Heavy Petting: Athala Wegener(D) vs Jinx

Match Type: Standard
Extra Stipulation: Hentai moves/hold are permitted.
Victory Conditions: Pinfall, submission, or KO

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For someone so in love with the idea of having all eyes on her, one might have thought being featured on another televised match for Friction would have made Jinx happy. It didn’t though, of course, because it hadn't fit into a place on the card she believed she deserved to be in. A mid show match was the equivalent of filler, keeping butts in seats and people dialed into the channel before the main matches that actually mattered which is where she had wanted to be as the headliner of the night.

She was a star, the crowd knew it, she knew it, but management seemed to underappreciated all it was she brought to a brand like Friction. Instead of battling for contendership or gold, she was yet again being used to break in new talent no different then that last ninja girl they had fed her in the ring. Why didn’t they let her hang with the big names? Continuing to push her down the card as if they were attempting to smother her career with new faces until she gave up her aspirations. They couldn’t keep her from gold though, not forever. If she couldn;t get a break, she’d need to make her own.

The conspiracy theories could wait though, she had another “nobody” to put down tonight. With a hard tug the feline fighter tied off her hand wrap, giving her fingers a flex to gauge the tightness and her circulation. Felt good. Holding a balled first up she scowled into the mirror handing on the inside of her locker, making her best war face. Yeah… looking fierce Jinxie girl.

"Should start calling me the rookie killer at this rate." She mused to herself, grinning at her reflection. She blew herself a kiss, giving the locker door a hard swing to slam it locked. It was time to go prove to the powers that be that they shouldn’t be sleeping on their best signed wrestler on the brand.

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Theme:

Jinx:

The house lights dimmed into a dark void leaving only the limitations from stage camera backlights and the occasion cell phone in the audience. The massive screen suspended over the entry stage and with the image of a full moon slowly rising, Jinx's haunting music filled the auditorium. A feline shaped head eclipsed the bright moon in darkness before the eyes snapped open sending out crisp beams of light through the dark interior. The eyes shifted, dragging with them the spotlights that moved along the ramp as if searching.

A brief glimpse of movement here or there as the feline fighter dashed and cartwheeled her way down the ramp, never in the light for more than a passing second, just enough to tease her approach without giving herself away. The last spotlight caught her sliding into the ring on her front, arching her back with a suggestive rise to her hands and knees. Slowly she rolled herself over, stretching out along the canvas, perring over to the hard cam side of the ring to pose for the people watching from home in a pose straight out of a pin up. She stretched her hands over her head, giving the camera a wink before swinging her legs up, rolling backwards up onto her shoulders and pushing up onto a handspring. Her momentum carried her into the center of the ring where she gracefully landed on the balls of her feet, striding to the far corner as the lights came up. Showtime.

Athala wrapped the last of the fighting gauze around her foot, flexing her toes to make sure it was taped and secured in place like the ones already wrapped around her other foot and hands. Had this a full out hentai bout she probably would left her digits bare, but considering that this match still called for a fair bit of fighting, she didn't want to leave herself completely unprotected. Especially considering that her revealing bikini already left her pretty vulnerable.

The thundering roar of an excited crowd echoed through the room, Caused by what was undoubtedly her opponent's entrance. She let out a deep sigh before taking her foot of the chair and doing a few warmup stretches, extending her arms and swiveling her hips to the point of strain. She didn't know much about her opponent other than the tidbits she overheard backstage and in the locker room, and all she heard was that she was flexible. Like really flexible. Athala didn't know if she could compete with her in that regards, but pumping out a few demanding stretches wouldn't hurt.

Theme:

Athala:

The rumblings of the audience soon died down only to be replaced by her theme, debuting through the speakers for the entire arena to hear. She blew out a few more deep breaths before bursting into the spotlight, the welcoming roar of the crowd accompanying her ascent up the ramp. The fanfare was nice, although not as extravagant as what she hear from her opponents entrance. She figured she should change that. She replaced her slow and measured walk up the ramp with a methodical skip, throwing up her clenched hands to her face and shadowboxing her way to the ring. The intensity of the crowd increased as she made her way to the steps, continuing her shadowboxing antics as she slipped through the ropes and placed herself in the center of the ring, complete ignoring her opponent who stood only a few feet away.

