Flattening the Curve (for Devilish)

[Crossedes]

Excitement did cross June's mind right after the loud pop terrified her to the point of squeaking. She supposed she had been a part of the exercise ball getting popped. But she hadn't intended it to happen this way, and she certainly didn't have a solution to what she could see in a split-second would happen between her and her dark-haired counterpart. That was the part right before their chests collided hard enough for June to go bug-eyed from having her breath knocked out of her and her bones shaken to the core before she bounced back and onto the gym floor, almost hitting her head on the way down.

She gaped at the ceiling lights as the crowd quietly cheered. "Hoh... leeee...." she choked out, almost as stunned from the exchange between their curves as she would have been a powerbomb. She would have expected the powerbomb in some way. Not their bodies banging like a pair of thick crash-test dummies at the end of the track.

After several seconds, June pushed herself upright to chants of more, more, more. She peered at Karen, who instantly earned her ire again. Come to think of it, they were right. This spat couldn't end with the two of them bouncing off of each other and parting ways. Bullies didn't learn from simply agreeing to part ways. She jabbed her finger at Karen. "We're not going to leave this with nothing but an exploded ball-" She kicked the shriveled material with her foot. "-to show for it. You're going to call me weak and try to push all these people around? Then I challenge you!"

She hadn't actually thought about... what she challenged her to, but she supposed it was obvious after that display. "...To a strength competition!"

[Devilish53]

"What."

Karen blinked rapidly, even shaking her head following the fall to the floor. She'd been in weirder scenarios - a lot weirder for that matter. But to suddenly be pulled into a strength competition with a showboating girl who she was just shy of trying to strangle?

The silence around them was notable, given that the masses had now taken to whispering amongst one another. Mostly in excitement over the prospect of Karen accepting.

"Fuck..." She'd snarl, before pushing to a stand, with her scowl still plastered along her face. The disappointment amongst the crowd was more than noticeable, as the darker haired amazon reared back her answer once she was on stable feet.

"YOU..."

Even one amongst the crowd had the courage to boos Karen negative response, with the boos becoming common place as Karen turned her back at June. Only for her to suddenly pivot back as she approached the crowd, with her hands coming away from their intent to push them out of the way.

"...YOU'RE ON!"

[Crossedes]

Recovering from her destruction by way of mutually curvy bodies, June peeled herself off the floor to match Karen. Karen, who seemed to be telling the blonde to fuck off and leaving. June didn't want her to leave. She wanted to set this woman straight and put on a show for these people watching that someone of Karen's size could be beaten, the stuff of forging a paladin's legacy. But she could at least say Karen was chicken if she did walk away from the challenge. Small victories still served as victories.

But she didn't. A proud grin crossed the blonde's face. ...Though she realized she was winging it just to keep Karen here for her comeuppance. Fortunately, bullshitting blustery speech on the spot was a specialty of hers. "We're going to do... bench presses and leg extensions. The one who can do more of each wins." That left a potential tiebreaker, though... and it didn't feel like a good way to dish out any justice on the other amazon. June peered at the ceiling, thinking, before extending her finger at Karen. "And we're doing six holds. Each of us picks three. The one who can escape the most holds before passing out or tapping out wins."

It still left a potential to tie. Whatever. June didn't think Karen could tie her anyway, and she had thought she had done a solid job of coming up with rules on the spot.

[Devilish53]

Karen had opened herself rather unwisely here. She didn't know June - she didn't know what she was good at. She'd already seen this girl hold her ground against Karen's own form, and not before near popping a exercise ball with her arm strength alone. For all she knew, Karen could of been willingly accepting an open ended challenge from one of the strongest women in the country.

And what a coward she would be if she suddenly backed away halfway through!

"Wow..." Karen huffed, raising a leg to quite literally boot the masses out of the way, before taking the lead to the nearest weight bench. "Reallll fuckin' creative.." Her thick form would swagger all the way to it, though not without a few occasional head turns to fire off more digs at this blonde.

"I thought for a second you were gonna suggest arm wrestling, you know? Realllllly match the whole 'plain as fuck' look."

[Crossedes]

June pursed her lips when Karen hit close to home. Yes, she hadn't created anything too groundbreaking on the spot - maybe a Karen-on-a-pole match would have worked, with the pole shoved up her butt alongside the stick - but she thought it would prove the necessary points. She could tell that people here clearly gave Karen a wide berth. If they saw that someone like June had the strength to protect them, they might learn to stand up to the woman who thought she could walk up and scream at fifteen people without fear of retaliation. Acting as that sort of hero was precisely why June enjoyed wrestling so much.

She did roll her eyes at Karen's last comment as she dropped onto the bench beside her. "Yeah, okay, tall, dark, and breasty. Paint on some thicker eyebrows and I'll call you Leanne Crow." June... didn't care to explain how she knew that name, and judging by a couple of chuckles, a few of the people watching knew it, too. To hide her blush, she dropped back on the bench. Karen had claimed the one that June had planned to use before the spectacle had begun - it already had plenty of weight on it - and she gestured for someone to plop a few more pounds onto her bar to match.

