Selena Frost & Deanna Frost vs. Colleen & Aisling

[SnowQueenSCW]

The Witches of Alden

”Competition”

Abracadabra Halloween Shop
Manhattan, New York
October 11th, 2022
12:46pm

Deanna spied the flash of red out of the corner of her eye as she walked around the large room, her emerald eyes instantly turning towards it out of instinct. Scanning what was before, the former champion gave a quiet, weary sigh, for it was her own reflection that had caught her attention. This was, far beyond, not the first time this had happened. Having hair as naturally red as hers… well… seeing ‘flashes of red’ was par for the course. Lifting a hand up, the young Frost ran a hand through the free mane, scratching her scalp a little as she did. However, in doing so, she exposed the fading stitches that lined the top right of her forehead, fading marks from her war at Apocalypse and at the ends of Sarah Wolf and her ‘fork you’ of a weapon…

Despite herself, Deanna’s emerald eyes focused on the fading, marked skin for a few seconds, the sounds of the other customers in the shop fading in her ears. She had prayed that such a wound wouldn’t leave a scar on her like Selena’s sides and back. Last thing she wanted was her wife to be forced to look at something and blame herself for bringing Deanna into the ‘wrestling world’ – despite the redhead’s insistence that it was all her choice! Sometimes, she’s too protective… Deanna sighed again, though she knew she wouldn’t change a thing about her beloved for the world.

She had managed to get a measure of revenge against Sarah Wolf in their match last Breakdown – the memory causing a shift in Deanna’s mind and an appreciative smile to form across her lips.

Yeah, life has a funny way of working itself out sometimes… she thought, her eyes quickly scanning her own reflection, seeing the blue jeans, light green and white shirt, and jean jacket that complemented the whole attire. I say that I won’t be defined by any division, suddenly I’m in a tag match. I say that I don’t want to just be seen as “Selena’s wife” and now I’m teaming with her again!

The last part, as it did every other time Deanna thought about it, brought a rush of excitement and giddiness through her. For the first time since April, SCW management had booked The House of Frost to compete in a tag-match… AS A TEAM!... AS TAG PARTNERS!!!

Okay, De… calm down… Geez… Deanna breathed through her nose slowly, trying to calm herself from the familiar zealousness of her emotions. Still, she couldn’t help it! She was beyond excited. Just because she wanted to be seen as more than “Selena’s wife” did not mean that she did not dream of teaming with her wife more often…and maybe… One step at a time… you haven’t tagged together in six months!

She felt the nervousness of that – which she knew was distracting her from her current ‘mission’ but she let it. The news of the upcoming Breakdown had reached them just the other day and… it had taken up a large space in Deanna’s mind. 

First of all, it wasn’t like they were facing ‘local talent’ or would be ‘in action’ as The House of Frost. Oh no, they were hitting the ground running in facing the previous number one contenders for the SCW World Tag-Team Championship in Polly’s Playgirls, Colleen and Aisling! Second of all, it was the main-event of Breakdown! And maybe that was something Selena was use to but… with everything this match held – implications, statements, whatever, all Deanna could think about was how few tag matches she had had with her wife and even fewer that they had won…

Biting her lower lip, she turned her eyes away from her reflection, taking in the sights of costumes that lined the walls and the countless decorations that filled various corners and shelves of the store. Their current location: Abracadabra – the fourth… No. Deanna corrected herself. Sixth. Sixth store the Frost wives had visited after dropping the children off at school (Well, Amiliah and David, Elsianna had continued to take the bus – though she sometimes met her mothers in the parking lot to give them a quick hug and help Amiliah to her class). 

But, yes, from the moment they had dropped the children off, Deanna, with her less than enthused wife in tow, had parked their vehicle in some parking lot space in downtown Manhattan and begun walking the streets up and down Manhattan and even part of New York City, visiting shop after shop, costume and décor – nothing was off-limits to Deanna.

She was a woman on a mission.

