Did you see Despy's promo? If you haven't, you should probably do so cause this is where we're gonna start.
I look in the bathroom mirror in the Cauliflower Alley Club.
Why is it even called that? Cauliflowers are nasty!
My hands rest under a stream of cold water. I cup my hands, pulling them up to my face, splashing the surprisingly overly cold water in my face. I watch the water drip from my face as I stare in the mirror, just looking at myself.
Future legend? What kind of fresh hell is this? I know I'm greed, I should be lapping this one up, but I don't need an award to tell me I'm gonna keep getting better. Who's lousy plan was this? Did Synn set this up? Did Synn even know? It would explain why he was so pushy getting me here, when I could have been home with Odette and the little animal family, in a rare day in Vegas.
I look at my face change to disappointment.
Could have been at home, that place serious fucking money was spent on, instead, I'm here being judged on my career I've had so far and being told I will do better in the future.
I flick the tap off and walk towards the hand towels, quickly wiping my hands and face and walking through the door, to the sea of people, but a familiar face and voice is heard.
"Gandolf!"
Stoner Scott Oliver, SCW reporter, appears through the crowds.
"Gabriel." I correct him.
"Ya!" Stoner says with a nod "I knew it was something beginning with G and something to do with magic."
"Thought you was in South America." I say slowly.
"I was?" Stoner starts "That must have been awesome."
I roll my eyes at Stoner.
"Oh yeah." Stoner says "I heard you was getting an award, so I came here to interview you about."
"You're not filming this on your phone, are ya?" I ask.
"No dude!" Stoner says "That would have been cool though. That cameraman guy there is with me. Not with me in that way, but here from SCW."
Stoner waves the camera man over towards us.
"Ready?" He asks.
"Are you?" I reply
"Nu uh." Stoner says with a shake of his head "But sooner we do this, sooner we go for brownies. Totally got the munchies!"
Scott composes himself and looks in the camera.
"Dudes, Dudettes and furry animals. I'm Scott Oliver." Scott starts "And I'm here with the man who has just been given a future legend award, Gandolf!"
"Gabriel." I correct him again
"That's what I said." Scott replies.
I roll my eyes again.
"Many dudes who have got that award has gone on to win lots of titles and become legends. Are you gonna be the same." Scott asks.
Be diplomatic
"I hope so." I start "They don't give these awards to just anyone, so I guess whoever decided to give Despayre and I this award must have thought we deserved it. It's a great honor to get, even if you feel that it's undeserving."
"Whoa!" Scott says surprised "You don't feel you deserve it?"
"Nope." I start "I don't think I deserve it. I think there's more from me to come without the need of it. In a couple of years, sure, now, no. I think it could have been given to someone else and I wouldn't have really cared. My career shouldn't be defined by awards like that, my career should be defined by what I do in the ring. Don't get me wrong, I know I'm gonna be a future legend, but I wanted to do more before being handed something like this. The eyes are now on me for the wrong reason. I'm all about actions, and my actions should deem me a future legend, not this. I'm grateful and all of that for the award, I think I'm still in a bit of shock."
"Did you know about the award before you got here?" Stoner asks.
"Nope, didn't have a clue." I start "These kind of things are not usually my kind of thing. We're in Las Vegas, I should have been home with the family, but Synn bugged me to be here, being the big time wrestling connoisseur that he is. He must have known about this, but I didn't. I just came here because he bugged the daylights out of me to be here, so here I am and next thing I know, I'm getting up on stage."
"Dude, aren't you meant to want like everything being the sin of greed?" Scott asks scratching his head.
"People change Scott." I reply quickly "I have a lot and got all I want, including this."
I point down at the NWA tag team title around my waist.
"I don't need to worry about awards telling me who I am going to be anyway." I say scratching my chin "I will be that future legend and thanks to whoever gave me this thing. You people wanna see me become that future legend?"
Stoner nods fast
"Watch Hostile Takeover, then a couple of days later, watch BACW, and watch Despayre and I just keep winning. I guess you'll be watching legends being born."
I open hand and playfully tap Stoner on the back. Stoner turns around looking for someone.
"Who did that?" Stoner asks confused.
"I did." I say quickly
"Whoa!" Stoner says surprised "Magic!"
Stoner clears his throat and turns back to the camera.
"I'm Stoner Scott Oliver, that's been Gandolf, see us in..." Scott stops, looking confused.
"Brazil." I whisper.
