[JMC: Prologue] Ch. 0 - A Tough Decision (Ft. Stacy/Jenna)

Jami was done.

She just had enough.

Her mental stability had been waning for some time, to the point where she was now concocting ridiculous attention grabbers. She was losing friends and lovers left and right.

And all she could think about was…

She deserved it.

She deserved every bit of punishment she was getting.

Regardless of what Amy Jo Smyth would say in public, Jami wasn’t trying to gain sympathy or attention. She legitimately felt like she had earned every punishment. There was no attempt to gain support.

This was truth to her.

She laid in her bed, having gotten back from Las Vegas with her lover Zoey, and began to go over the things she’d been called.

Insecure.
Weak.
Slut.
Attention Whore.

But the big one she kept going back to.

Stupid Drama Baby Gay.

Amy Jo hadn’t necessarily called HER that in those terms, but in Jami’s mind-zoned reality, that’s what she was.

She fell asleep, those words echoing in her head.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Jami looked around for a moment, trying to figure out where she was. It looked vaguely familiar, and yet didn’t remind her of any specific place. The nightclub was totally hopping, with all sorts of people Jami was familiar with bouncing around or drinking. At one table, members of her father’s Desolation Network were laughing, the next, Foamy the Squirrel was having a philosophical discussion with Bob the Panda over charity versus integrity.

Foamy? Bob?

Yep, Jami was dreaming alright.

Oh well, if she was asleep, she was going to enjoy this shit.

Jami walked to the bar, as she would normally do, and sat at the stool. She raised her hand. “I need a few drinks over here…”

“What’ll ya have?”

“Give me two Depth Charges and a Smart Bomb.”

“Interesting choices…” the bartender started combining the drinks as she looked around.

“I tell you what, I’ve had some weird dreams before, but this is gotta be a new level, even by Cornett Multiverse standards.”

“Well, you’re half right…”

Jami turned to the man with a confused look, and only now did she realize there was something kinda familiar about this guy. His figure is actually pretty lean except for his beer gut, his unkempt beard and moustache looking like about two month’s grown. His brown hair isn’t exactly long, but it’s not buzz short either. It’s his green eyes that focus her attention.

“Semaj?” she asked, confused.

“That’s how you know me. I go by a different name where I’m originally from.”

“And what, pray tell, is that?”

“I’m from a world outside yours. In fact…I came up with yours.”

“Okay.”

“That’s it?” Semaj leaned on the counter to rest his chin on his hand. “I figured you’d flip out a bit more.”

“Are you kidding me? The way my life’s been going? Space operas make more sense than this.” Jami slammed the first Depth Charge down and looked at Semaj carefully. “Okay, so why are you here now?”

“Things have gotten out of control in your world, Lindsay.”

“Okay, hold up…Lindsay?”

“That was your name in previous continuities.”

“And….what kind of continuity am I in now?”

“Well, that’s the problem…you’re actually a remnant of another project I was working on…one involving urban fantasy.”

“Which explains my succubus abilities.”

“The blue eyes, the polyamory, everything, yes. When the old JMC of this timeline passed five years ago, I needed to pull several strings and continuities together in order for it to make sense to his replacement. One of my other friends ended up fucking me over right when things were supposed to be closing up…”

“Which explains why Nikki Starr went all crazy on us.”

“You’re supposed to be freaking out here…”

“Honey, I stopped freaking out months. So why am I here?”

“Basically, you’ve got two options to choose from regarding how things have gone.” Semaj waved to a door in the front of the place and a door in the back. One had drawings of Abra, Espeon, Umbreon, Litten, Flareon, Vulpix, Froakie, and Mew on it.

Pokemon representations of her Starpoint Girls.

On the other door, it was blank, as if nothing was there.

“One door resets everything up until your breakup with Juliana. You’ll have no memory of what happened the last four months, and things will be drastically different for you, but things will at least be simpler. I’ll be able to make things easier on you, and you won’t have the succubus powers. The other, you still have everyone in your life, but I can’t guarantee any control over it. Too many people now have continuity and influence in your life with that life.”

