07-20-2017, 12:34 PM
Quote:Crash this for a revival (or any other reason) if you want. Dane's heading off straight towards Tearen's thing though, so don't interract with him this time unless you're following me (just PM me first or something).
On another note: Clownpiece you traitor! You told Dane we'd meet back at the Nexus, but then go off partying at the beach with Cirno. If I don't get an apology, I will deck your face so hard it ends up at the Oververse.
Dane stretched, stumbling forwards out of the fountain into the familiar dull Nexus light. He'd died. How, his brain couldn't quite recall, but he assumed it was probably the lightning dude or alien dude who caused it. He also contemplated that he should probably start learning people's names.
Death wasn't so bad, in hindsight. At least assuming what happened to Dane could be called death, he was alive now after all. Even if some time had passed. That said, his lack of memory concerning the specific event was concerning. He didn't feel like there was a large gap, but he'd have liked to know if there was anything he could have done to prevent it (outside of obviously not entering the competition). Dane wanted to learn, to improve. Even if he was primarily self-taught, watching others fight was very useful once he'd reached the level of skill required to properly observe. On the topic of knowledge and learning, his last un-faded memory consisted of a mental battle with some strange alien-like creature. Rather than being faded like everything else, there was just a big gap regarding the actual contents of said battle. Dane had the instinct that there was knowledge involved, but he couldn't recall any of it. It was frustrating.
Looking around, he saw a few people mingling near the fountain, but no one of immediate interest. Seeing any of his opponents revive at the same time as him would have definitely been fun, to say the least. There was also no sign of Cepheya, but Dane thought he told her to meet him in Camelot. Or not. His mind was still a bit fuzzy so it was hard to recall. Clownpiece, however, did tell him to meet her here. So he figured he'd oblige with that request for now as he idly and aimlessly walked about.
What to do... what to do...?
Wandering around was boring, and Dane didn't have a copy of his research notes to help pass the time. Those were all with Cepheya, but if he left to go find her then he ran the risk of missing Clownpiece. He wasn't sure how long people stayed dead for, but he presumed the time wasn't very fluid - at least while you had a will to continue. Although, Omni (assuming he was in control of, or at least devised, the recreation process) did seem the patient type.
This was also further evidence to support Dane's hypothesis that everyone here was actually a clone. After all, his body, brain and entire being had likely been destroyed. Yet here he was. Maybe the foggy memory was even due to him being an imperfect copy, although when he initially came here that eventually wore off - so he doubted that. Omni probably had the power to create an exact (or near enough) replica of someone.
Not that being a clone mattered to Dane. As far as he was concerned, the specific arrangement of atoms was him. It was like crossing out a number and rewriting it. In doing so, the number doesn't change. Fifty-seven would still be fifty-seven, just written in a different place. No properties of it would be changed. Both fifty-sevens would still be semiprimes, having three and nineteen as their pair of prime factors. And so on. Most people would probably assert that clones and duplicate numbers were different things, to which Dane would point to multiple copies of the same book. If a book is rewritten word for word, and the old copy destroyed, the story isn't going to suddenly change.
Potential identity crisis aside, Dane needed something to actually do. And he didn't feel like intruding in the spaces of the other groups. Eventually, Dane settled on the idea of experimenting with some technology. After maintaining focus for a few minutes, a near copy of one of the Dante's Abyss tablets appeared in Dane's hand - formed from the Omnilium. It frustrated him to no end that he didn't understand the mechanism. Generally, it seemed all you need to do to summon something was to understand its purpose, functions, and have an appearance. Although some inherent properties would always be present depending on how it looked. Simply wanting something to be metal would likely make it shine and reflect light even if you didn't specifically specify that, for example.
Omnilium was useful, strange, and interesting. Dane's hypothesis regarding it was that Omni controlled it in some way, and had a very expansive set of knowledge to use to assist in the creation of something as long as you knew what you wanted to do. Or maybe the Omnilium itself was intelligent in some way. At this point, Dane was mulling over a variety of thoughts while poking at the smooth screen of the device. Anything to kill time and be at least slightly productive.
Clicking on some icons, Dane found a 'Dataverse' app that seemed to link to a variety of news and message boards as well as some other sites and possible places of information. It didn't take too long for him to find a replay of his last fight along with some other DA statistics. Fifteenth place out of thirty-three. That was pretty good. Especially considering he'd only been in the Omniverse for two weeks. Even if he was a bit of a coward (or self-preserving). Generally though, even after seeing his death on camera, which felt strange but not much so, he didn't think there was a lot more he could do. Not in a four-way fight where one person had a dragon and another could just fly and solely attack him from the air. His stealth abilities he practised prior came in very useful though. His general conclusion was that he actually lost outside of the fights. If he didn't join the first battle, he would have probably survived until the end and achieved a better place on the score boards. Cirno and Clownpiece were OK but too impulsive. Although Clownpiece was probably the better of the two, he thought.
He shrugged, no use dwelling on the past. Really, his best bet to win next year was to develop some more diverse combat abilities. Such as ranged potential. He did know how to use a bow, so it may have been worth getting one some time. Entertaining the thought, he started scrolling through some recent posts.
A Digital Invitation to all Denizens, read the title of one post. It seemed to be written by the same guy who won the fight Dane was in, so he figured it was probably worth attending. The dude had a large resume and seemed to have been in the Omniverse for a while, at least a while longer than Dane. Also, interestingly, Clownpiece died sometime before him, which probably meant she didn't actually stay to wait for him or was still dead. Most likely the former, but with the later, he had no idea if she'd come back anytime soon. It was likely, given Clownpiece's liveliness, she simply got bored of even forgot. With that in mind, Dane set off towards Tearen Wover's location - the Tangled Green - while continuing to read through the message.