Tourney of Champions: "Scope out the Competition" Dinner

(He said it was!)

Roger Brown's Island Resort Compound

Until the formal tournament began, the Participants' were granted accommodations in a wing of the compound, away from the spectators. There was also an armory not far from the suites where each participant had a generous locker containing their weaponry... assuming they checked in their equipment, as some of them completely disregarded this and went about their business on the Island fully armed.

The participants were then lead to their rooms proper. The ample, richly decorated hallways had minimal security presence, but an abundance of hidden cameras disguised by paintings and statuary, to ensure some order and discourage pre-match sabotage. Each room was of modest size but was had a lavish interior and a personal bath room. Each room came complete with a well stocked mini bar and other niceties. All of the participant's belongings sans their weapons were in the room, and On the bed was a personalized invitation card. For the less privileged participants, personalized formal attire was provided, approximating their personalities and reputations.




Diana looked down at the invitation, the black, raven-themed dress and contemplated her options. Not revealing herself to her would be opponents would be a strategic move to deny them information, but it might also come off as a sign of weakness. Would there be alliances? deals? What if some of them knew each other? Alternatively, she could get a feel of her competition and see for herself what she was up against. This dinner was, in a way, part of the tournament already- the part where they'd try to scope and psyche each other out.

She quickly hit the shower, taking advantage of all the nice bath amenities and the different fragranced soaps, shampoos and perfumes. She quickly slipped into the dress and paused when she saw herself in the mirror- the dress fit her well, though she was a bit meager in features. It zipped up to her neck, the black feathers quite comfortable, while the fabric was translucent around the abdomen and back . She hated all this social nonsense, all these games her mother played with other people, but realized that she was lacking the skill to fight this kind of battle. She put on her amulet and headed to dinner, her face plain and without make up. She entered the Participants hall, with several tables labelled (A, B, C, D... for the convenience of not having to wait for everyone to post) withTHREE seats per table.




Table A (label which table you are so you'll only have to wait for your seatmates to post.)

Diana was early it seemed, and so helped herself to the lavish appetizer buffet. The lady helped herself to a platter of Toasted Italian Ciabatta bread with Spinach-mozzarella dip- and headed to Table A. She wondered if she was going to be the only one here, perhaps the other participants finding it more prudent to avoid even showing themselves to their opponents.

Well, it didn't matter. Diana had her appetizer and by golly it was really good.

"Do I look good." Marcus said while in his uniform he had found on his bed. Marcus got a bit sick of Talking to thin air and decided to make a self replica of himself only just completely Black and relesing a black smoky substance.

"Honestly, you look good, the Hair suits you." Dark said while looking at Marcus. Dark on the other hand never thought he would see Marcus wear one of these."You sure you don't want to wear the mask?"

The suit for people who want to know... Ignore the face!:

Marcus stared at his friend with a friendly smile before strightening his tie. "No one's seen my face fully and the cultist guy might have seen my chin when we first met him from under my hood so I'm sure I'll be fine." Marcus said to reasure Dark but knew he wasn't convinced. "Alright now, get in here." Marcus said to him while pointing at his chest and Dark obiditenly jumped into Marcus becoming one again.

Moving out the door and down the countless hallways. He Made it to the diner and only saw one other person their. He helped himself to the fried Rice and added custom ingrediants of pork, pawns and egg before making his way to Table A. He might as well get to know a few people. Sitting oppersite to the nicly dressed lady he placed his plate down and gave her a friendly smile. "Nice to meet you melady. I'm for now shadow and you are?" He asked in a polite tone.

Might as well leave the mask on if your going to call yourself that. Dark said to Marcus and Marcus alone irritated, he decided to fall asleep so he wouldn't have to listen to anyones bantering.

Lucius was relived to get out of that limo, he thought he might shoot the little brats head off before the tourny even started. Although he wasn't really there for the fight, he actually wanted to face the shadow kid. The smug little punk had been popping up everywhere, Lucius was beginning to think he was being followed by him. But there were alot of participants and he would likely not be able to face the male, a shame, he would have enjoyed beating the arrogants out of him.


