[IC] TTG Chapter 1: Sloth

[Komodojoe]

Morgan​

Morgan was nearly entranced by the music, she could hardly contain herself. Everything else seemed to be blocked out to her during this time... aside from taking a few seconds to take a swig of her heavenly drink.

...Yep. This was indeed a paradise. No... more like Heaven.

Of course, all good things must come to an end. She snapped back into reality as soon as the concert ended. And she, like everyone else, walked up to the stage to listen to what the Black Idol had to say.

[K_H]

Lawrence - Modify Mech (1 Action) - ACTION START

Lawrence smiled and nodded before speaking.

"I was actually planning on tinkering with my mech a bit. I was thinking of decreasing the power consumption of the thrusters a bit so that I could divert more power to the servos in the arms, even though that would cause my maximum possible speed to decrease a bit as a result. However, I think that the increase in strength would definitely be worth the cost."

Edited July 17, 2016 by K_H

[Shamitako]

Adam - (Ask Black Idol a Question)

"So this is quite the special story." Black Idol explained to her now much closer audience, "See, it's a story that's only ever been told once before, and that was when the First God told it to me."

Adam held back a gasp of surprise, but it showed clearly on his features. There was only one story this could be, and he had never expected to hear it. He couldn't imagine the loss of not attending this concert.

Black Idol continued, "It's known that a God can come to power by gaining a large amount of Favor and then being granted one of the Planes. But it's never been told how they are given their Plane unless another God gives it to them directly. And Lord was kind enough to tell me this secret to godhood so I could share it with you." She paused for effect, causing the itch in Adam's veins to grow stronger, the itch to hear this secret. "Each of the original gods," she continued finally, "are unique in power. It is not just having Favor, but also gaining it in a special way. For the First God, it was never being defeated, not even once. For another, it was learning to exist outside the Planes. And for one it was even killing herself. These feats beyond normal capabilities are what create Gods."

"Wait, so you mean, the Gods are Gods just, because?" He stared in disbelief, that was the worst revelation he could have gotten, no wonder Lord had left it to a middleman.

"Not quite," Black Idol responded, "To quote Lord directly, 'We are Gods because we overcame our humanity.'"

"I see, that's, a bit less frustrating to hear."

Adam still didn't like learning this. That there was no special secret to being a God, you just had to be good enough or lucky enough for a Plane to choose you. It didn't seem fair that someone like Astra could acquire godhood without knowing something that the rest of the world didn't know. He could certainly guess what that bastard's way of, "overcoming his humanity" was. His fists visibly clenched up in response to his rapidly growing anger.

The Diviner

"Very well then, take your shirt off, lay down on the operation table, and I'll extract the needed favor." The Diviner explained, leading Lawrence to a porcelain slab. Once Lawrence was laying down, he grabbed a tube with a small needle on it off the wall and inserted it into the center of Lawrence's chest, just below the sternum. There was a slight stinging, but any experienced pilot knew by now how this worked. The Diviner was loath to imagine the days before his technology, when people were forced to go into complex meditations to modify their armaments, nowadays they just had to have a needle stuck in them.

A few minutes after the insertion, a ding spring up from a nearby monitor and The Diviner removed the tube. "Alright, I've gathered the Favor from your mech system, you're free to oversee the specifics if you like." The Diviner began tapping away at the monitor, shifting power from Ricochet's thrusters. It was convenient that the mech was still in its repair cycle, it would take a good bit less favor than normal to modify sections that hadn't regenerated yet.

[Bfroger6]

Mommo - Wai- what?

There were a couple of factors that contributed to Mommo's surprise as her HUD buzzed. Firstly, she was never a social person. Like, really, it's either lay in bed all day or interact with people. The actions cancelled one another and it was pretty obvious which one Mommo almost always chose, so it was quite unusual for her out of all people to receive a text message... Maybe it was from a fan or something, but she usually just let those fade into forgetfulness, never taking the time to open them, since, once again, she was in her bed all the time. However, she was smart enough to know that such an event was near impossible during interplanar travel. So what was even going on..? The fact she was sitting on the cold floor wallowing in self despair over all these new feeling welling up inside her didn't really help.

