Post by Boardwalk Angels on Feb 10, 2018 16:57:58 GMT -5
”A couple of weeks ago, everything was wonderful. I’m not going to start waxing poetic or mourning for better days or anything, though… my saying such is an observation. The ending to our second go-round with the Naughty Girls didn’t go how we would have liked, but a win is a win. What happened later that evening, however, will have consequences. Consequences I will see to directly along with a few like-minded souls. If that were the only standing issue, however, it would at least be manageable. The matter with Farrah… I don’t know what to do there. She isn’t a woman that rattles easily. These visions and nightmares she’s spoken of lately, though, have shaken her to the core. We’ve barely spoken over the last week or two. Somehow that didn’t affect us in our match against Elizzy up in Rose City but… I chalk that up at least in part to luck. We barely communicated before, during or after. Though where it comes to before, I think it was something else that affected her…”
* February 5th, 2018, late-morning *
* The Dungeon *
* Malibu, CA *
”...no, I think it’s a fine idea. Proceed with it. Just make sure to keep at least one entrance open and unattended. Mrs. Star’s considerations and all.”
Zoey, dressed in a business suit of black in the form of trousers and jacket along with a muted purple blouse and heeled boots, converses with the construction workers currently making modifications to the Dungeon. More than a few are giving her a once-over visually as she speaks with the foreman but… who wouldn’t? She turns heads, male and female alike. Her bags rest near the table upon which the blueprints are spread, the foreman pointing out their plans to the Magical Maiden.
It’s a calm scene. That is, until the door near the garage bursts open and an agitated Farrah Cornett storms out, stuffing something into her duffel as she goes, a twisted expression of anger and frustration on her otherwise lovely face. The other workers give her a few stares as well but one snapping stare from the Jersey Hellcat has them turning back to their work quick-fast. Zoey, looking from the plans to her friend and partner, gnaws on her lower lip a little and rises to her full height after gathering her bags. It takes some near-jogging to catch up with Farrah, though...
”Slow down a little bit, how about it?! I’m in heels here!”
Farrah does no such thing, though Zoey catches up regardless.
”What happened down there? I thought you and Kat-”
”Don’t want to talk about it.”
Cut off from the rest of her question, Zoey falls silent for a few moments. The two continue across the lot toward Zoey’s purple truck and toss their bags in the back seat before getting in. A few moments later, the magician tries again.
”What did the two of you even discuss? Seems like it all hap-”
”Zee, what part of my response didn’t register? I. Don’t. Want. To. Talk. About. It.”
”You know I’m just trying to help here…”
The response is murmured but Zoey takes the hint and keeps silent, starting up the vehicle and pulling away from the Dungeon. They travel a good twenty minutes in silence before Farrah finally breaks it, speaking quietly.
”Crystal’s lost her damn mind.”
Glancing sidelong at Farrah around her sunglasses, Zoey nods quietly as they slow to a stop at a traffic light.
”She’s not right. And it’s putting horrible strain on both her and Seleana.”
”I don’t buy her being cleared for a damn minute. From a concussion? In days? That doesn’t happen. Concussions end careers, damn it. Crystal shouldn’t be fighting at all.”
”Should you be?”
The question gives Farrah pause, causing her to turn and stare at Zoey as she pulls through the intersection, following the signs to the airport. The magician can feel the stare of her friend and partner as they continue but she maintains her focus on the road.
”What’s that supposed to mean?”
”Something’s on your brain that’s robbing you of sleep, making you avoid your friends and, on top of that, snap off at the rare few you actually speak with. This is you we’re talking about, F.J. Nothing short of an 8.5 earthquake is going to shake you. But whatever these nightmares and visions are… they’re turning you into who you were years ago.”
”The hell they are.”
Jerking the wheel to the right hard, Zoey pulls them to the side of the road, the brakes squealing in protest along with the horns blaring from other drivers nearby on the road. Farrah puts a hand on the dash out of reflex and turns her stare on Zoey with wide, angry eyes.
”Fuck’s gotten into you, Zee?!”
Pulling off her sunglasses, Zoey lets out a sigh and turns to Farrah.
”I’m trying to look after my friends.”
”This shit again? You’re not capable of being everyone’s hero, Zee.”
”No, I’m not. But this situation with Crystal is going to end up costing her that Marquee Championship, possibly her career. Maybe even the people she loves. I’ve seen it happen. You? That’s a tricker issue; whatever happens to you affects me whether we like it or not. It affects everything that we’ve worked for across the board. Titles, friendships, relationships… everything. I can’t let that happen.”
