Second Chances Intro

[PalusAbel]

So are Elizabeth and Ling arrested during their own match? It would be interesting to have the police cut their fight short, establishing a slight rivalry between the two of them.

[Nintendogeek01]

Yeah that sounds pretty good. Maybe we go a few rounds (five or so just for fun), and then role-play how we react to the police arrest, then role-play reunion.

[PalusAbel]

Sounds like a plan. I made a few changes to Elizabeth's sheet - I dropped her Fighting down, but bought up Close Combat to compensate. The idea flavorwise is that her fighting ability isn't in-born, but something developed purely from training. Ling's the opposite, with almost all of her Close Combat skills come from natural talent.
Elizabeth lets out a long, slow sigh, almost as if blowing out smoke and savoring its taste. Not that she smoked; she found the practice disagreeable. Rather, she simply found that that style of breathing happened to be the most relaxing, and the most controlled. As she had done countless times before, she slips her fingers beneath the mesh of her scarlet wig and sweeps it off in one fluid motion. She hangs it on the post of her corner before turning to wrap her hands.

The boxing ring had been quickly raised in this abandoned warehouse at the edge of the city. Judging from the light creeping up the bottoms of the windows, the streetlights had just come on. Elizabeth mentally shakes herself and lowers her eyes to the opposite corner where her opponent is finishing the last of her preparations as well. "A woman this time, huh. I suppose it is nice to see another one of 'my kind' here." The corners of Elizabeth's lips curl up just a bit.

There we go. If you want it to be more "official", you could have an announcer roll out the customary summary. You know, the whole, "In this corner, weighing in at..." sort of thing. You've got the stats. :smallbiggrin:

[PalusAbel]

One more thing I forgot. Here's the roll thread. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?389769-Second-Chances-Intro-(Dice-Rolls)&p=18576334)

[Nintendogeek01]

I'll backtrack to a bit before Ling got in the corner. Also, to me the fighting stat was less about inborn talent and more about general fighting skill rather than a specific combat skill, where skills and advantages usually outline a more specific style.
The small Chinese woman in her early-to-mid twenties stepped away from the ring, she was lean but toned, she loosened her hair tie to make her black hair drop the messy bun and form a ponytail instead and began unwinding the athletic tape around her hands. The dark Adidas sports pants and dark sneaks contrasted with the white work-out top which she promptly covered with a light-grey hoodie once she had undone the athletic tape.

Ling was on a roll, she had a few matches with some posers who thought being a street-tough meant you were invincible, idiots... they'd never know how hard it is to actually be good and still be nowhere close to invincible. This was a good stress release at least, she may never have felt balanced in her life, but what went down in the last town made her feel even more off-center, she needed this; fights where at least someone had the sense to end the match before things were taken too far... usually.

Ling had just grabbed her duffel-bag and was ready to take her cut and go before the organizer stopped her. "Leavin' so soon doll?"

"Call me doll again and I leave one more black-eye behind me..." Ling said in her mildly accented voice; she grabbed her e-cig and inhaled before exhaling the vapor.

"Whoa whoa whoa, you want your space I get it I get it... just thought you could make everyone a little more with just one more fight," the man said.

"Look, your scrubs aren't a challenge, how much money could you make off a one-sided fight?" Ling asked.

"Does she look like a scrub to you?" The organizer asked, pointing Ling's gaze in the direction of what Ling couldn't help but think of as one gorilla of a woman.

"... guess not," Ling answered before taking another puff of the e-cig. "Fine, if she's willing to fight I'll go, the boys before were good enough of a warm-up I guess," Ling agreed, dropping her duffel bag, getting out the athletic tape again, and stowing away the hoodie.

Ling did her hair back up in the messy bun as she made her way to the ring, give the opponent a harder target to grab if she was the type.

"Alright boys, tonight you've had one more lady come in to kick some ass and take your money, but how will she do against the Pit's own leading lady? Our newcomer, weighing in at 120 lbs and coming in with something out of a Jackie-Chan film, it's the Jade Serpent!"

"Not that I was keen on giving them my real name, but maybe I should've picked something better..." Ling thought to herself.

"Weighing in at 352lbs, you know her, you love her, it's the Fighting Redwood!"

