The cut on the small girl's cheek stung like mad, and every now and then a trail of blood would run down her cheek, spinning her into a rage all over again.
"Rematch. Here and now, no holds barred. I want you to give me everything you've got. Elbows, knees, punches to the face, and everything else you have in your arsenal. Winner gets gloating rights. Deal?" Laura asks, holding her hand out to shake, in the same trusting way she had offered to help him up. This time he took her hand and shook once, amazed by the smallness and softness of her hands and the strength of her grip. For the first time Derek Robinson thought he might have done the wrong thing. On top of it all he was kind of terrified that he was about to get his ass kicked, another unfamiliar feeling for the large boy. He had always been a popular fighter due to his size. So much so, that he had been given the nickname of Mountain Man. He stepped away from the two boys holding him in the ring and took his fighting stance hesitantly.
"I'm kind of scared for the poor bastard." Carmilla murmurs to no one in particular.
"Why? It's not like Laura will do him any serious damage." LaF asks, surprising Carmills.
"You don't feel that coming off of her?" Carmilla asks, the waves coming off the girl enough to make her queasy.
"Feel what?" LaF asks.
"It's like a wave of power. When you're facing someone down in a sparring match and they're staring you dead in the eye and you feel that thrill of fear and power run down your spine... it's like that, only Laura is absolutely radiating it right now." Carmilla says as Laura moves like a flash in the corner of her vision.
The dark haired girl whips around to see what's happening, her heart suddenly pounding in her chest. Laura was angry, and angry fighters make mistakes. this was a recipe for disaster and all of the more experienced people in the circle knew it. Suddenly, Laura was in the air and her heel was hitting Derek in the temple. If he hadn't been wearing a helmet, he would have been on the ground unconscious. He countered despite seeing stars, a flailing punch that had no hope of landing as Laura blocked and gasped for air.
"Take it easy, Cupcake. There's no fire." Carmilla advises from the side-lines. Derek has recuperated and he throws a kick of his own, also heading for the head, but he overestimates Laura's height and it sails over. The small girl scoffs and steels herself, Carmilla's advice ringing in her ears. She sets her stance and waits for him to come to her, side-stepping at the last second, her face stinging as a blow glances off of her face and she grasps his helmet with a (usually illegal) palm thrust, elbows the helmet (also usually illegal), and brings his face down to an inch above her knee. A blow that, if it had landed, would have broken his nose all over his face, the same way her own nose currently felt as blood ran down her face.
"Next time, remember when I do fight you fair and square, it's not because I have to. It's because I respect both the art and your worthless ass enough too much to fight any other way. Next time, pick on someone your own size." Laura says, wiping at her nose with the back of one gloved hand, staining the white material red. She swings herself out of the ring, whips off her helmet and tosses it to LaF, stomping off to go see Perry wordlessly, blood running down her face. Carmilla watched her walk away, feeling like she was seeing a burning avenging angel walk away from her.
Laura sat in Perry's tent, letting the older girl brush her off and held an ice pack gently, silent tears running down her face.
"Are you okay?" Perry asks, noticing the crying.
"Yeah, I'm just really, really, angry. What kind of raging b-bad person thinks that they can just get away with something like that?" Laura asks.
"I should've broken his nose."
"Don't worry, I'm pretty sure that Carmilla is about to." Perry says with a gesture to the sand where Carmilla was up on the sand covered platform, her muscles all standing at attention, facing down the terrified young man who had already thoroughly had the snot beaten out of him.
"Why is he still in there?" Laura asks, confused, as Perry wipes the scrape on Laura's cheek clean.
"You left the ring before you were declared winner." Perry immediately responds, her brain a steel trap for all things related to rules, nursing, cleaning, and LaFontaine.
"Poor guy has no idea of what he's up against." Laura mutters though she actually has no shits to give for the boy.
"Plus, he's already gotten her riled up by hurting you. He couldn't have dug himself any other worse grave. I wouldn't be surprised if we found him floating in the ocean later today." Perry confesses, smearing some kind of cream on the cut.
"Why do you say that?" Laura asks as the sound of Carmilla's vengeance echoes out to them.
"She obviously cares a lot about you and that's rare for her. I've never even seen her with friends before, or any kind of significant other. I just assumed that she was sort of married to her work." Perry explains, digging around in her kit.
"People assume things about Carm a lot. In all honesty, she's one of the kindest and gentlest people I have ever met. She cares more about all of us than she will ever be willing to admit. Just because she doesn't have friends, doesn't mean that she doesn't want them." Laura grumbles, accepting the eye drops that Perry offered her.
"I guess that I've just not ever thought about it like that." Perry admits.
——-/////——-
Carmilla's match with Robinson did t last nearly long enough to suit her, even if did leave the ring with a bloody nose and a bruise flowering in his cheekbone, the placement everything but accidental. Her next to opponents were up and beaten down, just as quickly. She barely paused to acknowledge Laura's presence when the wounded girl rejoined them. She was naturally very aggressive in style, starting her next match with a round to the head that the sorry guy barely dodged before spinning into a reverse turn side kick.
