Bonding Experience (Sam)[MATURE]

[Sam Ballerino]

Pure white. Completely different than the rest of the decor. It was a slight shock from the dark browns and purples the rest of the house was decorated with. There was minimal... well, anything in the room at all, minus the small pillars lining the room, and it seemed fairly obvious what this room was for. Sam's stomach started tying itself in knots. She took a few deep breaths, trying to calm her nerves, only to turn around and see Damien locking the door behind him, slipping a key inside his coat.

A happy medium... Well, Mr. Philosopher, she thought, Let's go.

For some reason, she felt a boost of confidence she'd never felt before when entering a fight. Maybe it was the pasta. She didn't know if he was going to come at her or not, but she knew he probably wouldn't expect her to attack him first. So she did.

She took one more breath, centering her body, and then ran at him, reaching for his wrists and trying to hook her heel around his forward leg, snapping it towards her in an attempt to throw him off balance. If she had a hold on his wrists by then, she'd tug him toward her, but stepping back so he fell forward and she'd let go of one wrist, swinging the other around and behind him to push him face first to the ground.

[Damien Kross, Jester]

And just like that, the fight was on... And just like that, Sam was already at a major disadvantage. Her forward charge was indeed surprising, but when her hands shot out, I knew she was aiming for my wrists. My left wrist, the one extended out, was caught, but my right wrist, always kept back in a hapkido stance, would require her reaching across my body to obtain... But what's this?

Her leg shot out around mine- an attempt at a trip. Interesting. Possibly effective- if of course she had captured my right wrist. Instead, my right hand shot forward, gripping onto her forehead and face. With her leg attempting to trip mine, the scales could easily be sent either way, and now, with a shot of force forward, my right hand would send Sam onto her back, turning her own trip against her.

Showtime indeed Jester...

[Sam Ballerino]

Damn.

She caught his left wrist, but not the right one. Instead, that hand came flying at her face, throwing her backwards. She unhooked her leg from his, seeing as that wasn't going to help her anymore, but her hand still held his wrist, and her other hand came up to grab it as well as she fell. Hopefully, her weight would pull him down with her, and she could wrench his arm to her right side, throwing him to the ground. She had no other plan beyond that, except to keep him from gaining an advantage by remaining on his feet, and maybe to gain one herself by getting back on hers.

[Damien Kross, Jester]

Her tactics were evolving- when I faced her a few weeks ago at the construction site of the Court, she would never have thought of bringing the fight to the ground... Unfortuantly for her, the ground is one of Hapkido's greatest areas of combat.

As we fall, she tried to wrench my arm across her, but with such a short distance to fall, and with my arm opposing the pressure of a physically weaker speciman, we would both land on the ground, my body perfectly atop Sam's.

Lecture time.

"Not bad, but your problem was reaching for a target across your opponent's body. Take advantage of what is presented to you-" I moved my mouth to her ear. "-be it body part or otherwise."

In this moment of distraction, my writs would twist quickly to escape and take hold of her wrists. I would pin her hands to the ground, attempting to restrain her movement.

"So, shall we try again? Or would you rather we just stay here on the floor?" I said giving her a sly, seductive look.

The glory of mind games.

[Sam Ballerino]

Sam's breath was forced out of her as Damien landed on top of her, not to the side as she had hoped. At least he wasn't still standing, but now - oh. A distraction. Unfortunately for her, it worked. She felt goosebumps running from her ear down her arm, and before she knew what was happening, he grabbed her wrists, more successfully than she had, and pinned them to the floor.

Shoot. This wasn't good.

She raised an eyebrow at him. Stay on the floor? Maybe. But like this? As if. "I thought you said you weren't gonna lecture me today," she whispered. Then out of nowhere, she thrust her hips up, straight into him. Hopefully it would distract him enough for him to loosen his hold on her, and if it did, her left hand would come flying up for a straight on punch to the face. She'd try to roll him over to reverse their positions, putting her on top of him.

[Damien Kross, Jester]

Oooh, a whisper back... Nice touch Sa-

Did I just feel a thrust? Yes, I think I did just feel a thrus-

God dammit, how did I get on my back...? Why does my cheek sting?

Reversal of fortune... Wow.

Now, my apprentice was atop me, holding me down as I previously did her. I didn't want to break it to her that I could force myself out when I wanted to... I wanted her to savor the moment.

"So, you like being on top huh? I can live with that." I cooed, raising my body enough that my face was close to hers.

[Sam Ballerino]

Sam leaned forward slowly, putting a hand on each side of him and bringing her face close to his until their noses were brushing, acting like she was just about to kiss him.

But she wasn't about to kiss him. "Shut it," she smirked, making sure her weight was on her hands as she brought her left knee up to hit his solar plexus as hard as she could. With all her weight on her hands she was able to pick up her body in a kind of miniature leapfrog, trying to wedge her knees behind Damien's head and wrap her thighs around his neck.

If she got it she'd start squeezing her thighs together, cutting off his air supply. She'd also move her feet out, trying to push them into the crook of his elbows and restrict his movement, and bounce on his chest a couple of times, further inhibiting his breathing process.

