"So...uh, been here a long time?", Addilyn asked, desperate to have some form of communication.
The young man stiffened, he seemed like he wasn't expecting a conversation to start, "Yes, I was brought here when I was 7. My parents died when I was much younger and I was passed around from many foster homes. The Lin Kuei saved me from a lonely fate. I've been here ever since and will continue to serve the Grandmaster until I am no longer living".
"Wow", Addilyn thought, "That was quite the response".
Addilyn then spoke up, "Sounds like you've been through a lot. My parents aren't around anymore either. My father was kind of a "rolling stone" if you will, and my mother passed away when I was 15 from brain cancer. That's how I got into fighting. I had a lot of anger built up after my mother passed away. I hated everyone and everything. My uncle was into professional fighting. He's the one who got me into it. He told me that fighting would help me through the rough times. Wisest thing that guy has really ever said".
The young warrior in front of her began to slow down, and once Addilyn caught up to him, he stopped walking completely. He turned to her, and put his arm across his chest, fist lightly clenched, and bowed his head to her. "We have similar fates, my name is Jun", the young man said, raising back up to look at her.
It was at this point that she had gotten a better look at him. He had dark, chocolate brown eyes that were almond shaped, and his brows were thick, dark, and quite arched. The rest of his face was still covered by his ninja mask, but at the top of head where a hood covered his hair, she could see bits of black hair coming out slightly.
Addilyn slightly bowed her head back at the warrior, "Addilyn", she responded.
"It is an honor to meet you, Addilyn", the man she now knew as Jun replied.
He then offered his arm, "Allow me to properly escort you to the dining hall, Addilyn".
"Thanks, man!", Addilyn laughed, pushing her long, Auburn hair to the side, taking his arm.
They continued walking, talking about things they had been through, what they had hoped for the future and laughing occasionally at their stories. After about another 10 minutes of walking, Jun started to slow down. Turning a corner, she began to see other Lin Kuei warrior entering a huge room.
"We're here", Jun said, pushing her forward, "You go in first, the Grandmaster wishes for you to sit by him this evening. I'll show you your seat".
"Oh, he does? Umm...ok", Addilyn replied, feeling nervous again.
Walking into the dining hall, she quickly saw it was huge. There were several long tables that went around the room. Each table had many candles lit, huge chandelier's hung from the ceiling that lit up the room brightly. The tables were low to the ground, and each placement had a pillow like seat. Straight forward, passed all the other tables, was an area that resembled a chancel. It was another table, but fancier and had only a few seating placements. She assumed that the grandmaster sat up there.
Jun placed a hand on the small of her back and walked her over to the fancy table. Going up the few steps, he pointed to a seat that was near the middle of the table. "You'll sit here, the grandmaster should be here any minute", Jun said to her, turning to her and bowing. He then went off to find his own seat among the many other tables.
Addilyn looked at the seat she was shown to, the table was placed horizontally, and the seats were only on one side, looking out to the other tables down below. She felt awkward, she noticed other Lin Kuei warriors staring at her and looking at each other. She rolled her eyes, "they could at least try to be more discreet about it. They are ninja's after all, you would think they could make themselves a little less obvious", she thought to herself.
"Hmmmm", a voice behind her hummed, causing Addilyn to shoot her head over in the direction of the noise. Behind her stood a woman who seemed to be a few inches taller than her. She had very short, frosty blonde hair that was so light it looked like ice, that was styled straight up. Her eyes were an intense sapphire color, and her eyebrows were high and very arched. She had a small button like nose and a natural frown on her lips. Her outfit was a lot like Sub Zero's, except she had black like armor that covered her underneath. She looked really tough...well..mean actually.
"You must be the Addilyn girl I've heard so much about", the woman said, an unimpressed tone in her voice.
"Ehh..yea, that's me. Didn't know I was already so popular", Addilyn replied, trying to hold back any sarcasm.
The woman lightly snickered, her left eyebrow highly raised, "They call me Frost".
