After that, they’d mostly watched rom-coms and documentaries and historical films, all of which Kalis seemed to find fascinating, as a window into her culture. But tonight, Jillian wanted to try something different. After a long bath—during which they scrubbed each other thoroughly and Kalis treated her to a second and much more pleasurable tongue bath—they settled down on the couch with the plate of snacks he had made, and she grabbed the remote.
“Extend viewscreen,” she said, speaking into the remote. At once, a flat panel detached itself from the ceiling and came down to just the right height and distance from the couch.
“What are we watching tonight?” Kalis asked, putting an arm around her and drawing her close to his side.
“Tonight I thought we’d try a gladiator flick.”
Jillian looked up at him, wanting to gauge the reaction to her words.
He frowned.
“Gladiator? What’s that?”
“It’s a kind of warrior back on ancient Earth,” Jillian explained. “They trained really hard and fought for the crowd’s amusement.” She hesitated. “It might remind you of your experiences in the Blood Circuit. But if that bothers you, we don’t have to watch it,” she added quickly.
Though honestly, that was exactly why she wanted to watch this particular movie with him. When Kalis talked about his past, he was much more likely to tell stories of the Mistresses who had owned him and his time on Yonnie Six or in the Buy-All-Sell-All market. He hardly ever mentioned his time as a fighter, but since he had killed something like two hundred opponents, Jillian really felt like she ought to try and find out more about that time of his life.
After all, she didn’t want to jump into another romantic relationship, only to find out that she’d made a terrible mistake, like she had with Brad. If the big Kindred had some emotional baggage—and who wouldn’t after living that kind of life—she needed to know about it.
Kalis looked thoughtful and then shrugged.
“So this movie shows something like the Blood Circuit, hmm? That’s fine.”
“You’re sure it won’t bother you? Won’t, er, give you flashbacks?” Jillian asked carefully.
“I don’t see why it would.” He shrugged again. “Honestly, I don’t remember many of the battles I fought in detail, because I was in my other form for almost every one.”
“Oh, right.” Jillian wasn’t sure what else to say about that. She tried not to shiver as she remembered the enormous bear-thing he became. It was so much easier not to think about the creature Kalis kept inside him. It was much more comfortable—at least for her—to pretend it didn’t exist at all.
If her uneasy expression bothered Kalis, he didn’t say so. He just watched as the movie unfolded, remarking now and then about the gladiator’s helmets or weapons or fighting technique. He didn’t display any kind of agitation—in fact, he reminded Jillian of a man analyzing a sport he was only mildly interested in.
“Um, is this boring you?” she asked at last, around halfway through the movie.
“Not boring me, exactly. It’s just…pretty tame, that’s all,” Kalis remarked.
“Tame? That one guy just cut off the other guy’s head with a sword!” Jillian protested.
“Yes, but they’re both humanoids,” Kalis pointed out. “In fact, all of these, er, Gladiators, are humanoids. That makes them all pretty evenly matched, which isn’t very exciting. Where are the Trolloxes? The Bognian Slimers or the Vowshan Stabbers?” He gestured at the screen. “No promoter on the Blood Circuit would give this fight even a fourth or fifth billing in the Death Games.”
“The Death Games? Ugh!” Jillian made a face. “What kind of awful things did you have to see and do that makes this stuff seem like no big deal?” she asked, nodding at the screen where one Gladiator was skewering another with a trident and a crimson arc of blood was squirting out onto the sand the men were fighting on. “I was afraid this movie might upset you, because of your past, but you don’t seem fazed by it a bit.”
“I told you, I didn’t have to see and experience most of my battles first-hand,” Kalis said patiently. “I usually changed into my other form before the fighting began. In fact, it was part of my act. They would bring me out to the ring to face whatever opponent or beast or monster they had set for me to fight and the crowd would boo and hiss, thinking I was the weaker one—that I would surely be bested.” He shrugged. “Then, I shifted. The minute I let my Ursus out, the gambling odds would alter dramatically and the crowd would cheer. That’s mostly what I remember. The rest of the fight was kind of like a dream that I vaguely remembered when I changed back into my humanoid self.”
“Wow…okay.” Jillian nodded slowly. “I guess I’m beginning to get it. Your, uh, other form—your Ursus—protected you from the mental trauma of fighting for your life all the time.”