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Miss_Undastood Vice Captain
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 Posted: Wed Sep 27, 2017 9:01 pm
A syrupy three-chord medley opened up onto an electronic beat as the camera swept across the Space Needle, panning across the glass and steel of the high-rise buildings that dotted the Seattle skyline and the mountains beyond them in the distance as the sun made its path across their faces and out to the rays that caught in each ripple of water as that poured into Elliott Bay. The tune quickly faded into the background as the first among the cast of Total Bitches made her introduction, her voice familiar and her smile plain for all to hear before she even spoke her name or the camera cut to her beaming face and trademark red locks.“I am Athena Augustine-Landry and I… am Phoenixfire.”The medley seemed to peak for a few moments after Phoenixfire introduced herself before cutting to a high angle shot from above Phoenixfire at Dementium V in the thick cloak of smoldering vermilion feathers that hung from her shoulders like wings and the train of plumage that followed in her wake as she descended the entrance ramp toward her sister wife, giving a sense of the expanse of her attire before shifting to Brawl at the Beach as she sat against the hood of her Dodge Challenger Hellcat and the tantalizing methodicalness to her fingers undoing the buttons of her jacket and pulling back her hood to reveal the red hair she had tamed into a mohawk, slowing as she ran her palms against the sides of her head, freshly shaved as they had been then before fading back to the woman that sat before the camera today. Mid-forties, hair that lapped at her shoulders in waves, crimson as it always was… but time had changed her features, her hair a duller shade and a sort of wisdom twinkled in the corners of her smiling hazel eyes as she pressed her lips into a smile and spoke to the camera again.“Not only do I get to travel the country, see the world, I'm a mother and a wife…” The camera cut to Landry family footage in vignettes, shots that had been clearly taken with care or borrowed from more professional sources. Athena sweeping her youngest, Luke, off the ground after his first Pop Warner football victory the moment after he had pulled that helmet from his head, hugging him close and kissing him on the cheek. A slow pan of the garage at the Landry family compound as Matthias stood with his side to the camera and bent over the engine block of his powder blue ‘87 Chevy Silverado and Athena sat perched with her arms crossed against the early fall chill on the stone wall that sat opposite the truck, standing up as the camera moved closer and craning her head back to the tool kit that sat beside her as Matthias mouthed words barely caught by the camera and tugging at her sweater sleeves before plucking a wrench and handing it to her eldest who then descended back into the depths of the truck. The next shot took in the fullness of the gridiron at the Seahawks’ latest Super Bowl win as Athena arrived on the field after a sprint from the executive skybox with Luke in tow and Matthias not far behind her, just in time for the procession of the Vince Lombardi trophy onto the field, her red hair a contrast against the steely backdrop of the stadium and her proud grin hard to miss in the crowd as she pointed up to draw a starstruck Luke’s attention to the podium some yards away as they passed and ascended toward where Mike stood atop the podium with the coach, the quarterback, a couple other players, and some other men before hoisting the trophy up for the entire stadium to see before presenting it to the cameras to broadcast to the millions and millions watching at home. Athena’s hearty laughter slipped through the cracks of the footage as it faded to her sitting in front of a warm, textured purple background with her fingers curled and resting under her nose and the corners of her mouth crooked as she tried to hold back another chuckle.“I’m so sorry. That introduction was some Disney-grade bullshit… can we shoot that again?”The frames that followed that line seemed to be each vignette but spun in reverse against the pop melody that had played Athena in, the sound of a record scratching the whole way before cutting back to the scarlet haired vixen in her black v-neck blouse, rolling her sleeves above her elbow before she combed a section of her forelocks from along the top her forehead, down her face, and behind her ear. “It’s still me. I’m still Athena Augustine-Landry. It’s still Phoenixfire.”Gone was the footage that aired with the veteran’s initial introduction, giving way now to still by still footage of her in action. Her saunter toward the podium from the audience at a press conference, how the cameras flashed at an irregular pace and caught off her bangs and played in her updo before she ascended the stage in her little black dress and Jimmy Choos and adjusted the mic to her height. The long shot in slow motion from the crowd at the fatal four-way triple cage match at WWE:E’s The Crusade pay-per-view when Chrono buckled and fell into her and sent her toppling from the cage at the very top. Phoenixfire covered in fake blood and roaring in anger after her sister-wife drenched the ring in a bloodbath at Dementium V. A long shot of the diva after one of her first Hall of Fame ceremonies that had come years later and long after many had given up hope that she would ever be honored, clad in an evening gown made of the finest crimson silk with the ever memorable Claire Hawkins at her back after dispensing of her duties to present the award and leaving Phoenix to hold that award high for the crowd in attendance to see. “I’m married to the Heartbreaker, mother to the Neo-Phoenix and the Black Swan and their little brother, Luke…”Athena cut back into view against the textured purple background as her name card popped up in the lower left hand of the screen before she looked directly into the camera lens and grinned from ear to ear.“And I can still…”A medium shot that caught the impact of her entering her nth lockup at the start of a match flashed across the screen.
“Kick…”Then a choice shot of her laying out an opponent with her finisher, the Cookie Cutter- how that upper cut had landed so hard the world felt it.
“Your…”
Then a low angle shot- again in slow motion- of Athena grimacing as she swung her arm around at a 90-degree angle with her fist clenched to rock the jaw of an opponent.
“a**.”
And another of her lining up her opponent before hitting arguably her favorite finisher, the bridging swinging fisherman’s suplex- the Fire Spin. The screen faded to black before the Total Bitches name card faded into the screen, an elegant font tracing the first word into the upper half of the black before hardcore, oversaturated paintbrush stroke lettering etched the last into the eyes of the audience.
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Posted: Wed Sep 27, 2017 10:47 pm
The elegance and contrast of the Total Bitches logo gave way to the time lapse of the sun tracking across the bay and catching in the glass of the buildings that stood with the cool, constant presence of the mountains at their back. The cars seemed to bustle along at a breakneck pace in the early morning hours, stopping for only a second it seemed before hurrying off to points unknown. Sidewalks buzzed with pedestrians, their feet carrying them past the windows of boutique and coffeehouse alike, the streets lined with wreath and tree and men decked out in suits of red velvet and frothy beards- the city dangling with every trapping of the holidays- before the camera again cut to the carefully coiffed slopes and homes of steel and glass and stone that nestled themselves in the hills northwest of Seattle, tracking along a quiet avenue before panning around a delightfully postmodern manse with angles so sharp you could cut yourself on and windows warmed by amber light tucked behind sweetgum trees bare of their leaves before the frame seemed to pause. This… was home.
“To the sound of a heartbeat pounding away…”
The tinny sound of a radio and the gentle rattle of an alarm vibrating against a tabletop bled into the scene as the sharp curses of a woman woken up way too goddamn soon pierced the ears of the viewers at home. The camera cut again to a shock of red hair resting atop a mound of pillows and shrouded by blanket and sheet alike.
“To the rhythm of the awful rusted machines; we toss and turn but don't sleep…”
“…goddammit, Mike.”
“Each breath we take makes us thieves, like causes without rebels…”
Athena rolled herself away from the hellish noise before she let out a frustrated groan before realizing any attempt at escaping it was an exercise in futility before tossing herself around and back toward the source of the noise, slamming her fist against the snooze button once…
“Just talk…”
Twice…
“But promise nothing el-”
Third time’s the charm.
Athena drew her arm back under the blanket and plopped onto her back as she groggily muttered ‘<******** a*****e’, crawling underneath the covers for those precious last moments before she absolutely had to wake up. She grimaced as she sat up, feeling the late December chill settling into her knees and her feet and that one shoulder she injured years ago before craning her neck to glance at the empty space opposite of where she had slept as she rubbed her palm against her cheek, trying to work the dregs of drowsiness out of her system. Athena rolled her eyes and gently shook her head at the lengths that Mike had gone to to annoy her out of slumber. She could almost hear his goofy, ridiculous chortle as he set the alarm when she wasn’t around, knowing full well that the one song that she hated the most was a surefire way to get out of bed in time for her flight. Athena swung the covers to the side as she gingerly plopped one foot, then another onto the hardwood floors, withdrew her phone from the alarm’s charging dock, and plodded off camera.
The camera cut smoothly into the cool cream walls of the bathroom that Athena had walked into, pointed at the mirror that bore her reflection back to the viewer. She was favoring her right arm over her left, grimacing as she struggled to keep that arm close to her body and talk to the camera man behind her at the same time as she went about dragging a paddle brush the length of her crimson locks. Athena grit her teeth as she tried to work the kinks in her shoulder and her arm loose as the brush in her right hand hit a minefield of tangles, causing her to whimper in pain before she finally put the brush down and looked over her shoulder at the camera while she swung her hand around the bathroom counter in search of something.
“I would say good morning but it’s what? 7 in the morning, 8? And this Seattle chill is too much- you would think an Alaskan would be used to this s**t- and I’ve got to get put together and drag me and the boys to SeaTac for a noon flight to Anchorage. Now where did I put the goddamn Advil?”
Athena let out a sigh of relief as she hit pay dirt, her fingers clumsily clasping at the lid before depositing the plain bottle into her fist and working the lid until it came off just enough to slip a couple pills into her hand. She dropped the pills onto the counter before scurrying to get the lid back on and pulling a drawer loose and tossing the bottle back in before bumping it closed with her hip.
“You’ll have to forgive my mess, arm hasn’t been right since Dementium V. Probably nobody’s fault but my own-”
Athena tapped at her temple with two fingers before twisting the faucet enough to let the water bead into drops before it trickled out and grabbing a paper cup to under the spigot.
“Thick skull, didn’t listen to the trainers, didn’t listen to Darin Fontaine… and especially not to Mike.”
Athena cracked a grin that had the potential to cleave her face in two as she nestled the paper cup gently in her good hand, cautiously picked the medicine up in the other and took a swig of water before popping the pills in her mouth and wincing as she gulped the medication down. She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head before looking back into the mirror and half attempting to smile for the people on the other side of that camera. Nobody wanted to see their hero hurt but the sad reality was that after years of putting her body on the line… there were consequences and they weren’t always pretty. Athena hesitantly began to flex her arm out and away from her body, bending her elbow and working her shoulder to make sure movement was still there and continued her morning routine as she kept talking to the camera behind her.
“Speaking of Mike…”
Athena grabbed for a bottle of spray and deposited a fine layer of mist over her hair before dragging the paddle brush back through it again, her locks smoothing into their trademark waves with each stroke. She paused for a moment as she looked back at the camera between each brush of her hair, preferring not to pause because her plate was full with getting the rest of the house up and out the door on time.
“He’s not here. I figured he’d be up early; I mean, it’s a big week- holiday s**t with the King of the Wing Restaurants, then the Seahawks’ game on Christmas Day and all those festivities. There’s something else he’s up to, too, bringing Kelly and some other guy around… I haven’t bothered to ask because usually I’m shooed out of the room before I have the chance to.”
Athena shrugged as she finished taming her mane into submission and reached out for a tube of toothpaste that had had the logo duct taped over, shaking her head as she popped the lid open and grabbed at the toothbrush. She held the brush steady as she deposited a bead of the paste onto the brush, pressed the tube closed before tossing it to the side, and working the faucet on. She passed the brush under the water for a second before cutting her eyes back to the camera, the corner of her mouth crooked up in a soft smile that almost hid the dark circles that loomed under her eyes.
“Matthias crashed here last night after he worked dinner till close at the restaurant instead of going back to his place so he could drive all three of us to SeaTac since Mike’s busy. I have to get him up, get Luke up, get what passes for breakfast, move the Hellcat into the garage, help haul all our luggage out to the truck, and get the dogs crated before we leave. So if you’ll excuse me…”
Athena began to shove the polished white door closed with her shoulder as she put her toothbrush in her mouth, speaking around it as she tried to shoo the cameraman away.
“I’ve got a busy morning.”
The camera was stationary as Athena closed the door in the face of the cameraman, the screen fading to black before cutting to the next scene. Perched on the balcony outside of Athena’s room, the camera caught the buzz of the boats in and out of the harbor with the wind whispering through the branches bare of their leaves. The camera seemed to pan forever on the bay before fading to a medium shot from the hallway outside the bedroom where Athena had first been seen, the door slowly cracking open before Athena stepped out into the hallway and closed the door behind her, trudging barefoot down the hallway with the cameraman at her back. She held one finger to her lips and made a ‘shhhh’ noise before she opened a glossy white door not unlike the one to her room only a short distance down the hall, gingerly twisting the polished silver handle before pressing the door open with her shoulder to peer inside. The sunlight had begun to filter into the rather spartan room, leaving the bed in a halo of light but not enough to obscure the still neatly folded covers. Athena cracked the door open further and took a couple steps in as if she had overlooked something before she turned around toward the camera with a shrug and began to leave the room.
