Promo: In the middle of America...

[Guest AnnieEclectic]

Somewhere between New York and L.A…

 

It travels through the air silently and fluidly. Sleek and aerodynamic, despite its somewhat odd proportions, it could be considered poetry in motion, like most things in flight. Although discussing this in regular conversation would probably stir strange looks, and thoughts that this person has an overactive interpretation of art, and far too much time on their hands. Still, it continues on its expertly plotted trajectory, the light glinting off the sharp steel tip, giving only a moments notice before…!

 

THUNK.

 

…it embeds itself handily in red felt. Specifically, the double-20 slot on a dartboard, on a wall, in a bar, on a street, in a town, somewhere in America.

 

“Yeeeesss!”

 

The thrower of the dart gives an yell of satisfaction, pumping his--Pardon, *her*--fist. Next to the woman, the trucker that was her opponent gawks, letting his cigarette fall silently to the floor. He pushes his green John Deere hat aside, scratching at his head.

 

“Damn.” He musters, before turning to the woman. “Lady, I’ve been trucking cross-country for 23 years. I ain’t *never* been beaten in a game of darts that badly before.”

 

“Happy I could be of service, Bill.” The woman smirks, before extending a hand. “Now, about that 10 bucks…”

 

The trucker sighs and produces a single bill from his wallet, handing it off before taking out another cigarette and wandering away, muttering. Grinning, Annie Eclectic folds the bill up, hording it away in a pocket of her jeans. A pocket with a growing collection of banknotes. Nothing beat waltzing into a bar in some foreign place, challenging anyone who cared to face her, and whipping them soundly at darts. Granted, it was a bittersweet recreation at the moment. Sure, she *had* finally beaten Tod deKindes after losing their best-of-five series, but… things in the Magnificent 4, or whatever they were now, between Tom and herself were somewhat shaky. On top of that, she *just* lost the Light-Heavyweight title to El Luchadore Magnifico…

 

Oh well. At least there’s still gullible fools to beat at darts. Adjusting her cap and shirt, and flicking the lapels of her completely generic I’m-trying-to-be-incognito-and-not-get-mobbed-by-fans jacket, she looks around…

 

…and is drawn to the light sound of applause from a single young man, leaning over a table. Judging from the dress shirt and the apron, he obviously works here. He brushes his long auburn hair out of his eyes (To no effect), before speaking. “Wow… not bad!” He pauses as Annie takes an exaggerated bow. “Heh… He actually comes in here and plays darts whenever he’s in town. I’ve never seen anyone beat him.” Pause. “Well, at least not by 100 some-odd points.”

 

“Well, throwing sharp things is second nature to me.” Annie says, noting his slight blanch. “So… stockboy, you wanna go?”

 

The young man briefly checks his watch… “Well, I got about 5 minutes to kill. Why not?”

 

“…just… don’t make me bet anything, okay?”

 

Annie, grin firmly etched in face, nods briskly. “Sure, sure. I mean, if you’re that convinced about losing…”

 

The young man frowns, gathering up his darts as Annie pulls hers from the board. Taking one, he does a dramatic baseball windup, holding it above his head before whipping it to the board…!

 

THUNK

 

…and watching it embed itself soundly in the wall. The man scratches the back of his head sheepishly, as Annie chortles. “Well,” he begins, “It’s been a while since I last played…”

 

“You *don’t say?*”

 

Taking his second dart, he sights the board in much less bravado-filled fashion, before whipping the dart…

 

THUNK

 

…squarely into the black felt on the outside of the dartboard. Annie breaks up laughing. With a sigh, he limply wrists his last dart into the board (-Thunk- 11 points), before hanging his head. “Your go.”

 

Annie confidently steps up to the line, eyes the board… and brings up a dart, tossing it…

 

-Thunk-

 

…onto the double 14 slot. Not skipping a beat, she brings up the second dart, sights, and throws…

 

-Thunk- Double 18. In much the same fashion as the other two darts, she brings the last one up… sight, throw…

 

-Thunk- Triple 20. Annie casually brings up her hand, and mimes blowing smoke off it. The young man gives her a lopsided face. “…wow. And you do this all the time?”

 

“Oh, of course!” Annie starts. “But you said you were rusty, so I went easy on you.” Eclectic finishes with a grin, as the man shakes his head, walking over to pluck his darts out of the board. “So… I’m getting the feeling that you aren’t here just to throw darts.”

