Post by Cupcake on Mar 18, 2017 20:48:12 GMT
The setting was as one might imagine with a pair like Aurora and Masaru…. Madness, sheer and perfectly so. The stones of the cave walls were dark, and they had a low-light gleam to them much as if someone had sprinkled them with glitter. Across one wall were stills, framed ornately, of every single tag team win Aurora had had during the two incarnations of Phoenix Wrestling she had been a part of. With Dierdra as Guilty By Association, with Willow Winters as Ghostly Winter, and then the crown jewel team, herself and Conor Blackburn. Aurora walked into view, wearing a nearly sheer black dress with thick spangles to hide certain attributes, the long sheath splitting near her knees to create long tendrils of fabric that seemed to move of their own volition. Her long hair was twisted up at the crown of her head and parted to make dozens of small braids with tiny little ornaments on the ends that chimed as she walked. Next to her, his arm out in true gentlemanly fashion was her tag team partner Masaru Inoue, wearing full tophat and tails, his crisp white shirt dotted at the collar and cuffs with splashes of red. Upon his brow were horns, and the brim of the top hat rested against one of them as he turned his head, the light winking off of the piercings in his handsome face.
“It’s a shame, isn’t it? Over and over, I’ve proven myself in this company my dear one. I have never lost a tag match since I signed that dotted line. I was ruefully forced to give up what I had earned when I never had, though I can’t say I don’t see the point… first Winter vanished, then Conor’s ex hit him with a car and I just couldn’t stomach choosing a partner out of what was left. None were suited, not for that. Not to stand at my side, to take on all comers with me, to look upon what I have done without a speck of jealousy. Now…”
Her fingers reached, splaying on the glass cover over the last successful title defense that she and Conor had had. They’d always meant to find an actual tag team name, but they never quite found the right one. Masaru gently patted her back as his owl friend flew by, his eyes following it as from somewhere off screen very familiar music started to play. Aurora stepped away from the photos and went to a mirror set in the wall, a small shelf of makeup and brushes just under it and as she looked in the mirror and began applying fantastical makeup to her pale and perfect skin, her lips parted and she began to sing as Masaru grinned behind her and twirled in place, his cane appearing as he twirled it in counterpoint to his motions.
“I admit that in the past I've been a nasty
They weren't kidding when they called me, well, a witch
But you'll find that nowadays
I've mended all my ways
Repented, seen the light, and made a switch…”
Behind her Masaru laughed and she joined in as she kept singing.
“And I fortunately know a little magic
It's a talent that I always have possessed…”
Masaru swept in and cheek to cheek the pair crooned the next line into the mirror as Aurora grinned and took a brush and applied some powder to her cheeks.
“Poor unfortunate souls
In pain, in need.”
Masaru grinned to show all his teeth and he swept from her side down the gallery wall on the opposite side, five pictures there - the first three were of the two members of The Collective they’d be facing, along with their manager, the last two were of course of the team they would need to defeat in order to become the first PW Duos Champions. His voice rang out smooth and surprisingly mellow as his fingers trailed along the pictures.
“This one longing to be better
That one wants to get the belts
And does she help them?
Yes, indeed.”
Aurora scarcely controlled her laughter as she put down her brushes, her lips glowing a near ruby red and spun in dance steps that made those tendrils flare out like they were floating underwater, pointing at each of the portraits in turn as she spun and sang.
“Those poor unfortunate souls
So sad, so true
They come flocking to my cauldron
Crying, "Spells, Aurora, please!"
And I help them
Yes I do.”
Masaru’s smile grew even wider, showing far too many teeth in almost shark-like fashion as he thumped the silver-capped end of his cane on the cave floor.
“Now it's happened once or twice
Someone couldn't pay the price…”
Aurora twirled up to him and took his arm, leaning against it as she sang to Masaru and then the portraits, her expression almost angelic despite the words.
“And I'm afraid I had to rake 'em 'cross the coals
Yes I've had the odd complaint
But on the whole I've been a saint
To those poor unfortunate souls.”
The crescendo of the music built and built and the lights that illuminated Chris Andrews and Faith snapped to darkness leaving only The Collective mildly light as the pair of them grinned at each other now, the room lights darkening until all that was seen were two pair of glowing eyes, one green and one pale like pearl. The music went silent and then their voices rose in one final line.
“Have we got a deal?”
“Look let’s be blunt shall we?”
