Post by Dean Harper on Oct 27, 2017 2:35:31 GMT
The camera comes on to Dean sitting a living room with his feet up on a coffee table. It’s not a decor that matches The Compound and has some random toys around the couch.
“Hi IWF, how’s it going?”
Dean leans forward slightly.
“You want to know what I love? Being right. I said the tag match wasn’t going to end well. I mean, I got a nice car ride with Max afterwards but it was just as fucked as I said it was going to be. Then Dev and I signed the little sheet of paper saying he’d face me for the Man of Steel belt again. Wasn’t what I was aiming for but I’d be fucking lying if I said it wasn’t something I wanted.”
Dean smirks.
“Rowan is defending against Fiona. Barely even a concern. Fiona fails, it’s her trademark. Maxine is facing Shea. Shae who hasn’t been on her A game lately. Three Pack members. Three motherfucking belts. I am absolutely tickled this comes on the heels of Astrid and Nighthawk’s plea for the whole IWF to stand up against us. Tickled.”
Dean pauses.
“You think I was driven before? The chance to show the dominance of The Pack to the rest of this company is not something I am going to go at weakly. This belt? Beating Devlin Raine? That’s all that fucking matters now. I no longer have the distraction of Cross. This hunt has lead not only to my chance to crush Dev under my boot for his transgressions, but also to take that belt from his limp body and bring it the glory it deserves. Don’t worry Dev, I’ll be good to it.”
Dean chuckles.
“You want to know what the best part of this whole thing? It proves Rowan’s message works fucking works. You can deny it all you want, but it works. Regardless to what others will tell you? This world is a goddamn mess. There are beasts in the night that delight in pain and you want to know what? That’s okay. Sometimes the only thing that makes this whole messed up world make sense is having a hand to take in your own; someone who knows all the worst parts of you and doesn’t reject you for it.”
Dean’s eyes flash.
“Can any of the rest of you say you have that? I am going to take that belt home. There is nothing holding me back anymore. I am getting that belt. It will bring Rowan the honor she deserves, and the belt deserves someone worthy to wear it. I am bringing home that belt because as a status symbol it proves she’s right. With that belt I prove my worth. It brings honor to The Pack. And as the sweet, sweet frosting on top I get the added bonus of my new favorite piece of prey being the only thing standing between me and that fucking victory.”
Something coiled in the dark smiled, There are things you will not know until you experience them.
Dean stared at the plastic door. He hadn’t expected a response, not like that, not from her. He seemed to flirt like breathing now. Maxine was a special circumstance, he went out of his way to flirt with her. He’d brought her in to Rowan. He’d fixed her, prepped her for her Becoming, to cross the line was… ethically questionable. But they’d clicked, hadn’t they? It wasn’t just him. She’d left it in his hands to ignore or go forward. Dean threw open the door and marched down the halls after her.
Dean was terrible at impulse control.
He grabbed her by the shoulder and slammed her into the wall, not enough to hurt her but enough to get her attention. He kissed her urgently before she pushed him away, almost knocking him off his feet. Dean laughed grinning at her.
“Why are you kissing me like I’m fragile?” She looked angry.
“In case you were joking.” Dean smirked before he closed the distance grabbing her by the hair kissed her roughly. She kissed him back slamming Dean against a closed door. Dean kisses down her throat as he worked the handle leading her inside.
“Dev.”
Dean picks up a well-loved teddy bear off the floor and sets it next to him.
“How’re sleeping Dev? How often are you checking in with the Fam? Making sure they’re safe, making sure there isn’t someone standing outside the house in the dark? Do you limit it to just your wife and kid? Do you include the parents? I know they are on that last tour, but you are checking in… aren’t you? Like a good boy?”
Dean leans back.
“You posted to fucking twitter before our tag-team match a picture outside my home. You want me to believe you’re not frightened of me. That you’re hunting me back.”
Dean chuckles slightly.
“You goddamned tease. I didn’t know you cared, Dev. Makes me all warm and tingly.”
Dean bites his bottom lip.
“But tell me something, Dev. What’s the plan there? Were you going to break into the compound, fight some thralls and then…what? You clearly couldn’t kidnap someone close to me. Rowan, Max, and Caleb can take care of themselves. I have no family to guilt me with or pressure me with outside of The Pack. Not that it would be your style anyways. So it’s an extra empty threat.”
Dean nods.
