Strong Enough to Bend (for LoneWanderer)

[Winter]

How could Arlise Christiaens recognize a good week? Someone responded to one of her ads for an apartment spar.

Figuring she had the mats laid out well enough, a humming Arlise rose from her knees and let her eyes sweep the room. It looked pristine, but that did not stop her from pacing around it with her wrists lazily propped on her hips and a spring in her step, scrutinizing everything. Not only would the Belgian beauty have a guest to impress, but she also had several more sets of eyes to impress - specifically, the ones figuratively behind the lens of the camera who would watch this apartment clash later, once LAW distributed it. She already enjoyed these apartment encounters for the sake of a low-stakes match with a potential new friend, but knowing LAW wished to pay her a little extra to release the recordings only excited her more.

To assure herself of the cleanliness and organization of the room, the redhead again leaned to look through the eyepiece, and sure enough, nothing within view of the camera looked amiss. That afforded her a moment to check her makeup in the standup mirror she kept by her front door. She knew most of the people friendly enough to open up an online chat with her upon finding her ad, especially ones hoping to learn something from her like her coming guest, likely did not need a greeting from an Arlise dressed to the nines. But she kept up appearances, and that appearance required at least a touch of eyeshadow and a dab of lipstick. She brushed aside a smeared inch of that lipstick, checked her top, and would have inspected her bottoms if not for the knock at the door. She took the opportunity to brush out her hair with a hand instead. "Coming!"

She shuffled across the room and leaned to peer through the peephole. Surely enough, the man of the hour lingered on the other side - Senji. Impressive hair, even from this view. Arlise had found him entirely pleasant when he had asked to set up the match, unlike many younger men she knew, and he seemed to have a learner's attitude and wanted to benefit from meeting her. And while she knew she could garner a reputation in her apartment building from many unknowing souls by having a trail of men arriving at her door, she did not want them to feel unwelcome.

Besides, she had had more... amorous encounters with the women than the men, though she suspected some of the traditionalists in the building would not have suspected that nearly as much. It was the price Arlise paid for wanting quieter, more mature neighbors.

She unlatched the door and swung it open for him, and her curvy figure filled the frame as she smiled her inviting smile to him. "Hello. Senji, yes? Though I don't believe I can mistake you with the hair," she said, gesturing to it.

Spoiler

[TheLoneWanderer]

Here I go.

The redhead told himself as he rapped his knuckles against the doorframe. The request itself was one of the oddest outings he had chosen to expose himself to. Initially, there had been some tightness in his chest about such a weird event, but he had brushed past in favor of giving the unknown a chance. If he wanted to uphold his end of the legacy, then he must take risks. Develop a hunger for victory to remove the obstacles in his path. Besides, she was only a wrestler. What genuine harm could she do to him in an official capacity, if there was any desire at all? All he had to do, was extend a olive branch towards her.

Arlise had been a bit more reserved in their first meeting, as she explained the 'no-fuss' stipulations. Less outward vigor, as opposed to himself. She greeted him with little delay, swinging the door open and filling his sight with her curvaceous frame.

"Arlise----?-"

Arlise's "attire" made him pause audibly before continuing. She looked quite...friendly.

"Ah. My mother always said it's warm enough to attract attention. I am glad you like it."

Senji flourished his left hand, mimicking her gesture to put emphasis on the locks that were the same shade as hers. He returned it to holding his outfit for the evening, as he was not dressed in a combat uniform when out and about. It looked to be a puffy, black Gi with a red stripe shining diagonally along its surface from the folded up position. His cheeks heated at the sight of his partner, but he had enough of a hardened stance to keep his back straight. She took good care of her body, that much was obvious. Now all that remained was to see how good she was on the mats.

"May I come inside?"

He asked, doing so if she allowed it and moving sideways to allow her space to maneuver as well. Now there, he settled over at the edge of the Living room on the loveseat she might have had. He looked up at her with an eager and entranced gaze, expecting direction as to not encroach on her hospitality thus far. The new clothing set in his lap, rustling against his blue jeans and zippered, white pull-over. Not quite as elaborate as his Sunday best, but he supposed it should do when he had already showered beforehand and was above the very low-bar of being dressed like a slob.

[Winter]

Arlise supposed she did not have to wonder if she had dressed up quite enough.

