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Scene 1
Off Camera
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“To be wronged is nothing, unless you
continue to remember it.” ―
Confucius
Marie has
been wronged many times throughout her life and each time she is wronged, she
finds it harder and harder to forgive.
Case in point, Marie’s own mother, the matriarch of the Jones family,
Angelica Jones. Angelica Jones was the
one responsible for the death of Marie’s biological father. It was a very long time before Marie could
ever forgive her mother for that but eventually she did let go of that anger
and moved on. Marie would eventually
follow her mother’s footsteps and become a professional wrestler, against the
wishes of her overprotective mother, who did her level best to stop her,
placing obstacles in her daughter’s path towards becoming a professional
wrestler. Her mother eventually came to
accept her daughter’s life choices and accepted her decision to become a
professional wrestler, and Marie forgave Angelica for being overbearing and overprotective. Then, with her daughter firmly in the
wrestling business, Angelica would use Marie to her advantage on many occasions
against her enemies. Marie forgave her
for this and for so many other things.
Now things
have changed. Marie is fed up right now
with her mother and, by extension, her aunt Kayla. And some would argue that she has a very
valid case. For nearly her entire adult
life as a professional athlete Marie has been treated as a child by the matriarchs
of the family; from trying to stop her from training to be a pro-wrestler to
trying to use her for their own selfish needs in the industry, and each and
every time Marie would rush to their aid to assist them in whatever it was they
needed. It did frustrate Marie to a
degree but she was able to look past it, to ignore her frustrations for the
sake of the family. She promised to
herself that she would never take sides against the family.
Ever.
But then her
mother took sides against Marie’s husband, Arthur Pond. No, Arthur may not be blood related, but by
marriage he is part of the family, at least in Marie’s eyes, and she felt that
Angelica owed it to her to give him that same respect and loyalty she had
demanded from the rest of the Jones family.
Angelica
would not grant that same loyalty to Marie and Arthur when they agreed to
settle their differences and try to make the marriage work out. Angelica was still enraged at what Arthur had
done to Marie and didn’t want her daughter going back to her. She had all but tried to ban her from going
back to Arthur.
It would be
the last time that Angelica would try to throw her weight around in her
daughter’s life. Marie stood up to her
and told her in essence to back off, and that she could no longer count on her
and Arthur for support any longer. If
they could help, they would, but no longer would Marie drop everything for the
sake of the family.
Is this out
of anger? Partially. Marie cannot deny that she is angry with her
mother right now. The real question is,
how long will she hold onto this anger?
How long will this grudge continue?
Marie realizes that it is not healthy to hold onto grudge, but she also
has to admit that it sometimes feels pretty darn good to hold onto them.
Insert the
second case in point, Marie’s former company the UWA. Twice Marie felt wronged by the UWA, both
times she felt she was not getting the same opportunities as everyone else,
despite the fact that she worked just as hard, if not harder, than the
rest. She had forgiven UWA once but the
second time was too much. She left UWA
for SCW and vowed to never again have anything to do with her former company.
That was
then. This is now. UWA is under new management and Marie Jones
is now contemplating if this is one grudge she is willing to let go of…is there
a future for her and UWA? Then again,
she still has SCW to worry about and a match against a very game Torsten Voigt
to worry about.
These and
many other thoughts are swirling through Marie’s head as she reads through the
internet news and the occasional dirtsheet in the warmth of her study. The young redhead has yet to get changed out
of her pink pajama bottoms and matching top.
She’s warm in her PJ’s, sitting at the desk in front of her laptop
computer, focused on the headlines and stories of the day.
Her husband
Arthur sits blissfully unaware of everything else, despite the fact that he,
too, is in the study. He is ahead of the
game and has changed into his clothes of the day; consisting of denim jeans, sneakers,
and a button up red shirt. His focus is
on a book he is reading.
“This is great…” Marie says with a
chuckle as her voice trails off “…this is
awesome…”
She spins
around in her chair to face Arthur. With
one hand she points at the laptop computer. “Arthur! Did you read this?!”
“Hmmmm….?” Arthur’s voice trails off as
well as he is interrupted by his rather excited wife. He looks up from his book and smiles warmly. “…read what, dear?”
“UWA is under new management!” Marie
says excitedly. “The people who screwed
me over are gone!”
“Really?
And who do they have in charge now?”
“Fleur Jamieson.”
“Ah yes,” Arthur nods his head “I seem to recall you mentioning her once
before. But how did she gain such
control? I thought she only had minimal influence
over the company and that David Helms was the top guy?”
“Honestly, I’m not sure,” Marie shrugs
her shoulders “there are still a lot of
questions left unanswered here, but if I am honest with you, Arthur, I am happy
to see a changing of the guard. It was
during Helms’s tenure that I got screwed not once but twice…”
She pauses
and lets that sink in as she holds up two fingers “…so I’m sorry, but I’m glad to see something change over there.”
