04-28-2020, 04:07 AM
05-15-2020, 11:32 AM
05-15-2020, 09:40 PM
I had an idea, but it wasn't working as well as I thought it might, so I got this done. Enjoy - OOG
---
Alone.
That has been the constant state of the enigma known as KALI ever since EMERGE moved overseas to jolly old England. Gone was her best friend, Aubrianna Powers, continuing to sow her seeds and prosper stateside. The loneliness, however, has not been the most suspect thing about KALI in EMERGE’s newest phase of life - at least not specifically. Prior to the move overseas, KALI had been the rumoured perpetrator of a suicide attempt. To KALI, it was nothing of the sort. She had submerged herself in her motel room washroom’s bathtub in an effort to find unconsciousness as a means to see her deceased mother. She was pulled out before ever making contact again - Aubrianna had found her underwater and immediately pulled her from the water. While KALI owed her friend a debt, it was something that she wasn’t certain she could forgive.
Since then, the former acolyte of one Damian Angel had become even more erratic of a force… one with a particular taste for blood. While KALI was to compete in South Africa as a part of EMERGE’s tour of that nation, her scheduled Spirit League contest against John Blair was cut out after she was assaulted backstage, rendered unable to compete. KALI put two and two together in the simplest of ways: Blair was to be her opponent, so he had the most to gain by attacking her. She would track him down and make him pay. This theme would repeat itself on the EMERGE broadcasts following that event, with KALI almost obsessively stalking her prey and ingesting some of his life fluids.
To KALI, it was all a game. However, as much of a game as it was, this behaviour troubled those who care about KALI - and those who care about maintaining low insurance premiums on behalf of EMERGE. As such, with the new owners of the company installed, KALI was sent for an assessment.
-----
Doctor Moira Bancroft walked into the assessment room with her hair tightly tied back. She surveyed the room around first, making sure everything was in place - calming posters, an open window, and her chair untouched. She moved across to the table and set a small binder onto it. She turned the binder and slid it across the table towards the subject of the day - EMERGE Wrestling’s KALI. The subject was unmoved by the binder. She sat back, clad in an unevenly-buttoned black shirt, leather pants squeaking slightly under her as she sat. Her hair was disheveled. Her makeup was not applied. But what was most curious was the expression on the woman’s face - she appeared to be elated. A wide, toothy smile filled her face as her head cranked to the right. She wrapped her fingers off the table, making a blatant yet unrecognizable tune. Dr. Bancroft moved to her seat and sat down.
Bancroft: “Thank you for joining me.”
KALI only smiled. This didn’t make Dr. Bancroft uneasy - she had been used to dealing with people of varying mental states, and from her best look, at least KALI wasn’t smiling with the images of flaying and disemboweling her where she sat. That was always a plus.
Bancroft: “What I have provided you with is your file that had been shared with me. I want to make sure there are no secrets between us, so that I can ensure that you and I have implicit trust between us. I’m not holding anything over your head.”
KALI: “Ohhhh… you SAY that… but do you FEEL it?”
Dr. Bancroft raised an eyebrow.
Bancroft: “Do I “feel” what?”
KALI: “Do you really FEEL what you say is true? Do you FEEL like there are going to be no secrets between us?”
Bancroft: “Well, I certainly hope you will be open…”
KALI laughs.
KALI: “Open… open… define OPEN…”
Bancroft: “I want you to be honest and upfront with me, Kali. I want you to feel comfortable enough with me to tell me what’s on your mind, and I want you to know that if you have any questions about this, I will answer them for you.”
KALI: “Open…”
She laughs again, as if the concept of being “open” was a joke. To KALI, it really was.
KALI: “Okay… we can do “open”.”
Bancroft: “Okay, gre-”
KALI: “I HONESTLY feel like this is going to be a WASTE of MY time… and YOUR time... “
Dr. Bancroft sits back.
Bancroft: “And why do you feel that?”
KALI: “Do you think this is my FIRST trip around the sun? I have been IN and OUT of therapy for most of my DAMNED LIFE. I saw my mother die. I watched my father get thrown in jail where he can ROT for the rest of TIME. There are LEGIONS of people who thought THEY would be the one to CRACK this coconut…”
She knocks her fist on her head.
KALI: “And see what sweet juices were inside. Sure, you “care”. You care as long as the CHECK clears or the PUBLIC FUNDS flow. Cut that off?”
KALI scoffs, shaking her head.
KALI: “And you’re just another FACE who turned away from me!”
Bancroft: “Why don’t you tell me about that?”
KALI grins, shaking her head.
KALI: “No-no-NO… I see what you are trying to do. You are trying… you are trying to get INSIDE my head. You think I can be LED to give you the answers you want. That you can push the right BUTTONS and I’ll operate like a machine. I’m NOT a machine, Doc!”
