Date October 24th 2020 / Time 10:25PM / Status Not Recording
Location The Silver Moon Diner – Middle River, Maryland

(OOC: This is the continuation from Mitch’s RP, so I recommend reading that first to get the context of this conversation.)

I let out a soft chuckle as Mitch finishes telling me how much he can’t stand Jack. Join the club, honey. I muse to myself, watching him for a few moments – Every now and again taking a glance down at his plate, and the ooey gooey cheese oozing out onto his plate.

Why did I come in here just wanting coffee again?

I shake my head and shift my thoughts back to what we were just discussing. Mac and Jack… Ugh.

“Makes me wonder what the hell I was thinking sometimes.”

I mutter, watching the waitress move through the diner and towards our table. The way she’s smiling at Mitch… They must be pretty familiar. She steps up and looks at Mitch and down at his plate and I’ve gotta stop myself from telling her I’m looking at it the same way.

“Everything alright, Mitch?”

Mitch nods his head as he’s chewing another bite. Satisfied, the waitress looks over at me.

“What can I get ya, hon?”

“Just a coffee, please.”

She nods her head and leaves as I grab a napkin from the end of the table, playing with it while I try to figure out what to say next. I don’t have any shortage of things to say about Jack… Or Mac for that matter, but.. I don’t know. I’m so over that part of my life that it’s almost annoying that Jack’s back for one, and for two… That I’m now facing him in a match..

Oh, and Mac too. Just beat his ass two weeks ago and here we are again.

Can’t a girl catch a break?

Mitch clears his throat and I look up, realizing that I lost myself a bit in my thoughts… And that I’ve torn that napkin up into tiny shreds as I was doing so. I sweep the little pieces into a pile in front of me and sigh.

Oh, and not to mention… Facing both of them with the person who’s challenged me for my belt. Someone who’s a lot like me in the way they view my championship.

“You’re right though. I don’t get why people see the UV belt as a lesser championship. To me? It’s the God damned world title because that’s what Carnage is.. Well, what it’s supposed to be. For people like us. The way I see it though… We fight this match and then we get to do everything we’d wanna do to them… to each other.”

Although it would be more fun to do it to them first.

But that goes without saying, right?

Mitch nods his head.

“If we can take care of the St. James problem. I don’t know about you but I can’t afford to let the pros put my self-destructive ass back together without insurance. This lovely patch job you see before you was done by very well meaning amateurs, hence me looking like fresh hell this long after the fact. I’m not going to let it stop me but it might stop others, and I can’t exactly blame them.”

He stops and practically inhales half of his omelette while I just sit there, watching on in awe.

He’s not wrong though. I mean I can’t say I’ve walked in his shoes lately… but I remember a time when I patched myself back up in the comfort of my own bathroom, playing the good old ‘infection roulette’, since God only knew what was on the thread and needles I kept stored away in my closet for such purposes.

And now?

I’ve got a reason at home, a little four year old brunette reason to drag my ass to an emergency room to get myself patched up. But that doesn’t mean that things are that easy for people like Mitch.. And I think I’ve forgotten that over the years.

“If there’s a plan in the works by some of our more shrewd co-workers to get our bloodthirsty, reckless selves re-insured it can’t come soon enough. That said. You’ve been here longer than I have, you know the lay of the land better.”

Hah. Me? I knew the lay of the land a lot better than most.. But I’m just as lost around here as everyone else these days. I can only sit here and pray to whatever God that’ll listen, hoping that when I owned Carnage… I wasn’t this bad.

I watch as he stabs a mushroom, probably a lot harder than he needed to before he brings his eyes up once again to meet mine.

“What can you tell me about these two that they haven’t already told us about themselves?”

I simply shrug at first, contemplating that question for a few moments because honestly? Those two practically scream what they want people to know about them…

Now whether or not the shit they’re trying to cram down our throats is true? Well, the jury’s out on that one.

“I might be wrong here, but those two… They’re cut from the same cloth. Or at least Mac is doing his very best ‘Jack Michaels’ impression by trying to be this good guy with all these morals and bullshit.”

I look away, taking a glance at the rest of the diner – Trying to get the bitter taste out of my mouth. God, this conversation sucks. I sigh again and bring my eyes back to Mitch.

