It's great to participate in a Supercard event, they said.
It's an exquisite privilege to enjoy a weekend at a plush hotel, they said.
It's full of cool gimmicks and stipulations for a heroine like you, they said.
And still, Astra Nova couldn't have felt any of that to be further from the truth, with all this absolute dread that had been filling her veins for the past few hours now. Ever since she had learnt what kind of match she had exactly been booked for in this
Madison Gambit.
One of course couldn't assume wrestlers to be cowards. One certainly couldn't expect them to turn down challenges. Well, especially under the types of contracts that LAW offered, that was. And one definitely couldn't imagine them to turn down opportunities to perform in truly unique, memorable pieces of entertainment, that were likely to surefire guarantee their name becoming a hot topic on the crowds' lips.
And Astra could admit all that. But still, she hadn't been ready for
this.
Were they
really expecting her to wrestle
drunk?
Of course, at first it had sounded more like a simple, fun, quirky gimmick. Potentially something that, even if she would be
acting with her opponent to be drinking booze while at it, it wouldn't actually be like that. Even if the crowds would get to vote for shots to be taken, maybe the alcohol wouldn't actually be all that strong. Maybe she could play the righteous heroine who strived to stay away from such harmful substances, while her perhaps villainous opponent would indulge herself more into it - and cause herself peril as a consequence...
...Until she had actually tested the booze and taken a sip. That shit had been strong. Or, at least that's what someone had claimed her the upcoming booze to have been...
Luckily, that had already been a few hours ago. Those initial effects had surely worn off already. And naturally, all hope wasn't lost. As long as she could remain as the crowd favorite, the pure, righteous heroine, surely, those votes would inevitably favor her, and spell trouble for her opponent, right?
Still, Astra was certainly not used to wrestling drunk. Frankly, she wasn't all that used to liquor generally either. And she definitely had absolutely no idea how all this was going to turn out to be like tonight.
Thus, the absolute dread. Somehow, the chances that this could turn out really, really bad, seemed to far outweigh the chances that everything was going to go just A-OK.
Of course, Astra knew very well that such dread was something that one needed to get off their veins before entering a wrestling ring. And that's what she was really attempting to do now, moments away from her designated entrance. Calm, cool, collected. That was the Interstellar Heroine way.
Another problem though was that this wasn't
actually a wrestling arena. Astra had absolutely no visibility to her opponent's entrance. No opportunity to observe her behavior, no possibility to see the crowd's reactions. All she could hear was a rather distant-sounding series of announcements, outlining the match, and
instructing to use an app - which felt like another weird aspect as well. Along with all the stipulations about the booze, and frankly, from what she was hearing now, her opponent's name too.
Shimmerlace Snuggleblossom.
Which was yet again another problem. Honestly, Astra had gotten so caught out with the stipulations of the night, that she had completely forgotten to research and do homework on her opponent at all. And while that
kinda wasn't a problem - in theory, she was supposed to be ready to face anyone - in practice, it was another source of unease now. Sure, she had certainly heard the name before... It was a rather unique one for sure, but she could not exactly recollect anything meaningful of her. Things that in this case would have consisted mainly of two things...
One, how big and strong was she? And two, was she likely going to be able to become the audience's favorite?
And especially this second question was the one that Astra was prohibited to find out of now due to the lack of visibility.
"
Oooohhhh, looks like she's luring her way into your hearts already!"
Oh, well that's fucking great.
"
Let's see how you like our second contestant then! Please welcome the Interstellar Heroine, ASTRA NOVA!"
Astra emerged from the curtains, ready for her energetic entrance springing down the ramp - and promptly stopped in her tracks.
"
Oh, shit. This really is an actual bar."
The sight was almost as confusing as the stipulations of the match. Of course, it didn't take long for the blonde to realize that this was yet another aspect that she had simply omitted to take into account... Of course match locations were going to be different from the usual inside
a hotel.
But then again, when she looked a bit further, there was an actual wrestling ring there. Which appeared perfectly normal. Or at least almost. She could certainly spot something
extra inside it.
Regardless, the Interstellar Heroine began a calm walk towards the ring, waving along the way for the well-suited guests in the middle of their drinks and meals - most now with their phones in hand - making a few victory signs too while maintaining a composed, polite smile on her face. Not engaging with the crowds too much, preferring to stick with rather generic, good-girl behavior, the blonde soon found herself climbing up the ropes to the nearest turnbuckle, posing on top of it for a moment for the diners again, before jumping into the ring with her signature shooting star manouver!
While Astra landed perfectly firmly on her feet, now that she had the opportunity to turn her focus inside the ring, she began taking some slightly nervous steps along the opposite side of the ring from Shimmerlace. Her gaze first focused on the table of liquor in the center of the ring, then drifted further away to her opponent, then back to the liquor, then back to her opponent, back to the liquor...
So many questions.
Why was the liquor amber instead of clear, the one that she had tasted earlier? Why was there twelve shots instead of five? Why was her opponent dressed like a... Like a... Quirky royalty of sorts? And why was she so happy and smiling?
Astra simply nodded at Shimmerlace's direction before settling into her corner, doing her best to maintain a confident appearance, while waiting for some further instructions from someone on what was to happen next... She certainly felt like needing a lot of those tonight.
