Post by Emma Danielson on Apr 27, 2013 9:43:42 GMT -6
I’m jealous.
I’m selfish.
I’m bitter.
Because I want to be you, Kathy. You deserved a shot, and you still do. You deserve to be the one wrestling Zelda, because you won that #1 contender’s match. But I’d be lying to you and to the world if I said that I didn’t wish it were me. The fact that it’s not? It means that I failed. I’m going to be lucky to be more than a spectator. A cheerleader for those that I support. Passive.
I hate being passive.
So anything I can do to make my presence felt, anything at all…that’s more than welcome. If this is what I can do? Then I’m going to do my damnedest to train you. I want you to be in the best possible condition you can be when you step into that ring at A Night To Remember, because you will NEED to be in that condition if you want a prayer of beating Zelda Knite.
That’s not hyperbole. That’s the sobering truth. Take it from someone who watched herself spiral down because she just wasn’t good enough…you need to be your best if you want to beat Zelda. You have to be better than you thought you ever could be. I’m going to throw everything I have at you, Kathy. And that might not seem like a lot, given my track record…but it’s all I can do.
I can’t tell you that I’ll be happy for you. Not fully. Because there’s always going to be that part of me whispering in my ear, telling me that it should be me standing on that stage, getting into that ring…getting that one last shot at redemption. But there’s nothing I can do. And it KILLS me to say that. I’ve spent my entire life trying to be the most powerful person I can, the strongest, the toughest…and here I am, virtually powerless to do a damn thing about my life. Gotta love the little things like that…
Kathy, you deserve better than you’ve gotten. Anyone else had gone through the kind of trauma you had? I guarantee most of them would still be curled up in a corner, barely functioning at all. You’re different. You’re tougher than that. And I can admire that, if nothing else. I can admire that you’ve got that kind of resiliency, the right people supporting you to come back from such a horrific incident. In some ways, you’re stronger than me. I’ve been working real hard to see more of that side of you, Kathy…and it’s finally starting to work.
There might never come the day when we’re truly friends. I’ve got a long memory, and I haven’t forgotten the people who used to walk these halls with me. But I won’t let it fester and rot inside me either. That happened. Can’t change the past. What I can try to change is the future. And if you walk out of this match—hell, out of everything we do—more prepared to face Zelda than you were beforehand, I’m considering it a success. I don’t find much of that, so I’ll take what I can.
Believe it or not, I do appreciate you approaching me the way you have. No mockery, no insults, even when by all rights you could have. After all, I barged up to you and Jake right after he’d had the boots laid to him demanding you drop everything and deal with me. If he were just that much pettier, or if you were, you could have easily sent me home for the next month to collect a paycheck and sit on my ass while everything drew to a close. But you didn’t. You called me on my BS.
Thank you.
I mean that sincerely. Thank you for stopping me before I got started. And thanks for reminding me of something important. Even if I can’t see much in myself nowadays, at my core one thing is still true, something that nobody can take away from me: I’m still Emma Danielson. I’m still someone to be reckoned with. I’ve been saying it all this time, but to hear someone else say it, to know that it’s not just me trying to prop myself up in the face of a career slide…it’s like someone dropped a match on a bonfire.
I can feel that fire burning inside me. And it’s my task to make sure that I light that fire under you. You want to be Starlets Champion? You want to beat Zelda? You want to be the queen?
Show me what you’ve got.
Open on late night inside a hotel room. Emma sits in bed, on top of the sheets, with a laptop resting on her knees and a notebook and pencil in her hands. The screen's currently showing footage of a Zelda Knite match, and Emma appears to be taking notes on the action. After a few seconds, a messenger window pops up.
northstarncw
You're up late.
Emma pauses the footage, rolling her eyes, and types a reply.
hardcorehellion
Catching up on homework. Gotta help Kathy win, after all.
Why?
Emma blinks at the question, a bit confused.
What do you mean why?
I thought you didn't like her.
