[X] My Assistant

[mALX]

*

A New Sun Rises

This story covers the daily events in the two years leading up to the Oblivion Crisis. It begins following the life of a semi-typical Khajiit girl who inadvertently finds herself the pawn of a powerful necromancer just as factions and forces begin moving into position.

When motivations are revealed it drives out the secrets of forgotten pasts, and another Khajiit girl whose life was an intertwined mirror of her own till both were altered irrevocably by the same necromancer in whose power they both found themselves.

The diverse paths their lives took merge once again in an explosive revelation that leaves one wondering how much of her skills and personality were ever her own; the other in a desperate struggle to keep control of her life, keep from being used against the Emperor as the crisis that will change Cyrodiil and the rule of Tamriel forever begins.

Maxical

Prologue

Sun's Dusk ( 3rd Era, year 432 )
Ma�Thjizzrini Qa
15 years after her parent's deaths

Fate is an invincible enemy in a battle you�ll never leave unscathed. It stalks you as prey and strikes regardless of shields or armor. The gods and other realms can find entertainment in manipulating your path on a whim; or ancient vampires dabble with your life, alter your mind without you even knowing it. Sometimes you don�t find out till it is too late.

I�d like to blame the gods for where I found myself, but the truth is that somewhere between the void and the Dreamsleeve lies fate; a place where time and space meet; where even the blackness of the void doesn�t reach, and the gods make wagers on the outcome of lives caught in the �tween.

Wedged into that fold are damned souls, souls that have been marked for paths they can�t change, to destinies they can�t escape. Ancient vampire's eyes see them as beacons, follow them as scents, control their minds without their ever knowing.

They are targets for revenge of an enemy they don't even know exists, pawns in a game they didn't even know was being played; whose contestants their worst nightmares couldn�t envision.


That�s where I found myself fifteen years after the game started. That was the day I found out that everything I�d ever known about myself had always been�her. Amiela.

Amiela was a 137 years old demon of a vampire that thrived on destruction and usurped whatever she could from others. She died a century before I was born, but the wars being fought over her didn�t end with her death. Her soul was marked�and inside me.

For me, fate was my parents bringing me through the heavy forested area of the Gold Road just outside Skingrad at the same time the second worst necromancer of our time was in a battle for the soul of Amiela. And there I was, a convenient hiding spot.

That was the day my parents died. All I ever knew of them was where they died and what killed them. I was twenty years old before I even learned my mother's name. I was twenty years old before I remembered Nisaba. Nissy.

*******



Nisaba

Nissy�s beginning didn�t just match mine, it was mine; though neither of us knew it before we�d both turned twenty years old. That was the year our paths crossed again and we learned the only scraps of our histories anyone was ever able to recover. That's when we learned our destinies were intertwined long before our lives began.

Nissy and I were born within a month of each other in the year 412, both born in the 'no-man's' land of wild mountain passes between Vvardenfell and Cyrodiil. Our parents were traveling together and we were born en route, but our histories began long before that.

From early childhood our parents were owned by Hlormaren, a Dunmer Stronghold on the Bitter Coast of Vvardenfell. Before that they were housed in the same children's slave pen on the mainland. Maybe our histories began long before that, but that was the furthest back any information went that we were able to find.

Nissy�s mother died giving birth to her. Her father dropped her off at the Imperial Legion Orphanage for the un-adoptable when she was two. Three years later a Legionnaire dropped me off there when my parents were killed in a minotaur attack.

Fate once again found Nissy and me four years later in the middle of the night, right there in our room at that orphanage. We were both nine years old when our destinies were wrenched into the hands of the worst necromancer Tamriel has known since the King of Worms. Both of us have been in his power in one way or another since. Dagoth-Malan.

That was eleven years ago, eleven years that Nissy waited for me to keep a promise to save her...eleven years that all my memories of her were stolen by Dagoth-Malan so I couldn�t keep that vow. Until fate brought us together again when we both turned twenty.

Nissy and me, we were both in the wrong place at the wrong time. Fate.

** The Beginning **



Where Memories Begin And End

Legion Office, Imperial City
3rd Era, year 417 (memories of events that occurred when Maxical was five years old)

The earliest memory of my lifetime begins and ends in the Legion headquarters in the Imperial City. I�ve never been able to remember a single moment of my life before finding myself in that office.

It was a coming awake. A dark void of nothingness, and then in a blink my eyes were open and there I stood in that office with no idea where I was or how I got there.

An odd putrid odor I couldn't name seemed to be clinging inside my nostrils and roiling my stomach, even the pungent stench of sweat emanating from the large man behind the desk was a welcome relief in comparison.

