The Price of Feathers

S.O.S and sore thighs

Raven was all but limping when she returned to the main hall. She was carrying the pain from her impromptu ballet lesson, which did not agree with her usually tense frame. All the same, she couldn't afford to show undue weakness. After seeing the tense exchange between Amara and Leech, she knew that her roommate was heavily invested in her wellbeing and how she was adapting to the training regime as a whole she did not want to spit in the face of all their effort so far. She was usually one to skate under the radar but not here. She was the weak link in an otherwise flawless machine, albeit one that didn't feel too confident about their chances at victory, but a machine, nonetheless.

She did not want to be the reason that the team failed. This wasn't some reality show with challenges that amounted to nothing or some meaningless. This was a game that cost the losers their life.

In the midst of her thoughts, she nearly knocked Aphrodite over.

"What where you're going, sexy? Well, unless that was your way of touching with me... now that you don't need to shy about at all," the brown-eyed girl purred. Raven rolled her eyes at her nonstop sexual advances. She was getting used to them, and it actually made her laugh sometimes. There was something about the way that the taller girl conducted herself that made her feel like it was all just a ruse and nothing more. Her body was Sage's, and Aphrodite knew that. All the same, there was no need to tempt the beast.

"Sorry, Aphrodite. I shoulda looked where I was walking," Raven laughed half-heartedly.

"So, how was your training session with my man?" the succubus asked. She was actually curious about how their sparring session went because she knew that her boyfriend was a lot of things, but conventional was the least of them.

"Let's just say that I'm fine, never doing another squat ever again," something sparkled in Aphrodite's eyes when Raven said that. She couldn't quite place it. Deciding to avoid any undue drama, the dragoness quickly added, "He had me doing ballet for most of the day. I've never even worn a leotard before, let alone twirled around in one." She tried to laugh it off, but this time, the familiar glow took over Aphrodite's eyes, and she knew she was safe. The dark-haired girl took a step closer, not that there was much room between them, and leaned down to whisper in her teammate's ear, "I hope you're going to be wearing that for me tomorrow."

Raven's eyes widened when she heard those words because she would be training with Aphrodite in the morning, which she was completely unprepared for. She was used to their momentary flirting and banter between them. That was nothing compared to a full day trapped in a room with Aphrodite as her designated. trainer with unfettered permission to touch and adjust her body as she saw fit, and something about the glint in the succubus's eye told her that she would be extra precise about Raven's positioning tomorrow.

"What ki-kind of training do you have in mind for tomorrow," She asked, tripping over her own words as she tried to avoid Aphrodite's hazed-over gaze altogether.

"I think it's best if I keep that a surprise. I promise you won't be disappointed with my .... Training abilities," she purred the last few syllables for extra effect.

Thankfully, Raven spotted Silver over Aphrodite's shoulder. He walked out of the training hall alone. Everyone else appeared to be outside already.

"Silver!" she basically yelled out, causing the blue-eyed boy's head to snap towards her.

"Ash?" he asked in a soft voice. Aphrodite also looked in his direction while Raven did her utmost to create a telepathic SOS signal with her eyes. Her eyes were about to fall out of her skull when her doe-eyed teammate finally caught on to what she was doing. Silver's eyes widened in realisation when he recognised the pleading look in his teammate's eyes. He jumped into action, adding a spring to his step and sprinting to Raven, wrapping his arm around her shoulder.

"Ash! Just the girl I was looking for," he did want to speak to her but right now he felt like an angel sent into rescue her. It was a nice feeling to be of service. "I have something to talk to you about urgently!"

"What' could you possibly have to speak to her about considering she's mine... tomorrow!" Aphrodite asked.

"For training, you mean?" Raven asked with a nervous tone in her laugh.

"Uh-uh...for training," she replied. Her poreless skin barely wrinkled when she smirked at the orphan. Something shivered up Raven's spine and she quickly pulled on the arm that Silver had wrapped around her so the pair could scurry away as quickly as possible. They looked like a pair of Siamese twins joined at the shoulder and hips with their feet working in sync. Aphrodite couldn't help but giggle as she turned around towards the dancing room. she wanted to check on her boyfriend to see how he felt about the day.

Silver on the other hand, wanted to check on Raven and see how she really felt about her time her so far. It was something he was familiar with but that didn't mean he could assume how she'd be doing this far into her training. So to make sure that he could get the best answer from her possible, he took her to the one place where she'd have zero filter while speaking. The gym. Nobody can stop their inner thought from falling out when they're failing to bench press 100kg above their body weight.

"Wow, what is this. I'm not judging if this is how you wind down after a long day but personally, I can't feel my fucking legs after today so how about we head back and grab some hot coca from Dagne," she suggested and turned to sprint as far away from the weightroom as her abused legs would carry here. They didn't get her very far before the werewolf, caught her by the scruff of her neck and turned her around to face the gym once more. He was deceptively strong for someone of his stature but then again, in Artemis's playground, nothing is every truly what it seems.

"Nope. I know what Leech likes to do in that 4-wall vanity and I think some arm movements should be safe right now." Great. First her legs were turned to Jello and now she was going to lose control of her arm as well. Peachy.

"Relax, Ash. I'm not going to push you too hard. I don't want to break you before tomorrow with Aphrodite, but I do want to pick your brain for a bit and like you said... I like it here. When you grow up with brother's like mine, the gym becomes your seconds home if not your actual home. Come on, we'll just do a few sets and call it a day. I'm waiting for something sweet to be delivered any moment now so if you're good, I'll share it with you," Silver said with a smile. He had a way about him that made it impossible to reject anything he asked of you. Forget the spears, that should be his weapon of choice in the arena.

"Fineeeee," She whined, smiling at her teammate before heading towards the weight wrack. She had never actually been in a gym before, but she'd seen countless in movies and online before. She went towards the smaller weights but had the 4kg weights promptly plucked from her hands and placed back on the rack.

"Not a chance. I wouldn't even let humans get away with that one," he chuckled in a boyish way and then he placed a set of 20kg in her hands. She momentarily cringed at the weight difference but quickly realised that it weighed very little relative to her newfound strength. Damn where was this strength when she needed to lug boxes around at St Raphel's.

"Well," she asked, after the 100th set of those weights.

"Firstly, I wander how much anyone's actually told you about the tournament so far. I mean, you've been training really hard, but do you know what you're actually training for?" Silver was trying his level best to use as gentle words as possible because he didn't want to scare her too much right out the gate.

"I mean the first day I got here, I was made to kill someone just to get access to a team so I'm pretty sure that that has something to do with it. I mean if our kill them before the Light can get us, we win right and we get to go home, right?" she asked. It was ugly business but there was a redhaired silver lining waiting for her at the end of this.

"You're on the right track there, Ash, there's something I need to tell you about what happens to the winner," he said while biting his bottom lip. He really hated this part.