Wedding Dates, Limits, And Hologram Beatings... Oh, Dear

Jessica E. Mathis reminds me of… uh… somebody… her name was Katie; I think? You know, first VoW match is a Fatal Four Way, with one of her opponents being Patrick Jones, and PJ winning said match. Reminds me of a certain brunette who went on to become the greatest female Zero Gravity Champion ever. What was her name again? It was Katie… something. Montecito? Monoid? Moistly? Something French. You know it’s getting bad when even I can’t remember my own stage name, because for some time now, I’ve not been Katie… I’ve been Kathryne, if that makes sense. I’ve been myself since my match with Stacy Jones, and ultimately, that’s not who Katie is. Speaking of Patrick Jones, I’d like to thank him again of reminding me of that over Twitter. Katie doesn’t go around making fun of people for their losses. Katie doesn’t go around telling people to call poor puns on ambulances. In short, Katie is not a bitch, where I have been on multiple occasions, and that’s just not cool.

Act I – Look Who’s Wedding Now

Location: The Underground Residence

Date: July 26th, 2016. 5:20 PM Pacific

So, remember when I proposed to Stacy on her birthday? Yeah, look how that turned out… but hey, where one memory rests, another happier one can replace it, right? I sat my phone down for a moment to look over at Claire, hopefully my eyes are bright with youthful excitement.

"Hey... I think I know of a specific date for when I wanna have the wedding."

Claire, holding up a seemingly adorable cut out dress in front of me, raises a brow and takes a guess.

"Julyyyyyyy 27th?"

"Ooh, eager girl, aren't you?"

I chuckle slightly before continuing.

"As awesome as that would be, if I did say tomorrow, we wouldn't have time to set things up properly, and I kinda want people to see us wed... this month's about to end, August has Heatstroke, September has my birthday, October has Halloween, November has your birthday and Thanksgiving, December has Christmas, January has New Year's... and February has Valentine's Day, but there's a certain day a couple before that... February 11th."

Claire tilts her head a little curious on the date, as I had expected.

"February 11th? Right before Valentine's Day? Um...sure. That sounds fun. Though...may I ask why that day? Not that I'm challenging it or anything, I'm just curious."

I release a bit of a breath, looking down slightly.

"That stands as the day I proposed to Stacy. It's her birthday that day, and I don't want that being known as "the day I went in over my head." I want that being known as "the day I wed the woman I'm head over heels about.""

Tight hugs for the Claire-Bear immediately after. Perhaps instinctually. Good thing Claire wasn't holding her scissors anymore. Though she is a little shocked by my hug for a moment. However, she quickly manages to understand and rests her hands along my back, stroking it softly which feels heavenly.

"February 11th is a perfect day then."

She snuggles herself in close and sighs pleasantly.

"No matter where I go I can always get you a last minute anniversary gift."

She adds in with a giggle. I answer back with my own back stroking on Claire, kissing her on the cheek before releasing the hug.

"True enough."

Claire still giggles after the hug but still remains close.

"So who's sending out the news? I don't mind if you wanna. Even though,"

Claire's eyes shift away.

"You got to announce our engagement..."

The raven haired woman looks upset, though by now it should be clear she was only playing around.

"We can take turns, that's fine, sweetheart."

I knew Claire was joking... oh, boy, did I ever…

"So, I guess it's up to you to announce the date."

"Yay!"

Springing to life, Claire kisses me quickly on the lips and reaches over for her phone and starts feverishly typing.

"Okay...post that. Update status...done! The world knows."

Immediately, I pick up my phone and... like/retweet. Immediate, like a dog chasing a tennis ball. Claire smiles before watching the notifications blow up.

"Wow. Um...I think we're gonna need a secretary pretty soon here."

Gee, I hope we don’t, or else what other jobs will I need? But, yeah, the date is set. February the 11th, 2017 is going to be the happiest day of our collective lives, and I’d hate for any one of my friends to miss it.

