Post by Andrew Jacobsen on Jun 16, 2012 23:46:05 GMT -6
Open on Andrew Jacobsen opening the doorway to a hotel room, exhaustion evident on his face. He steps into his room, a duffel bag over his shoulder, and tosses it onto the floor, spinning and falling back-first onto the bed. He stares at the ceiling, rubbing his eyes and groaning as he feels the soreness in his back begin to catch up with him. Andrew rolls onto his side, looking at the far wall, and shakes his head, trying to clear out something from it. He sighs, sitting up and scooting back against the wall. Andrew pulls out a phone and dials a number, putting it to his ear. He taps his foot against nothing as the phone rings, and his face falls as he hears the message begin.
”Yo. This is Emma. Leave a message, you son of a—“
Andrew hangs up, shaking his head, and dials another number, his free hand clenching unconsciously as he waits nervously. The phone stops ringing, and the message can’t even start before he hangs up in disgust, dropping the phone on the bed. He stares at the ceiling for a few minutes before rolling over and grabbing the duffel bag off the floor. He drops it on his bed, unzipping the top and pulling out a laptop. Andrew opens it up, fishing out a pair of headphones and plugging them in. He immediately opens a browser window once his computer’s on, bringing up a few different tabs. As the sound of Disturbed plays in the background, Andrew opens his e-mail. He sees only one new message in his inbox: an e-mail from Danielle Chase. He opens it hurriedly, reading it.
Andrew,
Watch the video. Please.
Danielle
Andrew notices the attached video file and opens it, waiting for it to load up. When it does, he’s not surprised to see Danielle looking back at him, slick and professional as ever. She’s sitting at the desk in her office, looking into the camera levelly behind a pair of glasses. She sighs, taking a moment to ensure she’s composed properly before continuing.
”Andrew. I don’t know when this will get to you, but I hope it’s before Sunday.”
Andrew immediately pauses the video and shuts off the background music. He sits up straight and switches back over to the video file, starting it up again. Danielle resumes moving, speaking as if she’d never stopped.
”I’ve seen you on this obsessive quest to ‘redeem yourself’ in my eyes. I see you hunting down Will, trying to…to do to him as he did to you, and you’re tearing yourself apart doing it. The thing is, Andrew…I didn’t leave you because I thought you weren’t worthy. I left BECAUSE of your obsession. And…I’m not seeing anything that makes me want to come back.”
Andrew has to keep his jaw from dropping as he watches in stunned, devastated silence. Danielle keeps speaking, showing no indication she realizes what her words could have done to their recipient.
”I’m sure you’ve got a lot of questions, Andrew. The truth is, if I wanted to speak to you, I would have answered one of your forty calls a week. It’s been a month…and you don’t seem to realize what I’m looking for. I wasn’t expecting you to hound me relentlessly, but…he’s right. You were happy where you were. And the moment something upset that equilibrium, you tried to make it change back. You’re an autoimmune disorder, Andy. You see a perceived flaw and you overcompensate. I want you to be better than that.”
Andrew shakes his head, confused by her choice of metaphor, but Danielle keeps going undeterred.
”You’re a good person deep down, Andrew. And I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to see you put down Will Washington once and for all. But you’ve got to do more than that, Andrew. You have to put this entire persona behind you. Your constant complacency, never reaching out and seizing your opportunity for yourself…it’s not healthy. You need to change. Or our situation…it won’t change. At all. Go out there. Be better. Or get left behind.”
The video stops, and Andrew sits back, looking at the screen mutely. He pauses before setting the laptop aside and closing the lid. Andrew stares at the wall, and all he can manage is one sentence, on which we fade to black.
"...son of a bitch."
"I know what the problem is. You think you've won already. You think that you've found this secret that lets you live an unfettered life, one that gives you the richest rewards. This magical, unburdened existence must be paradise for you...but that's you. You can live like that. You want to draw parallels? Okay, let's go."
