Post by Rowan MacDonnough on Mar 21, 2017 7:35:55 GMT
((OOC Note - Wasn't sure exactly where to post this, given that there isn't a special board for special events... but since I know this is going to be booked concurrently to the PPV, this seemed the best place for it? Lincoln advised that this was the best place as well, but if we were wrong let me know and I'll see if the admins can move it to the proper place. Thanks!))
“Positively Patricia Powers… I’m here.”
Rowan holds a picture of Patricia up to the camera, showing that the self-help guru’s face has been viciously crossed out with dark red color.
“I don’t envy you, Patricia. The cruel winds of fate have blown, and they have chosen you to be the first woman to stand against me in singles competition in the Imperial Wrestling Federation… you, of all people – one who has supposedly dedicated her life to helping those who cannot help themselves, so selfless in demeanor and profound in message. The power of positivity, so lauded in your programs, bring hope to the hopeless and peace to the despondent.
And all of it… every word… is a lie.
I saw you in the ring during our little... showcase... I saw the fear in your eyes as you stood in the ring with monsters and madwomen, people who you could never understand. I remember watching you sail out of the ring, broken by the masked monster..."
She leans closer to the camera. "I brought down that monster, Patricia. Imagine what I will do to you, alone in that ring, with nowhere to run and nobody to protect you.
I do not envy you, Patricia, not just because of what I am about to inflict upon you as the whole world watches the beginning of the Diamonds in the Rough Tournament, but also because of all that you stand to lose. You made a truly terrible mistake coming here, Patricia. How will you sell your lies of hope to the huddled masses desperate for salvation after they all watch you give in to your own pain, driven to the brink of the abyss when you are called upon to stand against me in the pit? I will show them all that the hope you bring is shallow… fragile… fruitless. No amount of positivity will save you, Patricia… and you will lose everything you have fought and bled to build. Your life will fall apart around you, and the world will watch with gaping mouths as they witness a life destroyed.
But worry not, Patricia Powers… for as I offer you pain and fear the likes of which you have never known, so too do I offer you a chance at salvation. Pain, you will find – not positivity -, is the only truly pure thing in this world. Where positivity lies, pain cleanses, granting clarity and strength for those with the will to embrace it. If you have that will to let it all in, let it mold you, shape you… then you can emerge from that torment something… different… primal… new.”
Rowan was numb. Eyes streaked with tears, she stared helplessly at the broken and bandaged body of the young girl in the hospital bed. She was a beautiful young girl of 15, long dark hair like Rowan’s own… a bright young girl with such a future ahead of her. Her name was Katie MacDonnough, Rowan’s baby sister. She’d been in the back seat of their parents’ car when the truck swerved into oncoming traffic, its driver near blind drunk after a pub crawl. Her father had tried to turn, but wasn’t fast enough. The truck slammed into the family’s car at tremendous speed, but not enough to kill any of Rowan’s family outright. While the driver emerged with nothing more than a few scrapes, both of Rowan’s parents and Katie herself had been put into critical condition.
Their mother had died first, three days after the crash. Later that day, their father followed her. Rowan had been with them both when they died, though she was reluctant to leave her little sister’s side. Rowan had been spared... somehow escaping the crash with only a few minor injuries.
That was a week ago now. Rowan hadn’t had the time to fully mourn her parents’ loss, having sat vigil beside Katie since their death. Rhythmic beeping from the life support mixed with the agonized groans of the broken teen to make a grim background song to the small hospital room. Katie had barely slept since the crash, kept conscious by the constant pain from her horrible injuries. Rowan had learned that she was allergic to the pain medication available at the small hospital where Katie was being kept, and every other form of anesthetic that had been tried had yielded the same result. The broken bones, the vicious cuts, the collapsed lung and punctured organs… Katie had no respite from any of it. There was no escape from that pain, no matter how she begged and screamed. For the first few days Rowan had thought the screaming unbearable… but after Katie’s throat ran bloody and hoarse, Rowan found herself missing her sister’s screams when compared to the miserable, ragged groans and racking cough that inevitably followed.
She couldn’t turn away. She couldn’t abandon her baby sister now, now with all that had happened, all that they had gone through. As much torture as it was to see her beloved little sister in such pain, she couldn’t look away. For one reason or another, she watched it all, took it all in… perhaps hoping that if she exposed herself to as much of Katie’s pain as possible she could carry some of it herself to give her sister some small measure of relief.
