Slay or Stay: Triin vs Luna [Special Stipulation]

Match Type: Slay or Stay
Stipulation: Match takes place in three rooms. A neutral middle ground, and a side room that acts as each woman's victory condition area.
Victory Conditions: A wrestler must bind their opponent and force them to submit in their specified room.

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High above a distant shore sat a remote castle. Lost to time, aged to the near point of collapse but remaining resolute and far too stubborn to be brought low by nature. The tide below crashed against the rocky coast to the crackling flash of far of lightning, allowing the thunder to slowly build into a rumble. Within its hallowed halls were lavish furnishings of gothic styling. Lush red velvety cushions sitting upon ornate oak and marble trappings all lined with polished gold trim. At the center of this room was a carpeted staircase leading up to a throne cast in steel and gold, which at each arm rested a bleached human skull.

Luna Ashcroft:

It was here she sat, brooding upon her seat of power. Luna Ashcroft, the Mistress of the Night, self declared vampire goddess. Within her hand a crystal wine glass filled to half its capacity with a milky red liquid in which she casually sipped, waiting for the next would be hero to step through her doors to challenge her tyranny once again…

Of course most of this was the story she had made for herself. The two room set she was now within was a work of fiction, specially built in some warehouse in Japan. The crash and flash of lightning was a trick of lighting just behind the fake windows. The ambient creak and crumble of her castle was sound pumped in by well hidden speakers. Still, she liked to immerse herself in the moment... plus these props were top notch.

So she reclined in silence, casually swirling her glass of V8 in hand while she waited in near darkness, only illuminated by the flicker of wall mounted torches which were also fake. Fire hazards and zoning issues. But they looked real enough if you didn’t look too close. That was what mattered. She had taken a shine to the production value AFW had placed in her gimmick, apparently her last match had done incredibly well in single event buys so they were willing to continue giving her these specialty matches.

She knew the particulars of the match as she had been the one to design it. A simple submissions match with an added twist of good vs evil. She, the vampire mistress was playing the part of the evil countess, owner of this castle. Her mission was to see her victim in chains and imprison them within her dungeon. It was part of the set, hidden just opposite the main door behind a rotating bookshelf. Inside was rather plain, a dark, dreary work of stone with manacles on the wall. All she had to do to win was lock her up and force her opponent to submit. They hadn’t specified on how… so it might be fun.

She didn’t know who her opponent would be, only that the other door out of the room lead to their win condition. She imagined it was something similar involving dragging her into that room and submitting her, but the details hadn’t been presented to her. That was fine. She wanted to be surprised. Her last match had been an incredible amount of fun, so much so she had trouble keeping in character the whole time. She was steadfast in trying to keep up the act the whole time this go around… whatever they threw at her, she was ready.

Triin Liiv wasn't sure whether it was due to her gimmick, due to luck, or due to some general tendency of AFW setting up themed matches, but tonight she was once again booked to fight somewhere else than the standard Friction ring. And frankly, she was happy about it. A little bit nervous, but excited. She really cherished her knightess-gimmick, and apparently the management enjoyed leveraging it to their heart's content. Well, at least based on the letter she had received:

Slay or Stay

The forces of evil have taken over the castle. Your task, valiant knightess, is to defeat them! Bring them to your chamber, lock them up, and make them admit their defeat, and you shall be triumphant!

Prepare for the battle, only one will prevail..."

Sure, sounded like a job for the Baltic Knightess!

Triin Liiv - The Baltic Knightess:

Settling in her chamber, the Estonian blonde observed her surroundings. And she had to admit they were pretty neat... Having had a match in an actual medieval castle in Germany against Tessa Price had been very grand, and seeing that this time the "castle" had been built in a warehouse had not exactly gotten her hopes up first. But she had soon gotten to witness that even if the castle wasn't going to be just as grand on the outside this time, the special effects inside surely were worth of their price!

Triin did not have much briefing about the match. Only thing she knew was her mission - finding the "forces of evil" and locking them up in her chamber - but who they were and where they were was a complete mystery. And while it was somewhat unnerving, it was also intriguing... And in any case, defeating them was the only option for the Baltic Knightess tonight!

