They Might Be Giants (for Kerflubble)

Barda was taken aback by Rebecca's entire demeanor - she was so strong, so sure of herself. Granted, Barda had just met her, that wasn't enough for an in-depth analysis, but the woman seemed to exude confidence like a furnace. Just a few words and BAM! She was ready to go without any preamble. That was what intimidated her the most - despite the size difference, despite being almost a full head above her, Rebecca still felt bigger somehow.

Could she ever get to that place? Barda felt a little bad just hitting Adrian in their match - would she ever be secure enough in her veneer to just go out all the way?

"I think, ah..." Barda straightened up, finding her composure. She'd need all of it, and soon. "Yeah, um - Doom. I think she's a comic book fan. Dr. Doom. PhD. PhDoom." She shrugged. "I'll ask her when we meet."

Barda whistled and turned around, making her way back into the ring. "She does seem really impressive and strong and just...wow." She bit her lip. "I can see why you and her...you know, right? I mean, I'm not, exactly, into other girls, exactly - but if I was..." She grabbed the middle rope and hoisted herself up.

"I'm sorry, I get nervous, easy, sometimes. A lot. Like, all the time."

Adrian didn't really know what to make of Barda's attraction towards Rebecca. She could feel something within her bristle up in some sort of territorial instinct, but there wasn't much she could do about it. A "Hands off" wouldn't do much good for anyone. This was supposed to be everyone getting over their own awkwardness, not getting more awkwardness about attractions to various amazons. Adrian would have to settle for just blushing while Barda got into the ring with Rebecca. Not that Adrian was about to disagree with her assessment as she looked up at the dark-skinned giantess, yeah she could pretty much see where she was coming from on that front.

Rebecca was just doing some stretches in the corner as Barda stepped up to the ring apron, very nervously for someone of her size. "Well that's the first thing you gotta improve." She told her bluntly, rolling her neck around to loosen it up. Being nervous in ring was pretty much the worst thing: A; there are thousands of people watching and a lot of cameras, so any nerves are going to be magnified and b; many wrestlers were good at exploiting someone who weren't too sure of themselves.

So the first thing on the objective list was to get Barda over her nerves, someone that big should not be afraid of the mice that made up the rest of the roster. Get her into the swing of things.

From casual and friendly to embarrassingly awkward in, what? Twenty minutes? That was a new record, even beating out her prom date. If you didn't count the long, embarrassing limousine ride on the way.

Barda was tempted to drive the point home that she wasn't really attracted to Rebecca in a serious way - she knew that many, if not most, of the AFW ladies were on that particular team, but she wasn't looking to be drafted anytime soon. That would probably just make things weirder, though, and there was more than a heaping helping of weirdness to go around.

She kicked her own shoes out of the ring and started some stretches off her own, perking up when Rebecca responded - did she hear all that before? It was pretty quiet in the ring, sound could travel far - crap. Well, she didn't seem to care, focused as she was, so no harm, no foul, Barda figured. And hoped. And prayed.

"Yeah, that's about what my therapist said. Never had much luck, though." She dropped down on her butt and jiggled the ropes with the impact, as she went into a butterfly stretch. "Then again, he never got in the ring with me, so maybe you'll have better luck. Who knows, right?"

Weirdness and awkwardness of the whole situation aside, Rebecca herself was kind of used to it at this point, having spent enough time to kind of come to terms with how charged the atmosphere in this company got, and what with the whole freaky interplay of sex and violence thing, the amazon got a lot of looks like Barda's from other people, but most of the time it was confusing to figure out if they wanted to fight her or take her out on a date or something. Usually both. "Main difference between me and therapists, if I start talking about your mom, you can just punch me for it." She joked as Barda warmed up, stretching out her long, toned legs. "Whenever you're ready." The dark skinned strongwoman declared, waiting for the 7 foot woman to stand back up, so they could get this show on the road.

Barda's face soured at the mention of her mother - that brought up a lot of thoughts she'd rather not think. "No, I really wouldn't." She took a moment to calm down and get back to normal - no sense bringing that baggage into the ring. She had to focus on far, far more important things, like the woman she was training with who could've been a dead ringer for a Bana Mighdall Amazon. She could even make a decent Grace Choi, with some red hair and lighter skin. Heck, with some green or red paint, maybe a wig, she'd be a dead-ringer for She-Hulk or Red She-Hulk. Maybe they could talk about doing a cosplay shoot for her Deviant Art page.

...later, though. Later. Focus.

She stood and got into position, hands up and steady for a classic grappling stance. "As ready as I get, yeah - we're just going at each other, like normal?"

"Yeah, sure. Normal start." Rebecca said in a somewhat calming tone, she didn't exactly know what a normal start for someone Barda's size would end up being, but she knew what hers would be, charging forward to force the taller cosplayer into a more traditional collar and elbow tie up. It was a bit weird to be the smaller wrestler in a lockup and lose the leverage advantage that the dark skinned warrior was so used to having, but this was more about Barda, not how she did.

Barda was about to ask what passed for normal with someone Barda's size, when the question was answered for her - taking the enemy head on, of course. Dodging wasn't an option, not nearly fast enough for it, so she had no choice - she'd take her head on or get run over, and Barda didn't fancy being flattened underfoot. Boots or no boots.

She met Rebecca with the collar and elbow and started to get knocked back, taking a few steps away under the charge, almost pushed to the ropes - before she planted her feet down, barely hitting the breaks. Rebecca's power was incredible, far more than anything Barda had ever encountered before, and there was only one way to tell how she measured up.

Barda breathed deep, reached far down into her reserves, and started to push back with everything she could muster.

Rebecca grunted as she collided with the giantess, the sheer force managing to push Barda backwards before the taller woman managed to keep her ground against the charge and began to push back. Good, no fear about taking the ebony amazon head on from the 7 foot tall wrestler, this was a good start for her as Rebecca was slowly forced back into the center of the ring. "Not bad..." she said with a smirk, keeping the lock up for a while as the two giants struggled for control.

But now that Rebecca knew how Barda dealt with a head on charge, it was time to see how she dealt with something different. Slipping her right arm down to around Big Barda's waist, stepping over to one side and pulling, trying to flip the big woman over with a hip toss, see how she got used to going off her feet.

Barda started to smirk as well, before exertion forced her face to sour - the power Rebecca could bring to bare was staggering. It was like trying to wrestle with a machine; little give, no weak spots, just raw, pure power. Every move was a struggle, every foot taken was like a miniature battle in itself. For the time in her whole life, Barda could hold nothing back - even a fraction, the smallest fraction withheld would be disaster.

But experience was still all on Rebecca's side, and she learns this the hard way; Barda never even conceived the notion of being thrown off her feet. When you're this big, it doesn't even occur to you that it's possible...until it happens. Barda went down, head over heels, with a mighty crash. She jolted up, grabbing her back in pain as she sat.

Rebecca could sympathize with Barda's plight. Being a giant among the other wrestlers, you never expected to be taken off your feet let alone thrown head over heels by someone 8 inches shorter. That was something the big cosplayer would have to get used to as she found more and more people who could lift 200lbs without too much trouble, at least when it came to the dark-skinned Amazon, just looking at her told anyone that they were going to be tossed around a fair bit, some more so than others, but it was easier to understand that people are going to be able to throw you, and one of the most important skills was being able to take it fairly safely.

"Keep at it!" The powerhouse barked, dropping down behind Barda to wrap her massive arm around the cosplayer's head. Trying to see how she'd respond to a continued assault. Adrian had a decent string in her match with the 7 foot tall woman, but she couldn't keep the pressure on with just a headlock the way Rebecca could.