Too much

[The Future Warrior]

After being suddenly whisked away from your own time to join the ranks of an organization of individuals set to patrol time itself to correct for any deviations in history, you started to get used to strange goings on. After all, seeing events that were mostly relegated to ancient history and legends first-hand, and for that matter, being able to participate in them and fight alongside the very people that made those vents into legend was one hell of an experience. It could drill home into even the most vacuous mind that things weren’t always so simple as they might appear before your eyes. Sometimes they were complex. Very, very complex.

Way too complex.

Sometimes you wound down from a training session, helping new novice Time Patrollers find the ropes, and settle in for a rest, and nothing eventful happens. You rest up, you nap, you wake up, and you go about your business. Mundane, uneventful, and business as usual.

But then again, sometimes you did all of that, and business as usual took a sharp turn into chaos as very much not usual. Sometimes you woke up from your nap and you had no idea where you were, and there was some strange little smiling shadow-person-thing who someone had forgotten to inform was sporting the wrong color scheme. It didn’t take a genius to know that whole thing was supposed to be the other way around! The shadows were supposed to be the dark part, and the background was supposed to be lighter.

Whoever this person-shadow-thing was, they were silly and backwards.

And for her part, the very confused and still groggy displaced time patroller wanted very much to inform the strange little smiling shadow-person-thingy of his backward status. And ask where she was, how she got here, and for that matter who he was. Among several other things. It was probably for the best that she rather swiftly discovered, in fact, that she couldn’t speak. Normally that might have been a cause for concern, or made someone upset. It was a general rule that most people liked not being impeded in their ability to make communicative noises at their leisure. Being denied the capability to do that, however it was done, was a bit jarring.

But more than anything else, it was fascinating. And more than anything else, that was what held her attention, pondering and thinking furiously over how it was done. Maybe her mouth was just gone? Sometimes she just sort of….forgot to make sure it was there. She tried to bring a hand up to make sure that was in order...only to find she couldn't’ move either. Now that was just ever so slightly more worrying, but still, it didn’t...really seem too bad. There were lots of reasons she wouldn’t be able to move. Like this being a dream.

Or, you know...something like that. So intently was she focused on puzzling over that she almost missed the strange little silhouette starting to speak.

“My name is Omni. This is not the world you know. This is the Omniverse. You interest me, so I have made you part of it. The Omniverse is a place that reflects the wishes of those who are part of it. But! There are rules. I will explain them only once, so listen carefully.”

The little not-shadow that was apparently actually a person-thing-creature-entity of some vague description called Omni held out a hand, and in said hand there was a ball of something very shiny, swirling and shimmering with every color in the rainbow — and some, the little blue time patroller suspected, that weren’t in the rainbow at all. Instinctively, she reached for it, forgetting she couldn’t move. She managed to reach out and take it without incident, and brought it up close to her eyes, examining it closely, while the Omni-thing went on.

“This is Omnilium. It’s what ties the Omniverse together. Without it, you are nothing. With it, anything you desire can be yours. But you will need more than this. If you desire it enough, you will find it. You will find that using it comes naturally. Just think of what you desire most.”

Wait, what? Omnilium? She was nothing without it? Tied this place together? Desire anything? What? She was trying to process all of that, and just debating asking him to repeat that, when he continued merrily on his way of explanation.

“You will not be alone in the Omniverse. There are others. Of course, they, too desire Omnilium. Do not fear death. For as long as you interest me, you will be reborn.”

Oh, there were others here? That was good! ...maybe. Not being alone with a possibly crazy not-shadow-thing that could produce colorful balls of something or other named after himself was always good. Yes, not being alone was good. Not fearing death was also good, if kind of confusing. Dying was bad. Why would you not fear it? Even if you would be reborn, dying was a big deal! Even the dragon balls couldn’t just resurrect people all the time! Not worrying about death...that was silly.

Omni was silly.

“That’s all you need to know right now. You’ll figure out the rest soon enough. I’ll be watching … and waiting.”

That was all she needed to know? Quite frankly, she was of the opinion there was quite a bit more she needed to know! And this whole cryptic thing about figuring out ‘the rest’, whatever that was, was just...mysterious. And confusing! It was confusing and mysterious! No one with anything good in mind was ever confusing and mysterious! This wasn’t right!

She was really beginning to think she shouldn’t have taken that nap.

The grinning, unsettling form of Omni faded into the background darkness, leaving her standing...er, floating? there in the black void. She craned her neck around this way and that, searching for something — anything, really — that might give some hint to where she was. Or what she was supposed to do now.

Then an unsettling feeling hit her, as things suddenly got a whole lot brighter. The darkness faded, melting and peeling back to be replaced with its direct inversion, and leave behind a blank, vast white void in its wake. And for whatever reason, it was lit really well. She could see everything, not that there was really much to see. Only herself, really…

Well, herself and the fountain she had somehow or other ended up in front of. She was not a betting Majin, but she was almost positive that fountain hadn’t been there a minute ago. She would’ve heard it! Or...or seen it. Yeah, that too.

