Post by dsb on Aug 20, 2016 22:04:24 GMT
A beach near San Diego, one week after the events of Red, White, & Bruised…
Two young women sat alone on the beach around a bonfire, gazing into the Pacific sunset. Yoona Park reached into a box containing all of the decorations Paulette Severe had put up for their recent apartment house brawl. She pulled out a picture of her past self dancing ballet and regarded it for a brief moment.
YOONA PARK:
“Don Quixote,” she said, before she tossed it into the bonfire. The photo quickly turned to ashes and a westerly wind blew the remains out into the Pacific.
Yoona reached into the box again.
Another photo.
“The Nutcracker.”
Another toss into the fire.
One by one, the flames consumed the images and stories from the life she left behind. Soon there was only one left -- the picture of her on her nineteenth birthday that kicked off the whole ordeal.
She flipped it over and looked at the characters printed on the back.
‘We still remember.’
Yoona knew the message was inauthentic, merely a cruel mind game from the sadistic French woman, but the memories and emotions it evoked were all too real.
“I remember too,” Park quietly said to herself. “I wish I didn’t.”
She tore the picture in half, then in fourths, then in eighths before she dumped the scraps into the bonfire.
Both women sat silently for another minute, then Camille Cosworth scooted over to her girlfriend and wrapped an arm around her lower back.
CAMILLE COSWORTH:
“Do you feel better now?” she asked.
Yoona grimaced at the question. The two of them had come to San Diego to have Yoona’s beloved car retrieved from storage and shipped out to Orlando. While planning the trip Camille insisted on visiting the beaches where Yoona had gotten her start in wrestling, and then Park got the bright idea to burn all traces of her old life in the place where her new life began. It was supposed to be a symbolic and sentimental act of letting go, but instead…
“I still feel like shit,” Yoona replied flatly.
“It doesn’t have to be this way,” Camille sighed. “Just get on a plane and go home. Take as long as you need, I’ll wait for you. You really need closure on this.”
“I have closure,” Yoona said grimly. “Even after all that’s happened, my mom and dad still haven’t reached out to me. No phone calls, no emails, no publicity, nothing. That fucking bitch was right, they don’t want anything to do with me any more.”
“Yoona…“ Camille said with a look of concern on her face.
“Don’t look at me like that, I’m not giving up on them. I made a vow to go see them as soon as I can take the World Championship belt with me, and I’m sticking to it. And fuck you, Cosworth, you’re coming with me too.”
That brought a smile to Camille’s face. “I’ll work on my Korean in the meantime.”
“No rush. You’ll have plenty of time,” Yoona groaned. “I can’t believe they’re wasting my time and putting me on the House Show roster. Apparently they’re still not sure if I’m good enough to be a pay-per-view regular. What dickheads.”
“Oh come on, Yoona. It won’t be so bad,” Camille said. “I think it’ll be really fun for you and I to go on the House Show circuit together. Besides, the local girls are really friendly, and I think they could learn a lot from you --”
“What the hell, Cam? Learn a lot from me? Babe, those girls are just enhancement talent with zero long term career prospects. All I’m going to do is beat them to the ground and then sex them up a little to give the fans a show --”
“You mean like you did to me?” Cosworth interrupted, her expression turning sullen and hurt.
Park rolled her eyes. “It’s not the same thing. You have more athletic talent in your pinkie than the whole lot of them. You’re a diamond in the rough, they’re just lumps of dinosaur shit.”
“I don’t believe that. I can’t believe that,” Camille insisted. “Everyone can aspire to be something more than stepping stones or doormats. We can all shine like diamonds.”
Yoona sighed deeply. “Cam, that’s not how this business works. Do you know how many girls I’ve ruined on this very strip of sand? How many dreams I shattered on my way to where I am today? How many more I’ll destroy on my way to the championship? The truth of the matter is that the glory of one is always paid for by the disgrace of another.”
Camille looked upset, but Yoona continued her tirade. “This naive notion about bringing out the best in everyone is just a pretty white lie fed to children. The fact that you still cling to such a fucking ridiculous, bullshit ideal makes you --”
“An idiot?”
“A hero,” Park said resolutely. “And those wannabes on the House Show circuit... they’re a lot better off following your example than mine.”