There was an odd feeling of having forgotten something important that niggled irritatingly, a barb that probed against my mind to remember, but there was nothing to answer its incessant prodding. Nothing. It was like a journey through a maze with only dead ends at every turn. I didn't know where I had come from, where I belonged, or who I belonged to.

At first I barely understood what they were saying; strange sounding words spoken so harshly and rapidly that it was impossible to grasp even one to decipher. They couldn�t understand me at all when I spoke.

Somewhere deep inside me in a place as unconnected to me as the lost memories of my life before that office there was the oddest sensation; a stirring, as if that part of me was just now waking. Suddenly their words were striking a chord of recognition It almost felt as if I could speak their tongue, but when my mouth opened the words still came out in the only language I knew.

*******

The large sweaty man behind the desk pointed at me. "What is that?"

"Don't know, only that it's the get of some beasts killed by a minotaur up on the big curve of the Gold Road in County Skingrad. Couldn't tell what they were either. The mother was a bloody mess; but the male...fur black as coal soot, and the same flattened face as that one's." He indicated my face, then added, "Too big for a cat, never seen anything like him. Both bore slave tattoos so they can't be from Cyrodiil. No travel papers or identification on either body."

The large sweating man's chair groaned loudly as he leaned over and gave me an intrusive and extended eyeing. "That ain't no Khajiit, not with that white coloring. That face gives me the creeps, you said the male looked the same? This one must be an albino then. No telling what you'll find in those other Provinces, all barbarians." He spat a large wad of brown cud into the urn beside him.

"The male had been looted; they even took his clothes, naked as a jaybird he was. Found this in the brush near the female's body." He held out a blood spattered travel pack. "When I moved her body this silver dagger was underneath her, and this gold locket fell off her neck. Chain was broken, likely in the attack."

The rotund man tossed him a cloth to wrap the items in, then pointed at me. "How old do you think it is?"

"Too small to be very old. Can't be much more than a couple years. It walks well enough, though. And mark it as female, it squatted to relieve itself on the way here."

"Two year old female." The large man wrote something down.

"And a bad tempered one at that. She scratched me up good trying to get her on the horse." That was met with raucous laughter from the men gathered.

"It's that red hair!" Someone called.

The mocking laughter and insulting treatment I understood without the help of that strange place within me that seemed to know this language. I didn't know anything about myself or how I got here, I was confused and up till that moment terrified. But at that moment I learned that I had a temper. I could feel it building inside me like a fire about to go out of control.

In my rage I nearly missed that their odd contortions and rudimentary gestures to communicate were attempts to get my name. My name. That would be important to find out who I was.

�Ma'Thjizzrini Qa.� A girls voice squealed from behind me. I turned to see a Khajiit girl in the doorway staring at me wide eyed.

"Ma'Thjizzrini Qa!" She started running toward me, but one of the armored men grabbed her and pushed her back out the door.

As soon as she said it I knew that was my name, it struck a familiar chord immediately. I repeated it, imitating their miming gestures by pointing to my chest. �Ma'Thjizzrini Qa.�

"Name, Maxical." The rotund man wrote something down, then stamped his seal on the document.

*******

They said I was found beside my parents, was there when they were killed. I didn't remember any of it. It felt like they talked abstractly about strangers. The greatest shock for me that day and so many days since was that I didn't even know my mother's name; wasn't able to bring an image of her to my mind, or even a glimpse of a moment with her or the sound of her voice. It was like she disappeared into the void, taking every remembrance of her.

That day in the Legion office though, that I will never forget. The smell of pipe smoke and tobacco, male sweat and steel; those odors bring back the memory of that day as if it was still alive within me, still happening to me.

It has stayed fresh in my mind all these years; but not because I wanted to remember it. It was that haunting memory that was just out of grasp beyond it, the sheer number of times I�d come to that stopping point in my memory and tried to force beyond it to find something, anything of who I was; of my life before that Legion office. Of my mother.

That day, those men staring at me as if I were an insect as they tried to determine what I was, what I was saying...what to do with me. All through it my mind burned with trying to figure out who I was and how I got there. I'll never forget that day.

*******

This post has been edited by mALX: May 4 2019, 07:13 PM

[mALX]

*

The Arcane

Chapter 15: The Bloodworks





The sound of the healing fount being activated woke me. I was laying on my back across the top of it and Owyn was leaning over me working on my shoulder and side. The infusion of magicka and healing spells bathed me in their aura, washing away the pain and exhaustion. I had heard it go off several times, I must have been in bad shape at the end of the match. Owyn was a master healer and could be compared to Arch Mage Traven for his healing ability. If he could only learn to be silent while he healed you.

