Banking on Chaos
Sept 18, 2018 3:10:44 GMT -5
Post by OrochiGeese on Sept 18, 2018 3:10:44 GMT -5
*We fade in to the office of the UBL owner, Arthur Wingate. Seated around his desk are Sergeant Drake Yoshida, NEXUS Champion Matt Rivers, and the Chief of UBL Security, Thunder Strike.*
[Arthur:] "It's been two months since Orochi Geese declared war on the roster and no one has said a word."
[Thunder:] "That's because everyone disagrees on whether or not he actually did so."
[Arthur:] "Then what would you say he did?"
[Thunder:] "It wasn't a declaration of war. I'm the only one in this room, and in this promotion, who has been the target and victim of an actual Geese war. This isn't it. Like you said - it's been two months since he said it all. Orochi Geese wouldn't wait two whole months to make good on his threats. He wouldn't wait until the Title match. Orochi Geese didn't always declare his threats before he carried them out. This isn't Orochi Geese we're dealing with. He may be dangerous in his own way though. At the minimum, he broke the spirit of half the roster and confused the other half."
[Arthur:] "Orochi Geese doesn't have to be the Orochi Geese of 2008 to still be Orochi Geese."
*Drake pushes a bottle of water over to Arthur, who smiles sarcastically and refuses it.*
[Arthur:] "Of course Orochi Geese would adapt beyond our old understanding of him. He often said that part of his chaos was the ability to evolve beyond the expectations of opponents."
[Matt:] "It's not a part of his chaos, it's a more fundamental belief of his. And he taught me to flow like water."
[Thunder:] "When did he teach you that?"
*Matt shoots Thunder a look of disbelief and frustration.*
[Matt:] "After you abducted and delivered me to him for training against Joachim."
[Thunder:] "I wasn't aware of the specifics."
[Matt:] "I suppose that ignorance alleviated your conscience."
[Thunder:] "What alleviated my conscience was you taking the title away from Destiny as I had planned."
[Drake:] "Ok, enough. Matt, what do you think Geese's intentions are here? You actually spent six months training and living with Geese after his retirement and may actually know him the most now out of any of us."
[Matt:] " I can't read his mind, but I worry about his message. Here's what I think. You don't let a serial bank robber walk into a bank and tell a bank teller that they would do a more efficient job if they lowered their guard while selling them on advances in the security of their bank made in reaction to past robberies. But I also think that you don't dismiss that message just because of who it's coming from or immediately assume that it was made with negative intentions."
*Arthur slides the bottle of water over to Matt, eliciting a bit of a laugh that breaks the tension.*
[Matt:] "Thank you, I actually needed that."
[Arthur:] "Flow like water, indeed."
[Drake:] "Do you trust Geese, Matt?"
[Matt:] "Trust that he means what he says? Yes. He's trying to be a good man now. I don't think he's consciously tricking anyone. I believe that the words he used reflect his current mindset and intentions."
[Drake:] "But subconsciously?"
[Matt:] "Look, people laughed at me for suddenly jumping into wrestling after being a career weatherman. Don't expect me to jump into psychology now too."
[Arthur:] "And that's the problem-"
*Matt looks confused*
[Arthur:] "No, no, not your career changes. The fact that we don't truly know what Geese actually wants on the most basic level. Even if he isn't actively lying, and I'll grant you that possibility, isn't there also the possibility that he's still subconsciously Orochi Geese? And isn't the chance of that too dangerous to ignore? Using his own language, what if that 'threshold' inside of his brain between current Geese and Orochi Geese is just too thin for us to risk being crossed?"
[Drake:] "What if he snaps?"
[Arthur:] "What if he already has and doesn't even know it!? What if he does know it and is playing us all for fools?"
[Matt:] "He never asked to come back. RYOMA challenged him. It wasn't Geese's fault that the reward for victory would be so high...or that the temptation to revert to his old ways could return along with it."
