Blue issues a challenge (BlueOrange vs Amorelia)

[BlueOrange]

Blue just couldn't stop crying, even as she laughed as they recognized the truth about Jeff together.  But the laughter was gone in an instant when she heard the whispered confession.

"I get it," she said, her voice hard and professional. "You might not think it, but when I was younger..." a lump formed in her throat. No. Not that.

She gripped Amore's elbows firmly and stepped back, holding the other woman in place, staring into her eyes.  "We don't have to change anything.  We have a good show.  We have a great show.  We have the best show in the history of wrestling.  A lot of the girls are tempted, and... and I'm one of them.  But there's plenty of networks that would love to have us, and use us to sell sportscars and hummers.  We can say no to the other shit."

[Amorellia]

Amorellia's hands slide across Blue's waist as she stepped back out of her grip, as if her last comfort was slipping out of her grasp. Her piercing blue eyes met with her partner's, but they were teary with defeat.

"B-but..." Amore began, her voice shakier than it'd ever been. "But w-what if... I wanted to change something?" she asked, her hands curling up to grasp onto Blue's forearms.

[BlueOrange]

Oh god, I had it completely backwards Blue realized, and stepped forward to enfold Amorellia in her arms.  "I'm sorry," she said.  "I made you scared.  Scared of asking for something that you want."  She kissed the side of Amorellia's head, the pain in her cheek be damned.  "If you'll forgive me for being scared, then I will hold you for as long as you want me to hold you."

[Amorellia]

Amore felt Blue's arms wrap around her. She felt safe. Safer than she'd ever been. Untouchable, just like she was in the ring... and at the same time completely exposed and vulnerable.

She nuzzled her face against her partner's shoulder, and after a while finally raised her own hands, wrapping them around the small of her back once again.

Her reply came only in the form of a quiet sniffle, muffled as she buried her face against Blue's collarbone.

[BlueOrange]

Blue took a deep breath in. I will hold you forever, never let you go.  You are safe with me.  Always.  She knew it wasn't true, but she could make it true, at least for a few minutes long...

Nelly's voice blared out from somewhere on the floor.  "It's gettin HOT IN HERE"

"Oh for fuck's sake," moaned Blue, recognizing the ring of Jeff's phone.  She glared at it in disgust, and the display replied Sandra McKinnon.

"Shit!" Blue let go of Amore, and scrambled down onto her knees to pick up the phone.  As she raised it to her face, she gestured frantically at the door.  "Mister Gold's phone, Stacey speaking," she said in a high-pitched voice that wasn't hers.

She hoped that Amore would help out as the call continued. "Hi Stacey, is Jeff there?  It's Sandra McKinnon calling." said a female voice.

"I'm afraid Mister Gold is directing right now, but he did leave instructions to bring him his phone as soon as you called," 'Stacey' said.  "I'm doing that now."

[BlueOrange]

OOC: Let’s take this inside https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=334561

[BlueOrange]

===OOC Commentary track===

OMG, how pretentious am I.  I'm adding a commentary track to a roleplay that I've done.  Because I need to rant about what an awesome time I had.

The reality is that the fight didn't really start here, it started in Amorellia's intro thread.  She picked a fight with me, in a wonderfully charming and mischievous way.  I was provoked, and I was definitely in the mood for a fight.

Blue Enters

Blue leapt onto the stage and snatched the microphone from the winner's hand.  "Nobody cares, honey," she said, then turned her attention to the crowd.  "This message is for Amorelia!  Yeah, you know the one.  The one with the alliteration in her approval thread name!  She thinks she's clever!  She thinks she's witty!" 

The crowd cheered, and one particularly drunk man stood up and shouted "We love you Amorelia!"

Blue fixed him with a stare. "You love her?  Because she's so pretty?"

"YES!" Screamed the crowd.

"Well you won't love her after you've seen her lose!  And she is going to lose.  After I'm finished with her, you will wonder why you ever dreamed of supporting her.  But you know what?  I don't think she'll come.  I don't think she has what it takes to face me.  She's not going to come out here and face me.  Because she's scared.  And she's weak."

