Aculina Aslanov vs Seras Quinoa

[Monsy]

Everything is unforgiving and merciful. The ebb and flow, a trade without rhyme or reason and unstoppable, like trying to lift an ocean, you’re bound to break. Such is life. And when we fall, you can count on those to help you find your feet once again. For Aculina, it was none other than her silent daughter — whose words were a constant famine, scarce; instead hunkered down in a stare as they sat across from each other inside a well-lit locker room, bench to bench and blue lockers to their backs. Her left knee tapped a black-spotted white tile, fixated on the black tape coiling around her knuckles and open palm. A hum plucked her voice just to drown out the static in her ears.

She made three rotations, stopped at the fourth to glance towards Nikita.

〝Will you be here after? Hotel is cheap. But I didn’t pick up dinner yet.〞

One more roll across, and she tore the tape with her teeth, pinched, then balled the material inside her hand.

〝You can watch too. To see, I have changed.〞

〝You’re still hitting people. Objects too.” Nikita said with a raised finger, which earned Aculina’s smile, at least for a moment.〝You watch still, no? It will be a show.〞

There was an assured nod, and they both stood. Nikita pulled a smartphone from her pocket and showed the front-facing camera, and Aculina bent over to blink.

〝It is tiny mirror?〞

She asked, reaching to pull the straps of her black tank top, then pinched at her black pants to watch it move.

〝Pff… We’ll work on it.〞Nikita snickered in response. Afterward, the phone returned to black, and Aculina blinked twice before she stood tall once again, 〝Guess it’s time.〞

They’d leave one after the other towards Gorilla, where Aculina stopped to grip her wrist with a thumb suffocating her pulse. She’d meet the stares of peering strangers and shoot them cold with a seasoned glare. Sweat was tickling her nape and hairline. Her hand reached to swipe her hair back and readjust the strap that suspended her eyepatch. Then after a deep breath, she advanced with weighted steps like steel.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, tonight’s contest is a No Holds Barred Match, won by pinfall or submission… Our first competitor comes from Vladivostok Russia, standing at six feett and five inches tall, and weighing in at two hundred pounds, please welcome the returning….”

Just twenty feet away, the crowd was frozen as the sound of a howling gale brushed their ears, then fell silent once again. A second gale bellowed, followed by a three-time clash of symbols, drums before it ignited into the main instrumental brew.

Spoiler

“CRY-OOOOOOOO.”

Tonight, the clocks rewound to 1995. A ghost-like woman emerged from the curtain, greeted by a roar as nostalgia ignited the hearts of many, a fire akin to the one that sat within her cold-coloured iris. She stood tall and took slow steps down the rampway. A closed fist punched her open palm once she reached ringside, where she paused to stare at the ropes. Her hands folded over her chest, then she twisted to face the rampway once more, where a whisper urged her onward.

This was real. Despite the weaponry that lies beneath the ring’s drape, this was wrestling. She was performing, after all this time. It felt so unearned, yet she couldn’t help but scale the steps and coil her taped hands around the rope to lean back, then shoot forward with a timed leap and vault over. Her feet banged the canvas, and she did it once more before raising a fist. There was a wicked grin as she walked and leaned onto the ropes. A hand cupped her ear to gesture one more rally to her comeback, which they offered in kind. And as all simmered, apathy encroached like a virus, and Aculina walked into her corner and seated the top turnbuckle.

Spoiler

[Aeri]

Been a while since Seras had gotten into a ring with someone this out of her weight class. Just by watching the entrance, she realised that who she was supposed to face was around a foot bigger and approximately fifty to sixty pounds heavier, maybe more. Not that it mattered to her, as she’d take a slight drag from the cigarette in her palms and breath out, allowing the stub to fall down to the ground where she crushed it against her sole.

Seras stared at her hands. They were shivering slightly, but that was normal for her. According to what she had found out about her opponent, Seras was at least half her age, hell her foe today was old enough to be her mother. She laughed to herself, nobody in particular to hear the sharp ringing sound coming from her lips.. this should be interesting! Seras rubbed her palms together, tightening up her suit and pulling up her sleeves. She’d run a hand through her hair.. and finally, it seemed like it was her turn to make an entrance.

“All right, hopefully I don’t fuck up today..”