"We'll go until you can't go anymore. Because you'll definitely have to stop before I do." She raised her eyebrows, marking her own words as undeniable truth, before she reached up to take the bar and sucked in a deep breath. "Someone give us a countdown. On 'go.' And someone watch her for cheating."

A cute redhead started counting down. "Three... two... one... go!"

June pulled the bar down and began, pumping her way easily through the first few reps as her torso turned from curves to walls of muscle. June kept her mind occupied, focusing on how much she would like to see Karen throw a temper tantrum from losing rather than just being a jerk, but as the reps carried on, the blonde could feel the fatigue setting in, and after she got into what she thought was the thirties - she wasn't counting - her motions slowed. She couldn't tell if Karen was still going, but no one had cheered - she figured she was.

[Devilish53]

Karen had no clue who Leanne Crow was. She wouldn't let June know that of course. That meant June knew something she didn't. Couldn't have that.

So instead Karen kept silent, with her excuse formed in the fact she now had a heavy set of weights before her. Of course, had she had an actual retort, she'd of fired it off whilst grasping hold tight. She didn't, needless to say, so silent was how she kept.

With her eyes to the sky and her hands gripping the bar, Karen's form and figure would tell the masses - and perhaps June if she were to share a glance her way - that this was not her first rodeo. With her greatest feat by far being her insane strength, Karen took to this contest was one would expect.

Up and down. Up and down.

The reps would continue in almost perfect rhythm, with Karen blocking out the already building fatigue in her arm. But much like June, she figured the lack of response meant her blonde counterpart was still going, so she did to.

Until eventually, after her arms had long since gone past the point of burning, she heard the clanging of metal next to her, prompting her to slide the bar back onto its hold as well.

Either June had just benched her weights, or better yet. She'd outright dropped them to the gym floor, perhaps even catching her fleshy form on the way down. Either way, she'd halted this contest first!

[Crossedes]

Well. Crap. June still hadn't heard anyone around her perk up. The paladin's face had turned from its California tan to something more akin to red as she tried to pump out one... two... three more reps, but her attempt to make the fourth had her muscles sending a familiar message. They said, clearly, succinctly: FOR THE LOVE OF GOD WOMAN, STOP! June obeyed, putting the little energy she had left before outright failure to force the bar back up and into its slot. She dropped her arms and threw her head back to catch her breath and let her arms recover, but the muttering around her told her the story before she needed to look at Karen - she had lost this one.

June didn't like to be a sore loser, so she just sat up after her muscles allowed her - though she didn't quite make eye contact. "Okay, you win that one." Heck, she looked like she could do a few more. She'd keep that in mind. But June knew she had the legs of a horse - people had told her as much - so she still had time to save face. "Guess the big, booby villain always wins sometimes... Now - legs."

Despite her failure, the blonde was in good enough shape that she mostly had her capacities back as they switched machines. With the weights already standard - today hadn't been leg day - the blonde just plopped into place. "Okay... countdown again?", June asked, though she stared at her thick legs as if daring them to fail her like her arms. She could only avoid being a sore loser for so long, after all.

"Three... two... one... go!"

[Devilish53]

Karen would of loved to have shot a verbal response back. One based on her strength no doubt, or perhaps even the fact that June was very much calling the kettle black given what she was wearing. And how she was built.

Instead, Karen would sit up with her hands slapping her thighs. No sound would come from the amazon's lips save for heavy breaths as she looked to quickly catch herself, with a quick glance shared in June's direction. She wouldn't say it out loud, but a small part of Karen thought that there perhaps a sign or two that June willingly held back in favor of dominating the leg press. Looking at the girl and how she carried herself, Karen suspected internally that the blonde could very much have pushed herself further.

No matter, she figured. If she was hoping to save strength for a more dominant leg-based victory she would be sorely disappointed. For Karen would commit to the press with as much energy and vigor as she used on the bench - with her massive thighs flexing with every push she gave the moment June had finished her count down!

She wanted a clean sweep! And nothing short of one!

[Crossedes]

June almost had more faith in her legs than her arms, despite the dirty look she gave them. When she had struggled to lose weight, she had at least been able to develop her legs. And she couldn't fall behind here. The results of the holds could go any which way - she didn't know how good Karen's technique was, but she had been hearing the woman's name associated with the League long enough to figure she was at least her equal as a wrestler. Otherwise, why would anyone bother talking about her?

Come to think of it, her attitude could have been a reason. June might ask someone about that later, once she had kicked her butt.

She ripped into the first few reps, and just as she had expected, the fatigue took much longer to start clinging to her legs. From her seat, she could watch Karen, and she eyed the woman from the legs to the face to determine how long she could go. She could admit that Karen had the body of a goddess, the kind of thing that a woman in even June's position would kill for and that most people would kill to touch. It sucked that her default setting appeared to be intimidating people by opening that big mouth of hers.

The crowd, able to see June keeping up more than capably this time, started optimistically pumping their fists. June had a bunch of reps left in her, and she even took a second to sweep back some of her blonde hair and lean back to show off a bit. "How's it... going over there, Karen!?"