05-28-2018, 02:48 PM
Somebody spoke to the woman, and she turned to find a short man with bright green hair, exceptionally long, pointed ears, short cropped greenish blonde hair, a small goatee of the same color, and wearing a set of crisp waste lander attire with a single wide pauldron. However, it wasn’t the man that was speaking, and instead a yellow and orange, furry animal wearing a pair of denim shorts.
She smirked in amusement. “Yo, what up little dude?”
The long, furry creature offered a photo-worthy smirk and pushed up on his goggles confidently. “Name’s Orange Lightning.” He offered a small wiggle of his eyebrows for additional emphasis. His stomach growled loudly, and his suave demeanor deflated. “I’m about to go get some food. Want something?”
The bandit grinned. “That name is amazing. Ass Kicker is what they ended up putting on my card.” She gestured to the two others that accompanied her. “Yeah, me and these guys were about to go find something. I’ve mostly just eaten stale chips and roasted desert rat my entire life, so I’m pretty stoked to try something new out.”
The man winced, "Better than what we eat out there in the Wastelands."
"We got exiled to the Wastelands a long time ago back home by some power hungry guy named Veger. He got the people to blame us,” Orange Lightning added.
The woman blinked and nodded. "That super blows. I assume in your home universe? It's pretty hard to exile anyone anywhere in the Omniverse." She turned and began making her way into the food section of the compound, the hallway stretching hundreds of feet with some sort of stall of restaurant entrance propped up every couple of yards. The scent of the place was overwhelming but pleasant, cuisines from every conceivable universe mingling in her nose. It only served to remind her that last night’s dinner had been a glass of whiskey.
The two new people walked with her, the animal scurrying up onto the man’s long shoulder piece. “Yeah, it sucks. A few friends found me out in the desert or things would have turned out bad.”
She passed by a coffee shop, casting a glance through the large glass window inside. "Well, you're here now, so at least you don't gotta worry about that shit anymore. The Omniverse is a fresh start for anybody that comes here."
The man continued. “By the way, you hear the interview on TV earlier?”
Next, a junk food stand. She’d had enough of that for a lifetime. “Nah, which interview?”
The man blinked, seemingly surprised. “I’m a veteran of this Abyss thing. They call be the Dynamite Kid and the Abyss Hero.” He gesticulated a bit, trying to clear the air of anything that might be considered bragging. "That's sort of a nickname i gained from DA 15', I took out the Rock and a few others. Fanclub."
“Ah snap!” the woman replied with genuine enthusiasm. "Grats man. I haven't been prime for super long, and my television access out in the Dunes was pretty limited. I caught a bit of a cast from Dante's Abyss 14, but I couldn't even tell you who was playing that year. I just got back from a competition in Camelot. Ranked second."
The orange animal shook his head in subtle bafflement. “Second? Amazing.”
Jak nodded. "I see. Me and Dax had been all over and been here for 4 years now. The Omniverse might of become a home to us now." He bit his lip a bit sheepishly. “I survived DA 17 as eleventh.”
“Fuckin nice,” she congratulated him and offered a steel fingered fist bump. Spotting a stall in the distance, she pointed to it and asked, “You know what a ‘gyro’ is?”
The man shrugged. "I don't know, I've only tried Yakow steak and yacow milk, me and Dax got used to eating crap over time."
Orange Lightning shrugged passively. "Why not, let's try some ‘gyros’ Jak, our new friend is willing to try it.”
"Dax? Is that Yellow Lightning here?" she chuckles. "As far as the gyros, ye, fuck it, let's give em a shot. If we don't like em, it's one more thing off the list." She looked over to her two compatriots, who hada stepped back to allow them to chat. "Caret, Balanlara? You chill with whatever the hell a gyro is?"
The eldar remained mostly expressionless but calmly replied, “I have brought my own provisions.” The two that were still unused to her voice were taken slightly aback by the reverberation of her words, but didn’t seem too phased.
Caret kicked her heavy boot and shrugged. “Sure.”
