This is going to hurt. ((Riley Rourke))

Another day at the roman arena. It must have been the twentieth time for him after he arrived. Wearing his fencing suit again to get more comfy with swinging around the different weapon. He might have had fencing lessons when he was still at his foster parents but he was still way out of his league if it came to the other campers. So he made himself train every day. he was noticing the result already. Although he was quite scrawny you could see he was starting to develop more muscles.

He was swinging around a glaive again, and he actually started to become better in fighting with such a weapon. Using both fencing techniques as things he read in books about how the ancient chinese used to swing a Guan Dao around. He was pretty sure what his new weapon was going to be, but still couldn't get over the fact that he wouldn't be using his old trusty rapier anymore after. Still he wondered how Avalon would react when he approached her with such a weapon. he had no doubt that they would make a good team together with her wielding her Naginata. He couldn't stop thinking about what had happened in the arena before though.

He was just about to call it a day. putting the glaive back in the weapon racks he turned around and bumped into somebody. he or she didn't gave way at all and he sort of half fell and half ran into the weapon racks. a bunch of spears falling down on top of him. It didn't exactly hurt but he still felt miserable. Looking up at the person who he bumped into didn't exactly help either. Standing right in front of him with an ashen face was Riley Rourke, The legionnaire from first cohort that he had basically ignored the first time when he was in the roman arena together with Avalon. He quickly got up, rambling a bunch of apologies and swears that he wouldn't do it ever again. But before he could do anything else Riley started walking out of the arena. Quickly following her he grabbed her by the shoulder and turned her around. "Wait! Riley, I'm sorry. I don't know what I was doing last time we met. How can I make it up to you? I'll do anything."

Riley was ready to do some more work out. Now, since her last episode of kicking a dummy head towards another warrior, she mostly spend her time near the Woods, bringing her own dummy to that place. Didn’t took a long time, really. Wasn’t so hard either. All the Roman had to do was pluck one of the dummies from the Roman arena, sneak it while running to the shades of the trees, and ran back before any harpies could even detect her. Riley was almost got caught once; but even the monster mistook her as a man. At that point, it was an advantage for her, to be honest. And if anyone was looking for the poor, poor dummies… Riley usually bashed them when she finished with them, so they would be practically no evidence. Kudos to her toned body, that is.

As for that guy, Ojobi… Yeah, the girl had seen him around Camp. With his blonde hair and scrawny looks, the army brat could defeat him as easy as breaking a toothpick. And she was tempted to do that… several times. Thank goodness Riley remembered her Uncle, and that she had promised him to not stir up any trouble. But somehow, trouble always seemed to find her, not the other way around. Take it when she tried her armor for the first time. Everything was too small, hence she had to ask for a replacement, which took the whole day to procure, making her neglecting her own training. Which, to be honest, was not okay for Riley. She was discipline with her own schedule. First, there was capoiera, something that she should do in the morning of everyday. Weekdays were full of jujitsu and taekwondo, while weekends, which was now: was the time for boxing. And to follow her plans, the spiky girl walked towards the arena for some time punching targets, maybe decapitate their heads or hands.

Now, why didn’t Riley go to the Woods today? Simple. She overslept yesterday, so she forgot to do her usual routine of bringing dummies. How could she overslept if she was so discipline? Darn sword-fighting class, actually. Even though the girl was excellent at bare-hand fighting, her skills were zero when it comes to weapons. She dropped it several times, got cuts here and there (even on her chin; That’s why she got bandage there now…And on her forehead. And another on her shoulder.), and even fell down once. Note for all: Riley never fall. Not on any occasion, ever. Even when she got pushed from another floor, she managed to land on her feet. That’s how flexible her body was. But plus weapon, she was practically useless.

So, back to when she walked towards the Arena, Riley cracked her neck and continue to bandage her palms, since she won’t be using any brass knuckles today. She kept them only for special occasion or when she knew she would feel threatened; something that she felt rarely inside Camp. But when she did walked inside the place, Riley bumped to someone. Someone that she wanted to meet the least.

