Peyton Rice versus Madeline Masters
Beezlebubble versus Charis Kensington
Sierra Swann versus Georgi Spelini
Chris Cannon versus Danny Darko
AJ Helms versus YUYO
Tommy Wasley versus Aubrianna Powers
Sundown versus Zach Copeland
Selena Frost versus Gwen Blair
Gluteous Maximus versus Christian Cannon
Donovan Street versus Konrad Raab
Willow Wilkes versus Desiree Devna
Eli Goddard versus Kali
Jennifer Helms versus Curtis Dean
Thamuz versus Persephone
Ella May versus Melissa Killgraves
Johnny Taylor versus Alistair Taylor
Roleplay Limit - 1 roleplay for the whole tournament x 4000 words (CD & Shoot). There is no seperate second 'shoot' segment required for this event Deadline - 8th December 2019 2359 EST
Show format
Round of 32 - Will be the result only, plus the time of victory and how the match was won
Round of 16 - Short summarised matches
Both the above rounds to take the format of a preshow, hosted by Sallie Graham
Round of 8 onwards will take the form of the actual show, with fully written matches like EMERGE shows
OOC This is all I'm getting up for the tournament - more of a Foreword to Desiree's story in season three than anything else. But enjoy nonetheless.
“I’ve been getting a lot of unsolicited advice in recent weeks pertaining to the Ricky Octavius Memorial Tournament. Well, let’s be frank about it. I haven’t been getting advice on what to do… but rather people telling me that I should just lay down and hope for the best. It’s basically universally accepted at this point, isn’t it? Willow Wilkes is unbeatable. Willow Wilkes is going to walk all over me in the first round and send me out. I even saw Samael mention a “fascination with death” as though this match is going to be the death of me. And maybe they’re right. Maybe I’m walking into a completely unwinnable scenario. After all, we’ve all seen Willow in action for the last year. She has been unstoppable. No one put against her has been able to even show a negligible effect on her momentum. Maybe she is everything they say she is.
But you know what? Maybe I don’t care about reputations because I know how misleading they are. Maybe I’m not going to sit here and tell the world about how great Willow Wilkes is because I know she’s going to be sitting in her own area in front of her own camera… and do you think for one minute she is going to do ANYTHING but drag my name through the mud? Do you think we are going to have ANYTHING out of The Unforgiven towards me that would give anyone cause to think that maybe… just MAYBE… I’m going to survive this match? Not win… I don’t expect that at all, and frankly I’d be disappointed if Willow did say that. But even SURVIVE. No - she’s going to go on camera and tell everyone how EASY it’s going to be to beat me, just like she talks about how EASY it’s been defending the EMERGE Championship for damn-near a YEAR. So why the hell would I sit down and give her this over-the-top praise… all of these wonderful, flowery words… when she’s going to talk about me as if I’m worth less than a pile of dog shit left on her neighbor’s lawn?
No… I owe no one in EMERGE a damn thing, be it over-the-top praise, fear, or a silver-plattered victory. If Willow Wilkes is unbeatable? So be it. She’ll be happy to have the fight. Because if you think I’m going to roll over and play dead for her? You have got another fucking thing coming.”
**************************************
TOP DOLLAR
Since EMERGE Invasion: Munich went to air, there was a noticeable difference in Desiree Devna, although many had chosen to focus on other things. It was something that she had become used to in EMERGE. Sadly, her abundant fandom of Taylor Chase had been the facet of her to take hold in the minds of people paying attention and, although she was changing the game before that event, it was still not given the same due that she had felt it was worth. She was more than a superfan. She was truly becoming the essence of the promotion she was in… she was emerging as her own woman.
As she returned to Toronto, riding a partial high from the victory she had achieved at the event, she returned to the small cafe, hoping to see the man who had previously inspired her change of heart. Unfortunately, he wasn’t there. She still hadn’t learned the man’s name - he hadn’t volunteered the information, and no one within the cafe’s typical clientele were aware of the man’s identity. So she was back to square one.
Or rather… square two.
She walked home, her heavier coat covering herself up in the chilly Toronto air. Her hands in her pockets, Desiree was doing what she could to attract no attention to herself. She wasn’t bound for Toronto too much longer. With the announcement that EMERGE was moving overseas, Desiree knew she would have to settle up her life in North America and prepare for the trek. There was a lot of work to be done in that regard, and she wasn’t going to waste time. Still, with the Ricky Octavius tournament on the horizon - a date between her and the EMERGE Champion, Willow Wilkes - Desiree was going to be in for a rough go of it.
She stopped, turning around with the sense of someone behind her. When no one is there, she continues walking.
Desiree’s tenure in EMERGE hadn’t been particularly memorable. A win here and there, with her latest being against Thamuz in Munich, she never did reach the heights of her idol, perhaps because she had sought to follow her idol’s path. Even in that last match, it wasn’t her victory that had been the story, but rather the ongoing story between her opponent and Sundown. Still, deep in her heart she knew her worth. She knew that all it took was one moment… one thing that would go down in the annals of wrestling history… and her life would be set.
Desiree turned back again, really feeling the presence of being followed and almost picking up the pace. But with no one there, she shrugs it off. Paranoia, possibly brought on by Willow and Samael, she would tell herself.
As she turned forward, a woman stepped out in her path, head tilted downward but eyes fixed upon her. Desiree stops in her tracks.
“You’re not going to find him,” she said. “Stop looking for him. When he needs you, he will find you.”
Desiree’s face goes white. She starts to walk around the woman, trying to end this encounter, but the woman takes her arm.
“What are you…” Desiree pulls back on her arm, pulling free. The woman steps forward, reaching for Desiree again, but Desiree steps back.
“You need to trust in the process,” the woman exclaims.
“Trust the process?” Desiree asked with genuine confusion overtaking her. She shakes her head, trying to wrap her mind around the riddles being presented of her. “What process? And who are you?”
Desiree was starting to get a condition - these people without names coming out of the woodwork, giving her cryptic messages and attempting to guide her life. Could this have been an intervention for Desiree - a concerted effort to make the talented young woman embrace her own path, rather than following the road laid out by her idol?
“My name is not important…” the woman begins. Desiree, however, will have none of it.
“No-no-no,” she cuts in. “I’ve had enough of that crap from whoever that… man was. You’re going to tell me who you are, or you’re going to let me walk away.”
“Fine,” the woman answers, resigning to the fact that she wasn’t going to be able to dodge the inevitable. “My name is Bianca Gioia. I’m like you…”
“You are nothing like me,” Desiree cuts in.
“Oh, but you’re wrong,” Bianca responds. “See, I was in a position not unlike your own. I was lost. Listless. I had no purpose outside of one that I thought was mine because someone I regarded highly was on that path.”
Desiree rolled her eyes.
“But then I met… our benefactor,” she continued. “He gave me a way. He taught me that… that I don’t need to follow someone else’s road to get where I want to be.”
“And now you want to help me follow the yellow brick road to the Emerald City to meet the Wizard so I can get what I’m lacking, right?” Desiree shot out, venom in her words. She wasn’t buying it. Bianca, however, smiles.
“No…” she responded. “Now I’m here to smarten you the fuck up. The answers to what you need… they’re not with our benefactor. They’re not with me. The only person who can tell you what’s right for you IS you. Think about it.”
With that, and not another word, Bianca walks by. Desiree watches her go, confused as to what she just experienced, before looking upward and asking God above…
“Can anyone actually explain what the fuck is going on?” she asked, knowing her question was ultimately in vain. Shaking her head, she carried on her way, drawing our scene to a close.
