Post by Alicia Lukas on Jan 21, 2018 20:31:34 GMT -5
Scene One-I know what you did last summer...er..week
On Camera via Youtube
Washington D.C
Present Day.
“Did you all enjoy that?”
Alicia sat at at the end of her bed. Her hands clasped together as her elbows leaned against her knees, her feet firmly planted on the ground as her bright blue eyes trailed up from the floor to her small white laptop sitting on the desk in front of her, the webcam switched on as she smirked slowly.
“My debut here in LAW didn’t quite go as expected. I mean sure, forever it will say that I won my debut, that I started my LAW career off with a win. But have a look at how it happened. Have a look at the fact I gave the edge of god everything that she could handle. I walked into that ring and I beat her from one end to another. It took me missing a suicide dive for her to be able to take control. And what did she do with it?. Did she roll me back in the ring and try and get me to submit or pin me?. Did she try and wear my body down some more?.”
“No, she placed my throat onto the bottom rope and pushed down until the referee called for the bell and her disqualification. I hate that. See I like to win by being better than the other person, if I lose because I made a mistake I can handle that too, it allows me to learn and get better but to win because my opponent is a silly french nutball who can’t control her impulses?. No...that didn’t give me the satisfaction I was looking for or needed…”
“But after the match…”
“Well…”
Alicia slowly shrugs and gets to her feet, her bedroom bright with a beautiful white cover on her bed. She moves around the room before looking out the window with a sigh.
“I don’t like attacking people after or before the bell. But see, Le Bord, had it coming. I was so angry after what she did I put her on my shoulders, I threw her in the air and brought her down face first on my knee, I heard the nice, I felt the connection. And she went limp. The thing is if I do that in a match the other woman ain’t gettin up. I wanted to beat her, I wanted to get the three count and now despite the fact I got the win, despite the fact I walked out of the ring and she didn’t…”
“I still feel robbed. I still feel like I was denied the opportunity to show the world what I can do and who I am….”
“I told the world I was a dominant force in the wrestling world and now I feel like I can’t say it without someone saying “yeah but are you really?”. My reputation precedes me everywhere I go. Kind of like Courtney Leinart's as a flirty flake who will whine and bitch about being outclassed, but my reputation is that of a killer. My reputation is that of a woman who is technical enough to rip your goddamn arms or legs off after taking you down and destroying your will to live…”
“My reputation is that of a woman who can hit you hard enough your significant other will feel it.”
“I get in that ring and I put it all on the line, I don’t pull punches, I don’t let friendship or family come into it. I get in that ring with one goal. To win. And that’s what I expect from my opponents. At its core this is a sport, there are winners and losers and you do everything you can to win and that silly french moron didn’t do that, she got in the ring with me and when she realised I was better she decided to end it in a way where she could still say she wasn’t pinned and make it out like she stood any type of chance against me…”
Alicia scoffed and moved away from the window, her hands sliding in the pockets of her jeans.
“I know my attitude is sometimes looked at as an unstoppable and unearned arrogance. The wrestling world is built on the cream rising to the top but you still having to pay your dues. I paid mine in full in Japan and I came back to the US to forge my legacy on a bigger stage in bigger companies. But the world forgets, the world moves on at a fast pace and you need to stay relevant and shove your accolades in the faces of anyone who tries to tear you down. In LAW I am known by most and my signing was celebrated but there will still be the attitude of “oh she was a big name elsewhere”…”
“But whether it’s here, WWH, Honor Wrestling, 4CW, HKW or any of the other million companies in the US or worldwide something you all need to know, is that I am more than a big deal. I am a fucking star. I am a beast in the ring, I can sell matches and make people care about a company and a match when otherwise they wouldn’t. Hell I got people to really buy into the match with frenchie….but this week my job is done for me...see this week...I face Kenzi Grey...and just like that the internet has exploded….”
Scene Two-Don’t ever do that again...
Off Camera
Kyoto Japan
7 years ago.
The floor was fuzzy. The light blue mat beneath her feet faded in and out as the japanese lettering scrawled on it faded in and out of view. A puddle of sweat pooled beneath her. Her long blonde hair fell from the ponytail and settled on her shoulders. Alicia breathed heavily as she heard them. The laughter, the mocking tone. Each male student, each voice hit her like a knife in the heart. One voice, an american one cut through, it begged, it pleaded.