Glaring at Ojobi for a split second, the unclaimed Roman immediately turned around and walk out. But then he rambled many apologies, which made Riley did the most childish thing ever. She cupped her hand on both of her ears and yelled. “I’m not listening, I’m not listening!” Then she started singing the Spiderman Song. Yes, Riley was fond of that movie after all. However, Ojobi quickly grabbed her by the shoulder, causing the girl to abruptly turned around and gritted her teeth. “Don’t touch me without permission.” She hissed. But her face softened after a while. So Ojobi really did want to apologize. Fine. Then she shall do it the hard way. “You want to say sorry? Fine. But let’s do it my way.” Riley smirked and tugged her tank-top before spreading her hands while shrugging, looking all innocent even though her mind was a bit dark. “Be my sparring partner. All hands, no weapons. What do you say?”

As he turned Riley around he was surprised at her reaction. He sort of figured he would get a slap in the face, or rather a punch in the stomach. But this didn't happen. Instead she had a look of pure cunning on her face and he thought about what he had gotten himself into this time.

“Be my sparring partner. All hands, no weapons. What do you say?”
He swallowed, thinking about her proposal with a face that probably betrayed his reluctance. He knew how she could fight, and that he was heavily outmatched against her. Even though he had gotten tougher since he arrived at camp. He figured that he probably had nothing to lose, other than his spleens. And she wouldn't beat him straight to the infirmary right?.......Right?

He sighed. "Alright, let's do this. I'm a man of my word." His rapier still lay on the bench together with his bag. He just had to remove his half-cloak pauldron and his gloves. which he put on the bench together with his other stuff. Then when he though he was ready he approached Riley again. "So, I guess you're more familiar with this then me. I'll be your punching bag." With that said he sort of got ready for a beating.

Riley Rourke widened her eyes in disbelief when Ojobi agreed with it. Now how on earth could he even think of that? The girl did need a partner, but for this guy to just simply say yes… Didn’t he know what would come if he was in a bare-fight with her? He would get pounded to bits. Even if his protection armor still attached. “Whoa. You sure you want to take them all off?” She asked, referring to the things Ojobi basically spread on the floor: his gloves, his metal cloak and whatnot… everything. But when he did the pose for fighting, Riley’s face turned devilish. “Very well. You are on your own then.”

But before she started, the unclaimed Roman examined Ojobi’s posture. If he was willing to get beaten up to smithereens, the least he could do was defend himself properly. Tugging her rubber that was wrapping her palms yet again, she put her hands on the hips. “No, this would not-“ Then she softly kicked the back of his knee, not hard enough but just so he could bend them a tad bit lower. “-do. Now, that’s better.” Then she motioned him to follow her moves, which was moving her fists in front of her face. “And do this, so you would be ready for future attacks that might happen. And keep moving.” Riley told him, referring to her legs, that were kind of dancing now. “Like floating on air.”

When she thought everything was ready, she nodded firmly. “Good. Now we’re going to do a basic wrestle. For anyone to be the winner, he or she had to lock his or her opponent until they give up.” Then Riley tapped the ground as an example. “Like that. If you think you can’t handle it, tapped like that and I would stop the lock. The human lock, that is.” After that, she snickered and pose for battle. “Now get ready.” And with that, she waited for his blow.

He grinned as he saw Riley's reaction, she probably didn't see it coming. He had no choice though. He would have to make up what he had done, and what other way then a friendly one on one would help? As he took off his excess armor he heard Riley's question. "Yes I Would. It would only get in the way anyway."

As he got himself set up he saw how Riley examined his pose. She had a look of total disapproval so he figured he didn't get it right. It surprised him that Riley came up behind him to correct him though and he had a sort of; 'What the hell--' moment when she gave him a nudge in the leg to shift his position. He followed her moves as she displayed what he should be doing to defend himself in a fight, and it made sense to him, luckily. He nodded as she told him to keep moving, and tried out the moves himself.

As Riley stepped back and nodded he listened to the rules. "Wrestling? Oh gods, Alright then." He dreaded how that lock was going to turn out for him, probably him getting choked to death but he figured Riley wouldn't let it come to that. "Alright, got it. I know we got off on the wrong foot but try to keep me in one piece will ya?" He said grinning. He shifted his position, using the stance that Riley showed him earlier as Riley did the same. He just glanced around real quick to see who else was in the arena. Some people, this will be fun.

He waited a bit to see what Riley would do but as he suspected she would wait for him to start. He quickly tried to make a sideways blow to her head, that, when she dodged it, ended up hitting air. Before he could do anything else he got jabbed in the ribs and he staggered back coughing. 'remember to dodge, idiot.' He thought to himself, and brought up his arms again to defend himself as Riley countered with a punch. He blocked it with both arms, and it hurt, a lot. Just as she was done with that attack he broke off to the side and made another sideways blow on the other side, he saw how Riley tried to block it with her arm and quickly made an adjustment. It ended up hitting her for way less force then he anticipated in her side, probably cause of her trying to block it. He had his other arm still up but Riley quickly came up to him and punched him in the chest that made him stagger backwards. His gambesone was doing it's job for now. Grunting a bit he came back in his stance and waited for her next move.

