just be, wife, mother, woman and not a fighter, not a champion, not a problem waiting to happen.

Her eyes drifted to her left forearm where a scar was faint but permanent. It came from an old barbed wire spot. There was another from a ladder rung that bit back. This was among the myriad of a constellation of smaller marks, some faded, some stubborn, but every single one of them...all earned.

Her gaze moved without conscious permission from her knuckles to her wrists. She took one finger and traced her collarbone take the mental notes of the body she lived in that wasn't broken, but it had been paid for.

Mal noticed the shift immediately. He always did, "You okay?” he asked quietly.

Bella hummed, "Mm. Just... thinking.”

“That’s never ominous at all,” he replied, but his tone softened as he moved closer, perching on the edge of the tub. One hand rested against the porcelain near her shoulder, fingers brushing the water, "What about?”

She shrugged, bubbles popping softly against her skin, "It’s weird, isn’t it?”

“What?”

“How easy it is to forget.” Her voice was calm, almost amused, "How hard it was to get here.”

Mal followed her line of sight, his jaw tightening just a fraction. He didn’t interrupt, he never did when she got like this.

“I love this,” Bella continued, "Everything that we have. From the house, to the quiet. You and Máire. The crazy dog that loves to bark at inflatable monsters.” A smile tugged at her lips, "I love being... gentle.”

She turned her head to look at him, "But I’m not built for it alone.”

There it was and that caused Mal to exhale slowly, "You don’t have to be just one thing, you know that right?”

“I know.” She reached up, dragging a line of bubbles onto his sleeve deliberately, "But I tried babe. For a long while I tried being nice and I tried playing polite. I’m pretty sure that I even tried pretending that if I just smiled and behaved and waited my turn, things would sort themselves out.” Her hand disappeared beneath the foam, "And instead,” she said softly, “I felt dull.”

Mal didn’t flinch. He nodded once.

“I should have learned this from you....but...peace doesn’t sharpen you,” she went on, "It cushions you and makes you forget where the edges are.”

She shifted, sitting up slightly, water cascading down her shoulders, bubbles clinging to her skin. Steam curled around her like a shroud.

Mal reached out, brushing a damp curl from her face, "And that scares you?”

“No,” Bella said honestly, "What scares me is pretending I’m not dangerous. There were people saying that I had just spent so long playing nicey nice with people that it may have actually cost me chances that I should have had a while ago.”

Silence settled between them, but it wasn’t heavy, and it most certainly wasn’t strained. Just real like it always was between them.

She looked down at her hands again, turned them over, palms up and palms down.

“These hands don’t know how to be delicate when it matters,” she murmured, "Lately it seems like they only know how to endure, how to hold on and how to break things if they have to.”

Mal’s thumb brushed her shoulder, "They also know how to rock our kid to sleep.”

Bella smiled, soft and small, "Yeah, they do.”

There was a moment of silence between them and then something behind her eyes shifted.

It was acceptance of what she had to become. It wasn’t anger, nor bitterness. Just the solid truth that she had to evolve into something more. She leaned back, letting the water reclaim her, closing her eyes and just calculating her next set of moments. When she opened them again, the playfulness was back.

“Hey,” she said.

“Yeah?”

“When I get out,” she said casually, “Can you hand me the wraps from the drawer?”

Mal raised a brow, "Planning a late-night cardio session?”

“Something like that.”

He studied her face for a long moment, then nodded, "I’ll get them.”

She smirked, "You always do.”

When the water finally cooled, Bella stood, stepping out onto the mat, dripping and unhurried. She wrapped herself in a towel, steam rising from her skin like smoke from a fuse finally lit.

Mal handed her the wraps without a word. Their fingers brushed and that was enough. She began winding the fabric around her hands, methodical. Familiar. The motions came without thought, muscle memory clicking into place.

Each layer felt like armor sliding back where it belonged. Mal leaned against the doorframe, watching, knowing better than to interrupt the ritual.

By the time she finished, Bella flexed her hands once..just once.

The Hardcore Queen hadn’t arrived with a roar, she arrived with a quiet certainty.

And somewhere in the house, the woman, the wife, the mother stepped aside, she was not erased or abandoned, but she was simply making room.

Bella met Mal’s eyes, "Christmas is almost here,” she said lightly.

He smiled, "Yeah.”

“And then?” She tightened the final knot, Bella said, calm and deadly, “It’s going to hurt again.”


~*~Rules of Engagement: Sometimes It Has To Be Your Friends~*~

Denver didn’t feel like December and that was the problem. The winter in Denver was supposed to have teeth bared where it didn’t matter how many layers you had on, it was supposed to be sharp.

Instead, the air was dry, thin, and carrying the faint smell of asphalt and pine instead of snow. There was no bite whatsoever, no frost and not even the glimmer of a flurry. It was just a strange, almost defiant warmth lingering in the low fifties, the kind that made people forget it was supposed to be winter at all. There were Christmas lights still stretched across the plaza, glowing uselessly against bare concrete and brick, twinkling without snow to soften them.

Bella stood beneath them anyway. Across the way, people laughed as shoppers hurried by with bags in hand, kids tugging at parents, begging for cocoa or photos with Santa. There was the normal life and festive life.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket. A message from Mal she didn’t need to read to know the contents of.

You good?

She was and she wasn’t.

The plaza outside the old Denver market hall buzzed with life, street musicians playing off-key carols, tourists lingering longer than they should because the weather let them, kids darting between planters instead of trudging through slush. A massive Christmas tree rose behind her, fully decorated, proud, almost out of place without snow clinging to its branches. Wrapped boxes sat at its base, pristine and untouched.

It was too clean and Bella hated that.

She wore black, boots solid against dry pavement, her coat open just enough to show the wraps on her hands. No gloves tonight....There was no need. The warmth felt wrong on her skin, like the world had forgotten what season it was supposed to be in.

And on top of it all Sunday loomed with Climax Control. The last before Christmas, which was always gimmicked up with unknown stipulations on every match. Of course they were always...well majority of the time...Christmas themed.

She exhaled slowly, watching the breath barely fog, another reminder that things weren’t lining up the way they should.

“Alicia Lukas,” Bella said quietly, tasting the name like a truth she respected, "Wolfslair. Stablemate, which I’m sure some of you guys completely forgot about. Someone that I consider a friend and even a mentor. AND the current reigning SCW Bombshell Roulette Champion. And the woman that I'll be standing across from in a few days, and while her title is not on the line, pride very much in play.”

Bella leaned back against the railing, eyes lifting toward the skyline, toward the mountains barely visible through the haze. Denver always felt like a city that tricked people, thin air, high elevation, things catching up to you faster than expected. It fit her mood perfectly.

“This isn’t about disrespect,” Bella said aloud, voice calm, controlled, "You’ve earned everything you’ve got, Alicia. Every spin of that wheel, every scar you carry.”

Her jaw tightened.

“But you have to know something, I’m done waiting and I’m done giving a shit about people that don’t give a shit about me. We have this unknown match style hangs over us thoughts like a bad idea nobody had stopped yet. Christmas lights wrapped around weapons, tables painted festive red and green, candy canes that snapped instead of sweetened....A holiday theme that would turn cruel the second the bell rings.”

Bella’s mouth curved, but not into a smile, not quite.

“They can make it as cute as they want,” she continued, "They can dress it up and slap tinsel on it and pretend it’s fun. But violence doesn’t care about the season, and as we know pain doesn't give a SHIT about Christmas.”

She stepped closer to the tree, fingers brushing the edge of one of the wrapped boxes. The shiny paper reflected her back at her, fractured, distorted, multiplied. A woman shaped by impact, by endurance, by refusal.

Her scars prickled beneath her clothes, "Every mark on my body is proof,” Bella said softly, "Not of what I lost but of what I survived. I have had to evolve into someone who just puts their entire BEING on the line every single fucking time, without so much as ‘thank you’ nor a ‘fuck you’ from anyone. I know that Mal is worried about me, "

She straightened, shoulders rolling back.

“Alicia, I don’t want to hurt you,” she admitted, "But I will not hesitate, not now. I can’t afford to, not with Inception breathing down my neck and another legend of Kayla Richards being right there waiting on me to slip. Not when everyone seems content to keep me in limbo while Crystal Caldwell and Mercedes Vargas play queen of the mountain with their horrible Telenovela soap opera shit going on.”

Her eyes hardened.

“This Sunday isn’t about friendship or mentorship, it’s about the clarity that I’m still searching for.”

Bella’s fingers flexed inside the wraps, tension finally cracking through her composure.

“Alicia,” she said again, slower this time, heavier, "You’re not just another name on a card to me. You’re someone I’ve watched battle whole ass wars without whining. Someone who never ducked a fight, even when the Roulette wheel damn near tried to ruin her career week after week. You stood in that chaos and you owned it.”

She shook her head once, a faint, bitter smile touching her lips.

“And that’s exactly why this sucks.”

Bella pushed off the railing, pacing now, boots scraping against concrete.

“Because if this were anyone else, I wouldn’t even hesitate. But you?” Her eyes narrowed, "You force me to look at myself. You force me to ask whether I still hesitate when it’s someone I respect. You have ZERO issue in shoving that mirror directly in my face. Especially when it’s someone who stood next to me under the same banner, when it’s someone I’d normally trust to have my back.”

She stopped, dead still.

“And here’s the answer.”

Bella lifted her chin.

“I don’t.”

Her voice didn’t rise. It hardened.

“I won’t pull a punch because we share a locker room. I won’t soften the blow because you’ve been a mentor. I won’t apologize for making a point just because it hurts more when it’s someone I know can take it.”

Her jaw clenched.

“If I’m going to call myself the Queen of Hardcore, if I’m going to walk into Inception with my head high against Kayla, then I don’t get to pick safe opponents. I don’t get to choose comfort. I have to prove that when the line is drawn, I will cross it no matter who’s standing on the other side.”

Bella’s eyes burned now, not with anger but with full resolve.

“So Alicia, understand this,” she said firmly, "This isn’t betrayal...This is brutal honesty. This is me telling you that on Sunday, I’m not your stablemate. I’m not your friend.”

She exhaled once, sharp and final.

“I’m the storm you survive or the one that proves why I wear the crown.”

Bella reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a velvet bag, small and unassuming. She loosened the drawstring and tipped it into her palm. Metal caught the light.

A crown, it was dark steel, jagged, twisted into thorns that looked like they’d tear into flesh as easily as they’d draw blood. It was not remotely elegant. But it was very symbolic.

She held it up beneath the Christmas lights, the warmth of the night and the festive lights doing nothing to soften its edges.

“This isn’t decoration,” Bella said evenly, "This is a statement.”

She lowered it, grip firm.

“I’m coming out with this on because I have fucking EARNED this. When this is over, when the lights are broken, when whatever holiday nightmare they throw at us is finished, I am going to put this on again and I’m going to make my way to Vegas.”

Her gaze burned with certainty.

“Not because I beat a champion and it’s not because I survived another match. But because no one else has paid the price I have as of late.”

Bella lifted the crown just slightly, shadows cutting across her face.

“I am the Queen of Hardcore and I’m going to show everyone that this is a monster that not even her friends can stop.”

The plaza buzzed on, oblivious with all the laughter, music, warmth and Bella turned away from all of it.

Sunday was coming. And even without the cold...

Christmas was still going to hurt.
63
Climax Control Roleplays / The Weak Link
« Last post by Eddie Lyons on December 19, 2025, 09:21:39 PM »
The Lyons Den was alive in the usual way with the faint smell of sweat and leather lingering in the air and all the trainees scattered around going through their various routines. Eddie strolled through giving friendly smiles and waves to all the young talent.

He was here for one person however, and it may not be who many of them expected. He was here to talk to Victoria Lyons. He found her working over a heavy bag like the thing had offended her personally, every strike as precise and calculated as she was in the ring.

He waited patiently for her to finish, he knew better than to interrupt her routine. Eventually she stopped for a rest, and looked over her shoulder at Eddie behind her.


“If you're here to critique my footwork.” she said “I'm not in the mood.”

“I didn't come here to coach.” Eddie replied

She raised an eyebrow curiously and turned to face him.

“Then why are you in my space during my workout?” she said.

“I just wanted to talk to you.” he said, "I have something I wanted to ask you.”

“Well make it quick.“ she replied “Darian went to pick up lunch for us and should be back soon.”

“Of course.” said Eddie “I won't be long, I know you're trying to prepare for Harper Mason and all.”

“Just get on with it.“ she said

“It's about my tag match this week.” he said, "Carter and I are facing Alexander Raven and Brayden Hilton.”

“That's not exactly a secret Eddie.” Victoria replied

“I didn't say it was..” said Eddie

“Go on.” Victoria said, sounding mildly annoyed.

“Ravens got Carter at Inception, and I've got Brayden.” said Eddie “That makes this match about momentum, and playing with the other's heads. Especially for Raven and Hilton.”

“Raven does love that chessboard mentality.” Victoria nodded.

“And Brayden loves shortcuts.” Eddie continued “Especially when he thinks he can get away with them.”

Victoria tilted her head slightly.

“Still waiting for the part where you need me.“ she said.

“Luna and Carliegh…” Eddie said with an exhale.

That seemed to get her attention and she raised an eyebrow curiously.

“They won't just stand there.” Eddie continued “If things start slipping, and Raven or Brayden get desperate they will get involved.”

“Of course they will.” Victoria scoffed “That's what you call backup.”

“And if they do.” Eddie said “I won't lay a hand on either of them,  and I don't think Carter will either, neither of us will cross that line…”

Victoria nodded with a smirk coming to a realization.

“So what you're saying is the two of you are walking into that match knowing you have a blind spot..” she said “And you want me to help cover it.”

Eddie met her gaze.

“Yeah that's about the size of it..” Eddie said “I just need someone to watch our backs just in case.”

“You're really asking me.” Victoria said amused, “You want me to be the problem, so you don't have to be.”

“I'm asking you to be a problem solver." said Eddie “I'm asking you because you don't pretend to be something you're not.”

“Please…” said Victoria “You're asking me because you know I don't hesitate or care how it looks afterward.”

“That's part of it.” said Eddie “But I also know you don't jump unless there's a reason.”

“That's debatable.“ Victoria smirked, “You do realize what you're inviting right? If one of those girls tries to get cute, I'm not going to warn them and I'm definitely not going to ask permission. I'm just going to act.”

“I know.” said Eddie “I'm not asking you to play referee. I'm just asking you to make sure the match stays between the four people it's supposed to be between, and I don't want you involved unless one of the girls gets involved first.”

