(Preshow) Preshow Facility

[Karl Jak]

This includes everything listed in the thread below.

http://omniverse-rpg.com/showthread.php?tid=8064

Please denote your facility location in your post title.

[Katrielle Layton]

LIBRARY

Bendy had been ushered into the Recall Station and had arrived at the facility a while ago. In all honesty, he could care less about the place - he was here for the event and this was just a backstage area of sorts. But since they were still gathering Primes, all he could do was wait.

At least he had ample time to mess around with the other contestants. Over the course of half an hour, he dedicated himself to rearranging as many books in the library into the wrong shelves as he could. While he hadn't completely wrecked the ordering system, plenty of novels and guides had been misplaced, with the majority of the... risque booklets organized into the "history" shelves.

Satisfied with his handiwork, the cartoon rested in a plush chair, leafing through a book detailing the arduous work that was involved in making animations. Occasionally he'd glance up from the pages to check if anyone had noticed his antics.

[Professor Sunshine]

(Located in Gym/Dojo)

As Abyss was teleported into the central hallway of Syntech Station 17, she immediately started to look for some place to train, as she hoped that she could try to get stronger before the big battle of Dante's Abyss fully started. She knew that there were probably going to be Primes who were going to be at least quite a bit stronger than her, and while this fact angered her a bit, Abyss managed to keep focus on finding somewhere to train, so that she could try to even the odds, or at least make sure that she isn't the first one to fall during the battle.

Luckily for Abyss, she was able to easily find a gym through a few simple minutes of walking around the hallway, and when she entered the gym room, she was amazed of the size of the gym. The gym was state of the art as she saw various treadmills and sandbags, as well as different kinds of exercise tools designed for use over a long time. "Oh finally, a place fit for an Egg Boss in this Omniverse! Maybe after I finish up this event I can make something similar to this for my own base? I mean, it would probably take hours, but it would definitely be worth it to have a gym like this be a home base!"

"Now which piece of equipment should I start with first..." Abyss was now starting to look at the different pieces of equipment to check which one she should start using, as she wondered what kind of training she would need. She knew that the treadmill was not a option, since she was already really fast for her size. As Abyss continued to think, she thought that she would probably need to practice throwing punches to make sure she could accurately hit opponents. As Abyss looked throughout the gym, she eventually found a targeting range at the back of the gym that was meant for those to practice aiming, but to Abyss's looking, it seemed to have not been in use for years due to all the dust covering it.

As Abyss quickly dusted off the targeting range, she quickly tried to find the switch that would turn the targeting range on, and after a minute of cleaning up she was able to find the start button and press it. As the targeting range was turning on, Abyss was amused that the targets were moving around in a erratic way as she was getting ready to start practicing. Upon beginning her training, Abyss started to focus the moisture around herself, hoping that she would be able to create a projectile from Omnilium and water that she could use for training her aim.

After a few seconds of focusing, Abyss was able to finally create a ball of water that was 10 feet away from her, but she was mad at the size of the ball of water. "This is the the biggest ball of water I could create? I mean, its impressive that my idea actually worked, but for gosh sakes, it's smaller than my hands! Begone, you disgrace of a projectile! As Abyss sent away the projectile, it was flung into one of the targets, breaking it off from the strings that were holding and moving it, and launching it into the wall.

Abyss, after seeing the results from the ball of water she created, was intrigued by the power that the balled water was capable of. "Well I'll be, I can't believe such a small ball of water would be capable of doing that. I was just considering on forgetting about creating more of these balls of water, but after that, I may just keep this idea. Either way, I should probably test how my tentacles are doing. Gotta make sure they're in peak condition for battering opponents to death." As Abyss started to stand still, she focused energy into her tentacles as she charged them, and after a few seconds, she launched both of her tentacles at full force at a target, both breaking the target and launching the pieces into the wall.

Huff... Yeah they are just as strong as ever, but man they make me tired." As Abyss was recovering from the strain that launching both tentacles at once, she thought about what she would do once the event began. She knew that if she was somehow able to win, she would probably be able to gather a crew from the fans who would come from her win, but she guessed that she would have to face through a bunch of people before she would be able to win. But since she was able to hit both targets with both of her attacks, she was eased up a bit about the event, since she knew at the least that she could be able to hit them from a distance.

[Larfleeze]

LIBRARY

Finally, something useful! Honestly, Camelot might not have been the best choice as the first world to visit. No advanced technology, no instant communication, no easily accessible information? This was something he could actually use.

Chakravartin entered the library, and made a beeline for the nearest book shelf. "History" he said to himself, grinning. He had been meaning to get some answers about the Omniverse as a whole. When the tournament was over, he would have to find out where other places like this existed, for he hadn't seen any in the rural villages of Camelot. Perhaps if he had continued searching Minas Tirith? Either way, he was planning on spending the entirety of the pre-tournament learning as much as he could about the Omniverse.

As he came across the historical section, he began gliding his eyes along the shelves, only to halt in his tracks upon reading some of the titles. "What the hell?" who had put smut in the history section? The first few he noticed out of place weren't even historical fiction. Upon looking closer, he narrowed his eyes, the entire place was in chaos. Numbers out of order, books set upside down. And of course the sheer amount of pornography spread across the history section.

