Timageness

Sorry for the wait, but Chapter Four is finally up!

IC: Verulas (Spectre) - Ga-Koro (Bar)

Verulas suddenly found himself fighting back the urge to facepalm.

"So let me get this straight," he growled, grin all but disappearing. "Not only are you admitting to eavesdropping on my conversation, but you didn't even have the attention span necessary to listen in on the whole thing? I work at the cable car station, for ####'s sake! I'm one of the people making sure that a legion of psychopaths don't descend into any of the other Koros!"

Taking a second to regain his composure, he merely shook his head before attempting to shove his way past the Skakdi.

"You know what? I don't have time for this. You go do what you want, but I'm leaving. Have fun harassing somebody else, Karz-Head."

Romulus and Remus look good to go. We're still discussing how exactly they might fit within a Kaita and whether or not they should even be allowed to do so, but we'll get back to you when we eventually reach a decision.

Other than that minor side note, however, they're both approved.

Chapter Four

Approaching the perimeter of the mining facility, Blizzard signaled for Forge to halt his advance as he quickly took cover bejind a section of the recently, partially destroyed outer wall. Holstering his weapon before pulling out his binnoculars, he began scanning the nearby area for any potential signs of life, eventually coming to a stop over a window belonging to one of the station towers so he could read the message that had been frantically painted across its interior surface with an unknown substance.

Alive inside. Uninfected. Send help.

"Alpha Leader, checking in. Possible evidence of survivors. Proceding to check it out. Over."

"Copy that," Dubstep replied over his comlink. "Extraction zone should be secured by the time you return. Over and out."

"According to the layout we were provided, that's Tower Three, responsible for shipping and containment," Forge stated, activating his holo-map. "If we still had our ship, we could've just landed on the roof and descended a few floors to reach that room in particular."

"And now that we don't?"

The silver Hero grimaced, zooming out for a more expanded view of the work site.

"Each tower is connected to one another by a series of bridges located on the seventh, fourteenth, and twenty-first floors; we could easily fly up to one of them and do some aerial reconnaissance along the way, though we'll be sitting ducks if our new "friend" decides to show up again, and we'll still need to find another way back down if we run into any civilians up there. Otherwise, we'll either have to circle around to the other side, or..."

"Cut down through the quarry," the frost Hero interrupted, turning his attention towards the massive gaping hole amidst the ice and snow.

"Exactly. Numerous passages and shafts were carved all throughout the inside, allowing the miners and technicians to access key areas much more easily from nearly anywhere within the complex. According to this, we should have multiple routes at our disposal, all sufficiently out of sight, all ultimately leading to our intended destination. But there is a downside; we have no idea what might also be down there waiting for us either, which might create even more problems when we'll eventually need to get back out."

"You said so yourself, Forge; flight would only leave us open to another attack, and circling our way around will just end up wasting even more time that those survivors might not even have to begin with," Blizzard said, drawing his weapon once again as he prepared to move forward. "So unless you're planning on pulling another ship out of your exhaust ports, the quarry's the only other sensible option we have left."

Rapelling their way down the ice and stone, the two Heroes eventually came to a stop on a ledge overlooking the bottom of the artificial chasm. A preliminary scan of the area revealed no initial signs of life, organic or robotic, amongst the abandoned machinery and harvesting equipment, leaving the duo with an uneasy feeling of isolation.

"Watch your back," Blizzard spoke quietly, completing his descent by sliding the rest of the way down. "Despite what our readings say, I'd rather not be caught off-guard."

"According to the map, the most direct route to our objective leads through... there," Forge responded, looking up from his wrist only to point out a nearby tunnel, the entrance currently being blocked off by a shipping container still attached to the crane that placed it there stationed three levels above them.

"Any alternative paths?"

"Good news? Yes. Bad news? Scans show evidence of collapse within all of them, so unless you happened to have brought a shovel with you, it's highly unlikely that we'd be able to use any of them to our advantage."

"Perfect," the frost Hero sighed, shaking his head as he stepped towards the object in question. "I'll start climbing and see whether or not we can get this thing moved. You stay here and hold this position."

Hoisting himself up above the crate, he quickly made a grab for the support cable, eventually pulling his body onto the neck of the vehicle after a few minutes of strenuous activity. Shimmying his way down to the chassis, he leaned to the side, opening the door to the cab before swinging his way into the operator's seat.

"Uh, Forge?," he said, talking into his comlink. "We have a problem. There's no key for this thing."

