Catching a Ride

[CaptainL]

I can empathize. It was those words that made Yuki pause just a moment, turning her head toward Angelina with a baffled look on her face. What, exactly, might she mean by that? There didn't seem to be any malice or any threat in her voice. It was soft; it was like she was trying to reach Yuki on her level. Like she was making an honest effort to see things from her perspective. For a moment, Yuki stared back at her in silence. This, she realized, was the first moment of openness, of understanding, of genuine humanity she had ever seen from Angelina Tarrant. She wasn't used to it, and she didn't know what to expect of it. The only other time she'd seen anything like this from her was when she had pretended to be making a friendly visit to her house, but that had just been an act. Actually, Yuki couldn't be so sure this wasn't an act either. Was there really anything she could trust?

When Angelina pointed out the back of her skull, that made Yuki suck in a breath. She squeezed her eyes shut with a shudder and shrunk back into her seat, as though she was trying to disappear. Yuki didn't even know she did anything like that in the first place, and the thought that she had was enough to send a chill through her bones. That wasn't the sort of thing she did, she told herself. She just wasn't that kind of person.

At least, that was what she wanted to tell herself. It was all too apparent that Angelina thought differently - and that she wanted to convince Yuki, too. As the redhead leaned in closer, Yuki's gaze remained pointed down at her feet, but she knew, all the same, that Angelina was staring right at her. Staring almost into her soul.

Every word that left her mouth made Yuki's heart thump harder in her chest. Just about every word made so much sense. It seemed so right. Yuki didn't want to believe she was some mindless brute, or that she was dragging herself down to Rose's level with the brutality she showed. She didn't want to believe she was capable of losing control. But Angelina had a way of convincing her that even her darkest and most repressed regrets really were, deep down, what she had always wanted. It was true that Yuki had longed for victory. It was true that she was desperate to pay Angelina back, and to reclaim that glory that she was so desperate to take back for herself, to dig herself out of the hole it seemed she was sinking deeper and deeper into. Now, her eyelid began to twitch, and she fidgeted back and forth in her seat, too full of pent-up nerves and anxiety to sit still. Angelina seemed to be cutting right to Yuki's heart - to her deepest, darkest inner self. But what she dug up, Yuki didn't even want to hold true.

At last, clinging tightly to her knees to keep them from shaking, Yuki turned to look Angelina in the eye. She was silent for a moment longer; she bit down on the inside of her cheek, but there she spoke. "...I mean...you're...not wrong." She winced; even telling Angelina she was on to something seemed like a surrender. "I really did feel cheated out of a win, Angelina. I really have been working so hard to build myself back up, just to prove that I can be championship material again, and when that all seems to come crashing down, well...that hurts, okay? But...what's that to you? Why do you care?"

[Monsy]

Cheated out of a win. Words like that cut like a vinegar knife. It’s reliving that sentiment pre-promo. Slighted when you felt like you won an Olympic gold medal. She got away like a bandit. It would’ve all been too fine to ignore to call a rematch. One and done. Then. This attitude. It reeked in the mouth like ultra black coffee. Your gold is fake. Her biggest prize no less, and coming straight from the person held up to that gold value. Ugh.

“Why do I care?” Angelina had a dozen ways of saying it. Catchphrases, a quip here and a blunt statement there. But, they didn’t quite click as the right option. So, she turned to put her back into the seat, arm still on the seat’s top, but the fist now propped over her ear. She tilted her head up,

“Hmm… It’s like… Walking around... Then things just sorta... glows. Yearbooks. Rabbits. Pockets. Car keys. Paintings. Trinkets... Stuff.” Angelina glanced at her, and smiled cheekily. “Then ya look up, see a three-story rooftop and all the ledges to latch onto. Those glow too.” Angelina looked at her lap, lost in some form of focus as the words started flowing. “Ya think for a sec. Oh, I'm goin' to break my leg. My neck. Maybe nevah walk again. Then get arrested. Well, yeah. That's true. But what if ya don't? All those jumps and near slips, workin' with tired arms, scraped knees and vertigo. Then.” Her fingers snapped. "Ya do it." Angelina sighed, “Then someone comes behind ya, and calls ya an idiot for not takin' the stairs. And if ya fall, then they call ya an idiot for tryin'. Same thing when it comes to a fight. Where's my fuckin' win?”