“So it’s got to be to get a reaction out of me, right? What reaction were you hoping for? Get me all hot and bothered enough to kick the door in? No. This is MY hunt. I’m going to do it my way. Don’t rush me, babe.”
Dean stretches slightly.
“You practically gave me an engraved invitation to come into your house and wreck your apple pie life. One has to wonder to the why. You’re not a suicidal bastard. Is it the thought process that the angrier I get the more sloppy I get? I admit, I’ve been sloppy from time to time. Too cocky for my own good. But I don’t underestimate you, Dev. I never have. Don’t underestimate me.”
Dean has a soft look for a moment.
“It’s a nice house you have. All that’s missing is a plate of cookies cooling on the counter. Perfect place to raise a family. This is sitcom levels of beautiful here. I even like the drawings on the fridge. Real eye for color Alexander has. Kate’s really made the place nice, kept the homey touches from your parents but didn’t make it a shrine to your childhood. It’s nice.”
Dean holds up a cell phone.
“You’re all at the grocery store right now. According to a very active fan of yours, someone just tagged you in a stealth selfie in the pasta aisle. It’s amazing the kind of things you can find out on the internet. With the star power and fan base your as has? Hell, they tag your fucking wife in Instagram photos of her at the playground with your kid. Isn’t the information age beautiful? So yeah, I’m here.”
Dean smirks.
“You’re hunting me back. You keep making a production about how you aren’t scared of me. I think we can all agree that’s a fucking lie. You’re terrified. You want me off my game. You want me to go at you halfcocked. You, Astrid and Nighthawk want to make a line in the stand. Here, no farther. Sure, that’s fine. What’s the phrase? Come and have a go if you think you’re hard enough?”
Dean laughs.
“I love all the dark little places your mind is going in this hunt Dev. I love how your first response to open season being called on you is to hunt me. To taunt me. Does your wife know you’re playing fast and loose with her safety? Does your son know Daddy doesn’t want to protect him from the monsters? That Daddy invited them in?”
Dean winks.
“Because, Dev, that’s what you wanted me to do. You wanted me to come for them. You begged me to. I could. I’ve made clear how easy it would be for me to come at you through your loved ones. But no, I won’t. Hurting them gives you that righteous pain. That good pain of feeling like the hero swooping in and getting revenge. I don’t want that easy pain for you Dev. You wouldn’t learn anything from that.”
Dean sets his phone in his pocket.
“There are so many more complex ways I can hurt you without laying a hand on your family. Failing to defend that belt would be a piece of it. Showing your family how little you care about their safety? A bonus. Because you invited me in to your house. I left a little something behind for Lex. I think he’ll like it. I know it was what I needed when I was his age.”
Dean grins.
“I’ll see you at October Revolution Dev, I can’t wait to take that belt that means so much to you away from you. I really can’t. Don’t worry, I’ve got a special place just for it.”
“---If you follow the other programs produced by my company you’ll notice my producer has left, most of my funding, I should be on medical leave. Kelly Hastings made a pretty specific comment about me. I get it. Harsh but Kelly has a point.”
“There are other cases. Lots of cases not being covered by me because I’m stuck on this, people go missing every day. I can’t really point out why. Maybe it’s the fact an old women disappeared without a soul who seems to want to find her.”
“Before my last intern was assigned to a different project he mentioned a wrestling show. There was a man on the wrestling show promotion that had a member named Dean Harper. I’ll be honest; I excluded pop culture results from my research. It’s how I have my algorithms setup for pulling research. What’s that Arthur Conan Doyle quote? ‘Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.’”
“But it’s a lead. Dean Harper worked in the backroom, filming and the like. Then he got pulled by one of the female talent into…A cult. There’s a cult apparently. I’ll be honest; wrestling isn’t something I have knowledge of. Maybe that’s common?”
“Due to legal reasons I’m not going to say which wrestling promotion, I will state I haven’t tried to contact them. I can’t imagine they’d take a call from a podcast to setup an interview with one of their talent to answer questions about a disappearance. I haven’t been able to prove beyond the one photo I have from years ago that that might be the same person.”
“I’ve done some research on twitter. I saw a retweet he made in response to someone else. A rival who posted a supposed location of his home. I know where to go next to talk to Dean, to get a face to face. I’m going to get some answers. Hopefully I’ll have an interview for you next episode. Thank you for sticking with me so far.”
“Before I end this though, I want to address the elephant in the room. This is to whoever has been stalking me. The phone calls, the emails and the vaguely threatening twitter messages? The fact someone broke into my apartment and stole only my home movies and nothing else? You don’t scare me. This has been Sara Otis, PAS podcast signing off.”
