Description: Jam Kuradoberi isn't from around here, no. But never keep an entrepreneur from their profit -- especially if you're wearing a jaguar mask and don't feel like putting up with her sass. Jaguar noises versus incomplete mastery of Japanese: who will be less comprehensible?!
When the world burns, most will suffer. And the world is pretty close to burning here in Ise, being that it's pretty much the END OF THE WORLD. Stormclouds have been circulating nonstop overhead for the past few days, with lightning and thunder almost as regular as clockwork. Things are bad -- store owners and residents alike have fled the area... providing for some really cheap real estate for those looking to profit on the non-stop flooding of fighters eager to make a difference in the end times!
Jam Kuradoberi hopes to be one who will prosper in the face of adversity, right here on the precipice overlooking the fearsome portal from which a ferocious dinosaur had exited just a few short weeks ago. She's obtained an entire restaurant plot from someone looking to move somewhere nice, with less ash plumes churned into the air. And as she's sure to attract business, and wants to KEEP it there, Jam has installed an air ventilation system which sucks up all the ash out of the air, resulting in clean air for everyone! ... And she's installed it across the street near one of her would-be competitors who has also split town.
But HER restaurant? Oh, it's spic and span! Freshly mopped floors, tables scrubbed free of ash... oh, business is fixin' to be good! Jam has already papered pamphlets and take-out menus all over the Ise Grand Shrine area, hoping to lure some of the fighters away from the hotbed activity for an even hotter meal!
The young Chinese entrepreneur is standing on a ladder in her ridiculously short skirt, hanging up her "GRAND OPENING" banner while a few local waitresses she hired for super cheap are keeping the ramen from boiling over. A... handful of people seem to be enjoying themselves in the tables already, though it may be just as much for the fresh air as for the quality of the food -- it's hard to know without sampling! "Welcome, welcome to Jam Jam Paradise! Is so happy to see all of you here! I hope you all enjoy!"
Blinking for a moment, she frowns... did she forget to bring out a Maneki neko? That could mean grave misfortune...
Oblivion was closing in.
Jam's timing could not be any worse. The grinding void was begining to pin point in, ready to utterly and completely consume what remaining standards of human life that clung to this feeble blue planet called earth. Only the desperate and the insane lurked around the dreaded Ise Grand Shrine area... with the exception of one man.
A man with the jaguar head.
The towering form of the man bursts through the front door. His head was clearly a mask, made from a stuffed jaguar. Jaw slack open, the mask had suffered some damage in the past, as one eye was glowing red, replacing what was the green eye's counterpart. The man was glad in spiked armor, and every step came with the shuddering sounds of metal clinking against metal. Thundering through resteraunt, what activity there was stopped dead. Approaching a table, the party of three three suddenly flees, without even taking an order. The Jaguar-Masked man, the one known only as Armor King, does not say a word.
Instead, he takes his seat at the table.
This is the first service! No one's ordered! No one has enjoyed Jam's wonderful cooking! And in the worst tragedy of all -- NO ONE HAS PAID. Jam can't =ever= seem to keep a restaurant going longer than six days! Except for that one, in the middle of the barren wasteland, that never had any customers...
"Oh my god!!!" Jam cries out at all the ruckus, leaping down from the ladder. Landing with perfect balance, arms splayed out to either side, she finds herself eye-to-eye with... a taxidermist's worst nightmare. "What madness, craziness is this?!!" she cries out, as customers scatter -- not just the three at the table, but the two waiting at the counter who'd already placed orders!! That leaves... maybe seven people who just don't have as strong a self-preservation instinct, maybe?!!
Jam narrows her eyes, but she isn't sure if she should be looking at the fearsome shiny armor, or the fearsome glowing eyes, or... the place where the eyes should be if one assumed that the thing was just an elaborate mask. WHATEVER. "You... you got lot of nerve, coming in here like that! Is clearly posted, no hats allow, no pets allow!" She gestures wildly at the signs on the front door -- the ones the jaguar-man clearly ignored in his mad rush to sit down!
Angry burst out of the way, she draws in a sharp breath... and stamps her foot. "So very sorry. Welcome to Jam Jam Paradise, I am Jam. So happy to see you! Welcome to our grand opening, our grand opening special today is Shanghai Tsunami Special Egg Roll, with extra garnish and super spicy sauce." She unfolds a menu, sliding it in front of the jaguar-man. "Can I get you something drink first?"