“Ok, Marie, I think I really have held my
tongue long enough…” Arthur remarks with a sigh as he sets his book down “…let’s start with the obvious, and that’s
the fact that you yourself admitted you don’t know how Fleur Jamieson came to
power and how David Helms exited. You
haven’t followed UWA in ages, have you?”
“No, I haven’t.” Marie shakes her head. “I wouldn’t even if I could, because I’m too
busy with my SCW career.”
“Yet here you are, worrying about UWA
business when you should be worrying about your match in SCW against…um…Torsten
Voigt, am I right?”
“That’s right.” Marie says, nodding her
head.
“You’re letting this whole thing distract
you.”
“No I’m not.” Marie remarks, shaking her
head vehemently. “I know exactly what I’m
doing.”
“You don’t know if this changing of the
guard in UWA is a good thing or a bad thing though, do you?”
“What are you talking about, Arthur?” Marie
asks incredulously. “Of course it is a
good thing. Don’t you remember what UWA
did to me when Helms and Bryant were in charge?
Anyone else in charge has to be better.”
“Maybe, maybe not,” he shrugs his
shoulders “but you don’t know that and
deep down inside I think you realize that too.
But my point is that you’re letting this get to you and it isn’t healthy…”
Arthur gets
up out of the chair he had been sitting in and approaches his somewhat tense
wife. He touches her on the forehead. He
smiles warmly. “It isn’t healthy for the
mind.”
“Don’t you dare psychoanalyze me, Arthur.”
Marie snaps back at him, swatting away his hand.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t help myself.” He
snickers. “Besides, it’s for your own
good.”
“For my own good…” Marie rolls her eyes “…do you realize how many times I’ve heard
that line from my mother?”
“Quite a few, I’m sure.”
“That’s an understatement, and it didn’t
stop when I became an adult. She
continued to try to influence me and mold me, as if I was still a child.”
“In fairness to your mother, that’s what any
parent would do if they felt their child needed help.”
“But I am a grown woman now, Arthur.”
Marie counters. “I wanted to be a
pro-wrestler and mom tried to stop me.
Then when I finally made it as a wrestler she thought she could use me
whenever she needed me. She thought I
would just be there at her beck and call anytime she needed me. And for the longest time I did jump to her
aid…”
Marie pauses
momentarily and shakes her head “…not
anymore. Mom needs to realize that I am
a grown woman and I make my own decisions and I am going to pave my own way,
make my own path.”
“Does that mean blocking her out of your
life entirely?” Arthur asks with a curious gaze and a cocked eyebrow.
“No, of course not!” Marie remarks
quickly. “But…you know…if she doesn’t
learn this lesson and she keeps trying to treat me like a child, then maybe I
will have to block her out of my life.”
“Marie, sweetie, this is what I meant when I
said that holding onto this, this anger, these grudges, holding onto all of
this isn’t healthy for you.”
Arthur grabs
Marie by her hands and gently pulls her to her feet. He gazes lovingly into her eyes and smiles
warmly, almost like a loving parent himself, despite the fact that he is the
husband.
“Ever since you and your mom had that
falling out a few weeks ago, you’ve been clearly distracted. Your entire focus has been on her and her
alone. And just when I thought that
maybe you had forgotten about UWA, this news comes out and you show me that you
clearly have not forgotten about that either.
You haven’t been able to bounce back since you lost the United States
Championship to Jinn back before Rise To Greatness. Now I don’t pretend to know a lot about
wrestling but I know a slump when I see one.”
“Yeah, I admit that I have been in a bit of
a slump.”
“And it’ll only get worse if you continue to
let yourself be distracted by this grudge you obviously hold against your
mother and against UWA. You need to let
it go.”
“I can’t!” Marie counters, shaking her
head vehemently. “I cannot just forget
what happened in either case and if that’s what you want me to do, then…well…”
“No, no, I don’t want you to forget. Learn from the past, sure, but don’t let it
bother you. That’s the only way those
who wronged you can win, is if you let it continue to bother you. If you let the past continue to eat away at
you, then they have won.”
Arthur leans
over and plants a kiss on her cheek. “Let
it go…”
After a
brief pause, giving Marie time to ponder her husband’s work, a wry grin spreads
across her face.
“You’re not going to break into song, are
you?”
“Oh no, not at all.” Arthur says with a
chuckle. “I think Disney might sue. But I am glad to see that your sense of humor
has survived all of this.”
“Nothing can get rid of that.” Marie
says, laughing lightly, before sighing. “But
you know, maybe you’re right, maybe I should let go of some of these grudges…I
mean, I could always have Adam Chase talk to Fleur Jamieson and make sure
relations between the UWA and I can still be good, that bridges are not
permanently burned.”
