Post by veronicaaaahhhh on May 15, 2015 20:40:08 GMT -5
“What are you doing?”
Penny knew he was going to ask her that. The moment she saw Josh’s name and picture ring up her iPhone, she knew that she was in for something a little bit close to a scolding.
“You saw the card, didn’t you?”
“It was only a matter of time before I did.”
Penny took a deep breath and closed her eye(s) and sank down to her bed.
“You knew I was booked into the main event of Ascension.”
“Are you mad?”
“I ain’t mad, Penny.”, Josh said. “I’m just a little bit disappointed.”
“I had a feeling you were going to say that.”, Penny sighed, reaching her hand out for the earphones on her nightstand.
“What do you want me to say?”
Penny tucked in the earpiece and plugged it into her phone, letting it lie there, right between her boobs as she looked up at the ceiling.
“I don’t know.”
“You’re a grown woman.”, Josh began. “As much as you don’t act like one, you are one whether you like it or not. And half of being an adult, if it hasn’t occurred to you, is looking after your well fare- Jesus Penny, you’re not even cleared to compete.”
“We both know that doesn’t fly in the WFWF.”
“That doesn’t change anything.”
“Oh yeah?”
“I’m not letting you step into a ring until you’re cleared to compete and that’s final.”
“What makes you think I can’t compete?”, Penny shot back, reaching her hand out to the night stand again; this time, fumbling her hand about until she felt the smooth curve of her glass pipe and a lighter that was within reach. Thank God(ess).
“No one has seen you in months.”
“That’s not true.”, Penny shot back, bringing the pipe close to her lips. “Dave’s seen me.”
“When was the last time you saw Dave?”
“The other day, I think. Why?”, Penny asked, lighting the bowl.
“Oh Jesus, Penny.”, Josh sighed, sounding like he had his face buried into his palm. “Dave’s in jail.”
“The
?!”, Penny coughed, smoke forcing itself out of her system. “You two live together, how the hell could you not know this?”
… Penny really didn’t know what to say that.
“I don’t know… I guess I haven’t noticed?”
“That’s it- if you can’t even be bothered to know what happened to your roommate, then you shouldn’t be bothered to wrestle. I’m calling Lilla up right now and-.”
“Don’t you dare, Josh!”
“I don’t have any choice here. You can not wrestle in the condition you’re in.”
“That’s illegal.”
“I made it legal.”
“You what?”, Penny hissed.
“It’s in your contract- if you even bothered to read it.”
“I read the part about the action figure!”
“Well, that ain’t my fault there.”, Josh began. “But if you took a closer look, you probably would have noticed the article that granted me the permission to decide when and where you compete.”
“Why would you do that?!”
“It was for your own good, Penny!”, Josh shot back, shouting almost. “I knew something like this was going to happen, so to cover your ass, I made sure that was the first thing my attorney drew up in the contract.”
“Uhm, thanks?”
“No,
you Penny.” … There was a pause on Josh’s end before he picked back up. “I’m sorry I said that, but I just wished so hard that something like this wouldn’t happen, you know? I just always wanted you to prove that wrong and you didn’t.”“I’m sorry?”
“Don’t be.”, Josh spoke. “I’m the one who’s sorry.”
“There’s nothing I can do about that.”
“You really think so?”
“Yeah…”
“Look, come on down to Atlanta. Let’s get this cleared up. But if you don’t pass, then I won’t let you compete.”
“What if I don’t wanna do that?”
“I’ll have my secretary email you the ticket tonight.”
And with that and a swipe, Josh closed the call and that was it… Penny was alone again.
Blankets covered the large windows that surrounded her room. The sun started to come up a little while ago and here was daylight, trying to rear itself in and light the darkness of Penny’s room.
It smelled of sweat, and old food, and lavender that had an aftertaste of burnt herb.
There were clothes everywhere. Weed everywhere…
Hell her nightstand was filled with a bunch of bottles of crap that the doctor prescribed to Penny to lessen the pain she was getting from her right eye- there were around 12 of them, she didn’t know the names. She just knew that it made her feel really funny and topped with a nice joint, it was a smooth
ing hit Penny didn’t want to leave. It was like floating on a cloud and joing nothing at all when all the crap from the normal world just seemed to wash itself from her being, at least for awhile when it would all disappear and she just wanted that feeling again.
“
.”, Penny sighed.*
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It was the circle that led Penny to rise from her bed. It wasn’t something around her or anything- she could see the circle so perfectly clear in her mind that she just knew that if she just thought hard enough, she could step inside. And make magick.
But Penny knew, somehow, that by doing that, she’d be cheating herself from the reason she wanted a circle to begin with.
She had to make one.
Right now.
She didn’t know what was going on inside of her, but whatever it was, she wanted it to lead her.
