Making an Impression

"Quit whispering, I'm right here." Lyla tapped her knuckles together, playing things up like she was some sort of boxer. She of course, was not, but she had seen enough movies and gotten in a few drunken scuffles in her time. Besides, it wasn't like Thorn knew that. When the big girl came in, she moved to meet her despite the clear difference in their stature. Odds were not in her favor.

When the first hook looked to fire off, rather than raise her fists or move back on the defensive, she lunged in, getting on the inside to throw a quick one two set of jabs right up at the Aussie's chin. She wasn't especially strong or skilled when it came to striking, but she was fast. Had she tried for anything else she might have fit a punch or two more in before she was hammered straight in her chest.

She had taken shots to the boob before. Tons of them. They tended to suck. This was worse. Whatever Thorn hit her with left her gasping for breath and stumbling back. She clutched at her chest, blinking at the hollow pain wracking her body. While it hadn't been the same explosive force of that earlier dropkick that sent her flying, this was far worse.

She dropped to one knee with a heaved breath. This part was for show. Buying time and setting up a devious trap. She hung her head, using her hair to hide her face, staring down at the canvas to wait when Thorn got closer. When and if the Aussie did come at her straight on, she would vault up, trying to bury her knee in the big woman's abdomen.

Thorn almost paused when she saw that Lyla was coming to meet her, unsure of how to take it at first. It was kind of weird to see an opponent so much smaller than her trying to bring the fight right to her doorstep, but sure enough, that was what the spitfire was doing. If she was intimidated, then she was doing an amazing job of hiding it. Thorn knew false bravado when she saw it, and none of that was coming from this woman.

Granted, courage wouldn’t make her punches hurt any less, but not having fear tactics on her side took away from her game plan. Not too big of a deal, though. She could make up for it in other areas.

Like, for instance, the punch that came crashing into Lyla’s chest, knocking the wind out of her and landing hard. It came with a price, with Thorn taking two jabs on the jaw, hitting with surprising speed and impact...but not enough to put her down, hardly an even trade off. They surprised Thorn more than anything, she stumbled back a step, shook it off, and went right on the attack.

Thorn raised her arm and brought it down towards the back of Lyla’s head, looking to smash her into the canvas with her best Hulk impression, when the nimble beauty rose up to meet her with a knee, one that landed clean in her gut. Her abs did a decent job of absorbing the impact, but there was only so much they could withstand when she wasn’t ready, and that move took her off guard. Thorn staggered back, winded, her legs a little shaky. Just a second or two to get her bearings back, if only Lyla would give it to her.

She lacked form and grace when she threw herself upward like a missile, trying to hit Thorn with the hardest part of her body she could. She connected just right, but like her previous jabs it came at the cost of taking a bit herself. Already in motion, that arched arm came smashing down at her. While it hadn't hit her on the mark it was intended for since she had come in so close, it did crack her across the small of her back, driving her to the mat while Thorn was sent staggering.

On her hands and knees she shuffled forward for a moment, attempting to get up right away to continue her assault on Thorn only to have a twinge of pain in her spine throw her back to the mat. She had wanted to go down in a blaze of glory, not so much for the audience or Ellie though. She was motivated almost entirely by trying to surprise the woman opposite of her, apparently wanting to make a good showing of their arguably uneven footing.

Stopped dead in her tracks she took a moment to breathe, an eye on Thorn for when the other woman started forward. This was not the position she wanted to be in. Reaching behind her she placed a palm to her back, holding it firmly in place while staggering to her feet. As far as first exchanges went, she had clearly gotten the bad end of things, but that was fine. As long as she was getting in a few hits she could live with that.

"Was more of a tag girl growing up. Hide and seek was boring." She arched her back, far enough it gave a small audible pop. Lyla let out a small sigh of relief at that, trying to straighten back up and return to her earlier stance. There was a bit less bounce now, even if she wasn't letting on she was hurting, her body language and hindered breathing was clue enough.

This was pretty much the story of anyone who tried to go fist for fist with Thorn for her entire life. While she wouldn’t say that she’d never lost a fight, she would proudly state that she’d never lost a brawl - when it came down to fists against fists, her opponent wound up kissing the floor. As much as she liked Lyla, she wasn’t about to let this cupcake be the exception to the rule. Not today, precious.

Thorn stood up straight and advanced, dusting off her stomach as she closed in. She didn’t move too fast, glancing at Lyla’s back as she neared and looking back to her face with a knowing smile. Rose had warned her to be careful, but as long as they were vertical, it was clear who’d be coming out on top. As long as she was on top when things went to the foor, she liked her chances.

