Description: After the trial between Masters Corporation and Cale Group, Bethany invites Jezebel for a little coffee and a little chat. Lightning Spangles, eager to assert herself over the conviving woman, finds that she had caught the executive's interest... which the actress soon discovers is never a good thing.
One would think that with the first edition of Friday Night Rumble slated to air just tomorrow, Bethany Cale would be far too busy getting everything together to slip out and have a private meeting. Let alone one with someone so famously an enemy of hers like Jezebel.
But one would be incorrect.
The call had been made late last night. At a branch of Beanbucks - the classic coffee chain most definitely neutral territory - Ms. Cale has arranged to have the upper area roped off for a private meeting between herself and the Classic Cowgirl.
She has no drink. She sits faced towards the stairs, and she has a small suitcase with her. Today's paper is laid out in front of her, and she looks, as always, impeccable. At ease and in control.
Famously an enemy of Jezebel?
Well, that was almost flattering.
In the wake of her legal performance, the actress Jezebel was almost gushing. Her distaste for Bethany Cale began right before her big opening night on the Saturday Night Fights... and was on the subject of Jace Timmons, the music pop star, who has since mysteriously faded away from the fight scene. Jezebel got a glimpse at the manipulating she-witch who twisted people into what she wants, and hated it. And vowed to conquer it. And after that court appearance.... she did. So naturally, when that late night phone call came out for a private meeting, Lightning Spangles was a little suspicious of the nature of it.
But she could not turn down rubbing the real Bethany's nose in it.
Jezebel enters the Beanbucks dressed in her full cowgirl regelia. She was staying in it more and more, the mask of Lightning Spangles an indulgence she still felt most comfortable with. Eyeing the sectioned off area, she tips her hat briefly as she approaches. "Well, well, well. Howdy Mizz Cale. Catch up on current events?" She begins a mischievious smile on her face as she takes her seat across from Bethany.
"Or are you catching up on your anti-trust law?"
Bethany actually rolls her eyes. Its the act that grates on her. Every word out of Jezebel's lips is like a dagger across her inner ear. It is awful, just awful. Intolerable, even. But, as Jezebel sits down, the manipulative woman's lips twist into an easy smile, and she leans back in her own chair.
"So glad you could join me." She says, though there's little good cheer in her voice. Her eyes are, dangerously hard. Rather different to the soft image she'd presented in the courtroom, that much is for certain.
"Ms. Faiblesse, I just want to say that there's no hard feelings about the court. I'm not one to hold a grudge." She lies, so easily it is like she breathes, but you'd have to be a damned fool to believe that.
"What's really surprising, is that I don't actually hate you, Jezebel. Can we be candid with one another? Put aside our little acts and, lay our cards on the table, so to speak?"
Jezebel wasn't exactly a fan of Bethany's act either.
Fake nice was something that was a no-go at Disney. If you pretended to be nice, then the cynicism eventually bled through. You had to -be- nice, and always be nice in front of the crowd. Bethany? She wasn't very Disney. Still, when she states that she doesn't hold a grudge, Lightning SPangles rolls her own eyes.
But then she mentions she doesn't hate her.
"Well, I sure don't like you, Mizz Cale. But I'm all about forgivenness." She starts, smiling brightly. She hated Bethany to her rotten core. But in the end, she was someone to be saved, to be redeemed. In the end, it wasn't the person, but her actions and her beliefs. And actions and beliefs can always change. But the offer comes to lift the masks, to see the women underneath. A frightening, intimate action, to which Jezebel swallows her fear and shows no terror. "Well, I got nothing to hide from anybody, Mizz Cale. I'd sure be glad to drop this act, but, ah." She begins, tapping the side of her cheek with a finger.
"But how about you drop the cute little debutante act first?"
"Actually, that isn't an act." Bethany says, with a little smile. "It is who I am. Sorry I'm not some, vulnerable little girl underneath it." She smiles more easily, revealing far too many teeth as she relaxes. It is a little disconcerting how quickly carefully maintained beauty can become surreal horror.
"What I like about you, Jezebel, is that you're a terrible actor."
She taps the table a couple of times, waiting to see if Jezebel objects. Even if she does, she carries on swiftly. "You're not a bad fighter, but the first time I saw you, I knew you were trying too hard. You /stink/ of desperation. You need to be validated so badly. It is cute. I bet you've loved being on top these past few days."
There's the sound of footsteps up the stairs, and Bethany smiles even wider still. The cat preparing to devour the canary whole.