On the subject of seeing things, though...she patted herself down quickly, as if searching for something. That...was weird. The shiny ball of whatever it was that Omni named after himself had disappeared. Which was really weird. She didn’t remember dropping it or anything...even if she had kind of inadvertently shielded her eyes at the sudden brightening as Omni went poof. And she hadn’t really put it in her pocket or anything…

She didn’t even have pockets. Why had she patted herself down? Now she was being silly.

But this did raise a lot of questions. And none of them with any answers. It was frustrating, and it was confusing, and really it just….made her head hurt. She brought both hands up to her head, clutching at her temples and just shook her head, letting out a muted whine of distress. This was just too much to handle. Too much to think about.

[The Future Warrior]

Eventually she did manage to recover from her confusion-induced headache enough yo devote some energy and effort to pondering over something else besides how strange and silly Omni and his introduction had been. Or silly and strange. Omni was the silly thing. His introduction was the strange thing. This place was also strange. Everything that was happening, really, was very, very strange. And distracting. She was very nearly completely torn away from her thoughts over the rest of this place and left to ponder incessantly over which was more strange and which was more silly: Omni or his introduction. Or this blank empty place.

It really did...kind of look a little bit like the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. She'd never really actively trained in there, but she'd been in there a couple times and had a fairly good idea what it looked like. And it sure did look like this place. Only at least there was something more there than just a fountain. A big building for people training there to stay in, rest and sleep in and stuff, from what she gathered. But around here there was just this fountain. And some tiny little specks of something, way off on the horizon that probably weren't anything important. They were way too far away to bother with right now, anyway. Maybe if she just really couldn't come up with anything better to do she might...go investigate what they were about.

Maybe.

But for now she was content to hop up onto....er. No. Kind of awkwardly climb and scramble up onto the rim of the fountain and have a seat. She needed some time to, as the types who were a lot smarter and more thinking-inclined liked to do back home, sit and think for a while, and come up with a plan of action. She was very, very...not-good at these sorts of things. But given the strangeness and extremely confusing, silly to the nth degree nature of this place, a little careful forethought was warranted.

Even if she really, really didn't want to, and just wanted to hop back down to the not-ground and scamper off somewhere else. Like to go and see what those things in the distance were. Or go see if those were really people over there, heading toward the fountain, or...

Oh. Those were people over there, heading toward the fountain.

Yay!

[The Future Warrior]

Yes. They certainly were people. There were...six of them. Wait... One, two, three, four, five... Yeah, six. They were hard to see, and Graowr was never really all that good at this whole 'numbers' thing. They'd just never really been much use to her, beyond simple counting for repetition in training. But it'd been a while since she'd had the chance to spend time on training that simple. Always with the fighting Demigra and his cohorts, and their attempts at screwing up time royally, and running this way and that like a chicken with its head cut off.

Only with a lot less blood and feathers.

Oh, wait, now she could actually see who was coming toward the fountain. They were...they were really hard to see. Wearing all white, and not exactly moving at anything that might be considered a quick pace. Just kind of walking along. The question did briefly occur to the little blue majin as to just where, exactly, they had come from. There didn't really appear to be anywhere for them to have been hiding. So either there were doors or portals or underground tunnels or something out of here, or...or they could all teleport. And given the sedate pace of their walking that seemed...unlikely. Unless they were just out for a leisurely stroll or something, which... Well, it wasn't as out there as it could be, really. Given her astounding lack of knowing how just about anything in this place worked, it could be pretty normal.

Even if it was pretty lame to think about. Just...going for a walk, being normal around here? Something people did frequently?

She groaned, dropping her face into her hands at that thought.

[The Future Warrior]

No one ever wanted to be stuck with Fountain Watch in the Empire. Not only was there the ever-present risk of running into some dangerous, unhinged new Prime who might attack you for no reason, or encountering someone who'd been around for a lot longer and was just in a bad mood, but there was something a hell of a lot worse than that. Something so terrible that no amount of training or experience within the Empire's service could ever even hope to prepare you for. It wasn't a death sentence, but it might as well have been. The insurmountable, inescapable fate that was always waiting, sooner or later, to catch you when you inevitably got assigned to Fountain Watch...

"Hey, Sarge...think we got us a new one." The ever-'helpful' voice of one Private Sisto spoke up, one hand fiddling with the manual controls for his helmet's built in vision systems.

And that was all it took to drag Sergeant Stanek out of his string of thought and violently slap him back down in the unpleasant, mind-numbing reality of his situation. Fountain Watch, and with a squad of rookies, no less. They were at least competent, if more than a little eccentric, but it did little to sway his opinion. Having to put up with them wouldn't have been so bad, if that was all he had to do. Having to deal with the blandness and potential dangers associated with patrolling the Nexus on Fountain Watch, he could also stand without too much of an issue. But both such issue, at the same time? Emperor give him patience.

