Description: Tiffany decides to touch base with one of those supporting her in her ongoing investigation, after a long day of... investigating. What follows is -- a learning experience.
Today... is a very busy day for Tiffany Lords. /First/, she started frantically Googling NESTS from the Pacific High library computers. Then she met a weird Taiyo girl and agreed to spar with her someday. /Then/ she touched base with one of her fellow investigators... and now, she's getting ready to touch base with someone she's pretty sure can offer her a lot of investigational support.
A very busy day indeed.
They can't exactly meet at either of their schools without it being weird; accordingly, she's called to arrange a meeting... and ended up at the gym that Tiffany likes to hit when the /Pacific/ athletic facilities aren't her scene. It's a little place in the heart of Taiyo Turf, just off the mall itself; it's not technically part of the open-air park-mall... but it sure does good business because of it.
She hits the heavy bag, as she always does, waiting for the orthopedic surgeon to make her presence known.
At Justice High School, Kyoko Minazuki is the Queen of the Faculty. Approaching a gym near Taiyo High, she still manages to draw many an eye, as her heels tap along a sidewalk in an almost musical cadence. And yet she's not paying attention to any of them. Like many physicians, she spends much of her life even after hours glued to her cell phone. Her opposite arm holding a clipboard and flipping through paperwork within, "Wasn't it on the admission orders? Five pounds."
A voice buzzes in her ear, and while she looks annoyed, she patiently answers the questions, "High protein, high caloric. Ancef one gram, time it for one hour before we start prepping for surgery." She holds up her opposite hand, looking at one of her nails, "Anything else?" She then closes musically, "Have a lovely evening~"
The phone is shut down, and placed into her handbag. She then clicks her pager off right before entering the gym, committing a veritable cardinal sin of medical practice.
As she enters the gym, she's immediately accosted by someone trying to solicit her a membership. "No thank you." She says with a polite smile, her eyes scanning the length of the gym, and eventually resting on Tiffany. She walks up to her as she works the heavy bag, readjusting her purse over her shoulder. "You look like you're working hard, Tiffany." Her smile becomes a touch warmer. "How have you been?"
Though Tiffany's a /little/ fatigued by putting in all that work on the heavy bag, she mostly feels fine; she favors the Justice High school nurse with a smile as she approaches, and like Kyoko's, it is warm and genuine. "Gotta work hard to keep a body like this," Tiffany says, in English; she knows Kyoko speaks it, so she doesn't bother with Japanese. For now.
Rolling her shoulder a little, she stops with the bag for now, saying, "I took my first round! I think I put Seijyun, uh, /out/, ha ha... they really threw everything they had behind Sada. Special effects /everywhere/."
Looking up at the nurse, she notes, "So far, nothing weird... but I think I'm startin' to figure out what these NESTS guys are up to for real. Someone helped me put it all together, and... I think they want to see who's the best at the schools? That's why they replaced the other principals, and... stuff." Hopefully not /all/ of this is news to Kyoko, because she's not feeling up to explaining it.
Deflecting before she might have to, she adds, "Do you want to have a go at this? I told them I had a guest coming, but, uh... I guess they didn't realize." They probably figured it was another student, not... a twenty- or thirty-something woman.
Sada. That girl was an interesting case, from what she saw from the livestream of the fight. She'd been half tempted to show up unannounced to conduct an examination of her own in the aftermathafter she witnessed the unusual nature of how she fought. "I was watching. You did well." A beat as she leans forward murmuring, "She was a bit full of herself, wasn't she? 'A perfect example of what a Japanese woman could be' indeed." She sniffs, allowing herself to crack a more secret grin at Tiffany.
Kyoko however straightens a touch as she listens to Tiffany's evaluation on NESTS' involvement in the tournament, she looked displeased for a time, but eventually perks up. "The replacement of the principals will be addressed in time. You needn't worry about that." She offers Tiffany a knowing look, pushing down her glasses to look over them, before adjusting them back on her nose. "As for the rest, just keep doing what you're doing. I have my own suspicions on what they're up to, but it would be wonderful if your observations confirmed them."
