Match of the Millennium

Description: Look, there's only one thing you need to know about this fight: that stupid DJ's mixer had it coming.

[HAWKSLEY]
*****EARLIER*****

"Feck off, Frank. I'm not wearing black leather pants and a mesh top. I do wanna go back to Cork at some point you know."

It seems that Hawksley isn't impressed with his agent's suggestion that he dresses to suit tonight's venue for his match against Iris.

"I'll be wearing my jeans and trainers as usual. Now shut the feck up and get the beers in."

The two men have met for an afternoon chat in Hawksley's favourite place in Metro City, The Dead Squirrel. The Irish bar is playing host to a match between his teammate Ayala and his buddy and fellow brawler, John Doe this round. He can't help but envy them. Fighting here in his last match had proved perfect for him but he's never been to a goth club in his life.

"I mean, I suppose I worked in a club for long enough. It'll probably be a bit like that with different makeup."

*****NOW*****

The sound of Yikii fills the dimly lit room, as Hawksley makes his way across the dancefloor. The lights tint his bare chest crimson red and dancing darkly dressed clubgoers brush against him as he navigates the crowd. He was right, the make up is mostly different but so is the vibe. The Irishman finds it intriguing but he's not here to play. At least not yet. He's got someone to fight first.

His dark eyes scan the crowd in search of the English woman he's here for. She's got rainbow hair, so that should help her to stand out.

[IRIS]
This has been a busy start to the second round of the tournament so far; considerably busier than the first one was given her late entry. Iris has had a training meetup with a fighter who built her own robot fists, a fight against Ichika that went way past the emotional red line, a training battle against one of her own teammates that took her entirely to the wire. And then she had to run back to Cambridge to get... a little something.

Fun fact: you CAN teleport across an ocean with magic, but 90% of practitioners would not attempt it, because 1.) it's exhausting but also, 2.) getting even a little bit of that wrong has REALLY dire consequences.

That means some of Iris's 'fight prep' for this match with Hawksley Moore -- a former teammate, of a sort -- was done while asleep on a redeye flight from Heathrow.

And NOW she's in the world's darkest (by volume) bar, pushing her way into the crowd to arrive the fight, quite definitely later than Hawksley did. Her white and purple clothing and the prismatic tips of her otherwise boring brown hair definitely stick out, even more than her opponent's shirtless chest does. As she finally, FINALLY shoves her way to the fighty part of the venue, she suddenly turns and glares daggers at the people sitting nearby for a moment before turning and greeting Hawksley with a little wave.

"Trathnona maith, former teamie," she says, because 1.) she's a nerd about languages, as one might expect someone whose stock and trade in runes to be, and 2.) a little meeting people on their own terms never hurts. "A little odd this is how we first meet, but nice anyhow."

A brief pause as she looks around, squinting at the red lighting and overwhelmingly black paint job. "Are we supposed to fight or develop 35mm film in here?"

[DJAMILA]
The fight is in a Goth club. Djamila, with her black blindfold and her black attire, fits well there. The rest of her, not so much. She is here for Iris. A new teammate she can finally cheer. So that's what matters

When she knows Iris is there, she says loudly, "You can win this babe! I believe in you! Kick ass!" Now, if she says it loud enough, it's another matter, but she tries. She at least means what she said.

After that, she settles. She likes Hawksley, but right now it's Iris all the way. She's eager to feel it live.

[HAWKSLEY]
Hawksley waves back at Iris, his face showing his happiness to have her here. "Good to see you, cailin. In fact, feck that, good to even meet you."

He starts to laugh, shaking his head. "I thought you were just really good at avoiding us all, so I did. Back when you were on Team Blaze. I heard you were in a hotel though or something? I mean, Jesus. Talk about bad planning by the sponsors. You must have thought we were all eejits or something."

He'll move to shake her hand. "Whatever happens tonight, let's make sure we have a drink together. It can be here or somewhere more...bright if you like. You know, providing we're both still able to stand."

