“Twenty fucking wins, baby!” Kayel shouted as he burst through a shadow and into the House Fighters’ canteen, where the gladiators who worked for the Great Arenas themselves regularly sat down for lunch. “I didn’t think I’d enjoy this, but I fucking well am!”
“You’ll stop enjoying it after your first loss…” Psiksi muttered as he worked his way through a massive sandwich. By his side was Kass, who, while she wasn’t a house fighter, she did do other, non-gladiator things as well. Really, she shouldn’t have been in the canteen, but Psiksi had invited her after his most recent match because he’d nearly lost and wanted some mortal support. Tenuk and Talok had also joined them, with Tenuk joking that “this was the little folks’ table”.
“You annoyed about your match against Ora?” Kayel calmed down a little. He grabbed himself something to eat, winked at the kindly Ksithan serving food, then sat down next Psiksi and Kass. They were overlooking the second arena, but it was currently being cleaned up after a very messy match between the Fangs of the Whenvern and The Divine Guardians, the Banikan Dessaron team that were also technically house fighters. It hadn’t gone well for the Thraki team, and the whole arena was covered in ash and scorch marks.
Psiksi growled. While it wasn’t particularly scary (Psiksi was massive for a Skyavok, but he was still just a Skyavok), it did catch Tenuk off guard, and Talok squeaked in surprise. Kass though just rolled her eyes.
“You still won.”
“No, I nearly lost.”
“You still won!”
“It was down to the wire, it could have gone either way, and I could have lost my streak! Ora only needed to hit me once and he would have beaten me!”
Talok clicked a little bit. “But mister Psiksi, you just make a new streak if you lose! But you didn’t lose. So all good!”
Kass eyed Talok somewhat, mostly in curiosity. She had met Vohra before, but Talok seemed somewhat unique. Smarter and tame, but she used female pronouns, when most Vohra used “it”.
“Yeah, that’s fine for you, girl, you don’t have a massive streak on the line!” Psiksi tutted.
“But…” Talok stuttered a little. “But, mister Psiksi, you have big records of your own. You have a streak like big predator races! But you are… Was going to say small Skyavok, you are BIG Skyavok, but still, you still good, even if you lose!”
Kayel nodded in agreement. “The crazy little greatsword-throwing monster is absolutely right. Psiksi, you’re literally the best Skyan gladiator ever. Like, YOU ruined Tanok’s streak, you once beat the fucking Master House Fighter and you were the last person to beat Retvik, the fucking Triumphant Champion. And you STILL managed to beat Ora, who was building his own win streak, until you broke it.”
Psiksi was still angry, but he quickly realized that both Kayel and Talok were completely right. “Yeah… you got lots of points. I’m just on edge. And, well, kudos to Ora, he definitely held his own. Lanex are pretty tricky opponents because they have an amazing sense of direction and don’t get discombobulated the same way most folks do when you shadowjump them. Also, Ora hits damn hard, while being deceptively fast. Like, I… I kinda underestimated him.”
“Now you know better for next time!” Tenuk grinned. “Although, like… I dunno how you guys all do solo fights. I can’t overcome my temptations to either run away or make myself massive and crush people.”
“Makes sense…” Kass muttered. “Spasts are a prey species. You guys don’t even eat meat.”
“I try!” Talok exclaimed. “Meat is weird. Chewy sometimes. But sometimes soft.”
Kass glanced at Talok. “Do Vohra not eat meat?”
“Not really, no. Mostly fungi and honey and fruit and sometimes bread. Best friend Tenuk showed me pizza, pizza is amazing. And ice cream! Ice cream is just… Yes!”
“Are all Vohra like you?” Kass asked. “You seem rather… articulated and energetic. And talkative.”
Talok shook her head. “No. Am Vahla. Bred to be smart. But also, am nestless now. Which means I, uh, pick things up? Learn how to be with others. Is nice. Make lots of friends, like best friend Tenuk and big scary friend Retvik. I like it. I like you.”
Kass smiled a little. “You do?”
“Yes yes! Pretty purple!” Talok beamed. “You like Psiksi a lot too. A lot a lot. I… oh. Sorry.”
