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#Post#: 2666--------------------------------------------------
Without Equal - Chapter 2 - Moving On
By: RampageSports Date: November 1, 2015, 8:41 pm
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Without Equal - Chapter 2 - Moving On
Nuh uh. I ain't doing this again.
Olivia came to my office as I'd requested, but she'd brought
with her the same petulant indignation she'd had on day one.
"Hello, Olivia," I said when she entered.
"Yeah, hi," she sniffed.
I wasn't playing this game a second time.
I checked the clock, then went back to what I'd been doing
before she came in. She sat down in the chair and sulked. We
stayed like that for what seemed like forever. Time ticked by
and nothing changed. Which was bad news for Liv, because I
could do this all day.
Finally, she could take no more.
"Why am I here?" she asked in frustration.
"I need to talk to you," I said simply.
"So... talk."
"I'm waiting until you're ready to listen."
She made one of those familiar noises of teenage disgust.
"I don't have to take this bullsh*t," she snapped. "You're not
my mother."
She rose in a huff and strode for the door.
"If I were your mother," I said calmly, "you'd never see the
outside of your room."
She froze in the doorway and glared at me.
"Of course," I said, bringing my eyes level with hers, "I'm
betting you wouldn't talk to your mother this way."
"How would you know?"
"C'mon, Liv," I said. "I've seen you do interviews. You come
across as capable, level-headed and intelligent. Not the type
of person who mouths off to her parents. Also, not the type of
young woman who was raised by parents who would let her."
She softened her stance a little.
"So, there you go," she said. "I already have all the mothering
I need. I don't need you to help out."
"I don't want to be your mother, smart ass. I don't really want
to be your boss, either. I don't demand respect like that. But
we're going to have to some sort of understanding, if this is
going to work out."
I was banking on being right about what I'd seen from her this
past month. As far as I could tell, she was happy here. I was
hoping she'd want that to continue.
"How do you propose we do that?" she asked.
I got up and came around the desk.
"What do you know about me?" I asked.
"I know you turned me in to the league for being underage," she
answered.
"Well, come have a seat," I said as I leaned against the front
of my desk, "because I'm about to give you a new reason to hate
me."
She stepped back into the room slowly, with a curious look on
her face.
"Did you contact any of the other stables before you came to
RSI?" I asked, once she sat down.
"Sure," she answered. "No one was interested."
"Ever ask yourself why that was?"
"I assumed it was because I suck."
"Well, that's part of it," I said, "but I also put the word out
that we intended to bring you here."
"You had me blacklisted?"
"Do I look like Joe McCarthy to you?" I asked in response to her
odd choice of phrase.
"Who?"
"Never mind," I said. "There's no such thing as a blacklist in
the UMMA. That's ridiculous. I simply made it known I was
heavily interested in signing you. As you pointed out, your
performances to date have not been impressive. So, no one had
any desire to try and undercut me."
"So, instead, you undercut me."
"In a way, yes."
"Why would you do that?"
"Simple. I wanted you here."
"But you just said I suck."
"No. You said you suck. I said you had not been impressive."
"How's that different?"
"It's probably not. But the point is, I don't think you're
going to suck forever. I think you can succeed. So, I wanted
you here with us."
"You still didn't answer my question," she said. "Why did you
want me here?"
"What you did... cheating your way into the UMMA early. It
showed me some things. One thing it showed was that you were an
idiot, who had very little regard for her own safety."
She tried not to smile, but couldn't quite hide it.
"I assume that's not the reason for your interest."
"No," I said, "but you also showed how bad you wanted it.
That's an attitude I can work with."
I put my hand out to her.
"We both want the same thing, Liv," I said. "We don't have to
be enemies."
The smile started to get away from her, but she reigned it in.
"I still don't like the way you went about it," she said as she
shook my hand.
"We get this right, and I'm betting you won't care about that,
anymore."
She nodded gently, and that was the end of it. It was time for
us to move on to the next chapter.
"So, how are you finding things?" I said as I made my way back
to my chair.
"It's been pretty good," she said. "You guys really seem to
know what you're doing."
"That's because I let people who are smarter than I am run the
show," I said. "And if you ever tell them I said that, I'll
kill you with my bare hands."
She laughed and said, "Your secret is safe with me."
