Post by Cass Baumer on Jul 7, 2017 10:43:17 GMT
DATE: 07/07/17
CAMERA: ON
"Can I ask you something, FAW? Can you take the time out of your day to listen to me for one solitary moment? Please. Just hear me out."
As you watch the YouTube video on your device of choice, you saw a close up of Cass Baumer's face above the nose. Her cold blue eyes were piercing yet gentle, a rogue strand of blonde hair in front of her right eyeball. Her eyebrows furrowed as she continued to speak, passion and emotion in the words she had to say.
"I know you think I'm supposed to treat this like any other match, right? I mean, hell. Even Xavier built this match under the guise of The Headliner versus YOUR Favorite Drug but that ain't the half of it, is it?"
She tried to sound enthusiastic when she spoke the nicknames, a sarcastic drawl to her exaggerated announcer voice.
"Let's face it... You're treating us like lab mice."
As the camera backed away slightly, you could start to see she was peering over the edge of a small little cage in a pet store, watching three white mice scurry around mindlessly in their designated container.
"And you know how it's going to end too, don't you? With Gabe at the helm as the guest referee, it doesn't take a rocket surgeon to find that one out. Gabe is going to break the rules and attack one of us. And fuck, who knows? Maybe if he's feeling extra generous, he'll attack the both of us! He'll grab a weapon and he'll go apeshit on the two of us with a steel chair."
Rolling her eyes, the camera was still focused on the expression of her eyes like the camera was recording from inside the container itself.
"You know what you'll do back in the FAW offices? You'll do absolutely nothing! You'll let Gabe cause all the mayhem he wants and that's the experiment."
Tilting the camera downward, it catches a better sight of the two mice blindly running around in nonsensical circles. The third boredly watches from the corner, laying on his belly like he was getting ready to sleep.
"You treat Gabe like this unbeatable hero who deserves the reward of beating me senseless, someone who's never done a damn bad thing in his whole entire life. He's The Face Of SAP, yeah? He's the Showcase Champion. He's the apple of Zooey's eye and fuck, he deserves everything, doesn't he?!"
Zooming in on the lazy lab rat representing Gabriel, Cass continues to speak.
"After you masturbated to the sight of Gabriel knocking me out and winning the match, that's when the brilliant idea came to mind! 'Why don't we set up more matches where Gabriel gets his way?' Maybe Gabriel came up to you and asked for the match personally. I don't fucking know! When you heard it...You did it. You jumped at the thought of having Gabriel get what he wanted so you bent over backward to make it so!"
Sighing, Cass shook her head.
"You know the story: The evil reporter who just wants to get her name out there versus the established Xavier who beat countless people in the past. Two friends, one on one. It's great drama! Trust me, I get that. The thing that bothers me is that these bookers expect us to be fine with Gabriel in the background. Hell, even Xavier seemed fine with it. He almost made it sound like it would be fun, didn't he?! Like all of sudden, Gabriel would take me out and he'd take advantage. It's a quaint image, right? Capitalizing on his brother's actions, the best friend finds it within himself to beat the wretched Cass Baumer who just can't stop talking about other people! There's just something you're forgetting to notice..."
Her voice grew louder and more pronounced, her accent getting thicker as she kept going.
"I'm done being the fucking lab mouse."
Cass' eyebrows furrowed as she stared down at the mice.
"Xavier thinks I'm some lowly delicate flower who won't take this match seriously. He thinks I'll toil over the choices like some lost little lamb. Do I fight someone I call a best friend or do I back up and let him pin me like that's even an option? Do I become the laughingstock of FAW or do I give a fuck? Do you wanna know the truth? This match isn't just some goddamn throwaway to me! FAW wants to tear apart our fucking friendship with this shit, wants us to fight 'til one of us can't even stand, then let's do it! Let's fight tooth and nail, put everything on the fucking line for everyone watching to make sure we're the real deal. Let's make the time we have before Gabe inevitably fucks us over a good one and let's destroy each other out there to prove we're the fucking best FAW has to offer right now!"
Cassandra suddenly stopped and changed her voice, getting a little deeper and a little more serious.
"And you know the advantage I've got on you, Xavier? I've seen your medical report. I've heard your doctors talk about your injuries. I've seen you complain about your pains and your aches in the hospital and I'm not afraid to set my targets squarely where it'll hurt! I've watched every single one of your matches since I've come on the scene a year ago as a lowly interviewer and I know your weaknesses out there. So you wanna treat this like a fucking tea party? No! We're doing this for real and I'm fighting to show that goddamn cult that I can beat the great Xavier and I can stand up to their goddamn forces! I'm going to show everyone in the FAW Hardcore Invitational that I'm not someone you can ever mess with and I'm not someone who's going to be an easy win at the end of this momentous tournament dedicated to winning my FAW Hardcore Championship!"
With a small smile, she continued but she still sounded serious as ever.
