Young, Beautiful, and Bad Ass

Taylor's toes curled in anticipation while she waited for the video to load. Her laptop was perched on the arm of the couch and her legs were tucked up next to her so that she lounged on her hip, and her hands were clutched together from inside the sleeves of her sweatshirt. After many long seconds she realized that she had to click play.

With her tongue unconsciously sticking out of the corner or her mouth, she clicked.

The video showed a sweat-glazed Taylor in a long, dark room, looking totally ripped in just a black and orange sports bra and small running shorts, with matching knee socks and black sprinting shoes with a florescent orange splash down the side, red-streaked blonde hair in her signature pigtails, standing with her hands on her hips. Big dramatic lights came on behind her as music began, and got down to situate her feet into starting blocks and take her sprinter's set position. The camera work was close and dramatic, careful to get every provocative angle of her superlatively athletic body, and when she was ready, she lifted her head and her fierce blue eyes stared into the camera for a split second.

On the first drum hit of the song, she launched herself off the blocks and into a full sprint, but in the slowest of slow motion, at a billion frames per second. Every detail of her body was shown in crystal clear, breathtaking, color-corrected high definition video, every muscle visibly fired in concert with the rest, in a symphony of peak physical shape and athletic ability.

At the end of her run, closer to normal speed, she deftly threw her body into a one-armed cartwheel and a spectacular flash kick back flip, and landed in a dramatic crouch, one arm out behind her. As she stood up and put her hands on her hips, the words were superimposed one at a time "Fast", "Fierce", "Phenom", followed by the Phenom Athletics logo center screen while Taylor cracked a lopsided grin in the background, and a quick fade out.

Taylor squee'd.

"Eeee! Morg!" She called out to her friend and personal assistant and former mortal enemy. "Morgan! Did you see the thing?"

She set the laptop on the coffee table and sprung up to go find the redheaded Irish lass. "Did you watch the thing? Wasn't it so bad ass? And I found it all by myself."

Morrigan had been in the kitchen with her lap top open. She was doing some work when Taylor showed up. "Huh? What?" It didn't register at first, but Taylor's enthusiasm sparked her memory.

"Oh, yeah, it was good. Slow motion and shite." She paused and smiled at Taylor. "Companies have a bigger special effects budget than most Holywood studios. It's crazy. Not that those idiots know what good special effects are anyway..."

Morrigan tilted her head. I think they are running in the states, not here, though." Morrigan said with a frown. "Cunts still think it's best to keep it that way."

"It's not?" Taylor cocked an eyebrow. "Well... Whatever, I guess. Still pretty cool. Like, that's a big deal. Even people who don't know about wrestling are going to see me on TV now. Back home, I mean. Like, I wonder what mom will think..."

She trailed off, her eyes lingering on the floor while her thoughts drifted to her long abandoned mother. She shook her head and grinned again.

"I'm pretty bad ass, though."

She hopped into a chair by Morrigan and slouched low in it with her legs propped up on the table. "So, let's make it official. I'm back. Everything's a go. We've got this big shiny title to defend, and I'm sure you've been pretty busy. How's everything look? And do you need anything?"

"Heh, welcome aboard, captain." Morrigan said, rolling her eyes. "I didn't take a break just cause you hopped over the pond, but..." She paused and looked at Taylor. "I've gotten all the usual stuff and I got a call from... Mercy..."

Morrign raised an eyebrow. "I knew she got canned but... she's working for L-" Morrigan stopped and took a breath and narrowed her eyes. "What the fuck!?" She said and stood up, pointing at Taylor like it was her fault. "If I didn't know any better, I figured you were setting this up as some kinda joke. This ain't funny, bitch." She said in a low growl.

Morrigan waved her hands in the air in exasperation and flopped down in her chair. "Sorry, sorry, sorry!" She quickly said, motioning with her hands that she was taking everything back. "But, seriously, what the fuck!? Did you know about this? It was weird as shite so I didn't really believe it. I only listened to her cause of how ridiculous everything was and for her to start saying how it was all a big joke!"

Taylor's smile faded, but she didn't get upset.

"Eaaasy, killer."

She sighed heavily and let her head roll to the side like it was too heavy to hold up. She had sort of been hoping Mercy would come to her senses and the whole thing would just go away.

"Well... She told me," Taylor admitted, and was quick to follow up before Morrigan could get mad again. "We met for tea and I totally lost my shit. I smashed a tea cup against the wall, like, in public, but I don't think it was too big a deal. I cleaned it up and paid for it and stuff. But like... I dunno." She leaned back and folded her arms, and fixed Morrigan with a serious gaze. "We had a lot going on, and to be honest I was too disgusted to being it up. I was hoping she would change her mind, but..."

She trailed off for a moment, but then the thought struck her. "Wait, what did she call about?"

Morrigan raised her eye at Taylor's explanation. It made sense and sounded very Taylor-ish, so she decided to just begrudgingly accept it. She didn't LIKE it, but she accepted it.

"Mercy said that 'Ms. Luvve' said that you had offered her a title shot upon your regaining of the title from 'Ms. Conway' and now she was asking if that offer still stands."

Morrigan shook her head. "it's bullocks but... she did act professional." Morrigan admitted.

Taylor raised her eyebrows and nodded soberly. "Yeah, it went kinda like that," she said thoughtfully. "I think I said that... I don't really remember. I said I could see myself defending the belt against her, if Kelly's thugs didn't fuck up that match for me."

She stared off into space while she tried to make sense of how it must work for Morrigan, talking to her about fighting her ex-lover. She and Morrigan had a good relationship now, and Morg was a professional, surprisingly enough, but still she must have been so conflicted. It bothered Taylor when she didn't show it.

"Well, shit, man, I'm up for it if she is. I know we only have so much sway with the company to make these things happen, but I'll fight her no problem. Like... is that cool?"

Morrigan raised an eyebrow at Taylor when she finished. She'd make it happen if that's what Taylor wanted, but she wanted to clarify things.

"Why wouldn't I be cool with you beating that cunt's face in?" She said and turned her head away, frowning. "She's the same as ever. Maybe worse so. She's found some new cunt anyway. It's. Over." Morrigan said and crossed her arms. "I just wish it was me in there instead of you." The red head added.

Taylor held up her hands, palms out, for a truce. "Whatever, man. Shit's complicated and stuff, and you don't have to act like, well... whatever."

She shrugged. She wished there could be some kind of resolution with the whole thing, for Morrigan's sake, but Taylor's continued professional relationship (to put it gently) with Brittany made it impossible to forget about it. She felt awful, on a personal level, but she had no problem fighting Brittany.

"Okay, so set it up. Has the company said anything about it? Like, about the title. I just assumed they'd have contenders and stuff jumping through hoops for a shot."

"A cunt?" Morrigan said, grinning.

"Well, I kidna am but I'm not mad at you. Like I said, I just wish I could kick her ass myself. I'll contact Mercy though. The company's sent me some things but..." She paused. "Well... she's on the list anyway." Morrigan said, not referring to Brittany by name.