#ive seen three different basic shelving units that i thought would b nice for my closet. and none of these ppl have responded

[mianwo]

smth dumb and meaningless that makes me irrationally upset is when ppl dont reply to me after i inquire abt their fb mktplace post. but also they dont update their post. did they ghost me and sell it but then didnt update their post? did they ghost me bc they didnt like my vibe? are they dead? are they in a coma? did they forget their fb password? did they decide they actually didnt want to sell the item anymore? do they think im a bot or scammer? please i need to know

[adriennescomingbacktolife]

(IV)

“So why me?” Adrienne paused, introductions over, now it was time for business. She put the TracFone on speaker and set it down on the coffee table, next to a red RC car. The toy and slightly cracked iPad had been returned to her by some sly fox. Reclining back on the couch, she considered her words carefully as she fiddled with the wrapper of a watermelon Jolly Rancher. As promised, the tarot card reader delivered. Those two small moments that night, removed from cameras, helped her not to think about what eventually did happen. But honestly, she didn’t get the same personable feelings from Matt Knox. He seemed ornery and sometimes rude. It perplexed her that he spoke out like he did. “You could have had your pick of anyone. Silvio. Willis. Anyone else.” “I need a reason now? Because you’ll hurt them as bad as I will, kid. Sure he probably annoyed those two, but he flat out insulted you.” “I’m used to it.” She appreciated his vote of confidence but her anger towards Lab Rat King amounted to little. She had ran at him with all of these thoughts of taking him down a peg or two and well, the boot shaped bruise on her neck told a different story. So here’s this Alex Winter being as deplorable as possible and she’s going to hurt him? Like injure his pride even? What a pipe dream. “It’s a nice thought. I’ll do my best, Matt. But you were right, it’s like he knew. Like he knew what buttons to press...” Trailing off, she changed the subject quickly. “In a general sense, you know.” “Yeah. General.” A pause, Knox exhaled on his end. “Fuck him in the neck. He shot off at the mouth, and kept shooting off. His own partner is irritated with him. We play this right, this is fish in a barrel. And we both get what we want." This man’s swagger was something Adrienne could definitely use more of. She could do without the swearing but that was just her. But yeah, the attitude, there was a difference. Like watching him get back into the ring, it seemed like he never left. Admitted ring rust or not, he was quite formidable. He hit hard and he spoke bluntly. Despite the glum start to her career, it seemed like people were taking notice. She had made some assumptions about that attention. Including Matt Knox. Something prodded her to stop internalizing this. Take a risk. Take a leap, so to speak. “So this is my first tag match. I know the rules well enough. And right now, I think we have an advantage. I don’t see Alex and Steve remaining cohesive as a unit. However, I’d be remiss if I didn’t just say this.” Take a big leap, Adrienne. “So I know you’ve got daughters in the sport. I’m not one of them. And I’m not a kid. Technically, I am a rookie. And maybe this sounds like a broken record but I’ve been in the business since I was nineteen years old. So I’m your peer. Your tag partner, Matt.” ”Of course you are, Mrs. Levi. But you also have only gotten active in the ring… what, a week before I returned? The week of? There is a chasm between us as far as experience. Far greater than the chasm of talent, and the one of grit. I wouldn’t have asked for this match if I thought I’d need to carry you through it.” And well, there it was. Matt had a point. She’d been pretty relieved. Years of offering her opinion and rarely receiving a sensible reply had left her gunshy. “Alright. Cool.” So then there’s the matter of capitalism being rather cruel sometimes. New month and her wallet was already coughing mothballs. “I’ll be honest. I don’t have the resources some of you have. I’ve seen personal rings set up. I’ve seen where some of you have the means to just up and move-” She stopped, sensing an interruption. “Listen, if you can get back to Baltimore, go to the Marriott by the Harbor. Rooms 201 and 204, check both, ask for Bert. Tell him I said rent you a room through the next Chaos. It isn’t charity, but we can NOT go into this without at least kind of training as a unit.” Adrienne didn’t expect anything to be handed her but her brain swarmed with what was to her an astronomical cost. “Now, I gotta go break up a child fighting ring in the