Warning: Don't Be An Idiot [Closed]

[calledmenasir]

WHO| Nasir and Guy
WHAT| Nasir says the wrong things to Penny. Guy warns him about her.
WHEN| Backdated to before the Arena, shortly after Penny's post
WHERE| Tribute Commons
WARNINGS| References to torture and executions, talk of bidding/sexual abuse

Nasir was still riled from his encounter with Penny. He found it insulting that he was supposed to find killing a mouse intimidating. He'd disposed of enough of them in his dominus's villa, before he elevated himself to position of body slave. Was that the best these fools could throw at him?

Evidently not. There must have been a reason one of the Peacekeepers had warned him against upsetting this one person, though he did not hold any trust in the man. Still, it reminded him that he needed to be reasonable. For now.

It was difficult to be reasonable here.

He sat in the Tribute Commons, glaring at nothing in particular, regrouping before he would have to return to Agron and Faizan.

Comments

[acroodawakening]

He had actively looked for him after seeing him on the comms. He didn't know him but he didn't need to know him to want to warn him.

He'd have warned anyone off of Penny.

The young man that approached Nasir was someone that looked like he'd been through the wringer recently.

Burn scars on his arm and cheek, face blotchy, circles under his eyes. He had a somewhat haunted look as if he was soldiering through something devastating as best as he could.

Strangely, unlike many of the people in this place, he wore clothes much more similar to those of Nasir's time: calfskin wraps tied to his leg with leather thongs, a loin cloth, boots made of fur, and a wool wrap around his shoulders.

"Your name - your name is Nasir, right? I need to talk to you."

[calledmenasir]

Nasir's eyes narrowed. "How did you come by my name?" Someone must have told this man and Nasir didn't know what they might have said. Yet he saw that whoever this was would pose a poor threat in his current condition.

And so Nasir moved to the side on the couch he rested on, to give Guy space. He looked like he needed it. And so his following words were softer.

"Sit and seek comfort from your weariness."

[acroodawakening]

"I've just seen you around. On the network and on - on the TV. I saw you talking to Penny and I just wanted to come warn you about her. She's dangerous."

He took a seat and now that he was closer, it was clear that his hands were shaking.

[calledmenasir]

The TV? Nasir's brow furrowed. Another word he didn't understand yet. This must be what Maximus had meant by how they were being watched only Nasir had not realized it extended this far.

"I have met-- and killed-- many that have been called dangerous. Why should I fear her?" His tone wasn't condescending but even and curious.

[acroodawakening]

"These people - the ones that brought us here. They have these things called bugs that aren't like actual bugs. They're little things that act as their eyes even when they're not in the room to watch us. They can see it all the time, anywhere, without us seeing anyone watching. And they do that - they watch us the arenas and around the Tribute Tower and on the network. They want to control everything we do - even what we think."

He tried to find the right way to explain how Penny's power wasn't physical.

"Penny is powerful and her power isn't in how strong she is. It's because the Capitol lets her have control over their soldiers and the things she's allowed to do to us. She can control the things we can't - like how we're stuck here is something we can't."

[calledmenasir]

"Anywhere?" Nasir repeated, eyes widening by a fraction. He must have put on quite a show for them. Yet if they wanted to control what he thought they would find themselves unsuccessful.

"What things is she allowed to do? Words travel in circles. See them straightened." Nasir spoke a little more sharply but did not raise his voice or sound hostile. It was clear that Guy was already upset.

[acroodawakening]

"She can have you tortured or - or if you make her mad she might kill one of your friends to get back at you. Or she - she can take away your good memories of people you love back home - they can do that here. They have poisons that are that specific."

He looked at his hands, carefully averting his eyes. He didn't want to talk about it but he needed to know. He needed to know the risks.

"And there's something called 'bidding' where you have to - where they -"

He had to pause to take in a deep breath.

"Where people pay money and you have to - you have to be their mate. For a night. They're allowed to do whatever they want to you. If you're not open for that she can do things to change it so you are. And if you say no she can do something like torture you or take memories of people you love away or kill your friends. And she will, too. If you so much as - as even take the wrong tone with her." His voice cracked. "It can be the smallest little thing."

And now it was clear that this was not hearsay for him, that he was someone who'd made her mad and gotten punished somehow.

[calledmenasir]

Nasir did not care if he was tortured, not as much as he should have. But, while he did not hold strong feelings for anyone he'd met here, both his brother and his lover were visiting and he had done everything in his power to see neither harmed. It had not been an easy task. And if he lost his memories of them...

As for bidding, that was all too familiar to his ears. He had no desire to fulfill those duties again.

Now Nasir did not know if he had already angered Penny and it was too late to avoid these consequences. But he could not concern himself with that now. What would happen would happen. All he could do was take caution.

"Words come from experience." Nasir noted. "Apologies for what she has done to you and my part in making you relive them."

[acroodawakening]

"All I did was correct her. She called me boy and I told her that my people don't live that long and that I'd be considered an adult back home. And then she told me I shouldn't talk back to my betters," he said bitterly. He lifted his chin slightly. "So I told her I'd remember that if I ever met any."

He looked at his hands again.

"I - I didn't know what she could do. And when I saw you talking to her...I just wanted to make sure she didn't hurt anybody else who didn't know either."

[calledmenasir]

Nasir would have cared to met Guy before he had encountered Penny. They would have enjoyed each other's company from the sound of it. They might yet but there was so much fear in him now. Nasir did not know how deep it ran.

