A Sleepover Between Friends

[CaptainL]

"H-Huh..!?" When Sarabeth leaned in to pull Chelsea into a hug, it caught the blonde off-guard. Sputtering in shock, she sat up a little bit straighter - and a blush rose to her cheeks as she tried to pull herself away from Sarabeth's embrace. "'ey, 'ey! Wot's dat fe?! I na asked fe this-!" Did Sarabeth pick up on the anxieties and worries that had filled Chelsea's mind then and there? Was she really that obvious? If so, then Chelsea was letting her guard down - she couldn't let Sarabeth see her this way! The last thing she wanted was for the Young Lioness to see her actually feeling sorry for herself - she wasn't that weak and ridiculous! Just the thought that she'd let any hint of her true feelings show through was enough to make her wince, cursing her own ineptitude even more.

But...just moments later, catching her breath, Chelsea let out a sigh. The stiffness in her muscles eased as she breathed the tension out of her body, and she let herself sag forward, resting against Sarabeth's side. She sniffled a little again as she thought back on the hardships of her past - but, she reminded herself, she couldn't be afraid. Sarabeth was someone she could trust. She was a friend - Chelsea had, after all, felt close enough to her to share some of the deepest and most closely-guarded parts of her soul. She didn't do that with just anyone - so surely she could count on Sarabeth not to judge. In fact, it was because Chelsea had grown to recognize just how much she and Sarabeth had in common that she knew she would understand her struggles. Even before Sarabeth began to speak, Chelsea leaned in closer against her, her arms looping around the green-haired girl's sides as she pulled her closer to return the hug. She was someone she could rely on, after all.

"...Don't I know the half of it..." she sighed, thinking back to their tearful heart-to-heart in the pub, even if it had been brought on by a fair amount of drinks. "I know how that feels...like the whole world's against you, and how you can't shake that no matter how hard you try..."

A moment later, Chelsea looked off, and her grip on Sarabeth eased as she let out another sigh, drifting back a little in the process. "...o'course, it's not like I can say my life's anything like yours...I never had to fend for myself...I always had a home, I still had family that was supportive even if they were stupid...I've got it made compared to you. It's silly I'm even trying to compare the two of us, isn't it? I should just be happy for what I have..."

[Pegasus]

“What you mean compare yourself to me? Chelsea….you’re better than me. You’ve been in a tag team and you have your own gimmick now. Yeah, my dad is an accomplished professional wrestler and my stepmother used to be champion, but I’m still learning the ropes myself and I’ve only worked a handful of arena shows compared to what you and your sister have done. Me and Jessie lost our first tag team match so I’m behind you if anything in wrestling. You’re not as hopeless as you might make things out to be,” Sarabeth explained as she took off her hat.

“Maybe I’m ahead in music, but you never were given a chance. All because you have a little attitude. There’s places in music for that otherwise genres like heavy metal, hard rock, and rap wouldn’t exist. In fact, let me play a song that speaks to both you and me,” Sarabeth insisted as she grabbed the guitar gently from Chelsea and strummed a few strings to get a few notes going to handle the basics.

Sarabeth’s Song

[CaptainL]

"...I...guess when you put it that way..." Listening to Sarabeth's speech, Chelsea held a hand to her mouth. Those first impulses that came flooding to her mind told her to deny it - to snap back with some rebuttal that Sarabeth couldn't possibly understand, and that she was probably stupid for even trying to. But no matter what she wanted to say, what she knew, deep down, was that Sarabeth was right.

Thinking back on everything, she'd come a long way. She'd started out nursing the disappointment of a musical career that died before it could truly be born, and she'd only gotten into wrestling in an act of rebellion. But it was there that she'd hit her strides - and from there, she continued to grow. One of her first matches in LAW had led to her and her sister making it to We Are LAW. Sure, she lost, but in light of that, it was easy to lose sight of what really mattered - that she had made it to a PPV, and she'd given it her all in the process. There were plenty of wrestlers still stuck on the indies, where she'd started, who were still languishing. But Chelsea had beaten the odds. For however humble a place she might've come from, she was now achieving heights so many would've marveled at.

Even if she'd lost that match, too, it had skyrocketed the British Bunnies to fame, putting more eyes on them than ever before. It had been through that match that she had met her boyfriend, and the seeds were planted that would soon grow into the deepest and most affectionate love that Chelsea had ever been shown - and that she had shown anyone. She'd been on We Are LAW since, and that time she had won - and when she did, she was triumphantly carrying the banner of a new gimmick and a new team, and the people loved it. All of that started from that one loss - even the fact that she and Sarabeth were talking now, since it had been through George that she'd come to stay at the pub.

She was used to comparing herself to other people. To Molly, to Finella, and now to Sarabeth. But when she looked at the bigger picture...Chelsea was doing pretty well for herself, after all.

