==========
Sins of the
Carter
Off Camera
==========
Trouble is
afoot in the Jones Household and it all boils down to one principle virtue:
honesty. Granted, Angelica may not be
the greatest of human beings, but one thing she values above most anything else
is honesty. Just tell her the truth and
you’ll be fine. If you ever lie to her,
however, or if you bend the truth in any way, and if you ever dare to try and
manipulate her, then you will have gained a new and dangerous enemy.
Honesty is
the best policy; most of the time, at least.
There are some occasions when a little dishonesty or a little white lie
is for the best. Angelica knows this and
understands this perfectly well. She,
herself, is fully aware that she is no angel when it comes to honesty, but she
does try. Angelica tries real hard to
uphold that virtue of honesty. She has
tried to instill in her children and she does not like being lied to or
manipulated herself. The question,
however, is how far would she go when she is lied to or manipulated? What does she consider a true lie and true
manipulation as opposed to just a little white lie that hurts no one?
That is a
question that is currently unanswered, but we may get closer to a resolution as
we go along. What we can do, for now at
least, is get a little insight into Angelica’s professional persona. The red-headed Dragon is good at separating
her professional and personal lives. Inside
of the wrestling ring, she will do anything to get what she wants. She will do anything to get ahead of everyone
else. This is why she sold to Silas
Mason and why she was Samantha Hodgson’s client before him. Jones was, and still is, convinced that
agents like Mason can help her get what she wants in professional wrestling.
What Jones
wants right now more than anything else is to get championship gold back around
her waist. Angelica gets that very
opportunity on next SCW Breakdown as she faces Ravyn Taylor for the United
States Championship.
Jones senses
the work of Silas Mason in this championship opportunity. She won’t openly say it in public, but
privately she will admit that she is surprised to get this title shot. She may have done well in Shot of Adrenaline
but since then the only real victory she had was against Alexander Sire in Best
of the Best. Yet here she is getting a
championship opportunity.
This is just
further proof that she needs someone like Silas Mason to help her get these
matches. Also, a veteran of the sport
like Angelica knows full well that championship opportunities like do not come
by very often, manager or no manager, Silas World or no Silas World. That is why she is going to take full
advantage of this US Title Match that she has before her, that is why she is
going to do whatever it takes to win, because she knows full well that she may
not get any further opportunities like this if she fails here against Ravyn.
And yet,
with such high stakes coming up in just a few days, it would come as a surprise
to many to find that Angelica isn’t in the gym training, that she isn’t busting
her ass to get ready for what will be quite a challenge for her. Ravyn, after all, has proven to be quite a
dominating force, especially since becoming champion. Ravyn is more of a technical wrestler while
Angelica tends to prefer high risk. This
clash of styles could hurt Angelica’s chances, especially if Ravyn is able to
keep her grounded. Keeping this in mind
you would expect her to be preparing for what will no doubt be quite a
challenge.
Instead,
Angelica is primping in front of a full length mirror in her bedroom. She is pleased with what she sees; a tight
strapless black dress that hugs every curve of her lovely figure. Her feet are encased in black high heeled
shoes. Her long red hair is pulled up
nicely and styled in the back. Her
nails, both finger and toes, are painted a bright red, which matches the red on
her lips.
You might
even say that she’s drop dead gorgeous.
“Angelica?”
Jones turns
away from the mirror and gazes towards the door, which leads out into the
hallway. A smile creeps upon her
face. She recognizes the voice as that
of her wife, Lindsey Carter. The younger
Lindsey has just returned from another business trip.
Right before
Lindsey left, Angelica learned that it was Lindsey who had lied to her and manipulated
her into firing Samantha Hodgson and signing with Silas Mason instead. Angelica did not react well to this news and
it looked as if things could be going south real fast.
Yet here she
is, dressed to the “T” ready for her wife’s return, ready to impress her, ready
to love on her as she returns from the trip.
It seems that, perhaps, Angelica has gotten over being angry with
Lindsey. Maybe the lovebirds have a
future after all?
The lovely
red-head turns and heads towards the door.
Upon making her exit, she makes a left and heads over to the
staircase. She begins to make her way
down the winding staircase until she gets to the bottom. Her heels click as she walks on the marble
floor towards her wife.
“Angelica?” Lindsey repeats. “Where are…”
Carter steps
out around the corner. She is dressed
much plainer than Jones. Lindsey is
wearing black dress pants, heels, and a black top. Her long black hair is left to hang
unrestrained to shoulder length.
