Syren vs. Thirteen

[Team Desire]

Syren w/CHBK vs. Thirteen
 
 
 
3 RP Limit for singles; 4 RP limit for tag
Deadline: 5 PM ET Saturday, October 20, 2018

[Syren]

Meanwhile, in Syren-land, there's a story which I thought was fitting given what's happening over with Ravyn's stories at the moment.

As always the scene part is "off-camera" while the vlog is "on-camera".

To view just the promo, click Just A Bump In The Road.

Enjoy.



The Syren Song: Verse 289
"Do zombies fix cars now?!"

[Ruppy]

OOC: I'm not going to lie... it felt really good being able to write something I can actually get behind for a change for Thirteen. I know, probably not what you might be expecting, and given my track record lately I wouldn't blame you. But I had the time and a story to tell and I ran with it, and I'm pleased with the end result. The CD is actually the one I planned to do for Thirteen for Fatal Fortunes, but I never actually got the chance to write anything out for it other than a plan as to how I wanted to approach it, and since it's not necessarily timing-dependent I was able to rework recent events into the deal that I think help add to it a bit more. Also... kind of funny how we were hoping some time back about one more Syren/Thirteen feud, and it happens to fall around the same time they first crossed paths years ago and without ever saying anything beyond PMs about it to my knowledge. Gotta love how things turn out sometimes.  Best of luck!
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While this wasn’t exactly new territory if you asked James, it did feel odd that this seemed to be where things were going while Thirteen was still active in the business.

Then again, maybe it had something to do with ‘being an anchor’ after all in the eyes of the boss.

Ever since the week of Rise to Greatness, things had been fairly awkward when it came to James and Thirteen. Of course, most people would believe it all started from the fact that Thirteen did not prevail at the biggest show of the year, being denied any part in the final result by a masked man looking to aid Syren only to fall short in that endeavor and only earn the ire of the dark entity in the process. Fans may be quick to point to that impactful comment of Mr. D’s as to why the aftermath played out the way it did, as much as Thirteen would choose to deny it because it had never been said directly to his own face even if it was meant to be a blanket comment, as the reason why he found himself completely absent from SCW as a whole up until Apocalypse in his hometown turned up in his hometown roughly a month later. Even then, he’d only found himself booked once, and what should have been a heavy reality check to Andrew Raynes en route to finally ending his gold drought through reclaiming the Adrenaline Title was sabotaged, once again, by this masked man. At least the following week the charade would come to an end as Syren’s husband was revealed to be the man behind the mask, but with Alexander Crowe no longer being a viable target due to not being an actual member of the roster, that left his original target back in the crosshairs.

Of course, people can only make assumptions based on what they see, and as much as they could fall back on the ‘anchor’ claim and going out of his way to burn down Syren’s resources as the reason why being an active competitor didn’t seem like the discussion to have about the world’s most unlikely wrestling machine, the truth behind the lack of activity ran far deeper than the three letters that seemed to be part of this man’s very existence for roughly half a decade now.

The excess amount of time off was initially a request from James that Thirteen had been willing to comply with so the original and true personality could spend some time being involved in the operations of the Anderson Orphanage to lend his sister a hand, in addition to checking up on Danielle. He had to admit that being in the presence of all these children that were looking up to her for guidance had done the wonders that he had hoped they would for the troubled young woman, putting her more dangerous emotions in lockdown and proving that there was, indeed, a valuable place for her in the world that didn’t require preying on vulnerable individuals to treat attention like a drug addiction. Despite the occasional trip back to Chicago for appointments, James was entirely devoted to continuing the legacy he and his sister had been handed by the woman who had honestly been the closest thing to a true parent they’d ever had. That said, the break was only supposed to last for about two weeks into SCW’s resumed travel schedule after Rise to Greatness, and when the name Thirteen continued to be left off the card with little explanation, Thirteen had started to get irritated.

