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The suppressed crunch of popcorn is louder in Solace's ear than it is to Lien or Katia, letting the saliva soften it's texture before chewing as to not disrupt Katia's scary story. Lien grips one of Solace's green futon pillows trying not to be too obvious, but with her attention following each of Katia's words, she surrenders her pride to cope. "When night fell upon the village..." Katia continues in a thick Russian telling of an old Russian tale, "The little girl waited until her mother and father had drifted to sleep and then quietly and carefully snuck out from her bedroom window..." With her hands in a slow lifting motion, Katia builds suspense as Lien and Solace's hearts begin to race. "The moon so full, it lit the face of the forest well enough to see from her cottage fence..." Katia goes on, "But upon her entrance, zee moon's narrow light only squeezed through the thick, dark trees enough to remind her of a world outside of this abyss she now roams." "This is getting goooood" Solace is excited, peering over to Lien who is on the verge of biting her bottom lip off from behind the top of the pillow. "So..." Katia brings their attention back, "As she wanders in the direction she had previously heard the cackle, beyond the known path, a startling SWOOSH!" Katia throws her arms abruptly, sending Lien up into the air. "Stop that!" Lien warns her, Solace chuckles, as Katia smiles before returning to the story. "A small animal, surely, she assumed... but then, a howl from the distance echoes to her, AWOOOOO!!!" Solace and Lien begin to laugh at Katia's sound effects, when suddenly, in their own environment, the sudden and deep barking of a dog begins outside of the sliding glass window near their slumber party. Each of the three girls nearly jump to the ceiling with a unified scream of terror bouncing off the walls leading up to the stairwell. "Jesus Christ!" Solace holds her chest to feel her heart before smiling. "Ducky almost gave me a heart attack!" Lien throws her pillow at Solace. "Yeah, like because it's my fault!" Solace laughs before getting up and moving towards the counter of her apartment's kitchen, "Pause! my wittle baby just wants a tweet." As she opens a container of biscuits. "Her baby is a devil." Lien whispers to Katia. "I heard that!" Solace says, opening the sliding door to be greeted by a young German Shepherd, "Hey baby, you see a wabbit out there? You want a doggy treat? Speak. C'mon speak! Okay, here..." "He will never learn if you give in so easily!" Katia advises Solace. "I knooooow..." Solace says, "But he's just so cute! Okay, come in now." Ducky, with great excitement rushes right for Lien with desperate kisses before jumping to Katia to do the same. "Ducky!" Katia screams, "Get down!" "Okay, boy," Solace returns to her spot on the couch, "Down, down..." He grumbles a bit before dropping his paws to the soft beige carpet, dropping his belly down, and lastly his head on one of Lien's sneakers as a pillow. "Okay, where was I?" Katia asks, "Little girls in dark woods. Okay, so, the howling wolf made the little girl think twice about this adventure, but she was already in too deep to turn back now." "No, she ain't!" Solace says, "Turn back little girl!" "Hush." Katia says, "She felt as if the trees were beginning to whisper around her... and the moon's little light had all but diminished... the branches reaching like sharp fingers to snatch her for the wood's evil witch when she smelled a fire in the air. She knew she was close..." Solace and Lien, despite Ducky's interruption, have somehow become engrossed once again in Katia's haunting story, the tension that had been relieved had now returned, and in the air of their slumber party was a sense of dread as Katia surgically weighed each new word with horrible suspense. "The overgrown brush stood before her, and beyond it, she could see the flickering of orange light just on the other side." Katia leans closer to them, they lean back farther away, Ducky whimpers. "She uses her frail little arms to separate the thick branches to each side as she pushes her petite body through the blockage, and then she sees it... a small wooden cottage held high as the tree tops by two chicken legs..." "Wait, what?" Solace's sense of dread dies immediately. "The little girl knows the stories were true..." Katia continues, ignoring Solace, "The evil witch Baba Yaga was real... right in front of her innocent young eyes, presumably in that very house with smoke bellowing out from the chimney." "The chicken leg house..." Solace remarks. "As the little girl only begins to realize this is not a bad dream," Katia continues, "She finds herself unable to move a single limb even as her mind tells her to run. Even as the witches door begins to creak open to reveal the flickering fire from an inside fireplace. Even as Baba Yaga herself appears in that very doorway, noticing the young girl... all of a sudden, she leans towards the outside of the door... a distance so high above the little girl and yet, the