The Rhythm of the Night

Zulime was a fan of bold moves. Well, mostly doing them. She only tolerated them in other people when it stole the spotlight from her, but that was not the case here. No, Pierre seemed to be trying to impress her. Her initial opinion of the Quebecois was not a positive one, but she was starting to warm up to the man. At least, she was showing it a little bit more. Both her eyebrows went up when Pierre used the word rock. What he was saying was highlighted by the fact that he was lounging across the top of the turnbuckle. Zulime knew what she was doing when it came to seduction, and it appeared as if this French Canadian did as well. She appreciated when something was done well.

But she still had a reputation to maintain. Right now, she was playing a sweet little Louisiana girl whose deepest darkest desires did not go much beyond holding hands. "I always found a little bit of stability to be a good thing. Ain't nothin' like gettin' excitin' from time to time though." Zulime left her drawl dawdle long when she said exciting. Pierre had given her something to deal with, and Zulime was going to fling it right back. It turned out that Pierre had taken a class. The Riverboat Queen had received a very strong education herself, and had been fairly talented as an academic. She was always a bigger fan of more hands on education, the kind she received on the riverboat. "Oh, wouldn't that be lovely. Learnin' French.  I am sure my great great grandpa would be mighty ashamed that I ain't never learned a word of my mother tongue."

But now it was time to talk about things that were somewhat closer to her. "Don't you just make a lotta assumptions..." Zulime let the man build himself up. Now it was time to see how he dealt with being taken down a little bit. "And what do you mean by this little ole' body of mine?" Zulime sent her hip jutting out and placed her hand upon it. Pierre was talking himself a big game. Now she wanted to see how much he could back that up.

"Yeah, of course. I mostly find myself in Friction. I have always found myself tusllin' with a woman in one form or another, and I much prefer the fairer sex." Zulime ran her hand through her hair. "Although on occasion, I have been known to wrestle with a man or two." Zulime put her hand on her chin. "And really? You're a wrestler?" The question would have seemed fairly innocent, except for the terribly condescending tone with which she asked it.

“I think some moments of spontaneity here and there are nice. Helps spice things up from time to time.” The Quebecois chuckled, the Louisianan drawl being laid thick but was still quite the sweetest thing. Zulime wasn’t the type to give in just easy, Pierre was gonna have to work for it. And he’s not afraid of hard work if it gets results. Lucky for him, he’s had quite a lot of practice when it came to seduction and has come prepared. “My parents certainly would be if I haven’t grasped French. Can’t blame them though, it’s important. Some of my relatives don’t speak English so that was more of a reason to. Language barriers can be a pain, as you probably have found out.”

But enough about relatives, Zulime was getting into the real questions, perhaps ones that are closer to them both. And the reason why Pierre was drawn to this woman who he found on her lonesome inside the ring. He chuckled when she pointed out his assumptions. “Aha. Hey, had to ask. Could be a model just posing for the pictures.” He said, taking another look of her body. “And with that body of yours, you definitely would kill it in front of the cameras. If that’s your thing of course. Why not flaunt what you got?” Then again, since she is in Friction, Zulime probably has been doing that a lot in her matches. Pierre got close towards Zulime, seeing as she hasn’t really backed away just yet.

“Ooooh, so you are a wrestler then. Thought that leotard is just for show.” He said to match and mimic Zulime’s condescending remark earlier. “Not gonna lie…Kinda surprising you ain’t afraid to wrestle with a guy. I’d say it takes guts but I think those guys would be just wanting to get close to a woman, much less have an interaction with one, if you know what I mean.” The French-Canadian did pick up the near-condescending tone from Zulime when she did ask if he was a wrestler. “Oh no, I’m actually just the referee.” Pierre replied in a playfully sarcastic way. She was getting cute though, perhaps testing his pride perhaps. But he didn’t show it just yet. “Of course I am. Although if you got any doubts…” The French-Canadian looked around.

“…What about we have a little spar then? Right here in fact? Unless if you’re waiting for the photographer, that is?” He gave another flex of his bicep as he grinned. “Or if you’re scared. It's okay, I won't blame you."

Zulime was a pretty spontaneous sort of woman, and she appreciated someone who mirrored that love of acting on impulse. The Riverboat Queen had very few actual barriers when it came to language, having mastered French and maintaining a workable grasp of Japanese. Her own parents had more or less insisted that she spoke French growing up, and even if they hadn't she would have  learned it on her own. She had always been inundated with French culture and language all around her, and that was part of who she was, as much as her long dark hair or big curvy hips. Language was one thing, though, and barriers in understanding were much more grievous. Even if Zulime was deliberately causing it by pretending to be someone who she was not.