He looks over towards their designated fighting area, which seems to be a small section of the dancefloor. An Arctic Monkeys song that definitely won't be on DJ Decay's playlist pops into his head.

He hasn't got a clue what Iris is saying or even what language she's saying it in but it just so happens he has heard of 35mm film. "My great uncle Patrick had a room in his house with lighting a lot like this for his photographs. The smell isn't quite so bad in here though."

"Anyway, shall we get this show on the road? Do you wanna start or shall I?"

COMBATSYS: Hawksley has started a fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Hawksley         0/-------/-------|

[IRIS]
"Nah. Well..." Iris pauses, in the middle of responding to Hawksley's suggestion that he thought they were all morons. "Brian Storm, maybe, but that was less 'what a fool' and more 'what is even HAPPENING'," she admits, probably setting off an intense and stupid comment thread on some forum, FightTube post, or subreddit somewhere. "I just assumed you all had more important things to do, like winning fights or getting kidnapped, that one time."

Secretly, she was REALLY GLAD she wasn't around for THAT. The whole thing sounded very, VERY messy... especially when the whole Chevy situation happened for Coco after.

"As for having a drink later, I'm all for it, especially the 'somewhere brighter' part, though I think the only way for this place to get any DARKER is a city-wide blackout." Is the weird red lighting making her actually feel a little sleepy?! YES IT IS. Iris definitely seems out of place in this room, and very clearly does not like it. But Hawksley invites her to begin, and perhaps that discomfort is why the magus decides to take the initiative. "Don't mind if I do, then."

She brings both hands up into fists and pulls them apart at chest height, like someone snapping a belt -- which is almost exactly what she's doing, since in a burst of trademark rainbow light, a length of chain appears held in those very fists.

A goth in the front row recoils from the display, shouting "COLORS!" and hissing like a cat, which utterly destroys the drama of Iris's moment as she turns to stare at said person in confusion.

Turning back to Hawksley, she sighs. "This is gonna be A Night, isn't it," she asks, before ducking in and swinging out with the chain, attempting to lasso/hook the Fire-rishmans' leg and trip him right onto the dance(?) floor.

COMBATSYS: Iris has joined the fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Hawksley         0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0             Iris

COMBATSYS: Hawksley blocks Iris' Medium Throw.

[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Hawksley         0/-------/------=|-------\-------\0             Iris

[HAWKSLEY]
"Brian is a big puppy dog" is Hawksley's assessment. "Kindest fella in the world. I'm missing him, so I am. Though he's knocking about somewhere in the city. He's been shacking up with that popstar girlfriend of his."

Even the mention of the kidnapping isn't enough to dampen the dark haired lad's spirits tonight. It probably helps that he's recently made up with the purple haired posh girl at the centre of the kidnap drama and recalling the whole sorry saga now fills him with less dread.

"Ah, I'd have still made time for a pint with you" he insists to Iris. "I'm never too busy for a beer."

He's grinning along at this witty woman's commentary, enjoying the banter she brings. When she decides she's going to kick things off, he's all for it.

The chain display is damn impressive. "Now would you look at that?" he remarks. He's only briefly distracted when the goth gets spooked by the pretty colours and so when Iris comes at him with her wonderous weapon, he manages to move fast enough to avoid having the chain trip him up. He does get a bloody big whack with it on his calf though.

Hawksley slips forward towards Iris and twists his body into a left snap elbow to try and put her off-balance. He then aims to pivot into a deadly looking right-handed haymaker towards her centre of mass, with the plan to send her flying backwards on to the lap of the goth.

COMBATSYS: Hawksley successfully hits Iris with Detonator.