Looking Zoey up and down for a moment, Farrah scoffs and folds her arms, staring out the window.
”It isn’t gonna happen.”
”If it doesn’t it’ll be because I decided to step up and make things happen. Right now, we have a match with Eliza and Izzy to get to. After that? We’re going to sit and discuss this. At length. I’m not taking ‘no’ for an answer.”
”Fine…”
Pulling back onto the road, Zoey continues the rest of the way to the airport, the ride finishing in silence.
”Somehow, that night, we pulled through with a win over Elizzy. In Rose City as in LAW, the Angels do what they do best: put on an amazing show and come out with the win. As we flew back to Malibu, though, I wondered in the back of my mind how we got that win. Our little spat on the way there kept things silent between us until after the match and even then the conversation was terse. We sat apart on the plane, Farrah caught her own ride down to the Dungeon for a talk with Ruby of all people (no offense, love) and left without a word once that was done. Farrah has been miffed at me before, but never full-on angry. That worries me. Almost as much as I’m worried about Crystal and Seleana.”
* February 7th, 2018, afternoon *
* The Madigan-Star Residence *
* Malibu, CA *
Zoey paces back and forth in the kitchen of her home, phone to her ear and an expression of consternation on her face. She pauses from moment, leaning upon or tapping against the counter, but says nothing. Faintly the sound of ringing can be heard on the other end of her phone before a pre-recorded voice kicks in, again prompting Zoey to end the call. She switches to text when she can’t get through the other way and…
”How long is this going to go on, F.J.? I can’t deal with you being angry at me. Call me, all right?”
Setting the device down, she turns back to the stove. There’s faint music going on in the living room around the corner and, every once in a while, a grunt or squeak of both strain and subtle pain. Katalina is in the midst of some unsupervised physical therapy while Zoey’s true purpose in the kitchen is fixing them lunch. Chicken sizzles in the skillet, laden with fragrant spices while, now at the cutting board, the magician rapidly slices cucumbers, carrots, tomatoes and romaine one after the other. That is, until her phone buzzes. She moves to the other counter to pick it up, wiping her hands en route.
”I think… we need to talk. Not here, though. At the show.”
”Sel…? Don’t tell me this has gotten worse...”
Quickly, Zoey texts her back.
Zoey: ”Is everything all right, hon? Did something happen to Crystal?”
Seleana: ”Nothing else happened, no. I have to go. Just promise me we’ll talk before the match?”
Zoey: ”Yeah, of course we will.”
As she’s putting the phone down, Zoey’s fingers clench tightly around it, her expression betraying a great deal of concern. Sighing deeply, she turns back to her chopping as someone comes up behind her and leans against her back, arms going around her waist.
”Fooooood… naaaaap...”
Adding the sliced veggies to the bowl, Zoey puts a hand on those of her wife, allowing a small smile out.
”Soon, sweetling. Go wash up and I’ll have it on the table by the time you’re done.”
Nuzzling into her wife’s back a moment more, Katalina then trundles off the to the restroom dramatically, making Zoey giggle softly behind her hand. At the very least, she found something to smile about… if only for a moment.
* February 10th, 2018, early-evening *
* Donald L. Tucker Center *
* Tallahassee, FL *
Things aren’t quite set up for LAW #77 yet, though the trucks are parked in the background as Zoey Madigan-Star, one-half of the LAW World Tag Team Champions, takes a little walk around the outside of the arena. The camera follows her pace easily as the Sorcerous Angel ruminates a bit, even her simple steps graceful. Skin-tight black-and-purple workout pants cling to her lower curves, matching cross-trainers of the same color. Up top, a loose Boardwalk Angels hoodie keeps back the breeze, her hands stuffed in the front pocket. Dark hair drawn back into a braid, Zoey looks more prepared for a workout than to set her opponents to rights. Perhaps she’s expecting to sweat while addressing Crystal and Seleana? Stranger things have happened. Not often… but they HAVE happened.
”I’ve never minded fighting friends or family in the ring. That’s just the nature of the business sometimes. You’re eventually going to end up between the ropes with someone you care about, perhaps even someone that you love. So long as you can still call yourselves friends when all is said and done, though, there’s no issue. Some of my best matches have come from people I love as well as respect, in fact.”
She pauses a moment, taking a hand from her pocket to adjust the title over her shoulder; it had been just out of sight due to the angle of the camera previously.
