Post by alyadmirer on Oct 20, 2015 7:08:12 GMT
Barely recovered from the previous battle, the sold out crowd tapped a fresh reserve and leapt to their feet when the speakers started in with ‘Hush’. The Fair & Radiant Maiden stepped through the curtain mere seconds after hundreds, perhaps thousands of handmade ‘ravens’ took flight. Black Court or not, Emily West’s Lady in Waiting had won over a great number of fans in the last year.
[b}HUSH:[/b]
www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMAWMR2iCIw
Posted dead center atop the stage, Lemarchand made for an interesting sight. For one, her trademark purple two piece and matching bell-flared ‘leggings’ were nowhere to be seen. In their place was…. well, it was kinda hard to tell. It was presumably a one-piece as evidenced by her bare legs, simple black kneepads and mid-shin wrestling boots, but the exact design was hard to make out because the brunette’s arms were angled down across her chest in a tapering ‘V’ that ended with her wrists crossed at waist-level. Also worth noting, her arms were bare save for elbow pads and black gloves, yet there was most definitely something hanging from them, something that looked an awful lot like--
LENORE LEMARCHAND:
Lenore stepped forward, lifted her head and raised her arms in a triumphant ‘Y’ that revealed her ‘Mania attire as a classic black one piece emblazoned with a pattern that was almost assuredly raven feathers. As for what hung from her arms, they were just streamers, but they tapered from her wrists to her hips in a remarkably elegant imitation of spread wings. Smiling as the FAWNatics grew louder, Lemarchand hooked her thumbs together in her usual Raven sigil and in so doing unveiled her last sartorial surprise. For her gloves weren’t simply black, they too featured a feathered pattern and the thumbs colored such that they formed a perfect head and beak when joined.
After a moment of tense, exhilarated silence, Lenore Lemarchand broke her repose and headed for the squared circle. Though signs both supportive and defamatory were many, the whip-strong bendyback made the trek to the ring in utter silence. This wasn’t arrogance, as some of her detractors were quick to claim, rather it was a nearly preternatural focus on tonight’s challenge. She’d thrown down the gauntlet in December and this had always been the goal. Now that it was here and everything was on the line she had no intention of letting her mind wander.
Taking the steel steps as quickly as she could without appearing to rush, Lemarchand wiped her boots on the apron, then vaulted over the top rope and strode to the center of the ring. Lenore tipped the briefest of nods to referee Al Carpenter as she turned to face the hard camera and spread her wings one more time. When her music started to fade she moved to the far corner and set about removing her accessories all while keeping her eyes locked on the entryway.
2WICKY:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xy_8LqenvGA
The Arena was quiet save for crowd noise when the lights dimmed and thick mist roiled up through the steel grate of the stage floor. It proved nigh impenetrable within seconds and some of the fans started to fear some sort of Black Court trick. But then ‘2Wicky’ began to play and light started to crackle and flicker within the house made fog. Several seconds passed before Olivia Dare stepped into view and raised an index finger high overhead.
OLIVIA DARE:
Like her foe, the Oncoming Storm had commissioned special attire for this decisive battle. Rather than the usual bustier and briefs she wore a pained on one-piece done in dark blue with traces of silver, gray and yellow streaked throughout. Even more striking, the costume department had built her a very fine mesh ‘vest’ that fitted over this new attire. Said vest featured LED filaments that occasionally flickered and sparkled, thus creating the lightning effect seen before she emerged from the crowd. Nodding a thanks for the ‘STORM! STORM! STORM!’ chant that greeted her appearance, Dare lowered her arm, focused on the ring and started down the aisle.
Whereas Lenore had completely ignored the fans during her stroll to battle, Olivia made a point to slap hands with fans on both sides. She didn’t murmur anything more than the occasional thanks though, at least not until she reached a guy holding a sign that read:
THE RAVEN IS GREAT
BUT GREAT’S NOT GOOD ENOUGH TO BRAVE THIS STORM!
PROVE IT TO HER, OLIVIA!
“I mean to, my friend.” she said quietly. I mean to do exactly that.” Returning her attention to the squared circle, Dare moved to the steps and took them up to the apron. Instead of going right on in she strode to the center and put her back to the rubber-coated steel. Offering everyone within view a glimpse of that million dollar smile, Olivia hooked her arms over the top rope, then dipped her knees and tumbled backward to land on her feet with barely a whisper. From there she went straight to the center, met Lenore’s stare without so much as flinching and spread her arms wide. BOOOOOOOOM! A lightning bolt of yellow pyro crashed above the ring and Olivia smiled again. “Storms here, pretty bird. It’s come to knock you out of the sky once and for all.” With that she slipped off the vest, slung it to Al and backed into her corner.
Patient through all the theatrics, the Announcer made his way up the steps and into the center of the ring. “Ladies and gentlemen, the following contest is scheduled for one fall with a thirty minute time limit and it is the DECIDING match in a five match series. Introducing first, in the corner to my left, representing the Black Court, hailing from Glen Echo Michigan, she stands at five feet seven inches tall and weighs in at one hundred and thirty-one pounds. They call her the Raven… LENORE LEMARCHAND!”
Lenore took a single step forward, raised the Raven sigil and lowered it when the applause faded.
“And her opponent, in the corner to my right, hailing from Richmond, England, she stands at five feet seven inches tall and weighs in at one hundred and fifteen pounds. She is the Oncoming Storm, this is… OLIVIA DARE!"
Olivia raised a hand for her supporters but she didn’t pull her eyes from Lemarchand. Couldn’t, in fact. She didn’t think she’d be able to until the American was broken and sobbing at her feet.
The crowd, already abuzz with breathless anticipation, raised its collective voice to thunderous levels when the bell signaled the start of the fifth and final match in this nearly year-long series. Dare and Lemarchand went straight to the center of the squared circle but they didn’t meet with crooked claws or raised fists. Rather they walked right into one another, blonde and brunette going nose to nose, chest to chest, tummy to tummy.
“You’ve made this far more interesting than I thought you would, pretty bird.” Olivia said in a near whisper. “You’ve certainly earned the right to stand alongside the greatest FAWN has to offer. But there is a world of difference between being great and being the best in her field. Tonight you face the full fury of the Oncoming Storm. Tonight you settle for second place. Tonight you submit to Olivia Dare.”
“I never once asked for anything less than your full fury, Olivia.” Lemarchand answered after a moment’s thought. “I never brought so much as a second to ringside and yet you’ve taken every opportunity to impugn my character, scrutinize my motivations and flat out question my skills. Even after I pinned you in back to back falls, you still can’t bring yourself to admit that I’ve been telling the truth all along. Because if you’re wrong about that, you could be wrong about everything else, isn’t that right, black bird?” Lenore thrust her forehead against Olivia’s and pressed hard, forcing the other woman to do the same or give up some ground. “Well you are wrong, Olivia. I can’t prove it yet, but I can promise you this. Tonight you’re in for the match of your life. Tonight you’re going to prove to the world and to me just how good you really are. Tonight, YOU earn the right to shake MY hand.”
The Raven took a half step back, raised her hands and ‘smacked!’ them against Olivia’s shoulders.
Dare staggered, caught her balance and shoved the American right back. Just like that the archrivals hurled themselves into a Collar & Elbow Lock-Up that the crowd treated like stereo Phoenix Splashes from the top of a steel cage. Fingers sank in deep at bicep and shoulder, the pair of exquisite bendybacks were practically motionless in the opening moments of their clench. Only the faint tremors in their shoulders and thighs belied the incredible effort poured into maintaining the stalemate. Eventually Olivia twisted her hips enough to turn them both and she marched Lemarchand toward the corner at double time.
“The ropes are for quitters, dear.” Dare explained in a tone of icy politeness. “Be they in your hand or at your back, ropes are for quitters.”
A similar thought had already run through the brunette’s mind, she didn’t much like hearing it echoed by the elegant blonde. Painfully aware of each and every step, Lenore waited until she was almost out of room before kicking her left foot back against the middle buckle. The makeshift kickstand wouldn’t hold for long and both of them knew it, yet Lemarchand still found the time to coo, “Quitting in the ropes is good practice for when you have to quit in the middle of the ring, ‘Liv. You’re more than welcome to start now.”
She hopped halfway through ‘now’, pushed off her plant foot and shot out of the corner on Dare’s right. Lenore landed easily on her right hip, the agile Courtier fully expecting to send her Briton rolling with that clever twist on the Arm Drag. That made it all the more shocking when Olivia not only held on, she actually tightened her grip to ensure they didn’t break apart while tumbling across the mat. Clambering to their feet with the clench still in place, Dare and Lemarchand paid no attention to the applause from the crowd, they only had eyes for one another.
“A fetching trick, pretty bird.” Olivia said under her breath. “Alas, my talons have found purchase and you are a most suitable mount.”
Lenore’s dark eyes narrowed to determined slits. “Careful with your words, English. They might give me ide--”
Olivia shifted a foot behind her opponent’s left heel and started to push forward. This simple adjustment left the Fair & Radiant Maiden in a difficult position. Step back and she’d almost certainly trip over Olivia’s foot or at the very least lose her balance and cede full control of their contest to the blonde. Neither of those struck Lenore as something she’d much enjoy, so the Raven set her footing as carefully as she could and proceeded to leaaaaaaan back in a sinuous bridge that had even the staunchest of Court haters muttering their approval.
The tactic proved simultaneously surprising, impressive and infuriating to the Englishwoman. She’d seen women bridge as an answer to the traditional Test of Strength, in fact she’d done it herself on several occasions throughout her career. But she’d never seen anyone try in from the standard Collar & Elbow and it chafed her to know the American had come up with a spot that had her name written all over it. Shooing these distractions aside for the moment, Olivia focused on forcing Lenore down until only the tips of her toes and the crown of her skull were touching the canvas. Far more comfortable on one knee, Dare leaned in so close her lips were practically touching the American’s chin. “That looks like a comfy bridge, Lenore. Think it can support my weight?”
“I know it can.” Lenore’s voice was strained, yet confident. “Go ahead and hop on if you’d like. It’s high time you learned what washboard abs feel like.”
The Oncoming Storm snorted in derision. “I don’t need to consult you for that information. However I am most curious to know what Raven tears might feel like when they’re cascading down my washbo--”
Lenore kicked both legs up and rocked back onto her shoulders, thus breaking the bridge of her own volition. This information was still fresh in Olivia’s mind when Emily’s Lady in Waiting popped her hips and kipped to boot leather while still secured in the Collar & Elbow! A simple thing in truth, but it was so startling that the FAWNatics gave her a round of applause and Olivia gave up a few steps of hard earned canvas. Given an inch, Lemarchand took a mile, the slender-strong battler just bulling Dare toward an embarrassing butt-on-ropes collision.
Determined not to lose the first skirmish in this decisive war, Olivia shifted one hand to the point of Lenore’s chin and forced her head back at an unpleasant angle. It stopped them moving but Lemarchand must’ve not appreciated the hand in her face because she helped herself to a hank of hair at the nape of Olivia’s neck and pulled hard enough to make her wince. Noting the minor infraction, Al Carpenter walked over and tapped Lenore’s forearm. “Off her hair, Lenore. Come on now, let’s keep it cle--”
“It’s quite all right, Algernon.” Olivia interrupted with feigned casualness. “Lenore’s already out of her depth, I don’t see any reason she can’t--”
The Raven released Dare’s locks and administered a short, brisk slap across the face. While not nearly strong enough to make the blonde’s eyes water, it caught her attention full force, which was exactly as Lemarchand intended. “You’re really going to chide me about a little hair pull, ‘Liv? That’s rich, coming from a girl who’s practically stuffing her grubby little fingers in my mouTHHHerrrrrhhhhh!”
Olivia took the brunette’s lower lip between thumb and forefinger and twisted it sharply, a positively ancient AHW technique straight from merry old England. “These grubby little fingers could take your career from you in an instant, luv.” she growled. “Remember that before you start to sass your betnnnnnuuuugghhhhhh!”
Lenore curled her smackin’ hand into a pincer, set it on Dare’s nose and pushed back / clamped down. Answering Dare’s elegant little indignity with one of her own, the Black Courtier resumed her progress and in a few long strides she forced Olivia’s back against the ropes. She couldn’t say anything cogent with Olivia’s control over her lip, so instead she relinquished control of the blonde’s nose and patted her cheek in the most condescending fashion imaginable.
Pleased to be of some use after playing the observer thus far, Al closed on his tangled grapplers and tapped the wrist of each hand involved in the most questionable grips. “That’s a break ladies. Unhook and keep your hands up while Lenore backs away. Are we clear?” They both nodded and indeed they relinquished their control over the other’s lip or nose, but Raven and Blackbird made no attempt to create any real distance. Carpenter frowned. “I know both of you have excellent hearing. So please don’t make me repeat myself.”
“Pardon me, Algernon.” Olivia said without taking her eyes from the American. “But I believe a break is only required if one or both participants have requested it. Though I am familiar with all the varieties of Lenore’s whining I have yet to hear her voice such a request and I know I wouldn’t ask for such a blatant assist.” She pressed forward against her brunette as if to emphasize the point and got wedged against the strands for her trouble.
“’Liv, you’re trapped against the ropes.” the ref explained. “I get this whole bendyback Test of Strength you girls have going here, but it’s gotta end some time and I’m not gonna have the suits chewing my ass because you two wouldn’t break a clinch! There’s nowhere for you to go, so--”
The Oncoming Storm flashed him a crackling smile. “That’s where you’re wrong, dear man.” Then she dipped her hips and dropped back between the top and middle ropes. Tenacious to the end, Lemarchand ‘eeped’ in surprise and tumbled alongside her nemesis through a short, awkward fall that ended with the ladies THWHAPPING hard against the thin blue mats.
