The camera comes on to reveal what must be a dream. Valentina is sitting still, moving throughout the city of Edinburgh as the wind gently runs through her hair. She blinks as she looks around, watching the city pass her be in what almost seems like a blur. She takes a deep breath as we wind around the streets, and she begins holding onto her head. She starts to feel a bit dizzy, and she winds off to the side, headed right for a building! However, before she can collide with it, she a door opens up. She seems to fly right through it until coming out into a very open area. She blinks her eyes a few times before taking a deep breath.
“Wow, that was really intense. I wonder how some people do all of these things?”
She stands inside of Camera Obscura, Edinburgh’s own special house of over 150 optical illusion exhibits, packed into 6 floors. She chuckles as she looks over to a man with brightly bleached blonde hair and a dark red beard. He smiles as he taps her arm playfully.
“Some of us process things more quickly, I’d guess.”
Valentina nudges him back as she grabs hold of his hand and swings it side to side as they continue to walk along. She spots a dark tunnel with every imaginable color swirling around inside of it. She gasps and practically drags her friend along to the tunnel.
“It looks so much fun. I feel like this exhibit would make Kandy Kaine a very happy girl.”
“Why would yew want to go from a virtual tour of the city that gave ya a blinding headache, to a tunnel of optical assault, lass?”
Valentina shrugs her shoulders and giggles as they reach the short line.
“Lucas, really? You know how I love colors, and the mixture of them all. Besides, I thought you would be nothing but excited to see the rainbow floating all around you.”
Lucas rolls his eyes before catching wind of one of the guys standing in line, and his eyes stop mid roll. Valentina clasps her hand over her mouth and then elbows Lucas.
“He is there with his girlfriend! Could you be any more obvious about it?”
“Yeah, if yew wouldn’t make such a fuss about it!”
The two friends begin to blush slightly as the couple they are talking about turns around to stare right at them. Val and Lucas instantly straighten up their posture, but look down at the ground innocently. The couple turns back around and enters the tunnel on their go. Val and Lucas begin chuckling as they move up in line.
“So conspicuous, querido… Very nice.”
“It’s not as if yew was innocent in any of that. Can’t a man stare at another man’s arse and not get called out for it?”
Val taps at her chin as she thinks it over a couple of times. She then begins shaking her head as her and her friend find themselves next in line to enter.
“I would think not. Especially when said man doesn’t take me to Loch Ness like he promised to do.”
“Oh, come on, lass. It’s the most stereotypical place to go in Scotland, and I’m certainly not trying to give yew the most basic tour of my home country. What kind of fanny do yew take me for?”
Val chuckles at Lucas’ choice of words. He instantly puts his palm to his head and shakes it off. Valentina tugs on his arm again as she drags him into the tunnel. The lights swirl all around them, and it almost seems to leave Val awestruck. She holds onto the railing as she pulls herself through, feeling as if she is about to fall over. Lucas is right behind her, trying his best not to wretch. He closes his eyes as he holds onto Valentina’s arm for guidance. After a moment, they go through the other side of the tunnel, and Valentina smiles. Lucas feels the suction as he comes out of the tunnel and it instantly cues him to open his eyes.
“How was that compared to the Loch Ness Monster hunt yew wanted to go on?”
“It was good, but I had a reason for wanting to go to Loch Ness. I had this whole thing I was going to do about hunting monsters. I prepared by reading articles, and studying pictures, and watching a lot of Supernatural. I even bought a sexy hunting outfit. I planned to talk about my match in front of the lake.”
Valentina now looks a little saddened by the fact that she will no longer get to take this approach. Lucas suddenly snaps his fingers to bring Val back to the ground again.
“I think I get what you’re talking about. Yew think Goth is a big, bad monster, so yew wanted to make everyone else feel like yew can hunt him down. It makes sense to me now.”
“No… not so much that. I mean, Goth is a former champion multiple times over throughout his career, and especially in SCW. He used to be something big and bad and hard to predict. He used to make people fear his every move. You used to just look at Goth and just know that he was going to do something so extreme, so sadistic, that you had to go to another state of mind if you wanted to stand any kind of chance against him.”
“So you aren’t trying to make him out to be a monster, because he’s too good, and completely bonkers? How does that make any sense?”
Valentina sighs and snaps her fingers in front of Lucas. He begins paying better attention, but to the point that it is obvious that he is patronizing her. He goes as far as to lean down and hold his hands up as he bats his eyelashes at Val. She scoffs and then gives him a playful shove.
“Quit being such a bendejo, bebe.”
“Then tell me what yew mean.”
“Well, he used to be a big thing. But, the key words there were ‘used to’. In everything I just said, ‘used to’ applies. He is done and over with. He’s just like Amanda Cortez, something that used to matter a long time ago, but doesn’t anymore. Once a year, he comes around, like Amanda’s herpes flare ups, and then he goes away. I’m not at all worried about him. Travis proved two weeks ago that he is more than capable of handling Goth.”
