PROMO: "Ties That Bind".

[Guest Kibagami]

PROMO: “Ties That Bind”.

 

In the military more is not better.

 

Do not advance in a martial way.

It is sufficient to gather strength, assess the enemy

and take him – that is all.

 

However, if one does not plan and takes the enemy

lightly –

One will certainly be captured by him.

 

-- Chapter Nine of the Sun-Tzu

 

 

The Suicide King barges through the door to Nathaniel Kibagami’s locker room to find Kibagami facing the door, reclining against the wall, holding an ice pack to his neck with one hand. Nathan grins at the commissioner’s livid expression.

 

“You shouldn’t be able to walk right now,” growls the King through clenched teeth.

 

Nathaniel only shrugs, though he winces as he does so. “Modern medicine is an amazing thing, King. Only two or three weeks back in the ring and I can already land on my head with the best of them. Quite a thing to see, isn’t it?”

 

”Stuff it, Nathan. You managed to dance around Janus long enough for Williams and Dace to win the match. Good for you. Maybe you’ll be able to dodge him for twenty minutes at 13th Hour and exhaust him, huh?”

 

”Stranger things have happened around here.”

 

”Don’t I know it.” King pauses for a moment, a pensive look on his face. “You’ve got Beezel on Storm.”

 

”Your mystery man.”

 

”Not mine, no. But a mystery man all the same. Have fun with it.” King turns on his heel and heads for the door.

 

“Do you know him?”

 

The commissioner turns back to face Kibagami. “Know who?”

 

”Beezel.”

 

A smile slowly spreads across King’s face. “No, Nathan.” He turns again and walks through the door, leaving Nathaniel alone with the dull pain in his neck.

 

“I don’t know him at all.”

 

 

--

 

 

Alone in his hotel room, Kibagami sits on the corner of the bed, phone in his hand.

 

Ring…ring…ring…ring…

 

“Hello?”

 

“Hey.”

 

”Nathan!” Angel squeals, and Kibagami holds the phone away from his ear to avoid any permanent damage to his hearing. ”How’ve you been?”

 

“I’ve been fine. We won the six-man.”

 

”We saw, we saw. Yuri’s managed to get us a satellite dish at the inn. You should see the villagers – the children, they love it. They watch all your matches.”

 

“Including last week’s?”

 

”Don’t worry about it, honey. You’ve done better than we’ve expected.”

 

Kibagami pauses. “What does that mean?”

 

”What does what mean? Oh, wait, Yuri’s back from the dojo. He’ll want to talk to you. Hold on a minute…”

 

Nathaniel waits impatiently as Angel leaves to fetch his brother. The TV blares in the background…

 

“SOMEBODY CALL A PARAMEDIC—“

 

Kibagami hits the mute button on the remote, and watches himself brutalized in silence…

 

”…Nathaniel? Are you there?”

 

Startled, he turns the video off. “I’m here, brother. It’s good to hear your voice. It’s been a month already.”

 

”Time still flies in the ring, doesn’t it?”

 

“Too fast, Yuuichiro. Too fast.” Nathan sighs. “Angel tells me you’ve got cable at the inn now. You’ve seen him, I take it.”

 

”I have.”

 

“And?”

 

”And what, Nathan?”

 

“And what am I supposed to do about him, Yuuichiro?” snaps Nathan.

 

”What he expects you do to, brother. What I expect you to do. Go to 13th Hour and fight him the way he expects. Humble him as only you can.”

 

“We’ve been over this, damn it. I do not want to be in the ring with Janus, not even for a moment. I wasn’t prepared to be thrust back into things, Yuuichiro, you know that. If King hadn’t threatened Angel, I would’ve –“

 

”You would have done what?”, whispers the voice on the other end of the phone. ”You would have walked away? You never could, Nathan, and you never will. You dealt with him at Battleground as well as anyone could have, you moved as well as I have ever seen you, and you did not do that because of Angel or because of the commissioner. You have a strong sense of responsibility, brother, and what you feel you are responsible for, you will not leave undone.”

 

“I know, I know. But this is different. I’m not going to be able to –“

 

”You aren’t able, or you don’t wish to?” asks Thoth, and Nathaniel has no answer. ”You and I have changed a great deal, but some things never change. Sometimes, the fight is your only choice. Sometimes, the fight is your only friend.”

 

“You wouldn’t have said that a month ago.”

 

”You wouldn’t have agreed to go back to the federation a month ago. As I said, things change.”

 

”And some things don’t. I’m coming home after 13th Hour.”

 

”Nonsense. You will have Angel and I to keep you company, at least for a few days.”

 

“What?” Kibagami bolts off of the bed. “Yuuichiro, you cannot bring her here. If Janus knows that she’s going to be –“

 

”It’s fine, Nathan. I’ve spoken to the commissioner already, and what applies to you applies to her. Janus can’t touch her, and he won’t besides. We’ll be in the skybox, and unlike some people I know, I don’t intend to walk down to the ring and put Applewhite’s security to shame.”

 

Kibagami chuckles, despite his misgivings. “Heh, I suppose you’re right. I will see you then, brother.”

 

”I will see you then, Nathan.” A pause.

 

”Make us proud.”

 

Click.