"Goddamn... that cannot be normal," Ling thought to herself while she readied a fighting stance, time to see what this giantess could do.

[PalusAbel]

Yep, you did that right. We ended up getting the same result, haha. According to the rules, highest Dodge bonus goes first. That'd be Ling, so go ahead and post again.

[Nintendogeek01]

Alright, here she goes, and I did notice that thread for dice rolling so I'll post the attack roll there.
Ling wasn't entirely keen on taking a shot from that gorilla woman so it was best to watch her guard even as she rapidly moved to close the distance, she threw an elbow thrust but was ready to raise that same arm up in a quick guard if necessary.

[PalusAbel]

Reading Ling's elbow thrust, Elizabeth quickly steps aside and attempts to throw an uppercut inside the smaller woman's guard. However, the distance she had created to avoid the thrust proved to bring the punch short, missing entirely.

[Nintendogeek01]

Not missing an opening when she saw it Ling leaned in and thrust her fingers at the space just under the giantess' ribcage. The blow stuck home but Ling decided that going for a quick grapple wasn't worth the risk and simply backed away further from The Fighting Redwood to make some distance.

[PalusAbel]

Elizabeth darts in, keen on not repeating the same mistake as before. She delivers three quick blows to Ling's abdomen with a minimum of force. Even so, Elizabeth's smile widens at this incontrovertible evidence that her opponent's defenses were not impenetrable.

As per the Insidious modifier, Ling will be unaware of her injury unless she passes a DC 20 Perception check.

[Nintendogeek01]

There are cheers as the Giantess' punches manage to reach Ling, cheers that really strike a bad chord with Ling's nerves. The blows hurt, but looking at the Redwood she seemed to have pushed herself to make those blows connect, and Ling did roll with them well enough that she could keep going, and she planned to repay the blows in kind. Eschewing attacking defensively, Ling focused on making her next blows hurt, unfortunately the Gorilla was still able to roll with the blows and made going for a grab, once again, impractical. Deciding to test how tired her opponent was, Ling backed away to one of the corners of the ring.

[PalusAbel]

Scolding herself for falling back on the same tactic, Elizabeth draws back from her failed combination attack. It seemed Ling had expected the attack, as she had deftly twisted her body to absorb the worst of the blows. Elizabeth draws her hands back up to guard, tapping herself in the forehead with her knuckles to keep herself focused.

[Nintendogeek01]

She had her. Once Ling rolled with Redwood's blow she hopped, pushed off the corner bar and somersaulted right over top of the giantess. Pushing herself for the extra mile Ling stepped back and palm thrust right under Redwood's chin as she turned around to try and follow Ling's movements. Now Ling capitalized on the stunning blow to pull the woman down to her level and place her in a very well executed tangle, preventing the giantess from getting an easy escape.

[PalusAbel]

The fight comes to an end not with a bang, but near-silence. The spectators stare uneasily at Ling's skillful grapple, hoping against hope that the house favorite will overcome the underdog. Try as she might, however, Elizabeth proves unable to fulfill their expectations. In the next moment, a detective enters the warehouse with badge upraised. The bouncer at the door has already been led away in handcuffs, and multiple police offers file in to fill up the space.

The detective is fairly young, being somewhere in the grey area between his late twenties and early thirties, but his bearing denotes experience exceeding his years. He scans the warehouse and ascertains its entrances, exits, and occupants, though it is clear he already knew exactly what he was getting into before he came inside. "My name is Detective Dempsey. You are all under arrest for participating in illegal fighting." He speaks loudly and clearly to dispel any doubt that escape might be possible. "You two, in the ring. Untangle yourselves immediately."

Elizabeth feels Ling's grip loosen, and takes that as a cue to stand up. Dempsey's escorts shepherd the spectators out the door and likely into custody with officers outside, while Dempsey himself continues speaking alone, reciting the criminals' rights all but once for all to hear. Staggering back to her corner, Elizabeth laughs a little to herself.

"Lucky shot, that last one. Not that that makes it any less impressive - they say luck is a part of skill, after all. Our match might not have ended in the way we would have liked, but certainly I must concede victory to you." She smiles as she speaks aloud as much to herself as to her worthy opponent. If she is concerned about the police, it does not show on her face as she wipes herself down with a towel and replaces the wig on her head.

