THE ROSE AND THE ORCHID

(Part 1 – Chapter 1: Lotka-Volterra – the presence)

In every ecosystem the balance between carnivores and their prey find equilibrium over time. Factors like environmental conditions may vary the results slightly but in the end, the outcome remains the same in a predictable manner.

The black ceiling of the night sky pours tons of water down into an unforgivingly cold April's night. Like torrents the streets get flooded, washed clean from a long winters dirt which mingles with the rainfall into the thick dark blood of this city, this ecosystem. My ecosystem that is EroFights city. The beam of the headlight cuts through the heavy rain and transforms the haze of water drops into white glowing orbs, before they collide with the reflecting asphalt or vaporise on contact with the exhaust manifold of the motorcycle. The colourful shine of advertising signs from the shops I pass swiftly mix into a blurred goo that gets reflected on my helmet's visor while my eyes scout the way through the veins of this city. Changing gears is a visceral process like breathing. The rear tire locks for a heartbeat, causing the machine to slide half a meter on the soaking asphalt before the relocation of the centre of gravity caused by my movements forces the bike to carve a wide arc. As the torque transmitted by the pinion hammers back onto the drive chain, the machine bucks forward and the engine roars his angry agony through the urban canyons. The prey lays ahead, making its way through the biosphere it is all too sure of being safe in. A black car meanders through the thin traffic a few hundred meters ahead while I close up with dashing speed. The accelerator handle closes and I smash down the gears, responded by a loud wailing of the v-twin engine.

I light the tip of the cigar, take a breath and puff a cloud of smoke. I look out of the car: the skyscrapers of EroFights City break the darkness of the night sky like artificial constellations. A light for every single being of the city of dreams. The Maserati overtakes car after car in the highway: Battista is pushing on the accelerator more than usual.

"No need to run: I am sure that they will not let the fun start without me."

"A gentleman should never be late for an appointment, Sir."

The car does not slow down.

I smile and lean back on the seat, puffing another cloud of smoke. Aria is hunting in the woods and Lisbeth is training in the LWR. Even Drake is out for some adventure. This is the perfect moment for one of those special nights that I haven’t had in a while and my good old Scarlet made me an offer I was not able to refuse.

A sexfight competition in the Classic Arena.

A wave of excitement moves in my body. The thrill of the fight...giving and receiving pleasure. The most primal way of prove strength that mixes with all the most elaborate techniques of seduction.

A task of mind and body.

"I am tempted, Battista. I could enter the arena and put myself in game."

"It's my duty to remind you that you promised Lady Aria to not join an arena until she gets back from the hunt."

I sigh and look out the window again. I follow the movements of a bike that is behind my Maserati. It pulls beside us. The biker move their head towards me. I can see my face in the reflection of the helmet. The biker turns their head and overtakes us. I follow it with my eyes as best I can.

"Sir?"

"Uh? What, Battista?"

"We have arrived, Sir."

The old butler raises his hands and point to a huge, elegant building. On the door, the insignia of a mouth biting a cherry.

My car would have been way more comfortable in this weather and for sure a whole lot more inconspicuous, but the manoeuvrability and speed of the bike is unrivalled. With prey like this, my methods have to be efficient.

"Prey like this..." I clench my teeth below the helmet as I evade another car right in front of me. All of a sudden, the left turn signal of the black Maserati flashes and indicates the arrival at his hideout.

"Such a decayed part of town, Malaspina?"

My mind races through all viable options while I roll past the diverting car before it gets swallowed partly by a gateway in the front of a building that looks suspiciously swanky for this area. The shadow of a nearby alleyway provides cover for my bike. As the engine dies, I take off the helmet and expose my blonde hair to the rain. Within seconds my mane is as soaked as my leather jacket and the black pants have been already for an hour at least. There is nothing royal here! The air smells like exhaust fumes and old facades even through the precipitation.

"Not too posh my friend!" I mumble through gritted teeth, being sure to finally catch the self proclaimed aristocrat in his shady business red-handed. The stop light of the Maserati paints a red glow on the pavement close to an open door. Carefully, I slip into the building unnoticed. Time to stalk the prey!

Scarlet is in the hall, wearing a black suit and a white shirt. It always amazes me how sensual and beautiful she can be while wearing formal clothes.

"Hello, Roma. Nice to see you here."