"Brazil for..." Scott stops again.
"Hostile Takeover" I whisper at him.
"Ya! What the wizard said." Scott says with a thumbs up "See you there!"
Scott turns to me.
"Wanna share a taxi to Brazil?" Scott asks as the camera fades out
You've now seen what happened on the way to Argentina. If I was you, this is where I'd go and watch Odette's promo, because after that short stop in Vegas, and now, a lot has changed. Odette said a lot, something that might have caught me a little off guard. I know it shouldn't have with the secret room I found out about a while ago in our house, I should have known it was coming, but there's no build up to it, just out and out saying it. Catching me off guard, made me look like a dick, because I figured she'd tell me about the room, and we'll sit down and discuss it, and I'll be ready for it all at that point, but nope, she just dropped it on me, and watching Odette's promo back, I should have reacted differently. I love the woman, I want those things, but... well, go watch her promo now, come back to this one. Go on, I'll wait.
...
...
Watched it? Good. You can see, she mentioned it back in Chile to me, and I've done a great job keeping it under my hat, but you know, I think back to the Build A Bear thing in Chile, and I smile. You know I've had with this on my shoulders for a couple of weeks, not avoiding the question, not avoiding the talk, but trying to figure out the right order for this thing. If you saw my NWA promo, you'd have seen I asked Odette to meet my family, something The Sins haven't even done. That's starting at the beginning, right?
Now everything is public knowledge and the worlds eyes are on us now, wondering about what we talk about at night, wondering if we're talking about kids and such. Looking back at that promo, and yes, I saw it long before you guys did, I saw the passion in Odette's eyes about it. It's hard to see when you're in that situation and your mind is running through a loop, going absolutely crazy, just a million things running like an Olympic sprinter through the mind. Sometimes your mind blanks and I saw it back again and I knew she wasn't joking, I knew this was not something she just came up with, or something that made her feel that way in Chile. This had been on her mind a while, and it's time I gave it some SERIOUS thought. Not like "Hey, we got the money, we can hire people to help us take care of the baby." because I won't be one of those parents who won't see their kids growing up.
There's not many moments in life that can make your heart stop, without it killing you, but when she told me, this was one of those moments where everything stopped. If I didn't know better, the world stopped moving at that point. She wasn't joking, it's what she wants, and I half rejected that, it was wrong of me. I wasn't trying to reject, but my tone sounded like it. I never meant for that, I know what I want, but it doesn't stop me being any less spacey.
A table is seen with Synn and Shane Boswell sitting at either end. Fantasia sits close to Shane, her hands not see.
"As I told you two before." Synn starts "Hands only where I can see them, this is going to be a team meeting."
Fantasia places the palms of her hands on the polished wooden table, both hands flat out and looks towards Synn with a smile. Despayre and Rage's voices are heard away from this scene.
"I don't know why they want me here." Rage huffs "I'm not allowed at the show, not allowed near the venue, hell, I shouldn't even be in Brazil."
"Cause Angel said if you're not here Uncle Rage, he's gonna be the Sin Of Wrath and no one wants that." Despayre's voice is heard saying "He will become a nightmare to live with if he does, that's why you don't live with us."
"Good!" Rage says loudly "I don't wanna live with you, your cat is evil!"
"Only to bald people." Despayre remarks "Must be the way the light shines on you."
Rage growls as he and Despayre walk on camera. Rage sits opposite Fantasia while Despayre sits next to her.
"How the hell did Gabriel get out of this?" Rage asks loudly "If he can get out of this, so can I!"
"He will be here." Synn says, looking at Rage.
"Maybe he is already here." Despayre adds, placing Angel on the table in front of him. "But maybe we just can't see him because he's doing an invisible stunt."
"He's not here!" Rage says firmly.
"He might be." Despayre says back to Rage.
Despayre pokes his tongue out at Rage, causing Rage to growl.
"He does like an entrance." Shane adds to the conversation.
I stroll in to the room, looking at the Sins sitting around the table.
"Well, that's a disappointing entrance." Despayre says.
A look of confusion crosses my face as I move towards the table, sitting next to Rage.
"Erm, hi." I say, looking around the table.
"That was not a good entrance Gabriel." Despayre tells me "I thought you' at east have tigers."
I look across at Despayre.
"Last time I had you near my tiger, remember what happened?" I ask.
"Of course." Despayre replies "I took him for a walk down the Vegas strip."
"And what happened?" I ask with a smile.