“Yeah.. well, we'll see.” said Victoria

“Victoria…” Eddie begin.

“No.” Victoria interrupted, “You don't get to walk this back, you came to me because you know Raven and Brayden aren't going to respect boundaries, and you know I don't respect them either.”

She smirked at Eddie.

“You're worried that Brayden tries to bait you into something stupid before Inception.” she continued “You're worried that Raven is going to take measures to soften up Carter and make his championship match easier, and Luna and Carliegh are going to make sure and neither of you can stop it.”

Eddie didn't answer right away and that gave Victoria all the answers she needed.

“You're thinking ahead at least.” Victoria said “That's good.”

“This isn't about being clever." Eddie said “It's about not letting my tag match spiral into something that doesn't need to be.”

“And you think I'm the stabilizing force?” Victoria replied, eyebrow raised.

“I think you're the deterrent.” Eddie replied honestly

“Well at least you're being honest.” she said “Although, I guess that's always sort of been your thing hasn't it?”

“That's kind of why I need you.” Eddie said “If Luna or Carleigh try to provide distractions I trust you to handle it however you see fit.”

“However I see fit?” she replied “You realize that's dangerous.”

“Well it's better than pretending it won't happen." Eddie said “Raven and Brayden will play dirty, and I need someone who's willing to get their hands dirty watching our backs. That's all.”

Victoria paused for a moment and studied Eddie.

“I'll do it.” she said "You worry about Brayden and Rave. If the girls try to involve themselves I'll be sure to make them wish they hadn't.”

“Thank you.” Eddie replied “Just please try not to get too carried away if things get wiry out there.”

“We'll see what happens.” Victoria grinned

At that moment Darian returned with a bag of carryout.

“Am I interrupting something?” he asked.

“No, just discussing business.” Victoria replied "Come on Dare Bear, that Chicken Caesar Salad is calling my name.”

She looked over at Eddie again.

“I'll see you on Sunday..” she smirked before walking off with Darian to enjoy their lunch.

Eddie watched them go with a sigh. He came in asking for backup and he knew Victoria could be unpredictable, but sometimes the most volatile solution was the correct one. Still one thing nagged at the corner of his mind.

Did he just make a huge mistake?

__________

The camera fades in on Eddie Lyons sitting alone in the Lyon's Den. No music, just a low hum of the building settling around him. I see rest his forearms on the top rope of a ring looking straight into the camera, calm and focused.

“So it's me and Carter against Alexander Raven and Brayden Hilton.” he began “And on paper it sounds simple, four competitors one match. But anyone who's been paying attention knows it's more than that.”

He pauses.

“You and I just went at it, Raven.” Eddie continued “One on one, man to man and you picked up the win once again. You've always been dangerous and calculating and in some aspects I do respect what you bring to the ring. But the ending to that match? That's what left a bad taste in my mouth.”

He exhaled slowly.

“I had you right where I wanted you." Eddie continued “I was in position to finish it and then Brayden Hilton made sure the spotlight wasn't where it needed to be.”

He shook his head, annoyed.

“You distracted me Brayden, that's the truth of it.” Eddie continued "You didn't outwork me, and you didn't out fight me. You pulled my focus and Raven capitalized.”

He shrugged.

“But that's the game isn't it?” he continued “Find the opening, exploit it and move on. What you don't realize is you don't get to do that forever, because at Inception it's just going to be you and me, no shortcuts and no allowing somebody else to do the heavy lifting.”

He pauses again.

“That's why this tag match matters.” Eddie continued “Because I know exactly what you're trying to do Brayden. You're trying to get in my head and frustrate me. You want me angry so I lose focus on the task in front of me, but I can assure you that's not going to happen.”

He keeps his eyes locked on the camera.

“I'm not looking past this tag match.” Eddie said “But I'm also not forgetting what's coming. I see every distraction and every move you're trying to make now and this time it's not going to work.”

He pauses again.

“And you Raven..” Eddie continued “You're walking into this match with your eyes locked on the world championship, and to be fair you should be. But Helluva Bottom Carter is the standard right now,  he's the champion because he earned it. He's consistent, and he shows up every single time that bell rings."

Eddie nods respectfully.

“I don't need to carry Carter and he doesn't need to carry me.” Eddie continued “We're walking in as two professionals who understand what's at stake. Two contenders who are fully aware of the kind of fight you're bringing, but your partner Brayden he's the wildcard isn't he?”

He nods at the camera.

“Where you can back up your mouth most of the time Raven.” Eddie continued “Can you say the same thing about your partner? Because he seems like the type of guy who will question other people's commitment and work ethic while standing on the ring apron. He strikes me as the type of guy that will let you take the hit so he can take the glory. Is that who you want watching your back Raven?”

Eddie looks to the camera like he's expecting a response.

“I don't think it is.” said Eddie “You know as well as I do, as well as Carter does, that Brayden is the weak link on your team, in fact he's the weak link in this match in general. You can argue all day that maybe I'm the weak link of our team because I'm not the world champion, but I'm still a top contender in SCW. Brayden is someone who hasn't proved shit other than he's really good at running his mouth and writing checks that his ass can't cash.”

He pauses again.

“Are you really ready to carry the weight of your team?" said Eddie “Because that's what you're going to have to do Raven, and you know it. And that worries you because you know Carter and I will be able to be on the same page no problem. We won't be looking to one up each other. We're just going to be looking to send a message to the two of you for our respective matches at Inception and we will send that message loud and clear. Everything that Raven has done to Carter over the past few months will come to a head and I will teach Brayden Hilton a lesson in humility and remind him to be careful about who he speaks about.

Eddie pauses.

“Carter and I walk in united, focused  and without ego.” Eddie continued “You and Brayden walk in with questions about trust and priorities and whether the guy standing next to you is really who you want by your side.”

He exhales softly.

“Both of you will find out that the more you try to control the narrative the harder it hits when it slips out of your hand.” Eddie said “You will find out what true unity and true respect looks like, because that's what Carter and I have for each other, and that's what is going to allow us to work together and pick up the win over the two of you.”

A confident smile grows on his face

“And this is only the trailer for you Brayden.” said Eddie “Because I will see you at Inception in the Lyons Den for the future presentation and that's where it's going to be even worse for you. You really should have kept my name out your mouth. How you have nobody to blame but yourself for what's coming.”

With one final nod and a confident look to the camera everything faded to black.
64
Climax Control Roleplays / I AM FACING HARPER MASON AGAIN
« Last post by Andrew on December 19, 2025, 08:42:27 PM »
I AM FACING HARPER MASON AGAIN? HOW MANY TIMES DO I NEED TO FACE HARPER AND DESTROY HER BEFORE MANAGEMENT STOPS ASSIGNING HER TO FACE ME IN THE WRESTLING RING?

Narrator:  I want to let everyone know that Bea Barnhart is tired of having to face Harper Mason again. Bea has mentioned to me that she does not understand why management has to assign Harper Mason to her all the time when Bea has already defeated Harper so many times there is no humor left to work with having to defeat Harper Mason again. With that said I turn you over to Bea Barnhart who is at their hotel room near the Denver Coliseum.

Bea:  Well, everyone, here we go again. I guess Management cannot get enough of assigning Harper Mason to face off against me in a wrestling match so they did it again. What the hell is going on here? Do they enjoy watching Harper getting defeated by me so darn much so that is the reason they keep assigning her to face off against me in a wrestling match? I mean, DAMN, I have other victims to sacrifice to the wrestling gods so stop assigning me to face off against Harper Mason.

Bea snarls into the camera.

Bea:  Before I launch into more comments directed at Harper Mason I want to let everyone know that my husband Bill and our English Bulldog Iris are here at Climax Control 445 but the two of them are out on a tour of Denver and a more detailed tour of the area around and near the Denver Coliseum, where Sin City Wrestling is holding Climax Control 445. Don’t be surprised if Bill and Iris return while I am presenting comments on my upcoming match against Harper Mason.

Bea laughs loudly then she continues with her comments.

Bea:  Most wrestling fans like to know how wrestlers assigned against each other measure up so I will give you that information so that nobody comes up later claiming that I never told you that information. Harper is listed as 5 feet 5 inches in height and 125 pounds in weight. She claims to be from Orlando, Florida, but being the pathological liar that she is I doubt that information is accurate. With me I am 5 feet 5 inches in height and 130 pounds of weight and I am from Lawrenceville, Georgia. I am also listed as what the sport of wrestling calls a Neutral alignment wrestler. Although me and Harper are the same height and nearly the same weight I still have a major advantage over her as I have in many of our previous matches.

Bea glares into the camera before continuing with her comments.

Bea:  Harper since I am awesome and you are pathetic I would like to run down a few items for you to think about. I was going to prepare a list, from A to Z, of how I am superior to you but I will just toss items out there as I see fit.

Bea glares into the camera then she starts her presentation.

Bea:  So, Harper, pay attention. . .

A = I am AMAZING while you are pathetic.

B = I am BRAVE while you are a coward.

C = I am CALM. . .COOL…AND COLLECTED… while you are trash.

D = I am DETERMINED while you are disgusting.

E = I am EVERYTHING while you are nothing.

F = I am FASCINATING while you are annoying.

G = I am GREAT while you are small.

H = I am here while you are nowhere.

I = I am INTELLIGENT with an IQ of over 130, which is Genius level, while your IQ score is pathetically low.

J = I am a JOY to be around while people avoid you.

K = I am KIND when I need to be, and MEAN when I need to be, while you are just out there in the nothingness.

L = I am here to TELL THE TRUTH while you are a liar.

M = I am MARVELOUS while you are pathetic.

N = I am NO NONSENSE while you are just nonsense.

O = I am an EXCEPTIONAL WRESTLER while you are pathetic in the wrestling ring.

P = I am BEAUTIFUL while you are lacking physical appeal.

Q = I am QUITE the wrestler while you are a joke wrestler.

R = I am a TOUGH wrestler while you are as soft as Jello.

S = I am SUPERIOR while Harper is sadly weak. . .

T = I am ROUGH in the wrestling ring while you are soft.

U = I am UNIQUE while you are plain and useless.

V = I am VERY talented in the wrestling ring while you are very weak.

W = I WOW the fans while the fans say you are boring.

X = I am Xtra special while you are extra plain. .

Y = I am the FAVORITE wrestler for the fans the fans hate you.

Z = I have ZEAL while you belong in a Zoo enclosure.

Bea flashes a huge grin into the camera. When she hears the door of the hotel room she looks up and watches as her husband, Bill, and their English Bulldog Iris, are done with their walk around near the Denver Coliseum. Bea excuses herself to the viewers as she wants to know what Bill and Iris did on their walk.

Bea:  Excuse me for a moment wile I pause my comments concerning my upcoming match against Harper Mason as I want to talk with Bill about his walk with Iris. So, Bill, how was the walk around and near the Denver Coliseum?

Bill:  To be honest there wasn’t much for me and Iris to see and do at this time while walking around the Denver Coliseum. I spoke with some people around the Coliseum and they told me about two streets down there is a nice dog park where I could bring Iris and let her run around and interact with the other dogs in the park. So that is where we spent most of our time but both me and Iris are tired and want to rest now.

Bea:  I am not able to give a lot of time for you and Iris at this time as I am airing my comments for my upcoming match against Harper Mason so don’t take it personally.

Bill:  I will make it short Bea. At first Iris didn’t want to enter the dog park but I managed to convince her that interacting with the other dogs there would be a good experience for her. Iris was a bit grumpy because the normal greetings dogs give to other dogs is to shove their nose into the butts of the other dogs to get their smell so they can process it and evaluate the dogs they are sniffing.

Bea:  Are you serious or are you joking with me?

Bill:  I am serious. When you have some free time do a Google search on how dogs get to know other dogs and what their smells mean to the other dogs. Iris was enjoying smelling the butts of the other dogs but, oh man, when the other dogs wanted to smell her butt Iris got upset so I had to cut our trip to the dog park short and return to our hotel room. Since you are giving a presentation me and Iris will go into the bedroom and both of us will get cleaned up so we will not be making noise and interrupting your comments to the viewers.

Bill tells Iris to come with him into the bedroom and she does so. Bill closes the bedroom door so any noise they make will not bother Bea while she is airing comments on her upcoming match against Harper Mason.

Bea:  Just when you thought you have heard it all you find out that dogs identify other dogs, and evaluate if they should be friends with them or enemies, or whether they are a male or female dog, you find out that dogs love sticking their noses up the butts and crotches of other dogs. I am so glad that is not something humans need to do to identify other humans and determine if they are friends or enemies or males or females.

Bea pauses her comments to look into the camera and shake her head as what she just heard from Bill.

Bea:  Well, Harper, we are only a short time away from our match. It would have been nice if our match was the opening match but we ended up being the second match on the card. There are many times I felt great being the opening match because what I accomplish, and how well I destroyed my opponents, sets the energy level and level of interest in the remainder of the matches on the card. I have always felt that being the opening match is not an insult placed on wrestlers by Management when they assign wrestlers to matches because the wrestlers involved in the opening match set the tone and energy level for the entire event.

Bea takes a break from her talking to take a drink of Classic Coke then she continues with her comments.

Bea:  Harper I wish to remind you of how I approach each match I am assigned to and especially when it is a Singles match and the Opening match on the Card. I pride myself on being a great submission expert and making my opponents submit. Even though that is my primary objective I will also transition from working on making my opponent submit to making them give up in the match when they finally stop fighting against the obvious conclusion that I am going to defeat them and they lay down on the mat and accept that I won the match over them. There is another thing I do in my wrestling matches that most of the wrestlers in Sin City Wrestling fail to do. Whether I win, or whether I lose the match which is a rare occurrence, I still walk over to my opponent and thank them for giving me a good match. I appreciate wrestlers who accept their losses to me and I also appreciate wrestlers who get a win over me and but they remain humble.

Bill pauses to drink more of her Classi Coke before returning to face the camera to continue her comments.

