Post by cooltubesource on Jan 24, 2020 23:15:16 GMT -5
ONE!
Sarah smiles wide.
TWO!
Her eyes shine with glee.
THREE!
She barks out laughter in the face of Johnny Bonecrusher, enjoying staring a man in the eyes as she pins someone for the second week in a row, but the laughter turns to a yelp of surprise as Hide pushes against her and sends her flying off him. She lands on her knees and immediately snaps her head up with enough force to make her braid slap painfully against her bare lower back, and looks all around, her fighter’s instincts and training coming together to keep her safe. But she sees no immediate threat, as Hide is still on the mat after his kickout...too late...and he holds the back of his head. Outside the ring, Johnny argues with Burke about her antics...and she can see the idiot in the crowd dressed as Jet is still trying to get the Red Mist out of his eyes. But the only thing that mattered to her in that moment was seeing Mitchell Dennis get to his feet with a microphone going to his lips.
“Here is your winner-”
THAT was what was important.
“-by the result of a pinfall...she is the-
She glares at him, her odd red eyes flaming like the portholes of a furnace, and the man gagged before fixing his inflection.
“-she is THE-
Better.
“-World Heavyweight Champion...Sarahhhhhhh LAAAACKLAAAAANNNN.”
Sarah slowly stands up as Claude makes his way to ringside with her championship title. She takes it from him greedily, the ten pounds of gold filling her hands as if that was how they were MEANT to feel, and she hugs it to her chest. Kenzi was her “Beloved,” and her growing menagerie were like her children, but this...this...THIS...was her Baby. Her Precious. The mixed reaction from the crowd, a reaction that was once nothing but enthusiastic cheers, meant little to her outside of her Precious.
Sarah looks up and sees one of the UGWC cameras zooming in on her. She doesn’t know who the operator is...it might be Kyle...but she motions for him to come even closer. After he does so, she holds up one finger. And then a second. And then smiles. Two matches, two victories.
Twenty-seven, her she comes.
She climbs out of the ring and drops to the floor. She jogs in place for a couple of seconds, testing her knees, and is happy when they feel fine. She still wore her heavy braces, but her legs felt as good today as they did when she first arrived at the Melee in 2017. They had better, considering the evolution of her style! Hide had experienced those kicks and knees first-hand tonight, that was for sure. She had never been much for jumping all over the place like some monkey from tree to tree, or anything, but grounding herself and opponents when she returned last year had been a smart move. There was a lot of room for advancement and mentoring in the more traditional MMA elements than there had ever been before in professional wrestling, and she was making the most of it.
As she walks down the aisle to the back, she lets herself take in the audience. Once upon a time, half the crowd would be full of signs with her name, or with children wearing her gear, but these days were different. She had NOT reacted well when she had learned of her sister, and the very real possibility of people wanting to take what was hers had meant that she pushed most people away. She was warming back up to things like crowds, and autograph signings, and public appearances, but she still wasn’t fully comfortable with them, and the reaction from the crowd showed how the felt.
“Babe!”
Kenzi is there as soon as Sarah walks through the curtain, as always, and Sarah’s body fills with fire at the sight of Kenzi’s smile. She was still dressed in her gear from her match earlier, that delightful fucking over of Rydell they had concocted with Lenore, and she leaped straight into her arms.
“Gah! I’m all sweaty!”
Kenzi laughs in Sarah’s ear, a throaty chuckle that makes Sarah’s body shiver.
“...soon as we get to the hotel…”
Sarah growls back at Kenzi and squeezes her hard before taking her hand and beginning their walk toward the offices. There was a protocol to follow, of course, before they were able to get away to their usual post-Synergy hotel suite lovin’ session. They had to get to the “winner’s window,” as the old phrase was used within the industry, where she could collect the lion’s share of the Global Dollars purse. And she had to make a quick stop at the physician’s office, as was part of the deal of being the World Champion. She had worked out a personalized protocol with Jordan King when she first returned, one that would ensure that he looked at her legs after every match, but being World Champion, and thus the most recognizable and marketable face of the Coalition, meant a touch more.
“C’mon, I’m starving. I want to at least get a granola bar before we change.”
“Sorry, last one!”
Sarah turns around and sees Sloane Taylor, her pink hair up and still damp from her post-match shower, with a Quaker Oats in her hand. She can feel Kenzi’s hand turn cold in her hand...Kenzi was terrible around her friends, unlike herself, who was a freakin’ angel when it came to being around Kenzi’s stupid friends...but she was glad to see her put on a smile for “THE” Cutie.
“What do you mean?”
Sloane shrugs as she takes a bit of her bar.
“I took the last one. The nurse said something about we got shorted because JK took some boxes with him to help with the fires in Australia. Really kind of him!”
Sarah lets out a long sigh and shakes her head.
“Whatever. Hey, great job out there!” She narrows her eyes, however, which makes Sloane pause mid-bite. “Except you forgot the advice I gave you.”
Sloane finishes her bite and rolls her eyes in a decent impression of Sarah.
“I wasn’t going to kick my roommate in the groin, Sarah!” Now it is her turn to narrow her eyes. “No matter how much the punk makes me want to, some times.”
All three girls laugh...with Kenzi laughing quite hard at the idea of how great a prank on Seb it would be to put a “kick me” sign just above his jewels...before saying their goodbyes and going about their business.
“...your Cutie…” whispers Kenzi as they walk down the hall. Sarah gives her a sideways glance.
“...the Cutie…” she counters.
Sarah scowls as she turns the corner and sees that there is a line going into the physician’s area, but then her face brightens as she sees a hand nearly as pale as hers wave from inside. Angie Vaughn’s goofy, yet nearly as expensive, smile blinks the Grey-Lacklans for a moment as she stands up, her head reaching significantly higher than the nurse looking over her elbow.
“...freakin’ giraffe…”
Kenzi thinks about admonishing Sarah over her annoyance at her sister’s height, but the fact that Angie somehow grew ANOTHER inch over the prior year and now stood NINE inches taller than the two of them was annoying enough to hold her tongue. Once the “power couple,” as they had once been referred to by Holden Orson, was noticed by the nurses, they were ushered in ahead of the crowd and into the room. The check-up was pleasingly quick, with the only concern making sure that Sarah had not been hit too hard in the head by one of Hide’s blows, and the trio from the House of Lacklan was soon back in the halls.
“Hey!” says Angie, with her usual aplomb. “Did you see the next card? Tabs out, already. I'm off, but you two are totes booked.”
The Grey-Lacklans bust out their matching iPhones, each of them having the other’s smiling face emblazoned upon the back of their rubber cases, and they were scrolling through UGWC app (developed by the “Cool Team,” of course) within seconds and-
“THE FUCK?!”
The screech of Sarah catches both Kenzi and Angie by surprise, and they find themselves having to cover their ears in worry of their drums being pierced. Sarah stares down at her phone with anger filling her eyes at a rate rarely seen outside of a cartoon.
“I AM THE WORLD CHAMPION AND I WILL NOT ABIDE BY THIS”
Her continued screams threaten to shatter the skulls of her family and she immediately begins to stomp off down the hall. After a few moments of reprieve, Angie and Kenzi look at one another in concern and bound off after her.
“Babe?!”
“Sis?!”
Sarah stomps forward, ignoring the calls behind her. In fact, she stomps even harder as they join her at her side, ignoring their questions of where they are going or what was wrong. They give up after a while and just walk with her in silence until coming up to the door marked:
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
“THE HELL IS THIS?!”