Curiously, she raised the HUD from the floor next to her bed and looked at the screen. First thing she noticed was the influx of messages. Just the sheer amount of buzzing after every single one of them confused her enough for a few moment, but when she managed to gather as much composure as she could in this situation, she focused on the most important thing-the sender's ID. She'd never heard of this name and, definitely it wasn't one of the other contestants. Whoever this person was, though, they clearly watched the fight... and knew enough about her to probe deeper. Honestly, even with how dull she'd become over the years, these texts managed to get to her. Perhaps it was a combination of what was written and the whole thing with the HUNTER, but she couldn't help but bite her lip as she read the words. Her will... She never really thought about that. She always figured her smarts were enough to ensure her victories, but she clearly wasn't composed enough, after all... And she clearly had to do things to actually win, unlike the Sleeping Bear... She, the Slumbering Giant, was lacking in all these aspects...

And it angered her.

Mommo's feeble, sleepy grasp on the HUD tightened as her teeth dug deeper into her lip. She couldn't help it, she had to respond to this person. Her gaze was as clear as day as her fingers moved across the HUD's surface with unexpected speed, completely in contrast to her usual self, with half-open eyes and an overall lazy posture. But a posture not lazy enough, as it was, and eyes opened too much.

Even in face of this, she could keep herself from spilling out things she didn't want to spill out, though. [social - 2 points]

"Who are you and why do you think you know so much about me?"

Mommo wasn't one to waste time on meaningless trifles either. Before anything, she had to identify this person and their sources. They most likely weren't gonna tell her that, but at least she could pry further into the other person's inner workings by seeing how they respond.

Edited July 18, 2016 by Bfroger6

[Sutoratosu]

Solomon - (Ask Black Idol a question)

"Wait, wait, is that it?" The mechanic scoffed. Even this had been a let down... who would've known. It was a shame too, he almost felt a tinge of excitement welling up. Only for it to crash right back into the sea of boredom from whence it came. "That's the big secret to Godhood? That's what you called us up here for? Just happening to have a talent or inclination that develops to the point where it goes beyond what typical humans are capable of? Even something as asinine as literally being so lazy, that you can sleep through someone attacking you with everything they've got?"

[Shamitako]

Black Idol

"I mean, it's not my secret." Black Idol said indignantly.

She noticed Silent Requiem clenching his fists and suddenly realized why Lord had said to say this at the end of the concert. She had no cares for godhood nor any of the gods besides the ruler of Greed, she had only agreed to this job because he had requested it of her. She didn't even know why, the little twat wasn't anything more than second best. Now that she thought about it, she had to admit she sort of understood Requiem and Revenant's reactions. What made Joshua King any better than the rest of them? And yet, she couldn't deny that he was a good ruler. A pest of a friend, but a good ruler.

"I think it's more than luck." She said, "I think, you have to win it somehow. I know Sleeping Bear seems super lazy, but I've been told he's actually quite the genius. His mech was designed without any use of Divination Tech, he achieved a highly modernized mech purely through meditation. Pre-Divination mechs are almost universally primitive, but his is one of the most advanced mechs in existence. That takes incredible knowledge and skill."

She wondered if she was saying too much, Lord said to tell them about how the gods came to be, but the knowledge of the individual gods had come from a different source. Should she be sharing it?

"And while not many people know it, the Fifth god has no sight, and yet she has the finest control over any mech in existence, surely that can't be a simply fluke. The Seventh God is probably the most just being in the Tempest, even if he is a brat. And most everyone knows how the twelve-year-old Lord became the First God by being undefeated in battle. Even the gods who were gifted godhood had to earn the trust of their predecessors.

"It's understandable that you would resent them for seeming to be nothing better than you, but they've proven themselves to be deserving of their roles. And isn't that what this tournament is about? Proving that you're deserving?"

