Babying the competition (private)

[Pyrogue]

Joker smiled as he strutted through the arena's lounge. He gazed around at the various beautiful women around him, some of whom he had already courted. Both Pyrha and Mythra blushed and giggled as he winked at them. Unfortunately, Joker still had one more lady to charm, one whom he considered the ultimate prize. He turned and set his sights on the umbral witch known as Bayonetta, who was sitting at the bar having a drink. He took a deep breath before sitting on the barstool next to hers. "A shot of Brandy, thank you kindly" he told the bartender. He intended to order the coolest drink he knew of despite his limited knowledge of alcohol. "Pardon me, but I don't believe we've met before" he said, turning to the witch.

[theJozza]

Bayonetta naturally had noticed the fellow the moment he stepped in, and she knew exactly who he was. The "phantom thief" strutting around with such flair and casually acknowledging all his "conquests"...it was just adorable. Of course when he sits next to her her and engages in the most transparent flirting she'd heard it years it was all she could do not to burst out laughing.

"Oh haven't we?" Baynotta replies, slyly as she takes another sip of her mysterious destiny cocktail. "It does get difficult to keep track of everyone around here." Normally, she would simply shoot him down (perhaps literally) and go about her evening, but he'd caught her in a good mood and three cocktails into the night. Besides, it had been awhile since she'd entertained anyone and she was feeling just the tiniest bit "frisky".

[Pyrogue]

Ren smirked a bit. "Call me Joker" he said, using his codename instead of his real name. "And what would your name be?" He asked, wondering if she would tell him her real name. While looking at the woman he noticed she had a strange aura to her that he could sense due to his experience with shadows. "You wouldn't happen to be the witch I'm scheduled to fight tomorrow evening, would you?" He asked before downing his shot. It was his first time trying hard liquor, as he had only ever tried various wines as part of his gentleman thief act. The taste was overpowering and revolting. He tried his hardest to keep a neutral expression so as to not give away how he felt about it, but failed spectacularly. It was a miracle he was even able to choke it down.

[theJozza]

"Oh yes I thought you seemed familiar," Bayontta replies, her calm smirk not betraying how amused she was. Then when he chokes down his shot, she can only barely manage to choke down her laughter. "Oh don't be ashamed dear," Bayonetta says, leaning in to whisper. "I agree that half the liquor here is swill. I struggle to tolerate its lowbrow quality myself at times." She's well aware that his intolerance has nothing to do with the brandy's quality, but now she finds herself intrigued by this so-called gentleman thief before her and thinks that leading him on could lead to some serious fun. "But more importantly, my name is Bayonetta and I do believe you're right we are scheduled for a one-on-one match tomorrow evening. How exciting. I trust you'll fight fair, after all I certainly won't." She says punctuating her statement with a chuckle

[Pyrogue]

"Urgh..." Ren groaned as the taste lingered in his mouth too long for his liking. "Thanks for telling me that after I've already drank it..." he grumbled. He assumed Bayonetta to be telling the truth, since it wasn't like he could tell the differencebetween a good and bad drink. He hoped to move past that little incident and get to the point. "How amusing of you to expect a thief to fight fair" He pointed out. "You'd have to do some convincing to get me to agree to a bog-standard brawl. I find pre-match incapacitation to be a much more fun alternative" he said in a faux-suave manner. His cheeky grin only served to highlight his arrogance.

[theJozza]

At this point, keeping her laughter down was starting to almost hurt Bayonetta, but his sloppy flirting was at least starting to make up for that in its entertainment factor.

"Oh aren't you a sly one," Bayonetta coos, setting her drink down and leaning closer to her. "Well since you have such an aversion to following rules perhaps we could bend one for our match. Specifically that pesky regulation about contestants making wagers on fights?" Bayonetts says, grinning mischievously, all the while wondering if this Joker is really going to make things as easy as she thinks he will.

[Pyrogue]

"Well that all depends on what your wager is" Joker retorted. "Monetary bets don't interest me much I'm afriad" he said while playing with his dagger. Much to his embarrassment he nearly dropped it three times in one minute.

[theJozza]

"Oh good, me neither," Bayonetta says, delighted at having this boy in the palm of her hand. "How's this sound then," she leans in closer, pulling him by the collar until her lips are right by his ear. "You win we spend the weekend at your place. I win we spend the weekend at mine?" She lets go and leans back, giving him a particularly suggestive wink.

[Pyrogue]

Joker smirked, thinking he had gotten what he wanted. "Deal!" He said a bit too quickly. Clearly he was a bit too eager to get to the fun stuff. "I look forward to a good fight" he said, shaking her hand.

---

The next evening Joker and Bayonetta entered opposing sides of the arena. Under normal circumstances Ren would be quite nervous, as his skills in direct combat were quite limited. Today though, he was excited for however the match would end.

"Ready?" The announcer asked before firing a starting gun. "Go!"

[theJozza]

Bayonetta doesn't hesitate and springs forward, firing a barrage from both pistols to throw him off balance and then driving a kick into his side. It was quite clear she was here to win.