"I mean, the world is becoming a smaller place. Back on the riverboat, it seemed like there wasn't much beyond the boat's walls. You got gambling tables and a big ole' dining room and everythin' you might like. But comin' here, you just learn so much."  Zulime paused for a second. Usually, it would have been quite flattering to have been compared to a model, and she  had been asked a time or two in the past. But in this instance, it felt like an insult. A ripple of disgust flashed across her face before it faded into the quietly flirty look that it had been earlier. It lingered long enough for it to be noticeable, however, much to Zulime's chagrin. "And there is somethin' to be said about flauntin' it, of course, but I have always found that there is a time and a place for every little thin'."

"I didn't figure you for a photographer. More like one o' those ring girls that walks around between the matches with those cards in the air. But if you wanna throw down, I'm gonna throw down." Zulime was tired from training, but not tired enough that she was not going to accept this little spar. Her heart had been pumping hard, but now it had been kicked up a notch. The Cajun girl was pretty excited.

"Any sort of ground rules? Other than no cryin' when you go down," Zulime said with a smile. Over the course of the conversation, Pierre had gotten closer to her. She took a few steps back and nodded her head. The Riverboat Queen didn't like how close Pierre had gotten, not one bit.

Pierre was born and raised within the French culture. Well, Canadian French but still somewhat similar. So it was no doubt that he would indeed know French even if his parents never taught him that. Part of who he is, just as his love for NHL. Watching it at least. Could have went into it but Judo happened...and look where it ended him? Right in front of this lovely Louisianan and honestly he found her cute. "Feels like a small world. Especially now with Japan and everyone here. And of course you."

He had no short of confidence and that is shown all the more the more they talk. Will take more than the words Zulime would throw at him, and so far doing a better job hiding it than Zulime who broke her facade after his compliment was taken as an insult instead. A crack in the armour it seems. Didn't like that comment apparently. "Modeling ain't your thing, huh? Guess it ain't for everybody." He shrugged. "Though ring girl definitely suits you. Already got the right Attire and you're looking hot. Wouldn't mind bringing you in for my ring girl. Do a few special things for me before you can watch this hunk fight."

Zulime didn't back down and actually took him up on his challenge, although her backing away was suspect. "Wanna throw down, then. Well I'm game. Right here, right now. Let's go." He took off his unbuttoned shit off before flinging it at the ropes nearby, showing off his tight, muscular body. "Ain't me that's gonna cry. But I'll take it easy on you sweet cheeks. Wanna make sure you can hold the card up" He gave a devilish wink. "And when I do win, in taking you to my place. Show you a real good time." Stretching his arms out wide at the Cajun. "And you do know you gotta come close to throw down, right? Hehehe..."

All of the good faith that Pierre had won himself after he displayed his knowledge of New Orleans' history had dissipated. She was all for friendly banter, and was a firm believer that if you can't take it you ought not to dish it out, but there was something about Pierre's whole demeanor that really set Zulime off. It could have been how casually he tossed his shirt to the ropes, how easy insults came to him, how he was standing as if she owned the place. The more she looked at him, the more she wanted to take this guy down a peg or two. Or seven. Or as many as she could possibly fit into one evening.

The act of sweet innocent girl would have to go. That would be into playing what this guy wanted, and that seemed like too much ground to give up. "The only special thin's I would do for you is give you a black eye." Zulime tilted her head to one side. She liked sexualizing herself. Hell, it was one of the things that she did most often. But she hated it when some upjumped French Canadian jackass thought he was going to act smooth. Only a little bit of her anger made it through to her face, but she reckoned that it was quite enough. She gave Pierre a look up and down, and the arch in her eyebrows informed him that she was not impressed. "And the only reason that I would be goin' to your place after our match is to make sure you're still breathin'. And I am gonna make you squeal like a piggie by the time we're done..."

"And not in the fun way." Zulime clarified. As much as she wanted to rush it, she felt the need to practice her capoeira. The space just gave her more time before their inevitable clash, and she was summoning up the rhythm in her body. She took a step to the right, then to the left, trying to find the beat that was just playing. The music in her head was loud enough, and she found the right steps to advance on Pierre.

"Dance with me," she said with a toothy smile. With a strong step to the left, she bent down and changed levels to launch a low sweep to knock Pierre right onto his ass. Maybe that would get him to stop saying such things. Although, she fully assumed that it wouldn't be forever. But if she could get him to be quiet for even a second, she would be more than happy to make an attempt.

Truth be told, Pierre was anything if not hot-headed and competitive. Something that runs within his veins, the kind of instinct mostly used for nerve-wracking boardrooms and meetings being used here. Just as one would want to make someone submit in the boardroom, he’d seek to bring someone into submission in the tatami. Of course, this wasn’t the mats and one could argue that he may have taken it rather too far. Although, unbeknownst to the Quebecois, Zulime wasn’t so honest with her intentions either so getting her to crack this façade that she was rolling with was perhaps something many of her past marks would congratulate him.

