Post by darkdisciple on Jul 23, 2012 13:23:10 GMT -5
(Sorry about this going up so late, especially to Holly, It's been a good bit of build for this match and I've loved every minute of it.)
July 22, 2012 Las Vegas Public Library Las Vegas Nevada
It was blazing hot outside, the kind of hot that made you worry about turning a corner and running into the devil sunbathing naked… or something like that. The air conditioning of the library smacked you in the face as you entered, the difference in temperature seemed impossible to maintain, but it was a welcome relief. I had apparently been the first person to arrive for the children’s programme, I planned on getting here a half hour early, but there were so few people on the streets it ended up going much quicker than I thought. They were still outfitting the children’s section with all kinds of screens and lights and cameras. The local Public Broadcasting Service had shown up to broadcast the whole thing. Made me kick myself for not recording it. I’m sure my sisters would have laughed their behinds off seeing me doing this. But that was fine with me. I didn’t care what people thought. I knew I couldn’t change it. Aiden Caine had made his feelings about me perfectly clear in his interview earlier, but it didn’t bother me a bit. If it did, I wouldn’t be mentally tough enough to be a wrestler. People had said far worse things to me, people have done far worse things to me. There was only one guy who had ever been able to throw me off my game, and his method was safely living with my other sister back in Germany. Aiden Caine over values the abilities of words. It’s not his fault; it’s something lots of people don’t understand. The only time words can affect you is if you allow them to affect you. People are overly sensitive, and Caine is just assuming I’m the same way.
But I’m not.
I browse through the classics section as I wait for the time to pass. I recognize several titles from back when I was studying English at school. These men had thought what Aiden thought, that words could change things. These men were some of the best there had ever been with words, and even they hadn’t been able to make their words move people to do what they had hoped. George Orwell’s Animal House was meant to show American’s the plight of slaughterhouse workers, how there were people who needed help from the outside to change things. Orwell was better than most, he had gotten something changed, but it was meat regulations and safety. His words had fallen, as so many words do, on selfish ears. Aiden Caine thinks his words will change me, if they do, they will fall on my own selfish ears, they will make me want to improve, and I have, I have been working at my hardest in preparation for this match.
Bram Stoker’s Dracula was another one I picked up and stared at. Here was one about fear, Stoker had used his words to scare people, but it wasn’t the words that did it. Words can never be frightening, it was the mind of the readers that made it scary, it was their imagination, it was the fact that never before had the idea of Dracula been seen, it was different, and what is different is always frightening. Aiden Caine’s words are nothing different. Dracula had stopped scary people a hundred years ago. Now people didn’t have the imagination to make it scary. They came up with bigger and better ways to induce fear, ones that didn’t need to be thought out. Movies, TV, even the radio had made the words on the page meaningless. Dracula became a counting vampire kids loved, or the mascot for a breakfast cereal. He lost his power the minute people realized that words couldn’t hurt them. Aiden Caine on a box of Wheaties would be beautifully ironic right about now…
Ah… Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace… actually I think I’ll leave that one alone.
Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn… this one tells me it’s very easy for people to get offended, but only if they want to be offended. Mark Twain wrote a book that was supposed to make people laugh. Instead, it made people angry. People who wanted to get angry. The book made nobody laugh, it made people hate, to the point where the American government banned the book. But over time, blacks stopped caring. It’s still dangerous to use the N-Word of course, but having them written in a book about a time when that was the word used. They realized it was only a word. I had several black friends in college. They used the same word all the time when talking to each other. Finally when I asked one of them why they used a word that other blacks claimed was degrading as a nick name, he told me this.
It’s just a word, words only hurt if you want them to hurt. Call me a nigger… right now, do it.
Umm… well… I don’t…Okay… you’re a … nigger.
He patted his chest as he looked around.
Looks like I’m okay. Didn’t hurt me a bit. Because it’s just a word. Now, I recommend you don’t go callin’ every black man a nigger, because fists do hurt a hell of a lot more than words.
