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[Takosher]

OOC
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Interaction Phase
{ambient music}

Neon, Ookami (Arena)

It was early, so Neon would have expected the arena to be quiet when she arrived. Ookami had probably expected that too, as he'd set up to have tea in advance of the noise. But quiet and Four didn't much belong in the same room. The chaotic young woman was somehow managing to have an impassioned battle against herself while she waited for someone to take interest in sparring with her. It was like a one-woman play. An extremely melodramatic, totally improv one-woman play. Marita, who had come in shortly after Four, seemed totally engrossed, although it was impossible to tell whether she was actually interested or just staring at a trainwreck.

Celica, Aleks, Elspeth (Audience Chamber)

The Hellfire Knight was a busy person, she had a lot of people see to and a lot of work to do. So although a time had been set aside where the challengers were free to visit her, three of them had gathered over the course of half an hour before she actually had time to pay attention to them. She sent away the last person she was meeting with and called the challengers up to her desk. Arcturus was with her, having been advising her on matters throughout the day. He seemed significantly less bothered by how long and stressful the day had been, perhaps because he didn't have any direct interactions with the people the Hellfire Knight had been meeting with.

Maddie, Tarmo (Challenger Cafeteria)

Shouting echoed through the cafeteria as Maddie and Tarmo transported in. It wasn't a standard mealtime, so it was unlikely to be the result of a crowd. The source was coming from a pair of diners in the middle of the room. They were on their feet as they argued, with no table between them. A fallen table a few feet away suggested a possible destination for where theirs had gone. The room's third occupant was a woman with long, dark blue hair that was giving the arguing pair the stink eye. She wasn't in uniform or behind the counter, but it was easy enough to recognize Chef Francis.

The first of the arguing pair was too famous to go unrecognized, although seeing Trinity this enraged made him nearly unrecognizable anyways. The man across from him was an enigma, however, wearing a hoodie and sunglasses that made it impossible to guess who he was underneath.

"I said I was sorry!" Hoodie Guy shouted, "I honestly didn't know!"

"You shouldn't have to be sorry, because you shouldn't have said it in the first place!" Trinity's voice was hoarse, he didn't have much practice with loud arguments.

"It's what I do, I get under people's skin!" Hoodie Guy looked like he was going to defend himself further but then stopped, "Look, this isn't how I wanted this to go. I crossed a line, I get that. That's why I asked you here to apologize."

Trinity folded and unfolded his arms, as if he was struggling to be angry. "Dammit Derreth, you always do this." He punched Hoodie Guy, Derreth, in the shoulder just hard enough to prompt a wince of pain, "I know you were just acting, we're both acting out there, but you really hurt me that time. You need to be more careful about how far you push things. If you want to win by tormenting your opponents, you can't just expect them to turn around and be your friend afterwards."

"I know that, but..." Derreth shrugged, "I dunno, some friendships are worth fighting for?"

Trinity facepalmed, "You know, you're kind of a dumbass."

"Both of you are dumbasses." Chef Francis's harsh voice cut into the conversation, "I cannot tell if you are going to blows or to bed after this, perhaps both. Either way, you've made a terrible mess of my cafeteria. Clean it up, or I will revoke your meal privileges."

Caridin (Library)

The library wasn't especially large. Five or six shelves lined on either side with books and an open area off to the side with a few desks. But even considering its small surface area, the wealth of knowledge within was huge. Gathering so many books into one place was impractical at best, yet here it had been done purely for the sake of a few mech pilots. The gods really were serious about helping the challengers grow.

There was a single occupant sitting at one of the desks. He was an attractive young man with dark skin and curly black hair. He'd noticed Caridin entering, but hadn't voiced a greeting or even really indicated he cared, only briefly raising his head to peek a look at the teleporter when it activated.

[IntSys]

Neon

Neon had been preparing for the upcoming fight, as always. People spoke of great things about her next opponent, No Equal. A sagacious mind, a friendly elder, and a talented fighter. The moral monolith of the competitive scene. He may have not spoken much when she was in the practice arena last time, but in that brief interval of time, it became clear that he was really the man people say he was. And on top of it all, his spark allowed him to see through the souls of people, and became the defining feature of his fighting style. In fact, he may have already seen hers already, when she was in the arena last time.

Neon could taste the tea from feet away, through the coarse air. Her eyes were on the maniac thrashing about in the distance, yet her mind was focused on the calm, perhaps carefree, old man. Words were thrown back and forth in her mind, unconsciously matching the rhythm of Four's attacks.

