Changing and Adapting

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Off Camera

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I truly despise and detest Thanksgiving.  So many ignorant people with smiles on their faces and visions of stuffing their guts with an assortment of food, all coming up to me and in a cheery, sing-song voice, sounding out the too-familiar “Happy Thanksgiving, Sophie!”

What’s so damn happy about it?  Everyone speaks of being with family but all of mine is dead save my brother Mark and his meddlesome girlfriend Ashley Murray.  The food is of no consequence to me.  I do not need nor do I care to indulge myself like a gleeful glutton.  And I damn sure do not have any desire to watch American football.

The worst thing about this is how the Americans treat this damnable feast.  They shove it in our face as if it is a holiday to be proud of and yet the truth of the history behind it is far more menacing.  Contrary to what generations of American students have been taught, the background behind the first Thanksgiving meal between colonists and native Americans were not peaches and cream.  Pilgrims and natives did not just look past their differences to break bread.  The Wampanoag tribe saw in the Pilgrims, a group of Europeans armed to the teeth with English weaponry, including guns, strong allies to help them fend off their rival tribe, the Narragansett.

Thus the friendly feast of Native and Pilgrim wasn’t a happy time of putting aside cultural differences to break bread.  It was an alliance of politics and war.  And what happened to the Native Americans in this alliance?

Betrayal.  Their friends, the Europeans, would eventually betray them.  If they weren’t being massacred they were having their land taken from them, slowly but surely, inch by bloody inch.  Once the Natives had outlived their usefulness, the new Americans would eventually wipe out the Native American culture and Native American way of life.

That is the true meaning of the first Thanksgiving.  It is one of the lessons of war.  Use everything and anything, or anyone, to their fullest extent, and once that individual has outlived his or her usefulness, get rid of them.  It is a beautiful lesson, if I do say so myself.

So why would I hate Thanksgiving so much?  It is because the message of Thanksgiving is lost on the idiotic dolts running the world today.  They would rather sweep it under the rug and pretend that history doesn’t exist.  The world, and Americans in particular, do not want to recognize that part of history because it ultimately proves me right.  It proves my point about humanity.

Humanity is fallen, it is ultimately dark and evil, just like me.  Anyone who tries to prove otherwise is just fooling themselves.  That is what Thanksgiving means to me.

“GOBBLE! GOBBLE! GOBBLE!”

It’s just moronic troglodytes like my brother, Mark O’Brian, who continue to drive my stress level up into the outer atmosphere and continue to make me detest this wretched holiday with his dumb little gags.  I had been sitting quietly at a nice mahogany desk in the study of his and his girlfriend Ashley’s house, preparing strategy for what could very well be a long night on the next Breakdown, when I heard that gobbling coming from the hallway.  Mark pretending to be turkey is bad enough, but therein lies the greater problem…

…that did not sound like Mark.

“GOBBLE! GOBBLE! GOBBLE!”

The gobbling continues as I watch the door.  It becomes evident that whatever it is now stands outside of the study.  I watch as the door is pushed open and Mark walks into the room carrying a turkey…

…a live damn turkey.

Immediately I shoot up out of the chair I had been sitting in and stare daggers across the room at my brother.

“What in the name of sanity are you doing?!” I point to the turkey. “What the hell is that?!”

“GOBBLE! GOBBLE! GOBBLE!”

“It’s our new pet turkey!” Mark declares with a sense of pride etched across his face. “Her name is Ravyn.”

“No.  Just no…” I shake my head vehemently.

“GOBBLE! GOBBLE! GOBBLE!”

“Shut the damn thing up before I shut it up!” I exclaim.

“She’s very vocal today.” My idiot brother winks at me. “I think she likes you.”

“I do not like it.” I sigh and shake my head with disbelief written across my face. “This isn’t happening.  This isn’t true…”

“Yeah, it’s true!” He insists as he brings “Ravyn” closer to me. “This is our pet turkey.  Ravyn, meet Sophie!”

I glare angrily at the bird. “I’m going to eat you or one of your friends in a few days.”

“GOBBLE! GOBBLE! GOBBLE!”

“That’s not nice!” He jerks the turkey away from me quickly. “You scared her!”

“It’s a turkey, you oaf!” I exclaim.

“But she has feelings!” He looks down sympathetically at the bird. “It’s ok, Ravyn.  She doesn’t mean it.”

“You are an idiot, Mark, and I am going to tell you why, because there are several things wrong with this.”

I hold up one finger. “First of all, you named that damn thing after my opponent on Breakdown.”

I step away from the desk and menacingly approach Mark his turkey, all the while holding up a second finger. “Second, that’s a turkey…not a raven…”

“Yeah, and…?”

“You don’t see what’s wrong with this?” I roll my eyes. “Bloody hell, Mark, it’s like naming a dog ‘Cat’ or naming your pet cat ‘Dog’.”

“Yeah, but Ravyn Taylor isn’t a raven either.”

“That’s not the point, you Neanderthal.” I smack him in the back of his head. “And that brings me to point number three…”

I touch the bird, “Ravyn”, on its beak. “Turkeys are meant for eating.  Not meant for having as pets.”

