L.A.W. - League of Anime Wrestling

The Drinking Dutchman Bar
9:30 PM

The Drinking Dutchman

The yellowish lights of the ceiling lamps painted the entire place with a sort of cozy, warm look. The inescapable smell of cigarettes and strong alcohol filled the air with a strong burning sensation that followed you wherever you stood, and that you would still be feeling for even hours after leaving the bar. A couple of luxurious chandeliers hung from the roof, looking somewhat out of place, seemingly too "fancy-looking" for an establishment of this nature.

The place was packed with dozens of chatty patrons: Some of them yelling, others talking normally, most of them drunk already, but conscious enough to avoid making a scene. However, a night in The Drinking Dutchman without a single incident would definitely be a first.

And this night, promised to continue the tradition.

Ashley Morgan

Sitting all by herself at the bar's counter was Ashley. The heelish redhead was already in a bad mood, regretting her decision to come as soon as she first set foot inside. Ashley had the brilliant idea of trying something new, something different after finishing up her training routine for the night...

"Never again..." she thought, tapping one of her nails on the counter's wooden cover. Holding a cocktail in her other hand. Already having threatened two brave customers who offered to buy her a drink out of the kindness of their hearts and who seemed interested in getting to "know her". Ashley was mere seconds away from losing the last bit of patience she had left and starting suplexing everyone around her.

Things took a turn for the worse when a third "friendly" fellow approached

"Hey, beautiful- Maybe I can get you anoth-..."

"That's it! I'm out!" Ashley didn't even let the man finish; she turned around and started heading to the exit, squeezing through the crowd of people while holding the drink right above her head.

"Can't stand another second in this damn place!"

“Where the fuck are you, Ford?” Elena’s brows creased as she grumbled over the phone.

Elena's Casual Fit

“Been twenty minutes, and I’ve been stuck at red. At the SAME spot! It’s bumper to bumper over here…” came the reply from the other side, thinner and metallic due to the speaker.

“I told you to take off early. I repeatedly reminded you to do that. But Nooooo…..Allison doesn’t like to worry too much. Allison has so much trust in the good people of the city to let her pass through…. DURING rush hour!" Elena face-palmed and shook her head…. disappointed with her friend.

“And they DO let me pass through. So suck it, Walker!.....”Allison retorted, vindicated that her trust would be repaid as the vehicles started to move again….
Only to come to a halt a couple of feet from her previous stop.

“I seem to have spoken too soon…..hehe….Touche….?” The raven-haired woman let out an awkward, nervous chuckle, which saw Elena shake her head with eyes closed and lips pursed. This woman will never learn….

“Alright, it looks like I won’t be able to make it there anytime soon. You go ahead, stake the bar, see if it's any good. And hopefully I’ll be there by the time you’re done. Sound good…?”

“I am thinking that you did this on purpose to avoid trying out the bar…..”

“……No….?”

“If I find myself like a corpse and throw up tomorrow, and you so much as breathe funny looking my way…boy oh boy will I enjoy beating living shit out of you.” The warning came out super serious, and Elena’s growl made the threat look even more menacing.

“Why do you have to be so negative about such a fun drinking experience? Maybe you will enjoy it a lot. Don’t think about ending up drunk in a ditch or a dumpster….or the middle of the road, or the sidewalk….or a ship about to cruise away…..or in jail…” Allison listed out a lot more possibilities while grinning from ear to ear, still stuck in traffic in her car, though now a lot more bearable courtesy of this conversation.

“…..None of those came to my mind, and I wasn’t even thinking that far. But thank you for your concern. And, get your ass here pronto….” Sarcasm dripped from Elena’s reply to her best friend. She put the phone away and finally brought herself to face the bar.

“The Drinking Dutchman….Huh, wonder what’s the lore behind that name….” Elena’s ocean blue eyes reflected off the neon letters of the name, the brightness standing out in the pitch-black night.

Squinting and rapidly blinking her eyes to normalcy after having stared at those letters, Elena strolled into, curious to see the make-up of this establishment, which wasn’t too fancy, and leaned towards a more rinky-dink energy.

The blonde was distracted, taking in her rather rowdy surroundings, the smell of cheap cologne and cigarettes, stains of liquor on the floor and the tables, when she bumped into a wall of muscle.

“Aoou…I’m Sorry. My Bad….”Elena would quickly turn around to apologise to the person against whom she collided….

"Excuse me..."

"Move aside!"

"Fuck off!"

Ashley's annoyance grew more and more with every step she took, drifting across the sea of people, trying to maneuver her way to the exit, without dropping the drink in her hands. It was a race against time before she committed a murder with the first unfortunate soul she had in front of her when her patience ran out.

"Hey, careful..." Someone shot back at Ashley, but a single sharp scowl by the redhead was enough to make them regret their words.

"Almost there..." The Brit finally saw the "exit" sign among the crowd. She only needed to take a few more steps, advance a couple of meters, and push a few pricks out of her way and...

-BUMP- splash

"Arghh... The FUCK!"

Just as Ashley was about to escape from her newfound personal hell, a rather muscular person bumped right into her with enough force to cause Ashley to drop the glass she was carrying and spill its contents all over herself. An awkward silence fell over the room when the glass crashed against the floor, shattering into a thousand pieces in seconds.

The soaked redhead stood still for a moment, her hands raised at her sides with her fingers curving like claws- Processing what had just happened.

Perhaps, if the context had been any different... If she hadn't been regretting her decision to come to this place for the past hour... if she wasn't fuming already...

Perhaps only then, there had been a slight chance that Ashley could have let this go... Unfortunately, that was not the case... not even close...

The Red Menace was shaking, barely containing her anger, and she turned toward the person who had bumped into her. Completely ignoring her apology

"You... fucking Asshole!" Ashley shook her arms, trying to dry herself. "The hell is your problem!"