I'm pleased with my entrance.  It's a solid implementation of a predictable formula, it establishes a whole bunch of conventions and gives us something to work with.

Amore enters

In a blast of loud feedback the microphone was cut off, the sound of Blue's blustering replaced by epic entrance music. A deafening roar rises up from the crowd as the digital displays light up with Amorellia's name.

Amore leapt out onto the entrance ramp, yelling wildly with a ravenous look in her eyes, feeding off of the energy of the crowd. She stops and points at Blue menacingly, standing there for a good ten seconds before starting her walk to the stage, handing out hi fives to the crowd and flexing her non-existent muscles.

She accepts the invitation, follows the predictable formula, and doesn't make a big deal about the fact that I spelled her name wrong.  (Which I continued to do, several times.)  I love that her muscles are described as non-existent.  It takes generosity to give yourself a weakness like that.

You good?

Blue's face went pale at the sound of Amorelia's entrance music, and the hand holding the microphone dropped to her waist in shock.  As Amorelia pointed at her, she raised the microphone once more.  "I'm not scared of you!  I... am not... scared of you!"  The cameraman made sure to get a good close-up of the spittle flying from her mouth and the panic in her eyes.

"AM - O - RELIA!, AM - O - RELIA!" the crowd chanted.  Blue covered her ears against the horrifying sound for a moment, then dropped the microphone, dived forward, and slid under the bottom rope, tumbling expertly to her feet near Amorelia, and taking hold of her co-star's ponytail.

"You good?" she whispered, preparing for the opening move of the fight.

One thing that really interests me about professional wrestling is the way that the wrestlers care for each other and make each other look good.  I wanted to explore that, give us something more than the predictable formula to work with.  There's a fun duality being set up here, as well.  My character is pretending to be weak and out of control, but she's strong and in control.  The Amore character is pretending to be strong and in control, but is revealed to be weak.  There's a hint about whether Amore is in control that I didn't pick up on at the time.

AND, on top of that, let's not forget that Amorellia's application is being processed while this is being written.  She's under pressure to demonstrate that she's the awesome roleplayer she claimed to be.  And I'm feeling pressure to demonstrate how awesome I am, because she said in her application "I heard you guys are the best" and I don't want to let the side down.  I'm not sure that I had a crush on her yet.  At this point, I was intrigued.

I'm the best

"No, I'm the best," she said in reply before turning around, reaching up behind her to grab Blue's head, kicking her own feet out from under herself and dropping her butt to the floor, carefully smacking Blue's head against her shoulder.

In time with the roar of the crowd she jumps back up to her feet triumphantly, before running over and sliding into the ring. She hops up onto the middle rope in one corner of the ring, posing for the crowd.

I love this pose.  She's arrogant, but she's careful.  I think it's the first plot twist of the story, and it's the seed that the rest of the story grows around (in my mind, at least).  Notice also how she sets herself up to be ambushed.

A flicker of hostility

Maybe thought Blue.  But that ego is going to cause you problems someday.  Now her job was to stagger around for a few moments blinking, and listening for the crowd's enthusiasm to peak.  Wow, they were really into it tonight; if the crowd had ever loved her this much, she might have developed ego problems of her own.  Surely the cheering had to start dropping off at some point!

She played for time, letting her eyes slowly scan Amorelia's body, as if working out her next move.  The girl was good, there was no doubting that, and she held a beautiful shape with her arms, elbows just far enough in front of her face at every moment.  And there it was, just the slightest drop-off in the cheering.

Blue snatched hold of both Amorelia's ankles at once, and pulled her legs out from under her, smacking the star's thighs against the corner post maybe just a little harder than she needed to.  Then a quick leap to the ropes, and a flying leap over the top.

I accepted the invitation to a professional rivalry, and communicated that the Blue character's control wasn't perfect.  Notice the mild puppeteering in my pose, signaling to the other player "Your character isn't going to get hurt."

Amore bounces back

Amore grunted as she plummeted to the floor of the ring, writhing exaggeratedly to really sell it as she heard the cheers waver. She looked up and watched Blue leap off of the top rope, and at the last second rolled out of the way, letting her co-star smack onto the floor.

