A curse.

CRASH! The two boys, Eddie and Damien, are playing on the floor with a toy bulldozer that Eddie thrashes forward into a pile of blocks that tumble to the ground, and they mimic the tires with screeches, and a building crumbling with an explosion. Inside of a playpen are the two infant girls, Lilith Ophelia and Mikaela Jade; they are quieter than usual while trying to figure out one of those puzzles designed to teach. The television plays merely to add more background noise.

Jennifer Aurora Docherty– Jennie Fenix– sits upside down on the couch, her feet hanging over the backrest; she hardly pays attention to any of the commotion going on around her. She mutters to herself, “Foot. Ropes. Foot. Ropes. Foot. Ropes. Foot. Ropes. Foot. Ropes…” She repeats the two words to herself, and begins speaking them faster until they are spoken too fast that the words are coming out as gibberish.

“EEERRRRRRRRRRRR!” Eddie screeches while crashing the bulldozer against the couch right beside Jennie’s head.

Jennie blinks several times, and snaps back to reality; she sees the bulldozer being pushed her way, and feigns a scream, “AHH!”

The reaction causes Eddie to giggle in turn, “It’s just a toy, Aunt Jennie!” Eddie reassures her.

“A demonic toy is more like it!” Jennie answers while flipping herself over to sit properly on the couch. She takes the bulldozer from Eddie, and examines it closely, “This thing has had the taste of Docherty blood, and now it wants more! You wouldn’t happen to be– A DOCHERTY would you?!” she stretches the bulldozer toward Eddie who springs to his feet and starts laughing while running away, and even pulls Damien with him to safety. They hide around one end of the couch, and Jennie gives her fiercest face, “The Killdozer is coming for you!”

“Nooooo!” the boys shout in unison.

Jennie feigns going one way, causing the boys to run in the opposite direction, and Jennie swaps to run after them with the bulldozer still in hand as the two boys now flee through the house! Jennie stops a moment later, and twirls the bulldozer in her hand; she then turns her attention toward the toddlers that are watching in utter amusement, and amazement. Jennie’s facial expression shifts demeanor from trying to look mean into being soft, and kind-hearted; she leans over the edge of the playpen, “You two cuties are safe!”

“What’s this I’m hearing about a bulldozer on the loose?” a voice calls from the next room over. The approaching footsteps bring a face to the voice as Tara, Jennie’s older sister, as she stands in the doorframe, “If you give them nightmares–”

“They’ll be fine! They’re very brave for their ages!” Jennie insists.

Tara’s glare toward her sister lingers, but the eyes are not condemning her in such a way; it is as if they are questioning her, and Tara’s lips quiver momentarily as if she is nervous to vocalize the question, but finally does, “Eddie said he heard you saying something about a rope break… That’s TWICE! Do you need me to–”

Jennie rolls her eyes.

“–go there and talk some sense into this management?”

“You’re not my mother–” Jennie says, while straightening out her own posture. Tara became responsible for Jennie when Jennie was thirteen-years-old, and Tara was only twenty-two; it was difficult for her not to view Jennie as her responsibility.

The two infants in the playpen go back to playing with their own games.

“I’m just saying, it’s a little ridiculous. I know you have it in you to win these titles, you know you have it in you, the whole world knows you have it in you, and the whole world knows you should be walking around with those titles, and if I have to go there to–”

“You don’t!” Jennie interjects, “I’m fully capable of handling it…”

Tara stays silent for a couple of seconds, and then cocks her head to the side, “You know what you do next time is don’t give them the chance. Ignore the ropes. Just kick out. Use all that energy that you have to do, because I promise you’re going to have plenty leftover in the tank to keep going.”

Jennie smacks her lips together and shrugs, “It is what it is, right? But we have our own fight to get ready for– defend these titles… and then I’m comin’ home this week with a new one!”

“I’ve been wanting to talk to you about something for this match we have, and I have an idea… But we can discuss it later. For now, can you talk Hayleigh to the center? Emmy and Seth said they’re on their way, and they want to give her a training session.” Tara asks.

“But o’course! Do you mind if I take Sloane? We also have something we gotta prepare for.”

“That’s fine. I’ll meet you there later.”

Tara turns her attention to her daughter and granddaughter that sit in the playpen, while Jennie hurries for the door, grabbing the keys along the way. “Hayleigh! You ready to go?!” Jennie shouts out.

End.

---

Later that day…

“Are you ready?” A voice asks from off-camera; however, the word “LIVE” flashes beside a red dot in the upper righthand corner of the screen.

“No! NO! Not yet!” Jennie’s voice is heard.

“Oh! OH! I already hit start–”

“OH! OH! Okay! Roll with it!”

The blackened screen suddenly comes to life…they are inside of a training center of sorts, and the banners hanging from the rafters indicate exactly where they are: TARA FENIX TRAINING CENTER.

A wrestling school in Hartford, Connecticut that is opened and operated by Tara Fenix, Jennie’s older sister; the school has had a lot of history with people that have come from their doors. This is the place where Jennie first learned her craft. The place where Jennie constantly retreated to to perfect her craft. There was something about Jennie that she was not too adamant about sharing, and that was how much work she went into actually bettering herself as a competitor.

Jennie sits atop one of the turnbuckles, her feet resting on the second ropes, and her hands folded in front of her. Two titles also rest on each of her shoulders– the IWF Women’s World Championship, and one of the Interstellar Gemini titles that she held alongside her sister, Tara Fenix. She nods her head and snickers, “That third title is just being a bitch, innit?” Jennie asks, giving a cockney accent in the end.