The extra downtime was more of a curse than you might think, because when a man is left with nothing to do he’ll often resort to getting lost in his thoughts as a means of passing the time. One would also have to factor in the discovery that had been made before that final Breakdown that preceded SCW’s grandest stage, because delving further and further into the dark mysteries of the diary James’ mother had kept up until the day she died as a means of trying to retain some semblance of who she claimed she used to be had made the concept of being left with too much time to just sit around and think far more dangerous to a dual-minded individual than you may realize. The more they learned, the more conflicted James became as his newly-ingrained instincts as a therapist clashed with the immense hatred he’d harbored for the woman for everything he’d been put through as a child, his resistance to the mere thought of seeing her in any different light requiring him to isolate himself more and more to avoid any sort of public meltdown over it. In Thirteen’s case, he was starting to slowly gain an idea of what led to his emergence in the first place beyond simply being a result of all the stress and suffering his other half had endured for so long, but it wasn’t helping him to answer the lingering questions he kept posing to himself in regards to his future beyond the ring, and circling back around to being referred to in a way that makes it seem like his time was truly beginning to dwindle only frustrated him more.

While they may have set the stage for Under Attack, they were far from ready to perform according to the script.

They had returned to Chicago for a period to tie up a few outstanding appointments James had to tend to, which explained why Thirteen wasn’t physically present on the recent Breakdown despite his continued efforts to stay one move ahead of Dark Fantasy. Even with the flight to Salt Lake City and the chance to see what Syren would do even him willingly stacking the odds a bit in her favor looming, SCW wasn’t entirely on his mind right now. If his focus had been entirely on the task at hand, though, then at least this would be understandable. But even as time ticked away and sessions were completed, James found himself temporarily drifting back to his recent discoveries and needing to snap himself out of it to get back on track, especially since he was the therapist and not the patient right now. Normally keeping his eyes on the prize was Thirteen’s goal, but it was painfully clear the darker entity was far too lost in his own issues on the subject to want any role to play right now.

Still, James managed to make it through the day well enough, and as his last patient for the day left the room, he leaned back in his chair and let out an audible sigh of relief, though whether it was because he was done or simply relieved no true problems had arisen from his distraction was unclear. In a move that was almost summed up as his body going on autopilot, he found himself reaching into his desk and beginning to pull out the diary, perhaps being driven by the curiosity to know more while his issues with the person behind it weren’t at the forefront right now. He never did get that far, as before the cover could be opened the door beat it to the punch as Dr. Sharpe walked in. Almost immediately, the diary was shoved back into the drawer as James redirected his attention to his mentor and colleague, something that was not lost on him.

“I apologize if I’m interrupting something, Dr. Marsh-Asher.”

“You’re fine Dr. Sharpe,” was James’ response, during which he couldn’t help but smile because of the fact he was being referred to by his title instead of just his first name like he was used to around this man.

“What about you though?” James raised an eyebrow as Dr. Sharpe took a seat next to him in one of the spare chairs in the room. After a moment, he elaborated. “Between some of my own appointments today, I couldn’t help but check the cameras to see how you were doing, and I noticed a few instances where you looked like something was weighing on your mind. Perhaps I’m trying to read too much into things, but I saw it way too often to call it a case of you really pondering how to tackle whatever information you were given.”

James could almost feel the color draining from his already usual pale face at the revelation that he wasn’t the only one that was aware his mind had been elsewhere at several points during the day, and he knew Dr. Sharpe wasn’t going to let it go that easily even if he tried to use the fact he needed to finish packing for his flight out to Utah as an excuse. This was the very man who had identified the problems revolving around him and his sister’s longstanding mental trauma after all, and the fact that he played a big role in helping James get to where he was today spoke volumes about what the raven-haired therapist/wrestler meant to him. James just lowered his head a bit before he once again retrieved the diary from his desk drawer, it’s presence causing Dr. Sharpe to raise an eyebrow as it was laid out in full view.

“Some time before Rise to Greatness happened, Thirteen began to suffer from a bit of a breakdown in a sense. Even though we’re not exactly at an age where we’re necessarily ‘over the hill’ yet as far as wrestlers go and we’ve maintained peak physical condition after all this time, he’s been feeling like the end might be drawing near, and our boss referring to us along with other veterans as ‘anchors’ weighing the company down hasn’t helped matters. He recognizes that I’m pretty much set for the future since I have this now, but wrestling has been his purpose since the moment he had his first match, even if it was initially just because he saw it as a form of legalized violence he could get away with. Whenever the time to hang up the boots does come… what’s next for him? As much as he’s played a major role in helping me as a therapist, he doesn’t exactly want to feel like he’s being relegated to being my ‘nurse’ in a sense after years of making an impact in his own right.”

