The Mega-Powers are forged

Six years. It’s been more than six long years since his childhood dream was killed off. Six years of working himself to the bone. Of ignoring his own ambitions. Of settling for mediocrity, when he could be striving for excellence. But now, almost seven years later, that dream’s been rekindled. Sure, it’s not exactly the way that Christian had envisioned. And it might be happening a lot more forcefully than he thought it would. But if he’s being offered this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity? Well…

“It’d be an honor, Ms. Serenity.”

With a proper handshake to seal it, the hardcam zooms in on the host and master coming together, highlighting the happiness in Christian’s expression. Off-camera, more pyro erupts, the shot quickly flickering to a wide shot from one of the turnbuckle posts, covering the handshake as fireworks launch off into the sky. After a few seconds of lingering on this, the shot resets to normal. The pyro comes to an end. The handshake is broken off by Serenity, and she turns back towards the hardcam.

“Well fans, there you have it! We now have ourselves a proper Master this season, and the official owner of HHW!” Serenity allows herself a brief moment of smugness as she gives a wink to Christian. “Harem Hotel Wrestling. Came up with that one myself.”

As Christian rolls his eyes, Serenity lets out a soft giggle. After her laughter runs its course, Serenity pulls up a chair of her own, sitting next to Christian.

“So, with everything now in place, allow me to explain just what it is you’ll be getting yourself into here on Harem Hotel.” Serenity chimes with that chipper, made-for-TV voice. “So, as I explained to you before, everything that you see here now belongs to you - the ring, the entrance stage, the commentary desk, all of it. Even the pyrotechnics now belong to you, and that means you can go as crazy as you want with them! Give yourself an entrance worthy of a living legend! Welcome fans back from commercial break with massive displays of fire and sparkles! Or you can just give your favorite competitors a little extra pizazz when they're making their entrance. After all, like most good professional wrestling companies, you have a financial backer. A rather powerful one at that. Those of us here at Harem Hotel will be more than happy to financially support your dreams, and let your creativity run wild with whatever it is you wish to do with this newfound endeavor!”

Serenity throws an arm around Christian’s shoulders, wrapping him up in a one-armed hug.

“Want to make the biggest sports entertainment spectacular of all time? You got it! Want to put on the most exciting, hard-hitting, stunt show style matches? No worries! Want to see your roster try to almost kill each other with thumb tacks, light tubes, gusset plates, and all sorts of other disgusting weaponry options that only real deathmatches can provide? Bring on the hardcore ****!" Serenity's eyes sparkle. "No matter what sort of in-ring product or style you wish to center this company around, we’ll be here to make sure that all you have to worry about is putting on a show! You know, rather than wondering about financials, contracts, and all that other boring junk. That stuff is best left to our legal department, anyways.”

Christian visibly relaxes upon hearing this. Once more, it isn’t due to any **** relaxation from Serenity, but rather from her words. While it’s still rather unorthodox, hearing that he wouldn’t have to pay a single cent out of pocket to run this operation felt rather soothing.

“Oh, but there is one condition on you running this company.” Serenity adds in, causing Christian to roll his eyes.

“There it is…” Christian sighs, with Serenity chuckling at his expense.

“Hey now, no need for the dramatics, Christian! Save it for your shows!” Serenity lets go of Christian, feigning a light punch to his shoulder without actually hitting him. “See, the only condition that we have here is that you have to do so with the roster that we give you. After all, we’re the financial backers, so we control the contracts. Makes sense, right?”

Christian hesitantly nods, Serenity enthusiastically doing the same.

“See? No big deal! You’re still going to have a roster most fans would kill to have control over! And with the roster we’ll be giving you? You’re going to be doing a lot more than just putting together matches. I mean, Master, this is Harem Hotel, after all.”

For a brief second, Christian winces, half-expecting to hear the same applause that he did during his entrance. When it doesn’t come, however? He opens his eyes, noticing the flicker of relief that is also present in Serenity’s expression.

“And, even without the incredible cross-branding between your promotion and this show-” Serenity suddenly leans into Christian’s ear, “Which, by the way, the executives in charge of this show get royalties on any and all profits made. It simply wouldn’t be fair to the brand if they didn’t earn a single cent while you make millions off of their branding, alone.” The host stage-whispers, before pulling away once more. “I’d say that, based on my extensive research on the subject of modern professional wrestling, what this industry needs more of nowadays are companies that are willing to put women’s wrestling first!"