“He must be on the couch. Now that he’s gotten his own place, he’s too good to sleep in his old room.”
Athena’s lips curved in amusement as she shook her head and left the room, shutting the door behind her back before turning back toward her room and the stairs that led to the rest of the house. Hovering her hand above the banister as she went, she padded down the stairs one at a time, taking care to move as quietly as possible without waking the rest of the house. Athena took the last few stairs two at a time before she ended up in another hallway lined by the best hardwood floors money could buy before looking over one shoulder, then another as if doubtful that the coast was clear and the house empty before skulking along the hallway toward the main family area of the Landry home, a room worthy of a Better Homes cover with its ceiling to floor windows with plantation-style shutters and the French doors that opened up on the pool and cabana behind the manse and its mahogany crown molding and baseboards and the granite fireplace with the monster flat screen television that that hung above the family photos and the stockings that hung along the mantel and the hearty Christmas tree that stood in the corner of the room. A chair dotted the room here and there- in the corner by the window with a side table and a lamp, a couple around a smaller coffee table across the room and by the corner with the Christmas tree, an imposing armchair with a artfully carved end table that sat at an angle to the dyed leather sectional next to it. Athena peered around the corner into the room to check if her son had slept there- she could see his scraggly auburn curls propped against a throw pillow and peeking out from under a blanket- and smiled to herself, pausing to turn and hush the cameraman again before she began to slink toward the sofa. She had only walked about two or three feet before her toes touched on a floorboard that creaked, wincing as she cursed under her breath and squinting her eyes shut as if that would magically make her disappear if the noise was enough to wake Matthias. The low whine of her German Shepherd and Great Dane mix was enough to force her eyes open again to meet the dog as his ears perked up and he lifted his head to prop on the back of the couch. She mouthed the words, “hush, Duke,”as she padded around the couch and the sable dog frowned and lowered his head back to where he had been sleeping beside his master. Athena had to give Duke credit, he was fiercely loyal to the boys and had grieved in his own way when Matthias moved out so she should have known she’d find him here- the two were as thick as thieves when Matthias was home. She rounded the couch as Duke looked up from between his paws from his end of the sectional in disapproval, as if he knew what Athena was up to before she did it. Rounding the corner of the couch where Matthias rest his head, she crouched down to where her face was just above his head, presumably near his ears, took a deep breath… and spoke.
“Wake up, Neo… the Matrix has you.”
The words were sudden enough to jar her eldest awake, flinching so hard that Duke yelped in surprise as he catapulted himself off the couch and scurried out of the room. She stumbled backward and into the armrest of the armchair behind her as Matthias sat up with a start, tossing the blanket aside as he threw his arm out to stop his roll over the edge of the cushion and into the floor. Matthias looked up from the mess of curls that had fallen in his eyes to see his mom before letting out an exasperated sigh, pushing himself back onto the couch and gradually working to sit himself upright.
“…what the <********>, Mom? I was asleep.”
“Morning, Mattybear. I’m glad to see you, too.”
Athena grinned like a Cheshire cat as she stood tall, crossing her arms. Her grin softened into a smile as she caught her eldest groggily rolling his eyes at his childhood moniker as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes one at a time with the palm of his hand before combing his tangled shoulder length hair back with his fingers.
“You couldn’t just wake me up like a normal mother? I mean, was that even necessary?”
“Necessary, no, but…”
Athena let her words trail off as she shrugged in reply to her son’s question. Duke padded back into the living room and peeked around the corner of the sectional, his eyes anxious after having the s**t scared out of him by the lady of the house before shifting his brown eyes toward Matthias as if looking for reassurance.
“You even scared the dog. Don’t mind Mom, Duke. She can’t help it she’s an a*****e.”
Athena stifled a chuckle as she began to walk out of the family room as Matthias began to fold his blanket up and try to leave the couch in better shape than he found it.
“What time is it anyway, Ma?”
“Uhhh… 7:45-ish, Matthias. I’m gonna go start getting your brother up and started getting ready… take Duke out to the bathroom, put him in his crate, get ready and when you’re done, catch me in the kitchen and we’ll go from there.”
“Uh-huh. Sounds like a plan.”
Matthias could be seen putting a hand on each knee before pressing down as he stood over Athena’s shoulder as she trotted back down the hallway and up the stairs towards the bedrooms of the home. There was a spring in her step as she bounded back up the stairs and down the hallway towards her youngest son’s room. Athena was, dare she say it… excited about going home for Christmas. She slowed her pace as she came to the next to last room on the hall, cracking the door much as she had when checking Matthias’ room earlier before taking hushed steps inside. This was clearly the room of a small child, once the camera adjusted to the sunlight that filtered through the shutters on the windows set into the wall behind the bed much like his brother’s and the windows at the corner of the building that ran from ceiling to floor like in her own room. Seattle Seahawks posters peppered the hunter green walls and a football rested at an odd angle underneath the lamp on the bedside table, not too far off from the photo of a shock of spiky red hair with the Seahawks' defensive line- she couldn't remember if it was from last season or not- and toys dotted the area rug that covered part of the hardwood floor and a skateboard rest against the corner where the wall between this room and the next met and glow-in-the-dark stars dotted the ceiling that a solar system mobile hung from where a light used to be. Athena carefully shooed toys to the side as she went- Luke could be bad about keeping his room tidy- before she came alongside his bed, flipping the switch on his lamp off before she gingerly placed her hand on the short mop of hair atop her son’s head and lowered her voice to a whisper.
“Come on, LouLou. Time to get up.”
“But Mooooom.”
“But Mooooom. LouLou, I thought you were excited to fly out to see Grams and aunt Lexi and cousin Paulie. Love you like the dickens but you need to get up.”
The seven year old let out a short whimper as he curled into a tighter ball under the covers, trying to escape his mom’s voice. Athena let out a chuckle at her son’s reluctance to get up before she peeled the blanket back off of his bed, only to be met with a cry of protest from her youngest and a bark of surprise from the Cocker Spaniel puppy that Athena could only assume Luke had sneaked upstairs to his room during the night. It would explain his exhaustion. The child loved the puppy that Athena and Mike had gotten him as an early Christmas present to a fault, she swore.
“What did I tell you about sneaking Boom up to your room?”
Luke let out a sigh of exasperation at being asked so many questions so early in the morning, especially so soon after waking up before he slowly moved to sit up and reached his arm out to bring the dog with him. He cut his eyes at his mother, trying to gauge how upset he was before he pouted and huffed as if to express his displeasure at not getting his way. Athena sat down on the edge of the bed with her head tilted as she gave her son a stern look before letting her son’s full name start to roll off her tongue as a warning.
“Luke Ale-”
Luke let his shoulders go slack and tilted his head back with a groan before he spoke. His mom had caught him and he knew it.
“We don’t let Boom sleep in our room at night. We have to put him to sleep in his own bed in the crate.”
Athena let a wry smile crease her face as she nodded, silently mouthing the words her son said as he said them.
“That’s right. Because if he sleeps in here, he can’t get to his food or his water or the puppy pad. I know you’re excited to have him, baby, but rules are rules.”
Athena shook her head as her son let out a huff of disappointment and went straight back to this grumpy expression that made him look a lot like her when he’s mad. She shook her head as she stood up and cracked the door to his closet loose, picking through hangers before pulling out clothes and draping them across the chair at his desk on the other side of his room where he kept his homework and coloring and more toys. Luke was swinging one leg then the other over the side of the bed before he got up and walked over to give her a hug. The kid could try her patience at times but he always managed to make it to where she could almost never stay mad at him. Athena smiled as she combed his hair out of his face before he finally let her go and turned to groggily stare at what she’d left for him in the chair.
“Matty’s downstairs with Duke so after you brush your teeth and your hair and get ready come to the kitchen and we’ll be waiting on you with breakfast… but make it quick. We’ve got to leave in about half an hour to make our flight. Don’t worry about Boom. I’ve got him. Just get ready, sweetheart.”
Athena stooped down to kiss her youngest on the cheek before scooping the puppy that had begun to haplessly attempt burrowing back under the covers to sleep, whimpering as she lifted him into her arms and left the room. She went down the hallway and trod down the stairs again, much like she had earlier and just in time to see Duke running back up the brick stairs and onto the porch from the yard with Matthias in tow. Duke pressed his face to the door and she could see him squint when he saw she had Boom before letting out a clipped bark of disappointment before turning back to Matthias as he leaned over the dog and tried to open the door to let him in. Duke was Athena’s dog through and through, adopted as a puppy and stayed with her for the couple years before she and Mike got back together and had practically grown up with Luke so he had a keen sense of what was going on now that Luke had gotten a puppy and had made it clear he was not thrilled with being replaced. It was kind of impressive how this dog articulated his displeasure. Athena felt Boom shrink into her bad shoulder as he let out another whine and winced before she thought to hold him still while Matthias led Duke to the mud room where their crates were kept and went outside to let Boom take care of business.
“Come on, Boom. Let’s make it quick. We’ve got to go.”
The camera followed Athena along the ground floor hallway and out into the yard where she sat him on a lawn so luxuriously green for this far into December in Seattle and gave the dog a few minutes to do his business before she picked him up and came inside much like Matthias had led Duke inside, depositing the clearly nervous Cocker Spaniel puppy in a crate of his own opposite the German Shepherd/Great Dane mix who curled up on the far end of his crate and made it plain with his piercing brown eyes that he clearly was not a fan of his younger counterpart.
“Don’t be an a*****e, Duke. He’s just a puppy.”
Athena rolled her eyes as Duke scoffed and laid his head down between his paws and glared up at her.
“Cut the s**t. We’re not replacing you.”
Duke curled away from his owner as Boom sat up in his crate, nervously glancing between Athena and his older companion.
“Boom, you’ll be fine. Mike will be home before you know it. Be good dogs, okay?”
The camera cut to the hall outside the mud room as Athena walked through the threshold, hung a sharp corner and found herself in the kitchen with the view of the harbor and the stainless steel appliances and the cream-colored cabinets and the black marble counter-tops and the island in the middle of it all with the range that she fought tooth and nail with Mike to get. Matthias stood in front of the TV that was nestled in a black marble back splash as he flipped through the local news, cursing under his breath about ‘all I want is the goddamn traffic, where’s that eye in the sky when I ******** need it’ as he scratched at his scalp just below where he had gathered all his hair up into a sloppy bun so it’d be out of the way. He found a station he could tolerate before he tossed the remote down on the counter with a sigh, rubbing the five o’clock shadow that had sprouted on his chin as his eyes wide with recognition as he turned around to catch her walking into the kitchen.
“So what’s the game plan now, Mom?”
“Luke’s getting ready, we all need to eat but I left the Hellcat out before you got home last night so I need to back it into the garage and we still need to get the luggage out of the spare bedroom upstairs and haul it to the Silverado.”
“Gotcha.”
Athena walked over to the automatic coffee maker that had only seconds left on the cycle that she had set an alarm to start last night in time for the three of them to be up and have one less thing for her to do. She stood on her tiptoes to grab two mugs from the highest shelf before shutting the cabinet and turning back to her eldest, a mug in each hand.
“Red mug or blue mug, Neo?”
“Ha ha, Mom. Very original.”
Athena chortled as her son rolled his eyes so hard they could have popped out of his face as he shook his head. She sat the mugs slightly apart on the corner of the island that stood opposite the refrigerator and the coffeemaker, cracking the stainless steel door open and letting it come to rest on her hip as she began pulling coffee creamer and bacon and a carton of eggs and passing them to the counter before she pressed the door shut. She grabbed the sugar from on top of the fridge as the coffeemaker chimed its shrill melody to declared its brew finished and set the sugar beside the coffee creamer and the mugs, absentmindedly reaching back up to the top of the fridge to fish a Pop Tart out of the box, pausing to check the flavor as if lost in thought before skipping over one box and grabbing a silver wrapper then gently placing it on the counter. Athena poured some creamer into the red mug before grabbing the coffee urn and pouring as she spoke to her son, still propped against the counter opposite her on the other side of the island.
“Get breakfast started. Scramble some eggs, fry bacon… when Luke comes down the stairs, tell him these are the Chocolate Peanut Butter kind like he likes. What Dad doesn’t know, doesn’t hurt him.”
