Despite All My Rage

Pride wasn’t something that Abattoir valued much, either in herself or others - a useless, stubborn emotion that held back far more than it helped. But she had to grudgingly admit that her own took a little hit when Galina managed to trip her up.

The primary slight was that it shouldn’t have happened. Her kicks were swift and powerful, honed from decades of experience before and after she met River Styx, and if she had followed through properly on the blow, it could've knocked her foe flat. She was sure of that. That it didn’t have that effect was evidence that her form wasn’t on point, a consequence of Galina’s chattering getting to her more than she wanted to concede. That would simply not do.

It was a problem, but one that she intended to fix, just as soon as she-

Abattoir’s other leg was snatched away before she could bring it to bear, captured by Galina along with the other. At first she thought the woman was going for some kind of submission move, but her plans turned out to be far simpler, as she pulled back and sent her flying forward, hurtling towards the side of the cage.

She managed to get her arms up on reflex, enough to take away some of the impact, but it was still a nasty crash for her face, one that left her stunned. She grabbed hold of the chain link on reflex to keep standing, but she was barely managing that, leaning against the metal to keep upright.

Galina had been brought up to mostly just rely on fighting your opponent straight up without the use of tools or weapons and the like, however she'd been watching wrestling matches since learning of Friction. She'd in particular enjoyed the more brutal aspects of its hardcore stuff, where anything could count as a weapon of sorts. Sure Galina had picked up and tossed a bottle here and there in gypsy disputes but actually using the environment? It was the Rose of Russia trying her hand at something new, so Abattoir was tasting the steel mesh here! Well sorta, gas mask notwithstanding.

Still she went for a ride there, crashing into the wall and earning loud yells from the crowd. Galina lay there for a second, grinning up at the lights before rolling up into a kneeling position and looking at her handiwork. The Rose of Russia chuckled a little before giving an audible burp, must have been the beer. But still better try and do something while Abattoir was there after all! So Galina stood up and made her way to where her opponent for tonight was stuck, she'd been in a nice enough spot after all........

"Hey lady, give them a big grin under that mask!" Galina would say before she grabbed Abattoir's head with one hand and slammed it into the steel mesh, followed by her then keeping a firm grip on it and trying to grind her forehead into it to rub it so to speak. The crowd wanted to see things up close and personal after all too!

Hurting, aching, stunned.

No, this was not an ideal situation. As much as she was coming to loath Galina’s talking and attitude, she was starting to grugingdly  admit the woman had some decent hardcore skills, taking advantage of the situation that had been cast before her. The proof of that was obvious from the results - Abattoir was a seasoned veteran, and she was finding herself on the backfoot far too early.

Maybe it was that. Maybe she was getting too rusty. Maybe it was some combination of the two.

Was that a burp?

Abattoir was starting to make her way up when Galina came at her from behind, grabbing her and rammed her forward into the steel. It would’ve been unpleasant enough by itself, but the woman would kept grinding her against it, shredding her skin, left and right…

Abattoir growled - a deep, guttural sound - and threw her arm out to the side in a wild attempt to strike her foe in the side of the stomach. She didn’t expect it to do much damage, but if it bought her enough time recoup and recover, she would be happy with it.

If there was one thing Galina enjoyed it was a bit of grandstanding, given that she fought in front of her gypsy camp growing up it came with the territory. Often she'd grapple with the boys and girls and end up rubbing their heads in the mud after giving them a right good thumping in front of their folks, just to teach them that just cause Galina had rose tattoos it didn't mean she was some delicate flower. Far, far from it. And lucky Abattoir was getting a first hand experience of that good ol gypsy boasting as Galina grinded her forehead against the steel mesh of the cage wall. Now that felt good, for Galina of course. She could get used to scrapping it out in some underground clubs, when she wasn't honouring her agreement......

Still this chick was probably made of sterner stock, hence why it probably didn't come as much of a surprise in retrospect that Abattoir was having enough of Galina's rubbing it in and shot out a hard blow into Galina's gut. Earning a loud grunt from the Russian, perhaps it was the rush of trapping her opponent in such a place that led to the Rose being a bit more off guard that she usually was. Galina doubled over a fair bit, she didn't kiss the mesh like Abattoir had. But she was pretty open at this point in time........

Blood. Abattoir was bleeding.

Specifically, from her forehead. It wasn’t much, really, just a couple cuts, the sort of thing you’d expect when rusty metal met soft skin. She wasn’t squeamish, far from it, more than willing to spill. If anything, the voice within her demanded that, used it for fuel, and no match without it was truly complete.

But what Abattoir couldn’t - wouldn’t - tolerate was losing it like this, to a woman like this. It was another sign that Galina was getting the better of her, and she was putting a hard stop to it.

Spinning around, she moved in fast on the bent over Galina and reached out to grab two handfuls of hair, gripping them tight enough to yank them clean off the woman’s head if she wanted. That wasn’t her goal, though - instead, she raised her legs and threw up two consecutive knees, ramming her in the face with one, then reeling back and throwing another in quick succession.

Galina was the sort that was no stranger to taking her licks, so long as she making progress in the fight. Even in her stunned state she swore that she could see the glisten of crimson on Galina's head, awesome. She was adorning the main colour of Mother Russia, now that with the gas mask made for a nice image. Maybe Galina would get to add a nice little black eye by the end of all this, if she managed to get her bearings that is. But Abattoir was fully intent on taking advantage of this opening she got, the lady grabbed hold of the Rose of Russia by her aptly named hair in a manner that was very, very far from intimate and sensual. Then suddenly......

