Post by DGX on Oct 31, 2007 22:13:24 GMT -5
“Glory is like a circle in the water, Which never ceaseth to enlarge itself Till by broad spreading it disperse to naught.” - William Shakespeare
The true test of man comes when he stands on the cusp of great glory. A lot of people in history who have achieved great things soured their legacies and cheapened their accomplishments because in attaining the glory they set to achieve, they forgot what they originally set out for. They forgot who got them to the hallowed point they stood at and they selfishly stepped through opportunities door and once inside forgot everything they promised and set out to do. It’s a sad story, and one that is as old as time. It’s people like that that prove the old adage about people as being selfish, self interested creatures who only look out for themselves and will whisper whatever honeys they have to in order to get where they seek to go.
But inevitably, they pay for their selfishness. A legacy of a man, all he works for, all the deeds he does and everything he stands for will as sure as the sun rises come down over time to peoples memory of them. It’s in the minds and writings of others that those who achieve glory are remembered, and that puts them at the mercy of the people who remember and succeed them in life. The words of the dead are always digested and warped in the guts of the living, and that is where the fundamental paradox exists with people who set out to achieve great things for glory. And over time that glory morphs and shifts anyway, like a giant game of telephone until at last all that remains are your physical marks left on the world, be they works of literature or monuments of stone. We study works of Shakespeare but do we really know anything about him? We marvel at the pyramids for their ingenuity and at the mere fact that they were constructed so perfectly with nothing but human backs, hands and blocks of limestone. Does anyone even remember who the ruler was that ordered their construction? The architect who designed them? Some might, but as a majority rule, no those people who achieved ultimate glory for their time are now mere obscure names on a page, barely attached as footnotes to the most prominent marks they left on this world.
And on the cusp of glory, a mere doorframe open before a man…how he steps through that door determines and shapes how he will be remembered forever.
[Johnny Valentine stands in his full attire, his slick bomber jacket over his white t-shirt, shades on his face and chews absently on a toothpick in his mouth, his Hardcore X Championship belt over his shoulder as he walks through a wooded area. Its night, just in the dusk hours with the sun slowly sinking in the horizon, the location is not really discernable as he walks, probably some park somewhere in Minnesota. Holding his right hand is Roxy, who wears a black halter top over a white undershirt and the tight satin pants that characterize 50s Go Go Girls, she smiles as they make their way through the park as Johnny scans around on the lookout for anyone before the two finally settle for a secluded spot under a couple of trees in a fairly isolated area. Roxy beams as she sits on the cool grass and Johnny takes off his shades before tucking them into his leather jacket and looking around with a surly scowl surveying the area. After a moment passes he turns to Roxy and smiles a warm and genuine smile and sits on the grass next to her, putting his arm around her.]
Roxy> I told you baby! I told you that you could do it!
[Johnny smiles at Roxy before he gives her a tender kiss on the lips before pulling back and nodding.]
JV> That you did baby. I have to say I was a little surprised those people selected me to face this Blaze cat at the big show, I thought they would go with that David Williams fream!
Roxy> Oh please! He’s grody! Plus you creamed him a couple of times.
JV> Yeah, that doesn’t usually stop the cubes from sticking with the cat they like. But I tell you I’m cranked for Scars and Stripes now. I get to take one more main person in this joint and total him before all his beloved fans and show that once again like it or not that I’m better than most of the Clydes here.
[Roxy beams and gives Johnny a kiss. She’s quite enthused he’s finally beginning to show some care in what he does. She holds him as they embrace and is very satisfied with herself for making so much progress breaking down the walls of the hardened hepcat she’d met those few short years ago. For the longest time she’d been the alpha woman, she still was back in their town, but it made it hard because all she seemed to attract were posers, pseudo tough guys who claimed to be radioactive cats but turned out to be chrome plated actors and shucksters. Johnny was different because alone with her she’d seen past the image he projected and despite herself fell for the sentimental and whimsical face he fought so hard to bury.]
