Binding Creativity: Julie O'Reilly, "The Velvet Hood" vs. Maegu

[DeVir]

Ninja's Dungeon Match
The two competitors must compete in a specialty mat room designed like a dungeon room. Both competitors can bring one traditional "tool" of a ninja to the match from a list. The first competitor to force her opponent to submit or to knock out her opponent wins the match.

Je Sun Hee couldn't help thinking that this, all of this from the match idea to LAW's efforts to convince her to participate, were egregious. But she supposed that LAW had a reputation for being egregious.

She didn't even know where this was on the LAW campus. If not for several ushers sending her in the right direction, she might have gotten lost ages ago. With each person she passed, she hid the rope in her hand behind her back and nodded her thanks. Surely, no one in LAW would judge her for having picked a rope as her chosen "accessory" for this match (only because it seemed the most obviously useful out of the given choices) g ven LAW's...egregiousness, but she would rather not advertise it as her choice, either.

LAW had offered numerous incentives monetarily for her to take a chance on a new match type and series that involved some of their many ninja-themed wrestlers, whose popularity was understandable since this was in fact Japan, wrestling on a special set they had built for streaming the matches online. The matches would focus on mat wrestling, one of Hee's specialties, and center around a theme of capture and submissions. Yes, a bit egregious, and they weren't fooling anyone with the intentions.

But Hee had come to Japan to try new things. This was a new thing that seemed almost perfectly catered to her skills, and she had accepted. About to take the plunge, nerves were getting the best of her, but she had made the right decision.

The last of the ushers let her into the set, and she could hear them chattering that her opponent was incoming too. She had done some homework on "The Velvet Hood," but Hee, eyes behind her fox mask, spent her time inspecting the room before she thought about her opponent. She had to... get her bearings in here. Sure enough, the floor was lined with mats, and the door they closed behind her looked more like dungeon bars than anything. The rest of the room was pure but simple Japanese palace decor with paneled walls and hooded lighting. In the middle sat a pole, the only part that didn't make obvious sense to her. An eyebrow raised behind her mask, and she stepped over to touch it. Maybe they needed it as ceiling support.

When the door opened again, Hee whirled to see the ushers gesturing for someone to come in. She stepped aside, again bothering to hide the rope behind her back. Her opponent had likely brought something practical like the kendo stick meant to replicate a ninja's weapon. Nonetheless, Maegu held her head high; if she didn't honor this mask during her time at LAW, she would have failed herself.

Spoiler

[Jaystar]

Julie O'Reilly was very confused.

What had initially been told her about her match tonight had sounded nothing short of spectacular. So spectacular in fact, that the Irish gingerhead had almost gotten cold feet about it all... Apparently, LAW was going to launch an all new series concept - Ninja's Dungeon Matches - tonight, and the management had selected her to star in the debut matchup! That was an insane honor, and must have been a huge vote of confidence towards Julie from them! And frankly, it puzzled the gingerhead quite a bit... She was no big profile name, nor frankly had that stellar record either so far. So why her?

Then again, it was quickly turning out that what she had envisioned to be the case might have not actually been the case at all. The first hint had been the match location on paper - it wasn't the main arena. In fact, now that Julie was making her way there, she had had to also ask a few times before getting the directions, and based on the fact that she now found herself on one of the basement floors, she was getting the notion that this match tonight might have actually been anything but spectacular.

Thus, the confusion. On the other hand, it was taking a great deal of pressure off of the Irish girl's shoulders, but then again, she was a tad disappointed after having gotten so carried away with her expectations. Nevertheless, Julie knew that there was no sense in sulking, and regardless of how this match would really turn out to eventually be, the best thing she could do was to still make the most of it!

Besides, Julie had also been utterly confused over what a "Ninja's Dungeon" was. She really had no idea what to expect. She recalled that victory was going to be via submission or KO... But not much else. And now that she was thinking it through again, it actually made much more sense that a "dungeon" would be located in the basement.

