Post by Amanda Hallsworth on Jul 3, 2008 21:33:41 GMT -4
((I was asked to post this by KingBear from GHW))
KingBear:
"You're never home!" A beautiful young woman dressed in tight blue jeans and a white T-Shirt yells at a large man. The woman has long flowing brown hair and blue eyes that cant help but draw you into them. Her face is soft and young but a look of worry and anger makes her look a bit older. She punches the man in the shoulder lightly as he towers over her slim 5 foot 8 inch frame.
"I know, but what do you expect? You know the business babe." The man moves a bit closer trying to calm her down. He is a very tall 6'10'' and is well built with long light brown hair tied up in a pony tail. His green eyes speak concern throughout them as he speaks to the woman calmly. His face is also calming but at the same time scarred from 'battle'. "Julie, calm down, you've done this stuff before as well. Or should I call you Sang?"
"Shut up Nate! You just keep putting yourself out there for these people and get WHAT in return? A busted knee, a bad back and a possible shorter life! I've seen you in a coma too many times, I've nearly WATCHED YOU DIE! You do too much for these companies and you, your body and I feel the pain for it. What are you going to do when you dont even have time to be there for the birth of your child?!" Julie punches Nate in the chest hard, a thud coming forth as the big man doesnt even flinch.
"Please just calm down babe, I know what you're talking about but they need me. They've always needed me and will always need me. I dont know why but these people practically idolize me!"
"Tell that to your bad knee! Because I dont give a god damn Nate. You need to retire you're 30 years old! You dont heal as fast as you used to! How can you expect to even be AROUND to take care of me or your unborn child?! Oh but I guess your 'KingBear' gimmick is more important to you than your family huh?"
"DONT YOU EVER SAY THAT!" The look on the face of the big man goes from concern to hurt as he explodes in anger at the claim set forth by Julie. "My family is more important to me than anything! I just want to be able to take care of you guys monetarily as well!"
"You have enough money to take care of us for the rest of our lives! We've put off having a family for so long because of your career. It's time to retire so we can actually have a family. We got pregnant and maybe it was a mistake but it happened and now you've got a responsibility to live long enough to be here when your son turns 18. If you stay in this business you'll either die of internal bleeding, insanity, exhaust, bodily injury or by my hands. Make your choice Nate. Me or the job..."
Julie storms away from Nate in a huff, leaving the big man to ponder her words with a look of disbelief in his eyes. He storms out of the room and goes to the garage where he's got a mini gym complete with a punching bag. After a moment in the garage, the punching bag is no more from a devastating punch that tears the leather and sends the bag flying off the chain from a broken link.
Vladimir Strife:
Julie picked up the phone slowly, still trying to decide whether or not to punch in those 10 digits. It would be a bit unfair to bring him into her and Nate's disagreement, but she also understood that next to her, he was about the only one who could get a message through her husband's thick skull. She looks at the phone and sighs as she goes to set it back on the cradle it rested upon. Her hand stilled though and she rolled her eyes before turning it back over to look at the number pad. She punched in the number quickly, not wanting to give another moment's thought on it. Her finger slowed as she reached the end though.. 8523787...4....3...3.
She raised the phone to her ear, the dial tone sounding for a second before it began to ring. After a few rings, her hopes began to drop, not expecting an answer. About the time that she expects to hear the sound of an answering machine, it's a live human voice that comes across, surprising her slightly.
"Hello?"
"...Mike.."
"Gah, I told you not to call me that!"
"It's your name, get used to it."
"WAS my name... Anyhow, what do you need? You kind of caught me in the middle of shooting a commercial.."
"Well, it's Nate. I want you to talk to him for me, he's being stubborn again. I told him that I want him to retire that way he can finally spend some time at home with me and the baby when it's born."
"Retire!? But he's only like... 30! But... with the kid on the way, I suppose you ARE right.. geez, I thought I told him to watch out for crazy women!"
"Yeah, great way to talk about your sister!"
"Well, I had to grow up with you, so I'm only speaking the truth. Anyhow though... yeah, maybe it is time he threw in the towel on this one. Who knows how much more that knee will take anyhow?"
