Mendez Interview Subject 1: Alizeh Midori

[Taskmaster12]

“I want everything set. I’m not getting paid for delays which means none of you will see a bonus if we’re behind.” Robin’s work had gotten busier in the aftermath of her press conferences which despite the bickering between Jenna and Tammy had been successes. With a growing presence backstage some of the staff she talked too were surprised to find out she wrestled at all. It had been a year and that business had been unnecessary for any plans she had for the time being. The backstage world was more to her point when she had others to handle problems that required a ring. Amber Skye learned before anyone else that Robin could deal with problems without her having to step in and deal with them.

Her current assignment was an interview with upcoming talent that were competing for Apex. Alizeh Midori was in a rare position at Apex. She was someone making a name for herself as a future star of LAW and could cement that status for her by becoming the Openweight champion. However with Lillian Byrne stripped of her Middleweight championship people like Alizeh had 2 chances of winning a title at Apex even if they were not given the main prize. Alizeh was far from the only prospective talent in that category but she was the one people wanted to hear more from and Robin accepted the chance to meet her and learn what she could. Notes only get you so much information while a single conversation could yield so much more. “Everything’s set. Bring her in” Robin ordered the staff who would go retrieve Alizeh. “Keep that camera up and make sure you keep it on us when she comes in. Do not make us look like an amateur production.” Robin waited for her guest to show up and begin.

[Bare]

Alizeh whistled softly with a calm look on her face, idly checking twitter on her phone pensively as she waited to be invited out to set. Tonight she was up for a different than usual thing today, being a interview with a woman by the name of Robin Mendez. Alizeh knew of the woman from her work on the LAW press conferences but besides those she really didn't know much of her. There was a rumor she had heard that Robin was actually signed as a wrestler, though Alizeh hadn't been able to find any of her matches, but going off her conferences at least Robin seemed pretty knowledgable about the business and was fairly neutral as far as wrestling politics went, so Alizeh was actually really looking forward to this interview with her, especially since it was about her rising through the rankings towards, Apex, a topic she was of course invested in.

Dressed a bit nicer then she normally would be given it was a interview, Alizeh would look up as a knock went off on the door as she was finally fetched for the interview. "Awesome thank you!" Alizeh said as she opened the door and followed the crew worker to the interview set up which was a bit nicer than what Alizeh had been treated to before hand. 'Wow Robin sure has some class.' Alizeh thought to herself before settling her gaze on the woman herself. 'She's also really hot.' The green haired girl thought to herself before smiling amicably to the woman and extending her hand out to the woman. "Hi Robin its nice to meet you, thanks so much for having me." Alizeh said warmly, waiting to shake the woman's hand before she would take her seat.

Spoiler

[Taskmaster12]

Jenna had nearly ruined the sight of green hair for Robin. When she saw Alizeh who came in a suit and hair style that matched her coworker Robin felt an easy twitch her face. Her genuine smile put some of that immediate stress at ease before Robin took her hand. “Think nothing of it. It was an easy pick to extend an offer to you.” Once both had taken a seat she signaled for the cameras to come in closer and then turn their attention to her. “Without further ado I’d like to welcome you to this LAW interview hosted by me, Robin Mendez with my guest the Emerald Storm known as Alizeh Midori.” Thinking on it at least if Jenna was here she might have come up with a catchy name. The cold and professional side of her was good for actually making things profitable and accurate as she could but she was never flashy. All of her underlings understood flashiness better than her and even Tammy could excite a crowd with her bubbly and friendly demeanor. The best she could get was mild approval. Robin took a second to adjust her notes before looking at Alizeh. “Those who know of you know you to be the talk of the times with your recent history making your PPV debut this year and your considerable donation to charity.” Robin stopped there because she knew that last one was a slightly sore subject given how it ended. “However LAW is a growing brand and since this is an international interview why don’t we make sure everyone can get a clear idea of who Alizeh Midori is. Daughter of Aella Midori who calls herself the Queen in the Sky I notice the pattern of sky related nicknames you bring the storm and your mother the sky. I think we can all see the Emerald part but Is that sky part a family motif or just showing some respect to your mother? I need to make sure if we have to watch out for the Hurricane Midori.”

[Bare]

Alizeh took her seat easily, nodding to Robin appreciatively for the kind words before turning to the camera, smiling and waving as the older woman beside her introduced her for the sake of the interview. Turning to focus on Robin and crossing her legs over each other before clasping her hands together Alizeh was definitely going for the more professional look as Robin got things started, doing a little thesis on her, though Alizeh did have to cringe slightly at the mention of her... charity work, but she tried not to show it too much and tried to keep up a pleasant expression on her face as the interview got to the first of her questions, something that thankfully put a genuine bright smile on Alizeh's face as she was asked about the naming scheme.

