Post by kincaid on Sept 4, 2021 23:37:32 GMT -5
Maggie Clarke winced, dabbing underneath her nose with a piece of wet paper towel. She dropped it into the bathroom sink and watched her own blood make a swirling cloud in the water. She sighed and looked at herself in the mirror. It was only then that she noticed him. Alex Kincaid stood in the doorway of the bathroom ”How long have you been standing there?”
”Couples of minutes. Didn't want to interrupt.” He said with a shrug ”You alright?”
She scooped the piece of water paper out of the sink and sarcastically jabbed it in his direction, before whipping it sideways toward the trash can. It didn't make it. It stuck to the wall above the can. He sighed and walked into the bathroom, scratching it off with finger and letting it drop into the can ”So you're bleeding. People bleed. A few days from now you won't even remember that part. I want to know if you're okay, Maggie. You never gotten in a fight at school before.”
The fifteen year old leaned against the sink and folded her arms in front of her ”What? You going to give me a speech now? Play dad? You fight for a living.”
”Which is why I'd never in my life tell you that there's never a time to fight. And yeah, you know, we took you in. That means that-”
”You didn't hear what she said.” Maggie spat the words out with more venom than she'd intended. Alex raised his eyebrow, just a little bit, but otherwise he didn't do much. That only made her more mad. In the six months since the Kincaids had taken her in he'd never yelled at her. Never grounded her. He always came at her problems with the same maddening calm ”She was talking about my dad. What he was like. How he died. She didn't know what kind of man he was. She didn't know him, and she had no right to say that.”
”Alright.”
”That's all you've got to say? 'Alright?' Like it's totally fine? I know you're pissed.”
He stepped toward her and his eyes narrowed. There were times when she'd see flashes of the real him, the him he was from bell to bell at work. They made her feel a chill down her spine. He took her by the chin and she tried to look away. He tightened his grip and forced her to turn her face towards him. Maggie went with it, staring defiantly at him as he studied her face. A pair of girls she didn't recognize went to walk into the bathroom, and when he focused his steely gaze on them they laughed nervously and left the bathroom.
”You're mad at you already, you don't me adding to the list.” He said ”When your dad passed, I told you you'd always be safe. I meant that. But safe isn't what the world thinks it is. Safe is knowing who you are, who's important to you, and what kind of people you have. If you need to protect that, do it. But before you do you understand the scars that's gonna leave.”
He let her go and walked toward the door. She shook her head and sighed. He waited for her while she collected her backpack ”So what then? I'm suspended right? First week and I got suspended from school.”
”Alyssa's not going to be impressed.” For the first time, he sounded a little stressed ”Let me talk to her. She'll get it. I know you'd only do this for the right reasons. I know what kind of girl you are.”
Alex headed out into the hallways of the school ahead of her. She replayed that last sentence over and over in her head. Finally, she cracked a little bit of a smile. She forced herself to hide it before she followed him to the family truck.
*~*~*~*~*
“I can’t help but be disappointed.”
Just a few short days after the most technical of technical victories in his debut match, Alex Kincaid sits looking into the camera with a grim stare. His wife, Alyssa, sits behind him with her arms wrapped in a hug over his neck and resting across his broad chest. It’s an attempt to comfort him. It doesn’t seem to be working.
”Look, I accept that talk is a big part of the game. You’ve got to get people into the seats if you want to wrestle in front of them. But one of the things I pride myself on is I don’t try to bullshit the people. I like to think I’m honest, and I know I’ve gotten into some deep shit before for saying things that needed to be said when people didn’t want me to.I talked a big game about how important it was that I prove myself against Overbaker. I needed to win. I needed that win to be impressive. And I told you why I thought it might be a tougher job than you might think. He’s a big boy, throws a mean right hand and a guy like that is always going to be trouble. Just because he doesn’t want us to take him seriously, doesn’t mean he isn’t dangerous. I figured the whole thing was a chance to throw me off the scent so he can bite me with my guard down.
And then that horseshit happens.”