"You did it! You got the crowds behind you! People will be coming to see you fight now, I'm moving all your fights to the weekends from now on. That thing you did with your tail, you had 'em eating out of your hand out there! Now you listen to me, Maxical. I didn't think I'd see you come out of there tonight. Don't get cocky now and stop your training. It could have gone either way tonight, you know that as well as I do. You made mistakes that could have cost your life. You need to train harder than ever now." Owyn was babbling. I closed my eyes again and let him work on me, hoping he would think I was passed out and stop jabbering.

Owyn was right, I had been cocky going into this match. Till today I had been fighting against people that really were raw recruits. Today I had been seriously challenged and really didn't think I was going to come out of that Arena.

All my dreams of being a warrior came down to this match. Was I going to learn from it and improve; or take the fear it had instilled in me and run away, quit the Arena. Owyn was right that I needed to train harder, but training is never against someone who wants to actually see you dead. How smug one can get when they do well in a practice; but it is all a game, play acting. There is nothing serious in that practice room.

What I faced today in that Arena was what the raw recruits I fought before now must have felt when they went up against me. But I was still playacting even then. The thought that I was killing them, actual death ... it never occurred to me even as I left the Arena a victor and cleaned their blood from my sword. Today was the first day that reality set in.

And yet ... the crowd today. It is an addiction that begins in your soul the first time they chant your name. You need them, live for their response, crave their voices calling your name. It feeds a hunger inside you that you never knew existed till that first time, that first experience of having them there for you. Now I know what "You live for that crowd out there" means; but what about the end of that? What about the other half of that saying Owyn has pounded into our heads, "You die for that crowd out there." What about that part of it? Am I willing to die for them? I know I almost did today, but am I willing to go back in and take that chance again? I know several that have, for I had to wipe their blood from my sword. But that was before it was almost my blood on someone else's sword, and them leaving the Arena the victor.

My usual buoyant spirits were subdued by the fight today. I had to make a decision on if I wanted to continue or not. I wished I could talk to Alix, wished I hadn't runaway from home. There was only one other person I could ask for advice on this, my friend Agronak. When Owyn got me wrapped up like a mummy I hobbled over and signaled him to let him know I'd be waiting for him when he got done practicing.

My mat is behind Ysabel Andronicus, she is the Battle Matron here. She handles the Grand Championship fights, and is Agronak's trainer and manager since he is the Grand Champion. At night she manages the women that sleep in the Bloodworks on an unofficial basis. We sleep where she tells us to. She can't stand having women in the Bloodworks, and the feeling is mutual. None of us can stand her.

She is insanely jealous over Owyn. Now, we all love Owyn, but no one is fighting for a place on his mat including Andronicus. She just doesn't want to see anyone else with him. They have a history that none of us can stomach picturing. We are all just glad it never came to fruition, if any of us had to see the two of them kiss we would all go out and throw ourselves on the next sword.

I guess because I was the youngest female in there she had pointed at me my first day in the Bloodworks and then pointed to the mat behind her. "That is where you sleep." She commanded.

It didn't matter to me when she is sleeping, but awake she has a very coarse and strident voice. Today she was doing a lot of loud hollering, her brash voice edged against my nerves. I needed a quiet place to think. I signaled Agronak again and pointed to the other end of the room down by the fount. There were a few mats in a dark corner there and it was quieter. Only one mat was occupied by a man pleasuring himself. I slumped down on the mat furthest from him.

There is a saying, "If you haven't seen it in the Bloodworks, it don't exist." It's the truth. Of course we all have to undress and change in front of each other, but there is much more that goes on pretty much out in the open down here. It took me a while to get used to it, my eyes stayed bugged out of my head constantly at first.

My first day in the Bloodworks was the first time I had actually ever seen what a man looked like naked. My first reaction, (which thankfully I kept to myself) had been "GAAAH!" But I was trying to sound mature and worldly, so I held that in. Instead I pointed to his member and said, "What is that?" and then looked down at my own self wondering if it was something that would grow on me now that I had the blue show.

"It's my sword." He said, and began walking over to me. I think he was about to show me something when Andronicus stepped up and dragged me into the corner to finish changing. My head was turned back as she dragged me away because the appendage had begun changing in shape and size.

Andronicus explained a whole lot of things to me in a very coarse way that surprisingly made things a lot clearer in my mind about everything than the Arcane ever did with their lectures on biology. Suddenly a whole lot of the dirty jokes I had told made a lot more sense. I now knew how babies were made as well.

I didn't sleep well my first night, my mind kept drumming up images of all I had seen that day. In the middle of the night I suddenly thought of Fathis. I sat up so quickly that the movement woke Andronicus.

"What is it?" She hissed.

