Kanon Fujiwara [D] vs. Shimmerlace Snuggleblossom

[Malkavia]

And here came the mat like the car that sideswipes you when, distracted by haunting ghostly creature roadside, you run a red light. A dropkick has two parts, the kicking and then the bouncing back up, but a mentorless Shimmerlace hadn’t put in the hours to quite internalize the feel of both pieces.

…And Christ if that cloverleaf hadn’t left her back tight. The smack of her side against the mat pulled a muscle funny. When she pulled her knees together and tried to pop to her feet, she was clutching her back and muttering pained cunts and dick-weasels under her breath.

She heard the plop plop plop of Kanon’s bootfalls against the mat just in time to dart her eyes up and catch a camera-flash impression of her opponent’s charge. The sheer speed on the demon made Shimmerlace’s pupil’s contract as the reflexes in her nerves contracted every muscle panic-tight. She didn’t really know what she was seeing until the lariat connected with her throat.

Down again! This time her back hit before her head and she was spared a glimpse at the outer stars, but the feeling in her throat was almost worse. The crack against the mat forced the air out of her, and when she tried to draw it back in—grk!

Oh fuck.

She clutched at her larynx. Her chest heaved, but the edged of her throat felt glued-tight. She spent one, two heart beats at the bottom of the ocean, then finally gasped—Clear! Silvery. Precious clean air in her lungs, just in time for whatever insidious plan Kanon had waiting for her.

[CaptainL]

Kanon might not have been all that impressed with Shimmerlace's mystic aptitude, but as far as wrestling went? She wasn't half bad. She had managed to make a respectable recovery, and she had launched herself toward her with a dropkick that hit its mark, sending the albino doubling over forward as she went stumbling toward the ropes. Kanon needed a moment to catch her breath, panting and shaking herself out. Shimmerlace still clearly had a ways to go...but yes, there was potential in this one. Perhaps, some day, she could serve her purposes - her Father - well.

However, the Feychild wasn't quite there yet. Kanon knew as much. She had many more tests to face - and many more to transpire between the ropes of this very ring. She could see the hesitance as she got up; the way she needed to lift herself up step by step - clearly a sign that she had yet to build her endurance. She still hadn't fully recovered by the time Kanon was gearing up for her next move. But by then, it was too late. When she closed in on her with her arm drawn back to hit a lariat, it knocked the air right out of Shimmer, knocking her clean off her feet!

With the pink-haired girl landing at her feet with a thud, Kanon took a moment to prepare herself, rolling some kinks out of her neck and stretching out her fingers. She looked down at Shimmerlace with a cold, unfeeling, unsympathetic look on her face. She might have had potential, yes, but she had to show far more than that to impress her foe. And, as a matter of fact, Kanon was ready to show her her next trial.

Bending down behind Shimmer, Kanon grabbed for one of the Young Lioness's arms, twisting it around her own throat to hold off the pressure in one of her signature moves - a modified crossface chickenwing she'd dubbed the Key of Solomon! If Shimmerlace was to impress her with her endurance and her tenacity, she would have to withstand this!

Spoiler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ctocJiCc6M

[Malkavia]

Her boots drummed the mat, she bucked, she wriggled, all in token resistance to a hold Kanon locked in place as easily as rigor mortis sliding bony hands over a corpse.

Thighs in black tights slid around Shimmer’s waist, squeezed her bare midriff and held her firmly in a place shaped to the white-haired sorceror's will. Kanon’s hips were a fulcrum to bend Shimmerlace, but the throat—the throat is where the hold became deadly. Compared to Kanon’s sepulchral outfit, the Seelie Scion’s lilacs and cherryblossom had glowed with life. Now, Kanon seemed determined to douse that springtime glow with a noose spun from the fairy's own arm.

The choke made Shimmerlace quiver. Part of it was pain—hyperextension from both shoulders that made her back bend and buck. Part of it was the choke—her thin arm, normally so soft, ached on her throat and made her face damp and cherry-red. And part of it was…Well she could see it. Picture it. Tied up with her own body, quivery and whimpery, turning pale and murky under the stony red-eyed look of her captor round her back. The idea of her sent a shudder through her toes and made her insides squeeze tight and hot below her bellybutton.