"I might not be the best wrestler in the whole damn world but I have the cunning and the information I need to do what I need to do to you out there. Don't take it personally. Don't think it means shit. It's just you don't take this whole goddamn situation nearly seriously enough. You see Gabe as the referee in a way someone would see a nuisance. You saw Lennox as someone you need to argue with nonstop when everyone tells you you're wasting time talking to that cunt. You see me as nothing more than a lapdog picking up the pieces that Gabe left on the ground while you're just mindlessly subtweeting your girlfriend instead of giving a fuck about what Gabe has to say!"
"When you were in the hospital and I was with you for 3 days, Gabriel came up with this bullshit about how you did it to yourself. Instead of worrying about you, instead of giving a fuck about his own brother, Gabriel chose to monolog while you were in intensive care and you act like it's nothing, Xavier. You act like this is just Gabe being Gabe, that he'll eventually go back to your tag team partner like the two of you are little kids having a fight but that shit's untrue. You see Gabe as redeemable and I see him as an irredeemable trash that deserves to feel what it's like to spend at least 3 days in the hospital on life support, gasping for air as he struggles to breathe just like I saw you do when you were in the hospital! You see him as a bug who will fix his ways soon and I see him as a permanent nemesis that'll never stop making your life a living hell and you don't even see it. You're blinded by the past, by the days of tag team matches and your days back home living together that you don't see what's right in front of you. If we don't do something now, if we don't get people to our side, if we act like sitting ducks too afraid to ask for help, we're fucked!"
"You can't do this on your own. You can't be stupid enough to never want anyone to choose sides. You wouldn't even let Phe choose our side! You said this would be over soon and that Phe would have to live with the consequences but what if it's not over soon? What if she joins the goddamn cult of truth too and we're even more alone because your dumbass couldn't let me convince her to let her help us! If you think you can do this on your own, you're an idiot and why the fuck am I even helping you in the first place?!"
She takes a deep breath, trying to calm herself as the camera looked back into her eyes.
"I'm sorry, I— This whole thing has me upset, that's all. I feel like we're alone. I feel like we're up against the world and we can't get help. I feel like something bad is going to happen and we're not going to be able to handle it on our own. According to a source I got, Alaina Laroux — Xavier's sister — was seen spending time with Lennox recently. She joined the cult. We were too stupid to make sure she was on our side that we lost another part of our group that I didn't even realize we even could have had. She sides with the asshole who wanted Xavier to be a monster, who agrees with Gabriel and hates me just as much. She fell to the dark side and as everything slowly happens I feel more and more alone..."
"I promised you I'd be by your side until I was 6 feet under, Xavier. I meant it. And I get it. Your girlfriend Phe hates me now. Bad word choice and some good old fashioned jealousy caused that to happen. I understand. I don't know if she's your girlfriend or your wife these days, judging by a report I was given the other day. She was wearing a diamond ring but I guess that's not important. What I'm trying to say is... I apologize to Phe. You know what I did. I let Gabe get in my head. It was stupid. I was stupid. We need you on our— "
Cass paused, thinking deeply about it.
"I need you on my side more than ever, Phe. With Lyric on the other side, someone I called a friend, and Xavier's own sister suddenly turning against us... Against me... I need help. We need help. Do something. Choose a side. Xavier is seeing everything all wrong, this isn't going to fix itself in a couple months. This is going to be a long lasting war and I'm afraid if we don't make sure you're on our side, I—"
Passion got caught in the back of her throat.
"I know you're on Xavier's side, Phe. I just want to make sure you're still on mine."
"I was a fucking jerk and I deserved everything you said to me but I apologize. I let Gabe get to me. And I don't wanna feel so fucking alone anymore these days. I don't wanna feel like a dumb lab mouse just dancing around for FAW's entertainment."
"I need to make sure that I'm not the only one who gives a fuck. I need to know I'm not the only one who sees Gabriel as a sack of shit for turning on his own brother like that. I need to know that I'm not the only sane one left who sees what Gabe is doing and wants to fight back instead of just passively waiting for something to happen like Xavier's been doing lately."
"Family means more to me than it means to Gabriel or Alaina. I don't turn my back on family. I fight for them. Family is the entire reason I'm here and all Gabriel does is treat his own brother for granted. And what would Gabriel have done if Xavier died in the car crash like my brother died a couple years ago? Would Gabe go to the funeral, say a few words and pay his respects? Would he be sincere and regret everything bad he said beforehand about his own brother like a normal person? No. He'd monolog. He'd say his brother deserved to die and that's the side everyone in that whole goddamn cult is siding with."
"I hope you're happy. You're with a man who would sooner piss on his brother's grave than even pretend to grieve. You're with a man so caught up in his own superiority complex that he probably doesn't even see anything he's doing as wrong. You're with a man who deserves to feel every ounce of pain Xavier felt in the hospital and eventually, I'm going to be the person to make that happen while Xavier's busy waiting!"
"So yeah. This is it. The Headliner versus YOUR Favorite Drug with Gabriel's sword of Damocles hanging overhead. We're lab mice for FAW's enjoyment and those people in the FAW office are waiting for me to break!"
"I'll win. That'll show them."
"You can't win a war by being passive. You think Xavier will learn that lesson or nah?"
With a soft sigh, the YouTube video comes to an end zoomed in on one of the mice looking up at the camera.