Post by Tara on Dec 6, 2021 19:34:36 GMT -5
May 1998
Anchorage, AK
UNDERESTIMATED.
We had been training now for a little over two months. Bill had us running the ropes every chance that we had, or learning how to take a bump to prevent us from sustaining an injury; he had us inside of the ring with the rest of the students, most of them being boys, that were much larger than us; Saul was big for his size, so he was almost at their level, but he still had some growing to do. On the other hand, I knew that there was no way I would have a sudden growth spurt to be their size, but that’s okay… There was something about being the underdog.
I was sitting outside of the ring to take a breather, still wearing my training gear, with my book in my lap, and thumbing through some of the pages. I couldn’t keep my eyes off the phoenix, and was always reading more and more into it. Out of the ashes. Out of my ashes. The thought that I could rise up for what had brought me down was still inspiring to me. “Tara!” I heard my name as if I were underwater, but the second time it was called, it became clear. “Tara!” The voice called a second time and I was looking up to see one of the other students calling down to me. Blair. He was just about to turn nineteen, and from what I gathered, he started in the school right at the age of eighteen.
I raised my eyebrows, and blinked a few times to get myself out of the zone I had slipped into, “Yes?” I asked him and I could see him sit on the middle rope to hold it open in an inviting fashion.
“Spar with me.” He said.
I set my book down on the bench and stood up; I went over to the steps to walk up onto the apron before finally entering the ring where he had the ropes held and before we could even be set, he charged! I could hear him screaming something as he ran at me-- “Clothesline!” --is what he called out, and I went for an instinctive duck, but then he switched it up and forced me to clinch with him while pushing me back against the ropes. “Why don’t you just give this up? You can be my manager.” He grunted at me before sending me off with an Irish-whip; I bounced off the far ropes…
“Clothesline!” I called out. It was something Bill wanted us to be in the habit of doing while training; let the students know what to anticipate until he felt we were comfortable enough to go without the warnings and rather feel what the other was going to do… But this time, Blair stiffed me; he hit me with a shoulder block that knocked me onto my back, then knelt down to grab my hair; he was being a bit more aggressive when I felt a jolt run through my body.
“This isn’t for you--” He muttered, and hit me with an elbow; it hit me rather hard and I felt the wind get knocked out of me. Everything was starting to blur around me, but I could still make out a few things; Bill was looking on with concern… and a puzzled look. Saul looked like he was about to charge into the ring, but William, another student, had held him back for a moment while Bill was still analyzing everything… “Just quit!” He said it louder this time where a few of the students nearby could hear him.
He took my arm harder this time, and looked like he may go for an arm wrench to cause serious damage; I shook my head and began to see things more and more clearly… I took another glance of the room and saw Bill now walking toward us, and could see his mouth moving, but I couldn’t hear him; I jerked him forward and was able to trip him with a scissor leg sweep, and before he could respond, get him into a heel hook; I applied the pressure rather quickly and could feel him squirming in my hold.
Despite my smaller stature, and him definitely being physically stronger than him, it was in the technique; I had it locked in and could break his leg at the knee… I could hear him starting to cry out, “Let go! Let go! P-p-p-please!” He said with a few grunts; I was ready to snap him when Bill finally got to ringside.
“Tara! Tara, let go! You got him! You got him!” Bill was insisting. I took a deep breath before finally letting go, and Blair began crawling toward the ring apron; Bill did help him stand up and he limped his way toward the bench… His face was pure red; I knew what he felt. I’ve felt it before: shame. I laid on the mat for a moment longer before everything began coming fully back into focus… Bill was already letting out a hearty laugh over the situation; he knew that Blair had instigated, but he wasn’t going to make matters worse since I was able to fend him off. He did, however, throw out the warning for me. “That is not the girl you want to mess with, fellas,” He said while still laughing, and clapping his hands together while pointing at me, “Don’t underestimate her because of her size. She is the real deal.”
CHOKE ARTIST?
“There are some people that will never hear their true calling in this world, but I… have found mine,” Tara said.