[Nintendogeek01]

Ling's adrenaline fueled heartbeat nearly skipped one when the doors opened and the detective announced himself. "****!" Ling released her grapple on Redwood and put her hands behind her head, she didn't get on her knees but she knew better than to try and get away.

As Redwood said her words to Ling, Ling turned to look at the sweating Giantess out of the corner of her eyes. Ling wasn't sure what the gorilla found so damn funny, but oh well. "You got one thing right, this is NOT how I wanted the fight to end," As the arresting officers began drawing closer Ling turned to Redwood, "Hey! You're a tough bitch, you know that?" The officers grabbed Ling and cuffed her, reading her rights, "And I mean that as a compliment so don't take that the wrong way! Hey! Easy pal!" Ling shouted as she was led away by the officers.
So should we skip the interview procedure and jump straight to the reunion? Cell mates?

[PalusAbel]

Skipping ahead and the two of them sharing a cell is fine with me.

EDIT: I just realized I didn't have Elizabeth respond to Ling's parting remark. I'll correct that now.
A tough bitch, huh? You are not too bad yourself, you know. Elizabeth takes the officers' approach as a cue to keep silent, so her returned compliment goes unsaid. The officers themselves, meanwhile, puzzle over exactly how they are supposed to restrain a woman of her stature. She has the discretion not to laugh at their cluelessness as she places her hands on top of her head in a sign of compliance. This seems to satisfy her arrestors, who flank either side with two officers apiece. The night comes to a close, and Elizabeth heaves another sigh.

__________________________________________________

The loudspeaker crackles to life and announces the start of a new day. Elizabeth stifles a yawn as she is stirred from sleep. She reaches up and raps her knuckles against the side of the upper bunk. "Good morning, Ling. Sleep well? I did - dreamed about back when we first met. You really did get lucky with that last hit, haha."

Elizabeth swings her legs out over the side of her massive bed, chuckling at the recollection. The powers that be were kind enough to furnish her with a California King mattress, though even then Elizabeth had to lay diagonally across it in order to fit. It might not have been any softer than any other prison mattress, but it was good to have a bed approaching her size, and perhaps even better for the much smaller woman she shared a cell with.

The sounds of other inmates milling about drifts in along with a loud buzzer signalling the unlocking of the cell doors. As Elizabeth stands and begins her regular stretching routine, she peeks over the side of the upper bunk to see what her cell mate is up to.

[Nintendogeek01]

"Uuuuunnnnggghhh..." Ling groaned as the loudspeaker and her cell mate stirred her from her sleep, just as well, she sure as hell didn't want to dream about her dad, but waking up is never easy. "Liz, how do you expect me to sleep when I haven't had so much as a nicotine patch in weeks... remind me why I can't kill the first person to open the cell door please...?" It was mostly the early morning talking right now, but god this is NOT how Ling wanted to kick the habit... also the way Elizabeth just peeks over the top bunk so easily creeps her out, Ling promptly tries to bury her face into her pillow.

[PalusAbel]

"Hmm..." Elizabeth looks thoughtful for a moment, then opens the cell door herself. "There. I would say you might have a hard time killing me, and in any case I would ask that you refrain from doing so." She offers a genuine smile in the hopes that her cell mate might absorb some of the radiated vitality. Turning away from the bunk, Elizabeth prepares her jumpsuit and, to her distaste, socks. The prison made a point of requiring all inmates to wear socks and shoes outside of the cells, minus shoelaces of course. Her muscular frame disappears into a sea of khaki, her feet into first a pair of black ankle socks and then nondescript white high tops.

"It might be nice to have another match someday," Elizabeth ponders aloud, thinking back to her dream. "On our own terms, that is, with no one to interrupt us. Maybe I would be the one to get lucky instead. If you get me into a hold like you did back then, it would not be so difficult to kill me after all. Though I would still prefer that you did not attempt to do so, haha." She turns back to her cell mate, who seems adamant on remaining in bed. "Come now. It is not my place to criticize your habits and how you treat your body, but I will be held partially accountable if I do not make my best efforts to rouse you. Please get up now, Ling." Elizabeth's voice slips into a motherly tone; an unconscious habit from looking after her triplet sisters for so many years.