[Thunder:] "Fault or not, that may be in his nature. He was acclimating to a peaceful life on the farm because there was nothing tempting his worst impulses. There were no goals which needed violence to achieve. You put him in one match with a Championship on the line, with a renewed chance to elevate his legacy, and Pandora's Box may be re-opened."
[Arthur:] "Matt, in the cruelest trick of irony, you are the key to this. The man who holds the Championship that he seeks is the very man who can tell us how Geese was before this temptation appeared. Did he speak of thresholds when he trained you? Was he telling the truth that he considered them so paramount to his life? Here, I'll refresh your memory."
*Arthur briefly turns the TV on and we see the start of Geese's promo.*
[Arthur:] "Was this the language he spoke in when he trained you?"
*Matt takes a few seconds to think and then decides to take another long swig from the water bottle.*
[Matt:] "The language was the same but the tone was different. As much as he genuinely wanted me to defeat Joachim back then, he didn't speak with the same desperation in his voice as he did after he beat RYOMA."
[Drake:] "Desperation?"
[Matt:] "Yes, the desperation to make others believe what he wants us to."
[Arthur:] "There's a word for that, Matt. A word in his lexicon that we should all be wary of."
[Thunder:] "Propaganda."
[Arthur:] "Exactly."
[Thunder:] "But that's only assuming he doesn't believe it. If he does, is it truly propaganda?"
[Arthur:] "Does it matter if it isn't as long as it's dangerous?"
[Thunder:] "How is it dangerous?"
[Matt:] "Because not everyone has spent the past six years of their life honing the ability to find their threshold and understanding what happens when you regularly start to overshoot it."
[Arthur:] "And even Geese may not be successful at achieving that balance. The threshold he speaks of is the line between attacking your opponent with everything you have for noble intentions vs. injuring them for malicious goals. Winning a Championship is certainly a noble intention but has Geese not injured opponents before in that setting? Doesn't that line get blurred the more someone wants a prize? Forget reaching the threshold, first you must see it."
[Drake:] "In his defense, he didn't injure RYOMA. The two tore into each other and there was lingering soreness for weeks but nothing out of the ordinary or beyond what is acceptable in a match like that. Geese's title shot was already promised to him from the second he walked into that match. He could have done far worse to RYOMA to guarantee a victory but he didn't. I don't believe Geese is lying to us about his intentions. Geese Walker is no longer Orochi Geese. Thunder isn't the only one who knows Geese at his worst. I helped Geese when he was at his most maniacal point but I also saw him for what he was. The Geese he became after Jinchuu, the Geese he evolved into on the Walker farm, and the Geese that has returned bares no resemblance to Orochi Geese beyond his ability to get into other people's heads."
[Matt:] "I agree with that last statement which is why I am so concerned about the other bank patrons."
[Drake:] "What?"
[Matt:] "Maybe a truly reformed bank robber can have trust in their own self control and that enhanced bank security but what about the other ones that don't have the same self control even if they want to? If Geese gets right up to the point of injuring someone, I think he can pull back and mind that threshold line. But what about Yoshirozuna or Kurt Sanders or THRASH Ogawa? Do we allow them to get anywhere close to that line just because forcing them to pull their punches too much could limit their success? Can't they use Geese's words as an excuse to justify their own intentional violence in the future? How can we stop them if we don't stop Geese? What about JET Hamada who is clearly getting more frustrated and aggressive? Can he be expected to even legitimately search for that threshold now with the anger he is feeling?"
What Geese said made sense and it may even be the truth from his perspective, but it would have dangerous repercussions for everyone else in the UBL. Not everyone can accelerate themselves so quickly up to that line and then stop on a dime before crossing it. Even I have accidentally injured Charles Langford when executing my finisher in a more aggressive way than I had done before...and it was in a match with the NEXUS Title on the line."
[Arthur:] "So truthful or not, Geese's message is potentially just as dangerous as he is right now."
