Kairaishi had dozed off in the middle of Kefetasura's introduction and was standing asleep on his feet, slouched over, sakkat slumped over his face. "...Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..."
((*heart skips a beat* We have a Kefka now? @_@ *fangirl*))
Essex blinked, and quietly edged over to Kairaishi.
"Sir..." she whispered, very gently tugging at his robe. "Sir...you may want to save your rest until the others have introduced themselves."
Japancakes.
Art - Theme 005 - Seeking Solace
[ QUOTE ]
((*heart skips a beat* We have a Kefka now? @_@ *fangirl*))
[/ QUOTE ]
((Best. Damn. Villain. EVER. Period.))
"Huh? Wha? Huh? I'mma no' assysleep..." Kairaishi blinked and snorted, his head jerking back up as he blinked sleepily, trying his best to look awake.
Lyden had stared fixated on each individual as they introduced themselves, one by one- whether he was seriously committing the names and backgrounds to memory or not wasn't unlikely- but on the surface, it just seemed like he had no idea that it wasn't polite to stare. He now had his attention on the rightmost side of the group- only a few introductions to go.
"Riiiight," Solid said sarcastically as Kairaishi woke up. "And I'm actually made in China, sheesh."
Ruffling his cape a bit, Solid gave the assembled supers a sloppy salute and settled down to talking.
"The name's Solid Shot. Hero by trade, wacky crazy robot whenever I feel like it. Yes, I am a robot. Let's get over that now. Anyway, as long as no one blows something up, then I'm fine sticking around with some villains for a while. As long as Mr. Happy Pants keeps his demon magics to himself, that is."
After glaring at Kafetsura, Solid crossed his arms and nudged Toy Dispenser with his elbow.
"Huh? Oh yeah, right," muttered the mastermind as he recovered and took a look around. "I'm a robot too, just so you know. I may not act like one, no beeping or booping here, but entirely mechanical. A marvel of modern machinery I am. Unlike the rust-bucket standing next to me."
"Hey, I'm durable," Solid said reproachfully.
"Whatever. Quite frankly, since I'm not getting paid to do anything to anyone at this moment, I'm quite fine with all of you doing your things. As long as said things don't involve tampering with me, my bots, or my friends. And without further ado, my bots."
Combat Toy grunted from in back and straightened up, casting a quick glare at Kairaishi's ningyo.
"I'm Combat Toy. I blow [censored] up. My hobbies include beating up good guys, blowing [censored] up, and making sure nothing touches the boss," growled the assault bot before slumping back down again.
"HI EVERYBODY!" Mini Bot said from its position dangling over the middle of the group, its childlike voice a severe contrast from Combat Toy's rumbling one. "I'm Mini Bot! Nice to meet you! And, uh, don't be alarmed if you find a whoopie cushion somewhere cause it's not mine and the boss didn't say I could have fun."
Combat Toy snorted in laughter while Toy quietly facepalmed.
OOC: Kefka who?
Statesman said let there be heroes, and there were heroes.
Lord Recluse said let there be villains, and there were villains.
NCsoft said let there be nothing, and there was nothing.
And then, at the far right...
"As was said, I am Tomanton. Kaloa and I are of a race known as the Kosunn, sent here from our somewhat-distant planet of the same name. As I'm sure you've seen, Kaloaten has taken to this planet like a duck to water, as you say, but I myself am still getting over the culture shock. However, when the time comes..."
Just from the look in his eyes one could tell he was smirking beneath his veil.
"Mm.. nevermind. If I may give my opinion- as unconventional as this whole 'social experiment' may be, sport is sport- and I greatly look forward to seeing how each of you chooses to approach this challenge. Male, female, hero, villain, it matters not- may the best participant win."
Kaloaten began to clap enthusiastically- but after a moment of seeing nobody else join in, he stopped. Lyden nodded.
"Affirmative. All identifications recieved. ...Proceeding with next objective: All participants are to be assigned one of ten two-person bedrooms- remaining in them however is not mandatory. It is in Unit Lyden's experience that couches and plush carpets offer similar levels of comfort to a bed."
A pause, while he unfolded another sheet of paper and read off of it.
"Main floor west wing room 1: Essex, Rosalind. Room 2: Cortianna, Stellarmare. Room 3: CelticCross, Lily. Room 4: Solid Shot, Toy Dispenser. Room 5: Hermes Helper, Kefetasura. Second floor northwest wing room 1: Kaloaten, Tomanton. Room 2: Hallucinogen, Moonscribe. Room 3: Sir Morgant, Kairaishi. Room 4: Experiment 2.0, Pyro-Technis. Room 5: Acid Zero, Morsko."
