The Lounge (Round One)

While most of the competitors that had arrived kept themselves fairly occupied, another participant arrived at the impressively prepared lounge. The door had eased open slowly, as though in some attempt to keep it from making any sound and avoid drawing attention in that direction. It really probably made no difference at this point as no doubt many were interested in seeing what other competition showed up.

Regardless, a pink eye peered into the room. The urge to shut the door and just leave came up very quickly. This was pushed aside, though. Letting out a breath, the hedgehog pulled the door open a little wider and stepped on in. She was still a bit on edge after the power had suddenly gone out on her way up here. Why would a place made to look so good have a faulty power system? It seemed awfully shady...

A bump from the door swinging shut behind her forced the hedgehog to take another step forward into the room. Of course, she eyed the many others there, taking note of which seemed the most intimidating. A few years of experience reminded her that people were full of surprises. No doubt these folks would be no exception.

She herself wasn't much of a worrisome sight in terms of competition. A teenage hedgehog, 17 years of age to those who have a talent for recognizing ages by appearance. Her quills weren't too incredibly long, only just reaching her shoulder blades. They also had just a slight upward curve to them, though not as exaggeratedly as some other hedgehogs might have. Her shirt had to be modified in the back as well, allowing the spines protruding from her shoulder blades and midway down her back to remain out in the open. She was covered in short fur that was a bit of an odd reddish-purple color. It was kind of like she was stuck in between the two shades. Where the light hit her fur directly, the red did seem more prominent, though. The only break in this color was the pale tan color of her muzzle.

Across this muzzle was a worried-looking frown. And maybe with good reason. This hedgehog wasn't exactly threatening. She was kind of a scrawny thing, rather short for a person her age and species and only some muscle on her thin frame. Body language didn't help either. She slouched just a bit, almost like she was trying to make herself look smaller and less noticeable and her head was tilted forward just slightly, allowing for her to easily avert her gaze to the floor if challenged with eye contact from someone else in the room.

Like some of the others, her clothing was casual, consisting of only a red tanktop and a pair of jeans and tennis shoes. Perhaps the only notable part of her outfit might have been a little keychain hanging from one of the belt loops on her pants. It had a small white crystal that was very obviously fake. It was shaped to resemble a diamond or emerald, it would seem. Probably came out of a quarter machine at a grocery store or something along those lines.

Appearances aside, the hedgehog stood by the door for a somewhat uncomfortably long period, taking in the people in the room as well as its furnishings. She eyed the buffet a bit. Nervousness had kept her from eating much of the "big healthy breakfast" her roommates had tried to shove into her face earlier and even now, despite being a little hungry, it didn't seem to be the right time to eat just yet.
So instead she finally inched away from the door and started off towards the far end of one of the long tables left clear for people to use. Her ears swiveled around, following the sounds of conversation as she passed on by the middle of the room. Some of these people were quite loud. It wasn't like she wasn't used to loud people, of course. Just... not loud strangers that were probably going to be looking to hand her ass to her in a little while.

She made it to the table sat with her back to the wall. Her eyes came to rest on one of the screens and she watched the faces and names go by. She would look away from the screen to try and match the people in the room to those on the screen with some success. When her own face appeared on the screen with the name 'Froshana', she watched it, studying her own features while the opportunity was there.

...She really did need to sneeze when the picture was being taken and had only just kept herself from squinting into the camera and sticking out her tongue while holding in the little outburst. The flash made her sneeze moments later anyway.

For now, though, it was a waiting game. And a good time to observe some of these others. She could see at least... oh, three or four people she hoped she wouldn't have to face too quickly. The most eye-catching was also one of the loudest and... apparently friendliest. The hedgehog had to wonder if and how that would change out in the arena...? Only one way to find out.

Froshana shifted her gaze to look out a window instead. Until things got started, at least she could sit around and think of how she would exact revenge on her friends for entering her into this tournament without asking her...

Envy had arrived finally after having to make a small trip via his leg muscles, he had a slightly annoyed look on his face as he walked to a sofa and plopped down with a very large thump. The cat put a sheath containing a black blade with a straight back and a curved front edge, then proceeded to look around in an odd manner, feeling jealous on the inside... Suddenly as the strange black and red cat with two tails looked behind the couch, he hit his face against the comfy surface and attempt to sleep... Although he would start to care if an old friend spoke to him, he was officially dead to the rest of the world.