"That's my real name. I'm actually the same species as Jak, just accidently got turned into one of these back home,” Dax replied, not seeming to be too bothered by it anymore.
The bandit stepped up to the stall and slapped her hand on the counter emphatically. “Four gyros!” she said confidently, and the stall tender nodded wordlessly. She turned her attention back to the pair. “Shiiit, now you’re some kind of awesome fur-snake ass-beater, huh? Have you ever considered swapping back?”
"I can't go with Jak during the competition,” Dax said as a bit of a non sequitur. "I have to find that Omni guy to change back."
"Oh shit, really? I know all kinds of dudes who transform. That sucks my dude. As far as not being able to join him during the competition, it's cool friend. You'll either meet him after he wins or back at the Nexus. Ain't no thang.” She paused and caught herself for a moment, "Yo Dax, are you a secondary?”
“Yeah,” Dax said, tilting his head, “I was summoned by Jak himself.”
The stall worker rang the bell and called out, “Four house gyros!” He yelled the order, despite the fact that they were all only a few feet away. The group gathered around the counter and took their orders, the twisting, herby smell of their freshly made food arousing their hunger even more deeply.
Jak found a nearby circular table and sat with his food in hand. “Come and eat with us. We got time.”
The woman sat down in a huff, the chair squealing a bit under her weight. The white sauce from her meal was already leaking over her fingers, but she barely seemed to notice. She looked to Daxter, who was already delving into his food. "Well if you ever need me or any of my friends to help you get anywhere safely, you just let me know, ok? Primes don't gotta worry about getting merc’ed by some asshole, but you definitely do. I lived that life. You've forever got my props, little man.”
Dax worked a small slice of lamb into his mouth and swallowed. "I'll take you up on that. Got my own experience with buttkicking." Another tiny bit of bread was torn off. "I've even saved Jak's ass from prison myself." He devoured another (relatively) massive mouth full. "I can even fix cars and zoomers if you ask." Grinning in a return to his camera-friendly debonair he added, "I have my own story of takin' on NB."
The pink haired mechanic chimed in for the first time, “I saved this lunk, too! And I also work on cars and stuff! That’s so cool!” She offered her hand to the little creature, who took it up and shook. “I’m Caret, by the way.” She elbowed the woman and frowned, “Be nice if you introduced me.” The bandit gave her a sardonic glance.
Jak looked at his new friends and smiled warmly. “I think we could make a good team.”
Dax continued, heedless to the pace of the conversation. “Racing’s my thing. Cars, zoomers, whatever. You name it.”
The woman returned his smile. "Yo I'm really glad I met you dudes. We'll have to kick it sometime after this is all over, yeah?"
“Of course. Let me know,” Jak said, and began to peel back the foil wrapping his gyro.
Dax nodded emphatically. “Whatever you need, I’ll be on call.” His eyes flashed wide and he slithered up onto the tabletop, hold his hands out dramatically. "Wanna hear one of my cool Omniverse adventure?" Jak grinned and pushed his seat back onto two legs, kicked his feet up on the table and watched his friend and took the first bite of the still steaming hot gyro.
“Hell yeah,” the woman said, equally amused. She unfolded the paper and foil on the small fold of meat, and took an oversized bite from it. “Holy shit, this is amazing,” she blurted, interrupting Dax from beginning his tale. “It’s got like, this sauce? And there’s this crunch in there from the green stuff? Vegetable of some kind.”
“Lettuce,” Alanlara interjected.
Seeing the bandit’s reaction, Caret looked down at hers and also dove in. Her lips curled and she forced herself to swallow, then placed it down on the table. “I don’t think I like it very much,” she said with a wave of dissatisfaction.
The woman waved her hand dismissively. “We’ll get something else in a minute. I wanna here Dax’s story first.”
