Author's Note:
Bonjour my lovelies!
2 Updates in 1 weekend, now do I deserve some cyber cookies or what? :D
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A big thank you once again to my very loyal reviewers:
FindTheEnigmaWithin, Straight Edge Queen and aliveagain!
Your reviews never fail to make me smile! :)
A Big thank you also to those who wrote me a message!
THANK YOU, to all who have put my humble story onto their favs and alerts as well.
Disclaimer:
*Sigh* Sadly not, maybe one day but now? No...
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Gah, this is my longest chapter up to this point - even though I tried to cut it shorter this time...
And failing at it... obviously... xD
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Short Recap:
"Anyway-" he began began again and for a short moment Faye's eyes met the blue one's of Bryan, who looked like he was loosing the inner struggle with himself not to start grinning. 'Less shaggy hair,' Faye's thoughts drifted away again, her eyebrows still knitted oh so slightly 'more beard. Same grin...'
Holy shit.
"-I know you!"
Well, yes. This came out far more exited than she wanted to. At the same moment the words had left her mouth in a blur she had wanted to do nothing more than to bite her own tongue off seeing that both males looked at her like her suddenly had grown a second head.
'Good. Lord. Oh no I did not.' Faye thought as her eyes went wide with horror at her little outburst. Oh dear ground, please open and swallow me up right now...
Now she was sure that the people around her could probably watch how her cheeks flared up in embarrassment as she realized how utterly stupid this must have sounded...
She officially wanted to die when both Phil and Bryan suddenly began to laugh whole heartily.
Way to go Faye, way to go...
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She honestly didn't want to know what color her face was in this very moment, all she knew was that she needed to do some damage containment right now.
"N-No, I mean, I-," helplessly she looked towards Phil – no, not much help there, he was too busy looking like he wanted to press the moment of her embarrassment into his mind forever, smiling way too broadly for her liking.
She sighed loudly in defeat, trying to make the best out of her situation with a small as she titled her head slightly.
"Alright, alright, rewind- forget what I said," she said to Bryan, who in opposite to Phil, was nice enough to at least try to hide his amusing. Pretty much failing at it since he looked like he was biting the insides of his mouth to prevent himself from grinning, but he tried.
"I'm not sure if we're able to do that" Phil said from her right as he crossed his arms behind his head exposing the lucky clover and dice tattoo on the inside of his left arm. Faye did not even bother to send him another glare as he started chuckling again, so she gave him a quick nudge on his shoulders, her apologizing glance not leaving Bryans.
"Anyway, what I wanted to say was," she continued, quickly pushing a loose strand of her behind her ear again, "I'm Faye- nice to meet you, usually I try to make an idiot out myself until at least people got to know me better but hey- apparently I'm making an exception for you."
"Oh don't worry about it," he said as he took her offered hand shaking the quite smaller one slightly. His other hand was scratching the back of his blonde head a bit awkwardly as she continued to smile up to him- what could she say? She was a very smiley person – when she wasn't trying to leave a very wrong first impression on people she was introduced to. "So I'm already slightly prepared for the things that are to come?"
"Ah, don't count on it," she said sheepishly, rubbing her temple softly. Her outgrown bangs tingled her cheeks as she let her head fall to the right slightly, "I think that was enough for at least a... while?"
Both chuckled in amusement and Faye tried her best to keep her face from flushing once again.
"So I guess the whole introduction procedure took care of itself then?" Phil piped in again managing to pry Faye's attention away from the American Dragon, "since you were so eager to let us know that 'you know him' " he mockingly quoted her with his fingers, which earned him a halfhearted glare from the shorter brunette.
"To explain my little outburst," she said with a raised finger, especially looking at Phil who now had his arms crossed over his chest again while one hand tried to hide the clearly still visible smirk on his face, "with SHIMMER I've defended some of my titles at Ring of Honor events, so of course I know him!" she said with a cheeky grin.
Meanwhile Bryan also seemed to realize that they had met before, even though only rather briefly but SHIMMER was closely connected to ROH events due to Dave Prazak's work with Ring of Honor, the two companies where closely affiliated. The female championship titles where regularly defended at Ring of Honor pre- as well as main show cards and so he seemed to remember who the bubbly and smiling woman in front of him was.
