Post by SammieSinclair on May 10, 2015 21:32:20 GMT
The house lights of FAWN Arena dimmed, leading to the requisite hoots and hollers from the amped throng. A white-hot spotlight broke the darkness, falling upon the upper stage where a lean, lithe brunette gracefully floated into view. The crowd exploded with a loud ovation worthy of Pavarotti. The Announcer was quick to proclaim the diva’s arrival before she could begin her breathtaking warbling.
“Ladies and gentlemen our next contest is scheduled for one fall with a twenty minute time limit. Introducing first, hailing from London, England, in the United Kingdom, she stands at five feet eight inches tall and weighs in at one hundred and twenty two pounds, she is the Sublime Soprano, the Renaissance Woman and the Maestro of the Cleft Note, she is… ELIZA BLISSSS!”
ELIZA BLISS:
A sweet melodious set of notes reached to the heights, the highest high of soprano superlatives couldn’t describe the beauty of the operatic ecstasy. Nor could it describe the beauty that had stepped from behind the curtain. Unlike most of her career, where her evil ways led fans to tear into the despicable diva, the FAWNatics now revelled in the music and the woman providing it.
Eliza raised her arms dramatically and serenaded the FAWNatics with her own entrance accompaniment, no one else able to reach the perfect notes of operatic rapture. Blissy set herself on the upper stage. The slender, sinewy brunette, long locks falling in great cascades, was clad in a tight, lacy black one-piece that clung tightly to her lightly tanned form; curious, futuristic, metallic wristbands, glittered from each wrist to only a few inches short of her elbows. Below, she wore tempting, knee-high black leather boots. The Englishwoman strode down the aisle belting out the concluding aria of Giulio Cesare, the opera that had made her famous or infamous, depending on fan or foe.
The crowd, for the most part, were now loyal fans of the soprano, willing to take Bliss under their protective wing after her long time astray.
Still trying desperately to find the singles’ mojo that had at one time made her Lightweight champion, Eliza seemed confident enough from recent Blackbird success to transfer it to the singles scene.
As Bliss moved toward the ring, she finished her beautiful verse and slapped hands with those on the aisle, waving and smiling, well removed from the Empire and her petty past.
Reaching the squared circle, Eliza made a circuit, bowing and making contact with the crowd, particularly pleased with a placards that noted “Operatic excellence. Battlefield bravado. You can Kash out on True Bliss”.
The brunette nodded in agreement.
“Don’t forget,” Eliza added, “Tonight’s the night to bet a particular poker player is going to end up busted and feeling a very special Note down her throat.”
The sinewy brunette turned to the squared circle and skipped up the steel steps. Sliding through the ropes, she moved to her corner, still owning the ‘stage’ in every sense of the word. Eliza, a performer of unequalled beauty and poise, flexed and stretched, preparing for her flaxen-haired foe.
While Bliss renewed her relationship with the spotlight, the speakers crackled into the spooky opening of ‘Clint Eastwood’. As the house lights went down, four spotlights took wing through the arena. Each was emblazoned with one of the four suits of a deck of cards and each went its own way until coming to an abrupt halt just above the entryway. The curtain was flicked aside and the Mississippi Queen strutted out for another all or nothing round of her favourite game.
CLINT EASTWOOD:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5MWCnKeH2s
ALANA KASH:
Posted up at the dead centre of the stage, the statuesque blonde tilted her head just enough so the shades she wore slipped down her nose, allowing a better view of all the marks in attendance. Already thinking of the best way to sucker said rubes, the Kash pushed the shades back into place, touched the brim of her flat black hat and started down the ramp, the ankle length, sleeveless black leather duster doing absolutely nothing to hide the swagger in her stride.
She was about halfway down the aisle when the Announcer remembered he was supposed to introduce her. “And her opponent, from Tupelo Mississippi, she stands at five feet seven inches tall and weighs in at one hundred and thirty-two pounds. She is the Ravishing Riverboat Rogue… ALANA… KASH!"
Equally dismissive of praise and condemnation, Alana traversed the length of the aisle in silence, then climbed the steel steps and waited on the apron until the ref hurried over and opened the ropes. Kash slid through.
She straightened and doffed her duster, leaving her clad in a black bikini top with red bottoms, both edged in Western-style fringe. Across the seat of her briefs was a hand of cards -- a Royal Flush, all in Clubs. The outfit was finished with white boots, monogrammed with AK. Smirking as the ref tried not to gawp, Kash removed her hat and shades and handed them off without so much as a word. To him at least. To Eliza she said, “Start thinking of something appropriately tragic, sweet pea. It’s the only thing you’ll want to sing by the time I send you away from the table.” Ready for the opening hand, Kash strutted back to her corner to await final inspection.
The bell sounded and the crowd buzzed as Bliss and Kash started toward one another. Though there was no real history between the women (this was in fact the first time they’d ever crossed paths in a one on one match despite their lengthy tenure with the company) there was considerable interest among those assembled because such a match between well-established talents often provided a glimpse into who might be challenging for the Intercontinental or even the World Title. Couple that with the fact that Alana and Eliza had a reputation for leaving everything on the mat and the big fight feel was understandable.
Hands held loose just above her waist, the Mississippi Queen ambled right in a slowly closing corkscrew that contained Eliza Bliss at its centre. “It suddenly occurs to me,” Kash drawled, “that you and I, despite our long and varied journeys up and down the road, have never been properly introduced. Allow me to rectify that.” The words were barely out of her mouth when the blonde reared back and lunged for a Collar & Elbow Tie-Up. Eliza braced to meet the charge but it proved a feint, as Kash dipped low and twisted around behind her foe without actually engaging. Posted up a little ways back by the time Eliza turned around, Alana said, “My card, dear.”
There was no card in the offering, at least not one that Bliss could see and frankly she wasn’t much in the mood for parlour tricks. “Working a magician gimmick now are we, dear? Or do you make introductions by way of annoying new acquaintances?”
Kash tapped her left thigh and Eliza looked down. Damned if there wasn’t a playing card tucked partway into the left leg hole of her black one-piece. Plucking it loose with a bemused little smirk, Eliza flipped it over saw the Ace of Spades.
Above it was printed: ALANA KASH. Beneath: Will be kicking your ass shortly.
Bliss looked up, an eyebrow arched and her smirk a little bit wider. “Is that a fact now?”
Alana nodded. “Now that introductions are out of the way? Absolutely.”
“I don’t see how they are. You don’t know my name.” the Englishwoman countered.
“I don’t need to know your name, honey.”
“Oh but you will, understudy. I promise.”
That seemed to settle things at least temporarily because blonde and brunette pounced into a stiff clench that had them pushing and stamping around in awkward little circles. Bliss had an inch on her foe but Kash was five pounds heavier which pretty much meant it was dead even as they sought to impose will. Alana took charge first, shifting her feet abruptly to march the Englishwoman into the ropes on a sharp diagonal. But Bliss’s back had only just touched the cables when she torqued her hips to change places with the Southerner. Quickly shifting one hand from Alana’s shoulder to her chin, Bliss forced her head back over the top rope and stepped in close.
“You’d have been better sticking to solitaire rather than anteing up against me, dear heart.” Eliza cooed to her struggling foe. “A game with stakes this high could easily leave you destituNNNGGGGH!”
Kash drove a pair of Kneelifts into Bliss’s ribs, then spun around to smear her against the strands. Smiling again now that their positions were reversed, she pressed her left hand flush against the brunette’s face and squeezed at her temples and forehead Iron Claw-style. “I don’t mean to burst your bubble, but you’re nothing but a penny-ante game if I ever saw one. Why, you’re lucky I don’t go all in on your limey ass right noOOOFFFHH!”
Eliza caught her with a short; clipping shot to the chin that staggered the blonde just enough to get them moving again. Spinning was probably a more accurate description as the pair of gorgeous grapplers skidded and skipped down the length of the ropes. Corners usually proved effective barricades in instances such as these, but not tonight. Alana and Eliza barrelled past the first corner and kept on going with little more than a grunt from either. It wasn’t until they reached the second corner that Alana put a little extra ‘oomph’ into her last shove and BWUUUNGED the Songbird against the buckles.
The Card Shark immediately encouraged Eliza to stay a spell by THWHUMPING the broadside of her thigh up into the other woman’s stomach no less than half a dozen times. It had the desired effect, so Kash broke loose and draped Bliss’s arms over the top rope. “I’ve always heard you had an amazing voice,” Alana noted, “but intuition tells me you’d make a helluva musical instrument too.”
Seeking confirmation of this, she pointed her right shoulder at the brunette, reached across her chest and then CRAAACKED Bliss’s heretofore flawless décolletage with a vicious Knife-Edge Chop. Eliza groaned and moved to pull an arm across her chest, but Kash braced a palm against her shoulder and shoved her back against the buckles.
“Oh, we’re not done yet honey. I think you’ve got a whole range we need to explore.”
CRAAACK! Alana followed up with a second Knife-Edge, then added a whistling Overhand Slap to the Englishwoman’s left breast for good measure. Bliss kept trying to cover up and Kash kept slapping her for it, the blonde shifting her focus to Eliza’s cheek to better make her point. She was rearing back for another cheek-scorcher when Merle hurried over and said, “That’s enough in the corner, Alana. Let’s have some fun in the rest of the ring, ok?”
Alana nodded earnestly. “Sure thing, sir. I need to give Eliza my card though; I think she lost the first one.”
CRAAACK! The Mississippi Queen swivelled Bliss’s head with her latest effort, then leaned in close and kissed her cheek. “You’re gonna sing a solo into my ass tonight, cupcake. If I don’t slap all the air outta your lungs beforehand, that is.” Raising her hands now that the ref had started his count, Alana took a big step back and told him, “Ya don’t have to shout in my ear, Merle. I can hear you being obnoxious just fine from over NNNNGGGGGH!”
Eliza exploded out of the buckles and snapped her rival’s head back with an open handed Uppercut that struck her on the chin.
OPEN-HANDED UPPERCUT (first in clip)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGV356idAPk
Catching a handful of hair before Kash reeled out of reach; Bliss stepped aside and yanked the American into a BWUUUNGING forehead on turnbuckle collision. Then she turned Alana around, climbed onto the second rope and leaned to the left so she could raise her right leg. “You’ll hear one of my arias tonight; don’t doubt that in the slightest.” Eliza explained as she pressed the front of her boot against opposing face. “But not until I hear all of yours.”
