THE BOYS ARE BACK! And they've had quite the makeover!
Name: Treble Trouble/Joshua Matthews
Age: 28
Height: 6'
Weight: 150lbs
Nationality: Australian
Position: #3 World Circuit
Record: 18-10 (11 KO)
Stance: Southpaw (Left-Handed)
"Hands down the noisiest boxer in the history of the WVBA, there's never a moment of silence when Treble's in the room. A loud-mouthed death metal/rock performer with an equally noisy fanbase who devote their entire lives to him, he's knows how to get an audience riled up and excited. Unfortunately, he can be quite a sour loser after some matches and that anger is often taken out on whichever poor soul is against him next match..."
Name: Rusty Hook
Age: 38
Height: 6'4
Weight: 174lbs
Nationality: Scottish-Caribbean
Position: #2 World Circuit
Record: 20-14 (14 KO)
Stance: Orthodox (Right-Handed)
"This grizzled old pirate captain is honestly slightly terrifying when he's in the ring but he's usually a jolly drunkard who enjoys singing sea shanties and generally acting like an idiot. Rusty isn't too popular with the WVBA fans due to the shocking amount of cheating he pulls during his fights. Kicking, elbow bashes, ankle grabs and spitting are just a few of the boorish tactics he pulls to ensure he gets the win. The WVBA WOULD intervein buuut... they really can't be bothered."
Name: Kim Seo-Joon
Age: 26
Height: 5'11
Weight: 141lbs
Nationality: Korean
Position: #1 World Circuit
Record: 10-12 (5 KO)
Stance: Orthodox (Right-Handed)
"Seo-Joon's first impression on many people is that he's an arrogant, snarky asshole and... he slightly is. His position in the World Circuit is solely based on his fame as a k-pop idol outside of the WVBA as his actual boxing record would normally have him wallowing in the Minor Circuit. However, once you get past the smug grin and 'I am the best' attitude, he's actually quite a loyal friend who had it rough when he was younger."
Name: William Dubois
Age: 32
Height: 6'1
Weight: 148lbs
Nationality: British-French
Position: World Circuit Champion
Record: 20-12 (14 KO)
Stance: Orthodox (Right-Handed)
"This incredibly talented butler seemingly has a magic touch with anything he does! William's skills as both a servant to the wealthy and as a boxer are very impressive, almost too good for a human being! No matter how much praise and attention this attracts, however, he always seems to remain humble and modest claiming that 'he is nothing more than a butler to those who require his service'. Juuust make sure you don't ruin his bowtie during a fight... It leaves him rather miffed, to put it lightly."
I need to know the story behind you breaking into an abandoned asylum! That sounds interesting as hell!
okay so I’m prefacing by saying if you actually looked it up you could probably tell the area in which I grew up, but I don’t live there anymore so I don’t really care and I don’t feel like any of you would, like, look for my identity so it’s fine
so one summer day I was going to hang out with my friend and we wanted to do something fun. I’m like hey K, do you want to go to holy land? I know you’ve never been there before and it’s a cool place to look around (having been there once myself before
for those of you not native to connecticut, holy land usa is an abandoned christian theme park (no, I am not making this up). I won’t go into the whole history because that’s not the purpose of this post but you can read it here. there has been a murder or two there but it has in recent years been bought by a church and is now semi-maintained again (as in, it doesn’t count as trespassing anymore and they sometimes hold religious services by the 56 ft illuminated cross)
ANYWAYS so I drove us 30 minutes from where we lived to waterbury and just as we were about to pull in SOMEONE FUCKING CLOSED THE ROAD so nope, we couldn’t go :(
so we’re in the car driving back home, still wanting something semi-spooky so I’m like, hey, I’ve never seen fairfield hills (abandoned asylum) up close, why don’t we stop by and take a look???
so we drive there and park. now, it’s not especially spooky NOW because part of the huge complex has been, like, converted into community buildings (like a community center, rec center/gym, a fire house I think) because after an internationally known tragedy happened the community got a shit ton of money and they invested a lot of that into community resources
so we park near one of the still abandoned buildings and get out to walk around. mind you, it’s still 100% STILL FUCKING DAYLIGHT out.
we round the corner backed by woods and what do you know- there’s a hole in the fence and an open second story window. my friend and I look at each other like 👀👀👀 and decide, fuck it, let’s try it. yolo and all that
she boosts me up as far as she could and I used the outside little ledge (I wish I had a picture because this is a flex) and pull myself through the window. I then pull her up from the ground and get her in too.