((I let Ojobi god mod me, just like I godmod him a little. Just so mods and admins won’t get confused. ^^))

When Ojobi suddenly jabbed, Riley immediately dodged out. Psh, such a rookie, he thought. Then she suddenly threw a punch as a reply, which surprisingly, hit his hands. Ojobi’s arms had strong muscles, but it was not trained for free-weapon fighting, to be honest. It lacked tone and firmness, unlike Riley’s. Her body was so muscular, he could easily be mistaken as a boy, not to mention that she had a temper. But now, the girl should concentrate on the task at hand: beating this poor boy until he can’t feel his legs. Or arms. Or his entire body, for that matter.

“Think of it as an MMA fight, okay?” She started talking, trying to explain the situation a little bit more. “There’s three stages at that. First-“ Riley quickly hit Ojobi’s chest, causing him to stagger away. Smirking, she taunted him to move closer afterwards. “-is strike.” She murmured, referring of what she did earlier. “I could strike with feet too, but… I don’t think you can handle it.” The girl chuckled while keeping her eyes on him. Then she decided to move on. “The second stage is take down.” Then she suddenly grabbed Ojobi’s slim body, pushing it to the ground. “This way-“ She grunted a little, trying to handle his squirming torso. “-you could pin your enemies down before the stage three.” Then Riley freed him, smirking faintly afterwards. “As for the last stage...” She mentioned, but started dancing on the floor again while holding up her fists. “…I think I’ll save that for later.”

She restrained a bit afterwards, but keep on taunting. One jab near his ear (which he should dodge since it was so easy), and another jab near his stomach. Riley even hit his face once, causing the boy to feel woozy for a few second. Stifling a laugh, she saw an opening and took it. Grabbing Ojobi once again, he pinned him down, locking his head with her hands, loose enough for him to break free. “Got enough, soldier?”

As he got back in his position after the staggering punch he got distracted as she explained how the fight was going to work out. He wondered how he was still standing, Riley was obviously taking it easy on him and he didn't know what to think of it. One way he was glad, the other not so much as he felt quite weak. She explained that she could use her feet too, but he was glad she didn't. He'd rather want to use his kneecaps a little longer. Besides, he hadn't made any moves with his feet either.

As she mentioned what the second stage was he got a big surprise as she handled him down to the ground, he tried to resist but there was no way that he was going to free himself from such a straightforward bear hug. She suddenly let go though and smirked. He himself staggered back to his feet and back to his position, he hadn't expected that last move at all. Riley was already back in her stance explaining that she wouldn't end it just yet. Ojobi nodded, but he guessed it wouldn't take long.

His suit had already shifted a bit and one of his sleeves was folded up a bit too high and one of the buttons had come loose on his chest, leaving his gambesone a bit too open. He just hoped his scar wasn't visible.

He continued where they had picked up and tried to make some hits again, every one of them missed and instead he nearly got hit in the side of the head. After trying to block another hit he didn't pay enough attention to the other fist that smacked into his guts, sending a nauseating feeling trough his body. Recovering from that partly, he made one bold strike but ended up catching a fist in the face. Sending him staggering back with starts in his eyes. He didn't even hear Riley laughing as she took the moment to grab him again and making an armlock. He made a mufled cry as she asked him if he had enough but he felt that she was holding back though. So he took the moment to turn his body around and grab both hands in an attempt to throw her over his shoulder. It had no use though as she quickly made him spin in place, sending him off again. "Jeez, you're good. Or I'm just bad, probably both." He made a smile as he got ready for a beating again. "But I'm not done yet."

This time he charged, one fist forward, making Riley think he was going to punch but instead turning at the last moment and giving her a bear hug of his own making. He felt Riley punching his sides but he kept going. Letting her fall on her back. He quickly tried to make an armlock on her but ending up catching another fist in the face. This time he fell to the ground. His left eye a wash of stars as he tried to get up again. He felt like calling it a day but thought about Riley, and figured he could just go on for a bit longer.

