Post by The Ace on May 1, 2015 22:27:07 GMT
Kathleen Conway has been running alongside her husband Jake for quite a while now, and it felt great. It made her feel alive, her heart pounded in her chest with a steely determination to push herself harder, faster. She had to keep up with him, she didn't want to be left behind, not now, never again.
Her eyes wide, her face dripping with sweat, a dull ache began to swell around her knees.
She looked over her shoulder at him, her man, her knight, and wondered if he'd ever stop.
His face was granite, hardened against the streams of sweat that were carving their way down it.
His jaw tightened, his mind locked on his responsibilities, not only to his family, but to his job. His heart beat with the commitments he had made as a husband and father and his bones ached with the commitments he had made as the Man Of Steel.
He looked over his shoulder at her, his wife, his salvation, and wondered if she'd ever give up.
They hoped not.
Together they came to a stop before the house they had built here seven years ago.
Kathy Conway turned to him, and jumped into his arms.
Across the street, their neighbours watched them embrace through their little windows of envy as the man they'd come to know lifted his wife off her feet, they shook their heads and turned away, convinced they had seen it all before.
Kathy's legs stiffened as she trusted his strength to support her absolutely and with his arms securely locked around her waist, he swung her body left and then right as she kicked out either side of his waist on each swing.
This is how they began their morning, as partners not only in life but in everything...
Her eyes wide, her face dripping with sweat, a dull ache began to swell around her knees.
She looked over her shoulder at him, her man, her knight, and wondered if he'd ever stop.
His face was granite, hardened against the streams of sweat that were carving their way down it.
His jaw tightened, his mind locked on his responsibilities, not only to his family, but to his job. His heart beat with the commitments he had made as a husband and father and his bones ached with the commitments he had made as the Man Of Steel.
He looked over his shoulder at her, his wife, his salvation, and wondered if she'd ever give up.
They hoped not.
Together they came to a stop before the house they had built here seven years ago.
Kathy Conway turned to him, and jumped into his arms.
Across the street, their neighbours watched them embrace through their little windows of envy as the man they'd come to know lifted his wife off her feet, they shook their heads and turned away, convinced they had seen it all before.
Kathy's legs stiffened as she trusted his strength to support her absolutely and with his arms securely locked around her waist, he swung her body left and then right as she kicked out either side of his waist on each swing.
This is how they began their morning, as partners not only in life but in everything...
~~~
The transition was easier than Kathy had anticipated, thanks in no small part to Jake who now sat beside her and the Man Of Steel Championship spread, shared across their laps.
I've always been a curious sort Fiona, I don't mind admitting that.
Half of why this match has been designed the way it has is to satisfy my own sense of curiosity. I want to test you. I saw a spark of the fire in your belly when you spat your venom at me almost a month ago and it caught my attention. When you embarrassed me in front of my colleagues, friends and the entire world, on my birthday no less, I suddenly became very curious.
I found myself wondering just how far you would go to let Jack have his cake and eat it too. I found myself wondering if when you threw all that sweetness in my face and made me taste humility you were doing it out of a love and loyalty to Jack or whether you were simply doing it because you saw your moment to become a superstar overnight at my expense.
If it is the former, I completely understand. If it is the latter, I believe it.
No doubt you have heard the stories about what a win against me did for another unknown around here once upon a time.
Jessica Reed is the most successful Diamond this company has ever fostered, and whilst in all her smug arrogance, Amber Richards will tell you that it was their matches with her that cemented her legacy in this company, the fact of the matter is that it if it wasn't for Jess' first match with me two years ago, there would be no legacy.
I have always done what is best for business. I have cultivated Starlets and I have forged Diamonds and I have done it all without thanks and without recognition.
I have asked so little from this business because it has given me so much, and all I have ever truly demanded for my selflessness is that my husband comes home safe every night.
No doubt you expect the same charity from me Fi, don't lie to me, they all do.
It's why Roberto Verona hired me, after all. He knew I'd help him nurture his vision and ask only for my family to be provided for in return.