"Want me to come help you look for it?"

"Negative. It'll be quicker if I... slag."

"Something wrong?"

"Just had a look at the underside of this control panel, and all the wires are completely melted. Whoever was using this thing last clearly didn't want anyone else to."

"I could call in my missile launcher and try blasting it apart, but we'd run the risk of causing structual damage to the tunnel as well. If I had access to some breaching charges, I could safely plant them around the edges and create an opening for us to get through. See if you can find any up there before climbing back down."

"Already on it," Blizzard responded, stepping back outside and spotting a trail of foul-smelling liquid that had been dripped across what otherwise appeared to be freshly fallen snow. "Checking up on a potential lead as we speak. I'll leave the comlink on just in case I get into trouble."

"Roger that."

Following the strange path that had been seemingly laid out before him, the frost Hero ceased his journey for a moment, stopping to gaze into the network of tunnels that the substance eventually led into. Taking a second to pull up a map of his own and noticing that his current position wasn't too far off from a marked explosives cache, he had just about finished plotting his route when he heard what sounded like screaming echoing throughout the maze of seemingly endless twists and turns. Reaching for his weapons as he quickly ducked inside, he dashed towards the source of the disturbance, only to skid around an oncoming corner and widen his eyes in horror as he nearly barreled into the corpse of an unfortunate miner, staked to a wall with a pickaxe that had been rather violently driven through their torso, irreparably damaging their power source in the process. Upon further examination, the tip of the tool had narrowly missed the miniature Quaza Battery installed into the victim's chest, its faint glow further illuminating the passage and casting even more light on the grisly scene he was faced with. Despite the mixture of coolant, acid, and hydraulic fluid pooling up around his feet, however, Blizzard's reaction went no further. Aside from the hyper-realism and extreme attention to detail present within the simulations, both Hero Factory and Justice Apex trainees were also required to participate in live-fire exercises taking place within the "safer" areas of the Makuhero City Quarentine Zone, so this was far from his first time being exposed to such carnage. Assuming that he had simply arrived too late to be of any assistance, and that whoever - or whatever - had gotten to them was now long gone, he started to turn back, preparing to once again pursue his primary objective as he continued on his way.

Unfortunately, however, he didn't realise exactly how wrong he was until a second piercing shriek filled his audio receptors, this one not only much closer than before, but also accompanied by a pair of distressed voices.

"W-we're surrounded! No, no, no, no, no!"

"Ma'am, panicking isn't going to do us any good right now! For the moment, they can't reach us, so we should have enough time to plan out our next move. Fighting our way through them is no longer an option!"

"You think? They killed Dax!"

"Look, I know he was your friend, but there was nothing we could do for him! Right now, our immediate priority should be focusing on our own survival!"

Speeding towards the direction of the frantic conversation, the frost Hero soon found himself entering a substantially larger chamber, only to immediately duck behind a nearby support column in an effort to not draw any attention towards his arrival and alert the room's other occupants to his presence. Realising that he was in a situation where he lacked enough intel to properly come up with a plan, yet acquiring said knowledge without exposing his position would be virtually impossible, he activated his core yet again, this time selecting the blueprint for his Reconnaissance Arm before watching the plating of the limb that had formerly carried his shield completely remold itself before his very eyes. Seconds later, three fully functioning drones sprang forth from the ether, silently taking to the air as they immediately began feeding information directly to his HUD, informing him of exactly what kind of scenario he was about to walk into.

Located in the center of the massive cave system was an exposed cargo lift that reached high up towards the semi-natural ceiling, which, contrary to the rust and other obvious signs of neglect, was at least partially functional, as evidenced by the fact that its platform was still being suspended in mid-air and was acting as a temporary sanctuary to the two beings currently residing on top of it. The first, a robot, had idly tucked herself away into one of the corners, hugging her knees and shaking like a leaf despite her winter attire. Noticing that her parka was absolutely drenched in coolant and hydraulic fluid, but seeing no wounds, he simply chalked her condition up to a combination of the already frigid temperatures and possible mental trauma before turning his attention to the second. Peering over the side of the railing was a feminine figure of an odd appearance, one that was clearly constructed out of metal, yet molded as if to mirror a particular species of organic. Aside from the additional armor plating that had been secured to their frame, this one sported an outfit similar to that of the first, although, surprisingly, they were also packing enough heat to make even Forge envious.