In came a another competitor into the lounge! The gray wolf looked around, smiling as her tail swished behind her excitedly. Amber glanced around the room, looking over the other entrees who she would be fighting I'm the tournament, IF she made it far enough into the bracet. Ears perking happily she noticed a couple of familiar faces, such as Envy and Ryder.
"Well, this is going to be fun." She said to herself as she kinda stalked up behind the couch and leaned down slightly beside where Envy was attempting to sleep. "Haven't seen you in a while." She said to Envy as she smiled

More and more entrants were flooding in, and the hybrid noted all of them. Their posture, the way they spoke and interacted. She wasn't incredible and amazing at analysing others, but it was something she attempted anyway. All the time, a smile played at her beak.

And that turned into a frown the moments the lights went out. She grit her teeth instantly, and within the shroud of darkness, that playful exterior dissolved into a stern seriousness. Was someone planning an attack? Hoping to take someone out? She felt something brush against her hand, and her fingers instinctively lashed out. A shatter. The lights switched on. She glanced down, and noticed a puddle of alcohol with glass shards at her feet. Had someone just tried to give her a drink in the darkness...? That seriousness, even visible on her face now, melted away into a hearty, rosy-cheeked laughter; "Ahaha! Oho, how BOLD! For such a gentleman or lady to take an opportunity to offer me a drink? Ooh, do I... perhaps... have a secret admirer? Ooh, I hope they're cuuute!" she giggled, her tails swishing along to the music that was playing.

Her heeled feet pushed the shards of glass under the gap of the couch, lest anyone accidentally hurt themselves on it. A nod to the names, and a wider smile with each one given. "Six! Sora! Boubka! Mmm, I'll remember you all well~" And thankfully for Sora, the griffon did end up budging to the side to allow her more room. Maxie crossed her legs and draped her arms at the back of the cough, incredibly relaxed and probably far TOO relaxed for this event.

Of course, this only lasted for a few seconds. Boubka's movements of his hands on his ears and his closed eyes caught her attention, and she frowned with concern. If they were struggling with this, and they were young too, how would they fare in battle? She was almost... worried for the poor boy. "Boubka, dear, are you okaaay? Do you need to step outside for an itty-bitty-bit?"

He...He couldn't. He couldn't stand it anymore. Let's say it calm. Maybe it wouldn't matter alot then. He didn't want to get on her bad side, but she's just getting plain annoying right now. "Could you....please stop talking like that? It kinda annoys me a bit and I'm not really feeling great at the moment."

Boubka was feeling very nervous. There was just too much stuff going on at once. Normally it wouldn't matter, but he was a bit too excited for the fight. Maybe he should drink something. He grabbed the glass that was in front of him. Alcohol. Not a good idea right now. Let's not. He looked around trying to find something good to drink, but he was afraid that Maxie would jump onto him.

Shade looked around, amazed. His jaw was dropped and he laughed at how detailed and modern his surroundings were. He ran around the lounge a little and sat down on a couch. He immediately felt at home and cuddled himself on the couch. He closed his eyes and thought about how soft and comfortable the couch was. Shade smiled and was screaming on his head. He couldn't wait to battle but now was the time for him to introduce himself to the other competitors. He breathed slowly and quietly, he felt so calm in the couch.

Malware, whilst his feat was... rather impressive, would soon find one of the burly men on-duty pullin the plug on his DJing equipment. Greg stepped forward awkwardly, hand to what appeared to be a small piece in his ear.
"Our, er, sponsor would just like me to make a small announcement," he cleared his throat, coughing uncomfortably, "He'd, er, like to make people aware that probably the, uh, 'ultimate act' of 'trolling' would be for someone to, uh, lose out on the chance of the big cash prize and holiday, simply due to failing to attend their own match..." he paused, as seemingly more information was fed through his ear, "He'd also like to suggest that it would be of even greater irony, if the reason for this were to be that the individual accidentally wound up, uh, covering up their own match announcements due to overriding the technology and televisions we'd be using to try and make people aware of such a match."
There was another long pause;
"He'd like it know that he'd find that... uh... 'quite frankly hilarious'. So... uh..."
Aaand with that out of the way, the burly man passed Malware his plug back.