"But it is all an act. And I could tear it all away in a moment. I took the liberty of ordering you your drink. I hope you don't mind."
And the barista does lean over, putting down a pair of drinks. Thick, dark, black, rich coffee in both.
And the unmistakable aroma of irish whiskey.
There had to be more to Bethany
Because right now, Jezebel was feeling naked, not nude. Exposed to a cruel, callous woman without the moral pangs of restraint. Bethany begins to pick her apart, Jezebel squirms a bit, truthful words hammering into her. She did love the attention, she loved being on top. But she HAD to validated. Lightning Spangles had to return. This wasn't fair. She had to buy time. And then, she laughs. "Hahahaha...." It was not laughter of whimsey or delight, but nervous, frightened laughter. A laughter from the heart of Jezebel.
But without LIghtning Spangles
As the words comes to a hold, Jezebel's visible scans the room, looking for exits. She had to escape this like a bad interview. She couldn't let Bethany see her face.. Looking away, the mask begins to shows its cracks. Jezebel instantly regrets agreeing to this meeting.. But before she can rise and storm off.... the barista puts down a cup of coffee before her. And the look in her eyes shows that she instantly recognized what it is. She responds to the offer, eyes wide. Not the bouncy southern accent. But a cool, nervous midwestern accent, with a delicately light foreign accent hidden somewhere deep within.
"... I... I don't drink alcohol, Bethany." Says the voice of Jezebel Failblesse.
Bethany's expression doesn't soften at all. Now that she's exposed Jezebel, torn through the woman's safety net and exposed a raw wound, it is like blood in the water to a vicious shark. She actually lips her lips, before plucking up her coffee and leading it to her lips. She knows full well what the effect of drinking this is on the woman; what she has done by placing it in front of her.
"No, Jezebel. Perhaps /Lightning Spangles/ doesn't drink alcohol. Lightning Spangles doesn't have sex with strangers and have it filmed for her adoring public. Lightning Spangles would never do those things."
"Lightning Spangles doesn't kill children."
The cup is set down with a firm clink.
"But Jezebel does. We both know it. Now. Like I said, Jezebel, I don't hate /you/. You're a survivor. You had to be. I can understand that. I can admire it, even. But I wanted to make one thing, perfectly clear."
Her amusement is definitely dark. Her eyes, so hard and cold. There are monsters in this world who could put Bethany to shame, but in this moment, she is the very picture of human callousness and cruelty.
"Don't. Think for a moment that /you/ beat /me/. I could crush everything you are in an instant."
And whiplash-fast, she's all smiles and brightness, leaning back, beaming like the early morning sun.
"But I won't."
It was time.
Jezebel was preparing herself mentally for this confrontation. She knew it was going to happen; an old Chinese gangster who needs a favor; a blackmailer trying to extort her. She was waiting for someone to take out the skeletons in her closet. She wouldn't get manipulated back into organized crime. She wouldn't let herself debase herself. She would simply stand up to the person, call her lawyers, call the Masters lawyers, and call the police. She thought she could handle it when the blackmailers come.
She was wrong.
The emphasized split between Jezebel and Lightning Spangles was beginning to make Jezebel tremble as she stares at the cup. By the time the reference to sex with strangers comes to her, she was fully trembling. She felt so sick, so alone. But when the mention of the child.... she begins to sob, tears coming down her eyes. She was getting confused, desperate. Staring into the cup, the smell of whiskey fills her nose. It would be so easy to kill the pain right now. And she hurt so much. Bethany was playing her like a violin. Terror was overcoming Jezebel, raw mad terror that meant she was capable of doing anything.
And she grabs the cup.
The coffee and whiskey spreads across the wall of the barista, the cup broken on the ground beneath it. Jezebel was standing up now, eyes puffy, tears still on her face. But she was holding over the table, rage in her eyes. And curtly, she begisn to unload into Bethany, her voice never coming to a yell. "Let me make something CLEAR to you, Miss Cale. I've had a hard life. I have had horrible things happen to me. I have done things I have never stopped regretting. But don't think for a MOMENT you can crush me. I've worked so hard to get this opportunity for a second chance. And -hell- if I am going to let some do-nothing princess to ruin that for me! You think you can threaten me and my career?"
"Well, you have another thing coming!"
Jezebel sits back down. That wasn't Lightning Spangles standing up. That was Jezebel, bitter, desperate andself-loathing, coming out to full bear. But she was sober, dedicated to her work. A real person, not pickled with the bottle of the weak. An ugly cynical side that Jezebel was busy stuffing back under the mask. Jezebel looked exhausted now, the outburst clearly draining something from her. And biting down hard, she asks in a gravelly, low voice.