She is leaning against a chain link fence, and her hands reached at her waist level and interlocked with the fence. She has her head cocked to the side, and she wore that traditional smirk on her lips. She smacked her lips together, and cocked her head toward her other shoulder, and ran her tongue along her lips before finally resuming.
“There are many, many, many people in this business that believe they were born as some sort of prodigy. People that believe that they are in a league on their own, but very few that ever actually are.” She takes a momentary pause and snickers while looking just straight ahead, “Arata; you are one of those people… And you’re not the type of person that I’m going to dismiss because there is a certain truth to it. You’re good!” Tara clicked her tongue a few times, and chuckled under her breath, “You...are...good. That’s not something that I am going to try to deny about you; that’s not something that I am going to try to take away from you! I’ll even go on record to admit that I once said you are one of the few people in this industry that I might actually be concerned about stepping into the ring with…”
Tara scrunched up her face to give off the expression as if she were in deep thought; she rolled her eyes upward and tapped her finger against her chin a few times before finally holding the pose and after some time to contemplate: she shrugged.
“That was then--” Tara continued with a more arrogant tone, “--but this is now! If you had fought me just a couple of weeks prior, you probably would have had the Tara that would be here and showing you the utmost amount of respect, and telling you how I am going to earn yours, but now--” Tara pursed her lips together and shook her head, “--I really don’t give a flying fuck. I accept that you are gifted; I accept that you are exceptionally good, but now? Let me make myself clear to you…” Tara held her arms out, “I’m better.” She exclaimed quite boldly.
“Once upon a time, I was concerned with stepping into the ring with you because only a fool would not be able to recognize the talent that you possess, but as I go forward each day, I can’t help but see that it becomes more and more clear to me that the people I step into the ring with… just aren’t on my level, and that, again, is not to take anything away from them! It’s just to say that when they get into the ring with me: they make mistakes. I make them pay for those mistakes. I make them dread those mistakes. I will make sure that every single mistake that you make inside of the ring comes back around to bite you!” She said while gritting her teeth, and letting a brief chuckle escape.
“That’s been your biggest issue here, hasn’t it? You choke. You make mistakes. None of that seems to alleviate some of that ego that you carry; that ego that you can’t seem to back up because you’ve now barked so many times about how you were going to become the Grand Champion, but when you went into that rumble, you choked, didn’t you? You’ve been after Ozymandias as long as I have, and sure, you’ve fought him quite a few times, but how many times have you beaten him? Hmm?” Tara raises a hand up with her fingers closed into the shape of a “0”.
“You couldn’t beat him on Proving Ground… You had to weasel your way into receiving a shot at the Grand Championship at Clash for the Cup, in which case: you again could not defeat him. Then you go into some ridiculous Mall Mayhem--” Tara looked visibly confused by the thought of the match, “--match to somehow get another shot at the Grand Championship… Do you want to know what you do at the mall?” Tara pushed off from her heel and took a couple steps forward whilst rubbing her hands together; once close enough, she leaned toward the camera and tilted her head back and forth a few times. “Huh? Do you want to know what you do at a mall?” There is another brief silence as she waits for the answer, “You shop!” Tara blurted out.
“We wrestle! I am not here to play scavenger hunts! I am not here to make friends. I am here for one purpose, and one purpose alone; that purpose is to be recognized as the best… That means that if I have to march through you just to show you that you don’t belong in the ring with Ozymandias, then that’s exactly what I’m going to do, but if you want the truth about that? I don’t think I’m going to have to try all that hard to ensure that happens. Because knowing your history, Arata, you are just going to choke. Talk all that talk, whether you want to do it on Twitter, whether you want to ask me for my home address and do it to my face; I really don’t care! Continue talking, because when Proving Ground comes and goes, people are going to mark my words, and you… are going to choke.”
October 2007
Tokyo, Japan
“GAIJIN.”
