Inside The Mind of Quartz: April 11th, 2017

[Quartz]

An intense, rhythmic breathing hums periodically through a dark void. Flashes of blue static are visible in seemingly random intervals. After a few moments, the haunting noise is interrupted by a clear, yet calm spoken voice. 

 

Voice: "Returning to knee-strenuous sport before a minimum 9-month or 36-week period has been proven to be associated with an approximately 7-fold increased rate of sustaining a second ACL injury."

 

The voice is unanswered, though the breathing continues to grow in intensity.

 

Voice: "Of the sample, one hundred fifty-nine of them were aged 30 or older, making up about 32% of the study."

 

Stop it. Shut up. Be quiet.

 

The breathing is accompanied by several murmurs, barely audible amongst the calm voice continuing.

 

Voice: "The results indicate that those over 30 years of age are over 4 times likelier to sustain a second injury than the rest of the control group. Studies indicate that an even longer period of rehabilitation should be consider-"

 

A sudden shout silences the voice, before the breathing labors for a moment. Coming into view are the eyes of one Ijitu Quartz. Sweat drips slowly from his forehead as he wipes his blue hair from his face.

 

As the image becomes more clear, we see Ijitu seated on a less-than-high-quality exercise bike. His peddling has stopped as he takes a moment to wince at his recently torn ACL in his left knee. Quartz peers up angrily into the black void to showcase his frustration with the source of the pertinent injury. 

 

Standing seemingly just feet away inside The Mind is Intell Quartz. Both men appear a bit younger than present day Quartz.

 

Ijitu Quartz: If anyone wanted to hear your gah' damn opinion, someone woulda asked.

 

Intell Quartz: My voice is simply the echo of which your poor decision-making manifests.

 

Intell Quartz: Despite constant reminders from those close to you... Well, those that are left close to you anyway... As well as my apparently unpleasing voice rattling around, you continue on this suicide mission. 

 

Ijitu turns his attention back to his injured knee, which was torn completely just 5 months prior, in December of the previous year. He shakes his head rebelliously as he responds, not moving his fixed gaze from his knee. 

 

Ijitu Quartz: You act like you're some kinda' genius, but you ain't the one in control, are you? Tell me why that is?

 

Intell Quartz: Sigh...

 

Intell Quartz: I've no interest in meddling, only learning about how people behave. Surely, I could impart what I know onto you so that you could operate the body with that knowledge, but it seems I do not need to peer through your eyes in order to learn about the stubborn, idiotic motivations of people. We have you to showcase all of it.

 

Intell Quartz: You're so blinded by your own selfish ideals that you intend to further cripple the only vessel you have in order to make those ideals a reality.

 

Ijitu barks back immediately.

 

Ijitu Quartz: Because if I don't, nobody else will! Every day I'm sitting back pussyfooting-

 

Intell Quartz: You mean resting? Recovering?

 

Ijitu Quartz: -is another day that SOMEONE ELSE is out there taking opportunities that belong to ME. 

 

Ijitu Quartz: Don't act like either of you two have the stones to stand up for something! To do what it takes? To make the sacrifices for this? For us?

 

Intell repositions his reading glasses as he glances back down to the study, shaking his head in doubt. As the view pans, we see a stoic Inness Quartz in thought, his arms crossed. He looks down at Ijitu's knee for a moment before that knee resumes the fierce peddling on the worn exercise bike. He stares briefly before a shutter runs down his spine, shaking his focus, before the same voice breaks him from his trance.

-

Inness opens his eyes slowly. As the blur subsides, he takes a long swipe across his forehead to realize it is drenched in sweat.

 

He looks down to get his bearings, now finding himself seated on that same exercise bike.

 

Intell Quartz: Hm. Looks like I don't need to continue with the statistics.

 

The man who recently returned at OCW's 20th Anniversary show takes a heavy breath, realizing he has returned from his memory to the current day, January 7th, 2025. 

 

Intell Quartz: It should be obvious at this stage that rehabilitation only gets more difficult as the body ages. Almost 10 years ago, Ijitu got lucky he did not cause permanent damage. However this time-

 

Ijitu Quartz: Lucky. Hah, you wish.

 

Seated in a chair with a massive brace on his knee, similar to the last time we saw him at Wrestlution 18, Ijitu Quartz sits forward and places his elbows on his knees.

 

Ijitu Quartz: Don't listen to his bullshit. You and me, we may not see eye to eye on everything, but unlike him, we know what it takes.

 

Ijitu Quartz: He doesn't understand the world out there. Doesn't understand the pain we've put ourselves through for the greater good.

 

Intell Quartz: Hmph. Amazingly, your childishness has only gotten worse since then. 

 

Inness Quartz: He's right.

 

Both Intell and Ijitu snap their attention to Inness, whose shoulders raise and lower alongside his deep breaths.

 

Inness Quartz: There's too much to be done. I realized that when I saw that parasite in the ring at the 20th Anniversary. As long as I'm in control, I won't let it happen.

 

Intell scoffs at the implication and looks at both Ijitu and Inness for a moment.

 

Intell Quartz: This is not something I expected to hear from you, Inness. Usually you are the only reasonable one I can rely on. 

 

Intell Quartz: Do you both realize I am attempting to save the body from yourselves? Do you not remember when the foundation nearly crumbled? Look, I understand the two of you have gone back and forth over recent years, but you must understand that ceding control to the other doesn't mean the actual body is restored? It holds the punishment and pain you have been trading for the last 20 years. The reason you both continue to "sacrifice" is because you refuse to properly-

 

Inness Quartz: It may be a mistake, but I would rather suffer in martyrdom than not stand up for the OCW we sacrificed everything for to begin with. I will repair my knee. I will shut down that leech Spider once again. I will correct everything in OCW that has poisoned it in recent times. Someone has to.

 

A hush falls over the void as Inness peers at both of them with a snarl. The dark world around them peels away back to the real world, where Inness Quartz sits on the exercise bike, exhausted.

 

He winces once more as he continues peddling in focused rebellion. 

Edited January 14 by Stacy Clark