"Yeah, we definitely got us a new Prime at the fountain," Sisto confirmed, his tone almost obnoxiously cheerful. "Let's hope they don't end up doing anything rash this time around.

"Heeeey, maybe we'll luck out and earn us a Kahbin and not a Searle with this one, eh?" The obnoxiously optimistic voice of Private Corbinian piped up, adding his two cents into the mix, and making a poor attempt at a joke. "Eh?"

"Save the air for breathing, Corbninian. Save the jokes for when we're not walking into a potential Searle, here," Stanek snapped, sending the joke-making recruit into a huff as he looked pointedly back ahead. The hypocrisy of the statement wasn't lost on him.

"But really though...I'll take eccentric over aggressive," came the voice of one of the only two really tolerable members of the squad. "At least then we'd have an amusing story to tell, and no medical reports to fill out." A short silence before: "And no troop replacement forms to submit."

"Morbid, as always, Garion." The other tolerable member of the bunch spoke up, and the roll of her eyes was audible, even through the helmet's minor voice filtering.

"Sometimes the truth is morbid, Teagan." Garion just shrugged, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "You all remember what happened to Sergeant Kester and his squad."

"Poor guy still ain't quite right after that. Haven't allowed him to do more than desk work since the incident." Private Rodi, the resident sniper of the group, supplied with an almost unsettling amount of cheer. "Can't really blame him. After that whole mess, anyone would be a little out of it. Least he's starting to do better. Doesn't scream if someone mentions swords anymore, at least."

"Alright, knock it off. We got a guest to greet!" Stanek grumbled, and everyone snapped their attention back forward.

Wow, the fountain was a lot closer than it had been just a little while ago. Where did the time go?

[The Future Warrior]

It was an uneasy scene at the fountain, as Sergeant Stanek did his best to keep his composure. The being sitting on the rim of the fountain didn't look particularly like anything really special. By all accounts, it might have been a child, from her size. But it was something about the way she just...just stared. She almost never blinked. She was clearly listening very intently, and focusing just as intently on whoever happened to speak up at any given moment. She just sat there, looking relaxed as could be, and more curious and confused than anything else. But she never...she never said anything. The sheer strangeness of it all, combined with the unsettlingly fierce cast of her red-pink eyes, set the sergeant on edge. He was thankful more than ever for the helmet, hiding his face from view, and the modulation and filtering in his vocal systems, hiding the faint shaking to his voice as he launched into the usual 'newcomer spiel' that was standard issue and literally drilled into the head of every trooper going out on Fountain Watch.

Sisto, the most fearless — or most clueless, depending on who you asked — of the group had taken up a spot on the rim of the fountain himself, adding in a brief, "The most technologically advanced verse here, y'know." The kid got points for trying to help, and Stanek's thanks for diverting the eerie, unblinking stare from him, even for a moment.

But it didn't last long, before he was interrupted by a sudden, quick movement, the little blue...probably-not-child, of all things, raising a hand. Like a student in school, or a recruit in the classroom. It was almost surprising enough to take the edge out of him. Almost. "Er...y-yes?" he haltingly spoke up, inviting her to ask whatever question she might have had.

She slowly lowered her arm, letting it flop lazily across her lap as she leaned slightly forward. "You just kind of...keep going on about this place you're from. Coursarant--"

"Coruscant."

"Right, yes, that place. It's got a weird name." She crossed her arms over her torso, nodding her head emphatically, as if agreeing with herself. Off to one side, Rodi snickered in open amusement. "But...you just keep going on about it, what you do and stuff, and how great it is compared to other places." Her head slowly tilted to one side, a curious look filtering across her otherwise flat features. "But you never...go into much detail about those other places. It's kind of a one-sided picture."

"Dead to rights. She's got ya, Sarge," Sisto quipped, and the smirk was evident.

"Well, I uh..." Stanek faltered for a moment, before shaking his head. "My apologies. It's a routine we follow, gets kind of dull out here so we forget sometimes to go into detail on the other Verses in the interests of doing our jobs."

Graowr just returned her blank stare to the sergeant, as if she was waiting for something. She blinked once, and Stanek was forced to look away, beckoning over another of the troopers in his squad. "Jayce. This is your ball." The indicated trooper — quite pointedly the only one who had yet to utter a single word, or lower his blaster from its ready posture cradled in his arms — briskly strolled up, and Stanek clapped him on the shoulder. "Corporal Jayce here is our info man. Man's a walking encyclopedia on the Omniverse as a whole, and he's got a Dataverse uplink to try and ferret out anything he doesn't know right offhand. You got questions, he's your man."

Jayce just nodded his head, short and simple. "Affirmative. What would you like to know?"

Graowr just looked at the mostly silent man curiously, before she pointed out at one of the distant little things on the horizon. "Wassat?" she inquired.