[Matt:] "Because it takes the kind of self-control and knowledge of one's own limits that most wrestlers simply don't have. It's not a bad message of intent because I believe he was trying to actually help everyone, in his own way. But it's a dangerous message because of what happens when people fail in their efforts to find that threshold."
[Drake:] "To Geese, it can be more dangerous to not even try. He said that the only thing worse than not succeeding in finding that threshold is to look at yourself in the mirror years later and realize your cowardice in not trying."
[Arthur:] "I completely disagree with that. The worst thing that can happen is injuring someone else to the point they can't walk anymore just because you went beyond your threshold and didn't know how to stop. And that is what I, as owner of this promotion, am the most concerned about. Maybe Geese knows his threshold, but what about everyone else? What happens if they try and fail? What happens to their own mentalities and the bodies of their opponents?"
*Silence as the four men consider the question.*
[Thunder:] "This is a lot to unpack and I think we're at an impasse. What do you suggest?"
[Arthur:] "I'm not going to strip Geese of his NEXUS Title shot. He earned it legitimately by defeating RYOMA. And I suspect that if I tried to stop the match, Matt would relinquish his Championship."
[Matt:] "With all due respect to UBL and the NEXUS Title, that is correct."
[Arthur:] "That is correct because you respect them."
[Drake:] "Depending on how events unfold, we have an option. Geese would be made an official part of the roster if he won. But he was never invited to rejoin the roster if he lost, nor did he ask. Can we use that?"
[Arthur:] "We can...and might. But before we close the door on working with him again, I'd want to see what he does against Matt. I'd prefer not to use contractual methods here to weasel out of the problem."
[Thunder:] "So what is your strategy?"
[Arthur:] "This is a battle of ideas and Matt has to be the standard bearer of UBL's philosophy since Geese retired. He was the standard bearer when Geese was injured due to Jinchuu and he was the standard bearer against Destiny. I believe in Matt. So my strategy is to rely on him once more to beat Geese. It would show the world that you can be the best without going anywhere near the threshold where you may injure your opponent and mar yourself in the process."
[Matt:] "It's not that I think I can't, but even if I narrowly win, would that truly be a defeat of his ideas?"
[Arthur:] "It wouldn't be a victory for his ideas, that may just have to be enough. Geese's manifesto had the strength that it had because it immediately followed his victory over RYOMA and sought to explain it. Your victory would halt its momentum. That philosophy of his is so dangerous and appeals to the worst elements so it has to be silenced through a decisive victory, proving it's not dominant, rather than by the censorship of omission."
[Drake:] "And if Geese wins?"
[Arthur:] "Then we cut the house microphone immediately and close shop."
[Drake:] "WHAT!?"
*Arthur chuckles.*
[Arthur:] "If he wins then we keep testing his ideas until he loses while offering incentive for others to not follow that path. But I have confidence in Matt. He knows Geese better than anyone else who would stand across a ring from him.
Unless, of course..."
*Arthur shifts his gaze to Thunder Strike.*
[Thunder:] "You know my terms. Not for a Title, not for pride, not out of past rivalry, but to protect this promotion."
[Arthur:] "And it may very well come to that. You're our last line of defense right now."
[Matt:] "How do you know Thunder can beat him?"
*Thunder shoots Matt a glare,*
[Thunder:] "Do your job right the first time and we won't have to find out."
[Drake:] "On that note. Arthur?"
[Arthur:] "We're not just fighting for the NEXUS Championship, we're fighting for the soul of this promotion. Geese is not definitely our enemy but, if he is, we can't afford to fray the crucial alliance we have here. Find a way to move beyond your past differences or else the next few months may be far more difficult to bear. The UBL survived the first iteration of Orochi Geese, Jinchuu, and Destiny but only when our best had a united front. Lead others by that example."