It had all happened last week: Selena and Deanna had been enjoying a quiet walk-together through the neighbourhood ‘weekend fun’ when Leslie Sanderson – that damn, nasal-sounding, bigoted troll – had pressed all the right buttons to get Deanna to be part of the Halloween House-decoration Contest, a contest Selena and her had, previously, agreed not to participate this year, wanting to focus their attention on ending the rest of 2022 strongly despite significant losses in SCW from both of them. Plans which I thoroughly screwed up… Deanna thought glumly, running her hand along the smooth plastic bags that held all the ‘cheap costumes’. Not Deanna thought ill of such costumes. It’s just, these were the costumes that were made with cheap plastic and were flimsy masks instead of cowls, or colored shirts instead full-blown attire. Sadly, that quality, she knew, wouldn’t be enough to beat Leslie Sanderson.

Besides, with Selena in the World Series of Wrestling… the redhead thought, referring to the weekly events Selena was doing to help promote SCW to a bigger audience (in-between her full-time SCW schedule of course). We’re not even sure what our costumes will be… the thought seemed to refocus the redhead on her current goal – house décor – to which she marched to the far corner of the room where she saw the tombstones, hanging ghosts, stickers… and nothing that didn’t scream ‘cheap’ or ‘low-quality’. Again, she understood but… it wouldn’t be enough to beat Leslie!

And I can’t stand to hear her say last year was a fluke… she shook her head sadly, her head movement the only reason she spied, out of the corner of her eye, the only other woman who’s hair color could get her attention like her own.

“You know…” Selena sighed, cracking her neck by giving it a twist/jerk to the side. “It would be a lot easier for us if a ) we had an idea of how we were going to decorate the house and b ) if we decided on a theme.”

Biting her lower lip, Deanna turned around, a guilty expression on her face as she beheld her wife. Selena had just finished walking all their purchases from the previous store, ‘Halloween Spirit’, the few blocks to where their Jeep Liberty was parked so Deanna could scout out the next store. That had been their strategy, except now, Selena, admittedly, was getting a little bit tired.

“Maybe we should have set a theme… I just wanted to grab whatever we could. We’ve only got two weeks left.” Deanna shrugged.

“Technically, three.” Selena corrected, rolling her shoulders and hearing the crack (as did Deanna, who winced a little). “Oh, that’s better.” She exhaled in relief. 

“How full is the Jeep?” Deanna asked.
“With the tombstones, lab equipment, various small things?” Selena counted off. “Not to mention the monster statues we dragged out of our storage lockers? Pretty full.”

Again, Deanna winced at that. Even together, the two women had struggled to get Dracula and the Frankenstein monster out of storage, Deanna almost dropping the vampire and possibly wrecking it. She didn’t want to imagine how difficult getting the Wolf Man would be when it finally was delivered (Deanna had sprung for the priority mailing…not telling Selena of the purchase or the shipping costs. It was Deanna’s money after all.)

“Deanna…” the Snow Queen’s voice broke through her thoughts, the redhead focusing on her taller wife. 
“Hmmm? Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention – I mean… not that… I was just lost in thought.”

“It’s okay.” Selena smiled, the redhead seeing one of the rare moments were the platinum-blonde was able to drop her guard and her exhaustion was on display. “Just…can we sit down for a minute?”

Emerald eyes widened. “Wha…yes! Yes, of course!” she replied.

Quickly taking the pale hand of her beloved, Deanna quickly pulled the former world champion out of the store, giving a quick “Be right back” to the cashier. The cold, fall weather hit them and she immediately Selena breathe it in deeply, the redhead knowing how the cold invigorated her wife (as if the black leggings and light blue t-shirt she wore was any indication. Scanning around the space, Deanna quickly spotted two things. One was a bench, unoccupied (thank Odin), and a food truck in a nearby spot of the bench. With a smile, Deanna quickly pull-guided her wife to the bench, prompting her to sit before she scampered over to the food truck, buying a can of cream soda for Selena and a can of Ice-Tea for herself. Paying for and taking the beverages, Deanna quickly rejoined her wife on the bench, handing Selena the can of cream soda.