"You were ROH after all!" Faye said gesturing with her hands enthusiastically actually managing to make Bryan cheeks turn into a very light pink color. It was not like he wasn't aware of his achievements, yet he absolutely wasn't that type of guy to go out and brag about what he had won ad what not. But it never hurt to hear it from someone else though – especially not it they where pretty brunettes.
For Faye to find out that the Ring of Honor record holder had found his way into the WWE universe was something that honestly exited her. She had seen his ring skills, they had been amazing to say at least. No wonder he had been Cary Silkin's golden boy, after all he basically had won every championship title the brand had to offer.
"How on earth did you pursue Cary to let you go?"
"To be honest, I'm not even sure," Bryan said with a shrug and rubbed the stubble's of his beard as Faye mentioned the former owner of the Pennsylvanian based brand he had stayed with since their founding, "I just told him that I had the feeling to give the entertainment business a try and somehow he was rather cool with it."
"Really?" Faye asked in mild surprise, assuming that his leaving would have been greeted with a lot more protest on the side of his bosses.
"Let's just say the WWE was convincing enough for Mr. Danielson here," Phil said, clapping his hand on the smaller mans shoulder as they shared a grin, "he's made for the big screen believe me, but like everyone else he pretty much has to work his butt off first, I know what I'm talking about."
Faye looked at Bryan in sympathy, knowing how difficult things could be for someone new. But with that much talent they surely couldn't wait for too long to give him a title shot or at least a push, right? She knew that he had a huge fan-base during his Ring of Honor time that surely followed his steps in the WWE as well. Vince mentioned something about listening to the internet fan-base more, maybe it had something to do with him...
"Hey, my goal is Wrestlemania," Bryan said with a sheepish expression on his handsome features, obviously not concerned with his situation too much right now, "ever since I was a kid so, I'm more than willing to work for it, no doubt!"
She definitely liked his attitude. Faye had already assumed that he was someone who put hard work over depending his success on sheer luck only. He was determined to work for his success- which gained him a whole new level of respect in her eyes at this very moment.
"But enough of me, you're new here right?" Bryan said with a smile, quickly looking back and forth between Phil and herself, "speaking of Ring of Honor, you're Riott, right? 'Tap-Out' Riott?" she actually had to laugh a bit at her former gimmick and the nickname that came along with it but nodded eagerly, "I knew I've seen you're face before," he continued, his blue eyes seemed to lighten up in excitement, "that match between you and MsChif at Death Before Dishonor was amazing!"
"Thank you" she answered honestly fidgeting with her bracelet slightly. She definitely had her fair share of fights, but she knew right away what match he was talking about.
"But didn't she get injured during the fight, or was that just something I've heard?"
"No, it's true," Faye nodded, biting her lip slightly at the memory of the fight a little over a year ago, "Rachel separated her shoulder during the match, I'm not even that sure when it happened but I assume that it was during my try to pin her with a sunset flip powerbomb!"
Both Phil and Bryan winced audibly at the mentioning of that injury, something both seemed to be familiar with. Faye really could not say how the accidence happened but she knew, one wrong step could easily equal an injury, she recently had found that out herself. And landing wrong when she did exactly that move could easily do some damage.
"Her injury was the reason for my victory so-," she held up her hands in defense, smiling meekly, "it might sound bad but- it was better for me, it guaranteed me another title reign, god knows that she is one tough opponent."
"Wow, Faye" the tattooed man on her right gasped audibly, "coldhearted much?" Phil mocked her with a raised eyebrow, making her immediately feel bad when she thought back to the accident.
"No. No-" she pouted, her blue eyes wide open, "I-I really felt extremely bad after that, I still do, but I had to stay in character until the end of the match it's- the way it goes I guess. I pretty much lost my last title in a very similar way."
"You did?" and she nodded again, her lips set tight.
"Yes, to Madison Eagles who is like freakishly tall- and no Phillip, I'm not taking her height as an excuse," Faye immediately said with a raised finger as he saw his lips twitch in amusement, "the defeat was scripted, yes, but when she pinned me I pretty much landed very wrong on my knee- it threw me out of the ring for the following weeks, which sucked because I actually would have gotten the title back immediately-"
"But..?" Phil urged on with a sing-sang voice and a spinning gesture of his hand.
