Post by Samantha Tolson on Aug 26, 2017 20:33:25 GMT -5
Samantha Tolson sits in her locker room in Vancouver, British Columbia, just ahead of her match with Paz Guevara. But her mind isn't on the match itself, which in the grand scheme of things, isn't a huge deal. But to her, what she has on her mind right now is....and as such, it occupies her mind much more so than the talented Guevara.
Through all those movie-magic fade in and out tricks, we see Samantha Tolson back in Missouri, specifically, the town of Moberly. She's sitting on a small wood-and-metal bench outside the entrance door to Camp Nightfall, wearing her workout gear. Sitting next to her is a precocious little 10-year-old girl, her brownish-blonde hair sparkling in the afternoon sunlight, her smile wide as her purple-framed glasses. Both woman and girl hold bottles of water, and in the little girl's lap is her most prized new possession, a white catcher's mask with red and black graphics adorning the sides and top.
The time she got to spend with Acacia, her mentor's daughter, was precious to her in ways few people could ever understand. The reason...well, that was something she'd not even told Ryan Corey, something she still had to discuss with Maggie Lockheart. Samantha'd been asked once, on social media, about her deepest, darkest secret...and she'd told a bold-faced lie. Death was not that secret, but the actual answer was exactly the reason why she held her time with this bright, bubbly beauty so near and dear. Those moments were moments she knew she could not have on her own.
The two girls sat on the bench, smiling and giggling with each other like they were old friends, a couple of girls who'd spent a lifetime together accumulating funny stories, sharing heartaches, walking each other through the ups and downs of life. Little did the little girl know that in many ways, she had done just that for Samantha. But the thoughts of that personal tragedy were washed away with Caci's smile, her laugh, and just her overall presence. Samantha was sure that there was no way anyone could possibly be sad around Caci, because every time she was, her heart was filled with a happiness that she'd never be able to reproduce.
Acacia smiled as she looked at her mask. "I love it Sam! It fits so nicely, and I've already taken foul balls off of my face and they don't hurt!"
Samantha, formerly a catcher herself, grinned. "Well, silly butt, that's why you wear that mask. We wouldn't want your pretty face all mushed in by a softball, would we?"
"Not at all. That would hurt. Probably a lot!"
"Yeah sweetie, it probably would. So...do I get to see you put it on?"
Acacia stood up and turned toward Samantha, slipping the mask over her head and glasses like a practiced professional, throwing her arms out wide with a "Ta-DAAA!" Samantha laughed and quickly snapped a picture with her phone, wanting to show Maggie as soon as she could.
"So Caci...you know I was a catcher too, right?"
"You were?"
"Yes I was. I think I was pretty good at it too. I got to play on a traveling team from a young age, just like you do now."
"Yeah...I'm playing twelve-you even though I'm only ten." Acacia's face sank for just a brief moment beneath the black cage of the mask.
"That's not a bad thing, honey. It just means you're good."
"I'm not hitting like I want to though. Like, when I play in the recreational league at ten-you, I can hit the ball all the time. But the twelve year old girls throw harder, so I'm all messed up on my timing."
"Well, you still have something to be proud of. Your dad told me you threw out three girls trying to steal the other night."
"I did! But it was third. That's a shorter throw."
"All that matters is that you saved your team three runs. You won, right?"
"Yeah we did!"
"How much did you win by?"
"Two."
"See what I mean? Those girls all may have scored, and you would have lost. You were a very, very big part of winning that game, Caci. Maybe you don't hit as well as you like, but if you do a good job behind the plate like that, you can have just as big an effect on the outcome as someone who hits a home run."
Acacia took off the mask with a big smile. "I guess I can, can't I?"
"Yes you can baby girl! Hitting comes and goes in softball. But, good defense, that wins a lot of games all on its own."
