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[NOW PLAYING - Birds of Tokyo - "Broken Bones"] RP #1 For Match - My Friend, My Comrade, My Brother [SCENE ONE - Copenhagen]
DATE/TIME: 7:30PM, September 20, 2008 [CAST]
Copenhagen. A major cultural city, one of Europe's major cities, and the capital of the Scandinavian nation known as Denmark. One might wonder why exactly this story opens in a place that's so obviously far away from the X-Treme Wrestling Federation, its wrestlers and any offices that were remotely connected with the federation. And one most certainly would wonder what Steve Jason, XWF Legend and expat Australian, would possibly be doing in a country like this. Truth be told, Steve Jason didn't know what he was doing in Denmark either. He'd just... wound up there in the course of his travels. He didn't intend to go there, he didn't get dragged into it, he'd just found himself there in the space of his wandering. And that was, in fact, what Steve Jason had been doing for a large chunk of the time he spent out of the XWF. Since 2007, Steve Jason had been a traveller, a vagabond, a 'drifter' as it were- one place one moment, another the next. One day he'd be sighted in Hong Kong, the next he'd be seen in Moscow, and not infrequently, he'd be reported to have been in Jamaica. There didn't seem to be any place in the world Steve wasn't capable of appearing in for a few days before vanishing off the radar without a trace and re-appearing in another corner of the world- not infrequently far, far away from his previous location. But to his credit, Steve had tried to settle down once again, when he journeyed to Philadelphia and seemed to settle down there in the first half of 2008 to try his skills in the wrestling federation known as Platinum Dynasty Wrestling. Days passed, then weeks, then months, and it had begun to look like Steve had finally planted down roots and picked a place to stay for once. Then without any warning, he just disappeared off the face of Philadelphia one day, without leaving so much as a hint of where he might have gone, evading any and all sightings by anybody who could recognise him- not an easy feat for one of the most well-documented XWF Legends in history. Once again it seemed that Steve Jason had just... well, vanished into thin air. In truth, he'd just gone back to doing what he'd been doing before he arrived at Philadelphia- more wandering and exploring, without any real aim or purpose. Just... roaming, as it were. He was in the Nyhavn district of Copenhagen- one of the harbor districts of town. It was relatively well into the evening- it was dark, and both the silvery moon and the many colors of light coming from the various buildings in Nyhavn reflected across the Baltic Sea. Nyhavn was hardly deserted though- the paved streets were decked out with crowds of people of all ages and walks of life out to experience some of the nightlife of Copenhagen. Long rows of houses with a distinctly Northern European style lined up one side of the walkway that Steve Jason was currently locates, and on the other end were the piers. It was in fact on the very edge of the piers that Steve sat, at a section cordoned off to serve as a cafe. Various tables and chairs were set up around the pierside area, with waiters coming along from one of the buildings across the street with orders. It was at one of those tables that Steve Jason himself sat, looking for all the world like he belonged there, rather than the Australian-born US citizen professional wrestler that he actually was, the cool wind whipping at his stubbled cheek and dark hair as his piercing ice-blue eyes, practically a trademark of the calm yet focused and intense individual he was, swept the area. In a rare move, the usually lightly-clothed Steve had chosen to dress relatively warmly as Denmark stood at the halfway point between winter and summer, covering his upper body with a simple gray v-neck sweater over a black t-shirt, along with navy jeans and black sneakers. A tall mug of coffee- flat white- sat in front of him, which he sipped from on occasion- usually right before looking out over the stormy, uninviting, no-doubt-freezing Baltic. But Steve was not alone in Nyhavn. Sitting to his right was Sergei Volkov- a Russian-American who Steve had met during his time in Philadelphia- who much to Steve's surprise, had asked Steve to take him along when he announced his plans to disappear once again and return to a life of wandering. He was a lean, rugged man about Steve's own age, with very short, receding dark hair, oak-brown eyes and a decisively shrewd and alert look to his facial features, decked with stubble similar to Steve's own. He wore a navy blue 'casual' sportcoat over a white t-shirt and blue jeans, following the 'stylish casual' look that seemed to be taking the world by storm nowadays. The two men were joined by Karie Persson- a figure that neither Steve nor Sergei had known prior to leaving Philadelphia, having met her in the course of their travels. She was a native of Denmark, having met Steve and Sergei when they were new to the town, quickly becoming friends- and that had even blossomed into the start of some casual dating between Karie and Steve himself. At thirty-four, she was three years older than Steve, although that in no way impeded her beauty. A long mane of