Eighth Contract/Unexpected Changes

[lastfeather]

[1]
[Anyone who dropped by the lounge would be treated to a rather unexpected sight. Now. Ryou is a professional. He can keep his work and his life outside of it seperate, he doesn't start fights unnecessarily and always does his best to fulfil a contract. Right now though?]

Noooooo... Nooooo!... Noooooooooo.....Noooooo.....

[Right now he was being rather immature, gripping his head in his hands and just rolling around the floor looking like he recieved both the mother of all bad news AND a tremendous headache. Not too far from him was a message he received from the Raven's Ark.]

-]To: Ryou Kimura - Raven: Onyx-0 - Serial Number XA-26483[-

-]Sender: Raven's Ark[-

As per clause 379-21 Subsection 19 we have modified the terms of your employment contract following the reoganization of Raven's Ark assets. Upon opening this message you are obligated to participate in at least one Arena Match per month in order or face termination of your contract followed by the seizing of all your assets.

Additionally as of this month All Ravens are subjected to a new addendum to their employment contracts. Clause 927-59: Any Raven who seeks to retire from service must pay a severance fee for assets lost due to the termination of the Raven's contract.

[The message continues with all sorts of contractual legalese... and it apparently wasn't the only message that he recieved that just ruined his day

-]To: Ryou Kimura - Raven: Onyx-0 - Serial Number XA-26483[-

-]Sender: Raven: Evangel[-

Hey Kimura, just thought I'd let you know that the Ark's signed us both on for a rematch at one of their new Arenas.

Honestly its about time. I've been getting tired of constantly badgering you for another go ever since that last fight we had.

This time though, I'm gonna walk away with a win.

We'll see who's stronger now.

-]Message End[-

Noooooooo! NoooOOooOo... Noooo!

[Yeah, Ryou's just agonizing over the fact that he's essentially been shoehorned into what he affectionately calls 'Giant Robot Cockfights' on a monthly basis - and to make matters more miserable for him, his first matchup is with the one Raven he absolutely wants nothing to do with.]

NooOooooOooOoOoOooooooo!

[Someone may want to snap him out of his funk now please, this is getting kind of embarassing.]
 

[2] [Minor Frontdating] [Mingle Post. Keep it to the Tag posted for everyone's benefit.]

[Well its finally time for Ryou's match, and for all intents and purposes he is not a happy clam about it. Given the Contract Ryou has with the Chalice, the Ark has magnanimously given complimentary seating for those who wish to watch the battle. The battlefield itself was on a repurposed Sattelite. Remember that killsat that went off when people first met Ryou? Ever since all the important stuff was either trashed into nothing but scraps or stripped out, its been repurposed. Walls knocked down, stadium seating over a massive open combat area - and plenty of shielding to prevent accidents from befalling the audience.]

"LAAAAAADIIIIES AND GENTLEMEN! Children of alll ages! Welcome to the ARENA!"

[The roar from the rest of the audience was downright deafening. Like wild animals baying for blood.]

"Its my great pleasure to announce the grand opening of the newest battleground for the Raven's Ark Arena, and what better way to show it than a series of battles between some of the most lethal men and women to walk the face of the Earth! Soldiers of Fortune and Glory! And there's plenty of Glory to be had here!"

"Without further ado! To the left, on the RED CORNER! One of the few who walked into the Silent Line and lived! The Raven, who with a group of Surfacers had walked into the heart of that deadly place and made it TRULY Silent! I give you OOOOONYYYX ZEEEEROOOOOOOO! And his Armored Core! NEVERMORE!"

[A mugshot of Ryou, as well as his emblem turned up on the electronic billboard, as well as his chances of winning were there for everyone to see. From the doors on the aforementioned side of the Arena, the black and red AC walked out with no fanfare, merely regarding its surroundings with the disdain one would expect from its pilot.]

"And to the right! In the blue corner! One of the best and brightest here in the arena - with a slew of victories that show he's no slouch, with a mission record that's hard to beat! The Blue Blade himself! EEEEEEEEVANGEL! and his Armored Core! ORACLE!"

[A mugshot of a cocky looking guy pops onto the massive screen, along with his golden emblem. A blue and white machine tears out of the opening doors and rushes into the middle of the arena at full boost, kicking up a shower of sparks and punching a fist into the air. The Crowd goes absolutely wild. Evangel's chances seem... much more higher than Ryou's - if only because he spent more time fighting in the Arena.]

"And now! LETS SEE SOME METAL FLY!"

[A massive countdown displays on the screen as Ryou gets into the designated ready position.]

3...

2...

1...

"RAVENS! BEGIN!"