When Sarabeth began to strum the guitar, she looked up, her eyes meeting the Young Lioness's own. With every word of the song, she could feel the disappointment, the grief, and the loss that had dogged her at what seemed like every twist and turn in her life, and it made the tears well up at the corners of her eyes. But with every word, her smile grew a little wider, too. Somehow, Sarabeth had manged to capture her feelings perfectly - it was like looking into a mirror. To be able to do that, Chelsea knew, she had to know that disappointment herself. But that meant the two of them could see each other, and understand each other. And that made Chelsea feel closer to her than ever before.

"You know..." Chelsea scooted a little closer to Sarabeth, the grin widening across her face as she looked up to meet her eye to eye. She set her hand on the side of the guitar. Even if it had been Chelsea's, Sarabeth seemed to know how to play it almost by heart - like she understood. There was no doubt now. Chelsea wasn't quite sure of how or why, but the two were linked. "I think you and I could go places..."

[Pegasus]

Sarabeth listened intently to her father’s passages on how Chelsea felt casted out by the world. From what she listened to, Chelsea always seemed to want what others had. Her sister gaining popularity in her cosplaying and modeling days made her super jealous since that is what Chelsea wanted for herself in the wrestling ring despite the fact she was playing a foreign heel that despised other countries that weren’t England. Finella had seemed to also gain massive popularity by being her party wolf self and living up in the spotlight anytime she could as well as having a blood feud with Chelsea last year that was one of the highlights of We Are LAW V. Chelsea was desperate to show her up and be known as her equal by any means necessary. But Sarabeth thought of that one word. Equal.

It may have been just an ordinary night. Maybe play some music, spar on the bed, and go to sleep to wake up and just move on as business per usual. Maybe they hang out more, drink, play darts at the pub, and grovel in their drunken states, but Sarabeth knew this was becoming more than that. Chelsea may have had a boyfriend, family, and even a new wrestling gimmick to lean on for support, but the one true thing she truly didn’t have….is a friend….no….a true friend that understood her. Sarabeth never knew that she would be that missing connection.

The similarities in their lives were uncanny and they had lived similar lives to not being wanted. Chelsea being thrown out on the chance to be a musician and Sarabeth thrown out by her own mother for just wanting to have a complete family like the other kids. They both were robbed of something earlier in life and they had grown to hate the world for casting them aside. They both found coping methods with drinking and partying to satisfy themselves until reality sank back in. They both had a love for music to soothe their anger. Even if they had their own support systems, they never had anyone that really understood them.

“Holy shit…this is some fate talking we are doing. We literally have led the same shitty lives and just never had that one person that truly understood how we felt. We love the good things that came, but…all we really wanted was some recognition and some alikeness. Going places….does this mean what I think it does? Do you…wanna team up? Wrestling? Music? Both?” Sarabeth asked, making sure she was hearing things and explaining them correctly.

[CaptainL]

If there weren't enough reasons already to suspect that there was something between Chelsea and Sarabeth that linked their lives together, the two of them were having the exact same thought at the same time. Simultaneously, reflecting on where their lives had led them and how much they could see themselves in the songs they played, they came to the realization that the paths their lives had taken weren't all that different after all. They might've come at different times, and in different forms, but their lives echoed the same beats. They had both known the thrill of hope and the sting of disappointment. They had both been spurned by the solace they sought. But both could look back on it all and recognize that the worst was behind them - and that now, they were ready to move on, and move forward, to a future they both believed in. And in doing so...they had each other.

When Sarabeth said as much, Chelsea broke into a chortle. "Psshaw! Ye dun say? I've beun thinkin' de same thin', like! This oole time!" At first, she thought, it was absurd that Sarabeth could miss something so obvious - but then, she realized, the only reason she thought it was this obvious was a testament to how close a bond they had. If they so deeply felt each other, understood each other, that they were both able to arrive at the same conclusion at the same time, it meant there was something deeper holding them together. Something special. Like they were the friends they'd been looking for all this time.

In fact, when Sarabeth suggested that they team up, Chelsea was thinking just the same thing - and she flashed the green-haired girl a grin as she eagerly nodded her head. "Ye bet it does! On stage er in de rin', it doesn't matti, like. If de two o' us understand each uvver this well, we're gon'ter weerk evun better tergether than we ever could apart!" She flopped on her back onto the bed, a grin on her face as she pumped a fist in the air with excitement. Already, her mind was running through all the things she and Sarabeth could do together - standing side by side for a tag team with just as much connection and cohesion as she'd shared with Molly and George, or being the big break they always needed if they could get themselves a gig for a duet act. Maybe even both. God only knew Finella and...her had made it work.

Even thinking on her budding rivalry with Chris Yukine couldn't dampen Chelsea's spirits for long, though. "We're gon'ter need a boss name, ye nah. Firkin that'll sound juss gaffer wi' an announcer readin' it off."