"Hah I'm kinda surprised you're the first to ask about that to be honest." Alizeh jokingly with a chuckle before composing to give her answer. "It actually has a lot to do with our given names though, see my mom's name Aella means Sky in Arabic, and my name means Wind, so when she was younger cause she was more of a high flyer than she went with queen of the sky, kinda owning her name ya know?" Alizeh said, pausing for a moment before continuing. "When I started I actually cycled through a few nicknames, trying to settle on something I liked, but eventually, partially as a tribute to my mom I follow a sorta similar logic. Since winds are a big part of storms and midori means green, I sorta dramatized both halves of my name and smushed them together." She explained before getting a more sly grin on her face. "As for a hurricane Midori, well I do actually have a younger cousin named Araceli, and that name means altar of the sky, but she's still pretty new and hasn't quite figured out her own nickname yet, so I can't necessarily guarantee if she'll follow the same scheme me and mom did." Alizeh said finishing with a wink towards the camera towards said cousin before focusing back on Robin for her response.

[Taskmaster12]

Robin knew the drill. Ask the questions to get Alizeh talking. She wanted to know if she could find anything juicy to touch on but she had to get Alizeh invested first. If she went right for the ones she knew would bother Alizeh not only would the Emerald storm walk out but anyone else who watched wouldn’t want her to interview them either. Even though she found these questions so boring to get through she had to ask them and seem the impartial type. “Arabic? Is that a more personal connection or something that she picked up on later and used?” She was already thinking of her next question before Alizeh answered and after giving her time to respond she went to something else. “The wind seems to have smiled upon your family. It can be a profitable business for some and a grueling one for others. Just off your mothers career however you grew up in life of luxury in the state of Texas so things weren’t too bad for you despite being a under a single parent.” Robin’s blunt and harsh tone might roughly feathers here but she knew how to keep it from seeming hostile too soon. “Which I’m sure many naysayers use to discredit the hard work you’ve done since you started. Some people are awfully unreasonable when it comes to people who started off wealthy or with advantages. You don’t need me to tell you this Alizeh but don’t let any of that get to you. You’re far too young to be bothered by people with such baseless assumptions of your character.” Now she would have them wondering if she wasn’t trying to be insulting with her compliment before she continued.

“After all with the run you’ve had before and since you’ve come to LAW it’s clear you would be here no matter how much help you had. 17 wins with only 5 losses and one draw. People have come from better backgrounds than you and haven’t seen that kind of success. Which leads me to my next question. Early on it seemed you were facing anyone. Taking on people like Alaina earlier than most people would dare to do so but you fought a number of brawlers and technical wrestlers with some high flyers thrown in the mix. If I may pry into your mind a little was that a deliberate choice? To test yourself against wrestlers you weren’t used to or was that as simple as a new girl trying to catch people’s attention?”

[Bare]

Alizeh was no fool, she knew that what she was answering right now were just soft ball questions to get things going for the start of the interview. It was standard procedure for any interview, wrestling or otherwise. Naturally it meant that Alizeh was fully prepared for when the more serious ones would be asked, for now thought she just focused on keeping up her positive demeanor and answering Robin's questions as best she could. "Sorta, grandma taught in the middle east for a while so that was the inspiration for mom's name, and my mom just decided to roll with it with me." Alizeh answered right out of the gate as clarification before sitting back and letting the interviewer go on.

Although Alizeh did have to admit, while she may have been expecting more serious questions at some point in this interview she wasn't quite expecting to be.. borderline insulted by Robin. That fact not being helped by the woman's blunt and abrasive tone being paired with the insinuations she was making. Annoyance that could be seen by tensing of Alizeh's hand into a fist on her leg, besides that though Alizeh would maintain her positive expression, even if it didn't quite match her mood right now. "Well thats quite a bit to dive into hehe." She said with a somewhat forced laugh while brushing some hair back behind her ear while focusing on Robin and getting a bit more serious look on her face. "But firstly, to say I grew up in luxury is somewhat of an overstatement. Middle class is more accurate, upper middle once I hit my teenage years and mom got her doctorate." Alizeh elaborated, not liking the insinuation Robin had made and refusing to let it go without rebuttal before continuing.

