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Angelica Vaughn · (08-08-2023)

Lacklanland
The Great Dining Hall
2 days after Leap of Faith

Tiredness was starting to creep in Angelica’s body. The past month or so had been tough on her, but the hard work had produced some excellent results. It was safe to say she was on the best streak of her XWF career, but it had been anything but smooth sailing. In fact, the road had been quite bumpy.

Okay, so those are two different analogies, one for travelling across water, and the other for travelling on land, but both were true. The latest match at Leap of Faith, in spite of its playful stipulation, had taken a lot out of her. In no small part thanks to her, B.O.B.’s conquest of the entire XWF wasn’t going as the villainous group had envisioned. But that was then, and in order to keep her grip on the XWF Television Championship secure, she had to look forward and keep her eyes on the ball. That’s what it was going to take if she wanted her current reign to be up there with the great TV title reigns of the past, like those of Thunder Knuckles and Noah Jackson. Good, if infamous, company to be in when it came to such matters.

Angelica sighed as she lit the last candle on the table, and wove her arm around to snuff out the flame on the match she was holding. As much as she wanted to simply focus on training and match preparation, there were other matters to attend as well. In the run-up to Leap of Faith, her maternal great-grandfather had made her an intriguing offer, one that almost seemed too good to be true. He wanted her to carry on his legacy as the sole heir of his estate, fortune and business interests. And it wasn’t something Angelica wanted to keep from her sister. That’s why she had invited Sarah for a somewhat formal dinner inside their home base. This time, she HAD asked for Aveline’s permission, as opposed to when she had planted her ranch on the Lacklanland borders, or had invited the hippie strain of her family to come live on its lands. Le Bord de Dieu had been happy to oblige in this instance. She appreciated Aveline’s patience with her, although she suspected her latest in-ring successes had bought her some goodwill, if nothing else. Ava was someone who respected strength, and Angelica’s conquest of the TV title and three subsequent defenses of it, must have even caught *her* eye. Something she seemed to share with Thomas Hightower.

The setup was as nice as Angelica had managed to make it. She’d only gotten a bit of help from the servants roaming the place, but the cooking was something she had delegated to an actual chef, making sure to include some of Sarah’s favorites like clam chowder, lobster rolls, creamed onions and the like. Nevertheless, Sarah was running late and it didn’t bode well… As evidenced by Angelica’s phone dinging. Sure enough, it was a text from her.

Quote:So sorry, sis. Rain check? A few things came up.

Angelica groaned. After all the trouble she had gone to?

Quote:But… I had a private chef come in to make us all these delicious foodstuffs! 😟 You promised you were going to be here, I had chef make all your faves! I have to tell you something.

Quote:Still don’t know why you can’t just tell me over text or vidcall 😒

Quote:Because it warrants a face to face meeting, obvs. What am I going to do with all this food now?

Quote:Look, I’m not cancelling to annoy you on purpose or anything. Trust me when I say I do feel a bit guilty. I’ll make up for it, promise.

Quote:Fine. You better! I’ll just eat some myself and take the leftovers to my kitties, they enjoy a nice bit of lobster.

Quote:Shocking 😒

Well, that was that for now. It was going to be a hearty yet lonely lunch for Angelica Vaughn, the so manieth… It would’ve been nice to get to share it with someone. For a second she considered asking Aveline, but Bordy took her meals in the solitary confines of her chambers atop the highest tower of the structure. That was *when* she was actually eating. She looked rail thin these days, barely more than skin on bones. But Angelica wasn’t going to meddle with her affairs, or offer any unwanted advice. Such things had never worked out in the past.

A few hours later
STA Ranch
On the borders of Lacklanland, Maine

Sarah had been silly to cancel, because the food had been great. Still, it meant that there was more than one unresolved issue still looming over her head, but Angelica couldn’t afford to get too distracted. It was on to the next title defense, and it was going to be a tough one. She was defending her title against the very same man she had taken the title from: Dionysus.

It had been a grueling bout back then, and Angelica was certain that it was going to be even harder this time. And a lot had happened since that particular Warfare. From what she gathered, the construction of Dio’s vineyard was well underway, and she realized how exciting a time that must be for him. It had inspired her to go take a look around her apple tree orchard which had seen a lot of use these past few days. Depending on the varieties, harvesting was well underway and the seasonal fruit pickers, a lot of them backpackers travelling through the area, had ensured that the cidery had plenty of work. It was the second year that the cidery was operational and last year’s product had been much improved upon, or so the cider makers had assured her. She decided to go take a look for herself.