He watched Guy. Should Guy look back at Nasir, he would see a sympathetic face with kind eyes, a look Nasir had seldom given people here. "I'm Nasir. To whom should I offer gratitude for warning?"

[acroodawakening]

It wasn't all fear and that was something Nasir would see in his eyes as he looked up at him, his expression less scared and sad and more kind.

"Guy. Guy Crood."

Apparently she hadn't replaced everything with it.

[calledmenasir]

Good. The man had not been broken.

Nasir gave him a faint, encouraging smile. "Gratitude, Guy Crood." He stopped talking so he could think over his words. Now that he knew he was being watched, he would need to take more care in choosing them.

"I am no stranger to some of what you describe." He did not know which Guy had been threatened with but he had focused on bidding.

[acroodawakening]

"Then I'm sorry to hear that." He wasn't sure what parts he was talking about, since he'd mentioned torture too.

He shook his head. "If you got away with it, instead of being taken someplace that has those kinds of things too, you should've been free instead."

[calledmenasir]

"I tasted freedom." Nasir sounded wistful as he remembered a life far removed from this one. "Nothing could be sweeter on tongue. I will relish it again one day, as will you." Promising vengeance was not a wise decision at this point, however tempting. He didn't think it would be well received at this point either.

[acroodawakening]

Though it was difficult for him, he still smiled the smallest little smile at that sentiment.

"I hope so," he said thickly. "I have a mate back home. A daughter. I just want to see them again and I - I want to be me when I do. That's all I really want."

He wasn't going to escape suffering easily, but even if he suffered, he just wanted to get to go home before it tore him apart, when there was still chance to recover.

[calledmenasir]

Nasir knew that the likelihood that Guy would return home the same was low. Slavery changed people. It had changed him. He could only hope he would escape that fate a second time. He would not be reduced to that state again.

"Hold onto strength, remember what they have done and who you were. Do not forget those you have held to your heart." As I once did.

[acroodawakening]

Guy nodded.

"Is that how you managed? Because - it's dangerous, speaking up like you do, but I can tell you're not letting them make you bow."

He couldn't help by admire that, that capacity to keep outside forces from making him bend at the knee.

[calledmenasir]

"I will not bow again." For the first time in their conversation, Nasir's voice was cold.

He was ashamed to remember how he had been before Spartacus had opened his eyes but even that was overshadowed by the anger he felt at being forced into slavery. He would not have needed the veil lifted from his eyes if he'd never been enslaved.

tw: implications of bidding

[acroodawakening]

He said it with such surety.

Guy was envious, given that his own resolve was starting to crumble.

"How?" he asked. "How do you manage to keep feeling that way? I don't know how - I don't know if I'll be able to keep - to ..."

He didn't know how, with what they wanted to make him do, he'd still manage to even feel like a person.

[calledmenasir]

Nasir gestured to his neck. His fingers traced where the line had once been around his throat. "Collar once bound neck since I was child. I knew nothing else. I begged and bowed for my dominus, served him in all his needs, and believed self important. I clung to illusion and will never embrace it again.

"I have purpose. I have forged my path with own hands. I remember what I was and I will not return to it." No matter what they forced him to do now, he would never become Tiberius again.

"You had freedom, Guy Crood. Do not forget it. If you forget, it will destroy you as it did me."

[acroodawakening]

At the words, 'served him in all his needs,' Guy's mouth set in a thin little line, as he wondered if it was a confirmation Nasir suffered what he was going to suffer.

A child. He was a slave from the time he was a child...

His eyes were glassy by the time Nasir finished.

"I had it my whole life. That's a long time. That's - that's big, right? Something big is easier to hold onto."

[calledmenasir]

Nasir nodded. He lowered his hand from his neck. "It is. Hold both memory and purpose to heart. It will not be as easy to let go of as it was for me. You will survive."

[acroodawakening]

Guy nodded.

"Thank you."

It helped, seeing someone that had come out the other side still able to be defiant in the face of it.

"I know I came here to help you but everything you've said has really helped me. Is there anything I can do in return? In terms of training or - or I sometimes show people how to make things. Improvised weapons, tools, things like that."

[calledmenasir]

Nasir paused. He wasn't sure if that was a way of searching out for his weaknesses, but the offer to help seemed genuine. Unless Guy was a skilled actor and even his distress was feigned, Nasir doubted that this was an act.

"I am unfamiliar with the weapons they have here. My training is with spear and sword."

[acroodawakening]

Guy wasn't incapable of lying and lying well but it really was simple gratitude. Words could be just as valuable as actions in this place, especially when sometimes they were the only possible shield against despair.

"I've picked up a few more than that. I'm also good at making weapons out of practically nothing. Some arenas, that's all you'll have, random objects you can find."

[calledmenasir]

Nasir did not like the sound of having nothing but his hands. He would rather make use of what he could.

He nodded. "Gratitude for your offer. If you are willing, I shall learn what you have to teach." He still had a mask of concern on his face but it was withdrawing, along with the intensity of before, into a more neutral expression.

[acroodawakening]

Guy stood up.

"I might not be able to teach you before this arena but, you know, if we both survive..."

A thrilling prospect, dying again. Just as thrilling as being alive again after, stuck in this place.

[calledmenasir]

Nasir remained seated a while longer. In any case, he was used to looking up at people.

"We will. Our bodies will rise again." It disturbed him on some level but if it kept him alive so that he could return to Agron, he couldn't complain about it. He didn't want to consider the implications of it either.

[acroodawakening]

Guy just nodded at that, leaving off the "I hope so."

"I'll see you around then."

With that, he turned to go.