But the real obstacle in this scenario would clearly be getting around the cluster of infected gathering around beneath them, mindlessly reaching upwards and shaking their tools as they stained the ground with the viscous black ooze that was leaking from their bodies.

Tightening his grip on his weapon as he finalised his plan of attack, he took a deep breath, closing his eyes as he felt his hand begin to cup itself around one of his many Stasis Grenades. Moments later, it was flying through the air in what seemed like slow motion, the countdown lights blinking purple one by one as they signaled the arrival of the inevitable chaos that would soon follow. Before anyone had even an inkling of what was about to happen, eight hostiles found themselves frozen in time and space, the ensuing detonation attracting the attention of the rest of their deranged brethren as Blizzard popped out of hiding, leveling his blaster and firing off a few well-placed rounds of coolant. Adding insult to injury, the drones quickly began dive-bombing the crowd, raining stun bolts down from the sky and dropping the beings almost as fast as they could turn around to face him. Hearing the commotion below, the two survivors simply observed the battle from their position on the elevator, daring to hope that they were being presented with a way out of their current predicament.

"What's going on down there?," the first cried out.

"Looks like the calvary's finally arrived," said the second, drawing her rifle as she prepared to provide additional support. "Hang back while I lay down some cover-fire!"

"Don't bother!," the frost Hero shouted, encasing the nearest hostile in ice as another rushed towards his flank, sinking their teeth through his armor and into his arm before having the stock of his weapon smashed across their cranium. "Just stay where you are and conserve your ammo!"

"Like slag I will! Face it, Popsicle-Brain, you need all the help you can get!"

IC: Verulas (Spectre) - Ga-Koro (Bar)

Well, this was beginning to turn into quite the predicament.

Considering as to how he had apparently became a wanted man (and not in a good way) shortly after walking through the village gates, causing a scene that had the potential of attracting the city guards was definitely not something he was planning to do. Throw in the fact that he had just recently "un-alived" someone within the region, and this situation he had suddenly found himself in was growing more and more undesirable by the second. On the other hand, if things did end up dissolving into a fight, not defending himself would most likely lead to serious injury or even death, which also wasn't the greatest of options either.

Wow, I'm really stuck between a Muaka and a Kane-Ra here, aren't I? What to do...

Deciding that he was at least going to try bluffing his way out of this first, he called upon his powers, forming a fairly large seed in one hand before flipping it across his knuckles well within plain sight, mainly as a distraction to draw attention away from his other as a few different ones began to form in the palm of his closed fist.

"Look, buddy," he said, lowering his voice so that it was barely a whisper as he began to rise to his feet. "I've got no beef with you, and I'd rather just as well see myself out so we can both be on our merry way and forget that this little meeting of ours even occured. But if you really intend to start something in this... wonderful establishment, then I'm simply going to have to teach you some manners by personally redecorating the entirety of this room with your face. And trust me, neither of us wants that to happen."

But what if they were both Heat Vision?

1. Both Kraata variations possessed no offensive capabilities.*

2. Both powers were in a position in which they would cancel each other out.*

 

*Only an issue, I'm assumimg, if said Kraata aren't actually of the same variation; two Conjoined Rahkshi of either Heat Vision or Electricity probably wouldn't be subjected to these.

Already answered that.

 

Glaciem Ignis currently remains the sole exception to the rule, which was previously established by Wyrd, mostly because of the following:

 

1. Both Kraata variations possessed no offensive capabilities.

2. Both powers were in a position in which they would cancel each other out.

3. They could not act as components for forming Kaita.

4. They end up destroying any masks that they try to infect.

 

Those last two were things that I'd added to the profile myself; Wyrd didn't ask for them. It's entirely possible that he might've been willing to approve a similar profile without those particular limitations. 

 

Wyrd's only real issue was approving a character with two separate powers, which is why I had to modify the profile to say that their powers constantly cancel each other out. 

I only provided those as examples to show how you had attempted to make Glaciem Ignis less OP in order to balance out their respective characters. Seeing as to how Romulus and Remus' actual Kraata aren't attached to each other like those two are, Collector could get away without adding those exact stipulations in, yes.

However, the way Remus is actually attached to Romulus' suit seems to imply that between the both of them, they also have the potential to see a full 360 degrees around themselves, meaning that things such as sneak attacks and flanking maneuvers would generally be less effective as well, even though it would likely be much easier to land a blow on the former since he has no contol over the legs and thus his mobility would be severely limited. So throwing in one more additional limitation on Romulus' side of things (such as having one blind eye in order to rob him of his depth perception) would probably also increase their chances of approval slightly.

