The old gods and goddesses were gone. No one knew where they had gone. Or if they were going back. Some people didn't care. But many feared what would happen without these powerful beings protecting us. So a leaders of every nation and religion got together and discussed what to do. It as decided that the best thing to do was to make sure that the hole in the universe didn't jeopardize mankind was to create new gods. So a flyer went out to every city. Then a commercial on every media outlet there was. People were invited to met at Ciudad Mitad del Mundo. Everyone the middle of the world was the fairest way to start this contest.

Ciudad Mitad del Mundo's humid weather had always been simply villainous for unprepared people, but Melaina had done her research. Well, as much research as she could before her gnat-like attention was drawn to something else. You see Melaina wasn't very smart. Nor was she particularly strong, fast, clever, brave, or quick-witted. But her uncanny clothing senses and, more importantly, her charm made up for it all. She wielded her charisma like a sword, holding it to the throats of others, forcing them to do her bidding. Honestly, she didn't need much else. Anyway, as I was saying, Melaina had done her research. She wore a white flowy tank top as well as shorty shorts. She also wore flip flops, a pair of aviator sunglasses, and a sun hat. The art of showing just enough skin, no more, no less, was something she had mastered long ago. in her hand, she carried only one suitcase, one the same shade of pink as her hair. There were stickers all over it, all the names of places. Places ranging from New York to Paris to London, just to name a few. Ever since she was 14, when she first began looking attractive, people had enjoyed taking her to nice places. She hoped that, if nothing more, she'd get another sticker to slap onto her suitcase while she was here. The sun seemed to gleam off of her glasses as she set foot into the town square. A few people even stopped to stare at her, which she didn't mind. She loved the attention.

(sorry if my post is crappy. I'm super tired! DX)

Orion was on his motorcycle, On his back was a backback. For all his life he was fighting for himself. Sense he was ins chool. Growing up learning to fend for himself. But deeep down he kept his rage in tact. Rage of years from abuse from his father, and bullies. He wearing a red shirt, with black jeans, a leather jacket and boots. He parked his bike by a car and got off. Orion looked over at the girl who arived earlier

listenonrepeat.com/watch/?v=9MHGtlEYZB..



Summer in South America was always notorious for its brutal, blazing heatwaves and heavy, humid air, but that did not stop the intimidating, raven haired beauty from donning her darkest and most drab, yet elegant of attire. She sighed, resting her hand on her cheek while sitting on a bench a few steps or so away from the rusted, iron gates of the nearby cemetery, where a funeral for an old woman was recently held. A few of the attendees had spotted her, the black, slender figure looming in the distance among the shadows of the trees and the old mausoleums. Some pointing fingers and whispering in shaky Spanish, "Doncella de la Muerte." or Maiden of Death.

She meant no ill will towards them, only wishing to pay her respects to the dearly departed elderly woman. Perhaps if she could, she would have set her hand upon the shoulder of the young girl weeping for her grandmother and whispered...that it would be okay. But out of courtesy...she dismissed the idea.

The dead, she had always held sympathy for them...

Casually, she turned the page of her book she had clasped precariously in one hand, skimming through the elegantly written text with a rather monotonous and bored expression. A book on the occult written by a man named Aristade del Torquio in the fifteenth century, hailing from her native Italy. There was no title written upon the leatherbound cover, but just a simple engraving of a ram's head within a five pointed pentagram flanked by Enochian runes. Not necessarily her favorite, but an enjoying read no less. She needed some time to relax after the long flight, not to mention the excitement at the prospect of becoming a divine.

Others must have been here for the same purpose it seemed,such as the chap who arrived on his motorcycle, Elysia sensing a very rancorous aura from him, and the fashionably dressed lady, of who Elysia found to be...very enchanting to observe quietly.

@Zerofighter@Framing A Moose

It was far from the first time someone had gawked at Melaina's beauty, but she always smiled as if it were. Her feet stopped moving as she scanned the faces and bodies of her audience. First a group of young men, then a blonde girl sitting at a bench with earbuds in, next a guy next to a motorcycle, and then, finally, her eyes landed on something that made her release an audible gasp. Something that struck fear into her heart. Something that reminded her of the nightmares of childhood. Her eyes were glued on a hooded girl sitting on a bench outside of a graveyard, though it was not the girl that scared her, but the girl's assailant: a long black dress, looking as if it were from the medieval era. The outfit she wore didn't seem fit for the hot, humid weather, not to mention it was making her stick out like a sore thumb.