“So basically…either a simpler human life without my loves…or a complex life but I still have the support of my Starpoint Girls.”

“Basically.”

Jami looked between the doors.

Which to choose….

Jami took a few steps to the door before she woke up.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Jami woke up with a start, her body sweating a bit. She looked down to find herself nearly off the bed as it was, Stacy and Jenna in each other’s arms and smiling.

At least they could.

Jami ran her fingers through her hair as she got up from the bed, walking toward the spot on the floor where her clothes had been thrown and sliding on her onepiece Poison Ivy costume. She stepped out through the living room quietly, hoping she didn’t wake anyone, and stepped outside the home, sitting down to the left of the front door. She buried her face in her hands, upset to hell.

For the last week, she’d inadvertently made two of her lovers’ lives a living hell, proposing to one on impulse, then being ignored sexually because of her succubi thirst to the point where she’d landed in the hospital by the other. And just when she’d gotten things fixed with Claire to avoid her having to become a pet again, Katie had zoned out and nearly caused her own inner demons to come out. The way the two had zoned in on each other shortly before Jami left for New York, she was now convinced she’d cost herself two lovers because of her mental instability.

Two down….six left.

And the way Jami was going, she was going to be lucky if she even had them by the end of the month.

Of course she was wrong; Claire and Katie had long since forgiven her and the three of them were a strong unit again, but Jami's insecure nature had taken over. Her ex-girlfriend Alexis Blake had punched her in the head a week ago, being a quarter inch away from killing Jami, and there were now times she swore she heard her father’s own inner demon Shadow Chaos in her head. Whatever was going on, she was now plagued with self-doubt and the worst variation of self-criticism possible.

Maybe things would have been better if she just stayed with Kenzi Grey….at least then Jami wouldn’t have had to deal with hurting so many people all the damn time…

"Everything okay, honey?" Jami turns suddenly, slightly startled by the sudden appearance from her Selina, her Ecstacy. Dressed in nothing but a pair of dark purple panties and a plain black tank top, she rubs her eyes a little and lets out a yawn before moving closer to her Ivy. "Well?"

"I'd be lying if I said I was," Jami turned back, her arms across her knees as her chin rested on top of it. "Still thinking about all the trouble I caused with Katie and Claire....all because I was thinking with my cunt instead of my head...." Jami took a deep breath. "Then there's the dream I just had...which even I'm still trying to figure out..."

Taking a seat beside her, Stacy wraps her arm over the back of her shoulders, a look of concern on her face.

"Do you wanna talk about it? You know I hate seeing the people I care about upset...so talk to me..."

Jami initially resisted. Even if she wanted to explain everything….even if Jenna believed her about her succubi abilities, Stacy was unlikely to believe any of it. And then the dream itself…she wasn’t even sure she’d had it to begin with. But Stacy wanted Jami to be her bestie…and Jami was in love with Stacy too…

She knew she’d never measure up to Jenna…

“I wish I’d never joined LAW…I wish I’d never gotten involved with Katie and Claire so I didn’t damn near ruin them….I wish I’d just kept my nose out of your whole mess so I never would have fallen so hard for you, Jenna, and Mistress Zoey….I feel like all I’m worth is hurting people, and it’s like I’m a ticking time bomb.” Jami lowered her head. “I should have just stuck with Juliana….at least then I—“

Stacy suddenly plopped down and covered Jami’s lips with her fingers. Stacy hadn’t been completely clued in on Katie’s ‘inner demons’ and what had happened after she left with Jenna, but she was more than familiar with Jami’s recent struggles with her addictions, her missing Geodon, and her struggles with her stepfather and her first girlfriend. For Jami to wish she was still with Juliana….she must’ve been in a really bad spot.