Athena cradled her hand around the red mug and took a sip as she walked to the pegs on the wall that held a row of keys, swiping one with a leather tassel dangling off of it before walking out of sight. Her voice could be heard in the hallway- “Cherry or you’re wrong, my a**”- trailing off as she got closer to the front door before the door creaked open and shut behind her and the sound of the garage door scrolling up before the throaty rumble of the Hellcat fired up. The car could be heard inching in reverse into the garage as the youngest of the Landry clan came down the stairs one at a time with a stuffed hawk clutched to his side, a small knapsack hanging off his shoulder, and his hand a vice-like grip on the banister, stopping to right himself at the landing, then back down the last flight of stairs and trudging down the hallway into the kitchen. Matthias looked up from the island as he hauled a skillet and a pan from beneath the range when he caught his little brother standing in the door, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes with his free hand and frowning still at the prospect of being awake. He smiled as he stood up and placed the skillet on the grill next to the pan then brushed his hands clear of the dust that he had shaken loose by digging around in the cabinet before waving him over.
“Morning, Luke. Mom’s putting the car up but she’ll be back in a minute. Hungry?”
Matthias eased his smile as he held up the pack of toaster pastries his mom left out between his thumb and pointer finger before crinkling the wrapper a little. The noise was enough to make Luke perk up a little as he realized his brother had food, a toothy grin of realization working its way across his face before he trudged across the hardwood floors toward his brother. Matthias knelt down to hug Luke as he waited for the range to heat the skillet up.
“Glad to see you, too, kid.”
Luke sighed as he let go of his brother and continued to the large dining room table made of white oak at the far end of the kitchen that had the best view of the harbor in the distance and hoisted his stuffed hawk onto the table top and dropping his knapsack to the floor before crawling in the chair, his elder brother not far behind him. Matthias sat the crinkled silver packet down after he ripped the pack open.
“Mom said they’re chocolate peanut butt-”
The corners of Luke’s mouth curled down in the most amusing and adorable display of disgust the viewers at home had ever seen, Matthias pausing out of confusion before he reached for the Pop Tarts. He furrowed his brow as he picked the packet up and looked over his shoulder once he heard the front door crack again. His mom was back in the house.
“No. I don’t want chocolate peanut butter. I want cherry.”
“But Mom said you lik-”
“But Mom is wrong. I want cherry… please.”
Matthias shrugged out of sheer surprise before walking back to the fridge and shoving the opened packet back in its respective box and hauling a packet of Cherry out of its box. He asked his brother if he wanted them toasted to which he received a lethargic nod and set about heating the pastries as his mom walked back into the kitchen and returned her keys to their loop as she finished the dregs of coffee still in her mug, tilting her head back to get the last sip before returning to the urn with the creamer to get a second cup. The microwave dinged its warning as Matthias poured out chocolate milk into the glass before returning to the table and handing his brother breakfast with a “here you go, LouLou.” Matthias cracked a grin as his brother groaned and rolled his eyes before he took a bite of the still warm pastry then returned to the range where he’d left the skillet and pan. Athena was depositing way too much creamer and way too little coffee into the mug as she spoke over the counter to the child who sleepily chewed his way through his toaster pastry in between mindless sips at his glass of chocolate milk.
“Glad you could join the land of the living, Luke. Did you get ready like I asked?”
“…good morning to you, too, Mom.”
Athena shot a daggerlike look at her youngest as he glazed over her question, sounding a little too much like his father in the process. She tilted her head to the side as she held the mug of hot coffee away from her face, ready to scold her youngest for his sass but…
“Yeah. I remembered my bag and Tony, too.”
Luke held his stuffed hawk up by one wing before he sat it down to gnaw at the toaster pastry again after he huffed and shrugged his shoulders, taking a sip at his drink as he turned away to look out the window like something had caught his eye on the other side. Athena glossed over the shortness in her son’s voice as she turned back to Matthias, cracking open a few eggs in a pan and laying out strips of bacon in between sips from his blue mug of coffee.
“I’m gonna head upstairs and finish getting ready.”
Matthias nodded around a gulp of coffee as he stepped away to let the bacon crisp and whisked some milk into the pan of eggs with a fork.
“Want me to pull the luggage to the landing so you don’t have to lug it all the way down the hall?”
“Yeah, sure. Whatever works. I mean, it’s leaning towards 8:30 so we’ve got a little time left. As long as we get out of here on time…”
“I know, you really…”
Matthias finished his mother’s sentence as he methodically began flipping the bacon a strip at a time before going back to deposit scrambled eggs across two plates. He didn’t bother leaving any for Luke; something about the texture of scrambled eggs really threw him off and he didn’t want to make this morning any more difficult by stressing his little brother out because getting through to SeaTac on time would be trouble enough.
“I really want to hit the 509 on time because I don’t want to fight mid-morning traffic and make us later than we probably are already.”
Athena shrugged nonchalantly before turning on her heels and heading into the hallway, bound for the stairs that twisted up and into the upper levels of the manse. She jogged up the steps as fast as her legs would carry her before she disappeared out of the view of the camera. The shot of the stairs faded to black before opening up on the door to her room again, opening to reveal Athena as she picked at the loose braid she had worked her red locks into and rolling up the sleeves of her sweater to reveal the Phoenix sleevework she’d had done well before Luke was born, the warm red hues and black lines of the bird and its feathers dulled with age but the bird still ruffled its wings with each twist and flex of the muscles of her upper arms- not as strong and toned as they once were when she was action but even Mike knew she could still throw a hook hard enough to rock someone’s world when she meant to. Hitching up her jeans by the belt as she walked down the hallway, the camera caught her hesitation as she drew near to the last room, like she didn’t want to touch the polished silver handle to see what was on the other side. The camera caught Athena’s profile as the door swung open to bathe her face in the early morning Seattle sun that bled through the windows that swallowed two walls in the corner of the room before she stepped inside and out of view. The next shot was from the door to the room and the sunlight and the silence married to create a void after Athena’s chest heaved up and down with one hell of a sigh as she nervously rubbed her palms against her jeans and the camera adjusted to reveal…
The light cast an eerie glow on everything its warm fingers caressed. The camera couldn’t pick it up but the room reeked of cedar from the chest that was propped against the full bed frame, the pastel green linen perfectly folded at the corners but the mattress empty and the covers as undisturbed as the day she folded them. A massive vanity made of sweetgum sat against one wall, lined with hairbrushes and perfumes and lotions and all manner of traditionally girly amenities and a porcelain doll perched on one end, its painted face dour and unmoving as it took in the world around it through its unnatural green eyes. Frames empty of pictures dotted the room as if waiting for the memories to be made by the person that was supposed to slumber here but never did. The camera swiveled around to catch every line of sorrow that lined Athena’s face, the tears that welled up at the corner of her eyes as she turned away in time for the camera to catch the letters made of silver that lined the wall, adjusting to reveal a name as Athena stooped to begin picking up a suitcase at a time- “Invidia.” Athena had been so confident along the road leading up to her rancorous divorce, so hopeful that she had a chance in Hell of winning that custody battle. Her face was etched with pain and regret each glimpse that it got of Athena, shoving a suitcase forcefully under an arm as her mind drifted back to that house in Colorado all those years ago. How she had fled to Mike with Matthias in tow for sanctuary from her estranged husband. How she stood in that room with the futon mattress and the crib long before Malice burned the whole thing to the ground. How it felt to realize that she had shut Mike out of all those firsts and all those memories when she fell in with Chrono. How unwavering his confidence was that he would get Matthias back, gain custody and get to hear him cry and laugh and play and eat and hell… just live.
Oh, how this hell had come full circle when the Clepsydras made sure her daughter was far enough out of reach. She could hear the words of the judge ringing in her damned ears again, how her daughter didn’t know who she was, had no idea of who her mother was except the one that b***h Yukari had been to her, how he in good conscience could not release the child into the care… of a stranger.
Athena’s face contorted with sorrow as she swallowed that bitter pill of memory and wiped the sides of her hands against her face as the tears began to work paths down her cheeks, forcefully tossing the suitcases to the side as she tried to stifle her grief before the rest of the house heard. She had to collect herself before she went back downstairs. Luke had to be spared of this grief at all costs but Matthias would open wounds long since healed if he got even a hint that his mother still longed for the daughter that had been ripped from her arms, that she never got a chance to be a mother to.
The camera cut again to Athena, loaded with a suitcase in one hand and a smaller one under an arm and one on wheels rolling behind her and turning to pull the door closed with one foot. She dragged them all down the stairs and to the front door rather than stick to her word and make her son retrieve them from the stairs but made another trip for a shapeless duffel bag that she dropped by the rest. They were only going to be in Anchorage for two weeks, from Christmas until New Years and her mother had everything she needed in a laundry room to stay how ever long was needed. Athena pulled the hem off her sweater down over her jeans before adjusting the neckline that rode a little to close to her throat for her liking but she would need that in the Anchorage cold, combing her hair behind her ears as she turned back to the kitchen. She took a deep breath to compose herself before smiling as best she could and walking into the kitchen to find the boys at the table, Luke finishing his Pop Tarts and taking the last swig of his chocolate milk before swiping a piece of bacon off of his brother’s plate and the surprise that worked its way around a mouthful of eggs as Matthias tried to playfully stop his brother but both only ended up giggling before going back to their food. Matthias was scraping the last bit of eggs off of the plate and into his mouth and raising the mug of coffee to his lips as he turned to see his mother walk into the room. He stood to deposit his plate in the sink before crossing the room and hugging his mother with a quick “be back in a second” before heading off to start loading luggage into the bed of his Silverado. Athena scarfed down the eggs and bacon in between sips of coffee again- she had finally found a brew she enjoyed and drank it every chance she got- as the camera cut to outside the Landry manse again.
Opening the door with her youngest just underfoot, Athena kept her house keys cradled in one hand as she let Luke trudge off towards his brother with Tony just under his arm as he tied the tarp over the bed of his powder blue Silverado and adjusted his winter coat before opening the door and letting him climb in and tossing him his knapsack after handing him Tony. She stopped to turn and lock the door before shoving the keys in her purse before the camera caught her descending the stately brick steps of her home and turning for a last look as if she had either forgotten something or didn’t want to leave before she made her way across the driveway to Matthias impatiently holding the door for her to climb in beside Luke. The last shots were of Athena buckling her seatbelt with a thin smile before Luke wedged his way under her arm to curl up against her side and rest his head on his shoulder and go back to sleep as Matthias climbed in, started the old truck with a mighty roar, and threw it into reverse before the camera faded to black.
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Miss_Undastood Vice Captain
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Miss_Undastood Vice Captain
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Posted: Mon Oct 02, 2017 8:28 pm
The ‘87 Silverado’s brake lights illuminated briefly before disappearing behind a copse of sweetgum trees and down the slope, leaving the scene to fade to black before Athena faded into view with her crimson locks against that same textured purple background from earlier. The camera was stationery but Athena’s eyes could be seen tracking the movement of some figure behind the camera, squinting in confusion before raising her eyebrows and smiling in amusement at something the audience couldn’t see. Athena readjusted herself in her seat, tugging at the mic that rest on the neck of her blouse before a voice could be heard from off screen.
“So how does it feel to be going home for the holidays, Athena?”
Athena chuckled ruefully as she dragged the palm of her hand the length of the right side of her face. Clearly this question was a charged one and those at home could read in her eyes that she was weighing her words carefully. Anchorage was home- what could be so bad about home?
“It’s… complicated. I don’t get up to Anchorage often. Fact of the matter is home doesn’t bring the nostalgia and the warm fuzzies for me that it does for a lot of people. I wouldn’t even be going home for Christmas if it weren’t for my sister talking me into it.”
The confessional booth grew quiet as Athena trailed off at the end of her sentence, like she was remembering something. She was a woman distracted by memory, you could tell it in her eyes by how far off they looked. Athena shook her head clear before she smiled awkwardly and turned back to the camera, rubbing her forehead as if she were trying to shake the cobwebs in her head off and work a memory loose for the camera.
“It’s usually the other way around and my mom comes down to Seattle for whatever but this year was different. Figured why not go home for Christmas for the first time since… God, before Landry, Chrono, and I started feuding? I don’t know.”
Athena drew a deep breath in before exhaling slowly and speaking again.
“I mean, I was in Anchorage a few months ago for an uh, family emergency but I went by myself.”
The bodiless voice on the other side of the camera could be heard shifting in their seat, the chair creaking underneath their weight before coming to a stop. They could be heard taking a breath and opening their mouth as if to speak but pausing all of the sudden, like they had changed their mind about what they wanted to say all of the sudden. The room went silent for a few seconds before the voice spoke again.