"Oh shit", Addilyn thought, "This is the woman Sub Zero talked about?"
Frost took her seat, leaving one sitting space between them.
The woman called Frost began to get a sly smirk on her lips, "Has the Grandmaster informed you that you will be training with me as well?"
"Yup", Addilyn replied, "That he has, and I have a feeling that you plan to train me hard as well".
Frost snickered loudly, "Hard is quite the understatement, love".
Addilyn glanced over at Frost, "Already off to a great start", she thought.
"I see you two have already made your acquaintances", A deep voice behind them said.
Turning around, she saw it was Sub Zero. With him were a few other men, who seemed to also have some sort of authority. Sub Zero took his seat, which was right in between Addilyn and Frost. The four other men, took there seats. Two men sat to the the left of Addilyn, while the other two sat to the right of Frost.
Sub Zero then looked over at Addilyn, "I trust that Jun was helpful to you?", he questioned.
Addilyn nodded, "Yea, he's a pretty cool dude".
"I'm glad you're getting along.", he replied, then turning to Frost, "And I also trust that you were welcoming with our new guest?".
Frost nodded, "Of course, Grandmaster, I would have it no other way".
Addilyn rolled her eyes harshly, she could already see where the relationship with Frost was going.
Sub Zero then turned his attention back to Addilyn, "I suppose you're hungry. I'll have you presented with your dish momentarily".
He then raised his hand, and beckoned at a man standing in the far corner of the room. He nodded towards Sub Zero and disappeared behind double doors.
Sub Zero then motioned towards the men sitting next to Addilyn, "The one next to you, he goes by the name Ming, and the one next to him is Qiang".
He then motioned to the other men by Frost, "And that is Shui and Tai, these are my best warriors. The highest ranking you can be, next to me".
The men, just like Jun, had similar features. The same uniform, only slight differences to show their rankings. They all had dark hair, and brown eyes, except for the man named Ming, who had hazel colored eyes. They simply nodded at her, and wen't back to their conversations.
Sub Zero's attention seemed fully on her, she tried her best to keep herself from getting uncomfortable. She usually was fine under situations when it came to attractive guys, but for some reason it was different with him. He was incredibly intimidating. Especially since his face held a stern, almost emotionless face for the most part. And his eyes held such a cold look, thought in a way they seemed really sad.
The man Sub Zero had nodded at, finally came through the double swinging doors, a few other men with carts followed close behind him. They wheeled over the carts to the table, and at this point Addilyn saw the tons of food that was on the carts. Bowls of rice and noodles, all different kinds of meats, dumplings, sushi, you name it. Addilyn was starving, and her mouth began to water. She had not eaten at all that day, which had proven to be a horrible idea.
The servers began taking the food and placing it on the table. Placing the bowls of rice and noodles in front of each person, and then placing the other foods randomly among the table. It all smelled amazing. The servers then brought over different choices of drinks, which were in metal looking pitchers. The servers then turned to the grandmaster, nodded, and went on there way back to what she assumed was the kitchen. Once she saw everyone else going for the food, she immediately grabbed her chop sticks and began grabbing pieces of meat and sushi and throwing them into her rice bowl. She wasted no time digging in, she was sure she caused a scene among the table, but she could have honestly cared less. She began to stuff her face in the most lady like manner she could. She heard a deep chuckle beside her, coming from none other than the Grandmaster. Looking over with the corner of her eyes, she saw that he was watching her, an amused look on his face. It was at this point that she realized he had been watching her every move, she felt her cheeks get red and her face felt intensely hot.
This only caused him to chuckle again, "I see that you were hungry", he spoke, amusement was very clear in his voice.
She thought her head was going to explode from embarrassment, "Yea...I made the foolish decision to not eat before leaving the house today", she replied, doing her best to keep her cool.