I was lucky, that guy taught me a lot with that one small exchange. If Aiden Caine thinks stressing I came from a place where wrestling was nothing, fought my way out, fought my way to the top of my homeland, to the top of my continent, then high enough that an American company asked me to cross over to the golden land of wrestling… that was why I deserved to be North American Champion, because I earned my right to be here, to be fighting in the continent where professional wrestling is at its best. I wasn’t born into it, I made it here through my own hard work. Even President Barack Obama can’t say I didn’t build my own career. But I listened to people on the way, I learned things. Wolfer became a coach because he was strong enough to teach, I became his best student because I was strong enough to listen. If Aiden Caine thinks he was an idiot, then I guess it’s a tribute to idiots that I made it this far. Losing is no longer an option. It never was. It’s a result. It’s what happens when you don’t try hard enough. If I lose it’s not because of Aiden Caine’s words, it’s not because of my words, it’s because of my effort against his effort. Nothing else. Granted, I’m well aware of how I’m probably one of the few people who actually realizes words are meaningless. It’s hardly a common ideology. So that’s why I bothered to learn how to cut a good promo. People like words too much.
I snap out of my self-rant (I really should stop doing that) when I see a familiar face standing, looking at the books, next to me. Not someone I knew personally, but someone from television. Raymond Teller, the silent half of Penn and Teller was literally a foot away from me. Now, I’ve always been a fan of incorporating comedy into what you love to do, and Pen and Teller have been favorites of my family for a long time. Imagine being a hockey fan and running into Gordie Howe at the supermarket, it was like that. He glanced over at me and raised an eyebrow. I froze, realizing he must have caught me staring at him. He opened his hands like a book and mimed reading it, then he held his hand palm down at his waist, signifying a small person (a child) then pointed at me. Took me half a second to get over the fact that Teller just asked me a question in mime, but I quickly responded.
Umm… yes, I’m Apostle Kried, I’m here for the children’s reading thing… are… are you here for that too?
He nodded, then motioned something that honestly looked like Frankenstien’s monster. I shook my head and he sighed silently, then motioned for me to follow him. I did and was once again star struck by Penn turning around and smiling at my approach.
Hey! Apostle Kried, wrestling wunderkind, big fan big fan. You think they’d have told us who all was going to be doing this wouldn’t you, if I had known you would be here I’d have gotten an autograph for my daughter, she thinks you’re a hunk.
My face turned beet red. I know this because Penn burst out laughing pointed at me and said…
Hey… you flush a toilet, not your face!
Thankfully? We were interrupted by yet another arrival, this one more on my level. Jesse Chavez, a pitcher for the Las Vegas 51’s, the local minor league baseball team. He seemed about as shocked as I was to see someone on Penn and Teller’s level here. But with someone in the same boat as me, we were able to carry on a conversation with the magical legends. Eventually, we were joined by several others, some closer to my level of fame, some… well… some named Katy Perry.
Apparently this thing was bigger than the Mayor’s secretary had let on, and she needed five fillers because she could only get five mega stars. Either way, when things got started, and they brought in about a hundred kids to sit on the floor, it was pretty clear about half of us were a lot more nervous than the others. The library employees hastily handed us each a book and shoved Donny Osmond out in front of the camera’s so he could read “Don’t Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus” naturally, the kids had no idea who Donny Osmond was, but the parents sitting behind the cameras all thought it was fantastic, and the kids loved the book, so everyone was happy.
Eventually, my turn came up, and despite having read the book cover to cover 20 times whilst waiting, I still managed to forget the title of the book as I walked up. I took a deep breath, then I looked at the kids and my mind was put at ease. “Ignore the cameras, this is for them.” One of the girls looked a lot like Tija actually. This made me smile. I took a deep breath and laughed. The librarian announcing the readers glanced at me as I laughed and I decided to play it up. I grabbed the microphone from her.
You don’t need to tell them who I am, all the little Kriedlings know my name is Apostle Kried, right little Kriedlings? Tell everybody what my name is!
