[The Official RPN Character Challenge 2015]The Lobby!

[lafeae]

"This whole challenge doesn't have much point. It chooses people willy-nilly," said Li, and he knelt down by the edge of the springs, dipping his hands in and reaching it up to his face and the back of his neck. As his mind seemed to come back to him, the doctor gazed over to the violin. There a vague memory of music played on the violin, perhaps when he wasn't paying attention to the 'talent' competition. That must have been Fredrick's, though if he had mentioned it or not, the doctor wasn't sure. The more he thought about those recent memories, the more they seemed foggy.


It was the violin's current owner that was foreboding. A large suit of armor that, in some way, lacked a human quality that he couldn't quite place. There was something inside the suit of armor, surely, but he wasn't about to reach out and pull up the faceplate. There were all manner of creatures in this competition, if it were really just a talking suit of armor, Li wouldn't have been surprised.


"I was with Fredrick last challenge. Alone. We...we strapped to chairs and told that we either had to torment our partner or just..."his hand started turning in the air as if he were trying to crank the words out. "We had the choice to end our own lives. We thought it might take us home. So we did." His eyes squeezed closed, as if he couldn't bare the thought. To be so selfish and weak.


@RubyRose @Unwavering Knight

 

[Prizzy Kriyze]

The completely eluded Vex's mind when the challenge ended, the only hint of change being the sudden cool air replacing the heat of the burning sun. He opened his previously closed eyes, but to no avail. Everything was just as dark, maybe even darker than before he'd parted his eyelids. A sudden feeling, like a hole in his stomach, came to him as the tendrils of darkness escaped upwards and he in turn spun like a cat in the air. His greaves made a resounding metallic noise as they collided with the floor of the lobby and the unexpected impact made him fall to one knee.


His head whipped up and looked around the room in surprise. No torture chamber, no army of demonic creatures attempting to consume him and not even an indication in the energy surrounding him that he was about to be obliterated. Relief washed over him like a warm flood and he let out a long sigh. The contest was starting to tear on his nerves, but it seemed to have the same effect on others.


This place had become quieter by the day, but Vex's ear twitched when it started picking up on someone having a conversation nearby. Unintentionally eavesdropping, Vex moved towards its source in desperate need for confirmation that he wasn't alone yet. The gist quickly dawned on him, and it was with heavy steps that he eventually rounded a corner to behold the conversionalists. It was the imposing but somehow comforting warrior, a young girl and a man dressed in some form of white robe. From the way he looked Vex deduced that he must be some sort of scribe, or academician. The relief that previously released him from the demons that had haunted him throughout this tournament was quickly replaced by a sudden and sharp sting just below his chest. Whoever that girl was talking about was most likely not coming back, and all he could do was hope they were alright.


He took a few steps towards the group and looked them all over. It seemed the cheerful mood that had once been abundant in the competition was dying down with the number of competitors left. The knight looked badly injured, but thankfully the girl and the scribe seemed as physically healthy as they should be. "It's nice to see a familiar figure still wanders these halls with me." He announced to the knight. "Helbrecht, if I recall." He respectfully added and nodded his head in approval. He brought his attention to the young girl and the older man, and spoke "And greetings to you too, Sir and lovely young madam. My name is Vex, and... I'll spare you my titles." The additions to his name he'd carried openly to flaunt up until now no longer gave him any comfort, and these times of grief didn't call for formality. "Say, none of you have happened to have seen a young man perhaps around the age of 17? Dark hair with darker eyes, and a individualism to applaude? He scolded the gods of this place with impressive ambition during the preliminary round, and I would've liked a moment to talk to him if he was still around..." (@KingHink)


@lafeae @Unwavering Knight @RubyRose

 

[RubyRose]

Erin's eyes widened at the knight's response. "You really are just like a storybook! Super and noble and strong and sacrificing and everything." The girl said enthusiastically. "You knew Euli?!" She said, getting excited until the knight said he didn't think Euli had made it to the next round. "So.. he went home you think?" She asked, wanting the consolation that Euli was safe at home. Even if he hadn't said goodbye...


"You got to see Fredrick!" Erin said excitedly... though the next part was rather daunting. "Chastity and I were in the same situation... except... well I don't know what happened. I was talking to her and then poof, I was back here. I think there was a blackout in there too, somewhere." Her eyes widened even further, if that was possible, when Li said that he and Fredrick had taken their own lives. "Wow... Chastity and I didn't have the guts to do that." She said softly in awe. Erin moved to hug Li's arm. "You were super brave to take on the Gods like that! And lookit! You made it through! But... it seems to mean that Fredrick didn't. Do you think he's alright, Mr. Glasses?"


At the new voice, Erin turned to look to see a newcomer in the group. The nice thing was that she had seen them before, just as she had seen the knight, though she'd never been able to talk to them. "Vex..." She repeated slowly. And they had said the knight's name was Helbrecht? "I haven't seen him! I've only seen you and Mr. Glasses and Mr. Knight... err Hellbrett." She said, pronouncing the knight's name slowly in her attempt to get it right. "If I do come across a dark eyed, dark haired guy I'll tell him Vex is looking for him?" Erin offered.


@lafeae @Unwavering Knight @Prizzy Kriyze


(Alrighty guys, with that I'm off for the night. Have a good evening )

 

[lafeae]

There was some relief to know he wasn't the only one, and a small smile came to his face. "Yeah, I think if it was meant to kill me, too, and didn't, it probably just sent him home," Li answered. Unsteady as she grabbed him, his hand braced against the ground and he gave her a small grin. It stayed, because he realized that this challenge was going to force them to do plenty of things they didn't want. They'd all gotten used to this idea now--and in the idealistic eyes of a child, maybe it wasn't so bad. "We were right...and he's likely back home with his family "


The doctor looked back at the newcomer, and he nodded to the greeting. "Dr. Li Young. Pleasure to meet you uh....Vex and Helbrecht," he said, and realized he hadn't really said much to the knight other than collectively share in the woe and strangeness that was swirling around them. Sometimes, that was the easiest way to make friends. "I haven't seen anyone like that, I don't think. With any luck, if he's not here, he'll have been taken back to whatever universe he actually lives in. It's possible that's what happens when we don't end up appeasing these Gods." That was the happiest ending Li could imagine from all of them. It wasn't the sort of way he thought--because if they were faced before Gods, they were just as likely to have their brains dashed against the wall if their opponent didn't actually kill them.


@Unwavering Knight @RubyRose @Prizzy Kriyze

 

[Unwavering Knight]

Purity.


The gaze remained hollow as the surroundings changed anew, the knight remaining on all fours, claws digging into the stone-floor. For the first time, heavy breathing emanated from beneath the steel-mask as Helbrecht's empty gaze sought to dig itself into the concrete.


After what seemed like hours, the knight slowly, painfully, rose anew, view remaining lowered as he slowly tread in direction of the healing spring.


The sounds that would ring for days to come were of screeching metal and what would remind one of the tearing of wet paper.

 

[Unwavering Knight]

...


The stench faded. The sounds ceased. His Damsel vanished.


Helbrecht remained on the floor, kneeling, frozen as he had propped up Damsel Louise and tried to console her as she faced death.


Beneath him, a pool of blood slowly enlarged, deep bite-wounds all over his body ejecting streams of precious life-fluid.


Slowly, the knight rose, like a doll, all limbs except the legs slack and without energy.


His Damsel...


Turning to the entrance of the hotsprings, he slowly began to propel himself into a numb limp.


They had taken his Damsel.