Finally, she lifted her arms from the handrails, and stared into Ookami's eyes. If fighting Ethereal Hunter hadn't given her enough bad rep, fighting No Equal, win or lose, would most certainly seal her as the public enemy of the stage. And he, just like EtHun, would be entirely oblivious to this fact afterwards.

There was nothing she could say to him that could avert the inevitable. So, she stepped into the ring, summoning her mech. It took on yellow lights this time, according to her manager's plans. Her actions would have to match the new role as well. And so, she wasted no effort in calling the crazy to get into position, and instead made her presence clear by immediately firing a wave of energy blasts at the Four's, and dashing into the feud.

[Chevaleresse]

Tarmo watched the proceedings with his usual slightly-too-intense stare. He glanced sideways at the other new arrival - that girl from the workshop with the remarkable ability - and gave her what appeared to be a slight shrug, before heading for the fallen table. Rather than trying to engage any of the three in conversation, he simply squatted next to it and started to lift it back to its proper orientation. The Dragon assumed that if anything more was going to be said, it would be more helpful if he didn't speak to muddle the waters.

[Sutoratosu Akira]

Caridin (Seeking for wholeness in the Library)
Caridin exited the teleporter to find the library nearly deserted. From the size of it though, he doubted it got many visitors even on a good day. Truth be told it was his first time personally setting foot in such a place. Most of the texts Erikur had instructed him with were electronic copies, and well... Envy's infrastructure was not exactly conducive towards the state hosting and maintaining any large scale collection of physical books and knowledge freely open to the public.
    Speaking of physical text, he began to browse the shelves for the one he needed. He had of course emailed Erikur last night asking if he had anything on the subject, but to the lad's surprise, this specific philosophical topic was the one his mentor had the least information on. Plenty of adjacent topics that information on it could be extrapolated from sure, but Caridin needed more than extrapolation here. He had heard passing mention before of twins and their conjoined Dreamspaces, and of how unless they underwent some form of intervention from a specialist such as the Diviner, or his successor Revenant, that the eventual consequences were usually quite... pitiful. That seemed to be the closest clue he had to what he needed. Something that would elaborate further on the soul, Dreamspaces, and how sparks manifested in people. If this method failed, he'd be left with little choice but to visit the Revenant and ask him.

Not that he had anything against such a course, but he figured it might be more productive to exhaust his other options first.

He knew where he was heading at this rate. Where he had been heading all these years. Arcturus had told him. No Equal had showed him. Loki had outright whispered it in his ear.

He was going to become a villain. He was going to become the very thing he hated. Because that was his nature, to destroy with wanton abandon. To meet problems with force. To carve paths ahead and not care where they led. He would be no better than the man he'd met that night...

And no matter what, he'd end up there in the end. Unless of course... he overcame that nature. For, what was better in the end, to be born good, or to overcome one's evil nature through great effort?

But could he? Arcturus seemed to have had some faith in him, at least a little. His talk with No Equal had suggested much the same after their battle. Loki definitely seemed like she'd at least give him a 50/50 chance at it.

To that end he continued searching the shelves, eyeing any titles that even vaguely suggested their contents would focus on sparks and the soul.

[Twinwolf]

Maddie

Maddie had decided to head to the cafeteria a bit off from mealtimes, to avoid having any huge number of people in it. But well, with the shouting, she kind of wished she'd come later anyway...

The girl managed to avoid flinching when she saw Tarmo (he'd seemed a bit... aggressive, let's say, the first time they'd ran into each other) but managed to draw herself up a bit straighter instead. Not that it really helped when the guy was taller than her. She shrugged as well, and started over to the table at the same time as him to try and bring it upright. Strictly speaking she didn't have to but, well, it'd be kinda a dick move to just go sit down and not help out.

She knew Trinity well enough, obviously. The hoodie dude, Derreth, seemed familiar to her, too... From the sounds of it he was a mech fighter, and Maddie felt like she knew the name, but with everything going on lately it wasn't quite coming back to her. It was on the tip of her tongue...

[Takosher]

Caridin

Fiction, fiction, unknown language, fiction... There. The library was oddly devoid of nonfiction books, almost everything seemed to be fictional. An odd choice, considering the purpose of the library was supposed to be helping the challengers grow in knowledge. A quick perusal of the small collection of nonfiction titles didn't prove promising either. Their topics were mundane, things like gardening and heat storm cycles, nothing even tangentially related to mech combat. Perhaps there was some secret text squirreled away between the rest that would hold the information he sought, but that was unlikely and the time searching would waste was probably not worth the effort to try.