Armor King does not react to Jam's rant.
The shiny, hollow eyes of the mask just stares blankly ahead. The armored wrestler keeps his posture erect, staring ahead. The fact that the other customers flee from his presence is... nothing to him. He does not turn to react to the threats of the hats, he does not respond to the threat of pets. He simply sits there, as the menu is pushed in front of him.
And he picks up the menu brought before him.
The wrestler holds the menu in the same silence as before. His dark-skinned hands clutch it firmly, the well muscled arms tense. The dead eyes of the jaguar stare ahead. Only the slight tilt downward of the head is evidence that he is reading the selection of foods and drinks. He turns the page once, and then turns it back. Finally, he puts the menu down, and points straight on the menu, pointing at the drink of his choice, Chai Tea. The jaguar head turns, the titanic wrestler facing at Jam before it answers.
"*jaguar noises*"
Current customer count: Seven. Eight if you count the jaguar.
Jam Kuradoberi is... not terribly amused by this. She looks around wildly, expecting to spot a cameraman from one of those stupid variety shows she's seen on Japanese TV here and there. Variety shows are so stupid! Why do they always have to ruin some hapless person's life by throwing people into increasingly improbable circumstances?!
Finding no cameras, she squints back at the jaguar man's eyes. Those hollow... soulless eyes, boring into her soul, daring the Chinese woman to strike, despite the completely benign actions of humanoid figure beneath -- if there is such a thing.
Her reverie is interrupted by the three customers tiptoeing out the door, bringing the customer count down to five. She gestures wildly at her waitresses, mouthing at them to go follow ... if only they knew Chinese. Rolling her eyes, she whispers hoarsely in her adorably broken Japanese, "/go get them.../" -- a command which the poor part-timers hurriedly obey.
And then Armor King orders a Chai Tea.
Jam -slams- her hand on the table in front of Armor King. "You think you funny! You think you just walk right in here and order Chai tea? I saw those eyes, is same remorseless eyes of jaguar who kill my father! Jam =know= you look familiar!"
Eyes blazing with fire, she slams the table -again-, but this time the dramatic motion is accompanied by the sound of the earth crumbling. Falling to pieces, crumbling into an underground cavern. And the sound...
Comes from right behind her. And if her waitresses hadn't left when they did, they would have been swallowed whole by the enormous sinkhole which opened right below Jam's kitchen. Clutching the round serving platter close to her chest, Jam Kuradoberi turns towards the sinkhole, mouth opening wide... "Noooooooooo!"
And she leaps away from Armor King, pointing her finger accusingly. "AHA! You think you come ruin Jam's business too, finish off job from long ago?!"
Yeah. The last customers? They were there just a second ago, but they're TOTALLY GONE. "Jaguar man, you owe me hundred thousand yen for all the customer you scare off with your stupid ground shaking! HUNDRED. THOUSAND. YEN! Cash only!"
Jam stomps her feet dramatically, smoke rising from her shoulders!
COMBATSYS: Jam has started a fight here.
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Jam 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Jam gathers her will.
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Jam 0/-------/--=====|
COMBATSYS: ArmorKing has joined the fight here.
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ArmorKing 0/-------/-------|=====--\-------\0 Jam
Armor King gives a small pound of his fist.
Those glassy eyes staring blankly ahead, the wrestler points at the tea again. He did not want trouble. He wanted high quality tea to calm his nerves, and relax his body. Instead, Jam was not getting him tea at all. And what was worse, the establishment was falling apart. Armor King throws his hands in the air, motioning towards the shoddy construction of the exposed hole in the earth. And exasperated, he expresses just how he feels.
"*jaguar noises*"
Snarling with great frustration, he simply decides that he has enough when the hostess is demanding that he pay before he even gets his tea, over something he was probably was not responsible for. The noble jaguar masked wrestler takes in a long, humble breath. Putting both hands on the table, he scoots back. Carefully, he pushes back his chair gently, barely noticing as it tumbles into a hot air vent, deep into the oblivion of the sink hole. The armored wrestler rises to a full, towering stand, hands on the table. From the depths of the mask, a growl is heard.
And he flips from the table.
