Post by veronicaaaahhhh on Nov 11, 2013 18:11:10 GMT -5
“Come here, baby.”, Vanessa hushed as she sat down on her daughter’s bed, reaching out to gently run her fingers over Scarlett’s hair
Scarlett stirred to her side and opened her eyes to the sight of her mother, taking a deep breath as her mother’s gentle presence gave her all the face she needed to know that it was okay. “I was having a bad dream.”
“Do you want to tell me about it?”
Scarlett turned her head and rushed her arms across her mother’s waist, holding her tightly.
“Talk to me, baby.”
“I don’t wanna.”
“Why don’t you want to talk about it?”
“Because if I do, it’s just going to hurt again and I don’t want to feel that.”
Vanessa held her daughter, just feeling torn up on the inside. If Scarlett didn’t want to talk about, they didn’t have to talk about it. There was no point in tormenting her with something that probably isn’t a big deal. But at the same time, what’s she going to do? She just can’t let it slide and let something fester inside her. If there was anything she could do to clear up all the fuss, she would gladly do it now.
Her little girl was scared and she just couldn’t bear to scare her some more.
Vanessa kissed Scarlett’s forehead and nodded, rocking gently now.
“Mommy?”
“Yes, baby?”
“Where did you go?” Scarlett asked, hushing between tears. “When that man took you? Did he hurt you?”
“Scarlett.”
“I watched the show. When Daddy won the belt and that other guy took you. I saw it happen.”
Vanessa held Scarlett tighter.
“I knew you weren’t coming home with Daddy.”
That just killed Vanessa- those words.
“Daddy told me that it was going to be okay and that he was going to find you, and he did. And you’re okay, but all I can think about was someone hurting you. And not like the way you get hurt in wrestling, but when people mean to hurt you and you can’t do anything about it.”
“I didn’t get hurt, baby.” Vanessa said, pulling herself away as she held her daughter gently by the chin. “You see? I’m alright.”
“You’re alright now.”
Vanessa closed her eyes and took Scarlett into her arms for the warmest hug you could ever give another person, softly saying, “You know what? Someone did try to hurt me, but it didn’t mean that I allowed it to hurt.”
“What do you mean?”
“A long time ago, I realized that the only person that could have that kind of control over me is myself: I decide what hurts and what doesn’t.”
“Doesn’t that make things hurt some more?”
“Maybe a little.” Vanessa said, holding Scarlett close. “But, I walk away knowing that I’m a lot stronger than I used to be.”
“I want to be strong like that one day.”
“Honey Bunny, you’re the strongest girl I know.”
Scarlett held her mother tighter and murmured, “I love you.”
“I love you too, baby.”
<***>
“What do we do? It’s the third night in a row she’s been having nightmares.”
“You have to give her time, here. She’ll get over it.”
“She’ll get over it?”
“What else do you want me to tell you? Look, as sucks as it is, it’s what kids do: crap happens and they get over it.”
“I know, Wayne! And that’s what’s killing me because this just can’t be it.”
“What else are we going to do? Pretend that all that didn’t happen?”
“I just… I just wish there was another way.”
“Hey, just because sh*t happened, that don’t mean we just have to let get to everything else. What matters right now is that the three are safe and healthy.”
“Reckon we make this the turning point of brand new life for us. I mean, we’re making money now, we could afford a few nicer things.”
“Why don’t we move while we’re at it!”
“That ain’t such a bad idea.”
“I was being sarcastic, luv.”
“Figured you were, but think about it: A change of scene could do us some good.”
…
…
...
Scarlett couldn’t sleep. Not that the kid wanted to anyway, but her parents were very loud people and she spent most the night, just lying there, listening to them talk.
It was like she was there, but they didn’t know she was there. They probably thought that she was already asleep or something, but she could hear them.
And for the first time in her life, she listened. She really listened.
They talked about leaving New York and forgetting about everything. They talked about how they wanted her to stop being with Mr. and Mrs. Vega whenever they out, about how they wanted to start taking her to the shows with them until they found a new place to stay.
Said it was good for them, and maybe it was.
