The Lounge (Round Two)

While Zephyr enjoyed the sweet taste that a slice of cake could offer, he watched as how the masked hacker took one of the TV and some time later, he and another guy came in and plugged the now personalized screen and a game console. The avian could but stare puzzled to them as they just play like nothing happens. Were they even allowed to do that?

Also, Maxie's noisy entrance took his attention. So much pink and hearts... For a fighting tournament, those clothes would be quite distracting. They don't seem to be sturdy either. Maybe for flexibility and agility?

"Ugh, stop thinking..." He mumbles to himself looking for something that could make him cease the constant flow of thoughts. Then, he finds himself looking straight at the TV Malware and his companion are playing in. All in his mind vanishes as he watch them play for a moment, only to have the solution right there.

"(Videogames... That's it! This will surely suffice!)" He though happy to find a solution very quickly. He wasn't experienced with them very much, but he already saw some, though not for the usual entertainment, but rather for the story some of these had. He knows, at least, how to the press the buttons efficiently.

Quickly cleaning any trace of food from his beak with a table napkin, he walked a bit faster than usual and stood behind Malware to lightly touch his right shoulder with his right hand in order to to talk to him.

"Pardon me, but can I... Play with you?" He asked still looking to the screen. He seemed friendly but in his eyes, some kind of weird seriousness was shown.

Malware looked at Zephyr for a long time before coming to a decision. Malware alternated looks between his own set-up crew member and Zephyr. Malware finally looked at his hired help and waved goodbye at him. The crew member blew a sigh of disappointment, knowing that he was being kicked from the game that he just started with his boss. He then got up and exited the lounge so that Zephyr could play. Malware held up the unoccupied controller to Zephyr as a way of offering him to play the game.

Envy looked to Maxie with a careless lace, then decided to make a bit of a pissy remark. 

"Sod off, darling... And if you're worried about the guy then go visit him in the infirmary."

Envy looked back at Ryder, saying; "Run along, you pathetic hedgehog... You lost pathetically."

He then slow clapped at Twilight, "Speakin' a which, congratulations on beating that moron. I hate him."

"Well then. Here's the answer: He looks in the mirror, takes what he saw. Saws the table in half. Two halfs make a whole, climb outta the hole. He's out. Heheheheh, don't be too hard on yourself. It's one of the expert class riddles..." Blizz goes into thinking mode before speaking. "A very famous chemist was found murdered in his kitchen today. The police have narrowed it down to six suspects. They know it was a two man job. Their names: Felice, Maxwell, Archibald, Nicolas, Jordan, and Xavier. A note was also found with the body: '26-3-58/28-27-57-16'. Who are the killers?"

"And your all was marvellous!" the griffon replied with a wide smile, draping an arm around the potentially tipsy Sora, "Really, love, be proud! To put on a performance like that? Well... no-one could have done that! ...Except me, of course. Ahahah~!" Her face scrunched up at the stench of alcohol, but a tiny wave of he head dismissed it. Instead, she went to listen in on Blizz's expert puzzle barrage.

...Only for her attention to drift to Envy making a comment her way. She sighed loudly, bringing her hands together to clasp them together, and flicking them towards the feline's direction. "Honey, darling, Envy. You're trying far too hard to be dislikeable, despicable, foul and wretched. Now I assure you, oh it's working, it's working wonders. But... ohoh... I wonder if you'd be acting that way if your little so-called 'friend' was here?" A sweet smile followed, and the griffon's tail coiled around her lazily. There was quite a... startling and intimidating glimmer to her bright, pink eyes. A restrained, dangerous malice.

"Ahah, but no matter. I'm going to grab a quick snack. Do either of you two beauties want anything?" Maxie asked towards Sora and Blizz, standing up to give a firm stretch.

'I honestly don't see how you can hate him.' Esme chimes up. Obviously, she's displeased at having been ignored, since a frown has settled across her otherwise pretty features. This is probably the first time it hasn't instantly turned into a smile either. 'He's literally too stupid to hate. "Run along you pathetic hedgehog, you lost pathetically."? Really? The only pathetic thing there is the poor choice of insults.'