“I’ve been doing this for a while--” Tara had said aloud to all of the students; she was a seven-year veteran and already had more experience and knowledge than some of the people that had been in the business for twice as long. While the vast majority of them had remained silent during her speech, there were some of the students that murmured amongst themselves which earned a scowl from Masaru, but he still remained tact, “--and I’ve traveled around this world several times. I have held every championship of every company that I have been signed with, and I have earned every ounce of respect that I am given.” Tara’s voice had a commanding tone to it, while Akame stood beside her and translated for her.
“As you can tell: I am much smaller--” Tara said with a chuckle under her voice, “--than the average wrestler, and where I come from, this is just the norm. I have to be faster. I have to have more finesse. I have to keep my wits. I know that if you learn from me, then there will be doubt in anyone that you belong inside of the ring!” Tara said with full confidence; however, the murmuring in the back seemed to be becoming too much of a distraction where she finally raised her voice against the culprits, “Is there something you would like to say?” Her eyes darted to each student and zeroed in on the few of them that were still talking amongst themselves. When they felt her eyes fall on them, they burst into a laugh, but there was nothing amusing about it by either Tara nor Masaru.
It took a couple of seconds of them still murmuring and laughing amongst themselves before one with his arms crossed over his chest raised his head high. “(Why should we listen to you?)” he asked in Japanese, causing Tara to have to look at Akame.
“They are asking why they should listen to you.” Akame said in a rather soft tone; she was trembling for a moment by her own anger that had built up inside of her, but she had resisted the urge of telling the students off herself and opted to let Tara handle it.
“Gaijin.” The same boy said in a condescending tone that could not be masked, and snickered; had Masaru not been standing nearby, he probably would have spat at Tara’s feet.
Masaru’s eyes twitched as he glared at the boy who let that word escape his lips, but he still kept his composure… His attention had turned back to Tara as if to see how she would respond, and she smirked and let out a chuckle under her breath while giving her response; with a gesturing wave, the students backed away from the one student including the ones he thought would have his back since they had shared in the commotion.
“Gaijin,” Tara muttered, “I know what it means: it means outsider. It is a term that is widely used when you do not think that we belong. I’ve heard this term several times, in fact, back in the States from a few other Japanese stars that thought they were somehow… above… the rest of us, and there were some that learned relatively quickly that I was not the person to trifle with, but there were some that stood their ground, and do you want to know what happened to them?” Tara, now standing no more than three meters from the student; she gestured for him to attack, but he was hesitant. Masaru shouted for him to oblige, and then he snarled at Tara before charging forward for a wild strike! Tara was easily able to take his arm and drag him to the ground before getting into a seated inverted armbar as the student began crying out in agony. Tara was mindful, and careful not to do any serious damage to the student but it was clear that the term gaijin was not one that she took too kindly to.
“Tonton!” Tara called out to the student who was doing his best to resist. She raised her eyes up to Masaru who gave her a subtle nod, before she jerked her attention back to the attention of the student and applied further pressure while gritting her teeth; the murmuring of the students began to seem to be begging for her to stop…
“Tara!” Akame called out, but Tara didn’t flinch.
“Tonton!” Tara called out a second time, and gradually increased the pressure until the student finally tapped against the mat; Tara released the hold without further incident as some of the students helped the one back to his feet. She took another gander at Masaru who had given another nod of approval for the method that she had used for the disrespect that was shown to her. Tara took the student’s arm to check it out for herself, and ensure that there was no serious damage, and she was quickly satisfied; the student began shaking his arm while still grunting in pain, and Tara took a step away from them as they began falling back in line, “You do not have to like me, but you will respect me. Is that clear?” Tara asked whilst Akame translated.
There was no more murmuring from any of the students during this time; they merely nodded their heads as Tara took her place back at the front of them. She folded her hands behind her back and turned her head back and forth slowly as if to scan each one of them; she looked for any indication that any of them may step out of line but there were none willing to do so now.
THE OUTSIDER
Tara snickered after she had finished her previous comments, and licked her lips. She tilted her head back before resuming, “It’s no mystery that you think less of people that are different from you, Arata. You are under the impression that we do not belong in the ring with the likes of you, and y’know something? That’s fine.” Tara said with a partial shrug. “That’s absolutely fine with me because since I first stepped foot in the ring, I’ve had people looking down on me… And they looked down on me because: I was different. I was different because--” Tara stretched her arms out as if to put herself out on display, “--I’m a girl!” She placed her hands to her cheeks to feign a shocked expression.
