Post by Hope Diamond on May 31, 2017 16:02:20 GMT -6
We arrive in Belgrade ahead of most of the FSW troupe.
We that is Janko and me. How this guy gets onto a airplane is beyond me. Normally every security officer must want to empty a gun in that face but no, he gets to board a plane.
Thirteen hours stuck in an uncomfortable seat next to a fat unwholesome guy and I can´t even take a sleeping bill because you don´t know where his hands are going when you are out.
Right, thirteen is my lucky number.
When we finally arrive at Nicolas-Tesla Airport my mood has reached the freezing point which collides which the eighty-six degrees Fahrenheit. When cold and hot air collide you get a thunderstorm, right? It is hard for me, really hard to get from the terminal and into the taxi without ripping someone´s heart out but the storm´s still brewing.
That is before I see my lodging for the next twelve-something days.
It´s not a hotel. Not in a city with over a thousand hotels where you can get three stars and a restaurant or a holiday apartment for like fifty bucks a night. I even found a backpacker hostel that charges you no more than four dollars a night.
But what my fuck-up of a manager has booked for me is a suburban gym that is closed for renovation after a recent fire. The window front has been nailed shut with wooden planks and the whole place still has this rustic smell of burned wood and smoldered asbestos. Even the weight plates smell like they just cooled down from a red-hot state. Or maybe it´s brimstone that I smell because this place is hell.
I turn to look at Janko.
"You are kidding me, right? This is some real bad joke cooked up by your sick brain.”
He shows two rows of teeth, yellowed and big enough to build a dam with.
“Not my idea.”
“But you love it.”
No comment. I don´t need one. The grin says it all.
“Mister Thirteen thinks you are not aggressive enough.”
“Excuse me. Not agg-ress-ive e-nough?”
I let the words really roll off my tongue.
“Indeed Miss Diamond, not aggressive enough.”
How the fuck did he get here?
Lou Thirteen walks out of what could be the manager’s office, looking perfectly groomed and without a drop of sweat on his forehead despite the black-and-silver pin stripe suit, black tie and fedora hat.
His umbrella – who would carry an umbrella just as summer kicks off – points at me accusingly.
“I was under the impression that in the first half of your match with Miss Huntress you were not sufficiently motivated to take charge of the match. Don´t get me wrong I acknowledge your accomplishment but for my taste the victory was a bit uncertain at first.”
Lou sits down on a weight bench, his black gloved hands – again who would wear black gloves when the summer just kicks off – resting on the curved bamboo hilt of his umbrella.
“Please try to understand my position Miss Diamond. I have invested heavily in you not just in terms of money but in terms of reputation as well. After all the years you have spent in Japan you are surely familiar with the concept of losing face. Well, I have established some connections that could prove very useful and lucrative for you in the future and I will seriously lose face if you do not live up to the expectations of these people. Expectations that I backed up with my good name. The reason why I bend myself backwards to kick start your career is because I see potential in you, the potential of a savage yet stylish beast. You could become the evil sister of Chase Rex and more. But I want to see that beast in the ring and not just its approximation.”
“Given your intelligence I do not doubt that you have already figured out the way things are going. By depriving you of the distractions caused by the finer things in life that I know you love and by forcing you to keep a company you despise …"
Lou gives a nod to Janko and I´m happy because I´m not paranoid, just realistic.
… we will bring out you true potential. In simple terms you will do nothing but eat sleep train and repeat under conditions severe enough that they would cause a marine recruit to quit boot camp. On the other hand when you live up to aforementioned expectations you will be rewarded with a life you cannot even imagine.”
“I can imagine a whole lot of things Lou…”
“Then you have to earn them.”
“Now let´s suppose for a moment I want a lick of the famous Belgrade nightlife or a real bed to sleep in and I just walk out on you?”
“That would be very unfortunate for the Hope Diamond if you excuse the pun. The ruination of your career that has not even begun would be the least of your problems.”
Suddenly the room temperature drops by thirty degrees. I see my own reflection in Lou´s mirrored shades. I see Janko´s face too. He´s not grinning anymore. His face is like a concrete mask. I see something else for a brief moment, a vision of myself floating face-down in some polluted river. It seems very real.
This is no joke. Not at all.
“A life I cannot even imagine, right?”
“If you are smart now.”
“I was born smart.” That and I like being alive even here and now.
An obviously satisfied Janko swaggers into the room where Lou had been hiding and talks to someone in … what? … fluent Serbian.
A petite redhead in an Adidas tracksuit appears.
She looks a bit like the stunt double for Lexie Glass. I´m sure that´s no coincidence. Lou makes his own coincidences. I´ll die to know how.
Bad choice of words.
Lou bows slightly in the direction of the redhead.
“Jalina here is a sports student at the local university looking to make some extra money. She will spar with you for the next ten days and she get paid a bonus every time she has you pinned, knocked out or makes you to submit.”
Why am I not surprised? Oh yes, I´m not surprised because Lou just told me I was going to live in a war zone to reach my true potential.