[Nintendogeek01]

"Mmm..." Ling grunted, she was already in prison and she was going to have a hell of a time keeping that PI License (if that's even possible anymore), she didn't need to add getting Elizabeth in trouble to her conscience. "Fine, I'm up I'm up," Ling rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and got into her jumpsuit and did up her hair in a messy ponytail, at least they let her have that.

"As for that rematch, I'll think about it whenever we get out of here," Ling replied. "You know, I gotta say, as much as you seemed to be enjoying that fight I never would've pegged you for the unbearably sunny disposition," Ling commented. Ech... maybe she shouldn't have said that, Ling had to admit to herself that having someone both patient and tough enough to handle her mood swings around may have been all that was keeping her from going nuts. Still what was she supposed to do? Go around the yard with a toothy grin? Doesn't seem to fit the place, or the mood, or even herself.

That being said Ling certainly wasn't going to sob about it, she broke the law and that's that. She's not going to apologize for it because being here is enough as far as owning up to it goes.

[PalusAbel]

Courtesy of her incredibly long legs, Elizabeth could easily keep pace with Ling with one step to the smaller woman's two. She laughs again at Ling's comment. "Unbearable you say? Well, I will not deny that I am an optimist. Ours is a world where smiles, true smiles born from happiness, rarely hurt anyone. In light of that, I find the idea of not smiling far stranger." Elizabeth smiles again; a self-demonstrating article.

The cafeteria is already in full swing, with continuous chatter emanating both from the long serving lines and the rapidly filling tables. "Hmm... Had you risen sooner, we might have been able to avoid waiting in line. Oh well." There is no genuine regret in her voice; Elizabeth's beaming face never fades as she takes her place in the queue. The inmates directly before her begin visibly panicking at her proximity, despite Elizabeth's reassurances. "I wonder how long it will take them to realize that I am harmless," Elizabeth leans down and whispers with a shrug. She straightens her back to get a good look at the cuisine. "Ah, it looks like they are serving grits today. My favorite. I think I shall have some with egg whites and turkey sausage. What about you, Ling?

[Nintendogeek01]

As per usual, Ling would sigh whenever Elizabeth launched into her smiles soliloquy, or was it a soliloquy, Ling would have to remember to make sure she was thinking of the right word. "Your world of smiles did a damn fine job of keeping us out of that fighting ring," Ling commented with as sardonically as was possible for her. Sure Ling just went there to make a quick buck, something she knew she couldn't refute if called out on, but she couldn't help but feel things might have been different if that damn old man had actually been something resembling a father instead of a sensei from hell.

Having said that she still hasn't asked why Elizabeth was in the ring; after sharing cells Ling was pretty sure someone as sickeningly sweet as Elizabeth wouldn't have been in that ring for a quick buck, a fact that was lost on the other inmates as they backed away from Elizabeth. Dumb bitches, Ling couldn't help but feel a bit amused that they might have more to worry about from the little Asian next to the gentle giantess. Regardless, Elizabeth's reasons for the ring were Elizabeth's reasons, Ling didn't think it any of her damn business.

"What about you, Ling?" was the question that finally brought Ling back from her thoughts... oh right, cafeteria, must be asking about food. "Eh... whatever'll get me through today," Ling answered as she began filling her tray with anything that might give her some long-term energy.

[PalusAbel]

Fortunately, there is still an empty table by the time Elizabeth and Ling have been served. Elizabeth sets down her two trays and claps her hands in a show of gratitude for the meal. True to her word, both trays are heaped with enough grits, egg whites, and turkey sausage to comfortably feed three people; appropriately enough, the one to consume them was around three times the size of her fellow inmates. "This and that are different," she says after downing the first of many spoonfuls. "It is not as though I expect smiles to repair the world on their own. I simply believe that maintaining a positive attitude is the most productive means of dealing with misfortune."