Sarah balls up her fist and slams it on the door several times.
“I DEMAND TO BE HEARD OR SO HELP ME!”
Again and again, she slams her fist on the door. And then she kicks it. A few times.
“You have IGNORED ME all freakin’ NIGHT and now THIS?! I SWEAR TO BABY JESUS’ SMOOTH BOTTOM”
She takes a few steps backward and goes to rush forward, perhaps to drive Shining Wizard into the wood, but Kenzi and Angie reach up and grab her by the arms.
“SELENA!”
“Sar-Sar!”
The two are able to hold her at bay, and she pulls her arms free from them. She turns to face them and raises her chin to be above the horizon, looking to be as haughty of the Blood Princess as she can get.
“Have you SEEN next week’s call sheet? I have NEVER been so INSULTED in my LIFE!”
Kenzi and Angie blink, look at one another, and then blink again.
“Babe...that hurts…”
Now it is Sarah’s turn to blink.
“wut”
“Why is it an insult to wrestle me in a cooperative match? I’m a champion too, you know, and-”
Sarah stomps her foot several times and her pale face again turns red.
“No! NOT what I meant! It is AMAZING that we are fighting! We NEVER get to fight!”
She waves her phone in the air.
“BUT IN THE SECOND MATCH OF THE NIGHT?!”
She spins and runs towards the door before Angie and Kenzi can react and drives a kick into it with her heel.
“THIS IS A MAIN EVENT MATCH, YOU DULLARD CHIMERA!”
She immediately turns on her heel after the kick and begins to pace with heavy stomps.
“The sheer RARITY of a match between the Grey-Lacklans is something that should shake this company to its very CORE! You and I have fought literally ONE TIME in ALL of our time as professional wrestlers! Well, discounting oddities like the Melee and such. But even THEN we are completely on the same side! Only ONE TIME have you and I ever fought, and that was when the three of us all fought in that EPIC WrestleStock Cup Final-”
“...which I won…”
“YES WHICH YOU WON...and the entire UNIVERSE has been SALIVATING for the chance to see us wrestle again! You and me! The Grey-Lacklans! The 5’2” Mafia! Team Kickass! Standing face to face, kicking the crap out of each other, for the honor of our sport, which is God’s favorite, as you well know-”
Kenzi bites her lips to not say anything while Angie enthusiastically nods.
“-and for the love of our marriage! The Grey-Lacklan name...yes yes, and the Vaughn name, too...are PILLARS of what everything CAN BE in this life! And SO RARE are our meetings that they should be met with carpets of red and lined with gilt and the dust of diamonds! Every wrestler should be REQUIRED to come to ringside for such an event so that they may bear witness to the GREATNESS we represent!
“And! AND! ALONG with the baseline fact that this is a match between the Grey-Lacklans, it ALSO just so HAPPENS TO BE between THE World Champion and THE Chaos Champion! Two-thirds of the singles champions in this company, who have been DOMINANT in their respective reigns, clashing! The two MOST IMPORTANT people in the ENTIRE company...yes yes, only somewhat higher than Ms 5’11”...battling it out for MASSIVE stakes! Why, if YOU pinned me...yes yes, again…it would give YOU, the Chaos Champion, an automatic shot at my championship. These are MASSIVE stakes! And WHERE are we on the card?!”
She stops her ranting pace as whirls on the closed door of Chimera.
“THE SECOND MATCH OF THE NIGHT?!?!?!”
Sarah takes in a deep breath, her bosom heaving with the inhalation of air, and both Kenzi and Angie’s eyes go wide. They have just enough time to plug their ears and turn their head before Sarah lets out a scream so loud that it forces Chimera’s door to rattle on its hinges. Even through their plugged ears, they can hear glass shattering in far-off rooms, wails of agony from members of the UGWC staff, and the beginnings of howls calling from dogs of all sorts in answer on the Chicago streets.
Once the scream finally subsides, Sarah, her face as scarlet as her eyes, marches back up to the door and points a finger at it.
“First of all…”
“...and I thank you for listening to my presentation.”
Sarah twirls on her heels and Kenzi and Angie snapped away from their nap.
“So! Lets get out of here, yeah? I could REALLY use a nice Post-Synergy fu-”
Sarah cuts off suddenly, her eyes on Angie.
“-uuun sleep! LOTS of FUN SLEEP.”
Angie blinks in confusion while Kenzi smirks knowingly. But then Kenzi looks down at her iPhone as it buzzes in her hand, and her caramel face turns pale as she reads her notification.
“Babe? Just got an e-mail from our hotel. There’s been a flood! They’re closed down!”
Sarah blinks several times and then sighs.
“Wonderful. They better refund us! AND give us a discount for our next booking!”
Kenzi shakes her head as she puts her phone away.
“Now what? We have nowhere to stay. Hey! I bet I can get us a room at EconoLo-”
“NO!”
The sheer and utter panic in both Sarah’s voice and eyes reaches to the point of madness. Thankfully, the light bulb above Angie’s head bursts into being.
“You guys can stay at my place!”
“You have a place here, Ang?”
Angie smiles wide at Kenzi’s question.
“Yep! Got an apartment last year when I was working both here and for the XWA. Its small, but its affordable!”
Sarah’s face is doubtful at the word “small” but Kenzi’s eyes shine at “affordable.”
The look on Sarah’s face as she steps into the doorway of Angie’s Chicago apartment can only be described as one thing: Disgust. The apartment WAS small, as Angie had warned, though by no means tiny or micro. It was about the size of their usual suite at the Waldorf Historia, though certainly lacking their accustomed amenities like a fireplace and a view of the Gold Coast, but it was also bigger than that rat hole Kenzi made them stay in when they were...er...broke as all fuck and homeless for a few months a couple of years ago, but there was also something HERE that would never EVER be at either one of those hotels:
Cat hair.
It was EVERYWHERE.
“C’mon in, guys!”
Angie’s exuberance shined like the net of diamonds caught in Sarah’s hair, and Sarah turns her head to regard Kenzi as her sister burts into the room. Kenzi’s expression matches her own, but she quickly schools it and puts on a smile.
“It’s great, Ang!”
Sarah rolls her eyes hard enough for them to hurt. “Great” simply meant “Free” and they both knew it! But Sarah follows suit as Kenzi joins Angie and they are given the “grand tour.”
“And here is where Ser Alex sleeps...”
Not for the first time, Sarah catches Angie’s pronunciation of Bobby’s “title.” When they had met back in 2017, it had been “Sir” Bobby and “Sir” Alex, but after hearing Sarah pronounce it as “Ser” even one time, Angie had unconsciously changed the way she herself said it. Yet another of the many, MANY clues that, in hindsight, should have clued everyone in to their shared parentage.
“...now, don’t mind if Ser Bobbi comes home super late! He’s on a date and…”
Sarah LOATHED Ser Bobbi. That dumb cat had had several playdates with Lil Has and had proved to be QUITE the scoundrel! He was not, in ANY way, good enough for her Hasenpfeffer, that was for sure!
“...there’s abs this killer egg place down the street, and we can break our fast there, and…”
Sarah can feel Kenzi give her a sideways glance at that. Another thing Sarah said that Angie had picked up on, “break our fast” instead of “have breakfast,” which was something that was happening a LOT lately. The Lacklan Sisters were by no means one hundred percent on the same page on this January 20th of the Lord’s year of 2020, but they were far closer to being “them” than they were a month ago, and that meant picking up one another’s speech habits again. And when it came to “dat white people shit,” as Kenzi had said the other day, it was NOT something Kenzi was too happy about!
