Birbie Becky vs Nagana Kōshukei- Faster then a Vice Grip?

Nagana was almost afraid to look. If her tail found its mark, Becky might have been…well, the serpent didn’t even know. For once, the entire arena was silent, making it all feel so eerie and uncomfortable. It seemed like anyone could hear a pin drop, making the distinct “Heh! all the more noticeable in the droning silence. The serpent was like a statue, waiting to see if her fate was sealed and if she just took an innocent life.

Thankfully, Becky would hope into view with just a close call. Her tail feathers were underneath Nagana’s tail, and pretty soon Becky would tug herself free from the tree trunk sized tail that kept her partially pinned to the floor. Nagana’s shoulders slumped in relief, not noticing the pain in her shoulder anymore as her tail moved once again to snatch Becky up! Though, this time not in a hold, but a somewhat relieved hug! As the snake brought the bird closer.

“Are you alright?! Lord, I didn’t mean to…like, that was a total accident, and I honestly didn’t mean to! I could have…”

The snake trailed off, too worried to try and finish the sentence. The crowd didn’t matter at this point, but Nagana suddenly felt very, very tired.

Becky was so distracted by her tail feathers getting plucked and feeling ashamed at it (cultural reasons), that Naganas tail sweeping her up caught her offguard. Finally Nagana had caught her prey!

But what caught her even MORE offguard was the hug. Not even a bear hug or a hold, just....a genuine, relieved hug.

Hearing what Nagana said made Becky look up in suprise. Namely, looking into Naganas eyes. The snake had rather.... hypnotizing eyes. And they looked very tired.

Becky blinked while she was being stuffed into the hug, and stared into Naganas eyes, a bit speechless. There was a moment of pause and silence...and then Becky said, "I'm-fine." In that short moment, Becky actually hugged Nagana back, even rubbing her hand on her back.

Becky then gave Nagana a wink, and then slipped out of her hug with a spin, making a struggle noise while at it, and splatted on the ring floor, spreadeagled, and knocking some more feathers out.

She then sat up, acting exhausted and hurt like as I Nagana just gave her a crushing hold, and yelled at the referee, "I'm-throwin-the-towel!"

At that moment, Nagana’s mind was going from one place to the next. She was everywhere except for right there in the moment, thinking about what could have been, thinking about what was impossible now, and how to follow up with things. All the possibilities that were now available or impossible for her thanks to a split second miss! Nagana couldn’t help but peer over at the announcers tower, spotting those golden feline eyes staring at her from all that distance. Before Nagana could really say or do anything, to Eros or anyone, she’d feel a gentle, feathered embrace around her broad shoulders. The serpent striker clearly wasn’t expecting it, because she tensed up like a rock with Becky’s embrace!

“Wha..? What are you-?”

Suddenly, Becky gave Nagana a subtle wink before hopping off her tail as though she was hurt. Nagana almost moved to catch her, but stopped herself. She was wondering just what Becky was doing, her yellow eyes peering at the back of the birds head as Becky suddenly announced she couldn’t go on.

And…gave up?

“Hey! Becky, just what do you think you’re-”

“Well well well~ You heard it loud and clear ladies and gentlemen~ It seems that our Bullet with Wings misfired…”

Eros’s chipper tone erupted through the speakers as the audience booed the outcome. People liked Birdie and wanted to see her win. Such a surprising upset wasn’t looked at favorably by the SRW fans…and even Eros herself seemed to force her cheer just a bit.

“But they both gave us a brilliant fight full of excitement! At the very least, we can give them that.”

The serpent striker peered around, confused. Why was she the winner? How come Becky gave up? THe snake decided that the only real answer she would get was from Birdie herself, and so the Naga slithered in front of Becky.

“What was that all about?! Weren’t we in the middle of a match?!”

Birbie looked at her and the referee, then looked at the screen display. If she faced Nagana, her face wouldn't be visible on screen.

So she turned her head to face Nagana and said

"You-got-me-good-with-that-hold-there-plucking-my-feathers-out-to-distract-me-and-put-me-in-that-hold-taking-advantage-of-your-strong-muscles-and-my-small-body-to-instantly-wind-me-out! I-cant-go-on-like-this-or-ill-be-cooked!"

Birbie winked at the end of the statement, which the referee didn't notice.