"That's what I told him.."
"Yeah, yeah. Let me wrap up things on this commercial and I'll come over and have a talk with him."
"Thanks, baby brother, I really owe you one."
"You owe me a million at this point. Start by never calling me 'baby brother' again. I'm 28 for crying out loud! I have to go though, I've got a room full of production people looking at me like there's a penguin on my head."
"Alright. See you later, baby brother."
"See yo... hey! Grrr, damn it."
He hangs up his cell phone and rubs the bridge of his nose in frustration before getting back to work.
Julie sets the phone back on the cradle and giggles, knowing she got to be a pest to her little brother sometimes. She lays down on her bed and looks down at her stomach, rubbing it and thinking of how odd it was to have another human being inside of her.
A while later, a hunter green Mazda Protege pulls up in front of the house slowly, the engine cutting off after a few seconds. The door opens and the man inside steps out, toting a duffel bag as he uses his own key to get into the house and makes his way to the garage.
As he steps inside, his longtime friend, Nate, sits on a work bench in deep thought. His thought is interrupted as the duffel bag hits the concrete floor with a thud, snapping him out of the zone he's in. He looks up the black boots and jeans to the long sleeved raven blue t shirt, forcing a slight smile as he recognizes his brother in law.
"Hey Vlad."
"Hey there, big man."
Vlad takes a box of Marlboro 100's out of his pocket and flips the lid up. He takes out 2 cigarettes and offers one to Nate. Nate silently accepts as he takes it between his fingers and raises the butt to his mouth, slipping it between his lips and sitting up to look at Vlad. Vlad slips the cigarette in his own hand into his mouth and puts the pack away, taking out a lighter. He strikes the wheel and presses down the button, a flame producing from the top. He raises it to the end of the cigarette and breathes in, lighting it up and taking a deep breath of smoke. He moves the lighter to Nate's cigarette and lights it up for him. Once it's lit, Vladimir slides the lighter back into his pocket and takes a long drag from the cigarette in his hand.
"What brings you over?"
"Julie called me.."
Nate smirks and lets out a sarcastic chuckle.
"Great.."
"She told me what was going on. I have to admit... I don't want to see you leave the business. You're the whole reason I'm over here working for GHW and not still in Romania, working some piece of shit nine to five, beating the crap out of Mathias and the gang."
Vladimir takes another long drag from his cigarette, a dramatic effect in the silence following his statement.
"I just... I hate it that she thinks I'm too old for the business. I'm not. I could go another 30 years if I wanted. My knee may have seen better days, but I could still mop the ring with damn near anyone in the locker room!"
"That's true. You know it and I know it. This isn't about your condition though... this is about her condition. I love the business just as much as you... but some things are just more important and family is the most important of it all. There's no way you can walk back into that stadium and carry on day to day knowing that you had a baby here at home that you should be taking care of."
They both take long drags of their cigarettes, the paper burning away closer to the butt, it's crackling audible in the silence.
Vladimir takes one last puff and drops his cigarette onto the concrete, stepping onto it as soon as it hits. He jerks his foot around in a circle, putting it out. He then reaches over and unzips his duffel bag, reaching inside and pulling out a pair of fingerless gloves and slipping them on.
"....What are you doing?"
"For your own good, Nate... I'm making sure you make the right decision. See, the Nate I know would march in there and tell Julie how much he loves her and that he would never let anything come between the two of them. However... if you insists on being stubborn and refuse to do that, then you're going to make this difficult on me."
"What are you saying?"
Vladimir raises up his fists in a fighting stance with a small playful grin on his face.
"You're going to retire... one way... or the other."
Nate stands up and begins to laugh, as does Vlad. Nate throws a playfully slow punch, Vlad putting up his hand and catching it.
"I see. Think you're cool, don't you?"
Vladimir replies sarcastically.
"Me? Of course not."
"In all seriousness though, how am I supposed to leave it all behind, man? I've been in the business so long that it's practically a piece of me."
