*~*~*Author's Note: Here's something from Daffney's perspective... and
that's about all I have to say! :-P*~*~*
**********
"Wow..." was all Daffney Unger could bring herself to say as she looked up at the large arena that stood before her. It was 11:30 AM on a Tuesday and she was there early for that night's house show for WWE. It was her first show where she would actually be wrestling, as compared to two other house shows she had worked for the major wrestling company where she had just been a valet for Devon Storm, known to most fans as Crowbar from WCW.
This time, though, Daffney was here on her own. She had no real friends on the Raw side of WWE's roster, with the possible exception of Booker T. They hadn't been great friends in WCW, but they were at least hospitable to each other. Other than him, though, she couldn't think of anyone she knew or liked on the Raw roster. This was shaping up to be a bad night.
Finally, with her gym bag slung over her right shoulder, Daffney started walking towards the building. Once she reached the doors, she gently pushed one of them open and looked down the hallway before completely walking in and allowing the door to shut behind her. What she found upon entering the hallway was something she was used to from WCW: complete chaos.
Everywhere, there were crew members running around, moving large boxes, shouting to each other about what went to each wrestler's locker room, and so on. It was only 11:30 AM, it was only a house show, but these people were acting as if it was Monday Night Raw all over again. They wanted everything to look as professional as possible, even when the show wasn't being nationally broadcast. It was because of that desire to be perfect for every show that they were all scurrying about, keeping busy the entire time.
The raven-haired wrestler just stood back and watched them in awe. Yes, she was used to all of this, but it still seemed so new to her. It had been awhile since she had been to one of these house shows and even then she had Devon with her, so she never really noticed what everyone else was doing. Now that she was all alone, though, everything seemed so strange.
Daffney sighed as she thought of him. He was a great guy, that was certain, and had always been there for her when she needed him. Through all of her problems with David Flair, Devon had been the one to help her out and was her shoulder to cry on. Then, when she was gone for awhile after David left her for Stacy Keibler, he always kept track of her, calling her at home every now and then to make sure she was doing all right and that she would be coming back. Daffney had always planned on coming back because she loved working for WCW, even if it was doing terribly in ratings. So, of course, she would be coming back. However, she received a very big shock upon her return.
When she finally decided it was the right time for her to get back to work, Daffney expected that she would come back to find Devon, known then as Crowbar, ready and willing to team up again and be the psychos that the fans knew them as. It wasn't to be that way, though. For about a month or so before her return, Daffney hadn't been getting the calls from him checking up on her. She just assumed that he had gotten busy all of the sudden and couldn't find the time, which was perfectly fine with her. He had a job to do. If only Daffney would have watched Nitro or Thunder a few times, she would have realized what happened. She hadn't, though, because she couldn't stand to watch everyone else do what she loved while she took some time off to deal with the pain David had caused her.
Daffney entered the arena that WCW Nitro was showing in that night. She didn't remember the name of the building, but that hardly mattered. What she found upon entering Crowbar's locker room was something that made her retch. Two Nitro Girls, whose names escaped Daffney at all times because they all looked alike to her, were all over him. Touching him, kissing him... and while Daffney had never been romantically involved with Devon, it hurt. This wasn't something the man she knew would do and she had no idea what had come over him. With those thoughts in mind, she had released one of her famous, ear-piercing shrieks and ran away from that room. She never wanted to see that again.
"'Scuse me, miss, but ya need to move outta the way," a short, pudgy man told her as he lightly pushed her away from the door she had been standing in front of. Caught up in her own thoughts, Daffney hadn't realized that she had still been standing in front of the door. She quickly began walking away from it and through the mess of crew and wrestlers in front of her.
Back to her thoughts, though, she started thinking about everything that had happened on television after she came back to WCW. Of course, to the fans, it appeared that not much had changed between Daffney and Devon. Despite the fact that he was in a bit of a "hippie" phase, she still stuck right by him and the fans welcomed her back with open arms, or at least the ones who were still sticking with WCW did. To them, everything between the two looked fine. Even when she went to NWA-TNA with him a few times after WCW was bought out, everyone thought everything was okay. It was never the same.
Once again lost in her thoughts, Daffney managed to plow right in to someone walking in the opposite direction of herself. She stumbled back a few steps, but the man she ran in to didn't. He just stopped dead in his tracks and stared at her. It was obvious that he hadn't been in a good mood before Daffney's little accident, but it was all worse now.
"The hell do you think you're doing?" He asked, his voice calm in a scary way. The kind of calm that you got right before someone started screaming at you.