And that's why she was being extra careful with preparing her chamber just right. There were handcuffs, there were chains, there was rope... More than enough stuff to lock any opponent up! She just wanted to make sure they were visible and handy, just in case the "forces of evil" were still producing resistance when she'd get them there.

Suddenly, the door in the back of the room unlocked, and swayed a few inches ajar. Since no one was entering, apparently it was just a cue for the knightess. It was time.

Grabbing her mock sword with her, Triin carefully opened the door, and entered the darkness behind it. Clearly, this room was a much darker one. Triin's own had been almost like a royal chamber compared to this hall, which could have been almost like a dungeon, had it not had at least a bookshelf on the opposite side, some rugs on the floor, flickering torches and some chair almost like a-...

The knightess suddenly gasped and stopped as she realized there was a figure seated on the throne. She was barely able to see her through the flickering of the torches and intermittent flashes of lightning, but it wasn't hard to guess that the figure would be her opponent of the night.

But this was no time to be afraid. Fearlessly, the knightess began taking steps towards the throne, stopping about ten feet away from the seat of power. Sounding as calm and confident as ever, it was time to find out just who she was facing tonight.

"Whoever you are, whatever plans you have, your time has come. Surrender now to the good and the rightful, or you shall regret it!"

Luna quietly sipped from her glass, giving the liquid a casual swirl as if it were a fine wine that needed to aerate. Her ear perking at the piercing cream of wood that was so foreign to the ambient noise being pulled into the room through hidden speakers. Her casual lounging stiffened to sit more upright, regal, dominating. She fixed her hair quickly and tugged the frills of her attire so they were properly on display and not folded over one another.

Her eyes followed her hapless heroine opponent as they slipped into the room quietly. An odd mix of attire to be certain, something soon to the love child of a magical girl from one of her manga and a knight… she even had a sword. Luna drew in a long inhale, remembering she couldn't show how excited she was of let the other girl know how much she liked her ring gear. She had a role to play here.

Quietly she sipped at her glass, remaining mostly still, just waiting to be noticed. The small reaction was priceless when Triin actually noticed her on the throne, getting a smirk out of the mistress of the night. She tilted her chin, peering down her nose at the other woman as she cared to approach.

"Inconsequential little livestock… who are you to barge into my halls unannounced and make demands of me?" Luna set her unfinished glass on the end of the arm of her throne, folding her hands into her lap, unmoved by the heroine's plea for surrender. She stared on with cold defiance.

"I am Lady Luna Ashcroft, and you tread within my realm of shadows. Everything that is blanketed beneath the darkness of night is mine to do with as I please, and you, foolish mortal, are no different." She slowly rose from her throne, her cape gathering around her body making her seem far larger and more intimidating than her short stature really portrayed. Stepping to the edge of the carpeted stairway up to her to glare down at Triin with a ranger smirk.

"You are no more a threat to me than a drop of water is to the raging tide of the ocean. I will see you in chains for this impertinence and you will swear yourself to me by that sword you've come to wear at your side. Like any good dog, I can whip you into proper shape more befitting to serve your rightful mistress." She threw one arm wide, sending half of her cape over her shoulder with a fluttering flourish just in time with the crash of lightning.

If Triin had wanted to sound like confidently immersing in her role and the generous surroundings for the duel of the night, her foe was not about to let herself be outdone in that regard by any means. If anything, her gestures, her posture, and the language she was using only signalled that tonight was going to be far from just a little play with some gimmicks. No, tonight was going to be about two fighters cherishing their roles, engaging into a true battle between good and evil, and the consequences of whatever was going to be happening were going to be real, and most likely deeply felt.

And that only got Triin more excited. This would be her chance to prove herself to be a real heroine once again, and bring light to the realm of shadows the Lady in front of her was so deeply embracing!

The big question was the physical capabilities of her foe though. Thus, as the blonde woman stood up, Triin took a moment trying to hastily evaluate just who she was going to be up against.

And that damn cape was not doing it any easier.

