Post by matt on Mar 22, 2022 9:09:15 GMT -6
==========
Miami, Florida
Off Camera
==========
Currently The British Bombshell finds herself in her personal gym in Miami, Florida. Braddock is standing in a standard sized wrestling ring dressed in royal purple shorts and a white t-shirt with her name, “Glory Braddock”, printed on the front in purple lettering. Her long blonde hair is pulled into a ponytail in the back. Staring across the ring from her is none other than her latest project, another student from the school named Fiona Osbourne, and she is wearing plain gray shorts, a plain white t-shirt, and sneakers.
“So, are you ready?”
“Uh, I suppose so…but are you sure I’m the right sparring partner for you? I mean, couldn’t you get your husband? He’d probably give you a better fight than me.”
Braddock chuckles softly. “Oh I’m sure he could. Kurt is a former world champion himself, mate. But you need this training more than him.”
“But Kurt…”
“...is retired. You need this training, he doesn’t. And besides, this not only benefits me but it benefits you as it helps you with your own training. So once again, are you ready?”
“Uh…” Fiona is hesitant but nods her head “...sure.”
Fiona now prepares to learn her own lessons if she expects to continue her training. She had been working hard at the Braddock Wrestling School but has now been taken under Glory’s wing, personally being mentored by Glory herself. This serves a dual purpose. For Fiona, this serves the purpose of getting her the best possible training imaginable. For Glory, this serves the purpose of self-discovery. Glory believes that she has lost her way and that perhaps, by working with Fiona, taking her in and helping her, this will remind her why she got into wrestling in the first place; in order to make a difference in other people’s lives and to leave the sport in a better place.
“Alright, here I come…” Fiona lunges forward towards Glory, going for a double leg takedown but Braddock is easily able to jump out of the way and Fiona ends up stumbling and lands face first on the mat. Glory steps back, folds her arms over her chest and smirks.
“Lesson one, Fiona, never advertise your intentions.” Glory approaches Fiona and offers her hand out. Fiona nods and accepts the hand. Glory pulls her up to her feet but then quickly takes Fiona back down with an arm drag into an arm bar. “Annnnd lesson two, you cannot trust anyone, at least not fully. Inside and outside the ring people will stab you in the back. They will betray you. I wish it weren’t true but unfortunately it is.”
Braddock cranks in on the arm bar, but hard enough so as to hurt Fiona too badly. She just wants Fiona to work her way out of the hold. Fiona tries twice to counter it but The British Bombshell is just too good of a counter wrestler in order to let that happen. Fiona may be learning but that doesn’t mean Glory will take it easy on her. Glory’s training mantra is the same of her father’s, Glenn Braddock’s; make them walk through hell so that when they will be prepared for it when they debut. Realizing that she cannot counter, Fiona looks towards the ropes. She is close enough. Fiona reaches out with her foot and touches the bottom rope. Glory holds on for a few seconds before breaking the hold.
“Sorry I couldn’t counter that, Glory.”
“Don’t be ashamed of yourself, Fiona. Using the ropes is a smart move. It isn’t the coward’s way out as some may have you believe.” Glory pushes herself back to her feet. She again offers her hand to Fiona. This time Fiona is reluctant to accept and, in fact, after a few moments of hesitation she refuses. Braddock chuckles softly. “You learned! Congratulations!”
“Thanks…I think?”
Braddock nods her head and again offers her hand. “Now come on, seriously, no tricks this time.” Fiona stares at the hand and for a moment is still reluctant. But she finally takes Glory’s hand. Braddock pulls Fiona back to her feet. She wraps her arm around Fiona’s shoulders.
“You really are doing good, Fiona. Believe me, you are doing great. And I realize I’m being hard on you…I hope I’m not being too hard on you, mind…but I do have my reasons for being hard on you. The fact is that you do have potential, a lot of it if I’m honest with you, mate.”
“You really think so?” Fiona asks. Glory nods her head.
