Post by Rated R on Nov 11, 2013 17:27:29 GMT -5
An Aware Sociopath
Session #3
Jenna Cray’s Personal Notes: The following transcript, complete with personal annotations, is taken from my third session with WFWF owner Trace Demon, shortly after the October 17th edition of WFWF Revolution. On this show Trace Demon violently assaulted Penny Shannon simply to make a point to Scarlett Quinn, a girl barely out of her teens that he has turned his back on simply to become the WFWF World Champion. This is an un-edited account.
I’ve always had a very good grasp of my own fear. I’ve no shame in admitting that I often feel afraid despite my job, and to anyone who believes that a psychiatrist should not feel fear I tell you this – fear keeps us alive. Fear tells us when something is too dangerous, it makes us rethink stupid decisions and it makes us realize when we’re in danger. Fear is important but only if you can control it, if you can stop it from taking over. I’ve always been able to do that, even when I’ve been holding sessions with sociopaths, convicted murderers and even serial killers. I’ve met the kind of people that would terrify an ordinary man or woman, that would terrify even the bravest of people, but I’ve always been able to bury it down, to use it only when I need to. It has never affected me in the traditional ways before, I have felt fear but I have never truly been afraid of anybody or any situation.
That was until I met Trace Demon. He’s different to the rest, with sociopaths and killers I have always been able to rationalise their reasoning, analyse it and craft a profile out of it. I can control my fear if I can understand the one instilling it. But while I have little trouble profiling Trace Demon, his arrogance, his desire for power and egocentric tendencies, I still don’t understand him. Is he a highly functioning sociopath or a sane man who is willing to go to any lengths to gain what he thinks he deserves. He could be a madman or just a narcissist, I don’t know. The only thing I do know is that…
Trace Demon: You don’t understand me, do you Jenna?
I don’t understand him, he’s right. The truth is that I stumbled upon Trace Demon some time ago and have been fascinated with figuring him out ever since, in succeeding where others have failed. The only reason I applied for this job was to get close enough to him to have these kind of meetings. Why else would a woman of my level work for a company like the WFWF after all?
Jenna Cray: What I don’t understand Trace is why you did such a horrendous, unneeded thing. I understand you feel like you had to make a point but what did you really achieve that you haven’t already achieved? You’re already inside Scarlett’s head, you’ve already gotten your match, you’ve already proven what you’re willing to do. This attack on Penny Shannon did nothing and yet you still felt the need to do it. Why?
He leans back in his seat, I can’t tell if he’s considering the question or whether he’s just trying to make some kind of dramatic point with the silence filling the room. Knowing his flair for the dramatic I feel like it’s the latter.
Trace Demon: You ever actually watch a wrestling match?
Jenna Cray: On occasion.
Trace Demon: Then tell me how you win.
Jenna Cray: By pinfall or submission, it’s not a difficult concept.
Trace Demon: Well it must be, cause you don’t seem capable of seeing the bigger picture.
He takes clear pleasure in my confusion. He’s got a compulsive need to be in control of everything and everyone. It is only natural to him that when he begins to lose control he lashes out. The examples are far too numerous to be contained within this report.
Trace Demon: You win the match by breaking your opponent so badly that they can’t go on anymore. It doesn’t matter if it’s by pinfall or submission, by disqualification or count out, you win because you make sure they can’t get up, because they can’t fight on. To everyone else that might start the moment you step in the ring but to me, to any real deserving champion, that isn’t something that starts or stops. It’s something that’s happening all the time. You don’t just break people physically, you have to make sure they’re broken up here as well-
He taps the side of his head to make his point.
Trace Demon: I attacked Penny because it was the smart thing to do, because I want Scarlett to be broken long before we step in the ring together. You say it was wrong because I’d already done that, but you can’t let up, you can’t give them the chance to recover physically or emotionally. You keep digging away; keep tearing at their skin until there’s nothing but bone and dead flakes on the floor. The people I face, they don’t come out the same way they came in and you might call that monstrous or psychopathic, but I call it smart, I call it strategic. I step in that ring with an advantage far greater than skill and ability. I’m in their head. Right now I’m all Scarlett can think about, when she sees Penny’s broken little face she wells up with hatred. I instil anger because I don’t want her thinking straight.
Jenna Cray: And do you think that makes it right? Does an advantage justify your actions?
Trace Demon: No, winning justifies my actions. It’s not about hurting people, it’s not about respect or about proving I’m the better man, it’s about winning, it always has been. Every single person in this business wants the win, I just don’t like to wait for it.
I believe everything he’s said, that he’s driven by the need to win, that he does everything not because he wants to hurt people, though he undeniably has a psycho-sexual lust for inflicting pain, but because he is only validated by his own success. He uses people and hurts them not to make a point but because he believes it will guarantee him victory and that, above all else, is what he craves. More importantly he craves this victory because he craves adulation, he wants people to love him, he wants them to admit his superiority. But this is not a need to be liked, it is a need to be wanted, when he finds someone who isn’t thrilled to be around him he only has two reactions.