The blurry sounds of the small room were cracked by the sound of footsteps after the subtle creak of an opening door. Rowan reluctantly turned her eyes from her sister, hands still clasped with the crushed remains of Katie’s own, to see the surgeon looking back at her with a small, sad smile.
“Miss MacDonnough,” he greeted darkly with a nod. “I’m surprised you’re still awake. You’ve barely slept since the accident, I really think you should consider-“
“No,” Rowan interrupted, her voice rough with exhaustion. “No, I’m not leaving this room until…” her voice trailed off, uncertain.
The surgeon’s voice softened. “Miss MacD… Rowan… I’m sorry, but with your sister’s allergies to our medications… the complications from that alone… I think its time for us to talk about what you’re going to do.”
“What do you mean?” Rowan snapped.
The doctor shook his head slowly. “Your sister is suffering, Rowan… and even if by some miracle she manages to recover, she’ll continue to suffer for a very long time.”
“And?”
The doctor took a breath. “And… and you can’t continue to put yourself through this as long as she’s in pain. She wouldn’t want you to live like this. You’re wasting away.”
“She wouldn’t want a lot of things,” Rowan muttered bitterly. “What’s your point?”
The doctor sighed. “I just… I think you need to seriously think about what you’re going to do. That’s all. Do you know where you’re going to live? What you’re going to do after she-“
“Get out,” Rowan snarled angrily, eyes flashing with menace. “Don’t you dare say it. Get the hell out of here.”
The doctor shook his head sadly and turned, leaving the room. Rowan turned her attention back to Katie, who had been slightly roused by the doctor’s presence. Her bloodshot eyes were open now, locked on Rowan’s and glistening with tears. She began to moan again, fully conscious of everything that fate had inflicted upon her in the crash, pain catching up with her after a few hours of drifting through that place between sleep and lucidity. She wasn’t truly asleep, but Rowan had hoped that it was some measure of escape from the pain. If nothing else, she was quieter then.
The two sisters stared at one another for a long while, Katie’s eyes desperate and agonized while Rowan’s were bleak and hopeless. Though Katie couldn’t speak, Rowan could hear her baby sister’s voice pleading in the back of her mind, begging for reprieve… desperate to make the pain stop.
Rowan closed her eyes, gritting her teeth and swallowing a scream. Katie was just a kid. This wasn’t the sort of thing that a kid should have to go through. No child should have to endure this. She was the older sister. The pain should have been hers to bear. She wanted so badly to take it all into herself, to let it in and embrace it so that Katie could be free… But there was no way to do that.
...Was there?
She opened her eyes and turned slowly to the cupboard next to Katie’s bed, to the pile of white pillows waiting there for either Katie or Rowan to use. Rowan stared at them for a long time.
Katie MacDonnough was pronounced dead an hour later. The death certificate listed the cause of death as asphyxiation, likely caused by the collapsed lung inflicted by a car accident the week before. With her death, Rowan at last left the hospital.
“I have faced that crucible, Patricia. I remember every moment as true agony tore through me, remember the feeling of falling through the void, grasping for something to cling onto before I vanished into the abyss… and I remember the precise moment where I stopped. Where I turned to face the rushing winds of oblivion, and let it all take me. I remember giving myself to the pain, and the exhilarating rush of rebirth when I emerged the woman you see today.
But I don’t think you have what it takes, Powers. Where some may emerge, you will only ever plunge screaming into nothingness, never to return. Because at your core, your base center… you are weak.
And through that weakness, you will break under the weight of what you will endure, because you don’t have the inner strength to rise above. Triple P, you are nothing more than a Patronizing, Philandering Profligate, and I have no patience for those who peddle prevarication. When we meet in that pit in the first round of this tournament, you will know pain and you will know panic before I pluck all of your life’s production away from you. You have perversely promoted perjury to a powerless populace, and when your pietism to pretension is laid bare for all to see they will show you no pity.
And as you lie there, broken and hollow, my eyes will be the last thing that Positively Patricia Powers ever sees, the bell sounding your defeat the last thing she ever hears… and you will become someone new, left in her place… someone pathetic. Someone pointless. Someone... Powerless.”
