Post by The Nihilists on Apr 30, 2021 22:25:04 GMT -5
~The scene opens up inside the Nihilists home base in Philadelphia. We see Gebin set on the couch and munching on some chocolate striped caramel popcorn (zebra corn). He seems engrossed in his show. There is some heavy discussions of some neurological and psychological maladies going on. Esmur walks into the room from the bedroom. Around his waist is the Fireside World title. He has on a brown tank top and gray sweatpants, he appears to have been exercising as he has a modest coat of sweat going on. His thinning brown hair glistens in the light from the television.
He grabs a towel from the kitchenette behind him and wipes himself down as he looks on with confusion at the television. He swings his legs over the back of the couch and sits on top of the back of the couch.~
~Gebin pauses the TV and turns to his tag team partner.~
~Esmur smirks and drops onto the couch in a seat finally. He looks up at the sky for a second then back to Gebin.~
~Gebin blinks …~
~Esmur laughs and looks away from Gebin … he slowly becomes more serious and looks down at his title belt~
~Esmur’s voice drops to a low growl~
~He sighs heavily. Heavy is the head that wears the crown~
~Esmur snaps his head to the side and slams his hand on the arm rest with a resounding “thud”~
~Esmur calms down and stands up, pacing back and forth as he thinks on his point.~
~Gebin smiles and chuckles. He hops off the couch~
He grabs a towel from the kitchenette behind him and wipes himself down as he looks on with confusion at the television. He swings his legs over the back of the couch and sits on top of the back of the couch.~
"Ok so this is some kind of discovery series about … the maddening effects of the Old Ones?"
~Gebin pauses the TV and turns to his tag team partner.~
"I have found my usual tactics for preparation … wanting. It is impossible for me to get inside the heads of our opponents. I am convinced they are both suffering some kind of malignant brain tumor, or something. The depths of depravity within them are an astonishing cesspool of horror."
"You find it hard to relate to a woman who believes she is an emissary for a dark Old One that supposedly causes insanity merely at the sight of him or his brethren … and … whatever it is that MAJESTY is? … … Color me shocked."
"You laugh but could you do better?"
"It is not about doing better my friend. This is a losing battle. We need to fall back on the strengths we honed so long ago when we started wrestling, or when we dominated AWF and the XHF Global tag team division. To confront these two, we can’t focus on the mind games, or the mindstates of our opponents. That is a well too deep even for men as learned and resolute as us. One cannot truly fathom the inner workings of a tormented murderer or an otherworldy fae walking this Earth. "
"So we are to take at face value that they are some kind of extraterrestrial, extradimensional being? "
"Yes. They have given us nothing to believe they are intentionally misleading us, and in this case, belief is what makes fact. If that is what they claim they are, then that is who we plan for in the ring, for surely that is what they will bring to us. The thing to remember is that, as broken as our foes may seem … they are still dangerous and deadly. We have never faced someone who would actually wield deadly force in a wrestling ring before. "
"No. But we did share a ring twice with a man who fisted a dolphin’s blowhole …"
"And underestimating him got us shot by potatoes and handed our first tag team defeat. Of only four. In the time we have been in the XHF Network our teamwork has consistently put us over the tops of everyone else. We have to rely on what we do well and stop worrying on what MAJESTY and Zolothach are or are not. In the ring, they are just opponents. Prepare for any eventuality. Focus on ring psychology rather than brain psychology. "
"Did you even hear what they said about us? "
~Esmur smirks and drops onto the couch in a seat finally. He looks up at the sky for a second then back to Gebin.~
"It would be disingenuous to focus solely on tit for tat and what they have said about us. Since it really doesn’t matter. We have to focus on who we are and what we do best. To wait and let them speak, just to twist their words is a very old school concept, one I am not a fan of. I’d rather focus on what we have been working on and pretend they hadn’t spoken. "
~Gebin blinks …~
"I suppose that’s fair. It was unfortunate the XHF protocols made us wait to get a camera crew here. Unforseen circumstances … you have no clue how to respond to what we saw do you? "
~Esmur laughs and looks away from Gebin … he slowly becomes more serious and looks down at his title belt~
"Maybe so. But I truly believe it matters not. It is fruitless to analyze their brains and try to get ahead of the game. It’s a losing battle my friend. I do not think it behooves us to treat these two as a normal match. We must treat them as the extraordinary people they are. We have seen MAJESTY employ their tricks to disorient their foes. If we think too hard on their tricks, then we have handed them the keys to our defeat. We are future Fireside tag team champs, future XHF Global Tag team champs, the CURRENT Fireside world champion. And still everyone STILL treats us like afterthoughts. "
~Esmur’s voice drops to a low growl~
"Too many times people have forgotten the skill and power we possess. They see beings like MAJESTY frightening such talented competitors as Mistress Discipline and Jonnie Valentine. They see Zolothach murdering her way through RSW and Armand von Krauss. And they look at us … and we stop seeming so dangerous. And that is our advantage. We once again play the underdogs. How the tag team of the year 2019 gets ignored … how a current world champion, who dethroned the man that beat MAJESTY and eliminated the previous rumble winner from this year’s event gets ignored. I don’t know how to react to that. We work so hard to gain success and show these people the right way. "
~He sighs heavily. Heavy is the head that wears the crown~
"I understand. We spent so long building up credibility and reputation, and suddenly it’s like everyone has forgotten. But as you said, in this match, none of that matters. These two opponents have never been the types to care about who is in the ring with them. We need to teach them to respect what we have built. We need to prove ourselves ... "
~Esmur snaps his head to the side and slams his hand on the arm rest with a resounding “thud”~
"NO! No we do not! We have proven ourselves time and again. We have risen to the top of the mountain from obscurity. We have shouted our ethos from the mountaintops and been valuable emissaries of the void. We do not need to prove anything. We sit in the catbird seat Gebin. We are on top. We have earned their respect. And though it is not in our nature to go and DEMAND others treat us a certain way, it is time we stopped pretending not to care. If we didn’t care, we wouldn’t be trying to help everyone open their eyes to the truth. If we didn’t care we would not be fighting so hard for so long to be taken seriously. Denied by a God that never existed, betrayed by a man who claimed he could show us the right way, confirmed in our belief in each other and our own talents, reborn in our embrace of the vision of the mutual end of all things. The Great Equalizer. "
~Esmur calms down and stands up, pacing back and forth as he thinks on his point.~
"This is a rare opportunity to show everyone why it isn’t we who need to prove ourselves. And our opponents shouldn’t have to either. It doesn’t matter in the end does it? All that matters is that we go out, execute our game plan, focus on the end goal, and complete the mission. MAJESTY and Zolothach can choose to look at us with disdain, respect, fear, or laughter. It doesn’t matter. We are the ones others should look up to. We need to act like it. I am the world champion. If MAJESTY wants a fight? We bring it to them. "
~Gebin smiles and chuckles. He hops off the couch~
"Well now who is the one changing the psychology of the match? I agree Esmur. All we can do is bring our A Game and give them a show. Introduce them to the tag team acumen that made teams quake with unease around us. Zolo claims to see a Dark God, MAESTY claims to be from a plane beyond this one. Eyes on the eternal? Then let’s help them embrace eternity. "