Either he does something to ensure their adulation, or he eliminates them from the equation fully.
I move in with one final question, more for my curiosity than anything else.
Jenna Cray: And you think this attack means you’re going to win?
Trace Demon: It means I already have.
< *** >
Trace Demon: You’ve got to be kidding me.
The Demon household isn’t unfamiliar to these kind of bewildered outbursts. For one it’s called the Demon household, meaning it shouldn’t really be unfamiliar to anything a bit out of the ordinary. Aside from that Trace Demon lives inside it. Once again, nothing is off the table.
Alexa Munroe: Am I about to hear about another TV show cancelled before it’s time?
Trace Demon: HAPPY ENDINGS! I WILL AVENGE YOU!
Alexa Munroe: Well that was overly dramatic.
Trace Demon: Sorry, got carried away for a second.
Doesn’t mean he’s not planning vengeance on ABC though.
Trace Demon: My old high school held a reunion last week.
Alexa peers over his shoulder, glancing at the laptop screen. She’s more surprised at what she sees there than that time she found out Trace had a side-venture offering advice to teenage girls on their love lives.
Alexa Munroe: You joined Facebook?
Trace Demon: I’m hip; I’m down with the kids.
Alexa Munroe: You’re also trying way too hard.
Trace Demon: Don’t care, kids are stupid anyway.
Oh crap…
Trace Demon: Except ours, ours is awesome.
Alexa Munroe: Good save.
That was a close one.
Alexa Munroe: Anyway, why do you care that they held a reunion? You’re always saying you hated that school, and by always I mean the handful of times you’ve ever spoken about where you grew up.
Trace Demon: I care because they did something horrible, something disgusting, something unforgivable. And worse still they’ve gotten away with it, they weren’t arrested, they weren’t hung, drawn and quartered. They weren’t even stalked and killed by a vigilante wearing a hood and shooting arrows.
Alexa Munroe: I think you’ve been watching too much television babe.
He doesn’t hear that one, he’s too wound up over the great injustice done against him.
Trace Demon: They didn’t invite me!
He pauses, his hand held in the air in a pose of defiant horror, waiting for some kind of shocked reaction. This is the kind of thing that should be on the front page of papers, the kind of news that should be plastered on every single website, the kind of report that every TV station interrupts their regular viewing to show.
Alexa Munroe: So?
Trace Demon: So! So! They didn’t invite me, ME! If you’re putting together a class reunion and one of your classmates is Trace freaking Demon you invite Trace freaking Demon to said class reunion.
Alexa Munroe: If you start calling yourself Trace freaking Demon than I will leave you.
It’s got a hell of a ring to it, doesn’t it?
Trace Demon: This can’t stand, this is a slap in my face.
Alexa Munroe: Would you even have gone?
Trace Demon: No, but that’s not the point. I am the most famous member of that class, the closest competitor I’ve got in that stakes is a goat farmer who became a viral video star for all the wrong reasons. When you’ve got a star like me on your books you don’t just forget about them, and you sure as hell don’t leave them out on purpose. Something must have happened, some kind of conspiracy. I mean if it was Danny Richards I’d understand, but according to this page Kai Matthews organized it. Kai never found me doing his mother doggy style, he’s got no reason not to invite me.
Alexa Munroe: I know where this is going and no, you’re not flying all the way out to Hamilton just to find this out. Just ring him.
Trace Demon: I don’t have his number.
Alexa Munroe: Then get it from someone else, or e-mail him, or just let it go. Do not go all the way out there just to satiate your ego.
He gives her the look, the “we both know I’m going to do this because I’m utterly crazy” look. Actually, it’s pretty close to his normal look because he’s always doing something utterly crazy.
Alexa Munroe: Promise me you’re not going to fly out to Hamilton just to confront this guy.
Trace Demon: Um…
< *** >
Trace Demon: So yeah, I’m going to fly out to Hamilton and confront this guy.
In fact he’s already booked his plane tickets and is at the airport right now. Currently he stands with the phone to his ear in the middle of a busy terminal, because if the woman with the crying baby isn’t going to show any common courtesy then he isn’t going to show any common courtesy when said baby is about to fall asleep. The person on the other end of the phone, Jason Anders, is not a happy man
Jason Anders: You’ve got to be kidding me!
Trace Demon: Why does everyone seem to think that this is a crazy idea? Seems perfectly rational to me.
Jason Anders: You think flying all the way out to Hamilton to meet a man you haven’t seen in about ten years just to ask him why he didn’t invite you to your high school reunion is a perfectly rational thing to do?
Trace Demon: Well yeah.
Jason Anders: Do you forget you’ve got a company to run?
