Post by Boardwalk Angels on Jan 6, 2018 1:18:25 GMT -5
”What else can I say, other than that 2017 belonged to the Boardwalk Angels? True, we had some bumps in the road, but all in all it couldn’t have gone much better. We started off with Courtney at our side, then brought Crystal Hilton into the fold. When the road of life took Courtney elsewhere, Stacy Jones filled in and all of us ended the year with gold around our waists. Not to mention the year-end awards that… well, I still get a little choked up about those. I’m proud, yet humbled. I’m ecstatic, yet awed. Farrah could probably put into words what she’s feeling better than I could. The point is that we had the best year of our careers thus far… and now? Now we’re looking to make 2018 even better. To all the LAW fans, to the talented women in the locker room and everyone else in and out of the ring who supported us, I say thank you and keep watching. Because the best is yet to come!”
* January 5th, 2017, late-morning *
* The Madigan-Star Residence *
* Malibu, CA *
Be Who You Are
It isn’t to say that this home is not a peaceful one; truly all who live in the palatial beachside estate find great solace in its spacious interior, and even if not there is always the beach or the newly-constructed dock nearby to allow space and time for rumination. For now, we are mostly concerned with the interior. Starting in the well-equipped and currently-spotless kitchen, we move down the main hall, past the living room and the laundry room, heading toward the multiple bedrooms. We stop, however, at the second door on the right, from behind which a familiar voice emits. A few steps closer and a gentle nudge given the slightly-ajar passage allows a view within, revealing the office/parlor of Zoey Madigan-Star. Seated at her desk, her long denim-clad legs propped up upon an empty portion with black-and-purple socks covering her unshod feet, she converses with someone on the phone, the tone in her voice familiar enough but not one that’s been heard often in the last few months:
One of happiness.
”I’m absolutely sure, Jimmy. Never been more certain in my life.”
From the other end of the call comes the voice of James ‘Jimmy’ Makowski, Zoey’s venerable agent of multiple seasons, his voice tinged with concern.
”You know I’ve never tried to tell ya what to do, Zo, nor would I ever. It ain’t my place. But isn’t this the same as defying Dr. Shields and his instructions? More than that, if Katalina finds out that you’re slipping back into the same state you were in-”
”Jimmy…”
She sighs, but calmly and even a little sweetly. Though we’re only seeing the back of her head, her dark hair woven into a long, messy braid, we can tell she’s smiling.
”...I love you like you’re blood. So much of my success came to me because I listened to you and because you care so much. You know that, right?”
”’Course I do. That don’t make me your daddy, though. A cool uncle, perhaps, but not someone who should be tellin’ ya what’s what.”
Laughing lightly at his comment, drawing a chuckle from the man himself, Zoey swings her long legs down and stands. Emblazoned on the back of her black hoodie is the gold-and-blue Boardwalk Angels logo (new on LAW.com!). She shakes her head a bit.
”The point, you goof, is that I appreciate your concern and I trust you to tell me what I need to hear whether you think I’ll like it or not. I know that my asking you to renew my contract and extend it to by-night performances means I’ll be a lot busier, but over these last few months of therapy and pills and all else I’ve learned something about myself: not all of my need to be constantly moving, working and achieving comes from an unconscious desire to bury my pain.”
Jimmy listens as Zoey finally turns, leaning back against her desk with arm across her midsection as she continues.
”I have this undying desire to do those things, to experience life to the fullest, to never waste a moment. In the process of trying to heal, my added downtime for the sake of rest and relaxation has led me to some dark places and thoughts. I know that sounds like the exact opposite of what was intended, but there it is. More time not doing something constructive means more time to think and think and overthink some more. I can only play so many video games or do so much shopping and cooking and cleaning and all else before it becomes monotonous, which makes me stir-crazy, which leads to the aforementioned dark thoughts-”
”You’re rambling.”
