"Gurk!" Itzel exclaimed once she turned her head around the corner. She caught what the crocodile had put on the floating screen on the wall of the main room. A man with flowing short yet tidy black hair was present in the center of the screen. Janus could see his firm, fawn-toned muscles as he posed towards whatever was recording him. His arms raised upwards as he placed his hands behind his head, giving the audience a confident grin that showed off his white teeth.
"I'm back in Labrisson tonight looking for challengers," the man on the screen said. His voice sounded like that of a young adult. Much like his grin, his tone carried confidence as well. "Don't know if I'll find any that can raise my RC ranking though. Looks like it's mostly just novices here now."
Itzel walked in between the screen and the crocodile that was sitting as close to a proper crisscross that his body would allow, shaking her head at him. "Really Gurk? You're watching this guy?"
"Yeah," he nodded.
"Why? Don't you know there's a million other Broadcasts you could be watching right now?"
Gurk leaned his entire body over to the side, trying to watch the screen from an angle as Itzel remained still. "Move. Please?" Gurk pleaded. Itzel turned around and looked at the screen, still blocking most of Gurk's view. Janus could catch a glimpse of the screen from his angle. Along the side of the broadcast was a small section dedicated to displaying messages. The text scrolled too fast for him to properly read each individual word, but he was able to scan the shorter ones. They were praising him, sending smiling faces and small illustrations of laughing characters.
"You beat everyone in Labrisson!🤣"
"Everyone knows that city doesn't have any viable Rumblers.🥱"
"Notice me, Siergi! 🤗"
Janus stepped closer towards the screen to get a better view of the broadcast. As he advanced forward, he couldn't help but notice the sour expression on Itzel's face as she watched the Broadcast. Her lips pursed while her head tilted ever-so-slightly from side to side while her arms remained cross in front of her chest. "This guy," she said in a low voice. The man on the screen continued to pose, showing off his build from an assortment of angles. Once his flexing was done, he looked directly towards whatever was capturing the footage and flashed another smile.
"Usually we'd have a line of challengers. Maybe today is just a slow day." He then shrugged his shoulders before bringing up his own personal screen using his Implant. The man scrolled through a long series of messages, presumably the same ones that Janus could see from the side of the screen he was looking at. He nodded his head. "Alright, you guys are fine without watching some Ranked Challenges tonight? Maybe I can put on a different kind of show for you." The Broadcast zoomed out, revealing his full body to the audience. From the waist down he wore a baggy pair of orange pants with intricate patterns. On his feet were a pair socks that exposed his heels and toes. The man went into a crouching position and looked towards his side. "Arva," he shouted. "Toss one of those discs my way!"
A large red and white target flew up into the air. The man eyed it, following it's trajectory with his head as it came closer to him. Sparks surged around his feet as his body remained lowered. Once the object was above him, he propelled himself off the ground. "Thunder Wire!" he shouted. He performed a round house kick at a sharp angle upwards, sending himself soaring upwards a few feet as his leg became engulfed in electricity. In an instant, he turned himself around, sending himself further upwards but in the opposite direction. With his other leg, he spun around and performed one last roundhouse straight upwards, smashing the target to bits with his heal. There was a small burst of lighting in the air as bits of the shattered target rained back down the ground in what looked like a gym; there were lifting machines and weights in the background as well as a series of tall mirrors. The room itself was devoid of people save for two individuals in the far back that Janus couldn't make out the full details of.
"How was that?" The man said as he landed on a mat, feet first. He took another look at the messages on his personal screen. Janus then took a look at the message section on the projection in the room. They were going too fast for him to read, but he could see a plethora of exclamation marks and shocked caricatures moving upwards. Fed up, Itzel leaned forward and turned off the screen, making Gurk let out a soft whimper.
"Why?" the crocodile asked.
"Why? I should be asking you that," she said, pointing a finger at Gurk. "Why do you insist on watching that guy?"
"Funny."
"You think he's funny? He's got the same kind of dry humor that all of the famous Rumble Circuit Broadcasters have." She took a step back, got into an intentionally sloppy karate stance and put on a fabricated smile. "Woah, this guy's ranking is pretty high," she said in a deep and slow voice. "Guess he's fine dropping a few tiers!" Itzel followed up with a fake chuckle as she threw a high kick towards the air. "Looks like he wasn't ready for that. If he watched my Broadcasts he would have been prepared for it!"
