Just a quick clarification on Jumanji mechanics. Would the bodies the characters go into be established figures with their own existing reputations? Or would they be blank slates that spawned in when the characters were sucked in?
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This looks great yeah. A mage who has to refigure things out while pretending he's an experienced mage sounds fun
Dawnbreaker had worried that his recognizability would interfere with the investigation. Certainly, he wasn't going to wear normal clothes while he was on duty. So eyes around the scene could easily spot him. But when he approached the dilapidated warehouse, those worries were put to rest. Aside from the odd homeless person down the road, no one was here. Dawnbreaker preferred an audience, but he wouldn't let it jeopardise a mission.
Dawnbreaker was all too aware of his company. He was teamed up with one of his old teachers from the academy, Mr Lindall. Mr Lindall was one of the harsher teachers at the academy and certainly seemed to still have his wits about him. But he was old and it took Dawnbreaker by surprise to see him still on the HERO roster for this mission.
Ask him a few months ago and Dawnbreaker would have said the man would be dead weight with his age and low ranking. But Starbright mentioned there was more to him, he was more powerful than he let on. Dawnbreaker doubted this meant something minimal like Stray was secretly C tier instead. No, there was something more to the man. Starbright wouldn’t mention it otherwise. But what was it? Would he see it on this mission? Or is he just dead weight after all?
"Taking a break from the academy eh, Mr Lindall?" Dawnbreaker said nonchalantly while scoping the front of the warehouse. He wasn’t a particularly good investigator but gave a decent attempt to look for things that were out of place. "You don’t get to see many heroes of your age running about. I think it’s quite impressive if you ask me. Most heroes don’t get to grow old. Particularly ones that don't retire first." Dawnbreaker realised that the last remark may have come off too negative. Finally, he looked back to Jeremy “I don’t intend to retire either.” Dawnbreaker added with a smile.
Checking the warehouse doors, Dawnbreaker confirmed they were locked. As the report said, there was no obvious point of entry. He looked up at the broken windows lining the warehouse, well above head height. Crawling in through some air vent sounded… dirty, and it certainly wasn’t his style. Dawnbreaker would fly in. If there was any threat in the warehouse, a rain of tiny glass shards would work as a perfectly startling entry.
Dawnbreaker turned back to Jeremy and offered a hand. "It seems pretty barren out here. I can fly you in if you want."
Academic pursuits, scouting opportunities, and an ever nagging curiosity. There was plenty of reason for Franz to dip his toes into the world of post-curfew Bermuda. He had already come to the conclusion that a portion of the students were like him, lobbying for national interest. That being the case in his mind, understanding the curfew was not an advantage he was going to give to anyone else. How does it work? Can he find a way around it? The thought of it all is what forced Franz out of bed and into this considerable cold.
Franz was somewhat prepared for the temperature. He was not wearing the pajamas he had on for bed and he didn’t return to the lavish but impractical suit from the party. Instead he wore his practical study clothing, which offered some protection against the cold but it's not like he had some hulking coat on. As some protection Franz also had a stiletto dagger snuck up his sleeve. It wouldn’t be much, but it's the most he could reliably sneak out with.
The idea of a rock garden was novel. Franz hadn’t taken the time to respect how good it all looked. Something about how alien the idea was to him caught his interest. Surely the caretakers wouldn’t mind a few footprints in it as he took a proper look around the place. It couldn’t take that long to fix it up again afterwards, right? But slowly his vision became obscured as the fog rolled in, the curfew must have set in.
The fog itself left Franz dissatisfied. This was Bermuda’s big precaution to stop students from sneaking out at night. Some dynamicist’s pet project? Sure to a normal person, this would pose a problem. Even a regular student could have some issues with it, he imagined. But this was child’s play to Franz. If this was all Bermuda had to offer for an enforcement against sneaking out, Franz would be at an insurmountable advantage against the students who dare not break the rules. He was so far unaware of the Starsteel Formulization.
It was worth Franz staying out a bit longer to test the limits of this fog. He decided to walk out of the garden and down the road to the closest other student accommodation. Franz wondered if he would be able to travel between buildings during the night.
Nothing impeded his travels, and his memories guided him without problem to what could be presumed to be another student housing complex, this one taking inspiration more from the architecture of Abya Yalan meccas. With such limited sight, it was hard to make out the upper floors, but from the outside, the building looked wholly unoccupied, its windows dark and it's doors solidly shut. The effects of the Starsteel Formulization shone brightly up close though, a complex, chaotic web of connections that seemed to defy any simple answer in altering it. With time, perhaps, he could puzzle it out, but during that time, what else could happen?
