Party Hard vs. Novae - Starstruck

”I got you uh-oh!”

The first half of that sentence happened when Tatiana came in for the kill, looking to start hammering away on Belle and work her to the ropes

The latter half happened when Belle nixed that idea by grabbing her foot and stopping her dead still. Not good. Nor was what happened next.

Once more putting her strength on display, the hardest part of Party Hard sent Tatiana flipping with an upward pull, making her fly towards the center of the ring. That would’ve been a problem for many wrestlers, but not her. She did stuff like this all the time. She righted herself in mid-air, twisted, and stuck the landing with the ease that came from over a decade of hard practice.

She got to enjoy that landing for all of two seconds, before Belle came in and wrapped her up in a tight bearhug.

Tatiana cried out as her arms were trapped at her sides, caught between two steel cables disguised as human arms. Relentless, crushing pressure, extreme pain. Yet, despite that, there were a few things to like about it. The way Belle’s breasts slid against hers, for instance. The way her skintight suit rubbed against Belle’s hip. The sweet smell of her hot breath, washing over her face.

...crap, she was blushing, wasn’t she? ”Interesting-” She clenched her teeth, as one of her ribs started giving in. ”Interesting choice of move.”

Belle never gave herself enough credit, almost always relying on Kaylee to call the shots never gave her a chance to flex her brain muscle that much. She was more a creature in instinct when it came down to it, but here, against someone like Tatiana, she had to think. Reacting just kept getting her hit. Clapping her arms around the redhead's lithe figure, finally managing to capture her like this, made her vindicated. She wasn't just all brawn. It had been a rush, those few seconds stretched out like an eternity as the pieces fell into place and she finally got what she wanted.

She made ample use of bear hugs in her arsenal. She had captured many a woman between these powerful arms and squeezed, and none of them felt quite this good. Ordinarily, the sensation of crushing the fight out of her opponents was thrilling. Something about the fading struggle. She had always imagined it what predatory animals experienced. A jaguar tearing into the jugular or a crocodile thrashing their dinner about until it was all over. It had always felt good, just not like this.

She had found herself enjoying this for different reasons, conflicted again, but her doubts seemed to be pushed back. She was more upset at Kaylee's choice of attire for her this evening. Of all the things she had been made to wear throughout her time in AFW, this was one of the most modest ones. Pressed up so close to Tatiana she could feel every gentle curve, the warmth of her body, their forms compressed so tight... It was intoxicating. Every layer she had on was an insult to the moment. She breathed in deeply, hardly realizing she sighed so contently as the air left her. Then Tatiana spoke and made it all too real again.

Belle couldn't tell if this had made the moment better or worse when they finally locked eyes. The color in Tatiana's cheeks had been infectious, up until now Belle had seemingly been fine. Now? There was no amount of acting that could hide it now. She turned her head, refusing to meet the redhead's eyes as if that would ward off any further mention of what was happening here. As a means in which to prove nothing good, or special or... whatever was happening she tightened her grip, denying questions not yet asked by show of force as her last bastion of control over the situation. "...You think?"

Was that the best she could say? Why was she still probing the girl for hidden meanings at this point. Stop Belle. Focus.

Valerie was not a happy woman.

After getting kicked out of the match, she’d been helped backstage, and had found a monitor in the gorilla position to watch the match. She wasn’t liking what she saw, or at least what she thought she was seeing.

Though she had to applaud the way Tatiana had gotten Kaylee counted out - that had her laughing for a good minute - the match had became something wholly different now that it was a singles competition. Perhaps the audience was fooled by the display, but Valerie knew her sister too well, knew the difference between the way she was moving and the way she was supposed to be moving. Her sister was smitten. There was no mistaking it, in her mind.

A frustrating development, and one that Tatiana herself was becoming more and more aware of. This was simultaneously the most painful and awkward and arousing thing that Tatiana had ever experienced.

While Belle was hardly dressed in her skimpiest attire ever, there was still a lot of contact going on, and her own outfit made everything so much worse...or better, depending on how you looked at it. She squirmed out of pain and pleasure, and that just increased the contact, which made her squirm more, which increased the contact…

At least Belle seemed to be having similar problems. That helped, told Tatiana that it wasn’t all her imagination. She was almost glad when the hardening beauty crushed her hard enough to tip the scales more into the pain department, giving her more incentive to escape the hold. Bearhug Town was a nice place to visit, but she couldn’t stay.

