One day, you'll be able to drive a car in silence again. You'll just sit back, relax, and focus on the road. There won't be any drama you have to hear, any advice you need to think over, any earth-shattering situations you need to grapple with. On that day, you'll just hear… nothing. Nothing at all.
Today is not that day.
"So, Philly!" Omid calls from the backseat. You hear a crinkle of paper as he turns a page in the atlas you didn't know you had under a seat until he found it. "Solid city. Good place to live if you pick the right spot. Lots of history there, so at least you won't be bored."
Leah nods along from the passenger's seat. "Yeah! If you get any free time there, you can find like a dozen tour groups that always run. I went on one for a school trip a few years back and it was fascinating. Seeing where the country was born is-"
You and Omid snort in unison. At Leah's look, you explain. "Omid's not talking history history. He means-"
"I mean the only history that matters!" he chirps. "Wrestling history! Philly's been the birthplace of like half a dozen companies that got legs under 'em." He sits up, tosses the atlas to the side, and starts counting off companies on his fingers. "The Anderson's ran shows outta the ol' Spectrum for fifty years in the territory days. Then when WPW did it's thing, a who's who of Super Indies all popped up. Northstrike, Master Battle, EPC, GWA North East, Destiny-"
Your manager rolls her eyes. "Aren't they all closed?" she interrupts.
Omid scowls at the back of Leah's head. "Tom-Tom, why do you work with her?"
"At times like this I'm really not sure," you chuckle, reaching over to pat Leah's leg to soften the joke. "Cause it sure ain't for her industry knowledge."
"Damn right it isn't," the Persian Punisher agrees. "Listen, it's not about if the shows are still running. It's about the impact they had. Northstrike was one of the first shows to showcase luchadors to an American audience. GWA North East was where half a dozen big timers first broke in. Ever heard of the Omega Oddity? Tony Cypress? Skullduggery? They all started there. And don't even get me started on EPC. People still swear by it today, and it's been dead for over a decade."
"The point is that if Tom-Tom here's looking for a wrestling hotbed to live in, he could do worse than Philly. Whenever some new hotshot promoter is looking to run a first show, that's where they look first."
Leah nods at the point but doesn't respond to it. Instead, as you speed up to pass a van whose driver isn't nearly as confident as you are, she changes the subject. "Have you started apartment hunting yet?"
You shake your head. "I don't want to do it without Allie and Jack. And besides, Philly's a big place. We're going to have to do some research before we actually start doing the hunting."
"Already started," Leah answers promptly. "If you're after a mid price place, best place would probably be the 'burbs right outside. You can still get to center city real easy, but you'd be able to skip the city's wage tax, which is big. If you want the city proper, Old City is probably too expensive, but there're some good places in Kensington that are in your budget-"
"Nah," Omid cuts in, seemingly relishing the opportunity to return Leah's interruption. "You don't want Kensington. I had a friend that lived there. It seems okay right up until you find a crackhead in your stairwell. And-" he says, raising a hand at Leah, "yes, they're in every stairwell."
Leah nods and crosses of few items off of her list. "Alright. There's also some places in Chestnut Hill that're nice, but if you're going there, you might as well stick with the 'burbs. And… hmmm. How important is it to you that you're near public transit?"
"Very," you answer immediately. "But seriously, Lee, there's not much point in going over this now. I can't make the call on my own. We'll have to at least wait for Allie to come back from Fargo before we can make any moves."
"True," Leah acknowledges. With that, she settles back into silence, and you take the opportunity to focus on the road. Some people can drive like real jackasses out here.
Your moment of focus doesn't last long. Omid leans forward and extends a hand. When Leah just looks at him, he asks, "Can I take a look at your notebook? Please?"
Leah hesitates, but gives it to him. The next few moments are full of the sounds of paper being turned as Omid leafs through the book. After a minute, he starts to chuckle. "Apartment complexes. Merch ideas," he muses. "Crowd reactions to spots. Catch phrases. And… the hell's this?"
Your manager barely looks at the page Omid's gesturing to before explaining. "That charts how effective a spot is at certain points in a match," she explains. "That one's the Moonsault Knee Drop. Next page has a few more."
"Shiiiit," Omid sighs out. He sounds impressed despite himself. "That's a lot of stuff. Tom-Tom, do you ask her to do all this?"
You shake your head. "Nah," you answer. "It was her idea. And this is the first I'm hearing of the spot graphs."
Leah flushes slightly. "I was going to mention them to you when I got a little more data."