The cidery was pretty state-of-the-art, but it still felt artisanal rather than industrial. The fermenting process was well underway, and Angelica was fascinated by it. Cider was very different from normal beer in that way, in that it was fermented apple juice, instigated by must. Beer was more about converting grain starch into sugar, and boiling the wort with hops. In that way, cider more closely resembled wine. She actually would love to visit Dionysus’ vineyard one day, as she was certain they could learn a bit from each other when it came to this stuff – both the process of making it, and the business aspect of it. Angelica wanted to put some actual cider on the market this year, and a few different varieties as well, from a strong, still, sour cider with some mother in it, to lower percentage sweet sparkling cider to be enjoyed on a hot Summer’s day, and even bottled apple cider vinegar. She was hopeful she’d get it done.

As she walked past the gigantic fermenters, she noticed a guy and a girl experimenting on something in the corner of the cidery. They were two college students (she thought they were a couple, but hadn’t asked) who had been passing through as backpackers and were helping with the fruit picking. They had asked if they could experiment on some stuff while they were here. Angelica hadn’t seen any harm in it, as long as it wasn’t crystal meth (they had assured her it wasn’t). She approached them.

”Hi there! Mark and Lucy, was it? What are you guys working on?"

The pair looked up from their work. They too, seemed to be involved with some ferments. Lucy was pouring some boiling water into what looked like glass bottles of tea leaves, allowing it to steep. Mark looked up from his work and waved at Angelica.

“Oh hi there, ma’am!”

”It’s miss."

“Apologies. We’re just getting ready to try another batch. We’re making kombucha for our project, but we want to make a green tea, still, sugar-free variant. Not as easy as it sounds, as you need sugar in order for it to ferment in the first place so we’re testing, testing, testing... And doing more tests.”

”Kombucha? I have a friend who LOVES that stuff!"

She was talking about Roxy Cotton, who was totally into health fads like that. Angelica didn’t much care for the drink herself, although Roxy had been sure to give her a detailed breakdown of the benefits for your gut health.

“She seems smart.”

”Oh errrr, yeah totes! Keep me updated on this, yeah? I’d love to give her a bottle as a gift when you’re done."

“Sure, but fermentation time for this one will take like 8 weeks, if our tests are even fruitful. But you got it, chief.”

”Thankies! Hey, what do you know about wine making? I mean, this cidery is pretty cool beans, but…"

“Oof. Wine, now that’s a whole different ANIMAL! Hard to make, even harder to get right. But when done properly, well… There’s a reason the best bottles of wine go for hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. Never tried making it myself though, you need some starting capital if you wanna go about that properly. Unlike this stuff, which anyone can make in their garage, technically. Why do you ask, miss?”

”Well, I have a… friend? Acquaintance. Colleague, let’s say. He’s constructing a vineyard, and is pretty serious about the whole thing. I thought it was pretty cool. I’m axly kinda jelly, tee bee aitch. Not that making cider isn’t amazeballz or anything, but making wine, that’s, as you say, a whole other animal."

Now it was Lucy who spoke up.

“Meh! I don’t like wine. It’s for snobs, if you ask me. People get so friggin’ uppity about it, as if they’re so much better than others. I cringe every time I see them do their wine tastings, what with the smelling and sniffing and tearing of the alcohol down the glass, and the corking and the spitting.”

Mark grinned.

“Lucy did a wine tasting course in college. She failed.”

“Whatever, dude!”

”I kinda get what you’re saying. Buuuuut I don’t think it’s wrong to have high standards for something you’re passionate about. I know I have high standards for the stuffs that I’m passionate about. I wouldn’t want the cider that has my name on it be anything but the best. Or, and perhaps even more so, I wouldn’t want to be anything but the best every time I step into a wrestling ring. Standards are important. Snobbery can be annoying that’s true, but if my mentors and teachers weren’t ‘snobs’, who pulled up their nose at a misplaced movement or slammed their first on the table on a poorly executed maneuver, then I wouldn’t be where I am today."

Lucy tightened a bottle that was ready to start its fermentation process and looked back at Angelica.

“Yes, I heard that this place was owned by an old wrestling family. Sarah Lacklan, Aveline Lacklan, and now you too. Pretty amazing, to be honest. And I get what you’re saying too, I hope I didn’t offend.”

”Not at all. Like you said, snobbery can be particularly annoying when it makes people think they’re better than you, and I don’t think that should ever be the case. Gatekeeping in particular is the absolute worst. And unfortunately, a lot of people who are very passionate about something also tend to not want others to enjoy it to the same extent that they do. I will never understand that, ever. Anyone who calls themselves a gatekeeper and is proud of it, well… I’m pretty sure they aren’t an agreeable person.

