Side Story The Grand Hotel

[Glostechk]

Jeez. In the eight years that had passed, Ryan had forgotten that Gilgamesh was just as bad as her two sisters, when it came to hotheadedness and stubbornness. This wasn't going to go anywhere - just like Ryan wouldn't be with these chains around her. If she were still the small, ten-year-old child Ryan? She likely would have kept pressing, anyways. But she knew very well that it would just be a waste of breath. So instead of trying to push her point on deaf ears, the blonde simply gave a small sigh, shutting right up.

"...Alright."

Looked like she hadn't lost her submissive nature by any means.​

 

[Glostechk]

"Oh, your costume got ruined."

Hmm, what would a hero do in this situation?

...

"... Well, do you wanna trade costumes then?"​

 

[Glostechk]

Looking Ryan was argu... no, wait. Did she really just give up? That was not like her, at all. Was this something that changed as she aged? Or was this something the man had done to her? Regardless thankfully she was listening to him at once, but by completely giving up hope. "No! Not Alright! Don't just stand here sorry for yourself! Stick up for yourself! Resist his influence!"he then suddenly bursted at her. As much as he needed her to listen, she couldn't just do that... But now wasn't going to be the best time to go into such a long discussion with her. So the most he could do was nudge her to fight, and if he couldn't then he would fight, this time. But she would soon, need to learn to do so for herself.​

 

[Glostechk]

If you don't make too much noise, that is, this would be a good plan. Wadanohara glanced at Sal, taking note of the shark's hesitation, and smiled. "Glad to be of help," she replied happily, turning to look at where Kieran was pointing. At the far end of the hall, two of those cute - and apparently explosive, now she really wanted one or two - penguins stood standing guard before an archway. She scanned the room, before nodding. The witch knew there were a lot of supernatural creatures here, unearthly beings. There were most likely other magic-users too. "Alright!" Snapping her fingers, Wadanohara murmured an incantation under her breath, more to focus herself than really needing one.

Tendrils of water materialized between her and Kieran, before she flashed him a small smile. "A demonstration." The water then dissolved into steam, making its way around the little witch. With another snap of her fingers, she stated, "Magic is really just a set of commands. For this I'm ordering the water particles to - hmm, refract or distort, was it? - the light." She giggled slightly as her small form disappeared from view. This wasn't exactly true invisibility, she had just distorted the light particles around her with the water. In her centuries as the Red Sea Witch, she had learned more than just to use the sea waves as both protection and weapon, or to use her magic to heal. Learning this was just convenient for her.

With a happy little sigh, she once again came into view, once again concentrating her magic to return the water to its normal state in between them. It hovered in the air, clean and clear and waiting to be used. "Since you're going to be moving, I'll be focusing on making this 'cloak' move along with you. Sal here will make sure I won't be caught or disturbed." She stepped back until she was standing beside Sal and smiled at the white shark, reaching out to pat him gently on the side.​

 

[Glostechk]

ChromeSkull's attention was fortunately (or unfortunately?)taken away from that freakshow that was a talking humanoid-like cat. Thinking over the choices Coraline had offered to him, ChromeSkull shrugged his shoulders and reached over to grab the bottle of vodka. Out of all the countries his secret organization had a hand in, Russia was one of the few that he wished he'd gotten more news from. Seemed like a place that'd welcome someone like him with his unique skill-set.

But first the mask would have to come off. In front of others. Which normally wouldn't be alright by any degree with ChromeSkull. He was so attached to his mask that he'd been such in a hurry to put it back on after it was knocked off by one of his victims that he didn't notice the adhesive he used to keep it in place...Had been switched around with an acid that horribly scarred ChromeSkull's face. Which he wasn't too happy with to put it lightly.

But he couldn't drink without removing the damn thing. So, he supposed he'd just have to grin and bare whatever remarks these people made. Thinking they were comedians of some variety. He had heard it all before from the subordinates who didn't think he was in earshot. His face looked he'd been hit by a semi truck and then the semi truck backed up on it.

Closing up his cell-phone and placing it securely back within his pocket, ChromeSkull reached up and grabbed either side of his mask. With a slight bit of resistance, the mask was removed and ChromeSkull's face was revealed once more. His left eye, having been gouged out with a knife having been jammed in there. The rest of his face was covered in burn and scar tissue leaving ChromeSkull with what seemed to be a permanent sneer.

