Fortune of Harara

WC: 2467/2200

The sun blazing overhead cast a dark shadow on the two painted satyr’s faces. The sand below their hooves with numerous weapons poked around the battlefield that was also peppered with pillars familiarized itself in Red’s brain. She looked around at the rest of the coliseum. Lots of faces and eyes were locked on her team and her opponents- A large red browbird and a smaller cream and toasty brown one. She vaguely recognized the red one, but couldn’t put her finger as to where. No matter- now wasn’t the time for caring about who she was going to be tearing apart.

Red was snapped out of her trance by a gloved hand placed on her shoulder.

“Listen to me, Red. These are just games. You can hurt them, sure, but you can’t actually kill them or seriously injure them. Okay?” Gavner spoke softly into her ear. Red clenched her fist. She heard him but refused to acknowledge him. Gavner sighed, taking his hand back to put his other glove on. They were black gauntlets of sorts, with spiked brass knuckles attached to… well, the knuckles. There were spikes at the fingertips where claws would normally be, too. They clinked and clanked quietly as he moved his hands.

The opponents were getting ready on the other side of the battlefield, putting on their armor and choosing what their choice weapon would be. The cream and toasty brown bird, Sigrid, chose a large bulky sword. It was impressive that she was able to lift it up without faltering- it seemed she was much more built underneath the armor she was wearing than she seemed. The red browbird, Grimm, seemed slightly off put by how talkative and energetic Sigrid was. She was practically bouncing around him, excited to be a part of such an important event. He stood in silence, preparing himself as he chose his choice weapon- a small handed blade that didn’t look like it’d be too effective, but Gavner knew especially not to judge a fighter by the size of their weapon. And Grimm’s crest…. It was huge. Bigger than any crest Red had ever seen before. The more she looked at it, the more familiar it became… too bad he wasn’t going to be able to use any of his magic for the fight. He looked like he would be able to pack a mean magical punch with a crest like that.

Red… didn’t have a weapon of choice. She went in there wearing practically nothing. She wore a modified jumpsuit to compensate for her spikes, and her hair was tied up behind her as to not be something that her opponents could grab- and so it wouldn’t get in her face. All she needed to rely on was her keen senses and her extremely sharp claws and teeth. She wasn’t concerned about breaking a nail now- that was the least of her concerns. Her lustrum soul was blazing, and the glow in her eyes was intense. This wasn’t exactly her ideal battlefield, but she was willing to work with what she had. There were no deserts on Sempervia, and she felt slightly uncomfortable at the lack of shade, though this did not deter her motivation. 

Once the contestants on both sides looked as if they had stopped preparing, a referee bird ran up to Red before they officially planned to start the battle.

“Um, Ms. Azolla- have you chosen a weapon yet?” They asked, their voice a little shaky.

Red glared down at them and locked eyes for a good three solid seconds before nodding and flexing her claws, bearing her sharp teeth in the process. The referee bird nodded in return and scurried back off to relative safety in the narration booth.

Both sides took their places, at first around 15 feet away from each other before the booming voice came over the loudspeaker.

“Welcome, welcome! Welcome to Harara’s test of strength game, where two parties will go hand to hand, relying purely on brute strength and weapon skill. All magic in the arena has been suppressed, so no party will be able to aid themselves for the duration of the fight. Contestants, would you please attempt to show off any of your aspects in any sort of way?” The announcer asked. 

All four individuals were looking up at one of the speakers, and then looked back at each other. Gavner sighed, trying to slink into Red’s shadow but just ending up knocking himself onto his knees instead. Red attempted to materialize a dream of herself winning, but there was nothing. Sigrid tried to start a fire, but there was nothing more than a spark that fizzled out immediately after it was cast. Grimm attempted to do something similar, but the result was the same as Sigrid’s. A chuckle could be heard over the loud speaker.

“Good, good! Now the entire coliseum knows that you all are indeed unable to use your aspects. Especially you, Mr. Gavner, with those nightmare and shadow aspects, WHOOF! Have you considered entering the aspect creation portion of the event? You would for sure be a force to be reckoned with!” The judge teased.

