Description: When a boxer meets someone into bloodsports at SNF, one thing is for sure: Fists will fly at this location. This goes double when Dyre is under external contract - to take as much damage as he can and walk away the victor. Apparently, that doesn't happen this time. [BURNOUT DM DAMAGED: 3]
Car sit tightly packed on the Southtown roads, a gentle snow falling pristine white until it falls into the slush being turned up on the streets by slow moving tires. Despite the chill of the late autumn snow, one man stands on the sidewalk dressed as he always is in a leather vest, fur trim at least granting the illusion of warmth. He holds his cellphone in front of him, blood red eyes slowly scanning the screen.
It was a strange contract to be sure. He'd never been paid for purposefully taking hits. Sure, some of his contracts have left him broken and bleeding, that was the risk for the type of work. Never on purpose though. The grin that formed on Dyre's lips were enough to unsettle some of the pedestrians flowing by him.
"Worried? We agreed I should start.." His deep gravelly voice seems directed at no one.
He stands in silence for a moment and nods. "Good. Now to wait.."
Tabitha has absolutely no idea about Dyre's side contract. They didn't send /her/ a letter; she doesn't really do bloodsports if she can help it.
No, what she knows is that she's here to have a scheduled fight. This is her first official SNF, as her appearance in SLAMFEST was unscheduled and unnanounced. She's been looking forward to the chance to show what she can do and maybe get a good match out of it. That's her hope, anyway.
Tabitha is wearing a longer coat than usual, though she hasn't bothered to close it up all the way, revealing shirt and jeans. She'd rather not be restrained by her winter wear, and she can handle the cold at least a little better than most. She still has a toque, though. It is red. Nobody is entirely sure where she got it.
The highway isn't entirely gridlocked yet, though it's starting to slow down near the overpass where the fight is taking place. Tabitha vaults a low fence that's probably supposed to encourage her not to do what she just did, strolling quite casually toward the taller man. A second person follows her, a much taller blond man with scruffy sideburns. He immediately sits on the barricade, apparently part of the spectators.
"You Dyre?" Tabitha asks. She has to look up quite a ways to meet his gaze. Tabitha is used to fighting people bigger than she is, mostly because it just keeps happening; she is apparently unintimidated.
The man turns slowly at the sound of his name, his eyes first looking her over then darting to the man sitting on the fence. He remains silent almost long enough to make the pause awkward before finally nodding his head, baring his teeth in a grin that's anything but warm. "I am, mostly." He has a sharp accent, something that sounds like northern Eurpope.
He looks the shorter woman over again with a tilt of his head, then turns and takes a few quick strides away from her.
"Anyone who doesn't want a bloodied nose, move it!"
That's enough to get most to clear the area, except a few people not so subtly holding cameras, the SNF crew ready to catch the fight, trying to make it look more natural than staged. Dyre doesn't give much thought to them.
He detaches his gauntlets from his belt, strapping the freezing metal to his hands one at a time as he turns to face his opponent once more. "Ready for a little blood? It's fun, I promise."
For a brief moment there's a look to his eyes, something not quite sane flashing behind those crimson orbs.
COMBATSYS: Dyre has started a fight here.
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Dyre 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Tabitha has joined the fight here.
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Dyre 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Tabitha
It doesn't get the blonde man to move. He doesn't get any closer, either. He's out of the way unless someone gets thrown over the barricade, anyway.
Tabitha takes her hands out of her pockets. She has tight-fitting fingerless gloves on - fighting gloves, not for warmth, as they're what she has used instead of handwraps. Tabitha tugs them a little straighter as she regards Dyre. Someone who likes beating girls up, is her read, not entirely correct as it is. She's seen them before too. She doesn't like them much for a number of reasons.
Tabitha, of course, is an equal-opportunity beat-upper.
"Suits me fine," Tabitha says - and with very little warning or warmup, she drives her fist directly toward Dyre's face, towards the left. It's cover as much as anything else; she starts moving as soon as she's swung, trying to stay on his left side. Her boots kick up snow - the road's been cleared, but it's snowed more since then and there's still a good inch at the sides of the highway.
