The TBDs vs. Scary Love - LAW Is For Lovers

[BlackAkuma]

Ugh, being small could suck sometimes, and it was for reasons like this. Callie was not a big woman by any real standard - sure, she was the tallest woman in this match by a fair margin, but she was no giant. Even still, her crashing down on Halloween like that had to feel like a bomb going off in her partner’s chest, as the little squawking shriek she made would attest, too. Lovers hissed at the sight of it, and was kind of glad they’d swapped out when they did. Not something she wanted to take.

Halloween was sort of weird when it came to stuff like this - yes, she was tough, but it was a stubborn kind of toughness, more like her refusing to give up despite her body knowing it was time to quit. Lovers couldn't recall her ever tapping out, but she had been knocked out a couple of times because she just wouldn’t stop, even when it was clear she was losing. Like she’d rather take a nap than ever give up to an opponent, which frankly, made no sense to Lovers. If you’re going to lose anyway, you might as well get it over with, right? That pride stuff would only lead to broken bones in wrestling.

She just really hoped they never got to that point in this match. But…

Well, things weren’t looking too good. Callie seemed a lot more professional than Morgan had been, wasting little time as she peeled Halloween off the canvas and hefted her up on her shoulders and got her in a fireman’s carry with ease. She tried to squirm out of it, showing that fire which Lovers’ loved to see, but there was no escaping this: She was going down. Hard.

And down she went, smacking into the canvas with a harsh Samoan Drop. Callie went for the pinfall after, and Lovers slipped her leg through the ropes, prepared to dash in and break up the pinfall, if need be.

”2…!”

No need, Halloween shot her hand up after the second count, breaking the pin. That was about all she could do right now, though, aside from rolling and groaning on the mat. The TBDs still had the momentum.

[3ho]

Morgan bounced on her feet, but then her back and abs reminded her to be gentler. She couldn't quite help it seeing Callie go for a pin. If her first match was a win, that would be huge for her prospects. She could probably jump straight into singles, not that she was being prevented before, but because Callie wanted to slowly introduce her to wrestling as a sport. In a tag team, she could directly support Morgan which was fine and all, but then Callie wanted to stand ringside when Morgan had her first singles match! Hello! Morgan could probably handle herself, thank you very much. A win would prove that here since her partner thought this would be a loss.

Callie, meanwhile, had been locked in. She knew what she had to do and paid attention to her opponent in her pin and the ref's count. She even picked up on that movement in the corner of her eye from Lovers. They didn't seem the type to intervene, but that seemed to hint otherwise. Did Morgan even notice? Might be smart to let her know somehow.

The count rose to two before the break. Callie had a feeling it'd be too easy for the match to end here.

"Good fight." She admitted to her opponent in respect for hanging in there. That didn't mean she was letting up and it was back to her original strategy. Rising to her feet, Callie strode around to Halloween's legs and stepped up, seizing both legs by the ankle and taking them to cross along the Indie's knee.

Team Scary Love were small but they both utilized kicks and speed all match so far. Getting to their legs would make it easier late in the match if things were going to turn into a battle of attrition. If their legs flared up every time they committed to a jump, run, or kick, it might just make the difference.

Not to stand on ceremony but Callie began to turn around, stepping over Halloween to face the opposite way in order to lock in Sharpshooter on Halloween's legs. Ideally her opponent would be caught up by it the moment it was locked in, instead of noticing it was coming because there might be a chance she'd break out of it before it got locked in...

[BlackAkuma]

”Thanks?”

The confusion in Halloween’s voice might have made it hard to tell, but she was genuinely happy to get some props from her opponent, never one to shy away from a compliment. She just wasn’t expecting it in this match, of all places. She’d figured Callie would be as mouthy as her partner, but it seemed like she had a solid head on her shoulders.

Which wasn’t necessarily a good thing. It meant Halloween would have to stay on her toes, put up some better offense than she had with Morgan, but at least she would have to deal with 96.7% less annoying BS along the way.

Unlike her partner, Callie was quick to move on, giving her precious little time to recover after the pinfall. The next thing Halloween knew, her legs were being lifted up and manipulated in the telltale beginnings of a Sharpshooter.

Nope. Nopenopenope, all day long. Halloween had exactly zero point zero interest in being in that movie, knowing well the damage it could wreck on the human body. Not something she could afford to take at this point.

The best time to escape a Sharpshooter was before it got locked in, and that was what Halloween went for. As Callie turned around, she abruptly threw her body hard into the other direction, forcing her opponent to face back her way. From there, she pulled her in with her trapped leg and shot her free one at the woman’s face, attempting to knock her off and earn her freedom, hoping to roll away get back to her feet before she could get caught.

[3ho]

Callie scowled as she was denied the lock-in, having to twist back around her opponent jerking in one direct. Had she taken too long or maybe she was overly ambitious with that one? Regardless, she didn't get and now she had something to content with. Halloween jockeying her leg to pull her in and the other one swung around to plant square into Callie's face.