Valentina flips her hair over her shoulder as she speaks so matter of factly. She blinks a couple of times as if waiting for any further objection from her friend. She notices that a small crowd is starting to gather around her, and the camera pans around to catch each and every one of them. Some of the fans are in town for the SCW show, proudly supporting the independent company with merchandise, and some even showing their support for Valentina. She literally feels as if she is now on her soap box.
“Thank you all for your support. It has meant so much to me over the last few weeks. It has taken so much for me to get to where I’m at now, but you all, and those watching this on scwrestling.net have been amazing throughout this entire journey. I know that Travis LeVitt is not ready for this journey to end, and I certainly am not ready for it to end. I have so much left to prove.”
The crowd claps for her, putting a smile on her face.
“This weekend, on Climax Control, I have to prove that I can be trusted not to let anyone down. This is hard, given what I’ve done in the past with Angel Kash, taking her money so that she did not have to defend her Underground Championship, and then disappearing. Not to mention, I am expected to perform at my best, with someone who has been in the company longer than I have, and has been in the business much, much longer than I have. Someone who is practically a stranger to me. Many people have their doubts about my ability to do such, but they should not.”
Valentina holds a hand up as if she is telling this to God himself. She snaps her fingers to draw the attention above her head for a second, before she slowly lowers her hand, bringing the attention back to her face.
“No, they should not. Even though Travis and I have only known each other for the duration of one match, two weeks ago, and nothing more than a few DMs on Twitter, there is a spark there. However different we may be, we work together as a team, and we do it well. He is the man that will become the SCW World Heavyweight Champion, and my guess is that he will do so sooner rather than later. We will win this tournament, and nobody will stand in his way of what he is destined to do.
“This is why I know that we will prevail this weekend, right here in the beautiful land of Scotland. We are meant to advance in this tournament, and we are meant to find our way to London Brawling II. I am meant to go on to fight Alicia Lukas, a true champion whom I have looked up to since the day that I started wrestling. It would be an honor just to stand in the same ring as her. And the best way to do that is to take each step, one at a time. This next step is to face off against Mackenzie Page and Goth.”
The crowd gives off mixed reactions. Some are very passionately for Page and Goth, while others are passionately against them. The few who know of Valentina’s hard work and dedication are giving her a round of applause, but almost seem to be lost in the shuffle.
“As some of you heard me say moments ago, Goth is ancient history. He is a demon that haunts the past of SCW. How fitting that he is facing the future of wrestling by returning for a Blast From the Past, because he will fade back into obscurity once this is over, once Travis and me end the nightmare that he is thinking up for the SCW roster.”
Lucas raises his hand, as if a student in Valentina’s classroom. She nods her head at him.
“But, you also said that Goth was not a monster, but keep saying things like he is. Which is it?”
Valentina sighs.
“I never got to finish that thought, and I’m glad that I didn’t. I wanted to get the Loch Ness experience, because I want to hunt a monster. Goth is no monster, he’s a thing of the past, so on and so forth. The monster that I speak of is Mackenzie Page. A boorish woman with not a single proper thing about her to make her a lady. She is loud, obnoxious, acts before she thinks, and is reckless. I’ve seen her around backstage these last few weeks, and I’ve seen her when her and Charlotte came to SCU for a brief moment. She’s a true beast.”
“But, isn’t that the point of wrestling?”
Valentina nods her head, very seriously.
“Of course it is. Don’t get me wrong, Mackenzie is tough as nails. She will be a huge challenge, possibly my biggest challenge to date, and even more so, the biggest I may ever have. I must take advantage of the opportunity, think quickly on my feet, and be prepared for a world of pain. Mackenzie is not getting underestimated by me. I was hoping to take the opportunity to see Loch Ness, to use the time to reflect on how I would tackle such a beast as Nessie. Because, if I could think up three ways I could do that, then I am capable of out-thinking Mackenzie. That is where her and I are most different. I think before I act. Always. It is my advantage, and I will keep it as such. For every move that Mackenzie makes, I will be at least two steps ahead at all times. It is the only way that I stand a chance of taking her down. I will have to eat my Wheaties as they say in America, and I will have to keep my mind sharp and focused, much like we all have to do here at Camera Obscura.”
Valentina nods her head as she looks around at some of the displays around them. The audience snaps their fingers at the happy accident of pure, unadulterated irony. Valentina shrugs her shoulders, smiling.
“I want to thank you all for taking a moment to hear me out. If you haven’t already, please be sure to buy your tickets to see SCW live on Sunday, for my match, and so many more high caliber matches. We’re at the Edinburgh International Climbing Arena.”
Valentina blows a few kisses out to the audience, who give her a polite clap. She sneaks through the crowd, acting as if she is being flooded by them. However, as she leaves the circle, she sees that she is standing in front of one of the biggest attractions of Camera Obscura, and she was “obscura”ing their view. She sighs as Lucas sticks his tongue out at Val. Val quickly grabs onto his tongue and drags him away.
