[Roux]

==========================================================
>
===========================================================


Soft
Long Beach, CALIFORNIA - Longshots
4th JANUARY 2023
OFF-Camera

As a kid I used to love laying out in the backyard and looking up at the stars. With all of the light pollution from the city, they were always kind of hard to see. It seemed like most nights if it wasn’t for the lights, clouds would cover the sky and make it impossible to see through them. Tonight it was clear, I had time to kill, and also multiple problems to solve. I would have to put most of those problems off a couple of days. Some were for my promo tomorrow. Others I really wouldn’t get to sink my teeth into until Sunday night. There was one that could use my attention tonight though, but I wasn’t exactly sure if it was a problem that I could solve anymore.

The last time I had approached Roux, things got out of hand pretty quick. I said some things that she didn’t like. She said some things that got my blood boiling. It broke down into throwing hands pretty quickly, and I thought that I would be okay with that. I mean, I walked into Longshots with the belief that if I had to put her down, I would. I figured that if what she needed was humbling, that I should be the one to provide that lesson. I didn’t care that I was going to knock her down in front of all of her friends, because I have already done the same to each and every one of them too. I wanted to prove to them, and her, that I was in a league above them all. I thought that I could live up to my legend within the Longshots gym, and solve a problem that I was having at the same time. What I ended up getting was knocked the fuck out in front of everyone that used to think of me as this larger than life personality. I may have thrown the first punch, but it didn’t have the malice that Roux’s shots had behind it. She had been ready, willing, and waiting for seven years to throw those elbows. I don’t think I ever put any thought into how much hatred she has been carrying around for all of these years, and it blindsided me.

So I needed a new approach. I obviously couldn’t just walk through the front door and pick another fight. There is no way that everyone inside wouldn’t laugh me out of the building before I ever got the shot. Even worse, they will have all been inspired to stand up to me now that they have seen me put down in the center of the ring. I’d never make it to wherever Roux was in the building, but luckily I didn’t have to go in. I knew that eventually, she would have to come out, and in the meantime, I could spend time with the stars on the clearest night that I had seen in a long time. Honestly, when I first heard footsteps approaching the car, I had forgotten the reason that I was even lingering in the parking lot. I had been transported back to those nights as a child, looking up at the sky. It wasn’t until I heard the unmistakable sigh coming from a woman that had trained too hard all day to deal with more bullshit that I was ripped free of the illusion.

COURT: You should really keep an eye over your shoulder around here, especially at night. Never know who you’ll find lurking.

I didn’t make any attempt to move, or even to look over at her.

ROUX: I can take care of myself. Get off of my car. I’m tired. I want to get out of these gym clothes, and I have like a fifteen minute drive before I can even shower. Pick some other time to show up.

I could tell that she had little to no energy for this conversation, which meant that her first option wasn’t going to be to start throwing hands either.

COURT: Training hard for something special?

I still made no move to sit up from the windshield of the car, or move off of the hood even as she started throwing her things into the backseat.

ROUX: You remember all those times that you didn’t show up randomly and try to give me unsolicited advice? I miss those times. Let’s go back to doing that again.

I shrugged, not even sure that she could see it in the dark. From the sound of her voice, it seemed like she had moved from the backseat, up to the driver’s door. I could almost feel her staring at me from back over my shoulder which was vaguely satisfying after our last encounter.

COURT: Well you’ve spent all your teenage years begging for my attention, so here I am! Maybe you should have been more careful about what you wished for.

She pulled the driver’s door open in an attempt to ignore me, but by the time I was done she had slammed it closed and came around into my field of vision. She wanted to make sure that I heard the words that were about to come out of her mouth, causing me to make sure that I stayed focused on the night sky above us.

ROUX: It’s been a real long time since I have wanted anything to do with you.

I shook my head, and did my best to sound unconvinced.

COURT: Doesn’t seem like it. First you’re worming your way into my life through Ruby, and now you keep popping up everywhere that I don’t want you to be….

She must have been getting angry already, because she didn’t even let me finish the thought before cutting me off.

ROUX: So you’d thought you’d return the favor?

She raised her voice, but slammed her mouth closed the moment that I turned my head her direction and looked her in the eyes for the first time.

COURT: Something more selfish than that. If you like things the way they used to be, then maybe you should start finding your own way into the business instead of blazing down my path.

In an instant, the bass in her voice was gone, and the scowl on her face broke loose into a smile. She shook her head as if it had been too easy to manipulate me into telling her why I was really here.

ROUX: So now you have a monopoly on where people can train, or where they can work?