threat seemed real enough to be an inch away... Baba Yaga extended her long, skinny arm out and pointed a sharp, eroding finger nail right at the girl before letting out a demonic cackle... HAHAHHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAH" Solace begins laughing so hard that popcorn ejects from her mouth. Katia laughs too, "You like??" Katia asks, taking a long sip of wine from her neglected glass, Lien, paralyzed in terror. "Are you kidding me, Minky?" Solace utters out between laughs, "That shit scared you?" "Hey, it is a very scary story." Katia defends the tale, and Lien. "You had me until Baba Yaga lived in a KFC." Solace laughs, "That was whack." "Okay, okay..." Katia admits, "It is very old, but it is very traditional for Russian folklore." "Can we do something... not scary now?" Lien asks. "C'mon, it's a slumber party!" Solace grabs Lien's shoulder, "You used to like these stories." Lien just gazes at Solace with a fiery glare. "Fine, I have something 'not scary' we can do..." Solace says, "I'll be right back." Solace gets up, her pink adult Lion King pajamas covered in half chewed popcorn, and disappears into the hallway. Lien and Katia can hear her opening up a closet from where they sit, finishing off the first bottle of red wine they collectively are sharing. Solace comes back with a board game sized box in her hands, "Okay, so last week in the IIW break-room, I 'borrowed' this. "You stole a game from their breakroom?" Katia asks. "Well, I mean... nobody said anything." Solace defends it, "They also didn't really know, but whatever." "Okay, what is it?" Katia asks. Solace drops down, the top of the box now comes into view, "THE COVEN: OUIJA BOARD" "Oh, hell no." Lien dismisses it immediately. "Because it's an Ouija board? or because it's Coven related?" Solace smiles. "I don't do dark magic." Lien crosses her arms. "Really? After everything you endured in your life? This is the line?" Katia says, baiting Lien. "No!" Lien gets mad, "I told you no more scary shit." Lien gets up and exits the slumber party furiously. "Angry drunk." Katia says, sipping her glass again. "Ah well." Solace says, grabbing the board and tossing it over the back of her shoulder and onto the floor with a thud. "If it's Coven, it's probably boring anyway." "Don't they have like a sitcom or something?" Katia asks. "Yeah, for some reason." Solace rolls her eyes. "We should watch it." Katia suggests, covering her mouth as she laughs. "Oh my god, can you imagine?" Solace says, "I'd rather watch Bewitched." "I'm serious, we should..." Katia reaffirms her suggestion, "It would be funny. Plus, you are facing Mercedes so, size her up a bit." Solace tries to resist the idea, but Katia knows her too well. "Size her uuuUUUuuuup" Katia baits her, knowing Solace enjoys the process of studying her opponents. "Fine!" Solace says, reaching to her side table for the TV remote. Ducky jumps up at the sound of Netflix's intro logo and moves towards the door once again. "Seriously?" Solace asks, huffing as she gets back up to let Ducky out for the second time, "No barking." As she slides the door shut and returns to her seat. Katia switches her seat to join Solace facing the same direction. "Here we go." Solace clicks The Coven's show on the menu and hits play. As the show begins... so does the girl's drunken commentary. "Insanely Insatiable Witches..." Katia reads from the screen, "Oh, like I.I.W. I see." "You ever see Blair Witch Project?" Solace asks Katia, "It's lit." "That is the one with the... shaky shake?" Katia asks, "I don't like that." "Sh SH, there she is..." Solace sees her soon to be opponent, "Miss Debonairrre." "...Did she just say she's going to put a HEX on that guy?" Katia asks. "First of all, I thought this was going to be a comedy show... but reality TV. Great idea, Katia..." Solace is annoyed. "Seems like comedy to me..." Katia quips. "So, she not only has a film crew follow her uninteresting ass around for some reason, but it documents her... being a... does she think she's a witch? like a real witch??" Solace looks at Katia concerned. "Maybe she is?" Katia smiles back, "Maybe she put a hex on you!" Just then, a picture frame behind the girls falls off of the wall and down to the carpet with a thud, prompting both women to quickly turn and look. "That was... weird." Solace's eyes widen. "The Hexxxx" Katia's eyes widen before both begin to chuckle, returning their attention to the TV, "So that's her Dad?" "Dude, I don't know... this is so boring. If you in a witch mood we could put on The Craft or something... you ever see that?" Solace begs, "Or like... anything else?" "Hush, I am very invested..." Katia drinks a gulp of wine, "Aw, he calls her Mercy." "I feel like I'm watching the Kardashians." Solace's head falls into her open palms, clearly restless, "This isn't even the fun kinda bad, it's the bad kinda bad and there isn't enough wine." "It's been a few minutes..." Katia reminds Solace. "That only boldens my point!" Solace laughs. "Ooooh... Darius is in trouble." Katia mutters, "I bet she puts a