Pushing of the desk with a sigh, Zoey exits the office and we’re behind her once more as she walks into the kitchen, gathering a mug from the cabinet and a tea bag from the small box on the counter. As she turns to gather a kettle and fill it with water, her soft gray tabby, Aloysius, hops up on the counter, meowing at her. She strokes his head, causing him to purr loudly as she replies to Jimmy.
”I’m sorry. The point is… I need to do things. Things that will have an impact on my life and that of my loved ones. And slaying trolls, making manicotti and buying more clothes than I need isn’t doing that. Getting back on stage is. Continuing my education is. Wrestling to the best of my ability is, too.”
”Then may I make a suggestion?”
”Please.”
As she listens, she turns from her feline friend and fills the kettle, putting it on the stove. One foot turns, toes bouncing up and down on the linoleum behind her other leg as she watches the water thoughtfully.
”Take me on full-time as your manager and agent.”
Not sure she heard him right, Zoey twists a fingertip in her ear and switches the phone to that side.
”Beg pardon?”
”I know, I know… it’s not my usual modus operandi. But working with you personally and directly, like we used to, would allow me to help you and Farrah better. It would also put my mind and heart at ease.”
”What about your other clients?”
Walking from the stove to the window, Zoey draws the curtain back, looking from behind the sink out at the dock, the waters lapping at the heavy posts. Looked like the Cortez ladies had returned early after all. The thought made Zoey smile; she and Amanda were due a little time in the Dungeon to catch up. Perhaps Rose would join in also. Jimmy’s voice brought her back to the moment.
”Honestly, Zoey? There’s nothing I do for them that I can’t do from a smartphone or a tablet anymore. It’s all old hat to me now, like a reflex. You, though? You AND Farrah? Up close and personal I feel like I can do a lot more.”
”Like being my own personal Jiminy Cricket, eh?”
”Let your conscience be your guide!”
Zoey giggles, a sound soon overtaken by the whistle of the kettle.
”Honestly, that sounds like a really good idea. Let me talk to Farrah and we’ll be in touch before LAW #75.”
”Sounds good. You take care, hon.”
”Always, Jimmy.”
Hanging up, Zoey takes the kettle off the heat and slowly adds it to her cup, raising and lowering the tea bag into the cup a bit. A persistent meow from Aloysius draws her and she gives him another rub before heading to the sink-side cabinets and taking out a can of cat food. Mixing wet with dry, she puts it in a clean dish with fresh water, prompting the cat to hop down and partake of his lunch hungrily.
”You just love me for my cooking!”
Deep purrs are the response, which makes her smile anew. She picks up her cup, adds a bit of honey and lemon, and wanders out of the kitchen.
”If one thing bothers me about the way 2017 ended it’s how the loss to us at Night of Glory brought such anger and discontent upon us from the Queens of Wrestling. Losses happen in wrestling. I’ve certainly had my share in the beginning and it was tough, especially my first two. But the way it turned those two against us… I just don’t know. Say what you will about Farrah and I, but what you cannot accuse us of is being protected by anyone or anything. We have earned every win as well as the right to hold our titles high with pride and satisfaction. Megan Helms-King didn’t pin our opponents for us. Lucas Dupree didn’t have a pizza slicer taken to his head. No one in the office took upon themselves the jeers, jealousy and negativity that’s been hurled our way since our debut a year ago. That was us. Myself and Farrah. Anyone who says or thinks otherwise is making excuses for why they can’t compete with us. Maybe that comes off as arrogant, but I don’t shy from the truth. Never have, never will.”
* January 5th, 2017, early-afternoon *
* The Madigan-Star Residence *
* Malibu, CA *
In Angels We Trust
For a brief moment our view is filled by darkness with a little light around the edge, but it is only Zoey setting up the portable digital camera on the dresser of the mistress bedroom of her Malibu home. She crouches down after getting the settings to her liking, gazing right into the camera with her million-dollar smile and her two-toned golden eyes gazing into the lens.