The FAWNatics ‘ooooohhhhed!’ the fall, then ‘AWWWWWWWW’ed!’ when Lenore and Olivia clambered to verticality while STILL locked in the Collar & Elbow!
Doing her best to ignore the cramps creeping through her fingers and wrists, Lemarchand put her forehead against the Briton’s and huffed, “What’s the matter, ‘Liv? Afraid of what I’ll do to you when you find the courage to let GUUUHHHNNNGGHH!”
Dare charged across the narrow aisle and BWUUUNKED her foe into the steel barricade spine-first. The shock of it finally loosened Lenore’s hands, unfortunately Olivia’s had grown all the tighter. After a pair of smaller collisions with the guardrail (the last of which banged several shins in the first row) the former FAWN World Champion took a giant step back, pivoted her hips and swung the Fair & Radiant Maiden in a loopy half circle. There was a resounding BWAAANG followed by more groans from the floor seat fans as Lenore slammed into the steel steps hard enough to knock the top half off its base.
That finally broke up the clinch for good and the Raven crumpled to the floor clutching at her shoulder and hip while Olivia raised both hands for her appreciative followers. “Her talons are strong!” she admitted to everyone in the sound of her voice. “But no mere bird can hold fast against the power of the Oncoming Storm!”
With the pace finally set, Olivia strutted back to Lenore, grabbed her by trunks n’ tresses and hoisted her to verticality. After that it was merely a matter of bundling her onto the apron, though it should be noted that Dare didn’t force her opponent all the way into the squared circle. Rather she rolled her three quarters of the way under, doing so at such an angle that Lemarchand’s shoulders were on the apron while her head hung over the edge. “Now that I’ve got a moment to breathe--” Olivia flicked out a hand, slapping Lenore hard enough to twist her head to one side. “This is a fight you were destined to lose, pretty bird.” she said softly. “And this is the moment it starts to sink in.”
The stunned Courtier said something in response, alas Dare wasn’t there to hear it. She’d already rolled under the bottom rope and pushed to her feet on the other side. Positioned just off Lemarchand’s left side, Olivia took the top rope in both hands and vaulted over it with the sort of casual ease that reminded some folks of her often overlooked highflying credentials. Left leg extended even before she crested the apex, Olivia THWHUMED the back of that thigh across Lenore’s chest with a Slingshot Leg Drop that snapped the base of the American’s neck against the edge of the apron.
b]SLINGSHOT APRON LEG DROP:[/b]
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XuHV1SuGas
Olivia landed on her feet and strolled away to accept some more kudos while Lenore rolled onto her side and cradled her aching neck in both hands. She was still nursing this unpleasant ache when the Blackbird slid in beside her and stood up. “Get her out of the ropes, Olivia.” Al admonished even as the blonde laid claim to her foe’s ankles. “You’ve got a whole ring feeling neglected.”
“Fear not my friend, I plan to use every square inch of this exquisite canvas before the bell sounds again.” Olivia told him with a faint smile. “But at this particular moment I have business in the ropes with this would-be usurper.”
“Oh get over yourself.” Lemarchand groaned from her unpleasant perch on the apron. “I never wanted your spot, I just wanted one of my ahhhh shyt!”
The Englishwoman wrenched the Black Courtier’s right leg out full length, then stepped over and around, crooking it behind her own calf. In the next instant she dropped to her tush, grabbed hold of Lenore’s left leg, stretched it out and forced the folded gam atop it. Immediately thereafter she snugged the pit of her right knee down over the exposed ankle and puuuuuuuussssshed up on her hands to secure the Figure Four Leglock.
FIGURE FOUR LEGLOCK:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LJ71WlspDc
This raised a pleased, but slightly startled cheer from the capacity crowd. Olivia’s legs were dangerous indeed and she’d had every opportunity to drag Lenore into the middle of the ring, so why’d she hooked it on when the brunette was already in the ropes? They got their answer when Lemarchand pulled herself up and crooked an arm around the bottom rope. “Break.” she said quietly.
Far from satisfied, Olivia rocked up n’ down, adding more pressure and torque to the grinding hold. “What was that?” she barked. “I don’t believe I heard you, dear!”
Lenore glared daggers from the other side of the strands. “I said, break.”
“You want a BREAK?” Dare taunted. “Why is that, dear? Can’t work your way free without NNNGGHH!”
Emily’s Lady in Waiting reached through and pounded a stiff Hammer Punch into the blonde’s right knee. “Let go or I won’t stop punching until this thing bends both ways.” She reinforced this assertion by striking Olivia’s knee twice more in rapid succession.
Olivia kept her eyes trained on Lenore even though she could sense Carpenter closing in to enforce the break. Electing to do so before he could say so much as a word, Dare scooted away, but snagged her opponent’s ankles in the process. Lemarchand started to complain, then her jaw snapped shut to better choke off the groan that bubbled up when Olivia pumped a heel into her crotch.
“Uncalled for, ‘Liv.” Al muttered in the wake of the low blow. “You’re better than that.”
“No Al, I’m better than HER.” Dare corrected him at once. “This is the fight SHE wanted. SHE demanded my best knowing full well that my best can make the machinations of Lisa Dream and our current World Champion look like the temper tantrum of a spoiled toddler. The truth is, my best is a terrible thing indeed and tonight dear Lenore learns what happens to those who call it forth.”
Still holding Lemarchand by the ankles, Olivia draaaaaaaaagged her to the center of the squared circle before circling around and hauling her up with a handful of hair. Sidling in close, Dare coiled her right leg around Lenore’s right thigh, swung around on her six and slipped her right arm under the brunette’s left bicep. “So you’ve got yourself a washboard, ehh luv?” Olivia clasped her hands over Lemarchand’s right shoulder and craaaaaaaanked back on the Abdominal Stretch. “Let’s see how long they can stand up to scrutiny.”
ABDOMINAL STRETCH @ 00:22
www.youtube.com/watch?v=iW91CiukaY4
Lenore kept her tone remarkably cool, an impressive feat considering the obvious strain etched on her face. “Look all you want, ‘Liv, but don’t even think about touching. Otherwise you might get a much closer view than NGH!”
The Englishwoman loosed her left hand, flattened it into a paddle and SMACKED it against the tightly stretched expanse of her foe’s lycra sheathed flank. “You should know better than to make that sort of statement in my hearing, dear heart.” Olivia slapped her again, very much liking the crisp fall echo of it. “I can never resist defying a good threat.”
“No threat there, baby.” Lemarchand grunted. “Just a promise. Smack my abs all you want, just don’t complain when they’re smacking you bacKEEHHHHHHH!”
The trapped brunette sucked in a sharp breath when Dare crooked her paddle into a spade and corkscrewed it into her midsection. “Didn’t you learn your lesson on the penthouse carpet?” the former World Champion murmured. “Making promises you can’t keep is a sure way to end up mewling at my MMMRRPPPGHH!”
Lenore’s right hand swung up and clamped down on Dare’s face in a grip that was every bit as unpleasant as it was legal. Make no mistake, this wasn’t a Palm Smother, at least not intentionally. Oh sure, the Raven’s mitt certainly interfered with her opponent’s breathing, but suffocation wasn’t the primary objective. No, Lenore clamped down on the blonde’s muzzle for the sole purpose of making her hurt. Startled by such a base tactic from the usually elegant technician, Olivia muttered and squirmed, twisting her head this way n’ that while maintaining pressure on the Abdominal Stretch.
She must’ve proven a bit too successful because Lemarchand wedged her fingers between the other Lightweight’s parted lips and snatched hold of her tongue. Dare’s eyes were still going wide when the Fair & Radiant Maiden treated her to a literal tongue twister. The helpless gurgle that poured from Olivia’s mouth was so undignified that she abandoned the Abdominal Stretch just to wrest Lenore’s filthy digits from her mouth. Spitting them out like poison, the infuriated whippet wrapped an arm around Lemarchand’s waist and hauled her into a THWUMPING Thighlift across the small of the back.
As startled by that as Dare had been by the Face Claw, Lenore’s knees quavered and her hands flew to shoulder level where they hung in momentary paralysis. Delightfully unburdened by such an affliction, the Oncoming Storm laid claim to Lemarchand’s left shin and folded it up so that the American’s heel was wedged against her own butt. Head wedged under Lenore’s left arm, Dare hoisted the squirming brunette into the air, held her for a moment and dropped her back the way she’d came to spike the Raven’s defenseless shin against her knee. Lemarchand hissed and would’ve hobbled away if Olivia hadn’t pulled her back and immediately popped her hips to hurl the Courtier onto the back of her head and shoulders with a Huge Backdrop Suplex. Lenore landed in a loose Matchbook that collapsed mere heartbeats after she’d returned to the canvas.
SHIN BREAKER & BACKDROP SUPLEX:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGXNiiqTB2s
In any of their previous encounters Olivia would’ve hurried over to go for a cover, but with the submission rules in effect she took some time flicking her one-piece back into place and making a quick inspection of the features her boorish adversary had attempted to mangle. Finding everything in order, she strode over to Lenore and planted her left foot across the brunette’s right ankle. “I could make this quick.” Olivia noted after she’d helped herself to Lemarchand’s left ankle. “Certainly an emphatic rebuttal would provide the answer that you and your most delusional, excuse me, strident. supporters seem to crave. Yet blowing your doors off doesn’t give me back the months I’ve wasted trying to pluck this thorn from my side. So I’m going to take my time in taking you apart.”
With that she leaaaaaaaaaaaned down onto the brunette’s pinned foot and puuuuuuuuuuushed her left leg out and away in a hamstring-straining Wishbone. It was a move that invariably earned a rowdy roar from the more lascivious FAWNatics, but wrestlers and officials both knew the simple stretch could do a great deal of damage in almost no time at all. That was why Carpenter was quick to check on Lemarchand’s status. “How you doing, Lenore? Hanging in there ok?”
Lenore, who’d been cupping her inner thighs to assuage the hurt rather than out of any worry about modesty nodded once. “I’ll be fine, Al. ’Liv’s not strong enough to break this bendyba--”
CRAAACK! Olivia halved her grip on the brunette’s left foot, leaned down and clouted her across the cheek with a scathing Bytch Slap. “Sorry luv, couldn’t hear that over the sound of my palm on your flat face. Would you mind repeating yourself?”
Lenore rubbed the sting out of her cheek, reached for Olivia’s hair and snorted when the Briton drew herself out of reach. “I said you’re the most rigid, brittle, scarecrow of a woman I’ve ever had the misfortune of sharing a--”
CRACRAAACK! Olivia gave it to her forehand and backhand, the pair of cheek-reddening blasts turning the Courtier’s noggin into an oversized metronome. “Lord, the acoustics in here are terrible!” Dare groused as she tried to split Lemarchand right up the middle. “I’d swear you were trying to tell me something but I can’t quite make it out.”
Refusing to tend to her face this time around, Emily’s Lady in Waiting growled, “I said it’s a dark, sad day when an Englishwoman slaps like a limp-wristed Frog--” Olivia swung on her with a third slap but this time Lenore caught her wrist in a death-grip. Wrenching Dare forward to pull her off balance, Lemarchand angled that captured arm across the blonde’s throat and kicked her legs up n’ around the Blackbird’s throat.
Triangle Choke, Lenore Lemarchand to Olivia Dare.
TRIANGLE CHOKE:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwnfBdGawCU
Ankles locked, the brunette stretched her legs for maximum extension all while fighting to tug the Brit’s arm a little closer against her windpipe. “Say it.” Lenore hissed to her breathless opposition. “Say it before you pass out, little girl.”
Forcing herself to calm down after a few heartbeats of near abject panic, Dare stuffed her free hand into Lemarchand’s face in hopes of distracting her long enough to find a way out. Not about to give up a potentially match winning hold without a helluva lot more fight than that, Lenore twisted her head to the side and bellowed, “Keep her off my eyes, Carpenter!” Dare hadn’t resorted to such tactics of course, but she was still forced to burn precious seconds pleading (or rather pantomiming) her case. Her head already swimming after that relatively brief span, Olivia knew she couldn’t waste any more time battling the Triangle. Thankfully on her knees instead of her tummy, what came next was only difficult and not nearly impossible.
Free hand braced against the mat, Dare knee-walked into Lenore’s upturned haunches until the Courtier was stacked high on her shoulders. Carpenter started forward, then drew back when he remembered pins didn’t mean a thing tonight. Lemarchand had a better idea of what the Englishwoman had in mind and she shook her head in disbelief. “Don’t even try it, ‘Liv. You’re strong, but not nearly strong enough to NNNNGGGGHHH!”
The Raven was right, Olivia didn’t have the strength (or at least the leverage) to hoist the American off the mat for a Powerbomb. She could however crook her free arm into a ‘V and POUND Forearm Smashes down into her foe’s face. Lenore snarled, twisted away from what blows she could, then relinquished control over the blonde’s trapped wrist to better deal with her cudgeling arm. Any strategy they might’ve employed soon gave way to furious hand fighting and even that didn’t last before devolving into a bout of ferocious hair pulling. Didn’t matter how technically skilled a grappler was, no hold lasted for too long against prolonged hair pulling, especially when the pull-ee answered back with some follicular torment of her own. And so Olivia escaped the Triangle Choke only to find herself embroiled in a double-fisted war in which she and Lenore did their level best to remove great patches of one another’s scalp.
Though he relished the idea of breaking them up about as much as he would sticking his hand into a running blender, Al Carpenter was a professional and after a quick prayer to the god of referees he stormed into the breach and wrapped both arms around Olivia’s waist. “BREAK IT UP! BREAK IT UP, THE BOTH OF YOU! LET GO RIGHT NOW!” the official bellowed as she pulled Olivia from her hissing quarry.