”Katalina Star, Stacy Jones, Kelsey Spencer, Constance Chapin, Eliza Coheed… the list goes on. Some I’ve won, some I’ve lost, but never once did my feelings get in the way of doing what needed to be done. Except for Constance, though, because my best at that point in my career wasn’t enough to overtake her best, but you understand the point I’m getting at, don’t you? Of course you do. I care about the both of you, Crystal and Seleana, but when that bell rings it won’t be Zee, the friend who’s there when you need a shoulder, who makes sure you never leave my home fed or who will drop everything to give you a hand up.
It will be Zoey Madigan-Star, the Sorcerous Angel, the record-setting, odds-defying LAW World Tag Team Champion. The woman who doesn’t know what quit means, who will battle you until she doesn’t have a breath left in her body to maintain the legacy that she and her partner have been building for the past year in LAW. Someone who, whether she likes it or not, will do what’s necessary to protect her friends, even if it means protecting them from themselves. And sadly, that’s what appears to be the case where you’re concerned, Crystal. I thought we were past your bursts of bad attitude and jabbing at those who care about you, but...”
She stops her pace right in front of a framed poster for LAW. It’s a bit of an older poster considering the Boardwalk Angels portion includes Stacy Jones, and upon seeing this when she turns, Zoey smiles wanly. Shaking her head a bit, she turns to face forward and not at the camera.
”...I guess I was wrong.”
Lowering her head, finding something on the asphalt beneath her feet most interesting, Zoey takes her voice down a note as she continues.
”I’m not as hard as Farrah. Fault her if you want for coming at you all claws and fangs, but she does it because she cares. The hard way is the only way she knows because it was the only way she was ever offered in life until she met me. She skips feelings and cuts right to the heart of things and that, I feel, is what she was trying to do with you when she got in front of the camera a few days ago. It doesn’t help that she has some personal problems of her own going on right now, though that isn’t an excuse nor would it have changed her approach. I watch the two of you on Twitter lately, Crystal, and it just makes me cringe. And it wouldn’t be as bad, I don’t think, if you weren’t being salty to Seleana as well. Someone you love. Your partner. Someone who wants the best for you. And you treat her with disrespect and, worse, negligence.
You did the same to Farrah and she bit back. I can promise you that when the two of you are in the ring together tomorrow night, it isn’t going to be pretty. And I’m having a lot of trouble deciding if I want to intervene in that. My philosophy is to treat people the way that they treat me. It’s why some of my personal relationships get questioned as often as they do. What can I say? If people are nice to me, I’ll be nice to them. Respect? Same thing. But if someone comes at me slinging mud and making the wrong kind of noise? I will put them in their place. First in social media, then in front of the camera as I’m doing now, then in the ring. I’ve done that to a lot of people, too. You’re the one who’s going to be next on that list, not because you’ve come at me directly, but because your words and actions give the Boardwalk Angels a bad name and that’s not something I’m willing to tolerate, no matter how much I care for you.”
Finally giving the camera her attention, Zoey speaks in a measured, controlled tone. It is a certain sign that she is having to work to maintain her composure.
”Prolific as you are in LAW in terms of accolades and championships as well as everything you do outside of wrestling… let’s face it, Crystal: all your bragging rings hollow. All the bragging about how good you are, putting us down to the point that you can’t even bother to get our stats right and implying that there’s been hate and jealousy for, what did you say? Months? News flash, honey: if there’s problems between any of us, it’s news to me. Let me ask you something: if there’s such strife between yourself and Farrah, why has she been right there helping to pick you up and get you back on your feet every time you’ve fallen recently? Helping you get back into wrestling shape after hurting your knee ringing a bell? Putting her resources to use trying to help with the situation with your daughter? Saving your rear end in and out of the ring?
I don’t deal well with lies, Crystal, and I certainly don’t appreciate the implications that you’re trying to make about your partners and friends for the sake of glory or some obscure mental advantage. Do either of us look rattled at having to face you tomorrow night? Do you have any idea of what Farrah is going to try to do to you once that bell rings? No… because you’ve been wrapped up in your own problems and trying to hide behind your big talk. You talk as if you’re better than us, but to what lengths would you go for us if we were in need? Same as you haven’t even tried to extend the hand to Farrah during what she’s going through, you were among that same large crowd who had nothing to offer even in terms of well wishes or condolences when my wife was attacked at LAW #75.
