"Ocho! Nueve! Diez!"
Upon the final count, the entire crowd erupted into a mass of applause; regardless of who they'd been cheering for, they couldn't help but validate how great of a performance the winner had put on. Though to be fair, it hadn't been as much a performance than serious brawling as far as Griezzo was concerned.
And why had a Montana been fighting a Huracan in the ring rather than on the streets? Simple. The latter has issued the challenge and the former had taken the bait, resulting in an angel fighting a bear and the bear absolutely demolishing his opponent.
"The winner! Griezzo Verrrrrrrrona!"
The angel didn't know what was more painful to hear, the announcer's terrible attempt at emulating their native speech patterns or the fact that his name wasn't the one called out during victory. As he lay on the ring's hard floor, body bruised and ego bruised even further, El Divino decided he wasn't going to get up.
Having had themselves positioned at the other side of the rope to cheer on their fellow Huracan, Derby Queen and Irwigo had now entered the ring to see if El Divino was ok, having not moved since his being pinned down. After a gentle poke in the rib on Irwigo's behalf, both females were relieved when their clanmate slowly stirred, groaning as he did so.
"Oh gawd, he's ok!" Irwigo exclaimed, sounding rather relieved. It wasn't so much that she cared about him that she would possibly be out of a job if anything happened to him; regardless of whether people remembered it or not, she was still his assistant and first-choice tag-team partner.
"How the hell did this happen?!" The angel then exclaimed, his snap suddenly cut short by a painful wince as he was soon rubbing his shoulder where his wing met his flesh.
"You got cocky, called his brothers sons of whores, he went berserk and kicked the shit out of you," Derby Queen explained, not sounding particularly sympathetic. "Poke the beast with a stick and that's what you get."
At that moment, the faces above the defeated Huracan were joined by the very 'beast' who had caused him to be lying on the floor. Naturally, Divino's reaction was to turn his head away as if he couldn't even consider making eye contact with the other male.
"Are you alright?" The Montana asked, looking rather guilty as if he was a child who had badly wronged a parent.
"Do I look alright to you?!" The angel retorted, his sudden exclamation giving Griezzo a bit of a shock. "Frickin' retard."
"The only thing you terribly hurt is his pride," Irwigo explained, managing to put a hand on the victorious male's shoulder despite their height differences."This is just him being stubborn rather than actually being unable to move."
"Angels gotta lose too sometimes," Derby Queen added, gently poking his cheek and causing him to irritably swat her hand away.
"Don't pass your dirty manwhore germs onto me."
"Oh my gawd, don't you dare attack my man just because you lost to the bigger one," she retorted, sounding annoyed at Divino going down a very familiar and predictable route. "Jonas hasn't been in Clint City for the last few days, actually. He and his dad Hefty had to go back home to Polchadie-Golgovine to deal with some family business. Besides, you're no stoic celibate yourself."
"Does this mean I'm off the hook?" Griezzo asked, his words hushed for Irwigo's ears only.
"Far from it," she replied, rubbing his shoulder upon noticing the embarrassed expression that had formed on his face. "This is just the obligatory, daily Jonas argument that these two have."
"Huh. He's come round to the Palace a few times to pick up Lady," the Montana began, smiling slightly. "Sure, he flirts a lot and can't keep it in his trousers half the time, whatever IT is, but I like him."
"Really?" Derby Queen asked, having overheard Griezzo. "I'd have thought with the whole 'all for one' thing you and your brothers would have that...you know. You'd all hate him."
"Nope," Griezzo responded, causing a look of relief to form on the female's face. "Sure, we have our problems with him trying to flirt with Felicia and Bella and telling Lady that she deserves better but he's an ok guy."
"Yeah, I've told him a few times not to be like that or it's gonna bite him in the ass. And besides, he-"
"HELLO? I'm still lying down here and absolutely miserable! Do not ignore me!"
As the two females simply shook their heads and sighed at their clanmate's typical burst of self-gratification, Griezzo's response was to bent down at the angel's side; gently and slowly lifting the upper half of his body off the floor, the Montana couldn't help pouting a little when El Divino still wouldn't make eye contact with him.
"I'm sorry, ok?"
"Don't touch me."
"Divino, I didn't mean to-"
"I just said, don't touch me!" The Huracan protested, angrily pushing himself away from the Montana; the latter refusing to let the former force his upper half back onto the ground, El Divino gave a disgusted scoff as if he couldn't believe Griezzo's nerve. He then attempted once more to push Griezzo away, failure becoming success as he lifted himself off the ground and onto his feet. Stretching his wings out as if it was something he'd really need to do in a long time, the Huracan then began to hover a foot or two above the ground, causing Derby Queen and Irwigo to exchange suspicious glances.
"Divino, I swear if you-"
Derby Queen's words were soon cut short by the flapping of wings and Divino's inevitable depature, causing her to sigh rather loudly and obviously. He wasn't the only Huracan to react badly to a loss- La Cobra had bitchslapped an opponent (but had apologised shortly afterwards) and Lumber Jack had threatened to throw his opponent off the highest point of Pile Tower– but he was the worst. And yet the crowds still cheered for him as they watched him ascend and disappear into the sky because he always delivered on his promises of tense and entertaining matches. Well, that's what the men cared about. The women just seemed to cheer the fact that he existed.
"He's not going to stay mad forever, is he?" Griezzo asked, breaking the silence between the three that remained in the ring; his question resulting in a immediate hug round the waist from the smaller Irwigo, he couldn't help simpering a little when she reached up and placed her Mario-esque hat on his mess of black hair.
"I'd stay out of his way for about a week," she responded, soon distracted by a rumbling noise and looking a little embarrassed. "I'm starved. Does anyone fancy going to Casa de Pollo with me?"
"I'll come but I won't get anything, I'm watching my weight," Derby Queen said, then turning to Griezzo. "Wanna come? We'll pay. It's the least we can do for Divino acting like such a dick."
Being treated to food after winning a wrestling match was not an uncommon case as the Huracan were often showing hospitality towards the other clans as guests to the Pile Tower. However, being told not to touch him and having his opponent fly off on him meant that Griezzo was one of the few lucky ones- once, the Huracan just about managed to stopped El Divino from exacting 'Divine Wrath'. And what was Divine Wrath?
He'd almost thrown someone off the highest point of Pile Tower...