The Devil went down to Ringside

Previously on AFW Avalanche:[url=http://afwrpg.informe.com/forum/avalanche-f85/entropy-belt-match-t5344.html:1yzxbxbl]Entropy Belt match[/url:1yzxbxbl]
Next on AFW Avalanche: [url=http://afwrpg.informe.com/forum/avalanche-f85/afw-title-match-t5346.html:1yzxbxbl]The Main Event: AFW Title match[/url:1yzxbxbl]

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As the crowd cheered and continued to loudly approve of Taylor's victory in the inaugural title match for the new Entropy Belt, behind the scenes the staff of the AFW were preparing for the next event. The lights suddenly went black in the arena and the fog machine began to pour smoke along the ground of the entrance ramp and around the ring. [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZpYWxcK4uQ:qxdfhc8q]Music filled the arena[/url:qxdfhc8q] and a red light dimly light the area, coating it in a soft glow, leaving the stadium with an eerie ambience.

A Spotlight clicked on and shown down on Taylor, putting the focus on her and her alone as out from the backstage Area, Lukretia Von Creuzfeldt, Friction's General Manager, appeared. Normally she would have received a chorus of boos but the spotlight was meant to distract. Behind her appearing from the backstage as well were two of her servants, Morrigan and Macha. They were wheeling down a cart that was covered in a crushed velvet sheet.

Lukretia had a microphone in one hand, stalking down the arena ramp in a silky black dress. She had a small smile on her face and when she got to the ring apron, the maids quickly dashed forward and propped up the ropes. As they did, Lukretia spoke.

"Ladies und Gentleman, please put your hands together for Taylro Parker, ze very first holder of ze newest Friction title, ze Entropy Belt!"

Lukretia was booed at first but as the realized what she was saying and as the spotlight was still focused on Taylor, the boos quickly melded into a raucous cheer. Lukretia stepped into the ring and the Maids hopped off the apron and pulled the sheet off the cart, revealing a brand new shiny belt sitting on a crushed velvet pillow. They brought it up into the ring and handed it to Lukretia who handed her microphone to Taylor.

The lights finally returned to normal and Lukretia smiled. "Say a few vords to your fans." She said in a light tone as she smiled at Taylor. "Congratulations, Ms. Parker." The German domme spoke with sincerity as she held the pillow up, offering Taylor to take her new belt.

Taylor paused, staring at the microphone like she had not the faintest idea of what to do with it. She finally took it with a nervous smile and turned away from Lukretia to make a lap around the ring and take in the crowd.

"Sorry." She began. "I'm not used to being this close to Luk and NOT wanting to punch her in the freaking face." This drew a little cheer from the crowd, who were not fans of Lukretia either. "Um, how 'bout you guys give it up for Natalia, wherever she is now. Tonight's my night, but dammit, she tried. She just got her ass kicked, and that's not easy, so c'mon, make a little noise. Don't feel bad, Natalia! You won't be the only one coming up short with me."

She continued. "Hey, I'm gonna be totally honest with you guys, alright? I've sort of been figuring stuff out lately. I think... I used to train hard and try really hard because I was so afraid of losing, but that's not enough. I mean, to get dressed up in clothes like this..." She gestured to her skant clothes and picked up the hem of her short skirt. The crowd hooted. "And get in here in front of all of you guys and get beat up, and to be good at it and to keep going with it, you've got to be pretty serious. So, I think I've got it figured out.

"I wouldn't be here right now if it weren't for a couple really freaking cool people... it's so good. I'm really lucky to have bagged the people I did when I did. I can't explain it, but when you have a few people, important people, who believe in you... Everything changes. Everything. It's good."

She dropped the mic to her side and strolled over to the ropes. She leaned down on her elbows on the top rope, and the position drew more catcalls from the crowd. "But... there's one more thing that I didn't get until, like, just now. The other thing all of us girls need, it's like the air we breathe, is you guys." Another little reaction from the crowd. "I'm serious, I would not be standing here right now if it weren't for all of you. So... thank you. Really."

