Light up the Sky Rp- Self Destruction

[Johnny Mason]

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VANGUARD 

The position of greatest advancement; the leading position in any movement or field

When people who go through the most drastic changes for the worst and the most extreme lows that you can possibly have,

People like to ask, how do you get through it?

Do things get better?

Well here I am, the vanguard champion, and I can tell you from my experience, that things do not get better.

You live every single day of your life on rock bottom wishing that it was your last.

You can try and drink it away, or take drugs or pills but nothing ever makes you feel better.

You can succeed in your field to the highest degree but you’re still left with nothing.

Nothing except the feeling of wanting more.

I often wonder to myself, whenever I have every single thing I want in my life, then what? 

I don’t have the answer to that.

But I’m about to find out.

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SELF DESTRUCTION 

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We did it Johnny!

The aroma of liquor and vomit exudes out of the mouth of the egregious, Tyson Watts, with every slurred word spoken.

Across the booth from him sits the new vanguard champion, Johnny Mason.

On the table between them lies a almost empty bottle of vodka and a shot glass on each side of the bottle.

You ready to get out of here Tyson? 

What? You don’t want to celebrate? 

You’re the champion baby! 

Sit back and enjoy yourself.

I think you’re the only one that’s celebrating.

I just want to go home.

I have more important s**t to do besides watch you get wasted and embarrass yourself.

Embarrass myself? Tyson scoffs.

Every single female in this f**king bar wants to be with me.

So the least you can do is let me do my thing and take one of these lucky women home.

Just whatever. 

I’m leaving in 10 minutes, with or without you.

Johnny boy! 

Ask any fine lady that has felt the electricity of Tyson Watts before, and they’ll tell you that I only need three, maybe four minutes tops.

As Johnny makes his way to the bathroom Watts is on the prowl, He shuffles his way around the bar looking for his innocent prey until he finds a lady sitting in a stool up front by the bartender.

Hello ma’am , I seen you looking my way earlier, and I couldn’t help but notice that you are crossing your legs.

The lady looks down at her legs and quickly uncrosses them before looking back up at him.

Oh thank god finally! Watts proudly proclaims, making the poor woman more and more uncomfortable.

You were squashing my dinner!

She laughs an uneasy laugh and tries to get up but Watts puts his hand on her shoulder

Come on! Where are you going? 

You know you were eyeing me all night! 

Coming out of the bathroom and seeing what is going on, Johnny rushes to Tyson.

Hey come on man let’s just leave.

I’m not leaving until this b**ch gets what she has been begging for all night! He says as he reaches forward towards the woman.

Mason intervenes putting himself in between the two of them.

Feeling betrayed, Watts swings a wild right hand but Johnny ducks and hits him with a left of his own, knocking him down. 

Looking up at the bartender and shocked customers, Johnny knows it’s time to go as he reluctantly drags Tyson with him. Slurring his words and cussing up a storm Watts manages to get in the backseat of the car and pass out while Johnny drives home.

Arriving at the house, Johnny decides to leave him in the car while he goes inside and heads directly to his bed.

I hate that stupid son of a b**ch. 

I want him gone.

I didn’t even want to take him back home with me but if I left him there you just know that he’d be on every news site imaginable, dragging my name down
. I just won the vanguard title. I don’t need this right now.

He takes a deep breath as he reaches into his nightstand drawer. Pulling out a pill bottle before opening it and taking a handful of them.

He lays back in bed and takes a deep breath.

I’m the vanguard champion 

There are two champions in the WFWF now, Johnny Mason and Drakz.

I deserve this!

Yeah it was Tyson’s idea for me to pull out of the chamber match and challenge Anna, but I’m the one who delivered.

If Anna wants to get distracted by someone who isn’t even in the match, that’s her problem. 

Not mine.

I don’t even know who can say they deserve to challenge me next.

Anna seems to distracted by Mesh at the moment to come for me. 

I already proved I can beat her so why should I have to prove myself twice?

The father? I beat him down and left him in a pool of his own blood and what does he do? 

He comes back with no mention of that and is spewing nonsense about destroyer.

If I got my a** kicked that bad I’d probably try to forget about it too.