*Drake stays to talk to Arthur while Matt and Thunder Strike leave the room then walk in opposite directions.*
[Arthur:] "It's been two months since Orochi Geese declared war on the roster and no one has said a word."
[Thunder:] "That's because everyone disagrees on whether or not he actually did so."
[Arthur:] "Then what would you say he did?"
[Thunder:] "It wasn't a declaration of war. I'm the only one in this room, and in this promotion, who has been the target and victim of an actual Geese war. This isn't it. Like you said - it's been two months since he said it all. Orochi Geese wouldn't wait two whole months to make good on his threats. He wouldn't wait until the Title match. Orochi Geese didn't always declare his threats before he carried them out. This isn't Orochi Geese we're dealing with. He may be dangerous in his own way though. At the minimum, he broke the spirit of half the roster and confused the other half."
[Arthur:] "Orochi Geese doesn't have to be the Orochi Geese of 2008 to still be Orochi Geese."
*Drake pushes a bottle of water over to Arthur, who smiles sarcastically and refuses it.*
[Arthur:] "Of course Orochi Geese would adapt beyond our old understanding of him. He often said that part of his chaos was the ability to evolve beyond the expectations of opponents."
[Matt:] "It's not a part of his chaos, it's a more fundamental belief of his. And he taught me to flow like water."
[Thunder:] "When did he teach you that?"
*Matt shoots Thunder a look of disbelief and frustration.*
[Matt:] "After you abducted and delivered me to him for training against Joachim."
[Thunder:] "I wasn't aware of the specifics."
[Matt:] "I suppose that ignorance alleviated your conscience."
[Thunder:] "What alleviated my conscience was you taking the title away from Destiny as I had planned."
[Drake:] "Ok, enough. Matt, what do you think Geese's intentions are here? You actually spent six months training and living with Geese after his retirement and may actually know him the most now out of any of us."
[Matt:] " I can't read his mind, but I worry about his message. Here's what I think. You don't let a serial bank robber walk into a bank and tell a bank teller that they would do a more efficient job if they lowered their guard while selling them on advances in the security of their bank made in reaction to past robberies. But I also think that you don't dismiss that message just because of who it's coming from or immediately assume that it was made with negative intentions."
*Arthur slides the bottle of water over to Matt, eliciting a bit of a laugh that breaks the tension.*
[Matt:] "Thank you, I actually needed that."
[Arthur:] "Flow like water, indeed."
[Drake:] "Do you trust Geese, Matt?"
[Matt:] "Trust that he means what he says? Yes. He's trying to be a good man now. I don't think he's consciously tricking anyone. I believe that the words he used reflect his current mindset and intentions."
[Drake:] "But subconsciously?"
[Matt:] "Look, people laughed at me for suddenly jumping into wrestling after being a career weatherman. Don't expect me to jump into psychology now too."
[Arthur:] "And that's the problem-"
*Matt looks confused*
[Arthur:] "No, no, not your career changes. The fact that we don't truly know what Geese actually wants on the most basic level. Even if he isn't actively lying, and I'll grant you that possibility, isn't there also the possibility that he's still subconsciously Orochi Geese? And isn't the chance of that too dangerous to ignore? Using his own language, what if that 'threshold' inside of his brain between current Geese and Orochi Geese is just too thin for us to risk being crossed?"
[Drake:] "What if he snaps?"
[Arthur:] "What if he already has and doesn't even know it!? What if he does know it and is playing us all for fools?"
[Matt:] "He never asked to come back. RYOMA challenged him. It wasn't Geese's fault that the reward for victory would be so high...or that the temptation to revert to his old ways could return along with it."
[Thunder:] "Fault or not, that may be in his nature. He was acclimating to a peaceful life on the farm because there was nothing tempting his worst impulses. There were no goals which needed violence to achieve. You put him in one match with a Championship on the line, with a renewed chance to elevate his legacy, and Pandora's Box may be re-opened."
