Thursday 12th May 2011
August Joyce stands outside the Beresford Apartments in Vancouver, the building he has lived in since he was a small boy. There is a brisk wind blowing, enough to drop the temperature to the stages that August is having to wear his trademark long brown coat.
“Making my Peach State Wrestling debut; A fabulously tasty batch of cookies baked by Dixie Leigh; Dominating the beast that is Kimba Seanoa; Being gifted tickets to WrestleBowl; A one word compliment from Mr Batee; A kick to the nuts from John Empires; Going straight in at number 3 in the PSW rankings; Being named PSW’s Wrestler of the Month… Truth be told it’s hard to pick out my favourite moment of this past weekend.”
August smiles into the camera. He’s obviously happy with his debut for Peach State. It may have only been one night but it had been enough to allay any fears that he had about making the move to Fayetteville. Right now August Joyce was confident he had made the right choice, that Peach State was going to be the perfect place for his own career rehabilitation.
“You could say I had a busy weekend. But then, when I’m checking out what Jaxson wrote online, I see he compared me with Han Solo? Joyce laughs. “The important question is, which Han Solo? The original bad-ass, rogue, smuggling son of a bitch who shoots first? Or the re-release idiot who lets Greedo try to kill him? Or the 2004 special edition Solo who shoots at the exact same time?”
He chuckles to himself as he shakes his head.
“You know what, maybe I should just cut the Star Wars references. At least after I address the Empire….s. John, you say your kick to my gonads wasn’t personal? That is was fun? You have a warped sense of fun, my friend. I don’t know what you had against Kimba, if anything, maybe that was just for kicks too? And, what with a lethal lottery and the luck of the draw, I could be pulled out of the hat to team up with you at June Jam.”
“June Jam will be an interesting night. Everybody loves a lethal lottery, right? With so many people in Peach State at each others throats I just know there’s going to be chaos when that draw is made down in Fayetteville tonight. Part of me is hoping to be teamed with Dixie… so that I can get some more of those awesome cookies she made. But the other part is telling me that sods law dictates John Empires will be in my corner.”
“But whichever of the other seven PSW stars gets drawn as my partner I’m confident that we’ll go far in the tournament. At least as far as the semi finals!“
Joyce winks into the camera and flashes a cheeky smile
——————————-
Later that Night
Joyce is sat in his apartment, laying on his couch with his laptop on his stomach. He’s continually pressing the F5 key while rubbing his chin with his other hand. In the background a large television set is hanging on the wall, the voice of Nigel Lythgoe can be heard quietly behind the sound of tapping laptop buttons.
“What the hell are you doing?”
Augusts wife, Xanthe, enters the room with a confused look on her face as she looks down at her husband.
“You’ll wear that key out if you keep that up much longer.” She says as she nudges him in the legs.
August sighs and sits up, making room for his wife to join him on the couch.
“They’re announcing the teams for June Jam tonight, the draw’s being done online, I keep refreshing the page to see what’s happening.”
“And?”
“Jared James got drawn first, just waiting on his partner.” August keeps tapping away. This time the page has new content. “Ooh…. Kidd Kaboom. Interesting team.”
“If you say so.” Xanthe has never been a fan of wrestling. August persuaded her to do some training a few years ago but she didn’t get on with it. The whole business remains a mystery to her.
“Kaboom’s the current champion, he’s worked hard to regain that strap. And JJ’s a little prick but he’s got talent. He’s doing well for himself over in SIMCOE too.”
“So you won’t want to face them then?” Xanthe asks, not really caring. She’s more focused on the TV than what her husband is saying.
“I’m all up for facing anyone. Seanoa was just the start, I intend on making a name for myself down in Fayetteville and doing well in this tournament will help me achieve that.”
“Ok.” She seems confused as she watches the TV. She looks across the room where August’s long time friend, Benjamin Doi, is sat watching the TV in silence. “Ben… are you seriously watching this?”
Doi snaps out of his gaze. “What? You don’t like So You Think You Can Dance?”
Joyce hasn’t hit F5 in a while and this time there’s two new updates for him to digest.
“Oh, here we go…” He reads closely at what the PSW website says.
“You up?” Doi says, finally turning his gaze away from the television.
Joyce nods as he reads. “Yea, with Jace Parker Davidson.”
“Another interesting team.” Doi’s interest is now firmly on August. “You think you two can work together?”
“I don’t see why not.” Joyce responds. “I mean, he’s a do whatever it takes type. That will work to our advantage.”
“You mean you’re going to ride on his coattails to success?” Xanthe chimes in.
“That’s not what I meant. We’ll go into this match as partners, as equals. But we’re also different. I don’t see why this partnership can’t benefit the both of us, help us both reach our goal. Going down in history as the first ever Peach State Tag-Team Champions.”
BEEP BEEP
August is stopped in his tracks by his cell phone, beeping loudly from his pocket. He sets the laptop down on the floor and pulls his phone out, checking the message.
MSG: Got your number from Cody. Need to talk. Call me. Jace.
————————–
Tuesday 1st June
August Joyce walks into a room, a locker room at Dixieland Fun Park. He’s been doing a meet and greet with some local school kids, part of promoting June Jam which is now less than a week away. As he delves into his bag looking for a snack there’s the sound of footsteps behind him. He turns around to be met by Jace Parker Davidson, the man who will be his partner at June Jam.
“Jace, hey, didn’t realise you were here. You don’t strike me as the type to get involved in gigs like this.”
“I’m not here for the kids. I came to talk to you about our match, more specifically our opponents.”
“Jared and Kidd? I thought we went over everything already?”
Jace nods. “We did. Then they went and replaced Jared.”
August looks confused and isn’t sure what to say for a moment. “Replaced him?”
“Yea. No-one’s really sure why. I only found out myself when I was at the in-laws.”
“Such short notice, what washed up loser have they found to replace him?” August laughs.
“Jousma.” Jace replies, stopping August’s laugh in it’s tracks.
“Oh hell. Looks like you’re right then, we do need to talk.”
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