The fourth day for the fateful eight dawns and though Owen and Troy have temporarily put aside their differences, trouble is not far off. From the time they are awake and even before they have breakfast, tempers begin to flare. Simon wakes to Blaze making over-exaggerated guitar riffs with his mouth, trying to impress Rowena with his musical skills and regaling her (loudly of course) with stories of his apparently colorful past. He is just barely out of bed and in a grumpy mood confronts Blaze about being woken up so early in the morning.
“Can you please try and keep it down; some of us need to sleep.” He says and Blaze seems to take offense to being called out like that. “Chill man, you just killed my groove… no need for such negativity.” He replies blandly, seeing Rowena already going off to find something else to do. “Thanks man… now she is gone.” He mutters, turning to pursue Rowena.
Simon manages another hour or so of sleep with that obnoxious man gone and after breakfast, decides to go exploring for a bit. He wanders the basement they call home, finding the four rooms used by defeated warriors to end their life honorably. He is still in his pajamas and decides to change to his clothes so he can begin training again.
He is just walking toward the barracks when Blaze sneaks up and jumps out at him, surprising him and getting all his rage in that moment. “Are you an idiot? You don’t just scare people like that!!” He shouts and the foolish man gives him a blank stare. “Didn’t mean anything by it… just having a little fun.” He says mildly and Simon isn’t hearing it. “Having fun, at my expense you mean?!? “ He says coldly and staring the other man down. “You are here in this same arena as the rest of us and have a possible death sentence hanging over your head like us and you think it’s a good idea to piss off one of the other contenders… one who could possibly kill you right here and now… you don’t think of those things do you?” Blaze is seemingly unfazed by the other man’s ranting and fixes Simon with a flat stare as though challenging him to make a move. As written in the competition rules, the only way to resolve issues is to challenge to a fight, so Simon does exactly that and makes his way with Blaze to the sparring room.
Simon has been training for most of the last three days, but either he seriously underestimated the silly Blaze or his skills aren't nearly as developed as he thought; and loses easily to him in less than five minutes of combat, leaving him breathless on the floor of the sparring room.
It doesn’t end there for Simon, Blaze find him later practicing hard after his earlier defeat, this time with Owen for company and both men proceed to ridicule him; a “friendly jest” they call it as he is practicing with one of the martial arts dummies, not something he is used to yet. Owen isn’t nearly as hard on Simon as Blaze is, and it seems to him that Blaze has developed a bit of a grudge against him. He can understand as he just overcame his grudge against Troy; well, put it aside until later anyway and it seems all of Simon’s rage is against the strutting orange rooster.
He isn’t the only one having to run the gamut of chaos that seems to be festering in the arena today with Saraya getting into a heated argument with the normally cool-headed Ayasha who had become a little perturbed at the other woman’s superiority complex. So what, she has won six gold medals and apparently didn’t get the credit she deserved for them; if this attitude played any part in that it is little wonder in Ayasha’s estimation. She herself likely could have managed a few herself had she chosen to compete, but it was not something that she would have done without permission from her father or grandfather who are very traditional; believing martial arts is for self-defense, not for showing off. “You think you are better than us?” She growls and gets slapped by the other woman and before it turns into a brawl, they decide to settle it in the sparring room, like the rules of the competition states. Blow after blow is exchanged and it takes a long while for either of the women to get the upper hand, but Saraya soon concedes defeat, stunned at how she has now lost against two of her supposed “lesser skilled” opponents. Perhaps she is mistaken about a great many things, but her skills aren’t one and she goes away angry at herself for losing yet again.
She takes her frustrations out on Rowena, who she happens to cross her path in the barracks, on her way to the showers. There is little rhyme or reason for her ire against Rowena, and the unfortunate victim is frustrated and on-edge by the time the other woman finishes her rant and goes off to make trouble for someone else, or maybe to curl up and die somewhere (Rowena silently hopes for the latter).
Rowena is stressed from her encounter with Saraya and finds Owen in the dining room, just through with lunch and tries to talk to him. She has taken to avoiding Blaze and his unasked for attention a little and Owen doesn’t really seem too keen on listening to her all that much, but he seems to at the least humor her and pretends to sympathize for her benefit. She doesn’t feel any better and it seems to her that Owen has become irked himself. She almost runs Simon down in the barracks and comes close to tearing his head off, who had seen her face and tries to help. “Stay out my business pencil-neck!” She shouts and storms off to be alone with her thoughts.
