Drama QUEEN ~ RP#2

The camera follows a woman with perfectly styled blonde hair. Not a strand is out of place. She walks into a door that is large and wooden without even knocking. She suddenly looks behind her and its Harper Riley.

"Make sure you keep close Holli. I want every word to be captured."

"Of course. I know how to do this; I used to do this for Ja..." Holli's voice is interrupted by the stern look on Harper's face. "I won't mess this up for you."

Harper's expression changes back to her normal stoic expression that makes it hard to read. Within seconds of following behind Harper, she comes to another door and knocks once before opening it. Inside the room, is another woman seated behind a desk. She's an older woman, greying hair at her temples, large horn-rimmed glasses. She rises and Harper reluctantly but polite offers her hand to the woman.

"Professor McDougall. I'm happy you were able to meet with me on short notice."

The dark haired woman nods and takes a seat.

"You were one of my best students Harper; I have no problem making time for you." She notices Holli with the camera and looks directly at it. "You're filming this?"

"Well, you know about my career change..."

The woman nods. "Yes, the MMA or whatever it was you were planning on doing. So why do you need to speak to me then? I don't know anything about sports, fighting, or even Martial arts from the viewpoint that you may need it. I mean I could tell you the history of some of the Japanese art forms but..."

She trails off and Harper offers a cool smile.

"No. You see, I'm obligated to make short videos where I try to convince the audience and my opponent why I am better. I mean I could sit in front of a camera and blab my life story and then talk about a bunch of insignificant things that have absolutely nothing to do with my match like some people but I much prefer to go with cold hard facts and today Professor, my facts are about Queens."

Judy McDougall sits down. "Are we talking about the place, Drag Queens or the monarchy?"

Harper sniggers. "Well, Drag queens would fit..."

"Harper!" Holli says.

Harper rolls her eyes. "But the monarchy if you please. You see, the woman I am facing has given herself the title of the Queen of Staten Island and in a previous promotional video I produced, I said that giving herself this title didn't necessarily give her any sort of real power in our match or in the company we both work for. And honestly, in her rebuttal... if you want to call it that... she didn't really convince me that she deserved the title so if you may Professor if you could tell me a little bit about historical queens. Fictional or actual queens. Just some notable ones, if you may."

The professor nods her head. "Well, we all know that the most famous queen is, of course, Queen Elizabeth the second. Of course, her reign is mostly as a figurehead since the commonwealth and the prime minister still have ultimate control. Mostly people seem to have this fascination with the private lives of her and her children and look for any scandal they can to try and discredit them but honestly, the Windsors are known for doing a lot of charity work and just establishing rapport and faith from the people."

"So basically, Queen in name only."

"Correct, at least that's how some view it. I mean she does have some power but it's not as if it used to be obviously. "

Harper smirks. "Sounds a little like my opponent except for the whole, giving people faith. I mean she's only just shown up really the last day or two so we can hardly say she's shown any Queenly attributes there when comparing her to today's monarchy. Keep going."

McDougall nods.

"Well, There is Queen Elizabeth the first, no relation to Elizabeth the second. Some people think that she's named after her but really, it's because the queen was named after her mother who was queen to Elizabeth's father."

Harper pinches the bridge of her nose. "Boring. And no relevance. Can we move on? Elizabeth the first. Go on."

McDougall takes a deep breath and continues.

"Well, Elizabeth the first started a revolution..."

Harper cuts her off. "Nope. Next."

"There is Anne Boleyn, her mother..."

"Is that the woman with six fingers?" Holli asks.

The professor holds up a finger. "Actually that was a misconception. But she is revered as being..."

"Next!" Harper says, looking bored."Honestly professor, it appears that my opponent is nothing like any of these woman that were actual royalty. So tell me about literary figures."

"Well, I guess the most notable is the Queen of hearts."

Harper smirks. "Well... is a little off her rocker like her but nowhere near the level of insanity as the red queen. I suppose that does prove my point, though."

McDougall, who genuinely appears interested in Harper's argument leans forward at her desk. "And that is?"

"That Good or Bad, Courtney Leinhart possesses no Queenly traits to actually make it believable that she's a queen. She claims that it's her good nature and that she is a role model for women on how to not be known for just selling sex yet her pictures all have some sort of 'sex appeal' to them. It seems a little contradictory. Now, I'm not proposing that she's lying about being a 'good guy' as she claims she wants to be remembered as. I'm sure she's just as sweet as pie, even if her boyfriend and her dog should probably switch names. But I digress. The point is, nice girls finish last in this business because it will pull out your heart from your chest and eat it right in front of you while you gasp your final breath. It's cutthroat."

"Graphic, but a good point. I don't know much about your new... venture but I do know a bit about athletic competition and it is something that you need to be in top physical condition if you wish to succeed. I have seen it in many historical aspects and the prime example is the Olympics. Only the best hope to make it to a top three spot."

Harper smiles. "You are very right Judy. How very insightful and another relevant thought to add to this video. I thank you. You see, she says right off the bat that she's more about being a team player but last I checked, wrestling was not a team sport. And in order to succeed, which is the ultimate goal here, you need to be the best and frankly, her assessment shows that she's not that great at it at all. Let's also not forget that she's been MIA until the Manger of the other show said something about her being missing then suddenly she's everywhere!"

Holli is heard trying to stifle her laugh behind the camera.

"As for me learning something from her? Well, I learned that even as a rookie I have more to offer than she does. So there is that. And what can she learn from me? I think the real question is what 'can't' she learn from me at this point. I think she could learn from some irrelevant curtain jerker. And I called it too, she brought up the whole "I have heart' argument like I knew she would. And that's great. It is the first ingredient in the overall recipe to making a good competitor but when that's all you got, well all you're going to have is a bowl full of flour. "

She stands, once again offers the professor her hand. The woman takes it, shaking lightly and limply.

"Thank you, professor, you have helped me tremendously."

Harper goes to leave, the camera, however, pans back to the professor for a second.

"Oh... yea. Of course Harper... if you ever need anything..."

She looks moony and a little lonely.

Holli quickly jogs after Harper, the camera shaking a little to prove it. Harper is muttering to herself.

"Ug. I don't have anything against lesbians but geez... that woman just screams desperate. It's obvious that I am NOT a lesbian but she just wanted to jump me. Not that I blame her, Have you seen me?"

Holli chuckles again.

"But her information helped with your video like you said."

Harper turns to face her, a wide devilish smile spreading across her face.

"OH. It made a definite impact. Come on. Time for lunch that is not some cheap greasy pizza. I'm going to show you what being high-class means."

The camera suddenly shuts off.