Like with the grocery store, the clothing shop had offered to deliver her purchases as well. Now Jaid was wondering if the Fiends For Hire had managed to come to some sort of arrangement with the town before the influx of members. If that were the case, it’d be a far cry to the original situation when they first moved back here. There’d been several articles published about how the township shutdown and hid in terror the first time they saw the Drazahs alive. She guessed people could get used to anything, even cooperating with the memories of their oppressors.
“Jaid from a house no one’s ever heard of, I challenge you to a duel!” She was hit with that declaration the moment she’d crossed the threshold back into the compound. A glove had almost hit her too. Well, ‘almost’ meant it made it about halfway over to her before it lost its momentum and fluttered sadly to the ground.
“I, Gatrim of the noble house of Foilepe, will not suffer such indignity! You dare spit in the face of our tradition with your pale imitation?! We shall settle which is superior once and for all!” Jaid had no idea what she’d done to offend him, but could tell he was serious about this. He was fully dressed in his pure white and gold combat outfit that begged for attention. His rapier was at the ready, and he was already in his fighting stance, which she had to admit was impeccable.
Still, this was absurd, but for whatever reason, she found her body aching in anticipation. Maybe it was her natural reflexes, always on edge, or just wanting to blow off the stress of the day. Her head was telling her how stupid this was, but her form was already subconsciously shifting, preparing for a fight. Maybe it was adrenaline, or maybe she just wanted to put this obnoxious boy in his place.
“Hold it right there!” Thankfully, it seemed someone with sense was going to interject. It snapped Jaid out of her unruly trance, letting her refocus on how idiotic a spar would be. She didn’t know the rules of member in-fights, but imagined it was frowned upon without good reason. Getting in trouble on her first day would put unwelcome attention on her.
Jaid looked over at who had stopped them and found a surprisingly familiar face: Chorus Mistrion. Even though Jaid had been raised in a fairly sheltered upbringing, she had seen the actor in multiple movies. They had an unmistakable face despite their new orange hair. She had almost thought her leg was being pulled when she saw them on the member list, but now there was no denying it.
“This fight absolutely can not happen!” Chorus stressed as they came closer. “You can’t just challenge someone unprepared and off guard, Gatrim. You’d think a noble would know that.” Jaid was almost a little starstruck with someone like Chorus coming to her aide, but it didn’t last.
“She’s clearly not ready for a fight. No, this won’t do for a grand debut!” Jaid had gone from appreciative to even more confused in seconds.
“If you’re worried about her getting hurt, then don’t be!” Gatrim insisted. “For you see, I have attached this rubber stopper thingy to the end of my rapier. There shall be no penetration today!” He then wiggled the tip of his rapier a bit to make the stopper more noticeable.
“No, just look at how she’s dressed,” Chorus refuted. “No one wants to see a Fiend fight in civilian clothing! Your outfits are your signature. You need to be recognizable from your neck to your toes. How else will we exploit your brand?! Now run along, dear, and get changed. We’ll wait.”
“No, we won’t!” In defiance, Gatrim readied his rapier again, clearly about to strike. “If we don’t settle this now, she’ll just run away in fear!”
“Cut!” Chorus yelled, catching Gatrim off guard just long enough for them to throw their briefcase in his direction. It opened up, swallowing Gatrim’s rapier whole before vanishing again. “You can have it back when we’re ready to start.”
Entirely ignoring Gatrim’s full breakdown from losing his rapier, Jaid mentioned “Umm, I don’t actually have a combat outfit yet. I could get my sword, though, I guess.” She really wanted to object entirely and say that she was leaving, but for whatever reason, she’d gotten caught in the flow again.
“No, no, no! How can I work with such unprepared stars?! I’m starting to understand how all my directors felt,” Chorus sighed deeply as they strolled over to Jaid. Their hands glided all along her body, never touching, but coming very close. “You’re in luck. It seems I have something that will suit you perfectly. You can keep it too. A present from me for being my first muse.”
Darkness enveloped Jaid for just a moment, basically a blink. She had flinched reflexively, and now saw fingerless gloves on her hands. She followed them down and saw that the clothing on her arms had changed. Her sleeves were now skin tight and a blue that matched her eyes. From what she could see of the rest of the outfit, it went along the same vein.
After a bit longer to study it further, she found the entire attire similar to what a ninja or a rogue would wear in a film. It even had two thin ribbon scarfs dangling off the back of her neck. It wasn’t something she’d normally wear, going completely against the way she normally presented herself. But maybe that was for the best. Since this was a new life, this could play into a new persona and make it easier for her to disassociate. She really was just an actor in a grand performance, after all.
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“I know this is quite a bit smaller than what you’re used to, but it’s all you should need to make this prideful boy understand his position, right?” Chorus whispered into her ear, referring to the accompanying shortsword attached to her hip. Jaid pulled it out, as if she was entranced. It really was an extremely light weapon she’d prefer not to use, but it would suffice.
Going with the flow had somehow turned into full blown excitement, her body once more itching for a fight. Maybe it was the new outfit, maybe it was overcoming another obstacle, but this just felt right to her. “Alright, Gatrim, I accept your duel.”