It figured, he supposed. The first time it seems like he'd have a chance to learn about this world and it's disorganized and jumbled.

Without a word, Palace Hands, all four, rose from his skin, peeling off and floating at his side, before they began to furiously rip books from the shelves, and put them back in some semblance of order.

The floor of the history section was soon littered with inappropriate booklets, and while Chakravartin wasn't familiar with the significance of any kind of alphabetical order, he at least tried to put series based on number back in the correct position. His attempted organization was interrupted when he heard laughter, followed by a casual, "You're undoing all my hard work kid!"

Chakravartin looked at the figure who had been approaching. Rather short, with large eyes, hands, and feet. Most of his body was a solid black, with a few paler patches, "...Hard work?" Chakravartin asked, raising an eyebrow.

[Oleander]

Dojo

It was like a homing beacon. Takezo wandered around for only a brief while before he discovered what looked to be a very... weird looking Dojo. As he entered, he took a deep breath through his nostrils. It smelled of sweat and dust. Maybe the first part was just him? It had been a few days since he bathed.

Either way, he enters the dojo, peering around at a number of mirrors along the walls. His clothing was still stained with blood, a small line even sprayed along his jaw, drying into his scruff. He huffed at it, caring little about how he looked at the moment. There would be more blood to come.

Takezo took a stance. With a quick motion, Takezo quickly withdrew his sword and slashed at the air. He watched the mirror in front of him, gauging his form. "Peh." He must be rusty. The draw felt too slow, almost sluggish.

He took the handle in both hands and slashed downwards. "One." His arms loosened. The blade rose and he slashed at the air again. "Two." A rhythm started to form. Up... Down... "Three." Up... Down... "Four." And so he counted. 

His cuts varied slightly. For twenty counts, he would slash downwards. For twenty more he would slash upwards. Twenty after that, he would slash to the left, and after that twenty to the right. When this cycle was completed, he began it again. Top to bottom times twenty. Bottom to top times twenty. Right to left times twenty. Left to right times twenty.

Takezo watched his reflection. He judged the movements, criticized his own form and made corrections swiftly between strikes. They were so minute that perhaps no one might notice how his left hand was just an inch too high on the handle, or how his foot had slid an inch too far to the right.

The swift slashes sing as they cut through the air. The stench of sweat grew as the swordsman perspired. This was nice change from training in the mountains, not that he preferred one over the other. A rogue wild cat trying to gut you made excellent practice - and a meal - when in the wild.

[Professor Sunshine]

GYM/DOJO

As Abyss continued to launch balls of water at the targets to practice her aim over the next hour, she was starting to get tired from overusing her water balls, and as a result was starting to sweat all over her body. She was still training on making sure that her moves would be able to hit with the opponent, and at the moment she was on the highest setting of the target range, with the targets moving at around the same speeds as a speeding car. Even though Abyss could only hit one out of every 3 targets as of the moment, she knew that she was improving since she could see the targets much more clearly then when she began training on the highest setting.

After Abyss finished all of her training on the target, she grabbed one of the towels off of a nearby towel rack and started drying the sweat off of herself. As she was starting to relax so that she could train later, she saw some sort of warrior training with a sword on the air. She thought that it was weird that the man was training using the air when he could just be slashing the air when he could easily just slash the punching bags, but she was more mad since she was already using the gym for practicing her aim, and she was not going to share the gym with anyone else!

"Hey, you!" Abyss said, using her tentacles to nudge the warrior a bit forward to get his attention, while putting on her best death glare and preparing to scare him off. "I don't know who you are or what kind of world you come from, but this is my gym, not yours! You can use it later once I'm done, but for now, please leave me be while I test my aim and prepare myself for this Dante's Abyss thing! And before you forget what my name is when I win, its Abyss the Squid, Egg Boss of the Southern Oceans!

Upon finishing her statement, Abyss stamped her foot very hard on the floor and continuing to hold a death glare onto the warrior, waiting for his response to her statement. She wasn't sure on how strong this person was, but since he was slashing the air and not the punching bags she guessed that while he could be powerful, he was most likely dumb or unaware of what a punching bag was. Abyss was also wondering on what kind of world this warrior was from, since she didn't recognize him on Mobius, and his style of clothes certainly looked different to any kind of clothes she ever wore. As Abyss was thinking these thoughts, she was hoping that the warrior would walk away scared, since she guessed that the fighting would not be allowed before the event begin, and even if she had to fight in self-defense, she guessed that she would be disqualified.

[Oleander]

His lips curled at the feel of something trying to push him. He saw in the mirror this... thing. He was not amused in the slightest. It took all of his will not to slash at... whatever this thing was. Releasing the handle with one hand, he turns just enough to place a sweaty palm firmly on the creature's face and give it a mighty shove.