”You never played it like I used to play it.” Thorn smacked her lips, her evil eye gleaming through her hair. ”When I found the girl I was looking for, well…”

She let that sentence finish itself, figuring that Lyla had just the right kind of imagination to fill in the blanks. She dashed forward with a sudden burst of speed, leaned back, and shot her leg out towards her opponent’s chest, hoping to nail her with a Push Kick and send her rolling towards the ropes with all the momentum she’d brought.

"Make me a believer than, hot stuff." Lyla stood her ground, inching a boot back behind her to brace for what was coming. Her eyes narrowed, watching keenly as whatever Thorn hit her with next if taken wrong could have ended her. If it was something high, she was ready, something low, she was screwed, but as it turns don't it was right down the middle. Knowing exactly what it was and understanding how to counter it, a smug smirk played across her lips. Her hands came up like a catcher in a baseball game, prepared to intercept. Once she had a good hold of Thorn she was probably going to make use of a dragon scre-

"Oof!" Lyla had caught the kick alright. No amount of knowledge or preparation and been enough to help though as Thorn came barreling forward. Hands wrapped around that boot, she had intended to stop it but instead found herself being folded inward with both her own hands and a big boot firmly planted into her stomach. Eyes wide, mouth hanging open she let out all the air in her lungs with a forced exhale while stumbling backwards uncontrollably towards the ropes.

She hit them hard, a real risk of springing off them and just faceplanting right there. One arm hooked back, snagging the cable how're to keep her upright, bouncing in place. She hissed at the burn in the crook of her elbow, the covered rope giving her a small burn from the hard jostle of stopping all that force. Knees pointed inward, she looked ready to buckle while she dangled.

She glared at Thorn through her rosy bangs, bringing her free forearm up to her mouth to drag it across and clean off a bit of spittle that had been ejected with the impact. As harsh as the look seemed, there was something else. Rather than make a sad display of trying to rise knowing full well she wasn't ready, she opened to taunt the juggernaut before her instead. Lips pursed she kissed the air at the other woman, a small statement that she was still standing… to a degree.

This was so tempting.

Too tempting.

Rose watched from the sidelines, keeping her mouth shut for the moment, trying to see how far Thorn could go with the training wheels. So far, things were going decidedly in their favor, with her partner’s sheer power crushing any attempt at resistance and steadily beating the ‘rookie’ back. That attempt to grab her leg was worrying, though. True, whatever Lyla was attempting hadn’t worked, but the fact that she still had the wherewithal and reflexes to even attempt that was worrisome. Doubly so, since she was fairly sure that Thorn hadn’t even noticed.

She was 100% right on that, too, as brawling Aussie was way too busy reveling in the moment to sweat those details. All she knew was that she had Lyla up against the ropes, wide open, vulnerable, and the woman was silently begging to be steamrolled.

The gap between them was a big one, but she’d just proven that distance hardly mattered - she could strike from anywhere in any fashion, and she’d have enough power to crush any defense Lyla could muster. The woman could barely stand, much less fight. Waiting to be crushed.

That little kiss was all the incentive she needed to come barreling back towards Lyla, storming hard towards her opponent. She raised her arm as she neared, the telltale sign of a lariat, and proceeded to swing it with full force towards the smaller woman’s head, a brutal attempt to clothesline her clear over the ropes and send her tumbling to the mat below.

Did Lyla have a plan? Of course, she always had a plan. THE plan. It was the universal plan of "wing it", which she lived her day to day making good use of it. Sure, this had lead her astray many times in the past but like Ellie would tell her constantly, failure was just another word for learning experience. Did she tend to take those lessons to heart? Nah. But she still had to deal with the fallout, so partial credit, right? The point was, if she never had a set plan, she could never have someone muck it up. She had seen Ellie fall to pieces in the past over things going off book. Lyla lived off the book, down the street and on the trashy magazine rack, so she was rarely surprised in the ways that mattered.

That tiny smooch at the air seemed to be the thing that did it. Like a bull seeing red, Thorn came running. Thus far the Aussie hadn't been a hard nut to crack. See other wrestler, go to other wrestler, hit other wrestler. Lather, rinse, repeat. She stilled liked her though. Killer look, fun attitude, and a gnarly scar that Lyla was just itching to know more about. She almost wanted to just let her trample over her with whatever was coming her way. But that would be too easy. This was their time to play... and if she was going to go down to these two, she was going to have as much fun as she could.