Flipping off the table, the titanic wrestler takes to the sky, pivoting from the table into an aerial moonsault. Whipping his heavy body around, he brings around both of those big metal boots straight around, letting the pair crash straight for Jam's head. A brutal Moonsault Drop, notorious for sending many a rival wrestler to the hospital for its awesome strength. It was almost too much for the jaguar-masked wrestler to bring such shocking moves right here in the middle of the resteraunt.
But the service was pretty lousy so far.
COMBATSYS: Jam blocks ArmorKing's Strong Kick.
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ArmorKing 0/-------/-------|=======\==-----\0 Jam
Miss Kuradoberi would have dearly -loved- to get the masked man some tea, but the tea service fell into the yawning chasm behind her! Never mind her frayed nerves and the sudden temper tantrum! "Nnnrgh!" she protests, her aura flaring with the RIGHTEOUS FURY of a master chef betrayed the use of her own kitchen! ... And in all truthiness she should totally have asked for a lot more than she did -- that's barely enough to buy the countertop alone. But she's MAD, okay?!
"Why you not even TALKING? Jaguars talk on youtube all the time, I watch it a lot!" ... Wait, what shows are -Jam- watching? Anyway... with a widened stance, she sweeps her arms to either side, the aura of the kung-fu mistress inscribing a kanji pattern into the air even as Armor King surges into action. "I know what you want to say, that Jam cooking is terrible and her service stinks! So you make this... hole! I know how you crazy jaguar heads think!"
And then the moonsault lands, but instead of upon Jam's head, it lands upon her open palms, compressed backwards from the sharp blow. Her high-heeled boots squeal across the freshly mopped floor... er, scratch that, they -carve ruts- into the once-freshly-mopped floor, causing no lack of dismay from Jam. "And now look what you do to my pretty floor!"
But she can't skid back much more without falling into that chasm, so the Chinese woman presses back sharply against the kick, relieving just enough pressure to fling herself off to the side. She leaps to a safe distance, breaking into a roll, then charges back in, fists swinging in a wild flurry of successive blows, moving so fast it looks like a hundred fists moving in unison! "You already dead to me, jaguar man!"
COMBATSYS: Jam successfully hits ArmorKing with Tousai Hyakuretsuken.
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ArmorKing 0/-------/-----==|==-----\-------\0 Jam
Armor King -was- talking.
He already explained what was the problem twice now. If Jam was frusterated over the fact that he was trying to enjoy the end of the world with a moment of peace and harmony over a case of -racial profiling- against jaguars, then you can imagine just how furious the wrestler was. The restaurant was falling apart, and a wrestler could understand how someone would become vengeful about their life's work falling apart like that. But a reasonable woman would have talked out her concerns with the wrestler, and with some peaceful discourse, they would have come an repspectful understanding.
But no.
Instead it had to come to moonsaults.
As the double leg slam comes, the staggering blow is deflected just so. And unfortunately, it leaves the wrestler on the ground back down, hitting the floorboards with a crash and a crack. The armored wrestler begins to rise up, just as the floor begins to splinter underneath him. Jam was already throwing herself into the masked wrestler.
Armor King doesn't even blink.
The wrestler stands up to meet the barrage of punches, all coming in a flash. The hundred blows from the little martial artist hammers into the armored form of the man. Blow after blow comes, as the titan just attempts to pile through the assault. He can handle a lot. And he starts to get momentum to break through. But he can't handle everything this angry chef was serving up. The wrestler staggers, flinching from a stray blow managing to turn around approach. And when that momentum stops, the beast is sent staggering backwards, crashing back first through the table.
Great, now he broke the table.
Armor King makes some muttered jaguar noises, as he brushes off the chunks of table off his bruised, now bloodied form. Rolling on the floor to the right, he grabs a nearby dim sum cart, using it to right himself up. Standing tall, his empty jaguar eyes stare ahead as the wrestler thrusts a finger at the girl. "*angry jaguar noises*" Was the cry, as the beast of a man becomes more and more enraged. With that, he breaks from his cat-calling to charge right at the girl.
And he flips through the air again.
Despite his armor and size, the jaguar-masked wrestler was agile. Another flip comes, almost like another hammering moonsault. Both legs come roaring straight for Jam's head... but they split apart just enough. They weren't aiming to smash apart her body. They were aiming to grab her neck right between the wrestler's shins. And should he latch those meatly limbs right around that pretty neck? He would shift momentum back, reversing the flip to smash her straight into that Dim Sum cart.