we look around. we are somewhere in what used to look like some sort of wooden cubicles which were no longer really there. her phone is dead, we only have my phone flashlight, but it’s still sunny out and barely any of the windows are boarded up so it’s fine
we walk around, obviously people are in here frequently because there is graffiti EVERYWHERE, some wrappers, a few c*ndoms for some reason, I think maybe a needle or two (yikes). so like, it’s frequented but we didn’t think anyone was there with us
it wasn’t even really that spooky during the day (I would probably never go at night because 1. more of a chance other people would be there and I’m not going to risk possibly having a negative interaction yk, 2. I feel like more police would be patrolling it then, and 3. I’m not all that superstitious but I would never go there at night as a group of two)
we found what we assumed was an old rec room with a still mostly functional pool table (and an old dress in the window???), some bathrooms, an elevator stuck between floors, and some cool graffiti
we were in one of the stairwells with cool large windows when we saw a police car further away in the parking lot and went NOPE and continued down into the basement. aside from the little windows towards the ceiling it was PITCH BLACK and my tiny phone light did fucking NOTHING lmao.
we were able to get into the attic and I REALLY wanted to find out how to get into the bell tower but one of the doors was locked I think and we couldn’t find another way :(
all in all, I wish it was spookier but it couldn’t really get that spooky in the daylight, but I like that I can say that I did it because it’s a fun story. I would honestly love to go again now that I have lock pics and investigate some more but I don’t live there anymore
Them having Stone Monkey (apparently purely on instinct) constantly scratching while being introduced to the troop was pretty cool, since that's a legitimate deescalation behavior in monkeys. Something about how revealing stress acts as a bonding behavior and makes it less likely they'll be attacked. Humans do it too, kind of, when they rub at their hands or shoulders or neck (etc. etc.) when nervous or overwhelmed. ("Empathize with me! I am very stressed!").
Also something-something instinctive behaviors aside Stone Monkey being excited/overwhelmed/maybe a little overstimulated and choosing "ESCALATION!!!" as his response to all of that. He thinks the troop being scared of him is hilarious. He's scratching the fur off his arms but he's also going to get right up in your face anyway. Cautiously join him in admiring his cool new rock? He is going to play-lunge and also scream. Absolutely amazing. The troop has no idea what to do with these mixed signals. This kid is a menace and I love him.
Six Ears even gets in on the scratching behavior occasionally in the background, which might be because Stone Monkey actively terrorizing literally everyone trying to be playful (because he has the social skills of a literal, actual rock) is stressing Six Ears right out or it could be an attempt to deescalate on Stone Monkey's behalf. Monkey version of following in his new friend's wake throwing apologetic grimace-smiles at everyone. Possibly it's both. Point is: They included these behaviors and it's very fun.
You can also tell it worked because in just the journey to the cave you watch the four generals' views on Stone Monkey go from "uncanny valley horror entity lurking in the forest probably to kill us all" to "what a rude little kid >:| Emphasis on RUDE."
And, okay, I admit, I have softened my stance on the four generals. Somewhat. They seem to actually be taking their jobs seriously now. Maybe Episode 1 was a wake-up call and they won't utterly fail to notice an incursion until it's in the heart of their territory again. I don't want to go too crazy, but maybe they'll even be able to even muster a coherent response! Good for them.
Should probably still not be managing children, though.
Speaking of, Six Ears's increasing despair watching the train wreck in motion that was the four generals fumbling hard in giving Stone Monkey his very first etiquette lesson after he finally settled down and seemed willing to hear them out is also very relatable and hilarious. He knows they failed the test. Stone Monkey is definitely never going to listen to them again. They blew it. RIP Flower Fruit Mountain.
Stone Monkey does check in with Six Ears when he decides the generals are useless about explaining though, and that's pretty cute. He trusts his friend :) He also definitely internalizes that thing about having to ask to leave the presence of the king, so at least they managed to teach him some manners. ONE manners. A single manner. (Spoiler: They immediately regret this.)
But hey! This time Six Ears is left entirely to his own devices and still manages to get caught smack in the middle of enemy action. Not the Generals' fault for once! Six Ears just attracts this kind of thing, I guess.
3/3 Six Ears is Damsel-ed, but only 2/3 it's the adults' fault. The tally develops.