”Sorry...about...this!” Going for the only option she had from this position, she cranked her neck back, then jerked it forward at full force, slamming it into Belle’s face. It wouldn’t be any fun for either of them, but if it got her to let go, it was worth the pain.

Belle had looked away in shame of denial, she wasn't sure of which. This wasn't like here after all. She was cool, collected, tough. She didn't have the liberty of being someone else. It's what was expected of her, what they tuned in for. That was the truth of it, despite how much she loathed that fact, it was how she stayed employed.  She paired well as a second fiddle. A back up dancer. A strong arm. That was about it. She was still trying to wrap her head around being a main attraction.

Her eyes flicked to Tatiana as she apologized, before she could ask why the girl's head collided solidly with the side of her own.

She had never experienced something like this in all her life. What was there to experience in nothingness? She hadn't felt the impact, or the pain. It was as if she have blinked and woken up someplace different. She was unaware that only a few seconds had passed, if that, but she lay on the canvas  with an official screaming down at her, a light shined in her eyes.  She had given and received many headbutts in her day, some rather recently. None of which she had ever taken to anything but the front of her dome. The less protected side... that was new. She had blacked out, for just a moment before returning to consciousness. A hard crash to a blue screen, now rebooted in safe mode where everything seemed to function less efficiently.

Tatiana had been freed in an instant, Belle had released her and teetered on limbs of jello before falling to the ground in a less than graceful display. Crumpling to her side before lifelessly rolling onto her back. The crowd had gasped, a few had jumped up to cheer as well thinking the match was over. The referee had cringed, before remembering their job and rushed over to check on Belle, who to them, looked dead.

Much to everyone surprise however, she lived. Enough to reach up to bat the pen light out from her face. "Piss off" She had only just begun to sit up when the pain finally registered itself to her. She had been on some serious benders in her day after Coming Together had ended. This blew them all out of the water with a bazooka.

Yes, that sucked. Tatiana knew it was going to suck. Yet, oddly, knowing it was going to suck didn’t make it suck any less. Funny how that worked out.

She hadn’t wanted to do that, really. It was a cheap move, coming at Belle like that, and skirted far too close to unsportsmanlike conduct than she would’ve liked. She was getting a few boos from her own fans, and she could see where they were coming from. But, on the other hand, they were the ones who had to endure the insane pressure, they weren’t the ones with ribs bent out of shape. She was. So they’d just have to deal.

Tatiana wasn’t in any shape to move in immediately, anyway. For a moment, too long of a moment, she was on her back, wondering why she couldn’t feel Belle roaming around the ring. She managed to sit up, and then the answer became clear: she couldn’t. She was barely even moving, and the referee was checking on her, leaving Tatiana to roll over to the turnbuckle and climb her way back up to her feet.

An icy chill came over her body, relief that this match was finally over. When she’d woke up this morning, she had not seen this ordeal coming, but she was more than happy to get off this emotional rollercoaster. Now that they weren’t fighting each other, they could ask a few questions...and…

The crowd was gasping. Why was the crowd gasping. ”No way.”

Yes way. Belle was getting up. By some miracle this woman, who’d been smashed and hammered and taken apart throughout this entire match, had found even more of her insane energy, and was using it to sit up and continue the fight.

Tatiana’s shock was filled with cold determination, now. It wasn’t just about winning anymore, it was about putting Belle down before she got seriously hurt.

More focused than ever, she moved in and pushed her way back to her opponent. She grabbed her by the head, holding tight on both sides, and forced her up with all the energy she could muster, forcing her to rise. ”Come on!” She hissed through her teeth, half growling and half pleading. ”I don’t want to hit you anymore, just stay down!”

Belle had managed, on her own, to get part way to finding a knee to lean on when Tatiana had come to collect what remained of her. Belle was in no real condition to resist, managing only to put a firm hand on the redhead's shoulder and thigh in protest but not much else. Drawn up to her feet, she was surprisingly stable but unable to keep both eyes open. The arena lighting in her peripherals was searing hot with the pounding throb in her head only allowing for one squinted eye to focus in on the girl dragging her up. "Yeah? That's... to bad!" She rasped, trying to give Tatiana a shove, a ghost of her usual strength.