Acacia put the mask down on the ground and threw herself into Samantha's arms. The Chaos Champion was taken aback just for a half-second, but willingly and happily put her arms around the chunky little girl, holding her tightly to her as a single tear rolled down from her left eye. The observant little girl felt that tear touch the top of her head, and she looked up at Samantha. "What's wrong, Sam?"
Samantha deflected the question. "Oh, nothing honey. I'm just very, very proud of you, that's all."
Acacia smiled. "I love you Sam. You're always so nice to me."
Samantha fought back the tears, but maintained a smile for the girl. "And I love you, kiddo. You always make me happy."
Acacia nuzzled into her friend's chest, holding on as if Samantha was her own mother. This wasn't lost on the Chaos Champion, and yet again she felt the tears well up in her eyes, practically begging for release. But Samantha held strong again, and rested her head on Caci's.
"Sam?"
"Yeah honey?"
"When are you going to have kids?"
The question might as well have been a dagger to the heart, though Acacia couldn't and didn't know why. Samantha took a deep, long breath, trying to come up with something to say as she upsed her arm to wipe away the tears before they fell on Caci's head yet again. "Maybe someday honey....maybe someday."
Samantha gently held Acacia out at arm's length with a smile that belied the abject pain in her heart and soul at the same moment. "But you know what? Maybe next summer, if your mom and dad agree...would you like to come see Maggie and I out in New York City for a few days?"
Acacia nearly broke her face with the wide smile that crossed it, as the stars began to shine from behind her baby-blue eyes. "Really?! You think Maggie would be OK with that?! Because she is SO cool! I love her hair, and she has the neatest little tattoos on her arms, and she's kinda short like me, and...and...." The little girl couldn't speak, only squeal at her excitement...and Samantha could do nothing but giggle at her as she did.
"I think Maggie would be more than happy to have you spend a little time at our place...as long as you obey the rules, OK?"
Acacia practically bounced up and down as she asked. "What are the rules?"
Samantha grinned back at her. "Well, let's just save that for when your parents agree or not, OK? We still have to come up with them, after all."
"Can we go shopping? Like, at the fashion places and stuff? You know how much I like fashion!"
Samantha looked down at the singlet and cut-off t-shirt she was wearing, and laughed. "Because, you know, I'm the world's biggest fashionista, right?"
"But you've been helping Daddy! I mean like when you aren't working out or wrestling!"
"Well, sweetheart, I try to look presentable, but I'm not what you'd call a fashion plate."
"Still, will you take me?"
"Of course, honey. Even if it pains me."
Acacia bounced back toward her house, squealing as she went. Meanwhile on the bench, Samantha Tolson began to cry.
The movie magic thingie brings us back to the present day.
The memories and the sting of what she will never have overwhelm Samantha.
The tears flow yet again.
---------------------------------------------
"You know, it pains me to see that you turned down a chance at the Chaos Championship, Angelica. Especially after so very many of your little friends lobbied for our match to be for the title, and certainly after I offered to have the match changed into a title match."
"Do you think you're above me, Angelica? Above the title I wear so proudly?"
"Oh, wait. You're one of the Cool Kids. Of course you do."
"Let me inform you on some things, because I know that in dealing with all of you, things have to be broken down into small, simple fragments of information you can easily understand."
"While this match between us may be the only thing on your plate, and perhaps has been for the last two weeks or so, it hasn't been the only thing on mine. Far from it. See, Angie, while you and your merry band of misfit toys all gather at your table and decide the fate of the rest of us....I've been on the road. I've been facing some of the best in the world, defending the other two championships I currently hold."
"So, you may just have to forgive me if you haven't been the center of attention lately. Beg pardon if you aren't the absolute middle of my world."
"But see, here's your problem, Angelica. I've called them a bad crowd to hang with, and their actions and words bear witness to the fact that I'm a hundred percent right. Every single word that Roxy Cotton utters? You get to catch the brunt of that. Every single thing Milisandre decides to let fall from her mouth? You pay for that. Every time that Sarah mentions how worthless of a champion I supposedly am?"