Scarlett really didn’t have any friends. There really wasn’t much for her outside of the Vega’s kids, but they were already a couple years older than her and didn’t wanna seem bothered with her.
It was fine.
Scarlett didn’t mind.
She didn’t really care for people anyway.
And then, in all the taking and the planning, Scarlett thought about what her mom told her earlier that night: about how a person could decide whether something hurt them or not.
It was different.
It was big.
It was powerful, and young Scarlett Quinn wanted that.
She wanted to be stronger and better than everybody else.
She was tougher anyway than most of the kids her age- this would be a walk in the park.
Like how awesome would it be if Scarlett could be strong and powerful all the time, like a wrestler…
-Wait, what?
… Like a wrestler.
Hmmm, exactly like a wrestler.
Exactly like a wrestler…
Exactly like a wrestler…
Like a wrestler…
Like a wrestler…
A wrestler…
Wrestler…
Lullaby
A Scarlett Quinn RP
And for the second time in a month, Scarlett and Penny found themselves in the hospital on account of Trace’s self-motivated acts of violence.
It was just messed up seeing Penny that beaten. Scarlett wasn’t used to this. Normally, Penny was the kind of person who fought back with twice the amount of aggression that was given to her. Whatever Trace did to her, it was a calculated and cowardly assault. If anything, the son of a bitch used Penny to show Scarlett a fraction of the kind of hurt he could give to her.
And right now, as far as Scarlett was concerned, she couldn’t care less about getting herself hurt. She could deal with that- it was seeing everyone around her hurt that killed her and there was only so much that the girl could take.
Scarlett stayed by Penny’s side. She’d been out of it for the last few hours and Scarlett wasn’t going anywhere. She was set on staying put until Penny woke up.
It didn’t take long for Scarlett to nod off; slumping down the corner of the bed-side chair until her head was resting against the gurney.
“Oh Penny, why do you have to be so stupid sometimes?”
If it wasn’t the sound of the door opening, it was the sound of the strange girl’s voice that woke Scarlett up.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you up.”
Scarlett blinked as she tried to come back to her senses, just trying to process what this blue haired stranger was doing here. She was looking right at her, but she was still a little woozy to put things together just yet.
“It’s cool.”, Scarlett said, waving her off as she stretched with a yawn.
The blue haired, pixie-looking girl smiled at Scarlett for a moment and then gazed at Penny leaning forward as she gently ran her fingers over Penny’s cheek.
“So, are you like one of her friends?”
“Something like that.”, she replied, turning to Scarlett
“Oh.”, Scarlett nodded, leaning back on her chair as she let out another great yawn, covering her mouth as she said, “I’m Scarlett.”
“I know.”
“You do?”
“You’re on TV with Penny, how could I not know who you are.”
“Right. And you are?”
She turned to Scarlett and held out her hand, “I’m Celeste.”
Scarlett shook it and then sat down again. “Cool, I’m Scarlett- but yeah, you already know that.”
Celeste giggled.
“How long have you known Penny?”
“A long time now.”
“Really? Why hasn’t she mentioned you before?”
“It’s complicated.”
“Got it.”
“Not in a bad way.”, Celeste said, walking over to Scarlett. “It’s just really hard to explain it to people.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m always around, Penny. There isn’t a single moment when I'm not near Penny… That girl and I have been through so much as it is. All these wonderful adventures that hardly anyone will ever get to know. And despite all of that, there’s only so much I can do in this form. I could have helped her- hmph, I could have saved her, but my reach can only go so far.”
“What are you talking about?”
Celeste looked into Scarlett’s eyes. “You see more than you let on, Scarlett.”
She had Scarlett’s attention.
“You confine yourself to the drudgery of day-to-day cynicism; it’s something you fall back to even though deep in your heart, you know otherwise. You know there’s something else there- something you can’t see, but you know it’s there and you accept it without question. You’re okay with it.”
“Okay…”
“Your grandfather, you speak to him regularly, do you not?”
“How do you know about that?”
“He resonates on frequencies similar to my own.” Celeste replied. “It’s isn’t just you who can see him. Both your parents can too. They've sought his guidance ever since you were a child.”
“…”
“I know this is a lot to take in, but the fact that you haven’t completely flipped out yet shows that you know all this is possible, this is something you sense too.”
