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X-treme Wrestling Federation » Warfare Boards » Warfare RP Board
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Joachim Bright Offline
Heart on his sleeve



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#1
07-27-2018, 06:28 PM

////BEFORE////

Ramshackle homes rose like a dilapidated hedgerow, cutting a swath down the street that spoke to bygone eras of prosperity melting away into urban blight. Joachim walks down the street, sticking to the flickering lumination of the street lights to give him some protection from the darkness. His breathing is the rapid, shallow breathing of the fearful. He didn't know what to expect. He just knew he had to get Taye out.

He stops at the address he was given and looks up at the sagging eaves and chipped paint. The windows are black inside, and no motion can be seen from within. He's not sure if that makes things better or worse. Reaching into the small bag on his back, he withdraws the flashlight and tests it briefly before placing one tentative sneaker on the first step. The old wood groans in response, and Joachim cringes. His eyes dart to the windows overlooking the porch, and still noting no activity he persists. Up the stairs, which thankfully gift him silence the rest of the way, Joachim tests the front door and finds it unlocked. Easing it open, he sweeps the flashlight around the entryway. The beam catches a worn bannister at the foot of a staircase, and the back of a ratty couch in the living room beyond. Approaching the living room, he cringes again as another loud floor board betrays him, but still there is no response.

Rounding the couch, Joachim draws in a quick intake of air when he sees a form laying on it. He brings the light to bear, careful not to shine it directly in their face, and sees that it's not Taye but a young woman. Even beneath the soiled sheet she's using to cover herself, it's clear that her body was little more than a thin film of flesh draped over a skeleton. The woman's face was ragged with meth sores, her hair interrupted by patches of bald flesh. A fly lands on her eye...her open eye. The eye doesn't move. She's dead.

Joachim resists the urge to run. He's never been this close to a dead body before. Averting his eyes, he stumbles back a couple steps as some gorge rises up his throat. He just barely tamps it down but can't escape the flavor of iron that comes with it. Joachim retreats into the kitchen, and is soon disgusted to find that the floor is shin deep in trash, mostly old food containers and fast food bags. Their respective debris forming a stench of grease and rot that finally let's loose the flood gates and Joachim pukes just past the threshold. Once his body stops shuddering, he slides a sleeve over his lips and immediately wishes he hadn't. Taking a look at the expanse of trash he doesn't relish the thought of wading through the garbage and whatever might be lurking underneath, but doesn't like the thought of having to pass the dead body either. He passes through the kitchen, leaving some disturbed cockroaches in his wake. A quick sweep of the light over his shins confirms that the boy doesn't have any passengers.

The kitchen's exit empties out into another hall that also meets with the staircase. Taking that route, he passes the light briefly over a bathroom on the way and, seeing no one inside, proceeds to the stairs. Taking the steps two at a time, he powers through more warning creaks until arriving at the landing. Turning down the hall there, his light immediately captures the sight of a slim Hispanic youth, using the wall to support himself.

Oh shit!

Joachim cries out in surprise, fumbling the flashlight which clatters to the floor and rolls about, casting a wide bank of yellow light further down the hall. The boy, also bone thin and wearing a torn Lamb of God t-shirt and cut off jeans, doesn't distance himself from the wall in response to the intrusion. In fact, he doesn't say anything at all. Jo picks up the flashlight. His mind races.

There's....uh, there's a dead girl downstairs....

He stutters lamely, and instantly curses himself. I'm sorry, did you know her?

No. The boy in the Lamb of God t-shirt offers. What you want?

Joachim grasps at the bag again, withdrawing a cell phone. He brings up the picture of Taye from better times. Have you seen him?

The boy points down the hall. Joachim offers a quiet word of thanks before passing him. Two more rooms and a bathroom await down the hall. This bathroom is also empty, but reeks of breached septic tank and he pushes past that as fast as he can. The final room in this hall bears fruit. Two figures are huddled together in the corner, one male and one female. The female still has the needle in her arm, and neither of them are even aware of Joachim's presence. He bypasses them, but not without one final solemn look. You can't save everyone.

Taye is sitting up on the opposite wall. A cracked plate holds his works, he probably used recently. However, he's aware enough to notice when Jo enters. Taye looks up at Jo, his eyes distant and uncomprehending.

Taye! Joachim goes to him, getting down on one knee. The ruination of Taye's arm is clear, one vein is a deep black and blue trench and unhealed puncture marks dance around it like gnats about a fetid river. The boy touches the wounds, his fingertips dancing on the trench before Taye yanks his arm away.