“...OMG DID YOU BRING YOUR SWITCH?!”
Sarah grimaced at Kenzi as she let out a deep sigh.
“Of COURSE I did, Sister! In my purse!”
Angie claps her hands together in utter glee.
“Totes amazeballz! I’m going to get changed for sleepy-time. Get ready to have your butt kicked!”
Sarah giggles as her sister disappears from the room, but then she gives her own sigh as she and Kenzi look at the lone couch in the living room.
“You wanna be bottom, or…”
Kenzi shoots Sarah one of her infamous “Really?!” looks.
“Yeah, because YOU’RE the top!”
Sarah’s face flushes in momentary embarrassment at the heat and humor in Kenzi’s voice. While they certainly had their moments for “switching,” as it were, at different times, the “dominant” member of the Grey-Lacklans had been established on the very first day!
“...gross…”
Kenzi’s voice is full of disgust as she sets down her bag and a plume of cat hair rises into the air. Sarah sets down her own bag...well, one of her six bags...and a plume of hair rises to meet its brethren. But her own disgust fades away as she hears the shower burst into life in the other room and she gives Kenzi a lustful stare.
“Wanna fool around? We’ve got at least twenty-”
“You on crack?!”
Sarah is not phased by the disbelief in Kenzi’s voice.
“What? We ALWAYS fool around after Synergy! Sometimes while still at the arena!”
Kenzi waves her arms around, making Sarah take in their surroundings.
“There is NO WAY I am getting cat hair all over me!”
“Oh, please,” replies Sarah. This time, her eyeroll is so deep that even Kenzi feels it in the back of her skull. “We once did it on the floor of a bathroom in a West Hollywood gay bar!”
“Once! For Valentine’s Day!”
“But-”
“And your SISTER is RIGHT THERE!”
“What does THAT matter? You literally try to be as loud as POSSIBLE when we are in Maine to make SURE that Ava hears us!”
“That’s different!”
“How?”
“Because it pisses Ava off!”
“Oh, come ON! This is T-Robb’s favorite part of our promotional videos!”
“wut”
“wut”
“You guys ready?”
The Grey-Lacklans turn to see Angie in the doorway of her room, dressed in pink and powder blue pajamas covered in kittens...including slippers that meowed as she walked...and without a drop of water on her.
“How did…”
Sarah’s voice drifts off and she shakes her head. Suddenly, Roxy’s crazy story of Angie wearing a bathing suit in the shower suddenly made sense.
“Let’s go!”
Angie holds up her switch and...while Sarah COULD be wrong...it seems that Angie’s pupils disappear and her eyes turn to pure blue lights of rage at the upcoming video game session. She doesn’t blame Kenzi when she gulps audibly.
Sarah sighs as she sits on the cat-covered couch. Beside her, Kenzi was asleep, slightly snoring, with the glint of drool trailing down her mouth. Around her, the apartment was dark, and the clock on the wall...in the shape of a cat with its tail swinging below it, because of course it was...read that it was three in the morning. Sarah gently caresses Kenzi’s legs, which are across her lap, enjoying the feel of the duality that was an athlete’s legs, the softness on top and the hard muscle underneath. Her other hand unconsciously fiddles with the piece of jewelry pierced through the top of her belly button, the spider covered in diamonds that dangles to the bottom of her stomach.
“...weird night, Beloved. I OW!”
A hiss of pain escapes her as a light in the next room turns on, the shocking change in light being painful for her sensitive eyes. She blinks away the pain and scrambles for her glasses, getting them on in time for her sight to focus on her sister closing a window in the kitchen.
“You are VERY late, Ser Bobby! I better not hear from the Kitty Police...again!”
Sarah’s hackles rise as she sees the grey streak of that rascal, that scoundrel, Ser Bobby walk his way into the apartment with that smug look on his face. She had half a mind to “accidentally” dump a bottle of water on hi-
“No!” she hisses, as she sees two tufts of white pop out of the purse beside her. Her dwarf bunny pops her head out and her beady red eyes immediately snap onto Bobby as he saunters by. “Let him GO!”
“Sar?”
Sarah turns her eyes from her bunny and to her sister.
“Qui.”
Angie makes her way over, the tiny “MEW!” sounds from her slippers seeming loud in the still room.
“Can’t sleep?”
Sarah shakes her head.
“Guess not.” She smirks as Angie stops beside the couch. “Not long ago, I’d use a time like this to record a vlog, or something. That was NEVER a good idea, though. Vlogs at 2 or 3 in the morning meant a lot of defending for Kenzi the next day!”
She laughs as she gently pushes Kenzi’s legs aside and adjust her so that she can fit full on the couch. She slips to the floor and sits down, then motions for Angie to join her. With a smile, Angie sits behind Sarah, facing away, so that they sit back to back. Sarah leans her head backward, the height difference placing the back of her head against Angie’s shoulders, and lets out a long breath.
“...stop that…”
“Hmm?”
“...I can hear you doing it…”
“Doing what?”
“...THAT!”
Sarah looks down and sees that she had again begun to fiddle with her navel piercing. With a smirk filled with mischief, she twists it a full 360 degrees, and giggles when Angie shudders and starts to get up.
“I’ll stop! Don’t go!”
She laughs outright as Angie repositions herself on the ground against her back.
“Its gross, Sar-Sar.”
“No, you.”
“No unnecessary holes in my skin!”
“Your face is an unnecessary hole!”
A series of “accidental” elbows are exchanged as Sarah and Angie get settled against one another, followed by giggles. They sit in silence for a while, both simply listening to the soft Click! of the clock’s swinging cat tail and the occasional snore from Kenzi.
“Off next Synergy, huh?”
Angie shrugs.
“Can’t fight every week, I guess.”
“I can. I WILL.”
“Doesn’t seem very practical, tee bee aitch. We all need rest.”
“Not me! Not now!”
Angie lets out a small sigh as she can FEEL Sarah going into Monologue Mode.
“THIS is MY time, Sister! I have GOALS! I have DESIGNS! Because this isn’t just about doing ‘well’ or being ‘successful,’ ya know? This is about DOMINANCE. This is about CHANGE. This is about leading our family...OUR family...towards a complete restructuring of the business! This is NOT about whatever petty little games or desires our peers have. This is NOT about making a living, or winning some gold, or feeling better about ourselves, as we have heard some of our peers state. This time, this moment, is about the FUTURE! And so, yes, I have goals. Ambitions goals. Difficult goals. But I have plans.
“For instance, I fully intend on being booked on EVERY Coalition event this year. Yes yes, I might be injured. Yes yes, will grow tired. Mackenzie has already cautioned me with those points already. But that is why I set up the check-up protocol with Jordan to have him and his staff take a look at me after every match. That is part of why I have made myself exclusive to the Coalition...well, once the Mafia stops dominating in that OTHER tag team division, anyway...and stepped back from the freelancing lifestyle. You wouldn’t know it, obviously, but our father dealt with several major injuries during his career which caused him to take breaks, and I will NOT fall into that fate. I will drive forward into every Synergy, into every Pay-Per-View event, even every Chill, if THAT group gets its act together, with vigor and strength. And all in pursuit of twenty-seven and three hundred and sixty-five.”
Angie cocks her head to the side.
“I saw that bit of homework you gave the kiddos on the Sunday School Channel. What do they mean?”
Sarah smiles and her eyes gain a far-off look, as if she was looking at something far different than the darkened apartment wall across from her.