"... What do you want from me, Bethany, to keep it quiet."
Bethany is unflappable. As far as the world knows, as far as Jezebel knows though she may suspect otherwise, this woman who is breaking down in front of her could kill her in an instant. Yet as she breaks and cries, as the coffee is sent hurtling across the room, Bethany merely watches. Her amusement is clear, even when Jezebel stands up.
Even when Jezebel shouts at her. Because she can see it in the woman's eyes. Everything that she could want, is written there. And it makes her feel good. When the outburst is over, when Jezebel is at her weakest, Bethany slowly leans forwards, webbing her fingers and leaning her chin on them. She at least has the good taste not to crow.
"I was bored before I found you, you know." She says, and there's a note of honesty in her voice. It comes so rarely. "Our little spat. It was, interesting. Most fighters are just brutes, even the women, and most ~people~ are so transparent. Jace is an egomaniac, Ken has his /family/ and his /love/." Never has the word love been spoken with such distaste.
"I can make it all disappear of course. Even if someone else gets their hands on it, I can have another - juicier - scandal hit the papers. I can bury almost anything. I can give you the security you need to be the woman you want to be."
She finally leans backwards, and this time, she reaches into her handbag. There, she produces a bottle of water, and a clean handkerchief, both of which she lays down on the table. Jezebel is permitted to recover some kind of dignity, if she doesn't want to be a snotty, crying mess. You see? Bethany can be reasonable too. She isn't just a cruel, vindictive woman.
"But I want you to complete your story for me. Not yet. You're the hero. You rail against me all you like, you work with Ken, you earn his trust and keep playing by his rules."
Her voice drops. "And then when the time comes, I say the word, and you stab him in the back. You denounce him and come over to my products. You'll still get to play the hero all you like. I'll /give/ you your career."
She doesn't need to say what she's going to get in return.
Everything about Bethany disgusted her.
Her very outlook on life. So much hatred and so much apathy. She was like a darker reflection of Jezebel at her worst... except she was successful. Jezebel at her best was worthless. She was trash. Refuse. But with someone like Bethany... it was insulting. She should walk away. She could pretend it didn't exist. She could endure the slings and arrows, but at least keep her dignity, her friends, her benefactor Ken.
But Jezebel didn't have anything beneath her.
Regaining her composure, the woman doesn't stop trembling. She had her mind again. But as the hanky and water is put down, Jezebel snatches up the water, and blows her nose with the hanky. You are a monster Bethany." She stammers. Selling Ken down the river? After putting so much trust in him? So much faith? So much... opportunity. It would be inhuman for her to bretay him like that."
"... But..."
Jezebel swallows hard, the trembling returning.
"... If word gets out about those... scandals, the deal is off. Do you understand?"
"Though I cannot be said to be a flattering honest woman, it must not be denied but I am plain-dealing villain."
Bethany actually /laughs/ after her sick little joke, and it is her real laugh. All cold, sharp edges and awful cynicism. She is, definitely, a monster. There is no denying that. But she doesn't really care. She's a monster, but she's a successful monster, and every day, she makes the world a little more amusing to her.
And it is all because Jezebel dared to stand up to her, when she thought that she'd back down... and thus became interesting.
"I'll do everything in my power to keep it down and out." She says, as she stands up. "Of course, I can only guarantee the things I have control over. If you fall off the wagon, or kill another baby, there's nothing /I/ can do~. Good luck, Jezebel."
And as the click-click-click of high heels lead her away from the table, she calls out over her shoulder.
"I'll be in touch!~"
And then Jezebel is alone
The Actress places her hat on the table, staring bleakly at it. If she fell off the wagon. If she killed another child. If she messed this up again for herself. This was supposed to be a chance for her to assert herself over Bethany. And instead, she was just another play thing. She could have stood up for Ken. But instead... she agreed to stab him in the back? For her own career? That was what it was for Jezebel. Anything to protect herself, and her career, and her furture. The actress hangs her head, realizing the truth.
That she was a fool.
She was a fool to think she could forget her past. She was a fool to think she could stand up to it. She never paid for her sins. And the world would keep making her pay for it, again and again and again. Bethany would make her useful as long as she wasn't a washed up loser. Jezebel shakes her head, glancing at the stains on the wall. It wasn't a matter if she falls off the wagon.
It was a matter of when.
Log created on 14:19:23 07/26/2012 by Jezebel, and last modified on 20:01:16 07/26/2012.