Without giving Blue time to react, Amore hopped up to her feet and leapt up, only to come slamming back down onto the woman's back with a drop of her thigh, a loud crack and creak as the stage had some give to it.

It's nice, it's simple, it does the job, I love the cracking sound.  There's a lovely OOC signal there that my character shouldn't get hurt.

Blue goes off-script

"Arrrgh!" Blue screamed.  This was the part where the script called for her to flail in agony while Amore took another bow, but she'd had enough.  You think you're the best?  Improvise. 

Her left hand snatched at Amore's ankle, while her right arm swept upward for Amore's armpit.  With a little luck, she'd trap her in a nice display hold.  If not, it should be easy enough to roll out of the way and see what happens next.

There was nothing wrong with the story per se, but I was getting bored.  It was all looking very safe, very predictable.  I'd been challenged to a fight, not to an aerial ballet demonstration.  The story wasn't dangerous enough at this point.  I used a contingency pose here, to help my writing partner be able to go in more than one direction for more than a sentence or two.  Also, I spelled the Amore character name correctly for the first time.  (Yay!)

Amore gets blindsided

"What the hell?" Amore thought as Blue pinned her up, the crowd having changed to a mix of cheers and boos. With her free foot she kicked off of the floor, rolling backwards and out of her opponent's grip.

She stands up on the other side of the ring, shaking it off and readying herself, brushing away a few stray strands of errant hair that had become matted down with sweat from the work.

I liked that the opposing character fell for the surprise move (as she should have), and also that the story kept moving.  She was willing to acknowledge the logical consequences of the surprise, but she wasn't interested in losing her agency in the story.

Blue attempts a half nelson

Blue gave Amore a predatory grin, then flicked her head to the left, followed by a contemptuous gesture with her right hand.  Half nelson coming your way.

Then she charged forward, left arm stretching out for the gap between Amore's left elbow and her waist.

I researched this pose.  I was looking for a wrestling hold that would allow my character to whisper in her character's ear.  I thought that would be kind of sexy, and repair the relationship between the characters.  I had my next couple of poses scripted in my mind.

Amore goes on the attack

Amore bent her knees and held her hands up, readying herself. She waited for Blue to charge, and at the last second dropped to the mat, using her body to trip her opponent.

As Blue went flying into the ropes Amore reached up and wrapped up one of the woman's ankles with both of her arms.

Rather than posing an attempt, Amore is depicted as successful.  Seen superficially, that's a breach of etiquette, but in terms of storytelling, it's inspired.  And if you pay attention, it's not a breach of etiquette.  The consequences of Amore's success are left for me to decide.  This was the point where I went from 'curious' to 'seriously paying attention'.

Fine, have it your way

Blue didn't have to fake the pain as she slammed into the ropes.  A half nelson would have been the perfect opportunity for a quick on-stage chat, an opportunity to whisper in Amore's ear and receive a signal in response.  Fine.  Have it your way.

Then came the ankle hold, a real opportunity for a serious injury if she didn't give up total control.  So she did, shoving herself off the ropes with her hands and becoming nearly weightless in the process.

This wasn't the only time I used Blue's thoughts as a proxy for OOC communication.  I had no idea where to go, so I handed over the controls.

Amore screws up

Amore tried to use her grip on Blue's ankle to bring her down, hoping to roll and lock her up in a pin. A good idea, but poor execution, lead to her opponent just coming crashing down on top of her.

Amore rolled over onto her stomach before propping herself up with one hand, wheezing momentarily as the wind was knocked out of her.

Such a beautiful, generous story moment.  Given the opportunity to do anything at all that she wants, Amore snatches defeat from the jaws of victory.

Blue tries to assert control

"OW!"  Blue didn't have to fake that one.  Landing on a disorganized mess of Amore's bones was going to leave bruises.  As she started to roll off, she saw that Amore was also suffering from the failed move.

Seizing her opportunity, she quickly straddled Amore's chest and reached for her wrists.  She didn't care if she achieved the pin, the point was to lean forward and hiss quietly "There is going off script, and there is dangerous bullshit.  No more dangerous bullshit, OK?"

