Harmony - Chapter XIII (Roulette #2)

[Awesome Stick Labor]

Chapter XIII
"EPILOGUE, PART II ~ THE DANCE"

October 8, 2016 - 8:30 PM (Day 13)
Later that evening, on the Royal Promenade...

...we find Johnny Gillmen sitting at a table, dressed to the nines in a black Armani tuxedo with matching bowtie, slacks, and dress shoes, peering down at a plate chalk-full of Italian foods--specifically a stromboli and alfredo spaghetti.  He smiled to himself, looking over the silverware and napkins that had been neatly laid out on the white tablecloth before spotting the giant bottle of champagne along with a cork and two ale glasses.  Indeed, this truly was a formal gathering--featuring Captain Nichelle Saldana and Cruise Director Shatner to the other passengers--and they were all dressed for the occasion.

It was a sight that the normally introverted Islander alum never thought he'd see.

The promenade was alight in blue for the party, with a small orchestral-jazz band playing musical standards in the background.  JJ took his time eating his meal, a hearty one at that, and with each bite, with each second, he started thinking about the highs he experienced throughout his journey at sea, to the lows of being dumped and getting involved in a barfight, to losing his one-time collegiate soulmate.  It was a roller-coaster ride of emotions, something that he had experienced before but not quite like these past two weeks.

But the ride would be over soon, replaced by the daily grind of his line of work.

We see Cruise Director Shatner, wearing a white business suit, step up to the microphone as the music stopped.

CRUISE DIRECTOR SHATNER:  Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention for...just a second?

The assembled guests, including JJ, stopped eating and turned towards the makeshift stage.

MR. SHATNER:  It's been an incredible two weeks out at sea, traveling to faraway lands, meeting new and exciting faces from all corners of the planet...and boldly going where no one has gone before.  Let us all raise our glasses now...and reflect upon the friendships that were made, the places we've visited...and the memories that last forever and ever.

Reflecting upon the lives all around him, including the ones that weren't around him anymore, Johnny solemnly raised his glass of bubbly into the air.  The gathering applauded as the band resumed its music, and Johnny resigned himself to finishing his dinner...

...until his eye caught a figure walking into the promenade, towards his table. 

Johnny stopped munching and smiled, seeing that the person in question was Yulia, wearing the same angelic-white, formal Versace gown she had worn upon first seeing him at the arcade.  As a crooner named Victor Montagne, a Frank Sinatra lookalike, stepped up to lead the house orchestra in a special song, Yulia stopped short of the table and extended an arm.  At first, JJ didn't know what she was trying to do, but a second glace revealed that, indeed, she was asking him to dance.

The two nodded, winking at each other in complete agreement.  JJ calmly placed his silverware down and stood up, taking Yulia by the hand and walking towards the middle of the room, which had just enough space to create a dance floor.  They inched closer together, gazing at each other's eyes as the band began to play "The Way You Look Tonight."

"Someday,
when I'm awfully low;
when the world is cold,
I will feel aglow.

Just thinking of you,
and the way you look
tonight."

Johnny and Yulia moved closer together, until their cheeks were almost side-by-side in the midst of an embrace, their feet moving along to the tune's slow tempo.

"You're lovely,
with your smile so warm;
and your cheeks so soft,
there is nothing for me.

But to love you
just the way you look
tonight."

The pair locked eyes, looking into each other's thoughts as Johnny took his left hand and gently massaged Yulia's neck, enjoying the intimate moment.

"With each word,
your tenderness grows;
tearing my fear apart.

And that laugh,
that wrinkles your nose,
touches my foolish heart."

Yulia grinned, running her hand through JJ's neatly-trimmed hair and clean-shaven visage before whispering into his ear.

YULIA: Where will you go from here?

JOHNNY GILLMEN: I gotta go to Missouri when I get back to port.  Then...it's back to the grind of my work.

The Chechan shook her head.

YULIA: No, I meant...where will you go with your work?

JJ took a deep breath and closed his eyes, unsure of which path to take, conflicted between two passions of his own life--his job and his side venture, Cowabunga Corner.

JOHNNY: I dunno...I just don't know.

Yulia nodded her head, understanding that whatever Johnny decided to do, it would be a difficult choice that would be rife with consequences.  They continued their slow dance as the band finished the song.