[   \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////      ]
Hawksley         0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0             Iris

[IRIS]
Fun fact: Iris is a reasonable-enough weight for her height and age, but that just means an average person's punch wouldn't take her very far. For a fighter, who -- even someone just beginning -- has learned or intuited how to put considerably more force behind a punch than Random Q. Jackass. This means that when Iris attempts to pivot out of the way of Hawksley's blow and misses her mark, she takes a hit that can very easily send her flying into the audience. Which is exactly what happens.

There is a very loud combination of multiple 'oof!'s and the very loud sound of wooden chairs scraping across a floor as Iris lands in... well, *a* goth's lap. Does the black-clad club kid's body start smoking a little bit like a vampire in the sun when her brightly colored clothes/hair touch him?! Or is it just a trick of the light?

We may never know.

"Yep," Iris mutters to herself as she emerges from the goth's not-quite-clutches, tossing some of her hair out of her eyes. "Gonna be that kinda night."

Standing up and turning to the goth, the Brit snaps, "Remember to tip your server" before shoving them off the chair, which she picks up with both hands before turning back to Hawksley.

Then she vanishes, but people who've seen her fight will by now know to look BEHIND Hawksley, because that's exactly where she shows up, swinging the chair at him from behind... only the chair is also NOW crackling with violet lightning. She swings three times, hoping the chair can hold up through all of it... but fully expecting to be holding basically a broken chair leg and nothing else at the end of this.

COMBATSYS: Hawksley blocks Iris' Teiwaz - Justicar's Mercy ES.

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Hawksley         0/-------/---====|=====--\-------\0             Iris

[HAWKSLEY]
Shaking his fist out, the fiery fighter stands back to observe the show as Iris lands exactly where he wanted her to.

"Fecking brilliant" he laughs, giving a round of applause. Whether it's for himself, Iris, the goth or all of them is anybody's guess.

"Those kind of nights make for grand stories" Hawksley comments casually.

The way that his opponent shoves the occupant of the chair from it and then picks it up is worthy of a wrestling match. He suspects he's got a performer on his hands here.

She's also got some tricks up her sleeve, as demonstrated by the fact he has no clue that she's come up behind him. It's only when he catches the crackling violet lightning out of the corner of his eye, that he knows to react.

He's too slow to stop the first crash of the chair from connecting with his crown, causing him to curse as he considers concussion. He's not planning to let that happen again, so putting his hands up to shield himself, Hawksley holds off any futher damage, letting out a roar as he fends the furniture off.

He turns around to face the British babe, beaming a smile at her. Just before delivering a left-handed jab into a right cross to her face. He's hoping to send her reeling, so he can take advantage by grabbing her shoulders and pulling her face-first into his rapidly rising right knee.

COMBATSYS: Hawksley successfully hits Iris with Buzzkill ES.

[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Hawksley         0/-------/--=====|=======\=------\1             Iris

[IRIS]
If this were any other fighter, one could maybe say Hawksley rogueish(?) good looks are simply too distracting, but so far, Iris seems to be immune to that sort of thing from her fellow competitors. More than likely, the brawler's speed and strength are doing the job. Whichever is responsible, Iris seems to be completely unable to mount a defense against anything he has; the chair from her assault predictably couldn't stand up to the technique she was using it for, and her attempt to interpose what was left -- a sturdy but narrow chair leg -- in the path of Hawksley's assault gets predictably batted aside.

Standing up straight takes a second after that; it was a blow to the jaw, after all. The Brit's hand comes up and wipes across her mouth as she tries to steady herself, but the truth is, it's pretty difficult. The two hits she's taken so far have taken a very obvious toll despite how little of the fight has gone by so far... a surefire recipe to start the roiling black fog of inner voices that plagued her in the fight with Ichika.

She doesn't have any repartee for Hawksley at the moment, which is a shame; he seems the type to be good at mid-fight banter. But right now the Brit is simply trying to focus. Bringing up one hand, finger glowing with the same violet color that surrounded the chair a moment ago, she traces a shape in the air: a straight vertical line, with a > shape on the midway point.

