Description: Rayong is in dire straits after the Gulf of Thailand froze solid on Wednesday. The people are starving, all aquatic life has been lost, and no one can explain it. In a gracious gesture of humanitarianism, the Gaia Tournament organizers proposed a Thai curry cooking competition to feed hungry fishermen currently without work. Brett and Sakura have been sent as ambassadors of good will, and perhaps they may even whip up a specialty dish, but what's a dinner without a little entertainment? The event goes awry as Varvara might be looking for a free meal. Was it the organizers who put them up to this, and for what purpose? Stay tuned to find out as Sakura and Brett must stop Varvara by any means possible, like throwing bowls of spicy curry. What a waste.
It's brand new ground to break, you know. This is possibly one of the only times ever in history that the Gulf of Thailand froze over like this. And not just froze over, but just outright FROZE. It's kind of crazy, but considering the goings on in the rest of the world, it seems like it's par for the course. Trying to make the best of things right now is about the least you can do....so it shoudln't be surprising that someone like Brett Neuer, a kid who got into the worldwide fighting circuit to promote the virtues of ice hockey, might be called here to such a place, during such a time.
Mind...it's not for what he expected....brave new ground, once more. The ice skates he had brought, in hopes of providing them for folks that need a way to get around the gulf? They go to waste, still in the bag he had brought with him, along with his own personal ice skates. Instead, he's at a...cooking competition? To make curry? Sure, he doesn't mind helping the fishermen of the area, considering fishing reminds him as much of home than anything. But still, as he looks at the kitchen area he's been brought to work in, he just....stares. "...I....what...." He's kind of dumbfounded at the idea of making anything spicy. He doesn't think he's ever even touched curry before, not even at a state-side restaurant. He really hasn't the foggiest how to make it, so he just kind of looks around helplessly, hoping for a few tips from his fellow competitors. After all, it might be a contest, but it's also for real people needing real food, he can't be botching it up and wasting what could be put to good use. "Um...so...how do I...sorry. I really don't know how I'm supposed to make this. If someone could help me? Please?"
Sakura's done many things in her short lifetime. She's been a fighter, an adventurer, a training partner. A savior, a rebel. She's been so many things. But the judge and special guest gig--that's new to her. But she loves curry, and she loves traveling, and so here she is. The set/contest area is gaudily decorated and brightly lit, with a place for Sakura to sit, marked with a giant placard... which has a big arrow on it and her name printed out in large capital letters.
There's a similar place across the way, marked for Brett, where he's... flailing around a bit? Sakura isn't some great cook herself, so, you know, she's working at it the best she can. But she knows Japanese curry, not Thai curry... she's game for it, but truth be told, whatever's going on in her pots is probably not going to be the greatest.
There are of course other contestants, toiling away at their kitchens, but the main focus is the surprise, celebrity guests, and while Sakura is used to being in the spotlight, she's uncommonly nervous about having strangers eat her cooking.
The oceans of Thailand are frozen. People are starving. Almost all the quick and easy access to Thailand's food stores have come about empty. One Varvara Economou, who has been sort of between what little work she can get her hands on, has chosen the absolute worst time to have journeyed down to the nation beleaguered by the likes of Shadaloo's influence. The chilled air from the frozen waters is an additional threat to her unhealthily low body fat percentage. Shelter. Food. Food. Shelter. It's not as simple as just beating someone up until they give her food, and she hasn't resorted to out and out cannibalism. (...Yet.)
Her nostrils flare as she comes about a street from some kitchen or another. She can smell it in the air. Spices. Something edible. There are people everywhere - starving fishermen, out of a livelihood and with no food of their own to eat, many of whom are coming to watch people make curry. Famous people, in these trying times, taking moments out of their busy lives to make food for the less fortunate.
Varvara may be less fortunate, but she knows she's not allowing herself to be a victim.
She has no problem with making so many other victims in the process, as evidenced when people are suddenly shoved aside. Flung. Wrestled away. Struck. Even among those desperate enough that they are but inches away from doing the same, the Greek-Cypirot wrestler cuts through every possible line to break in.
There's already a commotion going on. Two seconds later, someone flies through the door and into an array of pans and other such cookware - a beefy security guard that has somehow come up inadequate in the face of a smaller, much more violent young woman.
"I WANT FOOD NOW!" She yells to the gathered contestants. No 'please,' and almost certainly, no 'thank you.' She wants it. She wants it now. She staggers as she trips over a frying pan en route to some of the celebrity tables where curry is already being cooked, and heaven help anyone that gets in her impulsive, self-serving, starving way...