 

“Oh? What makes you say that?”

 

“Well,” The man walks up to the line, darts in hand, and sights the board. “Call it a gut feeling.” (- thunk- 10 points)

 

Annie cocks her head to one side, letting her response roll around. “Well… your gut’s pretty smart.” She smirks. “Hmm… why don’t we call it a celebration?”

 

“Oh?” The man queries, sighting up a dart… (-Thunk!-) …and giving the board a sour face as it lands next to the ‘9’ on the outside of the board. He sighs. “Bah… anyway, what’s the occasion?”

 

Again, Annie rolls her answer around, before opening her mouth… “Well… let’s say… I set some things right.”

 

The man gives Annie a quizzical look.

 

“Well, I mean…” Annie sighs, exasperated. “Look, how can I put this? What do you value most in a relationship, or a friendship, or whatever?”

 

“…uh…”

 

Annie puts on a wry face as she folds her arms, “You HAVE been in a relationship before, right, stock boy?”

 

“Hey, hey! That’s unfair!” The man exclaims! “Anyway… meh, really, I don’t know. Trust, communication, loyalty, hone--”

 

“EXACTLY!” Shouts Annie! “Loyalty! So... you understand exactly how *wrong* and horrible betrayal is, no?”

 

The bar boy looks at Annie, his dull green eyes piercing, oddly… before he examines the floor, forlorn. “Regrettably.”

 

“So, can you live with the answer ‘I did a bit of avenging?’”

 

The man looks up, “Heh. Sure. Avenging for matters of the heart… are you some kind of soldier for love and justice?”

 

Annie spreads a mile-wide grin. “Exactly!”

 

“…for yourself?” Eclectic shakes her head. “No? For a friend?”

 

Annie shrugs. “I guess you could call her that… and while we’re playing 20 Questions, are you EVER going to throw that dart?”

 

The young man gives the self-proclaimed “Hardcore Queen” another lopsided face; turning to the dart board and wristing it… (-Thunk!-) …into the triple-2 slot. He buries his face in his hands. “I give up.”

 

“Heh, heh, heh… not so fast. You wouldn’t rob me of any practice, would you?”

 

“I guess not.”

 

With that, Annie steps to the board, oozing her usual confident playing smarm. The man leans back against a table as Annie sights… “You know… for all this talk of celebration, you look rather sad.”

 

Eclectic drops the dart to her side. “Now, *what* makes you think that!?”

 

He gives her an even look. “Your eyes. They look… withdrawn, and frustrated.”

 

Annie gives the bar employee a harsh stare, which he returns with dull, green eyes… she hadn’t noticed before. They weren’t truly captivating, but they were… empty, lonely eyes. Almost as if they lacked a spark which had been there, not so long ago… she shook her head. Poetry about the eyes was for saps, anyway. Not Annie Eclectic. But still, there was something about this man that seemed… familiar.

 

With a loud ‘Hmph!’, Annie begins. “You frustrate me. I don’t even know why I’ve told you so much already!” Pause. “…you’re easy talk to. Like some… strange sense of reliability.”

 

The man looks away, casually. “Yeah… I get that a lot.”

 

“Anway, you think I look sad?” Starts Annie, “Fine, I am! You know why?”

 

“No. That’s why I asked.”

 

“Hmph. I lost the respect of some people lately..”

 

The young man blinked. “Say… what?”

 

“I got *beaten!* Not just that I lost but possibly at the worst possible time. And you know what?” Annie huffs, bringing her first dart up, and whipping it at the board! “…I..!”

 

THUNK! Bull’s-eye!

 

“…HATE…!”

 

THUNK! Bull’s-eye!

 

“LOSING!”

 

THUNK! Bull’s-eye!

 

Letting her hand slide back to her side, Annie notes the smattered applause from bar patrons attracted to the suddenly yelling. The young man stares at Annie… and then the three darts stuck soundly in the centre of the board. Annie breaths a sigh, looking back at the man. “Whew… oh, look, I won.”

 

“As… if there was any doubt.” The young man, still looking at the board, sounds stunned. “Uhm,” he clears his throat, “Well, I’m pretty sure you broke the bar points record. Buy you drink in celebration?”

 

“Eh. Why not?” Annie shrugs… before realizing something. “You know, I never asked you your name…”

 

“Me?” The man indicates to himself. “Well… My name is--”

 

“ALEX!”

