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The Lioness and the Longknife

Started by Rhindeer, July 29, 2015, 09:11:12 PM

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Rhindeer

Yasmin, too, laughed, all too pleased at her own joke, though she gad to pause her giggles to spit out some of the blood that ran into her mouth. She wiped at her nose with the neck of her tunic, but of course that did little to staunch the flow, so she finally gingerly pinched it shut.

At his question, she smirked. "Hmm. For now. Maybe. No promises, though. I don't make those." And with a sore grunt, she pushed herself to her feet and gave the crowd a cheerful wave and a blown kiss.
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DaGlobster

Juras kipped up, and he raised his own fist up victoriously. The crowd cheered for the two gladiators.

He turned back to Yasmin.

"Where do they keep you?"

Rhindeer

"On the east side," Yasmin said, and shot him a look, one eyebrow raised. "Why do you ask?"
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DaGlobster

Juras narrowed his eyes playfully.

"To bring you a drink, of course."

It was beckoned for them to go their separate ways, and Juras lingered a while before he started to walk away. He laughed.

"To help soothe that nose, Kitten!"

Rhindeer

"KITTEN?!" Yasmin repeated incredulously, whirling on Juras with her one hand balled into a fist, but there were other fighters waiting to begin their own bouts and the spectators were beginning to grow impatient. With another exasperated stare at his back, she turned back around and marched through the portcullis.

Ooooh. Yeah. No. Nope! That was definitely not going to fly!

She headed out into the Colosseum and stopped briefly by the little medical clinic to get her nose cleaned and fixed up. After that, it was just a short walk to the east side of the Colosseum, where her own cell block was. She was allowed to remain in her room with her door unlocked, for Karame's men would be by later to collect her, and she had earned a reputation for not being a runner. Besides, with guards posted at every entrance and exit of the Colosseum, it would be impossible for a slave to escape, anyway.

She headed inside her room and started to strip off her armor and her soiled clothes, ready to change into fresh, clean ones that weren't splattered with nose blood.
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DaGlobster

Juras chuckled to himself, not bothering to turn and address Yasmin's exasperation. Hey, if she couldn't take a little name-calling, then she shouldn't have been dishing it out!

Juras dusted his back off. Apart from that, though, he was more or less clean. He'd barely broken a sweat out there, and as his only fight for the day, he was disappointed. Juras wasn't exactly a fan of killing people, but first-blood combats were far too short for his own liking.

He might not have liked killing people, but he did love to fight.

Either way, there was the matter of that drink to attend to.

Between walking to the Colosseum's built-in tavern, waiting for that jug of ale, walking over to the east side, and asking about for Yasmin's cell, he arrived just as she was getting changed.

With curiosity, he noticed that her cell door was kept unlocked. Despite his piqued curiosity, Juras decided it'd be better to knock first. Jug in one hand, cups in the other, he tapped the door with his foot.

Of course, he'd forgotten that the cell doors in the colosseum open inwards, and not outwards.

Rhindeer

The door swung open suddenly, of course right when she just shed her armor and clothes and was standing there naked with a fresh tunic in hand. Yasmin jumped about a mile, startled by the loud bang and the swinging door and her heart lunged into her throat because who the bloody fuck was barging in?!

Her first instinct wasn't modesty. It was self-preservation.

She snatched up her heavy, armored belt and whirled around, snapping it out at the intruder's face, a blow that could easily bruise and cut, but then she saw who it was in mid throw--and she jerked it to the side instead, so it cracked against the door instead of Juras's face.

"Have you heard of KNOCKING?!"
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DaGlobster

Juras stood there, completely still. Frankly, if he was going to take an armored belt to the face like this, he was pretty sure he deserved it. When it didn't hit him, however, he played it off like he knew it was going to miss.

He smiled, half-charismatic, half sheepish.

"Well, I tried to knock with my foot, but I didn't know your door was unlocked!" He said, standing his ground.

Rhindeer

"Of course it's unlocked! Half the doors in this block are unlocked! You still don't just go barging in! Hakeshna, I could have--!"

Yasmin took a deep breath and ran a hand through her short, curly hair. If there was one thing she hated, it was surprises. Sudden movements, people jumping up behind her even as a joke--those who did it with her rarely did it again, because she never reacted well. And she couldn't help it. She had spent so much time here fighting for her life--inside and outside the arena, for even everyday Colosseum life could be fraught with dangers--that sudden movements and sneaky actions were instantly perceived as dangerous threats. Even now it took her a moment to fight down the surge of adrenaline that had rushed through her, making her breathing shaky and hands tremble.