After a moment of shock, Melaina shook her head and put on a determined face. It was time to do her good deed of the day. She seemed to sprint as fast as she could (which wasn't very fast) in the girl's direction, the suitcase rolling along behind her. After about half a minute, Melaina arrived in front of the poor girl, out of breath. "I'm here...to save you...from that monster..." she said, gasping for air between words. Her finger pointed at the girl's dress, shaking slightly.

@Rusalka

youtube.com/watch?v=FDG5GjQly8I
@Framing A Moose

Monster...

Twas a common term for something that was feared, misunderstood, in the eyes of one...evil. Monster was the term used for that scary, slimy creature that was lurking under a child's bed or in their closet, salivating for a taste of their flesh. Monster was the word to describe a ruthless tyrant who drove his people into the very depths of Hell itself, into madness, depravity, and the darkest reaches of human nature. And...much to her chagrin, monster described her, someone who did not meld with the norms of modern society, who did not follow the sheep, the flock of the mundane and their ideas of beauty and morality, of religion, politics, and all other man made cacophonies meant only to separate and weaken the dynamic human spirit.

So in short, it perturbed Elysia slightly to hear the girl call her dress...a monster, her brow crinkling as she resumed reading her book. "I've no idea what you speak of, girl." She whispered nonchalantly while turning to another page, no eye contact yet, only reading along about the history of witchcraft in the medieval era. "Those who cannot see into the dark are ignorant of the beauty that lies within the shadows." She then snapped her book shut suddenly, an audible clap of the pages together, turning to face the girl, her hood still drawn over her face, only revealing a glimpse of her demure pale lips.

Even through the thick veil of black lace, she could see the girl, such a charming face, and a beautiful figure to match. "Though I will say you are a ray of sunshine in this world ever growing dark."

Melaina's face showed a mix between blankness and confusion as the girl spoke. Her words were poetic, far artful and magnificent for Melaina's simple mind to process. So she simply stared for a few moments before opening her mouth to speak. "Um...okay...you too, I guess?" she had no idea what else to say. Then, suddenly, she perked back up, the blank, confused look being replaced with a happy, dimwitted expression, complete with the toothy grin and wide eyes. "Anyway, I'm Melaina! I'll break it up for you! Me, as in the girl standing before you, Lain, like the ones you throw bowling balls down, and A, the first letter in the alphabet!" she said. The way she spoke was in no way artful, magnificent, or poetic, but there was a certain charming ring to her words.

@Rusalka

@Framing A Moose

Melaina... It suited her well, even when given by a voice that chimed sweetly as the songbirds in the middle of the day, when the sun was at its highest peek and shined brighter than ever. Just as it was at this particular moment, though a little too bright for her taste.

She greeted Melaina with a courteous nod then slipped away her hood letting her raven hair, long locks of shimmering black, flow freely amidst the warm breeze of summer, its unmistakable tropical scent.

Her eyes, like precious amethyst they glowed against her skin, porcelain, as she held out her frail, delicate hand introducing herself, "Elysia. Buongiorno." Her Italian accent smooth yet heavy upon the tongue.

If there was anything to be said about Ecuador, it was that it was uncomfortably humid and crowded... at least it was to Artyom anyway. Then again, he had been born and raised in Canada; The only places colder and less crowded were the poles themselves. The fact that the whole 'gods' scare and the meeting here to work out what to do about it might have also been a factor in why there were so many people...

As he walked through the crowds of Ciudad Mitad del Mundo, Artyom couldn't help but reflect on just how stupid an idea all this whole idea actually was; While it was true that humans created gods and goddesses over time, the idea of just creating one or more of them via committee just wasn't how it worked. In fact, how did anyone figure out that there weren't any gods or goddesses left in the first place? Did Zeus leave a note or something? They found Thor's body on the side of a road after he drunkenly stumbled into a hit and run?