Playing up the act of being a helpless and wounded animal was easy, mostly because she was already winded. But her mind was running just fine and what she needed to do here didn't require much in the way of strength. Each pounding step of Thorn sent micro tremors through the mat, vibrating the ropes ever so slightly. She had to wait for just the right moment, going back to likening this woman to a raging bull, she was to be the matador. Just as thorn reached her  and drew back her arm... Lyla unhooked her arm, slipping from the ropes to let herself fall. Her hands snapped up, grabbing the top rope, dragging it down with her momentum to give the charging woman nowhere to go but right out of the ring! "Olé!"

It really did seem like the perfect setup. Lyla was properly worked over, was already suffering under the onslaught. Putting up a valiant fight, Thorn had to give her that much, but she was a gazelle staring down a lioness - the hunt was over, and she was ready to feast. She could even picture the events in her head, clear as day. She’d send Lyla tumbling to the floor, lift her and drop her hard onto the ring apron, then proceed to enjoy the 3-course meal of her body while she laid there, going to town with her tongue and making the tasty strawberry explode right there.

The thought alone was enough to make her shiver, but that wasn’t what reality had in store for. No, reality had Lyla ducking down at the worst possible moment, a move that left Thorn with a lot of forward momentum and nothing to spend it on.

”Shit!” She tumbled over the ropes…

”Fuckfuckfuck-” ...and crashed on the apron…

”God damn, shit-” ...and finally came down on her back, smacking hard on the floor. It wasn’t the nastiest fall, her muscles giving her good padding to deal with it, but the entire affair left her discombobulated and stunned, needing a moment to restart. She pushed up to her feet, using the barricade for support, and tried to get a lock on Lyla, trying to figure out what her cunning opponent’s next move was.

Lyla bounced up and down, still dangling from the grip on the top rope. She was positively gleeful as Thorn ran straight into her, though I'm the unintended way of taking a tumble to the outside. She missed the full scope of her hitting the apron, but turned her head just enough to watch her splat on the outside. Thorn would be fine. She was a big strong lass. Playing keep away against her was proving to be really fun… there was excitement to be had in knowing any move from this woman might put her down.

Planting her boots on the ground, she pulled herself upright with the ropes in an almost serpentine way making her body look as though a wave had run through it. Still not the best off, she gave a test step away from the edge of the ring finding she was able to handle it. So she took another, and another, backing away from the ropes.

Lyla glanced back over her shoulder to Rose, sticking her tongue out at the other woman and giving her backside a taunting slap. She hadn't forgotten about the redhead and wanted to let her know that in her own crude way. It was a short lived affair though because when she turned back to Thorn she did so in a sprint. The first stride was shaky, but when she got momentum her body found itself up to the challenge out of necessity.

Her arms pumped as she ran for the ropes, without hesitation she lunged forward, diving between the top and middle ropes to launch herself through them directly at Thorn. She had a high mark to hit and a long way to travel, attempting to plow herself into the Aussie's upper body with all her force. If she managed to land true, she would immediately hook an arm behind the big woman's head and try to swing her legs down and under one of Thorn's arms to snap the woman into a DDT right on the outside floor.

Gravity could really be a pain in the ass, especially when you had a lot of weight to lug along, but even Thorn knew she couldn’t blame the fundamental force too much on this one. Rose had given her a stern warning about Lyla, and this was the second time the woman had managed to catch her wholly off guard. It all boiled down to her being a little to eager to get her mitts onto the woman. Yes, it was clear to everyone that the little strawberry cupcake wanted that to happen, and that this was all going to end up with them messing up the canvas with assorted juices, but that didn’t she was just going to make it easy and hand her a win. Lyla wanted her to work for the pleasure. Earn it.

Which she’d get to doing just as soon as she locked onto her opponent and-

Wait, why was the crowding making that weird, rising noise? It sounded like they were building up to something, as if…

”Oh.”

She locked onto Lyla right as she hurtled through the ropes, coming towards her like a human missile, and there was nothing to do but wait half a second for the impending collision. She expected Lyla to just crash into her at first, using her body like a battering ram, but it turned out to be a little more complicated.

Thorn squawked as Lyla grabbed her head and jerked down, bringing her head down and making her body follow suit. The result had her flipping up and over, her skull slamming hard into the bare floor as she tumbled. Her body came to a rest near the steel steps, only a foot or so away from crashing into it.

She didn’t stay down for long, but when she began to rise a couple of seconds later, it was a groggy process. She reached out of the steel steps and grabbed hold, using them to prop her up as she got back to her feet. That one hurt, her head getting a real headache from the wild impact.