The last sentence is a deep, rumbling growl from somewhere down in his belly. It’s enough to make Alyssa’s brow furrow with worry. He doesn’t notice as he continues to direct his venom into the camera.
”I think I could have handled a loss. You go out there, you put your heart into things and you fight until your body just won’t obey you anymore? I think a man can be proud of that. But I didn’t even get that. No, what happens was that idiot gets into catering drama backstage and gets hauled off. He doesn’t even make it to the ring! Yeah, fine, on paper it’s a win. Whatever. Do you know what people are going to say about Alex Kincaids debut in Revolution1? Nothing. No one’s going to remember it. That’s what frustrates me the most. I can live with a loss. I can’t live with being robbed. And what happened last week was, forever, me being robbed of the chance to go out there and leave an incredible first impression. I’m a footnote in my own first match.
That brings me to XYZ. Zabers had a rough couple of weeks, huh? Has the fight of his life against Jin and gets put down. Afterward, he gets jumped by Jalen Prince to get that Futures Title snatched up. But, for those of you who remember Episode 9 of Sin you’ll remember that the first thing on that show was the announcement that they had signed Alex Kincaid. I was backstage for that match. Nothing that night impressed me as much as the war those two put on. XYZ kept fighting even though Jin’s crew kept getting involved. Made the man tap out, even if the referee missed it. He might be a bit of a dick, but the guys got a fighters soul. In the end the odds were too much. He got screwed. Lost what should have been his. Twice.”
The anger has faded a bit. He speaks of XYZ like a curiosity, as though he can verbally take him apart and examine all of the pieces of the Social Experiment to try and better prepare.
” Now, me, I’ve never met you. I’ve heard what people say.. You’re a spoiled brat. You’re exactly the stereotype of a modern young man with entirely too much money. To say nothing of all of the rumors that you get up to some shady shit when no one’s looking. I don’t put too much stock in rumors. I pay attention to what I see in the ring. What I saw in that title defense was someone who knows how to put up a fight, someone who might give more of a fuck about this thing than they want to let on...and someone who is more than capable of pushing me into the deep water if I’m not careful.
What you think I’m going to say, XYZ...You think I’m going to sit here and give you ‘the promo’? ‘The promo’ being the promo that I’m sure a thousand and one opponents have cut on you. You’re not a real wrestler, you’re a spoiled kid, all the stuff I glossed over a second ago. I’m not that guy.I know what it’s like to have some advantages and have people think they know you because of it. You head six miles west of here you know what you find? You find the coal mines my father ran when I was a youngster. He wasn’t a good man, in every possible sense of the word he ran a lot of good men into the ground. I was just a kid. I had no control over his choices. But when you can’t take a shot at the king, you see if you can get a few jabs in on the prince. So every time I took the ice for a hockey game, every time I go out with friends, every time I had my lunch on the playground somebody wanted to scrap. I hated it at first, getting sucked into his bullshit like that. But after a little while, I figured out that every fight I picked was me showing people that I wasn’t him. I was my own man. Now, the few friends I have in this town the first time I shook most of their hands we were standing next to each other over a bathroom sink wiping the blood out of our noses.
That’s the kind of man I am.”
Alyssa shifts uncomfortably behind him at the story. Sensing it without facing her, he pauses for a moment and takes her hand. He gives it a tiny, gentle kiss and holds the rest of his story for a moment. When he thinks she’s composed he continues.
”I don’t know what kind of man you are yet.. The hints I’ve seen tell me that there might be more in there than anyone knows. I want to know what I’m dealing with around here, and last show when Overbaker was supposed to show me he got wrapped up in his own nonsense to the point where I didn’t get that chance. Revolution1 seems to me to have some of the best in the world. It seems to be the kind of place that makes someone good, into something great. What I need is to have someone prove all those guesses right. I don’t think you’re going to come into this thing totally clean, even if you were on the side of the angels I think you’re desperate enough after that loss that you’re probably going to play some tricks. Fine. Bring whatever you want, pick the fight however you think it needs to get picked but believe me when I tell you you’re going to need every bit of it.
What kind of man are you? We’ll find out soon, won’t we?”