Dare kicked, fought and tugged every inch of the way and was rewarded with a few tufts of dark hair as a consolation prize. Lenore’s eyes were watering something fierce but she hadn’t come away empty handed either, if the golden strands dangling from her clenched fists were any indication. “I’M OFF, NOW LET ME GO! I SAID LET ME BLOODY GO, CARPENTER!” The Oncoming Storm wrenched loose of the official’s grasp and stalked right back to the recovering brunette. She didn’t attack however, at least not physically. Instead she put her hands below her lips and blew Lemarchand’s liberated hair back into the Courtier’s surprised face. “I believe this rat’s nest is yours, pretty birNNNGGGGGGHHH!”
Lenore caught Olivia around the thighs, hoisted her off her feet and genuflected to one knee to TWHUMP the Briton’s crotch atop the altar of her bent knee. Almost eye to eye with the knock-kneed beauty, Lenore curled one hand into a spade and shumped it between her rival’s thighs. “And this is yours, bytch.” She squeezed Olivia’s crotch until her knuckles turned white, then let go and rose to her full height. With Dare’s head already near waist level it was no trouble at all to slip her arms under opposing biceps to complete the Double Underhook. After that it was a simple hop n’ drop, Lemarchand landing flat on her back to TWHONK the crown of Olivia’s skull into the mat with a Double Underhook DDT.
DOUBLE UNDERHOOK DDT:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xWKrbF24P8
Olivia rolled onto her back without fear of fighting off a pin attempt, yet she still experienced an unpleasant thrill when Lenore stretched out atop her in a Crossbody. “Cuuuhhh… can’t pin me, tramp.” Dare huffed, “So get your bony ass of MEERRRRAAAAARRGGGHHHH!”
The Raven was perfectly aware of the stipulation, which was why she didn’t go for a cover. Rather she kicked her left leg over the back of Olivia’s head and pulled the surprised battler down into a grinding Headscissors. As if that wasn’t unpleasant enough, Lenore grabbed her foe’s left wrist in her right hand, then reached under the captured arm with her right hand. Gripping her own left wrist for extra leverage, Lemarchand craaaaaaaaaaaaaaanked Olivia’s arm up and back with a hellacious Kimura. “Tap out!” Lenore demanded of the wailing blonde. “Tap out before I break your arm, Olivia! Test me and you’ll pay!”
KIMURA & HEADSCISSORS @ 1:05
www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1wWPN1Ds9o
Pinned on her right side, Dare could only kick her legs and smack at her attacker’s left thigh. “What do you say, ‘Liv? Do you need me to call it?” Al swooped in as soon as the Kimura got cinched in. Bendy was one thing, but a joint-lock like that could make anyone bawl in mere seconds.
Olivia shook her head ‘no’, which wasn’t that easy with Lemarchand’s strong, slender thighs framing her cheeks. “No!” she answered with a remarkable lack of sass. “She’s gonna have to break AAAAAAUUUHHH GAAAAWWWWDDD!”
Lenore jarred her prey’s wrist up and down up and down, apparently trying to snap the former World Champion’s arm at the elbow. “Give up the match or give up your arm, sweetheart!” the Black Courtier barked. “I’ll break it, I swear I wiLLLERRGHHH BYTCH!”
Options dwindling even as the pain grew exponentially, Dare twisted her head as best she could and sank her teeth into the back of Lemarchand’s left thigh. The bite was far from pleasant, but not enough to make the Fair & Radiant Maiden relinquish her pair of holds. That only happened when the Englishwoman snatched hold of that shiny black one-piece and yaaaaaaaaaanked several inches of it between her rival’s glutes. Lenore held on as long as she could, but Olivia kept sawing and gnawing until she was forced to disengage. Dare rolled in the opposite direction as soon as the American let loose, her tweaked left arm cradled oh so tight against her chest.
A short distance away, Lemarchand got up and gingerly adjusted her distended togs. She paid no attention to the welt on the back of her thigh, it was merely another indignity to repay before the bell sounded again. Eyes locked on the Oncoming Storm, Lenore stalked over to her wounded foe and plunged both hands into her hair. “You’re going to pay for that, little girl. Even if I have to break both arms and both legs, you’re going to OOOFFFHH!”
Olivia hit her in the belly with a straight right hand. Lemarchand staggered back after Dare tacked on a left and a second right to go with the first. She might’ve backed out of range if the Briton hadn’t gripped her hips and jerked her forward. THWHUMP! Olivia slammed the crown of her skull into Lenore’s crotch, a vicious low blow that froze up those world class stems. Clambering to boot leather while Lemarchand gripped at her aching undercarriage, Olivia took the brunette’s left wrist in both hands and twisted the arm attached in a wide circle. Upon completing that circle she raised her right foot and braced it against the side of Lenore’s face. Then she sprang up and dropped to her back to THWHAP the other woman’s head back with a huge helping of Sole Food.
SOLE FOOD:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtap5IzhMDo
Lemarchand toppled onto her back but didn’t get to stay there long, as Dare used that tenacious Wristlock to roll her onto her stomach. The wider implication of this development didn’t hit her until the Englishwoman was practically seated atop her left shoulder and by then Olivia was craaaaaaaaaaaanking back on the Reverse Armbar.
REVERSE ARMBAR @ 00:25
www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqKvbLf8bT8
“AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH SHHHHHHIIIITTTT!” Lemarchand wailed like a wolf caught in a trap as Dare repaid the Kimura with arm breaking interest.
“What’s the matter pretty bird, does it hurt?” Olivia roared. “Does it hurt so bad you can’t imagine it getting worse? Then SUBMIT!” She pulled Lenore’s hand toward her, leaned in and bit down on those twitching fingers.
As of yet unaware of the biting, Al sidled into place beside Lenore and asked, “Do you give, Lenore? Do you need me to call for the bell?”
The Raven shook her head ‘no’, presumably to answer both questions. “She’s biting me, Al.” Lemarchand whimpered. “Muuuuhhh…… make that cheap bytch fight me fair.”
He pulled away, got to one knee and sure enough, Olivia was mangling her rival’s digits. “Spit ‘em out, Olivia.” the ref demanded. “The Armbar is fine, but you can’t bite her.”
Dare eyed him balefully, but did as asked without complaint. “Have the techs make sure the EMT’s are on standby.” she told Carpenter. “Lenore’s too proud and too stupid to just tap out, so I’ll have to break someEERRRGGGGHHH!”
Perfectly willing to match Olivia’s previous cattiness with some of her own, Lenore turned her head into the Englishwoman’s encroaching rump and she sank her teeth into one smooth glute. Rising from her mount before she even realized what the American had done, an infuriated Olivia stamped back to the vulnerable brunette and buried a vengeful kick in her ribs.
“F*cking bytch.” Dare’s voice was a murderous growl as she peeled the wounded Courtier off the mat. “You’re going straight from the ring, to a stretcher, to an ambulance. And everyone in this arena will be cheering their guts out when the door slams shut on your miserable ass.”
A Kneelift to the gut kept Lenore sludgy pliable as the infuriated Briton snuggled in against her left side. Reaching over the back of Lemarchand’s head with her left hand, she took possession of the brunette’s dangling left wrist and pulled it up against her throat, Straightjacket style. In the same instant she grabbed Lenore’s right wrist in her right hand and angled that arm across her lower back in a Hammerlock. Soon as those hooks were set Dare jumped up, pressed her knees to the American’s spine and laid out on her back to spin Lemarchand over into the hellacious THWHUMP of her Double Dare Lungblower. Emily’s Lady in Waiting bounced high and tumbled over in mid-air, landing facedown in an ungainly sprawl.
DOUBLE DARE:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6bRRgcrxks
She was just starting to show signs of life when Olivia crawled over and straddled her at the waist. Hands planted on either side of her foe’s head, the Oncoming Storm laid her legs over Lenore’s and hooked her boots inside the prone woman’s ankles. “Didn’t think a Raven could be snared, did you ‘luv?” Dare asked as she began to stretch Lemarchand’s legs farther and farther apart. “Well now you know better.”
Her legs all but neutralized by Olivia’s own stems, Lenore braced her elbows against the canvas and pushed up as best she could. “Good catch, ‘Liv.” she grunted. “But just because you snared me doesn’t mean you can keep me trappeerrrgghhhhhhh!”
Olivia threaded her hands under Lemarchand’s chin and pulled up and back to complete the Dare Snare. With her legs and neck stretched at increasingly ugly angles, Lenore was forced to devote all her resources to alleviating the worst of the tension. She managed well enough, alas that meant she couldn’t make any progress in the direction of the ropes. “Give it up, Lenore.” Olivia murmured in her foe’s ear. “Tap out or beg off, I don’t care which, just do it before my patience runs thin.” Still propped on her elbows, Lemarchand caught hold of Olivia’s hands and tried to prize them from her jaw with minimal success. The blonde frowned, streeeeeeeeeetched her legs a little wider and was rewarded with a low groan from her prey. “I said give it up. Don’t make me humiliate you on a stage this big.”
Forced to face the fact that the only way out was on her belly, Lemarchand abandoned her meager fronts on Olivia’s hands and started crawling across the mat. “You’d humiliate me anyway, wouldn’t you?” the brunette asked after earning six torturous inches. “That’s my punishment for having the temerity to beat you in straight falls isn’t it, Olivia?”
The woman in question cranked up on Lenore’s chin, slowing her progress to a crawl. “You stripped off my top in this very ring, pretty bird. You deserve whatever you get.”
Lemarchand’s eyes had been narrowed in pain, now they flared with fresh fury. “And you finger-banged me in front of the whole f*cking world, Olivia. If anyone in this ring deserves a little more humiliation it’s YUNGH! UNGH! UNGH! Oh you hateful, insecure bytch! I’ll kill you for UNGH!”
Olivia raised her hips then ‘SMECKED!’ her crotch into Lenore’s bunched backside for the fourth time. Smiling as the crowd cheered her on, the domineering Englishwoman ground a languid little figure eight on the brunette’s butt until she got bored and treated her to another taunting ‘SMECK!’ “You want humiliation, Lenore?” Olivia’s voice was poison honey. “I’ve got all that you can handle and helluva lot more that you canERRRRRGGGGHHH!”
The Fair & Radiant Maiden finally slipped her chin free of Dare’s control and the first thing she did was bury her teeth in the soft skin between the thumb and forefinger of Olivia’s left hand. What remained of the Snare grew very loose, to the point that Lenore could drag herself along the mat with minimal resistance. She’d made it to within a foot of the ropes when the former World Champ grabbed her head in both hands and BWONKED her forehead against the mat. “So close and yet so far.” Olivia cooed. “That could be the motto for this whole misguided campaign of yours, couldn’t it, twat?”
Lenore was too stunned to answer so Dare slid off her, took possession of both ankles and draaaaaaaaaaaagged her back to the center of the squared circle. Once there she turned Lemarchand onto her belly, dipped her knees and threaded the brunette’s right leg across the back of her neck. With the pit of Lenore’s knee snugged in tight, Olivia hooked the captured gam at ankle and thigh, then straightened up far enough to hoist the Raven into a makeshift handstand. It raised an immediate shriek from Lemarchand, but this particular predicament only lasted until Dare lowered Lenore onto her chest, swung a leg over and sat down with her rump squarely on the back of her rival’s head.
Oli-viaticum, Olivia Dare to Lenore Lemarchand.
OLI-VIATICUM:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nFThHqePrw
“SUBMIT!” Olivia roared over the thunderous crowd noise as she tortured Lenore with her finisher of choice. “BETTER YET, BEG FOR MERCY! SCREAM IT, LENORE! SCREAM!”
Lenore Lemarchand screamed very loud indeed, her wail of anguish eclipsing anything the fans had heard from her since the beginning of her FAWN run. She wailed, sobbed, moaned and whimpered, but she didn’t submit, indeed she seemed to quiet down a little when a good portion of those assembled answered a loud ’TAP!’ chant with ’PLEASE DON’T TAP!’
Angered by the brunette’s resistance and the portion of the crowd that dared spur her on, Olivia pulled her left hand away from Lenore’s thigh and sank it into the undercarriage of that defenseless one-piece. “Ask. Her.” the Briton demanded of Al Carpenter. “Right now.”
Al didn’t need to be told twice, in fact he was already as close to Lemarchand as safety allowed. “Do you need to the bell, Lenore? Just say the word and I’ll--”
“Tell Olivia that if she doesn’t get out of my trunks right now she’s going to pay for it with tears.” Lenore rasped through some tears of her own. “You hear me, Dare? Leggo or I’ll AAWWWWWWWWW FAAAAAAAHHHHKK!”
Olivia found the faint outline of her prey’s womanhood and clamped down with every bit of venom she could muster. “YOU’RE DONE!” Olivia bellowed. “BEG FOR MERCY OR YOU’LL SCREAM FOR TWO ENTIRELY DIFFERENT NNNNGGGHHH!”
Lenore’s left leg, which had been dangling uselessly since the torture began suddenly snapped forward and caught the startled blonde in the forehead. The Storm rocked unsteadily, then slid from her perch on Lenore’s neck when the brunette’s heel tagged her again. Almost sobbing at that little bit of relief, Lemarchand slid out and flopped over onto her back. Doing so meant her damaged right leg was still in Dare’s possession, but the strain on her back had vanished and even one good leg was enough to--PWAAAK! Lenore drove her left foot into the Briton’s tummy, then into her chest and finally scuffed another shot off her forehead when Dare leaned forward a little too far.