She finished up her display, throwing in a few kicks with her punches until finishing it up with an impressive 360 degree roundhouse, knocking out her imaginary opponent and raising a triumphant fist into the air. Satisfied with her display. She swiveled her head around her shoulder, meeting her opponent's eyes for the very first time. Like her, she was scantily clad, both of them seemingly aware of what match like this would entail. She puckered up her lips and threw a mocking smooch in her direction before lowering her fist back down to her side. "Consider that a taste of what's coming your way" Athala said with a wink, turning her whole body around this time to face her opponent.

The moment new music hit the sound system, Jinx had seemingly lost interest. The feline fighter rolled her amber eyes, dropping most all sense of her showmanship now that the cameras had left her to focus on the distant stage. Sauntering around the edge of the ring she made her way to the corner and lazily climbed herself up to take a seat on the top turnbuckle. Her gaze narrowed when her opponent finally presented herself, like some bizzaro creature put on this earth to frustrate her. While there was a wealth of differences between them, the similarities are what found themselves etched into her brain like someone had started carving with a hot knife.

Their less than modest choice of attire, the hand and foot wraps, even the contrast between their complexions and hue pigment. Management had done this on purpose to lock her, she was sure of it. Tilted her head she stared down her nose as the other woman made her way down the ring, putting on quite the show. So eager to impress, clearly a rookie. That got a small giggle from her, though low enough to go unnoticed. Watching the small performance Jinx was sure if nothing else this woman could film a good video with all those flashy moves… that didn't mean she could put them to practical use. Her golden eyes scanned the other woman once her little show had concluded, lingering on her chest. She made no real effort to obfuscate where her attention was even as the arena lights came all the way back up.

With a rueful smirk, the feline fight slipped herself down from the ropes, sizing Athala up now that they booth stood in the ring but kept her distance. She didn't want to approach or banter for a change… which was strange for someone who enjoyed talking trash so much. All she gave was a curt little nod while keeping that miscevious little smile of hers on full display. For good reason…

At the sound of the bell she shot forward as if in an olympic race, bum rushing Athala where she stood. She hadn't been oogling Athala's bust, no, she had been observing her breathing. All those punches and kicks for the audience right before the match may have looked nice but with no moments break to rest it may have left her slightly winded, vulnerable. Jinx expected a gut reaction to her surge of movement, breaking off her charge to dip low to the side in hopes of clearing one of those punches that were on display or the reach of those long legs she knew Athala knew how to use. Instead she wanted to get in and get right down to business and try to capitalize on how new this woman likely was to the ring.

Reaching out she grasped with clutching fingers at all that platinum hair, trying to hook her claws in and grab as much of that silver mane of possible. With a springing step she leaped forward, hiking up a knee while simultaneously trying to yank the woman forward directly into the strike. If she managed to hit the move, she would give the woman's hair a barriers backwards, attempting to throw Athala backwards onto the mat over protests from the referee to refrain from hair pulling as if the dark haired girl was even listening.

Punches, hooks, uppercuts, sweeps, and spinning kicks; Athala's performance had it all. As fancy as those moves were, they had some serious skill to back them up, skill that Athala was increasingly eager to let loose on this arrogant women. Especially once she got a glance of how her opponent was looking down at her. Smug and arrogant, with nothing to rebuttal her opening taunt with other than a sly smirk and a pompous nod. Athala couldn't quite say why this women was getting to her so easily, but her opponent's demeanor was quickly beginning to annoy her. Here she was, putting on a skillful display for both the crowd and her opponent, and she didn't have the decency to utter a single word.

Who did she think she was? Yeah, Athala was a rookie, but she clearer wasn't a jobber tossed into the ring for a mindless beatdown. And it's besides this women dressed like a house pet was a renowned veteran of the ring either. She was a fighter, they both were, first and foremost, and she expected to be acknowledged as such. Banter went a long ways in establishing that, with both combatants verbally sizing each other up before throwing themselves at each other. It seems Jinx was eager to skip that first step all together. While Athala was preoccupied with thoughts of the perceived slight to her honor, Jinx made a mad dash for the young rookie.