COMBATSYS: Dyre blocks Tabitha's Blindside Step.
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Dyre 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Tabitha
The sudden strike doesn't catch him off guard, after all as far as he was concerned the fight started as soon as she asked his name. Dyre's gauntleted hand comes up to take the strike to the metal clad forearm. He smiles again, there's that undettling almost feral look to his eyes again.
Sure, he may come off as someone who likes to beat up girls. He does. He simply likes to beat up everyone, girls just happen to fall into that group. Half of Dyre was like that. It was simply a flip of the coin. And they decided Ulf was going to begin this fight.
He curls the fingers of his off hand, the gauntlet's claws flaring with sanguine energy. He spins slightly, throwing his weight behind the claw swipe, energy set to burn through any open wounds the claws might make.
COMBATSYS: Tabitha blocks Dyre's I Magician.
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Dyre 0/-------/------=|=------\-------\0 Tabitha
Tabitha's fast hit doesn't get through Dyre's guard, but that's OK by Tabitha. She knows something she didn't before; she's seen him move a little, block a little. She isn't sure what to think about someone who fights in full gauntlets rather than padded or fingerless gloves.
Clawed gauntlets, as it turns out. Tabitha holds her arms vertically, fists near her face in a peek-a-boo boxer's guard, and while Dyre used the metal plate to deflect the blow, Tabitha uses nothing but her arms. The claws dig into the jacket but don't penetrate deeply, though Tabitha feels the impact.
Breaking her guard, Tabitha goes for an immediate jab, continuing to circle (the other way this time, though; she's following the path she already moved along). A few moments later, another jab - but this one is a feint, little more than a distraction for the solid cross that was her actual attack. More snow kicks up as Tabitha moves. She's being pretty orthodox so far, nothing too out of the ordinary - she could be boxing in a ring. She's feeling Dyre's combat skills out.
COMBATSYS: Dyre interrupts Straight Punch from Tabitha with Fierce Kick.
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Dyre 0/-------/-----==|====---\-------\0 Tabitha
It's hard to tell exactly what's passing through Dyre's head. He doesn't seem inclined to break the close in brawl, nor does he move to follow Tabitha, only the slight shift of his head to show he's even paying attention to her.
Perhaps he's better at reading moves than he lets on. He doesn't move at the feint. Orthodox is fine for some people. It's never really been his cup of tea. Orthodox gets you killed in a real fight. So as her real attack comes towards him he moves in close.
He turns to take the shot to his upper arm, grimacing slightly at the impact, but he's where he wants to be, right inside her guard. Snow shifts under his feet as he brings up his leg, driving his knee into the young woman's midsection.
"Fight! People want a show!"
Tabitha lets out a strangled grunt and half-staggers, half-hops back when the knee hits her solidly in the stomach. She's not doing much about /that/; Tabitha recovers from the blow surprisingly quickly, but not instantly, no matter how much she'd like to.
"You think I'm not fighting?" Tabitha sounds incredulous. Her fists are back up as she stands in a defensive position, slightly the worse for wear but hardly out yet. "What do you think I'm doing, then?"
Tabitha keeps her mostly defensive stance. She seems to be willing to let Dyre come to her - though not completely, as she suddenly shifts sideways, delivering a fast hook with her left hand as she passes. Her other hand, her stronger right, remains up and slightly angled across her body, clearly ready to block.
COMBATSYS: Dyre blocks Tabitha's Guard Knuckle.
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Dyre 0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0 Tabitha
"You're testing. Not fighting."
Dyre doesn't sound annoyed, he sounds taunting. His arm comes up again, taking the strike along the back of his gauntlet, his lips peeling back from his teeth in a wild snarl. His eyes narrow, eyes flashing with energy as he settling his gaze on his opponent. He lets out a deep noise in the back of his throat that almost sounds like a growl.
More crimson energy flows along his gauntlets, misting for a moment as he turns his palm towards Tabitha. "Boom." He looks at least a little giddy as the energy suddenly flares in the palm of his hand, then explodes in a sudden torrent of blazing red.
COMBATSYS: Tabitha blocks Dyre's X Fortune.