A slightly bigger round of cheers. "I've always been, like, the freak. I never thought anyone would ever be behind me." She said, looking over the crowd. She felt energized again, despite the pain in her neck. She put on a big grin and backed up into the middle of the ring like she owned it. "But ya know, maybe I'm not the only freak here. Maybe some of you guys never thought you could compete. Maybe you never thought you could stand up and believe in yourself and go after what you want and actually come out on top. Tonight I think we proved each other wrong." The crowd's enthusiasm grew, and so did Taylor's confidence.

"Man, I want to meet every one of you guys! I really do! But tonight, I've got to look after my girl, ya know." She strolled over to Lukretia and paused while she put her palm over the centerpiece of the belt. She slowly wrapped her fingers around the strap and picked it up. "I didn't think this thing would mean anything to me." She laughed. "I was wrong. This is pretty cool." She beamed with a huge grin.

"Alright! Last thing! How many of you guys are Sarah Gatt fans?" The crowd quieted down, and about half of them booed. Taylor laughed again. "Oh, man. Well, she's got a match tonight. Who's her opponent? Oh, right. How many of you guys are fans of the AFW Friction champ, Akashi Tanikaze?" The crowd went nuts. "Yeah! I want you to do something for me. I can't be in the ring with Akashi tonight, so I want you guys to support her for me, okay? Show her some crazy love. And Sarah... boo that bitch into the ground.

"Oh, sorry, last thing for real, babe I don't know where you are, but... Everybody, if you see Johnny Higurashi in the arena, pat that dude on the back because he is getting freaking laaiid tonight!" She dropped the mic, hopped up on a turnbuckle, and proudly hoisted her new belt up high over her head. The crowd cheered. It was good.

Lukretia watched as Taylor gave her monologue to the crowd. She remained stoic with a pleasant smile on her face. The match was quite thrilling and as a woman of strength, even the hardened German domme could appreciate the match that just ended as what she envisioned AFW to be like. Two women at the peak of their abilities putting their bodies on the line until they were both nearly wrecked. It was thrilling. The evening in general had been quite a success and Lukretia was quite pleased with only one last match, and hopefully the crowning match of the event, still to come.

While Taylor gave her speech, Macha discreetly stepped out of the ring and grabbed a second microphone, bringing it back to Lukretia. When the crowd died down, Lukrretia clapped politely before speaking once more. "Congratulations again, Ms. Parker. You certainly deserved ze title.

She then stepped towards the center of the ring. "As Ms. Parker has said, I am sure you are all looking forvard to ze Main event. It is coming up shortly." There was another cheer and Lukretia waited a moment.

"But before zat-" The crowd began to boo. They were tired of waiting. Lukretia allowed them to get that out of their system as well before continuing on. "Zis event has been an evening of firsts und ve hope to continue zat trend. Ve have a new addition to ze staff und ve have given her a moment to introduce herself on ze grandest stage."

Lukretia then lowered her microphone as the lights dimmed. She stepped over to Taylor and smirked, lowering her mic so only Taylor could hear. "Vhy don't you stay und greet her, Ms. Parker? I know how much you enjoy ze company of your employers."

Aurelia tugged at her shimmering golden evening dress with disdain. At least the color was appropriate, but she wasn't going to wear any damn heels.

Despite her poor attitude she entered the arena looking like an empress of old. Her posture was perfect, her stride almost regal (although the latter was mostly due to the unfortunate constraints of her ridiculous outfit). She nearly ripped the dress hem pulling herself up onto the ring apron, an act which exposed her combat boots for a moment.

The first words out of her mouth were a command, a terse one. "You. Ropes." Whether there was something in her voice, or out of an extension of her loyalty to Lukretia, Macha immediately obeyed assisting the blonde woman in stepping into the ring proper. Aurelia moved to the center of the ring where she towered over the other two women. She turned to Lukretia and spoke in a low tone, "Was this dress your' idea? I hate it."

Then she stepped around to the front of the blue haired pugilist and faced her, staring her right in the eyes, and reached out to put her hands on the girl's ears, almost as if she intended to lean in and kiss her. Leaning over, she presented a significant amount of cleavage, a point the crowd was eager to point out. Aurelia ignored them and suddenly began to speak with a bizarre sense of gravity, "Congratulations, Parker. I expected as much."

