Arena Entrance

[Muck Eemuck]

After the encounter with the strange beast, Val needed to earn some money for this week's living costs. He walked in and stopped at the registration desk. A small human lady in middle-class clothing stood behind it, and smiled as he approached.

"Ah, hello again, Val!" she greeted. "You're late today! What happened?"
"Yes, I know. There was a disturbance in the north side of the city. Some strange beast was attacking some of the residents, so I stuck around and helped out." Val replied. "Anyway, are there anymore openings in today's fights?"
"Of course, there's a few left. The only fight left available, though, is a free-for-all. Is that ok with you?"
"Sure, that's fine. What's the prize for that one, and when does it start?"
"It starts in about an hour. The prize is ten silver pieces, and of course a medallion."
"That sounds good. Sign me up for that one, will you, Marion?"
"Sure Val. Remember, the match starts in an hour, so you should be here about 20 minutes before then." Marion reminded him.
"Actually, I think I'll just wait here for the match. I've got to calm down a bit from earlier."

Val walked further in, stopped temporarily by the guards. After he showed them his fighter's badge, he gained entry into the stands of the arena. Right now there was a one-on-one match being fought. Val was just happy to sit down and relax, watching the fluid motions of each fighter, reflecting on the events of the day.

[Starlady]

Gistina was also at the arena. Even though her brother told her not too, she loved to watch the fights. She always placed bets, and usually lost. She didn't particularly care though. She had money to spare. She could always ask her brother for more after all.

Right now she sat near to the front. She wore a very fancy dress. It was made from many layers of pink silk. It was extreamly poofy, and had too much crenalation. She wore sparkling diamond earings that dangled down to her shoulders from her fur tufted ears. Her dainty hooves poked out from underneath the puffy layers of fabric that were already becoming dusty from dragging on the ground. She stomped her feet, and they struck sparks on the stone.

"Oh hit him! Hit hit HIT HIM HIT NO!" She hollared, on her feet and gripping the low rail in front of her, "YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO WIN!" The one she had picked as her favorite, and then bet on, was losing and she was getting very riled up. The two men who had come as he escourts glanced at each other, sharing a 'women' look and rolled their eyes. Gistina sat down and pouted.

"He's going to lose!" She wailed. She didn't notice the cat man who had slipped into the arena and was sitting a few rows up from her all alone. One of the men with her did though, and he leaned over to his friend.

"I think he is one of the fighters here." her human bodyguard said to her satyr suitor. The satyr man, named Gosch, was lounging with his feet up on the rail in front of him. He craned his neck, hanging his head upsidedown over the back of his seat. He gave the cat-man a long unconcealed glance.

"Yes, I do believe you are right." He said in a haughty voice. Gistina was listening and pursed her lips. She didnt like this particular date. He didn't like the arena, and had bet against her. She decided to cause them to fuss, because she always found that entertaining.

She popped up her paracel to guard her delicite complxtion from the sunshine, then without saying a word she walked daintily away. Her feet clicked on the stairs as she approached the cat-man. Her escourts took a moment to realize she was leaving them, and she heard her body guard say a nasty word.

"Why hello!" She said, boldly walking up to the cat man. She fluttered her eyeslashes at him, "I hear you're a fighter here," she said in her best oh my aren't you impressive voice, "Is it true? It must be so terribly dangerous!"

[Muck Eemuck]

Val had been in deep thought, and it took him a moment to realize he was being spoken to.

"Oh, I'm sorry madam, I was thinking about something. I'm terribly sorry I didn't see you there. Val responsed apoligetically. Val was caught by surprise. Not very many people ever asked him about him.

"You're right, though. I am a fighter at this arena. Gotta make a living somehow, right? It is dangerous, but I enjoy it, and that's all that matters to me." Val said, stuttering. He stopped talking for a moment, thinking hard about what to say."What about you? Do you watch many fights here, madam?" he asked, clearly unaccustomed to socializing, but wanting to keep the conversation going.

[Starlady]

"OH yes." Gistina replied dramatically, helping herself the the seat next to the man. She shut her parasel with a fwip and she smile at the man. "I come here quite often. I place bets on the fights, though I dare say I hadn't noted any of YOUR fights. I would bet you win many of them, don't you?" She noticed that her two escourts were walking towards them, and she continued talking as they came closer. She noticed that her suitor, Gosch, looked really very angry and she hoped that he wasn't stupid to do anything rash.

"My name is Madam Gistina Harmorell." she said, "Might I have the pleasure of making your aquaintance Sir...?"

[Muck Eemuck]

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't introduce myself. My name is Val Mistpelt. I do fight here fairly often, but I'm not a fighter with particularly high standing. Just enough to get by, I suppose. Val continued, unaware of the men approaching him and Gistina.

"Well, I am terribly sorry to have to be leaving, but I am actually registered for the next fight. I do hope that you enjoy it if you stick around to see it. It has been a pleasure indeed to meet you, Madam Gistina, and may fate bless us with such a meeting again sometime soon." Val said, standing up. He turned to her, gave a respectful bow, and reached for his halberd.