Somewhere, Kensou is crying into his stuffed Athena.
COMBATSYS: Jam fails to interrupt Frankensteiner from ArmorKing with Kenroukaku.
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ArmorKing 0/-------/-----==|=======\-------\0 Jam
Great. Now her -table- is broken too. And there's blood on the floor! Could this masked man be any more thoughtless, Jam wonders? "RRRGH! Just get out of my restaurant, filthy animal!!" ... And then she encounters growling. Is that -talking?- Jam doesn't speak jungle cat. She doesn't even speak proper Japanese for crying out loud. How's she supposed to make sense out of guttural groaning and mewing and... is... is that -crying?- Judging from her befuddled expression, Jam has no clue. Until one final emphatic utterance, to which Jam responds, fists slamming down to either side. "Y-you leave my father out of this! He was innocent man, only shoot two of you for terrorizing our town!"
See, hours ago, before the restaurant opened, Jam realized she was missing the lucky can she'd been using to keep her hair tied up. All the drink machines near the shrine were empty -- between all the martial artist's activity, and some weird incident about a drink machine getting crushed by a runaway bulldozer, there were NONE AVAILABLE. So her only recourse to improve her good fortune was to consume the six-pack of beer the former tenants of this restaurant had left behind. ... Well, technically, she only needed one can, but the feng shui of the first can was deemed unsuitable, so... yeah. Six cans of old, room-temperature beer later... Jam's not in the clearest mental state right now. And she smells like Kirin Ichiban.
BUT WAIT, there's a jaguar-masked man flying through the air! Jam drops to her palms, hoping to slam her feet into his and utterly repulse the attack -- but she doesn't make it that far into her reaction. Instead, her head gets pincered between Armor King's massive armored shins. And as much as the Chinese chef would -love- to have some sort of reaction to that, her resistance is futile in the face of Armor King's insanely fast flip. Jam is leveraged up, up, and over the jaguar man... and into her own Dim Sum cart!
This dim sum cart has been with her across two continents and at least two really stupid oceanliner voyages! Now... it is little more than splinters, firewood, and broken bamboo steamers -- as (fortunately or not) no food had been placed in them yet tonight.
Having been flung head over heels, Jam is also left in a very compromising position for at least a second, legs splayed out to either side, eyes swirling in spirals from the dizzying momentum. One advantage to having no customers: no witnesses though! ... Aside from the guy in the creepy jaguar mask.
Kuradoberi vaults back to her feet, only anger keeping her tears at bay. "You plan to ruin me?! I not even =caring= who you are, I will destroy you!"
She gets a reaction now.
Not the passive, dead-eyed glaring and growling as before. But a new one. As she talks about 'shooting' two jaguars, the man rises back up from the aftermath of his Frankensteiner. That was a common weakness with his style, being forced to be grounded after his most powerful techniques. But now, his body tenses, the veins along his muscled growing taut against his skin. The jaguar throws a finger at her, stomping towards her as he cries out.
"*jaguar noises*"
But wait.
There was -meaning- now?
"(How dare you insult my family!)"
Was the... meaning behind the jaguar noises? Clear as day there is understanding, in spite of the jaguar growling. A flash of light comes from the red eye, seeming to shimmer in the swiftly decaying interior of the shop. If the 'clarity' of the words wasn't clear, then the body language was.
Jam just crossed a line with the masked lucha.
As she rises back up, springing to her feet with surprising speed, the Jaguar Man was already looming over her. But he wasn't facing her, with his maw or his mask's eyes. He was pivoting, turning his body away from Jam as he closed in. Facing his back to the girl, he draws back his arm, and it soon becomes clear. Throwing all his weight into the crook of his arm, he slams his body right towards Jam, using his elbow as the focus point as he comes crashing either into her, or into the ground.
Armor King was unleashing the corporate elbow straight to her face!
COMBATSYS: Jam blocks ArmorKing's Aggressive Strike.
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ArmorKing 0/-------/---====|=======\-------\1 Jam
Jam may not know -exactly- what the jaguar-masked man is shouting back at her, but from his extended finger, she can make an educated guess. It sounds like her comment about jaguars seems to have struck a nerve.