“That’s a start.” Arthur answers with a
nod of his head. “But what about your
mom?”
“I don’t know…” her voice trails off “…I’m just worried about things going right
back to the way they were before, you know?”
“I understand.” Arthur places two
comforting hands upon his wife’s shoulders. “And
letting your mom know that you are a grown woman who can make her own decisions
is perfectly fine, but you should let your mother know that it doesn’t mean she
is out of your life.”
“So you really think talking to mom is a
good idea?”
“It’s for the best, Marie.”
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Scene 2
Off Camera
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The scene is
Sacramento, California, the city that shall play host to the next edition of
SCW Breakdown. This will also be the
final stop before the Future Is Now pay per event in December. Marie isn’t quite sure what the future holds
for her as far as her career goes. Her
immediate goal is to head into Breakdown and get a victory over Torsten Voigt,
building up momentum heading into The Future Is Now and building up what
hopefully will be a string of victories, thus putting herself and her career
back on track. But more important than
putting her wrestling career back on track is setting her familial relationship
back on track, and that means speaking with her mother, the matriarch of the
Jones family, Angelica Jones.
Marie still feels
justified in her anger towards her mother.
Her mother has, after all, been overprotective towards her all of her
life, to the degree of trying to run her life.
It has frustrated Marie to the extent that she at first wanted to just
get Angelica out of her life. But Marie’s
husband, Arthur Pond, talked some sense into Marie. He made her realize that a diplomatic
solution is best instead of just blocking her mother out of her life.
The young
redheaded Boston native is sitting in the hotel lobby where her mother is
reportedly staying. Angelica is late,
which is unusual for the Jones matriarch, but Marie tries not to get too
impatient as she sits and waits on her mother’s arrival. Marie casts a look at her watch to see the
time…where is she? Where is Angelica?
Almost as if
on cue she turns towards the front revolving doors and spots not her mother but
her aunt, Kayla Jones, walking through.
This is definitely odd, Marie thinks.
This is not the family member she was expecting to see. Kayla scans the area and Marie eventually
waves her arms to get Kayla’s attention.
Kayla spots her and walks over to the sofa where Marie is sitting.
“Oh, Aunt Kayla…” Marie’s voice trails
off as she continues to stare at her aunt with a look of sheer confusion “…no offense, Aunt Kay, but I wasn’t
expecting you. I thought I was going to
get to talk to mom.”
“You were.” Kayla remarks as she sits
down next to Marie. “But your mom…uh…she
changed her mind. Let’s leave it at
that.”
“What do you mean?” Marie asks, tilting
her head to one side curiously.
“Later.” Kayla retorts quickly. “First, what did you want to tell your
mom? I can go back and tell her myself.”
Marie finds
it rather odd that Kayla has to be the go-between for her and her mother. Why can’t Angelica be here herself to hear
what Marie has to say?
“Again, I don’t mean to sound rude, but why
do I have to tell you? This was a
message for mom.”
“It’s complicated.” Kayla says with a
sigh.
“Simplify it.” Marie says sternly. “Right now, I find it very odd that I asked
to talk to my mom and then she suddenly backs out but you show up in her place
to take messages for her?”
“Look, Marie, I know this is not an ideal
situation for either of us right now, but your mother is…well, she’s…” Kayla’s
voice trails off to a stop.
“She’s what?” Marie asks, growing
slightly concerned.
“She’s not exactly in her right mind.”
Kayla remarks stoically. “She hasn’t been
since the European tour.”
“Wait…what?” Marie blinks furiously. “What happened?”
“Your mother and I, we learned some things
about our past, about our own mother…your grandmother…”
Marie nods
her head slowly. She’s heard Angelica
and Kayla talk a great deal about Kelly, their mother. Marie never met her grandmother, she never
met Kelly. But the way Angelica and
Kayla speak of her, it is almost as if she were an immaculate being.
“What about my grandmother?”
“Mary was there…our Aunt Mary, that is…and she
made a pretty bold claim…” Kayla shakes her head “…I’m not even sure I should tell you.
It definitely upset Angelica…”
“You may as well tell me, Aunt Kayla.”
Marie remarks with a frown. “We’ve come
this far.”
“Right…” Kayla sighs “…Mary claims that your grandmother, my
mother that is, is alive…”
Marie arches
her brow as she stares at her Aunt Kayla with wide eyed shock. She can hardly
believe what she just heard her Aunt Kayla tell her. Marie begins to shake her head in disbelief.
“No…it can’t be true…”
“I’m not sure if it’s true or not. I just
know what Mary supposedly told your mother.”
“Supposedly?”
