The Carnival

[Orion]

Orion leaned against a wall, flipping one of the thirty "monies" he received for that drug trip of a mission that abruptly ended. He wasn't flipping it for any particular reason; he had seen unusual adventurers in his day relying on the outcome of a coin toss to decide their next actions, but the one eyed saiyan didn't leave his life choices to the flippant attitude of fortune. The only reason the coin ascended in a perfect rotation up and down was because Orion was mulling things over. Thinking always seemed clearer if he could distract his idle hands with something. It didn't matter what it was, as long as it kept things moving in an automated kind of way, it performed the role.

This place was even more absurd than the Dante's Abyss tournament. At least once he was uploaded into the virtual island, he was there. Here, he could switch locations at a moment's notice. For instance, he was just fending off a fresh horde of playing card guards, having to retreat due to the sheer size of their force. He was pushed back into his 'teammates', and although Orion was ready for an arduous battle, Gamer had other plans. They vaporised from the prison's corridors like a light bulb suddenly shorting out. He wasn't one hundred percent certain of the others' fates, but it really didn't concern him. If they made it out, well ... he wouldn't be happy about it; he simply felt indifference to them. That was, of course, applied to the female humans, but not the lizard.

Just picturing that demon in white and purple made his skin crawl. Hopefully Orion's little pep talk in the prison labyrinth made it abundantly clear how their relationship was to function. Granted, the saiyan had to concede that Szar held himself differently to the changelings he knew. He didn't sneer or condescend to Orion, at least not until the one eyed mercenary provoked him. Neither did he attempt to strike him in the back, although with his alertness around the lizard, it would have been nigh impossible. If it were a member of any other species, Orion would accept that his presumptions were incorrect. However, this was a changeling. He just hadn't shown his true colours yet.

Orion caught the falling coin and pocketed it in the small satchel that the other twenty nine were in. Tucking the bag into an inside pocket of his robe, he assessed his surroundings. Humans continued to parade back and forth through the carnival as if they had nothing better to do with their time. Such a waste, plodding their lives away in such trivial amusements instead of forging a name for themselves that will live longer than their feeble bodies. Orion ended up moving his thoughts away from the pitiful destiny of the earthlings, finding no remorse for them.

Now he was bored. The fight in Wonderland was cancelled, and beating humans at their pathetic side show games had grown tiring. He needed something to distract his wandering mind until the next event, but what? There were explicit rules against breaking the robots, which was the first idea that came to his mind. Maybe he knew someone here? Unlikely, since very few people even knew of his existence. Only a select handful could name Orion if they saw him.

A flash of red caught his eye. His gaze locked onto the crimson jacket of a blonde human he vaguely recognised. He was walking with another human woman who also bore a striking resemblance to someone he had interacted with before. Also, the dirty lizard joined them. They walked away from the Ferris wheel, the attraction that Orion previously mistook for Hell. Who were they?

It came to him like a bolt of lightning. The woman was ... Peepo? He couldn't recall her exact name, but he remembered her as if she were from a past life. In a sense, she was; Orion placed her as one of the contestants in the Friend or Foe television competition. Her attitude towards him was less than amicable.

The other was Kaden. All he could recall at that point was his bleeding heart mantra to everything that lived. It was his motto that Orion allowed to sink in, blinding him to the obvious warnings of turning his back to an opponent. If he killed Balrog in that battle, he would have surely noticed the snipers before they had the opportunity to kill him; but no, he listened to Kaden, and even let it affect his judgment. Now he balanced a halo over his head. He had a few choice words in mind for the red eyed ki wizard.

Not that he would say them in front of other people. Still, a chance to catch up would be interesting, and to see how the changeling reacted to his presence would almost certainly add a few laughs.

Orion pushed off the wall and headed towards the Ferris wheel.