This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/KamchatkasRevenge on 2025-12-10 22:32:50+00:00.

Joan 

The base camp for this little shindig is packed, even at this early hour. 

A decent group from the ship's crew had come, including Zraloc and a few of the Crimsonhewers; interestingly, Chaisa Rauxtim had made a point of attending both the previous evening's sendoff and the actual match, despite not having given much impression of being particularly interested in combat sports. Of course, she’s very interested in one particular participant. Joan had seen her giving Jerry some sort of token after the formal part of last night's shindig, just before the commandos had slipped off. 

All of it was a wonderful distraction as Joan continued to duck and dodge Sister Catherine and the ship’s new Catholic mission. It had made for some rather uncomfortable moments, with Joan managing to avoid taking the ancient holy relic ‘Cathy’ earnestly said belonged to her. Luckily, the enthusiastic sister of one of the major Human Gods was nowhere to be seen this morning so she could enjoy the match and the accommodations in peace.

The pavilion is huge, and very comfortable indeed. Which was good considering it was packed to the brim with people. More civilians than Joan had been expecting too… including more than a few Cannidor women that Joan didn’t recognize with all manner of people who hadn’t had any Cannidor in their families previously, such as Colonel Forsythe’s wives… and not even half of those Cannidor ladies were wearing the types of clothing preferred by the warrior caste on the homeworld, which was interesting too.  

The pavilion had bench seating around tables for large groups, clusters of cushioned ‘couches’ and comfortable chairs with small tables to host snacks, drinks or similar refreshments. Most of it was here normally so far as Joan could tell but had clearly been cleaned and spruced up to ensure the best possible presentation.

While it was a bit early in the day for booze there’s plenty of breakfast available and promises of further meals and refreshments in case the match goes all day… and a proper feast at the end even if it doesn't. The food was absolutely top quality and the security was done up to the nines as well to ensure the warriors in particular could relax. It made sense though, with the stakes high and this whole thing very much being a political circus, the Head Clan was making a show of their own hospitality. 

That said, as far as Joan knows, the gamblers that actually know what a Human is, and how Humans fight, had put their chips on things being decided either overnight or very quickly around dawn. 

Clearly, the latter camp had been right. Which was convenient as Joan, her sisters, and the cadets had all thrown credits down on just that. Sure, letting teenage girls gamble might not be the most responsible call ever made, but considering the girls had all just won themselves some decent pocket money to buy supplies for their first deep space tour, Joan figures it broke even. 

As the pavilion erupts into an absolute cacophony all around her, Joan resists cheering along with the cadets, her charges for the day, along with her sisters, Enrika and Lursa. She stays reasonably disciplined, all told, as she watches her father burn Khan Halgret's actuators with warfire, locking her in place on her knees before forcing her to yield instead of 'killing' her. 

She wants to cheer, of course, but it'd potentially be undignified, and she’s the senior warrior in the family present besides Zraloc and Mother Wichen -who has other things on her mind, it seems.

The Feli woman’s hard at work on an armored gauntlet from one of the new cadets’ hard suits. The design’s getting special attention for Wichen because she wants it to be able to grow with the girls without having any weaknesses, a feat of engineering that’s... a lot, when one considers how much growing the cadets still have to do. 

Mind you, Mother Wichen, seemingly utterly engrossed in her work, is paying enough attention to glance up at the screen at the climax of the fight, grin wickedly, and let out a laugh. "Hah. That'll learn her." 

So maybe Joan and Zraloc are the only ones on their best behavior.

The cadets are much more vocally enthusiastic, with Anika in particular actually standing on her chair; the younger girls, joined by Makula, Enrika and Khutulun, and a great many more of the Cannidor who were watching, are all making an even more absolute fuss. A good old-fashioned beat down is always a crowd pleaser at this sort of thing, even without actually spilling blood. 

There was some confusion, concern, consternation even from some quarters if Joan actually focused her hearing. A reevaluation of Humans was clearly due for a decent chunk of the warrior caste, for not only had they stood up against what was clearly a superior force on paper, they had soundly defeated their enemy even before their Khan had delivered the coup de grace in single combat. 

