<span style="font-family:Pontano Sans">Somehow or another, when Mabel had decided to venture down to the cells to search for her brother, she had never considered how terrifying it might be to be among men who probably hadn’t had a woman within their grasp in the longest time. They were slaves, after all. It wasn’t as though their owners ever considered the thought that they might want a woman at all; a slave wasn’t entitled to anything by many accounts. That truth struck her hard and dead in the chest, though, the moment she caught a glimpse of the eyes of the man who’d first answered her; Mabel could not escape it any longer. <br/>
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For the first time in her entire life, Mabel felt disgusting in her own body and the reason why she felt that way was because of a man’s eyes. It didn’t make any sense. There was no logic to it. It happened, though. Her whole body squirmed as though she wanted to escape her own skin because in that moment, she did. <br/>
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In that strange new sensation, the feeling of hands reaching out to land on her shoulder - no matter how gentle they might have been - was entirely unwelcome and unwanted. Mabel let out another screech of fear as she felt Elias’s hand, not only because it was unwanted, but because she also hadn’t realized that there was a man in the cell behind her. Mabel had been too distracted to realize anything like that. Her whole body jerked away from him and she turned so that her back was facing the other gladiator simply because it seemed important for her to see this new person. The expression on her face was definitely not a friendly one and her hand reached up to rub her shoulder where his hand had been as though she was afraid there might be something new there. <br/>
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“He’s not my <i>man</i>,” Mabel managed to voice softly. She was still obviously terrified of where she had found herself, though, and a fear like that wasn’t going to be easy to wipe away. “He’s my little brother. He doesn’t belong here. He belongs with my family.” Each objection she made grew quieter, though, softer and less certain. That was because despite what she said, the higher ups could take who they wanted and she knew it. She knew that despite how it <i>should</i> be, it wasn’t that way at all. <br/>
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Those higher ups had seen her father’s successes. They had seen his successes and they’d freed him for a purpose although even Mabel wouldn’t know that. They’d freed him so that he would have a son, so that they could use that son in hopes that he’d live up to his father’s legacy. And then they had pulled both father and son back into their clutches. However, when Markel had lacked any obvious talent, they’d decided to send him to the smaller circles. Maybe a bit of time there would spark something, would wake up the beast that they presumed his father would’ve passed down to him. All the while they kept his father in the higher rings, fighting for nobility, putting on a show for them, and all the while leaving Mabel and her mother with no hope at all of knowing what it meant to be family. They had no reason to care about two women, after all. <br/>
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“What do you mean that there might still be hope, though?” Mabel had to ask it eventually. <br/>
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A growl escaped from behind her and Mabel jumped near violently. She wasn’t safe to stand with her back to the other slave any longer as she felt his spit hit her back, Her whole body cringed forward and she nearly collapsed in tears. She just wanted her brother back. She hadn’t wanted any of this. “There’s never hope her, <i>girl</i>! He’s probably dead already. The little <i>boy</i> was pathetic.”</span>