Penny pushed herself up from her bed in the corner of the room and let her feet sink into the carpet, actually feeling it for the warm, fuzzy kind of flooring it was instead of the thing she was used to stepping on every day.
She savored each step she took towards the bathroom. Lifting her hoodie along the way, Penny allowed herself to step out of the comfort of her armor.
She lit five candles and spread them accordingly around her tub- the scent of freshly burnt lavender cooling her mind to the process at hand as she started filling up the tub with water.
She turned to the sink and closed the cabinet, letting herself catch her reflection for the first time in a really long while.
Her hair was still budded up in pigtails, but her scrunchie (and her hair, for that matter) looked like it had seen better days.
The bandage that covered her right eye was covered in dirt- she thinks she was supposed to have it opened up a couple months ago or something, but she just never got around to it.
She could have done it herself too, if it just didn’t freak her out.
Goddess, this was stupid!
Penny pulled the scrunchies off and let her hair fall. Steam was starting to cover her bathroom and a lot of it was starting to form up around her mirror.
Penny dropped her head.
This was it.
It was time.
Penny dug her nails into the skin next to her eye, making sure that got some of that tape wedged right in there enough for her to rip it off in one, considerably uncomfortable, motion.
“Agh!”, Penny hissed.
ing hell, her body wasn’t used to this anymore. Penny took a deep breath and let her gaze rise up to her mirror- looking right into the damage that wrestling did to her.
“It wasn’t supposed to be this way.”, Penny sighed. “I was supposed to walk out of London walking on
ing sunshine! That was supposed to be my moment, my victory. I wasn’t looking for a championship, I just wanted a good match.”Penny closed her eyes and thought back to the afternoon she spent in the airport before she left for the pay-per-view. She met this girl, must’ve been six or seven, who was a fan. Like, a big one too.
It was the coolest thing Penny had ever experienced in her life. It made her feel good- real good. The kind of satisfaction you weren’t going to get from a joint or even a girl. It was like she had done something enough to matter for once and it was just stupid that Penny was feeling like this all of a sudden.
Penny pressed her hands into the marble of her sink and looked up and there it was… She wanted to say that she looked a little bit like Darth Vader did when Luke pulled off his mask at the end of ‘Jedi.
But… You know? Pretty, and with no burn marks, and all of her hair intact.
She took a closer look.
It looked grey- like it lost most of the color and the sides looked pretty shot out.
The Doctors said that there wasn’t enough damage done to really
with her vision, but she needed it closed up for a good while for it to heal up properly. Penny sighed… There were a lot of tings that she wanted to do, but didn’t get to, and more than anything, it was that that made her feel even worse.
Penny didn’t look away from her reflection. She just stared and accepted it, kinda wondering why it had taken her this long to work up the nerve to actually look at it.
“It’s not that bad.”
But it still made her feel pretty damaged,.
This was stupid.
It was just her eye.
“I can’t do this anymore.”, Penny murmured.
And with a deep breath, Penny shut off the lights, turned away from the mirror. Little fiery orbs lit the bathroom now as the scent of lavender intensified.
Penny took a bathbomb from her sink and stepped into the tub. The water was up to her knees now and the temperature in the water was just perfect- it a little bit on the hotter side but not hot enough to be totally uncomfortable to sink herself into.
Penny dropped the bathbomb with one hand and raised her hand with the other, pointing towards the heavens now as she waved it around three times counter clockwise.
“Spin my circle thrice about, to cleanse myself, and live without.”
The hiss began to sputter beneath her; the bathbomb starting to dissolve. White bubbles filled around the core of the bathbomb, stripping it away slowly as it began to bleed past the fizz, stretching a tapestry of colors all across the top. Dark blue, lavender, and little specs of gray- it was like a whole universe
ing exploded into her tub.“I can’t breath, and I can’t sleep. Bless this circle, set me free.”
And with that, Penny submerged herself into the shallow pool. By that point, her lower legs had gotten so used to the heat that everything else upward just felt strangely cold. The dip into the heat was incredibly comfortable. There was an eased to it that slowly, Penny lowered her head beneath the bubbly water- sinking herself completely beneath the stars like some kind of cosmic mermaid.
A beam of light began to sputter beneath bubbles. The light forced itself from somewhere inside Penny’s being, ripping through the bubbles as it violently rushed itself upward, slowly creating a whirl that had Penny spinning around and around, and around again.
<***>
Penny didn’t know what it was, but she just wanted a change. She just didn’t want to wear her hoodie for some reason- like yeah, she was still going to wear it from time to time but Penny didn’t know if it was something she was going to take everywhere with her the way she used to.
And the hoodie aside, Penny just wanted something else from her room.
She gave herself that moment to throw on an old t-shirt and a pair of jeans before pulling away both her curtains- well, they really weren’t curtains per-se. They were actually two blankets that Penny hooked up there with the fancy pipe thing that was supposed to hold up a curtain.