Astounded and quite frankly disgusted by the fact that the American chav was still fighting back after having one leg nearly torn off, Olivia tossed the gam in question aside and drove a brutal STOMP into her rival’s tummy. Lenore folded up around it and stayed that way, allowing Dare to cup her ears and hoist her to verticality. “I would’ve been satisfied dislocating your knee, pretty bird. Now I’m going to break your neck.”
Spinning Lemarchand in a half circle, Olivia dropped into a crouch, wedged her head between the brunette’s thighs and muscled her up onto her shoulders. Nothing good ever happened in the Electric Chair as evidenced by the way Lenore’s loyal supporters groaned when Olivia reached up and cupped her behind the neck. Tucking the Raven’s chin against her chest, Dare stomped to the center of the ring and “GAAAAAARGGGGGHHHHHH!”
Far too hurt to care for decorum, Lenore reached down with both hands and raaaaaaaaaaaaaaked Olivia’s eyes as hard as she could. The clasp around her neck dropped away at once and Lemarchand followed along behind it, sliding off the blonde’s shoulders to land on her six. Slapping on a Waistlock without even thinking about it, the Courtier glanced over her shoulder and found exactly what she was looking for. Teeth bared in hate, exhaustion and yes, even a little joy, she popped her hips to sling Olivia, up over and back into a BWUUUNGING spine-first collision with the top turnbuckle.
TURNBUCKLE GERMAN SUPLEX:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9009YhVXVqI
Dare ‘ooooffffhed’ like she was gut-shot, then dropped into a crouch so deep it would’ve put her butt on the canvas if she hadn’t managed to grab onto the bottom rope. After a moment she pulled herself upright, shoved out of the corner and “NOOOOOO! LEGGONNNNGGGGGGHH!” Lemarchand crushed her foe’s midsection with another Waistlock that lasted just long enough for her to launch the Blackbird back into the corner with a second BWUUUNGING German Suplex. No grabbing the ropes this time, the base of Dare’s skull whiplashed off the middle buckle, dropping her to a sloppy seat.
TURNBUCKLE GERMAN, TAKE 2:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zo4n3IeqKRc
Beside her, Lemarchand put a hand to her burning groin in hopes of easing the worst of the hurt. “Cruel bytch.” the Fair & Radiant Maiden said under her breath. “You weren’t strong enough to tear off my leg, so you went after my junk?”
Olivia offered no answer, not that Lenore wanted one. She was already on her feet and twining a hand in the other bendy’s hair. It was odd, ten seconds ago the brunette would’ve sworn she didn’t have the energy to drag Dare away from the corner, let alone hoist her up for another maneuver. But the sight of Olivia tugged onto all fours sent a jolt through Lemarchand’s aching circuits and she peeled her off the mat like they hadn’t been beating the snot out of one another for more than twenty minutes. Wedging Dare’s head under her left arm, Lenore tossed the near arm across her shoulders and snagged a handful of waistband. Then she gathered her reserves and powered her burden all the way to three o’clock, just enough elevation to drop Olivia’s ankles across the top rope. The FAWNatics had barely registered this new predicament when the Raven twisted under the Englishwoman to lay out on her back. Doing so jerked Dare from the rubber-coated steel and THWHUNKED her down on the back of her head. Subjected to a trio of concussive noggin-ratting blasts in less than a minute, Olivia bounced to a seat and slowly, slooooowly turned onto her stomach, presumably to ward off a pin that wasn’t coming.
ROPE ASSISTED NECKBREAKER:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqU6ZLueWgk
Al Carpenter had kept his distance ever since Lenore escaped from the Oli-viaticum, but the sharp-eyed official started forward the instant he saw the unpleasantly glassy sheen in Dare’s eyes. There were mere steps between him and his charge, alas Al was denied his due diligence because Lemarchand snatched Olivia by the nape of the neck and hauled her to boot leather in fits and starts. “What’re you doing, Lenore?” he asked when the limber brunette used her left arm to secure Dare in a Front Facelock. “This is a submission match. She has to be conscious if you want her to submit.”
Lenore fixed him with a level, weary look. “That’s not true, Al. Referees are allowed to stop the match at any time if they think a competitor can’t protect herself. Do you think Olivia’s defenseless?”
Al cringed inwardly. Lenore was right, he could stop the match, but it was the last of last ditch efforts and if he DID pull the trigger it was a sure bet someone would have his ass.
Lenore left him to these musings, she had plans of her own. First things first, she tossed Dare’s near arm over her shoulders. Then she reached down with her right hand, cradled the back of the Briton’s right thigh and jerked that leg up and across Olivia’s plant leg, thus reducing her to vertical base to one trembling foot. Clamped down tight on Dare’s left thigh, Lenore gathered her strength then boosted the Oncoming Storm directly overhead and held her there for a heartbeat or two before dropping down to THWHUNK the base of ’Liv’s neck into the mat with the Bleak December Brainbuster. Dare’s arms and legs popped open in an energetic starfish that looked completely spent long before the mat stopped shivering.
BLEAK DECEMBER:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1nzylCY1Lo
Lenore rolled to one knee, saw Carpenter closing in like he was going check on Olivia and put a stop to that by throwing herself across the blonde’s chest. She hooked the far leg with one arm and smacked out a count with the other. “ONE! TWO! THRE!”
Dare kicked out and turned onto her side, barely escaping a pin that didn’t even matter.
Actually Olivia’s escape meant a great deal, as it illustrated Lemarchand’s point while neutralizing the zebra’s obvious concerns. “See that?” Lenore asked of the kick out. “She’s far from defenseless, Al. So back off.”
Carpenter shook his head. “That’s not cool, Lenore. Muscle memory doesn’t mean a damn--”
“Shuuuuu…. shut your gob, Algernon.” Olivia croaked as she struggled to her hands and knees. “This is a fight…. fight to the finish and it will not be decided by GEERRRGGHHH!”
Lenore forced the penitent blonde into a Standing Headscissors and bore down with all her might. “Finally, we agree on something.” Trailing off into silence, Emily’s Lady in Waiting leaned in close against Olivia’s back, reached between her gams and laid claim to both of the Brit’s wrists. Then she pulled those captured wrists back through Dare’s legs, bent her knees in a deep crouch and lifted so hard and so fast that Olivia was flipped off her feet and *almost* onto the brunette’s shoulders. I saw almost because Lemarchand yanked back on her foe’s wrists and dropped to a seat to THAWHAM Olivia down on her face, chest and shoulders. Dare had taken the Nevermore once prior, on that night she’d bounced onto knees then tumbled to her back. Tonight she didn’t even bounce, just a single rough shudder before spreading out in a defenseless puddle.
NEVERMORE:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nQ8LdfBoNs
“Goddammit Lenore, that’s NO! No you don’t, clear off of her!”
Al’s demand fell on deaf ears, or perhaps they were ears too busy listening for an entirely different sound. Shoveling the former World Champion onto her back, Lemarchand lifted her to a slumped seat and snugged in close. From there she laid down on her left side and slipped that leg over Dare’s right arm before she brought her right leg up and around, angling it so her calf was smudged in against the side of Olivia’s face. Then she crunched up and wrapped her arms around the Englishwoman’s head. With Olivia’s head caught between her leg and clasped hands, Lemarchand pushed on the former and pulled on the latter to craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaank the other woman’s neck at a terrible angle. “TAP!” Lenore bellowed as she rolled onto her back. “TAP OUT OLIVIA!”
ONCE UPON A MIDNIGHT DREARY:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFsDUfgURgI
Finally introduced to the brutal knot known as Once Upon a Midnight Dreary, Dare kicked her legs left and right, back and forth and side to side, all in hopes of finding some purchase in the ropes that were still several feet out of reach. When that failed she planted her feet and bridged up on her toes, knowing even in the depths of her anguish that she would have a much greater ability to move if only she could flip onto her stomach. She almost, *almost* made it. In fact she probably would’ve made it if Lemarchand hadn’t pulled her right leg away and pistoned a short, sharp kick into the blonde’s temple. Olivia dropped to her butt with a dull thud and moaned low in her throat when Lenore reapplied the leggy garrote.
“What do you say, ‘Liv?” Al asked quietly. “Tell me something, girl.”
The Oncoming Storm couldn’t shake her head so she spoke instead. “Guuuuh… get out of my way, Al. I can still reach the roppppesssseaaaaauuuuggghhhh!” Dare’s valiant attempt to drape a toe over the bottom strand was thwarted when Lenore grrrrrrrrroooound her calf against opposing nose.
“Submit, Olivia.” Lenore said it just loud enough to be heard over her rival’s suffering. “Struggle. Fight. Pass out. It won’t matter because I’m not letting go until--”
Olivia tapped the American’s left shin three times. “Let me go, Lenore. You win.” she swallowed a fist sized lump in her throat and said it again. “You win.”
Lenore heard her just fine but she didn’t quite believe it until she saw Carpenter turn away to throw a signal to the Timekeeper. The bell CLANGED a heartbeat later and she almost shrieked with joy when the Announcer confirmed, “Ladies and gentlemen, your winner via submission and WINNER of the five match series by a score of three falls to two…. LENORE LEMARCHAND!”
The Raven desperately wanted to pop up and fly her sigil in the face of that surprisingly positive reaction, but maintained her grip on the torturous knot (albeit at a fraction of the original pressure). When the first roar of applause started to die down, she said, “Say it, ‘Liv. I only need to hear it once, but I do need to hear it.”
Olivia closed her eyes, it was the only way to keep tears from pouring down her cheeks. Knowing full well that the brunette could ruin her with the tribute she was perfectly entitled to take, the exhausted grappler could only take a deep breath and hope for… her mind rebelled at the very thought of it… mercy. After another long exhalation she said, “I submit, Lenore.”
Lemarchand released her without hesitation and pushed to one knee. The following span of heartbeats was one of the most nerve-wracking moments of her career. Part of her, a very large part in fact, was screaming for her to take every bit of vengeance that she’d earned. Slap the arrogant Brit in another hold and crank it until she bawled or ride her face like a bicycle seat or strip her down to her boots for an epic Walk of Shame or better yet, strip her down and repay the humiliation she’d suffered at the Madhouse with glorious, ego-shattering interest. The Fair & Radiant Maiden came oh so close to indulging in all those and countless more. But in the end she listened to a second, quieter voice. This voice pointed out that any aggression beyond a certain point would simply validate everything Dare had said about her from the very beginning. That she was nothing more than a callous, manipulative, hateful cog in the engine of the Black Court.
“I am better than that.” she whispered to no one. “And tonight, I’m better than you.”
With that she swung a leg over Olivia’s torso and took a seat on her chest. It was more of a Schoolgirl Pin than a Face Sit, but the fork of her crotch was most definitely brushing the tip of Olivia’s chin. Meeting Dare’s eyes for the briefest of moments, Lemarchand hooked her fingers together, then leaned back and raised the Raven high overhead.
It was answered more than a thousandfold and she would’ve sat there looking at them for quite some time if Al hadn’t strode over and tapped a shoulder. “Good to stand, Lenore?
She offered him a hand and only groaned a little when the ref hauled her to boot leather. Carpenter offered her a weary smile went to raise her hand, but she shook her head ‘no’. “In a moment, Al. There’s one other thing I’ve got to do.” She turned to Olivia, who’d only just then pushed herself to a seat. “You almost destroyed me in June.” the brunette told her nemesis. “You wore me out, you hurt me and finally you humiliated me. I cried in the shower until the water ran cold and then I cried a while longer. But I still shook your hand, Olivia. Even after you’d slapped me across the face and told me I was nothing. Even though the hand you offered was slick with my own… even though you didn’t think I would, I looked you in the eye and shook your hand. Do you remember what I told you then?”
Dare didn’t answer for a long time. Indeed, she still hadn’t replied when she got to her feet and locked eyes with the Raven. Undaunted, Lenore extended her left ha-- Olivia flicked out a foot, kicking the Courtier’s gesture aside. The crowd was drawing its collective breath for an ‘OOOOOOOHHH!” when Dare stepped in and wrapped Lemarchand in a loose hug.
“I was wrong.” she said it in Lenore’s ear to make sure she was heard over the cacophonous delight of those assembled. “You beat me when it mattered the most and you had every right to set my career back five years but you offered your hand instead. You want my respect, Lenore? Consider it yours. And I believe I owe you this.”
The Oncoming Storm gripped Lemarchand’s left wrist, stepped away and held it high to an even louder pop. Neither cried, but the astute viewer noticed a preponderance of eye rubbing, not to mention Al Carpenter keeping close to offer a supportive shoulder.
The enormity of it all finally overwhelmed what little remained of Dare’s reserves and she started toward the ropes as soon as she and Lenore broke apart. ‘Liv had her hand on the top rope when Lemarchand called after her, “I know we’re not done, sweet girl.”
Olivia turned around with one eyebrow arched. “Oh?”
“I said we’re not done. Five matches may have taken us almost a year, but there’s a whole lot of years left in our respective careers. We’ve only just begun to test one another, Olivia Dare and I can promise you this right here and now. Somewhere in the not too distant future we’ll meet again. And the FAWN World Title will hang in the balance. “Get ready, Storm. This is just the end of the beginning.”
Dare flashed her a charming, yet fiercely competitive smile. “Don’t fret, pretty bird. These last few minutes are all the motivation I will EVER need when I see you waiting in the opposite corner. “Don’t forget me, Raven. I won’t forget you.” Then she dipped through the strands, dropped to the floor and headed up the aisle. And damned if the Blackbird didn’t do her best to at least graze each and every palm extended her way.
Back in the ring, Lenore stormed to the corner closest to the hard camera and climbed to the second rope. Hoisting the Raven one more time, she looked out over the sea of faces and roared her message to all that would listen. “TONIGHT’S THE NIGHT I PROVED I BELONG AT THE TOP OF THE CARD! TOMORROW NIGHT I’LL PROVE IT AGAIN. AND THEN THE NIGHT AFTER THAT. AND THE NIGHT AFTER THAT. QUOTH THE RAVEN, FOREVERMORE!”