Apostle Kried! *giggles* (one girl) You told us!
That’s right, Apostle Kried, the not once, not twice, not even three times, but zero time MPW Champion. Here with my back drops, my body slams, and…
I pause, pull a pair of glasses out of my jacket pocket and put them on. Lowering the intensity of my voice to a professorial one.
… my reading glasses
The kids burst into laughter, and a chuckle came from the parents too, I held up the book I was going to read.
Now then, the title of this book is?
CHIKA CHIKA BOOM BOOM!
Hey! You’re right! You guys should be reading this to me.
As I spoke I glanced at the cover to make sure they were right, they were, which was a relief, because if they weren’t I’d probably have been screwed.
Alright then, I’m going to need you all to help me out, when I point at you guys, I need you to say “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom” Got it? Let’s try it, ready? *points*
CHICKA CHICKA BOOM BOOM!!
Fantastic, less work for me! Alright, here we go…
The reading went better than I could have hoped, the kids all got involved, and really, really into it. They laughed at all my cheesy jokes, they shouted whenever I pointed at them, and when I finished, they all cheered. A newspaper guy asked me to pose for a picture and I invited all the kids to be in it with me. They all charged up and crowded around me.
Alright, everyone put on your wrestler face!
The kids all tried their hardest to look mean, flexing their muscles in the most adorable ways. I myself struck a Most Muscular Pose, and grimaced as a smiled, prompting most of the kids to do the same for the picture. It was a lot of fun. Afterwards, the kids all sat back down, laughing and talking as I headed back to the other reader. Katy Perry patted me on the back, that was pretty cool, other than that though, the rest of the event was… uneventful. Everyone enjoyed themselves, we posed for pictures with kids, with each other and with the mayor. Afterwards, as everyone was heading out, I got myself a library card. After today, I realized that I may have been wrong in what I said earlier. Words can’t hurt you, but they certainly aren’t meaningless. I had just used words to put smiles on the faces of hundreds of kids, maybe it was getting to be close to the time I give Moby Dick a second try, till then, this Deadpool comic book is going to have to be my reintroduction to fine literature.
July 22, 2012 Las Vegas Public Library Las Vegas Nevada
It was blazing hot outside, the kind of hot that made you worry about turning a corner and running into the devil sunbathing naked… or something like that. The air conditioning of the library smacked you in the face as you entered, the difference in temperature seemed impossible to maintain, but it was a welcome relief. I had apparently been the first person to arrive for the children’s programme, I planned on getting here a half hour early, but there were so few people on the streets it ended up going much quicker than I thought. They were still outfitting the children’s section with all kinds of screens and lights and cameras. The local Public Broadcasting Service had shown up to broadcast the whole thing. Made me kick myself for not recording it. I’m sure my sisters would have laughed their behinds off seeing me doing this. But that was fine with me. I didn’t care what people thought. I knew I couldn’t change it. Aiden Caine had made his feelings about me perfectly clear in his interview earlier, but it didn’t bother me a bit. If it did, I wouldn’t be mentally tough enough to be a wrestler. People had said far worse things to me, people have done far worse things to me. There was only one guy who had ever been able to throw me off my game, and his method was safely living with my other sister back in Germany. Aiden Caine over values the abilities of words. It’s not his fault; it’s something lots of people don’t understand. The only time words can affect you is if you allow them to affect you. People are overly sensitive, and Caine is just assuming I’m the same way.
But I’m not.
I browse through the classics section as I wait for the time to pass. I recognize several titles from back when I was studying English at school. These men had thought what Aiden thought, that words could change things. These men were some of the best there had ever been with words, and even they hadn’t been able to make their words move people to do what they had hoped. George Orwell’s Animal House was meant to show American’s the plight of slaughterhouse workers, how there were people who needed help from the outside to change things. Orwell was better than most, he had gotten something changed, but it was meat regulations and safety. His words had fallen, as so many words do, on selfish ears. Aiden Caine thinks his words will change me, if they do, they will fall on my own selfish ears, they will make me want to improve, and I have, I have been working at my hardest in preparation for this match.
