Visiting an old friend.

[koriargentum]

Many wonder what it's like for a well-known superstar to return to a federation; what do they feel? What do they expect to happen? For Kori Argentum, it was like she was a child walking through a candy store. She wore the brightest smile on her face as she walked through the familiar hallways of the EHWF headquarters, but it felt, to her, like she never left. The moment she entered, she felt at home, at peace. She even missed the cold florescent lightning that shined throughout the building.

She didn't want to meet her old co-workers, though. Eventually, yes, but there was someone else she had to see again, someone she hadn't spoken to since the day she spoke of her retirement.

If she wanted to, she could've skipped over to the office door; she was -that- giddy about being back, and she wondered what he would say once he saw her again.

Nearly laughing, Kori walked up to the open office door of Justin Taker. It was no surprise to see his nose buried in the papers on his desk, no surprise seeing him busy at work. She folded her arms across her chest casually and leaned against the side of the doorway, moving her gaze from him to stare at the posters up on the wall. Most, if not all, were of the current superstars working under him, as well as pictures of the championships, and members of staff with other officials and stars from previous years. Nothing had changed. It was what Kori loved best about the EHWF. It was stable and consistent.

She looked back at Justin, raising her left eyebrow slightly. She'd been standing there for only a few minutes, but she thought he'd at least hear her come up from the hallway.

"Jeez, you sure do make people wait to see ya', man." Kori spoke with a light chuckle. "I'd at least thought you'd be expectin' me with my contract in and all."

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[La Familia Gómez]

Startled, I looked up rather fast. I listened to Kori, removed my round-lenses glasses with the signature blue tint off my face and placed on a stack of papers off to my right. I placed both hands on my Honduran Mahogany desk and rose from my leather seat. Beginning to walk around the hunk of quality wood, I gripped my hair in both hands and pushed my long locks behind my shoulders. I was wearing a black t-shirt that had the red EHWF logo on it and black jeans. My hair was jet black as always; vintage JT. She was right when she said nothing had changed.

I made my way over to her with open arms. We embraced, smiles on our faces. After a moment we let go and I took a step back.

"My... you still look good after all these years, Kori. Please, have a seat."

I motioned towards a pair of leather chairs I had situated in front of my desk as I began to walk back around. My steps were a little on the slow side; being 62 doesn't make it easy on your bones.

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[koriargentum]

After the hug, Kori laughed lightly. "You still look like you're 40-somethin'. How ya' hangin' in there, buddy?" She followed him back over to the desk and sat down in one of the leather chairs, getting comfortable rather quickly, but seeing his slow movement, her beaming smile faded a little. "Stress of work getting to you?" Of course she was going to be a little worried; JT was one of the few good friends she made in the business - a -true- friend, and that's extremely hard to find in an industry filled with backstabbers and betrayals around every corner. Knowing he was old, however, his movement was a give-in, but she still had to ask.

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[La Familia Gómez]

Realizing the question, I waited until I sat down to answer. I got myself back into my comfortable position in the chair and looked up at Kori.

"I'm hangin' in there fine. A little bit of stress from the job, but nothing overly concerning. Old age, a life of always being out on the road, the drug and alcohol issues... I think my life is coming back to haunt me."

Although spoken in a serious manner, I let out a light laugh afterwords. Without skipping a beat, I looked down on my left side. There was a mini fridge sitting on the floor right next to me, with a few bottles and glasses on top. I grabbed one of the bottle and two glasses. I put the two glasses in front of me and opened the bottle.

"Brandy?"

[koriargentum]

Kori nodded her head a few times in total agreement; she knew of the stresses of being out on the road all the time, hardly ever being at home and always dealing with work 24/7. She could only imagine how it was coming up on him at his age. She laughed, though, with him, and took the offer of the drink.

"Absolutely!" He filled the glasses halfway with a smile on his face before placing her glass in front of her. He put the bottle back into the small fridge while she took a generous sip of the drink. "Hey, you had fun, right? And now, look at what you've got. You still run this company like the hardcore badass you are and it's still movin' along. Shit, I'd say you've got it made right now. It just sounds like you need to go on a vacation for a little bit to get back to normal." She laughed, but doubted it would happen. EHWF was Justin's baby; it'd be hard to get him away from his irregular schedule of life. "How are things in here these days, anyway? I hear Scorp's still on the staff--is he still that asshole that I remember before I left?"