“Thank you.” The Snow Queen whispered, using her nimble fingers to open the can. “Sorry. I didn’t get much sleep last night.”
“Nervous about Breakdown?”
“Honestly?” Selena’s answer surprised Deanna. “No.”
“Really?” Deanna’s eyes widened. “You’re not afraid we’ll lose?”
“Losing isn’t a problem, Deanna.” Selena sighed. “We haven’t wrestled as a tag-team in what? Five months?”
“Six.”

“Six! Right!” Selena smiled in disbelief before taking a sip of her soda. “We’re going to be rusty. And they’re an established team – former contenders and all. But if you think about… with me facing Luna and Ravyn-“ Selena tensed a little at the memory, particularly getting goddamned tasered! That still shocked Deanna! Chairs and monitors were one thing, but how the hell was Ravyn allowed to bring a damn taser into a match? Didn’t SCW know those things could kill people?! “And you in that Underground match – I mean with Wolf and Kim and all of them… the fact we’re just in a normal wrestling match? Compared to the last few weeks? Losing would be the least of my worries.”

“But you think we’ll lose?” Deanna asked, turning her head as she opened and sipped her ice-tea. 

“I didn’t say that.” Selena shook her head. “I just said that losing isn’t so scary of a thing.” She drank a bit more soda. “And if you’re that worried about it, then why are we here instead of training?” she turned her head, sapphire eyes glaring into emerald ones. “This is your idea, remember?”

“I didn’t think they would put us in a tag-match so soon.” Deanna admitted, shrugging her shoulders. “I thought they would set you up for some big match with someone else and maybe me for…well, wherever they put me.”

“It really shouldn’t be surprising, dear.” Selena sighed. “Considering how few real tag-teams there are. I mean, the last contenders before the Playgirls were a makeshift team of Wolf and Kim. It’s gotten slimer and slimer pickings.” Selena sighed. Deanna knew this was a sore spot for the Snow Queen.

For the better part of 2020, she had worked with her sister-in-arms, Regan Street, to acquire the tag-team titles and be great champions, fighting such iconic teams as The Jackass and Big-Ass Connection, Infamous, Psychonaughts, even Dark Fantasy. Now? The tag-team division had only a small fraction of those teams. The Connection and Pychonaughts were gone, as was AC Unit, Infamous was still splintered and Dark Fantasy were practically done with the tag division beyond special occasions, Syren still obsessed at becoming the world champion to break Jason Zero’s record. 

“And we haven’t been exactly subtle with some of our promos.” Selena eyed Deanna, the younger Frost’s eyes widening. “Have we?”
“About what?”
“Don’t give me that.” Selena smiled, shaking her head. “About being tag-team champions.”
“Okay…yeah…” Deanna shrugged, again with guilt. “I admit I did mention it a few times.”
“So did I.” Selena smiled. “So you can’t be surprised that, now that I’ve dealt with Ravyn and Luna and you don’t have to worry about the Underground division too much unless you want to challenge again, it stands to reason SCW would give us a shot as a tag-team.”

Deanna gave a short nod of your head.

“So, if you’re that worried.” Selena shrugged. “I saw we call it for today and get some training in. Fine tune our moves and work some kind of strategy. Just my thoughts.”

The younger woman cast her gaze back up to Selena. “But…” she turned back to eye some of the Halloween decorations in the various windows. “We only have three weeks.”

“Yep. And our tag match is in a few days.” Selena reminded. “Deanna…” she added after a slow exhale. “How badly is beating Leslie to you?”

The unasked question. The elephant in the room that had been plaguing her wife all morning, Deanna knew that. Taking a deep breath, she drank a bit more of her beverage before shaking her head. “It’s…it’s not about beating her.” She tried to explain. “It’s about ending all of this ‘looking down on us’ crap. I mean…” her eyes cast down the street to see the many vehicles that rode up and down the asphalt and concrete, taxis rushing their riders to their destination. At times, she could even hear the subway below her…that or some kind of construction in the sewers – life in Manhattan. “Aren’t you tired of it? We’ve been living here since before we got married…” her eyes cast down to her hand, on the ring she wore proudly. “And we’re still some kind of ‘best friends living together till we get men of our own’ or whatever. And it’s not just Leslie, and you know it. It’s her circle of friends: Hilary, Terra, Joy, a good part of the neighbourhood. I mean…” she sighed. “I’m just tired of it after all of this time. Of her thinking she runs the neighbourhood and can walk over everyone, talk down to us… she’s basically a big bully, that’s what she is!”

