KillamriX88

Royal Rumble: Rumble over the Heavens

@Scarifar@Dezuel@AtomicNut

---

Vera had to suppress a slight smirk at Michael's suffering. This was an acceptable comeuppance for the nosey little shit. However, as she made her way back toward the bar, something else was making its way around Midnight: the fact that Mina was dropping out of the tournament.

"Wait, what!?" The announcer hissed to the guy relaying the news. "Are you fucking kidding me? Again with this shit?! No one is gonna wanna fucking come here if we keep shuffling the brackets like this!"

"Well what are we gonna do then? It's the semi-finals! Just give them a pass?"

"Shit, no..." He began biting his thumbnail in annoyance. "Fuck it, whatever! I'll make it work!"

Vera's jaw dropped in realization. If Vera remembered correctly, that put Alex up against the sleezebag who'd been hitting on her. She didn't want Alex anywhere near that bastard. Alex had barely been able to handle her, and after their fight she'd be even weaker. Maybe she still had that super strength, maybe she didn't, but Vera was pretty sure she'd seen all of those fancy, glowing cards Alex had disappear right before she'd done that. Did that mean she was out of ammo? It was impossible to say, Vera didn't know a damn thing about Alex's new powers, but she was one to err on the side of cynicism and assume the worst.

Vera took her seat, back facing the bar, frantically chewing her nails while her friend was still conked out one seat over.

. . . wait.

BAM!

Vera's elbow shot out into her friend's gut, causing the other girl's eyes to snap open as she broke into a coughing fit.

"Yo, what the fu-" She was soon silenced as Vera grabbed her jaw and stared hard into her eyes.

"Shut up a listen."

"Ooh, sho fowcefuw-"

"Shut." Vera tightened her grip. "They're shuffling the matches again."

"Eh?" Even her friend, half out of her mind on drugs, was able to put together that that made no sense.

"I don't like it. First me, now some asshole against Al-. . . That Andras girl." Seeing her friend was at least half focused now, Vera let go. "I want you to go make a scene and fix it."

"Pfft? Me? Ur wayyy better at making a shcene," her friend slurred with a dry laugh.

"Yeah, except I'm suspicious since I started this whole mess," Vera told her. "Now pull it together and go do it."

The other girl rolled her eyes, "Ugh, fine. You care who she doesh end up againsht?"

"The painter kid would be fine." Vera shrugged.

"Cool, cool." The girl slid off her stool and stumbled to her feet. "Oh, and hwat do I get out of thish?" Vera, however, just reached over and grabbed her much emptier than before purse, holding it up for her friend to see. "You... make a sholid point." The girl rolled her neck, earning a few disgustingly loud cracks and then staggered off to do as she'd been told.

"Heeyyyy, what'sh the big deal? I heard you're screwin' with that denim lady's match again!" she grumbled as she stormed over to the announcer booth, earning a few confused looks as she did so.

"Wh-what? Where'd you come from?" The annoucer's face blanched at the sudden accusation.

"Well? What givsh, huh?!"

Unfortunately, he couldn't deny it. In a few minutes he'd be announcing it to the whole club! A thought that made his stomach churn, honestly.

"OK, look, shut up!" He hissed at her. "The other girl dropped out and this other guy volunteered to take her place! We can't just give a pass through the semi-finals! We're trying to put on a show!"

"Well... then make him fight shumbuddy else! What about that big brute who won the lasht match? New guy getsh pummeled, who givsh a damn?" Honestly, she was proud of herself for coming up with a more sly way of putting that Andy girl against the painter. She didn't even mention the painter! . . . Why the fuck was there a painter in the middle of a tournament? Questions for later... or never, more likely.

The MC held up a finger to retort, but then stroked his chin. It was a decent solution. At least this way Andras didn't have someone new replacing her opponent twice. At least Michael had earned his way to this part of the tournament. It'd be a way easier sell. "OK, OK, fine. That works, now go away!"

"OK, cool, but while I'm here can I order a drink, or-"

"This is the DJ booth, dumbass!"

