A Sleepover Between Friends

[CaptainL]

As Sarabeth discussed what she knew how to do in the ring, Chelsea nodded her head, giving the green-haired girl her full attention. Both of them were high-flyers. Chelsea knew that - she might've been more concerned with dishing out punishment than showing off, but she and Sarabeth definitely had more in common than they had in contast. And that meant that they'd be able to come together and take advantage of those similarities in order to make themselves an even stronger and more effective team. Just thinking about it, the Englishwoman could feel the smile growing across her face. The fact that Sarabeth was already coming up with names for their moves was just an added bonus!

"Ooh...I like dat. I bet ye dat if I grabbed de 'ead wi' a crossface while ye 'ad dem in de cloverleaf, like, that'd juss stretch de back evun 'arder. Hmm..." Thinking a moment longer, Chelsea scratched her chin. "Fe names, dough, we should come up wi' firkin dat suits us teams. 'ow about de Pocket Watch? Afti all, that's wha' de White Rabbit carries. Dat could be ye gettin' dem inna Nelson 'old and dun I come in wi' a 'ricanrana er a dropkick, like. Maybe evun an abdominal stretch..."

It was then that Chelsea paused again. Was she really getting this excited about plotting out how she'd conduct herself in a tag team with someone else? Coming up with moves and names for them? She suddenly felt like Molly, back when the two of them were planning out the British Bunnies. But if she was...maybe she could see now why her sister got so excited about the prospect of them teaming up. This was fun.

[Pegasus]

“If I have them in a full nelson, you can dropkick them in the chest and I hit a Nelson Suplex on them straight to the back! I also love the name of the Pocket Watch,” Sarabeth explained with a giddy grin. “Maybe we can adopt that Double Wheelbarrow Suplex you and your sister used to do. I know you both did it in England recently for old time’s sake, but it doesn’t need to stay gone forever.”

Sarabeth then took notice of Chelsea’s pondering look and smiled warmly. She knew that Chelsea hadn’t done this in a long while since she was convinced The British Bunnies were going to be a sure thing. That her and Molly would be a forever team. That her and Molly would be a household name.

“How does it feel? Knowing you two are going separate for now? You and your sister? Sure, you have reunions occasionally, but I’m sure it must suck that being a tag team isn’t in the cards anymore. I just want to feel like I ain’t replacing her,” Sarabeth pondered.

[CaptainL]

Now Chelsea could tell that she and Sarabeth were on the same page - they were bouncing ideas off of one another, and every pitch one of them had, the other had already figured out how it could fit into a bigger and more cohesive whole. They truly were of the same mind if they were finding it this easy to work with one another! When Chelsea nodded to Sarabeth's proposal for the Pocket Watch, the grin on her face was certainly influenced in no small part by the thought of them working together and putting their moves into practice, but it owed just as much to how easily they found themselves working together.

"Yis! That's sound!" Chelsea pumped a fist in the air. "De suplex at de end adds juss de sort o' punch we're gon'ter need, like. I like it." She nodded her head, too, as Sarabeth proposed reviving the double wheelbarrow suplex routine she and Molly had perfected. She already had plenty of practice with how to do it, after all, and if Sarabeth had learned from Tina, she was sure to have the expertise in power wrestling needed to make it hit hard. But Chelsea couldn't shake one thing - it reminded her of Molly. Of old times. Of the glory days of when they were together as a tag team - on the indies and in LAW - before they went their separate ways. And Sarabeth would only remind her all the more of that.

"I mean..." Chelsea's posture slouched a little bit as she let out a sigh, and the jubilant look on her face faded. Now, she was going to have to confront it all - how she and Molly had split up as a team, and how Molly's career had skyrocketed with the Superstars, leaving her older sister in the dust. There was a lot to think about in all of that, and it all weighed on her shoulders. But Sarabeth had summed up what Chelsea felt. That sense of melancholy, of loss and forlorn, and the way it made her feel so vulnerable - more vulnerable than she was willing to show a lot of people. But at least if there was anyone she could trust sharing this side of herself with...Sarabeth was it. The fact they had been this closely attuned said enough.

"...I'm not...really sure what to say. I'm happy for her, of course. She's living her best life with Harmonia. But I do miss working with her. Especially...feeling still like I'm coming in second place. I know I'm doing better than I was, and I've got the Mad Tea Party, but...it just doesn't compare to what she has, you know? Being such a sensation, main eventing shows...getting a GM role...it's hard not to feel like I'm second-rate..."

[Pegasus]

“I get it. You don’t have the confidence to just accept things as is and try to make the most of things. You don’t want to feel inferior. I get it, Chelsea. However,” Sarabeth began as she stood up and pleaded her case to her friend. “You shouldn’t let it bother you. Sure, your sister got some things going for herself, but now, you have your path to make your own big steps. Maybe they might not be as grand as Molly’s, but they’ll be yours. No one can take them from you.”