COMBATSYS: Varvara has wandered into a fight here in the center.
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Varvara 0|-------|-------
COMBATSYS: Sakura has joined the fight here.
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Sakura 0/-------/-------|
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Varvara 0|-------|-------
COMBATSYS: Brett has joined the fight here.
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Sakura 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Brett
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Varvara 0|-------|-------
Brett is, all too thankfully, used to cold weather near water. Sure, they were fresh water lakes, and not salt water gulfs, but the chill was very familiar, and he had no problem working in such conditions. Hell, if the ocean hadn't been frozen to the floor, he'd have suggested helping people ice fish. The problem was WHAT he was working on. As contestants continued to mix, chop, stir, and all other aspects of making curry, the poor Minnesotan kid still seemed dumbstruck at the very concept. He can cook, sure, but he still hasn't the slightest where to start, only chopping up some onions as he emulates some of his contestants. One in particular he keeps an eye on is Sakura...sure, he knows her name from the circuit, but limited-to-no interaction or face-to-face contact before. And the more he sees her up close, the more he's reminded of a certain Taiyo High girl.
Frowning and shaking his headof that thought, Brett continues to try and figure out things on the fly, even amongst the din and bustle of crowds either demanding food or trying to keep spirits up with such a public competition, cheering their local heroes and fighting superstars on.
It's almost a relief when he hears the loud commotion of someone bursting in, demanding food in such a brusque and rude way. "Um....this is a competition space ma'am. I don't think you're supposed to be back here. If you want food, I think there's a line outside, if you want to wait there?" Even in the face of the weird, Brett still does his best to be Minnesota Nice.
Sakura's nicely bundled up, wearing her winterweight uniform with the black leggings, a handknit scarf wrapped around her neck. The very picture of a winter wonderland schoolgirl. In deference to the situation in Thailand, Sakura's making her curry with tofu, instead of choosing an animal-based protein to complement her sauces and vegetables. Suddenly, in the midst of her chopping, a shout.
"I WANT FOOD NOW!"
Followed by several other shouts, identifiable as security guards. "STOP HER! THIS IS WAN, WE NEED MORE SECURITY UP HERE! SHE'S A DEMON!!" People are already starting to scatter, the cameras at this event swinging around to focus on the oncoming Varvara.
Sakura frowns, then turns off her stove and puts the knife down. This... this won't do. This won't do at all!!
"HEY!!" she shouts, hopping down from her station to stand in front of Varvara, hands on hips, clearly intent on stopping the walking maw.
"I... don't... care," Varvara wheezes out as she pulls herself up from her spill, hand slamming into a table hard enough that spider cracks start to form from one corner. Desperation. Greed. If it's not written all over her face, it's written all over where she tries to yank a pan out of someone else's hands to slap her face into it to eat.
That it's still just cooking oil does not seem to be much of a concern for her, if she finds some reason to still have her disgusting, dirt-filled face in that pan. (It is probably best to throw away the pan entirely in the wake of this.)
Brett's polite words and Sakura's much, much more firmer dialogue are all kind of noise to her as she walks haphazardly blindly through the entire kitchen, as though maybe her feet were capable of consumption and that she absolutely, positively, does not care in the least as to where she's going to grab herself a handful of edible (or otherwise) material to just cram in her mouth.
No doubt most the other celebrity sorts have decided to take their leave in the wake of someone like her being there, as some other security guard comes up to try and wrest her away by yanking the pan out of her face.
He is responded to swiftly and decisively by being hurled down into the ground in front of her, along with repeated, ugly punches to the face. Her fist has blood on it by the third punch.
Looks like this is a situation that will not neatly resolve itself (or even messily conclude).
What relief Brett had that he wasn't going to be expected to cook a strange dish he had no idea about is quickly disappated, when he sees just how...desperate the strange woman is for food. Initially, there was a sort of pity, seeing her take a pan that was all oil and try to eat it (thankfully not HEATED oil, because god...). That pity quickly went away, though, when the guard tries to drag her out of the kitchen, and ends up on the gorund, being punched repeatedly in the face for his trouble.
The moment Brett sees blood on her fist is the moment the big boy moves into action. "Hey, hey, hey!!" he calls out, voice getting louder and more forceful with every word. Trying to push through the gang of cooks moving the other way, he reaches out, trying to grab at Varvara's punching arm with one hand and wrap around the rest of her central mass with the other, hoping to pull her forcefully off the poor guard. He doesn't want something like this to resort in force, but if that's where it goes....
