Post by J on Jan 21, 2022 1:03:06 GMT -5
“Circumstances”
(off Camera)
Reno,Nevada.
Ahead of Canadian Chaos
Vincenzo Giovanni Riina had grown up in somewhat tragic surroundings, the poor farmer’s son from Corleone in Sicily. The rather rural and cruel area not known for much good to anyone outside of it’s own community and probably even less to those who inhabited it. He was a recluse by nature known as a “il muto” amongst the villagers translated to “the mute”. Strong as an ox and twice as stubborn as the most boneheaded horse you’d ever meet, Vincenzo was one hell of a worker and since he didn’t speak it meant he didn’t complain either. So his father happily took his only child to work with him. Usually pocketing whatever meager pay they got paid and spent it on wine and cigarettes. If anything was ever left it was given to his wife. These were the times young Riina was living when Isabella Pazzini came to the town and offered him a chance to come work for her family. In Palermo Sicily’s capital. A place where all hopes and dreams could become reality as long as he was loyal. Little did she know that just by offering Riina a way out she had already given him more than what he could ever offer.
He had pledged his loyalty and allegiance to the Pazzini family but first and foremost to Isabella Pazzini, growing up in Corleone he knew just how some sayings just wouldn’t come true. “Blood is thicker than water” has a nice ring to it and it sounds honorable but if Vincenzo would have kept count on how many times it was the very own blood that had been the end of someone, he would have lost any hope of keeping track. Yet it was that pledge, that loyalty that had taken him from Palermo and the island he loved to the desert of Nevada, in a dump like Reno of all places.
Sitting there with a pencil in hand and a blank sheet of paper in front of him, the big man starts to write a surprisingly neat handwriting for someone of his educational level.
”Dear Antonio. I hope this letter reaches you in good health and spirits. It must not be easy being there in Palermo with Grandfather and the others without your mother and I. You must be strong however for you are the man of the house now and I hope you remember to act accordingly ”
He held the pencil firmly yet in his mind he was going through his training regiment leading up to the next event. The times in the gym, the sweat that had poured out with the weights, swift series of kicks and hits to heavy bags. The look on his unwilling sparring partners faces Watching them drop down unconscious, time and time again. Nico Pazzini slapping them awake and Ricky Rhodes handing them some money before the next unlucky ones came in looking for an easy payday. Vincenzo was not sure which hurt more. His shots to the sparrers or watching Ricky separate himself from his precious dollars..a rat in a suit, greedy as ever paired up with a thug who wanted to be a gangster..but at least that thug had been born in the right family.
”I’ll bring you some more books when I get back, I promise you Antonio. Steer clear of the temptations and videogames, like I told you those just pacify you and dull your mind. I know your friends spend a lot of time watching shows and playing games, they might even frown at you for not agreeing to such things but Antonio, what you have in your head is better than anything they could have. Your mind, your imagination will be your greatest asset going forward and growing up. Muscles and fitness can be built over time, but no matter how hard and long you train, your body will give in with age. If you keep your mind sharp it will be by far the deadliest weapon of your arsenal. Remember you are a Pazzini, your mother loves you very much and with that name, that heritage you can be whatever you ever dream of being or even choose not to be. Your friends do not have such privileges, let them work, let them become like everyone else. Read up on your books, learn of the teachings of the great minds Antonio and they will all be working for you one day.”
He sighs, Total Anarchy Champion. He came to this country with one mission, to watch over the “amerigano” and Isabella’s Nephew. That was all he was supposed to do. Be their heavy, be their protector and make sure that neither one would get their skull caved in or their heads knocked off. Yet in the end he had been put up face to face and toe to toe against the one person in the world he had not wanted to fight. Isabella Pazzini, Antonio’s mother..he was not Antonio’s father, but there were times he wished he would be. He couldn’t be any worse than his own father had been. He wanted to give the boy an education unlike anything the school system could provide, unlike the upbringing he was given. Antonio Pazzini could one day be his employer, a boss of his own and if Vincenzo Riina was not around to see it he would spend his last moments on this earth, his final drop of blood and breath to do all he could to secure the boy’s position there.
“Do not worry about your mother or me, we’ve been busy. There are two very important matches this weekend here in Reno. It may be tough to understand but what she is doing is something important to her and you. She isn’t doing this all just for herself but for you and your family as well, your future. You must be a sensible young man and understand that. Me? I am just doing what she would want me to do, just like you should do what she wants you to do..that makes us not just alike but equal. So look after your grandfather, play some chess with him or something and we’ll be home before you know it. I’m sure she will call you before it too but just in case, I’m sending you her love along with this letter. 2022 will be the first year of making things better, trust me.
Loving, Vincent.”
He drops the pencil and watches those damn near poetic verses on the paper, calm on the outside, stoic even but inside his mind was racing. CODA, another challenger another “monster” that came to Reno in hopes of making an example of him, to use him as a stepping stone, to boast and balloon their own ego up. He would not bother with words of threats, claims or statements. He had no words to say, he wasn’t paid to talk, he wasn’t expected to communicate. There were others who did more than enough of that, but when that bell would ring, he’d find ways to have his actions speak louder than any words. If a clearly out of his mind buffoon like Luther Thunder could hurt CODA and sideline her, so too could a man, nay a monster like Vincenzo. Would he wrap a chair around her pretty little head, Choke the breath and consciousness out of her? Pummel and stomp her until she wouldn’t move anymore..watch them stretcher her out like another such poor soul on last season? There were so many choices, so many roads he could take and they would all take him to exactly where he wanted to go:
Total Anarchy.