Bea:  So, Harper, in closing on my comments for today, I want you to know a few things that maybe you never took notice of. There are only a few wrestlers in Sin City Wrestling who I have an honest hatred toward because they are, literally, assholes and cheaters, who would never win a wrestling match without their friends interfering in the match they have against me. If you need to cheat in a wrestling match to obtain a cheap victory then you should not be in the sport of wrestling since you are violating all the rules, regulations, and honesty, that is associated with professional wrestling. I don’t hate you Harper but I have to be honest that I don’t like you due to how often you cheat in matches to try to steal a win against your opponents. Harper. . .if you need to cheat to get a cheap win over me in our upcoming match then the fans, and others, will remember what you did to cheat against me to get a cheap win. I never want to be remembered as the wrestler who needed to cheat and violate the rules of the match they were involved in so that they could obtain a cheap victory. Nothing is a given in life and that includes that nothing is a given in the sport of wrestling. So Harper. . .in closing. . .I want to give you every opportunity to work our match fully within the rules of our match, which means you should hold back on your desire to cheat in the match. Of course I cannot accept the fact that if you cheat that you proved yourself to be the coward I always knew you were. The final decision is yours Harper. Do you lie and cheat and violate the rules of our match and emerge as the cheater winner of our match. . .or do you work in our match under the rules of the match and we see who legally wins our match? The choice is yours Harper. But please, Harper, let me warn you, that if you violate the rules and do illegal things in our match, you will forever be lageled as a lying, cheating, cowardly, piece of crap. The choice is yours.

Bea motions to the camera person to indicate that she is done with her comments for today. The camera person thanks Bea for the notification then they call into the Network to inform them that Bea is done with airing her comments. The Network tells the camera person to cut their video feed and then the network will return to regularly scheduled programming. Bea accepts the actions by the Network and then the screen goes dark.

65
Climax Control Roleplays / Turnberry Nights and Tinsel Lights
« Last post by HBCarter on December 19, 2025, 08:23:24 PM »
Tuesday -
Las Vegas, Nevada

The final bell had barely finished ringing inside the school building before the front doors opened and students emerged by the dozens, eager for the end of their school day and coming this much closer to the Christmas break. There was already a steady line up of school buses and parental cars with a few drivers leaning out windows to call names to their loved ones. And parked just off the curve of the pickup lane was a blue Jeep Renegade that had easily become part of this daily routine.

Miles Kasey was at the wheel, one elbow propped on the door, sunglasses pushed up into his hair. Beside him, Carter watched the front doors, half-joking, “This is like watching a nature documentary.”

“Teenagers in their natural habitat.” Miles played along. “Observe the way they travel in packs for migratory purposes.”

Carter added, “And the way they communicate exclusively through yelling, shoulder-checking, and whatever that dance is.” Pointing at one boy who looked like he was imitating one of those inflatable tubemen outside storefronts.

Carter leaned against the open window, watching the teenagers like they were some live reality show. “You think he’s gonna spot us right away today, or do we get the ‘mysteriously blind until he’s five feet away’ routine again?”

Miles shrugged, musing with a deep fondness and said, “Depends if Connor is with him or not.”

Carter tipped his chin toward the doors, “Speak of the devil...”

Miles shifted in his seat as the familiar figure of Kevin Chapman emerged with the crowd, backpack slung over one shoulder. Right beside him was Connor, and even from this distance, they could see Connor’s head angled toward Kevin like he was sharing the secrets of the universe with Kevin.

Carter watched them for a beat, then murmured, “Look at them.”

Miles could not help but grin openly as Kevin and Connor moved down the steps and into the swarm of students. Kevin’s eyes roamed the pickup area while trying not to be too obvious.

Carter smiled, “Called it.”

The two adults watched with growing affection as Kevin lifted a hand and gave Connor a quick, awkward, very teenager kind of half-wave. Connor answered with a two-finger salute and stepped backward, still talking, until he vanished in the growing throng of students.

Kevin lingered just long enough to watch Connor go, then turned away from the buses and started scanning again.

Watching closely, Miles spoke softly as if narrating an episode of National Geographic Explorer, “And now the subject disengages from his associate and pretends he is simply walking.”

Carter followed up with, “Totally casual. Not at all headed directly for a blue Jeep containing two grown men who keep snacks in the center console.”

Carter watched him weave through the crowd with his head down as if without Connor by his side, he was trying to remain unseen. He stepped around a gathering of kids taking selfies near the curb, until he drew close to the Renegade.

Kevin reached the passenger side first, paused as if to make sure he had the right vehicle despite it being impossibly obvious, then leaned slightly toward the open window line, his face brightening in that way that always made him look a little younger.

“Hey.” Kevin said. And then he pulled the rear door open and climbed into the backseat, shutting the door behind him. By personal tradition, a small bag of jalapeno Doritos and a Dr. Pepper was passed to the grateful hands of the teen, a much needed after-school snack.

Carter didn’t turn all the way around. He just angled his eyes to the rearview mirror as Kevin popped the tab of the soda and almost drained it straight away.

“So…” Carter said, breaking the proverbial ice. “Did you invite him to the party?”

Kevin blinked, then put on his best innocent face, for which it affected neither Carter nor Miles. “Who?”

“Who.“ Carter repeated with a playful roll of his eyes. “Oh, I don’t know. The Ghost of Algebra Past?”

Kevin stared, causing Carter to sigh dramatically. “Connor, of course.”

He stammered, taking on an adorable flush from his neck to his ears. “No. I mean, not yet. I don’t…”

“The party’s on Friday.” Carter pointed out. “And we leave for Denver on Saturday. Then we head to Washington on Monday.”

Kevin’s eyes shifted to the mirror again. “Washington?”

“`Fraid so.” Carter smiled. “Christmas break and this time, with Miles’s family there too..”

Kevin went quiet in that way he did sometimes, processing that the new ‘family’ that he was surrounded by was going to grow even bigger.

Carter continued, “So our Christmas party is basically your last chance to see Connor before the holiday takes over.”

Kevin huffed, the sound half laugh, half protest. He said without a convincing tone, “We’re just friends.”

Carter’s eyebrows lifted as if he’d just heard the funniest thing in the world. “Sure.” He said. “And Miles and I are just roommates who took in a cat and a teenager for ambience.”

Miles snorted so suddenly it came out as an undignified burst of laughter. Kevin’s ears went pink as he said, “It’s not the same.”

Miles glanced back over his shoulder just enough to catch Kevin’s eyes. “You want me to invite him for you?” He asked. “I can do a drive-by. You know. Roll the window down. ‘Connor! Friday! Party! Bring your mistletoe!’”

Already smiling, Miles lifted his hand toward the window controls. The driver’s window began to lower when Kevin lurched forward, pleading, “Miles, don’t! Please!”

Miles froze mid-motion, wearing a faux sense of innocence. “What? I’m just being supportive!”

Kevin’s voice dropped to a whisper, “I’ll invite him.” He promised. “Later.”

Carter’s eyes met Miles’s for a beat. Miles lifted both hands briefly in surrender and nudged the window back up. “Fine. Later. No public declarations from the Jeep.”

Kevin sank back into the seat, exhaling sharply. Miles eased the Jeep forward a few feet, waiting to pull out when a figure stepped toward the Jeep from the sidewalk, close enough that Miles had to stop. A teacher approached the driver’s side. Her expression was professional, but not unfriendly. More like careful than anything. Hazard of the job. Teachers never knew what type of parents that they’d be dealing with.

Miles tapped the brake and rolled the window down.

“Hi.” She said, leaning forward at the waist to look inside the window. “I’m Ms. Saldana. Kevin’s Ethics teacher.”

Kevin made a noise in the backseat, something between a sigh and a groan. Ms. Saldana’s eyes darted past Miles and Carter, toward the rear, and then back again. “Would you have a moment?” She asked hopefully. “I was hoping to discuss something that happened today in class with Kevin.”

Carter and Miles exchanged a look, then they turned their attention toward the backseat. Kevin was trying to bury himself into the cushions of the backseat.

“Okay?” Miles said with caution, keeping his eyes on the teacher. “What happened?”

Ms. Saldana said, “Today in ethics we held a series of structured debates about current events and social issues. Kevin was assigned to debate DEI topics with another student, Samantha Price. Samantha is … fairly religious.”

“Fairly religious?” Kevin burst out. “She brings a Bible to school!”

Ms. Saldana continued, “Samantha’s position was that DEI has no place in Hollywood. She argued that the best actors should simply get the roles, that gender and race swapping for the sake of inclusion undermines original stories, and that casting should remain faithful to the source material.”

Carter prodded, “And?”

“And … when it was Kevin’s turn…” Ms. Saldana spoke carefully, “He responded by pointing out that Samantha is about to celebrate a holiday that was appropriated from Pagan traditions, filled with Pagan symbols and rituals, all to commemorate the birth of a Middle Eastern Jewish man who is now commonly portrayed as having blond hair and blue eyes. He then suggested she ‘sit this one out.’”

There was a brief, suspended silence inside the Jeep.

Carter stared at Ms. Saldana like she’d just finished reading a grocery list.

Miles blinked once. Twice. “I’m … not seeing the issue.”

Carter tilted his head. “I’ll grant that the ‘sit this one out’ line might’ve been a bit much, but everything else he said is historically accurate.”

Ms. Saldana sighed, saying, “Samantha ran out of the classroom in tears. We have strict policies regarding bullying…”

“Bullying!?” Miles interrupted, incredulous. He leaned a bit closer to the window now. “From what you just described, that wasn’t bullying! That was debating! In a debate that you assigned!”

Carter leaned over to get a better vantage point at the teacher. He said, “You introduced a culturally and politically sensitive topic to a classroom full of teenagers and it went sideways. And now you’re trying to pin that on the student who actually knew his facts?”

Ms. Saldana opened her mouth, then closed it again.

Carter continued, voice calm but unyielding in support of Kevin. “I respect that the girl has religious beliefs, but she doesn’t get to weaponize them and turn herself into the victim just because she lost the argument. And frankly, neither do you!”

Kevin sat frozen in the backseat, eyes flicking between the three adults.

Ms. Saldana exhaled slowly. “I’m not accusing Kevin of malicious intent.” She said after a moment. “I needed to understand the context, and make sure expectations are clear moving forward.”

“Fair enough.” Miles nodded. “And our expectation is that if you assign debate, you accept the debate. Even when it’s uncomfortable.”

Ms. Saldana gave a small, professional nod. “Understood. Thank you for your time.”

She stepped back from the Jeep, turned, and headed toward the school doors. The moment she was out of earshot, Kevin let out a breath he’d clearly been holding. “Thanks for having my back.”

Carter glanced over his shoulder with an easy smile. “Anytime.”

Miles eased the Jeep into motion as the line finally loosened, turning them toward the exit. As they rolled forward, one could hear one last exchange between Miles and Kevin.

“She did lose the debate, right?”

“By a landslide.”

“Attaboy!”

Turnberry Towers -
Friday Night

The condo at the Turnberry Towers was tastefully decorated for the upcoming holiday. Just enough and not overdone as the residing family would be spending Christmas in Olympia, Washington. Christmas music hummed softly from the Bluetooth speakers and the rich scent of food hung in the air. Thick slices of prime rib disappeared quickly, paired with roasted vegetables and glasses freely being refilled.

Say what you might, Carter and Miles treated their guests right.

George C. Scott’s “A Christmas Carol” played quietly more for atmosphere while clusters of guests filled the living room. LJ Kasey and Alexandra Calaway lingered near the windows with red wine in hand, talking animatedly with Harper Mason while Bobbie Dahl and Artie hovered close to the kitchen island, revisiting the charcuterie board of cheeses and meat slices for the third time. Anne Thompson had stood laughing with her husband, Robert, both holding mugs of hot buttered rum as Gabriel and Odette from GO Gym had debated about whether Die Hard qualified as a Christmas movie. Synn and Despayre had loomed nearby, Despayre already eyeing the cocoa bar like it was a sacred calling. Fenris and David Shepherd had occupied one of the sofas, Fenris nursing a drink while Aron Baltasarsson and Zoey Lukas had drifted between groups, greeting people with easy familiarity.

Their upstairs neighbor Oliwia, unique and unmistakable Oliwia, had floated between worlds, her presence somehow both chaotic and grounding.

And Kevin? Kevin grew to be very much part of the room that night, despite all lingering unease. He had drifted between conversations, laughing at Despayre’s antics and growing flushed at Fenris’s colorful language in his Icelandic accent. Every so often, his eyes flicked toward the door, just quick enough that he probably hoped nobody noticed.

Carter clapped his hands sharply from the center of the room. “Okay! Ugly sweater runway in five minutes! Final call for last-minute questionable fashion decisions!”

That was when there had been a knock at the door.

“I’ll get it!” Oliwia had called out brightly, already halfway there. She opened the door and froze.

Connor stood in the doorway wearing the flashiest Christmas sweater anyone had ever seen. It blinked. It sparkled. It featured sequins, dangling ornaments, and what appeared to be a light-up reindeer doing something vaguely suggestive. It was both a crime in fashion and glorious.

Oliwia slowly turned her head back toward the living room, eyes wide with awe. “We have a winner!”

Kevin’s head snapped up at Connor’s arrival. For half a second, he just stared until his face broke into a grin that lit the room. He moved without thinking, stopping just in front of Connor.

“Hi.” Kevin had said.

“Hi.” Connor replied.

(Hey, if you know, you know!)

They stood there longer than necessary, both smiling like lovesick puppies before Oliwia ushered Connor inside to cheers and applause at the sight of his garish sweater.

And the Ugly Sweater Runway contest? It proceeded exactly as expected. Dramatic entrances, exaggerated poses, elaborate commentary from Carter as emcee and ruthless applause. Highlights had included Bobbie’s sweater that had appeared to be actively attacking her, Anne Thompson’s tastefully ugly knit covered in embroidered bells, and Harper’s minimalist-but-deeply-disturbing sweater featuring a single blinking reindeer eye. Then it was Connor’s turn.

The teenager walked last and the room absolutely lost it, especially with his little spin and pageant smile at the end. And by unanimous decision, Connor had been crowned the winner, accepting a tiny gold-wrapped prize and generous applause.

Later, teams split for Christmas movie Pictionary. Shouting had erupted almost immediately. Someone had drawn something that had looked suspiciously like a toaster. Gabriel had insisted it was “Elf” while Harper had yelled “The Grinch”. Bobbie had screamed “Home Alone” with absolute conviction.

Despayre had fully claimed the hot cocoa bar, operating it like a high-end café. There were rules now, and a line. He judged marshmallow distribution with a critical eye.

As the night had settled into a comfortable glow, Carter and Miles had made the rounds, handing out small wrapped gifts to everyone; simple, thoughtful gifts When they had reached Connor, Miles had handed him an envelope rather than a wrapped package.

With Kevin glancing curiously over his shoulder, Connor opened it and stared at the contents with a gaping expression.

“No way…” He whispered, his excitement barely contained. Inside was a VIP package for Inception VIII. Ringside seats, backstage passes, the whole thing.