Again, this paper was folded up and pocketed.
"Pre-contest preparations complete. Advise participants rest in preparation for contest challenge tomorrow- It will begin whether in complete attendance or not. Unit Lyden will be on the premises in the need of assistance. Now..."
Lyden reached for a remote and pressed a button. For about two seconds there was dead silence- then the sound of clicking and popping could be heard from the far west side of the mansion. It was coming from the doors- spreading in a wave across the house, passing through the main room and into the east wing, all of the doors in the house were unlocked. After the last pop went off, Lyden allowed a moment of silence before speaking up once again.
"The experiment begins."
"WHAAAAAT?"
Rosalind immediately protested. "I ain't roomin' with Dramabot!"
Scooping up Essex by the back of her armor again, she held her aloft.
"Who wants to trade?" she demanded.
"Mmf!" Essex said, surprised as her legs pinwheeled amusingly in midair again.
Japancakes.
Art - Theme 005 - Seeking Solace
Acid laughed heartiy, and Mosrko seemed just plain old confused.
Hmph, there he goes with 'experiment' again...why do I suddenly feel the need to blow something up...?
But Acid decided now wasn't the time for it. Instead, he'd much rather catch up with everyone. It'd been a while since he'd seen them last - seeing how he wasn't exactly on Terra much - and he really wanted to know what Toy, Rosie, Essex, and Hallucinogen had been up to in particular.
"So then," he began, speaking as he walked towards them from his spot on the wall, "here we are again, hm? Gotta say, nice place to see yall again."
He turned to Tomanton, "Culture shock, eh? Yeah, I can see where you're coming from."
For a moment, Acid looked intently upon Morsko, smiling knowingly, "But there's quite a lot of that. What are you two here for, anyway? The Concile been making trouble...?"
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
Kefetasura giggled with glee as he leapt upon Helpers shoulders and sat, legs dangling at either side of the robot's chest.
"Ooooooh! Goody! I got the butler-bot all to myself!" he clapped, leaning forward and kissing Helper's head with a long loud smack of the lips.
[ QUOTE ]
Scooping up Essex by the back of her armor again, [Rosalind] held her aloft.
"Who wants to trade?" she demanded.
[/ QUOTE ]
"I'll trade robots with you," Kefetasura piped up at once, "but only if the little one is just as good at following orders as this one," he indicated Helper by thumpng him on the head with a fist.
[ QUOTE ]
"Main floor west wing room 1: Essex, Rosalind. Room 2: Cortianna, Stellarmare. Room 3: CelticCross, Lily. Room 4: Solid Shot, Toy Dispenser. Room 5: Hermes Helper, Kefetasura. Second floor northwest wing room 1: Kaloaten, Tomanton. Room 2: Hallucinogen, Moonscribe. Room 3: Sir Morgant, Kairaishi. Room 4: Experiment 2.0, Pyro-Technis. Room 5: Acid Zero, Morsko."
[/ QUOTE ]
CC positively squealed. "Isn't that great Lily? We get to room together! Oooh, and we can do each other's hair and makeup, and I can teach you all about football and you can teach me gardening and let's go see what the room is like!" There was an undertone of sarcasm in her words, even as she grabbed Lily's wrist and started to head out of the room.
[ QUOTE ]
"Who wants to trade?" [Rosalind] demanded.
[/ QUOTE ]
Lily wrenched herself out of CC's grip and grimaced. "I will. You're welcome to Happy McHyper over there. Or better yet, let the two of them entertain themselves, and you and I can have some peace and quiet." She glanced over at Kefetasura. "Yeah...I don't find his offer quite as tempting."
Writing: Cape Fic
Featured Art: MechaTerp & CorporateRock, by Shia
Music: DJ Pyrria
((Aww... I didn't get to introduce Stell. 
Ok, time-shift powers activate! Right before Tom's intro. ::cheesy Wyane's World flashback sound:
)
"Yeeeaahh..." Stell shook her head. "I'm Stellarmare, but you all can just call me Stell. I'm a human-Kheldian fusion and hero here in Paragon." She jerked her thumb at Hal, "I'm not quite at Hero of the City just yet, but they did label me Justice Incarnate. Sounds hocky to me, but what can you do?"
~~~ ::bewodop bewodop bewodop:: ~~~
Stell looked at Lyden before looking at Cortianna. The teen gave the collage student a smile. Stell turned to the others and raised a hand.