"You know what the thing about Batman is? No matter what he does, no matter how far he's pushed, he has a code. He sticks to it, no matter the flak he gets. I know people like you. You think the answer is to cut off all outside input and turn inward, define your own morality, like some nihilistic would-be philosopher who just read Nietzsche for the first time. That...that's the coward's way out. Trying to make up an excuse and say you don't need anyone's rules but your own? It might be easy to you, but where does it get you?"
"You put yourself in quite the lofty company. Steve Awesome. Rob Diamond. The Young Guns. And you do have some similarities. Egos the size of a planet. Talent matched only by your mouths. Ungodly amounts of hype. There's a key difference, though. A slight but vital contrast. See, Steve Awesome. Hall of Famer. World Champion. Legend. Rob Diamond. World Champion, holds the single longest male title run in nCw history. The Young Guns. One of the most iconic groups in wrestling. Their members? Held the big one everywhere they went. You? You have one thing to your name, and you threw that away."
"Say what you will about what I've done here in nCw, but every time I held a belt I have gone out and swung away each time. Here's a contrast. When you and I debuted at A Night to Remember, I was one of the openers. A filler match, defending the X-Division Championship against the returning Alex Jones. You were in the main event. nCw's Gladiator. We both lost. But me? I stole that night. People weren't talking about a Triple Threat for the ages, they were talking about the X-Division! And that is what I do. People don't expect me to do anything because they listen to people like you. They hear you talk about blowing star-making matches time and again. But I walk in there and I show them just why my star is always shining brighter and brighter every damn night."
"Do I want more than I have? You're damn right! I want the World Title, and I'll do whatever it takes to get it! But I don't need to assault non-wrestlers, ambush people, or bully my way into anything. I tried to be that man because I'd heard the serpents whispering in my ear, offering me the easy path. That was a mistake. Because in reality, that easy way isn't as easy as it seems."
"I hear your words, everything you try to throw in my face about how I'm shackling myself with pride. It just isn't that simple. I'm not just fighting for my pride. I'm not just fighting for my honor, and I'm damn sure not just fighting for revenge. I am fighting for every single person out there who's ever been laughed at for holding a hand out to someone who needed it. I'm fighting for the people that bled and sweated their entire lives only for someone to walk in and dash their dreams with a few empty promises and a smile. I walk the long path, not because I think it's easier but because it's harder. Everything I put myself through is a trial. And if I stumble a thousand times on my journey, I'll get up a thousand and one."
"You might walk the path of least resistance, but I suffer and endure all of my trials so that when I do reach the top, when I've made it it's worth it! I'm a prideful man! I admit it! But that pride and that arrogance and that bullheaded stubbornness has kept me going! At my lowest, I have never thought about leaving. I've come this far. Why should I stop now? Will, this Sunday is about everything I am. My determination, my pride and my anger are all going to come together, and with one purpose I will drag you all over that arena. I guarantee you'll submit. Doesn't matter how, doesn't matter where. Your pride led you into this match...mine will take you out of it.."[/color]
We fade back in on Andrew walking into the hotel bar. He looks around at the essentially deserted room, finding a seat at the bar proper, and sighs, shaking his head. The bartender walks over and leans on the corner, cocking an eyebrow.
"Hey. Something on your mind? You look pretty rough."
Andrew nods, chuckling.
"That bad, huh? Okay, I'll have a bottle of Grain Belt. They have Grain Belt in Iowa?"
The bartender smirks, nodding as he ducks down.
"ID?"
Andrew produces his driver's license as the bartender's fishing under the bar. He stands back up holding a bottle of beer along with a bottle opener. After a quick look at his ID, the bartender hands both items to AJ. Andrew pops the top off of the bottle, handing the opener back as the bartender chuckles.
"Keep a supply on hand for Minnesotans who can't handle our stuff. What's got ya down so bad, pal?"
Andrew sighs, taking a drink from the bottle and setting it down.
