Every Fiber of My Being Wants To Puke At Once When I Say This...

[Hills]

Wyvern realizes her mistake the second she irreversibly commits to the motion. Brute force works well for her, and in many situations she's been told it shouldn't, but it has limits. With her leverage, she isn't able to fully separate Alizeh with sheer strength, and it costs her the success of the maneuver alongside a fair chunk of her dignity. The hold did break. Were this a match, she likely would have treated this outcome as a success. The point was to improve, however, and the knowledge that she could have done better is galling. Unlike her teacher, the Irishwoman makes no real effort to get off the floor at first, locked in her own thoughts as she replays what happened and how she could have done better in her head. Only when Alizeh speaks does it snap her out of her reverie.

"You're just jealous I can bench more than you."

Too proud to concede the point fully but unable to deny it, Wyvern settles for another snide comment before accepting the offered hand to stand up.

"Dead weight...could I have used that to loosen your leg around mine?"

[Bare]

Getting up to her feet and taking a look down at Wyvern who seemed stuck in place there Alizeh would extend her hand to the woman with a smile on her face, knowing Wyvern was probably pretty frustrated at herself for what happened. That was fine though. It would only serve to motivate the woman further to figure the reversal out though Alizeh wasn't eager to enter another tangled mess with the woman, so after getting her back up to her feet Alizeh would smile and nod at the dark haired woman before giving a grin at the woman's tease.

"I wouldn't say jealous now.." Alizeh shot back before chuckling and getting ready to explain the hold as Wyvern asked if going dead weight would have loosened her leg and nodded. "Sorta. It isn't so much that my leg would have gotten looser, but it would have given you leg the slack it needed to pull free. After that with a proper base you could have thrown me. Or if you had the abdominal strength, you could even pull your legs up and wrap em around my head to pull me down into a hurricanrana or headscissor." Alizeh explained, laying out the full effects of what Wyvern could have done and the ways she could have taken advantage, just to hammer home how she should be thinking.

[Hills]

"I do." Not a boast, merely a statement of fact. For someone with Wyvern's level of strength, pulling herself up with her core muscles would be child's play. "Keeping my balance would be harder, though. I'm not much for this acrobatic shite. I like my feet on the ground."

Once again, Wyvern listens studiously to Alizeh's explanation. All she's missing is a note pad and pencil to the sell the effect. Once her tutor finishes speaking, she takes another pause, breaking eye contact and staring off into space as she thoroughly processes what she just heard. This was entirely new and very practical; a layer of how to think beyond knowing when to apply basic fighting theory.

"Then...the moment of escape is the greatest degree of vulnerability for the holder. I'll have a few heartbeats to figure out my options and pick what I do next. If I'm unpredictable, they're less likely to be able to defend or counter, since they need to process what I'm doing and react before it's too late. If I always do the same thing, they can move when or even before I do to prepare their own response...I can increase unpredictability by using variations I'm less familiar with in lower-stakes scenarios and relying on my fundamentals for serious opponents...Maybe I can use it for mind games, but I probably shouldn't have said anything about my preferred tactics to Ali...zeh..."

Wyvern quickly devolves entirely into her own little world, ignoring Alizeh as she puzzles through the new concepts. When she realizes that she's ignoring the person in front of her, however, she snaps back to focus, her cheeks flushing a slight shade of pink in embarassment. She clears her throat.

"...Anyway. What's next?"

[Bare]

Alizeh chuckled at Wyvern's response, knowing she wasn't boasting but also getting where she was coming from. "Yeah haha its just an option. Though to be fair it is probably the lower end of acrobatic stuff, so you could probably do it with prace." Alizeh mentioned before going into her explanation, noting as she did it how... focused Wyvern was. Like a sponge absorbing information as opposed to water but she at least took it with no hesitation which was good.

After all Wyvern was a brawler and power house and what Alizeh was talking about was as far as opposite end of the spectrum as possible, so she wouldn't have blamed her for not being receptive. So to see it was a pleasant surprise. What really got her though was how Wyvern began to go into a full blown internally directed rant on the finer points and realizations of what Alizeh had talked about.

Blinking at this Alizeh couldn't help but be reminded of another green haired kid she knew through her agent who had a similar habit.. and she'd chuckle softly at the comparison of him and Wyvern that image connected. Luckily Wyvern realized what she was doing and snapped back to reality soon enough making Alizeh chuckle a little bit again. "Nerdddddddd." She'd say teasingly before coughing and motioning for Wyvern to stand straight again.

"Same concept, just different move. It should play to you're strengths more so hopefully it'll be easier for you get." Alizeh said as she approached the dark haired girl, hooking one leg over Wyvern's own, reaching behind the woman to grab her arm and pull it back before hopping up and throwing her leg up and over Wyvern's head before bringing it down so Wyvern's neck was in the croook of her knee so that Alizeh would be able to lock in a octopus stretch!

[Hills]

"Tch."

As much as Wyvern would like to contest Alizeh's teasing accusation, the actual events of the past few seconds put her in a terrible position to do so, leaving her distinctly on the conversational back foot. Rather than try to defend a doomed cause, she lets it go with an annoyed utterance and a mild scowl. In truth, it was the first time that particular epithet had been directed towards her; while she was quite studious in her approach to many things, this wasn't something she frequently demonstrated in front of others and few would expect it after seeing her in action.

As Alizeh indicates for Wyvern to ready herself for the next hold, she spreads her legs a bit and holds her arms out to the sides to let the older wrestler have free reign of her body, a description that would no doubt give the poor girl conniptions were she to be made aware of the constant narration following the most interesting moments of her life. Bending over as the full stretch is completed, Wyvern once again begins testing the limits of her easy movement.

