SepticGentleman — Roleplayer Guild

Archie Davis, Reyna Baker, and Arianna

Written with @Junkmail and @Spoopy Scary

The night before, within the Microcosm...

Out of the darkness of the tunnel they stepped, following the posts with bells hung on them, and the blue cable that brought glorious connectivity to all who dwelt there. The light gave way to a large, rectangular antechamber, made of smooth and simply-shaped concrete. There were no separations in the foundation to denote that it was of mundane construction - because it wasn't. It was illuminated by a multitude of industrial lamps and floodlights scattered about, connected by various cords running into separate exits and hallways. On either side of the trio, two large, headless sentinels stood prominently. Ten feet tall, holding up long, undecorated halberds, all of which were formed from the same material - pure steel, both the sentinels and their weapons. Archie waved to the both of them as they, in response, raised their unarmed hands to their chests in simple gestures of respect for their creator.

All around them were cases of graffiti on the walls - little of the simple signatures that comes with the thought, but more along the lines of little portraits, quotes, and even murals. Straight ahead of Archie, Arianna, and an uncomfortable Reyna was a large concrete slab, protruding upright from the ground with no cracks or splits. And on it was emblazoned a myriad of signatures, surrounding a simple, hospitable message.

WELCOME TO THE MICROCOSM

POPULATION: GOOD QUESTION

SERVICES AVAILABLE
DON'T BE A CUNT
ENJOY YOUR STAY

"I don't like it here." Reyna commented, still fairly intoxicated.

"Just grin and bear it, love!" Arianna replied soothingly.

"Is all this in your freaking head?" Reyna asked Archie.

"Yes." Archie replied with his phone, "And no, at the same time."

"I don't..." Reyna began, confused, but Arianna cut her off. "Don't get him started, just nod."

They proceeded towards the welcoming slab, and the closer they came, the more they could hear the strumming of a guitar. As they passed the slab, behind it were situated four young men, one of them playing the aforementioned instrument. They were humming happily, and as soon as one of them saw the trio, he began to speak. "Yes sir, I'm afraid you've guessed it." He said, giving a friendly point of the finger to them, "It's the Mills Brothers!" Archie returned a wave of his hand, amused. They remained where they stood while the three walked on by, and their apparent leader began to sing.

Baby what are you out for,
Baby what am I in for,
Is my baby out for no good?

Is my baby got rhythm?
Tell me is hot rhythm?
Is my baby out for no good?

Archie, Arianna, and Reyna headed down the hallway opposite the slab, and the group's singing faded more and more the further they walked, as they proceeded into a much larger, circular atrium. Concrete pillars surrounded the perimeter, with plenty more graffiti adorning them. There were a multitude of uneven exits branching out past the pillars, each marked with odd names - 'Obsidian Plaza', 'The Frontier', 'Marble Halls', such and such. As they made their way to the Obsidian Plaza exit, someone called out to them. "Hey." Sounded a feminine voice. Archie and Arianna turned to see a woman in a wheelchair being pushed towards them by another headless being, only this one was much smaller than the sentinels, and made of glass. The woman was pale-skinned and plainly dressed, with dirty blonde hair running down one side of her head, while the other was shaved. Thick glasses sat in front of her pale green eyes, and she held a tablet in her hands. "You said you'd like a pop-rep when you got back?" She said to Archie, who nodded in reply. The woman looked down at her tablet and continued, "After this morning's drop-off of twenty-six, we stayed at four-thirty-two total, sixty-five humans. No other passes save for your friend Harmon, and now your other friends here." She motioned to Arianna and Reyna, and continued to speak, "So that brings us up to four-thirty-four total, excluding you."

Archie responded with a thumbs up.

"And I know you'll be glad to hear you've got about forty-seven minutes until the last fight over in the Circle." The woman continued, "So you're good on time there." Archie once again raised his thumb in response, the woman nodding before motioning for the glass being pushing her around to head on over to the exit leading to the Marble Halls. As she went, Archie began typing on his phone, and the TTS posed the question to Arianna - "You want to head over for the fight right away or go see Goldie first?"

"Mind if we hit Goldie? I need to drop some stuff off." Arianna said, throwing her thumb over her shoulder. She wasn't at all put off by these strange beings. Appearances were a menial thing to her anyway, and regardless, at this point she had grown used to anything that wasn't normal. Reyna only crossed her arms. She'd rather go to whatever fight first, but wasn't about to walk off in this weird ass place in Archie's brain. As much as it bugged her, she'd follow Arianna around. Archie nodded, and the three continued towards the Obsidian Plaza exit. As they carried on, they came closer to a split in the material foundation of the Microcosm - at some point, concrete became obsidian. Dark, sleek, smooth. No graffiti this time around. The lights became dimmer as they went further inwards, to counteract the reflections of the surfaces. The architecture became somewhat more regal - a curved ceiling, pillars all about, grooves carved along a handful of surfaces. As they went along, in the distance, they could hear the faint sounds of cheering and applause. The Circle was always well occupied when fights were happening, though not everyone attended them. 

