Description: Aranha takes a break from the stress involved in finding team mates for the upcoming King of Fighters tournament and a prospective team member falls into his lap. This test quickly devolves into a brutal and bloody war of attrition only stopped when Aranha realizes that if he sticks around, he'll have to answer some uncomfortable questions.
Aranha has been checking out fighters here and there. The problem with his search is that with the exception of fighters like Shiden and Pullum none have made too much of an impression on him. Eventually realization had set in that he was going to drive himself nuts if he didn't take a few days off from his fighter search.
As a result, Aranha has declared it a 'mental health day.' He hasn't made a trip to the gyms, or underground fight clubs, or done anything concerning the Neo League. Just work out, and then headed to grocery store for the makings of today's meal.
In fact, Aranha's coming out carrying his purchases now and is on his way home to his apartment.
Compare Aranha's desire for rest to Varvara's driven search for whoever this Aranha guy is. She's got a whole lot of cash and this really neat new cellphone and apparently she's going to be fighting alongside him or some such if she can ever actually find him.
Her method of finding him is decidedly brute force - simply asking anyone and everyone she feels like asking as to where she can possibly find this 'Aranha.' (There are probably a few broken noses among those people too by now.) Her stomach growls as she strolls along the small parking lot to the local grocery store, eliciting a frown. Time to spend more of that wonderful money on something to hold her... or maybe she can stick to old habits and jump someone for them.
Either or.
Blissfully unaware of who that guy carrying groceries happens to be, she brazenly walks up to him - her odor very telling of her homelessness - and wastes no time bluntly addressing a guy who just wants to take a day off and chill.
"Where can I find Aranha?" She asks in a not at all friendly tone. It's impatient, she wants to know where he is right now - and also whatever's in those bags is probably tasty. "I'm looking for Aranha. Do you know him? 'cause I want to find him."
Sniff...
Aranha's lips curl downward into a frown at the smell. He doesn't verbally respond right away instead sizing her up. Meanwhile, another part of his brain is trying to figure out why she asked for him specifically.
He begins eliminating the reasons for seeking him out one by one. She's not with Rugal or Vega seeing as they don't seem to be in the practice of hiring the homeless or if they do, making sure they clean up and look not disheveled if not presentable. She's definitely not a fan because she would've known it was him from looking at him. And he knows it wasn't some drunken one night stand because even if she was so toasted that she didn't remember who he was, he's too damn paranoid to let himself get drunk enough to sleep with /her/. Which leaves two possible solutions. Some crazy homeless chick, and Varvara. Given the way she's eying the bag of groceries, he's inclined to believe that it's the latter though the two solutions aren't mutually exclusive.
"If I didn't know better, I'd say that you're Varvara and that guy Shiden sent you to introduce yourself." He then kneels down to place the bag of groceries down on the ground but doesn't get up right away. "Am I right?"
She is very impatiently waiting for that answer while the Dancing Spider frowns at her very presence. She is greedily eyeing that bag of groceries as he mentally goes over the possibilities of who (or maybe more appropriately, /what/) she is. Her stomach growls a bit again as if to bring the point further home.
He hits the hammer on the nail on her identity right off the bat - putting that grocery bag down might be taken as a sign of surrender, however!!
"Yeah, that's me," she replies plainly, "so you're Aranha." Her knuckles crack. He's not that much taller than her, either - but she does eye those scars on his arms. He's definitely a fighter, not like those prissy plastic surgery ponces who are supposedly completely beautiful and amazing martial artists. He would not be an easy mark at all. That much is a bit of a disappointment. She would love to have that entire bag of groceries.
"Score one for Sherlock Homeboy," he says with an amused grin on his face.
The placing the bag on the ground could be taken as a sign of surrender, but in this case, it's preparing for battle. When he hears that stomach growl he's instantly reminded of the witch in red. However what Varvara has going for her is that she isn't as annoying. Hopefully she doesn't eat as much as she does.
He then elevates himself back to his full height and cracks his neck. "Well, let the test begin."
The capoeirista can't help but feel amused at how everything fell into place when he stopped worrying about it. The amusement shows on his face even as he cartwheels right at her putting himself between her and the groceries as well as putting a foot in her face.
COMBATSYS: Aranha has started a fight here.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Aranha 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Varvara has joined the fight here.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////////////////]
Aranha 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Varvara
COMBATSYS: Varvara blocks Aranha's Light Kick.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////////////// ]
Aranha 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Varvara
If it were biologically possible, Rylee and Naerose could have traveled back in time and given life to this woman. This is a scary thought and not one worth pursuing any further than that, so... moving on.