"Fathis Aren." I whispered.

Andronicus sat up right away. "What about him?"

I swear butter could have melted in her mouth how sweet and interested she sounded suddenly. Her eyes were agog.

"I just realized what those men were saying about Fathis Aren all those years ago."

Andronicus insisted on hearing everything. She listened as if devouring every word till I told her that I was promised to Fathis.

"You can forget about that. Fathis Aren is a proud man, and would not sully himself with any of the beast species nor a fighter from the Arena, not even for a night's pleasure." Andronicus spat.

Some instinct told me she had been interested in Fathis Aren and had not prevailed. I wondered if her feelings for Fathis had been the reason she turned down Owyn's marriage proposal.

Still, what she said cut deeply. Fathis was a very proud man, I knew this about him. I just always thought his feelings for me overcame the fact that I was of the beast species. She had to be correct, though. At the end of every fight I always scanned the crowds to see if Fathis was there, he never was. I think that night was the first time I realized that I had lost any chance I had with Fathis when I lost his golden armor. And now here I was in the Arena, and Andronicus as much as said that Fathis turned her down because she was a fighter in the Arena. I lay back down feeling like someone had punched me in the stomach.

Eventually you become inured to the things that go on in the Bloodworks. After a while it becomes no big deal to see anything. I stopped gaping at everything that went on there and my eyes went back into my head. I doubt there is much that could surprise me or shock me now.




***

Agronak woke me. "I know what is bothering you, I can see by your bandages . You had your first tough match, didn't you?"

I nodded, pulling myself up till I was seated with my back leaned on the filthy wall behind me. Agronak sat next to me on the mat, his huge bulk eating up the remaining space.

"You know, that is a decision you have to make yourself. I can tell you why I chose to stay in after my first tough fight, but I'm not you. That is something you have to find inside yourself that keeps you fighting, or not find and decide to leave the Arena." Agronak said, taking my hand. "I heard you had the crowd eating out of your hand out there today." I leaned my head on his massive arm and listened to him talk about his first bad fight.

Agronak is my best friend here. He is the first Orc I've ever known. I was drawn to watch him practice just like all the other Pit Dogs who buzz around him like a mosquito. Agronak has moves even Alix doesn't know, and he performs them with such grace and precision that you are left dumbstruck watching him. It is deceptive too, that grace. It masks the power he is capable of and has lured many a dead man to think they could beat him in the Arena. I've tried to imitate him, just like everyone has.

His Arena persona is 'The Gray Prince' which I thought was odd because Agronak is a blue Orc. He doesn't take teasing from anyone about that, which is something you learn by the mistake of doing it. I was awestruck by him just like everyone else, and sought to start up a conversation with him hoping he may show me some of his moves. My idea of a conversation starter was to ask him why he didn't call himself 'The Blue Prince'. He took one look at me and laughed.

"When you become champion you should choose the title 'The Mouthy Marauder'". He said with a toothy grin.

"No sense warning them in advance." I spouted back. That started our friendship.

Everyone was surprised I had been able to tease Agronak and live to tell about it, but I know why. It is because we are both the wrong color for our race, that is what really bonded us as friends. We had both been ostracized by our own race and treated like freaks by others.

Agronak overcame it by pushing himself to a good education and by making Grand Champion. He was well respected now, but it hadn't always been that way. He shared things with me he had never shared with another because we had that bond. Things like that have a tendency to draw you together.


***



******* Owyn:







******* The Blue team Gladiator










*

This post has been edited by mALX: Jul 29 2016, 07:50 AM

[D.Foxy]

Holy SHIPS, mALX.

You just keep getting better and better.

For those of you who don't fully understand, take a look at her first attempt to write about Maxical in the Arena. EVEN THEN if was pretty freaking good...


..but now, it's even better. We have a gritty, sand-in-the-feet realism of life raw and naked in the Bloodworks: an almost perfect slice-by-slash depiction of a duel to the death: psychological insights into the nature of crowds and crowdpleasers, and the parasatic, symbiotic relationship between them: and in addition to all this, we have - to use a Buddhist metaphor - Maxical, the "lotus in the mud" - she who is in the raw and ugly world of death, and yet not of it - who glides through the story and draws us all in...


...ah, I babble. Yes, I am not ashamed to do so. Who else? Who else but mALX could have done this, and not being content to do this once, do this TWICE, and better the second time around?


Thank you for gracing us with this, mALX. And when you become a best selling millionaress, remember us, your first fan club, 'kay?

[minque]

And when you become a best selling millionaress, remember us, your first fan club, 'kay?

As I've said! You're a PRO!!!

Adorable sweet Maxi....but what about Fathis? I'm curious...and a bit worried!

