Off-Camera
Wednesday, March 18, 2020
Office of Seleana Zdunich
Zdunich Zoological Gardens
Los Angeles, California
8:15 AM PDT
Having spent St. Patrick’s Day in Rome, Georgia for Southern Rebellion Wrestling, it had taken some doing to get back home to California. For Seleana Zdunich, it had almost felt like a smuggling operation, even though the travel was all technically for work as was allowed. As she goes over all the paperwork, Seleana looks up to see Dr. Michelle “Chavy” Chavez standing in the doorway.
Seleana Zdunich: How are the animals doing?
Happy to hear that question above anything else, Chavy smiles brightly.
Dr. Michelle Chavez: They seem to have not really noticed much of a difference at all. Most of them are just going about things like it’s any other day.
Seleana nods approvingly.
Seleana Zdunich: And our people?
Chavy sighs.
Dr. Michelle Chavez: About like you’d expect. Some are doing better than others. Having those emergency quarters here is working out great for a few of us. Some others are lucky enough to live close by enough that they can simply walk to and from home so it’s not really a problem for them.
Seleana nods again.
Seleana Zdunich: I have to go out again later, I’m pretty sure I’ll be smuggling myself to other jobs, not really keen to do it but cannot be helped. Minnesota and then maybe Las Vegas, maybe Reading…
Chavy frowns in confusion.
Dr. Michelle Chavez: Isn’t it prohibited to travel to and from the UK?
Seleana shrugs.
Seleana Zdunich: If the show remains, we will need to find a way. I know they will make an announcement on this show about everything going forward, likely that the entire operation will move to a building in Las Vegas. Thankfully, Christina obtained us a flat there months ago so that will work for us however, if the rumours of a lockdown for California become true, it will become more difficult for me to come here in person.
She slowly turns around and nods to her friend.
Seleana Zdunich: I will need to count on you, Chavy, to keep things here while I am unable to return.
Pausing slowly, Seleana’s head droops.
Seleana Zdunich: Especially with the Brayden situation now on top of everything else.
Chavy frowns in even more confusion.
Dr. Michelle Chavez: Who’s Brayden?
Seleana shakes her head yet again.
Seleana Zdunich: He is apparently Brittany’s twin brother, put up for adoption and now...
Chavy’s face takes on an almost disgusted countenance.
Dr. Michelle Chavez: He’s… what?
Seleana shrugs.
Seleana Zdunich: He showed up last week in England and wanted the studio…
Chavy rolls her eyes.
Dr. Michelle Chavez: So he just wants money?
Seleana shakes her head.
Seleana Zdunich: Nej, he wants Brittany’s inheritance.
Pausing again, Seleana sits back in her chair.
Seleana Zdunich: He was angry with Christina, less so with Todd and despised Brittany…
Chavy just stares forward.
Dr. Michelle Chavez: Almost sounds like a bad Black Panther ripoff. He sounds really unfocused.
Seleana nods resignedly.
Seleana Zdunich: He tried to blackmail his mother, it seems his father already gave him a share of his side. Sometimes, I really do not understand this family.
Chavy crosses her arms, looking mildly sympathetic.
Dr. Michelle Chavez: Why’s that?
Seleana’s hand swings out demonstrably.
Seleana Zdunich: Because Todd and Brittany usually seem quite close. They are even stable together in many places. His wife and sister both get along with Brittany and he even tends to be civil to Christina and yet, this young man shows up and he does not hesitate to assist him in hurting people that Todd should have no ill will against. He never makes any sense, it is like he gets a whim, does not think it all the way through and acts, consequences be damned! With all the hoops he tends to enjoy making people jump, it makes no sense that he would just accept everything Brayden said on face value and faith. It makes no sense that he would simply hand over money that was supposed to be previously earmarked for Brittany. It makes no sense that he would not say anything to Brittany about it and jeopardize their relationship for someone who just walked into his office and claimed to be his long lost, heretofore unknown son! It’s like Todd was just looking for an excuse to hurt somebody and Brayden handed him one…
Chavy nods slowly, sympathetically.
Dr. Michelle Chavez: What did he threaten Christina with?
Seleana shrugs.
Seleana Zdunich: That is the other thing that makes no sense! Baryden claims to have done research to find what was owed to him but he only seems to have given things a cursory glance because he thinks he can threaten his mother’s reputation in order to gain control of the movie studio and he says he only wants it because Christina wants to give it to Brittany…
Chavy nods.
Dr. Michelle Chavez: So he’s being Brittany with tits…
Seleana stares at Chavy in shock.
Seleana Zdunich: What?
Chavy shrugs again, this time with a little stink on it.