Gripping onto the bottle of vodka, ChromeSkull twisted the top off it and chugged it like there was no tomorrow. The painkillers were still doing their job so he didn't feel any of the usual searing pain from the burns on his face. But hopefully the alcohol would be a welcome contributor to that as well.

"No, I guess I haven't physically departed from the mortal coil. But, I've watched plenty of movies which if you believe the critics, my brain rotted a long time ago and if I wasn't dead in a ditch somewhere, I'd turn into some kind of raving lunatic bent on killing people. But, that'd just be crazy to think media would have such a profound effect on someone, right?" As for the other ways Kiritsugu listed off about how a person could die, Ghostface waved it off.

"Well, yeah but that's all got reasoning behind it that you can avoid. You can be more vigilant and not get hit by a car, you can chew your food properly and not choke or eat so much you emit your own gravitational pull, and well as for children? I guess if Pet Semetary and Children of the Corn taught me anything, it's that children turn into malicious flesh-eating monsters after they die and are brought back to life by their grieving father or they're just crazy. Unless you meant like through childbirth in which case well, I can't really fault you there I guess. But, hey we're both grown men so if you want to smoke then go right ahead and puff puff. No skin off my nose."

As Kiritsugu began to grow more inquisitive, Ghostface shrugged his shoulders once more.

"Might have been hot babes there like the bat girl, might have been tons of scary movies, might have been some pretty cool costumes. I dunno. ChromeSkull and I got our invitations just as we were raring to go and so we said 'screw that' and decided to come here. To be honest, I don't really regret it. Would have probably just gotten drunk off my ass, did a little dancing and then headed home. Then it'd be back to business as usual. Here? There is a talking cat-person! That kind of shit's either an idea for a really crappy D-Grade slasher flick or something you only ever see in your dreams. But this is the here and now and that's real. Or it could just be a dude's costume and he's just really into cats. But, who knows? That answer your question?"​

 

[Glostechk]

Morrighan stood in the midst of the surging crowd with a demure manner, evaluating various groups of people in an attempt to determine with whom she should begin to acquaint herself. The ballroom was magnificent, if a bit ostentatious, in its splendor. However, Morrighan rather appreciated its pretentious beauty; a beauty that demanded to be seen and recognized. Indeed, something about this place felt very forceful, alive almost, to the goddess. It might have simply been the fact that it was the crux of many different universes, thus imbuing it with an inherent energy.

The letter inviting her to this place came by a crow's talon, as most news does. When she opened it and read the carefully-penned words, Morrighan was almost surprised. She had long known of the existence of multiple universes, but hadn't known of a way to cross into these different realms. By attending this soiree, Morrighan hoped to gain valuable knowledge about the methods used by these hosts to traverse the barriers between realms, as well as what, if any, benefits the exploration of these different realms could hold for her personally.

Part of her was extremely tempted to approach the apparent host of the evening, Jade, and simply begin extracting the necessary knowledge. After a moment of consideration, however, Morrighan decided that this was not the wisest course of action. Too many prying eyes and ears, and that was never a good thing. Just as Morrighan shifted her gaze to look for a new strategy, she heard a cacophonous dribble of slurred words. Finding the source quickly, Morrighan stifled laughter at the sight of a woman swinging around a bottle of liquor and gesticulating in a rather... less-than-urbane manner. Accompanying her was what appeared to be a man wearing a skull mask, a rather haunting figure that hovered shadowy and translucent next to the woman of many slurred words.

Morrighan hesitated to approach the pair, but watched them closely with a critical eye.​

 

[Glostechk]

"Ugh! This is ridiculous."

Casually pulling out a book, Rita opened it with a roll of her eyes. "Blah, blah, blah," she muttered as a glowing circle appeared around her. A ball of fire was then conjured in the air to float lazily beside Rita. "Okay, pervert, I suggest you get out of here before both of our costumes are ruined."​

 

[Glostechk]

"Wow! You've really improved a lot on your magic, Wadanohara!" Sal exclaimed, clapping his fins together at the demonstration. He knew she practiced and studied a lot in the Red Sea, sometimes asking for his help whenever she consoled a book as a practice dummy of sorts. Before, when she still was resident of the Blue Sea, she was a healer. Now, she was little more violent. There's nothing wrong with that! In fact, the shark thought she looked cuter this way, more suitable for the world they shared and lived in. "I guess it will be alright if we have Wadda to hide us~"​

 

[Glostechk]

After Ghostface had been saved by his companion Morrigan would have decided to mingle on her own for a bit. "She can trade with me if she likes." Morrigan replied with a wink.