“History. As you know, Ava dominated with the Chaos championship last year, and before you defeated her at WrestleStock, she took all of the associated records. Most total days as champ, most defenses, longest single reign, stuff like that. I, too, have similar goals. Goals which, in this, the tenth anniversary of the Coalition, would propel me to not only being the BEST wrestler in the company’s existence, but push our entire family and church to the forefront of the business.
“First! Twenty-seven. Picture this…”
She holds up her hands before her, making two Ls with her forefingers and thumbs, a movement she picked up from Kenzi while working out potential camera shots.
“We both know how hard it is to win the majority of your matches in a ‘season’ of Coalition action, right? You won twenty-one times in your first year, and amassed another nineteen last year, Ms Entertainment Professional of the Year. That’s a ton! But it is NOT the record! No, THAT little anecdote belongs to Tyvola...do yourself a favor and don't ask about THAT guy...and Zane Scott, who both have won twenty-six matches in a year. And when you consider that we hold about fourty or so events with a LOT of those crazy ‘ten people in the match’ gimmicks, that is a LOT Of times getting your hand raised! But me? I want to beat that. And so that means at LEAST twenty-seven times!”
She snickers suddenly.
“Wanna know how close Dave has come to that? He picked up thirteen wins last year, the MOST he’s ever had in a single year...and MOST of those years have been something like 5 or so...which means literally HALF of the best!”
Angie scowls at that.
“He’s your partner this week, Sar.”
Sarah waves her hand dismissively.
“I know, I know. Just making a point! It is a BIG endeavor! But I am prepared for it. Two down, twenty five to go! And I’m prepared for my OTHER big goal, too.”
Sarah turns her head toward Angie’s cheek.
“You had a killer run with the ‘rock,’ Sister. KILLER. One hundred and eighty-two days and several defenses. But the BEST run? Ever?”
She looks back to the wall and back to some unseen future.
“Travis Roberts. Three hundred and sixty four. I want to beat that. I want it BAD. I want to walk into a full calendar year as being champion and change the very CORE of this company and business. Not just be the World Champion. But be THE World Champion. And that means winning again...and again...AND AGAIN...while I do it. And that will CONTINUE this week.”
She turns her head the other direction and takes in the sleeping form of Kenzi.
“Its always an honor to fight a member of my family, of course. The Cool Kids-”
“...hashtag, tee why vee em…”
“-were founded on the idea that we could rise up together, fight together, train together, take over the WORLD together. And while the Cool Kids-”
“...no really, hashtag…”
“-are basically dead and disbanded at this point-”
“...we’re going to prove you wrong, Sis…”
“-our ideals are very much alive within the House of Lacklan. Mind you, Kenzi and I will no doubt have this killer plan in place by next week where we ‘accidentally’ don’t ever seem to get into the ring and just use the chance to watch our respective Infinity opponents fight one another so that we can pick up some relative strengths and weaknesses, but we’ll still have a blast against one another if our douche canoe partners-”
“...language…”
“-pull some kind of double forced tag thing. And there are HUGE stakes, as I mentioned earlier, about how Kenzi pinning me means a title shot, but I have ZERO intention of laying on my back in that ring. That is for her to do to me back at our hotel when-”
“LA LA LA LA LA”
“-and then she’ll-”
“CANNOT HEAR YOU”
“-and when she busts out her ‘finisher’ on me while I’m being over backward and-”
“PLEASE STOP THIS IS UNBEARABLE”
“-but I digress. The REAL point of this match, which is, of course, a double shot of one of those old school ‘make opponents work together as partners’ routines that are tried-and-true in our business, is to get a little test-run for Infinity. Personally, I’m looking forward to beating up the Tempest dude because FUCK that shit he’s been doing. I will NOT stand by and watch another run of the Saviors on MY watch, that is for damned sure.. Like, it was AWESOME when Kenzi and I beat the crap out of the Saviors at WrestleStock, and this will be akin to that. Because this whole ‘lets attack Kenzi in order to get ourselves noticed’ shit is LAME.
“Like, I get it, ya know? Targeting someone of Kenzi’s caliber is absoLUTELY going to get you noticed by people in management. The Saviors got themselves that Cooperative match with nothing BUT jumping someone from behind! And remember when Necron came in and beat up Ava? BOOM! Instant Chaos title match with ZERO reason for it other than taking advantage of the Coalition’s notoriously shitty security. BOTH incidents were some losers jumping members of the House of Lacklan, and BOTH losers ended up getting put down when they got their shot. And this third loser? Its going to end the same way. At Infinity, Kenzi is going to wipe the FLOOR with this guy, and I get the fun of helping to set her up for it!
“Now, yes, unlike Nekkie and the Saviors, Tempest actually has gotten himself a couple of wins before his title match, but lets be honest here: He was getting that title match as soon as he started doing the spooky shit with his weirdo friends during Kenzi’s matches. And practically murdering Pierce at Horizons guaranteed that the Consortium was going to reward him. But those two matches he has? Those two wins? Please. I’m not even certain that Destroyer gets a paycheck for losing the way he does...maybe he gets the crumbs left over from catering, or something...and his utter lack of understanding of who and what he faces at any given time is going to end up with him so outclassed when in the ring with ANY member of our House that WE might as well be facing Destroyer! I know its only a couple of matches in, but Tempest has spent his entire time focusing on himself, focusing on how SPOOOOOKY he is and how CREEEEEEPY his buddies are, that he has had ZERO time left for consideration of his opponents, and that will NOT help him in the long run. Spooky McSpookystein probs doesn't even realize that I am a BETTER team wrestler than a singles one and that getting my FOURTEENTH such victory is ubes important even WITH a partner that I don't trust in the slightest. He’s probably going to walk into this Cooperative tag match without even a semblance of understanding of the names involved other than Kenzi, much less our histories, capabilities, and tendencies, and you know what that is going to mean?"
She slaps her hands together with a shot that sounds like thunder in the apartment.
"BLAM! Mark of Cain to the face!”
“...great change to the name of Dad’s Shining Wizard, bee tee dubs…”
“Then it’ll just be a matter of making sure that Stinky Dave stays out of the ring, perhaps even staring him right in the face...again...as I pin Tempest, and getting my third win in a row. And THEN making sure that the douchebag doesn’t ‘win’ by getting me with another Post Match Virus of Life again. But by THEN, it’ll be both Kenzi and I on the alert and he’s got NOTHING to counter us both with. After all, you aren’t there to beat us for him again!”
“...Sar…”
“Sorry, not sorry!”
Sarah grows silent...finally...and Angie can feel her leaving Monologue Mode. The two sit in silence again, enjoying one another’s company in the dark, enjoying the feel of their backs against one another.
“Hey, Angelica?”
“Yeah?”
“Do you really think of our Father as ‘Dad’ in your head?”
Angie nods, which makes Sarah smile. More silence as the two sit back-to-back.
“Hey, Sar-Sar?”
“Yeah?”
“Do...do you think...Dad would be proud of me?”
Sarah’s eyes glisten at both the question and the sincerity in Angie’s voice.
“You kidding? World Champ before you’re allowed to drink your gross appletinis? Tabs.”
Angie’s turn to smile.
“Know what’s more important, though?”
“What?”
A moment.
“He would have loved you.”
A tear cascades down both of their cheeks. Sarah reaches down and takes Angie’s hand, and Angie clenches it tightly.
“Thanks for helping Kenzi keep me out of the Abyss the last couple of months, Sister. I got real dark there, for a while.”
Angie sniffles and nods.