"Hey...if you hadn't come into my life, I probably wouldn't even be with Jennifer right now. I'd probably be drowning my sorrows in alcohol because I'd feel so lonely. You helped me clear my name and for that I will be eternally grateful to you."

She glances away for a second, feeling a little awkward in regards to how in love Jami is with her, where Stacy's love for Jami isn't as strong.

"And...when it comes to love, it's an emotion...you can't switch it off. Yes, you nearly fucked up Katie and Claire's relationship, but people make mistakes all the time. If you learn from them, then that's what matters, honey."

Rubbing her back a little, she pulls Jami towards her so their heads are resting against each others.

"And even though I don't feel as strongly in love with you as you are with me, it doesn't mean I don't want you in my life. You're my Ivy...my new bestie...and I couldn't imagine life without you now. I don't want to imagine life without you..."

Jami had ALMOST managed to recover until the part Stacy had said how close she came to ruining the relationship between Katie and Claire began to echo in her head. That part was always going to bug her, and while Stacy may not have meant it the way she did, she was only making Jami feel worse about the situation. She was trying to get rid of it, but it just wouldn’t go away. And Stacy may have been able to see it, but Jami barely managed to push it back for a while and focus on Stacy’s statement about them as besties. Stacy sure as hell didn’t seem to make any judgments about her…she seemed the best to pose the question.

“So if you had to choose….between two doors….” Jami began, hoping she made sense, “one where you were dealing with a very complex situation, being a creature that couldn’t even survive without sex from multiple partners, but you had all the love and affection your heart could handle even if you ran the risk of losing a few of them….and a much simpler human life but you were all alone, without anyone you loved or remotely cared about knowing anything about you and never believing you ever existed…which one would you have chosen?”

"I'd honestly pick the first option. I'd do my best not to lose any of them, but I don't think I could live with being alone. I tired myself out with date after date after date when Katie and I split up. I crave love, that's the way I've always been..."

“Yeah, and lord knows I wasn’t enough for you even then,” Jami spoke, recalling their first date a month prior. “Thing is…you may crave love, but it’s not your means of survival. If I go without sex for more than 48 hours without someone different from the last partner, I get so violently sick and weak to the point of near death. Mistress Zoey can attest to that….and the fucked up part is, if I’d accepted Jenna’s offer to fuck me Tuesday instead of Katie, none of this week would have happened. You have no idea how close I came to cutting Wednesday night as it was…although one could argue the hell I went through the following night was much worse…”

Stacy instantly freezes momentarily as the word 'cutting' leaves Jami's mouth. Looking down to her right wrist, she slowly caresses the several scars that cover it as a single tear trickles down her cheek.

“Oh shit….I’m sorry, Selina…I didn’t mean to…” Now Jami felt even worse! Here she was trying to explain how she felt about everything, and she’d inadvertently upset her best friend!

"N-No, it's okay, honey. I'm fine. It's p-part of my past and I have to learn to accept that and deal with it."

"Still, I should have known better..."

Just then, a small knock is heard from the other side of the room, causing both Jami and Stacy to turn to see Jenna standing at the entrance to the living room. Her hand against the wall where she knocked, and wearing a worn out white shirt and some red basketball shorts. "Hey...are you girls okay? I w-woke up and nobody was there."

“Yeah, just me fucking up again as usual…” Jami said, turning back to Selina and putting her hand on Stacy’s wrists. “I’m seriously about to the point where I wonder why I even try to live this lifestyle if all I’m gonna do is hu—“

And that’s when Jenna knew almost instantly where Jami’s mind was going.

As deep as the two’s bond went, Jenna almost seemed to have a sixth sense about what Jami was suffering, what she might be thinking, and what Jami needed to hear (even if she didn’t like it) to help her get through it.

"Jami...please stop beating yourself up like this! I'm sorry sweetheart, but I just have to say, it's not healthy t-to be on this constant turntable where you think the only way to live is to bash yourself into the ground after mistakes."

Jenna sighs as she walks over and sits down on the ground in front of the two girls, rubbing her hand against Jami's leg and looking into her eyes.

