Press-Conference-A-Thon Before The Amazon - Darina & Hana

[FreestylePoet]

Murmurs filled the media room as LAW's most dedicated beat reporters filed into their seats. It would've had to be them, anyway, given where they were. Spots like these were little-used among LAW's properties, with promos at the center of the ring far more common than press conferences like these -- and the tiny metal chairs that now shuffled across this linoleum better suited for weaponry than for comfort. Together, though, the stage and seats made for a pretty damn good centerpiece.

Or, they would have, if Darina Daybreak wasn't there.

Darina Daybreak

She sat at stage right, feet kicked up on a table as the first few cameras began to flash. For once, she hoped they weren't all zoomed onto her. Far on the other side of the stage, another table and chair sat empty, conspicuous and foreboding. Anyone who'd watched combat sports would recognize the classic setup pre-match press conference, and while that always begged the question of "who else" in any fan's mind, Darina knew that sitting across from an empty seat here and now -- with the Slam-A-Thon in the Amazon right around the corner -- brought the intrigue crashing through the goddamn roof.

"Sure you can't slip me a leak?"

Suki Harada

Darina's favorite shit-eating grin flashed beside her. Suki Harada, host of the venerably irreverent LAW weekly podcast, Nothing But The Truth, leaned against the center podium. It wasn't hard to get her as tonight's Master of Ceremonies. They went a ways back, on account of Darina's MMA days, and while they didn't know each other that well, Darina Daybreak had a way of attracting attention... Both good and bad. But to Suki Harada, there was no such thing as bad publicity. So, here they were.

Darina clicked her tongue. "Really, Harada? I thought you knew this biz. You'll figure it out when everyone else does."

"What can I say?" The podcaster shrugged, a cheeky curl painting her face. "An intrepid reporter's gotta try, right? Cut to the truth and all that."

"If you're an intrepid reporter, then I'm a pillow fighter."

"Hey. You never know what LAW'll think of next." Suki snorted. "But alright. If you won't let me in on anything in private, then I guess I've got no choice than to take us to the public part of our evening." She clapped her hands, and the gathered media fell silent. "God, I hate that. Makes me feel like a prissy bitch instead of a nosy one. Feed working fine? Good."

Suki cleared her throat and slipped on that smarmy visage that everyone loved to hate and hated to love. It was an unorthodox setup, but Nothing But the Truth was live.

"Thanks for coming, everyone," she continued. "I know it's a little weird to see me outside of a studio, but when one of the fastest-rising stars in all of LAW wants us to pack into a random backroom of LAW's HQ in the middle of primetime hours... Well, nobody would blame us for saying no. But we love the game, don't we, folks? S'why we said yes anyway. We wanna hear... whatever there is to hear right from the horse's mouth. And by 'horse,' I mean that aforementioned rising star: Darina Daybreak, everybody!"

The room broke into applause, and Darina waved out as the cameras went off in another wave. "Horse, huh? That supposed to be a good thing or a bad one?"

"Depends on how the next half-hour goes."

"Only thirty minutes? You can drone on way longer than that."

Suki sneered. "Yeah. I can. If there's something worth droning about. So. Darina. Is there?" She turned a palm up to the MMA starling. "I mean, come on. Alaina Sanders is hosting the Heavyweight event of the decade, and the hottest Heavyweight on the block -- who had some pretty choice words for the division, mind you -- isn't a part of it. I wanna know as much as everyone: What gives?"

Darina nodded along to the question. The answer would be obvious to anyone who'd paid attention, but even while giving Darina a layup of a segue, Suki had to take the front foot. It was honestly pretty impressive. "You're right," confessed Darina. "It is a little weird, isn't it? I mean, it's like I said: I'm here to show fans of the Heavyweight Division what they were missing out on, to make your faves go lights-out and show you what shining's all about. Can't do that if I'm not in the Amazon with everyone else, can I? Well, I got a message for you, LAW..."

She pulled out her phone and, ducking her head to tap away at the screen, swung it around to face the crowd and camera. It was zoomed in, so most of the document was cut off, but everyone instantly knew what it was and what it meant. Darina Daybreak had punched herself an airline ticket to Ecuador.

"I will be there no matter what."

Like any good showman, Suki let the audience soak it in, waiting for the excited applause to die down before chiming back in. "And there it is, people. The most obvious snub in the history of the Heavyweight Division is made right. But that leads us somewhere else, right? Somewhere just as obvious. You've already fought some of LAW's biggest stars. Ingrid Galatea, Lou Belair, Bianca Miller... How are you gonna top it? Who's next for you -- out there in the Amazon?"

Darina smirked. Turnabout was fair play, and Suki Harada was gonna learn just what that meant. "Well, Harada, you wanted it, so lemme let you in on a funny little secret of mine." Darina leaned into the mic and quieted her voice. Everyone leaned in to hear. "I don't know."

The LAW media members turned to one another, whispering in confusion, and sensing that this was about to turn into an all-out scrum, Darina held her hand up.

"It's true. I don't know who I'm gonna fight. All I told LAW was to give me someone good to put to sleep -- and to send that 'someone good' to a little backroom at a certain time and date. Which..." Her eyes flickered to a clock in the back of the room. "If memory serves, should be right... about..."

[Vc0m]

This was a familiar feeling.

In recent years, wrestling adopted some of the elements of MMA match build ups, including actual press conferences as opposed to on-the-spot promos. This actually played to Hana's hand. Though she wasn't in the main event of any big MMA show, she had plenty of experience to mix both the professionalism and tough talk to sell herself that came with these sorts of showcases.

That being said, her foe had similar experience in both MMA and with these conferences.

The show started as Suki, the presenter and prominent podcaster, bantered with Darina, her opponent for Slam-a-thon in the Amazon, as Hana kept an eye on the clock in her make-shift Gorilla position...as, from a comment from Darina, she learned that her soon-to-be opponent had the same information about when she was supposed to enter:

"...should be right...about..."

"...now..."

As Hana entered in a cut off shirt and jeans, respectful claps filled the room, which Hana acknowledged with a quick nod, while walking past Darina with a head held high, barely acknowledging her opponent-to-be as she sat down at the table next to Suki, a little bit away from Darina to create some distance between the two Amazons.

"Someone good to put to sleep, eh...not my kind of thing. Someone to knock your lights out, Darina, now that's what they should've told you...", Hana would finally turn to her opponent, with this being her "greeting" to her, while she turned towards Suki with a more honest smile:

"Thanks for having me, Suki, and welcome, esteemed members of the press, for the conference on the execution of Darina Daybreak!"

Hana kept things civil...to a point. Clara told her it was fine to "be" a heel, but to try and focus her insults towards her opponent, and space out insults towards the crowd...