Stay down, it said. Stop Licia. It pleaded. Alicia breathed deep and looked up as it became clear again. She got up from one knee, and swayed before spitting blood on the mat with a grin. A twisted smile came across her face. The laughter stopped, the master stepped forward and leaned in with a forearm, the clubbing noise of bone on bone echoed through the dojo and it all went black.
Sean: Licia?....Lic!.....hey come on dude wake up….
His voice cut through the darkness. Her eyes opened and the bright light from above caused a tremendous amount of pain. She sat up and shook her head trying to get rid of the haze. Sean grabbed some water and handed her the bottle. She took a drink and a deep breath looking around. Everyone was gone. The master, the other trainers, the students. Everyone but Sean and Alicia.
Sean: You’re insane Lic. Why’d you get up?. You should of stayed down…
Alicia: How long was I out?....
Sean stayed silent and just shook his head, his hand drifted to her face with a cloth wiping the dried blood from her lip and the side of her face. Alicia looked at it and laughed with a shake of her head, fresh bruises on her face and body mixed with older more faded ones as she sat herself up, Sean looked down and to the side obviously distraught and concerned.
Sean: You were here for about an hour….
Alicia scoffed with a laugh under her breath. No one checked on her except Sean. For the last hour she laid there unconscious. The others simply left her there. They gave more respect to a dog or a runaway farm animal. She looked over at Sean who just shook his head sadly.
Sean: Why do you do it Lic?...seriously...why are you here?. I get you have a dream but they’re killing you….
He reached out and ran his fingertips down her face. Alicia stayed staring forward. Every hit replaying through her mind, every moment where she asked for more. And how now her fear of it had gone. Something she never had with Ronnie. Her mind flashed further, the hits from a man who was supposed to love her. Being 15 years old lying on the floor beaten and crying….never again….
She stayed zoned out, staring ahead. She doesn’t know why he did it or what would possess him too. There was no lead up, no opening or discussion. No signs or reason. Sean leaned forward and turned Alicia’s head to his kissing her slowly. After a few moments he pulled back and Alicia looked at him, no emotion, nothing but a small look of shock. Sean swallowed hard and looked down.
Sean: I’m sorry….
Alicia: Don’t….don’t ever do that again Sean….
She stood up, he tried to grab her wrist for a moment but Alicia pulled away, she stormed over to a bench grabbing a pair of scissors before slamming the bathroom door. Sean panicked getting to his feet running over to the dark brown door. He pounded on it with both fists after trying the lock.
Sean: Licia!....LICIA COME ON! Don’t do anything stupid I’m sorry! LIC!
After a few moments the latch unlocked. Sean stepped back and Alicia stepped out. But no longer was it the same prim and proper looking princess. A pile of long curly blond locks laid on the floor, her hair was cut short all over except her fringe which now swept across her eyes. She growled and stormed past him slamming the scissors down on the desk.
Alicia: I’m done playing games…..
Now is the time for me to rise to my feet
Wipe your spit from my face
Wipe these tears from my eyes
I've got to take my life back
One chance to make it right
I've gotta have my voice be heard
And bring meaning to this life
Scene Three-Home away from home
Off Camera
Kyoto Japan.
Last Year
She swung the door open and stepped in. Her long hair tied back in a bun, very similar to how it was the first time she stepped foot in the hallowed dojo. She took a deep breath in, memories flooded back as a smile came across her ruby red lips. She took her sunglasses off and slid one side in the neck of her black and red “Kyoto-sun dojo” shirt. It was faded and clearly very worn. Alicia stepped across the floor and stopped just inside before slipping her shoes off, bowing as she crossed from the hardwood to the carpet. Despite being alone she felt comfortable.
Her feet touched the training mat, they felt the same as they did from day one. Oddly smooth and very little give in them, the balls of her feet being able to feel the floor underneath. Alicia moved across looking over at the old ring. The ropes tightened after the morning training session. A smirk came across her lips as she walked over to it, reaching out with her fingertips she smiled as a little shock shoot up her hand and arm from the canvas. She walked around it tilting her head as the experiences of the past which felt like a lifetime ago came alive in her memory.
A smile shone across her face as she leapt up onto the apron, she grabbed the top rope and pulled herself up and over it with a jump landing on the canvas before spinning on the balls of her feet like a ballerina would on a stage. She turned and spun before standing in the center, she closed her eyes remembering every movement, every bump, every shot. The pain shooting through her back. The anger at herself when her mind begged her body to quit. The feeling of crawling along the mat throwing up in a bucket.