desert at a wrestling festival. I’ll see you soon.” “What?” He had already hung up. If you can get back to Baltimore. He made that sound easy. Done fiddling with the wrapper, Adrienne popped the Jolly Rancher into her mouth. Her mother was out of the question. She had left nearly a dozen text messages. Despite not being a fan, Angie had watched. And she was beyond angry about what transpired. Her texts were delivered in all caps. All of them accusational in nature. Or absolute frightened concern. But the last one was curiously subdued. Time stamped moments after Adrienne set down the microphone and limped away. wow love u, ade Love you too mom Convincing her mother to lend a few hundred bucks to get to Baltimore to meet a man-- well, Adrienne would never finish the request. In the small hallway before the front door, her white Fuji Absolute leaned against the wall. Her only mode of transportation. In something that only evoked embarrassment, she had never learned how to drive. Danny was cool with that, of course. Katy from work, former work, had always offered to buy it. After the miscarriage, Adrienne didn’t feel like correcting her Mother at that time, Katy got real interested in fitness. She always said the bike was being wasted in A to B use. Probably. It was another present from Danny. “Time to walk more, I guess.” She retrieved her personal phone. U still want the bike? Just moments passed. Yeah. 250 200. Meet in middle? 225 Sure. Drop it by Kaplan? Meet u in lot Just days after returning, she swung back around to Baltimore. As promised, there was a room in her name at the Marriott at Camden Yards. A note from Bert told her to take an Uber to a warehouse nearby. She entered from one of the side doors. The shelves were stacked high with canned goods but there was also a huge clearing as she stepped forward. Smack dab in the middle, there was a full blown wrestling ring set up. Some guy in a light jacket and a beanie was tightening the turnbuckles with a wrench. He looked up as Levi’s sneakers squeaked on the concrete. He had light blue eyes, kind looking despite a gruff exterior. “Bert?” With an exerted effort, he gave the wrench one more twist. Shaking the top rope, he was satisfied. Adrienne kept her distance as he finally acknowledged her presence. “Yeah, you Mrs. L?” “Adrienne.” Bert rolled out of the ring. “Come closer, echo’s a bitch in here.” Stepping just a few feet closer, she clutched the strap of her gym bag. “Knox’ll join us later.” “You’re his trainer?” “No, I mean, yeah. Long story. So where you learn at?” He seemed to start denying that but he got this smile on his face, like he was saying something facetious in nature. Adrienne hadn’t heard of a trainer who was possibly younger than the trainee but maybe Bert was a prodigy. “Down where I live. Redd Thunder.” She shook her head, that was his ring name. He’d been a decade removed from active competition. That friend of Danny’s who she drained her savings for. “Greg Berkowitz.” “Who?” Bert chuckled, “Sorry, so you want the truth, Adrienne?” Adrienne nodded slowly, she knew what was coming. “Imagine you paid a pretty penny and it's sad ‘cause you can’t even run the ropes right. Knox saw it right as rain when he watched your tapes. That’s all taught though. Everything else you’re doing? It’s like some raw instinct shit. That big ass jump to the outside? Took some huge balls.” “Thanks, I guess.” “Don’t thank me yet. Matt and uh, I have less than two weeks to retrain you on the basics. Otherwise, the two dipshits are going to eat you alive. That means less money. For all of us. That love of the sport gibberish doesn’t mean anything if you can’t eat.” That resonated with her. A month more of this and she’d have no choice but to crawl back to Kaplan. If they would even have her. “So what do I do?” “Bathroom’s in the back. Go get changed.” Bert gestured wildly behind him to a singular restroom at then end of a short hallway. “We’re going to start over. Later we’ll get you in front of a real rig. Have you give them a piece of your mind.” This was a stark contrast. The last three times viewers had seen Adrienne Levi, it’d been her filming herself. That term was to be used loosely. First, audiences were treated to the grainy camera of the iPhone 5 - or was it 6? She couldn’t remember. It had been another one of his gifts. Second, the videos were vertically shot. Third, if one liked the shaky camera movement of the Blair Witch Project, Adrienne was their girl. Instead, here she was, in full view. Dressed in a sleeveless black shirt that in bold red font proclaimed her the Queen of the Simps, black nondescript tights, and her beat up used pair of black wrestling boots. Adrienne was