Post by Jennie Docherty / Djinnie! on Jan 5, 2024 23:25:17 GMT
There is a wry smile on Jennie’s face– a smile that fights, as the corner of her lips remain curled upward but she shakes off the emotion… Even the joy that she should feel from having her arm raised, and her name announced as the winner of Heiress to the Throne, but the truth is that all she did was stamp her ticket to step into the ring with the reigning IWF Women’s World Champion– her rival– her bane– Brooklyn Madrox.
It was her own fault for why Brooklyn Madrox had come out of retirement… Jennie had challenged her. She had enticed her, and excited her; it was a new challenge for Ms. Can’t Miss. A chance to be in the ring with a new wave of talent that would litter the halls of the IWF. While Jennie was able to stand victorious in their first-ever meeting, the rest of the story would be Brooklyn. Brooklyn would take the title from Jennie on the grandest stage of them all, Night of the Immortals, and Brooklyn would retain at Bloody Assizes that would leave Jennie with no choice but to become the last in line.
Chance would give Jennie another opportunity.
Chance is what brought Jennie back into the title hunt.
Chance is what put Jennie in the Heiress to the Throne tournament, and finally… chance is what would give her yet another match against the reigning champion.
The scenery fades inside of an establishment filled with various forms of entertainment. It appeared that there was no room left on the dance floor, and people would wander back and forth from tables and bars. The evening was filled with celebrations… Celebrations from everyone happy and proud of their friend– their colleague– their aunt– their sister– but Jennie sits in the corner booth… that half-smile still on her face, but her eyes staring blankly at the table in front of her. A hand suddenly slaps down on the table, garnering Jennie’s attention as she raises her bright eyes to see the friend that had come out tonight.
“Sa-hare-bear!” Jennie exclaims.
“What’re you doing moping?” Lauren “Sahara” Duke says while sliding into the booth, and flags a server down, “We all came out to celebrate your win, and you’re just sitting in the corner…” she shakes her head and twiddles her thumbs.
“I just– I was thinking–”
“Thinking? It’s time to CELEBRATE!” Lauren shouts while throwing her arms into the air, and just as the server arrives.
“What can I get started for ya?” the server asks while cradling a tablet and ready to take their order.
“I will take a Manhattan, and she will have…” Lauren says and tilts her head forward to gesture for Jennie to answer.
“I’ll just have mineral water.”
“Mineral water? No! NO! This little elf girl will have a moonglow.” Lauren says.
“A moonglow?”
“Google it.” Lauren says. The server blinks a couple of times before being waved off by Lauren, and Lauren just sits with her eyes locked on Jennie, “You’ve come a long way, you know…”
Jennie subtly shrugs.
“I’m being serious, Jennie. Honestly, I didn’t think you had it in you to get as far as you did, but look at you! A former world champion, and now you’re the Heiress to the Throne– you should be happy for your accomplishments, and you should be celebrating them! So why are you just sitting here?”
Jennie licks her lips, and while still fighting with herself over her smile, she cocks her head to the side and brushes her hair back behind her shoulder, “It’s like I told you: I’m just thinking…”
“About?”
“About– what this means… What being Heiress to the Throne means, and I have to say… if I don’t win this week, then none of it is going to matter. Like– seriously– what am I going to be able to say? It’s like– if I don’t win the title– all of this just… it goes up in flames… none of it matters… No one is going to remember that I won Heiress to the Throne ‘cause all they’re going to be able to talk about is how Brooklyn beat me to retain the championship, again. It’s like– y’know those Patriots?”
“When did you learn about sports?” Lauren gives an inquisitive look.
“Tara screams about it every season. I think she scares Angel a little bit with how serious she takes the football season… ANYWAYS! They were on the verge of being undefeated! But then they get to the big grand bowl–”
“Super Bowl.” Lauren mutters to correct her.
“–and lose…and that’s all people talk about! They don’t talk about how close they were to having a perfect season, they just… lost. That’s all people are going to remember about me if I lose.” Jennie purses her lips together, a faint look of defeat already on her face.
Lauren rolls her eyes, “That’s not the Jennie I know…”
“Who is the Jennie you know?” Jennie asks.