Dr. Sharpe reaches out for the diary at this point, but waits until James gives him the OK before he actually takes it, carefully opening it up and scanning through some of its contents. It’s hard to miss the initial shocked expression that crosses his features before he quickly recomposses himself.

“And what does that have to do with this, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Well… he felt the best place to start on his own journey to figure out his destiny after wrestling is no longer an option was back at my childhood home… the place where he first came into being after everything I suffered within those walls. We gave the entire place a thoroughly lookover and didn’t find anything we hadn’t already encountered in past visits until we came across my parents’ room, which I think I blocked out the existence of for fairly obvious reasons. While we were getting our first exposure of that, we found this diary that belonged to my mom. Needless to say, it’s been a bit enlightening… though it hasn’t really resolved too much of his concerns outside of a bit more potential insight into his origins, and…”

“…and you’ve been feeling conflicted in your own right, is that correct?”

“It’s hard not to… if these truly are my mother’s thoughts, then it’s a side of her I never truly got to know; one that might have actually cared for me and feels remorse for everything that happened. I only knew the heartless bitch, if you’ll pardon my language, that is responsible for just as many of the scars I’ve lived with as her husband, and I just can’t immediately accept that any of this is sincere no matter how much I could see this as a prime opportunity to research possible psychological issues that could have been passed down to explain things that even you couldn’t justify as being caused by everything Kelly and I were put through.”

Dr. Sharpe nods as he looks over another entry or two before he closes the diary and slides it back to James. While he did a good job of hiding it, James was still able to notice immense concern in his eyes over what he’d read, regardless of whether it was one of the entries he had already familiarized himself with or a new one he had yet to lay eyes upon. Still, he took a moment to ponder what he’d seen and been told before settling back into his familiar role, seeing this as an opportunity to treat James like a patient again to point him in the right direction.

“I can certainly understand where you’re coming from James, and as startling as this revelation is, I’m not surprised that you aren’t so willing to let go of the depiction of your mother you’ve become accustomed to. You yourself said it’s the only side of her you ever came to know, and I’m not asking you to suddenly begin to feel remorseful about feeling that way because it still doesn’t make what she did to you alright regardless of however much time has passed. What I would like to ask of you, however, is to take the opportunity to analyze this from the perspective of a therapist and try to separate any emotional attachment you have as her son, because this can not only unlock secrets about both your sister and even yourself that no one is aware of yet, but also be a perfect case study you can fall back on should you find yourself faced with a patient going through anything similar in the near future. Just from what I’ve seen of it, there is far too much emotion behind her writing to see it as a story masquerading as a diary, giving it a vital degree of legitimacy in my opinion.”

As much as he felt that should have been the conclusion he came to all along, getting a second opinion on the matter from someone he trusted was important in truly taking that step, because otherwise who knows how well he would have fared constantly fighting with himself as to whether or not he should hang on to the diary or introduce the thing to a shredder. To do so would be throwing away valuable information even if he couldn’t justify using it for himself, and anything that could be used to help others was far from a bad thing in this profession. James briefly snapped out of his thoughts as Dr. Sharpe rose to a stand, and as the diary was put away again for later, his colleague addressed the other lingering issue he’d made note of.

“As for Thirteen’s issues… you’ve stated before that it’s been quite some time since he’s been to the top of the proverbial mountain, correct?”

“That’s right. Six years have passed since he was SCW World Champion, the last title he’s ever held, and even with the time spent seemingly retired taken out of the equation his desires of simply acting as judge and jury of the SCW roster and settling for the fact he’s done just about everything a wrestler could possibly do overall in the near two decades we’ve been at this now aren’t holding as much water as they used to with him.”

“Perhaps that is a factor that is playing into how he’s feeling now. He’s not just used to wrestling being his passion, it sounds like he’s used to taking the journey and reaching the prize at the end, something that’s eluded him for some time. If he’s putting any stock in what he’s been called, it’s likely that he’s becoming frustrated with the focus being put on a younger generation with less experience but more… athleticism I guess in the eyes of the audience and management alike. The more he struggles to fight past it to reach that end goal, the worse he begins to feel as failures – something it sounds like he’s not truly used to – begin to add up. Still, there is always an answer to every solution, and as much as he may not like considering it, perhaps that solution might not lie in his future, but in someone else. It would be a different approach, but one worth considering at the very least.”

