The Hot Springs Truce

[Monsy]

It didn’t feel like maneuvering to her. Just. Running on a wheel. Wherever there was a problem, it just didn’t fucking end. That was the case with Yuki. The shitstorm of publicity and the ostracizing following Apex and their promo. Yuki gets to stand there and play victim every single time. Poor fucking baby.

There was a fair amount unspoken when she said it. Fuck-ing. Bitch.

But it felt GREAT.

When it came to what happened after, she was betting on that slap. For what reasons? It didn’t matter much. It showed them significantly moved, from her perspective. Unable to control the emotions. That Yuki was upset, hurting and stressing. Yuki would create a bigger problem for herself, as she always did.

If only. IF. Only. She was in a better mood to play off that.

“What do ya mean by all of this?” Her smile grew another size. Immediately, she caught onto what she thought this was. “I get it. This is just more poison. Fuckin’ poison, tryin’ to get inside my head and fuck it all up for next week.”

Angelina’s eye twitched. It just occurred to her she hadn’t blinked for the past minute. She pulled away, turned around and reached for the pool’s edge. Once she had it, she jumped up, pressed down with her arms and lifted from the pool so the water was just beneath her buttocks.

“Well, let me tell ya somethin’ Yooks.” Then she emerged on the pool-side, standing up, naked, then turned around. Her arms spread as a gesture before slapping down at her sides. Her head shook.

“My head’s all screwed on tight. It’s an ironclad with fuckin’ horns and a jolly rogah. I won’t let ya inside it, not in a million fuckin’ years. You’ll see.”

And Angelina walked towards the open side of the hot springs that led towards the outside. Her back was to Yuki. But she kept walking, off the stone and onto flat rock with steam coming off her body. The lights of lanterns casting only a faint glint as Angelina traversed into the shadows of night, down towards a thinly-frozen river.

[CaptainL]

It was taking every fiber of Yuki's being to stop herself from lashing out at Angelina here and now. Oh, how she wanted to. She knew how richly Angelina deserved it. But as much as she might think that it would bring her closure, she had to remind herself that it wasn't to be. The last couple of times they'd come to blows, it had only left Yuki feeling more isolated, more targeted, and more unsafe by the end of it. The last thing she needed was to expose her vitals to the Marauder. And the last thing she needed was to give her exactly the response she wanted.

But it seemed like Angelina was on to Yuki, too. And if Yuki was looking for answers, Angelina was hell-bent on keeping them from her.

From the moment Yuki saw that big dumb smile over her rival's face, it was enough to make her go tense. She sucked in a breath, her muscles clenched and rigid and her fist trembling beneath the water's surface. Whatever Angelina said next, Yuki knew it would drive her up the wall. Already, the redhead knew how she was going to outwit Yuki. Already, she knew how to hold onto control over this situation.

But when she opened her mouth, what she said was even worse.

"...What!?" Yuki flinched. Her eye twitched too, and she leaned a little closer in the water, edging in toward Angelina. If it wasn't bad enough that Angelina was outwitting her...now, she was deflecting again? Accusing Yuki of the very thing she already knew Angelina was trying to do to her? Her teeth clenched in a snarl. It made it all the more frustrating to know that Angelina came this close to understanding - that it was all within her grasp - and she still fell short. She knew what was going on, she had to, but she would rather just blame everyone around her instead, and never take responsbility. Yuki thought that she just might come away from this with a little bit more of an understanding of what made Angelina tick, and how she worked. But she was left with no more answers than she'd started with. And now, Angelina was trying to abscond from the situation. Proving that all of this truly was a waste of time. Yuki's attempt at a relaxing escape had been shattered - and what did she have to claim for it?

The hairs rose on the back of Yuki's neck with rising frustration. Something was bubbling up inside of her - so much so that when Angelina's pert backside rose out of the water, it didn't break her train of thought even for a second. Instead, as Angelina began to saunter off into the darkness, Yuki followed her. She swam closer to the edge, and there she planted her hands on the edge of the pool. The closer she drew, the more the thoughts ran through her head. What was Angelina doing out there? Going off into the wilderness, without even bothering to collect her things? Yuki's brow furrowed at the thought of it. This didn't seem right. Especially not from Angelina. This had to be a trap. Was she looking for something out there? A weapon - perhaps one she'd stashed away - that she would have ready to launch an ambush? Yuki knew Angelina...and getting away like this seemed almost too trivial for her.

As she climbed up out of the pool, the rivulets of water cascading down her naked body, Yuki didn't even hesitate as she followed steadily after the retreating redhead. She knew this wasn't done. And she wouldn't let her out of her sights until it was. It was too dangerous.

"I don't think we're finished..." Yuki wouldn't let this be a waste of her time.