The way Joan saw it, this meant the Undaunted and Humanity were going to be getting more friends among the Cannidor in a hurry. They’d been impressive before, an Apex species who were as eager to adopt power armor as Cannidor warriors were to use it, but now? Now it had been made clear that Human warriors could equal Cannidor warriors, using only the weapons and martial traditions of their homeworld. 

Without axiom. 

One voice, however, is most certainly not happy. A Cannidor woman leaps to her feet shouting, "This is an outrage! This disgrace will not stand!" 

Joan would have been willing to bet that this is one of Khan Halgret's daughters, and the woman confirms it by storming over to the watching Undaunted. "You! Any of you! Your Khan has shamed my house and my mother! I demand restitution! One of you duel me, damn it!" 

Joan arches an eyebrow, then suppresses a grin as she waves her sisters down, turning to Wichen and grabbing the cadet’s gauntlet. 

"Mind if I borrow this?"

"...Sure?" Wichen says, curious and paying attention as she realizes some ranting madwoman is actually threatening them. 

Joan gets up and walks over to the daughter of Halgret.

"I am Joan of Bridger. In my father and Khan's name, I'll tan your hide like you're apparently begging for."

"You accept my challenge, then?" the woman all but shouts, turning to face Joan, clearly absolutely furious.

"In the Human manner, I accept."

"In the Human man-"

Joan takes up the gauntlet in her right hand and slaps the daughter of the Halgret hard across the muzzle with it.

"That is the Human way to accept a duel."

It’s generally done with a glove, of course, but what’s a gauntlet if not a glove?

The Daughter of Halgret - who still hasn't bothered to introduce herself - rubs her now sore jaw and spits out a few teeth, before snarling at Joan. "Any more Human rules I need to know about before I send you back to your thrice-damned father in a bodybag?"

"Duel to submission, then? Alright. What's humiliating one more Halgret today? Come on, wretch, at least have the discipline to make it to the squared circle before attacking like the poorly bred mongrel you clearly are." 

Joan tosses the gauntlet to one of her sisters and turns to walk out towards one of the dueling pits, keeping her tail positioned to ensure the Halgret girl doesn't actually snap and full-on attack her while her back is turned. 

This type of place always has a few dueling pits, mostly for recreation rather than honor disputes. Good fights on the holo could get Cannidor overly excited, and a little violence while watching violence is generally the most efficient way to blow off steam. 

They’re nice dueling pits too, sunk into the ground but with plenty of room for two full grown Cannidor to brawl to their heart's content.

"Weapons? Or we doing this bare handed?"

"Claws and fangs in the old way!"

"Your funeral," Joan says, smirking as she turns at the far end of the dueling circle and offers the other woman the most casual bow and places her right fist against her left palm, a bare handed salute she'd learned from her father, Mother Aquilar and Mother Masha with all her other training. 

She'd been training with them a lot recently for more than just the Apuk leap, and there were few things that Humans or Apuk seem to like more than a good barehanded brawl. 

A deep feminine voice clears her throat at the side of one of the pits, and the shadow of Chaisa Rauxtim looms over them. "As a judge of the Primal of Justice, I shall officiate this match and render judgement upon the combatants."

The Halgret girl still hasn't introduced herself. Merely looks up at Chaisa... and nods. "The Primal of Justice? Fine. Whatever." 

Chaisa spears the other woman with a glare. "Both fighters will comport themselves under standard Cannidor rules for a barehanded match. If a fighter fails to stop on the gong or the order 'Stop', I will stop them by force. If a fighter attempts to kill or grievously injure the opponent beyond the intent of such a duel, by my goddess's will you shall regret it." 

She looks Joan in the eyes, then the other girl's; her golden orbs brook no argument and accept no dissent. As nice as she could be in the Den, Chaisa Rauxtim is a very scary woman when she’s the law incarnate. 

"Begin!" 

Sure enough, just like Joan had expected, the Halgret woman dashes at her in a low tackle. In a real fight, Joan would probably just trip her then do horrible things to her while she was on the ground, but this is a duel, and there are...

Content cut off. Read original on https://old.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/1pjgqqd/oocs_of_dog_volpir_and_man_bk_8_ch_65/