“I don’t know Mac very well. I know he’s head over heels for Amber, yet let’s Jack walk all over her. I know he’s one hell of a challenge and I know he’s pissed off.”

I stop again and look down at my hands. Pissed off because of me and my mouth, right? Yeah. But what have I said that he’s proven false?

A small smirk comes over my lips but then I realize I haven’t said a damn thing about Jack… Not that I really wanna… But if Mitch and I are gonna be on the same page, guess I’d better.

“…And Jack. Christ. He’s all about ‘doing what’s right’. He’s got this self-proclaimed moral compass that could rival Jesus Christ, at least in his own delusions. But what he really is? An attention whore. I should know, I was engaged to him for a year. He says he wants to do what’s right by his family but.. Well, I bought into that for far too long and now I just see that he wants to make sure his legacy isn’t shattered. Like, you know… what just happened with him and Ken? Because Amber ain’t woman enough to handle her own shit, huh?”

I chuckle and shake my head. What a load of bullshit.

It really is amazing what two months away from someone can do for your perception of them… Hmm?

“Thanks for confirming what I already thought. Like I said, Mac’s alright. Not gonna have him over to watch the Red Wings at my place or nothin’ but he doesn’t piss me off on sight. As for Jack, I don’t believe a single word he says- I know selfish, entitled motherfuckers and he fits the bill to a T. You ask me, the only reason he went back on wanting his match with Davison to be for the title is because he was getting nuclear heat for it. It was never about Amber, she was a fucking excuse to try and shoot his shot and seem like the noble hero for it. Not that it matters now, he couldn’t cut it anyway.”

I nod my head in agreement as my coffee is placed down in front of me. I grab it and take a sip, relieved to finally have some caffeine in my body.

Mitch’s interpretation of Jack isn’t that far off of my own, really. I pretty much laid it out there with Mac, and it’s nice to see that someone else agrees with that assessment. To watch Jack build himself up only to fail at the hands of Ken… God damn that was good. I’d pay to watch that over and over again, that’s for damn sure.

“Jack’s a people pleaser. Well, only when he feels like it can improve his image. Mac’s alright, as long as he doesn’t keep drinking the Jack Michaels Kool-aid. But I don’t know. I think we’ve got a good chance, even if we weren’t really prepared to work together. They’re counting on you trying to weaken me up for your shot, or at least I’d imagine they would be. But if we’re anything alike… I’d think you’d want me at 100% when you go after my belt.”

My eyes flicker up, watching his reaction.. Wanting to know if I’m right or not. I’m no stranger to watching my back, especially when the belt is on the line, but I feel this familiarity with Mitch… And I honestly think he’d wanna soften me up in our match instead of cheapening his shot by trying to hurt me beforehand.

Because that’s the way I’d wanna do it if I were him.

He looks up and wipes his mouth off, his eyes as intense as I’ve seen them this entire time. Granted, I don’t know him very well but he seems like a pretty intense guy anyway.

“I’m gonna shoot straight. You’re right. When I get that belt I want to have fucking earned it. I’m a vicious, violent animal but I’m not without standards. I got too much respect for you as a fighter to take a cheap shot and soften you up. Why the hell would I want that? But.”

He holds up a finger, and as if he couldn’t look more serious… He goes and does just that.

“I will be scouting the fuck out of you. And if knowing that you pussyfoot around, trying to hide from me, I’ll be really disappointed. But I don’t think you will. Because if you’re anything like me, you want to win this. I didn’t pull my end in a tag match once, it was my only loss on record, and I’m never going to be the slacker on the team again.”

“Oh, Honey, you ain’t gotta worry about me hiding some secret skills for the sake of surprising you. I wanna kick Jack’s teeth down his throat and I wanna make Mac question everything about himself… Can’t do that if I’m worried about you taking notes.”

I reply, shrugging my shoulders.

“Besides, I’m gonna be doing the same to you. It’s only fair.”

“Fair is fair.”

Mitch nods his head, a wicked grin on his face. I finally sit back and relax, letting myself grin back at him. I think this is going to work out just fine…

Jack and Mac had better look out.