She pauses for a moment, before stretching. A small halo of red sparks pulses from her finger tips, which melt together into a red sphere the size of a marble. She shifts her postion so her legs are draped over the side of the chair, and she starts rolling the orb round the palm of her hand.
'I mean, really, I've met children who could spit better burn's than him, AND put up a better fight.' she pauses 'Actually, he's like a puppy. He's growlin' at the world and thinkin' he's scary, but really everyones just smilin' and noddin' there heads and encouragin' him. You should just all chill out about it... after all, to children, there is no such thin' as bad attention.'

So Boubka has been eavesdropping this conversation for a while now. A returning factor was this Envy that appearantly did a very bad job at the tournament? He didn't know why and he really wanted to know. He stood up and walked up to the group. He felt a bit nervous and he also looked like it. He slowly tried to merge into the group by shoving himself over the couch to the others.

"So ehm..." A short silence. "What is the deal with this Envy? I haven't watched any of the other fights so I really don't know what is happening right now." Boubka didn't bother watching the other battles that happened while he was busy with Cruz. Even after the fight he didn't feel like watching it. He didn't wanna know everything about the other contestants, it would fade away the act of surprise. He had to learn how to deal with this act of surprise, so it'd be better for him not to watch them, but this Envy thing was really getting on his nerves by constantly hearing the same thing. It wasn't very nice to just gang up on one person. It would need a very good reason for that to happen.

Sora seemed to not be slowing down at all with the alcohol. She simply got a smirk on her face at Maxie complimenting her some more. "Weeeell shit, I mean, c'mon, I'm not THAT good at fighting. Unless the other fights were let downs, or somethin'..." She almost slurred, grinning a bit. "But, if you're offering, grab me some cake. I'm in the mood for cake." She said, before her face scrunched a tiny bit at the... mounting argument.

"Oi... shut the fuck up would ya? Save the trashtalk for the fights, jeez." She sounded a bit irritated with that.

Well, things were still... tense in here. Really tense and uncomfortable. Greg might not be so worried about it, if not for the fact that security were seeming... increasingly useless. He could only cringe as he heard his sponsor through the radio waves, berating the two large gentleman for not stepping in at all as one of the competitors ran off with a goddamn TV. Admittedly, they'd bought it back but like... seriously? What were security even being payed for if they weren't gonna step in there?
Either way, he was really hoping for some sort of break soon. If a fight broke out, he wasn't sure how he'd-

BEEP BEEP BEEP

Oh thank god. Springing to his position as the music began to play, he took note of the different match-ups appearing on screen. Six match-ups once again.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, I hope you're ready for Round 2 of the tournament! Arenas this time involve an icy cavern, ancient ruins, plus the Pillars of Balance..."
He allowed that last title to hang in the air a few seconds before continuing. Fancy titles always added to the drama.
"Boubka and Shade, hope you aren't too scared of the dark, because it's gonna be a pretty blind trip to your arena. Adrian and Twilight meanwhile... we have a slight change of clothes for your change of venue. Six and Amber on the other hand, it's more a case of heights to concern yourself with, because you'll be flying your way to the arena. Envy..." Greg paused slightly. It seemed he was about to say something else, before something was fed to his earpiece.
"Envy... and Maxie, try not to start the fight before you make it to the arena. Spark and Esme - taking bets on how that fight will go. Zephyr and Blizz, hope you don't mind a trip, you've got quite a way to go. Froshana and Malware..." he paused, "You obviously haven't been keeping count if you think you're fighting each other. This round you get the chance to kick back and relax with those who've been eliminated, and examine for yourselves who among those competing you might be up against next round!"

Only seconds after taking a cake for Sora did the alarm go off, snapping the griffon to attention. She whirled around and walked forward with a sway in her step, offering the plate with the delicious treat to the vixen idly as she remained attentive to the zebra. One by one, the screens flickered to life. Surely she'd be fighting this time round, right? Well, no longer after seeing that, did her own round flash, and was read out.

Oh. Oh my.

There was a... devious curl to her lips, that then turned into a slick swiping of her tongue. Her gloved hand raised up to her chest, instinctively playing with the fabric of her dress as she glanced at Envy. Ah, fate was always such a wonderfully generous mistress when she called for her. She had plans in mind. She was going to execute them. The only issue is that she had no idea on the arena.