Malware seemed offended that this burly man had touched his equipment. How dare he pull the plug on such awesome equipment! How dare he just do that without asking! Malware seemed to have steam coming off of his forehead and seemed ready for a fight. Until Greg stepped in. Malware saw Greg as a parrot, repeating words that were being fed to him by his "sponsor." When the threat of losing a big cash prize as well as a holiday, Malware realized that if he kept up his malicious behavior, then he would forever regret his decision. Now Malware was faced with the daunting task of outtrolling the so-called "sponsor." How would he still be able to troll without using the technology in the lounge? Suddenly, he figured out on how to resolve the problem. He slipped his hand inside his pocket and pulled out a slim, silver phone which was his. He hacked his own phone to display the following message, "U N3v3r sed anyth1ng ab0ut u51ng my 0wn t3ch. trolololololololololo" This was great. Now Malware could once again communicate and troll people again. With what he saw as his own victory, Malware did a little dance just to show off in front of Greg and the burly man who had messed with his equipment. This Malware guy was pretty haughty, but then again, he had the skills to back up his claim of being so superior. Or so he thought.

Fighting the urge of knocking the door, Rin entered to the expensive looking lounge, already filled with people. She didn't expect so many, actually.

Cat (because she was a cat apparently) apperance contained sand coloured fur, black shirt, cropped pants in knee-long boots, she sure can make a apperance of more an weird kid, being one of the shortest in the room. Not to mention her ears, being bigger than half of her face and short hair.Also big, yellow, curious eyes that looked even bigger in her glasses (Thank god she got one of them covered in bangs, her looking at someone with both of eyes without it would be freaky for her.).

I should come here ealrier, but nooo, I just had to do stuff she thought sarcastically at herself, as she walked inside, and sat on the miraculously left alone couch, and started to read an orange book, pulled form her grey backpack placed next to her.
Interaction can wait a bit, I still didn't finished the 'Genocide' yet, and I plan on finishing it 'till my fisrt fight.

"Oh, someone shut up 1337 boy over there!" The reason Blizz said '1337' was that it was the name of the language 2.0 was using. Even tipsy, she could understand it. "And someone tell me why I see stars!...Beautiful as they are, they're fuckin' annoying right now...where'd I put my MR7 at anyway, need some decent music." You know, they say the drunker someone is the more truthful they are. And also mood swings apply, but it's probably her time of the month. 

Blizz took off her gray, furry jacket (That strangly looked like it came from an older era) to reveal a sleeveless, peach-colored thermal that showed her figure a bit. "Is it just me, or did it suddenly get hot in here?"

The wolf closes his eyes and resists the urge to sigh or groan at the increasing commotion in the room behind him. He listened, half interested, to the conversations carrying on from the middle of the room. Given the loudness of the people involved, he had to admit he probably would be hard pressed to tune everything out anyway.

*Just another reason why I hate crowds of people...* he thinks, *The fact we are in this enclosed space just makes it worse too.*

He glances down towards the cores of the two fruits he'd finished eating a short time ago. He glances around for a disposal container, and upon spotting one, sets off towards it.

*Well... I'm sure things will quiet down to some extent once things get going with this tournament.* he thinks while he walks, *Either I'll be one of a smaller number of people in this room, or I'll be heading out to face an opponent and won't have to cope with all this constant chatter.*

Envy's ears perked upwards as the voice of a familiar person spoke out to him... Envy whipped onto his feet, and turned at the same speed, his green hoodie following his whirling, he was a bit surprised to see... "Amber...? I could say the same thing!." Envy had a slightly cheerful disposition towards the wolf, as an old friend, he paid attention.

The cat picked up his sheath and blade, slung it over his back, and looked around again. Upon sight of Ryder he hissed to himself, then he looked back at Amber. Envy had obviously changed over the time they hadn't seen each other.