Athala practically saw it from a mile away, but with her thoughts distracted from her usual fighting mindset, and slightly out of breath from her exerting performance, Athala only had time to reactively throw her hands up in a protective shield in front of her face, only to met with a painful yank as her platinum locks were clamped onto by her feline foe at the sound of the bell.

"Hey! what the - " Athala let out a loud yelp as she was pulled forward into the upright knee of her opponent. The yelp turned into a pained cry as Jinx's knee fount itself buried deep with Athala's side, stunning the woman as she instinctively brought her hands down to guard her abdomen from further abuse. Normally a hit like that wouldn't have been anything more than an annoying sting, something to be brushed off and pushed through as you mounted a defense. But considering that the move caught her by surprised and robbed her of the opportunity to properly brace herself, plus the added momentum of being driven into it, it was a particularly nasty one blow.

It wasn't until the protests of the referee that she was granted some relief. Her opponent shoved her backwards, releasing her grip on her hair and discarding her like a piece of trash. Athala stumbled backwards a few step before landing flat on her back, clutching at her side. She brought a hand to her head, scratching her scalp in a vain attempt to sooth the aching spot left by Jinx's claws. She didn't want to waste much time however, and perhaps even more so, she didn't want to give her opponent the satisfaction of knowing how effective her sneak attack was. She grit her teeth and began pushing away the pain away from her mind, instead replacing it with thoughts of spite and malice.

Athala placed both hand behind her head, palms flat on the canvas. She lifted her legs up before twirling them above her body while springing them outwards along with her arms, rebounding off the mat in an impressive starfish kick up that placed her back onto her feet. As soon as her soles were flat on the canvas, she made a mad dash of her own towards her opponent. Once she was within a few feet, she would abruptly turn herself around mid-step and swing one leg around, transferring all that built-up and momentum into a turning side aimed directly for the feline's gut!

With a tactless send off she had let Athala hit the mat, with a smug look of satisfaction as she watched the girl bounce along the canvas. Flexing her fingers she couldn't help but spot a few stray hairs she had managed to pull from her opponent's scalp. She banished them from her nails with a shake of her hand, walking a delicate circle around her foe with an air of grace her blatant cheap shot really served to undermine. The feline fighter had just started to lift a foot, intending to plant it on her fallen for to get in those precious opening jabs now that she had the upper hand when Athala showed her she had other things in mind.

Jinx gave two dainty hops back in quick succession, narrowly avoiding getting her legs swept up in the whirlwind of legs that was her opponent's helicopter back to her feet. A shock dejected look plastered all over her face at the sight, clearly having expected her opponent to have stayed down for longer after that brief exchange. Surprise bubbled over into anger in a snap though, finding her fingers curling into tightly bound fists as she was shown up after her clever attack. The nerve of this rookie!

"Tch, I was ab-eeee!" About to launch into her own little diatribe she was cut short as the tables had been turned. Backpedalling quickly she tried to vacate the danger zone of a lunge but found Athala charging with unrelenting vigor. This wasn't how these things worked! She was supposed to be the aggressor here! Moving backwards was no match for the other girls forward momentum so it was time to take a stand. Jinx grounded her heel, gliding it back along the canvas to brace herself, arms up defensively, head lowered, ready. Eyes narrowing as she watched the movement… Where was the attack coming from? A pivot… there, she caught sight of the leg as it came whistling through the air. Stepping in, she brought her leg up, knee tucked and elbow down, making a wall with her limbs to intercept the blow.

"Nice try…Geh!" Jinx sneered through her guard just as the kick made impact. That should have been it, be block had been well prepared, her form was good… but when Athala hit her it dug in so deep it collapsed her guard inward, still managing to hit her along the side. The feline fighter staggered to the side with fumbling steps, nearly collapsing to the mat if not for the fact she caught herself on the ropes. Looking back to Athala, much of that confidence she had shown moments ago seemed to have drained away from her features now replaced with a grin realizing there was more than fanfare behind those kicks.