“Of course. And I don’t want you to waste that potential. So I am being tough on you, I am putting the pressure on you so that one day that pressure will turn you into a diamond. That was my father’s philosophy when it came to training.”
“Your dad?” Fiona furrows her brow in confusion. “You never speak much about your father.”
“There’s a reason for that.” Glory turns and steps through the ropes. “Come on, sit…” Braddock sits down on the edge of the ring apron. Fiona nods her head and follows suit, stepping through the ropes and then sits down on the edge of the ring apron next to Glory.
“How do I best describe the legend that is my father Glenn Braddock?” Glory says with slight hint of sarcasm in her voice and a soft smirk on her face. She turns towards Fiona and grins. “Have you ever watched Full Metal Jacket?”
“Uh-huh,” Fiona nods her head “I had a boyfriend once who made me watch it with him. I hated it.”
“I can’t blame you.” Braddock chuckles softly. “But that drill instructor in the movie? Gunnery Sergeant Hartman? That’s basically my father in a nutshell.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really. My father was as tough an instructor as any drill sergeant you could ever imagine. And his philosophy towards training was basically the same. He would put every single one of his students through hell. It was so rough and so challenging that it made you feel as if you really were at a military basic training. But I knew why my dad did it. He wanted to ensure that no matter what trouble we would get into in our wrestling careers, no matter how battered and beaten would end up, no matter what kind of in ring beatings or backstage politics we would endure, we would never ever break. We would stand back up and keep fighting no matter what happened to us.”
“Did it work?”
Braddock nods her head. “I’d like to think so…I can look back at some of my fellow graduates, some of the students who went through the school with me, and I am amazed at their careers. Some of them ended up winning championships, but not all. What I can say about all of them is that they have all endured, none of them gave up, not even for one moment.”
“Your dad sounds like quite a guy.”
“He was.”
“So why don’t you talk about him more?”
“I debuted as a professional wrestler in January of 2008. I wanted to start small, in the European independent circuits like my dad did. But my father insisted that I start at the big time immediately. He even used his influence to get me a contract to wrestle for a major global promotion, Global Division of Wrestling. I had my own doubts about my skill but I was fully trusting of my father. I knew he would never steer my wrong. If he believed I had what it took then I knew I must have what it took. Now I wanted to manage my career on my own but my father insisted that he manage my career. Once again, I fully trusted him, I trusted him with my life, so of course I had no problem trusting him with my career. And from my debut in 2008 until sometime in the middle of 2014 he managed my wrestling career.” Glory sighs deeply as the bad memories spill back into her mind. She composes herself and continues.
“Unfortunately my father had a very difficult time separating himself from that persona he took on as a wrestling trainer. That ruthless drill instructor he seemed to become at the school? That was my father whenever he was involved with wrestling. At least when he was with my mother, he managed to set that persona to the side. We were like a real family. But after they broke up, and I became more focused, more intent on following in his footsteps, that fatherly figure disappeared. I rarely saw my father as simply my father. I began to see him as a manager and trainer. I began to see him simply as that drill instructor. And in 2014 we began to drift apart…”
“He’s still better than Todd.” Fiona says, referring to Todd Osbourne, her foster father. “Todd used me for so long, using modeling as a front to legally pimp me out to make money to fund his lavish lifestyle. Your dad may have had a hard time expressing himself, but he did love and care for you. I’ve never had that.”
Glory pats Fiona on the back. “You’re right, and that’s one of my regrets. I regret not realizing sooner that my dad really did care for me. I regret not trying harder to make him lift that veil and expose his loving, kind self, and not to hide it underneath that rough exterior. And as far as your foster father goes, he may be a jerk, but you did manage to escape him. You survived the hell he put you through and you escaped. You are now on track to improving your lot in life. And I am honored to be able to do whatever I can to help you.”
Fiona smiles warmly. “Thank you, Glory. It’s funny, from what you tell me about your dad…you really seem nothing like him.”
“Actually I am like him in a lot of ways. For instance, if I’m not careful I can become too wrapped up in the sport, I can become too obsessed with it and lose myself. Lucky for me I’ve always had people to help keep me grounded.”