Not expecting the violent retaliation, Abyss is forced backwards onto the floor. The strength of the man's arm states he was not at all weak, though had she known he would react so violently, she believed she could easily dodge his attacks. As Takezo turns to face her, the front of his attire is revealed in full. His black, loose fit coat hid the stains upon it well, but the white collar and the line across his jaw were obviously blood stains. And they were fresh.

Abyss' death glare was returned with the eyes of a demon. He may be a human in the flesh, but his eyes told a different story. She might question what such a wild man was even doing in a place like this, until she realized what one of the win conditions for Dante's Abyss was. Killing.

Suddenly, the man chuckles. The smirk that followed was not good natured at all. "Fighting Calamari..." He shakes his head, turning back to the mirror. "What next, a Kung Fu Onigiri?" He chuckled again. Clearly he seemed to disregard Abyss, as he returns to his methodical cutting of the air.

Now that she was close, she would hear the whistle of his blade. She could almost feel the force behind each practiced strike by looking at the way his body moves into each blow. He was not practicing strength. He had that in spades. Takezo was merely working on technique.

[Professor Sunshine]

GYM/DOJO, then to LIBRARY

Without any warning, Abyss was shoved with enough force to land on the floor, startling her enough to finally notice the demonic gaze that the warrior was giving her. Upon seeing the gaze, Abyss was so struck with fear that she was basically frozen with fear, and as she looked at the warrior, she no longer saw him as a human, but as a demon swordsman who was intent to kill. As she tried to slowly get up she could more clearly hear a whistling noise as he was swinging his sword, which made Abyss even more scared, as even with her strongest strikes she couldn't make that noticeable a noise.

While she was a bit insulted by being called a "fighting calamari", she was way more scared than insulted, and as she got up,
she started to walk torward the door to run away from the demon swordsman. "Heh heh... I can understand that your busy working on swinging that sword, so I'll just leave you be for now, though if I may help you a bit, you should probably use the punching bags instead of slashing the air. I mean, they are usually used for punching, but if you practice your sword on them, you can probably see how your strikes react on something solid. Now if you need me, I need to use the little girl's room..."

As Abyss quickly fled the gym to get far away from the swordsman, she quickly grabbed a piece of paper by making it from Omnilium, and put the piece of paper on the door while writing on it "Warning: DO NOT ENTER FOR SAFETY OF YOUR HEALTH! DEMON SWORDSMAN TRAINING IN THERE!" After putting the paper on the door, she quickly ran across the hall away from the gym, and into the library. As Abyss entered the library, she saw two different people talking to each other about something she didn't care for, and she quickly decided to sit down and relax in the library until the demon was out of the gym so she could get back in there.

After a few minutes, Abyss very quickly got bored of waiting, so she decided to talk to one of the people, though she was not sure on which person to talk to. On one hand, the creature that looked like a ink being to Abyss looked like the less frightening option as he looked a lot less threatening than the demon swordsman in the gym, but on the other hand the person who looked a lot more like a human looked like he could be very useful on the battlefield with those four floating hands of his. After some thinking, Abyss decided to talk to Chakravartin, so she could try to make a ally with him.

"Hey, so my name is Abyss, and you seem a lot less frightening then that demon in the gym. He may look human, but trust me, he is the scariest being I have ever seen. Anyway, do you mind if I read with you? I need to read on the other competitors anyway, so maybe we can read together?" As Abyss talked to Chakravartin, she tried her best to put on a cute face, though the best she could come with on her face was of a look that was a mix between adoration and grumpiness. As she thought of what this person could be like, she was a bit worried that he would be like the demon, but she was hoping that he would be more friendly so that she could make allies with him.

[Katrielle Layton]

LIBRARY

Ooh, it worked! Standing before the demon was a human (presumably. He didn't know any human that could summon four extra hands, but he didn't look like anything else he could've recognized), and he didn't look pleased.

"Yeah! Hard work," Bendy replied, barely holding in his laughter and tossing the book he had been holding aside so it landed neatly on the table. "It took me forever to get all those books placed. Name's Bendy, by the way. Bendy the Dancing Demon."

The man's annoyed expression didn't change. "So you did this?" It was a hypothetical question, and they both knew this, but the cartoon decided to treat it as if it was genuine.

"Who else do you think could've done it, Boris? What sort of hard work do you think I had been doing when I called you out for rearranging the books? And you do know you never gave me your name, right?"

"...Who's Boris? ...Nevermind, that's not important. I'm Chakravartin Wu Kong, and what I'm curious about is why you did this."

"Why not?"

This answer left the stranger in silence for a moment,. But before long that silence was replaced with frustration and Bendy breaking down into a laughing fit. "Look, demon, this isn't your library to mess around with."

"That's what makes it so fun, Kong!" The imp chuckled. He adjusted his bowtie and was about to walk away when another being entered, this time obviously non-human. Even though it was clear that the squid-like Prime had been talking to Mr. Ridiculous Name, he joined into the conversation too.

"There's other demons here too?" He asked, barbed tail swinging in excitement. He'd have to check him out, even if the cephalopod's description wasn't all that pleasant.

Abyss glanced his way, slightly perturbed. "You're a demon?

