Post by Tamika Strader on Apr 22, 2022 4:04:36 GMT -5
Milftown Island
April 21st, 2022
“Could you imagine Cara here?”
Tamika looks over to her left, to her big sister and de facto leader of the Cowgirls From Hell and the Strader Family, and laughs.
“She probably would’ve smoked what Bob smoked and gone even wackier than she is. I keep trying to figure out who in the family she reminds me of the most, but the more I do, the more I realize she’s something brand new to this clan,” she responds with a chuckle. She knew Meghan asked a question like that to take their minds off this seemingly death march through the jungle.
“Remind me that if we survive this situation, we need to have a long meeting with Welsh and Zybala. Especially if that Golden Phone I know he has in his pocket could’ve saved all these lives and given me clean underwear,” she tries not to sound disgruntled with the situation with the joke, but she is. She had killed a lot of alligators to help Outcast feed the rather large OCW crew and, of course, its wrestlers. She was tired. She missed her two-year-old twin babies, Clay and Lizzie.
“I am just surprised more of us haven’t died. I think everyone has been out of clean underwear the first week on the island.”
The sisters keep walking, feeling the gaze of the leathery men with spears walking near them as they are being led to the island's deity, Frank. Meghan fights the urge to tell who she thinks is an island native close to her to take a picture. It would last longer, but she thinks pissing them off wouldn’t help matters.
“Ugh, I can feel their eyes on my ass. You were always better at ignoring men (and a lot more women than you’d expect) gazing at you semi-erect.”
“Well, that’s why; if they had’ve been fully erect, maybe I would’ve been impressed,” she replies with a smirk and a wink. Meghan lets out a laugh that gets her jabbed by the spear in her left butt cheek. Tamika mouths “sorry” and big sister shrugs it off.
“It’s ok. So, uh, when we get through this shit, you excited for your first title defence?” she asks, hoping to break some tension over Tamika winning singles gold before she did.
“Yeah, honestly, it’s a little nerve-wracking; it’s not like getting ready to defend the tag titles.”
“Yeah, I wouldn’t know,” there was an attempt to hold back the sound of jealousy as she said that but no such luck.
“How long are you going to hold that against me? I didn’t do it on purpose,” she snaps back at her, which actually takes Meghan back. “I never ever do something for myself; it’s always been for us. I am thirty-three years old. I am not Vee or Ronnie, only being twenty-one. Sure I have a few years left in this business, but I have also already had discs fused in my upper spine in my neck.”
Meghan sighs. She knows Tamika is correct. It was just her showing her disappointment in herself.
“Yeah, I’ll be thirty-seven, and my baby sister beat me to a goal I had chased my whole career. I am very proud of you. I am just trying to handle my inner bullshit, ya know?” she asks, with a slight shrug, a raised brow that reads “my bad, sorry,” and Tamika smiles.
“Dad said you come around.”
She stops and gets jabbed in the ass again. Meghan rubs her butt cheeks as she continues walking.
“Whatcha talkin’ bout, Meeks? The old man is dead.”
Yeah, and Veronica was the one that ended his life, she thinks to herself.
“This island, Megz. It’s a funky place. Has this vibe. It’s special. The other night I followed a voice to this cave that I fell into, and somehow I was sitting on a cliff with dad.”
“Honestly, that’s not even the weirdest thing to happen since we have been on this godforsaken rock. So why is he here?”
“Oh ya know, was a bad, bad man and destined to roam the earthly plane in his own personal purgatory,” her answer seems to appease big sister.
“You talked about me?” she asks with her ears perked up.
“Yes, Miss Centre of Attention,” she said with a wink, and Meghan stuck her tongue out to Tamika. “He loves you and is sorry for what he did to you. Also told me you would eventually support me as Craze Champion. Then we just sat there, dad hugging me. It was nice.”
“Yeah… sounds nice. Owww!”
“Owwww!”
The OCW Financiers rub their butt cheeks in unison. They look at each other and know they need to shut up until they arrive wherever it is they are going. Which is Frank! The island deity. A big ass volcano. But they don’t know that.
Yet.
Prison Cells
Frank, Milftown Island
Same day
Well, today, it paid off to being the only mothers and hot in OCW. The leathery-skinned men have them in nicer accommodations than some of the other crew and talent. Tamika sits upon the finest mattress on Milftown Island made from the finest first-class plane seats from all the planes that have crashed here over forty years. She stares at the OCW Craze Championship title belt in her hands.
“Never in my life did I think I would be preparing to defend championship gold by myself. When people said my name, it was always in conjunction with my big sister as a Cowgirl From Hell. I still am a proud Cowgirl, but it doesn’t change the fact that singles wrestling is foreign to me.”
“Something I am getting used to, ya know?”