Having not even finished venting her frustration, Saraya goes to find Ayasha for a rematch to their earlier “discussion”. “Haven’t you had enough woman!?!... Why can't you just leave me alone, especially here in the kitchen at meal time. You assume that I even care that you’ve won six medals and I can see why everyone hates you… news flash, everyone probably hates you here too… just get that through your thick skull and you’ll be the better for it!” Ayasha shouts and even Saraya backs up a little seeing the flash of the other woman’s full temper and the fire in her eyes. Saraya almost slinks away like a whipped dog, though making a good show of excusing herself on the premise of “Using the Ladies Room”.
Across the arena, Owen is taking out his renewed frustrations on Tarik, who is clearly undeserving and has heard of what happened between him and Troy the previous day and doesn’t want to end up like that.
Feeling better slightly from releasing the tension, he goes to stare out the gates of the arena, hoping to see the overseer pull up so this show can well and truly start and for a moment he even has the thought of losing intentionally so this misery can end sooner rather than later.
After that it seems that the tempest that had ripped through the arena and whipped everyone into frenzy, blows itself out and things get back to normal. Ayasha goes to the sparring room and soon finds herself with a clear mind and a near-perfect Zen state. Simon takes his mind off everything by pushing himself into his training; desperately wanting to at the least make a good show of himself in the competition after his earlier defeat against the most ill-trained and arrogant orange rooster. He can’t concentrate for more than a couple hours and since he isn’t tired yet, finds his body wandering the halls of the arena like his mind is doing, flitting from one thing to another and none of them pleasant.
His path inadvertently takes him to one of the rooms used for the final ceremony for a defeated competitor and remembers well seeing last year’s runner up choosing this very chamber for his end. He feels that poignant moment return and a tear comes to his eye in remembrance of that honorable soul willing entering those flames of judgment. He hopes he can be that proud and upstanding when and if his time will come… and he fears it will be very soon indeed. He finds a brazier in the barracks and takes it outside, starting a fire and sitting down to morbidly poke at it, idly wondering what it would be like to burn like the wood in the fire pit.
When he gets tired, he changes clothes and as he is heading for the barracks sees Rowena wandering the halls as well, apparently sleepless. “I’m sorry for what I said earlier, Saraya had made me so mad and I had no right to take it out on you… can you forgive me and put this whole thing behind us?” He smiles and gives her a hug. “We’re good… I feel better already just hearing you say that.” She smiles and as though a weight has been lifted from her shoulders, she begins to get tired and go off to the barracks together for a good night’s sleep.
After that it seems that the tempest that had ripped through the arena and whipped everyone into frenzy, blows itself out and things get back to normal. Ayasha goes to the sparring room and soon finds herself with a clear mind and a near-perfect Zen state. Simon takes his mind off everything by pushing himself into his training; desperately wanting to at the least make a good show of himself in the competition after his earlier defeat against the most ill-trained and arrogant orange rooster. He can’t concentrate for more than a couple hours and since he isn’t tired yet, finds his body wandering the halls of the arena like his mind is doing, flitting from one thing to another and none of them pleasant.
His path inadvertently takes him to one of the rooms used for the final ceremony for a defeated competitor and remembers well seeing last year’s runner up choosing this very chamber for his end. He feels that poignant moment return and a tear comes to his eye in remembrance of that honorable soul willing entering those flames of judgment. He hopes he can be that proud and upstanding when and if his time will come… and he fears it will be very soon indeed. He finds a brazier in the barracks and takes it outside, starting a fire and sitting down to morbidly poke at it, idly wondering what it would be like to burn like the wood in the fire pit.
When he gets tired, he changes clothes and as he is heading for the barracks sees Rowena wandering the halls as well, apparently sleepless. “I’m sorry for what I said earlier, Saraya had made me so mad and I had no right to take it out on you… can you forgive me and put this whole thing behind us?” He smiles and gives her a hug. “We’re good… I feel better already just hearing you say that.” She smiles and as though a weight has been lifted from her shoulders, she begins to get tired and go off to the barracks together for a good night’s sleep.
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