☀️ Arselia and Akonia

- But whose is he then?..

- If I knew! He was one of the volunteers helping us build the arena. But he interfered with the entire work process, - Beata snorted. - If it weren't for the fact that he left before my patience ran out, I would have kicked him out.

- Shhh... - A large, one-eyed snake silently coiled around Beata. - Sssshhh!
- This is Soul Eater, - the trainer stroked the animal on the head, - a stray harpy once tore out his eye, but he still performs well.

By reflex, Beata almost strangled the one-eyed snake, but she managed to restrain herself, freezing in place - it wouldn't be good if she harmed the performer. However, she still flinched a little from the surprise. - Nice to meet you, Soul Eater, - she muttered, looking at the creature, and then turned to the trainer. - Excellent! I think this is a great option, a very successful compromise between spectacle and safety within the budget!
"Large snakes are rarely poisonous, and if he's full, he shouldn't be too aggressive." Beata gently stroked the animal on its body, not approaching its head - they weren't close enough to allow such familiarity.

Meanwhile, Laikos was relatively successfully performing tricks according to Beata's instructions.

"He really is a good performer. It's time to follow his example and focus on rehearsals." - Okay, now that everyone is here, let's start slowly. Soul Eater, can you let me go, please? I'm going to be running and jumping a lot, and you won't like it. I dream of getting a snake, by the way, maybe a mousy one. Probably not a one-eyed one, though. But since I learned that snakes can be fed frozen mice instead of live ones, the last bastion holding me back from this has collapsed.