Dr. Bancroft doesn’t flinch. She reaches across the table and opens the binder, showing a list of names to KALI.
KALI: “What is this? Trivia night? Do I have to MEMORIZE this?”
Bancroft: “This is a list of your past therapists, both private and public. I told you, KALI… this is going to be different.”
KALI looks down at the list of names before glancing upward.
KALI: “How?”
Bancroft: “Because my job isn’t to fix you. You may have thought that all of these other names wanted to make you different, but I don’t prescribe to the idea that people are fundamentally broken and need to be fixed. I see my job, Kali, as one to enable you to be your best.”
KALI surveys the Doctor as she thumbs through her file.
Bancroft: “So you want to describe what happened in the motel washroom?”
KALI: “What’s there to tell? Isn’t it on my FILE!?”
Bancroft: “I want to hear it in your words, not what someone assessed you on for your file. What were you trying to accomplish?”
KALI: “I was TRYING to see my mother. Is that too much for you?”
Bancroft: “You said you watched your mother die.”
KALI: “... it’s complicated.”
Bancroft: “Simplify it.”
KALI could only grin. She admired the persistence of the Doctor, even if she wasn’t entirely trusting of her motives.
KALI: “When Willow Wilkes held me in her Wisp, I drifted into unconsciousness. There, I saw my mother again. We spoke. I wanted to speak with her again, so I attempted to find a way to replicate the desperation that brought me to the same plane of existence that she was on. It didn’t work.”
Bancroft: “Why not?”
KALI: “Because Aubrey pulled me out before it COULD work.”
Bancroft: “Have you tried since then to replicate that desperation?”
KALI stares a hole into the Doctor. Her eyes narrow as she considers her answers.
Bancroft: “Kal-”
KALI: “Twice.”
Bancroft: “You have twice tried to end your life since the motel incident?”
KALI: “I have twice tried to visit my mother again, DOC.”
Bancroft: “How?”
KALI: “I goaded Willow during the RICKY Tournament… she was the one who sent me there before, but she couldn’t send me there again.”
Bancroft: “And the second time?”
KALI’s eyes soften. She begins to consider her words carefully.
KALI: “Before… before we left for the UK, I visited her grave site. It was the first time I had been there since I was taken in under Damian Angel.”
Bancroft: “And what did you do?”
KALI: “I spoke to her. I sat by her tomb and I just spoke. I sounded CRAZY. Anyone who saw me would say the same. And then I had the bag…”
KALI’s voice trailed off, but it was enough for Dr. Bancroft to know exactly what she had meant. As the tension rests in the air, our scene ends…
---
Alone.
That has been the constant state of the enigma known as KALI ever since EMERGE moved overseas to jolly old England. Gone was her best friend, Aubrianna Powers, continuing to sow her seeds and prosper stateside. The loneliness, however, has not been the most suspect thing about KALI in EMERGE’s newest phase of life - at least not specifically. Prior to the move overseas, KALI had been the rumoured perpetrator of a suicide attempt. To KALI, it was nothing of the sort. She had submerged herself in her motel room washroom’s bathtub in an effort to find unconsciousness as a means to see her deceased mother. She was pulled out before ever making contact again - Aubrianna had found her underwater and immediately pulled her from the water. While KALI owed her friend a debt, it was something that she wasn’t certain she could forgive.
Since then, the former acolyte of one Damian Angel had become even more erratic of a force… one with a particular taste for blood. While KALI was to compete in South Africa as a part of EMERGE’s tour of that nation, her scheduled Spirit League contest against John Blair was cut out after she was assaulted backstage, rendered unable to compete. KALI put two and two together in the simplest of ways: Blair was to be her opponent, so he had the most to gain by attacking her. She would track him down and make him pay. This theme would repeat itself on the EMERGE broadcasts following that event, with KALI almost obsessively stalking her prey and ingesting some of his life fluids.
To KALI, it was all a game. However, as much of a game as it was, this behaviour troubled those who care about KALI - and those who care about maintaining low insurance premiums on behalf of EMERGE. As such, with the new owners of the company installed, KALI was sent for an assessment.
-----
Doctor Moira Bancroft walked into the assessment room with her hair tightly tied back. She surveyed the room around first, making sure everything was in place - calming posters, an open window, and her chair untouched. She moved across to the table and set a small binder onto it. She turned the binder and slid it across the table towards the subject of the day - EMERGE Wrestling’s KALI. The subject was unmoved by the binder. She sat back, clad in an unevenly-buttoned black shirt, leather pants squeaking slightly under her as she sat. Her hair was disheveled. Her makeup was not applied. But what was most curious was the expression on the woman’s face - she appeared to be elated. A wide, toothy smile filled her face as her head cranked to the right. She wrapped her fingers off the table, making a blatant yet unrecognizable tune. Dr. Bancroft moved to her seat and sat down.
Bancroft: “Thank you for joining me.”