Sakura recoils in shock. She's seen rude people before, but she's never seen anyone try and eat -cooking oil-. Oh my god. "Wh--wh--" When Varvara starts punching the guard, Sakura is... much more familiar with this, but before she can intervene, Brett lunges in to do just that. It's probably a pretty crowded area right there, right now, so Sakura doesn't involve herself just yet.
Instead, she lunges for the now-insensate guard, wrapping her arms around the guard's torso and dragging them out of the way. They'll be relatively comfortable. By now most all of the other contestants have cleared out, for sure, but they've left all their curries behind. And most of them were close to finished!
Ever safety-conscious, while Brett's dealing with Varvara, Sakura runs around the perimeter, making sure stoves are off. Fires are pretty but very, very dangerous.
COMBATSYS: Sakura takes no action.
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Sakura 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Brett
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Varvara 0|-------|-------
COMBATSYS: Varvara interrupts Quick Throw from Brett with Fast Throw.
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Sakura 0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0 Brett
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Varvara 0|-------|------=
Someone comes up from behind Varvara as she vents her frustration on someone who is really only doing their job - someone who does not deserve, in the least, to be so beaten on for just trying to remove an invader from the kitchen.
Brett is nowhere near in the morally wrong to pull back the young woman who could probably bear to do something like 'wait' when a guy's life is at stake. Wrapping his arms around her, he seems to have a pretty good start on stopping this whole mess before it starts. So long as he can keep holding her, keep her restrained, as Sakura helps the hapless guard to safety...
He can't. She thrashes and wriggles her way right out of his grasp, firmly placing both hands upon him and shoving him with a strength probably worthy of a man at least a foot or two taller, across a floor now already full of scattered stuff and maybe into one of the tables. Or ovens. She doesn't seem to be particularly picky beyond shoving the hockey-playing man as hard as she pleases to get him off of her.
"I'm gonna choke ya if you do that again," she hisses as she brings her arms up, hands pointed downward, leg bent upwards slightly - a fighting position. She's a fighter. Whenever there's a fighter, there's a fight, and where there's a fight while other people are trying to get something done...
People around here know better than to dally, when push comes to shove quite literally. As soon as Brett is shoved forcibly over the ovens (thankfully turned off by Sakura by the time it happens) and into the serving area, everyone around them gives them wide berth. Things like this tend to happen when you invite professional fighters to events like this after all. As barricades of people are formed around them, Brett collects himself, the shove over the counter dropping him on his back and head in a way that forces him to clear his head as he stands up.
"What was that for? That wasn't necessary, ma'am...and you just interrupted people cooking so now no one is getting food!" he scolds in about the most gentle way he could, still not quite in 'game face' mode. Pushing himself up, he looks around...and picks up a discarded length of pipe. He's not so naive as to pretend that a fight isn't going to happen soon if nothing more is done. He doesn't want it to go that way but....
COMBATSYS: Brett takes no action.
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Sakura 0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0 Brett
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Varvara 0|-------|------=
Sakura turns off the last stove, and comes back 'round to the action. Wait. Ugly, dirty face. Insatiable appetite. Rough brute. Sakura's heard of her! Or at least rumors, like some raccoon-human hybrid. V... Var... no, she doesn't know the name. It escapes her. But she knows this--this creature is legendary in her single-minded pursuit of food.
"Talking isn't gonna help!" she shouts at Brett as she comes up at a near-dead run. Maybe ten yards away, she leaps into the air, pulling her legs in then thrusting her right foot out in a classic flying jumpkick for Varvara's head.
"I've heard about her!" she continues, shouting the information back at Brett, "gotta knock her out to stop her! Everyone's curry is at stake!" Hopefully Varvara doesn't interpret that as 'steak'.
COMBATSYS: Varvara interrupts Medium Kick from Sakura with Minotaur Slayer.
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Sakura 0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0 Brett
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Varvara 0|-------|--=====
"I'M GETTIN' FOOD!" Varvara snaps back, spittle everywhere. No, not so much spittle. She's dry, too - dehydrated. That makes her situation seem all the more desperate, to the absolute detriment of everyone involved as she starts to advance upon Brett--
Sakura comes in with a flying kick. Her head snaps to the left with a speed that might fool the untrained to think that such a well-placed kick should take her out of commission on the spot - perhaps permanently.