She's not on the Christmas card list, but look at who she's up against. I would back Trish Newborn over Zombie Princess, and you know how I feel about Trish
...who are you and what have you done with Emma Danielson?
Emma can't help but chuckle at that, shaking her head.
Emma is out at the moment. You've reached her Life Model Decoy. Please leave a message after the gong. GONG!
That's it. I'm confiscating that Avengers Blu-Ray. You've clearly had far too much fun watching and rewatching that. And without me. The nerve.
Nerve's my middle name, Andy.
You've got a funny way of spelling Catherine. Speaking of which, how'd Kathy find out that particular piece of info about you?
Personnel file diving? I didn't tell her. Hell, I almost didn't tell you.
But you did tell me, because I'm such a likable guy.
That's totally it. You didn't hold my car keys hostage.
Lies! Slander! Damned lies! Statistics!
Emma looks away, rubbing her temples and laughing. She sighs, grabbing a water bottle from the bedside table and cracking it open. Another message pops up.
Do you think she's got a shot?
Emma pauses, mouth still full of water, as she looks at the message, turning it over in her head. She swallows the drink, and hesitantly begins typing her reply.
She's got a shot. It's a long one, but it's there. I think she can pull it off. Wouldn't be wasting my time or hers if I didn't.
You're not lying, are you?
Why would I lie now? It's not like I'm going to hurt her feelings. No, I'm not lying. She's got a shot, and I'm going to do all I can to help her get it. Now, I'm gonna ignore you now. I've got notes to take, and you're distracting me. As usual.
I resent the implication that I always distract you. But fine. Go be boring and studious. It's about time you found out what that was like.
Bye Andy
Emma logs off of the messenger service, tabbing back over to the window with the match video paused. She hovers her cursor over the play button, but doesn't click. Emma appears to be mulling over something in her head. After a few seconds, she blinks, grinning faintly.
"I'll be damned. She does have a chance."
Emma grabs the notebook and pencil again, smiling as she hits play. We fade to black on the sounds of Zelda Knite doing what she does best, and a devious grin on the face of the Hardcore Hellion.
I’m selfish.
I’m bitter.
Because I want to be you, Kathy. You deserved a shot, and you still do. You deserve to be the one wrestling Zelda, because you won that #1 contender’s match. But I’d be lying to you and to the world if I said that I didn’t wish it were me. The fact that it’s not? It means that I failed. I’m going to be lucky to be more than a spectator. A cheerleader for those that I support. Passive.
I hate being passive.
So anything I can do to make my presence felt, anything at all…that’s more than welcome. If this is what I can do? Then I’m going to do my damnedest to train you. I want you to be in the best possible condition you can be when you step into that ring at A Night To Remember, because you will NEED to be in that condition if you want a prayer of beating Zelda Knite.
That’s not hyperbole. That’s the sobering truth. Take it from someone who watched herself spiral down because she just wasn’t good enough…you need to be your best if you want to beat Zelda. You have to be better than you thought you ever could be. I’m going to throw everything I have at you, Kathy. And that might not seem like a lot, given my track record…but it’s all I can do.
I can’t tell you that I’ll be happy for you. Not fully. Because there’s always going to be that part of me whispering in my ear, telling me that it should be me standing on that stage, getting into that ring…getting that one last shot at redemption. But there’s nothing I can do. And it KILLS me to say that. I’ve spent my entire life trying to be the most powerful person I can, the strongest, the toughest…and here I am, virtually powerless to do a damn thing about my life. Gotta love the little things like that…
Kathy, you deserve better than you’ve gotten. Anyone else had gone through the kind of trauma you had? I guarantee most of them would still be curled up in a corner, barely functioning at all. You’re different. You’re tougher than that. And I can admire that, if nothing else. I can admire that you’ve got that kind of resiliency, the right people supporting you to come back from such a horrific incident. In some ways, you’re stronger than me. I’ve been working real hard to see more of that side of you, Kathy…and it’s finally starting to work.