"Riiiight." She gave him a finger gun and winked before staggering her way back to the bar, giving Vera a thumbs-up as she did. Vera just pinched the bridge of her nose, but gave a sigh or relief. Crisis momentarily averted.

A few minutes later, it was time.

"OK EVERYBODY! That last match was real quick, so we're gonna be running it back so to speak!" The MC called out. "Sadly, the milk truck that ran over the local pizza boy can't continue, but we've had a volunteer to take her place so you crazy motherfuckers can enjoy another fight! Now, since everyone's favorite underdog just broke one of our fucking tables, he doesn't get the luxury of any more rest! Get back in the ring! Now before anyone complains, I think you're gonna like this! Our replacement for this match is Suzakura Plagerzes! I think it's safe to say that whoever loses this match, we all win." Suffice it to say, Suzakura had a bit of a reputation, meanwhile the underdog had been throwing off the betting pool all night.

---

@Spin The Wheel

---

Meanwhile...

"Hmph..." The loser turned away from Duke, but then his eyes fell and he rubbed his jaw absentmindedly. ". . . he's been acting weird all night. Not gonna lie, either, normally when I lose to him it's my mistake, not him doing something right." His brow furrowed. "But tonight I didn't stand a chance. It was like running into a mile-high wall. I swear it was like he was roided out, but... that wouldn't explain this."

It was a moment later the MC made his announcement.

"Well, if you're so curious, looks like you get another chance to pay real close attention. Supposedly that Plagerzes guy can take a hit or two. Might last long enough to let you see what's going on..."

Royal Rumble: Rumble over the Heavens

Could he not be that rich kid that got in because of his family's influence? I'm sure that would piss so many people in the school off. Not the players but the characters.

@Aqutanama

That's fine, but what they were saying is that on your sheet you have not designated what faction/school if any he belongs to. It doesn't matter which one he's in or how, just that you pick one or explain why he isn't part of one.

The first OOC post lists all the major schools that the RP is based around.

Royal Rumble: Rumble over the Heavens

@AtomicNut@Crowvette

---

The one before them stood there. He had a school uniform jacket laying on the roof next to him, leaving him with only a sweat drenched tanktop covering his chest. He was a lanky individual, but had pulsing veins like thick cords nearly bursting out of his skin.

"Didn't take you long..." he snarled. "Ah, well that's fine! It might be fun to see you squirm firsthand!" he chuckled darkly, turning to face Cel and Alyonya, eyes wild and wide-open. "So tell me! Did you like it? Did it get your blood pumping!?" However, he then paused and frowned. "Wait... who even are you? I don't recognize..."

Wolf was the last one to make it to the rooftop. As he stepped out of the doorway, he saw the individual in question. The roots unwrapped themselves from his waist, the nest of vines coiling tightly around Kiwi.

The wild-eyed student scoffed, "Hah, didn't expect to see you here! I'm surprised you-" And then he simply vanished off the face of the planet. All that was left was a faint shimmer in the air, with Wolf's arm now outstretched in that direction. Without a word, Wolf marched across the roof toward the shimmer and a moment later likewise vanished.

. . .

The student saw the three before him, but it hardly mattered. He had only just begun to flex his new power! He grinned when, a moment later, a massive surge of black ooze burst out onto the roof from behind them, swallowing them all up. He laughed maniacally. It was almost disappointing how quickly they'd succumbed. However, his laughter died away as the surge of ooze continued toward him, rising up and swirling around him. In hindsight, he hadn't remembered summoning it. It also no longer responded to his commands.

"Wh-what is this?!" Had he lost control of it? Was this some sort of side-effect?!

Then with no warning a hand burst out from the ooze, clamping down on his face...

. . .

He next found himself in a bleached white room. He tried to move but couldn't. He looked down to see he was seated in a chair, his arms and legs bound to it. Looking up, he saw the boy again, the last one to arrive. Wolfram, second-year student and competitor for dead-last at Clausewitz.

"What the fuck is th-" he pulled at the ropes, but they didn't so much as budge. If anything they felt tighter than before.