There was a momentary pause as Boubka spoke his words, and the griffon just... stared for a few short seconds, in silence and in shock. Her eyebrows raised, she opened her mouth, closed it, opened it again, closed it. Though her gaze did flicker to the few who joined on the couches, but otherwise remained on Boubka for a second longer.

She held her hand against her beak and giggled, "Aha~! Sorry! I'm just so used to it, I can't help it, you know?" She was going to speak further, but her attention was caught with the drama with Malware 2.0 and the TTT staff. It was... weirdly intimidating, and the way the sponsor got their point across wasn't... aggressive, but tactful. Smart. It was impressive. Malware's rebuttal caused her to scoff, and she rolled her bright-pink eyes; "Oh boo, looks like foxy there isn't so cute after all."

Amber laughed slightly, glad to see her old friend after so long.  She smiled as she swung herself over the back of the couch, landing gently on her feet beside Envy. 

"I've missed you!" She said happily, but faltered, hearing her cat friend hiss in someone's direction. Amber frowned at this, sensing that something had changed in her friend, as he was not the same person she had first meet.

(Derp nothing to see here. Sorry Blitz ^^

"Alright, this should be enough." He mumbled to himself. Turning away from the food, he though that he has eaten enough for now. Further consumption could possibly be a burden. As such, the avian left the buffet.

With the constant talk and the loud music playing in the room, Zephyr felt a little headache. He wasn't used to this level of noise. Trying to shake the music out of his head, he decided to stay away a far as possible. Now, he was standing at one edge of the room, looking through the glass.

Certainly, he was eager to get things started and he was sure he was ready for it: The sword, currently in it's sheath on the weapon rack, has been thoroughly polished. The armor he was wearing concealed as padded layers of light metal inside the clothes didn't seem to be visible from the outside, so it should had passed as casual clothes. And he was physically and mentally prepared for it...

But, will it be enough? His calm face slowly showed some concern as he looked at the scenery of the city. One of the difficulties was the he didn't knew who would be his rival until the had to fight, so he couldn't prepare a strategy based on the enemy's weaknesses. He could rely on his own abilities with a sword and wind magic but the thought of having to mold a strategy in the middle of a 1 versus 1...
It could be a problem...

Envy heard the wolf speak again, her voice overpowering the others in his ears. "I missed ya too, Amber." Envy then took a moment to notice her expression, he wanted to ask her what was wrong, yet he had a feeling he knew... He nervously looked around again, but began developing an expression that matched his name. 

His problem had to do with how everyone seemed cheerful, yet he never exactly felt the same.

"1 & a 2 & a 3 & a 4, Upcoming fights gonna bring some Gore ~ 5, 6, 7 to an 8, Entering the event, you sealed your fate ~ 9 & 10, 11 & 12, In the end, we enter hell ~" Singing who-knows-what, Blizz sat on the round couch with headphones, murmuring along with the lyrics. "1 & a 2 & a 3 & a 4, We all fight for some more ~ 5, 6, 7 to an 8, Nice at the start, in the end hate ~ 9 & 10, 11 & 12, In the process we start to dwell ~" 

As she sang, she got up and went to get some BBQ, eyes half open. Not knowing what to get, she put anything with spicy sauce on a large plate while she skipped along with a large, Sweet Tea cup. How she ate and drank so much without going fat, nobody really knew. Though Blizz thinks it is due to having a high metabolism rate.

Sora simply took a large swig from the drink she had.

"...So, Maxie, was it? How do you think you're gonna do in the tournament? I mean you've killed the whole 'good looks' thing showing up with that on, but I doubt you're gonna be able to fight that great wearing it. I mean, I doubt you'd wanna ruin it, eh?" She was absent mindedly paying attention to the others. She'd been drinking quite fast.

Froshana took note of the interactions going on in the lounge. To her surprise, it even seemed some of the participants knew each other. It made her wonder if she should have retaliated her friends' decision by entering them into this mess as well.
Ah well, too late for that.

Her ears perked up when the equipment being used by a certain fox was unplugged. Admittedly, she'd had previously thought he was just here as entertainment for the people in the tournament. It wasn't until she saw him on one of the screens showing the participants that she realized he was actually here to fight. But why bring all the equipment then...?
The hedgehog found herself hoping that the equipment he had didn't also double as weaponry...