“Are you serious!?” Connor laughed, shaking his head. The sixteen year old was a big wrestling fan and this gift was a dream come true!

Carter smiled, Miles’s arm wrapped around his husband’s shoulder. “Dead serious.”

Connor was thrilled, bouncing on his heels, thanking them both with breathless enthusiasm.

Later in the evening, Kevin drifted near the edge of the room, unaware he’d wandered directly beneath a sprig of mistletoe. But Connor had noticed. He slipped in close, quick and easy, and gave a quick peck to Kevin’s cheek.

Kevin froze, and then he blushed, but the smile on his face was unmistakable as he looked at an equally smiling Connor. But then he looked over Connor’s shoulder and found Carter and Miles watching. Miles lifted his glass in a toast while Carter muttered, “Just friends my ass.”




“This weekend isn’t just another match on the calendar. It isn’t just another excuse for Alexander Raven to hear his own voice. This is the World Heavyweight Champion standing side-by-side with the ‘Workhorse of SCW,’ ‘Unbreakable’ Eddie Lyons, and the first thing I want to make perfectly clear is the fact that I respect Eddie Lyons. I’m not paying lip service because the cameras are on and Eddie and I have to get along. I mean the kind of respect you earn when you show up every single week, when you take whatever they put in front of you and you don’t make excuses. You work. You bleed. You keep going. And my partner Eddie Lyons? He’s the standard of what a professional wrestler is supposed to be when the cameras are off and on. Whether the arena is sold out or he’s working in front of a few dozen fans at most.”

“And I’ll say this right now. If there was any justice in this sport? Eddie Lyons would be the man getting the championship opportunity at Inception VIII. That’s not me trying to butter up my partner for the weekend, that’s not me playing mind games with anybody. That’s me saying out loud what everyone in that locker room knows. Eddie has put in the miles and he’s done the work. He’s earned the right to be rewarded with the biggest stage and the biggest prize and instead we’re watching the system do what it always does. It looks for the loudest mouth, the most poisonous narrative and the person who can stir the most chaos and call it momentum. It reaches past the person who deserves it and hands the spotlight to the person who screams like he’s entitled to it. That’s how Alexander Raven ended up sniffing around the World Heavyweight Title picture like a vulture circling a battlefield he didn’t fight on.”

“So Eddie, I’m telling you now, not as a champion trying to sound benevolent, but as a man who has fought his way to the top and knows what it takes. I see you. I see what you’ve endured. I see what you’ve overcome. The difference between you and the people you’re dealing with is that you don’t need a scheme to be dangerous. You don’t need a story to be relevant. You don’t need to build a staircase out of other people’s backs just to reach the door. You just show up. And this weekend, when we stand across from Alexander Raven and Brayden Hilton, we’re not just teaming up because it makes for a neat graphic on a screen. We’re teaming up because the truth has a way of finding its moment. The truth is that the Workhorse and the World Heavyweight Champion are aligned for one night and when that happens, it’s going to expose the difference between men who earn it and men who expect it.”

Now, Alexander Raven. You slithered your way into a championship match that you didn’t earn, and the reason I’m using that word ‘slithered’ is because it fits you perfectly like the snake you are! You attach yourself to whatever controversy is burning hottest and you call it proof that you deserve to be relevant. You’re not a contender, you’re an opportunist. And the worst part is that you’ve convinced yourself that those two things are one and the same. You look at a ranking system and you treat it like it’s supposed to bend around your ego, and when it doesn’t, you don’t work harder and prove people wrong. You retreat into conspiracy theories and insults like a man hiding under a table during a storm. If you can’t make a case with wins, you make a case with noise. If you can’t earn respect, you try to bully it out of people. If you can’t convince the world you belong, you try to convince the world that everyone else is cheating you out of your rightful place at the head of the table!”

“And here’s what gives you away, Alexander. You always have a reason and excuse ready that makes you the victim. You always need a narrative where you’re the man the world refuses to recognize. You cling to that narrative because it absolves you of any responsibility for your own shortcomings. It lets you avoid the one thing you’re terrified of; standing alone on your own merit! Because if you stand alone, the truth gets loud real fast, and the truth is that you haven’t done enough to deserve what you’re demanding! You’ve done enough to demand attention, sure, but attention and achievement are not the same thing! You’ve learned how to weaponize a microphone. You’ve learned how to bait people and how to keep your name in headlines> The sad part about all of that is you’ve mistaken that for accomplishment. And it’s not! You can’t talk your way past the bell! You can’t conspire your way past a three-count! You can’t insult your way into a clean victory! And deep down, you know that! Which is why you keep trying to change the conversation!”

“Then there’s the other part, your favorite part. You know the one. The part where you pretend you’re some sort of self-made threat. But let me say it plainly. You can’t accomplish anything of merit without Luna. You can posture all you want, but when push comes to shove, when the moment gets heavy and the pressure squeezes? You reach for the same crutch every single time! Luna interferes. Luna distracts. Luna manufactures the outcome you can’t manufacture on your own! And the funniest thing is the way you try to wash your hands of it afterward, like some sanctimonious politician caught on tape. You say you can’t control what your wife does, as if we’re all supposed to nod along and accept that as the end of the conversation. Alexander, you absolutely can control what happens in that case! Not in some creepy, possessive sense but in the most basic, simple, adult way possible! You tell her to stay out of it! You tell her not to interfere! You can draw boundaries! You can choose to stand on your own! You could do that, but you just don’t want to because you prefer the shortcut. You prefer to keep your hands clean while someone else does your dirty work! You want the victory and the spotlight but you don’t want the accountability that comes with earning it!”

“And that’s what you are, Alexander! A man who believes he’s entitled to the rewards of greatness without paying the cost of becoming great! You want to be treated like a champion contender while operating like a man who needs a safety net! You want the prestige without the sacrifice! You want the status without the substance! And you’ve managed to convince just enough people that you’re worth keeping around because you’re ‘dangerous’, when in reality? You’re just loud.”

“Now, Brayden Hilton? Brayden, you are the only man in SCW who can make Alexander Raven look like a priest when it comes to entitlement. And I’m not saying that figuratively. Literally! That's a fact you’ve built your entire identity on! Alexander at least hides behind conspiracy theories and fake persecution. You don’t even bother with that! You walk into a room like the world owes you applause. You talk like the simple fact that your mother is of lofty standing means you carry that same stature. And what have you actually done? What have you earned? What have you achieved that wasn’t handed to you? Because from where I’m standing, you’ve accomplished absolutely nothing to warrant the space you take up on this roster other than the fact that you are your mother’s son!”

“And when that emptiness starts to show, what then? What do you do? You make yourself relevant the only way you know how, by costing someone else their match! By sabotaging someone who is clearly your better! By inserting yourself like a parasite into other people’s moments and hoping the repercussions make you look important! We just saw you do it, costing Eddie Lyons his match against Alexander Raven last Sunday! You didn’t win anything! You didn’t prove anything! You just ruined something for someone else! That’s your whole brand, Brayden. You don’t create moments, you hijack them! You don’t elevate yourself, you pull other people down and call it strategy!”

“And that’s why you and Alexander are standing on the same side of the ring this weekend. Not because you’re compatible or some cohesive unit built for dominance. You’re together because you’re both addicted to shortcuts. You’re both obsessed with the idea that you can skip steps and still claim the outcome! You’re both the kind of men who would rather cheat the process than respect it! You’re both terrified that if the world ever turns the volume down, they’ll hear the emptiness underneath!”

“And let me say with the clarity of a champion that there is no possible way oil and water like Alexander Raven and Brayden Hilton could ever form a cohesive team! You can pose together and cut your little speeches about destiny and injustice, but the moment that bell rings, reality takes over! Reality doesn’t care about your entitlement and excuses! Reality cares about the ability to sacrifice your ego for the sake of victory! You two can’t do that, because you don’t even like each other! You just like what the other represents. Alexander likes having a chaos agent he can point at and claim innocence. Brayden likes having a headline to stand next to. But the second one of you has to actually rely on the other, that alliance will shatter like a dollar store Christmas ornament!”

“Because Alexander, you need control and to have everything to revolve around you. And Brayden, you need attention. You need the spotlight to follow you like you’re the main character. Two men like that don’t share space. Two men like that don’t cooperate. Two men like that don’t win together, they implode together! And when you implode, Eddie and I will be standing there, neither one of us surprised. Because Eddie Lyons is a professional, and I am the World Heavyweight Champion!"

“So this weekend, understand what you’re walking into. Eddie Lyons is coming for payback! He’s coming with the righteous anger of a man who should be on the road to Inception VIII with his name stamped on the title picture, not watching Alexander Raven taking up a spot he didn’t earn! Eddie is coming with the resolve of a man who has carried this company on his back while men like you two play politics and pretend that’s the same thing as achievement! And I’m coming with a promise that I will not let parasites and pretenders turn the World Heavyweight Title into a prop for their ego! A promise that I will not allow slithering opportunists and inherited entitlement to define what it means to be at the top!”

“Alexander, you can bring your conspiracy theories. Brayden, you can bring your family name. Bring Luna! Bring excuses! Because when the bell rings, none of that saves you when the work starts and the air gets heavy and you realize you’re standing across from men who don’t need shortcuts to be dangerous! And when it’s over, when the dust settles and the excuses start to form on your tongues like they always do, you’ll have to face the simplest reality of all. You tried to steal what you didn’t earn, and you ran headfirst into men who know the value of earning everything! This weekend, your little alliance of convenience becomes your downfall because you can’t trust each other, you can’t respect each other, and you can’t hold it together when it matters!”

“And Eddie? Let’s remind SCW what happens when the work meets the crown. You get past Brayden, I run over Raven, and in 2026? You and me. Finally.”
66
Climax Control Roleplays / The Girls
« Last post by Seleana Zdunich on December 19, 2025, 07:51:06 PM »
Off-Camera


Room
Hilton Garden Inn Denver Downtown
Denver, Colorado
Friday, December 18, 2025
10:01 AM PST





Zenna Zdunich smiles at her screen seeing her little girls waddling around their living room back in New Orleans, the nannies, Lovie and Ingrid grinning from the couch while the small toddlers, Morgan Ash, Livvie, Lissy and Little SG, all tried to play something different at the same time.

Zenna Zdunich: The little ones seem excited.

Kelly Taylor nods.

Kelly Taylor: We told them they might see all my sisters soon.

Zenna nods.

Zenna Zdunich: Quite the chat, ja?

Kelly shrugs.

Kelly Taylor: DNA tests have made it a thing.

Zenna shakes her head. Ever since the testing started to prove that most of Gem Stones were Taylors under it all as well and thus Kelly had gone from having one sister to five and counting, any kind of family visit had gotten more numbers to it as well as becoming more time consuming. The fact that most of the new sisters seemed to have married into the same family made that easier since they had already met and since they were connected to the Shieldmaidens MC and that club had started in New Orleans, contact was much easier to maintain.

Kelly Taylor: Sangre has her sisters at the ready.

Sangre was Essie "Sangre" Carbajal, the Sgt-At-Arms of the New Orleans Charter. Her Sisters, Amparo "Loba" Carbajal, Paloma Carbajal and Monica Carbajal, were all connected to the Mount Diablo Charter in California and were all at least talking to people connected to the Gem Stones.   

Zenna Zdunich: Have they decided the music is "sweet as?"

Kelly shrugs.

Kelly Taylor: They can be bloody brilliant but…

She trails off and Zenna nods knowingly. Colombians were known to be a bit mad no matter whose standards you were using and the Carbajals seemed to all collectively fit that assessment.

Zenna Zdunich: Tokig, ja?

Kelly snickers.

Kelly Taylor: Slightly mad?

She nods.

Kelly Taylor: Yes.

Zenna smirks.

Zenna Zdunich: I have to be familiar with that. I have a match on Sunday where to win, you have to choke your opponent with garland from the ropes.

Kelly's fiancée and the band's bassist, Alissa Lacroix, stares at her sister-in-law as if Zenna was speaking an indecipherable language somebody made up for small children.

Alissa Lacroix: Trying for "Christmassy" violence?

Zenna nods.

Zenna Zdunich: Ja, they have to do something to spice up the match since neither of us will be trying to kill the other just to watch them die, neither of us is usually an asshole and Amelia and I have never met. It is a random, cold match that we will both want to win for pure competition and to have momentum going into championship matches at the next show.

Alissa and Kelly nod.

Kelly Taylor: This will be when you finally get to exact a modicum of revenge on Mercedes Vargas?

Alissa shakes her head.

Alissa Lacroix: Strange way to get ready for that, fighting Amelia Reynolds in a…

She pauses awkwardly.

Alissa Lacroix: Who came up with the garland thing?

Zenna shrugs.

Zenna Zdunich: The company.

Kelly and Alissa both grimace in disgust.

Kelly Taylor: Why?

Alissa Lacroix: It seems…

Zenna shrugs.

Zenna Zdunich: Amelia and I will wrestle…

She nods in acknowledgement.

Zenna Zdunich: At least until Mercedes gets in the way. Maybe she bring Christina or Frankie Holliday with her. Something will likely happen, ja?

Kelly and Alissa consider this for a second. Mercedes and Frankie did tend to be different levels of douchebag and Christina gets dragged along with them at times.

Kelly Taylor: That is a thought.

Alissa nods her agreement.

Alissa Lacroix: Yeah and who knows what frame of mind Christina is in. IS she Christina or is she Crystal?

Kelly shakes her head.

Kelly Taylor: Bloody Chrystalina…

Alissa shrugs.

Alissa Lacroix: She's still married to Sarabi.

Kelly Taylor: Do we have to remember that?

Alissa Lacroix: Rori is best friends with your niece.

Zenna  snickers as Kelly shakes her head.

Kelly Taylor: I know, nice girls.

Zenna Zdunich: Ja, we will take care of them and be careful of the kids. Rori and JuJu deserve the best.

Alissa smiles.

Alissa Lacroix: Ja.

Kelly nods and Zenna smiles at her daughters behind them.

Zenna Zdunich: Take care of our girls, ja? I will see them when I get home Monday.

Alissa and Kelly nod happily as the video call ends.

Zenna Zdunich: Now, we see how this goes.



 




67
Climax Control Roleplays / Party Over
« Last post by Vincent Lyons Jr on December 19, 2025, 12:26:26 PM »
Vincent looked at them all spitefully. Who did they all think they were? Throwing their relationships in his face. Eddie and Sabrina, Victoria and Darian, now even Alexander had Rise. Everybody at the Lyons Den had someone to spend the Christmas season with. Everyone except Vincent, and he only had two words to say about that.[/i]

“Bah humbug” Vincent muttered to himself.

