Post by Vivienne Daniels on Jul 20, 2024 7:00:34 GMT
Vivienne was sitting in the tub as the last step in the spa trip that was meant to settle her temper. The rage was too much. She was entirely too angry, she wasn’t thinking clearly. Even Cyrus seemed not to like where she was going lately. Too far.
She didn’t feel like she’d gone far enough. There was so much more for her to do.
There was a time she had considered just settling down. Giving up everything and just being a wife and mother. It hadn’t been the first time she had thought about it. The traditional upbringing, the expectation to be a wife and mother should be her higher calling. That no matter what happened she should just know that’s what she was really built for. It was what she was raised for.
After all, wasn’t wrestling just meant to give her children another step toward a legacy they could fulfill when they got old enough? Just as she had stepped just a little farther than her father, then her grandfather. She was just a girl after all.
A song she had heard ages ago on a tiktok seemed to sing in her mind…
All day, every day, therapist, mother, maid
Nymph then a virgin, nurse then a servant
Just an appendage, live to attend him
Something twisted in Vivienne’s gut. Just a girl. Vivienne felt the burning bile of hatred rising in her throat as she silently seethed. Cyrus had never said she was. Said he'd support no matter what she picked. But she had put herself into that box, hadn't she? Hadn't she been considering just leaving it all behind? Doing what everyone said she should do her whole life.
24∕7, baby machine
Had she been so stupid?
When you wake up next to him in the middle of the night
With your head in your hands, you're nothing more than his wife
And when you think about me, all of those years ago
You're standing face to face with "I told you so"
You know I hate to say, "I told you so"
Blind. Foolish. Ignorant. But the pain of losing Rowan, Astrid and Virginia…the betrayal of someone who was meant to be her best friend, the knowledge that her other best friend would take his side, because she always did. The pain had cleansed her. Saved her. Given her new life and new purpose, reborn into the world devoid of former weakness. Life was better - stronger and more pure - when she accepted that the only thing that mattered was pain and response... and that pain was a gift that should be shared with as many as possible. Only then could one separate those who deserve to live from those who do not.
In the back of her mind, something laughed at that thought. Something welcomed the nihilism as it solidified in her psyche. The laughter grew louder, laughing not at her... but with her. Through her. Pleased with what she had come to recognize.
Rowan was lost. But maybe… Maybe…She could remake the world. Show them all that there was more she could do.
The women’s division was lost, as it had been lost before. Too many liars who inspire a fool's hope for a better world that would never exist. Those were the people who peddled the lies that had almost destroyed her career, convinced her that she was never good enough, that life outside of the ring was something precious... when in truth life was just as fleeting almost common, and easily snuffed in an instant. People only believed that life... the world... was special and valuable because they had been convinced of the lie from the day they were born.
‘Heroes’ were the ones who peddled that lie. The ones who kept it alive, and corrupted the world with pride and ignorance through every word.
For the good of the world... Heroes had to end. She could be more then a wife and a mother. The legacy could be hers to fulfil.
Her heart was resolute.
She could do what Rowan couldn’t.
"Predation."
The camera finds Vivienne sitting on a stone wall looking over an abandoned theme park reclaimed by nature, her back to the camera.
"The preying of one animal upon another. It is a struggle that has existed since free will was granted upon creation. Since that brief moment of curiosity, the fate of the world has been governed by the simple truth and promise of that one word - the strong consume, the weak are devoured. The strong eat, hunt, grow, and repeat. Until they grow stronger. Strong enough to rise against what was once the apex predator, and challenge it for its throne. When life first had the choice, there was no peace. There were no tranquil seas. There was only a vast ocean of infinite life, and each being beneath the waves fought, hunted, and died struggling for the chance to reach the heights of what it meant to be alive."
"As it was in the beginning, so has it been. Life hunted one another to emerge as the new dominant form of life once the heavens condemned those beasts to extinction. When mankind rose as the world's apex predator, the species turned upon itself - divided itself a hundred times over... and a hundred times again. Now it was not the species, but the country... then the individual... until now. Those strong and ruthless enough to hunt ascend... and the weak are consumed. And yet..."
Vivienne tilts her head to the side, though does not turn back to the camera. She raises a bloody hand and gestures to the abandoned scene around her. "And yet... somehow it is no longer the strong who rule, is it? Behind the curtain of the world, the weak have been allowed to redefine what it is to be strong. It is no longer someone's strength, someone's will, someone's ability to hunt that determines whether or not they live or die... it is politics. It is personal wealth. It’s who you know. It’s how good you look. It’s how well you can make a social media post. It’s sickening, don’t you think?"
