Post by PerZag on Jan 23, 2022 4:38:08 GMT -5
How old am I? That is the question, isn’t it? No, not really, but nobody truly knows my age. It seems like my age changes all the time, that I could be in my 20’s, 30’s or 40’s, but the truth is, your actual age doesn’t define you. It is how you feel.
With all that I have been through, I feel 40. As great as my body feels, physically, I feel 20. But my mind, my maturity, and the fact I feel like I am the best and I know everything makes me think I am 30, but in the end, the only thing I ever think about me and my age is this……………
‘Shit, I have been through a lot.’
Every part of my life could fill a book one thousand pages long, and I am nowhere near hitting a half-century. Some 80-year-olds haven’t even been through as much as I have, and I am not only talking about wrestling. I am talking about my life prior as well. So many jobs, so many missions, so many events. I have been through it all and done it all.
The thing is, my age isn’t the important thing. The thing is, when you have done so much, people know of you. They know what you’ve accomplished and what you have been a part of. Maybe I could say that these are my demons coming back to haunt me, but they’re around me all the time. They’re always here. This man speaking my original name proves that he knows of me, that he knows of what I have done, that he knows what Steve has done.
The last thing is, I am PerZag now, and what Steve did isn’t as important anymore. Do I remember it? Yes. Can I still do what he did? Of course. But as of April 1st 2014, the day I signed a contract as PerZag, Steve has been a memory. And for now and forever, that is all he is going to be.
After the voiceover from PerZag, the scene opens up where it left off last, PerZag and the random man on the street, staring face to face. PerZag speaks first.
“So what? You know who I am. Or better yet, who I was. Bringing up that name isn’t going to make me more intrigued. It is just going to make me walk away. So, I give you ten seconds to come up with something that will make me stay; otherwise, I bid you adieu.”
PerZag lifts his arm up as if he is checking a watch that isn’t there. The man with short black hair smirks before giving his ten-second reply.
“I can’t convince you now, but you will see.”
The man turns around, walking away from PerZag, leaving him standing on the sidewalk. Zag shrugs his shoulders.
“Doubt I will.”
PerZag starts walking away as the scene cuts away.
The scene opens up as we see the building belonging to NASA. We cut to inside the building as we see PerZag shaking the hand of a man with a suit, short brown hair and a clean-shaven face. They take seats opposite each other with only a large desk between them before the man in the suit starts to speak.
“Mr Zag, what do I owe the pleasure?”
PerZag clears his throat a little bit before replying.
“Thank you for having me, Mr Clemmons; I just wanted to ask you about a man that used to be a part of NASA. I mean, a NASA reject, so to speak.”
“Sure, can I ask why?”
“I am not sure, just looking at maybe finding some dirt on someone.”
“Don’t know whether I can help you through; this place has its secrets, and I cannot reveal them all, but you give me a name, and I will tell you as much as I can.”
PerZag clears his throat once more.
“Ed Houston!”
Mr Clemmons begins chuckling.
“That loser. Fuck me dead. Dude, I can tell you everything about him. You want the dirt; I have dirt.”
PerZag smiles as he puts his hands out in front of him, placing his fingers together and placing his elbows on the armrests next to him.
“Fantastic. Please tell me who Ed truly is. He cannot just be a nice guy. He has to be pulling everyone’s leg, doesn’t he?”
“You want to know about Ed. Well, he and I both started training with NASA simultaneously. There were about eight of us, and we were all forced to compete against each other for three spots. You know what Ed did. He sucked ass. Sucked up to the authorities. Kissed their ass to get the job, and then behind their backs, he would do anything he could to get other people kicked out of the training.
One of my good buddies got kicked out because Ed decided to steal everybody’s clothes in the locker room, including his own, as we were all showering and planted them in my friend’s locker.
