The Counter Reformation

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Off Camera

11/26/2018

Boston, MA

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It’s always good to be home and for Angelica Jones home is Boston, Massachusetts.  Boston is the capital city, the seat of power for the state of Massachusetts.  It is the birthplace of the American Revolution, as both the Boston Tea Party and the Boston Massacre, events which led to the American uprising in the late 1700s, took place in this grand city.  For the Jones family, Boston is their own personal seat of power.  It’s where they lived, grew up, and feel the most comfortable.  For Angelica Jones, the matriarch of the Jones family, this great city is where she feels the most at ease.  It is here, in Boston, where she can go to clear her head and think things through when trouble arises or other difficulties come to fruition, difficulties that she must deal with.  It is here where she most enjoys celebrating her successes and good fortune.  It is here where Angelica Jones and James Evans became SCW World Tag Team Champions at Bound by Blood, defeating Bree Lancaster and Andrew Raynes.

It felt real good for Angelica Jones to get back to her winning ways.  She admits that there was some trepidation about returning to SCW after what she thought was her last match against her sister Kayla Jones.  She was unsure how the fans would react to her return; would they accept her?  She was unsure if her return would be a resounding success or a miserable failure.  As it turns out this pairing with James Evans was just the thing she needed.  The two, collectively known as Redemption, won the tag team elimination chamber at Under Attack and would go on to become SCW World Tag Team Champions at Bound by Blood.  Things seem all too perfect for the Jones family matriarch.

Just underneath the surface things are not as good as they seem.  She did have her so-called ‘last match’ against Kayla Jones.  That was supposed to be it for the both of them in SCW but Angelica chose to return.  How does Kayla feel about it?  It’s a subject that Angelica has yet to deal with.  But that’s not the only touchy subject she has with her sister.

Ever since Angelica Jones came out of the closet as bisexual, tensions have existed between the sisters.  It was an elephant in the room that neither wanted to address but both knew was always there.  And when Angelica left the Catholic Church in favor of a church more amenable towards her life choices, that rift grew even deeper.

Angelica doesn’t want to have to deal with this.  She doesn’t want to have to confront her younger sister, but she realizes that this elephant in the room needs to be taken care of; especially if she is to rejoin the Catholic Church, which is what Angelica ultimately wants to do.

This is what brings Angelica to her sister’s home in Boston, Massachusetts the day after Bound by Blood.  Angelica and Kayla are both sunbathing outside by the pool; an enormous, gorgeous pool shaped like a heart.  Angelica has a pool at her place so this isn’t too unusual for her but even her pool isn’t this ridiculously huge.  In fact, Kayla’s home is far more luxurious and elegant than Angelica’s with its grandeur and wealth, both in the inside and outside of the home.

Funny thing is, neither sister really enjoyed a wealthy upbringing.  Their parents were middle class.  Angelica’s road to wealth was professional wrestling and later her singing career.  But Kayla’s wealth came by a very different path.  After their mother died and father disappeared Kayla was put into the foster care of abusive drunk Oliver Hardy who himself was a wealthy man.  He exploited Kayla’s good looks by getting her in the modeling industry.  She stuck it out with the modeling and eventually came to own her own modeling agency; that combined with the wrestling career and her marriage to Trenton Snow, who himself is a wealthy man, gave her an abundance of riches.

Angelica never sought out to flaunt the wealth she had.  Kayla, by contrast, feels she deserves to spoil herself and to be spoiled by Trenton Snow, due in large part to the terrible childhood that was taken from her.  In her mind, she is due and she is owed.

“A heart shaped pool…” Angelica chuckles under her breath.  She shakes her head as she stares at her sister’s extravagant pool.

“What of it?”

“I just never took you to get something like this.”

“Maybe you don’t know as much about me as you think.” Kayla remarks in a bit of a snarky tone.  This doesn’t surprise Angelica.  Her younger sibling was always a bit on the sarcastic side.