Then, just as suddenly, she released the girl and stood up straight again accepting a microphone as Lukretia's maid graciously presented it. Aurelia then pointed out over the audience roaring out at them, "Good evening, I am Aurelia Fotuna the new Manager of Talent Relations for AFW. What your' thinking right now is, 'Who is this bitch? We don't need another Lukretia.' And you are absolutely right." Aurelia suddenly grabbed the neck of her gown and pulled starting to shear the entire outfit from the neck down to her feet and revealing that she was wearing camouflage shorts and a tank top underneath.

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"I'm not another Lukretia. Lukretia is very good with money. I'm very good... with people. I planned this event, along with Cassandra and Lukretia's help, of course." She motioned towards Taylor with a wave, "And did you like that last match?" The crowd roared, of course they had. "That was my idea." She turned to look at Lukretia with a sour smile for a moment, "and it was a good idea, wasn't it?"

She paused for a moment stepping back to the ropes, and now free of her dress she slipped over them with ease. "Now, I know you will be amazed at all of the other plans I have AFW in the coming months, but for now it's time for a title match."

She made an exasperated, 'let's go' motion in Taylor and Lukretia's direction and then dropped to the ground and walked out of the arena.

Taylor hopped down from her turnbuckle. "What?" She didn't quite catch what Lukretia said.

Then there was Aurelia, making her way daintily down the ramp. Taylor couldn't help but laugh, because she looked so stiff, but also partly because she was a little intimidating. It made Taylor uncomfortable, especially with Lukretia right there as well. She felt outnumbered.

Taylor leaned over the ropes and yelled "Damn, it's Barbara Streisand! Someone get a picture!" She hopped back to the middle of the ring and watched with her new belt slung over her shoulder, like she'd always wanted to do, as Aurelia made her arduous climb into the ring. She laughed obnoxiously.

"Careful! Caaaaareful! Oh, nice boots, man." Once Aurelia was finally in the ring, Taylor burst into applause and laughed some more, and flitted around the ring with more energy than she should've had after such a tough match.

Taylor fell silent, though, when Aurelia cupped her face and said something... encouraging? What the hell? Did she actually just receive her first ever vote of goddamn confidence from someone in charge? Taylor furrowed her brow and backed up silently while Aurelia addressed the crowd. She was tall too, damn.

She couldn't help but grin when the blond lost her dress. That was a bit more Taylor's speed. She couldn't help but wonder, did she actually like this woman? That seemed too far fetched to be true, but she was so much the opposite of Lukretia... maybe.

She shook her head and snapped back to reality at Aurelia's command. She responded quickly, pausing only to play to the crowd one last time before sliding quickly out of the ring, leaving Lukretia to trail behind them. She caught up to Aurelia.

"Hey, hey, what do you mean you 'expected as much'? You thought I was going to win? Or you just thought Natalia was going to lose. Seems pretty... cold or something, I dunno, but you actually know who I am and stuff?"

Lukretia watched with a forced smile as Aureilia came up the ramp. Though, seeing her n the dress, she couldn't help but laugh. It was so ridiculous. What a beast, unfitting of her current position. Either way, she had little say in the woman's hiring and she had performed to expectations well enough so Lukretia had to give her her dues.

When Aurelia barely managed to enter the ring, flashing her boots and ordering her servants around, Lukretia furrowed her brow. When Aurelia passed, she smirked again. "Vith a simple touch of class you almost look passably elegant." Lukretia retorted at Aurelia's words. But then, after encouraging Taylor, the brutish woman tore away the dress. This woman was such a classless beast. But Lukretia smirked. She was still a beast at least." After the other two cleared the ring, Lukretia ordered Macha to remove the cart and leave the ring and for Morrigan to fetch a microphone.

"Please give Ms. Parker another round of applause as vell as our newest member to ze A F W family, Miss Aurelia Fortuna. Now, vithout further ado, Ve vill begin vith ze match you have all been vaiting for."

Lukretia handed off her microphone and Morrigan tossed it before zipping towards the ropes and holding them open for Lukretia. The German domme slid gracefully out of the ring shortly behind the other two girls as the lights began to softly dim in preparation for tonight's Main Event.

(continued... http://afwrpg.informe.com/forum/backstage-f33/people-are-her-business-t5562.html )