[Starlady]

Gistina smailed at the fellow's honest gallantry, and was about to curtsy and allow him to go. Suddenly Gosch slid between her and Val Mistpelt stopping her from saying goodbye.

Gosch glared at Val and stood as tall as he could. His nostrels flared and he stomped his hoove threateningly on the stones, satyrs were known to be ferocious sometimes. Gistina didnt want to bother the man since she had walked up to him out of nowhere and started taking to him. She glanced over her shoulder at he body guard. He was standing quietly wit his arms crossed over his chest and she saw that he would be no help so she touched Gosch on the shoulder and slid up beside him.

"Gosch," she said sweetly, "This is Mister Mistpelt. He's a warrior here, isn't that wonderful? I might bet on him now, he is in the next fight" she smiled at Val, "and I'm sure he will win."

Gosch sniffed and thust his chin into the air. "I can't say I'm pleased to meet you Mister Mistpelt." He said in a snide voice. Gistina gasped at how rude he was.

"Gosch, you should not be so rude to a warrior of Faethaven!" She exclaimed.

"That," he said pointing right at Val and not caring what he said in front of the cat man, "Is not a warrior. It is a brawler. Come my lady, let us depart."

Gistina got angry, and she too started to ignore Val even though he was only a few feet away from the conversation, "He's probably more of a warrior than you 'my Lord'." she said cuttingly.

"Hrmph!" Gosch grunted, and gave Val a death look.

[Muck Eemuck]

Val was becoming extremely uncomfortable.
"Excuse me, sir. I don't know who you are, but I mean you no harm. I do not wish to fight, as I am in a hurry. As Madam Gistina has said, I am about to enter a fight. I am truly sorry for anything I may have done. I hope you'll please excuse me, good sir."
Val pushed past Gosch kindly, gave them both a bow, and headed toward the waiting room for the arena fighters. He felt good, though, knowing that someone who he now knew would not only be watching, but would be cheering for him. He would use that as his motivation during this fight.
As he arrived at the waiting room, everyone was just getting ready. Val slowly walked around the room, seeing that there was a subtle but noticable grouping, as soldiers formed temporary pacts to make it to the end. Val had the same intention, and eventually found himself in a small group of five warriors. For the next few minutes, Val psyched himself up, and reminded himself that he wasn't getting much to eat tonight if he didn't at least do pretty good.

[Starlady]

"I am going to bet on him!" said Gistina, smugly as Val walked away. She looked at Gosch and saw that he was even angrier, which made her happy. He snorted at her and tryed to play it cool.

"As you wish My Lady." He said as gallantly as he could, and offered his arm to her, but she did not take it, and walked daintily past him toward the betting booths.

"Women." Muttered Gosch, and the human bodyguard chuckled, before saying; "Just don't you go getting My Lady into any trouble, your lordship."

Gosch scowled at him too while Gistina placed a large sum of money upon Val's fight, and hurried back to her seat to watch the fight. Gosch sat down next to her, but Gistina put up her lacy paracel and placed it slightly between herself and he, showing her displeasure. She smiled at her bodyguard as the human chuckled at their behavior behind his hand.

Gistina prepared to cheer her heart out.

[Muck Eemuck]

The arena doors opened up, the fighters streamed out around the open space, readying their various weapons. Val moved with his group into the huge cloud of men, dwarves, half-breeds, and more.

When the signal was given, that cloud became a maelstrom. Fighters swung their weapons in all directions, deflecting and landing blows. Val carefully moved with his group around the outer edges of the mass, and suddenly they all ran straight in, weapons flailing. Val jabbed his halberd at a dwarf as he passed by, but it deflected off armor. Cursing, he did a full spin and his halberd hit flesh as it came around. Not slowing down so as to stay with his group, Val continued to make attacks.

The number of fighters was dropping quite quickly. Val had taken a few hits, but nothing that warranted his removal. Two of the fighters in his group, however, had been taken down.

"Take my foot, and launch me toward that human there. Trust me." Val said to one of his companions, pointing.

Doing so, Val leapt with the momentum and brought his halberd down on the man. The force of the blow was enough to knock the man down, but it caused no injury. Val wasted no time, though, and within moments his victim was declared down. He hastily returned to where his last remaining companion was. The other had been overrun.

Val was quite pleased so far. Although three of his teammates had been taken out, he was still around, and the fight was getting ever nearer to its close.

[Starlady]

Gistina cheered fearlessly for Val as he fought in the large brawling battle. She literally had stakes upon his victory, and enjoyed rubbing her suitor's nose in the fact that she was very displeased with him. She gasped in fear as Val's teamates were eliminated fromt he competition. Even her body guard, who needs a name and will be called Alerick, seemed to be enjoying the wild battle, and joined Gistina in her cheering. This further alienated Gosch, and he sulked silently behind her as he watched his money went down the drain before his eyes.