”Gnnnff…” Pained tears welling, Shimmerlace shifted, stretched, inched towards the ropes. Again. Fuck, but they were far this time. Further than they’d been with the cloverleaf, and her with less mobility. What was worse, she couldn’t even dash the pain and pinpricks (and moldering humiliation) against the thunder and Wild Hunt scream of her cursing, since to do so would scrape her throat against a hold already close to squeezing her bloodlines shut. The storm was plugged inside her pink frame.

So instead she growled. Spittle bubbled at her lips. She shook and bucked and kicked. And she began to go loose and soft like warm but soon-to-be-chill clay in the red-eyed zealot’s unmerciful hands.

[CaptainL]

At last, Kanon had Shimmerlace right where she wanted her. The way in which her legs looped around her waist, scissoring them with a firm squeeze, would do well enough to keep her from going far, but that wasn't even the crux of Kanon's plan. That would come next, as she grabbed Shimmer by the arm, twisting it back and locking it around her own throat. Now, held in one of the albino's signature moves, Shimmerlace had nowhere to go. She struggled desperately - she twisted from side to side; hissing and bucking, she reached out toward the ropes. But Kanon already knew they were too far. All she did was fix a withering glare at the back of her opponent's head. Now, she had Shimmerlace exactly where she wanted her. Before long, it would all be over.

"You are a fool...to think you ever had a chance..."

The arena had gone silent. With everyone staring wide-eyed at Shimmerlace's hopeless struggles, which never seemed to get her far from her predicament, just about any hope they had for the Young Lioness's victory had been snuffed out. Now, Shimmer's supporters could only watch and wait in terror for whatever plans Kanon might have had once she had silenced whatever resistance still stood in her way. To her own credit, though, Kanon wasn't in the least bit smug, or gloating over what seemed to be an impending victory. As a matter of fact, she barely seemed to care at all. As Shimmer coughed and sputtered, she remained right where she was, staring back at her foe with an icy, indifferent stare. That was, until the strength began to drain away from Shimmerlace, her body growing limp and shrinking back as her eyes grew dark. At that point, and only at that point, the corners of Kanon's lips began to tilt upward into a devious grin...

[Malkavia]

In truth, the darkness was more friend to Shimmerlace than foe. She'd always reached for it when the pain rose to her threshold. To slide into the cold, into the numb fingers and gray lips, was like rolling into a nap after a long day’s work. They’ll smack you awake before too long and you’ll get to throw some manner or other of confetti at your victorious partner.

There was just one problem: Shimmerlace still wanted something. The darkness was cold, and it was huge, but this time it wasn't empty. There was a red, pulsing foglight at its center, full of mystery and power. Kanon’s shadowed gem. And if the Feychild let herself dissolve here, she knew it too would slip into smoke, and she'd never get to see what visions it held beneath its gleaming blood-moon surface.

The Feychild’s breath had gone shallow, but it still warmed her arm with dew. That was how close this hold tied her limb to her mouth. But what Kanon didn't know, in spite of her arts, was that Shimmer’s glove held an arsenal, and when the fairy groaned and pressed down with all her might, and sank her chin below the fabric of the first arm, her teeth found the cotton door to that arsenal. Her ears had gone purple, and her body trembled involuntarily from the crook in her neck and the chick in her back—but her white Seelie fangs chomped on cotton and ripped. And from the tear leaked pink fluid.

In with a heaving breath. Now every fraction of a second counted. She suckled the leak, and five-alarm capsaicinoid pepperjack fire sank burning pins into her lips and swelled her tongue and made water run down her cheeks, but she had her sap, and she wrenched one last corkscrew with her body to get one look at Kanon’s tombstone eyes—so that she could spray them over with spittle and Gloaming Sap.

[CaptainL]

It was almost a pity, really. Shimmerlace had shown so much potential. She was certainly talented, and her performances were nothing if not attention-getting, commanding the eyes of the whole arena and defying what they knew of reality. But they were just that - performances. As far as Kanon was concerned, Shimmerlace was nothing more than a trickster. A charlatan, reaching toward a higher power without truly being able to control it, to own it, to bend it to her whim. She'd had her suspicions from the moment she entered the ring, but she'd still held out hope that, maybe, Shimmer might be capable of surprising her. Yet, she'd come up short. She had faced the inevitable, and in the end, she was unable to defy it.

But that was no matter, Kanon thought. If that was her Father's will, it was what would come to pass. Now, she had her in her clutches, and she just had to watch and wait. All would come to its ordained end. She knew it was well on its way...