She lights the picture on fire, and the promo fades to black as it burns in her hand.
“Positively Patricia Powers… I’m here.”
Rowan holds a picture of Patricia up to the camera, showing that the self-help guru’s face has been viciously crossed out with dark red color.
“I don’t envy you, Patricia. The cruel winds of fate have blown, and they have chosen you to be the first woman to stand against me in singles competition in the Imperial Wrestling Federation… you, of all people – one who has supposedly dedicated her life to helping those who cannot help themselves, so selfless in demeanor and profound in message. The power of positivity, so lauded in your programs, bring hope to the hopeless and peace to the despondent.
And all of it… every word… is a lie.
I saw you in the ring during our little... showcase... I saw the fear in your eyes as you stood in the ring with monsters and madwomen, people who you could never understand. I remember watching you sail out of the ring, broken by the masked monster..."
She leans closer to the camera. "I brought down that monster, Patricia. Imagine what I will do to you, alone in that ring, with nowhere to run and nobody to protect you.
I do not envy you, Patricia, not just because of what I am about to inflict upon you as the whole world watches the beginning of the Diamonds in the Rough Tournament, but also because of all that you stand to lose. You made a truly terrible mistake coming here, Patricia. How will you sell your lies of hope to the huddled masses desperate for salvation after they all watch you give in to your own pain, driven to the brink of the abyss when you are called upon to stand against me in the pit? I will show them all that the hope you bring is shallow… fragile… fruitless. No amount of positivity will save you, Patricia… and you will lose everything you have fought and bled to build. Your life will fall apart around you, and the world will watch with gaping mouths as they witness a life destroyed.
But worry not, Patricia Powers… for as I offer you pain and fear the likes of which you have never known, so too do I offer you a chance at salvation. Pain, you will find – not positivity -, is the only truly pure thing in this world. Where positivity lies, pain cleanses, granting clarity and strength for those with the will to embrace it. If you have that will to let it all in, let it mold you, shape you… then you can emerge from that torment something… different… primal… new.”
One Year Ago - Kilkenny, Ireland
Rowan was numb. Eyes streaked with tears, she stared helplessly at the broken and bandaged body of the young girl in the hospital bed. She was a beautiful young girl of 15, long dark hair like Rowan’s own… a bright young girl with such a future ahead of her. Her name was Katie MacDonnough, Rowan’s baby sister. She’d been in the back seat of their parents’ car when the truck swerved into oncoming traffic, its driver near blind drunk after a pub crawl. Her father had tried to turn, but wasn’t fast enough. The truck slammed into the family’s car at tremendous speed, but not enough to kill any of Rowan’s family outright. While the driver emerged with nothing more than a few scrapes, both of Rowan’s parents and Katie herself had been put into critical condition.
Their mother had died first, three days after the crash. Later that day, their father followed her. Rowan had been with them both when they died, though she was reluctant to leave her little sister’s side. Rowan had been spared... somehow escaping the crash with only a few minor injuries.
That was a week ago now. Rowan hadn’t had the time to fully mourn her parents’ loss, having sat vigil beside Katie since their death. Rhythmic beeping from the life support mixed with the agonized groans of the broken teen to make a grim background song to the small hospital room. Katie had barely slept since the crash, kept conscious by the constant pain from her horrible injuries. Rowan had learned that she was allergic to the pain medication available at the small hospital where Katie was being kept, and every other form of anesthetic that had been tried had yielded the same result. The broken bones, the vicious cuts, the collapsed lung and punctured organs… Katie had no respite from any of it. There was no escape from that pain, no matter how she begged and screamed. For the first few days Rowan had thought the screaming unbearable… but after Katie’s throat ran bloody and hoarse, Rowan found herself missing her sister’s screams when compared to the miserable, ragged groans and racking cough that inevitably followed.
She couldn’t turn away. She couldn’t abandon her baby sister now, now with all that had happened, all that they had gone through. As much torture as it was to see her beloved little sister in such pain, she couldn’t look away. For one reason or another, she watched it all, took it all in… perhaps hoping that if she exposed herself to as much of Katie’s pain as possible she could carry some of it herself to give her sister some small measure of relief.
