Nabiki Tendo | Ranma 1/2 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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testdrivememe2026-04-01 02:19 pm
okanetendo) wrote in testdrivememe2026-04-01 02:19 pm
Multidimensional Crossover Wrestling Federation TDM!
The gimmick - we're all smarks here, right? - is to treat this as a TDM when there's no actual game to app to. Post a few threads, go a few rounds, it's all in good fun. Just remember to keep up kayfabe, ne?
Ladies, gentlemen, distinguished fans, welcome to the
Multidimensional Crossover Wrestling Federation!
...coming to you live over Dreamwidth!
Bringing you the greatest wrestlers from across the multiverse, invited here to fight in the Squared Circle for your entertainment and edification!
Their Gimmick - the character they fight as in the ring - can be basically them being basically themselves during bouts, or they could be consciously creating another character in some way - from an Akane Tendo playing up her aggressive tendencies as a villanous heel to, say, mild mannered reporter Clark Kent donning tights to become Superman (later chapters NSFW), a good-hearted and heroic babyface visitor from another planet.
The rivalries may be a fiction, angles maintained with careful adherence to in-character kayfabe, and the outcomes of the bouts might be scripted in advance with one or the other wrestler booked to win - some destined to be jobbers who lose with style to put someone over with an adoring (or despising) crowd. But don't get it twisted - it takes real athletic talent, not to mention superb acting chops, to make it look like it hurt without doing any real harm to your opponent. Remember, you're here for an exciting bout for the fans, to make them pop with cheers and applause (or, as a heel, boos and hissing), so remember to really sell how much damage your dance partner is inflicting.
And of course, it's all brought to you by the manager, the one and only Kasumi Tendo.
What? It's tradition, at this point.
We've got a really exciting event card lined up for all you prospective wrestlers! Just take a peek below:
I - Backstage: Arrival, Training, and Meeting with Creative
You all show up - by various interdimensional conveyances: feeling like you stepped through a purple and gold door, flinging a TARDIS at it, taking a left turn at Albuquerque, trekking through the Netherworld by way of the Ice Pagoda, getting way too into a book, teleportation spells, took the 13:85 Abyssal Express...
At any rate, here you are in the Nexus Arena building, home of the MCWF, the Multidimensional Crossover Wrestling Federation. Perhaps you're getting a tour of the facilities, or trying to speak to someone who knows what's getting on, or maybe you're trying to find a bite to eat or the vending machines - either way, you're all new here, so strike up a conversation with your future dance partners and on-stage rivals!
You can't book a fight or make a gimmick alone, and that's where the Creative department comes in. They'll help you with everything from your costume and theme song to who's going to be your rival this season. Help Creative help you unleash the true potential of your gimmick and rivalries, and life in the promotion will be smooth sailing; piss Creative off, and you'll be jobbing to midcarders for the rest of your career.
And, of course, it takes real athletic skill to pretend to fight someone, make it look good, and not do any damage; when you're in the ring with an opponent, your life is in their hands, and a good wrestler - any skilled wrestler, face or heel - takes that seriously. That's why there are facilities in the MCWF building for everyone to work out, from simple strength training exercises to yoga and meditation to taking your frustrations out on a (hopefully literal) punching bag, to practice bouts in the ring.
Here, too, you can work on your mic skills - how to get an audience's attention, how to speak to them and electrify them, how to...
II - Cut A Promo!
Cutting a promo - learning how to hype up your matches and rivalries on the mic - is one of the most important things and up-and-coming wrestler can learn how to do. A truly legendary promo can touch the hearts of the fans, or be incredibly rude to your opponent - it could be high comedy, or completely bugnuts loco.
Either way, it can be the most fun you can have outside the ring, so really get into it. Call someone out! Compliment or insult the audience! Confess your love, or your rivalry! Just get on the mic and cut that promo!
III - Get In The Ring!
This is it - the reason you're here, to WRESTLE!
With bombast and ceremony, with your theme playing, stride to the ring and look your opponent in the eye. Banter a bit, make that crowd pop at your boasts, your provocations, your rivalry, your love. Shake hands - only the most dastardly heel would use a handshake to get someone in a throw, right? - and wait for the bell to cut loose.
The outcomes may be decided in advance, but you need to sell them with death-defying stunts - and defy your partner's death, since some of these moves are real risky, real injuries CAN happen, and to do a flying attack requires a certain level of trust that your opponent will catch you.
(The audience likes to show up with signs. A lot of them cite nonexistent chapter and verse. It's all in good fun.)
Come off the top rope with a flying hurricanra or a hip drop attack, or dazzle with footwork, strikes, and grappling techniques, and really sell your opponent's moves - keep even the smarties guessing who's going to win till the final pin and the count down from ten to the very end of the match!