Trace Demon: I think the WFWF can cope without me for like a day.
Jason Anders: Trace, with the situation you’ve put us in I don’t think you stepping away even for a day is going to help, it looks like you don’t care about the company! I’ve got investors and sponsors on my ass because of what you did to Penny Shannon and now it looks like you’re fleeing the bloody country.
Trace Demon: Okay one, if I was fleeing the country the last place I’d hide is back in my hometown, I’d go to France because nobody would look for me in France. France runs, people don’t run to France. Secondly, I can’t help it if people took offence to me beating Penny Shannon like a little b***h.
The mother opposite gives him a glare, he just shrugs and gives a confused look, simply doesn’t understand what he’s done wrong. It’s perfectly acceptable to use derogatory curse words in front of young children, right? If not then somebody should have told his parents that, or at least taught them how not to be drunk, abusive bungholes. Either would do.
Jason Anders: It is your fault Trace, you went too far again after I warned you, I told you not to do it, you crossed the line and now the company is paying for it. If you don’t do something we’re going to lose sponsors and that means lost revenue. You own the WFWF now, you have to think about the good of the company, not just yourself.
Trace Demon: Haven’t you ever heard that controversy creates cash. Some brainless idiot said that once.
Jason Anders: I know that sponsorship and advertising deals create cash and that you’re short-minded, self-centred obsessive crap is jeopardizing that.
Trace Demon: You’re just grouchy that I didn’t say goodbye, aren’t you?
Trace can hear the utterances of unsavoury words despite Anders’ attempts to muffle them. On this rare occasion Trace lets it go, he’s about to get on a plane to Canada after all, he doesn’t exactly feel like driving back down to the New York headquarters, violently berating or beating a man and then driving all the way back. Besides, Anders’ is kind of a friend, very loosely defined.
Jason Anders: You need to get over this obsessive need to put yourself first and realize that this company needs a real leader, not a dictatorial figurehead.
Trace Demon: Well now you’re just stringing ridiculous insults together.
Jason Anders: Come back and sort this before the WFWF falls to the ground around you.
Trace Demon: Fine, just know that you’re being a real dick about this.
He hangs up the phone and grabs his bag, heading towards the gate where the plane awaits. He’ll save the WFWF tomorrow; right now he has more pressing matters to attend to. Like why he wasn’t invited to a high school reunion he didn’t even want to go to. You know, important stuff.
< *** >
Kai Matthews wasn’t expecting anything out of the ordinary to happen today. He’d been to work, nothing spectacular, just a job with the Hamilton council working for the parks department. Nowhere near as fun as TV makes it out to be, and certainly nobody with a glorious moustache which was sorely a disappointment to all who visited. After that he’d returned home to his little suburban house, two bedrooms though he lives alone, super depressing when you think about it. Anyway, same old house, same old job, same old boring twenty-eight year old life. Then he received a knock on the door, nothing strange about that, people knock all the time. He, as any normal man would, answered and…
Holy s**t balls Trace Demon is at the freaking door. Normality just got shot in the face and buried in the garden.
Kai Matthews: Tr… Trace? What are you doing here? Last I heard you were running some wrestling company in America.
Trace Demon: And last I heard you were a massive ass who didn’t invite me to my high school reunion… dick.
Trace doesn’t wait for an invitation, he simply pushes past Kai and lets himself into the house. The place was ghastly, I mean really, really bad. Dude’s got no sense of style and it shows in every atom of his being. He is, as you would expect of a man who willingly organized his high school reunion, a massive loser.
Trace Demon: Dude, your house sucks.
Kai Matthews: Wait, did you fly out here just to bring up the reunion? Why didn’t you just call me?
Trace Demon: I don’t have your number.
Kai Matthews: So just get it off Facebook.
Trace Demon: Why does everyone keep acting like this was a crazy thing to do. Turning up at your house with no notice to talk about you being a dick who didn’t invite the star attraction of our school year is a completely reasonable thing to do.
Kai Matthews: Trace-
Trace Demon: Admit it.
Kai Matthews: Admit what?
Trace Demon: Admit it was a sensible thing to do.
Kai Matthews: It really wasn’t.
Trace Demon: You’re such a dick.
Trace slumps in the only seat in the living room, leaving Kai to stand as his home is invaded by a man with crimson red hair and probably pierced nipples. Yeah, normality has certainly been buried six feet under.
Kai Matthews: Can we just get to the point please, you’re really rather creepy.
Trace Demon: And you’re really rather a dick. How could you not invite me to the reunion? I’m like the most famous person ever to come out of that class, there was literally no reason to hold it without me being there and no, I’m not using literally in the wrong way, it’s in context you grammar Nazi.
Kai Matthews: I didn’t even say anything.
Trace Demon: I wasn’t talking to you.
Grammar Nazi’s the lot of you.