The Indie felt herself recoil back, head thrown back as the rest of her followed. She had released Halloween's leg, falling back, but she was still fresh and rolled with that momentum. She couldn't do a kip-up like her opponents but following the momentum into a backwards somersault helped Callie roll past falling flat on her back and back onto one knee.

She rose, slowly, taking a hand to her nose where she had been greeted by the bottom of her opponent's boot. Her nose hurt but it wasn't cocked or anything which was good. Callie had surprisingly kept injury free and her face in one piece despite the battles she had in the past.

There wasn't a need to rush, it wasn't Callie's thing anyway. On her feet, she stepped in a low fighter's stance and inched her way towards Lovers to cut off the immediate retreat first. Halloween was weakened and Lovers was an escape to cover that vulnerability. That's why she always tried to coach Morgan to quit yapping all the time and focus on what is going on. She could make decisions to win matches... not just get under opponent's skin. It was why Callie didn't talk much in a match. She was too busy on the details.

For example, slams had gotten her opponent to this level so a few more of those might be the key. Callie waited until Halloween got to her feet and then made a lunge the closest arm, looking to grab it with both of her hands. Then she'd try turning and throwing Halloween over her shoulder in an Arm Drag.

[BlackAkuma]

Lovers hopped up on her heels, bouncing from one foot to the next, trying her best to stay still and utterly failing in the endeavor. Couldn't be helped - she loved wrestling and loved to watch Halloween wrestle, most of all. As crabby as she could be sometimes, it was always fun to watch her go wild in the ring, whenever she went on a roll. It was just poetry in motion.

Most people would’ve been concerned to see their partner getting wrapped up in a Sharpshooter, of all things, but that wasn’t a concern on Lovers’ mind - she knew Halloween wasn’t about to take it. Back when they were a team and they spared all the time, she could never get her in a submission hold for too long, with her being really good at slipping out of them or even countering if the wind blew right. She might not have been the biggest or the strongest or even the fastest out there, but Halloween was sharp. Real sharp. Good instincts, the kind you just can’t teach.

Sure enough, she wiggled her way out of the hold and rolled up to her feet, with the blow creating some space between them and giving her time to recover - not much, but enough. Halloween was working her way up by the time Callie was moving, trying to get in between them.

”’Weenie, ‘weenie!” Lovers leaned over the ropes and waved her hand. ”Tag me in, get over here.”

”I got this!” Her eyes narrowed as she stood up straight. ”And stop calling me that!”

Callie wasn’t about to give her much time to tag out or do much of anything, as she grabbed her by the arm, pulled her in, and proceeded to pull her over with a move that looked kind of like an arm drag. Real slick, Lovers had to admit.

Halloween had an answer for it, though. She couldn't stop herself from flying, but she could make it worse for Callie. She threw her body into the throw, giving her some extra rotation, and a little extra air time - enough for her to reach up, grab Callie’s head with a inverted facelock as she fell, and attempted to turn the move into a somersault cutter.

[3ho]

Years of doing this had honed Callie intuition to know if something didn’t feel right, it was going wrong. The maneuver she had planned was working. She had managed to grab her opponent’s arm, pull her in, and then….

There.

There wasn’t as much drag as she pulled. Halloween was too agreeable. Her opponent’s face shifted to match her focus on a counter maneuver. All things Callie noticed in a fraction of a second but did not have the reaction to do anything about.

Callie’s maneuver had her twisting at the side, the back of her head exposed to Halloween’s grab. Inverted facelock and now she was being pulled along with her opponent. They both dropped, Callie being pushed down by the head as she closed in with the mat.

The ring shook as Callie’s face was dropped into the mat, Halloween right behind with her behind hitting the mat just beyond.

Callie winced, taking the blow, she curled up to her knees to get the under herself and raised her head, to use a hand to nurse her nose and forehead. But also to try and regain vision on her opponent.

Morgan had meanwhile taken something out of that exchange. Lovers had a cute pet name for Halloween.

“Weenie! Weenie! Over here!”

Morgan giggled after her sing-song voice and waved with fluttering fingers.

[BlackAkuma]

Halloween wasn’t 100% sure she could pull a move like this off - 33%, at best. But this was the sort of thing she shined at. Being small meant she had to learn how to make the most of her opportunities, and taking risks? Well, she was a little woman in a big woman’s world. Everything she did in the ring had some inherent risks. Nothing new, there.

Times like this, it paid off in a big way, allowing her to get the jump on Callie in a pretty spectacular way. She’d done a somersault cutter before, but never on a standing opponent, and certainly never off an arm drag like that. That it worked like a charm was a small miracle, and Halloween couldn't fully appreciate it until she looked over saw Callie reeling.

It put a smile on her face.