Not exciting enough? Consider:
- A hardcore match where you can use (carefully vetted and approved) weapons!
- A tag team match where, for the glorious ten seconds after a tag, you and your partner can cut loose with a combination maneuver!
- A ladder match, where you're both trying to get something from the rigging above!
- A free for all, where the last one standing wins!
And remember that it all comes down the the big match for heavyweight champion at their pay per view event!
IV: After The Match
After the match, hit the showers - where, in the locker room, your foes and colleagues may be congratulating you for a job well done. Even the jobbers can get recognized for the honor putting a new wrestler over with the crowd!
The gang may spring for pizza or beer, and sometimes you can get leave to return home and back again for the next match. Or Creative and the Manager may want to have a word with you, for good or ill, and discuss where to take your plotline.
It's here, after the matches are done, that you can drop kayfabe - at least to your fellow wrestlers and creatives - be yourself, and relax.
V - Out In Public: Dimensional Daytrips
A wrestler has to eat and sleep, and the Nexus Arena Building isn't big enough for that. Pop off to a dimension with good dim sum or where you can get a burger, or find a hotel room in this big city or the sleepy village next to a dragon's lair, or anything in between - but just remember there are fans present, and maintain kayfabe unless you know you're only among fellows in on the joke!
Among the dimensions where MCWF plays are... most of the ones your characters come from. But on top of that, consider a trip to:
- Gensokyo, the Land of Illusions, where they already have a great appreciation for the pageantry of a well-done mock battle; I hear that Mystia has a great Izakaya there. Just don't antagonize the red-white, get snacked on by Remilia Scarlet, or get fleeced by the goddamn bunnies.
- The Crystal Caravan, a team of nomads in a great convoy of trucks and land cruisers making their through the howling Winds of Madness and to oasis cities protected by great crystals. Don't wander out of range, but maybe you knock some raider heads together and cut a promo about it, or run afoul of the arcane rules of a bizarre bazaar.
- Dynatropolis, a futuristic city where robots and humans work hand in hand towards an everlasting peace. It's calmed down a lot since the Maverick Riots, after Mayor Edward 'Teddy" Highcastle was first elected and passed a lot of laws enshrining robot rights, but every so often human or robot supervillains do some larceny or mayhem - and that's when the city's defenders, the Super Fighting Robots called Reprise, Harmony, Chorus, and Coda hit the scene. Coda especially is a huge fan of sports entertainment; why not see if you can cut a promo with him? Or maybe head to a robot maid cafe, and try the Dynaburger?
- Shwartzberg, home of the famous White Stag Inn, a vaguely German-coded city from hit JRPG Swan Song: Elegy for Europa that is... kind of used to isekai'd modern fellows by now, and don't mind them getting trucked in so much as long as they remember that the locals are people, who have class levels, and outnumber them; calling them NPCs is the fastest way to have a not-so-random encounter with the City Guard. So come on, take a load off, try the hard cider and a grilled eel pie, don't get caught taking performance enhancing potions... and if you're really daring, maybe join the locals for a selfie with the local dragon, Arumvorax the Red (He takes bribes of money, chocolate and booze).
- Gehenna Station, a starbase floating around some desolate rock being sucked into a wormhole that the locals mine; more importantly, it's a home away from home and inbetween the major powers of the Orion League, the Cybernetic Union, the Conclave of Communion with their magical girl-shaped Knights Templar with the Psychic Prisms in their foreheads, and also those assholes from the Draconian Empire (they sure are!) and the Warlocks of the Gateways. More to the point, it’s got a fantastic trideo setup for it’s fighting pits, and they love a good bout here! It's got a seedy atmosphere, but that just means it's a great place to get liquor, play cards or mahjong for money, or buy weird shit from across the galaxy. Just don't sell the homeworld...
VI: SAOTOMANIA IS GONNA RUN WILD OVER YA
Got an idea for something that doesn't fit? No problem! Just pitch it, and see who's into that angle.
Ladies, gentlemen, distinguished fans, welcome to the
Multidimensional Crossover Wrestling Federation!
...coming to you live over Dreamwidth!
Bringing you the greatest wrestlers from across the multiverse, invited here to fight in the Squared Circle for your entertainment and edification!
Their Gimmick - the character they fight as in the ring - can be basically them being basically themselves during bouts, or they could be consciously creating another character in some way - from an Akane Tendo playing up her aggressive tendencies as a villanous heel to, say, mild mannered reporter Clark Kent donning tights to become Superman (later chapters NSFW), a good-hearted and heroic babyface visitor from another planet.