"Shut up." Wolf stared him down coldly.

"Hmph," he narrowed his eyes. "You're just mad because you never had the guts! This bullshit school stomps you down if you don't meet their absurd standards! You know exactly what I mean, you just don't have it in you to do anything about it! Those dumbasses finally gave me a leg up on you all, they just didn't expect me to turn it against them! I wonder how many of their precious good students I was able to swallow up!"

Wolf's pupils just shrank to furious pin-points at his words.

"Swallow up?"

Plip!

The student looked down at his feet. It was like a little blot of ink had dropped to the floor, seeping into the endless white to stain it black.

Plip plip plip!

More drops rained down. He looked up to see that the ceiling had a huge, dark splotch growing on it. It began to bulge out and distend, the rain of staining ink increasing.

"The fu-!?" He against struggled against his bonds, but they were tighter than ever.

Then in a sickening deluge, the dark blister burst open, a torrent of ink pouring out to cover the entire floor. From the hole a long, slender arm as black as the night sky reached out. Then another. And another. Four in total. Their collective fingertips gripped the edges of the opening to pull the rest of its body through. It's entire form was pure black, almost shapeless and near impossible to see against the increasingly stained backdrop, but enough of the white remained yet for him to see it.

It's head was large and bulbous in contrast to its thin, boney arms. Suddenly, one by one, eyes began to appear across its surface, seeming to float up from within its slick, inky face. One, two, then a dozen.

"Seriously! What the fuck is all this?!"

"You're pathetic," Wolf spat. "You complain about being weak, then the second you have power you lash out indiscriminately. Everyone was better off when you were nobody, because you've only proven the alternative doesn't deserve to exist."

The inky monster suddenly reached out with two of its arms, one clamping down on each of his shoulders. Every one of its many eyes was fixed upon him. Then its bulbous visage began to split apart down the middle until its entire head peeled open to reveal a massive, gaping maw.

"W-wait! NO! D-" Ignoring his complaints, the monster lunged forward, closing its teeth around his head and shoulders whole.

A piercing scream echoed off the walls of the white room. Every single one of his muscles tensed and strained against his bonds, but they wouldn't give. A moment later he went quiet, hyperventilating, trying to comprehend that he was somehow still in one piece.

He was again in a pure white room, still in the chair, and the monster was gone.

"It has nothing to do with guts." His head snapped back up as Wolf spoke again. "I'm just not that weak." Wolf strode forward and then kicked him in the chest, toppling him and the chair over backwards. He expected a short fall, but found himself tumbling painfully down and down. He finally hit bottom and the chair splintered on impact, freeing him.

He was now a the bottom of a stairway, surrounded by darkness with the only light streaming down from above past Wolf's silhouette. As he pushed himself to his feet, he realized the floor was damp. Looking at his hands, he realized they were stained with ink.

Plop.

Behind him he heard a wet footstep. Immediately his pulse shot back up to an erratic, frantic pace. He tried to race up the steps, but his legs felt like lead. Each step was a herculean effort and seemed to get him no closer to the top. If anything, with each step, the light he sought to escape to seemed to fade.

"This is my school." Wolf's voice echoed down to him as he felt a cold hand wrap tightly around his ankle. "You don't belong in it anymore."

"Stop! Please! Don't do th-" Another reached around to clamp over his mouth before the next two wrapped around his torso the drag him back into the dark.

. . .

Cel and Alyona would see the shimmer began to fade and then suddenly, only a minute after Wolf had vanished, he and their target reappeared. The boy had fallen to his knees at Wolf's feet, trembling and with tears pouring from his eyes.

"Wh-wh-wh-wh-" He seemed to mumble incoherently until suddenly Wolf just raised a foot and kicked him across the face, throwing him down. He lay there for a moment before he reached out, fingertips clawing at the rooftop as he tried to push himself back up with his shaking limbs. "Y-you... b-... b-bastard..." He snarled. "Y-you think... m-m-mindgames... can..." He grit his teeth, the veins on his forehead bulging, but then... nothing. "Wh-"

"I told you." Wolf stared down at him. "The alternative shouldn't exist. I just reminded you how pathetic you are," he scoffed and turned away. Now facing Cel and Alyona again, they could see the stream of blood running down from his nose to stain his collar. He began walking away, but the other student somehow found the strength to stand.

