#i was so tempted to add sections for slater and sammie you don't even know .

[hostilecityshowdown]

tawlk about DDP and his men NOW

RIGHT MEOW?

i like how this isn't even. immediately relevant to my fic writing process. anything for you however

my DDP muse is elusive as best but once again, mango sends me to the mines for coal /j he is, indeed... a collector of men. i want to talk about his relationships with women first, though.

my muse maintains his marital status with kimberly, and they're definitely a power couple. dallas is very good at marketing, very person-forward, front-facing. he truly cares about people and wants to help them and, for all he presents himself as being in the same camp as conmen, he'll screw himself to avoid screwing someone else - unless he knows they're privileged enough to survive, regardless. kim also cares about people and is especially protective of other women, but she's much more business and finance oriented than her husband. whereas dallas is hands on in harm reduction, kim takes a more broad approach with a focus on sustaining resources. dallas is the guy who'll sit with someone through withdrawal and kim is the gal who'll go full throttle on their insurance company for rehab coverage - but they'd both work together to shell out time, resources, and money for the people they're trying to help. if dallas didn't maintain a good relationship with his wife, she'd never let him near the diamond dolls, and if he didn't maintain good relationships with the dolls... i think kim would keelhaul him using his own boat. most of his self-promoting material featuring the dolls is meant to increase their visibility, too, not reduce them to props.

speaking of the dolls: dallas loves them and maintains professional relationships with them. kim is probably the anchor that keeps him from developing a familial mindset towards the women they employ, especially because of how young so many of them are. in my own headcanons being a diamond doll is never encouraged to be the end goal, and dallas and kim are always working to help the women in their employ achieve bigger and better. neither of them demean the work of escorts and dancers, though, nor sex workers for that matter, and if those are the professional realms the dolls want to work in because they enjoy them, dallas is going to be supportive (and highly protective). kim's a little more insistent on safer prospects or more mainstream forms of entertainment and athleticism, and likes training the dolls. everyone has to do their DDPY though, or else. /j

okay his men. let's try to be organised about this (top ten words spoken before disaster)

• the diamond studd

go read slater's headcanons, bye!- no okay. dallas is not unwise to the world of professional wrestling, but he knows an artist and innovator when he sees one. he knows he elevates himself by being beside and, sometimes, behind razor; dallas is there to jerk the curtains back and aim the lights at the stage for his studd. dallas also knows he helps keep him on course, focused and motivated, in shape.

i'm not going to project scott hall's real life alcoholism onto a fictionalised muse based off fictional characters he played, but i do believe the diamond studd struggles with substance dependencies that could become addictions, and that dallas sees himself as a living preventive measure. he enriches razor's life outside his performance, subtly hooking him on collecting memorabilia and trinkets. dallas loves filming on his camcorder, razor somehow found himself creating a small collection of instant cameras. dallas always finds a pool hall wherever they go, razor developed some killer trick shots on the road. dallas's main leisure hobby is boating, razor isn't sure when he became a nautical map wiz, but he is. they frequent the same haunts when they revisit towns and regions, beating each other's scores on arcade games (dallas can't stop the studd's score on a specific sopranos pinball machine and it drives him nuts.) neither of them gamble without the other if they can avoid it. dallas has seen the studd at his absolute worst, his most vulnerable, and in the least flattering lights, and he does everything in his power to keep him far away from that place. he'll even tour around the country looking for a suitable assistant for him, recruiting person after person to find the perfect studdette. which is slater, of course.

• vinne vegas

repressed kinky trans man he needs to see flourish. next!

• scotty fl-

no okay. if the diamond studd is dallas's statement piece, vinnie vegas is the oversized wolfmutt dallas carries around as a purse dog. he loves this guy. when he first encounters diesel, dallas reads him as directionless. lost, repressed, but smart - quickly becoming a well known and trusted name in leather communities while trying, desperately, to hide the fact that he's trans and pre-medical transition. deeply passionate about indigenous issues and cultures, but woefully disconnected from his own. money-minded, but a big spender, yet never a debter. he has so much potential and so many crudely composed fake IDs, dallas decides he's going to help before diesel even realises he could use a hand. dallas and kim are the orchestrators behind diesel safely undergoing HRT and various gender-affirming surgeries, some of which they funded out of the country. dallas continuously helps him manage his basketball injury, which does disable him and would severely limit his mobility if not for extensive rehabbing and treatments. but dallas also forces diesel out of his comfort zone, making him a more confident performer, teaching him to play characters and develop gimmicks. vinnie vegas is only the initial developmental stage of the project that is diesel, and page works tirelessly on him.

this does mean their relationship is more one-sided initially, but diesel learns how to give back. he wants to, and returning favours in equal value isn't something that comes naturally to mister cool. diesel moving on from the diamond exchange and, quite literally, taking a name for himself and making it mean something is a massive source of both pride and grief for dallas. i think a small part of him wishes diesel stayed with him longer, and yet another part laments that razor and diesel will follow each other wherever they go, with or without him. he'll always be there when he's needed without hesitation, and he'll always be home base... but he does regret not being along for the ride, sometimes. that being said, dallas is one of the first of very few people diesel will go to for help, especially in an emergency

• scotty "the body" flamingo

sighs /j

page thinks of scotty as a raccoon more than a flamingo. he's always getting into Something, he has perpetual grabby hands, and he may look very pretty or cute but he can rip your face off without warning. he's a diva, a brat, and a sly manipulator; scotty masterminds endless scams, cons, and elaborative lies, and dallas facilitates the operation... within reason. he knows scotty can be something spectacular if he doesn't burn himself out before he makes it. icarus, but a flamingo-pink raccoon. he can tell scotty is incredibly talented, creative, intelligent, and curious, and he can tell he's severely self destructive. he knows he has untreated psychiatric issues, but he can't pinpoint exactly what the problems are beyond the manifestations of symptoms themselves, and scotty's misogyny and general attitude towards women mean kimberly isn't willing to cooperate with him at all. dallas's checklist of things he must provide in scotty's habitat reads something like this:

1. safe, controlled, supportive environments for scotty to explore and express himself

2. healthy stimulation, including encouraging and reinforcing replacing harmful behaviours with healthier and/or less harmful behaviours

3. safe socialisation where a) scotty will not be emotionally or sexually mistreated nor exploited, b) scotty cannot abuse nor mistreat others, c) scotty will have a higher likelihood of forming positive associations with mundane activities, and d) scotty can safely express dangerous and violent behaviours and thoughts, including his fixations on the "occult."

mister flamingo poses a special challenge for dallas, and he really does try to balance protecting everyone from scotty with protecting scotty from himself. his tenure under dallas's wing is the shortest out of the notable members of the diamond exchange, but scotty never forgets everything dallas did for him and the lessons he taught him. granted, he only listens to the ones that benefit his in-ring career, and he never reaches out to dallas for help even in life-threatening situations... but he doesn't forget. their relationship is always strained, yet mutually respectful, and scotty is always going to be closer with vegas and the studd. this is a whole other meta rant, but johnny polo and raven retain the memories of dallas's kindness (raven moreso than polo), and raven, at least, does eventually accept small doses of aid from dallas in the future. they never form a bond akin to dallas and scotty's, and raven is extremely avoidant of any opportunity for page to bring scotty up.

there's some men And some ladies for u. i love dallas and really want to write him more but he's so nuanced, such a smooth talker, so slick. half the time i feel like i'm building his muse atop the foundation of my L4D nick muse and throwing in elements of other muses, but not actually creating my own little ddp doll to play with from scratch... >_>