Author Topic: Miss Luna and the Message of Love  (Read 874 times)

Offline Luna Pasilno

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Miss Luna and the Message of Love
« on: January 24, 2023, 11:11:30 PM »

Miss Luna
Scene One | Off-Camera | 24th January

Sullivan: “Oh Miss Luna, how we have missed you.”

It’d be a long time since they’d all been in the same room. The Conspiracy as a whole. Alexander Raven, James Pasilno, Sullivan Pleasant, Harrison Rines and Luna Pasilno. Luna knew there was a reason they were all meeting in the old warehouse gym. Eight years ago, they’d all been here. Even Leon was still around there. The years had changed them all. Leon was completely gone. Sullivan and Harrison had returned to doing… whatever it was they do. Alex, James and Luna had run away to Australia, where Alex had gone and got himself married. Three years later, Luna was out of his life and James was the only one that access to the man she’d fallen madly in love with. She knew she’d messed up back then. She knew she’d ruined any chance she ever had of being the woman he met at the end of the aisle. But life had a funny way of coming full circle.

Luna: “Hey Sully, hey Harry. How are you babes?”

Harrison ever the stick in the mud, had always had a soft spot for Luna. Like the father figure she’d never had. A group of traumatised children come together under the guidance of the most traumatised of the bunch. Harrison flashed a warm smile at her, a slight wink before that sullen and hardened look took over his face once more. Sullivan took her hand in his and placed a kiss to the top. Overt displays were always the calling card. It was surprising that Sullivan still found himself welcomed within the group. He’d always rubbed Alex the wrong way. Guess he was less suspicious than she’d always thought him to be.

James: “Like the old days, ain’t it fellas? Ravey Gravy on top of the world again, you two giving him private sessions. Lulu and I on the outs.”

Raven: “You weren’t on the outs. You’d phoned it in, and Lu was more than happy to be the mouthpiece. Things change. Lu wants in the ring? Sullivan and Harrison are the only people I trust to get her into ring shape.”

James: “Oh Ravey baby, that’s where you’re wrong daddio. Lulu and I been steps ahead, we’ve been working on it for a while before she swooped under our noses brother. She’s good and ready to give it a phenomenal crack.”

Raven: “We’ll see. I’ve been working with Sullivan and Harrison for a while now. Taskmasters, to be sure. But they do good work. Though, I don’t think the training regiment would be the same.”

James sighed and shook his head, walking away from the beaten and aged practice ring that sat in the middle of the gym. Luna knew he was frustrated, but his heart was in the right place. Always the protector, he just didn’t want to see her get hurt.

Luna: “You’re so sweet Lexi. Throwing me to the wolves before I’ve even been calloused. What a sweetheart you are, lover.”

Harrison: “Unfortunately. We won’t be doing this job. You’re fair game Alex. You know us, you know how we work. Still can’t take a punch, but you’re learning. We won’t train Luna.”

Luna cocked an eyebrow, and looked at them incredulously. Harrison turned away, and walked to follow after James. She assumed they were now just on beer duty and were unlikely to make a return. It often went this way. James protecting her, Raven with an agenda, Harrison refusing to take part and then Sullivan and Raven would come to bang heads. No matter how much things changed, they often stayed the same.

Raven: “Leave then. If you won’t do it, I have nothing else to say.”

Sullivan: “Always a pleasure dealing with you, my liege. Just remember this. Your golden rule. Nobody need do what anyone else demands. We like Luna. Harrison has never, and probably will never, liked you. But you got us through some dark times, and for that there is a level of respect. But we are not your lap dogs. The Conspiracy may be forming again, but we told you once. We’ll tell you again. We will not be part of your games again, False One. Understand that, and understand it well.”

His face always betrayed his words. Cold as ice, distant. Yet forever that over the top smile stretched across his face. A fish-hooked mask that was as rubbery as it was fleshy. Alex was sitting atop a turnbuckle in the ring, his eyes fixated on Sullivan who was sitting on the ring apron, one leg crossed over the other.

Luna: “Guess you’ll have to streeeeetch me out then, Lexi baby. A real shame for you I’m sure.”

Raven cut a look at her, and then rolled his eyes. Sullivan dusted his trousers off, and hopped off the apron. He bowed low to Alex, before placing another kiss to the top of the hand of Luna. As if all planned, he too left to have beers with the others. Rumination etched all of Alex’s features. His brow creased in frustration, his mind far away.

Luna: “You knew they’d refuse, didn’t you?”

Raven: “Doesn’t matter. Guess the King will train the Queen. We can’t allow the uneducated lumps think they know us, can we? No. I will make sure that you break each and every one of them. Funny how fate turns the hands the same way. My first match was the opening of the evening. Only difference was I had some bad blood with the Branded Hen at the time. But the same, remains the same. I opened and started the path. You open, and you will show them the path. Simple as that.”

