Irinia (Cherry) Pavimia's Story

Cherry

Drums pounding, crowds cheering, and the thick stench of freshly brewed ale, filled the air of the fire-lit collosseum. Dust settled, thick in the evening sun, consequence of the pounding boots and shuffling of thousands of bodies, eager for the event to start. Jesters danced, music played, and men guzzled down buckets of the warm brew. The air was hot, but the lighting was almost magnificent. Candles hung from rope atop the stone walls, and made for a magical display as the sun settled low behind the mountains of Legimli, and the first of two moons rose, casting faint shadows over the land.

Cherry slipped through the crowd, leaning over the balcony to see the dust-covered floor of the arena below. At each end stood a small iron gate, but not much else. This was where Ladren were brought, to fight, and kill, but mostly, to die. A man at each gate quickly began to pry the bars open, just as the sun waved it's last goodbye to the kingdom, and disappeared for the night. The fighters came out timidly, and shaken. A pathetic thing to watch, or at least gain a source of entertainment from. Aside from the rapid income for the trainers. People quickly began making bets, based on the size and strength of each fighter. For Cherry, this was something to pass the time. She didn't mind the brutality of it all, and it was a good place to pick up bounties.

However, she had been frustrated by the lack of gold coming her way, and a quick slap of the ass had Cherry on her last straw. She quickly spun around and held a knife to the stranger who had touched her precious rear. Satisfied with the terrified look on his face, she lowered the knife and slipped into the back to drink her worries away.

Cherry

Cherry's long hair stretched down her back, almost touching the wooden bar stool that she sat on. Hey eyes scanned the wall of bounties, her ears muffled from the loud cheering all around her. She took a drink from her mug, scanning, scanning. Numbers, age, weight, numbers, age, weight. The key was to find the weakest, youngest Ladren with the least fight and the highest bounty, but today's market faced a humble quantity. Biting her iron ring between her teeth, Cherry set the sweet liquid down, and pointed to the best deal she could see. "24." She ordered to the brewery man behind the table. The husky man quickly snapped the paper from the wall behind him, and brought it down with a thump on the table in front of Cherry. She quickly folded the bounty and slipped it into her satchel.

Taking another drink from her mug, she crossed her long legs under the bar table. The sound of clinging metal, and an uproarious crowd, gave way that the fight had begun.

"Damn, girl. Why so serious?" The voice came from her side. She slowly took another drink from her mug, and set the almost-empty cup down. She turned, legs still crossed in an elegant, yet intimidating manner. The bartender quickly replaced her mug with a full one, as she eyed the thin man from head to toe. He seemed bland. Like every other wanna-be rebel in the kingdom. However, she was intrigued by the scar above his eye. She had seen the scar before. Maybe she had passed by the boy before, or met him long ago. His existence, how ever, was none of her business. If it wasn't for the scar, she probably would have gotten up, and walked away to find her bounty. Instead, she leaned forward with her mug in her lap, curious of the boy's intent.

"It's pathetic, isn't it?" She brought the mug to her lips and sipped the sweet alcoholic beverage once again. The taste lightened her mood, and extracted more curiosity.

"They find it so entertaining. Watching things die. If they, themselves had killed, they'd realize it's quite a redundant source of enjoyment." She smirked wryly, continuing before the boy could reply. "But not you, oh you've killed before." She wasn't quite drunk, but her words carried on in an unnecessarily stretched and melancholy manner, almost slurred, but not quite.

"So what is it you want, kid?"

Jaedon

Jaedon pulled up a bar stool and sat down, turning in the seat so that his back was against the bar. He could hear the bartender set a drink down behind him, and absentmindedly reached back to get it. He wasn't really interested in the ale, but there's no use in completely wasting it. As he took a drink he examined the thin girl sitting before him. Leg's crossed, she seemed like she had some home training, but you could never be sure. He'd already seen her pull a knife on a guy. Probably some poor girl who want's to be bad. Then he noticed the piece of iron stuck in her mouth. If they weren't one of those well off, fancy women, most of the girls he saw with jewelry in any place other than their ears were selling themselves on the street. Did that make her a whore? It was rather unappealing, that thing in her face. Jaedon decided to stop trying to figure out the motive behind the ring and looked around.

"It's pathetic, isn't it?" Shit, what? Jaedon listened to her go on about killing, and quite honestly, he wasn't expecting that. He actually thought the chick would say something angry and get all riled up. He could use the entertainment. Jaedon hardly ever came to the Colosseum to watch the Ladren beat each other, but when he did catch a glimpse, it wasn't exactly boring. Jaedon leaned back and took a sip of his drink, looking at the men who came to bet and get drunk. They probably didn't think it was boring. Though, money was probably more of a motivating factor. Either way, they were irrelevant. Just another way for Jaedon to get some extra money.

It's funny how he wasn't interested in an intense conversation and now he was thinking over why people came to watch the Ladren kill each other. "Don't act so noble," he rolled his eyes. His characteristic grin came back as he cleared his mind of his mental assessment. "I'm sure you've killed something and didn't loose a minute of sleep over it. Watching is no different." The girl couldn't have been over twenty, but age didn't mean much in this day and time. He shrugged off her argument.

Jaedon finished his drink and sat the mug down only to find another, full and inviting, waiting for him. Not today. Jaedon let the drink sit there while he popped his knuckles and thought over her last question. What did he want? Nothing really. Was there something wrong with just coming up and talking to someone? The girl needed to loosen up. Or maybe that's what the ale was for. "There's nothing I want from you now, after all, you're helping me kill some time."

Cherry

The gory sound of ripping skin filled the arena, followed by the laughter and cheering of men, and the cussing of others. At that moment, a Ladren had died, and all she was doing was helping a stranger "kill time". Cherry saw the boy as no harm. If she had felt insulted, or offended, her ego would have taken control long ago. She slipped a different bounty from her bag and unfolded it, flat on the table. The picture was of a Ladren, a female. A flower sat in her long, curly hair, and her ear was pierced at the tip, like most female Ladren's were. Her teeth pointed just at the canines, giving off a playful smirk. Under the picture, in ink, it stated that she was 13 years old, with a weak build, and a high bounty.

"Beautiful, isn't she?" Cherry spoke, assuming that the man had taken a glance at the paper. The bounty was the biggest Cherry had ever seen, but she had given up looking for the girl long ago. Reaching into her bag, she grasped a handful of coins, and dropped a thicker one onto the wooden table, next to her drink.

Without another word, Cherry stood. "Perhaps someone else can kill your time." She seemed mature. Cool and collected. Of course she did. It was her front. In reality, she wasn't sure what to think. Was he trying to get under her skin, or simply start a conversation?

Her cool was quickly interrupted, when she was shoved into the bar by a group of rowdy men. Her previously damaged ribs hit the edge of the wood, sending her spiraling into a fit of anger and frustration.

"Screw off!" She screamed at the top of her lungs. Once the area around her was quiet, and she had gotten the attention of the man who had shoved her, she approached him.

"I should kill you for that!" Her face was red with embarrassment and rage, but the man simply chuckled to his drunken self, and turned back to his friends.

"Hey!" She growled, snatching the large man by the shoulder and spinning him to face her, before quickly, and furiously, lodging her knee into his crotch. The man fell over and crumpled to the ground. The group of men around him stared directly at Cherry, who quickly leaped onto the bar table, snatching up her bounty, and glancing back at Jaedon as she disappeared into the crowd.

It had been a mistake to come on such an awful day in the first place. Now, was time for Cherry to find a place to cool her branded ego, and attempt to forget all about making an ass of herself, as she did every day.