Kai Matthews: You’d like to know why we didn’t invite you to the reunion? It’s because nobody likes you.
Trace Demon: What are you talking about? I was popular, like super popular, everybody loved me.
Kai Matthews: No, girls liked you because you were a ‘bad boy’ until they realized that you were just arrogant and cocky. That was your problem Trace, and it appears it still is, you had massive delusions of grandeur. You always thought everything was about you and people gave you slack because your father was a nasty piece of work, but barely anyone actually liked you and nobody missed you. You’ve got this insane delusion that you’re the only person that matters and you always treated everyone else like they were just there for you to play with and that’s not the way the world works Trace, you can’t do that to people.
Really, because he’s been doing it for a living for a long time and has been pretty successful at it.
Kai Matthews: So, aren’t you going to say anything?
Trace sits there, somewhat silently. Maybe this loser, this absolute nobody who’s never done anything of any importance has just changed the way our villain sees the world. Maybe he’s opened Trace’s mind to how things really work, to where his priorities really lie? Maybe he’s completely changed Trace Demon for the better.
Trace Demon: I can’t believe I travelled all the way out here just so you could make up some story instead of admitting you were scared of me stealing your thunder.
Nope, didn’t think so.
Kai Matthews: You’re unbelievable.
Trace Demon: And so was your mother when I took her from behind! Peace out.
Kai Matthews: Wait, you did what to my mom?
Too late, he’s already gone, walking down the path towards the waiting taxi. He pulls his phone out and hits redial. It rings a few times before a very irate chubby general manager answers.
Jason Anders: Where the hell are you, you went out to Canada, didn’t you? Why don’t you-
Trace Demon: Oh shut up and listen to me Anders, I’m going to fix everything…
< *** >
Cam Nitta, back after a few weeks out and already propelled into a main event against the greatest professional wrestler this world has ever seen. Some would call that undeserved, others would call it lucky, most would call it the wrong place at the wrong time. They’d say that you caught me at the absolute worst possible moment, that I’m fixated on sending a message to Scarlett so badly that I will do unspeakable things to you to ensure that message is sent. If I was any other man then this would be true, if I was any other man this match would be the perfect opportunity to send a message to Scarlett Quinn. I’d take this precious little fan favourite rookie Cam Nitta, on his return, and I’d put him right back on the shelf. And maybe I will do that, but I won’t do it for the same reasons that every other man will do it because I’m not every other man. I’m Trace freaking Demon and you better believe that I do things differently because I have the talent and the mind to do so.
You see Cam, I’m going to hurt you, I’m going to beat you, I’m going to make an example out of you, yadda yadda yadda, same old crap as every other single match I compete in, I win them all. So what makes this any different, what makes you an example if everyone already knows I can beat you on my worst day? Let me tell you, the reason this match matters is the same reason every Trace Demon match matters, it’s the same reason I’m oh so damn successful. It’s because unlike everybody else I don’t start reacting when someone starts pushing, I’m proactive. I don’t make examples out of people when I have to and I don’t make statements when I have to, I do it all the damn time because I can. You see Cam, I’m going to do to you the same thing I did to Penny Shannon, the same thing I did to Joe Bishop, the same thing I did to Yukio Blaze and anybody else you can possibly think of. I’m going to make a statement because I always do. And I do it because people have to know that when you start something with me I’m going to be the one to finish it. They need to know this because they need to make sure they don’t make the biggest mistake of their lives and think they can actually beat me.
Scarlett Quinn knows it now, she’s seen what I do to people when I want to make a point and guess what, from this point on I’m always going to want to make a point because as it turns out, when I can do something, I will do something. It’s just the kind of man I am. I held the WFWF International Championship for over one year simply because I could. I’ve held this company up for over one year single handily simply because I can. I will be the next World Heavyweight Champion simply because I want to be. And I will make an example out of every single person I step into the ring with… simply… because… I can. So Cam you step into the ring this week with me knowing that you can’t beat me. You know it, I know it, they know it. When people step in the ring with me they get their fingers broken, they get their arms broken, they get their legs broken, they get their heads broken and they get their damn minds broken! And I do it all because I can! Because I can do anything, because I’m Trace freaking Demon and I can do anything I want because this company and this world revolves around me. I’m the one they’re all talking about, I’m the one they want to see, I’m the one bringing all the money and the viewers into this company because I am the King.
I am the King and the WFWF is my kingdom. It doesn’t matter if you like me or not, as long as you accept the fact that I am the best this company has to offer. It doesn’t matter if you respect me as a person as long as you show me the respect that I deserve. And to all those people, like Cam Nitta, who thinks that they can make a name for themselves by getting in the ring with the King let me tell you that while you might succeed in making a name for himself it won’t be for the reasons that you want. The only reason anybody will know your name is because you were just the latest example of why Trace Demon is the greatest, most vicious wrestler in the world and damn well the centrepiece of this industry.