…

But so should I…

That thought passes through my head and I stop smiling for a moment, looking at the man who’s vying for my title belt… I keep saying I see a lot of myself in him, and how I’m glad to be facing someone who’s actually gonna fight me the way this belt deserves… No Eli bullshit, refusing to fight me.. No Mac bullshit, refusing to use weapons in a Ultraviolent setting…

No, this is gonna be exactly what it’s supposed to be.

I take another sip of my coffee and let myself smile again.

“This is gonna be fun.”

Even if I’m in for one hell of a battle….

The good thing about it though? So are Mac and Jack.

 

Date October 25th 2020 / Time 9:01PM / Status Not Recording
Location The Johnson Residence – Baltimore, Maryland

The scene opens on a zoomed in view of the Carnage Ultraviolent Championship in all it’s glory. From the red leather, to the shiny metal of the faceplate that reads ‘Kyra Johnson’.

“Oops, sorry… Let me move that out of the way…”

Kyra’s voice breaks up the silence and the title belt slides out of view. But beneath it, we now see a white piece of cloth… Well, more off-white than anything. Slowly the camera pans back to show the Ultraviolent Champ herself seated behind what’s now revealed to be a coffee table, seated with her legs folded over each other and the Ultraviolent title belt resting beside her on the couch.

“Hi, boys.”

She says sweetly, accompanying the niceties with an (almost) angelic smile.

“Bet you weren’t expecting to be seeing me again so soon, were you Mac? I’ll admit, I was kinda hoping that after I beat you two weeks ago that you’d move onto something that suited you better… Like back into the Baltimore City division. Oh yeah, but wait… Now someone’s holding that belt that could probably beat your ass too so…”

Kyra chuckles and leans forward, running her hand along the fabric of the item in front of her.

“So where does that leave you, huh? I mean, if I know you… You’re gonna get right back on that horse and keep on ridin, right? Can’t keep you down.”

She nods her head.

“I respect that, I really do. I don’t respect you as a person, but I think we’ve already talked about this, and I’d really hate to beat a dead horse….”

Her head tilts to the side as if she’s contemplating something. Finally she brings her eyes back up to the lens as a wicked grin replaces the sweet one she was just sporting.

“Would I really, though? Let’s just recap, okay? Leave me get it out of my system because believe it or not, I’ve got much bigger threats on the horizon. Anyway…. So where was I? Oh yeah… So you high-roaded your Baltimore City Championship. Still think you made a smart choice?”

She rolls her eyes.

“Of course you’re not gonna say it outloud, Mac. I’m not that dense. But it’s okay, we’ve all made idiotic choices.. And we’ve all paid for them. I gave you credit where credit was due, you beat my ass… And I may or may not be still feeling the effects of our match but let’s not forget one thing, Mac.. I won. I took your hopes and dreams and I shot them down just like one of your cattle when they’re just too old or lame to keep plowing them there fields. But tell me one thing, Mac… How does it feel?”

She pulls her hand away from the cloth and brings it over to the UV belt to her side.

“How’s it feel to know I beat you at your game? I mean, in front of the camera’s you’re a professional and you give this impression that you thought I could… But deep down inside that inbred brain of yours… You had to be thinking that Joe was right, or that you were right, that I couldn’t fight without my bread and butter… That I couldn’t do my job without the weapons to drag my ‘untalented’ ass to victory. And it makes me so God damned happy, I can’t even tell you… to have proven that to you and all the morons who think people like me only make it because they can swing a fucking kendo stick.”

“Doesn’t make swinging anything at someone’s head any less fun though.”

She snickers and steals a quick glance at her title belt before composing herself and looking back at the lens.

“But I digress. Because here we are again, Mac. But it’s not only you I’m fighting this week, is it? No… No, no, no…”

Her voice slowly trails off as she again reaches towards the table in front of her, slowly tugging on the piece of cloth in front of her until it’s half in her lap and half on the table.

“Oh, Jack… this has been a long time coming, don’t you think? I mean, I’ve been talking about you for months now, telling everyone who was listening what a prick I think you are… But now I get to tell ‘The MAN’ himself. Damn, this is great. I bet you didn’t think we’d be here when you dipped out all those months ago to prepare for that world title match against Amber, huh?”