"-But then I got a letter from Mister McMahon and é voila – now I'm here!"
"Fascinating" Phil replied drily sounding very much like Leonard Nimoy, which earned him a very ungentle slap on the shoulder.
"Hey- you asked!"
"You look different now from what I recall though" Bryan said after a few seconds of thoughtful silence with a finger on his lips. His blue eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at her, actually making her feel slightly flattered that he remembered such a detail about her.
She nodded in response as her hand went through her hair, making her golden bracelets dangle around her wrist, "Yeah, this is pretty much my natural hair color, I got rid of the dark brown and the pink as well, I'm not sure how much that also has to change, I haven't talked to anyone about my future gimmick really. Hopefully nothing that involves pink – I really want to say good-bye to that color for a while."
Pink had been Riotts signature color, her hair had partly been a lighter version of it, her wrestling pants and tight cropped top decorated with a hot magenta, so she desperately wanted to move on to a different color in the spectrum. Even though it always had clashed rather nicely with her on screen nemesis McChif's all-green attire...
"Don't worry about it, it's very likely that you have to get used to something new," Phil pointed out "you see, they went 'all creative' on poor Mr. Danielson here."
"Oh, you know," Bryan drawled, his hand still attached to his scruffy beard, "they did not really take great pains to...come up with something different, switching Bryan Danielson to- Daniel Bryan."
Even Phil had to hold back a laugh now, it seemed like he found the name change as odd as she did.
"What?" Faye snorted very unladylike after she tried her best to contain her laughter, her mouth opening in disbelieve, "that's ridiculous!" she tried her best not to laugh but, seriously- they didn't really put a lot of effort into coming up with something different; heck- they could have simply stayed with his name instead of a change like that. But it probably had to do something with legal issues Faye didn't bother to dwell on.
"Oh, I'm sorry," she said, her brows furrowed in sympathy, trying to look less baffled, "that must be quite confusing- I know I would permanently mix up my own names in front of a camera if they would name me something similar like that."
"Replying the name over and over and over again like a mantra before I walk out to the ring does help though, it's not that bad." Bryan said as he helplessly tried to defend himself while both Phil and Faye could not hide their amusement if their life would have depended on it.
"Really!"
"Alright, if you say so," Phil said with a chuckle, patting his shoulder reassuringly, "come on then Daniel, let's go find a seat! You too short stuff," he said tilting his head slightly towards the center of the room where almost all of the superstars had found a seat at the huge table already.
With the Chicago native walking ahead Faye followed him closely with Bryan behind her to one of the U corners, trying to seem as friendly as possible as she walked pass a lot of prying eyes. She recognized Beth next to the few empty seats they where walking up to, eagerly talking to another blond woman that was seated next to her.
So she found herself being placed next to Phil on her left, and Bryan on her right, having a perfect view over all the other wrestlers due to the openly arranged positioning of the tables.
Faye had to admit, being so very... exposed right now made her a bit nervous.
"Are you alright?" Bryan leaned over to her after her fingers had started to drum on the desk subconsciously.
"O-oh-... What?"
With a meaningful gaze he looked towards her still drumming fingers- "Oh!" she quickly said, stopping her fingers from making more noise, "well maybe I'm a little bit nervous maybe?" she replied sheepishly, pressing her thump and forefinger together to visualize her nervous state.
"Don't be," he tried to reassure her, "most of them won't eat you alive – and the other half will be on a different brand than you. It's all good."
Duh.
"That's not exactly calming my nerves now very well Mister Danielson," she let out with a huff, letting herself fall back into the chair. He did the same, mimicking her crossed arms.
"Oh, Riott being scared. Who knew?"
'Excuse me-what?' she thought, equally baffled and amused. Was he teasing her? She was sure that her eyebrows where hitting her hairline in this very moment while the corners of her lips curled up into a smile.
"Don't you go there, Daniel" she raised her eyebrow in a challenging matter where her smirk betrayed her mockingly serious facade.
"Or what?"
What? Coughing slightly she almost had to do double take to make sure that it was really Bryan who was sitting next to her. Okay, she had to admit, she did not know him, they where introduced to each other like what- 30 minutes ago? Not that she was complaining- she hated nothing more than people who were taking absolutely everything serious.