At least, it should have, until she mistakenly hears the one word in a fashion that no one was hoping would come to be. Stake?
Sounds like steak.
Is there steak?
Meat. Protein! Filling! Somehow, mid-recoil, she brings her thickly built arm up around Sakura's head as she lands, using Sakura for support even as blood starts to trickle out of her own mouth.
"WHERE IS STEAK?!" She shouts. Screams, even. Her breath is terrible, as Sakura no doubt gets to learn first hand as Varvara draws back a fist, as if it were an unspoken time limit for her to-- no, she punches Sakura's head out of that headlock pretty quickly. Maybe that question was addressed for that guy over there with the pipe, or... someone else who has yet to be visited by her.
Oh dear. This is bad. This is very bad. The more the situation develops, the more Brett comes to realize that Sakura is right. After all, what can you expect out of an individual who manages to no-sell a kick to the face just at the mention of 'steak'? Seeing Varvara catch Sakura out of the kick with a headlock and a punch to the head, Brett frowns...and quickly cracks himself in the head with the pipe he had been holding.
Mind, he still had his helmet on, so it's not just a matter of him being masochistic. Just that little jarring blow to get his head into the game, so to speak. "Fine," is all he mutters before pushing toward the kitchen again. He doesn't have his skates on, but he still knows how to move a bit, running and then using the pipe to vault himself over the counter toward Varvara again, this time leading with a foot as he tries to knock her down and make her a bit more managable.
"UGH!!!" She's not sure which is worse--the breath or the headlock or the punch to the head. Definitely the punch to the head makes her brain ache, but that breath, it... it /lingers/.
Coughing and hacking, Sakura stumbles backwards, arms flailing around. It's... it's a /miasma/, it's sticky like smog in an inversion zone, she can't--her hand lands on something, and she starts to slip. Instinctively, she grabs onto what she's got in her hand--a pan. It's heavy, but not heavy enough to offset her stumble, and as her foot hits a freshly-waxed part of the floor, a quick, violent twist is introduced into her motion.
The pan stays in her hand, thankfully. The -contents- of the pan, however... though the stove was off and the contents cooling, this was a particularly well-built pan, capable of holding a great deal of heat for a great deal of time, and so a shower of hot curry, vegetables, and meats will arc through the air, falling upon Brett and Varvara's position.
COMBATSYS: Brett successfully hits Varvara with Light Kick.
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Sakura 0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0 Brett
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Varvara 0|-------|=======
COMBATSYS: Sakura successfully hits Varvara with Thrown Object.
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Sakura 0/-------/----===|==-----\-------\0 Brett
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Varvara 1|------=|=======
The rumored (though completely unsubstantiated) raccoon-human hybrid urban legends speak of in question has nothing short of a wild look on her face. (Truth be told, current scientific hypothesis is that she is some sort of human-black hole hybrid and that she gets her physique from the incredible internal gravitational forces, but, who trusts in science?)
Hungry! Food! Here! There! After finding nothing else for hours! The scent of actual food is intoxicating as her stomach rumbles.
So does the rest of her, only barely aware of Brett's approach in being lost to her eating fantasies as he kicks her over with a square hit to her chest, sending her skidding across the floor as her flailing limbs knock aside a few other kitchenware items that have now started to litter the floor everywhere. Followed by a surprisingly weighty glob of delicious(?), almost perfectly cooked curry that somehow has enough momentum behind it to deal any sort of lasting blunt force trauma atop the scalding, burning feeling as curry sticks to her flesh, fries...
Varvara goes still, and then just suddenly sits up as though excited.
"This is--" No, she doesn't need to say! She starts greedily trying to gobble all of the curry and added ingredients off her face and clothing, neither of which are sanitary enough replacements for a proper plate to begin with.
This buys everyone involved a little time, even as she risks burning her tongue and mouth with every bite. Will this time be enough?!
COMBATSYS: Varvara takes no action.
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Sakura 0/-------/----===|==-----\-------\0 Brett
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Varvara 1|------=|=======
COMBATSYS: Sakura successfully hits Brett with Thrown Object.
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Sakura 0/-------/----===|=====--\-------\0 Brett
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Varvara 1|------=|=======
The vaulting kick worked somehow, leaving Brett with most of his impromptu stick over the counter and a Varvara sprawled out on teh floor. That's the good news. The bad news? Well, whatever reason for it, Sakura just tossed a heaping helping of hot curry atop both of them, and with no warning. And Brett is...not a spicy food kind of guy. Blame the fact that he came from Minnesota, not a place known for rich flavors. That's not the part that bothers him the most...no, it's mostly the fact that, 1) it scalds, and 2) the curry drips off his helmet and onto his face in a way that prolongs the burning.