[Sutoratosu]

Sully- (ask black Idol more questions)

"Without...Divination Tech?" For the first time since he'd entered the car, the expression on his face as he stroked his goatee was something other annoyance or apathy. "So, you're telling me, he made a mech that presumably could not only match, but also far surpass one of us competitors, who are already using top dollar shit to begin with, without any Divination Tech, at all? Damn, maybe I was too quick to judge the Bear...If he's that smart though, it just makes shit worse... he's obviously capable of so much, but yet he just sits around doing... what, all day, pray tell? I mean c'mon, for Pride's sake, the field for Sloth's matches was fucking bare bones as you can get, made me think a bunch of prims had made it" which, all things considered, they probably had now that he thought on it.

Still, cynical though he tried to be, he could not deny his interest. A man with enough will power and mental capacity that he conjured a creation equalling and surpassing modern tech...by meditating.

"Maybe it's not quite as much bullshit as it first sounds though..." He muttered beneath his breath

[K_H]

Lawrence - Ask the Diviner a Question

As The Diviner started the modification process, Lawrence stood next to him, the pilot assisting the mechanic in the types and strengths of the alterations. As the two worked on the mech, Lawrence was struck by a question. He decided that he might as well ask it now, before it slipped from his mind. As he went to speak, the two were finishing up the Modification Process.

"Sorry to bother you with a question, but a question just struck me: What's the difference between a God and a Human, other than the Gods owning the Planes?"

Edited July 18, 2016 by K_H

[Shamitako]

The Diviner

The difference in god and man? The Diviner knew the answer of course, there wasn't much he didn't know. However the secret to godhood was a simple one, and when mortals learned of it they often fell into rage. What did the lump of silver do when it learned that shimmering platinum was actually the same hue? It began to think it deserved to be worth the same as platinum. Foolish was man, thinking that a simple answer meant a simple task.

"The difference between the mortal and the divine is the same as the difference between a coal and a diamond." He explained cryptically, "Though both carbon, the coal can never grasp the hardships needed to become the diamond and shall always look upon its shimmer with jealousy."

Mommo - Wai- what?

There were a couple of factors that contributed to Mommo's surprise as her HUD buzzed. Firstly, she was never a social person. Like, really, it's either lay in bed all day or interact with people. The actions cancelled one another and it was pretty obvious which one Mommo almost always chose, so it was quite unusual for her out of all people to receive a text message... Maybe it was from a fan or something, but she usually just let those fade into forgetfulness, never taking the time to open them, since, once again, she was in her bed all the time. However, she was smart enough to know that such an event was near impossible during interplanar travel. So what was even going on..? The fact she was sitting on the cold floor wallowing in self despair over all these new feeling welling up inside her didn't really help.

Curiously, she raised the HUD from the floor next to her bed and looked at the screen. First thing she noticed was the influx of messages. Just the sheer amount of buzzing after every single one of them confused her enough for a few moment, but when she managed to gather as much composure as she could in this situation, she focused on the most important thing-the sender's ID. She'd never heard of this name and, definitely it wasn't one of the other contestants. Whoever this person was, though, they clearly watched the fight... and knew enough about her to probe deeper. Honestly, even with how dull she'd become over the years, these texts managed to get to her. Perhaps it was a combination of what was written and the whole thing with the HUNTER, but she couldn't help but bite her lip as she read the words. Her will... She never really thought about that. She always figured her smarts were enough to ensure her victories, but she clearly wasn't composed enough, after all... And she clearly had to do things to actually win, unlike the Sleeping Bear... She, the Slumbering Giant, was lacking in all these aspects...

And it angered her.

Mommo's feeble, sleepy grasp on the HUD tightened as her teeth dug deeper into her lip. She couldn't help it, she had to respond to this person. Her gaze was as clear as day as her fingers moved across the HUD's surface with unexpected speed, completely in contrast to her usual self, with half-open eyes and an overall lazy posture. But a posture not lazy enough, as it was, and eyes opened too much.

Even in face of this, she could keep herself from spilling out things she didn't want to spill out, though. [social - 2 points]

"Who are you and why do you think you know so much about me?"

