Lords of Creation (Story Thread 2)

[Philote]

Emere pulled his dark flames around him as the shark man grew before him, but decided against using the power of the void just yet. He would have to save it for an emergence or it would be wasted.

The hero waved his arms and pulled a handful of flames off of his orb and set the arena floor before him aflame. Hopefully his opponent would not be willing to charge through the flames while Emere prepared more flames.

[Zaleramancer]

"Yes." The woman said with a smirk.

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

Pessimal prided himself on having a good poker face, but he was seriously about to throw himself at this woman's feet and beg to become her apprentice.

They moved to their seats. Pessimal had tried to get them a private box, but had been told to flounce off. They had to settle for turning Mileens coop towards people and having the pigeons stare at them until they went away. They now had a sizable circle of empty seats all around them. Torbin was on the highest step, watching the current match through his viewfinder. Pssimal didn't try to get his attention. Torbin could get a little Intense when it came to his work.

He slid onto the bench and Millena took off her coop.

"Have a seat, Ma'am. Is there anything I can do for you, in thanks for your help last night?"

[Zaleramancer]

"Well.. You see, I am interested in information." The woman began the search for her brandy. "You are part of a newspaper, no doubt that group knows when important and intriguing things happens."

Finally discovering her brandy bottle, Gant pauses to remove the stubborn cap. It releases with an audible pop.

"I know many people. I know many things. Perhaps we could come to an arrangement. You tell me things, and I point you in the direction of interesting stories."

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

So that was her game. An information broker. He knew of a few newspapers that were nothing but fronts for that kind of thing.

"Well, Miss Gant, I don't know nearly as much as I would like, and I try to print anything that I know. Are you looking for something in particular?"

[Zaleramancer]

"I work for a very powerful person. They are exceedingly interested in all forms of information.. There's no way of knowing what will be interesting to her." Gant swigged some brandy.

"All I would ask is that you ask your boss that I, or my agents, can see what your newspaper plans to print ahead of time. I could recognize things that may interest her. In return, I will give you whatever information or stories you require."

Madame Gant continued to fan her face as she turned to look Pessimal in the eyes.

"As a show of good faith, Ask a question. I will answer it, given time if needed."

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

This was a little hazy. On the one hand, his entire staff usually knew the news before everyone else. On the other hand, they weren't likely to use that information. Of course, the paper only printed things that had already happened, it wasn't like they were getting insight into the future. And he did have some nagging questions...

"Alright, good faith question. You know about how the wall fell in Bluebell, and the seas raged for days afterwards? I want to know what caused that. And not some vague answer like "the gods," I want details. Things I don't already know."

[Zaleramancer]

Pike scarcely managed to halt before the flames. All these powers and magic was irritating him.

A wave of cool air rippled away from him and the flames dimmed.

The sharkman only noticed that the fires were dwindling. He leaped.

[Zaleramancer]

"Oh. That's a long story, but a interesting one."

"It began with what could be called the first divine..war. More of a scuffle, really. Perhaps I should explain how it began." Madame Gant took on the cadences of a story-teller unfolding a tale.

"Hazet was sleeping then, you see. A long sleep brought on by the shock of loosing his people. The God Gilgamesh, ever seeking conflict and battle, sought to awaken the sleeping god. He sent one of his own to attempt to spark Hazet into conquest and war. It backfired horribly, causing the God-Emperor to seek Gilgamesh's destruction."

"The God Hazet rose up in a titanic form and marched towards the lands of the god of conflict, wading through the ocean like it was no more than a shallow pond. He was confronted by another deity- The Goddess of the Sea, known as Waverider. She had long held a childish grudge against Gilgamesh and wanted to aid the furious Hazet. Together, they approached the island.

Of course, Gilgamesh was far from a fool and took action to stop them. His Spirit Warriors stood tall to defend.. until the Undines leapt from the sea, with their Queen at their side. The battle was furious, but in the Undine's favor. This changed when the gods Mina and the Watchman intervened, wiping aside the Queen and her Undines like flies. They retreated right as Hazet and Waverider struck.

Gilgamesh summoned all the power he had at his side, and with a single effort, struck down the two angry gods. Hazet sunk into the sea, exhausted. The reverberations of his harm broke the Demonwall and caused many Draemar and Dwarves to collapse. Waverider fared even worse. She was sent flying into the lands of Hazet, so damaged that her entire memory was ripped from her. The seas went into riot in sympathy, fish and wave going insane."

The woman stopped to take a long drink from her metal flask before finishing.