What could she say? They were really pretty!
Penny jumped on her bed and went for the blanket right next to it. It wasn’t much of a stretch for her to reach out her arm and unhook it from the pipe, letting it sway to the side as sunlight crept into her room.
It was a crapload of sunlight that dared to cover everything it could in its presence. Penny wasn’t used to this anymore.
She stood against the window for a moment, trying to remember the last time she actually enjoyed standing under the sun. It was probably sometime when she was very little, because nothing was coming into her mind.
Penny jumped off the bed and rushed to the other side of her room, where she had her desk and stereo set up. She didn’t waste anytime now as she jumped to the top of her desk and undid the blanket, letting in even more sunlight into her room.
Penny turned her head and gasped, “… WOW, I had it baaad.”
“You really did.”
It wasn’t the whisper that spooked her; Penny knew who that voiced belonged to. But it was that spark that Celeste would fart out every time she decided to pay Penny a visit.
The weed pixie fluttered in front of the window as Penny ducked down over, covering her head with both her forearms.
“I’m sorry!”, Celeste gasped, fluttering down to Penny’s shoulder. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“I’m sure you didn’t mean to, but it’s been awhile.”, Penny said, eyeballing Celeste. “Where the
were you?”“Told you, Penny. This was something you had to go through on your own.”
“Why? Because it would’ve been too easy if you came right in and used some pixie dust to fix my eye, maybe even stopping me from entering into the bottomless pit from which I have now emerged?”
“More or less.”
“Ugh, lessons.”
“Missed me?”
“I missed the weed.”, Penny chuckled.
Celeste dropped her chin and softly smiled as she fluttered away from Penny’s shoulder and reached out for her hand.
“Come on.”
“What’s going on?”
“You’re going back to the WFWF.”, Celeste began. “You are going to start wrestling again. And I can not allow you to go out there with giving the world a brand-new Penny.”
“New and improved?”
“Kung-fun, grip and everything!”
“That’s what I’m talkin’ about.”, Penny said, nodding her head as she watched the weed pixie fly towards her closet.
[Helium’s “Ocean of Wine” starts to play…]
Celeste filled up a Cyclone with her magical weed pixie powers. Penny lit it up and puffed away, really enjoying the smoke fill up her mouth as she let the joint hang off her lips.
The Weed Pixie snapped her fingers and with that, Penny’s closet door burst open, letting a mountain of crap that just spilled all over her floor.
“You’re cleaning that.”, Penny said, pulling the joint away from her lips.
Celeste turned her head and sorta made that ‘Duh!’-face Penny wanted to see.
“Cool.”
“Alright.”, Celeste said, fluttering about as she sorted through the mess. “What are you feeling?”
“I don’t know how to say it.”, Penny said, sitting down on the floor in’jun style as she brought the joint back to her lips.
“Try me, I’m already here.”
“My old gear was petty plain. It was just stuff that I thought looked good on me, it really wasn’t something I thought about.”
Penny took a hit.
“But I want something that means something. Like when you see me come into the ring, everything I’m wearing just screams, ‘Hey
er, I came in here looking for a fight and I’m not leaving until I kick your ass.’.”Celeste popped her head from the mess. “Okay?”
Penny kept where she was and watched the Weed Pixie just rummage through her things, tossing around old hoodies and different things she had worn into the ring over the years.
“… This is no good.”, Celeste said. “And it’s not that I can’t find anything, I just think you don’t really want to wear any of this again.”
“Kinda.”, Penny replied, taking another hit. “I mean, it isn’t like I don’t wanna wear my hoodies.”
“Oh, totally it’s your thing.”
“But I don’t just want to be in these hoodies, ya know? I kinda want to dress up a little more.”
“I can get that. I can totally get that.”
“So what then?”
Celeste pressed her finger to her chin and gave herself a moment for a thought. “Get up, Penny.”
“Okay.”, Penny nodded, pushing herself off the carpet now as she stood up.
Celeste fluttered to Penny and gently pulled the joint away from her lips, setting it down on the ashtray on her desk. The Weed Pixie fluttered back to Penny and said, “Give me your hand.”
Penny held out her hand to her. “I was hoping you’d do this.”
“Penny.”, Celeste muttered, cutting her for a moment before throwing her tiny hand into Penny’s palm; striking her with a mighty high-five that shook the world around them.
The beam of light began to surround Penny again- jerking her back a little bit as she tried to keep herself from falling.
“Girl, don’t fight this. Let yourself go.”, Celeste said. “It’s okay. You’re safe here.”
The beam of light collected itself on the carpet beneath her feet. It spiraled upwards, a beam of light curling itself into a ring around her as rushed upwards. Sneakers covered her bare feet as a rush of charcoal-colored grey with specs of pink and purple streamed down Penny’s legs, totally shredding her jeans apart as black kick-pads now appeared around her lower legs.