I still intend to honour the commitment I made in accepting my position in this company several months ago, only now I will do it strictly on my terms.
Being a quarter Irish myself, I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't fascinated to find out for myself just how delicately balanced your logic and aggression really are. Perhaps it is against my best interests to find out but I really want to know where your breaking point is.
How long is is it before that controlled flame becomes a raging fire?
How long can you burn before you burn out?
If I'm going to step back into the ring to give you the single biggest match of your career so far then these are the questions I want answers to Fiona. If you expect me to trade in my dreams so you can chase your own, it's the least you can do.
Answer me Fiona, show me who you really are. I demand it, but hold your tongue.
I'd rather hear you scream apologies than hear you tell lies.
Save them for somebody who cares Fiona, and for the sake of this argument we'll do you the courtesy of assuming that that really is Jack.
I'm not interested in just how boldly you continue to lie to each other, I'm only interested in how honest you are with me.
Tell me Jack, just how much does it wound your pride to know that Fiona can compete in this match and still go on to claim her shot at a grander prize on a grander stage later on in the night? It's a rather delicious set of circumstances, isn't it Jack?
Win or lose, Fiona can still chase a bigger dream at the end of the night. She can still go on to fulfill her greatest potential and represent herself as one of the best female wrestlers in this industry at the biggest show of them all, she can immortalise herself and best of all Jack, she can do it all without you, if she so chooses.
The question is what will she choose? What will she decide? Is it more important to her to stay on the apron and watch you try to chase your dream of shoving those cowboy boots up my piddly ass, or will she choose to chase her own and try to make a statement to the five other women in the Iron Maiden by standing toe to toe with my wife, the Commissioner of the Imperial Wrestling Federation?
I'm willing to bet that Fiona is not ready to tell you her decision just yet, and even if she is, we both know she'll just tell you what she thinks you need to hear. She'll tell you whatever she thinks will inspire you to push yourself beyond your limits against me. She won't make a real decision until she is forced to.
So tell me Jack, how much do you honestly believe she loves you?
How long do you think she can stand to watch as I dissect you in the middle of my canvas?
How much will it take before she's had enough and steps in the ring herself to slap me across the face and buy you the time you need to try and regroup?
On the mat in the gym, Jake Conway is on all fours, as Kathy tentatively climbs onto his back, staying on her knees. When she has balanced herself, Jake rolls out from under her on his shoulder and catches her in a cross armbar, challenging her to try and break it.
It takes a few moments, but eventually Kathy plants her feet firmly into the ground to give her some leverage as she shifts just enough of her weight to force Jake's shoulders to the mat and thus forcing him to release the hold.
He lets her go and rolls to his feet, he tries to stomp her leg, but she wraps both of her legs around his incoming foot and trips him, transitioning quickly into a grapevined ankle lock, restricting his range of motion. He taps signalling her release and from his stomach he goes back to all fours.
This time she puts her arms around his neck and pulls him down before wrapping her legs around his waist. Locked in the body scissors sleeper hold combo, Jake once more submits to her and rolls onto all fours as she releases. Kathy once more climbs onto his back.
This time as he rolls out from under her, she quickly wraps her arms around his neck, and floats over to the other side before transitioning into a triangle choke.
Jake taps a third time, and she crawls over him, laughing as she collapses on top of him. He brushes her hair aside and looks into her eyes and marvels at her smile, wondering how he managed to get so lucky. She pecks him on the lips in thanks, before she rolls over onto her back beside him, and he puts his arm around her in reassurance.
Husband and wife breathe heavily, worn out but happy, they lay there looking up at the ceiling and using its blank canvas to paint the rest of their lives together, as partners - always and forever...
If you think for one second that it won't come to that Jack, then you either underestimate me or you overestimate yourself, either way you're a fool.
See ever since you beat Mohammed Al Thani and earned the right to face me for the Man Of Steel Championship, you've said a lot and yet made little sense. You've concerned yourself far too much with the heads my wife has been sucking in your imagination to ever consider the reality that she has one of her own.
