Shopping trip numero dos.

[Jennie Docherty / Djinnie!]

The scenery fades inside of a typical hardware store… The Home Depot… Jennie has her hair fixed into pigtails, as she rolls a shopping cart throughout one of the wide aisles, and is eyeing much of the content on the shelves while her nephew, Sabin, walks beside her with his hands tucked into his pockets.

“You know you should be the champion right now, right?” Sabin asks.

Jennie scrambles forward to one of the shelves, and starts eyeing a brand new aluminum garbage; she raises the lid a couple of times before slamming it down several times causing a lot of clanking that garners the attention of many other people in the store.

“Did you hear me?!” asks Sabin.

“Of course I heard you–” Jennie answers while rolling her eyes over the initial statement, and then she flails an arm into the air when she spots someone wearing one of the work vests, “EXCUSE ME! EXCUSE ME, SIR! SIR! DOWN HERE!”

The worker, who looks to be in his younger twenties…perhaps not even twenty quite yet… walks over to the two, focusing his attention on Jennie as he fumbles over his own words momentarily, a sly smirk on his face as he seems to be under the delusion that he has a shot.

“What can I help ya with?” the worker asks.

Jennie takes the lid with both hands, giving it a little shake, as she takes a step closer to the man who takes in a huge whiff as Jennie questions the man in a very serious tone, “How many skulls can I smack with this lid before it gives out?”

“Say what?” the man answers, fumbling again over his own words.

“I thought I was quite clear. I’m just wondering, because I need to know how efficient this is going to be, in smacking someone’s skull several times over… Enough times that he may not move afterwards. Long enough for me to pin him down, and–”

The worker lifts his head to look at Sabin, and Sabin’s eye contact falters away momentarily before giving the look to suggest that she’s not joking. Jennie glances at Sabin, then at the worker.

“NOT LIKE THAT! We– we’re professional wrestlers, and–” Jennie says.

“Oh! OH! YOU! YOU’RE JENNIE–”

“Yes, yes, but BACK TO THE POINT!”

“The boys aren’t gonna believe this!” The worker sounds ecstatic.

“Okay, but–” Jennie says.

“Can I– can I have a picture with you?”

“Umm. Sure, but can you answer the–”

“My man, can you take our picture?” The worker asks while handing the phone over to Sabin. The man then, without hesitation, puts his arm around Jennie and pulls her close as she still holds the lid and she can’t even bring herself to smile as the guy is cheesing the whole way - his hand gets dangerously close to grabbing her quite inappropriately, which doesn’t go unnoticed. Sabin sneers at him with the inner WRAITH starting to show signs of wanting to dismantle the worker right then and there…

BUT NO NEED!

THWACK!

Jennie cracks the worker over the head with the lid, and knocks the guy clean out. The lid is practically folded in half at this point, and Jennie just looks at the lid a little longer, examining her own handiwork. A crowd has slightly amassed, and there’s a few rounds of applause. Jennie pays no mind to the crowd, and Sabin tosses the phone to the ground where you can hear it crack quite easily.

“Should’ve got an Otterbox.” Sabin says nonchalantly.

“This really isn’t an ideal weapon if it’s only good for one swing.” Jennie says, and tosses the lid over as it lands on the downed employee. Jennie puts her hands back on the cart handle, and the aunt and nephew stroll carelessly down the aisle. “Sexual assault is never funny, and you should never put your hands on someone without their expressed permission.” Jennie says.

“We’ll find you something else… But are you going to ever acknowledge my question?” Sabin sounds more irritated this time.

Jennie turns one of the corners, and finally answers, “I get what you’re saying, Sabe, and you’re really not the first person to have told me that this week… Everyone thinks that I should be going around and proclaiming myself as the rightful champion because Brooklyn had to get herself disqualified from the match, but ya wanna know the truth? I’m not. I’m not the rightful champion. The rightful champion found a loophole and was able to retain her title without the win. There’s nothing I can say or do to change it. I just made it clear– I want another match… I want another match, and I want certain terms to be in order so that she can’t find another one of those loopholes. I want us to finish this fight.”

Sabin nods a little bit while contemplating everything Jennie said to answer his question, but takes a deep breath, “Aren’t you mad, though?”

“Mad? I’m FURIOUS! But being mad isn’t going to change anything either… So what’s the point?” Jennie scoffs.

“The point is that you should be champion. We– our family– has never done that! Tláa has never done that! I have never done that! You–”

“Have never done that…” Jennie interrupts, “But y’know what else we haven’t done? We haven’t complained! We’ve gotten even– look at Tara when Eternity beat her… and then Rowan… she set out massacre that whole clique, and–”

“Wait–” Sabin interjects, “You don’t think she could be the one that attacked Rowan, do you?”