"Well someone must have let a lion out of something cause a lot of people were running and screaming." Despayre replies "But Tyson was a good tiger, he never run away or anything and he let Angel sit on his back"
A smile breaks out on my face, but Rage interrupts.
"We didn't come here to talk about the fu..." Rage stops himself "The tiger he use to have, did we?"
"We did not." Synn starts "We have a busy couple of weeks and wanted to get things a little clearer. First off Rage, your suspension."
Rage waves his hand, as if to wave Synn away.
"Don't wanna talk about it." Rage says sharply
"If you want to keep putting money in your pocket and spending on stuff like you're Gabriel..." Synn continues.
"Hey!" I interrupt "I don't spend that much."
"You bought a zoo." Fantasia says.
"Not a zoo yet." I protest "More like a piece of land next to the house."
"Are you gonna get an anteater?" Despayre asks.
"Not sure Despy, why?" I reply.
"Always wanted to ask an anteater 'Why the long face?'" Despayre replies.
A laugh rumbles around the table.
"If ever there's a reason to get one, that would be it" I reply with a smile.
"Back to business if you don't mind?" Synn says over the laughs.
Despayre picks up Angel and looks at him.
"Better do what he says." Despayre says to Angel "Or we're not gonna get any pocket money this week, and I really want to buy candy."
Synn looks across at Despayre, but Despayre doesn't see his fathers glare.
"Ok, moving on." Synn continues "We have a very tight schedule after Hostile Takeover..."
I sit and look at Synn's lips moving, but the words fade from the air...
I can't do this is I'm gonna become a father. I can't be in South America one day wrestling, then to New York for a match a couple of days later. We can't take a little one on the road like that, I can't have Odette on the road in that situation and I can't leave her at home on her own. I know all our shows in Vegas would be easier cause one of us could wrestle, and be home before the end of the night, but this tour thing. Our kid will look gorgeous if they look like Odette, be smart, pretty, athletic, all the things Odette is. Wonder what accent our kid will have? Aussie mum, English dad, brought up in America, what a mix.
"Did you hear that Gabriel?" Synn's voice is heard saying, snapping me out of my own little world.
"Odette wants a baby." I say out of nowhere.
A silent hush covers the room.
"I'm out." Shane says standing up.
"I'm with him!" Rage quickly says.
Both men move as fast as they can move, towards the door, as Synn, Fantasia and Despayre look at me.
"Angel says the way you two keep doing it, you're more likely gonna have puppies." Despayre says seriously.
I look at Despayre, eyebrow raised, slightly shocked but Synn clears his throat. Fantasia nods and stands up.
"Despy." She says "I think I see an anteater out there."
Despayre looks excitedly around.
"Anteater! Anteater! Wait up!" Despayre yells, grabbing Angel in his fingers and charging out of the room.
Fantasia gets up and follows him out of the room, leaving Synn staring at me, his fingers entwined.
"Perfect timing." Synn says with a laugh.
"Sorry." I say quietly "I was thinking about it and it just seemed to come out."
"How long has this been going on?" Synn asks.
"She told me in Chile." I reply
"That explains the need for you to want to introduce Odette to your family." Synn says.
I nod.
"Yes." I start "It's been rolling round my head for a while. I felt like I need to do things in order a little bit."
"I could imagine the reaction." Synn says with a chuckle.
"I just don't know what to do." I reply
"Why?" Synn says with a smile "Have you forgotten already?"
"Not with that, I know what I'm doing there!" trying to reply with a straight face.
"Yes, I figured as much from that hotel in Chile." Synn says, lowering his head and looking up at me.
"No idea what you're on about." I reply as innocently as possible.
"Really?" Synn asks "Seems to me the rest of Chile know what I'm on about."
"Can we be serious?" I ask Synn.
Synn nods.
"What am I meant to do here Synn?" I ask "I want to, but this life isn't a life to bring a kid in to. Plus this could ruin Odette's career. She is set to become a legend here, by winning the biggest match of her career. I'd feel like I'm robbing her of her legacy."
"Did she come to you about this?" Synn asks seriously.
"Yes." I say with a nod.
"Then I don't think Ms Ryder is worried about her career, so neither should you." Synn replies "It's not like you two need to worry about money. In fairness, if neither of you wanted to step in the ring anymore, for whatever reason, you wouldn't have to. Odette is willing to do this without a worry for what she can achieve, her achievement will be being a mother."
