Booking Glory-Chapter 106: A New Facet

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"No, I have seen you somewhere," Malora said shaking her head.

"Is that so?" Rob asked amused causing Malora to throw a glare his way. "Whatever, you will know who it is before long. Let us get back to what you wanted to discuss earlier."

"Nothing much, I wanted to ask whether my outfit fits. Is there anything I can do more?" Malora asked looking at Rob, before shooting a glance at Dacey to see if she was comfortable with the discussion.

"Don’t worry," Rob said seeing Malora’s actions. "She is in the business as well."

"Oh, thank god," Malora said with a relieved sigh. "I didn’t want to drive away the one woman you managed to land by talking about wrestling."

Rob’s face blackened causing Dacey to struggle to contain her laughter.

"What do you mean?" Rob asked irritably.

"Ah, nothing, nothing," Malora said cheekily. "I didn’t want to bore her too much. I am sure you would have talked her ear off about wrestling enough times. If she is not into it, it would be disastrous."

"He he he... I will get back at you for that," Rob said gritting his teeth.

"Ya, ya," Malora said airily as she opened the backroom and let them in. "Anyways, you guys get comfortable. Is it the usual for you? What about your date?"

"The usual for me, and she would order for her," Rob said sitting comfortably on the couch.

Meanwhile, Dacey took her seat and started doing away with her accessories. The moment her sunglasses came away, Malora squeaked in surprise as she identified who it was.

"No way," Malora whispered, "You managed to land Dacey Surestone!!!? No way!!!"

"What do you mean by that?" Rob scowled at Malora.

"Dude, she is way out of your league," Malora said as if it was obvious causing Rob to splutter and Dacey to laugh. "Look at her. Look at you. You should know your level, Rob."

"What is it with my friends and their reaction to your identity?" Rob grumbled looking at Dacey.

"Obviously, they feel I am way out of your league," Dacey shot back causing Rob to shoot her a mock glare.

"Did this idiot try to use his position to threaten you or something to come out for a date?" Malora asked gleefully.

Even though it was clear that she didn’t mean it, the question caused Rob to shout indignantly at her.

"I mean, we were asking you to bring the girl that you keep hiding from us. And you end up bringing Dacey Surestone, someone way out of your league. What am I supposed to think? I thought you wanted to show off to us and pressured Dacey here to come out with you on a date and pretend to be your girl," Malora shrugged nonchalantly causing Rob’s eyes to twitch.

Dacey looked as if she was enjoying it way too much to defend Rob.

"Can you order?" Rob said gritting his teeth and looking at Dacey.

Dacey smiled a little and ordered her drinks, causing Rob to shoo away Malora amidst her witch-like cackles.

"Interesting friend you have there," Dacey commented idly relaxing in her seat. "What’s up with her dressing as a witch?"

Rob explained to Dacey his idea of creating a gimmick for Malora and trying to make it more popular with the use of the bar. At first, Dacey was a bit skeptical about the idea as this hasn’t been done before, but once Rob started explaining it clearly, she started to get excited as well.

"This is like a new form of a gimmick. My only peeve here is that this gimmick doesn’t focus much on wrestling ability. If I am not wrong, then this would focus more on being spooky and eliciting reactions from the crowd," Dacey said frowning a bit.

"Personally, it doesn’t sit well with me. But, I feel that if it was done right, she can gain popularity at the grassroots level very quickly," Dacey continued getting a bit intrigued by the concept.

"Exactly, what she needs right now is the popularity of the gimmick. She could slowly polish her wrestling skills. This also gives her the needed crutch to be able to shine despite her inexperience," Rob said explaining his reasons further.

"Hmmm, looks like you have given this much thought," Dacey said nodding.

Malora walked in with their orders at that time causing Dacey to turn and look at her in a scrutinizing manner. Malora delivered the drinks and waited patiently for Dacey to scrutinize her.

It was clear to Malora that Dacey was looking more at her costume and other aspects of her dress. She figured that Rob would have explained it to her about it. Hence, she wasn’t put off by the attention that Dacey showed.