~~End~~
Sarah smiles wide.
TWO!
Her eyes shine with glee.
THREE!
She barks out laughter in the face of Johnny Bonecrusher, enjoying staring a man in the eyes as she pins someone for the second week in a row, but the laughter turns to a yelp of surprise as Hide pushes against her and sends her flying off him. She lands on her knees and immediately snaps her head up with enough force to make her braid slap painfully against her bare lower back, and looks all around, her fighter’s instincts and training coming together to keep her safe. But she sees no immediate threat, as Hide is still on the mat after his kickout...too late...and he holds the back of his head. Outside the ring, Johnny argues with Burke about her antics...and she can see the idiot in the crowd dressed as Jet is still trying to get the Red Mist out of his eyes. But the only thing that mattered to her in that moment was seeing Mitchell Dennis get to his feet with a microphone going to his lips.
“Here is your winner-”
THAT was what was important.
“-by the result of a pinfall...she is the-
She glares at him, her odd red eyes flaming like the portholes of a furnace, and the man gagged before fixing his inflection.
“-she is THE-
Better.
“-World Heavyweight Champion...Sarahhhhhhh LAAAACKLAAAAANNNN.”
Sarah slowly stands up as Claude makes his way to ringside with her championship title. She takes it from him greedily, the ten pounds of gold filling her hands as if that was how they were MEANT to feel, and she hugs it to her chest. Kenzi was her “Beloved,” and her growing menagerie were like her children, but this...this...THIS...was her Baby. Her Precious. The mixed reaction from the crowd, a reaction that was once nothing but enthusiastic cheers, meant little to her outside of her Precious.
Sarah looks up and sees one of the UGWC cameras zooming in on her. She doesn’t know who the operator is...it might be Kyle...but she motions for him to come even closer. After he does so, she holds up one finger. And then a second. And then smiles. Two matches, two victories.
Twenty-seven, her she comes.
She climbs out of the ring and drops to the floor. She jogs in place for a couple of seconds, testing her knees, and is happy when they feel fine. She still wore her heavy braces, but her legs felt as good today as they did when she first arrived at the Melee in 2017. They had better, considering the evolution of her style! Hide had experienced those kicks and knees first-hand tonight, that was for sure. She had never been much for jumping all over the place like some monkey from tree to tree, or anything, but grounding herself and opponents when she returned last year had been a smart move. There was a lot of room for advancement and mentoring in the more traditional MMA elements than there had ever been before in professional wrestling, and she was making the most of it.
As she walks down the aisle to the back, she lets herself take in the audience. Once upon a time, half the crowd would be full of signs with her name, or with children wearing her gear, but these days were different. She had NOT reacted well when she had learned of her sister, and the very real possibility of people wanting to take what was hers had meant that she pushed most people away. She was warming back up to things like crowds, and autograph signings, and public appearances, but she still wasn’t fully comfortable with them, and the reaction from the crowd showed how the felt.
“Babe!”
Kenzi is there as soon as Sarah walks through the curtain, as always, and Sarah’s body fills with fire at the sight of Kenzi’s smile. She was still dressed in her gear from her match earlier, that delightful fucking over of Rydell they had concocted with Lenore, and she leaped straight into her arms.
“Gah! I’m all sweaty!”
Kenzi laughs in Sarah’s ear, a throaty chuckle that makes Sarah’s body shiver.
“...soon as we get to the hotel…”
Sarah growls back at Kenzi and squeezes her hard before taking her hand and beginning their walk toward the offices. There was a protocol to follow, of course, before they were able to get away to their usual post-Synergy hotel suite lovin’ session. They had to get to the “winner’s window,” as the old phrase was used within the industry, where she could collect the lion’s share of the Global Dollars purse. And she had to make a quick stop at the physician’s office, as was part of the deal of being the World Champion. She had worked out a personalized protocol with Jordan King when she first returned, one that would ensure that he looked at her legs after every match, but being World Champion, and thus the most recognizable and marketable face of the Coalition, meant a touch more.
“C’mon, I’m starving. I want to at least get a granola bar before we change.”
“Sorry, last one!”
Sarah turns around and sees Sloane Taylor, her pink hair up and still damp from her post-match shower, with a Quaker Oats in her hand. She can feel Kenzi’s hand turn cold in her hand...Kenzi was terrible around her friends, unlike herself, who was a freakin’ angel when it came to being around Kenzi’s stupid friends...but she was glad to see her put on a smile for “THE” Cutie.
“What do you mean?”
Sloane shrugs as she takes a bit of her bar.
“I took the last one. The nurse said something about we got shorted because JK took some boxes with him to help with the fires in Australia. Really kind of him!”
Sarah lets out a long sigh and shakes her head.
“Whatever. Hey, great job out there!” She narrows her eyes, however, which makes Sloane pause mid-bite. “Except you forgot the advice I gave you.”
Sloane finishes her bite and rolls her eyes in a decent impression of Sarah.
“I wasn’t going to kick my roommate in the groin, Sarah!” Now it is her turn to narrow her eyes. “No matter how much the punk makes me want to, some times.”
All three girls laugh...with Kenzi laughing quite hard at the idea of how great a prank on Seb it would be to put a “kick me” sign just above his jewels...before saying their goodbyes and going about their business.
“...your Cutie…” whispers Kenzi as they walk down the hall. Sarah gives her a sideways glance.
“...the Cutie…” she counters.
Sarah scowls as she turns the corner and sees that there is a line going into the physician’s area, but then her face brightens as she sees a hand nearly as pale as hers wave from inside. Angie Vaughn’s goofy, yet nearly as expensive, smile blinks the Grey-Lacklans for a moment as she stands up, her head reaching significantly higher than the nurse looking over her elbow.
“...freakin’ giraffe…”
Kenzi thinks about admonishing Sarah over her annoyance at her sister’s height, but the fact that Angie somehow grew ANOTHER inch over the prior year and now stood NINE inches taller than the two of them was annoying enough to hold her tongue. Once the “power couple,” as they had once been referred to by Holden Orson, was noticed by the nurses, they were ushered in ahead of the crowd and into the room. The check-up was pleasingly quick, with the only concern making sure that Sarah had not been hit too hard in the head by one of Hide’s blows, and the trio from the House of Lacklan was soon back in the halls.
“Hey!” says Angie, with her usual aplomb. “Did you see the next card? Tabs out, already. I'm off, but you two are totes booked.”
The Grey-Lacklans bust out their matching iPhones, each of them having the other’s smiling face emblazoned upon the back of their rubber cases, and they were scrolling through UGWC app (developed by the “Cool Team,” of course) within seconds and-
“THE FUCK?!”
The screech of Sarah catches both Kenzi and Angie by surprise, and they find themselves having to cover their ears in worry of their drums being pierced. Sarah stares down at her phone with anger filling her eyes at a rate rarely seen outside of a cartoon.
“I AM THE WORLD CHAMPION AND I WILL NOT ABIDE BY THIS”
Her continued screams threaten to shatter the skulls of her family and she immediately begins to stomp off down the hall. After a few moments of reprieve, Angie and Kenzi look at one another in concern and bound off after her.
“Babe?!”
“Sis?!”
Sarah stomps forward, ignoring the calls behind her. In fact, she stomps even harder as they join her at her side, ignoring their questions of where they are going or what was wrong. They give up after a while and just walk with her in silence until coming up to the door marked:
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
“THE HELL IS THIS?!”
Sarah balls up her fist and slams it on the door several times.