She came up with this match to find out just how much you were willing to give up for one another, and I may be biased, but it's really quite brilliant when you think about it, it really is.
Both of you have choices in this match. Either of you can choose to stand on the apron and sacrifice the other's dream for your own. If you stand there and let Fiona take the fall for you out of some sense of pride and saving face, then you are practically guaranteeing that she won't make it to the Iron Maiden at one hundred percent, which for all I know might be exactly what you want.
Maybe it serves you better to be selfish and deny her a chance to outgrow and leave you behind. Maybe you look at all of this as if you're going to lose your chance to live up to all of your promises, then screw it so is she. Are you that selfish, Jack?
I don't know, but if you were, it really wouldn't surprise me.
All I really know about you is that when you're in a hurry to get somewhere, you're not above breaking the law, so it really wouldn't be that much of a stretch to think you can break your fiance's absolute trust and faith in you to have her back in all of her endeavours and get away with it too, is it Jack?
It's obvious to us that both of you think you know all about how this world works. Such ignorance is often a sad staple of youth, and whilst such pig-headed ignorance doesn't really surprise me coming from Jack, I have to say I'm quite surprised at you Fifi. I really thought a woman who prides herself on being so logical would know better than to buy any of this Corporate Cocksuckers bullshit.
Think McFly, think.
The Ace reaches into his shirt pocket and passes his wife a folded twenty dollars which she accepts with a smile.
You're supposed to be a bright young twenty-first century woman and yet you still believe that the only possible way we can become successes in this world is by getting down on our knees and losing our dignity?
Kathy shakes her head, disappointed.
Granted, Amber Richards and Ana Valentine have played up to these sad stereotypes, but even in spite of their successes, you really shouldn't look to them as role models and you most certainly shouldn't paint me with that tired old male brush. I haven't diminished any of your successes, so the least you could do is extend me the same courtesy.
It would be the logical thing to do.
I have worked hard to get to where I am today and I am damn proud of myself for everything I've managed to achieve in this business, with and without Jake, and I'll be damned before I let you belittle and trivialise it out of some misplaced sense of jealousy.
The point we're trying to make Jack, Fiona is simply that you don't know us, any of us. You don't know me, you don't know my wife and you most certainly don't know Roberto Verona. If you did, you'd know how he dealt with the last worthless drunkard who thought he could waltz into this company and lay claim to a Championship.
His name was Joe Everyman.
Look him up, it's quite the story.
At least Joe waited until after he had already reached a position of prominence before he gave up and submitted to his personal demons and vices, I won't give you that luxury Jack, and I think deep down inside that brave little ticking heart of yours, you know that.
I wonder Jack, do you ever sit and think about how hollow and ineffectual your words sound to a man of my calibre?
It's almost tragic that you think a man of my career and my reputation will crumble before you so easily.
Maybe once upon a time I feared the future, maybe once upon a time I feared growing older and not being able to keep up with the younger, faster kids who breeze through this line of work, but now I'm not afraid Jack. I'm not afraid of you and what you might represent.
For your sake kid, I hope you really are everything you want me to believe you are.
I hope you are prepared to live this crazy little dream you chase, because if you're not, then you will wake up on Monday to a cold hard reality.
A reality where you've been left behind, not only by a man and his wife, but also by your fiance.
I've always been a curious sort Fiona, I don't mind admitting that.
Half of why this match has been designed the way it has is to satisfy my own sense of curiosity. I want to test you. I saw a spark of the fire in your belly when you spat your venom at me almost a month ago and it caught my attention. When you embarrassed me in front of my colleagues, friends and the entire world, on my birthday no less, I suddenly became very curious.
I found myself wondering just how far you would go to let Jack have his cake and eat it too. I found myself wondering if when you threw all that sweetness in my face and made me taste humility you were doing it out of a love and loyalty to Jack or whether you were simply doing it because you saw your moment to become a superstar overnight at my expense.
If it is the former, I completely understand. If it is the latter, I believe it.
No doubt you have heard the stories about what a win against me did for another unknown around here once upon a time.