"I'll trade for nearly anyone else."
Cortianna harumphed and grabbed her bags with her mind and walked for her room.
Pinnacle
Heroes
When in danger, or in doubt; Run in circles, scream and shout.
"Aw, hell," Solid said as he snatched Essex out of the air and set her back on the floor.
"Stop throwing her around like a freaking football!" he angrily said to Rosie. "And you can room with Color Bot. I'm the only person in this room that I'd trust with a twelve year old."
"Hey!" Mini Bot shouted as it waggled its legs comically. "I'm good with kids!"
Solid Shot ignored the bright red battle drone and concentrated instead on Rosie, folding his arms and glaring at her.
"I'm fine with it if you're fine with it," Toy said, shrugging from behind the hero.
Statesman said let there be heroes, and there were heroes.
Lord Recluse said let there be villains, and there were villains.
NCsoft said let there be nothing, and there was nothing.
[ QUOTE ]
Scooping up Essex by the back of her armor again, she held her aloft.
"Who wants to trade?" she demanded.
[/ QUOTE ]
". . .Ah. . ." Hal said, going red.
"My friend Hallucinogen here would be delighted to trade with you," Moonscribe said to Rosalind. "I assure you I would be pleasant company, Priestess." He bowed.
". . .MOONSCRIBE!" Hal yelled. "I can't ask to room with her, she's, well. . .ah. . ."
"You may thank me later, Pharaoh," Moonscribe said calmly, folding his hands.
"Hehehe, just like old times." Acid chuckled, "You guys haven't changed one bit. Any of ya."
Morsko had already disappeared into the house, scouting about for any potential threats - in his own way, of course...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
Essex once again found herself the center of attention, and her cheeks burned bright red with embarassment. The android was programmed to react to stimuli in a very human, realistic sort of way, and she could no more control this reaction than a calculator could resist displaying the correct answer to an equation.
"...You know..." she quietly offered, "...We don't even know if we're allowed to switch rooms. It may be a part of the experiment."
Rosalind shrugged. "Listen, Silver Bells," she said, addressing Solid. "You don't even know half the crazy [censored] this kid has pulled on us. I just don't want to have to deal with it when we're supposed to be relaxing and have a good time. You can ask my boy TD. But if you want to play 'baggage claim', be my guest."
"I don't want to cause trouble." Essex said meekly. "Sir Lyden said we can sleep on couches or on the floor, but didn't say if we can switch rooms. I can just sleep on a couch somewhere..."
"...And -you!-" Rosalind continued, turning to face Hallucinogen. "Yeah, I bet you'd wanna room with her. Hell, I may not want to myself, but I'm not gonna let anything worse than me happen to the kid. Which is why I'm also rulin' out Professor Plum over there." she said, jerking a thumb at Kef. "Though you seem like a hell of a lot of fun." she said with a toothy grin.
"As for the rest, I don't care. But like Dramabot says, if we're not allowed, I guess I'm stuck."
Japancakes.
Art - Theme 005 - Seeking Solace
[ QUOTE ]
He turned to Tomanton, "Culture shock, eh? Yeah, I can see where you're coming from."
For a moment, Acid looked intently upon Morsko, smiling knowingly, "But there's quite a lot of that. What are you two here for, anyway? The Concile been making trouble...?"
[/ QUOTE ]
Tomanton shook his head.
"No, no. Just... civil turmoil, and we'll leave it at that. Though the ever-growing presence of the Council is somewhat troublesome..HEY! Kaloa!!"
He glanced over Acid's shoulder to Kaloaten, who had plucked their bags from the bottom of Hermes' neat pile- and caused it to tumble into a disorganized heap. "What, Tomanton? I was just getting my bag.. yours too!"
"You've ruined the stack! Set that pile in place immediately!"
"I will, I will.. after I go put my videogame posters up in my room! Second floor, room.....?"
Tomanton sighed. "One. Room one on the second floor northwest wing."
"Right!" Kaloaten gave a mock salute and barreled off down the hallway.
"..What an incorrigible boy.."
Lyden was a bit surprised to see how fast a squabble broke out. Had he miscalculated the best rooming setup? He had tried to keep the males to one floor, and the females and robots to another.. the obvious exception being Kefeta, but that couldn't be helped. Hearing a question indirectly posed, he spoke up again, though he considered the loophole.
"Rooming arangements have been provided as comfortable resting places, nothing more. Switching of roomates is not PROHIBITED... Unit Lyden permits it, but is of the opinion that the simplest method of removing a roomate would be voting them off."