Riley gave a devilish chuckle when Ojobi successfully threw her away as they stood up again. “And you are not so bad yourself." But to be honest, the girl hadn’t shown all of her secrets. For Olympus’ sake, she was one of the most notorious fighter at school, academically speaking. Her PE marks were always the highest. Sadly Gordon can’t say the same about the other marks. The spiky girl never care much about other subjects except the one that had physical contacts in it; maybe that’s how she remembered things instead of just reading them. And maybe that’s why she was so good at martial arts. However, Riley was not dumb; she got enough mark to pass into a military school. The place where she went for studying right now; that is, until a Cyclop decided to ruin everything by showing up and try to murder her.

Sadly, this memory interfered with Riley’s concentration in the present, causing Ojobi to get the chance. He immediately threw a fake punch only to bring her to the ground, slamming her toned body to the hard concrete of the arena floor. Riley growled in return, breathing heavily but snickered afterwards. He needed more muscle on the arm if he wanted to stunned the spiky girl. So when he tried to attack, Riley quickly threw a left jab, which was her active hand. That should make Ojobi quite dizzy. Chuckling, she crossed his arms while standing a bit further from the boy, giving away a crooked smile.

“You’re not bad. In fact, you have potential.” She admitted, tilting her chin up afterwards. “I could make you better on hand-on-hand fighting, really. But already on the ground now? Come on.” The girl mocked him, taunting him with her index finger. “You can do better than that. I ask for a sparring partner. Not someone who quit easily.” Then she softly pressed her boots on Ojobi things, only to tease him. Sometimes people need motivation to do what they suppose to do. Riley could only hope this one would do the deed. Then Riley tilted her head softly, smirking at Ojobi to see what happens next.

He staggered on his feet, he wasn't built for something like this. The latest punch really shook him up, he could barely hear Riley as she said something with; Not so bad.... and; Potential.... His vision cleared as he saw her tilt her head and speak. "Riley, I'm surprised that I didn't get knocked out yet, let alone get on the floor. So if you feel like I have potential, I'd be glad to have you as my trainer." He managed a weak smile as he stood up straight, still a bit dazed. He was beginning to like Riley, even if they had started off on the wrong foot.

As Riley urged him to continue he got back in his stance, even though he stood a bit more crooked as usual. His whole body was on fire. "Okay, first stage again." Directly after finishing his sentence he came at Riley with a flurry of punches. Some missed, some she blocked. But it served purpose, he was able to drive her back before she was able to counter. He began to see things like how fencing worked. Blocking, counters and parry's. He was just able to duck away from Riley's counters and tried to get in her guard. But with Riley being more experienced she was able to hold her ground. She punched again, and after blocking with his wrist he let his arm slide along Riley's wrist and come into her guard, his fist going directly towards Riley's face.

Sadly for him though, before it connected Riley had taken hold of his wrist with her other hand. He was right in the open for a shoulder-throw.
((Meh.... Muse let me down.))

Riley should have seen it coming. Taking a lot of punches from Ojobi, she stood firmly on the ground, knew that she turned on a switch inside him somewhere. Either its anger or determination, it was hard to guess. But it kept him going, so Riley got no regrets. She kept her hands upwards, protecting her already bruised face. The bandages shifted a little, causing her to wince out of hurt. But Riley was not a quitter. And she never will be. Now, Ojobi needed to know that.

Ojobi’s moves suddenly became more predictable; like a rhythm. Maybe because he liked to fence? Sadly, it won’t really work on hand-to-hand combat. Riley usually quite surprising at this; and now she won’t hold back. The girl threw some punch, trying to get the boy off-guard big time. When she saw an opening, she immediately took it and threw the boy, a little bit too far from herself. She could only hope Ojobi didn’t suffer any kind of internal injuries after this.

Now, did she ever hurt people while wrestling before? Many times. Broken ribs, broken arms, even broken nose. But no pain, no gain. That’s her motto, and that’s how her uncle taught it. But Ojobi seemed so… fragile. Even for a boy’s standard. Hurting him might send guilt on her mind. That’s why she decided to finish it quickly. Pacing towards him before he could stand up, Riley placed her legs between his head, going in for a scissors choke. She pressed his head firmly, but not hard enough to cause a concussion. “Had enough?” She chuckled, grunting to maintain her body strength. “If you do feel that way, tap away.”

