Smoke and Mirrors. RP2 for EOD
Oct 8, 2019 5:49:03 GMT -5
Mongo the Destroyer, Drago, and 1 more like this
Post by Bobby Barratt on Oct 8, 2019 5:49:03 GMT -5
Blue smoke rises in front of a black backdrop. The resulting haze hovers around in the air, hanging there, directionless, as if it were happy exactly where it is. A few seconds pass and we hear a sharp intake of breath before the smoke is blown off shot. The camera pans right and sees the face of Bobby Barratt, who turns left to face the camera and smiles.
Bobby: Crappy incense burner! See this is all it is, smoke and mirrors. We live in a day and age where talking to a camera just doesn't cut the mustard anymore. Guys rely on special effects, CGI and green screens in order to deliver an effective promo. Where did the talent go? Why can't people just use their words to hype a match? In my day, we set the camera up and we yelled at it for two minutes. Done! This Jynn guy is a perfect example of what I'm talking about!
Bobby walks away from the burner, which is still going, releasing a light smoke into the air. He walks off to the side and the camera follows him. The whole set up was a black sheet on the wall and a 2 dollar burner set up on a table.
Bobby: We've seen Jynn use smoke, mirrors and practice dummies which he "magically" brought to life like some knock off Pinnochio movie. Well Gepetto, the gig is up! You've met your match this time and at End of Days night 3, you'll be stepping into the ring with something that trumps anything you've ever fought. No opponent you've fought in the B-leagues is going to have prepared you for the beating you're about to receive. The LXW Championship belt won't protect you and you can forget about all the tricks you've used in order to create this shoddy mystique. It all ends and just like you've stated the Icons won't be there to help me, your 2019 Papa Shango reboot won't have the aid of his little voodoo crap either! It's going to be two guys standing toe to toe, slugging it out until I cave your skull in. Simple!
As Bobby says the last word, the lights in the house flicker. He looks a little shocked, but shrugs.
Bobby: Damn power outages. Anyways my point is, Jynn, you've banged on about "my soul being yours for eternity" for what FEELS like an eternity now, you've made out that you MAY be responsible for any wrongs that have happened in my life or career, but this is all some desperate fucking ploy from you to feel relevant. This is your moment. The time you can take on an XHF legend of the modern era, share the ring time, share the banner header and feel like you've made it! You're making the most of it and I'll give you that. Don't worry. You'll be able to raise your appearance fees afterwards for a little while before you fade back into non-relevance and carrying your little belt around. The fact is that every choice I've made in this life has been mine. I've been the one to guide my own ship and just like old Sinatra, I did it my way, baby! You're not responsible for anything that's ever happened or ever will happen with me. The only thing you might end up being responsible for at a push is the puddle of blood I'll be having someone clean off my boots after the match if you hold on longer than ten minutes or so. See that's the time in the match where if it isn't over, the big guns come out. The power moves, the dirty tricks all come out at about the 10 minute mark. That's when the adrenaline is going to kick in, when guys realise that this match isn't the cake walk they hoped it would be. If I reach that point and I haven't put you away yet? The stakes raise, the techniques I use in order to despatch you in a manner which comply with the rules will be more aggressive, more violent and trust me.... They'll leave a fucking mark!
With that, the lighting flickers again. This time, the TV in the room powers on and simply displays an image of Jynn. Bobby's eyes show that this isn't planned and that he isn't shrugging this off like he did last time.
Bobby: ...The fuck?
The video freeze framed on the TV starts playing. It's Jynn's last promo to the XHF Network.
