Fool Me... Thrice?

Even if Isa had become very hesitant about what was about to happen, Alicia's reply seemed to be fair enough to calm her down. It did make sense. At least kinda. Thinking about it, there seemed to be few apparent reasons why a guy would be more difficult to control with scissors than a girl. Apart from the traditional assumption that guys were stronger than girls... But Isa knew that certainly didn't always apply.

Come to think of it, it would be cool to try out controlling a guy. That was, if she was able to control him. But Alicia's judgement, guidance and coaching were things that Isa would have to count on. And why shouldn't she have done that? It wasn't like the redhead had broken her promises before.

Then there was the knock on the door. And by now Isa was very eager to see who she would be facing tonight.

But what? Alicia was showing her back to the training room? That was somewhat disappointing. Isa certainly looked a bit confused before obeying her trainer's orders.

"Oh-OK?" the blonde stuttered as Alicia promptly pulled the door behind her. Well, at least she could hear what was going on through the small opening.

And instead of warming up, listening carefully to what was going on was exactly what Isa would be doing.

There was a greeting, and then - was there a kiss?!?

Now that was, once again, very unexpected. And suddenly, Isa was getting slightly paranoid about all this. What did that mean? Was the Tension guy Alicia's partner? If so, why hadn't Alicia mentioned that? Why would Alicia allow her lover to become a squeeze dummy? Was the blonde being set up for a handicapped ambush match?

Or was this all just Isa's wild imagination?

While Alicia wouldn’t have objected to Isa being a little more… Assertive, at least her relative eagerness to please meant the blonde ducked into the other room without a murmur. The redhead had actually been thinking a bit more about Dmitri’s reaction than Isa’s, if she was honest: she didn’t want to scare him off before she’d had a chance to lock the door. Which she did more or less as she shoved him up against it for a heartbeat at the end of their kiss.

It was pretty much standard procedure, making sure they wouldn’t be interrupted, and Alicia wasn’t trying to hide it so much as… Well, why do one thing when she could do two at once?

Satisfied both with the kiss and the click as the lock engaged, sealing Dmitri in with her, she took a step back and gave him a quick once over. He looked good, toned and fit in his pants and tank top. Nearly perfect for what she had in mind, though the redhead’s hands did linger on his top.

”Off,” she ordered him, her intent clear as crystal as she tugged at its hem, her breathing deeper than before but far more under control than his own (even if her pupils were a touch dilated).

Hey, in her book, skin to skin was far more fun for scissoring.

Presuming Dmitri would be a good boy and do as she told him, the kickboxer would go to half-drag him across the room over to the familiar room where they… Sparred.

”Slight change of plans,” Alicia’s tone was matter-of-fact, as if she hadn’t planned this right from the get-go, ”You’re up against someone else today.”

Without giving Dmitri any time to ask questions, the big Brit nudged the door to the other room wide open to reveal the blonde on the other side (she expected).

”Meet Isa.”

So. Again. This was unexpected.

Dmitri wasn’t a genius - not with most things that didn’t involve numbers - but he’d been around Alicia enough to know her fairly well, and to figure out that the kiss, while welcome, wasn’t exactly typical procedure. He canted his head to side, as she gave him an appraising look, thoughts clearly running through her head. Thoughts on what, he couldn’t imagine. But he had a feeling he would know for sure soon enough.

”Oh,”. Her request took him a bit by surprise, having the distinct force of a command to it, but he shrugged and went along after a moment, anyway, peeling the shirt off and tossing it to the side. There was an odd urgency to Alicia that was striking him, like she was in a rush. She liked ‘sparring’ with him, sure, she just wasn’t usually this forceful about it.

In a few more seconds, though, things became clear. Clearer, at least.

When Alicia opened the door, Dmitri couldn’t help but jump back, absolutely not expecting someone to be on the other side. A girl. A woman One about their age, if he had to guessed. Cute, and slightly familiar, though he couldn’t quite place where he’d seen her face before. He doubted it was anything bad, though, with her almost angelic appearance, her pleasant eyes, her smooth skin, and her…

Dmitri’s gaze wandered towards her bottom half, and that was where it stayed for a moment. Specifically, her legs. Her large, muscular legs. They were the second largest pair he’d seen on a woman, and he honestly thought he’d need measuring tape to be sure. All at once, his brain began to put certain things together, and it wasn’t sure that the results would be good for his future bone integrity.

Regardless, he wouldn’t let that stop him from being. ”Oh, that’s, ah...unexpected.” He had a quick, nervous laugh, before extending his hand Isa’s way. ”Dmitri Markov Voronov. Nice to meet you, Isa.”

Isa was incessantly listening to the events in the other room. While it was feeding her imagination maybe unnecessarily much, it was still the only way to try to find out about the events that were unfolding.