Just as he suspected, Riley made him regret his moment of personal triumph. Showing that even if you think you're right. You could be wrong. He flew trough the air over Riley's shoulder and hit the ground hard. His vision swam again, this time he wouldn't get up so easy. He managed to cushion his fall a bit with his legs but even though it helped prevent a broken back, it still sprained his ankles.

Trying to come up again was a bad idea. A trickle of blood ran from the corner of his mouth, probably because he had bit the inside of his cheek as he came down. Not to mention his legs burned like hell. "*cough* Y-yeah... I should have se--" Before he could talk any further Riley had made a headlock on him with her legs, choking the life out of him. “Had enough? If you do feel that way, tap away.” He squirmed as he tried to form words, but she basically made that impossible. His face started to turn purple as he frantically tapped the ground. Inhaling loudly as Riley released him.

"Gods that felt awful." His face already started to get a more healthier color, but he was still catching his breath. He shook his head as he lied down for a bit, his hands on his face. As he lifted himself up again he noticed the blood on his cheek and wiped it away. He tried to get to his feet again but found his legs protesting. "Riley, tell me. Where did you learn all this?" It took a while, but with Riley's help he managed to get on his feet. "I seriously need to get better at unarmed combat." He sighed, wondering what else was in store for him this day.

Riley laughed whole-heartedly, finally releasing her lock so Ojobi could stand up. It was satisfying, to be honest. It had been a while since she had a sparring partner, mostly because everybody else gave up after the first time. “Where?” She repeated, putting her hands on her hips while rising her eyebrows. “From my uncle.” He said, smiling genuinely afterwards. Gordon Rourke was Riley’s first teacher in everything; at first he only taught the young girl boxing at a very early age: when she was merely 10 years old. Then he gradually showed Riley how to do other kinds of martial arts, but the spiky girl much prefer the three kinds she invested the most: Capoeira, TaeKwonDo, and Jujitsu. Mostly involved defense rather than offense; trying to put the enemy’s weight to attack themselves. So for the pure offense, Riley rather do boxing in the weekends. That was much of a hobby rather than a training, though.

“He’s a good sergeant back then.” Riley started, suddenly sitting on the floor, motioning Ojobi to do the same. “And the only family I have.” She shrugged, crackling her knuckles yet again. She never really made small talk before, but after pounding this guy to bits (and not running away afterwards), he deserved some good explanation to his question. “He couldn’t really raise a, you know, normal teenage girl. So he raised my as a boy. At least, I think so.” Then she chuckled, remembering how he tried to explain about menstruation and all. Riley had to tell him she already got that kind of stuff in school. Her uncle sighed in satisfaction afterwards, since he couldn’t really explain it. At all. “But I love him.”

Then a curiosity sparked inside her. Riley never really talked about her past before, not to anyone else. Could this be her first attempt of making friends? But since there’s no harm in trying, she pushed through. “How about you? Any families?” She said, trying to be as casual as possible.

He set himself down opposite to Riley. Rubbing his throat. He couldn't believe how much pain her last move had inflicted. He still felt like he was choking. He nodded as Riley explained about her uncle. "He sounds like a good man. Most trainers I have met are cruel." He got lost in thoughts again, thinking about the kids he grew up with and the fencing that they where training as a sport. Their teachers where money-hungry idiots. The only thing they could do was nod, even if they did something wrong. He hated that sport....

Riley startled him as she asked if he had any family. His mood became sombre as he thought back about his time with his foster family. "No, I don't." It was the only thing he could manage to say. His head dropped to his knees, he didn't want to go trough all the thoughts about his past again. Telling Galen felt good but now, each time he told someone, it felt as if he was asking for sympathy. And he didn't want that at all, he just wanted a family of his own. A real family.

After a moment of painful silence he brightened up. Clearing the memory's from his head. "I'm sorry. It's just that I didn't have such a good past, and not being able to share it with siblings, well, you might be able to understand how that feels."

((Sorry for the shortness.))

The unclaimed moistened her lips, aware that she might hit a soft spot in Ojobi’s past, his life. Not that Riley planned to, though. The whispers on Roman Camp indicated that most children, either it’s legacy or pure descendant, had that kind of problem with their own family, whether it was real or foster care. Riley was almost a foster kids once, when Gordon was away and she was left only with a babysitter. But soon she was appointed to a dorm, and stayed there ever since, almost all of her life. She enjoyed the loneliness though; that meant she could do anything she wanted, anytime she wanted it to happen. Not that she used it fully or to socialize… otherwise she would’ve been popular by now.