“What makes it so complicated, though?”
“You know how they say you can’t go home again, right?”
The voice could be heard uh-huhing off screen after Athena paused to give them a chance to respond.
“It’s kind of like that. I had an, uh… rocky past, let’s call it. I didn’t leave home on the best of terms. I was one of those kids that got out of hand later on in my childhood and ended up being a real pistol in my teen years and it all came to a head and I ended up just… disappearing. No contact, no forwarding address. My mom and my sister didn’t know how to get ahold of me for years. And I did it on purpose. There were hurt feelings and I didn’t want to talk about it.”
Athena’s chest heaved with a great sigh as she folded her hands in her lap and stared at the floor in the distance, haunted by the ghosts of her past. Her eyebrows perked up and she scratched her forehead in confusion as she stuttered and started to speak again.
“T-there was that tag match with me and Mike and Shanahan and Claire with the fallout when I wouldn’t kiss Mike. Then like, right after security dragged me out to face Mike with Shanahan that one time, I just gave up. There was Matthias to think about back then and I…”
Athena’s voice cracked as she tripped over the last few words, bringing her fingers to rest just under her nose as she tried to keep herself from tearing up. For a woman whose family had run the gauntlet for all the world to see, being vulnerable on screen still made Athena very uncomfortable.
“I needed my mom and I wanted to go home.”
Athena sighed as she sat up straight for the camera, trying to shrug off the display of emotion she just had.
“So I went home. Everything was fine for awhile. Matthias got to be a normal boy for awhile. Then I got it in my head that I was better off back in the ring.”
Athena chuckled as she shrugged off the storyline that had carried her to stardom, had broken her family and brought it back together again.
“And we fell apart again. Mostly because of my own bullheadedness. I’m stubborn and independent and like doing things my way and it was just like when I was a kid again. You couldn’t tell me nothing.”
Pressing her lips into a thin smile, Athena looked at the camera again.
“But I have to give my mom and my sister credit. While I was off self-destructing and putting my family in danger, they fought like hell until I was myself again. They were there for Matthias when I couldn’t be, when everybody had their hands full with my bullshit. It was, um… pretty goddamn humbling.”
Athena scratched her head as she pulled herself together again, as if she hadn’t just bore her soul before the camera.
“And the rest, as they say… is history. I started trying to rebuild those bridges I burned before I retired and here we are. We Skype. We call each other. We bullshit on Facebook. Like I said, Mom’s been down to Seattle a few times. It only seemed right for me to make the trek this time, you know?”
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Posted: Tue Oct 03, 2017 1:36 pm
The camera cut from the silence that followed the end of Athena’s confessional to a side view of Matthias’ old truck cruising along the 509 in the mid-morning traffic as it flowed south into the heart of Seattle. After the truck sped up and left the camera crew trailing in its wake, the screen cut to the interior of Matthias’ truck as they cruised down the highway toward the airport, the radio a low hum resonating within the eerie quiet of the truck. Athena had her head propped against the glass and was halfway to dozing off much as her youngest had when Matthias leaned over to crank the volume on the stereo up a couple notches, eliciting a sideways glare from Athena on the other side of the truck before Matthias shrugged it off and turned the sound back to where it had been. Athena shrugged as she sat up straight and tried her best to not wake Luke up.
“For leaving the house late, we’re making pretty good time.”
“If my calculations are correct, Mom…”
“Yeah?”
Silence enveloped the truck again as the trio stayed the course toward SeaTac before Matthias glanced over at his mom, back to the road, then back to his mom again.
“When this baby hits 88 miles per hour, you're gonna see some serious s**t.”
The corners of Matthias’ mouth curled up in a dumb grin as the camera caught Athena rolling her eyes at that reference her eldest had made.
“I would be mad if that reference weren’t so dumb.”
“Oh, come on, Mom. You and Dad both make shitty jokes. I come by it honest.”
“…fine.”
Athena shook her head at being caught in her own game by Matthias before turning her eyes back out to the road. The camera cut to outside the Silverado again as it cruised along the 509 toward the 518 before cutting again to the vehicle as it banked to the right onto the expressway into the airport. After a few moments, the camera opened up into the parking deck after the truck had come to a full stop and angled up the hood to catch Matthias shift into park before hopping out, leaving his mom and Luke to get themselves together while he pulled luggage from the truck bed. The camera followed at their backs as they walked through the concrete structure toward the sliding doors that opened into the airport, Matthias with a suitcase in each hand and Athena pulling the rolling suitcase that had two duffel bags strapped to the handle and her purse slung over the arm connected to the hand that Luke clung to.
The camera shifted abruptly to the other side of the sliding glass doors as the three walked into the terminal, alive with the activity of passengers arriving and departing and the day-to-day operations of the airport. Athena squinted as she dug in her purse for her glasses before flipping them open and shoving them onto her face as she went back for their tickets upon approach to the check-in, passing documents and cards back and forth across the counter as Matthias methodically took the luggage piece by piece through the luggage check process. After their baggage fees and their luggage had been collected and their boarding passes passed back across the counter and their seats selected and assigned, the camera cut again to the trio, Athena flashing identification and boarding passes as they prepared to go through security. The camera cut again to the terminal on the other side of the security checkpoint and followed the family as they crossed the great curve that was the Central Terminal of SeaTac Airport, headed for their gate as the camera faded to black.
The screen picked back up with Athena, Matthias, and Luke as they passed through the gate and boarded the plane. Athena had Luke tucked safely away with Tony hugged tight at his side in the window seat, her son staring groggily into the distance. Matthias had taken to helping another passenger shove a bag in the overhead bin as she shoved her purse under the seat in front of her and was almost seated herself when her eyes caught on a passenger standing frozen in the middle of the aisle, as if he were waiting for Matthias to get out of his way. Athena furrowed her eyebrows in confusion as she started to stand again and her eyes locked onto the shirt, crisp white font splayed across the chest…
Two Simple Truths.
Athena’s eyes started to widen in disbelief as her eyes locked on that shirt that had been available at Hot Topic and WWFGstore.com and tables literally everywhere that sold merch, looking up from the man’s chest to his face as the realization hit him who he had come face to face with not the Heartbreaker himself but the next best thing- his wife. She swiveled her head around to Matthias as he turned to see what the fuss about, his face melting into an expression of ‘oh, s**t’ much like his mother had when he saw the fan that was borderline invading his personal space. Athena had never encountered one of her own fans unsupervised, let alone one of her husband’s fans in such close quarters before and the camera could read the panic across her face as her eyes darted back and forth from the shirt to the fan’s face as it split into a wide grin at having found someone so close to one of his heroes.
“I know what you're thinking. Did I glare at this mark six times or only five?”
Athena’s voice bled over the scene before the camera cut to the luxurious purple hue of the confessional backdrop again, her laughter rippling throughout the space before she beamed with dumb pride at her poor stab at referential humor.
“Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, I've kinda lost track myself. Roll that beautiful airplane footage.”
Athena chuckled softly as the confessional dissolved to the cabin of the commercial flight she and her sons had embarked for their sojourn home for the holidays, her eyes still locked on the fan as they erupted into smiles and clipped bursts of excitement as they grabbed for the phone in their pocket and turned back to their companion further down the plane. She could feel the goosebumps roiling on the back of her neck as the color drained from her face. It wasn’t that she didn’t love the fans, she did but Athena the woman and Phoenixfire the wrestler were two very different people and Athena was a woman prone to timidity and reticence and fans made her nervous as hell.
“GEORGE! GEORGE! You’ll never guess who’s on this flight with us!”
“Who the hell is it then, Cliff?!”
The fear was painted across Athena’s face, her eyes as wide as saucers from panic and darting around looking for any possible means of escape as Matthias retreated from the overhead bin and tried to shift himself in between his mother and the fan as they started stomping up the aisle with phone in hand and arm extended. She had to give her eldest credit for remembering how hard the public could freak her out when left unchecked, how anxious people could make her period and she silently thanked God for her progeny stepping in to act as a barrier before this superfan could get too close.
“It’s ******** Phoenixfire!”
“What the hell is a Phoenixfire, Cliff?”
Athena felt the question, a sharp barb of a statement pierce her in the chest, wincing in pain at how glibly the mark’s companion glossed over the celebrity of the woman that stood further up the plane from him. She was panicking- that much was certain- and she couldn’t sit down in her seat fast enough.
“It’s Mike’s wife, you dolt! She’s like, a ten-time women’s champion, a third of the genius behind that storyline that got all those awards… you know, Phoenixfire! Hol-y s**t! Matthias is here, too! Is the whole family on the plane, Phoenix? Where’s Mike? He must’ve stepped away but when he comes back, I want a picture with the Heartbreaker. Hol-y s**t, George; this is my lucky d-”
Matthias held his hands at arm’s length as the mark pushed to get close to her, trying to shoo him off with a quiet “that’s enough,” the portly man only coming up to about his shoulders but still bobbing and weaving to try to get a glimpse. Athena could read the disappointment in his face as he realized they were one man short, that it was just her and Matthias and Luke behind her, craning his neck as he leaned forward to get a look at just what in the blue hell was going on. Athena watched as it dawned on Cliff that it was just the three of them, a woman and her two children and shrunk away from Matthias and back into the aisle, wilting now that he realized it was just… her.
“Mike’s not flying with you… is he?”
Athena silently shook her head in the negative as she felt the pit in her stomach disappear and watched the man’s face devolve into a mix of sadness and discontent.
“…uhhhh, you wouldn’t mind if I, uh… at least got a picture with you and Matthias?”
Athena wordlessly shook her head that she didn’t mind when she really did but she knew that if she said no, that the moment this man had WiFi that her and Matthias would be trashed to kingdom come on the dirt sheets and it wouldn't just be her reputation but Mike’s, too, that took a hit. She cut her eyes sharply at Matthias as if to tell him to hold his tongue because she could see how frustrated he was at having to pay lip service to this creep that had rolled up onto him and his mom on this plane as they were just trying to go home. Matthias rolled his eyes as he craned his neck away from the guy and tried to compose himself while Cliff passed his phone off to his buddy, George, and mother and son flanked the man on either side and posed much as they had done for many a fan, smiling for the camera, trying to act pleasant when all they really wanted was to be left alone. The shutter flashed as the phone made a loud click to signal the photo had been taken and Athena tried to smile and be cordial as consolation for this fan having his hopes of seeing his hero, the Heartbreaker, dashed and offered him the least awkward hug she could manage. She forced the corners of her mouth up in a smile before she drew back and released the man back into the aisle to have his hand shaken by Matthias, more because he had to than any feeling of obligation he had to make this fan feel like this interaction had been anything less than personal.
“Merry Christmas, Cliff. It was nice to meet you.”
Cliff nodded with a muffled ‘uh-huh’ before hurrying down the aisle and toward his seat in a flurry of hushed whispers between him and George as he clicked his phone off and shoved it in his jeans. Athena looked over the back of her seat and watched the fading warnings of ‘Bones Will Crack’ and ‘You Will Tap’ disappear further into the plane, wondering what she had just done. Matthias clearing his throat as he sat down with a plop and brushed his coat off before buckling himself in brought her back to reality.
“What the hell was that about?”
Athena frowned at the disdain in her son’s voice before turning to face the front of the plane and buckled herself in as the flight attendant began running through her safety demonstration once the flight had been fully boarded. The encounter had left an impression, you could see it in the lines that ran the length of Athena’s face, the hurt feelings that the fan realizing it was just her had left her with. The footage of her face continued to roll on for a few moments, really locking the impression of that encounter with the fan in before it cut to a wide shot of the Alaska Airlines plane taxiing the runway before finally taking off and into the Seattle skies, pointed northwest toward home.
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Miss_Undastood Vice Captain
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Miss_Undastood Vice Captain
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Posted: Tue Oct 03, 2017 3:26 pm
This episode of Total Bitches is sponsored by Landry's King of the Wing Restaurants, with hundreds of convenient locations for your wing consumption pleasure located across these United States. Whether it be grilling steaks or grilling the hams of some b***h's a** with a branding iron...
Think Landry's.