And then quote-on-quote, ‘NASA isn’t for pranksters’ was stated by the authorities as they kicked my buddy out. Ed was ruthless, and he played dirty. He did absolutely everything he could to win, so when it came down to the four of us left, we all decided to get Ed kicked out. Better him than us. If he is going to act like that, he didn’t deserve to be seated where I am right now. That’s the truth, Mr Zag. You wanted to know the truth about Ed; this is it.”
PerZag places his hands down on his lap as he stares at Mr Clemmons across the table.
“Very, very interesting. Ed is not the nice guy he says he is, but here’s the thing, Mr Clemmons, I know what you are saying is a complete utter lie.”
A frown grows upon the face of Mr Clemmons as he stares at him bewildered.
“Excuse me. Wait, you came to me to ask about Ed Houston, and now you are accusing me of lying. No, fuck that, you sir, need to leave.”
PerZag starts smiling.
“What the fuck has got you so amused?”
“Well, that ‘buddy’...............”
PerZag puts his hands up to show quotation marks for the word buddy as if he is not his buddy.
“...............of yours, well, I know him. And he told me something completely different. You’re the one that got everybody kicked out. You were the one behind it all.”
PerZag stands up from his seat.
“Oh, and best of all. That ‘buddy’ of yours is in the FBI, and well, he is here right now, for you. What was it that he said…………. Oh, yes………..TAX EVASION!”
As PerZag says the two words, the doors slam open, and men in suits storm into the room, heading straight towards Mr Clemmons. He stands up as they approach, absolutely perplexed. They grab him and start escorting him out of the room as a man in a suit walks up to PerZag.
“Steve, oh wait, no, it’s Zag now, isn’t it?”
The man lifts his hand up to shake PerZag’s hand, and PerZag embraces it.
“No, Charles, you call me whatever you see fit. We’ve known each other long enough. Either way, I am glad I could help you with this. Tell me something, was Ed Houston even part of your training crew?”
The man smiles.
“I really do not remember. From then, the only thing I remember was Clemmons setting me up and getting me kicked out. I wouldn’t trust a lot of what that man says. He is a constitutional liar, and I guess he thought he could throw some NASA dropout under the bus. I don’t know, but I do know that we have caught a menace to society, and that is thanks to you.”
PerZag shrugs his shoulders.
“Nah, not really. I just asked you about Ed from your time at NASA, which led to this. So it is what it is? At least it does teach me one thing………….”
“And what’s that?”
Suddenly everybody on the screen freezes, and a voiceover as PerZag begins.
What can I say? Did I just make some bullshit up? Of course. Was there really a Mr Clemmons? No, not really, but why did I put on such a display? Why did I get some guy to act as if he knew Ed Houston? Why did I get him to lie? It is to teach you all one thing, and one thing only.
YOU CANNOT TRUST WHAT PEOPLE SAY!
But, where am I going with this? Well, let’s put it like this. Ed Houston claims that he was a NASA dropout, right? Or was it a NASA reject? Either way, can you really believe him? I mean, he has the good guy persona going for him, so he could be tricking us all. But, on the other hand, he could be lying to every single last one of us.
Words only get so far. He could be a real dick behind the scenes. An asshole to those that are close to him. You never, ever know. But why did I go through all of this to state that Ed could be a fucking liar? Because these words don’t mean a thing. His words or mine.
What matters is the actions that take place in that ring. What matters is the move I hit to take him out. What matters is the one, the two and the three being counted and me claiming victory and the Craze Championship. That is what matters. So whether Ed is a liar or not doesn’t matter. Whether I am spouting bullshit or not doesn’t matter because when it comes down to it, I will do what I do best.
And that is………… WIN!
The scene cuts to black. We cut back once more to show PerZag sitting on a stool back at the bar we saw him in last time. Joe, the bartender, pours two beers, placing one in front of PerZag and one in front of the stool next to him. Zag looks to his right as his pops grabs the beer before him, taking a sip.
“So, my boy, have you figured out what you need to do yet?”
