(Pre-Show) The Lobby

[Erza Scarlet]

Something was wrong here.

Well, okay, to be fair, most big events Fairy Tail had gotten themselves involved in back in her old world were either part of yet another insidious plot to end the world or otherwise somehow malefic. Even then, though, everything had usually seemed alright up until the big reveal. S-Class test? A pretty good time, up until Grimoire Heart decided to interfere. The Grand Magic Games were good fun until the dragons attacked! Even the search for the Infinity Clock pieces was interesting enough until the writers ran out of ideas and brought back all the same characters from Edolas and the Oración Seis...

But this was different. Erza had stepped through the rift and arrived here, in this giant open area, and before she could even truly get her bearings was confronted with the murderous rampage of a very tall turtle. Okay, whatever, we all feel like going on murderous rampages once in a while, and a two-legged turtle was no weirder than the catlike forms of Happy and Charlotte. The thing that stood out wasn't the homicidal (bordering suicidal, considering the company) outburst of the thing. It was Security's response to the whole ordeal.

A flamboyant man who was ostensibly in charge and bore an impeccable resemblance to Sugar Boy had stepped from the shadows, laughing and clapping, as his minions began sweeping away all the dead-people bits. "The show will go on," indeed. And just like that, the gathered warriors had returned straight to casually conversing in seemingly random groups about the room. No shock, no outcry, at least not to the degree that generally happened in Fiore, and the people of Fiore were certainly used to unnecessary violence.

The sweepers had removed from the room the majority of the blood and guts, the proof of the violent ordeal, but the stench of death pervaded, a subtle mist over the bog that was the combined odor of a room full of men who'd spent too long in their armor and not long enough in a bathtub. Erza felt a particularly pitiful twang towards the disproportionate number of very young girls who'd not only had to witness the gory display, but were not tall enough to escape from the pervasive must's most tangible layer of funk. Then again, they signed up for this too, didn't they? A big group fight on an island. This feels somehow familiar.

Then there was the concert. And what an event that was. It was, in fact, very similar in nature to Fairy Tail's own festive gatherings - Rowdy, lacking in organization, and overall mostly just a headache. One of the singers even sounded like Gajeel.

And even then, the crowd was eating it up. Perhaps they were simply looking for diversion? Maybe they just wanted a distraction from the admittedly disturbing... disturbance from earlier, or even the giant deathmatch they'd already locked themselves into. Maybe I'm just taking this too seriously? Nah, I'm never too serious.

It was not common that Erza was well and truly lost in thought. Generally, the solution to a given problem was either to summon a fuck-ton of swords and stab it to death, or the dragon slayers and Lucy would figure out something better. In this case though, she was already a good 500 words in and hadn't yet realized that she'd been wielding a meatless chicken bone instead of her sword since hopping through the portal to this place. Taking note of this, she made use of her newfound powers to transmogrify it into a napkin. Somehow the night's organized entertainment had ended without her notice, and the air had quickly taken on an additional scent which attempted to mask the musk in "Wild Violet," or something like that.

Her shoulders and neck finally began to relax as she wiped the now-pungent fried chicken grease off her fingers and chin, taking the opportunity to turn her head down for the first time since arriving and relieve a cramp that was beginning to form. Unfortunately, that was all undone in a sudden flash of familiarity as the image of a friend and ally once presumed abandoned flew by in her peripheral vision. Was that... Now that Erza had caught a glimpse, she was utterly dumbfounded she hadn't noticed it already. His power was palpable in this place, just as it had been at home. Perhaps it had been masked by all the unfamiliar scents and the pure energy radiating already from everyone in this place, but now that she'd caught a whiff, it was undeniably him; One of the guild's very few other S-Class wizards, and the only one Erza was sure she couldn't take on alone.

Gildarts was here. Somewhere. She caught a glimpse of a familiar cape swishing around beyond the thrall that was the center of the room, suddenly populated by far more civilians than at her arrival, but it was soon obscured by the writhing mass of fans and participants. That wasn't him, was it? Damn my short legs... Erza began to push through the throng, moving faster and faster as the Lobby grew more and more densely packed.

"Gildarts? Gildarts! Gildarts, of Fairy Tail! Where... Are... You!?" Erza was calling out at the top of her lungs, but her cries were muffled by the sheer density of the crowd. This particular strategy wasn't going to work. She wasn't even getting much attention from those she wasn't looking for, let alone a single spacey buffoon on the other end of the room. She continued pushing through the crowd, but stopped wasting her breath. She'd need it if she were indeed to catch up with her old comrade, and it didn't seem to be helping her much here.