Aranha's hopes about her not 'eating as much' may be dashed if he ever gets to bear witness to her eating things. She's a hungry woman. All she has going for her in life is the ability to fight - nothing more, nothing less.
When Aranha cartwheels forward with the threat of beginning the test, her arms are already raised to catch Aranha's leading foot just in front of her face, her forearms taking the brunt of soaking up the kick's momentum before stopping it cold.
"Erroso," she utters - an ironic statement to make when she intends to take that ankle and twist it with both her hands. Her grip is already something nasty in itself for someone of her size - imagine what she'll /do/ to his ankle if he doesn't get that out of her grasp!
COMBATSYS: Aranha dodges Varvara's Medium Throw.
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////////////////// ]
Aranha 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Varvara
Aranha, who as not only a capoeirista, but as a fighter, likes keeping his feet and legs intact. The moment he feels those fingers beginning to curl around his foot, he twists himself away from her, shaking her grasp and not letting her lock the hold before wiggling free, leaving her with nothing in her grasp.
He grins as he sways to and fro as he dances within range and then he goes into a spin before lashing out with a roundhouse engulfed with blue chi and then using the momentum to lead into a spinning jumpkick likewise enhanced with blue chi before finishing with a backflip kick of blue chi in an attempt to drive her towards the ground.
COMBATSYS: Aranha successfully hits Varvara with Aggressive Dance.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////////// ]
Aranha 0/-------/-----==|====---\-------\0 Varvara
Aranha's quick withdrawal works to his advantage in yanking that foot free - she stumbles towards him a step before getting into her typical ready stance, two arms raised in front of her with hands open, palms facing downward and one leg forward with a slight bent. By all appearances she at least has /some/ formal training on her - a step up from other quasi-successful thugs and brigands Aranha's pitted himself up against.
Appearances only go so far when it's 'trained' versus 'well-trained,' the flash of remarkable blue chi earning a squint. One of /those/ types. She feels like making a point.
If her point is 'be thwacked upside the head and bend back uncomfortably with the follow-up spinkick and backflip, the latter of which sending her off her feet,' by golly, she sure makes a good point of things. A point punctuated with bloody spittle that sprays everywhere, a good fifteen feet in the air before she hits the concrete on her back. That's the sort of thing that's enough to put down your typical unskilled street tough.
She is hardly a typical unskilled street tough, growling as she wills herself up off the ground with surprising speed via a simple kick back up to her feet. Her face sure isn't pretty to look at normally. It's even less pretty when she has a black eye, but she's not backing down and crying.
With a yell, she dashes towards Aranha - well, more appropriately, /around/ him to his back, trying to punch him off balance as a precursor to twisting an arm behind his back with one arm, the other around his neck - a position she chooses to hold until satisfied, where she'd see him off with one last knee to the back.
Assuming, of course, she can nail him down proper. The Dancing Spider is infamous for his agility and slipperiness.
COMBATSYS: Aranha blocks Varvara's Chimera's End.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ////////////////////// ]
Aranha 0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0 Varvara
With his Aggressive Dance, Aranha tends to end up presenting his back to his opponent in the best of times. Even still, he tries to turn around but she moves around practically keeping up with his attempt to turn so that he's facing her. He's almost about to dive into a handstand to allow him to face her, however he ends up getting punched in the back. He isn't quite able to get his arm away from her but he does manage to slip under the attempted chokehold and twist his way out of her grip and finally face her again.
That exchange yielded a lot of information for the capoeirista but he isn't quite satisfied yet. He drops low into a crouch as he shoots a palm across his body towards one knee then shooting the other palm across his body towards the other knee, neither of which do damage however they stop her leg movement and use his shoulders to protect his head. What would be damaging is him suddenly uncrossing his arms as he goes for a double leg take down on her.
COMBATSYS: Varvara blocks Aranha's Strong Throw.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////////// ]
Aranha 0/-------/----===|=====--\-------\0 Varvara
Aranha works quicker than she can easily recover after he wiggles free of her full wrath, positioning himself under her legs and going for the takedown around her legs. It's textbook, simple, and to the point.
She responds by tumbling past him just as he uncrosses his arms, splaying her legs out awkwardly and making the tumble a whole lot rougher on her in the process as some air leaves her lungs upon hitting the parking lot asphalt. With a huff, she's back on her feet again and not that much slower, or that much weaker for the effort - but those shots to her face were no joke. Another good series of hits like that and she probably would be running low on fight.
