??: Do you still believe in fairy tales?
🗽Renee Jonae in a black and white suspender dress is shown stopping in her tracks within a business facility for the J-Dynasty Brand’s talent agency, having heard the voice through an unnatural breeze. She seems disappointed, but ultimately not completely surprised. Men in suits appear at the end of the corridor, signalling for Jonae to follow a trail of purple smoke. Jonae follows into a dark room and finds that the second in command of the company is projected before her. That being Jaspora, a woman who has taken it upon herself to at times torment Jonae as a supervisor. The Nepali blows a puff from a skull smoke pipe and then smirks with wicked glee.🗽Jaspora: It would seem times have made you a tad more anchored to the real world, considering how delightfully practical this advertisement promotes you to be. Finally, you’ve conformed to your destiny as one of us! “Now with muscle behind her anything is possible.”, I like the sound of that.
Jonae: Incroyable...It is nothing as sinister as someone like you would hope. I understand why a group of wrestlers collectivization might be intimidating considering the history of professional wrestling, but our revolution is a just one. Revolution should always be for the benefit of all people, to expand opportunity by breaking the shackles of tyrants, to be a violent army suppressing others simply trying to compete with you fairly…..well that goes against the principles of all true revolutionaries. I have never relied on cheap methods to win before, not on my road to becoming a champion nor within the months of my reign, I’m not about to start now.
On Dystopia, I will fight the rest of those women while staying true to the brand I’ve built in WWH. I swear on the Loa, that is all there is to it.
Jaspora: I knew you’d say that. Too stubborn for your own good. Your obsession with appearances and fairy tale endings is why the other former Grotto alumni were so keen to mock you in your trainee years.
Jonae: Ha! I was one of two women in a big good ol’ boy’s club, a taken woman at that, I imagine they would have found another reason to ostracize me. Not that you would know since you had no problem assimilating with their kind and doing nothing as you gained power.
Jaspora: Save it, I’ve heard your little story before, poor Renee was the poor damsel that had to overcome discrimination, boohoo. Don’t look at me, I have nothing to do with your generation of men. Weak, coddled, and so needlessly expressive, it’s no wonder so little of them made it out of the Grotto completing the program. What kind of men use the word “fay” enough to make that nickname of yours, are they hipsters or are men reading dark romance novels nowadays?
Jonae: Doubtful, at least they weren’t well-read enough to know fay are not to be trifled with. It’s a French pun. Rather cute of them actually, it’s part of the charm for me.
Jaspora: Pardon?
Jonae: “Fait noir” in French signifies it being dark, normally nighttime. Fay Noire in English sounds similar to that French string of words. One of them was trying to take an extra jab at me, you’d be surprised how much men’s vocabularies expand when they want to bad mouth you.
🗽The older woman cackles at that as Jonae ignores it, as it is not anything that even scratches the surface of what she has had to deal with nor does it generally affect her any longer.🗽Jaspora: Now isn’t that precious, so even a Frenchie was among them giving you a hard time?
Jonae: Sometimes, the worst people are your own. Often, in fact.
Jaspora: Are you getting smart with me young lady? You have a lot of lip for someone who has gained so much from our services and requested we not lay off the staff we assigned to you, despite the fact they haven’t been able to be around you for the last number of months. Drivers, nutritionists, a talent agent, none of those come cheap you know! We’ve been so generous...
Jonae: Stop with the “we” talk, the boss keeps my people employed because he knows I wouldn’t tolerate them being let go during this pandemic and I’m actively expanding our brand in the world enough for him to want to keep me happy. I know my worth, and I’m not the least bit afraid of you.
🗽Jonae smiles confidently and gazes at Jaspora. Not being accustomed to being stood up to, Jaspora breaks eye contact and remains silent for a moment before regaining composure with resigned bitterness.🗽
Jaspora: Fine, little one. If you don’t want to heed my warnings nor take my advice, have it your way. Just know that Havoc knows what I’m talking about when it comes to accepting the ways of this industry, and that’s why he has multiple championships while you have none!
Jonae: His glory, while vast, is hollow. It matters not how much gold he acquires or how many bodies he piles up, such wicked ways will always bring about one’s own destruction. He has damned himself and his entire forces, and from the looks of things, two of his most loyal cult members are already not long for this world and I’d be lying if I said that didn’t tickle the mischievous side of my heart.
Many cultures have words for what will come for every member of Ashes of the Wake, but the most well-known one is karma. Many sad souls know not what they do when they dabble in dark arts, and whether they know what they do or not they suffer all the same for their vices. That is the fate of those who summon forth what is capable of swallowing them whole one day.
