Saving (Someone Else's) Face

Once Gabbie had left the stage after the promo, she took a minute to try and catch up with one of the others in it, Neske. She had been the first girl to speak up after Gabbie said her peace and was one of the first to suggest the six girl match in the firstplace. However, it was Neske who, as far as Gabbie was concerned, had been shanghaied into the match. Of course she agreed to be part of it eagerly, but she wasn't in her right mind. Gabbie was pretty sure she had been the only one to notice Neske was intoxicated and under those circumstances, the Canadian felt that Neske had been coerced into the match.

Gabbie followed Neske to make sure the others weren't around and when it was the two of them, she walked up to Neske and put a hand on her shoulder to get Neske's attention. "Hey." She said, not very good with introductions. "Listen." She began, looking at the back of the girl's head. "I know that when you came out you were, uh..." She paused. "Well, I know you're not in your right mind. You know, if you feel like you made a decision you wouldn't have made if you were sober, then it would be ok for you not to participate in the match. It's extenuating circumstances."

Gabbie glanced briefly away from Neske "They'll find a replacement. I'm sure there's tons of girls who would love to fight inside a cage against five other girls." Like an animal. Gabbie thought. "No one will think worse of you for backing out." Gabbie said, despite her own constant talk of not quitting. "I won't, at least." Gabbie said, blushing faintly, as though how Neske felt about how Gabbie felt mattered. She wasn't really sure why she was so protective of Neske. Maybe it was because if she wasn't no one else would be and if no one else was, then one day thousands in attendance and millions watching at home would watch Neske Alapo die in the middle of the ring. Gabbie would definitely do everything in her power to stop that. Especially since no one else, Neske included, seemed to care otherwise.

Neske, for her part, was not super thrilled about the idea of being in another cage match with a bunch of tough, violent girls. Her persistent gesture of flipping the bird to everyone who pitched in on the idea had apparently gone unnoticed, and now she was signed up for another one of these crazy suicide matches. Walking out to the backstage area, and not back into the stands like she had started, she could barely keep herself from visibly shaking, just thinking about it. But through all that anxiety cut a voice, that brought her from a state of nervousness to pure frustration.

For a moment, while Gabbie spoke, Neske didn't move. She didn't even turn to face the girl talking to her, simply clenching her fists, eyes, and teeth, as she tried to process what she was being told. After all that, after refusing to quit despite all the pressure to, this girl had the audacity to try and get rid of Neske. Clear out some of the competition, no doubt. "Look," she finally said with a deep breath, finally turning around to face the girl behind her, "I get it, you don't think fucking much of me. You think I suck. You can't keep that to your fucking self? You have to go parade it around in front of everyone like I'm some sort of... o-of child? Who the hell do you think you are? Like, where the fuck do you get off?"

She trailed off for a moment, caught up in her anger as she started to turn around, before stopping herself and going back to face Gabbie at the last moment. "A-and another thing! I don't know what 'beating up' someone is to you," she asserted, using finger quotes for emphasis, "but most people don't go around kicking other people in the head until they can't stand up. You hit me until I couldn't move, and you hit my girlfriend until she couldn't fight back. Call that whatever you want, but at least those other girls back there are fucking real about what we're doing here."

gabbie's brow furrowed when Neske finally spoke. She didn't appreciate the brusque reaction, and though she shouldn't have been surprised by it, she kind of was. She took a step back and took a breath and replied.

"I don't think you're very good in the ring." Gabbie said truthfully. "But that doesn't have anything to do with how I feel about you as a person. You seem... nice enough..." Gabbie hesitated a bit. "Even though you came out into the arena drunk. You're not exactly putting yourself in my good graces but... I really don't have anything against you. If you really want to get better, then I really want to help you and that means taking an honest assessment of your place in this league and your reasons for being here. If you listen to someone like Akiha, you'll get killed in the ring one day because you'll start to think you're invincible What kind of career is that anyway?"

Gabbie began rubbing her temples, irritated by having to lecture Neske again. "I don't even know who your girlfriend IS!" She said sternly. "But I do know one thing. Something I learned a long time ago when I first started fighting." She said and looked at Neske. "It's not my job to make you stop fighting. It's yours and a smart fighter knows when they've lost. You kept getting back up and you should have known the fight was over long before the final kick came. It's not like I hurt you once the bell rang. In fact, I was really worried about you so don't throw this back in my face!"

Even if she was a bit... out of it, Neske knew describing her girlfriend as 'the cute redhead' probably wouldn't mean much to Gabbie. "It doesn't matter if you know who Hisui is," she responded absent-mindedly anyway, "it's not about this being personal. You can act like you're better than me, I don't even care, but you aren't better than-" Neske hesitated before trailing off, just catching herself in time to avoid giving Gabbie some unneeded leverage.

The thing was, while Neske was capable of being calm and level-headed most of the time, if not quietly so, when backed into a corner she had a habit of fighting back with everything at her disposal, to the point that a professional psychologist mislabeled her a sociopath. And at this rate, Gabbie was going to get the same impression. "I know I'm not invincible, dipshit," she continued, her eyes darkening as she stared right back at Gabbie's. "That's not the point. I don't need you to worry about me, and I definitely don't need your pity. If things were the other way around, I wouldn't give two shits about you, so why don't you get the fuck over yourself and leave me alone."

Partially to get the last word in, and partially to retreat inward, Neske took a step back and turned away as she finished. Inside, saying that actually hurt, a lot more than she was expecting. As much as she didn't want to acknowledge it right now, those words weren't the least bit true, but hell if she didn't show that. In the past for Neske, this kind of pity only led to being let down, or worse yet, manipulated and tossed aside like some used toy. Whatever Gabbie thought she meant, Neske was confident she'd turn out the same, and it was best to cut  that off before it became something to worry about.

"Oh... Hisiui..."  

When Neske said the name on accident, Gabbie understood. "I didn't beat her up." Gabbie added plainly. "And don't pity you. I just think being too reckless is going to end badly, that's all." Still, Gabbie was a little surprised at how Neske's words made her feel. She was... A little hurt.

"Fine." Gabbie said, turning her head. "It was stupid of me to try and show you some sense. I hope you figure it out before you get brain damage." Her last words were spoken a little bitterly, but she didn't know what else to even say. Apparently Neske just hated her.

Gabbie hoped this wouldn't sour her from trying to be helpful in the future but for now, she just turned to leave awkwardly.