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

[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.