Roxy> I’m proud of you baby! You’re well on your way to where we need to be! Soon all the nerds in this shuckster fed will be in orbit to the fact that Johnny Valentine is Fat City!
[Valentine liked how she could always puff him up. Stroke his ego and keep him on track for the things he wanted to do that she wanted to be with him, but part of him yearned to be free of all of this. All the hype of being a hepcat who creamed cubes to fracture himself, sometimes he wished he and Roxy could just disappear for awhile, be free of all the connotations that came from being a man of his beliefs and she of hers. Everyone in this federation, everyone in this world still looked at the two of them like they were some kind of gimmicked, novel joke. No matter who he beat, no matter how many people he kicked in the face, the respect just would not come. Everyone had the same sad set of smack talk…”I won’t respect you because you beat so and so! I’m better! I won’t respect you till you beat me, but you won’t because I’m the best!!!!” And after he did just what they said he couldn’t do…they didn’t say anything at all.
He didn’t dress the way he did, talk the way he did or act the way he did because as a child he’d grown up a fan of bad musicals and low budget “before they were superstars” movies. He’d truly been raised in the environment he portrayed, who knows why his mother had given him to her family. She might as well have put him in a time machine and send him back to 1956 because that’s the year the whole community he grew up in was stuck on. It wasn’t a joke, it wasn’t a gimmick, it was his life really no different than if you were raised a Christian or a Muslim. And yet because of that set of circumstance he’d never be taken seriously, and that bothered him now more than it had before. Before he’d been able to laugh it off, or beat the crap out of whoever was really trying to take it too far. But now…now feeling the freams bones break under his assaults wasn’t making him feel any better about it like it used to. Because it just had the same effect that beating people in this place did…it stopped them from talking, which was about it.
That was no longer good enough for Johnny Valentine. Now he lusted to hear the freaking judgemental freams to choke through their broken teeth that yes, he should be taken seriously. That yes he did really drag race, shoot dice, and park with his girl…and what the hell was so abnormal about it?!]
JV> Ya know baby, maybe you’re right.
Roxy> About what babe?
JV> About this whole “taking things lightly” bit. I go out there, week after week, take one the best they have, serve them knuckle sandwiches until they are finely creamed and crushed, lay their carcasses down to the mat and all people can do is say…”huh.”
Roxy> Oh who cares what the cubes think about you baby? You know that you’re the most radioactive hepcat this joint has ever been lucky enough to see. Besides, I think you’re making plenty of progress already with those freams.
JV> Yeah?
Roxy> Oh yeah! Who did they choose to select to face that Yukio Blaze cat for the International strap? You. They passed on two other freams to get you in that match! You knock his head off at the big show and you are in like flynn!
[As usual Roxy is right. She always has that way of making things so clear to him, it was a miracle that with his usually gruff and seemingly unappreciative demeanour and that worked fine for him. One final stop before he would be at the cusp of the glory he had brutalized numerous other men to get to, and that last stop was High Horror. A formidable adversary to be sure, decorated to the fullest extent with numerous title reigns. But that didn’t impress Johnny Valentine, if you have twenty title reigns it just means you lost the title twenty times. Besides it’s nice to think that you can make a name for yourself and then live off it forever, but the golden era of the 80s was gone and with it the blind impressionable fans that last forever. But that was alright, as long as at the end of the day people took him seriously, that was really all that mattered to Johnny Valentine. He already knew that he was starting to get a growing reputation in the back, top guns eager to take him down and they tried, thus far he’d weathered the attacks though. Soon enough people would cringe when they saw their name next to Johnny Valentine, not because they’d be wrestling a bad joke, but because they were in all likelihood going to get creamed and have their face kicked in.]
JV> Don’t think the submarine races start for awhile doll, and we have a bit before we have to be at the arena to do what I do.
[Roxy seductively smiles at Johnny and one of the straps on her halter top falls down on her left shoulder. She looks at him with a coy smile…]
Roxy> Whatever will we do to kill the time?