“…you...” Lindsey’s voice trails off as
she feats her eyes for the first time since leaving for her trip on her wife
Angelica “…wow, what’s the occasion?”
“Occasion?” Angelica walks over to
Lindsey and takes her into her arms, clasping her hands around her back. “Do I have to have an occasion? I think seeing you is reason enough.”
Carter
blinks a few times out of confusion. It
hadn’t been that long ago that it almost seemed as if she and Angelica were on
the road to divorce and yet here Angelica is almost lusting over her again. Perhaps Angelica just wasn’t as angry as she
seemed to be?
“I guess…” Lindsey sighs “…I guess you’re right, but what
about…well…you know…”
“Lying to me about Hodgson?” Angelica
asks, her face growing more and more serious. “Manipulating me into signing with Silas Mason?”
“Yeah…that…” Lindsey answers sheepishly.
Angelica
smiles sweetly, innocently, before planting a kiss on Lindsey’s cheek. “Don’t worry, I’ve forgotten all that.”
“You have?”
Angelica
nods her head. “Don’t get me wrong, I
still don’t like it that you lied to me, but while you were gone I had time to
think about it all and I realized that I had to be realistic and the reality of
it all is that Silas Mason has been much better for my career than Samantha
Hodgson ever was. The fact is that Silas
Mason is not the monster everyone makes him out to be.”
Jones wraps
her arm around Lindsey’s shoulder and leads her further down the hall.
“You see, Lindsey, I have been competing in
GCW, I do part time appearances in IWC, and of course my biggest job, my most important
role, is the one I have within Supreme Championship Wrestling. In that time, in those companies, I have come
to realize that there are individuals out there worse than Silas Mason, far
worse. Besides…”
The red
head, with Lindsey in tow, pushes her way into the kitchen “…how can I hate someone who no doubt helped me get a United States
Championship Match?”
“Really?
A Title Match?” Lindsey’s voice seems to ooze the excitement she has
for her wife. “I am so happy for you,
babe!”
“Yeah, me and Ravyn Taylor head to head.”
Jones goes to the cupboard first and retrieves two wine glasses, setting them
both down the counter. Then she goes
over to the refrigerator and retrieves a bottle of wine. “I’ll see if I can knock her off of her perch.”
Jones begins
to pour the wine, first into Lindsey’s glass and then some into her own. “I know you can do it, Angel. I have faith in you.”
A half-smile
forms across Angelica’s face as she watches Lindsey sip on the wine. “Faith, that’s a funny word…”
“In what way?”
“People throw that word around all the
time.” Angelica chuckles. “I hear it
from everyone. They all say ‘you just
gotta have faith or ‘I have faith in you’ or some other motivational
bullshit. The question, though, has
nothing to do with belief of any kind.”
Lindsey
continues sipping on the wine. “It
doesn’t?”
“No, it doesn’t.” Angelica shakes her
head. “The question, the important
question, is simply this…”
A sneer
forms across Angelica’s face “…how many
of those idiots actually believe the bullshit they’re spouting?”
Lindsey is
about to react when she finds herself suddenly feeling dizzier and dizzier, she
finds it harder and harder to stay upright.
Carter immediately drops the wine glass, causing it to shatter on the
floor. She braces herself on the nearby
counter to keep upright.
“Oh, Linds!” Angelica whines. “That was one of my favorite glasses!”
“Angel…Angelic…” she can barely utter
anything at all as she tries to stay on her feet “…what’s…happen…”
“Well that’s a very simple…” the sound
of a phone ringing is heard nearby, very closely nearby “…hold that thought, sweetie, I have to take this.”
Lindsey
Carter didn’t even notice what was said to her.
She didn’t even notice the ringing.
She was too busy losing her grip on the countertop and falling to her
hands and knees on the floor. Angelica,
meanwhile, was also ignoring Lindsey as she whips out her cell phone and puts
it to her ear.
“Hello…oh hi, Megs!”
Lindsey
couldn’t help but hear that. There is
only one person Angelica ever called “Megs” and that was Meagan Collins,
Angelica’s best friend and Lindsey Carter’s former arch-rival in the business
world. Angelica and Meagan once played
Lindsey for a fool, tricking her into signing a pre-nuptial that basically gave
full control of Carter’s business over to Meagan in the event Angelica and
Lindsey divorced. Thus Angelica could
have her fun with Lindsey until she got bored, divorce her, and then Meagan got
the company. What Meagan didn’t count on
was that Angelica and Lindsey eventually grew to have legitimate feelings for
one another. The contract was still over
Lindsey’s head but she never thought it would come up again.