“No matter.” Riley answered, tilting her chin up as she smiled rather genuinely this time. She could be empathic every once in a while, and she felt it now towards the boy. For goodness’ sake, the boyish girl just pound it for a simple mistake that he made a few days ago. It was no big, and although Riley took it personally, she admitted that she was being a drama queen. But that it who she was; someone with a lot of emotions, with no outlet to push them through except with martial arts. And that was not the best outlet there was. “I don’t have any siblings either.” She shrugged, cracking her neck before speaking again. “But I believe they could be a pain sometimes. At least, that’s what I’ve heard.”

Then something intrigued Riley more; when did Ojobi arrive? What was his past? It was new for her to have a friend, so her curiosity was bulging over, stuffed inside her head. She could only hope the other would not be afraid as she squinted her eyes and leaned closer. But she quickly realized that it was not polite. “Sorry. I’m just curious. Do you have any jobs in the past? You seems, you know… old enough.”

He laughed as Riley talked about sibling behavior, remembering how much of a pest the other kids in his foster family had been to each other. It was probably the only good thing he had seen there, the way how they squabbled with each other. "Yeah, they can indeed. The foster family that I was in had some pretty annoying kids. Not that they where my siblings though. But it was pretty funny to see them take it out on each other." There was a smile on his face, Riley had managed to bring some good memories of his past up, and he appreciated that.

He could see that Riley was becoming more interested in his past, the way she leaned closer. He didn't mind at all. As she asked about if he had a job before he came to camp, he grinned. Now he had something to surprise her with. "Well, once I ran away from my foster family, I had to survive on my own. So I fled to Amsterdam with a bit of money and managed to get an apartment plus a job as security guard on the dutch airport of Schiphol. That's where I saw my first monster." The memories came flooding back to him, thinking about the monsters face again made him want to reach towards his blade, but he didn't have it on him of course, so that was useless. "It was a cyclops concealed in the crowd. If it wasn't for Lúthien, who just happened to be there, I would have been dead." It had been some days before when he had talked to Lúthien about it. Now, he could just think back and smile about everything that had happened. He wasn't dead, and he didn't plan to die soon either.

"What about you? How did you end up here? If you don't mind me asking. It sounds like you really liked it with your uncle." He found it only fair to ask her a similar question, but feared for Riley's reaction. He knew a lot of kids here had a troubled past, it would only be normal if Riley had one too. but nevertheless, he knew how painful it could be to talk about it.

((sorry I haven't been around. Hope this makes things up for my absence. >.<))

Riley smirked faintly when Ojobi seemed relaxed as he laughed about siblings. At least the tension between them was gone completely. Usually people were afraid after they figure out they won’t win at all against the spiky girl. But not Ojobi, which she felt grateful for. Her shoulder slumped down as he put her right hand on her chin, smiling as he continued his story. Maybe this is what friends usually do? Listening carefully while nodding every once in a while? Because that’s what Riley felt like doing right now. And she did just that, furrowing her eyebrows as well.

But her smile fainted when Ojobi mentioned he had to run away from home. Even though Riley could be considered a rebel, the boyish girl never got into trouble with her family. Sure, she only have Gordon as a family, and he never told her anything about her parents, but still. However, her uncle did tell him he almost lost her to a the government, something about him not being able to treat her right since he was quite busy in the army. Thankfully Gordon was able to put Riley in a boarding school immediately, so she would stay in a dorm rather than an empty house. It was a battle, or so he said… Riley didn’t remember anything about it.

“Good for you, getting a job.” She replied after she snapped out of her trance, nodding thoughtfully at Ojobi. Riley had tried several jobs, but apparently her path was too destructive. The only job she could get was at a construction site since she was so good with hauling heavy things rather than type or serving people, but Gordon said he could still pay for her tuition, so she quit after a few weeks. Still listening to Ojobi, Riley frowned when he said something about Cyclops. “Actually, that’s how I come here too. Cyclops, I mean.” Then she made herself comfortable, because this would be one long story.

