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 Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2018 8:04 pm
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Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2018 8:23 pm
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The Imperious Coliseum's retractable roof was open tonight, letting humid gusts of wind in from a usually temperate Four Fronds. It was balmy - sticky, even - and bright and early in the night. The sun had just set: it was training time. Specifically, as the rest of the Gladiaterrors sparred on the other end of the immense open dirt stage, the Gladiaterror known as Shield lined up a fresh batch of recruits. He had donned his mask and gear, already slick from the warm weather.
"Welcome to the trial, recruits!" He announced, clapping his hands together in front of him. "You are here for a general test-run for a rare opening in our ranks. We've had some unfortunate fatalities recently, meaning that in our general cast we need to hire at least one new rookie. It's primarily an entertainment job, but like the rest of us you may be tasked with an execution or two."
He paced in front of the line and then put his hands on his hips. "We'll be doing a free-for-all brawl. Any questions?"
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Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2018 6:51 pm
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Quella Fehtan
Oh man. Quella couldn't believe she was here. She'd been watching ALG on grubtube whenever she could, loving the colorful fights and the even more colorful characters. Of course her favorite was Jaahwn, with her over-the-top style and take-no-prisoners attitude, but even being this close to the fights made her a little bit giddy in her acid tubes. And to be tried out by Shield himself? Quella was ready to jump with joy. Although honestly, she thought he'd be a little bit taller. Not that she was disappointed! Just surprised.
"I have one question!" the blueblood said, raising her hand. She had at least a full foot over most of the other rookies, if not more, so it was easy for the blueblood to stand out of the crowd. "Can we get to it? I'm getting hungry."
The joke was met with scattered chuckles and scowls, in equal measure. Quella shrugged and grinned. Free-for-all suited her just fine. The rookies separated out, making sure there was enough space between all of them before they started. Quella took a few deep breaths, getting herself ready. She could do this. She fought her pack all the time, and they were much scarier than any of these assorted wigglers. Just steady and plow through it.
Someone rang a bell somewhere nearby, and the entire scene exploded into chaos. Two rookies ran at the huge blueblood at once, obviously having planned something before. Quella didn't even think. The hunter planted a hand into the first one's face, forcing them back. Then, as the second closed with her, she bent down and scooped up their leg, hauling the hapless recruit wailing into the air like a doll. They felt like they weighed about as much, too.
Quella lifted the flailing troll over her head with a grin, looking at the other that had charged her. She tossed the captured troll at the other and laughed as they both rolled over and over in the dust like a sack of grubmeal. Not wasting any time, the hunter glanced around for anyone else who dared to challenge her.
Sypon This doesn't seem strictly fair |
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Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2018 7:09 pm
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Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2018 7:57 pm
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Quella Fehtan
Oh gog Shield was watching her. Quella flushed as she sidestepped a charging troll, catching the offender's arm and swinging him behind her as she did. He kept going for a good ten paces before he collapsed into the dust. She struck a quick pose as her enemies closed in, firing off a salute. "Yessir!" the blueblood called out, still feeling more than a bit embarrassed. Shield! Was watching! Her!
Theatric. Theatric. What in the world did that even mean. Quella just knew how to scrap, not how to make it look... good or whatever. She guessed that's what they did on the grubtube, though, so it made a certain kind of sense. Another rookie came at her, this one slower and more cautious. He stalked the blueblood just outside her arms reach, circling slowly for an opening.
Quella didn't hesitate, just shifted forward at a blur and caught the sneaky troll by the neck with one huge fist. Their eyes bugged out as Quella squeezed a little bit, but she was careful not to actually hurt him. The hunter tossed him aside into the dust, and squared up to the next challenger. "Come on!" the huge blueblood roared with a grin as the charging trolls slammed into her. There was another impact from behind her as the hunter found herself sandwiched between two opponents.
The blueblood kept her feet just barely, pushing hard against the charging trolls just barely. He tried to get her in a hug, but she managed to shed his arms and caught his torso with both hands. Quella grunted, lifting the large troll completely over her head to flop on top of the one holding her from behind. They landed with a cloud of dust and a peal of manic laughter from the blueblood. She'd always imagined this would be this much fun, but it was even better than she thought! She shot Shield a smile from across the practice field, then immediately flushed. He was a superstar! What in the world did she think she was doing?