Cosworth gaped in surprise for a few seconds, then furrowed her brow as she recalled Adelaide Brewster saying something similar to her a couple of weeks ago. Since that first meeting in Atlanta, the Queen of Nightmares had brutalized Camille in similar fashion at two more House Shows in Memphis and Birmingham. Cosworth didn’t want her girlfriend to worry, especially not when Park was dealing with her own emotional turmoil, but the repeated beatings were starting to bother her more than she was willing to openly admit.
“I don’t feel like much of a hero these days,” Camille sighed. “I honestly think you fit the bill much better.”
“Babe, just be yourself,” Yoona reassured. “You have this incredible gift of empathy and the ability to inspire others, while I only know how to hurt and humiliate.”
“That’s not true, Yoona. I wouldn’t even have a FAWN career if it weren’t for you. Seriously, take your own advice and be yourself. You know when I first saw you at Open Fight Night I thought you were just some vapid bimbo, but as soon as you let the real you shine through instead of acting like a ditzy jerk --”
“No, Cam,” Yoona said sadly. “I’m not strong enough or brave enough pour out my heart in front of the whole world. When it's just the two of us I can show you my fears and my insecurities because I love you and I trust you, but for everyone else --”
Park pantomimed putting on a flak jacket and a helmet.
“-- being an insufferable jackass is my suit of armor. I never would have made it to the top of the beach wrestling scene here without it. And besides, the FAWN audiences love the sexy airhead act. Throw in a little cheesecake and they’re eating out of the palm of my hand. So go be the hero, Cam, and let me be the whore. It's better this way.”
Cosworth nuzzled closer to her girlfriend as they watched the Sun slowly dip under the horizon. “Well if that’s what you want… ‘Whore’ is a terrible nickname and gimmick though, we need to come up with something better for you.”
“Sir Humpsalot?” pondered Yoona.
“No. And it wouldn’t be Sir, it'd be Lady.”
“Lady Humpsalot then?”
“No!”
“Well, I'm out of ideas. Can you think of anything?”
“Ugh, you suck at this, Yoona! How about the Black Swan? It's something ballet related, and the Black Swan is supposed to be sexy and seductive, right?”
Park frowned at that suggestion. “The Black Swan was a villain, babe. She seduced the Prince and drove both him and the Swan Queen to suicide. Rather morbid, if you know what I'm saying.”
Cosworth cringed. “I, uhh, I didn't know that. I only watched the Natalie Portman movie. And umm… I… kind of… maybe... sort of… skipped around to only watch the sex scenes.”
Yoona chuckled and lightly swatted her on the back of the head.
“Actually, the Black Swan is perfect for you,” Camille added after a few seconds of further thought. “Have you ever read Nassim Taleb?”
Park only stared back blankly.
“Well he’s this big shot statistician and financial analyst,” Cosworth explained. “He wrote a book about so-called Black Swan events, which are unpredictable, super rare outliers that have a big impact and only make sense with hindsight. I think that fits you perfectly, Yoona. Think about all the crazy, unlikely things that had to happen to bring you to where you are today. You had to injure your feet. You had to run away from home. You had to take up wrestling. You had to fly all the way across the country to Open Fight Night. You had draw me as an opponent. You had to drag me into FAWN with you. We had to fall in love. None of those things made any sense at the time, yet here we are anyway, with both our lives completely turned upside down and inside out. Our entire time together is one big, ongoing Black Swan event.”
“Uh, wow, Cam,” Park muttered. “You really put a lot of thought into that. I don’t think too many FAWNatics are going to get that though. Not everyone has a business degree like you.”
“Not many are going to know that the Black Swan was so morbid either,” Cosworth countered. “I think most people will make the connection to seductive ballerina, and that’s what you want, right? You and I though, we’ll know what it really means.”
“Hmm, you make a good point,” Yoona conceded. “Alright then, Black Swan it is.”
“Great!” Camille said, grinning from ear to ear. “My turn now! Come on, Yoona. Give me an awesome wrestling nickname.”
Yoona wrinkled her nose and rubbed her brow for a good thirty seconds, deep in thought. Finally, she said, “Wrestle-Bot 3000.”
“Um, no.”
“Spinny McFlips.”
“Terrible. Just terrible.”
“Flippy McSpins.”
“Oh, come on! You're not even trying!”
“Lady Humpsa --”
“NO!” Camille vehemently shouted.