She leaned onto the desk with her elbow, resting her head on her hands that covered her mouth. As she turned back around Bryan was still in the same position giving her his best victorious smile, her own eyes couldn't probably hide her own amusement either so she tried to give him her best 'don't you think this is over yet'.
"Oooo I'm scared," he mouthed towards her which she responded with a halfhearted roll her eyes, her laugh was suppressed by the hand that was still covering her mouth. Who knew he could be- like... this?
"Hey man," they were suddenly interrupted by another guy joining their spot on the table, "how's it going?"
The two of them shared a few words before both of their eyes drifted back towards her.
"New girl?" he simply asked with a grin as he sat down on the empty chair next to Bryan, not even trying to be a little bit discreet while letting his eyes drift over her. Faye merely nodded in response which made the bleached blonde man's eye light up even further. "Nice! I'm Nick by the way."
"Faye," her smile was a little shy as she shook his big hand.
"You two know each other already?" Nick asked, rolling up the sleeves of his shirt a little.
"We've met before" Bryan answered with a grin, earning a low 'Ooo' from Nick's side.
"So let me guess, Ring of Honor then? Come on – details!"
With a short laugh Bryan began to tell Nick what he wanted to hear, that they both had worked for Ring of Honor and that titles of the SHIMMER Woman Athletes brand where usually defended at ROH annual events while the other blonde listened closely. Faye then had to explain what had brought her to the WWE, something she was sure that she would have to repeat a few times more in the future. During their conversation Faye found out that Nick Nemeth wrestled under the name of Dolph Ziggler and that he was currently signed up under RAW contract- which somehow made her wonder in what of the two possible brands she would be ending up in. Nick actually didn't seemed to be such a bad guy – a bit bold, but she was sure that she could handle that – at least that was her impression during their little conversation.
His angular face always seemed to be split in half with a smile and his baby blue button up shirt seemed to enhance he intensity of his equally colored eyes. Admittedly, the slicked-back and bleached hair threw her off a little but it seemed like it was all part of the character he had to portray on screen.
Faye also shook hands with Natalie Neidhart as she turned around, admittedly a bit awkwardly as they both bend over the table since she sat next to Beth. Natalie was smiling broadly towards her as the other blonde was so nice to introduce them to each other. They didn't really got much further than the obligatory 'nice to meet you's, before everything suddenly went quiet as Vince McMahon entered the room followed by a bunch of sharply dressed people in expensive looking suits and business dresses.
Natalie – who insisted on being called Nattie – quickly mouthed a 'we talk later' into her direction with a smile before both of them turned their attention towards the chairman of the WWE who absolutely not wasted any time, going straight into business. He began to talk about the future main Pay-per-View events and how many tickets had been sold until this point, a smaller pudgy man on his left began to talk about statistics after that and analyzed the ratings of both the SmackDown and the RAW brand, while a middle-aged man with black rimmed glaces talked about finances for at least 30 minutes afterwards.
Faye knew that this was all part of the business and a necessity to get through but good lord – having to listen to the ups and downs of the WWE's stock exchange value was torture. As interested as she at least tried to look like, when she dared to peek around the room she actually had to smile at the sight of how many of the superstars weren't even hiding the fact that they couldn't care less about what the gentleman at the top of the table arrangement had to say.
"Are they always talking about.. this?" Faye whispered towards Phil who nodded in return, "and worse.." he said, acting like he would be falling asleep on the spot.
"Yay" she whispered with the enthusiasm of a teenager that was confronted with math homework and sank further into her chair.
Many long minutes later Vince finally caught everybodies attention again when he started talking about Ohio Valley Wrestling and the progress the attending wrestlers there where making. Faye noticed Nick shifting on his seat out of the corner of her eyes which probably had to so something with the younger brother of his he mentioned and who was training with Ohio Valley. Vince went on to list all the current superstars who where out because of an injury – which were actually quite a few to Faye's surprise – and told everyone for how long they were still assumed to be missing before finally moving on to specifically talking about the future RAW and SmackDown events. He listed up the following cities the shows would be stopping next and what their plans would be for the next line-ups. He finished his lengthy speech with asking "any questions" in such a tone that probably didn't dared anyone to ask something in that very moment – it even seemed like everyone was somehow holding their breath expectantly.
