Star Gazing's Not Boring

Taylor bristled at Lia's remarks. Why did everyone feel the need to talk trash about her and Akashi? She clenched her jaw and tightened her fists and the slightest little sudden movement from Lia was all the encouragement she needed.

She launched herself forward, lunging and kicking her foot straight out into Lia's gut. Maybe she wanted to piss Taylor off, but she was about to get a beating.

The kick struck Lia's gut, knocking her a couple of steps back, causing her to bend over slightly, hand clutching her stomach. Still, her eyes did not move from Taylor's. "Ow," Lia intoned dryly, tossing the jacket onto the bench as erected herself. She had given up trying to make heads or tails of this whackjob. The only language she seemed to speak was 'I'm a little pissant, please fight me.' "Touched a nerve then?" Lia growled.

Lia knew how Taylor fought; it was her only slim advantage going into this. Of course, a lightning fast, skilled, trained wild animal did not have much in the way of obvious weaknesses. Still, the smart play here was simple. Let her lead and try to get her to make a mistake. Hopefully it would not be hard. Any other play would leave Lia bloody, bruised, and coated in bite and scratch marks for her first real day of work tomorrow. Not a good way to show up.

Of course, Taylor was also the sort who could end you if you made a single mistake of your own. Small comfort. Plus, she was probably used to being baited by everyone who spent even ten seconds listening to her grating, whiny taunts.

Feigning a bit slower movement than she normally would, Lia would assume a stance and smile at Taylor, "You're going to need a bigger head start than that, though..." Lia would let Taylor make the first move, hoping to surprise the punkette with her speed.

Taylor circled a few steps around Lia, looking very relaxed. Everyone always did the same thing. They got a glimpse of what Taylor could do, of her speed, and they froze up. She supposed they thought that making her come to them was they're only shot. In a way they were right.

"You might have bunny ears, but you look just like a scaredy cat."

Taylor did what she did when people did what they always did. She stayed light on her feet, just inside of her range, and threw fakes. She used a fast head fake and bounced back a step, circled a few bouncy steps, bent her knees like the was going to lunge in, faked a kick, circled some more. Anything to be as frustrating as possible to an opponent trying to time her approach and counter.

Once she felt she was being sufficiently annoying, she set her feet and faked a kick before winging her right hand at Lia's jaw.

It did not take long for Lia to realize her mistake. Taylor was a veteran. The guy with reach and speed was the guy Tyson trained to fight all his life, and it was the same way here. It was worth a shot, but Taylor's taunt made it absolutely clear. This was not her first rodeo. She knew exactly what Lia was trying to do.

The flurry of feints confirmed it. Taylor was the unique sort of irritating, the mouthy braggart with the skills to back up most everything she boasted. It was part of the reason Lia liked her... at least initially...

"I'm just afraid you're gonna try to eat my boobies again, Jaws." Lia taunted.

Lia tried to time it, putting herself in Taylor's shoes. She was going to swing at some point. For the face, and the last one was going to be fired right off another feint, and once Taylor had made herself as annoying as possible. It was the only natural sequence, really. Once that blow fired, whoever took it, the fight was going to be on. Either way, Lia could not slowplay from there on. Taylor did not know how fast Lia could be. It was time to show her.

Lia remained focused, watching Taylor's movements carefully, trying to anticipate her next move. Her instincts screamed as Taylor seemed to prepare for a kick... It felt like the time.

That subtle shift... half by instinct, Lia watched the punk's hands. The right punch was coming. With a flash, Lia would bring her left hand up to the side of her head to block. In the same motion, she would turn, loading up her right. With considerable speed, Lia would fire off the right hook. Not wasting a second, she would deliver the left and then the right again, both aimed at Taylor's midsection.

Tempo changed, song stayed the same: take her breath away. She took head blows like a champ.