[b}HUSH:[/b]
www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMAWMR2iCIw
Posted dead center atop the stage, Lemarchand made for an interesting sight. For one, her trademark purple two piece and matching bell-flared ‘leggings’ were nowhere to be seen. In their place was…. well, it was kinda hard to tell. It was presumably a one-piece as evidenced by her bare legs, simple black kneepads and mid-shin wrestling boots, but the exact design was hard to make out because the brunette’s arms were angled down across her chest in a tapering ‘V’ that ended with her wrists crossed at waist-level. Also worth noting, her arms were bare save for elbow pads and black gloves, yet there was most definitely something hanging from them, something that looked an awful lot like--
LENORE LEMARCHAND:
Lenore stepped forward, lifted her head and raised her arms in a triumphant ‘Y’ that revealed her ‘Mania attire as a classic black one piece emblazoned with a pattern that was almost assuredly raven feathers. As for what hung from her arms, they were just streamers, but they tapered from her wrists to her hips in a remarkably elegant imitation of spread wings. Smiling as the FAWNatics grew louder, Lemarchand hooked her thumbs together in her usual Raven sigil and in so doing unveiled her last sartorial surprise. For her gloves weren’t simply black, they too featured a feathered pattern and the thumbs colored such that they formed a perfect head and beak when joined.
After a moment of tense, exhilarated silence, Lenore Lemarchand broke her repose and headed for the squared circle. Though signs both supportive and defamatory were many, the whip-strong bendyback made the trek to the ring in utter silence. This wasn’t arrogance, as some of her detractors were quick to claim, rather it was a nearly preternatural focus on tonight’s challenge. She’d thrown down the gauntlet in December and this had always been the goal. Now that it was here and everything was on the line she had no intention of letting her mind wander.
Taking the steel steps as quickly as she could without appearing to rush, Lemarchand wiped her boots on the apron, then vaulted over the top rope and strode to the center of the ring. Lenore tipped the briefest of nods to referee Al Carpenter as she turned to face the hard camera and spread her wings one more time. When her music started to fade she moved to the far corner and set about removing her accessories all while keeping her eyes locked on the entryway.
2WICKY:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xy_8LqenvGA
The Arena was quiet save for crowd noise when the lights dimmed and thick mist roiled up through the steel grate of the stage floor. It proved nigh impenetrable within seconds and some of the fans started to fear some sort of Black Court trick. But then ‘2Wicky’ began to play and light started to crackle and flicker within the house made fog. Several seconds passed before Olivia Dare stepped into view and raised an index finger high overhead.
OLIVIA DARE:
Like her foe, the Oncoming Storm had commissioned special attire for this decisive battle. Rather than the usual bustier and briefs she wore a pained on one-piece done in dark blue with traces of silver, gray and yellow streaked throughout. Even more striking, the costume department had built her a very fine mesh ‘vest’ that fitted over this new attire. Said vest featured LED filaments that occasionally flickered and sparkled, thus creating the lightning effect seen before she emerged from the crowd. Nodding a thanks for the ‘STORM! STORM! STORM!’ chant that greeted her appearance, Dare lowered her arm, focused on the ring and started down the aisle.
Whereas Lenore had completely ignored the fans during her stroll to battle, Olivia made a point to slap hands with fans on both sides. She didn’t murmur anything more than the occasional thanks though, at least not until she reached a guy holding a sign that read:
THE RAVEN IS GREAT
BUT GREAT’S NOT GOOD ENOUGH TO BRAVE THIS STORM!
PROVE IT TO HER, OLIVIA!
“I mean to, my friend.” she said quietly. I mean to do exactly that.” Returning her attention to the squared circle, Dare moved to the steps and took them up to the apron. Instead of going right on in she strode to the center and put her back to the rubber-coated steel. Offering everyone within view a glimpse of that million dollar smile, Olivia hooked her arms over the top rope, then dipped her knees and tumbled backward to land on her feet with barely a whisper. From there she went straight to the center, met Lenore’s stare without so much as flinching and spread her arms wide. BOOOOOOOOM! A lightning bolt of yellow pyro crashed above the ring and Olivia smiled again. “Storms here, pretty bird. It’s come to knock you out of the sky once and for all.” With that she slipped off the vest, slung it to Al and backed into her corner.
Patient through all the theatrics, the Announcer made his way up the steps and into the center of the ring. “Ladies and gentlemen, the following contest is scheduled for one fall with a thirty minute time limit and it is the DECIDING match in a five match series. Introducing first, in the corner to my left, representing the Black Court, hailing from Glen Echo Michigan, she stands at five feet seven inches tall and weighs in at one hundred and thirty-one pounds. They call her the Raven… LENORE LEMARCHAND!”
Lenore took a single step forward, raised the Raven sigil and lowered it when the applause faded.
“And her opponent, in the corner to my right, hailing from Richmond, England, she stands at five feet seven inches tall and weighs in at one hundred and fifteen pounds. She is the Oncoming Storm, this is… OLIVIA DARE!"
Olivia raised a hand for her supporters but she didn’t pull her eyes from Lemarchand. Couldn’t, in fact. She didn’t think she’d be able to until the American was broken and sobbing at her feet.
The crowd, already abuzz with breathless anticipation, raised its collective voice to thunderous levels when the bell signaled the start of the fifth and final match in this nearly year-long series. Dare and Lemarchand went straight to the center of the squared circle but they didn’t meet with crooked claws or raised fists. Rather they walked right into one another, blonde and brunette going nose to nose, chest to chest, tummy to tummy.
“You’ve made this far more interesting than I thought you would, pretty bird.” Olivia said in a near whisper. “You’ve certainly earned the right to stand alongside the greatest FAWN has to offer. But there is a world of difference between being great and being the best in her field. Tonight you face the full fury of the Oncoming Storm. Tonight you settle for second place. Tonight you submit to Olivia Dare.”
“I never once asked for anything less than your full fury, Olivia.” Lemarchand answered after a moment’s thought. “I never brought so much as a second to ringside and yet you’ve taken every opportunity to impugn my character, scrutinize my motivations and flat out question my skills. Even after I pinned you in back to back falls, you still can’t bring yourself to admit that I’ve been telling the truth all along. Because if you’re wrong about that, you could be wrong about everything else, isn’t that right, black bird?” Lenore thrust her forehead against Olivia’s and pressed hard, forcing the other woman to do the same or give up some ground. “Well you are wrong, Olivia. I can’t prove it yet, but I can promise you this. Tonight you’re in for the match of your life. Tonight you’re going to prove to the world and to me just how good you really are. Tonight, YOU earn the right to shake MY hand.”
The Raven took a half step back, raised her hands and ‘smacked!’ them against Olivia’s shoulders.
Dare staggered, caught her balance and shoved the American right back. Just like that the archrivals hurled themselves into a Collar & Elbow Lock-Up that the crowd treated like stereo Phoenix Splashes from the top of a steel cage. Fingers sank in deep at bicep and shoulder, the pair of exquisite bendybacks were practically motionless in the opening moments of their clench. Only the faint tremors in their shoulders and thighs belied the incredible effort poured into maintaining the stalemate. Eventually Olivia twisted her hips enough to turn them both and she marched Lemarchand toward the corner at double time.
“The ropes are for quitters, dear.” Dare explained in a tone of icy politeness. “Be they in your hand or at your back, ropes are for quitters.”
A similar thought had already run through the brunette’s mind, she didn’t much like hearing it echoed by the elegant blonde. Painfully aware of each and every step, Lenore waited until she was almost out of room before kicking her left foot back against the middle buckle. The makeshift kickstand wouldn’t hold for long and both of them knew it, yet Lemarchand still found the time to coo, “Quitting in the ropes is good practice for when you have to quit in the middle of the ring, ‘Liv. You’re more than welcome to start now.”
She hopped halfway through ‘now’, pushed off her plant foot and shot out of the corner on Dare’s right. Lenore landed easily on her right hip, the agile Courtier fully expecting to send her Briton rolling with that clever twist on the Arm Drag. That made it all the more shocking when Olivia not only held on, she actually tightened her grip to ensure they didn’t break apart while tumbling across the mat. Clambering to their feet with the clench still in place, Dare and Lemarchand paid no attention to the applause from the crowd, they only had eyes for one another.
“A fetching trick, pretty bird.” Olivia said under her breath. “Alas, my talons have found purchase and you are a most suitable mount.”
Lenore’s dark eyes narrowed to determined slits. “Careful with your words, English. They might give me ide--”
Olivia shifted a foot behind her opponent’s left heel and started to push forward. This simple adjustment left the Fair & Radiant Maiden in a difficult position. Step back and she’d almost certainly trip over Olivia’s foot or at the very least lose her balance and cede full control of their contest to the blonde. Neither of those struck Lenore as something she’d much enjoy, so the Raven set her footing as carefully as she could and proceeded to leaaaaaaan back in a sinuous bridge that had even the staunchest of Court haters muttering their approval.
The tactic proved simultaneously surprising, impressive and infuriating to the Englishwoman. She’d seen women bridge as an answer to the traditional Test of Strength, in fact she’d done it herself on several occasions throughout her career. But she’d never seen anyone try in from the standard Collar & Elbow and it chafed her to know the American had come up with a spot that had her name written all over it. Shooing these distractions aside for the moment, Olivia focused on forcing Lenore down until only the tips of her toes and the crown of her skull were touching the canvas. Far more comfortable on one knee, Dare leaned in so close her lips were practically touching the American’s chin. “That looks like a comfy bridge, Lenore. Think it can support my weight?”
“I know it can.” Lenore’s voice was strained, yet confident. “Go ahead and hop on if you’d like. It’s high time you learned what washboard abs feel like.”
The Oncoming Storm snorted in derision. “I don’t need to consult you for that information. However I am most curious to know what Raven tears might feel like when they’re cascading down my washbo--”
Lenore kicked both legs up and rocked back onto her shoulders, thus breaking the bridge of her own volition. This information was still fresh in Olivia’s mind when Emily’s Lady in Waiting popped her hips and kipped to boot leather while still secured in the Collar & Elbow! A simple thing in truth, but it was so startling that the FAWNatics gave her a round of applause and Olivia gave up a few steps of hard earned canvas. Given an inch, Lemarchand took a mile, the slender-strong battler just bulling Dare toward an embarrassing butt-on-ropes collision.
Determined not to lose the first skirmish in this decisive war, Olivia shifted one hand to the point of Lenore’s chin and forced her head back at an unpleasant angle. It stopped them moving but Lemarchand must’ve not appreciated the hand in her face because she helped herself to a hank of hair at the nape of Olivia’s neck and pulled hard enough to make her wince. Noting the minor infraction, Al Carpenter walked over and tapped Lenore’s forearm. “Off her hair, Lenore. Come on now, let’s keep it cle--”
“It’s quite all right, Algernon.” Olivia interrupted with feigned casualness. “Lenore’s already out of her depth, I don’t see any reason she can’t--”
The Raven released Dare’s locks and administered a short, brisk slap across the face. While not nearly strong enough to make the blonde’s eyes water, it caught her attention full force, which was exactly as Lemarchand intended. “You’re really going to chide me about a little hair pull, ‘Liv? That’s rich, coming from a girl who’s practically stuffing her grubby little fingers in my mouTHHHerrrrrhhhhh!”
Olivia took the brunette’s lower lip between thumb and forefinger and twisted it sharply, a positively ancient AHW technique straight from merry old England. “These grubby little fingers could take your career from you in an instant, luv.” she growled. “Remember that before you start to sass your betnnnnnuuuugghhhhhh!”
Lenore curled her smackin’ hand into a pincer, set it on Dare’s nose and pushed back / clamped down. Answering Dare’s elegant little indignity with one of her own, the Black Courtier resumed her progress and in a few long strides she forced Olivia’s back against the ropes. She couldn’t say anything cogent with Olivia’s control over her lip, so instead she relinquished control of the blonde’s nose and patted her cheek in the most condescending fashion imaginable.
Pleased to be of some use after playing the observer thus far, Al closed on his tangled grapplers and tapped the wrist of each hand involved in the most questionable grips. “That’s a break ladies. Unhook and keep your hands up while Lenore backs away. Are we clear?” They both nodded and indeed they relinquished their control over the other’s lip or nose, but Raven and Blackbird made no attempt to create any real distance. Carpenter frowned. “I know both of you have excellent hearing. So please don’t make me repeat myself.”
“Pardon me, Algernon.” Olivia said without taking her eyes from the American. “But I believe a break is only required if one or both participants have requested it. Though I am familiar with all the varieties of Lenore’s whining I have yet to hear her voice such a request and I know I wouldn’t ask for such a blatant assist.” She pressed forward against her brunette as if to emphasize the point and got wedged against the strands for her trouble.
“’Liv, you’re trapped against the ropes.” the ref explained. “I get this whole bendyback Test of Strength you girls have going here, but it’s gotta end some time and I’m not gonna have the suits chewing my ass because you two wouldn’t break a clinch! There’s nowhere for you to go, so--”
The Oncoming Storm flashed him a crackling smile. “That’s where you’re wrong, dear man.” Then she dipped her hips and dropped back between the top and middle ropes. Tenacious to the end, Lemarchand ‘eeped’ in surprise and tumbled alongside her nemesis through a short, awkward fall that ended with the ladies THWHAPPING hard against the thin blue mats.
The FAWNatics ‘ooooohhhhed!’ the fall, then ‘AWWWWWWWW’ed!’ when Lenore and Olivia clambered to verticality while STILL locked in the Collar & Elbow!