The rivalries may be a fiction, angles maintained with careful adherence to in-character kayfabe, and the outcomes of the bouts might be scripted in advance with one or the other wrestler booked to win - some destined to be jobbers who lose with style to put someone over with an adoring (or despising) crowd. But don't get it twisted - it takes real athletic talent, not to mention superb acting chops, to make it look like it hurt without doing any real harm to your opponent. Remember, you're here for an exciting bout for the fans, to make them pop with cheers and applause (or, as a heel, boos and hissing), so remember to really sell how much damage your dance partner is inflicting.
And of course, it's all brought to you by the manager, the one and only Kasumi Tendo.
What? It's tradition, at this point.
We've got a really exciting event card lined up for all you prospective wrestlers! Just take a peek below:
I - Backstage: Arrival, Training, and Meeting with Creative
You all show up - by various interdimensional conveyances: feeling like you stepped through a purple and gold door, flinging a TARDIS at it, taking a left turn at Albuquerque, trekking through the Netherworld by way of the Ice Pagoda, getting way too into a book, teleportation spells, took the 13:85 Abyssal Express...
At any rate, here you are in the Nexus Arena building, home of the MCWF, the Multidimensional Crossover Wrestling Federation. Perhaps you're getting a tour of the facilities, or trying to speak to someone who knows what's getting on, or maybe you're trying to find a bite to eat or the vending machines - either way, you're all new here, so strike up a conversation with your future dance partners and on-stage rivals!
You can't book a fight or make a gimmick alone, and that's where the Creative department comes in. They'll help you with everything from your costume and theme song to who's going to be your rival this season. Help Creative help you unleash the true potential of your gimmick and rivalries, and life in the promotion will be smooth sailing; piss Creative off, and you'll be jobbing to midcarders for the rest of your career.
And, of course, it takes real athletic skill to pretend to fight someone, make it look good, and not do any damage; when you're in the ring with an opponent, your life is in their hands, and a good wrestler - any skilled wrestler, face or heel - takes that seriously. That's why there are facilities in the MCWF building for everyone to work out, from simple strength training exercises to yoga and meditation to taking your frustrations out on a (hopefully literal) punching bag, to practice bouts in the ring.
Here, too, you can work on your mic skills - how to get an audience's attention, how to speak to them and electrify them, how to...
II - Cut A Promo!
Cutting a promo - learning how to hype up your matches and rivalries on the mic - is one of the most important things and up-and-coming wrestler can learn how to do. A truly legendary promo can touch the hearts of the fans, or be incredibly rude to your opponent - it could be high comedy, or completely bugnuts loco.
Either way, it can be the most fun you can have outside the ring, so really get into it. Call someone out! Compliment or insult the audience! Confess your love, or your rivalry! Just get on the mic and cut that promo!
III - Get In The Ring!
This is it - the reason you're here, to WRESTLE!
With bombast and ceremony, with your theme playing, stride to the ring and look your opponent in the eye. Banter a bit, make that crowd pop at your boasts, your provocations, your rivalry, your love. Shake hands - only the most dastardly heel would use a handshake to get someone in a throw, right? - and wait for the bell to cut loose.
The outcomes may be decided in advance, but you need to sell them with death-defying stunts - and defy your partner's death, since some of these moves are real risky, real injuries CAN happen, and to do a flying attack requires a certain level of trust that your opponent will catch you.
(The audience likes to show up with signs. A lot of them cite nonexistent chapter and verse. It's all in good fun.)
Come off the top rope with a flying hurricanra or a hip drop attack, or dazzle with footwork, strikes, and grappling techniques, and really sell your opponent's moves - keep even the smarties guessing who's going to win till the final pin and the count down from ten to the very end of the match!
Not exciting enough? Consider:
- A hardcore match where you can use (carefully vetted and approved) weapons!
- A tag team match where, for the glorious ten seconds after a tag, you and your partner can cut loose with a combination maneuver!
- A ladder match, where you're both trying to get something from the rigging above!
- A free for all, where the last one standing wins!
And remember that it all comes down the the big match for heavyweight champion at their pay per view event!
IV: After The Match
After the match, hit the showers - where, in the locker room, your foes and colleagues may be congratulating you for a job well done. Even the jobbers can get recognized for the honor putting a new wrestler over with the crowd!
The gang may spring for pizza or beer, and sometimes you can get leave to return home and back again for the next match. Or Creative and the Manager may want to have a word with you, for good or ill, and discuss where to take your plotline.
It's here, after the matches are done, that you can drop kayfabe - at least to your fellow wrestlers and creatives - be yourself, and relax.