With that he sighs and closes his eyes, taking a deep breath and leaning into Alyssa. She smiles at the camera moves up toward the shining sun. Against the brightness, we fade...to...black...
”Couples of minutes. Didn't want to interrupt.” He said with a shrug ”You alright?”
She scooped the piece of water paper out of the sink and sarcastically jabbed it in his direction, before whipping it sideways toward the trash can. It didn't make it. It stuck to the wall above the can. He sighed and walked into the bathroom, scratching it off with finger and letting it drop into the can ”So you're bleeding. People bleed. A few days from now you won't even remember that part. I want to know if you're okay, Maggie. You never gotten in a fight at school before.”
The fifteen year old leaned against the sink and folded her arms in front of her ”What? You going to give me a speech now? Play dad? You fight for a living.”
”Which is why I'd never in my life tell you that there's never a time to fight. And yeah, you know, we took you in. That means that-”
”You didn't hear what she said.” Maggie spat the words out with more venom than she'd intended. Alex raised his eyebrow, just a little bit, but otherwise he didn't do much. That only made her more mad. In the six months since the Kincaids had taken her in he'd never yelled at her. Never grounded her. He always came at her problems with the same maddening calm ”She was talking about my dad. What he was like. How he died. She didn't know what kind of man he was. She didn't know him, and she had no right to say that.”
”Alright.”
”That's all you've got to say? 'Alright?' Like it's totally fine? I know you're pissed.”
He stepped toward her and his eyes narrowed. There were times when she'd see flashes of the real him, the him he was from bell to bell at work. They made her feel a chill down her spine. He took her by the chin and she tried to look away. He tightened his grip and forced her to turn her face towards him. Maggie went with it, staring defiantly at him as he studied her face. A pair of girls she didn't recognize went to walk into the bathroom, and when he focused his steely gaze on them they laughed nervously and left the bathroom.
”You're mad at you already, you don't me adding to the list.” He said ”When your dad passed, I told you you'd always be safe. I meant that. But safe isn't what the world thinks it is. Safe is knowing who you are, who's important to you, and what kind of people you have. If you need to protect that, do it. But before you do you understand the scars that's gonna leave.”
He let her go and walked toward the door. She shook her head and sighed. He waited for her while she collected her backpack ”So what then? I'm suspended right? First week and I got suspended from school.”
”Alyssa's not going to be impressed.” For the first time, he sounded a little stressed ”Let me talk to her. She'll get it. I know you'd only do this for the right reasons. I know what kind of girl you are.”
Alex headed out into the hallways of the school ahead of her. She replayed that last sentence over and over in her head. Finally, she cracked a little bit of a smile. She forced herself to hide it before she followed him to the family truck.
*~*~*~*~*
“I can’t help but be disappointed.”
Just a few short days after the most technical of technical victories in his debut match, Alex Kincaid sits looking into the camera with a grim stare. His wife, Alyssa, sits behind him with her arms wrapped in a hug over his neck and resting across his broad chest. It’s an attempt to comfort him. It doesn’t seem to be working.
”Look, I accept that talk is a big part of the game. You’ve got to get people into the seats if you want to wrestle in front of them. But one of the things I pride myself on is I don’t try to bullshit the people. I like to think I’m honest, and I know I’ve gotten into some deep shit before for saying things that needed to be said when people didn’t want me to.I talked a big game about how important it was that I prove myself against Overbaker. I needed to win. I needed that win to be impressive. And I told you why I thought it might be a tougher job than you might think. He’s a big boy, throws a mean right hand and a guy like that is always going to be trouble. Just because he doesn’t want us to take him seriously, doesn’t mean he isn’t dangerous. I figured the whole thing was a chance to throw me off the scent so he can bite me with my guard down.
And then that horseshit happens.”
The last sentence is a deep, rumbling growl from somewhere down in his belly. It’s enough to make Alyssa’s brow furrow with worry. He doesn’t notice as he continues to direct his venom into the camera.