A pale hand reached out to take Deanna’s, the fingers interlacing. “Sounds more like you’re letting her rub you the wrong way.” Selena replied. “You don’t have anything to prove to her.” She offered. “She basically is a trophy wife, living off her husband’s paycheck. That’s all she has. You have a job – a real job…”

“Not according to Leslie and her friends.”
“And you don’t think that stems from jealousy? I mean think about it.” The Snow Queen offered. “Everyone knows Paul is banging his secretary-“
“Selena!” Deanna laughed.
“What? It’s true! It’s the worst kept secret in Black Arrow. And, again, all she does is hang around the neighbourhood with her other stay-at-home moms, gossiping and whatever. You remember what happened when we first moved in?”

“Yeah…” Deanna laughed. “They thought I was a stay-at-home mom because I was pregnant and they ‘Oh so wanted to meet Mr. Frost.’” Another laugh escaped her. “They turned so pale – paler than you – when you walked in and introduced yourself. Then they thought I was your sister or the babysitter or a cousin – they tried a hundred different ways to ‘explain it’.”

“Oh you helped too!” Selena laughed, drinking a bit more cream soda. “The second you told them that you were my manager AND that I was a wrestler – I never saw someone leave so fast!” a bit more laughter escaped her. “Point is, Deanna, they are always going to dislike or even hate us. You’re not going to change their minds by beating them at a contest again.”

“Oh, I don’t want to change their minds.” Deanna quickly corrected. “I just want to stick it to them and make them eat crow.”

“Oh…” Selena’s eyes widened a little. “Really?”
“Yeah.” Deanna shrugged. “I hate how she talks down to us and I want to stick it to her. That’s it.”

“Well…” Selena breathed. “I mean… vindication, retribution… I can certainly understand that. I mean, Ravyn, Xander, Vixen – yeah, I totally can get that. Geez, and here I thought you were trying to turn them ‘good’ or something.”

“Oh please.” Deanna rolled her eyes. “That be like them trying to turn us straight. Not happening.”
“Yeah, no.” Selena shook her head. “Still, we need priorities, Deanna. And, truthfully… I’d much rather have us working towards becoming tag-team champions if fate is in our favor. Imagine waving that around in Leslie’s face.”

“No.” Deanna shook her head sternly. “I don’t want her involved with that in any way. If we win them someday…” she bit her lower lip at the thought. “The titles, I mean, I want it to be something for us and for SCW. She will just taint it somehow. Cheapen it. No… I rather beat her where it hurts her most – these neighbourhood events. Where she thinks she’s the Queen Bee or something. But I get what you’re saying.” She sighed.

“I’m glad.” Selena smiled. “Because I’ve dealt with a lot of people that badmouthed us. And soon as one is gone, another takes their place. It’s inevitable. At the end of the day, what they say and think shouldn’t matter. It’s what you think that matters.”

“I know! I know!” Deanna breathed. “But I still want to beat her.”

A tired smile gracing her features, Selena shook her head. “Come on.” She pushed herself up, helping Deanna to her feet. “I want to go home and take a nap before we start training today.”

Deanna opened her mouth to object before she saw the bags under Selena’s eyes. Not overly heavy by definitely a sign of lack of sleep.

“O…okay.” She nodded. “We can check back here after Breakdown. There’s a few more shops I wanted to see.”
“Oh goodie.” Selena smiled good-naturedly before leading the way down the streets and towards the parking lot, the Snow Queen helping Deanna into the Jeep before getting in and heading back to their home in Black Arrow neighbourhood.