Act II – Evaluation

Location: Outside Psychologist Lucy West’s office. 3rd floor in a high rise building in Los Angeles, California

Date: July 27th, 2016. 12:36 PM Pacific

Well, here’s a jump... Today’s the day I finally, hopefully put this “Does Katie have Asperger’s Syndrome” situation behind me, and there’s only one person who can really do it. For those unaware, I was “diagnosed” with Asperger’s at around the same time I started middle school, and got basically bullied for it. This wasn’t labelled as a misdiagnosis until about three years later around the time high school was about to start, when the kids had completely forgotten about little “Aspie,” and the rest is documented history after that. Luckily, Zahara decided to come with me today. More for moral support than anything.

"Everything's going to be all right, Katie, one way or the other."

The magician related as we stood outside the office. Fresh from a set of her own appointments earlier in the day, Zahara was still in a cream-colored business suit with matching heels, giving her quite the professional look. I didn’t say much else, other than:

“I hope you’re right.”

Out of a mixture of fear, nervousness, and trying not to be too loud. Especially in comparison to my “big sister,” I was casual: an olive green short sleeved shirt, normal blue jeans, and a pair of cheap flip flops.

Zahara's hand finds mine and gives it a gentle squeeze.  When she turns, Zoey is smiling down at me just as reassuringly.

"Let's go on in."

Thus we do, but there’s no Dr. West to be seen. Maybe she’s at another meeting or something? Nonetheless, Zo and I find separate chairs to sit down in, made of seemingly jewels and false leather that feels more like vinyl more than anything.

“You think she’ll be here soon, sis?”

"I would think so. But bear in mind you are a bit early."

Sitting next to me, Zoey crosses one leg over the other, smoothing out her skirt. Letting out a slow breath, she settles into her chair.

"All these appointments are grinding me down. But at least they're finished now."

“Except for this one…”

Before I say anything else, in walks Doctor Lucille Anya West. A blonde haired, blue eyed lady, around the same age as Zahara is, actually. A bit older, maybe 30 years old, tops. She sits behind her desk and folds her hands before giving a sigh, seemingly a bit tired. I guess this isn’t her first appointment today, either. Zahara nods to her politely and gives me a gentle nudge, urging me on.

“Oh, uh…”

With a hint of nervousness, I wave hello to the doctor.

“He-- hello, Dr. West. I’m Katie Montes, I had an appointment scheduled tod—today…”

I hold up my right hand, directing the doctor’s attention to the magician beside me.

“This is Zoey Madigan, she’s here for moral support mainly. She understands why I’m here, but I get the feeling she’d like to know more…”

The doctor nods to both women before responding.

"As Miss Montes has likely told you already, this appointment is to test her to see if her Asperger's was misdiagnosed the first time she was tested for it. I can tell that you're nervous, Katie..."

Dr. West turns back to Katie and offers a reassuring, if tired, smile.

"...but don't be. We'll find out one way or the other today. Shall we?"

She rises to her feet and gestures toward the door leading to the hallway, presumably to take us to one of the examination rooms.

“We shall. Shall we, Zo?”

I ask with a slight bit more confidence, rising up to my feet. Nodding, the magician rises and follows, matching her step as the doctor walks them down the hall. She enters the room first, but before the doctor and I go in, Zahara stops me in the hall way and pulls her “little sis” into her arms. Hugging me close for several moments, Zo draws back and nods at me reassuringly. I purse my lips and look down for just a moment before nodding back and heading in.

“Hopefully this goes well…”

I say to the doctor as I find a second seat. Zahara enters as well, taking a seat off to the side so as not to be in the way…

OOC: What happens during this test? Find out in future CDRPs… cheap and angering, I know, but given the situation, that’s as far as anyone could go. I apologize so very much, and I hate that the reader got cheated out of this very important piece.

Act 2.5 – Aftermath

Same Location

Same Date, but a couple hours later.

“All right… thank you ever so much, doctor.”

After the test, and after the post scripts, Zo and I walk out of the office, the magician hugging me around the shoulders with her left arm.

“I… just feel so… so disillusioned, sis…”

"I understand that..."

To Zo, it sounded as if the conversation had been going on since before they left the office, interrupted so that I could say good-bye to Dr. West.