Jayce turned, glanced at the object in question, and turned back, holding up one hand. A hologram flickered to life from an emitter in his palm, showing an old, worn archway of stone. Looked like it had really been there a while. "The gate to the Endless Dunes. A verse of endless deserts, low civilization, and high danger. Cannibals and bandits, and recent wars over territory have left it inhospitable, even for the ones who live there. Empire presence is very minimal there, and only in a single town. Travel there is not recommended unless you have specific business or sufficient means to defend yourself."

Graowr had leaned forward excitedly at the appearance of the hologram, peering at it curiously, then turning to look at the distant gate as Jayce methodically explained what lay beyond it. "Ooooh...." She turned back, looking directly at Jayce. "Sorry, sorry...I was listening to all that, and I got most of it, but...what's a desert?"

With the exception of Stanek, Jayce and Graowr, every member of the small group at the fountain erupted into laughs.

[The Future Warrior]

Through sheer strength of stoicism, or through plain inability to be ruffled in any way, Jayce unerringly kept his cool. He remained level and neutral, and calmly answered the myriad questions that the new prime had, even the unbelievably obvious ones. Information about the various verses, repeats on the "sorry, but what's this thing?" deal from the first time around, and far too many other questions and resulting explanations to keep track of. It was actually not too unpleasant a meeting with a new prime, as far as things went. Highly confusing, and unorthodox, but still probably turning out for the better compared to how some newcomers tended to go about their first meeting with Empire authorities.

"...and that is the gate that leads to Camelot, the verse which is home to the Kingdom, who we are locked in a long-standing war with. Open hostilities are at a minimum now, as we each tend to our own matters." Jayce produced the by now typical blue hologram of the gate to Camelot over his upturned palm. "I'm obligated by Imperial guideline to inform you that as a Prime you are free to go your own way and make your own decision, but encouraged to advise you against throwing your lot in with the Kingdom."

"See, you're not supposed to mention that whole 'obligated by Imperial guidelines' part, Jayce..." Corbinian, having seated himself on the ground, just shook his head with an overly dramatic sigh. "Remember...some things you keep internalized. Don't say 'em out loud. We talked about this."

Jayce didn't say anything for a moment, just slowly closed his hand into a loose fist, shutting off the hologram. "....I wasn't supposed to say that." He finally echoed Corbninian's sentiment. "I am not very good at relaying things beyond facts."

Corbinian just chuckled. "Yeah, yeah, we know, big guy, don't worry about it. Everyone makes mistakes."

"Besides..." Now it was Stanek's turn to speak up, having finally thrown off his initial unease about this whole situation. "Might be best to get that out in the open, anyway. No sense keeping it under false pretenses." He turned his helmeted gaze directly to the little blue child-like prime. "It's our duty to get as many new primes as we can to join our ranks, and bolster our numbers and strength. For whatever may come. You've a standing invitation to join us, if you can take care of some basic tasks to show you're up to it."

Graowr just tilted her head to one side, looking up at the sergeant. For once, there was a clear display of emotion on her face, which had definitely helped to set aside the unease of the situation. Wide-eyed wonder highlighted her otherwise featureless expression, as she seemed to be working rather hard at pondering over something. "Okay," she finally said. "I guess I could try and do that."

Just like that? Really? It wasn't exactly unheard of for new primes to so readily accept an invitation to join the Empire, but it was always a pleasant shock when they did. "Well, that's certainly good to hear."

"Yeah, well...I don't really have anything else I could really do." The wide-eyed wonder on her expression had faded, back into a more neutral, blank state, as she shrugged, looking clueless. "Except wander around for a while until something looks cool, I guess...but that would take a long time, probably, and not be a whole lot of fun."

"Well, that right there sure is a reason, if I ever heard one," Sisto piped up, clear amusement even in his barely filtered tone.

[The Future Warrior]

It was a safe enough bet that not one of the 'distinguished' members of Empire Fountain Watch 41-F-8 ever expected to find themselves traipsing back across the Nexus toward the gate to Coruscant with a new prime who seemed not only willing to join their ranks, but almost excited to do so. The incessant questions that came from said prime had yet to wander into annoying territory, being only refreshingly endearing, especially for the cluelessness and genuine curiosity with which they were all asked. More than once the comment about the child-like young prime being just about a blank slate, as far as learning went, went around, with general agreement. Not in any derogatory sense, but just out of sheer amazement. She was easily confused by more long-winded explanations, and often had to have things repeated or explained in simpler words and terms, but she eventually got it.