Starting off with a deep breath Alizeh would focus on Robin, meeting her gaze to gaze. "Though you aren't entirely wrong in that people have tried to discredit what I've achieved as a result of my upbringing. Saying I've only gotten as far I have because of my mom or abuelo pulling strings for me which isn't true by a mile." Alizeh said, her voice getting steadily more serious with each word before composing herself once more for the next part of her response. "So as a result I've trained myself to always seek out any challenge, regardless of how different their style may be from my own. To prove regardless of how I got my training I can stand with the best of anyone in any field. So yeah you can say its a deliberate choice, one to not only constantly test myself as a competitor, but also show anyone watching, fan of mine or not that I was born for this regardless of how I was brought up." Alizeh finished already bracing herself again for another abrasive response from Robin after the interviewer's last pointed shot towards her.

[Taskmaster12]

Already the questions bluntness was changing Alizeh’s behavior. She could see the young woman closing herself off and preparing for some more questions designed to pick at her and get her emotional or heated up. If Tammy were here she would stick to softball questions because she’d be worried that she had offended a nice girl like Alizeh based off her responses. Jenna would start throwing them more now that she’s gotten somewhere desiring that attitude for the cash it would bring in. With Robin the answer was to feel Alizeh back in by making the question feel like it was only bad because of the way she sounded not because that was her intentions with the questions. It was a fine line to walk but by moving through it Robin could maintain the idea that she was impartial while digging for the actions and reactions that she wanted. Alizeh was suspicious so it was time to throw her off guard. “Fascinating. A move that quells all but the harshest doubters of your motivation and drive while being a learning experience for you.” Robin complimented before she would dive into her next question. “I think this tells us plenty about you Alizeh so let me go ahead and ask this. With the way you’ve been going so far you must have so many people on the LAW roster that you have t faced yet. Is their anyone out there that you feel is a must face for you? Say you only had time for 3 fights of anyone that you wanted. What 3 could you absolutely not go without meeting in the ring once?” It was a real softball but Robin would ask it in the same tone as before. Wanting to make her abrasive voice feel like an attack and more like the default. Once she got her answers Robin would just nod her head and pretend to be impressed before going to another important question. “This year you had your first PPV match and it ended in a victory with the upcoming Fight for LAW you have a chance to pick up a second one against an opponent you’ve met before in Panther Risako. The stipulation is rather surprising given what you usually put out but the important thing is that this opponent of yours is one that’s taught you and beaten you in the past. I heard you had been the one to pick her for your opponent because your first choice was unavailable. Does this feel like a graduation moment in you? I can imagine that the pick wasn’t done as a random second given your history with the name both as an opponent and a mentor.”

[Bare]

Alizeh was more on guard now after Robin's... Brisk response to her. It may have very well been part of the woman's personality, Alizeh had met such types before, but it was also just as likely she was trying to goad Alizeh into having an outburst or something of that sort. Something Alizeh was keen on not giving the woman. So she remained a bit more guarded and measured with her response as she waited for Robin to ask her next question. Before that though the woman would respond and would praise Alizeh, making her raise an eyebrow at the change up, though granted it was all in that same rigid, harsh tone as before, leading Alizeh to think it may have just been the woman's default tone. It was a bit reassuring, but not enough for Alizeh to drop her guard all together just yet.

Luckily Robin's next question was a bit more easy and something Alizeh had no problem at all with responding too. "Man thats a really tough question haha." Alizeh joked as she leaned back while thinking before leaning forward again. "First on my list is Kyoko Akan, I think she's really great in the ring despite being... abrasive, and she's someone I'd love to test myself against." Alizeh said as her first pick, pausing before moving to her second. "Next would be Clara Gaster, she's a corner stone of LAW and one of the company's best technicians, so I'd love to throw down with her to see who's the best between us." Alizeh said before taking a breath for her last pick. "Next one is gonna be kinda cheating but... Definitely the Swat Katts." Alizeh said, pausing before elaborating further on the unorthodox answer. "Which is to say I wanna go against all three at some point, whether it be in singles or a team based match. But all of them are the best of their respective weight divisions and it'd be a total honor to fight all three head on at some point." Alizeh said, leaning back a little further and waiting as Robin launched her next question.

Next up was definitely a more personal question. One regarding Alizeh's newest ppv match that was soon to come "Yeah you can say that haha." Alizeh said, brushing some hair out of her face before responding. "Sort of yeah. It's been a long time since I had fought Risako and asked to train under her, I've learned from other people as well as her, and I won't lie when I say it definitely feels like a chance for me to prove what I've learned to her and everyone else." Alizeh said, seemingly having that as her answer before pressing further to answer in more depth. "But also, with Apex coming to an end soon, before my Apex match, I wanna prove myself against one of the most dominant women to step foot in a ring, and that woman is Panther Risako." As she said this a more serious expression came across her face as she spoke. "She was called Queen of the Ring for a reason, and her championship run from the Wrestle Angels days is still one of the most dominant runs for a female wrestler, and with her being a role model of mine growing up, it just feels wrong not to try and surpass her in a match, which is part of why I made the stipulation what I did." Alizeh finished, relaxing a bit more over the course of her reply as she did so, a result of the topics being something she was far more interested and optimistic about.