The Renaissance Woman pumped her leg back n’ forth, aggressively grating the laces of her boots across Kash’s eyes and forehead. Alana shrieked and flailed, it wasn’t enough to get her loose of the predicament but Eliza let her go anyway because the blonde’s wails were far from melodic. “That is positively ghastly.” Bliss huffed when both feet were back on the mat. “Perhaps it would be better for everyone if I simply silenced you now.” Leaning left again, she clasped the top rope for balance and raised her right leg at a near perfect forty-five degree angle. Her foot fit nicely into the hollow of Kash’s throat so Bliss pushed forward, doing her best to save everyone any more auditory agony by throttling the Gambler to within an inch of her life.
A choke was still a choke even if Eliza was a fan favourite these days, so Merle didn’t hesitate in firing up his count.
Bliss broke it off at ‘THREE’, then stepped in and extended the middle and ring fingers on her right hand into a subtly hooked talon. “Allow me to introduce myself, understudy.” she cooed. “My name is Eliza Bliss and this,” she traced those two fingers across the pouty curve of Kash’s bottom lip, “is the Cleft Note. It will reduce you to helpless tears while I serenade these people with the greatest fusion of culture and domination you could ever imagine.”
Blissy worked the Note in up to the first knuckle before a violent twist of Alana’s head managed to keep the Brit from digging in the destructive grip. But in so doing, Kash’s head was turned and Eliza took it out on The Gambler with a THUMPING Forearm Smash to the back of Alana’s noggin.
A dazed Kash lurched forward from the impact but also from survival instinct, which tells her to put some distance between herself and the Superlative Soprano. Eliza wasn’t about to let the blonde get too far however. She reached into Alana’s flaxen locks from behind and drew her close, pressing her chest into Kash’s shoulder blades, the brunette’s arms wrapping around her foe’s braincase in a sinewy Sleeper grip.
Again, almost instantly, Alana’s innate sense of danger kicked in and she breaks free, nearly. Instead, Eliza tugged her back into a tighter version of the embrace, clamping down on the nap-inducing grasp. But as Kash pried at Blissy’s limbs, Eliza dipped and vaulted Alana off the deck, sending her foe hurtling over a shoulder and CRASHING to the canvas on her head and shoulders with a Suplex.
SLEEPER SUPLEX:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZDgny1mMMc
Kash somersaulted over to her knees from the impact, cradling her head with both hands, somehow remaining slightly vertical, settling on her haunches. The ending didn’t seem to disappoint a risen Bliss who placed a hand on the back of The Gambler’s head and shoved her down the rest of the way.
Settling in a standing reverse straddle over Alana’s lower legs, the diva collects Kash’s stems so the lower half of the limbs remain elevated, leaning against her own. The lithe Englishwoman fell into a spine-arching bridge, cupping her hands under Alana’s chin. Bliss pulled up, going to great lengths to secure the blonde in her agonizing Double Aria.
DOUBLE ARIA:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRypiBKkpWM
With Kash’s flawless features twisted in pain, the official dropped to a knee in front of the aching Alana, asking if the Gambler wanted to cash in. She shook an index finger, grunting out a nearly unintelligible ‘no’. Still, the referee managed to translate. Unable to hold the energy-sapping arch longer than Kash could take the punishment, Eliza released her grip and dropped spine to spine with a sighing, relieved Alana.
The sound stirred Eliza to spin up to one knee, digging the bony joint into Alana’s lower back. The soprano reached her hands around and under Kash’s chin, cupping it and reeeefing back with the blonde’s head again in her possession, viciously bending her foe’s neck and back.
“Time to regale us with a little classless karaoke,” Eliza chortled between grunts.
Kash mewls, her hands reaching behind her to claw into some piece of the Blackbird, but unable to reach.
“I believe she would like to be asked,” Blissy continued, directing her words to the official.
The man did as she’s told and once more Kash refused, drawing a perfectly pitched growl from Bliss who gave up her cup, instead transferring her grip to Kash’s golden locks and THROWING her foe’s face harshly into the thinly-covered plywood. Alana’s head bounces off the canvas, the blonde yipping as her hands flew to her features.
Meanwhile, Eliza rose and conducted the FAWNatics, waving her hands like Leonard Bernstein, making beautiful music with the lungs of the joyful crowd.
Deciding it’s time to increase her command of the match by leaps and bounds, Eliza headed for the nearest corner and climbed to the top, turning to face her target, waiting for the Tupelo native to struggle to her feet. As a wobbly Kash did, and turned toward the patient Brit, Bliss leapt from her perch, ready to blast the blonde with her signature inverted lung blower, ready to pass along a piece of Sheer Bliss.
But as the brunette drew close, reaching to wrap her hands around the back of Alana’s neck and yank her to a brutal impact, Kash ducked and lurched forward, slipping underneath Eliza. Bliss had precious little time before landing and she SLAMMED into the deck on both knees with a heavy THWUMP.
The crowd groaned as Blissy rolled from side to side in a pained ball, her aching gams pulled in tight.
Knowing she had limited time available to take advantage, Kash leaned against the buckles behind her for a only a few seconds before pushing her way toward Eliza, Bliss back on her aching knees by the time Alana reached her from behind. The blonde tugged Eliza to her feet and, reaching around the back of the brunette from both directions, Kash sank her talons into the pert chest of the soprano, digging in her Texas Hold’em.
Eliza yelped in pain as the blonde beauty flexed her palms, causing Bliss a couple handfuls of trouble. As Bliss shook her way lose from the unusual Bear Hug, Alana grabbed a wrist of the retreating diva. She tugged the brunette back in her direction, spinning her foe in the process. Alana threw her right arm across the Brit’s chest when they stood side by side. She leaned back and threw her bodyweight forward, sending Eliza’s back and head CRASHING to the mat with a Mississippi monster of an STO.
STO:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTOS16eeXmY
A boneless Bliss flopped over to her chest from the force of the impact and there she remained, the FAWNatics quieted. As the gorgeous blonde knelt next to the splayed, facedown Eliza, she instantly had an Ace of Spades at the ready, tossing it into the front row.
“Bytch is going to be doing sing-along’s at Orlando General the next few weeks,” Alana informed.
The Gambler hopped to her feet and put the boots to Blissy’s right ribs, compelling the dark-haired Brit to roll to her back. As soon as she did, the Mississippi Queen plucked both ankles and spread Eliza’s lithe legs wide. And with them Blissy’s dark eyes went wide too, Eliza holding up her hands, silently pleading for mercy. Mercy didn’t come, as Alana grit her perfect pearlies and STOMPED Blissy’s kitty, drawing a guttural groan from the diva.
But Kash was far from done with the whimpering Blackbird. Locking her arms higher up Eliza’s tremulous legs, Alana barred Eliza’s left knee and turned the flailing Bliss up and over, stacking Eliza into an agonizing Tupelo Cloverleaf that had the diva howling in agony, leg stretched and back bent at an ungodly angle.
TUPELO CLOVERLEAF:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3SV7-Mb3zU
“Sing for me, Bliss,” Alana demanded. “Put on a show.”
While it might have lacked the name recognition of a certain Northern California blonde’s Ladder, Bliss’s piercing, crystalline shrieks left no doubt as to the efficacy of Kash’s Cloverleaf. Patient like few other grapplers could manage, Alana didn’t bother with any demands or taunts after the first. She merely maintained her deep crouch above the small of Eliza’s back while occasionally sinking until her tush hung only inches above her prey’s contorted spine. There was no need to rush, no need to be rash. She had an excellent hand while the squalling Briton had a pair of threes, if she was lucky.
Merle however wasn’t nearly so keen on simply watching one of his charges suffer. So he got down on one knee and crab-walked in as close as he could. “What do you say, Eliza? Do you need me to call for the bell?”
“Don’t believe anything she says.” Alana interjected without even looking at the official. “Bytch has a GREAT poker face. Why, I recon this doesn’t hurt as nearly as much as she wants you to believe.”
‘This’ happened to be the blonde’s right knee, which she slotted into the hollow of Bliss’s back. Then she went down on one knee and really REEFED back, in hopes of making her foe leave the table.
Eliza’s perfect voice actually cracked as it hit registers she hadn’t shot for in years. Even so, she made no sign of wanting to surrender as Alana brought her feet closer and closer to the back of her head. But this tenacity paid off in the end when Kash backed up the tiniest bit too much, which in turn allowed the Songbird to twist off her chest and onto her back. It did nothing for Alana’s control over her legs but the relief in her knotted back was so sudden and so strong that Eliza almost wept with joy. No time for such sentiment in the middle of a battle, alas. Jaw clenched against any more admissions of pain, the Superlative Soprano dug her elbows into the mat and backpedalled across the mat as quickly as possible. Kash thought about trying to drag the brunette back to centre but in the end she resisted just enough to make sure Bliss didn’t realize the Mississippi Queen was letting her go.
“ROPES!” Eliza bleated the instant she’d coiled an arm around the bottom strand. “I have made the ropes, Merle, now make this creature relinquish her hold!” Kash untied her opponent’s legs, that was about it in terms of agreeing to Eliza’s demands. Actually that wasn’t quite true. In giving up the Cloverleaf she shifted to a grip on each of Bliss’s ankles and spread her stems wide. “Don’t you do it, Alana. Don’t you dare!” Eliza’s tone was commanding and angry despite the fact that the nauseating after effects of the Card Shark’s first Low Blow still lingered in her belly. “Let me go or I’ll ggggrrrrgghhhhh….”
Alana put the toe of her left boot against the crotch of Eliza’s bottoms and ground back n’ forth. While not nearly a match for the stomp in terms of explosive pain, it sure as hell wasn’t good to have Kash treating her womanhood like a cigarette in need of butting out. A little ways off, Merle waited long enough to see if the Southerner would release on her own accord and when she didn’t he started his count. The Card Shark tossed Bliss’s boots away at ‘TWO!’, then backed off with her hands raised well beyond shoulder-level.
Loathe to inspect her traumatized trunks in front of the world, Bliss turned onto her stomach, pushed to one knee and made a point to keep one arm anchored over the middle rope while she tended to her undercarriage. “Unimaginative tramp.” she muttered under her breath. “If she wanted a catfight she could’ve bloody well AHHH NOOOO! NOT AGAIN YOU BYTCH!”
Apparently Alana wasn’t quite done at the Texas Hold ‘Em table tonight because she stalked up behind her foe, sank into something like a squat-thrust and looped her arms around the Englishwoman’s waist. Only instead of lacing her fingers, Kash formed them into claws and resumed her attack on Eliza’s breasts. “Come on now, Alana! She’s in the ropes, you know better than that!” Merle barked as Eliza prized and slapped at her attacker’s wrists to little effect.
“Sorry Merle, that’s a house rule and I only obey those when I’m of the mind.” Alana explained in the moments before she found Bliss’s nubs through the thin material of her one-piece and twisted like a radio dial.