Doing her best to ignore the cramps creeping through her fingers and wrists, Lemarchand put her forehead against the Briton’s and huffed, “What’s the matter, ‘Liv? Afraid of what I’ll do to you when you find the courage to let GUUUHHHNNNGGHH!”
Dare charged across the narrow aisle and BWUUUNKED her foe into the steel barricade spine-first. The shock of it finally loosened Lenore’s hands, unfortunately Olivia’s had grown all the tighter. After a pair of smaller collisions with the guardrail (the last of which banged several shins in the first row) the former FAWN World Champion took a giant step back, pivoted her hips and swung the Fair & Radiant Maiden in a loopy half circle. There was a resounding BWAAANG followed by more groans from the floor seat fans as Lenore slammed into the steel steps hard enough to knock the top half off its base.
That finally broke up the clinch for good and the Raven crumpled to the floor clutching at her shoulder and hip while Olivia raised both hands for her appreciative followers. “Her talons are strong!” she admitted to everyone in the sound of her voice. “But no mere bird can hold fast against the power of the Oncoming Storm!”
With the pace finally set, Olivia strutted back to Lenore, grabbed her by trunks n’ tresses and hoisted her to verticality. After that it was merely a matter of bundling her onto the apron, though it should be noted that Dare didn’t force her opponent all the way into the squared circle. Rather she rolled her three quarters of the way under, doing so at such an angle that Lemarchand’s shoulders were on the apron while her head hung over the edge. “Now that I’ve got a moment to breathe--” Olivia flicked out a hand, slapping Lenore hard enough to twist her head to one side. “This is a fight you were destined to lose, pretty bird.” she said softly. “And this is the moment it starts to sink in.”
The stunned Courtier said something in response, alas Dare wasn’t there to hear it. She’d already rolled under the bottom rope and pushed to her feet on the other side. Positioned just off Lemarchand’s left side, Olivia took the top rope in both hands and vaulted over it with the sort of casual ease that reminded some folks of her often overlooked highflying credentials. Left leg extended even before she crested the apex, Olivia THWHUMED the back of that thigh across Lenore’s chest with a Slingshot Leg Drop that snapped the base of the American’s neck against the edge of the apron.
b]SLINGSHOT APRON LEG DROP:[/b]
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XuHV1SuGas
Olivia landed on her feet and strolled away to accept some more kudos while Lenore rolled onto her side and cradled her aching neck in both hands. She was still nursing this unpleasant ache when the Blackbird slid in beside her and stood up. “Get her out of the ropes, Olivia.” Al admonished even as the blonde laid claim to her foe’s ankles. “You’ve got a whole ring feeling neglected.”
“Fear not my friend, I plan to use every square inch of this exquisite canvas before the bell sounds again.” Olivia told him with a faint smile. “But at this particular moment I have business in the ropes with this would-be usurper.”
“Oh get over yourself.” Lemarchand groaned from her unpleasant perch on the apron. “I never wanted your spot, I just wanted one of my ahhhh shyt!”
The Englishwoman wrenched the Black Courtier’s right leg out full length, then stepped over and around, crooking it behind her own calf. In the next instant she dropped to her tush, grabbed hold of Lenore’s left leg, stretched it out and forced the folded gam atop it. Immediately thereafter she snugged the pit of her right knee down over the exposed ankle and puuuuuuuussssshed up on her hands to secure the Figure Four Leglock.
FIGURE FOUR LEGLOCK:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LJ71WlspDc
This raised a pleased, but slightly startled cheer from the capacity crowd. Olivia’s legs were dangerous indeed and she’d had every opportunity to drag Lenore into the middle of the ring, so why’d she hooked it on when the brunette was already in the ropes? They got their answer when Lemarchand pulled herself up and crooked an arm around the bottom rope. “Break.” she said quietly.
Far from satisfied, Olivia rocked up n’ down, adding more pressure and torque to the grinding hold. “What was that?” she barked. “I don’t believe I heard you, dear!”
Lenore glared daggers from the other side of the strands. “I said, break.”
“You want a BREAK?” Dare taunted. “Why is that, dear? Can’t work your way free without NNNGGHH!”
Emily’s Lady in Waiting reached through and pounded a stiff Hammer Punch into the blonde’s right knee. “Let go or I won’t stop punching until this thing bends both ways.” She reinforced this assertion by striking Olivia’s knee twice more in rapid succession.
Olivia kept her eyes trained on Lenore even though she could sense Carpenter closing in to enforce the break. Electing to do so before he could say so much as a word, Dare scooted away, but snagged her opponent’s ankles in the process. Lemarchand started to complain, then her jaw snapped shut to better choke off the groan that bubbled up when Olivia pumped a heel into her crotch.
“Uncalled for, ‘Liv.” Al muttered in the wake of the low blow. “You’re better than that.”
“No Al, I’m better than HER.” Dare corrected him at once. “This is the fight SHE wanted. SHE demanded my best knowing full well that my best can make the machinations of Lisa Dream and our current World Champion look like the temper tantrum of a spoiled toddler. The truth is, my best is a terrible thing indeed and tonight dear Lenore learns what happens to those who call it forth.”
Still holding Lemarchand by the ankles, Olivia draaaaaaaaagged her to the center of the squared circle before circling around and hauling her up with a handful of hair. Sidling in close, Dare coiled her right leg around Lenore’s right thigh, swung around on her six and slipped her right arm under the brunette’s left bicep. “So you’ve got yourself a washboard, ehh luv?” Olivia clasped her hands over Lemarchand’s right shoulder and craaaaaaaanked back on the Abdominal Stretch. “Let’s see how long they can stand up to scrutiny.”
ABDOMINAL STRETCH @ 00:22
www.youtube.com/watch?v=iW91CiukaY4
Lenore kept her tone remarkably cool, an impressive feat considering the obvious strain etched on her face. “Look all you want, ‘Liv, but don’t even think about touching. Otherwise you might get a much closer view than NGH!”
The Englishwoman loosed her left hand, flattened it into a paddle and SMACKED it against the tightly stretched expanse of her foe’s lycra sheathed flank. “You should know better than to make that sort of statement in my hearing, dear heart.” Olivia slapped her again, very much liking the crisp fall echo of it. “I can never resist defying a good threat.”
“No threat there, baby.” Lemarchand grunted. “Just a promise. Smack my abs all you want, just don’t complain when they’re smacking you bacKEEHHHHHHH!”
The trapped brunette sucked in a sharp breath when Dare crooked her paddle into a spade and corkscrewed it into her midsection. “Didn’t you learn your lesson on the penthouse carpet?” the former World Champion murmured. “Making promises you can’t keep is a sure way to end up mewling at my MMMRRPPPGHH!”
Lenore’s right hand swung up and clamped down on Dare’s face in a grip that was every bit as unpleasant as it was legal. Make no mistake, this wasn’t a Palm Smother, at least not intentionally. Oh sure, the Raven’s mitt certainly interfered with her opponent’s breathing, but suffocation wasn’t the primary objective. No, Lenore clamped down on the blonde’s muzzle for the sole purpose of making her hurt. Startled by such a base tactic from the usually elegant technician, Olivia muttered and squirmed, twisting her head this way n’ that while maintaining pressure on the Abdominal Stretch.
She must’ve proven a bit too successful because Lemarchand wedged her fingers between the other Lightweight’s parted lips and snatched hold of her tongue. Dare’s eyes were still going wide when the Fair & Radiant Maiden treated her to a literal tongue twister. The helpless gurgle that poured from Olivia’s mouth was so undignified that she abandoned the Abdominal Stretch just to wrest Lenore’s filthy digits from her mouth. Spitting them out like poison, the infuriated whippet wrapped an arm around Lemarchand’s waist and hauled her into a THWUMPING Thighlift across the small of the back.
As startled by that as Dare had been by the Face Claw, Lenore’s knees quavered and her hands flew to shoulder level where they hung in momentary paralysis. Delightfully unburdened by such an affliction, the Oncoming Storm laid claim to Lemarchand’s left shin and folded it up so that the American’s heel was wedged against her own butt. Head wedged under Lenore’s left arm, Dare hoisted the squirming brunette into the air, held her for a moment and dropped her back the way she’d came to spike the Raven’s defenseless shin against her knee. Lemarchand hissed and would’ve hobbled away if Olivia hadn’t pulled her back and immediately popped her hips to hurl the Courtier onto the back of her head and shoulders with a Huge Backdrop Suplex. Lenore landed in a loose Matchbook that collapsed mere heartbeats after she’d returned to the canvas.
SHIN BREAKER & BACKDROP SUPLEX:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGXNiiqTB2s
In any of their previous encounters Olivia would’ve hurried over to go for a cover, but with the submission rules in effect she took some time flicking her one-piece back into place and making a quick inspection of the features her boorish adversary had attempted to mangle. Finding everything in order, she strode over to Lenore and planted her left foot across the brunette’s right ankle. “I could make this quick.” Olivia noted after she’d helped herself to Lemarchand’s left ankle. “Certainly an emphatic rebuttal would provide the answer that you and your most delusional, excuse me, strident. supporters seem to crave. Yet blowing your doors off doesn’t give me back the months I’ve wasted trying to pluck this thorn from my side. So I’m going to take my time in taking you apart.”
With that she leaaaaaaaaaaaned down onto the brunette’s pinned foot and puuuuuuuuuuushed her left leg out and away in a hamstring-straining Wishbone. It was a move that invariably earned a rowdy roar from the more lascivious FAWNatics, but wrestlers and officials both knew the simple stretch could do a great deal of damage in almost no time at all. That was why Carpenter was quick to check on Lemarchand’s status. “How you doing, Lenore? Hanging in there ok?”
Lenore, who’d been cupping her inner thighs to assuage the hurt rather than out of any worry about modesty nodded once. “I’ll be fine, Al. ’Liv’s not strong enough to break this bendyba--”
CRAAACK! Olivia halved her grip on the brunette’s left foot, leaned down and clouted her across the cheek with a scathing Bytch Slap. “Sorry luv, couldn’t hear that over the sound of my palm on your flat face. Would you mind repeating yourself?”
Lenore rubbed the sting out of her cheek, reached for Olivia’s hair and snorted when the Briton drew herself out of reach. “I said you’re the most rigid, brittle, scarecrow of a woman I’ve ever had the misfortune of sharing a--”
CRACRAAACK! Olivia gave it to her forehand and backhand, the pair of cheek-reddening blasts turning the Courtier’s noggin into an oversized metronome. “Lord, the acoustics in here are terrible!” Dare groused as she tried to split Lemarchand right up the middle. “I’d swear you were trying to tell me something but I can’t quite make it out.”
Refusing to tend to her face this time around, Emily’s Lady in Waiting growled, “I said it’s a dark, sad day when an Englishwoman slaps like a limp-wristed Frog--” Olivia swung on her with a third slap but this time Lenore caught her wrist in a death-grip. Wrenching Dare forward to pull her off balance, Lemarchand angled that captured arm across the blonde’s throat and kicked her legs up n’ around the Blackbird’s throat.
Triangle Choke, Lenore Lemarchand to Olivia Dare.
TRIANGLE CHOKE:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwnfBdGawCU
Ankles locked, the brunette stretched her legs for maximum extension all while fighting to tug the Brit’s arm a little closer against her windpipe. “Say it.” Lenore hissed to her breathless opposition. “Say it before you pass out, little girl.”
Forcing herself to calm down after a few heartbeats of near abject panic, Dare stuffed her free hand into Lemarchand’s face in hopes of distracting her long enough to find a way out. Not about to give up a potentially match winning hold without a helluva lot more fight than that, Lenore twisted her head to the side and bellowed, “Keep her off my eyes, Carpenter!” Dare hadn’t resorted to such tactics of course, but she was still forced to burn precious seconds pleading (or rather pantomiming) her case. Her head already swimming after that relatively brief span, Olivia knew she couldn’t waste any more time battling the Triangle. Thankfully on her knees instead of her tummy, what came next was only difficult and not nearly impossible.
Free hand braced against the mat, Dare knee-walked into Lenore’s upturned haunches until the Courtier was stacked high on her shoulders. Carpenter started forward, then drew back when he remembered pins didn’t mean a thing tonight. Lemarchand had a better idea of what the Englishwoman had in mind and she shook her head in disbelief. “Don’t even try it, ‘Liv. You’re strong, but not nearly strong enough to NNNNGGGGHHH!”
The Raven was right, Olivia didn’t have the strength (or at least the leverage) to hoist the American off the mat for a Powerbomb. She could however crook her free arm into a ‘V and POUND Forearm Smashes down into her foe’s face. Lenore snarled, twisted away from what blows she could, then relinquished control over the blonde’s trapped wrist to better deal with her cudgeling arm. Any strategy they might’ve employed soon gave way to furious hand fighting and even that didn’t last before devolving into a bout of ferocious hair pulling. Didn’t matter how technically skilled a grappler was, no hold lasted for too long against prolonged hair pulling, especially when the pull-ee answered back with some follicular torment of her own. And so Olivia escaped the Triangle Choke only to find herself embroiled in a double-fisted war in which she and Lenore did their level best to remove great patches of one another’s scalp.
Though he relished the idea of breaking them up about as much as he would sticking his hand into a running blender, Al Carpenter was a professional and after a quick prayer to the god of referees he stormed into the breach and wrapped both arms around Olivia’s waist. “BREAK IT UP! BREAK IT UP, THE BOTH OF YOU! LET GO RIGHT NOW!” the official bellowed as she pulled Olivia from her hissing quarry.