Taylor's punch skipped off the side of Lia's arm. That was always a bad sign. As she struggled to pull herself back and reset, she found herself face to face with Lia's incoming fist. She ate it, the impact throwing her head to the side and knocking her on her ass. Lia's next punches would've hurt had she still been standing to take them.

Taylor shook her head and blinked several times. She found herself again staring up at the stars. They made her... angry. She picked up her head to keep her eyes on Lia, and after a few seconds her head was clearing. She was angry, but that gave way and she found an ironic grin slowly creeping across her face.

"Nice." She said. She kept her arms up and her feet planted, ready to move if Lia came after her.

Lia's second punch hit air. She could feel the first one knock Taylor off balance, but was already committed to the second.

Lia grinned at Taylor as she recovered, "Oh? I don't really know anything about combat. That was good?" She said mockingly, "Is it normal to hit the dirt after one punch? I've never done this before..."

Lia did not want to try to play the ground game with Taylor, at least not yet. Too much pride was on the line here. Taylor had clearly watched enough UFC or whatever that she seemed to know what she was doing down there and tapping out to her would be particularly humiliating if she was not bleeding. "Hey, come on, get back up. I don't want to get my clothes dirty... er... dirtier," Lia whined.

Taylor was in no hurry as she pushed back up to her feet. She gave Lia a sly look as she grabbed the hem of her sweatshirt and pulled it up over her head so that she was only dressed in jeans and a snug little black tank top. She stretcher her shoulders and her neck.

"You just keep on talking and talking like that. Nobody buys it. I want you to know, all I want from you is for you to take back what you said about Akashi. Too many damn people are talking trash to me about her, and I don't like it. Say what you want about me, though. It's not like you're going to make me look ridiculous, little miss fake bunny ears and $5 blazer. You're like something from a failed 80's sitcom."

When Taylor finally moved she did so at full speed. She threw her sweatshirt up into Lia's face and pounced on her, jumping up and wrapping her thighs around her waist and grabbing hold of her head while letting her momentum knock Lia over backwards and bring them both down to the ground.

Lia chuckled, "Blazer? Ooh, that's a big word from the dropout... Seriously? Akashi? I don't even remember what I said about her." Lia raised a sly eyebrow, "Dude, she would totally take it as a compliment that she's the biggest slut of the three of us." Lia let the eyebrow relax, "Good to hear though. I stopped wanting anything from you at the bar. I just literally have nothing better to do with my time. Sad, no?"

Lia tensed up, knowing Taylor was not going to play nice once she got to her feet. "You're gonna have to dig real deep into the thesaurus if you wanna knock the bunny ears though. Heard it all before... You know what a thesaurus is, right?"

Lia saw Taylor charge, and saw the sweater coming at her first. Instinct drove her hands up and her to take a step back; she caught the sweater... and then her whole body caught Taylor, sending the two girls down to the ground. "Ga-ah. Dangit, what did I just say, jerk?!" Lia still clutched the sweater with one hand, which Lia took the opportunity to rub into the dirt and try to whip at Taylor. She did not expect that to do anything, but just wanted to get her sweater all nice and filthy. With her other hand, though, Lia delivered some quick jabs into Taylor's kidney to hopefully slow her down while she thought up a better idea.

Taylor's sweatshirt wasn't that clean to begin with.

Straddling Lia's waist, one hand grabbed a handful of Lia's long hair and yanked it to bend her neck back and keep her head still. Taylor's other hand she cocked up high in a dangerous looking fist, ready to beat Lia's face in. Her eyes stayed locked on Lia's with predatory intensity. This seemed like it might start to get out of hand.

"I just don't like it, okay? People shouldn't disrespect Akashi because of the things she did. Take it back." She said very slowly and clearly. "Or else I will beat you till the cops pull me off."

Lia raised her own fist at Taylor, her face a smirk that showed no fear of Taylor's threat. "Cute. Just figure out how you'll tell Akashi about how you tried to beat up the big bad bunny. She might give you a cookie." She blew a fake kiss at Taylor, readying both her hands, waiting for Taylor to make the first move.