Bendy nodded vigorously. "Yep! I'm Bendy! Don't worry though, I'll save the murdering and wanton violence for the Abyss, Abyss." He smiled at the little joke he made, although he wasn't expecting the others to be laughing at it.

[Larfleeze]

LIBRARY

Turning away from the inky vandal, Chakravatin took in the other newcomer. He was pleasantly surprised to see so many different species, after being stuck around humans ever since he first arrived, "Hm. My name is Chakravartin Wu Kong." she had a strange expression on her face, but there wasn't much sense of hostility. Electing to ignore Bendy for the moment, he turned away from the history section, "I wasn't aware we had access to information on the other competitors. I take it you're a Prime?"

"Yep. I'm looking for possible allies at the moment. You look like together we could put up quite a fight, with those floating hands and swords of yours, and my own techniques, we could be a pretty versatile team, right?"

"I was under the impression it was a fighting tournament, would forming any kind of alliance benefit either of us?"

"It's not just a tournament." the squid girl said, "There's some open free-for-all sections."

"hm. And you got that from reading? I'd be interested in reading something useful, if you can find anything in this mess. We can discuss alliances once there's more information." Chakravartin looked back to Bendy, frowning at the demon, "What about you? Know anything interesting about Dante's Abyss?"

[Oleander]

Ten sets passed. Takezo's breath had elevated and his brow glistened with sweat. His arms burned and his stomach growled. Ten sets of twenty for each cardinal direction would have to do. It would do him no good to enter this fight tired and hungry. There was no telling when he would come out of this Abyss. Food, rest and a bath were on the top of his list.

One thought crossed into his mind though. That squid-thing had suggested he use the punching bags. Silly as the thought was, he strode towards the leather covered bags and brought his sword up. One swift cut cleaved clean through the bag, letting the bottom half fall. A twist of his blade, he brought it down for a second strike. The remains of the bag hit the ground in two leather slices and a pile of packing. Takazo chuckled as he flicked his blade, sheathing it with an almost graceful motion.

With that completed, he left the dojo. A glance back, he noticed the note left by the squid-woman. His smirk returned, noting her use of the word "demon" to describe him. "I am a demon even among Primes, it seems..." He left the paper intact.

Takezo followed his nose. The smells were distant, but a game of "hot and cold" eventually lead him into a section dedicated to food and drink. His brow furrowed at the many... MANY foreign food depictions. He stopped at one particular restaurant which served what looked like large, flattened loaves smothered in tomatoes, cheese and various other things. It looked strange, but smelled... intoxicating.

He decided that this might be something to try, later. He could not afford his stomach torn asunder by foreigner food. Instead, he found a more fitting server. Placing himself at the bar, where he could see through a pane of glass various types of sashimi and... Oh look... "Calamari..." How interesting. Takezo chose not to order the squid, in case he met that squid-thing in combat. He would have his fill then.

By the time he finished ordering, his plate was full of various cuts of fish, thick noodles in dark sauces, and plenty of rice. Even some odd form of chicken the woman had called "Sweet and Sour." A combination so outrageous that he simply had to try it.

The sashimi was far fresher than he'd ever tasted. The noodles were spiced oddly, but not poorly, and the rice was of a grand quality. The chicken... was eaten first. The sauce was absolutely baffling. It was not quite either of what it predicted, yet both at the same time. Takezo had never had his tongue so confused, but here he sat... tongue questioning what exactly abomination it was being forced to make sense of.

[Professor Sunshine]

LIBRARY

Before Abyss could hear what Chakravartin had to say, the other being butted into the conversation to continue to talk to him, and as she waited to get a chance to talk again she managed to hear Bendy mention himself as a demon. Upon hearing this Abyss was a bit confused as Bendy did not look like any kind of demon she has ever seen before, and he actually seemed to be a nice enough person to be around. "You're a demon? To be honest, you don't look like any kind of demon I ever seen. Actually in fact you kinda look cute. Anyway, my name is Abyss."

As Abyss continued to listen to the two she got to know the two different people better, and while Abyss was unsure of Chakravartin yet, she was starting to feel some sort of friendly vibe from him despite his comment on wanting to cause wanton violence. "Anyway, yeah there are other demons here, in fact there is one seriously dangerous one in the gym. He seems like he was kinda built to kill, and while he looks human he definitely has the gaze of a demon. As she mentioned the demon swordsman, she shivered a bit before continuing to listen and talk.

As Chakravartin said that he thought Dante's Abyss was some sort of tournament, Abyss laughed for a bit, before saying "It's not a tournament, I think. There's definitely some open free-for-all sections in here, but it's more focused on surviving rather than fighting tournament style for a prize. At least, that's what the sign-up guy said to me." As Abyss was continuing to talk to the two, she grabbed a book from the library, titled "History Of Sealife, Volume 1", and started reading into the book a bit while listening to the two, and as she read the book she learnt more about her own biology, as she hoped that she could try to learn about it so that she could better try to fix any weakspots in her body.