The blurry sounds of the small room were cracked by the sound of footsteps after the subtle creak of an opening door. Rowan reluctantly turned her eyes from her sister, hands still clasped with the crushed remains of Katie’s own, to see the surgeon looking back at her with a small, sad smile.
“Miss MacDonnough,” he greeted darkly with a nod. “I’m surprised you’re still awake. You’ve barely slept since the accident, I really think you should consider-“
“No,” Rowan interrupted, her voice rough with exhaustion. “No, I’m not leaving this room until…” her voice trailed off, uncertain.
The surgeon’s voice softened. “Miss MacD… Rowan… I’m sorry, but with your sister’s allergies to our medications… the complications from that alone… I think its time for us to talk about what you’re going to do.”
“What do you mean?” Rowan snapped.
The doctor shook his head slowly. “Your sister is suffering, Rowan… and even if by some miracle she manages to recover, she’ll continue to suffer for a very long time.”
“And?”
The doctor took a breath. “And… and you can’t continue to put yourself through this as long as she’s in pain. She wouldn’t want you to live like this. You’re wasting away.”
“She wouldn’t want a lot of things,” Rowan muttered bitterly. “What’s your point?”
The doctor sighed. “I just… I think you need to seriously think about what you’re going to do. That’s all. Do you know where you’re going to live? What you’re going to do after she-“
“Get out,” Rowan snarled angrily, eyes flashing with menace. “Don’t you dare say it. Get the hell out of here.”
The doctor shook his head sadly and turned, leaving the room. Rowan turned her attention back to Katie, who had been slightly roused by the doctor’s presence. Her bloodshot eyes were open now, locked on Rowan’s and glistening with tears. She began to moan again, fully conscious of everything that fate had inflicted upon her in the crash, pain catching up with her after a few hours of drifting through that place between sleep and lucidity. She wasn’t truly asleep, but Rowan had hoped that it was some measure of escape from the pain. If nothing else, she was quieter then.
The two sisters stared at one another for a long while, Katie’s eyes desperate and agonized while Rowan’s were bleak and hopeless. Though Katie couldn’t speak, Rowan could hear her baby sister’s voice pleading in the back of her mind, begging for reprieve… desperate to make the pain stop.
Rowan closed her eyes, gritting her teeth and swallowing a scream. Katie was just a kid. This wasn’t the sort of thing that a kid should have to go through. No child should have to endure this. She was the older sister. The pain should have been hers to bear. She wanted so badly to take it all into herself, to let it in and embrace it so that Katie could be free… But there was no way to do that.
...Was there?
She opened her eyes and turned slowly to the cupboard next to Katie’s bed, to the pile of white pillows waiting there for either Katie or Rowan to use. Rowan stared at them for a long time.
Katie MacDonnough was pronounced dead an hour later. The death certificate listed the cause of death as asphyxiation, likely caused by the collapsed lung inflicted by a car accident the week before. With her death, Rowan at last left the hospital.
“I have faced that crucible, Patricia. I remember every moment as true agony tore through me, remember the feeling of falling through the void, grasping for something to cling onto before I vanished into the abyss… and I remember the precise moment where I stopped. Where I turned to face the rushing winds of oblivion, and let it all take me. I remember giving myself to the pain, and the exhilarating rush of rebirth when I emerged the woman you see today.
But I don’t think you have what it takes, Powers. Where some may emerge, you will only ever plunge screaming into nothingness, never to return. Because at your core, your base center… you are weak.
And through that weakness, you will break under the weight of what you will endure, because you don’t have the inner strength to rise above. Triple P, you are nothing more than a Patronizing, Philandering Profligate, and I have no patience for those who peddle prevarication. When we meet in that pit in the first round of this tournament, you will know pain and you will know panic before I pluck all of your life’s production away from you. You have perversely promoted perjury to a powerless populace, and when your pietism to pretension is laid bare for all to see they will show you no pity.
And as you lie there, broken and hollow, my eyes will be the last thing that Positively Patricia Powers ever sees, the bell sounding your defeat the last thing she ever hears… and you will become someone new, left in her place… someone pathetic. Someone pointless. Someone... Powerless.”
She lights the picture on fire, and the promo fades to black as it burns in her hand.
Well howdy there pardner.