She said it with a smug smirk that made me think of Kris all those years ago when I broke my hand. I wasn’t going to cave in and play her game though. I didn’t come here to get angry. I kept the focus on her instead of letting her turn it around on me.

COURT: Training at the gym that took me in, and signing up to debut in the same tournament that I did isn’t exactly subtle.

She shrugged, unimpressed with the dots I was connecting.

ROUX: Yeah, and? It also just happens to be the path of least resistance. Do you think you’re some kind of fucking genius for figuring out that Longshots was the only place that was ever going to let you in?

She laughed, but I wasn’t going to let her gloss over the finer details like that.

COURT: It’s not jus--

She cut me off again before I could even complete the thought, the smirk now widening across her face.

ROUX: Oh, and Sin City having an “anybody is welcome” tournament isn’t just a great opportunity for someone that keeps getting called too young, or too green?

I was still trying to force down the anger, but I sat up from the windshield, and swung my legs off of the hood of the car before pointing an index finger in her face.

COURT: There are so man--

She slapped my hand out of her face and cut me off for a third time.

ROUX: Yeah, there probably are. I wasn’t necessarily trying to go out of my way to make things harder than they needed to be. I found a gym. I leapt at an opportunity. I couldn’t care less that you’ve done it all before.

It sounded nice, but I knew that there was no such thing as a coincidence.

COURT: And it is just a perk that we’ll be ending up on the same roster?

She shrugged again, and then grabbed both of my ankles before pulling me towards her. I slid off of the hood of the car, and landed on my feet in front of her. While getting my balance, she actually took a step back and put up both of her hands to show that despite the maneuver she wasn’t looking for a fight.

ROUX: Who’s to say that I even stick around when the tournament is over? Who’s to say that I even make it to the tournament without a setback? What I wanted was a deadline. I wanted to be able to put a date on my calendar. I was ready. They were looking for competitors. The timing matched up. It has nothing to do with you, and now that your ass is off the hood of my car, I can go. Good talk.

She turned to walk away, but I grabbed her by the arm.

COURT: You could have done anything else in the world and we wouldn’t have ever had to cross paths….

She pulled free of my grasp. The glare that I got in response warned me that it was the only freebee that I was going to get before we started throwing punches, regardless of how tired she was.

ROUX: Yeah, well… the world doesn’t revolve around you.

COURT: Yours still seems to.

The words came out of my mouth so fast that she wasn’t quite sure what hit her, and I was surprised I said them. However, as impressed as I was with myself for the comeback, she was unphased.

ROUX: That’s where you’re wrong. For you this is just a good idea, right? This is a way for you to rebel against our par---

I took the chance to cut her off and correct her to see how she liked it.

COURT: MY parents.

Surprisingly, she rolled her eyes and didn’t even try to take up that battle. Her focus was actually kind of impressive.

ROUX: Whatever. You got into this so that you could rub it in their faces. You ever think that is why you keep getting hurt?

It wasn’t exactly where I expected this conversation to go, but I decided to humor her.

COURT: Are you trying to say I’m brittle?

As if she had been dying for me to ask that exact question, she launched into an answer that definitely sounded practiced.

ROUX: I’m trying to say that as a spoiled little rich kid that never had a problem that a good temper tantrum couldn’t solve, maybe you aren’t cut out for combat sports. Your history in the ring seems to agree with me.

It was a fun new shot that she was taking at me, but I had heard it before. It isn’t anything that the whole Bombshell roster doesn’t try and throw in my face on a weekly basis. I gave her the same response that I always give all of them.

COURT: ...and yet I have done all of the things that you aspire to do. I am a champion in the company that you are hoping to getting a chance to compete in.

To my surprise, she didn’t even consider my words. Instead, she laughed, and seemed surprised that I actually let those words come out of my mouth.

ROUX: You’re a joke in Sin City. You realize that, right? You come out of the gym that everyone hates, because all it teaches is shortcuts. Your reign as the face of the company was a flop because you stopped showing up. You got beat by someone doing a better version of your whole act, and it’s only a matter of time before you break something else and disappear for another year.

She wasn’t wrong, but I wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of letting that show on my face. Instead, I tried to spin it back to her.

COURT: I’ve clearly inspired you to pay attention.

Again she laughed.

ROUX: If that’s all you were ever hoping to achieve in the ring, then you really have made it to the top of the mountain. I want more than that though.

COURT: I thought you said you weren’t going to stick around after the tournament?

ROUX: I might. I might not. I am not nailed down to one place. It might not be my best opportunity by the time the summer starts.