Certainly, this would be better to figure out in the privacy of his own room, rather outside, slowly freezing up as the temperature continued to drop. Truly, the difference of warmth was night and day.
Franz had seen enough and it was cold out. There was virtually no threat to skipping the curfew. Although, the Starsteel Formulizations would certainly be a thorn in his side if he were to conduct devious business under the cover of night. For now, Franz was satisfied with what he had learnt. Now it was time to practice breaking into Starsteel Formulization by getting back into his own room. He began making the stroll back to the ryokan, a stroll that wasn’t uninterrupted.
Through the main gates and into the busted lobby, from where the fog had pervaded, Franz found himself impeded…by a humble, locked door. The construction of the ryokan was primarily of wood, after all, and while there was still an automatic locking mechanism that must have been put in place, Jeanne must have incinerated the main one, while the rest…weren’t designed to keep a Universal Genius stalled for long. It would be easy, indeed, for the Austrian student to slip inside the ryokan once more. It was a bigger question, in truth, where he would be able to find any trace of the Starsteel Formulization inside such a building.
There was no reason why the ryokan would be any different from the Abya Yalan complex. If one student accommodation had night time Formulization around it, so must the other. They both must use Formulization. The only difference being that the ryokan was made of organic material, which made the inspection process significantly harder. In fact, it was impossible with the wood completely blocking his sight of Formulizations hidden beneath.
Franz was stopped at the lobby door leading to the stairs. Locked. He had left any tools that would help him pick the lock in his room. As thin a point as his dagger had, he wasn't going to risk the blade on some door. He didn't see a keyhole either, could he assume it was Formulization. No matter, the point was that the door was in the way of him getting a good night's sleep. Franz put his ear to the door and shook it, trying to determine the position and stability of the lock. Maybe a swift kick in the right place could break the lock with no issue.
Besides how much trouble could he really get in. He was just exploring the majesty of Bermuda and lost track of time. If he had to break a few locks to break back into his own room, they would presumably let him off with a slapped wrist just this once. Not as though Franz had any intention of being caught for this.
Franz stood back and gave a swift kick to the place where the door was locked. Ideally he would avoid damaging the door itself too much. Not out of a desire to be subtle, that option was out the window, but out of a simple respect for property.
Franz was surprised at how easily the lock broke. How bizarre that they would install locks in this place that could easily be broken through. The doors themselves were probably more flimsy, it was ridiculous that he had to worry about the safety of the door when breaking in. Security was going to be an issue here.
Opening the door, Franz looked for the mechanism that had looked at the door. A small reservoir of metal in this sea of organic building material. As he imagined, Starsteel Formulization. How fitting to see it in a traditional Japanese building.
Noticing the fog pouring into the lobby, Franz closed the door to the stairs behind him and proceeded back toward his room. Sure, the fog was seeping in a little to the stairway. But with the doors closed it wouldn't be much of an issue.
Franz encountered the same issue when trying to return to his own suite. Franz wasn’t a technologist and he only had an understanding of metalworking from a few skimmed pages. If he broke a lock, there was no way he could repair it. Ryuuko wasn’t a technologist either. For tonight he could default to the excuse of losing track of time in the gardens. But in future he would need a way around it.
One way was to break the locks of multiple suites, which wasn’t ideal because it hinged upon there not being enough evidence to differentiate him as the perpetrator. The other way was to get a highly skilled technologist to give him some method of doing the repairs. There was Lucy, but he doubted their alliance would accommodate her helping him break the rules of Bermuda.
Still, that was something to consider when he actually needed to sneak out. For now there was only one goal, get inside his suite and have a good night's sleep. Franz jokingly thought how breaking the door itself would impress Ryuuko. But she probably wouldn’t be happy with a destroyed front door, no matter her disposition to the place. Franz kicked the lock and opened the door. He stopped himself before entering and stood outside the doorway. “Do not be alarmed. It's me, Franz. I got locked out.” Franz was not about to risk getting mistaken for an intruder considering the strength of his roommate.
Ryuuko had been awakened when the bell of the clocktower loudly rang a good ten times to mark the beginning of the curfew. She had only been asleep for a little bit before that, and quickly became alert due to the noises. Add to that the clicking noises of the locks that had been triggered right after, it made her immediately rise up from her futon to look around. She quickly realized a few things. One, that the loud rings were indeed from the clocktower at the center of the island. Two, that Franz was nowhere to be seen within the room. And three, that one of the clicking noises had come from the door to the suite itself.