"I'm having...problems with an asshole coworker. Real viper of a guy. When he was hired, he had a lot of buzz, but he's kind of been a disappointing flake. I've been with...my company...for years, and I'm still trying to prove myself. Months now he's been giving me crap about being complacent and having to seize what I want. I've gotten into it with him so badly, someone I care about left me and my family's suffered. I have a chance to put him out of my misery tomorrow, show him up at a big corporate event, but...I got those nagging doubts, y'know? Like I can't pull the trigger."
The bartender nods, leaning against the bar and looking straight on at Andrew. He smirks a gold-toothed grin at Jacobsen, who doesn't even flinch.
"This guy's hurt you and hurt you bad. You gotta hurt him back. Make him wish he hadn't opened his god-damned mouth. Open some wounds and salt those bitches. I know it sounds cold, and you Minnesotans don't go for that kind of cold, dontchaknow, but that's how people like that listen. You have to make them realize you can hit back and hard. So hit that bastard with all you got and hit him where it counts. If you only got one shot, better make it a knockout blow. Just my thoughts."
AJ knocks back another mouthful of beer, nodding slowly. He sighs, shifting in his seat, and sets the bottle down again.
"I don't want to go where he's gone. I want to make him pay, but...just him. No family, no loved ones. Beat him fair. Show him my way still works. I guess I can still...no, I know I can still make it hurt big-time. But once we leave work, it stops. I don't go after his family, I don't touch the people he cares about. I don't have to. I'm the better man, and he's gonna realize it...hey, thanks for hearing me ramble. Good to have someone to vent to."
The bartender laughs as Andrew drains the bottle of beer, taking the empty as it's set on the counter and gesturing around at the cleared room.
"S***, buddy, you think I got anything better to do? Another round?"
Andrew shakes his head, waving him off. He fishes out his wallet and pulls out a $10, putting it on the bar surface.
"All you, man. Have a nice night."
The bartender takes it, nodding, and Andrew stands up, walking towards the exit. His train of thought's interrupted as the man calls after him.
"Hey Jacobsen! Hope you kick that scumbag Washington's ass. Couple of the boys were talking about it earlier, he seems like a prick. Knock some brains into him or something."
Andrew laughs, nodding, and tosses a salute to the somewhat closeted fan, turning and exiting the bar again as we fade out once more.
”Yo. This is Emma. Leave a message, you son of a—“
Andrew hangs up, shaking his head, and dials another number, his free hand clenching unconsciously as he waits nervously. The phone stops ringing, and the message can’t even start before he hangs up in disgust, dropping the phone on the bed. He stares at the ceiling for a few minutes before rolling over and grabbing the duffel bag off the floor. He drops it on his bed, unzipping the top and pulling out a laptop. Andrew opens it up, fishing out a pair of headphones and plugging them in. He immediately opens a browser window once his computer’s on, bringing up a few different tabs. As the sound of Disturbed plays in the background, Andrew opens his e-mail. He sees only one new message in his inbox: an e-mail from Danielle Chase. He opens it hurriedly, reading it.
Andrew,
Watch the video. Please.
Danielle
Andrew notices the attached video file and opens it, waiting for it to load up. When it does, he’s not surprised to see Danielle looking back at him, slick and professional as ever. She’s sitting at the desk in her office, looking into the camera levelly behind a pair of glasses. She sighs, taking a moment to ensure she’s composed properly before continuing.
”Andrew. I don’t know when this will get to you, but I hope it’s before Sunday.”
Andrew immediately pauses the video and shuts off the background music. He sits up straight and switches back over to the video file, starting it up again. Danielle resumes moving, speaking as if she’d never stopped.
”I’ve seen you on this obsessive quest to ‘redeem yourself’ in my eyes. I see you hunting down Will, trying to…to do to him as he did to you, and you’re tearing yourself apart doing it. The thing is, Andrew…I didn’t leave you because I thought you weren’t worthy. I left BECAUSE of your obsession. And…I’m not seeing anything that makes me want to come back.”