“Did Trenton like the idea of a heart shaped pool?”

“He just liked the idea of a pool in general.  Although he did ask if he could fill it with a fuck-ton of coins and swim in it like Scrooge McDuck.”

“Did you let him?” Angelica asks with a smirk.

“I put the kibosh on that one.”

“Party pooper.”

“Yeah, that’s me.  Always the party pooper.”

“It sounded like fun.”

“Yeah, well, Trenton isn’t necessarily all about fun.  He’s the best for business, guy, remember?  Lately he’s been having fun taunting people on social media.  In my opinion, he needs something to keep him occupied.  He needs to keep busy.” Kayla points a slender carefully manicured finger at her older sibling. “Like you, you’re always keeping yourself busy.  Congratulations on that tag team championship win, by the way.”

“Thanks, Kay.” Angelica remarks with a broad grin on her face. “It feels good to have gold back around my waist.”

“I’m sure it does.  I could’ve told you that you were gonna win the belts.  Though I have to tell you, sis, there are other ways to keep busy.  You know what I mean?”

Angelica frowns and shakes her head. “No, I don’t know.”

“Well you and James are a great tag team, don’t get me wrong, but didn’t you just tell me last month that you were going to get involved in helping troubled youth?”

Angelica nods her head.  She recalls that conversation quite well.  It was the tragic day Dustin, the youth that her and James had met and wanted to help, overdosed and died.  She won’t forget that day for a long time.  But she told her sister she had considered getting involved in helping youth like Dustin.  She still is considering it but she isn’t as sure now as she once was.  Though she isn’t ready to let her sister know of her doubts.

“Yeah, so?”

“There’s that and you also still have a part time singing career.  Or have you forgotten that?”

Angelica has been a part time singer for many years.  She has released albums and while she isn’t a major success like a Taylor Swift or a Carrie Underwood she still enjoys some minor recognition for her singing ability.  Unlike wrestling, a competitive sport where she strives to be the best, singing is something she does just because she enjoys it.  Nothing more.

What makes this somewhat awkward is that Kayla recently got into recording label business simply so that she could represent Angelica as her agent.  For Angelica it was a blessing because she got away from her toxic first agent Samantha Hodgson.  Though sometimes working with family isn’t any easier.

“No, I haven’t forgotten.  But it is just a part time thing, Kay.  Wrestling is my main focus.  You know this.”

“Yeah but singing could be big too.  There is a real possibility for you as a crossover artist.”

“Crossover?”

“Yes, crossover.  I think your next album should be a pop album and I think that could help your singing career skyrocket.”

“I’m not interested in my singing career skyrocketing, Kay.  I always wanted this to remain small and part time.  You know this.”

“I am also your agent and I know what is best for your career.”

“We always had an understanding about this.  What’s wrong with you, sis?  Is this about me returning to SCW without you?”

The younger Jones sibling is silent as she stares off into the distance.  Angelica suspects she is right about this and the silence does speak volumes.

“I’m happy you became SCW World Tag Team Champions with James Evans.”

“Are you really?”

“Do you want me to tell you that I’m upset that you betrayed the promise we made to one another to stay away from SCW?  We threw our all into that match, sis.  We gave the SCW fans a match they will never forget and we wanted THAT to be their last memory of us.  But then you went back seeking more championships.  Lucky for you, you got that title.  So congratulations.”

“You could have come back with me.  It didn’t have to be Redemption, it could have been The Sisterhood.”

“Could have but wasn’t.  I made my choice and I don’t regret it.”

“Well that’s good.  Glad you’re happy, sis.” Angelica remarks quietly.

Kayla turns her head to face Angelica.  She takes her sunglasses off of her eyes and places them aside so that she is looking straight into her older sibling’s eyes.  What Angelica sees is a stoic gaze coming from Kayla Jones.

“What about you, Angelica?  Do you regret going back?”

