Penance #6: Valerie Melamid vs. Blade LaVigne

[Austin Starr]

Penance #6: Valerie Melamid [4/0/0 – 16 VP] vs. Blade LaVigne [3/1/0 – 13 VP]

[Blade LaVigne]

Prologue

Last week on Penance Blade LaVigne defeated Faith Slater. It was a hard fought battle but Blade gave his all and pulled through. For two weeks the young LaVigne has been undefeated. Blade still walked away from the ring with a frown. Why won't Blade smile...Something must be eating at The Future. In this Promo he will try to explain why. This week Blade goes up against another superstar but this opponent has something Blade wants. What could that thing be. Lets find out.

“There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” - Colin Powell

A Blade LaVigne Roleplay, Enjoy

The scene opens up with a clear view of the sunset. We are at a beach and the water is calm. The lake is singing to us as we see Blade LaVigne walking down the shoreline. No one else is seen on the beach but Blade. Blade is dressed in grey sweatpants and white SCW t-shirt. Blade with his hands in his pockets looks into the camera. Blade stops walking and faces the lake. The Future Blade LaVigne smiles and begins to speak.

Blade LaVigne: Beautiful Hey.

The old Gladstone beach has not changed since I was last here. Age twelve and the whole family were here. Mom tanning and little brothers too scared to go into the water so they would sit next to mother and build sand castles. I the second oldest and I could not go past the ropes. Past the ropes was like a whole new world. The water would get a bit deeper and that's where my oldest brother would play chicken with his friends. I would watch them laugh and giggle when I was alone on the other side of the ropes. I was either too young or too small my parents would say on their way to the beach. I told them it was not fair but they did not care. It was for my safety I guess but I did not see it as that dangerous. When I left for wrestler my father said it would be dangerous and that I would get no where. As for right now I am starting to believe him. The last thing my father said before I left for camp was...Do not come back home if you fail. Here in Gladstone I stand back home. I come here because this is where I can think and I am going to try something new. I will be doing my promo is this location.

Blade continues to walk forward forcing the cameraman to walk backwards to shoot it right. Blade smiles and continues to speak.

Blade LaVigne: Last week I beat the likes of Faith Slater and now this week I shall go one on one with the superstar who last week beat Chris Savage and the week before defeated non other than the SCW United State Champion Kenneth Walker. Valerie Melamid. You know when I tried to beat Ken that one week I gave my all. I swear I had that win but it slipped from my finger tips. If a women can beat the champion and I giving my all can not then I do not think I deserve to be in Sin City Wrestling anymore. That is how I truely feel. See, I could be taking this the wrong way. Maybe you knew where to attack and when and I did not. Maybe you found a weakness in Kenneth that I could not find. Or maybe, you won by pure luck, who knows? But what we do know is that you have enough VIP points to challenge Kenneth for his championship gold. Out of all the times that title slipped away from me....How many times I failed and now you get a chance to win it in your first shot. and I think you will be able to do so. If you know Ken's weakness then you will be able to beat him again when its counts. I must beat you this week and earn enough points before you Valerie. I must win that title before you Valerie.

My goal here is to win my first ever world championship and I will trust me. When I close my eyes Melamid, do you know what I see. Do you? I see fans, my fans and tears falling down their cheeks. I see them upset because I...fail at whatever I do. Yes I won last week but a win is nothing is I feel no better than I did before. Inside I feel broken and no good. I feel that SCW can do way better than booking Blade LaVigne. See as a young boy, it was either pro wrestling when I grew up or football. But my friends, teachers and even my own father told me that I was too small and had no talent. I told him that I will make him smile one day, and that day was when I won my first ever world title. So far I have not been able to do so and that eats at me everday....It seems like I am holding on by thread and I don't know how much longer I can deal with this to be seriously. I do love my job, I put my body on the line each and every week for what? For a lucky win once in a while? No. To see my fans boo in disappointment? No. I own them something and winning that belt who should that I am good enough. That I work hard and that I give heart, You see everything I do is for this company and for the best of my fans. If it weren't for them I could not go on. They cheer for me when I needed them and now....now it is my turn to give something back. I will beat you Valerie and I will go on to somehow beat Ken to become the newest SCW champion. That is my density. That is what I shall do.

Blade makes it to the end of the beach line and walks onto the side walk. He continues his promo and walk down the side walk. Blade continues to speak.

Blade LaVigne: SCW is changing forever and what it needs is a leader, a man who wants to see it succeed, not a man who wishes to see it fall. You wonder why men whisper the name of great men who came before them, not two weeks ago were you crying why? Why do people care about Ken? Why do people care about Austin Starr? And now, why do people care about Blade LaVigne? You want to know why Valerie? Because there’s a difference between a champion, and a leader. Ken is a champion...I can be the leader SCW needs. I have nothing to lose Valerie, I have everything to win and you will just be another stepping stone I must take. You are where I want to be in your career. You have the title shot I been working to get. You have a win over the champion himself...You must feel great...I would.