Jezebel with drink in hand would have followed after Chromskull and Ghostface, because why not? It's a party. She would've kept a low profile though taking a sip from her whiskey from time to time as she watched on.

"I got asked along by 'batgirl'." Jezebel remarked. "I'm Jezebel by the way." She remarked to Kiritsugu.

 

[Glostechk]

"Yes, that answers the question quite well" Kiritsugu said, before putting his pack of smokes away. Not because of anything Ghostface said though, just because he didn't see the point in taking multiple smokes at once. Changed it from a calm relaxation to an addiction. "However..." he then piped up afterwards "If you find this place so interesting, why are you just sitting here? Talking with other people? This could be your only chance to talk to those cat girls".

And admittedly Kiritsugu was starting to get tired of the play nice charade. But it paid to make sure he was in the bad books of minimal people, and to make sure people weren't going to do something stupid and reckless that'd end up getting others killed.​

 

[Glostechk]

Wadanohara had Kieran's rapt attention as she quietly recited her incantation. He visibly flinched once the water materialized, his eyes widening in surprise. As someone who had never had the ability for magic or tomes, the abilities of mages had always fascinated Kieran. At the very least, it was proper to pay enough attention to magic to learn how to combat it. While he didn't understand exactly what the magician was saying, he gave her a thumbs up at her demonstration regardless. "I couldn't even see you. It's perfect."

Nodding to the pair, Kieran crouched down and began to move away from the corner. "Now, I don't want you two following me. You both could get in a lot of trouble, and Captain-Commander Kieran should be fine once I'm past those two guards. I'm trusting you here."​

 

[Glostechk]

Instead of reacting to the ball of fire in the air, seeming to take no note of it at all for the time being, Saitama would simply blink a bit, before looking at Morrigan and giving a sort of "Is she serious?" look, before glancing back down at Rita. Feisty kid. Or at least, that's the impression he got from her seeming to want to pick a fight. Oh, well. He could just punch her outta here and it'd be over, but not only was he a hero who swore to protect the innocent and all that jazz, this was also a party where everyone was supposed to relax and have fun, right?

Well... I guess what I said sounded weird, but... At least I tried.

Granted, the more he thought about what he said, the more weird it came off as. Not that Rita's outfit really struck him as notably feminine or anything, but he had to admit, looking back, offering to switch clothes with a girl, a much younger one at that...

Well, anyway. Let's see if we couldn't end this in a civilized manner. After all, a hero only gets violent as a last resort.

And it only just so happened that villains weren't interested in the other resorts.

"Okay then, kid... Wrong thing to say. Then why don't you take the nice woman over here up on her offer to switch costumes with her then?" He asked, glancing at Morrigan briefly. A kimono, huh? Hmm... Well, whatever gets her to stop complaining. The kid would probably look cute in it, even, like a tomboy who was used to sneakers and found herself stumbling around uncomfortably in slippers and loose clothing, but the other woman... Would Rita's costume even fit her?

The chest area didn't look like it could... Well, stretch that far. But in any case...

"I'd... also suggest putting that thing away, if you would," Saitama would suggest, pointing his finger at the book.​

 

[Glostechk]

"I'll be your lookout when you get past those penguins then, hee~" It looked like Wadanohara was trying to make friends of her own as well. While Kieran was going to add his name to the list, Sal decided to go and meet other guests. He had spotted a furry cat wearing a suit walking about, a man wearing a spooky ghost mask that made Sal snicker to himself. Was that meant to be scary? A yelling match had broken out near the tables earlier, much to his surprise. People were already beginning to clash. Humans were so strange. Waiting for Wadanohara to move with the young man, he floated after them for a short while before taking a turn towards the table as casually as he could make it seem. He could contact Wadanohara telepathically if he spotted anything chasing after them.​

 

[Glostechk]

Oh, so he was a ghoul. At least, his face looked like one. Coraline shrugged, haphazardly popping the cork on the dusty bottle of wine, swishing it around for a little bit before she peered curiously inside.

It looked like wine. Honestly, Coraline had no idea what she was expecting to see.

Without a second thought, she tilted the bottle upward, letting the liquid flow into her open lips.

Almost the instant the wine began to flow, her face scrunched up tighter than an old lemon, ripping the end of the bottle away as she smacked her lips.