“Hmm…” She briefly wondered where Franz had gone too. Definitely not the bathroom and toilet, the door leading there had been left open and the lights were off. A quick look around confirmed that Franz was not inside the suite itself. This reminded Ryuuko of her own idea of possibly breaking the curfew out of curiosity… Had Franz gone to do just that? Regardless, first, she needed to check the front door. She tried to slide it open… And yet as she expected, it had somehow become locked.
“Well that’s cute.” She chuckled lightly. So it seemed that they really took this curfew thing very seriously… But then one thing didn’t really make any sense. Mainly, that locking a sliding door like this is an exercise in futility; it would be extremely easy to bypass it regardless. Which means that this whole lockup thing is probably not so much to prevent students from actually leaving… Conversely, it is also not to prevent people from entering, of course. Hmm… So this is either a very weird form of test or…
As she was contemplating things, she heard footsteps as it stopped in front of the door, which were then followed by someone kicking the door. She reflexively jumped back, venom sacks once more primed and claws retracted all in the span of less than a second as the door was then opened.
“Oh.” Turned out it was just her missing roommate returning to the room. It was good of him to stop before entering and announce himself. Ryuuko quickly undid the priming of the venom sacks and the retraction of her claws as quickly as she did them. She relaxed her posture, greeting Franz with a grin. “Heh. Got me surprised there, I was standing at the other side of the door. Haha… So where’d you been? Out for a little walk?”
Franz popped his head around the corner and gave a smile back when he realised he wasn't going to lose it. He began entering the suite as he responded. "Yes actually. I went out for a stroll and lost track of time. The fog made it pretty hard to find my way back too. I think I may have kicked up the rock garden a bit." Franz said the last part in a sarcastic manner to imply the rock garden part was intentional.
Upon reaching his bag, Franz turned his back to Ryuuko as he slipped the dagger back inside. "I can see your curiosity is somewhat peaked as well. Were you looking at the locking system?"
Ryuuko walked back to her futon as she listened to Franz talk. She then sat down on it, facing Franz as she replied. “Oh my, kicked up the rock garden a bit, hmmmm? Hehe… Eh, I’m sure fixing it is included in the list of duties of whoever’s in charge of it.” She chuckled and shrugged casually at that, approving of the fact that Franz did it. “In any case, yes, I was. It's quite curious isn’t it? After that bell rang ten times, there were a lot of clicking noises following it… Evidently, those noises were the doors automatically locking. Technologism formulation, obviously… Anyway, I’d expect the same thing had likely happened to every single door leading to each student’s room along with any other doors that would enforce the curfew…”
She then paused briefly before continuing, the tip of the pointer finger of her right hand touching her own chin. “Hmm… It wasn’t much as far as preventing students from leaving or entering though, so I suspect that’s not the actual objective… Anyway, did you see anything unusual while you’re outside, Franz? Aside from the thick fog, that is.”
Franz turned back to look at Ryuuko with his pajamas in hand. "Curiosity is a good thing Ryuuko. You would be correct that all the other doors lock too, but maybe you didn't know it is a result of Starsteel Formulization." Franz got up from kneeling at his bag and walked off to the bathroom to get changed. "Unfortunately, with my tourist's understanding of Technologism, I am only able to tell you what it is. I have little knowledge as to how it works."
Franz closed the bathroom door behind him and began changing back into his pajamas. He raised his voice a bit to keep talking as he did so. He thought about giving some ghost tale to scare away Ryuuko, but decided against it. Honesty is the best policy for a potential ally. "Fog, fog, and more fog unfortunately. Which is strange because I didn't hear any guards. If I were taking bets, I would say they aren't enforcing this curfew very much at all. Although, unless you're a skilled metal worker and Technologist, they'll know one of us broke curfew on account of the broken lock."
Franz emerged again in navy blue and white pajamas. "Do not worry though, I plan to take full responsibility for tonight." Franz got into his futon and turned to Ryuuko with a more confident smile. "So, were you trying to skip curfew as well? Or just curious about the locks?"