I move my hand to her back and pull her into a hug. Our lips meet. She moves a hand on the rose on the breast pocket of my blue suit.

"Are you here to enjoy the place or me, boss? I can prepare the Room of Love if you want…"

"Maybe another time...if Aria wants. I am her for the match you promised me."

She takes some documents from a nearby table and gives me them. I check photos and bios of the two contestants.

"Mmmm...'James the Sexfighter'…He looks like a tough guy.  He will face...'Jane the cute bear?' She may be cute, but her body is muscled like that of a fighter."

"Who will you bet on?"

"I still don't know: last time I bet I lost bad, so I prefer to be careful today."

Scarlet smirks. Her green eyes look for mine behind her glasses.

"You lost bad to me..." She twists a lock of red hair with her finger. "Thanks to you, I had the best hairstyling of my life and one of the best dinners too. This time I could use a new suit."

"As I could use a good relaxing massage if I win…"

"If you want that from me, you need to put a lot of cash on the table. You know I am worthy of it."

I grab her hand and kiss it, rubbing her smooth skin on my black beard.

"We will see it. I feel lucky tonight. I feel it’s one of those days when everything may happen."

She nods, turns around and signals for me to come with her.

"Follow me boss: the match is about to start."

A breeze of artificially heated air floats over my wet skin as I walk through the main entrance. My black leather boots leaving wet prints on a red carpet that provides the establishment with a would-be classy aesthetic. These sorts of snake pits are all designed similarly, so I easily find my way to the cloakroom. A short look around proves what I already knew: the price of any piece of the wardrobe handled by this young employee exceeds his monthly salary by a factor of 10 at least. A friendly smile, a few charming words and some cash buys me his sympathy and ensures my helmet and jacket a nicely hidden but still easily accessible place on the counter – just in-case I need to leave this debauched place in a hurry. The kitchen area is also easy to spot – a group of uniformed worker drones swarms in and out through a big double sided swing door, which I only need to peek through for a second.

With the staff being way too occupied with their duties, the small unsuspicious package finds its way from my palm into a nearby waste bin, before I turn my attention back to the main hall. Only a few confident steps are needed to blend in with the boisterous guests of the house.

As I turn a corner, I almost trip over my own feet as I manage to evade eye contact a the very last second.

There he is. Standing tall in the middle of the aisle, chatting nonchalantly with a female that seems to be the pusher at this endeavour. Dressed in a blue striped suit which is contrasted by red seaming, wearing a black tie and obviously very expensive leather shoes, Romantic Malaspina exchanges intimate contingencies with the woman. Before both make their way deeper into the belly of the beast, leaving a wooden door with a suspicious emblem on it unguarded, the self proclaimed nobleman kisses the hand of his employee. "Unprofessional, sloppy, snobbish!" runs through my mind. Still his impressive build will be something I should reckon with!

The brass plate showing a pair of lips holding a cherry speaks an almost too clear language!

"Main pimps office would have been too shady, I guess!" I think to myself, grinning and waiting for the couple of varmints to final get out of my sight.

The metallic sound of the doorknob releasing the clasp is drowned-out by the superficial chatter of the mob. Single snippets of conversations about a soon-to-start sexfight rise to my ears as I slip through the door and into the darkness of the office. The door closes without any sound behind me, before I start to nose around.

"If you were a thief, you would check the safe hidden behind the painting on the opposite wall. So, I should presume you are a spy." The unknown woman turns her head and opens her mouth. I smile. "A really poor spy if I can be sincere."

The woman growls and looks around. I am blocking the door and she would never have the time to open the window before I can reach her. She growls again and assumes a combat pose.

"Even if you were able to defeat me in combat...and this is a big 'if,' I need just a call and all the security of this place will be on you, so fighting is not an option either."

The woman bites her lips. She is blond, with blue eyes. She is wearing a black motorcycle suit. Despite that, is clear she is incredibly beautiful. She smiles and moves her fists on her hips.

"If you had wanted to call the security you would done it already." She is as smart as she is beautiful: this makes her double dangerous.

I cross my arms and move a step towards her.

"I was curious to know why were you spying on me, so I thought we could share some private time..." I indicate the desk close to her position. "So, why don't you take the bottle of whiskey which is in the lower closet, the glasses in the second one and offer us both something to drink while you tell me why are you here?"