“Like who?”
“Well for me it was Matthew, Matthew Taylor.”
“Oh yeah! I remember him…” Fiona’s face lights up upon the mention of Matthew Taylor, a name she remembers quite well “...he visited the school a few times.”
“He does drop by every now and then whenever he can. He can’t drop in just whenever he wants, he has to arrange his visits around Sophie’s schedule.”
“Why?”
Glory smirks knowingly. “Sophie hates him.”
“Why would Ms. O’Brian hate him? He seems like such a fun guy.”
“She hates him for the same reason my father hated him. Matthew and I were close friends, we went to school together, he even began training to be a wrestler at my dad’s school, but he thought my dad’s philosophy of wrestling, especially the technical and submission style Glenn taught, was just plain boring. And unlike me, Matty had no problem telling him to his face.”
“Wow…” Fiona’s eyes grow wide “...so what happened?”
“Depends on who you asked. If you asked my dad, he kicked Matty out of the school. The truth is Matty quit and finished his schooling with someone more his speed and more in tune to the style of wrestling he preferred…fast paced, high risk, daredevil. My dad would call them glorified acrobats and spot monkeys.”
“Did you and Matthew stay in touch after he left the school?”
“Of course.” Glory nods her head. “Like I said, Matty kept me grounded in reality. He helped to keep me relaxed and would always remind me how to have fun. See, that’s another good lesson I had learned, not from my father but from Matty. You can’t let this business become your whole life. You have to try and relax and have some fun every now and then.” Glory grins from ear to ear. “Matty and I would have a blast singing karaoke after wrestling shows and he was always quite the prankster.”
“I thought you were the prankster?”
“Where do you think I learned all my good pranks?” Glory says with a knowing smirk. “I still use them to this day.”
“Really?”
“Yep.” Glory nods her head. “In fact, not too long ago there was this referee…name was Charles…he fast counted me, fast counted a friend of mine, so I decided to make the bloke pay. Tricked him into eating one of my famous laxative laced muffins.”
“The same ones Amelia tries to imitate?” Fiona asks rolling her eyes. Glory laughs.
“The same! Charles had to make an early exit of his match as a result…poor sap…” Glory sighs deeply “...without Matty there to keep me grounded, I would be a different person.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well you tell me, what do you think of Sophie?”
“Uh, I dunno, what does that have to do with anything?”
“Just answer the question kiddo.” Glory insists. “I promise not tell her.”
“Well, she is ruthless…downright mean…I’m not sure she even feels anything, like emotions or stuff.”
Braddock nods her head. “You’re right, and see, Sophie is my best friend but she is also a cold hearted sociopath. The fact is, I would have ended up just as cold, heartless, and emotionless as Sophie had it not been for Matthew keeping me grounded in reality.”
“It seems like you and Matthew were close.”
“We were.” Glory nods her head. “He was my first love…unofficially that is…”
“Huh?”
Glory sighs. “We both had strong feelings for one another. He loved me, and I loved him, but we were both too afraid to say anything. So we just remained very close friends.”
Glory looks off in the distance, almost as if she is thinking about her relationship with Matthew, and thinking about what could have been. Fiona breaks her thought process with a tap on the shoulder. She turns to face Fiona. “Do you regret any of it?”
“No…” Glory says, shaking her head “...because I am married to Kurt, the love of my life, and he cares for me deeply. And had I pursued a relationship with Matt, I would not have my daughter, Dawn Aphrodite Logan.”
“You mean the one who loves Holly Adams?”
“Yeah, that one.” Glory chuckles. “But that’s ok, we can fix that in due time. Speaking of fixing things, we need to continue your training.” Glory claps her hands. “So get up and get back in the ring, maggot! Let’s move!”
“Maggot?”
“Sorry, old habits from my father die hard.” Braddock winks. She leans over and embraces Fiona for a moment. The hug is broken and then Fiona steps back into the ring. Glory follows suit and the sparring session continues anew.