And then Morgan had to go and ruin it.

Halloween scowled her way with a look that could put the walking dead back in their graves. She barely tolerated that stupid name coming from Lovers, but from this little primadonna punkette? Not happening. ”Okay, seriously.” Halloween pushed up to her feet and moved in on her foe. ”Your girlfriend-partner-teammate, whatever…what is her deal?”

Despite asking the question, she gave Callie little time to answer it before she hopped on the woman’s back, wrapped her arms around her neck with a rear-naked choke, and proceeded to try and take her lights with her signature move…Lights Out.

2016 film, solid film, if a little predictable, 3.5 skulls out 5.

[3ho]

Callie had an answer for that. What her teammate's deal was. Morgan loved getting excited about things and when she was, all that excitement would have t ooze out in little hops and hollers. It was annoying at first, but Callie found it weirdly adorable after awhile. She was entirely excited in every aspect of wrestling that she was teaching her. It made Callie feel like the most interesting wrestler alive. There was no way to explain all that because if Halloween actually cared for the answer, she wouldn't be moving in for her next attack.

"Yeah, she's excited."

Callie muttered, not realizing she was kneeling up for her opponent to latch on from behind like a parasite. Legs around her waist, arms around her neck. She tensed on her knees as the hold was locked in. The squeeze cutting off her breath and threatening to make her view dim. It was smart for a smaller opponent to go for the throat. Though Callie had no intentions of being caught out in the open with this.

Rising to her feet, Callie clasped onto Halloween's arm around her neck. With measured steps, she turned the pair to face an unoccupied turnbuckle. It was key to have a plan early and she did have one, mad though it might have been. With her opponent as light as she was and clinging to her, Callie reasoned she could carry her easily even in this hold.

The Indie took a few steps towards the corner before she broke out in a run. She had done these before plenty of times but never in an attempt to escape from a submission. Running at the turnbuckle she hopped up on the first level and then launched herself off. Normally she'd turn with a strike like a kick but this time she was fine just falling back, right onto Halloween. Before her opponent got any ideas, Callie held a death grip on her arm to make slipping free all the more difficult.

Hopefully Halloween would drop the hold if Callie dropped on top of her, sandwiching her between the mat and herself. If not, weeelll... She'll just have to see if Morgan might help somehow.

[BlackAkuma]

Lovers’ trip down memory lane continued her offense, clamping onto her with that Lights Out chokehold thing she liked to do. She’d actually gotten a few wins with that one, though they were pretty few and far between, pretty much just a good way for her to wear them down and set them up for the big, fun stuff. Her going for it now was a good sign, though - it meant she was looking to set Callie up, that they were going for the latter stages of the match, which Lovers was quite looking forward to. She needed to get back in there and mix it up some more, really shine for their redebut as a tag team.

Of course, Halloween needed to get over here and make the tag for that to happen, which wasn’t a surefire thing, especially when she was dealing with a bigger opponent…which, okay, was 99.9% of the time. It probably would’ve worked better on Morgan, but Callie had enough strength in her to start working her way up, even as Halloween kept the hold tight and wrenched it for extra effect.

”Hang in there! Come on!”

Halloween grunted back in response as Callie continued to rise, determined and undeterred. At first, Lovers thought she was going to just ram her into the turnbuckle, since that was the typical thing people did when this happened, but as it turned out, their opponent was a little more clever than that.

Lovers could see the moment of panic in Halloween’s eyes as Callie bounced off the bottom rope and went flying, knowing what was about to happen far too late to do anything about. She came down on the canvas hard, splatting underneath her the bigger woman, and immediately dropping the hold. All she could do was lay there, writhing and groaning.

Yup, time to switch out. Lovers shot her hand as Halloween made a slow crawl her way, but she was still almost half a ring away, a long distance to cover when you could barely move.

[3ho]

Her gambit worked.

Thank goodness.

Callie wasn’t sure how she’d get out of that. She could have reached the ropes for the break, evidence by the stunt she just pulled, but a break was desperate. She’d be hardly better off because Halloween would be unbothered by release.

No, Callie thought she needed to make this one sting and play to the advantage of being larger than her opponent.

That didn’t mean she was home free.

Released, Callie gasped desperately, rolling off of her opponent. She coughed, propping herself up on her forearms as she took a moment. Running and jumping while out took a lot out of you when you are being choked out. Who would have guessed.

Now Callie had a choice.

Her attention moved towards her opponent, animated in her anguish on the mat at present. Was she in a state to capitalize?

Not effectively.

Her attention shifted towards her corner where Morgan was jumping on her feet again, excited. How did she have that much energy all the time?

Could she trust her partner to not lose?

If Callie could catch her breath, her other damage was fine. Morgan could hang in there.

Callie pushed herself along the mat in a crawl towards her side. Morgan, noticing that she was going to get tagged, reached her hand out ready to get back in there…