N-E-Ways, I should get going and leave you guys to it. I hope you’ll stay with us a little while longer! There’s a lot more fruit to pick in the upcoming weeks. If you need anything, you know where to find me."

Angelica left Mark and Lucy to their literal devices, and wandered off. All of this talk about wine and fermentation had given her some inspiration. After all, she was going to have to face Dionysus in a match stipulation of her choice, as was her prerogative as the Television Champion. And it was time to let the world know what it was.

”Hi-hiiiiiiii~! Angelica Vaughn is BACK with another #CoolTube episode! So strap in, Ang gang! Because today I am addressing none other than my upcoming opponent, the man, the errr… well, I’m sure he’ll be a myth or legend one day. You know who I am talking about, obvs, the FORMER TV Champion, Dionysus!

Okay, okay, eye dee kay why I emphasized the word ‘former’ like that. It wasn’t a dig, honestly. See, I like you, Dio. I really do. You get stuff DONE! You move along and in spite of all your obstacles and misfortunes, you always seem to find a solution. I know this ain’t much of a secret, but I have a lot of admiration for the work you’ve done with your vineyard. Would love to visit one day, axly!

Still, we can’t get past the elephant in the room, can we? Since I beat you for the TV title, you haven’t won a single match, while I have three successful defenses… under my belt? Is that where the expression comes from? Now, I will not hold this against you because at least two of those matches were multi-person matches where the odds were firmly stacked against you to begin with. But we can’t escape the fact that you come off the worst streak of your career, while I come off the best run in my XWF career.

Meaningless though, I know. After all, you beat Isaiah King for the TV title, something I was unable to do. And I know that you’ll feel like you have something to prove. I’ve heard you talk in the past about how you don’t let losses get to you, and I believe you, because you seem like you’re mentally strong enough to put almost everything in perspective. But boy, you can’t deny that winning’s just more fun. And losing isn’t something I ever want to get used to.

Now, we find ourselves at an interesting crossroads. I think you’re a highly capable individual, and it seems to me like beating you twice in a row almost sounds too good to be true. And it also seems to me like you’re too good a wrestler to put ANOTHER consecutive notch in your column of Ls. So yeah, I’m nervous as heck, not gonna lie. But the new me is someone who axly performs way better under pressure, rather than collapsing under it, as I often used to when I was younger.

Gosh, I make it sound like I’m so old.

N-E-Ways, what I’m saying is that you better come as prepared as I will be. I know that since War Games you’ve been hanging around with, like, three dudes who bear a striking resemblance to you, and I’m not sure what the dealio is there. Are they, like, your brothers or something? As someone whose sister is a former Universal Champion, I can only say that having your family work in the same company is an absolute blessing, but can also be a bit of a curse. I hope that, if they ever get into an XWF ring, they won’t be struck with accusations of being ‘Dionysus-light’ or something. I know I’ll never do that to any of you. I wish you and them the best of luck, truly.

But you’ll need more than luck to beat me, Dion. Because when thinking of a match stipulation I wanted it to be something original and fun. Just like the Connect Four, Gordon Ramsey Scrambled Egg, and Heck in a Sec matches. Before ‘Leap’, B.O.B. D made fun of me because I had chosen a match stip that was in his favor. Some might say I am once again tailoring this stipulation to my opponent.

Back in the olden days of wrassling, I often saw parts of the arena being used as an alternative location for a match. You know, parking lot brawls and the like. But one that always stuck with me was the boiler room brawl. But they seemed to spooky to me, what with all the steam escaping from the vents and stuff. And I don’t do spooky. So that’s why I am challenging you to the first ever ‘Wine Cellar Brawl’ in XWF history! Now, I don’t know whose wine cellar will be used for this, or where… I’ll leave that headache to Theo. Hmm, doesn’t Vinnie have a wine cellar? Just a thought!

Now I know you’ll be enough of a sport not to have your three… buddies? …brothers? … interfere, so I won’t be adding any kind of extra rules on top. Just know that you and I will be locked into a wine cellar and that anything inside of it can be used at will, although let’s try not to stab each other with broken bottles or glass shards, yeah? I’m sure that goes without saying, this is a TV title match between two opponents who hopefully respect each other, not Battle of the Edgelord and -lady. One three-count fall to the finish, pinfall or submission. It sounds so easy.

But it won’t be, for either of us. I’m coming at you with all I’ve got, because I have tasted success, and it has only whet my appetite. This TV title means a whole darn lot to me and I do not want to part with it any time soon. It is a testament to all the hard work and sacrifice I’ve put in. And if that means extending your losing streak even further, then so be it. You’re too good to keep it going for much longer, but I won’t be your salvation. I will be #Vaughnemous! See you soon, Dion!"

-fin-

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