Lou, I play your game for now but be careful of the spirits that you call.
We that is Janko and me. How this guy gets onto a airplane is beyond me. Normally every security officer must want to empty a gun in that face but no, he gets to board a plane.
Thirteen hours stuck in an uncomfortable seat next to a fat unwholesome guy and I can´t even take a sleeping bill because you don´t know where his hands are going when you are out.
Right, thirteen is my lucky number.
When we finally arrive at Nicolas-Tesla Airport my mood has reached the freezing point which collides which the eighty-six degrees Fahrenheit. When cold and hot air collide you get a thunderstorm, right? It is hard for me, really hard to get from the terminal and into the taxi without ripping someone´s heart out but the storm´s still brewing.
That is before I see my lodging for the next twelve-something days.
It´s not a hotel. Not in a city with over a thousand hotels where you can get three stars and a restaurant or a holiday apartment for like fifty bucks a night. I even found a backpacker hostel that charges you no more than four dollars a night.
But what my fuck-up of a manager has booked for me is a suburban gym that is closed for renovation after a recent fire. The window front has been nailed shut with wooden planks and the whole place still has this rustic smell of burned wood and smoldered asbestos. Even the weight plates smell like they just cooled down from a red-hot state. Or maybe it´s brimstone that I smell because this place is hell.
I turn to look at Janko.
"You are kidding me, right? This is some real bad joke cooked up by your sick brain.”
He shows two rows of teeth, yellowed and big enough to build a dam with.
“Not my idea.”
“But you love it.”
No comment. I don´t need one. The grin says it all.
“Mister Thirteen thinks you are not aggressive enough.”
“Excuse me. Not agg-ress-ive e-nough?”
I let the words really roll off my tongue.
“Indeed Miss Diamond, not aggressive enough.”
How the fuck did he get here?
Lou Thirteen walks out of what could be the manager’s office, looking perfectly groomed and without a drop of sweat on his forehead despite the black-and-silver pin stripe suit, black tie and fedora hat.
His umbrella – who would carry an umbrella just as summer kicks off – points at me accusingly.
“I was under the impression that in the first half of your match with Miss Huntress you were not sufficiently motivated to take charge of the match. Don´t get me wrong I acknowledge your accomplishment but for my taste the victory was a bit uncertain at first.”
Lou sits down on a weight bench, his black gloved hands – again who would wear black gloves when the summer just kicks off – resting on the curved bamboo hilt of his umbrella.
“Please try to understand my position Miss Diamond. I have invested heavily in you not just in terms of money but in terms of reputation as well. After all the years you have spent in Japan you are surely familiar with the concept of losing face. Well, I have established some connections that could prove very useful and lucrative for you in the future and I will seriously lose face if you do not live up to the expectations of these people. Expectations that I backed up with my good name. The reason why I bend myself backwards to kick start your career is because I see potential in you, the potential of a savage yet stylish beast. You could become the evil sister of Chase Rex and more. But I want to see that beast in the ring and not just its approximation.”
“Given your intelligence I do not doubt that you have already figured out the way things are going. By depriving you of the distractions caused by the finer things in life that I know you love and by forcing you to keep a company you despise …"
Lou gives a nod to Janko and I´m happy because I´m not paranoid, just realistic.
… we will bring out you true potential. In simple terms you will do nothing but eat sleep train and repeat under conditions severe enough that they would cause a marine recruit to quit boot camp. On the other hand when you live up to aforementioned expectations you will be rewarded with a life you cannot even imagine.”
“I can imagine a whole lot of things Lou…”
“Then you have to earn them.”
“Now let´s suppose for a moment I want a lick of the famous Belgrade nightlife or a real bed to sleep in and I just walk out on you?”
“That would be very unfortunate for the Hope Diamond if you excuse the pun. The ruination of your career that has not even begun would be the least of your problems.”
Suddenly the room temperature drops by thirty degrees. I see my own reflection in Lou´s mirrored shades. I see Janko´s face too. He´s not grinning anymore. His face is like a concrete mask. I see something else for a brief moment, a vision of myself floating face-down in some polluted river. It seems very real.
This is no joke. Not at all.
“A life I cannot even imagine, right?”
“If you are smart now.”
“I was born smart.” That and I like being alive even here and now.
An obviously satisfied Janko swaggers into the room where Lou had been hiding and talks to someone in … what? … fluent Serbian.
A petite redhead in an Adidas tracksuit appears.
She looks a bit like the stunt double for Lexie Glass. I´m sure that´s no coincidence. Lou makes his own coincidences. I´ll die to know how.
Bad choice of words.
Lou bows slightly in the direction of the redhead.
“Jalina here is a sports student at the local university looking to make some extra money. She will spar with you for the next ten days and she get paid a bonus every time she has you pinned, knocked out or makes you to submit.”
Why am I not surprised? Oh yes, I´m not surprised because Lou just told me I was going to live in a war zone to reach my true potential.
Lou, I play your game for now but be careful of the spirits that you call.