Looking at the heavy bag, she then peers over at the gentleman near the front, then back at Tiffany, "You know that gentleman over there tried to sell me a membership?" She shakes her head, "Let's make it a tad more interesting than that. You need practice if you're going to remain a contender, don't you?" She gives a small, shabby boxing ring a long look. "How would you like a spar, Tiffany?"
Sharing that conspiratorial grin with Kyoko, Tiffany nods firmly. "Oh yeah -- she's not... I kinda got the feeling they're all a little crazy there, you know? I dunno why they're so..." She trails off, not able to find the word. Instead, she moves right on.
"I heard the veeeery tail end of it," Tiffany says, with a dismissive wave toward the clerk. "I figured they'd try to sell you /something/, since I have the feeling Justice's facilities are enough for you to get in whatever training you need to do." Waving off the relatively mundane topic of gym memberships, Tiffany decides to move toward the most important thing: the offer of a spar. She knows she's outclassed by Kyoko... but it's important for her to try to learn some things, isn't it?
Striding out to the mats with a big grin, the Lords heiress says, "Sure! I, uh -- I didn't bring my gloves, so I'm gonna have to do this bare-knuckle... is that okay?" She takes a few moments to breathe in and out, looking Kyoko over, studying both her body and her stance as carefully as she can.
COMBATSYS: Tiffany has started a fight here.
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Tiffany 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Kyoko has joined the fight here.
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Kyoko 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Tiffany
COMBATSYS: Tiffany focuses on her next action.
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Kyoko 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Tiffany
There's some merry laughter for a while. "There are certainly merits to attending a school where all of the students are girls." Sometimes Kyoko wishes she had attended middle and high school at one herself. "Don't get me wrong. However I feel the same, for that one at least."
Whether Tiffany is outclassed or not, Kyoko doesn't appear to hold it over her head in some manner of condescension. Her handbag is placed on the edge of the mats, before she enters into the ring herself... on high heels, no less. If not for the fact that some of the people about recognized her, it would probably look like an absurd display. "Not at all. Though in the future, I recommend at least wrapping your hands to align the knuckles. Less risk of a lasting injury."
As Tiffany examines her, Kyoko looks over her glasses at her, examining her opponent herself, down to the last twitch of her muscles, making a few mental calculations on her weight, height, and other considerations for doing battle with her. Against Urien, she wrote down her observations, purely to annoy him. Against Tiffany she does no such thing. She simply waits for her to make her move, without any sort of taunt or challenge. Several have started to gather around once they had the first 'whiff' of the fact that a fight is occurring.
COMBATSYS: Kyoko focuses on her next action.
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Kyoko 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Tiffany
A cautious first approach -- exactly what Tiffany expected of Kyoko, and indeed the primary reason she didn't come in. "Ugghh, wrapping takes so much /time/ though," Tiffany whines out, barely avoiding just going into an absurd, exaggerated pratfall at the idea. It's tempting -- but she /is/ sparring.
"So, uhh, Kyoko..." She forgets the -sensei, because she's speaking English; a faux pas, to be sure, but one that is far outstripped by more immediate concerns for a moment. Glancing around to the gathering crowd, Tiffany resists the urge to pump a fist; she /loves/ when she gets crowds. "What's it like at Justice, anyway? It seems so... ultra-functional, so... I guess, like, sterile, or something?"
Weaving from side to side, Tiffany locks eyes with Kyoko for just a moment before coming in. Starting with a spring forward into a cartwheel, she aims both of her feet squarely for the older woman's chest to try to pound through her guard.
COMBATSYS: Tiffany successfully hits Kyoko with Groovy Wheel.
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Kyoko 0/-------/----===|>------\-------\0 Tiffany
Kyoko simply looks amused that Tiffany resists the idea so much, but in reality she finds it endearing. After all, what would she have done at her age if an authority figure had told her to do something like that? Complain, most likely.