"Oh ho ho! Is about time you get your heart into the fight! Is not cheap, you know, pay off two hundred thousand worth of damage!" It's... two hundred thousand now? Maybe considering the dim sum cart... The kung-fu chef raises her left knee, staring back at her opponent with defiance as scraps of wood fall from the jagged gashes carved into her gauzelike white skirt, thin red lines crisscrossed along the bare flesh of her thighs. She curls one arm close, defensively, raising her other in an open palm -- and when her opponent charges in, it's that leading palm that contacts his elbow first, absorbing the brunt of the blow as she leaps backwards in one fluid motion, the momentum of her masked aggressor's attack blunted by the body which is already in motion.
"Is two jaguar friend of yours maybe? Is hard to see how there can be more than one of you, such lousy conversation!"
Flung free from her attacker, the Chinese martial artist lands with her high-heeled boots against the wall, seemingly igniting into a raging inferno. Shadows dance along the walls as she meets Armor King with feral tenacity, for just one moment... before springing back into the fray, aiming to plunge one knee right into the chest!
COMBATSYS: ArmorKing Toughs Out Jam's Choukyaku Hou'oushou!
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ArmorKing 0/-------/-======|=====--\-------\0 Jam
Immediately following the knee, Jam lands and wheels around with her trailing leg with a triple kick, low-middle-high. The assault continues her forward momentum by twirling around in a spinning clothesline, left backhand followed by a right chop, repeating three times as she pirouettes forward. She then leaps forward, ascending into the air with her arms flung behind her as she lets her fiery aura take over, the expanding flames adopting the form of a phoenix as they envelop the Asian beauty's slender form.
The man comes crashing down to the floor.
The Armor King himself was bleeding, bloodied. But he was used to that. As a heel, he had to take hits. Even falls like this would leave him injured. But as he rises back up, the girl was taunting him, teasing him. Angering him. The man growls out a burst of jaguar noises, as he surges upright, just in time for the chef to unleash those curvy, cute kicks right into him.
"(There isn't anymore)"
The armored wrestler stands there through the massive onslaught. He mask was not reacting, the head not moving as he tenses his body against the rampage. Every blow struck solid bone and muscle. And as the final phoenix is unleashed, the lucha begins to flinch. The fire was what really scourges him, more so than the bruises that peppered his arms. Fire was bad. But the wince was not enough to slow him down. He reaches out. Slowly. Dilligently. Waiting to catch the flitting bird that was picking away at his towering form. Both arms sweep in, moving to embrace the agile fighter.
And if he should catch Jam within those massive arms...?
COMBATSYS: ArmorKing successfully hits Jam with Jaguar Screwdriver.
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ArmorKing 1/-------/=======|=======\==-----\1 Jam
Armor King grabs her by the chest.
With a heave, he flips her up, sending both her and her legs up in the air. Pressing her back right up against his own chest in front of him, there, he balanced her. Keeping her head facing down, he just holds her there, building up the tension for the non-existent audience. With a heave, he would jump up in the air, slipping her down to between his legs, keeping her own legs fixed upright and against his body. The lucha would finish the assault with one of the signature Jaguar techniques, smashing her head straight through the floorboards before releasing her.
The Jaguar Screwdriver.
Jam is an excellent chef, but she's really at her peak in the midst of battle. The high she gets from fighting people is a spice unlike any other, and if she could find a way to cook that into her meals, she would never have trouble filling those seats. As it was, though... she's having trouble keeping a restaurant beyond one angry customer. Her attitude -may- have something to do with that...
Such it is that when her chi flares into the form of a phoenix, Jam... appears to have left herself wide open for a moment. Held aloft, she suddenly finds herself snatched in midair, and abruptly inverted. Arms flailing to her sides, the kung-fu chef isn't quite able to stabilize herself in time, and finds herself, once more, at the mercy of Armor King's powerful leg muscles. Trapped, she coils up, bracing for the inevitable impact...
And, soon, the floorboards give way to Jam's cranium. The Kirin Ichiban good-luck charm, crushed utterly! Either as a testament to her bone density, or else to her stubbornness, the floorboards collapse -- and the ground below them collapses as well, rocky shards tumbling into the yawning chasm that swallowed the kitchen whole.