Mommo wasn't one to waste time on meaningless trifles either. Before anything, she had to identify this person and their sources. They most likely weren't gonna tell her that, but at least she could pry further into the other person's inner workings by seeing how they respond.

"Oh dear, you seem to be upset." text_gun_alpha responded.
"You know, I could deflect that, but then we'd be playing a game of question pong."
"And I'm not here to give you the runaround."
"They call me Aries, God of Wrath and denim jackets."
"I just happen to be a kid who's good at reading people."
"Although I'm sure most of us won't admit it, each of us has a favorite among the competitors."
"And you, Sweet Mommo, are my favorite."
"So please don't fall to the HUNTER's wiles."
"A predator like that doesn't even deserve to be in this competition for godhood."
"She'd probably steal Lust and then fill it up with little girls."
It was quickly becoming apparent that "Aries," if he really was Aries, was not a fan of LOLI_HUNTER.

At the same time that Mommo was having fun meeting a new friend, Tai had returned to his bed and was falling into a strange dream

"Yo, can you hear me?" A voice tapped at the edge of Tai's mind, "Hello? Hey, yoo-hoo! You awake there ya dork?"

Suddenly, a girl appeared in the darkness of his mind. She was a gorgeous young woman, somewhere around the age of twenty, dressed in a maid costume. She had pale skin, jet-black hair, and scarlet eyes. Her nose was like a button and her thin lips smiled gently.

"Eeyy, you're awake." She said in heavily accented latin, "I was starting to worry I'd gone into the wrong head."

[IntSys]

Tai

"Who are you?" Tai asked, curiously. He kept thinking, but he couldn't recall ever seeing this strange figure.

[Shamitako]

???

The girl cocked her head and sucked her cheeks in as she thought. There wasn't really a good answer to Tai's question.

"You can call me Cardinal." She said finally, "I'm, not really from around here. I mean, um, like, Tempest, I'm from a different reality."

She rubbed her knees together nervously, the short skirt of her outfit waving back and forth timidly. Would he believe her? She wished she could have talked to a girl instead, it would have been nice to meet another girl. Not that there was anything wrong with meeting a boy either, but she would have been more comfortable with a girl. She'd dressed up in a cute outfit, or at least the videos she'd been watching said it was cute, but somehow that actually made her feel more uncomfortable.

[IntSys]

Tai

"Okay...you must be here for something, right? Otherwise you wouldn't appear in my...dream." Tai asked again, and suddenly noticed the absurdity of the scenario. "Must have been something in my food..." He thought to himself.

[Shamitako]

Cardinal

"Yeah, I'm here for something." Cardinal said matter-of-factly, "I need an advocate, and you seemed like my best bet. I'd like you to try to convince the gods to stop this tournament."

She paused for a moment, debating exactly how much to tell Tai. She sucked in her cheeks and shifted around uncomfortably. Her eyes caught Tai's for a moment, but she quickly shifted them away.

"Um, the God of Nil is super dangerous, so you need to stop them please." She explained, "whoever they end up sending will almost certainly die. They should stop being cowards and go themselves so innocent people don't get hurt."

[IntSys]

Tai

"I don't think anyone here would listen to me. The gods probably won't listen to me as well. Is there a reason why you can't do this yourself?" Tai asked again.

"That said, if I can challenge the Gods into fighting the winner of the tournament - a fight which the Gods will most likely win, it will become incredibly apparent that they're strong enough to fight in our stead."



(I wonder if she knows that Tai has 0 points in Social...)

[Shamitako]

Cardinal

"I, um, I'm in another place entirely, I can't actually go there." Cardinal said, repeating her earlier assertion--it was more convincing the first time.

In truth, she probably could interact with the gods, but she was too frightened of them to try.

"You need to do it before the end. And you need to do it without fighting them." She implored, "But if you really feel that you cannot do it alone, then I may have a way to get you some help. After the next battle, talk to the Diviner, ask him about mental projection. If he's the same in this timeplane then he should be able to help."