Ryuuko nodded, a smile on her face. “Oh, I definitely agree with that. A mind that isn’t curious in some way doesn't fit a polymath if you ask me. That person will get stagnant real fast.” She then paused briefly as Franz mentioned the Starsteel Formulization. “Yes, I wasn’t aware of that. I see, so it was the Starsteel Formulization huh… Sukoro Jinga’s work… Heh, that made me wonder if he’s right here in Bermuda among us, wouldn’t be unreasonable for that to be the case…”
As Franz entered the bathroom, Ryuuko flopped back, laying on the futon with the palm of her hands placed under her neck. She continued listening as Franz talked louder from within the bathroom. She replied in kind, speaking louder as well. “Just fog, huh. interesting… Yeah, that sure sounds lax as far as enforcing the curfew goes. Just make it all the more certain that they aren’t really trying to keep people in or out with these meager locks. Anyway…”
She flopped to her side to look at Franz as he exited the bathroom. “Ah I’m sure it will be okay anyway. What’ll they do? You’re just a student that happened to be outside when the curfew started.” She giggled lightly at that, it’s just ridiculous in her mind if the academy is going to punish students for being a few minutes late about returning to their respective dorm. She turned around to continue looking at Franz as he got on his own futon, grinning as she answered him. “Oh I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have any thoughts of doing that. But that was during the tour, I had forgotten about it by the time we arrived here in this dorm. It happens when you’re enjoying your time I guess, haha! Anyway, yeah, just curious about the locks and about where you were.”
Franz took note of Sukuro Jinga being in Bermuda with them. If he wanted to get around the locks seamlessly, Franz would need the guy on his side. Of course, he knew other skilled Technologists who could get close. But to leave no trace of tampering would be quite difficult to complete, even for the caliber of genius at Bermuda.
"I assume I'll just get a slap on the wrist for tonight. But I shouldn't make a habit of it until I can pick the locks seamlessly. Otherwise, they might strengthen security around this room. That would be bad for the both of us." Franz was taken back a bit in pleasant surprise by Ryuuko's response to his question. "Either way, I'm happy you're enjoying your time here, despite the barren state of this room. As for where I was, my night life is far more boring than you would expect. I was just going for a stroll to see more of this place and I lost track of time. But as I said, curiosity is a good thing." He gave a cheeky smile back.
“Mmm, that’s true. Once is fine, but repeated offense might get us into trouble indeed. Oh well, it just means that we gotta find a way to leave no evidence.” Ryuuko winked playfully at Franz as she said so, followed with a brief laugh. “Well, the fact that we’re at a ryokan aside, everything’s been quite fine today, so I’m definitely enjoying it. In any case, yeah I see. Nothing but thick fog definitely sounds boring, haha.”
Franz gave a short chuckle back to Ryuuko's playful remark and pondered on what she had said. He doubted that she would approve of his intentions behind skipping curfew. But it sounded like fun to break the curfew with her.
Franz turned up to look at the ceiling not long after. "I believe we should head to sleep soon. As much as I enjoy the conversation, I don't think we can afford the lack of rest tomorrow."
Ryuuko nodded at Franz’s suggestion. “Agreed. It’ll be the real first day tomorrow… Best be at our, well, best… Alright then. Good night, Franz!” She started covering herself with the blanket after saying so, closing her eyes to return to sleep once more.
Jack usually spent his mornings in the library. One may take a first impression of Jack and think he would avoid it like the plague. His very soul was one of academic exploration with hands-on experimentation and his image reflected that entirely. Unfortunately, with the night time power only restriction, Jack could not spend all his time in his ‘lab’ and had to settle for the same old books. There were few books on electronics in the library, far too few. But unlike other days, he had an issue that needed solving.
The endeavours from last night had left Jack without some key components. One wrong wire placed and kapoof! The circuit was gone and he was lucky to get out of it with only slightly burnt hands. Jack was left without precious supplies while on the brink of a big breakthrough. This bothered him to no end. He was so close and yet so far away. And so, it was time to hit up the Rogues. Hopefully, they would have something of interest.
Jack opened the doors to a popular Rogue hang out, some dingy bar that always had drinking occupants no matter what hour of the day it was. Dee was telling off the new Rogue recruits that joined them a while back. It wasn’t as if Dee getting angry at people or the recruits being dumbasses was uncommon. But Jack honestly just assumed they let recruits get away with whatever they wanted. It must have been something real dumb.