“I DEMAND TO BE HEARD OR SO HELP ME!”
Again and again, she slams her fist on the door. And then she kicks it. A few times.
“You have IGNORED ME all freakin’ NIGHT and now THIS?! I SWEAR TO BABY JESUS’ SMOOTH BOTTOM”
She takes a few steps backward and goes to rush forward, perhaps to drive Shining Wizard into the wood, but Kenzi and Angie reach up and grab her by the arms.
“SELENA!”
“Sar-Sar!”
The two are able to hold her at bay, and she pulls her arms free from them. She turns to face them and raises her chin to be above the horizon, looking to be as haughty of the Blood Princess as she can get.
“Have you SEEN next week’s call sheet? I have NEVER been so INSULTED in my LIFE!”
Kenzi and Angie blink, look at one another, and then blink again.
“Babe...that hurts…”
Now it is Sarah’s turn to blink.
“wut”
“Why is it an insult to wrestle me in a cooperative match? I’m a champion too, you know, and-”
Sarah stomps her foot several times and her pale face again turns red.
“No! NOT what I meant! It is AMAZING that we are fighting! We NEVER get to fight!”
She waves her phone in the air.
“BUT IN THE SECOND MATCH OF THE NIGHT?!”
She spins and runs towards the door before Angie and Kenzi can react and drives a kick into it with her heel.
“THIS IS A MAIN EVENT MATCH, YOU DULLARD CHIMERA!”
She immediately turns on her heel after the kick and begins to pace with heavy stomps.
“The sheer RARITY of a match between the Grey-Lacklans is something that should shake this company to its very CORE! You and I have fought literally ONE TIME in ALL of our time as professional wrestlers! Well, discounting oddities like the Melee and such. But even THEN we are completely on the same side! Only ONE TIME have you and I ever fought, and that was when the three of us all fought in that EPIC WrestleStock Cup Final-”
“...which I won…”
“YES WHICH YOU WON...and the entire UNIVERSE has been SALIVATING for the chance to see us wrestle again! You and me! The Grey-Lacklans! The 5’2” Mafia! Team Kickass! Standing face to face, kicking the crap out of each other, for the honor of our sport, which is God’s favorite, as you well know-”
Kenzi bites her lips to not say anything while Angie enthusiastically nods.
“-and for the love of our marriage! The Grey-Lacklan name...yes yes, and the Vaughn name, too...are PILLARS of what everything CAN BE in this life! And SO RARE are our meetings that they should be met with carpets of red and lined with gilt and the dust of diamonds! Every wrestler should be REQUIRED to come to ringside for such an event so that they may bear witness to the GREATNESS we represent!
“And! AND! ALONG with the baseline fact that this is a match between the Grey-Lacklans, it ALSO just so HAPPENS TO BE between THE World Champion and THE Chaos Champion! Two-thirds of the singles champions in this company, who have been DOMINANT in their respective reigns, clashing! The two MOST IMPORTANT people in the ENTIRE company...yes yes, only somewhat higher than Ms 5’11”...battling it out for MASSIVE stakes! Why, if YOU pinned me...yes yes, again…it would give YOU, the Chaos Champion, an automatic shot at my championship. These are MASSIVE stakes! And WHERE are we on the card?!”
She stops her ranting pace as whirls on the closed door of Chimera.
“THE SECOND MATCH OF THE NIGHT?!?!?!”
Sarah takes in a deep breath, her bosom heaving with the inhalation of air, and both Kenzi and Angie’s eyes go wide. They have just enough time to plug their ears and turn their head before Sarah lets out a scream so loud that it forces Chimera’s door to rattle on its hinges. Even through their plugged ears, they can hear glass shattering in far-off rooms, wails of agony from members of the UGWC staff, and the beginnings of howls calling from dogs of all sorts in answer on the Chicago streets.
Once the scream finally subsides, Sarah, her face as scarlet as her eyes, marches back up to the door and points a finger at it.
“First of all…”
“...and I thank you for listening to my presentation.”
Sarah twirls on her heels and Kenzi and Angie snapped away from their nap.
“So! Lets get out of here, yeah? I could REALLY use a nice Post-Synergy fu-”
Sarah cuts off suddenly, her eyes on Angie.
“-uuun sleep! LOTS of FUN SLEEP.”
Angie blinks in confusion while Kenzi smirks knowingly. But then Kenzi looks down at her iPhone as it buzzes in her hand, and her caramel face turns pale as she reads her notification.
“Babe? Just got an e-mail from our hotel. There’s been a flood! They’re closed down!”
Sarah blinks several times and then sighs.
“Wonderful. They better refund us! AND give us a discount for our next booking!”
Kenzi shakes her head as she puts her phone away.
“Now what? We have nowhere to stay. Hey! I bet I can get us a room at EconoLo-”
“NO!”
The sheer and utter panic in both Sarah’s voice and eyes reaches to the point of madness. Thankfully, the light bulb above Angie’s head bursts into being.
“You guys can stay at my place!”
“You have a place here, Ang?”
Angie smiles wide at Kenzi’s question.
“Yep! Got an apartment last year when I was working both here and for the XWA. Its small, but its affordable!”
Sarah’s face is doubtful at the word “small” but Kenzi’s eyes shine at “affordable.”
The look on Sarah’s face as she steps into the doorway of Angie’s Chicago apartment can only be described as one thing: Disgust. The apartment WAS small, as Angie had warned, though by no means tiny or micro. It was about the size of their usual suite at the Waldorf Historia, though certainly lacking their accustomed amenities like a fireplace and a view of the Gold Coast, but it was also bigger than that rat hole Kenzi made them stay in when they were...er...broke as all fuck and homeless for a few months a couple of years ago, but there was also something HERE that would never EVER be at either one of those hotels:
Cat hair.
It was EVERYWHERE.
“C’mon in, guys!”
Angie’s exuberance shined like the net of diamonds caught in Sarah’s hair, and Sarah turns her head to regard Kenzi as her sister burts into the room. Kenzi’s expression matches her own, but she quickly schools it and puts on a smile.
“It’s great, Ang!”
Sarah rolls her eyes hard enough for them to hurt. “Great” simply meant “Free” and they both knew it! But Sarah follows suit as Kenzi joins Angie and they are given the “grand tour.”
“And here is where Ser Alex sleeps...”
Not for the first time, Sarah catches Angie’s pronunciation of Bobby’s “title.” When they had met back in 2017, it had been “Sir” Bobby and “Sir” Alex, but after hearing Sarah pronounce it as “Ser” even one time, Angie had unconsciously changed the way she herself said it. Yet another of the many, MANY clues that, in hindsight, should have clued everyone in to their shared parentage.
“...now, don’t mind if Ser Bobbi comes home super late! He’s on a date and…”
Sarah LOATHED Ser Bobbi. That dumb cat had had several playdates with Lil Has and had proved to be QUITE the scoundrel! He was not, in ANY way, good enough for her Hasenpfeffer, that was for sure!
“...there’s abs this killer egg place down the street, and we can break our fast there, and…”
Sarah can feel Kenzi give her a sideways glance at that. Another thing Sarah said that Angie had picked up on, “break our fast” instead of “have breakfast,” which was something that was happening a LOT lately. The Lacklan Sisters were by no means one hundred percent on the same page on this January 20th of the Lord’s year of 2020, but they were far closer to being “them” than they were a month ago, and that meant picking up one another’s speech habits again. And when it came to “dat white people shit,” as Kenzi had said the other day, it was NOT something Kenzi was too happy about!