Unable to keep the shriek in this time, the Renaissance Woman let go of the ropes and reached back with both hands to plunge ‘em into Kash’s hair. Regaining her feet was actually made a little easier thanks to the gawd-awful tines in her tits, not that Eliza bothered to thank her adversary for the assist. Instead she tried to rip Alana’s hair out by the roots and when that didn’t work she pulled the other woman’s chin down against the point of her right shoulder. She was heartbeats away from dropping down in a Jawbreaker when Alana shifted on her left foot and THWHUNKED her right knee flush against the small of Bliss’s back.
Jaw unhinged in gaping anguish, Eliza would’ve slopped chest-first into the ropes if Kash hadn’t abandoned her claw holds for a simple Waistlock. Trudging the knock-kneed battler away from the ropes while patently ignoring the jeers of the FAWNatics, Alana turned her Brit around with a little tug and doubled her over as neat as you please with a Toe Kick to the belly. “I’ll give you one thing, Lizzie.” the blonde admitted as she cupped opposing chin in both hands. “You do know how to make losing look… and sound…. good.”
No response from the Songbird, so Kash twisted around so blonde and brunette ended up back to back with the latter’s head bent over the former’s shoulder in what would assuredly play out as a Hangman’s Neckbreak--Nope! Alana abruptly released the Chinlock and twirled around on her left heel. Elbow cocked and ready when she came out the other side, the Gambler THWHACKED the bony bludgeon against the side of Eliza’s skull with sickening force.
DEAD BLIND:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yj9zgILpqKw
Groaning for her because they were pretty sure Bliss couldn’t manage it herself, those assembled could only watch as the brunette collapsed onto her back like a tree toppling in slow motion. Shaking a bit of the tingle out of her arm, Kash planted a boot beside each of her foe’s shoulders and sank down into domineeringly casual Schoolgirl Pin. With her hands on her knees and her crotch wedged against Eliza’s chin, the Card Shark offered the camera a knowing smile as Merle swooped in to count…
ONE…
TWO…
Bliss braced her feet against the mat and bridged up with enough ‘oomph’ to send Alana onto all fours. Intrigued to discover the mark had more coin she was willing to part with, Kash twisted around and worked her claws into Eliza’s hair. “Sorry about that, girl. I tend to get ornery when the game’s over. But since there’s still some fun to be had, lemme at least set you on your feet.” Alana straightened up and forced Eliza to do the same, albeit with an impolitic tug on her dark hair. “There, you’re looking better already. Oh, hold on. There’s something in your eye.”
Kash jabbed her left thumb into the Songbird’s eye, a little insurance to make sure Bliss left it all on the table after their next hand. Dipping her left shoulder, the blonde slipped that arm between Bliss’s stems and muscled her up n’ across in a Fireman’s Carry. Content to play it out a little longer since she held all the cards, the Mississippi Queen turned in a wide circle, letting all four sides of the arena get the best views of Eliza’s limp carcass. “First comes the Crying Call.” she explained to no one in particular. “After that there’s nothing but crying.”
Knees bent, she ‘hupped’ Eliza up and swung her off her shoulders into one helluva facepl--‘YAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!’ The Spring Break crowd roared its approval when Bliss caught her rival’s head in a Front Facelock mid-flight and dropped to her back full force, thus transforming the Crying Call into a ring-shaking DDT!
GREAT BLUFF @ 1:05
www.youtube.com/watch?v=L23z8HBUKv0
Alana bounced onto her knees before sprawling onto her face, luckily the Renaissance Woman was right there to shovel her over and slide aboard in a Crossbody good for…
ONE…
TWO…
The Gambler shoved a shoulder off the canvas, denying Eliza a grand finale…for the moment. But Blissy seemed bound and determined to make sure the blonde’s played her last hand. Grabbing a wrist, Bliss hauled a rubbery Alana to her feet and bullied her to the nearest corner. There, she scooped Kash up behind the knees and ‘hupped’ her to a seat on the top, Alana pointed to the roaring FAWNatics.
Eliza slid back to back with her foe and reached over her right shoulder to secure a Three Quarters Facelock on the wobbly Mississippi Mauler. Seamlessly, the diva surged forward and laid out, SPIKING the back of Kash’s skull into the canvas with her Brava!
BRAVA @ 00:51
www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSM5Hc6WA1Y
The crowd went appropriately wild as the dazed Gambler remained in a prefabricated cradle, just waiting for Eliza to turn and take her. The lithe soprano did just that, keeping Kash down for...
ONE…
TWO…
THREE!
A joyous Eliza’s celebration was short lived when she realizes there was no third slap of the mat. She turned to see the official pointing at the blonde’s left hand, Alana having reached out and grabbed the bottom rope, keeping herself alive yet again.
“Are you not getting the message?” an exasperated Eliza barked. “You’re nothing but a chorus girl, a background player. Here to make the diva look good.”
Eliza forced Alana up and pressed her flagging foe into the buckles with a left forearm.
“But I guess you can still do that.”
Eliza delivered an Uppercut Throat Thrust that snapped Alana’s head back. Kash, red-faced and gagging, tried to stagger out of close quarters but Bliss threw her back in roughly and nailed Kash with a one-two of blistering forearms to the jaw that left the Tupelo native jelly-legged.
Disdainfully, Eliza shoved Alana past her and the gorgeous blonde stumbled toward the centre, catching herself before she tumbled to the deck. Meanwhile, Eliza headed to the top buckle, poised for Alana to make her last mistake. When Kash turned in her direction, Bliss leapt high, wrapping her hands around the back of Alan’s neck when contact was made, her legs tucking tight, knees pressing into The Gambler’s chest. And this time Eliza meted out Sheer Bliss, the Inverted Lungblower PLOWING into Alana’s bosom, Kash sent bouncing high into the air from the impact, landing in a lifeless spread eagle.
SHEER BLISS:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVLnMtTPuYg
The impact of back to mat took more than a little out of the Superlative Soprano as well and she’s slow to roll to hands and knees, crawl to the demolished blonde and spread herself liberally on top of the Mississippi Queen for the...
ONE…
TWO…
THRENOO!
Incredibly, both to Eliza and the crowd, Kash snuck a shoulder up once more, this time no more than an inch off the deck. But it’s enough to stay alive, even if briefly.
“You’ve got to know when to fold’em,” Eliza hissed as she pulled Kash to a seat and jumped in her lap, wrapping a Scissors around the ribs of the blonde. “Or so that chicken roaster of yours tells me.”
And to show Kash it was that time, Eliza both sent a pulse through her ivory-skinned, sinewy stems but raised her right hand and curled it into a hook she sent delving into Alana’s open maw. Bliss clamped down with her Cleft Note Mandible Claw. Kash flailed wildly, grasping at the wrist below Blissy’s invading fingers. But once the diva delivered her favourite Note, it’s awfully difficult to shake free.
With her baby blues starting to flutter, Kash tried a different tact. Capitalizing on Eliza’s proximity, she circled the brunette’s midriff with her arms and, with Bliss secured in a tight if not breathtaking Bear Hug, Alana managed to push to her feet, drawing shocked chagrin from the soprano. In bug-eyed desperation, Alana staggered to the nearest corner and sandwiched Eliza in front of her against the buckles, loosening the Note. Kash backpedalled a few steps and rushed in again, again squashing the diva between her body and the corner, Eliza’s hooked digits sliding out from between Alana’s lips.
Now it’s Alana’s turn to scoop up the diva and place her on the top buckle, though Eliza’s seat was pointed inward. Working on adrenaline, Kash jogged out to centre stage and spun, racing back at Bliss and leaping, her legs leading the way. Alana Dropkicked Eliza in the chest, sending Bliss spilling over the top, crashing first atop the outside of the apron before reaching the cement floor far below.
While the Blackbird struggled to her feet, Alana was on the move. She sprinted to the opposite ropes, rebounded, and went for her signature All or Nothing, the Suicide Dive sending her through the cables and SMASHING into a rising Bliss. The dark-haired Brit was sent flying in reverse, her spine striking the steel barrier behind her with incredible force. Eliza’s features twisted in pain, her back arching, hand reaching for the base of her spine, her chest pushed forward, which both the crowd and Alana enjoys, the risen Kash slamming a forearm into the available bosom.
The blow nearly sent Eliza tumbling over, but some helpful souls in the front row kept Eliza from joining the fans. Kash gladly accepted Bliss from the generous FAWNatics, grabbing her by a shoulder and wrist and sending the blonde hurtling into the ring apron, Blissy’s back again painfully dissected.
Catching Eliza as the brunette started to seep to her knees; Kash lifted and stuffed the battered Bliss onto the mat then shoved her under the bottom rope, the Mississippi Queen quickly joining her before tearing the yelping diva to her feet with a handful of long dark locks.
“You managed to avoid the Crying Call, slick.” Alana released her hold on Eliza’s hair just to wrap that same mitt around her throat. “Let’s see how you handle the Dead Man’s Hand.”
Already quite woozy from the fall and subsequent trouncing she’d absorbed outside the ring, Bliss only smacked at her attacker’s arm and that wasn’t nearly enough to make Kash let ‘er go. Squeezing a little harder on general principle, the Card Shark set her free hand against Eliza’s right hip and tore her off her feet for what looked like a Choke Slam but turned out to be even worse. Alana released her Goozle at the apex of the lift and put that hand flat to Bliss’s chest while she curled her other arm around the Briton’s right thigh. Then she dropped to her knees and pushed down hard as she could, using every bit of her hundred and twenty or so pounds to THAWHAM the Superlative Soprano squarely on the back of her head and shoulders.
DEAD MAN'S HAND:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRzv1Bm7Y-Q
Stacked high and tight, Eliza’s position got all the more uncomfortable when Kash slid forward and grabbed the brunette’s wrists. Glued together tummy to haunches, Alana flipped hair out of her face and gloated, “Cash out, sugar. You’re broke.” Merle wasn’t quite so certain as to the state of Eliza’s finances, so he swooped in, checked her shoulders and counted…
ONE…
TWO…
THRENOOOOOOOO!
Bliss popped her hips and tumbled onto her belly, leaving herself vulnerable but still in the game for at least another three seconds. Alana shook her head and shot a disgusted look to the referee. Didn’t argue though. She knew well enough that you didn’t argue with a Pit Boss unless you were damned sure going to win. Besides, she didn’t want to win that way. She wanted there to be absolutely no doubt in anyone’s mind that Eliza Bliss had lost her last dime at the Kash Out Casino. The Mississippi Queen grabbed Eliza at shoulder and hip and rolled her onto her back. “Everyone seems real impressed with that Cleft Note of yours. Hell, I’M impressed and that doesn’t happen very often anymore. But you ain’t the only one who knows how to hook a Mandible Claw, sugar. And personally, I think my version’s better.”