Serenity lets out a cheer, some canned female applause playing this time. Christian silently sighs, thankful for Serenity opting to diversify things this time around, rather than use the same track over and over again, without end.

"Therefore, instead of relegating women’s wrestling to mere bathroom breaks and sideshow acts, Harem Hotel Wrestling will be the professional wrestling company that brings the women’s revolution to the forefront. And how will it be doing this? By boasting an all-female roster, of course! And - get this - that doesn’t just apply to the in-ring talent, either. Each and every staff, crew member, backstage official, referee, manager, backstage interviewer, on-site medic, and security guard will be completely female. In fact, you will be the one and only male employed by the entire company, so take that title with some pride!”

As the applause rushes in again, Christian’s eyes widen. It's not because we're back to the obnoxious generic track. It's because while Serenity might not have explicitly stated the thought that now runs through his mind, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out where this is going.

“Wait, wait, wait,” Christian cuts in, “earlier on you said that um…” Christian trails off, before forcing himself to continue. “You said that I was supposed to get a… Harem, r-right? That… That’s going to be separate from the roster of this company. Right, Serenity?”

For a few seconds, everything stops. The applause, the host’s exuberance, all of it comes crashing to a halt. For a brief moment, Christian’s heart rate picks up, fearful that he had done something wrong. But then? Serenity starts laughing. Loudly.

“Oh, Master, I didn’t think you’d be one of the naive ones!” Serenity giggles, before pulling herself back from the brink of another laughing fit. “Of course they’re going to be one and the same! After all, what is a harem anyways but your own personal roster of women?”

“So, what you’re saying is, then…” Christian’s face falls.

“Yep! Not only are you going to be booking these fine ladies, but with any luck, you’ll be bedding them, as well! It’s the best of both worlds!” Serenity cheers.

As soon as she says that, Christian sinks into his chair. Not in a good way either, per se. Internally, Christian doesn't quite know how to feel about this stipulation. To be handed his own dream job, just for that type of condition to be placed upon it? It seemed… Spiteful. As if this were a punishment for him not socializing properly, or him falling out of love with the industry he's now being dragged back into. Now he’s not only in charge of his own professional wrestling company, supposed to share that type of connection with his own employees? He’s meant to be their boss! He isn’t the type of person to be… To be some sort of weird, perverted, power-hungry lunatic!

Regardless, Christian merely sighs, not wanting to push his luck any further. “At least it won’t be that bad, right? I mean, sure it’s going to be… Well, wrong… But at least these people won’t be-”

“Won’t be people you already know?” Serenity smugly finishes that thought, laughing once more. “Oh, Master, once again you’re so naive! And oh so easy for me to read, as well." Serenity laughs, looking Christian over. "Hmm, I’ll forgive you this time though, Master. Seeing as how this is your first time here, I understand why you might have been hopeful that things would be easy on you. But here on Harem Hotel? We don’t just give out random floozies that are looking for an easy lay. I mean, could you imagine how difficult it’d be, cleaning up any issues they might have that we can’t profit off of?” Serenity gags at the thought of it.

The sight of it ends up sending a shudder up Christian’s spine. He tries to visualize just what it’d take for even Serenity to say ‘no’ to something on this show, and fails. Given how passionate she came across regarding her duties hosting this season in the first place? It might be better left that way.

“No, we like to keep things a bit more personal, if you get what I mean.” Serenity concludes, only to watch as Christian’s face falls, realizing the meaning of those words.

“Hey, look at the bright side.” Serenity offers. “At least you don’t have any family members being dragged into this, unlike some other seasons!”

Despite her best attempt at giving him some words of encouragement, the implicit "yet" that fills in the blank is enough to make Christian want to flee the ring once more. In fact, the only thing that stops him from doing so is the memory of what just happened: His conversation with Serenity, during the 'commercial break'.

“What you do have though is one hell of a starting roster!” Serenity exclaims. “And what wrestling roster would be complete without a number one draw for the company to build around? Someone that can serve as the face of the franchise, the future star in the making, someone who can serve as a headlining act for years to come!”

Standing up with a flourish, Serenity gestures towards the entrance ramp. “Playing the part of ‘The Anointed’, please welcome…”