There might never come the day when we’re truly friends. I’ve got a long memory, and I haven’t forgotten the people who used to walk these halls with me. But I won’t let it fester and rot inside me either. That happened. Can’t change the past. What I can try to change is the future. And if you walk out of this match—hell, out of everything we do—more prepared to face Zelda than you were beforehand, I’m considering it a success. I don’t find much of that, so I’ll take what I can.
Believe it or not, I do appreciate you approaching me the way you have. No mockery, no insults, even when by all rights you could have. After all, I barged up to you and Jake right after he’d had the boots laid to him demanding you drop everything and deal with me. If he were just that much pettier, or if you were, you could have easily sent me home for the next month to collect a paycheck and sit on my ass while everything drew to a close. But you didn’t. You called me on my BS.
Thank you.
I mean that sincerely. Thank you for stopping me before I got started. And thanks for reminding me of something important. Even if I can’t see much in myself nowadays, at my core one thing is still true, something that nobody can take away from me: I’m still Emma Danielson. I’m still someone to be reckoned with. I’ve been saying it all this time, but to hear someone else say it, to know that it’s not just me trying to prop myself up in the face of a career slide…it’s like someone dropped a match on a bonfire.
I can feel that fire burning inside me. And it’s my task to make sure that I light that fire under you. You want to be Starlets Champion? You want to beat Zelda? You want to be the queen?
Show me what you’ve got.
Open on late night inside a hotel room. Emma sits in bed, on top of the sheets, with a laptop resting on her knees and a notebook and pencil in her hands. The screen's currently showing footage of a Zelda Knite match, and Emma appears to be taking notes on the action. After a few seconds, a messenger window pops up.
northstarncw
You're up late.
Emma pauses the footage, rolling her eyes, and types a reply.
hardcorehellion
Catching up on homework. Gotta help Kathy win, after all.
Why?
Emma blinks at the question, a bit confused.
What do you mean why?
I thought you didn't like her.
She's not on the Christmas card list, but look at who she's up against. I would back Trish Newborn over Zombie Princess, and you know how I feel about Trish
...who are you and what have you done with Emma Danielson?
Emma can't help but chuckle at that, shaking her head.
Emma is out at the moment. You've reached her Life Model Decoy. Please leave a message after the gong. GONG!
That's it. I'm confiscating that Avengers Blu-Ray. You've clearly had far too much fun watching and rewatching that. And without me. The nerve.
Nerve's my middle name, Andy.
You've got a funny way of spelling Catherine. Speaking of which, how'd Kathy find out that particular piece of info about you?
Personnel file diving? I didn't tell her. Hell, I almost didn't tell you.
But you did tell me, because I'm such a likable guy.
That's totally it. You didn't hold my car keys hostage.
Lies! Slander! Damned lies! Statistics!
Emma looks away, rubbing her temples and laughing. She sighs, grabbing a water bottle from the bedside table and cracking it open. Another message pops up.
Do you think she's got a shot?
Emma pauses, mouth still full of water, as she looks at the message, turning it over in her head. She swallows the drink, and hesitantly begins typing her reply.
She's got a shot. It's a long one, but it's there. I think she can pull it off. Wouldn't be wasting my time or hers if I didn't.
You're not lying, are you?
Why would I lie now? It's not like I'm going to hurt her feelings. No, I'm not lying. She's got a shot, and I'm going to do all I can to help her get it. Now, I'm gonna ignore you now. I've got notes to take, and you're distracting me. As usual.
I resent the implication that I always distract you. But fine. Go be boring and studious. It's about time you found out what that was like.
Bye Andy
Emma logs off of the messenger service, tabbing back over to the window with the match video paused. She hovers her cursor over the play button, but doesn't click. Emma appears to be mulling over something in her head. After a few seconds, she blinks, grinning faintly.
"I'll be damned. She does have a chance."
Emma grabs the notebook and pencil again, smiling as she hits play. We fade to black on the sounds of Zelda Knite doing what she does best, and a devious grin on the face of the Hardcore Hellion.