Jumping in the Deep End

[Liesmith]

Keith wasn’t the only one thinking about being bowled easy shots; he’d just given her the perfect opportunity in turn. It’d be rude not to take the opportunity.

“I’d be careful what you wish for,” Tris sing-songed back to him, with a wide grin of her own, “I’m told I’m dangerously addictive…”

Honestly, she could care less about Twitter, his Twitter woes and who on Twitter was a real boy and not a bot-farm hiding in a trench coat. So Tris nodded, smiled and let that one sail past without firing a shot.

“You mean apart from getting up close and very personal with some very hot boys and girls?” Tris wasn’t shy about what she liked, let’s put it that way, “ “Because that’s a definite plus as far as I’m concerned. Sure, some of them weren’t so great but most of them…”

She brought her hand to her lips, blew a little chef’s kiss.

“Mwah.”

It was a half-truth, perhaps more like three-quarters of one; just slightly toned down. Wrestling good looking people was certainly Tris’ jam. Turning her opponents into sweaty, exhausted, defeated puddles on the floor, though – now you’re talking. Even just the simple joy of feeling a warm body giving way between her legs or someone trying to breath with their face crammed into her tits.

It was also the sort of thing that could put a nice, big target on her back for all sorts of reasons (and it’d be super clippable to boot). So she wasn’t going to say that, thank you very much. New to interviewing, yes. Stupid, she was not.

Instead, the redhead took a different tack, one that had the benefit of being absolutely one hundred percent true.

“That’s a real kick by itself. But wrestling’s also the best puzzle ever. Working out an opponent’s weaknesses, spotting when they’re setting a trap, knowing when to play the long game and when to go for the throat…”

She mock-shivered, full body, entirely for the benefit of the cameras of course.

“Love it.”

[BlackAkuma]

Wow, she did not turn off the flirting for a second, did she? It was a good thing that Keith had long since passed the point where he would take that sort of thing seriously. Pretty much every female guest he had - and some of the male ones - made the occasional pass at him, and he gave it precious little thougth these days.

Though it was partially fluff, Keith was genuinely curious about what drew a woman like Beatrice to LAW in the first place. He knew why he was doing it - partly for the popularity, partly for the fun. It was harder to pin down why someone like her would dive in, and while he didn’t think she was lying about the fun of getting to roll around with beautiful, sexy people, he would note that she was kind of already doing that with the apartment wrestling. This was a big step.

”Well, it’s good that you have a wide variety of tastes, I’ll say that much.” He straightened up, trying not to appear too flustered. Or trying to appear like he was trying not to appear too flustered. Take your pick. ”Some might say you’re going too far too fast, though, you know? Jumping in the deep end. LAW’s got a lot of big fish, and making that transition from apartment wrestling to this cannot be easy, right?”

This seemed like a fun avenue to explore, a way to press her to do some creative thinking. He leaned in, hands up, and formed a frame with his fingers.

”So let’s say you’re in the ring, standard match, taking on some heavy duty guy. Former boxer, heavy hands, knock out power.” Keith threw out a couple mimed punches. “How do you handle that?”

[Liesmith]

Some might wonder why Tris was flirting so hard, given Keith was seemingly pretty immune to her charms.

Well, yeah. Seemingly. And that was partly the rub – Tris liked to flirt for fun as well as for profit. And what she wanted right now was to wheedle (or troll) a reaction out of the blond to her flirting by the end of the interview. If not…

Well, Tris never liked to lose, even at a game only she knew she was playing.

Not to mention all the other eyes potentially watching, who might not be so immune to her charms. Apart from all the sweaty fanboys Tris fully expected to be drooling, if she could con an opponent or two into underestimating her or an exec into booking her…

Time well spent, she felt. Particularly when, moments later, she thought she caught a first glimpse at a chink in his armour. Not enough to satisfy her, not when it could just be him mugging for the cameras, but she’d made him bleed at least.

“Expecting me to spill the beans already? Don’t I even get dinner first?”

Tris sat back a bit, eyes narrowed thoughtfully into the distance. She’d thrown that line out to buy her a moment to think but it wasn’t entirely unserious.

“Like, it depends. I mean, let’s talk big for a second. Bigger is only better if you know how to use it.”

Tris didn’t even try to make that sound innocent. She knew what she was implying (which was why she’d said it).

“When they don’t, it’s just dead weight. Which, when they gas out, makes them dead meat. And y’know what else has knockout power?”

Tris stretched her legs out, ankles crossed in slow imitation of a scissor-squeeze.

“These babies.”

Hopefully he’d either not notice she’d ducked his real question (seemed unlikely) or let her have that dodge, because she wasn’t sharing all her tricks today. Not where anyone could hear them.

[BlackAkuma]

Some might wonder why Tris was flirting so hard, but frankly, Keith wasn’t one of them. He got the game, and it was one that he was used to playing. They were both two attractive people, and, for whatever reason, people assumed that all attractive people were attracted to each other. He wasn’t in a hurry to dispel that notion, it sold well on camera, and she seemed to get it.