V - Out In Public: Dimensional Daytrips
A wrestler has to eat and sleep, and the Nexus Arena Building isn't big enough for that. Pop off to a dimension with good dim sum or where you can get a burger, or find a hotel room in this big city or the sleepy village next to a dragon's lair, or anything in between - but just remember there are fans present, and maintain kayfabe unless you know you're only among fellows in on the joke!
Among the dimensions where MCWF plays are... most of the ones your characters come from. But on top of that, consider a trip to:
- Gensokyo, the Land of Illusions, where they already have a great appreciation for the pageantry of a well-done mock battle; I hear that Mystia has a great Izakaya there. Just don't antagonize the red-white, get snacked on by Remilia Scarlet, or get fleeced by the goddamn bunnies.
- The Crystal Caravan, a team of nomads in a great convoy of trucks and land cruisers making their through the howling Winds of Madness and to oasis cities protected by great crystals. Don't wander out of range, but maybe you knock some raider heads together and cut a promo about it, or run afoul of the arcane rules of a bizarre bazaar.
- Dynatropolis, a futuristic city where robots and humans work hand in hand towards an everlasting peace. It's calmed down a lot since the Maverick Riots, after Mayor Edward 'Teddy" Highcastle was first elected and passed a lot of laws enshrining robot rights, but every so often human or robot supervillains do some larceny or mayhem - and that's when the city's defenders, the Super Fighting Robots called Reprise, Harmony, Chorus, and Coda hit the scene. Coda especially is a huge fan of sports entertainment; why not see if you can cut a promo with him? Or maybe head to a robot maid cafe, and try the Dynaburger?
- Shwartzberg, home of the famous White Stag Inn, a vaguely German-coded city from hit JRPG Swan Song: Elegy for Europa that is... kind of used to isekai'd modern fellows by now, and don't mind them getting trucked in so much as long as they remember that the locals are people, who have class levels, and outnumber them; calling them NPCs is the fastest way to have a not-so-random encounter with the City Guard. So come on, take a load off, try the hard cider and a grilled eel pie, don't get caught taking performance enhancing potions... and if you're really daring, maybe join the locals for a selfie with the local dragon, Arumvorax the Red (He takes bribes of money, chocolate and booze).
- Gehenna Station, a starbase floating around some desolate rock being sucked into a wormhole that the locals mine; more importantly, it's a home away from home and inbetween the major powers of the Orion League, the Cybernetic Union, the Conclave of Communion with their magical girl-shaped Knights Templar with the Psychic Prisms in their foreheads, and also those assholes from the Draconian Empire (they sure are!) and the Warlocks of the Gateways. More to the point, it’s got a fantastic trideo setup for it’s fighting pits, and they love a good bout here! It's got a seedy atmosphere, but that just means it's a great place to get liquor, play cards or mahjong for money, or buy weird shit from across the galaxy. Just don't sell the homeworld...
VI: SAOTOMANIA IS GONNA RUN WILD OVER YA
Got an idea for something that doesn't fit? No problem! Just pitch it, and see who's into that angle.
BOUT PLANNING
The best way is to post with your character, a rough idea of their gimmick, whether they’re a face or heel, and see who wants to pin you to the mat!
GLOSSARY OF WRESTLING THROWS
Nabiki Tendo | Ranma 1/2 (1989 Anime) | Creative
The girl in the mousy brown bobcut and the 80’s - ass Power Suit with the shoulderpads of doom glances at the latest wrestler’s file, then up over it at the latest talent.
“Okay,” she says, voice brassy and professionally bored, “Pitch your gimmick to me, and let’s see about getting you a good angle.”
3: During The Bout - Damage Control
Nabiki leans over the video console, frowning at the feed.
She points at a particular sign, grimacing, then taps her headset.
“Hey, anyone in the Gorilla Position,” she means to any wrestler waiting in the wings. “Some guy has an obscene sign. Wanna try to get him to get rid it before Security has to get rid of him?”
4: Post-match review
Everyone sits up a little straighter when The Beek walks in - she can set the pecking order, and that’s not kayfabe.
“You,” she says. “Nice fight. Walk with me.”
Seems like you’d better.
5 - Multidimensional Slumming - Gehenna Station Black Market
Surely the lady in the skintight carbon fiber spacesuit with the wrap-around shades could not possibly be our beloved creative director?
She peers over the top of them at a reptilian Rukhir alien at a booth full of AV equipment.
“So what do you recommend for a trideo setup?” she asks.
Bug her?
Backstage - Creative Department
Ugh, he's going to have to grow his hair out or get a wig. No one has heard of a drow warrior with short hair.