Neon

Shards of elemental earth smacked into Neon from behind. Although the impacts felt heavy and physical, the attack still struck as though it had the nature of energy. An oddity of magical attacks. Neon's own attack was equally successful, instantly wiping out Four's self-sparring match.

"Rude." A third Four said from behind, sounding more amused than angry.

Ookami, for his part, just watched. On a better day he might have intervened, attempted to help guide the young'uns to a solution in their upcoming dispute. But he was still shaken from his meeting with Cardinal. He'd found hope twice in one night. They'd been slim hopes, but their impact was far greater than any hope before. They'd been dashed so harshly, and by someone who had otherwise been kind. He didn't need to see her soul to know something had gone horribly wrong. She'd been afraid. Not of him, but for him. Something about his future, perhaps his very soul itself, was gong to destroy him. He couldn't know how without asking her; out of the question. He knew that his only option was to press on, he'd come too far to stop now. But even steeling himself to go on, he couldn't shake the sense of unease sitting uncomfortably in the pit of his stomach.

Or maybe he'd just made a bad cup of tea. That would mean things were even worse than he thought.

Tarmo and Maddie

Chef Francis clicked her tongue at the two new arrivals. "No, non, nyet, nein. Do not help them, they made the mess and they will pick it up." she said, "Sidet, sit, asseoir. You are early as usual, and I have not prepared your evening meal yet. Yesterday's leftovers are available of course, but I must warn you that the cream has settled and will be somewhat unappetizing."

Chef Francis smiled politely at Tarmo and Maddie. Though she had not seen them together before, she was used to their early attendances. For Maddie it was an occasional thing, but Tarmo made it a regular event. She had a general idea of why, considering she'd had to have him pick up his own table once or twice when she stepped on a conversational landmine. Despite this, she actually quite enjoyed his company. He seemed to speak to everyone as an equal. He didn't look down on her for being a mere servant, nor did he look up at her for being a famous artisan. And he was refreshingly blunt, no one else was willing to criticize her work without first jumping through a flaming hoop of etiquette, even when she directly asked them what they thought. Tarmo had no such compunctions. He wasn't always constructive, but he was more constructive than idiots who refused to recognize a botched dish merely because she had created it.

Once Tarmo and Maddie had been directed to their seats, Trinity and Derreth solemnly obeyed the chef as she barked orders at them. She didn't just make them pick up the table and their displaced food, she made them clean the dishes, wipe down the table, and mop the floor as well.

[IntSys]

Neon vs. Four

Neon recoiled against the ground, thin dust from the attack's leftovers blowing past her. "Let me make it up to you, then." She matched Four's tone, perhaps unconsciously. Taking a small breath, she chased after Four again, pushing another wave of bullets forward to catch her, while she hovered on her feet just a little bit above the ground. As always, she subtly adjusted her shield, preemptively reducing the effective damage her opponent could do.

Though, more than usual, she felt like she was running straight into a web of chaos. She couldn't find even a little peace in her mind to consider the tactics Four had used before - even though she was just seeing her fight. She didn't like this. Plans, even if they were merely vague outlines, were the few things that could give her a semblance of comfort. Even though most of them would fail, at least she would have something to grab onto before failing.

[GodofGamingRWBY]

Celica

Though she had sworn to herself that she would avoid dealing with the gods if she could avoid it, the young Ezner still had enough stubbornness in her to at least attempt to make a good first impression to a few of them. That was the line of thinking that led her to the Hellfire Knight's audience chamber, only under the impression of wanting to know more about the newest God. Of course, it seemed like she was not alone with the wish to meet them, seeing as two of the other competitors were standing alongside her. From what she could gather, the woman was Ruby Darter, the Ruby Darter, the representative of Wrath, chosen only for her standing instead of any skill. And the man next to her was...

Midas

"Hellfire Knight, it's a pleasure to meet you in person. As you likely know, I am Sycophant, representative of Envy" Celica spoke, ignoring her distaste for her fellow competitors and instead focusing on the God before them, bowing ever so slightly as she introduced herself.

[Chevaleresse]

Hellfire Knight

Hiroki resisted the urge to simply lay her head down on her desk and take a nap. Not that her stress level would have actually permitted her any sleep, but it had already been a long day. She reminded herself it wasn't the fault of the competitors that came to meet her, then nodded to acknowledge Celica's greeting. It took a moment for her to reply; she managed to not let it show on her face, but she was actually mentally rehearsing her response to avoid halting midsentence. "It's good to meet you too. I hope you've all settled, um, in nicely." She elected to wait until Midas and Ruby Darter formally introduced themselves before addressing them directly.