"She's better now, of course, though her memory still lurks away from her. The seas are calmer. Hazet is almost entirely healed, though still furious. Now you know."

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

Pessimal was livid. He knew it! He knew it! 

No wonder the Watchman hadn't given him a straight answer! He was going to-

No, no clam down. It might all make sense, but that didn't mean it was true. Don't be ruled by your head, think like a journalist.

He gathered himself. "You will, of course, allow me time to fact check this information? Nothing personal, just standard procedure, go over my notes and make sure everything make sense. But, until I do so, feel free to have a look at the daily before it goes to print."

[Tsubasa & Wen Tien]

Having hidden herself since the area that Pessimal was in had become empty due to curiousity as to who could easily empty stands in a crowded stadium for a tournament like this, Kagehana confirms Madame A Gant's information for Pessimal, "You don't need to wait for confirmation of all of the information Pessimal. I can already tell you that what she said was most likely correct as I actually participated in the fight against Coral. Coral being the Queen of the Undine."

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

Pessimal whips around to find the woman from last night, the fighter Kagehana. "Really? Well...that's great!"

"Oh, hello Miss. Sorry about last night." says Mileena. "Pessimal, would you like to send that information off right away?"

Pessimal thinks for a moment. "No, not yet. There's one last bit of info I think I can squeeze out of this."

Whether the self-styled "God of the people" was a liar.

[Tsubasa & Wen Tien]

Kagehana: "You're welcome. And as for last night, that's alright. I will say though that that match was not a safe one like a few of the others were."

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

"Your right about that. That fight went to, well, kind of a dark place. Both literally and metaphorically." Pessimal said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"You were never in any danger so long as I was there." Says Mileena.

"You couldn't have taken that vampire!"
"No, but I could have distracted him while you got away."

Pessimal just sighed. This wasn't the first time she had implied something like this.

"You know, when you say things like that, it sort of makes me uncomfortable."

[Philote]

Emere cursed to himself. How had the shark man managed to divide his flames so easily.

It was not something the hero could dwell on long though, his opponent was closing on him quick. He would still wait to call on the void though, it had to be timed just right.

Emere pointed his palm at Pike, his fingers curled so that they all pointed at his opponent, and the flames already built up around his orb moved out as five wires of flames towards Pike.

[Zaleramancer]

Pike lost his temper. He had not signed up to be frozen and then set on fire. Couldn't any of these people fight with their fists?

As his temper expanded, so did he. The flames struck him head on, hardly able to miss his new bulk.

Then.. the wind picked up. It swirled around the arena, picking up hats and small objects. The smell was of the sea.

With every passing moment, the wind strengthened.

[Philote]

Emere was not sure what to make of Pike, this was the largest opponent he had faced. With his armor being lighter to allow for quick movements as well, he would not last long against blows from Pike.

Using the wind to his advantage, Emere moved, building up flames and releasing them into the air currents.

[Tsubasa & Wen Tien]

Kagehana: "It's kind of amusing to listen to you two."

At this point, the Light-Scarred enter the stands guiding the Kata. They ignore the pigeons' staring and sit in the seats in the stands that had been vacated earlier by those intimidated by Mileena's pigeons. Hikaru walks up to Kagehana, "I'm Hikaru the Light's Flower. Lady Mina created us Light-Scarred and the Kata, a few minutes ago and we just got here. The Kata by the way can't see but the action in the arena can still be described to them."

Hikaru notices Pessimal, Mileena, and Madame A Gant, "And who might these be?"

[Tsubasa & Wen Tien]

Rubi walks around the coliseum. She'd seen the Light-Scarred and Kata enter earlier and a few lingered outside, not interested in the tournament going on. They were discussing possibly staying at Spectropolis as representatives of Lady Mina's races. Rubi noted that while the Kata and the Light-Scarred hadn't thought of it and Lady Mina might not have thought of it either, other races would likely feel pity for the eyeless Kata and treat them well. Oh, the advantages of being unable to see.

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Koneko hid in Sora's forge from Kira. It was the one place she didn't think Kira would look in order to keep her clothes clean. Sora was definitely a nice guy if you knew him well.

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Kira hid outside, nearby Sora's forge. She wouldn't go inside, but surely Mizuna or Koneko would think to hide in there to avoid her. When they did, she'd be waiting...

(Total: 1 mote)

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

Pessimal stood up and removed his hat.

"Pessimal Tomes, I run the newspaper."
"You run a newspaper."
"I run The Best newspaper. This is Mileena, the intense dwarf there is Torbin, and this is Madame Gant. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance Miss Hikaru and..?" He tries to aim his voice at the Kata.