The ring ascended, covering Penny’s upper legs now in studded charcoal gray until it came to a stop beneath her waist.
Pink and speckles of white studs began lining her waist now.
The ring ascended, leaving Penny’s belly and ribs to the flesh as the beam ripped through Penny’s shirt now to leave behind a tight midriff snug enough to be a sports bra (for battle). The top had the same color combination as her wrestling tights, with the same pink and white studded strips now lining up the edges of the top.
The ring ascended, rushing past over Penny’s head now as she let out a might roar, just feeling the new skin settled on her; the scales of the old one peeling itself away that every pore in Penny’s body just felt the change.
“Gynaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaggggggggghhhhh!!!”, Penny continued, roaring as the residual energy started to leave her body.
Celeste slowly fluttered forward, somewhat hunched a little now as she crept upon Penny. “Are you alright?”
“… Barcelona.”, Penny muttered, looking up as she yanked on the strands of her hair. “And I’m still kind of a ginger-ish.”
Celeste rolled her eyes. “Glad to see that something’s won’t ever change.”
“You make that sound like it’s a bad thing.”, Penny said, turning to check herself out in the mirror now. “Ohhh, I look pretty!”
The image was perfect… Well, close to perfect if it wasn’t for her eye being all dead and stuff.
Penny sighed and dropped her head into the mirror. It wasn’t like she was not going to see out of that eye again, because it was possible, but it just- and this was so incredibly shallow, but it just made her feel like she was looking at a monster.
Like some kind of freak.
Penny rolled her eyes and bit her lip. “… Girls will still like me.”
Celeste fluttered into Penny’s shoulder. “You could always cover it with a lens.”
“I could.”, Penny nodded. “But I really can’t stand sticking things into my eye. It just feels weird.”
“I could imagine being stabbed there.”
“Worst. Moment. Of My Life. Ever.”
“Got it!”, Celeste shot out, snapping her fingers now as she blew a gust of pixie-dust over Penny’s eye, shielding her now with a magical, black eye patch.
“Take a look.”
Penny looked into the mirror and smiled. “Okay, I can totally get used to this.”
“I figured you’d get a kick out of it.”
“I just have a question though.”, Penny said, shifting her eyes to the tiny pixie. “Why can’t you use your magic and just fix my eye?”
“I could.”, Celeste said. “It would be a lot easier than making you that eye patch.”
“So what’s the deal?”
“What do you think?”, Celeste said, crossing her arms together.
“Something I’m going to have to go through and learn a lesson from?”, Penny replied. “Again?”
Celeste kissed Penny’s cheek. “Pretty much.”
Penny walked away from Celeste and picked up the roached Cyclone on her ashtray and lit it up. She puffed away at her smoke before pulling the joint away from her lips to really take in the pull.
Celeste remained close to the mess scattered on the floor and fluttered around it. “Just like I promised.”
She sprinkled more pixie dust, this time coating it all over the ground that within a blink a moment, Penny’s entire room was cleaned up.
Dirty, unwashed clothes were magically cleaned. The old bottles of iced tea and pizza boxes and other kinds of take out were all cleared up from the floor. Her bed was made and everything was where it was supposed to be.
And look, Penny’s backpack and her suitcase was practically waiting for her by the door.
“Thanks, Celeste.”, Penny smiled, polishing whatever was left of the joint.
Celeste fluttered towards Penny. “It’s the least I can do for you.”
“I guess this is it.”, Penny said, taking one last hit now as she killed the roach. She let herself really hold hit in, soaking up what she could before breathing out a small puff as she walked to her door.
Penny picked up her suitcase and slung her backpack over her shoulder, looking up at Celeste. “Ready?”
Celeste fluttered close. “I’m not going with you.”
“What is it this time?”
“It’s nothing, but I'm not going with you.”
Penny dropped her suitcase and walked up to Celeste. “Why?”
“Penny-.”,
“I know where this is going.”, Penny said, rolling her eyes.
“Please, don't be like this? This isn’t easy for me.”
“I don’t want to be a little crap, but you know? I kinda expected you to come with me. I figured, the two of us running at the top of the world. There’s ought to be a hella’lotta fun just waiting for us to exploit!”
Celeste giggled and sighed. “That is really sweet, but I can’t do this.”
Penny dropped her law and looked away. “Is there another girl?”
“No, but not yet.”
“So, you’re dumping me.”
“I’m not dumping you, Penny. But I don’t think you need me anymore.”
“What are you talking about? When do I ever not need you?!”
“Penny.”, Celeste began, setting herself upon Penny’s shoulder. “I came to you around this time four and a half years ago and while I can’t say that a lot has changed, something significant did change. You were young and you had all this energy and creativity that you didn’t know what to do with. You had ambition but hardly any focus. I showed you how to light up the ordinary and make this world a lot more magical than it really is. You’ve grown up, Penny Shannon and I am so proud that you are starting to see that.”