Her hand dismissed it and she laughed a little. "Look, I know what it's like to choke. Belly-up after doin' no wrong kinda choke. That's why I'm not lettin' ya slide. I still want two and oh. The fuckin' gold of beatin' ya twice. Ya still followin' me?"

[CaptainL]

The whole time Yuki was listening to Angelina, the corner of her eye twitched nervously - as though with every word that slipped from her mouth, the tension was rising more and more. As though this was all building up to something, some one moment where everything would break and the floodgates would open. What that would be, Yuki didn't know. Nor did she know when it would come, and what would start it off. All she knew was the lesson Angelina Tarrant had taught her from the first time she ever set eyes on her - to always be ready. In Yuki's case...she just hoped she could.

Angelina had gone off on some tangeant - Yuki had no idea where she was going with it, and as she listened she leaned in closer, her fingers coiling tighter around the pole at her side, if only to keep her hands still when they wanted to tremble. The note about her yearbook was especially painful for Yuki, reminding her of how the Marauder had violated her privacy and disrupted her family's peace, and for what? Only her own gratification, and her sense of thrill-seeking driving her to greater and greater stunts no matter who she had to hurt in the process. And now, if anything, she was bragging about it. Yuki was doing all of this for herself - she put herself up to such challenges, she'd fought so hard to keep surpassing her limits, all because it was what gave her a purpose; it was what satisfied her and made her feel like she was doing something with her life. Angelina, perhaps, was doing the same - but if she was going to rope innocent people into this, that was a step further than Yuki could tolerate.

Then, though...Angelina said something else that made Yuki freeze. Her eyes went wider. For just a few fleeting seconds, that tension and anger that had been brewing inside the dark-haired girl gave way to a tranquility - a sense of understanding. She knew what this was all about. In fact, she always did. Angelina had said as much from the very beginning, with her response to Yuki's promo on her unexpected defeat. For as much as Yuki tried to deny it, Angelina wasn't really so different after all when it came to her wants, her needs, and her goals. Angelina knew she had unfinished business, too. She too wanted a rematch to settle things between them once and for all. The difference with Angelina was that she didn't want to wait for the two of them to meet again in the ring in order to do so. And all this time she'd been going after Yuki, it was all part of the chase - it was as much a part of their duel as the rematch itself. She wanted to test her skills against Yuki, to outcompete her and outmanuever her. Whether it was physically or psychologically, in the arena or at home - Angelina had decided she wanted total control over Yuki.

But if Yuki wanted to stand up to her, to rise to this challenge...she knew she couldn't let her! She needed to show Angelina she wasn't going to bow to her demands. That she too could play this game!

Gritting her teeth, Yuki's fingers wrapped tighter around the pole as she leaned closer to Angelina, almost getting into her face. "...you know," she muttered, "You did promise, way back then, that you would go for a rematch whether I was ready or not. That it would happen wherever and whenever you wanted. Well...we're here, aren't we? Inches away from each other, on the train? Where else are we going to go?"

If Angelina wasn't taking the opportunity - if she wasn't making her move - then, Yuki knew, she was letting down her promise. She was proving herself to be full of hot air. And if that was put to her face, she surely wouldn't be able to stand up to it. It would be a counter just as effective as any in the ring. "Go on," the joshi wrestler continued. "Are you going to hit me now? Isn't that what you promised? Or are you too afraid to do that now, with everyone watching?" Yuki's eyes were narrowed in an accusing glare, but she still bit at her lip, preparing herself for the worst. If she was right, she would have called Angelina's bluff. If she wasn't...well, things could get hairy.

[Monsy]

Two things she learned about Yuki Kazikura through all of this. One. By Thatch himself, this girl was the absolute worst at hiding her stress. You can always see her squirm, struggle and wiggle for what to do. It’s like a goddamn puppy. Second, is that this was a fuckin’ poker face of its own. That little surprise that springs every once in a while, suddenly and spectacularly. It bit her at Yuki’s house, and now… She seemed to get a second taste. All up in her face, which was just FINE by her, then… Her nose huffed. Where in the absolute fuck did this bravado come from? Is this the same girl? Hellloooooo. Earth to Kazikooks, when did your balls drop?

All that accusation, puffing up and gritting, looking at the pole on Yuki’s far side and how she held it. Bitten lip. Did she really want a fight? Or… Was Yuki trying to make her look dumb? Or was YUKI being absolutely dumb? It was fuckin’ metal either way, and Angelina loved it beneath her unamused expression. “Yo.” Angelina said, then blew some air into Yuki's face. “Ya are absolutely crazy, ya know that?”