"Woooooowee! That. was. tart! It's been forever since I tasted wine!" she shouted ecstatically, wiping the excess from her lips as her eyes wandered, eventually finding a pair of eyes looking back. Coraline's grin hastily returned. "Well, well, wouldja look at this little cutie?" she hollered, patting Chrome-Dome's shoulder to grab his attention, following it up with some more of her raspy hooting in Morrighan's direction.​

 

[Glostechk]

Sarah Cheng's Prologue: (Wo)man out of Time.

Sarah was at the party. She was the Brotherhood of Steel representative. That, and she had been invited.

This party reminded Sarah of the World before the Great War. When shit like this was commonplace. She was a woman out of her time twice. Once into the Wasteland, now in the a multiverse.

Sarah decided not to wear a costume. She wore her Power Armor to indicate she was a member of the Brotherhood, but not a helmet, so she could maintain a friendly position with a smile.

Well, as friendly as one could be in Power Armor, anyway.

Sarah carried Righteous Authority, the Laser Rifle that had been given to her by Danse. She also carried several other weapons, just in case. Underneath the armor, she wore her Vault 111 Jumpsuit which she had padded with various pieces of armor.

Sarah mostly kept quiet as a statue. She wandered the building, mostly avoiding people, while still trying to maintain a friendly style. It was inevitable that she would eventually run into someone who would want to talk to her, but it was unlikely.

The Brotherhood was one of the Multiverse's stranger organizations. The fact it even held a presence was impressive. It was from the time of Elder Lyons, so some people despised it. One reason the Brotherhood even held the presence was due to its alliance with the Coalition, and the fact that The Lone Wanderer Riley had maintained it.

Sarah just maintained a calm quiet presence in her Power Armor, just watching the party go on.

 

[Glostechk]

Catching Morrighan out of the corner of his eye, ChromeSkull lowered the bottle of vodka and wiped off his mouth. In case any of the vodka had missed his mouth in his hurry to chug all of it.

This wasn't quite as strange as the cat person but he supposed it was up there. Almost seemed symbolic in some manner. A woman with beauty unparalleled adorn in white and black wings on her back. Such a contrast of light and dark. If it had just been the two of them, he would have taken great joy in adding her to his ever-growing list of 'memories'

But for now, he'd hold out his phone towards the goddess after typing up a message for her to read if she felt so inclined.

WHY STAND AROUND AND JUST LOOK? IF YOU'RE AT A PARTY, YOU SHOULD FEEL OBLIGATED TO PARTICIPATE IN THE FESTIVITIES.


Felt disgusting seeming so overjoyed about something he couldn't give a solitary fuck about. But the two serial killers hadn't come to this party to have fun. It was the only escape they could think of to avoid being imprisoned for life/likely executed. But appearances needed to be kept up to some degree he supposed.

"Eh? You don't think I've tried that? First thing that happened when the two of us walked in here is that Morrigan-the bat girl I've been fawning over-smiled at the two of us and course Chrome's got more things on his mind than what might be an easy lay or just someone who'll show you a night of fun. Bad news is though?" Ghostface sighed as he pulled off his mask and rubbed where ChromeSkull had hit him upside the head with his cell-phone.

"SURPRISE! She ends up turning out to be some kind of sexy Scottish succubus that would have killed me if I kissed her. Or something like that, Chrome hit me in the head with his phone and the thing's like a goddamn brick so it caught my attention. Thus saving me from what would have been the coolest death ever. Or so I like to think anyway. But, I think that's enough beating around the bush, wouldn't you say? I've had fun talking with you and all but I need to catch up with my partner. So, I'll see ya around Kiritsugu." With that, Ghostface rose to his feet and brushed himself off.

"Before I go though, I'd just like to point out a comment that you made. Cat-girls? That...Sounds like it'd be a good idea in theory, not so sure how well it'd work in execution if that guy's anything to go by." He'd say thumbing over to the talking cat in some kind of fancy suit. "I mean just because Shatner hit that, doesn't mean I'm gonna hit it too. But the night's still young and so am I! Haha!"

ChromeSkull's entire body tensed up the second Coraline made contact with him. Nobody, not even his trusted assistant got close enough to make physical contact with him. Which meant most of the people who did either had some use to ChromeSkull although he was quite arsed to figure out what that was exactly like Mickey or they were resisting him trying to brutally murder them, which was pretty justified.

But he supposed he could play up the 'drunken pervert' role just a little bit. So as not to stand out he supposed. The hooting was quite aggervating to his ears however. Was it not enough to just say how attractive the woman in white was? There was some inate need to holler like some kind of monkey?