It’s not arrogance… when it’s true.
Session #3
Jenna Cray’s Personal Notes: The following transcript, complete with personal annotations, is taken from my third session with WFWF owner Trace Demon, shortly after the October 17th edition of WFWF Revolution. On this show Trace Demon violently assaulted Penny Shannon simply to make a point to Scarlett Quinn, a girl barely out of her teens that he has turned his back on simply to become the WFWF World Champion. This is an un-edited account.
I’ve always had a very good grasp of my own fear. I’ve no shame in admitting that I often feel afraid despite my job, and to anyone who believes that a psychiatrist should not feel fear I tell you this – fear keeps us alive. Fear tells us when something is too dangerous, it makes us rethink stupid decisions and it makes us realize when we’re in danger. Fear is important but only if you can control it, if you can stop it from taking over. I’ve always been able to do that, even when I’ve been holding sessions with sociopaths, convicted murderers and even serial killers. I’ve met the kind of people that would terrify an ordinary man or woman, that would terrify even the bravest of people, but I’ve always been able to bury it down, to use it only when I need to. It has never affected me in the traditional ways before, I have felt fear but I have never truly been afraid of anybody or any situation.
That was until I met Trace Demon. He’s different to the rest, with sociopaths and killers I have always been able to rationalise their reasoning, analyse it and craft a profile out of it. I can control my fear if I can understand the one instilling it. But while I have little trouble profiling Trace Demon, his arrogance, his desire for power and egocentric tendencies, I still don’t understand him. Is he a highly functioning sociopath or a sane man who is willing to go to any lengths to gain what he thinks he deserves. He could be a madman or just a narcissist, I don’t know. The only thing I do know is that…
Trace Demon: You don’t understand me, do you Jenna?
I don’t understand him, he’s right. The truth is that I stumbled upon Trace Demon some time ago and have been fascinated with figuring him out ever since, in succeeding where others have failed. The only reason I applied for this job was to get close enough to him to have these kind of meetings. Why else would a woman of my level work for a company like the WFWF after all?
Jenna Cray: What I don’t understand Trace is why you did such a horrendous, unneeded thing. I understand you feel like you had to make a point but what did you really achieve that you haven’t already achieved? You’re already inside Scarlett’s head, you’ve already gotten your match, you’ve already proven what you’re willing to do. This attack on Penny Shannon did nothing and yet you still felt the need to do it. Why?
He leans back in his seat, I can’t tell if he’s considering the question or whether he’s just trying to make some kind of dramatic point with the silence filling the room. Knowing his flair for the dramatic I feel like it’s the latter.
Trace Demon: You ever actually watch a wrestling match?
Jenna Cray: On occasion.
Trace Demon: Then tell me how you win.
Jenna Cray: By pinfall or submission, it’s not a difficult concept.
Trace Demon: Well it must be, cause you don’t seem capable of seeing the bigger picture.
He takes clear pleasure in my confusion. He’s got a compulsive need to be in control of everything and everyone. It is only natural to him that when he begins to lose control he lashes out. The examples are far too numerous to be contained within this report.
Trace Demon: You win the match by breaking your opponent so badly that they can’t go on anymore. It doesn’t matter if it’s by pinfall or submission, by disqualification or count out, you win because you make sure they can’t get up, because they can’t fight on. To everyone else that might start the moment you step in the ring but to me, to any real deserving champion, that isn’t something that starts or stops. It’s something that’s happening all the time. You don’t just break people physically, you have to make sure they’re broken up here as well-
He taps the side of his head to make his point.
Trace Demon: I attacked Penny because it was the smart thing to do, because I want Scarlett to be broken long before we step in the ring together. You say it was wrong because I’d already done that, but you can’t let up, you can’t give them the chance to recover physically or emotionally. You keep digging away; keep tearing at their skin until there’s nothing but bone and dead flakes on the floor. The people I face, they don’t come out the same way they came in and you might call that monstrous or psychopathic, but I call it smart, I call it strategic. I step in that ring with an advantage far greater than skill and ability. I’m in their head. Right now I’m all Scarlett can think about, when she sees Penny’s broken little face she wells up with hatred. I instil anger because I don’t want her thinking straight.
Jenna Cray: And do you think that makes it right? Does an advantage justify your actions?
Trace Demon: No, winning justifies my actions. It’s not about hurting people, it’s not about respect or about proving I’m the better man, it’s about winning, it always has been. Every single person in this business wants the win, I just don’t like to wait for it.
I believe everything he’s said, that he’s driven by the need to win, that he does everything not because he wants to hurt people, though he undeniably has a psycho-sexual lust for inflicting pain, but because he is only validated by his own success. He uses people and hurts them not to make a point but because he believes it will guarantee him victory and that, above all else, is what he craves. More importantly he craves this victory because he craves adulation, he wants people to love him, he wants them to admit his superiority. But this is not a need to be liked, it is a need to be wanted, when he finds someone who isn’t thrilled to be around him he only has two reactions.