“Haha! I’m just messing with you, babe. Give me some more time to think about it. I’ll come up with something good, I promise,” Yoona said as she planted a kiss on Camille’s cheek.
The two women laid down in the sand and fell silent for several minutes as the Sun disappeared completely and the sky grew dark, leaving the bonfire the only source of light on the entire beach. Yoona thought her girlfriend had fallen asleep when Camille abruptly broke the silence once more.
“Yoona, can you do something for me?”
“What is it, babe?”
“Oh man, I feel awkward even asking. I’ll totally understand if you say no, and --”
“Sex on the beach?”
“No! Well, yes, but not right now. First could you…”
Camille hesitated as she wasn’t sure of the best way to ask. She took a deep breath and decided to be as direct and to-the-point as possible, “Yoona, I’ve never seen you dance ballet. You looked amazing in the pictures, but I’m sure that doesn’t hold a candle to the real deal, live in person. Could you do a dance from the Black Swan for me?”
Yoona turned her head and silently stared at her girlfriend for a long time, her eyes wide with surprise and her mouth slightly ajar.
“Umm, you know what? Forget I asked. It probably has some bad memories attached, so --”
“Anything for you, Cam,” Park said with a smile as she got up in front of the bonfire. “Oh, and the ballet is called Swan Lake. The Black Swan is just a secondary character and only appears in one act.”
“Are your ankles and feet going to be okay?”
“Yeah, babe. Barefoot in the sand is much less punishing than wooden shoes on stage. Plus you’ll be giving me a sexy massage immediately after, right?”
“Anything for you,” Cosworth echoed.
Yoona nodded and went into her well-rehearsed ballet routine for the Swan Queen. She fumbled and faltered a bit at the start as she shook off years of rust. Adapting to the differences in her body was a challenge too. While Park was a slender woman by wrestler standards, she had still packed on a solid fifteen to twenty pounds from her days as a scrawny, reed-thin ballerina.
Nevertheless, Yoona was gifted with a remarkable sense of rhythm and physical coordination. Within a few minutes, she made the necessary adjustments and was dancing as if she had never stopped. Being the understudy, Yoona had only ever performed the lead role in rehearsals, but for one night on a dark, secluded beach in front of an audience of one, she turned in a performance that would have put any prima in the world to shame.
Two young women sat alone on the beach around a bonfire, gazing into the Pacific sunset. Yoona Park reached into a box containing all of the decorations Paulette Severe had put up for their recent apartment house brawl. She pulled out a picture of her past self dancing ballet and regarded it for a brief moment.
YOONA PARK:
“Don Quixote,” she said, before she tossed it into the bonfire. The photo quickly turned to ashes and a westerly wind blew the remains out into the Pacific.
Yoona reached into the box again.
Another photo.
“The Nutcracker.”
Another toss into the fire.
One by one, the flames consumed the images and stories from the life she left behind. Soon there was only one left -- the picture of her on her nineteenth birthday that kicked off the whole ordeal.
She flipped it over and looked at the characters printed on the back.
‘We still remember.’
Yoona knew the message was inauthentic, merely a cruel mind game from the sadistic French woman, but the memories and emotions it evoked were all too real.
“I remember too,” Park quietly said to herself. “I wish I didn’t.”
She tore the picture in half, then in fourths, then in eighths before she dumped the scraps into the bonfire.
Both women sat silently for another minute, then Camille Cosworth scooted over to her girlfriend and wrapped an arm around her lower back.
CAMILLE COSWORTH:
“Do you feel better now?” she asked.
Yoona grimaced at the question. The two of them had come to San Diego to have Yoona’s beloved car retrieved from storage and shipped out to Orlando. While planning the trip Camille insisted on visiting the beaches where Yoona had gotten her start in wrestling, and then Park got the bright idea to burn all traces of her old life in the place where her new life began. It was supposed to be a symbolic and sentimental act of letting go, but instead…
“I still feel like shit,” Yoona replied flatly.
“It doesn’t have to be this way,” Camille sighed. “Just get on a plane and go home. Take as long as you need, I’ll wait for you. You really need closure on this.”
“I have closure,” Yoona said grimly. “Even after all that’s happened, my mom and dad still haven’t reached out to me. No phone calls, no emails, no publicity, nothing. That fucking bitch was right, they don’t want anything to do with me any more.”
“Yoona…“ Camille said with a look of concern on her face.
