A New Beginning

Fynn: “Ok! Family meeting!”

A loud sigh came from the couch as Rayven reached for the remote and switched the TV off. She flipped the remote onto the cushion beside her and slumped lower in her seat, tilting her head back dramatically onto the back of the couch. Fynn and Rayne took up positions at either end of the couch facing Rayven. Rayven narrowed her eyes and peered at Fynn as she absentmindedly blew a strand of hair out of her vision.

Rayven: “You’re not even a part of this family, you can’t call family meetings!”

Rayne: “We’ve talked about this before, and we’ve decided that as long as we’re all living together in this house, we’re all family.”

Rayven now turned her attentions to her twin sister, Rayne. It was like looking into a mirror they were so similar.

Rayven: “You know, it’s really weird to look at you and see my face saying words I would never say.”

Fynn: “Can we just get down to business and get this over with?”

Fynn sat down on the edge of the coffee table in front of the couch, careful not to sit too close to the edge and flip the table over. He appeared to be a few years older than the girls, with short black hair peppered with just the right amount of grey. And did I mention he’s unfairly handsome?

Rayven pointed a finger at Fynn as he sat and narrowed her eyes at him again.

Rayven: “Just because you’re fucking my sister doesn’t mean you get to put your ass wherever you please. I eat off of that table.”

Fynn: “You eat off of plates, and my ass is covered. I think you’ll be fine.”

Rayne rolled her eyes and pushed an open bag of Cheetos to the center of the table so that she could sit at the end opposite from Fynn.

Rayne: “From the looks of things, she doesn’t even use plates, just eats straight from the bag.”

Rayven: “Ok, look, I thought this was a family meeting, not the ‘Everybody Judge Rayven’ hour.”

Just then, a door from the side of the room opened up and a blonde teenager poked her head out of the room.

Ramona: “I didn’t miss the Everybody Judge Rayven hour did I?”

Rayven turned and began to scramble, trying to climb over the couch to run at Ramona, but Fynn caught her by the back of her shirt and held her back.

Fynn: “No, we’re just getting started.”

He gave a hard tug on the shirt now, returning Rayven to her seat. She crossed her arms and stared at him.

Fynn: “So we’re having this meeting because of something Ramona found online.”

Rayven: “If this is about your daughter’s porn addiction, one, I already know about it, two, it’s not my fault, and three, why isn’t she the one being judged?”

Fynn: “It’s not about Ramona’s porn addiction.”

He then turned his gaze to Ramona, who shrugged and ducked back into her room, closing the door again.

Fynn: “Or lack thereof, I should say. It’s about a post she found on Reddit that referenced a dirt sheet saying that YOU were planning a return to wrestling.”

Rayne: “We thought you were retired, Rayven.”

Rayven: “We all thought the same thing about Ric Flair a couple of times…”

Rayne: “And after your recent relapse and return to Danver’s? Do you really think this is the best decision you could be making?”

Rayven: “Well I could be turning to meth…”

Fynn: “Look, Rayven, we’re just concerned for you. If you want to return to wrestling, that’s fine, but are you sure you’re in the right mindset for it? After all, you -just- got out of Danver’s, and we’d hate to see you have another episode and end up back in there again so soon.”

Rayven leaned forward and glanced back and forth between Rayne and Fynn.

Rayven: “Do you two not remember what set me off the last time? What caused me to go off and send my happy little ass back to Danver’s?”

She pointed a finger at Rayne.

Rayven: “I retired from wrestling so that I could join in with your little ‘Save The World’ world tour that you were doing. It went well for a little while, but when the stress started to build up? I had no release. And apparently challenging the natives to a death match is frowned upon in some countries! Go figure! So now that I’ve been released for good behavior, -again-, I’m doing what I need to do for me. I’m going back to wrestling so that I can have that release when I need it and -not- repeat these same mistakes over again.”

Rayne shook her head and held a hand to the bridge of her nose.

Rayne: “I will never understand how you get stress release from punching someone and getting punched back….”

Rayven: “You should try it sometime. Sometimes it’s so good I even get off...”

Fynn: “Easy on the kink talk while Ramona’s home? Please?”

Rayven: “Fine, fine. But we’re all agreed that going back into wrestling is healthy for me and we can stop judging me now?”

Rayne: “I don’t know about healthy, but, strangely, your logic makes sense this time.”

Rayven clapped her hands and jumped up, throwing her hands in the air.

Rayven: “Great! Then it’s settled! You can go back to saving the world, and I’ll go back to being the champion of it!”