But… That suited her just fine. “Look. I got somethin’ for ya to keep this simple.”
Angelina leaned over to the duffle bag between her legs, unzipped the side compartment where she could draw out a familiar piece of gold. Yuki’s yearbook. She opened the first few pages, set it on her lap then pinched it so ripping was a simple pulling stroke. “If ya don’t shut up and listen, then I tear. Hit me. And I tear. Accuse me of somethin’ again -- I tear. Capisce?”

[CaptainL]

When Angelina called her crazy, that was enough to make Yuki flinch. The tension that ran through her body was plain for any onlooker to see - the way she sank a little lower in her seat; how her eyelid twitched and her teeth bit into her lower lip; the way her fingers squeezed the pole tighter as her knuckles went white. Yuki had long known about the destruction she was capable of unleashing, and the aggression she had locked away inside of her, just waiting for her concentration and composure to slip enough for it all to be released. She knew that potential, and it terrified her. She knew that, if she were to be pushed far enough in the wrong way, she could well become a force to be feared, just as much as Rose Gold was. But the very thought of that was almost too much to imagine. Yuki didn't want her deepest inner darkness to be unleashed...and what was perhaps even worse, Angelina knew that.

Yuki was convinced of it, anyway. The way she'd gone out of her way to antagonize her, to push her most personal buttons - it all seemed like the redhead was trying to bring that out of her, because she knew how devastated Yuki was by it. And now, her words were a cold reminder of how much power over Yuki she truly held.

But it was then - as Angelina revealed the yearbook - that Yuki's attention was truly grasped. Her eyes went wide, locked onto the cover as Angelina spread it in her lap. A chill ran down the back of her neck, rising goosebumps along her swiftly-paling skin. She'd kept it all along. No doubt, that was because she knew how much her theft of the book had stung Yuki. She wanted to taunt her with it; to use it as leverage to bring the anger out of her. And nothing did that quite like when she grasped the pages, and threatened to tear them out.

At once, a change came over Yuki Kazikura. She was tense, but now, there was no hesitation, no trembling, no rising anger - only a cold, efficient sense of purpose. She knew exactly what she needed to do. Angelina was picking a fight, and growing far too personal in her barbs - and Yuki wouldn't tolerate it any longer. With her eyes narrowed into a piercing glare, the Japanese girl's arm swung out with lightning speed, going to grab the wrist of the hand Angelina held the pages with. Her grip was firm, but purposeful. Not a single muscle wavered. Yuki knew full well this was not the time for hesitation. Angelina had gone too far in her threats, and she would respond in turn.

"You wouldn't," Yuki snapped back, her voice low in a whisper, but nonetheless assured. If Angelina wanted trouble, Yuki was ready for it. "You wouldn't dare."

[Monsy]

There’s that fuckin’ viper, with all vim and venom pouring out those gross prodigious eyes.
She’d seen it twice by this point, but this was the first time it didn’t immediately follow getting beaten across the face. It was, by one merit, fuckin’ scary. On another, fuckin' arousing. And on a third, had a contagious effect where Angelina refused to be the shrimp in this equation now that Yuki Kazikura decided to take this shit seriously. Nah. If Yuki was starting to show teeth, then she'd be the great white, tilting her head forward, leaning in and ramming her forehead against Yuki’s, then shoving Yuki body back towards the seat with her skull. “Oh ya?” Angelina huffed, starting to grin.

“Ya really think that, huh? Bitch already hits me in the face, shoves me around, now she thinks gettin’ grouchy is gonna do one bettah? huh? Let me fuckin' remind you that I went into yo home, because I can. I stole this, because I can. And now your folks think you’re the psychopath, and I only needed to show up. Nah-nah-nah. I’m just that little bitch who wears horns twenty-four-fuckin-seven in fuckin’ Japan, but can't handle chicks when they get a case of red eyes. You think you’re the first one I pissed off and robbed in plain sight? I can list em off for hours, and I am still gettin' away with it. So, tell me I wouldn’t dare. Fuckin’ TELL me.”

And with Yuki holding her wrist in place, Angelina made a fist that gradually tightened, crumpling page after page between her fingers that was just one millisecond jolt from ripping.