This was a bold statement indeed so Alana wasted no time in justifying it. Positioned on the brunette’s right side, she pinned that bicep with her knee, then curled her middle and ring fingers into a slight curve and slipped them into Bliss’s mouth. The reaction from foe and fan was instantaneous, the former gurgling in shocked indignation while the latter ‘OOOOHHHHHED!’ so loud Kash could practically hear the individual cries of ‘Oh No She Din’t!’
But this wasn’t about stealing the Cleft Note. That would’ve been gimmick infringement and that was the sort of cheating Alana Kash simply didn’t tolerate. So instead of slipping a Scissors around Eliza’s waist, she crooked her left hand into a second claw and ‘SMECKED’ it deep into the taut expanse of her opponent’s tummy.
“Two of a Kind.” Alana purred as Bliss’s eyes snapped open that much wider. “Feels good, doesn’t it? Go ahead and tap that mat whenever you’re ready, baby.”
Painful as the Belly Claw was, Eliza dismissed it after a few instinctive swats. From her experience with the Cleft Note she knew there was only a brief window between initial application and the sluggishness that meant unconsciousness was just around the corner. With her right arm pinned by Kash’s knee, she grabbed the blonde’s clawin’ wrist with her left hand and tried to jerk it loose. No dice, Alana just squeezed harder and in so doing earned a whiny wail Eliza didn’t much like at all.
Resigned to the fact that she’d have to reveal the escape hatch she’d come up with for just such a situation, Bliss stopped squeezing and went to work worming as many fingers as she could manage between her chin and Kash’s thumb. When she had what she wanted the Renaissance Woman squeezed the trapped digit and pulled down like she intended to snap it off. Hissing in pain, Alana muttered, “Not enough, baby. Not nearly enough!” Abandoning the Belly Claw after a final squeeze, Kash flattened that hand into a paddle and SMACKED her in the side of the head in hopes of ringing her ear.
The slaps weren’t pleasant in the slightest, but Bliss endured them with minimal fuss because she’d almost THERE! The brunette wrenched her right arm clear of Alana’s knee and she CRAAACKED her across the cheek with a celebratory Bytch Slap. Kash rocked back a little, giving Bliss just enough time to fight to a seat. Still not entirely free of the counterfeit Cleft Note, the former FAWN Lightweight Champion gave her tormentor a taste of the genuine article with a quick viper-like thrust of her right hand.
Alana ‘guurrhked!’ and clamped down on the Englishwoman’s wrist with her free hand. “LEEHGOOOFFHMHEEE!” she burbled around Bliss’s talon.
Bliss didn’t bother with a smile but she did push her thumb a little deeper into the soft flesh behind Alana’s chin. More importantly, she shifted her weight and swung a leg around the Gambler’s waist. Snuggling in closer even though it meant suffering more of Kash’s claw, Eliza straightened her other leg, sidled in as close as she could and ultimately locked her ankles. That proved a turning point as she bore down and arched back, all the muscles in those sinewy stems shredding into stark relief as she attacked Alana’s ribs.
Shocked by the power brought to bear on her midsection, Kash gasped in pain which meant the Cleft Note sank in that much deeper beneath her tongue. Her own grasp loosened in the scuffle, Alana tried to reset but a vicious shake from Bliss wrenched her neck and finally destroyed the last of her control. Breathing much better as soon as she spat the blonde’s fingers out, Eliza squirmed in a little closer and then dropped to her side, forcing the Card Shark to do the same. “As far as covers goes, yours wasn’t bad, chorus girl.” Bliss cooed to the thrashing, wide-eyed blonde. “But there is only one Eliza Bliss. There is only one Cleft Note. And you are a match for neither.”
With her legs feeling like lead and her arms not far behind, Alana pawed weakly at Eliza’s shoulders, she even made a last ditch effort to squeeze the brunette’s breasts. Bliss endured with a grimace and repaid the affront with a brisk slap followed by a vicious, prolonged tweaking of her opponent’s left nipple. Alana keened and thumped her knees into Eliza’s tush, but she was practically moving in slow motion at this point and the Briton only smiled. “Tap out, skag. You wouldn’t want me to take this lovely little bit of yours, would you?” she pulled Alana’s nub for emphasis.
The Mississippi Queen regarded her with groggy, hateful eyes that continued to narrow as Eliza watched. Stern now, Eliza abruptly peeled aside Kash’s cup so she could apply her pincer without any meddlesome fabric getting in the way. “I said give up!” Alana gurgled and that was all, even another wicked teat twist got nothing in response. Aggravated, the Songbird looked to Merle and said, “Check her.”
The ref did as bade, kneeling beside the action to raise Kash’s wrist once… twice… three times. The bell sounded and Eliza released both claws so she could shove the slumbering battler onto her back. Then she scooted up and sat down, the crotch of her lacy purple one-piece pressed snug against Alana’s mouth and nose while the Announcer noted, “Ladies and gentlemen, your winner via knockout… ELIZA BLISS!”
At the sound of her name, Eliza raised one hand to wave at the crowd while the other patted Alana’s forehead. “The FAWNatics were never ones to throw roses,” the brunette noted with a touch of sadness, “but your breath against my trunks is all the congratulations I really--”
“ELIZA, LOOK OUT!” Merle’s voice was so sharp and clear that Bliss started to rise as soon as the second word was out of his mouth. Unfortunately she was still too slow to stop the steel chair from BWAAANGING across her shoulders. Stunned into silent agony, Eliza collapsed onto her stomach beside Alana. Forearms flat against the canvas, she started to push up and BWAAANG! Over the roar of the crowd and the thunder of her own hurts, Bliss heard the ref say, “Put that damned thing down right now or I’ll NNNNGGGHHHHH!” Merle hit the canvas on his knees, thus ensuring any salvation would have to come from the Songbird herself.
Mustering what little energy she had left, Bliss rolled onto her protesting spine and snarled, “Jenkins you cowardly trollop, you’re going to pay for- GUUURRRHHHHK!”
SUSANNAH BURLINGAME:
Susannah Burlingame put the rounded edge of the chair against Eliza’s throat and pressed down to throttle her silver-tongued rival. “Beth?” she asked with a sardonic smile. “I’m insulted, Eliza. Did you forget my promise?”
Eliza was too busy grappling with the chair to answer, but the Ace didn’t mind. Without missing a beat she rose onto her toes and dropped to one knee, the other of which she smashed into the Englishwoman’s groin. Bliss let loose with a choked yowl and rolled onto her side when Burlingame pulled it away. Alone save for the incapacitated ref and two equally vulnerable wrestlers, Susan unfolded the chair with a loud ‘clank’ and set it up in the middle of the squared circle.
“Get up, ‘Lizzy.” Sue demanded of her wounded prey. “I’ve only got one seat, but it’s the best in the house.”
Eliza made no move to respond (other than swaddling her accosted centre) so the Rainmaker filled her hands with Bliss’s hair and dragged her up just long enough to stuff her in the folding chair. Eliza’d only begun to register her new alignment when Susan took her chin between thumb and forefinger and tilted her head back to force smouldering eye contact. “You probably can’t focus on much right now, that’s understandable. But in another life you were respected for your voice and I figure anyone with pipes like that also has a pretty good ear. So sit there and hold your junk if you have to, just keep those ears open while you do. I want you to listen, Eliza. Really fahking listen.”
Susan took a step back, grabbed the bottom edge of her dark blue ‘Aces’ tank-top and peeled it off to reveal the similarly toned, gold trimmed two-piece that was her usual ring attire. The FAWNatics popped huge, even though the woman in question had recently waffled one of their favourites with a steel chair in most heinous fashion. Holding her shorn top in both hands, Burlingame looped it around the back of Bliss’s neck, pulled it tight and sat in her lap, which got another ridiculous roar from those assembled. “Did you hear that, Eliza? That’s how you pop a crowd. That’s how you make a moment. That’s how you COMMAND THE SPOTLIGHT!”
“Wuuuuhhhh….fffttthhhhhhh… with a half-assed strip tease and lap dance?” the brunette grunted. “I don’t think so chorus GGGRRRRGGGGHHHH!”
Sue pulled the tank-top tight, a one-hundred percent cotton garrotte to throttle this bytch who simply could not learn her place. She let loose after a long five seconds; CRAAACKED Eliza’s reddened cheek as hard as she could, then stood up with a disgusted little grimace.
“You’re pathetic.” Susan spat. “I can’t believe a hack like you ever thought she could come after me and live to see the sun come up.”
Eliza ripped the tank-top away from her burning throat and tossed it to the mat. “Face me, then.” the Renaissance Woman raised her head to glare daggers at the Black Court’s Ace. “Face me and show them… show ME… how I’m not in your league…. if you’re not afraid, that NNNNGGGGHHH!”
Susan pivoted on her left heel and slammed the right into Bliss’s jaw with a Super Kick that knocked both she and the chair sprawling.
“I HAVE FACED YOU, ELIZA! Sue barked down at her. “I beat you when my gold was on the line and I beat you when you and that other whiny priss were arguing over a title no one but you would ever give two shyts about!” Susan dropped to one knee beside Bliss, grabbed hold of her hair and lifted her head off the canvas. “The only times you ever got over on me revolved around attacking when my back was turned. I told you I would make you pay, Eliza. And I don’t make promises I can’t keep.”
Shovelling the glassy-eyed battler onto her stomach, Burlingame grabbed the chair, closed it most of the way up and laid it down on Bliss’s right side. That got the crowd nervous and rightfully so because the heiress took possession of Eliza’s arm and forced her hand into the semi-open chair. Susan stood up and placed her foot against the back-rest of the chair. Then she hopped up and STOMPED down, closing the blunt steel jaws on her rival’s hand.
Eliza Bliss screamed the ugliest note of her life and tore loose of the trap immediately cradling the injured appendage against her chest.
Oh so aware of the near silence that’d fallen in the FAWN arena, Susan stood over the helpless Songbird and warned, “You took Sydney from me so I took the Cleft Note from you. Cross me again and it’ll be your throat in that chair the next time. I’ll take your voice, Eliza. Swear to God, I will.” The silence ended in a relieved cheer as a half dozen referees, three EMT’s and one ferociously pissed off Olivia Dare tore through the curtain and made a beeline for the ring. Susan took that as her cue to exit so she bailed over the top rope and disappeared into the crowd seconds before the rescue party hit the scene.
Olivia raced to the ropes closest to the spot where Burlingame had vanished in hopes she might catch sight of her, but the Rainmaker was long gone, giving the remaining Blackbird no target for her fury. Promising to heap all of it and more on one Lenore Lemarchand a little later on this evening, Dare headed back to her partner and tried to be as soothing as she could while the medics went about tending to Eliza’s hand.
