Who Is This

"You bitc..." Lauren tried to cry out at the woman atop her, but before the sentence could even be finished, Claire's left palm pressed to her mouth, and right index and thumb came down in a pinch on her nostrils. The smotherhold was tight, inescapable, and completely suffocating, and in it Lauren suffered. Writhing beneath the brunette, desperate to free herself, but with the fatigue and pain that had already ravaged her body, her efforts were little more than squirms. It was then that tears, once again began to fall from the blonde's eyes, as Claire looked down at her, in full control.

"I'm sorry..." The brunette whispered, just loud enough for her captured rival to hear. And though, it was a sign that somewhere in Claire, she felt guilty about not only her trick, but also perhaps the entire affair and trying to steal David, it was something else too. A clear statement that despite that guilt, she wasn't going to let go. Wasn't going to release this smother, not until she had won. Until David was hers. Until Lauren agreed she was leaving...

With bulging eyes, and veins becoming visible in her forehead, Lauren fought bravely, trying to press Claire off of her, to bridge, to do ANYTHING to free herself and not lose -- to somehow keep David... But as the seconds continued to click by, and her lungs began to burn -- as the sand in the hourglass poured from one glass half to another, it became clear it was over. Her defiant eyes, filled with fire beneath the tears, cooling until in them all Claire could see is fear -- terror, even. And that's when Claire asked: "Do you give...? Will you leave David...?"

At their hearing, Lauren's body seized, and her crying intensified, but then, after one last frantic attempt at escape, knowing she had no other choice, the blonde nodded as her eyes closed. In an instant Claire released her smother and rolled off of her rival. Lauren, desperate and half-unconscious, gasped for air and coughed hoarsely, before fully giving into her sadness and despair.

No words came from Lauren, or sudden attacks, no instead she just sobbed, burying her face in the back of her forearm as she lamented all she had lost. Claire, for her part, sat in a kneel a few feet away, breathing deep and nursing her wounds. On the brunette's face was no smile, or celebratory smirk, no instead she wore her own morose expression. Not having wanted to hurt Lauren, or even to fight her, doing it only to save them both pain, and a lifetime of David jumping from one to the other, cheating on both of them with the other.

In that sad scene they remained, until finally, Claire helped Lauren up, and together they packed the defeated blonde's things. Neither speaking, and the blonde's eyes never drying, as these two women, fresh off a violent, vicious battle, worked together to make good on the terms of their agreement. One victorious and regretful. The other defeated and distraught. Neither a true winner, in this game of wants, desires, and the wayward David.