[Taskmaster12]

“I get paid to ask the tough questions. The actual tough questions” Her mind went to Jenna again who thought she asked tough questions but was mostly so obviously jaded she wondered why anyone listened. She never understood those shock value speakers who make it obvious when they are looking for controversy. It kept you in the public eye longer to sprinkle those desires through actual ones so no one knew for sure how malicious your thinking was. Her current question was an easy one to ask. It let her know who was on Alizeh’s mind and if they were anyone Robin could use or look into. However this time the batch was worthless. “All established talent. Understandable choices knowing how much you admire the LAW roster that had been built before you joined.” Robin finished her notes while flipping to her next question about the PPV. Was there an angle here that Robin could work with to make her interview and the match more interesting? She searched Alizeh’s answer but her response was so gushing that Robin felt everything that could be milked out of this match had been by her guest. She did her best to hide her disappointment that the respect was too strong to be severed and make the fighting more to her liking.

Once she finished writing down that answer she looked up again. “So it would be safe to say that even in defeat you feel like you can still prove a point if you still managed to show improvement here?” It sounded complimentary but even if Robin meant the opposite. Just because loses could teach you a lesson the idea of not being frustrated by them never made sense to Robin. The shame of her first defeat to her rival stuck with her until Robin had come back and destroyed her company. Alizeh didn’t seem to hold any grudge over the loss and none would grow it it happened again. It didn’t make sense to her. She wanted to move on. “I wanted to talk about Apex next if you had the time. As you already know winning at Apex means that you become the first Openweight champion being an inaugural champion is something that marks you in the history books forever which is something I know you have to be fighting for. What is new and exclusive to wrestlers like you is the reveal that after the vacancy of the Middleweight championship due to Lillian Byrne failings have made that belt up for grabs at Apex as well. You along with every other middleweight now have two chances to win gold. How do you feel about your odds with that and what opponent do you have in mind?”

[Bare]

Alizeh felt just a bit more comfortable with this interview now after that little... lashing from Robin. Now Alizeh was thinking the woman was just a bit harsh by nature and that she didn't intend it, and if nothing else the next question she asked was at least a bit more of a fun one, albeit tough to answer which Robin acknowledged was part of her job which Alizeh chuckled at. "Heh fair point." Alizeh said as she nodded at what Robin said about the picks Alizeh made all being fair picks. "Thanks, I know those are probably somewhat a safe choices but what can I say?" Alizeh said rhetorically before answering the next question from Robin, this one being about her upcoming ppv match against Panther Risako. This time, despite Robin's answer being fair... Alizeh didn't quite.. appreciate the response, and felt like she had to say something. "Yeah well not wrong, but I don't plan on losing, I'm going to give it my all to win, and IF I lose... I will find a way to defeat her... IF I lose." Alizeh said, making it clear she didn't want to lose against Risako, and showing some distaste for the idea of losing in the process if Robin was able to pick up on it.

Then came Robin's next question, which once against allowed for a brief distraction from the flare up Alizeh just had as she nodded. Robin made a fair point, being a middleweight with the middleweight title on the line at Apex as well as the Openweight title left a lot of room for what she could do, and she definitely had a certain person she had in mind for her Apex opponent. "Well given my tenure in LAW so far the opponent's I've face, I do have to admit I feel rather confident in my standing as a potential inaugural openweight champion, and I've already thought of some things I'd like to do if I win it." Alizeh explained before continuing. "But there's also a lot of opportunities with the middleweight title. Prior to the Open Weight title being announced the middleweight was my main goal, and while Lillian set the bar high she also dropped the ball at the end, and I think I could be the one to raise that belt up again and rebuild its reputation, as well as the reputation of the weight class champions in general." Alizeh said taking a light dig at the lightweight and heavyweight titles respectively... but there was still one part of Robin's question that she hadn't answered just yet. "As for my opponent at Apex... well its no surprise to anyone I've been having beef with one Mindy Midnight or Karen Meadows, whatever she calls herself these days, and the papers have already been drawn up, I'm going to face her head on at Apex, take her down, and prove why I deserve to have some gold around my waist by Apex's conclusion." Alizeh said before chuckling softly. "Who knows I may even win both championships." Alizeh said jokingly.