Luna sighed, as she pushed herself up onto the ring apron butt first, and slipped between the bottom two ropes. She stepped into Alex, and wrapped her arms around his waist. Six months ago, he would have recoiled at her touch. The words hadn’t been exchanged, but the truth was there. He had forgiven her at least in part. The only reason he’d passed on the details of the contract signing storm was because he had forgiven her.

Luna: “I won’t fail you, lover. I promise. I’ll do my best. I’ll show all of them their own vanity. I’ll even break the mouthy little cunt just for you. Just for you, love.”

Raven placed a hand on her head, and gentle caressed her hair. The gentle hand behind the ever stoic, hardened man. A softness she had so desperately missed. James had always warned her, ‘honeyed words is what he speak. I love him, but be careful Lulu. Pain follows that man, and we hurt for him.’

But for now, it didn’t matter. For not she had what she’d flown across the seas for once again. She’d lost him once. She’d caused him pain. Now she would put his pieces back together, like he had one done for them. She would fix his mind.

Raven: “I’m proud of you.”

That’s all he had to say.

A Message of Self-Love
Scene Two | On-Camera | 25th January 2023

“The show opener. The maiden moment. A chance to direct all eyes on the future. We’ve been gifted an opportunity, Miss Dawn. We get a chance to start the year the way we want it. Change upon the horizon, fresh and new blood standing eager to prove. Ain’t that just perfect for us?”

A quaint little apartment, with a small dining table, a set of chairs. One chair occupied by Luna Vanity, her flowing loosely around her shoulders. Her eyes dusted with a light reddish eyeshadow. Ear weights hanging from the large holes in her earlobes. Absent of the plugs that would normally fill them. A white shirt with red cuffs and neckline ‘Heart Breaker’ scrawled across it. Tight black pants, shining in the reflective light of the LED downlights that dot the ceiling. A large mug of coffee, more akin to a bowl, being held in the palms of both hands; steam wafting up towards her face. Eyes closed in contemplation.

“But sweet Dawn. Don’t be worried sweetheart. Unlike Alex, I’m not so much a wordsmith. Unlike my brother, James, I’m not a scrapper and smooth talker. A simple southern girl who has worked in some of the best and worst cafes in the world in sweet little Melbourne for years now. An escape from the humdrum existence I was expected to live. Keep it simple Luna, make yourself pretty Luna. Be what they want you to be, Luna. Not typical of the beauties that I was often expected to be. Stay in your lane, and be the person they want you to be. I wanted something else. I wanted to be different. Simplicity is key, I’ve come to find. There is a world of things that can be explained in just the smells and scents of the world. A cup of coffee to wake the mind in the morning is as easy and sweet as the drugs that flow up the noses of the fiends that ply their trade in the seedy nightclubs. Simplicity is key, but the euphoria is the same. The Queen of Vanity; perfectly opposite the King of Wisdom. Vanity is an acknowledgement of our mortality. Futile, empty and short-lived so tells us The Preacher who authored Ecclesiastes. I like to think of it differently, Dawn. I like to think of Vanity as the pride in one’s achievements. The pride in one’s own image. That’s my kind of vanity. Self-inflating the ego, and belittling the futility of others. True Vanity looks in the mirror, sees the perfection in itself and the empty lives of those around it. Narcissism is a term branded upon those who enjoy themselves. I think this is… well, it’s just not true, is it lover?”

She raises the mug to her mouth, taking a long and deep sip. A smile crosses her lips as she swallows, placing the mug on the small dining table in front of her. Left leg over right leg as she leans back in her chair. Eyes opening. Piercing brown orbs stared off into the distance. Dark brown, edging closer to the black of the pupil. The slightest shrug of the shoulders, the slightest shake of the head.

“You see, Dawn. Your name is interesting. Your name is poetic for what is to come. It was my dawn that lays before us. For me, this is an opportunity. My first match, ever. No longer the mouthpiece. No longer the pretty side piece. No longer the woman who has to stand beside the others and perpetuate their ideology. No, this is my dawn sugar. This is my chance to be something more than the simple girl who brews coffee, bats her eyes and smiles behind a mask. This is my chance to reach my apex. To throw aside the futility of existence, and to find purpose in the purposelessness of it all. Self-love is what I aim to show the world. Self-love is what I offer to all. Call it conceit if you will, but really. We both know what it’s like to be in the shadow of others who seem so much grander, so much greater than us. Family is something that ties even the greatest of performers in binds that they wish to break free of. The Warrens and the Pasilnos. We aren’t a great wrestling family, but we have our ties that plunge deep into this world. For James, he had to escape the futility of attempting to live up to our non-existent Father’s legacy. For me, I want to escape the pointless existence that I was expected to live. And so, in the dawn of my beginning, I have you. I have you sweetheart. Sweet, pure, Dawn Warren. But enough of the twisting words, lets talk real shit.”