Andrew has to keep his jaw from dropping as he watches in stunned, devastated silence. Danielle keeps speaking, showing no indication she realizes what her words could have done to their recipient.
”I’m sure you’ve got a lot of questions, Andrew. The truth is, if I wanted to speak to you, I would have answered one of your forty calls a week. It’s been a month…and you don’t seem to realize what I’m looking for. I wasn’t expecting you to hound me relentlessly, but…he’s right. You were happy where you were. And the moment something upset that equilibrium, you tried to make it change back. You’re an autoimmune disorder, Andy. You see a perceived flaw and you overcompensate. I want you to be better than that.”
Andrew shakes his head, confused by her choice of metaphor, but Danielle keeps going undeterred.
”You’re a good person deep down, Andrew. And I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to see you put down Will Washington once and for all. But you’ve got to do more than that, Andrew. You have to put this entire persona behind you. Your constant complacency, never reaching out and seizing your opportunity for yourself…it’s not healthy. You need to change. Or our situation…it won’t change. At all. Go out there. Be better. Or get left behind.”
The video stops, and Andrew sits back, looking at the screen mutely. He pauses before setting the laptop aside and closing the lid. Andrew stares at the wall, and all he can manage is one sentence, on which we fade to black.
"...son of a bitch."
"I know what the problem is. You think you've won already. You think that you've found this secret that lets you live an unfettered life, one that gives you the richest rewards. This magical, unburdened existence must be paradise for you...but that's you. You can live like that. You want to draw parallels? Okay, let's go."
"You know what the thing about Batman is? No matter what he does, no matter how far he's pushed, he has a code. He sticks to it, no matter the flak he gets. I know people like you. You think the answer is to cut off all outside input and turn inward, define your own morality, like some nihilistic would-be philosopher who just read Nietzsche for the first time. That...that's the coward's way out. Trying to make up an excuse and say you don't need anyone's rules but your own? It might be easy to you, but where does it get you?"
"You put yourself in quite the lofty company. Steve Awesome. Rob Diamond. The Young Guns. And you do have some similarities. Egos the size of a planet. Talent matched only by your mouths. Ungodly amounts of hype. There's a key difference, though. A slight but vital contrast. See, Steve Awesome. Hall of Famer. World Champion. Legend. Rob Diamond. World Champion, holds the single longest male title run in nCw history. The Young Guns. One of the most iconic groups in wrestling. Their members? Held the big one everywhere they went. You? You have one thing to your name, and you threw that away."
"Say what you will about what I've done here in nCw, but every time I held a belt I have gone out and swung away each time. Here's a contrast. When you and I debuted at A Night to Remember, I was one of the openers. A filler match, defending the X-Division Championship against the returning Alex Jones. You were in the main event. nCw's Gladiator. We both lost. But me? I stole that night. People weren't talking about a Triple Threat for the ages, they were talking about the X-Division! And that is what I do. People don't expect me to do anything because they listen to people like you. They hear you talk about blowing star-making matches time and again. But I walk in there and I show them just why my star is always shining brighter and brighter every damn night."
"Do I want more than I have? You're damn right! I want the World Title, and I'll do whatever it takes to get it! But I don't need to assault non-wrestlers, ambush people, or bully my way into anything. I tried to be that man because I'd heard the serpents whispering in my ear, offering me the easy path. That was a mistake. Because in reality, that easy way isn't as easy as it seems."
"I hear your words, everything you try to throw in my face about how I'm shackling myself with pride. It just isn't that simple. I'm not just fighting for my pride. I'm not just fighting for my honor, and I'm damn sure not just fighting for revenge. I am fighting for every single person out there who's ever been laughed at for holding a hand out to someone who needed it. I'm fighting for the people that bled and sweated their entire lives only for someone to walk in and dash their dreams with a few empty promises and a smile. I walk the long path, not because I think it's easier but because it's harder. Everything I put myself through is a trial. And if I stumble a thousand times on my journey, I'll get up a thousand and one."