A stretch, and a wiggle of her hips. A light giggle left Maxie's mouth as she looked over Envy, followed by a small wave and a wink. Plans, ideas, and an array of tricks up her sleeve. She'd seen Envy fight. Brutal. To the point. Wanted to finish things off, and was willing to play dirty. But Envy knew nothing on her. And she had the upper hand. How delightfully fun.

"I'd wish good luck, but ohoh... No amount of luck is going to save you now, boy~" she said with a smirk, walking towards the elevator. She stopped. Turned to Sora, "Ah, honey? Can you do be a darling favour and see to darling Wolf in the infirmary? I do believe he'll want to see this match~ OHOHOOO~!"
And with that, the pink-clad griffon clicked her fingers with a rhythmic beat as she made her way towards her destination.

Twilight turned towards Greg as he listed off each match. Adrian... He didn't think they participated in the first round- therefore, if he had watched the match against Ryder... 

Well, Twilight shrugged, he wasn't too concerned. Only a fool would show every trick he had up his sleeve in the first round. At the following words, however, his interest was piqued. "Change of clothes, huh..." He looked down at his usual attire, finding nothing really wrong with it. What sort of arena would require a change of clothes? He began to walk out of the lounge, his eyes scanned the other competitors making a point to look at Envy and Maxie as he made his way out. 

How fantastic that playback would be.

Esme went to respond to Bou, but was cut off by the alarm informing them of the next bout. Her ear twitched slightly as she listened to the names being called out, and a tin grin formed as she heard her own. After a moment she hoped to her feet and, after making sure to catch Greg's eye, stretched like a content cat.

She glanced at Maxxie and Envy, relishing in the Griffons own enjoyment. 'Try not to break any legs, the pair of you~' She trilled with a grin, before skipping off.

After Greg made his announcement, Zephyr had to apologize to Malware for making his friend leave. "Sorry, my fault, I though I had time... If you could tell the guy that just left I'm sorry, I'd appreciate it. Bye!" He said without even touching the controller. In a quick walk, he grabbed his sword and left.

He was eager to get things started. And he would face Blizz, whom he talked to in the first round. Unfortunately, his notes would be useless since she wasn't fighting before. Also, from what he understood from the zebra, it seems he had to go to someplace far away...

Well, no matter. He would go, fight and give it his all. That much is clear.

Sora accepted the cake with a very wide grin. Hearing that matchup was music to her ears. Envy was already ticking her off beyond belief, and suddenly Maxie, who seemed to know fighting inside out, was being tasked with fighting Envy.

"Ehhhh?" She blinked, "Oh, oh, I... I gues-" And Maxie was gone. "...Where the hell is the infirmary?" She asked herself immediately, before shrugging, and munching on the cake before even another second could pass by.

It had been only barely before the alarm had begun to go off that a certain hedgehog had, hoping to stay unnoticed, quietly slipped into the lounge. She was far later than most of the others who had arrived and almost looked a little embarrassed about it.

After her fight two days prior, Froshana had never bothered to return to the lounge since there wasn't much point in just sitting around there now that her fight was over. Instead, she'd just gone back to her little room at a local inn to rest.

She did make a point during their free day, however, to watch the other matches that had gone down and wowee. What a show, indeed! She rather felt she had lucked out in getting matched up with Sora in some regard. Even then, though, she had only barely pulled through that fight. Considering the intensity of some of the other fights, she wondered how she might manage today...

The hedgehog was jostled from her idle thoughts as she was trying to keep herself on the down-low and just get to a place to sit down when the sudden alarm made her jump. A glance around and Froshana realized just how late she was in getting here. Oops. She watched and listened and today's fights were announced and... At first she was curious as she heard her name and Malware's, but it was followed by a moment of relief. Yeah, she definitely hadn't been counting along. Finding that she could actually rest for the day seemed to lift the hedgehog's spirits a little. Even if it meant her next fight would likely be even harder. Woops.

