Close Quarters

[Evelyn Dixon]

The roar of a distant engine grows closer to the EVPW venue. Before long, a black Harley Davidson Street Bob enters the car park; parking near the entrance door, the engine is turned off shortly followed by the kickstand hitting the concrete. Whilst still sitting on the bike, the person removes their helmet, long orange hair falls down her back as it's released from the band holding it in place. She places the helmet on the right handlebar and dismounts the bike.

The woman adjusts her leather jacket and pulls out a pack of cigarettes from her jacket pocket. Whilst walking towards the door she lights a cigarette with a  zippo lighter and stops walking. Looking directly ahead at the door in front of her, she takes a long drag of her cigarette and breather out a puff of smoke.

"...Fuck."

The orange haired woman walks slowly into the building, looking around cautiously. Still smoking her cigarette, she stops half way down the hall way and turns to face the wall. The wall has framed pictures of the 'EVPW Legends' lined up side by side. She walks slowly up the hall some more, reading the names on each plaque under each portrait. Some names and faces she knew. But only one she knew personally.

"KingBear... HyperElf... Hawkeye... Mathew Oliveira... Rhaps..."

She continues walking, still puffing on her cigarette. She reaches the portrait of Vladimir Strife and stops. Her eyes look angry and sad at the same time. She stares at the picture for a moment, before a small smirk appears across her lips. She takes a step back, her right hand clenched into a fist. Seemingly without a moments thought, she puts her fist right through the glass covering the picture of the GodKing.

She looks down at her hand, blood dripping from it as she pulls a small shard of glass from between her knuckles. She looks back up at the picture and lets out a small laugh as her blood drips down the face of Vladimir Strife.

"...Rapist."

Her eyes squinted as she thought about the word that just left her lips. It pained her. She takes the last drag of her cigarette and with her thumb and index finger she flicks the end of it away. Using one finger on her left hand, she wipes some blood from her other hand and steps forward towards the picture, painting on the wall just two letters.

-E.D-

She walks a couple of steps further down the hall and stops in front of another picture. This time it was one of Amanda H. She takes a deep breath and breathes it out slowly. It's clear at this moment that this mystery woman knows Amanda. With anger and sadness in her eyes, she turns on the spot and walks back towards the door she entered through.


*TBC by R*

[Rhaps]

Rhaps walks down the corridor, glaring menacingly at the many framed portraits on the wall depicting various EVPW Legends. The Beast Unleashed paused at his own photo and stared at it with relish before proceeding down the corridor. As he reached Vladimir Strife’s defaced picture Rhaps stopped and looked at bloody initials that now decorated the wall. Slowly, the Rhapsitastic One extracts his precious blade from his pocket and quickly sliced his thumb open and watched the blood trickle from the small cut for a moment. The Englishman then dragged his bloodied digit across Vlad’s picture to give the GodKing a bloody Joker-esque smile before finishing off by scrawling his signature underneath the initials ‘E.D’

Rhaps looks down and spots a faint trail of blood heading back towards the door leading to the car park. The Beast Unleashed looks up and spots the retreating figure of a mysterious orange haired woman that he had never seen before and stops dead in his tracks. His footfalls rouse the woman’s attention and she turns on the spot and sees the stab happy Englishman as he raises his bloody thumb and streaks blood across his face like he is applying war paint.

“Hello there. Rhaps has never seen you before. The Canterbury Carver welcomes you to the building but if you’re part of the catering team you should head to the back. Sandwiches won’t make themselves. If you’re here just to deface property and leave blood notes around then Rhapsy likes your style. Would you like some scars of your own?”

Rhaps holds the point of the dagger out meaningfully before turning the knife back on himself and slashing a few shallow cuts into his forearm. The young woman looks at the twisted features of the man standing before her and notices a myriad of healed cuts and scars into almost every inch of his skin and face. She seemingly recoils from Rhaps’ bizarre introduction as he closes his eyes in ecstasy as he continues his strange scarification ritual.