Not that he cared much for them however when he has this admittedly hot Louisianan babe standing in the ring. He liked to think that he was still creative whilst still partially buzzed and the insults came by, flowing like the river. And the Cajun wasn’t having any of that, firing back and not giving much ground with her sweetheart persona. Which made him chuckle all the more. “Hehaha! Now that’s the attitude of someone ready to fight! Got the body, and the face done right! Really look convincing! You should be an actor as well as a model!” He rolled his neck, giving some percolating pecs towards the Riverboat Queen. Apparently that wasn’t impressing her but then again, battles don’t bring the feeling of adoration towards an opponent. “As a wise man put it, I like a girl that could kick my ass. Let’s see if you're the one…” A half-truth. Though he doesn’t have to share that part to Zulime while he has the high ground in terms of mentally fucking with her.

“Sure thing.” He replied, matching her toothy grin but not her stance. Whilst Zulime was stepping side to side, Pierre remained stationary, spreading his legs wide enough to get a good back, lowering himself as he brought his arms up. He didn’t hear any music, rather a tune that was for her and only for her. That’s not to say he wasn’t good at finding her rhythm.

Shown as she soon stepped to the side and thrown her leg out, trailing and near hovering over the coarse canvas. Starting with a sweep kick, huh? “And I thought I went low before…” He mused as he hopped over as if he was playing skip rope and jumping over it. Though that jump wasn’t for defensive purposes as he would seek to fall onto Zulime, just to pounce and get right on top of her. Perhaps his comment of getting close was a foreshadowing of things to come…

Zulime had been an actress many different times, playing many different roles. She had been the main lady in a few romances, but had little time for sappy love stories. There were the vaudevilles, a throwback to a time more than half a century before she was born, where she could test her bawdy wit alongside musical accompaniment. But her favorites were the satires, the farces, where she could mock tourists right in their faces by exaggerating and bowdlerizing what they did. She felt like right now she was doing just an ersatz of capoeira, as her sweep missed entirely much to her chagrin. The movement was too wide, it came too slow, and it had no chance of hitting. Zulime knew the recovery, and was going about it as quickly as she could so she could launch another attack at the man and get him too slow down.

Only, Pierre was faster on the uptake than she thought he might be. The Quebecois man jump on her back before she could complete her spin, causing her to cry out in shock. Zulime was off balance and flattened down to the mat, feeling overwhelmed by the moment and Pierre's body. She felt a strong temptation to sigh, but held that back, reckoning that it would be an admission of defeat before the Quebecois man.

But she had to do something. She attempted to get onto her knees and elbows, and force Pierre off her by dumping him over a shoulder. The Riverboat Queen was really strong, especially for a woman, and after her meager attempt at dancing she was not sure that her antagonist would be seeing that coming. She had felt like an actual queen after coming off the victory over Li-Mei, but now she was not feeling so hot.

"Get off me, you pompous ass..." Zulime said as she attempted to rid herself of Pierre. She wanted to retort to the man's words, lines by lines, but given how dicey the situation was at the moment, she wanted to spend all her energy on getting Pierre off her as opposed to making him feel bad. But that, without a doubt, would be coming. It was just a matter of time.

It wasn’t the most graceful of tactics, neither was that sweep from Zulime, but it was effective. And that is all that Pierre needed as he landed right on top of the Cajun, getting as close as he could have wanted. Which gave a little chuckle that only Zulime could hear, a clumsy takedown but one that someone like this Louisianan fell for. For all of her bluster, she might not be all that she boasted herself to be. One might as in terms of how well she has been doing when she fought the opposite gender. From the looks of things, not so great.

“You know, the man is supposed to be the one leading the dance. Just be careful not to step on my toes.” Right on top, just the position he liked to be in, the Riverboat Queen intended not to stay in this position. But this was her chance to feel this hunk of a man first hand, feeling that body that is chiselled enough to make the ladies swoon. Considering she had been doing nothing but evade him at every turn, why not? However, Zulime wasn’t going to admit defeat right there and then and she had shown some fighting spirit as she pushed herself up on her hands and knees, all fours. If only Pierre was standing over her right now…

“Now why would I want to do that, toots?” Said Pierre. Inwardly he is amazed at the strength of Zulime as she pushed herself up with a weight on top of her. Impressive stuff. “You got the privilege that so many hot women want to have. I’d be happy if I were you.” He did felt Zulime’s attempt to dump him over her shoulder and it probably would have worked. Though this is where his grappling instincts came to play while his buzzed mind was still focused on the lovely body of the Riverboat Queen.