While the two of us who were around to discuss our thoughts on Romulus and Remus really liked the concept and MoC behind this profile, we're sorry to say that we can't actually approve these two, simply because of their differing power sets.

Glaciem Ignis currently remains the sole exception to the rule, which was previously established by Wyrd, mostly because of the following:

1. Both Kraata variations possessed no offensive capabilities.*

2. Both powers were in a position in which they would cancel each other out.*

3. They could not act as components for forming Kaita.**

4. They end up destroying any masks that they try to infect.**

*Only an issue, I'm assumimg, if said Kraata aren't actually of the same variation; two Conjoined Rahkshi of either Heat Vision or Electricity probably wouldn't be subjected to these.

**Likely due to the state of their suits, Kraata, or both.

So unfortunately, this one needs to go back to the drawing board.

IC: Verulas (Spectre) - Ga-Koro (Bar)

"I highly doubt that two drinks, no matter how strong they are, are suddenly going to impair my ability to walk throughout the entirety of the next few weeks. Besides," the Bo-Toa said, raising his eyebrow. "I'm no courier, and even if I was, I'm not heading that far in."

Because he viewed his budding feelings for Rain as a weakness.

And Shark doesn't like having weaknesses.

Shark is somewhat comparable to Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII; both are brutal, cold, calculating, and a pain in the ### to defeat.

The only real difference between them (besides the planet-killing meteors and the alien DNA, obviously) is that technically, the only girlfriend Shark has killed off so far was actually his own. Because, you know, why profess your feelings for someone when you can just shank them in the throat?

IC: Verulas (Spectre) - Ga-Koro (Bar)

Huh.

For someone who apparently doesn't take too kindly to others butting in on his business, this guy sure as Karz doesn't mind sticking his nose into mine all of a sudden...

Better stay alert.

Turning around in his seat, Verulas simply shrugged as he established eye contact with the Skakdi, refusing to let his motions betray his thoughts.

"Good thing I'm not wearing a Kualsi then, isn't it?," he said, displaying a wry grin as he tapped on his mask with his finger. "Guess the trek back will allow me to get it out of my system long before I even arrive at my intended destination. How fortunate."

IC: Verulas (Spectre) - Ga-Koro (Bar)

Grumbling and scowling for a few seconds before reluctantly replacing the spilled drink, the bartender simply shook her head for a moment, hanging around for a little while longer to ensure that she actually received payment for this one.

"So why Ko-Wahi? You know that place is practically crawling with criminals now, right?"

"Yeah, well, got to get back to protecting the cable car, I guess. Saw what they did to Ko-Koro firsthand; rather not have the psychos marching down into Ta-Koro too, even if the entire village is filled with fire-spitting hotheads."

"So you're a guard, then? Can't say I would've figured you for one."

"Mercenary, actually," he said, downing the beverage before sliding over the proper amount of widgets. "Anyways, I should probably be heading out now as well. Thanks for the drinks."

It seems that whatever I do, and whatever I try, everyone finds more and more things wrong with what I do, and purposefully antagonize me because of it instead of telling me what to do different instead of "do it, you idiot".

General consensus is that if you can't see yourself realistically performing an action, chances are that your characters, unless otherwise explicitly stated (in the case of powers, abilities, or other physical characteristics), shouldn't be able to perform said actions either. Most of us in the RPG scene have simply assumed that this was common sense by now.

In other words, instead of just typing up whatever comes to mind, try to imagine testing out the moves in real life first, taking any and all variables into consideration as you do so. If you find that you'd be unable to perform the action that you want your character to attempt, then it's probably not a good idea to have them try it out anyway.

IC: Torc - Gym

Taking the current position of his own blades into consideration, and how he himself had been straining his arms when trying to swing the rather unwieldy weapon from her grasp, the sudden thrust was met with considerable resistance from Torc's end, barely causing it to budge in relation to his body. Instead, the move merely served to start pushing him backwards, his legs sliding through the sand before properly bracing themselves to counter, effectively resulting in a stalemate when it came to their contest of wills.

One which would be mutually painful for the both of them, it seemed, since his opponent's hands would only continue to burn so long as he still had a piece of her weapon lodged inside of his torso.

Let's find out which one of us gives in first, shall we?

IC: Torc - Gym

And expect it he did not.