"I noticed you seem to be getting along pretty well with your
teammates. Most especially with Ashley."
"She's been awesome," Holt agreed. "She gives me a lot of her
time."
"Tiz is very passionate about things. You're going to learn a
lot from her."
"The others have been good, as well," she said. "Stephanie
doesn't seem to happy, though."
I nodded.
"Steph knows what she's doing, but I may have jumped the gun
when I brought you on. I didn't think the training through, and
Steph's not comfortable with the way things are going. We're
working on a solution as we speak."
"Oh?"
I held up a finger to her and signaled her to hold on. Then I
picked up the phone and dialed into the training area. Three
rings later, Steph came on the line.
"What?" she barked.
I shook my head in disbelief. After all this time, you'd think
I'd be accustomed to her abrupt nature, but I still marveled at
how good she was at it.
"How'd things work out?" I asked.
"It's gonna work," she said.
No further information or details were provided. We had a
problem, and the proposed solution had been tested by Stephanie
McMahon and deemed acceptable.
What more did I need to know?
"Is she still there?" I asked.
"Nope. She's with Danni, in her office."
I disconnected, then dialed Danni. I thought about yelling over
for her, but, given the fact that she was with a prospective new
recruit, I thought such unprofessionalism should be avoided. At
least until tomorrow.
Danni picked up almost instantly.
"How goes it, Miss Harris?" I asked.
"Why do you keep calling me 'Miss Harris?'"
"Does it annoy you?"
"Yes."
"Then, what more reason do I need?"
"Cute," she said dismissively. "We're all set over here. She's
on-board."
"Excellent," I said. "Bring her on over."
Danni appeared at my door seconds later. Behind her was the
newest member of RSI, Dove Cameron.
I was just about to introduce her, but Olivia saw her before I
got the chance.
"OH MY GOD!" she screamed as she leapt out of her seat.
"I KNOW!" Dove shrieked.
Danni had to dive out of the way as Liv charged over and threw
her arms around her close friend. The two spun around a few
times as they squealed in delight, and momentum carried them
further into the lobby. Danni snuck into my office while she
had the chance.
"You're signing here?" Olivia asked.
"Uh huh," Dove nodded.
"Shut. Up," Olivia said, enunciating each word as though it
were it's own sentence.
"No, it's all done," Dove said. "I start on Monday!"
"SHUT. UP!" Olivia repeated.
"I know!" Dove cried, leading me to believe that the second time
Olivia had said the line, it had a different meaning from the
first.
"This is going to be fab!"
"Oh, totes!"
Danni came around beside me as our newest fighters continued to
screech at each other, progressively using more and more words I
didn't understand.
"Well, they seem happy," Danni said.
"I guess," I said. "Too bad I don't know what they're saying."
Liv and Dove went back and forth for a few more minutes at a
pitch just below that of a dog whistle.
Then, just as I thought they were getting themselves under
control, Olivia said, "And we get to train with Ashley Tisdale!"
And the whole thing started all over again.
"Someone should warn Tiz," Danni commented.
"Excuse me, ladies?" I called out. "Can I trouble you to come
back in here, for a minute?"
The young women managed to pull themselves together again, and
made their way back into my office.
"First of all, Dove, I'd like to welcome you aboard."
"Thank you," she said. "I'm excited to be here."
"Yes, I noticed," I said.
Then I turned my attention to Olivia.
"I take it this meets with your approval."
"Oh, you have no idea," she said.
"I'm glad," I said. "Dove's interest in joining the league
worked out perfectly, and it gave us a rare opportunity. We
have all kinds of relationships that have been built here, but
this is the first time we're pairing two fighters who are so
close away from the cage. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't
expecting big things from the both of you."
The two women shared a knowing look.
"We're feeling pretty good about things, ourselves," Dove said.
"Good," I said with a warm smile. "Liv, why don't you take Dove
on the nickel tour? Then, maybe meet up with Steph and have her
give you an idea of what Monday's going to be like."
"Sounds good," she said.
The two friends took their leave, twittering excitedly the whole
way.
"I'm too old for this sh*t," I said to Danni.
"They are... energetic," she agreed.
"Let's hope they find a way to channel that energy."
"I'm sure Steph will help them with that."
Truer words...