"Y-you... d-don't... you..." With a frantic shout, he surged forward, fist raised, but Wolf turned, leaning past the fist and raised a single finger to jab against the other boy's forehead. He froze, eyes losing focus. His arms then went slack as his entire body began to convulse before he collapsed entirely, foaming at the mouth.

Wolf grit his teeth, glaring down at him before huffing and once more resuming his walk back toward the others.

"Thanks for saving the school..." he muttered to them, clearly not caring to take any credit for what had just happened.

Royal Rumble: Rumble over the Heavens

@Aqutanama
OK, what I'm seeing here is largely the same character as before in many ways, except you retooled his powers to be... like... holy crap.

He has time and space and gravity and (the world's hottest) fire. And mental fortress. And power duplication, which means on top of his already insane arsenal, he could hypothetically have any other power too. Normal power stealers/copiers are at least somewhat limited by having a weaker baseline. This guy is a turbo genius who's been gravity training since almost birth and who can basically cast amaterasu.

Again, I'm not the GM, but I would never personally accept a character THAT egregiously overloaded and incongruent with itself. There is a hint of a theme for his powers, but it's being stretched to the max to make him uncomfortably strong.

To put it a bit more simply, you basically packed an ENTIRE power set into just his core, and then added a further three rather strong abilities on top of that. Sheesh.

Royal Rumble: Rumble over the Heavens

@Aqutanama That I can address easily. The gods are whatever you want them to be, mostly. The only limits are anything that has previously been laid out, like what I did with the goddess of love on one of my characters. But most sheets don't even specifically name a god, and even if they do, so long as they don't go into great detail, you can still share a god and have a completely different set of powers so long as they still thematically fit the god.

Basically there is next to no limit to what set of powers a character can have, just a limit on how strong those powers are... and even then we've been somewhat lenient.

There is no premade pantheon of gods. The list of gods grows as characters are made. If you want to be a patron of the god of ladybugs, go for it. Create your god/gods relevant to your character, and the powers granted thusly. And so long as those gods weren't already used by someone else, you can even design lore surrounding any relevant gods.

Also, as far as "playing as yourself" well I can't stop you, but if you go that route and get accepted just try not to let things get too personal. Some of the characters in the RP are... not terribly friendly. XD

Royal Rumble: Rumble over the Heavens

@Aqutanama

I don't have full approve deny powers, but I've been around long enough to at least review it. Honestly, Lewas did cover most things, but you can ignore the bit about your characters height for his age. That's WELL within the realm of normalcy. I've personally met people taller than your character when they were that age.

Let's assume STK approves the "isekai" thing. I'd say, if you're going that route, we need more information there, because, as Lewas said, RR's world already has some pretty solid tech. Basically, his original world would need to be like... Star Trek (or insert your favorite sci fi here) level or something for him to be a prodigy in Rhea. I'd put RR vaguely at Modern technology level, but with magic helping defy the laws of physics and supplying stronger materials. So we'll call it Modern-plus. Obviously the presence of magic has... altered the flow of advancement, so it's not always necessarily more advanced. After all, who needs surgeons when you have mystical healers, etc.

To quote the GM himself

Modern day with some things being a more mystical field.
Weapons and armor are held back a bit, and medical knowledge is a bit less omnipresent, other than that modern day.

So my advice, either have him from a SUPER advanced timeline, or something just completely alien and/or outlandish. Make it unrecognizable. Stuff that flies in the face of a modern engineer who also happens to have a magical blessing, but that can be done without magic somehow.

Alternatively, he COULD be from a backwards ass village, and then he comes to Rhea and suddenly he's not so special anymore. Could be an interesting character arc. But that's all for you to decide.

After all, we then come to said blessings which will ideally make him unique in some way no matter what.

