The Constrictor: After the Pay-Per-View

Constrictor Wed Nov 19, 2008 5:21 pm

In a darkened gym, The Constrictor hangs from a chin-up bar, ankles crossed, as he pulls himself rhytmically up, raising his chin up above the bar before dropping down to full extension and beginning again. His trainer, an ex-wrestler named Phil "The Drill" Thompson, stands beside the bar counting as Ray Gotti, obviously intoxicated, berates him.

PT: "18 ... 19 ... 20. Nice. Good form, Snake."

The Constrictor drops to his feet, rubbing gingerly at his biceps.

RG: "You may not be strong, but at least you're light enough to do a pull-up. What the @!#% is wrong with you, anyway? You sure weren't strong enough to put a hurting on La Meako at the Pay-Per-View. Some champ you turned out to be. I put somebody in my stable, I expect a winner, capice?"

The smaller man considers Gotti with an angry gleam in his eye, still massaging his arms.

PT: "Hey, ease up, Gotti. The kid's got heart, and he's done better than just about any other freshman wrestler. A lot better than I did, my first season."

Ray Gotti snorts and tugs at his kinky hair.

RG: "Better than you. That's a good one. I've seen cannolis that could wrestle better than you. But dis guy! The Mouth from the South! The Lyin' Mayan! You're a loser and a boozer, that's what you are."

Gotti turns and walks over to a weight bench, dropping heavily onto its padded surface. He picks up a bottle at his feet and takes a healthy swig. As he lowers the bottle, an unpleasant smile forms on his face.

RG: "It was dose two blows to your noggin that put you down. We gotta toughen up your head, boy. Why don't you do what you do with your fists to toughen 'em up- bang it against the wall 'til it's bloody?"

Gotti stands up and steadys himself on his feet.

RG: "Anyway, this feud with La Meako, it's over. Knew it was a mistake from the get-go."

He weaves his way out of the gym, still clutching the bottle. Thompson shakes his head.

PT: "Don't worry about him, son. You're doin' good, real good. Now show me some of that shadowboxing."

The Constrictor stares after Gotti for a long moment before nodding and dropping into a boxing stance, his fists clenched close to his chest. He speaks a single sentence in broken, heavily-accented English:

TC: "Not over."