“...OMG DID YOU BRING YOUR SWITCH?!”
Sarah grimaced at Kenzi as she let out a deep sigh.
“Of COURSE I did, Sister! In my purse!”
Angie claps her hands together in utter glee.
“Totes amazeballz! I’m going to get changed for sleepy-time. Get ready to have your butt kicked!”
Sarah giggles as her sister disappears from the room, but then she gives her own sigh as she and Kenzi look at the lone couch in the living room.
“You wanna be bottom, or…”
Kenzi shoots Sarah one of her infamous “Really?!” looks.
“Yeah, because YOU’RE the top!”
Sarah’s face flushes in momentary embarrassment at the heat and humor in Kenzi’s voice. While they certainly had their moments for “switching,” as it were, at different times, the “dominant” member of the Grey-Lacklans had been established on the very first day!
“...gross…”
Kenzi’s voice is full of disgust as she sets down her bag and a plume of cat hair rises into the air. Sarah sets down her own bag...well, one of her six bags...and a plume of hair rises to meet its brethren. But her own disgust fades away as she hears the shower burst into life in the other room and she gives Kenzi a lustful stare.
“Wanna fool around? We’ve got at least twenty-”
“You on crack?!”
Sarah is not phased by the disbelief in Kenzi’s voice.
“What? We ALWAYS fool around after Synergy! Sometimes while still at the arena!”
Kenzi waves her arms around, making Sarah take in their surroundings.
“There is NO WAY I am getting cat hair all over me!”
“Oh, please,” replies Sarah. This time, her eyeroll is so deep that even Kenzi feels it in the back of her skull. “We once did it on the floor of a bathroom in a West Hollywood gay bar!”
“Once! For Valentine’s Day!”
“But-”
“And your SISTER is RIGHT THERE!”
“What does THAT matter? You literally try to be as loud as POSSIBLE when we are in Maine to make SURE that Ava hears us!”
“That’s different!”
“How?”
“Because it pisses Ava off!”
“Oh, come ON! This is T-Robb’s favorite part of our promotional videos!”
“wut”
“wut”
“You guys ready?”
The Grey-Lacklans turn to see Angie in the doorway of her room, dressed in pink and powder blue pajamas covered in kittens...including slippers that meowed as she walked...and without a drop of water on her.
“How did…”
Sarah’s voice drifts off and she shakes her head. Suddenly, Roxy’s crazy story of Angie wearing a bathing suit in the shower suddenly made sense.
“Let’s go!”
Angie holds up her switch and...while Sarah COULD be wrong...it seems that Angie’s pupils disappear and her eyes turn to pure blue lights of rage at the upcoming video game session. She doesn’t blame Kenzi when she gulps audibly.
...a couple hours of "friendly" gaming later...
Sarah sighs as she sits on the cat-covered couch. Beside her, Kenzi was asleep, slightly snoring, with the glint of drool trailing down her mouth. Around her, the apartment was dark, and the clock on the wall...in the shape of a cat with its tail swinging below it, because of course it was...read that it was three in the morning. Sarah gently caresses Kenzi’s legs, which are across her lap, enjoying the feel of the duality that was an athlete’s legs, the softness on top and the hard muscle underneath. Her other hand unconsciously fiddles with the piece of jewelry pierced through the top of her belly button, the spider covered in diamonds that dangles to the bottom of her stomach.
“...weird night, Beloved. I OW!”
A hiss of pain escapes her as a light in the next room turns on, the shocking change in light being painful for her sensitive eyes. She blinks away the pain and scrambles for her glasses, getting them on in time for her sight to focus on her sister closing a window in the kitchen.
“You are VERY late, Ser Bobby! I better not hear from the Kitty Police...again!”
Sarah’s hackles rise as she sees the grey streak of that rascal, that scoundrel, Ser Bobby walk his way into the apartment with that smug look on his face. She had half a mind to “accidentally” dump a bottle of water on hi-
“No!” she hisses, as she sees two tufts of white pop out of the purse beside her. Her dwarf bunny pops her head out and her beady red eyes immediately snap onto Bobby as he saunters by. “Let him GO!”
“Sar?”
Sarah turns her eyes from her bunny and to her sister.
“Qui.”
Angie makes her way over, the tiny “MEW!” sounds from her slippers seeming loud in the still room.
“Can’t sleep?”
Sarah shakes her head.
“Guess not.” She smirks as Angie stops beside the couch. “Not long ago, I’d use a time like this to record a vlog, or something. That was NEVER a good idea, though. Vlogs at 2 or 3 in the morning meant a lot of defending for Kenzi the next day!”
She laughs as she gently pushes Kenzi’s legs aside and adjust her so that she can fit full on the couch. She slips to the floor and sits down, then motions for Angie to join her. With a smile, Angie sits behind Sarah, facing away, so that they sit back to back. Sarah leans her head backward, the height difference placing the back of her head against Angie’s shoulders, and lets out a long breath.
“...stop that…”
“Hmm?”
“...I can hear you doing it…”
“Doing what?”
“...THAT!”
Sarah looks down and sees that she had again begun to fiddle with her navel piercing. With a smirk filled with mischief, she twists it a full 360 degrees, and giggles when Angie shudders and starts to get up.
“I’ll stop! Don’t go!”
She laughs outright as Angie repositions herself on the ground against her back.
“Its gross, Sar-Sar.”
“No, you.”
“No unnecessary holes in my skin!”
“Your face is an unnecessary hole!”
A series of “accidental” elbows are exchanged as Sarah and Angie get settled against one another, followed by giggles. They sit in silence for a while, both simply listening to the soft Click! of the clock’s swinging cat tail and the occasional snore from Kenzi.
“Off next Synergy, huh?”
Angie shrugs.
“Can’t fight every week, I guess.”
“I can. I WILL.”
“Doesn’t seem very practical, tee bee aitch. We all need rest.”
“Not me! Not now!”
Angie lets out a small sigh as she can FEEL Sarah going into Monologue Mode.
“THIS is MY time, Sister! I have GOALS! I have DESIGNS! Because this isn’t just about doing ‘well’ or being ‘successful,’ ya know? This is about DOMINANCE. This is about CHANGE. This is about leading our family...OUR family...towards a complete restructuring of the business! This is NOT about whatever petty little games or desires our peers have. This is NOT about making a living, or winning some gold, or feeling better about ourselves, as we have heard some of our peers state. This time, this moment, is about the FUTURE! And so, yes, I have goals. Ambitions goals. Difficult goals. But I have plans.
“For instance, I fully intend on being booked on EVERY Coalition event this year. Yes yes, I might be injured. Yes yes, will grow tired. Mackenzie has already cautioned me with those points already. But that is why I set up the check-up protocol with Jordan to have him and his staff take a look at me after every match. That is part of why I have made myself exclusive to the Coalition...well, once the Mafia stops dominating in that OTHER tag team division, anyway...and stepped back from the freelancing lifestyle. You wouldn’t know it, obviously, but our father dealt with several major injuries during his career which caused him to take breaks, and I will NOT fall into that fate. I will drive forward into every Synergy, into every Pay-Per-View event, even every Chill, if THAT group gets its act together, with vigor and strength. And all in pursuit of twenty-seven and three hundred and sixty-five.”
Angie cocks her head to the side.
“I saw that bit of homework you gave the kiddos on the Sunday School Channel. What do they mean?”
Sarah smiles and her eyes gain a far-off look, as if she was looking at something far different than the darkened apartment wall across from her.