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Posted: Tue Oct 03, 2017 6:54 pm
The camera returned from commercial to a panorama view of Ted Stevens International Airport from the concourse, a Boeing 737 beginning to slow overhead before gliding over top the spruces dusted with snow that lined the airfield, unloading its landing gear, and touching down fairly uneventfully before taxiing to the gate and leaving the screen to pan across the bold, blue brush strokes that made the word ‘Alaska’ on the plane’s fuselage and the Eskimo on the plane’s fin. It would seem the camera would cut to a view of the gate from inside the terminal next but rather than herald the trio’s arrival in Anchorage… the purple background of the confessional dissolved into view. And much to the surprise of some and the chagrin of a few, their crimson haired vixen from before was not the person who sat in the velvet armchair now, no but instead… her son?
“So Matthias, obviously you have some history- shall we say- with your mom…”
Athena’s eldest sat with his head tilted forward and his elbows propped on his knees, his fingers woven together in front of him, blinking as he nodded along with the producers question. He exhaled sharply as he sat up straight and pressed his back into the plush cushions, rolling his shoulders loose before he adjusted himself and tugged at the crew collar of the t-shirt that hugged his muscular frame. Since retiring from life on-screen, Matthias had devoted his time to taking care of himself both physically and mentally and creating a sense of normalcy that his life had been devoid of up until that point because so much of it was lived on screen and his commitment to life after the ring showed. Matthias pressed his lips into a thin line as he offered a brief ‘mhmm’ in reply to the producer’s question, shaking a few of the strands of the high ponytail tied loosely on the back of his head as he nodded.
“What does that make it feel like to go home?”
Matthias rubbed his hand along the stubble on his jaw as he started and stopped and started again, struggling to find the right words for what Anchorage meant to him.
“I mean, it’s my birthplace but I wouldn’t call it home..”
Matthias let out a sigh in frustration as he struggled with his words, staring at his lap and he idly traced circles on his leg with his hand. He squinted as he started to open his mouth, hesitated, and looked back up to the producer off-screen.
“At least not like my mom would, you know? I lived up there with Grams until I was what, a year or two old? I don’t remember s**t.”
Matthias flashed that trademark smile that he had inherited so obviously from his mother, his eyes twinkling as he let a wry chuckle roll off his lips.
“And even then Grams has moved again since I was a kid, Mom hooked her up with a nice place once her checks started coming in so it’s not like I have a home there to be attached to. Like, I have a really brief memory of breaking lose of my mom and busting through the front door that my uncle had left open and getting chased and tripping off the steps into a pile of snow when I was what, two? You laugh but that s**t was cold.”
There that same burst of laughter came back again as he rubbed the side of his hand underneath an eye as if to keep himself from laughing so hard he cried. Matthias’ grin shrunk before it disappeared again and he was left stoic in the velvet armchair.
“I mean, Christmases in Seattle are what I’m used to, what I like. Grams comes down to visit. We all have dinner Christmas Eve and hang stockings and watch some movie- Mom says it’s like a family tradition to watch this Tim Burton movie on Christmas Eve, I get it but I don’t get it, you know?- and open presents Christmas Day and listen to Grams and Dad b***h back and forth over football while Mom cooks and it’s a wonderful time… I just…”
Matthias took a deep breath in before he exhaled sharply and stared off into the distance for a second, trying to gather himself before he furrowed his brows and looked back up.
“I wasn’t exactly looking forward to Anchorage. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because Dad was busy and I was going to make plans with friends and go out of town...”
“If you aren’t that attached to Anchorage, why did you decide to go?”
“Mom talked me into it, I guess? I don’t know. Now that I’ve got my own place and I train on my own and I pick up shifts at King of the Wing when I’m not schlepping around town doing odd jobs… I don’t get to see Mom or Luke that much. I know it’s really sappy but I know this time of year is hard on us, what with schedules and business and what not… it didn’t seem fair to just peace out of Seattle for the week like that.”
The confessional grew so quiet that you could almost hear the producer nodding in agreement off screen.
“I guess part of me wonders what life was like, what home was before I had all my dirty laundry on screen for the world to see.”
Matthias scratched the side of his head idly as he shrugged then cut his eyes toward the camera again.
“Mom keeps trying to give me some sort of connection to Anchorage, to keep my ties there strong. It’s where I was born and spent a part of my life, however brief, before she brought Dad back into the picture and that happened. Figured why the hell not? What kind of harm could it do?”
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Miss_Undastood Vice Captain
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Miss_Undastood Vice Captain
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Posted: Tue Oct 10, 2017 10:17 pm
Matthias’ words seemed ominous as they hung in the air, the camera focused on his face before cutting back to the interior of Ted Stevens International Airport. The camera tracked from gate to gate until finally coming to a stop as people began to come up the jet bridge and pour into the airport, zeroing in on that familiar shock of crimson hair as it came into view just over the shoulder of a fellow passenger. The camera cut again to a high angle as it followed Athena hand in hand with Luke as Matthias trailed behind them across a corridor flooded with natural light before cutting again to their backs, catching Athena adjust how her purse hung against her shoulder and Luke struggling to keep his knapsack from falling the length of his back as they entered a space lined with seats. The stray passenger or two waiting for their flight camped out but clusters of people were on their feet waiting for their loved ones to arrive, too anxious to camp out with the people behind them.
And that’s when the camera stopped, almost zeroing in on a woman in the distance- you could barely see her over Matthias’ shoulder and the gaggle of men and women standing in front of her, obscuring her view- enough that you couldn’t miss the near uncontainable wave of relief that washed over her face.
“Athena!”
The camera faced Athena just in time to catch her double take as she heard the voice from across the terminal, her eyebrows perking up in surprise before that same sense of relief overtook her face and she shouted back across the terminal. She was home.
“Lexi!”
The auburn haired woman broke through the crowd, shoving aside a portly, balding man in a suit and a couple of his compatriots before bolting across the space between them and wrapping her arms around Athena. Athena let go of Luke’s hand as she returned her sister’s embrace, their faces disappearing from view before reappearing as Athena was held at arm’s length while her sister looked her over.
“God, it’s been too long since I’ve seen you!”
Athena nodded silently before she turned to look over her shoulder to catch Matthias looking down to take his brother’s hand.
“And you! Oh my god, I haven’t seen you in…”
Matthias cleared his throat as his mother stepped out of the way and he leaned in to give his aunt a hug so quick you had to really pay attention or you’d miss it, patting her back with one hand before stepping back to join his brother.
“Nice to see you, too, aunt Alexis.”
“If you didn’t look so much like your mother, I wouldn’t have recognized you, kid. That’s all I’m trying to say. And LouLou, you’ve grown like a weed!”
Luke grinned from ear to ear as he twisted his hand loose from his brother’s and took a step forward to hug his aunt from the side before stepping away without a word.
“Paulie’s going to be over the moon when he finds out you’re here. It’s all he’s talked about all week. It’s the happiest he’s been in awhile…”
Alexis sighed as she stepped backward, her gaze darting to the floor as she nervously rubbed her palms on her pants and tried to hide the happiness draining from her face. Athena smiled ruefully as she stood off to the side, letting the space between the four grow quiet again. The silence between them spoke volumes enough that Athena stepped back in and wrapped her arms around her sister again, squeezing tight as she spoke at a volume barely above what the camera could hear.
“It’s gonna be okay. It’s gonna be okay. We’re gonna have a good Christmas.”
Athena’s chest heaved with a sigh as she tried to hide her voice catching on her words, rubbing her sister’s back as she tried to keep her calm. Alexis buried her head in her younger sister’s shoulder as she struggled to keep her tears hidden from her nephews, at least for Luke’s sake, and shuddered as she let out a ragged breath before standing up and trying to blink the tears away like nothing happened.
“That’s what Nick would want. A good Christmas with the family. No tears, no fighting... just Christmas.”
Matthias could be seen shifting uncomfortably a few feet behind his mother as he looked around the terminal at the people who came and went around them. He opened his mouth to say something once or twice but the moment he started to form the words, he instantly took them back. To speak like he was going to would have been a d**k move and the camera painted such a clear picture of the struggle playing out across his face. Athena let her sister go after a moment or two and clasped a hand over one shoulder as she tried to soothe her sister’s grief with a smile.
“Come on, I’d hate to keep Mom waiting. You know how she gets when she knows I’m home. Woman called me so many times yesterday I had to turn my phone off.”
Alexis let out a burst of nervous laughter as she curled her fingers and brought them to rest underneath her nose to keep herself from starting to cry again, nodding her agreement. Athena’s smile eased into a grin as she started to speak again but production had opted to cut the audio on the exchange between sisters that followed, the four staying only a moment longer in the terminal before Alexis led Athena and the boys down the corridor toward baggage claim. The camera skipped forward to baggage claim to catch Matthias, Athena, and Alexis divided the luggage between themselves to carry before fading to black on the group of four with their backs toward the cameras as they walked toward the short-term parking garage and toward home.
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Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2017 11:19 pm
The familiar three-chord medley changed tempo as the screen opened back up on downtown Anchorage, soaring above Bootleggers Cove before swooping low to catch the buildings that made downtown Anchorage as they stood in stark contrast to the snow-capped peaks of the Chugach Mountains in the background. The streets buzzed with life as the residents of Anchorage went about their last minute holiday shopping, vehicles flitting from here to there in the snow like it was nothing before transitioning through a series of vignettes. The flurries whipping the sidewalks into a frenzy. A moose and its calf leading a line of traffic down a side street in the late afternoon twilight, the slow and methodical gait of the moose transfixed by the headlights of the cars in file behind them. The camera cut to an aerial view of the snow-capped timber that lined either side of Glenn Highway, cruising above a convoy before soaring over a black Ford F-150 before the truck slowed to merge and took a side road into a community of designer homes nestled in the woods before weaving through lane after lane until climbing up a slope to a cream colored Ranch-style home with a patio freshly cleared of snow. The truck came to a stop before the headlights flickered off and the engine died, doors on either side of the double cab popping open and its passengers beginning to step out. Matthias exhaled sharply, his breath condensing and hanging in the air as he took a long look from one side of the property to the other before walking to the rear passenger door to crack the door open and help his brother out of the truck. Athena was next to exit the vehicle behind her youngest, shutting the doors behind them as her elder sister made the trek up the stairs and onto the patio to the front door. Alexis looked between the gaggle assembled there on the porch before letting out a sigh and smiling from ear to ear.
“Ready, sis?”
A reply had begun to form on Athena’s lips, the ‘yeah’ ready to roll off of her tongue when the door flung open and sent Alexis jumping backward out of surprise and into Matthias. Matthias grunted when his aunt nailed him in the chest with a shoulder, stopping her mid-launch before putting a hand on either shoulder to keep her grounded. Luke had scurried behind Athena as she stepped backward from the door, Athena yelping in surprise as her foot started to slide on the slick wood of the deck as she tried not to fall over her youngest. Alexis cursed a quick ‘goddammit, Mom’ as the four of them looked up to a dark auburn haired woman in the throes of middle age stood before them in a Green Bay jersey, a massive foam block of cheese atop her head and a green eye black under one eye and a yellow under the other, the s**t-eating grin starting to vanish as she stepped out into the cold and looked between the four standing there as if something were… missing.
“You mean to tell me… that you flew four hours and how many thousand miles…”
The Augustine matriarch slowly took the foam block of cheese from atop her head as she pinched the bridge of her nose and hung her head in disbelief.
“…and you couldn’t bring that good for nothing Sea Chicken you're married to with you?”
“Merry Christmas to you, too, Mom.”
Natalie Augustine waved her disapproval with the foam block of cheese with a clipped ‘whatever’ as she faked turning away before she launched forward with a smile so huge that everyone could tell where Athena got her trademark beam from in the last few moments before she clasped her plump arms around her youngest and swayed from side to side in a hug, holding her daughter at arm’s length before squeezing the life out of her again.
“Been looking forward to making his life hell for weeks… but I guess you’ll do.”
The camera caught Athena roll her emerald eyes so hard they could’ve popped out of her skull before Natalie let her go and moved on to her next victim. Natalie clamped a hand on one of Matthias’ arms as Alexis shimmied out of the way before pressing up on the tips of her toes and pinching one of his cheeks, Matthias glaring forward and pressing his lips into a thin line, clearly unimpressed with his grandmother’s antics.
“So glad to see you, too, pumpkin. About time you dragged your hide back home.”
“Yeah, yeah, Grams. I know. See y-
“See your poor grandmother once before she kicks it and leaves this frozen shithole behind.”
“Mom. Small ears.”
“Like you haven’t said worse when Carrot Top Junior over here was in Pampers and too young to understand.”
“Yeah, and him shouting ‘s**t’ at the top of his lungs in the cereal aisle at Fred Meyer and calling the cashier a ‘<********>’ are mistakes I’ll never make again.”