And while the honorific is missed, Kyoko doesn't seem to mind it too much, after all, Tiffany was American. She straightens just a little however at the topic of discussion. "Ah. Yes, that's a common question. What we've discovered is that one can throw as much funding as they like in improving the facilities and all you get for it is a fancy looking prep school." Kyoko smiles patiently, "What matters more is to address the curriculum, to have the best educators in the job. Have you ever had a boring teacher that didn't engage you in a subject you would normally enjoy? How awful was that for you?"
Before she can continue the topic however, here Tiffany comes, and Kyoko's response to her attack is to attempt to duck as the cartwheel descends, and raise her clipboard to block the descending double kick. She may have underestimated the force of the blow, however, as they slam it out of her hands into the ground. Both kicks strike her chest, and Doctor Minazuki finds herself sprawled out on the ground in the middle of an examination. Rolling out of the way, it takes her some time to rise back to her feet, one hand moving across her chest, to cover the point where the blow struck. A soft wheeze entering into her voice. "My, how lively."
Considering it for a moment, as she rubs the point of her injury, she circles her opponent, before eventually dashing forward. She feints with a roundhouse kick meant to turn her a three hundred and sixty degrees, before attempting to grasp Tiffany by both of her shoulders. Improvising based on the circumstances of the fight, if she makes the grab, she'd try to pull her forward, her knee rising twice to make ferocious contact with her chest, intended to bypass her guard if possible, or punish it if not. Assuming all goes well, she'd then let go with one hand, spinning around to lightly shove her off balance, before her opposite leg rises in an axe kick intended to strike her in the back and put her on the mat.
COMBATSYS: Tiffany interrupts Weight Diagnosis from Kyoko with Groovy Knuckle.
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Kyoko 0/-------/=======|>>>>---\-------\0 Tiffany
"Oh, yeah, it's the /worst/," Tiffany says, with a small shake of her head. There's not exactly a surfeit of subjects she enjoys studying, but she knows enough to be familiar with boredom that doesn't come from the class itself, and remembers the feeling well.
Something in Tiffany's gut tells her that Kyoko's got her number; she can tell when someone is just better than she is, which means she has to go for things they won't expect. Ducking low, she sends her whole body into a whirl; though Kyoko does ultimately manage to lay hands on her shoulders and bring a knee up, before the /second/ knee hits, Tiffany finishes the last remnants of her spin and slams her fist into the older woman's jaw, sparkling with bright yellow energy the whole way.
Staggering back a little, she says, "Well... glad they've got people like you there, I guess." Kyoko manages to sell Justice like a champ -- and while Tiffany has just enough pride in 'America' and in Pacific to make her an all-but-impossible sell... it's kinda fascinating. "You must have had a pretty good time at school to want to teach, huh?"
Just before the second knee strike hits, Tiffany spins around, and hits her with a spinning strike that sends Kyoko up a few feet in the air, trailing sparkles in her wake, before she finally arcs downward, and hits the mat hard a few feet away. As she gets up on trembling hands, she moves up one and rubs her jaw, she puts a finger on the edge of her lips, pressing against the teeth inside. While it was annoying, watching her opponent gain an early advantage over her, it was one of those things you had to deal with being a fighter. What mattered most was who was standing at the end of her examination, not who took the lead.
Which is when Tiffany says it. As she's looking away, her eyes flash dangerously green. Kyoko's limbs still as the endorphins settle in, and as she rises she grasps her clipboard off the mat. When she turns to Tiffany, she's even smiling, quite sweetly. "School? Well, not to brag, but I had a grand time." Suddenly, serpent quick, she tries to reach out and attempts to grab Tiffany's wrist.
If she takes hold, she'd twist it viciously, manipulating it to move behind her back. "I always found my shoe locker full of..." Flexible even from here, she tries to aim a single kick against Tiffany's solar plexus, a tap that was meant to stun her. "...love confessions that I had to politely turn down."