Suddenly, as if it were attached to a light switch – The smirk on her face falls off and her eyes practically pierce the lens, all the bitterness and the anger coming out all at once.

“But what the fuck did you think would happen, huh? And to think… I was going to marry your sorry ass.”

She looks down at her lap once more.

“To think I bought into the bullshit you were preaching to ‘Paragon’. Fucks sake. Oh… what’s this, you’re asking?”

She looks back up and holds the cloth in her hands up for the camera to see….

“You should already know, Jacky boy… It’s a piece of garbage. You know, like our entire fucking relationship… And the fucking sham that was ‘Paragon’.”

In one fell swoop, she grips onto the dress and rips it down a seam as the fabric cries out. Rage covers her face as she rips it the entire length of the dress and then rips the other side as well, letting the worthless fabric fall to the ground in front of her where she spits on top of it.

“Awww are you gonna cry, Jack? Am I hurting your feelings? Am I sending your victim complex into overdrive, sweetie?”

She stares into the camera for a few moments, letting her words linger until she breaks out into laughter.

“You’re pitiful, Jack. Sure, you’re a world champion many times over, you’re a world renowned talent… You’re a lot of fucking things but what I’m gonna remember most about you, Jack? I’m gonna remember how Jack Michaels always had to be the martyr… How he always had to be the victim. Jack Michaels can do no wrong, can he? Bitch, please… And I know exactly what you’re thinking right now…”

“‘Kyra, I apologized to you… What more do you want from me? Why are you hurting me like this? What did I do to deserve this?’ Woe is me… Woe is Jack Michaels… The man who doesn’t understand the concept of consequences. We ALL fuck up, Jack. But you’re one of the only motherfuckers I’ve ever met that doesn’t understand that an apology doesn’t just cancel out the fucking consequences of your actions! Yeah, you apologized. Yeah, you made things right with the daughter that you ALMOST MURDERED… But I’m not her. I’m not a fucking pushover for you like she is. And for you to come at Ken like you did?”

She scoffs.

“You’ve got some fucking balls on you, Jack. I swear. After what YOU did to Amber? You’re both the pot and the fucking kettle. But you’re too fucking blind to see it. You’re too fucking caught up in your own bullshit lies that you can’t see that you’re the very thing you’ve so bravely set out to destroy. You’re not virtuous. You’re not a hero. You’re just a man with a victim complex who can’t handle it when things don’t go the way you wanted them to. You really did expect things to go back to the way they were after you left for TWO fucking months. After you cried… You fucking cried about not wanting to fight Amber…”

She shakes her head.

“Ain’t no one put a God damned gun to your head and forced you to do what you did to her, Jack. How about you be a REAL parent for once and tell your kid ‘NO’. Trust me, they might not like you at first but it’s not about them liking you, hun.. It’s about you ACTUALLY doing what’s RIGHT. But we both know what the truth is, Jack.”

“And the truth is that Amber fucking Ryan is the MOST important person in your life, even above your REAL daughter.. And whatever that little bitch wants, goes. So you’re damn right I walked out on you when you were crying you fucking sissy. You don’t have a fucking backbone and I’m not about to coddle your stupid ass for being inept at saying the one thing that would have actually made you a hero, or an actual fucking father.”

She shrugs.

“But instead you gave her what she wanted… And you nearly killed her. And in that moment, I saw you for what you really are… You’re Amber Ryan’s bitch. Just like she’s yours. You two were made for one another and by all means… Drag Mac into that ass-kissing party.. But you see, I have a brain of my own and I made the decision to get out because Ken showed me a lot more than you ever could… And boy does it feel nice to see the sun once again after being in your shadow for so long.”

Finally, she smiles again at the mention of Ken’s name and she appears to calm down as she continues.

“Mitch and I might be fighting real soon for this title…”

She motions to her side at the UV championship.

“But that’s not tomorrow. And we’re both on the same page when it comes to you two. Granted, Mitch doesn’t despise Mac nearly as much as he despises you, Jack… But an ass to beat is an ass to beat, right? And the way we see it.. We gotta get through you two Jackasses in order to have a REAL fight against one another so…”

She bares her teeth in a wide smile.

“Goodnight, boys… It was nice knowin’ ya.”

She winks at the camera and the picture cuts to black.