They looked pathetic anyway. Eddie was trying to hard to be father of the year, Victoria was on some sort of power play and Alexander’s girl spoke in broken english. Besides love was just a distraction, and it would only make him weaker. All he needed was the Roulette Championship.

His Roulette Championship. The one he had been gifted when the powers that be needed someone worthy to carry it and had chosen him as their champion.

Not won. CHOSEN.

The real problem was that dirty mop headed little cockroach Logan Hunter. A fool who refused to learn his place. A pest that Vincent needed to smash into dust once more. And hopefully this time Logan Hunter will get the message through his thick head.

The more immediate problem was Ryan Keys.

A man who once held the very championship Vincent had been chosen to hold. A man looking to make a statement by getting a victory over the champion. Another one of these old SCW relics looking to recapture their former glory, only to realize the game has changed and they just can’t keep up anymore.

So Vincent was going to have to crash his party, and shut it down. Make Ryan Keys realize that stepping into the ring with Vincent Lyons Jr is anything but fun.  Make this party one that Ryan Keys will regret attending, but never forget.

He would make an example out of Ryan Keys, send a message to Logan Hunter about what's coming his way at Inception.  He had to end Logan Hunter at Inception or he would keep coming back like a festering wound that wasn't cauterized properly.

Vincent felt his fingers twitch at his side.

It should have been enough for Logan the first time he fell, but he continues to pop back up running his mouth like a parasite that refuses to starve.  It was clear Logan wasn't going to stop coming until Vincent removed the option, and Vincent would remove that option at Inception.

But that was at Inception. Ryan Keys still came first.

Vincent shifted slightly leaning back against the wall, replaying everything he had knew about Ryan Keys.

Ryan Keys wasn't as loud as Logan but he was just as confident. He had been the Roulette Champion champion nearly ten years ago and perhaps he thought that made him important, or perhaps he thought that fact should worry Vincent.

It didn't.

That version of Sin City Wrestling didn't exist anymore, there were different expectations and everybody worked differently. Ryan Keys was going to need to modernize his game if he was going to stand a chance against the chosen champion of SCW.

Ryan Keys still thought he was someone that belonged in the conversation, that he even still mattered or anybody cared anymore. All lies that Ryan would tell himself to feel comfortable.

But comfort bred mistakes and that's when Vincent would drag Ryan into  deeper waters and drag him under into his world.

A world that was anything but fun, no loving partner, no parties, just malice, and intentional destruction. He would answer every step Ryan took he would outwork him and make Ryan think that the rain was getting smaller at every passing minute and before he even realized what was happening, the killshot would come and he would become one more of Vincent's victims.

Vincent narrowed his eyes letting the thoughts settle in, he felt his fingers twitch again.


Ryan Keys would never see the killshot coming because Ryan Keys was predictable to a fault believing the idea that experience equals control. He didn't realize that Vincent wasn't someone you could control. Vincent would do whatever he wanted to whomever he wanted. Consequences be damned. The Kasey Brothers learned that lesson the hard way. Logan Hunter should have learned that lesson but he was also thick-headed so it seems like he wanted more just like Brayden Williams did.

Vincent laughed to himself.


“Idiots.” He muttered.

The laugh was short and humorless and echoed faintly in his own mind which was the only place it belonged. These idiots were marching forward under the assumption that the rose applied evenly and consequences were universal, not understanding that they never were in the first place.

Ryan Keys would reach for a familiarity when it got difficult, his old habits, old instincts trying to find a moment to regain control while Vincent thrived in the moments when control slipped away. Ryan Keys was outdated, and it was time Vincent served him his eviction notice.

He felt his fingers tighten, the twitch was gone.

The order was clear. Ryan Keys was first, and then Logan Hunter. The Roulette Championship would remain exactly where it belonged.

With him.

He gave one final glance around the Lyons Den at these people who were supposed to be his cohorts. They could keep their relationships and their distractions. None of that mattered to Vincent.

He was the constant now. Not Eddie, not Victoria, not Alexander, or Cleo or anybody else, and he was going to crash Ryan Keys's party.

__________

The camera flickers in through static, black balloons sway gently, half deflated and tangled around overturned cocktail tables. Confetti litters the floor alongside a cracked champagne bottle that crunches softly beneath the weight of a boot stepping into frame.

The lights flicker slowly as the camera slowly tilts upward Vincent Lyons Jr standing alone among the wreckage.

His eyes rest on the camera as he exhales through his nose and that humorless smile crosses his face.


“So this is what's left..”
he said in a calm controlled tone, “This is always my favorite part.”

He nudges in overturned chair with his food sending it scraping across the floor the sound echoing loudly amid the empty space.

“The aftermath.” he said with a faint smile.

He lifts his head and looks directly into the camera.

“Welcome to the party Ryan Keys…" he said “Or what's left of it.”

He casually strolls through the ruined room, brushing his fingers over a table draped in torn streamers with a reverent touch like a man admiring a crime scene of his own design.

"You see this place Ryan?" he said gesturing around him "This place used to be full of life people are laughing drinking and telling stories about how things used to be.”

He looks up to a broken banner hanging crookedly from the wall with only part of the lettering remaining visible.

WELCOME BACK.

“They all said the same thing.” he smirked “That the night was about memories and nostalgia in honoring what came before. This is the lie you live in Ryan“

He grabs the banner with a tight grip and rips it down with a sharp tug let it fall to the floor.

“You're walking to this match like it's an invitation."  Vincent said “Like you've been asked to relive the glory days and the lights are going to hit just right and for one night you get to matter again.”

He laughs humorously to himself.

“It's adorable really..” he said “But the thing you don't understand is that this isn't a reunion, this is a cleanup.”

He pauses his voice hardening as he squares himself to the camera.

“Ryan Keys you don't belong at this party.” he said tilting his head slightly “You're not on the guest list, you're not part of the atmosphere, you're not even the entertainment. All you are is the mess.”

He straightens his posture and begins pacing, stepping through the broken glass on the floor.

“Men like you confuse history with authority.” Vincent said “You think because you held the Roulette Championship nearly 10 years ago that it still means something.”

Vincent scoffs.

“That championship you remember? That version of Sin City Wrestling?" Vincent said “That version is dead, buried, and rotting. People like you, Alex Jones and Kris Ryans can try to relive their glory days all they want, but the truth is this new generation is better than any of you ever were.”

He pauses letting those words hang as he gestures around the room.

“This is what happens when the party goes on too long.” Vincent continued “When people refuse to turn the lights on and see the damage. Nothing but empty bottles and broken promises.”

He picks up a crushed party hat, and gazes at it for a moment.

“You're still wearing this..” Vincent said “Telling yourself that you still have it, that you're actually up to the test of the new generation.”

He drops the hat with a soft smirk.

“But you're not.” he said “You don't belong here anymore, and I'm going to make this your eviction notice. I wasn't invited to this party. I got no toast, or applause. All I got was responsibility, I got chosen.”

He takes a few steps closer to the camera making sure to crunch the hat beneath his boot.

“While you're trying to relive what you once were.” Vincent said “The powers that be looked at the present and the future, and they decided that I was the only one that could be trusted to carry the division.”

He looks to a nearby table where he has the Roulette Championship resting,  picks it up and places it on his shoulder.

“You know what I love about parties Ryan?” Vincent said “Everybody thinks they're immortal while the music's playing and the lights are on, but eventually the lights turn off and people have to face the reality of who they really are.”

He keeps his merciless gaze on the camera.

“And you Ryan Keys, you're predictable.” Vincent said “You move like a man who expects the world to slow down when he needs it too, like time is something you can negotiate with. You use your experience like a shield and I'm going to take that shield from you.”

A thin smile grows on his face.

“I'm going to drag you out onto the dance floor when the music's already stopped.” Vincent continued “I'm going to make you breathe harder than you remember, and every second you survive you're going to realize something terrifying.”

The smile doesn't waver.

“That I'm what dwells in your nightmares.” he went on "For me this is about humiliation, that you thought you walked into the ring thinking you were reclaiming something, but in reality you're losing what little you have left.”

The cameras linger on his face, his smile fades into something colder as he adjusts the Roulette Championship on his shoulder to remind everyone where it belongs.

“Humiliation isn't loud or flashy Ryan.” Vincent continued “It doesn't come with fireworks or a highlight reel, humiliation is realization.”

He steps closer to the camera, glass still crunching beneath his boot.

It's the moment your lungs burn and your instincts tell you to slow the match and take a breath to regroup.” Vincent continued “And then you discover there is no regrouping anymore. “

A few more steps.

“You're going to try to fall back on old habits Ryan. I know you are.” He continued “Then you're going to trust muscle memory and what worked ten years ago, but every single time you do I'm going to be there first.”

He exhales sharply, motions around the room again.

“This place.” he continues "This place is what happens when people refuse to accept that their time has passed, when they cling too long to their invitations, looking for a proper send off.”

He pauses shortly.

“You don't get a send off Ryan.” Vincent said “You get erased. And when it's over when you're laying there staring up at the lights trying to remember when the music stopped, I want you to understand something.”

He grins.

“That it wasn't personal.” Vincent said “It was just maintenance. I clean up the trash that has lingered too long once the party ended.  I take the garbage out back and dispose of it for good.”

He takes a slow step back.

“This isn't about rage or jealousy Ryan.” Vincent continued “This isn't some emotional outburst because I want what you once had. I already have that.  I don't want your past Ryan, I want to bury it.”

He lifts his chin slightly, as he straightens up his posture.

“People like you look for a loud ending.” Vincent continued “You want the end to come with a big bang, a big final moment. One last stand where everyone remembers your name.”

He shakes his head.

“But the end is when the crowd stops believing.” he continued “When your body reacts slower than your mind and you realize the ring doesn't care about your memories, and neither do I. You're going to feel it before you understand it Ryan, that moment when you're still fighting, still convincing yourself you're in control and then I take that control away.”

He exhales softly through his nose.

“You won't even know when it happens.” he said,  stepping closer to the camera “Your arms will start to feel heavier, your breath won't come when you expect it, and your timing will betray you. “The worst part of it all is, I still won't be tired. This isn't a match you can grind through Ryan. It's not going to be a war of attrition, it's going to be an execution with no music or lights or crowd to save you.”

He exhales again.

“You think your name still carries weight around here.” he said calmly “I'm going to show you what irrelevance really is when I wipe your name from history for good. You don't belong here anymore Ryan your time is over, it's been over. I'm just the only one willing to tell you the truth. The truth that Ryan Keys just doesn't matter to Sin City Wrestling anymore.”

He lets those words linger in the air.

“This is the part nobody prepares you for Ryan, the quiet after or there's no music swelling to tell you how you feel,  and no crowd chanting your name." Vincent continued “When it's just you laying there staring at the lights realizing that everybody's moved on without you. It doesn't happen overnight and you didn't become irrelevant all at once. It happened piece by piece, match by match while you were convincing yourself you still belonged.”

He tilts his head slightly.

“I'm just a moment it becomes official.” he continued “I become the moment you realize that maybe you were good enough back then, but the now isn't yours anymore. It's mine.”

He shifts his eyes momentarily to his championship.

“The party is over Ryan Keys." Vincent said  “The lights are off, the guests are gone and I'm going to be the one that locks the door behind you.”

The camera remains on Vincent standing motionless among the wreckage with an unbothered expression on his face as everything fades to black.
68
Climax Control Roleplays / Line in the sand
« Last post by Aiden Reynolds on December 19, 2025, 06:56:24 AM »
The Celebration

Laughter bled from one room into the next, overlapping with the clink of cutlery and the low murmur of conversation that never quite settled. The smell of food, roast chicken, baked vegetables, something sweet and buttery, hung in the air like a warm blanket. Children darted between legs and furniture, their voices high and excited, while adults called after them half-heartedly, already resigned to the chaos.

It was imperfect.

It was crowded.

It was family.

Aiden stood just inside the living room, Cassandra asleep against his chest in a soft pink blanket, her tiny body rising and falling in a rhythm that still felt surreal. Every so often, someone leaned in to look at her, whispering comments about her nose, her hair, who she looked like. Aiden smiled politely, nodded, murmured thanks, but his focus never left the small weight in his arms.

She was real.

She was here.

Across the room, Kallie sat on the couch, surrounded by women, exhaustion etched into her features but softened by something deeper. Pride. Relief. Love. She caught Aiden’s eye for a moment, smiled gently, and gave the smallest nod, as if to say, we did it. He returned it, throat tightening.

After a while, Cassandra stirred, letting out a soft sound before settling again. Aiden adjusted his grip instinctively, rocking her slightly. Someone cracked a joke nearby. Someone else laughed too loudly. The noise swelled, and suddenly it felt like too much.

Aiden slipped away quietly.

The back door creaked as he stepped outside, the cool evening air wrapping around him like a grounding hand. The backyard was dim, lit only by a porch light and the faint glow from inside. He exhaled slowly, shoulders sagging as the noise dulled behind him.

He leaned against the railing, careful not to jostle Cassandra, eyes lifting toward the dark sky. His mind, as always lately, started to wander.

You’re a father again.

The thought landed with weight. Not fear this time, but responsibility. The kind that didn’t scare him as much as it used to. The kind that made him want to be better, not escape.

The door opened behind him.

“Thought I’d find you hiding out here.” Aiden didn’t turn immediately. He knew that voice. Younger. Sharper. Smug in a way that felt familiar and irritating all at once. He glanced over his shoulder to see Adam stepping outside, a beer already in his hand, grin tugging at the corner of his mouth.

“Figures,” Aiden muttered.

Adam leaned against the wall beside the door, eyes flicking to Cassandra, his expression softening just a fraction. “She’s cute,” he said. Then, inevitably, “Still looks like you though. Unfortunate.”

Aiden huffed a quiet laugh despite himself. “You always had a gift for kindness.”

Adam pushed off the wall and stepped closer, holding the beer out. “Here. You deserve one.”

Aiden shook his head immediately. “I’m good.”

Adam froze mid-motion, eyebrow arching. “Wow. Look at you. Fatherhood hit that fast?”

“I said I’m good.”

Adam pulled the beer back, taking a sip himself. “C’mon. One won’t kill you. Whole family’s inside pretending we aren’t all exhausted and stressed. It’s tradition.”

Aiden stared out into the yard again, jaw tightening. “I’m not drinking.”

Adam scoffed. “Jesus. You’d think I offered you crack.”