"All that gets taken out on you, Angelica."
"Now I'm sure you think that I shouldn't hold what they say against you. And, in some circles, you'd be dead right."
"But we're not in those circles, and you cast your lot with that lot. Far as I'm concerned, what comes from one of you comes from all of you. You are all so very good at the hive mentality. Now, that mentality comes back to bite you squarely in the ass."
"You reap what you sow, Angelica...and all you've done so far is sow the seeds to finding out the hard way that I'm every bit as good as I say I am. You get to find out firsthand why I continue to hold and successfully defend three separate championships in three separate companies. You get to pay for the sins of your friends, all at my hands."
"And it's a crying shame, too, because you're better than that. You have the talent and the drive to be a star all on your own, without the agrandizement from the group of people you've aligned with. You can promote yourself without them. You can legitimize yourself without them."
"I made myself into a superstar on nothing more than a lot of hard work, and by shedding a lot of blood, sweat, and tears along the way. I forced this company to add an entire division to its championship rolls because I fought for it and refused to take no for an answer."
"Yet you and your friends see fit to call me down, all because I haven't defended the Chaos Championship in a fair few weeks or so?"
"You're hypocritical, kid."
"You can't sit back and call me out for not being a fighting champion when I offered you a shot and you refused."
"But I'm the one being disingenuous, right? I'm the one who isn't living up to the standard set by the Cool Kids, right?"
"Or...more to the point, am I the one who one week from our match Sunday night just drove Sarah Selena Lacklan through two different flaming tables, all because she said many of the same things you've said?"
"See, Angelica, I don't speak just to hear my lips move. I don't do promotional videos just to do them. I speak and record when I have something to say. Just because you feel slighted that I didn't respond immediately to your first little diatribe doesn't mean for one second I'm taking you lightly."
"No, kiddo...far as I'm concerned, I'm going to treat this like a title match."
"You know, those things I haven't lost in well over nine months, save for one stupid hiccup outside LAW?"
Samantha holds up the Chaos Championship, the silver plate gleaming against the lights in the room as the black strap absorbs the same light cast upon it.
"Let me tell you why, Angelica, you wouldn't have beaten me for this, and exactly why your little bitch friend, Botox Barbie, won't either."
"I fought and bled for this. This title? It's my baby. The one I gave life to. The one I created at the urging of someone who left a fake title in my locker room nearly two years ago with a challenge to make it legitimate. At my own expense I had the belt remade and renamed. And I put it on the line against anyone in LAW who wanted a shot."
"And yes, I wasn't holding it when it was legitimized by Megan Helms-King, Lucas Dupree, and the Board. But I won it back shortly after."
"And yes, your friend Kenzi Grey....the only one of your group I hold respect for, the only one I might even say I like....took it from me once. And I took it back from her. And I have held it ever since, defending it when called upon by the powers that be in LAW to do so."
"THIS. IS. MY. GODDAMN. TITLE."
"And not you, not Roxy fucking Cotton, not Sarah, Milisandre, or Kenzi...no one...will take it from me so long as I decide to continue to hold it."
"So come prepared for war in Las Vegas, Angelica. Come prepared for the beating of a lifetime. Come prepared to be shown just how far you really have to go before you get the stardom you so clearly crave."
"But after I'd dropped you on your head, and I've felt the referee slap his or her hand on the mat a third time....after I've beaten you so goddamn senseless you can't think straight without a bolt of pain shivering through you like lightning....when all that tough talk about the era of the Cool Kids comes crashing down upon your head, and you realize that you went and bit off more than you can chew with your bile and your vitriol...."
"...don't cry to me about titles and champions and defenses. Don't cry to Helms-King and Dupree about getting your shot. Don't send out Tweet after Tweet online, talking some big game that you and I both know you can't back up about the complacency of LAW's titleholders."
