Post by Dave D-Flipz on Aug 24, 2023 22:55:42 GMT -5
”Oh, but I'll take my time anywhere… Free to speak my mind anywhere. And I'll redefine anywhere. Anywhere I roam … … Where I lay my head is home, yeah”
Just after Tapout 15 has gone off air
Just after Tapout 15 has gone off air
"Just be careful where you lay your head down and you should heal up just fine for the next event. I would avoid any activity of a violent nature for a week or so."
"Doc, I got a job to do this coming Sunday. Been paid for it, intend to complete it."
"Well that’s highly unadvisable."
"Which is why Aiden will do it …"
"Try and stop him."
"Everything that bloke does is unadvisable."
*Aiden just smirks at Erin and Tucker giving the doctor the business. They know him too well. Aiden sits in the doctor’s office getting his clear concussion graded and medicated before heading off to handle his business at Night of Champions. The doctor sighs*
"Look you are free to speak your mind, and I suppose you can go against my advice and roam where you will. But you will end up back here and missing action if you get active too quickly. I advise you go home and get some rest."
"Aye, alright. I’ll bring my head home already."
*Tucker and Erin snap their heads to look at Aiden in disbelief. Whereas Tucker misses that sly smirk on Aiden’s face, Erin sure doesn’t. Rolling her eyes she grabs his hat and plants it on his head and grabs him to drag him out of the doctor’s office to the mobile hunter’s lodge.*
"We aren’t going home are we?"
"He did just say he was going home Erin."
*Aiden smacks Tucker on the back of the head.*
"Us hunters don’t abide by the traditional “home” Tuck … home is where the heart is, where the money leads me, and I aims to lay my head down in the Central Savings Bank in New York. And then lay down some beatings to go with it."
“I adapt to the unknown. Under wandering stars I've grown, by myself, but not alone. I ask no one”
August 10, 2023
*We open in the mobile hunter’s lodge, parked in the parking lot of the Diamond Lounge … taking up every VIP space except for the one labeled “Jack Diamond”. Aiden is sitting on the couch … resting his head on a pillow made of chinchilla fur, with a frozen slab of raw meat, likely from an elk or a bear, pressed to his forehead.*
"That sonuvabitch packs a bloody punch. I’d be ripsnorting like a hornet defending her nest if I wasn’t so damn impressed."
"That’s probably the salmonella from that meat infecting your brain."
"Miss, I implore you, look at that specimen, and look at this specimen, and tell me there ain’t a wee bit of similarities. Cut from the same cloth. What is a hunter but a leveled up nomad, taking his life into his own hands instead of drifting aimlessly. We both adapt to the situation we are given. Using the stars to guide our movements, forming bonds without ever asking for a thing from anyone. Difference is …"
"The difference is you ain’t never tried to take my shoulders off my body."
"Nah, just clothes."
*Erin shoots Tucker a look that seems to say, I will castrate you with a grapefruit spoon and enjoy every second of it. He slinks deeper into his lounge chair and hides his face behind his copious bedraggled facial hair. Aiden peaks out from under his meat cold compress.*
"… he ain’t wrong…"
"The shotgun is right there on the wall!"
*Aiden looks up at it, looks concerned … for a moment … then smiles that shit-eating grin*
"Appreciate the sentiment but the doctor said no strenuous activity."
*Erin’s eyebrow involuntarily cocks up and she quickly regains her composure and shakes her head with a smirk on her face.*
"Fer real though- I’m actually excited about this one. Poena … he’s something … a monster, a demon, a hunt that needs to be done eventually. About more than the trophy. But this NOMAD bloke. Barring his treatment of my favorite sharpshooter, he’s a hoss. I can respect that outlook. The big difference between us … is that he prefers to drift and roam. He prefers to let things come to him and try and roll with the punches. I prefer to supply the punches. I take control of my destiny. I adapt and improve. I’m the ultimate survivor because it ain’t JUST about surviving. It’s about LIVING. Ain’t truly living if ya ain’t never the one on the attack. It’s why Poena got the drop on him. And it’s why after that last match, he’s going to let me come to him again. He’s gonna try and roll with the punches."
"He is also VERY large there, Merric."
"When has the size of the beasty ever slowed me down, Bernard? Ain’t an ounce of quit or coward in me. Ask him how many times he was ready to give up when Poena took him down… And if ya haven’t noticed, I’m bigger and stronger than that snake. The man ain’t invincible. But I am unstoppable. AGH!"
*Aiden sits up quickly and grabs his head in pain … as the bone from the slab of meet smacks him in the junk and he topples to the floor singing soprano.*
"Unstoppable he says …"
“Less I have, the more I gain, off the beaten path I reign.
