The Temple of Artemis(Pre-Event/Intro Thread)

[Proto Man]

For what it was worth, Proto Man wasn’t angry with the stranger who had technically kidnapped him.

“You could have just asked me, you know?” He said as the being took a reprieve from responding to angrier accusations. “I always like to help,” he added before smiling beneath his visor and walking to a quieter part of the temple. Once a little removed from the group, he turned on his scanner and surveyed the others. As he glanced from one person to another, the information went straight into his databanks in case he needed it for later.

How many of these people were murderers?

If the youth had to guess, he’d say somewhere over fifty percent. As more primes began to filter into the temple, Proto Man started to see faces he recognized from Dante’s Abyss. What would happen if this quest turned into some sort of competition to collect whatever artifacts that the disembodied figure spoke about? How many of the other men and women here would even think before knifing one of their peers in the back for a parcel of omnilium or the promise of bountiful amounts of the strange, potent substance?

As Proto Man started to slid down a dangerous road, he caught a familiar sight—the bobbing ears and nervous expression of Mickey Mouse. The robot didn’t move to speak with his ally, knowing that he’d have all the time in the world to shoot the breeze in a little bit.

And it might not hurt to play it cool with our friendship.

That was such a cynical thought, but in foreign land, Proto Man knew he’d have to play it smart to keep a knife out of his lower back.

In the corner of the temple, a woman leaned against one of the pillars. At first glance, she seemed unremarkable—a warrior dressed in leather armor that made it hard to pinpoint where she may have been pulled from history. Leather armor like that usually meant history books, but who’s to say she’s not from some wasteland brought about by some universe’s apocalypse? Or maybe leather is just back in fashion?

What really interested the preteen machine was the woman’s crimson halo, which floated in place above her head of red hair.

Crossing the distance between himself and the woman, Proto Man looked up at her and pointed to the halo.

“Are you an angel?”

The woman snickered and pushed away from the pillar. “If you were ten years and three feet taller, that still might qualify for one of the worst come-on lines I’ve heard.”

“That’s not an answer,” Proto Man responded, oblivious the meaning of the woman’s remark.

“Opposite of that,” she finally answered after realizing that he wasn’t a hormonal teenager.

It took Proto Man a moment to deduce what she had said. “You don’t look like a demon.”

“Underverse. I guess our friend over there has a little more strength than he lets on,” she said as she glanced over toward Teucer and the other primes. “This’ll be real interesting if those artifacts have any real power. How many of those people do you think would really part with stuff like that?”

Having pondered a similar question earlier, Proto Man felt the scowl return to his face. “I’m Blues,” he remarked, extending a hand toward the woman. “Should I call you Demon?”

“Trixie.” After shaking hands with the preteen, the woman glanced around and then set her eyes back onto her new acquaintance. “Why’d he pick you? What makes you special?”

Proto Man lifted a hand, but when he tried to summon his Proto Buster, nothing happened. A textbox on his screen provided him with nothing more informational than ‘Unknown Error’. A quick glance revealed that most of his weapon systems were offline.

“Well that’s uncalled for,” he muttered to himself as he lowered his hand and looked back up at the leather-clad woman. “I’ve been around a few times,” he spoke to her as a smile spread across his lips. In her mind, Trixie had to remind herself that her new little friend wasn’t adding an adult connotation to the phrase. “Saved some towns, killed some bad guys… the usual. What about you? What’s the Underverse like? Have you seen this guy named Gilgamesh? He’s a jerk.”