This was fine.. controversies were what the experiment was all about. As it looked like he was no longer needed, Lyden bowed slightly and left the balcony, going out of sight down one of the upstairs hallways.
". . . I didn't say I did want to room with her!" said Hal, losing his cool, such as it was. "Dangit! I didn't ask four-eyes over there to volunteer me! Lay off me already! This is smoke I'm emitting, not hormones! For crying out loud!"
And with that, he vanished, having gone to find a couch to lie on. He was fed up with the whole affair.
"Shameful," Moonscribe said. "Well, I suppose I shall be off to my room then. I must confess my pleasure at having procured some privacy." He smiled, and light flashed off his glasses for a moment as he spoke.
"Jeez, you emo kids can't take any flack, can you?" Rosalind muttered with a shake of her head. "Psh...oh well. Kids can be so sensitive."
Shrugging nonchalantly, she stepped forward with a confident smile.
"So let's all take care of our bags and give this place a lookaround, eh?"
Japancakes.
Art - Theme 005 - Seeking Solace
[ QUOTE ]
Rooming arangements have been provided as comfortable resting places, nothing more. Switching of roomates is not PROHIBITED... Unit Lyden permits it, but is of the opinion that the simplest method of removing a roomate would be voting them off."
[/ QUOTE ]
"Fair enough," Lily shrugged. Raising an eyebrow, she glanced at the group. "So...Pinky's with Greyman and Mister Colorful's with Wags? Anyone want CC? I'm still open to options..."
Writing: Cape Fic
Featured Art: MechaTerp & CorporateRock, by Shia
Music: DJ Pyrria
"Oh, I see." Acid smiled back, "Yeah, don't confuse the Council and the Concile. The Nictus-club's small game compared to the big guys. But you're better off not knowing about them, trust me."
He smirked in thought for a moment, "Guess that means Kosunn's in another rim sector. Concile doesn't go there much nowadays."
Maybe because we started dropping spaceports on 'em, Acid added in thought.
Oh yes, that had been quite the operation - dropping an orbital plate onto the city below. Mihkalo had been literally crushed, and the rest of the planet had stood still for three days.
And of course, GNN had broadcast the story for a good month. It had rattled the Concile's high horse, and anything that did that was big news - including the mysterious computer virus that had paralyzed the city and stopped anyone from entering it some time before. Vern really had a gift for software.
"Alright guys, this is getting old." Acid fell into the debacle over Essex, "Geez, just ask her who she wants to room with already..."
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
Moonscribe sighed theatrically.
"Well, I suppose that would be the best course of action," he said, turning to Essex. "So, Priestess. What is your decision then? We all eagerly await your answer."
Hal facepalmed as he left the room. He was doing it on purpose. He HAD to be.
"It really doesn't matter, sir." Essex said, hurrying over to Acid and hugging his leg in greeting. "Regardless, it's good to see you. In a context where we aren't all supposed to be killing each other, no less."
Rosalind shrugged. "Sure, I'll switch. Solid and Ess can room, and me an' Toy can party. I always wanted to see if I could take Combat Toy in a scrap anyway." she said with a grin. "That settle it for you, squirt?"
"If you are content with that solution, I'd rather everyone just be happy." Essex said back to Rosalind with a blink. "I would be pleased to room with Solid, though I don't mind staying with anyone. Everyone seems very friendly."
Warning: Sharp Learning Curve Ahead. Rosalind thought dryly.
Japancakes.
Art - Theme 005 - Seeking Solace
((Ohhhh, Hal got PWND by Solid. 
))
"Finally." Acid sighed, looking down at Essex, "Hehe, feeling's mutual. Mind letting go of my leg, though? I'm wanting to take a stroll around, and I'm gonna need that for walking..."
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
"Well, from the bored looks on everyone's faces I can see it's up to me to entertain," Kefetasura prononuced as it became his turn, "Let's see... I am Kefetasura, and, as my name implies, I am one of the Asura. For those of you who don't know; an Asura is a mighty spirit born at the beginning of time, mere moments after Brahman incarnated the gods. Which, yes, for those of you actually paying attention, makes me a quasi-deity in my own right, and pretty much better than you in every conceivable fashion. But I'm still a people-person!" He grinned his winningest grin. "My hobbies include prestidigitation, poetry, dancing, kidnapping girls, laughing manically in my fortress, and video games. My favorite game is Final Fantasy Six."