This is a side of Synn I've never seen before.
"I spent years away from my son." Synn continues "But your life will change in a good way. Besides, I've seen the way you've been lately, at that school, at the orphanage, you have a way with kids, you'll make a good father."
I stand up, walking towards Synn and putting his hand on Synn's shoulder.
"Thank you." I say.
Synn turns around in his chair, looking up at me.
"With Kittie just having a baby and Odette wanting to be a mum, looks like we're breeding the next generation of Sins." Synn says standing up.
I tap Synn on the back.
"Now all we need is to hook Despy up with someone, and we can keep on adding." I say with a laugh.
Synn places a hand on my shoulder and gives it a tight squeeze.
"I'm just going to pretend for your sake that you didn't just say that." Synn says seriously
"Grandpa Synn has a nice ring to it." I reply with a laugh
I smile at Synn as I move towards the door and out as the scene fades.
Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.
"Where are we going?" Odette asks me.
I point up.
"There."
"Where?" She asks "All I see is a mountain."
The sun starts to set over a mountain known as Sugarloaf Mountain.
"Yep." I reply.
"The mountain?" Odette asks curiously.
"Yes baby." I reply "We are."
I lead Odette down a little alleyway where a cable car waits for us. I point to the car and Odette sits in the car. I quickly follow her and take a seat next to her. A bar comes down, covering us both. The car starts moving towards the mountain.
"I've been thinking." I start.
"Did it hurt?" Odette replies with a smile.
"Very funny." I reply "Been thinking about Chile."
"Oh?" Odette says curiously
"The whole baby thing." I reply.
"And?" Odette asks.
"Well it is a big step, and I'm sorry for coming off as a complete and utter dick with my reaction. I was caught a little bit off guard by the whole thing." I start "If I'm honest, very off guard. It wasn't something I expected. I should of, but didn't."
"Why should you have expected it?" Odette asks
Oops
"We're just at that part of the relationship" I reply.
Smooth
"Anyway." I start "I've been thinking about it constantly, been on my mind a lot lately. So I came to a decision on it."
"You have?" Odette says, eager for an answer.
"I have." I reply "I think we should cut down our wrestling commitments a bit, and go for it."
Odette's eyes widen.
"You mean it?" Odette asks.
"One million percent." I reply
Odette leans across, rocking the cable car and wrapping her arms around my neck and hugging me tightly.
"Thank you!" She says, visibly fighting back tears.
"You're gonna make an amazing mum." I whisper.
Odette kisses me firmly on the lips, as the camera moves in to the distance, showing the cable cart and mountain in the background as the sun goes down.
Sitting on top of Sugarloaf Mountain - Rio De Janeiro.
What a perfect place to talk a bit of business, eh?
Odette leans on my shoulder, her hand across my chest as I wrap my arm around her, our tiring day coming to an end. I kiss the beautiful Aussie on the forehead as I look down on the town below, dotted lights all around from the various houses. I look down the camera.
"Seems like every time I cut one of these promos, I'm sitting in another country. Last one was New York and now here I am in Brazil. You might have noticed this promo is a little different, the fact that I'm now talking directly to the SCW world, with Odette on camera, but change people, change is what the world is about. Taking risks, taking chances, seizing opportunities and here's what is online for my three opponents."
I smile
"See, that was going somewhere. I've come to see that the greater the risk, the bigger reward, more so this week than most, but it does lead me to my opponents at Hostile Takeover. These three men have three of the biggest opportunities of their careers. Our partner, Derek Thorne is no slouch, possible the fastest rising star in SCW, taking out champion, after champion, earning his way to a title shot in the not so distance future and the decorated champions, NWA Tag Team Champions in Despayre and I. The reward for taking this match, is possibly the greatest prize short of a title shot. The prize for this is astronomical but it's a prize that could be slightly out of reach for you gentlemen."
I bite on my bottom lip.
"But what if I was to offer you three an alternative prize? You see, I am in the middle of a war, as is Despayre, as is Derek Thorne. We are constantly battling the evil that is Team Erik. Gentlemen, I offer you this. If we impress you in that ring, you should consider joining Team SCW. We will show you in the ring that we are the better side in this war and you shouldn't be persuaded by Team Erik. That poor little team think they have the Bombshell division tied up, but that will soon switch after Hostile Takeover, the best tag teams are already on Team SCW and the best solo wrestlers are here, very soon, Team Erik will be no more, with your help, we could get rid of them a little sooner. If you chose to pick a side, I hope you're impressed with what you see."