“Don’t look at me like that, I’m not giving up on them. I made a vow to go see them as soon as I can take the World Championship belt with me, and I’m sticking to it. And fuck you, Cosworth, you’re coming with me too.”
That brought a smile to Camille’s face. “I’ll work on my Korean in the meantime.”
“No rush. You’ll have plenty of time,” Yoona groaned. “I can’t believe they’re wasting my time and putting me on the House Show roster. Apparently they’re still not sure if I’m good enough to be a pay-per-view regular. What dickheads.”
“Oh come on, Yoona. It won’t be so bad,” Camille said. “I think it’ll be really fun for you and I to go on the House Show circuit together. Besides, the local girls are really friendly, and I think they could learn a lot from you --”
“What the hell, Cam? Learn a lot from me? Babe, those girls are just enhancement talent with zero long term career prospects. All I’m going to do is beat them to the ground and then sex them up a little to give the fans a show --”
“You mean like you did to me?” Cosworth interrupted, her expression turning sullen and hurt.
Park rolled her eyes. “It’s not the same thing. You have more athletic talent in your pinkie than the whole lot of them. You’re a diamond in the rough, they’re just lumps of dinosaur shit.”
“I don’t believe that. I can’t believe that,” Camille insisted. “Everyone can aspire to be something more than stepping stones or doormats. We can all shine like diamonds.”
Yoona sighed deeply. “Cam, that’s not how this business works. Do you know how many girls I’ve ruined on this very strip of sand? How many dreams I shattered on my way to where I am today? How many more I’ll destroy on my way to the championship? The truth of the matter is that the glory of one is always paid for by the disgrace of another.”
Camille looked upset, but Yoona continued her tirade. “This naive notion about bringing out the best in everyone is just a pretty white lie fed to children. The fact that you still cling to such a fucking ridiculous, bullshit ideal makes you --”
“An idiot?”
“A hero,” Park said resolutely. “And those wannabes on the House Show circuit... they’re a lot better off following your example than mine.”
Cosworth gaped in surprise for a few seconds, then furrowed her brow as she recalled Adelaide Brewster saying something similar to her a couple of weeks ago. Since that first meeting in Atlanta, the Queen of Nightmares had brutalized Camille in similar fashion at two more House Shows in Memphis and Birmingham. Cosworth didn’t want her girlfriend to worry, especially not when Park was dealing with her own emotional turmoil, but the repeated beatings were starting to bother her more than she was willing to openly admit.
“I don’t feel like much of a hero these days,” Camille sighed. “I honestly think you fit the bill much better.”
“Babe, just be yourself,” Yoona reassured. “You have this incredible gift of empathy and the ability to inspire others, while I only know how to hurt and humiliate.”
“That’s not true, Yoona. I wouldn’t even have a FAWN career if it weren’t for you. Seriously, take your own advice and be yourself. You know when I first saw you at Open Fight Night I thought you were just some vapid bimbo, but as soon as you let the real you shine through instead of acting like a ditzy jerk --”
“No, Cam,” Yoona said sadly. “I’m not strong enough or brave enough pour out my heart in front of the whole world. When it's just the two of us I can show you my fears and my insecurities because I love you and I trust you, but for everyone else --”
Park pantomimed putting on a flak jacket and a helmet.
“-- being an insufferable jackass is my suit of armor. I never would have made it to the top of the beach wrestling scene here without it. And besides, the FAWN audiences love the sexy airhead act. Throw in a little cheesecake and they’re eating out of the palm of my hand. So go be the hero, Cam, and let me be the whore. It's better this way.”
Cosworth nuzzled closer to her girlfriend as they watched the Sun slowly dip under the horizon. “Well if that’s what you want… ‘Whore’ is a terrible nickname and gimmick though, we need to come up with something better for you.”
“Sir Humpsalot?” pondered Yoona.
“No. And it wouldn’t be Sir, it'd be Lady.”
“Lady Humpsalot then?”
“No!”
“Well, I'm out of ideas. Can you think of anything?”
“Ugh, you suck at this, Yoona! How about the Black Swan? It's something ballet related, and the Black Swan is supposed to be sexy and seductive, right?”
Park frowned at that suggestion. “The Black Swan was a villain, babe. She seduced the Prince and drove both him and the Swan Queen to suicide. Rather morbid, if you know what I'm saying.”