And now and then she would piece some things together on her own, or ask completely unrelated questions, leaving the squad confused but always spinning it back around to the topic at hand in some roundabout fashion. Every now and then she would even jump off into a completely unrelated matter, asking about things which left the squad baffled. It was the perfect example of just how her mind worked — which was to say, very strangely. Stanek, his professional training and devious mind that had landed him this position as leader of the squad over Jayce, could already feel the gears in his own head turning, formulating ideas as to how this could be turned to an advantage. The new prime — Graowr was her name, apparently, odd as it was — was so damn innocent and child-like she'd probably believe anything she was told, if it was worded right. That kind of easy belief and easily-fostered loyalty just waiting to be firmly taken hold of was something you just couldn't find anywhere. Primes were always valuable, especially if they could be brought into the service of the EPD, and even more so if they could be made unthinkingly loyal. A find like this might be enough to get him back off Fountain Watch just like that, back to his usual post in Tier 1 well ahead of schedule. Maybe even a promotion! Wishful thinking, but he had to keep his spirits up somehow.

"So...this EPD thing." Graowr spoke up, from her perch on Sisto's back, where she was being carried piggy-back, with her arms wrapped happily around his neck. She had only hopped down and taken a few steps when it became readily apparent her short stride was going to force a very brisk pace to keep up, with everyone else being at least a foot taller than her. Jayce, in particular, already stood nearly head and shoulders above his squadmates, so all but towered over the little blue chi-- no, prime. It was very easy to confuse her for a child, especially when she was so happily being carried along just like one. To his credit, Sisto didn't seem to mind the extra burden placed on him, and even seemed to enjoy it. "Used to give my sister piggy-back rides, when I stopped by home. I'm used to it!" It certainly did a lot to ease the mood on the trip back to the gate, and made the numerous questions all the more endearing.

"Yes?" Stanek spoke up, forcing himself away from his thoughts to finally answer their newest 'ally'. "The EPD is the Empire Police Division. Did you have any questions about it?"

"That's the thing you guys said I should join, right?" Graowr asked slowly, thinking through her words carefully for once. When she got the affirmative from the sergeant, she went on, "It sounds like it's gonna be tough...especially with as weak as I feel right now." She clenched one hand into a fist, looking at it very intently. "....probably back to a point where I couldn't even beat Raditz again....feels weird, after being so strong before."

"That's to be expected." This time, it was Jayce who volunteered to answer the non-question. "All primes are changed upon coming here to the Omniverse. Most are weakened, in some cases significantly, while others who had no powers of their own are strengthened. Everyone enters on, more or less, an even footing when they first arrive, according to our records and observations." He turned to their little blue passenger, and gave a reassuring nod. "Don't worry. You can get your strength back with enough effort." He paused, and a moment later, added: "And Omnilium. Primes can increase their strength quite easily with that."

"Oooh...." Graowr was fascinated at that statement. "And that...a prime. That's what I am, right? Somebody Omni brought here himself?" The info-man of the squad responded with a nod of confirmation. "And you guys are...second..." She paused, stumbling over the word. "...secondaries. You were...summoned by another prime?" Another nod of confirmation, at which she tilted her head in confusion. "So...you guys can't get stronger with Omnilium, like I could?"

Jayce once again nodded. "Correct. Primes have the benefit of naturally gathering and absorbing OM, at times using it subconsciously to strengthen themselves or summon things. It supplements their natural training and increase of power to a great extent. Secondaries, like us, cannot directly manipulate and make use of Omnilium. Only a prime imbuing us with extra Omnilium — and that is a tricky business — or the old-fashioned means of great effort and training can let us get stronger."

"Oooooooh. Training the old-fashioned way... I used to do that a lot. It's how I got to be so strong, back home!" She was clearly very pleased about the prospect of that still working here, even if it was assisted by something other than her own natural efforts. "Maybe we could help each other with training sometime? Help you guys get stronger, if you're gonna be out here where dangerous people show up!"

"Maybe so." Stanek was very careful to keep his tone level. The prospect was an enticing one — a prime as a training partner wasn't something that was too common. It would be an experience, alright...one he might have to actually take her up on, whenever they all had free time in their schedule. "But let's wait until you get a little stronger, yourself. A squad like us, we fight together. I don't think you'd be able to provide very effective training, given your current condition."

Graowr looked indignant, her cheeks puffing out angrily. It was a bit of a blow to her pride, to hear it said so bluntly, even if she knew it was probably right. Even back home, when she'd been at full strength and training with three or four people who were only a portion of her strength, it hadn't really been easy. Four on one was just bad odds, even if you didn't really know math well. Six on one was bound to be worse, especially when you were at a bare fraction of your normal strength. "...yeah. I guess so."

"Hey, don't be so down about it!" Sisto said cheerily. "I'm sure you'll shake off that weakness in no time!" The statement earned him a light bop on his helmet, to which he only chuckled. "Sorry, sorry...probably could have worded that better! But just, y'know, have some faith! Just give it a little time. The EPD is busy work, and it should be some decent training to get you up to speed!"

Graowr just grinned. "I hope so. I want to see what you guys can do!"