strawberry-blonde hair hung down around her shoulders, framing her pale complexion, blue-green eyes and calm, almost serene facial features that, Steve had to admit, managed to pull off both the incredibly hot and incredibly cute look at the same time. Like Steve, she'd gone with a sweater- although hers was a lot tighter around her body and was a pale blue color. "...and basically, I got a call at 5AM the next day telling me to pick Dougy up from the police station, after he'd apparently been nabbed by the SWAT for accidentally making a bomb threat in the middle of the nightclub..." Steve explained, smirking slightly. "It was hysterical." Sergei added, trying to keep the smirk off his face, "The poor bastard had to spend three weeks under surveillance just to make sure it wasn't all one big misunderstanding. And he hated it!" "I can't believe you actually have friends like that..." While it was obvious English wasn't Karie's first language, she spoke it rather well- and her soft Danish accent was actually surprisingly alluring, "How do you get into these situations?" "In my line of work, I seem to blunder into these situations several times a year..." Steve remarked in an off-hand tone, "Believe me, my best friend starting an international incident's only the beginning." "What is you used to do in America, anyway?" Karie asked, leaning her chin on her hand as she turned a curious gaze towards Steve, "You never told me." That was a question that Steve wasn't prepared to answer. He knew that she'd ask it one of these days, but he was hoping to put it off for a little longer until he found a way to handle it. He gritted his teeth, his mind working a mile a minute to try to figure out a way to answer that question- whether he'd be honest, or dodge the question, or out and out lie... At that precise moment, Steve's phone proceeded to cut him off from talking, rumbling in his pocket suddenly as it began to burst into sound- a ringtone tailored specifically for the person who was calling. In this case, it was the disgustingly poppy and light-hearted song 'The Sign' by Ace of Base- a song which caused Steve's eyes to narrow and his fists to clench as the wheels in his head turned. That song. That goddamn song. There was only one person Steve knew of who liked that song- in fact, there was only one person that Steve knew of who liked Ace of Base period- and that person was the last person he wanted to hear from at this point in time. One of the perks of being a wanderer was that he thought he'd never have to hear from this person again. Evidently, he was wrong. He pulled his phone out of pocket, a grimace of sheer reluctance on his face, then flipped the phone open and spoke in a short, irritated tone of voice. "Who the hell gave you this number, Sayors?" he barked. "Oh my God! SJ! It is you! Finally, one phone number that hasn't been disconnected!" The excitable voice on the other end all but confirmed Steve's irritation. It was Steve Sayors, XWF Interviewer, and a man who had tortured Steve to the point of borderline insanity with inane questions and babble for the past seven years. A heavy, exasperated sigh escaped him, causing Karie to raise an inquiring brow as he replied. "Yes, Sayors, it's me. What do you want?" "That's all? Over a year without talking and all you can say is 'what do you want'? No 'I missed you, Sayors!' or 'How have you been, Sayors?' or 'Awesome play-by-play on Massacre, S-Daddy!'?" "Do not ever use the name 'S-Daddy' in reference to yourself in my presence again, Sayors." Steve replied flatly, sinking into his chair, "I'm gonna ask again- what do you want? It had better be important. There's generally a reason why I make it all but impossible for people to find me if I don't want them to." "OK, OK, just don't hang up on me..." Sayors seemed to be getting the message now, calming down his usually excitable tone of voice and settling into some degree of normalcy- or at least the closest that Sayors could manage, "We know you've kind of disappeared off the face of sports entertainment again- even PDW don't seem to know where you are, and your agents aren't talking to us." "That's because I told them not to." "I thought so... anyway, because you've been away, we've assumed that you might not have heard the news currently coming out of XWF Home Office. Now, I know you're going to roll your eyes and say you're not interested like you have done the last twenty times we've called you, but believe me, I think this will be worth your attention." "Not interested." was Steve's cool, casual reply. There was a long pause on the phone, as if Sayors was trying to recalibrate his brain and vocal chords and come up with something else to say, then he began to talk at a faster rate. "Seriously, Steve, I really think you need to..." Steve was starting to get really annoyed now, his brow furrowing and his voice taking on a sharp edge to it, his finger sliding towards the hang-up button, "What part of 'not interested' did you not get, Sayors? I'm not coming back to the XWF right now. There's nothing I want to see in the XWF. There's nothing I want to do in the XWF. There's nobody I want to fight in the XWF. What you need to do is knock it off before I have you written up for incessant harassment and abuse of corporate resour..." "Steve. It's for Christian Phoenix. And