Jack sat down at the bar next to Dee after her scolding display. He grabbed one of the empty cups on the counter and swirled it like a glass of whiskey. “Oh Ms Strideeerr, I’ve come across a bit of a shortage when it comes to components. You do any raids lately? Got a car radio maybe?” Jack asked in a playful manner, his questions delivered short and erratic. “And yes, I can take one with bloodstains and head-shaped dents on it.”
Looks like this will be pretty Rogue heavy as opposed to Reapers. I would convert Jack but distrusting the government is one of his primary personality traits. So I might make a Reaper character
Hey good to see its getting started. Just a few questions:
Will there be a Discord for this RP?
What time is it IC for the Arianna post?
Will there be a Discord for this RP?
What time is it IC for the Arianna post?
Lucas almost leapt out of his chair when the assistant director dismissed Pandora like that. Were they really forcing her to take leave? She had done nothing wrong. Sure she wasn’t the nicest hero, definitely not the nicest person. But if she hadn’t been there, the entirety of Castleburg might have been experiencing nuclear winter right now. Sure she was rude, she had even been talking back to the assistant director right now, but she was no less a hero because of it.
Despite his disagreement, Dawnbreaker couldn’t just argue with HERO like that and Lucas knew it. Instead, he slowly returned back into his seat without speaking up. He just had to sit back and watch her walk out. The assistant director knew what he was doing, he had more info on the matter. At least, Lucas would have to trust that.
For the rest of the address, Dawnbreaker did his best to keep full attention. Only breaking it to stare daggers into the back of Blitz’ head when hearing about the death count. He couldn’t believe the death count was mainly caused by his own side. How could someone who kills so freely ever be considered a hero? Such a person should not be said in the same breath as heroes, Dawnbreaker thought.
At the end of the address, Dawnbreaker was quite eager to begin the next missions. Hearing about the Rainy Day club and the mission to shut it down made him excited. He was waiting for the moment he could get some revenge on Ms Everette. It was time to show them that no one escapes justice. The moment played through his head like a movie with cinematic shots of him finally defeating Sam. It sounded perfect.
But then he looked on the roster.
Dawbreaker - Mission Coast Guard
This must have been some kind of mistake, Dawnbreaker chuckled to himself. He was perfect for taking down that night club of crooks and criminals, but not investigation work. No one looks at Dawnbreaker and pictures Sherlock Holmes, so there is no way they put him on it.
"Hey, uh, I think you have a typo on this sheet here. It says I’m Mission Coast Guard?" Dawnbreaker spoke out.
“The rosters are double and triple checked. A typo isn’t possible I’m afraid.”
Dawnbreaker was quick to take out his phone under the desk and text his handler at the Starbright Foundation, Heather Golding. She was a nice old lady and she would definitely fix it if he asked.
"Hey Heather, hope you are doing well." Dawnbreaker texted. "Got a small problem with the HERO roster, they seem to have accidentally put me on some investigation mission? Could you fix that mistake up for me."
After a short pause he got a reply. “Sorry DB. Orders from the big guy himself. Enjoy your sleuthing.”
Starbright had taken him off the nightclub mission. Sure he knew the reason behind it, but that didn’t make it any less frustrating. Looks like he had to suck it up and just try his hand at detective work. Still, he couldn’t stay mad at Heather. "Ok I understand. Thanks Heather." He texted back, concluding the short conversation.
There was no crying over spilt milk, he would have to make the most of the situation. Looking at the team, he was by far the most high profile hero there. It was important to keep that appearance.
Dawnbreaker stood up and walked over to the meeting point. He then waited for the others on his team to come over, holding his trademark confident stance. He hadn’t met most of the people on that list. He had seen that one new guy from the Starbright Foundation. What was that guy's name again, Gerome?
Dawnbreaker only really knew Stray, one of his old academy teachers, who was here for some reason. He would have thought the guy would be retired by now.
Ling-ling Zamlock. The man needed no introduction in Franz’ mind. His mere presence ripped the Austrian boy’s attention away from his conversation with Inti. All eyes were on him. What interest did such a man have in Bermuda specifically, as opposed to the global stage?
”Would the real Franz Steiner please stand up?”
Franz was taken aback in shock. One of his idols, the man who stood atop of the world of violin, had directly asked for him. Had the tales of his exploits earned him such recognition? Franz was quick to compose himself as he began walking toward the stage. What was he thinking, of course he had made such a name for himself. He was Franz Steiner, and he was the only one who could gather the reputation that was held in that name.
Franz took the stage and took a bow to accept the honour in front of his fellow students. He graciously accepted the violin that was handed to him. The two exchanged pleasantries as they prepared their instruments for the duet.