[Meriwa]

"Ok, this is ridiculous," Nezha thought, skating forwards at increasing speeds. The white expanse was near featureless except for two things, the huge fountain behind him and the small collection of people he could vaguely see ahead of him. It almost seemed as if their armor was as white as the surroundings, which would have served as a perfect camouflage if not for the black accents, barely visible at this distance, and that one of them carried a huge blue backpack which. That shade of blue was like a sore thumb in this landscape, sticking out like you wouldn't believe. "Ok, so these people are armored. They are not walking all too quickly." With this separation, even if it was closing, details were still hard to make out but Nezha believed their number was less than then, more somewhere like five to seven of them. They were walking with purpose and... yep, those were some kind of rifles in their hands. "So friendship protocols engaged? Better safe than sorry."

Speeding up a bit and angling his path slightly to the right, Nezha began a long circling movement around the group, observing them at a distance even as he let his Air Treks go warm. "Wave at the cameras, Nezha," he muttered to himself as he overtook the group of six, no... seven people. "Smile and wave." Beginning the long, curving turn that would bring him into the group's field of view, Nezha felt the fly-wheels engage as he minutely shifted his feet, slowing his speed down to a much more managable 20 miles per hour. Waving at the group of people (and wasn't there something familiar about that armour?) Nezha continued the languid approach, angling his turn a bit more sharply to further bleed off his speed. He was approaching at the pace of a brisk job as he finally closed in, stopping at roughly twenty feet away from the group.

The awkward "Uhm... Hi?" was accompanied by a small wave. "I'm Nezha, kind of new here, and you guys seem to know where you're going... ? Wait, was that child blue?

[The Future Warrior]

True to the discipline that had been drilled into him -- and completely discounting the downright shameful display, back at the fountain -- Sergeant Stanek didn't even bat an eye at the strange means of locomotion displayed by the young man as he, quite literally, rolled into view at a brisk pace, coming to a halt some twenty feet off from the squad of the Empire's (no quite) Finest. He held up one hand, giving a simple, "Hold it." to the group, turning his attention to the newcomer, who introduced himself as Nezha. "Allow me to offer you an official welcome to the Omniverse, on behalf of the Empire, Nezha," he said, the tone of well-memorized repetition lending his words a peculiar cadence. "I am Sergeant Stanek, of the Empire Peace Division's Fountain Watch." He gestured to the rest of the motley group. "These are my subordinates, along with another new arrival we met at the fountain, and a proud new acquisition for the Empire."

At mention of this, Graowr lifted one hand in a lazy wave. "Bad timing, I guess, huh? Little bit longer and maybe could've met you back at the fountain too." Almost immediately after, though, she leaned down to Sisto, whispering (or trying to), "By the way...what's an 'acquisition'?"

"We're headed back to the gate to Coruscant just now," Stanek went on. "You're welcome to come along, if you'd like. Jayce here can answer any questions you might have along the way." He clapped a hand on the much larger man's shoulder. "I hear Omni isn't fond on explaining much clearly. Just the same message, for every new arrival...some people think it might even be just a pre-recorded message he's got set up or something." He shook his head, muttering under his breath, "Makes all kinds of problems for us because of it....could go so much more smoothly if he'd bother to answer a couple questions himself..."

A short clearing of the throat and he was back to professionalism. "Right." He snapped his fingers, looking back at the rest of his subordinates, just in time to catch the tail end of Sisto having his helmet turned back to its proper place, his little blue passenger having accidentally dislodged it. "Shape up and ship out, you lot. Distance to cover, questions to answer."

[Meriwa]

"Friendship protocols, score one!" Nezha thought with a mental fist pump as Sergeant Stanek introduced himself and his group. They were a motley crew, if only because of how much the blue humanoid's appearance clashed against the strict and enclosed armor of these troopers from the 'Empire Peace Division's Fountain Watch'. There was something familiar about these guys, clad in white armor with black details, heavily armed... This was like that... Dataverse? Yeah, Dataverse. This was like that thread in the Dataverse all over again. What was it that Hiro-guy had said; "Technological paradise?" Swiftly assessing the gathered squad plus one, Nezha was inclined to believe that statement. "From what little I remember of guns, those things are impressively techy. Even more so in how they don't seem to have an AT-drive core to power them."

But there was only so much silent thinking one could do while being the focus of a group of people without appearing either exceedingly self-absorbed or just plain rude. "Well then, it's nice to meet you guys," Nezha replied to the introduction. "And I guess, though we could simply have arrived on different sides of the fountain. It's certainly large enough to obscure any view one might have..." Nezha trailed off when he was struck by this sense of... wrongness.

The silence lasted, stretched, and approached the limit of social acceptance before Nezha noticed. Rudeness was kind of a bad idea, but so was looking vulnerable. He didn't remember why he felt that way, but it must have been for a good reason. Right then, take care to not seem so needy. Curiousity was fine but neediness was right out! "I'll tag along since there's nothing more productive to do around here," the young man continued, glancing around. Yep, still the same expanse of whiteness with nothing more than a humongous fountain in the backdrop. The more sharp-minded of the soldiers probably noticed that Nezha's standoff-ish attitude came without any real substance backing it, just another mask. But in a similar fashion Stanek's explanation had said more than the sergeant probably intended. If someone was image conscious enough to employ something like a Peace Division they would not be the only player around. Nezha had an idea for how to get a bit more information out of them, either by speech or by how they reacted. And as he had not been still for too long the still spinning flywheels should be good to go at any time.

