Seasons come and go, but I'll never change.For how could I? I do not want to, and sadly if I am able to I profusely apologize because change hurts and I am not down for experiencing pain only inflicting it. You see me. You know me, so who am I to honestly think that I could change that perspective? So many questions and so little answers and so I had foolishly thought that I could, even more so stupidly danced along the lines that it might be done step by step and then the cold and hard but calming winds of truth wrapped themselves around me gently and flowed through my beard so smoothly enough that it tickled me and I realized that the idea of change was nothing but pure
madness. I love who I am, I adore the man who stares me back when I look in the mirror and I appreciate consistency, because consistency is the treetop neighbor of planning and though plans change at the drop of a hat, consistency finds itself sticking through and unwavering.
Consistency is also like anything that could be considered a fiber because in one of it's many chameleon forms it is about being regular and steady. It's a good shit after you have eaten too much and your body has been kind to you by relieving itself without much cause of bloat and indigestion and the older that you become the more of it, just like a diet consist of fiber that your life finds it needs more consistency. So it is with pleasure, grit, and determination that I bring to you, the most excessive example of lack of consistency I have ran across in the most recent of months. A tournament. Said tournament is the same tournament that yes I am in, and yes I am still telling you that this tournament contains inconsistencies, ones that I can not go into detail about but from first glance I can see them but let us not jump to conclusions for tournaments also all come down to one thing, luck. Well, Mr. Newton it is with much venomous seething that I say good luck, but even if you advance past me, big deal you do not have, nor are you made up of such a consistency that you will get to the end. With that in mind I find that I should do the entire bracket and yourself a favor and end your hope right out the gate. No need to thank me, it's simply to alleviate you of those hopes and dreams; the ones where you see yourself as the next International Champion. Never buy into the hype of hopes and dreams kids, it's nothing but glittery, scented, mischief simply disguising itself as good until you are so close it turns around and bites you in your ass, without even so much as a lick before hand for good measure.
The mid afternoon's temperature had hit a nice, southern high of seventy seven and the sun had decided to stop playing hide and seek behind the clouds as he sat, cross legged in the chair. The only good thing about remaining consistent was that eventually your issues would spill to the surface and you would begin therapy and while said therapy would have originally ended in 2020, the whole world fucked itself unknowingly and you'd have to still come now a total of three years later. At least your therapist was hot, but his mind could not even focus on that because of his match. If there was one of very few things that would shift him to concentrate on anything but his feelings it was therapy for sure. Still her voice was as soft as a songbirds when she spoke.
CHAPTER 01: Consistency and Fiber Are The Beginnings of Any Good Formula
"So I see here it says Maverick now, instead of Mavis?" He hated how she was posing it as a question. Maverick was his given name and yes he hated it but it was a crucial part of his identity so he nodded but his mind was on auto pilot when it came to these sessions. A simple nod, a simple I am working on it and he would be out of here and on his way where his mind could turn to what mattered. Clyde. For fucks sake he had never wanted his name to be Bonnie so bad, but he faulted his parents for that. "Did you hear what I asked Maverick?" she said as she stared at him."Not really," he said. "I am just assuming that now since I am here it will be the usual for us. I do not come here to talk about anything other than my reality tv show addiction that got replaced by a social media addiction. Everything else we agreed to keep off limits," he said as he leaned back in the chair. She nodded as she turned the pages in his file, which was pretty thick. Hell Rome was not built in a day, and Maverick sure the hell was not going to be fixed with just one session after such a gap in between anyhow. Clyde clearly had the advantage was the only thought that danced around in his head as his therapist once again began to speak, her words clearly being drowned out by his thoughts. Still starting out with an advantage meant nothing in a tournament set up, for what were underdogs created for if not to come out with shock and surprise, as Maverick was pulled out of his thoughts by the whack on his head with his file folder. "Shit," he said as he rubbed his hair. "Don't fuck up my curls, I'm listening."