The tiny mammal wore his best entertainment face and swung his arms wide with dramatic flourish. “There we were, me and Jak in the Endless dunes, right?” He squinted and pointed upwards, “Nippur took us on a mission. Jak helped fight off some stuff,” he pressed his finger into his chest, “I helped too of course, but this guy named Victor? He made me so mad,” his expression deepened into one of theatrical anger, “by letting Jak, my good buddy here, get killed with some sort of stormtrooper blast.” His back straightened to a regal posture, “So me and a friend took on Nippur by ourselves.” Hs hands rose up in claws, trembling in fury. “NOBODY messes with my friend and gets away with it! So we devised a way in,” he walked his fingers along an invisible floor daintily, exemplifying their style and stealth. “I bit Vic’s on the leg as we escaped.” He bit down and thrashed his head around viciously. His eyes opened, and he glanced around to his audience expectantly.
"That's an awesome story dude. I haven't had to deal with Nippur too much. Back when I was a raider we pretty much steered clear of any of the big encampments.” She nodded solemnly. “Seriously it had to be tough to do all that as a secondary. That's some loyalty."
Dax made his way back to his seat and jumped down into it. “It’s rough sometimes.”
Jak kicked his seat back down and patted his savior on the shoulder. "My father is out there in the Dunes trying to build his own place. He tried to get me to join him.”
The bandit scarfed another huge bite. “Who’s your dad?” she asked, mouth full.
“I’m a prince,” Jak clarified, “My father is named King Damas. He ruled his own place named Spargus at home.”
“Oh, that shit’s crazy. Did Omni bring him here too, or is he another secondary?” She used the corner of her sleeve to wipe a smear of tzatziki from her mouth.
“A secondary.” Jak looked into his lap, a bit of sorrow leaking through. “I don’t know how he’s going to do it.”
She nodded. "Yeah, everyone seems to want to rule the world in the OV. It's gonna be practically impossible to do it as a secondary though. Is he some kind of asshole? Why don't you want to join him?"
Jak sighed despondently. "I never knew him that well. But I never really wanted to take on a leader role." He looked back up and sighed heavily. "Why is it I feel bad now I'm not helping my dad out when all my friends say I should?”
She shrugged, her armor clanking. "Hey man, do what you want to do. That's what the Omniverse is all about. If you've got beef with your dad, it's not your job to make his dreams come true."
Nodding, Jak elected to move on. Omnilium shimmered between his fingers for a few moments before a small picture appeared in his hand, which he turned to the three on the other side of the table. “Over here there’s Keira, Ashelin, Torn, Sig, Daxter, and a few more.”
“Those your friends?” the woman asked, pushing the rest of the pita into her mouth.
He spun the photo back and gazed at it longingly. “Yeah, have lost a lot over the years.”
“Any of them follow you into the OV?” She wadded up the foil and tossed it at a nearby trashcan. It bounced off the rim and she scowled. She held her hand out as a nearby host picked it up and threw it away, but said nothing.
Jak’s cheeks burned red for a half moment. "I summoned Ashelin in my drunken sleep." It quickly faded as he went on. "I lost Commander Torn a long time ago. Tried to break him out of prison and we failed.”
The woman sighed empathetically. "I got you. I've heard of primes summon people in their sleep pretty frequently, actually. Sorry about Torn, though. Shit really, really sucks."
Caret whined a little. "Can we go get something else now?"
The bandit nodded, took up what was left of Caret's food and stuffed it into her mouth in one go. "Alright bud, I'mma go grab Caret some other food. Good to meet you! If I don't see you around before the competition, hopefully I'll see you out there."
"Yeah, and Dax, we can cheer them on together!" Caret said cheerfully.
Dax smiled and waved. "I'll find you Caret!"
Jak gazed into the distance. "I just hope this doesn't distract us from the competition.” He turned his attention back to her and grinned, “And hope we get lucky enough to be paired up!"
"Yeah, that would be sick! The Dynamite and the Ass Kicker together. I'm sure Syntech would have plenty of fun with that." She stood and flexed, copying Daxter’s dramatic flair.
Jak smirked, "Of course. I'd like that. But I'd hate to be on the opposite side of the Ass kicker too.”