But to be honest, the time to do that didn't last for long though. Soon the blonde could hear Alicia directing her other guest towards the sparring room, and suddenly Isa realised that maybe she should quickly take a couple of steps back from the door. Looking like having had the other ear pressed to the door didn't seem like too graceful of a way to be introduced to a stranger.

Just in time, Isa managed to settle herself in the middle of the sparring room. There was probably a slight "deer-in-a-headlights" look on her face for just a second after Alicia opened the door, but the blonde was quickly able to compose herself back to her usual cool and graceful stance.

If she had any doubts about what was going to happen, it was best not to show them.

And besides, how Dmitri appeared to react on seeing her, it was pretty safe to say Isa could throw all of her ideas of a conspiracy out of the window. Apparently the guy was just as surprised as Isa herself.

Putting on a small cute smile, Isa extended her own hand as well to shake Dmitri's. "Hey, Dmitri... Nice to meet you too. " she replied, before a small break. "So, you're going to be my..." No, "squeeze dummy" just didn't sound like the right thing to say. "Um... Sparring opponent tonight?"

While Isa was still very curious about what was the relationship between the two, she betted it was best to not make any inquiries towards that subject right now. If there was anything to tell her, she would probably find out naturally.

And if Isa had been hesitant about facing a big Tension guy, seeing Dmitri was also somewhat of a relief. They seemed to be just about the same height, and Dmitri was by no means bigger than her. Maybe Alicia was indeed right, maybe she could be able to subdue this guy as her, uhm, plaything.

Dmitri was his usual cooperative self, stripping off his shirt – Alicia paused long enough to lick her lips, taking a moment to imagine how nicely those abs would break under her scissors – before getting him to the sparring room.

Where Isa was waiting, with a smile. Surprised or not, Dmitri put on a good solid front, earning him an approving grin from the redhead as the two introduced themselves.

”Isa’s new in Friction,” Alicia circled around, moving to join Isa in front of Dmitri and slinging a friendly arm around the blonde’s shoulders, inadvertently giving Dmitri an excellent chance to compare the two women’s lower bodies, ”I’m showing her some stuff and she needs a chance to test it out.”

The big redhead favoured Dmitri with a razor-edged smirk, one that he’d definitely seen before.

”Don’t worry, I’ve not been teaching her scissors.”

While that was true, it was only true because Alicia didn’t need to teach Isa anything about scissorholds. While she didn’t really do lying, mostly because it was a waste of time in her opinion, she wasn’t above misleading Dmitri a tiny bit – it’d be more fun.

On a more relevant level, it’d give Isa a bit of an edge to help with Dmitri’s undoubtedly superior striking abilities. Alicia would be helping her but, at the end of the day, she could only do so much. Coaching couldn’t help moment to moment, not at the speeds at which a fight could develop.

”Rules are simple. You keep going until one of you can’t. Winner’s the last one standing. Otherwise…”

Alicia stepped back with a devilish grin and swept an arm down between them.

”Fight.”

Yes, this was awkward. At least, that was the best word Dmitri could figure out for it. There had to be some word in English that could encapsulate this situation, and sum up the feeling you have when a British redhead with massive legs sets you up in a sparring match with girl you’ve never met before...but who also possesses massive legs. Whatever that word was, Dmitri hadn’t learned it.

He let his confusion ebb as she explained the situation. Maybe it wasn’t too surprising, really - after all, Alicia could be friendly enough in her own way, and it was clear that she and Isa shared some common interests. Between the two of them, there had to be enough leg mass to make a full grown person, but Alicia’s words, while a bit suspicious, eased his mind. She certainly had the body for scissors, but a part of what made the Scissor Queen such a danger was her knowledge. He’d learned things. Things that could even the odds against someone less experienced. Maybe.

Besides, she seemed pleasant. Reminded Dmitri of his sister, on some of her better days.

He raised an eyebrow at Alicia for a moment, then let it go with a shrug, as she eagerly went about setting things up. With little preamble, she come between them, dropped her hand, and just like that, the match was on.

”Right.” Dmitri nodded, took a breath, then stepped back and moved into his tae kwon do stance. He started to move around the mat with ease, gliding along the surface as he began to circle her. He wouldn’t move in, not just yet - he wanted to get a good feel of Isa, suss her out a bit, hopefully to prevent what happened the first time he came into this room.

Isa's question to Dmitri might have been stupid at this point, but that didn't matter as Alicia already started to explain more about the situation. Despite the, yes, awkwardness of the situation, the blonde tried her best to put on a friendly smile as Alicia's arm rested on her shoulders. Apparently Dmitri didn't really have any idea about any plan involving squeeze dummies, and Isa was happy to play along as being clueless about it herself.

Alicia's comment about the scissors made Isa turn her head towards the Brit though. Momentarily, she felt a bit guilty about the apparent tricking that was going on, but then again....If Dmitri was a striker, Isa wanted to have as much capability to surprise as she could possibly have. Portraiting her as a clueless rookie sounded like a good plan, especially if Alicia was seriously demanding her to be able to control the guy.