Lauren leans against her elbows on the table, narrowing her eyes for a moment. She doesn’t give her answer right away, rather waits a moment as if to find the fire in Jennie’s eyes.
“Why don’t you tell us?”
That single question echoes, and the camera hones in on the face of the woman who would challenge for the IWF Women’s World Championship this week… she blinks her eyes several times, and her eyes that seemed to be searching for pity began to narrow, and become more and more determined. She closes her eyes and as she opens them, the irises shift to a more lavender hue. The camera pans out to unveil that the establishment that was once filled with people that have all come together to celebrate Jennie’s feat alongside her is now vacant. The Heiress to the Throne– Djinnie– sits alone.
The look of defeat has completely erased from her facial features, and she cocks her head to the side. She gives a gentle wave to the camera and smacks her lips together before finally speaking, “There’s a lot that can change in a year… I mean, really, last year: Diamonds Are Forever took place in December. At this time last year, I was the champion! I was the world champion! I was going to– shatter– every record en route to becoming the greatest IWF Women’s World Champion of all time. I was going to pass Shelly Diamond’s historic long reign! I was going to have more title defenses than… Ms… Can’t Miss. I was going to be the best. But– and I want to be crystal clear that I’m not making any excuses here– Brooklyn took the title from me. She stopped me at the height of my momentum! She stopped me when I felt– unstoppable. She showed me my weakness where I thought I was flawless. This has been a moment I’ve been waiting for. This is the moment that I’ve been thinking about for a long… long… long time, Brook,” Jennie tilts her head the other way, hunching herself forward and supporting herself against the table with her elbows, “Y’see, I’ve said it for a long time… I’m not here to make excuses. I’m not here to say that I was robbed! There is a simple fact that I accepted from day one, and I don’t want you to mistake me: you beat me. That’s the fact, Brooklyn! You beat me. I didn’t have my foot on the ropes– the referee didn’t miss something. There’s nothing I can say to claim that you shouldn’t have won. I wasn’t hurt. I wasn’t tired. I was just beaten. Two times, you have proven yourself to be the superior fighter! Two times, you have beaten me in the middle of the ring, and TWO TIMES, you did it… on… your… own.” Jennie scoffs.
She shrugs her shoulders, and sinks slightly down. She has a slight smirk on her face, resonating the family trait before she continues, “I told you! I’m not here to make excuses… When you defeated me at Bloody Assizes, I knew that I had no argument to put myself back into the title hunt right off the bat. I knew that I was going to have to fight against anyone! I was going to have to fight against everyone! I wanted it. I was waiting for it. But do you know what happened? Hmm?” Jennie hunches forward again, flinging her phone out of her pocket and onto the table.
The phone sits motionless.
“There were NO CALLS!” She exclaims while stabbing her finger against the screen on the phone.
“There was NO ONE wanting to book me! Whoever it was that was responsible for getting me back into the ring… decided they didn’t need me… they didn’t need me. They didn’t need me, and they didn’t want me! Why is that? Why didn’t they want me? Why didn’t they want me to burn through the competition? Did they want to build suspense? Did they want to give someone else time to shine? I– let’s just say that I kept myself busy…” She gives a coy smile and shrugs one shoulder, “I also decided to take that time off to venture out further and continue competing! ‘Cause that time– I never asked for it. I never wanted it. I wanted to be back in this ring the very next week! And the next! And the next! But– I never got that call…” She sighs.
“But a chance would come my way, and it seemed we ran into a little predicament… y’see, for the time that I was out, I didn’t expect to be thrown into Heiress to the Throne. I didn’t expect to be presented with that kind of opportunity, but– FINALLY– I got that call! FINALLY! I was able to step back into the ring that I love the most, and just like the underdog that everyone always sees in me, I persevered. I ruined the Cinderella story– TWICE. Shea thought it was her grand return? Virginia thought it was hers? NOPE. IT WAS MINE. Then for me to be standing across the ring from Zasshu II– a young woman who I… truly… respect. A woman who– took me to my limits… y’see, that’s the kind of competition I want to be in the ring with! That’s the kind of hunger I want to see out of the people I get in the ring with! Someone who wants to be here. Someone who wants to be the best! Someone who has the same drive as me! ‘Cause there is never a time I get in the ring and my mind isn’t on being the best to ever come out of it… Family trait, I guess.” She flashes another fast smirk while adjusting slightly in her seat.
