Post by Brooklyn on Mar 26, 2018 2:29:35 GMT
“So, what if I said I wanted to ride down to the ring on a pony?” Brooklyn jokingly asked. She continued to trace her fingers along a gouge in the communal table but paused long enough to look at up Dean and bat her eyes. Without skipping a beat he reaches down and takes her chin in his hand.
“I’d steal you the prettiest one around.”
There was a pause for a moment before his stoic face spread into a wide grin. “Or I can just give you a piggy-back ride” he laughs. The pair just laugh until their faces hurt. It had been a while since Brooklyn had been able to laugh like that. Things around the compound just had felt … strange lately.
She couldn’t put her finger on any one factor that made it feel this way; Dean losing his Man-of-Steel title to Pooler, Warren becoming chummy with Dean; she hadn’t seen Maxine in about a week and Rowen … it almost broke Brooklyn’s heart to think about Rowan. The two of them had never been close, never really had an opportunity to build that relationship. But she was still Pack … still family. Family doesn’t just stop being family – and Brooklyn found herself thinking about Rowan during those moments when she wasn’t hyper focused on a task.
It had been about a month since she had done the impossible, since she had silenced the doubters who said that she’d never amount to anything; that said IWF was wasting their time booking her. A year ago she stepped through the ropes to take part in the Diamond in the Rough tournament and by the end of the same year she was crowned the IWF Diamond Champion.
She had been through hell to get here. Hell, nothing in her life had been easy up to that point, so why should her climb up the Diamond roster be any different? She took on all comers, netting loss after loss and hitting rock bottom. Dean had once told her that was a good thing; because it isn’t until you hit your absolute lowest that you realize that you can only go up from there.
The rest, as they say, is history. She was adopted by the Pack, thinking of herself as a mere puppy to the rest of them. From the outside they were scary; cold, hard, and seemingly devoid of happiness. Behind the façade, though, was a much different story. Once Brooklyn stopped and took a good look at them, she realized that she had been letting the bias of others influence and poison her image of them. That cold demeanor was only for protection because each and every member of this family had been burned before – they’d put themselves out there and been burned. They had no one to trust but themselves, and she quickly discovered a whole new world opened up to her when she stopped believing the lies and half-truths that the rest of the roster spouted.
She had her family now, and there wasn’t a damn thing that anyone could do about it.
“Not to pry,” Dean continued, picking at some dried mustard on the table, “but how are you feeling about this match?” Brooklyn sighed and dropped her head into her hands. “You know,” she said without looking up, “I just thought there’d be … more, you know?”
Dean nodded his head, though he wasn’t entirely sure what she meant.
“Don’t get me wrong, being the Diamond champion is what every girl in this company aspires to become. I mean, I’m officially able to be counted among people like Jess Reed, Eternity … Rowan” she says, trailing off. “Charity won the Diamond in the Rough tournament last year and I didn’t even make it into the second round. Now look at me, Dean” she says with a smile.
“I’m so proud,” he stops himself, “we … we’re all so proud of you. When you first came home you were this scared little thing that wouldn’t come out of her room, d’you remember?” Brooklyn nodded her head. “It took us weeks before you believed nobody here was going to sneak into your room at night and try and smother you. Little by little we chipped away at that stigma that you’d been led to believe, and little by little we helped you see what we already saw in you. Rowan and I knew from the moment we laid eyes on you that you belonged here with us.”
Brooklyn blushed and looked down at her hands. “So if I’ve come so far, accomplished so much … why do I feel like there’s still so much I’m missing?”
Dean didn’t say anything, just bit at his bottom lip as he thought. “It isn’t that you’re ‘missing out’, I think that you’re just not used to being … used to feeling successful. You’ve been fighting for so long that you don’t know what to do when you aren’t in the thick of it. Face it,” he grinned, “you’re not the underdog anymore.”
“Ok, warrior, yada-yada-yada, easy way out … blah blah blah … oh, okay so I guess there’s nothing in here original. I mean, part of me honestly had hoped that I’d see an original idea out of you Astrid; something that might give me the sense that you actually believe any of the bullshit that you’re throwing around. You want to play hero? Want to pretend that you did everything you could to ‘save me’? Whatever helps that big ol’ Viking head of yours sleep at night, princess.
