Contraka

"Volkas!" The announcer called over the speakers.

Lydia forgot about the door ogre the instant that the green-skinned brute looking like he stepped out of a fantasy video game entered the cage. She cheered when the fight started but wondered how this 'Marble' was going to win. It was soon apparent he wasn't.

The orc was toying with him and seemed content to ignore any hits he received so he could land blows on the man that should have crushed him. While Marble was an able fighter and could take some hits, he was entirely outclassed by his opponent.

It seemed odd that they weren't in separate weight classes, but Lydia supposed that it was a far less organized matter than professional fighters were used to. She cheered when she felt she could encourage her fighter like she was being paid for, but it didn't matter in the end. Marble was broken on the ground when the bell rang, and Lydia sighed in disappointment.

The coach who had greeted her at the door was dragging his fighter out of the cage. When he saw Lydia, he snarled at her and helped place Marble on the stretcher to be taken away. He followed his fighter down the hall until he was stopped at the infirmary door, where Lydia caught up with him.

She didn't say anything; she waited for him to notice her again, angrily tossing the coin pouch at her and storming off.

"Figures that he'd need to pay someone to cheer. That kid was not ready for this." A booming voice came from farther down the hall.

Lydia turned to see Contraka looking at her in the doorway from the locker room. "Clearly. Do you people not do weight classes or anything?"

He laughed, "Not in the normal sense. I don't normally compete against someone who can't beat me, so we tend to set our own matches."

"What's different about today?" Lydia asked, eyeing his muscles and quickly noticing the bulge in his boxers.

"I got bored. Sometimes, it's fun to toss around someone smaller than you." Contraka smiled, implying he wasn't talking about Marble specifically.

"Sometimes it's nice to be tossed around," Lydia responded as she approached so he could get a better view. "But I have debts to pay."

Contraka looked closely as Lydia flashed the mark on her breast. "Looks like someone made a bad deal."

"My old man, then he died. Now I got this mark. So, as much as I would love to be tossed around, I got money to make." Lydia didn't want to leave, haggle, or in any way delay said, tossing around, but if she was going to do it anyway, she might as well get paid for it.

"How much for how long?" Contraka asked, reaching out to touch her mark and feel up her breast.

Lydia opened the pouch; it was a quarter full. "Double this and show me a good time. I feel frisky, so I won't charge my normal rates."

Contraka grunted in agreement and grabbed Lydia by the hip with one hand. He tossed her over his shoulder and carried her towards the back.

It seemed to Lydia like she might have undersold herself, but she didn't know how much $400/half hour was spent on magic coin conversion. She was tossed onto a beat-up couch and could see a small team of followers scattered about the room. They watched as Contraka grabbed a fist of coins from a bag with his massive hand and held them over the purse.

"You don't know how rough this is going to get, so trust me, this extra will keep you in the game. Even if you break. Are you ready?" Contraka asked, his hand full of coins over the purse.