[Johnny Valentine smiled and moved in to kiss her neck, and then whispered gently in her ear…]
JV> I have an idea or two…
The true test of man comes when he stands on the cusp of great glory. A lot of people in history who have achieved great things soured their legacies and cheapened their accomplishments because in attaining the glory they set to achieve, they forgot what they originally set out for. They forgot who got them to the hallowed point they stood at and they selfishly stepped through opportunities door and once inside forgot everything they promised and set out to do. It’s a sad story, and one that is as old as time. It’s people like that that prove the old adage about people as being selfish, self interested creatures who only look out for themselves and will whisper whatever honeys they have to in order to get where they seek to go.
But inevitably, they pay for their selfishness. A legacy of a man, all he works for, all the deeds he does and everything he stands for will as sure as the sun rises come down over time to peoples memory of them. It’s in the minds and writings of others that those who achieve glory are remembered, and that puts them at the mercy of the people who remember and succeed them in life. The words of the dead are always digested and warped in the guts of the living, and that is where the fundamental paradox exists with people who set out to achieve great things for glory. And over time that glory morphs and shifts anyway, like a giant game of telephone until at last all that remains are your physical marks left on the world, be they works of literature or monuments of stone. We study works of Shakespeare but do we really know anything about him? We marvel at the pyramids for their ingenuity and at the mere fact that they were constructed so perfectly with nothing but human backs, hands and blocks of limestone. Does anyone even remember who the ruler was that ordered their construction? The architect who designed them? Some might, but as a majority rule, no those people who achieved ultimate glory for their time are now mere obscure names on a page, barely attached as footnotes to the most prominent marks they left on this world.
And on the cusp of glory, a mere doorframe open before a man…how he steps through that door determines and shapes how he will be remembered forever.
[Johnny Valentine stands in his full attire, his slick bomber jacket over his white t-shirt, shades on his face and chews absently on a toothpick in his mouth, his Hardcore X Championship belt over his shoulder as he walks through a wooded area. Its night, just in the dusk hours with the sun slowly sinking in the horizon, the location is not really discernable as he walks, probably some park somewhere in Minnesota. Holding his right hand is Roxy, who wears a black halter top over a white undershirt and the tight satin pants that characterize 50s Go Go Girls, she smiles as they make their way through the park as Johnny scans around on the lookout for anyone before the two finally settle for a secluded spot under a couple of trees in a fairly isolated area. Roxy beams as she sits on the cool grass and Johnny takes off his shades before tucking them into his leather jacket and looking around with a surly scowl surveying the area. After a moment passes he turns to Roxy and smiles a warm and genuine smile and sits on the grass next to her, putting his arm around her.]
Roxy> I told you baby! I told you that you could do it!
[Johnny smiles at Roxy before he gives her a tender kiss on the lips before pulling back and nodding.]
JV> That you did baby. I have to say I was a little surprised those people selected me to face this Blaze cat at the big show, I thought they would go with that David Williams fream!
Roxy> Oh please! He’s grody! Plus you creamed him a couple of times.
JV> Yeah, that doesn’t usually stop the cubes from sticking with the cat they like. But I tell you I’m cranked for Scars and Stripes now. I get to take one more main person in this joint and total him before all his beloved fans and show that once again like it or not that I’m better than most of the Clydes here.
[Roxy beams and gives Johnny a kiss. She’s quite enthused he’s finally beginning to show some care in what he does. She holds him as they embrace and is very satisfied with herself for making so much progress breaking down the walls of the hardened hepcat she’d met those few short years ago. For the longest time she’d been the alpha woman, she still was back in their town, but it made it hard because all she seemed to attract were posers, pseudo tough guys who claimed to be radioactive cats but turned out to be chrome plated actors and shucksters. Johnny was different because alone with her she’d seen past the image he projected and despite herself fell for the sentimental and whimsical face he fought so hard to bury.]
Roxy> I’m proud of you baby! You’re well on your way to where we need to be! Soon all the nerds in this shuckster fed will be in orbit to the fact that Johnny Valentine is Fat City!