The instability of the impact is such that Jam -- addled beyond belief at the sudden concussive force to the brainmeats -- can react as only an animal can -- flight. Her hands lash out, grasping for the crumbling pieces of rock as best she can -- and once she manages to find purchase, her curled-up body uncoils sharply, propelling herself feet-first for the ledge of the precipice. Undoubtedly Armor King's got a sense of self-preservation as well, and won't be falling to his death -- but that doesn't mean Jam will give him any mercy. Her restaurant is pretty much a lost cause at this point, Jam's honor is at stake now! Curling her hands back, she widens her stance as a measure against what's left of the unsteady floorboards. "... Every single time I try make something for myself in this world... Why this always have to happen?! Is going so well, then..."
Once more, the chi surrounding Jam ignites into being -- but this time, it takes on the aspect of a rapidly spinning sphere of pure unbridled will, a chain-reaction of energy that, at least at this range, is enough to rival the sun itself in intensity! "BOOM!?!" cries Jam, in hopes her ball of energy can show the jaguar-masked luchadore how badly she'd wanted this restaurant to succeed!
COMBATSYS: Jam successfully hits ArmorKing with Renhoukyaku.
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ArmorKing 1/-----==/=======|====---\-------\0 Jam
Perhaps that is something that she and Armor King could share together.
As the pair smash through the floor, the Armor King releases his prey. Sweeping his arms out instinctively, he grabs the edge of the chasm, deftly keeping himself from falling into the abyss. He struggles, pulling his hefty, armored form up over the edge. But there was a problem.
Jam was already waiting for him.
"*jaguar noises*" Was the cry as the chi surrounding the young chinese girl was hurled straight for him. He had a choice. Take the hit cleanly, and pull himself up, or try to block with one arm. He takes the blocking, trying to shelter himself with a sweeping hit of his free arm. However, the raging energy bites in to him, knocking aside his arm and nearly blowing him off the ledge. The mask is seared by the energy, still cautiously clung to his head, as he dangles from the chasm edge, clutching with one hand. His fingers tight, the lucha holds on desperately, chest bearing the burden of deep burns.
And with a mighty effort, he pulls himself back up.
Rolling over the edge of the chasm, the massive man was slow. Jam had plenty of time to deal with the wrestler now. It was a miracle he wasn't knocked down into the abyss. Standing tall, the wrestler walks towards Jam, and then breaks into a run. The jaguar pounces, attempting to grab the girl both of his hands. Should he get the grips, he would simply hold her by the shoulders, and smash his jaguar head into her. Three times. With the final head smash breaking the hold.
The mask would somehow remain unharmed.
COMBATSYS: Jam dodges ArmorKing's Driving Headbutt.
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ArmorKing 1/-----==/=======|====---\-------\0 Jam
COMBATSYS: Jam focuses on her next action.
The enormous energy expenditure exhausts the eccentric epicurean, such that she doesn't have quite enough to do much about Armor King climbing back up to the floor of her store. But... having faced exactly what the jaguar-headed man can do... she backs up to give him some room.
"Is okay if you want to roll over and claim defeat now, just so you knowing! Is no good to me having jaguar if no pelt to sell, would much rather you lie down here so I can turn you into rug, maybe put over that gaping hole I used to call kitchen!"
Here Jam is, her silky Chinese dress torn in multiple places, her hair in complete disarray, her breath ragged from the epic feats she's been forcing her body into. She calls for him to stop... but shouldn't -she- call it quits, being that she's the one forcing this all to take place?!
It's about honor. Such a silly concept, but it's the one that keeps the tipsy chef in the fray. Such that when Armor King charges at her with his hands, Jam's able to leap backwards, safely out of his reach. With one foot, she edges the door open, stepping through the portal. "We taking this outside now, yes?" Stepping through the door -- the rest of the glass wall being the only wall of the building left standing -- she props the door open such that her opponent can exit. The former patrons are gathered outside -- though they can tell the Chinese entrepreneur isn't exactly chasing after -them-, but rather the guy inside.
Keeping her eyes narrowed at her opponent, the kung-fu chef finds herself wondering... just what /is/ it keeping his mask on through all this? "You going lot of trouble to get out of helping me fix restaurant. Maybe I hire you, we settle that way!" Jam may be talking the talk, but despite her obvious injuries, the martial artist is no pushover...
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ArmorKing 1/-----==/=======|=====--\-------\0 Jam
The tension is so taut, you could cut it with a knife.