”I must admit Zamlock, you were one of my role models when it came to honing my skills on the violin. When I first moved to Vienna, I had seen you perform in person in the first year. I was mesmerized by the skill you displayed then and I had thought then that no one could surpass such a skill.”
”I wish to humbly compare my skill to yours.”
Even if Franz couldn’t satisfy his desire to surpass all others tonight, it was certain that this would be the grand conclusion to the night he had been waiting for. It would be a duet like no other.
Certainly, it would be more fitting than that amateur British drivel those two drunkards requested. Of course, Franz did expect much better. If the British had musical taste, they wouldn’t be called British.
As Franz adjusted his sheet music, a glint of recognition passed over his eyes as he looked toward the Ottoman boy he had spoken with earlier. Civil war eh. No time to dwell on it just yet though, the people had been waiting long enough for this performance.
The genius youth met the gaze of the untouched apex and in unison, they raised their violins.
It has begun.
Franz could keep up with the maestro in the duet well enough. Although Zamlock was certainly in the lead position, even if the untrained ear couldn’t hear it. This did not bother Franz for the time being. He would allow the maestro to take the lead for the start out of respect. He had other matters to ponder on anyway.
The Austrian boy scanned the room with the stage as his vantage point. While he did need to look down to the page frequently, he was able to keep a sense of showmanship while he surveyed his future colleagues. With the matter of Konigmahne’s rush to conduct family business and de Bordeaux’s comments about snakes in the grass, one thing was made abundantly clear. Many of these students were not here for genuine academic purposes, much like himself, they served some outside interest groups.
But that left some key questions on Franz’ mind. Just how many of them were like him? How many looked at their fellow students only to try and find a place to slip a poisoned dagger? Could he see some doing such a thing in the crowd right now? How exciting, Franz thought. And then his attention fell onto Salim, his target.
Civil war had broken out in the Ottoman Empire. Such news was very good to Franz. One of the greatest threats to Austria was crumbling at its base. All Franz needed to do was make sure it toppled over. As long as Salim stayed in Bermuda, voiceless and unable to help his country, the empire will have lost one of its great minds to help stabilize the political system. All Franz had to do was make sure Salim stayed in Bermuda with minimal contact to home.
On the other hand, if Salim would tried to leave back to the Ottoman Empire, Franz would have no issues dealing with him. It would be a great tragedy if Ottoman insurgents managed to take out the young Formulization prodigy.
But enough of those thoughts, it was about time Franz took the lead in the duet. He began to play louder and with more gusto, only for the maestro himself to match it and surpass it only slightly. Franz looked toward Zamlock and the two exchanged pleasant smiles. Franz furrowed his brow and tried again a few bars later, only for the same result. The maestro was playing with him, not allowing him to take the lead.
To the untrained ear, this would sound like the two experts were making the duet truly come alive. But to Franz, calling it a duet was far too pleasant for what this was. It was a duel. Franz was the aggressor, listening in for any opportunity Zamlock gave to take the lead and trying to take it. But Zamlock’s defence was perfect. Every time Franz tried to leave the shadow of the maestro, he would match it immediately, maintaining his position.
Franz hid his look of frustration behind a facade of theatrical confidence. The maestro was playing with him. The two continued to exchange pleasant smiles throughout the song. There was no way that Zamlock was not aware of what Franz was trying to do. Did he hold the same malcontent that the boy hid behind his grin, Franz wondered. Was the maestro trying to send a message of humility to the young prodigy or was Franz merely letting it get to his head?
The exchange continued like this until before Franz knew it, the song was over. To an outside viewer, this was a spectacularly grand performance on both the violinist’s parts. One may even think that Franz should consider himself proud to keep up with the world’s greatest violinist. But Franz knew better, there was no point that he had shown himself capable to outplay Zamlock. Franz had lost the duel of strings.
Afterwards, Franz spent a brief moment studying the man. What was his intention behind this? But any attempt was fruitless. If it is was humility the maestro wanted to give the prodigy, Franz would have to endure its bitter taste.
Franz gave a smile to the man he admires and reached to shake his hand. ”And thus, I believe I have my answer. Now if you will excuse me, the night is close to finishing and I would like to dance some more.” Franz gave a bow before exiting the stage to return to the floor. There was no point trying to contend further with the maestro, the difference in skill was decided far before the song had ended. He would need to exercise patience and practice before he could surpass that man.
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