"Yes, hello." The Belgian beauty had witnessed enough of those glances to recognize even the most subtle ones, and her smile deepened. It deepened again as he mentioned the words of his mother, and she nodded her agreement. "I say your mother is right. It sounds like what mine would say, too," she agreed in her French lilt. Anyone who spoke fondly of their mother had respect in her book, so he had already marked himself as a good guest.

Her eyes settled over what he held in his hands out of absent-minded curiosity, but her eyes soon returned to his face as mischief played at her lips. She could not let the idea pass without some patented Arlise coquetry. "Others say it is the color of vixens...", she coyly added, before she slipped aside to let him in at his request, casually posing in the doorway as she did so.

She followed him in idly before she realized he waited, respectfully, for her to tell him where he could go to change. She popped on her toes and pointed to the hallway. "Oh! You can have some privacy to change in the bedroom or the bathroom, just down there." Those two rooms she had not quite cleaned as thoroughly, but as someone who owned perhaps a few too many tops, skirts, heels, sets of underwear... she had to place all her belongings somewhere. She at least knew they didn't look slobby, only cluttered.

She rested her chin on her fists as he started to leave, but remembering her role as host, she offered him one question before he slipped down the hall. "Is there anything else you would like before we begin?"

[TheLoneWanderer]

"---I'm not a fox." Senji murmured as he sat and she spoke about his hair. The words were honey, but her mouth unveiled a different motive. A stretched smile, like she was looking forward something else aside from their grapples. He banished the doubts, however, with his gaze trailing on the curves of her tummy before rising back at to her face as he took in her posed position.

His eyes shifted to the right, taking in the hallway that pointed out. Immediately, he bounced to his feet, raring to go. But his host only had one question which he declined promptly.

"No, Miss Arlise.---You have been too good to me so far."

His shoulders sagged as he was caught by two choices. The bathroom would be more of a traditional space, but there was the matter of storing what he had rather than throwing it across the floor. That settled, he strode off towards the bedroom to change out of his current clothes. Fine in a pinch or getting jumped, but not the best for Arlise making him bend.

====

Somewhere in the ballpark of under 4 minutes, the twist of a doorknob announced his reentry for the two's parlay. He had left his street-wear on the corner of Arlise's bed, folded into squares and then stacked on top of each other. Now that she could likely see him, she could consider him overdressed compared to her. The black Gi top went all the way down to his waist, with only a pair of shorts to cover his nether regions. The rest of the skin was barren, smooth and shaved after being conditioned by a mind-numbing number of squats over his brief lifetime. They hugged his hips in a snug fashion, not quite as tight as skinny jeans to avoid a lot of chaffing or rashes. A blue belt secured the two halves together, completing the partial Gi. At least this way, she would be hard-pressed to grab him by his nonexistent pants.


His feet came towards her in a 1-2 sequence, burying themselves into the mats she had setup. He kneeled accordingly, resting his weight on his heels for the time-being. This time around, he had tied his hair back into a lengthy ponytail which swayed over the back of the Gi.
The position was remiscent of sitting under a fulton. Big, amber irises stared up at her again, with a body that was very malleable.

"What do you want to do first with me? You've been waiting long enough."

Type of Pose (Inspired by Rose Gold)

[Winter]

"Oh, I did not mean you."

But he probably knew that, deep down. Regardless, amusement painted her tone. Sometimes, she could not help but tease - she called on that nature as easily as most breathed. And she only spoke the truth. Even before people met her, the color of her locks and the shape of her body led many to assign Arlise that moniker, and her freewheeling nature, well... that only added to their certainty. Ironically, however, Arlise ignored the fact that she likely reinforced that same moniker in his mind, too.

"Please, just Arlise," she added as he began to depart. She appreciated the courtesy... but had already felt old, at her ripened age of twenty-three, having gleaned that he was younger than she. If anyone started to refer to her as "Miss Arlise," she would start purchasing the most reliable wrinkle cream she could find.

The Belgian beauty paced while he changed, becoming paranoid that he would find the bedroom that of a slob despite her self-assurances to the contrary. She also filled the time by pointlessly checking her clothing and the camera again, and she still had enough time to sit on the loveseat and consider how she had seemingly gotten so lucky with all of her guests for these apartment clashes. He had seemed lovely so far, and much like the others, the redhead would like for him to part considering her a new friend.