“I walked into Luck of the Violent, an established veteran of the ring, a Hall of Fame member of the PWA, multi-time tag team champion, up against Roach, who is a lot like Storm but more on that in a minute, in an Irish Stew Match. We all know what happened: Tony the Spider helped Roach and me by bringing the championship out of the stew-like a freaky terminator leading to my first singles title.”
She stands, puts the Craze title over her right shoulder, and walks over to a barred window overlooking Frank.
“Which brings title defences, and my first is against a promising, at least he is on paper, wrestler… You hero and Mine, apparently, Mark Storm.”
“I’ll hold out for applause.”
“Mark, you have been an impressive young man in your short time back in OCW. Going undefeated in your return, turning heads, heck, you even had caught the attention of Marcus Welsh. Just goes on and on about how excited he is to have you, and it’s legitimate, unlike anyone Theo Pryce gets excited about. I mean, as a former promoter, I see the buzz about you, but I also see the side of you that eventually fizzles out, and you drop the ball when it matters most.”
“Maybe it’s just a simple case of growing pains. I have seen many instances where it takes a number of years for a wrestler to finally get a leg up and be able to pull off the important big win. That championship win.”
“To tell you the truth, Imma rootin’ and tootin’ for you just… not right now. Right now? It’s my time. I admire your goal of wanting to make this championship the most important one in the company after the OCW title, but as long as my niece is the TransAtlantic Champion, no one is going to come close to doing that with any strap.”
She turns around, leaning back against the window, arms crossed and looking up.
“But in saying that, it doesn't mean I don’t want to do something meaningful with the Craze championship. Its history dates back to its days as the Intercontinental title is rich in history and has been held by Hall of Famers and future Hall of Famers. I would like my name to be mentioned when talking about its history, and more than just as a one-trick pony paper champion. In order to do that, I need to overcome the storm that is Mark Storm; excuse the lazy pun.”
“You are right; I do come from a family rich in wrestling history going back to my grandfather, William Strader, wrestler and promoter, and to my daddy, the late Scott Nash Strader, but if I am being honest… it doesn’t make it any easier to get ahead in this game.”
Tamika begins to walk a straight line from wall to wall.
“We (me and Megz) were always in the shadow of our uncles and dad. Even when we achieved becoming tag team champions, dad was always still at the forefront of our family legacy. There wasn’t a team that could beat us for over two hundred and eighty days, a dozen defences, and it was still always about Scott Nash Strader.”
“Don’t get me wrong, Mark. I loved my daddy. Respect and admire everything he was able to accomplish breaking into this business at my age right now and amassing the large number of title reigns he had. It was a legendary career, but it’s caused some of ours to be forgotten, or if not forgotten, just not given its proper dues.”
“My niece has shown me that it’s possible to solidify your ability and talent on your own terms, no matter your last name. She should know; she has two wrestling families that she comes from. You get to be the first in your line to set the standard. It’s just not going to start with me, Bubster. The time is Tamika Standard Time, and it’s set to last a lot longer than a month.”
“While I am sure you have a great future in OCW ahead of you (you better, considering what the Cowgirls are paying you to wrestle here), you won’t be getting that championship bonus because this is my time. I didn’t choose myself and piss off my big sister by letting OCW Tag Team Title shots pass us by so I could take a run at this beautiful Craze title,” she pats the faceplate, gently smiling down at it. “I haven’t even gotten to wear it in the bedroom while I scissor with Sam Tolson or gone to see Mack O’Connor for a conjugal because of being trapped on this….”
Frank starts to rumble as Tamika goes wide-eyed and shifts them back and forth.
“… wonderful island,” tremors slow down, “so I need this win so I can at least properly celebrate being the OCW Craze Champion. I am not about to let you take that away from me.”
“Like I said, you are the first of your name while I have some ridiculously long Game of Thrones list of names, and you will get to build it into something special but right now? Right now is my time to add to the lore of the Strader family name, to prove that I am just as special as my uncles, daddy, sister, and nieces by leaving a proper mark on the history of this great championship in this even better company.”
She smirks and shakes her head.
“When Meghan first talked me into financing this place so Vee could have a place to build her legacy, I thought I was going to be in for a long, tedious ride of crap I didn’t want to deal with, but OCW has proven to be the best company I have ever been a part of. I am incredibly proud to be a champion here, and I understand the weight that carries.”
“You don’t, Mark, not yet, but you will one day; it just won’t be April 24th.”
“While my niece and sister have intimidating closing lines, I leave you with this….”
The infamous Strader Sneer creeps across her face, and while one might think something serious would leave her lips, that just shows they don’t know Tamika Strader at all.
“I always take life with a grain of salt. And a slice of lemon. And a shot of tequila. Which is exactly what I am going to do when I take my Craze title home.”
“See ya in the funny pages, Hero, My Hero.”
We aren’t sure how anyone will see this or if the entire roster just had to listen to her ramble for fifteen minutes, but either way, Tamika Strader was able and ready to defend and make her own mark in the history of OCW.