"Hmmm, I think your attire needs some more work," Dacey hummed looking at Malora. "From my experience, it would be very, very hard to wrestle in this."

"Oh, I didn’t think about it," Malora said a little sheepishly.

"Don’t get dazzled by the things he says, you need to understand that he has a lot of ideas but very little practical experience. He is just getting to know the various intricacies involved," Dacey said gesturing towards Rob.

"In my opinion, even if your gimmick is different and is more focused on being spooky and scaring the audience, you need to be able to wrestle. Without just, you are just another clown in a costume. But, if you are able to deliver in the ring along with this gimmick, then you will have a great future," Dacey said looking at Malora seriously.

"Most of the ideas that come out of his mouth are just insane and even genius. But, sometimes, you need to separate the idea from all the beautiful pictures it presents and start to look at it more realistically. You need to ask some practical questions and see whether his ideas stand up to it."

"For example, can I wrestle in this costume? If not, how can I make both the idea and the need to wrestle work in a realistic way? Can I change my costume a bit to accommodate free movement? Is there any other kind of witch out there that might be even better as a wrestling gimmick?"

Malora and Dacey started getting into a passionate discussion causing Rob to be a bit dumbfounded. He had never seen this side of Dacey before. While he had known that Dacey had her own views and is very proactive in shaping her own character with minimal input, seeing her take charge of a discussion was something new. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

Whenever they discussed, Dacey always listened to his thoughts and would build upon them later. Rob was the kind of guy who throws an idea and says the reasoning behind it and leaves it up to the wrestlers to come up with other minute details.

He was never hands-on and mostly left it to the wrestlers to figure it out. As most of this figuring out happened in the locker room, he had never seen discussions like this happen. So, it was very novel for him to see yet another facet of the industry. A facet in which Dacey clearly shined.

Dacey and Malora’s discussion began with practical aspects of wrestling. Like moving in a costume, how difficult it would be to perform some moves, how to shape certain things, and what moves would look ideal.

And then started branching out into certain very things that had little impact but were ultimately important like what to add in a costume, how to make your ring gear stand out, what kind of color to choose, and whatnot.

Even Nelson, who came in after some time, sat down quietly after greeting Rob and started listening intently to the two females discussing very animatedly. Each and every one of Dacey’s inputs was like a door opening to Malora and she started absorbing the experience that came out of Dacey’s mouth eagerly.

"Looks like someone else has stolen your date?" Nelson said chuckling at Rob.

"It looks so," Rob said smiling a little. "I never knew these many aspects needed to be taken into account when designing some character."

"What do you mean?"

"You see, I usually come up with an idea and let the wrestlers figure it out how it is done. I am very hands-off regarding it. I tell them what I want and what I am going for. And then I leave it to them to deliver," Rob said shaking his head.

"But, isn’t that like lazy?" Nelson asked doubtfully.

"Actually, it is genius," Dacey said breaking away from conversing with Malora. "It is why we all listen to him more than we listened to Robin."

"Oh," Rob said surprised.

"You aren’t pushy. You are willing to allow us the freedom to be creative and explore a bit. When it was Robin who was managing us, things were a bit different," Dacey said with a grimace.

"How different?" Rob asked curiously.

"Well, you must understand, Robin never thought much of the women’s division as a whole. His focus has always been on the male division. He considered us to be mere fill-ins that are there to provide variety," Dacey said shrugging her shoulders.

"I mean, he was not wrong. Before you came in, we were indeed that in LWC. No matter how much we wanted to prove that we are not, we didn’t get any opportunity to prove it," Dacey said a little irritably.

"Apart from Diana, Robin didn’t have any of us in his eyes. He would come in, tell who is in the match and leave. Don’t get me wrong, we were fine with that. We would work it out amongst ourselves and try to put on a good enough show. But, the real issue with Robin comes after that," Dacey said scowling a bit.

"What?"