I breathe deeply.
"Joshua Acquin, welcome to SCW. I watched your debut with curiosity. You see there's been a bit of a buzz about you since your name scribbled across that contract. The buzz was that this guy could be a big name player in SCW when he shows up, and here you are. Since I've known I've been facing you, I have looked back at your match, I even went as far as watching your promo from that week, interesting stuff. I guess when we go to a new company, we have to get ourselves over as quickly as we can, right? I saw your way of doing it, I saw you rattle off a list of achievements. Well done on all those, would you like a pat on the back? Maybe a cookie?"
I roll my eyes.
"Let me give you a tip Mr Acquin. Don't come in to SCW and rattle off a list of what you done, claim that you used to be a legend, and expect it to cut some ice here. The sad truth is, no one really cares about you claiming to be a legend in the past because this is SCW, and SCW is a very different place. Everyone comes in claiming they're legends, then cry and sulk, then disappear when they realize they're just not as good as they were before. It's all about level of competition, and anyone can be a legend in a poor federation with no talent. Here, you're not a big fish in a small pond, you're a small fish in a very big pond and there are a lot of bigger fish than you are. When you come in claiming such things, you become a let down to yourself, the fan, to everyone when you realize you're not that good anymore. Now I respect the fact you've done well in the past, but anyone can say what you did. It goes to prove you might not be as special as you once thought."
I run my hand down Odette's arm as she moves in closer.
"Casper Grey may not have been much competition, but welcome to the big leagues, it's time you sink or swim, but this time Mr Acquin, you will be sinking."
I breathe in deeply.
"Now I should talk about another set of new arrivals, the team called The Forgotten."
I pause for a second.
"Interesting name gentlemen, I will give you that. You are definitely one of the most interesting teams in SCW, and one with a potential but the problem is, we are the veteran team around here, Despayre and I are the team that was the first ones here, worked harder than everyone else and took the tag titles and held them for eight months, wouldn't let them out of our grip until Blood Omen came along. We then got offered a NWA Tag Title number one contenders match. Took it, won it and got given the title shot. We went on and won at our first attempt. Then we heard the stories about champions in the NWA not being able to adapt to different areas, not able to adapt to unfamiliar opponents. You see, as a champ, you don't know who your next opponents are, but they know who you are. They attack like dogs, so champions don't last too long in the NWA, but Despayre and I are on defense number three, something that doesn't happen often. I'm sure you're wondering why I'm talking about this."
I tilt my head.
"I'm telling you this because Sinful Obsession are the blueprint for an amazing tag team. We are the blueprint, on how to be much more successful than most. We are going through teams in the NWA for fun, and still keep going strong in SCW. We've fought everyone we could have possibly beat and now we get to beat you guys too. I know, we should have the tag titles if we're that successful, but Blood Omen NEVER defeated us! Blood Omen defeated the third team in the match, if not for them, we would be double champions right now, we would be the two men that would have held the titles for over a year, so this learning curve for you two gentlemen, could indeed be a very steep one."
I look seriously down the camera.
"This couldn't have been a worse match for you two. Defeated by Blood Omen, and you will be defeated by Sinful Obsession and Derek Thorne. This is the trio that will make you all see that no matter how good you were, how big you've been elsewhere, THIS is the real deal, this is where we fight to survive and only the strongest will. That's why Sinful Obsession and Derek Thorne will be surviving once more. I get this is your big chance, I get that if any match should get you up and firing but this is the harsh introduction to SCW. This is the match to gage if you're good enough, if you're strong enough to compete here."
I shrug my shoulders
"But don't be too disheartened when you end up being defeated and make no mistake about it gentlemen, you will be the ones being defeated. We've build reputations on the fact of defeating teams that just randomly appear and that is just what you are. Your name of The Forgotten may never be so apt as it will be after Hostile Takeover."
A smile crosses my face.
"I hope you three enjoy your first SCW Supercard, they are something very special, but I will make this very clear to all three of you. This one is not gonna be an easy ride for you three, in fact, this could be one of the worst nights of your lives."
A serious look appears on my face.
"Enjoy your night gentlemen, enjoy it while you can, because there's only one way this is going, and it's going the way of Sinful Obsession and Derek Thorne."
I look deep in to the camera.
"Believe that!"
The camera fades out as I squeeze Odette against me.