[CaptainL]

Yuki really didn't want things to have to get to this point. She didn't want to cause a scene. She didn't want to feed her darker urges, and she didn't want to be remembered as someone who was out of control, who was the type to let her anger rule her. But once again, Angelina was leaving her with little choice. She could feel her heart pounding faster and her muscles growing tense as she squirmed in her seat, trying and failing to hold back the nervous energy that was all but begging her to make a move. Everything told her she needed to act. She needed to strike. The force that was keeping her from doing so was hanging by a thread, and now, as Angelina lunged in closer, she seemed intent to cut that thread.

When she felt the shove of Angelina's forehead against hers, the momentum of her push, the knock of her body and her center of gravity into her own, Yuki's teeth clenched, and she let out a hiss. But she couldn't let her challenge go unanswered, either. She had an obligation to stand up for herself, and to refuse to bow to anyone, let alone her rival. That fueled her as she pushed back against the Marauder even harder, driving her shoulders and her skull up against Angelina's own - just to prove that she could!

No word Angelina said, or could have said, would have stopped Yuki. Her fist tightened into a white-knuckled grip, and her lip curled back to bare her teeth, snarling at Angelina like a caged animal. When she saw her grab the page of the yearbook tighter, threatening to tear it at any moment, she could feel her heart pounding faster and faster. She knew how bold Angelina had to be to do all of this to her, to make her feel this vulnerable at every turn, and to have not even the slightest shred of remorse through all of it. It made her stomach churn. But she would answer Angelina, all right. She would tell her. If Angelina wouldn't back down...neither would she.

Yuki sucked in a breath. That was all she needed. Then, her fist flew - throwing a punch right toward Angelina's face!

[Monsy]

It’s easy to start shit. Just give her sixty seconds with a stranger and they’ll want nothing more than to pound her teeth. At the end of the day, they can claim self-defense when she throws the first shove. But Yuki was a little different. She was always the first strike.

Yuki escalated to a fist fight at the house.
Yuki shoved her down at first sight.
YUKI told her to swing not two minutes ago.

By all fuckin’ means. This girl wanted a go. All the touchless prods gotta add up. She was a kind soul. Hesitant, talented, hard-working, but there’s always that bloodlust behind the blue-collar veil. That’s what she came to know. And this time, she was ready for it.

Snarls, growls, matched with Angelina’s nigh-manic ear-to-ear grin. Her heart punched like Tyson and she tuned out everything until all felt quiet. Back and forth, their heads pushed, with Angelina bracing a foot and angling herself to keep up the fight. And then when the first fist flew, Angelina caught it. The yearbook was let go and flicked to the floor as the subway rocked from a turn.

She threw Yuki’s hand to the side, then snapped her arms towards Yuki’s throat, where she tried to grab it with two hands. A knee went on the bench, and she used her braced foot to push and take Yuki down to lay across the subway bench. Her upper body was wholly supported by the strangling hold, and Angelina looked her in the eyes. “Listen, ya psychopathic fuck. Suckah punches ain’t cuttin’ it no more. Dare this, dare that. FUCK. YOU. You and I belong in a fuckin’ cage. No excuses, no cryin’ and no fuckin’ lines. I know ya want it, so just say yes, Yuki. Say yes!”

[CaptainL]

Angelina's heart wasn't the only one that was pounding. Yuki, too, could feel her pulse racing out of control. The tension around her was growing tighter and tighter, every muscle in her body locked up and waiting for that one impulse that would bid everything release, and all she could do was wait for that moment to happen. She should have been afraid of it. She should have hated it. Giving into the bloodlust, letting out her anger, threatening others - it was everything she didn't want to be, everything she had repressed and fought so hard to push back in the name of being the golden girl anyone could count on. And yet, as she and Angelina pushed and shoved at one another, dueling for the top position like stags in a rut, Yuki didn't have any second thoughts. Angelina had done all this. She was the one who had stalked her and tracked her and needled her at every turn. She only had herself to blame for landing them in this situation. And if that was what she wanted out of Yuki...she would reap her reward.

At last, that fist was thrown. It shot straight through the air, a jab clear at its target. Yuki could already envision when it would land with the force of a cannonball, throwing Angelina back and shutting her up. She could already feel that satisfying knock of knuckles against skull, and the rush that could only come from knowing it had worked.