Still, anyone with eyes would've been able to notice something that large flying towards them if it happened to start moving within their field of vision, so while the attack did manage to impact his suit, spikes puncturing through the space between his artificial rib cage and causing him enough pain to send him falling to one knee, he did barely manage to get his swords up in time to successfully prevent them from sliding in any deeper. Fluid leaked from the wound, dripping into the sand below as he hissed in anger, shifting one of his blades to the other side of his opponent's weapon and locking it in place. It was then that he began to pour as much heat as possible into the tip, casing it to rapidly race towards its owner, making it extremely uncomfortable to hold on to.

Time to raise the stakes a bit...

Forcing himself back into the upright position, he twisted his body with all the force he could muster, hoping to rip it straight out of her hands and fling it towards the other side of the platform. Taking its weight and the odd manner in which he was gripping it into consideration, he doubted that he'd be able to remove it from the arena entirely, but the opportunity to disarm the other Rahkshi, even if it only ended up being temporary at best, was simply too great to pass up.

IC: Orimnoc

^{Location: Gym}

The crimson clad mass of spikes charged at Torc once more, their sword once more readied for any manoeuvre adjustment she'd need to make.

IC: Torc - Gym

If only I was a Level 3...

Noticing that his opponent had decided to charge directly at him once again, he quickly heated up his foot as he pushed it deeper into the sand, increasing the temperature of the grains surrounding it before kicking them up towards her face as he simply stepped to the side. If all went according to plan, she'd be (hopefully only temporarily) blinded due to both the burning and the irritation her eyes would be experiencing, likely running straight off of the platform or into a pillar before the match would have to be called and someone would take her to go get patched up by  whoever was running this infirmary everyone seemed to be talking about lately. If not, then she'd still have a cloud of extremely hot particles to contend with, which, given her current speed, she would be storming into in about three... two... one...

IC: Liar - Gym

Finally clawing his way out of the water, the Rahkshi of Dodge attempted to shake his armor dry, only to suddenly lurch forward as he began to expell another round of projectile vomit.

"I'm no... charity case," he gasped, forcing himself back on his feet as he commanded the gym to retrieve his weapons for him. "I don't need help... from anyone."

And with that, he sauntered his way off to the infirmary, trying his best not to upset his stomach any further than it already was.

IC: Zenithex - Blackrock (Ruins)

The Lesterin took his time to ponder these possibilities as he readied his response.

Allowing individuals to willingly seek them out had always been an intended side effect of his work, though his own methods, admittedly, were entirely based on manipulating their fears in order to get them to do so. Still, letting just anyone into the group would greatly increase the risk of spies infiltrating their way through the ranks, which was almost nonexistent within the old Brotherhood, as the conversion process had a way of weeding out those whose loyalties happened to lie elsewhere. Then there would be the matter of shielding said initiates from the (arguably justifiable) prejudices forged by their past activities, a task that would be made even more difficult should they start freely revealing their newfound status to the populace at large.

All in all, however, aside from the concerns he had, Zenithex saw no reason to outright reject the Toa's proposal, as it could potentially lead to them establishing assets of their own within the walls of the villages as well.

"Then we shall try it your way," he finally said, agreeing to the other being's terms. "Though I trust you have devised contingencies to prevent our new foundations from becoming compromised."

IC Sorox

 

"You're a regret."

 

That whisper was the only thing he heard; the rest were mumbles, but it was enough to inform him that those two were in on this. There was no convenient way to tell Datrox, but then again, telling Datrox anything tended to be inconvenient.

OOC: This makes no sense. If having a private conversation that was connected in no way, shape, or form to the current events occuring inside the train car automatically labelled one as suspicious, then Sorox would be expecting at least half of the nameless NPCs who have no dialogue of importance typed up at all to be in on the heist as well.

Kapura'd by Nato.

Was typing up a post for Torc.

IC: Torc - Gym

What the Karz - ?

Having dropped into his slide at what he had perceived to be the last possible moment, Torc was absolutely baffled as to how his opponent had been able to switch stances so fast in order to take a stab at him, especially taking into consideration the actual size of their weapon. Perhaps he had somehow misjudged the distance between them, the sand had provided much more friction than he expected, or they were just that good at maneuvering around giant, almost unwieldy objects. Heck, it could've just as likely been due to all three coming into play at once for all he knew, but no matter how much time he spent speculating on what factors had caused the seemingly improbable event, he still found himself facing a very real problem.