Finally, the Irish girl came across a door that seemed to be staffed by ushers, who quickly signaled her to come closer.

"Ohh, Miss O'Reilly, finally, here, quickly!"
"Oh, hi... Sorry, I'm I late?"
"Oh no, not at all, not at all, miss... Please, enter, Maegu is waiting!"
"Uh... Who?"
"Maegu."
"Oh... OK..."

Entering the room, Julie found a narrow, dark space behind the first door, which was then followed by a second, much more dungeon-y door equipped with iron bars. While she had already learnt enough of the Japanese way and culture of communication that she could already tell that she was apparently at least a bit late already, she took her time before approaching the second door any further. Also, because she was very busy with trying to figure out who or what exactly was "Maegu"... Sounded very Asian.

"You have your tool, miss O'Reilly?"
"Oh, sorry, what?"
"The tool? The ninja tool?"
"Oh... Yes... Of course!"

Julie's face became beet red as she quickly waved her signature rope she was carrying with her for the usher taking care of her. And the rope - well, that was the same she always had. And that was the embarrassing part. Yes, now she recalled the part about the tool. Now she recalled the list she had been given. But how - how had she forgotten all about it?!? HOW?!? If she had remembered this to make a thought through selection, she would have certainly picked something else than just rope... Surely her opponent at least was going to have chosen something much more effective and deadly. Or well, not deadly, but ninja-like. Right?

But again, she could only make the best of what she had. And at least, she had decent experience from using the rope, unlike most more common ninja tools. With that in mind, she hid the rope under her cloak, and entered through the iron bar door the usher had kindly opened for her.

"Please."

Julie O'Reilly - The Velvet Hood

The Ninja Dungeon (plus a pole in the middle)

Stepping into the room was suddenly, and rather surprisingly, actually a pretty spectacular feeling. The room was nothing like a boring basement, it really had a very ninja-like feeling to it! But of course, it was still very small, and clearly reminiscent of a dungeon... Especially after Julie heard the door clang shut behind her, prompting the Irish girl to glance over her shoulder, which peculiarly revealed the rest of the iron bar wall in her sights. But when turning her head towards the center of the room again, the other peculiar part was the pole in the middle... What could have been the purpose of that?

Suddenly, Julie's whole body flinched. Yes, she had been told that her opponent as waiting for her... But she had completely forgotten about it already. Besides, Maegu had stayed so still that Julie hadn't even recognized her form in the gloomy dungeon at first. But oh, now she could clearly see that she was there... But what had really made the flinch more intense was the fact that her opponent was masked. It certainly at least made her look scarier... And more like a mysterious ninja. Her looks and attire were clearly much more appropriate for this kind of match than Julie felt herself being... But well, this was the third time she had to remind herself to make the best of what she's got.

"Oh... H-hey..." the gingerhead greeted quietly the figure across the dungeon, refraining herself from taking any further steps towards her for now. And frankly, Julie wasn't even sure if her opponent was really going to respond to her, or say anything at all... If anything, she looked very much like one of those silent killers.

[DeVir]

Though the mask made her gaze harsh, a wide-eyed Hee peered at the woman who entered. Redheaded. Quite... cute. Those in charge had been tight-lipped about her opponent, but the details of the match had Hee's imagination conjuring a giant woman that the smaller, more nimble "ninja" would need to overcome. This opponent, "Julie" was all she knew, was no bigger than Hee herself. Certainly no heavier. Perhaps she had mentally created too convoluted of a match concept; she supposed if they added any more requirements, it would become a giant melting pot of ideas and no longer entertaining to the people watching.

Julie started. Hee at first blinked at her, confused, but the Maegu realized she had been standing there hardly breathing and wearing a mask that revealed only darkly painted eyes and lips. Add in the environment of the room, and she wouldn't have come across as anything but intimidating. That was indeed part of the purpose behind the costume (that, and hiding like a proper ninja from her "enemies"), but she was almost embarrassed (or fully embarrassed since her hidden cheeks turned red) to add to what was already an intimidating scenario. Neither one of them would have done anything like this before.

