QUOTE : I moved back toward those deceptively safe red curtains, and tugged a string to let my cloak fall to the stone floor. Under it, I wore a laced outfit of thin, black strips that left my backside gloriously bare from ears to thighs. There was silence for nearly a full second. It allowed the cameras to zoom in on my scars. I’d been shot, stabbed, bitten, and beaten for years, and I was covered in proof of it. “Wow. That might boost her ranking enough to start the competition with both food and medical credits! Will you look at those scars! Oh! Nice tattoos!” The aroused crowd cheered wildly as I turned to face them, revealing a front view that spider-webbed over my body in a tan glow. I appeared almost nude, except for my weapons that gleamed like deadly jewels and the ink that crossed my back and front.