"I was hoping you could help me brainstorm. I don't mind playing to type, but not if people are bored of it." As far as Bel can tell, humans back home have heard of precisely one drow on the surface and have yet to get bored of him, and also can't seem to look past the species thing. But he can probably manage to learn more about what made a suitable 'gimmick'.
ILU
“While I’m not above your making your gold by mining the rich vein of Waterdeep’s misconceptions if you’re not opposed to it, people are going to notice if you resent your role, so don’t commit to anything you don’t actually want to play. That said.”
She takes out a dry erase marker and starts taking notes on a whiteboard.
“What bringing those up suggest to me is starting heel, and as worthy opponents start reaching out to you, working towards a face turn. Maybe we could get you in an angle with Claire, she’s a no-shit magical girl, her redemptive face gimmick is only slightly exaggerated.”
She turns to him. “Now, Bel,” she adds, “you’ve given me what you think the stock characters are. What do you want to bring to the table that’s yours?”
Re: ILU
He probably also needs to make sure his combat instincts are tuned more to 'barfight' than 'people are trying to kill me'.
Re: ILU
She flips through the file, blinks, and grins.
“So. How good are you - or how much do you know, really, about psionics?”
Re: ILU
Re: ILU
Nabiki smirks.
“Are you familiar with the concept of a vanity heel, Mr. Vivalfin?”
I lose the notif for this one...
3: Damage Control
She's direct and to the point, too, slipping around the wings and cameras through a little bit of climbing chicanery to reach the offending sign. "Hey. Hey. The hell's this?"
At least she's acting like a heel about it to the crowd.
Re: 3: Damage Control
“Hey. Hey! That’s my sign a-“
And then he notices who it is and pales, and seems to need a moment to rally.
Is Keri gonna let him?
Re: 3: Damage Control
Then, she angrily states, "You think this is a good dirty joke?"
And casually rips the sign in half. "It's in such bad taste I can't even make you eat it!"
She starts to head back towards the wings.
Nonplayer Wrestler Ukyō Kuonji (Face)
There is a brief moment where the Kansai Culinarian, a face that humiliated Keri in the ring, stares her down.
“Guess a stopped clock really is right twice a day,” she says, backing off. “Hey, kid, love the enthusiasm but maybe don’t make the editors jobs harder?”
And through the headset, Nabiki mutters, “Good work, Chakravartin, meet me in the office.”
Re: Nonplayer Wrestler Ukyō Kuonji (Face)
okay, calm down. This isn't good, isn't bad, just a talk. She gets the rest of the way out and only drops character when she closes the door to the office. "You wanted to talk?"
Re: Nonplayer Wrestler Ukyō Kuonji (Face)
Quite seriously, she adds, “You made my lack of enough security your problem. That wasn’t in your remit, but you filled in anyway. And I’ve been following your career.”
She flips through Keri’s file.
“She Who Must Be Abjured was always meant to be a temporary role. This was a reminder that you’ve earned your dues.” Nabiki leans forward. “So, then. You think you can do better? Because you’re wasted as a jobber. Pitch me a gimmick.”
no subject
But every heel gimmick Keri's ever made has had to contend with that in her own mind. And a face? She's sure the crowd would just be waiting for her turn 'back to form'.
But she paces gamely anyway, partially talking herself through it. "I'm good at doing the job. It's fun. I know how to sell. I'm decent technically, and I have a hell of a lot of endurance. If I'm stepping away from She Who Must Be Abjured, I need something strong enough to make it stick, and something that can really lean on my strengths."
"Now you've said no to a revenant or monster gimmick, and that's fine. No revenants, no monsters." She runs her hand back through her hair. "There's something to breaking out of my folks' shadow but I can't get my finger on it. Wearied traveler gimmick, maybe?"
no subject
She grins. "I always did enjoy a good Kansas City Shuffle," she says.
Perhaps Keri will need that clarified.
no subject
She takes a deep breath. "So how do we get it to stick? The tale lends itself to tweening, but that's just going to be taken as a different kinda heel from me."
no subject
Nabiki starts marking things on the whiteboard.
"Maybe be bitter about it, maybe get tempted to ask why you even bother when people hate you sight unseen... but make the fact that the marks are disappointed you didn't go heel their problem, something to shame them with, then go on to do the right thing anyway."
no subject
Wait, what's Nabiki putting on the whiteboard?
no subject
She underlines SNODDESS: Unwilling avatar?
“Say your folks somehow forced you to wear part of the costume - the orichalcum snake torc would work. Or that there’s a bright green supplement she’s been forced to take. Or both,” she says. “In any case, we hint that you’re not so much Missus E as someone being forced to be Missus E’s avatar.”
She writes down RIOT PURPLE and circles it.