Dare kicked, fought and tugged every inch of the way and was rewarded with a few tufts of dark hair as a consolation prize. Lenore’s eyes were watering something fierce but she hadn’t come away empty handed either, if the golden strands dangling from her clenched fists were any indication. “I’M OFF, NOW LET ME GO! I SAID LET ME BLOODY GO, CARPENTER!” The Oncoming Storm wrenched loose of the official’s grasp and stalked right back to the recovering brunette. She didn’t attack however, at least not physically. Instead she put her hands below her lips and blew Lemarchand’s liberated hair back into the Courtier’s surprised face. “I believe this rat’s nest is yours, pretty birNNNGGGGGGHHH!”
Lenore caught Olivia around the thighs, hoisted her off her feet and genuflected to one knee to TWHUMP the Briton’s crotch atop the altar of her bent knee. Almost eye to eye with the knock-kneed beauty, Lenore curled one hand into a spade and shumped it between her rival’s thighs. “And this is yours, bytch.” She squeezed Olivia’s crotch until her knuckles turned white, then let go and rose to her full height. With Dare’s head already near waist level it was no trouble at all to slip her arms under opposing biceps to complete the Double Underhook. After that it was a simple hop n’ drop, Lemarchand landing flat on her back to TWHONK the crown of Olivia’s skull into the mat with a Double Underhook DDT.
DOUBLE UNDERHOOK DDT:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xWKrbF24P8
Olivia rolled onto her back without fear of fighting off a pin attempt, yet she still experienced an unpleasant thrill when Lenore stretched out atop her in a Crossbody. “Cuuuhhh… can’t pin me, tramp.” Dare huffed, “So get your bony ass of MEERRRRAAAAARRGGGHHHH!”
The Raven was perfectly aware of the stipulation, which was why she didn’t go for a cover. Rather she kicked her left leg over the back of Olivia’s head and pulled the surprised battler down into a grinding Headscissors. As if that wasn’t unpleasant enough, Lenore grabbed her foe’s left wrist in her right hand, then reached under the captured arm with her right hand. Gripping her own left wrist for extra leverage, Lemarchand craaaaaaaaaaaaaaanked Olivia’s arm up and back with a hellacious Kimura. “Tap out!” Lenore demanded of the wailing blonde. “Tap out before I break your arm, Olivia! Test me and you’ll pay!”
KIMURA & HEADSCISSORS @ 1:05
www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1wWPN1Ds9o
Pinned on her right side, Dare could only kick her legs and smack at her attacker’s left thigh. “What do you say, ‘Liv? Do you need me to call it?” Al swooped in as soon as the Kimura got cinched in. Bendy was one thing, but a joint-lock like that could make anyone bawl in mere seconds.
Olivia shook her head ‘no’, which wasn’t that easy with Lemarchand’s strong, slender thighs framing her cheeks. “No!” she answered with a remarkable lack of sass. “She’s gonna have to break AAAAAAUUUHHH GAAAAWWWWDDD!”
Lenore jarred her prey’s wrist up and down up and down, apparently trying to snap the former World Champion’s arm at the elbow. “Give up the match or give up your arm, sweetheart!” the Black Courtier barked. “I’ll break it, I swear I wiLLLERRGHHH BYTCH!”
Options dwindling even as the pain grew exponentially, Dare twisted her head as best she could and sank her teeth into the back of Lemarchand’s left thigh. The bite was far from pleasant, but not enough to make the Fair & Radiant Maiden relinquish her pair of holds. That only happened when the Englishwoman snatched hold of that shiny black one-piece and yaaaaaaaaaanked several inches of it between her rival’s glutes. Lenore held on as long as she could, but Olivia kept sawing and gnawing until she was forced to disengage. Dare rolled in the opposite direction as soon as the American let loose, her tweaked left arm cradled oh so tight against her chest.
A short distance away, Lemarchand got up and gingerly adjusted her distended togs. She paid no attention to the welt on the back of her thigh, it was merely another indignity to repay before the bell sounded again. Eyes locked on the Oncoming Storm, Lenore stalked over to her wounded foe and plunged both hands into her hair. “You’re going to pay for that, little girl. Even if I have to break both arms and both legs, you’re going to OOOFFFHH!”
Olivia hit her in the belly with a straight right hand. Lemarchand staggered back after Dare tacked on a left and a second right to go with the first. She might’ve backed out of range if the Briton hadn’t gripped her hips and jerked her forward. THWHUMP! Olivia slammed the crown of her skull into Lenore’s crotch, a vicious low blow that froze up those world class stems. Clambering to boot leather while Lemarchand gripped at her aching undercarriage, Olivia took the brunette’s left wrist in both hands and twisted the arm attached in a wide circle. Upon completing that circle she raised her right foot and braced it against the side of Lenore’s face. Then she sprang up and dropped to her back to THWHAP the other woman’s head back with a huge helping of Sole Food.
SOLE FOOD:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtap5IzhMDo
Lemarchand toppled onto her back but didn’t get to stay there long, as Dare used that tenacious Wristlock to roll her onto her stomach. The wider implication of this development didn’t hit her until the Englishwoman was practically seated atop her left shoulder and by then Olivia was craaaaaaaaaaaanking back on the Reverse Armbar.
REVERSE ARMBAR @ 00:25
www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqKvbLf8bT8
“AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH SHHHHHHIIIITTTT!” Lemarchand wailed like a wolf caught in a trap as Dare repaid the Kimura with arm breaking interest.
“What’s the matter pretty bird, does it hurt?” Olivia roared. “Does it hurt so bad you can’t imagine it getting worse? Then SUBMIT!” She pulled Lenore’s hand toward her, leaned in and bit down on those twitching fingers.
As of yet unaware of the biting, Al sidled into place beside Lenore and asked, “Do you give, Lenore? Do you need me to call for the bell?”
The Raven shook her head ‘no’, presumably to answer both questions. “She’s biting me, Al.” Lemarchand whimpered. “Muuuuhhh…… make that cheap bytch fight me fair.”
He pulled away, got to one knee and sure enough, Olivia was mangling her rival’s digits. “Spit ‘em out, Olivia.” the ref demanded. “The Armbar is fine, but you can’t bite her.”
Dare eyed him balefully, but did as asked without complaint. “Have the techs make sure the EMT’s are on standby.” she told Carpenter. “Lenore’s too proud and too stupid to just tap out, so I’ll have to break someEERRRGGGGHHH!”
Perfectly willing to match Olivia’s previous cattiness with some of her own, Lenore turned her head into the Englishwoman’s encroaching rump and she sank her teeth into one smooth glute. Rising from her mount before she even realized what the American had done, an infuriated Olivia stamped back to the vulnerable brunette and buried a vengeful kick in her ribs.
“F*cking bytch.” Dare’s voice was a murderous growl as she peeled the wounded Courtier off the mat. “You’re going straight from the ring, to a stretcher, to an ambulance. And everyone in this arena will be cheering their guts out when the door slams shut on your miserable ass.”
A Kneelift to the gut kept Lenore sludgy pliable as the infuriated Briton snuggled in against her left side. Reaching over the back of Lemarchand’s head with her left hand, she took possession of the brunette’s dangling left wrist and pulled it up against her throat, Straightjacket style. In the same instant she grabbed Lenore’s right wrist in her right hand and angled that arm across her lower back in a Hammerlock. Soon as those hooks were set Dare jumped up, pressed her knees to the American’s spine and laid out on her back to spin Lemarchand over into the hellacious THWHUMP of her Double Dare Lungblower. Emily’s Lady in Waiting bounced high and tumbled over in mid-air, landing facedown in an ungainly sprawl.
DOUBLE DARE:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6bRRgcrxks
She was just starting to show signs of life when Olivia crawled over and straddled her at the waist. Hands planted on either side of her foe’s head, the Oncoming Storm laid her legs over Lenore’s and hooked her boots inside the prone woman’s ankles. “Didn’t think a Raven could be snared, did you ‘luv?” Dare asked as she began to stretch Lemarchand’s legs farther and farther apart. “Well now you know better.”
Her legs all but neutralized by Olivia’s own stems, Lenore braced her elbows against the canvas and pushed up as best she could. “Good catch, ‘Liv.” she grunted. “But just because you snared me doesn’t mean you can keep me trappeerrrgghhhhhhh!”
Olivia threaded her hands under Lemarchand’s chin and pulled up and back to complete the Dare Snare. With her legs and neck stretched at increasingly ugly angles, Lenore was forced to devote all her resources to alleviating the worst of the tension. She managed well enough, alas that meant she couldn’t make any progress in the direction of the ropes. “Give it up, Lenore.” Olivia murmured in her foe’s ear. “Tap out or beg off, I don’t care which, just do it before my patience runs thin.” Still propped on her elbows, Lemarchand caught hold of Olivia’s hands and tried to prize them from her jaw with minimal success. The blonde frowned, streeeeeeeeeetched her legs a little wider and was rewarded with a low groan from her prey. “I said give it up. Don’t make me humiliate you on a stage this big.”
Forced to face the fact that the only way out was on her belly, Lemarchand abandoned her meager fronts on Olivia’s hands and started crawling across the mat. “You’d humiliate me anyway, wouldn’t you?” the brunette asked after earning six torturous inches. “That’s my punishment for having the temerity to beat you in straight falls isn’t it, Olivia?”
The woman in question cranked up on Lenore’s chin, slowing her progress to a crawl. “You stripped off my top in this very ring, pretty bird. You deserve whatever you get.”
Lemarchand’s eyes had been narrowed in pain, now they flared with fresh fury. “And you finger-banged me in front of the whole f*cking world, Olivia. If anyone in this ring deserves a little more humiliation it’s YUNGH! UNGH! UNGH! Oh you hateful, insecure bytch! I’ll kill you for UNGH!”
Olivia raised her hips then ‘SMECKED!’ her crotch into Lenore’s bunched backside for the fourth time. Smiling as the crowd cheered her on, the domineering Englishwoman ground a languid little figure eight on the brunette’s butt until she got bored and treated her to another taunting ‘SMECK!’ “You want humiliation, Lenore?” Olivia’s voice was poison honey. “I’ve got all that you can handle and helluva lot more that you canERRRRRGGGGHHH!”
The Fair & Radiant Maiden finally slipped her chin free of Dare’s control and the first thing she did was bury her teeth in the soft skin between the thumb and forefinger of Olivia’s left hand. What remained of the Snare grew very loose, to the point that Lenore could drag herself along the mat with minimal resistance. She’d made it to within a foot of the ropes when the former World Champ grabbed her head in both hands and BWONKED her forehead against the mat. “So close and yet so far.” Olivia cooed. “That could be the motto for this whole misguided campaign of yours, couldn’t it, twat?”
Lenore was too stunned to answer so Dare slid off her, took possession of both ankles and draaaaaaaaaaaagged her back to the center of the squared circle. Once there she turned Lemarchand onto her belly, dipped her knees and threaded the brunette’s right leg across the back of her neck. With the pit of Lenore’s knee snugged in tight, Olivia hooked the captured gam at ankle and thigh, then straightened up far enough to hoist the Raven into a makeshift handstand. It raised an immediate shriek from Lemarchand, but this particular predicament only lasted until Dare lowered Lenore onto her chest, swung a leg over and sat down with her rump squarely on the back of her rival’s head.
Oli-viaticum, Olivia Dare to Lenore Lemarchand.
OLI-VIATICUM:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nFThHqePrw
“SUBMIT!” Olivia roared over the thunderous crowd noise as she tortured Lenore with her finisher of choice. “BETTER YET, BEG FOR MERCY! SCREAM IT, LENORE! SCREAM!”
Lenore Lemarchand screamed very loud indeed, her wail of anguish eclipsing anything the fans had heard from her since the beginning of her FAWN run. She wailed, sobbed, moaned and whimpered, but she didn’t submit, indeed she seemed to quiet down a little when a good portion of those assembled answered a loud ’TAP!’ chant with ’PLEASE DON’T TAP!’
Angered by the brunette’s resistance and the portion of the crowd that dared spur her on, Olivia pulled her left hand away from Lenore’s thigh and sank it into the undercarriage of that defenseless one-piece. “Ask. Her.” the Briton demanded of Al Carpenter. “Right now.”
Al didn’t need to be told twice, in fact he was already as close to Lemarchand as safety allowed. “Do you need to the bell, Lenore? Just say the word and I’ll--”
“Tell Olivia that if she doesn’t get out of my trunks right now she’s going to pay for it with tears.” Lenore rasped through some tears of her own. “You hear me, Dare? Leggo or I’ll AAWWWWWWWWW FAAAAAAAHHHHKK!”
Olivia found the faint outline of her prey’s womanhood and clamped down with every bit of venom she could muster. “YOU’RE DONE!” Olivia bellowed. “BEG FOR MERCY OR YOU’LL SCREAM FOR TWO ENTIRELY DIFFERENT NNNNGGGHHH!”
Lenore’s left leg, which had been dangling uselessly since the torture began suddenly snapped forward and caught the startled blonde in the forehead. The Storm rocked unsteadily, then slid from her perch on Lenore’s neck when the brunette’s heel tagged her again. Almost sobbing at that little bit of relief, Lemarchand slid out and flopped over onto her back. Doing so meant her damaged right leg was still in Dare’s possession, but the strain on her back had vanished and even one good leg was enough to--PWAAAK! Lenore drove her left foot into the Briton’s tummy, then into her chest and finally scuffed another shot off her forehead when Dare leaned forward a little too far.
Astounded and quite frankly disgusted by the fact that the American chav was still fighting back after having one leg nearly torn off, Olivia tossed the gam in question aside and drove a brutal STOMP into her rival’s tummy. Lenore folded up around it and stayed that way, allowing Dare to cup her ears and hoist her to verticality. “I would’ve been satisfied dislocating your knee, pretty bird. Now I’m going to break your neck.”