If it had been the two of them from the start, without all this awkward tension between them, Bell knew she wouldn't have minded losing to someone like Tatiana. The girl was seriously talented, had a winning personally, and was exceedingly cute. She was confident that if she lost, it would have been because she was outmatched in the moment, but could just as easily take the redheaded speedster. This was different though. She had let so many things slide, made so many more mistakes. At this point loosing to Tatiana was soiled, she felt she had lost to herself at this point. It's why she was going to keep getting up, and keep fighting until she couldn't move.

Having finally found some footing of her own, Belle did the first thing she could think of to stall for time while working to protect herself. She stepped in on Tatiana and tried to clinch her. It was far from the most dignified move, when it came from a place of pure desperation like this. She could worry about that later. Now she just needed to survive for another minute, enough to get herself back into the driver seat.

”Novae! Novae!”

“Party! Party!”

“Novae! Novae!”

“Party! Party!”

The crowd had broken into dueling chants, sensing that this grueling match was reaching its logical conclusion. It had to. Both women looked like they wouldn’t be able to stand in the next five minutes, much less continue fighting. How much more could they take?

Tatiana pondered that question herself as she tried to get the brunette standing, pushing out all other thoughts. Don’t think about hot Belle is, or how nice her hair looks all sweaty and slick, or how your body fits so well against hers. Just get in there and do this. Finish it.

Belle had other ideas, though, as she pulled Tatiana in for a tight embrace. Not trying to hurt her this time, no - it was just a desperation tactic. Stalling.

Well, it wasn’t going to work. Instead of trying to fight her way out - a fool’s errand, even against a weaker Belle - she pulled back, stepped towards the nearest ropes, and shot her leg out behind her, trying to touch one of them and force a break. That way, Belle would either have to let go or go give up the match, and she was fine with either option at this point.

Belle walked back with Tatiana as she struggled to recuperate, but finding the motion was helping. The throbbing threatening to split her skull though, that wasn't going anyplace. She wasn't sure why they were moving or where until the referee called for the rope break.

"I... Hate you so much right now." Despite her near monotone delivery there seemed to be a bit of dry humor accenting her words. She would release her grasp from around Tatiana, not even delaying the clinch to go to a count. Four more possible seconds wouldn't make the difference here. She had to manage with what she had. Belle took a few careful steps back blinking her eyes part way open.

Watching Tatiana, she felt like she could sympathize with a prisoner set before a firing squad, unintentionally murmuring to herself to express that sentiment out loud. "Don't even get the cigarette." Just some sarcastic note to end on if nothing else. It wasn't as if she actually smoked.

So this was it. The crowd seemed to know it. Tatiana seemed to know it. Belle wasn't about to accept it. She inclined her chin in a silent challenge despite not looking ready at all.

”Rope break!” The referee waved her hands and stepped in to pull them apart. ”Rope break!”

Maybe it was just the dehydration talking, but Tatiana couldn’t help but laugh at Belle’s comment. That confused the audience, sure, but she couldn’t bring herself to care. She’d never fought anyone like this. She’d never met anyone like this.  

Even though she’d been through hell, Belle was simply standing there, ready and accepting, not a single care. It was weird to see, but impressive, too. Still calm, still in control.

Pause. Step back. Deep breath. Smile. ”And that’s why you’re my favorite.”

Like a switch, Tatiana went back into attack mode and came at Belle full speed, unloading on her with a non-stop barrage. A jab followed by a cross followed by another two jabs followed by a low kick to the knee, pressing her back, not even paying too much attention to what she hit, so long as she she hit something.

Belle would go down eventually. She had to.

"Thanks." Belle shook out her wrists before bringing her arms up.

Tatiana came at her swinging. A jab found her guard. Pushing forward she reared back, catching a punch to her jaw, staggering. A jab clipped her cheek before she intercepted another with her forearm. She couldn't stop her, she was like a machine gun of punches. She drew back, arms up in a cross, yeah tucked to defend herself. Her leg was knocked out from under her.

She stumbled back, without a guard Tatiana proceeded to pummel her from one side of the ring to the other. Every time Belle raised her guard a blow hit her from somewhere else. She couldn't keep up. She could keep going.

She had reached the ropes, no place left to run. This was it. It was over. She buckled with a shot to the stomach, caught an elbow to the back. She was down on a knee as she felt a stiff kick to her side.

"Enough!" Belle's body cried out in agony as she found the will to stand, to step forward. Her arm trailed behind her as her fists clenched. She threw herself forward, arm cleaving through the air as she tried to step pat Tatiana, step through her, wanting nothing more than to knock her to the ground so hard she wouldn't get back up.