“… Thanks?”
“You’re more than capable of making your own magic and you don’t need me and my pixie dust.”
“Wait up!”, Penny shot out, holding out her finger to Celeste now.
Celeste fluttered from her shoulder and sat on her finger now, as Penny held her close. “This is actually it. You’re really leaving?”
“I’m not going anywhere, Penny. I will always be here when you need me.”, Celeste replied. “But I can’t always be around.”
Penny closed her eye(s) and sighed, starting to feel a slight and bitter sting swell up underneath her eyes.
“Don’t cry, Penny.”
“I’m not crying.”, Penny snorted. “The pixie dust is getting to me.”
“Cut the crap, Penny.”, Celeste said, taking off from Penny’s finger. “This hurts me too.”
“So, what’s the deal?”, Penny sniffled, rubbing the saline away from her eyes.
“I just don’t see how I’ll be any good for you anymore if all I ever seem to do are the things you’re more than capable of doing yourself.”
“But I need you.”
“No, you don’t.”, Celeste said, kissing Penny on the cheek. “Goodbye, Penny.”
The Weed Pixie turned away and vanished into thin air, leaving behind her now a white strip that broke through the fabric of the world around Penny. It was like a slice of nothingness came out of nowhere and washed away her room.
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Clouds were the first thing Penny saw when she opened her eyes. Big, white puffy clouds that just seemed to drift around her like floating bites of cotton candy.
Penny dropped her head against her seat, and to her surprise, there was a blanket set conveniently on top of her, just ready for a good snuggle.
Penny tugged on the blanket and turned on her side, facing the clouds as she let out a loud yawn.
“Miss?”
……
…
“Excuse me, Miss?”
… Wait a minute.
Penny blinked for a moment and looked back up at the strange, but attractive blonde on top of her and nodded.
“Okay, this is weird.”
“What?”
Penny pushed herself off her seat and titled her head up, taking a look now at what was probably business class.
“Are we on an airplane?”
“Yes, we are.”
Penny nodded. “How long ago did we leave Toronto?”
“About an hour ago.”, The Skywaitress replied, leaning forward. “Can I get you something?”
“I’m cool.”, Penny said, waving her off. “I just don’t know how I got here.”
“Well, if I remember clearly, you boarded the plane with the rest of passengers and fell asleep shortly before take off.”
“That’s so weird. I really don’t remember any of this.”.
<***>
Atlanta, GA
“Show me the money!”, Penny said, storming into Josh’s office, sauntering over to the cute girl she wanted to call Pam who behind the desk.
“Hi, can I help you?”
“Yeah, I believe your boss is waiting for me.”
“Oh wait, Penny Shannon!”
“You know who I am?”
“You’re picture is right over there.”, ‘Pam’ replied, pointing to the wall of Josh’s clientele.
Penny turned to look at the wall and shot out, “What do you know?”
She took a closer look, as she drifted he gaze at all the other athletes of all kinds that shared wall space with her divine image.
“Hey!”, Penny shot out, looking at the secretary.
“Hmm?”
“What’s your name? I want to call you Pam, but that’s just going to be dumb if I call you that.”
“Oh, I get that a lot.”
Penny walked up to her. “Cute girl like you, sitting behind a desk all day long, I can see why.”
‘Pam’ turned her head and blushed a little. “… Thanks.”
“Just being honest here.”, Penny nodded, dropping her arms on the desk now. “So, what is it? What’s your name?”
“I’m Mary.”
“Well, that’s kinda close to ‘Pam’.”
“I guess.”
“Okay.”, Penny said again, leaning close. “I want your opinion on something.”
“What is it?”
“As you can see, I’ve got this patch covering my eye.”
“Oh, was I not supposed to notice?”
“No, it’s not that.”, Penny said, walking away as she pointed to her picture. “But, how’s the patch? Does it work? Should I change it up?”
Mary opened her mouth a little, like she was going to say something but instead she stopped herself and stuttered a bit.
“I’m not coming on to you or anything, I just wanted some girl advice.”
“I think it looks great!”, Mary said. “It makes you look more like a badass. It’s like something bad happened to you and you’re not letting it affect you or anything… Well, that’s what I think.”
Penny looked up a little and nodded. “I like that. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”, Mary smiled.
“Cool. Think you can tell Josh I’m here?”
“Oh, I’ve been texting him. He said to just come right in?”
“And you’re only telling this to me now?”
“Well, I enjoyed talking to you. It was nice.”
“Figured he could wait a little while, huh?”
“Kinda.”
“Cool.”, Penny giggled, blushing a little now. “Can I talk to you some more after my meeting with him?”
Mary shrugged. “I don’t see why not?”
“Right on.”, Penny nodded, spinning on her heels as she walked over to Josh’s office.