"Jealous," Gurk said, cutting Itzel's imitation short.
"I'm not jealous!" she barked back. "I just don't understand why guys like Siergi are so popular when there's countless other Rumble Circuit competitors that are infinitely more talented but can't even muster a single viewer for a broadcast!"
"Sounds like envy to me, Itzel," Janus said with a coy smile. Her eyes cut towards him, making him dart back.
"What do you know, Janus? You haven't even been here for an entire day! Don't act like you have any idea what I'm talking about."
"Sorry. It's just that you were talking about how you didn't have any viewers for you broadcast back at the diner during your fight with Enidri. And now you're making a big deal about Gurk watching this guy and all of the views he gets. It's not hard to piece everything together."
"That guy isn't even all that high of a rank. He can take down your average amateur fighter but that's it. That's why he comes to Labrisson all the time. There are plenty of desperate wannabes literally lining up to be on his broadcast and take him on. Him and his crew just pick out the weaker ones to make sure that he looks good for his audience."
"He doesn't live in this city?"
"Of course not!” Itzel shouted, her arms extending out to her sides. “He makes too much money to live in Labrisson! Not only do people pay to challenge him as well as his sponsors, but viewers just send him Tokens for the slim chance that he'll give them a shout out! He probably makes more in a single Broadcast than me and Gurk combined in a month!"
"Itzel. This absolutely is jealousy."
She clenched her fists and turned away. "Call it whatever you want. I still say it's an injustice to all of the competent fighters out there. We're busy toiling away killing Essencima so people can be safe while a handful of folks like Siergi get to live it up just for being mediocre."
"Hater," Gurk said with a chuckle.
"Of course you would call me that. Don't act like you're not part of the problem, big guy. I've seen you send him some Tokens on more than one occasion."
"Hater."
"Whatever, Gurk. I'm done talking about this. I'm tired and need some rest. Janus, you can lay on the sofa.” She then looked at Gurk. “Can you get him a blanket?"
"Yeah." The crocodile got up from his seat on the floor to and began rummaging through a closet. Meanwhile, Itzel headed towards hallway, looking back towards Janus before continuing on to her room.
"Since you got an Implant, that means you should be able to start earning some Tokens," she said to him while leaning on the wall. "So first thing in the morning, we'll be heading out to show you the basics."
Janus took off his jacket and slung it over his shoulder. Underneath he wore a tight black t-shirt that showed off his slim and scrawny build. "What exactly will learning the basics of?" he asked.
"Exterminating."
"Oh, I see." He took off his glasses and then placed them on the table.
"I know it seems daunting at first, but don't worry. You've got me and Gurk to help you out. You seem like a smart guy. I've got a feeling that you'll get a grasp of the fundamentals in no time. Besides, it's the best option you've got when it comes to earning Tokens. Shops don't pay enough. You can’t get a job at any of the more advanced occupations without years of training. And you're definitely not going to be throwing your life away in a Refinery. All Exterminating requires is some brawn and just a bit more brawn."
"I understand. I'll be ready first thing tomorrow." Janus took a seat on the couch. Gurk tossed him a blanket that he grabbed midair. "I just wanted to thank you both for everything that you've done for me. I don't think I'd still be around if it weren't for the two of you."
"Welcome," Gurk said as he began to curl himself up onto a wide matt on the floor and shutting his eyes.
"Don't mention it," Itzel replied. "Now I'm heading off to bed. For real now." She vanished into the hallway. Janus could hear the sound of a door close behind her. Once she was gone, Janus laid back across the length of the couch and placed his head on one of the armrests. He then wrapped the blanket tight around him as he looked over to the side. His vision was blurry, but he could see Gurk lift his mask off his face and place it to the side. Janus couldn't make out the finer details of the crocodiles face, but he could see a long red streak break up the light blue of his scales. It traveled down from the top of his head all the way towards the tip of his snout. Janus found himself squinting, trying to get a grasp of what was on Gurk's head. He reached for his glasses so he could get a better view of what was on Gurk’s face, but he retreated his hand mid-grasp.
It's rude to stare, Janus. Especially after all he's done for you, he thought to himself. After blinking a few times, he was able to take his attention off the long marking on the crocodile’s face. He then closed his eyes, quickly drifting off to sleep.
a scar.