The next kick would whip up to try to hit the bottom of her sternum. "I was the most popular..." If all goes well, she crooks a leg up against her body, suddenly releasing Tiffany, and spinning around to gain momentum, before ducking down low aiming a kick at the center of her chest again with a rising kick intended to launch her into the air. "...girl in my class!" She lies through her teeth, but it was better than the hurtful truth, wasn't it?
COMBATSYS: Kyoko successfully hits Tiffany with Chest Diagnosis.
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Kyoko 1/------=/=======|=======\-------\1 Tiffany
Even though something about what Kyoko's saying might not hold up under casual examination, or juxtaposed with her sudden much more significant malice... Tiffany buys it hook, line, and sinker, because of /course/ someone like Kyoko was popular and gorgeous and wonderful and perfect in high school. She's almost spellbound by that sweet smile -- spellbound enough that she's too late to whip her body back from that grab, her wrist wrenched and her chest hit with force.
Doubled over, Tiffany is easy to kick over and over again, sent sprawling to the mat after flying high up into the air; when she gets up, it's slower, and with none of the usual strength or heat. "... Yeah, I can see that!" she says, with a big smile on her face. "Wow, though -- even I don't get that..." She's usually the chaser rather than the chased -- a fact that she's actually a hair self-conscious about when she bothers to think about it. Those moments are few and far between though; besides, the chase is its own kind of fun!
Speaking of which.
Tiffany knows she needs to step up her game if she's going to even put a scratch on Kyoko. "... To tell you the truth," she starts as she steps up, "I'm kinda jealous!" It's right back to thinking herself through the fight, though. For an instant, she considers a springing kick, like she usually does... but she's just not feeling up to it, now. Her body hurts too much. Instead, she decides to go back to her earlier strategy of trying to smash through Kyoko's defenses with sheer force. Bringing up her fists, she goes for two quick jabs, then a forceful hook with the opposite hand.
COMBATSYS: Kyoko counters Strong Punch from Tiffany with Kaishin.
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Kyoko 1/----===/=======|=======\===----\1 Tiffany
It's an interesting thing. That Tiffany takes her completely at face value. While the girl could be thoughtless, it was a sweet, endearing sort that she shouldn't feel so self-conscious about. Shouldn't she just be instructing that ignorant thoughtlessness? Wasn't that why she changed careers, to nurture young minds?
And yet there is a lot of lingering bitterness over her time as a middle school and high school student which leaves her doing anything but that. "Love confessions are more a Japanese tradition, dear. Maybe if you went to a different school..." She just allows that to hang in the air. Though no, even at a Japanese school, Kyoko received a grand total of zero. And the three which she worked up the confidence to make resulted in complete rejection.
She takes up a strong stance, as Tiffany comes at her. She knows the girl's style from observation, and understands that she needs to be wary of the quick jabs. "You're not jealous though dear. You're envious." She weaves her whole body back from the first, missing that one entirely. "Jealousy is the fear of losing..." Then has to bob her head to the side, to miss the next, feeling the fast punch thump her ear for the efforts, bringing a ringing sound. "...mmph. What you have to someone else." It was another thing she had to feel self-conscious about. This girl's speed. The speed of youth. She knows what is coming next. Whether it be a hook, a haymaker, or an uppercut, she's watched the girl enough by now to realize that she can best it's timing with at least two of her attacks.
In the split second where the haymaker is telegraphed, Kyoko springs off a single foot, her whole body whirling as she strikes Tiffany with a powerful roundhouse kick to drive her backwards. Inwardly she thinks about how she used to perform that much more quickly, a frown touching her expression as she lands, balancing on a single foot, before the other comes back down. "Envy is wanting what someone else has." Well, she was nurturing a young mind at least, though this wasn't /exactly/ the way she liked to do it. It felt far too pedantic to her. Now it was time to ask a serious question. "Why? Are you mistreated at your school?"