Jaspora: Is that another one of your veiled shots at me?
Jonae: No. I am far outside of your sphere of influence. I used to not understand, I thought you were someone I had to listen to because at my lowest moments you’d always show up to lecture me. In truth, it was the only time you felt comfortable around me, and nobody in the agency ever said I had to report to you. Between us, I am the true summoner. You’re like the insects that show up whenever flesh and food rot. You have called for me on false pretence because you thought this was a good time to use my recent personal setback with Havoc to manipulate me, so you can feed your own ego because that’s what people like you do. Still,
when one sees a pest they should act to rid themselves of what attracted it, so I will be cleaning up my act and in the upcoming months, you’ll only watch as my next stellar story unfolds!
🗽Jonae snaps her fingers to cut the transmission. She walks off back into the corridor where the large suited men from before seem to want to block her with their towering intimidation, but as she storms by they step aside. The scene switches over to Jonae seated at an office cafeteria table, speaking more directly to her match.🗽
Jonae: The path towards my next reign of splendours and delights might just begin on Dystopia.
I didn’t expect to be back in the Women’s World Championship picture so soon. After I lost my rematch against Cloud, I figured I’d take it as a passing of the torch moment. I didn’t want to be like the other former champions. Paige and Maki lost their minds after losing the gold, they just couldn’t let it go, they were so obsessed one put her career on the line for a rematch and the other became such a rabid dog over me having her “baby” that she for a time was locked up in the Sanatorium. I’m young, I plan on being around here for quite some time, so I figured I’d diversify my career, and then come back for my Women’s World Championship later. I’m like everyone else, I’m fascinated with the women’s division right now. I want to see how Cloud handles the heavy responsibility of wearing that belt. I’m watching with anticipation to see if Mercedes is going to finally get over that hump that’s kept her away from becoming champion all of these years. My new friend, Victoria Lyons, just signed a contract and I want to see what she and the other new girls can do! Still, if management is going to flaunt the gold in front of me, I won’t hide my early-stage reservations with the current state of things nor will I deny that I have an impulse to try steering the ship of this division.
After all, what’s going on with the champion? She beat Belladonna Hunter and congratulations for that, truly, but the next Dystopia she’s nowhere to be seen? This Dystopia, she’s still not scheduled to wrestle? I don’t see that happening to Havoc nor Jonny, and it sure as hell wasn’t happening when I was the champion. I won the gold in a bloody deathmatch of 1000 Light Tubes, and I still womaned up enough to be on the next show. It might sound harsh for me to get on her for this, but anyone who knows our history knows she was ranting about how she’ll give that championship more exposure than I was. But I was never falling off the face of WWH, I was on Dystopias, I was in the Shogun tournament in Japan, and I was even defending against deserving women in the dreaded Sanatorium. So I get a bit antsy when I feel like the woman who said she’d do such much more with my championship, just isn’t doing it. The Women’s World Championship deserves the best.
That championship is in itself revolutionary. It has carried the reputation of being a World Championship for all this time as a part of what has put women’s wrestling on the map, and many Hall of Heroes are inducted with it as their primary accomplishment. Every woman who has held it more than once is a Hall of Hero, so for me to climb that mountain top twice would have me breathe rarefied air! I hope the other women understand how monumental of an opportunity this is. I know Mercedes does, she’s seen from afar and tragically up close what the title has done for other women. If Pandora and Lilith don’t, I’ll make them pay.
I know of Pandora and Lilith by who they associate with, one with Chris Matthews and the other is aligned with the Soulless. I’ll try to not hold those relations against them because they’re talented contenders. That is so long as neither Chris’ hatred for Vincent nor the Soulless’ wicked nature rear their ugly heads, and force me to make those two women regret what they take part in.
Mercedes has nothing but my respect, but we’ve been to this dance many times before and when it matters most I am the one who takes center stage. We can exchange pleasantries and keep it classy, but Mercedes of all people knows that I never roll over and play dead for anybody.
The top brass summoned the Fay Noire to compete, and I hope they know what that entails as they throw these ladies into the flames to become either forged steel or simply ash. For while I do enjoy a good fairy tale ending, sometimes the best part about making them is reminding people that occasionally those endings are also
cautionary.🗽Renee smiles playfully, denoting her uncanny nature of serving the crowd pleasures with a side dish of dangerous mystique for her enemies.🗽