PerZag turns his head back to the counter in front of him.
“No, I haven’t, pops, but I have learnt that that is okay. That I need to stop sobbing. That I need to stop feeling sorry for myself. Actions speak louder than words, don’t they say. And after everything that happened in 2021, I had no idea what I was going to do or who I would be.
This is 2022, and I need to know who I am now. I’ve had my chance to grieve, cry, forgive, and forget, and now I need to move on.
After Rhiannon and Tommy and…………………..”
PerZag looks over to his right and sees pops put the beer back on the counter.
“................you, it is about time that The Worthiest of Them All returns, that The Sexiest Man In Wrestling returns. That I step out in that ring, and I claim what I and everybody else knows. That I am the best. I am the greatest, the Worthiest, Sexiest, the most endurable wrestler in the world. They don’t call me the 70 Minute Man for no reason.
You have always supported me through it all, pops, and I will never ever forget that. But it is time I stop living in the past and start living in the present. The freshness of a new year is upon us, and now I will mould and craft it into the best year for me. It is time that I move on.”
PerZag stares at pops as he moves his beer towards PerZag.
“There you go, my boy. Go back to living. I know you will be successful. No matter where you have been or what you have done, you have made something of yourself. But, my boy, it is time you do that again. And it is time you let me go.”
Pops lifts his hand up and places it on PerZag’s shoulder. PerZag closes his eyes, trying to hold himself together.
“I miss you, Pops.”
PerZag opens his eyes to see that pops has disappeared from view. He looks down at pops’ beer and sees that it is still full. He stands up from the stool and picks the beer up, walking over to the brunette woman down the other end of the bar, who had talked to him the day before.
“I apologize for being rude yesterday, but would you like a drink?”
Joe’s sis looks up at PerZag, before looking at Joe. Joe nods his head at her, and she smiles.
“I’d love that.”
The scene fades away.
OOC: Word Count is 2143 according to Google Docs. Is under the 250 word buffer. Second RP back and it may have felt a bit rough for me, but I feel like I have somewhere to go from here to improve. Hopefully people have enjoyed it nonetheless.
With all that I have been through, I feel 40. As great as my body feels, physically, I feel 20. But my mind, my maturity, and the fact I feel like I am the best and I know everything makes me think I am 30, but in the end, the only thing I ever think about me and my age is this……………
‘Shit, I have been through a lot.’
Every part of my life could fill a book one thousand pages long, and I am nowhere near hitting a half-century. Some 80-year-olds haven’t even been through as much as I have, and I am not only talking about wrestling. I am talking about my life prior as well. So many jobs, so many missions, so many events. I have been through it all and done it all.
The thing is, my age isn’t the important thing. The thing is, when you have done so much, people know of you. They know what you’ve accomplished and what you have been a part of. Maybe I could say that these are my demons coming back to haunt me, but they’re around me all the time. They’re always here. This man speaking my original name proves that he knows of me, that he knows of what I have done, that he knows what Steve has done.
The last thing is, I am PerZag now, and what Steve did isn’t as important anymore. Do I remember it? Yes. Can I still do what he did? Of course. But as of April 1st 2014, the day I signed a contract as PerZag, Steve has been a memory. And for now and forever, that is all he is going to be.
After the voiceover from PerZag, the scene opens up where it left off last, PerZag and the random man on the street, staring face to face. PerZag speaks first.
“So what? You know who I am. Or better yet, who I was. Bringing up that name isn’t going to make me more intrigued. It is just going to make me walk away. So, I give you ten seconds to come up with something that will make me stay; otherwise, I bid you adieu.”
PerZag lifts his arm up as if he is checking a watch that isn’t there. The man with short black hair smirks before giving his ten-second reply.
“I can’t convince you now, but you will see.”
The man turns around, walking away from PerZag, leaving him standing on the sidewalk. Zag shrugs his shoulders.
“Doubt I will.”