Ah well, drunken idiots did idiotic things. He supposed he shouldn't have been surprised.

SHE IS QUITE ATTRACTIVE YES. PERHAPS IF WE'RE LUCKY, SHE'LL COME OVER HERE AND GIVE US A MOMENT OF HER TIME AND POSSIBLY MORE.


It wasn't Romeo but ChromeSkull didn't particularly care about his pick-up line being any good. If one had to be made then that was what he'd take. Besides, he didn't spend his free time asking women out with cheesy lines. He spent most of his time subjecting them to horrendous things while recording the action and then sending it to the local authorities to mock them for being so incompetent. Not...Whatever this was.

Watching the sight with amusement, Ghostface couldn't help but laugh at his partner's expense.

"Oh man, out of all the people who ended up with the drunken chick, didn't imagine it'd be Chrome. But, hey..Speaking of which, areyou free?" Ghostface asked in a suggestive tone as he smirked at Jez. Maybe he was being genunine and did actually wish to try his luck with what pretty much amounted to the devil's daughter. Or he was just fucking around. Hard to tell sometimes.

But who could really resist moves like that?​

 

[Glostechk]

Sal approached the new figure he had spotted, a woman with a spectacular armour costume. Even more breathtaking than the one Kieran was wearing. Curious, the white shark floated up to the stranger but made sure he was still facing the doorway, in case anything happened to Kieran and Wadanohara. "Wow! Is that your costume? How did you do it?" He had never seen such construction, maybe it would be useful for the Red Sea... somehow.​

 

[Glostechk]

Sarah had just met a... white Shark?

Huh, the multiverse was weirder than she thought. But then again, the Brotherhood Scribes couldn't even comprehend some of the research that Riley brought back.

She decided to speak to Sal. "Standard Brotherhood of Steel Power Armor. T-60 Model." She said. "It's not really a costume, per say, but just standard armor." She held Righteous Authority in her hands as well. "I didn't make it, I received it when I became a Knight."

 

[Glostechk]

"Thank you, Sal! You were a really good practice dummy," Wadanohara smiled pleasantly at Sal's compliment, but didn't turn to look in his direction. Instead, she looked directly at Kieran, and nodded. "If you say so, Captain-Commander Kieran." He didn't want her to follow him, did he? "I'll try my best," she aso pumped her fist, mimicking Kieran earlier and putting a determined expression on her face. As Kieran began to move away from the corner, she glanced at Sal. "You were also bored in the Red Sea, weren't you? I haven't seen you visit Samekichi in the dungeon much," she commented lightly, before looking away as the ambassador went off to do other things.

Turning her attention to Kieran, who would soon attempt to sneak past the penguins, she lifted one gloved hand and fluttered her fingers slightly. The globs of water dissolved into steam once again, moving to follow and surround the knight. Then, with a little twirl of her pointer finger, the water particles once again rendered the knight's form invisible. Wadanohara tilted her head, eyeing his disguised form critically. Kieran was much larger and taller than her, her who was at most 4'3". It took more water to just disguise the entire surface area of the man's body. The witch narrowed her eyes in concentration, biting her lip. "Please watch over me, Sal. You wouldn't want me to get caught, would you?"

Standing here in the corner and tracking Kieran's progress as he made his way to the other end of the hall, Wadanohara glanced at the other person still standing with her. "I wonder what would happen if I, oh, somehow slip up with my magic?" She asked lightly. Sal knew she wasn't really concerned at all about Kieran getting caught, she could cover her own tracks in the incident just fine. This girl, though? Nope, she had no idea what sort of person the Red Sea Witch actually was. "Mm, I really want one of those exploding penguins~ I want to see an explosion from them like he said..."

If she stood here with the girl, who she had overheard was named Arisu, and acted like she was chatting idly, it would be fine. Wadanohara kept her focus on tracking Kieran, while also making it seem as if she was talking to the other girl.​

 

[Glostechk]

Coraline had to spin her head around over her shoulder and squint at Chrome-Dome's text just to read it past her alcoholic haze. Something about it made the lady chuckle.

"You have a weird way of talking, but I like the way you think!" she commented, taking a longer drink of her wine, straight from the bottle, "Also, who's that prick over there, and did he or did he not just call me a drunken chick?" Coraline asked rather coldly, not taking very kindly to the namecalling.​