“Hi IWF, how’s it going?”
Dean leans forward slightly.
“You want to know what I love? Being right. I said the tag match wasn’t going to end well. I mean, I got a nice car ride with Max afterwards but it was just as fucked as I said it was going to be. Then Dev and I signed the little sheet of paper saying he’d face me for the Man of Steel belt again. Wasn’t what I was aiming for but I’d be fucking lying if I said it wasn’t something I wanted.”
Dean smirks.
“Rowan is defending against Fiona. Barely even a concern. Fiona fails, it’s her trademark. Maxine is facing Shea. Shae who hasn’t been on her A game lately. Three Pack members. Three motherfucking belts. I am absolutely tickled this comes on the heels of Astrid and Nighthawk’s plea for the whole IWF to stand up against us. Tickled.”
Dean pauses.
“You think I was driven before? The chance to show the dominance of The Pack to the rest of this company is not something I am going to go at weakly. This belt? Beating Devlin Raine? That’s all that fucking matters now. I no longer have the distraction of Cross. This hunt has lead not only to my chance to crush Dev under my boot for his transgressions, but also to take that belt from his limp body and bring it the glory it deserves. Don’t worry Dev, I’ll be good to it.”
Dean chuckles.
“You want to know what the best part of this whole thing? It proves Rowan’s message works fucking works. You can deny it all you want, but it works. Regardless to what others will tell you? This world is a goddamn mess. There are beasts in the night that delight in pain and you want to know what? That’s okay. Sometimes the only thing that makes this whole messed up world make sense is having a hand to take in your own; someone who knows all the worst parts of you and doesn’t reject you for it.”
Dean’s eyes flash.
“Can any of the rest of you say you have that? I am going to take that belt home. There is nothing holding me back anymore. I am getting that belt. It will bring Rowan the honor she deserves, and the belt deserves someone worthy to wear it. I am bringing home that belt because as a status symbol it proves she’s right. With that belt I prove my worth. It brings honor to The Pack. And as the sweet, sweet frosting on top I get the added bonus of my new favorite piece of prey being the only thing standing between me and that fucking victory.”
Something coiled in the dark smiled, There are things you will not know until you experience them.
Dean stared at the plastic door. He hadn’t expected a response, not like that, not from her. He seemed to flirt like breathing now. Maxine was a special circumstance, he went out of his way to flirt with her. He’d brought her in to Rowan. He’d fixed her, prepped her for her Becoming, to cross the line was… ethically questionable. But they’d clicked, hadn’t they? It wasn’t just him. She’d left it in his hands to ignore or go forward. Dean threw open the door and marched down the halls after her.
Dean was terrible at impulse control.
He grabbed her by the shoulder and slammed her into the wall, not enough to hurt her but enough to get her attention. He kissed her urgently before she pushed him away, almost knocking him off his feet. Dean laughed grinning at her.
“Why are you kissing me like I’m fragile?” She looked angry.
“In case you were joking.” Dean smirked before he closed the distance grabbing her by the hair kissed her roughly. She kissed him back slamming Dean against a closed door. Dean kisses down her throat as he worked the handle leading her inside.
“Dev.”
Dean picks up a well-loved teddy bear off the floor and sets it next to him.
“How’re sleeping Dev? How often are you checking in with the Fam? Making sure they’re safe, making sure there isn’t someone standing outside the house in the dark? Do you limit it to just your wife and kid? Do you include the parents? I know they are on that last tour, but you are checking in… aren’t you? Like a good boy?”
Dean leans back.
“You posted to fucking twitter before our tag-team match a picture outside my home. You want me to believe you’re not frightened of me. That you’re hunting me back.”
Dean chuckles slightly.
“You goddamned tease. I didn’t know you cared, Dev. Makes me all warm and tingly.”
Dean bites his bottom lip.
“But tell me something, Dev. What’s the plan there? Were you going to break into the compound, fight some thralls and then…what? You clearly couldn’t kidnap someone close to me. Rowan, Max, and Caleb can take care of themselves. I have no family to guilt me with or pressure me with outside of The Pack. Not that it would be your style anyways. So it’s an extra empty threat.”
Dean nods.
“So it’s got to be to get a reaction out of me, right? What reaction were you hoping for? Get me all hot and bothered enough to kick the door in? No. This is MY hunt. I’m going to do it my way. Don’t rush me, babe.”