Seeing the understanding in James’ eyes and giving him a reassuring smile, Dr. Sharpe leaves him be to return to his own duties, leaving the dual-minded doctor alone with his thoughts again. He didn’t get very long to think things through himself, however, before coming to learn that the subject in question had been paying attention all along.

I hate to say it, but doc might have a point. Sixteen years of dissecting people like a surgeon in the ring, and after so many battles won and careers destroyed I can only think of two times before this where I had such a drought, but the two companies where I never found success of any kind I simply forgot about all because I was competing elsewhere with far better results. I can’t recall a time where I truly was on a lengthy streak of not either holding championship gold it being in consideration for it. Taking Hold of the Flame aside, that match at Rise to Greatness was the first time in what feels like an eternity where I was actually getting that opportunity, and the same could be said of what Fatal Fortunes gifted me… and both times they were ripped away from me because of Syren’s jealousy and hatred of a truth she refuses to admit to.

That seems to be the story of the modern day SCW unfortunately. Gone are the days where you could be a proverbial lone wolf and rise to the top regardless of the methods behind the madness. This ‘future’ that keeps getting touted sure as hell doesn’t have your experience and maybe not even your talent, but as long as they have someone else to fill in those blanks it puts a new twist on the tale of trying to overcome the hungry up-and-comer to return to glory. People like Regan, AJ and Sienna have Josh Hudson, Syren has CHBK even if she’s been around SCW for roughly as long as you have because he’s been doing this for far longer… even some of the newer talents like Owen Cruze can turn to family and those considered as such for insight even if they are no longer as involved with the business. It’s just been you and me, two sides of the same coin, standing alone for as long as I can remember. We had the alliance with Blake, even if he was nothing more than a means to an end for you, and we had the brief partnership with Shilo, but outside of that… nothing.

Taking a quick glance at the clock, James realized that he should probably get going if he was going to have enough time to stop at home and finish packing before trying to tackle the usual mess that one deals with at airports in order to catch his flight on time, and considering how little he’d really been present for SCW lately he doubted they’d be too thrilled if he was late for promoting the impending pay-per-view where he was slated to compete for only the second time since Rise to Greatness. As he tucked the diary away into his bag and began to take his leave of the office for the day, Thirteen continued their conversation in a direction that, admittedly, James never thought he’d go.

The more I think about what Sharpe said, the more I reflect back on my own career and realize that it might be time I consider approaching this from a new angle. There’s no denying I can still go, and anyone who doubted that was proven otherwise with my efforts back in that four way. But of those recent alliances, Blake a veteran in his own right in a sense and Shilo had already tasted immense success and is now retired and enjoying his time as a Hall of Famer. I’ve never really teamed with somebody who could be seen in a sense as a protégé of sorts. Of all my tag team accolades, the only one I could consider anywhere close to that is your sister… the only one I was ever willing to impart any of my wrestling knowledge to, and I can’t even claim one hundred percent responsibility for what she became as your stepfather had as much of a hand in training her.

Let me ask this: Kelly aside because she’s family, I know you’ve always been against the idea of taking anybody on and training them. I get it though… you had no actual trainer yourself and basically self-taught yourself everything you know about the business, and I can’t argue with how far we’ve come because of that. But even still, is it really that bad to want to consider continuing your legacy through someone else? At least in that sense, even if wrestling with our body is no longer an option, you can still be part of the business to your heart’s content in a role similar to what I do as a therapist. Nothing will truly last forever, but at least then you can still belong to the world you feel is best suited for you well beyond the point when people can breathe down your neck about being an ‘anchor.’