Aiden’s grip on Cassandra tightened slightlynot enough to disturb her, but enough to remind himself to stay steady. “I’m serious, Adam.” That finally got his attention.

Adam studied him for a moment, the smart-arse grin fading just a bit. “What, you on some cleanse now? Training thing?”

“No.” Aiden swallowed. “Life thing.”

Adam tilted his head. “Since when?” Aiden hesitated. He didn’t owe him an explanation. But something about the quiet, the night air, the weight of his daughter in his arms, it stripped away the urge to deflect.

“I don’t like who I become when I drink,” he said finally. “I don’t like how easy it is for me to use it as a way out.” Adam blinked once. Aiden continued, voice low. “I’ve spent enough nights convincing myself I deserve it. Enough mornings feeling like shit and pretending it didn’t matter. I don’t want my kids growing up thinking that’s normal.”

Adam opened his mouth, ready with something sarcastic, and then stopped. He took another sip, slower this time, eyes drifting away. “…Huh.”

Aiden glanced at him, surprised. “That’s it?”

Adam shrugged. “Didn’t expect you to say all that.” He looked back at Aiden. “You serious about it?”

“Yeah.”

Another pause. Then Adam nodded once. “Alright.” That was it. No teasing. No pressure. Just… acceptance. Aiden let out a breath he hadn’t realised he’d been holding. Adam leaned back against the railing, beer dangling loosely from his fingers. “You know,” he said after a moment, “people think pressure’s only a big brother thing. Oldest kid. First to screw up, first to get expectations dumped on them.”

Aiden glanced over. “You saying you don’t have pressure?”

Adam snorted. “I’m saying it’s different. Everyone looks at you like the example. Me? I get compared to you.” He smirked faintly. “And then I get reminded I’m not you.”

Aiden frowned. “That was never—”

“I know.” Adam waved it off. “Not your fault. But it’s there. In the ring, outside of it. People expect me to either be better or louder.” He took another drink. “So I’m louder.”

Aiden shifted slightly, Cassandra’s tiny hand curling near his chest. “That doesn’t mean you have to drown it out.”

Adam looked at him, surprised again. “You really did change.”

“Trying to,” Aiden corrected. Silence settled between them, not uncomfortable, just honest. Adam stared into the yard, voice quieter when he spoke again.

“You’ve got a lot on your plate,” he said. “Wrestling. Kids. Kallie. Everyone pretending you’re invincible.”

Aiden scoffed softly. “They should see me at three in the morning.”

Adam nodded. “Yeah. That’s the part no one claps for.” He glanced at Cassandra. “She’s lucky though.”

Aiden followed his gaze. “Why?”

“She’s got a dad who’s actually thinking about this stuff.” Adam shrugged.

Aiden turned fully toward him. “You alright?”

Adam shrugged again, but it wasn’t as dismissive this time. “I manage.” He hesitated. “Look… I give you shit because it’s easy. Because if I stop, I might have to admit I look up to you.” Aiden blinked. Adam grimaced. “Don’t make it weird mate”

Aiden smiled faintly. “Too late.” They stood there a moment longer, brothers in the quiet, bound by blood and shared history and unspoken understanding.

Adam finally pushed off the railing. “I’m proud of you,” he said, gruff. “For the kid. For the choices.”

Aiden nodded, emotion thick in his throat. “Thanks.”

Adam gestured toward the door. “C’mon. They’re gonna start wondering if we’re fighting.” Aiden glanced down at Cassandra once more, then back toward the warm glow of the house. The noise. The chaos. The family waiting inside.

“Yeah,” he said softly. “Let’s go back in.” They headed inside together. And for the first time in a long while, Aiden didn’t feel like he was barely holding everything together. He felt present. He felt supported. He felt like maybe—just maybe—he was doing something right.

Line in the sand

”Merry Christmas, you filthy animals.”

Aiden rolls his wrists and then cracks his knuckles, shooting a small arrogant smile and shaking his head.

”A few weeks ago I went one on one with Ciaran Doyle. And I’ll be the first one to admit that he has talent. But he’s not ready yet. He’s not ready to climb to the same heights that some of us have reached. He’s not quite ready to be looked at as a future star. He could be. Someday. But not yet. This company needs to stop settling. Settling for average… it’s an epidemic. An epidemic of mediocrity. This company has a problem. They will look at someone who comes in like a shiny new toy, and if they have any type of success or hit the ground running, they will instantly start to push them towards greatness. They won’t let it happen organically.”

“They ruin talent. They do it by pushing people too hard and too fast, and then wondering why they don’t catch on and why they start to spiral. They put them against the best of the best, expecting these names to suddenly become stars, and then when they fail, they have no one else but themselves to blame.”

“They could ruin Ciaran…”

“A talent like him could end up circling down the drain all because head office thinks they can make some money off him by pushing him too fast and too soon. Instead of letting him face other new names or people who have slipped down the card with a few losses, they’re going to do stupid things like put him up against me. I’ve just come off of challenging for the world championship, and you’re gonna put this new guy in the ring against me? That is disrespectful and insulting to myself and Doyle. Both of us end up looking like absolute chumps because you people don’t know how to properly run a fucking company… so, as I said, everyone wants me to move on, and I have no idea how….”


Aiden scoffs and shakes his head, still annoyed.

”See, I am simply existing. Existing in the world of professional wrestling instead of thriving. And that is driving me insane. I can handle failure, I can handle success, but when I feel like I’m not moving forward or backward and I am simply here as part of the furniture, that is what is making every single part of me fire up and get pissed off. That is what is making it difficult for me to move on. So now what do I do? Where do I go from here? I failed time and time again to become the SCW World Champion, and until I’m able to become the champion, I’m just treading water. So there comes a time where you need to make a decision. Do you stay in the same place doing the same thing, expecting things to change, or do you take a chance and move on? Do you leave and try your hand somewhere else?”

“I’ve hit a wall here. A glass ceiling that I simply cannot break through. If you can’t become a champion, if you can’t become the best, then you need to look in the mirror and realise that it’s time to go. This is something that both of my opponents this week need to figure out. Both LJ and Liam. Two names who, much like myself, take two steps forward and then get hit with three steps back. But the difference between myself and those two is that I’ve reached heights that they never will. Neither of them are good enough to challenge for the world championship. Neither of them are good enough to earn that right. And while I’m not good enough to win the world championship, at least I got there. LJ? Liam? Neither of you have a chance at holding that championship, and the only time you are going to sniff that championship is in some kind of weird clusterfuck multi-man match that everyone is just thrown into to pop a rating or get a higher pay-per-view buy rate.”

“And to be perfectly honest, that is one of the saddest things of all. Especially for you, LJ. Because you have talent. You are the younger brother of someone who should’ve broken through a glass ceiling a long time ago, and I’m not going to take back anything I have said when it comes to your brother and the fact that he let his significant other essentially take his career. But you don’t have that problem. You and your significant other seem to push each other forward. You don’t have a toxic relationship where she is slowly sucking every single bit of talented relevancy out of you to the point where you no longer exist in the mainstream face of professional wrestling.”

“You just seem to fail on your own…”

“You have all the physical and mental tools to reach heights in this company that others only dream of, but you won’t. You won’t because there is a level above where you are. A level of competition above what you can reach. And it’s not anything personal against you. I’m not trying to say anything right now that is going to hurt your feelings, because shit, I am at that same level. I am sitting here looking up at the World Champion, and I know that I can’t get there. But as I said, at least I’ve challenged for that championship. At least I’ve stepped in the ring with the World Champion, and if I wanted to stick around in this goddamn company, I could do it again. But what’s the point, LJ? What is the fucking point of me staying here and constantly beating people like you and people like Liam and everyone else that they throw in front of me when I can’t get past that glass ceiling and become the goddamn World Champion?”


He shakes his head, feeling the anger rise up again.

”No matter how hard I try and no matter how hard I want it, it doesn’t mean a goddamn thing. See, LJ, it might just be my age showing, or it might just be the cynical nature of professional wrestling and the state that we are in, but I am getting too old to stick around in a company where I’m treading water. There are other companies out there and other places where I can have a fresh start, and this company doesn’t deserve me. Honestly? It doesn’t deserve you. A man of your talent could go to any number of companies and set the entire world on fire. A guy with your talent could go to another company, become the World Champion, and not get pushed back and punished for being talented but not being one of the golden boys that this company likes to be in love with. Like Carter.”

“But you won’t take that chance. You won’t leave to try and see if you can find greener pastures because you are tied here to Alexandra. And your brother. And Carter. You are tied to this company, and you are going to keep trying to succeed here despite yourself. But not me. Not now. I refuse to allow this company to take every last shred of respect that I had for myself. I refuse to let this company piss on my pride for the sake of keeping that little piece of shit as World Champion. But that doesn’t mean I’m gonna go easy on you, LJ—far from it. I’m entering this triple threat match to beat the shit out of both you and Liam.”

“Liam…”

“The little police officer that could, huh?”

“What an absolute joke. Every single time I see you, Liam, I end up throwing up a little in my mouth. Not because I have anything against police officers or former police officers, but because you left a professional job where you had a pathway to success by simply existing and sticking around to enter the world of professional wrestling. Now, I don’t know what kind of cop you were. You could’ve been a really shit one. You could’ve been one of those cops who sits around at the doughnut shop just staring at women’s arses while you stuff your face full of pastry treats. Or you could’ve been one of the good ones who actually enforces laws and tries to keep people safe. I honestly don’t know.”

“I don’t care…”


He pauses and laughs.

”What I do care about is this business. What I do care about is what people do inside this business. Now, LJ got attacked by Bill Barnhardt in one of the most embarrassing things I’ve ever seen. Who the hell gets beaten up by that fucking idiot? But you? You don’t have anything going for you. You simply exist in this business and in this company because you have nothing better to do and you failed at being a police officer. But me? I’m a professional wrestler, Liam. That is what I wanted to do from day one, and that is what I have been working towards as my profession and as my life’s work since I was a teenager.”

“I left home and travelled around the world to perfect my craft, and the fact that you’ve just come waltzing in and twirling your fucking handcuffs around and playing with your nightstick in public makes me sick. So now I’m getting in the ring with both of you, and both of you have everything to lose and everything to gain by getting a win. If you lose, then you’ve just proved everything I’ve said right. If you win, you’re able to get a win over someone who was challenging for the world championship until recently. I notice I only include a win over me as anything to fight for, because beating either of you two means nothing. So I’m in a situation where I have nothing to gain by walking out with my hand raised.”

“I’m in another lose-lose situation. I win and no one cares because me winning over either of you means nothing. I lose and I become an even bigger laughing stock than I am at the moment after losing to Carter time and time again. Saddle up, boys—this is gonna be a rough Christmas.”
69
Climax Control Roleplays / Generational
« Last post by Alicia Lukas on December 19, 2025, 06:19:04 AM »
Home Is Not a Test

The house was quiet when Alicia pulled into the driveway.

Not silent, never silent with four children, but the soft, lived-in quiet of a home settling into itself. Porch light on. Curtains half-drawn. A pair of sneakers abandoned near the door, one on its side like it had given up halfway through the day.

She sat in the car for a moment longer than necessary, hands resting on the steering wheel, forehead tipped forward until it touched the cool leather. The airport still clung to her, recycled air, too many thoughts packed too tightly together. The conversation with her mother replayed itself in fragments, not as dialogue anymore, but as feeling.

You don’t quit.
They don’t need perfect.
Tell him that.


Alicia exhaled and stepped out of the car.

Inside, the smell of dinner lingered, something tomato-based, something warm. Evidence that life had continued while she’d been gone. That it always did. She set her bag down by the stairs and kicked off her shoes. The championship belt stayed in the bag this time. For once, she didn’t need it as proof of anything. Austin’s voice carried from the living room. “Hey, careful, buddy, that’s not a—” A crash, followed by laughter. One of those sounds. The kind that meant no one was hurt and everyone would remember it later. Alicia smiled despite herself.

She stepped into the living room doorway and stopped.

Austin was on the floor, cross-legged, one of his younger kids climbing over his back like he was a jungle gym, while one of her boys sat nearby with a controller clutched in his hands, narrating something intense and entirely incoherent. The television was on mute, forgotten. Austin looked up and saw her. The moment stretched,  just a heartbeat, before his face softened into relief. “You’re home.”

The kids noticed her all at once after that. A chorus of “Mom!” and “Alicia!” and feet pounding across carpet. She dropped to her knees automatically, arms wrapping around whoever reached her first, then the rest piling in. The familiar chaos grounded her in a way nothing else could. She breathed them in. This. This was real. When the hugs loosened and the kids scattered again, back to games and arguments and snacks, Austin stood and crossed the room, pulling her into his arms without hesitation. No questions yet. No pressure. Just solid warmth.

“You okay?” he asked quietly.

She nodded against his chest. “I think so.”

He kissed the top of her head. “We’ve got leftovers if you’re hungry.”

“Later,” she said. Then, after a pause, “Can we talk?”

His arms tightened slightly. Not alarmed. Just attentive. “Yeah, Of course.” They waited until the kids were occupied again, not asleep, but distracted enough to give them space, and retreated to the kitchen. Alicia leaned against the counter while Austin poured two glasses of water, sliding one toward her before leaning back against the opposite bench. She watched him for a moment.

This man who had stepped into her life without trying to replace anyone, without asking her to be smaller, without demanding simplicity from something inherently complicated. This man who loved her boys as fiercely as his own, who never once made her feel like she had to choose. And yet, she’d been afraid. “I talked to my mom,” Alicia said finally.

Austin raised his eyebrows slightly. “That sounds… intense.”

She huffed out a weak laugh. “Yeah. It was.” He waited. Always did. “I told her I feel like I’m failing. All the time. Like no matter where I am, I’m supposed to be somewhere else.” Her fingers curled against the countertop. “And I realized… I’m scared. Not of the wrestling. Not really. I’m scared of letting you down.”

Austin’s expression didn’t change, not shock, not disappointment,  just focus. “Alicia…”

She kept going, afraid that if she stopped she’d lose her nerve. “I feel like I disappear into my own head sometimes. I shut you out. I convince myself that if I slow down or ask for help, everything I’ve built will fall apart. And then I worry that one day you’ll wake up and realize you married someone who’s never fully present.”