It's a little sexy, it finally gives me the chance for the on-stage whispering to take place (although the content has changed), it's simple, it expresses the character.

Amore misses the point

Amore grit her teeth and tried to writhe her way out from underneath Blue - when that failed she tried to buck her opponent off. After a few seconds of only barely managing to keep a shoulder off of the mat she looked up at the woman.

"Hey you started it, don't dish it out if you can't take it," she shoots back, staring daggers up at her.

I love this.  I'm convinced that the writer understood exactly what point Blue was making.  Amore misses it completely.

I kept you safe

“I kept you safe,” Blue hissed. Fuck, the crowd hates shoulder-lifting games.

She grabbed Amore’s shoulder, then used one of the bucking motions for a little extra lift as she pushed down on one knee. The hand on Amore’s shoulder smoothly guiding her partner to land on top. “You were always safe with me.”

I really like my pose here.  Blue communicates "I'm better than you, which is why you're winning." She asserts her professional and moral superiority by being willing to lose the match.

Baiting the hook

Amore rolled over to straddle Blue, sitting atop her midriff. She pressed her partner's shoulders down with her hands, bending down close and leaning her weight onto the woman. "I still am," she whispered.

It's perfectly in character, and it's not smart, and it invites me to stop taking the safety of the Amore character for granted.  We've already established that in this story, Amore gets punished for arrogance.  Therefore, this is a beautiful piece of foreshadowing that invites my next pose.

Let me a teach you a lesson

“OK,” Blue said, and went for her signature pin-breaker. It was a difficult move: the arms and left leg stabilize, while the right leg comes up behind the opponent’s back. A twist, a bend of the knee, and your shin is against your opponent’s throat. Then you pitch forward, and your opponent’s head and shoulders slam into the mat.

Difficult, and also dangerous. There was a lot that could go wrong.

We've also established that Blue has a temper, and doesn't like being taken for granted.  So she decides to teach Amore an important lesson: that her safety depends on the skill and goodwill of her wrestling partner.  I thought it was important to leave this wide open, in terms of what happens next.

An offer accepted

Amore winced as something struck her, seeing stars for the briefest of moments. Blue's leg had wrapped up around her body, and her shin struck her in the nose. Amore could feel blood begin to trickle out from her nostrils as her partner used her leg to slam her back against the mat.

When I first read this pose, I thought it was ambiguous as to just how badly Amore had been hurt.  Given that professional wrestlers die in the ring sometimes, I thought it would be interesting to see how far Amorellia was willing to go when it comes to Amore's injuries.  I was thoroughly impressed.

How far are we taking this?

OOC: I just have to stop for a moment and admire that pose. If you were approved, this would be a PM. Since you’re not approved, I have to say this here: WAY TO BRING THE DRAMA!

—-

Blue did her best not to gasp in horror as she saw blood leaking from Amore’s nose. Just how bad was it? She glared at the referee, and quickly checked that Amore’s shoulders were both on the mat. If she lifted one, fine. If not, then this fight needed to end, and end quickly.

This pose asks two questions.  The first is the in-character question "Just how bad are those injuries?"  The out-of-character question is "What is this story really about?"

All the way

The blow had dizzied Amore and she wasn't able to properly catch her head from slamming back onto the mat, causing the final blow to knock her unconscious. Her silken black hair was scattered across her face, matted down by sweat as blood continued to trickle from her nostrils, laying back lifelessly.

The injuries are serious.  This is not the story of a wrestling match. With this pose, Amorellia catapults the story into a different genre.  This is the story of a relationship between two women, not a fight between two wrestlers.  Up to this point, as a writer, I was impressed.  This is where I fell in (non-exclusive) love.

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

Blue tapped the mat with her finger three times, glaring at the referee. Fast count. He obliged. “One! Two! Three!”

She immediately released Amore and sprang away as fast as she could, climbing the corner post furthest from the entrance ramp. “You see?” She shouted. “You see what I did to her?”

The crowd booed.

“Do you see what I did to her?” She screamed, screwing her eyes shut against the tears. “Did you see that?”

Of all my poses, this one is my sentimental favorite.  Blue does everything she can to protect Amore, begging the crowd to hate her as much as she hates herself in that moment.