He can be proud of his little trophy for rookie of the year but I hope he remembers that the same night he got that hunk of plastic I was winning gold.

Maim? As much as Tyson drools over himself about her, I’m pretty sure I sent her into a early retirement so maybe that’s why he’s been even more in a sh**ty mood than usual.

Jayson Sykes? Once again, beat the s**t out of him and haven’t heard anything from him since. He’s honestly the least deserving out of anybody for a title shot. 

My advice to him is when he finally heals up, to go back to the indies. Go back to any place that will have him and continue being irrelevant because as long as I’m here, he won’t accomplish a damn thing.

Look at all I’ve accomplished in such a short time. 

I think...

I hope...

That Bryce would be proud of me.....

In a lethargic state and all alone, Johnny slowly falls asleep until a man appears in the doorway to his room.

The shadowed figure moves slowly, as to not wake him from his deep sleep.

Each carefully placed step across the hardwood floor is met with a slight creak,

The only sound in an otherwise quiet and peaceful home.

The sinister apparition lunges forward wrapping his hands around the neck of Johnny Mason.

With a firm and powerful grip around Johnny’s throat, the strangler’s bloodthirsty eyes reveal himself to be Tyson Watts.

I gave you everything! Tyson screams as he realizes that in his revenge fueled rage that Johnny has not moved.

Letting go of his grip, Watts has believed that he has killed him.

Taking a moment to comprehend what has happened, Tyson bursts into tears and collapses onto the chest of Mason.

Just when he thought that was the end,

Not only the end of Johnny Mason’s life.

But the end of himself at the top.

The end of being in the wfwf.

He hears and feels Mason breathing as if nothing had happened.

Appalled at the sight, Tyson jumps out of the bed and before taking one more look at the normal looking Johnny, runs out of the bedroom and exits the home.

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Tyson arrives back the next morning to a house that appears to have nothing changed from the last time he had seen it.

He grits his teeth and fearfully walks inside, expecting Johnny to want to kill him, only to find him still in bed and seemingly unconscious.

Johnny wake up. He says getting closer to the bed.

Johnny! Wake up! He screams over and over to no response.

Once again seeing that he is breathing, he begins to look around, looking for any sign of Mason getting up since last night.

He finds nothing until he pulls his blanket back finding an empty pill bottle.

I can’t bring him to the hospital! 

His time in the wfwf will be over! 

MY time in the wfwf will be over! 

He decides that the best thing to do is sit in the bedroom with him to monitor his health.

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It’s been one week since the night Johnny overdosed and everything is seemingly back to normal.

Actually normal isn’t quite the right word to describe it.

Things are great. So great in fact, that things are better than they have ever been between Johnny and Tyson.

When Mason first woke up he was incoherent and sick but everyday he improved and now he’s almost back to one hundred percent.

Yesterday he got a phone call telling him who his opponent will be at light up the sky....

Destroyer 

Well Johnny, you don’t have to defend your championship against him but a win against someone his caliber just proves to everyone what we already know.

That you’re the best godd**n wrestler in the world.

I already know Tyson. 

Don’t get me wrong, he is a good wrestler, maybe even great. Just look at his resume, But the only reason he won the chamber match was because i pulled out and skipped the whole number one contender process.

I’m a champion already!

Oh yeah baby! For once you listened to the excellence of electrocution and look where it got you.

Always remember, something good will always come out of pulling out! 

You know if you ask me, I think he actually has something to prove against me.

He’s a six time wfwf champion but that was a long a** time ago.

He’s got some big wins under his belt as of late but has he fought a champion yet? 

No he hasn’t.

I’m going to send him back to reality and cease any momentum he has so by the time he gets to his wfwf world championship opportunity, Drakz can pick the bones of what’s left after I eat him alive.

With that Tyson kicks his feet up on the coffee table and smiles a malevolent grin.

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It’s the night before light up the sky and after a tense game of chess in an England hotel room with the one and only Tyson Watts, Johnny decides he should get some rest before the big day tomorrow.

Haha I told you that you couldn’t beat me son, chess is a game of experience and I figure you don’t keep me around here because I’m good looking.

Yeah whatever.

You won fair and square. I don’t even know what to say to be honest man.