The broadcast cut over to a video package shortly thereafter, although not quite fast enough to keep the sharper-eyed viewers from seeing the officials setting up the stretcher they’d use to get the Superlative Soprano to the back.
“Ladies and gentlemen our next contest is scheduled for one fall with a twenty minute time limit. Introducing first, hailing from London, England, in the United Kingdom, she stands at five feet eight inches tall and weighs in at one hundred and twenty two pounds, she is the Sublime Soprano, the Renaissance Woman and the Maestro of the Cleft Note, she is… ELIZA BLISSSS!”
ELIZA BLISS:
A sweet melodious set of notes reached to the heights, the highest high of soprano superlatives couldn’t describe the beauty of the operatic ecstasy. Nor could it describe the beauty that had stepped from behind the curtain. Unlike most of her career, where her evil ways led fans to tear into the despicable diva, the FAWNatics now revelled in the music and the woman providing it.
Eliza raised her arms dramatically and serenaded the FAWNatics with her own entrance accompaniment, no one else able to reach the perfect notes of operatic rapture. Blissy set herself on the upper stage. The slender, sinewy brunette, long locks falling in great cascades, was clad in a tight, lacy black one-piece that clung tightly to her lightly tanned form; curious, futuristic, metallic wristbands, glittered from each wrist to only a few inches short of her elbows. Below, she wore tempting, knee-high black leather boots. The Englishwoman strode down the aisle belting out the concluding aria of Giulio Cesare, the opera that had made her famous or infamous, depending on fan or foe.
The crowd, for the most part, were now loyal fans of the soprano, willing to take Bliss under their protective wing after her long time astray.
Still trying desperately to find the singles’ mojo that had at one time made her Lightweight champion, Eliza seemed confident enough from recent Blackbird success to transfer it to the singles scene.
As Bliss moved toward the ring, she finished her beautiful verse and slapped hands with those on the aisle, waving and smiling, well removed from the Empire and her petty past.
Reaching the squared circle, Eliza made a circuit, bowing and making contact with the crowd, particularly pleased with a placards that noted “Operatic excellence. Battlefield bravado. You can Kash out on True Bliss”.
The brunette nodded in agreement.
“Don’t forget,” Eliza added, “Tonight’s the night to bet a particular poker player is going to end up busted and feeling a very special Note down her throat.”
The sinewy brunette turned to the squared circle and skipped up the steel steps. Sliding through the ropes, she moved to her corner, still owning the ‘stage’ in every sense of the word. Eliza, a performer of unequalled beauty and poise, flexed and stretched, preparing for her flaxen-haired foe.
While Bliss renewed her relationship with the spotlight, the speakers crackled into the spooky opening of ‘Clint Eastwood’. As the house lights went down, four spotlights took wing through the arena. Each was emblazoned with one of the four suits of a deck of cards and each went its own way until coming to an abrupt halt just above the entryway. The curtain was flicked aside and the Mississippi Queen strutted out for another all or nothing round of her favourite game.
CLINT EASTWOOD:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5MWCnKeH2s
ALANA KASH:
Posted up at the dead centre of the stage, the statuesque blonde tilted her head just enough so the shades she wore slipped down her nose, allowing a better view of all the marks in attendance. Already thinking of the best way to sucker said rubes, the Kash pushed the shades back into place, touched the brim of her flat black hat and started down the ramp, the ankle length, sleeveless black leather duster doing absolutely nothing to hide the swagger in her stride.
She was about halfway down the aisle when the Announcer remembered he was supposed to introduce her. “And her opponent, from Tupelo Mississippi, she stands at five feet seven inches tall and weighs in at one hundred and thirty-two pounds. She is the Ravishing Riverboat Rogue… ALANA… KASH!"
Equally dismissive of praise and condemnation, Alana traversed the length of the aisle in silence, then climbed the steel steps and waited on the apron until the ref hurried over and opened the ropes. Kash slid through.
She straightened and doffed her duster, leaving her clad in a black bikini top with red bottoms, both edged in Western-style fringe. Across the seat of her briefs was a hand of cards -- a Royal Flush, all in Clubs. The outfit was finished with white boots, monogrammed with AK. Smirking as the ref tried not to gawp, Kash removed her hat and shades and handed them off without so much as a word. To him at least. To Eliza she said, “Start thinking of something appropriately tragic, sweet pea. It’s the only thing you’ll want to sing by the time I send you away from the table.” Ready for the opening hand, Kash strutted back to her corner to await final inspection.
The bell sounded and the crowd buzzed as Bliss and Kash started toward one another. Though there was no real history between the women (this was in fact the first time they’d ever crossed paths in a one on one match despite their lengthy tenure with the company) there was considerable interest among those assembled because such a match between well-established talents often provided a glimpse into who might be challenging for the Intercontinental or even the World Title. Couple that with the fact that Alana and Eliza had a reputation for leaving everything on the mat and the big fight feel was understandable.
Hands held loose just above her waist, the Mississippi Queen ambled right in a slowly closing corkscrew that contained Eliza Bliss at its centre. “It suddenly occurs to me,” Kash drawled, “that you and I, despite our long and varied journeys up and down the road, have never been properly introduced. Allow me to rectify that.” The words were barely out of her mouth when the blonde reared back and lunged for a Collar & Elbow Tie-Up. Eliza braced to meet the charge but it proved a feint, as Kash dipped low and twisted around behind her foe without actually engaging. Posted up a little ways back by the time Eliza turned around, Alana said, “My card, dear.”
There was no card in the offering, at least not one that Bliss could see and frankly she wasn’t much in the mood for parlour tricks. “Working a magician gimmick now are we, dear? Or do you make introductions by way of annoying new acquaintances?”
Kash tapped her left thigh and Eliza looked down. Damned if there wasn’t a playing card tucked partway into the left leg hole of her black one-piece. Plucking it loose with a bemused little smirk, Eliza flipped it over saw the Ace of Spades.
Above it was printed: ALANA KASH. Beneath: Will be kicking your ass shortly.
Bliss looked up, an eyebrow arched and her smirk a little bit wider. “Is that a fact now?”
Alana nodded. “Now that introductions are out of the way? Absolutely.”
“I don’t see how they are. You don’t know my name.” the Englishwoman countered.
“I don’t need to know your name, honey.”
“Oh but you will, understudy. I promise.”
That seemed to settle things at least temporarily because blonde and brunette pounced into a stiff clench that had them pushing and stamping around in awkward little circles. Bliss had an inch on her foe but Kash was five pounds heavier which pretty much meant it was dead even as they sought to impose will. Alana took charge first, shifting her feet abruptly to march the Englishwoman into the ropes on a sharp diagonal. But Bliss’s back had only just touched the cables when she torqued her hips to change places with the Southerner. Quickly shifting one hand from Alana’s shoulder to her chin, Bliss forced her head back over the top rope and stepped in close.
“You’d have been better sticking to solitaire rather than anteing up against me, dear heart.” Eliza cooed to her struggling foe. “A game with stakes this high could easily leave you destituNNNGGGGH!”
Kash drove a pair of Kneelifts into Bliss’s ribs, then spun around to smear her against the strands. Smiling again now that their positions were reversed, she pressed her left hand flush against the brunette’s face and squeezed at her temples and forehead Iron Claw-style. “I don’t mean to burst your bubble, but you’re nothing but a penny-ante game if I ever saw one. Why, you’re lucky I don’t go all in on your limey ass right noOOOFFFHH!”
Eliza caught her with a short; clipping shot to the chin that staggered the blonde just enough to get them moving again. Spinning was probably a more accurate description as the pair of gorgeous grapplers skidded and skipped down the length of the ropes. Corners usually proved effective barricades in instances such as these, but not tonight. Alana and Eliza barrelled past the first corner and kept on going with little more than a grunt from either. It wasn’t until they reached the second corner that Alana put a little extra ‘oomph’ into her last shove and BWUUUNGED the Songbird against the buckles.
The Card Shark immediately encouraged Eliza to stay a spell by THWHUMPING the broadside of her thigh up into the other woman’s stomach no less than half a dozen times. It had the desired effect, so Kash broke loose and draped Bliss’s arms over the top rope. “I’ve always heard you had an amazing voice,” Alana noted, “but intuition tells me you’d make a helluva musical instrument too.”
Seeking confirmation of this, she pointed her right shoulder at the brunette, reached across her chest and then CRAAACKED Bliss’s heretofore flawless décolletage with a vicious Knife-Edge Chop. Eliza groaned and moved to pull an arm across her chest, but Kash braced a palm against her shoulder and shoved her back against the buckles.
“Oh, we’re not done yet honey. I think you’ve got a whole range we need to explore.”
CRAAACK! Alana followed up with a second Knife-Edge, then added a whistling Overhand Slap to the Englishwoman’s left breast for good measure. Bliss kept trying to cover up and Kash kept slapping her for it, the blonde shifting her focus to Eliza’s cheek to better make her point. She was rearing back for another cheek-scorcher when Merle hurried over and said, “That’s enough in the corner, Alana. Let’s have some fun in the rest of the ring, ok?”
Alana nodded earnestly. “Sure thing, sir. I need to give Eliza my card though; I think she lost the first one.”
CRAAACK! The Mississippi Queen swivelled Bliss’s head with her latest effort, then leaned in close and kissed her cheek. “You’re gonna sing a solo into my ass tonight, cupcake. If I don’t slap all the air outta your lungs beforehand, that is.” Raising her hands now that the ref had started his count, Alana took a big step back and told him, “Ya don’t have to shout in my ear, Merle. I can hear you being obnoxious just fine from over NNNNGGGGGH!”
Eliza exploded out of the buckles and snapped her rival’s head back with an open handed Uppercut that struck her on the chin.
OPEN-HANDED UPPERCUT (first in clip)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGV356idAPk
Catching a handful of hair before Kash reeled out of reach; Bliss stepped aside and yanked the American into a BWUUUNGING forehead on turnbuckle collision. Then she turned Alana around, climbed onto the second rope and leaned to the left so she could raise her right leg. “You’ll hear one of my arias tonight; don’t doubt that in the slightest.” Eliza explained as she pressed the front of her boot against opposing face. “But not until I hear all of yours.”
The Renaissance Woman pumped her leg back n’ forth, aggressively grating the laces of her boots across Kash’s eyes and forehead. Alana shrieked and flailed, it wasn’t enough to get her loose of the predicament but Eliza let her go anyway because the blonde’s wails were far from melodic. “That is positively ghastly.” Bliss huffed when both feet were back on the mat. “Perhaps it would be better for everyone if I simply silenced you now.” Leaning left again, she clasped the top rope for balance and raised her right leg at a near perfect forty-five degree angle. Her foot fit nicely into the hollow of Kash’s throat so Bliss pushed forward, doing her best to save everyone any more auditory agony by throttling the Gambler to within an inch of her life.