The cameras pan back to find the speaker, one Aurora as she leaned against the railing of a...riverboat?! Dressed in what looks like a pair of very expensive men’s suit pants (black of course) with the cuffs rolled up to her knees and two-tone Italian leather shoes over her silk black and white striped stockings; she had suspenders to hold up the pants over a too-large pristine white button up shirt, sleeves on that rolled up to her elbows, her hair pulled back in a ponytail as she smiled brilliantly at the person filming her.
“The Collective? That’s interesting. It reminds me way more of Star Trek: First Contact than Goodfellas, and that’s not a bad thing at all. Despite your fondness for Sinatra - and who doesn’t love Swoonatra? Despite that and those very Italian names, Tira and Forliti, there’s nothing that I see wrong with the three of you. I say three because The Twin-Isher is going to have to wrestle the match of his life to get past Frankie Starlight… can I pause and say that I’m sure that there is a large female contingent among the PW fans that would wet themselves if this boy came out in jeans and a t-shirt? Well I just did, live with it. But this team is more than just the pretty boy glue holding them together. They’ve got brains and brawn, which is a combination that’s nothing to sneeze at. Add to that, that I’m sure they’ve poured over every single second of both our matches since Phoenix reopened it’s doors. They know what Masaru and I have endured just to be here, looking forward to the future, Redemption 106 where he and I will face Chris Andrew and Faith, and they know what’s on the line.
They aren’t stupid, just because they look like meatheads, and anyone that would fall for that deception deserves what will happen to them in the ring.
But watching what happened during the Iron King Tournament, watching me go through opponent after opponent to defend what was mine in the Rebirth championship, as well as the trials that Masaru endured ending with that glass birdcage of death match? That’s not going to tell you boys what you’ll need to really know.”
She pushed off the railing with her hips, gesturing for the camera to follow her as she walked the deck of the riverboat, the sounds of gambling coming from inside as she moved under the open sky, the water lapping at the boat adding a pleasant lulling sound.
“I have been keeping busy, since the end of the tournament. I have been polishing up my tag team acumen, you might say.”
A sly smile came to her plush lips.
“I took a little trip to Texas, you see, where the Queen of the Crossroads and the Iron King had us a little match billed as The Cassius Reed Experience. We defeated a long standing team in D&S Solutions, and let me tell you what, boys… those two? Tough as nails, big, fast, strong - Sue is bigger than you are, Forliti, for example… and I planted him headfirst into the mat with the Ghostly Kiss DDT and he couldn’t stop me. I’ll let that sink in for a minute.”
Aurora stretched, her arms up over her head, arching to crack her back with a contented sigh before she eased down, looking over her shoulder.
“...and I’m the so-called sane one of this team. We call ourselves a thing, a name. I thought it was fitting, because the last team I was in for any length of time never got around to doing that. We, Masaru Inoue and I? We call ourselves Hell Is Waiting.”
Her pause was minute, she was sure they’d likely seen her and Maz call themselves that on Twitter and barring that, the PW.com site had the t-shirts for sale already.
“Simply because it is. We are patient, but we will not be denied. I made it clear upon my return that beyond anything else, what I wanted? Was what was mine. What I never lost, and I didn’t mean my World title… which I also never lost.”
Aurora’s smile grew cheeky a moment before she shook her head.
“No matter what people think, the Rebirth title, being a part of introducing it back into the world, as wonderful as that experience was? It was never my true goal. I want you boys to think about that too. Remember all those matches, all those brutal hits and strikes, the lengths I was willing to go to defend and keep that Rebirth title. Look at everything Cassius Reed and I went through to beat each other after we’d already fought one hard MMA match earlier in the night. Look at every little bit, and do more than just watch. Understand. Realize the depths, the passion, the sheer fight I displayed there.
Then realize that I want these tag team belts a thousand times more than I wanted that Rebirth title. Realize that as much as it would have meant to me, to be the very first Iron Queen, that I wanted my tag team gold that much more.
Don’t be ashamed if that made you pee a little.”
She held up her thumb and forefinger a shade apart and grinned again.
“I approach every match with logic and clinical detachment, boys. My partner Masaru… does not. That’s part of why we work so well together, isn’t that just lovely? He is all the hellhound I say he is and more, and there’s no hope that the three of you have, in figuring out what he’ll do. That’s very, very good for us. Not so much good for you. But honestly I don’t think you boys expected anything less.”
She stepped towards the opening that led inside, the colored lights of the slot machines just inside the door flashing over her as she paused for an instant.
“Hell is Waiting.”
Word Count: 1955