She knew it was no use trying to act like a bad ass right now, he saw right through her. He simply nodded, and picked up his bowl of noodles and began eating. She let a sigh out and relief took over. She was glad that he was focused on something else now. She forced herself to pick up her food again and eat at a normal rate, that way she wouldn't attract attention to herself again.
After a while, Addilyn was completely stuffed. She knew that she had over eaten, and her stomach felt incredibly bloated. She groaned in discomfort, but with a hint of satisfaction. She looked over at Sub Zero, who at this point was discussing something with Shui, Tai, and Frost. Not really wanting to interrupt them, she turned to the man named Ming.
"Uh...it's Ming right?", she asked.
Looking over at her, he lightly smiled and nodded, "Yes, miss Voss. That would be my name".
Addilyn awkwardly laughed, "So, will I get my head cut off if I just get up and go?".
Ming raised his brow at her, amusement played on his face. That seemed to be the only reaction she could get out of these people. " I think that the Grandmaster may let you out of this one for free".
"Cool beans", she replied, standing up. Shaking her head at herself, "Did I really just say "Cool beans?" ", she thought to herself.
She straitened her crop top out, and then quickly went to exit the dining hall. She was exhausted and wanted to get a bath and some sleep. As she walked out, she heard someone call out her name, "Hey, Addilyn!".
Looking over, she saw it was Jun. He was sitting at a table filled with Lin Kuei, a rice bowl in his hand. He had a small smile on the corner of his mouth, and one hand was raised up waving at her. She smiled back and waved, and then continued on out the door.
The walk back to her bedroom felt incredibly long. Besides the fact that these men trained all the time, they could probably stay fit with all the walking around they probably had to do. Finally, after what seemed like hours, she saw the corner that was next to her room. Turning the corner, heading straight to her door, she then felt someone grab her shoulder.
She yelped and turned around quickly, "Son of a ...Oh hey Grandmaster". There next to her, was none other than Sub Zero himself.
He lowered his eyes down to her, "Sorry for startling you, just wanted to make sure you were ok. You left in quite the hurry".
Addilyn laughed, "oh yea, I'm great! Just tired, figured I would head to bed. Besides, you seemed busy. Didn't want to bother you durring big boy talk", she joked.
Sub Zero raised his eyebrow at her, God did he look hot when he did that.
"I'm looking forward to seeing what all you can do", was his response, eyeing her down hard.
Addilyn began to chew on the inside of her cheek lightly, her nervous habit kicking in, "It should be interesting", she said.
"Yes", he replied, "I would like to see you for a private training tomorrow morning".
It was her turn to raise a brow at him now, "Oh? Ok, sounds great".
"5 A.M, I'll have someone come for you and show you to the training grounds. Do not be late. I do not find myself very fond of those who cannot stay on time. My punishments for late students are harsh, even if they are new. I suggest you stay on my good side", he advised.
Damn, this guy really was as serious as he looked. She thought he was intimidating before, but now she was really REALLY intimidated. Yet, this wasn't her first time with a tough trainer. She had spent many years and hours with some of the most intense, scary, crazy trainers. If she could handle that, she could handle anything.
She nodded at him, "Yes, Grandmaster. You can always count on me to be on time and ready to do my best for you".
He slightly squinted his eyes at her, "I trust that you will, but I would like to see it first", he continued. "I will see you in the morning, get some rest. We'll be training hard"
Addilyn laughed and fake saluted him, "Anything you say, Grandmaster".
He nodded and turned, and began walking towards the dining hall again. Addilyn turned and began to head back to her room. Right as she got to her door, she heard him say something. "Oh, and one more thing, Addilyn".
She turned, and looked over to him. He had stopped, his body was slightly turned, and he was looking right at her.
"Yes, Grandmaster?", she asked.
"When we're not on the training grounds, you can just call me Sub Zero. You don't have to be so formal so soon", he said.
Addilyn smiled, "Of course, Sub Zero".
Opening up her door, she went in, and he continued down the hall. "Man", she said aloud to herself, "I really need a hot bath".