There were two of Lx attendants at the front door to where scorch stayed. The two females looked at each other, before looking back at scorch. It was unusual for some one to come back to a gladiator, especially a female fighter. Then again scorch wasn't a gladiatrix, but more of an outside fighter who fought in the arenas. The two would move aside with out a word to the woman allowing her to enter the chambers. Everything was like the last time she had been there. There were no new trophies added to the walls, or any sign the room had changed. The alter in the center of the room had been retracted back into it, looking seamless with the floor. Lx sat in his throne atop those stairs. There was no response from him. His chest was slowly rising and falling showing he was alive. Was he just sitting there taking a nap, or was he in some sort of deep meditation?

Passing the attendants after giving them a nod as they parted for her she entered the chamber. It had been as she last seen it, no new trophies added not that she had expected to see any as she assumed that his victory over the draconic woman had been earlier in that day and she doubted that there were trophies from the gladiatrixes to be found in the normal sense.

Perhaps tattered clothes or vids but she saw none of that. Even the alter had been gone. Blue eyes scanned the floor where it had been before she moved on. In bare feet she proceeded forth, paused when she got close and observed for a moment as she took a knee.

He had been breathing, was he awake? She waited for a moment assessing him, seeing if he was conscious first. She felt he was but in the event he wasn't she kept her voice even without raising it too much. If he was asleep or remained so she could always inquire with one of the attendants outside as to where the woman from the day before was.

“Has she learned her place yet?”

Silence pervaded the room for a bit of time. How long had it been since she had asked her question ? A few seconds, minutes it was hard to tell. "It is hard to tell I am not her keeper." Lx voice finally reached out into the room to answer the young woman's question. He was surprised to see her again here in his chambers. Normally a gladiatrix was used and then never saw again, outside of the arena. Yet here she was again standing in front of him. "Is that the only thing you came here for, or did you come for something else?" he sat there looking down at scorch wondering why she exactly was here.

The seconds ticked by or minutes. She waited unsure if he was pondering that question or thinking how best to answer it. Then he addressed I and she nodded accepting that simple answer. It was of little consequence to her overall.

“No, it isn't.” She answered.

She knew that she was weaker than her alien contenders and most of the gladiatrixes as well. She had to use tricks, cleverness and good old fashioned luck for the most part. It was more putting on a good show in the arena win or loose.

At close quarters things were a bit different. She could barely use the sword she owned and while training with gladiatrixes would help her opponents were never human and thus she could never be prepared for their increased strength or agility.

“I was more interested in a trade.”

It was rare for some one of female gender to return to his chambers. Even rarer for them to want to make some sort of deal with him. Lx shifted his weight while he looked down at scorch from his throne. She had come all this way the least he could do was hear her out. "And what sort of trade are you offering?" He couldn't think of many things she could offer him, or that he could give in return. What was it that she wanted from him ?

She had to consider something briefly, unsure as to what would interest him. Boredom, amusement, whatever the case could have been a motivator too but she couldn't bank on that alone. Scorch was use to acquiring things as well for the most part. She was once a pirate captain and now more a freelance rogue.

Of course it was mostly gathering this or that for the whim of Mercer to lessen the hardships her sister faced but every once in a while there was something interesting she heard about and went after it for the challenge alone.

“I am interested in learning more but there is only so much a human can teach me. I know I will never be on the level of most of my opponents but my aim is to make for an entertaining match. I am interested in sparring with you, in learning to improve my close combat skills or rather the lack thereof. For this I could acquire weapons for you of the quality of your choosing,” in the event that there may be something he had considered a trustworthy piece for his collection or use.

“Or I ...” she paused, considered. “Or offer up personal contests for your own viewing pleasure.”

Lx sat there listening to the young warrior's proposal. He would stand up walking slowly down to scorch. "You miss understand scorch. I do not collect weapons. Each of these is proof of conquest of one of the gladiators, or another gladiatrix. Each weapon displayed proudly to show the efforts to come out victorious. Acquiring weapons that I have not personally taken from a battlefield of a falling enemy has no value to me." There was a bit of silence as he reached the bottom of the stairs not moving from where he stood.