[Monsy]

Now she was standing butt-ass naked in the dead of midnight. Drenched, steaming and staring directly at the distant treeline on the opposite riverbank. Her mind was filled with rot. Became cluttered. A thought was slow to piece together, landing at useless ends, impractical ones, plain slow or just... nothing.

To Angelina’s world, she was sneaking away. The water was infected by Yuki’s poison and filth. It was on her skin, burning off. How did Shimma put up with this? All these questions, then questions. Accusations. The web of trying to make your head spin dizzy. Sweet, fuck. She was a saviour from an abuser.

Her entire evening. Blown.

Drop. Drop-drop. Drop.

Water. Angelina’s ear felt a tug. Feet suctioning and slapping the rock. Her nape crawled and her fist squeezed like it had a knife inside it, then turned around to face the danger now coming at her now of all--

Oh, of fuckin’ course.

Yuki. Her upper-lip pulled from repulsion. “Can’t ya just let me have some peace?”

Her arms raised up, shrugging, then slapped down. What did Yuki want from her? “No wondah ya got in good with Pink. Ya just didn’t leave her alone, then used her to get at me. Made her feel warm, didn’t ya? You’re a sick fuck, Yuki. I’m done listenin’ to you. You’re not gettin’ in my fuckin’ head.”

She backed up, turned around, then stepped further into the dark. A wet footprint is left behind.

“Follow me and you’re dead.”

[CaptainL]

As she rose out of the water, Yuki had to hug one arm around her side. The cold night air against her bare skin pierced her like a dagger. Why, she asked herself, was she trying to do this? She knew that if she just stayed in the water - the warmth, the safety - she wouldn't have to worry about all this. Not the cold - and not exposing herself to Angelina Tarrant, in the dark of the night, where she was naked and vulnerable. That, if anything, was a threat that harried Yuki even more than the weather did. But she knew, too, that if she stayed in the water, she wouldn't be able to live with herself. Not with knowing that she had been faced with the opportunity to finally have closure, but was too afraid to take it. She had to be better than that. She had to be braver than that. She wasn't a coward; she couldn't keep running away. Even if she wanted to.

As Yuki stepped off the rock and onto the snowy ground, a numbness crept through the sole of her feet. But she bit her lip and kept going. When Angelina spoke up again, though - that shot an even greater chill through Yuki. She stopped for just a moment, thinking of what she was doing. Should she be doing this? Was she just haranguing Angelina at every turn, never letting her step away from the pressure of this feud - just as Angelina had done to her? Was she really any better?

Only a moment later, though, Angelina kept going. And it was then that Yuki sucked down a gulp, standing a little straighter. No, this was why she was doing what she was doing. Angelina thought she was a psychopath - that she was the one at fault for all this. That she had ulterior motives to make Angelina's life hell, for some reason or another. Yuki couldn't let Angelina get away with thinking all of that. She had to know she was wrong. This matter couldn't be left unanswered. And when she brought Shimmerlace into all of this, as though she hadn't been through enough already? No. There was no use in shying away from this any longer.

"You're the one who isn't listening to me, Angelina!" Yuki barked back at her. "All of this, I've tried to explain, and you still think I'm trying to deceive you!? What more do I have to do? I'm not trying to get in your head! I at least want us to come to some understanding, and I can't even have that? Just tell me, Angelina! What will make you believe me!?"

[Monsy]

Yuki was being a loud fucking noise.

But that noise was able to get inside other people's heads, then work them over. Angelina needed to be better than them, now that Yuki got to this point. She followed Angelina out, shouted her down and put her on the spot. Angelina saw that, heard that and internalized it, instead of what Yuki said verbally, which was just the kind of thing a manipulative piece of shit would say. She was being stepped on deliberately. This? What are you going to do about it?

Angelina stopped where she stepped, back to Yuki, then looked down. Her feet still left an imprint on the ropes. Drops of water came off her legs, along with a massive curtain of red scarlet hair hugging down to her mid-thigh. She couldn’t just go invisible and warp away from the situation. Yuki was following. She can follow her feet. And now those same feets’ toes squeezed in. Think, think.

How do we deal with a monster?

Angelina stayed looking down, scanning and steadily sharpening her glare and bared teeth.

Just tell me, Angelina! What will make you believe me!?

And right on cue, she had her answer.

She squatted down, then picked up a rock. The very next moment she threw it at Yuki’s head like a fastball. It was the size of her palm and roughly the shape of a jagged diamond. Clean shot.

