Black Knight of SO
Owner/Operator of SO’s Item/Weapon Shop
Claimer of the original Rumbles 2,000,000th post
CBR GM/DM
Ajna awoke, neck stiff and butt sore. Cracking an eye open blearily to scan his surroundings, he found himself sitting on a bench on a darkening street on the verge of dusk. The only light came from the street lights and from two vending machines, their advertisements backlit. One was a foods vendor, while the other was a hot beverage dispensor.The last thing I remember is. . . Groaning loudly, trying to remember what chain of events had led him to this bench, Ajna began scrubbing as his face with his empty hand, becoming slowly more aware. And as he did, Ajna lifted the other hand to find.. a cup of Joe in a to-go cup. Unsettled suddenly by the mysterious cup of coffee and brought more to his senses as he took a sip, Ajna finally noticed the silence. So he broke it.
"How did I get here? Where am I?"
Staring down at the offending coffee cup and the deeper question that lay therein, he stood, and after giving a hard, accusing stare at that coffee machine across the street, Ajna stood to walk away from here, having decided to stay away from it. However, he quickly found his balance slipping. Apparently his right leg hadn't got the memo to awake up yet.
Limping down the street, Ajna slowly began to come to his senses.
Reclining on the deck chair, the suns rays beaming down upon his bronze, shirtless body, the Navadian let out a relaxed sigh.
He was initially skeptical to accept the mans bet. While items, and--of course--money, were always accepted at any game of chance he frequented, Held had his reservations about accepting something like a free cruise as collateral.
Of course, a quick glance at the nearest poster on the wall of that seedy bar--and come to think of it, posters were plastered all over town-- did away entirely with his suspicions.
Another man risking what he couldn't bare to part with, another successful day for Held.
He smiled slightly to himself as he recalled the man crying profusely, begging him not to take the first bit of good luck he had gotten all season.
"Hey, I don't make you play, I just accept the bets." He said with a sigh, as he pulled his winnings towards his side of the table. "I'll try to enjoy it enough for the both of us though!"
And so he was.
Opening his eyes, he raised his rectangular sunglasses slightly, before glancing to his right, grabbing some alcoholic beverage a hostess had been kind enough to leave on the miniature table before him.
Grabbing the rather sizable stein in his heads, he took a look at it--a beer of some sort, judging by the amount of foam--and took a sizable swing from it.
After a moment, he sets the cup down, and lets out a contented breath.
Maybe I should go for a swim? he thought to himself, taking a glance at the pool several yards in front of him. Eh. Maybe later. I have plenty of time....A three week cruise? I hope they have a ton of ways to pass the time...
"What a time to be alive...." he mumbled to himself, before laying back in his chair, and closing his eyes once more. "....I wonder if anyone has anything worth betting on in this place, come to think of i..."
He trailed off, deciding that basking in the sun was a better use of his time than pointless monologues.
Silence. Wind.
The truth here was obscured by an emptiness. How strange. She stood standing at the nexus of the city's streets for a short while, before she heard it: footsteps. Close to her, even. Though if it was a resident, they were just returning from some trek in the woods.
The Oni was measured in her response to this knowledge. She stepped away from the middle of the road, and sat herself near one of the streetlights dotting the intersection.
This stranger would come in time, after all, and she'd be there to greet them.
Yeah, but if you... man, we're getting into weird analogy territory, like if you disintegrated Superman's arms he wouldn't be able to go "fool! Little did you know that my arms and I are one and can be remade from me!" and will his arms back into being from pure nothingness. - Pendaran
Arx Inosaan
The voice almost startled him, it almost like something out of a horror movie. Still, he rather be shocked than endure the growing silence.
"Anyone there?" He called out, hoping the woman heard him so to avoid scaring her, unaware of the true nature of the one he was making his way to.
He garnered a few odd looks at his dexterous display of plate handling, but otherwise, he was left unmolested as he finds a table to eat at. Zaofan, as he eats, notices a gaggle of people surrounding someone. After a moment, he realizes that Jinzi Pantaloon was onboard and in the mess hall. The owner of Capsule Corp, a bit of a recluse, was here!