"No, bitch, you sit right the fuck back down, you shut your trap, and you do exactly what the vaunted Sarah Selena Lacklan has done since I beat her down as well."
"Shut."
"The."
"Fuck."
"Up."
Through all those movie-magic fade in and out tricks, we see Samantha Tolson back in Missouri, specifically, the town of Moberly. She's sitting on a small wood-and-metal bench outside the entrance door to Camp Nightfall, wearing her workout gear. Sitting next to her is a precocious little 10-year-old girl, her brownish-blonde hair sparkling in the afternoon sunlight, her smile wide as her purple-framed glasses. Both woman and girl hold bottles of water, and in the little girl's lap is her most prized new possession, a white catcher's mask with red and black graphics adorning the sides and top.
The time she got to spend with Acacia, her mentor's daughter, was precious to her in ways few people could ever understand. The reason...well, that was something she'd not even told Ryan Corey, something she still had to discuss with Maggie Lockheart. Samantha'd been asked once, on social media, about her deepest, darkest secret...and she'd told a bold-faced lie. Death was not that secret, but the actual answer was exactly the reason why she held her time with this bright, bubbly beauty so near and dear. Those moments were moments she knew she could not have on her own.
The two girls sat on the bench, smiling and giggling with each other like they were old friends, a couple of girls who'd spent a lifetime together accumulating funny stories, sharing heartaches, walking each other through the ups and downs of life. Little did the little girl know that in many ways, she had done just that for Samantha. But the thoughts of that personal tragedy were washed away with Caci's smile, her laugh, and just her overall presence. Samantha was sure that there was no way anyone could possibly be sad around Caci, because every time she was, her heart was filled with a happiness that she'd never be able to reproduce.
Acacia smiled as she looked at her mask. "I love it Sam! It fits so nicely, and I've already taken foul balls off of my face and they don't hurt!"
Samantha, formerly a catcher herself, grinned. "Well, silly butt, that's why you wear that mask. We wouldn't want your pretty face all mushed in by a softball, would we?"
"Not at all. That would hurt. Probably a lot!"
"Yeah sweetie, it probably would. So...do I get to see you put it on?"
Acacia stood up and turned toward Samantha, slipping the mask over her head and glasses like a practiced professional, throwing her arms out wide with a "Ta-DAAA!" Samantha laughed and quickly snapped a picture with her phone, wanting to show Maggie as soon as she could.
"So Caci...you know I was a catcher too, right?"
"You were?"
"Yes I was. I think I was pretty good at it too. I got to play on a traveling team from a young age, just like you do now."
"Yeah...I'm playing twelve-you even though I'm only ten." Acacia's face sank for just a brief moment beneath the black cage of the mask.
"That's not a bad thing, honey. It just means you're good."
"I'm not hitting like I want to though. Like, when I play in the recreational league at ten-you, I can hit the ball all the time. But the twelve year old girls throw harder, so I'm all messed up on my timing."
"Well, you still have something to be proud of. Your dad told me you threw out three girls trying to steal the other night."
"I did! But it was third. That's a shorter throw."
"All that matters is that you saved your team three runs. You won, right?"
"Yeah we did!"
"How much did you win by?"
"Two."
"See what I mean? Those girls all may have scored, and you would have lost. You were a very, very big part of winning that game, Caci. Maybe you don't hit as well as you like, but if you do a good job behind the plate like that, you can have just as big an effect on the outcome as someone who hits a home run."
Acacia took off the mask with a big smile. "I guess I can, can't I?"
"Yes you can baby girl! Hitting comes and goes in softball. But, good defense, that wins a lot of games all on its own."
Acacia put the mask down on the ground and threw herself into Samantha's arms. The Chaos Champion was taken aback just for a half-second, but willingly and happily put her arms around the chunky little girl, holding her tightly to her as a single tear rolled down from her left eye. The observant little girl felt that tear touch the top of her head, and she looked up at Samantha. "What's wrong, Sam?"
