Post by Maggie Chamberlain on Jan 18, 2018 0:38:08 GMT -5
"Come On Baby, Light My Fire . . . "
CAMERA: OFF
LOCATION: MANCHESTER, ENGLAND
TIME: 11:43 A.M.
“Absolutely fuckin’ not.”
Carter Brexley sounded out from the kitchen; the two were lazily trying to begin their day, but couldn’t find the willpower to get out of bed.
“Wait, what? Babe, are you serious?”
Maggie rounds the corner from the bathroom, still in her Victoria’s Secret matching pyjama set, her Anastasia contour palette in hand as she’s carefully dabbing bronzer onto her face.
“Oh, I’m one hundred percent serious,” Carter exclaims, his back towards her as he fixes up a proper breakfast for the two of them which involved tending to a few different pans on the stove at once. “Some big ugly fuckin’ goof puttin’ ‘his hands all over you? Are you tryin’a make me angry, love?”
“What else am I going to do, though? It’s not my fault they don’t have a division that’s strictly for women!”
“So put ‘em on the phone then, I’ll talk to ‘em, ye?”
“Carter, I’m not going to do that.”
She could hear an audible sigh of frustration escape Carter’s mouth as he slammed the frying pan down. She flinched at the sound of it – a sure sign of Carter’s impending temper boiling up to a point. She turned silently on her heels to walk back towards the bathroom when before she knew it, he had her by the arm. His grip was tight enough that she knew she might have a bruise there tomorrow, but it’s okay. He probably just doesn’t know his own strength.
“Hey, I’m not done talkin’ to you,” He spun her around to face him but her eyes darted shamefully to the floor.
“I’m sorry – “
“You know I’m proud of you, ye? You know that?”
She nodded, still unable to find the courage to look him right in the eye when he had that sort of grip on her.
“You know I want the best for you, then?”
She nodded again.
“And you know I’m sorry about my temper and that I don’t mean it?”
She gulped hard, but nodded quickly.
“Right, then, go on. I love ya.”
He turns her back around and pats her on the butt hard enough to send her staggering forward a step. She headed back towards the bathroom and placed both of her palms on either side of the counter, looking at herself.
• • •
You’re not actually scared of him in any way. You do realize he would never do anything that puts you in danger. He loves you, ever since he saw you; why would he do anything to jeopardize that? You’re his world.
Any opponent that you could possibly face in Union Battleground is much more dangerous. There’s an actual man in this world right now that has the job of taking you down and out in less than a week; you don’t have time to worry about your boyfriend.
Besides, he wants the best for you – If Trey did anything too damaging, Carter would be right there by your side to take care of you. If he can put his hands on you sometimes, and maybe he’s a little too rough because he doesn’t know his own strength, imagine what he’d do to the guy that hurt you . . .
• • •
CAMERA: ON
LOCATION: MOSS SIDE CARNIVAL GROUNDS, MANCHESTER, ENGLAND
TIME: 6:05 P.M.
“You know that bloke’s daddy used to dress up as a clown?”
Carter snickered as the two of them entered the carnival grounds. Maggie raised an eyebrow in confusion.
“Look it up, ye? Fuckin’ hilarious,” He said with a boyish grin on his face, grabbing Maggie’s hand as they treaded on damp grounds through a sea of people.
“Well, did it say why?” Maggie asked, her tone was a curious one, ignoring Carter’s painstaking arrogance.
“Somethin’ about livin’ up to ‘is father’s name and all that bullshit,” Carter waived, exaggerating that the reason couldn’t have been less important to him, “Everyone’s dad is a fuckin’ wrestlah.”
Maggie simply nodded, but stayed silent. They passed a stand that sold candy apples, and automatically her eyes lit up. She tugged at Carter’s hand.
“Oh! Babe, can we stop on the way back and – “
“Aye, is that Rick? I think I see my buddeh, gimme a sec, love.”
And just like that, her eyes dulled again as Carter darted off towards a group of his old pals.
She couldn’t help but look around and, instead of seeing people enjoying themselves at a carnival and hearing the sounds of children screaming on rides and playing games, she saw it as a piece of Trey’s history.
“To be honest with you Trey, I have so much respect for you walking through this place today.”
She shoves her hands in her coat pockets, taking the liberty of walking around while she waited for Carter.
“I’m sure your father left quite the legacy, regardless of how you felt about it. It’s hard enough being a newcomer in this industry like you and I both, I couldn’t imagine having the weight of keeping up the façade of Manhertz the Clown. I think in a way, everybody wants their family to eventually be proud of what they’ve accomplished and I don’t think you’re any different.”
She smiles slightly, her sweeter side becoming more and more evident the more she thinks about her opponent.
“You’re coming into this with a clean slate. You don’t have any reputation to uphold; you can essentially become anything or anybody you want in Union Battleground. I’m right there with you. That’s probably why the two of us are pretty much opening up the show – we’re sort of the new kids who don’t know where they fit in yet or how much of an impact we’ll make. But we can figure all of that stuff out later, right? For now, we focus on Lights Out in your home turf. That has to be exciting; I’ve never been to New Zealand but thinking about it feels like home already.”
A friendly expression remains on her face as she’s sidestepping and dodging a couple of oncoming excitable children.
“I guess you could say that I’m a bit nervous,” Maggie shrugs timidly, “But only because I know it’s not going to be easy to take down somebody of your stature. Your strength is obviously incomparable, that I’ll willingly admit. My boyfriend Carter’s been training me faithfully for a while now, and I think that’ll help me. He trained in MMA for years, so I think as long as he’s consistent in helping me improve my submission technique, I just might pose a little bit of a threat to you after all, Trey . . . “
A soft chuckle escapes her pink and plumpy lips.
“I know when and where I need to improve, but that can be said for anybody. Though I may not have any thoroughly woven family ties in this business at all, maybe this is me starting my own legacy. Maybe I’m going to be the first Chamberlain who makes a name for herself and uses her brains and whatever brawn she can muster to outsmart anybody that’s put in front of her. Maybe, just maybe, somebody will be digging through my history one day trying to find a weak point; studying my tapes to see where they can catch me. Looking toward that future lights a fire under my butt that’s going to be really hard to extinguish, no matter how big, burly, powerful and technical you are.”
Maggie stopped; the intonation in her voice suddenly indicating that she wanted to be seen as more than the new, cute nerdy girl on the roster.
“With us, Trey, it’s going to be my heart and drive versus yours. Your desire to be somebody different than your father was, and my desire to just . . . be somebody. I know that this isn’t an avenue I’ve been pining to explore since I was a child, but I don’t think that puts me at a disadvantage – I know my strategies, I know what I’m good at and I know I have a more than capable team behind me who wants to see me grow and succeed and become one of the best professional wrestlers of our generation.”
She sighed, looking over her shoulder to see Carter making his way back towards her.
“I wish you the best on your own journey, Trey, but if you’re looking to prove yourself to anybody, it won’t be against me.”
Carter latches onto her arm from behind, urging her along in the opposite direction.
“The ‘ell you wanderin’ off for? Let’s go . . . “
The scene fades with Maggie and Carter walking arm in arm, Maggie looking over her shoulder . . .