She seemed Western, so Hee called on her near-enough-perfect English rather than the traditional greeting. "Hello." Her hands clasped in front of her stomach, and she bowed. It was only once she was looking down that she remembered that her hand held the rope. She was presenting it like it was her most cherished possession.

She shot back up uncomfortably quickly and fumbled to tuck the rope behind her back where it had been. Though a patient sort, Hee didn't have the good social sense to wait and search Julie's face for a reaction. She certainly didn't have the patience to see that Julie was holding the same "tool." "That was... all I had," Hee said, trying to cover her ass. ...But then, LAW had offered to supply them with the equipment if they needed it. Terrible excuse. "In a pinch."

[Jaystar]

Everyone certainly knew the moments when one would suddenly feel underdressed for an occasion, but Julie O'Reilly was quickly learning right now how a similar feeling could be like in a wrestling match. And not only underdressed, but also underprepared, and based on the looks of her opponent, probably underskilled as well. Like, she looked like a real ninja. Like, someone that really belonged in something called a "Ninja's Dungeon"... While Julie on the other hand? She was simply a spunky gingerhead from Ireland, dressed in a - soon-to-be-revealed - skimpy attire, equipped with a piece of rope. What she was staring at was a masked ninja, one who didn't actually appear that much bigger in size, but also sported a very ninja-like, and admittedly very hot, attire as well... Like a combination of a traditional attire and a leotard. And from what she could tell, despite her relatively small size, her body still didn't look like one of a weakling either.

The ninja didn't seem that evil though, or not as much as maybe the first impression in the gloomy dungeon had suggested with the mask and all. At least she had the courtesy to reply to Julie's greeting, and the typical Asian bow only reinforced the air of an honorable opponent. That got Julie's nerves easing up a little, and she soon even had the sense to try making a clumsy, hasty bow of her own, just to mimick her opponent's actions. Unfortunately though, Julie's eyes were slightly ahead of her brain, and only when the ninja had retreated her hands behind her back again did the Velvet Hood realize that she might had seen something interesting in the girl's hands during the bow...

Had she had a rope? Was she having any other tool at hand? It was obvious from the gingerhead's face that she was now trying to get to somehow get a peek behind Maegu's back to find answers to both of those questions, and clearly her efforts were not left unnoticed by the Korean. She quickly seemed to utter out an explanation... Which Julie didn't even realize to be an explanation for having the rope at first. "Oh... What?" the gingerhead first uttered in confusion as a response, before noticing that part of the rope was still clearly hanging between Maegu's legs, and that she was apparently trying to keep it hidden. Only then it clicked. "Ohh... I see. That's OK." she then continued, but this time with a bit more understanding and confident tone... Mainly, because the fact meant that she hadn't come there all that unprepared after all!

Finding a subtle boost in confidence, Julie's brain had determined Maegu's imminent threat level to be already lower than she had initially thought, and the gingerhead braved a few steps towards the middle of the dungeon. Ideally, she would have settled in the middle... But awkwardly, the pole was there. Why?!? She had no chance to really ponder that though, as there were more pressing things to do right now. One of which was, that her cloak was already making her very hot. That had to change.

Julie O'Reilly's Wrestling attire

Settling in the middle, partly leaning against the pole, Julie began undressing her cloak, revealing her actual, blue velvety, and rather skimpy, wrestling attire for the night. And no, it was not ninja-like at all either... Which was maybe a tiny bit embarrassing, but hey, who said that there were supposed to be two ninjas fighting in the dungeon anyway, right? Maybe one ninja and their enemy was a much more logical pairing after all...