For perhaps the first time ever, Thirteen truly began to give some thought to this possibility. No matter how many times he’s shot it down over the years because he was adamant in the belief that if he taught himself everything he could ever need to know about the business with nobody to actually mold him into what he is today then his secrets were better off going to the grave with him, there was always that lingering sentiment regarding his wrestling mortality, and the more time had passed and the business had evolved the harder it became to stand by his guns. Now more than ever, faced with a younger generation that could take advantage of his increasing age and counter his experience advantage with the knowledge imparted upon them from someone of equal or greater veteran status in the business, his options were dwindling, and if he was truly as content as he often claimed about everything he’s accomplished over the course of his lengthy career that he didn’t truly need to add anything more to it, then experiencing success vicariously through another truly had no downsides to it.

For now, though, it was time to put that option on the shelf and revisit it at a later point in time, because there was business he himself had to attend to, and it was about time he walked away with the last laugh in one of SCW’s longest running rivalries.

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“It’s truly sad when someone buys so much into their delusions of grandeur that it becomes the only reality they will acknowledge.

Then again, this isn’t a new concept when it comes to one particular wrestler who has often considered herself the ‘best female wrestler in the world’ and will remind you of it until she loses her voice.

It’s amusing to think about all the different roads we can take towards the same destination, and perhaps it’s a little silly to contemplate the idea that one can walk along their chosen path while mocking or criticizing the one taken by another. As far as I’m concerned, I’ve always been a man that will find success by any means necessary, regardless of how I get there or what others have to say about it. I’ve played both sides of the proverbial coin and regardless of whether the fans have loved or hated me or how much I have or haven’t been shown respect, there have always been two constants: I clawed my way to the top and I earned it every goddamn step of the way. Take a look back at my career, even well beyond SCW, and you’ll see that no matter how heinous my actions were at times or how much I was told I didn’t deserve it, the fact remains that I laid opponent after opponent to rest time and time again en route to championship glory. Perhaps it that veteran instinct talking, but when you prove yourself even despite using methods that make you the most hated man walking through the locker room, you leave very little room to argue at the end of the day.

Maybe that’s why I have such a problem with Syren, no matter how much she wants to stand on her pedestal and cast stones at a road I’ve taken long before.

Let me make something perfectly clear: unlike the vast majority of people who seem like they’ve turned over a new leaf and life goes on as though all is forgiven, I’m not standing here expecting my past sins to simply be ignored. For over a year I threw this entire company into turmoil all because I simply could, and it’s become so ingrained into the history of SCW as we know it that many will never see me as the man I present myself as now, and I’m not going to deny any of it or treat it like it was all just some bad dream. To some degree, I wouldn’t even call what I am now a true turning point… perhaps just returning to the ruins I created as a means of trying to restore order in my name. The important thing to take away from that, however, is that despite embracing the darkness I have never once ignored any aspect of myself, from my most reviled of decisions to even my failures, because at the end of the day I know I’m about as far away from a perfect human being, wrestler or otherwise, as you can possibly get, and that fact doesn’t bother me in the slightest.

You, on the other hand, can never envision a world where you are anything but what you claim to be Syren, and that fact becomes more and more depressing the more the clock ticks down. You can claim to be the best, but for all your accolades to try and support it there will always be someone else that will eventually find a way to outdo them and erase the entire legacy you hoped to build for yourself. Your greatest flaw has become your addiction to being World Champion to give you the validation to shove it in people’s faces that you are everything you claim to be and more, and this sad little game you’ve been playing ever since you were dethroned is no different than a junkie who’s willing to watch their whole life burn away just to get that next fix by any means necessary. But allow me a moment, even if I know it’s futile, to pose a question to the woman you became once upon a time:

Can you truly call yourself the best when you’ve barely even competed to back up that bold claim?

This is where the hypocrisy of your attempts to cut me down turns the blade back towards you, because no matter how right you may or may not be about latching on to this belief that I could be nothing more than dead weight to the company clinging to hope that I’ll have that one last run, at least I’ve been willing to get into that ring and get my hands dirty to make it happen. Right now, for as much as you’ve criticized her both ways over it, you’re no different to how Kennedy Street used to act, trying to simply skip over every match and scenario that you feel is irrelevant because it doesn’t involve you and the World Title and feeling offended that your stock is dropping because of it without comprehending why. In that sense, I almost question why CHBK, someone you swear up and down truly cares for what it means to represent a company as its World Champion, continues to stand by your side and allow such behavior as your mentor. One would figure if he was as dedicated to that role as he claims to be, to the point where I gave him the option to essentially make this into a handicap match and he hid behind being retired to avoid crossing my path again, then he would have put in the effort to make sure that when you did have this little change of heart that you didn’t become an almost watered-down version of the woman I first faced off against at this very pay-per-view over half a decade ago.