I once asked the GM and he told me very plainly no more than one blessing per character. He also said there was ONE exception. In hindsight I already immediately broke that rule, but with a caveat, so... yeah. Currently, your character's four powers do vaguely all fit a singular theme of "craftsman" or "blacksmith" so it could be as easy as no longer saying that each power comes from a single deity. Or you could retool it a bit with a single deity in mind.

Orrr, and this would need the GM's approval, at least limit it to only two, but play into the fact that this is highly unusual. Give us a bit more about how he's from another world and thus his birth wasn't expected by the gods, or at least not most of them. He didn't receive his blessing until he was ten... which I actually don't know if that's common or not. My best understanding is that they're chosen from birth, but actual powers don't USUALLY manifest until mid childhood (6+). However, it COULD play into his unusual status. Could have gods sort've fighting over him since no plan was in place or something. His blessings could totally be incongruent with each other. (Edit: apparently being chosen early and manifesting later is more the norm, but the gods tend to bicker even without "isekai" being involved, so there's no hard rule on when powers are granted.)

Basically, all my thoughts sort've boil down to the fact that, if you're going with an isekai character, play into that a little more. Get weird. Two opposing blessings, or they could be synergistic, but limited by the fact that he doesn't have a singular well developed powerset. No more than two, though, I'd say, and even then it's not for me to decide.

Or think more about HOW and WHY he ended up here. Was it the doing of one of the local gods? If so, what kind of blessing would that god bestow? Or if not them, why didn't they? Is there a plan? Are they just having fun?

And since the city of Rhea isn't primitive, how does his original world compare to his current one? Is he still as prodigal as planned? Is he not so special at all? Or is he just straight up incomprehensible?

Because, as Lewas sort've touched on at the end, he may be an "Isekai," but by the end of his sheet, he boils down into just one of now many magical relic makers. If you're gonna give him a unique background, he should stand out more. I'm not saying he's boring, but he doesn't stand out nearly as much as he should.

But yeah, 4 separate god blessings is against the rules if nothing else.

(I didn't plan this out so hopefully it's not a total disorganized mess...)

Royal Rumble: Rumble over the Heavens

@Aqutanama We are indeed still open. If you wanna jump in, we're still relatively early on in things plotwise and you can throw down a character sheet and we'll look it over.

Royal Rumble: Rumble over the Heavens

@AtomicNut

---

Wolf heard... something behind them. He craned his neck, trying to see past Cel, but... saw nothing. Just the sea of ooze. Just the sea.

Finally it clicked. "W-wait! Go back!" But Cel wasn't stopping fast enough for his liking. Screw it, he was changing him mind already. He squirmed his way free of Cel's grasp and began to fall into the ooze, but before he hit it, a psychic bubble formed and imploded, blasting a small landing zone.

In his tired state, it wasn't exactly a happy landing, but he made it. Almost immediately, the ooze tried to rush back in on him, almost seeming angry.

Another bubble formed around him, but it alone did not slow the ooze. Suddenly something else burst into existence. Writhing, black vines covered in thorns encircled Wolf. The roots were wrapped around his waist, but the vines themselves almost seemed to have no beginning or end. They crawled and twisted, the thorns slicing through any ooze that tried to slide past. No matter what, a thorn always seemed to appear where it was needed to keep it at bay.

Wolf began to walk back the way they'd come, commanding three, long vines to extend out before him, rooting through the accursed muk. He caught a glimpse of Alyona making her retreat away from the ooze, but there was no sign of Kiwi. However, he could see one place the ooze seemed more... turbulent. Finally the vines found something there. The ooze did not want to let go, but the writhing thorns kept it at bay as the vines fished out their prize.

Kiwi, her many legs dangling limply. The ooze all around him grew more agitated, surging against his twisted defenses. He felt some of it leak through and drip onto his arm and hissed in pain, brushing it away back into the mess of thorns. To think Kiwi had been submerged it that. Even just the brief touch against his hand had burned.