She was set on using the whole ‘Show Me The Money’ bit again, just by the sheer swank this place was exhuming. It was the kind of place that a hungry upstart entrepreneur with an idea of what constituted as ‘cool’ and ‘trendy’ would want to base their operations from.
it was sooo Josh!
Penny didn’t bother knocking on Josh’s door as she let herself inside with an air of swag. “Show me the money! Show me the money!”
“’Afternoon, Penny.”, Josh said, leaning back on his seat now as he held out his phone, obviously in some kind of important conference. “Give me a minute to wrap this up?”
“I’m here all day.”, Penny said, looking now at the proud collection of championship belts Josh won over the years- indie, majors, hell there even some from those kung-fu/karate tournaments.
“Alright. I’ll have Andersen draw up the proposal in the morning and from there, we can already work the details on bringing you in just in time for the kick-off… Alright, that sounds like a plan… Take it easy. I’ll give you a call tomorrow… Goodbye.”
Josh closed the call, rose from his seat and walked up to Penny. “Look, I’m sorry about the other night.”
“It’s cool, dude.”, Penny said, waving him off.
“No, it ain’t.”
“You really should stop expecting too much from yourself.”
“Penny, until you get a chance to experience having a number of people expecting the best future they possibly can from you, expecting too much out of yourself isn’t even an option for living.”
“I’m just saying.”
“I know, but if it wasn’t for me expecting too much, we wouldn’t be here talking about the future of your career, now would we?”
“Fair enough.”, Penny sighed. “So, what’s the deal? Can I work Ascension or not?”
“Well, they’ve already included you in the advertising of the event and considering what just happened to Dave, having a performer pull out at the last minute is the last night Lila needs right now. So, I’m allowing you to wrestle.”
“Sweet.”
“But even then, I still want you to take a medical. That way, we can work your schedule around the results. We can work you in the shows, possibly give you a segment or something while we get you patched up.”
“I can do that.”, Penny said. “Thanks.”
“No problem.”, Josh’s said, patting her on the back now as he walked back to his desk.
“So…”, Penny began, walking up to Josh’s desk. “How’s Dave holding up?”
“He’s taking it like a soldier, but this just couldn’t have come at a worse time.”, Josh said, sitting down before looking up at Penny, asking, “Are you holding?”.
<***>
Penny had only seen an episode of Oz, and despite all the ultraviolence she soaked up at a really early age, but walking into prison. Like an actual place where they lock up goons, thugs, killers, and rapists and drug dealers or poor bastards that accidentally did something bad… This was it.
Then again, she only saw the lobby and the waiting room where people can talk to family and whatnot, but given how bad Dave had it, they brought her instead to another room. The one with the phones and the windows.
Penny sat down and wandered if anyone was having consensual buttsmex in one of the other rooms. Man, this place was like a fanfic goldmine with the mix of personalities locked up in here.
…
…
… Damn it, she needed to keep herself entertained! She wasn’t ready to deal with this, but it’s Dave, and she was going to have to.
“Dammit, Dave.”, Penny hissed, looking down a little now as figure appeared in front of her.
Penny heard a knock and looked up, and there he was: Big Dave. Dave Demento. Her brother from another mother. Her roomie!
Penny actually pouted a little as she looked up at Dave standing behind the glass.
Penny grabbed the receiver. “Dave.”
Demento sat down in front of her and gave himself a moment. He was thinking… Penny saw that look on his face, that boy was thinking and whatever it was he was thinking about it, he was thinking about it hard enough that it was probably gonna effect whatever he did next.
Demento took a deep breath and reached for the receiver, resting his forearms against the edge of the desk now as he said, “Hi, Penny.”
“Duuuude.”
Big Davie D. closed his eyes and turned his head. “I didn’t do it.”
… Penny didn’t know what to say to that. He did do it… But it was still Big Dave.
“You don’t believe me, do you?”, Dave hissed. “What the
are you even doing here, Penny?”Penny still didn’t say anything.
Even if she could, she wouldn’t even know what to tell him.
“They put you up to this.”, Dave nodded. “I get it, I totally get it. They’re going to use me as an example. I can see it now- the headlines are going to read: ‘Wrestling Hero Convicted of Murder!’- they’re going to use me and they are going to whitewash everything I’ve spent my whole life fighting for.”
Dave bit his lips and chuckled. “I should have seen this coming- we both should have seen it coming. They started with my daughter and continued biting and biting until they chewed off my career, leaving nothing for me. Not even a name I could come back to.”
Dave dropped his head. “They win. Game over.”
“Don’t say that.”, Penny barked. “We both know that what happened was an accident and that’s all I can tell you because that’s what I think happened. That’s what I believe.”
Dave turned his head.
“I wish I had something better to tell you, but I don’t.”, Penny said. “My best friend is in prison- I don’t know how to handle that.”
“That’s not my problem.”