Bram Stoker’s Dracula was another one I picked up and stared at. Here was one about fear, Stoker had used his words to scare people, but it wasn’t the words that did it. Words can never be frightening, it was the mind of the readers that made it scary, it was their imagination, it was the fact that never before had the idea of Dracula been seen, it was different, and what is different is always frightening. Aiden Caine’s words are nothing different. Dracula had stopped scary people a hundred years ago. Now people didn’t have the imagination to make it scary. They came up with bigger and better ways to induce fear, ones that didn’t need to be thought out. Movies, TV, even the radio had made the words on the page meaningless. Dracula became a counting vampire kids loved, or the mascot for a breakfast cereal. He lost his power the minute people realized that words couldn’t hurt them. Aiden Caine on a box of Wheaties would be beautifully ironic right about now…
Ah… Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace… actually I think I’ll leave that one alone.
Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn… this one tells me it’s very easy for people to get offended, but only if they want to be offended. Mark Twain wrote a book that was supposed to make people laugh. Instead, it made people angry. People who wanted to get angry. The book made nobody laugh, it made people hate, to the point where the American government banned the book. But over time, blacks stopped caring. It’s still dangerous to use the N-Word of course, but having them written in a book about a time when that was the word used. They realized it was only a word. I had several black friends in college. They used the same word all the time when talking to each other. Finally when I asked one of them why they used a word that other blacks claimed was degrading as a nick name, he told me this.
It’s just a word, words only hurt if you want them to hurt. Call me a nigger… right now, do it.
Umm… well… I don’t…Okay… you’re a … nigger.
He patted his chest as he looked around.
Looks like I’m okay. Didn’t hurt me a bit. Because it’s just a word. Now, I recommend you don’t go callin’ every black man a nigger, because fists do hurt a hell of a lot more than words.
I was lucky, that guy taught me a lot with that one small exchange. If Aiden Caine thinks stressing I came from a place where wrestling was nothing, fought my way out, fought my way to the top of my homeland, to the top of my continent, then high enough that an American company asked me to cross over to the golden land of wrestling… that was why I deserved to be North American Champion, because I earned my right to be here, to be fighting in the continent where professional wrestling is at its best. I wasn’t born into it, I made it here through my own hard work. Even President Barack Obama can’t say I didn’t build my own career. But I listened to people on the way, I learned things. Wolfer became a coach because he was strong enough to teach, I became his best student because I was strong enough to listen. If Aiden Caine thinks he was an idiot, then I guess it’s a tribute to idiots that I made it this far. Losing is no longer an option. It never was. It’s a result. It’s what happens when you don’t try hard enough. If I lose it’s not because of Aiden Caine’s words, it’s not because of my words, it’s because of my effort against his effort. Nothing else. Granted, I’m well aware of how I’m probably one of the few people who actually realizes words are meaningless. It’s hardly a common ideology. So that’s why I bothered to learn how to cut a good promo. People like words too much.
I snap out of my self-rant (I really should stop doing that) when I see a familiar face standing, looking at the books, next to me. Not someone I knew personally, but someone from television. Raymond Teller, the silent half of Penn and Teller was literally a foot away from me. Now, I’ve always been a fan of incorporating comedy into what you love to do, and Pen and Teller have been favorites of my family for a long time. Imagine being a hockey fan and running into Gordie Howe at the supermarket, it was like that. He glanced over at me and raised an eyebrow. I froze, realizing he must have caught me staring at him. He opened his hands like a book and mimed reading it, then he held his hand palm down at his waist, signifying a small person (a child) then pointed at me. Took me half a second to get over the fact that Teller just asked me a question in mime, but I quickly responded.
Umm… yes, I’m Apostle Kried, I’m here for the children’s reading thing… are… are you here for that too?
He nodded, then motioned something that honestly looked like Frankenstien’s monster. I shook my head and he sighed silently, then motioned for me to follow him. I did and was once again star struck by Penn turning around and smiling at my approach.