“You honestly think that?”

“I know it, Mark.”

Mark sighs and gazes sadly down at “Ravyn”. “Sophie isn’t in a good mood today, Ravyn.  You should probably run along and find mommy.”

“GOBBLE! GOBBLE! GOBBLE!”

Mark sets the turkey down and it quickly waddles away, bolting out of the room.  I gaze back up at Mark and shake my head with utter disgust.

“Mommy?” I blink my eyes with some confusion. “Ashley?”

“Yeah…” he nods his head “…Ashley.”

“Bloody hell…” I shake my head “…you’re really going to let that thing run rampant in your house?”

“Well, yeah,” he chuckles “it is my house after all.  I can do what I want.”

“True enough.” I nod my head in agreement.  He has a point on that one, as much as I hate to admit it and despite thinking that he is an idiot.

A sigh escapes my lips as I slowly walk back towards the mahogany desk.  I sit down in the chair and lean back and relax.  Mark approaches the desk, watching me closely.  He tilts his head to one side and studies me closely.

“You ok, Sophie?”

“Am I ok?” I ask somewhat incredulously as I sit back up straight and stare at my brother intensely. “This is one of the holidays I hate most, not to mention the fact that very soon I will have to walk through the very fires of hell if I want to leave Breakdown as the SCW Television Champion.  I’m a little stressed, Mark.  So no…I’m not ok…”

“Listen to me for a second, ok?”

Mark sits down on the edge of the mahogany desk.  I look at the desk and then back at him with a frown on my face.

“Get off of the desk, Mark.”

“Sorry.” He jumps up off of the desk. “Anyway, just listen to me for a second.  You are the absolute best pure wrestler in the world today.  I don’t care about Ravyn Taylor’s reputation.  I don’t give a damn what she’s done in the past.  She hasn’t dealt with anyone like you before and the one time she did she couldn’t get the job done.  Now here’s your second chance.”

“That’s the thing, Mark, it shouldn’t require a second chance.  If I really am as good as you say I am then I should’ve beaten Ravyn the first time we fought.”

But there was outside interference.” My brother, God bless his soul, counters in a vain attempt to make me feel better.

“The best military strategists in the world never made excuses.  Sun Tzu, William Tecumseh Sherman, Genghis Kahn, Julius Caesar, none of them had to make excuses because they just got the job done.  But me?  The great Sophie O’Brian?” I shake my head with disgust and disappointment in myself. “I couldn’t get the job done because of outside interference.”

“But she also didn’t beat you.” He counters. “He never pinned you and he never made you submit.”

“It doesn’t matter!” I exclaim, banging my hands on the desk loudly. “It’s still an excuse at the end of the day.  And saying that she never beat me is just grasping at straws in an attempt to save face.  I graduated from the Braddock Wrestling School, trained by the greatest wrestler that ever lived, Glenn Braddock, and I learned everything from him.  I am supposed to be the heir to the Braddock Wrestling Legacy and yet I couldn’t get the job done against Ravyn one on one?”

“No, Sophie, you’re looking at this all wrong.” Mark shakes his head incredulously. “You’re setting your standards too high.  You seem to think that you need to be perfect but no one is perfect.  You just need to do the best you can.”

“Right, well the best I could do clearly wasn’t enough the last time I fought Ravyn.  And now I fight her again and sure, maybe this time I can beat her, but if I do successfully take the title from her I have to turn around that same night and defend against Jake Starr because the bloody bastard invoked his trios contract and wants to face all the champions?  How can I…”

I sigh and drop my head onto the desk “…how can I do this, Mark?”

“Because, Sophie…” he pats me on the back “…you are the best in the world.”

“I’m glad you think so, Mark.” I sit up and look him dead in the eyes. “I’m not as certain about that any longer.”

“Confidence, Sophie.  That’s all you need.  Confidence.”

I gaze at him with a somewhat curious look, curious as to why he is doing all of this, curious as to why he is saying all of this to me.  It just doesn’t make sense.  None of this makes any sense.

“Mark, may I ask you a question?”

“Shoot.”

“Why are you doing this?”

“Doing what?”

“Why are you being nice to me?” I ask plainly.

“Well, you are my sister so that’s part of it I guess.”

“Oh come on you doofus,” I snap back at him “I am mean to you, I am nasty to you, I insult you, and yet you’re always so uplifting and kind to me.  It makes no sense to me.”

“Oh yeah…well, I kinda figure that you don’t mean any of it…”

“How do you know that I don’t mean any of those things say about you?” I ask with a smirk.

“I’m just assuming you don’t because I’m your brother.  Siblings gotta stick together, y’know?  Besides, even if you did mean it, I’d still love ya.  Normal human beings are like that, you know?”

“Yes, well, I am not a normal human being and we both know this.”

At this time the door to the study opens yet again.  Mark and I turn around to find we are now being greeted by the arrival of Mark’s girlfriend, Ashley Murray.  Mark immediately gets this puppy-eyed gleam in his eye as he hops up and walks over to greet Ashley with an embrace.