"Hopefully you learned your runes back in Eire," is all Iris says, before the finished rune releases and inside a building with not a cloud in the sky, the air above Hawksley quite literally looks to drop a lightning bolt on him!

COMBATSYS: Hawksley dodges Iris' Thurisaz - Mjolnir's Echo.

[      \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Hawksley         0/-------/--=====|=======\==-----\1             Iris

[HAWKSLEY]
The Eire lad nods his encouragment as Iris rises again. "Fair play to you" he praises "You've got plenty left in you yet."

The crowd seem to be getting into the fight now and are calling out and even cheering in some cases. Despite their dark attire, some of the club's clientele are proving to be a lively lot.

Hawksley steps from side to side on his sneakers, keeping his buff body moving as he awaits the Metal magic girl's next move. He isn't disappointed by the display she comes up with. "That's gorgeous so it is but you're looking at the wrong lad if you're hoping I'll know my runes, so you are. I'm not much of a one for learning, unless it's something I need to know."

It seems he has learned the art of getting the feck out of the way though. As he looks up to the lovely lightning bolt, he launches himself across the dancefloor, diving to safety. One of the audience hands him her blood red drink from which he takes a swig. "Cheers."

He doesn't stop to sample it for a second time. He's back in the business of brawling. Getting up close and personal with the smart summoner, he throws out a swinging punch that's unlikely to be approved by his da and Uncle Liam at the boxing gym but will at least still do some damage if it hits.

COMBATSYS: Iris interrupts Improvised Punch from Hawksley with Isa - Fimbulwinter.
- CRAZY Hit! -

[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Hawksley         1/------=/=======|=------\-------\0             Iris

[IRIS]
And it does hit!

Sort of.

This was a gamble and a half. Why? Hawksley is easily bigger and stronger than Iris is, and it's clear that he has plenty of experience using his fists in a straight-up brawl. The wizard, meanwhile, had a rich British girl education featuring heavily on fencing, poetry, and being mean to poor people (she doesn't use that last bit anymore, thankfully). There's a very real chance that if she gets this wrong, she's walking out of here with a broken arm.

But she tries it anyway, and with speed that she definitely hasn't shown before -- speed that seems to surprise Iris as much as anyone else -- the girl literally *grabs Hawksley's punch out of midair*. It makes for a dramatic scene as she attempts to hold his fist, and by extension Hawk himself, in place long enough to make this thing work in general... and for a bit, it really doesn't seem like it will. Iris grunts in pain as Hawksley's punch forces her arm back, muscles and tendons straining to resist.

However, did he notice that the rune she just drew is still in the air?

Because that's what Iris does with her other finger: she turns it into the mystical equivalent of the Photoshop eraser tool, taking the > off the rune of thunder she just drew. The result is a very simple vertical line: 'Isa', the rune of ice.

In the second where Iris lets go of Hawksley's fist, a circle forms on the ground around them both, before a vertical column of ice and snow erupts out of it, thoroughly dousing Hawksley with bone-chilling cold.

[HAWKSLEY]
If Iris's education focused on fencing, poetry and being mean to poor people, Hawksley's centered around schoolyard scraps, getting sent to the headmaster's office and being a poor person. They may be worlds apart in the places they started but right now they are both exactly where they are meant to be. Fighting their backsides off in the New Fighting Generation.

When the eccentric English girl grabs at his fist, his dark eyes go wide in surprise. "Jesus" he manages to murmur, finding himself unable to force himself free.

"What are you doing to me, cailin?" he wonders, wiggling away as he tries to regain control of the confrontation.

With all these shenanigans going on, he hadn't noticed the threat hanging over him from above. It's only once it's too late that the Cork cruiserweight comprehends what is happening. He's simply stunned by the magical malarkey he's witnessing when Iris activates 'Isa' the rune of ice.

