Blood, Sand and Tears (1X1 with tichems)

[tichems]

Andromedus grabs Benedictus' chin softly in his hand and produces a small handkerchief from a hidden compartment inside his armour with his free hand. His eyes scan over the scratch on his friends face and says softly "This will hurt a bit but we will need to get this cleaned before it gets infected." he gently begins to dab at the bloody wound, careful not to inflict as much pain as is necessary.

[Crabbiey]

Callisto let Andromedus clean her wound, she just stared into his soft brown eyes and looked at his handsome face. The blood helping to conceal her blush, but it was faint. She noticed how much more gentle he was, he held her chin softly whereas her father always gripped it hard and jerked her head. Because she was looking at Andromedus she started to drift off into yet another daydream, completely forgeting about her father, who was watching and could've picked up on her armour.

[tichems]

After a few seconds, Andromedus begins to feel the intense emerald eyes looking at him so he looks up to meet the gaze. Something inside tugs at him, the gladiator before him is handsome...very handsome. Part of him wants to reach forward while the other half inside him knows that it is wrong for a man to feel such emotions towards another man. Once he is certain the wound is clean, he drops his hand from Benedictus' chin and loses himself inside the two beautiful emerald orbs.

With the last tiger down, Emidius claps at the victorious gladiators and then nods at his guard. The mass group of guards form a square around him as they always do when he walks near public and he gradually makes his way down to the arena floor. Cheers rise from the crowd, he waves and smiles a few times but his eyes stay fixed on the figure called Benedictus who happens to be wearing one of his guard's suits of armour.

Andromedus hears the distant footsteps and after much effort, manages to tear his gaze away from Benedictus towards the royal guard that is fast approaching.

[Crabbiey]

Callisto looked past Andromedus to see her father walking towards them. What angered her was that people were cheering for him, if only they knew what he was really like. But why was he coming over here anyway? What was so interesting? There was no way he could recognise her, even she couldn't recognise herself at first when she'd first changed her appearance. She glanced down to look at her armour....her armour! How could she have been so stupid?! Her father would've seen it and recognised it, now he was probably coming over to demand why on Earth she was wearing it and how and why she had it. She stomach tightened with worry.

[tichems]

Emidius marches directly up to the group of five gladiators, his eyes fixed on the guard's armour. He stops just a few inches away from the man wearing the suit and his friend. He forces a smile "May I congratulate you on making such an entertaining show. Please remind me of your names."

Andromedus bows low and rises slowly "My name is Andromedus your Majesty." he waits in silence while the other three men behind him and Benedict call out their names and bow.

Emidius smiles politely and turns his glistening eyes to the man who has yet to say his name "And yourself?"

[Crabbiey]

Callisto's fists were clenched in hatered and anger, after a moment's pause "Benedict." Then she forced a smile and remembed to bow, not curtsey. Her eyes not leaving her father, knowing he was looking at her armour. She straightened up, her stomach doing knots, why couldn't the ground swallow her up or something?

[tichems]

Andromedus' observant eyes notice Benedictus clench his fists. Realising he's the only one to have seen the peculiar movement, he keeps quiet and waits for the emperor to speak.

Emidius smiles back as the man bows and says his name "Benedictus". The eyes look so strangely like his own, but surely it is just the light? Callisto would never become a gladiator here, she despised the place and besides as good as her fighting skills are, she wouldn't have lasted five minutes in this place. His eyes rummage across Benedictus' face, No, he says inside his head, this is certainly a man. He returns his gaze to the armour suit "My what a fine suit of armour you have," he reaches out with a hand to bring everyone's attention to the armour "I wonder, where did you get it?"

[Crabbiey]

Callisto grew uneasy as all eyes were on her, then she looked down at the armour. Eventually she thought up an excuse other than the usual 'I won it' "I inherited it." She said looking straight at her father.

[tichems]

Emidius nods, this wasn't the first time he had caught an outsider wearing one of his guard's suits. When he gets home he will design a new suit of armour for his royal guard to wear and probably sell off the old suits at the market. They should sell for quite a lot of money, he says to himself. "Very well, as every guard here needs to earn his place, whether the suit is inherited or not, we shall make an agreement. If you come out of this colosseum victorious, you will have a placement in my royal guard." his eyes are solemn with promise "However..." he stops and rethinks "I don't think I need to go into detail over the other circumstance". He stands back, his deep eyes looking at each gladiator in turn before he marches away, back to the royal balcony.

Andromedus can't help but feel shock and amazement. All along, this young, vulnerable looking boy had a palace guard's blood running through him all along. I will need to watch my back after all with this one he says to himself. Once the guards and emperor are out of sight, he turns back to Benedictus and smiles a comforting smile. The crowd still cheering, "Shall we?" he signals to the gate that leads back to their chamber.

[Crabbiey]

Callisto was staring after her father, her fists still clenched. She just want to run over and punch him, hard. Her eyes were filled with anger and hatered, then she faintly heard Andromedus. Shaking her head she turned and looked at him, his smile imediately calming her. Relaxing she smiled and nodded. She started to walk back towards the gate, relived that her father hadn't recognised her. If she did become a guard, that would certainly be new. The first female guard, well she was already breaking a rule; no females were allowed to be gladiators and yet she was one. She was defying her father, and he didn't even know it.