She let her breath out slowly and forced a smile. Just smile! Be silly, upbeat Yasmin! "Whew! Just. Be careful. Alright? Jeez. Nearly gave me a heart attack there, and I'd be pretty irked if I went by heart attack after all this! Do you know how embarrassing that'd be? I'm barely in my twenties, I'm too young for that!"

With another breath in and out, she snatched up her clothes again, now calm enough to feel embarrassed. She turned away to hide her rising blush and quickly started to wriggle into her long kilt. "Uh. So. What did you bring?"
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DaGlobster

"What part of "I tried to knock" didn't you get? It was a bit awkward, balancing on one foot and trying to knock with the other. I'd like to see you try it."

He said it with a smile, trying to keep the tone positive, because he saw the tremble that went through her. He was curious, because she seemed too young to be shellshocked. Then again, perhaps she was just the right age.

Because Juras remembered how he used to be.

"I brought some ale," he said, and held a cup out to her, although he'd yet to fill it with the jug.

"Who taught you to fight?"

Rhindeer

"I bet I could pull it off," Yasmin said with a snort as she yanked on her clean tunic. When she was properly dressed, she turned back around to face him, absently straightening her tunic.

"Agrian taught me how to fight. Saved my life, really," she said as she took a cup and waited for him to fill it. "Who taught you? And why do you do it? Shits and giggles and murdering people?"
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DaGlobster

"Agrian... Yeah, I've heard the name," Juras said. He looked around in vain for a chair, before remembering, with a little bit of silent embarrassment, that this was a slave's cell.

So, he filled her cup, and went to take a seat at the edge of her bed. He set the jug down on the ground, but not before filling his own cup.

Then, came Yasmin's question. He smiled, but there was something off about it.

"I taught myself to fight when I was eleven. Been fighting since. All I know, really."

He looked up to her. Her little bit about murdering people and doing it for fun struck a nerve with him. Just because he was a volunteer gladiator, everybody loved to assume that he did it because he was some kind of bloodthirsty maniac.

It was a presumption that warmed his blood, no matter how many times he heard it.


Rhindeer

"Huh. So that why? Funny. It's all I've known for a good while and you sure couldn't pay ME to stay if I ever got an out."

She took a seat on her bed as well, and took a long swig of the ale. Damn. It had been a while since she'd had that, but she felt like she needed it. "Money that good?" she asked with a raised brow.

Yeah, Yasmin was judging the shit out of him
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DaGlobster

"No, it isn't."

Another swig.

"Colosseum likes to sell volunteers short. Bad enough they force slaves to fight for profit, but they squeeze all they can out of the people who've made fighting their living."

He straightened up, and looked at Yasmin. Behind the smile, there was a certain tiredness. A momentary glimpse of the man behind the show and swordsmanship.

"I'm not saying I have it as bad as a slave, just that it isn't exactly a rose garden either."

Rhindeer

"You wanna trade with me?" Yasmin asked, scooting back on her cot so she could rest her back against the wall. The look she gave him was utterly unimpressed.

Maybe it wasn't fair, but from where she was sitting, she'd much rather be living penniless on the streets than kill another person.

Much less be a slave.

"I mean, come on. You at least get the choice. You could get another job, Longknife. You just choose not to."
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DaGlobster

"I could, but what'd be the point? Sure, I might earn the same, or even more taking up a trade or working in a foundry, but I've invested so much of my life into this that it wouldn't be the same. It wouldn't be satisfying."

He smiled. He shifted so he could rest his back on the wall as well, and he brought the jug of ale up with him, so they could both fill their cups at their leisure.

"I'm fifty-four years old, Lionness. I may not look it, but I've got my elven blood to thank for it. I've been fighting for my life since I was eleven. I can't just... stop. It's a part of me."

Rhindeer

"Fifty-four?" Yasmin repeated, choking on a sip of ale. "Holy shit, Longwife! You don't look half bad for an old fart!"
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DaGlobster

"Perks of being a half-elf. I'm barely an adult!" Juras chuckled. He always liked watching people react to hearing his true age. He took another sip, and rested his hands on his abs.


Rhindeer

"Yeah, yeah, wrinkly old man!" Yasmin snorted--and found, with a flash of irritation, that she was slipping. She wasn't supposed to be laughing along with this guy. She was supposed to be hating his guts.

Hating everything he represented.

She sobered, and crossed her arms over her chest with a scowl. "Hmph. So you're old. Must mean you've killed a lot of people, eh?"
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DaGlobster

"Killed a lot of people. Lost a lot of friends," Juras said.

"I've only been a gladiator for a couple years, and thankfully, I haven't had to kill anyone yet. Before, though, I was a mercenary, in an army-for-hire."

Juras seemed to sober up a bit as well. That is, until he took another drink.

"I was in my first battle at seventeen."

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