Bobby: Now that's some weird shit. Again, this is it. He's had someone tap into my Hive system and start fucking about with the electronics. Probably not too hard if you're into it. I'll get the password updated once we're done. Gone! I mean this guy is so out of whack that he said after he wins this match, he's going on to FACE me in the finals. Now I don't know how much of that blue shit you're inhaling Jynn, but this is a pretty simple knockout system. ONE of us gets to advance onto the End of Days finals and that means that the other one won't. The fact I have to explain that to you concerns me deeply. Jynn, face it. You're out of your league. I may be a man who's trying to correct his past mistakes and live a better life, but don't think that means I won't stop a hole in your face in the ring. Once we step in there, it's two consenting dudes trying to beat each other up! Violence comes with the territory and I won't go easy on you to be a nice guy. Actually, you know what? My goals haven't changed! I still want to be the guy that goes down in history as the best, I still want to be the guy that people remember, they talk about for years to come, a true Hall of Famer. The only thing that's changed is the means I'll take to get there. Gone is the guy that sneaks brass knuckles into his trunks, gone is the guy that'll run a baseball bat into your nose before the match to get an advantage. The guy standing before you is the one that's out to prove he's the best WRESTLER in the XHF and not just the guy who comes away with the wi-
Suddenly, the volume of the TV goes to max. We can't even hear Bobby finish his sentence. The coffee machine starts pouring, the blender starts whizzing. In fact every appliance in the room all of a sudden switches on and runs at full power. Bobby steps back, his eyes wide open with shock as he takes in the chaos. In a brief moment, we see fear flicker through his eyes. The camera pans around him in a circular motion as he tries desperately to prove that this isn't Jynn messing with him, but one of the boys playing a prank on him. All of a sudden it all stops. The TV goes dead, the appliances all switch off and the lights all go dark. The only thing bringing any illumination to the room is the incense burner still emitting that blue smoke into the room.... Only this time it's brighter as the scene flickers, the camera shooting the scene displays an ERROR message and everything goes black.
Bobby: Crappy incense burner! See this is all it is, smoke and mirrors. We live in a day and age where talking to a camera just doesn't cut the mustard anymore. Guys rely on special effects, CGI and green screens in order to deliver an effective promo. Where did the talent go? Why can't people just use their words to hype a match? In my day, we set the camera up and we yelled at it for two minutes. Done! This Jynn guy is a perfect example of what I'm talking about!
Bobby walks away from the burner, which is still going, releasing a light smoke into the air. He walks off to the side and the camera follows him. The whole set up was a black sheet on the wall and a 2 dollar burner set up on a table.
Bobby: We've seen Jynn use smoke, mirrors and practice dummies which he "magically" brought to life like some knock off Pinnochio movie. Well Gepetto, the gig is up! You've met your match this time and at End of Days night 3, you'll be stepping into the ring with something that trumps anything you've ever fought. No opponent you've fought in the B-leagues is going to have prepared you for the beating you're about to receive. The LXW Championship belt won't protect you and you can forget about all the tricks you've used in order to create this shoddy mystique. It all ends and just like you've stated the Icons won't be there to help me, your 2019 Papa Shango reboot won't have the aid of his little voodoo crap either! It's going to be two guys standing toe to toe, slugging it out until I cave your skull in. Simple!
As Bobby says the last word, the lights in the house flicker. He looks a little shocked, but shrugs.
Bobby: Damn power outages. Anyways my point is, Jynn, you've banged on about "my soul being yours for eternity" for what FEELS like an eternity now, you've made out that you MAY be responsible for any wrongs that have happened in my life or career, but this is all some desperate fucking ploy from you to feel relevant. This is your moment. The time you can take on an XHF legend of the modern era, share the ring time, share the banner header and feel like you've made it! You're making the most of it and I'll give you that. Don't worry. You'll be able to raise your appearance fees afterwards for a little while before you fade back into non-relevance and carrying your little belt around. The fact is that every choice I've made in this life has been mine. I've been the one to guide my own ship and just like old Sinatra, I did it my way, baby! You're not responsible for anything that's ever happened or ever will happen with me. The only thing you might end up being responsible for at a push is the puddle of blood I'll be having someone clean off my boots after the match if you hold on longer than ten minutes or so. See that's the time in the match where if it isn't over, the big guns come out. The power moves, the dirty tricks all come out at about the 10 minute mark. That's when the adrenaline is going to kick in, when guys realise that this match isn't the cake walk they hoped it would be. If I reach that point and I haven't put you away yet? The stakes raise, the techniques I use in order to despatch you in a manner which comply with the rules will be more aggressive, more violent and trust me.... They'll leave a fucking mark!