“When things get tough, the majority of us will look for a safety net– a sanctuary– a refuge– something– someone– that we can rely on! The first time that life was starting to throw me a few curveballs, I went home; I went home to Glasgow, and I thought that the world would just let me fade into obscurity… but the world brought me back, and I’m glad it did, but I still feel like I need to retreat to a safety net from time to time. Just to regain my bearings, y’know? Just to…center. Just to think of what the next step is. What it should be. Where do I go from here? Which way is the right way? Y’know?” Jennie licks her lips, “But it’s not just in life that we make these retreats, it’s sometimes…we have to make those retreats like–” she snaps her fingers together, “–that! In the blink of an eye! It’s during those moments that we are looking for a sanctuary… we are looking for a refuge… and do you want to know what we look to? Hmm?”

Jennie pauses for a good while. Her eyes widen, and she continues waiting even longer before finally stretching her arm out, extending one finger to point at the ropes.

“The ropes! The ropes are our sanctuary– our refuge– our safety net! It is a chance for us to save ourselves, and hopefully buy ourselves enough time to re-evaluate. Regain our bearings. Come up with a new strategy! Y’know? But two times–” Jennie holds two fingers up, “TWO! TIMES! I have had those ropes, and TWO TIMES it just went on unnoticed…” Jennie sighs.

“Two times that my safety net has let me crash. Listen, I don’t really want to sit here and complain about it– I don’t want to whine and say that the titles would’ve been mine– both the Classic and the New World– would have been mine if the ref had just seen that my foot was on the ropes…because…truthfully? WE DON’T KNOW! My foot being on the ropes does not guarantee that I would’ve gone on to win the fight… it merely means that the fight wasn’t over. I’m not going to cry about that. The world saw what happened in Toronto; the world saw what happened in London; the world is ready to raise their pitchforks over it, but I’m not– I’m just viewing it for what it is: a curse.” Jennie says with a confident nod.

“A curse!” Jennie repeats; her nostrils flare from her snorting out, but she still looks mildly amused rather than frustrated or even angry over the history that she’s had with this chase.

“Have you ever wanted something so fuuu–” Jennie bites down on her bottom lip rather harshly, “–effin’ badly that it just…eludes you? It’s as if a fae is having their fun with me! They just want me to get sooooo close to taking what I want, just to snatch it away! And it’s not the first time that this has happened– when I was chasing my first title… it eluded me. When I stepped into the ring and thought that everything was just going so damn good– it eluded me. When I wasn’t missing a single beat! When I could do no wrong– it eluded me. But then the day finally came! I finally won my first title! And do you wanna know what that did for me?” Jennie hunches forward, adjusting both of the titles on her shoulder as the light glimmers on them.

“It made me want more! It made me chase more! I got the taste for gold, and I had to have more… Y’see, when I was first getting started in this business, I was often– quite often– compared to my sister. I had everybody telling me that I wasn’t on her level. I had everybody telling me that I wasn’t good enough. I had everybody telling me that I would never accomplish what she’s done. I had everybody telling me that I was just– the little sister. I’ve even had people tell me that the only reason people give a damn about my name is because of my sister. But do you know what I did? I love– I appreciate my sister– but I won my first world title…in a year…and I am still going strong with it, but the title wasn’t enough!” Jennie scrunches up her face and shakes her head, “No, I needed to be able to look at myself in the mirror and so I did what I had to do, and yeah, I can now look in the mirror and say that I deserve this championship! I deserve to call myself the champion!” Jennie stops for a moment, and glints a wry smile at the camera.

“Can either one of you walk out to that ring and tell yourself– honestly– that you deserve to call yourself the champion? Can you say the same, Alice? Can you say the same, JJ? I mean…seriously…can you? You seem to want to put yourself on this whole pedestal and refuse to acknowledge that black cloud over your head… wanting to mention how I fell short. As I said, though, whether the ref had seen it or not, it doesn’t mean that you wouldn’t have won. Like I said, honey, I’m not going to sit here and make excuses for anything… I know, JJ– I know what it’s like to carry that title around and you just– you have to convince yourself that you deserved it! You have to believe it! ‘Cause no one else is going to believe it for you, right? But I know what it’s like to carry that title and finally admitting to myself that I don’t deserve it. Which is why I went on the quest that I did to ensure that I never have to doubt myself again! To ensure that I never have anyone doubting me again! But you had to ‘ve seen it, right? The last time we were in the ring– you had to ‘ve watched the replay and saw that I had a foot on the rope, right? That’s why the question stands: do you feel like you should be able to call yourself the champion?” Jennie smacks her lips together and springs down from the top rope; she holds both of her titles to her shoulders and takes a slow stroll toward the center of the ring.

“And this is our crossroads– the chance for you to prove that you are the rightful Classic Champion, and the chance for me to prove that I am the rightful champion! Who would’ve won that night had the match continued? And…well…I’ve already said that I have this– obsession– desire– this WANT– this NEED for gold… I don’t just want that title, JJ, I need it! I need it! And just like you’ve said, I will do what I need to do– to take it. I will do what I need to do– for redemption. Y’see, the mistake I made the first go around, and even the second title match was I relied on these–” Jennie says while walking toward the ropes and giving a light kick to the bottom one, “–to save me. I relied on these to get me out of a bad situation, but after they didn’t, I’m not going to be relying on them this time around! This time around…I’m relying on me… myself… and I. Enjoy that title for the few more days that you have it! ‘Cause in a few more days, it’s coming home with me!”

Jennie holds up her traditional “peace” sign with her fingers and gives a small curtsy to the camera before the live feed shuts off. End.