Her eyes sprung open and she took off hitting the ropes criss crossing the ring hitting them harder each time. The tight cables leaving welts against her back, arms and shoulders with each whip. She rolled across the canvas popping up to her feet bouncing up and down stretching out before shadow boxing, throwing a few punches a duck, a weave and a running bicycle knee. Alicia breathes deep with a smile and a chuckle under her breath.
She turned looking at the mirror across the room. It was full length from the ceiling to the floor and ran along the entire south wall of the dojo. Her eyes trailed across her own body. Her hair back to the length it was when she first walked in here six years ago. But the rest has changed. Her body once too thin and untoned was now replaced with a fit, toned somewhat muscular frame. A woman's body with hips and thighs, she was now an athlete. Her face while still pretty was strong and fierce with burning blue eyes. The innocence and weak nature long lost along with her fears.
There was nothing she feared now. Nothing that worried her to the point of tears. She looked down at the canvas. She used to be ruled by her emotions, her fears. For so long it was fear that drove her. Fear of losing, fear of letting people down, fear of being nothing and nobody. But that was gone now. Now there was a need for competition. A need to face people as strong as her, a need to be beaten to grow. The only fear she had left burned in her mind like a hand held over an open flame.
Just how far would she go?. Alicia looked back in the mirror before noticing something. A young girl, maybe 18 years old was in the corner folding towels. A task Alicia knew very well. She walked to the ropes leaping out and to the floor. As she moved closer she realised the girl was caucasian. A gaijin like her.
Alicia: They have you on towel duty too huh?. That wasn’t very fun...better than toilets though right?....
The was no answer. The girl just stayed focused on her fast. A large bruise under her right eye and a cut on her lower left lip. Her long blond curls hung loose down the sides of her face. She was tiny, skinny and her body looked beaten in other ways. Her knuckles were skinned, her legs bruised. She moved quickly folding the towels and leaving them in piles of three. Alicia gave a nod folding her arms looking over at the wall of graduates.
Alicia: I was right where you are now. They haven’t had many women here, let alone western ones. And I’m the only one to leave here with honor….
Alicia smiles focusing on the wall, the names around her, many now a who’s who of names in Japan. But one picture stood out. A small frame with a skinny girl with short pink and blue hair. Underneath it had her birth name “Violet Maxwell” and under that it said ペール・ウォリアーor Peru u~oriā. Pale Warrior in Japanese.
Alicia: They don’t want people like us to succeed kid. So I know things are tough right now. And I had no one. There was one guy here who seemed to care but in the end he was a quitting bitch like everyone else. No one will ever have it harder in a place like this than us and we’ll also have the lowest expectations….but fuck that….we can also be the toughest, the baddest….and the ones with the biggest heart and resolve. So I’m telling you...not asking you….to hang in there….cause I-
Alicia looks down to the girl and stops. Where she was is an empty space. The towels still left in a pile. None of them folded. It was like no one had been there. Alicia looked around and shook her head as she noticed the classes filling in, she smirked as she walked past them, many stopping recognising her from the picture bowing as she passed.
It’s good to be a goddess….
Scene Four-Shades of Grey
On Camera
Washington D.C
Present Day.
Alicia still stands in her room, continuing right from where we last saw her, the words “it was then that the internet exploded” seem to echo as her eyes burn staring forward, the frustration of her last statements about her debut now replaced by an excitement and jubilation as she paces back and forth a little.
“So, I went from the third match against a fellow debutant to a match against a champion and one of the best wrestlers in LAW. See for those of you who don’t know Lenzi and I have known each other for about a year. I watched her and Sarah become a loving happy couple. I watched as Kenzi emerged from her mother's shadow and recently I watched as she became the LAW Breakout champion. Or the champion of champions as she calls herself…”
“Truth is I like Kenzi alot. She and I have a laugh, she never takes jokes I make against her or Sarah too seriously, she can fire jokes back and she never steps over lines. She and I are friends and she is someone I respect and I know she respects me. I know that Kenzi looks at me as a great challenge and she’s said it on social media and also in the blog posts when making predictions like last week. But here’s the thing, I also know she won’t hold back. This is a match the internet got excited about and the wrestling world wanted...this is a match that people started talking about the second it was signed...Maki basically flipped her lid…”
“My friends in other companies will fly in to be there live…”
“Others will sit at home and watch…”
“This match is a big deal. I know it, Kenzi knows it. The fans know it, our peers know it...hell even the rest of her little group the #CoolKids know it. When I walk into LAW 76 live from Greenville South Carolina it will be to shock the LAW world. See even though everyone knows how good I am, even though they know I am good enough to beat Kenzi, the big questions are..can I?...am I really that good?...is Kenzi really that good?...”
