Post by Pax Stormcrow on Aug 7, 2023 3:11:19 GMT
Pax looked up at the double wide trailer that served as the field office for Prairie Fiber on the reservation. It was not a fancy structure, but they were still at the beginning of the project so it likely served its purpose. Pax didn’t judge, he spent time working for plenty of bosses that used similar setups when he was doing construction work to get by.
He walked towards the trailer and climbed the simple plywood steps. The email he had received did not explain the purpose of the meeting. It simply requested that one took place. So, he opened the door and stepped inside of the field office.
“Hey Pax! You’re early for your appointment. I’ll let Mr. Moris know you’re here.” The familiar young woman spoke up cheerfully from her desk. She typed out a quick message on her computer before she stood. “Get you a water? Bepsi?”
Pax blinked a few times. “Rose Hatathli? I haven’t seen you since the end of sophomore year. Heard you had gone down to the cities to go to school to be a chef? Water would be good.”
“Culinary school sucks. I dropped out and went to work with a friend at her family's restaurant and we got a place together. But then she stole my boyfriend and got me fired. But I had taken some admin classes in my free time. Just in case. Prairie Fiber offered me a job and since I was moving back home anyways…” she shrugged her shoulders with a pretty smile and a noticeable fluttering of her eyes before she offered him the bottle of water.
Pax felt the beginning of his cheeks warming so he focused on the bottle of water in his hands, cracking it open and taking a long drink from it. “Hot out there isn’t it? Real glad I’m not working out there.”
Laughing, she leaned against the front of her desk. “Ya, though the Fiber company has been dropping off water coolers at all of the work zones. Think they took that idea you gave them and are hoping to convince people to work with them.”
“You heard about that?” He tilts his head to one side.
“I’m Mr. Moris’ administrative assistant. I hear a lot.”
“Any idea about this meeting?”
“Maybe…” Her reply was a teasing sing-song but at that moment the door to the office room opened.
“Ah! Mr. Stormcrow. It is good to see you. Come, let us get this meeting done as fast as we can. Always more to do, yes?” He stood there, bespoke charcoal suit and all.
Rose wiggled her fingers before walking back to her chair. Pax turned sharply and made his way over towards the head office that Mr. Moris held the door open for. “Please take a seat Mr. Stormcrow. Can I get you a drink, perhaps?”
“No thank you sir. Rose got me some water.” Pax lifted the bottle and gave it a wiggle to show he did have it in his possession before he took a deep drink from it.
“Excellent! She is a very useful assistant.” Mr. Moris walked around his desk and took a seat. He picked up a leatherbound executive folder and flipped it open. “I asked for this meeting so we could talk about my schedule.”
Pax couldn’t keep the frown off his face, shifting in his seat. “My schedule? What do you mean?”
Mr. Moris pulled out a sheet of paper and slid it in front of Pax. “I got this from your current agent while negotiating a new price structuring deal.”
Pax frown only deepened as he looked down at the list of his appearance dates. “How did you get this? He should not have given this to you.”
“There is no need to fear, Mr. Stormcrow. We are business partners and as your partners we need to know about your appearances. For both of our benefits. It is all part of the contract you signed.” He leaned forward, using his steel pen to point to a list of dates where Pax was set to appear at a convention for a signing. “It is about these dates. I am afraid you will need to cancel them.”
Pax pushed himself to his feet. “No way, I already told them I was going to appear. I can’t back out.”
“I’m afraid you must. You have no contractual obligation signed for this appearance yet, but as part of our contract I am going to need you to show up to the Mille Lacs County fair. So we must arrange this change.” The man smiled that unnerving smile of his.
“What are you talking about? Our contract doesn’t have anything like that.”
Another flutter of paper and a page was placed down in front of Pax. “As you can see here, we are allowed up to 10 specific events that we can request from you. This is just one of those 10 per year.”
Pax frowned slightly and leaned down to look. It was from the contract. He must have missed that in the contract discussion with his lawyers. “I think that me showing up to do a meet and greet and a signing with fans would work better. I was even going to pull a showing at a cosplay wrestling event. This is a county fair.”
Mr. Moris cleared his throat and leaned back. “Ordinarily you would of course be right. However, it seems that there has been some push back in Mille Lacs county about letting us work there. I need you to show up and plant the flag for our endeavor. Without this, I am afraid that we can not do our work in our community.”
Pax stared across the desk at the man. “What do you mean we couldn’t do what we agreed too?”
Mr. Moris spread his hands wide. “We need cable laid down to connect to the network. It needs to travel through Mille Lac’s county.”
“You think that maybe it would have been useful knowledge up front when we signed our contract?”