“You know, just the kind of fate a magical girl can sense, and save someone from.”
no subject
She pauses. "No, no one who's not established. I need to win first. Doesn't have to be a big push, just enough to sell that Snoddess is becoming a real problem."
no subject
“Then we have Claire start making noises about what’s going on, ending in her distracting you with Like You before delivering the Harmony Hurricane and ripping the torc off your neck. I can get a plaster replica she can crush in her hand.”
She grins. “If you wouldn’t object to a tag team with Ryland, she can believe in you even when others think she’s a fool to trust a Chakravartin. And she’ll be vindicated, of course.”
no subject
She shakes her head, leaves future angles and choreo for the future. "Right, even Gumiho has standards. And Swanba's--" the nickname for the abbreviation is immediate and strong-- "Swanba's after nothing less than total domination of the ring."
Claire Ryland | Magica Riot | Riot Purple | Face
Claire was familiar with the idea of other dimensions from, well, that whole mess with the demonic invasion of Portland (and the less said about Madame Makula the better), but this was her first time in another world as a guest.
Doing goodwill publicity and fundraising for the Starlight Alliance.
Deep breath. Smile. Handshake.
“Claire Ryland, Magica Riot, Starlight Alliance, worldline MSMK-26,” she says. “Hi. I’ll be playing my Riot Purple getup as a face.”
2: Cut A Promo - I wanna kick you to the curb
Claire, in civilian clothes, grabs the mic she summons anyway to transform, smiles thinly, and starts to speak.
“I’ve gotten into a lot of hard battles in my life,” she says, “ever since Nova saved me in that back alley, helped me understand that the pure heart of a maiden was beating in my breast,” and she puts a hand over it. “And most of the things and people I fought had something in common.”
She snarls, “They thought they could push people around for being different!”
She thrusts her offhand in the air, and incants:
“MAIDENSONG HARMONY POWER! GO LIVE!”
And when the purple lightshow ends - Riot Purple stands tall, an imposing 5 foot 8 (she actually lost a couple inches after her first transformation), keytar at her side, in her leather jacket, her hose, her goth boots.
“There’s a song my band likes to sing about bullies like you,” she snarls. “And so: You wanna fix me? You wanna kill me? I wanna kick you to the curb!”
She grins, throwing the horns, eyes gleaming.
“Or are you too scared of someone fighting back to meet me in the ring?!”
3: In The Ring - The Comeback Girls
Shout out to the back!
The lonely ones!
At the end of the world now,
Their time has come!
Already transformed, Claire strides confidently down to the ring, pausing only for a second for her actual real manager and girlfriend Hazel Hoffman - a vivacious blonde in sporty fashion - to relieve her of her keytar. On impulse, she pulls her in for a kiss, and the pop from the audience is insane - a fair number of them women, too, Claire notes with glee.
She ducks under the ropes, and turns to her opponent, and lets them rant before giving answer.
Wildcard
(Or hit me up on plurk,
Cassie can totally play an obnoxious heel - she's Johnny Cage's daughter, after all.
"Cut her music! I said, cut her DAMN music!"
The crowd makes their disapproval known still more firmly. Cassie basks in their hatred and returns their rude gestures in kind. Then, just when the noise is starting to fade, she throws in a "Hey! Shut up when I'm talking!" to keep the boos going longer. She knows ALL the old heel standbys.
"Right - can I continue? Great."
The boos haven't stopped so much as become quiet enough for her to yell over.
"Anyway, Claire...babe. You seem to be pretty proud of yourself for not getting laid yet. But hey, you know what? You know what? Good for you! In fact, I'd like to congratulate you for the only thing you'll ever accomplish in your entire sad-ass life!"
Cassie dodges a mostly-empty souvenir-sized cup of soda as she rides out the crowd's reaction to this line.
"But you'd better enjoy it while you can, because when I step into that ring, I'm gonna make a woman out of you!"
She pauses a beat for the crowd's mixture of booing and innuendo-inspired chatter. Then lowers her voice - and her sunglasses.
"A dead woman!"
Outstanding. Also, laughs in the first chapter of Full Bloom, cw innuendo galore.
But she can't let an absolutely perfect pitch over the plate go unanswered, and she's grinning as she takes her mike (the one she uses to transform, with the lavender silk ribbon studded with an amethyst), and uses her smokiest voice to answer:
"It's cute that you think I'm a virgin, Cassie."
And just to drive the point home, she glances back at Hazel, waggling her eyebrows, to the whoops of the crowd.
"But I'm not surprised you'd assume otherwise," she says, circling around. "After all, I'm the cute little magical girl barely out of college, the keytarist in a band that covers Miku and Teto, hell, I even look like a vocaloid. I brag about having the pure heart of a maiden!"