While reading the book though, it inspired Abyss on a page during the book where she saw a squid's tail squirm while detached from the squid's body. If squids could detach their limbs and do stuff with them, she thought, then why could she not do the same with her tentacles? She knew that doing such a technique would probably be too dangerous to try now, since she would need both of her tentacles when it was time for the main event, but if she was ever in danger during the event, maybe she could try it and do something with a detached tentacle?

Before she could think more about using a detatched tentacle though, Abyss was distracted by Chakravartin, who mentioned wanting to discuss alliances once he got more information. "Oh no, I kinda got the idea that this wasn't a tournament from the sign-up station, when the man there said it was kill or be killed, and where I come from killing in a tournament leads to arrest if you can't escape in time. But anyway I would rather want to make a alliance before this starts, since its better to work in a team than to be left alone and be ganged up upon.

At that moment, Abyss's stomach started to rumble a bit, as she realized that she hasn't eaten all day, and as she felt hungry she quickly put the book she was reading away. "If you want to continue talking, would you want to come with me to wherever they serve food here? I haven't had a bite to eat since I came to this Omniverse place, and right now I really could take a bite of some great meat right now!" As Abyss got up and prepared to leave for a place she could eat at, she waited for Chakravartin and Bendy to respond, as she wondered if they were either hungry or didn't need to eat at the moment.

[Harlan Higgs]

"And that was yet another of our contestants brushing past and ignoring me! What is going on this year?" Ron Burgundy slurred, already five glasses of scotch in. His tone had hints of desperation bleeding through it. "Am I dead? Chico, you'd tell me if I was dead, right? By god, I've discovered a torment worse than the Underverse: being ignored!" Ice cubes clinked in his glass as he watched the transport pad fizzling to life, silently praying that this Prime would be kind enough to give him something worthy of airtime.

He was momentarily disappointed when what looked like a modestly dressed car mechanic ported in, blinking at the flashbulbs. Their eyes met for a second, and each man recognized the hint of annoyance in the other, and perhaps something else. A meeting of the charismas, perhaps.

Victor Hendy stepped off the pad and walked towards Ron Burgundy with a curious expression on his face. Just as the red clad reporter opened his mouth to launch into a final stab at generating some ratings, Vic beat him to the punch.

"Is that scotch?"

Ron was momentarily caught off guard, then offered a broad smile and raised the glass. "Absolutely! Karlfiddich Single Malt, provided gratis by Syntech. And I trust that you are another contestant, my good man? Care to answer a few questions?"

Hendy grinned, keeping his lips low. "Sure thing, pal. Long as I can get my own shaker afterwards." He extended a rough hand, the reporter shaking it soon after. "Victor Hendy, fixer."

"And I'm Ron Burgundy for the Omniverse News Network!" He turned to face his camera, rotating the new contestant's with him, and broke the handshake when they were both favorably positioned. "We're here with Victor Hendy, one of the newest contestants for this year's Dante's Abyss! Now, as our audience knows, last year's competition went slightly awry. Does that give you any thoughts on how to approach this year's?"

Vic chuckled. "Well, can't say that I know too much about that, but if there's a good scrap and a prize involved, I reckon I'll have a blast just takin' part."

Ron took another slug of his drink and nodded amicably. "And there you have it, folks. First contestant who's not an utterly rude loner stereotype. We'll be back after these messages from our sponsors!"

Hendy grinned as the camera moved away from him and Ron Burgundy relaxed at ease. They got into a genial debate about fine scotches and whiskeys, and by the time Ron resumed his reportering, Vic had been convinced to go check out the Food Concourse and the many bars and restaurants within.

BAR

Mmm. A bit wet, this Karlfiddich, but enjoyable. Although it wasn't exactly the refreshment he was craving at the moment. Vic Hendy sat at a mezzanine table, sipping his scotch, and watching the plaza with the eyes of a predator. He could go for a top up before this thing started...

[Katrielle Layton]

"H-hey, I'm not cute!" Bendy hissed, putting his hands on his hips. Cute was good when he needed to get out of trouble, but it wasn't something he appreciated being called. "I'm a bonafide demon, and if you can't see that now..." His voice was dangerously tranquil as he lowered his head. "You'll find out later." No sooner than it had darkened, his countenance returned to its normal, goofy vibe. "But that isn't important right now."

When Kong asked him what he knew about the event, he shrugged and grabbed another book from the haphazard pile he had set up for him to read later. "I'm not 100% sure, but it's more like you're trying to complete certain goals on the island rather than beating people up," the imp explained, flipping through the pages of the book that had given him the information. "Occasionally people will be forced into fights to move things along, but that's the only time you need to fight unless you get unlucky and find someone that wants to fight you. This book compares it to 'Survivor' and 'The Hunger Games,' but I don't know what those are. Feel free to look into it further if you want." He slung the book towards the human(?), who caught it with one of his free-floating hands.

While Abyss took some time to examine a book on aquatic life, Bendy returned to his own book, although the annals about animation had grown boring compared to the new people in the room. Tired of the novel, he put it away and returned to the group around the same time Squiddy came back. "I wouldn't be against teaming up with you, Squids, although I don't think I can say the same for this guy." He jerked a thumb towards the man. "We can dominate the competition! ...After we eat, of course. Come on, I think the bar was this way."