”Hello, everyone. Seems like it’s been a while since I got in front of a camera for you guys, hasn’t it? But I’m back and immensely happy to be so.”
Rising, Zoey walks to the bed and takes a seat on the end. Immediately we can tell that this is barely minutes removed from before; her cup of tea is still steaming hot, her hair’s still in that braid and her attire is exactly the same. Well, except for the LAW Tag Team Championship over her left shoulder. She raises her cup to the camera, crossing her long legs at the ankle as she sits before the camera.
”Last year… it still feels like a blur sometimes. All the battles we had with super-talented tag teams across the United States, all the wars of words had over Twitter as well as backstage and in the ring and all the special events where we met so many wonderful fans. Enemies have become friends and comrades have become adversaries. The ranks of our little group have changed and shifted as easily as the weather in Florida. And that only speaks of the wrestling side of things, amazingly enough. It says nothing for my marriage to Katalina back in March or my bouts of mental illness or all the wonderful people and places I’ve experienced or the friends I’ve made. To say it was amazing is not doing it justice.
Capping it all off by winning both Tag Team of the Year and Moment of the Year alongside Farrah, though? I could not think of a better way to end it. But the time for celebration has passed. The challenge now lies before Farrah and I to not only continue our incredible success, but to surpass it. The bar that we have set for the tag team division not just in LAW but in all of wrestling can be raised yet higher and that is what we intend to do. Sitting here, 312 days into our reign… I can say that I am happy, for that is true. But in the same breath I must admit that I am far from satisfied, a sentiment my partner no doubt mirrors.”
Zoey sips her tea, setting the cup aside carefully. Her hand free, she strokes the title belt, specifically where her nameplate was. For a moment she gazed upon that medallion atop leather the same way a mother might look at their child. Not with obsession, mind, but with pride. The magician-turned-wrestler’s eyes narrowed slightly in the midst of her stare, her attention staying where it was as she continued to speak.
”Satisfaction is a death sentence to one’s goals and aspirations in wrestling. Though my career is barely two years old, this much I can state for certain that I know. The moment you let satisfaction take over when it comes to your successes and accolades, that’s the moment that complacency irrevocably sets in. And once that has hold of you, your edge goes away. And the duller your edge becomes, the harder it is to keep up the fight. Soon, that lack of drive and desire becomes your undoing and someone takes your prize from you, the cycle starting all over again. And once it’s gone? It’s usually gone for good.”
Her head turns, those eyes back on the camera, seeming to burn with their own internal source of light and flame.
”We will not fall into that trap.”
Righting her posture, Zoey’s smile slowly returns, replacing the intensity that still lingers in her gaze. As she speaks anew, Aloysius decides to be part of the moment as well, hopping up on the bed. Scritching under his chin, Zoey resumes her address.
”I prefer the Irish saying that I heard once. It goes something like… ‘may you achieve all of your dreams but one so that you always have something to shoot for’. It’s a good way to look at life AND wrestling. Where it applies to the latter, I want to be tag champions with Farrah forever. Pretty silly, right? Forever is a long time, after all. But the very near-impossibility of that goal ensures that we’ll always be fighting to make it reality. We will always have a reason to keep working and winning.”
Aloysius takes up residence in Zoey’s lap and she does nothing to dissuade him; more so because her full attention is on the camera save for the hand that moves over his glossy fur.
”Ah, but what a way to start the new year and the refreshed pursuance of that goal. At LAW #75, Farrah and I face the Naughty Girls, the same team from which we won these championships. Well, halfway at least. My lovely wife has replaced, at least temporarily, Katie Klein with her new project, Jessika Hyde. This change suits me just fine, to be honest, because Katie and I simply do not see eye-to-eye. Last time we faced off, February 26th of last year to be precise, Klein went out of her way to make the battle as personal as possible. Harsh words were exchanged and in the match things became, shall we say, a bit saucier and snappier than intended?