Until now,
as Lindsey is on her hands and knees on the kitchen floor listening in on
Angelica’s conversation with Meagan Collins.
“Yeah, she’s right here…drugged her up nice
and good…” Angelica chuckles “…you
were right, she didn’t suspect the wine at all…but then again, if I know my
Lindsey, she probably would’ve drunk it, drugs or no drugs. She loves her wine, don’t you sweetie…”
She ruffles
Carter’s hair “…yeah, come on over…oh you
are? Ok, great, you’ll be here in a few
minutes then…She’ll be ready for you by the time you get here.”
Angelica
hangs up the cell phone. She puts it
away and then kneels down so that she is eye level with Carter.
“I told you earlier that I had come to a
realization that there were monsters out there, people who were worse than
Silas Mason.” She uses her thumb to point at herself. “I’m one of them. I can be much
worse than Silas Mason could ever hope to be.”
Jones stands
back up. Meanwhile Carter collapses all
the way onto the floor. Her hands and
knees no longer strong enough to support her.
She is barely conscious at this point and can barely make out one or two
words of Angelica’s rant. Jones knows
this but doesn’t care. It just makes her
feel good to get this off of her chest.
“It isn’t entirely your fault. A lot of it is my fault.” Angelica shuts her eyes as tears, real tears,
begin to form within them. “It was my
fault for thinking I could have someone who loved me and trusted me.”
Her eyes and
face flush red with anger. “Sean
Williams…Andreas Lasiewicz…Sean McBride…all of them gave me a child but none of
them wanted me!”
She points a
long red fingernail down at Lindsey’s fallen form, which is unconscious by now.
“I thought you were different so I let you
off easy. Instead of giving Meagan what she wanted I decided to try and make us
work. And I thought we were
working. But to find out that you were willing
to lie to me in order to manipulate my professional wrestling career…”
Jones shakes
her head “…that just shows me…it shows
me…”
She pounds
her fists on the kitchen counters “…it
shows me that I just don’t know. I just
don’t know about us anymore.”
Jones kneels
down once more. “But I’m willing to give you another chance, because I do think that
there is a small possibility you do love me and that you just made a small
mistake. Thing is, mistakes have
consequences. You have to pay for your
sins, Lindsey, and in the process you need to be reminded as to who is the
alpha and who is the beta in this relationship.”
Angelica
stands back up. “Meagan is going to take
you back because, quite frankly, I’m too angry to deal with you right now. She’ll…remind you in her own unique way as to
who is in charge. Then, maybe then, I’ll
let you come back home.”
An evil grin
forms across Angelica’s lovely face
“…maybe…”
The sound of
a doorbell is heard ringing. “Oops, we
have company. Now don’t go anywhere.”
Angelica
laughs nastily at her own, rather bad, joke as she turns and exits the kitchen,
leaving the unconscious Lindsey Carter alone.
The red-headed dragon is full of emotions as she makes her way down the
hall, running a gamut from anger to grief and sadness. Relationships for Angelica never have worked
out properly and it appears as if this one is no different, even though she had
hoped it would be.
Jones
approaches the front door and opens it, revealing Meagan Collins and her
husband Michael both standing there, waiting patiently. Michael looks on stoic and emotionless while
Meagan, by contrast, has a huge grin on her face.
“Angel!” She walks right on in and
embraces Angelica with a hug. “Great to
see you!”
“Great seeing you too, Megs!”
After
breaking the embrace, Angelica motions with her arm down the hall. “Walk
down the hall, you’ll see the kitchen.
Lindsey is in there.”
“Excellent.” Meagan gives Michael a
gentle shove. “Go on, Mikey. Retrieve my toy.”
“Yes, dear.” With that, Michael walks away, down the hall,
leaving the two women to their own devices.
“So, how did things go with lover-girl?”
Meagan asks playfully.
Angelica
cocks her head to one side and frowns. “Do
you even have to ask?”
“I guess not. And I guess now is not the time to say I told
you so?”
“What do you mean?”
“I told you that the best course of action
all along was to have your fun, divorce her quickly, and then I’d take the
company, leaving her with nothing. But
you got a little soft, grew sentimental.
What gives?”
