The Temp, It is A-Changin'

A young gentleman can be seen popping his head out of an apartment window. A calming, yet still unsettling voice can be heard, speaking over the action.

It’s October. Everyone knows what’s around the corner. I bet you can already feel it. The warmth of the summer months slowly fading away. You might not hear it right away, or see it, but you know, someday soon…

The gentleman takes a second before climbing out of the window. He must’ve been maybe six stories up as he clings to the fire escape outside his window. He takes a second to look down toward the level below him. There’s a flight of stairs to take. He doesn’t take them though.

This is my favourite time of the year. It’s the time for goosebumps, shivers and crisp cold air.

Instead of just taking the stairs, the fellow turns his back and does a backflip about halfway down, and then another to land on the next floor down.

Maybe you got the spookums, or maybe just the cold air got to you and you just weren’t ready. I live for that little shiver you get.

For the next flight down, the young man steps on one of the railings, slowly and carefully making his way down, step by step, one foot after the other.

You know the one. It starts in one spot on your back, that one strand of hair that stands up by itself? Something deep inside you alerts that something’s…different. Something might even be…off. Then all of a sudden you realize that that one hair that stood is now one of tens, hundreds. That one goosebump is now lost, in the midst of others that surround it. That one spot on your back grows and crawls up your spine, now half your spine shivers and shakes.

Maybe you’re relaxed by what you watch, maybe what you see excites you. In the back of your mind though? What you’re watching might be calming, it might be cool.

But what if? What if it all goes wro-

Suddenly, the apparent daredevil makes one misstep, throwing off his balance, steering him outward, off the thin bar. The look on his face remains suggests fear, but only for a brief moment, quickly returning stoic and calm despite this. As he’s falling he catches the railing with one arm, dangling for a short while. We see him take a few deep breaths, pulling himself back up so that he can complete the descent again, properly. We see him shaking his arms as he stands two levels lower from where he started. He needs a second, if he’d fallen his career would’ve been over before it ever started.

There it is, the chill overtakes your entire body. You feel ALIVE! Sometimes you need something to scare the soul out of you. You need to realize that at any given moment, you’re walking a tightrope. Any given moment, you could fall. So what do you do?

As he approaches the next set up of stairs. He places his hands on either railing. His body gets lifted, feet straight in the air. He slides his hands down the railings, just hanging on. The howling wind blows, swaying and He finds the camera and winks. He hangs in place, lifting a hand off of one of the railings, leaving just one arm to support him as he teeters precariously.

You keep going, you keep walking that tightrope and enjoy the view. In my case? I did that literally, being in the circus and all. I made my living scaring the shit out of people and while they watched me put my life seconds away from disaster and death. And yet, I persisted.

By now, he’s down to the second floor. He looks down at the cold hard ground still two stories beneath him. He has a determined look on his face. He leans back against the window before charging and doing a somersault down to the ground in superhero landing fashion. He rises, shaking the dirt off of his fist. The voice is revealed to be his.

My name is Xavier Coldwater, and I will be working my magic in the Revo ring on Legacy. Some of the things that I can do will freeze you in place. Your jaw frozen open in shock and awe, or your feet, frozen in fear.

Coldwater begins to walk out from the alley he landed in toward the street and sidewalk.

You might not know me much at all. I was one of the very last picks in the draft. I arrive at Revo as someone who has more than once been a failure to launch in this company. My opponent? I’d say she’s had the perfect start to her career. She comes in and WINS one of the biggest matches of the year. To me? That just means all the expectation, all the hype will be on you, Maggie. I’m playing with house money, baby! This is my first real showing, so that means everything I do in and around that ring raises my stock.

So Mags, let’s put on a show! If you think you’re in for a cakewalk, you’re dead wrong. I get that you’re one of the hottest things in this company right now, but I promise you I’m no enhancement talent. It’s not my job to just make you look good. I intend to show up and fight my ass off. Be careful, Demoness, I know deep down that in my frozen heart that I can beat you. I know deep down that I have what it takes to take all that momentum you’ve got and end it. I know you’ll fight like hell to keep it going, but know this. I will put my body on the line to take the win from your cold, unconscious hands.

What? I’m not a killer! I may have done a lot in the circus, but I’ve never been a clown.