He walked inside the building the limo dropped them off at, then was showed to his room. The room was quite nice, he didn't understand why it needed to be considering they were just going to be thrown into a pit together and told to fight, but he wasn't complaining. He found a invitation to a participants dinner that was taking place down stairs, next to it was a suit that he wouldn't be caught dead wearing. Is that what they thought he liked to wear? He was fortunate enough to have brought his own 'social' clothing along, he didn't know why but he was glad he did. He opened his bag and changed into a black t-shirt, black leather jacket, and dark wash jeans. He then began walking down the tedious amount of stairs and hallways until he arrived. He was unpracticed in things such as this, so he took it slow and walked into the large eatery then looked around.


The dinner area was a little much, there was droves and droves of all kinds of food being brought in, he assumed he arrived when dinner started and appetizers finished because he saw a man loading in a roasted pig on a spit. There were only two others there at the time, so he arrived a little early. It was the two that were in the limo with him when he arrived, so he would have to sit with them or he would appear to be purposely avoiding the pair. He took a half rack of beef ribs and some home style mac and cheese, then walked over to table A and sat down "How does a self proclaimed 'hero' not to mention a teenager, find himself at a superhumen battler royal?" he said to 'shadow' as he did.

Hardly a few minutes passed and Table A filled up quickly. Two young men, one strange fellow with a mask and suit, and another, in more casual ensemble came over to acquaint themselves it seemed, with Diana.

A waiter came by with a push cart of beverages, and Diana helped herself to some bottled and brewed iced tea.

"Wow. Shadow. I'm Darkness." Diana quipped rather sarcastically, but wondered perhaps that maybe it was rude. She was a trained killer, but she'd be twice damned if she didn't have manners. She cleared her throat, sat up straight, and rubbed her bloodstone amulet set in a miniature blade for a little luck.

"Okay, never mind, I don't really do secret identities... I'm Diana Mendoza. Please, take a seat and tell me about yourself." She said rather apologetically, and bluntly, not really expecting to get straight or useful answers about Shadow.

She also passed Lucius the napkin holder. "Do you two... know each other?" she asked, seeing he spoke to the masked man in a knowing tone.

From the back of dining room, being escorted by several rather large men with fully automatic rifles strapped around their person, a tall, averagely built man entered the room. Around his head, was a large, blue hooded cloak, which flowed down into a robe like cape that flowed behind him at a casual pace as he walked deliberately through the room. Though he was being escorted by a personal guard, it would be very obvious to anyone with combat experience that the muscle was purely for show, and more for the protection of the more human guest, than whatever this man was. He walked with a confidence and swagger that was befitting of royalty, giving a very confusing air to this man. From beneath the hood, the only part of his face that could be seen through abnormally thick shadows was a stubbled, lower chin, thick with five o' clock shadow.  Underneath the cloak, the man looked like he was ready for combat. Leather boots, which went up to his mid calf, rode over his white cloth pants. Around his chest, he wore what appeared to be a brown leather jerkin, with a rather intricate, almost decorative belt riding around his waist, holding the attire together. But, as he took a rather quick step, and his cloak moved to the side, it was very apparent that the belt was indeed not for show. Attached to the belt was a long sword, the pommeled hilt shining in the lighting of the dining hall. The sword's hilt was a deep blue, matching the man's cloak, embroidered with gold, and light, cerulean runes glowing along it's surface. Moving to the table with the competitors, the man's guards split up, taking up positions along the walls of the dining hall, getting quite a few stares from the few guest who had already arrived to enjoy Roger Brown's hospitality.

"Why hello there." The man said in a friendly voice, standing at ease in front of the trio. Legs shoulder wide, arms folded behind his back, hands cupped together. Though, one could feel this was more of a show for the competitors, to allow them to see the obvious relic that hung at the man's waist, and allow them to know they weren't the only powerful ones their. "I hope we're having a good night tonight, eh? Allow me to introduce myself, I am Roger Brown's master of ceremony. You can call me by whatever name you please, it matters not to me, who is just a humble servant."

With this, the hooded man gives a small bow, flourishing a hand in front of him in a very Victorian era gesture. This man seemed to be something straight out of a mid-evil story book.