Then again, Isa then became slightly worried about how Dmitri would react to the coaching Alicia had promised to do... And also, while Isa didn't have any idea about the nature of the relationship of the two, if they had something serious going on, this somehow seemed to be just wrong.

Well, maybe the redhead was going to make up to him for her unscrupulous set-up later on.

Buried in her thoughts, Isa almost missed the rules Alicia was laying out. And there was a definite startle on her face as her coach suddenly ordered the fight on! Luckily, Dmitri didn't seem to be much better prepared than Isa and the blonde didn't fall victim to an immediate attack.

Still, Dmitri was soon circling around her. Apparently the guy was still a bit more ready to fight than Isa, and the blonde had to quickly gather her thoughts. Isa kept her eye on him, making sure he couldn't be surprising her.

OK... So, what would Alicia want me to do... was the thought in the blonde's mind. Double leg takedown? No, that she didn't have the courage to try right in the beginning. Maybe a kick of sorts?

While the move wasn't usual for Isa, it was necessary for her to try to make her trainer proud. As Dmitri was making yet another circle behind her back, Isa suddenly tried to quickly spin around and stretch her leg out hoping to perform with the momentum a solid kick to Dmitri's midsection.

Probably not stylish at all, but worth a try.

So there Dmitri was. In a room that he was intimately familiar with, which still carried the scent of his own sweat mixed with dashes of tears. He could look on the mat and point to each space where he’d tapped and where he'd been knocked out. There were days he swore he spent more time sleeping on that mat than his own bed.

And there he stood, with the woman who'd done all that watching, while another woman who looked like she could do it stood there, poised to strike in a heartbeat.

Was he nervous? A little. Understandably.

He kept his eyes trained on Isa, analyzing every step she took, trying to get a sense for her fighting style, examining her from every angle. Just to see her, he could tell she had some training, though she seemed to lack Alicia’s confidence. Not exactly enough to ensure safety, but it was something to go on.

Dmitri waited, hoping she would make the first move. When she did, he was ready.

There was no way he was going to block a kick from those legs - it was a little sloppy, he’d seen worse, but there was little doubt in his mind that it would have real power behind it. Dmitri took a step back, letting the strike fly by, narrowly missing. Before she could recover, he tried to move in and lashed out with a low kick, targeting her thigh with the stiff shot. Not too much power, just enough to make her worry.

It could have helped Isa if she had gotten a clear idea on how Alicia was really expecting her to fare against Dmitri. Sure, she had laid out the goals to her, and detailed what was needed to pass her test. But the difficulty level her trainer had set was still a question mark. Was Alicia expecting Isa to easily make Dmitri fall to being her squeeze dummy? Or was she expecting Isa to be struggling to achieve that?

Anyway, Isa wanted, and probably needed to perform well in the eyes of her trainer, so trying out kicks could be a good idea.

Except that it wasn't, at least not this time. Dmitri managed to avoid Isa's leg seemingly easily, even if with a narrow margin. And what was even worse, the guy managed to immediately deliver a fast counter-attack! Isa's thigh got hit by his kick, and apparently Dmitri already had a very good idea on what he should be targeting in this match.

OK, maybe Isa shouldn't try to compete with Dmitri with kicks. She didn't want to allow him to have any more chances on hitting her thighs - the assets Alicia had ordered the blonde to punish him with.

Looking a bit like a grumpy princess from Dmitri's kick, this time Isa decided to start closing in on him. She was predicting that Dmitri could try kicking him again, and in that case the blonde would try to get a good hold of his leg. However, if there was no kick to be delivered, Isa tried to start pushing Dmitri hard backwards on his chest, with the aim of getting the guy's back against the wall.

Was it a little cliche that Dmitri was targeting Is’s legs? Yes, and he'd gladly acknowledge the fact. When he and Alicia sparred, that was typically his main focus, too, at least as long as they were standing. When they were on the ground, he spent of his time just trying to survive.

But being predictable didn't make it a bad idea. Isa’s strength was clearly below the waist, and doing some damage down there would take her power away and slow her down. Both positives.

Granted, this tactic didn't work well when he did it with Alicia, but all the same, he was plowing forward. Isa seemed to lack Alicia’s killer instinct, which helped bolster his confidence to levels her rarely had in these situations.

He could win. Just had to be smart about it.

Isa wasn’t one to wait around, though, and she came straight at him. Dmitri backpedaled, but he soon found himself running out of room, with only one real way to move - forward. He had to take her head on.

As she pushed into him, he pushed into her, bringing his feet down hard to establish a base. Attempting to, anyway. It seemed to work for a second, before her superior weight and leg strength began to inexorably force him back, step by step, all the way towards the edge of the room.