"Lovely,
never never change;
keep that breathless charm,
won't you please arrange it?

'Cause I love you,
just the way you look
tonight..."

The music came to an end, and the gathering of partygoes--crew members and passengers alike--applauded.  Johnny Gillmen and Yulia Malakova did the same, looking up at the glass ceiling, at the nighttime stars above, as the MS Harmony of the Seas headed back towards Port Everglades.

For JJ, however, this night might have been the ending to one chapter...

...yet it was the beginning of a new one.

~TO BE CONTINUED~

**********

JOHNNY GILLMEN'S LOG

March 17, 2017 - Entry #2

When I get up in the mornin', before I drink my first drop of green tea...I turn my TV on and watch the talkin' heads of Fox News. As I watch the President or his aides on-screen, I start to ask myself "gee, what's the overall narrative that's goin' on here?!"

At first, I'd think it's a few simple batches of chocolate-chip cookies--ya know, from the healthcare replacements to the budget proposal and the travel ban that was blocked (unlawfully IMO). Yet when I step back and close my eyes...I find out that it's a lot more complicated than what I'm led to believe.

First off, I fully understand that some of you folks might be a bit skeptical about certain things and I completely understand that. Here's the beef, I'm a history buff--holdin' a degree with a focus on current events. I get this sense, this feelin' in my bones, that what I see on my TV every mornin' I'm gonna hear about somethin' that, yes, would GREATLY affect not just my life, but yours as well. How we think and what we think about the topics we see play out, no matter how "fake" or "real" they are, can be changed with just one big event, and so on.

As for the players in the overarching saga?  We've got Mr. Trump, Republicans, Democrats, conservatives or liberals...they're all in the game.  We all sit down and try to ask ourselves, who's right and who's wrong? Who's the hero, who's the villian, and who's the Mr. In-Between? Who's gonna win the day, who's gonna go home sobbin'? It's at this moment in time when ya start to fully understand the narrative...that there's a struggle goin' on, with a President, an outsider who's never ran for office 'til got the biggest gig out there, that's tryin' DAMN hard to get his agenda across yet takin' pushbacks from all sides of the political establishment. It might seem like a "simple" storyline that plays itself out like a Hollywood spy flick, but...when ya look at it, it ain't THAT easy to digest, right?

The industry that is pro wrestlin', come to think of it, plays itself out...in the EXACT SAME MANNER as what goes on in good ol' 'Murrica, just translated into a smaller scale.

Think about it, my friends....you've got an ongoin' battle of attrition that's held in a ring instead of Capitol Hill. Who's good, who's bad, who's a tweener? What's gonna happen every week, who wins or loses? When the answers are revealed, they impact us all in some manner--makes us laugh, makes us cry, etc. Ya get behind certain groups of wrestlers, ya despise others...it's just a part of the biz, nothin' more and nothin' less.

Here's a good example or two.

There's Nighthawk and Andrew Jacobsen, whose passions reside in the nooks and crannies of the artform--the moves, the psychologies, etc. They've been around for at least a decade, maybe more give or take, but much like the experienced politicians in D.C., they're vets at this wrestlin' thing and know what they're doin' as they ply their craft to the best of their ability--love 'em or hate 'em.

And then...ya got me.

The ultimate outsider, the one guy who dares to expand on an elementary knowledge of karate and self-defense, the Plinkohead with ZERO "real" trainin'...yet I'm doin' this gig too in spite of pushbacks from all fronts.

But I ain't doin' this for my own benefit.  And CERTAINLY not for theirs, no matter what they tell me.

I'm doin' this Roulette thingymabobber for YOU, the dudes and dudettes out there, many of whom I watched this work of art with every week, who dream of doin' somethin' special, but are told "ANNNT, NOPE--ya don't belong!" by the biggest problem that has plagued IWF to its very foundation...

...bigger than, say, the 'Hawkster talkin' down to me about humility, or Verona passin' himself off as a saint...

...yeahhhhh, ya know what problem I'm talkin' about.

For too long...for FAR too long...the world of the Imperial Wrestling Federation has been infected with a severe illness--one of dishonesty, dishonor, and disrepute--called The House of Howlett. It has become a breedin' ground for the eltist types, led by a gal in her "fake news" anchor garb, that wanna make you believe that THEY are tellin' the honest-to-God truth, that they are actin' in a fair and just manner while in a ring.  Many other IWF talents--heroic or otherwise--have tried, but all haven't succeeded in fully curing this grand company of the House...