"And finally to those who haven't noticed yet – we have a new member in our ranks," Vince then said, turning towards Faye who immediately wanted to sink even further into her chair that she already was, "Faye, would you please stand up?"
Ooh crap.
She now really was feeling like the new kid at school. Standing up rather hesitantly she felt all the eyes of the room on her now.
"Faye Harter everyone!" Vince proclaimed proudly which made her smile a little awkwardly as everyone began to clap as Vince did so.
'Most definitely a 9 on the embarrassment-scale' she thought while still trying to look more or less joyous.
"WHOO – Go Faye!" Phil screamed into the room from her right, almost earning a harsh slap over the head from her side but she was able to control herself, settling for a mean death glare in his direction after she sat down again.
"Alright then," Vince continued after the clapping had died down – thank god. She very much had felt like she was transported back into her childhood to those awkward moments when her teacher always insisted everyone to sing her a "Happy Birthday"-song when clearly neither she nor her classmates had been very enthusiastic about it.
"Everybody knows what to do- Mr. Van Crearen and Mr. Jacobsen here will hand out the scrips for the next shows, should anything be unclear – Stephanie and Ms. Gregs will be here to answer your questions."
With that everybody suddenly seemed to come alive, jumping of their seats, mumbling rose up from all around her.
"Ms. Harter, a word please" Vince said from the front, looking straight up into her eyes after he picked up a few documents from the table, his voice still booming over the busy noises of the other people in the room who all stood up to to get their scrips as fast as possible.
A bit hesitantly she stood up and walked around the table towards her boss, both Phil and Natalie simultaneously giving her a weird two-thumps-up expression as she quickly dared to look into their direction.
"Faye, this is my daughter Stephanie," Vince explained as she reached him, pointing to the pretty woman dressed in a black business costume next to him who was smiling back and forth between her father and the fidgeting smaller brunette, "she's in charge of the Creative Department and insisted on giving you the first insight on your gimmick and onscreen persona here in the WWE personally."
Faye actually felt herself shifting slightly under the gaze of the two of them, but Stephanie seemed to be nice enough – at least she kept on smiling towards her brightly.
"Nice to meet you," Faye said politely, shaking the taller woman's hand softly.
"Oh you have no idea!" Stephanie repeated with a laugh as she shifted the huge folder in her hand from one arm onto the other, "I'm sure you'd finally like to know what we have in store for you, right?"
"Very much so!" Faye said, excitement lighting up her eyes.
"I thought so," Stephanie said with a smile as she shared a knowing look with her father, who by now had his arms folded over his broad chest, "well, I'll be giving you a short summary of what we came up with and after that we'll come back so my father can officially hand your first scrip over to you, sounds good?"
"Absolutely!" Faye said out with an exited clap of her hands. 'Finally!' her mind seemed to scream at her as she did her best to control herself.
"Good, follow me." The two of them left the huge lounge through a side door entering a much smaller room that was attached next to it. It barely contained a couch and a desk but it had enough privacy in opposite to the busy room next to them.
"Have a seat please" Stephanie said as she sat down on one side of the leathery furniture.
"First of all I'd personally like to congratulate on your signed contract," Stephanie said, elegantly crossing a leg over the other, "I was really glad when I got informed that you accepted our offer."
"Like I could ever let an opportunity like that pass by" Faye said with a shrug of her slender shoulders.
"I have to admit that I was absolutely thrilled that you did, I'm finally getting the chance to extend and develop the diva's division more and you are the perfect, perfect start with that." Stephanie said eagerly, she truly seemed like it was something very near and dear to her.
"I'm glad to hear that," Faye answered honestly, "I'm hoping that I will live up to the high exceptions though."
"Oh, no need to worry, it's not like you'll be thrown out there just like that," she said waving her hand around slightly, "admittedly – we're rushing things a bit with you from now on, meaning that tomorrow night at the taping date of SmackDown here in Stamford you'll be shooting your first promo and depending how things turn from there maybe your first backstage segment as well."
Faye nodded shortly, not really minding that things where moving fast for her.