[Olen]

That last update was brilliant. It's that simple, you vision of the bloodworks fits so well with how it might be, none of this slightly grotty but more or less ok stuff from the game. You capture how different and desensitised people who live with that amount of death would become and paint a gritty picture of it. It also work well to show a change in Maxical.

Excellent stuff.

[Acadian]

Very nicely done mALX! I was impressed to see that Maxical realized she had been cocky during her most recent fight and addressed the hazards of that. There was a lot that you brilliantly put in this - wonderful.

[Winter Wolf]

Incredible mALX. I have always been in awe of your ability to write 2000 words of non-stop humor into a chapter. Very few can do that. In this chapter, however; you have done the same non-stop transition into thoughts and reflection. Wow!! The whole thing flowed so smoothly and you kept Maxical's thoughts seeping down to us throughout. Simply incredible!!

I’m moving all your fights to Saturday nights from now on.
I would prefer to see the word Loredas here instead, but unfortunately the word 'Saturday' looks very different and you were probably worried that the impact of the meaning would be lost. If that is the case I understand.

Eventually you become inured to the things that go on in the Bloodworks. After a while it becomes no big deal to see anything. I stopped gaping at everything that went on there and my eyes went back into my head. I doubt there is much that could surprise me or shock me now.
Awesome part of the chapter here mALX. Very realistic. Bravo!!

Thank you for gracing us with this, mALX. And when you become a best selling millionaress, remember us, your first fan club, 'kay?
No chance of this. When mALX is sunning herself down at the Bahamas (aboard her 300 ft yacht, of course) we are the last people that she will think about.

This post has been edited by Winter Wolf: Apr 6 2010, 07:13 AM

[Destri Melarg]

I echo everything that has already been said. With everything that she has already been through, sometimes it’s easy to lose track of just how young Maxical still is. Thank you for rendering her combination of world-weariness and naivete so expertly.

[haute ecole rider]

A lot to smile, chuckle and laugh out loud about in this chapter:

These thoughts about Andronicus and Owyn that made me laugh out loud, in the way of parents and what they do when the kids aren't around:

They have a history that none of us can stomach picturing. We are all just glad it never came to fruition, if any of us had to see the two of them kiss we would all go out and throw ourselves on the next sword.

Another laugh-out-loud moment:

My first day in the Bloodworks was the first time I had actually ever seen what a man looked like naked. My first reaction, (which thankfully I kept to myself) had been “GAAAH!” But I was trying to sound mature and worldly, so I held that in. Instead I pointed to his member and said, “What is that?” and then looked down at my own self wondering if it was something that would grow on me now that I had the blue show.

Agronak is one of my favorite characters in the Arena storyline. This assessment of his character rings very true:

Everyone was surprised I had been able to tease Agronak and live to tell about it, but I know why. It is because we are both the wrong color for our race, that is what really bonded us as friends. We had both been ostracized by our own race and treated like freaks by others.

Well done, friend!

[mALX]

@ Foxy - Thank you so much Foxy, to hear those words from you means tons to me!!!! You are always appreciated!!
***
@ Minque - Thank you very much Minque! I appreciate your kind words so much, and was tickled to read about Serene. I hope to find time to finish the thread soon in case you will be adding to it, but I was struck by the similar backgrounds our main characters share - Cool !!!! Fathis should re-enter the story soon, in more ways than one, lol.
***
@ Olen - Thank you so much Olen! I actually took the atmosphere and goings on in the Bloodworks from the Jockey room at Hialeah Park in Florida (horse racing). I thought there would probably be a similar atmosphere in the Bloodworks due to what had been essentially a man's world for a long time suddenly being invaded by women, lol.
***
@ Acadian - Thank you so much Acadian! Oh yes, that fight definately took her down a few pegs, lol. You are greatly appreciated Acadian!
***
@ Winter Wolf - Thank you very much Wolf! I took your advice and changed the wording, and you are right about my reasons for doing it. I wasn't happy with the Saturday either, but didn't push my brain hard enough to come up with a solution till you said that. I think it works much better now, I changed it to "Weekends." You ROCK Wolf!!!!
***
@ Destri - Thank you so very much Destri!!! Maxical was pretty sheltered and so is somewhat immature for her seventeen years. Her curiousity has a tendency to get her into situations, or she may say the wrong things sometimes. Because of that, I really wanted to make sure her naivete was remembered, I am glad that came across. You are so appreciated Destri! Thank you!
***
@ Hauty - I was so hoping someone would pick up on these lines, Thank You so much Hauty!!!!! I cut one line out of there for word count that was another one children think behind their parents backs, lol. (When Andronicus explains the facts of life to her I had Maxical thinking to herself that maybe it was something Alix and S'Jirra needed to hear since they wanted a baby so badly - "I was pretty sure they didn't know about this...")