She walked through the arena, her entrance nothing super flashy. But each step she took had some composed elegance, the audience murmuring quietly and excitedly as she made her entrance, a slight hush going through the crowd as the lights dimmed. The only sound to be heard were her footsteps, ringing through the arena.. as Seras walked up the steps and to the ring. The smoke cleared, the lights came back to normal and like a spell lifted, a roar erupted from the crowd! She half raised her hand, her lips curling into a smirk as her eyes flicked to the eyepatch. Wondering what lay underneath it.. but none of her business.

Spoiler

Taking a step forwards, then another, she eventually stood in front of Aculina, staring up at her with a slightly taunting grin on her face, one hand in her pocket and the other resting calmly on her waist.

“Cyro, was it? Hope you’re ready to be put 6 feet under, once this is over.. hm?”

She seemed.. like a hardass and not one to trifle with to her at first glance, and Seras’s usually calm demeanour was a bit more prickly today, as if she was an animal raring up its hackles in quiet defence.

Her posture may be calm and cool, but there was a certain tension to it that most didn’t realise was there. Completely prepared to guard against anything coming her way, her moving with a certain.. stiffness, that indicated her slight nerves when facing her foe-

Spoiler

[Monsy]

A silent hymn of steady voices carries like an angel’s breath. A sheet of lilac dons her view, where distant devices sparkle like stars. She folded her arms over her bosoms and made a humble sway with her long legs that dangled in space. The song of steel steps nursed the ears and grew higher and higher towards the crescendo, marked by theme and daylight.

She matched their approach by pushing off the turnbuckle, advancing one pace, then stuffed hands into her black pockets and slouched until they were eye-level. A warm sigh blew betwixt like a quiet gale; eyes bore deep with a darkened iris, curtained by ivory needles that draped.

“I’ll remember that.” She said in a silk-laced whisper.

Her brow knit, a glare that sharpened itself beyond a razor’s edge. She straightened up, drew her fists, and punched them together, knuckles-to-knuckles. A foot slid back to assume a slight bladed stance, then reached to grab the ropes. Words remained a drought. Tangible expression faced a famine. Only the bell kept her locked, and the world seemed to dissipate, barring this ring and Seras herself.

[Aeri]

She shuddered just a bit, slight chills running through her spine. Seras was no stranger to the perils of life in the ring and out.. but her opponent today? She gave her the creeps, which was a first. Seras narrowed her eyes, looking at her foe as the world seemed to fade away, just the two of them.

Then.. as if something shifted, the bell rang, signalling the start of the match. It didn’t snap her out of the daze, but it more so enhanced the experience, sounding like a somewhat ominous tolling of a clock bell..

“I hope you will..”

.. and then, still in her daze as if she was under a spell, like a viper, Seras struck.

She’d take a step forwards, and then lashed out with her left leg. A solid blow to start off the match, she didn’t bother with locking up.. Seras just slammed her limb into the side Cyro’s stomach, hoping to soften up her opponent..!

[Monsy]

With a gaze that punctured the universe, let alone space to ripe and twist until they stood alone within a blank cairn. Thousands garnished the fleets of chairs as the bell rung. A returning Cryo and a younger Seras Quinoa. The generations have come to blows. She straightened her back and accepted the impact against her stomach. Pain bubbled like a hot spring inside her belly. Welcomed and endured, yet her shoulders lurched. Her breath hushed like a piercing gale as her gaze darted forward. Once more, they came eye-to-eye; ghostly hues, devoid of humanity, greyer than death and emptier than the void. “Hmm..”

Her right arm hooked the leg, tucked and raised to press flush against the armpit while her hand shot forth to try and claim their throat within her paw. If successful, she’d step forward and pitch her strength by raising them off the canvas in a one-handed choke! Suspended high, inches from the canvas to enable a squirm, kick, whatever the helpless may enact when they want to break free.

[Aeri]

When her foot slammed against Aculina’s waist, a resounding thud escaped throughout the ring, but to the two wrestlers lost in the daze of combat, it only sounded like a thrum of battle drums. But.. making the mistake of looking up, Seras simply found very empty eyes, as another chill ran down her spine. This.. wasn’t how it was supposed to go, she realised.. she wasn’t supposed to be afraid of her opponent, especially as they hadn’t even done anything yet..!

She gulped. Snapping back to reality, her leg was trapped between her arm and waist, a small gasp escaping her lips. She felt Cyro reach out and wrap her cold fingers around her throat, lifting her up into the air! Slight hints of her true feeling shimmered in her eyes, as she suddenly began to squirm in her grasp.