Angelica
shrugs her shoulders. “I don’t know,
Megs. I just thought that she and I were
good together…”
“Yeah, I know the feeling.” Meagan smiles
sweetly. “I was lucky that Michael and I
found one another.”
She places a
hand on Angelica’s shoulder. “You will find someone too. Trust me.”
Angelica
frowns. “I haven’t given up on Lindsey
yet.”
“You haven’t?”
Jones shakes
her head. “Not yet.”
“But she lied to you, she manipulated you,
she…”
“That’s exactly what we did to her. Twice now.
She just needs to be reminded of who is in charge. That’s all.
She just needs to be reminded of the consequences of lying to me. And that is what you are to do, Megs. Are we clear?”
“But…”
“Are we clear?”
Meagan
sighs, nodding her head reluctantly. “Yes,
we’re clear.”
“Excellent.” Finally a smile creeps across
Angelica’s face. “Maybe this will work
out after all.”
==========
Dos Equis
On Camera
==========
You know the
kind of darkness where you truly cannot see anything? Pitch black?
Yeah, that’s the kind of darkness you’re faced with right now. The kind of darkness where you literally
cannot see your hand in front of your face.
And yet, even though your eyesight is hampered and hindered by the lack
of light, your other senses still function properly. Since the sense of sight isn’t working right
now, let’s focus on the sense of sound and listen in to the booming voice
coming in from the darkness…
“Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls,
children of all ages…”
“…and you too, Ravyn…”
“…at this time please welcome the woman who
received a standing ovation at a quadriplegic convention…the NFL has to have
express written permission to re-air games that she attended…”
Suddenly the
lights come on all at once. We see
Angelica Jones standing there clad in black dress pants, a white silk feminine
business top, a black blazer, and black high heeled pumps. Her long red hair hangs unrestrained to
shoulder length. Sunglasses cover her
eyes and she sports a sly grin as she stands there, waiting for the booming
voice to finish its introduction.
“..you can see her charisma from space…when
she walks through the woods, bears play dead so she will not harm them…”
Angelica
clears her throat. “Ok, sweetie, that’s
enough…”
Angelica may
think that’s enough, but try telling that to the booming voice. “…she is so intimidating that she once
flinched at a snail and it ran off faster than a cheetah…”
Jones
furrows her brow, clearly the frustration is beginning to set in. “Um…ok, that’s enough…”
“…as a freshman, she hazed seniors…if you
flip over China, it says ‘made by Angelica’…she is so beautiful that any time
she walks through a cemetery, the deceased men get a hard-on…she once cut down
a sequoia tree with a butter knife…”
“I SAID SHUT UP!”
And suddenly
there was a brief silence. “…sorry…”
The angry
glare she had her face suddenly turns into an angelic, sweet smile as the
booming voice silences himself and Angelica proceeds.
“It truly is going to be a historic night on
Breakdown. Why, you may ask?” She
motions to herself. “The reason is
standing right here in front of you, boys and girls. Put your pasty faced,
chubby cheesy poof eating heads in front of your television sets and look at
this individual that stands before you here today.”
Jones spins
around, three-hundred sixty degrees, until she is once again facing forward.
“My name is Angelica Jones and I ooze
greatness,” she shakes her head “ok,
so maybe I don’t exactly ‘ooze’ it, because that would be nasty, but you catch
my drift. I am great. I am legendary. I am an icon in this sport. Failure is not in my vocabulary. I try and try and I keep trying until I
succeed and I have succeeded at everything I have ever tried in this industry.”
She holds up
one finger. “As a wrestler I have held
world championships…”
She holds up
a second finger “…I set my foot into
training and managing, and I have guided other wrestlers to world titles…”
She holds up
a third finger “…I have been a promoter,
running the greatest wrestling company on the British isles, Pro-Wrestling
FRONTIER…”
She holds up
two more fingers, now all five are up “…now
Silas Mason has used his stroke to make the official Public Relations Director
in the Independent Wrestling Cartel.
Isn’t he sweet? Now if he can
only help me take over as SHIELD Director from that Coulson pretender on
twitter I’ll be really happy…but that’s another story for another time, boys
and girls…”
Jones lowers
her hand and stares back at the camera. “In
other words, you cannot keep me down, you cannot stop me. I may get knocked down but by God I’ll keep
getting right back up. By hook or by
crook, one way or the other, I will succeed.”
She points a
long slender, carefully manicured finger at the camera. “That’s not good news for you, Ravyn.”