“Hi, Ash!” He kisses her in a sickeningly sweet manner on the lips.

“Hi there, Mark!” Ashley says in a rather chipper tone, more chipper than usual for Ashley, which I find rather odd.  Why is she so damn happy?  Especially considering there is a damn turkey running around the house.

“Is Ravyn causing any problems, Ash?”

“If you mean your stupid turkey then no, he isn’t causing any problems.  I put him in his room for the night before he could break anything.”

“Stupid turkey, eh?” I remark, arching a brow and smirking at my brother. “I take it you don’t like this Ravyn anymore than I do.”

“No, Sophie, I don’t.” Ashley sighs. “But if Mark wants another child, then by all means, he can have another child I guess.”

Ok, now that was an odd choice of words. “Another child?”

“Yeah, another child.” Ashley frowns. “Didn’t he tell you?”

“Tell me what?”

Ashley looks at Mark. “You didn’t tell her, did you?”

“I wanted to wait until you were here so we could tell her together.”

“Tell me what?!” I ask, my frustration depleting by the second.

“Sophie…” her voice trails off for just a moment “…how would you feel about being an aunt to a sweet little niece or nephew?”

My eyes grow wide as I take in the enormity of what she just suggested. “You mean…?”

“Yes!” She nods her head quickly and excitedly. “Mark and I are having a baby!”

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On Camera

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The Army of the Potomac and The Army of Northern Virginia would encounter one another several times during the American Civil War.  Now the Army of Northern Virginia was led by a fierce commander, a famous military strategist named Robert E. Lee.  Many thought Lee was unbeatable.  Many thought he was invincible.  And that feeling of invincibility was on display in the Civil War.  In the early stages of the war, the two forces met in the field of combat in Fredericksburg, Virginia.  In that battle, the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia beat and humiliated the Union forces.  The South proved to the arrogant Union forces that this war would not be as easily won as they thought it might.

Oh but things would turn around rather quickly for the Union.  One year later the same two armies would clash in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and this time the Union nearly obliterated the great Army of Northern Virginia, humiliating that once feared fighting force and humiliating its leader, Robert E. Lee, proving to the world that this commander was not as unbeatable as so many people thought.  That invincible warrior, that invulnerable fighter, was brought to his knees by the Union forces of George Meade.

I can honestly say I felt the humbling feeling of Robert E. Lee felt after his loss at Gettysburg.  I was on top of the world, a multi-time world champion, multi-time tag champion, and I prided myself on being the ultimate strategist and one of the greatest technical wrestlers in the game.  I had the same feeling of invincibility that Robert E. Lee felt when he marched into Gettysburg and got stomped.  I had that same feeling of invincibility when I saw that I was facing Ravyn Taylor for the SCW Television Championship.

I failed to capture the championship, much like Lee failed to win at Gettysburg.  Now I had excuses lined up, the primary one being the fact that outside interference led to the match being thrown out.  I even grasped at straws by claiming that Ravyn never pinned me and never made me submit.  But I’ve since done some reflection and realized that those were just excuses…and I was just grasping at straws…

…I also realized that a great warrior must always be ready, willing, and able to change and adapt to a new battlefield.  In warfare the battlefield never stays the same.  It’s always evolving, it’s always changing, and if you are not able to adapt and evolve with it, then you will fail.

William Tecumseh Sherman said, “Every attempt to make war easy and safe will result in humiliation and disaster.”

Ravyn, coming up on Breakdown you will not face the same Sophie O’Brian that you went toe to toe with several weeks ago, the Sophie O’Brian who took you to the limit and yet still failed to capture the Television Title. You will face a new Sophie O’Brian, a Sophie O’Brian with a new focus and a new intensity.  You will face a Sophie O’Brian who will throw everything she has at you and will leave the battlefield bloody with carnage and gore…

…your blood, my carnage.

Breakdown the tables will be turned.  No longer will I be playing the role of Lee being humbled and humiliated at Gettysburg, but instead it will be you playing the role of Robert E. Lee, and it makes perfect sense, does it not?  The great Ravyn Taylor, the invincible Ravyn Taylor, the supposedly unbeatable Ravyn Taylor, brought to her knees and humbled by Sophie O’Brian.

Ah but this war is unlike any other, for you definitely will be wrestling more than once in one night and me, if I do manage to finally climb the great mountain and defeat you for the SCW Television Championship, then I have to defend it one more time that night against Jake Starr.

Jake, your bravado is one to be admired.  You truly are shooting for the stars.  You are going to try to reach as high as you can and grab that brass ring.  To put yourself in such a match, a true test of endurance, is admirable.

While your actions may be admirable, you still become my victim as soon as I defeat Ravyn Taylor for the SCW Television Championship.  If you had any hopes or visions of facing Ravyn then cast them to the side immediately, my friend.  Ravyn will be an afterthought after I am done with her.  And I refuse to have my championship taken from me the same night I won it.

Just like Sherman famously “made Georgia howl”, I will make Ravyn and Jake howl on Breakdown as I cement myself as the newest and greatest SCW Television Champion of all time.