She pointed and winked at Jak as she stood with her retinue. “I'm sure the Dynamite Kid would be a tough opponent to roll up on too, bud." She gave him another fist bump smiled to Daxter, and walked into the depths of the refreshment paradise.
She smirked in amusement. “Yo, what up little dude?”
The long, furry creature offered a photo-worthy smirk and pushed up on his goggles confidently. “Name’s Orange Lightning.” He offered a small wiggle of his eyebrows for additional emphasis. His stomach growled loudly, and his suave demeanor deflated. “I’m about to go get some food. Want something?”
The bandit grinned. “That name is amazing. Ass Kicker is what they ended up putting on my card.” She gestured to the two others that accompanied her. “Yeah, me and these guys were about to go find something. I’ve mostly just eaten stale chips and roasted desert rat my entire life, so I’m pretty stoked to try something new out.”
The man winced, "Better than what we eat out there in the Wastelands."
"We got exiled to the Wastelands a long time ago back home by some power hungry guy named Veger. He got the people to blame us,” Orange Lightning added.
The woman blinked and nodded. "That super blows. I assume in your home universe? It's pretty hard to exile anyone anywhere in the Omniverse." She turned and began making her way into the food section of the compound, the hallway stretching hundreds of feet with some sort of stall of restaurant entrance propped up every couple of yards. The scent of the place was overwhelming but pleasant, cuisines from every conceivable universe mingling in her nose. It only served to remind her that last night’s dinner had been a glass of whiskey.
The two new people walked with her, the animal scurrying up onto the man’s long shoulder piece. “Yeah, it sucks. A few friends found me out in the desert or things would have turned out bad.”
She passed by a coffee shop, casting a glance through the large glass window inside. "Well, you're here now, so at least you don't gotta worry about that shit anymore. The Omniverse is a fresh start for anybody that comes here."
The man continued. “By the way, you hear the interview on TV earlier?”
Next, a junk food stand. She’d had enough of that for a lifetime. “Nah, which interview?”
The man blinked, seemingly surprised. “I’m a veteran of this Abyss thing. They call be the Dynamite Kid and the Abyss Hero.” He gesticulated a bit, trying to clear the air of anything that might be considered bragging. "That's sort of a nickname i gained from DA 15', I took out the Rock and a few others. Fanclub."
“Ah snap!” the woman replied with genuine enthusiasm. "Grats man. I haven't been prime for super long, and my television access out in the Dunes was pretty limited. I caught a bit of a cast from Dante's Abyss 14, but I couldn't even tell you who was playing that year. I just got back from a competition in Camelot. Ranked second."
The orange animal shook his head in subtle bafflement. “Second? Amazing.”
Jak nodded. "I see. Me and Dax had been all over and been here for 4 years now. The Omniverse might of become a home to us now." He bit his lip a bit sheepishly. “I survived DA 17 as eleventh.”
“Fuckin nice,” she congratulated him and offered a steel fingered fist bump. Spotting a stall in the distance, she pointed to it and asked, “You know what a ‘gyro’ is?”
The man shrugged. "I don't know, I've only tried Yakow steak and yacow milk, me and Dax got used to eating crap over time."
Orange Lightning shrugged passively. "Why not, let's try some ‘gyros’ Jak, our new friend is willing to try it.”
"Dax? Is that Yellow Lightning here?" she chuckles. "As far as the gyros, ye, fuck it, let's give em a shot. If we don't like em, it's one more thing off the list." She looked over to her two compatriots, who hada stepped back to allow them to chat. "Caret, Balanlara? You chill with whatever the hell a gyro is?"
The eldar remained mostly expressionless but calmly replied, “I have brought my own provisions.” The two that were still unused to her voice were taken slightly aback by the reverberation of her words, but didn’t seem too phased.
Caret kicked her heavy boot and shrugged. “Sure.”
"That's my real name. I'm actually the same species as Jak, just accidently got turned into one of these back home,” Dax replied, not seeming to be too bothered by it anymore.