”No dinner, no. I might have something for you in a little bit, though.” He threw Tris a playful wink, one that he made sure the cameras would catch, as he saw his aide coming back in with the watermelon. He’d picked a good looking one, too. Didn’t seem too ripe.

Keith leaned in as she went on to explain her thought processes, and the interest wasn’t wholly exaggerated. This sort of talk was something he was getting more and more into as he grew into wrestling. Like talking shop, trading ideas, that sort of thing. Submissions were still an area he was trying to improve in, so there was much Tris could teach him, even if he’d never have legs quite like those.

”But what if they do know how to use them?” He tipped his head to the side. ”Don’t get me wrong, I’m not discounting your babies…” Keith winced the second those words came out of his mouth. Sounded much better when she said it. ”But in LAW you’re going up against a lot of types. High-flyers, strikes, heavyweights, even women with legs like yours. Can’t be a one-trick pony, right?”

Just adding a little pressure. Hopefully not too much. He'd reign it in if need be.

[Liesmith]

Tris pouted at that, feigned of course. Not that she’d have a problem with dating Keith Fox, so long as she was getting something out of the deal. He was cute, fun to talk to…

She’d made do with worse.

Ah, so there was the promised melon. She did her best not to react, only catching a glimpse as a result. It looked shockingly like a watermelon, not that she was an expert. Kind of curious to see what it felt like squeezing one.

That’d have to wait though as, instead, she found herself trying to dodge around how she’d handle a range of different opponents – as though it was easy to just toss around how she’d deal with a whole category. At least he looked like he was actually listening, treating her opinion as worthwhile. Because anything else was a great way into Tris’ bad books.

And that answered her question. No, he wasn’t just going to let her gracefully sidestep the issue. He was going to be a good little interviewer and press.

Ugh. What a drag.

Well, part of her did enjoy the cut and thrust of the thing. But Tris really didn’t want to get into her strategy. Part of that was – sure, she’d admit it – because she didn’t exactly have one. But it was also because she hated the idea a little anyway. Every fight, every opponent was a new, fun little puzzle to tease out and she liked to treat them that way.

Whereas he was making it sound so boring.

“Oh, I’ve got plenty of other tricks, luv,” Tris shot back, “They’re just for me to know and you to find out the hard way.”

She aimed a finger gun squarely down the barrel of the camera as she spoke, then blew it a kiss, making it clear which ‘you’ she had in mind.

[BlackAkuma]

Knowing when to press and when not to press was the real challenge when it came to these interviews. People were always getting on him about not going hard enough on a certain subject or asking all the specifics questions that they wanted to be ask in an interview, but they failed to realize that it was rarely so simple. Keith wasn’t reading off some preplanned list - he tried doing that in his early days, and it just made the interviews feel stiff and robotic.

It was better to take an organic approach, in his experience - slow, steady, measured, moving from one question to the next as the situation dictated. You didn’t want to throw softballs, but you didn’t want to overload them, either. Push too had and you push them right off a cliff, and the interview never gets back on track.

It was all about balance. So far, with Tris, he thought he was striking it.

Keith couldn't be sure, not 100%, but he suspected that, if she was truly having a negative reaction, he would’ve known it by now. She didn’t seem like the type to wave off true insults and slights.

He snickered at the bit about finding out the hard way - he faked it, a little, but not too much. She was genuinely funny, even if she was a little theatric. Better that than boring. ”You know, if you keep up with the innuendos, I’m going to call your bluff, sooner or later.”

Keith sat back and gave his own legs a pat, before he took another swig. ”So I’m guessing you’ve seen some of the competition so far. Anyone in particular catch your eyes? Dream matches?” He tapped his chest. ”Not including yours truly.”

[Liesmith]

And moving on…

Sure, she could have talked strategy. Sure, she could have got him to name someone in particular and part of Tris would have loved to take a deep dive into how she’d go about dismantling them and making them scream for mummy.

Maybe even some of his listeners’d enjoy it.

But, like she’d said, she didn’t like giving away all her tricks just yet.

Tris paused as he joked about calling her bluff, cocking her head at Keith like a curious cat, her pallid eyes raking him over with a measuring stare. Then her lip curled, peeling back just enough to bare one sharp canine in something that was somewhere in the grey zone between a sneer and a smirk as she regarded him thoughtfully.

There was a silent beat as she watched him. Then the redhead moved with surprising speed, turning in her seat until she could throw her meaty legs up and across Keith’s lap. Tris leant back slightly to get comfy, posting her weight on her arms as she raised a haughty eyebrow at the blond.

“Still think I’m bluffing, Foxy?”

She let that hang for a moment, gaze intent on his face as she watched for his reaction to having the objects of his interest literally dropped in his lap.

Something for him to think about while she answered the rest of his question.

“Anyway, I don’t know,” she demurred, “I mean, I’ve watched a match or two but there’s so many great wrestlers in LAW, I don’t know how I’d even begin to choose.”