If I can’t be the smartest, or the strongest, I’ll simply want the victory the most. Let’s not confuse victory with hurting people. I want to keep my momentum alive, and win this match. My goal isn’t to go out and hurt as many people as I can, nor is it to go out there and simply fall to my back. I want to win. Seeing your destiny just a few short steps in front of you really puts a lot of things into perspective. I can very well be SCW Champion, as well as give the fans of this sport a moment they will never forget. If I must wait a few weeks to do the former, I can certainly do that latter. It’s funny when goals sink up so well like that. It helps make them so much easier to attain

We all fear something and the only thing I fear is failure. One thing I do not want to do is fail at something but everyone will fail at something. I failed many times in my career and I promise you all that, my losing ways are over. I will not lose until I beat Ken and I have that championship gold around my waist. I will give my all and I will fight like there is no tomorrow. But I will not give up and I will not be put down. I will fight until I am the proud leader of SCW. That is my dream and goal. Time to make that dream a reality.

Win or Lose....I will be remembered!

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WordCount: 1474
Notes: Enjoys...and Good luck Valerie.

[TerminusEst13]

Valerie sat down on the couch in the mansion’s living room, one leg over the other as she reclined back. She lay back against the soft cloth, her head and hair draped across the top headrest, her arms folded neatly into her lap, her eyes closed as she took a momentary reprieve from the workload that the day had offered.
Even without her masters, things still got dusty. She still had much work to do, but now might as well be a good time to take a small break and ponder about things.
An idle vacuum cleaner sat at her side with the hose propped up against the armrest, and a mop lay on a table, its soaking wet end draped over the edge and dripping into a soap-filled bucket. An incense burner was already alight, filling the house with the sweet smell of Dragon’s Blood.
What did a bleeding dragon actually smell like? She doubted it was anything pleasant.
Soft jazz coursed around the room, teasing her ears with arrangements that only masters could compose, and the lights shone down brightly to illuminate the entire room and house with the soft glow that only a bulb could provide—artificial as it was, it still had its charm in comparing to natural sunlight.

The entire house looked peaceful. Its quiet manifested physically; tidy and dusted rooms combined with the gentle light created a relaxing and soothing air, one that Valerie could recline back in.
One of the benefits of being a maid was that, whenever you relaxed, you could RELAX. The house remained peaceful and clean, and you could take pride in the work you had personally brought about.
Valerie wasn’t able to perfectly relax, however. Her mind whirled with what went on.

So many changes.
So. Many. Changes.
New management.
New personalities.
Oh, and of course the weekly new matches.

Just the promotion of Austin and Kenneth made her head spin. They were formerly her co-workers, now they were her bosses.
A boss that she had tossed around and beat up just a couple weeks ago, but still a boss nonetheless. Hopefully Kenneth didn’t hold any hard feelings about that.
Walker was a good guy—a grand guy, in fact. He had emotion, he had conviction, he had ability, and he had heart. She had no doubt that Second Chance Wrestling would prosper under his guidance. Austin, on the other hand…she was confused about.
All Starr had done was cause trouble for the federation, trying to get at…Callahan, was it? The masked woman that previously had overseen them all. Something she had done had set him the wrong way, and now Austin was out for revenge. Yet…now that she was gone, how would Starr handle his new position?
Considering both Starr and Walker had been at odds with each other before…
…well.

She was both interested and terrified in how it would play out.

---

Valerie sat simply in an empty room, bereft of everything except a table and a chair, the ground nothing more than hard cement. Valerie was in her usual maid uniform; her wrestling attire was nowhere to be seen, creating the odd juxtaposition of an attractive young woman wearing a formal serving uniform in a gritty environment. Perhaps there was some symbolism behind it—or perhaps she just thought this was the best place to give her message for the evening.

It took her a minute to formulate the words in her head. This was something she had been wanting to say for a while, and now she finally could.
“Blade LaVinge.” She smiled dryly.
“‘The Future’, you call yourself. I’ve been wanting to have some words with you for a while.” Valerie had an uncharacteristically eager grin across her face, her hands bridged together under her face. Her glasses glinted—she had positioned herself directly under a light bulb, letting the light reflect off of them for dramatic effect.
“You’re an eager little guy, aren’t you? You talk about the belt and the championship, how you’ve got the ability to be a champion and a leader. I’ve got to say, you live up to your name—you’ve got huge dreams of the future.”
She waved her hand. “It’s good to have dreams, y’know. I mean, we all have dreams. I’ve got dreams. Ken and Austin had dreams, and look where they ended up. Now they’re looking over us comfortably from a chairman’s chair. If someone didn’t have dreams, then…well…it’d be pointless to go through life. We’d have no goals to aspire to, no reason to try and push our boundaries, and absolutely nothing we would be interested in pursuing.”

She reclined back, stroking her chin idly with her hand. “So. What’s your dream? Judging by all the rants you’ve been going on about lately, I think I can guess.”
She cleared her throat. “’Win or lose, I will be remembered.’ That’s what you say in every promo, isn’t it? Seven simple words, but they clearly mean something to you. No matter whether you win or lose in the fight at hand, you want to be remembered by people.”