Spinning Lemarchand in a half circle, Olivia dropped into a crouch, wedged her head between the brunette’s thighs and muscled her up onto her shoulders. Nothing good ever happened in the Electric Chair as evidenced by the way Lenore’s loyal supporters groaned when Olivia reached up and cupped her behind the neck. Tucking the Raven’s chin against her chest, Dare stomped to the center of the ring and “GAAAAAARGGGGGHHHHHH!”
Far too hurt to care for decorum, Lenore reached down with both hands and raaaaaaaaaaaaaaked Olivia’s eyes as hard as she could. The clasp around her neck dropped away at once and Lemarchand followed along behind it, sliding off the blonde’s shoulders to land on her six. Slapping on a Waistlock without even thinking about it, the Courtier glanced over her shoulder and found exactly what she was looking for. Teeth bared in hate, exhaustion and yes, even a little joy, she popped her hips to sling Olivia, up over and back into a BWUUUNGING spine-first collision with the top turnbuckle.
TURNBUCKLE GERMAN SUPLEX:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9009YhVXVqI
Dare ‘ooooffffhed’ like she was gut-shot, then dropped into a crouch so deep it would’ve put her butt on the canvas if she hadn’t managed to grab onto the bottom rope. After a moment she pulled herself upright, shoved out of the corner and “NOOOOOO! LEGGONNNNGGGGGGHH!” Lemarchand crushed her foe’s midsection with another Waistlock that lasted just long enough for her to launch the Blackbird back into the corner with a second BWUUUNGING German Suplex. No grabbing the ropes this time, the base of Dare’s skull whiplashed off the middle buckle, dropping her to a sloppy seat.
TURNBUCKLE GERMAN, TAKE 2:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zo4n3IeqKRc
Beside her, Lemarchand put a hand to her burning groin in hopes of easing the worst of the hurt. “Cruel bytch.” the Fair & Radiant Maiden said under her breath. “You weren’t strong enough to tear off my leg, so you went after my junk?”
Olivia offered no answer, not that Lenore wanted one. She was already on her feet and twining a hand in the other bendy’s hair. It was odd, ten seconds ago the brunette would’ve sworn she didn’t have the energy to drag Dare away from the corner, let alone hoist her up for another maneuver. But the sight of Olivia tugged onto all fours sent a jolt through Lemarchand’s aching circuits and she peeled her off the mat like they hadn’t been beating the snot out of one another for more than twenty minutes. Wedging Dare’s head under her left arm, Lenore tossed the near arm across her shoulders and snagged a handful of waistband. Then she gathered her reserves and powered her burden all the way to three o’clock, just enough elevation to drop Olivia’s ankles across the top rope. The FAWNatics had barely registered this new predicament when the Raven twisted under the Englishwoman to lay out on her back. Doing so jerked Dare from the rubber-coated steel and THWHUNKED her down on the back of her head. Subjected to a trio of concussive noggin-ratting blasts in less than a minute, Olivia bounced to a seat and slowly, slooooowly turned onto her stomach, presumably to ward off a pin that wasn’t coming.
ROPE ASSISTED NECKBREAKER:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqU6ZLueWgk
Al Carpenter had kept his distance ever since Lenore escaped from the Oli-viaticum, but the sharp-eyed official started forward the instant he saw the unpleasantly glassy sheen in Dare’s eyes. There were mere steps between him and his charge, alas Al was denied his due diligence because Lemarchand snatched Olivia by the nape of the neck and hauled her to boot leather in fits and starts. “What’re you doing, Lenore?” he asked when the limber brunette used her left arm to secure Dare in a Front Facelock. “This is a submission match. She has to be conscious if you want her to submit.”
Lenore fixed him with a level, weary look. “That’s not true, Al. Referees are allowed to stop the match at any time if they think a competitor can’t protect herself. Do you think Olivia’s defenseless?”
Al cringed inwardly. Lenore was right, he could stop the match, but it was the last of last ditch efforts and if he DID pull the trigger it was a sure bet someone would have his ass.
Lenore left him to these musings, she had plans of her own. First things first, she tossed Dare’s near arm over her shoulders. Then she reached down with her right hand, cradled the back of the Briton’s right thigh and jerked that leg up and across Olivia’s plant leg, thus reducing her to vertical base to one trembling foot. Clamped down tight on Dare’s left thigh, Lenore gathered her strength then boosted the Oncoming Storm directly overhead and held her there for a heartbeat or two before dropping down to THWHUNK the base of ’Liv’s neck into the mat with the Bleak December Brainbuster. Dare’s arms and legs popped open in an energetic starfish that looked completely spent long before the mat stopped shivering.
BLEAK DECEMBER:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1nzylCY1Lo
Lenore rolled to one knee, saw Carpenter closing in like he was going check on Olivia and put a stop to that by throwing herself across the blonde’s chest. She hooked the far leg with one arm and smacked out a count with the other. “ONE! TWO! THRE!”
Dare kicked out and turned onto her side, barely escaping a pin that didn’t even matter.
Actually Olivia’s escape meant a great deal, as it illustrated Lemarchand’s point while neutralizing the zebra’s obvious concerns. “See that?” Lenore asked of the kick out. “She’s far from defenseless, Al. So back off.”
Carpenter shook his head. “That’s not cool, Lenore. Muscle memory doesn’t mean a damn--”
“Shuuuuu…. shut your gob, Algernon.” Olivia croaked as she struggled to her hands and knees. “This is a fight…. fight to the finish and it will not be decided by GEERRRGGHHH!”
Lenore forced the penitent blonde into a Standing Headscissors and bore down with all her might. “Finally, we agree on something.” Trailing off into silence, Emily’s Lady in Waiting leaned in close against Olivia’s back, reached between her gams and laid claim to both of the Brit’s wrists. Then she pulled those captured wrists back through Dare’s legs, bent her knees in a deep crouch and lifted so hard and so fast that Olivia was flipped off her feet and *almost* onto the brunette’s shoulders. I saw almost because Lemarchand yanked back on her foe’s wrists and dropped to a seat to THAWHAM Olivia down on her face, chest and shoulders. Dare had taken the Nevermore once prior, on that night she’d bounced onto knees then tumbled to her back. Tonight she didn’t even bounce, just a single rough shudder before spreading out in a defenseless puddle.
NEVERMORE:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nQ8LdfBoNs
“Goddammit Lenore, that’s NO! No you don’t, clear off of her!”
Al’s demand fell on deaf ears, or perhaps they were ears too busy listening for an entirely different sound. Shoveling the former World Champion onto her back, Lemarchand lifted her to a slumped seat and snugged in close. From there she laid down on her left side and slipped that leg over Dare’s right arm before she brought her right leg up and around, angling it so her calf was smudged in against the side of Olivia’s face. Then she crunched up and wrapped her arms around the Englishwoman’s head. With Olivia’s head caught between her leg and clasped hands, Lemarchand pushed on the former and pulled on the latter to craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaank the other woman’s neck at a terrible angle. “TAP!” Lenore bellowed as she rolled onto her back. “TAP OUT OLIVIA!”
ONCE UPON A MIDNIGHT DREARY:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFsDUfgURgI
Finally introduced to the brutal knot known as Once Upon a Midnight Dreary, Dare kicked her legs left and right, back and forth and side to side, all in hopes of finding some purchase in the ropes that were still several feet out of reach. When that failed she planted her feet and bridged up on her toes, knowing even in the depths of her anguish that she would have a much greater ability to move if only she could flip onto her stomach. She almost, *almost* made it. In fact she probably would’ve made it if Lemarchand hadn’t pulled her right leg away and pistoned a short, sharp kick into the blonde’s temple. Olivia dropped to her butt with a dull thud and moaned low in her throat when Lenore reapplied the leggy garrote.
“What do you say, ‘Liv?” Al asked quietly. “Tell me something, girl.”
The Oncoming Storm couldn’t shake her head so she spoke instead. “Guuuuh… get out of my way, Al. I can still reach the roppppesssseaaaaauuuuggghhhh!” Dare’s valiant attempt to drape a toe over the bottom strand was thwarted when Lenore grrrrrrrrroooound her calf against opposing nose.
“Submit, Olivia.” Lenore said it just loud enough to be heard over her rival’s suffering. “Struggle. Fight. Pass out. It won’t matter because I’m not letting go until--”
Olivia tapped the American’s left shin three times. “Let me go, Lenore. You win.” she swallowed a fist sized lump in her throat and said it again. “You win.”
Lenore heard her just fine but she didn’t quite believe it until she saw Carpenter turn away to throw a signal to the Timekeeper. The bell CLANGED a heartbeat later and she almost shrieked with joy when the Announcer confirmed, “Ladies and gentlemen, your winner via submission and WINNER of the five match series by a score of three falls to two…. LENORE LEMARCHAND!”
The Raven desperately wanted to pop up and fly her sigil in the face of that surprisingly positive reaction, but maintained her grip on the torturous knot (albeit at a fraction of the original pressure). When the first roar of applause started to die down, she said, “Say it, ‘Liv. I only need to hear it once, but I do need to hear it.”
Olivia closed her eyes, it was the only way to keep tears from pouring down her cheeks. Knowing full well that the brunette could ruin her with the tribute she was perfectly entitled to take, the exhausted grappler could only take a deep breath and hope for… her mind rebelled at the very thought of it… mercy. After another long exhalation she said, “I submit, Lenore.”
Lemarchand released her without hesitation and pushed to one knee. The following span of heartbeats was one of the most nerve-wracking moments of her career. Part of her, a very large part in fact, was screaming for her to take every bit of vengeance that she’d earned. Slap the arrogant Brit in another hold and crank it until she bawled or ride her face like a bicycle seat or strip her down to her boots for an epic Walk of Shame or better yet, strip her down and repay the humiliation she’d suffered at the Madhouse with glorious, ego-shattering interest. The Fair & Radiant Maiden came oh so close to indulging in all those and countless more. But in the end she listened to a second, quieter voice. This voice pointed out that any aggression beyond a certain point would simply validate everything Dare had said about her from the very beginning. That she was nothing more than a callous, manipulative, hateful cog in the engine of the Black Court.
“I am better than that.” she whispered to no one. “And tonight, I’m better than you.”
With that she swung a leg over Olivia’s torso and took a seat on her chest. It was more of a Schoolgirl Pin than a Face Sit, but the fork of her crotch was most definitely brushing the tip of Olivia’s chin. Meeting Dare’s eyes for the briefest of moments, Lemarchand hooked her fingers together, then leaned back and raised the Raven high overhead.
It was answered more than a thousandfold and she would’ve sat there looking at them for quite some time if Al hadn’t strode over and tapped a shoulder. “Good to stand, Lenore?
She offered him a hand and only groaned a little when the ref hauled her to boot leather. Carpenter offered her a weary smile went to raise her hand, but she shook her head ‘no’. “In a moment, Al. There’s one other thing I’ve got to do.” She turned to Olivia, who’d only just then pushed herself to a seat. “You almost destroyed me in June.” the brunette told her nemesis. “You wore me out, you hurt me and finally you humiliated me. I cried in the shower until the water ran cold and then I cried a while longer. But I still shook your hand, Olivia. Even after you’d slapped me across the face and told me I was nothing. Even though the hand you offered was slick with my own… even though you didn’t think I would, I looked you in the eye and shook your hand. Do you remember what I told you then?”
Dare didn’t answer for a long time. Indeed, she still hadn’t replied when she got to her feet and locked eyes with the Raven. Undaunted, Lenore extended her left ha-- Olivia flicked out a foot, kicking the Courtier’s gesture aside. The crowd was drawing its collective breath for an ‘OOOOOOOHHH!” when Dare stepped in and wrapped Lemarchand in a loose hug.
“I was wrong.” she said it in Lenore’s ear to make sure she was heard over the cacophonous delight of those assembled. “You beat me when it mattered the most and you had every right to set my career back five years but you offered your hand instead. You want my respect, Lenore? Consider it yours. And I believe I owe you this.”
The Oncoming Storm gripped Lemarchand’s left wrist, stepped away and held it high to an even louder pop. Neither cried, but the astute viewer noticed a preponderance of eye rubbing, not to mention Al Carpenter keeping close to offer a supportive shoulder.
The enormity of it all finally overwhelmed what little remained of Dare’s reserves and she started toward the ropes as soon as she and Lenore broke apart. ‘Liv had her hand on the top rope when Lemarchand called after her, “I know we’re not done, sweet girl.”
Olivia turned around with one eyebrow arched. “Oh?”
“I said we’re not done. Five matches may have taken us almost a year, but there’s a whole lot of years left in our respective careers. We’ve only just begun to test one another, Olivia Dare and I can promise you this right here and now. Somewhere in the not too distant future we’ll meet again. And the FAWN World Title will hang in the balance. “Get ready, Storm. This is just the end of the beginning.”
Dare flashed her a charming, yet fiercely competitive smile. “Don’t fret, pretty bird. These last few minutes are all the motivation I will EVER need when I see you waiting in the opposite corner. “Don’t forget me, Raven. I won’t forget you.” Then she dipped through the strands, dropped to the floor and headed up the aisle. And damned if the Blackbird didn’t do her best to at least graze each and every palm extended her way.
Back in the ring, Lenore stormed to the corner closest to the hard camera and climbed to the second rope. Hoisting the Raven one more time, she looked out over the sea of faces and roared her message to all that would listen. “TONIGHT’S THE NIGHT I PROVED I BELONG AT THE TOP OF THE CARD! TOMORROW NIGHT I’LL PROVE IT AGAIN. AND THEN THE NIGHT AFTER THAT. AND THE NIGHT AFTER THAT. QUOTH THE RAVEN, FOREVERMORE!”