Tai hadn't realized it, but she had approached him and now reached out to place her hands on his shoulders, looking him squarely in the eyes.

"Please." She said, and then suddenly let go, "I have to leave now."

Her she faded away into the blackness, her body disappearing first. Her head slowly faded out until all that was left was that thin, soft smile. And soon that disappeared as well.

(OOC: Don't worry, she has terrible social too)

[IntSys]

Tai

"...Alright." Tai faded into deep sleep. Cardinal's words echoed lightly in his mind.

Edited July 19, 2016 by IntSys

[Komodojoe]

M​organ- (Ask Black Idol a Question)

Morgan had stayed mostly silent in this conversation, mostly because the rising tension was starting to make her nervous... again. That, and the fact that she didn't want to interrupt. That would be just plain rude. Still, this entire thing did​ enlighten a few things for her. From what the Black Idol made things sound, every God had become what they are now by​ overcoming what they were in one way or another. Maybe...

"Maybe becoming a God wasn't too far off for my goal after all?" She thought to herself. "I mean, I still don't really care to become a God, but still...​" She was left to her thoughts until she noticed a gap of silence in the conversation. She opened her mouth to ask a question relating to her own thoughts, but the shy girl stopped herself. She still felt too nervous to talk. Not to mention that this felt like an answer that she would have to find herself. Plus, she didn't think that there was any good way for anyone else to answer that question, seeing as it also sounded like the gods found their own way.

That being said, there was one ​​thin​g that Morgan was curious about. As far as she knew, there were originally supposed to be seven planes and seven gods at one time. So how did the eighth of each come into play? Where did they come from? What did the Tenth God do to change that? And more importantly, how did they make an eighth plane come into our existence at all? Was it there already or-

...One question at a time. She's not expecting a straight answer from any of these questions, but she thinks she knows where to start. Morgan took a deep breath and worked up as much courage as she could to actually speak up this time. "W-wait... so the Gods, in a sense, overcame what they once were to become a God, right? Soo... um... h-how exactly did the Tenth God become a God, let alone the ruler of his own plane?" Well, it's not the exact question that she wanted to ask, but it felt close enough to get the right answer... Maybe... Hopefully...

...Probably not. To be honest, she felt too unconfident to ask the right questions.

Edited July 19, 2016 by Komodojoe

[Shamitako]

Black Idol

"I don't know much about Bear's current attitude, I can only repeat what I've been told." Black Idol said, "But whatever the case, he is extremely powerful."

Then the previously quiet member of the group finally raised her voice, asking the question that had no answer.

"I don't know." She answered honestly, "As far as anyone knows, even the gods, this should be impossible, and yet the Tenth God exists. The only solution is to defeat him and forcibly take his godhood."

A buzz suddenly sounded from Black Idol's earpiece, signaling that her concert time was over.

"Oh, sorry to cut you guys of, but I have some other things to get done." She said, "You're free to stay here for the remainder of the free roaming period if you like."

"Wait." Requiem interrupted, "Just tell me one thing, is Lord the one who gave you all of this information?"

"Not all of it, no, but I'm not going to tell you who told me the rest." Black Idol winked and then turned on her heal and headed for the teleporter behind the stage.

Once returned to her room, she breathed a sigh of relief, she hoped future concerts wouldn't be quite so tense, it was hard to keep up her facade with questions firing left and right.

(OOC: This interaction technically qualifies as done now, feel free to hang around and interact for a little longer, but I'll be moving to the next chapter once Aries finishes with Mommo and Kagari finishes on Hiroki, or Murdoc and Acqui okay me to to move along)

[Komodojoe]

Morgan

...Yeah, that wasn't the right question. Luckily, Morgan wasn't expecting much of an answer to begin with. The only thing that it really did was confirm what she already knew, and that doesn't really help. Well, at least she tried. And that's one small step to getting over her shyness...

Too bad it's not her shyness that's the big problem, here.