PerZag starts walking away as the scene cuts away.
The scene opens up as we see the building belonging to NASA. We cut to inside the building as we see PerZag shaking the hand of a man with a suit, short brown hair and a clean-shaven face. They take seats opposite each other with only a large desk between them before the man in the suit starts to speak.
“Mr Zag, what do I owe the pleasure?”
PerZag clears his throat a little bit before replying.
“Thank you for having me, Mr Clemmons; I just wanted to ask you about a man that used to be a part of NASA. I mean, a NASA reject, so to speak.”
“Sure, can I ask why?”
“I am not sure, just looking at maybe finding some dirt on someone.”
“Don’t know whether I can help you through; this place has its secrets, and I cannot reveal them all, but you give me a name, and I will tell you as much as I can.”
PerZag clears his throat once more.
“Ed Houston!”
Mr Clemmons begins chuckling.
“That loser. Fuck me dead. Dude, I can tell you everything about him. You want the dirt; I have dirt.”
PerZag smiles as he puts his hands out in front of him, placing his fingers together and placing his elbows on the armrests next to him.
“Fantastic. Please tell me who Ed truly is. He cannot just be a nice guy. He has to be pulling everyone’s leg, doesn’t he?”
“You want to know about Ed. Well, he and I both started training with NASA simultaneously. There were about eight of us, and we were all forced to compete against each other for three spots. You know what Ed did. He sucked ass. Sucked up to the authorities. Kissed their ass to get the job, and then behind their backs, he would do anything he could to get other people kicked out of the training.
One of my good buddies got kicked out because Ed decided to steal everybody’s clothes in the locker room, including his own, as we were all showering and planted them in my friend’s locker.
And then quote-on-quote, ‘NASA isn’t for pranksters’ was stated by the authorities as they kicked my buddy out. Ed was ruthless, and he played dirty. He did absolutely everything he could to win, so when it came down to the four of us left, we all decided to get Ed kicked out. Better him than us. If he is going to act like that, he didn’t deserve to be seated where I am right now. That’s the truth, Mr Zag. You wanted to know the truth about Ed; this is it.”
PerZag places his hands down on his lap as he stares at Mr Clemmons across the table.
“Very, very interesting. Ed is not the nice guy he says he is, but here’s the thing, Mr Clemmons, I know what you are saying is a complete utter lie.”
A frown grows upon the face of Mr Clemmons as he stares at him bewildered.
“Excuse me. Wait, you came to me to ask about Ed Houston, and now you are accusing me of lying. No, fuck that, you sir, need to leave.”
PerZag starts smiling.
“What the fuck has got you so amused?”
“Well, that ‘buddy’...............”
PerZag puts his hands up to show quotation marks for the word buddy as if he is not his buddy.
“...............of yours, well, I know him. And he told me something completely different. You’re the one that got everybody kicked out. You were the one behind it all.”
PerZag stands up from his seat.
“Oh, and best of all. That ‘buddy’ of yours is in the FBI, and well, he is here right now, for you. What was it that he said…………. Oh, yes………..TAX EVASION!”
As PerZag says the two words, the doors slam open, and men in suits storm into the room, heading straight towards Mr Clemmons. He stands up as they approach, absolutely perplexed. They grab him and start escorting him out of the room as a man in a suit walks up to PerZag.
“Steve, oh wait, no, it’s Zag now, isn’t it?”
The man lifts his hand up to shake PerZag’s hand, and PerZag embraces it.
“No, Charles, you call me whatever you see fit. We’ve known each other long enough. Either way, I am glad I could help you with this. Tell me something, was Ed Houston even part of your training crew?”
The man smiles.
“I really do not remember. From then, the only thing I remember was Clemmons setting me up and getting me kicked out. I wouldn’t trust a lot of what that man says. He is a constitutional liar, and I guess he thought he could throw some NASA dropout under the bus. I don’t know, but I do know that we have caught a menace to society, and that is thanks to you.”