"GO VAL!" She hollared, "YOU CAN DO IT! WIN WIN WIN! WIN WIN WIN!"

[Muck Eemuck]

Val decided that it would be best to stay out as long as possible, so he and his teammate edged around the outer edge of the mass of fighters, looking for an opening to make their move. Within minutes, a few fighters attacked Val and his companion, but was easily dispatched by the two of them.

A few more fighters were taken down by the two before it came to the end. There were two fighters about thirty feet away. It seemed that they had also allied with each other. Suddenly, the one in back nodded, and before Val had time to react, he felt a blunt object hit him in the back of the head. Everything went blurry, but before he went down, he had time to see that the partner of the man who nodded was out on the ground as well.

"Damn... I shouldn't... have let.... my guard.... down..." Val mumbled as he fell to the ground.

Val awoke in the infirmary an hour later.

"I can't believe I let that happen. I don't blame him, though. In the end, one of us had to go down. Still..." Val cursed himself, but knew there was nothing to be done.

"That was quite a blow you took to the head there, young man. You're fine now, but it's gonna hurt for quite a while. A doctor in the room said. "At least you got third place. You were able to stay up longer than the other man.

"Third. I guess that'll do. I was hoping for a good few meals, but I guess I'll have to wait for another day.

Val resigned himself to staying in the infirmary for a few hours. He laid back and went over the battle in his mind. His mind soon drifted, though, back to the battle against the mighty beast earlier that day, and the formidable warriors who had taken it down. That was the last thought before drifting into a light sleep.

[Starlady]

"Oh!" Gistina had cried out when he 'champion' went down. He suitor had snickered quite childishly at her misfortune, and Gistina turned on his vengefully her eyes very angry and she stomped her hoof.

"You be quiet!" She demanded from him, "You are a terrible fellow! I just hope you know that I'm not at ALL interested in another outing with you!"

Once again Gistine stood and raised her paracel, though it was highly unnescary in the the evening since the sun was starting to disappear. she turned her back on Gosch and motioned the her bodyguard, Alerick to follow her. With a sigh and a srug to Gosch, who looked utterly offended, and maybe even hurt, Alerick followed his mistress out of the arena.

"You could have been nicer to him, you know. You never even gave him a chance. He wanted to take you to the theater. He's a gentleman. Uninterested in blood sports." Alerick said to her as they walked out into the street.

Gistine sniffed, "Well, I don't like the theater. I am obvously not a gentlewoman. I LIKE blood sports. And I got to meet a arena fighter for the first time today and that terrible snob ruined it!"

Alerick chuckled dryly, "I fell sorry for the poor cat-man. He was enjoying a nice little rest and suddenly he was under attack by a jealous satyr."

"I know! That was just terrible of Gosch. He ruined everything." Gistina said.

"I think that you had some fault in it too my lady. You were upset and you took it out on that Arena-man. You wanted to get Gosch into a fight. Admit it." Alerick stopped walking and so did Gistina. Gistina scowled upo at Alerick, and Alerick was reminded of an angry kitten. He was so much taller than Gistina that he couldn't help but think of her as being very young.

After a few minutes of glaring Gistina's face softened. "Maybe you're right. Maybe I was trying to start just a teensy weensy little fight but... well... oh... hmph!" The two continued walking in silence. They were halfwy home when Gistina finally burst out again.

"I MUST locate master Val, if only to apologize for my outlandish behavior and for Gosch's insults!" Alerick nooded at her words ion agreement.

"And maybe I should offer him a job." Gistina added, and Alerick raised an eyebrow. "Doing what?" He asked amusedly.

"Didn't my brother tell you Alerick? He's hiring you a partner. I need a second bodyguard." Gistina said, "And he really is a very good fighter"

[Muck Eemuck]

Val awoke an hour later, rising from visions of burning buildings, and his fellow catfolk being cut down. He awoke with a start and reached fro his halberd instinctively. After he assured himself of no danger, he laid back.

"That's the third night in the past week. It's getting more frequent." Val whispered to himself.

Val was too worked up to go right back to sleep, so he began mulling over the events of the day again. It had been some time since he'd such an eventful day, and he didn't think he would soon forget it. First, the beast in town, then the noble satyr lady, and finally the intense fight, which he still regretted losing.

"I must find Ms. Harmorell as soon as I can. I acted very much out-of-line with what appeared to be her husband, or whatever he was. I must have ruined Ms. Harmorell's day. I have to apologize. It wouldn't be right just to let it go." Val resolved to himself.

With that, he let himself fall back into a deep sleep, hoping he could get some peaceful rest this time.

[Starlady]

((klol, we are both looking for eachother. And wb!))

Gistina left the area to return to her residence for awhile.

((I didn't know what to post it is still the same day and isn't it getting late yet?))

[Muck Eemuck]

((Yeah, there's nothing left for us to post until the next day in Faethaven.))