“Mr. Stormcrow, our negotiations were quite clear that we were still pending other agreements. Some of our team appeared to be overconfident in closing their deals. I can assure you they have been dealt with. I can assure you this will still go through, but I need your assistance for this…”
“This is fucking unacceptable Moris! You want me to show up and play up a bunch of hicks that have been nothing but a pain in the ass for my people because someone dropped the ball? That I gotta sacrifice things important to my career?”
Mr. Moris held up a hand. “I can assure you that you will be compensated for your time…”
“You know full well that much of my earnings from that are merch sales and signings.”
“Yes, which is why we are arranging for your colleague Nate Harris to fill in for you. As your ‘Diversity Hire’ agreements state your merch will be sold as well and he will be able to get some work and the convention will not be left ‘holding the bag’ as they say. We will also be fully expensing the day at the fair for you, naturally, and paying you twice the asking rate from the convention for the day’s work.” He smiled that chilling smile of his. “As an aside, we have agreed to hire contracted workers from the reservation strictly, for the work on the Reservation and in Mille Lacs County once they agree.”
Pax frowned slightly. That would likely cover his missed costs, mostly. On top of that it would bring work to his community. He shook his head once and then nodded. “Alright, fine. That seems fair. It’s just like more heads up about these sorts of things. Plus I want that in writing.”
Mr. Morris nodded his head and passed him a packet of papers. “Here is a copy for you. Your lawyers have already received it.”
Pax snatched it from the suit’s hands and rolled it up to stuff into the back pocket of his jeans. “Sounds good. Anything else?”
“Not today. I think we can continue on with our other business.”
Pax gave a sharp nod of his head. It was an upsetting scenario and he felt betrayed. But sometimes these things happen. They tried to make good on it and even if he didn’t break even on the deal, other people he cared about did. He walked out of the office, fully intent on getting the hell out when Rose cleared her throat.
“By the way Pax, planning to be out at the casino tonight. Probably hit the bar at around 7. In case you’re free.” She fluttered her eyelashes at him again. Pax beat a hasty retreat from the office before the flush of anger or embarrassment could be seen by anyone else.
~_~
The vlog opens up in Pax’s home office, showing pictures of his various accolades behind him on the wall behind him, with the picture of his mother embracing him after one of his High School matches front and center. He offers a charming smile to the camera.
“What up Neechies, it’s ya boy! I am hot off a win at Bloody Assizes where I took all that good shit that Nick Knight was talking about and I damn near made him choke on it. If it wasn’t for someone fucking around I would have. But I got the win and the points and that brings us handily up to my next match.”
Lifting his hands to his face he scrubbed them over his cheeks for a moment before staring into the camera.
“Caleb that was the second time in as many weeks as you being a little fucker has cost me. You could have saved our tag match, and because of you being a meddling prick I lost out on a submission victory in heir to the throne. We got beef boy. That’s two times where you have fucked me over and the bookers have granted me my wish and put you in the same ring as me and I tend to fucking collect on you.”
Pax lifts a hand up, pulling on his chin to crack his neck slightly before he stares dead into the mic.
“You talked some shit about how you think you are a better technician than me? Bitch really? You gotta be dumb to confidently say you think you can grapple better than me. I have been at this game since I was 5. 20 years of nothing but training to be a better athlete between those two ropes. You must be out your damn mind to think that you can truly match my technical abilities. Like I know I ain’t perfect. There is plenty I suffer at in that ring. But pure technical talent? Nobody is on my level.”
He lifts his hand, pointing two fingers directly into the screen.
“You got some skill Caleb. I don’t deny that. You wouldn’t have one Joker in the pack if you didn’t. You wouldn’t be here if you didn’t belong here. But don’t sit there and talk like you hold a candle to me athletically. Ya, you got your sneaky tricks that you use. But I am well acquainted with them and I’m not about to fall for that bullshit.”
Pax places both of his hands on the desk, pushing himself back so he can take a deep breath and compose himself for a moment. He does not want his feelings to get ahead of him, even in this vlog.
“Your quickness is a problem. I’m big enough to own that you are faster than I am and that means a lot. But here’s the thing Caleb. We are technical magicians. Quickness only goes so far when one of your biggest strengths means you gotta lock up with me and everyone knows that I am stronger and I am more skilled than you. I know the moves you do and I got the power to muscle out of them and put others on you. Not to mention you might as well be a steakhouse with all the beef I got with you.”
Pax slams his fist into his desk, causing the video camera to jump wildly and struggle to refocus on his face. He stares dead into the camera until it corrects for the sudden jolt.
“You cost me 10 points last week Caleb. I’m going to take each and every one of those points out of your fucking body. Maybe I won’t make you tap out, but best believe that is my goal. It don’t matter either way because at the end of the day they are going to raise my arm in victory. You are going to have to kill me to get the win on me because I am not about to let your cowardly, run away, interfering ass come out on top in this match. No peace bitch. Get ready for a fuckin fight.”