Samantha deflected the question. "Oh, nothing honey. I'm just very, very proud of you, that's all."
Acacia smiled. "I love you Sam. You're always so nice to me."
Samantha fought back the tears, but maintained a smile for the girl. "And I love you, kiddo. You always make me happy."
Acacia nuzzled into her friend's chest, holding on as if Samantha was her own mother. This wasn't lost on the Chaos Champion, and yet again she felt the tears well up in her eyes, practically begging for release. But Samantha held strong again, and rested her head on Caci's.
"Sam?"
"Yeah honey?"
"When are you going to have kids?"
The question might as well have been a dagger to the heart, though Acacia couldn't and didn't know why. Samantha took a deep, long breath, trying to come up with something to say as she upsed her arm to wipe away the tears before they fell on Caci's head yet again. "Maybe someday honey....maybe someday."
Samantha gently held Acacia out at arm's length with a smile that belied the abject pain in her heart and soul at the same moment. "But you know what? Maybe next summer, if your mom and dad agree...would you like to come see Maggie and I out in New York City for a few days?"
Acacia nearly broke her face with the wide smile that crossed it, as the stars began to shine from behind her baby-blue eyes. "Really?! You think Maggie would be OK with that?! Because she is SO cool! I love her hair, and she has the neatest little tattoos on her arms, and she's kinda short like me, and...and...." The little girl couldn't speak, only squeal at her excitement...and Samantha could do nothing but giggle at her as she did.
"I think Maggie would be more than happy to have you spend a little time at our place...as long as you obey the rules, OK?"
Acacia practically bounced up and down as she asked. "What are the rules?"
Samantha grinned back at her. "Well, let's just save that for when your parents agree or not, OK? We still have to come up with them, after all."
"Can we go shopping? Like, at the fashion places and stuff? You know how much I like fashion!"
Samantha looked down at the singlet and cut-off t-shirt she was wearing, and laughed. "Because, you know, I'm the world's biggest fashionista, right?"
"But you've been helping Daddy! I mean like when you aren't working out or wrestling!"
"Well, sweetheart, I try to look presentable, but I'm not what you'd call a fashion plate."
"Still, will you take me?"
"Of course, honey. Even if it pains me."
Acacia bounced back toward her house, squealing as she went. Meanwhile on the bench, Samantha Tolson began to cry.
The movie magic thingie brings us back to the present day.
The memories and the sting of what she will never have overwhelm Samantha.
The tears flow yet again.
---------------------------------------------
"You know, it pains me to see that you turned down a chance at the Chaos Championship, Angelica. Especially after so very many of your little friends lobbied for our match to be for the title, and certainly after I offered to have the match changed into a title match."
"Do you think you're above me, Angelica? Above the title I wear so proudly?"
"Oh, wait. You're one of the Cool Kids. Of course you do."
"Let me inform you on some things, because I know that in dealing with all of you, things have to be broken down into small, simple fragments of information you can easily understand."
"While this match between us may be the only thing on your plate, and perhaps has been for the last two weeks or so, it hasn't been the only thing on mine. Far from it. See, Angie, while you and your merry band of misfit toys all gather at your table and decide the fate of the rest of us....I've been on the road. I've been facing some of the best in the world, defending the other two championships I currently hold."
"So, you may just have to forgive me if you haven't been the center of attention lately. Beg pardon if you aren't the absolute middle of my world."
"But see, here's your problem, Angelica. I've called them a bad crowd to hang with, and their actions and words bear witness to the fact that I'm a hundred percent right. Every single word that Roxy Cotton utters? You get to catch the brunt of that. Every single thing Milisandre decides to let fall from her mouth? You pay for that. Every time that Sarah mentions how worthless of a champion I supposedly am?"
"All that gets taken out on you, Angelica."
"Now I'm sure you think that I shouldn't hold what they say against you. And, in some circles, you'd be dead right."