Dr. Michelle Chavez: Brittany is generally thought of as an eighteen-year-old spoiled toddler that tends to be a younger version of her mother’s Crystal Hilton persona, right? That Brittany throws tantrums, massive public ones, and even once went so far as to attack her own mother because she wasn’t being handed what she wanted fast enough right?
Seleana
Seleana Zdunich: Ja, sort of but…
Chavy shakes her head emphatically.
Dr. Michelle Chavez: No buts, Brittany is the epitome of what most people think of when they say the word “millennial” with that nasty oomph behind it even though Brittany is not technically a millennial. She’s young, lazy, entitled, impatient but she’s also shown she can be the total opposite. She’s talented, she has ability, she has a charisma to her and a force to her that means she should be everything she likes to think of herself as! Brayden sounds like he’s exactly like her and thinks he can hurt them back the way he was hurt and he can make it all equal in one move when he can’t and shouldn’t even bother trying!
Seleana nods slowly.
Seleana Zdunich: It is funny, even if Christina wanted to give in to his demands, she cannot. The stock in the company is all in my name. She can no more give it to Brayden than she can Brittany, or even some random stranger she runs into on the street if she were having some kind of psychotic break. Christian is the CEO of the company but she does not possess that particular power, not that it would matter right now anyway with everything being forced to shut down. It is not generating any income as it lays dormant…
She pauses and then nods in acknowledgement.
Seleana Zdunich: Well, that is not entirely true, there were several things that were already completed that can still be distributed properly and so are generating some income.
Chavy shrugs, clearly pleased to hear money is coming in somewhere.
Dr. Michelle Chavez: And then there’s Christina’s reputation…
Seleana nods resignedly again.
Seleana Zdunich: Ja, I know…
Chavy can’t help but laugh.
Dr. Michelle Chavez: So, what you’re saying is this Brainiac has suddenly popped into your lives, full pf piss and vinegar, promptly tried to blackmail the wrong person complete with a threat that is basically meaningless after he already got free money from his father just for shits and giggles, and you’re actually worried about this… why?
Seleana sighs heavily.
Seleana Zdunich: Because it has made Christina worried and caused her to keep secrets from people close to her again. If Todd is bankrolling Brayden, he can show up anywhere we do and Christina is loath to admit that her reputation is what it really is. She might make verbal contracts that she has no hope of following through with and that does not even factor Brittany into the equation. Brittany harbors bitterness that her wife is doing better than she is in certain areas, not enough to cause an actual problem there yet but it is still there, bubbling under the surface. That entire family is a constant powder keg and Brayden is like a lit fuse being through onto the top, threatening to fall through the opening and cause the whole keg to explode.
Seleana stands up, looking somewhere between desperate and exhausted.
Seleana Zdunich: He’s supposed to be my step-son and I do not even know what his legal name is!
Chavy nods slowly, solemnly.
Dr. Michelle Chavez: What do you think he really wants?
Seleana sighs heavily.
Seleana Zdunich: I do not know. He seems keen to both make up for time lost and hurt people he thinks owe him but I do not think he knows exactly how to go about this.
Chavy nods again as if in deep thought on the matter.
Dr. Michelle Chavez: And what about you?
Seleana frowns.
Seleana Zdunich: Me?
Chavy nods.
Dr. Michelle Chavez: I… it is not up to me….
Chavy shoots Seleana a look.
Dr. Michelle Chavez: Why not? Christina had the baby, Todd was the father, Brittany’s a twin, why don’t you get a say? It’s your family too just as much as it is theirs!
Seleana shrugs.
Seleana Zdunich: Maybe they do not want…
Chavy shakes her head.
Dr. Michelle Chavez: I didn’t ask what they wanted, I asked what you wanted! Todd’s already shown he’s willing to take the kid on some level, Christina’s being Christina about it and Brittany will probably flip her shit when she’s read into the situation, but what do you want, Seleana? What do you think of this whole situation?
Seleana stands back and stares at the floor. What did she think? What did she want? Starting to shake her head, Seleana sits back down in her chair.
Seleana Zdunich: I want to know… him?
Chavy starts to nod as if she knew this would be the answer all along.
Seleana Zdunich: If he really is who he says he is…. who is he? What’s he like?
Her eyes moisten as the thoughts and feelings start to crash over her in waves.
Seleana Zdunich: I want to know because it means I’ve gone from having no children to having two in…
Catching herself, Seleana sits up, cocking her head slightly.
Seleana Zdunich: Finns det hjärterum så finns det stjärterum...
Not understanding what Seleana has just said, Chavy cocks her head inquisitively as well.
Seleana Zdunich: Tänk om jag tar vatten över huvudet?
Seleana scratches her chin for a second, visibly pondering, mulling things over as if this is the first time she’s actually taken a minute to do so since the name was first uttered in her presence.