"I know that you're still not having the green light from your doctor, right?" Stephanie asked as she looked from her folder back to Faye, who sighed a little in defeat.
"No, not fully, I have another appointment on Monday where I'm hoping that he'll be giving me the okay to go!"
"That's alright!" Stephanie reassured her worries with another smile, "as for now our plans look like you won't be active in the ring for at least another two weeks, you'll be filming backstage segments to get the fans used to you and after that you'll have you're debut in-" her eyes looked down again, flying over the lines of the paper, "Sacramento- you'll be debuting in Sacramento, California. In the meantime you'll be having enough time to get your body used to wrestling again."
"Alright, that's good to hear," Faye said, really glad that her injury wasn't affecting her start with the WWE.
"As for your future gimmick-" Stephanie finally said and Faye couldn't suppress and exited grin as she shifted on her position slightly, "things aren't fully developed yet, mainly for the reason that we're still assuming that some character streaks will simply change at some points and we're definitely letting you have a say concerning a few but let's start with the name –"
She then handed her a paper with a rough draft and some sort of short summary of her gimmick to Faye who immediately let her eyes fly over it.
"Faye Harter?" Faye read out in slight disbelieve, "so I'm going to keep my name? My real name?"
"Yes indeed," Stephanie said with a laugh, "I'm not sure how detailed my father got when you signed your contract but if things are moving the right way, you'll have the opportunity to build up a whole brand with your name. Just thing about Randy Orton, John Cena, Trish Status – they all wrestled under their real name and became big with it."
Faye hummed shortly, her eyes still glued on the paper.
"See, people know you for your Riott gimmick, we're aware of that so we will not totally taking that away from you," the head of the Creative Department kept explaining to her, "of course due to legal issues you simply cannot keep the name either, we tried but SHIMMER is claiming it so we are taking this as a opportunity to develop you further. Let's put it this way – more Faye, less Riott, but still combined in one person. Keeping up the 'Detroit Rock City' attitude but with less pink in it!"
"Thank god!" Faye let out with a sigh of relief after hearing that, almost fearing that this color would be stuck on her forever.
"Like I said, we're eager to help you adjust to everything and to let you and your gimmick develop, especially now that you are still new to this business. Since on-stage Faye is probably very closely connected to real-life Faye you're still going to have a say in a lot of things that will concern you – like your entry song and a lot of different little things that will make you you."
Faye just sat on the couch in silence with a huge smile on her face, hardly even aware of the fact how lucky she was. She knew that some were simply pushed into characters that they had to live with, some even being utterly ridiculous – but with her they really seemed to have a lot of faith in her and her abilities. She truly felt honored.
"Now, read though these papers when you have time, there is no rush with anything. Listen to the entrance song suggestions we listed up on page three and let me know if there is any song that's especially to your liking tomorrow or the day after. Once you get your script from my father and you're still having any questions left, you are very welcome to contact me. Now, tomorrow you'll be getting pampered at one of the best spar's around here including a little make-over as well." Stephanie's gleam in her eyes at the mentioning of a make-over suddenly made her a tiny bit worried.
'Oh gosh, what's coming now?' Faye thought with slightly widened eyes.
"Oh no no, don't worry!" the brunette next to her quickly said as she seemed to sense her sudden nervousness, "it won't be anything dramatic, trust me! Just something new, something fresh, something to make you ready for SmackDown – which by the way will be the brand you'll be first starting out with. So – I know it's a bit of an information explosion right now but- do you have any questions up to this point?"
Faye was torn between shedding some tears of joy, weeping dramatically at the expensive looking shoes of the woman who basically made her WWE future seem so very glittery and nice, and tackling Stephanie with a hug – all three choices seemed rather inappropriate so she settled with another shy smile and a shake of her head.
"Thank you," it came out far more silent that she intended to, somehow the tiny lump in her throat got in her way, "thank you so much for this opportunity Misses Mc-" but she was cut off immediately with a wild gesture of the woman in front of her.
"Please, none of that- it's Stephanie," she said with another small smile and Faye nodded softly.
"Well then, thank you Stephanie!"
