"You ever done this before?" Aries asked, as they strolled into the dark space. Even with the flashlight, it was dim--the meat carcasses hanging up around them were just thin shapes in the low light.

"Broke in a fighter? Naw. I seen it done, though," Kei added, smirking and tapping his head. "It's all psychological, yeah?"

He aimed the light, and it fell suddenly on the slightly bent-over figure of Hawk, who was standing silently in the darkness. Hawk flinched as the harsh light hit him full in the face.

He was standing, but his wrists were bound together and then to a ring on the floor on a short rope, short enough that at the distance he'd moved from the ring he had to hunch slightly. A thick leather band inset with a series of simple, glowing crimson runes was clasped around his throat, and another band wrapped twice around beneath his ribcage, pinning his wings tightly to his back. The yellow shirt and jeans he wore had gotten threadbare in some places, and torn in others; a watery smattering of blood had stained the front of his shirt. As Kei and Aries approached, Hawk squinted at them sidelong, clenching his teeth on the gag in his mouth.

"He's a real pain in the ass, but he's startin' ta be afraid of me, see?" Kei sauntered over to Hawk, who almost unconsciously tried to step back, but the rope binding his wrists pulled him up short. "I figure he'd make for a real showy fighter with them wings. And he learns quick. Every beast I've thrown at him, he's figured out a way to overpower 'em. He'd be a real crowdpleaser."

Aries said nothing. Kei hooked his fingers under the band around Hawk's throat and put his horribly grinning face right up to Hawk's--Hawk leaned as far away from him as possible, avoiding Kei's gaze. "Can't even look me in the eye, though, can he."

Hawk's eyes fell instead on Aries, who merely stared at him for a long moment, studying his face. There wasn't a lot of fear in Hawk's expression, but there was plenty of anger.

Aries shifted slightly and glanced up at Kei. "I'll give you meat-price for him," he said, flatly.