"Elaborate on what you mean by personal contest, because that could mean a good deal of things." He would turn and walk towards one of the tube like cases in the room, where a broken spear hung in a suspended state. While he was still listening he appeared to be remembering something at the same time. Silence fell upon the room again while he awaited for a response.

She had misunderstood thinking that this was a collection rather then trophies. She should have known better, that he would seek to be surrounded by his victories and a constant reminder of the stories each entailed

For a moment she had been silent, thinking over his words. Determining that they were unclear, that they could have been taken either way. Humans did not have the initial stamina that many of the aliens possessed, at least not the sorts she ran across. Whether that was because humans were at the bottom of the spectrum or that her opponents and those selected for the arena had more she could not say.

She looked toward him as he studied the broken spear. It had been clear that he was dwelling on a past encounter but as to what she could not say. Perhaps it was a good fight or similar proposal, she didn't think much on it.

“Both,” she answered at last. Each would enhance her in the arena as far as putting on a good show. She moved closer to where he was, glanced closer at the spear but could not distinguish it's origins not being into weaponry during her pirate days and thus not attaining an understanding of their value or lineage.

“Then what other payment would entice you, assuming that you are interested in the first place?”

Another vague answer but he knew what she was at least getting at. The young woman misjudged his answer for disinterest in the topic, or her offer. "It is that your offer does not interest me, but I am hesitant due to your current circumstances. Your employer..." There was a tone of loosely using the word in his voice. "is keeping your sister as a bargaining chip, or rather a hostage to get you to do his will..." His fist would clench tightly just at the thought of such a man. "As such he could call on you any minute to go on an errand of an indeterminable amount of time. A warrior should be dedicated to all ways improving and not let anything stop them from improving.

This spear is proof of one of my greatest accomplishments as a warrior, before being reduced to this ring side jester for peoples amusement. I genocide an entire race male population with my bare hands, so I could breed with there females. It took years to hunt down every last male and slaughter them. It didn't matter the age men, children, infants. For this feat my people put me into stasis, only to be found by mean of science..." His gaze would move over to one of his attendants inside of the room. "Forced to undergo generations of evolution, so they could get an idea of what my kind would look like in the modern day." It appeared that he wasn't disinterested in the offer, but more concerned about her ability to stay around for her studies. He stood there his gaze on scorch through the reflection on the case. Waiting and watching to see how she would react, and do.

He had been right about that, there was no way around it. Occasionally she had to fetch this or that for Mercer or battle in the arena in place of Serena. While she was working on getting Serena out of his clutches.

For the most part she had been free to operate as she chose but never knew when something would call her away. Pending on the task at hand it could be a short while or weeks depending on her assignment.

She listened to his tale about the spear. While she did not recognize his species that in of itself was not unusual. The galaxy was a huge place and there were several species she did not recognize, many of which she had seen only one or two members of.

It was clear that he was a warrior. She was left to wonder if all of his species had been that way or if he had been unlike them. From what she gathered he was the last. It made her wonder if he had been forced into this role, then after considering what he said further she determined that that was not the case, that he chose this path. Perhaps it was to avoid a similar fate in the future, perhaps it appealed to his tastes.

While wiping out an entire species wasn't going to happen here breeding would. The gladiatrixes were predominately human from what she saw but there were numerous other species too. Humans seemed to have a universal appeal, there had been something about them that others could harvest, feed off of or any other notion.

“Your right, that will not change any time soon. I couldn't dedicate myself to being just a warrior either, but I would still want to have a bit of practice above the norm, even if I cannot win my ultimate role is to entertain and I can see that my melee skills are in dire need of work.”

She had realized that she was unable to dedicate herself with her all, to live, eat and sleep the arena life. "I take it that the occasional lesson would be out then.”

Sparring with a gladiatrix was far different then sparring with a contender, while she could improve marginally she would still lack facing off against someone as quick, or as strong.

Scorch assumptions were not wrong. It would be difficult to improve herself under the tutelage of another gladiatrix. Most owners did not allow there gladiatrix to take on students or apprentices unless they were from the same stable and owner. Scorch herself was not a gladiatrix by the normal definition, but an occasional fighter who showed up in the arena for one reason or another. Lx was contemplating what she had said about the occasional lesson. Perhaps it would work better for scorch instead of diligent study amd practice. Some beings he had found, especially humans, learned better when they could apply what they learned in the field. "The occasional lesson is not out of the question. Though it all depends on how you prefer to study. Are you one to improve through diligent practice, or are you some one who can only grasp a concept by doing?"

