Arena

You take his hand and give it a firm shake. "I'm James," You tell him.

"I know," He says, "I've seen you on TV."

"Oh," you say; "Are you a fan?"

"Shit no," He responds with a sideways spit on the ground. "Bunch of pretend athletes if you ask me. But I now have respect for you since you're taking a genuine skills assessment course."

"I've always been genuine," You tell him. "They wanted the fights coregraphed, but I refused. Killed a few men because of that."

He nods smply, "Yeah, I heard of that. I figured it was all some sort of publicity stunt."

You snort at this and assure him that it was no sort of stunt. He seems to take you at your word. He tells you that the two of you ought to build a fire and cook the hog. You agree.

It is as you sit beside the fire, not far from him, that you realise neither one of you has proposed any sort of alliance. It just seemed to have happened.
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