A choke was still a choke even if Eliza was a fan favourite these days, so Merle didn’t hesitate in firing up his count.
Bliss broke it off at ‘THREE’, then stepped in and extended the middle and ring fingers on her right hand into a subtly hooked talon. “Allow me to introduce myself, understudy.” she cooed. “My name is Eliza Bliss and this,” she traced those two fingers across the pouty curve of Kash’s bottom lip, “is the Cleft Note. It will reduce you to helpless tears while I serenade these people with the greatest fusion of culture and domination you could ever imagine.”
Blissy worked the Note in up to the first knuckle before a violent twist of Alana’s head managed to keep the Brit from digging in the destructive grip. But in so doing, Kash’s head was turned and Eliza took it out on The Gambler with a THUMPING Forearm Smash to the back of Alana’s noggin.
A dazed Kash lurched forward from the impact but also from survival instinct, which tells her to put some distance between herself and the Superlative Soprano. Eliza wasn’t about to let the blonde get too far however. She reached into Alana’s flaxen locks from behind and drew her close, pressing her chest into Kash’s shoulder blades, the brunette’s arms wrapping around her foe’s braincase in a sinewy Sleeper grip.
Again, almost instantly, Alana’s innate sense of danger kicked in and she breaks free, nearly. Instead, Eliza tugged her back into a tighter version of the embrace, clamping down on the nap-inducing grasp. But as Kash pried at Blissy’s limbs, Eliza dipped and vaulted Alana off the deck, sending her foe hurtling over a shoulder and CRASHING to the canvas on her head and shoulders with a Suplex.
SLEEPER SUPLEX:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZDgny1mMMc
Kash somersaulted over to her knees from the impact, cradling her head with both hands, somehow remaining slightly vertical, settling on her haunches. The ending didn’t seem to disappoint a risen Bliss who placed a hand on the back of The Gambler’s head and shoved her down the rest of the way.
Settling in a standing reverse straddle over Alana’s lower legs, the diva collects Kash’s stems so the lower half of the limbs remain elevated, leaning against her own. The lithe Englishwoman fell into a spine-arching bridge, cupping her hands under Alana’s chin. Bliss pulled up, going to great lengths to secure the blonde in her agonizing Double Aria.
DOUBLE ARIA:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRypiBKkpWM
With Kash’s flawless features twisted in pain, the official dropped to a knee in front of the aching Alana, asking if the Gambler wanted to cash in. She shook an index finger, grunting out a nearly unintelligible ‘no’. Still, the referee managed to translate. Unable to hold the energy-sapping arch longer than Kash could take the punishment, Eliza released her grip and dropped spine to spine with a sighing, relieved Alana.
The sound stirred Eliza to spin up to one knee, digging the bony joint into Alana’s lower back. The soprano reached her hands around and under Kash’s chin, cupping it and reeeefing back with the blonde’s head again in her possession, viciously bending her foe’s neck and back.
“Time to regale us with a little classless karaoke,” Eliza chortled between grunts.
Kash mewls, her hands reaching behind her to claw into some piece of the Blackbird, but unable to reach.
“I believe she would like to be asked,” Blissy continued, directing her words to the official.
The man did as she’s told and once more Kash refused, drawing a perfectly pitched growl from Bliss who gave up her cup, instead transferring her grip to Kash’s golden locks and THROWING her foe’s face harshly into the thinly-covered plywood. Alana’s head bounces off the canvas, the blonde yipping as her hands flew to her features.
Meanwhile, Eliza rose and conducted the FAWNatics, waving her hands like Leonard Bernstein, making beautiful music with the lungs of the joyful crowd.
Deciding it’s time to increase her command of the match by leaps and bounds, Eliza headed for the nearest corner and climbed to the top, turning to face her target, waiting for the Tupelo native to struggle to her feet. As a wobbly Kash did, and turned toward the patient Brit, Bliss leapt from her perch, ready to blast the blonde with her signature inverted lung blower, ready to pass along a piece of Sheer Bliss.
But as the brunette drew close, reaching to wrap her hands around the back of Alana’s neck and yank her to a brutal impact, Kash ducked and lurched forward, slipping underneath Eliza. Bliss had precious little time before landing and she SLAMMED into the deck on both knees with a heavy THWUMP.
The crowd groaned as Blissy rolled from side to side in a pained ball, her aching gams pulled in tight.
Knowing she had limited time available to take advantage, Kash leaned against the buckles behind her for a only a few seconds before pushing her way toward Eliza, Bliss back on her aching knees by the time Alana reached her from behind. The blonde tugged Eliza to her feet and, reaching around the back of the brunette from both directions, Kash sank her talons into the pert chest of the soprano, digging in her Texas Hold’em.
Eliza yelped in pain as the blonde beauty flexed her palms, causing Bliss a couple handfuls of trouble. As Bliss shook her way lose from the unusual Bear Hug, Alana grabbed a wrist of the retreating diva. She tugged the brunette back in her direction, spinning her foe in the process. Alana threw her right arm across the Brit’s chest when they stood side by side. She leaned back and threw her bodyweight forward, sending Eliza’s back and head CRASHING to the mat with a Mississippi monster of an STO.
STO:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTOS16eeXmY
A boneless Bliss flopped over to her chest from the force of the impact and there she remained, the FAWNatics quieted. As the gorgeous blonde knelt next to the splayed, facedown Eliza, she instantly had an Ace of Spades at the ready, tossing it into the front row.
“Bytch is going to be doing sing-along’s at Orlando General the next few weeks,” Alana informed.
The Gambler hopped to her feet and put the boots to Blissy’s right ribs, compelling the dark-haired Brit to roll to her back. As soon as she did, the Mississippi Queen plucked both ankles and spread Eliza’s lithe legs wide. And with them Blissy’s dark eyes went wide too, Eliza holding up her hands, silently pleading for mercy. Mercy didn’t come, as Alana grit her perfect pearlies and STOMPED Blissy’s kitty, drawing a guttural groan from the diva.
But Kash was far from done with the whimpering Blackbird. Locking her arms higher up Eliza’s tremulous legs, Alana barred Eliza’s left knee and turned the flailing Bliss up and over, stacking Eliza into an agonizing Tupelo Cloverleaf that had the diva howling in agony, leg stretched and back bent at an ungodly angle.
TUPELO CLOVERLEAF:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3SV7-Mb3zU
“Sing for me, Bliss,” Alana demanded. “Put on a show.”
While it might have lacked the name recognition of a certain Northern California blonde’s Ladder, Bliss’s piercing, crystalline shrieks left no doubt as to the efficacy of Kash’s Cloverleaf. Patient like few other grapplers could manage, Alana didn’t bother with any demands or taunts after the first. She merely maintained her deep crouch above the small of Eliza’s back while occasionally sinking until her tush hung only inches above her prey’s contorted spine. There was no need to rush, no need to be rash. She had an excellent hand while the squalling Briton had a pair of threes, if she was lucky.
Merle however wasn’t nearly so keen on simply watching one of his charges suffer. So he got down on one knee and crab-walked in as close as he could. “What do you say, Eliza? Do you need me to call for the bell?”
“Don’t believe anything she says.” Alana interjected without even looking at the official. “Bytch has a GREAT poker face. Why, I recon this doesn’t hurt as nearly as much as she wants you to believe.”
‘This’ happened to be the blonde’s right knee, which she slotted into the hollow of Bliss’s back. Then she went down on one knee and really REEFED back, in hopes of making her foe leave the table.
Eliza’s perfect voice actually cracked as it hit registers she hadn’t shot for in years. Even so, she made no sign of wanting to surrender as Alana brought her feet closer and closer to the back of her head. But this tenacity paid off in the end when Kash backed up the tiniest bit too much, which in turn allowed the Songbird to twist off her chest and onto her back. It did nothing for Alana’s control over her legs but the relief in her knotted back was so sudden and so strong that Eliza almost wept with joy. No time for such sentiment in the middle of a battle, alas. Jaw clenched against any more admissions of pain, the Superlative Soprano dug her elbows into the mat and backpedalled across the mat as quickly as possible. Kash thought about trying to drag the brunette back to centre but in the end she resisted just enough to make sure Bliss didn’t realize the Mississippi Queen was letting her go.
“ROPES!” Eliza bleated the instant she’d coiled an arm around the bottom strand. “I have made the ropes, Merle, now make this creature relinquish her hold!” Kash untied her opponent’s legs, that was about it in terms of agreeing to Eliza’s demands. Actually that wasn’t quite true. In giving up the Cloverleaf she shifted to a grip on each of Bliss’s ankles and spread her stems wide. “Don’t you do it, Alana. Don’t you dare!” Eliza’s tone was commanding and angry despite the fact that the nauseating after effects of the Card Shark’s first Low Blow still lingered in her belly. “Let me go or I’ll ggggrrrrgghhhhh….”
Alana put the toe of her left boot against the crotch of Eliza’s bottoms and ground back n’ forth. While not nearly a match for the stomp in terms of explosive pain, it sure as hell wasn’t good to have Kash treating her womanhood like a cigarette in need of butting out. A little ways off, Merle waited long enough to see if the Southerner would release on her own accord and when she didn’t he started his count. The Card Shark tossed Bliss’s boots away at ‘TWO!’, then backed off with her hands raised well beyond shoulder-level.
Loathe to inspect her traumatized trunks in front of the world, Bliss turned onto her stomach, pushed to one knee and made a point to keep one arm anchored over the middle rope while she tended to her undercarriage. “Unimaginative tramp.” she muttered under her breath. “If she wanted a catfight she could’ve bloody well AHHH NOOOO! NOT AGAIN YOU BYTCH!”
Apparently Alana wasn’t quite done at the Texas Hold ‘Em table tonight because she stalked up behind her foe, sank into something like a squat-thrust and looped her arms around the Englishwoman’s waist. Only instead of lacing her fingers, Kash formed them into claws and resumed her attack on Eliza’s breasts. “Come on now, Alana! She’s in the ropes, you know better than that!” Merle barked as Eliza prized and slapped at her attacker’s wrists to little effect.
“Sorry Merle, that’s a house rule and I only obey those when I’m of the mind.” Alana explained in the moments before she found Bliss’s nubs through the thin material of her one-piece and twisted like a radio dial.
Unable to keep the shriek in this time, the Renaissance Woman let go of the ropes and reached back with both hands to plunge ‘em into Kash’s hair. Regaining her feet was actually made a little easier thanks to the gawd-awful tines in her tits, not that Eliza bothered to thank her adversary for the assist. Instead she tried to rip Alana’s hair out by the roots and when that didn’t work she pulled the other woman’s chin down against the point of her right shoulder. She was heartbeats away from dropping down in a Jawbreaker when Alana shifted on her left foot and THWHUNKED her right knee flush against the small of Bliss’s back.