It's hard not to imagine that as Kyoko lets the thought hang out there -- at least, once she's done being hit with a forceful kick. It sends her sprawling quickly, once again putting the girl on the mat; she's doing better than she /thought/ she would, but Kyoko Minazuki is on another tier and Tiffany knows it. As the cheerleader gets to her feet slowly and dizzily, she clutches at her head... and finds herself imagining herself at Justice. It's a strange thought -- Justice's academics are so traditional, so Japanese, so unlike anything she knows. But... as Kyoko points out... there are a few fringe benefits to attending a school in a different culture.
"... Huh? No, it's nothin' like that!" Tiffany declares, once she has her bearings on her feet again; her gaze meets Kyoko's again and she says, "I have it pretty good at Pacific, like -- there are people I know care about me, I'm popular, it's fun!" The comment does sort of put the thought in her head, though -- 'what am I unhappy with?' 'what /don't/ I like?'
After a second, she starts to put some space between herself and the school nurse, fists clenched as she finds her spot. "It's... kinda lonely though. Other than Roy and Boman, I don't really know anyone... we /hang out/ but I don't /know/ know them, right?" She wobbles a hand a little, before going into a full-bore /run/ at Kyoko, dropping low again. At first, it looks like she's going to come in for another of those spinning punches.
It's not to be, though; instead, wreathed in /purple/ sparkles this time, Tiffany pushes her whole body up into the air feet-first, spinning nearly straight up into the air with her feet aimed for Kyoko's jaw. "And those two're always busy!" she elaborates, mid-spin.
COMBATSYS: Kyoko blocks Tiffany's Beautiful Spin.
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Kyoko 1/---====/=======|=======\===----\1 Tiffany
Something tugs on Kyoko's expression as Tiffany speaks. It's interesting, how empathy works at least. Even if she hadn't experienced exactly the same situation, she can consider how she feels about that, especially in the same situation. She moves backwards, perhaps a bit slower than before due to the blows she's taken to her chest. Even if she was more experienced, Tiffany had been definitely making her work for it. This had been a difficult fight for her, and she could admit that to herself.
As Tiffany moves up into the air, corkscrewing with both feet extended at her jaw, she brings up her solid clipboard again. And then reinforces it with her other arm behind it. The feet make contact with it, and while the clipboard holds, the sheer force of the kick drives her backwards on the mat, bruising the arm she's using to reinforce it. The fingers of her other hands clench to it with a death grip, white knuckled, as she gives herself some breathing room.
Finally she speaks, "And they're the type where you don't think you can talk to them about your feelings? That you might scare them away if you do?" Gauging Tiffany's landing position, she moves suddenly, trying to grasp her top while hooking a leg behind her knee to throw her off-balance, then turning her whole body around before releasing her. It was a rather simple throw, if it succeeded, but the two were having a conversation right now, weren't they?
COMBATSYS: Kyoko successfully hits Tiffany with Fast Throw.
- Power hit! -
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Kyoko 1/--=====/=======|=======\======-\1 Tiffany
/Can/ she talk to Roy about her feelings? It's kind of a funny question to think about, to be sure... they came together -- but they weren't really /together/ yet, despite all the evidence. Not an item in that way. Tiffany's interested... but Roy is too busy being crabby about how much he hates Japan to really embrace that sort of attention. Even if Tiffany loves hanging out with him, she can't really tell him her feelings -- not about him, and not... really... about... anything.
Thinking about that fact puts Tiffany off her game in a big way -- and when Kyoko grabs her and gives her a twirl, her guard's wide, /wide/ open. She hits the ground hard when she's thrown off-balance; her mouth is the first thing to connect, and as a result, she bites her lip hard. When she gets up this time, it's with a whimper; that one /hurt/. She's only bleeding a little, though -- just a small cut, and not deep. The /real/ issue it presents is 'it gets in her head.'
... so, for that matter, does Kyoko's comment. "... Yeah, exactly! Like -- I /kind/ of have people I can talk to about that stuff, but not /really/..." She shakes her head, admitting, "... well, Boman might listen, but it'd turn into, just, blah blah blah Jesus, blah blah blah trying times," a little weakly. ... maybe if she does well in the tournament, it'll change?