The words landed heavy between them. Austin crossed the kitchen and took her hands gently, grounding her. “Hey, Look at me. I need you to hear this,” he continued. “You could never let me down by being human.” Her throat tightened. “You show up, You show up even when you’re exhausted. Even when you’re scared. Even when you don’t think you’re enough. Do you have any idea how much that means to the kids? To me?” She shook her head slightly. “They don’t need a perfect version of you,” he said, echoing her mother without knowing it. “They need you. And they have you. All of you.”[/color]

Alicia swallowed hard. “I don’t want to fuck this up.”

Austin smiled, small and steady. “You already tried that. Didn’t work.” She laughed weakly, tears threatening. “We’re a blended family,” he continued. “Which means we’re messy by definition. Four kids, two histories, one life we chose to build together. There’s no standard we’re failing to meet.” He squeezed her hands. “Look around. This is a happy home. Not because it’s perfect. Because it’s honest.”

She leaned into him, forehead resting against his chest. “I’m scared,” she admitted quietly.

“I know,” he said. “But you’re not alone in it.” They stood there for a while, the sounds of the kids drifting in from the other room, grounding and imperfect and alive. Alicia felt something loosen inside her,  not the fear entirely, but the grip it had on her. For the first time in a long while, she didn’t feel like she was standing on a fault line. She felt like she was standing on something solid. Later, when they finally sat together on the couch, one child curled against each of them, Alicia rested her head on Austin’s shoulder and let herself be still. Not because she had earned rest. But because she belonged here. And that, she realized, had never been in question.

Generational

”Merry fuckin’ Christmas….”

Alicia Lukas and her Southern twang open us up. A black leather jacket over a black cropped Machine Head T-shirt. Her long hair hangs down as she wears a pair of circular sunglasses.

”I decided to give you all a little bit of a Christmas gift. I got into the ring, and I once again continued my dominance over the Zdunich/Hilton family. Even though Crystal and Seleana are no longer together, they are being lumped into one group. And that entire family has been nothing but my bitches since the second I stepped foot into SCW. And here I am, the Roulette Champion, facing women who are apparently good enough to be going for the World Championship but not good enough to beat me. Are you kidding me? Make it make sense. You sit there and justify how she is getting a title shot and how she is facing her ex-wife while the rest of us sit here and watch.”

“Why? Because of some bullshit personal issue that they should be settling in divorce court instead of in the ring? If Austin and I got divorced, would we then get into the ring and try and beat the hell out of each other? Would we be doing that while our friends and family watch us on television? Would this company promote the hell out of what is essentially domestic violence? How does this make any sort of sense? It doesn’t.”

“Crystal is a fake paper champion. Seleana is a shoehorned challenger.”

“And I’m a pissed-off veteran. A veteran that has done nothing but elevate this division and this company since I stepped foot in here all those years ago. And it’s something that I’m forced to do again, this time with a different championship in a different division. A division that so many others didn’t want anything to do with. A division that thrives on chaos and unpredictability. And as we head into our usual Christmas show, where all proceeds go to a great cause, all I can think of is that the match that is going to happen for me is one that is truly special. And it is one that you should all enjoy too, because you are going to be watching two generational talents go at it one on one.”


Alicia sighs heavily and looks over her shoulder at a mountain of toys that she has purchased to donate. Say what you want about Alicia, she loves children and will do anything to make sure they have a good Christmas.

”Wrestling families and dynasties are a dime a dozen in this business now. This business has been going on long enough that we have entire families involved. And it doesn’t look like it’s going to slow down. We have mothers and fathers and siblings and cousins and entire bloodlines running roughshod over the professional wrestling world. But not all bloodlines are created equal, and not all wrestling families are going to be filled with champions or able to succeed in ways that scare everyone else. In fact, if I look at my family and the Madison family, there are a lot of differences—and not always in the best way possible.”

She trails off and shakes her head before getting to her feet with a slow groan.

”See, Bella and I come from a similar background of having at least one parent who was in this business. In her case, both her mother and her father are fucking legends. Nick Madison and Laura Phoenix. Champions. Respected. The entire wrestling world knows them both, and as such, Bella has had to grow up in their shadow. And it must be hard. Not just because of her father’s neck, but also because her mother is someone all of us looked up to. Someone all of us respect. My dream opponent on a big stage, one on one, is Laura Phoenix. Growing up, I remember watching her matches, and I was always in shock—shocked at how good she was. While so many others in this business, as women, were too busy taking off their clothes, Laura Phoenix fell in love with the sport of professional wrestling. Laura Phoenix was professional wrestling.”

“And Bella, you have had to live up to that legacy. And it isn’t easy, is it? Looking at your parents and knowing that you have to follow in their footsteps and somehow eclipse them? It’s a lot harder for you than it is for me. Let me be clear on this. My family is not the same as yours. Your parents were legends—titans in this industry. My dad was a decent professional wrestler. A seven-foot-tall monster who made his name in Japan but was barely known in his home country. My younger sister is decent, but doesn’t have the same passion that I have and is now living the quiet life as a personal trainer. My brother barely got his career off the ground. I am the only one who has had a real career. I am the titan of my family. I am a trailblazer in my family.”

“You… you haven’t been able to reach those heights.”

“And that is where you and I are different, Bella. You are great because of your name. You are great because of your family. I’m great in spite of my family.”

“I love the idea of this match. And I’m not going to sit here and say that you don’t have talent, because the truth is—you are one of the most talented women in this division and in this company. You should be facing Crystal for the World Championship. You should be the one who is going to try and break through that glass ceiling. But you’re not. Instead, you are going to be facing me in a non-title match on a Christmas show. You don’t even get an opportunity at the Roulette Championship. But a match against me isn’t always about championships. If you beat me? You get something that very few people have. Pride.”

“We both have huge matches coming up on January 11. I’m going to be facing Alexandra Calaway, and you are going to be facing Kayla Richards. So good luck, Bella. Let’s burn the house down.”
70
Climax Control Roleplays / No Safety Net
« Last post by RyanKeys on December 15, 2025, 07:55:15 AM »
The camera turns on crooked—like it got bumped in a hurry—and for a second it’s all cheekbone and eye, Ryan too close to the lens.
He pulls it back with a soft laugh like he caught himself.
“Alright. Okay. We’re live. We’re alive. We’re—” he looks past the camera, squinting at the chaos behind him, “—we’re definitely not pretending this is gonna be a quiet day.”
He pivots the phone and the concourse comes into view like a holiday rush got dropped inside an arena. Volunteers in bright shirts moving crates. Long folding tables stacked with toys still in plastic wrap. Bright boxes everywhere—action figures, dolls, little remote control cars, a few plush animals so big they look like they could have their own zip code. Kids with wristbands already on, holding them up like trophies. Parents moving carefully, like they don’t want to break the moment by stepping too loud.
“Toys for Tots day,” Ryan says, and he doesn’t say it like an announcement. It’s just what it is. “Which means… if you came here expecting a normal load-in? You came to the wrong show.”
He swings back to himself, grin easy, eyes bright.
“And before anybody asks—yes, I am wearing my Santa hat. Yes, it’s on purpose. No, I’m not taking it off. If you don’t like it, go tell Santa. I’m sure he’ll handle it.”
He takes two steps and somebody calls his name from off-camera.
“RYAN!”
He leans toward the sound automatically, like his body already knows how to meet people where they are.
“What’s up?”
A kid comes into frame with a toy clutched to their chest. Ryan drops into a crouch, camera tilted slightly down, the angle suddenly less “wrestling promo” and more “older cousin filming your day.”
“You got one already?” Ryan asks.
The kid nods hard.
“Okay, okay—hold it up like you just won a title,” Ryan says, coaching with a seriousness he absolutely doesn’t mean. “No, like this—yes. Yes! That’s the entrance pose. Perfect. That’s your entrance pose. You nailed it.”
A parent laughs somewhere behind the kid and Ryan’s grin widens.
“Alright, we’re starting strong. First minute of the day, we’ve already got champions.”
He stands, the camera catching the tables again, the piles of toys turning into a colorful wall.
“Look,” he says, walking slow down the line, “this is my favorite kind of day. Everybody’s got their guard down just enough to remember why they love this stuff. No pretending. No ‘too cool.’ Just… a bunch of kids having the best day they’ve had in a while.”
He stops at a table and picks up a boxed wrestling figure, holds it close to the camera.
“And yes, I see the irony. I know. ‘Wrestling toys at a wrestling show.’ Groundbreaking. But—” he points at the box like it’s evidence in a trial, “—this one? This one is going home with somebody who’s gonna put it through more chaos than anything we’ll do in the ring tonight.”
He sets it back down carefully like it matters.
A volunteer passes, carrying a box that looks heavier than it should be. Ryan steps out of the way without thinking, then turns the camera back on himself.
“Okay, we’re gonna do this vlog style today,” he says. “Because it’s a charity show, it’s Christmas edition, it’s the last Climax Control of the year, and the whole building is already vibrating like it drank three energy drinks and a peppermint mocha.”
He leans in like he’s sharing a secret.
“Also, I’m not gonna lie—somebody told me every match has a festive stipulation tonight. ‘Holiday mayhem.’ That’s the phrase they used. Holiday mayhem. Which sounds adorable until you remember this is SCW.”
He makes a face like he’s picturing someone getting launched into something with tinsel on it.
“So. That’s where we’re at.”
He flips the camera again and starts walking.
“Let’s go meet some people before I get dragged into something loud.”
The feed cuts.

The next clip comes on a little later, and the background noise is louder now—voices stacked on voices, laughter, the clatter of equipment being moved somewhere nearby. You can hear a faint test of music in the arena bowl, like someone’s checking levels and trying not to blow the speakers.
Ryan’s closer to a barricade now, Santa hat still on, hair a little messy from moving around.
“Alright,” he says, lowering his voice like he’s conspiratorial. “We are… not even an hour in. And I have already signed my name on three posters, two shoes, and—”
He looks off-camera.
“—yeah. That’s a lunchbox.”
He shrugs like it’s completely normal.
“Honestly? Respect. If you’re bold enough to hand a wrestler a lunchbox and ask for an autograph, you’re gonna be unstoppable in life. Like, that kid is gonna run a company someday.”
He shifts slightly and you catch glimpses behind him—ugly Christmas sweaters, a Santa beard that looks too real to be fake, someone in a referee shirt already arguing with a staff member about tape placement. The whole place hums with that pre-show electricity: nothing has started but everybody can feel it coming.
“This is the last Climax Control of the year,” Ryan says. Not as hype. Just fact. “You can feel it. Everybody’s a little louder. A little sharper. Like they don’t want to leave anything on the table before January hits.”
He glances toward the toy tables again.
“And yeah, I know,” he adds, softer. “It’s a charity show. It’s Christmas. Everybody’s in a good mood.”
A beat.
“That doesn’t mean it’s not serious.”
He doesn’t say it like a warning. He says it like a promise to himself.
The feed cuts again.

This time he’s leaning against a railing, the arena floor visible behind him. Seats are filling in. Kids already near the barricade, swinging their legs, clutching bags that definitely weren’t empty when they walked in. One of them spots Ryan and waves like they’re already friends.
Ryan waves back immediately—no hesitation, no performance. Just instinct.
“I like days like this,” he says, quieter now. “Before the lights go down. Before the music hits. When it’s just people showing up and doing the thing.”
He turns the camera slightly, letting the ring sit in the background over his shoulder. The apron is dressed for the night—Christmas colors woven into SCW branding, festive without being soft. Festive like a wrapped present that might explode.
He looks back to the lens.
“Alright,” Ryan says, nodding to himself. “Enough wandering. It’s gonna get loud soon.”
He lifts his free hand and adjusts his Santa hat like it’s armor.
“And when it does,” he adds, like it’s an afterthought, “we’ll get to work.”
The footage cuts.

When it comes back, it doesn’t cut so much as it settles.
The sound is different now—less scattered, more focused. The crowd’s found their seats. The wandering has turned into waiting.
Ryan’s standing off to the side of the arena floor, ring visible behind him. The camera’s steadier now. His posture is relaxed, but grounded in a way that reads like he could start moving fast the second he wants to.
“This is usually the part where people start getting in their heads,” he says, tone easy, conversational. “Last show of the year. Going Home. Everybody thinking about what comes next.”
He shrugs—small roll of the shoulders.
“I’ve never been great at living five steps ahead.”
A crew member walks past with cables. Ryan shifts without breaking his flow.
“There’s something about nights like this,” he continues. “They don’t ask you to explain yourself. They just ask if you’re ready.”
He looks at the ring like it’s an honest question.
“People think the end of the year is about wrapping things up,” Ryan says. “Closing books. Tying bows. But this?” He nods toward the ropes. “This is where you find out what actually sticks.”
The smile he’s had all day doesn’t disappear, but it tightens into focus.
“Because once the bell rings, nobody cares what kind of year you think you had,” he says. “They care about what you do when it matters.”
He turns back into the lens and holds eye contact longer this time.
“This is a Going Home show,” Ryan says. “Which means everybody’s carrying something in here tonight. Momentum. Pressure. Nerves—whether they admit it or not.”
A pause.
“I don’t carry much.”
He says it plain. Not a flex. Not a confession.
“I show up. I listen. I move.”
He lets the quiet sit, then he adds the thing that actually matters, the thing everybody’s here for.
“And tonight, I’m in the ring with the Roulette Champion.”
He doesn’t rush the name. He doesn’t over-sell it.
“Vincent Lyons Jr.”
There. Clean. Direct.
“Champion for a reason,” Ryan continues. “Momentum behind him. Confidence that comes from things going his way.”
He nods once, accepting reality.
“I respect that.”
Another pause.
“But respect doesn’t mean distance.”
He shifts his gaze back toward the ring again, eyes tracking the ropes like he’s already measuring space.
“This is a non-title match,” he says. “Mid-card. One of a lot of matches on a night built to be loud and unpredictable.”
He doesn’t sound defensive about “mid-card.” If anything, he sounds comfortable.
“Some people hear that and think it means less,” Ryan says. “I hear it and think it means freedom.”
He gestures with one hand, palm open.
“No safety net. No reason to hold back. No reason to protect anything except yourself.”
He exhales slowly.
“Sharing a ring with a champion doesn’t feel heavy to me,” he says. “It feels normal.”
He looks back at the camera just long enough to land the next line.
“This isn’t about chasing something. It’s about standing where I already am.”
And then the tone shifts—not darker, not serious in mood, but sharper in intent.
“People love talking about fate in this business,” Ryan says, almost casually. “Who was supposed to be where. Who was always meant for this spot.”
A corner of his mouth lifts.
“By that logic,” he continues, “I should still be back in Vegas. Neon lights. Late nights. Hitting the pole because it paid the bills and made sense on paper.”
He doesn’t sound ashamed. He doesn’t sound proud. It’s just a fact.
“That was a version of my life,” Ryan says. “Not a prophecy.”
He takes a small step closer to the ring, like the words pulled him forward.
“Fate didn’t put me here,” he says. “Showing up did.”
Another step.
“Trying something new did.”
Another.
“Staying when it got hard did.”
He stops at the edge of the floor, the ring towering above him like a challenge that never lies.
“So when people talk about inevitability,” Ryan adds quietly, “I don’t argue with it.”
He looks up at the ropes, eyes clear.
“I just keep proving it wrong.”
He turns the camera slightly like he’s about to end the clip—and then he stops himself, like he remembers something.
“Oh,” he says, and the playful edge comes back for a beat. “Also—before anybody asks—yes, I did try to buy those pre-tangled Christmas lights.”
He holds up a finger like he’s about to make a public service announcement.
“Because I saw the segment. I saw it. I thought, ‘That’s hilarious.’ I thought, ‘That’s a perfect bit.’ I thought, ‘I should get them. I should commit to the bit.’”
He leans in.
“So I’m on my phone, right? I’m scrolling. I’m like, ‘Pre-tangled Christmas lights, add to cart, add to cart, add to cart—’ and then my screen freezes.”
He blinks, deadpan.
“And then… I get a pop-up.”
He points at the camera like the camera is the pop-up.
“It says, ‘Congratulations! You are the one millionth visitor! Click here!’”
He pauses.
“I’m not an idiot.”
He pauses again.
“Okay, I’m not a total idiot.”
He smirks.
“I didn’t click it. But then my phone started acting like it had a demon in it. Like, suddenly my keyboard’s in a different language and Siri’s whispering threats.”
He shakes his head.
“So anyway. I’m not buying pre-tangled Christmas lights anymore. Because the last thing I need right now is a virus that steals my banking info and my dignity.”
He points to the Santa hat.
“I still have my dignity. I’m wearing this because I chose to.”
A beat.
“And before anyone decides to get cute tonight—”
He glances toward the curtain.
“—I’m also here keeping Ms. Rocky Mountains safe.”
He says it like it’s obvious.
“Anthrax scared her last show wearing a Santa hat,” Ryan says, voice flattening just enough to make the point land. “Which—first of all—respectfully? That’s embarrassing for him.”
He lifts his hands a little, like he’s weighing the logic.
“Like… if your whole thing is being intimidating, maybe don’t borrow Santa’s brand identity. Santa’s got better PR than you.”
He shakes his head, smile back.
“So yeah. If he shows up again trying to play Grinch-in-a-metal-band? I’m right there.”
He points behind him at the ring.
“And I’m also done standing on the outside.”
His grin fades into focus again.
“I’m ready to hit the ring.”
He turns the camera off.