Actions speak louder than words Johnny boy! 

Go out there and continue to win tomorrow and maybe it’ll give you the extra boost you need to beat me.

Yeah that’s what it was. I was too focused in on my match I wasn’t even worried about the game until you beat me.

I think I’m going to head back to my room and get some rest though.

Goodnight.

“Goodnight” Tyson says as he plops down in his bed.

As he’s walking out of the room Johnny hesitates for a moment before looking back at Tyson.

I never really thanked you for everything but I hope that you know that I appreciate you.

Looking up and locking eyes with Johnny, Tyson manages a “Always brother” as Mason shuts the door.

It’s kind of ironic that the wrestler that I will face after winning my title is destroyer.

The “six time champion” is a lock to go into the wfwf hall of fame and has made a career out of “destroying” his opponents.

Well how do you destroy something that is already demolished?

That’s why he can’t, no he WON’T beat me.

The only thing I have left to live for is the wfwf.

So destroyer, I’m willing to f**king die in the middle of that ring!

The pain you inflict on me is nothing to me! 

I’m f**king invincible! 

As the future of this company, I ask you destroyer,

How far are you willing to go?

[Deleted]

So, I'm torn on this one.

On one hand, you told a really good story here and I am loving the drastic changes to the character since he joined the ranks. Mason kinda reminds me of Dean Malenko; a great technician with zero personality. As obnoxious as he is, Tyson Watts really complements Mason, he adds a lot to the character and the recent events in his life only really solidify the fact that Mason needs Watts, especially now.

Well how do you destroy something that is already demolished?

I LOVED this line. I want to commend your dialogue this time. It still needs work but you're gradually getting better. The contrast between the two is really helping you give characters their own, unique voices and those two things are what makes character feel alive and real.

However, this RP has the same issue as your previous RPs - lack of marinade. Things happen so quickly and frequently that us (the readers) can't really keep up or in the later parts of the piece, can't really feel or connect with Mason. It's implied that Mason tried to OD and that's serious. Rather than use that situation and have us feel and care for Mason, it felt glossed over and next thing we know, Mason is up and awake and the two guys are okay. It was kinda hard to follow what was going on with Watts and Mason there as well.

If I can help in any way, let me know but the pacing is what kills your RPs. The opening scene started out great.....but then it turned into Mason says that and this thing happens and so forth. There are no breaks in-between the character interactions and world-building is crucial to establishing a character and I feel like that's your weakest point.

[jdfranchise]

Ok, so we got a lot of things here. I think from some of your previous work, this was a step in the right direction. I'm glad you took my advice on exploring the Mason/Watts dynamic, because I think there's plenty there. Here's a couple things I like that you're doing right now.

1. I think you may have stumbled onto something with your promos that could end up evolving into something special. It's hard to explain really, but it almost reads poetic without a deliberate rhyme scheme (basically free verse). I like it, because it was snappy and had some attempts at metaphors, which any of the vets will tell you is not as easy as it sounds. I think with time that'll become a key piece to your style because you'll learn how to expand it. It helps that you're using a variety of vocabulary, as I'm a sucker for that, as are most of the folks around here.

2. The dialouge is actually pretty good. You have clearly defined roles with Mason and Watts, and one character isn't completely dominating the talking points. That's a big struggle, even with vets, to balance it out so that both characters develop. You're already doing pretty good in that aspect, and think with your promo style and already having a handle on dialouge, those should be your focus as your round everything else out.

Now what you need to work on:

1. Pace. You and I talked about the structuring helping with that. But think about it like this, a character's career is a marathon, not a sprint. So slow down and start asking yourself what you're wanting to achieve in your scenes to aide in the bigger story. And that doesn't mean more content, but like @ballparkb0b said, marinate. Let the scene unfold naturally.

2. Grammatical. Not so much in misspellings and punctuation, but capitalizations. Vanguard Champion, not vanguard champion. See how just fixing that capitalization makes it automatically mean more. This is a representation of that character, so you want to take your time and put out your best foot.

Overall, this is a step in the right direction. I would've liked to see more credence to Destoryer in the promos, but I dig the overall style. And I think you have some solid foundations, but you gotta be patient with yourself.

Nice work man.