Matthias’ eyes went wide with surprise and his cheeks a shade or two redder than his hair as he tried to stutter his objection before cutting his eyes at his mom.
“What? I had a foul mouth when you were little. Like you haven’t heard worse.”
Luke began to ease his way out of hiding and from behind his mother’s legs when something inside the house caught his eye, the camera cutting to catch a child no older than seven or eight with jet black hair and copper skin waddling around a dividing wall before cutting back to catch Luke’s face light up and a grin weave itself across his chubby cheeks before a high pitched squeal cut through the air and was answered in kind shortly after.
“PAULIEEEEEE!”
“LUUUUUUUUUUKE!”
Luke darted out from behind his mother and nearly threw her off balance again as he sprinted into the depths of the Augustine compound and out of sight to the chorus of his grandmother’s hearty chuckle, Alexis weaving around her mother and in pursuit of boys before the cousins could wreak havoc on the home.
“…just the three of you? Where’s ‘Vidi?”
Athena’s brows perked up in curiosity as her mother let her question hang in the air before glancing warily over at her eldest. She knew what her mother meant by those words and she shook her head as she stuttered out the words, “mom, no.” She didn’t even have to look back to feel her firstborn’s blood run cold and knew there’d be hell to pay later but she was growing tired and just wanted to get her fill of home first before she dared broach the topic. Athena glanced back up to see her mom crestfallen at the realization that no, her lone granddaughter, the baby she didn’t get to spoil rotten and send home to Mom… she hadn’t seen her in so long, what was another year? Natalie let the disappointment roll off her back before she broke the tension with the knife’s edge sharpness of her smile and began to wave the gaggle inside, drawing circles in the air with her Cheesehead hat.
“Come in, come in. I’m not trying to heat the neighborhood.”
The frigid Alaskan air grew still between the three that still remained on the porch, awkward stares being exchanged between mother and son before neither could bear to look each other in the eye any longer and stepped into the house with Natalie in tow, shutting the faded brick red door behind them before leaving the camera to catch the snowfall cast against the home and fade to black alone.
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Miss_Undastood Vice Captain
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Miss_Undastood Vice Captain
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Posted: Tue Oct 17, 2017 10:47 am
“I should have known.”
The disembodied voice of Matthias cut through the nothingness that followed the camera fading to black on the Augustine compound. Matthias sighed as he dragged the palms of his hands the length of his face, peering through parted fingers at the camera and shaking his head as the purple background of the confessional came into focus. He was clearly unimpressed with the wedge his grandmother had lodged between him and his mother, his sister an unhappy reminder of what had set his downward spiral into motion all those years ago.
“I should have known she was gonna come up eventually.”
“Known who was gonna come up, Matthias?”
Matthias drew his hands away from his face as he scowled in disgust at how oblivious the producer that sat opposite of him was, rolling his eyes as he slapped his hands on his lap in frustration. Shaking his head as he rolled his eyes again, he could be seen mulling over what he was about to say in his head, the wheels in his brain whirring and clicking as he weighed his words before he crossed his arms across his chest and leaned back into the armchair with a sigh, fixating his gaze on an unseen point on the floor.
“My sister.”
Matthias stitched his brow together as he flicked his eyes upward toward the ceiling and continued his tirade with the camera still rolling, catching each line that frustration etched across his face. These emotions were a demon that clearly he had been waging war with for quite some time and whether he was winning that fight or not was too difficult to discern.
“I’m not going to give her the satisfaction of saying her name out loud.”
Matthias worked his jaw as he continued to shake his head, whipping himself deeper and deeper into a frenzy the more he went over the reasons why he loathed his sister in his head. The thoughts were a vicious and never-ending cycle best stayed out of and though he tried, outside forces seemed to drag him back into the hellish vortex. You could read the anger and the frustration and the hate and the hurt mixing just behind his eyes, how ragged his breath was as he drew it in sharply through his nostrils before exhaling sharply.
“However vague an inkling I had in the back of my mind… I knew she was going to come up. She always does.”
Matthias drew another ragged breath in and clenched his jaw before speaking again.
“This is exactly why I didn’t want to come. Why I wanted to peace out of Seattle with friends.”
Matthias sat up straight and leaned forward to prop his elbows on his knees, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. He pressed his lips into a thin line and shook his head for what seemed like the millionth time before his eyes darted back up to the producer on the other side of the camera and you could almost feel him staring daggers into the man off screen.
“All those sleepless nights where I could hear Mom sobbing at the kitchen table because she couldn’t sleep after sitting in front of the judge and having to relive the hell we've been through. Watching her legacy chopped up piece by piece and given away in mediation and just… handed… to that cult. How Mom didn’t speak, didn’t eat, didn’t sleep- if you told me she wanted to die, I would have believed you- for days after the custody hearings stopped because she lost. How Mom disappeared once or twice and gave everybody a heart attack because she wouldn’t answer phone calls, no texts, no e-mails, just pick up and disappear when it got to her and freaking Dad out to the point I’m still trying to wrap my head around how he managed to not keel over and die. Tension so thick you could cut it with a knife, how all the air would just get sucked out of the room whenever their name was spoken. And yeah, I may have stood by the phone and screened her calls and went that extra mile and scratched ‘return to sender’ on every card and letter and turned away every UPS, FedEx, DHL, if he had a package and it was sent out of that layer of hell my sister calls home, it was NOT getting left on our stoop, that’s for damn sure… I’ve seen my fair share of pain, had my balls busted for the entire goddamn universe to see and maybe I don’t want to hear a goddamn word about her because… because…”
Matthias squeezed his eyes shut as his voice warped and cracked, shoving his face into his hands before the camera dared to catch his eyes glistening over with tears. No, he was too proud to let the world see him break again. They had had a front-row seat to every triumph, every heartbreak, every disgrace his whole life and at some point, in Matthias’ mind… he had to put his foot down and say enough was enough, that he wouldn’t let his dignity be snatched out of his hands so forcefully again. All those years ago, these forces that robbed him of his pride may have been beyond his control but he was a man grown now, with a hell of a lot more say in what would become of him.
“Because I’m standing right here, flesh and blood right in front of them… and I’m still not good enough.”
Matthias exhaled sharply as he sat up straight with his eyes fixated on the floor. Everything went silent as the camera fixated on the young man that shook with quiet anger in his chair, struggling to reel his emotions in before he broke the silence, his voice hoarse from the rage that had coursed unrepentantly through his veins.
“I didn’t want to make the trek up to ********, middle-of-nowhere Anchorage because they can’t let her go and I don’t want to hear about it anymore.”
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Posted: Mon Dec 18, 2017 11:33 pm
The camera faded to black again as Matthias stared into the distance and stretched his jaw, lost in the chaos of his own thoughts. Never had the cameras caught so perfectly how agony after agony seemed to compound to the point that this one wrong move made an old wound new again, festering until the point that their rot seemed to eat at his conscience. The screen paused as if frozen on the nothingness that remained after Matthias’ confession ceased to play but flickered back to life with the slow, methodical time lapse of the yard outside the Augustine compound, snow still falling on the yard and starting to accumulate on the cars in the drive. The idle chatter and milling about that defined life in a home could be heard seep into the space the silence left before cutting to the interior of the home as Matthias made toward the door, sliding his winter coat over one arm and then the other before drawing the zipper almost too close for comfort to his throat and making the trek out to his aunt’s truck to roll the bed cover back and bring all their luggage indoors. The camera cut again to the door opening into the interior of the Augustine compound as Alexis rushed to the door to help her nephew safely usher the luggage inside before slamming the door shut against the Alaskan chill.
“Let me take this, Matt. Go freshen up or something.”
“It’s no big deal, Aunt Lexi. I can handle it.”
“Matthias, you’ve got the week ahead of you. Act like it’s a holiday, yeah?”
Alexis gripped a bag in each hand and swiveled on her heels before walking down the hallway and disappearing off camera, raising her voice to speak the rest of her peace as she went.
“Besides, you’ve been in this house what, once or twice? I know where Mom has you put for the week and you don’t.”
Matthias shook his head gently as he began to undo the zipper at his throat, walking the same path down the hall until he came to the living room. The idle chatter of children could be heard just above the din of a Christmas cartoon that was making the rounds on a basic cable channel as he entered the room, shrugging the coat off his shoulders before tossing it over the back of a threadbare recliner. Neither his little brother nor his cousin could give a care to what was going on on the TV- must be more for background noise than anything else, he thought to himself- but it did bring a smile to his face to see the two of them, thick as thieves and picking up like they’d never left off. Matthias nudged his brother’s shoulder playfully before ruffling his cousin’s hair with one hand, a barely audible “missed you, too, Paulie” when his cousin yelped in surprise before whining when he called out his name. He found his way around the sectional and reclining in one of the seats as he zoned out on the television.
The camera cut again to Athena, leaned against the kitchen counter with a mug of coffee in her hands and eyes focused on some spot on the floor as she listened to her mother drone on about the goings on that she’d missed since she had last been in Anchorage. How Paulie had gone hunting for the first time with his uncles, something his father had intended to do but never got the chance. How Alexis had sold her modest house and moved back in. How Paulie couldn’t be happier now that he got to see Grams everyday and how he was doing so much better in school now and the list kept going. Athena blinked in surprise and nodded her head when her mother called her bluff, pretending her mother hadn’t just caught her half listening to every word she said. She downed the dregs of java still clinging to the bottom of the cup before placing it in the sink and had started across the kitchen to take a seat at the table before her mother cleared her throat to get her attention.
“You should probably call Mike to let him know you landed. He’s a busy man and all but I’m sure he wouldn’t mind knowing you made it here in one piece.”
Athena shook her head as a smile began to creep its way across her face. She didn’t think much of keeping Mike in the loop like this; they were both adults with their own hectic schedules so it wasn’t like they needed to keep tabs on each other but there was truth to her mother’s words, though she was loath to admit it sometimes. Muttering a quick “true, true,” she took a step out into the hallway across from the living room and followed the same path she had seen her sister take earlier, finding herself on the narrow hallway that ran between the bedrooms and the rest of the home and coming to the end of the hallway just as her sister was heading back down.
“Mom’s got you in the second guest room on the right, just across the hall from my room- don’t worry, she moved her sprawl to the master bedroom on the first floor. Paulie’s got a bunk bed so I don’t think Luke will mind rooming with him; they’re cousins, they need to spend time together while they’re still young. They’ll be in the first room on the left and right across from Matthias. I already dropped your bags off. You know where to find me if you need anything.”
Athena nodded wordlessly as Alexis pointed her to her room, twisting the lock open before pushing the door in and leaving the camera at her back. She walked to the edge of the bed where her sister had dropped her purse, digging around its contents before drawing her phone from its depths. Dismissing her lock screen with a swipe of her thumb, she tapped away at the screen until the faint ringing of the other end of the line before the murmur of a voice and the shrill beep of the voicemail kicking in could be heard carry into the hallway.
“Hey, Mike. Figured I’d call to let you know we made it to Anchorage in one piece. Miss you lots but don’t ever set my alarm like that again. Talk to you later… a*****e.”
Athena tapped at the screen to end the call before she sat on the edge of the bed and let her gaze slowly track across the room, like she was thinking about something. She furrowed her brow as she stretched her jaw before she cut her eyes sharply up to the camera man in the hallway, her gaze fixed on that point off screen for what felt like ages before she stood up and walked to the door to slowly shut it in the face of the crew. On the other side of the door, you could hear the click of the phone unlocking and the rapid tap-tap-tap of a number being punched in before dialing out. The ringing seemed to go on and on, you would think the answering machine would kick in after awhile or either the call would drop because cell service in Alaska couldn’t be that great but then…
Silence.
You could almost hear the breath catch in Athena’s throat as she waited for the response from the other end. With the door standing in between the camera and their prize, one couldn’t help but wonder: who had she called? The quiet seemed to go on for ages but then a voice.
“…hello?”
The gruff timbre was unmistakable: Chrono Clepsydra. Athena felt her voice catch in her throat; she had dialed clearly intending to reach someone else on the isles and found instead her ex-husband. Was she trying to call... no, it couldn't be her. She struggled to find her words as she found herself caught in a situation she hadn’t even begun to imagine, her anxiety climbing by the second as she heard the sound of heavy footfall coming up the steps and the squeak of floorboards as they came down the hall before stopping at the door. Athena nearly jumped out of her skin as the door creaked open, almost dropping her phone in the process of scrambling to end the call and hide her phone before she turned around to find… Matthias, standing there with a quizzical look. She could read the suspicion painting its way across his face before he shook his head to clear his thoughts and leaned against the doorway.