And if he didn't come up with a solution fast, chances were that he was going to end up a Rahkshi shish kebab.

Raising his crossed swords up closer to his chest in order to abandon his intended attack, he quickly shoved the blades into the cluster of spikes as it continued its descent, shifting his weight as he diverted its path just enough so that it ended up biting into the section of stone that had been beneath his shoulder merely a second before. Using his momentum to slip them loose once again before they could be trapped, he finally reached the other side before swiftly deciding to roll out of the way as he returned to his feet, readying himself in the event of a counterattack as he simply went back to circling his foe.

--IC: Luffy: In the Refectory--

"OK, none of what you just said made any sense.  Could you explain it in simpler terms?"

IC: Misery - Refectory

"That was a fairly simple explanation."

IC: Orimnoc

^{Location: Gym}

With a swift move, Orimnoc now charged her opponent, her sword readied for a painful strike.

IC: Torc - Gym

Rushing towards the center of the platform to meet them halfway, Torc threw himself into the sand, attempting to slide between his opponent's legs as he aimed two searing slashes in the direction of their shins.

Dastad hasn't been able to swindle anyone out of their hard-earned stuff as of yet, so I'll likely still be around.

IC: Liar - Gym

Feeling no impact as his cestus kept on swinging, Liar already knew what was about to happen.

...

...

...

Called it.

A moment later, and he was in the moat, reaching back up towards the surface as he attempted to pull himself out.

IC: Misery - Gym

"Considering that the one with two limbs obviously wasn't all too concerned about avoiding fights despite their rather obvious disadvantage, the ferocity of the other's attacks suggests that their opponent had probably somehow started the altercation, likely by running their mouth, and the fact that they're both currently doing so in here of all places when we have a perfectly good gymnasium at our disposal leads me to believe that my previous assessment was fairly accurate."

The Teleport Rahk simply leaned her arm up against the table, using her hand to support her head as she continued to spectate.

"Either way, I don't really care. I'm just here to see who wins," she responded before yawning out of boredom.

IC: Orimnoc

^{Location: Gym}

A twisted smile came to her face as she heard Torc's words. "If it's pain you want, then I'm more than ready to oblige." 

IC: Torc - Gym

"Good. Stop running your mouth and get on with it, then."

IC: Exxan - Gym.

 

I exhaled, flicking the blood of off Remembrance's green-tinged blade before sheathing the weapon. "Concede. I don't want to hurt you any more than I have to."

IC: Liar - Gym

Well, that's just too bad, because hurting people's the entire reason I even decided to show up at all.

Taking his position on the platform into account as his opponent sheathed their weapon, likely in some misguided attempt to show him mercy, Liar ran through all of his potential options before thrusting his arm out into the air, hoping they'd take it as a sign that he wanted the fight to be stopped.

In reality, however, this was little more than a ruse, granting him the opportunity to activate his powers once more.

A second later, and he was back on his feet, ripping his hand away from his mouth and doing his best to aim the concentrated spray of projectile vomit he had tried so hard to contain directly towards their eyes in an effort to blind them. As he did this, he clenched his claws into a fist and launched a vicious uppercut aimed at the underside of their jaw, with the idea being that they would then stumble backwards, hopefully losing their footing and slipping down into the moat in the process.

He knew that his chances of success were slim, that Stripes would probably expect something like this and dodge or use his powers to counter, and that he himself would end up sliding in either way as well, but at this point, he didn't really care. He had already accomplished what he originally set out to do in the first place, which was to both make the fight look good and to ensure that he at least went down swinging, so in his mind, he had already won, regardless of the match's actual outcome.

All in. Time to show us your cards, pal.

Satisfied with the performance he displayed, he simply closed his eyes, resigning himself to the hands of fate as events outside of his control began to transpire.

IC: Misery - Refectory

Diverting her eyes towards the new arrival (Luffy) for the briefest of moments as they loudly announced their question, Misery felt the desire to lazily respond as she refocused the majority of her attention back to watching the brawl taking place before her.

"Nothing much," she mused. "Just two idiots being idiots by idiotically trying to one-up the other in an effort to prove which one of them is the bigger idiot."

IC: Verulas (Spectre) - Ga-Koro (Bar)

Seeing as to how the drink intended for him had been knocked over before he could properly receive it, the mercenary was clearly not amused.

"I am so not paying for that," he said, causing the bartender to focus their ire on the Skakdi.