Gavner cleared his throat and adjusted his gauntlets. His voice was shaky as he responded.

“Y-yeah! It would sure be uh… fun… yeah…. Maybe- maybe if I win this match, I’ll enter that one, yeah….”

A resounding laugh could be heard around the coliseum. He had no idea how the judge was able to hear him. Red looked at him and blinked, and he nudged her and shot her a glare.

“Good! I’m sure the crowd would love to see it. Just to familiarize ourselves with you, and to not single you out, I’m going to display your information on the big screen overhead,” The judge said. A large screen towards the top-center area of the bleachers of the coliseum changed from an advertisement to show information of the four contestants. It showed a bust shot of each of the contestants, and the text next to them showcased what aspects they had and what their weapon of choice was.
Gavner: Nightmares || Shadow - Spiked Gauntlets
Sequoiadendron “Red”: Dreams || ??? - Claws and Teeth
---

Sigrid: Fire || ??? - Large Sword

Grimm: Fire || ??? - Small Dagger

The crowd looked at the board and went silent for the splittest of seconds as they looked over the faces, names, aspects, and choice weapons of the contestants that would be fighting. They cheered- some for the satyrs, and others for the birds. The sound of the crowd seemed to be quieted in the center of the arena.

Back at the Harara Brouhaha, Connie ran to turn on the tv and change the channel to watch the fight. She was a little surprised to see… that she knew almost everyone fighting, with the exception of Sigrid. Her aprico, Ierie, sat next to Connie on the bed, not paying any attention to the tv. Her attention was instead put exclusively on the golden emblem that Amorae had given Connie a few days ago. She was toying with it in her hooves, pushing it around the bed. 

Connie glanced down at Ierie and rolled her eyes, pulling her butterfly cloak closer to her body in anticipation as she watched with baited breath.

The contestants took their place. Red had the layout of the entire arena memorized- she knew the location of every pillar, what weapons were sticking out from the sand, and the position that her opponents took. The judge had stopped chatting, which she was quite happy about, too. The last thing she heard before she started moving was the large horn that signified the battle had started.

Red’s eyes were locked on Sigrid. Gavner had been eyeing Grimm, and Red had noticed. They made an unspoken agreement that they’d both just focus on their target instead of trying to multitask-- though, it’s not like multitasking on the battlefield was necessarily an issue for someone like Gavner. 

Sigrid didn’t look like she had done any strategic planning whatsoever. She had a huge grin plastered to her face when the horn sounded. With a boisterous battle cry, she charged towards Red. Red stayed completely still until the last couple feet, jumping swiftly to the side near one of the pillars. Sigrid attempted to chase after Red, but she had made quick work of the pillar she was hiding behind. Within seconds, she stood crouched on the top of it, looking down at her now puny opponent.

Sig frowned.

“Hey! Get down here and fight me!!!” She yelled, pointing her sword tip towards the sky in the direction of Red.

Red snickered, and jumped to the top of another nearby pillar within the blink of an eye. Sigrid looked around, confused, but before she knew it, she was on her stomach. Red had jumped at her and knocked her to the ground of the arena, pinning her wrists to the tightly packed sand below them and her sword just barely out of arm’s reach. 

Sig grunted, trying to free her hands but to no avail. She attempted to kick at Red’s back with her feet, but Red whipped the one exposed area on Sig’s armor with one of the spikes on her tail. A menacing, carnal grin spread across Red’s face, exposing her two large gold capped lower canines. Her eyes weren’t even visible through the intense glow they were emitting. Red flexed her claws and put her hands on the sides of Sig’s head, but was stopped when she felt something slam into her side and knock her off. The two tumbled briefly, making some space between both parties.

“Red what the FUCK do you think you’re doing?!” Gavner shouted at her as Sigrid scrambled back onto her feet. He quickly moved to another space around Red to avoid getting hurt by the newly freed marshmallow bird, if she decided to strike out of anger.