The jeers of the crowd made it a bit difficult to hear Becky under the circumstances, but thankfully the bird-like bullet was kind enough to speak in slow methodical sentences so both Nagana and the referee could hear. The serpent striker wasn’t sure what to make of things. On one hand, she could relax a bit now that the fight was over, but on the other the two were probably in hot water with how sudden it all ended. Nagana hated fixed fights, and her conflict made itself evident with the way she rubbed the back of her head. Thankfully, she let out an annoyed sigh, realizing that Becky already had her beat.

“Alright then. If you can’t go on in a fight, then the least you can let me do is get you something to eat. After I…plucked your feathers.”

Nagana didn’t bother going into the meaning of that. Her predatory eyes couldn’t even meet Becky’s adorable little peepers as a subtle blush crawled across Nagana’s scaly face. In a subtle gesture, Nagana offered a part of her lower body for Becky to perch on if she wanted. A strange gesture for a snake to give a bird.

Becky saw the gesture, and quickly understood.

Despite the boos, and the feel of predatory eyes falling on her from somewhere (most likely the Warden), Beckie didn't really care at the moment. Hearing the crowds jeers, in fact, seemed to make her a bit more energetic. She said to the referee, "Hey-could-you-put-me-on-there." and with one of her arms, in a hurt motion, she pointed on the part of Naganas body that she was offering.

As the referee carefully did that, Nagana would notice Becky was glowering. Yes, due to how her face looked, it looked rather like a cute pouty face, but she clearly had an angry look in her eyes.

An angry look in her eyes that seemed to be looking at the crowds.

Becky wasn’t the only one feeling a lethal gaze on her shoulders. Nagana could feel the warden's glare on her back as the referee gently set Becky on her predetermined perch. Nagana was surprisingly careful not to jostle Becky off, but in the process noticed her negative expression towards the crowd. Nagana tried to follow her eyeline to see if she was looking at anyone in particular, even flicking her tongue a bit to get a taste of the crowd. There was no one that Becky seemed to be eyeing in particular, so Nagana took her away and up the ramp rather quickly. Only when they were out of sight did Nagana peer back at Becky, her scaly face still somewhat scary even when relaxed.

“Hey…just ignore them. You did a great job out there, Birbie. Some people just come to watch the show for blood, y’know?”

Nagana flicked her tongue in annoyance, turning away to find a comfortable spot to set Becky.

“And honestly, they’re probably just mad I won. I bet no one was booing you, so…y’know, don’t be too frustrated.”

As they got out of the public's view, Becky's eyes still had that frustrated look, though she did seem to ease up. She still kept her fake injured appearance up, probably just to be safe, but she did seem to ease into riding on Naganas lower body.

She explained, "I'm-annoyed-they-were-booing-you." Her eyes took a more sombre look.

"Are-they-mad-because-youre-a-serpentine?"

Nagana crossed her arms, waiting as Becky explained her feelings about the crowd. Mad about them booing her? While it was a sweet gesture, it was akin to being mad about the suns rising in the morning or the plants drinking water. Nagana had once thought that she could change people's minds, but natural instinct was too hard wired into everyone. Almost every creature had a natural hatred or fear of a snake. Go through any species of history, and a snake was probably demonized or played as a trickster or villain. But explaining that to Becky felt like she would be talking down to her. Nagana couldn’t really look Becky in the eyes, scratching her nose as she tried to think of a way to explain things.

“People…don’t like Naga’s. It's probably because we are more serpent than anything else, but it doesn’t help that almost every culture out there has a monster or demon that looks like us. Sharp fangs dripping with venom, piercing eyes, loud hissing? The numerous ways my species and their ancestors can hunt made us near apex predators, and that scares people. Even when the Overseer created peace in Gaia, we are still perceived as the same jungle hunters or desert dwellers we were before. It’s shit, really…but that’s how it is. Even Croc’s like Croo-El have fans, but serpents?”

Nagana hissed a bit, “The best we can get is manual labor. No one wants a serpent to be the face of their company, to greet their customers. Just-”

Nagana realized she was starting to rant and get heated. She quickly bit down on the topic, and decided to just relax.

“It’s fine. There's nothing we can do about it right now. I appreciate the thought though.”

Becky listened patiently, her eyes just blinking once as they stared through the whole explanation. She could feel Naganas growingly heated words, and when she was done, she looked down to the ground a bit. Scratching the back of her own head, she asked, that same sombre look,

"Not-even-for-yourself?"