Throwing her cloak aside, which ended up draped over one of the lamps and made the dungeon seem even darker, Julie tried to take as confident stance as she could in the middle by the pole. But what was boosting her confident look even further was the fact while getting rid of her cloak, she had also revealed the piece of rope that she possessed... And by now, was already whirling it up in the air a little like a lasso. Perfect for faking some additional confidence... "So, miss ninja... Dare to come to face me?" the Velvet Hood began seemingly luring Maegu in with a rather seductive tone, even if inside she was still highly on alert, observing carefully what the ninja would do, being internally terrified of the possibility of letting her opponent somehow surprise her.

[DeVir]

If Hee wished to put Julie at ease, she had succeeded. Succeeded by deftly transferring all of the awkward tension in the room into her person.

And for all her efforts to make a quick save, Julie had spotted the rope. The gig was up, and the Korean savant gently brought it back into view. Hee logically understood that it shouldn't have discomposed her (this had been on LAW's list), but she searched for judgment in the eyes of her opponent. She... didn't find any. What she did find she believed to be imagined. The woman treated the revelation as commonplace; if anything, the other lightweight looked more at ease. Hee internally fumbled for something relevant to say back to her, but she couldn't think of anything.

Julie turning her attention away relieved her, and Hee rolled her eyes at herself. She should... get more prepared. Hanging the rope on the nearest source of light, she turned long enough to plant one foot at a time high on the wall to stretch her legs and limber up her hips. The walk over had warmed her muscles, so after a stretch of her shoulders and a swing of both arms, she turned, deeming herself ready. Her jaw could have fallen to the floor.

Julie was mid... striptease. Hee had processed that her opponent wouldn't be wrestling in that bulky cloak; the savant would have been snatching her around the room all match. But she hadn't expected what lay beneath to be so... stringy. Limited. Hee didn't wear a burlap sack, no, but her attire covered much more than Julie's. And Julie had much to put on display. She wasn't as skinny as Hee would have guessed.

The Korean caught herself staring for several seconds too long. She whipped her head away, pointlessly checking to see if anyone on the other side of the "cell door" feature had stayed and discovered her lascivious staring, but they had likely all disappeared to work on the technical aspects of the match. Good.

She peeped back at Julie to find her brandishing a rope. It was Hee's turn to have a start. She checked for her own rope, ensuring it hadn't been snatched; it hadn't. Julie had brought a rope, too. That was a good thing. That was also a bad thing; she must have thought it was her most useful tool of the list, as well. And clearly, she knew how to use it in some sense compared to Hee. While the Maegu didn't know how useful it would be to turn it into a lasso in this situation, she wouldn't have been able to have it spinning like that.

That sight, the outfit, and Julie's alluring voice whirled into a sensory overload, and Hee needed to rub her cheeks beneath the mask to breathe deeply to settle herself. But she had to shake off her worries over these idiosyncrasies and focus on the match. She would bet on herself in a fight every time, whatever the circumstances.

"I more than dare," Hee responded with renewed confidence, as she snagged her own rope, looped it over her elbow, and fell into a tall, stiff fighting stance that would remind anyone of eastern martial arts. Approach this carefully, and she would be fine. "Your move."

[Jaystar]

Maegu may had felt quite a bit of hesitation or uncertainty over the match type, or especially her choice of a tool, but most of that never really reached Julie's awareness. What the Velvet Hood kept seeing in front of her was a mysterious ninja hiding behind an intriguing mask, with her painted eyes and perky lips being the only parts of her face clearly visible - and even them only added to the exotic aura of her new foe. Still, Maegu wasn't making herself appear exactly frightening, which could have easily been the case under circumstances like these, and the Irish gingerhead was frankly getting increasingly eager just to find out how battling against the ninja would be like, especially as she even had her beloved rope at her disposal.