The Blaze boxer is not one who feels the cold easily, which may be one of the reasons he's happy to fight topless. When the ice and snow coat Hawksley in their cruel, coldness however, he finds himself shivering and shaking. "Oh feck" he manages to say, his voice absent of its usual cheer, as his bare flesh starts to turn blue despite the heat of the crowded club.

What better way to deal with some ice than by adding some fire? Oh and booze.

Pulling his slim silver hip flask from the pocket of his pants, Hawksley holds it with his numb fingers, downing the whiskey inside. He welcomes the warming liquid in his mouth, keeping it there for a moment and then spits it out towards Iris, setting it aflame on the way.

COMBATSYS: Hawksley successfully hits Iris with Hedonism ES.

[             \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////                       ]
Hawksley         1/----===/=======|======-\-------\0             Iris

[IRIS]
Starting to look like a Robert Frost poem on the stage at Black No. 1 right now, and the audience is MAYBE taking this moment to scoot a little farther from the stage than they were. Sure, goths want to embrace the darkness of death or whatever, but right now it's looking like they're gonna embrace at a lot faster if they don't get the heck out of the way of the elemental lightshow going on right now.

Perhaps when she (or more likely, Mint or Greg) reviews this fight later, they'll tell Iris to stop taking so many risks on the defensive against attacks that are particularly fast, but in truth: Hawksley hits hard, and right now the wizard is listening to her body, which is currently telling her 'don't get hit by anything else ow ow ow OW'. So, she attempts to duck wide of the fire, but underestimates the eventual spread of the burst, which forces her backwars, reddened burns on her arms from the flames that take a moment to shake off the pain from.

"Well, there's a reason you came into that Rumble so early on and I was second to last," Iris says through gritted teeth, squaring off with the brawler. "But I'm not going to make it easy for you if I can help it."

She hurts, rather a lot, and Mint's voice in her inner ear, Yoda-like, says: stick to what you know. Her right hand comes up, a rapier appearing in it with another burst of rainbow light, and ducking her body low, she attempts the same fencing maneuver she tried on Ichika: a fleche, making her body and blade an arrow to pierce right at Hawksley's chest.

COMBATSYS: Hawksley blocks Iris' Crushing Strike.

[               \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////                      ]
Hawksley         1/---====/=======|=====--\-------\0             Iris

[MINT]
As it happens, Mint is watching. She attends -most- of Team Metal's fights, because seeing these sorts of things play out in person is far more educational and entertaining than subjecting herself to the whims of some John Q Random video director. Dressed in a dark purple blouse and black slacks, the dark-skinned Marine really isn't going to stand out much outside of the occasional roving spotlight.

Which is perfect, really. She'd rather just watch -- and throw up the occasional fist of victory, as she had for that oh-so-chilly column of ice and snow from before.

Still. She's not going to remain completely silent on the matter.

"Hang in there, Iris! You got this!"

[HAWKSLEY]
Amidst the battle of ice and fire, Hawksley takes some time to appreciate the beauty of the scene. The red lighting suddenly seems atmospheric as it shines down on the snowflakes that scatter the dark dancefloor and settle on some of the spectators. Not too much time though, because the Irishman has Iris to deal with.

The fierce booze fueled flames scorch the summoner and send her soaring. "You were bloody brilliant in The Rumble. I watched the footage back" he compliments her but just because he admires her abilities, it doesn't mean he's not gonna try and finish her off in this fight.

The rainbow rapier makes its splendid entrance to the scene, causing several "Ooh" and "Ahh" sounds from the crowd.

"If Coco were here, she'd be making jokes about leprechauns and pots of gold at the end of the rainbow" he predicts, as the blade pokes at the centre of his chest and sends a trickle of blood running downwards towards his denim duds.

Tensing his torso tightly, Hawksley resists any futher pain, pushing the weapon away from him with his hand and then bringing it around to form into a fist. Swinging it towards Iris, he seeks to smack it into the side of her skull.

COMBATSYS: Iris interrupts Fierce Punch from Hawksley with Jera - Festival of Plenty ES.