BAM! BAM!

Abattoir slammed her knee twice into the head of Galina, earning a loud set of grunts from the Rose of Russia. The first strike slammed into her right cheek right next to the nose, damn that stung. Then boom Abattoir's second knee came in just as hot and fast blasting her forehead dead on. Spittle flew out of Galina's mouth from these hits, damn Abattoir was stiff as hell. The impacts combined with Abattoir keeping her grip on her made the Gypsy pit fighter buckle to one knee, her combat instincts were driving Galina to at least try and make an effort to retaliate though. She had her hands free at least, Galina gritted her teeth and tried to send a hard punch at one of Abattoir's legs. It was more of a shot in the dark than anything else though, but Galina had to try something!

Once. Twice.

Abattoir couldn’t help taking some supreme satisfaction as she drilled those knees into Galina, putting extra effort into hammering them home. They were some of her best hits, too, either one of them would’ve been sufficient to knock an opponent out, and the redhead had taken them both full blast. So now she’d be going down, and from there-

”Hm?”

That little surprised noise came when she noted that, no, Galina hadn’t gone down after that hit. Oh, she was on a knee, sure, but she was far from the unconscious punching bag that she should’ve been after taking a blow like that. She was still standing, and had a little more going on besides…

A punch came out. Short and sharp. It wouldn’t have been too bad if it hit in most places, but this was a case of targeting the right spot. Galina hit her knee, right on the patella, sending a shock up and down her thigh, and the effect was immediate. She went down to her knee as well, dropping to the same level as her foe, evening them up. It wasn’t the best spot and Abattoir realized it - her first move was to give her foe a hard push, trying to create some daylight between them.

Galina was taking a shot in the dark there all things considered, she wasn't exactly in the best of states there with those knees blurring her vision and ringing her ears. But the Gypsy had been relying on her instincts in the ring as well as the practise she had growing up, besides if nothing else at least Galina could say she tried. The Rose of Russia wasn't one to be a quitter at any rate, as it turned out though it seemed she gotten lucky with her blindfire attack there. It downed Ms Abattoir and sent her down a peg herself, usually with her rough background Galina wasn't a believer in miracles. But here she'd accept that well enough for herself.

Abattoir knew what danger she was in however, fair. She fought smart, after all Galina wouldn't be happy if she didn't. Before the Rose of Russia could react in time however Abattoir managed to give the Gypsy a hard shove, sending the girl from her previous spot of kneeling on one knee. To being forced down on her back, which was the worst place you could be in a fight. That's what Galina had come to learn from her Gypsy camp days sparring with the hobos and her fellows in MMA rings.

"Ngh......thanks for the shove comrade....." Galina muttered sarcastically as she shuffled around on the ground, coughing a little. But even so the Gypsy was enjoying cutting her teeth here, she missed this risking your body against the odds. If she could get into this kinda action without even stepping into the ring then Galina's actual in ring debut was gonna be exciting for sure!

ttThis was a rough fight so far, if brief. As irritating as she found Galina to be with the words that were coming out of her mouth, Abattoir could concede that, physically, things were a bit different. She had seen men and women fall in this cage, taken down more than a handful of them, and she couldn’t recall anyone so driven aside from herself. Aggressive. Tough. She was a good fighter, that much couldn't be taken away from her.

Abattoir just wished she would be more quiet about it.

But it was something she was learning to deal with, as she did with the woman’s last quip. She ignored and kept making her way back up, pushing off her knee to rise all the way. With Galina on the floor, she decided there was a good opening for her to move. Maybe even end this.

She moved, pounced, on her opponent, trying to pin her down at the knees from on top. With a stable position, she began throwing lefts and rights, attempting to pound Galina into the mat.

Abattoir looked like butter wouldn't melt in Galina's eyes, reminded her of those gruff no nonsense commissars in those history books that the old granny at her Gypsy camp had. Bloody and ruthless, Galina had wondered what it'd be like having a go against them. Well here she was getting into a hard and thick scrap against someone who could have lived in the Russian countryside, delicious. Galina was gonna have a heck of a story to tell back to her fellows over a bottle of vodka, would be even better if the Rose of Russia could pull out a win and all that. Though currently that was going to be a lot easier said than done right now, cause Abattoir was able to get Galina down on the mat and was making to try and pound the Gypsy into the mat.

As crude and vulgar as Galina was she had the practise and the idea of what to do when she was in this place, her mentors had said to her she should keep moving more often than not. It helped Galina to handle her opponents and run them ragged, but there came a time when you fell down and had your opponent on you. The Rose learned that the hard way when you had the local hobos on you and associating it with soot and something foul. It helped to have some ideas of making a getaway in that case then.

The gal got some good shots in there, Galina felt those knuckles slam into her jaw and cheeks. Damn that stung hard, the Gypsy would admit Abattoir was stiff as hell. But the Rose of Russia got her dukes up and made to cover herself, but staying here was still a really bad idea. Another smack to the head proved that, Galina wasn't a glass jaw type though. Galina decided to take a more pragmatic response, she risked shooting out her hands. The left one trying to grab hold of Abattoir by the ear to sort of yank her towards Galina with her right going for a quick poke to the eyes followed by a bit of trying to shuffle around under her to go for a bit of the rough and tumble! Galina was drawing more on her Gypsy brawling days than her proper MMA career here, when anything would go and you were either cutthroat or were cut down.