The bandit stepped up to the stall and slapped her hand on the counter emphatically. “Four gyros!” she said confidently, and the stall tender nodded wordlessly. She turned her attention back to the pair. “Shiiit, now you’re some kind of awesome fur-snake ass-beater, huh? Have you ever considered swapping back?”
"I can't go with Jak during the competition,” Dax said as a bit of a non sequitur. "I have to find that Omni guy to change back."
"Oh shit, really? I know all kinds of dudes who transform. That sucks my dude. As far as not being able to join him during the competition, it's cool friend. You'll either meet him after he wins or back at the Nexus. Ain't no thang.” She paused and caught herself for a moment, "Yo Dax, are you a secondary?”
“Yeah,” Dax said, tilting his head, “I was summoned by Jak himself.”
The stall worker rang the bell and called out, “Four house gyros!” He yelled the order, despite the fact that they were all only a few feet away. The group gathered around the counter and took their orders, the twisting, herby smell of their freshly made food arousing their hunger even more deeply.
Jak found a nearby circular table and sat with his food in hand. “Come and eat with us. We got time.”
The woman sat down in a huff, the chair squealing a bit under her weight. The white sauce from her meal was already leaking over her fingers, but she barely seemed to notice. She looked to Daxter, who was already delving into his food. "Well if you ever need me or any of my friends to help you get anywhere safely, you just let me know, ok? Primes don't gotta worry about getting merc’ed by some asshole, but you definitely do. I lived that life. You've forever got my props, little man.”
Dax worked a small slice of lamb into his mouth and swallowed. "I'll take you up on that. Got my own experience with buttkicking." Another tiny bit of bread was torn off. "I've even saved Jak's ass from prison myself." He devoured another (relatively) massive mouth full. "I can even fix cars and zoomers if you ask." Grinning in a return to his camera-friendly debonair he added, "I have my own story of takin' on NB."
The pink haired mechanic chimed in for the first time, “I saved this lunk, too! And I also work on cars and stuff! That’s so cool!” She offered her hand to the little creature, who took it up and shook. “I’m Caret, by the way.” She elbowed the woman and frowned, “Be nice if you introduced me.” The bandit gave her a sardonic glance.
Jak looked at his new friends and smiled warmly. “I think we could make a good team.”
Dax continued, heedless to the pace of the conversation. “Racing’s my thing. Cars, zoomers, whatever. You name it.”
The woman returned his smile. "Yo I'm really glad I met you dudes. We'll have to kick it sometime after this is all over, yeah?"
“Of course. Let me know,” Jak said, and began to peel back the foil wrapping his gyro.
Dax nodded emphatically. “Whatever you need, I’ll be on call.” His eyes flashed wide and he slithered up onto the tabletop, hold his hands out dramatically. "Wanna hear one of my cool Omniverse adventure?" Jak grinned and pushed his seat back onto two legs, kicked his feet up on the table and watched his friend and took the first bite of the still steaming hot gyro.
“Hell yeah,” the woman said, equally amused. She unfolded the paper and foil on the small fold of meat, and took an oversized bite from it. “Holy shit, this is amazing,” she blurted, interrupting Dax from beginning his tale. “It’s got like, this sauce? And there’s this crunch in there from the green stuff? Vegetable of some kind.”
“Lettuce,” Alanlara interjected.
Seeing the bandit’s reaction, Caret looked down at hers and also dove in. Her lips curled and she forced herself to swallow, then placed it down on the table. “I don’t think I like it very much,” she said with a wave of dissatisfaction.
The woman waved her hand dismissively. “We’ll get something else in a minute. I wanna here Dax’s story first.”
