Smother Games (Black Severin vs Indigo Hopes)

[DSX93]

***
Match Type: Smother Match
Victory Condition: Submission or Knockout via smothering maneuvers
***

wasn't supposed to be here. This wasn't her match. This wasn't even her job. But this was too good an opportunity to pass up. She'd recently been signed to LAW, but management had yet to find someone for her make her debut against, so the staff didn't know her face. She heard whispers about an upcoming match for one of LAW's side shows. "After Dark: Midnight". Nothing that really piqued her interest until she heard a name: Terrell Hughes. Then a lady -- a damn fine one in a suit; she seemed important -- had corrected the guy: Black Severin.

Maybe this was a different Hughes. Not connected to Kenneth -- she refused to call that man her father -- but some other guy. But she had to see it for herself. And so she approached some random worker, some guy who was on the team tasked with transportation and stocking to the location of the bout --

(Imagine a ring where the carpet, couches, and table are, with curtains over the windows)

-- and asked to switch places with him. He was oddly quick to agree, like somebody had done this before. But she didn't question it. She got her yes and had her in.

She took the opportunity to get a good workout in, and helped with everything. Putting the ring together, and stocking the refreshments. Not a lot of work for this match: It was going to be entirely private. No cameras. Not even a referee. It was just going to be the two of them: Terrell Hughes, known to the wrestling world mostly as Black Severin, if not only that to the fans, judging from the fact that his real name had only come up as whispers backstage, and...She didn't look into who he was facing. That wasn't important.

She'd tell the guys -- she was the only woman on this job -- "Unu go ahed. Mi ago finish op yah." She was perfectly capable of speaking Standard English, but stuck to her native Patois on purpose. Nobody else spoke it, and after a short while, they got tired of trying to figure out what she was saying and simply focused on their work, which was just fine. She didn't like to talk much anyway. They understood her gesture to the door and let her stock the few remaining sodas and beers.

Takira wanted to be alone with him. She didn't know what she wanted to say, and supposed that she just wanted to at least see him up close for now. Make it real.

She has brothers.

pulled up and used his issued key to get in, walking with a bag slung over his shoulder, thirty minutes early. His eyes turned to the fridge, and he knew immediately that she wasn't who he was here for. He set his bag down on the floor, slowly. Quietly. And his eyes took a quick scan of the place. After everything that went down at Fight The LAW, he just had that need to keep his guard up.

"Yo." He announced his presence, keeping his voice on the light side. This woman was surely no regular staff member, but maybe she was a friend of Indigo's. The research he's done into her didn't paint her as the type to set people up, and a part of that research was the match that Alix had with her last week. Glowing reviews.

Or maybe this lady's somebody else, sent by management.

One. Two. Three. There. Takira closed the fridge and turned to him with a wave. "Evriting gud an redi fi yu, baas."

Oh, this one's Jamaican. Severin recognized the Patois immediately. It was common among the elders in the family. His father didn't speak it, but he spent a lot of time learning from them on visits. Along with Spanish from Beatriz and her family, it's what gave him his love for languages.

He greeted her with his easy, friendly smile. "Thanks." And his eyes took a quick scan of her too. Not in that way; she looked too much like one of his cousins. Just punked up and with more hair that's done up in a Laura Matsuda cut with some black flavor with the dreads. Hell, she might be a stud too; they both walk like dudes.

And then, for a moment...A long, and awkward moment, they just stood there while she stared at him, until he finally broke the silence. "Wi eva meet before?" She looked at him like she knew him.

She shook her head. "No." And her eyes flashed with intrigue, catching that drop of Jamaican flavor in his speech.

Okay. Maybe she's a fan, then. "Yuh...Yuh a fan?"

"No, mi sorry. Yuh look familiar. Like one a mi cousins. Mi no si dem fi a lang taim."

No. He wasn't buying that. That was not a "cousin you haven't seen in years" look. There was recognition, but no reaction. No "hey, insert name here!"

"Aal rait, den." He prepared himself on the inside. Got ready to dodge, block, whatever. "Mi like weh yuh did do wid yuh hair."

"Tank yuh, bredda!" "Bredda". She said it just to say it. To see if it felt right on her tongue. It...was to be determined. It didn't help that she could see the suspicion in his eyes. But she didn't hold that against him, knowing well that professional wrestling could be a dirty game. Maybe he's experienced that recently. "A one experiment."

Okay, he had to ask now. "Street Fighter?"

"Unu don nuo aredi! Laura Matsuda wid dat deh Jamaican style!" She beamed with pride and gave the dreads a flip. "Mi did do it miself!" And it remains what she considers to be some of her best work outside of the ring. Certainly as a hairdresser.

"Oh! Dat mosi did tek ages! Yuh did do some marvelous work!"

"Nuff tanks, bredda!" Still felt odd.

Severin was just about to ask for her name when the door got their attention.

"A da taim de, it luk laik. Blessin'."

And away she went, out the door as Indigo Hopes came in, giving the other woman a nod as she passed her by. It was abrupt, but probably for the best. It was one thing to get friendly with the other wrestlers, and another with female staff that he wasn't likely to see again. Assuming that she actually was a staff member. But then again, some wrestlers here pull double duty. Hell, he's had a twenty-four hour match with one that's got an office job. An office job with LAW, but still an office job.

Keira's an understanding woman; she'd know it wasn't like that. But he'd let it go anyway, out of respect.

"Yo!" He greeted his opponent with a smile and a wave.

Jamaican Patois to Standard English Translation

"Unu go ahed. Mi ago finish op yah." -- "You go ahead. I'll finish up here."

"Evriting gud an redi fi yu, baas." -- "Everything's good and ready for you, boss."

"No, mi sorry. Yuh look familiar. Like one a mi cousins. Mi no si dem fi a lang taim." -- "No, sorry. You look familiar. Like one of my cousins. I haven't seen them in a long time."

"Mi like weh yuh did do wid yuh hair." -- "I like what you did with your hair."

"Tank yuh, bredda." -- "Thank you, brother."

"A one experiment." -- "It was an experiment."

"Unu don nuo aredi! Laura Matsuda wid dat deh Jamaican style!" -- "You already know! Laura Matsuda with that Jamaican style!"

"Mi did do it miself!" -- "I did it myself!"

"Dat mosi did tek ages! Yuh did do some marvelous work!" -- "That must have taken ages. You did some marvelous work!"

"Nuff tanks" -- "Many thanks"

"A da taim de, it luk laik. Blessin'." -- "It's that time, it looks like. Good luck."