You shouldn't be here.... Taye's words are whispers. His eyes try to focus, his iris' unsteady.

Come on, man. Let's go. Let me help you. He goes for Taye's arm again, only for it to be pulled away once more.

Not safe....not....you should go.... Fluttering eyelids scarcely remain open.

Joachim takes hold of his shoulder to stop him from slumping over. Grasping Taye's face in his hands, he locks eyes with him and speaks carefully and with an authority he didn't quite feel. I'm going to help you up and we are going to leave. Dragging Taye up to a standing position, Taye is too far gone to offer more than the barest resistance, but offer it he does. Taye plants a palm on Joachim's chest, shaking his head “no” slowly.

N'ah man....just...just....

Joachim puts his body up underneath the other's arm, taking as much of his weight as he could and prompting him to walk by taking a step. A grunt issued forth from Taye's throat and he began to pull away. Joachim took hold of him again, pressing their bodies closer together side to side and forcing another step. Don't fight me on this, I'm getting you out.

I...I don't want....

Yes you do! He snapped at him, sounding much harsher than he intended. Gripping him tighter now, he forced him to walk another step. And then another.

They say the first step is always the hardest. In this case it was more like 200.

////NOW///

Bright light lit Taye, casting his face in gold. The dust from the room flitted about in the beam, making the glow look alive. Joachim, his body snug against Taye's, pulled him in closer. Chest to chest, so he could feel their heartbeats together and maybe even will them to synchronize. But it wasn't happening. Not today. Jo woke up with his heart hammering in his chest again, his night plagued with dark dreams. But this time, it wasn't even his mother haunting him so.

This time it was The Engineer.

He knew his father was up to something terrible. Building that THING on Madison's property, all of his strange talk of late. His increasing intensity and casual feelings of untouchability. He tried to get Madison to listen to reason and now, her phone had been going straight to voice mail. He hoped she was just on one of her prolific benders, and in thinking that it instantly struck him as dire that that was the better of two likely options. Of course, he had already tried to confront his father personally too. He still was trying to absorb the shame he felt at himself both for withering so quickly during their encounter, and for bringing a firearm to protect himself. Protect himself from what? He grimaced at the thought. Did he actually think his father could kill him? Was he that lost?

Taye muttered something softly in his sleep and his forearm tightened around Jo's back even as he brought his other arm above the sheet. Jo looked at the old scars that still raced up and down Taye's forearm, the last vestiges of the “little boy lost” he pulled out of that trap house 3 years ago. But the memory gets interrupted by the cell phone on the hotel end table as it buzzed and danced, a reminder of the pending interview with Steve Sayors later this morning. Joachim scooped up the phone to check the time, scowled, and turned his sights back towards Taye. Carefully extricating himself from the embrace, he leans in to plant a kiss on his boyfriend's forehead before heading for the bathroom to make himself presentable.

////LATER////

The Coliseo General Rumiñahui was empty, and it occurred to Jo he had never been in a place that was meant to house so many during a down time like this. A shiver tickled his spine at the sheer wrongness of the silence and emptiness, and he repressed it before opening the door to the small conference room. An XWF logo was affixed to the wall, with two folding chairs arrayed in front of the filming equipment that would be live streaming the talent interviews in advance of Warfare. Joachim had received a missive from Vincent Lane himself that he would be taking part in an interview to promote the brand's first show in Ecuador in ages, but he held no allusions that the choice wasn't about him so much as it was about the heat between him and his father.

Heh. “Heat”. The lingo did sneak up on you.

Mr. Bright, Steve Sayors! He approached Joachim with a hand outstretched, which Jo took. He also slid into the seat that Steve indicated, and cast a glance at the camera before refocusing on the interviewer. Nice to meet you.

Yeah, same. You know, I don't envy your job. Most of the people here are crazy.

Steve's eyebrows perk up, and he nods while making a face suggesting mock exasperation. It pays the bills. I did insist in my last contract negotiation though that I will never be in the same room as any member of BX3 ever again. So let's get down to brass tacks. Your father....

Oh goody.

Your father has been pretty dominant here in the XWF, and your relationship with him is rather complicated. What do you think he has up his sleeve?

Joachim shrugs, with a touch of frustration bleeding through. I have no clue. Everybody keeps asking me that like he shares his innermost secrets with me. It's The Engineer, man, so knowing him it could be anything from a surprise party for Peter Gilmour to a mass casualty event. I'm betting on the latter though, and it terrifies me.