"Carm, there's no fire honey. Take your time or you won't be able to handle everyone." Laura advises, resting her elbows info the ropes and repeating her own advice to her.
"Got it. Okay, I'm chilling." She says, and Laura's eyes follow the trail of a bead of sweat racing down Carmilla's back.
"Chilling probably isn't the word for it." Laura mutters, making LaFontaine chuckle.
"Come on, look at her." Laura groans, exhaustion running through her.
"Are you alright?" Danny asks, coming over to where her friends stood, looking worriedly at Laura. She was failing utterly in her attempt to distance herself from the much shorter girl.
"I'm just really, really, really tired all of a sudden." Laura says, her eyes only halfway open.
"Do you want me to take you back to the dorms?" Danny asks.
"No, I want to stay with you guys, I'm just not sure how long I'll be able to stay on my own two feet." Laura says, beginning to sway on her unstable legs.
"You've had a rough first trip. How about you watch from my back?" Danny asks, grinning kindly at her crush. She bends down onto one knee and Laura climbs up.
"You are really, really, tall." Laura comments, her arms around Danny's neck, even though she never once took her eyes off of Carmilla.
"Yeah, I know." Danny said with a roll of her eyes. Laura didn't respond, her gaze locked on the sleek form in black zipping around, taking out opponent after opponent.
"Xena, want to relieve me?" Carmilla asked, not just because she didn't want Laura that close to the tall redhead, but also because she felt very close to collapsing where she stood.
"Go ahead, or you might not get a turn." Laura encourages, jumping down and helping Carmilla off of the stage, patches of sand stuck to the older girl's skin.
"You okay, Carm?" she asks.
"Tired and thirsty. Sore legs." Laura's sparring partner respond, leaning a little bit more than was absolutely necessary on Laura.
"How are you recuperating?" Carmilla asks Laura, as the smaller girl guides her into Perry's tent and into a chair.
"I'm fine, Carm. I'm more worried about you." Laura replies, as Perry gets water.
"Where do your legs hurt?" she asks.
"My hamstrings and calves." Carmilla groans.
Laura kneels down in front of her and grips the contracted muscle in her strong fingers, working it until it was almost completely relaxed.
"Oh, my, gosh." Carmilla groans.
"What are you two doing?" Perry asks suspiciously as she ducks into the tent.
"I'm rubbing out her knots." Laura explains, her face going red.
"I'm betting you are." LaF says, as they join the group. "How does she look, New Girl?" they ask.
"She'll be fine in a minute." Laura reassures her friend.
"Okay, good, a bunch of the girls were worried." LaF says, not aware of Carmilla's eyes going wide at their words.
"I told you that you were likable." she tells Carmilla proudly.
"They just want to fight for them and make Silas look good. Don't be naive, Cupcake." Carmilla says, reverting back to her normal, incredibly broody self.
"Why don't you feel likable?" Laura asks, scooting closer. "Sit on the edge of the chair."
"The only people who ever really get attached to me are creepy middle aged men who want to get in my pants and still live with their moth...ahhh." Carmilla's tirade dies away as Laura's hands slide up one leg of her tiny spandex shorts, rolling the material up as high as it would go, revealing taught, sandy, muscle covered in pale, milky white skin. One of Laura's thumbs digs in in a circular motion, painfully hard and Carmilla grits her teeth against the slowly dissipating pain.
"Hnng." she growls in the back of her throat, though Laura would later swear that it sounds like a purr.
"I'm not a middle aged man. And, I don't even have a mother, and I like you." Laura informs her, now that she has successfully rendered the champion speechless. Her thumbs continue their work as Carmilla struggles to not allow tears to spring to her eyes.
"You're not so bad yourself, Cupcake." she replies as Laura starts her other leg and Carmilla winces.
"You should have called for a break earlier. This is going to be hell tomorrow." Laura says with a shake of her head.
"Especially since you're driving home tomorrow." she adds remembering that Carmilla wasn't on the bus with everyone else.
"You'll just have to drive for me then. I did get in this mess defending your honor." she teases.
"I defended my own honor just fine, thank you." Laura grumbles, letting the black material snap back into place.
"Yeah, you did." Carmilla said softly, remembering the fierce look on the smaller girl's face as she took down a guy almost four times her size. Laura was standing over with a glare and a half pout that was irritating on anyone else's face. she remembered the thrill of terror running down her spine every time that Laura was almost hit.
Almost against her will she reached forward and grabbed Laura's hand in her own, examining the calluses running across her palm and how small they were in comparison to her own, the bruised and skinned knuckles that came along with their particular form of art.
"It was pretty damn hot, too." she admits, jerking on Laura's wrist suddenly so that she fell against the taller girl. Carmilla caught and steadied her easily, before pulling her against her and carefully placing her lips over Laura's.