“Splendid!” A cheer came from Chorus as they slid away. As if from nowhere, four drones were suddenly buzzing behind Chorus’ back. They flew off in all directions, positioning themselves to get the best camera angle. Chorus spawned their briefcase which spat out Gatrim’s rapier. They threw it back at Gatrim, and impressively, he caught it and spun back into his fighting stance with one fluid motion.
Jaid’s body matched his, reciprocating the flourish and stance performed when one was preparing for an honorable duel. Oh zjik! Only then had she realized what she’d done. That movement was a time honored tradition for nobility. They all knew it, but she shouldn’t. It was a custom no random mercenary should ever be aware of, let alone execute it perfectly, as she had thousands of times.
“Aha! It seems you have some understanding of culture and respect after all! That will make it all the more satisfying when I show you my superiority.” It seemed this display hadn’t clued in Gatrim and excited him even more. Chorus was only smirking as they had been, not showing if they’d caught onto the subtlety.
Jaid’s head was now ruminating endlessly with potential lies to justify why she knew the stance. Maybe something along the lines of her mercenary group being guests at a noble tournament? Her musings nearly cost her, and she barely deflected the lightning fast strike that had been aimed directly at the center of her chest. That was when it all started coming back to her.
Jaid used her Curse to shift away and create some distance. Really, she just needed a moment to process all the memories that were flooding to her. The warriors of the house Foilepe; it had sounded familiar, but now she remembered why. She had met three of the Foilepe sisters before.
One was enlisted in the Central Peace private army along with her, though they didn’t interact much. Another was a private bodyguard to a Representative. She’d watched the third fight in a tournament several years ago. All of them had been exceedingly prideful, especially when it came to their house's signature move.
Gatrim’s fury made so much sense to her now. Perhaps subconsciously, her own moves were inspired by watching the Foilepes. It really was an imitation, one she had tried to learn herself when she was younger but never succeeded. Now that she could use her Curse to cheat, she must have been inspired once more.
Still, just because her version may be a copy, it was still hers. She wasn’t going to let Gatrim win just because his pride demanded it. Jaid firmed her grip on the sword and waited. The moment she saw him twitch to move, she copied him. The pair was now suddenly inches apart, colliding in the middle of the open space. Their weapons clashed together like two powerful magnets, sparks flying in every direction.
Unfortunately, Gatrim had the disadvantage in this regard. Rapiers weren’t meant for this kind of grappling with other weapons, and Jaid managed to flick it upwards with her sword. Throwing away her own sense of honor, she made a clone to close what little distance remained between the two and punched Gatrim right in the gut. She was appalled at herself for doing it, but it was something an underhanded mercenary, something The Warrior, Jaid Sparka, would do.
“Have you no shame?!” Gatrim coughed, keeled over on the ground.
“Oh, is it over already? You can hardly even call that a tease,” Chorus seemed disappointed, yet still kept filming.
“No! It’s not over!” Gatrim struggled to get to his feet, almost redoubling in pain. He had to use his rapier to steady himself to stand. Jaid really didn’t feel like she’d hit him that hard. Either she didn’t know her own strength, Gatrim was much less durable than expected, or he was playing it up for sympathy.
She leaned towards the latter once he managed to fully stand upright. He struck his duelist pose again perfectly, and gallantly flipped his long golden hair behind him, flashing a radiant grin to the camera. Clearly, he thought he was the hero in all this, and she was merely the rabble for him to overcome.
Jaid readied her own sword in preparation for the next exchange of blows, but they never got the chance. Seconds later, there was a large shadow on the ground and a symphony of honks coming from above. A monster truck was falling, no, plummeting right at them. It would be a tight escape, but Jaid was preparing her clones to dodge out of the way. There was no time to check on Gatrim, so she just had to pray that he noticed and could dodge in time too.
The crash never came as a streak of red blew by Jaid’s face. Xard had appeared in the knick of time to catch the truck before a crater was made. He dispersed the energy around him and then unceremoniously dropped the truck with a thud.
Itsy stumbled out of the driver’s seat, a doofy smile on her face, laughing the entire time. “Sorry ‘bout that.” She was clearly not sorry. “My hands are too strong. Broke the controls for the hover bits. Eyy engineer. We gotta make those knobs stronger so I don’t crush ‘em!”
The passenger door of the truck finally opened, and Nathym flopped out of it, now crawling on the ground. “Yes, yes we do.” He huffed, clearly agitated yet ecstatic to be alive.
Xard looked around to the crowd, making sure everyone was alright. After checking thoroughly, he announced, “Alright everyone, take some time to wind down after that, but if you don’t hurry up, you’ll be late for the Welcome Party.”
Jaid checked her phone. It really was cutting it close. She had time to go back to her room and change without having to run, but not much else. What seemed like endless time this afternoon had been over in what felt like minutes. This really was a crazy place. As she walked away, she overheard Chorus in the background. “Couldn’t help stealing the spotlight, my blasting comet? Well it doesn’t matter, because that was pure beauty.”