[Dust]

BAR

He appeared in the hallway, still with a dumb look on his face, confusion left it a blank slate and his still wet bangs hung loosely in his face. He was in the middle of opening his mouth to ask what was going on, only to be teleported through space, and potentially time, to a hallway. A hallway that was both grand and bland at the same time. His hand had been coming up, to raise as a polite kind of interruption, so now he looked like a model for either art or for male's swimsuit about to question where the bathroom was. Confused, he closed his mouth with a soft snap of teeth touching teeth, and then straightened out his perfect posture, leaving his defined arms to hang at his sides. He was effectively in just swim trunks. They were black, tight, and had a colorful maroon abstract design on either side; They hung carefully at his hips, the draw string not tied. Without anyone to ask his questions, nor the need to anymore, he pushed his hands into his mesh pockets and stood there for a long moment before going to explore, his bare feet now touching the cool interior of a building verses the hot roads of Costa del Sol.

A mere few moment later, his nose caught wind of something delicious and seeing how he went straight from the beach to the sign-up table he couldn't find a reason not to follow his nose. Walking through the door which had the strongest scent of cuisine, he found himself in what could be simple considered a food court. A variety of places and things were all around him, and he wondered if this was a mini gate, like the ones that cross worlds in the Omniverse. He let his feet slap against the bare floor and closed the door behind him before seeking out the food that smelt so good. While he realized he was thinking about what the food would taste like, surely his taste buds were in for a treat of treats, he also was reminiscing about home. Before his transformation he had a favorite kind of food, but he could no longer remember what it was, so now it felt like he was about to explore a new aspect of life once more. Hokori hoped he would enjoy something, or else he might wish to return to such a sad life..

He surveyed the place a moment, then stocked up on all kinds of meat. From cooked fish to fake fish, to raw fish, to squid, and even shark. From beef, to chicken, to pork. If it had a scarp of vegetable to it, he didn't care, he snatched it up all the same. He had in his possession a pile of plates and food that rivaled most professional eating contests participants. He gathered as much protein as he thought his belly would hold, and then more. When he finally was questioning his serving sizes, he moved over to the common area and sat his trey down on the table. His mouth watered, and he settled into his place before separating the plates of food so that he could see everything as it was made to be viewed, if only a little crushed by the weight of anything he'd set on top of it. He realized shortly that he needed a drink, or five, and gathered a cup and a pitcher of ice water. Once he returned, the half naked man began.

He was using chopsticks, provided by the same place he'd gotten a good portion of his food, and was very skilled in using them in his right hand. He lifted a plate and brought his utensils in, grasping it carefully and taking a nibbled of the chicken chucks covered in a 'coconut' sauce. He liked it, and let out a loud noise of approval to anyone who was setting nearby before stuffing four of them into his wide mouth and chewing hungrily. What a treat this was indeed, if this is the only satisfaction he received from joining whatever this event was, he could loose happily. At that moment, he caught the glimpse of other people near him, some were eating, some were drinking. He watched curiously as he continued conquering the cuisine before him.

[Oleander]

More people arriving at the food hall - or whatever they called this place - did not bother him. He noticed a nigh nude man shoveling heaps of food onto his plates. Plates plural, that is, he clearly could not finish all of that. Then again, Takezo was on his third plate. He was famished more than he had realized. Even now, he was plucking a few more items here an there onto his plate.

Instead of returning to his original seat, he decided to place his tray beside Dust's before sitting down. "It's strange... seeing a naked man in public. Sober." He suggested he had seen his fair share of men drunk and naked in public. To be fair, Takezo should not be judging others based on their appearance, he still bore the blood of another, stained into his white under shirt with a streak dried into the stubble of his jawline.

The man adjusted his weapon for comfort, then took up his chopsticks. "I was almost expecting nothing but abominations to compete in this... Dante's ordeal. Have you seen the walking calamari yet?" The inquiry was left in the air as he filled his maw with a large chunk of seseme chicken. A second trip from plate to mouth, his chipsticks add a bundle of noodles to go with it, which he slurped noisily - a compliment to the chef.

It was unusual for Takezo to approach a possible rival and start up an idle chat, but he had his reasons. As it stands, he was in the dark about the competition. There were a few whispers of killings, but he had not read most of the paperwork he signed. He was far too eager to test his mettle and his metal against other immortals of this world. The idea almost had him itching with anticipation.

[Larfleeze]

Chakravartin accepted the book without a word, perusing it as he let the other two Primes speak. When Bendy and Abyss decided to head off to the bar, he decided he would keep near them, they weren't... quite compatible, personality wise with him. Both seemed vaguely childish. Bendy had an ego, Abyss was hesitant. Yet neither felt like they'd be easy to manipulate.

"You really haven't eaten anything since you arrived?" Chakravartin asked Abyss, "You know how to summon with Omnilium, correct? Whenever I've gotten hungry I'd just make food."

"Seems... wasteful, doesn't it?" she replied, "Omnilium has so many uses, why spend it just on food?"