"Not bad… you... Eh... Passed the first test." She swallowed hard, raising a hand up to the air in a silent truce for the moment. She didn't allow her eyes to leave Athala, watching the other girl carefully. Slowly she pulled herself back up, trying to find her footing again if allowed. Perhaps a restart was in order… maybe grappling instead of striking was in order. Jinx kept herself prepared though, if her opponent tried to rush her down before she was ready again, the feline fighter would bravely drop to the mat and roll out of the ring to collect herself instead

Was her side still hurting. Oh yeah. Was she annoyed by the aching left by the missing locks in her scalp. More than you know. Was she going to let her pain and emotions stop her from absolutely flooring the stuck up women. Hell no. If anything, she transferred those sensations into pure vitriol and rage, her volition morphing into energy that radiated through her muscles and were about to be concentered in force into Jinx's abdomen. Except it didn't really work out that way. Despite the speed and surprise element of Athala's attack, she still wasn't quick enough to catch her opponent completely off-guard, instead finding her shin absorbed and angled off of her opponent's combined block while sending her foot stinging along the feline's side.

It was nearly the power she intended to drive into Jinx, but at the very least it brought the girl down to her knees and slung against the rope. She kept her leg elevated after the kick, bring it back and raising it above Jinx's downed formed. Her toes were flex outwards, primed and ready to send her foot downwards in a stomp aimed for her opponent's face. She stopped just short of Jinx's outstretched hand, her foot mere inches away from the girl's time-out gesture. She kept her arms balled into her first and raised by her head, keenly alert in case this feline trickster tried to pull another fast one.

"I've taken quite a few hits in my day... although none of them as bitchy as that" Athala said with a smirk, satisfied to see the expressions that had adorned their faces complete switched, with the platinum haired rookie now wearing a smug look while Jinx adopted a much more concerned poise. She watched as her opponent made a slow rise back up onto her feet, using the ropes as a ladder as she clung onto each one to support her ascent. Athala maintained her posture the whole time, elevating her leg along with Jinx's rise so that it always remained above the girl's head.

She squinted her eyes and curled her lips, contemplating what would happen next. Like a grand chess master, a master of fighting always had to plan several moves into the future, constantly analyzing and assessing the viability of attacks, defenses, counters and move sets to see if they'd payoff in the long time. Here was one such moment, where the decision to either pounce on her opponent or let her rise up honorably was thrusted into Athala's lap. Jinx's continued to rise slowly and measuredly, maintaining eye contact with her the whole time while seemingly depending on Athala to respect their temporary truce

Despite the obvious strategic advantage to squishing this girl into the mat right here and now, there was also the mental one. Since when had this girl shown any honor thus far into the match? They had only just started and Athala already had a barely visible but still present bald spot left by Jinx's claws to show for it. Hair pulling, really? This women was fighting like a common back-alley whore - nowhere near the temperament of a real fighter. And yet here she was, fully expecting for Athala to let her on her feet and potentially pull of another distasteful attempt at an attack. Yeah, as if.

"Sweet! Now I got a test of my own for ya!" Athala spit out mocking, her sly smile returning to her face as she finally sent her foot raining downwards and aimed directedly for her opponent's face. But just like the times before, it seems Athala's agility and swiftness wasn't as unpredictable as she would have liked. Jinx ducked backwards and downwards, Athala's stomp whizzing past her face and colliding into the empty canvas. Shocked she immediately raised her leg to try again, except her desired target wasn't in the ring. Jinx had managed to slip out between the ropes, completely out of the ring and outside of Athala's range.

Infuriated Athala climbed onto the bottom rope, clutching the top one with her hands while elevating herself above her opponent and staring down at her with complete contempt.

"Wha- really?! Just because you dress like a pussy doesn't mean you have to act like one!" Athala bellowed out angrily at her sly opponent, the nearby audience members chuckling at her remark.

Jinx had flinched at the heel sailing down at her from above as she was left awkwardly tangled up at the ropes, meekly scrunching up for braced impact as she offered a stop in the way of a raised hand. She had closed her eyes for that brief moment, expecting to feel the hard heady sensation of bone of bone on top of her head. When it didn't come she peeked out with one eye, peering up at her merciful opponent with one of her bright good eyes, then the other. She pouted, seeming to lose most all the aggression that had seemed bowen into every fabric of her being just a moment ago. She appeared vulnerable, almost innocent now… perhaps too innocent to strike? That was her intention anyhow.