“…did I catch you at a bad time?”
“Uh, no. I was, uh… trying to get a hold of your father and let him know we made it safe. Yeah, he’s, uh… going straight to voicemail.”
“Okay. Mom, can I talk to you for a second?”
“Sure. Is something up?”
Athena combed a strand of her crimson locks back behind her ear to rejoin the rest of her updo before crossing her arms across her chest.
“Are you going to talk to Grams at all because…”
“Talk to her about what, Matthias?”
“You know exactly what.”
“Matty, you’re not exactly making sense. You’re going to have to be a little more specif-”
“Her.”
The silence hung sharp in the air as Athena’s gaze turned, her eyes like daggers set in her skull as she stared her firstborn down.
“She’s your sister. She has a name.”
“She stood on the porch, in front of the both of us- don’t act like you weren’t there- and brought her up. She knows what that family has done to us, done to you…”
“Matty, stop.”
“She knows how they hurt you. And she knows we don’t bring her up in this family and…”
“Matthias Elijah Augustine.”
Athena growled her eldest’s full name through gritted teeth, hissing her warning to stop before he dared go any further in his tirade.
“This is neither the time nor the place for playing these stupid games of yours. Not here, not now, not during Christmas. I would say not ever but clearly that is too much to ask. You would do well to watch your mouth.”
“Mom, I…”
“Don’t you Mom me. You crossed a line. I gave you a warning. End of discussion.”
Athena shoved her son’s shoulder and pushed her way past to walk down the hallway and off camera, leaving her son in her wake. Matthias dragged his hands the length of his face before he shook his head. He stared at the floor, lost in his own thoughts for long enough that the camera caught so perfectly the boy that had tried so hard to spare his mother pain, at least he thought so whenever he screened every phone call, turned away every package, and stamped every letter from that hell hole ‘return to sender’ before the look that had worked its way across his face vanished, leaving a broken young man in its place. The corners of Matthias’ mouth curved downward in a scowl before he shoved the camera out of the way and stomped back the way he had came, the screen fading to black.
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Miss_Undastood Vice Captain
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Miss_Undastood Vice Captain
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Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2018 2:16 pm
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Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2018 6:06 pm
“So… Athena.”
The producer crossed the chasm formed by the silence of the legend that sat opposite of them, her lips curved into a scowl from her simmering rage. Athena straightened her back as she sat up and rolled her eyes to meet the voice, her gaze trained and ready to bore a hole square in the middle of the producer’s forehead. The showdown between mother and child prior to the commercial break had clearly left an impression.
“Care to give us your thoughts on, uh…”
“On what?”
Terse the words left her mouth, their point sharp enough to open the silence between the producer and his subject again but only for a moment. There was an inside story to gain here and Athena knew the producer would not stop until they had gotten it.
“On what happened back there between you and Matthias?”
Athena rolled her eyes again as she shook her head and sunk backward into the plush fabric of her chair, none too willing to relive the exchange. She shrugged incredulously before finally giving in to answering the question. Unwilling to relive the exchange she may be, Athena knew by now that the point to fight against her family life being on display for the whole goddamned universe to see had long since past.
“These games of his. He’s hellbent on being the center of attention.”
“And why do you think that?”
Her eyes cut sharply at the producer, surprised that her son’s motives for trying to bring his grandmother down a notch were even a question. Athena furrowed her brow as she waved the question off and folded her hands in her lap.
“Are you even paying attention?”
Athena paused to give the producer time to form their response but cleared her throat and cut them off before they had the chance to speak.
“He barges up to my room, interrupts my phone call, and makes it all about him. It’s just what he does. And it’s my own ******** fault.”
She lifted a hand to her forehead, pressing her fingers to one of her temples as she fixed her sight on the floor.
“We all have our demons, we can feed them, starve them to death, ignore their existence but for the past couple decades, no matter what I want, I keep getting them shoved in my face. By this company, by the fans, by the product… by my own ******** son.”
Athena’s voice warbled over the last few words before her hand shifted to cover her eyes, sniffling as she tried to wince away the tears with what little dignity she could be afforded on a show like this. She let out a heavy sigh before shaking her head and readying herself to speak again.
“I know I had a bitter divorce, a nightmare for a custody battle but my own mother can’t even say my daughter’s name? What kind of petty bullshit is that? He tiptoes around everything about her… I keep having to relive the trauma.”
The producer could be heard to sigh before their voice cut through.
“Why do you think he’s like this?”
“There’s a quote out there that goes something like ‘the sins of the father are to be laid upon the children’ and boy, do I have a great many to lay at Matthias’ feet. I’ve never tried to claim I was perfect- you’ve seen it for yourself, I was a ******** up. I’ve tried ever since Matthias was small and I got my wits about me to atone for what I did. Letting my emotions getting the best of me- all the spite, the anger, the hate, everything. Falling in line with the Clepsydras to spite Mike. Keeping Matthias from his father because of all the sordid mess that he put me through. Falling out of line with the Clepsydras and then repeating history with his sister because… because…”
Athena’s emotions began to get the best of her again, her nose quivering and her face beginning to twist in sorrow as she came to the part that wounded her the most. She was a woman with many regrets that had she had the chance to do things differently knowing what she did now, she would’ve enthusiastically taken that chance.
“I didn’t want my daughter to go through what I put Matthias through. I could see the path I was headed down or at least I thought I did and I wanted to stop that disaster in its tracks. And in doing that, I just created a bigger monster because everything I touch turns to s**t.”
Tears trailed down Athena’s cheeks, leaving paths through the dust as they worked their way toward her chin.
“I should’ve never left that arena. I should’ve never went home. I left myself open, vulnerable to Chrono’s madness… again. If I didn’t go home after that pay-per-view, he wouldn’t have kidnapped me, kept me hostage… I never would have put on that mask. I never left my little boy without his mother for too long. It was too long I was gone. Would you believe there was a time that I wished I didn’t come back home because the hurt was so great that he’d be better off without me?”
Athena sniffled as she hazarded a glance at the camera before her eyes darted away again. She was ashamed of what she had done, what she had become that to be confronted with her misdeeds again shined a light on the darkness she had tried to put behind her so long ago.
“He insists on keeping the wound open, he doesn’t want to let things heal because he’s got that much of my stubbornness. It’s a curse that he takes after me. I try every day to rebuild that bridge that I set a torch to all those years ago with him. I want to believe there are some things that I can fix… which may not be possible, I don’t know.”
Athena huffed as she drew a hand through her hair to pull the strands out of her face after she bowed her head to hide her face from the camera, desperate for a reprieve before looking back up to the producer.
“But no matter how much I try to make peace, sometimes you can strike a nerve and I’m ready to wage war.”
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Miss_Undastood Vice Captain
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Miss_Undastood Vice Captain
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Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2018 10:49 pm
The confessional gave way to the chunks of ice floating across the inlet as the sun panned across the Chugach Mountains before disappearing behind brick facades and glinting across window panes, time lapsing to make the day passing by seem like only moments. The quiet neighborhood surrounding the Augustine compound cut into view next, snow dancing in spirals from sky until coming to rest upon the ground. The peace on the exterior belied the tension that had begun to sprout within but for now…
“Athena, come look at this.”
The voice floated into the living room where the camera faced Athena, perched on the couch watching the formulaic nature show that had come on the public access channel with her nephew and her son. Athena seemed reluctant to extricate herself from the couch, nudging Luke away from her side before peeling herself from the leather and craning her head over her shoulder toward her sister’s voice. After the tense words exchanged between mother and eldest son, she looked forward to zoning out and forgetting the spat ever happened but she got to her feet with a hushed “sorry, guys” before exiting the living room. Alexis met her in the hallway with a laminated 4x6 card held between her fingers and a smile.
“Figured we could use a little cheering up after whatever happened upstairs. Listen, I’m not going to ask what went on but I don’t want a bad mood fouling up the one chance I get to see my little sister this year…”
Alexis sitfled a chuckle before flipping the card around and into her palm and extending her hand toward Athena. Brow furrowed, Athena looked at her sister’s outstretched palm in confusion before taking the brightly colored card and holding it closer to her face to read its fine print- a wrestling show. She tilted her head and looked up to her sister trying to gauge if she was joking or…
“I’ve had this card floating around my purse for at least a week and I thought-”
“Lexi, I came here to spend time with family; the last place I want to spend that right now is at a show and-”
“Oh, come on, Athena! Paulie hardly knows ‘Auntie Thena’…”
Alexis’ face donned that trademark Augustine smile before it was almost cleaved in twain by the goofy grin that formed shortly after when she caught Athena rolling her eyes and trying to fight the smile that was twitching at the corner of her mouth at the moniker she’d been given that was born out of her nephew’s difficulty sounding out her name. Athena let out a sigh as she shook her head and gave the promo card another once over, her brow furrowing again but this time in surprise.
“Since when did Neo Japan start coming out this way? Alaska isn’t on their normal route. Where did you get this?”
“It was at the gas station I stop at when I fill up that metal death trap once a week. Went in for a cup of coffee, felt like I needed some caffeine after my shift and there they were, a stack of them on the counter by the register.”
“And you thought it was a good idea to drag your sister, the wrestler, one with a household name might I add…”
“To a a puro-whatchacallit, yeah.”
“It’s puroresu.”
“You knew what I meant, Athena.”
Athena squinted for a moment at her sister, glancing back and forth between the card and her sister.
“It’s at Dimond High. Come on. You know you want to go.”
Athena remained silent as her squint turned into a glare, crossing her arms across her chest.
“I mean, why don’t you take.. Hey, Matthias!”
Alexis took a few steps toward the kitchen as she shouted for her nephew. The hallway went silent for a moment before her flame-haired nephew peered around the corner
“I’m trying to talk your mother into some family bonding time. She’s being stubborn and I figured at least you would listen to a voice of reason…”
“Voice of reason, yeah? What are you trying to talk her into?”
A smug grin spread across Alexis’ face as she darted back to her sister and pulled the card from her sister’s hands before making her way back to her nephew and handing the card to him. Matthias spoke a clipped ‘give me a moment, Grams’ before stepping out in the hallway and taking the card into his hands, reading the promotional material with the same level of surprise as his mother.
“Neo Japan?”
Alexis nodded with a simple ‘mhmm’ before looking back to her sister with a look of triumph.
“Sharpshooter Society is going to be there. Figured you might want to catch up with some old friends.”
“I don’t know, Aunt Lexi. I haven’t spoken to the Society in… awhile and I’m not too sure who’s active anymore. I, uh… kind of stepped away from the r-”
“Some guy named Caliber is supposed to be there. Flip to the back of the card.”
Matthias chuckled nervously as his eyes darted to his mother, scratching the back of his head as if unsure how well that name would go over with those present in the hallway. Athena could be heard muttering ‘******** Caliber’ under her breath as she pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head.
“I mean, I guess I could go. What harm could it do?”
As those immortal last words left her son’s lips, Athena’s glare darted across the hallway with such intensity that you couldn’t miss Matthias’ flinching before ducking back into the kitchen. Alexis chuckled before turning back to her sister.
“Athena, don’t be such a curmudgeon. I know you’re trying to put that life behind you and be normal, whatever in the Hell that means.”
Alexis’ expression softened as she closed the space in between her and her sister and rested her hands on the top of her sister’s shoulders. Athena gave an unimpressed pout as she looked her sister in the eye, prepared for whatever guilt trip she was about to receive.
“Give Paulie a chance to spend some time with Luke, let him get to know auntie ‘Thena.”
Athena remained silent, unmoved.
“He’s going to find out who you used to be soon enough. Might as well show him yourself and if the evening goes belly up... no harm, no foul.”
“I guess…”
“Bullshit. You know want to, Athena. Reliving the glory days and all that.”
“Fine. I’ll go.”
Alexis’ arms shot around her sister and drew her in for a quick hug, giggling in delight before she let go and fistbumped the air in triumph and turned to walk away as she called to her sister over her shoulder.
“You’ve got a few hours to get yourself together so don’t go too far.”
“Where am I gonna go with snow on the ground, Alexis?”
Chuckling, Alexis turned back with a playful shrug.
“I don’t know. But whatever you do, don’t get too invested. Mom will get us fed then get us on the road. You know this is not my thing so I’ll drop you guys off and find a way to keep myself occupied for awhile.”
“So it’s just me, Matthias, and the boys? What could possibly go wrong?”