Jessica Reed is the most successful Diamond this company has ever fostered, and whilst in all her smug arrogance, Amber Richards will tell you that it was their matches with her that cemented her legacy in this company, the fact of the matter is that it if it wasn't for Jess' first match with me two years ago, there would be no legacy.
I have always done what is best for business. I have cultivated Starlets and I have forged Diamonds and I have done it all without thanks and without recognition.
I have asked so little from this business because it has given me so much, and all I have ever truly demanded for my selflessness is that my husband comes home safe every night.
No doubt you expect the same charity from me Fi, don't lie to me, they all do.
It's why Roberto Verona hired me, after all. He knew I'd help him nurture his vision and ask only for my family to be provided for in return.
I still intend to honour the commitment I made in accepting my position in this company several months ago, only now I will do it strictly on my terms.
Being a quarter Irish myself, I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't fascinated to find out for myself just how delicately balanced your logic and aggression really are. Perhaps it is against my best interests to find out but I really want to know where your breaking point is.
How long is is it before that controlled flame becomes a raging fire?
How long can you burn before you burn out?
If I'm going to step back into the ring to give you the single biggest match of your career so far then these are the questions I want answers to Fiona. If you expect me to trade in my dreams so you can chase your own, it's the least you can do.
Answer me Fiona, show me who you really are. I demand it, but hold your tongue.
I'd rather hear you scream apologies than hear you tell lies.
Save them for somebody who cares Fiona, and for the sake of this argument we'll do you the courtesy of assuming that that really is Jack.
I'm not interested in just how boldly you continue to lie to each other, I'm only interested in how honest you are with me.
Tell me Jack, just how much does it wound your pride to know that Fiona can compete in this match and still go on to claim her shot at a grander prize on a grander stage later on in the night? It's a rather delicious set of circumstances, isn't it Jack?
Win or lose, Fiona can still chase a bigger dream at the end of the night. She can still go on to fulfill her greatest potential and represent herself as one of the best female wrestlers in this industry at the biggest show of them all, she can immortalise herself and best of all Jack, she can do it all without you, if she so chooses.
The question is what will she choose? What will she decide? Is it more important to her to stay on the apron and watch you try to chase your dream of shoving those cowboy boots up my piddly ass, or will she choose to chase her own and try to make a statement to the five other women in the Iron Maiden by standing toe to toe with my wife, the Commissioner of the Imperial Wrestling Federation?
I'm willing to bet that Fiona is not ready to tell you her decision just yet, and even if she is, we both know she'll just tell you what she thinks you need to hear. She'll tell you whatever she thinks will inspire you to push yourself beyond your limits against me. She won't make a real decision until she is forced to.
So tell me Jack, how much do you honestly believe she loves you?
How long do you think she can stand to watch as I dissect you in the middle of my canvas?
How much will it take before she's had enough and steps in the ring herself to slap me across the face and buy you the time you need to try and regroup?
~~~
On the mat in the gym, Jake Conway is on all fours, as Kathy tentatively climbs onto his back, staying on her knees. When she has balanced herself, Jake rolls out from under her on his shoulder and catches her in a cross armbar, challenging her to try and break it.
It takes a few moments, but eventually Kathy plants her feet firmly into the ground to give her some leverage as she shifts just enough of her weight to force Jake's shoulders to the mat and thus forcing him to release the hold.
He lets her go and rolls to his feet, he tries to stomp her leg, but she wraps both of her legs around his incoming foot and trips him, transitioning quickly into a grapevined ankle lock, restricting his range of motion. He taps signalling her release and from his stomach he goes back to all fours.
This time she puts her arms around his neck and pulls him down before wrapping her legs around his waist. Locked in the body scissors sleeper hold combo, Jake once more submits to her and rolls onto all fours as she releases. Kathy once more climbs onto his back.
This time as he rolls out from under her, she quickly wraps her arms around his neck, and floats over to the other side before transitioning into a triangle choke.