Her hand tenses and clenches with a barely controlled fury, as though choking the life from an invisible throat.
“But we’ve already discussed how I feel about the state of women’s wrestling before, haven’t we? The last time we fought one another it was mostly Birds and crows. Now it’s simply a tournament on my path to get my hands on someone who deserves every inch of my wrath. But two more matches before I get my hands on her. Now it’s just you and I.”
"Charlotte. You think of yourself as a hero. An Iron Maiden. Fighting for truth and justice, struggling against a tidal wave of adversity to do 'the right thing', to keep from falling into old habits. While your friends like to present a pretty guardian only fighting to defend the weak and the innocent and restore peace. You are in this for the sport. Because you want the glory and the status..." Vivienne chuckles and shakes her head. "An empowering fantasy, isn't it? That you can really make a difference. That friendship can keep you from sliding back into the darkness.”
“Last time we faced each other I predicted you’d have one victory but not both. I was correct. You did win the match against The Murder but lost to Jennie for the title. She did to you what she does to everyone she fights against. She pivots her footing to make you the bad guy and herself the innocent downtrodden victim constantly misunderstood. It burns, doesn’t it? You want another chance to have a redo of that match. Now that you understand her game better. Getting to be The Heiress would be the easiest way to do that. Similar wants but for different reasons.”
Vivienne laughs, “I have my sights set on revenge for my fallen friends and to do that I have to get to the end. Your goals are more noble. More pure. Of course this fight, well I wouldn’t expect you to think of those much. You hated The Murder. You don’t like who I am, who I stand with, who I married, or what I’ve done. I can’t blame you for that.”
At last, Vivienne turns and looks into the camera over her shoulder, her face spattered with blood. “I think there are fewer and fewer who understand or support my motives or personal life choices. But what I do is for no one else’s approval. My choices are mine alone. I don’t give a fuck what anyone else thinks about it. I’ll beat the shit out of you Charlotte. Not because I have any real strong feelings about you as a person. The feud with Birds of Prey is completed as far as I’m concerned. But that doesn’t mean I am going to let you win. In fact, when I pin you, understand that it has nothing to do with you, it has everything to do with my goal.”
“I am hunting, you are simply the prey I have to gut before I can get to the prize.”
She didn’t feel like she’d gone far enough. There was so much more for her to do.
There was a time she had considered just settling down. Giving up everything and just being a wife and mother. It hadn’t been the first time she had thought about it. The traditional upbringing, the expectation to be a wife and mother should be her higher calling. That no matter what happened she should just know that’s what she was really built for. It was what she was raised for.
After all, wasn’t wrestling just meant to give her children another step toward a legacy they could fulfill when they got old enough? Just as she had stepped just a little farther than her father, then her grandfather. She was just a girl after all.
A song she had heard ages ago on a tiktok seemed to sing in her mind…
All day, every day, therapist, mother, maid
Nymph then a virgin, nurse then a servant
Just an appendage, live to attend him
Something twisted in Vivienne’s gut. Just a girl. Vivienne felt the burning bile of hatred rising in her throat as she silently seethed. Cyrus had never said she was. Said he'd support no matter what she picked. But she had put herself into that box, hadn't she? Hadn't she been considering just leaving it all behind? Doing what everyone said she should do her whole life.
24∕7, baby machine
Had she been so stupid?
When you wake up next to him in the middle of the night
With your head in your hands, you're nothing more than his wife
And when you think about me, all of those years ago
You're standing face to face with "I told you so"
You know I hate to say, "I told you so"
Blind. Foolish. Ignorant. But the pain of losing Rowan, Astrid and Virginia…the betrayal of someone who was meant to be her best friend, the knowledge that her other best friend would take his side, because she always did. The pain had cleansed her. Saved her. Given her new life and new purpose, reborn into the world devoid of former weakness. Life was better - stronger and more pure - when she accepted that the only thing that mattered was pain and response... and that pain was a gift that should be shared with as many as possible. Only then could one separate those who deserve to live from those who do not.
In the back of her mind, something laughed at that thought. Something welcomed the nihilism as it solidified in her psyche. The laughter grew louder, laughing not at her... but with her. Through her. Pleased with what she had come to recognize.
Rowan was lost. But maybe… Maybe…She could remake the world. Show them all that there was more she could do.