She pulls down her fingerless gloves, for the effect... waggling index fingers with cut nails and a pinkie and ring finger with long ones.
"I think you have misapprehended what pure means," she says. "I think you have mistaken me for a naive mascot out of a manga for eight year old girls. I say pure, you think 'what, like a blank page?' I say hope, and you go, 'oh, that fragile thing with feathers?'"
She rounds on her, horns and gauntlet thrown.
"To make a sword, to get rid of the impurities in the medal, you put it through the fire and then you hammer the heck out of it. My heart is pure like a red-hot sword waiting to be quenched. Can you handle that kind of heat and pressure?"
A pause.
"In the ring," she clarifies, just to drive the innuendo home.
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Once they're finished, she hops onto the ring apron, glaring at the pair.
"You know, I had something for that...but you'd just preach another sermon at me, so...screw it!"
She propels herself onto the top rope and springboards off for a soaring flying forearm. At first glance, it may look like she's aiming for Riot Purple. She's not.
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It sends Claire sprawling, rolling, struggling to rise.
She grimaces and faces her.
"Oh, you wanted to dance?" she says. "Welcome to the flammin' mosh pit!"
And she turns rising into running into her own shoulder-check.
3
Worse (for Claire), she was also a legitimately good musician and singer, and the demonic wings worked enough to enable some acrobatic shenanigans.
After Claire had entered the ring plus a few moments for her song to fade, Pidonus came in to a light pop rock piece with almost casually sinister lyrics about her dark desires.
Oh, good, this crowd had about the right mix of boos to wolf-whistles going. People who loved her look but treated her as the Bad Guy. All like it's supposed to be.
Sliding into the ring, she grinned, picking up her mic.
"Hey girl~," she purred. "You ready to be stepped on, another stone on my climb to the top~?"
She was following a preplanned script pretty carefully, actually - to make sure she didn't step on Claire's real buttons or enable a certain type of shithead that had to be banned from the forums regularly.
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She allows her scowl to become a smirk as she circles around Pidonus. "May~be someday~!"
Then she gets in a fighting stance, a balls-of-the-feet boxers. She's removed the knuckle inserts from her gloves, more's the pity.
"How's it go? Babe, you just can't win, I'll go ahead and leave you in the bargain bin? You're certianly cheap enough for it."
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Pidonus' wings fueled out, as she moved for a direct open palm strike (closed fists in front of the ref were a no-go... Until she "charmed" him a ways into the match).
Standard setup - this would let Claire pull her into an Irish Whip, or take the 'hit' and stagger to ring center, where they could start maneuvers in earnest.
song is Morning Will Always Come from the album Dimension Dee
Her eyes burn as she brings herself back into her full height - 5'9 in boots ain't nothing to sneeze at, and she's lost two inches since The Bad Old Days - and gives a "come and get it" gesture, grinning defiantly. And as is in her idiom, she starts to sing as she fights:
"I had a picture
It was the perfect
Version of me...
I sealed it tight
Behind a pane of glass,
I lost the key
And let the moment pass..."
Re: song is Morning Will Always Come from the album Dimension Dee
She starts by going for a basic slam throw. Start working the opponent, create her first chance to reverse.
Deedee Yeowoo | The Wonders Of Mundus | Gumiho | Heel
When the sulfurous smoke clears, a small band of Adventurers stands in the middle of it, a three-tailed foxgirl among them coughing and blinking.
She looks around, and her frown deepens.
“Heeks,” she says, evenly, to a diminutive dragonfly-winged potato of a man in his robes and wizard hat, “Appreciate your trying a new Gate spell, but. Is it just me or is this place way too modern to be the scriptorum in Salzstadt?”
But, well. As long as they’re trapped here, Deedee’s willing to teach people some actual no-shit martial arts, at least?
3: Get in the ring!
The costume is vaguely ridiculous and low-cut and the makeup itches, but Deedee is weirdly into it, and the long fake nails are a great touch.
In purple and lime green costume as The Gumiho, she slinks down to the ring, greeting the chorus of boos with a blown kiss, shayshaying as she goes, before facing her opponent with a hand over her mouth as she does what’s becoming her trademark, a combination Oujo Laugh and vulpine gekker.
“Ehehehehehehehe, they sent you to fight me?” she says. “Oh you’re adorable. You really think you can handle me? …in a fight?”
She grins fangs enhanced with fake caps.
“Don’t make me laugh. I’ll feast on your heart before we’re done!”
It’s wrestling, and she’s an inverterate roleplayer. Someone ordered a large ham, and she’s it.