"Let’s say, he books a random match one time. And it would mostly be a tag match or a single match featuring Diana," Dacey said nonchalantly not seeing how Rob’s eyebrows climbed higher.

As a fellow booker, Rob knew that using the same star over and over will cause aesthetic fatigue among the audience. Not to mention the physical toll it would put on the star. It was clearly a lazy and inattentive booking.

"Well, let’s say a match between me and Diana is booked, somehow we manage to perform well and create some interest, then it is when Robin’s interference truly begins," Dacey said sipping her drink.

"The moment something with potential appears, Robin has to have his hands all over it. He would dictate what we should do from one end to the other, not listening to any of our suggestions. After a while, we all learned not to offer any more suggestions. By the time he would be done, he would have sucked out all the interest in the angle and caused us to be once more relegated to becoming a sideshow," Dacey said grimacing a bit.

"It is not just him, most bookers are like that. They use the women’s division to experiment with their ideas and bring back the results to the men’s division and tweak it more based on the reactions received," Dacey smiled a little wanly, causing Malora to bite her lips in anxiety.

"That is why it is hard for women to stand out. The men’s division will be using the completed ideas that were experimented on our end and received good reactions, while we would be used like test dummies."

"People like Diana who have withstood all these toxic testing will have a certain following and would be given the championship belt. But, it is a double-edged sword, to be honest. Being a champion means, you will have to participate in every whim that comes to the booker regardless of how silly it is. Even when you know it wouldn’t work, we need to do it regardless of our likes," Dacey harrumphed a little dissatisfiedly.

"Moreover, they never try to promote us. With the limited time we are given, we are then forced to come up with other ways to grab attention. And the avenue for it is also limited with how most bookers dictate everything," Dacey said causing Rob to give an understanding nod.

"What was really infuriating about Robin was that, let’s say if I use a particular set of costumes to grab some attention. Then, the next week, he would try to get control of that as well. But, his idea of using that would be entirely different from the original purpose, thus subverting it entirely," Dacey said with a scowl. "In the end, the little interest we have generated on our own will also fade away, once more relegating us to our old position."

"Didn’t you guys complain about it to Mr. Gibson?" Rob asked curiously.

"Then what? At most, Mr. Gibson would tell Robin to not do that again. Meanwhile, Robin will choke our opportunities and give them to someone else under the guise of creating more variety for the audience. You can’t do anything about it. After being sidelined for a bit, you learn to shut up and do whatever his whims come up with," Dacey said shaking her head.

"But, how would gain popularity if that was the case?" Rob asked in confusion.

"Forget popularity, even maintaining our position would be difficult. Being on and off, and never having a proper direction hurt our standings more than any other thing. So, it was a constant chore for us to be relatable to the audience before you took charge," Dacey said smiling at Rob softly.

"Why do you think everyone agreed to whatever crazy ideas you put out? One, we were used to it. Two, your ideas couldn’t be any worse than Robin’s. But most importantly, in the first meeting you had, you outlined an individual plan to develop most of us. That is the thing that caused us to trust you," Dacey explained causing Rob’s eyes to widen.

"Moreover, you never tried to insert yourself too much in everything. You would give us an overall direction, your general idea, what you want to accomplish, and left everything else to us. It was novel to us and it also made us pool our brains to make things work. That is why everyone celebrates everyone’s success backstage. All of us have more or less a hand in any successful ideas," Dacey said smirking a bit.

"I never knew," Rob said surprised. "I thought you guys merely had good camaraderie."

"Pfft, please, that alone couldn’t keep everyone happy. The thing that satisfied most of us is that you had plans for everyone. And we also had a hand in every successful segment. It was kind of like a pride thing," Dacey said shaking her head.

"Good to know," Rob said leaning back as he didn’t know how to reply to that statement.

"What I am trying to say is that what you do is working," Dacey said sipping her drink. "You don’t force your way into things you have no knowledge about. Even when talking about your ideas, you always let us know the hidden agenda you are going for. Knowing that, helps a lot in making sure our preparations match it," Dacey said smirking a bit.

Rob nodded in understanding.

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