 

Across the bar, standing in the doorway to the back of the bar, is an older man. A very *cross* looking older man. “God *damn* it, Alex! You were supposed to help me move this crap 5 minutes ago!”

 

“Pop, I--”

 

“I don’t *care*! Help me move this, right goddamn NOW!” With that, the old man grumps his way into the back, as the young man—Alex, obviously—sighs.

 

“Your father doesn’t like waiting, I see…” Notes Annie.

 

“Yeah, I hear that’s a problem for guys the old bastard’s age…” Alex sighs again, and looks at Annie. “I guess this means that drink’ll have to wait for another time.”

 

“Mm-hmn…”

 

Pause.

 

“I guess this means I don’t get a number, either?”

 

“Nope. Nice try, though.”

 

“Oh well.” Alex murmurs, before fishing through his pockets and producing a card. “Well, anyway… if you ever want to cash in on that drink, the digit is on the card.” Annie takes the card, nodding casually, as the bar boy walks toward the back.

 

He pauses, giving a wave with the back of his hand. “It was nice talking to you again, Annie.”

 

Annie nods again, casually, and turns away, looking for her next ‘prey’ at darts… before something hits her. “Wait. I never told you name!” She spins on a heel, hoping to catch him… but Alex has already ducked into the store room. Looking miffed, Annie searches herself for the business card…

 

THE HAPPY TAP

Bar and Grill

1356 877 St. and Johnsbury Rd.

 

Owner................Martin Zenon (780) 473-9090

Manager.............Alicia Anderson (780) 482-5408

Asst. Manager....Alex Zenon (780) 414-5871

 

“…Z!”

 

Ces’t Fin

[Guest El Luchadore Magnifico]

....

 

WHAAAAAA!!!

 

*marks out*

[Guest Kibagami]

...he lives.

 

S.

[Guest Ace309]

OMGZ~! ALEX ZENON IS BACK AND USING HIS BADASS NAME!!!!!!!

 

As discussed, the darts reminded me of TNT's pushup promo. Blah. Otherwise very good.

[Guest 5_moves_of_doom]

...who's Z?

[Guest Thoth]

WOW! Dude... that totally rocked! And I didn't even know it was Z... And I KNEW what this promo was about beforehand.

[Guest Tod deKindes]

Z's more famous than YOU'll ever be, ya Brick lovin' jobber.

[Guest AnnieEclectic]

Now if someone else would return *cough*TNTYouBastard*cough* I can be happy in knowing that all my great humorous writer buds are around me again.

 

.....

 

come back TNT!

 

-Annie

[Guest WrestlingDeacon]

Wouldn't Annie recognize Z? Still I liked the style of the promo and the overall concept. Nicely well written, although I found the opening a little too overly wordy and dramatic.

 

I would actually like to see a series of promos where Annie as the US champ travels around America and visits various establishments and slices of Americana. It's an idea I had if I ever won the belt.

[Guest AnnieEclectic]

I dunno Frost, I just might if you want me to. It's not a bad idea

 

-Annie

[Guest Powerplay]

Well, I have to wonder where Z is going now. It's got to be something with Annie, so maybe a heel turn, or at least a little darker side of Z? Anyways, solid promage as usual, and not posting it yourself kept the surprise a surprise. Bravo, Mr. Zenon.

[Guest kelloggs]

So Zed returns! I must say that this promo is quality. Nice use of the characters and after I read it again it plays well on Annie's new direction. I had no idea that the guy was the one and only Alex Zenon, even though all the tell tale sign were there.

 

I marked out and then I realized the only problem with it... Zed's returning. Oh well even the best of promo's have down side. Great stuff.

[Guest Edwin MacPhisto]

Recurring dart theme = sweet.

 

Eye symbolism = sweeter.

 

Alex Zenon = sweetest of all.

[Guest AnnieEclectic]

So Zed returns! I must say that this promo is quality. Nice use of the characters and after I read it again it plays well on Annie's new direction. I had no idea that the guy was the one and only Alex Zenon, even though all the tell tale sign were there.

 

I marked out and then I realized the only problem with it... Zed's returning. Oh well even the best of promo's have down side. Great stuff.

Mak, you're such a dick. I love you. LOL

 

-Annie

[Guest Insanityman]

Whoo! Anywho, great promo.

[Guest kelloggs]

Mak, you're such a dick. I love you. LOL

 

-Annie

This comment is too good not to be in my Sig soon. Thank you Annie.

 

M. Francis