"Clyde Newton?" she said as the sliver of annoyance was becoming clear as crystal. "You should know that since you have your alerts set up as you do and I am your therapist I get alerts about your work activities. Just a side benefit of you plugging that I.I.W. tag to your name for the benefit of that shelter." She seemed proud of herself almost as if she had struck gold and yet Maverick found it truly invasive. He'd need a new therapist immediately though they were not as easy to come by when you had a file as thick as is. A lot of them turned him down immediately, said they did not want to deal with the "1st world nepotism baby" who did not know how to deal with the real, deep, life changing problems. He straightened himself up and thought about it."Clyde has been supposedly impressive and him and I are on the next mayhem cycle. It's a tournament match which we have already discussed at arms length before how much I hate those, because a lot of it is luck and luck is just made up madness. I am training for it and I will deliver a hell of a match on my end and all I can hope for is that Clyde does the same. I personally plan to put him out of the tournament first round, but a sensible person realizes that he could do the same to me. You see there is what I can a pot of gold in the form of a championship at the end of this tournament. That means nothing to me for I already have my own pot of gold in the form of a key." It could not be ignored, though Maverick was trying to bury it every chance he got until he decided when he wanted to cash in. Too soon at the moment, because Keys 2 Success had opened up so many endorsements, he had to be even more out there on the socials than he already was. "I have nothing to gain from this tournament, a fact I realized upon entering it but I do have everything to prove to myself." Yes there were many others in the tournament and yes one of them at the end of it would be able to call themself a champion, but what would it prove?
"I am not a man who it is hard to figure out. I like to cook, talk a lot of shit on social media, wrestle and do music. Anyone who comes up against me knows exactly what to expect." The unexpected of course because he was not shackled down by what everyone else thought. It truly was a roulette of what if and honestly he felt as if Newton knew this, almost as if he recognized it which only made Maverick more comfortable. No way did he want someone who would just look at him and think that the task before them would be easy? Bitch this is not Mario, nope we are moving up to higher levels. Harder levels where what you want to achieve in order to go on to what you want to accomplish is going to take more attention than simply pressing some button combos you memorized off of some pdf. Still once again she interrupted his thoughts. Yes he was starting to hate that but he still remained seated for at the rate she was being paid he was the only one that would lose out if he left.
At first she listened and then she shook her head but her hand was flying as the pages flipped and she was writing. That did cause him to slightly unsettle because what could she have to write so much about that they had not already put in his file. He was not crazy and he thought that he barely tip toed in the different world of eccentric at least for the moment. "All solid points. A person with something to prove never finds themselves restless which is good, but the frog Maverick. We need to discuss the frog and how exactly it pertains to Mr. Newton. You see it is true that the frog symbolizes many things however from what little information I could find out about Mr. Newton without straight invading his privacy, I have not been able to connect the dots."Oh she was good, but not good enough. "I do not think that I ever called Clyde a frog but I see what you tried there. That frog?, it's not time for that yet. See look at you trying to jump from lily pad to lily pad and skip over the current. Tsk, tsk and you call yourself a therapist," he said as he took a second to look up at the curls from his hair that dangled now in front of his face. He would sadly need a haircut soon, but the beard could stay. "That is not very professional." At all! Still he supposed he could understand it, people always generally wanted the outcome as fast as possible, no one in this society wanted to work towards anything and he was just about to answer her when his phone let out the annoying notification alert. "Oh crap," he said as he looked at her. "Tell you what, something a little more important just came up, you continue to think about that otherwise illusive frog and I will check in again sooner rather than later."
"Do not leave!" she said but he was gone, like a leaf in the wind as he swished past the people, only stopping for the cars that halted him at the curb, as his shirt breezed up against him and he cussed. "Damn it Clyde, why is it that you are trying to stop me from getting to my destination? I do not believe that you could stop me, after all darling don't you love my flair and my frivolous how to?"
