Wayward Souls

Tatyina was glad that Emily was able to take her compliment in stride and she quickly shuffled into their seats. She was feeling really good as she watched the girls push back and forth, they seats good enough to see sweat and hear grunts.

Tatyina blushed. "H-hai. Even from here it's still thrilling." She turned her head a bit. "Yes..." She had to pause for a moment. "It's like nothing I have ever experienced before. She blushed and touched her fingers to her breast. "I'm sorry." She apologized. "I don't recognize either fighter. The roster is very very large." She blushed a bit and nestled into her chair.

"E-emily-ue." She said trying to strike up some conversation. "Are you interested in wrestling outside of meeting your aunt?" She questioned. "Have you ever watched on television?" Maybe if the girl was a serious fan she might be able to help her out.

"I've seen what I can find." Emily said, not taking her eyes off of the girls in the ring. "My... family doesn't approve of anything like this. They think they're royalty. I don'r care what they think, if I'm honest."

"It must be incredible..." She said under her breath, watching the whole spectacle in awe. She'd never been in the spotlight before, never the center of attention. This was almost too much for her to handle. She shrank down into her seat a little bit.

Trying not to draw her attention, Emily covertly stole glances of Tatyina from the corner of her eye. Did this girl really do that? She looked so... bland. Except for her hair there was no color about her. No spirit. She seemed more like someone that bleached the mats after a show.

"Tell me, how did you get started with wrestling?" Emily asked, directing her full attention back at the ring.

"Oh." Tatyina said as she turned and glanced at the wrestlers. As focused as Emily was on the wrestlers, Tatyina was equally focused on Emily. Though she wasn't staring and made sure to keep glancing away as much as possible to keep from being rude. "I'm sorry." Tatyina apologized meekly. "If it is what you enjoy then you should be allowed to at least try it." She turned away. "As a sport... it's quite thrilling." She nodded softly to reassure herself. As anything else, Tatyina found what she did to be paradoxically horrifying.

"I..um.." She was startled by the question. "I was unable to protect one of my friends when she needed me to. I was able to join the league to learn the skills that I needed to be able to protect her and others like her. I.. I don't really care for violence but if it's to protect someone then I.." She looked down and sighed. "Then the least I can do is learn how to protect myself and others." Tatyina regarded Emily. "Y-you must think me foolish for my reasons." She said with a soft tone. "There's something else about this place though. I have been in many matches now and learned quite a bit but outside of the ring I feel like my work here may never be finished. I.. I just want to help people, that is all." She added meekly as her cheeks reddened.

Emily almost smiled. "Yes, I do, you're quite silly. Just how many people've you been able to help? I never thought of helping someone as being terribly violent. And couldn't you have, I don't know, become a policeman instead?"

This girl was hopeless! This was certainly not the place for gray philanthropic little nuns to set up a charity. Who did she think she could help? As far as Emily could tell, she was the one who needed help. Her aunt could teach her a thing or two about being a woman who commanded attention. Utterly hopeless!

Then Emily's attention was absorbed by the finish of the match, ending by submission as they so often did. The winner took her time acknowledging the screams of the loser, and when she released her the loser slumped face first in the mat a sweaty, beaten mess. "I certainly don't envy that one..." Emily mused. The winner, on the other hand, looked magnificent, triumphant, perhaps feral. It brought out a very raw emotion in Emily. She was at once disgusted by it's vulgarity and totally enthralled.

"How've you fared in your matches? Won many?"

"Tatyina was ok with being called silly. She could have been called much worse. "I.." She paused to think about it. "I don't really know. You would have to ask those who I have helped, if any." She then paused. "Well." She said and looked over at Emily. "Haven't I helped you? That's something. It doesn't have to be something big. Little things are just as good and can be infectious. At least, I hope so. "I would say giving you the ticket was definitely the right thing to do. It seems like you have thoroughly enjoyed the match and you're a very nice person, Emily-ue." She said as she turned her head and blushed a bit.

Tatyina watched as the match finished with a submission. That was her finisher as well but she never wanted an opponent to cry out in that kind of pain. She felt bad for the losing girl. "I don't but..." She said meekly and turned her head a little bit. She wasntdisgreeing but she wasn't committing to Emily's ssessment either and nervously changed the subject." But then Emily asked her how she was doing and Tatyina brightened up a bit despite her pale features. "I am doing alright. Thank you for asking." She paused and recounted her record. "Right now I have five wins and four losses. They tell me having more wins than losses is definitely a step in the right direction."