“Shut up and let me finish!”, Penny shot out, gritting her teeth a little bit now as she leaned in close. “I don’t know what I’m doing here, but I’m here. Whatever happens, I’m here. I’m always going to be here because I don’t want to go anywhere.”
“There ain’t any girls in here Penny.”, Dave said. “You’re thinking of the wrong show.”
“I’m here, Dave. Don’t let what I believe bother you, okay? I just wanna keep hanging out with you… You’re my best friend.”
“I’ll see you soon, Penny.”, Dave said as he pulled the receiver away from his ear and closed the call. He stood from the seat and looked down at Penny, waving for just a short moment before he turned around and walked away.
Penny sat there, watching him. Just wishing she could give him the biggest hug in the all the multiverses because dear Goddess, the boy needed it.
<***>
It was a little past midnight when Penny decided to have her smoke for the evening. She wasn’t in the mood for a joint for some weird reason, so she packed a small, little purple pipe with a good nug of purple haze and took a stroll by the pool of the motel.
It wasn’t that long ago when she and Celeste were shooting her first WFWF promo in a place like this. She and Scarlett had come from a small show up the street, and while Scarlett was inside doing her homework, Penny found a pretty lady who wanted to smoke up. She passed ou,t Penny left her alone and wandered around the place finishing the joint, and it was there she decided that she was going to cut a promo. And she did it.
That must’ve been like three years ago or something…
It doesn’t seem that long, but tonight, it felt like it.
Penny crouched down against a bush and took a hit- locking her lighter right on top of the bowl to hush out the smoke as she took a large pull.
Penny held it and got herself up; waving her hand a little as she turned her face away and blew a stream of smoke against the wind.
“Bet you thought you saw the last of me.”, Penny hissed as she crouched down again and took another hit.
Penny walked away as she slowly let out the smoke, coughing a little.
“I really wish I could use that line… Maybe I could? Maybe Josh was right… Maybe I should have had them turn out the lights, pop into the middle of the ring, grab a microphone, say that line, have them shut the lights out and leave them with the sound of my theme song. That really would be soo much cooler. But it’d also be a giant waste of time.”
“That’s always the hard thing to talk about, isn’t it?”, Penny started. “Figuring out how you’re going to come back, knowing the kind of impression that you want to make and doing it. It’s a lot easier in your mind because a lot of real life crap doesn’t get in the way.
You start to hate the world a little bit because of it.”
Penny found another bush and took a sneaky hit.
“I knew what I was getting into- I knew ahead just who I was facing, and based on what little I know about them, even I had to admit that this was the kind of thing I would totally watch if I was still a fan. So, duh? Of course this was something I wanted to be part of, because I know that much more than enjoying it for the spectacle it’s destined to be, I could actually beat those two guys!
And isn’t that sooo much better than making a whole big fuzz where you reveal to the world, and your opponents, just what you’re going to do to them?!
There’s something very stupid in this whole picture and even I’m trying to figure that out!”
Okay, Penny started to feel it. And being used to this strand, she eventually figured out how to control her hit and ease it into whatever mood she was looking for.
She was toasty. She was comfy. And she (probably) had something to say.
“I’ve got an actor dude who should seriously stop wrestling if he’s actually that serious about being a star in Vinewood- I mean, Hollywood. I really get those two confused…”
Penny bit her lip and looked around… “But yeah, Jayson Garrett, if you’re listening, which would be weird because you totally shouldn’t be here… Pick something! I mean, you could just ditch the whole wrestling thing and start thinking about Hollywood.
Like, if you walked into Ascension and personally eliminated yourself from the match, for the benefit of your opponents, then that would be great!
Like, I think that would be such a great angle. I mean, I won’t deny, you’ve hung around this long, and the crowd likes you, why not defy your audience with a great change and take them with you as you leave the wrestling world for the actual one instead!
If you tried really hard, you could eventually start a cult. And it would become a religion, and you’ve accomplished something we wrestlers spend our entire lives trying to get out of our fans without having to hurt yourself. You’d wind up the real winner here, if you actually thought about it.
And I hope you do because not having you there is going to make my job sooo much easier.”
Hmm… Talking crap about her opponents behind their backs was actually really fun! Penny was going to do this more… Provided no one was looking.
“But even if you do decide to go through with this match, just know that I will kick your ass and beat you up until you come to the conclusion that eliminating yourself from the match really is clearly the better decision.
And when Stan McMann, ohh… That dude!
I am going to take that
er by the balls and I am going to turn him into a weapon. Or to be more appropriate, a tool. A tool that I am going to use to hurt you, Jayson Garret, even though you are probably not here to listen to me. Which is good.Because nobody should be listening to me and Stan McMannn seems like the type of guy who would park his car inconspicuously close to his opponent’s motel room because he was just trying to serve his ‘Patriotic Duty’.