Hey! Apostle Kried, wrestling wunderkind, big fan big fan. You think they’d have told us who all was going to be doing this wouldn’t you, if I had known you would be here I’d have gotten an autograph for my daughter, she thinks you’re a hunk.
My face turned beet red. I know this because Penn burst out laughing pointed at me and said…
Hey… you flush a toilet, not your face!
Thankfully? We were interrupted by yet another arrival, this one more on my level. Jesse Chavez, a pitcher for the Las Vegas 51’s, the local minor league baseball team. He seemed about as shocked as I was to see someone on Penn and Teller’s level here. But with someone in the same boat as me, we were able to carry on a conversation with the magical legends. Eventually, we were joined by several others, some closer to my level of fame, some… well… some named Katy Perry.
Apparently this thing was bigger than the Mayor’s secretary had let on, and she needed five fillers because she could only get five mega stars. Either way, when things got started, and they brought in about a hundred kids to sit on the floor, it was pretty clear about half of us were a lot more nervous than the others. The library employees hastily handed us each a book and shoved Donny Osmond out in front of the camera’s so he could read “Don’t Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus” naturally, the kids had no idea who Donny Osmond was, but the parents sitting behind the cameras all thought it was fantastic, and the kids loved the book, so everyone was happy.
Eventually, my turn came up, and despite having read the book cover to cover 20 times whilst waiting, I still managed to forget the title of the book as I walked up. I took a deep breath, then I looked at the kids and my mind was put at ease. “Ignore the cameras, this is for them.” One of the girls looked a lot like Tija actually. This made me smile. I took a deep breath and laughed. The librarian announcing the readers glanced at me as I laughed and I decided to play it up. I grabbed the microphone from her.
You don’t need to tell them who I am, all the little Kriedlings know my name is Apostle Kried, right little Kriedlings? Tell everybody what my name is!
Apostle Kried! *giggles* (one girl) You told us!
That’s right, Apostle Kried, the not once, not twice, not even three times, but zero time MPW Champion. Here with my back drops, my body slams, and…
I pause, pull a pair of glasses out of my jacket pocket and put them on. Lowering the intensity of my voice to a professorial one.
… my reading glasses
The kids burst into laughter, and a chuckle came from the parents too, I held up the book I was going to read.
Now then, the title of this book is?
CHIKA CHIKA BOOM BOOM!
Hey! You’re right! You guys should be reading this to me.
As I spoke I glanced at the cover to make sure they were right, they were, which was a relief, because if they weren’t I’d probably have been screwed.
Alright then, I’m going to need you all to help me out, when I point at you guys, I need you to say “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom” Got it? Let’s try it, ready? *points*
CHICKA CHICKA BOOM BOOM!!
Fantastic, less work for me! Alright, here we go…
The reading went better than I could have hoped, the kids all got involved, and really, really into it. They laughed at all my cheesy jokes, they shouted whenever I pointed at them, and when I finished, they all cheered. A newspaper guy asked me to pose for a picture and I invited all the kids to be in it with me. They all charged up and crowded around me.
Alright, everyone put on your wrestler face!
The kids all tried their hardest to look mean, flexing their muscles in the most adorable ways. I myself struck a Most Muscular Pose, and grimaced as a smiled, prompting most of the kids to do the same for the picture. It was a lot of fun. Afterwards, the kids all sat back down, laughing and talking as I headed back to the other reader. Katy Perry patted me on the back, that was pretty cool, other than that though, the rest of the event was… uneventful. Everyone enjoyed themselves, we posed for pictures with kids, with each other and with the mayor. Afterwards, as everyone was heading out, I got myself a library card. After today, I realized that I may have been wrong in what I said earlier. Words can’t hurt you, but they certainly aren’t meaningless. I had just used words to put smiles on the faces of hundreds of kids, maybe it was getting to be close to the time I give Moby Dick a second try, till then, this Deadpool comic book is going to have to be my reintroduction to fine literature.