He looked entirely official - far more than she did in her version of apartment wrestling attire, the least required for decency while offering the most practicality for rolling and tumbling and grappling. ...The shorts were quite cute, and she peered at them perhaps a moment too long before he dropped down onto the mats and... posed? Again, very official, and it summoned an almost fond smile from her. She wondered if he did not feel at ease, but she supposed having this encounter recorded tended to push the match toward some degree of seriousness.

She did not do so with the same degree of preciseness as he did, a classic grappler to her core, but she did ease into place on her knees across from him and rested her hands on her thighs. The Belgian beauty considered him a moment before recalling that her expectation involved him making some of the decisions on how to go about their sparring. He had mentioned he wanted to learn, after all.

But she also did not care to put pressure on him, and he had asked. Titania tapped her chin. "We start simply?", she rhetorically asked. "Here from our knees, with either tapping or a verbal submission to end it. Then, we can work on holds, since we will have an idea of where we both are with our mat wrestling."

She pushed up higher on her knees, dropped her shoulders, and lifted open hands - a variation on her standing stance meant more for the knees. "Come, you close on me first, and I will try to counter."

[TheLoneWanderer]

"Let's reach for the stars together!"

Senji murmured in a hushed exclamation to Arlise's declaration, acknowledging the rules she had laid out by nodding his head to show his understanding. Senji shuffled on his knees, beginning to crawl forwards to get closer to Arlise. The calmness of the room promoted a slight smile from Senji, as his lips curled upward. Clearly he wasn't used to this type of wrestling, and had only fought in one once. Still, Arlise wasn't so bad thus far despite the inherent desire to bend him.

Senji's gaze lingered on her legs, considering what to do while approaching. A single leg or double leg would be too predictable despite their reliability. He needed to try another entrance to resisting Arlise in contrast to the obvious. The fighter darted forwards to get to her belly, attempting to tie up with her by wrapping his arms underneath her armpits and going around the back. This way, he attempted to press his weight forward and get Arlise onto the bottom.

He snuggled his hips close to hers, whether she managed to get her legs around his waist or not. As his first attempt at domination, Senji immediately went for an oppressive move. He aimed to crawl his fingers toward the back of her neck, in order to reach around her shoulders and interlock his fingers at the front of her throat. Then, he would push down to expose her to heavy wrestling pressure and make it very uncomfortable for Arlise to try and breathe. Senji rested his chin on her abdomen, shuddering as he kept the push downwards. This also kept both of her arms high around his body, meaning she would not be able to move them as easily due to the previous lock-up.

[Winter]

...Arlise hadn't expected that exclamation, however quiet.

It left her blinking, then struggling not to chuckle. What might have become a chuckle she let turn into an entertained grin. He had enthusiasm, if nothing else. In her first years in wrestling, she realized she had possessed much of that same enthusiasm - that gave rise to the Battle Bunny, after all. Perhaps she should... rediscover that enthusiasm again sometime, and perhaps she had begun making the right acquaintance to do precisely that.

As he shuffled, she swayed back and forth between her knees, anticipating. She did not want to stifle his confidence by stonewalling him, if she even could - she still had to gauge his abilities before they could truly settle into sparring as she had described. It did not take a great deal of gauging or wondering to gather that he stared at her legs, however, perhaps pondering the threat they presented. Her mouth twisted right back into the smile. "A smart man," she told him when it seemed he had thought better of targeting them.

He darted toward her, and Arlise fought against instincts telling her to counter him. She sought only obvious mistakes. His body made contact with her torso first, and she shifted to grab at his head. Fortunately, he hooked his arms beneath her armpits to remove that option - good - and he followed through all the way until he had forced her onto her back. She winced with effort but only pushed against him... until she felt his hips press up against hers. Then, she thought it necessary to do what any smart woman on the bottom would do. Two powerful legs snaked around his waist. She locked her ankles and wrapped him up tightly, but she waited before she squeezed to see if he noticed the danger.

He did not seem to - he kept focusing on his hold, and Arlise did not quite comprehend his plan until his hands made it back to apply pressure to her throat and hold her down. She gasped and winced as the pain and breathlessness began to set in, and she tested her arms to see if she could move them to counter. She could not... he had locked her down in what she might best described as a front-facing Nelson, all the pressure in the right places. Even as she gasped for breaths, she peered down at him against her abdomen and briefly grinned with her approval before she went back to struggling and panting.