Jaw unhinged in gaping anguish, Eliza would’ve slopped chest-first into the ropes if Kash hadn’t abandoned her claw holds for a simple Waistlock. Trudging the knock-kneed battler away from the ropes while patently ignoring the jeers of the FAWNatics, Alana turned her Brit around with a little tug and doubled her over as neat as you please with a Toe Kick to the belly. “I’ll give you one thing, Lizzie.” the blonde admitted as she cupped opposing chin in both hands. “You do know how to make losing look… and sound…. good.”
No response from the Songbird, so Kash twisted around so blonde and brunette ended up back to back with the latter’s head bent over the former’s shoulder in what would assuredly play out as a Hangman’s Neckbreak--Nope! Alana abruptly released the Chinlock and twirled around on her left heel. Elbow cocked and ready when she came out the other side, the Gambler THWHACKED the bony bludgeon against the side of Eliza’s skull with sickening force.
DEAD BLIND:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yj9zgILpqKw
Groaning for her because they were pretty sure Bliss couldn’t manage it herself, those assembled could only watch as the brunette collapsed onto her back like a tree toppling in slow motion. Shaking a bit of the tingle out of her arm, Kash planted a boot beside each of her foe’s shoulders and sank down into domineeringly casual Schoolgirl Pin. With her hands on her knees and her crotch wedged against Eliza’s chin, the Card Shark offered the camera a knowing smile as Merle swooped in to count…
ONE…
TWO…
Bliss braced her feet against the mat and bridged up with enough ‘oomph’ to send Alana onto all fours. Intrigued to discover the mark had more coin she was willing to part with, Kash twisted around and worked her claws into Eliza’s hair. “Sorry about that, girl. I tend to get ornery when the game’s over. But since there’s still some fun to be had, lemme at least set you on your feet.” Alana straightened up and forced Eliza to do the same, albeit with an impolitic tug on her dark hair. “There, you’re looking better already. Oh, hold on. There’s something in your eye.”
Kash jabbed her left thumb into the Songbird’s eye, a little insurance to make sure Bliss left it all on the table after their next hand. Dipping her left shoulder, the blonde slipped that arm between Bliss’s stems and muscled her up n’ across in a Fireman’s Carry. Content to play it out a little longer since she held all the cards, the Mississippi Queen turned in a wide circle, letting all four sides of the arena get the best views of Eliza’s limp carcass. “First comes the Crying Call.” she explained to no one in particular. “After that there’s nothing but crying.”
Knees bent, she ‘hupped’ Eliza up and swung her off her shoulders into one helluva facepl--‘YAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!’ The Spring Break crowd roared its approval when Bliss caught her rival’s head in a Front Facelock mid-flight and dropped to her back full force, thus transforming the Crying Call into a ring-shaking DDT!
GREAT BLUFF @ 1:05
www.youtube.com/watch?v=L23z8HBUKv0
Alana bounced onto her knees before sprawling onto her face, luckily the Renaissance Woman was right there to shovel her over and slide aboard in a Crossbody good for…
ONE…
TWO…
The Gambler shoved a shoulder off the canvas, denying Eliza a grand finale…for the moment. But Blissy seemed bound and determined to make sure the blonde’s played her last hand. Grabbing a wrist, Bliss hauled a rubbery Alana to her feet and bullied her to the nearest corner. There, she scooped Kash up behind the knees and ‘hupped’ her to a seat on the top, Alana pointed to the roaring FAWNatics.
Eliza slid back to back with her foe and reached over her right shoulder to secure a Three Quarters Facelock on the wobbly Mississippi Mauler. Seamlessly, the diva surged forward and laid out, SPIKING the back of Kash’s skull into the canvas with her Brava!
BRAVA @ 00:51
www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSM5Hc6WA1Y
The crowd went appropriately wild as the dazed Gambler remained in a prefabricated cradle, just waiting for Eliza to turn and take her. The lithe soprano did just that, keeping Kash down for...
ONE…
TWO…
THREE!
A joyous Eliza’s celebration was short lived when she realizes there was no third slap of the mat. She turned to see the official pointing at the blonde’s left hand, Alana having reached out and grabbed the bottom rope, keeping herself alive yet again.
“Are you not getting the message?” an exasperated Eliza barked. “You’re nothing but a chorus girl, a background player. Here to make the diva look good.”
Eliza forced Alana up and pressed her flagging foe into the buckles with a left forearm.
“But I guess you can still do that.”
Eliza delivered an Uppercut Throat Thrust that snapped Alana’s head back. Kash, red-faced and gagging, tried to stagger out of close quarters but Bliss threw her back in roughly and nailed Kash with a one-two of blistering forearms to the jaw that left the Tupelo native jelly-legged.
Disdainfully, Eliza shoved Alana past her and the gorgeous blonde stumbled toward the centre, catching herself before she tumbled to the deck. Meanwhile, Eliza headed to the top buckle, poised for Alana to make her last mistake. When Kash turned in her direction, Bliss leapt high, wrapping her hands around the back of Alan’s neck when contact was made, her legs tucking tight, knees pressing into The Gambler’s chest. And this time Eliza meted out Sheer Bliss, the Inverted Lungblower PLOWING into Alana’s bosom, Kash sent bouncing high into the air from the impact, landing in a lifeless spread eagle.
SHEER BLISS:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVLnMtTPuYg
The impact of back to mat took more than a little out of the Superlative Soprano as well and she’s slow to roll to hands and knees, crawl to the demolished blonde and spread herself liberally on top of the Mississippi Queen for the...
ONE…
TWO…
THRENOO!
Incredibly, both to Eliza and the crowd, Kash snuck a shoulder up once more, this time no more than an inch off the deck. But it’s enough to stay alive, even if briefly.
“You’ve got to know when to fold’em,” Eliza hissed as she pulled Kash to a seat and jumped in her lap, wrapping a Scissors around the ribs of the blonde. “Or so that chicken roaster of yours tells me.”
And to show Kash it was that time, Eliza both sent a pulse through her ivory-skinned, sinewy stems but raised her right hand and curled it into a hook she sent delving into Alana’s open maw. Bliss clamped down with her Cleft Note Mandible Claw. Kash flailed wildly, grasping at the wrist below Blissy’s invading fingers. But once the diva delivered her favourite Note, it’s awfully difficult to shake free.
With her baby blues starting to flutter, Kash tried a different tact. Capitalizing on Eliza’s proximity, she circled the brunette’s midriff with her arms and, with Bliss secured in a tight if not breathtaking Bear Hug, Alana managed to push to her feet, drawing shocked chagrin from the soprano. In bug-eyed desperation, Alana staggered to the nearest corner and sandwiched Eliza in front of her against the buckles, loosening the Note. Kash backpedalled a few steps and rushed in again, again squashing the diva between her body and the corner, Eliza’s hooked digits sliding out from between Alana’s lips.
Now it’s Alana’s turn to scoop up the diva and place her on the top buckle, though Eliza’s seat was pointed inward. Working on adrenaline, Kash jogged out to centre stage and spun, racing back at Bliss and leaping, her legs leading the way. Alana Dropkicked Eliza in the chest, sending Bliss spilling over the top, crashing first atop the outside of the apron before reaching the cement floor far below.
While the Blackbird struggled to her feet, Alana was on the move. She sprinted to the opposite ropes, rebounded, and went for her signature All or Nothing, the Suicide Dive sending her through the cables and SMASHING into a rising Bliss. The dark-haired Brit was sent flying in reverse, her spine striking the steel barrier behind her with incredible force. Eliza’s features twisted in pain, her back arching, hand reaching for the base of her spine, her chest pushed forward, which both the crowd and Alana enjoys, the risen Kash slamming a forearm into the available bosom.
The blow nearly sent Eliza tumbling over, but some helpful souls in the front row kept Eliza from joining the fans. Kash gladly accepted Bliss from the generous FAWNatics, grabbing her by a shoulder and wrist and sending the blonde hurtling into the ring apron, Blissy’s back again painfully dissected.
Catching Eliza as the brunette started to seep to her knees; Kash lifted and stuffed the battered Bliss onto the mat then shoved her under the bottom rope, the Mississippi Queen quickly joining her before tearing the yelping diva to her feet with a handful of long dark locks.
“You managed to avoid the Crying Call, slick.” Alana released her hold on Eliza’s hair just to wrap that same mitt around her throat. “Let’s see how you handle the Dead Man’s Hand.”
Already quite woozy from the fall and subsequent trouncing she’d absorbed outside the ring, Bliss only smacked at her attacker’s arm and that wasn’t nearly enough to make Kash let ‘er go. Squeezing a little harder on general principle, the Card Shark set her free hand against Eliza’s right hip and tore her off her feet for what looked like a Choke Slam but turned out to be even worse. Alana released her Goozle at the apex of the lift and put that hand flat to Bliss’s chest while she curled her other arm around the Briton’s right thigh. Then she dropped to her knees and pushed down hard as she could, using every bit of her hundred and twenty or so pounds to THAWHAM the Superlative Soprano squarely on the back of her head and shoulders.
DEAD MAN'S HAND:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRzv1Bm7Y-Q
Stacked high and tight, Eliza’s position got all the more uncomfortable when Kash slid forward and grabbed the brunette’s wrists. Glued together tummy to haunches, Alana flipped hair out of her face and gloated, “Cash out, sugar. You’re broke.” Merle wasn’t quite so certain as to the state of Eliza’s finances, so he swooped in, checked her shoulders and counted…
ONE…
TWO…
THRENOOOOOOOO!
Bliss popped her hips and tumbled onto her belly, leaving herself vulnerable but still in the game for at least another three seconds. Alana shook her head and shot a disgusted look to the referee. Didn’t argue though. She knew well enough that you didn’t argue with a Pit Boss unless you were damned sure going to win. Besides, she didn’t want to win that way. She wanted there to be absolutely no doubt in anyone’s mind that Eliza Bliss had lost her last dime at the Kash Out Casino. The Mississippi Queen grabbed Eliza at shoulder and hip and rolled her onto her back. “Everyone seems real impressed with that Cleft Note of yours. Hell, I’M impressed and that doesn’t happen very often anymore. But you ain’t the only one who knows how to hook a Mandible Claw, sugar. And personally, I think my version’s better.”