Either he does something to ensure their adulation, or he eliminates them from the equation fully.
I move in with one final question, more for my curiosity than anything else.
Jenna Cray: And you think this attack means you’re going to win?
Trace Demon: It means I already have.
< *** >
Trace Demon: You’ve got to be kidding me.
The Demon household isn’t unfamiliar to these kind of bewildered outbursts. For one it’s called the Demon household, meaning it shouldn’t really be unfamiliar to anything a bit out of the ordinary. Aside from that Trace Demon lives inside it. Once again, nothing is off the table.
Alexa Munroe: Am I about to hear about another TV show cancelled before it’s time?
Trace Demon: HAPPY ENDINGS! I WILL AVENGE YOU!
Alexa Munroe: Well that was overly dramatic.
Trace Demon: Sorry, got carried away for a second.
Doesn’t mean he’s not planning vengeance on ABC though.
Trace Demon: My old high school held a reunion last week.
Alexa peers over his shoulder, glancing at the laptop screen. She’s more surprised at what she sees there than that time she found out Trace had a side-venture offering advice to teenage girls on their love lives.
Alexa Munroe: You joined Facebook?
Trace Demon: I’m hip; I’m down with the kids.
Alexa Munroe: You’re also trying way too hard.
Trace Demon: Don’t care, kids are stupid anyway.
Oh crap…
Trace Demon: Except ours, ours is awesome.
Alexa Munroe: Good save.
That was a close one.
Alexa Munroe: Anyway, why do you care that they held a reunion? You’re always saying you hated that school, and by always I mean the handful of times you’ve ever spoken about where you grew up.
Trace Demon: I care because they did something horrible, something disgusting, something unforgivable. And worse still they’ve gotten away with it, they weren’t arrested, they weren’t hung, drawn and quartered. They weren’t even stalked and killed by a vigilante wearing a hood and shooting arrows.
Alexa Munroe: I think you’ve been watching too much television babe.
He doesn’t hear that one, he’s too wound up over the great injustice done against him.
Trace Demon: They didn’t invite me!
He pauses, his hand held in the air in a pose of defiant horror, waiting for some kind of shocked reaction. This is the kind of thing that should be on the front page of papers, the kind of news that should be plastered on every single website, the kind of report that every TV station interrupts their regular viewing to show.
Alexa Munroe: So?
Trace Demon: So! So! They didn’t invite me, ME! If you’re putting together a class reunion and one of your classmates is Trace freaking Demon you invite Trace freaking Demon to said class reunion.
Alexa Munroe: If you start calling yourself Trace freaking Demon than I will leave you.
It’s got a hell of a ring to it, doesn’t it?
Trace Demon: This can’t stand, this is a slap in my face.
Alexa Munroe: Would you even have gone?
Trace Demon: No, but that’s not the point. I am the most famous member of that class, the closest competitor I’ve got in that stakes is a goat farmer who became a viral video star for all the wrong reasons. When you’ve got a star like me on your books you don’t just forget about them, and you sure as hell don’t leave them out on purpose. Something must have happened, some kind of conspiracy. I mean if it was Danny Richards I’d understand, but according to this page Kai Matthews organized it. Kai never found me doing his mother doggy style, he’s got no reason not to invite me.
Alexa Munroe: I know where this is going and no, you’re not flying all the way out to Hamilton just to find this out. Just ring him.
Trace Demon: I don’t have his number.
Alexa Munroe: Then get it from someone else, or e-mail him, or just let it go. Do not go all the way out there just to satiate your ego.
He gives her the look, the “we both know I’m going to do this because I’m utterly crazy” look. Actually, it’s pretty close to his normal look because he’s always doing something utterly crazy.
Alexa Munroe: Promise me you’re not going to fly out to Hamilton just to confront this guy.
Trace Demon: Um…
< *** >
Trace Demon: So yeah, I’m going to fly out to Hamilton and confront this guy.
In fact he’s already booked his plane tickets and is at the airport right now. Currently he stands with the phone to his ear in the middle of a busy terminal, because if the woman with the crying baby isn’t going to show any common courtesy then he isn’t going to show any common courtesy when said baby is about to fall asleep. The person on the other end of the phone, Jason Anders, is not a happy man
Jason Anders: You’ve got to be kidding me!
Trace Demon: Why does everyone seem to think that this is a crazy idea? Seems perfectly rational to me.
Jason Anders: You think flying all the way out to Hamilton to meet a man you haven’t seen in about ten years just to ask him why he didn’t invite you to your high school reunion is a perfectly rational thing to do?
Trace Demon: Well yeah.
Jason Anders: Do you forget you’ve got a company to run?
Trace Demon: I think the WFWF can cope without me for like a day.
