The House Fighter Training Area was busy today, as head House Fighter Tromos Polemistis, an old Ksithan gladiator, was holding a joint presentation alongside Nyssi Tharru of Xeno Dessaron One, explaining to all the other, non-Banikan House Fighters on the specifics of fighting terror-beasts, specifically the collection of beasts the Raptor had recently had imported. The monsters in question were Banikosauric Traumai, a distant, unintelligent relative of the Banikans, and the Banikan House Fighters had all decided they didn’t want any part of the upcoming terror-beast battles. They weren’t insulted, they just felt bad. Also missing were the six Thraki House Fighters, but they never did beast battles anyway, as they felt that such fights were beneath them.
The meeting was going quite well, despite the large number of individuals. Tromos was glad to finally have a second Skyavok House Fighter, after three of them had retired last year, as well as Nyssi representing female Temthans. They’d also gained three new Lanex fighters, bringing the total number up to seven, and the newest of them, Ora Soundsheer, was getting along really nicely with veteran Lanex fighter Tanok Stormcloud, to the point that they had been doing pairs battles and Orak had already picked up a good streak. When it came to other races, they still had seven Vrekan House Fighters (known collectively as the Feathered Septa), and a young Ksithan by the name of Kindys Myalon and an older male Temthan called Stefa Cloudstep, had recently joined the ten Ksithan and fifteen Temthan House Fighters. Sneer and Biter, two adult male Vohra, were also present, but Sneer was due to retire soon due to both his age and his failing mental health, and both of them now required Vohra handlers to keep them stable. One of the four Athren gladiators had also recently retired, but the Triplets were still going strong. However, there was a distinct lack of Rethavok present, after four Rethan House Fighters had died in a series of fires back in December, and no one had stepped up to fight alongside the remaining four.
What was most surprising though was the appearance of the first modern Spast House Fighter. Tenuk had proven repeatedly that he was a force to be reckoned with, and had been extra useful in this meeting since he had kindly shapeshifted into a miniature Banikosauric Traumai, so that Tromos and Nyssi could better explain things. Most Spasts were pacifists, despite being the fourth biggest consumers of arena media (after the much more numerous Temthans, Ksithans and Rethavok) so the fact that they had a Spast House Fighter at all had been a real shock to the veteran gladiators.
As Tromos started explaining how Banikosauric Traumai blood was rather acidic though, there was a knock on the door. They didn’t wait for Tromos to let them come in.
“Oh, Lord Raptor, hello, is something wrong?” Tromos immediately asked. The Raptor was in charge of the Great Arenas and often liked to keep an eye on her House Fighters, but, despite being female, Phovos always insisted that her Ksithan underlings refer to her as Lord, not Lady.
“No, nothing is wrong. May I borrow the Happy Cold please?”
Tromos glanced at the older and taller of the two Skyavok present, then shrugged. “Of course. Happy Cold, will you need a recap?”
“Nah, not a problem!” Psiksi smiled as he got up, grabbing his bag and his gladiator helmet as he did so. “I’ll just ask Kayel later or something.”
Psiksi followed Phovos out of the room and into the corridor. The Ksithan and the Skyavok continued walking until everything was quiet, and Phovos abruptly dragged Psiksi into a new, empty room.
“Uh, is something wrong?” Psiksi immediately asked. “You don’t normally want to talk to me privately. Especially not like this.”
Phovos pulled the door closed, then sighed.
“I need to ask something of you. Are you busy, 7:30pm tomorrow?”
Psiksi eyed the Raptor suspiciously. “I’m not, but, like, you’re, uh, attractive, I guess, but I’m not interested in Ksithans.”
Phovos eyed Psiksi back. “What do you mean, I am attractive, you guess?”
“I’ve worked for you for thirty years and I’ve only ever seen your face a handful of times and I’ve never seen any part of you past your neck. But also, as sexually open as I am, I’m not interested in anything cross-species that isn’t Panthreanic…” Psiksi awkwardly explained, then realized that maybe he could have shut his mouth.
“You… you’d sleep with a Rethavok?”
“Uh… If I met one small enough that wouldn’t tear me in half and was interested? Maybe?” Psiksi shrugged. “You know me, you’ve hired plenty of Ξ-Class over the years, you know what we’re like. And I’m by far one of the better-behaved Skyan gladiators you’ve hired.”
Phovos stared at Psiksi some more, then shook her head and sighed again. “Whatever. That’s… both weird and not important. I need your help with something. Someone has invited me out to a restaurant tomorrow at 7:30pm, but I don’t want to take my normal body guards. I want something more discreet, and shadowjumpers are in short supply currently.“
You know Kayel is a way, way better shadowjumper than I am, what with him being a real-deal Phantasma!” Psiksi tutted. “What, you want someone to be able to jump you away at a moment’s notice?”
“That is exactly what I want. But Kayel is too popular and too obvious. Alright, sure, you’re nearly as brightly coloured as our former K-Class assassin, but you’re also less famous and less noticeable to deities.”
Psiksi blinked, then tutted again. “I’ve met a deity.”
“You have?”
“Uh, yeah, briefly. I met Arkay, the Silent Blade when he was wandering around, looking for Kayel about something. Nice guy. Paradoxically cute. What does this have to do with a date and why do you need a Skyavok at the ready to jump you to safety?”
Phovos rubbed her eyes. “The date is with a deity.”
“… Which deity?” Psiksi asked. “Because I’m 99.999% sure it ain’t our Silent Blade. He’s busy dating a Rethan. And, what bothers me more, I’ve heard multiple Rethans muttering that the Thantophor is attractive. I expected it from Ret, he’s had a weird time lately, but… well… uh… I hope it isn’t the Lady of the Deep?”
“It’s the Time Dragon.”
“Oh…” Psiksi trailed off.” Well… that’s… not too bad, I guess? I mean, definitely not my first pick, but, eh, you do you. I can see why you don’t want to ask Kayel though, he, Ret, Nyssi and the freakazoid are all a little too close to the deities as it is.”
The Raptor frowned, then nodded. “Exactly. Plus, you’re already vaguely famous and you already work for me, so it wouldn’t be too insane, the pair of us bumping into each other. Either way, I just want you to be in the restaurant. I’ll give you money to cover the meal, you can have a pleasant evening and I get a small sense of security while I go on a date with the God of Time.”
Psiksi thought to himself for a moment, then shrugged. “Yeah, sure, I can help out. So where we going?”
“The Spindle Claw Taverna.”
“Oooooh!” Psiksi beamed. “I’ve heard of that place. Pretty fancy, located in the posh Temthan district, right? I suppose we’ll both stick out. I do have one last question though.”
“What’s that?”
“Can I bring a date?”
“Only if the date isn’t Kayel.”
The smile faded from Psiksi’s face, but he quickly perked up again. “Aw. That’s a shame. I kinda owe Kayel more of a coffee than a fancy meal anyway. But yeah, I’m in. I’ll help you out.”
Phovos bowed slightly. “Thank you. One last thing though, please, keep this to yourself. At least until after the date. I know that’s a very hard thing for a Skyan like you to do, but, for both my safety and your own, at least hold off on your… archiving ways.”
Psiksi took a deep breath. “That’s.. quite an ask. But I’ll keep my mouth shut. It’s the least I can do for making you put up with me for three decades.”
“I appreciate it. I’ll let you get back to the House Fighters’ meeting. Have a good one.”
“You too! See you tomorrow!”