Finally hew drew Kiwi all the way into his nest of thorns, though none of the thorns ever seemed to reach her. During it all, shapes began to form from the ooze, its aggression only increasing the longer he stood amidst it. In response, the vines retracted and wound tightly around him and Kiwi. In the dim light within the vines, he could see how badly she'd been hurt. He felt the throbbing in his head worsen. Whether from anger or the extended use of his powers, he did not know, but he grit his teeth.

"Enough of this..." he hissed. The vines unwound, all at once, like a dozen whips. The masses of ooze were shredded and dust fell as the vines left deep gouges in the surrounding walls. It hadn't stopped the ooze, but it had created a wide berth around him for the moment. "Hey!" He called to Celestine, though he'd never actually gotten their name himself . "Your friend ran off alone. We should go after her."

With the vines parted somewhat, Celestine would be able to see that Wolf's eyes had become bloodshot with a red trickle coming from his nose as he continued to manifest his ability. He paid it no mind, though. If it hurt, then it hurt, but this had progressed beyond too far. Celestine had said there was someone behind this, and Wolf intended to find them.

Royal Rumble: Rumble over the Heavens

@Scarifar@Dezuel@AtomicNut

---

Vera was caught off guard by Mina dragging her and Michael away to somewhere more quiet. She seemed... uhh... simple. Simple wasn't bad, though. Simple was honest and easy to work with... kinda. As long as you didn't need rocket science.

It was the other one she had her guard up around, and trying to link arms with her would be like trying to grab smoke for him.

"What are you doing? You're gonna hurt her feelings," Vera told him with a frigid glare. "Wouldn't want anyone to get the wrong idea." Speaking of Mina's honesty, and what she'd witnessed, it was clear that the beefy girl valued the guy in some way... for... some reason.

Once in that more "private" location, Vera managed to pry herself free and help get Michael laid down. It was then that she decided it was time to retreat, if she could. She just had to do it right.

"Look, Mina was it? You seem like a smart girl." Hardly, but Mina had no reason to expect Vera to know better. "Do me a favor, would you? Make sure Michael here makes it to his next match in one piece," she began, slipping Michael's glasses into the boy's pocket as she spoke. "You knocked him out, so it's only fair you make it right, don't you think? You might be fighting him yourself after all, and you don't seem like a cheater to me. Don't let anyone mess with him, not even this guy here." She pointed a thumb at Suzakura. "After all, it'd be a mistake to hurt a contestant outside of a match, and friends don't let friends make mistakes."

She did her best to be straightforward with her wording, but without appearing condescending. The last part wasn't too hard, after all. She just had to siphon all her anger toward Suzakura, which helped keep it from showing up as she spoke to Mina. She didn't really know him, but he'd made a terrible first impression so far.

"I'd stay and watch him myself, but he'd be embarrassed if he woke up and found me doting over him, and then he wouldn't be able to focus during his fight." She sighed. "But... if you really need me, I'll be over at the bar, OK?"

Once she was at least half-confident Mina mostly understood, she turned to leave, "Try touching me again and you'll be walking cross-legged for the rest of your life," she hissed icily to Suzakura as she walked past him.

Royal Rumble: Rumble over the Heavens

@Scarifar@Dezuel@AtomicNut@Letter Bee

---

Vera grunted as she finished dragging her friend onto a stool and draped her over the bar to sleep off her overdose. She'd found her all right, and her purse, with almost all of her "product" having already been consumed. What a pain in the ass, as usual when it came to this one.

Half the time she never even paid.

She looked over her shoulder in time to see someone getting punted through the crowd, only to take it out on the very crowd he'd just inadvertently assaulted.

"Fuck me, of course he's here too..." The guy didn't exactly keep a low profile, sowing discord wherever he went, which at least made it easy for Vera to avoid him. In fact, she was pretty sure he barely knew she existed, if he knew at all. She watched as he and the almost literal cow of a woman who followed him around harassed Michael. She scoffed, almost turning away. Nothing more than the nosey punk deserved.

And yet something about it felt far too familiar...

---

Years Ago

---

"Alex, right? What are you two doing?" a boy asked.

