The Final Question

[Proto Man]

Backing up from Omni, Top Man glanced over his shoulder at his new best friend.

"So what's it like up here? Is it like... surfing the channels until you find something entertaining? Or do you maybe follow a few people for extended periods of time until you notice something more amusing going down elsewhere? You ever follow my brother? He's got a scarf and sunglasses... He's helped slay dragons and monsters and stuff."

[Guu]

Raw looked between Rich and Isaac an quickly spoke up.

"Okay, you two need to calm down now because you're being so paranoid it's getting ridiculous." She said making aggravated gestures with her hooves. "There's literally thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of people in the Omniverse. He has plenty of people to watch who already have their own personal problems without him getting involved. Antagonizing every person who's living a simple life would be pointless when he could just watch somebody else for a while. Plus anyways, how do you know he's not into the 'Slice of Life' genre?"

[Omni]

Omni sucked his thumb. "Mmm ... Let's just say there's not a lot that escapes my notice. Your brother is a special individual, even among Primes. I watch him closely. Curiosity seems to run in your family. I won't lie, I've even thought about bringing some more of you in myself. I'm sure that could make the Omniverse an even more interesting place!"

[Proto Man]

Top Man gave a genuine smile.

"Definitely something you should consider. Either that or making all of them primes too. Years worth of shenanigans and drama right there. Plus the story arcs that the dead ones could create if they returned? Classic stuff... Heck, Bubble Man could become his own legit pirate captain." With his mind now wrapped around the very separate lives of his brothers and half-brothers, Top Man drifted into his thoughts.

[Zack Fair]

Abner gave a shrug to admit that no, he really didn't know what Omni did in his free time. There was no way to prove that he hadn't wandered the Omniverse after all. Sure, he assumed that someone might mention seeing the all powerful deity of this realm chilling in a coffee shop on Tier 2 or something, but it also wasn't much of a stretch to imagine he could change his appearance. He'd seen Primes do crazier things.

So he let out a sigh and shook his head. There was no making sense of it any more than before, and there was no getting out it. Instead of beating himself or Omni up over it, he realized he would just have to play ball. Being a Prime would sure as hell make things interesting. He wasn't sure he wanted to be saddled with it and become part of yet another system that took advantage of the weak, but the alternative was to simply go back to the status-quo. If you couldn't beat it from the outside, you might as well do your part from within. Not only had that had been Omni himself's suggestion, but also his own realization about the Empire back in that swamp. Funny how things come around like that.

Abner finished his cigarette, then awkwardly looked around. There was no ash tray in the Oververse, and he felt more than a little strange about littering in this place. He bladed his stance just a little bit and held the cigarette butt behind his leg and theoretically out of Omni's view. Maybe he could subtly drop it in a minute? Yea, he'd try that. He looked at the others, seeing the conflict that this place had brought. He just shook his head and looked back to Omni. He was ready to take the deal, but first there was one last thing that he'd always wondered, and there would be no better time or place to ask it.

"How about secondaries, though?" Abner chipped back in, his tone a little more relaxed than before. "Everything else about the Omniverse is so permanent and never ending. When a secondary dies, is that really it? Do they just cease to exist?"

[Omni]

"Everything comes and goes in cycles. It's something of a paradox that nothing ever changes, but nothing ever stays the same either.

"Everyone dies eventually. Even me."

[Zack Fair]

Abner opened his mouth to reply, but no words came out. He closed his mouth and tilted his head while cocking an eyebrow as he processed that statement. He scratched his head as he pondered the implications of that.

"What...what happens to the Omniverse, then?"

[Omni]

"Beats me." Omni grinned.

[Zack Fair]

Abner shrugged his shoulders. Fair point. That was certainly a whole new open can of worms, but he sensed that he'd gotten all the information he could get. A lot more questions than answers, but in the end, thinking wasn't a part of his skill set. He'd just keep doing what he knew how to do.

"Well, I guess you can go ahead and make me a Prime, too." Abner said, pulling a tin from his vest and pinching off another wad of chewing tobacco. At the very least, he wouldn't have to make any more late night runs to the store for this stuff.

[Gildarts]

Christa’s eyes remained glued on Abner, it seemed he was serious- And why wouldn’t he be? Immortality appealed to a lot of people, and certainly that didn’t leave out secondaries who may have felt they didn’t get a fair deal when they arrived. Christa held her tongue, but awaited Omni’s response, though her eyes, never moved from Abner’s dormant face.