KALI only smiled. This didn’t make Dr. Bancroft uneasy - she had been used to dealing with people of varying mental states, and from her best look, at least KALI wasn’t smiling with the images of flaying and disemboweling her where she sat. That was always a plus.
Bancroft: “What I have provided you with is your file that had been shared with me. I want to make sure there are no secrets between us, so that I can ensure that you and I have implicit trust between us. I’m not holding anything over your head.”
KALI: “Ohhhh… you SAY that… but do you FEEL it?”
Dr. Bancroft raised an eyebrow.
Bancroft: “Do I “feel” what?”
KALI: “Do you really FEEL what you say is true? Do you FEEL like there are going to be no secrets between us?”
Bancroft: “Well, I certainly hope you will be open…”
KALI laughs.
KALI: “Open… open… define OPEN…”
Bancroft: “I want you to be honest and upfront with me, Kali. I want you to feel comfortable enough with me to tell me what’s on your mind, and I want you to know that if you have any questions about this, I will answer them for you.”
KALI: “Open…”
She laughs again, as if the concept of being “open” was a joke. To KALI, it really was.
KALI: “Okay… we can do “open”.”
Bancroft: “Okay, gre-”
KALI: “I HONESTLY feel like this is going to be a WASTE of MY time… and YOUR time... “
Dr. Bancroft sits back.
Bancroft: “And why do you feel that?”
KALI: “Do you think this is my FIRST trip around the sun? I have been IN and OUT of therapy for most of my DAMNED LIFE. I saw my mother die. I watched my father get thrown in jail where he can ROT for the rest of TIME. There are LEGIONS of people who thought THEY would be the one to CRACK this coconut…”
She knocks her fist on her head.
KALI: “And see what sweet juices were inside. Sure, you “care”. You care as long as the CHECK clears or the PUBLIC FUNDS flow. Cut that off?”
KALI scoffs, shaking her head.
KALI: “And you’re just another FACE who turned away from me!”
Bancroft: “Why don’t you tell me about that?”
KALI grins, shaking her head.
KALI: “No-no-NO… I see what you are trying to do. You are trying… you are trying to get INSIDE my head. You think I can be LED to give you the answers you want. That you can push the right BUTTONS and I’ll operate like a machine. I’m NOT a machine, Doc!”
Dr. Bancroft doesn’t flinch. She reaches across the table and opens the binder, showing a list of names to KALI.
KALI: “What is this? Trivia night? Do I have to MEMORIZE this?”
Bancroft: “This is a list of your past therapists, both private and public. I told you, KALI… this is going to be different.”
KALI looks down at the list of names before glancing upward.
KALI: “How?”
Bancroft: “Because my job isn’t to fix you. You may have thought that all of these other names wanted to make you different, but I don’t prescribe to the idea that people are fundamentally broken and need to be fixed. I see my job, Kali, as one to enable you to be your best.”
KALI surveys the Doctor as she thumbs through her file.
Bancroft: “So you want to describe what happened in the motel washroom?”
KALI: “What’s there to tell? Isn’t it on my FILE!?”
Bancroft: “I want to hear it in your words, not what someone assessed you on for your file. What were you trying to accomplish?”
KALI: “I was TRYING to see my mother. Is that too much for you?”
Bancroft: “You said you watched your mother die.”
KALI: “... it’s complicated.”
Bancroft: “Simplify it.”
KALI could only grin. She admired the persistence of the Doctor, even if she wasn’t entirely trusting of her motives.
KALI: “When Willow Wilkes held me in her Wisp, I drifted into unconsciousness. There, I saw my mother again. We spoke. I wanted to speak with her again, so I attempted to find a way to replicate the desperation that brought me to the same plane of existence that she was on. It didn’t work.”
Bancroft: “Why not?”
KALI: “Because Aubrey pulled me out before it COULD work.”
Bancroft: “Have you tried since then to replicate that desperation?”
KALI stares a hole into the Doctor. Her eyes narrow as she considers her answers.
Bancroft: “Kal-”
KALI: “Twice.”
Bancroft: “You have twice tried to end your life since the motel incident?”
KALI: “I have twice tried to visit my mother again, DOC.”
Bancroft: “How?”
KALI: “I goaded Willow during the RICKY Tournament… she was the one who sent me there before, but she couldn’t send me there again.”
Bancroft: “And the second time?”
KALI’s eyes soften. She begins to consider her words carefully.
KALI: “Before… before we left for the UK, I visited her grave site. It was the first time I had been there since I was taken in under Damian Angel.”
Bancroft: “And what did you do?”
KALI: “I spoke to her. I sat by her tomb and I just spoke. I sounded CRAZY. Anyone who saw me would say the same. And then I had the bag…”
KALI’s voice trailed off, but it was enough for Dr. Bancroft to know exactly what she had meant. As the tension rests in the air, our scene ends…