Body Blows

[styg]

Ligaya's lying on worn canvas, eyes closed, purple braids falling in a gargantuan spiked halo. Her hands clasp a closed water bottle which bounces gently against her stomach. A shadow falls across her as Serenity steps over her, leaving a black cable snaking across Ligaya's torso. It tangles the bottle momentarily; Ligaya shakes it off, but gives no other reaction.

"Mmkay. Here we are."

Serenity steps back over her partner. The cable slowly loops off Ligaya.

"Ready?"

Ligaya sits up on her elbows and yawns. "I guess."

"You guess?"

The bottle rolls away as Ligaya folds her hands on her stomach. "So sleepy," she smiles.

Serenity steps back and jabs a toe into her kidney. "Our opponents ain't gonna research themselves."

"Never know. They might."

Finally ceasing her pacing, Serenity drops into a cross-legged position with her laptop balanced on her knees. "Iunno," she muses, "I don't think they're that nice... or that smart."

The back of Ligaya's hand slaps against Serenity's thigh. "You don't even know them."

A dark scowl flashes across Serenity's face as she mutters, "Know 'em better'n they think..."

She pivots the screen round to let Ligaya see it; The Blazin' Blasian squints. "Which ones am I looking at?"

"Ones in the gym shit, obviously," Serenity replies impatiently, "Not the cavegirl or the comic book top."

"Oh. Okay." Ligaya keeps scanning the match pitching Body Shotz against Joanna Jane Tarzanna and Endee Leights, and her brow furrows. "Man, I hope those tans are real. The fake shit takes forever to get out of my tights."

"C'mon. Bitches like that?" spits Serenity, "Same plastic cunts from up at Dow's Lake? Everything about them's fake. Spray-on tans, silicone titties, hair extensions-"

"You wear hair extensions."

Serenity bites her tongue, then says: "Not like that. You know what I mean." Her face curls in disgust. "Them tans are goddamn ridiculous. Go fucking blind stood opposite 'em. It's like staring at the Sun."

Ligaya sighs. "You put The Offspring in my head now."

Slapping Ligaya again, Serenity barks, "Will you pay attention? We're meant to be researching." She falls silent again as she watches... then a moment later, without any irony, grimaces and says, "That one looks like a horse."

"Which one?"

"The one in pink," she points.

Ligaya peers closer, then gasps and squeaks, "Oh my god, look at her waist! It's freaking me out."

As she averts her gaze, Serenity chuckles, "Right? It's like... put your arms round her for a northern lights and she'd snap in half."

"Heehee. Like a human Kit Kat."

"Bitch I'ma try it, see how many it takes." She shakes her head. "Man I thought we spent a lot of time in the gym, but this... do they not have lives? They don't even look good. They look... wrong. Like bodybuilders with hosepipe veins. Urgh," she shudders.

"Yeah man. How people even do that to they bodies? Time they 40 they gonna be ruined. Feel sorry for 'em teebeeaitch."

"Hell, they're ruined now. Look at that bitch's shoulders! Making my damn skin crawl."

It's Ligaya's turn to slap Serenity. "You're so mean! How'd they feel if they saw you making fun of how they look?"

"Fuck that. Fuck them. Think they ain't making fun of how we look? These fake bitches are all the same," growls Serenity, her voice betraying layers of bitterness and her eyes heavy with the weight of the past, "But bodies like that ain't trained for fighting."

"I guess."

Serenity's face clouds with... anger? Contempt? No...

Revenge.

"Wednesday... we show 'em what real bodies can do."