"Um..." was all Daffney could manage to mumble. She focused her attention on the ground, not really wanting to be yelled at this early on. After a moment passed, she looked back up at him, this time giving him a good look over, hoping to recognize him from somewhere. She did.
He wasn't someone she had worked with before, at least not that she could recall, but she definitely knew him. His hair was a mixture of brown and blonde braids, his cheeks were covered in symbols painted on them in white. A worn-out leather jacket was all that adorned his upper body while a kilt and a pair of black boots, which had seen much better days, did the same for his lower body. His skin was tanned, but not exceptionally dark, and his physique was something to admire. Tattoos covered his mid-section, but Daffney couldn't identify what they were.
Raven. That was his name.
"What are you staring at?" Raven asked her, his voice getting a little bit angrier now than it was before. Daffney snapped out of a daze for about the tenth time within the last five minutes and still couldn't manage to say anything other than to utter a few words about being sorry, or something to that affect.
"Hey!" A voice cut through Daffney's uncomfortable mumbling. Both of them turned their heads to see where the voice was coming from and were greeted by a bright smile and a small wave.
"You're Daffney, right?" The small brunette woman asked as she walked up to Daffney.
"Yeah," Daffney replied, giving her first real response to any question in awhile. "And you're Ivory?"
"You betcha!" Ivory replied cheerfully. "I knew you were supposed to be here early, but I didn't think you'd show up this early! That's good, though. It shows you're serious about working here."
"I definitely am," Daffney assured the perky woman, who now turned to Raven.
"Don't you have a match to be getting ready for? It's never too early to be thinking about strategy!" Ivory informed him, to which he only rolled his eyes and walked past the two women. He didn't have time for this nonsense. "So, are you ready for tonight?" Ivory asked, returning her attention to Daffney. "The scouts have been talkin' about you a good bit! They've really been impressed..."
Daffney blushed a bit at the notion that anyone could be impressed with her work. While she loved wrestling and had gotten considerably better at it over her time away from shows that were actually on television, she still didn't think she was anywhere near the level of people like Ivory, Molly Holly, or Jacqueline. "I guess I'm ready. Ready as I'll ever be!"
"Good, good! Now, lets get you over to those wardrobe people and see what they think they can do with ya. Don't worry, I'll stick around to make sure they don't turn ya in to anything too horrible," Ivory said with a chuckle, then started to lead the normally-Gothic wrestler towards the WWE stylists.
**********
"Wow..." was all Daffney Unger could bring herself to say as she looked up at the large arena that stood before her. It was 11:30 AM on a Tuesday and she was there early for that night's house show for WWE. It was her first show where she would actually be wrestling, as compared to two other house shows she had worked for the major wrestling company where she had just been a valet for Devon Storm, known to most fans as Crowbar from WCW.
This time, though, Daffney was here on her own. She had no real friends on the Raw side of WWE's roster, with the possible exception of Booker T. They hadn't been great friends in WCW, but they were at least hospitable to each other. Other than him, though, she couldn't think of anyone she knew or liked on the Raw roster. This was shaping up to be a bad night.
Finally, with her gym bag slung over her right shoulder, Daffney started walking towards the building. Once she reached the doors, she gently pushed one of them open and looked down the hallway before completely walking in and allowing the door to shut behind her. What she found upon entering the hallway was something she was used to from WCW: complete chaos.
Everywhere, there were crew members running around, moving large boxes, shouting to each other about what went to each wrestler's locker room, and so on. It was only 11:30 AM, it was only a house show, but these people were acting as if it was Monday Night Raw all over again. They wanted everything to look as professional as possible, even when the show wasn't being nationally broadcast. It was because of that desire to be perfect for every show that they were all scurrying about, keeping busy the entire time.
The raven-haired wrestler just stood back and watched them in awe. Yes, she was used to all of this, but it still seemed so new to her. It had been awhile since she had been to one of these house shows and even then she had Devon with her, so she never really noticed what everyone else was doing. Now that she was all alone, though, everything seemed so strange.
Daffney sighed as she thought of him. He was a great guy, that was certain, and had always been there for her when she needed him. Through all of her problems with David Flair, Devon had been the one to help her out and was her shoulder to cry on. Then, when she was gone for awhile after David left her for Stacy Keibler, he always kept track of her, calling her at home every now and then to make sure she was doing all right and that she would be coming back. Daffney had always planned on coming back because she loved working for WCW, even if it was doing terribly in ratings. So, of course, she would be coming back. However, she received a very big shock upon her return.