Later, when the promo portion really hits, it doesn’t feel like a new segment. It feels like the same night, the same energy—just tighter now. Like the fun and the charity and the Christmas lights all exist, but the ring is still the ring.
Ryan steps up onto the apron, palms resting briefly on the edge of the canvas. No dramatic pause. No music cue. Just a moment to feel where he is.
“The ring’s funny like that,” he says. “You can talk about it all you want from the outside. You can build stories around it. But once you’re in here?”
He ducks between the ropes and straightens.
“None of that follows you.”
He rolls his shoulders loose, then paces once—testing the give of the canvas under his boots like it’s a language he speaks fluently.
“The ring doesn’t care what people decided about you,” Ryan continues. “It doesn’t care about streaks, or speeches, or the titles you carry, or what you were supposed to become. It just reacts to what you do next.”
He stops near center ring and looks straight ahead like Vincent is already standing there.
“I’m not the biggest guy in this building,” Ryan says. “I’m not the loudest. I don’t walk in here pretending I’m carved out of destiny.”
He points at the mat with the toe of his boot.
“What I am is comfortable.”
He says it like it’s the most important advantage he can have.
“Comfortable moving. Comfortable adjusting. Comfortable when things don’t go the way people expect them to.”
He exhales and looks toward the hard camera.
“That’s the part people miss,” Ryan says. “They think intensity wins fights. Sometimes it does. But intensity tightens you up. Makes you rush. Makes you protect what you think you’re owed.”
He shakes his head once.
“I don’t wrestle like that.”
He drifts toward a corner and leans against the ropes, stretching his arms over the top strand.
“When the bell rings, I don’t need to be angry,” Ryan says. “I don’t need to be afraid. I don’t need to convince myself this is the biggest moment of my life.”
A faint smile.
“I just need to move.”
He pushes off the ropes again.
“Vincent’s a champion,” Ryan says, and he doesn’t say it like he’s begging for the belt’s glow to rub off on him. He says it like a measured reality. “Champions don’t get there by accident. They learn how to protect momentum. How to keep things going their way.”
He nods once, acknowledging the truth.
“But protection creates habits,” he adds. “And habits get tested when there’s nothing on the line except the fight itself.”
He takes a step closer to the hard camera like he’s narrowing the distance between the audience and the point.
“Non-title matches are dangerous like that,” he says. “No reason to play it safe. No reason to conserve energy for later. No reason to worry about what tomorrow looks like.”
He breathes steady, voice calm.
“I expect Vincent to come in sharp,” Ryan continues. “Focused. Aggressive. I expect a champion who doesn’t want to be surprised.”
He smirks slightly, because there’s something about him that finds that idea fun.
“I’ve made a career out of being the part that doesn’t fit.”
He looks out toward the crowd—families, kids with toys, fans in holiday gear, people ready for chaos and charity and a last show of the year.
“This crowd?” Ryan says. “They’re going to feel everything tonight. The good stuff sticks. The bad stuff echoes.”
He looks back into the camera.
“I like that.”
He paces again, just one slow circle, like he’s thinking with his feet.
“Here’s what I know,” Ryan says. “Momentum is real. It’s also fragile. It isn’t a pet you walk on a leash. It’s a reaction.”
He stops.
“And reactions change when somebody finally asks a different question.”
His tone stays bright, but the point is sharp.
“Vincent’s been on a winning streak,” Ryan says. “I don’t need the exact number. I don’t need to count it out loud to make it matter. The point is: he’s gotten used to winning. He’s gotten used to the ring behaving for him.”
Ryan lifts a hand slightly.
“And I’m not saying that like it’s a flaw. If you’re the Roulette Champion, you should be used to the ring behaving for you. That’s the job.”
He drops his hand again.
“But there’s a difference between confidence you earned and confidence that’s been reinforced by repetition.”
He speaks like he’s explaining something simple, not dramatic.
“When things keep going your way, it starts to feel permanent,” Ryan says. “Like the night already knows how it’s supposed to end. That’s where people get comfortable.”
He smirks.
“I don’t get comfortable.”
He shifts his stance.
“I’ve never had the luxury of believing something was guaranteed,” Ryan says. “Not in wrestling and not before it. So certainty doesn’t scare me. It doesn’t hypnotize me. It doesn’t make me step backward like I’m supposed to make room for it.”
He points at himself, then at the ring.
“I’m here,” he says. “I chose this.”
He takes a breath.
“And that’s why I don’t talk about fate the way some people do.”
He glances up at the lights, like he’s acknowledging the word without letting it own him.
“Because fate didn’t get me out of bed early,” Ryan says. “Fate didn’t keep me in a gym when nobody was watching. Fate didn’t ask me to be uncomfortable and honest at the same time.”
He shrugs lightly, almost casual.
“If fate had its way, I would’ve stayed exactly where I was. Doing what made sense. Doing what people already understood.”
He smiles slightly.
“Vegas is good at making sense on paper.”
He lets that land with a grin that doesn’t need more explanation.
“Neon lights,” Ryan continues. “Late nights. A version of me that could’ve stayed very comfortable—very easy—very paid.”
He taps the mat once with his boot.
“But I asked different questions.”
He looks into the camera again.
“I left comfort,” Ryan says. “I left ‘makes sense.’ I left ‘guaranteed.’”
He spreads his hands a little.
“And I ended up here.”
He straightens.
“So when Vincent talks about fate—when he moves like fate is a thing he can weaponize, like inevitability is a tool he can hold in his hand—”
Ryan shakes his head.
“I don’t argue with it,” he says. “I don’t debate it. I don’t try to out-poetry it.”
He smiles.
“I just keep proving it wrong.”
He steps forward slightly.
“And tonight?” Ryan says. “Tonight is one of those nights where the ring gets to be honest.”
He gestures toward the entrance, like he’s including the whole card without naming it.
“It’s Christmas edition,” Ryan says. “Festive stipulations. Holiday chaos. Everybody acting like it’s cute until the first chair gets wrapped in tinsel and somebody realizes this isn’t a Hallmark movie.”
A beat.
“And the heart of it is charity,” he adds. “Kids in need getting VIP passes, getting toys, meeting the roster.”
He nods with real warmth.
“That part is bigger than any match,” Ryan says. “That part matters.”
He points toward the crowd again.
“And because it matters, I’m not walking into tonight half-ready,” he says. “I’m not walking into tonight playing safe because it’s a charity show.”
He smirks.
“If anything? That’s when you show up the most.”
He leans forward slightly, voice still calm.
“Vincent,” Ryan says, and now it’s direct—talking to him, not around him. “I’m not here to explain you to anyone.”
He pauses.
“I know what you are in that ring,” Ryan continues. “I know how you move when things are clean, when timing’s right, when the first shot lands and the second one comes easy.”
He nods once.
“You’re decisive,” he says. “You commit. You don’t hesitate.”
He points again, clean and simple.
“That’s why you’re a champion.”
He lets the crowd noise swell slightly and then continues without raising his voice, because he doesn’t have to.
“But here’s what nobody says out loud,” Ryan says.
He takes a step to the side, like he’s shifting the angle of the whole conversation.
“That confidence you carry? It works best when the match stays on script.”
He ticks the points off with his fingers.
“When the pace is fast,” he says. “When the pressure is obvious. When the other guy feels like he has to meet you head-on just to prove he belongs.”
He drops his hand.
“I don’t wrestle like that.”
He takes another step.
“I don’t come into matches looking to win the first thirty seconds,” Ryan says. “I come in looking to see what happens when the first plan stops working.”
He points down at the mat again.
“Because that’s where matches change.”
He lifts his gaze.
“You’re used to people reacting to you,” Ryan says. “I don’t react—”
He pauses like he’s choosing the cleanest word.
“I adjust.”
He lets that hang, then continues, voice steady and almost conversational.
“You step forward, I let you,” Ryan says. “You rush, I wait. You swing harder, I get quieter.”
He spreads his hands.
“Not because I’m trying to frustrate you,” he adds. “Because that’s where your choices start to matter.”
He glances toward the crowd.
“And I don’t say that like some spooky prophecy,” Ryan says. “I say that like a plan.”
He paces once.
“This isn’t about stealing momentum,” he says. “This isn’t about statements. This isn’t about your title.”
He stops.
“This is about what happens when a champion realizes the night isn’t behaving the way he expected it to.”
He nods once.
“Non-title matches don’t take pressure off,” Ryan says. “They move it.”
He lifts his hands slightly.
“There’s nothing to protect,” he says. “Nothing to conserve. No excuse to say you were holding something back.”
He points toward the entrance again.
“So when you step into that ring with me, understand this,” Ryan says.
He leans forward, eyes locked.
“I’m not trying to beat you at what you do best,” he says. “I’m trying to see how you move when you have to do something else.”
He pauses and then adds the part that makes the whole thing personal without making it heavy.
“When the crowd gets louder,” Ryan says. “When the rhythm changes. When the space opens instead of closing.”
He nods.
“Because that’s where the real fight is.”
He steps back, shoulders loose, breathing even.
“And if you’re everything people say you are,” Ryan says—faint smile returning, almost playful—“then you won’t need certainty.”
He taps his chest once.
“You’ll be comfortable without it.”
He lets that sit.
“And if you’re not?” Ryan adds, same tone, same calm. “Then tonight gets real uncomfortable.”
He turns slightly like he’s picturing Vincent standing across from him, belt gleaming, posture tight with that champion confidence.
“And I’m not saying that like a threat,” Ryan says. “I’m saying that like a fact. Like gravity.”
He smiles again, because he can’t help it.
“Look,” he says, “I know what tonight looks like on paper. ‘Non-title showdown with Supercard implications.’ ‘Momentum and message-sending.’”
He does air quotes with just enough sarcasm to make it funny.
“That stuff is cute,” Ryan says. “It’s also true.”
He points toward the camera.
“Because you’re walking into Inception VIII with gold,” Ryan says. “You’ve got a title defense coming. You want to walk into that night feeling untouchable.”
He nods.
“I get it,” he says. “I would want that too.”
He pauses, then his smile turns a little sharper—not mean, just honest.
“But I’m not here to help you feel untouchable.”
A beat.
“I’m here to touch you.”
He lets that land without raising his voice, without swaggering around it.
“I’m here to make you work,” Ryan continues. “I’m here to make you feel time. I’m here to make you breathe harder than you wanted to.”
He shrugs lightly.
“I’m here to make you realize the Going Home show doesn’t belong to the champion by default.”
He points at the ring again.
“Because here’s the truth,” Ryan says. “Non-title doesn’t mean low stakes.”
He shakes his head once.
“Non-title means you can’t hide behind the stakes.”
He takes a breath.
“And I’m not hiding behind anything either.”
He drifts toward the ropes again, one hand resting there as he looks out over the arena like he’s taking the whole night in—charity, Christmas, chaos, the smell of popcorn and cheap beer and anticipation.
“It’s the final Climax Control of the year,” Ryan says. “Christmas chaos. Charity night. A champion standing across from me.”
He glances down at his Santa hat like it’s part of the bit and part of the point.
“And me,” he adds, “looking like Santa’s most athletic nephew.”
He smirks.
“When that bell rings,” Ryan says, tone tightening into a clean finish, “there’s no fate left to talk about.”
He turns his head slightly, eyes sharp now.
“There’s just whoever’s still standing.”
He steps through the ropes, dropping to the floor as the arena noise swells again—closer now, louder—like the show is finally about to begin.
“And if anybody wants to test Ms. Rocky Mountains tonight—” Ryan adds as he backs toward the ramp, looking straight at the lens, “I’m right here.”
He taps the side of his Santa hat like it’s a signal.
“Holiday spirit,” he says. “Holiday violence. Holiday consequences.”
A grin.
“Pick one.”
The camera lingers on the ring for one beat longer—empty, waiting—before the feed cuts.
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