[                     \\\\\\\\\  < >  /                             ]
Hawksley         2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\==-----\1             Iris

COMBATSYS: Iris has reached second wind!

[                     \\\\\\\\\  < >  /                             ]
Hawksley         2/<<<<<<</<<<<<<<|=======\==-----\1             Iris

[KONGOU]
Another spectator observes, albiet some distance away. Unlike Mint, he has opted for the more video orientated view of matters though it's more due to practicality then any other reason. Simply attempting to fit into the club would have taken too much attention away from the battle itself and this is their show.

It also might have possibly brought the place down around their heads...so there's that as well.

Thus, out in the parking lot, Kongou stands and watches by means of large monitors set up courtesy of the NFG staff. His massive are folded and his gaze flickers from one screen to the next and he grins slowly and nods in approval at the breakneck pace and the twists and turns of this fight.

"Hmmm....spectacular!"

[IRIS]
"Appreciate the compliment," Iris says, genuinely, as she pulls her hand back from the blow and lets it trail toward the ground, rapier disappearing as quickly as it appeared. But Hawksley isn't going to let her go that easy, and another one of those vicious-feeling punches comes sailing her way. She thinks, for JUST a second, of attempting to catch his hand again, and swiftly gives up on that idea; her left arm just isn't going to stand up to that.

She has a split second to decide what's going to happen, here. Given the power his punches have had so far, this will probably end it if she doesn't DO something.

So she does. And the something is: she gets punched in the face.

This is considerably less effective than catching a punch with an open palm, but as Hawksley is about to discover, it has one effect in common: he's in close, and he's not moving very far, and in his rush to counter swiftly, he PROBABLY didn't notice that as Iris's arm dropped out of his immediate sight, she summoned something ELSE in her now empty hand. Specifically, a bullwhip, which -- with the last of her rapidly-fading mental faculties -- Iris quickly brings up and loops around Hawksley's extended arm, after which she simply HAULS with all the strength she can summon, the whip flinging the brawler away in the process just as the lash glows violet-blue with lightning to add plenty of oomph to the resulting maneuver.

Then she... well. Iris goes down; first to one knee, then to all fours. Maybe this was her swan song, but at least she gave as good as she--

No.

The way she unfolds upwards to being standing is TORTUROUS to watch; she is obviously in a lot of pain, one eye on the side of her face where Hawk punched her squinted shut. But she managed a slight grin, regardless.

"Sorry. The... part of my... brain responsible for banter... is currently occupied... keeping me from... passing out..."

After a brief pause, she adds: "'sides... leprechauns aren't real. Redcaps are, though." A grunt of pain because laughing hurts. "Red instead of green. Mean... bastards. You'd like 'em."

[HAWKSLEY]
The powerful punch pummels into Iris' pretty face. It's a success of sorts for Hawksley but leaves him vulnerable to what she has in store for him. When the whip appears, he lets out a "Feck no" of protest but his words can't protect him.

It's wrapped around his arm securely and before he can even seek to escape, he's sent sprawling across the dancefloor and crashing into a clubber. "Sorry, fella" he spits out, finding some blood coming out of his mouth along with the apology.

As he tries to recover from the literal shock he received from the lightning, he looks towards the luminous lass, watching as she ends up on all fours. She's not going to let her story end there though. As she stands up again, the Cork man claps his hands together, inspired by her guts and determination. She's looking like she's in a Rocky movie right now but she's beautiful and brave as well as battered.

Despite all the damage she's taken, the English woman is still able to show off her studies, educating him on his own homeland.

"What are you trying to say, Iris?" he teases. "Do you reckon I'm a mean bastard too?"

No sooner are the words out of his mouth, than Hawksley is stamping his foot into the ground. The gesture causes the club's floor to ignite, creating a ring of fire that spreads outwards to surround both fighters. If the spectators were scarpering before, they are full on sprinting now, letting out loud screams and shrieks as they go. Stalking towards Iris, the flames making the daring duo glow with their light, Hawksley looks to deliver a devastating lightning-fast punch to send her flying through the wall of fire.