This was a bold statement indeed so Alana wasted no time in justifying it. Positioned on the brunette’s right side, she pinned that bicep with her knee, then curled her middle and ring fingers into a slight curve and slipped them into Bliss’s mouth. The reaction from foe and fan was instantaneous, the former gurgling in shocked indignation while the latter ‘OOOOHHHHHED!’ so loud Kash could practically hear the individual cries of ‘Oh No She Din’t!’
But this wasn’t about stealing the Cleft Note. That would’ve been gimmick infringement and that was the sort of cheating Alana Kash simply didn’t tolerate. So instead of slipping a Scissors around Eliza’s waist, she crooked her left hand into a second claw and ‘SMECKED’ it deep into the taut expanse of her opponent’s tummy.
“Two of a Kind.” Alana purred as Bliss’s eyes snapped open that much wider. “Feels good, doesn’t it? Go ahead and tap that mat whenever you’re ready, baby.”
Painful as the Belly Claw was, Eliza dismissed it after a few instinctive swats. From her experience with the Cleft Note she knew there was only a brief window between initial application and the sluggishness that meant unconsciousness was just around the corner. With her right arm pinned by Kash’s knee, she grabbed the blonde’s clawin’ wrist with her left hand and tried to jerk it loose. No dice, Alana just squeezed harder and in so doing earned a whiny wail Eliza didn’t much like at all.
Resigned to the fact that she’d have to reveal the escape hatch she’d come up with for just such a situation, Bliss stopped squeezing and went to work worming as many fingers as she could manage between her chin and Kash’s thumb. When she had what she wanted the Renaissance Woman squeezed the trapped digit and pulled down like she intended to snap it off. Hissing in pain, Alana muttered, “Not enough, baby. Not nearly enough!” Abandoning the Belly Claw after a final squeeze, Kash flattened that hand into a paddle and SMACKED her in the side of the head in hopes of ringing her ear.
The slaps weren’t pleasant in the slightest, but Bliss endured them with minimal fuss because she’d almost THERE! The brunette wrenched her right arm clear of Alana’s knee and she CRAAACKED her across the cheek with a celebratory Bytch Slap. Kash rocked back a little, giving Bliss just enough time to fight to a seat. Still not entirely free of the counterfeit Cleft Note, the former FAWN Lightweight Champion gave her tormentor a taste of the genuine article with a quick viper-like thrust of her right hand.
Alana ‘guurrhked!’ and clamped down on the Englishwoman’s wrist with her free hand. “LEEHGOOOFFHMHEEE!” she burbled around Bliss’s talon.
Bliss didn’t bother with a smile but she did push her thumb a little deeper into the soft flesh behind Alana’s chin. More importantly, she shifted her weight and swung a leg around the Gambler’s waist. Snuggling in closer even though it meant suffering more of Kash’s claw, Eliza straightened her other leg, sidled in as close as she could and ultimately locked her ankles. That proved a turning point as she bore down and arched back, all the muscles in those sinewy stems shredding into stark relief as she attacked Alana’s ribs.
Shocked by the power brought to bear on her midsection, Kash gasped in pain which meant the Cleft Note sank in that much deeper beneath her tongue. Her own grasp loosened in the scuffle, Alana tried to reset but a vicious shake from Bliss wrenched her neck and finally destroyed the last of her control. Breathing much better as soon as she spat the blonde’s fingers out, Eliza squirmed in a little closer and then dropped to her side, forcing the Card Shark to do the same. “As far as covers goes, yours wasn’t bad, chorus girl.” Bliss cooed to the thrashing, wide-eyed blonde. “But there is only one Eliza Bliss. There is only one Cleft Note. And you are a match for neither.”
With her legs feeling like lead and her arms not far behind, Alana pawed weakly at Eliza’s shoulders, she even made a last ditch effort to squeeze the brunette’s breasts. Bliss endured with a grimace and repaid the affront with a brisk slap followed by a vicious, prolonged tweaking of her opponent’s left nipple. Alana keened and thumped her knees into Eliza’s tush, but she was practically moving in slow motion at this point and the Briton only smiled. “Tap out, skag. You wouldn’t want me to take this lovely little bit of yours, would you?” she pulled Alana’s nub for emphasis.
The Mississippi Queen regarded her with groggy, hateful eyes that continued to narrow as Eliza watched. Stern now, Eliza abruptly peeled aside Kash’s cup so she could apply her pincer without any meddlesome fabric getting in the way. “I said give up!” Alana gurgled and that was all, even another wicked teat twist got nothing in response. Aggravated, the Songbird looked to Merle and said, “Check her.”
The ref did as bade, kneeling beside the action to raise Kash’s wrist once… twice… three times. The bell sounded and Eliza released both claws so she could shove the slumbering battler onto her back. Then she scooted up and sat down, the crotch of her lacy purple one-piece pressed snug against Alana’s mouth and nose while the Announcer noted, “Ladies and gentlemen, your winner via knockout… ELIZA BLISS!”
At the sound of her name, Eliza raised one hand to wave at the crowd while the other patted Alana’s forehead. “The FAWNatics were never ones to throw roses,” the brunette noted with a touch of sadness, “but your breath against my trunks is all the congratulations I really--”
“ELIZA, LOOK OUT!” Merle’s voice was so sharp and clear that Bliss started to rise as soon as the second word was out of his mouth. Unfortunately she was still too slow to stop the steel chair from BWAAANGING across her shoulders. Stunned into silent agony, Eliza collapsed onto her stomach beside Alana. Forearms flat against the canvas, she started to push up and BWAAANG! Over the roar of the crowd and the thunder of her own hurts, Bliss heard the ref say, “Put that damned thing down right now or I’ll NNNNGGGHHHHH!” Merle hit the canvas on his knees, thus ensuring any salvation would have to come from the Songbird herself.
Mustering what little energy she had left, Bliss rolled onto her protesting spine and snarled, “Jenkins you cowardly trollop, you’re going to pay for- GUUURRRHHHHK!”
SUSANNAH BURLINGAME:
Susannah Burlingame put the rounded edge of the chair against Eliza’s throat and pressed down to throttle her silver-tongued rival. “Beth?” she asked with a sardonic smile. “I’m insulted, Eliza. Did you forget my promise?”
Eliza was too busy grappling with the chair to answer, but the Ace didn’t mind. Without missing a beat she rose onto her toes and dropped to one knee, the other of which she smashed into the Englishwoman’s groin. Bliss let loose with a choked yowl and rolled onto her side when Burlingame pulled it away. Alone save for the incapacitated ref and two equally vulnerable wrestlers, Susan unfolded the chair with a loud ‘clank’ and set it up in the middle of the squared circle.
“Get up, ‘Lizzy.” Sue demanded of her wounded prey. “I’ve only got one seat, but it’s the best in the house.”
Eliza made no move to respond (other than swaddling her accosted centre) so the Rainmaker filled her hands with Bliss’s hair and dragged her up just long enough to stuff her in the folding chair. Eliza’d only begun to register her new alignment when Susan took her chin between thumb and forefinger and tilted her head back to force smouldering eye contact. “You probably can’t focus on much right now, that’s understandable. But in another life you were respected for your voice and I figure anyone with pipes like that also has a pretty good ear. So sit there and hold your junk if you have to, just keep those ears open while you do. I want you to listen, Eliza. Really fahking listen.”
Susan took a step back, grabbed the bottom edge of her dark blue ‘Aces’ tank-top and peeled it off to reveal the similarly toned, gold trimmed two-piece that was her usual ring attire. The FAWNatics popped huge, even though the woman in question had recently waffled one of their favourites with a steel chair in most heinous fashion. Holding her shorn top in both hands, Burlingame looped it around the back of Bliss’s neck, pulled it tight and sat in her lap, which got another ridiculous roar from those assembled. “Did you hear that, Eliza? That’s how you pop a crowd. That’s how you make a moment. That’s how you COMMAND THE SPOTLIGHT!”
“Wuuuuhhhh….fffttthhhhhhh… with a half-assed strip tease and lap dance?” the brunette grunted. “I don’t think so chorus GGGRRRRGGGGHHHH!”
Sue pulled the tank-top tight, a one-hundred percent cotton garrotte to throttle this bytch who simply could not learn her place. She let loose after a long five seconds; CRAAACKED Eliza’s reddened cheek as hard as she could, then stood up with a disgusted little grimace.
“You’re pathetic.” Susan spat. “I can’t believe a hack like you ever thought she could come after me and live to see the sun come up.”
Eliza ripped the tank-top away from her burning throat and tossed it to the mat. “Face me, then.” the Renaissance Woman raised her head to glare daggers at the Black Court’s Ace. “Face me and show them… show ME… how I’m not in your league…. if you’re not afraid, that NNNNGGGGHHH!”
Susan pivoted on her left heel and slammed the right into Bliss’s jaw with a Super Kick that knocked both she and the chair sprawling.
“I HAVE FACED YOU, ELIZA! Sue barked down at her. “I beat you when my gold was on the line and I beat you when you and that other whiny priss were arguing over a title no one but you would ever give two shyts about!” Susan dropped to one knee beside Bliss, grabbed hold of her hair and lifted her head off the canvas. “The only times you ever got over on me revolved around attacking when my back was turned. I told you I would make you pay, Eliza. And I don’t make promises I can’t keep.”
Shovelling the glassy-eyed battler onto her stomach, Burlingame grabbed the chair, closed it most of the way up and laid it down on Bliss’s right side. That got the crowd nervous and rightfully so because the heiress took possession of Eliza’s arm and forced her hand into the semi-open chair. Susan stood up and placed her foot against the back-rest of the chair. Then she hopped up and STOMPED down, closing the blunt steel jaws on her rival’s hand.
Eliza Bliss screamed the ugliest note of her life and tore loose of the trap immediately cradling the injured appendage against her chest.
Oh so aware of the near silence that’d fallen in the FAWN arena, Susan stood over the helpless Songbird and warned, “You took Sydney from me so I took the Cleft Note from you. Cross me again and it’ll be your throat in that chair the next time. I’ll take your voice, Eliza. Swear to God, I will.” The silence ended in a relieved cheer as a half dozen referees, three EMT’s and one ferociously pissed off Olivia Dare tore through the curtain and made a beeline for the ring. Susan took that as her cue to exit so she bailed over the top rope and disappeared into the crowd seconds before the rescue party hit the scene.
Olivia raced to the ropes closest to the spot where Burlingame had vanished in hopes she might catch sight of her, but the Rainmaker was long gone, giving the remaining Blackbird no target for her fury. Promising to heap all of it and more on one Lenore Lemarchand a little later on this evening, Dare headed back to her partner and tried to be as soothing as she could while the medics went about tending to Eliza’s hand.
The broadcast cut over to a video package shortly thereafter, although not quite fast enough to keep the sharper-eyed viewers from seeing the officials setting up the stretcher they’d use to get the Superlative Soprano to the back.