Psiksi gave Kass a funny look, then smirked. “Well, I like you too, Kass. And don’t worry about the accidental mind reading. I heard most Vohra don’t even talk…” Psiksi glanced at Kass again, smiled some more, then changed the subject. “Anyway, speaking of big scary friends, where are Retvik and Nyssi? I saw them come in with you this morning but they’ve not been around.”
Kayel snorted. “Nyssi took Retvik home and is looking after him. He kinda freaked out a little after some bad news.”
“What bad news?”
“You met Kuta, right? Retvik’s poten-partner. Turned out, Kuta had a really nasty cancer and didn’t tell Retvik. Kuta’s fine, got the tumour removed, but…” Kayel hesitated. “It turns out that the Allbirther is kinda obsessed with Kuta, and she pretended to be a famous Rethan medic and did the surgery. Also, you know Retvik’s mum stopped by?”
“Yeah?”
“After Retvik shouted at the bastard, they went and tracked down Relkir at their holiday villa. Apparently they got touchy without consent, grabbed onto Relkir’s wrist, Relkir felt threatened and stabbed them in the elbow and the bastard fled.”
Kass and Psiksi both blinked. Tenuk nodded solemnly. Talok clicked.
“No touchy. Touching bad if they don’t like it. That is like… even normal Vohra know that.”
“Relkir is the short Rethan we met when we met General Gath, right?” Kass asked. “Retvik’s sibling? Didn’t think they were the stabbing type, but good on them for protecting themselves.”
“Yeah, but Retvik still freaked out a little… He snapped at Tromos and Phovos while we were discussing matches, so Nyssi took him home and is keeping him calm.” Tenuk frowned. “I mean, two of the three people he cares about the most were in danger and Retvik couldn’t do anything about he, and he can’t see Kuta for a while.”
“I thought you were Retvik’s best friend though, why aren’t you looking after him?” Psiksi tutted.
Tenuk shrugged. “I’m the third of the three people Retvik cares most about. Kayel and Nyssi are better at handling Retvik though when he wants to protect something, because I kinda trigger the “protect the fluffy” thing Retvik has. Although, honestly, I would have lost it if someone threatened Kohra…”
“Who is Kohra?” Psiksi immediately leaned forward, brimming with curiosity. Tenuk immediately backed off.
“Uh…”
“Who are they?” Psiksi asked.
“Um…”
“Come on.”
Kayel was about to butt in, but Talok beat him to the punch, by telekinetically pushing Psiksi back.
“No asking!” Talok hissed. “Leave best friend Tenuk alone! You don’t need to know!”
Psiksi swiftly backed down. “Alright, fine, jeez, I’m just curious. Tenuk always said he had amnesia and didn’t know any other Spasts, so it’s fucking weird that he mentions one person who a. isn’t any of you lot and b. is the name of the fucking Lord Prince.”
Tenuk frowned, glancing around awkwardly. “I’ll… I’ll tell you, but you can’t tell anyone. ANYONE.”
“Well, no need to tell me. I already worked it out…” Kass admitted. “You’re not Tenuk. You’re Tanos tou Ahvran.”
“I WAS Tanos. I’m Tenuk now. Tanos died in December. I got amnesia and built myself a new life and made some actual friends. Then I got my memories back and decided to just keep on being Tenuk because, well…” Tenuk gestured around. “This life is way better than being a Lord Prince.”
Psiksi blinked. “Fucking really?”
“Mhm. My dad is seventeen times my age, he’s been Lord King for like 500 years, he got his perfect little heir to the throne 57 years ago. I spent 56 years of my life being force-fed everything that dad learned over the course of like 400 years. Without being able to be a normal adolescent Spast like dad did. So yeah, me being a famous gladiator with awesome friends is way better.”
“Huh…” Psiksi turned to Kayel. “Dude, your friends are fucking weird.”
“You’re saying that as if I’m not weird too!” Kayel snickered. “But yeah, mate, I know you both are A-Class wannabes, but, for Tenuk’s safety, please keep quiet.”
“Yeah, yeah, no worries, I’ll keep my mouth shut…” Psiksi tutted. “But you can’t deny it, you’re all fucking weird. Even you, Talok.”
Talok flicked her tongue in and out. “Does not matter! Being weird is good. Doubly so since you are weird too, mister Psiksi!”
Psiksi raised a finger, then lowered it again. “Fuck, you’re right.”