Jennie scrunches her face, almost disgusted by the mere suggestion, and shakes her head, “Tara would never! She’s not that type of person… She’s the type that– she– she will tell you she’s coming for you, ‘cause she wants to beat people at their best. She’s prideful like that. You should know!”

Sabin nods.

“Although she’s been a little flustered as of late… with Angel being on a sabbatical, and not getting any bookings. I mean, we did have that one– but we were eliminated in the first round! THE FIRST ROUND! Can you believe that?!”

“It was pretty surprising, but these things, they happen.” Sabin reassures her.

“I know, but I expected so much more… It’s fine, though. We move on! And what’s important now is–” Jennie comes to a stop at a particular section in the aisle, and reaches off-camera before bringing a METAL RAKE back with her, “WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THIS FOR THE HARDCORE MATCH?!”

Sabin takes the rake from his aunt, and examines it… he turns it in his hands, and seems to nod approvingly, “I remember raking the yard as a child. Tláa made me help with all the chores as a child. These things can get some nice scratches going… and the wood is sturdy. It’s not going to be a game ender, but it’ll be nice for the build. I approve.”

“Put it in the cart!” Jennie says gleefully.

“How do you feel about going against Dean?” Sabin asks as the two continue their stroll through the store.

“I could never be mad at Deano, but you know… the family business, and he is family, so one of us is going to have to fight to eventually decide who sits at the–” dramatic pause, to add emphasis to the next part, “HEAD OF THE TABLE!” Jennie pauses again to give an appropriate amount of time for the added flair to settle in, “But I mean, really, he is the world champion, and I’m just a challenger… so I think he has more claim to it right now than me, but I’m telling you, this isn’t about him– this isn’t even about Steffon! Although it’s gonna be great to get a few smacks in against that Johnny Sins cosplay artist.”

“Johnny Sins?!” Sabin shouts.

“This is about just going out there and winning another match! Another chance to gain some momentum, and some leverage to stake my claim on another opportunity to capture the world title! I mean, how could I be denied if I have a win over the Men’s World Champion, and a former Invictus Champion? How could I be denied?!” Jennie questions.

As the two continue their stroll through The Home Depot, you hear the pitter patter of rubber soles running from around the corner, and Jennie and Sabin both look up to see none other than CLIFF COOK bolting down the aisle with a cart of his own. Inside of the cart is something– rather peculiar.

“A BLOWTORCH?!” Jennie exclaims.

“I know what you’re thinking– what is Cliff doing here?! And let me tell you! I was in the area–” Cliff starts gesturing with his hands as if to illustrate the whole story, “Great new boba place nearby, out of this world! I didn’t bring you one, I’m so sorry, Atty told me to send it to her via Uber Eats, and I thought– I thought that I would stop by… I have– I have some cabinets around the house to fix now that, y’know, I have an actual house because I have a salary all thanks to being employed by the mystery general manager!”

“You’re rambling, honey! You gotta get to the point!” Jennie exclaims.

“YES! SORRY! Anyways, I heard someone scream… YOU’RE JENNIE! And I was like– NO WAY! JENNIE IS HERE?! Oh, and Sabin, too. Hey, bud!”

Sabin simply gives that subtle nod as a greeting.

“And so I was searching, and searching, and searching, and I found–” Cliff is grinning from ear to ear as he takes a step back to admire everything in the cart. Everything a new welder could dream of having.

“A blowtorch?!” Jennie answers, some excitement mixed with a questioning tone.

“A BLOWTORCH! And– I was just thinking… What if one of you uses the blowtorch in the match this week?!” Cliff says.

There were a number of people that were giving the side glances to them as they walked by, the look on their face could be more described as the look that the neighbors would give to the Addams Family when they do just about anything.

“THAT! IS!” Jennie says… but is interrupted…

“NOT HAPPENING!” The camera pans over to the side to unveil Jess Fowler holding a cart of their own, and looking just as bewildered as the rest of the crowd that has amassed by now.

“Oh! Hey, Jess! Did you try the new boba place?” Cliff asks, while moving forward and giving Jess a shoulder punch greeting.

“No– no, I had to come here to get office supplies because the new temp called out…” they roll their eyes, and sigh, “But the blowtorch thing is not happening! Are we clear?!”

“ABSOLUTELY!” Cliff says, pursing his lips together and nodding.

Jess takes a step forward, and glances back at them several times… They nonchalantly wave to Jess a couple of times, all with cheesy grins on their face as if they are saying for him to not suspect anything. Jennie leans closer to Cliff, and through her teeth, whispers, “Get the blowtorch. You never know when it might come in handy.”

In the same fashion, Cliff answers, “I already paid for it online with the company credit card.”

Jess glances back one more time before disappearing around the corner.

“Great running into both of you!” Cliff says, “Ciao for now!”

“W-w-wait!” Jennie huffs and pouts, “THAT’S MY CLOSING LINE!”

The scene comes to an end.