“But I don’t want an easy road. I’m not the type of person who wants an easy opponent… I only ever want to be in the ring with someone who is going to– elevate me. Someone who is going to make me– dig deep. Someone who is going to make me become BETTER, and I think– I mean, I really want to believe that I proved that when I was the champion…. ‘Cause it wasn’t enough that I beat Caroline Machado to become the champion; I knew I had to beat Shelly Diamond. And so the moment that she wanted that fight with me, I was ready to give it! I couldn’t even look in the mirror and really see myself as the champion until I beat her. And who did I call out after that? Who did I wanna be in the ring with after that?” She asks rhetorically and turns her head to the side, giving the side glance before continuing enthusiastically.
“IT WAS YOU! Brooklyn! I wanted to be in the ring with… the second… best… champion… in the history of the company. I wanted to be in the ring with the woman who set the bar so high that no one was able to top it for THREE! YEARS! But– we seem to have a little predicament going on, don’t we?” Jennie says whilst tapping her finger against her chin.
“Y’see, this is going to be our fourth little dance, and both of us have been quite adamant with what we want as champion… What I wanted as champion, and what you want as champion, but it seems that no matter what we want as champion– and what we wanted was quite simple, wasn’t it? We wanted to bring the best competition! We wanted to fight the best! We wanted a swarm of women to break down those walls and fight us for what we cherish, but so far, that gate has barely rattled.” She sneers.
“And so it seems that we are going to have to be the ones to break those walls down… We are going to continue having this dance for a long, long, looooong time! What was it? Fate? Destiny? Destiny that brought me back to this title match against you? Destiny that named me Heiress to the Throne? There’s no denyin’ the amount of competition that’s flockin’ to, or back, but are any of them going to have the same amount of fight that we have? Are they going to have the same amount of bite?” Jennie sucks in air through her teeth, and shakes her head.
“No… And they can all make their excuses! They can talk about how– this is their story… This is the part of the story that they must endure to rise, and rise again, and how they’re going to win the whole Queen’s Gambit to eventually turn their dream into a reality… They can talk about how they’re going to bounce back, and come back more and more violent, and that the next person that’s in the ring with them will rue the day! RUE!” She exclaims whilst pounding her fist against the table.
After several seconds pass, she seems to relax a little bit and her tone shifts to a more playful one, “But, again, this isn’t about them. They can play their part, right? And we can play ours… this is our story. This is our chronicle. This is our epic. But who’s the protagonist? And who’s the antagonist? Or does it really matter?” She asks and taps her finger against her chin as if to truly contemplate the question.
“I’m sure that you’ve justified yourself… You’ve justified the stance that you’ve made by trying to bring in this whole Murder ordeal where you somehow– believe– that this division wouldn’t be anywhere without you… Or believe that this division is crumbling, and it just seems like a really strange mission. It seems like you and those girls just got the elitist syndrome where you wanted to put yourselves on a pedestal higher than everyone around you just because you thought you could get away with it, but it’s like I’ve been saying: no one cares. When I saw the replay of The Murder standing over me, and it had people believing it was some sort of end of an era, I’m not going to lie: I was excited! I was psyched! I wanted to go through all of them and then finally be back in the ring with you, but now… I’ve earned my shot to be back in the ring without even having to bat an eye at them. For a group that’s supposed to be so great they sure are lacking any kind of conviction.” She says disappointingly.
“They’re not going to come down to that ring side, and y’know something else? If Shea wants that fight with them, she can have it. If Abigail, Eternity, or even Tara decide they want a fight with The Murder– they can have it… I want to win the title back! And– I know I’m getting in the ring with you… and I’m going to see that we’ve had this dance enough times, Brookie-cakes! I know you’re not looking for their help. I know you don’t want their help! I know– you don’t need their help. I don’t need help, either. I don’t need, nor want anyone to come out and try to steal away my chance at taking back the belt! I know that you’re not sitting at home and under some delusion, or belief that this is going to be a walk in the park for you… ‘Cause like I told Zasshu, and as you know: I don’t need long to get that pin. It doesn’t take much. Just the right amount of leverage. Right? That’s part of the reason I don’t want any help… and I’m not asking for any help… I don’t want there to be any kind of excuse that you’re going to give, ‘cause you can say and believe everything you want about me, but one thing you can’t take away from me is that when you took the title, and when you defended it against me, I didn’t cry! I didn’t make excuses! I didn’t claim I was robbed!”