"AAGHH!!" he screams out, dropping out of 'game face' to flail like a madman. Most poeple would too if they were being scalded by hot food like this. In a desperate thrashing, he starts pulling off the sweatshirt he had on, by this time soaked as well, trying to pull it off before it prolongs the contact burns McDonalds coffee style. And...well, poor Sakura ends up being the one the sweater is flung at, curry and all.
COMBATSYS: Sakura fails to slow Thrown Object from Brett with Small Hadouken.
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Sakura 0/-------/---====|=====--\-------\0 Brett
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Varvara 1|------=|=======
Sakura stabilizes herself, flinging the pan off into the now-empty spectator's seats, just in time to see a messy, curry-stained sweater flying at her. The response is instinctive and... too late; the energy building in her hands sputters as she gets a faceful of curry sweater.
"Faugh!" she cries, dismayed, tossing the sweater aside and scrubbing at her face, removing most, but not all, of the traces of curry. At least from around her eyes and her mouth. "Oh, -disgusting-," she complains, shaking her hands to fling curry droplets off. She has to resist the urge to wipe her hands on her skirt, instead grabbing a hand towel from a nearby station and wiping her hands off.
Well, the curry competition is well and truly ruined, and now it's a matter of putting Varvara down for the count... and then dealing with Brett and the contest.
As Varvara seems to finish up burning her mouth and throat with curry that ought to stand before being served, she stands back up to watch as the other two yell. There is little to no actual concern as to how they're feeling, or what they're doing. They are in the way of something she wants, something she (well, everyone, but her especially) needs.
That's when those wild, hungry eyes sees it. Curry. Curry on Brett--
Curry that Brett suddenly throws away just as she starts to draw near him, hands at the ready, which... well... she doesn't take it well, given the way she frowns as Brett throws the hot stained sweatshirt towards Sakura.
"I was gonna eat that!!" Didn't she just have some, already splashed on her? Logic would dictate that maybe she ought to go harass her for it, but no, she matches perceived slights with real, true, angry spite, leaping towards Brett to tackle him, to take him down and start bending his left arm up and back to her satisfaction.
"DON'T WASTE FOOD!!" She scolds, all the while.
COMBATSYS: Brett blocks Varvara's Medium Throw.
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Sakura 0/-------/---====|=======\-------\0 Brett
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Varvara 1|-----==|=======
Tossing his helmet off lest more curry drip onto his face, Brett gasps and grunts, trying to find a towel to wipe himself off with as well. With Sakura kind of indisposed herself, he figures he has the time...at least until Varvara comes charging at him. The tackle comes, and while he's driven into, he's able to knock Varvara aside enough to prevent a full mount and a lock on his arm like she wanted. Leaning back against the ovens, he reaches and tries to find that length of pipe he was using before, finally finding it. The part he vaulted off of is hooked...conventiently, the hooked part aimed for Varvara's neck and trying to pull her down into the ground by that grip.
Sakura and Brett will have to have a reckoning. But first... the intruder. Brett tries to slam Varvara down onto the flooring, and Sakura, well, she's not going to argue with that plan of attack. Rather, she'll watch for a moment--not still, moving into position but a little distance off--and after Brett tries to hook Varvara, Sakura will make her own move.
It's... a little unusual, not really what one would call standard form, and her contribution takes the shape of... well... Sakura leaps up, and, when she's just above Varvara's position, she pulls a Gen, dropping nearly straight down, plummeting with both feet down onto either Varvara's shoulders or her torso, depending.
COMBATSYS: Brett successfully hits Varvara with King's End.
Glancing Blow
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Sakura 0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\0 Brett
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Varvara 1|-----==|=======
COMBATSYS: Varvara fails to interrupt Fierce Kick from Sakura with Hill of Futility.
- Power fail! -
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Sakura 0/-------/----===|=======\-------\0 Brett
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Varvara 1|-======|=======
Varvara staggers as she's pushed off of Brett, but she doesn't seem to think to give anyone involved - including herself - a moment to gather themselves as she comes at him just in time to be hooked around her neck. She visibly struggles for a little while, allowing Sakura time to come in as she comes to a kneel, wrestling with Brett's hold up until she seems to think better of fighting to pull and just flips it upward with a good, strong push to let herself out with only a cough and a sharp pain in her neck for the effort.