[Arthur:] "Matt, in the cruelest trick of irony, you are the key to this. The man who holds the Championship that he seeks is the very man who can tell us how Geese was before this temptation appeared. Did he speak of thresholds when he trained you? Was he telling the truth that he considered them so paramount to his life? Here, I'll refresh your memory."
*Arthur briefly turns the TV on and we see the start of Geese's promo.*
[Geese:] "What if I said that I've devoted the past six years of my life trying to find my thresholds in exactly these situations? What if I told you I've been mastering the ability to operate right up to but without crossing that crucial line? Would that pursuit be seen as brave or reckless? Are these words the testimonials of a wise man or the ramblings of a fool?
[Arthur:] "Was this the language he spoke in when he trained you?"
*Matt takes a few seconds to think and then decides to take another long swig from the water bottle.*
[Matt:] "The language was the same but the tone was different. As much as he genuinely wanted me to defeat Joachim back then, he didn't speak with the same desperation in his voice as he did after he beat RYOMA."
[Drake:] "Desperation?"
[Matt:] "Yes, the desperation to make others believe what he wants us to."
[Arthur:] "There's a word for that, Matt. A word in his lexicon that we should all be wary of."
[Thunder:] "Propaganda."
[Arthur:] "Exactly."
[Thunder:] "But that's only assuming he doesn't believe it. If he does, is it truly propaganda?"
[Arthur:] "Does it matter if it isn't as long as it's dangerous?"
[Thunder:] "How is it dangerous?"
[Matt:] "Because not everyone has spent the past six years of their life honing the ability to find their threshold and understanding what happens when you regularly start to overshoot it."
[Arthur:] "And even Geese may not be successful at achieving that balance. The threshold he speaks of is the line between attacking your opponent with everything you have for noble intentions vs. injuring them for malicious goals. Winning a Championship is certainly a noble intention but has Geese not injured opponents before in that setting? Doesn't that line get blurred the more someone wants a prize? Forget reaching the threshold, first you must see it."
[Drake:] "In his defense, he didn't injure RYOMA. The two tore into each other and there was lingering soreness for weeks but nothing out of the ordinary or beyond what is acceptable in a match like that. Geese's title shot was already promised to him from the second he walked into that match. He could have done far worse to RYOMA to guarantee a victory but he didn't. I don't believe Geese is lying to us about his intentions. Geese Walker is no longer Orochi Geese. Thunder isn't the only one who knows Geese at his worst. I helped Geese when he was at his most maniacal point but I also saw him for what he was. The Geese he became after Jinchuu, the Geese he evolved into on the Walker farm, and the Geese that has returned bares no resemblance to Orochi Geese beyond his ability to get into other people's heads."
[Matt:] "I agree with that last statement which is why I am so concerned about the other bank patrons."
[Drake:] "What?"
[Matt:] "Maybe a truly reformed bank robber can have trust in their own self control and that enhanced bank security but what about the other ones that don't have the same self control even if they want to? If Geese gets right up to the point of injuring someone, I think he can pull back and mind that threshold line. But what about Yoshirozuna or Kurt Sanders or THRASH Ogawa? Do we allow them to get anywhere close to that line just because forcing them to pull their punches too much could limit their success? Can't they use Geese's words as an excuse to justify their own intentional violence in the future? How can we stop them if we don't stop Geese? What about JET Hamada who is clearly getting more frustrated and aggressive? Can he be expected to even legitimately search for that threshold now with the anger he is feeling?"
What Geese said made sense and it may even be the truth from his perspective, but it would have dangerous repercussions for everyone else in the UBL. Not everyone can accelerate themselves so quickly up to that line and then stop on a dime before crossing it. Even I have accidentally injured Charles Langford when executing my finisher in a more aggressive way than I had done before...and it was in a match with the NEXUS Title on the line."
[Arthur:] "So truthful or not, Geese's message is potentially just as dangerous as he is right now."