The camera skids across the desk as Pax pushes the camera away, causing the feed to turn to static before abruptly fading to black.
He walked towards the trailer and climbed the simple plywood steps. The email he had received did not explain the purpose of the meeting. It simply requested that one took place. So, he opened the door and stepped inside of the field office.
“Hey Pax! You’re early for your appointment. I’ll let Mr. Moris know you’re here.” The familiar young woman spoke up cheerfully from her desk. She typed out a quick message on her computer before she stood. “Get you a water? Bepsi?”
Pax blinked a few times. “Rose Hatathli? I haven’t seen you since the end of sophomore year. Heard you had gone down to the cities to go to school to be a chef? Water would be good.”
“Culinary school sucks. I dropped out and went to work with a friend at her family's restaurant and we got a place together. But then she stole my boyfriend and got me fired. But I had taken some admin classes in my free time. Just in case. Prairie Fiber offered me a job and since I was moving back home anyways…” she shrugged her shoulders with a pretty smile and a noticeable fluttering of her eyes before she offered him the bottle of water.
Pax felt the beginning of his cheeks warming so he focused on the bottle of water in his hands, cracking it open and taking a long drink from it. “Hot out there isn’t it? Real glad I’m not working out there.”
Laughing, she leaned against the front of her desk. “Ya, though the Fiber company has been dropping off water coolers at all of the work zones. Think they took that idea you gave them and are hoping to convince people to work with them.”
“You heard about that?” He tilts his head to one side.
“I’m Mr. Moris’ administrative assistant. I hear a lot.”
“Any idea about this meeting?”
“Maybe…” Her reply was a teasing sing-song but at that moment the door to the office room opened.
“Ah! Mr. Stormcrow. It is good to see you. Come, let us get this meeting done as fast as we can. Always more to do, yes?” He stood there, bespoke charcoal suit and all.
Rose wiggled her fingers before walking back to her chair. Pax turned sharply and made his way over towards the head office that Mr. Moris held the door open for. “Please take a seat Mr. Stormcrow. Can I get you a drink, perhaps?”
“No thank you sir. Rose got me some water.” Pax lifted the bottle and gave it a wiggle to show he did have it in his possession before he took a deep drink from it.
“Excellent! She is a very useful assistant.” Mr. Moris walked around his desk and took a seat. He picked up a leatherbound executive folder and flipped it open. “I asked for this meeting so we could talk about my schedule.”
Pax couldn’t keep the frown off his face, shifting in his seat. “My schedule? What do you mean?”
Mr. Moris pulled out a sheet of paper and slid it in front of Pax. “I got this from your current agent while negotiating a new price structuring deal.”
Pax frown only deepened as he looked down at the list of his appearance dates. “How did you get this? He should not have given this to you.”
“There is no need to fear, Mr. Stormcrow. We are business partners and as your partners we need to know about your appearances. For both of our benefits. It is all part of the contract you signed.” He leaned forward, using his steel pen to point to a list of dates where Pax was set to appear at a convention for a signing. “It is about these dates. I am afraid you will need to cancel them.”
Pax pushed himself to his feet. “No way, I already told them I was going to appear. I can’t back out.”
“I’m afraid you must. You have no contractual obligation signed for this appearance yet, but as part of our contract I am going to need you to show up to the Mille Lacs County fair. So we must arrange this change.” The man smiled that unnerving smile of his.
“What are you talking about? Our contract doesn’t have anything like that.”
Another flutter of paper and a page was placed down in front of Pax. “As you can see here, we are allowed up to 10 specific events that we can request from you. This is just one of those 10 per year.”
Pax frowned slightly and leaned down to look. It was from the contract. He must have missed that in the contract discussion with his lawyers. “I think that me showing up to do a meet and greet and a signing with fans would work better. I was even going to pull a showing at a cosplay wrestling event. This is a county fair.”
Mr. Moris cleared his throat and leaned back. “Ordinarily you would of course be right. However, it seems that there has been some push back in Mille Lacs county about letting us work there. I need you to show up and plant the flag for our endeavor. Without this, I am afraid that we can not do our work in our community.”
Pax stared across the desk at the man. “What do you mean we couldn’t do what we agreed too?”
Mr. Moris spread his hands wide. “We need cable laid down to connect to the network. It needs to travel through Mille Lac’s county.”
“You think that maybe it would have been useful knowledge up front when we signed our contract?”
“Mr. Stormcrow, our negotiations were quite clear that we were still pending other agreements. Some of our team appeared to be overconfident in closing their deals. I can assure you they have been dealt with. I can assure you this will still go through, but I need your assistance for this…”
“This is fucking unacceptable Moris! You want me to show up and play up a bunch of hicks that have been nothing but a pain in the ass for my people because someone dropped the ball? That I gotta sacrifice things important to my career?”
