Every Fiber of My Being Wants To Puke At Once When I Say This...

[Hills]

Luckily(?), Alizeh's attempts to rouse Saoirse from her organic blue screen never need to reach the level of actual violence. While she doesn't rouse from the trance-like state on her own, once Alizeh snaps her fingers the loud noise seems to break Saoirse out of whatever had trapped her mind in circles like that. She recoils a few inches, dropping her hands back to her sides, and her eyes dart around the room for a second before focusing back on Alizeh.

"Yes! What? Sorry, I...never mind. Uh. Right, the uh..."

Nervous, embarassed, and apparently somehow still without a conclusive answer, Saoirse breaks eye contact and drops her gaze to the ground once more, although this time it's clear she's still present in the conversation. She brings up her hand to her mouth, the first knuckle of her index finger placed against her lips as she thinks.

"I guess that might not be the worst idea...it could be..."

Whatever Saoirse was about to say is cut off abruptly as she freezes in place again, her gaze locked onto something Alizeh can't see. although this time the delay lasts only a moment before Saoirse once again makes eye contact, letting her raised arm fall to her side and wiping it against her pant leg. If Alizeh's particularly perceptive, she might notice the bright pinpricks of red on it where Saoirse bit down with unintentional force at whatever realization had stopped her deliberations. Her thoughts cleared of ambiguities, she shakes her head a little hesitantly.

"I appreciate the offer, but it's not a good idea."

[Bare]

Thankfully not needing to rely on physical stimuli to snap Wyvern out of her comatose state the woman would shake her head to focus before finally answering Alizeh's question... or rather look down at her feet to compose a bit more. Regardless Alizeh waited patiently before Wyvern spoke again, seemingly up for it at first. "Alright well-" Before Alizeh could continue though Wyvern stopped, looking past her, and prompting Alizeh to halt as well until Wyvern spoke again, shutting the idea down instead. "Alright, if you think so." Alizeh said with a casual shrug and smile, walking towards the girl and bumping shoulders with her. "If you ever change your mind though, give me a call." Alizeh said with a shrug. "In any case, I'm feeling hungry, and I'd rather save your dessert for after I eat something filling, sooo wanna go get some lunch?" Alizeh asked with a smile.

[Hills]

"Maybe...maybe next time. I think I'm just going to go straight home today. I...I need to..."

Shying away from the shoulder bump, Saoirse doesn't even finish her attempt to invent an excuse, trailing off mid-sentence and hurrying away. The action is well outside of her usual behavior; any display of timidity is odd enough, but she'd technically won their bet, and normally she'd never miss the chance to get one over on Alizeh. Still, it's hardly the first new side to her younger friend that Alizeh has uncovered today. Whether she still felt embarrassed from the nature of their conversation during the day or there was something else going on is, for now, a mystery. A few of the gym's other occupants practically dive to get out of the receding figure's way, mistaking haste for aggression, but to the Emerald Storm it's clear her friend's mind is elsewhere.

In time...

Over the next few months, Saoirse made no references to the conversation from that day, and shied away from initiating any further discussions of LAW's other half. She had been back to her usual self by the next session, and any signs of the interest she had confessed to were either gone, or suppressed so thoroughly she gave no sign of them. It still wasn't too hard to tease a blush or embarrassed rise out of her, but she also never shut down again. Or tried to reverse it back onto Alizeh. Instead, she threw herself completely into the training, soaking up everything Alizeh told or showed her. She didn't always learn quickly, but she never forgot once a concept or technique had been fully understood. Her progress had been steady, never plateauing or stopping. Thus had the sessions continued...but last time, things had changed.

She had won.

Although it had taken months, Saoirse had finally managed to trap Alizeh in a submission hold that her teacher hadn't been able to escape from, locking in an armbar that had forced a tap out during one of their sparring sessions. She wasn't sure she could repeat the feat; ten times out of ten, in a pure contest of grappling, Alizeh would defeat her. But twenty? Fifty? A hundred? She'd take at least a few. When they went to the mat, Alizeh's victory was no longer a guaranteed inevitability. Even now, it still hadn't fully processed to her. She had been chasing Alizeh's back since her first match in LAW. For the first time, she felt close enough to touch it. And that...that she didn't know what to think about. Alizeh had promised that their training would be moving into the final phase, now, but what that would entail Saoirse could only guess at.

Lost in her thoughts, Saoirse remains unaware of her surroundings...