“History. As you know, Ava dominated with the Chaos championship last year, and before you defeated her at WrestleStock, she took all of the associated records. Most total days as champ, most defenses, longest single reign, stuff like that. I, too, have similar goals. Goals which, in this, the tenth anniversary of the Coalition, would propel me to not only being the BEST wrestler in the company’s existence, but push our entire family and church to the forefront of the business.
“First! Twenty-seven. Picture this…”
She holds up her hands before her, making two Ls with her forefingers and thumbs, a movement she picked up from Kenzi while working out potential camera shots.
“We both know how hard it is to win the majority of your matches in a ‘season’ of Coalition action, right? You won twenty-one times in your first year, and amassed another nineteen last year, Ms Entertainment Professional of the Year. That’s a ton! But it is NOT the record! No, THAT little anecdote belongs to Tyvola...do yourself a favor and don't ask about THAT guy...and Zane Scott, who both have won twenty-six matches in a year. And when you consider that we hold about fourty or so events with a LOT of those crazy ‘ten people in the match’ gimmicks, that is a LOT Of times getting your hand raised! But me? I want to beat that. And so that means at LEAST twenty-seven times!”
She snickers suddenly.
“Wanna know how close Dave has come to that? He picked up thirteen wins last year, the MOST he’s ever had in a single year...and MOST of those years have been something like 5 or so...which means literally HALF of the best!”
Angie scowls at that.
“He’s your partner this week, Sar.”
Sarah waves her hand dismissively.
“I know, I know. Just making a point! It is a BIG endeavor! But I am prepared for it. Two down, twenty five to go! And I’m prepared for my OTHER big goal, too.”
Sarah turns her head toward Angie’s cheek.
“You had a killer run with the ‘rock,’ Sister. KILLER. One hundred and eighty-two days and several defenses. But the BEST run? Ever?”
She looks back to the wall and back to some unseen future.
“Travis Roberts. Three hundred and sixty four. I want to beat that. I want it BAD. I want to walk into a full calendar year as being champion and change the very CORE of this company and business. Not just be the World Champion. But be THE World Champion. And that means winning again...and again...AND AGAIN...while I do it. And that will CONTINUE this week.”
She turns her head the other direction and takes in the sleeping form of Kenzi.
“Its always an honor to fight a member of my family, of course. The Cool Kids-”
“...hashtag, tee why vee em…”
“-were founded on the idea that we could rise up together, fight together, train together, take over the WORLD together. And while the Cool Kids-”
“...no really, hashtag…”
“-are basically dead and disbanded at this point-”
“...we’re going to prove you wrong, Sis…”
“-our ideals are very much alive within the House of Lacklan. Mind you, Kenzi and I will no doubt have this killer plan in place by next week where we ‘accidentally’ don’t ever seem to get into the ring and just use the chance to watch our respective Infinity opponents fight one another so that we can pick up some relative strengths and weaknesses, but we’ll still have a blast against one another if our douche canoe partners-”
“...language…”
“-pull some kind of double forced tag thing. And there are HUGE stakes, as I mentioned earlier, about how Kenzi pinning me means a title shot, but I have ZERO intention of laying on my back in that ring. That is for her to do to me back at our hotel when-”
“LA LA LA LA LA”
“-and then she’ll-”
“CANNOT HEAR YOU”
“-and when she busts out her ‘finisher’ on me while I’m being over backward and-”
“PLEASE STOP THIS IS UNBEARABLE”
“-but I digress. The REAL point of this match, which is, of course, a double shot of one of those old school ‘make opponents work together as partners’ routines that are tried-and-true in our business, is to get a little test-run for Infinity. Personally, I’m looking forward to beating up the Tempest dude because FUCK that shit he’s been doing. I will NOT stand by and watch another run of the Saviors on MY watch, that is for damned sure.. Like, it was AWESOME when Kenzi and I beat the crap out of the Saviors at WrestleStock, and this will be akin to that. Because this whole ‘lets attack Kenzi in order to get ourselves noticed’ shit is LAME.
“Like, I get it, ya know? Targeting someone of Kenzi’s caliber is absoLUTELY going to get you noticed by people in management. The Saviors got themselves that Cooperative match with nothing BUT jumping someone from behind! And remember when Necron came in and beat up Ava? BOOM! Instant Chaos title match with ZERO reason for it other than taking advantage of the Coalition’s notoriously shitty security. BOTH incidents were some losers jumping members of the House of Lacklan, and BOTH losers ended up getting put down when they got their shot. And this third loser? Its going to end the same way. At Infinity, Kenzi is going to wipe the FLOOR with this guy, and I get the fun of helping to set her up for it!
“Now, yes, unlike Nekkie and the Saviors, Tempest actually has gotten himself a couple of wins before his title match, but lets be honest here: He was getting that title match as soon as he started doing the spooky shit with his weirdo friends during Kenzi’s matches. And practically murdering Pierce at Horizons guaranteed that the Consortium was going to reward him. But those two matches he has? Those two wins? Please. I’m not even certain that Destroyer gets a paycheck for losing the way he does...maybe he gets the crumbs left over from catering, or something...and his utter lack of understanding of who and what he faces at any given time is going to end up with him so outclassed when in the ring with ANY member of our House that WE might as well be facing Destroyer! I know its only a couple of matches in, but Tempest has spent his entire time focusing on himself, focusing on how SPOOOOOKY he is and how CREEEEEEPY his buddies are, that he has had ZERO time left for consideration of his opponents, and that will NOT help him in the long run. Spooky McSpookystein probs doesn't even realize that I am a BETTER team wrestler than a singles one and that getting my FOURTEENTH such victory is ubes important even WITH a partner that I don't trust in the slightest. He’s probably going to walk into this Cooperative tag match without even a semblance of understanding of the names involved other than Kenzi, much less our histories, capabilities, and tendencies, and you know what that is going to mean?"
She slaps her hands together with a shot that sounds like thunder in the apartment.
"BLAM! Mark of Cain to the face!”
“...great change to the name of Dad’s Shining Wizard, bee tee dubs…”
“Then it’ll just be a matter of making sure that Stinky Dave stays out of the ring, perhaps even staring him right in the face...again...as I pin Tempest, and getting my third win in a row. And THEN making sure that the douchebag doesn’t ‘win’ by getting me with another Post Match Virus of Life again. But by THEN, it’ll be both Kenzi and I on the alert and he’s got NOTHING to counter us both with. After all, you aren’t there to beat us for him again!”
“...Sar…”
“Sorry, not sorry!”
Sarah grows silent...finally...and Angie can feel her leaving Monologue Mode. The two sit in silence again, enjoying one another’s company in the dark, enjoying the feel of their backs against one another.
“Hey, Angelica?”
“Yeah?”
“Do you really think of our Father as ‘Dad’ in your head?”
Angie nods, which makes Sarah smile. More silence as the two sit back-to-back.
“Hey, Sar-Sar?”
“Yeah?”
“Do...do you think...Dad would be proud of me?”
Sarah’s eyes glisten at both the question and the sincerity in Angie’s voice.
“You kidding? World Champ before you’re allowed to drink your gross appletinis? Tabs.”
Angie’s turn to smile.
“Know what’s more important, though?”
“What?”
A moment.
“He would have loved you.”
A tear cascades down both of their cheeks. Sarah reaches down and takes Angie’s hand, and Angie clenches it tightly.
“Thanks for helping Kenzi keep me out of the Abyss the last couple of months, Sister. I got real dark there, for a while.”
Angie sniffles and nods.
~~End~~
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