[Pegasus]

Sarabeth had to ponder over what they would even call themselves. They both been excited to finally meet a kindred spirit that knew their struggles through life albeit through different ways of suffering. She really liked Chelsea and really wanted to know the blonde brawler more. Chelsea kicked lots of ass, drank like her life depended on it, and was just a riot to be around. Sarabeth tended to get looked down upon for leading a party girl and rebel lifestyle, but it’s what she coped with to escape her abandonment issues. She found her father, a new mother, and now, a new best friend hopefully forever.

“Time Jump? Like how my gimmick is all about steampunk and a hare can jump? Too complex! How about Clock Cleaners? Because we’re both brawlers? No, too stupid and basic! I’m not the best with names,” Sarabeth admitted to Chelsea with a chuckle.

[CaptainL]

Sarabeth and Chelsea might have been known for being rougher around the edges - for living life on the wild side, not being afraid to drink, get in fights, and make a scene. They were about the last people anyone would think of to turn into giddy giggling girls at a sleepover together - certainly Chelsea would never have seen that coming. But when they came together now, something clicked. Both of them could recognize just how much they really had in common, and how well they could bond with one another when they saw how much they could truly understand each other - their plights, their struggles, their regrets, and their hopes for the future. Now that both of them had come to realize they had all the makings of a perfect team, whether that was in the ring or on the stage, they were already jumping at the chance to plan out every step of their act! They were actually taking this seriously - they knew it could go somewhere! Chelsea was grinning from ear to ear as she leaned closer to Sarabeth, her body trembling with excitement. Already, she could see their names up in lights. Already, she could see them making magic!

"Time Jump isn't bad," Chelsea mused aloud, "but I dun think folks wul get it, like. Besides, Quantum Leap 'as a better rin' ter it. Clocks, rabbits, mm..." She needed some time to think over what connections she could draw with the two members' respective themes. But then, it hit her - and as though there was a lightbulb going off in her head, she sat up a little straighter, lifting a finger in the air. "'ow about Clockwork by a Hare?"

[Pegasus]

“That’s actually clever! I never would’ve thought of that name even if you took a hammer to my skull! We should probably think up some tag team finishers as well. Dad has shown me your matches and I know you have the Jackrabbit Jackhammer as well as the Stunner. We can probably combine the JJ with my Cuckoo Knee which is basically a running knee strike out of the corner,” Sarabeth suggested.

Sarabeth never knew that this would happen in all her years. She was pretty much convinced Jessie would be her tag team partner for life and even though she wouldn’t dare think to give up on The Steampunk Revolution, it was good to know she at least had a couple partners on deck to call upon should Jessie or her need a helping hand. There was her stepmother and her new best friend. Honestly, that was the best help Sarabeth could’ve ever dream to accept.

[CaptainL]

Now that Chelsea and Sarabeth had come together, it was like magic. They had that spark between them - they could see how much they had in common, how much they saw themselves in one another, and how it was that fact that was pushing them to their greatest potential. The ideas and the excitement alike were flowing freely, and the smile on the Englishwoman's face had only grown more and more with every pitch and proposal they traded. If they could work this well together already, then there was no doubt that they would prove themselves to be a dominant force in the ring!

"Perfect! Juss de bee's knees, dun. Dat's what we'll go with! Gizza five!" Chelsea held her hand out to slap a high-five to Sarabeth, grinning all the while. Sarabeth actually liked her ideas enough to sign off on them - that alone gave her the validation she had been craving. And that spark had soon lit another, as the two started planning out their tag manuevers with just as much gusto!

"Ooh, that's a good one, like!" Chelsea nodded her head. "I'm an 'igh-flyer, dough, so we'll need ter weerk wi' dat. Maybe ye could 'old one o' me opponents up ed yer shoulders, like, while I deck dem wi' me meteora. 'as ye ma taught ye about de terrte rack yet? Seems like it'd be a start. Actually, 'ow ay ye power moves? Astrid's nah doubt gon'ter teach ye dat, and Molly knows a few tew. So dat could lerrus adapt de tag moves I wuz already workin' wi', like."

[Pegasus]

“Power moves aren’t my speciality, but Alania Sanders was my first official established trainer so she taught me the basics. I can do bodyslams, powerslams, and even the occasional throw, but I’m more a high-flyer and showman through and through,” Sarabeth explained.

Chelsea and her being high-flyers did open up lots of possibilities for tag team moves so they were searching for gold in a field of silver. Sarabeth pondered over many other combinations they could do as she clapped her hands on a possible submission.

“Cage of the Cuckoo! It’s a Texas Cloverleaf with a little chokehold variation and I occasionally headbutted opponents in order to get a faster submission. You can lock in a Crossface and we can have a triple submission fest going,” Sarabeth suggested.