The sound of the zebra making an announcement brought Froshana's attention back to the present and she listened as he relayed a message from the sponsor of the tournament. She unknowingly smiled a bit as she figured who this was most likely directed at. Once it was done, though, and Malware provided his own reaction, the smile faded. Her eyes rolled just a little and she lowered her gaze back down to her paws on the table.

Her ears swiveled around, following the sound of someone... attempting to sing, along with other conversations and such going on. For the time being, though, she was content to keep to herself and instead think of all the good things that might come of this whole situation.
...Something positive could happen... Right?

"Ahaha...! Keep thinking that, honey!" Maxie retorted with a wide grin, swinging her legs up and down. And... that's all she said. She wasn't going to respond much to queries on battle - she was avoiding them on purpose, no doubt to surprise opponents when she arrived on the battlefield. Hell, she didn't even seem to have a weapon with her, there were no bags on her person after all.

She eyed up the drinking vixen, and frowned, "Hey hon', don't you think you should slow down? Cause babe, if I'm facing you on the dancefloor, I'm gonna want you the best you can be!"

In the midst of the drinking, the blackouts, the shouting and the greetings, Esme was rather pleased she'd slipped in unnoticed.

Dressed in a bright purple hoodie, with a pair of matching jeans, a  small, Chocolate brown Hyena stood herself to oneside of the room, closer to the glass than anybody else. She brushed a few locks of bubble-gum pink hair away from her face, and proceed to look into the room, and not out of it. Her bright, scarlet eyes lazily drifted over everyone in the room, lingering for a moment on their charming host, before going back to studying her opposition.

A lazy smile twitched at the corner of her lips, as she watched them in their reveling. The shouting, the drinking, the minor bickering... all of it was music to her ears. Even if they didn't know it, they were even playing her favourite tune. After all, who doesn't love a little bit of chaos before a fight?

Donning an innocent smile, she works her way over to the drinks, and lightly picks out two bottles of beer, before going over to Greg and offering him one. She decided to take the most direct path, cutting through the groups of people without a care. 

'I'm sure it's a little unprofessional, but fancy a drink, hot shot? I figure you'll be needin' one, if you're goin' to be dealin' with this mess~' she says with a playful smirk.

The wolf pauses by the disposal bin and tosses the remains of his snack into it. He then heads over to the refreshment table and gets himself a glass of water. As he does so, he glances around at the assembled competitors. He doesn't really size them up or consider them in any meaningful way, other than to note their appearance and species.

*Quite a varied lot. Land based and some flyers.* he thinks, *People carrying weapons. Some likely with special skills like that fox who was playing with the devices without touching them. Probably going to be a lot of surprises... I'll probably have to face the toughest of the lot given my luck...*

He takes a drink from his glass before heading back across the room to the vantage point he'd picked out earlier. He resumes staring out the window.

*Nothing I can do about it now...* he thinks, *So there's no sense in worrying about it until I can do something about it.*

The vixen halted at that. ...Huh. She gave a glance towards the griffon, and gave a small smile, "Y'know what, you're right." She placed it down on the table, and simply stretched, leaning back on the sofa a bit more. "Best not get wasted. ...Not now, as much as it'd help deal with how slow things are. So, lemme guess, you're keeping your fighting style a total secret, hm?" A smirk, "...Clever~ guess I'd like a surprise from people."

Greg seemed slightly confused about the masked man waving a phone in his face. He wasn't so sure why the hacker had thought he'd 'won'. He was just kinda hoping the guy would stop messing with their equipment - which luckily he had. Still, best to let him at least think he'd won, that way he wouldn't go back to attempting to 'troll' in other ways;
"Uh, yeah, good on you. Sure got us there. Damn," he paused awkwardly, just staring at the man for a few moments, before turning on his heel and walking away. Yeah, he'd totally got this. Smooth.

As he turned to move away, he found himself being halted by yet another competitor - the hyena with the pink hair.
"Oh, uh," he grinned slightly - the 'hotshot' comment seemed to've played to his ego slightly, "Well I'm sure a little drink can't hurt!" He hoisted the beer into his grasp, holding the bottle up, "Cheers?"