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Dyre 0/-------/---====|======-\-------\0 Tabitha
"I'm careful," Tabitha says. "What, you afraid of someone who uses their brain?"
Tabitha's defensive posture helps. The non-blocking hand snaps out, suddenly, partially deflecting the strike, while her other arm absorbs the remainder of the blast. That /does/ hurt. She feels it right through her jacket, which is looking a little scorched and ripped around the sleeve; Tabitha lets out a sharp breath through her nose, nostrils flaring as she steadies herself.
"And that isn't hard enough to get rid of me." Tabitha's face splits into a slightly lopsided grin. "Though you do hit pretty hard. Want to keep /trying/?"
All of a sudden, Tabitha drops her guard. It's a surprising maneuver given her previous strategies; her entire body tenses as she draws back her fist, holding it as power builds. One heartbeat, two, three - and then Tabitha throws herself forward, driving the entire combined force of her body into a single staggering blow, striking hard at Dyre's chest! This time Tabitha doesn't even bother with a combo - just one big, slow, brutal attack, hard enough for the impact to blast snow away from the two of them on the ground in an expanding wave.
Tabitha does take a moment to recover after that. She shakes her arm once before bringing it up, giving herself a moment before she attacks at /all/ again.
COMBATSYS: Tabitha successfully hits Dyre with Impact Knuckle.
- Power hit! -
>> Decisive Hit!! <<
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Dyre 1/-------/=======|=======\-------\1 Tabitha
Dyre faces down Tabitha, blood shot eyes boring into hers for a moment. As she readies her punch, he does something probably completely unexpected. He spreads his arms wide, laughing madly.
"Hit me!!"
Of course, he takes the blow right to his chest, causing him to stagger for a moment, a coughing laugh coming from between his lips. He turns his head aside and spits a bit of blood into the snow, staining it red.
He only allows a brief second of breathing before he launches himself forward again, claws flaring with blood red energy once more. He lets out an almost inhuman growl as he swings first one set of claws then the other, aiming to score a deep X right into his enemy's flesh.
COMBATSYS: Tabitha blocks Dyre's XV Devil.
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Dyre 1/------=/=======|=======\=------\1 Tabitha
The /worst/ part about fighting Tabitha, when she pulls tricks like that, is that she's ready to go again moments later. Her guard doesn't suffer from those momentary drops; she just comes out of defending herself swinging and then is immediately ready to drop right back into it.
Exhibit A: right now.
Tabitha uses her arms in that peek-a-boo block again to ward off the worst of the slashes. Rather than into her chest, Dyre rakes her arms; this is bad, but not /as/ bad as it could have been. Her increasingly battered jacket is getting in even worse shape, though, and Tabitha beneath it probably isn't in much better shape - it's just hard to see because of the coat. "Trust me," she says, "I will!"
All of a sudden, Tabitha goes low. Most people might kick to trip; Tabitha doesn't. She crouches, letting Dyre swing over her if he's not fast enough to react; she whips her fist around in a hooking punch toward the side of his leg, trying to put him down for a moment so she can position herself, backing up slightly toward that waist-high concrete barricade (though not where the man is sitting on it). Maybe she has a plan?
COMBATSYS: Tabitha successfully hits Dyre with Hook Punch.
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Dyre 1/----===/=======|=======\==-----\1 Tabitha
Dyre seems to have lost his earlier focus, one might almost think his in a blood craze at the moment, and they wouldn't be far off. He takes the hit low, but he doesn't go in swinging, instead he actually backs off a step or two. If he was an animal he'd be bristling, his teeth bared.
He dashes off to the side, leaping up to grab onto a lamppost, claws grating against the metal, sparking slightly as he looks down on Tabitha from his elevated perch.
Suddenly he kicks off the lamppost, body suddeny flaring with his usual crimson energies as he decends towards the young woman like a blazing comet, one arm pulled back to swing at the moment of impact, another blood curdling roar escaping from his throat.
The red energies fade to a soft silver before fading away. His once crimson eyes, now gray still focused on his opponent.
COMBATSYS: Dyre successfully hits Tabitha with XX Judgment.
