Post by Jill Park on Nov 30, 2021 16:03:16 GMT -5
Jill Park, sweat dripping down her face and neck, stared straight ahead at her own reflection in the mirrored wall at the Gray Belt Training Center. In the brief pause between her sessions with trainer Eric Faulk, she seemed keen on something many believed she wasn’t capable of attaining: self-reflection. Her gaze was dead-ahead as she stared into her very own eyes, with a piercing look of determination. Eric's voice breaks through "So... what do you see?” Jill, unready for the interruption to her thoughts, turned sharply to face her trainer. She didn’t appear to have a coherent answer readily available, however. “I don’t know. What everyone else sees? A villian?”
Shaking his head and giving a wry but warm smile, E grabbed a nearby folding chair and set it down next to Jill. Faulk breathed a heavy sigh as he sat down before assuring her. "Come on, Jill. You're not a villain."
[color=e75480“It’s all I’ve been seen as since my arrival in Action Wrestling. Every single thing I’ve done or said has been nit picked, and blown up. You know, it’s kind of funny: I’m probably under more scrutiny as a pro wrestler than I am as a reality star.”[/color]
Faulk carefully listened to Jill, still keeping his smile. As she finished, Jill took a moment, preparing for what she assumed was going to be a heartfelt moment. She softly rolled her eyes, but was surprised by Eric’s tone as he said “You've got a LOT of work to do before you can be one."
Jill squinted at him, a little surprised by the stern declaration. She stood in stunned silence for a few moments trying to wrap her mind around what he could have meant. “What?” Was all she eventually said.
Faulk shook his head. "No, Jill. That's not what being a..." Faulk trailed off, his eyes leaving Jill's as he took a moment to choose his words carefully. After a moment's thought, he returned his gaze to Jill and continued.
"Congrats on being controversial, but being a villain... a villain in the ways that matter... is more than just scrutiny. It's not just about how you're treated; it's about who you are. Who are you, Jill?"
“I’m…” She began, but just as quickly stopped. She stared into the mirror again, before facing Faulk. “I’m on the cusp of greatness.” She declared, but it didn’t sound like the emphatic statement that it perhaps should have been. Of course Faulk knew of the major match in Jill’s immediate future, her statement felt like more than just that was on her mind.
“But that’s the thing. It’s just on the cusp.”
Faulk smiles as he replies. "Now THAT, I believe... maybe even more than you do. You might not be a villain, but you're gonna have to become one if you wanna go beyond the cusp."
Jill nods, solemnly. “So then, if I’m not a villain...” She trailed off momentarily, a little unsure of what exactly she was jumping into here, “What is?”
"We're products of Western culture, Jill.. The answers in your cartoons. It's in your movies, your novels, your comic books... it knocked down the fourth wall and bled into your politics and just about everything else in your life."
Faulk notices the confusion on Jill's face and decides to elaborate.
"Take a look at who gets made out to be 'the bad guy.' Mad scientists, shady politicians, corrupt corporate executives: people who had to work, fight, exploit or otherwise work their way into their positions. People with a vision for the future who actually saw it through. Sure, their vision was for something horrible, but they knew who they were, knew what they wanted and didn't let anything stop them... and they damn sure didn't let a little scrutiny shake them."
Jill nods along, seeming as captivated as ever by her trainer’s fire and passion. Eric barely even is looking at her at this point, as he paces around the building before he is in front of one of the wrestling rings. Without hesitation, he slides into one of the rings.
"But that's the thing: we've been conditioned to see those traits--the ambition, the planning, the disciplined and patient grind to the height of your potential--we're conditioned to treat those as bad. After all: in those same stories, the hero just reacts to whatever the villain does, just happens to be wherever he needs to be, and relies on vague platitudes instead of an actual plan."
Eric pauses in the middle of the ring, chuckling to himself.
"Haha, I guess I'm going off on a rant here... we're conditioned to refrain from those, too. But some monologues need to be made."
Faulk resumes pacing as he unapologetically continues.
"Villains can monolog because they have clear plans, motivations and passion to see them through. Heroes have vague mottos about "power and responsibility," "truth and justice," or whatever surface garbage let's them feel like they're about something without actually being about something."
Faulk's pacing intensifies, with the retired wrestling legend running his hand across the top rope as he bounds around the perimeter of the ring, his other hand clenched in a passionate fist as he presses on.
"Villains act; heroes react. Heroes have greatness thrust upon them or fall into it by accident; villains carve their own path to take it. And here's a big one, Jill Park:"
Faulk stops pacing and clutches the rope tightly in his hands. Staring a fiery hole into Jill, he hopes to ignite something in her that has lain dormant for far too long.
"Heroes lose once--just once--in the middle of the story, and they fall apart before they win the inevitable rematch. Villains... they can lose once, twice, a thousand times. And even as it all goes wrong, as their fortress burns and their minions abandon them and flee... even after the most crushing, humiliating defeat, they'll scream with whatever they have left: 'you haven't seen the last of me.'"
With that, Faulk vaults over the rope to approach Jill. Standing face-to-face with her, he concludes:
"Find that... BE that... and you'll know for a fact what you see in that mirror."
The both of them stare into one another’s eyes with ice cold stares, until Faulk backs up, seemingly snapping back to his default cool demeanour. He nods to Jill as he walks back to his office, leaving her with that thought. Jill quickly diverted her eyes from him, now staring directly at the ring.