"We're Primes. We make more of the stuff than we know what to do with just by existing. Why not spend a few minutes here and there and make meals that satisfy?"

"Well it's a moot point anyway." the demon interrupted, his near-constant grin growing wider as he threw opent he door to the Bar, "Cause' they've got food ready for us anyway."

"That's him!" Abyss hissed, gesturing towards the human swordsman currently enjoying his food.

"That's the demon?" Bendy asked, "He's even more human than this guy." Bendy said, gesturing at Chakravartin.

"You haven't had him glare at you yet." Abyss warned.

Chakravartin observed him, as well as the other three people there. A figure who was at the peak of fitness, and half-naked, an obviously drunk man in a suit, and what appeared to be a mechanic, "Damn it. How many humans does the Omniverse need? They're not that interesting of a species!"

"You're not human?" Bendy asked.

"Not even a little." Chakravartin said, annoyed, "So many species in the universe- in the multiverse, and yet so many humans have ended up here." he took his seat next to Abyss and Bendy, deciding he would enjoy their company more, "If we're speaking about some kind of an alliance, I'll join. If you'll have me."

[Professor Sunshine]

LIBRARY, then BAR.

As Chakravartin and Bendy gave their replies to Abyss, she was a bit glad to see that Bendy would come with her, since she thought that she could probably use his ego to win him over while eating with him, but Chakravartin looked to be more hesitant, since he just said to her that she could just create some food by using Omnilium. "Seems... wasteful, doesn't it? Omnilium has so many uses, why spend it just on food? Besides, why use Omnilium on food when you can just as easily get it by going out to eat?" As Abyss said this, she continued to wonder how she could win over the man with the floating hands, and she wondered if she could possibly get him to work under her through trying to have him agree to help while in some sort of drunken stupor.

Abyss then got up as she started to leave with Bendy and Chakravartin, helping put all of the books back with a bit of help from Chakravartin's golden hands. As she wandered through the halls with the two, she saw that the door of the gym was open, which scared her a bit since she thought that she closed the door when she got away from that demon swordsman, and she saw that the paper, although intact, was no longer at the same spot on the door. Either she didn't fully close the door and it was blown open by the wind, she thought, or the demon swordsman was no longer in the gym, which frightened Abyss a bit as now she was no longer sure where the swordsman would be.

After grabbing the paper from the door and putting it back in her pocket, Abyss continued to follow Bendy and Chakravartin into the bar room, but not before taking a peek at the other rooms in the hallway. Besides the library and gym, she could see a large variety of different bedrooms for the contestants of the big event, which made Abyss wonder how many people would be at this big event as she continued to walk. As she got close to the entrance of the bar, Abyss took a small look into the bar to see what it was like, only to have a genuine look of shock as she saw the demon swordsman in the bar eating a piece of sweet and sour chicken.

"Uh Bendy, you wanted to see the other demon right? Well that's him!" Abyss was very hesitant about even entering the bar since the demon swordsman was in there and she was still very scared about him from earlier, but since she still had to win Bendy and Chakravartin over, she decided to go in, but not before saying "Well we should still go and eat, but please don't try to anger or talk with him. He is covered in murderous intent, and I felt like he was going to kill me when I first met him." While the other two walked rather calmly into the bar, not caring about Abyss's advice, Abyss herself crawled in, trying to not get noticed by the demon swordsman.

As soon as Abyss, Bendy, and Chakravartin sat down at a table around the middle of the bar, Bendy commented that the demon swordsman looked even more human than Chakravartin. "Oh trust me, he's a demon. You just haven't had him glare at you yet. If he glared you right in the eye, you would understand what he truly is." As Abyss continued to listen to the other two Primes talk between each other, she was genuinely surprised that Chakravartin was not a human, which Abyss thought was a bit weird since he looked quite a bit to her like a Mobian Human, just with quite different clothes.

"Wait, so your not a human? That's weird, but either way if your okay with a alliance, then we should probably form a battle plan before we get to the main event." Upon hearing that Chakravartin was okay with a alliance, she was glad to finally have both of them won over, especially since she was able to win over the non-human without even trying to get him drunk enough to agree. Now that she had the two won over, she thought that she should probably make up a strategy on how to deal with the competition and win the event.

"Hey, I know you are frightened by that swordsman, but I think we should take him on first!" Bendy said to Abyss, which frightened the squid since she was scared that the demon would instantly kill her if she tried to attack him, or worse, let her live and hurt her slowly until she died. After hearing Chakravartin agree with the dancing demon, Abyss sighed a bit before giving in, saying "I guess since you two think that attacking him is a good idea, we could try to off him first, but I still feel scared that something bad will happen if we try to kill him. Maybe if we tried to gang up on him we could do it without worrying, but I still am kinda scared about this."

While the other two Primes were talking to each other about strategy, Abyss decided to walk up to the bartender to try to order something that all three of the Primes could eat. As Abyss skimmed the menu on the bar, she saw that there was a huge variety of different kinds of foods from some cultures she could recognize, as well as bizarre foods that she could not recognize. After skimming the menu for a few minutes, Abyss finally decided to settle on getting a big pepperoni pizza and three glasses of fine wine, one glass for each of the three primes. As she slowly carried the pizza and the wine to the table, she almost dropped one of the glasses of wine, but she was able to catch the glass at the last second by using one of her tentacles to wrap around it.