On the reaction to her first sighting of a man naked - I admit that one was my own first reaction, ROFL!

I like Agronak so well, and after my first game have never done his quest again until I did this story and my game glitched. You are so appreciated Hauty!!!

[mALX]

*

The Arena

Chapter 16: The Gray Prince





Agronak explained, the Gray was the wrong color on purpose, it was a joke on himself being the wrong color. The Prince part was accurate, he was the son of a Lord. It surprised me to find out that he was of mixed race.

Something about that really struck home with me. My face shows none of the standard Khajiit features, and my fur is fine and sleek, almost like a skin. Most Khajiit have coarse thick fur. It wasn't the first time I had wondered whether I was the product of a mixed union.

For Agronak it had helped him to know there was a reason behind his odd appearance, and within myself I knew that it would be so much easier to accept it if I knew my appearance was due to a racial mixture rather than just a deformity of nature or a freak accident of genetics.





***

Agronak and I spent every minute together if we weren't in a bout or training. We usually ate together and sat and talked till 'lights out' when he would head across to his bed in the Yellow team Bloodworks. We knew gossip buzzed around both Bloodworks about us, but we were just friends, the thought never crossed either of our minds for anything other than that.

He mostly ignored the gossip unless he thought someone had cast a slur against me. I think how the gossip started in earnest was the fact that we held hands a lot. It was just an affection between friends and meant nothing to us, but obviously meant quite a bit to others. That and Agronak appeared to like my singing. Anyone who has ever heard a cat sing; well no explanation would be necessary.





***

"What the hell is that horrible noise? Is someone injured?" Owyn came flying out of the back room.

I stopped singing and dancing and looked around. "I didn't hear anything Owyn."

Was that the first time I realized my singing was not a pleasant experience for the listener? No. I could fill a book with the clues before that.

Adamus Phillida thought someone was torturing the prisoners. Irlav Jarol went into an apoplectic fit and had to be healed. Fathis would laugh himself into stitches. Alix said he loved my singing, but mysteriously always had something to do outside when I started. Arch Mage Traven said he was sure it could be used in battle as a form of psychological warfare, I could infiltrate and bring them to their knees with my voice and aim.

It never bothered nor stopped me from enjoying singing. I won't even begin to mention my dancing, but suffice it to say that on more than one occasion someone called for healers thinking I was having some form of walking seizure.





***

Owyn came charging up. "The Black Horse Courier is here. Agronak, you go talk to them while I prep Maxical."

Agronak squeezed my hand before getting up. I watched his carriage and facial expressions change from Agronak to The Gray Prince. Owyn's training is very strict on representing our public persona, how we answer questions and handle the public when we go out. It is especially important with reporters, because they know how to ask questions that can trip you up and get you to reveal something you shouldn't. The Bloodworks was closed to outsiders, especially the press. All interviews were held in the garden area outside.

"You remember everything I told you? They will probably ask..." Owyn began going over the drill. Before I went outside for the interview Owyn gave me a gate pass to give Hassiri and reminded me to tell him my fights were moved to the weekends now.

Hassiri from The Black Horse Courier always watches the promotion in rank matches and interviews the victor. A lot of odd things are pulled for rank matches, like how the Yellow team sent three men out to fight just me. They are the most interesting to watch other than the Championship fights. That last fight had been a rank match, I was promoted to Warrior at the end of it but was too injured to stand in the ring for my belt or be interviewed, Owyn was busy working on my injuries and so had sent Agronak up to the Arena to get the belt and talk to the press.

Owyn had always been with me for the interviews before, I was surprised and a little nervous to be handling it on my own. He had pegged exactly what most of the questions would be, though. Hassiri started off asking about my injuries. I gave the scripted answers Owyn had briefed me with, smiling and looking in his eyes as we are trained to. Then he started asking questions I had not been briefed for.

"Can you show me some of those fancy tail moves you made in the Arena?"

"I can do better than that, why don't you use this gate pass and come see me fight when I get off injured status. They've been moved to the weekends from now on. You may see me do something with my tail I haven't thought of yet." (smile)

"Moved to the weekend already? That is pretty good for a Warrior rank. Did you think it was a dirty way to do business when they pitted you against three that outranked you?"

Owyn had not schooled me for that one. "The Yellow team lost three good men in that match, Owyn thought they were just doing housecleaning." (smile)

"You did a couple moves out there I hadn't seen done in the Arena before, I'm referring to the beheading and goring, are these specialized moves, and where did you receive your training?"