For starters, just as he felt the momentum shift, his legs wrapped around the waist of Zulime’s body, his arms wrapping around the neck of the Riverboat Queen, just to stick close to her. So that as he’s getting dumped off, he would take Zulime with her on a ride, rolling over so that he would be on the bottom, but it would be fine with that. Especially as one hand would start to wonder around Zulime’s body, most notably, her chest. “Mmmm…and they’re real. Very nice.”

The second that the Riverboat Queen got on all fours, she realized her mistake. It was not a tactical one, as this gave her the leverage that she needed to create space and push this Quebecois asshole off her, but rather an emotional one. Zulime had no problem sexualizing herself, especially when it meant that she could get something she wanted. But now, Pierre was not only pouring lewd words on her, but doing lewd acts. Zulime regretted being in what was essentially doggy style in front of such a huge twat, and that was a fact that Pierre was going to let her know. Zulime's face burned red with anger.

But then it burned red with shame. Zulime enjoyed having her boobs grabbed, for sure, but not by some skeezy Canadian who had no respect. She yelped with surprise, deciding that this did not feel like a privilege in the slightest. The arm around the neck was an existential threat to her capacity to keep going in this little spar, but the hand on her boob was an act of war, in her book. Zulime would honestly prefer to have been knocked out than have her honor sullied. The Riverboat Queen had been going hard with Melvin's lesson, but suddenly she felt a wave of energy come over her. She was going to get out of this, or perish in the attempt.

"Get off me!" Zulime hollered. The Cajun girl had the divine pleasure of leading a few dances in her life, and recognized that if she did not lead this particular dance she was going to wind up in an even worse position. Pierre had his limbs around her, but Zulime was bucking anyways. Pierre had muscles, but Zulime was strong too. And she was going to test if he had the perseverance to ride a bucking bronco.

If she could, she would try to get her hand out from the canvas, and slide it into the space she created. It would take a certain degree of contortion, but she would try to get to Pierre's far side obliques. Usually she didn't like using her nails in a wrestling match, but Pierre had pissed her off. Royally. She would attempt to get a hand on him and put him into the canvas, roughly. The Riverboat Queen was going all out. Usually, the polite thing to do in a spar would be to go easy, to practice the moves that were just learned. But given the situation, Zulime was going all out in an attempt to get this guy off her, twisting as she did so.

"Ain't the only thing that is natural," Zulime snarled.

Generally, it was a mistake from the get-go when he had her back. That was Zulime’s first mistake. From there it would just go downhill from there. Even when he is buzzed, he could practically grapple well enough, something he could just do in his sleep. He was impressed she could push up with that weight on her back but she didn’t seem to be so bright in terms of fighting on the ground. Pierre’s world. The ring was the water, he was the shark and Zulime was the prey exposed and he can smell the blood in the water.

And this shark is pretty hands-on too. Might as well get some liberties and take advantage of this position. The Quebecois got a nice grope of her breast, getting a good feel and the Cajun would perhaps feel something stiffen in his pants. “Come on now, I didn’t think you’d be a prude.” A lecherous smile etched on his face, he wasn’t really doing much with the arm around her neck but it was there to keep Zulime in place. And it seemed to be the case until she started to struggle. Hard. That was a pain. Though not as much as Zulime digging her nails right into his side, letting out a yelp of pain as it felt them claw at his oblique. Which he did train them to show some muscle. “Damn you!” He growled. If that is how she wanted to play it then fine. He might as well get rough with this woman.

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“Yeh…yeh, Mi can mek ih, mon. Cheers! Yuh a ah lifesaver!” The cheery Jamaican pumped his fist in the air. It took a while but he managed to get that gig. More money to come his way. And he can continue to teach Capoeira too. All enough cause to celebrate. It was then Melvin remembered about Zulime. She probably has been waiting for her and he took so long with this phone call. But she at least got some rest so they can continue some stuff. He knew how much Zulime wanted to get better for her matches but can also tell how much she was loving it. Capable of finding the rhythm and learning quick enough, she was his perfect student to date. If only she didn’t go so hard and temper herself. Then she can reach higher levels and-

“Get off me!”

All of a sudden he heard the voice of Zulime can be heard from the shack, Melvin looking through the window, just wondering what might have caused this. And from that sight alone, he was shocked. “Kiss mi rass, mon!” The Jamaican soon dashed out from the shack and towards the ring. “Ay! Pussyclaat! Weh di bumborass yuh doin!?” He yelled at the Quebecois man, who was dealing with his own frustrations, Pierre soon seeing the Jamaican rushing in and that was his cue to leave. [“This ain’t over, bitch!”] He let go, scrambling to his feet and hopped out of the ring before Melvin could reach him. “Git outta yah! Mi betta nuh si yuh again! Bomboclaat!” And with that, Pierre escaped, and out of sight.

Making sure that there aren’t any more people coming or he’s with a group, he soon turned his attention to Zulime. “Rahh, whappen here? Yuh okay, Zu?”