Miami, Florida
Off Camera
==========
Currently The British Bombshell finds herself in her personal gym in Miami, Florida. Braddock is standing in a standard sized wrestling ring dressed in royal purple shorts and a white t-shirt with her name, “Glory Braddock”, printed on the front in purple lettering. Her long blonde hair is pulled into a ponytail in the back. Staring across the ring from her is none other than her latest project, another student from the school named Fiona Osbourne, and she is wearing plain gray shorts, a plain white t-shirt, and sneakers.
“So, are you ready?”
“Uh, I suppose so…but are you sure I’m the right sparring partner for you? I mean, couldn’t you get your husband? He’d probably give you a better fight than me.”
Braddock chuckles softly. “Oh I’m sure he could. Kurt is a former world champion himself, mate. But you need this training more than him.”
“But Kurt…”
“...is retired. You need this training, he doesn’t. And besides, this not only benefits me but it benefits you as it helps you with your own training. So once again, are you ready?”
“Uh…” Fiona is hesitant but nods her head “...sure.”
Fiona now prepares to learn her own lessons if she expects to continue her training. She had been working hard at the Braddock Wrestling School but has now been taken under Glory’s wing, personally being mentored by Glory herself. This serves a dual purpose. For Fiona, this serves the purpose of getting her the best possible training imaginable. For Glory, this serves the purpose of self-discovery. Glory believes that she has lost her way and that perhaps, by working with Fiona, taking her in and helping her, this will remind her why she got into wrestling in the first place; in order to make a difference in other people’s lives and to leave the sport in a better place.
“Alright, here I come…” Fiona lunges forward towards Glory, going for a double leg takedown but Braddock is easily able to jump out of the way and Fiona ends up stumbling and lands face first on the mat. Glory steps back, folds her arms over her chest and smirks.
“Lesson one, Fiona, never advertise your intentions.” Glory approaches Fiona and offers her hand out. Fiona nods and accepts the hand. Glory pulls her up to her feet but then quickly takes Fiona back down with an arm drag into an arm bar. “Annnnd lesson two, you cannot trust anyone, at least not fully. Inside and outside the ring people will stab you in the back. They will betray you. I wish it weren’t true but unfortunately it is.”
Braddock cranks in on the arm bar, but hard enough so as to hurt Fiona too badly. She just wants Fiona to work her way out of the hold. Fiona tries twice to counter it but The British Bombshell is just too good of a counter wrestler in order to let that happen. Fiona may be learning but that doesn’t mean Glory will take it easy on her. Glory’s training mantra is the same of her father’s, Glenn Braddock’s; make them walk through hell so that when they will be prepared for it when they debut. Realizing that she cannot counter, Fiona looks towards the ropes. She is close enough. Fiona reaches out with her foot and touches the bottom rope. Glory holds on for a few seconds before breaking the hold.
“Sorry I couldn’t counter that, Glory.”
“Don’t be ashamed of yourself, Fiona. Using the ropes is a smart move. It isn’t the coward’s way out as some may have you believe.” Glory pushes herself back to her feet. She again offers her hand to Fiona. This time Fiona is reluctant to accept and, in fact, after a few moments of hesitation she refuses. Braddock chuckles softly. “You learned! Congratulations!”
“Thanks…I think?”
Braddock nods her head and again offers her hand. “Now come on, seriously, no tricks this time.” Fiona stares at the hand and for a moment is still reluctant. But she finally takes Glory’s hand. Braddock pulls Fiona back to her feet. She wraps her arm around Fiona’s shoulders.
“You really are doing good, Fiona. Believe me, you are doing great. And I realize I’m being hard on you…I hope I’m not being too hard on you, mind…but I do have my reasons for being hard on you. The fact is that you do have potential, a lot of it if I’m honest with you, mate.”
“You really think so?” Fiona asks. Glory nods her head.
“Of course. And I don’t want you to waste that potential. So I am being tough on you, I am putting the pressure on you so that one day that pressure will turn you into a diamond. That was my father’s philosophy when it came to training.”