COURT: It might have a champion or two that you’re going to want to avoid.

The whole thing had become a sort of verbal joust where we were barely letting each other finish a thought before trying to counter it in some way, but I saw her eyes light up at the mention of the champions of Sin City. She was quick to squash any kind of self-compliment though.

ROUX: Not unless they sign some new people and they rise through the ranks at a record pace.

COURT: You might be all inflated from your cheap shot victory over me a few weeks ago, and you really don’t want me to burst your bubble with only a few months left before you have to be able to do things inside the ring for real.

I stepped up to her, but she didn’t back down either.

ROUX: I remember that it was actually you that threw the first punch, and subsequently got what you deserved. I can make that happen for you again any time that you’re ready.

I shook my head, and made sure she understood the truth about what happened last time around.

COURT: I underestimated you. It won’t happen again.

She holds up her hands innocently, and backs away from me before opening the driver’s door of the car.

ROUX: It better not, because when it does, nobody in the wrestling business is going to have any more use for you.

She stepped into the car and turned the key in the ignition, but I put my hand on the frame along the window and refused to let her close it on me.

COURT: All that talk of better opportunities, and not trying to follow my path, but I can see what you really want. It’s in your eyes. It’s all over your every move. You don’t just want what I have, you want to take it from me in order to have it.

She smiled, but this time her eyes narrowed and maybe for the first time I could see the untapped ambition in them.

ROUX: I’ll start with everything you have, but that’ll still just be the start. You think you’re some kind big endgame for me, but you’re not. I don’t want to just rise to the middle. I don’t want to be six years in and taking steps backwards. I want to do everything you’ve done and then so much more shit that you aren’t even capable of doing.

She was scary confident, and it made me a little nervous that she was only going to grow more over the next couple of months.

COURT: ...and what makes you think you can?

She didn’t even have to think of a reason, it was already on the tip of her tongue.

ROUX: I’m not soft like you.

She yanked the door out of my hands, and shifted the car into gear. She wasn’t going to wait for a response, and the music inside the car started blasting so loud that she wouldn’t have been able to hear me anyways. She didn’t wait for me to take a step away, and instead peeled off causing me to hop back if I didn’t want to get run over.


==========================================================
>COURTside: Imitation

==========================================================


”Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery….”

”You hear that a lot, right? It is a phrase that people throw out all the time when copied by their lessers. I guess that I am supposed to be happy about the fact that Ariana has basically become me in her quest to beat me. Where once she was the Greek Angel, or even the Greek Goddess for a time, she has constantly lowered herself down to my level in a race to the bottom that not even I understand. I went low before our first match because she was crying into her pillow instead of getting amped up for the fight of her life. I didn’t care that my wife got involved at the tail end of our Bombshell World Championship match, because it helped Ariana save some face at the end of the night.”

”She didn’t lose! She was screwed!”

”It was a nice narrative, right? Did it actually change anything? Of course not. I was going to walk out with MY Bombshell World Championship no matter what happened. She was never going to win that match, but she also didn’t need to lose it in embarrassing fashion. I wanted to motivate her. I didn’t want to crush her dreams and leave her a shell of her former self like what Roxi did. I was attempting to leave her with a foundation to build from, even though that wasn’t my responsibility. For once, I was attempting to do the right thing for the Bombshell division, because it really wasn’t going to cost me anything. I knew that Ariana was going to get sent back to the end of the line, and would likely end up competing for another championship before ever getting another shot in the main event ever again. The way that our first match ended was what was best for everyone, even if Ariana didn’t feel that way.”

”...and I don’t know if that is because she is stupid, or just fucking blind.”

”Look at what I did for her! She was on the verge of becoming another company-wide joke like Jessie. She was destined to walk down the same path, littered with failed opportunities, until Christian and Mark had no choice but to start banning her from competing for gold. I could have crushed her back then, but where would that have left any of us? The company would be short yet another Bombshell on a roster that was already kinda top heavy. I saw her value. I knew that even though she couldn’t hack it in the main event, she could rise to the tip-top of the middle with the right opportunity.”

”And rise she did…”

”She became the Bombshell Internet Champion in the blink of an eye. Granted, that was because the real champion disappeared off the face of the Earth around the same time we lost several other superstars. Ariana was a fine pick to be the person to pick up the championship and run with it. I even congratulated her on winning a consolation prize so quickly!”

”....and it could have ended there.”

”...it should have ended there.”

