Timeline: Six months ago
A man dressed in boots, a pair of dark pants that ride low on his hips and a white tee under a rather beat-up leather jacket walks towards a pair of doors with a bag tossed over his shoulder. The look in his eyes show someone being nostalgic but the smile that is crossing his face shows just how enthusiastic he is to enter the building. Reaching out with his free hand, Connor Murphy pushes at the door and strides inside.
Stopping on the threshold, Connor takes a long slow breath in, the scents of sweat and hope with a whiff of dreams mixing with the sounds of flesh meeting canvas, a jump rope smacking against the floor in a regular swishy beat. Connor’s eyes slowly close then snap open as he exhales. “I remember this…” he murmurs as he takes a step forward only to be stopped by a hand on his shoulder.
“Good thing you do Connor,” a feminine voice answers as Connor turns to take in a woman who looks older but still dangerous.
“Vixen!” exclaims Connor with a large grin as he drops the bag to the floor and opens his arms to take her into a hug that is stopped by a hand against his chest.
“Oh no you don’t,” growls Vixen who shakes her head, the long dark ponytail swishing against her shoulders. “I am still angry with you disappearing and then out of the blue having my brother call me to help you get back into ring shape. Ostie, Connor, you could have called me yourself!”
Looking sheepish, Connor ducks his head when Vixen brings up his disappearing. “Yeah I didn’t think you would want me to tell you that I was quitting,” he states in a low voice. “I mean you helped me train to be in that ring and I felt that I let you down by giving up. And you know that I ain’t good with sayin’ goodbye.”
Vixen glares at Connor who keeps stealing looks at her. “That is no excuse. I thought we were family and here you are now wanting me to train you again. How long is this going to last huh?” questions Vixen as she crosses her arms over her chest and tilts her head in a questioning look. “Tell me why I should agree to train you again?”
Connor’s head shoots upward. “But Dev said…” he begins only to have Vixen’s eyebrow rise as a sneer passes over her lips. “I mean Dev told me that you said you would.”
“I told Dev I would think about it,” answers Vixen. “Now I want you to tell me why I should. Return on my investment in you needs to really be honoured. You going to cut and run when things get tough? Will I be wasting my time?”
Each question makes Connor wince in shame. He holds up his hand to stop her and then reaches for the bag at his feet. “I get it Vix, I’ll leave and find someone else to train me,” he says before turning to leave. Sighing and cursing in French under her breath, Vixen reaches out and puts a hand on the arm of Connor who has a small smile flitting over his lips knowing that he has her.
“I didn’t say I wouldn’t train you Connor but I wanted you to tell me that this time it isn’t going to be a waste of my time,” Vixen states. “So come on…let’s see what we are working with.”
Connor turns back, the grin gone but a look of honest respect on his face. “I won’t let you down Vix,” he promises before holding up his hand with fingers raised. “Scout’s honour.”
“You never were in Boy Scouts Connor,” taunts Vixen as she moves further into the Staggs Dungeon before she turns back to Connor who is still standing there. “Well…” she growls which causes a large grin to cross Murphy’s face. He begins to follow her as the rest of the gym watches as she stalks toward the ring. “So, you want to get back into wrestling eh? Fine Connor, let’s see what you got?”
Connor looks confusedly around the gym then back at Vixen who has slid inside the ring. “Okay, who am I going to be sparring with?” he asks as he drops the bag and reaches inside for a pair of gloves. “I mean I know I am rusty and all but seriously, some of these kids might give me a challenge I guess,” he adds with cockiness.
Vixen smiles as she shakes her head. “Pauvre Connor,” she begins as she rolls her neck slightly. “If I am going to be training you…then it is me you will be sparring with. Unless you are afraid of being beaten by a girl,” she taunts.
“That ain’t right Vix, I am not allowed to put my hands on any bombshells in Sin City Wrestling, we both know that,” Connor argues. “And anyways, it has been a while since you have been out of the spotlight so would it be a fair fight?” Connor climbs the ring steps and is about to slide between the ropes when he is grabbed by Vixen into a reverse headlock and dragged into the ring where he is pulled into a reverse dragon sleeper hold that he quickly tries to fight his way out of.
Vixen wrenches back slightly before laughing and letting the hold go. “Voyons donc,” she mutters before turning to address Connor and pointing at him as he rubs his neck. “You are going to need a lot of work if you are going to get ready to be in the SCW ring. Let’s try this again shall we?”
Connor gets to his feet as Vixen taunts him. The two begin to circle before locking up…
~*~*~*~*~
Timeline: 2 weeks ago
Connor Murphy crawls towards the corner of the ring and lays his arms on it as his head droops between them. His body is covered in sweat and his hair is plastered to his forehead. A few drips of sweat colour the canvas in the corner. In the middle of the ring, bouncing on the balls of her feet, Vixen Staggs nods slowly as she moves to the corner.
“Hey Connor, all good?” she taunts as she crouches beside Murphy who flops onto his rear and leans back into the corner and wipes at his face.
“When did you reenlist Vix?” he demands as he tries his best to get his breath back. “You don’t seem to have lost a step at all.”