As she is being a giant pain in the neck, it's only fair that she be given one.
Or an overhead divekick, which she also totally deserves, her head turning sharply towards the descending Sakura as she brings her arms up to try and catch her.
Her fingers slide across Sakura's heel as it comes to her face moments before she can get a solid grip, a small spray of blood coming out her nose as Sakura's landing goes higher than she may originally intend, but likely not to complaint as Varvara's upper body shoots downwards, back of her head hitting the very ground with such appreciable force that the floor cracks underneath the very point of impact as the monstrously hungry monster of a young woman gurgles something or another while she lies prone, dazed on the ground.
Could it be...? Could it be that they might have put a stop to her little avarice-fueled rampage right then and there...?
The hook and pull from Brett's impromptu stick helped pull Varvara down, dragging her away and setting her up for the flying kick by his fellow celebrity curry cook. As he backs off, and judges the situation, he looks up...and then nods to Sakura, as if coming to an understanding with the schoolgirl fighter. Turning his attention back to Varvara, he frowns as he sees the cracks on the ground at Varvara's landing.
Still, this DID start when Varvara charged in and ruined the curry for everyone else, hungry as she was. He can't really pity her anymore than he already has. The best thing he can do is give her some quick mercy, and unfortunately, that mercy seems to be doled out by the end of a stick, the hockey fighter reeling the pipe back and trying to strike the wrestling woman down with a slapshot-like strike.
Sakura lands with a bone-rattling thump onto Varvara's face, riding the Greek fighter down to the floor. Before Brett can get in with his stick again, Sakura's back in motion, jumping back, redirecting her motion and momentum to back off. It might even add just a little more injury to the insult, as Sakura's weight, what there is of it, compresses down on Varvara before she springs up and back, performing a rather nice looking tuck and flip to land nimbly on her feet.
Maybe they -have- taken Varvara down. Brett appears to want to make sure, and Sakura can't say she disagres per se, but for now, she'll let him deal with it. It's a matter of honor as much as it is of practicality--the angles of attack are few. By the time Sakura could get into position for another attack... the battle situation will have changed again.
COMBATSYS: Sakura takes no action.
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Sakura 0/-------/----===|=======\-------\0 Brett
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Varvara 1|-======|=======
COMBATSYS: Varvara interrupts Medium Strike from Brett with Lifeless Triumph.
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Sakura 0/-------/----===|=======\====---\1 Brett
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Varvara 0|-------|-======
It has been said a number of times, for those who have followed her for any length of time to come up with her fighting profile, one very important detail concerning Varvara as a fighter, one that has occasionally tripped up even otherwise superior opponents.
Even lying on the ground prone, even at a distinct disadvantage, staying in arm's length of her at all can be a very dangerous prospect.
Sometimes even stick's length isn't enough, as it goes as the pipe strike is hardly stopped by her clutching at it as it clips into her ribs. No, she tugs at it to yank Brett down to her level, to roll atop him and start twisting his limbs as she gets a hold of them. Each grime-encrusted finger dares to dig into him with just how tight her clutches can be, her near-complete disregard for the actual limits of flexibility in the human body (but aren't all wrestling moves an extension of this disregard?).
She huffs, hisses, and otherwise makes all sorts of threatening noises no human being of polite society would ever make in regards to cordially discussing one's disagreements and issues with the conduct of another, as she rolls off of Brett, to struggle to sit up as she wheezes aloud, blood coming out of her nose and mouth. She's dazed, she's bruised, she's winded.
She is by no means done swinging her fists.
It's an unfortunate thing that Brett tried to hit Varvara while she was down, apparently. Maybe it's Karma for the good ol' boy doing something so uncharacteristic of him. Sure, Varvara was being a serious nuisance and making sure she was out was a good deal...at least until the strike at Varvara's ribs ends up being caught and the poor hockey kid gets dragged down to the ground rather forcefully. That's not the worst part, mind...the worst is the entangling limb locks she ties him up in, the painful holds eliciting cries of pain from him amidst struggles to get free.
When she finally rolls off of him, Brett looks like he can't quite get back up to his feet. Mind, he had both arms and legs wrenched in ways that they shouldn't have been, of course, but it's still something to see him barely able to drag himself up by a grip on the stoves, huffing as he's trying to stay stable enough to finish things off.