Alicia smiles to herself looking over at all her replica belts from the different companies and title defences nailed up on the all.
“I know she is, I mean hell the girl is scary talented. I will sing her praises from the rooftops because I respect what Kenzi can do in the ring. You take out the silly things she says on social media and you’re still left with someone who can go in between those ropes. Which is what is going to make the next things I say difficult. See when I wake up in the morning, I’m a professional wrestler. I go to the gym and train, I eat right, I travel around the world for my booking dates in different companies. I study and watch tape. I eat, sleep and drink wrestling. But you Kenzi?. You live one foot in one foot out…”
“The one issue I have with you, the one criticism..aside from being friends with Roxy Cotton...is that you like some who have come before you treat wrestling like a secondary job. You don’t think as my star has risen that I haven’t been approached by people to do TV shows, movies and other guest spots in the entertainment industry?. In this business you either live it 24/7 or you just become a pretender…”
“It’s the same issue I have with Kate Steele, Crystal Hilton, Trixie...so many others…”
“Kenzi if you dedicate yourself to wrestling and only wrestling you would be an unstoppable force. If you forgot the acting, the playing drums in shitty bands with Kate Steele, Stephanie and Melissa there is no telling what you could do or who you could be. How long have you been in LAW Kenzi?. A year and a half?. Going to be two years soon? In 2016 which is when I returned from Japan, I saw you in LAW. I saw you become the Chaos champion and win awards and show that you could be a huge star. And which the exception of the Breakout title win your 2017 wasn’t quite as memorable. And don’t even bring up FAW or Empire…..You bounced around on the Circle TV network and had a lot of fun there, you got married, you were all over social media but something was missing…”
“Something was lacking…”
“It seems like maybe, just maybe you have found it Kenzi. And I hope you have, I hope I get in the ring and we go at it and halfway through the match I stop and think to myself “holy shit, she’s amazing”...I want that challenge. I want to be able to think that I have found someone who can help me push my game to where it needs to be, to where I want it to be…”
Alicia shrugs and laughs to herself, her hands sliding through her long golden hair.
“I’ve been back in the US for 18 months and for a year of those I have been a champion...well..actually..14 months. And for 3 of the months I wasn’t I was injured. I’ve forgotten what it’s like not to have at least one championship sitting in my back Kenzi. But those titles, those accolades aren’t what makes me who I am or the champion I have become. You know what makes me a champion Kenzi?....”
“The will to be the best professional wrestler on the planet today. Not the best female professional wrestler, not the best just in LAW. The best in the world PERIOD. And that means just focusing on wrestling, that means not being caught up in my own personal bullshit and letting it distract me from being the best. I had my entire personal life thrown on social media for all to see, and during a six month run where my marriage to Chris Cane fell apart, I was stalked by Sean Demont, I hooked up with Travis Blake and very publically slept with Kaden Kessler ou know what my win loss record was?...”
“27-0”
“I didn’t drop a match, I was a double champion and I dominated the competition. That is what makes me the best, the ability to block out everything people say about me, about my life and anything outside. I just do what I do, I wrestle. And I’m great at it. I don’t let my relationship distract me, I don’t allow myself to get sucked in to being a “multi media megastar” like you have. And a quick look at your win loss record and the fact you seem to lose focus says you are the opposite….”
“It breaks my heart Kenzi, you are so talented and so skilled and someone who couldreach heights her mother wished she could reach...yeah I said it...sorry Sidney...but it’s true. You could be the greatest of the great. And that is the Kenzi I want. I want the Kenzi Grey that redediated herself to wrestling, I want the Breakout champion, I want the woman who won the champions challenge. I want Kenzi goddamn Grey to get in that ring and try and give me the worst beating of my life…”
“I don’t want the multimedia megastar, I don’t want the punk rock drummer, I don’t want the star of bad sci fi movies and TV shows...I want the PROFESSIONAL WRESTLER. Cause that is what this places is lacking, a focus on what goes on in the ring. There’s so much talk pver who is screwing who and who is Tolson going to cheat on her girlfriend with and who the hell is going to suddenly flip and be a lesbian...when what we should all be concerned about is which one of us is the best?...”
“Is it you Kenzi?. Is it Crystal?. Kate?. Sam?. Camacho?...who is the best?....that’s what I’m here to find out...and at LAW 76, I’m going to leave it all out there in the ring….Good luck Kenzi….”