They passed by several passageways leading to the commotion, seeing a few of the establishments occupied by residents of the Microcosm who fancied themselves business practitioners - though at the moment, they were empty. The trio went further, making a right turn into another long corridor. And two other residents were walking their way. Twins, it seemed - a boy and a girl, brown hair, one tall with glasses on, the other with a French braid. Brother was dressed in a beige turtleneck, a brown jacket, jeans and sneakers. Sister had on a more colorful outfit, including an orange shirt with a long-sleeved red one underneath, and skinnier jeans paired with decorated sneakers. At their side was an adult Siberian husky, trodding at their pace. He barked once at the oncoming trio as they approached.

The male twin waved to Archie, calling out, "Hey, man." And the female quickly stood up to embrace an incoming Ari.

"Good to see you again!" Ari said, hugging the girl. She looked her up and down. "You look beautiful!"

The woman waved her off, and rolled her eyes. "You know me, gotta look good on the job."

"What brings you to the Microcosm?" Ari questioned, crossing her arms and leaning on her hip, looking between the man and woman. The male twin replied, "We've been here for a few months now. Archie picked us up in Montana while we were..." He paused for a moment, searching for the words. "Ah, just... up to stuff. Nothing worth mentioning." He turned towards Archie and asked, "How do you know Arianna?"

"Old friends." Archie replied with his phone, "We just met back up in Baybridge. Toured the town, did a little shopping." The twin nodded, chuckling a bit. "Somehow I don't think it was that simple." Archie shrugged, and the twin continued, "Well, we're gonna go check out the last fight before we head out to the Frontier. Good seeing you again, man." He patted Archie's shoulder, passing by him with the husky at his side. Archie gave the dog a quick pat on the head as he went by. Arianna hugged the woman, and separated to follow in Archie's footsteps, with Reyna in tow. They'd be back. They always came back.

The three made some more distance until they came upon a staircase leading downwards, this one with gold posts and ornamentations lining the way. Much more opulent than the rest of the area. They descended, coming upon a gold-framed entrance, into a very large room made entirely out of the brilliant, shining metal. In the center was a series of desks and pedestals arranged in an orderly fashion, and surrounding the room were circular openings, blocked by giant, ornate golden discs. They stepped forward, and greeting them came a very tall, elongated being with a perfect sphere for a head - once again, entirely made of gold. It held its arms out wide in a welcoming gesture, bowing its head towards the trio.

"Hey big guy, how're you doing?" Arianna said, walking toward the being and pulling out what looked like a large rubix cube. "I picked something up for you while I was out. Thought you'd have fun." Arianna said, placing the mixed up cub in the creature's hand. "Try to get the colors on all sides to match. Should keep you occupied." The golden being bowed once again, placing the rubix cube on what was assumed to be his desk. He turned back to the trio and made a pointing gesture to his side, to one of the vaults surrounding the room. To its side was a sign that read "RESERVED STORAGE". Arianna nodded in response, and all three of them went on over to the vault. The golden being stepped forward and inserted its left arm - which was oddly shaped with a series of grooves and indentations - into the hole in the middle of the door, acting like a key. It twisted its arm, and a loud thump indicated the vault was open. The being retracted its arm and rolled the door over to the left, and Arianna stepped inside.

When they entered Arianna's storage area, it could be noted that she was incredibly... neat. Reyna ripped a long-winded whistle as her eyes traveled around the vault. Filing cabinets, cupboards, and other storage units were lines up against the wall. Ari stepped inside and began pulling a few items out of her gelatinous body through the pockets of the clothing her body had constructed. With her other arm, Arianna stretched across the room to grab a clip board and pen, and then several sheets of paper through one of the filing cabinets. Reyna meandered around, snooping through some of the drawers of the cabinets. Still partially drunk, though, most of it was meaningless to her.

Ari eyed her, and stretched her arm out to push in a cabinet before Reyna could trip on it. Ari walked around the room, pen in mouth, and dropped various precious belongings into different storage units based upon composition and size (dropping certain items into those Reyna had left open). As she walked she picked up a jeweler's eyepiece to appraise items of question, sometimes scoffing and placing the items back in a separate pocket of her clothing. The whole process took the better part of half an hour, but eventually Arianna's final walk around was completed.