Ah, but the moment things aren’t right in your life, who’s the first one you go to? Who came to my door in tears weeks ago with the aforementioned situation involving your daughter? And who dropped everything to help as much as they could? That’s right: Farrah and I. True friends do not come along often in wrestling, Crystal. Less than three years into my career and I’ve already learned that the hard way more times than Lays has potato chips. Farrah and I are exceptions: ask any of our friends and they’ll concur. And I get it… friendship means sticking with your people through good times and bad. We aren’t going to stop being friends because of your outbursts. But we aren’t going to forget them, either. Because they’re hurtful and unwarranted. You don’t get to call us out on the Maria attack, either, when we were across the freakin’ country and made it clear that that was the case. So take that snide little comment and shove it.”
Narrowing her stare, Zoey resumes her walk, moving past posters of future concerts and events. She heads in the direction of the gear and tech trucks that possess all which is necessary to put LAW on the air. In truth? She has no destination. She is merely hoping the walk in the fresh air, in 60-plus degree weather, will help clear her mind.
”You should know that Farrah heard your shots at her, Crystal. Talking about how her word doesn’t mean anything, how she’s getting by on her name and that I’m the one carrying her through this title reign. At this point, why don’t you just shack up with Roxy Cotton? You can compare makeup collections, crappy attitudes and who you think is carrying who on this team. Do you know what you’re going to have in common after tomorrow night, though?
You’ll both have had your tails kicked in by the Boardwalk Angels.”
Yeah, the nice Florida weather is not helping.
”Seleana, I do not know what to tell you about tomorrow night. You’re teaming with a woman who isn’t in her right mind. And as talented as you are, you cannot be expected to carry your team to victory. I don’t care what the doctor did or did not tell Crystal: she isn’t prepared for this match. Maybe the concussion is affecting her attitude or something… maybe this is really how she feels and it has just been bottled up for a while now. I don’t know. Not knowing has seldom been this painful or scary. I’m truly sorry that you were drawn into it. My hope is that you can make the most of it and open a few eyes with your performance. You’re tossed in with the champs, after all: put on a good show here and they’ll no doubt be putting you in a position for some grand opportunities. I hope you get that chance.
Part of me wants to tell you not to show up, though. Part of me wants to tell you to take Crystal somewhere and not allow her into the arena, to do whatever it takes to keep her from that ring. Not because of the beef between her and Farrah but because, in my gut, I just know Crystal isn’t okay. This is a match we’d welcome under proper circumstances, except they’re anything but. Unfortunately, staying away isn’t an option. So my only advice to you is to show up prepared to do your best and whatever happens with our partners… happens. Face us to the best of your ability and support Crystal as much as you’re able. But if things get nasty, if they get dirty and downright bloody? Don’t. Don’t get between those two. Don’t try to be the hero. It won’t be worth it, sweetheart. I assure you.”
Nearing the back doors of the arena, the entryway typically used by those who are to perform, Zoey puts a hand on the door handle and pauses. Head lowering, we hear her sigh before she turns to the camera again. That hand moves from the latch to the title over her shoulder, hitching it up just a tad.
”As of today, Crystal? Three-hundred-and-forty-nine days. Every title in LAW has changed hands, some multiple times, in the time that Farrah and I have been champions. We have redefined what it means to carry gold around here and have faced every challenge put in our path without reservation. And as good as you or anyone else in LAW may be? They can’t touch that. YOU… can’t touch that. But we? We can touch you. And we’re going to. And it’s going to hurt. Remember, Hilton: it ain’t the fall that kills you. It’s the sudden stop at the end. And you’ve been falling a long way already...”
A faint, somewhat-angry smile manifests on Zoey’s face. Her eyes, on the other hand, glisten a bit. It looks for all the world as though she might shed a tear.
”Threaten us if you must while you make your grand claims and posture as though we’re not on your level. But your words are empty and so are your threats. You are where you are because we supported you when no one else would and stepped in the line of fire to help see to your getting the opportunities that you did. Seleana has done the same, weathering your poor treatment yet staying devoted to you out of love and respect. You wouldn’t be where you are without her and it’s about time you realized that and thanked her for her affection.
I’ll tell you one more thing, though, and if you listen to nothing else that I’ve said then make sure this gets through your thick skull, Crys: if you don’t shape up and stuff this bad attitude of yours? Seleana is going to be the only thing you have left when all is said and done. No title, no health, maybe even no family. Just Seleana. And the way you’ve been acting? That won’t last long, either.”
Looking as though saying such was physically painful, Zoey exhales softly and reorients on the camera.
”Get ready to fly… and prepare to fall.”
Turning and entering the arena, Zoey is soon out of sight and the feed cuts to black.