I Accept Me!

[Delikado/J-Noble]

I Accept Me!

The scene opens and we immediately find Utopia member and dark match wrestler Paul Murach walking through the halls wearing a Kingdom of Pride t-shirt and wrestling tights, looking as prepared as one can be when they’ll be wrestling off-camera in something nobody but the immediate fans in the arena will get to witness. He walks past a few stagehands, stops and gives a firm handshake to one of them, exchanges words with another, and then carries on.

Stagehand: Give ‘em hell, Murach.

Murach: No doubt.

He continues walking through the hall, flexing his wrist as he does, and grins as he and a few other small-time wrestlers meet up. They laugh and chat for a few seconds (most of it is hard to pick up on the audio) and then Murach departs once more. Murach turns around and points to the group of wrestlers in a joking manner and then enters an unmarked door, which leads to a locker-room. Inside, Murach immediately finds fellow Utopia member, and Pride full-time wrestler that actually gets TV time, Johnny Noble. Like Murach, Noble is dressed in a t-shirt and wrestling tights as he paces around on the floor looking concentrated about something. In addition, a few small bandages are visible on Johnny’s face from where he was attacked by Dru Tha Merc last week. This combination gives Noble a roughed up look which, combined with his look of natural intensity, makes him a sight to behold for Murach.

Murach: Johnny, bro, why am I not surprised to find you here already? I figured I’d show up an hour earlier before the rest of the team, see if I could get Rolley off my back, and yet I find you already suited up and everything. Probably been here for two hours now…

Johnny stops in his back and forth pacing long enough to look his teammate in the eye and nod his head.

Johnny: Hey, Murach. How’s it going?

And with that brief and rather generic greeting, Johnny goes back to pacing. Murach cocks an eyebrow as he watches his tense partner move around the locker-room almost like he’s looking for something he might’ve dropped.

Murach: Fine…heh, heh…

Murach sniffs awkwardly as the only other sound in the locker-room becomes Johnny’s footsteps on the tile.

Murach: You, uh, you getting your walk in early, John? I think I can see the places where your feet have scuffed the floor, dude.

Indeed, black marks are lining the floor in various places where Johnny has apparently been walking. Murach snickers in amusement, but Johnny just goes about whatever it is he’s up to walking along the floor like he is, ignoring the comment. Johnny exhales and stops near his locker. He quickly throws a few punches into the air and then walks across the room, widening his “pace space.”

Murach: So I guess this is it, huh? Pride’s Winter Warfare, last big show before the New Year. Keeping focused for it, I see. That’s pretty… cool. Yeah…it’s all been building to this, big night and-

Johnny stops in front of Murach and holds out a hand to cut him off.

Johnny: Murach, trust me, I know. I’m not trying to be an asshole about this, but I’ve signed the paperwork before and I’ve done this for a few months now. I know.

Murach, who isn’t the type to get offended by something like that, unlike other people, nods his head in understanding. Johnny nods back and then exhales before continuing his process of preparation.

Murach: Right, got it. A lot of work’s gone into getting here tonight. For all of us, I guess. You, me, Deb, Rolley.

Johnny: Yeah.

Murach: So, I saw what went down last week with you. Them little cuts on your face and all…

Johnny stops as he walks past Murach and briefly touches the bandages on his face.

Murach: And then all that shit that went down with UWL, that whole…”war” or whatever. Anyway, you just need to know, dude, that what everybody else says about us, your team, being there for you and all, to make sure you don’t burn up…that’s not bullshit, man. I mean, personally, I’m more content with working out as a team, getting a drink, or whatever rather than getting all emotional and preachy saying “Johnny, we’re there for you! Let’s make a circle together, blah, blah, blah” like Rolley and…Debra.

Johnny eyes Murach in confusion at his tone on the mention of Debra Mason but doesn’t say anything.

Murach: But hey, out here in the wrestling business, away from our families and friends and all, we gotta stick together, look out for each other. I consider you one my friends out here, because it’s just us taking on the entire world. Johnny grins and gives Murach a pat on the back.

Johnny: Thanks. I appreciate it.

Murach: And as your friend, I want you to know that I respect you and what you try to do out there.

Johnny’s grin suddenly lessens a bit at this last comment.

Johnny: Wait…what I try to do…? That makes it sound like you think I’m shooting for something I can’t reach.

Murach frowns at Johnny’s tone now, and shrugs his shoulders lightly.

Murach: Well…okay, but c’mon, Johnny, just look at yourself. Look at what you’ve got tonight, look at everything that you’ve been putting on your plate these last few weeks in Pride. You’ve got to face Dru Tha Merc, the guy who came in and pounded the living crap out of you last week! It’s Winter Warfare, bro, a major moment in your career, whether you want to admit it or not. The last match of the year for you can easily foreshadow how the New Year, 2011, is going to treat you. And I mean, c’mon, man…look at you right now. You’re not exactly 100% right now, and Dru Tha Merc isn’t some bitch boy.