Red looked furious. She let out an animalistic screech at Gavner, all her sharpened teeth visible. Gavner shot a nasty look back at her and let out a near demonic screech of his own, although a little less shrill than how Red’s sounded. Red’s eyes, soul, and mask markings were all excruciatingly bright with the rage she felt. Scrambling to her feet to kick Gavner off, she snapped her head and attention back to Sigrid and Grimm, letting out an even louder, more inhuman screech. Red was hunched over, her claws flexed and her arms by her side. Sigrid took a step back and winced, but Grimm stepped forward.

“These are just games, Red. Take it easy,” He said, the tone in his voice deathly serious. Gaver got back onto his feet too, ready to jump and take down Red if she attempted to attack again. 

“Yeah dude, this is just for fun-” Sigrid added on, clearly a little shaken up. She had picked up her sword again and was holding it in a defensive position. 

Red stayed low, sidestepping very slowly to try and find the best way to take down her opponents. Gavner’s eyes were locked on Red, making sure she didn’t try to attempt anything rash- but it was clear she was too far gone. 

“...Game is about winning, no?” Red spoke for the first time since entering the arena. 

“Yes, Red, but killing your opponent isn’t going to make you win,” Grimm stated back at her. He looked as if he had seen this before- not surprised, but not happy about it either. He kept his composure as he maintained the distance between him and Red.

Red snarled, her eyes narrowing at the magenta bird in front of her. Oh, it would be so easy to just lunge forward and finish him off right then and there… 

“Red, if you can’t fight honorably then I’m going to forfeit both of us,” Gavner said, piggybacking onto Grimm’s seriousness. Sigrid had calmed down a little by now, but was still keeping her distance. Red stopped dead in her tracks, looking back at Gavner. The look she gave him was dirty, and he could tell she was the least happy camper right now.

“What’s the purpose in fighting if you can’t kill?” Red asked, flexing her claws.

Gavner groaned, rubbing his gloved hands down his face.

“It’s about proving your strength! Not proving how well you can immobilize your opponents and suck the souls out of them- to prove your skill, agility, and combat training! It’s more than just fighting to kill, I explained this to you!” Gavner cried, trying desperately to get his point across. Red wasn’t having any of it. She looked back at Grimm and Sigrid.

“I don’t let prey escape that easy,” She said, beginning to take a couple slow steps towards the two. Grimm stood his ground- something Red wasn’t wholly used to. She frowned, but persisted, until a horn was sounded to signify the end of the battle. Red snapped out of her predatory trance and looked up at the speaker.

“Wow, looks like we actually have a forfeit on Team Satyr’s end! That battle was enthralling, but your teammate did the right thing, Sequoiadendron. We were all watching and waiting for the right time to send in a ref to break up the battle if you couldn’t do it yourself, weren’t we?” The judge asked the crowd. The crowd erupted into a mix of cheers and boos, most likely at Gavner for calling it off. 

“Well then it’s settled! The victors are Sigrid and Grimm!” The judge announced, Sig and Grimm holding up their hands in victory. They didn’t look too happy about it though, since it wasn’t exactly earned.

Red looked back over at Gavner, and let out the loudest, shrillest, most demonic screech she could muster. He immediately retaliated with another one of his own, causing Sigrid and Grimm to need to cover their ears. She charged at Gavner without thinking, but by then, the magic suppressors had been turned off, allowing Gavner to slink into one of the shadows of the nearest pillar. She knew she couldn’t do anything else, and her fuse was already extremely short, so she grabbed the closest weapon- a decent sized standard longsword, and stabbed it straight into the shadowed sand that Gavner had slunk into. She didn’t know if she hit him or not, but she didn’t care. She saw two browbirds in black and white striped outfits begin to approach her to escort her out- but she knew her pride wasn’t going to allow that. Without any further hesitation, she booked it out of the coliseum at lightning speeds, trying to avoid any further confrontation with the game officials.

Needless to say, neither Red nor Gavner showed back up at the Brouhaha later that night.