When she finally decided it was the right time for her to get back to work, Daffney expected that she would come back to find Devon, known then as Crowbar, ready and willing to team up again and be the psychos that the fans knew them as. It wasn't to be that way, though. For about a month or so before her return, Daffney hadn't been getting the calls from him checking up on her. She just assumed that he had gotten busy all of the sudden and couldn't find the time, which was perfectly fine with her. He had a job to do. If only Daffney would have watched Nitro or Thunder a few times, she would have realized what happened. She hadn't, though, because she couldn't stand to watch everyone else do what she loved while she took some time off to deal with the pain David had caused her.
Daffney entered the arena that WCW Nitro was showing in that night. She didn't remember the name of the building, but that hardly mattered. What she found upon entering Crowbar's locker room was something that made her retch. Two Nitro Girls, whose names escaped Daffney at all times because they all looked alike to her, were all over him. Touching him, kissing him... and while Daffney had never been romantically involved with Devon, it hurt. This wasn't something the man she knew would do and she had no idea what had come over him. With those thoughts in mind, she had released one of her famous, ear-piercing shrieks and ran away from that room. She never wanted to see that again.
"'Scuse me, miss, but ya need to move outta the way," a short, pudgy man told her as he lightly pushed her away from the door she had been standing in front of. Caught up in her own thoughts, Daffney hadn't realized that she had still been standing in front of the door. She quickly began walking away from it and through the mess of crew and wrestlers in front of her.
Back to her thoughts, though, she started thinking about everything that had happened on television after she came back to WCW. Of course, to the fans, it appeared that not much had changed between Daffney and Devon. Despite the fact that he was in a bit of a "hippie" phase, she still stuck right by him and the fans welcomed her back with open arms, or at least the ones who were still sticking with WCW did. To them, everything between the two looked fine. Even when she went to NWA-TNA with him a few times after WCW was bought out, everyone thought everything was okay. It was never the same.
Once again lost in her thoughts, Daffney managed to plow right in to someone walking in the opposite direction of herself. She stumbled back a few steps, but the man she ran in to didn't. He just stopped dead in his tracks and stared at her. It was obvious that he hadn't been in a good mood before Daffney's little accident, but it was all worse now.
"The hell do you think you're doing?" He asked, his voice calm in a scary way. The kind of calm that you got right before someone started screaming at you.
"Um..." was all Daffney could manage to mumble. She focused her attention on the ground, not really wanting to be yelled at this early on. After a moment passed, she looked back up at him, this time giving him a good look over, hoping to recognize him from somewhere. She did.
He wasn't someone she had worked with before, at least not that she could recall, but she definitely knew him. His hair was a mixture of brown and blonde braids, his cheeks were covered in symbols painted on them in white. A worn-out leather jacket was all that adorned his upper body while a kilt and a pair of black boots, which had seen much better days, did the same for his lower body. His skin was tanned, but not exceptionally dark, and his physique was something to admire. Tattoos covered his mid-section, but Daffney couldn't identify what they were.
Raven. That was his name.
"What are you staring at?" Raven asked her, his voice getting a little bit angrier now than it was before. Daffney snapped out of a daze for about the tenth time within the last five minutes and still couldn't manage to say anything other than to utter a few words about being sorry, or something to that affect.
"Hey!" A voice cut through Daffney's uncomfortable mumbling. Both of them turned their heads to see where the voice was coming from and were greeted by a bright smile and a small wave.
"You're Daffney, right?" The small brunette woman asked as she walked up to Daffney.
"Yeah," Daffney replied, giving her first real response to any question in awhile. "And you're Ivory?"
"You betcha!" Ivory replied cheerfully. "I knew you were supposed to be here early, but I didn't think you'd show up this early! That's good, though. It shows you're serious about working here."
"I definitely am," Daffney assured the perky woman, who now turned to Raven.
"Don't you have a match to be getting ready for? It's never too early to be thinking about strategy!" Ivory informed him, to which he only rolled his eyes and walked past the two women. He didn't have time for this nonsense. "So, are you ready for tonight?" Ivory asked, returning her attention to Daffney. "The scouts have been talkin' about you a good bit! They've really been impressed..."
Daffney blushed a bit at the notion that anyone could be impressed with her work. While she loved wrestling and had gotten considerably better at it over her time away from shows that were actually on television, she still didn't think she was anywhere near the level of people like Ivory, Molly Holly, or Jacqueline. "I guess I'm ready. Ready as I'll ever be!"
"Good, good! Now, lets get you over to those wardrobe people and see what they think they can do with ya. Don't worry, I'll stick around to make sure they don't turn ya in to anything too horrible," Ivory said with a chuckle, then started to lead the normally-Gothic wrestler towards the WWE stylists.