"You're very welcome. Now go get your script, I know my dad doesn't really like to be left waiting for too long," the youngest of the McMahon children said with a wink, slightly tilting head into the direction of the door making the shorter brunette jump off the couch immediately.
"O-okay," Faye said quickly, tugging her hair behind her right ear, "good-bye then!" she said genuinely as she reached the door and looked around a last time.
"Don't worry, I'm sticking around a bit- so I probably see you around backstage a lot," Stephanie grinned, also standing up from the couch now, "plus you'll be having your first photo-shoot after your make-over backstage in the arena here in Stamford- I'll be there as well."
"Alright, see you around then," Faye replied meekly, giving her a little awkward wave before she disappeared through the door and back into the main lounge again.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
'Wow' there wasn't any more words for her brain to sum up what just had happened – and she hadn't even gotten her damn script yet. Back in the huge lounge that was still filled with many WWE superstars she leaned against the next wall she could reach, taking in a deep intake of breath, trying to calm down her thumping heartbeat. Once opened again her eyes immediately looked around for Phil, eager to let him know – heck, to let anyone know how fucking nice Stephanie McMahon just had been.
But instead of the tattooed Chicago native her searching eyes found those of Daniel Bryan, who tilted his head in question as they eyes met. She gave him her most stupid-giddiest thumps up expression, actually holding back from jumping up and down a little in the last nick of time.
"Still no script?" he asked with a smile as he walked over to her, waving around his folder purposely.
"No," she replied, shaking her head softly, instead she was holding up the three pages of her character's description, "but I got this summary of my future me though."
"Oh right, how did it go?" he asked curiously, his eyes widening slightly making her hide behind the papers with a laugh. It recently seemed like she smiling a lot anyway. Oh well, she definitely had her reasons for it. And Bryan, he seemed like a genuinely nice person- at least that was her first impression of Mr. Danielson. Plus it seemed like they were somehow bounded through the fact that both of them were Ring of Honor alumni. "Do I need to call you by a different name from on?" he asked as he leaned onto the wall next to her with his right shoulder.
"Actually- no," Faye said, chuckling a bit- still kind of surprised about the fact that they hadn't come up with a crazy new name for her, "I'm still Faye, including even my last name."
"That would be?"
"Harter, so- Faye Harter from Detroit, Michigan. To make it sound more like a brand Stephanie said."
"That's a good thing, right?"
"Oh, yes, yes I think so, it seems like my gimmick will be a hyped-up version of myself, I think I can handle that," she answered with a smile, "could have been way worse!" she shuddered slightly at the thought to carve out a miserable existence as nothing but a valet...
"But what about you, kicking butt around here I hope?" she asked, quickly wanting to change the topic somehow as she flickered her finger against Bryan's oh-so-ominous blue folder.
"Always," he laughed slightly, "I'm gonna bury them all!"
"Oh, you will?" she arched one of her eyebrows in response.
"Totally!" he proclaimed in mock seriousness and after a few seconds of silence he actually had her laughing out loud until she stopped herself with putting her hand in front of her still broadly smiling lips.
"But it looks like we do have a few scenes together behind the camera," Bryan said, half of his face curled up in a smile, once again waving around the folder in his hand mockingly.
"Really?" she gasped in surprise eager to finally find out how her gimmick would be used, jumping away from the wall she was leaning on, "let me see!"
"Ah-ah-ah," he quickly said, taking a step back as she tried to peak over. He rolled-up the papers before she could be tempted to try and snatch it away from him,"you have to be a patient girl and wait for your own one!"
She was sure that he did this only to tease her, so she gave him her best narrowed-eyes-pursed-lips-'I can't believe you are so mean right now' expression. Now, was it a good thing or not that he seemed to know more than she did – with an expression like the one he had now she wouldn't be surprised if he'd start dancing and singing 'I know something you don't know' anytime soon.
Faye pried her eye's away from his, trying her best to focus on finding Vince McMahon in the bustle of people instead of roasting Bryan with her glare. Or trying to pursue him to let her read his scrip- whatever would be working best.
Now she really couldn't wait to read that damn text of her's, too bad that patience really wasn't something that Faye Harter was known for...
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Next Up: Turning Faye into her onsceen persona and entering the backstage world of WWE's SmackDown.
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Thank you for reading,
Moony M.