There's no playing about or posturing or what have you when she thinks she's got an opening on Aranha's hindquarters, a quick sweeping kick that is a blur as it is thrown down low towards whatever part of Aranha still happens to be on the ground - if any.
COMBATSYS: Aranha blocks Varvara's Swollen Foot.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////////// ]
Aranha 0/-------/---====|======-\-------\0 Varvara
Aranha's body remains crouched low even after the takedown attempt and a hand shoots out towards her thigh to stop the movement of the sweep even as he plants his other hand on the ground. He then runs in a crouched circle around that planted hand gradually bringing himself to a standing position before twisting and then leaping into a back handspring that ends up aborted in a handstand.
It's while he's in the handstand that he decides to increase the pressure. He snaps kick after kick at her from the upside down position in an attempt to pressure her into making more mistakes.
COMBATSYS: Varvara endures Aranha's Inverted Flurry.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > /////////////// ]
Aranha 0/-------/--=====|=======\-------\1 Varvara
It's kick after kick after kick after kick when it comes to Aranha, with no end in sight. She mistakes the fancy changes in how he holds himself up for weakness. Slip-ups. /Openings./ Like a starving beast, she foolishly runs into that assault for that brief, sweet little taste.
That taste in her mouth in more literal terms? Blood. With every kick, she shudders... but she doesn't fall back. She's pushing forward towards Aranha yet, even as every strike nails her shoulder, chest, or even face to push her back. She still keeps coming, even as blood freely flows from her face as one such kick cuts it open.
Those kicks make it difficult to get her arms around him, though she sure makes the motions of /trying/ this - in a moment of frustration just as the flurry ends, she aborts this idea entirely and simply hauls off with a straight kick towards the place all men hate being kicked in - not so much a conscious effort on her part in so much as simply trying to knock him over with that one kick. It's just so conveniently placed.
COMBATSYS: Aranha fails to interrupt Heavy Kick from Varvara with Thrust Kick.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////// ]
Aranha 0/-------/=======|=======\=------\1 Varvara
After Varvara had gotten close, he grinned. It was the grin of someone who was confident in his preparation, confident that his opponent was pretty much walking right into his trap. It was also the grin of someone who let himself get entirely too cocky.
Aranha seeing that not only she was going to attack but seeing where it would land tries to bring one leg down to intercept the kick while the other one thrusts out towards her chest. Unfortunately for him, it glances off his thigh and continues on to its previously determined location. It causes his entire body to crumple into a ball as he falls over.
When he rights himself up, he glares at her and cracks his neck. The smile has vanished.
When Aranha rights himself up, he may need to do something more than just glare at her and crack his neck. This is not a woman whom delights in any sort of mischief of that manner.
This is a woman who fights to /eat/. A fight is a fight is a fight is a fight is a fight, and she knows little else - that glare is met with the snarl and a huff of shortening breath, both of someone who is willing to fight until one of them's a bloody mess on the ground that doesn't want to move any more, and she's already right /at/ him.
More specifically, it's her right fist, balled up about as tightly as humanly possible and going straight for his nose.
COMBATSYS: Varvara successfully hits Aranha with Strong Punch.
- Power hit! -
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////// ]
Aranha 0/-------/=======|=======\=------\1 Varvara
Aranha stands there as he watches her come in planning to wait for her to come in and then dip to the side as the attack comes in. But he hesitates as an alternative to handling that attack pops into his head. Of course, that is pretty much about the point when the fist collides with his nose re-breaking it and causing blood to roll down and drip down his chin.
He then steps back before whirling around with a brutal spinning back heel kick right for the side of her face. It's clear that there are no good intentions behind that kick.
COMBATSYS: Varvara dodges Aranha's Colossal Kick.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////// ]
Aranha 1/-------/=======|=======\=------\1 Varvara
It is beginning to get fantastically all bloody up in here. Someone may or may not be attempting to call the cops from inside the store - from all appearances, a customer is being mugged by some crazy hobo lady.
For someone of such a simple mind and approach, Varvara at least has the simple presence of mind to crouch underneath the kick that could have taken her head clean off, the displaced air from the kick enough to blow about her hair a ways as a reminder if she ever proves introspective enough in the middle of a fight to consider /that/.
(Hint: she isn't.)
Still in arm's length, she reaches up with one hand to grab a hold of Aranha's attacking leg, hopefully before he's fully retracted it from the kick to try and throw him off balance with a toss to the side before shooting an open palm at around neck/chest level, hoping to ultimately push him up back against somebody's car.