Jason Anders: Trace, with the situation you’ve put us in I don’t think you stepping away even for a day is going to help, it looks like you don’t care about the company! I’ve got investors and sponsors on my ass because of what you did to Penny Shannon and now it looks like you’re fleeing the bloody country.
Trace Demon: Okay one, if I was fleeing the country the last place I’d hide is back in my hometown, I’d go to France because nobody would look for me in France. France runs, people don’t run to France. Secondly, I can’t help it if people took offence to me beating Penny Shannon like a little b***h.
The mother opposite gives him a glare, he just shrugs and gives a confused look, simply doesn’t understand what he’s done wrong. It’s perfectly acceptable to use derogatory curse words in front of young children, right? If not then somebody should have told his parents that, or at least taught them how not to be drunk, abusive bungholes. Either would do.
Jason Anders: It is your fault Trace, you went too far again after I warned you, I told you not to do it, you crossed the line and now the company is paying for it. If you don’t do something we’re going to lose sponsors and that means lost revenue. You own the WFWF now, you have to think about the good of the company, not just yourself.
Trace Demon: Haven’t you ever heard that controversy creates cash. Some brainless idiot said that once.
Jason Anders: I know that sponsorship and advertising deals create cash and that you’re short-minded, self-centred obsessive crap is jeopardizing that.
Trace Demon: You’re just grouchy that I didn’t say goodbye, aren’t you?
Trace can hear the utterances of unsavoury words despite Anders’ attempts to muffle them. On this rare occasion Trace lets it go, he’s about to get on a plane to Canada after all, he doesn’t exactly feel like driving back down to the New York headquarters, violently berating or beating a man and then driving all the way back. Besides, Anders’ is kind of a friend, very loosely defined.
Jason Anders: You need to get over this obsessive need to put yourself first and realize that this company needs a real leader, not a dictatorial figurehead.
Trace Demon: Well now you’re just stringing ridiculous insults together.
Jason Anders: Come back and sort this before the WFWF falls to the ground around you.
Trace Demon: Fine, just know that you’re being a real dick about this.
He hangs up the phone and grabs his bag, heading towards the gate where the plane awaits. He’ll save the WFWF tomorrow; right now he has more pressing matters to attend to. Like why he wasn’t invited to a high school reunion he didn’t even want to go to. You know, important stuff.
< *** >
Kai Matthews wasn’t expecting anything out of the ordinary to happen today. He’d been to work, nothing spectacular, just a job with the Hamilton council working for the parks department. Nowhere near as fun as TV makes it out to be, and certainly nobody with a glorious moustache which was sorely a disappointment to all who visited. After that he’d returned home to his little suburban house, two bedrooms though he lives alone, super depressing when you think about it. Anyway, same old house, same old job, same old boring twenty-eight year old life. Then he received a knock on the door, nothing strange about that, people knock all the time. He, as any normal man would, answered and…
Holy s**t balls Trace Demon is at the freaking door. Normality just got shot in the face and buried in the garden.
Kai Matthews: Tr… Trace? What are you doing here? Last I heard you were running some wrestling company in America.
Trace Demon: And last I heard you were a massive ass who didn’t invite me to my high school reunion… dick.
Trace doesn’t wait for an invitation, he simply pushes past Kai and lets himself into the house. The place was ghastly, I mean really, really bad. Dude’s got no sense of style and it shows in every atom of his being. He is, as you would expect of a man who willingly organized his high school reunion, a massive loser.
Trace Demon: Dude, your house sucks.
Kai Matthews: Wait, did you fly out here just to bring up the reunion? Why didn’t you just call me?
Trace Demon: I don’t have your number.
Kai Matthews: So just get it off Facebook.
Trace Demon: Why does everyone keep acting like this was a crazy thing to do. Turning up at your house with no notice to talk about you being a dick who didn’t invite the star attraction of our school year is a completely reasonable thing to do.
Kai Matthews: Trace-
Trace Demon: Admit it.
Kai Matthews: Admit what?
Trace Demon: Admit it was a sensible thing to do.
Kai Matthews: It really wasn’t.
Trace Demon: You’re such a dick.
Trace slumps in the only seat in the living room, leaving Kai to stand as his home is invaded by a man with crimson red hair and probably pierced nipples. Yeah, normality has certainly been buried six feet under.
Kai Matthews: Can we just get to the point please, you’re really rather creepy.
Trace Demon: And you’re really rather a dick. How could you not invite me to the reunion? I’m like the most famous person ever to come out of that class, there was literally no reason to hold it without me being there and no, I’m not using literally in the wrong way, it’s in context you grammar Nazi.
Kai Matthews: I didn’t even say anything.
Trace Demon: I wasn’t talking to you.
Grammar Nazi’s the lot of you.
Kai Matthews: You’d like to know why we didn’t invite you to the reunion? It’s because nobody likes you.