Shaking his head a little and deciding to try and escape the crowds by walking somewhere with less people wandering around. After a little bit of navigating, Artyom finally left the crowds of people behind as he started to approach the local graveyard for some time to himself. It seemed that he wasn't the only one that had decided to seek shelter among the departed as he spied two girls talking with each other. One of them had clearly discovered how to make fashion work for her while the other just screamed 'I wear black eyeliner, listen to depressing music and practice witchcraft' from the way she dressed.

At the moment he just planned to walk by them both; South America had always had an interesting relationship with their departed loved ones and he wanted to see it for himself while he was here.

@Rusalka@Framing A Moose

Griffin had no interested in Gods or Goddesses. If they existed they had never done anything for him. What interested him was power. He had been powerless most of his life. There was no way he was going to miss the chance to get power. He had no idea how they planned to give humans the powers of the gods. He didn't really care. If he proved himself he would finally have power. He would make sure no one else suffered the way he had.

---

"Welcome everyone. I am sure you all have questions. We will try to answer as many as we can before we start. The old gods and goddesses are gone. We know this because there is an imbalance in the world. The imbalance is starting to have major effects on the world. So the leaders of the world have decided to fill the void by giving everyone a chance to become a god or goddess."The announcer explained.

Orion was silent but looked at the girl react to the woman in the dress. She looked like she was scared. Out of curiosity Orion walked over to see what the commotion was. He listened to the girl explain what a monster was. Memories of his father hitting him. Punching him. His fist tightened at the memories. He sighed calming down. He looked at the two girls. He rose a eyebrow at what the girlin the cloak said. "I seen mosnters too..buts thats another story for another day."

"My name is Orion..." he simply said "Its nice to meet both of you." Orion gave a small smile

Melaina looked down at the girl's extended hand, and reached out as if she was going to shake it. Instead, she gave a small, weak high five, before placing the suitcase down and opening it. The inside was surprisingly neat. It seemed like there was at least week and a half worth of magnificent, different colored clothing and undergarments in the large suitcase.

"Well Elysia Buongiorno," she began, confusing the Italian phrase for a weird last name. "I think I may have something for you to change into!" and with that, she began digging through her clothing. "Purple, black, dark colors..." she muttered to herself, as if they were part of some fashion related incantation. During her search, she was interrupted by some boy. She didn't let that stop her though. She simply held up a finger and said, "Do not speak of monsters from the past, for that will not help us defeat the monster of today!" After a few more moments of searching, her arm shot up, holding a dark purple sundress. She then held up another hand which held a long piece of ribbon the same color. "How do ya like them a-" she was cut off by some sort of announcer. She looked slightly annoyed, but listened.

@Bright_Ops@Rusalka

@Framing A Moose@Zerofighter@KatherinWinter

youtube.com/watch?v=rKpDrVy5Urw

That was indeed unexpected, her jovial reply to an outstretched hand. Never before had a girl been so...forward with her. She was perplexed, Elysia, her eyebrow cocked as gently she pulled her hand back, still tingling from when the girl had high-fived her as they called it. Such an odd way to greet someone. And now she supposed her last name was Buongiorno instead of Azrael, rather amusing she found it but gave no evidence of it, neither a smile or a laugh, just a batting of her eyelashes. The girl had a charming personality, she would give her that.

While Melaina rummaged through her suitcase, incoherent mutters here and there upon Elysia's ears, the musings of a boy caught her attention, his profound statement more or less. "Monsters live within all of us, I'm afraid Orion." She replied upon learning the boy's name, a sincere look given to him. "Humanity itself is but a beastly nature, an animalistic urge that is merely tamed for a short amount of time before the chains that bind it are broken. I sense a great deal of aggression within you. Could it be that you are here to feed that very flame that is sparked in your belly?" A bit of a cheeky tone she took with him, though not meaning to offend Orion in any way. "Elysia. It's nice to meet you too." She greeted him.

When her attention returned to Melaina, there she stood with a simple sundress. Dark violet, her....well...not particularly favored color but one for her more accustomed if she were to choose something other than black. The gesture was kind, Elysia would agree, and she would thankfully accept the dress in goodwill to Melaina. "I must say, Melaina, it is quite love-" But she was cut short by the announcement so sudden. The same prattle she had heard in the streets and vineyards of fair Tuscany, plastered in leaflets on every wall, every commercial repeated insipidly hour after hour. The threat of the apocalypse, impending demise driving fools to believe that mortals, frail and mirthless, could be chosen as gods.....and of course that is why Elysia was here, but not for the same reasons as these others.

