“Claira, don’t.  We don’t have any reason to do that.”

“Do you really think that anyone who actually WINS at wrestling wouldn’t?  God dammit Diane, you’re a sheep!”

Of course, Diane Parker and Lisa Loeh were fighting again.

Rather than listen to it, Claira St. Sure left the motel room.  She and Diane were sharing it, Lisa was just there to watch tape with them.  

Back when Kai Scott had still been coaching her, he’d talked to her about the way morality worked in professional wrestling.  He’d also discussed what he called ‘the practical application of morality’.

There are times when you have to show humanity, and there are times when you have to show brutality, he’d told her.  And it didn’t matter whether the fans were saying ‘yay’ or ‘boo’.  A good guy who can’t fight fire with fire is a sitting duck and an easy target.  A bad guy who refuses to temper his brutality and humanity is, sooner or later, going to find the entire roster facing him down with chairs and pipes in their hands.

“They did it to me.  They can do it to anyone.” He said.  “I may have destroyed the CAL, but the beating I caught for doing it put an end to my wrestling career.”

And look how true that turned out to be.

Then again, she thought, he’d said that four years ago.

He’d also said “Before you do anything, thing about what you’re going to get out of it.”

“Fear.”

“Integrity.”

“Love.”

“Respect.”

“Contempt.”

“You know, no reaction is wasted. But you’ve got to have a general idea of which one you need, which one you want, and what you’re going to do with any of them when you get them, because you never know how the wildcard is going to react.”

He was talking about the fans, and how a shudden shift in popular opinion, or even a show held in someone’s home town, could change the complexion of a match, and then the finish of that match could change things for months down the road.

He meant the wrestlers too.  

What would Kai Scott think about Lash Graham?

Her head clear, she walked back to the room.

“Lisa, I’ll not be going after his armadillo. I’ve got no reason to make an enemy of Lash Graham.”

“What?!”  Lisa’s voice rose into a shriek.  “Oh god dammit, Diane you’ve turned her into a goodie two shoes!  Claira, do you think Kai would even hesitate?  He’d probably take the stupid thing hostage and make Lash bite someone’s throat out for him!  Or at least throw the match so that he wouldn’t have to get hurt!”

“I tell her what I think but I don’t try to make her do anything! And I wouldn’t, either! You don’t manipulate your friends!”  Diane’s frustration rose to the breaking point.  “And who wants to retain a title like the FIST like that?”

“What do you think Kai does?  He manipulates people all day every day, and how are we going to get to him if you won’t do it? And I’d retain a title like that!  The less work you have to do the more successful a defense is!”

“Even if he does, how does making an enemy of a kid with a speech impediment help?  And how in the FUCK do you know so little about wrestling?!”

Diane’s cheeks were scarlet with anger.  Lisa looked down.

“I’ll tell you what I know about wrestling, Diane.  I know that there’s two kinds of wrestling fans.  One kind obsessively rates matches on a five star scale, and one obsessively keeps track.  The first one doesn’t matter because he watches all wrestling everywhere, and how much the second one likes you depends on how many times you can put a V under your title reign.  A year from now no one’s going to remember Christian Light hitting Eugene Dewey with the belt, they’re going to remember Andrews d. Dewey parenthesis Ultraglide, however long that match was, parenthesis.  I know you’re doing your best to be just like Kai Scott, but you’re failing.  Lash Graham is an obstacle of the utmost triviality, and because of that he needs to be removed from Claira’s way as quickly and easily as possible.  And if you’re not going to cooperate with me while I try to do that…”

“You’ll what?”

At 5’10”, Diane loomed over Lisa at 5’4” – and Lisa quickly backed down, slinking out of the room.

“You’ll know when it happens!” She shouted over her shoulder before slamming the door.
 

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