“Well," she started slowly. remind me of football matches.

“If you really must know they kind of

That stopped Gregory in his tracks as he almost doubled over with laughter.

“I'm being serious, ok!?" Janette protested.

“No... mo..." He managed to heave the words out between bouts of laughter. "I just... I got this mental image of premiership footballers in the provings. Can you just fucking imagine?”

That got a blurt of laughter from her when the picture quickly formed of a number of ridiculously overpaid humans falling over before the orcs could touch them; rolling around on the floor holding their shins and trying to claim a foul.

“So how do they remind you of football matches then?" Gregory asked when he'd finally managed to stop snickering.

"It's kind of what orcs do for sport for one thing. When we first went there, I thought they were just bloodthirsty. But they don't really care about that as much as they care about the fighting styles and the tactics used. Honour's also a big deal to them. They don't have the same rules for fighting dirty that we would, but if an orc ever did cross that Line then I would not like to be in their shoes at the end of the match.”

“Right, so where's that line then?"

“It's for stuff like hurting an enemy that can't defend themselves. There are also certain situations when attacking from the rear is a big no-no. Like if your opponents are outnumbered or clearly injured. Believe it or not, The Berserkers have been getting some flak for what they did to you. It's just whispers because no one wants to get on their bad side, and it would be worse if you were an orc rather than a human, but Rolk isn't nearly as popular as he thinks he is these days."

“Right, well that's good to know. I don't suppose they have any rules against low blows?"

“Sorry, the attitude toward that is that if you're stupid enough to give your enemy a chance at hitting you in the pills then you deserve whatever you get." She shrugged.

"Great, I'll try not to be stupid then.”

“You'd better damn well not be, buddy. I expect that whole area to come back tonight in full working order... or else!" She gave his arm a determined poke with her finger.

“At least that's something to look forward to then."

Damn straight. I'm all about dishing out good incentives." She then highlighted this point by lifting her hand to salaciously suck her index finger between her lips. The slow movement was accompanied with a soft moan, and he instantly recalled how good those lips could feel.

"You know it's not all that easy to fight with a raging boner, right?" He lofted a brow at her actions.

“It's been my experience that you always do your very best work with a raging boner," she playfully nudged him with her hip and they both managed a Laugh, though it was subdued by frayed nerves.

As their Laughter died down, the entrance to the proving grounds came into view in the distance; looming with the promise of battle and possible grievous injury. It was a simple black arch, forged of orcish metal, and a reminder to all who passed beneath it of what they were about to undertake. Greg let out a long breath to try and silence the little voice in his head shouting: “Run, you idiot!" Deep breathing also helped quite a bit in avoiding the anxiety puke that had been quietly brewing in his stomach since he'd stepped out of the camp.

“Ok then, we're here." He tried to sound determined, but his voice came out a little bit higher in pitch than he'd have liked it to.

“Hey! You know I love you, right?" She reached up to take his face in her hands and guide his attention towards her rather than the ominous test that lay ahead of him. "I mean, I've never known anyone like you. I don't know anyone who could even try to do something this crazy. But you? It's not just that you're going up against a bunch of very dangerous green giants because you think it's the right thing to do. It's that I really do think you've got a pretty good chance of going up against a bunch of very dangerous green giants... and beating the living shit out of them."

That brought a fresh smile to his face, and it relieved some of the invisible weight that had begun pressing down on him.

“Ok, you've got to go," She slipped her hand around his head and pulled him into a firm kiss that went a long way to Lifting quite a bit more of that weight. "Before you do... if you do get in trouble in there? Don't get scared. Get angry."

".eg smash." He nodded.

“Got it."