She waited for the announcement to finish, then sighed crossing her arms while looking at the announcer with a puzzled expression, "That is good and all, but what does mankind hope in making their own to be divines? What is there to say that giving such power to those will not corrupt them? Instead turn them into devils rather than guardian angels? Will this decision alone not drive forth the apocalyptic winepress to drain the blood of souls, both innocent and guilty? I merely ask these questions, because if you ask me, giving power to some...will indeed corrupt them. Just look at Hitler and Mussolini, and Nero and Caligula."

After that, she returned to finishing her reply for Melaina, "It is quite a lovely dress, bella. I will gladly accept it."

Melaina closed the suitcase and jumped to her feet. A lot of the big words that Elysia had used in her pondering of power had thrown Melaina off a little, but she was able to grasp what she was saying. "I'll tell you exactly what kind of person is fit to be a god: people like me!" she pointed to herself, her grin getting do big that her eyes closed. "We're pretty much already angels already! Not to mention that we're not actually smart enough to get corrupted!" she said, placing her left pointer finger with a bright pink nail on her pink-haired head, some of the ribbon wrapped around it. "Also, my name's Melaina, not Bella." she had once again confused one of Elysia's Italian phrases for something else.

She then pulled the hand away from her head had held out the dress towards Elysia, pointing to a nearby tree just big enough to hide one person behind. "Okay, go change. Also, um, the bust of the dress may be a bit off, because...well...you know..." she motioned to Elysia's chest, then to her own.

@Rusalka@Zerofighter

"So this is Ciudad...whatever. Guards we're thorough alright, as expected. Good thing i have everything i need in my bags." thought Martin to himself.

Martin thought, too, of all the things he would need to change in this world once he was made god. He made his way towards the sound of the announcement, wanting all of this to begin right away.

He noticed people in the graveyard and thought "Are they wanna-be gods too? they dont look too tough."

"The leaders hope to contain the chaos. Chaos will always exist. It has to. But if it gets out of control there will be nothing left. We know some will be corrupt. Not all the old gods were god but they had an importance in the universe. Some will be good and some will be bad. We are hoping for a balance but we know that isn't an guarantee." The announcer explained. The hope was that the people who became gods and goddess would be able to control each other to some degree the way the old gods and goddesses had.

"Balance. Yeah right! Just what good 'ol god of order would want" Martin thought.

Orion listened to what the girl said and froze. How did she know? He let out a breath to calm himself nd said "Im afraid I dont know what your talking about Elysia. I met monsters in my life. People who have done horrible things to good people. Im not a monster. Im someone who fights them." He listened to the anouncer explain. Then turned to Melanie. She was so upbeat, and kind. Something about her, just made him actualy smile. He let out a tiny chuckle about the chest sizes of the dress. Orion then asked the announcer "So when do we begin?"

@KatherinWinter@Framing A Moose@Zerofighter

"Unwise to mix wolves and rabbits, don't you think?" A snide remark she made to the announcer after his brief explanation. Balance, a wise decision perhaps but it didn't sit right with Elysia just giving away godlike power to some random schmo off the street. The contest she was certain would weed out the undeserving, but the prospect of power falling into the wrong hands, well it made her uncomfortable.

She turned her back to the announcer swiftly on her heels and sauntered away, taking the dress Melaina gave her. "Grazie, Melaina." A curt nod in gratitude before she left to change behind the tree. Her dark funeral gown was a bit overbearing, so much more than the heat and humidity causing her to perspire and feel woozy. The sundress was a welcomed change, though taxing as it was big in the bust. Somewhat made Elysia...envious of Melaina? Well I suppose we all can't be created equal. She mused, a slight blush as she pondered of the girl's ample bosoms, struggling to keep the dress up due to her lack thereof.

The slender straps slipped and slid down her perfectly round shoulders, Elysia trying her damndest to keep them in place. "Soon I had hope." Elysia muttered to Orion's question upon returning. "I am well prepared for whatever challenge may arise."

"These guys must be competition" Martin thinks to himself. "Should i talk to them?" he asks himself.

Martin has already forgotten to trust people, right after he caught his wife cheating on him. The eventual break-up then further taught him how to live on his own, to trust no one.

"Not yet" he mutters.