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[La Familia Gómez]

I took her kind words to heart. She never once said something I didn't like. Wouldn't matter if she did anyway - I'd pretend to like it. Almost like my wife.

"You're right. I still got this place rolling along, and in my eyes I do have it made right now. All the bullshit thats happened over the past 62 years of my life, and here's where I am now. Every day I'd get up just to find mother nature trying to bring me down... Right now, I'd say I'm kicking that bitches ass."

I laughed at my own lame joke and sipped some brandy.

"And Mark; I understand he was tough to deal with before. He's always been good as gold with me, and as I see it nothing's changed. I think he seems a little more cooled down now than previously, however. You'll have to meet up with him yourself for that one."

Another sip of brandy leads to a moment of nodding and silence. I broke the silence with a question of my own.

"So tell me Kori, why is it you decided to return after x amount of years in retirement? One just doesn't hop out of bed and say 'hey, I'm coming out of retirement today!', unless you're weird."

[koriargentum]

Sharing a few laughs - it was nice, for a change. If she had to choose one thing Kori missed about being a wrestler, it was this: sharing drinks with great friends. Plus, with the recent events that happened to her, it was nice to finally get a good laugh. Coming back was probably the smartest, and best, thing for her.

After a few moments of silence, Justin finally asked the question Kori hoped he wouldn't. But who wouldn't want to know? After being in retirement for so long and then coming back, there had to be a good reason other than, "Oh, I just missed it." And there was. She grinned a little, but there was something in her face that told the entire story, and she wished it was enough. But words had to be spoken of this sad tale.

"It's...it's not so much complicated as it is something that I just felt was the right thing to do." Kori shrugged and took another sip from the glass. She leaned back against the chair, figuring out the words to tell while Justin waited for her to speak.

"You remember a guy named Mike? He's--was--another great friend of mine. He taught me the ropes of wrestling, got me out of messes and put me back in 'em so I could deal with them myself. He helped me throughout my entire career and my entire life by putting me under his wing when I was just a kid." Kori wanted to ramble on and on about how great Michael was, how great he was as a friend and a father-figure to her after her own passed away. She stayed on topic, though, only because she knew how much of a heartache it would bring back if she continued.

"Anyway, a little while ago, he died. He was pretty old, so it wasn't like he got into an accident or anything. Just died in his sleep from natural causes...and after a while of grievin' and gettin' over his death, I realized somethin'...to him, I was one of the few best students he ever had, and we shared this bond..." she paused only to take another sip of the brandy. "I only retired to get my life in order, and I felt like that didn't do him any justice, like all his years of waiting for me to finally hit the big leagues...it was all just a waste. Before his death, I told him that I would get back into wrestling, but I wasn't all that motivated then, to tell ya' the truth. I was so focused on my writing career at the time, too focused to really figure out that wrestling -is- my passion. After he died, I realized all that I had missed, and all that he could've seen through the few years I was away...I'm comin' back for myself, but for him, too." Another shrug and another pause; Kori took a bigger sip from the glass before lowering her gaze down to the floor. "I got over feelin' guilty about my decisions and shit, but I still feel like I didn't make him proud yet. I didn't make myself proud yet, so I told myself to just get back, and, well...here I am." She smiled with a quiet laugh escaping her lips. "I kinda wish I came back earlier, but I guess it's better late than never, eh?"

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[La Familia Gómez]

After Kori explained her story, I sat back in my seat - during which time, I finished my brandy. I placed the glass on the desk off to the side and sighed. Rough story, almost makes me wish I didn't ask. But I'm glad I did.

"Kori, as cliche as this is gonna' sound, if you ever need someone... Call me, text me. I've learned that whole texting business from my granddaughter."

I immediately grabbed a small piece of paper and a pen and wrote my cell phone number down on it. I slid it over to her.

"My personal line. Open 24 hours of the day, every day."

I knew how cliche what I just did was, and one could probably estimate how many times she'd heard it over the course of the past few weeks. But I didn't care; mine was legit, and she knew it.

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