She nods and does what I tell her. She looks at the label of the bottle and nods, as she approves the choice Cherry did.

"How did you know I was here?"

"Shouldn't I be the one asking questions?" I take the glass from her hands. We touch each other for an instant. Her skin is smooth. "There is a security system in this office. You activated it when you entered."

"So many precautions for someone who shouldn't have anything to hide..."

I empty my glass and put it on the desk.

"I don't know what are you talking about, but now it's time for you to tell me what you want from me."

A long sigh is heard while my head tilts a bit, as though I need to remember something before I answer.

"You are Corrado “Romantic” Malaspina. 33 years of age, parents are Duccio Malaspina and Rossana Malatesta. Am i right?""

A winning smile forms on my lips before I lick them and take a cautious step towards Romantic.

"I am here to find out, if your reputation is true..."

My fingers find their way onto his shirt.

"It is said...that you are a very profound gentleman and master of...many arts!"

I grab her hand. Firmly, but not in a rough way. I look into your eyes.

"Your words are like honey, but your flattery won't make me forget you still haven't answered my question." I move her hand to my lips and kiss it. "After all, why should I waste my skills for someone who doesn't even want to share her name?"

I just need to get through that door without him being able to hinder me for 5 minutes and this mission is a success! My mind formulates a plan. Just a simple seduction...how hard could that be!? So I set up my best pair of puppy eyes before i answer.

"Ohw! No need for any distress, dear. I am Frikka. So...since we are both trapped in that somehow unpleasant situation..."

...my view runs down the button line of his shirt

What to do with this beautiful evening?

A wave of excitation moves inside my body like an electric shock. There is something in this woman...the way she moves, the way she talks...even her perfume...one part of my brain is screaming at me to run or fight, like I am before a terrible menace. The other part just wants to fall for her.

I want to kiss her.

I want to hug her.

I want to make love to her.

And I have met her for just a few minutes...

"Do...do you have ideas, Frikka?"

I lean forward a bit to play helpless in the grasp of my captor, while my mind already calculates levers to use his body weight against him. My smile tells a completely different story.

"Well... Mister Roma..."

My upper leg touches his leg just barely.

"Either you could let me go or we could test out if all those rumours about your skills are true. One way or the other: you will have to loosen that grasp you have on my wrist!"

I try to fake a soft giggle while I start to count down from 10 in my mind.

"My skills... you really know a lot about me."

I move my head closer to hers. My hands caress her back.

"I bet you know I love competition and sexfight."

Our lips almost touch. I can feel her breath on my skin. Her heartbeat increases. Is that excitation, fear, or something else?

I let the zipper at her back run down, laying bare her shoulder blades first and the whole rear just a moment later.

"I can feel this will be an amazing night..."

End part 1

(written by Frikka and Romantic)

Notes:

Wrestling sounds in the background, a female voice emerges close enough to microphone to produce static noises for a second.

- Me! Me! Let me do that you.... aaargh. - clears throat -Hello, all you beautiful people of Erofights and welcome ME! in the “story canon”. I am Frikka and from now on, i run this shit and there is nothing Romantic can do aboooooouuuu....

gets dragged away from the microphone

- Pant... Pant...Hello people. Romantic here. Forgive me for this incident, but working with Frikka is like working with a human tornado. Welcome to a new saga where..."

Sound of a bonk is heared

Something wooden rumbles down to the floor and Frikka cracks her knuckles in the background...

- ...Where we try to tell a little story in the best tradition of Erofights. We engage in several matches at EF to determine how the story will unfold further. With being the kind gentleman he is, Roma agreed to always let me have my way with him, of course. Nononono! Let me... stay down you big chunky hmmmmpffff!!!

muffling noise

Enfolding the troublemaker and shutting her up by holding her mouth shut, a bundle of ropes dangling from my hand...

- Ehm... Obviously this is not true. I will definitely put this brat in her place! Anyways! There are stories to come that intertwine both our backstories and illustrate our fights. So if you want to to witness the victories of the unconquerable Romantic MalaspinAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!! Stop biting!"

An evil giggle drowns the slurs and lamenting.

- Haha! Stay tuned, ladies & gentleman of Erofights! You will never shut me up Roma! Give up! What are you...?? Don´t you DARE to use that rope on me! I will bite you again! No!! Nononono!!!! Let me go!!

...as the microphone tips over and the recording ends.