Ancient Greece, Monday Fandom Time
Gabrielle had thought that now, finally, Xena would start treating her more like an equal partner when it came to fighting, or at least stop trying to protect her all the time. Apparently she was wrong; maybe it was all the time she'd spent away that kept Xena from realizing she was perfectly competent. This was one of the first times since Eli brought them back that they'd gotten to fight together, after all; Gabrielle wasn't counting Xena's brief amnesiac period.
But no. Xena insisted on taking on most of the attackers they inevitably ran across all by herself, maybe leaving one or two stragglers for Gabrielle, and even then she kept butting in when Gabrielle was doing just fine. That might not have been the case back when she was still fighting with a staff and not terribly confident in her abilities, but she'd been younger then, and different. She'd always thought it was touching the way Xena looked out for her during a fight, but now it was actually kind of annoying.
She was still mad about the latest incident several hours later, so when they came across the next town on the road she left the job of resupplying to Xena and took it upon herself to refill their water bottles. There was a temple on the edge of town with a fountain, the best source of water in the area according to the locals she'd queried. Demeter's temple, Gabrielle realized when she arrived and took note of the offerings of fresh fruits and vegetables covering every available flat surface.
"I'm not a kid any more," she grumbled under her breath, dunking one of the water skins into the fountain with an annoyed, forceful splash. "You'd think she would know that."
Five of them!" she burst out. "She could have handled four and I would have been happy with just one. But no, no, she had to take them all."
"It is hard to shed your perceptions of a person." Ares sounded surprisingly sympathetic; as much of a thing as he'd always had for Xena, she hadn't expected him to take her side.
But no, it was just Ares being his usual devious self, she decided, and turned away to pull the sai back out of the melon. "I'm tired of it."
Ares's gaze flicked down toward the weapon in her hand. "Notice you're getting pretty good with those."
Gabrielle shrugged and turned it over in her fingers a few times. "At least someone noticed." She bent to slide it back into her boot lacings, going on, "So Xena doesn't appreciate that I've been practicing. It's --"
He was gone by the time she straightened up again. Typical; Gabrielle waited a few seconds, then reached into the fountain to retrieve the water skins when nothing further happened.
Nothing until a pair of throwing knives whistled through the air toward her and split both skins, splashing water all over Gabrielle's boots. She looked up just in time to see a woman leap off the top of the wall with a somersault and a battle cry, then land in front of her gripping a spear. Sword strapped to her back, leather armor, far too eager predatory look on her face -- not hard to tell who this woman must have chosen for a role model.
"Who are you?" Good question to start with.
"The name is Mavican. I'm looking for Xena."
Just once, Gabrielle couldn't help wondering, couldn't the latest attacker be looking for her instead? "What do you want with her?" Okay, so that came out a bit petulant.
"I wanna kill her," Mavican replied as if it were the most obvious answer in the world . . . which it was. Her predatory smile turned just a little more dangerous. "And I understand that killing you is the best way to meet her."
Mavican raised the spear, and Gabrielle decided that she really needed to be careful what she wished for. This would be simple enough; it was incredibly easy to read exactly where Mavican intended to throw that spear, and Gabrielle was already thinking past that to what her own move would be.
Not that she had a chance to react, though; speaking of predictable, Xena and that increasingly pesky trouble sense of hers came somersaulting into the fray, intercepting the spear before it could get to Gabrielle and snapping it in two.
Really not helping Gabrielle's case of irritation, so the second there was a lull in the fighting she snapped, "Xena, I had her!"
"Yeah, yeah," Xena replied dismissively, and kept herself between Gabrielle and Mavican as if, once again, Gabrielle were some defenseless bystander. When Mavican sent a flurry of those stupid little throwing knives at them Xena batted them away with her sword and with contemptuous ease and then, of course, had to show off her new chakram's trick of splitting itself in two in midair, flying in separate directions, then rejoining before she caught it.
It was a lot of cacophony and destruction for a temple courtyard, with the flying projectiles and all. It was exactly the sort of thing to get a god's attention --
"Hey, just stop it! Stop it right now!" That wasn't Demeter. It was, however, Ares, looking incredibly displeased as he demanded, "What in the name of, well, me do you think you're doing?"
"Getting your attention." Thank you for stating the obvious, Mavican.
"By destroying Demeter's temple? No. See, destroying temples in the name of other gods: we just don't do it," Ares growled.
Mavican was apparently undeterred by his anger. "Who cares about her? I'll destroy a thousand of her temples if I have to." Gabrielle could already tell that this was not likely to end well. But their new friend was irritating enough that she was morbidly curious as to how exactly it wasn't going to end well.
"Told you I was good," Mavican continued, jutting her chin out at Xena. "Tell him how good I am!"
Was she actually serious? Intent, at least, she was definitely that: she didn't even seem to notice the implication when Xena gave her a supremely sardonic look and drawled, "Good enough to die young. What's this all about, Ares?"
