Lost Preconceptions (for ZorzLeth)

[Crossedes]

"I not going with 'Gritty-Smelling' Kimberly Kulp or 'Slightly Offensive' Kimberly Kulp." Those names traveled far and beyond what it was he was proposing, but given she was not serious with any of the names, she figured it didn't matter anyway. Honestly, Kimberly couldn't imagine going by anything other than just her name. She had built a career off of her name, and it was not as if she expected to be in the wrestling Hall of Fame and needed a suitably recognizable name. The journalism Hall of Fame, on the other hand... That one was a goal.

She tilted her head at his mention of sparring. With the way the conversation was going, she had somewhat expected it. It could end up... embarrassing, ultimately. She didn't feel all that ring-ready, but he hopefully held no intentions of shaming her. "That's different from the proposition I expected was coming," she joked. "Sure. Just don't drop me on my head too many times."

[ZorzLeth]

“Don’t worry, I’ll be gentle. In fact, I’ll let you make the first move.” Jack responded as he led her to the ring. This was a good opportunity to put some subtle moves on Kimberly by…well using some wrestling moves. Jack was the first to enter the ring.

“When you are ready.” Jack said to Kimberly, as he stretched a bit and waited for Kimberly to enter the ring and make a move.

[Crossedes]

"Oh, good. I've never had any bad experiences hearing 'I'll be gentle' before..." Sure, she was being difficult for the sake of being difficult, but the disarming looks likely helped. With the League's reputation, one could never be too sure that her opponent would try being gentle, so she supposed, in this case, the assurance was worth its salt. And to be honest, some functional sparring would do her a world of good. People usually didn't bother with the one they labeled a wannabe.

She hopped up into the ring after him and tossed off her punching wraps. After a couple of bounces, she nodded. "Okay, let's do it." Perhaps some anxiety should have hit her - some nervousness about trying to have a functional spar with another genuine wrestler - but Kimberly had chosen not to think about her new part-time gig in the ring in such a way. She just wanted to make the most of it, and as she switched into a loose fighting stance, right leg in front, she figured... what could go wrong?

He had mentioned she had the first move. Time to try one of those... tie-ups, and remembering what she had learned, she headed in cautiously, looking to tangle collar and elbow with him.

[ZorzLeth]

Jack was going Kimberly do what she was planning. It was to mainly get a gauge on how she was able to lock a submission hold, but another part was amusement. Let this gal with little experience to fighting, compared to him, try and perform this on him. It would be a matter of whether she could pull off the hold and do so well.

Jack put in a bit of effort to 'resist', to not make it entirely like he was throwing it for her sake. Again, he was testing her. When she went for a collar and elbow tie up, he placed his hands on her forearms, though did not move to pry them off him.

"Alright, what's the plan now?" Jack asked Kimberly, curious about what was going to happen.

[Crossedes]

Alright, he hadn't get kicked her across the ring. With her arm meeting his shoulder and his meeting hers and the other arms doing whatever it was they were supposed to be doing (Kimberly was not totally sure and just used it to pull his downward), she figured she had done a pretty decent imitation of a proper tie-up. He seemed to think so too given he didn't critique it. He just asked a question she couldn't be sure she had the best answer to - she understood submission holds. Getting to them was not yet a strength.

"Good question," she admitted, but an idea did hit her. It was something she had seen a couple of tricky wrestlers do, so she would probably fail. But how would she know before she tried? Bracing her weight against him, the part-timer shifted her hips forward, pushed up on her toes to jump, and threw her long legs out, trying to catch his midsection between her legs and grab hold of his neck so she could hang on and drag him down to the mat.

[ZorzLeth]

Jack noted that Kimberly wrapped her legs around his waist and locked her arms around his neck. He figured she was goi by to try and bring her down to the mat. A smart idea, but Jack gave her so much wiggle room before he decided to push back a little. He stood firm, making sure not to let himself fall over.

“Quite the hands-on approach…” Jack jokingly commented in response to Kimberly’s efforts, “but surely we can hug him things out.” As he said that, he snaked his arms around Kimberly’s waist and back and got her in a bearhug.

“Let’s see who gives first. Me or you?” Jack said in a teasing tone. He tightened the hug a bit to give Kimberly a squeeze. He was not going full out though, as he wanted to make this fun, especially getting a feel of Kimberly’s body against his own.

[Crossedes]

Okay, he could hold her weight. She should have figured that to be the case, but she worked from limited knowledge. She might have had more luck taking him down over a longer period and with a more powerful squeeze of her legs as they snuggled his sides, but as long as he remained a cordial sparring partner, she would too. She had no desire to go trying to crack any ribs... as if she could crack ribs. Scare someone into thinking she could? That she could possibly pull off if she tried hard enough.

"I'd say..." She paused to breathe, having to strain to keep herself attached. "...it's the legs-on approach, but I'm paid to be a linguist and make pu- Ohhhh shoooot..." The shoot came as a groaned response to his arms wrapping around her. Right... right. She was basically telling him "please sir, squeeze my midriff in half" from this position. He was not even squeezing her with any gusto yet, and the anticipation of it had her sides burning. The temptation to drop her legs hit her.

But he turned it into a competition. "Oh I wish you hadn't said tha...ohhhhh crap!" His squeeze compressed her sides, filling her with fear of more, but she knew he didn't give it all he had. The pressure was enough for her to push at his arms and squeeze her own legs together, trying to counter him before he amped the effort to full.

[ZorzLeth]

"Not like there's anything to lose if one of us says uncle." Jack teased as he slowly tensed his arms around Kimberly's waist, slowly taking note of her response coming out as a groan. Jack felt Kimberly's legs tighten around his waist. He felt something, but he could handle it for the moment. He was not in any pain yet, but he didn't know how much Kimberly could dish out. He wanted to drag this out as long as possible, so he did not apply to much of his strength in the bearhug. Eventually, he would add more, but until then, he would humour Kimberly a bit by at least giving her a chance at fighting back.

[Crossedes]

"Yeah but... I'll know." Kimberly had always struggled with needing to do everything "at the top of her class." While she had ironically never been the best student, she had worked hard to remain among the best if something interested her enough. In journalism classes, she wanted to finish at the top. Cheerleading after college? She wanted to be the one leading the cheers. In her sports reporting positions, she wanted to be the one winning the plaques for her walls. In wrestling, she could temper her expectations, but gaining a reputation as the best reporter in the ring would suit her ambitions.

So as he slowly amped up his intensity, Kimberly felt the urge to increase the pressure twofold. She pushed on his shoulders, trying to wriggle her waist for extra breathing room if he did choose to clamp down on her more than he already was. With that done, she re-crossed her ankles and gave him a much bigger squeeze, hoping it shocked him enough that she could win out.

[ZorzLeth]

Jack felt Kimberly crossing her ankles again to squeeze his waist. While he felt it, he did not show any physical sign, outside of an amused smirk. He felt her attempting to get some breathing room by pushing down on his shoulders. In response, Jack delivered some bursts of squeeze power, causing Kimberly's body to be squeeze against and rubbing against his; more specifically their abdomens.