Roamer, wanderer, nomad, vagabond … Call me what you will”
Roamer, wanderer, nomad, vagabond … Call me what you will”
August 22, 2023
*Aiden stands in the workout room of his mobile hunter’s lodge. He is clearly recovered from his concussion at the hands of NOMAD on Tapout 15. He is working out in a white A-shirt and grey track pants. No weapons this time. He is curling dumbbells in his arms with resistance bands on his body to hold him back. He drops the weights and releases the bands, one smacks Tucker in the forehead leaving a red mark as he shouts in pain and falls backwards onto the floor. Aiden ignores this and towels off and grabs his post-workout beverage … Coopers Pale Ale … from the esky.*
"NOMAD! I ain’t one to mince words or turn down a good time. I think we both know this won’t be the last time we tango ya big hoss. But see, I’m looking forward to testing my mettle against ya. See I don’t consider that last win good enough. I may have gotten the win, but I was knocked loopy after. But one good hit deserves a good return."
*He raises his beer in toast and mimes clotheslining NOMAD in the back of the head*
"Normally, I’d go off on telling you how I intended to get the pin and go 2-0 on ya. But see that’s the normal Aiden. And I am on a mission. There’s a certain trophy that is within my reach and I need to not just win … but show the board of directors that he only reasonable challenge for that slithering sneak Poena … is Aiden Merric. That’s right, ol’ Outback is straight up admitting that if the easy way to the main event is to put you down and then get the 3 count on the young murder lizard spawn … well … when I’m champ I’ll be seeking you out to rectify that. I gotta be practical for once, it’s no slight. In fact you should be honored I consider you worthy of a separate hunt all your own!"
"Worthy, he says."
*Erin steps in from the back room in a t-shirt and jeans, she pops her cell-phone into her pocket, clearly she has been on the line with Benson.*
"Hey, I think we can both agree that the man is a trophy hunt worth felling. But Poena … Poena is in a league his own … and he’s made me look foolish twice now. Once when he took you down and once when he took Jack out. Something off about Jack now… My spidey sense is tinglin’ and I don’t like it. Like it or not … Poena has to be the primary hunt. Which means I need to focus on this match in ALL its intricacies."
*He snaps his head back to the camera, shotguns the rest of the bottle of beer and tosses it where it smacks Tucker in the head, putting him back to sleep*
"JJ! Jesse Junior! Julius! Look kid, it’s nothing personal. But I ain’t going to be your statement victory. See you may have the behemoth by your side … but you are up against the lassie of luck and the wonder from down under. Two stars both on a trajectory to the top of the business and looking to be the next title contender. It’s just the facts of life kid, ya ain’t ready to tangle with the likes of us. I know I just bigged up your partner who is only slightly bigger than you … but ya really ain’t got a shot. See Random and I have been given the keys to the top of the division. With Jason having failed to fell Jack, Jack losing to Poena … the top of the roster is looking for the next big thing. And the two of us are it. It would be a right shame to fuck it up now."
"Too bad it’s not me out there with you. Good as the Scot is …"
*Aiden laughs. Erin shrugs in an oh well gesture, grabs a beer and retreats to the kitchen for food.*
"Here’s the problem kid. You’ve traveled the world gathering adopted skills. Learning to be a jack of all trades. Trying to stick it to yer dear disastrous daddy. That’s fine, fun even. And I’m sure your pops is just … SO proud of you fer that. But this ain’t about being a teenage girl in her rebellious phase. This is reality. COLD … HARD … BRUTAL … VIOLENT … reality. And you ain’t at the level of myself or NOMAD. You ain’t had the experience and attitude to tangle with the hardships that McConalogue has. And you put to the test the age old problem. Adept at many trades, Master of none."
*Aiden clicks his tongue and tsks at Julius*
"Here’s the reality. I am a MASTER at the brawling arts. Random is a MASTER of the submission arts. NOMAD is a MASTER of the power game. You are a little bit country and a little bit rock and roll. And you are out of your depths. See I got a date with destiny. And that means Random and I gotta put you down. I WILL get my hands on Poena … I will HAVE my trophy. I will bring that title home to MY waist. And it starts with out brawling the wanderer. It starts with going all Brutus on this wannabe Caesar."
*Aiden holds up a finger as if to say “but wait!”*
"Don’t you worry NOMAD … you and I will have that one on one. I’m too much of a glutton for punishment to ignore that challenge. You and I? Oh we will put on the show of some future night. I’ll have you bleeding like a stuck pig. But fer now? Aiden here is focused. Fer once in his life, Aiden is going to play this the RIGHT way, the NECESSARY way … and get the W over the glory. Because in the end. I will be Openweight Champion Aiden Merric … Godslayer."
*Fade*