Frankly, the Estonian was getting few answers. The villainess was clearly not the size of Himeko Akan, which was obviously good news, but other than that, it was hard to evaluate. Was she pretty similar to her own size, like Tessa Price had been? Or was she more of the "tiny terror" -type like GASTER, providing Triin a clear size advantage? How strong was she?

Well, the only way to find out was to get that damn cape off...

But the knightess was not going to have much time to ponder that, as the villainess of the night was well on her way of turning down the heroine's request to surrender, presenting her own threats, demands and declarations instead. The Baltic Knightess silently listened, focusing on the words of the evil instead.

She mentioned chains - so there must have been those somewhere else as well than just in her own chamber. She mentioned the sword, so it clearly had not been left without attention. And she mentioned whipping and serving the mistress, which brought Triin some flashbacks from her previous castle encounter against Tessa Price... The knightess had ended up as a bounty back then, but she was getting a distinct feeling that the villainess of tonight was more interested in slaves and torture than just a bounty.

The crash of lightning fazed the knightess for a passing second, and she suddenly realized her cheeks having gotten a little bit warmer over her memories, causing her to become momentarily grateful for the darkness surrounding her. But Triin knew that she had to focus. In any case, whatever had happened before did not matter tonight. Tonight she had to slay the darkness!

Taking a few steps up towards the villainess, Triin stopped at the second highest one, planting her sword firmly in front of her onto the highest step between the enemies of the night. "You may cherish your darkness, you may cherish your powers..." the Estonian paused for a while thinking what kind of powers could a villain like that even have, before continuing. "But none of that will prevail by my sword and valiance!"

Triin never was a girl of many words, and even now, she knew that their fate was going to be determined in a physical contest, and it took more than just words to win the battle of good and evil! Only question left now was how was it going to start, and how could she prepare herself... Was the villainess about to try to leverage some kind of a home field advantage, or was the road already clear for the heroine to tear into her foe?

Yes, come closer…

Each step the heroine took towards Luna was one inch closer to her demise. Without her theatrics, she wasn't outwardly imposing. A lithe frame and a short of stature there were many more threatening sights within the AFW locker room. Her confident air and devotion to the gimmick made up a lot of that ground… it also helped Triin was a few steps down from her, giving the mistress of the night the appearance of being taller.

What she lacked in size and raw striking ability, she made up for in her grappling. Deceptively skilled, she had made a name for herself before coming to AFW by locking up with women that were in almost every regard her superior but time and time again she was able to take them off their feet and slam them about like ragdolls. No one tended to expect that sort of thing from someone her size and the only other match she had on this roster hadn't showcased it. It wasn't hard to assume Triin was unaware how dangerous it was to go head to head with her when it came to grappling.

She had kept her cool air confidence, letting the heroine think she was gaining some sort of an advantage by closing space. Once Triin had taken a stand, Luna slowly started to descend with her chin held high. Just as she neared, she started to unclasp her cloak, working the small ornate clasps and unwinding a thin gold chain. Removing she lifted the mantle from her shoulders, seemingly about to discard the item to the side but with a flourish she instead threw it forward, a giant fluttering sheet of fabric sent at Triin as a distraction to mask her approach.

"Worm! Know your place!" Luna rushed the last few stepped, bowling directly into Triin, trying to knock the other woman off balance. Her arms came up, hands snapping out to clamp down roughly on the heroine's shoulders with a vice like grip someone her size had no right to have. The mistress of the night rammed her hip towards the knights midsection, trying to weaken her stance enough to impose her raw strength to bend her down and shove her head down between her legs.

It didn't matter the match had just begun, she was starting out hot trying to immediately set up Triin for a huge power move. If she managed to take the woman off guard, her arms would wrap around the woman's waist from behind, trying to rip the woman off the stairs with alarming ease and hoist her up onto the shoulders. If it all came together, she aimed to whip Triin down with a massive powerbomb to sent the woman tumbling back to the bottom of the stairs in a imposing show of power meant to set the mood.