Vixen smiles. “Guertin comes down regularly to train. Says he needed more competition than what the VanDoos gives him,” jokes Vixen. “And believe it or not, I did come back once and was the Nightmare champion in SCU. Figured I would stay in shape you know…have a legacy to protect.” Getting to her feet once more, she reaches down and offers Connor a hand that he waves off as he reaches up and pulls himself to his feet with the ropes.
Vixen watches him walk across the ring towards the bottles of water set on the ringsteps. Grabbing one, he wrenches it open and after taking a sip, allows some of the water to trail down his beard onto his chest in an effort to cool down. Vixen tsks at the water that drips on the canvas then back up at Connor who is slowly recapping the bottle to set it down on the mat. He moves back towards Vixen and then stepping in front of her, he crouches into position but Vixen just watches him.
After a full minute of neither one moving, Connor straightens with a surprised look on his face as Vixen nods. “I think you just might be ready for the next step mon ami. That means a full on match against someone else that you can go hands on with. So, I heard that you have a match at Climax Control this week. That will be the test to see if you are ready,” she offers with a smile. “I think you are there but only time will tell. You will do well however, you need to remember something…”
Connor appears to be listening but his eyes glaze slightly causing the smile on Vixen’s face to falter before she moves closer and brings a hand up to slam it against the head of Connor. “What the hell was that for Vix?” Connor questions as he raises a hand to rub against his ear to stop the ringing that the strike from Vixen had caused.
“That is for thinking that you were ready and getting cocky,” responds Vixen. “It just might be proof that you aren’t ready. Connor, you haven’t stepped back into an SCW that you remember. The pond got smaller with all the big fish and you right now are nothing more than a barbutte at the bottom. Don’t set yourself up to be cooked. Think smarter.”
Vixen moves slightly to once more slam a palm against the head of Murphy but he catches it and with a cocky grin, spins Vixen into a hammerlock and moves right up to he ear. “Won’t happen again Vix, I am going to be serious about this run and make you proud,” Connor says before releasing Vixen then backing away quickly to avoid the contact from the forearm of Vixen who stumbles when the contact is missed.
Vixen is about to turn and strike out stops when she realizes that Connor has dropped to the mat and rolled out of the ring. She moves to the ropes and rests her arms on the top rope. “Where do you think you are going?” she asks which causes Connor to stop and turn with a smirk.
“I’m going to Climax Control…”
~*~*~*~*~
Timeline: Present day
“Did you think that last week I would do what I did and beat Justin Smith?” asks Connor as he walks into the frame of the camera. “I came back and in my first match back, I beat him like I said I would. And this week, I have a chance to be in a match for the Roulette title. Good god, can you imagine that?”
He grabs a chair out of frame then turns it and mounts it and rests his arms over the back of it.
“I am pretty sure that no one thought that I could do that and then this week be put in a match that could hold championship gold implications. I can hear em now, who the hell does this guy think he is to be put in a match like this?” ponders Connor as he looks directly into the camera. Turning to the right, he sighs.
“That’s right, yours truly is going to be given the chance to fight my way into a roulette championship match and to get there, all I have to do is beat the Troll and Bill Barnhart to do it. I have to ask myself though…should I be put in this situation?” Murphy questions to himself before turning back to the camera. “I answered in the following way. Damn right I deserve to be in the match to try and get to the Roulette title. And if it means that I have to fight my way through the Troll, then that is what I will do. I heard that he was some kind of mama’s boy who lives in her basement and talks a good game like the keyboard warrior that everyone seems to say that he is.” Connor tilts his head slightly. “But I digress. See I heard stories when I was preparing for my return about the Troll. Things like he really isn’t someone that should be taken seriously on the one hand and then not to doubt him because he can get a fluke win a time or two. So there will be no underestimating him. But I also want him to realize that I have his number and when I have my hand raised at the end of the meeting, there will be no hard feelings from me because I won’t be the one flat on my back.”
Connor looks cockily to the side in an effort to hide a smirk but isn’t successful as he brings his hand up to wipe over his smile.
“Then there is the other man in this match…Bill Barnhart. Former Roulette champion and all that. I don’t know him that well but that is okay because you don’t need to know someone to beat the hell out of them. And if we are being honest, he also really isn’t one to overlook either. The only difference is that he is starting to sound the same over and over again. And he is a one trick pony in my opinion. Talks about how he is not going to lose because he is rough and tough and all that crap that I have heard time and again,” muses Murphy.
“Whether or not it is the Troll or Bill Barnhart, the only thing I see are roadblocks on my way to the championship and if I have to beat them down to get my shot at Roulette gold, you can guaran-damn-tee that is what I am going to do. No apologies and no regrets gentlemen. You have to know that I am coming for the gold in SCW and it starts with me standing tall in the ring after our match to move onto the Roulette title match,” states Murphy as he stands and pushes the chair over and moves into the lens of the camera with a smirk. “My promise to myself.”
Without a blink, Connor moves out of frame as a faint sound of his theme beginning to be heard as the camera spins to try and find Murphy as the scene fades out.