A change of scene

Amore slowly flickered her eyelids open, half lidded as her gaze adjusted to the dimly lit ceiling she was staring at. "Fuck," she hissed quietly through gritted teeth, reaching a hand up to the back of her head as if it would magically make the pounding headache dissipate.

She coughed as she realized she had tissues stuck in each nostril, slowly sitting up and propping herself up on her left arm, realizing she had been laid on a couch in one of the backstage rooms.

A strong storytelling choice to skip over the really predictable part of the story, and go straight to the next moment of tension.  There's an implication here that the injuries are not as bad as they seemed. Amore's health is not actually at stake: her feelings and her relationships are at stake.

I'm here for you

Blue returned to Amore’s side as soon as she heard her speak. “Easy there, easy,” she said. “No more cameras for you today. No crowds. No kayfabe. You don’t need that right now. You can rest.”

A stagehand tapped her on the shoulder, holding up two fingers. She nodded to him, then turned back to Amore. “I’m going to have to go in a sec, Titania is going to chase me down a corridor, and find the knockout gas in my boot. Amorellia is still the best, nobody could ever beat her in a fair fight.”

She clutched Amore’s hand and fought back tears.

At this point, I'm in love with the writer I'm working with, and my self-insert character is in love with her character.  Therefore, my character shows up as best she can.

Human frailty

Amore huffed, sending the blood-stained tissues flying out of her nostrils and onto the floor. She eased herself from her hand and down to her elbow, just partially propped up.

She turned her gaze and looked at Blue, seeing the telltale shimmer of restrained tears that were trying to fight their way out.

"I thought you said I was safe with you..." Amore said softly. She knew the words would hurt. She wanted them to hurt.

A pang of regret shot through her chest as the words left her lips, but it was too late; she was too proud to take them back.

The Amore character is not a saint.  This is a beautiful, real, human moment.  I cried when I read it for the first time.  I'm crying again now.

Forgiveness interruptus

Blue could hold back the tears no longer. “I’m sorry,” she sobbed. “I’m sorry.” She kissed Amore’s knuckles one at a time as the sobbing grew into full-on crying. “I will make this up to you, and you’ll be bigger than ever.”

“One minute!” The stagehand called.  Blue nodded, stood up, started straightening herself up. “Goddamned prima Donna had it coming,” she whispered, her eyes closed.

The executive producer came in. “Get out there!” was the barked instruction for Blue, who nodded, repeating her line to herself as she left. And then the producer’s radiant smile, full with all the sincere concern that a wrestling producer could muster. “How’s my star?”

What I wanted at this point was for Blue to make it up to Amore in ways that are not entirely PG-13.  But with Amorellia's approval still outstanding, that wasn't an option.  So I sent her out of the room, and sent in an NPC.  Not having discussed what kind of scene partner the executive producer would be, I thought it best to leave the possibilities wide open.

Jeff

Amore winced slightly as Blue began to cry, not at the splitting headache that plagued her, but at the sight of tears streaming down her friend's face. The star opened her lips to speak, but was interrupted as the producer barged in.

"Oh fuck off Jeff," Amorellia spat as she sat up with a grunt, turning and placing her feet on the floor.

"What do you want, just making sure your golden goose can still walk huh?"

I invited the idea that the EP wasn't very sincere, and that invitation is accepted.  We learn immediately that Jeff is kind of an asshole, but also that he's OK with being told to fuck off.  Now I have something to build a character on.

You're a fighter

Jeff smiled his gotta-love-me smile, the one that typically wore off within six months.  "Honey, babe, you don't gotta be like that!  I brought flowers!"  He did, indeed, have some flowers behind his back.  These weren't the good flowers: he hadn't had time to send his assistant out for those.  These were the standby flowers, the ones he picked up from the hotel lobby on his way to the show every night, for use at a time like this.  They happened more than anyone would like to admit.

"You gave them a hell of a show.  That's what we all love about you.  You're a fighter."  It was all his usual stuff, predictable as ever.  But there was something not quite right: his trademark overconfidence was missing.