Mr. Moris held up a hand. “I can assure you that you will be compensated for your time…”
“You know full well that much of my earnings from that are merch sales and signings.”
“Yes, which is why we are arranging for your colleague Nate Harris to fill in for you. As your ‘Diversity Hire’ agreements state your merch will be sold as well and he will be able to get some work and the convention will not be left ‘holding the bag’ as they say. We will also be fully expensing the day at the fair for you, naturally, and paying you twice the asking rate from the convention for the day’s work.” He smiled that chilling smile of his. “As an aside, we have agreed to hire contracted workers from the reservation strictly, for the work on the Reservation and in Mille Lacs County once they agree.”
Pax frowned slightly. That would likely cover his missed costs, mostly. On top of that it would bring work to his community. He shook his head once and then nodded. “Alright, fine. That seems fair. It’s just like more heads up about these sorts of things. Plus I want that in writing.”
Mr. Morris nodded his head and passed him a packet of papers. “Here is a copy for you. Your lawyers have already received it.”
Pax snatched it from the suit’s hands and rolled it up to stuff into the back pocket of his jeans. “Sounds good. Anything else?”
“Not today. I think we can continue on with our other business.”
Pax gave a sharp nod of his head. It was an upsetting scenario and he felt betrayed. But sometimes these things happen. They tried to make good on it and even if he didn’t break even on the deal, other people he cared about did. He walked out of the office, fully intent on getting the hell out when Rose cleared her throat.
“By the way Pax, planning to be out at the casino tonight. Probably hit the bar at around 7. In case you’re free.” She fluttered her eyelashes at him again. Pax beat a hasty retreat from the office before the flush of anger or embarrassment could be seen by anyone else.
~_~
The vlog opens up in Pax’s home office, showing pictures of his various accolades behind him on the wall behind him, with the picture of his mother embracing him after one of his High School matches front and center. He offers a charming smile to the camera.
“What up Neechies, it’s ya boy! I am hot off a win at Bloody Assizes where I took all that good shit that Nick Knight was talking about and I damn near made him choke on it. If it wasn’t for someone fucking around I would have. But I got the win and the points and that brings us handily up to my next match.”
Lifting his hands to his face he scrubbed them over his cheeks for a moment before staring into the camera.
“Caleb that was the second time in as many weeks as you being a little fucker has cost me. You could have saved our tag match, and because of you being a meddling prick I lost out on a submission victory in heir to the throne. We got beef boy. That’s two times where you have fucked me over and the bookers have granted me my wish and put you in the same ring as me and I tend to fucking collect on you.”
Pax lifts a hand up, pulling on his chin to crack his neck slightly before he stares dead into the mic.
“You talked some shit about how you think you are a better technician than me? Bitch really? You gotta be dumb to confidently say you think you can grapple better than me. I have been at this game since I was 5. 20 years of nothing but training to be a better athlete between those two ropes. You must be out your damn mind to think that you can truly match my technical abilities. Like I know I ain’t perfect. There is plenty I suffer at in that ring. But pure technical talent? Nobody is on my level.”
He lifts his hand, pointing two fingers directly into the screen.
“You got some skill Caleb. I don’t deny that. You wouldn’t have one Joker in the pack if you didn’t. You wouldn’t be here if you didn’t belong here. But don’t sit there and talk like you hold a candle to me athletically. Ya, you got your sneaky tricks that you use. But I am well acquainted with them and I’m not about to fall for that bullshit.”
Pax places both of his hands on the desk, pushing himself back so he can take a deep breath and compose himself for a moment. He does not want his feelings to get ahead of him, even in this vlog.
“Your quickness is a problem. I’m big enough to own that you are faster than I am and that means a lot. But here’s the thing Caleb. We are technical magicians. Quickness only goes so far when one of your biggest strengths means you gotta lock up with me and everyone knows that I am stronger and I am more skilled than you. I know the moves you do and I got the power to muscle out of them and put others on you. Not to mention you might as well be a steakhouse with all the beef I got with you.”
Pax slams his fist into his desk, causing the video camera to jump wildly and struggle to refocus on his face. He stares dead into the camera until it corrects for the sudden jolt.
“You cost me 10 points last week Caleb. I’m going to take each and every one of those points out of your fucking body. Maybe I won’t make you tap out, but best believe that is my goal. It don’t matter either way because at the end of the day they are going to raise my arm in victory. You are going to have to kill me to get the win on me because I am not about to let your cowardly, run away, interfering ass come out on top in this match. No peace bitch. Get ready for a fuckin fight.”
The camera skids across the desk as Pax pushes the camera away, causing the feed to turn to static before abruptly fading to black.
Well howdy there pardner.