[Damien Kross, Jester]

Aw darn... Only a few inches closer and the fight would have turned into something so much more interesting. Instead, she initiated a quick hit to my abdoman- one which I allowed her to do- and found it to be a bit more painful than I thought. Meh, she didn't have the body strength to back it up, but from being a dancer, her leg muscles were quite a force to contend with.

The bouncing on my chest bit was just hilarious to me. Wait... Let me reevaluate things... She is straddling my head and bouncing on my chest... Umm...

Wow, she is basically asking for this to cease being a fight. Twinges of pain aside, I gave her a smile and dug my face in between her thighs, moving it up and down slightly through the pressure.

It was no guess what I was suggesting.

[Sam Ballerino]

Ok, that wasn't working quite as well as expected... and what the hell was he trying to do!? She knew damn well what he was insinuating, and she knew damn well he was trying to piss her off. It was working, too.

She put her palm on his forehead, moving her thighs far enough apart to give her room to slam his head down into the tile. She put her other hand on his throat and pushed down, doing her best to crush his Adam's apple as she moved her pelvis farther down and pressed her shins into his upper arms. She glared at him.

"None of that, Damien. There's no need to be vulgar."

[Damien Kross, Jester]

"Of course there isn't." I said through the pressure on my throat. "And there's no need for you to be so rough with me." I cracked a sly smile. "Though I'm sure I wouldn't mind it sometimes." I kissed the air, continuing the seductive strategy.

The funniest part of this entire ordeal was that I was certain she couldn't differenciate between what was real seduction and what was a mind game. Even stranger still was that I couldn't tell sometimes...

Even stranger still was the odd feeling that something wasn't quite right... Something was... off...

What the hell are you talking about?

Not sure... I'll get back to you on that one...

[Sam Ballerino]

Sam couldn't help it. She cracked a grin, and a laugh came out. "Damien! Ew!" She removed her hands, and got off him, sitting down next to him with her legs crossed. Whether or not the bout was over, she didn't want to be in that position anymore. Not if he was gonna keep cracking jokes like that. She was pretty sure he was trying to make her uncomfortable on purpose. Pretty sure. That, or he was trying to seduce her for real. Strange way to do it... But either way, it was a horribly awkward position for her. She just wanted to fight.

Wait... she wanted to fight? She wasn't sure if she just wanted to fight him, or if she just wanted to fight in general. She assumed it was just him. She thought back to what she said about finding a "happy medium" for their friendship. And it seemed to her that maybe she was finding it. At the very least, she never thought she'd be able to punch someone in the face that she considered a friend - because, thinking about it, she did consider him a friend - and not feel guilty about it afterwards. Besides the fact that it didn't seem to do him much harm in the first place.

She stood up, offering her hand to him. "Let's go again? I'm done with the sex jokes." She grinned. They are jokes... right?

[Damien Kross, Jester]

Damien... Something isn't right...

Oh really? What might that be?

It feels like... like... li- You son of a bitch.

My turn. I'm in charge now Jester my boy.

Damn you Damien... I got something good started. Don't fuck it up.

Part of me wanted to continue toying with her... To just roll over, grab her shoulders, push her onto her back, and make another joke. But this time, it seemed in bad taste. Instead, I accepted her hand up and smiled.

"Sure, we can go again. On one condition." I smiled, assuming the Hapkido stance. "Since you wanna fight so bad, if I win, I get a kiss. Sound fair?"

This would be the one to throw her for a loop, probably because of it's timing. Having known each other since the semester started, being asked for a kiss wouldn't be extraordinarily sudden, but the current situation would raise an eyebrow.

Plus, with Jester at bay for now, and with my body as my own again, at least for the moment, I could finally interact with my dear apprentice again.

[Sam Ballerino]

Throw her for a loop it did. She paused. "I... well..." She had to admit, part of her did want to kiss him. He was just really damn attractive. It was a little... well, forward. But why the hell not? If she won, she'd get an ego boost, and if she lost... She'd get to find out if Damien was as good a kisser as he looked. What was the harm?

She sighed, shaking her head at him with a little grin as she got into a stance of her own, centering her body and bringing her hands up, preparing to defend herself.

"Sounds fair." She smirked. "Bring it on."

[Damien Kross, Jester]

"As I said, no weapons, no Qi- simply the purity of combat." I repeated, my stance unwavering. "The stage is set- the spots are on us- let the show begin!"

The first attack would be mine, coming in the form of a quick dash forward, aiming for a simple right handed punch forward, aiming for her face. I held nothing back- she wanted a real fight, I'll give her one.

The catch was the simple fact that with such a simple attack, I expected a form of counter. When one appeared, my right leg would snap behind her legs and my body would exert pressure forward, tripping her onto her back, from where I would begin working with my specialty- ground fighting.

[Sam Ballerino]

Sam saw his arm clock back slightly as he came at her. She tilted to her left, dodging the hit, but was unprepared for the leg that tripped her, throwing her onto her back once more. She hit the ground with a thud, the air knocked out of her for a moment, and she groaned a little bit. Not from the pain so much as from the fact that she was on the ground... again.

Dammit... I thought I said i was done with the sex jokes!

She curled up, putting her knees to her chin, dually preventing him from effectively straddling her and putting her legs out of commission, and also preparing her for a kick should he try anyway.