"You coming to The Creek, tonight?" she asked.
Up The Creek tavern is a local bar that sits along the
Branchport Creek, only a few blocks from the RSI facility.
Sometimes — usually on Fridays — a group of us will head over
there and spend some time acting like idiots. There's not much
to the place, but we're not looking for much. It's clean and
casual and Big John behind the bar is always friendly and happy
to see us. Best of all, it is truly a local bar, not a
destination. So, even on a Friday, it's quiet and
comfortable... and reasonably private.
Truth is, it's almost too local, with far fewer seats at the bar
than we usually have in our group. But there's a party room off
to one side, and John is happy to open it up for us if it's not
rented out. Though the center portion of the room was taken up
by a dance floor, there was still plenty of room for all of us.
And the music from the digital jukebox near the bar could be
pumped into the room with the push of a button.
"Sure, I'm game," I replied.
"Good," she said, "maybe you'll have an answer on that song
thing by then."
"I already told you. I have an answer," I said. "You're free
to start guessing at any time."
She shook her head softly.
"You don't want to do this with me," she said.
"I don't know what this is, but I'm already doing it,
apparently."
"Okay," she said with a sigh, "but don't say I didn't warn you."
[hr]
Character Reference
HTML https://aade768506dacb303a01a361d3dc0d27209a5ec4.googledrive.com/host/0Bz8YsEjMxOhMMXhVcF82aG5SXzA/Richelle_100x120.jpg
Name: Richelle Winterfeld
Nickname(s):
Background: Owner of the RSI stable, former underground fighter
HTML https://aade768506dacb303a01a361d3dc0d27209a5ec4.googledrive.com/host/0Bz8YsEjMxOhMMXhVcF82aG5SXzA/Danni_100x120.jpg
Name: Danneel Harris
Nickname(s): Danni
Background: RSI stable leader, reigning DEF welterweight
champion
HTML https://aade768506dacb303a01a361d3dc0d27209a5ec4.googledrive.com/host/0Bz8YsEjMxOhMMXhVcF82aG5SXzA/Stephanie_100x120.jpg
Name: Stephanie McMahon
Nickname(s): Steph
Background: RSI's fighter development coordinator, reigning SCQ
super heavyweight champion
[img]
HTML https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=0Bz8YsEjMxOhMMGp0Y09TVXo4Rlk[/img]
Name: Olivia Holt
Nickname(s): Liv
Background: FAC bantamweight contender
[img]
HTML https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=0Bz8YsEjMxOhMbUdYRUVzQ24xUHc[/img]
Name: Dove Cameron
Nickname(s):
Background: FAC bantamweight contender
#Post#: 2667--------------------------------------------------
Re: Without Equal - Chapter 2 - Moving On
By: BadAssBunnies Date: November 1, 2015, 9:01 pm
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Another awesome story Richelle. I'm glad Olivia has finally got
a BFF. It will be really interesting when they meet each other
in the cage.
totes? I love it.
#Post#: 2669--------------------------------------------------
Re: Without Equal - Chapter 2 - Moving On
By: RampageSports Date: November 2, 2015, 7:17 am
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Thanks, Becca. I had thought about the fact that the two of
them are very likely to have to face each other, at some point.
I've dealt with that before in Britney and Elisha, but they were
both more experienced. It was easier to have them accept it as
part of the game. I'm hoping Olivia and Dove will get a few
fights under their respective belts before they meet for real.
They're ranked very close together, though. So, I guess I'll
just have to take it as it comes.
Totes... haha. I'd better be careful what I get myself into,
because if I have to keep writing dialog like that, I'm going to
go totes bananas. ;)
#Post#: 2670--------------------------------------------------
Re: Without Equal - Chapter 2 - Moving On
By: Dragons Den Date: November 2, 2015, 9:17 am
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Fantastic! Love it, Richelle. I agree with Becca, it shall be
very interesting if/when they meet in the cage. I hope the
training goes well. Best of luck to them (and Tiz!).
#Post#: 2671--------------------------------------------------
Re: Without Equal - Chapter 2 - Moving On
By: RampageSports Date: November 2, 2015, 9:47 am
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Thanks, Dragon. :)
Poor Tiz. I haven't even figured out how I'm going to torture
her with this. :P
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