Title: Homecoming
Featuring: Tom Sawyer
Date: 9/29/2012
Location: Red Deer, Alberta, Canada
Tom hunched forward in his seat, hands stuffed into the kangaroo pouch of his gray "LWF" hoodie. The thing was stained, faded, worn... A much-beloved momento of the long-long ago. Back when Mexico smelled like piss. The kid's hair was greasy, fucked-up from being under a baseball cap, stringy and hanging around his face in messy hanks. His eyes, usually so bright and cheery, were darkly bagged.
Tom had been driving continuously since the morning after Playoffs 1. 40 hours or so, with some pee breaks and stops for food. Someone trying to be a wrestler couldn't be grabbin' a burgerwrap and driving off. That'd get yer ticker. Tom weebled and wobbled in his seat, obviously ready to fall asleep. He sat up straight, trying to force himself to wake up. Hands grabbed at his fork, but Tom picked it up all wrong.
"I just dunno, man. This whole thing sucks. Nobody believes me! I mean, who was one of the FOUNDING GUYS in DEF Row? Me! I always have been trying to do the right thing by the locker room and by the fans! Sure, I was a little overdramatic... But when was I wrong before?" Tom punctuated each sentence with a dramatic stab of his fork to the table, a dull thunk each time.
"You were gone for a while, dude. Missed the whole relaunch and playoffs and stuff. Some people are gonna question your dedication.", the man said before shovelling a forkful of fluffy, scrambled eggs into his mouth.
Tom sighed loudly, painfully, and tossed the fork aside. It clattered to a stop in the space between the ketchup and the sugar-flask. "A guy puts his feet up for five minutes, and the whole world's against him! Listen, the WWA sucked so bad, I needed some time off!"
As Lucas Harper leaned forward, he gave Tom a stern look. "Do you think I didn't hate that place too, kid?" Lucas, still smarting from the neck surgery he had to undertake, gave Tom the old Eastwood look. Tom winced, looking down at the table.
Lucas didn't blame Tom for the injury, he blamed Tom for wanting to waste his time there despite Lucas' warnings that it was a firebomb ready to go off, and not in a good way.
Tom clasped his hands on the table, silent for a nervous moment. "Well. Anyway. When in DEFIANCE, I prefer to work as part of a tag team." Tom looked meaningfully at his dining partner, the other half of the only three-time DEFIANCE World Tag Champs. Lucas swallowed, taking a sip of coffee.
"Yeah, but people'll say anything they can to make you look weak at their expense. Jiles will say you were off suckin' dicks for rock money. Heidi was just bringin' up that joke ya made about tag teams turning on one another. Box'll say you're ducking him, facin' YAZ. Whatever works for 'em. Important thing is that you're back now." Lucas picked up a piece of toast, dabbing it in the ketchup beside his eggs. Crunch.
"Everybody needs a vacation sometime." Tom's eyes hung on his plate, the steak and eggs getting cold. Grease was congealing atop the steak, and juice from the ketchup-blob was running into his eggs, staining the matter near the bottom with red.
"Yeah. Well. You've got a chance, here." Lucas had picked up his knife, spreading a bit of blackberry jam across a different piece of toast. "YAZ is definitely in on this. That's why it's someone new under the hood. So you can beat information outta him. Better yet, you've got your chance to stem the tide. This thing can't happen without a leader."
"Yeah. You're right. I mean, I didn't come back to accomplish anything wrestling-wise. Not yet. I've just been trying to have good, enjoyable matches." Tom perked up a little at the thought of getting to make the crowds entertained. His three-way with LaLiberte and Barton had given the crowd something fun to remember, even if all eyes had really been on Light and Box. "But... He's got to be important. If I can wrangle a Barndoor Cravate Moonshine Hollow Sleeper-Dreamer, maybe he'll spill the goods!"
Lucas snorked, shaking his head. The kid came up with the oddest nicknames for moves. "Anyway. Now you have some momentum. Beatin' Barton silly gave you something to point at. YAZ has none, and just tapped out t' Claira. And whoever he is, he's no three-time DEFIANCE Tag Champ, no Aggro Crag Master. He's never fought anyone like you, either." Lucas took a greedy bite of the jammy toast.
"Underestimating someone is the first step to losing to 'em, Lukey. I need to be ready. I need to watch some tapes, try and figure out who YAZ is. I have some ideas, but..." Tom shook his head, pursing his lips irritably.
"Get some sleep and a shower first, kid. You can't run yourself into the ground in the runup to this. If you lose here, it'll be catastrophic. I just know it." Lucas had been gesturing with a half-eaten piece of toast. He clamped the burnt-to-a-crisp bread-slice between his molars and snapped it off. Charred black, just the way he liked it.
"Okay. Is Mom still using my room for storage?", Tom asked with a sudden weariness. The road-burnt Rider suddenly was realizing his dire need for rest.
"Only Wrestling Pals. You can sleep with 60 plush versions of yourself staring at you in the dark, right?", the elder wrestler said with a carny-style grin.
Tom snorked, and stood up, eyes closing in sudden exhaustion. Food would only make him sleep poorly. Lucas had kinda suspected this was gonna go down, so he reached deftly across the table, grabbing Tom's plate. The steak slid into the now-empty spot Lucas' steak had been occupying, and the eggs tumbled atop Lucas's halfeaten pile.
"If I can find out who YAZ is, I can figure out how to fight him. And if I can figure out who YAZ is... I can beat him." Tom clenched a fist, eyes cracking open. Lucas threw up a fist, his other one scooping eggs onto his fork.
"Hell yes, brother. Get some sleep."
Tom shuffled out the back door of the diner, heading up the walkway to his parents' house. The sun was coming up, and he had been driving all night to get home from Louisiana.
LATEST PROPAGANDA
TOP FIVE
1. Malak Garland2. Ned Reform
3. Tyler Fuse
4. Corvo Alpha
5. Brock Newbludd
TAG TEAM
1. M4NTRA2. Los Tres Titanes
3. Lucky Sevens
4. PCP
5. RCR
BRAZEN SINGLES
1. Kazuhiro Troy2. Nick Lotto Otto
3. Punch Drunk Purcell
4. Archer Silver
5. BIGBOSS Batts