All of it probably gave a more confident appearance from Julie than really was the case - which her usual, inevitable way of revealing her wrestling attire only underlined even further. Back in the days when Julie had settled on this, relatively new wrestling attire of hers, she had initially tried to follow the example of her friend Isa, imagining the end result resembling something like a blue bikini. Only after having finally worn it for the first time had the Irish girl understood that the attire held the air of velvety lingerie appropriate for a boudoir more than any ring... But honestly, by that time she hadn't really cared. She had already found out what leagues like LAW were all about, and if anything, attire like this was surely going to only make her more popular with match booking. And even if right now Julie felt her attire being a bit out of place, the pole next to her was suddenly giving her confidence. What a perfect opportunity to play being a pole dancer for a moment!

Not just yet, though. While Julie did not catch Maegu's little prolonged staring, she was constantly paying quite a degree of attention to her opponent nonetheless. She did notice her stretching her legs against the dungeon wall... She did notice her stretching her shoulders. And those facts inevitably meant, that the Irish girl did have to admit, that the masked ninja's body did appear rather strong. The parts of her upper body that her attire revealed did look rather ripped if not overly big, but her thighs and rear definitely had a pretty thick form to them considering her overall size. It was no wonder she wanted to stretch those muscles...

Honestly, Julie had no doubt that her little luring in would get the ninja to immediately start approaching her. That's why the way she responded to her little challenge was quite peculiar to say the least... The Korean said that she absolutely dared to come facing her - but she wasn't coming. She at least pretended not fearing her opponent at all - but still decided to adopt a very defensive stance. Very peculiar.

At first, Julie was slightly at a loss on how to approach this. So, it was "her move". Now, Julie didn't have the best fighting IQ, but even she could tell that attacking someone, most likely very adept at martial arts, when they were comfortably ready in their fighting stance, was a masochistic idea at best. And while Julie did tend to have some masochistic tendencies under some circumstances, this certainly wasn't one of them.

So, how to approach this? The question was quite tricky - but after a few seconds of pondering, the Velvet Hood decided that maybe it was already time to start playing a pole dancer for a bit after all!

"Oh, my move? Well, I can certainly show you my moves..." the gingerhead began responding her opponent, while casually starting to wrap her other arm around the pole in the middle. Taking a good look at it for a few seconds, Julie actually had to mentally prepare herself a bit... Yes, there had been a couple of occasions in the rather distant past when she had taken a few lessons in pole dancing. But no, they weren't really fresh in her memory, and her physique wasn't so trained to the art that she could keep up playing with the pole for too long...

She was still confident enough to try though. Suddenly, Julie wrapped her body around the pole and lifted herself smoothly quite high up towards the dungeon's ceiling... Wrapping her legs tightly around the pole before letting her upper body fall upside down, so that her ginger hair was eventually touching the mats on the dungeon floor. But the important part, and key to her plan working, was the way she threw her arms towards the floor as well, while purposefully doing the motion so that she could lay the lasso end of the rope neatly onto the mat between herself and the ninja a few feet away as inconspicuously as she could...

"You liked it? Show me your move then..." the Irish girl voiced out in a mischievous tone while hanging upside down from the pole... But in reality, what she was really doing, was hoping to lure Maegu in closer, and if she got lucky, to inadvertently place her foot right in the middle of the loop of Julie's lasso on the floor. If it worked, she could then instantly yank from the rope, in hopes of sweeping the Korean ninja off her feet!

Yes, it was a longshot... But the dungeon was pretty dark, so it was surely worth a try!

[DeVir]

The match had yet to start, and Hee already suffered from whiplash trying to get a read on her opponent. The rope. The skimpy attire. The initial uncertainty that became spunk and bravado. But nothing came close to watching Julie take hold of the pole. And then take hold of the pole. All of her.

Hee was not so sheltered or ignorant that she had never heard of the concept of a poledance. But she had never seen one herself (and had never so much as considered performing one). The last place she had expected to see one was in a match. In a match in what was essentially a dungeon. The one thing she typically had as an ally was her confident composure. It started cracking. She was agape by the time Julie had climbed the pole almost to the ceiling. The cracks in her countenance suddenly became two dozen different shattered pieces watching Julie descend in a flourish and twirl, that shapely body in that outfit performing an erotic, leggy spin to the floor.

