※— SHE WAS PARTNERED WITH THE BACKSTABBER. Hmhmhm. Made it through in one piece, had she? Perhaps the other one was in a terrible state. Maybe she had left him like that.
Adjusting to the light, her light, his smile faltered. No. Mankind had stitched her out of the dredges of charity. Compassion. Mercy. Insufferable traits.
He has never been one for small talk. So he blinked at her. And his smile reformed.
"Julius? Julius!"
The sight of him was at once a welcome and painful one: she had expected for there to be trials for them to overcome, and she had seen his bad luck even in just the short time they'd all been together, pummeled to the brink in a few short hours before sent out to do it again.
She rushed to his side, fingers hovered over his shoulder and rising to the space where his face was, although she did not touch him.
"What on earth did you find back there? Come on, you should sit, you need a healer. Do you need to lean on me again?" It was so easy to offer something once it had been accepted prior - her reservations shunted to the side in place of her compassion. No one could have gotten themselves so battered in a group like this except by virtue of cooperation.
Her eyes creased, and she forced herself to return his smile. "I now see what you meant," she admitted, quietly - her eyes flicked to the stages, now being cleared and cleaned and prepared for whatever came next. "About how degrading it feels. Perhaps if it were merely the one bout, it might have been different, but this just feels so..."
A shake of her head, hair swishing in time with the sashes and bobbles. "The spectacle feels so disconnected from reality, but somehow also hits too close to home."
A beat. Then; "Come on, let's get you some rest. I wonder if there are refreshments here."