in front of a black backdrop splashed with the logo of her employer. “This one?” She pointed, just to the side of her. Someone off camera directed her attention to the camera that was actually on. “Oh, you. Sorry, I’ve never seen so much equipment set up before. Just for me to chat with you all.” Adrienne smiled quaintly. For the moment, she just stood there, shuffling her feet. She eyed something to her right. “May I? Been on my feet this whole day. I mean, this isn’t formal, right?” Walking off screen, she returned with a steel folding chair. Snapping it open, she placed it backwards and sat. Straddling the frame, she rested her elbows on the back of the chair. Mat burn was prevalent. “That’s better.” Now what was she going to say? Her mind has been swarming with all of the events of the last week. The obvious was her encounter with the Lab Rat King. His vicious ways had filled her nightmares that last few nights but truthfully, she preferred that monster over others that would traipse about in her subconscious. This sudden partnership with Matt Knox perhaps.Things had been more clear after their first real conversation. And finally, there was Steve Matthews and Alex Winter - two diametrically opposed newcomers who would serve as her opposition. “So forgive me, I got a little emotional on Monday night.” The boot shaped bruise on her neck was a startling reminder of why she may have been. “There are a lot of adages I’ve heard lately about my less than stellar start here at Carnage Wrestling. Not going to bother with them. You get the gist. I’ve just gotta keep trying, right?” She tapped fingers on the chair, pausing to allow that question to be affirmed. “I’ll say this, I was really wrong about some folks here. You’ve gotta understand something. Any competitor worth their salt doesn’t want to hear that their failure was like … a good try. That’s where I decided to put this into perspective. Other than losing to someone in my debut that lacked any conviction to back up her powerful proclamations, I’ve squared off with world class athletes…” She frowned. “... and a seemingly invincible foe. But here I am. Ready for more.” And then returned to a more neutral calculating expression. “I appreciate the compliments. I want to pay it forward.” Adrienne held one finger up. “Matt Knox. I think I would have like a little notice before you issued this challenge. But I get it. You and I have something in common and it’s not a good thing. Zero wins between us. Here’s the thing. You’re smart. You know what it takes to win. And having lost it all, you know how just bad it can get. Fighting with you prior, I trust you as my partner.” A second finger. “Steve Matthews. You’re Carnage’s Ace, despite never appearing prior. And you’re The Technical Master. A cursory look tells me you’ve accomplished a whole lot in your storied career. You’re as advertised in the ring. But with accolades like yours, it makes me wonder why you’re not just facing Amber Ryan in your debut, championship on the line and everything. Instead, you desperately accept an open challenge to cozy up with an individual who you can’t even stand.” She smiled, maybe relaying just a spark of sarcasm. “You’re pretty confident in your abilities but one thing I know about the art of tag team wrestling is that you’re only as good as your partner. Judging by your interactions with Alex, you think this is all about you. And I’m not reaching when I say that Alex Winter doesn’t believe much in this fragile alliance.” Adrienne held those two fingers there in an inadvertent peace sign. She shook her head, looking maybe a little disappointed. “Gosh, I apologize, Steve. I’m supposed to be complimentary towards you and well, I guess I’m not. You speak emphatically about how serious you take this business and that’s kind of cool. But other than that?” She shrugged her shoulders, then resting her chin on her forearms. “I don’t know. For all of that blustering about how you don’t advocate for your partner’s actions, you sure are complicit. It speaks negatively to your character. Like you’re unable to decide if being a good human is okay. Your companion doesn’t believe that so while you’re threatening to betray him, you’re still not explicitly condemning him. It makes you kind of … and I’m sorry, weak.” Sitting up, Adrienne raised a third finger. “Alex Winter. You paid me a compliment.” She’d been thinking about Alex Winter a lot lately. Through mere Twitter exchanges and one brief video, he had sure made an impact. Adrienne was sure he would consider that he was living rent free in her mind. That wasn’t the case. Rent was due and the price was something this party animal could never comprehend. “And so maybe