"I have no idea.. But it has to be done. You're going to be responsible for another life soon.. you're going to have a child. Part of that means thinking about that kid first and foremost. You can't be miles away risking your body night in and night out..."
"...Yeah..."
"Besides, you know you'll never actually be out of the business. You can take the bear out of the fight, but we'll never be able to take the fight out of the bear. You need to take care of what's important first though. The time will come again someday where Julie will let up on the leash a bit and you can come back and fight a match or two. And if nothing else, there's no danger in you coming out to say hi to the fans, so she can't really bust your chops on that."
The two men smiles and Vlad continues.
"So.. tell me, what's it going to be, big man? You going to take care of business or am I going to have to whoop up on a bear?"
KingBear:
Nate glances from the fingerless gloves to the face of his long time friend Vlad and laughs lightly before lunging at him and wrapping an arm around his neck playfully, bending him over into a headlock. "Well, you probably knew the answer to that question before you even came over here pal so I think I'll just beat up on you until you fight back." Nate lets out a small chuckle before shifting his weight and pulling Vlad around the room a bit. "Cmon Mr. Hardcore King, take out the big bear."
Vlad laughs and struggles lightly to be released before stepping on the foot of Nate and jabbing him in the shoulder lightly after being released. "I can still fight you ya know.." Vlad laughs as he jabs Nate in the stomach before patting him on the back. "Get in there and go make amends with my sister you big bafoon."
"Yeah, I think you're right, I hate it when she's mad at me anywho... She kinda beats me up.."
"Stop crying and go in there."
"HEY! You're the reason she's so tough!"
"And your point is? You're bigger than her... Get in there!"
"So what if I'm bigger than her! As she always says, 'the bigger they are the harder they fall' and she's the only one I believe when it's said.." Nate laughs lightly before looking over at the mini fridge and giving a nod to Vlad, "Grab yourself a drink bro, I'll bring Julie out to say hi." At that, Vlad takes a step over to the mini fridge and a large grin stretches across his face as he pulls a bottle of Killians Irish Red out. Nate laughs and stalks into the house from the garage, he travels slowly down the hallway before coming to the last bedroom at the end of the hall. "Hey babe..."
Nate looks into the room, leaning on the door frame as Julie quickly rolls over, her back facing him as she pretends to be mad at him. "C'mon babe, dont ignore me..."
"I dont want to talk to you Nate.."
"Julie, c'mon... I'm going to retire, I promise."
"What kind of retire?" A sound of slight anger still in her voice.
"The kind that we can make visits to GHW to be guest commentators or something along those lines. I wont wrestle anymore... I dont even really want to GM anymore either..."
"You swear?" Julie rolls over to face him, a stern look on her face.
"I swear Jules... C'mere..." Nate opens his arms and Julie reluctantly gets up before walking over to him and wrapping her small arms around his large frame. "I'm sorry babe... I knew what you were saying BEFORE Vlad came over..." Nate laughs lightly.
"I know you did... I just needed someone to talk some sense into you, you big stubborn jerk..." Julie kisses Nate on the cheek lightly before hugging him again. "Is he still here? I wanna say Hi to my little brother."
"Yeah he's out in the garage, probably already on his second or third beer and his third cigarette..." Nate laughs lightly and steps to the side, leading Julie out and letting her step in front of him. He lightly wraps his arms around her neck and walks with her to the garage before opening the door for her as she runs out and hugs Vladimir.
"Hey little brother!"
"Didnt I tell you to quit calling me that?!"
"Didnt I tell you to quit smoking? That stuff is bad for you... And my baby!" Julie grabs the cigarette and yanks it from his mouth before putting it out with her shoe. A look of anger crosses Vlads face then a look of sadness as he glances down at his cigarette.
"Awww damn.. Now that means I have to quit too..." Nate laughs lightly as he stops from lighting the cigarette in his mouth.
"Yes it does you big oaf!" Julie jabs Nate in the ribs with an elbow causing him to cough lightly from the surprise attack. Vlad and Julie both laugh as the three sit in the garage and converse amongst themselves.
EOT