“There was my trainer, my head trainer that believed in me from day one… But--” Tara snickered, “--he couldn’t get everybody to be on board with the idea that a girl could do the same things as them. He couldn’t get them to grasp the concept that despite my differences, I was better than them. I was better skilled than them. They wanted me to sit on the sidelines. They wanted me to be a manager, but not him--” Tara said while shaking her head, “--not him. He knew that I was it. He knew that I could compete against the toughest competition in this industry, and he knew that I could be the best that this industry had ever seen…”
She couldn’t help but take a moment to herself; a moment to think about everything that she has accomplished by becoming an XHF Hall of Famer, to being recognized as one of the greatest that the industry had to offer; she was now thirty-seven-years old, but her age had only made her better… Stronger. Faster. To ascending to the top of the IWF; to proving herself as a future to watch in Project: Honor. Ever since she had come to Project: Honor, there was only one true loss that she felt was at her hands… Other than that, she had proven herself as a dominant.
“And that’s much… like… you. You see these differences, and you immediately believe that you are already better. You believe that you’ve already won. You don’t believe that I have any business being in the ring with you. Please, Arata,” Tara pressed her hands together as if in prayer, “Please underestimate me! Please count me out! Please take me lightly! It just makes it that much sweeter when I get to watch you tumble… And it becomes that much sweeter when you have to admit to the world that you--” she tilts her head to the side, “--were defeated--” and then to the other side, “--by a wee little gaijin.” and she finished the statement with a chuckle under her breath.
December 08, 2021
Hartford, CT
STRONG.
Angel and Tara reminisce about what had brought them together in the first place; being the alphas. Reminder of who and what they are as opposed to everyone else.
The phoenix has been a symbol long associated with Tara Fenix throughout her twenty-one-year career in the professional wrestling industry. The symbol had represented her just as well outside of the ring as it has within it: things die, and things are reborn. Love dies, and love is reborn.
Tara was lying on the bed with her curled hair being an absolute mess; she reached her hands up and pulled her hair behind her shoulders. Her face was fully flushed while she was heaving for air but eyes lingered on the man that was lying against her breast as she gently stroked his hair. He, too, was trying to catch his breath but was sporting a smile on his face that had long since been unfamiliar… Since Tara announced her return to the ring, and swore that she would have vengeance against the man that caused her so much pain, and so much grief, he had found it hard to smile. The irony in all of it was that now, here he lied, against the woman that was once his wife.
“We need to tell them if this is going to keep happening…” Tara muttered while twirling Angel’s hair around her finger.
“I know.” Angel answered. “We will. When the time is right.”
Tara let out a sigh while retaining her gaze on him, and noticed he had closed his eyes; he was not asleep but in a rare showing, appeared to feel secure. Safe.
“Do you remember how it all started…?” Tara asked while lying her head back down.
Without moving, Angel answered back with a question of his own, “How what started?”
“Us.” Tara answered, and there were merely seconds of silence before Tara continued, “What made us fall for each other…”
Angel chuckled under his breath, and took a deep breath before finally answering, “I could not begin to tell you why you fell for me, but… I can tell you what drew me in. It was that brutality.” Angel answered, then let out a content sigh as if the answer would be satisfactory. However, Tara anticipated his continuation only to be disappointed. She gave him a light smack, intended to be nothing more than playful; the reaction forced Angel to give an instinctive chuckle. “You were strong. You were rebellious. You were passionate.”
Tara couldn’t help but blush over the kind words that Angel had said. She could recall the days that Angel and Tara, before they were ever in a relationship, took control of the companies that they had signed together with. The XHF, and nCw, that would later become IWF. The two clicked; inside of the ring, and outside of the ring.
“How do you think I’ll do against Arata…?” Tara asked.