I was getting in over my head, he was asking questions I hadn't been schooled to answer.

"You'd be surprised what moves you can think up when skewered on a man's longsword. My Arena training comes from Owyn and my Blade training from Alix Lencolia. The tail tricks come from Azura." (smile)

"Will you be making any of them your signature move?"

"Right now my signature is staying alive out there, but so far I haven't seen any other tails in the Arena." (smile) Oh thank goodness, here comes Owyn. If the interviews last too long he knows they are asking questions he hasn't schooled us on.

"There has been a lot of talk about you and The Gray Prince, can you confirm for the readers what your relationship is?"

"Oh, we are not related. He is an Orc and I am a Khajiit. But we are friends, all of us Arena fighters are friends. There is no Blue or Yellow teams in those Bloodworks, but one family unit until we get into that Arena. Out in the Arena there are no friendships, no family. Any thoughts you have in that Arena other than the fight will get you killed." (smile) Come on Owyn, hurry up!

Owyn signaled me and I thanked Hassiri for the interview while Owyn slipped him two more gate passes and gave him a run down on my injuries and the upcoming fights for the article. I hurried back inside hoping I had answered correctly.

The debriefing with Owyn went well, surprisingly. I told him what had been asked and what I could recall of my responses.

"You did better than expected under the circumstances." Owyn was beaming because as he walked up he had heard me quoting his training in my last response. "That was quick thinking. You did well."

I heaved a sigh of relief. "Owyn, Hassiri said those three men outranked me. Is that true?"

"They were ringers, couldn't you tell?"

"I never thought about it." I really hadn't.

"You've got the Yellow team scrambling to find fighters to pit against you. They are trying to get rid of you. You're good with that sword Maxical."

I flushed, Owyn does not give out praise easily. Then again, he may be throwing me a bone hoping I won't give up. And being good with a sword almost didn't save me in that last match. I still needed to think about it.




***

That there was gossip about Agronak and I within the Bloodworks I knew, but I thought it was odd to be questioned about it by Hassiri. That had stunned me a bit, how could silly gossip from our Bloodworks have reached the ears and imagination of the press?

It is true Agronak was protective of me, mostly without realizing it. When you are an enormous Orc with a reputation for merciless slaughter in the Arena it doesn't take much for someone to back off and feel threatened. With Agronak all it usually took was a glance.





***

When the Black Horse Courier arrived the next day I was startled to hear the sound of some liquid being spewed and Owyn roaring. "MAXICAL! GET YOUR [CENSORED] IN HERE!"

I hurried in and was shocked to see Owyn's face a bright red color. My eyes fell to the coffee drenched edition of the Black Horse Courier in his hand. The floor was dotted with sprays of it. Had he called me in here to clean up his spill? My eye caught sight of a towel on the cabinet. Glancing up at his steaming face I snatched the towel and quickly started cleaning the coffee off the floor with it.

"DID YOU SAY THESE THINGS TO THE PRESS?" Owyn bellowed.

"But ... you said I did well in the debriefing; did I say something wrong?"

Owyn's hands were shaking as he pointed at a place in the paper. "Housecleaning?"

"But; I heard you say that..."

"That is not something you repeat to the press!"

I saw him scanning down the page and his eyes suddenly started from his head. Uh Oh. "I didn't know Owyn; er ... I think I may have received a head injury in the fight."

Owyn's hand was shaking and he was pointing at a place on the paper. His mouth kept opening and closing like a fish, but no sound came out ... at first. Then it was just a roar like a raging minotaur. I glanced at the page where his finger was.

"But; I was skewered on his longsword, I don't understand..."

Andronicus hurried over and pointed to my mat behind her chair. "Git, NOW!"

I was confined to my mat so Owyn could get over being mad at me. The worst part of it was, I would not have made him mad on purpose for anything.


***




******* Agronak:










*

This post has been edited by mALX: Jul 29 2016, 08:01 AM

[Winter Wolf]

Even when Maxical is trying to be a good kitty it still goes against her. She is too honest for her own good.

“There has been a lot of talk about you and The Gray Prince, can you confirm for the readers what your relationship is?”
“Oh, we are not related.
Magnificent come back there!! I love it.

His mouth kept opening and closing like a fish, but no sound came out
Damn those non-talking fish!! They must be coming from the water around Bravil.

[haute ecole rider]

Oh, too many to quote here! I loved it all!

But the part about Maxical's singing and dancing rings so true. Those who have ever witnessed a pet cat in heat will agree that it is the most obscene display in the animal kingdom.

I won’t even begin to mention my dancing, but suffice it to say that on more than one occasion someone called for healers thinking I was having some form of seizure.