”...but that is where this petty imitation kicked in full swing. She stepped in where she wasn’t needed and cost me MY Bombshell World Champion with a few cheap shots. She came after me backstage. She started taking shortcuts in the ring with my students, but ones without any purpose other than bringing a smile to her own face. Her actions weren’t any deeper than a puddle. She wanted to exact some kind of revenge for all of the times she has felt wronged by me, and the gym that I represent in this company. She wanted to prove that no matter how low I have gone in the past, she was capable of being pettier. She wanted to cost me everything…”

”And then she did cost me everything…”

”I am sure that she saw it as me getting what I deserved, but that isn’t what happened. At the end of last year I told her that all she did was open my eyes. All she did was make me realize that I should have pulled the trigger and put her out of our misery in that first match. I didn’t have to drag her away from her pillow. I didn’t have to let her live to fight another day. I didn’t have to build her up, and I sure as hell didn’t have to hand her excuse-after-excuse about why things weren’t going her way. I should have walked down to the ring and ripped her fucking arms off. I should have choked her out in the middle of the ring. I should have broken a few bones so that she had time to sit at home and wonder if this was really the right path for her. This would have all been over if I was as heartless as Ariana accuses me of being. I could have ended her before she had the opportunity to sneak up behind me and let some hack walk away with my championship.”

”So she needed to be taught a new lesson.”

”I am not going to go back on what I said at the end of last year. The Bombshell Internet Championship doesn’t mean dick to me. I didn’t want it. I don’t care about it. It is absolutely beneath me to be carrying it around, and I wouldn’t be doing it at all, if not for what it represents.”

”....and no, I don’t mean the Bombshells that are stuck in the middle of the card.”

”To me, this championship represents the pinnacle of what Ariana is capable of doing in this business. I don’t think she could shoulder the whole Bombshell division, and be the woman on all the posters, but she could definitely carry the middle tier. She could elevate this championship to exactly the place that it belongs in this company, and she would never have to bump her head into that glass ceiling ever again. She could settle as the Bombshell Internet Champion, and probably take down dozens of challengers. She could have set records with this championship. She finally could have been the greatest of all time at something. She seemed made for this championship, and this championship looked right on her shoulder.”

”....but if I can’t have what I want, she can’t have the Bombshell Internet Championship either.”

”She doesn’t get to reign as the Queen of the Midcard, because she stepped too far over the line. I had put Ariana behind me, and was ready to move on to my second, and forever, reign as Bombshell World Champion. She wasn’t even a thought in my head, and now she is all I think about. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and all fifty-two weeks out of the year, I am going to be sitting and thinking of ways that I can get back at her. I am going to be around every corner to take every bit of success she has in this business and flip it on its head. I am going to take every championship she captures. I am going to put a halt to whatever momentum she picks up, and every time that she thinks it might be over, or she might have suffered enough, I am going to be there to remind her that this will never EVER be over.”

”This championship is garbage to me, but I will beat her fucking face in with it as many times as it takes for her to realize that she wants nothing to do with me ever again. See, this isn’t like when I was the top champion. I am not going to even try and shuffle her off to the back of the line. I hope she keeps coming after me. I hope that Mark and Christian get so tired of seeing the two of us fight that they start taking rules out of the matches. I hope they start introducing stipulations that will allow me to maim Ariana the way that she deserves. The whole reason that my wife has become the centerpiece of these matches is because she is always around to make sure the abuse has a reason to continue. If she is closeby, Ariana is going to latch onto her as an excuse. She is going to use that to get herself another match, and I am going to use that opportunity to teach her lesson after painful lesson about not fucking with me.”

”She will regret causing herself to be my primary focus in this company.”

”She will be haunted by her decision to imitate me.”

”...but what else could she have done? There is another half of that oh-so-famous phrase that she is going to learn real well.”

”Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery… that mediocrity can pay to greatness.”

”Ariana, I will never make the mistake of holding back my greatness for your benefit ever again. Every time we cross paths, I will embarrass you. Every time you find success, I will squash you. At every single opportunity from now until the time that you finally walk away from this business, I will be there to put you back into your place every time that you forget where you belong. It isn’t about some second tier championship. It isn’t about the people that pay to witness your destruction at my hand. This has nothing to do with the company we work for, or anyone else on this roster.”

”The moment that you swung that chair, you ended your career, and I will be around every corner to make absolutely goddamn sure of that. You can try to fight it. You can hope that one day I will forget about it. You can pray that someday I’ll change my mind. It’ll all be for naught though, and Sunday is only another chapter of what is going to be a long, long book.”

”Sorry, not fucking sorry.”