Fynn: “Skipping a few steps, aren’t you? Do you even know who your first match is against yet?”

Rayven: “It doesn’t matter. I’m going to win it, and then I’m going to go on and beat anyone else they put in front of me, and before they know it, I’ll be the world champion again, and everything will be just as it should be. But for now? No, I don’t know who my first opponent is. The card hasn’t been posted yet.”

Ramona’s door cracked open and she poked her head out of the room again.

Ramona: “Card just got posted. You’re fighting Raymond Harding.”

And with that, Ramona ducked back into her room, door closed. Rayven tilted her head and seemed to be thinking on something, as Fynn pulled his phone out from his pocket and began tapping away.

Rayven: “So, what the hell? The booker just looked at the list of names and was like ‘RAYven, RAYmond, let’s just have the Ray’s fight each other? What kind of lazy, pathetic, half-cocked booking is- Wait. WAIT! What if instead of fighting, I teamed up with this guy? We could be Ray and Ray, and we could take over the world with the confusion created with our names and leave people wondering and guessing which Ray was going to take them out! It’s genius!”

Rayne: “You’re not thinking of going all stalker mode again, are you?”

Rayven: “What? No, I’m over my stalker phase. I’m not going to go psycho stalker over anyone here. Not like Christian, or Yolandi, or Trine… Oooh, Trine, if she ever shows her face around here again, her ass is mine! Her sweet, bubbly, perfectly round ass…”

Rayven seemed to trail off as Fynn and Rayne stared her down. After a moment, she looked up and blinked between the other two.

Rayne: “Still not over Trine, are you?”

Rayven: “She broke my heart on seven different occasions, do you really blame me?”

Rayne shrugged and rolled her eyes as she got up and left the room. Fynn pointed at something on his phone.

Fynn: “I thought I recognized that name. Raymond Harding. Former boxer. 22-0, all knockouts.”

Rayven: “Ok, so the guy was good at boxing. This is wrestling, totally different sport. The only thing you said that might actually work in his favor is the fact that he’s a knock-out specialist.”

Fynn: “Are you worried about that at all?”

Rayven: “I’m not worried about anything, you’d know that if you’d paid any attention to my career. I already know that I’m better than anyone else in the place, so asking if I’m scared of any of them is a ridiculous question. The only thing I was trying to say is, him being a knock-out specialist could work in his favor. Since I don’t feel pain, that’s the easiest way to beat me.”

Fynn: “And do you think revealing your secrets like this is in your best interest? After all, if you’ve already signed your contract with the organization, then they’ve probably bugged this house with cameras and microphones already to pick up conversations like this one.”

Rayven: “That’s funny, I didn’t take you for a conspiracy theorist. Or an idiot. It’s not like this is a big secret or anything anyways. I’ve been wrestling for how many years now? It’s pretty well documented by now. And what good has that done anyone that has tried to stand in my way? Sure, I’ve been knocked out a couple of times, beaten a few times, but at the end of the day, has it ever truly stopped me? How many titles did I win in WWG? All of them.”

Fynn: “You never won the Tag Titles…”

Rayven: “And that is entirely Trine’s fault, that beautiful, incompetent, brave bitch…”

Fynn: “You really need to get over the Trine thing.”

Rayven: “And now you’re my therapist too. Anyways, my point stands. I’ve been a world champion before, and I’ll be a world champion again here in UOW. It’s just a matter of time, and it’ll take someone a lot bigger and a lot better than this Raymond Harding to stand in my way.”

Just then, Rayne came running back into the room and stared wide-eyed at Rayven.

Rayne: “Did you just say UOW?”

Rayven: “Yep.”

Rayne: “The same UOW that was mixed up in all of that North Korea mess?”

Rayven: “Allegedly.”

Rayne: “You’re seriously going to quit working alongside me and my charity to go work for -those- people?”

Rayven: “Not only was your charity not putting a paycheck in my hands, remember what we talked about like five minutes ago? It was directly responsible for my last breakdown and trip back to Danver’s Happy Fun Time House. Now, if we’re done here…”

Rayven paused as she pulled her phone from her pocket and swiped the screen.

Rayven: “...I’ve got a press conference to get to.”

Rayven stood and walked off to get ready to leave. Rayne just stared, dumbfounded.

Rayne: “Sometimes I wonder how we came out of the same womb at the same time.”

Fynn: “I wager you’re lucky she didn’t beat you up in there.”

Rayne: “-Her- cord was wrapped around -my- neck!”