Alex's eyes popped open. It was the beginning of recess and Alex had been sitting with her friend Wolfram, using their abilities to weave together a dream world. It was far more exciting that playing on the slides for the nth time, even if it sometimes gave them a headache.

"Making a dream world! Wanna see!?" Alex asked.

"Uhh, sure. Why not?" the other kid shrugged. Alex smiled and held out her hand. The boy did the same, but as their hands touched, Alex recoiled, trying to pull back, but the boy clamped down... and just long enough for the bit of chewed up gum he'd had concealed in his palm to stick to Alex.

"Ew, ew, ew! Why did you do that?!" Alex wailed, trying to pull it off only for it to get stuck to the fingers of her other hand as well. Tears began to brim in her eyes as the disgusting mess only grew worse the harder she tried to get rid of it.

"Pfft, you're too old to play make believe, you baby!" The boy chortled at her misery. Meanwhile, Wolfram was frantically looking around, trying to think of what he could use to get the gum off of Alex, but to no avail.

"Hey," a new voice entered the scene. Alex looked up, sniffling, but quieted down a bit. Her other friend had finally arrived, Vera. "Where'd you get that? Isn't gum against the rules?"

"What, you gonna tattle?" the boy sneered.

"Nah, I want some. You don't mind, do you?" Vera tilted her head. The boy looked surprised, but then shrugged, reaching into his pocket. Vera was tall for her age, and her family had money, so she naturally just fell into the "cool kid" category that let her get whatever she wanted most of the time. This poor fool just didn't know any better. He pulled out one stick to offer it, but Vera just snatched the whole rest of the pack.

"Wh- HEY! Give it back!" The boy lunged, but Vera leaned away, causing the boy to stumble forward and trip, landing face-down on the ground. Vera then stomped on his back to pin him. "St-stop it! What are you doing!?"

"Teaching you a lesson," Vera responded nonchalantly, pulling the gum out of the pack, one at a time, and popping into her mouth. Soon she was chewing on the whole pack, forming a massive wad of pink justice in her mouth as the boy struggled, but failed to claw free. When she was done, she leaned over and let the slimy, sticky mass plop down on the back of the boy's neck. It stuck to him, his hair, and the collar of his shirt. He would not be free of it easily.

Not to mention it was just about the grossest feeling in the world.

Finally Vera let him go and the boy scrambled to his feet, running away with tears in his eyes. She then held the empty gum wrappers out to Alex, "Here, scrape it off onto this."

But instead, Alex just lunged at Vera, throwing her arms around the girl.

"Wh- No! Stop! You're gonna get it on me! Off, off, get off!"

---

Vera took a deep breath and strode over the ongoing fracas. Michael was currently KO'd on the floor, and the other guy, Suzuki or whatever his name was, had stolen his glasses. That never ended well for the glasses.

Just as his grip began to loosen, Vera swooped in, catching his wrist and snatches the glasses from him with her other hand, "Give it a rest already," Vera sighed and then let him go. "And you two better hope he wakes up soon. He's still a contestant. Otherwise a bunch of very pissed off gamblers are gonna want to get to know you real well." She crossed her arms with an unimpressed frown on her face. "If you need to get off that badly, I'm sure there's plenty of other people whose day you can ruin."

Not like he could ruin hers any more than it already had been. She'd been much happier thirty seconds ago when he hadn't known what she looked like.

---

@Spin The Wheel

---

Duke would find the loser of the match with a couple of people around him. They'd pulled him onto the cushioned seat of a booth at the edge of the bar where it was a little quieter and were trying to coax him back to consciousness. One couldn't even really say he'd been thrashed, so much as completely blitzed, with a massive, swelling bruise on the side of his face. The fight hadn't lasted long, and it was now abundantly clear why -- the other guy had hit him like a truck.

Finally, the loser blinked, cracking an eye open, "Wh-... ow..." Unsurprisingly, talking was a little painful for him at the moment. It was then that he noticed Duke standing nearby, "You, ugh, got something you wanna say, man?"