“I came to Supreme Championship Wrestling
for one, primary purpose and that is to become a champion. Gold defines greatness in this sport of
kings…” she chuckles lightly “…or
queens, as it were. As much as some
people would love to deny it, the chase for gold, the chase for a championship,
is one of the biggest driving factors in this industry. Maybe it’s not the only driving factor, but
it is certainly among the biggest driving factors and motivators.”
She smacks
her own chest three times. “That chase
for title gold has been my motivator since day one, and I don’t mean day one of
my SCW tenure, I mean day one of my professional career. Since day one I wanted that championship
gold. Why? Because each and every person I encountered
along the way in my road, my journey, they all told me I couldn’t do it. They all told me it would be difficult for a
woman to make it in this sport, let alone a woman of my size.”
Jones shakes
her head. “No, I am not the biggest
wrestler on the SCW roster. Hell, I
would dare say I am probably the smallest in SCW if not the entire sport as a
whole. But that didn’t matter to me. Size did not matter to me as I persevered and
I knocked off opponent, after opponent, after opponent, proving everyone wrong
along the way until, one day, I made all of my former critics eat their words
by winning gold.”
“Now I wouldn’t be surprised if you haven’t
heard some of those same lines from critics throughout your wrestling tenure, I
wouldn’t surprised if people also told you that you couldn’t do it, that you
were better off doing something else because wrestling just wasn’t for you...”
A grin forms
on Angelica’s face “…but you have proven
them wrong, haven’t you? You have the
one piece of jewelry, that gold belt, that shouts to the world, that tells
everyone that you are a success.”
Jones points
to herself with her index finger “…I have
to have that gold belt, Ravyn. That gold
championship belt is what drives me, it’s what defines me, it’s what keeps me
going and I will do anything to get it.”
She reaches
up and takes hold of her sunglasses.
Quickly she whips them off and tosses them to the side. The camera now focuses in on the intensity
that can be seen in Angelica’s lovely eyes.
“A setback is a setup for a comeback. Those are the words of Willey Jolley and
that’s what I have had here in SCW. I
have had setbacks. I have not failed as
I refuse to admit total defeat. I will
keep going until I draw my last breath.
I have learned from those setbacks, I have learned from those mistakes,
and I am ready for my first championship opportunity in SCW.”
Jones shakes
her head. “I will not make any mistakes
this time. I will wrestle a picture
perfect match and my strategy will be sparkling. You will get the absolute best of Angelica
Jones because I have to win. In my mind
and in my heart and soul I have to win this match and I have to take that
championship away from you. It has to
become mine.”
“I have gone over this match-up time and
time again and I keep coming to the same conclusion; we are evenly
matched. The two of us, Ravyn, we make
for a great match-up, in both our similarities and our differences. It’s a perfect pairing, really, as I will be
your toughest challenger to date and you will no doubt prove to be my toughest
opponent in recent memory. For the fans
it will be great match, for SCW it will be a money maker. There is no doubt in my mind that we’ll steal
the spotlight.”
“For me, however, this match is bigger than
that. People who know me love to sing my
praises, fairly or unfairly…”
“…she can make a paper airplane break the
sound barrier…” yes, the booming voice has returned. But Angelica hates being interrupted…
“DAMNIT I SAID SHUT U P!”
“...sorry…” once again silence as
Angelica regains her composure before continuing.
“Yes, people do sing my praises, fairly or
unfairly, but for me their words do not matter.
I do not believe in my own hype.
I could win a thousand world titles and brag about them on twitter but
in my mind it means nothing. I still
have to constantly prove to myself that I am great because my biggest critic is
myself.”
“So for me, winning the United States
Championship means once again proving to myself that I am the best in the
world, proving to the few critics and doubters that I have left in this
industry that I am the best in the world, it’s about being the absolute best
that I can be, and I will prove that I am the best by ending your reign as SCW United
States Champion.”
Jones
reaches out with her hand off screen and produces a bottle of Dos Equis. She stands waiting patiently…and waiting…and
waiting some more. Finally she grows
impatient and looks upwards, trying to find the booming voice again.
“Ok, that’s your cue!”
“I thought you didn’t want me to say
anything?”
“Don’t test my patience…”
The booming
voice is heard clearing his ‘throat’. “…she
doesn’t always win the SCW United States Championship, but when she does, she
celebrates with a bottle of dos equis!”
Angelica
tilts the bottle up and takes a brief swig before bring it back down, smiling
broadly at the camera.
“Stay thirsty, my friends!”