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Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2018 10:26 pm
The question hung in the air before returning to vignette of downtown Anchorage, cutting from 4th Avenue downtown as tourist and local alike milled about the shops to the snowfall continuing its descent onto Town Square Park. Viewers at home knew that Athena’s question answered itself; her status as legend didn’t come without a past, one that wasn’t always glamorous at that. But would this evening defy the odds and pass uneventfully? Or would that quiet evening merely be the calm before the storm? The front deck of the Augustine compound graced the screen next, Paulie and Luke darting ahead of the trio of adults to steal one last moment in the snow before they were crammed into the backseat of the F-150 for the drive into town. Silent as the snowfall, Alexis, Athena, and Matthias descended the steps behind the pair before they struck up a chorus of doors opening and people climbing into the truck before slamming shut again. The engine turned over with a hearty roar and lights illuminated the dusk before reversing and disappearing into the night that separated them from Anchorage and the scene to follow.
The Augustines’ drive into Anchorage was a uneventful, time lapsed trek into velveteen nothingness illuminated by the sharp glare of headlights that only broke as the lights of town came into view, pivoting this way and that with each turn until the F150 found itself square in the heart of downtown with the camera crew hot on their trail. A short while later, the truck pulled into the slowly filling lot of Dimond High, circling through the aisles before pulling in beside a GMC that had clearly seen better days parked with its tailgate open and facing the gym with neon yellow towing straps draped across the truck bed. Doors opening around the cab of their truck not quite in time with each other, Alexis was the first out of the truck before Matthias slid out on the driver’s side to help the boys down to the ground. The front passenger door was the last to open, Athena taking a careful step down over the running board before closing the door behind her, dusting the front of her jacket off and readjusting her purse over her shoulder as her eyes darted around the parking lot. The din of exhaust pipe and engine mingled with chatter from the crowds filing from their vehicles and into the building around the crew. Alexis squeezed around her nephews and her son as they joined those filing into the venue, wrapping an arm around her visibly tense sister as she moved the two forward to join Matthias, Luke, and Paulie.
“Relax, Athena. It’s been a couple decades since you’ve darkened the doorstep here. What have you got to be worried about?”
“Fans. It’s the fans.”
Alexis stifled a chuckle behind the back of her hand, smoothing her features as she realized that this wasn’t helping her cause or easing her sister’s nerves at all. The pair stopped just short of the doors into the venue as Alexis released her grip, playfully nudged her sister’s shoulder with a smile.
“Don’t let the characters rain on a little family bonding time. You know you want to enjoy the limelight again.”
Turning to walk back through the parking lot, Alexis called over her shoulder.
“Live a little while the boys have fun. Call me before the main event!”
With a quick sprint, Alexis disappeared into the crowd toward the truck, leaving Athena to join her nephew and sons inside. Her presence was duly noted within a few moments of approaching will call, leaving her and her son to shake a few hands and take a few pictures while the crowd parted to allow them to skip the line and get their tickets. The camera followed as they made their way through the vestibule and into the gymnasium proper to take their seats behind the first row, stopping only for another photo opportunity before the fans they met gave their seats to Athena, Matthias, and the boys. The bell tolling to herald the start of the Neo-Japan Puroresu house show followed by the booming voice of the announcer calling the first match of the card as the screen faded to black.
When the camera joined the Augustines again, the evening was well under way. Spectators were returning to their seats with hot dogs, tubs of popcorn, boxes of candy, and plates of nachos nestled in arms laden with merchandise fresh from the tables. Athena was perched alone in the middle of their row of seats for only a moment before Matthias walked up with a tub of popcorn and drinks in each hand, one tucked away in his elbow with the boys only a step behind him in wrestler’s shirts a size too big for them and hot dogs.
“Figured I’d swing them by the merch tables before we got food. You know, let them get the entire house show experience.”
Athena nodded as she turned her head from watching the crew working at ringside with referees and announcers to prepare to bring the show back from intermission before greeting the boys with a smile and turning to take the popcorn and a drink from Matthias’ hands to free him up to seat himself on his folding steel chair and leave Paulie and Luke between them.
“Understandable. I mean, I don’t know what Alexis thinks I’m going to show them except commentary that’s going to go right over their heads. Maybe we can take them to meet the guys in the back…”
Trailing off as a generic theme keyed up over the speakers, Athena turned to see the talent coming down the ring for the first match of the last half of the card.
“The next match is for one fall…”
The crowd to their backs shouted back ‘one fall’ with enough force to elicit a small jolt of surprise out of all but Matthias before the announcer continued his roll.
“Introducing first, the challengers… Sue Plex and Master of the Small Package, Pauuuulllll Smackage...”
Athena rolled her eyes and waved her hand dismissively toward the pair clearly meant to job to the talent meant to appear next, turning back to face her eldest as the music droned on.
“Because once it’s all said and done… you still have connections in the back that I... don’t. Use them to show your brother and your cousin a good time. I’ll just tag along for the ride.”
Matthias nodded as his mother turned back to face the stage, the gym growing quiet before the lighting shifted to focus on the curtain and the announcer exiting the ring through the middle ropes to join the commentary team. Surprised, he looked back toward the stage to catch the curtains to the side shift, the tan sliver of a face peeking out before shifting closed as quickly as they opened. He furrowed his brow in confusion before the weak, tinny rattle of a Briggs and Stratton motor turning over and a Volbeat song that Matthias’ was all too familiar with the banjo intro leading into vocal harmonies that danced hand in hand with the guitar before the velvet parted for a sleek, red Hoverround mounted by none other than…
Matthias’ eyes darted toward his mother in disapproval, then back to the stage where the Dirty South Outlaw was perched in the scooter at the top of the ramp. His pearly white grin nearly dwarfed his tinted aviators as he placed a foot on the ground and gently revved the motor much to the amusement of the crowd before pausing as if he had forgotten something.
“Introducing next, hailing from the Big River Valley of Deep Down Dirty South Tex-”
J.W.’s face twisted with a flash of confusion before his eyes darted to the ring announcer and he motioned with a wave of his bent hand across his throat to cut the introduction short, turning back to the curtains to whisper something sharply to the rustling curtains. The music died almost as quickly as it started but the silence was not to last for long, the speakers roaring to life with guitar chords that grooved out of time with the beat and with a swish of the curtain, revealing a partner that not a soul in the building had expected.
“Now introducing next… Hailing from Poggio a Caiano, Italy, and the Big River Valley of Deep Down Dirty South Texas… it’s Machiavel and J… W… CALIBER…”
Matthias’ eyes darted in his mother’s direction, just in time for their perplexed stares to meet before they both swiveled their necks back to Caliber now cruising down the ramp with a familiar, olive skinned face in tow before turning the first post on the side of the ring farthest from where they sat. He leaned backward and reached behind the boys to tap his mom on the shoulder, catching her attention before he spoke just above the now uproarious crowd.
“Did Alexis know he was going to be here? Did she show you the matches for this?”
“What? No. She just showed me the promotional card and that was it.”
Matthias turned back to the pair that was slowly making their way around the ring now, high-fiving fans as they went before he caught his mother’s protege blink, turn his head… and freeze. Machiavel’s gaze was locked on the red-haired legend sitting opposite the arena to him and you could read the heat in his cheeks, how flustered he became when he saw her… almost to the point of distraction. Matthias felt the rage beginning to boil in his stomach, the heat of anger threating to kindle just behind his eyes as if he almost knew the scene that played out next.
Caliber’s mocking tone broke the spell that Athena’s presence held over Machiavel, the star rubbing the confusion from his eyes before he filed in behind the scooter as it made its slow round around the ring. J.W.’s chortle could be heard as he turned the corner toward the Augustines and slowed to a crawl before stopping in front of Luke and Paulie, leaning back to prop and arm on the chair’s back as he craned his neck toward Athena.
“Well, well, well… such a pleasure to run into you again, Athena.”
Matthias could watch his mother fight the urge to flip Caliber the bird, killing off the chuckle that bubbled up in his throat by pretending he had to cough. He cut his eyes sharply up at Machiavel as if to warn him as he reached to his drink in the chair to his left, taking a sip before turning back to catch the rest of the exchange in front of him and leaving an ominous cloud of tension behind him. Athena pressed her lips into a thin line before she forced a smile to curve up, beginning with a faint twitch at the corners of her mouth. One thing Matthias had to give his mother credit for was that she made an art of articulating her disdain while maintaining some shred of composure in a room full of adoring fans.
“Likewise, Mr. Caliber. Merry Christmas.”
Athena craned her neck up toward her former mentee as he sauntered up to her, silence wedging itself between the two and the hoveround glided around the last ringpost and away to park in the corner against the barrier. He stooped down before smoothly drawing Athena’s left hand up and curling it towards him, pressing his lips to her fingers as the crowd roared to life again at the unexpected twist. Matthias could feel the anger kindled behind his eyes now become a blaze, staring down daggers at his peer as he stood there with eyes for no one other than his mother and crooned in a lilted Italian accent a greeting to her.
“And a merry Christmas to you, too, signora.”
Athena blinked in shock as her hand was placed gingerly back in her lap and Machiavel strode away toward a Caliber that was equally in awe by this turn of events as the jobbers that impatiently awaited them in the ring. His eyes darted toward his brother and his cousin that had just witnessed the event, mouths agape with surprise.
“Mom.”
Athena blinked as her son’s terse voice snapped her back to reality before she turned back toward Matthias, the confusion still fading from her face as she spoke. He could tell as her cheeks grew red as her hair before she shook her head clear that the realization of what had just taken place was beginning to hit her.
“…y-yeah?”
“What just happened?”
“I… you… what did it look like, Matthias? Christ.”
Athena cut her eyes sharply at her son as she turned her attention back toward the ring, twinges of frustration and embarrassment ringing clear in her voice as the bell heralding the start of the match before she stood up in a huff and hurried from ringside and through the crowd toward the vestibule as the camera faded to black.
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Miss_Undastood Vice Captain
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Miss_Undastood Vice Captain
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Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2018 9:37 pm
The camera faded in from Athena’s hurried exit to her eldest seated in the plush confessional chair, his features a sharp and pensive contrast against the booth’s textured purple background. Matthias clamped a hand on his forehead and drew his hand the length of his face, some of his curls breaking loose of their confines as he shook his head in disbelief.
“That <******** style="color: indigo">Matthias tilted his head back as he pinched the bridge of his nose, struggling to collect his rage and stitch it together into something coherent. Machiavel’s presence was clearly an unwelcome one and now to have seen this man put his mother on the spot like that with such an inappropriate display made the young Augustine-Landry’s blood boil. He stared wordlessly at the ceiling, still collecting his thoughts before he exhaled sharply and tilted his head back in the direction of the camera.
“The moment I saw him, I had this feeling in the pit in my stomach.”
Matthias’ chest heaved with a great sigh before his mirth dissipated just as quickly as it came, leaving the young man to stew in his anger again.
“He comes out here, locks eyes with my mom, and before anyone can think to stop him, he takes the hand of a married woman…”
Matthias had begun using his hands for emphasis, stabbing at the air with his fingers before he drew a breath to keep himself in check and spoke again.
“Takes my mom’s hand and kisses it.”
Matthias let out a huff as he relaxed into the back of the chair.
“In front of her nephew, her sons, everyone in attendance, there’s probably cameras rolling, too, so it’s going to hit the dirt sheets and Dad's going to find out about it two thousand miles away and here we are, airing our dirty laundry for all to see again.”
A nervous chuckle slipped through the scion’s lips as he hung his head in amused disbelief, waving the camera away before he dared look back up again.
“I shouldn’t be surprised. I really shouldn’t.”
Animated as ever, Matthias went right back to speaking with his hands, though not with as much force as before.
“Before I was ever introduced to Machiavel, I could tell something was a little... off. I trained with him, sure, but he never was the type that looked built for a fight. Seemed like the guy who would do some kind of underhanded s**t like this and weasel his way out of it, God only knew how. And what did he do now?”
Matthias’ eyebrows perked up on his face as he moved to answer his own question.
“He did some underhanded s**t, kissed my mom’s hand- on her wedding band, no less- and weaseled his way out of it because he knew all we could do was sit there. Like we were gonna show out in front of the paying public and soil our good names, no, sir. You have no idea what it felt like to watch my mother be cornered and toyed with like that. It’s ******** up. Oh, I could only imagine what would happen if he’d had the balls to pull that in front of my dad.”
Matthias pressed his lips together in a firm line before he could be seen to work his jaw and run the tip of his tongue over the edge of his teeth. There was something else, something a little more sinister playing out in his mind that the grin that twitched up at the corner of his mouth with a grunt of laughter did little to hide.
“But it's cool. He'll get his soon enough.”
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