Fortunately, she did have the counter - the legs around his hips came to life, swallowing him between them, and she put the first proper squeeze on him with her bodyscissor.

[TheLoneWanderer]

---Senji could not get a tap like this.

Arlise had either let him get his way or, as he preferred to think, managed to get ahead of her by way of his merits. She sunk into the mat beneath alongside him, wrapping her legs around his waist to keep him locked. Still, keeping her arms hooked allowed him to avoid her countering him with the two limbs. However, Senji was no sooner exposed to the thunderous legs she possessed as they swelled around his body. He grumbled an indescribable grievance into her tummy, with it having turned into a slight whine from the leggy prison.

The obvious key here was to take it slow and pick a moment. He was far from the LAW's best, and would need to level up until he earned that right. A slow, grinding process. Over the past sessions he had been in, he had concocted a mixture which incorporated general wrestling holds and pins to accentuate his BJJ and showcase the flourishes straight out of pro-wrestling. The front-facing Nelson worked its magic, but Arlise had already countered it. She worked over his stomach with an unrelenting assault equal to any Body Triangle. His ribs would not snap, but the serpent-type move did not do him any favors at all.

He sighed into her core before lifting his gaze up to address it by undoing his pin and leaning onto his back so he could work on the bodyscissor. By laying his head on the ground as well, he could also keep an eye for any attempts at his neck since it was highly likely any grappler worth their salt would immediately shoot for some type of strangle. Senji went to work by pushing both palms towards her feet so he could push her ankles outward and crawl to the rear on his butt to slide out from between her thighs. While Arlise could easily get top position, being honest, Senji did not mind that as much as he should.

[Winter]

That sounded familiar.

One could tie and tangle Arlise's entire upper body in any restraints - and they had before - but if she had the use of her legs and snared an opponent with them, she possessed a chance to win any exchange. Her own grumbles had turned panting and desperate while he weighed the advantage of his hold on her arms and neck, but he sounded equally affected. The redhead couldn't deny that she liked the feeling of his complaints against her tummy, and it spurned on her squeezes of his gut - a gut that felt nice wedged between her thighs, too - even as she struggled above the waist.

She appeared to win the battle of his upper body against her lower body, and when he released her from his Nelson-pin, she breathed her relief and palmed at her neck. "I will have to... steal that one," she breathed, complimentary, before she turned her attention back to her punishment of his torso. Wisely, he had already begun plotting an escape, and he had the right ideas. No one could escape from her legs by main strength, so he began to use leverage and make himself small to slip free from between her coiled legs and locked ankles.

She could have gone for his head, certainly, but she would rather utilize her strengths and see how he reacted - LAW had its fair share of fighters like her who wanted to use their legs in every viable scenario. Thus, as he began to push at her locked feet and ankles and wrench his body to freedom, Arlise first twisted in an attempt to get them both on their sides. This afforded her a better angle, and she tried to grasp at one of the arms he used to push himself free. If she could catch it, she had plans to pull it between her thighs in a proper, traditional armbar.

[TheLoneWanderer]

"We can take all the time you need. I don't have anywhere else I need to be."

Senji chided from beneath her, almost, now that he was pressing himself into the floor. His intention had been to slide out smoothly and return to mount. However, his host had another plan in mind. His right arm snagged on her two-hand grip, with her legs following along to seat over his face and chest. An outstretched arm over the hips made a fulcrum. An armbar. His free arm slapped onto his trapped elbow, with the left palm sliding upward as she pulled his arm straight. Here, he aimed to lock his hands together in a palm-to-palm position. This way, she would have a difficult time putting hyperextension onto his joint.

With his face mashed into her tensed thigh, his gaze frantically moved along her body to figure out a new course of action. No way to lock a counter hold. He needed to get out or submit first. Senji's pulled his knees back to his stomach, kicking them out to allow himself the momentum necessary to shuffle his knees under his body.

Arlise's Armbar Attempt (Receiving)

From Arlise's view, she would be locked into a fight over his arm while resting on her back upside down. Those luscious legs of hers remained snapped across his upper body, squishing his arm between them. Looking down at Arlise, Senji would ruffle her feathers by crunching his chin downward to try and shift it into her lap rather than making-out with her troublesome legs. From here, he pushed all the weight he could manage from being on his knees; this was in order to push his elbow closer to her throat in an attempt at a crushing forearm strangle while recovering guard at the same time.