Thinking about /that/ gets Tiffany going in a big way -- and she decides to show Kyoko that she's got something special. "Watch out -- I'm not gonna' hold back!" she declares, going into a high, spinning leap; her legs aim squarely for Kyoko's shoulders, looking to land hard before...
COMBATSYS: Tiffany successfully hits Kyoko with Groovy Screw.
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Kyoko 2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|===----\-------\0 Tiffany
... sending her whole body, with as much momentum as she can, into a high-speed whirl. She spins around Kyoko's neck fast enough to actually lift both of them off of the ground just slightly, carrying her up into the air with her; it wrenches the neck in a major way, though Tiffany's movements are /infinitely/ careful -- enough to hurt, not enough to break. Power /and/ control!
When she finishes the whirl at long last, she changes direction yet again, popping back up and off Kyoko's shoulders with a forceful kick off, aiming the older woman for the mat and herself for the sky.
Boys don't change. Not even in this modern era. She grew up in an era herself where she was expected to be demure and submissive and professional to a patriarchal system. And what did it get her? Endless rejection. An career where she felt completely unfulfilled after devoting years of her life to it. Even in Western countries where Tiffany grew up in, a girl was expected to act a certain way if they wanted to 'hang' with the guys. It was different in a way.
She notes Tiffany's cut on her lip and instantly fights back the reaction to baby her, to coddle her, and to deal with that injury. To sit down and talk about their feelings with girl talk bonding she liked to have with her students. This was a fight however, and Tiffany makes her completely aware of it. Squaring her stance suddenly, she aims to leap out of the way. Again she's not fast enough, as she tries to leap out of the way. Tiffany stomps on her shoulders, as she feels the crunching crepitus of bone on bone.
In a way, it was humiliating what happens next, a blow to her 'cred' as it were, as Tiffany slinks around to her neck, and grasps her neck, and sends her up in the air. Kyoko tries to match the motions of her neck with the momentum to minimize the damage, but in the end, it's done, like it or not. Dizzy, and in mid-air, the final kick to the back of her shoulder blades sends her sprawling on the mat, rattling her teeth, and her glasses. They pop off for one instant, while she has her face turned away from Tiffany. It takes her a moment, to recognize that they are in fact, not on her face.
A shaky hand reaches out and grasps them, examining the lens for cracks, before she puts them back on her face. Composing herself slowly after that incredible onslaught of youthful exuberance and power, she rises back to her feet, her white coat, and hair disheveled. A puff of air is used to blow a bang out of her face.
"W-Well." She swallows after that, the word not coming easily, as she puts a hand to the side of her neck, and cracks it. "Maybe you need to think on that. If you can't talk to them about anything important, then what exactly are you to them?" Her eyes gleam for a moment, before she suddenly surges forward with speed that belies her age. This time, she feints with a high kick. The real attack comes when she's in mid-air, when a hand tries to lance out, and grip her right wrist, as she lands, she tries to snake around Tiffany with the same speed to attempt to wrap the arm around her neck. Her other hand immediately moves to position it to lock under their opposite shoulder...
COMBATSYS: Kyoko successfully hits Tiffany with Hell Exam.
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Kyoko 0/-------/---<<<<|=======\==-----\1 Tiffany
...fortunately, Kyoko had almost surgical precision with her holds. She wraps one leg around Tiffany's hip, which then crooks behind her knee to the popliteal and tugs it just enough to be extremely painful, but not to break or dislocate anything. With the pain bringing her off-balance, she then brings Tiffany down to the ground with her. Releasing the first arm, the second, likely flailing arm is grasped to be drawn behind her back to pin her there. She twists it in a submission hold, while pressing a knee at the small of her back.
Rotating her body around, she grasps Tiffany's legs and pulls them backwards in a painful spinal lock. Having worked every single extremity in the body, it was a simple matter now to finish by draping her legs back and grasping her around the neck with them in a sleeper hold.