Fact is, you and everyone else could have cared less when I was struggling, when I was floundering and barely keeping my head afloat. You couldn’t have been bothered to throw me so much as a life preserver, but the ‘evil’ ones … they dove straight in to save me.
They were the ones to take me by the hand and lead me to dry land while the rest of you looked on from your ivory towers and cast judgment. To this day, Astrid, to this day none of you have taken the time to come and talk to me. I’m not a very hard person to find, but I guess that’d be asking too much of you. It’s just far easier to keep looking down your nose at me, at my choices, at the people whom I call family. Maybe it’s because you, like many of the others in this company, are afraid of what you might find if you did sit down at our table. You might find that we aren’t the monsters that people like Fiona have made us out to be.
This longstanding beef that you’ve got with Max? I’m still not a hundred percent sure how that’s got anything to do with me – but if you think that ‘destroying her pup’ is gonna get you any closer to her then have at it, sister. I’ve been through enough shit in the last year to know that you don’t care about me, this title, the Pack … you just care about Max because it eats you up that you aren’t the biggest or the strongest in IWF.
You’re yesterdays news, Astrid.
So take it from someone who has spent the better part of her life being overlooked and under appreciated, it doesn’t get easier with time. In fact, it’ll start to gnaw at you; eating away a little bit here and a little bit there until you’re left this shell of your former self. In your case, that’ll still be one hell of a big shell. Look around you, Astrid, your perfect little view of IWF is nothing more than smoke and mirrors. Everything that you’ve been fighting for over the last six months has been for nothing; you’ve been like a Donna Quixote around here only the Pack aren’t windmills … we fight back.
This weekend you’ll see first hand what happens when you push this pup too far. You earned your shot at this title and I’m certainly not going to say anything to the contrary. When I look across that ring, I know that I’m standing with someone who deserves to be there – but that doesn’t mean that you ‘should’ be there. You should be facing off against Maxine and putting this pettiness behind you once and for all. But, if it falls on me to smack some sense into that massive skull of yours then so be it. The Pack, Astrid, is all about family … all about being there for each other through thick and thin. Win or lose, I know that they’ll be there waiting for me backstage.
Who’ll be waiting for you, Astrid?
Yeah, thought as much.”
“I’d steal you the prettiest one around.”
There was a pause for a moment before his stoic face spread into a wide grin. “Or I can just give you a piggy-back ride” he laughs. The pair just laugh until their faces hurt. It had been a while since Brooklyn had been able to laugh like that. Things around the compound just had felt … strange lately.
She couldn’t put her finger on any one factor that made it feel this way; Dean losing his Man-of-Steel title to Pooler, Warren becoming chummy with Dean; she hadn’t seen Maxine in about a week and Rowen … it almost broke Brooklyn’s heart to think about Rowan. The two of them had never been close, never really had an opportunity to build that relationship. But she was still Pack … still family. Family doesn’t just stop being family – and Brooklyn found herself thinking about Rowan during those moments when she wasn’t hyper focused on a task.
It had been about a month since she had done the impossible, since she had silenced the doubters who said that she’d never amount to anything; that said IWF was wasting their time booking her. A year ago she stepped through the ropes to take part in the Diamond in the Rough tournament and by the end of the same year she was crowned the IWF Diamond Champion.
She had been through hell to get here. Hell, nothing in her life had been easy up to that point, so why should her climb up the Diamond roster be any different? She took on all comers, netting loss after loss and hitting rock bottom. Dean had once told her that was a good thing; because it isn’t until you hit your absolute lowest that you realize that you can only go up from there.
The rest, as they say, is history. She was adopted by the Pack, thinking of herself as a mere puppy to the rest of them. From the outside they were scary; cold, hard, and seemingly devoid of happiness. Behind the façade, though, was a much different story. Once Brooklyn stopped and took a good look at them, she realized that she had been letting the bias of others influence and poison her image of them. That cold demeanor was only for protection because each and every member of this family had been burned before – they’d put themselves out there and been burned. They had no one to trust but themselves, and she quickly discovered a whole new world opened up to her when she stopped believing the lies and half-truths that the rest of the roster spouted.
She had her family now, and there wasn’t a damn thing that anyone could do about it.