[Valentine liked how she could always puff him up. Stroke his ego and keep him on track for the things he wanted to do that she wanted to be with him, but part of him yearned to be free of all of this. All the hype of being a hepcat who creamed cubes to fracture himself, sometimes he wished he and Roxy could just disappear for awhile, be free of all the connotations that came from being a man of his beliefs and she of hers. Everyone in this federation, everyone in this world still looked at the two of them like they were some kind of gimmicked, novel joke. No matter who he beat, no matter how many people he kicked in the face, the respect just would not come. Everyone had the same sad set of smack talk…”I won’t respect you because you beat so and so! I’m better! I won’t respect you till you beat me, but you won’t because I’m the best!!!!” And after he did just what they said he couldn’t do…they didn’t say anything at all.
He didn’t dress the way he did, talk the way he did or act the way he did because as a child he’d grown up a fan of bad musicals and low budget “before they were superstars” movies. He’d truly been raised in the environment he portrayed, who knows why his mother had given him to her family. She might as well have put him in a time machine and send him back to 1956 because that’s the year the whole community he grew up in was stuck on. It wasn’t a joke, it wasn’t a gimmick, it was his life really no different than if you were raised a Christian or a Muslim. And yet because of that set of circumstance he’d never be taken seriously, and that bothered him now more than it had before. Before he’d been able to laugh it off, or beat the crap out of whoever was really trying to take it too far. But now…now feeling the freams bones break under his assaults wasn’t making him feel any better about it like it used to. Because it just had the same effect that beating people in this place did…it stopped them from talking, which was about it.
That was no longer good enough for Johnny Valentine. Now he lusted to hear the freaking judgemental freams to choke through their broken teeth that yes, he should be taken seriously. That yes he did really drag race, shoot dice, and park with his girl…and what the hell was so abnormal about it?!]
JV> Ya know baby, maybe you’re right.
Roxy> About what babe?
JV> About this whole “taking things lightly” bit. I go out there, week after week, take one the best they have, serve them knuckle sandwiches until they are finely creamed and crushed, lay their carcasses down to the mat and all people can do is say…”huh.”
Roxy> Oh who cares what the cubes think about you baby? You know that you’re the most radioactive hepcat this joint has ever been lucky enough to see. Besides, I think you’re making plenty of progress already with those freams.
JV> Yeah?
Roxy> Oh yeah! Who did they choose to select to face that Yukio Blaze cat for the International strap? You. They passed on two other freams to get you in that match! You knock his head off at the big show and you are in like flynn!
[As usual Roxy is right. She always has that way of making things so clear to him, it was a miracle that with his usually gruff and seemingly unappreciative demeanour and that worked fine for him. One final stop before he would be at the cusp of the glory he had brutalized numerous other men to get to, and that last stop was High Horror. A formidable adversary to be sure, decorated to the fullest extent with numerous title reigns. But that didn’t impress Johnny Valentine, if you have twenty title reigns it just means you lost the title twenty times. Besides it’s nice to think that you can make a name for yourself and then live off it forever, but the golden era of the 80s was gone and with it the blind impressionable fans that last forever. But that was alright, as long as at the end of the day people took him seriously, that was really all that mattered to Johnny Valentine. He already knew that he was starting to get a growing reputation in the back, top guns eager to take him down and they tried, thus far he’d weathered the attacks though. Soon enough people would cringe when they saw their name next to Johnny Valentine, not because they’d be wrestling a bad joke, but because they were in all likelihood going to get creamed and have their face kicked in.]
JV> Don’t think the submarine races start for awhile doll, and we have a bit before we have to be at the arena to do what I do.
[Roxy seductively smiles at Johnny and one of the straps on her halter top falls down on her left shoulder. She looks at him with a coy smile…]
Roxy> Whatever will we do to kill the time?
[Johnny Valentine smiled and moved in to kiss her neck, and then whispered gently in her ear…]
JV> I have an idea or two…