Sarabeth took her best friend’s hands in hers staring in her eyes.

“Not to mention, she found her new tag team partner. You got three.”

[CaptainL]

Letting out a long, low sigh, Chelsea bowed her head to the ground. Her shoulders deflated in a slump as she let the air out of her lungs, and her body sunk under the weight on her shoulders. She didn't even want to look Sarabeth in the eye - to do so, she knew, would mean she would have to confront the truth face to face, and she didn't know how ready for that she was. But the reason she was hesitant about confronting the truth...was that Sarabeth was right, and Chelsea knew it. She'd been able to see right through her, past the hardened exterior she tried to put up out of fear of being weak, and she could recognize the real Chelsea. The part of her that she didn't want people to see. She didn't want people to see how weak she could be, or how silly the things she'd let herself worry about were, or how much better she should've been than this. But it was because Sarabeth understood Chelsea that she could see all of that. She understood - and she didn't judge. She was...the best friend Chelsea could ask for.

She sniffled, but she looked back up at Sarabeth as she took her hands. She blinked a few tears out of her eyes, but when her gaze settled on the green-haired girl, the smile steadily returned to Chelsea's face. Once again, she didn't need to question anything of what Sarabeth was telling her - she already knew it all to be true. Sarabeth knew. She understood her. Chelsea could rely on that. And when she thought back on it all, it only told her that much more how right Sarabeth was. She really had made leaps and bounds compared to where she'd started. She had a boyfriend now, a place of honor at the pub; she had a new gimmick, a team where she was bigger and better than ever, and fans who loved her for it. Maybe she wasn't as famous as Molly was now, but she couldn't deny that she was in a much better place than she was. And perhaps some day...there was still a chance. If she'd come this far already, who was she to say there wasn't?

Taking a moment to blink away some more tears, Chelsea smiled a little wider, and her hands gripped tighter at Sarabeth's own as she leaned in close. "...You're right," she said. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't doubt myself so much. Not when I have people like you who believe in me...I should be better at that, too." She bit her tongue - was she blaming herself again? She really did need to kick that habit...

But there was something else that stuck with Chelsea. "'old on...tree? I get Jud, and ye, but oo's de third..?"

[Pegasus]

Sarabeth looked at Chelsea with a friendly smile as she was glad to make her feel better. She knew all too well about how it felt to be casted out by the world. When her mother kicked her out for seemingly no other reason, Sarabeth felt like she was never going to be a good daughter. Her anger and abandonment issues started creeping in when Kary didn’t give a shit about her no more when all Sarabeth wanted was to find out who her dad was. Sarabeth was never good at controlling her emotions and largely partied to control her anger as well as get her mind off things, but she could at least know she could vent around Chelsea and have a shoulder to cry on for her own problems.

Though, Chelsea picked up on Sarabeth saying she had three partners and Sarabeth cleared her throat to elaborate.

“What was her name again? Finella? I saw you two teaming on Absolute Zero and she seemed happy to tag on your side. I think you guys have no hard feelings for each other. There’s also that Ryan guy, but I don’t know if you guys have ever teamed. I guess Molly counts too if you guys reunite here and there.”

[CaptainL]

Chelsea leaned back against the wall as she listened to Sarabeth's answer. Her gaze turned upward, and she studied the ceiling, staring out into space. But the more she listened to what the green-haired girl had to say, the more a smile began to creep wider and wider across her face. She had never really understood it until Sarabeth put it into words...but she really did have more partners out there than she was used to realizing.

There was the time she and Finella had teamed up, yes. It might not have gone quite the way Chelsea had wanted it to, but it still meant something monumetal; that she and Finella had, after so long and bloody a rivalry, been able to put aside their differences and work together. So too, she had Ryan; the fact they'd bonded so much just a few hours earlier in the pub meant they, too, understood each other, and that they had the connection to make a teamup work, if they were to put their heads together and make that a reality. Then there was Jonathan and William and everyone else who had shown up to support her, and Karl, who had made it perfectly clear that he was a part of Mad Tea Party just as much as Chelsea and George were. The more she thought about it, the more names rose to her mind. Chelsea had grown used to thinking that she was alone - that it was just her and Molly and George, and it was them against the world. But she had more people on her side than she could ever imagine. People who cared about her; who understood, and who wanted to see her succeed. It wasn't just partners she had in the ring, but in life. Chelsea wasn't alone. She was more sure of that now than ever.