“I know he is concealing himself by posing as a student in my school. But I didn’t know he would dare to attack me at our school’s free time. You know, when you can roam free from the dorms and get some real good time.” Not that Riley used any of it, of course. She just like the walk, sometimes the run if she felt like working out again. “Then he came after me with full uniform, which is really weird, seeing it is Sunday and there’s no class. We do have curfew, but no class. And he started growling and such, say my meat would be delicious, yada-yada. Then I use this-“ She plucked her uncle’s army knife and unsheathed them briefly before putting it back again. “And killed the stinker. Sadly, a detective saw me and boy, did he have an eye for things. I think he is one of those guys who can see past the magic barrier, you know.” Riley shrugged nonchalantly, then continued. “Anyway, he caught me for questioning and the next thing you know… Well, I got carried away.” The girl vaguely remember she almost flipped the table over since she was so frustrated at the interrogation room. “Point is, my uncle came for me but I made a vow to make him believe that what I say was not just gibberish. When I arrived at my uncle’s home in Conneticut, Lupa came with several of her wolves and explained everything to me. I agree to come with her, in exchange for one thing. She and the wolves would come with me to visit that all-see detective.” She grinned triumphantly afterwards. “I eventually made him believe, and his face was priceless. Guess I just want to make my point.”

Then Riley realized something; she just told everything to Ojobi. Her face redden immediately, but not because she was intimidated. The girl just couldn’t believe she just do that; it seemed peculiar but right. Her blush dissipated quickly as she sighed. “I think I just lay down my E! True Hollywood Story.” She murmured, rubbing her head as she bite her lips in uncertainty. What would Ojobi say about this? “Sorry if I bore you.” She mumbled again as a negative anticipation.

He smiled and inclined his head as Riley complimented him on the job. "Thank you, although it might not have been such a good choice at the time. I think I learned from it." He finished, frowning a little as Riley continued about the cyclops. He listened intently as she explained how it had been stalking her, up to the point when she pulled out the dagger. He frowned, not interrupting Riley, but still surprised. What age was she when that happened? Killing a cyclops like that must have been quite a feat, but after the spar he had with her, he wouldn't have been quite as surprised if she had told him she had strangled the bugger. And then the guy that saw what happened. He never met anyone that could do that, although he suspected that his foster father had known more about him than he gave out. Could he have been the same as the detective that Riley had met? He could only guess about it. He didn't think he would ever go back to that place, too much bad memories. His attention snapped back though as Riley continued with Lupa appearing, and a smile creased his lips as she explained what she had told the wolf to do. He could only imagine what his face would have been like. Priceless, at the very least.

The thought made him chuckle a bit, but as he looked up at Riley again, that smile quickly faded. She looked embarrassed. "Wha- What's wrong?" Her answer to that made him chuckle again. "Don't worry about it Riley. I'm quite intrigued actually. Doesn't it feel good to have it off your chest? Did you ever get to tell it to someone else? I guess you can compare it to my talk with Galen." Only this time, he didn’t talk about his scar. That was the only thing he really didn’t want to get reminded of right now. It wasn’t like he didn’t trust riley. He just didn’t want to show it as a weakness. If he was going to get over it, he would need to see it as something casual. Everyone here had scars right? ‘Yes, everyone has scars. But every scar has a history.’ He reminded himself. Gods, why couldn’t this be easier? Why did that man had to do this to him? And not some cyclops or something? That would have been way easier to get used to. He shook the conflicting thoughts from his head. He wasn’t going to ruin the moment, not when Riley finally seemed to relax a bit. He stood up, giving his body a little stretch, rubbing his neck as he cracked it around. “Well then, shall we get something to drink? Wrestling made me thirsty.” He said, nudging in the direction of the exit. “We can talk further in the mess hall if you want.”

Does it feel good? To be honest, Riley had no idea. It was strange, what she felt just now. Was it relief or reluctance? She couldn’t really choose. Scratching her head, the army brat crossed her arms in front of her chest and shrugged. “I guess so. Relieving. Though I never told anyone about this before. The monsters, I mean. Well, except my uncle.” She looked elsewhere for a moment, remembering Gordon’s kind face every time she went back home. “It feels weird, okay? I don’t do this closure stuff. But I think it’s for the better. If I want to socialize, I should do things like this.” She shrugged afterwards, brushing her spiky hair before looking at Ojobi again. When she caught someone’s name, she frowned. “And who is Galen? Roman or Greek?” But she didn’t seek an answer right away; it’s up to the other for answering, not Riley.

“Drink would be nice.” Riley answered back at Ojobi’s question, smirking crookedly afterwards. Mess hall was not too far away, and even though she wasn’t thristy, maybe she could learn more about Ojobi by talking. For the first time in her life, Riley might finish a conversation without an actual fight. “Is this your first time wrestling? If it is, you packed up quite a punch.”

((Rubbish. Sorry.))