“THAT WAS SO MUCH FUN!” Ebania gasped for breath, utterly exhausted from both her fighting and her excitement. “I want to do it again!”
“Like, right now?” Arkay asked, watching as Ebania bounced about, swinging her large scythe back and forth. “Or tomorrow or what?”
“Right now! Or tomorrow! I want more! I can totally see why you liked doing this stuff, Arkay!”
Sini on the other hand seemed to disagree. While Ebania had been hired to play as a rampaging murder monster hiding in the darkness in a glorified (and very, very popular) recreation of old horror tropes, Sini’s job was to play as one of the many terrified ‘innocent vok’ running around the arena, holding out as long as she could before Ebani slaughtered her with vast amounts of fake gore. Normally, the ‘innocent vok’ would be played by beings entering to win money and prizes, but on slow weeks, extras were hired to fill out any empty slots.
Clearly this had scared Sini far more than intended, as she was staring somewhat blankly at Arkay, silently blaming him for her fears.
“No. Not again. Maybe later.”
“I take it you didn’t have fun, Sini?” Arkay smiled, putting an arm around her as the three of them began to walk off. Sini and Ebania were both finished with getting changed, and all that was left was to return Ebania’s scythe then go and pick up Voltiidro.
“Of course not…” Sini shuddered. “That was all… scary… I think I might have actually pissed myself if I wasn’t teamed up with this absolute hunk of a Temthan that I am pretty sure I recognised from somewhere…”
“Oh, what did they look like?” Ebania asked, still swinging her weapon around. As they rounded a corner, the three friends were stopped by two Ksithan guards, who immediately demanded that Ebania give her scythe back. She did as she was told, then followed along after Arkay and Sini, to where the Thrakian areas were.
“Amazing. Beautiful cream and purple scales. Had these weird shoulder spikes as well which looked oddly familiar.”
Arkay blinked, suddenly looking rather worried. “You, uh, didn’t tell him anything, did you? About our current situation?”
“Nooooo!” Sini smiled. “But I did tell him that he was very attractive and he seemed to like me a lot. He gave me his number.”
“Oh…” Arkay sighed, feeling awkward, but also trying to keep up with both Sini and Ebania, who had much longer strides than he did. “You know that we shouldn’t… you know… I mean, you’re not exactly good at keeping secrets, Sini. Maybe it’s not a good idea to go dating or anything until we have… a better idea of what we can and can’t do.”
“But I… I want friends, Arkay!” Sini protested.
“I know, but… you can go on a date, but no sexy stuff, alright?”
Sini grunted, then rushed ahead. The Thrakian areas were just outside the main arenas, mostly separate from the rest of town. The place they were going to in particular was an armoury, specifically designed for the 4-5m tall race of flying lizards. As far as everyone was concerned, Voltiidro had been sent there to do some training and fill out some forms, on top of being suited up for DBA battles in the upcoming weeks. With the current changes in weather and the sun not being as strong, there were far more events in the autumnal months. Thraki fights were always popular, so Voltiidro would hopefully provide some new blood to the next few events.
But as the three friends approached, they could hear shouting. Ebania and Sini were immediately on edge, but Arkay seemed relatively calm.
Suddenly, a small, armoured Thraki landed in front of them, head first.
“Oh. Hi.”
Voltiidro grunted, picking himself up.
“Is everything okay?” Sini asked.
“They do not like me… But they did give me some sweet armour and asked me to come by tomorrow!” Voltiidro perked up.
“What for?” Ebania asked.
“Fights! Battles. Things like that.” the Thraki shrugged, shaking himself off. “Are we going home?”
Arkay nodded. “Yeah, we’re going home.”
“Good…” Voltiidro sighed. “I’m tired…”