Tatyina made rather a good point, thought Emily as she thumbed the ticket stub in her pocket. She felt as though she had to eat her words a little bit. She didn't say anything, though.

She looked at Tatyina, confused. "You'd like to be that one? Face first in the mat?" Perhaps she misunderstood or something. Still, Emily continued to stare at the beaten girl with morbid curiosity. She couldn't take her eyes off of her. The girl arched her back and writhed in pain while the winner gloated over her. It must be so humiliating to be in that position in front of so many people, knowing that you'd failed. God help her if she'd been boastful before the match.

Eventually the referee stepped in to help the girl to her feet, but when she had difficulty standing they opted instead to let the medical staff cart her away on a stretcher. Emily watched the girl's face closely, watching as the pain gave way to humiliation and frustration. Once on the stretcher she seemed to relax just a little. She was being taken care of, then. She was safe. The other girl who had broken her was gone and she was in good hands now. Emily could scarcely empathize with any of it, but it so fascinated her that she knew she had to get closer to it.

"What's next? If... it's one of the other sort of matches, I think I'll excuse myself for a moment and return for the next one. I'm sure there's plenty to see in here that's fully clothed, at least by wrestling standards."

Tatyina lowered her head at Emily's words. "Of course I wouldn't want to be her." She whispered. "But that's no reason to wish her I'll. She's put a lot on the line, hasn't she?" Tatyina watched Emily stare at the girl as the loser was carted off in a stretcher. "Ah..."Tatyina pressed her hand against her chest. "S-sorry." Sehe whispered to the girl who would not be able to hear her.

She then looked to Emily as she suggested the next match might be a hentai match. She blushed deeply. "I.. Don't like those kinds of matches either." She said with a sigh. " She sighed. "I think the next match is a hardcore match. I'm not very fond of those either." She added. "What about you?" Tatyina was a little curious about Emily's answer. "Would you like to stay for that or would you like to go for a bit and comeback for the main event?"

"Well..." Emily thought about it. She didn't want to leave the arena so soon, but there was a lot to see that maybe having a wrestler escort could help her with, and she wasn't crazy about the idea of being bludgeoned with displays of lesbian sex or splattered with gore.

"Would you... show me around? Where you go? I'd quite like to see where the wrestlers spend their time and... what it's like to be in this place. Friction. D'you think it'd be alright?" She asked, trying not to look like she was worried that she'd say no. There was always the chance that they'd happen across Allison while out wandering around, and Emily sort of wanted to wander around as much as possible since Allison wasn't wrestling that night.

Tatyina tilted her head curiously as Emily contemplated it. When she asked to be shown around, Tatyina nodded. She stood up and bowed. "I would be honored, Emily-ue." She said as her head fell. She wanted to see neither of what was being offered as well. "We should go quickly before the lights dim for the next match." She said in her soft whisper and trudged up the stairs at a solid pace. She turned back to make sure Emily was keeping up with her and offered a meek smile.

"I... I'm glad you are so interested in wrestling." Tatyina said but as she thought about it, she wasn't entirely sure if it was healthy for a girl her age to be into that sort of thing. She might end up like the rest of the inmates in this wacky asylum.

She stepped out onto the promenade part of the arena and turned to look at Emily. "Where would you like to go first?" She asked. "I... think I can get you in to the backstage area if you would like a tour." She said looking down as she took her pass out and thumbed at it. "There's the gyms and the suites. I am not sure if you can go into the locker rooms... But there's plenty to see." She said softly.

Emily followed quickly behind Tatyina back up the stairs. "Yes, I'm quite interested. It's fascinating, really. It's so... well, I don't know what it is, but I like it, I think."

She looked around like a tourist and strolled over to look at posters of past events that lined the wall. There was such a broad range of personalities, all different kinds of girls, but they all looked so big, so electric, so... alive, even the dull, sour-faced ones. She looked back at Tatyina, dressed all in a bland gray frump-suit, no bigger or more impressive than Emily herself. But there were things about her that hinted that she was more than that, maybe in the way she carried herself. Maybe just her bright red hair. Was it experience that taught such performers to glow like this, or was it a prerequisite for them?

"Oh, I don't know what there is to see, really. I guess I want to see what you see everyday. Why... if you don't mind my asking, why are you so quiet?"

Emily, who was generally very difficult to befriend, found Tatyina rather difficult to dislike. There was nothing offensive about her. She was like some sort of selfless, pale-faced angel; real people were never so nice. Maybe there was more to her, though, than she showed people. Perhaps she also did things she wasn't proud of, or maybe she hid larger things away behind her untarnished exterior.