But.. hardening her gaze, she frowned. She had faced down people at gunpoint before.. there was no need to fear her! Using her free leg, Seras rose it up high like she was performing some sort of yoga pose, perfectly straight.. and then, she brought her heel down with all the force she could muster, down right onto Cyro’s head!

[Monsy]

Cold as the winter gale; mouth silent as the snowfall. An arm hooked the limb and hoisted the opponent with fingers clawed into their throat, each one like a viper that bit the flesh. Like a torch that ignited a dark-lit room, Cryo’s gaze sought to dissect their soul. A look that steadily grew bigger; a grip that grew stronger. Her attention shifted towards the kick and absorbed it upon her crown. Her chin dipped, shoulders slumped alongside her arched back, and her arm released their leg. Pain betrothed her skull and punched like a jackhammer to force a grunt. Hair vined her face, but the winter’s gaze reasserted in one sudden relapse.

Now they were eye-to-eye. The grip hadn’t broken, and instead, Aculina reached to seize Seras’s neck with a second hand. Again she’d lift; a hiss seethed from her lips and bared teeth, wet with spit. Both biceps flexed, and she’d make a show by full extension of her arms. And with one last thrust, the forced turned canvas-bound, with a dual-handed chokeslam that could shake the earth!

[Aeri]

The icy cold grip on her neck only grew tighter, Seras’s blood running cold. A slight shudder escaped her lips, as she’d breathe out, almost expecting her breath to turn frosty on escaping her lips! Her fiery and spirited heel attack however, while it did land, and brought some amount of pain to her foe.. just wasn’t enough.

Aculina stared into her eyes with a hiss escaping her lips, and Seras was reminded of Medusa, something deadly and beautiful at the same time. Her eyes shimmered somewhat, as she felt two hands reach to her neck, choking her of her air supply. Her cheeks were starting to turn blue, her slender but lithe frame hoisted upwards.. and then SLAMMED down into the canvas! Her body crashed down against the mat, as she’d let out a cry of pain, sounding like the wail of dammed sailors who were lured into the Sirens trap and paid for it! Her frame lay sprawled there for a bit, Seras breathing in.. and out, trying to catch her breathe and doing her damned best to ignore her the pain surging through her body!

[Monsy]

A tremble punched into the canvas and rippled silent as an undisturbed pond. The guts of audience coiled, hugged and stilled by the smooth breeze of cold that brushed their napes. She stood tall, feet shoulder-width, arms dangled with slump shoulders. Watched as her daze danced betwixt the crowd and Seras. An arm soon stretched as she bent over and gripped an ankle, turned around and folded the arm so it dangled by their shoulder blade.

They’d walk towards the centre in two strides. Her cheeks filled with ice breath and blew, once then twice. Three and four times. Five…

Each huff was a fume. A tempest that raged out a gloomy season, unforgiving and punishing. So cold, painful. Her second hand crane to join the first, locked around the limb and formed an axe-swing.

On the sixth, her folded arm unfurled and heaved forward to hammer them into the canvas. She turned around again and issued a sequel slam, then hunched to grip a handful of their suit, lift in one final crescendo and drop together where Aculina’s knees kissed the canvas.

[Aeri]

Seras softly groaned. Being laid out by Aculina was.. not a nice experience whatsoever. And soon, as testament to her strength.. coupled with the light weight Seras possessed, she would slowly find that she was being raised up in the air merely by her leg.

.. now.. she wore a skirt to battle. So.. take whatever happened as you may, Cyro might just have seen more than most would of her. She’d softly groan, being taken towards the center of the ring.. both cold hands on her legs, suddenly being lifted up.. and slammed down into the canvas with a resounding slam!! The sound rang through the arena, as her taller foe was intent on smashing her frame back again into the canvas! Her body jolted, a small cough escaping her lips..

And then came the finish, her cold grip on her suit, raising her up and slamming her down on the ground with a thud! Aculina cold was starting to diminish Seras’s flames.. and yet.. the sharply dressed girl merely groaned against the canvas, clasping her head in a fog of pain. Her blonde hair was cast aside, showing off a scarred over eye. Seras, in a panic patted her hair back down, not before shooting Cyro a glare from her other eye! She’d slowly prop herself up with her hands, breathing softly.. before snapping at her with her fiery temper, even while having been slammed around like nothing.

“Uurhhh.. gh.. damn.. that hurt, woman..!”