hex on him as well." "I don't have a hex on me..." Solace insists. "Like Baba Yaga..." Katia taunts Solace again. "Shut up." Solace has decided that she must enjoy wine now from the actual bottle. "Wow... worst camera crew ever." Katia says. "I know right," Solace reacts, "She straight up said don't come in, and they recorded that shit anyway. Woooow" "Aw, her brother called her Mercy too..." Katia swoons. Suddenly, one of Ducky's tennis balls rolls off of the counter seemingly on it's own... "...Ducky?" Solace knows he's outside, and there's nobody in the kitchen, "Yo... for real... what the hell?" "I told you, Sol..." Katia leans in to her side, and tries to whisper "Hexx" but begins choking in Solace's ear before starting a full blown coughing fit. "Good!" Solace laughs, "that's what you.." Suddenly, from out of no where, Lien with a pillow case over her head jumps up from behind the girls sitting on the couch with a loud roar, sending both Katia and Solace off their butts and down to the floor, wine spilling all over the couch. Lien removes the pillow case from her head as she stands proudly over her horrified friends. "It was Lien allllllll along!" Lien sings, "You never saw it coming, did you! Be honest!" Solace and Katia look at each other as they lay on the ground. "The frame? The ball?" Solace asks. "All me!" Lien, "I wasn't scared of that Baba Yaga story, it was a ruse!" "You're such a witch!" Katia laughs, climbing back up to the couch, but Lien has her finger pointing passed them both to the TV. "What?" Solace asks, curious. "Oh my god..." Katia points at the TV, "It's us!" Solace turns to see her face included along with Katia and Lien in what looks like an about-to-be seance with the Triumvirate as the subject of witch craft. "Maybe she's going to hex you too!" Solace laughs at Katia. "This is not funny!" Katia is worried, "What is this freak doing with our pictures?" "A promo." Lien says, rolling her eyes, "She can't actually hex you... can she?" "She's speaking in Latin... it's a hex!!!!!" Solace shouts, intentionally trying to stir up a drunken Katia. They watch, as one by one, MJ addresses each member of the Triumvirate, and with each comment made, with each insult dealt, the trio grows more aware of what seems more and more like less of a challenge, and more of a threat. The alcohol inside of each of them burns their blood hot, and the fear they had inflicted on one another has dissipated, replaced with furious contempt, and most of all, this slumber party of fun-loving friends has turned into a war room as they, like predators on the field, survey their inevitable prey... and the prey is strutting around as if the target on their back thus far was anything to compare to being in the Triumvirate's crosshairs, let alone Solace Tatum's. When Mercedes' promo ends, the ferocity perseveres, leaving each woman feeling their own type of aggression, but Solace, being the most competitive, feeling each heart beat pulsing through her body. The lens of her world narrows into a laser beam of purpose, and in an instant, her fun-loving style is folded up and slid into her back pocket, truly living up to her moniker of "The Quiet Storm"; as something terrible brews within her. Before anything can be said between the girls, a bang outside of the window is loud enough to catch their attentions, although, this time, they aren't startled as much as ready. Hoping there was a threat, hoping Baba Yaga was outside so they could break down those legs and burn her house to ash, that quick... their instincts became fight, instead of flight. "Funny, Lien." Solace says, "You set up something outside too?" Suddenly, Ducky begins to bark unlike anything Solace has heard before, this bark was desperate and violent, it seemed real this time... something more than just a passing bunny, or wanting a treat. "That... wasn't me." Lien informs them. "Let's go..." Katia stands up, Solace and Lien join her, and the three head for the door, Ducky still going crazy on the other side of it. When Solace slides open the door, she sees Ducky barking upward at the second floor balcony of her own apartment. "What is it?" Solace approaches her new dog, "What is it, boy? Something up there?" As the girls reach Ducky, they look and find two chicken legs hanging from her balcony, Armani shoe on one foot, the other, torn up beneath Ducky's barking body. "Jesus Christ!" Solace is no longer in a fighting stance, and instead, turns away completely annoyed. Katia and Lien move passed her to take a look for themselves and when they realize who it is, they too become annoyed. "Tiger?" Lien asks, "What the hell are you doing?" "Help me! Please!" Tigran begs from above them, clinging onto dear life as Ducky tries to bite his dangling feet. "He's a creeper." Solace says, "Probably trying to peep on us." "No! No! I swear!" Tigran denies, "I was coming back from gym and this dog tried to attack me! it's a beast!" "Yes you are!!" Solace crouches down and awards her puppy with praising pats on her head. "Please, let me down!" Tigran begs. "Hold