Her gaze followed Athala's long leg, shifting to see the unfinished attack lingering just overhead as if holding the feline fighter at gunpoint. Swallowing hard, she started her slow ascent, mindful of the ever present threat hanging over her like the sword of Damocles ready to drop at any moment. She had to bite her tongue at the other rookie's remarks, currently in no state to spit back venom of her own. There was a faint darkening of her own features, flushed cheeks with embarrassment as her opponent presented herself with an air of superiority that went uncontested.

"Just trying to put on a good show." Jinx muttered softly, trying to keep her words between the two of them. As genuine as she may have sounded in this moment of desperation, she was of course lying through her teeth. For all her complaints of wanting bigger and better competition, what she was really after was wins over more established people to help her reputation. How she got them didn't matter and if they came to her easier by taking a few shortcuts, that was fine.

"I'm Jinx, by the way." A friendly gesture to put Athala at ease. She could play at this game a little longer, stroke this other girl's ego and wait for her chance to pounce. For now it served her interests better to seem non-threatening. She even gave her a small smile, testing the waters for a more amicable restart for them, something fresh. It all went awry when Athala spoke up again, firing back her own line about tests. The made scramble for survival began immediately as Jinx let out a panicked mousy cry before enacting her predetermined escape route.

The feline fighter dropped backwards onto her backside, wide eyed as Athala's foot came slamming down right between her legs, where her head would have been if not for her swift reaction. When that leg shot up again, ready for another attempt at stomping on her, Jinx leaned into her back, throwing her weight hard to the side to roll out under the bottom rope with haste. Slipping off the apron she touched down lightly, taking several quick hopping steps back to get as far away as she could from the ring, just in case her opponent pursued. Thankfully, Athala hadn't, giving the cowardly Jinx a moment to recollect herself.

The other girl's comments were met with an immediate hiss from Jinx who abandoned her pouts and puppy dog eyes given they had no real effect on Athala. She had burned that bridge with the ambush at the start of the match, fair enough, part of her could begrudging accept that. What she could abide by was the chuckles she heard just behind her, making her ears perk. Shooting a look back she found one such person who had been far too amused at Athala's joke. Backing herself up towards the barrier, she reached out, batting the man's soft drink from his hands to spill all over his shirt. He of course, was no longer smiling and laughing but most of those around him had a hoot about it. She blew a cheeky raspberry at the stunned man before turning back to Athala in the ring.

"Don't think you're better than me just because you…" She had nothing really to rag on here. She hadn't done any research, had nothing negative to rag on. Aside from falling for the opening rush down, this rookie had proven rather capable, perhaps a bit intimidating… but Jinx wasn't about to complement the competition. "Just don't think you're better than me. I was named AFW's rival of the year for a reason." A small claim to fame, not perhaps for all the reasons she would have liked. In her position, she was grasping at straws though.

"One!"

The referee had moved to the ropes, starting the count out for Jinx on the outside. As much as she may have liked to stay where it was safe, the dark haired girl had to get back into the ring if she had any intentions on winning. With a soft huff Jinx started to walk along the outside of the ring, keeping an eye on Athala as she moved to a far corner with steel steps.

"Two!"

"Yeah yeah…" Jinx waved a dismissive hand as she trudged up the assembled stairs. If Athala followed her to the corner, the feline fighter would fold her arms incredulously and wait for her to be given room to enter without the threat of attack. When that was done, Jinx would slip onto the apron and dip between the ropes to step back into the ring. "So that was a nice warmup, now we can start for real."

Athala crossed her arms and leaned over the top ropes, playfully bouncing on the bottom ropes underneath her as she watched Jinx's little outburst unfold. She let out a little giggle as the audiences reaction to her off-the-cuff joke seemed to get under the women's skin, even prompting her to harass a member of the crowd who found it particularly amusing. She put a fist up to her chin leaving one elbow to rest on the top rope as she observed the girl's temper tantrum eventually fizzle out.

"I'm Athala... and you're only proving my point by fighting with those bozos instead of me!" She cupped her hands around her mouth, bellowing out the remark over the hoots and hollers following Jinx's performance.

Any respect or understanding Athala had for her opponent vanished as soon as felt her platinum locks being torn off of her scalp. This girl was as deceiving as she dressed; as conniving and deceitful a a back alley cat. She practically switch comportment every few minutes or so, flip flopping between soft spoken politeness and outright vindictiveness. Athala had seen girls like this, and fought them to; they were all the same. Athala could only imagine how many other 'fighters' have fallen for Jinx's little charade, putting down their defenses after experiences Jinx's amicable approach only to be torn up and spat at within mere seconds. Yeah, Athala had a nibble at Jinx's bait, but she sure as hell wasn't biting.