Dean stretches slightly.
“You practically gave me an engraved invitation to come into your house and wreck your apple pie life. One has to wonder to the why. You’re not a suicidal bastard. Is it the thought process that the angrier I get the more sloppy I get? I admit, I’ve been sloppy from time to time. Too cocky for my own good. But I don’t underestimate you, Dev. I never have. Don’t underestimate me.”
Dean has a soft look for a moment.
“It’s a nice house you have. All that’s missing is a plate of cookies cooling on the counter. Perfect place to raise a family. This is sitcom levels of beautiful here. I even like the drawings on the fridge. Real eye for color Alexander has. Kate’s really made the place nice, kept the homey touches from your parents but didn’t make it a shrine to your childhood. It’s nice.”
Dean holds up a cell phone.
“You’re all at the grocery store right now. According to a very active fan of yours, someone just tagged you in a stealth selfie in the pasta aisle. It’s amazing the kind of things you can find out on the internet. With the star power and fan base your as has? Hell, they tag your fucking wife in Instagram photos of her at the playground with your kid. Isn’t the information age beautiful? So yeah, I’m here.”
Dean smirks.
“You’re hunting me back. You keep making a production about how you aren’t scared of me. I think we can all agree that’s a fucking lie. You’re terrified. You want me off my game. You want me to go at you halfcocked. You, Astrid and Nighthawk want to make a line in the stand. Here, no farther. Sure, that’s fine. What’s the phrase? Come and have a go if you think you’re hard enough?”
Dean laughs.
“I love all the dark little places your mind is going in this hunt Dev. I love how your first response to open season being called on you is to hunt me. To taunt me. Does your wife know you’re playing fast and loose with her safety? Does your son know Daddy doesn’t want to protect him from the monsters? That Daddy invited them in?”
Dean winks.
“Because, Dev, that’s what you wanted me to do. You wanted me to come for them. You begged me to. I could. I’ve made clear how easy it would be for me to come at you through your loved ones. But no, I won’t. Hurting them gives you that righteous pain. That good pain of feeling like the hero swooping in and getting revenge. I don’t want that easy pain for you Dev. You wouldn’t learn anything from that.”
Dean sets his phone in his pocket.
“There are so many more complex ways I can hurt you without laying a hand on your family. Failing to defend that belt would be a piece of it. Showing your family how little you care about their safety? A bonus. Because you invited me in to your house. I left a little something behind for Lex. I think he’ll like it. I know it was what I needed when I was his age.”
Dean grins.
“I’ll see you at October Revolution Dev, I can’t wait to take that belt that means so much to you away from you. I really can’t. Don’t worry, I’ve got a special place just for it.”
“---If you follow the other programs produced by my company you’ll notice my producer has left, most of my funding, I should be on medical leave. Kelly Hastings made a pretty specific comment about me. I get it. Harsh but Kelly has a point.”
“There are other cases. Lots of cases not being covered by me because I’m stuck on this, people go missing every day. I can’t really point out why. Maybe it’s the fact an old women disappeared without a soul who seems to want to find her.”
“Before my last intern was assigned to a different project he mentioned a wrestling show. There was a man on the wrestling show promotion that had a member named Dean Harper. I’ll be honest; I excluded pop culture results from my research. It’s how I have my algorithms setup for pulling research. What’s that Arthur Conan Doyle quote? ‘Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.’”
“But it’s a lead. Dean Harper worked in the backroom, filming and the like. Then he got pulled by one of the female talent into…A cult. There’s a cult apparently. I’ll be honest; wrestling isn’t something I have knowledge of. Maybe that’s common?”
“Due to legal reasons I’m not going to say which wrestling promotion, I will state I haven’t tried to contact them. I can’t imagine they’d take a call from a podcast to setup an interview with one of their talent to answer questions about a disappearance. I haven’t been able to prove beyond the one photo I have from years ago that that might be the same person.”
“I’ve done some research on twitter. I saw a retweet he made in response to someone else. A rival who posted a supposed location of his home. I know where to go next to talk to Dean, to get a face to face. I’m going to get some answers. Hopefully I’ll have an interview for you next episode. Thank you for sticking with me so far.”
“Before I end this though, I want to address the elephant in the room. This is to whoever has been stalking me. The phone calls, the emails and the vaguely threatening twitter messages? The fact someone broke into my apartment and stole only my home movies and nothing else? You don’t scare me. This has been Sara Otis, PAS podcast signing off.”
Well howdy there pardner.