TBC

[Evelyn Dixon]

The orange haired woman watches Rhaps with a raised left eyebrow. She follows the knife with her eyes as it cuts along the skin of the legendary superstar. She takes a deep breath and shakes her head, looking back to the fact of the man in front of her.

"...She was right, you are a strange one."

Rhaps looks at her, stopping a cut mid way up his forearm. The end of the knife stays pressed against his skin as he tilts his head, clearly wondering what this unknown woman meant by that comment.

"Oh, I do apologise. My name is Evelyn. Evelyn Dixon. And no, I don't make sandwiches."

Evelyn smirks. She obviously knew that Rhaps would be wondering who the 'she' is, but Evelyn ignored the sign. She takes a step towards the Canterbury Carver and slowly takes the knife from Rhaps' hand. She glances over his shoulder in the direction of the defaced portrait of Vladimir Strife and holds the knife loosely in her right hand.

"However, it's not only the property I would like to.. deface.. so to speak."

Her eyes move back to those of Rhaps' and she hands the knife back to him handle first.

"You see.. I'm here to send a message. A pretty fuckin' important one. To one person in particular. Lucky for you, you're not him."

Evelyn smiles and pats Rhaps on his left shoulder in an almost condescending manner.

"Anyway, I just wanted to have a quick look around. Fly a little bit under the radar. Think you could help me out with that?"

Evelyn looks around her a little. It was obvious she was unsure of her surroundings, but that being there was her highest priority, for some reason. She looks back to Rhaps and waits for him to respond.  


*TBC*

[Rhaps]

Rhaps stares at the young woman a moment as he twirls the knife around for a few moments. In the dark recesses of the stab happy superstar’s brain a faint recollection bubbles to the surface and the longer he stares at young woman standing before him the clearer the recollection becomes until it finally dawns on him.

“Rhapsy feels like he knows you from somewhere. The Beast Unleashed has never seen you before and yet there is a familiarity that only comes from someone has tasted the imperfection of the Rhapsitastic One.”

Evelyn smirks at the Englishman’s words and a smug grin of satisfaction appears on her delicate features. She continues to smile as if she were gloating that she had Rhaps stumped. However, Rhaps grins a manic smile of his own and he raises his trusty dagger up and lightly drags it across Evelyn’s arm. The smile instantly fades from her face and she backs away from the creepy superstar.

“Canadian, judging by the accent and you seem to know who Rhaps is and you definitely have a history with the GodKing, and yet it is not personal history. It is something that happened to someone else and yet you have taken it upon yourself to exact revenge. It is a quest that Rhaps can respect and it is almost enough to persuade him to help you in your endeavour. You’re related to Amanda Hallsworth, aren’t you?”

A look of irritation passes over Evelyn’s face and her bottom jaw briefly drops in shock. She quickly regains her composure and she crosses her arms as she waits for Rhaps to finish speaking since it was clearly evident that the Englishman had not yet finished and she had elected to consider her response. The Canterbury Carver advances on the young woman, step by inexorable step and Evelyn finds herself being edged closer and closer to the door to the car park.

“The real question is, why should Rhaps help you tear down Vladimir Strife? What is in it for me? I have my own cause for revenge. Amanda humiliated the Rhapsitastic One with help from Angel Morgan and he still has that old score to settle. Those two beat the living hell out of Rhaps at End of Innocence and decided to finish it off with a prank in the hospital afterwards so what is to stop Rhaps from carving you up like a Turkey to punish Amanda for her transgressions? What could you offer to stop the punishment that she deserves? Do you think Vladimir Strife deserves a taste of Rhaps more than that Siren?”

Rhaps runs his fingers along the knife meaningfully, glaring daggers at Evelyn. The twisted grin has become a permanent fixture on the Canterbury’s Carver’s face and he waits patiently for Evelyn’s response.

TBC