Except that didn't happen at all. Yuki might have been quick, but Angelina was too. And that lightning flash of motion, that split-second between when the punch was thrown and when it would land, was just enough time for the redhead to stick her hand up.

Yuki's fist smacked into Angelina's open palm with a hollow thud. That was enough to shake her back to reality for a precious few seconds. She heard the smack, she felt the rattle of the train car, and she saw the blank stares on the faces of the other passengers looking up from the news to see the commotion. At once, her face went pale, and she felt the chill pin-pricks along the back of her neck. She realized she'd once again given into her rage. She'd lost control.

But she wouldn't have long to ponder that. Only seconds later, Angelina threw Yuki's arm aside, shifting her weight forward to pin the dark-haired girl against the bench. At first she let out a yelp, but that was quickly stifled by the firm grasp of Angelina's fingers wrapped around her throat. Yuki winced, hissing under her breath. Her eyes were squeezed shut, and her teeth locked into a grimace. She tried to bring her hands up to grab onto Angelina's wrists and pry them off, but the Marauder held firm. And it wouldn't matter, anyway. When Yuki's eyes opened, they looked up to see Angelina bearing down on her, her gaze locked onto her own. Her body stiffened. She winced a little when she heard Angelina call her a psycho, but for all it seemed to confirm Yuki's worst fears, she knew that she couldn't show weakness now. She couldn't back down. To do so would mean she had already admitted defeat!

"Is...that it?" Yuki snapped, hoarse and choked as her voice was. "You want a rematch after all? You know what...FINE! I'll take you in a cage! I'll take you anywhere if it proves you wrong! But I can't let you win this!"

Sure enough, Yuki wasn't even going to back down from such a fight now! While Angelina held her in place, her knee digging deeper into her body, Yuki could barely move. But she wouldn't take that for an answer! As her teeth clenched tighter in a snarl, her body grew tense, her fingers squeezing tighter at Angelina's wrists. She couldn't let Angelina hold her down or push her around, and if she needed to get her off by force, then so be it! Summoning all the strength she could, she bucked upward with her hips to try and unsteady Angelina's weight. If that worked, her legs would kick up to wrap around the knee that pinned her down, and if she could secure her grip, she'd roll over to the side to try and bowl Angelina to the floor!

[Monsy]

There’s that look again. That ghost in the chamber that peeks everytime she pushes the border. Girl was angry and bold. She can believe that. Girl can throw a fist. She can believe that too. But what about after? She knew how to make this fuckin’ bed, but now was getting spooked to lie in it. It's that kind of thing that gives her hands all the sort of juice to squeeze her blue. If she ain’t stepping up, then it was time to throw down the gauntlet and show her what this was all about.

Just had to meet her halfway.
That rematch was somethin’ they wanted since the first, and she’d now be lyin’ to herself if she didn’t want to make this chickenshit implode by her damn suck-factor. She didn’t have the knife to cut like she could. Now that’s gold.

“Do ya always talk with a mouth full of bullshit?! It reeks!” And it’s that goddamn snarl coming back that’s the sugar on top. Yuki seemed to lose focus from the people all around and now fought like she meant it. Good. And it’s that notch that unsaddled Angelina forward, making her shoulders dip further than her hands and making the angle awkward to press down. Then she saw the train floor, with her knee twisted and balance gone, she crashed and ate the fall on her wrists.

The train shuffles again. She makes a passing glance to everyone around. They’re staring. Some huddle close. Some take out their phones, and others are trying to dismiss it all under the guise of crazy people doing crazy shit. It’s all on fuckin’ CCTV camera anyway. She smiled more, then grabbed the yearbook in one hand, then reached into her duffle bag and pulled out a weapon. A pink bat, with white tape and wrapped in razor wire and a branded name ‘NUTCRACKA’ right on its body. She used it as a cane to stumble up with another train tremor and wielded it like a one-handed sword. Now people were retreating, and anyone who tried to ignore it no longer remain idle.

“You’re a one-punch pump chump type of gal. Yuki Kazikura doesn’t wanna make a scene. She can’t let loose. What will Mommy and Daddy think? Psycho. Path. PSYCHOPATH!” Angelina pointed at a CCTV camera in the corner, “There’s ya real fuckin’ scene, bitch! There it is, and we’re only JUST gettin’ started!”

Angelina spun the bat around with her wrist, once, twice, then took a hard horizontal swing at Yuki’s midsection.