up..." Solace says, pulling her phone out and holding it out in front of her, making sure as she sets up her video, Tiger is seen hanging in the background. "Now, be quiet!" Solace says as she hits record. "Hi MJ. Great show, really, I'm so glad we made the latest episode, might help you get some viewers... in retrospect, my advice is... advertise! Otherwise, nobody is going to bother watching it, we just happened to turn it on to laugh at you and were pleasantly surprised to find our pretty faces becoming the highlight of the most grueling hour of TV I have experienced... and that's saying a lot considering it's NETFLIX... AND I was drunk! I'm telling you, a reality show about a witch sounds great on paper... but after seeing it play out, it comes off more like the cast of Charmed but has the charm of the cast of "Heil Honey, I'm home." Solace shakes her head to confirm, it had zero charm. "Is this what you do with your precious time? You set up tray tables with black sheets you probably found at Goodwill, and talk gibberish at our headshots from the IIW website? That's cool, I guess... but instead of casting a spell on your show, maybe you should start casting some talent for your show because from what I've watched, you must be paying Netflix to keep that garbage on the air... I know it's not viewership. I'd rather watch Sabrina the Teenaged Witch upside-down, and in reverse before having to watch a show, let alone teaser for another one of those "Insanely Insatiable Witch" productions. " Solace tries not to laugh before regaining her composure. "I will say though, as far as witches are concerned, you are not a wicked one, you said some pretty nice stuff to my girls here... nicer than I thought you'd be, which is kind of surprising considering you threaten to put hexxes on people for standing too close to you. But me? Well, now you got my attention. But, nonetheless, you came off professional... and genuine. That's about the end of any niceties I have to offer you, though... so, let's just get you up on this stake for First Class so I can burn through another round of the Queen of the Ring Tournament..." Solace mimics igniting a lighter. "Speaking of stakes, I don't feel like our match is quite so high, in terms of competition. Now, don't misinterpret that comment as 'oooh she's underestimating me' No, no. I don't underestimate anyone, that's what fools do... instead, I measure you up completely, I size you up, and know the ins and outs of just who Mercedes Debonair is. I saw you tried to do the same for me, but you made some errors I'd like to address for you..." Solace puts up a finger as if starting a list. "You know why I'm called "The Quiet Storm"? Because no matter how much shit you talk, no matter how much shit you think you know, and no matter how prepared for me that you think you are... even still, you aren't gonna see me coming. They never do... you see, a quiet storm doesn't make itself obvious with loud thunder, it doesn't light up the sky with lightning from miles away, it waits until it's right on top of you... then, it's too late to take shelter. Too late to sound the alarm or put on a rain coat... it just IS what it IS, and what it's gonna be for you, MJ, is disappointment, embarrassment, and an outcome that will leave you humbled." Solace's lifts up two fingers now, continuing her list. "As far as my training, Sabrina, well, don't you worry about that. That mat is my operating table, and you'll find out first hand come First Class. Then we can talk about WOW factor. I'm not really wowed by your abilities so far, not in the ring, not on the screen, I mean, you're no Elizabeth Olsen or anything... just sayin'. Anyway, you talk your talk, but talk is cheap... so, I'm not going to bother whipping out google translate to decipher what you're saying about us, because truthfully, if what you said in English was any indication of it's substance or cleverness, I'm just going to assume you are using that time to let your brain process the next string of poorly construed insults. With that, I'll leave you tied up here on that metaphorical stake until Wednesday, but I will leave you with one final note... " Solace lifts three fingers up. "
If you want, cast some runes around the IIW ring... burn some sage,
have your black cat stroll back and forth around it, I'll even snip
some of my hair off for you to speak in tongues at it until your face
turns blue... it doesn't matter what you do, or how you do it because
whether you're a real witch or a fake witch, when you step into the
squared circle with "The Quiet Storm" Solace Tatum, you'll
melt on your broomstick trying to outmatch me at my craft... get ready,
Mercedes, come First Class... you're gonna be reunited with your sisters
from Salem." "Oh and MJ, please don't take it personal." Solace says with a wink, "Please let me down!" Tiger interjects from behind Solace, still hanging. Solace looks back, then returns her face back to the camera with a smile before hitting stop to end the recording.
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