4, 5: postbattle and Schwartzberg
Deedee stands at the sink, wiping makeup and sweat off her face, washing her hands. She turns to the wrestler next to her.
“Nice fight,” she says. “Sekh and I were thinking of heading to the tavern in Shwartzberg. Familiar territory, you know? Have some ciders. You wanna come with?”
6: Wildcard
(Or plot with me on plurk,
GET IN THE RING
And no one emerged.
The crowd held its collective breath.
And, counting five, and carefully dragging the (currently) heroic Sakura Kasugano behind her, slumped over, emerged--
The avatar of the serpent goddess, none other than She Who Must Be Abjured, currently manifest as Keri Chakravartin. She hauls Sakura up, displaying her for the crowd, watches her arm fall limp, and tosses her into the arms of the security people that helpfully have shown up (actually stage hands, there to make sure Sakura's unhurt by this stunt).
She pulls up a microphone. "Oh, darling. You did learn from the best. But sadly, it seems your opponent's having a nap."
For this WILD interference in the stated card of the match, and butting in, the heat is intense. At first, she basks in the jeers, but then, begins to look annoyed, and snarls, "I don't ask opinions from chattel!"
More jeers follow her as her theme starts up and she heads to the ring, though no one's got the big idea to throw an empty beer bottle just yet. She drinks in the hate. "Yes, excellent. Let that venom in your soul! In any case, you're all dressed up? Nowhere to go? But ah-- perhaps it's time we danced, Gumiho."
Re: GET IN THE RING
“Hmn. While the fox is away the mice do play, Chakravartin. Didn’t your cultist parents teach you to only break eggs when you’ve an omelette to gain from it? Because I can’t imagine what losing to me will do other than get egg on your face, Keri, dear.”
All this while she gestures with an ostentatious black and chrysanthemum-blossom fan.
Re: GET IN THE RING
She recalls what they rehearsed. This isn't a squash match. They're going to trade spots a while. No monster business, because Snoddess should not have been smacking Sakura backstage and should be a little tired. But, she grins, turns off the mic, sets it down.
And, after a moment, the bell rings to start the match.
ironclad | slay the spire 1/2 | heel
The Ironclad has seen a lot of things - both in his waking life, and in his thousand-year slumber - but he can safely say he's never been more confused than he has in this moment.
His voice is slightly crackly, just from sheer disuse, as he makes increasingly confused inquiries about why he's here - to entertain people? To fight but not fight to the death? Surely fighting to the death is the entertainment? No?
2. in the ring
The hardest part of doing this is holding back against his opponents. He was trained for war; after that, there had only been the endless haze of violence, blood, pain, his body honed ever further as an archdemon's weapon with little input on his part.
Now his mind is clearer than it's ever been, but his body and instincts are still locked into the endless ascension. He might hit a little too hard, bear down a little too much, locking an arm too tight around the throat or yanking a little too much on a limb - but whenever he does, he lets out a slight gasp and immediately releases the pressure, even if that makes him look worse.
At least that's his job - to look worse. At least it makes someone else look good if he loses. It's an interesting novelty.
3. downtime??
He's still wandering about with a perpetually puzzled sort of look, still not entirely sure what he's doing here. When not giving off an aura similar to a lost puppy if a lost puppy was six foot of muscle and an alarmingly honed sword, he can be found listening intently to the explanations of the creative department, and working off his bafflement in the training facilities - opting not to use his sword, since apparently the desired outcome isn't 'hit them so hard they bleed out'.
Occasionally, he can be found just...sitting quietly on a bench. Not passed out, just resting.
"I don't understand this," he says, to nobody at all.
4. IDK DO WHATEVER
jazzhands, wildcard
1
“Put it this way,” she says. “You kill a rival, they’re dead, they’re gone. The story’s over. You beat them into giving ground, and they escape to curse your name, well, that’s a story, isn’t it? Suddenly you have a rival. Suddenly, the audience is invested in if they can beat you next time. If anyone can defeat the Ironclad.”
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He gingerly takes the offered mug and takes a cautious sip, wincing at the taste. He can't deny that the warmth and the strength of it does bolster his confidence, though.
"If I let them live in the Spire, I wasn't fighting well enough. Nothing would give me such generosity, and I asked for none." He's barely had a rival. He's barely been cognizant enough to have one. But he's familiar with arenas, at least...or, at least, he remembers them. A few flashes of memory through the fog.
"This is the sort of thing...it is similar to arenas? Fighting for prizes, like...objects of power." Belts? Crowns? He remembers a stupid-looking little crown...
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Nabiki pauses, and says, “You’re not the first person who’s needed to adjust to lower stakes,” and here she looks at a framed photo of her sister Akane with the belt. “To needing to hold back.”