It was what made all her off-handed remarks all the more fun. Seeing Jinx's expressions contort and shift so rapidly, obviously annoyed that her usual bag of tricks weren't having the desired effect. Usually Athala herself wasn't one for two many words, opting to let her fists do most of the speaking. But with Jinx she just couldn't help it. Watching her succumb so easily to taunts and fail so miserably at making her own was going to make the experience o beating her all the sweeter. Fighting was so much more enjoyable when you didn't like the person on the other end of your fists.

She shimmied along the edge of the rope, moving in tandem with Jinx as she walked along the outside of the ring and towards the steps, eager to keep up the banter Jinx's surprise attack had deprived them of earlier.

"Rival of the year huh? I didn't know AFW was handing out participation trophies now. Where can I get one?" Athala put on a fake expression of curiosity, overly exaggerating her tone as she mockingly fawned over Jinx's less than reputable award. By now Athala had shimmied her way to the corner turnbuckle, with Jinx at the foot of the steps. She hopped off the ropes and planted herself against the turnbuckle, crowding out Jinx who stood cross armed and seemingly annoyed at her positioning and visibly vexed by her remarks.

"Oh alright, alright!" Athala said with a dismissive wave, taking a few steps backwards until she was in the center of the ring, allowing her opponent some room to reenter through the ropes. She even let out a dainty bow, bending over and motioning with her hands as if to mockingly say "after you." Athala understood the theatrics associated with the wrestling ring. In many ways Jinx was right; it was all about putting on a good show, and if you could beat the living daylight out of another girl in the process, that was just as great too. Besides, they both got their attempts at a cheap shot in, with Jinx's admittedly much more successful. No need for another unless Jinx got any other 'clever' ideas. With the two of them properly acquainted and now placed in the ring on equal footing, it was time for their little ceasefire to be replaced with all out battle.

Athala got back into her fighting stance again, balling her fists up and brining them up to her face, guarding her head with her forearms in a boxing stance. She hopped on the tips of her toes, bouncing left and right as she made her intentions perfectly clear.  She unfolded her fingers and motioned for Jinx to come at her, beckoning the girl to make the first move.

Jinx lofted a brow as she watched Athala in the ring looking oh so amused with herself. It got the feline fighter to grumble under her breath, something having to do with the use of the word “bozo” in this day and age but it was little more than a whisper in the sea of the ambience noise the crowd provided. The surly young wrestler was far more expressive when her sense of cool was tarnished, unable to hide just how annoyed she was with how her face scrunched up cutely at the other woman's small verbal barbs. In truth, the banter between them was rather mild from some spars she had thus far in AFW with words, it just bothered her more from coming from someone she had nothing to really pick on.

Making her way up the steel steps she found the other woman waiting, blocking her way and looking far too pleased with this whole situation. The dark haired girl gave an exaggerated roll of her eyes before settling a narrowed gaze back on her opponent. Arms cross firmly under her breasts, she idly tapped a foot clearly waiting even as the referee continued the count. After a few more seconds she let out a long drawn out sigh, speaking again with a simple. “Athala.” Though it was just the other woman's name, it had a heavy weight attached to that, like a teacher or parent who wasn’t mad… just disappointed in the fact she was barring entry into the ring.

Jinx quietly watched her opponent, running her tongue over her teeth behind her lips, biding her time until she finally backed away. With a soft click of her teeth, the feline fighter slipped up onto the apron, giving Athala a sharp pointed look as she lay a hand across the top rope, just making sure she wasn’t about to be rushed again. When nothing came for her, she dipped through the ropes, stepping lightly back into the ring as she arched her body though unintentionally a pleasing display for any onlookers.

With a soft snicker, Jinx lowered her head and bent at the knee, giving Athala a small mocking curtsy to accompany her own bow for the gracious honor of letting her back into the ring without much of a hassle. She wasn’t about to thank her for the mercy regardless of how much it was owed, this woman had already taken enough of her pride. Straightening up, Jinx moved from the corner in a semicircle, making her way back towards the center of the ring taking a long path towards Athala, staying near the ropes as she limbered up with a bit of hop in her step and a shake of her arms.