You see when he found out who it was that he would be going up against, he smiled. It was not a smile of happiness or content but more so the type of respect he supposed, for how could you not have a little of that spritzed along the edges of the course of this particular feast between the two of them but no that is not the way with this particular match for he, the hostess Maverick had too many courses last time, and Clyde deserved better as Maverick now swished across the street, stopping for a second only to do a little two step and a spin for the people that were now watching. Clyde deserved a small glimpse into..well he did not want to say his world because the truth was that he still did not quite know what that was, but he did deserve more than anyone else so far deserved, the only exception so far being Max Stone along the way and that was just what Clyde was going to get.
The one thing that Maverick thought him and Clyde had in common was simple. Men who seen what they wanted and went after it truly by any means necessary. Everything else about them Maverick personally viewed as different but it did not mean bad, it simple needed to lay in the pile of stuff that did not matter. As he finally got across the street he turned into the store and spoke. "Sorry that I am late, I often find myself inside of my own head but I am ready now and these are for you," he said as he pulled inside of his pocket and pulled out the neatly wrapped tights. It was customary when you came here that you brought a gift and he had noticed that the young lady from their session last time needed them badly, even if it had cost Beckett in the end, he knew that she'd be okay. "I will be waiting when she is ready."
He walked behind the curtain and positioned himself in the chair. The sense of thrall he felt while waiting was the one reason he made sure to come here in the day time and not the night. If you came in at night you got looks and he never cared about those but now that more and more people were starting to once again recognize him, he still skated carefully of what time it was when he did his activities as he heard the click as the lights dimmed, drawing his attention as he now sat up straight. "You see Clyde," he whispered quietly because he did not want to be rude to the woman who had stepped out into the small lit area. "I wanted to be in a place that calmed every fiber of my being so that I would not lose focus on our match. The disrespect that would bring to you is not needed and that place is here."
The soft melody of music began to play as another woman came out, the view now allowing us to see that the women were ballerinas and they were waiting on another as the young lady, aged about ten stepped out and smiled and waved as she spoke. "You came," she said more surprised than anything as she looked at Maverick. "Kid you're going to kill my reputation, but yes I came to watch your recital. Ballet is one of the few in my opinion overlooked forms of art, just like I feel my match with Clyde will be. No one expects either of us to do well but I think that just like you are going to do, we will steal the show. It's all an art of not capturing their attention but keeping it and luckily for Clyde, he's matched up against me first round."
"Well good for him," she said as she turned and gave him a backwards thumbs up. Fuck these kids but he did have a bit of a soft spot for them, for his foundation needed him to make appearances. "See you out there, we can not go on until you introduce us." He nodded. He would give them a few more minutes to get everything together as he took a second to catch his own. For all the talking that he did and loved ever so much, public speaking had never been the thing that thrilled him. Perhaps it was because he could feel their eyes but he stepped out anyway to the sounds of applause now on the stage and took a bow.
"This recital is being sponsored by Maverick Tatum Enterprises to benefit the youthful children. Once you are all done here you should make sure you catch my match on Mayhem against Newton," he said as he exited and took his seat now in the audience so that the show could start. The truth was that he could use this time to pull his focus into a clear, and crisp as an apple vision as he felt his phone vibrate and he sighed as he answered it. "This better be important." His focus slowly shifted shown by the look on his face. "Yeah I will drop in," he said as he watched the kids take over the stage. They were so proud of what they knew that they could do, so proud of what they knew laid in store and he knew that feeling all too well as he thought back to his phone call. "Seems I have to go home Clyde," he whispered. "Do not worry though, it's not going to stop what I have in store for you, it's only a small detour."
He did not want to detour but he had to. It was always those almost, maybes that got to him. For he could maybe go home, and almost be a different person when he returned but nah he was still going to be the same young, cocky, social media guru asshole everyone loved. Well, almost everyone and as for Clyde, he only had one piece of advice. "Be consistent in your training for it's the only way you might find yourself able to defeat me in our match."
END