And just then - right when Kanon was sure the last gasps of stamina were slipping away from her pink-haired foe - that Shimmerlace struck. Kanon had taken her victory for granted. She was sure that Shimmer stood no chance against her. But Shimmer was going to prove her wrong - she did have a trick left up her sleeve after all. Quite literally, as she tore a packet of mist out of her glove, right under Kanon's nose - and blew it into the albino's face!

Kanon didn't even see it coming. It was one of the oldest tricks in the wrestler's book - it was one that she herself made use of - and she was so assured that Shimmer stood no chance that she'd left herself unprepared! Now, as the Gloaming Sap blew into her face - into her eyes, her nose, her mouth - she was left coughing and gasping, throwing her head from side to side in a desperate struggle to get the stinging sensation out of her. In the process, she had no choice - she dropped Shimmerlace, rolling over on her side, kicking at the air, and clutching at her face as she tried to rub away the pain. She had to admit one thing, no matter how much it hurt - that was clever.

[Malkavia]

Shimmerlace plopped on the mat. Plop. And there she groaned as the vision before her warped weave and weft, gray and white and black. Not quite sure what she was seeing, but she was pretty sure it was half a dream. She'd had exactly enough consciousness to spew the sap, and that had been enough. For now. Blood rushed into her neck, and the ceiling overhead began to resettle from all that visual static.

When she tried to settle on what to do next, though, her mind blanked—sort of. Actually, it ached and spun and rolled over itself, much like her body was doing until she flailed out for the ropes, grabbed the bottom one, and steadied herself. But as far as practical steps towards reversing the flow of this match went, that turnamaring of OUCH and cringe and prickling blood in her slowly revitalizing face and wobbly knees...well, it was blank in spirit, shall we say.

...Whatever she did, it would involve being on her feet. That was something solid. Pull up on the rope, plant one sole on the blue wide mat. Push. It got her up, though not without sloshing vertigo between her ears.

”Nnngyeh...”

No no NO! There'll be no more of that noise cunt. If ya wanna NNNGYEH, you can go do it between Maddie's lips. This ring here, all I wanna hear is a fuckin' GROWL. The internal monologue had adopted a kind of military cadence. A drill sergeant castigating the zombie in the line. It didn't stop the drool running down her chin, though. And she still didn't know exactly what she was meant to do.

Well, first thing, how about she look at her opponent. Where was she? Nursing her eyes like as not. Getting ready to be doing something else, something dangerous and nasty. So hit her. Hit her. HIT. HER.

So she did—or tried to. Stumbling and wobbling from still being half-conscious after that choke, she careened towards Kanon and aimed the first strike that came to mind: She tried to clap both her palms around Kanon's ears. Pop and shiver go the eardrums, was the theory.

[CaptainL]

Kanon hadn't seen it coming - but right when it seemed like she had her opponent all but dominated, Shimmerlace had a trap to spring. The white-haired girl was forced to release her opponent in order to tend to her own wounds, and when her eyes were itching and stinging from wherever the gloaming sap had gotten into them, she simply couldn't focus on keeping up the pressure. Hissing and groaning, she rubbed at her face to try and dull the burning sensation. Her legs kicked in the air a couple of times, just in case Shimmerlace was still within range, but soon enough Kanon would roll herself over to get onto her hands and knees. She still needed a moment or two to shake the cobwebs out of her head, and to blink the last bits of gloaming sap out of her eyes, but when she came to - blinking once, then twice - the world around her slowly began to fade back into focus. The flat expression returned to her face, attesting to the calmness and composure she maintained. She was prepared. She knew now that she was going to have to be on her guard when it came to Shimmerlace - for all her appearances, the Young Lioness was trickier than she let on. It was an embarrassment that she had let herself get rattled, but at the very least, it was something Kanon wasn't going to have happen again. When her eyes locked on her foe, they narrowed into a look of readiness and attention.

And it was because of that that Kanon noticed, the moment she regained her vision, that Shimmer was closing in on her, swinging her arms out to try and clap her right on the ears! At first, her blood-red eyes widened at the sight - but things weren't over yet. Shimmerlace was still haggard and breathless from the hold she had just been in, and so too did Kanon have more experience on her, readying her for such a situation. She could see Shimmerlace coming and know what to do about it. And because of that, she was able to duck her head down, dodging under the incoming strike - and shoving her head between Shimmerlace's legs.