With that, the lighting flickers again. This time, the TV in the room powers on and simply displays an image of Jynn. Bobby's eyes show that this isn't planned and that he isn't shrugging this off like he did last time.
Bobby: ...The fuck?
The video freeze framed on the TV starts playing. It's Jynn's last promo to the XHF Network.
Bobby: Now that's some weird shit. Again, this is it. He's had someone tap into my Hive system and start fucking about with the electronics. Probably not too hard if you're into it. I'll get the password updated once we're done. Gone! I mean this guy is so out of whack that he said after he wins this match, he's going on to FACE me in the finals. Now I don't know how much of that blue shit you're inhaling Jynn, but this is a pretty simple knockout system. ONE of us gets to advance onto the End of Days finals and that means that the other one won't. The fact I have to explain that to you concerns me deeply. Jynn, face it. You're out of your league. I may be a man who's trying to correct his past mistakes and live a better life, but don't think that means I won't stop a hole in your face in the ring. Once we step in there, it's two consenting dudes trying to beat each other up! Violence comes with the territory and I won't go easy on you to be a nice guy. Actually, you know what? My goals haven't changed! I still want to be the guy that goes down in history as the best, I still want to be the guy that people remember, they talk about for years to come, a true Hall of Famer. The only thing that's changed is the means I'll take to get there. Gone is the guy that sneaks brass knuckles into his trunks, gone is the guy that'll run a baseball bat into your nose before the match to get an advantage. The guy standing before you is the one that's out to prove he's the best WRESTLER in the XHF and not just the guy who comes away with the wi-
Suddenly, the volume of the TV goes to max. We can't even hear Bobby finish his sentence. The coffee machine starts pouring, the blender starts whizzing. In fact every appliance in the room all of a sudden switches on and runs at full power. Bobby steps back, his eyes wide open with shock as he takes in the chaos. In a brief moment, we see fear flicker through his eyes. The camera pans around him in a circular motion as he tries desperately to prove that this isn't Jynn messing with him, but one of the boys playing a prank on him. All of a sudden it all stops. The TV goes dead, the appliances all switch off and the lights all go dark. The only thing bringing any illumination to the room is the incense burner still emitting that blue smoke into the room.... Only this time it's brighter as the scene flickers, the camera shooting the scene displays an ERROR message and everything goes black.
We come back and Bobby is sitting at a diner. He's watching the footage he managed to pull from the camera's SD card on a laptop, looking for an explanation, some idea of what the hell just happened in his home.
Bobby: I can't work it out. Was it Mav or Jack fucking with me? They'd have had to know I was home to do that. I haven't heard from them in a while so I don't know how they'd know.
Bobby hits a button, uploading the footage to the XHF Network. The progress bar shows the video uploading, but as it does so, the screen shows an error prompt, only the message isn't legible. It shows jargon, strange lettering from a font we can't identify and the screen illuminates bright white. Everything goes white on there for a second or two as Bobby watches on in shock before eventually, the screen pops a relay or something in the back and burns out.
Bobby: Aww fuck this, man! This guy's trying to get in my head now! I'm not having it and the fact I now have to go out and get the screen sorted before the match? That's not happening! Jynn, if this is you, you're going to pay for this shit! I swear, you'll pay for it either financially or I'll take it out on you come End of Days when we meet in the ring. If that's the case, your medical bills are going to far exceed the cost of replacing this! One thing's for sure though. I'm getting out of dodge for a while until I can get someone to explain this shit! Icon out!
Bobby hurriedly gets his stuff together, the laptop is still hot to touch as he tries to get it outside and to the car, passing it from hand to hand before he gets burned. Bobby leaves the diner as the scene fades to black.