[Bare]

Alizeh smiled happily as she walked into the gym, ready to initiate the last part of her training with Wyvern. The Irish woman's progress over the last few months had been stellar. Not only had she picked up on all the fundamentals of grappling to a greater extent, but she was showing way higher understanding of them now with her knowledge of it and got so skilled that she even managed to get Alizeh to tap during their spars! Not even occasionally, but consistently now to the point that Alizeh was having to really, really, try every single time that they had a match against one another.

Which just meant it was time to initiate the last stage of Wyvern's training, and the most exciting. Seeing her at their usual spot Alizeh would smile walk up behind her. "Heyo Friendo." Alizeh said with a bright smile, gliding her fingers gently across her shoulders as she passed before turning to Wyvern, while also taking care to avoid any potential back lash as she did so. "Saoirse! Ready for today? I got something pretty special in mind for it." Alizeh said with a even wider grin while keeping her hands behind her back, the excitement for what they'd be doing clear on her face.

"You've nailed almost everything, almost to the point that I can't teach you anything else, so today, we're going to be focusing all our attention.. on creating a submission finisher for you!" Alizeh said revealing the golf or today, the idea of creating and mastering a new move with and for her friend being the cause for the giddiness of the green haired girl. Though she doubted it would be matched by her more dour friend.

[Hills]

Perhaps even more impressive than her growth in skill at grappling, Saoirse manages to restrain herself when Alizeh once again sneaks up and touches her when she wasn't expecting it. The feathery glide of Alizeh's fingers over her shoulder provokes a snap movement from the younger wrestler, but the beginning of a spinning elbow is caught and restrained before she moves more than a few inches. Closing her eyes and taking a breath, Saoirse lets her arm drop to her side. She rubs at the skin where Alizeh made contact to remove any lingering discomfort, but her teacher's enthusiasm proves infectious and she favors Alizeh with a thin but genuine smile at her greeting.

"Hey."

Saoirse quirks an eyebrow at Alizeh's promise of the day's agenda being "special," but is otherwise content to let her explain. Once Alizeh reveals her plans, Saoirse, as she often does, breaks eye contact and looks in a different direction while she thinks. Otherwise, she gives no overt reaction to the news, either positive or negative. After a moment, still lost in thought, she folds her arms. The silence stretches on, even longer than one of her usual introspective thought tangents, but just when a casual observer might think she had frozen up entirely, she moves her gaze back to Alizeh.

"Why?"

[Bare]

Oh that elbow would have hurt. Luckily Saorise had gotten pretty used to Alizeh's surprise entrances by now, given how readily she was able to suppress that elbow strike, and how much so she had done so in general, the last time Alizeh having been hit was almost two months ago, though she was pretty sure her Irish friend was extra cranky that morning. Regardless it didn't give Alizeh any pause as she explained what they would be doing today and of course, got the characteristic long pause and look around as Wyvern considered her words before answering finally, with a simple Why? Something that made Alizeh raise her eyebrow a bit.

"Why not?"

A simple retort for a simple question but Alizeh would chuckle a bit before deciding to elaborate. "Or rather, why question adding a new, especially strong and capable move to your finisher arsenal? A dedicated go to submission that you can practice more than any other and comfortably turn too in a situation where it may be necessary, like a submission only match? It would be much more reliable that way as opposed to any regular submission you happen to know, even if you know them well." Alizeh explained laying out the reasoning as she saw it and in her mind it was solid enough logic.. but there was admittedly one other afterthought.

"Also submission finishers are easily the BEST finishers in all of wrestling, so may as well create one and join the cool kids club." Alizeh said jokingly with a wink towards Wyvern before sitting back to listen and see how her friend processed her reasoning.

[Hills]

Saoirse seems ready to give Alizeh's initial, glib reply a serious answer, but closes her mouth as the greenette continues into her actual reasoning. As usual, she seems to hang off every word Alizeh speaks, giving full consideration to every word. Another pause follows after Alizeh finishes her hard sell with an appeal to style alongside practicality. Saoirse absent-mindedly chews at her lip as she thinks, but comes to a conclusion much faster than usual.

"For submission matches, I've always just kind of...beaten people unconscious then put them in an armbar or something for when they woke up. But that was when most of my opponents couldn't keep up with me. I need to diversify my skills if I want to be able to keep up here. If I keep treating this like an unfortunate necessity instead of a core pillar of my skill, I'm just going to stall out. If that means coming up with an objectively less cool finisher to add on...so be it."