Wandering Dragon

Tarmo stepped back at the chef's request, glancing between the two verbal combatants before returning his attention to Francis. "I can wait." Truthfully, he probably would have settled for leftovers and been on his way sooner, but he'd learned that Chef Francis's recommendations were usually better followed than not. It also left more time to learn what was going on between these two. He watched the two clean their mess from his seat, waiting for them to speak again.

[AzyWng]

Midas

He'd already been here once before, but perhaps seeking the advice of the Hellfire Knight wouldn't hurt, either. One way or another, he was going to rub shoulders with the gods at least a few more times before the tournament ended - no harm in getting first impressions out of the way. Looking over at the two who were already there when he arrived, he first smiled, then frowned. Elspeth was, at the very least, fun to speak with - it was a shame their conversation had been cut short. And standing next to her was...

Celica

Oh, he'd screwed things up bad with her, and the glare she gave him in return only reminded him of that even more. He was going to have to speak with her once they'd finished things up with the Hellfire Knight. In the meantime, though, he simply gave his own introduction.

"Midas, representative of Greed. It's good to meet you." He gave a slight bow as he spoke.

[Takosher]

Neon

Four's mech vanished. "Great, you can start with a massage, my back is killing me."

She stepped backwards and flopped into a seat, at the same time creating another copy of herself that absorbed Neon's spray of bullets. The copy vanished while screaming in agony, but the Four that remained seemed unperturbed. Either she didn't share pain across multiple bodies, or she was very god at hiding it.

[Sutoratosu Akira]

Caridin (Library)
"There's way too much fiction and too little non to be a coincidence..." Caridin mused to himself, replacing the book on heat storm cycles back to its shelf- it looked like an interesting topic, but he had to prioritize his search right now. "What, are ye lot trying to teach us through allegory, and all that jazz? Fine then. I'm used to this song and dance. Let's see..."

He took another, closer look at the fiction books, searching their spines for titles that would, at the very least, sound vaguely interesting. Hoping to get a good idea of the contents from title alone would be inevitably harder than with non-fiction works, but it didn't matter. He could read most literature damn fast, fiction especially, and his retention was easily ironclad enough that he could scribe it all into memory and go over it in depth later if needed. He'd pick a few interesting stories, memorize them, and then see what he could glean from a later literary analysis.
...
"Feck, it really is like I'm learnin' from Erikur all over again. Heh, oh well."

[DragonRage]

Elspeth

"Uh, hello," Elspeth gives Hiroki a little wave, "I'm Elspeth.  I'm representing Wrath... sort of?  I kinda got the feeling I might be the only one everyone could agree they didn't not want to go, but I didn't do too terribad in the first round so...  Have I mentioned I talk a lot when I'm nervous?  Just give me a silent space, and I'll go on and on and on and just never stop!  Real honor to meet you, ma'am.  And nice to see you're actually doing the work instead of pawning it all off on a minion-  I shouldn't have said that.  I should not have said that."  Elspeth claps both hands over her mouth, mumbling into her palms.

[Chevaleresse]

Hellfire Knight

The corners of the god of Hope's mouth twitched up ever so slightly before the exhaustion conquered her expression once more. At least she wasn't the only one who was nervous. Granted, the Ruby Darter was probably more anxious than the Knight, but Hiroki still wasn't quite used to this.

. . . It didn't help that all of the challengers towered over her. Even Sycophant made her look small, despite her best efforts with her wardrobe. Now wasn't the time to worry about that, even if a throne probably would have helped.

"I hope that my Plane has been welcoming so far." She was sure she'd had some plans, but they were escaping her at the moment. So many things to worry about, and so little time to deal with them all. Hiroki stopped herself from trying to physically shake off all of the excess thoughts. Her mind was wandering almost as much as the Darter's introduction had, and this audience had barely begun. "So, what did, um, you all come for, today? Did you have something specific, or are you,  um, just here to meet me?"

[IntSys]

Neon

Neon abruptly halted her assault, and gave Four a weird look. She stretched her hands, seeming to be perfectly fine with taking what might have been a simple taunt literally. "Make yourself comfortable, then," she began to walk towards Four, as if there wasn't a battle to begin with. The cold, hard floor of the practice arena was far from the best choice for a back massage, but she still had the skill to make it work.

Unfortunately.

Neon wasn't sure what Four's deal was, but it was at least clear that she wasn't even putting her mind on sparring. Even if she wanted to play out a target practice, she very much had the ability to actually dodge; she wasn't just holding back, she wasn't engaged at all.