She raises her hand up over her forehead in the shape of an “L” as she continues talking without missing a beat, “I took the ‘L’ and learned my lesson.” She brings her hands back down, “And everything, Brooklyn– EVERYTHING that I have learned has brought me back to being in the ring with you! Everything I’ve learned brought me– HEIRESS TO THE THRONE. Everything I’ve learned has made me the number one contender! And everything I’ve learned I’m going to bring right to you this Tuesday at Diamonds Are Forever to take the title back, and– DO BETTER than my last run! BE BETTER than I was! And– Brooklyn– when I take that title back, I hope you exercise that rematch clause… the same way I exercised it on you… ‘cause I want the opportunity to go up in our little rivalry. Just like you came back from retirement and got thrust right into the title hunt– I want to see you fall to the bottom… and have to fight your way back up. I want to see you fight your way back up. And honey– all you’re going to do is give me exactly what I want, and what I want… is… the Frieza to my Goku.” Jennie blows a kiss to the camera as it zooms in again on the eyes of the challenger for the IWF Women’s World Championship at Diamonds Are Forever. She closes her eyes for a moment longer than a standard blink, and as she reopens them, the noise returns to the setting.
Lauren sits in front of Jennie, still awaiting her answer, and Jennie curls her lips into a smile, “You’ll have to see this Tuesday, won’t you?” she says with a sly wink.
Lauren scoffs while sitting back in the booth just as the server brings them both their drinks, and she takes up the drink to sip at it.
“Hey, where’s this man of yours? Isn’t he around?! Shouldn’t he be celebrating with you?!” Lauren asks while glancing around in search for Allen Chaney.
“It’d be a bit awkward if he showed, don’t ya think? I mean, after what happened–” Jennie says.
“DID HE SAY NO?!” Lauren interrupts.
“What?”
“How could he–” Lauren grumbles under her breath.
“He said–”
“YOU! ARE! SUCH! A CATCH! He could only be so lucky!” Lauren interrupts again.
Just as the two are continuing their conversation, Sabin stumbles into the booth and plops down beside his aunt.
“Whoa, there! I know you’re twenty-one now and all, but don’t go too overboard!” Jennie says while hugging her nephew.
“I’m good, I’m good! Congratulations, Tláak’w!” Sabin says.
“Thank you! But– umm… What’s happening with Rob?” Jennie asks.
“Man, fuck that guy! If he wants to fight, y’know what? We’ll fight! That’s fine with me! He thinks that he was punking me out, but– damn– that whole Diamond family likes clinging to our name, and he’s just trying to hold onto relevance since his sister decided to walk away pretty fast.” Sabin snorts out heavily, frustration. By his mannerisms, it’s clear that he’s buzzed– also evident as he takes up a mug of beer and takes a swig.
“Calm down, Sabey, calm down!”
“Y’know why she walked away earlier? She didn’t have the stomach for it! She burnt bright, but she couldn’t burn long, and now Rob is here thinking that he’s going to somehow remedy that. He wants to fight, I need you to text that redheaded friend of yours and tell him to put in the word to his boss to book us for Metamorphosis.”
Jennie purses her lips together and nods, “Okay, okay. Fine. Fine. I’ll send him a message right away!”
“Where is that ginger?” Lauren asks.
“I think he’s up next for karaoke…” Jennie answers while typing into her phone, but multitasking a bit, she does resume speaking, “I do intend to walk out with this title, and just wondering– maybe he’ll have to book Brooklyn and me for the fifth round.” Jennie says with a laugh under her breath.
Scene fades to black.
As the scenery has faded, Lauren's voice can still be heard momentarily, "You've been incredibly unclear as to what Allen's answer was."
END.