Jake taps a third time, and she crawls over him, laughing as she collapses on top of him. He brushes her hair aside and looks into her eyes and marvels at her smile, wondering how he managed to get so lucky. She pecks him on the lips in thanks, before she rolls over onto her back beside him, and he puts his arm around her in reassurance.
Husband and wife breathe heavily, worn out but happy, they lay there looking up at the ceiling and using its blank canvas to paint the rest of their lives together, as partners - always and forever...
~~~
If you think for one second that it won't come to that Jack, then you either underestimate me or you overestimate yourself, either way you're a fool.
See ever since you beat Mohammed Al Thani and earned the right to face me for the Man Of Steel Championship, you've said a lot and yet made little sense. You've concerned yourself far too much with the heads my wife has been sucking in your imagination to ever consider the reality that she has one of her own.
She came up with this match to find out just how much you were willing to give up for one another, and I may be biased, but it's really quite brilliant when you think about it, it really is.
Both of you have choices in this match. Either of you can choose to stand on the apron and sacrifice the other's dream for your own. If you stand there and let Fiona take the fall for you out of some sense of pride and saving face, then you are practically guaranteeing that she won't make it to the Iron Maiden at one hundred percent, which for all I know might be exactly what you want.
Maybe it serves you better to be selfish and deny her a chance to outgrow and leave you behind. Maybe you look at all of this as if you're going to lose your chance to live up to all of your promises, then screw it so is she. Are you that selfish, Jack?
I don't know, but if you were, it really wouldn't surprise me.
All I really know about you is that when you're in a hurry to get somewhere, you're not above breaking the law, so it really wouldn't be that much of a stretch to think you can break your fiance's absolute trust and faith in you to have her back in all of her endeavours and get away with it too, is it Jack?
It's obvious to us that both of you think you know all about how this world works. Such ignorance is often a sad staple of youth, and whilst such pig-headed ignorance doesn't really surprise me coming from Jack, I have to say I'm quite surprised at you Fifi. I really thought a woman who prides herself on being so logical would know better than to buy any of this Corporate Cocksuckers bullshit.
Think McFly, think.
The Ace reaches into his shirt pocket and passes his wife a folded twenty dollars which she accepts with a smile.
You're supposed to be a bright young twenty-first century woman and yet you still believe that the only possible way we can become successes in this world is by getting down on our knees and losing our dignity?
Kathy shakes her head, disappointed.
Granted, Amber Richards and Ana Valentine have played up to these sad stereotypes, but even in spite of their successes, you really shouldn't look to them as role models and you most certainly shouldn't paint me with that tired old male brush. I haven't diminished any of your successes, so the least you could do is extend me the same courtesy.
It would be the logical thing to do.
I have worked hard to get to where I am today and I am damn proud of myself for everything I've managed to achieve in this business, with and without Jake, and I'll be damned before I let you belittle and trivialise it out of some misplaced sense of jealousy.
The point we're trying to make Jack, Fiona is simply that you don't know us, any of us. You don't know me, you don't know my wife and you most certainly don't know Roberto Verona. If you did, you'd know how he dealt with the last worthless drunkard who thought he could waltz into this company and lay claim to a Championship.
His name was Joe Everyman.
Look him up, it's quite the story.
At least Joe waited until after he had already reached a position of prominence before he gave up and submitted to his personal demons and vices, I won't give you that luxury Jack, and I think deep down inside that brave little ticking heart of yours, you know that.
I wonder Jack, do you ever sit and think about how hollow and ineffectual your words sound to a man of my calibre?
It's almost tragic that you think a man of my career and my reputation will crumble before you so easily.
Maybe once upon a time I feared the future, maybe once upon a time I feared growing older and not being able to keep up with the younger, faster kids who breeze through this line of work, but now I'm not afraid Jack. I'm not afraid of you and what you might represent.
For your sake kid, I hope you really are everything you want me to believe you are.
I hope you are prepared to live this crazy little dream you chase, because if you're not, then you will wake up on Monday to a cold hard reality.
A reality where you've been left behind, not only by a man and his wife, but also by your fiance.
Well howdy there pardner.