Angel feigned a moment to ponder the outcome of the match, which earned him another smack. “You are going to win. Without a doubt.” Angel finally answered.
“That’s the right answer…” Tara said with a smile, but then it just occurred to her. “What do you mean were?” Tara asked in an inquisitive tone.
“Fine,” Angel said while rolling onto his side and adjusting so that he was facing Tara. “You are strong,” he said and kissed her one time on the lips, “You are rebellious,” he said and gave her a second kiss, “And you are passionate…” This time when their lips met, they were locked together; Tara took both of his hands with her own in a way so as not to let him go and then just then.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
“Mommy?” Edward’s voice called out, and Tara laid her head down… The look on her face had the perfect timing written all over it.
“Yes, Baby?” Tara finally called out.
Angel mouthed the question to Tara: “Is it my turn to hide?” As it was a mirror reaction from their last encounter, except this time it was in her home… Tara shook her head. Edward, their son, did not know that the two of them were seeing each other again and they had opted not to tell him just yet; the only person who had knowledge of their ongoing relationship was Dean Harper, Angel’s oldest son, and Tara’s stepson. The secret was safe with him.
“I’m hungry!” Edward said.
“Mmmm…” Tara grumbled briefly while pulling her phone up to glance at the time; it was time for breakfast, “I’m coming.” Tara finally said as Angel rolled over to lay beside her. While Tara was sitting up, she reached to the edge of the bed where she had a Tampa Bay Buccaneers Gronkowski jersey, which she slipped on before anything else, and finally a pair of shorts. “Do you want waffles?” Tara called out again, but she reached a hand to Angel’s cheek and caressed it momentarily; he took her hand with his and kissed each one of her knuckles before she finally stood up and pulled her hair back, wrapping it up with a hair tie. She only creaked the door open being sure that Edward couldn’t peer inside and closed the door behind her.
GRAND…
“My mind is set, Arata… My mind is set on facing Ozymandias for the Grand Championship, but I’ve already said it, and I’m going to go ahead and say it again: you are not a bad runner-up.” Tara said while shrugging one shoulder and cocking her head in the same direction, “I want to defeat the best person that Project: Honor has to offer, and as many people would like to say that’s Syndicate because he’s the Legacy Champion--” Tara snickered, “--far from it. As much as people would love to say Elena DeDraca because she is the only two-time Legacy Champion,” Tara clicked her tongue and shook her head, “The best competitor that Project: Honor has to offer…” Besides me, Tara thought to herself, “…is Ozymandias.”
Tara pressed her hands together and began to rub her palms together, “As much as I want to fight the best… I think there’s a part of me that would take pleasure in putting you in your place. There’s a part of me that would love to lock in the The Phoenix Triangle and watch you choke; watch that confidence diminish while you come to the realization that you cannot beat me. When you come to the realization that I am simply: better than you. When you come to the realization that, as good as you are, there is a key difference between us: I don’t choke. It’s going to be poetic justice, isn’t it?” Tara licked her lips.
“There has been this part of me that has wanted to walk up to Indy Darling and tell him that I want to cash in my title shot on that night… I would love to turn your singles match into a triple threat match, but--” Tara clicked her tongue a few times again and gave a subtle shake of her head, “--I’m not going to do that. I want to see if you can do what you’ve yet to be able to do, no matter how many times you’ve tried. I want to see if you can finally take the Grand Championship away from Ozymandias! Let’s say this lightning strikes, okay?” Tara said with a smile, and hunched forward all while looking into the camera, “Then, I’m going to give you some time to cherish it… I’m going to give you some time to hold it… I’m going to give you some time to think that you are unstoppable! But… look over your shoulder. Why? Because Proving Ground is coming up, and we are going to have this encounter. This Friday, at Proving Ground, you are going to know one thing: I have your number. You are going to know that I can beat you… anytime… anywhere… I am going to have your number. Do you understand?” Tara smiled again and nodded her head a few times.
“This Friday, you find out what the Age of the Phoenix is all about. This Friday, Arata… You learn to never… talk down to me. Smooches, darling.” Tara blows a kiss to the camera.
END.