The narrowing of the eyes, the creasing of the brow. Frustration etching itself across her face, a flash of ice through the eyes. Piercing, cold and with malicious intent. The twitch of the lip, the flex of the fingers. Irritation covered all of her features for a fleeting moment. And then, serenity once more. Eyes opened, a warm if not fake smile. The flash of teeth, her hand running up into her head pulling it over her left shoulder.

“So Dawn, I think you have an idea of me now. I think everyone has an idea of who Luna Vanity is. But I’ll make something clear. I’ll make it clear to you, and when I come off that top rope and you find yourself staring up at the bright lights, I want to make something clear to everyone. Luna Vanity is her own fucking person, got it? I am not the image that anyone will make me to be. I walk to my own beat and I walk to my own volition. Pretty and vain and pretty vain in my own right, but something I want you to know. You spend enough time around seedy people you learn something. You learn that you can’t just be the simple girl. You can’t just be the person others want you to be, because if you were, you’d be under their thumb for life. And I refuse to be somebody else’s bitch. I refuse to be less than my best, and my best will come as I discover my limits. My best will come as I put down anybody they put in front of me. For failure is not acceptable to me. I was broken once, and I used other people to put me back together. I had no idea who I was, I had no idea what I wanted. I hurt those I loved for my own selfish self-love and I do not regret the decisions I made to become who I am becoming. So Dawn, I want you to know this. This may be my first match, ever. This may be the first time I put flesh to flesh and aim to put someone down for the one two three, but you need to understand who I am.”

“I am Luna Vanity, the fucking QUEEN of The Conspiracy. I am the future, past and present. Confidence seeps from my very pores because I know who the fuck I am. I know where I come from, where I’m going and where I want to be. And through you, I make a statement. Through you, I make a choice. Through you, I show people the power of their own self-love and the weakness of their own vanity. I will show you, the futility of who you are. I will show you the futility of being somebody else’s pet project. I will show you the futility of being less than your own person.”


The smile remains, though any warmth is long gone. Pained almost. Her eyes close once again, a hand waving slowly over the steam wafting up from the mug. Wiggling her fingers slightly, she breathes in deeply. Slowly she uncrosses her legs, pushing up and standing. Moving the hovering hand she scoops the mug up, and takes it in both palms again. Another deep inhale, breathing in the steam.

“But less of that, and more of getting to know each other, shall we? Lion’s Mane Tea has become a staple of mine. Whether or not it does anything, who knows? But the idea of healing heal the ailments of the mind. That means a lot to me. See, I wasn’t lying when I said I was broken once. I may be many things, but a liar is not one. Depression, and anxiety were and still are, demons that hold my mind. With all the self-love in the world, the conceit. With all of my vanity, there is still parts of me that aim to take me down. Happiness eludes those who seek it, and so in finding myself, I find ways to fight those demons. Happiness to be seized and pushed. Truth and guidance. All things in the magical teachings of The Conspiracy. And though many will mock, as I do. And though I will laugh and snort, and joke. The truth is that acceptance for being who a person is, truly accepted. Well, that goes a long way. A dawning of a new reality for those who cannot accept themselves, now that. That is what I aim for. It’s what we all aim for, is it not? To love yourself. To be happy with oneself. To fight the anxiety and the depression. To support your own body in its inability to truly grow. One voice cannot hope to stem the tide of rejections. The stained glass lies, if you will. No, but two voices makes a louder noise. Light and acceptance for those who wish to be better than they are. To be lifted from the muck and to be one in touch with themselves. You see, sweetheart, I know who I need to be. And in my decisions, my own decisions. In those, I become better. I become happier. I become excessively proud of who I am, the achievements I will reach. For my vanity comes from the understanding of who I truly want to be. The Queen who sits upon the throne, and gazes across not at lesser persons. But as equals. As lovers, as partners, as friends. Equals. No one above, and no below. Guidance and truth. Vanity at its apex, so that all the self-love is just that. Love.”

“And I know, I know. People will say that it’s brainwashing. That it’s holier than thou behaviour. It’s easier to belittle those with confidence in themselves than it is to wish them to be more than they are. But more than you are, is who you will be. It is who I will be. It is who everyone will become. Better for having tried. Better for giving love to themselves. Better for being… vain. So let me ask you Dawn. Are you ready to be the dawning of my own message? My own beginning. I don’t wish to fail. Failure… failure doesn’t sit right with me. But I do know this. A beginning sets a tone for growth. And so, I want to thank you Dawn. Whether or not you are truly ready for it. For helping me spread my message, of self-love. And show people the futility of fighting the inevitable. The inevitability of the change that is coming.”


Another sip, a few steps towards the kitchenette. The mug upon the counter, the slow drag of fingers across the counter top. The slow stop, palms face down on the counter. The smile gone once more, eyes open. The cutting gaze, deep hues fixated on something far away.

“The Conspiracy is here. And change is coming with it.”

And then.

Darkness.

Silence.

Nothing.