“Your dad?” Fiona furrows her brow in confusion. “You never speak much about your father.”
“There’s a reason for that.” Glory turns and steps through the ropes. “Come on, sit…” Braddock sits down on the edge of the ring apron. Fiona nods her head and follows suit, stepping through the ropes and then sits down on the edge of the ring apron next to Glory.
“How do I best describe the legend that is my father Glenn Braddock?” Glory says with slight hint of sarcasm in her voice and a soft smirk on her face. She turns towards Fiona and grins. “Have you ever watched Full Metal Jacket?”
“Uh-huh,” Fiona nods her head “I had a boyfriend once who made me watch it with him. I hated it.”
“I can’t blame you.” Braddock chuckles softly. “But that drill instructor in the movie? Gunnery Sergeant Hartman? That’s basically my father in a nutshell.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really. My father was as tough an instructor as any drill sergeant you could ever imagine. And his philosophy towards training was basically the same. He would put every single one of his students through hell. It was so rough and so challenging that it made you feel as if you really were at a military basic training. But I knew why my dad did it. He wanted to ensure that no matter what trouble we would get into in our wrestling careers, no matter how battered and beaten would end up, no matter what kind of in ring beatings or backstage politics we would endure, we would never ever break. We would stand back up and keep fighting no matter what happened to us.”
“Did it work?”
Braddock nods her head. “I’d like to think so…I can look back at some of my fellow graduates, some of the students who went through the school with me, and I am amazed at their careers. Some of them ended up winning championships, but not all. What I can say about all of them is that they have all endured, none of them gave up, not even for one moment.”
“Your dad sounds like quite a guy.”
“He was.”
“So why don’t you talk about him more?”
“I debuted as a professional wrestler in January of 2008. I wanted to start small, in the European independent circuits like my dad did. But my father insisted that I start at the big time immediately. He even used his influence to get me a contract to wrestle for a major global promotion, Global Division of Wrestling. I had my own doubts about my skill but I was fully trusting of my father. I knew he would never steer my wrong. If he believed I had what it took then I knew I must have what it took. Now I wanted to manage my career on my own but my father insisted that he manage my career. Once again, I fully trusted him, I trusted him with my life, so of course I had no problem trusting him with my career. And from my debut in 2008 until sometime in the middle of 2014 he managed my wrestling career.” Glory sighs deeply as the bad memories spill back into her mind. She composes herself and continues.
“Unfortunately my father had a very difficult time separating himself from that persona he took on as a wrestling trainer. That ruthless drill instructor he seemed to become at the school? That was my father whenever he was involved with wrestling. At least when he was with my mother, he managed to set that persona to the side. We were like a real family. But after they broke up, and I became more focused, more intent on following in his footsteps, that fatherly figure disappeared. I rarely saw my father as simply my father. I began to see him as a manager and trainer. I began to see him simply as that drill instructor. And in 2014 we began to drift apart…”
“He’s still better than Todd.” Fiona says, referring to Todd Osbourne, her foster father. “Todd used me for so long, using modeling as a front to legally pimp me out to make money to fund his lavish lifestyle. Your dad may have had a hard time expressing himself, but he did love and care for you. I’ve never had that.”
Glory pats Fiona on the back. “You’re right, and that’s one of my regrets. I regret not realizing sooner that my dad really did care for me. I regret not trying harder to make him lift that veil and expose his loving, kind self, and not to hide it underneath that rough exterior. And as far as your foster father goes, he may be a jerk, but you did manage to escape him. You survived the hell he put you through and you escaped. You are now on track to improving your lot in life. And I am honored to be able to do whatever I can to help you.”
Fiona smiles warmly. “Thank you, Glory. It’s funny, from what you tell me about your dad…you really seem nothing like him.”
“Actually I am like him in a lot of ways. For instance, if I’m not careful I can become too wrapped up in the sport, I can become too obsessed with it and lose myself. Lucky for me I’ve always had people to help keep me grounded.”