COMBATSYS: Brett takes no action.
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Sakura 0/-------/----===|=======\====---\1 Brett
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Varvara 0|-------|-======
Now, with Varvara up--and Brett down--Sakura doesn't feel guilty about trying to finish the fighter off. She's been thinking, in the few seconds that the interaction afforded her, so she hasn't been sitting by idly while Brett got his limbs twisted for his trouble. That familiar blue-edged white energy springs into the space between Sakura's hands--expanding once, but not to a very large size--roughly the size of a soccer ball, actually--seething a little as Sakura prepares it.
That's an act that took her merely a second or two. In truth, it's an action so practiced as to be automatic, and it took Sakura more time to come up with a good line to accompany this. Or, at least, =she= thinks it's a good line.
"Hey, you!! Yeah, you!!" she shouts at Varvara, to get her attention.
"You still hungry? Then--"
Sakura steps forward, leans forward, thrusts her hands out in the practiced, well-known formation, unleashing that ball of energy--
"EAT THIS!!!"
COMBATSYS: Varvara fails to interrupt Small Hadouken from Sakura with Fleeing Musician.
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Sakura 0/-------/---====|=======\====---\1 Brett
COMBATSYS: Varvara can no longer fight.
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Sakura 0/-------/---====|=======\====---\1 Brett
Varvara doesn't seem to think to stop the blood. Even if her broken nose should make it impossible for her to smell it, she can taste it. It's here. Curry. Food. Something edible. The small amount she ate off of herself after that accidental fling wasn't enough. Her stomach rumbles as she stands back up, spitting a bit of blood near Brett.
"What." She flatly asks of Sakura when she calls for her attention. "You got f--"
That's not food. That's not edible. Her eyes widen about as far as any human's really can in the wake of slight bright, shining light being formed by the young Ansatsuken fan... no, Ansatsuken student! The subtleties of what sacrifices and dedication she's put forth are lost to a simpleton like herself, when all she sees is the need for food, to be grabbed the only way she could know how...
She crouches low, flexing her legs so tightly, so strongly that a run starts to go up one side of her pants, as she springs forward with arms outstretched... towards the flung Hadouken?
No, it's more reasonable to guess she was trying to spring over or underneath it, some such angle to allow her to pass unscathed. Instead, she gets everything Sakura serves up, and more, as the soccer ball-sized Hadouken is stuffed right into Varvara's face. The way her arms suddenly jerk into her mouth, one might make the amusing thought that she is in fact trying to eat it.
A yelp of pain echoes through the studio as the barbaric Varvara barrels and bowls throug ha couple of tables, some other dropped supplies, and a part of the backdrop as ruined curry and damaged kitchens are left in the wake of her particular brand of violence.
She wheezes loudly for a while, raising a meaty arm upward before it goes limp, rolling over to face down.
...
...
...
...Now it's probably safe to poke her with a hockey stick.
Or pipe. Or ladle. Or whatever.
Fingers are probably still a bad idea though. (Consult your doctor before using your foot.)
But the above are fine.
Well....at least someone put her down. Even if Brett seemed to prove singularly incapable of putting Varvara away, she's down finally. Unfortunately, as the hockey kid pulled himself back up to his feet finally, he didn't need to look around too much to realize that there wasn't really any salvaging of the original contest. The kitchen and serving area was a mess, the other cooks were gone...about the only people left were surrounding them, still expecting more fighting. That much he could see was obvious.
Turning back to Sakura, he nodded to her. He knew he pretty much stood no chance at this point, but even then...they may as well put on a show for everyone and send them home with something, even if it wasn't a full belly. Taking his pipe back again, he tried to will life back into his legs and sinking down into his usual face off stance, as if beckoning Sakura to come to him.
COMBATSYS: Brett circles, trying to pick up speed and momentum.
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Sakura 0/-------/---====|=======\====---\1 Brett
Sakura nods back to Brett. She recognizes why he isn't putting his stick up. There's no animosity in the girl, and she doesn't detect any in him, either, but the unspoken communication is acknowledged and agreed with. It wouldn't be right to walk away now. Sakura recognizes the stance--she's seen some hockey--so it's with a smile that she starts forward.
At first walking, then trotting, and then into a full-on run flows the Ansatsuken Flower, her arms and legs pumping as she gets up to speed in a matter of seconds. She'll leap to battle much as she did against Varvara--literally jumping, tucking, throwing herself into a side-on kick, a classic kung-fu like flying kick aimed for Brett's head.