Omid chuckles and tosses the book back to it's owner. "So tell me something, Lee-"
"Leah," your manager stresses.
"Leah," Omid acknowledges before continuing. "Is it just Tom's life that you pretty much run? Or do you do this for everyone you manage? Because shit girl, that's a lot of work. I'm kinda surprised you can do anything else with all that."
There's nothing slight about the embarrassed blush that blooms on Leah's face. "Mostly Tommy," she answers reluctantly. "Other people I work with don't…"
When she trails off, you take over. "I'm not a big numbers guy," you say. "Except when haggling at the tables. Then I'm all about that shit. But besides that, I'm not much of a detail-oriented guy. I focus on the big picture. Leah's damn good at handling fiddly little stuff and she likes doing it. It's one of the reasons we work so well together."
Omid looks like he wants to say something to that, but Leah cuts him off. "Speaking of details," she says. "There's one I don't know. So tell me, Omid, why exactly are you here?"
The Punisher looks flabbergasted at the question. "Huh?"
"Why are you here?" she repeats. "It's not a problem, of course. It's Tommy's match we're going to and Tommy's car we're taking. He can bring whoever he wants. But I'm not sure why you're coming along to a small show like this one when you're not booked."
You could answer that if you wanted, but Leah's been getting annoyed with Omid this entire trip. If this is her way of reclaiming some equilibrium here, she can interrogate him all she wants. It looks like it's working; for the first time this trip, it's Omid that looks somewhat uncomfortable. But he doesn't hesitate in his answer at all. "Tom-Tom and I had plans last week," he answers. "But I couldn't make 'em. Got a surprise booking, paid double."
Both you and Leah nod at that, and he continues. "We couldn't figure out another day, but it's been too long since I saw my buddy here in action. So I figured hey, from the way people've been buzzing about the stuff he's been doing at this place, it's gotta be something to see. I asked if I could hitch a ride and here I am."
Leah's face creases in confusion. "Buzzing?" she asks.
"Oh, yeah," Omid confirms, nodding. "The grapevine's been talking about what's gonna happen with your boy Hugo before his report date, and everyone figures he's gonna drop his strap soon. Logic says it's gonna be Tommy, and the two've got some great chemistry. So I gotta see this in person."
With Leah deflected from making Omid uncomfortable on purpose and Omid having had his fun, the two settle into a more relaxed conversation. Finally you're able to just sit back and enjoy the drive. Too soon, it comes to an end, and you're pulling into the foggy parking lot of the rest stop that 100SW calls it's home.
You lead the way through the employee entrance and come out in the store room slash locker room that the boys have claimed. You get two steps into the place before a cheer comes from one side. "Tommy boy!" someone calls. "Get over here! We'll deal you in!"
You glance at the speaker and shake your head. "Later, Mutiny!" you call back to the lower carder- who is, of course, already wearing his burlap cape. "Gotta check in with the boss man first."
Mutiny sighs but nods, turning his attention back to his card game. You get another step into the locker room before you're hailed again. "Corsair!" 'Retribution' Pete Winthrop calls. "How's Horizon? Lucy thinking about stretching it to two shows a month yet?"
You shrug, but keep walking. "How the fuck should I know?" you reply.
Winthrop doesn't seem to be convinced. He just nods and adjusts his wide brimmed hat. "When you find out, hit me up!" he replies.
You sigh and glance back at Leah. "Why does everyone think Daybreak'll tell me stuff before she tells everyone else? For real, they should be nagging Hector. He's the money, he'll set the days."
Whatever Leah's reply to that was going to be- no doubt it was going to be complete agreement- she doesn't get a chance to voice it. Instead, she's interrupted by yet another worker. "Yo, Skyrate!" Max Dukes calls. "Can you take a triple bomb?"
You frown. "Are we talking getting powerbombed by three people or getting picked up three time for a bomp by one? And Skyrate? Really?"
"Yeah! Sky Pirate! It fits, don't lie. And the later. I'm trying to get some shit over."
"No idea," you answer with a shrug. "Never done it before. We can give it a test run if you want before the match."
"Aces!"
It keeps on like that. Every few feet, another worker approaches you or says something to you, asking your opinion or for the latest piece of gossip. By the time you've gotten to your usual 'locker' spot near the stack of Angry Orchard bottles, you think you've talked to absolutely every lower or midcarder in this place, and you didn't even have to go around and shake their hands.
Omid's chuckling by the time you set your bag down. "Awwww," he says, and he reaches out to pinch your cheek. "Who's becoming a locker room leader? Is it you? It's you!"
