Soft Serve Death

Val was expecting Cassie to grab the leg. Though the kick was strong, from what Cassie had shown so far, she was pretty adapt at grabbing things. She was more curious about the threshold of pain the girl had. The buckling of the knee was noted but as her leg was lifted up, the best thing she thought she could do was follow it. She rolled backward, letting the momentum put her on her back. But it was an attempt to set up her next attack as she tried to jut her free foot out and bury it into Cassie's stomach before she could be turned onto her stomach. If it didn't' work then she'd be right where Cassie wanted her to be, on her stomach.

As the two went down, Cassie lost her grip on Val's leg. She was certainly not expecting it, nor the kick that followed as she started to move in on Val. It knocked the wind out of her, knocked her on her butt, and it hurt. She just wanted to curl up into a ball and forget about proving her point.

But she didn't. Fumbling a takedown like that was the sort of thing that'd get her laughed at back at home. She didn't like that. So she changed her plan. She had to. She was initially going to keep going after Val's knee to force a submission, but that would leave her hands occupied and Val's hands free to pound on Cassie, and she really wanted to avoid any more of that.

She pushed herself forward again, grabbing once more for Val's ankle and lifting her leg to keep her from being able to get to her feet. She threw the leg to the side and dove on Val, hoping to be able to mount her back before she could scramble away or back to her feet.

Cassie really hoped that she didn't throw up. That would be way too embarrassing.

As the foot connected, Val felt her leg freed. She didn't stop to savor her initial victory or gloat about it. Val wasn't interested in proving a point. At least she didn't believe that she was. If there was anything, it was that she was in a fight and needed to continue to fight until she was no longer capable of doing so or until the fight was won or Cassie called it off. There were few options for the Finn. She pulled her feet backwards and tried to roll onto her side and get to her hands and knees quickly. Cassie probably wouldn't be too far behind so she wanted to establish a position where she could defend herself from any attack that may come. Her blood was pumping. She really lived for these moments.

Seeing Cassie dash forward quickly, All Val could do was try and tuck her legs in to keep them from being grabbed before she got into position facing Cassie on her hands and knees.

Seeing Val's back lit Cassie's eyes up like it was made of ice cream. Cassie dove to wrap her arms around Val's body (to mount her like a tiny horse) and hold her in place while she threw one leg over her body to lock her legs around her waist. Then the next order of business would be the struggle to use her leverage to stretch Val's legs out and flatten her against the mat.

It was a golden opportunity. Cassie was hoping that whereas she moved with practiced precision, Val would have to think first to decide how to defend. For all Val's talk about Cassie not making up her mind... well here you go, Val. Let's see how fast you make up yours.

When Val felt Cassie against her back, she twisted her body to try and keep Cassie from getting complete control from the back. Trying to maintain a position on her side, Val would try and wrap an arm around Cassie's head to hold her in place while the rest of their bodies struggled to maintain a position. But Val was in a disadvantageous position and would try and throw out her leg so that one foot was planted firmly on the ground while the other was still on its knee. If it worked, she'd get Cassie to a partial standstill but hopefully the headlock would keep Cassie paused for the moment.

Cassie was almost glad that Val was controlling her posture, it meant that she wasn't going to be trying to hit her. The grappling was easy, but Cassie just wasn't as big a fan of being hit in the head.

Finding a dead end in taking Val's back, Cassie took advantage of her position to roll her the other way. With her head still stuck, she pushed with her shoulder to flop Val onto her back, giving her a full mount position. The transition had screwed up the angle of Val's hold on Cassie's head, but she'd just be able to adjust it. The next order of business was to free her head.

Cassie reached up with one hand to clamp down over Val's nose and mouth, and used the other to pull at Val's arm while she attempted to pull back and pop her head free. She was making progress, though a part of her was hoping to have submitted Val by now. She was proving a point, after all.

Valkoinen's eyes narrowed when she felt her nose and mouth being covered. She clenched her teeth as the two struggled. She thought this was supposed to be an exercise in grappling. Was this sort of maneuver allowed? Should she do what she thought would be necessary to subdue Cassie as well? Her instincts took over and she abandoned the hold on Cassie to get a free hand, hoping to jam her fist between Cassie's defenses and jab her knuckles into the spunky girl's throat.

"Guk!" Cassie gurgled when she felt Val's hand hit her throat. She didn't have the angle or the space to put any power into it, but Cassie strongly disliked anything hard colliding with her throat, regardless of the force behind it. It told her that Val was both willing to play dirty and feeling a little desperate in her current position. Cassie made the decision to take it as a sign of her advantage, and not as a sign of the danger Val posed.

Still, she knew Val was dangerous, if for no other reason than her apparent unpredictable instability and murderous instincts. She wanted to end her as quickly as possible, if she could, and get to a position where she wouldn't be able to hit her.

With her head free, Cassie scooted a little higher up Val's body and wrapped her arms under Val's arm and around her neck, joining her hands on Val's far shoulder so her arms hung like a purse strap. She skipped her body to the side, so she was laying next to Val instead of on top of her. Using her leverage and pressing with her own head to add pressure, she squeezed Val's neck between her arms and Val's own arm to cut off Val's blood flow. If she got Val stuck, it'd only be a few seconds before she'd go out.

It occurred to Cassie that Val might not know about tapping, and she didn't want to put her out if she didn't have to. She'd feel bad about it. "Just tap on my back or something if you're going to go out." She said hurriedly.

Val narrowed her eyes when the throat strike did not have the desired effect. and instead her arm was grabbed. She let out a growl that seemed more like a squeak than anything else. She struggled a bit to try and get out of the hold. It wasn't the first time she'd been chocked before and this certainly wasn't the worst that had been done to her before. Flailing her knees to try and slam it into Cassie's side as best as she could. If that couldn't do the trick then Val would pass out in a few more moments, never giving the submission signal.

Cassie held on and squeezed. She felt Val flailing a bit, or whatever she was doing, Cassie couldn't see, but nothing hurt and nothing made her slip. She knew that Val didn't have the defense for the choke ready to go and since she hadn't been able to punch her off she'd probably be ready to go in a second.

As soon as Cassie felt Val weaken, before she could go out, Cassie let go. She knelt next to Val and watched to make sure she was alright, rubbing her throat.

"Are you okay? Do you see what happened?" Val would definitely have to admit the value of learning jujitsu or submission grappling of some sort. She couldn't always have a knife on her, right?