She doesn't twist however. She just shows Tiffany exactly what she 'could' have done, before finally releasing her onto the mat, and getting up herself. And yet, throughout all of that, she remains deathly silent. Perhaps she felt she'd said all she needed to say. Sometimes it was best just to let the mind of a teenager work out certain conclusions on their own.
Tiffany doesn't have much time to think about what Kyoko's saying before she reaches out to grab her; the high-kick feint brings her guard high, giving Kyoko almost infinite time to do whatever she wants with her hands. Catching Tiffany with her arm, Kyoko wrenches the hold with force -- Tiffany cries out, trying to tap out but not able to get the control of her hand to do so and not /thinking/ about the other one -- after all, her attention is squarely on the one Kyoko's holding.
When she grabs her legs, Tiffany thinks she sees an opportunity and starts crawling for the edge of the mat in desperation -- /usually/ if you can reach the edge of the 'legal' arena, you have to break, that's the rule, right? -- but she just can't get her hands under her effectively enough.
The final hold, though, is the worst; she has Tiffany dead-to-rights there, and by the time the surgeon lets go of her, she's unable to muster the strength to get up, nor the breath to speak.
... Which leaves her alone, for a little while, with her thoughts. /Is/ she truly alone out here? It's common for immigrants to feel that way -- but she can't really share her feelings with her circle of fellow travelers, either, can she? There's Natsu, perhaps -- but she goes to Gorin... and she'd practically leapt at the chance to excuse herself rather than stay the night. That thought sits in the pit of Tiffany's stomach for a good while. Is she alone out here, despite the acquaintances she's made while investigating? Despite the boy she came to Pacific Japan with?
When she does get up, it's slow and painful, and she looks up to Kyoko with a small shiver. "... Your technique... it's really somethin' else," she stammers out, eager to put the thoughts of unaddressed loneliness as far from her mind as possible. "I don't really know how to work around, like, getting grabbed like that..." She seems almost ashamed -- part of her feels like she just bombed a test.
COMBATSYS: Tiffany takes no action.
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Kyoko 0/-------/---<<<<|
COMBATSYS: Tiffany can no longer fight.
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Kyoko 0/-------/---<<<<|
Kyoko ignores whatever the crowd is doing at the moment, not because it's irrelevant. The adulation of such people was important to her. However, she was focusing entirely on her opponent, who had made this battle hard fought in every single way. When Tiffany starts talking too, she's barely listening. She's mostly paying attention to how she looks, the little emotional tells in her eyes, and in every single movement.
While defeat was an important lesson to give to someone, she doesn't want to do it in a discouraging way. So after a short time, she leans over and puts an arm around her to steady her once she's upright. In a way however, she was so banged up herself that Tiffany was supporting her too, even if she didn't know it. She turns her head to murmur something softly by her ear, "Don't let anyone ever tell you you're anything other than spectacular, Tiffany. Even in moments like these." Perhaps, especially so, she thinks.
And then she would help Tiffany off the mat to a place where she could relax for a while, assuming she lets her, parting the crowd as they go. "I'll show you how later. I think you'll manage it easily once you learn a few tricks." She adds. Because any teacher could grade a student. It was an excellent teacher that realized effort, encouraged it and made whatever grade they received feel like an A+, or a medal of honor.
COMBATSYS: Kyoko has ended the fight here.
That comment to Tiffany prompts a big, broad smile, despite the pain; it's a hell of a thing to know that someone sees her talent and appreciates it -- to know that she's wanted, that she has /someone's/ support for sure. Moving with Kyoko to get off of the mat, she listens intently, nodding as she's told that she'll probably get it; of course she will -- she clearly has a very good teacher.
Leaning into the nurse as that smile becomes a little more subdued, she says, "I... thhhhink you might have pulled something in my back," after a few moments of 'enjoying' her slightly-dazed state. "Or... I might've?" She /did/ struggle against the hold a lot -- she might have done more harm than good there?
Mostly, though, she just slumps into Kyoko, appreciating her words but too worn out to really /acknowledge/ them.
Log created on 01:46:01 01/02/2015 by Tiffany, and last modified on 06:44:42 01/02/2015.