As Triin was pondering on what would be the best way to get the battle going, Luna began taking a few steps down the stairs as well. For the knightess, it was obviously good news. The closer she got, the closer distance it would be for Triin to start things off with a quick and vicious strike, coming out of nowhere and hopefully getting the villainess to tumble all the way down the stairs! The only issue now was that she still couldn't see her form clearly, as the cape was still on. She needed to get rid of that soon, somehow... And actually, now that she came to think about it, was the villainess trying to take it off?

The answer was yes, but it was revealed to the knightess in a much less delightful way than she had envisioned. In fact, when she had hoped to finally see the vampiress's body, instead her whole vision became blocked. The cape wrapped perfectly around Triin's upper body, and it was surprisingly difficult to get off.

Panicked by the turn of events, the Estonian didn't even register Luna's latest words. She was fully occupied with trying to get rid of the cape, and soon enough an even more worrying aspect demanded her attention. The villainess ran into her, throwing the blonde off balance, and before she even knew it, her body was already leaning onto her foe's!

Suddenly the knightess felt her shoulders getting pushed down, which turned out to be much to her delight - at first - as she finally managed to dust the cape off of her, dropping it onto the stairs. The bad news came instantly afterwards though. Before Triin could even try to prevent it at all, her head was already tucked between the villainess's surprisingly strong thighs! And the worst was yet to come...

The heroine was totally unprepared for the devastating first move that Luna had decided on. Neither was she expecting for the villainess to manage putting her into one so easily, lifting her up like a ragdoll and throwing her so destructively down, but nor had she expected such a move to occur at this early stage of the match.

Needless to say, it was pretty much the worst possible turn of events for the knightess.

Triin only managed to gasp some air in horror once she was already seated on Luna's shoulders before she already came crashing down the stairs. Tumbling down to the bottom, the Estonian immediately set her sights on the villainess descending the stairs from the ground. And fear was already evident in her eyes.

What had just happened? How was this possible? Who was this woman? And what kind of powers did she have?

Triin may had been suffering from the impact, but if Luna kept on coming at her, she was sure to get back up and to a defending stance at any cost.

Luna stood tall, watching Triin tumble down the lengthy flight of stairs to come to a stop at the bottom. Head raised high, chin up in the face of her adversary's early miscalculation with a menacing look of superiority chiseled into her very being. She spread her arms wide as another flash of lightning fast her shadow down along the stairs to engulf the fallen hero in darkness for a brief moment.

"Ohohoho!" Luna slowly started to descend, bringing a gloved hand to daintily cover her mouth as she laughed at Triin's misfortune. She seemed to be reveling in the moment, taking it all in as if she had already won. "This is who they send against me... Poor girl, you are no Slayer, you are a sacrifice."

"You came seeking to destroy a monster, did you? How do you feel now that you've stumbled upon a goddess of the night instead? Perhaps, if you beg, I may take pity on you and only claim you as a plaything rather than tonight's meal… kneel and pledge yourself to me, hero, or face oblivion!" The blonde had been slowly coming down the stairs until she saw Triin beginning to rise. She couldn't have that, oh no. Stopping steps with long bounding strides she tried to make up the distance between the two, closing in enough to bring a boot up in a soccer punt, trying to catch the knight in the chin and send her back to the floor… where she belonged.

First, there was fear. Fear that this evil, ruthless, mystical demoness of this dark, gloomy and dangerous castle possessed some powers yet unknown to valiant knightesses, invincible or unconquerable by the heroes of light. But gradually, the pain from the fall was taking over the fear. And this time, pain was also knocking some senses into Triin's head. Not only did it signal that she had to immediately ready herself better for the battle, but also brought a much-needed adrenaline rush.

Granted, the surroundings around her were already enough to pump considerable amounts of adrenaline in her veins, and were partly to be blamed also for the momentarily takeover by fear. But the force behind the powerbomb the knightess had just been put through could have been more than enough to kill her fighting spirit, and the boost of adrenaline helped each cell of her body to realize that now wasn't the time to surrender - now was the time to fight.