PerZag shrugs his shoulders.
“Nah, not really. I just asked you about Ed from your time at NASA, which led to this. So it is what it is? At least it does teach me one thing………….”
“And what’s that?”
Suddenly everybody on the screen freezes, and a voiceover as PerZag begins.
What can I say? Did I just make some bullshit up? Of course. Was there really a Mr Clemmons? No, not really, but why did I put on such a display? Why did I get some guy to act as if he knew Ed Houston? Why did I get him to lie? It is to teach you all one thing, and one thing only.
YOU CANNOT TRUST WHAT PEOPLE SAY!
But, where am I going with this? Well, let’s put it like this. Ed Houston claims that he was a NASA dropout, right? Or was it a NASA reject? Either way, can you really believe him? I mean, he has the good guy persona going for him, so he could be tricking us all. But, on the other hand, he could be lying to every single last one of us.
Words only get so far. He could be a real dick behind the scenes. An asshole to those that are close to him. You never, ever know. But why did I go through all of this to state that Ed could be a fucking liar? Because these words don’t mean a thing. His words or mine.
What matters is the actions that take place in that ring. What matters is the move I hit to take him out. What matters is the one, the two and the three being counted and me claiming victory and the Craze Championship. That is what matters. So whether Ed is a liar or not doesn’t matter. Whether I am spouting bullshit or not doesn’t matter because when it comes down to it, I will do what I do best.
And that is………… WIN!
The scene cuts to black. We cut back once more to show PerZag sitting on a stool back at the bar we saw him in last time. Joe, the bartender, pours two beers, placing one in front of PerZag and one in front of the stool next to him. Zag looks to his right as his pops grabs the beer before him, taking a sip.
“So, my boy, have you figured out what you need to do yet?”
PerZag turns his head back to the counter in front of him.
“No, I haven’t, pops, but I have learnt that that is okay. That I need to stop sobbing. That I need to stop feeling sorry for myself. Actions speak louder than words, don’t they say. And after everything that happened in 2021, I had no idea what I was going to do or who I would be.
This is 2022, and I need to know who I am now. I’ve had my chance to grieve, cry, forgive, and forget, and now I need to move on.
After Rhiannon and Tommy and…………………..”
PerZag looks over to his right and sees pops put the beer back on the counter.
“................you, it is about time that The Worthiest of Them All returns, that The Sexiest Man In Wrestling returns. That I step out in that ring, and I claim what I and everybody else knows. That I am the best. I am the greatest, the Worthiest, Sexiest, the most endurable wrestler in the world. They don’t call me the 70 Minute Man for no reason.
You have always supported me through it all, pops, and I will never ever forget that. But it is time I stop living in the past and start living in the present. The freshness of a new year is upon us, and now I will mould and craft it into the best year for me. It is time that I move on.”
PerZag stares at pops as he moves his beer towards PerZag.
“There you go, my boy. Go back to living. I know you will be successful. No matter where you have been or what you have done, you have made something of yourself. But, my boy, it is time you do that again. And it is time you let me go.”
Pops lifts his hand up and places it on PerZag’s shoulder. PerZag closes his eyes, trying to hold himself together.
“I miss you, Pops.”
PerZag opens his eyes to see that pops has disappeared from view. He looks down at pops’ beer and sees that it is still full. He stands up from the stool and picks the beer up, walking over to the brunette woman down the other end of the bar, who had talked to him the day before.
“I apologize for being rude yesterday, but would you like a drink?”
Joe’s sis looks up at PerZag, before looking at Joe. Joe nods his head at her, and she smiles.
“I’d love that.”
The scene fades away.
OOC: Word Count is 2143 according to Google Docs. Is under the 250 word buffer. Second RP back and it may have felt a bit rough for me, but I feel like I have somewhere to go from here to improve. Hopefully people have enjoyed it nonetheless.