He held his hands up. "Oh, she's not my idea. She's just some hothead I picked up for a little, uh, diversion. Now she thinks she's my right hand girl."
Like Xena had been, years ago; well, that explained why Mavican was so fixated on killing her.
Mavican pointed her sword at Ares and pressed, "You know, Ares, your problem is that you don't see potential. You're still hung up on what you had and lost: Xena." Okay, Gabrielle had to admit she might have a point there. "Well, I'm here to tell you: there's better."
There, she most definitely did not have a point.
Except that Ares actually seemed to be considering it.
"Well, now, she does have a point." Ugh. "I have been considering your, ah, successor for quite some time," he replied -- addressing Xena the whole time, and Gabrielle couldn't help getting some petty bit of satisfaction out of that. "You wanna take her on? Okay. Let's take this where we can't do any harm."
Ares did look deliberately from Xena to Mavican now, and raised one hand to make a twisting gesture in midair -- Gabrielle recognized that one. It was the same thing he'd done to create the portal that had sent her to Fandom for the first time.
Oh, this wasn't good.
"All right, listen up: the rules are simple!" he yelled over the sudden howling of wind, as the vortex at the center of the portal started to suck everything in. He pointed at Mavican. "You kill Xena, you win. I bring you back here. Xena -- it's a little more difficult. You kill Mavican? You win. And you stay right where you are."
Wait, what?
"That's not fair," Gabrielle protested.
"Oh?" Ares looked squarely at her and smirked. "You're going too, Gabrielle. Of course, if anyone wants my help, all she's gotta do is call."
Mavican was really too one-track-minded to think there was anything wrong with this scenario, because she whooped and dove headfirst into the portal. "Come on, Xena -- don't disappoint me!"
The winds had picked up enough by now that Gabrielle had to hang on to Xena to keep from getting sucked in.
"Ares, we're not playing your little game," Xena snapped.
Because that ever deterred him. "I didn't ask if you wanted a choice," he answered smoothly. "Maybe she's got a point. Is there someone better than you? Don't you think I've waited long enough to find out?"
Gabrielle felt her grip on Xena's leathers slipping, and yelped, "No!"
"Hold on," she heard Xena yell back, but distantly. And futilely, as it turned out, because the portal had pulled Gabrielle in before Xena even had time to reach out and make a grab for her.
[OOC: NFI/NFB/OOC-okay, as these canon catchup things go. Dialogue from Xena: Warrior Princess 5x03, "Succession," and to be continued. I'd like to congratulate this episode for actually managing to introduce a guest character that even I couldn't stand. I mean, wow, that takes some doing.]
But no. Xena insisted on taking on most of the attackers they inevitably ran across all by herself, maybe leaving one or two stragglers for Gabrielle, and even then she kept butting in when Gabrielle was doing just fine. That might not have been the case back when she was still fighting with a staff and not terribly confident in her abilities, but she'd been younger then, and different. She'd always thought it was touching the way Xena looked out for her during a fight, but now it was actually kind of annoying.
She was still mad about the latest incident several hours later, so when they came across the next town on the road she left the job of resupplying to Xena and took it upon herself to refill their water bottles. There was a temple on the edge of town with a fountain, the best source of water in the area according to the locals she'd queried. Demeter's temple, Gabrielle realized when she arrived and took note of the offerings of fresh fruits and vegetables covering every available flat surface.
"I'm not a kid any more," she grumbled under her breath, dunking one of the water skins into the fountain with an annoyed, forceful splash. "You'd think she would know that."
Five of them!" she burst out. "She could have handled four and I would have been happy with just one. But no, no, she had to take them all."
"It is hard to shed your perceptions of a person." Ares sounded surprisingly sympathetic; as much of a thing as he'd always had for Xena, she hadn't expected him to take her side.
But no, it was just Ares being his usual devious self, she decided, and turned away to pull the sai back out of the melon. "I'm tired of it."
Ares's gaze flicked down toward the weapon in her hand. "Notice you're getting pretty good with those."
Gabrielle shrugged and turned it over in her fingers a few times. "At least someone noticed." She bent to slide it back into her boot lacings, going on, "So Xena doesn't appreciate that I've been practicing. It's --"
He was gone by the time she straightened up again. Typical; Gabrielle waited a few seconds, then reached into the fountain to retrieve the water skins when nothing further happened.
Nothing until a pair of throwing knives whistled through the air toward her and split both skins, splashing water all over Gabrielle's boots. She looked up just in time to see a woman leap off the top of the wall with a somersault and a battle cry, then land in front of her gripping a spear. Sword strapped to her back, leather armor, far too eager predatory look on her face -- not hard to tell who this woman must have chosen for a role model.
"Who are you?" Good question to start with.
"The name is Mavican. I'm looking for Xena."
