Thanos nods.

"My son, Ebony Maw, cannot be replaced. Nor can any child I've lost before him, nor could be any child I may lose hence."

"Proxima isn't wrong in her feelings, but I expect better from her in terms of behavior."

"I- understand," she says quietly, not sure what else there is to say to that.

(Renewed activity by the other occupants of the room brings into focus just how little there was a moment ago. Promixa wasn't the only one who froze up when Thanos raised his voice. Cull had ceased all rumbling, Corvus shrank back, and Gamora--who'd been moving to Grim's side when her sister drew that blade--went still as a statue)

Cull Obsidian shuffles awkwardly up to Grim (he has to stoop to traverse the infirmary) and starts to offer her his hand.

He pauses, glances at Thanos, then looks back to her. He gives an inquisitive rumble that seems directed as much at his father as towards his new sister.

"Yes, go ahead."

When Thanos gives his blessing, Grim moves forward to take the half offered hand, rising to her feet. She's steady now, her body moving only as quickly as she tells it to.

To the sparring ring!

A happy Cull Obsidian leads the way back to the gymnasium, waits for Grim to enter the central pit and then leaps down to the far side of it.

"1,000 credits say she goes the distance this time."

"I'll take those odds."

Tasteful cackle.

She's still at a massive disadvantage, and she knows it. That's not a reason not to try. She's going to have speed over him, and she's going to have to use that if she wants to stand any chance. Not that that's going to be easy in confined spaces.

Cull launches into action suddenly, a transition from stillness to motion that would catch a lot of opponents off-guard (though nothing he'd expect to phase Grim, or any of his other battle-hardened siblings for that matter). He vaults bodily over one of the low obstacles near the center of the pit, and then comes in swinging.

Grim recognizes his opening combination of hooks and jabs as one he's practiced with her at great length. They come out pretty fast, but their angles are predictable.

His followup move are similarly telegraphed, trivially easy for his opponent to duck and weave around with her newly augmented speed.

Is he just fiddling around with her?

Yes, actually.

This is a big day for his new sister, and Cull just wants her to feel like she's doing well.

She's aware he's playing with her, but doesn't doubt that she'll be flat within two minutes of him stopping that.

She's not sure if she's irritated by it, or just feeling overwhelmingly fond that Cull cares enough to try and make her feel like she's doing well.

Still, she doesn't try any less for knowing that, if anything, it spurs her to try harder, move faster. She's good at reading people when they're fighting, at their moves, but she's up against someone at least as well trained as her, most likely better. It doesn't mean she isn't going to keep trying.

Cull soaks up blow after blow, completely impervious to Grim's unarmed attacks against his heavily fortified body.

She does manage to stagger him momentarily with a discharge-amped blow to the head though, which is neat! She's never actually made Cull flinch before!

He gets serious after that. Not because he's angry, mind, or threatened. Just because he feels content that his sister has had the moment of triumph that she's entitled to and everything from this point forward ought to get back to the regularly scheduled Cull Obsidian Smackdown Show.

Cull starts throwing out feints, and alternates on the offense between harder-to-recognize fast techniques and harder-to-dodge sweeping techniques. As Grim dances back from said sweeps, he maneuvers to force her to contend with the arena's walls or the uneven terrain in its center.

They've both been trained for combat from birth, and Grim's actually a bit older than him, but Cull's martial scholarship has emphasized close combat far more extensively and that specialization shows.

But at the two-minute mark of the contest, he still hasn't landed a solid hit on her. Grim's solid defensive footwork and lightning-quick evasion have given Cull a surprising amount of trouble. By any judge's metric, Grim would be 'ahead on points' right now.

She doesn't let her guard down, even if plenty of others would become complacent in her position.

Still, the cybertech is new to her, even if she's doing remarkably well at controlling her body, she's bound to misjudge something somewhere.

Thoughtful rumble!

Cull has figured out why Grim gives him so much trouble. Before they started sparring, he hadn't fought just one person in so long.

He's been specialized in groups--battling planetary armies for local-population-reduction-charity, that kind of thing.

You use different moves when you're fighting half a dozen people, than when you only have to be worried about one.

And then, yes, she does make a mistake, her body moves slightly faster than she was anticipating, leaving her off-balance, and trying to recover before Cull can take advantage of it.

He takes advantage.

His opponent can only be as nimble as friction/leverage allows, and so when he notices Grim lose her grip on the battlefield momentarily he hastens to intercept her before gravity brings her back into firm contact with it.

It ends up being a pretty awkward lunge--he has to check his current momentum, hurtle his whole body sidelong and then snake his arm out at a less-than-ideal angle--but even a glancing impact from someone as hard and heavy as Cull could prove bone-breaking to a human-sized target.

She doesn't quite successfully pivot away from that, moves with the impact rather than against it, trying to minimise damage, and when she hits the floor, she holds her hands up in surrender.

Triumphant rumble!

Gets up, brushes himself off, flexes for the crowd.

Turns back to Grim and, if she's still on the ground, helps her back to her feet.

(To Gamora)

"Heh. Pay up."

She does.

(It's not like the piles of $Units$ that Thanos' children stash away are good for much besides gambling)

Thanos stands at the edge of the sparring pit.

"You both did very well." He smiles warmly. "Grim, let's get you some rest."

He won't know for another few days whether the initial augmentations were enough to bring Grim up to par--she'll need a while to acclimate, to feel out her full potential.

If it turns out she still isn't at his other children's level? He'll just upgrade her again. No bother, he's got time and tech to spare.

She lets Cull help her to her feet, still smiling despite her defeat - and if her smile widens at Thanos' words, at the warm feeling of pride they bring, that's her business.

She nods to him - rest does sound good, and she'd like as good a rest as she can ever get before she tries to see exactly what these augments have done to her abilities.

With the show over, its audience and its participants disperse. Corvus ducks into his room across the hall, Thanos takes an elevator to the command level, Gamora and Cull head for the nearest cafeteria.

Grim gets to walk back to her own bedroom, unescorted. It probably still feels a little weird.

When she arrives, she notes several objects out of place.

It seems her quarters got rummaged through a second time, probably last night while she slept in the infirmary?

...Well. She'll check around the- her room again, not overly concerned, more curious, but still.