Black Knight of SO
Owner/Operator of SO’s Item/Weapon Shop
Claimer of the original Rumbles 2,000,000th post
CBR GM/DM
Shiro threw up a barrier to block the assault rifle fire as Midori charged to the side, eyes glowing a bright green before beams of energy shot out of her eyes into the hovers to disable them and ensure they couldn't use them to get away.
"Be careful Midori!" Shiro yelled, dropping her barrier occasionally so she could fire off her own laser vision at them men's weapons to disable them whenever they had to stop firing, bringing it back up when necessary.
"Don't worry Shiro, it's not like bullets can do much damage to us anyways!" Midori called back, still targeting the getaway hovers as she spoke.
Critics who treat adult as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence.
- C.S. Lewis
Moving up, the Oni sees a dirty young man walk into the Main Street. The young man, in turn, spots a blue horned figure sitting by a street light.
Black Knight of SO
Owner/Operator of SO’s Item/Weapon Shop
Claimer of the original Rumbles 2,000,000th post
CBR GM/DM
Original join date: 11/23/2004
Eclectic Connoisseur of all things written, drawn, or imaginatively created.
Last edited by Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh; 01-04-2018 at 02:34 PM.
Yeah, but if you... man, we're getting into weird analogy territory, like if you disintegrated Superman's arms he wouldn't be able to go "fool! Little did you know that my arms and I are one and can be remade from me!" and will his arms back into being from pure nothingness. - Pendaran
Arx Inosaan
"Oni?"
Such an odd sight. It wasn't so much that such a being existed, but rather she looked exactly like how the stories and books portrayed them. It was amazing, yet anti-climatic all in one go, but now it brought another issue; he wasn't sure if it was safe to assume she was the one behind this ghostly town. Seeing an oni never boded well in the stories, but, from this distance, she didn't appear to be on a rampage or anything.
"...so peculiar..."
"GASP! That's...! That's Jinzi Pantaloon!" Zaofan thought. Even a nomad such as himself would recognize him from the various magazine covers in news stands and billboards during his travels. "I must speak to him! Custom dictates that I respect the host. Especially for this plentiful bounty! But he is surrounded -- I must HURRY!"
Zaofan had already sampled and appreciated at least one taste of every dish on his three plates. He took put his hands together, closed his eyes, bowed his head. His mouth formed a circle as he began: "Hoooo..." But his eyes opened and his voice quickly rose: "OOOOOO! CHIIAA!!"
His arms then moved into five seconds of blurred strikes, his hands rendered invisible from the pure speed. "AAAATATATATATATA!!! AAATATATA!!!" Each strike disappeared a serving of food, until the plates rattled, empty and clean, but his lips surrounded by food stains. He grabbed his glass and yelled out, "WAT-AAH!!!", washing down his gullet almost as quickly. "Hokuto Buffet Dan!" he said to himself.
He wiped his mouth with his napkin, stood up, zanzoken'd back to the buffet table, and zanzoken'd in the middle of the crowd, in front of Jinzi, keeping his head down while offering a plate of assorted sushi and gyoza.
"Mr. Pantaloon! Allow me to thank you for this wonderful trip! Please accept this humble offering as a sign of my appreciation!"
Last edited by Cyke; 01-04-2018 at 02:37 PM.
Black Knight of SO
Owner/Operator of SO’s Item/Weapon Shop
Claimer of the original Rumbles 2,000,000th post
CBR GM/DM
Chou loaded up three dishes, the third by means of telekinesis as he sat down, dinonsteak in mouth as he then chows down. Heard rumors of a Pants guy onboard, he did not really care.
As he dines in and saw younger people in the crowd he then decided to do a juggling act for entertainment, three plates, one hand. No weapon summons or anything. His free hand juggling food as he munched in mid air. A dinner and a show. Rao would chew him out for it.
Edit
He noted another martial artist speed eating, thought he was a show off. At least he had theatrical flavor.
Last edited by The Chou Lives; 01-04-2018 at 02:38 PM.