Marcus laughed to Diana calling herself darkness only because he found it funny as he was living with the darkness. "Well the only reason I do secret idenitys is mainly because I don't want people finding me as soon as I decide to stop." He said in a pleasent voice. "But about me. hm. Well I've been a bit of a traveler, killed some people, helped some people. Died." He said the last word while tilting his head to the side.

"And yea, I know cult guy. Still haven't figured out his name doe." Marcus said in a unserious voice before turning to 'cult guy'.  "I never called myself a hero, just a person who does more good than bad and you think I'm a teenager. um to be honest I think I'm 20 or 21 and How did I get here? Well I got a note, Knocked out a 15 foot bugger and Jesus By now they should call me  Shadow the giant slayer." He jokeingly before picking up his spoon and lifting some rice to his mouth. Eating it with his mouth closed because he wanted to be at least respectful. But then the other guy appeared. Swolling his rice he turned to the man he would dub Jeeves. "Well thank you Jeeves for introducing yourself."

A beverage cart passed just as Lucius sat down, he grabbed a large mug of beer from the carts tray in the nic of time before answering the woman's question "Unfortunately, we do" He said to her with a amused look about him "Your in your 20s eh? could have fooled me kid. Yeah, that giant you took down was some achievement, there was another there which i also have the displeasure of knowing. And to answer your next question, i have my sources for such information" He said in response to shadow boy.


He took a large gulp of his beer before noticing that a blue cloaked man made a rather attention grabbing entrance, which Lucius completely ignored in favor of his food and drink. He listened to the medieval guy with an amused look as he leaned back in his chair. "Its nice to meet you humble servant, may i ask what could be so urgent as to interrupt our meal?" He said to him with a look of superiority.

"In that regard, Shadow, we're alike. No place to call my own since I left home." Diana responded plainly, not at all surprised that they wouldn't really give up anything useful about themselves. It was natural, she supposed, and it was actually pleasant to talk to people now and then rather than carve them up like turkeys.

With the time passing and her stomach growling, she stood up to help herself to a platter for dinner. No carbs at night for Diana, as she picked out some mashed sweet potato, leafy asian mixed vegetables, and a couple of slabs of roast beef, as well as a generous helping of gravy.

She returned to her company at the table, placing the bib cloth on her lap and preparing to dig in. "Cult. Huh, ran into one myself a few months back. Pain in the butt. He doesn't look crazy though." the young lady stared at the man referred to as cult dude.

In the midst of their conversation a man in an elaborate getup- a bard, by the looks of his swagger, came in to introduce himself as the master of ceremonies. Diana had a particular indifference to showy folk, and secretly disdained the people who tried to put on such airs.

Once the man made his most flamboyant entrance and introduction, and just as Diana sat down with dinner, the dining hall's main screen lit up. Some fanfare music began to play over the speakers, and despite the place being near empty, they begin to display the match ups, using portraits and their names in fancy fonts. Diana's eyes especially lit up when she saw her picture- one of her glaring at several strangers in a subway back in Tokyo and capturing the red in her eyes- matched up with an older lady named Skyler. She wasn't her, sadly, and the sword girl would have little chance to interact with her.

"The fight's going to happen really soon then if they're announcing the match ups now..." She said, grinning as she poured some pepper gravy over her roast. She kept watching the screen, seeing the names of the people in the room and their match ups as well.

"You guys happen to know the people you'll be fighting? or this Skyler lady?" She asked.

Marcus looked towards her with a smile. "Sadly I only came back a few months ago from my personal exile of six or seven years so I don't know many besides a wolf girl, this guy." He said as he pointed towards cult guy. "A gun fellow who can run real fast and has a floating joke robot called Nolan." He started to remember the memories of his first Giant fight. And the first time Dark took control in years. Marcus almost broke his smile at that thought. Each time Dark broke free, Marcus had a chance of dying again and he didn't want to die. Not until he chose to. He looked at the screen one final time and sighed. Marcus knew he would meet some people who would have strange, unique and dangerous abilities or weapons and remembered he was only human with a demon stuck inside him and slowly becoming a demon himself.

(Ooc. I decided this needed one more post and Neko do what you were gonna do ey .)