"If we are going to work through these problems, we need to do it through communication, not immediately turning to self-harm in any form, physically or emotionally, something I know we all are guilty of."

"Jen's right, honey. I know that from experience,” Stacy added. Jami looked to the two of them and nodded.

“I’m sorry…you guys have caught me at a time when I was removed from my Geodon…the last month or so hasn’t exactly been me at my best.” Jami took a deep breath. She did that a lot when she was trying to calm down. “I just…I know I stopped things from going south between Katie, Claire, and myself worse than they almost did…and I still love those two, but I get the feeling that I no longer have their love in return. I’ve already lost one girlfriend as it is….” Jami’s eyes turned blue in front of them, but not out of seduction…this time out of sadness. “I just….need to be careful about what I do from here on. I’m finally in the same company as you all…I already feel bad enough about Kate being ignored, although she has Parker, so it’s not like I’m…..it’s not like she doesn’t have someone to keep her attention,” she altered, catching herself.

"We're here to help you, honey. We'll make sure nothing like this happens to you again. Won't we Jen?" Stacy says as she glances over to her girlfriend.

"Of course, we are your friends for a reason. Jami...if not for you, a lot of what has happened to people like me and Stacy could have been 20 times worse, you have held us up from disaster. Now it's time we hold you up."

Jami smiled at her two girlfriends with a giant smile on her face. It was true, the amount of hell she’d put herself through just to make all of her Starpoint Girls smile as it was could win over just about anyone. But she was also used to having to do everything on her own. The last month or so…

“Thank you both. I can only hope I never have to deal with anything like what Katie did…” Jami turned to Stacy momentarily. “You never knew about her inner demons, did you?”

"No, I didn't."

"I don't think anyone did,” Jenna added. “It was never something we ever had to truly deal with. Katie always put all her energy into helping Stacy, she never had time to let her own demons take her I guess."

Jami sulked even worse. Katie had trusted her with that, and now she’d almost caused it to come out. “Why do they even still love me? Katie just about went Shadow Chaos on us, Claire almost went back into Kat’s service, worst I get is a stomachache from my abstinence.”

Jenna looked at her with a scrunched face, knowing full well things were more serious than that. "Jami...I'm calling your bull right there. We've spoken about what happens when you try to abstain from sex and what's happened the last few times you had to go without. Look, you all have suffered through this whole ordeal, no matter what severity on each is. And regardless, at least me and Stacy will be there in any capacity for you all, because we just want everyone happy."

"Exactly,” Stacy joined in. “As I said earlier, I hate seeing any of my friends upset."

“You have a point….and I know it’s my own doubt talking…I know Katie and Claire still love me…much like you two do.” Jami leaned to Stacy first with a deep kiss, then turned to Jenna and did the same. “You two are just who I needed to talk to about this. Thank you, ladies. And with my Espeon and Umbreon, my Litten and Flareon, my Abra, and my Mew joining me, at least being a Visionary isn’t going to be near as scary as dealing with the LAW roster by any stretch.” Jami giggled a bit at that notion.

"The Starpoint Girls will certainly be near full force here in VoW. Hey, all else fails, you girls could give the Orphanage or the Horsewomen a run for their money." Jenna giggles and hops up to slide in between Jami and Stacy.

"Well...I don't know about you two..." Stacy stands up and begins to make her way back into the house and as she does, she takes off her top, covers up her breasts, and throws her top at both Jami and Jen. "...but I'm in the mood for round two..."

Jami turned to Jenna with a smirk, then looks back up to the statuesque Stacy. “Ecstacy, you of all people know I’m rarely a one-round girl. I love you two so much….” She stood up and kissed Stacy deeply, her hands replacing Stacy’s arms as she felt Jenna’s hand slip under the hem of her panties, her lips switching from the raven-haired bombshell to the perky and voluptuous blonde.

If this was how she was being welcomed into VoW…

Then Jami had chosen the right door.