COMBATSYS: Aranha fails to interrupt Combo Attack from Varvara with Dead Man's Hand EX.
- Power fail! -
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///////////////// ]
Aranha 1/-------/=======|=======\=------\1 Varvara
With Aranha's leg grabbed, he just doesn't have enough leverage to swing out with a glowing hand that he was pretty sure would've encouraged her to let go. Instead, he finds himself wobbling as he becomes a recipient of a palm strike. The car that he gets slammed into now has a nice dent in it. Sure hope that guy is covered for acts of fighters.
While pressed up against the car, he squirms in an attempt to free himself. Having his movement cut off does not please the capoeirista in the least.
Varvara spies that glowing hand. She may have stopped it, but she's not intending to let up. No moment to taunt, no moment to gloat, absolutely nothing, ready to keep pushing him up against the car and beating the hell out of him because what the hell else can she do? It's a fight.
In trying to keep him up against the car, she makes a grab for one of his wrists with one hand, focusing her strength in her own single, barely even noticeable visible flexing of chi - wind rushing out of the cracks of her grip as she tries to crush that wrist with one strong squeeze, assuming Aranha doesn't find some way to turn the tables, and fast.
COMBATSYS: Aranha blocks Varvara's Lion Crush.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////////////// ]
Aranha 1/------=/=======|=======\==-----\1 Varvara
Aranha doesn't quite get himself free. It's one of the things that bug him both as a traceur and as a capoeirista. He's at his best when he can get some room to move. It lets him attack at angles that no one expects, it lets him perform hit and runs if he needs to, it lets him use the multitude of options he has at his disposal and that versatility is one of his biggest strengths in a fight.
While he doesn't have his freedom quite yet he can at least do a bit of damage control by sliding his arm through the grip so it only crushes his forearm and not his wrist, which would be a bad thing for a capoeirista.
Aranha speaks for the first time since they started battle. No it would be more accurate to say that he growls out, "Let... go."
He then violently jerks his arm to swing her off balance and move her back into his kick range before releasing his anger into a powerful roundhouse kick.
COMBATSYS: Aranha successfully hits Varvara with Face Down.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////// ]
Aranha 0/-------/-------|=======\=======\1 Varvara
And then he just as viciously swings his heel back the other way to hook it around the back of the head and pull her face first to the ground. He almost spits out the words, "Face down, ass up... Bitch."
He takes another moment to stomp the back of her head a couple times before he steps away from her.
She huffs and otherwise, visibly, exerts a lot of effort in trying to crush Aranha's arm - his struggling eventually overpowers her grip enough that she has to make due with a slightly less sensitive target.
The warning to 'let go' is not heeded. This is to her complete detriment as she is surprisingly shoved to the side from the strength he swings his arm out, stumbling and facing away from Aranha. That roundhouse kick almost goes over her head again. The key word being almost.
The heel clips up against her scalp, just enough for Aranha to work his grip to pull her face down, ass up. The asphalt cracks and gives way to show just how hard that pull down in itself is.
The stomps? That's just icing on the cake. Aranha might find blood on the heel of the respective shoe later as he goes to town, smashing her further and further in. Nobody's going to take that parking spot, it's virtually inches away from becoming a crime scene.
...Until she pushes both her arms up against the side of her upper body imprint into the asphalt (the imprint is, somehow, a lot more flattering than the real thing), a loud growl and an angry shout as she reaches up for Aranha's attacking leg without even actually looking at him. Her vision is stained with tears and blood going over one eye, but it sure doesn't dissuade her much.
One hand goes to grab the leg in question. The other, to punch the knee, and if Aranha lets it go that far that's not even the worst of it.
COMBATSYS: Aranha dodges Varvara's Macedonian Folly.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\ < > //////// ]
Aranha 0/-------/-------|====---\-------\0 Varvara
Between Shiden's attack to his leg and the abuse in general from people specifically targetting them, Aranha's not going to let her get a grip on his leg let alone strike it. The moment he sees her reaching for his leg, he hops up and over her.
When he lands, he catches himself on his hands lowering his body as he tilts at an angle so that his side rests on his elbow as he snaps out kick on her back. He doesn't plan on lingering in that position though, choosing to instead bring himself into a crouched position. She's already proven in his eyes that she will hit below the belt.