The tiny mammal wore his best entertainment face and swung his arms wide with dramatic flourish. “There we were, me and Jak in the Endless dunes, right?” He squinted and pointed upwards, “Nippur took us on a mission. Jak helped fight off some stuff,” he pressed his finger into his chest, “I helped too of course, but this guy named Victor? He made me so mad,” his expression deepened into one of theatrical anger, “by letting Jak, my good buddy here, get killed with some sort of stormtrooper blast.” His back straightened to a regal posture, “So me and a friend took on Nippur by ourselves.” Hs hands rose up in claws, trembling in fury. “NOBODY messes with my friend and gets away with it! So we devised a way in,” he walked his fingers along an invisible floor daintily, exemplifying their style and stealth. “I bit Vic’s on the leg as we escaped.” He bit down and thrashed his head around viciously. His eyes opened, and he glanced around to his audience expectantly.
"That's an awesome story dude. I haven't had to deal with Nippur too much. Back when I was a raider we pretty much steered clear of any of the big encampments.” She nodded solemnly. “Seriously it had to be tough to do all that as a secondary. That's some loyalty."
Dax made his way back to his seat and jumped down into it. “It’s rough sometimes.”
Jak kicked his seat back down and patted his savior on the shoulder. "My father is out there in the Dunes trying to build his own place. He tried to get me to join him.”
The bandit scarfed another huge bite. “Who’s your dad?” she asked, mouth full.
“I’m a prince,” Jak clarified, “My father is named King Damas. He ruled his own place named Spargus at home.”
“Oh, that shit’s crazy. Did Omni bring him here too, or is he another secondary?” She used the corner of her sleeve to wipe a smear of tzatziki from her mouth.
“A secondary.” Jak looked into his lap, a bit of sorrow leaking through. “I don’t know how he’s going to do it.”
She nodded. "Yeah, everyone seems to want to rule the world in the OV. It's gonna be practically impossible to do it as a secondary though. Is he some kind of asshole? Why don't you want to join him?"
Jak sighed despondently. "I never knew him that well. But I never really wanted to take on a leader role." He looked back up and sighed heavily. "Why is it I feel bad now I'm not helping my dad out when all my friends say I should?”
She shrugged, her armor clanking. "Hey man, do what you want to do. That's what the Omniverse is all about. If you've got beef with your dad, it's not your job to make his dreams come true."
Nodding, Jak elected to move on. Omnilium shimmered between his fingers for a few moments before a small picture appeared in his hand, which he turned to the three on the other side of the table. “Over here there’s Keira, Ashelin, Torn, Sig, Daxter, and a few more.”
“Those your friends?” the woman asked, pushing the rest of the pita into her mouth.
He spun the photo back and gazed at it longingly. “Yeah, have lost a lot over the years.”
“Any of them follow you into the OV?” She wadded up the foil and tossed it at a nearby trashcan. It bounced off the rim and she scowled. She held her hand out as a nearby host picked it up and threw it away, but said nothing.
Jak’s cheeks burned red for a half moment. "I summoned Ashelin in my drunken sleep." It quickly faded as he went on. "I lost Commander Torn a long time ago. Tried to break him out of prison and we failed.”
The woman sighed empathetically. "I got you. I've heard of primes summon people in their sleep pretty frequently, actually. Sorry about Torn, though. Shit really, really sucks."
Caret whined a little. "Can we go get something else now?"
The bandit nodded, took up what was left of Caret's food and stuffed it into her mouth in one go. "Alright bud, I'mma go grab Caret some other food. Good to meet you! If I don't see you around before the competition, hopefully I'll see you out there."
"Yeah, and Dax, we can cheer them on together!" Caret said cheerfully.
Dax smiled and waved. "I'll find you Caret!"
Jak gazed into the distance. "I just hope this doesn't distract us from the competition.” He turned his attention back to her and grinned, “And hope we get lucky enough to be paired up!"
"Yeah, that would be sick! The Dynamite and the Ass Kicker together. I'm sure Syntech would have plenty of fun with that." She stood and flexed, copying Daxter’s dramatic flair.
Jak smirked, "Of course. I'd like that. But I'd hate to be on the opposite side of the Ass kicker too.”
She pointed and winked at Jak as she stood with her retinue. “I'm sure the Dynamite Kid would be a tough opponent to roll up on too, bud." She gave him another fist bump smiled to Daxter, and walked into the depths of the refreshment paradise.