“Not to pry,” Dean continued, picking at some dried mustard on the table, “but how are you feeling about this match?” Brooklyn sighed and dropped her head into her hands. “You know,” she said without looking up, “I just thought there’d be … more, you know?”
Dean nodded his head, though he wasn’t entirely sure what she meant.
“Don’t get me wrong, being the Diamond champion is what every girl in this company aspires to become. I mean, I’m officially able to be counted among people like Jess Reed, Eternity … Rowan” she says, trailing off. “Charity won the Diamond in the Rough tournament last year and I didn’t even make it into the second round. Now look at me, Dean” she says with a smile.
“I’m so proud,” he stops himself, “we … we’re all so proud of you. When you first came home you were this scared little thing that wouldn’t come out of her room, d’you remember?” Brooklyn nodded her head. “It took us weeks before you believed nobody here was going to sneak into your room at night and try and smother you. Little by little we chipped away at that stigma that you’d been led to believe, and little by little we helped you see what we already saw in you. Rowan and I knew from the moment we laid eyes on you that you belonged here with us.”
Brooklyn blushed and looked down at her hands. “So if I’ve come so far, accomplished so much … why do I feel like there’s still so much I’m missing?”
Dean didn’t say anything, just bit at his bottom lip as he thought. “It isn’t that you’re ‘missing out’, I think that you’re just not used to being … used to feeling successful. You’ve been fighting for so long that you don’t know what to do when you aren’t in the thick of it. Face it,” he grinned, “you’re not the underdog anymore.”
———————————-
“Ok, warrior, yada-yada-yada, easy way out … blah blah blah … oh, okay so I guess there’s nothing in here original. I mean, part of me honestly had hoped that I’d see an original idea out of you Astrid; something that might give me the sense that you actually believe any of the bullshit that you’re throwing around. You want to play hero? Want to pretend that you did everything you could to ‘save me’? Whatever helps that big ol’ Viking head of yours sleep at night, princess.
Fact is, you and everyone else could have cared less when I was struggling, when I was floundering and barely keeping my head afloat. You couldn’t have been bothered to throw me so much as a life preserver, but the ‘evil’ ones … they dove straight in to save me.
They were the ones to take me by the hand and lead me to dry land while the rest of you looked on from your ivory towers and cast judgment. To this day, Astrid, to this day none of you have taken the time to come and talk to me. I’m not a very hard person to find, but I guess that’d be asking too much of you. It’s just far easier to keep looking down your nose at me, at my choices, at the people whom I call family. Maybe it’s because you, like many of the others in this company, are afraid of what you might find if you did sit down at our table. You might find that we aren’t the monsters that people like Fiona have made us out to be.
This longstanding beef that you’ve got with Max? I’m still not a hundred percent sure how that’s got anything to do with me – but if you think that ‘destroying her pup’ is gonna get you any closer to her then have at it, sister. I’ve been through enough shit in the last year to know that you don’t care about me, this title, the Pack … you just care about Max because it eats you up that you aren’t the biggest or the strongest in IWF.
You’re yesterdays news, Astrid.
So take it from someone who has spent the better part of her life being overlooked and under appreciated, it doesn’t get easier with time. In fact, it’ll start to gnaw at you; eating away a little bit here and a little bit there until you’re left this shell of your former self. In your case, that’ll still be one hell of a big shell. Look around you, Astrid, your perfect little view of IWF is nothing more than smoke and mirrors. Everything that you’ve been fighting for over the last six months has been for nothing; you’ve been like a Donna Quixote around here only the Pack aren’t windmills … we fight back.
This weekend you’ll see first hand what happens when you push this pup too far. You earned your shot at this title and I’m certainly not going to say anything to the contrary. When I look across that ring, I know that I’m standing with someone who deserves to be there – but that doesn’t mean that you ‘should’ be there. You should be facing off against Maxine and putting this pettiness behind you once and for all. But, if it falls on me to smack some sense into that massive skull of yours then so be it. The Pack, Astrid, is all about family … all about being there for each other through thick and thin. Win or lose, I know that they’ll be there waiting for me backstage.
Who’ll be waiting for you, Astrid?
Yeah, thought as much.”
Well howdy there pardner.