That, however, will not repeat itself at LAW #75. Jessika may be erratic and difficult to draw a bead on, but she is honest if nothing else. I have seen first-hand her devotion to Katalina both in the ring and out of it and have little doubt that she will continue with that devotion in Washington, D.C. As I recall it, the last time anyone from our sides got physical, it was at LAW #61 in a match that was just straight-up ill-advised. Katie and Farrah teaming up against Jessika and Kenzi Grey… at the height of the strife between Guilty Pleasure and the Boardwalk Angels, no less. There were no winners that night. Just a ton of chaos and a ringside area that looked like it had a cluster of estrogen bombs dropped on it.”
Mock shivering at the thought, Zoey smiles and pushes a stray hair behind her ear.
”Jokes aside, Jessika? The world has watched Katalina take you under her wing despite considerable protest and has continued to watch your evolution away from your sister Karyn’s influence. And if I may say, you’ve become so much better under my wife’s tutelage. Granted, you’ve inherited some of the strife that follows her in the form of some long-standing adversaries, but not once has that caused you to forsake your duties or devotion. I admire that.
Whether that training and your personal evolution extends to the wrestling ring is something I am going to reserve judgment on. You are intense and you are determined… both fine qualities. Yet they are merely parts of the whole, necessary traits and not the be-all, end-all. In another time and place without battle on the horizon for us, I would be more than happy to take you into the training ring and hone you to a razor-sharp edge, my dear. And perhaps after LAW #75 I’ll do just that with your Mistress’s permission. The show in question, however, will be more like on-the-job training. That is, if you consider being tossed head-first into the deep end of the pool without a lifeguard or water wings ‘training’.”
The comment is obviously supposed to be funny and perhaps it is. It’s just that the serious, competitive side that Zoey possesses is coming to the fore.
”This will not be about how devoted you are to your Mistress, nor will it be a fun game to pass the time. And I assure you it will have nothing whatsoever to do with bees…”
A wink is given the camera as Aloysius stares at it sleepily through half-lidded green eyes.
”No, this will be your litmus test to see if you and Katalina will one day be across the ring from us vying for these. I have no doubt that my sweetling is capable of challenging myself and Farrah for the gold, but she cannot do this alone. As things stand, you are the one who will walk and fight at her side if and when the time comes. If you have that goal, if she has that goal, then now is the time for you to be the best you can be to instill faith in Katalina and keep her competitive fire burning for the inevitable rematch.
Can you do that? For her sake, I hope the answer is yes.”
As the kitty curls up into a tight ball, forelegs hugging stretched-out back legs, Zoey’s hand goes to the title again. But she does not see the belt if her tone is any indicator. Her words likewise lean toward another focus.
”Which brings me to that darling woman. The center of my life, she who warms my heart and soothes my soul. My loving, talented, beautiful Katalina Star…”
One thing is certainly clear: Zoey loves Katalina even more down than she did on their wedding day, or at their engagement party… or that first, passionate night they shared. She sighs dreamily, turning back to the camera.
”There have been so many firsts for us, but the one that matters most at this moment concerns Rising Stars 2017, the first time that Farrah and I faced yourself and Katie. It wasn’t the first match between you and I, but our first in LAW. And with the benefit of hindsight, I can see that a lot of what you said to me as we strode toward that confrontation was true. Perhaps not the words exactly, but the meaning behind them. Both in terms of how I sounded then… and how I sound now.”
There’s a pause and briefly a troubled look comes across the Sorcerous Angel’s face.
”I did not see it then, but I see it now, the arrogance that I showed and how disrespectfully I came off when I addressed you and Katie. More than that, looking back I realize that the longer our reign became as we finished off 2017, the more we sounded like you...”
She trails a bit, then reaches into the front pocket of her hoodie as she falls silent. Disturbed by the motion, gentle as it was, Aloysius rises and moves to the corner of the king-sized bed, curling up once again. Retrieving her cell phone, Zoey swiftly sifts through recordings and galleries until she comes to what she seeks. Pressing the play button, we are allowed to listen to the words of one Katalina Star nearly a year ago.