"Thanks. I hate it."

Several Weeks Later...

Saoirse sighs, resting her chin on one knee as she lets the other leg stretch out, having arrived, as always, quite early. She's seated on the floor, leaning back against the corner of the gym that she and Alizeh have claimed for their periodic training sessions. While she's long gotten over the intense nerves that had previously driven her to burn energy before each session, last time Alizeh had mentioned that they were moving on to the next phase of the training today, refusing to provide any further elaboration when Saoirse had requested an explanation. Seeing another gym-goer nervously casting glances in her direction, Saoirse realizes that her staring off into space had been interpreted, as per usual, as a glare of very personal hatred for...whoever that was. Suppressing her spike of annoyance from reaching her face, the Irishwoman closes her eyes to prevent any further misunderstandings, continuing to wait for the appointed time.

[Bare]

Alizeh smiled happily as she walked through the gym in her usual outfit, having been a few weeks since her and Saoirse's initial training together to help her improve on submissions and despite a... rocky start things had progressed quite nicely. Not just with how the Irish woman's submissions improved, but in their relationship as well, to the point that Saoirse was quickly becoming one of Alizeh's closer friends in LAW.

Spotting the dour woman with usual grumpy expression Alizeh would smile brightly and wave, looking the exact opposite of the dark haired woman as she neared. "Siriiiiii hiiiii!" Alizeh chirped happily, using a nickname she had quickly gotten fond of for the woman as she finally stopped in front of her. "Ready for today?" she asked, already knowing exactly what the Irish woman would say.

[Hills]

Twitchy as ever, as soon as Alizeh calls out to her Saoirse's entire body momentarily clenches and her eyes snap open before focusing on the greenette. Her tense posture relaxes (as much as it ever does), and the menacing half-smile that Alizeh has come to learn is entirely genuine soon graces her face. To say merely that Saoirse had trouble making friends would be charitable to the point of saintly, but the Texan had grown to be one of the few people she would readily refer to as such. Stretching a little to work out the stiffness from her body, Saoirse climbs to her feet and loosens her arms, more to keep her hands occupied than out of any actual need.

"Yes. But first..." Bending over, Saoirse rummages through her bag for a moment before pulling out an opaque, plastic food container. She extends it towards Alizeh. "Take this with you when you go today. I've been working on it for a while and I need a second opinion." Assuming Alizeh takes it, she continues. "I'm trying to reduce the sugar quantity while maintaining the same level of sweetness, so I steeped the...uh...never mind. Just tell me how it tastes later."

Cutting herself off before she can go on a tangent, Saoirse takes a breath to reset herself.

"Ok. So what's this new mystery regimen?"

[Bare]

Spotting the normally sour looking Wyvern not far from her Alizeh would smile brightly at her new friend as she approached and in turn spotted the tell tale, albeit subtle signs of the raven haired woman warming up to her. The relaxed posture, the genuine half smile on her face and just the overall demeanor change in the normally intense woman. Stopping in front of her Alizeh would raise an eyebrow as Wyvern dug something out of her bag before presenting it to her making the greenette's eyes widen as she eagerly accepted the food from Wyvern.

"Oh my goshhhh yes! Been waiting to try more of your stuff!" Alizeh said, the discovery of her friend's baking ability being the most shocking yet welcomed surprise about her that Alizeh had made. Tucking the container into her bag Alizeh would pop up with a bright smile at Saoirse.

"Hehe, today is your first day of advanced grappling training!" Alizeh said with her arms spread out as she moved to get onto 'their' mat where they always practices. "Specifically it's gonna be some freestyle grappling, mostly with a focus on chain wrestling. Basically the idea is to only escape or counter holds without using any strikes or anything like that. Just holds and ingenuity!" Alizeh said knowing it'd be a challenge for the normally very strike oriented woman.

[Hills]

Wyvern looks away as she hands Alizeh the container, hiding the embarassed tinge of pink that grows in her cheeks in response to her friend's enthusiastic reaction. Alizeh was the only person she knew who consistently seemed unqualifiedly happy to be around her, and while the experience was pleasant, it wasn't one she really knew how to deal with. As per usual, this largely meant that she chose not to. Seeing that Alizeh has already moved onto the mat, she quickly follows and squares up with her tutor.

"...This is going to be a long day. Also, fair warning, I'm probably going to punch you at least once."

As she had demonstrated the first day and sporadically since, Wyvern could be...twitchy. Her reflexes had been honed to a fine edge, enabling her to rapidly respond to even the slightest stimuli with a quick strike. This was extremely useful for fighting. It was much less helpful under literally any other circumstance. For many years this hadn't been much of a problem, but her blossoming friendship with Alizeh had lead her to begin seeing the potential downsides.

"Whenever you're ready."

[Bare]

Alizeh chuckled a bit at Wyvern's warning and nodded. It was one of the girl's... eccentricities that you had to get used too as you got to know her, but by now she was at a point that she could laugh it off pretty easily. "Yeah well if you do you're buying lunch." Alizeh said with a grin, knowing for a fact that it would be a free meal for her with how Wyvern could be. But who knows it may motivate her to at least try and keep that hair trigger reaction of hers under control.

Either way stepping onto the mat and nodding to her training partner Alizeh would bend her knees while raising her hands up in preparation for the training that was about to begin. "Let's do this." Alizeh said before shooting forward, looking to lock her hands up with the dark haired woman, gripping and grabbing at her hands, pushing against her for a moment before pivoting and going low, releasing Wyvern's hand in the process before trying to lash her arms around the woman's waist for a rear waistlock!