With how much Shimmer was wobbling, Kanon was banking on being able to get herself in place. If she could, she would grab hold of the girl's thighs to try and hold them there, ensuring her weight would be balanced atop her shoulders. From there, Kanon would push her feet off the ground, attempting to rise to her full height - with Shimmerlace perched atop her, in an electric chair position!

[Malkavia]

POP!

Shimmerlace blinked.

...Well, it had looked like Kanon's face had been going to be resting there. She gave an annoyed grunt as her hands clapped together on nothing. ”Crawly-munchin' pigshit...”

That whole "choked with her own arm" bit had left her pretty dizzy, not to mention practically foaming at the mouth with chili pepper fairy spice. She was slow to react to Kanon, who took advantage.

Up she went, on Kanon's much less wobbly shoulders. Talk about vertigo. She had to grab Kanon's head to keep from keeling over.

Oh I know this one! Electric chair. Gnarly name for a hold, what with its whiff of death and smoke and execution. She could even sort of picture a counter. You go all roley poley and flip over forward, hit some three hundred and sixty degree turn somehow, and land the bitch under you over on her back right? Pity she hadn't the faintest clue how to pull it off.

”Ehm...” Focus. Shimmer's eyes froze on the back of Kanon's head as her body went stiff and mind kicked into hyperdrive. Half a second from now, Kanon would be slamming her down, and then it would be right back to where she just was, except. You know, worse. Her first flash of a thought was fingers in the eyes, nose, ears—but the ref was already pissed.

—OK, eh. She spied the ropes. Ropes! Right. Maybe she could like. Fall backwards and grab the top rope? Kanon had her by the legs, so she couldn't just slip off, but it'd be harder to slam her if she was holding rope, right? And maybe she could scissor the Mystical Demonkin's neck while she was bridging?

...She didn't think she'd ever seen it done. It was probably a bit of a dunder-headed plan. But it was all she'd got in the half second she had to think, so. Fuck it. Fuck its wormy squirmy arse. She leaned backwards quick as she could, practically falling backwards off Kanon's shoulders, hands outstretched in a desperate bid to grab the anchor of the top rope.

[CaptainL]

Kanon might have faced a minor setback - but in the grand scheme of things, it wouldn't stop her for long. She was a part of an even greater purpose, and she wouldn't let this get in the way. In particular, she wasn't about to be bested by an upstart like Shimmerlace, who clearly had a long way to go before she truly understood the dark path Kanon followed. Shimmerlace thought she had her own tricks to play, but Kanon was experienced. She was knowledgable. She knew her way around the ring, and around the sort of schemes and deceit that helped her get the edge. What Shimmer was doing was nothing - in the end, it was only setting her up for an even more devastating counter.

As Shimmerlace came into range, Kanon stuck her head through her legs and rose to her feet, getting the girl up on her shoulders. She turned her head to the sky, looking up with a stony expression on her face, as she prepared for what would surely be a devastating impact for her foe. She took one step closer to the center of the ring, and then another, holding Shimmerlace high to display her for all to see - a testament to what she was about to achieve. And then, throwing her weight back, the albino prepared to hurl Shimmerlace straight into the ground...

Except she didn't. Just as Kanon kicked off her feet to drop down...she felt the weight on her shoulders suddenly lifted. She stopped halfway through, her heels skidding across the mat, and she felt a counterweight exert its force on her, as though something had stopped her at the last minute by pulling back in the opposite direction.

"ROPE BREAK!"

And that was when she realized it. Just as she'd begun to fall, Shimmerlace had been able to grab the ropes - stopping herself just before she hit the mat, and forcing Kanon to release her!

At first, when she looked back over her shoulder, Kanon's eyes were wide in disbelief. It was impossible, she thought - there was no way that a fool like Shimmerlace could have thought so quickly, let alone for it to actually work! But she had no choice but to accept the break. Again, a minor setback - the grand designs of things would set everything right, in the end. She pushed Shimmer's legs aside, slipping out of the hold before she walked over to the center of the ring to dust herself off and fix her hair before looking back at her foe. Shimmerlace still had a lot to learn, yes...but she was more clever than Kanon was giving her credit for. Perhaps she had potential after all.