Her serious tone is belied by the sly smile that cracks across her face when she insults submission finishers. She quickly becomes serious once again, though, when her thoughts turn back to wrestling.

"Any recommendations? I'm sure I'm going to need to experiment a bit. I have some ideas, but I'd be curious to get your initial thoughts."

[Bare]

Alizeh knew Saorise well enough at this point to know that she had to pair her dry words with sound logic if she was going to get the woman to listen to her on the effectiveness of submissions. Plus she also knew that she'd be more than willing to hear her out if anything and sure enough Wyvern hung onto every word Alizeh uttered before mulling it over a bit as Alizeh placed her hands behind her head casually as she waited for the woman's response.

As it came Alizeh would nod a long with a soft smirk and a twinkle in her eyes before stopping suddenly as she realized the last thing she said, only barely able to recognize the teasing smirk on the woman's face as Alizeh smiled right back at her. "Say that at your own risk dork." Alizeh said with a playful nudge to the Irish woman before walking to the center of the mat and gesturing for Wyvern to join her as the woman asked about what she'd recommend. "Well knowing you, a join lock or choke hold of some kind would be great. Something you can lock in and wrench while tanking hits." Alizeh said thoughtfully while tapping her chin.

[Hills]

Saoirse is about to snap back another retort, but clamps her jaw shut instead. Talk was cheap; Alizeh had submitted her in the ring three times and won both of their previous matches. Saoirse had never been able to stand anyone who talked a big game they couldn't back up, and she wasn't about to become one. With that break in her thoughts, for a moment, her perspective shifts. She and Alizeh had become good friends (she assumed, having no comparisons to draw), but for a moment she doesn't see that Alizeh; the one who compliments Saoirse's baking or gets a faraway look in her eyes when she talks about her girlfriend.

Saoirse sees Alizeh the wrestler.

The one who had weathered her fury and broken her pride in her LAW debut. The one who had been training since before Wyvern had even heard of professional wrestling. The one who had only stepped a couple of feet away to get to the center of the ring, but to Wyvern's eyes looked to be a thousand kilometers distant. Alizeh was easy to get along with, and that made it easy to forget the vast gulf that existed between them. Wyvern had narrowed the gap, but feared she would never catch up to that distant back.

A familiar pang of envy and need constricts Wyvern's chest. Alizeh was the best rival she could have asked for. The thought that she couldn't be the same for the Emerald Storm was a crushing one.

"...while tanking hits."

Saoirse's eyes refocus at the sound of Alizeh's voice, her moment of inner turmoil hidden behind the inexpressive mask that is her most common facial expression. The fear and doubt drain from her mind, unconquered and unresolved, but, as she is reminded now, also not the whole of the situation. Every moment spent despairing over the gap was a second not spent closing it. The silence extends just a beat too long as Saoirse quickly processes what Alizeh had said, her words only half-heard in the moment. Once satisfied, she takes a few steps closer.

"Not a choke. Boring. I want to earn it. I don't want it to be anything that targets the legs...hm."

She extends her arm out to the side.

"I'll be able to think about this better if I can feel it. Lets try some holds out. Put me in whatever the most painful version of an armbar is."

[Bare]

Alizeh was so engrossed in her little lesson and analysis of what would work for Wyvern that she barely noticed the target of the discussion seemingly spacing out, let alone being aware of what the brunette was thinking of. Thankfully it wouldn't prove to be an issue since Saoirse would still snap into focus and respond as she approached Alizeh on the mat. Blinking a little in surprise as Wyvern turned down the idea of a choke or anything involving legs it would come down to seemingly arms with Saoirse seemingly agreeing and asking Alizeh to put her int he most painful variation of such a hold.

"A painful armbar huh? Hmm I think I know one that should do the trick, though its kind of a pain to set up." Alizeh said before guiding Wyvern down to the mat so that she was on her stomach. Once done Alizeh would take a seat on Wyvern's right side. Grabbing and lifting both of Wyvern's arms up Alizeh would then lift her legs up and place them over Wyvern's body and head, ready to close in on her arms.

"Brace yourself." Alizeh said with a slight hint of concern, knowing how tough her friend was but at the same time not being able to help it out of instinct. In any case Alizeh would push the nearest arm to her away from her while pulling the other arm in towards her, effectively crossing the arms and putting the maximum strain on them possible while also closing her legs around Wyvern's arms to further condense the pain around Wyvern's shoulders.

Spoiler