The women’s division was lost, as it had been lost before. Too many liars who inspire a fool's hope for a better world that would never exist. Those were the people who peddled the lies that had almost destroyed her career, convinced her that she was never good enough, that life outside of the ring was something precious... when in truth life was just as fleeting almost common, and easily snuffed in an instant. People only believed that life... the world... was special and valuable because they had been convinced of the lie from the day they were born.
‘Heroes’ were the ones who peddled that lie. The ones who kept it alive, and corrupted the world with pride and ignorance through every word.
For the good of the world... Heroes had to end. She could be more then a wife and a mother. The legacy could be hers to fulfil.
Her heart was resolute.
She could do what Rowan couldn’t.
"Predation."
The camera finds Vivienne sitting on a stone wall looking over an abandoned theme park reclaimed by nature, her back to the camera.
"The preying of one animal upon another. It is a struggle that has existed since free will was granted upon creation. Since that brief moment of curiosity, the fate of the world has been governed by the simple truth and promise of that one word - the strong consume, the weak are devoured. The strong eat, hunt, grow, and repeat. Until they grow stronger. Strong enough to rise against what was once the apex predator, and challenge it for its throne. When life first had the choice, there was no peace. There were no tranquil seas. There was only a vast ocean of infinite life, and each being beneath the waves fought, hunted, and died struggling for the chance to reach the heights of what it meant to be alive."
"As it was in the beginning, so has it been. Life hunted one another to emerge as the new dominant form of life once the heavens condemned those beasts to extinction. When mankind rose as the world's apex predator, the species turned upon itself - divided itself a hundred times over... and a hundred times again. Now it was not the species, but the country... then the individual... until now. Those strong and ruthless enough to hunt ascend... and the weak are consumed. And yet..."
Vivienne tilts her head to the side, though does not turn back to the camera. She raises a bloody hand and gestures to the abandoned scene around her. "And yet... somehow it is no longer the strong who rule, is it? Behind the curtain of the world, the weak have been allowed to redefine what it is to be strong. It is no longer someone's strength, someone's will, someone's ability to hunt that determines whether or not they live or die... it is politics. It is personal wealth. It’s who you know. It’s how good you look. It’s how well you can make a social media post. It’s sickening, don’t you think?"
Her hand tenses and clenches with a barely controlled fury, as though choking the life from an invisible throat.
“But we’ve already discussed how I feel about the state of women’s wrestling before, haven’t we? The last time we fought one another it was mostly Birds and crows. Now it’s simply a tournament on my path to get my hands on someone who deserves every inch of my wrath. But two more matches before I get my hands on her. Now it’s just you and I.”
"Charlotte. You think of yourself as a hero. An Iron Maiden. Fighting for truth and justice, struggling against a tidal wave of adversity to do 'the right thing', to keep from falling into old habits. While your friends like to present a pretty guardian only fighting to defend the weak and the innocent and restore peace. You are in this for the sport. Because you want the glory and the status..." Vivienne chuckles and shakes her head. "An empowering fantasy, isn't it? That you can really make a difference. That friendship can keep you from sliding back into the darkness.”
“Last time we faced each other I predicted you’d have one victory but not both. I was correct. You did win the match against The Murder but lost to Jennie for the title. She did to you what she does to everyone she fights against. She pivots her footing to make you the bad guy and herself the innocent downtrodden victim constantly misunderstood. It burns, doesn’t it? You want another chance to have a redo of that match. Now that you understand her game better. Getting to be The Heiress would be the easiest way to do that. Similar wants but for different reasons.”
Vivienne laughs, “I have my sights set on revenge for my fallen friends and to do that I have to get to the end. Your goals are more noble. More pure. Of course this fight, well I wouldn’t expect you to think of those much. You hated The Murder. You don’t like who I am, who I stand with, who I married, or what I’ve done. I can’t blame you for that.”
At last, Vivienne turns and looks into the camera over her shoulder, her face spattered with blood. “I think there are fewer and fewer who understand or support my motives or personal life choices. But what I do is for no one else’s approval. My choices are mine alone. I don’t give a fuck what anyone else thinks about it. I’ll beat the shit out of you Charlotte. Not because I have any real strong feelings about you as a person. The feud with Birds of Prey is completed as far as I’m concerned. But that doesn’t mean I am going to let you win. In fact, when I pin you, understand that it has nothing to do with you, it has everything to do with my goal.”
“I am hunting, you are simply the prey I have to gut before I can get to the prize.”
Well howdy there pardner.