[CaptainL]

Yuki was tired of this. She hadn't come this far for Angelina to keep blowing her off. No, she wanted answers. As far as she understood it, she and Angelina had just shared the ring one time, and she had no idea why the redhead had decided to make hunting Yuki down and making sure she would feel unsafe wherever she went her life's purpose. Perhaps she was digging deeper than she should've. Perhaps she was poking the bear. But in this moment, Yuki was blinded by one thing - her desire to make sense of it all.

In retrospect, she didn't know what she expected.

Of course Angelina wouldn't make things that easy. Why would she, when she never had before? When Angelina turned around to face Yuki, looking her dead in the eye, the Japanese girl froze in place. Her body went stiff, and a chill ran down her spine from head to toe. There was something about Angelina that was greater than who she was as a person. An aura, almost. Her very presence was commanding and imposing, and when she looked at Yuki the right away, it felt as though she was staring down the barrel of a gun.

For a moment, she stood there transfixed. She was held in place; if she stayed there, open and vulnerable, for any longer, she might have been in prime territory for her rival to sweep in for the kill. But when Angelina picked up the rock, without another word, Yuki instantly knew what she needed to do. Her instincts surged through her. She had to act. She had to save herself!

"Yeep-!!" It all happened almost too fast to keep track of. Angelina pitched the rock in Yuki's direction, and Yuki ducked down. Her hair billowed through the cool air after her as she dropped into a squat, and her hands shot up to cover her head. The rock flew by over her, but all she was left with was a question that pierced through her just as much as any attack would. Why, she asked herself, did she expect anything different?

[Monsy]

Angelina was one hair away from a dead end situation.

The rock zipped overhead. It cleared. In the dark, Angelina can tell by the rock banging against another, making a clunk as it rolled, clunked again, then made a sound like asynchronously dropping your fingernails onto a wooden surface. Then BANG. It rebounded off a rock with a snap and lodged into the shallow snowbank.

Angelina’s arm felt a tweak. Her fist pulled in, clenched and sweat. She was seeing red at the edges. A great strength was filling her up, like she was transforming into an attack mode. Lungs expand. Heart hits a new beat. Her head feels clear. The dark forest and its baby fawn. Another one. She a hunter. Her mouth salivated to get a bite out of Yuki to let her stress decompress and her jaw satiate. After her fill, then she’d go.

Two fingers for this. See ya next week for the eyes.

But no.

Angelina in the seconds she had to make a decision, looked down the barrel of fighting against one of the world’s best, in a foreign country, in a resort she hadn’t memorized, in a time where she was being scrutinized by snakes for accusations like these…

And ran. She zipped by Yuki’s squatted self and sprinted back towards the resort and the hot springs. Not a word was said. When she reached the hot springs, it was a matter of tip-toeing, speed-walking, slipping and recouping to pick up her towel and leave before her sinus blew up.

[CaptainL]

When the rock sailed toward her, Yuki dropped into panic mode. She ducked down just in time to let it pass by overhead, but even after the fact, her muscles were tense and her heart was racing. This was a declaration of war. Now it was official - Angelina was trying to pick a fight. And Yuki had to be on guard. She grit her teeth - this was no time to have to defend herself. Not when she was naked, unprepared, shivering, and in the middle of nowhere in the dark of the night. But Angelina waited for no one - she knew that all too well. She didn't have time to wait and prepare herself. She didn't even have time to blink! She had to be on guard, no matter if she was ready to or not!

Her hands coiled into fists, Yuki pushed her way back to her feet, ready to face whatever Angelina had in store for her. She took a deep, measured breath. But what sent a chill through her body even more than the cool air around her was how, when she looked up...there was no sign of Angelina anywhere.

Nothing.

Her eyes went wider, and her heart skipped a beat. She looked left and right - was she hiding? Was she circling behind her? Was she about to launch an ambush? Yet again - nothing. One second ticked by, and then another, and Angelina...just didn't do anything. For a second more, Yuki stood right where she was, the hairs standing straight on the back of her neck, her body tense...but for what? Was Angelina even going to do anything?

Slowly, carefully, she turned her head back over her shoulder. Her heart was beating faster and faster as she did. She was anticipating turning around to see something she really wouldn't like to see. But even then, all she saw was the fleeting glimpse of Angelina running off into the locker rooms.

She was gone. Without even so much as throwing a single punch. She'd worked Yuki up this much, and then...nothing.

So close, and yet so far.

Slowly coming back down to reality, Yuki let out a long sigh. Yet even after she'd exhaled, she felt like she hadn't dispelled any of the tension from her body. She was no closer to understanding Angelina, or bringing any finality to the situation, than she was when she started. Angelina wouldn't let her have answers. She wouldn't let her work this out. There was only one thing that would resolve the tension thick in the air between Yuki and Angelina. Salzburg. Next week. A cage. Loser Leaves Town.

She could only hope she'd be ready.