Johnny can’t exactly disagree with the statements about his physical condition, or Dru Tha Merc’s caliber, but he still doesn’t look pleased to be hearing this from someone who had just said they viewed him as a friend just a minute earlier.

Murach: And not to be a hassle on you on everything you’ve put into this…but really, not everyone is expecting you to WIN this match. Some guys aren’t even thinking you’ll make it out of Winter Warfare in one piece, after the people you’ve pissed off.

Johnny: And what people are those?

Murach: Well, you’ve pissed off Tha Merc, for one obvious response. Your face tells no lies, bro: you got fucked up by that gangbanger. Your brother, the big GM, is probably going to look for any and every opportunity he can to put pressure on you after your little news break a few weeks ago. And then the UWL. We all saw you jump into that ring and take it to their biggest players. You don’t think that’ll have some kind of effect on you, here in the now or in the long run? Hell, I don’t even understand what you were doing there, honestly.

Johnny: Pride needed someone besides its champion to step up, so I did. I didn’t see anyone else taking the stand against those psychopaths when they invaded last week. I didn’t see you doing anything.

Murach: Pride’s still not my company, man.

Johnny: Oh right, the paperwork…

Johnny shakes his head and carries on walking around the room, trying to regain his focus.

Murach: Whatever. All I’m doing is conveying to you the general consensus of Pride. See, I actually converse with the guys in the locker-room. You may be the member of a wrestling family that has garnered quite a level of success…but not everybody necessarily accepts you as the next step forward, whether it be for the business…or even your family bloodline.

Johnny snaps around and takes a few steps toward Murach, as if this last comment is the one that steadily causes him to revert back to old ways.

Johnny: People don’t ”accept” me? So, on other words, people don’t BELIEVE in Johnny Noble?

Murach shrugs his shoulder, feigning innocence.

Murach: People like to talk. I can’t help it if the content isn’t always positive to one of us, John.

Johnny: Well, there’s a difference between being positive toward something and being accepting of something. Even if people don’t like me, knowing that I believe in myself, that I ACCEPT myself, should be good enough for the business, because it’s CONFIDENCE that allows you to grasp the bigger footholds of the future, Paul.

Johnny looks away, sighs once, and then looks back to his teammate.

Johnny: I accept myself…so that I can surpass myself. I accept myself! I ACCEPT myself! I accept MYSELF! Listen to me, Murach, and know that that’s what I’ve always been about!

Murach watches as Johnny valiantly moves forward, getting eye to eye with him.

Johnny: I ACCEPT MYSELF!!! And to be perfectly honest…that’s the only goddamn that’s important right now. I’ve taken all this baggage these past few weeks, with Tha Merc, with Kurt, with the UWL, because it’s the only way I can---that I WANT---to become a master of this sport, to become a knight of this company. Utopia is supposed to be on my side, supposed to be open to what I’m after, so don’t come in here and bring my night down with what you’re doing. You say we’re friends, don’t ignore me and don’t turn on me because of what someone else on the roster thinks.

Murach can’t help but grin, admiring Noble’s passion.

Johnny: I’ve got a lot of faith in you, in the rest of the team, because I know we all go out there, no matter what the position is one the card, and we make the night ours.

Murach: Haha, right on. I knew from the moment I saw you that I could get that fire out of you just with a little push. See, that’s MY way of guiding you: pissing you the fuck off. Now, ha ha, NOW you’re the Johnny Noble I see and accept, not that “pacing back and forth lost in deep thought” Johnny Noble! Now you’ve got some nice juices flowing and you’re going to go out there and kick… some black ass!

Johnny inhales intensely as Murach points to the walls of the room, to the direction of where the ring will be.

Murach: The gangbanger’s about to get an old fashioned Middle Age noble ass kicking, dude, because---BECAUSE---you’re prepared to make Winter Warfare the night you take inner-superiority to the next level!

Johnny: That’s the talk of winner’s.

Murach: Hey, Utopia isn’t about chumps who take the beatings and say “thanks”, bro!

Johnny: And that is THAT!

Murach holds up a hand in the air, Johnny eyes it for a few moments, and then gives in with a grin, high-fiving his teammate.

Murach: WOOOO-YAAAAAAAAAAAH!

Johnny laughs and walks off-screen as Murach claps his hands together once, grinning.

Murach: I got tingles!

Murach continues to stand there enjoying the moment as the scene fades out.

<END OF FEED>