It’s funny to think how much things have changed since then, isn’t it? True, you can make every claim you want about how that seemed to be my moment in SCW and nothing noteworthy has happened since because I’ll acknowledge it, but I’ll also acknowledge that I’ve not only left a mark on SCW history that will never be erased for better or worse, but I also have a career that I’m satisfied with should things suddenly come to an end for me in the near future. The same, unfortunately, cannot be said of you Syren. As much as I could look back to our first encounters all those years ago and point out how desperately you relied on help from Ravyn and anyone else you were allied with at the time, you were at least still willing to get in the ring when necessary and back up your constant claims of being the best. Even now, I’m not going to deny the talent you do possess because I’ve faced you more than enough times to know it for myself, even if you refuse me the same courtesy. And yet… it was when you truly began to strike it out on your own and embrace what it meant to be a competitor that you found the most success, and the majority of the title reigns that succeeded the night I brought your first interim reign to a screeching halt are proof of that. But as I look at you now, I find myself standing across the ring from a woman who has forgotten all about that and completely disrespected the legacy she was building for herself even back when she felt everyone was jealous of her success to the point of questioning how much of it was her own.

It’s become painfully clear how fragile you truly are Syren… if almost two years without a title of any kind can drive you to this point where I’ve gone far longer and still hold true to what made me the warrior I am in the first place even after all these years, then what I said to you leading up to that fateful night our destinies became forever intertwined was true all along… you truly are incapable of accepting any reality that is not one tailor made to paint you as a goddess among all in the wrestling world, no exceptions.

By all means though Syren… continue to stand there and justify that you’re capable of being who you say you are without any crutches or shortcuts that have only taken you further away from your precious prize, even as it becomes painfully obvious from the little scene of Dark Fantasy taking their leave last Breakdown that you’re not even being honest with yourself about that claim. I’ve simply left the door open for you to do so if you wish, and not just to prove that I’ve been right about you becoming half the wrestler you used to be the more you shy away from anything that doesn’t put you in position to get your fix. All you need to do is think back to that fateful night where I left you lost in the abyss while I stood tall with that very title high above my head… or if you don’t want to give me the satisfaction of bringing up that old victory of mine, then maybe you could reflect on something more recent, like how a woman we both despise is now the one at the top of the mountain, because they both have one very important thing in common Syren: for as much as you tried to scheme to have things handed to you though the company you keep, it has always backfired on you whenever we’re been on opposite sides of the ring. If you ignore our very first encounter that had no winner, it becomes painfully clear that the only times you’ve ever beaten me were when you were true to your word of only needing the talent you clearly possess in order to overcome me. In every scenario where someone has lent a hand against me, you have fallen short time and time again.

I don’t think I could paint this picture any clearer than that.

How you go about this match is your decision and yours alone Syren, but no matter what kind of plan you and CHBK think you have laid out all just to get you past me once and for all, I have shown no reason to be afraid of any of it. Deep down, you know what you need to do, and if you refuse to pull the trigger than all you’ve proven is that any claim you could possibly make about me being a shell of my former self might be more of a case of projection than you realize. To me, this is nothing more than a test for you to prove, once and for all, whether or not you truly deserve to return to World Title contention. After all, we’ve both played this game in the past and know full well how much of a lie that proverbial ‘rematch clause’ truly is, so there’s no real point in demanding something you know you’ll never truly get. But a win over a former World Champion and a man who has been a black mark on your career for the longest time… no matter how little you think of me, that still goes a long way Syren. But at the end of the day, this is all on you and you alone.

My only true role in this game is to be the punishment for choosing poorly, and I have no issue with seeing the hollow reflection of your former self become more self-destructive as you assume your proper place around here. Perhaps seeing me reascend to where you want so badly to be once again might do you more good than you realize.

But what do I know? I’m supposedly ‘just jealous’ of a woman I’ve overcome before, after all.”