COMBATSYS: Varvara endures Aranha's Snap Kick.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\ < > ///// ]
Aranha 0/-------/------=|======-\-------\0 Varvara
Those hands grope for thin air. Whatever thin air is there is getting the life strangled out of it, but in so much as dealing with Aranha goes, it is a fruitless gesture where her rage, adrenaline, and overall focus all channel themselves ultimately for naught. Her sleeves breathe a sigh of relief as the tension going through her muscles relax, instead focusing more on pulling herself up and out.
So much so that when he brings the kick to her back, she endures. It's... a straightforward way to say it, but it is what it is - she's not pushed back into her Aranha-made imprint. Already, she's turning around on her completely uncertain footing, and it gives Aranha a clear view of that face. It's not so much a human face now as it is a new collection of bruises and open bleeding wounds. Fighters, when they hit that point, tend to stop.
The problem is, she's not - she's flailing out there punching in rapid succession even as she gasps for air and breath. She's tired, she's hurt, and most importantly, she's /hungry/ and her life has conditioned her to think and act - practically on instinct - that the best way to solve all these things is to wear down Aranha with a multitude of punches until she runs out of breath or he provides her a physical, painful incentive to stop.
COMBATSYS: Aranha dodges Varvara's Binding Seeds.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\ < > //// ]
Aranha 0/-------/------=|=====--\-------\0 Varvara
As for Aranha, his body seems to find that rhythm he had earlier in the fight, his mind works on overdrive as he uses her eyes, and her body placement to identify where she's going to punch and move himself out of the way, his own body becoming a blur as he bobs and weaves.
He can hear the heavy breaths signaling the end of the flurry and he backs up, reaching into his grocery bag and reaches for an apple before tossing it up in the air to her...
COMBATSYS: Varvara dodges Aranha's Kick Combo.
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > //// ]
Aranha 0/-------/------=|=====--\-------\0 Varvara
And then as the apple flies through the air, he then follows right behind it in the hopes that with her attention high, she'll ignore the low as in the snap kick aimed for right between her legs.
She is growing weaker by the passing second from blood loss, injury, and overall fatigue. As far as street fights go, this is one of the most brutal of them around this area in some time. Any onlookers out there may attest to this fact.
Aranha reads Varvara's motivations and mindset perfectly, the one eye not blinded by her own blood catching sight of that apple. She wants it. She wants it. She /wants it./ She's hungry and she must /have it./
What Aranha ends up failing to predict is the degree in which she'd go for to achieve what would be her downfall as she dives towards the apple in a forward tumble, catching it in her hands and just narrowly missing the snap kick that would be where her feet were.
Tumbling once across the asphalt and coming to a rough stop against the curb, she pays the pain of her left wrist and forearm colliding against the curb no mind as she lies prone and greedily starts taking so many bites out of that apple. She's hungry.
It shows. Chances are she's not even going to leave the core uneaten, but if Aranha's looking for his chance to put her down... this is the golden opportunity.
COMBATSYS: Varvara drops her guard to recover.
[ \\\\\\\\\ < > ////////// ]
Aranha 0/-------/------=|=====--\-------\0 Varvara
Aranha's rage for the most part has been sated. The keywords are 'most part.' Aranha, while he can be a nice guy to be around, is still somewhat petty and vengeful. He wants nothing more right now than to take a twat shot at her, but he's looking at all the blood, both his and hers and realizes that he doesn't want to have to answer uncomfortable questions when the 5-Os arrive.
Instead, he leaves her to that apple and he walks away carrying his groceries the rest of the way home.
Aranha gets a good enough head start with the apple distraction that she's lost sight of him for that one moment she cares to look and wonder where he is. He's not there to try and throw more food at her? If he's gonna throw food at her for free then he can afford to throw more, she feels. (She is still not entirely used to the idea that she is currently worth about two thousand dollars - old survival habits die hard indeed.)
People look on completely in horror as a bloodied and beaten young lady makes no motion to call for help or otherwise even succumb to weakness beyond that urge to eat, eat, eat. She spies a trash can just outside the grocery store. There has got to be a half-eaten hot dog in there or something.
Aranha may one day yet have his revenge for the shot below the belt - she doesn't even consider that's what got him worked up. Her short term memory may have very well flushed the entire encounter out in the face of a free apple and whatever else she cares to grab from the trash bins before the police come up and get her off the premises.
Can't have crazy violent homeless people having the run of things where there's an actual semblance of society, after all.
COMBATSYS: Varvara has left the fight here.
[ \\\\\\\\\ <
Aranha 0/-------/------=|
COMBATSYS: Aranha has ended the fight here.
Log created on 17:49:19 10/27/2010 by Aranha, and last modified on 10:06:01 10/29/2010.