So as the eight of them resumed their walk/ride/skate for Coruscant Nezha spent time asking Jayce about anything he could think of with regards to Coruscant. Where is Coruscant? In the aomniverse as it has always been. How do you get there? Through the guarded gate in the Nexus or one on a fortified island in Vasty Deep. What opportunities did a Prime have for work? Nearly all of them, but most of those required a service in the EPD or a similar government organization in order to prove ones loyalty first. It was about ten minutes of this back and forth that Nezha voiced the question he really wanted answered. "So you said that you're all in the Empire Peace Division's Fountain Watch?" He briefly paused to let the rhetorical question sink in. "Now, if someone has a peace division stationed outside of their lands that is a rather good indicator for two things." Bait. "One, they are very keen on their own reputation." Hook. "Two, there are factions in competition, if not outright war, with them. So I'm guessing there are more places like Coruscant and that the Empire is not the only power able to access this place." And pull! "Speaking of which, would you mind telling me about them in more detail?"

[The Future Warrior]

The back and forth of questions was mostly the usual fare. Questions a lot of newcomers asked. Stanek wasn't surprised, but was glad for the chance to not have to answer them again. Once in such short order was enough. He was still mulling over his own thoughts and didn't want to spare the time for the whole well-meaning welcome act. He was content to leave that to the types who were actually cut out for it.

At the question about all of them being a part of the Fountain Watch, the answer went unspoken. All it really earned was a shrug from most parties, and an affirmative nod from Jayce, the rhetorical nature of the question managing, impressively, to sail right over his head. As Nezha went on about the EPD and its station outside of Coruscant proper, even the inward-thinking Sergeant finally turned his attention back outward to listen in.

And Graowr, for her part, was just as confused and curious as ever. Looking back and forth from the newcomer to the Imperial troops, trying to gauge some measure of what this was all about. She'd never really considered things from the angle Nezha pointed out, but to her simple, straightforward manner of thinking, it all did make sense as it was laid out like that. After all, they had mentioned that lot of camels or something. Didn't seem like they were on such good terms with them. And all those other places around here. The verses and whatnot. There was probably who even had any idea what out there, somewhere.

The request to tell more about the other places in more detail was met with silence for a moment, before Jayce obligingly held up his right hand, palm upward. The blue hologram flickered to life again, displaying a rough map of the Nexus as seen from overhead. Their current location was highlighted, and a line drawn to a gate more or less straight ahead. A label read 'Coruscant' in stylized lettering. The gates around the edge flickered, lighting up in turn as focus swept past them, coming to rest on the image of the clean, hewn stone of the gate to Camelot, with its label written in highly fancified cursive. "The other primary power in the Omniverse is the Kingdom of Camelot. The short version of events is that we have been more or less at war, though not in open conflict, for a long while now. As far as technology goes, they're at the opposite end of the spectrum, making use of magic and old-fashioned means."

"Doesn't really make them any less effective, what with the crazy way physics work in this place," Sisto interjected cheerfully. "Bow and arrow's as good as a blaster rifle, somehow or other. Heck, to some people, a regular ol' punch is just as good. Sometimes better." He chuckled at the absurdity of that. "It was a real experience, getting used to that when I first hot here, lemme tell you..."

"The Kingdom is also highly interested in recruiting new primes to its ranks, though is more subtle about it. They do not maintain an active presence in the Nexus here to try and recruit freshly-arrived Primes, for their own reasons, but they certainly keep a watch on it. Rest assure, they know when someone new arrives, just as surely as the Empire does." Jayce closed his hand into a loose fist, shutting off the display. "We've been fortunate not to have any encounters with them directly, but we've seen their scouting patrols lurking near their gate, and going to and fro along the edges into and out of other verses. We don't really know much of what they're up to, but we keep tabs on their business just as much as we know they do on ours."

"Sure is cold, for a war," Sisto once more added in. "Kinda glad it's so relatively peaceful. We've got enough problems inside our own borders to worry about. War on the outside on top of that would be a real ordeal."

[Meriwa]

There was that sense of wrongness again! The situation was actually rather familiar for Nezha; if familiar only in that vague and nebulous way which usually hints at something being very wrong indeed. Hinting in all manner of ominous ways. The first of these two qualities, the vagueness and nebulousness of it all, was just now starting to register to Nezha, how much there was about where he come from before, beyond that ignoble... semi-ending that the deity-being Omni had saved him from. The second facet, the... ominous quality of what it hinted towards had yet to even grace his mind. All this new information about the Omniverse, as it was apparently called (and who seriously named a universe after themselves?) was steadily pushing any mental processing tasks regarding ominous hints further and further down the list of priorities.