"...but this doesn't change anything as far as I'm concerned. I apologize if that sounds dispassionate, but..."

We stopped on the sidewalk, out of the way of pedestrians but still out and under the sun.

"...you're still Katie. You're still an accomplished wrestler, a great friend, a loving fiancée and a wonderful little sister. Just because the Asperger's diagnosis was correct in the first place doesn't mean any of that has changed. In fact, it makes all that you've accomplished and the lives that you've touched that much more special, don't you think? You did it all in spite of that and never let it be an excuse."

“Because I didn’t know it was still there to begin with… now it’s gonna be like middle school all over again once this gets out.”

I walk to my Dodge with Zoey and give her a big hug, partly to release this newfound stress, but also as a thank you for her coming along at all, almost crying into her collarbone and chest. Except she doesn't let go. She keeps holding her “little sister,” shaking her head slowly.

"And what can they say that deletes anything that I just told you, all of which is the truth? So you have this syndrome... sure as heck didn't stop you from being a champion. Hasn't kept you from finding someone to love for the rest of your life. Hasn't stopped you from finding a big sister to latch on to, eh?"

She looks down with that glowing smile of hers, and it’s kinda… very hard to ignore the warmth that that smile spreads. I do recall saying “almost crying” earlier.

“No… it hasn’t.”

I feel like a middle schooler at this point, too. I stroke Zo’s right shoulder blade, just to feel a bit more comforted.

“You know, every time I feel powerless, you’re there to help me feel like I’ve made a… made a difference, you know?”

"You have.  Don't let anyone tell you that you haven't. Just look at people like Claire, Stacy, myself... and try to tell me that that assertion is wrong."

No, it isn’t. Every time I think that everything’s come crashing down around me, here Zoey is to prove me otherwise… hence why I consider her like my big sister. She’s proven time and again that I’m the only one holding me back. That there’s nothing really holding me back except my mental holdbacks. I love her like family.

Act III -- Garbage

Voice Over recorded on July 29th, 2016.

“What to do? That’s all I seem to be asking myself. Because recently, I’ve been shown that I was never out of my rut… in fact I’m in it deeper no matter what I try, and now I get to face myself. It’s a weird paradoxical thing here.”

“Jessica, I’ve been exactly in your spot. Lost a fatal four-way match… Patrick Jones was the victor… now what do you do? Know what I did? I beat someone in the very next match, and it was my very first one on one victory. Since then, historically, matches with more than one opponent haven’t been kind to me… it’s a rough history, to say the least.”

“Jessica, despite what you’ve seen here, I’m not going to be a walk in the park for you, if you happen to be thinking that. It would kill what’s left of my morale, that would leave you dissatisfied and wanting more which would get into your head like a drug gets you on a high, and the fans would immediately be disappointed in us for not putting on the show of a lifetime.”

“Not that you would want that, would you, Jem? You just enjoy the Holograms. Someone was gonna bring it up at some point, why not me now? It’s kinda like how I like Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, and Dio Brando especially, even though he’s the main villain for the third part. I can tell you from experience that at least Jojo doesn’t have a terrible pandering movie…”

“But, back to the point, you remind me too much of me, and there’s only one Katie Moicelle that needs to be in VoW… and I’m her, stuck in a rut or not. I’m not going to be the next Steve Herring, and you aren’t going to be the next me… I don’t want a next me…”

“Wanna know why? Because no matter how hard I seem to suck, no matter how far I may fall, no matter how far I’ve already fallen back down… no matter what the situation, I always believe that I’ll get back up EVEN STRONGER than before I fell. It all needs to start here, or else where do I go? What do I do? What does Katie Moicelle do when she’s been usurped four separate times? I don’t know! All I know is if I beat you, Jessica, maybe I can get back some of that morale that’s been escaping me recently. Maybe I can get back to making the impossible possible. Maybe… just maybe… if I win, maybe I can get to getting back what was keeping me relevant to begin with and become the Katie Moicelle of old… because this new Katie Moicelle isn’t suiting me in the least. So what to do, Jessica? What to do, what to do, what to do…?”