Chuckling to herself, she adjusted herself so that she was reclining against the wall, her hands propped up behind her head. This time, when she looked back at Sarabeth, it was with a satisfied smirk on her face. ''ey now," she joked - and she laughed a little to her own joke - "dat's more than tree!~"

[Pegasus]

Sarabeth saw how happy Chelsea seemed to get realizing she was never truly alone. Sure, Chelsea had her gruff side and her tendency to try and start any fights- whether drunk or sober depending on the customers that came to the pub. However, it is what made her human and as a human, she was going to be flawed just like anyone else and have her own inner demons to conquer. That’s what life was like for Sarabeth. While her childhood was as normal as it could get and Kary proved willing to be a single mother working multiple jobs to keep food on the table and Sarabeth in public school, her mother was a terrible and abusive partner to her dad. The person Kary tried keeping her away from. Who Kary tried convincing Sarabeth that he was just some runaway drunk that she could’ve taken to court any day of the week. Who Kary tried convincing Sarabeth that he didn’t want her.

That single thought alone brought back her abandonment issues as Sarabeth grew breathless. She covered her mouth trying to fight back her own tears and was on the verge of having a panic attack. Being with Chelsea seems to have stirred the boiling pot inside of her. Sarabeth was a reactive and emotional person. That was her own flawed approach. Being undoubtedly flawed was a trait they both shared.

“Sorry! Sorry! It’s just…..eh….sometimes I wished my biological mother could’ve just been like Astrid. Trust me, I’m happy for the family I got, but….when I think of the woman who birthed me. Kicked me out. Kept dad’s identity from me. Sometimes, I wish that she was just a better person even if her and dad didn’t work out. But no, she’s off banging some poker player living off his fame playing fucking cards. Instead of taking care of her damn daughter and being at her high school graduation or any of her matches! No, she decides to kick me out and I’m in an orphanage. Sorry….I just….hate that woman with all my heart,” Sarabeth admitted wiping her crying eyes with her sleeve.

[CaptainL]

For a moment, Chelsea giggled to herself at Sarabeth's response, thinking back to how she'd listed off more names than she'd alluded to earlier. But the next moment, the smirk on her face fell into a frown, as she immediately regretted it. Chelsea knew there was a time to get serious, and this, no doubt, was one of those times. Sarabeth knew what it felt to feel so alone, too - so unwanted and scorned by the world. It was just another reason she saw so much of herself in Chelsea, and another reason Chelsea couldn't help but feel like she was growing closer and closer to her the more she learned about her, and the more they shared in each other's company. If anything, Sarabeth had it even worse. Chelsea had always wanted the attention and the admiration of her fans. No matter how much she told the world that such ties would only make her weak and soft; that she was only in it for herself - deep down, she yearned for the sort of praise that her sister got. But at least she had her family. Sarabeth was seeking that attention from her own flesh and blood.

The more Chelsea heard Sarabeth bring up all the bad memories, and all the scorn and soreness in her heart, it made the frown on her face tighten more and more. It wasn't fair, she thought. No one should've been so callous to their own child. No one should have to feel pushed aside by the reason they'd even come into the world in the first place. That Sarabeth had to go through all that...it made a shudder run through Chelsea's spine, and her muscles wavered with the urge to punch something. But she reminded herself, then, that that would do her no good. She'd already learned as much - there was no use in being so angry when you could be grateful instead. Instead, she threw her arm around Sarabeth's side, pulling her closer.

"Oi, listun...yeah, dat bird sounds like a real piece o' weerk, like. But ye nah wha'? Fook 'er! We dun need ter worry about 'er any more. She's outi de picte. You're goin' better places. You're livin' yer best loife. And some dee..." Chelsea leaned in even closer to look Sarabeth in the eye. "Some dee, you'll be ed terp o' de wirld, and she'll see de fame and success she could only dream o' in ye - and she'll be sorry, I'll tell ye wha'."

Then, drawing back, Chelsea paused a moment later before winking to Sarabeth with a smirk. "And whun dat 'appens...I'll be thuz wi' ye. Ye can count on it."

[Pegasus]

Sarabeth smiled as Chelsea drew her closer and hugged her best friend tightly. It’s been awhile that she has been able to have a strong female force in her life and while Astrid, Jessie, and Matilda filled many roles that Sarabeth needed, Chelsea was different. They were like long lost sisters that got separated at birth. It felt like there was suppose to be a third Forster in their family and a little bit of Sarabeth wished that was actually possible. She knew Chelsea and Molly were born into a rather well-off family so getting adopted into that family would’ve been rather special for her life, but these were just thoughts in the moment. Sarabeth wouldn’t trade her family with Will and Astrid for the world.

“Thanks, Chelsea. I just have so much shit bottled up from my past that it’s hard to not slip into hating that bitch. I’m trying to get better at it now that I have my father and stepmother in my life. And you in addition to them. So thank you, bestie.”