”I think I could have handled a loss. You go out there, you put your heart into things and you fight until your body just won’t obey you anymore? I think a man can be proud of that. But I didn’t even get that. No, what happens was that idiot gets into catering drama backstage and gets hauled off. He doesn’t even make it to the ring! Yeah, fine, on paper it’s a win. Whatever. Do you know what people are going to say about Alex Kincaids debut in Revolution1? Nothing. No one’s going to remember it. That’s what frustrates me the most. I can live with a loss. I can’t live with being robbed. And what happened last week was, forever, me being robbed of the chance to go out there and leave an incredible first impression. I’m a footnote in my own first match.
That brings me to XYZ. Zabers had a rough couple of weeks, huh? Has the fight of his life against Jin and gets put down. Afterward, he gets jumped by Jalen Prince to get that Futures Title snatched up. But, for those of you who remember Episode 9 of Sin you’ll remember that the first thing on that show was the announcement that they had signed Alex Kincaid. I was backstage for that match. Nothing that night impressed me as much as the war those two put on. XYZ kept fighting even though Jin’s crew kept getting involved. Made the man tap out, even if the referee missed it. He might be a bit of a dick, but the guys got a fighters soul. In the end the odds were too much. He got screwed. Lost what should have been his. Twice.”
The anger has faded a bit. He speaks of XYZ like a curiosity, as though he can verbally take him apart and examine all of the pieces of the Social Experiment to try and better prepare.
” Now, me, I’ve never met you. I’ve heard what people say.. You’re a spoiled brat. You’re exactly the stereotype of a modern young man with entirely too much money. To say nothing of all of the rumors that you get up to some shady shit when no one’s looking. I don’t put too much stock in rumors. I pay attention to what I see in the ring. What I saw in that title defense was someone who knows how to put up a fight, someone who might give more of a fuck about this thing than they want to let on...and someone who is more than capable of pushing me into the deep water if I’m not careful.
What you think I’m going to say, XYZ...You think I’m going to sit here and give you ‘the promo’? ‘The promo’ being the promo that I’m sure a thousand and one opponents have cut on you. You’re not a real wrestler, you’re a spoiled kid, all the stuff I glossed over a second ago. I’m not that guy.I know what it’s like to have some advantages and have people think they know you because of it. You head six miles west of here you know what you find? You find the coal mines my father ran when I was a youngster. He wasn’t a good man, in every possible sense of the word he ran a lot of good men into the ground. I was just a kid. I had no control over his choices. But when you can’t take a shot at the king, you see if you can get a few jabs in on the prince. So every time I took the ice for a hockey game, every time I go out with friends, every time I had my lunch on the playground somebody wanted to scrap. I hated it at first, getting sucked into his bullshit like that. But after a little while, I figured out that every fight I picked was me showing people that I wasn’t him. I was my own man. Now, the few friends I have in this town the first time I shook most of their hands we were standing next to each other over a bathroom sink wiping the blood out of our noses.
That’s the kind of man I am.”
Alyssa shifts uncomfortably behind him at the story. Sensing it without facing her, he pauses for a moment and takes her hand. He gives it a tiny, gentle kiss and holds the rest of his story for a moment. When he thinks she’s composed he continues.
”I don’t know what kind of man you are yet.. The hints I’ve seen tell me that there might be more in there than anyone knows. I want to know what I’m dealing with around here, and last show when Overbaker was supposed to show me he got wrapped up in his own nonsense to the point where I didn’t get that chance. Revolution1 seems to me to have some of the best in the world. It seems to be the kind of place that makes someone good, into something great. What I need is to have someone prove all those guesses right. I don’t think you’re going to come into this thing totally clean, even if you were on the side of the angels I think you’re desperate enough after that loss that you’re probably going to play some tricks. Fine. Bring whatever you want, pick the fight however you think it needs to get picked but believe me when I tell you you’re going to need every bit of it.
What kind of man are you? We’ll find out soon, won’t we?”
With that he sighs and closes his eyes, taking a deep breath and leaning into Alyssa. She smiles at the camera moves up toward the shining sun. Against the brightness, we fade...to...black...