Seleana Zdunich: Har han gjort en höna av en fjäder? Känner jag ana ugglor i mossen?
Finally, Seleana looks up, staring at Chavy, an epiphany seemingly washing over her.
Seleana Zdunich: You’ve given me a lot to think about, Chavy, tack.
Seleana stands up and nods to her desk.
Seleana Zdunich: Things should be ready for you here. You have my contact info should you need anything.
Chavy nods and steps back from the door way into the hallway. Seleana walks up to the door and flips off the lightswitch in the office as she walks out.
Seleana Zdunich: Take care of the animals for me, Chavy!
Chavy nods, smiling.
Dr. Michelle Chavez: I will.
Seleana nods, smiling back.
Seleana Zdunich: Kia kaha, Chickie!
On-Camera
Friday, March 20, 2020
Open Field
Private Airstrip
Minneapolis, Minnesota
5:15 PM CDT
The camera opens on Seleana Zdunich standing in what looks like an empty field as her wife, Christina Zdunich, steps out of frame.
Seleana Zdunich: Är kameran på?
The camera operator, her sister, Zenna Zdunich, nods, the camera moving with her as she does so.
Zenna Zdunich: Ja det är det.
Seleana nods, glancing over to the right and nodding in the direction her wife has just disappeared in. Satisfied that everything is as it should be, she nods and looks back to the camera.
Seleana Zdunich: I have several jobs so I must be careful in these trying times. I’m not keen to have obstacles placed in paths that should not have them and therefore we are making sure to be careful as we make shows. I have been to Georgia on Tuesday, now Minnesota today and I will be wherever it is SCW chooses to hold their show on Sunday. I would not miss the chance to step in the ring with Keira Johnson and Mercedes Vargas if, for no other reason, than to hear what Vargas’ excuse is this time for not defeating me the last time we stepped into the ring opposite each other.
Zenna laughs from behind the camera.
Zenna Zdunich: Hon skit i det blå skåpet?
Seleana shrugs.
Seleana Zdunich: She has said many times I’m nothing, I’m a failure, I’m a fluke, I’m whatever other you can use to dismiss somebody as being lesser than you and she has said that defeating me would be nothing for her as she is a legend in SCW. She recounts her numerous championships and cites her Hall of Fame status and announces I am nothing next to her…
Zenna Zdunich: So she beat you, ja?
Seleana shakes her head.
Seleana Zdunich: The last two times, she has not. The last time we stepped into the ring opposite each other, the winner entered a World Bombshell Championship Match and I defeated her to get there. The time before that we knocked each other out…
Zenna snickers again.
Zenna Zdunich: So she talked shit and then…
Zenna trails off before making sure the camera is properly focused on her elder sister.
Zenna Zdunich: She didn’t pull an Angel Kash or a Veronica Taylor and claim she was ill or injured or somehow incapcitated at the time, did she?
Seleana shakes her head.
Zenna Zdunich: Act like it never happened?
Seleana shrugs.
Seleana Zdunich: She tried to act like the first one was my failure.
Zenna snickers yet again.
Zenna Zdunich: But she was the one who said…
Seleana nods.
Seleana Zdunich: Ja…
As Seleana nods knowingly, Zenna laughs her Shenzi-like laugh.
Zenna Zdunich: Har inte alla hästar hemma.
Seleana shrugs again.
Seleana Zdunich: Now she will probably say I do not have a chance because I stand in the ring with two Hall of Famers between herself and Keira. I have been in the ring with each before and I have proven that I can take Vargas. I now get the chance to show I can do the same with Keira who is probably both outraged it took this long for her to be booked again and pleased that she is finally getting back into the ring. She might even see it as a bit of payback after my wife defeated her wife to win the World Bombshell Championship last week.
Zenna Zdunich: Is she usually that kind of petty?
Seleana shakes her head.
Seleana Zdunich: Nej, Keira is not. She is the opposite of Mercedes Vargas that way. Keira does not try to undercut others to make herself look better. Keira goes out and shows her own heroic abilities and allows them to stand on their own terms. She does not need to try to reduce others to cause the light to find her.
Shrugging, Seleana grimaces in disgust.
Seleana Zdunich: Vargas cannot help herself, she acts as if…
Seleana waves her hand dismissively.
Seleana Zdunich: Hon har tagit vatten över huvudet.
Zenna snorts in amusement.
Zenna Zdunich: Inferiority complexes will do that.
Seleana nods in agreement.
Seleana Zdunich: Skägget i brevlådan.
The camera zooms in to frame Seleana’s face as she brushes her hair aside out of her eyes.
Seleana Zdunich: Keira, Vargas, I am coming to this Climax Control to show both of you who I am!
She glares into the camera, nodding slowly.
Seleana Zdunich: Välkommen till djungeln!
