[center][h1][color=silver]Lucius[/color][/h1][/center]

The pain was hot, searing, and yet so swift his brain had little time to recognize it as the Rex Artus was bisected in glorious fashion within the bounds of the simulation. Before that, though-....it had been a peculiar blur. As if time had wound back to show him who would be where, and even then his visions and notable Awareness....hmm. A mystefying set of events to be sure, and yet his opponent had seemingly been just as on-point as he had. Were they also-? Ah, that didn't matter much in the heat of the moment at the very least. He was, after all, dead as a doornail and kicked out of the simulation after failing to adhere to his bare minimum given goal in the simulation. Yet with what he had felt go through his head...it was still worth it to enough of an extent. That much he knew in his gut for a surety. 

That being said, as the VR helmet lifted automatiically off of his head the black-clad pilot-suited Lucius would be greeted by the face of one grumpy old fruit bat and his cane alongside-...a Lilim? Hmm. Given the older man's age, she'd likely be a caretaker for him is he had to place a first guess. Not that he needed clairvoyance to hear what came next-

[quote]“First blood, huh…As punishment for dying earlier in the mission, you will now observe the rest of the battle. Perhaps you’ll learn something by watching how other pilots fight.”[/quote] 

He had no arguments or retorts for that. He'd gotten killed, and now he needed to watch and learn from the others. In that vein, it was much like the simulations back home that he'd been put through all over again. Yet right before doing that the younger man would cast his eyes about himself as he got out of the VR chair and looked to see who else had been booted out of the simulation. If anyone else that is. 

The first thing he noticed was a head of rather distinctive blue hair, a bit messy looking yet bound up with a pink bow that reminded him a touch of his older sister from old photos he'd likely never see again. In that sense it was a touch endearing as much as it was....well, he'd not dwell on such matters for now. Said girl seemed unsteadier on her feet, not that his own simulation feedback didn't feel rather fresh on the mind and body alike, but was moving over to talk to a peculiarly alien woman with wings of some sort. Wings? Seemed familiar to pictures he'd seen in the news at some point or another, but she was certainly an alien from the looks of it. He couldn't put a word to the physiology, though, which brought a sheepish feeling to mind as he made a note to 'look up the species name' to at least mayne not look stupid before talking to that person at least. 

Not that he'd ever seen an alien in the flesh before, so that much was still rather new.

[quote]"Ahaha... sorry about that one, Rhylaen. I think I got a little carried away...”

"You did good."[/quote]

While those two seemed amicable enough, the other man who woke up along with them seemed to (to his eyes) simply shout out to the blue-haired girl to toss something at her-...eh? Was that candy? Candy was good, but he'd left his chocolate bar stored away safely rather than hide it on his person for the simulation. Who wanted sweaty chocolate half-melted against your pilot suit and body, after all? 

It was then his eyes glanced back at the old man and Lilim, and then off at the sounds of Ritsu shouting at a technician or scientist it would seem. Poor guy. What'd he do to get the earful from a superior? Eh, that was also less important in the heat of the moment really. Because ultiumately the brown-haired man would silently turn his attention up to the same central pillar of the VR chamber to watch what unfolded as well as finally get a view of the wider battle for once. That much would be invaluable, given he'd had little access to anything but comms back there. 

[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/y1ct2lf.png[/img][/center]

Logic Driver seemed to have been evacuated in good enough time, so his efforts hadn't been totally in vain in trying to save her in that vein at least. Whew. Yet...ah. He hadn't been the only one to rush in over there, though he did recall a comms message he'd been unable to respond to before getting jolted from the simulation from elsewhere on Team Apple, but between the deployed Bastion and two team members there it had depleted some of the Team Apple numbers over to the right. His killer was also still in that general area of the map, and likewise the enemy who had charged in toward Logic Driver was on their left. A bad positioning for the clustered Apple members, that much was for certain. 

Yet one person was moving to try to get to where his killer was, and another was carrying Logic Driver while retreating slightly farther back. Good moves to intercept possible problems, and someone was moving to U-18 without trying to intercept the titanic Team Mango mech that was walking toward Team Apple's backlines-....never mind, blitzing into Team Apple's backliner from the looks of it. And another was positioning themselves between the Argo and the Goose for some reason? They needed more people to protect the rear, and another person was moving to go help-

Oh. That wasn't good overall by any means. Their backliner was a giant weapons platform, from what he'd observed prior, and if that was hit that'd leave them without backline fire support. And given two of the Mango mechs were placed partly behind cover, and how big that towering enemy mech was, it would spell disaster from the looks of it. Yet even so, the backliner that had seeingly been left to their doom opened up with a move that drew his rapt attention. An overloaded barrage of fire, laid out to level half the map and what Team Mango members it could reach before potentially getting smooshed by its immediate opponent. A brilliant flash of light, fire, sound, and fury, signifying a lot more than mere 'nothing' as something inside of his gut was indicating to him. 

Indeed, now it was hard to imagine pulling his eyes off of the action to come even as his right index finger came to his chin in and his eyes would remain glued to witessing the ongoing events with care. Of course this went beyond simply coming an entertainment perspective, but to see how the teams' strategies either panned out or fell apart at this stage alike. Well, if they still had any remaining strategies going on at this venture that is. He hadn't been privy to things for obvious reasons anywho, and reasonably so of course.

[@Dezuel][@shylarah][@Ammokkx][@Ariamis]