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Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2018 11:15 pm
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Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2018 10:34 pm
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Quella Fehtan
Quella was beginning to wonder if she was cheating, using her powers this way. It wasn't like she could turn them on and off, or just not use them, but it didn't seem very... sporting, throwing trolls around like this. Her thoughts quieted as a single assailant rushed her, stamping a quick path through the dust. Quella leaned forward to give him a bear hug when he stepped on her forward knee like a ladder and bicycle kicked her right in the face, landing neatly after the flip.
Quella staggered back a step, loosing her balance for a moment. She lurched back on her heels, surprised by the sudden burst of speed and even more sudden explosion of pain. rocking, she managed to take a step forward and regain her balance. The other troll - a yellowblood - took a step back, eyes uncertain.
Quella smiled.
She wiped a finger under her mouth, which came back blue. Her grin spread as she fell to all fours and lunged, arms sweeping from each side at the gymnastic offender. The yellowblood threw himself upwards in another backflip, completely hurdling the dashing blueblood, but Quella managed to catch a foot as he went up. She jerked backwards and caught the flailing yellowblood in her arms, slamming an arm bar hard into the center of his chest. He went down with a wheeze.
As Quella stood up from her crouch, she looked around the rest of the pit. Looked like pretty much everyone else had wound down, and she was definitely the only one left in the center. She stretched her arms out wide, seeing if anyone left in the chaos was willing to accept her challenge. The hunter could feel hot blood pumping through her. With no clear opposition, she raised her head and let out a long howl.
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Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2018 12:57 am
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Quella Fehtan
Oh. Well, S#(@. Maybe the attention wasn't always such a good thing. Quella stepped back a pace, growling, hackles raised as the scavengers closed in. They moved hesitantly, not a true pack, only united in coincidence. Unsure. She could use that. She bared her fangs in a snarl at the leader, whipping around as the ranks closed. "The first one who tries," the huge blueblood rumbled, hands curling into claws, "I am going to snap in half." She tensed, ready to spring as soon as she saw weakness. Hesitation.
There it was.
The closing lines faltered, just for a moment, as a greenblood glanced to his right to see if everyone was moving in step. Quella was on him before he knew what had happened. She grabbed an arm and swung him into the nearest troll, a blueblood who cried out as she tumbled away from the pile. Quella lifted her prisoner, but the other trolls piled in as she did, crushing her with their weight.
Everything went blank for a bit. She could tell she got a shoulder hard into someone and they fell away, but she lost count of the kicks she took to the chest, the steady pounding away of that yellowblood riding on her shoulders. slowly but surely they bore her to the ground. Then she rolled and tussled as they tried to wrestle her down, a troll for each arm, each leg. Ultimately, it seemed to be working.
Until she took a chomp at an ambitious troll that got too close to her fangs.
As he reeled back, she could feel the weight lessen on an arm, drove it into some ribs. The hunter couldn't even see through the blood in her eyes, but she could feel where her attackers where, could smell their fear. She snapped at a nearby face, then as the startled troll reared back, slammed her head into theirs with a crunch. These trolls had never fought for their lives. They were soft. With a roar, she tossed the last offender from her leg, then reached up for the aggravating yellowblood that crouched on her shoulders. He danced away from her hand, infuriating and efficient. She lurched forward at him and got a foot in her ribs.
Quella coughed into the dust, spitting a dram of blue blood into the pit. The hunter blinked as she tried to clear the dust, sweat, and blood from her eyes, but her opponent wasn't interested in giving her a moment to rest. He dashed in low and hooked at her leg, snapping a foot up into the back of her knee. Quella went down like a load of bricks, rolling as she tried to get away from the skilled fighter. She felt another kick thud into the earth she'd just been lying on as she spun, clawing to clear her vision. Finally, she caught a glimpse of the yellowblood as he came back in.
As he rushed her, she brought up her hand and dashed a fistful of dust right into his face.
He stumbled and went down with a cry, clawing at his face. Quella took a second to clear her own before she bunched a fist into the yellowblood's clothes. She lifted him entirely by the shirt, looked him dead in the face, and broke into a bloody, battered grin. "That was a damn good heel hook." she said, giving the yellowblood a little pat. "But you thought I was gonna play fair. Next time, you need to finish the fight when I was on the ground. And maybe work on your grappling. You're fast, but if I catch you, I'm just gonna take you apart." Then she tossed him aside in a puff of dust.