Exterminator." Sayors finally blurted out. That took Steve aback. His finger stopped on the hangup button and he suddenly leaned forward in his chair, his ice-blue eyes widening slightly at that. Was he on the level here? Was something going on involving Christian Phoenix... and Exterminator? Steve knew that both had been tragically injured almost a year ago, ending their careers and forcing them to watch on from the sidelines for the rest of their lives- a fate that to the seasoned warrior was almost worse than death. Steve shuddered at the idea of it before finally responding. When he did, his voice was a lot less hostile. "For Christian and AJ? Alright, Sayors, you've got my attention. Start talking- but God help you if you're name-dropping and wasting my time." "I can assure you that I'm not..." Sayors assured him in earnest, as if trying to keep a calm Steve from flying off the handle, "Zach Rizza has organised a special tribute show in Christian's honor. It's called 'Phoenix Rising'. Basically, both XWF present superstars and those in the past, friends of Christian and AJ and those who've known of their legacy are going to have one night of wrestling dedicated solely to them. I know you don't want to be disturbed and I know you've turned down a few return invitations in the past, but I thought this might have been a special case so I tracked you down." "For once, you did the right thing." Steve remarked dryly, "Alright, Sayors. In 99% of cases here, I would tell you to go jump. I don't fight to fill people's wallets, I don't fight to satisfy some egomaniac's desire to be more well known by beating 'the great SJ', but fortunately for you, I do still fight to honor the fallen. If there is an event to pay tribute to AJ and Christian Phoenix, then I will be there. So you can go back to Zach Rizza and all but confirm it." "Oh, but I already did..." Sayors' voice now took on a smug sense of satisfaction, and a sinking feeling settled in to Steve's gut, "See, I knew you'd be honor-bound to do this, so I kinda decided to... um... kinda pull a few strings, make a few calls, book a few things on your behalf, that sort of thing. The paperwork's all done, you'll be fighting Lee Stone. October 18, Springfield, Massachusetts." "You did what?!? You forged my identity?!?" Steve blurted. Sayors, however, was not one to face the consequences of his actions, suddenly speeding up the tone of his voice. "OhmylookathetimeI'vegottagoseeyouinOctober!" Before Steve could get a word in edgeways, his phone proceeded to go dead as Sayors hung up the other end. Reining in his frustration with visible effort, he turned back to face Sergei and Karie, both of whom had obviously been listening in with interest. While Sergei's look was rather casual and not all that surprised, Karie's expression was a lot more confused and puzzled. Obviously she was at a complete loss as to what Steve could possibly have been talking about. "They finally caught up with you?" Sergei inquired. "Yeah. That was Steve Sayors of XWF Home Office in Los Angeles. Normally I wouldn't so much as listen to him, but he's actually got something worth my time for once. There's a tribute going on for two of the guys who got taken out of action. I've been invited and I intend to go." "Gathered that much from the call." Sergei nodded. However, while Sergei seemed to have grasped the situation, Karie still did not. Of course she didn't. When they'd met, she didn't even know who he was. Unlike many people who had seen him on TV and heard about his legendary exploits, this Danish woman he'd met on vacation just knew he was a young Australian traveller making his way in the world. Her blue-green eyes moved to his own now, slightly wider than usual as she finally spoke. "This is all moving too fast for me, Steve..." she began, obviously trying hard to grasp the situation, "Tribute? Los Angeles? Out of action? This sounds like a big deal. Is something wrong?" This would be... interesting to say the least. Everybody else Steve had dated knew who he was straight off the bat. Karie was the first person to be clueless as to his downright epic reputation in the States, and it was hard to predict precisely how she'd react to being told that she was in fact talking to a multiple-time Universal Champion and XWF Legend. It wasn't like he'd outright lied to her, he'd just never really talked about it. He'd told her about where he came from and that he'd worked in the United States, but he'd never been specific on what he did. Still, if he wanted to keep seeing this woman- and he did, there was absolutely no doubt about that, she'd charmed him enough- he'd have to be up-front and honest with her. Tell her everything- about the XWF, about everything he went through there, and who Christian Phoenix and AJ were, and why he had to return to the United States in October. If she accompanied him, she'd need to know- and if she didn't, then it was still only fair she knew the truth. His ice-blue eyes finally locked onto her own, and a look of surprisingly gentle calm crossed his face as he reached out to take her slender hand, feeling the warmth flowing into his own battle-hardened hands as he began. "Listen, Karie, there's something you should know about me and what I used to do when I lived in America..." 
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