COMBATSYS: Brett fails to interrupt Medium Kick from Sakura with Sir Stanley's Crush.
- Power fail! -
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Sakura 0/-------/--=====|======-\-------\0 Brett
Waiting for Sakura to come at him, Brett tried to measure his breath. His limbs were still weak from Varvara's constant twisting and locking of them earlier, but he wasn't about to go down easy now that he's resolved to give some kind of show for the people around them. So when Sakura dives at him with a full on running kick, he steels himself. When she's in-range, his stick comes up, trying to hook onto Sakura's neck much like he did to Varvara earlier....
Only to get a foot clean in the jaw that sends him sprawling as well, falling back into yet another stove with a loud clatter and sending his stick across the floor as he lands in a heap. That went as spetacularly far from planned as it possibly could have.
Sakura would freely acknowledge that she's got quite the advantage over Brett. Varvara mauled him quite a bit worse than she mauled Sakura, and that definitely is an advantage for the girl. She lands lightly on her feet, turns, and... ah, he's not back up yet. Well. Sakura isn't really the kind of girl to hit opponents who are down, at least, not in situations and circumstances like these.
So she waits. She expects Brett will get back to his feet, and they can have an epic clash to the death! ... or the K.O., that's usually more common. She bobs on her feet, shifting her weight, staying light and ready... but she's waiting, nonetheless.
COMBATSYS: Sakura takes no action.
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Sakura 0/-------/--=====|======-\-------\0 Brett
It takes some time, and it takes more than a bit of effort, but Brett finally starts to get up, pulling himself from the stove he nearly caved in by landing against it. Groaning, he fumbles, trying to find the pipe he had been using, and barely able to find it at arm's length again. Making his way back up to his feet, he sees Sakura just...waiting for him. He frowns, that small mercy doing less for his self-respect than one would hope. Still, he's not about to just limp home after going through with this.
Gripping harder on his stick, he shoves off of the stove he'd been leaning against, trying to gain some momentum of his own before the stick extends out, the hockey kid first sweeping it around the ground at Sakura's ankles before trying to pull it up into higher sweeping strike.
COMBATSYS: Sakura interrupts Wild Spiral from Brett with Shou'ou Ken EX.
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Sakura 0/-------/-======|=======\==-----\1 Brett
"Good!" is Sakura's response, when she sees Brett get up and come at her. Persistence and stubbornness are both great tools in Sakura's kit, and she takes them out and uses them quite a bit. However, she isn't inclined to give anything away. When Brett tries to hook her ankles, she jolts forward--he doesn't get the right angle on it--and hits her leg higher up, which hurts, but doesn't have the same destabilizing effect.
At almost the same time, she's lunging herself, pushing forward and up with her legs, twisting her body into a quick right uppercut--one that lands clean on Brett's jaw. Sakura powers through it, the impact carrying her away from Brett, and when she lands, she stumbles--that impact on her leg having had a greater effect than, under the effects of adrenaline, she might have realized.
The sweeping strike that Brett attempts, as a latch ditch effort, showed he had persistence and stubbornness, enough to keep going. But it was pretty clear that this wasn't going to end well for Brett. The first attempted strike toward Sakura's ankles ends up met with a push forward, and while he manages to strike at her leg, the pivot that comes leaves him fully open for her riposte, the lunging uppercut crashing clean into Brett's jaw and sending him up and away, scattering to the ground in a heap.
At least the final blow didn't send him into any more stoves, the hockey kid simply sprawled out flat on the ground. A small mercy at least.
COMBATSYS: Brett takes no action.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Sakura 0/-------/-======|
COMBATSYS: Brett can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
Sakura 0/-------/-======|
She doesn't take a whole lot of pride in this fight, to be honest. I mean, they probably could have just... stopped, after Varvara was brought down. The event was already ruined. But, Sakura hopes, at least some of the TV watchers got a show. And she has to give props to the camera folk--like war-honed professionals they stayed at their posts when the curry hit the fan.
Sakura surveys the wreckage of the set with a little sigh, then wanders back over to her station--mostly untouched, miraculously--and sticks a finger in her now-cooled concotion. Pulling it out, she gives a taste--and the closing shot of the TV special is the twisted face of a girl who maybe shouldn't try to make Thai-style curry, ever again.
Log created on 18:29:52 08/24/2014 by Varvara, and last modified on 13:43:48 08/27/2014.