Cosworth cringed. “I, uhh, I didn't know that. I only watched the Natalie Portman movie. And umm… I… kind of… maybe... sort of… skipped around to only watch the sex scenes.”
Yoona chuckled and lightly swatted her on the back of the head.
“Actually, the Black Swan is perfect for you,” Camille added after a few seconds of further thought. “Have you ever read Nassim Taleb?”
Park only stared back blankly.
“Well he’s this big shot statistician and financial analyst,” Cosworth explained. “He wrote a book about so-called Black Swan events, which are unpredictable, super rare outliers that have a big impact and only make sense with hindsight. I think that fits you perfectly, Yoona. Think about all the crazy, unlikely things that had to happen to bring you to where you are today. You had to injure your feet. You had to run away from home. You had to take up wrestling. You had to fly all the way across the country to Open Fight Night. You had draw me as an opponent. You had to drag me into FAWN with you. We had to fall in love. None of those things made any sense at the time, yet here we are anyway, with both our lives completely turned upside down and inside out. Our entire time together is one big, ongoing Black Swan event.”
“Uh, wow, Cam,” Park muttered. “You really put a lot of thought into that. I don’t think too many FAWNatics are going to get that though. Not everyone has a business degree like you.”
“Not many are going to know that the Black Swan was so morbid either,” Cosworth countered. “I think most people will make the connection to seductive ballerina, and that’s what you want, right? You and I though, we’ll know what it really means.”
“Hmm, you make a good point,” Yoona conceded. “Alright then, Black Swan it is.”
“Great!” Camille said, grinning from ear to ear. “My turn now! Come on, Yoona. Give me an awesome wrestling nickname.”
Yoona wrinkled her nose and rubbed her brow for a good thirty seconds, deep in thought. Finally, she said, “Wrestle-Bot 3000.”
“Um, no.”
“Spinny McFlips.”
“Terrible. Just terrible.”
“Flippy McSpins.”
“Oh, come on! You're not even trying!”
“Lady Humpsa --”
“NO!” Camille vehemently shouted.
“Haha! I’m just messing with you, babe. Give me some more time to think about it. I’ll come up with something good, I promise,” Yoona said as she planted a kiss on Camille’s cheek.
The two women laid down in the sand and fell silent for several minutes as the Sun disappeared completely and the sky grew dark, leaving the bonfire the only source of light on the entire beach. Yoona thought her girlfriend had fallen asleep when Camille abruptly broke the silence once more.
“Yoona, can you do something for me?”
“What is it, babe?”
“Oh man, I feel awkward even asking. I’ll totally understand if you say no, and --”
“Sex on the beach?”
“No! Well, yes, but not right now. First could you…”
Camille hesitated as she wasn’t sure of the best way to ask. She took a deep breath and decided to be as direct and to-the-point as possible, “Yoona, I’ve never seen you dance ballet. You looked amazing in the pictures, but I’m sure that doesn’t hold a candle to the real deal, live in person. Could you do a dance from the Black Swan for me?”
Yoona turned her head and silently stared at her girlfriend for a long time, her eyes wide with surprise and her mouth slightly ajar.
“Umm, you know what? Forget I asked. It probably has some bad memories attached, so --”
“Anything for you, Cam,” Park said with a smile as she got up in front of the bonfire. “Oh, and the ballet is called Swan Lake. The Black Swan is just a secondary character and only appears in one act.”
“Are your ankles and feet going to be okay?”
“Yeah, babe. Barefoot in the sand is much less punishing than wooden shoes on stage. Plus you’ll be giving me a sexy massage immediately after, right?”
“Anything for you,” Cosworth echoed.
Yoona nodded and went into her well-rehearsed ballet routine for the Swan Queen. She fumbled and faltered a bit at the start as she shook off years of rust. Adapting to the differences in her body was a challenge too. While Park was a slender woman by wrestler standards, she had still packed on a solid fifteen to twenty pounds from her days as a scrawny, reed-thin ballerina.
Nevertheless, Yoona was gifted with a remarkable sense of rhythm and physical coordination. Within a few minutes, she made the necessary adjustments and was dancing as if she had never stopped. Being the understudy, Yoona had only ever performed the lead role in rehearsals, but for one night on a dark, secluded beach in front of an audience of one, she turned in a performance that would have put any prima in the world to shame.