She pauses, tapping the back of her spoon against her lips. "'Repair', huh? I do not believe the world is broken, necessarily. There are aspects neither of us likes, perhaps, but that does not make it broken. Hmm... Do you think our being in that ring was a 'bad' thing?" Elizabeth fills in the space between her question and Ling's answer by resuming her meal.

[Nintendogeek01]

Ling ate her food as she listened to Elizabeth talk, as she thought about an answer she looked at that giant plate Elizabeth was stuffing herself with; Ling was pretty sure that wouldn't be physically possible to fit in her stomach. "A bad thing? I don't think it's as easy as good or bad Liz, but my being there was certainly the wrong thing," Ling answered, taking a big bite of her food. "As for you, getting into the fight as it goes is one thing, but I'm willing to bet you'd have chosen something different from bashing some clod's face in if you had the option to take a desk job."

Ling paused for a bit while Elizabeth continued to chew her latest mouthful, but before Elizabeth could finish Ling quickly asked "Or wait, did you have a desk job?"

[PalusAbel]

Elizabeth's shoulders shake with a suppressed laugh at Ling's rapid follow-up. "No, no desk job. I worked in the local mines during the day and spent my nights training or fighting. I do not have very many marketable skills beyond swinging pickaxes or fists, so I readily took the job when it was offered. Although I did get good at bandaging myself after a while, haha." She stops briefly to drop the full tray onto the empty one.

"I have three little sisters at home, and with the way I eat it was hard to make ends meet at times. I really owe my neighbors for supporting me through that time; everyone from the babysitter to the grocer cut me a lot of breaks when the money was tight." Elizabeth recollects fondly. "There is no guilt or shame in living on the kindness of others, but even so I wanted to repay everyone as quickly as I could. That is why I hopped aboard right away when an old friend of my mother's stopped by and told me I could make money by fighting. He would take care of the registration and everything. All I needed to do was show up and do my thing."

Elizabeth props her elbow up on the table and rests her chin on her fist, smiling all the while. "I knew it was illegal, but when I thought about it, only the people that want to participate end up doing so. If the fights were consensual, then there would be no problems joining in. Haha, I have a feeling that my unusual appearance contributed an awful lot to getting that position in the first place. And can you believe the nickname they gave me? 'The Fighting Redwood'. Do you know about them? Those giant trees in California. A giant, dark-skinned redhead going by that name... No originality." She turns to her companion with a sly grin, lowering her voice for only Ling to hear. "I would rather not my employer hear me say so, but I think the name is somewhat stupid."

Elizabeth used Wall of Text!

[Nintendogeek01]

"Well it was either "Building with Boobs" or "Fighting Redwood," Ling thought, but thought better of saying it out loud. "First, yeah I saw plenty of redwoods," Ling answered, "Second, you see, tough times forces tough choices, it's not about good or bad, just right and wrong," Ling added. "And... for what it's worth, I feel for you and your sisters," Ling meant what she said, but the main reason she said it was because she about spilled her guts. Not literally of course.

Yeah, Ling could probably admit to herself she liked Elizabeth, Ling certainly respected her for going through what she just talked about, but Ling isn't going to tell her own sob story of an abusive dad and multiple foster homes. No, the girl's smiling was bad enough as it is, she didn't need Elizabeth to try and fix her problems with a smile; hell, a smile isn't going to mend 25 years after all.
Ling uses "Evasive reply!" I don't know about you but I think we're getting close to the perfect cut off before the main game, assuming our characters get in, but hey I think this is a good show of our dedication eh?

[PalusAbel]

"Thank you, Elizabeth says quietly. She pins a lock of hair behind her ear as she considers her next words. "Good, bad, right, wrong - I had a chance to read a little about philosophy, but I never thought about it much. I cannot say I know what those words mean for other people. Ah, I forced my story upon you, so you know now at least that I was in the warehouse that night by my own decision."

Elizabeth wonders whether she should say more. Ling was still practically a stranger to her, though the circumstances made it bit easier to open up to her than to someone else. She opts not to push the subject farther, since it seemed like Ling might have darkness of her own. Her eyes flick to the clock. "Oh no! Breakfast time is almost over! I need to hurry up and finish this." She returns to her meal with gusto, cutting the conversation short.

Indeed. I think this is a suitable cut-off right here. Good show.