Just a nit based on experience: when I get panicked calls at 2 am about a young female cat crying in pain, they're not having seizures, they're having trouble walking! Think Madonna writhing on the floor doing "Like a Prayer" at some awards show back in the '80's. Scandalous! I usually tell them to bring the kitty in so I can make sure it's what I think it is (otherwise if it's not, we've got some bad juju going!).

[Acadian]

Yes indeed! This was great fun to read. It all flowed very naturally. I really like how you incorporated the BHC into this one. I didn't realize Maxical was such an entertaining singer and dancer! Well done (again), mALX!

[mALX]

@ Winter Wolf - Thank you so much Wolf! ... Hey, aren't you up in the middle of the night? I never saw you up at this hour before, lol. You ROCK Wolf!!!
***
@ Hauty - ARGH! My poor Maxical was not rolling around on the floor in heat, ROFL !!!! I hope that image doesn't stick in anyone's mind, ROFL !!! You had me in stitches with this! I fixed it to "walking seizure" hope that clarifies the image in your mind, you must have had an influx of cats lately in your practice, ROFL !!!!

I was trying to drum up an image more along the lines of of Elaine in Seinfeld dancing, ROFL !!! (with the thumbs, lol.) It was described as "A dry heave set to music"

Thank you so much Hauty, you made my day with your descriptions, lol.
***
@ Acadian - Thank you so much Acadian! I have been trying to add a little something to the original each time for anyone who is re-reading her story so they don't get bored, lol. You ROCK!!!!

[D.Foxy]

Arch Mage Traven said he was sure it could be used in battle as a form of psychological warfare, I could infiltrate and bring them to their knees with my voice and aim.

It never bothered nor stopped me from enjoying singing. I won’t even begin to mention my dancing, but suffice it to say that on more than one occasion someone called for healers thinking I was having some form of walking seizure.

PRICELESS!!!


You’d be surprised what moves you can think up when skewered on a man’s longsword.


I SCREAMSNORTED so hard at that one....and the, lo and behold...


Owyn’s hand was shaking and he was pointing at a place on the paper. His mouth kept opening and closing like a fish, but no sound came out…at first. Then it was just a roar like a raging minotaur. I glanced at the page where his finger was.

“But…I was skewered on his longsword, I don’t understand…”


I suppose Owyn completely forgot that the *real* editor of the Black Horse Courier was a certain finger-in-many-pies D.Foxy...the DREADED master of swords, bawds, spears, fears, bows, beaus, poisons, poissons, martial arts, marital british boat ... AND innuendo..


Didn't he remember that before the name change, that newspaper used to be known as the the "Black FOX Courier"???


Tsk, tsk, Owyn. Punk'd by DFoxy again!!!

[Destri Melarg]

Using the interview with the Black Horse Courier as a narrative hook is just brilliant!

“But . . . I was skewered on his longsword, I don’t understand . . .”

Hilarious!

[mALX]

@ Foxy - I remembered Damien Reynard pointing at the Black Horse Courier in "The Debriefing" when I wrote that, your overly excellent idea of having him point to a place on the page! - couldn't resist using it and seeing if anyone else was reminded of that! Thank you so much Foxy, I even laugh at your antics months later, lol. You are always hugely appreciated!
***
@ Destri - I have been trying to make this rewrite add something to the original for those that have read it before (so they aren't bored reading it again, lol) - while trying to slim it down but keep Maxical intact, lol. Feels like a juggling act - so if I have cut something you want in the story, or added something that sucks, please don't be afraid to TELL ME !!!! ROFL !!!! I'd rather know while it is fresh and I haven't deleted the hard copy, lol. Thank you Destri, you are Awesome!

[mALX]

I wanted everyone to see this, one of Maxical's readers sent me this to the BGSF - For those that have been keeping up with the story over there Maxical has been very ill - She said she drew a healing amulet on her to help her get well - I cried like a baby! Thank you so much Ariel, YOU ROCK !!!!!!!








*

[D.Foxy]

I STILL demand to know what "wee wee on my Tee Pee" means!!!

[mALX]

I STILL demand to know what "wee wee on my Tee Pee" means!!!

Oh, is that what I sent you!!!! I couldn't figure it out by your cryptic PM, ROFL !!! It had to do with some comment you made on the date I sent that, so check the date and roll back in your posts to see what you said that brought that up - ROFL !!!! It may have been the Chocolate pudding comment, but I can't remember right now. I will dig around and see if I can figure it out, but it was something you said that triggered it.


As far as the poem goes, SOMEONE used to say that to any men that came in our house and happened to need to use the bathroom while there. - Yes, his humor was as twisted as mine, ROFL !!!