PROMO: Thoughts

[Guest Christian_Fury]

Sorry if I'm rusty... It's been a while...

 

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I'm flying in the sky, free of the bounds of gravity, feeling the air holding me like a nurturing pair of hands, soaring carelessly into a blob of fluffy clouds...

 

"Bzzt! Bzzt! Bzzt!"

 

...Nothing troubling my thoughts, no worries, or regrets... Just the serenity of nature...

 

"Bzzt! Bzzt! Bzzt!"

 

...I'd love nothing more than to stay in this fantasy land for life... Well, that and a few other choice things and people... But I feel I can stay here...

 

"Bzzt! Bzzt! Bzzt! Bzzt! Bzz... SMACK!"

 

After dispatching the unseen annoyance of some buzzing creature off to my side, the clouds in my vision part suddenly, in a shaft of light, blinding white... I hear the words "not long enough" whisper in my mind before I try to identify the brightening light flooding my view...

 

"...Sunlight..."

 

That was the word my foggy brain was looking for. I forgot to close the damn blinds before I went to bed last night. Luckily for me, the alarm woke me up before the sunlight invaded my dreams and knocked me through to conciousness. I glanace at the alarm, seeing no permanent damage to it... Who knows when I'll need it again. Careful not to nudge the mass of blankets and sheets beside me, I extract myself from the bed, and tread across the room.

 

My mind is still stuck in my dream as I make my way to the kitchen to start some coffee. Everything seemed so easy there. But that wasn't reality. This was. Even as I think that, I look around, still feeling the odd sense of unfamiliarity with my new home that I felt when I first arrived a month ago. Seeing that the lifeblood of my mornings was handling itself well on its own, I walk outside. Again, that sense of unfamiliarity. A strange place... I see what drew my subconcious mind out of the house, and lean to grab it off the ground. Ahh, the morning news. The mainstay of my existence for years. But even this seems unfamiliar, as the name "Seattle Times" stares back at me. I sigh, thinking I should just get used to this. The smell of a strong cup of java beckons and draws me back through the door. And as I pour my first cup of the day, I flip nonchalantly through the pages, on a seek-and-find mission for note-worthy news. First stop? The sports page, home of only the most important news. I slide the meaningless aside, and settle back at the table with paper and cup in hand, glancing over each article.

 

Skim, skim, skim... "Don't care about the Mariners..." Turn the page. Skim, skim, skim... "Cavs lost again... Rgh..." Turn the page. Skim, skim, skim... "Are the Indians nuts??? They have to resign him... Geez, are they..." My ire at managerial idiocy was instantly lost at seeing something else. Had I not hit this page, I would've passed it by. But there it was, in black and white:

 

"IGNWF to change networks; TheSmarks.COM to carry wrestling coverage"

 

Thankfully I'd just put the coffee cup down, or I would've had a lapful. This is the first time I'd seen anything about my old stomping grounds in months, and it wasn't quite by accident...

 

It wasn't long after the 9/11 tragedies... My mind was still a mess. I hadn't yet come to grips with everything that had happened... How my life was fundamentally changed... In one instant, I had lost the foundations of my life. My mother and father were onboard one of those flights that speared the World Trade Centers... Mom was leaving from meetings in downtown New York; Dad had gotten there the night before to meet her. They were heading for the West Coast for a vacation. I had heard the news, but tried to get through it by wrestling, by trying to keep my life as normal as possible. But after a while, I just couldn't stand it... It was so hard to keep up the facade. So I left... Cut all my ties. Hadn't even thought about wrestling...

 

Until right now. I finally had some stability in my life. A new place, a new job... Could I possibly get back into this 'sport' after so long? It's tempting... My thoughts are interrupted by a soft voice.

 

"Thought I heard you rummaging through the paper in here." The tired murmur belongs to Lara Gabriel, my lady love. I smile at her as she treads to get a cup of coffee. She was the biggest bit of stability I had in my life. After I had left the wrestling circuit, she'd went all-out to try to find me. She heard about my folks, wanted to help. Even after all that happened to her while I was in the business. We started talking again, and things proceeded from there. The unfamiliarity of everything around me was familiar to her. The only thing unfamiliar to her now was the toilet seat being up half the time, and the big ball of me in the bed next to her at night. She settles down next to me, and I finally read the rest of the article that had stopped me cold before. I pause a moment, then look over at Lara.

 

"What would you say if I told you that I was thinking of getting back into wrestling?" She looks up at me from the Metro section, and almost smiles. That suprises me.

 

"I wouldn't doubt it, Chris," she answers, reaching over to touch my hand. "Your whole life revolved around it for so long, and you'd be continuing your father's legacy." She grins. "Knowing that bull-headedness of yours, you'd want to do it to make him proud of you, and make you secure in your manliness." I look at her a moment, and bust out laughing. She knows me all too well. She looks down demurely, a cute smirk on her face.

 

"Plus, I already know about the switch," she confesses. "I was watching last night while you were asleep." Now that was really surprising.

 

"You were?"

 

"Yeah... I wasn't going to say anything, but I know you also have some unresolved issues with a few of the people there." Her hand guides mine inside the front of her robe, pressing to her skin. I nod, anger rising at her implication. She still bears the scars of my handiwork when I was under the influence of the Clan. I never did get the chance to pay them back.

 

"There's one condition, though." Her voice has an edge to it... Unfamiliar.

 

"What's that?"

 

"I'm coming in with you." Her eyes grow hard for a moment. "I think I have a right to get some revenge, too." I have to smile. She's a fighter, and a lover... I know both.

 

"Well, there's nothing for sure yet," I state, though somehow I think my decision is forming as I speak. "But you've got a deal... Even though I think you just want to be the only one administering first aid to me." We share another laugh, then I notice her hand still has mine pressed to her skin. I quirk a brow at her, and she tugs at my arm.

 

"Well, mister returning wrestler," she coos in a sultry voice. "I think you'd better start showing me your moves... I'm a wrestler-to-be, after all... And I can be a good student." Again, she tugs at my arm. I grin, and stand to follow her back to the bedroom. Who am I to argue?

 

After all, any teacher loves a willing student.

[Guest TheBostonStrangler]

Fury's still got it....that promo made mem wanna cry, man...

 

*runs away sobbing*

 

Still, excellent work. Good to have you back.

[Guest Edwin MacPhisto]

Rusty?

 

That's you rusty?  I can't wait to see what happens when you get back in the swing of things.  One of the best promos I've read, WF or JL, in a long time.  It just...worked.  Bravo.

[Guest Sydney_Sky]

Whoa. A Fury promo. Call me Sydney and gimme a spank.

 

No wait.. that already happened in chat the other night. *grin*

 

Nice promo. Making a comeback soon? BTW, ya got email.