...that's gonna change REAL soon.  Believe me, it'll change faster than Sonic The Hedgehog.

These same select "superstars" in that l'il club of theirs want you to believe that they are lookin' out for you, that they have your best interests in mind, that the NUMBER ONE item on their dockets today, when it comes to workin' in this here gig...is each and every one of youse. But ya see...when ya pull back the curtain, you're gonna realize that they DON'T care about what ya think about them, that when ya disagree with them, they'll do ANYTHING within their power to shut ya dudes and dudettes down without fear of reprisal. In short...there's some bad hombres out there that truly don't care about you--but rather, about themselves.

And did I forget to mention Laura Howlett herself? Let's be real, she's a NAAAAAAAAASTY...

...ya get the picture, right? She's big trouble even while wearin' pigtails and a suit that looks like it came from your neighborhood D.A.V.

Think about it, folks. It's all about money to the House, all about power and prestige...not about the common folks who pay big bucks to see them ply their craft. But those things are just mere reasonings, only a small part of even bigger modus operandi. It's a real simple concept called every man for himself--the honchos will call it by different phrases. They'll call it "dog eat dog." They'll call it "the swamp munchin' on you for breakfast, lunch, and dinner 'til you're all good and torn up."

Hell...they'll even call it "survival of the fittest."

As unfortunate as it sounds, and I hate to say it but it needs to be said...you've all become nothin' more but victims of a Hateful House establishment that would rather throw you under the bus and betray you, fake cancer, or sanctimoniously preach about how this business is in their blood yet lash out against you when ya say somethin' they find deplorable, in order to further their own bottom lines instead of carin' about you or your biggest dreams or desires. And as a former wrestlin' fan who yearns for things like fairness and respect in ALL phases of the gig, lemme just say...it makes me sick.

My heart breaks for you guys and gals, it really does. Accordin' to the House, we're ALL losers...

...we, you and I, don't belong in their Party.

They have left us graspin' for straws as we search for the answer to a very simple question: whatever happened to fair and honest competition, the thing I once thought existed, where wrestlers could win (or lose) fair and square, without all the Howlett-sponsored interferin' or gang warfare that's hit us all like the plague?!

Ya know...the stuff guys like 'Hawk or Andy-Jac espouse more than anything else?

It's gone now, replaced by Laura's brand of match dodgin' and just pure hatred for the average Joe and Jessica Plinko, the people who bust their butts doin' their jobs in order to dream big, only to be told "no" time and time again 'cuz they ain't part of the club, 'cuz they don't BELONG...and conventional wisdom dictates that we should capitulate, that we should just shut the hell up and not show an INCH of the fires that burn within our hearts, the motivations that drive us to do what we wanna do for a livin'...

...but conventional wisdom doesn't know US, doesn't know who WE are, and what we wanna shoot for in life! My heart breaks every time I see youse bein' subjected to the same ol' song an' dance--that you ain't good enough to win, that you don't BELONG in the wrestlin' biz period."

No more--'cuz you people deserve BETTER than that. My heart is with you, and we will NEVER be broken again. Thing is, if 'Hawk, kiwi (err, KIWA), Andy-Jac, or even Verona or ARCANE can't solve their beefs with the House, then...who's gonna step it up a notch and say "enough's enough?!" Answer's REAL simple...us. Not me, I can't do it all myself. It's gonna be US--me and you, The People...

...TOGETHER!

We're gonna tear down the walls of the power-hungry, money-grubbin' Howlett establishment--big league. We're gonna create a movement the likes of which the Imperial Wrestlin' Federation will have NEVER seen before. We need to be UNITED in order to restore the "eye of the tiger"--the edge--IWF once had before Howlett took over and turned IWF into her own personal plaything!

It is TIME to stand up and cheer, to join me in treadin' through the murkiest of swamps, survivin' the fires of Hell, and END the House of Howlett once and for all...and even though I know we're gonna have our fair share of setbacks and defeats, we are gonna be the ones to rise up, stand our ground, and take the Imperial world to a whole new evolution...

..and we're gonna WIN the Roulette and take OUR rightful place amongst the stars.

#Dare2Dream