While looking over to take notice of other people's reactions to finding out who they would be fighting, she did pause upon spotting Sora. Yyyyeah, she did kinda wanna talk to her. Her attention was drawn away to the pink griffon afterwards, though, as she seemed... huh. She seemed more than a little pleased with being matched up to that Envy character. Having missed out on much of the previous day's drama, Froshana didn't really understand why anyone would want to fight someone who was so clearly... off their rocker. In fact, she'd spent a fair amount of time worrying about getting matched up with the guy. Obviously the griffon had something up her sleeve... Froshana could only silently wish her luck there.

The mentioning of the infirmary, however, made her ears perk up and she looked from Maxie back to Sora. Maybe she could take care of two things at once there...

For now, she stayed idly by the wall, figuring she would let the other contestants file out of the lounge before making her move on the snack table and then maybe trying to shuffle over to talk to Sora. She couldn't turn down a free breakfast after all.

Sora had her feet resting back upon the table, the alcohol bottle being empty. Her head rested in her hand, sighing slightly upon the life being sucked out of the room. She was hoping to have had a bit longer to interact with the others, but it seemed that was a bit too much to ask for.

Shame...

The vixen finished the cake rather fast, brushing the remaining pieces off her fingers onto her trousers, gazing at her hand for a moment, before suddenly hearing the sound of a shuffle. She caught eye almost immediately of Froshana, the hedgehog from her own respective fight.

...The one that... well... cost her the tournament. Her expression changed from neutral to more depressed for a moment, having a reminder thrown back into her face about how her loss went. About how she didn't exactly show off that much. But she shook her head, giving a simple "Oi." before pushing herself off the sofa, unable to stand completely still however - already being tipsy-ish.

She didn't let that show too much regardless and headed straight on over to the hedgehog. She remembered the guilt that she had saw in Froshana on several occasions. She fought fair. She did what she could. And she likely had reasons of her own to want to win.

The fox stopped, leaning against the wall sideways that Froshana had stopped at, before giving a small - slightly forced - smirk. "...Ya know, I always did love nightclubs." She said, trying to break the tension that was clearly in the room.

By the time Sora had spotted her, Froshana was looking over her options at the snack table. Despite the tasty-looking cakes and other sweets available, she went for a platter that didn't seem to have been picked over quite as much, bearing a small variety of cheeses, crackers, and a couple of cubed meats. This hedgehog definitely loved herself some cheese.

She had just grabbed a small plate and was starting to serve herself an assortment of what was there when she spotted movement heading her way. A slight turn of her head revealed a particular vixen crossing from one of the sofas in the room. Go figure, it seemed Sora was coming to her instead. She paused in serving her food, but took note of the way the fox was moving. As Sora reached her and spoke, her guess was confirmed. It seemed the vixen had been drinking recently. Again, Froshana found herself hoping she wasn't the cause...

Her face had remained neutral, though there was worry hinted on her features. This relaxed once Sora broke the ice and a little smile spread out across the hedgehog's muzzle.

"Well, that's good," she replied, "Tell the truth, I'm not very familiar with them myself."

Even with their conversation just beginning, Froshana looked over Sora's face, hoping that the burns from their fight two days ago were gone, if only thanks to one of the tournament healers. She still did feel bad about that...
If they were gone, she would make no mention of it, not wanting to bring that up now. If the burns were still there, though, it'd probably be easy to see how her brow furrowed a bit at the reminder of how she had almost caused very serious damage to someone in a fight meant more for sport than life or death.

Either way, she made no comment on the matter, leaving her reply at the two simple sentences she'd already said.

Envy heard his own name, along with Maxie's, and he jumped off the couch, approaching Greg; "My blade, where is it?" Envy wasn't going without an answer.

Then Maxie spoke to him, "Who said I needed luck...?"

Envy wanted to see her inside out, from both her attitude towards him and his general psyche.

He planned to give hell to the Griffin, since nobody else would.

"Ehhh, they're good places to... party and all." Sora said. "Wish I could've just got out my glowsticks now I think of it." A small grin. "That'd've been fun."

Upon very close observation of the fox's face, there'd be a small trace of the mark left, which seemed to be going away on it's own. Surprisingly enough, anyway, as the fox didn't see any healers - even after she left the arena they fought in.

Despite the grin and attitude Sora had - which was surprisingly positive - her eyes read a different story if one was able to read them as such, showing more - disappointment.

