Serona vs Thea Beckett

Standard Match
1 fall
Victory Condition: The first wrestler who wins shall be the winner

Thea danced. It was not the first time she had been before a huge crowd, and yet it never got any easier to handle. She was nervous, and so she did what came naturally to her. To the beats of the trance year mix, she danced backstage, letting the music fill her, letting her mind form around it, and, like a lifeline in turbulent waters, it elevated her. It helped her to see where she was, where she wanted to be, and what lay between.

She almost missed her cue, but the sharp eyed stage hand had noticed the distant look on her face as she went through her routine and foresaw the problem. "Beckett, you're up."

Thea stumbled a bit, eyes wide, snapped back into reality. "Ah! Right, right..." She made her way down to the ramp, emerging right on cue. Her theme blared as the titanatron displayed, in tasteful cursive, "Above all else, do no harm." The lights blinded her briefly, and the scope and din of the arena briefly gave her pause, but she regained her footing. Waving to the crowd, Thea marched to the ring with a steady pace. It was her first real match. She should have been worried. She saw what Serona had done to her last opponent; she had to get poor Blossom admitted to the hospital. By all rights, Serona was a nasty piece of work. Thea was afraid, but the fear did not control her. It put her on edge, got her ready. She had spent a good part of her life dealing with nastier people than Serona. Climbing upon the apron, Thea rolled under the ropes and sprung up, bouncing on the balls of her feet. As far as Thea was concerned, this was preventative medicine. If she could knock Serona down a peg, that would be that many fewer girls hurt by this jerk... Easier said than done, of course, but Thea felt up to the task.

Spoiler:

The pulsing electronic beat to Thea's theme started to die down; the lights went low. Then smoke and deep red light enflamed the side of the arena opposite the one-time nurse, and Serona made her entrance.

God save the queen...

She wore a black leather belt studded with steel and a pair of knee-high boots that screamed la diabla. She strut in time to the [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8z2M_hpoPwk:1jaen7rh]music[/url:1jaen7rh], threw both her hands up, grinned, and made a sign at the crowd: peace for the Americans and fuck you! for everyone Euro-side.

The fascist regime!...

It was just like last time--until the jeering rose up. It was like a low-bass option on a stereo slowly raised to maximum volume. It got so Serona heard more of a boo than her own overloud theme. Her grin morphed into a sideways smile and she switched out her two-fingered salute for a pair of more standard-issue middle fingers.

But she stumbled on her way up into the ring. The graceful leap into the fray from last time gave way to an awkward sort of crawling into the lime-light.

God save the queen...

Just keep grinning, doll.

Serona kept smirking.

She ain't no human being!

She took her corner, folded her arms, and let her eyes rest on Thea with what she knew to be not-quite-apathy. Hunger was the idea: a lazy cat checking out the mouse dujour. And to all appearances, her heart was full to the brim with that easy contempt that shrugged off the crowd like so much rain water.

But then again, none of them knew how she had been manhandled in the gym days prior--or that the woman who'd broken Serona might have been watching her that very instant. And they didn't know how between her first match and this moment--the gym being a sole exception--she had gone through the AFW without so much as a friendly chat with a sparring partner. Hell, she didn't have a sparring partner.

Those that remembered her--and some of them were here just to see her get broken (God willing)--just remembered the way Blossom had screamed until the tears rolled, the way she had gone epileptic on the mat in such agony that the crowd then had been silent. They remembered that and the cold little smile with which Serona had met her victim.

It was the same little smile she wore now, and it kept anyone but anyone from telling that she was nervous and drained. So much the better show for them.

There's no future--no future for you!

When the music went quiet--and the crowd settled--Serona glanced at the referee.

"You know, dear, I think that kitten in the corner and I are waiting on you."

Thea clasped her hands behind her and remained still as she watched Serona's entrance. It was tough to remain stoic; the girl and her theme were about as subtle as a sack of hammers, but she pursed her lips and kept her eyes forward, regarding the girl carefully. She was dressed to kill; Thea's sweater and skirt made her look positively dull in comparison. The way Serona basked in the scorn of the crowd, the way she moved, it reminded Thea of so many dangerous characters she had met before...

There was something, not quite there, just on the edges of Thea's perception about the girl... Was it stress?... Thea shook her head, she was imagining it. That smile when Serona had injured Blossom, that empty, soulless smile. That was the Serona she was dealing with.

Still, she kept almost seeing it... The brief flash in her eyes as she looked away... It reminded her of the sort of folks whose neuroses were as destructive to themselves as they were to others.

Thea brushed it off. This was her first real fight. She had to focus, not try to project her insecurities on her opponent. Serona would maul her if she could not keep her head in the game.

Still, the thoughts were humbling. She was a nurse, not an avenger. Neither judgement nor punishment were hers to administer. She was just here to use a skill set that she learned to defend herself in what should have been only a scant few situations in her life. That was what she would do: defend herself.