[Guu]

Raw had grown weary of the paranoid infused angst fest coming from two of her companions. Abner’s conversation with the smiling one had caught her attention and when he requested to be a prime, she trotted in.

“I’d like to become a prime as well, sir.” She stated respectfully. “All the questions I was going to ask you had been answered on the journey. I already know what I need to do next. I need to free my people, and having your light with me will make that task a bit easier. However, I don’t want to go just yet. Wait to make me a prime until my elf-friend Lyra is ready to leave. I’d prefer to leave with her, sir.”

She was about to trot back to her spot in the group, when a thought came to mind.

“Oh yeah, do you have any super delicious cooking recipes you can share with me?” She asked, until she noticed her tone. “I mean, please? If you could ever be so kind to share.”

[Omni]

Omni put his thumb over his lip. "Hm." After a moment's thought, he produced a piece of paper from thin air, with instructions of how to make a tasty dish from cactus fruit.

[Guu]

She caught the piece of paper out of the air with the surface of one of her legs and raised it up to her nuzzle. She quickly read through the recipe and immediately had a mental image of the final product. She could even almost imagine how it would taste in the end.

"Wow, simple to make, but exotic! It's even vegetarian!" She said impressed. She slipped a wing around the paper and used it to tuck the recipe into her armor. She looked up to Omni and smiled. "Thank you sir!"

She backed away to let the others have a chance to speak to him.

[Gildarts]

Christa smirked, one final challenge. One final question. "Well Omni, do you know my answer?"

[Omni]

Omni grinned at the filly. "Please, just call me Ni."

And then, to Christa: "What if your answer is always the opposite of my guess? Come on lady, that's no fair. At least write it down on a piece of paper." It was hard to tell whether he was being serious or not.

[Guu]

Upon Omni's comment towards Raw, she turned her head and smiled coyly at him, swatting the air with a hoof in his general direction as if to say, "Oh you!"

[Yu Kanda]

Klaud kept in the background of the scene. She hasn't said a word during the group's conversation with Omni. Somewhere deep inside of her she was scared, scared that Omni would go back on his word and not grand their wish after all. But curiosity got the best of her at the end, If she was to bring the black order to the Omniverse she has to get some knowledge. This was the perfect place to get it.

Once more she stepped forward, cleared her throat to call the deity's attention. She got more than she bargained for, most of the group turned to her.

"Omni, There are still two things on my mind that i was meaning to ask. First of all, what would happen if the evil was purged from this world, all the monsters and demons gone. Would you simply return them here for your amusement or would you acknowledge our strength and let us live our lives in peace."

The proud woman quickly continued with her follow-up question.

"Also, what kind of entity are you ? And are there any more of you out there ?"

The blonde exorcist was calm as she waited for the deity to respond.

[Omni]

"My role as Omni is non--interventional. I set up the pieces and I watch. That's mostly all I do."

"As for your second and third question. I'm Omni."

[Gildarts]

Christa read between the lines, Omni seemed to be amused. Write it down?! The answer was yes or no, completely absolute but it seemed after observing the deity here, that there weren't always absolutes to be had. Even perhaps for her, she was still in the process of deciding, and that was the reason Omni offered no absolute answer.

"Have you ever had a sibling you've cared deeply for?" The woman's eyes dipped for a moment, her thoughts fell back down on where the Omniverse was compared to her current location -probably below her feet. Once, Christa had thought that gods could see the future, perhaps it was not that simple. Time was not one line of cause and effect... But simply a big ball of - well, that didn't matter.

"I'll explain my answer to you Omni, if I were to have my sister returned to me, I would want some way to protect her, and should she fall victim to the chaotic and rather destructive world we now live in, I would need some way of returning her to what I would consider... Katia's almost natural state." Christa considered her words, "Without the aid of a being such as yourself, 'cause getting here wasn't exactly a stroll, I'd need to have access to bring her back. So, that's the hint." But I'm not ready, not quite yet..

"However, even though accepting Primehood is a curse, I'll gladly bear it for my sister, but I ask that you offer me something of equal value. Tell me one last thing," Christa leaned a bit closer, her voice trailing as a hoarse whisper that none of the others could hear..

"What's your secret?"

[Omni]

Omni cringed and drew back. "Lady, you're creeping me out."