Plus, Luna was actually helping her with that. While each of her words were meant to be intimidating, condescending and dominating, they also served perfectly the surroundings, roles and setup. They were only feeding Triin's role and mentality of being a heroine, strengthening her willpower to fight, and somewhere deep beneath the surface, even turning her on a bit.

Having patiently listened to her foe's ultimatum, the knightess knew it was time to get back up. "If you think you can defeat a real knightess this easily, your fate is sealed." the blonde Estonian stated rather bluntly as she began her way up - right before more bad news reached her.

Unlike what she had been expecting, the villainess suddenly stepped up her pace, delivering a nasty kick to her blonde adversary's chin. It was more than enough to send the vulnerable heroine falling backwards again - although this time only to a half-seated position with her legs spread and elbows planted on the mat. Briefly tending her chin, the knightess knew that she couldn't keep up like this.

Depending on whether Luna's advance had stopped or not, Triin had two options. If she stayed still, the knightess would make another attempt at getting back up, this time with some more caution and preparedness to defend herself. But if she kept on advancing, the heroine would be ready to try swiftly moving her legs along the ground, and sweep the villainess, literally, off of her feet.

"I can be a kind Mistress, to my pets." Luna had remained at the base of the stairs, two up from the very bottom. Despite her oozing confidence in character, she was well aware of her lacking height and wished to preserve the image she was bigger than she appeared. She stared down at her fallen foe, allowing Triin to recuperate and rise to her feet freely. Perhaps a taste of mercy… or simply goaded to challenge the other woman on more even footing to further flex her believed superiority.

Once Triin had found her footing completely, the vampiric mistress would take her final steps down the stairs, though do so in a direction that had her circling the fellow blond, cutting the woman off from the door she had entered from. In the ring flickering lighting she appeared sinister and brooding, taking in long inhales through her nose and exhaling hotly through her mouth in a low growl.

Her arms back up, stance widening as the already lithe girl sunk lower in the unmistakable stance of a more traditional grappler. She did her best through to add a bit of theatrics to the way she hunched and moved, almost feral in nature to preserve the idea behind her gimmick, making sure to live the role to the best of her ability.

"Another body to the pile then… a shame to waste such succulent flesh. I'll have my fill of you as I suck you dry." She gave a hiss, displaying her unnatural fangs, giving a swipe at the air between them with a gloved hand as if it were a deadly claw. Without further warning Luna lunged in, trying to tie herself up with the knight before her to wrestle for control.

As Triin was finally given the chance to get back up in peace, the knightess took the oportunity to try regaining her composure, and rebooting her thoughts on her opponent. Just because her quest to conquer the villainess had gotten hampered with a rough start, it didn't mean that she couldn't still slay the demons of darkness!

Especially as Luna finally took the last few steps down and began circling her, the heroine found some reinforcement for her faith in herself. Even if the vampiric villainess was acting all viciously and moving ominously, which only brought further adrenaline pumping through Triin's veins, it was still becoming increasingly apparent to her that foe for the night was not big in size by any means, in fact, the knightess probably had quite some size advantage over her. So, the powerbomb that she had just been put through? Must have been a fluke.

Triin kept turning around and following the movement of her foe, and as Luna finally stopped between the heroine and the door, it became apparent that she was all ready to grapple. Which presented Triin with a dilemma... The Estonian was well aware that grappling was one of her weaknesses, and that keeping at a striking distance was bound to serve her much better as a strategy. But then again, Luna was clearly smaller than her, and a valiant knightess was never one to turn down a challenge... She should cope against her well enough, right?

As the villainess finished some more of her sinister words, Triin was all ready to take some steps forward - but before she could even take the first one, the blonde vampire's fangs and claw brought her intentions to a halt. And that gave Luna just the perfect opportunity to lunge forward, tieing herself up with the heroine! Caught unprepared, Triin first had to take a couple of steps backwards, before she managed to muster up all her strength, and halt their movement!

...and then she began losing ground again. Triin couldn't believe it, but no matter how hard she tried to wrestle for control, Luna seemed to somehow still manage to overpower her. While it was a tough battle with their bodies pressed against each other, it was becoming clear that the heroine would be the underdog here.

She still had to try as hard as she could.