Arianna moved to sit by a desk, and began doing paperwork and calculations based upon approximate weights of various precious metals and jewelry, to get an idea of how much money she was working with.

Archie, texting someone at the moment, piped up suddenly - "We've got five minutes until the fight."

"...Carry the eight..." Arianna said, only to suddenly snap up at the sound of Archie's 'voice'. "Oh, right, well, just finished taking inventory. Lead the way." She finished, standing up out of the chair and setting the papers in her hand down on the desk. As she exited, the golden being put the vault door back in its place, locked it up, and waved to the three as they made their exit, to which Arianna waved back, promising to bring Goldie another trinket upon her return.

They made their way back up the staircase, backtracking through the rounded hallways, listening to the chatter coming from the Circle. As they made a right down the hallway, ahead of them was yet another resident, walking in their direction. Clad in a full black suit, no skin visible. On his right-side chest in deep red letters, arranged in a two-column-for-row fashion, was the word "STRANGER". Built-in, pitch black goggles rested on his concealed face. A black jacket with a few crimson decorations was tied by its sleeves around his waist, and at his side was some form of melee weapon, sheathed in a scabbard consisting of what looked like wildly mutated flesh.

"Stranger." He said in a lightly synthesized voice, looking Archie's way.

"Stranger." Archie replied, with his phone.

The two parties passed by each other without further incident, save for Reyna suspiciously eyeballing the strange figure.

They went down one last hallway before finally arriving at their destination. They stood on the top rung of a grand, circular stadium. The rungs dipped down five levels, hitting an open slab of level ground for all to watch. Everything was much more decorated than the rest of the Obsidian Plaza - pillars along the top rung, posters depicting a whole roster of contenders, stage lights shining down on the arena, and then some. On all of the rungs together were hundreds of people, all of different make and caliber. Humans and metas, all present for the same spectacle. Among them too were more beings native to the Microcosm, myriad in appearance and composition - some were made of jade, others were made of ruby. Some had six arms, others had no head, or several. 

The variation was immense - such was the nature of the Microcosm in general. They were all chattering audibly, most watching the arena, which was occupied by two relatively normal-looking men. The taller of the two was one with fairer skin and brown hair, with a full but well-trimmed beard in accompaniment. He was dressed in a white collared shirt with its sleeves rolled up, a navy blue vest, a simple red tie underneath, and black dress pants and shoes. The other was a slightly shorter man, younger-looking as well, with lighter skin and wild, platinum blond hair. He was dressed in a black tuxedo, of all things. They both held microphones in their hands, and they looked intent on making full use of them.

"Hey!" Came a voice to the trio's left. Along the rung were three figures - a taller male with horribly burned skin and a lack of lips, wearing orange-lens goggles and dark clothing with bright blue and red designs painted on the top. Behind him was a smaller, petite young woman with much better skin, albeit a little pale. She had long, black hair that looked a little unkempt, and she was dressed in plain, dark clothes with a gray wool cloak over everything. Latched on to her neck was a sleek black collar, with the antiquated symbol of NEST emblazoned on its surface. And last but not least, next to her was everyone's favorite walking pin cushion, Harmon.

The burned man continued, "Just in tine." He had some trouble with his words, owing to his lack of lips, but he seemed to make due. "Last 'atch is on in 'inutes." He gave Arianna a quick look before saying to her, "Eh, yeh look tha'iliar. Wh'are ya again?"

"Ari," Arianna said, holding her hand out to shake the burned man's. "Friend of Archie's. I believe we've met before. Zach right?"

"Ah, 'eah." Zach replied, shaking Arianna's hand. "Yer that sha'echanger?"

"That's me." Arianna said, turning to look at the fight ring. Zach nodded, and then turned his attention towards Reyna. "Sure I dun' know yeh."

"And I'm sure I'm gonna need another drink after this." Reyna muttered as she combed her fingers through her hair. She sighed as she set her hands on her hips and looked at Zach proudly with her chin pointed up.

"I'm new around here, sugar lips!" She said with a smug little smile, though part of her was hoping this freaky dude could take a joke.

"Heh." Zach replied, "Tha'ain't a neh 'un. Gith 'e tine, I'll 'ake sun'thin' u' ther yeh."

"I can't wait." Reyna commented with a blank stare, not understanding a single thing Zach told her.

"Folks!" Came a voice from down in the ring, from the older man's microphone. The crowd immediately began to clap and cheer, all attention turning towards the center. The group of six all decided to put aside the hellos until the fighting was good and done.
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𝙼𝚊𝚗 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙼𝚎𝚐𝚊𝚑𝚘𝚕𝚎

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