Right, there was a war here too, if a cold one. "Wait, a war here as well?" the young man thought with alarm. "Where did that idea come from?" Judging from their reactions it seemed as if it had been spot on, a proper bullseye so to say, but that would usually not have been his first conclusion. It seemed that the aggressive questioning were not the only things out of his normal mode of behaviour here. Oh, yeah, that was another thing that was bothering him; why was he acting so aggressively? Nezha was by his very nature not a man of conflict. In a fight his preferred move was always running away, preferably in an as quick and immediate manner possible. He knew that it had something to do with his life in school, but he wasn't entirely sure... Oh, right, that trooper who liked to explain things, Jayce, was talking again. "I guess I better pay attention then," Nezha thought resolutely. He was likely to learn even more about this strange place.

Nezha's astonishment at the sheer and utter weirdness of the Omniverse only continued to mount as Jayce talked. Sisto's interjections certainly helped with that task, the one of keeping Nezha's mind reeling. Nezha had always been a rather large fan of science fiction before he got sucked into the world of Air Treks, and as far as he remembered there was quite a bit that could be accomplished by using AT-derived technology. The seemingly super-futuristic nature of Coruscant and the Empire was something that he could accept. Even something as alien as Graowr was not outside of the realm of his expectations, there was some sort of law or (what was that other word, postulate?) some such that claimed it inevitable for intelligent life other than Human to exist. But magic? As in real actual magic? And it was all based on the 'weird' physics of this reality? A reality that not only had magic, but also contained several sub-set realities too?

"Wait, what's a sub-set again?" Nezha couldn't help but think as his mind desperately latched on to something less sanity-breaking than magic, witchcraft, high sorcery, or whatever you want to call it actually being a goddamned thing in this completely ludicrous place. Sisto's second interjection gladly steered his mind away from those matters that would take a... little more time to get used to, to put it more mildly. Nezha had absolutely ZERO interest in becoming part of any war. He ran, very quickly, as it was something he did well. Fighting for his life is not really something he would ever want to do. Ok, what would be the best way... a few seconds of quiet, to properly ponder potential possibilities, and an answer presented itself. It had the added benefit of not being so aggressive as to be uncharacteristic of himself. Yeah, pat yourself on the back for that one, Nezha. "I... I'm sorry, but it looks like I won't be joining you on Coruscant." The statement interrupted Jayce before he could elaborate on the nuances of the conflict, for Sisko's remarks had not fully covered them in all their glory. "It's not that I have anything against you guys, or Coruscant which actually sounds like a more reasonable place than Camelot, but I have no real idea of how or why I appeared here. I don't want to throw myself headfirst into a conflict between what sounds to be two universes." The fly-wheels where still spinning at significant velocity so Nezha stepped back slightly, as to more easily get away. There was resignation in his voice. "Don't worry, I'm not to join any side in this weird conflict," looking to Graowr he continued, "We might meet later on, but for now I've got to Run!" Nezha hopped back, not knowing if they would try to grab him, half-turning in mid-air. The brief air time terminated as Nezha engaged the fly-wheels and vanished in a cloud of dust at maximum velocity.

There was a brief silence among the remaning group of seven before Sisko opened his mouth again. "Well, with a guy that all over the place I'm glad I still have all of my limbs attached." The tone was joking but his squadmates knew it was just an act in this case. "That could have gone a lot worse."



[Nezha Absconds!!! out of the thread.][/color]

[The Future Warrior]

The little blue majin just stared dumbfoundedly at the vaguely Nezha-shaped dust cloud where there had very certainly been a person just a few moments before. She blinked once and it was just an indistinct cloud of dust, drawing her attention to the already all but gone form of the strange man in the distance. She looked down at Sisto as he offered his own input on the situation, and then back up in the general direction of where she'd already lost sight of Nezha. "....yeah, that was kinda weird," she finally spoke up, nodding slightly in affirmation. Yes, kinda weird is definitely what it was.

"...well, all of that aside..." Stanek suddenly interjected, drawing attention and focus sharply back to reality. "Let's get on with this. Time certainly isn't waiting around for us, and I don't want to deal with the paperwork and bitching from higher-ups if we're outside our report margin on patrol for picking up a new Prime."

That sent a brief tinge of unease through the group as a whole. They knew very well if Stanek had to deal with that, they would have to deal with Stanek. And no one wanted that.

"Yeah, right there with ya on that one, boss...let's get to gettin'," Corbinian spoke up, having been extraordinarily quiet until then for a change. "No sense addin' any unnecessary workin' of papers into things."

Briefly, Graowr pondered over the question of 'what's paperwork?' as the group set off toward the gate to Coruscant again, but decided against actually voicing that question for now. There would be time for it later. Or maybe there wouldn't. She'd probably forget all about it, more likely than not.

There was a lot more important things to focus on, after all. It wouldn't be surprising.