“Who are you?”
Celeste held out her hand to Scarlett “Take my hand and I will show you.”
Cautiously, Scarlett surrendered herself to Celeste’s whim and with that, a bolt struck through Scarlett’s being, blasting a spectacular iridescent light between both their hands that grew into a massive sphere that covered up the entire room.
<***>
“Where are we?”
“Somewhere safe.” Celeste cut through the darkness with the glimmer of teal that radiated off her body. “That’s better.”
“How are you doing that?”, Scarlett asked, shielding her eyes from Celeste’s glow.
“This is my natural skin tone.”
“How?”
“You haven’t seen anything yet!”, Celeste replied, closing her eyes now as she burst into a bubble roughly half the size of a Barbie doll. “Now, that’s more like it.”
Celeste fluttered before Scarlett with her wings spread out across her back as she spun in the air.
“You’re a fairy?”
“A pixie and there’s a difference.”
“What’s the difference then?”
“We’re smaller and more open towards people.”
“That’s it?”
“Pretty much.”, Celeste shrugged as she fluttered towards Scarlett’s arm and tugged at the sleeve of her hoodie. “Come on.”
Scarlett followed the pixie, “So this is what happens to Penny when it looks like she’s staring into the wall!”
“Kinda.”, Celeste answered “Penny experiences both realities simultaneously.”
“How?”
“It’s the same with what’s going on with you right now: you exist in this version of reality even though, technically speaking, you’re still in the hospital with Penny.”
“So there’s two versions of me?”
“Yes and no. Physically speaking, you are, technically, in two places at the exact same time. What binds you to both places is your consciousness.”
“Okay.”
“Think of it like a daydream: you sit somewhere, stare off into space and imagine yourself a million miles away from where you really are. While your body is one place, your mind is somewhere else, and you can still manage to keep up with what’s happening around you, physically. It’s kind of like that.”
“I think I get it.”
“Hmmm.”, Celeste trailed, stopping herself for a moment as she turned to Scarlett. “To keep it simple: you’re awake in this world and asleep in the ‘real’ world.”
“Okay...” Scarlett nodded. “So, what do you want to show me?”
Celeste fluttered forward and said, “There’s something important you’ve been avoiding and if you want things to get better, you have to face it.”
Celeste threw out her hand, cutting the darkness with a swirl of light, color, and sound, just spinning around the two of them, filling the darkness with space.
First came the ground beneath Scarlett’s feet, stretching forward until it directed itself upwards, stretching out vertically until all its ends covered Scarlett between four walls.
The frequencies of quiet nose grew into the hushing whimper of cry that was trying to control itself from getting louder.
The walls around Scarlett faded into a setting far more familiar: two windows, a bed, a desktop computer and all the trinkets and decorations that made for someone’s bedroom. Specifically, a girl’s bedroom,
Emily’s bedroom.
… And there she was, for Scarlett to see, crying on her bed.
“Leave me alone, Scar!”
Scarlett pressed herself forward and tried to talk to Emily, but Celeste stopped her. “She can’t see you.”
“But she just called me out.”
“That wasn’t you she was talking to.”, Celeste said. “… Erm, technically speaking.”
“What do you mean?”
Celeste nodded towards the door, a knock pounded from the other side.
“Please, just talk to me.”
“-But that’s me.”
“Just let it happen.”
Emily stormed up from her bed and shouted at the door. “Leave me alone!”
“I didn’t mean it.”
“Of course you didn’t. It was a moment of weakness.”
“Emily-”
“There’s nothing to talk about. You have no idea how easy it would be for me to open this door right now and forgive you, but the fact remains: you cheated on me. I can’t forgive that.”
“But-”
“Nothing you tell me is going to change what happened.”
“So, that’s it then?”
“I guess so.”
…
…
…
(the real) Scarlett leaned close to Celeste and asked, “Is this true? Is this what’s going to happen if I tell her?”
“Not really. What we’re seeing here is really just your perception of what would happen if you told her.”
“So, it might not be like this?”
“It probably won’t. This is just the worst case scenario you’ve been preparing yourself for.”