“No, of course not.  Why would I?”

“Well think about it for a moment, we left SCW on a positive note.  We gave them a match of the year style performance.  But you went back because you wanted more.  Yes, you and James won the tag titles, but now the pressure is on to defend them.  The pressure is on to keep up this amazing performance.  When the time comes for you to leave, and that time will come, will you leave yet again on such a high note?”

“Kayla, I’m sorry, but…”

“Hush.” Kayla reaches out and places her hand on her sister’s hand. “I’m not trying to be a bitch or to lecture you or any of that, all evidence to the contrary.  I just know how you are about regrets and I don’t want you leaving this latest stint in SCW with any regrets.”

“I don’t regret anything James and I have done as a tag team.” Angelica says before pausing, biting her lower lip as she is hesitant to go further with this conversation, because she knows what is coming up next. “But I do have one regret…”

“Yes?”

Angelica and Kayla Jones were both raised in a strict Catholic household.  Even when their mother died and their father went missing they still maintained a semblance of a Catholic identity.  Angelica, of course, joined the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy and became a nun.  Kayla Jones ended up in the foster care of Oliver Hardy who, himself, was a non-practicing Catholic.  Surprisingly enough, despite Angelica’s convent background it is Kayla who always was the stricter Catholic.  She practiced her faith to the letter of the law.  Every dot of the “i” every cross of the “t”.  Perhaps this is why Kayla was so upset at Angelica for not only coming out of the closet but also for leaving the church?

“I hate to bring this up, but…” her voice trails off.

“You can talk to me about anything, sis.  You know that.”

“Well, I regret leaving the Catholic Church.”

“Ok…” Kayla’s voice trails off as she pauses to stare into Angelica’s eyes, waiting for her to continue.  Angelica, for her part, isn’t sure what to make of her stare.

“I’ve been thinking, I’ve been talking to people about it, and I think I want to rejoin the Church.”

“I thought you were happy as hell with your Catholic-Lite wannabe church.”

“Kay, that’s not fair.” Angelica remarks, rolling her eyes.

“What else would you call it?  They’re practically the same thing except no pope and they’re liberal.”

“Progressive.” Angelica states, correcting her younger sister.

“Labels are just labels.  My point is I thought you were just happy as fuck there.  You can be pretend Catholic and still bang Aphrodite Noel and the pretend Catholics won’t judge you.”

“I knew this was a mistake coming here!”

Immediately Angelica stands up.  She is enraged with her sister’s insensitivity right now and cannot contain it.  Kayla sighs as she gets up and faces her sister.

“You were the one who came here.”

“Because I thought we could have a civil conversation about this topic, a topic that has been driving a wedge between us for God knows how long now!  I thought we were adult and mature enough to hash this out and deal with it but clearly I was wrong!  You still just refuse to accept my lifestyle!”

“Your lifestyle?” Kayla arches her brow out of curiosity and confusion.

“Yes!  You’ve never been accepting of it!  You’ve been closed minded and…” Kayla starts laughing and Angelica just gets angrier “...what are you laughing at?!”

“You.” She says with a chuckle. “You think I’m angry at you because you like to sleep with both women and men?”

“Aren’t you?”

“No, you idiot.  Sleep with who you want, I could care less.  I just don’t trust Aphrodite.  My problem is with her, not with your lifestyle.”

“Then why have you been so cold to me?  And why did you seem so pissy when I suggested that I rejoin the Catholic Church?”

“I was angry at you for leaving it in the first place.” Kayla breathes a sigh of relief, almost as if finally getting something off of her chest.

“Why?  Did you honestly think I was going to hell because I wasn’t in the church?”

“No, nothing like that.” Kayla shakes her head. “I don’t believe anything like that.”

“Then why were you so angry?”