Trace Demon: What are you talking about? I was popular, like super popular, everybody loved me.
Kai Matthews: No, girls liked you because you were a ‘bad boy’ until they realized that you were just arrogant and cocky. That was your problem Trace, and it appears it still is, you had massive delusions of grandeur. You always thought everything was about you and people gave you slack because your father was a nasty piece of work, but barely anyone actually liked you and nobody missed you. You’ve got this insane delusion that you’re the only person that matters and you always treated everyone else like they were just there for you to play with and that’s not the way the world works Trace, you can’t do that to people.
Really, because he’s been doing it for a living for a long time and has been pretty successful at it.
Kai Matthews: So, aren’t you going to say anything?
Trace sits there, somewhat silently. Maybe this loser, this absolute nobody who’s never done anything of any importance has just changed the way our villain sees the world. Maybe he’s opened Trace’s mind to how things really work, to where his priorities really lie? Maybe he’s completely changed Trace Demon for the better.
Trace Demon: I can’t believe I travelled all the way out here just so you could make up some story instead of admitting you were scared of me stealing your thunder.
Nope, didn’t think so.
Kai Matthews: You’re unbelievable.
Trace Demon: And so was your mother when I took her from behind! Peace out.
Kai Matthews: Wait, you did what to my mom?
Too late, he’s already gone, walking down the path towards the waiting taxi. He pulls his phone out and hits redial. It rings a few times before a very irate chubby general manager answers.
Jason Anders: Where the hell are you, you went out to Canada, didn’t you? Why don’t you-
Trace Demon: Oh shut up and listen to me Anders, I’m going to fix everything…
< *** >
Cam Nitta, back after a few weeks out and already propelled into a main event against the greatest professional wrestler this world has ever seen. Some would call that undeserved, others would call it lucky, most would call it the wrong place at the wrong time. They’d say that you caught me at the absolute worst possible moment, that I’m fixated on sending a message to Scarlett so badly that I will do unspeakable things to you to ensure that message is sent. If I was any other man then this would be true, if I was any other man this match would be the perfect opportunity to send a message to Scarlett Quinn. I’d take this precious little fan favourite rookie Cam Nitta, on his return, and I’d put him right back on the shelf. And maybe I will do that, but I won’t do it for the same reasons that every other man will do it because I’m not every other man. I’m Trace freaking Demon and you better believe that I do things differently because I have the talent and the mind to do so.
You see Cam, I’m going to hurt you, I’m going to beat you, I’m going to make an example out of you, yadda yadda yadda, same old crap as every other single match I compete in, I win them all. So what makes this any different, what makes you an example if everyone already knows I can beat you on my worst day? Let me tell you, the reason this match matters is the same reason every Trace Demon match matters, it’s the same reason I’m oh so damn successful. It’s because unlike everybody else I don’t start reacting when someone starts pushing, I’m proactive. I don’t make examples out of people when I have to and I don’t make statements when I have to, I do it all the damn time because I can. You see Cam, I’m going to do to you the same thing I did to Penny Shannon, the same thing I did to Joe Bishop, the same thing I did to Yukio Blaze and anybody else you can possibly think of. I’m going to make a statement because I always do. And I do it because people have to know that when you start something with me I’m going to be the one to finish it. They need to know this because they need to make sure they don’t make the biggest mistake of their lives and think they can actually beat me.
Scarlett Quinn knows it now, she’s seen what I do to people when I want to make a point and guess what, from this point on I’m always going to want to make a point because as it turns out, when I can do something, I will do something. It’s just the kind of man I am. I held the WFWF International Championship for over one year simply because I could. I’ve held this company up for over one year single handily simply because I can. I will be the next World Heavyweight Champion simply because I want to be. And I will make an example out of every single person I step into the ring with… simply… because… I can. So Cam you step into the ring this week with me knowing that you can’t beat me. You know it, I know it, they know it. When people step in the ring with me they get their fingers broken, they get their arms broken, they get their legs broken, they get their heads broken and they get their damn minds broken! And I do it all because I can! Because I can do anything, because I’m Trace freaking Demon and I can do anything I want because this company and this world revolves around me. I’m the one they’re all talking about, I’m the one they want to see, I’m the one bringing all the money and the viewers into this company because I am the King.
I am the King and the WFWF is my kingdom. It doesn’t matter if you like me or not, as long as you accept the fact that I am the best this company has to offer. It doesn’t matter if you respect me as a person as long as you show me the respect that I deserve. And to all those people, like Cam Nitta, who thinks that they can make a name for themselves by getting in the ring with the King let me tell you that while you might succeed in making a name for himself it won’t be for the reasons that you want. The only reason anybody will know your name is because you were just the latest example of why Trace Demon is the greatest, most vicious wrestler in the world and damn well the centrepiece of this industry.
It’s not arrogance… when it’s true.