Just once, Gabrielle couldn't help wondering, couldn't the latest attacker be looking for her instead? "What do you want with her?" Okay, so that came out a bit petulant.
"I wanna kill her," Mavican replied as if it were the most obvious answer in the world . . . which it was. Her predatory smile turned just a little more dangerous. "And I understand that killing you is the best way to meet her."
Mavican raised the spear, and Gabrielle decided that she really needed to be careful what she wished for. This would be simple enough; it was incredibly easy to read exactly where Mavican intended to throw that spear, and Gabrielle was already thinking past that to what her own move would be.
Not that she had a chance to react, though; speaking of predictable, Xena and that increasingly pesky trouble sense of hers came somersaulting into the fray, intercepting the spear before it could get to Gabrielle and snapping it in two.
Really not helping Gabrielle's case of irritation, so the second there was a lull in the fighting she snapped, "Xena, I had her!"
"Yeah, yeah," Xena replied dismissively, and kept herself between Gabrielle and Mavican as if, once again, Gabrielle were some defenseless bystander. When Mavican sent a flurry of those stupid little throwing knives at them Xena batted them away with her sword and with contemptuous ease and then, of course, had to show off her new chakram's trick of splitting itself in two in midair, flying in separate directions, then rejoining before she caught it.
It was a lot of cacophony and destruction for a temple courtyard, with the flying projectiles and all. It was exactly the sort of thing to get a god's attention --
"Hey, just stop it! Stop it right now!" That wasn't Demeter. It was, however, Ares, looking incredibly displeased as he demanded, "What in the name of, well, me do you think you're doing?"
"Getting your attention." Thank you for stating the obvious, Mavican.
"By destroying Demeter's temple? No. See, destroying temples in the name of other gods: we just don't do it," Ares growled.
Mavican was apparently undeterred by his anger. "Who cares about her? I'll destroy a thousand of her temples if I have to." Gabrielle could already tell that this was not likely to end well. But their new friend was irritating enough that she was morbidly curious as to how exactly it wasn't going to end well.
"Told you I was good," Mavican continued, jutting her chin out at Xena. "Tell him how good I am!"
Was she actually serious? Intent, at least, she was definitely that: she didn't even seem to notice the implication when Xena gave her a supremely sardonic look and drawled, "Good enough to die young. What's this all about, Ares?"
He held his hands up. "Oh, she's not my idea. She's just some hothead I picked up for a little, uh, diversion. Now she thinks she's my right hand girl."
Like Xena had been, years ago; well, that explained why Mavican was so fixated on killing her.
Mavican pointed her sword at Ares and pressed, "You know, Ares, your problem is that you don't see potential. You're still hung up on what you had and lost: Xena." Okay, Gabrielle had to admit she might have a point there. "Well, I'm here to tell you: there's better."
There, she most definitely did not have a point.
Except that Ares actually seemed to be considering it.
"Well, now, she does have a point." Ugh. "I have been considering your, ah, successor for quite some time," he replied -- addressing Xena the whole time, and Gabrielle couldn't help getting some petty bit of satisfaction out of that. "You wanna take her on? Okay. Let's take this where we can't do any harm."
Ares did look deliberately from Xena to Mavican now, and raised one hand to make a twisting gesture in midair -- Gabrielle recognized that one. It was the same thing he'd done to create the portal that had sent her to Fandom for the first time.
Oh, this wasn't good.
"All right, listen up: the rules are simple!" he yelled over the sudden howling of wind, as the vortex at the center of the portal started to suck everything in. He pointed at Mavican. "You kill Xena, you win. I bring you back here. Xena -- it's a little more difficult. You kill Mavican? You win. And you stay right where you are."
Wait, what?
"That's not fair," Gabrielle protested.
"Oh?" Ares looked squarely at her and smirked. "You're going too, Gabrielle. Of course, if anyone wants my help, all she's gotta do is call."
Mavican was really too one-track-minded to think there was anything wrong with this scenario, because she whooped and dove headfirst into the portal. "Come on, Xena -- don't disappoint me!"
The winds had picked up enough by now that Gabrielle had to hang on to Xena to keep from getting sucked in.
"Ares, we're not playing your little game," Xena snapped.
Because that ever deterred him. "I didn't ask if you wanted a choice," he answered smoothly. "Maybe she's got a point. Is there someone better than you? Don't you think I've waited long enough to find out?"
Gabrielle felt her grip on Xena's leathers slipping, and yelped, "No!"
"Hold on," she heard Xena yell back, but distantly. And futilely, as it turned out, because the portal had pulled Gabrielle in before Xena even had time to reach out and make a grab for her.
[OOC: NFI/NFB/OOC-okay, as these canon catchup things go. Dialogue from Xena: Warrior Princess 5x03, "Succession," and to be continued. I'd like to congratulate this episode for actually managing to introduce a guest character that even I couldn't stand. I mean, wow, that takes some doing.]