"But we're not in those circles, and you cast your lot with that lot. Far as I'm concerned, what comes from one of you comes from all of you. You are all so very good at the hive mentality. Now, that mentality comes back to bite you squarely in the ass."
"You reap what you sow, Angelica...and all you've done so far is sow the seeds to finding out the hard way that I'm every bit as good as I say I am. You get to find out firsthand why I continue to hold and successfully defend three separate championships in three separate companies. You get to pay for the sins of your friends, all at my hands."
"And it's a crying shame, too, because you're better than that. You have the talent and the drive to be a star all on your own, without the agrandizement from the group of people you've aligned with. You can promote yourself without them. You can legitimize yourself without them."
"I made myself into a superstar on nothing more than a lot of hard work, and by shedding a lot of blood, sweat, and tears along the way. I forced this company to add an entire division to its championship rolls because I fought for it and refused to take no for an answer."
"Yet you and your friends see fit to call me down, all because I haven't defended the Chaos Championship in a fair few weeks or so?"
"You're hypocritical, kid."
"You can't sit back and call me out for not being a fighting champion when I offered you a shot and you refused."
"But I'm the one being disingenuous, right? I'm the one who isn't living up to the standard set by the Cool Kids, right?"
"Or...more to the point, am I the one who one week from our match Sunday night just drove Sarah Selena Lacklan through two different flaming tables, all because she said many of the same things you've said?"
"See, Angelica, I don't speak just to hear my lips move. I don't do promotional videos just to do them. I speak and record when I have something to say. Just because you feel slighted that I didn't respond immediately to your first little diatribe doesn't mean for one second I'm taking you lightly."
"No, kiddo...far as I'm concerned, I'm going to treat this like a title match."
"You know, those things I haven't lost in well over nine months, save for one stupid hiccup outside LAW?"
Samantha holds up the Chaos Championship, the silver plate gleaming against the lights in the room as the black strap absorbs the same light cast upon it.
"Let me tell you why, Angelica, you wouldn't have beaten me for this, and exactly why your little bitch friend, Botox Barbie, won't either."
"I fought and bled for this. This title? It's my baby. The one I gave life to. The one I created at the urging of someone who left a fake title in my locker room nearly two years ago with a challenge to make it legitimate. At my own expense I had the belt remade and renamed. And I put it on the line against anyone in LAW who wanted a shot."
"And yes, I wasn't holding it when it was legitimized by Megan Helms-King, Lucas Dupree, and the Board. But I won it back shortly after."
"And yes, your friend Kenzi Grey....the only one of your group I hold respect for, the only one I might even say I like....took it from me once. And I took it back from her. And I have held it ever since, defending it when called upon by the powers that be in LAW to do so."
"THIS. IS. MY. GODDAMN. TITLE."
"And not you, not Roxy fucking Cotton, not Sarah, Milisandre, or Kenzi...no one...will take it from me so long as I decide to continue to hold it."
"So come prepared for war in Las Vegas, Angelica. Come prepared for the beating of a lifetime. Come prepared to be shown just how far you really have to go before you get the stardom you so clearly crave."
"But after I'd dropped you on your head, and I've felt the referee slap his or her hand on the mat a third time....after I've beaten you so goddamn senseless you can't think straight without a bolt of pain shivering through you like lightning....when all that tough talk about the era of the Cool Kids comes crashing down upon your head, and you realize that you went and bit off more than you can chew with your bile and your vitriol...."
"...don't cry to me about titles and champions and defenses. Don't cry to Helms-King and Dupree about getting your shot. Don't send out Tweet after Tweet online, talking some big game that you and I both know you can't back up about the complacency of LAW's titleholders."
"No, bitch, you sit right the fuck back down, you shut your trap, and you do exactly what the vaunted Sarah Selena Lacklan has done since I beat her down as well."
"Shut."
"The."
"Fuck."
"Up."