"Ya know..." She said, her voice slightly losing the 'bounce', "I don't... blame ya for how you fought." A simple shrug. "I know how the gloves feel - it's not a fuckin' lovely feelin'. So don't worry about the small burns here and theeeere... they'll heal." She said, almost reading Froshana's face entirely.

The vixen sighed very slightly. "Still... I was... hoping t'be able to... ya know, forget about that fight."

Greg gave quite the grin as Esme caught his eye. This smile, of course, faded as soon as Envy moved on the approach. Oh.
He opened his mouth to respond, before pausing. Apparently something was being fed to his earpiece.
"Your blade is in a safe down towards the bottom floor. You can have the blade in return for any ammunition you may've bought to use with it. The sword is allowed... hesitantly speaking... however, we'd rather not see any incidents like the other day..."

Envy looked unamused as he was told this info, he gave over a small box containing practically every type of ammo known to Mobians.

He was silent when doing this, as he only wanted the blade back.

Greg blinked kinda surprised. Slowly, he took the bullet box.
"Uh, I guess I'll take this instead then?" he seemed rather baffled overall, "You'll still have to speak to the security guard downstairs before you can get your weapon though... On the note of which, you might wanna get moving." Whilst it was true that Envy would probably want to hurry along to get his match, it was just as much true that Greg just kinda wanted him to leave.

Envy took the way to his blade silently, taking up the matter with the guard and retrieving Darkedge... 

Then he moved on to the arena.

Froshana listened as Sora spoke and she nodded in agreement at the mention of having glowsticks handy in their arena. Even as they were having their conversation, though, the hedgehog was ever watchful of the others in the room. She watched Envy move towards the doorway and, as her ears swiveled in that direction and her head turned a bit to keep him within her peripheral view, she heard some of his exchange with the zebra there.

Although she was only casting very brief glances once in a while that way, she kept most of her focus on Sora. Despite the front the fox was putting on, Froshana could see she still seemed down about losing their fight. Her own smile faded and, upon realizing that Sora had noted her concern over the injuries she sustained from the battle, her expression shifted again, appearing more apologetic.

There was a moment of silence as Froshana awkwardly averted her gaze, looking down to the food table beside them. She had to try and think of her words before actually replying.

"Yeeeaaahhh..."

Well, definitely not the most elegant response. But she quickly followed up with a bit more after shaking her head and making some eye contact again.

"I-I mean. I know what you mean. And I did want to take a chance to apologize to you if I saw you again." A pause. "...I just--like--well, I know that the way the fight ended was pretty... anti-climactic, y'know? But I really, really didn't want to have to end it by trying to just beat you over the head or something. And I know I really didn't want to end the fight with me getting the snot beat outta me either..."

The hedgehog was frowning as she seemed to not be sure if she was making her point the way she wanted to. Plus, she was kind of rambling, too. Oops.

"I guess just... I'm sorry?" she said tentatively. She offered a weak smile. "But I mean, you put up a hell of a fight. With your equipment and all that? I think I'll be happy if I don't have to fight you again."

((oops i accidently inactivity))

Sora kept her mouth shut for the most part. She glanced subconsciously to the odd few monitors that had already lit up by that point with a bunch of fights, and surveyed them. She wasn't too interested anymore - afterall, she didn't exactly have another round to go into... But she was at least curious to see how Maxie would do, and how others fought in such conditions.

Her eyes lingered on Froshana almost the whole time, slightly expectant. Yeouch, she could feel the tension in the air.

"Ehhh... past is the past, I guess." She shrugged, trying to push the conversation on. "It's aight, can't win 'em all. I dunno what I was thinking anyway, coming to this big fight place, 'specting to win or some shiz." A small smirk. "Looking at some of these other guys in action? I sure feel lucky that it was you I was paired with, and not someone else. Probably would've ended up with a broken bone here and there, or even worse, dead, if I'da fought that Envy guy. Hope Maxie gives 'im hell."

Sora shifted slightly on her feet, before slightly looking away, as if to think, before leaning forward a very tiny bit - not very noticably. "Ssssoooooo... You wanna watch the other fights? Have some booze? I dunno." An awkward scratch of the back of her head.

Smooth.