COMBATSYS: Hawksley successfully hits Iris with Burn Baby Burn ES.

[                     \\\\\\\\\  < >                                ]
Hawksley         0/-------/--<<<<<|>>>>>>>\>>>>---\1             Iris

[IRIS]
She has maybe a second or two to respond before the punch lands, and over the protests of her body, Iris simply grins and croaks out a raw-sounding: "Yeah, kinda."

Then she's headed into the DJ table at high speed and that's about that. There was a bit a movement on her part, the start of an attempt at evasion, but it's one she herself subconsciously shut down midway through. There truly would be no point; everything she had was going into keeping her standing.

It's a WHILE before anything happens, long enough to make a few people wonder if Hawksley unintentionally let a little too much of that power out in that final blow and something seriously bad happened to her. But then, there is a rustle, and some mechanical clanking, and looking more than a bit like an extra in a zombie movie, a bloodied but barely-conscious Iris emerges through the ring of fire, dragging the DJ's mixer behind her, dragging on the ground like an executioner's axe as she walks right at Hawksley.

"Finally... the bloody noise... they were playing... in here... will have... some *use*..."

And then she swings the damn mixer at Hawksley sidelong. One last hurrah. She SAID she wasn't gonna make it easy for him.

Regardless of what happens, however, shortly afterward the mixer *CLANG!*s to the floor, and Iris falls soon after, blissfully out of commission.

COMBATSYS: Iris can no longer fight.

[                     \\\\\\\\\  <
Hawksley         0/-------/--<<<<<|

COMBATSYS: Hawksley blocks Iris' Fierce Strike.

[                      \\\\\\\\  <
Hawksley         0/-------/-<<<<<<|

[HAWKSLEY]
"Aw, I'm a gentle soul, so I am" Hawksley protests but there's a definite glimmer of mischief in his dark eyes. Not to mention all the evidence to the contrary.

Iris hits the dancefloor, making her request directly to DJ Decay. They wave their black gloved hands around in protest but it's futile. Iris has officially crashed their party.

The silence is uncomfortable as the handful of patrons that are still present in the club stare towards the fallen woman. Is she dead? Should someone call a doctor? But no, she's far from finished.

Walking towards him and wielding her weapon, she has again arose. Hawksley gasps, gritting his teeth and clenching his fists as he prepares to face off against the female fighter again.

"Fair play" he laughs loudly. "It was a right fecking racket, so it was."

The mixer crashes into his stomach and he finds himself thankful for all the crunches he's taken the time to do. He's winded, he's wounded but crucially the Cork fella is still standing.

"You just rest there a while, cailin" he advises, bending down to pat Iris lightly on the arm. "Once you're up and about I know a great little Irish bar called The Dead Squirrel. You'll love it, so you will."

[MINT]
Mint... isn't really a music critic. She listens to damn near anything as long as it's got a beat. But, well. If it drives Iris crazy, she can give the gal credit for up and doing something about it rather than just writing long screeds to randos on the internet.

She's quick to give her applause -- as odd as it might sound for her translucent plastic prosthetics to be clacking against one another. "Yeah! Good fight, you two!"

Mint smiles broadly. It -was- a close fight, she nods. Close fights are always the best kind.

[DJAMILA]
Djamila is on the edge of her seat. Iris has been doing great, even with the hard blows she got from Hawskley. But it was too much now. "You did great Iris. You were Amazing. I am very happy to have finally seen you live" She gets up and smiles.

Of course, she wishes Iris would have won, but Iris has nothing to be ashamed of in her performance. Djamila is proud to have her as a teammate.

She adds. "Congrats Hawksley. Well done." He's still her friend, after all.

Log created on 15:07:42 09/21/2023 by Iris, and last modified on 05:47:54 09/22/2023.