"Fair warning. You'd better start to take me seriously or you're going to regret it." Her steps became lighter until she staggered her stance, leading with one side of her body, bouncing on the balls of her feet to keep motion in her limbs. Her arms came up as well, a guard less squared compared to the other woman, more fluid and loose. She seemed content to wait and react but Athala beckoned her forward prompting a loft of a slender brow. Jinx flicked the side of her nose with a thumb, drawing in a sharp breath. How kind of her to let a real lady go first. Head to head on even ground, there wasn’t much getting around the other woman while she was ready to intercept.

Taking a half step in, Jinx sharply twisted her body, snapping off a surprisingly quick kick down towards Athala’s legs, hooking her foot to try and catch the woman in the side of the knee. While not the most powerful striker, the point wasn’t to blast out the other woman’s leg, but instead to wear the dangerous limb down and leave it more vulnerable for the feline fighter’s ultimate end game, submissions. She was hesitant to risk kicking any higher, not sure if this woman would be able to catch her strike so opted to go a safer route. If her kick managed to stagger though, she would throw caution to the wind and lunge forward to close distance and try and tie the two of them up with some grappling.

Athala was having far too much fun with this. Sure the banter was relatively mild, and the two of them weren't nearly as antagonistic towards each others as some of the other fighters she had witnessed in this and various other leagues. The mood constantly shifted between light-hearted teasing and genuine indignation. It was the sort of environment that could just as easily tip over into friendly competition as it could rage-filled combat, all depending on who said and did what. It was the type of psychological razers edge Athala loved fighting on. Except at the moment they weren't doing much fighting, but they both seemed keen to rectify that.

Jinx seemed to head her call, putting herself in a fighting stance that signaled she was ready to pounce at any moment. Athala was fully cognizant of the fact that she was putting herself on the defense here, but that was exactly where she wanted to be. Her opponent was her entire world right now; there was nothing to distract her from analyzing her each and every single breath, every solitary twitch of her muscles, every revealing shift of her gaze. She wanted this women to think she had the advantage of being on the offensive, only to see that cute perplexed face of hers return again when Athala would merely block it off and counterattack in spectacular fashion.

She thought she had her chance when she caught the hint that Jinx was about to launch her attack. Bouncing with her forward leaning leg to close in the distance with a full - no a half step in, only to speedily twist her body and send her other leg flying in and towards her own. As observant as Athala was, she simply lacked the reaction time necessary to cope with her opponent's impressive speed, instead reactively lifting her leg up and bending the knee, fully expecting a side kick aimed around her thigh. She tried analyzing the trajectory  of her opponent's inbound limb realizing at the last second the intended target seemed to be the side of her knee. A step-back and doge would have been much more effective than a block in this case, but at this point, it was already too late to change course.

Her upright leg meant that Jinx's foot hadn't connected exactly where it wanted to, instead finding itself hooked onto he back of Athala's calf, sliding down the length of her leg and snapping off of the edge of her heel causing her leg to be thrusted upwards. Athala did a quick one-footed hop backwards to break the hold, but combined with the unfortunate time of the unintended upwards thrust of her leg, caused her to stagger slightly and lose her balance. She quickly regaining it by planting her leg back onto the canvas and grounding herself once more. That quick break in Athala's balance was all Jinx needed, seizing the opportunity by lunging forward and grasping onto Athala's now outreached arms. Athala tried her best at controlling the grapple, constantly grasping and pushing aside Jinx's aggressively probing hands in a vain attempt to prevent her from solidifying a potentially dangerous hold.

Athala wasn't the best grappler in the world by any metric, usually preferring to keep her opponents at a distance where she knew she had the advantage. With Jinx locked onto her know, regret for having let her make the first move began to seep into her mind. Pushing them aside, she tried latching onto Jinx with equal vigor, her amused expression now having been replaced with a much more strained one as the two of them finally got back into the swing of an actual fight. She tried latching onto the back of Jinx's neck with one hand, pulling in close while still maintaining a grip on one of her forearms in an attempt to transition the brief grapple into a collar and elbow lockup.