“I don’t want to lose her.”
“I know you don’t.”
“But I don’t want to tell her.”
“Could you live with that?”
“It was a one-time thing with someone that didn’t even matter.”, Scarlett replied, turning her head. “I’m not doing it again.”
“What do you think you should do?”
Scarlett crossed her arms together. “Tell her, even if I don’t want to.”
Celeste came over and kissed Scarlett on the cheek, the touch of which sent a gleeful shiver down Scarlett’s spine. “That’s my girl.”
Scarlett turned back to the sight of Emily pressed against the door to her bedroom, waiting on the other version of Scarlett that stood on other side to say something.
“I don’t want this to happen- in fact, I’m not going to let this happen!”, other Scarlett from behind the door said. “I can’t… I love you too much.”
Emily slumped to the floor and sighed.
“I know I don’t say it enough and I know there’s just so much going on in my life that sometimes, I may not even notice you but you gotta believe me when I say that you are never far from my thoughts. You’re always there. If there’s any single thing that makes me feel strong enough to deal with all the crap I go through, it’s you. I am not letting all of that go away, not like this!”
Scarlett could hear herself actually sob. It was sickening.
“Please.”, Scarlett could hear herself plead. “Talk to me. Help me make this work. Tell me what I can do to get better, because this is not fun for me right now and if you think you’re dying, you just have no idea what’s been boiling up inside of me all this time. I want to make this better, I want to fix things, and as much as this really sucks for me to say, I need help. But I don’t want anyone elses help, because the only person I can allow this close is you.
Emily… Please, open the door. Let me in. I’ll do anything.”
Emily laid on her floor, cradled on her side, tears just streaming down her face as she held her breath from making any noise.
Scarlett hated how something this melodramatic was getting to her. She kept herself still and clenched every muscle, just holding herself tight as she watched all that unfold. It was uncomfortable and painful.
“Just open the door, you stupid b*tch!”, Scarlett snapped out, tapping her foot a little as she just wanted this whole thing to end already.
Emily pushed herself up and took another deep breath, as she started to fix herself up.
“Scarlett.”, Emily called out as she rushed the door open, but there was no one there…
“You understand now what you have to do, right?”
“I really don’t want to talk to her about this.”
“Scarlett, this isn't just about this: it's about everything. Ever since you won that belt, your life has turned into a nightmare and sucks as it is, a lot of this is your fault.”
“My fault?!”, Scarlett asked, snapping towards Celeste
“You can give yourself excuses and you can justify all of the things that led you to this point, but you got here on your on your own. Sure, there were problems that messed you up along the way- things you didn’t expect, but you knew what you were getting yourself into when you started this.”
“-Then fine, it happened. I’ll get over it. Just tell me how to fix it.”
“That’s for you to determine. I can only show you so much.”
“I’m not giving up Emily.”
“I know.”
“I’m not giving up my title.”
“Thought so.”
“But I don’t want people to look at me and think they can step all over me.”
“You don’t have to let them do that to you.”
“But how do I do that now without f*cking everything up?”
“You’re going to f*ck up, regardless of what you do.”
“What help you are.”, Scarlett scoffed
“But that doesn't mean you can’t do the right thing.”
“And what’s that?”
“A decision born from good intentions.”
“That’s it, huh?”
“Pretty much.”
Scarlett closed her eyes and nodded. “Can we please get out of here now?”
“Take my hand, Scarlett.”, Celeste said, fluttering before Scarlett’s nose with an open hand. “Take my hand.”
<***>
The sun was up by the time Scarlett came to, opening her eyes to see the golden shade of the sun pierce between the blinds.
Scarlett covered her mouth and yawned, stretching one arm over her head as she twisted until she felt that righteous snap in her back.
Hmm, it did feel like a nice morning.
“Look who’s awake...”
“Penny?”, Scarlett yawned.
“The one and only, bitch.”
“How long have you been up?”
“About an hour now.”
“Why didn’t I notice?”
“You were asleep,”, Penny shrugged. “And I've been 
ing around on Tumblr?”
ing around on Tumblr?”“Of course you were.”, Scarlett shot out, playfully kicking the gurney
“Have you seen Tumblr?” Penny shot back. “It’s ing heaven.”
ing heaven.”“I’ll take your word for it.”