Still, regardless of her poor effort, Morgan's not exactly walking away empty handed. She did learn something new, after all. The Gods became Gods by "overcoming their humanity", or in another sense, achieving what should be humanly impossible. And at the same time, the Tenth God achieved what the other Gods thought to be impossible. With that kind of logic, that could only mean one of two possibilities, one of which is actually a pretty scary thought. Of course, it's just a thought. There's no way to tell if she's right at this point in time. There wasn't much else that she could do at the moment other than run this entire thing through her head one more time.

Meanwhile, outside of Morgan's head, she's just standing around, not really paying attention to anything else going on, if there's anything else going on. While she is normally this quiet, one might notice that she seems distracted.

Edited July 19, 2016 by Komodojoe

[Bfroger6]

Mommo - texting...

Mommo stared back at the nearly mocking words with intent eyes. This person claimed to be Aries, God of Wrath... And apparently, he was a fan of her's. The mere thought of one of the Gods taking a liking to her wasn't enough to melt Mommo, though. And besides, it was questionable whether this person really was a God at all. They were still able to keep an open communication line with her while she was in the space between planes somehow... That raised questions and gave some credit to their identity, but Mommo herself was not convinced yet.

However, the conent of the messages went against the HUNTER... In her current state of mind, Mommo wasn't sure how to take this... The easy way out was going along with these words and against the HUNTER. The HUNTER defeated and humiliated her and whatever she was feeling must've been a product of her shock and confusion. After all, Mommo herself had been reclusive for years. Of course this form of interaction, especially with someone like HUNTER, was bound to shake the very foundations of her mind. As much as she did not want to admit it, she too was subject to these issues, despite her heightened intelligence. So yeah, the HUNTER didn't deserve to even be here.

"Thank you for identifying yourself, I too didn't want this discussion to proceed in such a meaningless direction. Still, I cannot outright trust that you really are the God of Wrath, but I will play along with it for now."

"Truly, what you say is correct. The LOLI_HUNTER is a vile desecrator of this competition and I was naive to fall for her taunts. I will not let it happen again. I will win this competition."

There was something new dwelling inside of Mommo now. She still felt desire, but she didn't want to accept it like she intended to. No, she was going to direct it against the HUNTER. Mommo looked down, the grip on her lip loosening as raised her hand in a fist to wipe them clean of the HUNTER's vile stenches. She could still feel her pressing against them...but it would serve as a drive to push her forward now. She wasn't like the Bear, she was weaker. And that was exactly why she couldn't play around anymore.

[Shamitako]

Aries

"Well good, if you'd believed me right off the bat I'd have to scold you again for being gullible."

Aries chuckled audibly, this girl was definitely reliable. She wasn't as strong or as smart as Bear, but neither was she as lazy. Sure she wanted to lounge around, but she was willing to put in effort to get the things she wanted. He was certain she would do well.

"If you're really set on winning this thing, walk out of the next audience."

"Make an excuse like going to the bathroom or something silly like that."

"Head for the fire escape, it should be clearly marked, and wait right by the door out."

"Someone will meet you there with an item that should give you a better chance of winning."

"And no, it isn't cheating, this is a completely fair item that's allowed even in official tournaments."

"Anyways, I gotta get going."

"I look forward to meeting you, Sweet Mommo."

Aries closed his connection to Mommo. She couldn't send a text back until she was back within a Plane. He would have loved to keep talking with her, he could probably chat with her all night, but he really had work to get to. He set down the pendant around his neck and sighed. The pendant, however, wasn't done with him; its red surface lit up and a voice popped out, "Yo, Aries, what's wrong man?"

"Ram, do you believe in love?" Aries asked.

"Fuck no, love just gets in the way." The Ram answered.

"Well, I think Mommo might be getting in my way."

"Man, you got it all wrong, you can't be loving someone that fast."

"Well then why do I feel like this?"

"You're probably just interested in her body."

"Dude she looks like a kid, I'm not a pervert like the HUNTER."

"Well you're sure not in love with her, it's nothing so get over it before it gets annoying."

"If you say so, Ram..."

Aries knew Ram was right, this couldn't be love, not yet. But it also wasn't noting, and he wasn't sure what to do about it.