[Matt:] "Because it takes the kind of self-control and knowledge of one's own limits that most wrestlers simply don't have. It's not a bad message of intent because I believe he was trying to actually help everyone, in his own way. But it's a dangerous message because of what happens when people fail in their efforts to find that threshold."
[Drake:] "To Geese, it can be more dangerous to not even try. He said that the only thing worse than not succeeding in finding that threshold is to look at yourself in the mirror years later and realize your cowardice in not trying."
[Arthur:] "I completely disagree with that. The worst thing that can happen is injuring someone else to the point they can't walk anymore just because you went beyond your threshold and didn't know how to stop. And that is what I, as owner of this promotion, am the most concerned about. Maybe Geese knows his threshold, but what about everyone else? What happens if they try and fail? What happens to their own mentalities and the bodies of their opponents?"
*Silence as the four men consider the question.*
[Thunder:] "This is a lot to unpack and I think we're at an impasse. What do you suggest?"
[Arthur:] "I'm not going to strip Geese of his NEXUS Title shot. He earned it legitimately by defeating RYOMA. And I suspect that if I tried to stop the match, Matt would relinquish his Championship."
[Matt:] "With all due respect to UBL and the NEXUS Title, that is correct."
[Arthur:] "That is correct because you respect them."
[Drake:] "Depending on how events unfold, we have an option. Geese would be made an official part of the roster if he won. But he was never invited to rejoin the roster if he lost, nor did he ask. Can we use that?"
[Arthur:] "We can...and might. But before we close the door on working with him again, I'd want to see what he does against Matt. I'd prefer not to use contractual methods here to weasel out of the problem."
[Thunder:] "So what is your strategy?"
[Arthur:] "This is a battle of ideas and Matt has to be the standard bearer of UBL's philosophy since Geese retired. He was the standard bearer when Geese was injured due to Jinchuu and he was the standard bearer against Destiny. I believe in Matt. So my strategy is to rely on him once more to beat Geese. It would show the world that you can be the best without going anywhere near the threshold where you may injure your opponent and mar yourself in the process."
[Matt:] "It's not that I think I can't, but even if I narrowly win, would that truly be a defeat of his ideas?"
[Arthur:] "It wouldn't be a victory for his ideas, that may just have to be enough. Geese's manifesto had the strength that it had because it immediately followed his victory over RYOMA and sought to explain it. Your victory would halt its momentum. That philosophy of his is so dangerous and appeals to the worst elements so it has to be silenced through a decisive victory, proving it's not dominant, rather than by the censorship of omission."
[Drake:] "And if Geese wins?"
[Arthur:] "Then we cut the house microphone immediately and close shop."
[Drake:] "WHAT!?"
*Arthur chuckles.*
[Arthur:] "If he wins then we keep testing his ideas until he loses while offering incentive for others to not follow that path. But I have confidence in Matt. He knows Geese better than anyone else who would stand across a ring from him.
Unless, of course..."
*Arthur shifts his gaze to Thunder Strike.*
[Thunder:] "You know my terms. Not for a Title, not for pride, not out of past rivalry, but to protect this promotion."
[Arthur:] "And it may very well come to that. You're our last line of defense right now."
[Matt:] "How do you know Thunder can beat him?"
*Thunder shoots Matt a glare,*
[Thunder:] "Do your job right the first time and we won't have to find out."
[Drake:] "On that note. Arthur?"
[Arthur:] "We're not just fighting for the NEXUS Championship, we're fighting for the soul of this promotion. Geese is not definitely our enemy but, if he is, we can't afford to fray the crucial alliance we have here. Find a way to move beyond your past differences or else the next few months may be far more difficult to bear. The UBL survived the first iteration of Orochi Geese, Jinchuu, and Destiny but only when our best had a united front. Lead others by that example."
*Drake stays to talk to Arthur while Matt and Thunder Strike leave the room then walk in opposite directions.*