You bat his hand away and respond in kind, tugging his religiously combed moustache. "Hey, don't hate because people here didn't even notice you."
The words are barely out of your mouth before a new voice speaks up. "Yo, Omid!" You turn to see the Rebel Son approaching Omid, hand outstretched. "Holy shit man, I haven't seen you in years! I didn't know you were working this part o' Maryland!"
"Yo, Church," Omid greets him, taking the handshake and bumping chests. "I'm not. I'm just here to visit and see my boy here work the main."
Rebel turns and nods at you, but it's a perfunctory thing. His focus is all on the older worker. "Sweet. Should be a good match. But yeah, I've got some people you've gotta meet!"
As you get changed, Omid becomes the center of attention. Every worker who didn't know who he was on sight is clued in, and they're all quick to line up for a handshake. It isn't long before Omid's the focus of the room once again. You chuckle as you watch a circle start to form around him, with everyone seemingly eager to pump him for all the information they can get.
Well, almost everyone. One guy blows right through the circle, ignoring Omid completely and walking up to you and Leah. "Yo, T!" Hugo greets you, slapping hands and pulling you in for a bro-hug. "You made it! And you too, Lil' Lee. A pleasure, as always."
Leah doesn't protest the nickname coming from the Sky Scientist, instead giving him a proper hug. "How're you doing, Hugo?" she asks. "Ready for tonight?"
"Aw, hell yeah I am," he exclaims. "You been to see Stan yet?"
You shake your head. "Just got here a few minutes ago. By the way, have you met Omid? Xerxes Attar?" You nod at your friend, who's watching the byplay with an amused look on his face.
"Sup," Hugo greets him with an absent nod before turning back to face you completely. "You'll want to talk to Stan ASAP. But lemme give you a spoiler: tonight's the night!"
You blink once, twice. "Heel turn?"
"Heel turn!" Hugo woops. "Hope your back's all nice and tender cause Imma stick all the knives in that tonight."
You grin and finish lacing up a boot. "Fuck yeah. So. Lemme hear it. How's it gonna go down?"
"Tonight, we're losing. Afterwards Imma beat you all around this place, so get on your selling shoes. Next month you're off, selling the beating and I'm on promo duty. Month after, Stan says I'm squashing a guy, but then you're gonna come out and run me off. After that… shit man, we gone home, I ride off in the sunset, and you get a nice piece o' hardware!"
"Awesome!" you cheer. It's one thing to think you're going to wind up with a title. It's another thing entirely to have it confirmed. And yeah, shit's fake and all, but there's still some prestige in knowing that the office thinks that you've got what it takes to hold one of their belts and represent their promotion. But then you frown. "Wait. That's like another three months. You gonna be around that long?"
"For this? Fuck yeah!" Hugo answers, brushing aside your concerns. "Stan wants to do this right and I agree with 'em here. A short little build that makes everyone jack it to the thought of you beating me for the belt and then I'm off to the races. I gotta report before the rubber match, but it's not like Dub's gonna do anything with me for a while anyway. People've told me they're not gonna complain about me coming back to lose a belt."
Huh. Okay then.
"But that's not important right now," Hugo continues. "What is is that tonight's the turn. We've gotta figure out how we want this to go down. Stan's pretty much giving us total freedom here. We can do what we want."
"Fuckin A'," you respond. "I'm gonna guess you already have some ideas?"
"Damn straight. You do too?"
"Of course. Lee?"
"I've got a few."
"Then let's plan this shit!"
Tonight's the night! You will be going up against the Dukes of Blades (Maximilian Dukes and Keiji Katana) for the 100SW Tag Team Titles, but Hugo will turn his back on you, costing you the match and taking your feud off the back burner. But Stan the Booker is giving you complete freedom as to how the turn will actually play out. What do you decide to do?
[] Keep it simple. You'll go for a tag at the end of the match and Hugo will jump down, leaving you to be destroyed by the Dukes. Afterwards, Hugo'll beat you down.
[] There's nothing that says 'feud' quite like getting hit by your former partner's finish. You know Hugo's been working on something that isn't quite so flippy for his heel work. You'll set up a Duke for it, and then he'll hit you with it instead. Then you'll eat the pin and take the beating.
[] There're tables set up on the outside of the ring, right? Wouldn't it be a sight for you to be up top and then Hugo to push you off into one? It'll be risky, and you've never taken a bump like that before, but goddamn it'll make an impression.
[] Why does the turn have to happen during the match? You'll wrestle a clean match and lose. Afterwards, Hugo will snap and you'll go down.
[] Write-In