"So anyway, I finally got something for us to eat. I wasn't sure what kind of food you would like, so I just got a pepperoni pizza for us to eat, as well as a glass of wine for each of us to drink." Chakravartin questioned Abyss a bit about the wine since he wasn't sure if the wine was meant for her to trick him, but Abyss quickly tried to dismiss this by drinking a bit from her glass, showing to the not-human that she did not mess with the drink. As the three Primes started to eat into the pizza, Abyss was still scared about the demon swordsman, but now she wondered if she could take him down now that she had some help from the two Primes she was eating with.

[Harlan Higgs]

Ah ha. Now it waa getting interesting. He'd picked a good spot to camp out in. One after the other, a motley crew of constestants filed into the bar area and started chowing down like they'd never seen food before. Victor Hendy grimaced imperceptibly; sometimes he was glad that he didn't really need food anymore, and this was one of those times.

Overconsumption and excess. The robber barons of his youth had eaten the same way, messy, greedy, concerned only for themselves. But these were no fat corporatists. These were a different breed.

Mostly men, which was good. Men could be predictable. Vic sat back and drew up a list in his head.

The half naked guy in the swim trunks...he looked fresh. Very fresh, unsure of himself. He'd be an easy one to play against the others.

The other guy with the sword....oooh, Hendy could smell the bloodlust and rage coming off of him. He thirsted for it. The secret vampire had hired people like him before, but that's how you dealt with people like that. Behind some protection. Good way to shit all over someone's plans, set that rabid dog on them.

And....an octopus? Some kind of walking mollusk? Vic Hendy was by no means an educated man, but he'd been around enough sushi places and takeout chinese to recognize tentacles meant octopus. Delicious, chewy octopus.

Then another pair walked in. Some sort of Chinaman dressed in yellow robes, with a serene demeanor about him. Vic smirked. That was nost assuredly a facade. With these types of holy men, all you had to do was piss them off enough and they would flip, then claim it as intentional later on, a "teaching moment." Utter bullshit.

Now here...here was something interesting. A....a cartoon? A living, walking cartoon? Hendy was supremely amused to see something that looked like it'd jumped off the nickleodeon screens of his youth, right into real life. He could almost hear the Mid Atlantic accent announcing headlines over footage of Allied soldiers. The cartoon would be nearly impossible to read.

Pushing aside his empty glass of scotch, he pulled an illusory socket wrench out of his tool belt and started tapping absentmindedly on the underside of the table. 

Tap, tap, tap.

Tap, tap, tap.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

[Odin]

An old dwarf dragged a step ladder around the library and grumbled to himself. “I don’t know who they think they are making a mess like this and just leaving it for someone else to deal with. Do I look like their mother? I swear. Kids these days have no respect.” He could only reach the first two shelves from the ground and couldn’t reach the top one even with help.
 
“Trouble already?” Odin asked as he placed a book on the top shelf where it belonged. The dwarf hadn’t heard him approach but was too grumpy to be startled. He looked Odin over and decided he was too old to be trouble.
 
“Aye, and they weren’t even fighting. I could understand an old-fashioned brawl, but just goofing off? That’s just disrespectful. I tell you what, if my pop had caught me acting that way, he would have bent me over the anvil and given me a what-for.”
 
Odin continued returning books to the upper shelves. The little guy’s rant probably wouldn’t be any different if there was no audience. He certainly didn’t seem to care if Odin was listening.
 
“-and he calls himself a demon. Moving books around isn’t demonic; its childish. I had half a mind to go over there and shove my boot up his ass. But noooo, Mr. Jak says we have to be respectful and show good customer service.”
 
Now we’re getting somewhere, thought Odin. He hadn’t been listening for the dwarf’s sake after all.
 
“Now I’ll admit, the little girl was trying to help. She put a few books away and tried to explain to the demon boy that this library wasn’t his to mess around with. But did she stick around to finish the job? No! She skipped off with her new friends to get some lunch. Do you think I get to eat lunch before fixing this mess? No. No, I do not.”
 
The stamina the dwarf had for bitching was astonishing. Odin was getting worn down just listening to it. The librarian was showing no sign of slowing down, however.
 
“And then the squid! Let me ask you, why is there a squid here? Do you see any water? No! Because water ruins books. And do you know who has to pay to replace the books? I do. Did you know that I was the head librarian in Dwarfholm before this? But they kicked me out on my butt like a troll-lover. How was I supposed to know that my uncle was going to use the necromancy book a lent him from the restricted section to establish a skeleton army to take the throne from the king? Do I look like a mind-reader? No. I don’t. I look li-”
 
Odin had backed away into a reading nook at this point. It wasn’t worth it. Nothing was worth listening to that insufferable dwarf any longer, and it wasn’t like not having an audience seemed to affect him anyway.