She looked around. Everyone was on the ground, moaning, or had left the arena some time ago. She limped towards the gladiaterror ranks with open arms. "I can do... another round or two... if you got hiding somewhere," she wheezed, voice sounding a hell of a lot braver than the blueblood actually felt. The hunter felt... beat. Tired. In a way she hadn't since she first got Flydra's injection. It was a good feeling. Felt like improvement. She smiled towards Shield, and managed to croak out a "So whaddaya think?" before her knees bucked and she fell on her spinal crevasse with a bark of laughter and surprise.
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Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2018 1:15 pm
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This blueblood had great presence. She looked the part - and fought the part - of a barbarian. They’d lost a couple of those recently, so she’d fit in great. She certainly had the personality for it, and the eagerness.
At this point, it didn’t really matter how she did - it would just be a fun surprise to see if any of the other recruits managed to eke out a win. Looks like they didn’t, after a while. Ganyma rubbed at the corner of his eye and clapped his hands. What a show.
“And, stop! No need for another round, y’all are done.” He laughed, waving away the other recruits. “We’ll be in touch.”
It was clear to everyone else that ‘being in touch’ meant rejection. But, he cast his gaze down at the beaten (but not broken) Quella and his laugh broke into a guffaw. Ganyma held his hand out for her to take, to pick herself up.
“I think you’ve got some tricks up your sleeve! Are you naturally that strong, and if not, what’s your training regimen?” He joked. It was hard to believe this troll didn’t have enhanced abilities (his instincts were shouting at him), but he could be wrong. “Great job out there. What was your name, again?”
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Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2018 12:39 am
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Quella Fehtan
"I"m, uh, Quella," the blueblood said with a grin as Shield helped her to her feet.
The hunter wiped a drop of blue from her cheek with the back of a hand, making a long smear over her face paint. "Quella Fehtan. I do all my own hunting in the woods, mostly, but, uh..." The blueblood flushed a bit, not really wanting to talk about the experiment. If she wasn't naturally this strong, was it cheating? It kinda felt like it.
"I was part of a, uh... experiment. A bit ago. Not that I wasn't strong or anything before that! It's just there was a bit of an accident, and... well. I guess the ALG just seemed like kind of a natural fit after?"
Quella watched the other recruits file out of the pit, lookstubs rooted firmly on the ground. Hopefully they'd take the beating to heart, come back improved. But did she really deserve the spot either? After all, she was a little different than the rest of them.
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Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2018 10:07 pm
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Ganyma sized her up. With her size, he had no doubt she’d soon outgrow him. Ganyma made up for his height in pure bulk (and, most would say, density). He gave an affirming nod.
And then, Quella said something a bit odd.
“Oh!” He stopped a bit, looking this way and that, puzzled. It was a far cry from his professional enthusiasm, more Ganyma than Shield. “I uh, suppose I was thinkin’ psionics or somethin’, but that’s okay too. Man, what’s the military up to these days?” He chuckled. Ganyma had no idea what to think about that - the idea would have never crossed his mind. In fact, he would have detested it in his youth. Given his experiences with medicine recently, he’d probably refuse at this point as well.
“Different strokes, I s’pose. Glad to have ya.” He gave her a firm slap on the back. No matter how she got here, she was as much of an odd duck as he was. Military experiments and reformed ex-criminals made for the best plotlines, after all.
“Still gonna talk about your workout routine though, since you gotta keep up those gains,” he added with a laugh. “You wanna get cleaned up n’ we can chat?”
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Posted: Sun Oct 07, 2018 9:58 pm
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Quella Fehtan
Quella grinned at the burly fighter, impossible to keep down for long. "Psionics? Nah, man, I'm just good at hitting the other guy. Don't really know any of the science or anything behind it, I'm just like... I dunno, me plus a little more me. If that makes sense." She took an offered towel, cleaning a rainbow of colors from her body. Damn, that had been a good fight.
"Workout? Uh, I don't really have like a set routine, you know? I just... do all my own hunting in four fronds, and I eat a lot." The blueblood wasn't kidding. When she started on a meal, she could easily eat three or four troll's worth of food. Quella chalked it up to her powers taking more energy, but it was really starting to get frustrating, hunting in every spare minute she had. "I mean I go to the gym in Civisect sometimes, but that's mostly for fight club. I'm just kinda... like this naturally." It felt weird to talk about herself like that, so she decided to shift to something a little more natural: fighting.
"Yeah! Anyway! So what should I be expecting from an ALG fight? I know that you guys are focusing on plotlines and stuff now, so how do you keep everyone like... alive and kicking?" The hunter scrunched up her mouth thinking for a second, then her entire face lit up. "Oh my gog! Am I gonna get a plotline?"
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