I should have just smiled and batted my eyes.” And she did, displaying a strange flash of attitude as her expression then steeled. “I promised this to even you. Like your partner, you’re pretty impressive in the ring. And so perhaps when you throw out cliches that you can walk the walk - maybe you can.” Alex Winter had spent a lot of his career overseas in Japan. And now he was here to test his mettle in the states with over a decade of experience. Maybe Danny and him partied together. Probably not. Danny Levi was …. was not like Alex Winter. “But back to your compliment. I didn’t take it as one based on your reputation, more on that in a moment. Your response was to get pretty defensive. And so it makes a girl like me wonder, did you really mean to make me feel good? Because instead you just made some assessment of my attractiveness. Instead of seeing Adrienne Levi the person, you just saw my face, my body, my whatever. Imagine if you had said: Hey, you had a great match! After all, we share the same profession.” Awkwardly, she stood up. In fact, she nearly fell backwards in the chair. Would have made for a good visual as she is trying to address someone looking for any weakness in her. “You got real defensive because this sort of thing affects your reputation. You ever wonder why I chose to not view what you said favorably? You registered on Twitter very late into June. It took you just one day to solicit a woman to show you her … can I curse on here?” She looked around. “I’d rather not but look, in relation to a woman asking people to wear masks for what is obviously going on in the world, you turned the subject sexual in nature. On the same day, you responded to another woman’s picture.” Adrienne considered the content, tapping her chin. “Now when you made your advance, she said no, you persisted with some video of you pantomiming a sexual act. I don’t know how to tell you this, Alex, but if that is your technique - there is no wonder why you’ve been rebuked so many times lately.” She twisted the chair around, now sitting it in as nature intended. “And then it all kind of devolved. Slander, you claim. The problem is that it isn’t really that far-fetched to believe these sorts of things about you. It’s an easy correlation to assume that when someone says effectively they don’t respect women, that they’re a misogynist? It’s totally feasible that a misogynist also thinks less about minority populations because sometimes their struggles intersect. Now, you’re right. Just because you’re a misogynist who sexually harrasses women on the internet doesn’t mean you’re guilty of being a rapist. It does however make you very guilty of contributing to rape culture.” Pausing for effect, she crossed one leg over the other. “I don’t know a lot but Alex, it’s been an eye opening year for me and I’ve learned alot about myself as a person and that I could have fought instead of hiding ...but I’m not ...I’m not going to hide from people like you anymore.” Sighing, Adrienne looked upwards before returning her gaze towards the camera. “This is more than I wanted to talk and you know what stinks? This match could have had a different narrative. Matt Knox, my partner, he’s a former world champion but do you know what’s cooler than that? He’s overcoming some very public issues to return to the sport he loves. And you two? You guys are excellent professional wrestlers. Instead it’s about Alex Winter backpedaling after his atrocious suggestion that I should be leashed, muzzled, and doped up because I dared to call him out for his unwanted compliment. It’s about Steve Matthews being spineless. It’s about whether those two can even get along. Well, you know, I’d like to think there will be a better ending to a story that is told all too often.” Standing up, she felt something unfamiliar. Danny called it his machismo. But it felt like swelling in her heart. Her voice raised above the little chirp she was known for. “What is it about you two? Steve, those that standby and watch the injustices get no reprieve. And Alex, you’re a relic of the bygone past. And you don’t seem to be paying attention to what’s happening around here. Just last month, I watched Kyra Johnson prove she is Ultraviolence. And Amber Ryan is the Ironwoman. Then there’s Catalina Cortes, she’s a champion too. And Poppy. And Jenova! I’m sure I’m missing a few and I’m super sorry about that because you’re all amazing. They’re also all counterpoints to your ignorance. And then there’s me. I’m nobody special. But with Matt Knox, we’re going to end you before you even begin.” The camera lingered even though she had finished her piece. “That’s all. Nothing much else to say. You can turn--” The feed cut.