Thea took a deep breath and stayed calm as Serona ignored her and talked straight to the referee. If I'm going to beat her, I may as well start by beating her with kindness. Thea forced her well-practiced smile as she took a few steps toward Serona. "Good luck, and let's have a good fight." Thea was momentarily shocked that that was the best she could come up with but shrugged it off. She nodded to the referee, affirming Serona's snide remark.

"Good luck, and let's have a good fight."

Serona's smile twitched towards a sneer at one corner. When she'd first come to the AFW, she had imagined a harsher wilderness--or at least less polite animals. Even Cassie...fucking Cassie. "Hey, I know I just threatened to ruin your knee, but how about a hug?"

"Oh. Good luck? Well, sure kitten, good luck to you too."

For the first time, Serona took real notice of her opponent. You're a bit late getting around to that, my dear. The crowd was affecting her more than it should have.

It was another short girl. There had been a lot of those in Serona's recent history, and every one had been a nasty surprise. And confidence just permeated Thea, face to stance. If anything, Thea's petite figure and sweet, rehearsed smile put the queen decisively on edge.

So, as if to clear the air, Ser took the direct approach--as soon as she was allowed to charge, she did, and she would try to grab her opponent by the ears and try to force her shapely schnauz into Serona's knee.

Even the folks in the very back of the arena, unable to hear anything over the roar of the crowd, just seeing the combatants mouth pleasantries to each other, would have been able to pick up that Serona was not exactly genuine in wishing Thea well.

Thea got that impression pretty strongly. Her fists clenched and she bounced in her stance. She controlled her nerves. The look Serona gave suggested that she wanted to hurt Thea beyond the simple goal of the match. Thea had not been in a lot of these matches, but the look, a distressingly familiar one, chilled her. Worse still, Serona was about a head taller than Thea. Having reach and being downright mean were two bad advantages to give up.

Still, it was what it was. This was the fight she had to deal with. The only way forward was over the prone body of Serona. When you focused in on what needs to be done and how useless the excess emotions and thoughts were, the trepidation tended to fade.

Serona made her intentions quite clear. As the bell rang, she moved in. Thea reacted on instinct. She had to control the pace of the fight, and, when she could not, she had to be a lot closer to Serona than Serona had to be to her (Not to mention a little bit quicker.). The choice was obvious. She met Serona's charge. Serona's arms went up to try for the grab. Thea kept one arm close and tried to fire the other one at Serona's face in a quick jab, trying to nail her before she could react.

"Fuck!"

Her opponent hit fast, and she hit Serona in her face--and her guard kept her from even the satisfaction of getting a hit in return. God she hated strikes to the face. Bruises on the face were bad news for flirting, and if your nose got bloodied, you'd be choking on that iron taste the whole damn match.

Worse than any of that, though, this minx made Ser let her smirk down--made her give an outburst. Fuck? She should have been stronger than that.

Serona bounced back and put her fists up at eye level, her back hunched, her lips thin and curled upwards...Her eyes cold and focused on Thea. The precision and speed she'd just seen didn't seem to belong to someone so small, so pretty. Hell, this girl didn't look like a wrestler. She'd have been at home in a library, in a classroom. But there she was, popping moves. And looking damn satisfied about it, Serona thought.

"Shit, short-stuff. You done smacked me. Was it fun, cutie, did it make you feel accomplished?" Serona hopped forward and backward, weaving in and out. In theory her stance was grounded in a Muay Thai tradition, as was her striking--but in fact, she just didn't have much of a striking game. She'd never learned it beyond real basic stuff, and now there was no one to teach it. "Because I could take a lot of smacks like that. A whole lot, darling. C'mon, tell me you've got more bite than that, huh? You've got to be more vicious with me, babe..."

Of course, Serona was still bigger than her. No matter what tricks she pulled, that was just a fact. So Serona charged her again, popping all at once out of her dodging stance. She'd try to get her arms under those sweet girlish thighs, lift Thea's lower half off the ground, and knock her onto her back. Then they'd have some ground-game fun.

"...You've got to break the skin!"

Thea had had many teachers in the arts of combat. Old Man Calivicci always had thought fights were ended with a good solid blow to the face and he would have been proud of that one. It had clearly caught Serona off guard. Thea pursed her lips, betraying no satisfaction, the morass of adrenalin and fear only feeding her battle calm. She kept her hands up as Serona mouthed off and danced around. Her hands occasionally reaching out to try to head off what she expected were attempts at retaliation from the taller girl.

She talked a lot. She was either off her game or she knew something Thea did not.

And very quickly she showed that she did. Thea shifted her legs, aiming for a quick kick at Serona's own legs, seeking to use her dancer's speed against her, but Serona had already made her move, and the subtle lift of her legs only ended up helping Serona's takedown. "Gah!" Thea yelped as she was taken to the mat.

Her brother tended to think fights ended when the winner got on top of the loser and beat their face to a bloody pulp. He had been less explicit about it, but the subtext was obvious to Thea even at a young age. She was no stranger to a ground game but Serona had shown herself to be quite deadly at it. She moved quickly to try to get her legs out from under Serona's arms, if she could even get the leverage from her position to fight Serona's grip, and get them between the two of them, but that was about all she could try.