 

END

[Guest TheBostonStrangler]

An interesting promo by Kibs here. I'm not quite sure what this is leading up to, however. If it IS going to be Thoth returning in some sort of active role, I'm interested to see where they take it. If it isn't, I'm not quite sure why we're seeing this. However, the thing that struck me about this promo was the way that Silent wasn't insanely confident. I never remember seeing Silent like that before. Usually, he's all "I'm badass, no one can hurt me, etc.", but right now, he seems very human. Afraid of an opponent, homesick, in love, a family, etc. It's a very different direction for Kibs to be going, and I think it's quite interesting. Hopefully this is going somewhere good, since right now, it's a little hard to tell. Still, if there's one thing that Silent has always managed to do, it's put together interesting storylines. Following through on them, on the other hand...

[Guest kelloggs]

Very well done Kibs. Subtle hints once again about Janus's origins, which I'm now going to guess are from the federation in the Edwin neck breaking tape. I particularly llike the sense of dread for your character unleashing his rage, to steal a phrase from Janus' character. And I've drawn the conclusion that people who go in skyboxs will ultimately be involved in PPV they are coming to.

 

Great execution of the lines and you've always had solid grammar and understanding of the spoken, or typed in this case, word. And will you ever run out of Art of War quotes?

 

M. Francis

[Guest chirs3]

So you can nosell anything... except Janus?

 

Weirdo.

 

Other than that gaping texas-sized plothole, a fine effort.

[Guest Powerplay]

Well, consider Janus = Australian for Thugg, it'd be pretty hard to no-sell him .

 

But anyways, an interesting promo. I would like to see where it goes as well, and what roles Angel and Thoth are going to play in this. The Art of War quotes are always an awesome touch, and this definitely makes you wonder what is going to happen in this feud. If only I could promo and build a feud like this...

[janusd 0]

Thickening plotlines = (Y)

 

Mua'hahaha.

[Guest Beezel]

Interesting. Why would you care who I am, Nathaniel?

 

And again with Yuuichiro. The ethers whisper strong my friend.

[Guest Edwin MacPhisto]

Are you ever going to run out of Art of War quotes, you melodramatic bastard?

 

Sidenote: fine work as always. Now gimme back my hair color.

[Guest TheAntipop]

This is easily the best promo I've ever read, nerd.

[Guest Crowe]

Oooooo.

 

No better way to throw forward plotlines than write a kick ass promo. I have no comments of value since I suck at writing them because I'm an ignorant reader, so... just be content with the fact I think you rock.

[Guest 5_moves_of_doom]

This is the first time in a long time that I've really, REALLY been intrigued by a storyline Silent. I'm actually dying to see what happens next, and I'll be first in line to read Nathan/Janus at 13th Hour, before any other match on the card.

 

Good job, and good luck on pulling this story arc off with the perfection that I know you're capable of.

[Guest Dace59]

*Waits for the blood bath at The 13th Hour*

[Guest WrestlingDeacon]

You never directly referred to the fact that I whipped your ass and made your women and the village children cry. That would make this promo ten times more awesome than the awesome it already brings.

[Guest Beingz0wningj00]

Bah... Janus is scary like Mag is a super heavyweight.

[Guest The Superstar]

This was a fantastic promo, Kibs. I mean, there are literally tears of emotion streaming down my face. Love, hate, sorrow, happiness, melancholy...

 

My tear ducts are drying up. I think I should stop worrying about bumping topics, now.

[Guest Drew_K]

Okay, time to settle in for some long ass commenting, cause I always try to make good on my promises.

 

The art of war? AGAIN? Oh, man, already I'm sick of th.... nah, just kidding. Not exactly groundbreaking, but hey, that quote gets me all set for a Kibagami promo, so, nothing good nor bad to say about it.

 

Ah, yes, the 'Angry commisioner busts into the locker room' scenario. That's an angle in EWR, isn't it? Still, classic, and it works well, considering how King would feel about Nathan/Silent/Whoever you are next week. Good work portraying your injury, and kinda explaining why its not as threatening as it once was. I'm gonna let the whole ignoring a career ending injury thing slide, because, of course, Kurt Angle's back, so miracles DO happen. Hey, some might even say that about Kibigami. Probably moreso if you show for a month straight.

 

Very nice work, keeping your issue with Janus on the forefront, while still allowing Beezel to be your immediate concern. Just who WAS that courageous masked man? I don't know, but Kibagami's gotta fight him.

 

Okay. Angel. Always enjoyed the character, very interesting to see her surface. Thoth. Always enjoyed the character, not so surprising to see HIM in one of your promos. Nice to see Angel being somewhat reluctant for Kibagami in the ring, while Thoth speaks the plain truth as he sees it, and motivates our favorite dark warrior (Except for batman, cause he's cool) into further bouts of insanity against people specially trained to break necks.

 

Now, Angel and Thoth at an SWF show? I smell a return, or an unimportant plot point whioch won't be used, or a good idea from Kibagami that will end up running halfway through it's course, then be done with. One of those. I'd really like to see where this will go, so show me, Kibagami. Show me what you got, and keep on showing for matches. You're an inspiration to us other lazy folks.

 

I think that's everything. I'd just like to take this final opportunity to pimp myself. I rule.