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Dyre 0/-------/------=|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2 Tabitha
Though Tabitha managed the impact, she didn't trip Dyre like she was hoping, and she has no need (or desire) to stay crouched if she doesn't have to. She takes another step back anyway, then another, repositioning herself despite the failed tactic.
Instead of following, he... backs off and goes for a lamppost. That wasn't what Tabitha was expecting at all. Her eyes narrow as she watches him grab it, and she figures out what he's going to do at almost exactly the same instant he does it.
Dyre's cometary descent, though, is too fast and too impactful for Tabitha to block. She ends up half-catching the man, but that doesn't stop the blow from impacting into her stomach - /hard/. It knocks the wind out of her, and Tabitha wheezes, trying to gain enough to keep fighting. She's seeing spots.
Spots or not, Tabitha keeps swinging. She shoves Dyre away from her just to get enough distance to follow up with a punch - and it's a hell of a punch. If the impact before blew snow away from their feet, this one practically causes a shockwave if and when she actually lays a hand on him, the titanic impact enough to drop lesser boxers in one punch as she goes for the single crushing blow.
And then she keeps gasping. Just a little more, she thinks, she can keep fighting that long... she hopes.
COMBATSYS: Tabitha has reached second wind!
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Dyre 0/-------/------=|>>>>---\-------\0 Tabitha
COMBATSYS: Tabitha successfully hits Dyre with Final Impact.
>> Decisive Hit!! <<
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Dyre 0/-------/--=====|>>>>---\-------\0 Tabitha
Dyre stands up straight after them impact, wiping a bit of blood from the corner of his mouth with a soft, "Tsk."
"Now you choose to pass it off, bastard." His voice has an entirely different tone now. Softer, calmer and without the gravelled rasp, still just as deep however. He doesn't seem to be talking to Tabitha either, almost distracted.
It's why he barely mounts a defense as the strike comes in. His eyes go slightly wider at the incoming blow. He sends him back a few feet, sliding through the snowy slush, digging his fingers into the ground to try and slow his backwards momentum.
He coughs a few times, "Damn you, you used up too much."
There's almost no fight left in him, just enough to pound his fist into the ground. A silver light springs to life under Tabitha, exploding into a brilliant torrent. Though that one last strike seems to take the rest of what he has to throw. Causing him to cough up another spatter of blood into the snow.
COMBATSYS: Dyre can no longer fight.
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Tabitha 0/-------/---<<<<|
COMBATSYS: Tabitha just-defends Dyre's VII Chariot!
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Tabitha 0/-------/---<<<<|
Tabitha doesn't know what's up with Dyre.
She doesn't need to. She recognizes a fighter on his last legs (hell, /she/ is on her last legs; it's mostly her tendency to never give up that's keeping her upright and able to fight at all). She feels short of breath, both her arms hurt and her entire front is a bruise.
It doesn't matter. Tabitha does what she was planning to do - she vaults up onto the barricade, balancing easily on it despite the narrowness. The silver light explodes into a torrent, and she raises one foot, uncharacteristically kicking -
Tabitha kicks the pile of snow that built up on and against the barricade onto the blast of light. It seems to be enough to muffle it; it wastes energy blasting through it, sending a huge burst of snow up into the sky that slowly starts to drift downward, as if it started snowing again. It sparkles silver.
Tabitha herself, however, is unharmed from the burst. She stares at Dyre for several long seconds as if to see if he's faking. Only then does she hop back off, moving towards him at about the same time the SNF representative is trying to get her attention, the announcer for the camera crew declaring a victory.
Dyre slowly stands up, gripping his stomach as he looks up into the sky. He looks right at Tabitha, quirking a half a smile at her. "Next time I won't let Ulf have all the fun." It sounds like half a promise, half a threat.
He dusts off his vest obviously done with the match whether the SNF crew is done with him or not. He offers one firm nod to his opponent before turning to walk off. Nothing more to say it seems, just off to lick his wounds and figure out what he did wrong. That and figure out what he's going to do for a little bit of money until they next contract comes in. He turns aside and disappears into an alley, gone for the moment.
Log created on 17:46:24 11/23/2014 by Tabitha, and last modified on 16:08:45 11/24/2014.