“Like who?”
“Well for me it was Matthew, Matthew Taylor.”
“Oh yeah! I remember him…” Fiona’s face lights up upon the mention of Matthew Taylor, a name she remembers quite well “...he visited the school a few times.”
“He does drop by every now and then whenever he can. He can’t drop in just whenever he wants, he has to arrange his visits around Sophie’s schedule.”
“Why?”
Glory smirks knowingly. “Sophie hates him.”
“Why would Ms. O’Brian hate him? He seems like such a fun guy.”
“She hates him for the same reason my father hated him. Matthew and I were close friends, we went to school together, he even began training to be a wrestler at my dad’s school, but he thought my dad’s philosophy of wrestling, especially the technical and submission style Glenn taught, was just plain boring. And unlike me, Matty had no problem telling him to his face.”
“Wow…” Fiona’s eyes grow wide “...so what happened?”
“Depends on who you asked. If you asked my dad, he kicked Matty out of the school. The truth is Matty quit and finished his schooling with someone more his speed and more in tune to the style of wrestling he preferred…fast paced, high risk, daredevil. My dad would call them glorified acrobats and spot monkeys.”
“Did you and Matthew stay in touch after he left the school?”
“Of course.” Glory nods her head. “Like I said, Matty kept me grounded in reality. He helped to keep me relaxed and would always remind me how to have fun. See, that’s another good lesson I had learned, not from my father but from Matty. You can’t let this business become your whole life. You have to try and relax and have some fun every now and then.” Glory grins from ear to ear. “Matty and I would have a blast singing karaoke after wrestling shows and he was always quite the prankster.”
“I thought you were the prankster?”
“Where do you think I learned all my good pranks?” Glory says with a knowing smirk. “I still use them to this day.”
“Really?”
“Yep.” Glory nods her head. “In fact, not too long ago there was this referee…name was Charles…he fast counted me, fast counted a friend of mine, so I decided to make the bloke pay. Tricked him into eating one of my famous laxative laced muffins.”
“The same ones Amelia tries to imitate?” Fiona asks rolling her eyes. Glory laughs.
“The same! Charles had to make an early exit of his match as a result…poor sap…” Glory sighs deeply “...without Matty there to keep me grounded, I would be a different person.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well you tell me, what do you think of Sophie?”
“Uh, I dunno, what does that have to do with anything?”
“Just answer the question kiddo.” Glory insists. “I promise not tell her.”
“Well, she is ruthless…downright mean…I’m not sure she even feels anything, like emotions or stuff.”
Braddock nods her head. “You’re right, and see, Sophie is my best friend but she is also a cold hearted sociopath. The fact is, I would have ended up just as cold, heartless, and emotionless as Sophie had it not been for Matthew keeping me grounded in reality.”
“It seems like you and Matthew were close.”
“We were.” Glory nods her head. “He was my first love…unofficially that is…”
“Huh?”
Glory sighs. “We both had strong feelings for one another. He loved me, and I loved him, but we were both too afraid to say anything. So we just remained very close friends.”
Glory looks off in the distance, almost as if she is thinking about her relationship with Matthew, and thinking about what could have been. Fiona breaks her thought process with a tap on the shoulder. She turns to face Fiona. “Do you regret any of it?”
“No…” Glory says, shaking her head “...because I am married to Kurt, the love of my life, and he cares for me deeply. And had I pursued a relationship with Matt, I would not have my daughter, Dawn Aphrodite Logan.”
“You mean the one who loves Holly Adams?”
“Yeah, that one.” Glory chuckles. “But that’s ok, we can fix that in due time. Speaking of fixing things, we need to continue your training.” Glory claps her hands. “So get up and get back in the ring, maggot! Let’s move!”
“Maggot?”
“Sorry, old habits from my father die hard.” Braddock winks. She leans over and embraces Fiona for a moment. The hug is broken and then Fiona steps back into the ring. Glory follows suit and the sparring session continues anew.