“Honestly it wasn’t even anger so much as it was disappointment.  Our shared faith was something that I felt brought us together.  It gave us a stronger bond as sisters because we went to the same church and we worshiped the same way and believed the same way.  We always had that to fall back on.  As we grew up separately we became very different people.  We lost our parents, our childhood...our innocence…”

Angelica can tell just by looking into her sister’s eyes that she is having difficulty getting this out.  She reaches out and grasps her hands, holding them gently but firmly as she listens to her younger sister continue to pour her heart out.

“...but we always had that.  We always had the church.  When you left I felt betrayed.”

“Just like you felt betrayed when I rejoined SCW without you?”

“Yeah…” Kayla answers, her voice trailing off.  In response Angelica pulls her in for a tight, sisterly hug.

“Well listen to me, you big dummy; you’re never losing me.  And the truth is we are different people, but that doesn’t change the fact that we are sisters.  We survived all kinds of hell, hell that no human being should have to go through.  But we survived it and now we are stronger than ever because of it.  The world tried to break us apart but it didn’t work.  Our bond is stronger than ever and we don’t need any religion to keep it strong.  You and I keep that bond strong, sis.”

“Thanks, sis.” Kayla answers with tears forming in her eyes.

“So do I have your blessings to rejoin the church?”

“There you go again, doofus.” Kayla says as she playfully smacks Angelica in the back of her head. “You never needed my permission to do that.”

“I know, but it just felt right.”

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On Camera

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You can never change your past but you can definitely change your future.  There is no fate but what you make for yourself.  That’s a line from the Terminator film franchise but it fits.  Fate is not written in the stars.  It is written by you and by me.  We make our own futures based on the choices we make right here and right now.

When James Evans and I came together to form Redemption, we both had our own individual demons we were fighting.  We had our own internal struggles.  We had our own road of redemption that we were on.  Some may not believe in redemption, the concept or the team, but James and I fought and clawed our way through the SCW tag team division.  We survived the elimination chamber and earned a shot at the SCW World Tag Team Championship.

Then at Bound by Blood we took everything that Bree Lancaster had to offer.  She even picked out one of the toughest bastards I’ve had the distinct honor of fighting both alongside and against in the form of Andrew Raynes as her tag team partner.  But it didn’t matter who she chose, at the end of the day James Evans and I left it all out in the center of the ring and we earned the SCW World Tag Team Championship.

It wasn’t lady luck.

It wasn’t fate.

It was just plain and simply the fact that James and I were and are the very best tag team in SCW.  We had the talent, the ability, the chemistry to get the job done and that’s what we did.  We walked into my hometown of Boston, Massachusetts and led a redemption revolution!

Never doubt the power of redemption.  And do not think even for a second that you do not have a choice.  Our choices, both good and bad, have consequences.  James and I have run the gamut of both good and bad but we’ve come out today stronger because we’ve learned from our mistakes and, by the grace of God, we are the SCW World Tag Team Champions.

We made the choice to be great.

Tommy Valentine, we have a history.  Not all of it good.  I remember the time it was The Sisterhood against Resurgence.  Our two teams made some magic inside that ring and those were great memories.  You may not remember that as fondly as I do.  Kayla and I thought the tag division was all about The Sisterhood.  We were full of it and we burned a lot of bridges.

Those were the choices I made.  I had to live with them.  But I have returned to make new memories and make a new path for myself in Supreme Championship Wrestling.

So on Breakdown we renew our rivalry.  Only it’s not Sisterhood against Resurgence, it’s you and me, one on one.  Tommy Valentine against professional wrestling’s Golden Goddess, The Dragon.

That’s the person I have chosen to be.  One of the most aggressive, tough as hell bitches to set foot inside of a wrestling ring.  The question is, will you choose to be ready for the ruthless aggression I plan to bring to the table?

I hope you are, because I want a challenge.  I thrive on being the best and I can only know I’m the best by facing and beating the best.  You’ve won it all here in SCW.  So bring that legendary career and legendary ability to Breakdown and we’ll bring down the house.