I swear to Goddess, he’s like Fox News. I know I don’t like him, but I’m very entertained.”
Penny nodded her head.
Alright, one more hit, and she was going to go back to her room fire up her PS4 and slaughter a bunch of thirteen year olds on GTA Online.
Penny took a look around and the coast around the pool looked clear enough to crouch down again and take another hit. She rushed back up and belted out a cough big enough to be mildly worried around.
She covered her mouth as she coughed, waving the smoke away as she walked up to her room, play GTA Online a little bit and then try to go to sleep at a reasonable hour like any other functioning twentysomething: 2:30AM, at the latest.
<***>
Introducing… Penny Shannon
A WFWF Ascension RP
<***>
Fifteen Years Ago
in Little Olympia…
“This is crap.”, Kathryn Shannon said to Principal Roddy Toombs as she grabbed her daughter’s hand and stood up from her seat.
Principal Toombs stood from his seat and threw both his hands on his desk. “You’ve gotta be a little bit reasonable here, Mrs. Shannon.”
“-It’s Ms. Shannon.”
“Ms. Shannon.”, Principal Toombs began as he reeled himself back, holding up his arms. “I apologize, but you have to see where I’m coming from. I just can’t have a nine year old girl just get away with beating up a couple boys.”
“Who were playing wrestling.”, Kathryn said, crossing her arms. “They were imitating a few wrestling moves they saw on TV, and my daughter decided to join them. What happened was an accident.”
“And even if it was, what was Penny even doing there in the first place?”
“Uhm, playing?”
“She was wrestling with the boys!”
“So?”
“Little girls shouldn’t do that!”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s wrong!”, Principal Toombs said.
“Principal Toombs.”, Kathryn began. “Can I ask you a question?”
“The name’s Roody.”, Principal Toombs began. “But yeah, go on right ahead.”
“Let’s say, Penny didn’t join the two other boys. And one of them accidentally hurt the other one with a wrestling move, would that be wrong then?”
“That’s different.”
“Why?”
Principal Toombs rolled his eyes, massaged his temples and sighed. “Because they’re a couple boys being boys.”
“Exactly.”, Kathryn said, throwing out her arm. “Now ,tell me why the same thing can’t apply to my daughter? Why does she have to be any treated because of her gender.”
“What do you want me to say?”, Principla Toombs chuckled. “That yes, it’s the way society works. It’s part of a tradition that has to be maintained.”
“Even if you agree with it?”
“That’s none of your business.”
“Then what are you doing supervising children?”, Kathryn said, holding Penny’s hand now as she turned away. “Let’s go, Penpen. I think I’ve heard just about enough for one day.”.
<***>
The best part about that day had to be going back home at lunch. Like, Penny didn’t catch most of what her mom said, but she knew that she had her back, and she wasn’t going to get punished or anything.
And that was awesome!
Her mom was pretty quiet on the ride back home. She had her mixtape of Carly Simon and Fleetwood Mac playing on the radio and she was smoking out the window at the same time.
Her mom always used to look really relaxed whenever she was smoking and it was something she was soo going to try when she was old enough.
Not like now, because that would make her like those dweeby boys in her class who are trying to be cool. But one day, in the future!
“You’re awfully quiet over there, Penpen.”, Kathryn said. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”, Penny said, looking out the dashboard she started to sink down from the passenger’s seat.
“Penny?”
Penny looked at her mom and murmured, “Sorry.”
“Hmm?”
Penny slung herself back up to her seat and said, “I’m sorry.”
“For what?”, Kathryn asked, smoking out the window.
“For getting into trouble I guess?”
“Are you really sorry or do you just feel bad over what happened that you feel like you have to be sorry.”
“The second one.”
“That’s what I thought.”, Kathryn said, killing the cigarette now on the ashtray as the car settled into some traffic.
“Penny.”, Kathryn began, leaning towards the passenger’s side. “You did nothing wrong, you’re just being a kid.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, if boys can get away with fighting, then why can’t girls too? It’s not fair and we live in a culture that belongs to men for the most part, so we have to fight. And that's why I am so proud of you. You're not afriad to put the fight out there.
Not a lot of kids, girls and boys alike, have that kind of nerve.”
“This mean I can keep watching wrestling, right?”
“Totally! But, I do have to watch with you. Just until you’re old enough to watch it for yourself.”
Penny threw her arms around her mom’s waist and gave her the biggest hug in the world. “You’re the best, mom!”
“I’m really not.”, Kathryn chuckled, kissing her daughter’s forehead. “But I’m trying very hard to be.”
The green light came on in the distance and the cars in front of them started pulling forward.
“Tell you what?”, Kathryn’s began, gently patting her daughter’s head away as she safely hit the gas. “How about we go to the mall and I treat you to any wrestling video you want. But none of the bloody stuff, okay?”
“… Maybe.”.