“I wasn’t there.” Kayla remarks. “Angelica spoke to Mary, not me. In fact, Angelica is the one who has all of
the information. Angelica wanted to
pursue this case to its conclusion despite Mary warning her against it. Whatever your mother discovered has changed
her. She isn’t the same person she once
was.”
“Ok, that’s fine…” Marie shakes her head
“…but it doesn’t matter. I still have to talk to my mother.”
“I’m not sure you really want to,” Kayla
answers back “not if you knew what had
happened to her.”
“I need to, Kayla.” Marie presses the
issue, for it is important to her. “I may
have said some things to her a few weeks ago that could have…may have…hurt her,
and I cannot live with myself knowing that I caused irreparable damage. And now after hearing this from you…well I
just talk to her, Kayla.”
“Well…” Kayla sighs “…I’ll see what I can do. But I
make no promises. Your mother isn’t
being as sociable as she once was…”
“I don’t care. I want to talk to my mother.”
==========
On Camera
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The Future
Is Now…
Some may it
is an overused phrase but it is an appropriate phrase, especially right now in
Supreme Championship Wrestling. Just
recently we had a rookie as our SCW World Champion. Now there are others looking to make a name
for themselves in that same vein. Some
of the bright young stars of SCW are looking to break out and finally become
the new SCW World Champion just like Alistair did once. Many of SCW’s younger competitors are looking
to prove that they are the future of this company.
Am I the
future of Supreme Championship Wrestling?
Fate is one mean, nasty little bitch.
Fate is a worse bitch than karma.
There is very little about fate that you can control. So it’s tough to say if I am the future of
SCW. I’d like to think so. I know that I have the tools necessary to get
to that level, to become the future of this great company, because I am The
Phoenix and no matter how many times I get knocked down, I always get back up. That’s the heart of a warrior and the spirit
of determination. You need heart and
determination in order to get to the top and stay there.
Oh but being
The Phoenix of Professional Wrestling isn’t enough to become the future of this
company. To be the future, to become a
world champion here in SCW, I need to be able to do more than to just get back
up after getting my ass kicked. Hell, I’ve
been getting my ass kicked a lot since Rise To Greatness and I keep coming
back, none of it stops me from returning to the ring, but what has that kind of
determination got me thus far?
Nothing. Well, nothing except a spot in the battle
royal at Future Is Now to determine a number one contender for the SCW World
Championship.
Clearly my
drive and determination to never quit and never give up despite all of the odds
has impressed someone, but it’ll take more than that to overcome the odds of
the battle royal, to overcome the collective talent inside of that ring. What I need to do is look back into my heart
and soul and rediscover “the other Marie Jones”…the Marie Jones who first
dominated GCW and UWA as their world champions before ever making my way to
Supreme Championship Wrestling…and I didn’t do that as The Phoenix.
I did it as
The Crown Jewel of Professional Wrestling.
The Crown
Jewel of Professional Wrestling already looked into the future and declared
herself to be the future…the future of the Jones Wrestling Family…my mother and
aunt may still be wrestling but make no mistake about it, I’ve already set
myself up as the future of this family.
The Crown Jewel of Professional Wrestling will take what she wants
because she is just that good.
Torsten
Voigt, you are not facing that bird of prey, The Phoenix who will take whatever
punishment you’re prepared to dish out and keep coming back for more punishment
from you, you’re facing The Crown Jewel of Professional Wrestling, the bitch
who will beat your ass before you even have a chance to inflict any punishment.
Don’t get me
wrong, I’m not looking past you at all.
I’m not foolish enough to look past someone who can defeat Sophie O’Brian. She may not be having much luck right now but
I know from experience how good she has the potential to be. Beating her shows how good you are.
Thing is, I’m
not Sophie O’Brian. I won’t make the
same mistakes she made. In fact, I am
unlike any other athlete you’ve ever faced.
I am unique. It is not bragging
when I say that I can hang in there with any and every kind of wrestling style
there is. I am a literal Jill of all
Trades when it comes to professional wrestling.
Also I’m not
the kind of person to let an opportunity slip away. I have an opportunity coming up at The Future
Is Now, an opportunity to punch my golden ticket to greatness, and I am not
going to allow myself to get sidetracked by the likes of you, I am not going to
allow myself to get stopped by someone like you.
No, there is
no amount of punishment you can dish out, Voigt, no amount of punishment that I
will not get back up from, but more importantly, I am The Crown Jewel of Professional
Wrestling, and that means that I have the talent and ability to hang in there
with anyone and everyone…
…in other
words, you don’t have a chance, Torsten.
The Future
Is Now, and my time is now, and you are just the beginning, Voigt. You are the beginning of the Marie Jones era
in Supreme Championship Wrestling.