There was a difference in the degree and difficulty he could teach her, but it depended on her preferred method. If it was diligence he could spend more time in theory and concept slowly teaching her. If it was through actual doing he would need to show her, while explaining and then allow her to try it. Either way she would need to apply these things in the field in order to further practice them when there time was up. Though he could not train her in every aspect she probably wanted. For that he would need help.

She considered that question. What had she been better at? There had been a few things that acquired practice such as her prior role as a pirate captain. She had to learn things as they went. A lot of what she learned had been little things, especially delegating tasks differently and what each person's duties had been.

What required more practice, however, had been the generation of her flames. That took control built over time. Now she could generate plasma, it was still difficult but she learned control and how to build up such power.

“Both. I can be pretty good with figuring things out with a few pointers. Things such as sword skill would need more practice. I've neglected my close quarters fighting do to my abilities not needing them for the most part until taking part in these matches.”

If necessary she could practice pointers. Any actual combat drills requiring an opponent would mean reprogramming her droid for such a task.

The human woman was not making this easy for him, so he was going to have and take on a different approach. She wanted both practical and theoretical lessons, but she had at least given him a starting point to work with. "Fine we will begin with your first lesson then." Lx would move over to a space removing a training sword from it. "First off strip nude. If you are going to improve you need to be free of all hindrances. You must be able to focus in any condition and in state." Once Scorch had stripped nude. Lx would toss the training sword at her. He had seen her level of skill in there match, but he was to much for her right now. Instead a training drone was brought in for scorch to fight. While it had the same training sword, the drone had been uploaded with scorches combat data the arena had on her. In short she would be sparring against a copy of herself. A copy who didn't have any doubt or hesitation. A version of her that could focus under any condition. Granted it didn't have her pyrookinetic ability, but it would still be able to give her more then a challenge. Even if it was programmed to have the same physical strength and speed as she had. Lx had moved back up to his throne taking a seat to watch the training session unfold. It would prove to be an entertaining few minutes of diversion. "You may begin when you are ready. The drone won't attack until you make the first move." He sat there waiting to see how the human woman would proceed.

She stripped from her robe catching the sword as it was tossed to her. With her foot she kicked up her robe to catch it in the other hand so that she did not have to bend down to get it. Moving the robe aside so it was closer to the wall and out of the way she faced off against her automated opponent.

Not knowing what it was capable of she first studied it's anatomy finding it humanoid. That gave her some hint as to it's limitations in movement barring any surprises she did not know about.

Rather then rush straight in she tested it's movements walking around it and probably giving LX a show. She observed how it moved one way then the next to always face her. There were no flaws that she saw but LX could see that her eyes were shifting color. From blue to light brown, to darker brown-red then crimson as she build up a charge taking advantage of having that first strike.

In an actual match she might only get to build up a full charge once and have to use tons that were barely charged. At an opening of a match was her best chance and while it was not planned it sort of happened as she was watching it's movements.

When she realized that there was little more that she could assess and would discover any hidden secrets later she launched her attack.

The plasma bolt was more to distract aimed at the ground about half way between the two as she lunged it, deliberately sprang short so she could cut to her left at the same time she slashed hoping that the plasma caused it to stop at the point she desired if she had any chance in the attack succeeding.

Her breasts swayed with the movements she made, unbound and bouncing for his delight.

The drone watched Scorch as intently as Lx did from his throne. Each step she took added to the ai knowledge of her, and her fighting style. The weight of each step, and the time it took her to reach full charge. The bolt of plasma launched at it was its signal that it no longer had to wait for her to attack. Plasma bolts trajectory was calculated. A sound could be heard, but it wasn't the sound Scorch had hoped for instead it was of training swords colliding. The drone just blankly looked at her, before planting a metallic foot into her gut. While it wasn't strong enough to injure, there was enough force to cause her to stagger back with the lose of air. The drone would come in with a vertical slash aimed at scorch's head. Lx began to wonder how long it would take scorch to realize she was fighting herself.