Laying it on pretty thick, she knew, but she wasn’t too proud to flutter her eyes and invoke the Great God Brand if it suited. It had been that or the ‘I’m just a little lost country girl’ card and, yeah, she hated that one. Tris pursed her lips, did her best to look like she was trying to think of some names.

“Um, when I was doing matches back home, there was this Belgian girl people wanted me to fight and I hear she’s in LAW now. Arlise Christiaens? Never happened but it’d be fun to cross her off my list.”

[BlackAkuma]

As much as Keith liked to play a fair game and not ambush his interviewees, he wasn’t above a little tit-for-tat, pushing them and giving them a chance to push back, within reason. He always hated the podcasts that were nothing but softballs - just letting a guest come and basically turn the whole production into a glorified commercial. He tried to be a little more balanced.

In his experience, it often led to some fun, surprising results, and this was the perfect example. He wasn’t sure what he expected when he gave Tris that little challenge, but he could say he wasn’t disappointed.

He perked up as she moved in, then leaned back as her leg came up and rested on his lap, with her placing it there like it was the most natural thing. She was fishing for a reaction, and she got more than one - first, surprise at the boldness of it all, then he flashed a wild grin her way, before he nervously shifted and eased into the couch. There was no sense in playing it off, he figured - any normal, straight male would love to have these legs in their lap, and he wasn’t going to pretend otherwise.

There was also the unseen reaction, one that likely only Tris would notice. A little vulgar, but hey, she put her legs on his lap. Blame it on biology. ”Well...” Keith cleared his throat, straightened up, and tried his best to collect himself. ”Definitely less skeptical now, I’ll say that much. Damn.”

The name drop was enough to draw his attention, though. ”Yeah, Arlise, I remember her. From what I recall, you two definitely have a lot in common.” He brought his gaze back to her legs and made the implication obvious. ”I think she’s on leave or something, but if she gets back? I’d pay to see you two go at it.”

Keith gave a subtle nod off to the side, and his aides picked up on the cue. The watermelon was wheeled over a moment later, and the camera panned back for a slow reveal. ”Until then, though, what do you think about giving a pre-match demonstration of what you can do? I think we’ve got the perfect target for you, if you’re interested.”

[Liesmith]

‘Damn’ indeed. Sometimes the simplest complements were the sweetest, Tris felt. The shock, the smile, the beat as realization seeped through all that testosterone… Points for not even trying to hide it; not that his body would have let him of course. The redhead had given too many lap dances to even bat an eye at what she felt, instead playfully stirring her leg against the hardness beneath his pants as Keith talked about Arlise Christiaens (and not her).

As far as Tris was concerned, she and the Belgian redhead didn’t really have that much in common. Really. Apart from the superficial stuff. Sure, the other woman wasn’t bad when it came to wrestling but she’d got sweet damn all on Scylla’s skills (to say nothing of her legs).

Refusing to dignify the comparison by addressing it, she just gave the blond a sugary sweet smile and another little absent-minded flex of her calf against him.

“Sure you would,” she grinned, “Because you’re a man of wealth and taste. I guess we’ll just have to see if she sticks her head back out from under her rock anytime soon…”

Keith then picked this as the moment to have the watermelon brought on camera and Tris turned her head slightly to watch as it was wheeled over.

It was bigger than she’d expected, though not big enough that she thought she’d have any problems getting her legs around it. Now that she saw it, it’d have been nice to have a chance to work out the logistics first – so she didn’t look like some first time noob on camera, fumbling and flailing like she’d never done this before.

No such luck today, she was just going to have to wing it. And, if she was entirely honest with herself, that was just the way Tris liked it.

“Happy to,” she winked, slowly pulling her legs away from his lap to sit back upright, subtly making sure he’d enjoy the experience as she went, “But care to introduce me first?”

[BlackAkuma]

If Tris was bothered by the hardness, she didn’t show it. Made sense, given her profession. This was almost certainly not the first time she’d encountered male arousal, especially if she made a habit of dressing like this and showing off those legs of hers - and Keith got the distinct impression that was the case.

It was probably a good thing that they had something else to focus on, though, and he could be sure the camera’s attention would be somewhere other than the front of his pants.

His aides quickly spread some towels on the floor, making it easier for them when they got to the cleanup. He took a moment to reach over and carefully - oh so carefully - lift her legs off his lap, then popped off the couch and made his way over to the cart.

”This…” Keith pulled a magic marker out of his pocket, one he’d been using for a staff meeting earlier, and made a quick, dopey-looking smiley face on the watermelon. ”...is Larry. Larry’s a big fan of your legs, and he was also a big fan of that whole watermelon-crushing fad that was on TikTok a while back.”

Keith took a moment to set the watermelon down on the towel, right in the middle, before stepping back to give her all the space she could ask for. ”So, forgive me if I’m putting you on the spot, but…” He flashed his most innocent smile her way, playing up the moment as much as he could.