It was... gorgeous. And Hee, staring blankly, couldn't wrap her mind around how or why it was happening. More importantly, she couldn't negotiate the reason why the display had her so spellbound.

Hee had fallen out of her stance completely. She twice opened her mouth to comment. Nothing came out. Julie's words wrung her out of her reverie, but the only thing she managed to focus on was stopping her ogling of the ginger beauty. She averted her eyes and tried to put herself back in a fighter's state of mind instead of remaining a captivated audience. "What... why... are you doing that?", she asked, one hand resting over where her eyes poked out from the mask as if her fingers would prevent her from watching more of the mesmerizing show.

And while she didn't take Julie's bait (not in the way Julie intended, anyway), the savant had uncomfortably danced in place long enough that her foot did wander into the loop surrounded by rope on the floor. "I'm... not going to fight you like this. Up there."

[Jaystar]

Julie had to admit being pretty proud of the moves she had just come up with. And not only because they must have looked pretty awesome... But also, because she had actually managed to execute them. Poledancing was a very physical feat, and even if the Irish girl herself was a wrestler, her physique wasn't really that perfect for the pole-based art... While she also had to confess to admittedly not spending quite enough time at the gym compared to what one might have expected from a professional wrestler.

Well, she had to accept that as one of the drawbacks of being simply a fangirl by heart... And it wasn't going to stop her from having her fun. Albeit she had to also admit, that she needed to get a reaction out of the ninja pretty fast - she wasn't going to be able to stay glued to this pole for long.

It was pretty hard to assess what was going through Maegu's head - especially as Julie was having to conduct the assessment upside down. She couldn't tell if the ninja was sporting a smile or a frown, or if she was reacting that much at all... The mask was certainly making any interpretation more difficult. Luckily, the Korean's words soon brought some additional insight to her thoughts.

They weren't exactly what Julie would have wanted to hear though. Instead of being impressed, Hee seemed rather stunned by her actions instead... Almost appalled, in fact. If the dungeon hadn't been so dark, Hee could have seen Julie's face getting redder from hearing the words, and not simply because of blood rushing into her head... But also, because some anger was quickly settling in. Julie had just performed a pretty amazing move, and she was simply dismissing it as nonsense? Just because it didn't fit in her imagined code of fighting? Talk about arrogance.

Julie's anger was just about to get the best of her, when the gingerhead suddenly realized that Maegu had just placed her other foot inside the loop of her lasso resting on the mat. The luck of the Irish! Suddenly, the situation looked much more perfect... And it would also be so much more satisfying to simply sweep Hee off her feet.

Without wasting any time to respond to the Koreans words, and risk missing the window of opportunity with the placement of Hee's leg, Julie suddenly grabbed from the rope with her other hand as well, and yanked it abruptly towards herself! The movement caused the loop of the lassso to tighten around Hee's shin, and jolting her leg towards the pole, inevitably throwing the ninja off balance. And as soon as Julie could see the confirmation of her opponent's body falling backwards, the gingerhead herself released her leggy grip from the pole, letting herself drop rather ungracefully down to the mat. Honestly, she couldn't have held her previous position for more than a few additional seconds any longer, and was happy enough with the ninja not seeing the way she eventually landed on the mat.

Julie could certainly guess though that she was the one in prime position to get back up first, and intended to make sure that Maegu was going to stay downed on the mat. Getting first back up to her knees, the Velvet Hood first pulled Hee's leg in a little closer by the rope, before getting back up to her two feet and pulling the Korean ninja even closer to her - and the pole. Once she would have gotten the masked fighter where she wanted her, namely, her legs far enough along each side of the pole, the gingerhead would start bending Hee's other leg around the pole into a makeshift figure-four-leglock!

"Luckily for me... You won't get to decide which way we're going to fight like, little miss ninja!" the Irish girl would then declare with a mischievous, triumphant, and vindictive tone.