“People talk about us on there.”
“I’m sure they do.”, Scarlett nodding, crossing her arms together now as she leaned back on her seat and crossed her legs on the edge of the bed, right next to Penny.
“Yeah, there’s this one guy on there RP’ing as us.”, Penny shot out, excitedly.
“What do you mean RP’ing?”
“Roleplaying.”
“So wait, there’s a guy on the internet who’s pretending to be us?”
“Yup!”, Penny replied, with incredible glee. “He even made us a tag team, from Canada!”
“That’s a little disturbing. I don’t think I wanted to know that.”
“Suit yourself, Portia.”
“Portia?”
“That’s what the guy renamed you: Portia.”
“Okay. And what did he name you?”
“Nicole.”, Penny replied, holding out her hand and waving it into the air “And the two of us are the Canadian Samurais!”
“Why Samurais?”
“Because Samurais are cool.”
“Because Samurais are cool.”
“Ninjas are cooler.”
Penny had to stop to think about that one. “Yeah, huh?”
Scarlett kicked her feet off the bed and stood up. “Look, I think there’s something we should talk about.”
Penny looked at her.
“I’m sorry that I let you get involved in my sh*t.”, Scarlett said. “I’m sorry I let you get hurt. I guess I’ve been so involved with my own crap that I kinda forgot about everyone else.”
“Scar, there’s nothing to be sorry for.” Penny said. “This kinda shit's happened before, I’ll get over it. I’ll live.”
“I know, but still.”
“Look what happened last night was purely business. We both knew what Trace was trying to do and he was a er for having done it. But you know what? This is good, because this should be the fuel that pisses you off enough to run through hell and break crap. If you even let this bring you down, you might as well surrender that belt and give up on Emily. And I don’t care what it does to me, I’m not going to just sit here and let it happen to you.”
er for having done it. But you know what? This is good, because this should be the fuel that pisses you off enough to run through hell and break crap. If you even let this bring you down, you might as well surrender that belt and give up on Emily. And I don’t care what it does to me, I’m not going to just sit here and let it happen to you.”Scarlett had to hug Penny. “Thank you.”
“You’re the closest thing I’ve got to a sister, hun. There’s no chance in hell I’m going to let people get away with trying to with you.”
with you.”“But, I’ve got to learn how to take care of myself without having someone watch my back from the corner.”
“I know.”, Penny said, running her fingers over Scarlett’s hair, tucking a lock behind her ear. “What are you going to do about it?”
“Kill of a hall-of-famer for starters.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
“Pick off a crusty, decrepit, old-timer who’s body and mind is just on the verge of completely shattering itself.”
“Like Reverend Shadow?”
“You know.”, Scarlett chuckled. “That actually sounds pretty epic. Bet it’ll make my dad jealous, he and Shadow have one serious bromance going and they don’t even know it!”
“Right?! It’s like, get in the ring and kill yourselves already!”
“And knowing those two, they’re probably going to spend a whole month courting each other until they finally step inside a ring.”
“Be nice, Scarlett.”, Penny said. “They want it to be 'special'.”
“Gay.”
“Totally gay.”
Scarlett and Penny looked at each other and shared a laugh and for the first time in weeks, Scarlett was actually starting to feel fine. Like everything was going to be okay; just as long as she did what she thought was right and gave less of a f*ck to world was, everything was going to be okay.
Scarlett returned to her seat and was ready to close her eyes and doze off again when a tiny blue orb magically appeared before Penny, bursting out into a hazy, teal gust that revealed the presence of a pixie.
“-It’s you?!”, Scarlett shot out, all buggy eyed as she stood from her seat and pointed at the pixie
“-Wait!”, Penny said, turning to Scarlett. “You two know each other?!”
“There isn’t time!”, Celeste shot out. “The Magic Kingdom is in danger and it’s up to the two of you to stop it before the douche-bagged forces Lex Klavana gets to it.”
Penny smiled at Scarlett. “What’cha say?”
With a grin, Scarlett closed her eyes and nodded off. “I’m already half-way there.”.