Well, at any rate after the events of Leap of Faith, it's clear he is on a crash course with another dominant performer currently in the XWF: Robert Main....

And I support Robert 100%.

Steve looks taken aback. So, to be clear, you are going on the record as saying you support your father's opponent.

That's what I said. And could you maybe stop calling him my father, it kinda icks me out.

Yeah, sure....but that's a pretty major announcement. And one I'm sure The Universal champion won't take lightly. Anyway, moving on to more clear and present matters. You are booked in the third match of your young career, squaring off against Jack and a former Universal Champion in his own right, Azrael Erebus.

Joachim visibly relaxes a bit. That's right.

Any thoughts about your competition at Warfare?

Plenty. And I want to give a shout-out to the bookers for making things so interesting for me this time around.

Care to explain?

Does it need much explanation? I'm facing a guy who thinks he's an alien and a guy dressed up like a mummy who, ironically enough, has a passion for making things right that slots right into my own wheelhouse. I'm as psyched as psyched gets for this. Joachim smiles for the first time this entire interview. Jack, I read the information the company had available for you, and I have to say, I was gobsmacked at just how similar it turns out we are. Your Hidden Order initiative resonated with me on a deeply personal level. I've tried to do the same thing my entire life. Provide a haven for people without one. Do right by others. I got the feeling that you understand that. Even if sometimes your efforts were a bit misguided.

I can only imagine the unbelievable pain and tragedy that must have molded you into what you are today. In a weird way, I see you as the inverse of The Engineer. Whereas his experiences turned him into something strange and ultimately broken, yours turned you into something strange and....beautiful.

I know you probably don't see things that way. And it's to my understanding that you still carry a lot of rage in your heart. But there's a goodness there too, isn't there? A desire to repair and put right. I get that. I mean, I haven't suffered as much loss as you have, but I get that. I only hope you can find it in yourself not to get lost in the anger.

If you ever want to talk sometime Jack, find me. Seriously.


Of course, many are saying that your real challenge in this match is Azrael Erebus. And that while management hasn't seemed to be taking him too seriously since his return, he is a former two time Universal Champion. Your thoughts on him?

Impossibly attractive.

For the second time now, Steve looks surprised. I'm sorry?

Joachim laughs. One sexy ass alien. Seriously, those ambiguously gendered features are to die for. The thirst is real. And before anybody tries to use this to start drama between me and my boy Taye, just know we are in complete 100% agreement on this fact and would be open to an **a-ha-HEM** “triple threat” with Mr. Erebus anytime. He laughs again. No, but really, homeboy pings hard on my threat radar too. You don't get to be a former Universal Champion without having some serious skills. The fact that he may be from space just ups the ante even higher.

So, what sort of challenge do I, a simple human, pose to Azrael? Well, what sort of challenge should any human pose to him? Enough, apparently. Talented though he is, he's clearly beatable. Which is”the rub” so to speak when you try to pass yourself off as a metahuman. Because apparently it's possible to forget you are one just long enough to lose a match. See also Tank, Ghost.

But that would be the easy way out though, wouldn't it? Tearing the guy down just for daring to be different. I for one, welcome it. You're amongst the ranks of the bizarre Azrael. Marching to the beat of your own drummer. Not gelling with the norm. I dig it. You sexy beast. And ordinarily, this match would be a wrap for you. Now I can't speak for Jack, but I intend to make this contest as difficult on you as possible. I'm fighting to help out my friends, true, but I would be lying to myself and the rest of the world if I said there wasn't some motivation to be the best in there too. And if I can get past a guy with your legacy, well....I think that speaks for itself.

I look forward to hearing more from both you guys. But until then, I'm gonna go bust my ass in the gym and do something with this scrawny body of mine.

Catch ya later Steve.


Joachim nods in the interviewers direction and gives the camera a playful wave goodbye before exiting stage left. Steve watches him go before returning his own attention to the camera.

Well, that's that. Next up....

Just then, a close up of a piece of paper being held in front of the camera is seen. It reads “Jo's digits” followed by a phone number. The paper is pulled away then, only to be replaced by Joachim's face.

Seriously though Azrael. Damn. My boo's okay with it, I promise.

He flashes a peace sign before ducking out of camera range one last time.

[Image: barbed_wire_through_my_heart_by_tripwire_d.jpg]pin
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[-] The following 4 users Like Joachim Bright's post:
(07-27-2018), Azrael Erebus (08-01-2018), JACK (07-27-2018), The Blue Tango (07-28-2018)




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