Broken Promises.
[ooc: Blah, can't wait any longer.]
“Why couldn’t you just have served them, for Odd’s sake…?” Jan snapped. He and Arim were currently languishing in the same cell in the "police station". “Then neither of us would be in this bloody mess…”
Arim glared back, coldly. “They were sligs – that’s all the reason I need. Besides, I can serve who I like”
“Why do you hate them so much…?” Jan paced by the door, arms folded, swapping the occasional poisonous glare with the guard on duty by the door.
Arim sat in the corner, legs folded, and tried to use his stare to bore holes in the bars on the door. “Wouldn’t you? If you had to watch your brother murdered by them… “ he shivered briefly at the memory. “I think I’m justified in the way I think.”
“They’re not all bad,” Jan kicked out at a loose stone. “The natives are okay, so long as you don’t get on their sharp side…”
“Doesn’t matter. They’ve all got it in them…”
Jan glared. “For crying out loud… are you that set in your ways…? I don’t particularly like the industrials that much myself, but… hell, they’re not all bad…! Some don’t have much choice! And it’s not just sligs either, some of our kind are just as bad…”
Arim snorted. “You’re biased. You travel with one of them… Stupid sligs… they’re all like it… stupid creatures… “ his words descended into mostly unintelligible mutterings. “…Animals…”
Jan gave a sharp, cynical laugh. “That what you think, huh…?”
**
Aura glared at the guard on the door. She’d just walked all the way here from the town centre, on her own, and was hot and dusty and not in the mood to fend off more stupid males… “And you can keep yer stinking hands to yerself, an’ all.” She could hear arguing, and sighed, inwardly – please Odd, tell me he’s not in another fight…
He grunted, huffed. “You wanted to see someone…?”
**
Jan knew he’d regret this outburst. He knew he’d regret it, but somehow couldn’t stop the words. Arim had managed to get to him in a place he didn’t know existed, with his xenophobic ways… “Okay, so it doesn’t matter, I was making it all up,” he snapped, savagely. “It doesn’t matter what we treat them like, does it, because they’re barely above dumb animals, the lot of them. Like when we were taken prisoner by the Cartel – ha, it doesn’t matter that they used to beat her black and blue if she tried to defend herself, does it?” he laughed, cynically. “They used to take it in turns, you know, first a mud would have a go, then a slig, then another mud – the Arena had guards of both species, you know… But that doesn’t matter, I suppose it’s like kicking a slog, some people don’t like it but it doesn’t really matter.”
He waved his arms. “It doesn’t even matter that they used to pay their best gladiators with her, does it? It doesn’t even matter that they used to rape her as payment for fighting well, does it? Doesn’t matter that the torment went on for four whole odd-damned weeks because I was too scared to try and persuade a guard to help me escape and get her out, does it? It doesn’t matter, because she’s just a slig!”
There was a sound from outside. “Jan…?!” a tiny voice, thin and shocked.
Oh no… oh damn… don’t tell me she’s just heard that…
Aura stood in the doorway, shaking with fury and yet looking like she was on the point of collapse at the same time. “Jan, you promised…” she whispered, through the tears that were flowing freely, now. “You promised me, Jan, you said you wouldn’ breathe a word…!”
The guard had his head cocked, watching her with a curious look. She sensed his stare – knew the words would spread like a wildfire through the gossip grapevine – and had bitten his wrist – hard – before he had time to react. Then vanished. The guard exclaimed, annoyedly, and went after her.
“Oh damn,” Jan groaned, leaned against the bars and shouted after her.. “Aura, wait…! Just let me explain…?!”
“Too late…” The guard said, hotly, scowling at the doorway and holding his wrist. “She’s gone.”
Jan leaned against the wall, and put his hands over his eyes. “Oh boy,” he groaned. “I really f**ked up there, didn’t I?”
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