Valerie leaned forward in the chair, pointing ahead—the grin had returned. It was not a pleasant grin. “Let me spell those words out one by one for everyone watching; maybe for Blade, too, so he can the gist of what I’m talking about. You talk about those words each week, but are you really listening to yourself? I don’t think so. Allow me to…enlighten you.”
“You constantly talk about what you will do if you win, how you will be remembered that way. How you’ll become a leader and a champion, someone that will give his heart and destiny to this entire company. That’s admirable! Those are the dreams I was talking about earlier; dream big, Blade, and dream about owning this company! …but then, when you do win, you say it feels like nothing to you. It’s just another stepping stone.”
“If your wins feel like nothing to you, then that’s not a good way to be remembered. Even stepping stones still make impacts when you bring your foot down! Even stepping stones still leave footprints when your foot is brought up! But those feel like nothing to you?” She wagged her finger at the camera, clicking her tongue for a ‘tsk tsk tsk’.
“Well, Blade, I’ve got a question for you; how will you be remembered once you lose?”

Valerie paused a minute, saying nothing more. She had just dropped the main question of her rant, it was time to let it soak in.
She retracted her pointing hand and crossed her arms.

“Please, sir, take a moment to reflect on that. Not IF you lose, but ONCE you lose. WHEN you lose. It is an undeniable fact that, despite your training and despite your willpower, you will slip up. You will falter, you will fall, and you will lose. No amount of ‘heart’ or ‘wanting victory’ is going to change the fact that, when goals and skills collide, there is a 50/50 chance that you are the one who’s going to end under me. It’s physically impossible to have a complete and unblemished record. Even I, technically undefeated so far, was still the first one out in the battle royale that kicked off our company.”
She shrugged. “For me, however, it was just a match. So I lost, so what? I didn’t care, I’m not interested in status and I’m certainly not interested in talking about how badass I am. I’m just a maid, after all. I clean beds, I clean walls, I clean furniture, and I clean toilets. Trying to aggrandize it or flaunt it off would be silly. In the end…” She jerks a thumb to herself. “…I’m just the person who cleans up messes. This isn’t even my main profession, it’s just a hobby I do on off-days for entertainment.”
“Entertainment! You know, that thing we do for that emotion called ‘fun’?”

“You, on the other hand? You say you fear failure. You say that you want what I have. You want my position, where I am, and that if I won and you didn’t then you don’t belong here. So what are you doing to ensure you can keep going for those times when you slip up? If all you fear is failure, then how will you be remembered once you lose?”
“You aim for the material.” She spreads her arms wide, a large grin on her face. “You want my position? Come on and take it! I don’t even care about it! I have the most VP and a record of four-to-zero, and all that gets me is just a couple smiles from the men in the audience. I don’t care about winning, I don’t care about being a champion, and I certainly don’t care about a belt. I have lots of belts already, they hold up my skirts—I’m wearing one right now, in fact!” She pushes her chair back and stands up, pointing down to the leather strap around her waist, with a silver buckle. “It’s a very nice belt, a size 28, snug tight around my waist. I can’t say I have the perfect slim figure, but I like how it fits me nonetheless. It holds up my skirt and keeps it from flopping off while I’m in the middle of my chores or going out to interact with people. It’s a belt that gives me support and ensures I stay modest throughout the entire day.”
“It’s a belt that, because it stays with me day and night, I prize far more than the championship. The only thing you can do with that is hold it up as some sort of prize—you let the gold shine off, and people admire the words on it. They nod, and then wonder for how long you’re going to hold it until you inevitably slip up.”

With a single yank, she promptly unbuckled her belt and ripped it right off—her skirt sagged and then flopped to the ground, dropping to her boots and the chair, her wrestling leotard and stockings exposed underneath her maid uniform.
“Yet, you know what? For the first time in my life, I guess I’m inspired to actually fight for the belt. Not because I care about it, but because I don’t want you to get it. For God’s sake, you’re treating something so material and temporary like it’s the only thing in your life worth living for and it’s the only thing your fans want to see.”
She promptly continued to pull off bits of her maid uniform piece by piece, exposing more of her wrestling gear. Step by step, she turned from a demure housekeeper to a battle-hungry warrior, ready and willing to lunge head-first into the ring. A fire blazed behind her glasses—offset by the little frilly headdress. She was reluctant to be rid of it, though; it was, after all, the main part of both her uniforms.
“Your dream is not going to become a reality, because your reality is a dream. You need a serious reality check, and I’m planning on providing it. I’m not the smartest, I’m not the strongest, and I don’t want victory the most; all I am is just a maid who knows kung fu and have a taste for fancy action sequences, and I’m still towering on top of you statistically.”
“I’m not going to mince words, Blade. Once we get into that arena, I’m going to come down on you like a sack of bricks, and I’m going to make sure you lose. If the only thing you fear is failure, then you need to learn to overcome that fear and get a sense of priority in your life.”

She lifts up her hands and cracks her knuckles one by one. Her normally pleasant demeanor is replaced with a scowl, her eyebrows furrowed.
“Win or lose, you’re going to remember this.”

((Just about 2000 words. Maybe a little under, maybe a little over. G'luck, Blade! Hopefully this'll go to interesting places))