At this point, I've got a plan. I figure the wrestling show is in financial trouble, and Jeff is going to ask his wrestlers to put on a 'more adult' kind of show.  When that runs out of steam, I can send Blue back into the room with a gauze pad strapped to her face (because Titania wanted to punish Blue for injuring Amore), and the girls can cuddle.

But?

Amore managed to stand to her feet from the couch, flinching as she shook her head for a moment as if trying to exorcise her headache.

"...but?" she added, taking the offered flowers in hand before tossing them onto a nearby table, raising an eyebrow at the man. She crossed her arms as she awaited an answer.

One of the things I love about short poses, is that you can get straight to the point.

It's a great but

"But there is not but!"  Jeff said, raising his hands in a gesture of surrender. "Your numbers are great, your merchandise keeps selling, everybody loves you.  Your agent has my nuts in a vice, and she's booking you on a talk show next week, so you'll get the night off and you're going to be bigger than ever.  For you, there is no but."

His gaze dropped well below Amore's eyes, and he smiled, like a naughty boy who'd just been caught.  "OK, there's a but. But you're gonna love it.  It's a great but." He looked up again. "The clowns at the network, suddenly they don't care for numbers, they want branding now.  They wanna be family-friendly now."  A puff of his chest signalled his disbelief.  "I says, 'We're friendly', but they ran off at the mouth with some Christian values shit, and we're gonna need a new network, the story will be in Variety in a couple of days."

Jeff switched to his 'swear to god' face.  "This is good news.  I swear to god.  This is the best news.  We're gonna get a new network, and a better contract, and a better timeslot.  More money.  For everyone, and especially for you. Just, ummm, try to be open-minded about things, yeah?"

Jeff was fun to write.  I also wanted to test how sexy I could be while maintaining PG-13.

Straight to the point

"Hah!" Amore spat out the haughty laugh as she uncrossed her arms, taking a step towards the man. "Family friendly my ass. What's happening with Blue?" she asked sternly, stepping uncomfortably close towards the executive, locking eyes with him.

Wham.  Nothing gets between Amore and what she wants.  So much for clever innuendo about wrestling.

Saving the show

As if on cue, there was a crashing sound in the corridor outside as Titania's voice boomed "What the hell is this?"

Then Blue's voice, loaded with venom and spite.  "The goddammed prima donna had it coming!"

Jeff shrugged. "She's saving the show."  There was a crashing sound.  "She's a good girl, and a hard worker, and if you want, I can go easy on her.  But she doesn't have what you have.  And she knows better than to pull the shit that she pulled.  The writers know what they're doing, she needs to learn to trust them."

There was a thud, and the thin wall to the corridor cracked.  Jeff sighed.  "Great.  Now we have to reimburse the venue."

I liked this pose.  It was an opportunity to make use of the planning I'd done earlier.  I figured Amore would have a change of heart, beg Jeff to be nice to Blue, maybe some angsty dialogue, that sort of thing.

Contact with the enemy

"Get out of the way," Amore sneered, pushing the man's chest and walking by him. She exited the room and turned down the hallway in the direction of the commotion, looking to find Blue.

She made her way through the venue, listening to the voices, clashes, and sounds of the brawl, until she finally found pair of fighters, cameramen doing their job in capturing the scene.

So much for my clever plan.  In hindsight, my concept of what would happen was not true to Amore's character.  This reckless action is far more interesting and far more true to the character than what I was thinking.

Please don't

Jeff tried to block Amore's exit with his body, but it was over before it began, and he was lucky that he didn't get hurt.

The fight was moving quickly, and had already gone past the end of the corridor and into the parking lot.  Titania had a large metal tray in her hands and swung it hard, crashing it into Blue's upper body.  The tray buckled under the impact and made an impressive booming sound in the process.

"I should put your friends in hospital more often," Blue hissed, the broken skin along her cheekbone bleeding gently.  "You're almost worth fighting now."  Her sadistic leer changed instantly to fear as she made eye contact with Amore.  As Blue shook her head, Titania swung the tray again.

I tried to be worthy of the setup I'd been given to work with, to really emphasise the irony of what was happening.

(to be continued)