"You might walk the path of least resistance, but I suffer and endure all of my trials so that when I do reach the top, when I've made it it's worth it! I'm a prideful man! I admit it! But that pride and that arrogance and that bullheaded stubbornness has kept me going! At my lowest, I have never thought about leaving. I've come this far. Why should I stop now? Will, this Sunday is about everything I am. My determination, my pride and my anger are all going to come together, and with one purpose I will drag you all over that arena. I guarantee you'll submit. Doesn't matter how, doesn't matter where. Your pride led you into this match...mine will take you out of it.."[/color]
We fade back in on Andrew walking into the hotel bar. He looks around at the essentially deserted room, finding a seat at the bar proper, and sighs, shaking his head. The bartender walks over and leans on the corner, cocking an eyebrow.
"Hey. Something on your mind? You look pretty rough."
Andrew nods, chuckling.
"That bad, huh? Okay, I'll have a bottle of Grain Belt. They have Grain Belt in Iowa?"
The bartender smirks, nodding as he ducks down.
"ID?"
Andrew produces his driver's license as the bartender's fishing under the bar. He stands back up holding a bottle of beer along with a bottle opener. After a quick look at his ID, the bartender hands both items to AJ. Andrew pops the top off of the bottle, handing the opener back as the bartender chuckles.
"Keep a supply on hand for Minnesotans who can't handle our stuff. What's got ya down so bad, pal?"
Andrew sighs, taking a drink from the bottle and setting it down.
"I'm having...problems with an asshole coworker. Real viper of a guy. When he was hired, he had a lot of buzz, but he's kind of been a disappointing flake. I've been with...my company...for years, and I'm still trying to prove myself. Months now he's been giving me crap about being complacent and having to seize what I want. I've gotten into it with him so badly, someone I care about left me and my family's suffered. I have a chance to put him out of my misery tomorrow, show him up at a big corporate event, but...I got those nagging doubts, y'know? Like I can't pull the trigger."
The bartender nods, leaning against the bar and looking straight on at Andrew. He smirks a gold-toothed grin at Jacobsen, who doesn't even flinch.
"This guy's hurt you and hurt you bad. You gotta hurt him back. Make him wish he hadn't opened his god-damned mouth. Open some wounds and salt those bitches. I know it sounds cold, and you Minnesotans don't go for that kind of cold, dontchaknow, but that's how people like that listen. You have to make them realize you can hit back and hard. So hit that bastard with all you got and hit him where it counts. If you only got one shot, better make it a knockout blow. Just my thoughts."
AJ knocks back another mouthful of beer, nodding slowly. He sighs, shifting in his seat, and sets the bottle down again.
"I don't want to go where he's gone. I want to make him pay, but...just him. No family, no loved ones. Beat him fair. Show him my way still works. I guess I can still...no, I know I can still make it hurt big-time. But once we leave work, it stops. I don't go after his family, I don't touch the people he cares about. I don't have to. I'm the better man, and he's gonna realize it...hey, thanks for hearing me ramble. Good to have someone to vent to."
The bartender laughs as Andrew drains the bottle of beer, taking the empty as it's set on the counter and gesturing around at the cleared room.
"S***, buddy, you think I got anything better to do? Another round?"
Andrew shakes his head, waving him off. He fishes out his wallet and pulls out a $10, putting it on the bar surface.
"All you, man. Have a nice night."
The bartender takes it, nodding, and Andrew stands up, walking towards the exit. His train of thought's interrupted as the man calls after him.
"Hey Jacobsen! Hope you kick that scumbag Washington's ass. Couple of the boys were talking about it earlier, he seems like a prick. Knock some brains into him or something."
Andrew laughs, nodding, and tosses a salute to the somewhat closeted fan, turning and exiting the bar again as we fade out once more.