Katalina: We are the legacy of this company. Naughty Girls is Ladies All Star Wrestling. We will not lose our titles to a pair of first timers. People who would speak first before having a full test of their skills played out. We never lost to those who came before us, we never lost to those who felt they knew us, and we never lost to those who felt they were better than us.
Without a word, Zoey fast-forwards a little, then presses Play again.
Katalina: Twenty-seventeen is our year of dominance. We'll defeat the Boardwalk Angels and move onto either Guilty Pleasure or Dynasty. Though, to be honest, it doesn't matter who we face next of those two because eventually we'll be up against the soon to be losers.
Putting down her phone, Zoey smiles again in a subtler way.
”It occurred to me recently after much soul-searching how vain of a person I can be, how I have selfish tendencies and tend to get arrogant without intending to. At first, I wrote it off because so many people, friends and fans and family alike, were there to remind me of how highly they thought of me. But that merely obfuscated things. I cannot deny the truth of my faults. Not if I want to move beyond them. For the past ten months, we have sounded, Farrah and I, as you did here, my love. And the arrogance has not lessened. Farrah is full of pride as well she should be; she wears her own shade of arrogance and attitude well. She has… balance. Something I am still trying for.”
There’s another pause as she puts the phone back in the pocket, considering her words carefully. She rises from the bed, padding softly on sock-clad feet over to the dresser whereupon she picks up the camera and holds it before her.
”That is why I make no promises here. It is why I am doing my best to recognize who I am, who you are and what I must do. Three-hundred-and-twelve days as champion may make the Angels impressive, but it does not make us unbeatable despite our undefeated record as a team in LAW. So let me say this as clearly and as evenly as I can.”
She takes in a deep breath, walking to the window. Opening the curtain with her other hand, she aims the camera at the beach and the waves coming in, speaking slowly and clearly.
”I respect all that you have done, Katalina, in terms of setting a standard for every team after you to follow in LAW. Were it not for you placing that bar so high, a team like the Boardwalk Angels would not have had such heights to strive for and, thus, our reign might not have closed out the year. We deeply admire your reign and how you, as we are doing now, did so in impressive and undefeated fashion. We owe much of our success to, inadvertently at first but directly from this point forward, following your example. Keep personal and business separate and never lose your cool no matter what’s thrown your way. This led you to nearly breaking a record and is a way of doing things we hope to emulate.
I am very much still learning my way in professional wrestling despite my success… in the same way, I am learning outside of it. The lessons do not always mix, but in this case they do. You have not only taught me directly in terms of business pursuits, the lifestyle and more, but you have done so indirectly with your examples and your drive in wrestling. I should be ashamed that it took me so long to understand that the path we were forging was done on the path you and Katie carved. This I, and Farrah alongside me, shall be made up for as we come into 2018 as champions and seek to end it as champions as well.”
When she turns the camera back, her eyes glisten with tears unfallen… not of sadness but determination and eagerness. And, yes, a lot of love.
”And that goal begins at LAW #75. Under the learning tree we go, facing the catalyst of our golden journey once again, seeking new lessons and fresher means of striving to be the absolute best tag team around. We couldn’t have done it without you, Katalina, and for that we will be forever grateful.
But to make it happen, we must go through you again. You may very well make the third time the charm and take that elusive win over me, and Farrah as well. That would certainly put you in line for the rematch you’ve yet to take. If we’ve anything to say about it though, and we most assuredly do, then we will keep our streak alive and forge on. Still grateful, always learning and never ceasing to improve.
Cast aside love, honor and respect, my darling, and hone your new project well. Make her see what is at stake and then bring yourself up for another heavenly war with the longest-reigning tag champions in LAW history. No rest and no mercy, even if it means I’m due a little time in dire straits when the last bell tolls.”
She winks, then blows a kiss at the camera, ensuring that it takes in as much of her, and the title, as possible.
”Get ready to fly.”
Fade out.