As the headbash attack falls short, with the martial artist slipping out of his grips, the lucha keeps lumbering after. Sweat and blood drips from his muscled form. Every stomp in the depths of the underworld comes, as he closes in. Nothing could stop him now. Until, that is, when Jam gives a counter-offer to Armor King paying huge money. A job. That stops the wrestler dead in his tracks.
And the jaguar man reaches inside the mask.
From inside, he pulls out a parchment of paper and a pen. He scratches some stuff down on the paper. After a brief moment, he approaches the young chinese fighter. He streches his hand out, clutching the paper, nearly jutting it right in her face. With his free hand, he points at the contents of the paper. "*jaguar noises*" Was the growl, as it becomes clear what was on the paper.
They were terms and conditions of employment.
COMBATSYS: ArmorKing focuses on his next action.
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ArmorKing 1/------=/=======|=====--\-------\0 Jam
[OOC] Kuradoberi Jam cups hand over mouth. "Does Jam even want to know?"
[OOC] ArmorKing says, "High wages, flexible work hours, a wide pool of sick days, lenient dress codes, and very reliable job security no MATTER the incident."
Jam's chest heaves with the effort of each passing breath. Her comment was intended as a throwaway concession -- if the jaguar-headed man actually accepted, then she might actually come out ahead on this deal! Even in her tipsy, punch-drunk stupor, the entrepreneur can still recognize a good deal when she sees it.
She is not, however, seeing it. The young prodigy has enough sense of the flow of chi to know when she's being distracted, so she tears her eyes away from the jaguar man for a moment, perusing the itemized the list. Mentally tabulating the figures, she reaches for the pen and parchment. "You driving tough bargain..." Pacing around in an eccentric pattern, she makes one amendment in fairly elegant script. Afterwards, she folds the parchment in two, raises her foot once more, and extends the folded parchment back to Armor King.
Her amendment: 'Agreement to extended terms begins after 45 day probation period.'
It's also worth noting that the path she walked seems to be adopting the path of the Chinese character for 'strength.' The kung-fu chef is -not- calling it quits yet.
COMBATSYS: Jam charges her next attack!
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ArmorKing 1/------=/=======|=======\=------\1 Jam
Jam's heaving chest does little to change the stoic state of the jaguar mask.
After handing over the document to the woman chef, the lucha crosses his hands. Unlike some luchas, he was not crazy about cooking. But the fact of the matter was... it was the end of the world. And nobody wanted to watch wrestling at the end of the world. Even in the underground scene. And besides. If his family REALLY did owe this person a debt...
It would be easier to just work for her, and make a profit.
Arms crossed, the jaguar waits, letting the woman pace around wildly. He is silent. He is grim. But finally, the parchment is shoved back towards him. Uncrossing his arms, he pulls the parchment from the girl. Tendering unfolding it, he brings it up to his mouth. After taking a moment to read it, there is a subtle nod. And there, he turns it around, showing it to Jam. He gives a thumbs up. The dark, armored wrestler replies positively, agreeing to the terms.
"*jaguar noises*"
COMBATSYS: ArmorKing takes no action.
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ArmorKing 1/------=/=======|=======\=------\1 Jam
Kuradoberi Jam has been called many things. Stupid is one of them. But this deal -- unlike the rest of the wanton destruction that had just been caused -- is pretty much the antithesis of stupid.
Lowering her foot, and snapping it next to her other foot, she claps her hands together, with a bow of her head. "Is a good deal then! Your first job is put dim sum cart back together! Is been in generation for three generation, and Kuradoberi family treasure. Waitress..." She looks around, and just happens to catch sight of the two waitresses cowering off in the distance. "There you are! Need you go buy pot and borrow water from neighbor. We have End of The World Specials to cook, chop chop chop chop!!"
And as she surveys the wreckage, she sees one golden paw sticking up amidst the wreckage. "... Aiyaa!" And dashes out to retrieve her maneki neko from the wreckage. Turning back to Armor King, she raises the ceramic cat up for his view. "Cannot start happy restaurant without this, right?"
.... Maybe it will be better as an outdoor restaurant.
COMBATSYS: Jam takes no action.
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ArmorKing 1/------=/=======|=======\==-----\1 Jam
COMBATSYS: Jam has left the fight here.
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ <
ArmorKing 1/------=/=======|
COMBATSYS: ArmorKing has ended the fight here.
Log created on 15:41:11 10/18/2014 by Jam, and last modified on 21:48:31 10/19/2014.