[3] [Arena Aftermath]

[Ryou's just got the Nevermore loaded back onto the Chalice and just kicked back on the Chalice, nursing a glass of wine in his hands. He sighs tiredly as he sinks into the chair.]

[Comment on his performance.. or lack of thereof?]

Comments

1

[whitedevilbot]

...

[Amuro spent a few moments looking at the documents. Then a few looking at Ryou. Back to the message, and then Ryou. Right now, he'll doubt Ryou will listen to anything he says...

So, time to employ a technique that Captain Bright taught him, all those years ago...

SLAP]

[lastfeather]

Hnngh!

[His head turned with the hit... Thankfully though it knocked some sense back to the mercenary - leading to him taking a very deep breath and palming his forehead.]

I probably needed that....

[whitedevilbot]

Well it stopped you screaming your head off, for one. Take it you don't enjoy the change in employment?

[lastfeather]

I'm a mercenary.

[Ryou's tone was very flat.]

What I'm not is entertainment. I work for my money by fighting for my life, not being chained up with dozens of rules and regulations and then tossed into an arena with someone else from the Ark and told to give an audience a show.

[He grimaces for a moment, then just schools his expression.]

It just trivializes what being a Raven is all about. It makes a goddamn mockery out of us and what we do to keep ourselves alive.

1

[azure_savior]

... So I'm guessing whatever the message is about is something really serious.

[lastfeather]

The Ark's decided that they want me to be one of their 'Prizefighters'. I've got enough people giving me looks for being a mercenary already, the last thing I need are bunch of people who lost bets and vindictive bookies getting on my case.

[He clicks his tongue in annoyance and flicks some hair away from his face.]

I fight to live. I don't fight to entertain.... and Arena politics can make a Raven's life a lot more complicated than it should be. Believe me on that.

[He ground that last part out with great agitation.]

[azure_savior]

So essentially, on top of doing mercwork they're having you be entertainment.

ANy way you can get out?

[lastfeather]

No. Trust me, I've looked through this entire damn thing.

Anything I try will either end with me losing everything I own then get shot in the head, or lose a gigantic chunk of everything I own and barely be able to scrape by.

Unless something happens to force another reorganization of the Ark, I'm stuck.

[gudbye_despair]

*someone tripped upon the rolling Ryou, and a giant knife falls down and stabbed the floor a few centimeters from Ryou's face.*

Whoops, sorry.

[lastfeather]

[There's a sharp breath from Ryou as he rolled AWAY from the giant knife.]

F-

[He gets back to his feet and gives Elena a rather flat look.]

What.

[gudbye_despair]

Don't roll around on the floor. Somebody might got tripped and got hurt.

[lastfeather]

Yeaah.. I think I just noticed that...

Do I even want to know what you were doing with that?

[Ryou was sloooowly going to look at the Knife, then at Elena... veeery carefully.]

1

[alwaysmyturn]

[Sup Ryou. There's a girl taking a look at that message.]

What do we have here? It looks super-duper official, and the guy's one of those rival types by the sound of it...

[The only thing that's clearly off is the grown man rolling on the ground nearby.]

Shouldn't you, you know, be excited about this?

[lastfeather]

No. I shouldn't.

[Ryou's words were hissed out like a vampire reacting to a cross. He's getting back to his feet, still looking severely frustrated by the contents of the message.]

The arena is downright the worst place to be for me. Politics, Audiences, Betting Rings that would go hunting for blood, Having to pull my punches in a fight... and worst of all if I fight the guy you slapped that 'Rival type' label on, he'll just keep hounding me for another damn fight like he's got something to prove.

[alwaysmyturn]

That's the point of a rival character, isn't it? Like any recurring boss, it's so that you get to eventually face each other in an epic life-and-death battle!

...Complicated coliseum settings like that make it tough though.

[lastfeather]

Hah. I wouldn't call any battle with this scrub epic.

And honestly, I don't care much for complications. Regular fights are simple enough.

1

[gurrenbrigbonded]

Have Matthew reading over you shoulder and chortling at your anguish.

"Intriguing!" He says out loud with false cheer. "Back in the Inner Sphere, they have a decadent entertainment world called Solaris XII, where gladiatorial matches like this occur all the time! If you trained really hard in dezgra fighting techniques, perhaps you could win the championship there!"

Re: 1

[lastfeather]

... I dislike you with great intensity right now.

[Ryou's tone was distinctively arctic as he got to his feet.]

When a Raven fights, we should never pull our punches. We fight to survive, to thrive. This-... This is unnatural. You don't fight to entertain the masses!

You don't involve politics or some kind of bloody heirachy jockeying into battle! And bunch of idiots who can profit from the outcome shouldn't be able to decide it-

[The Raven stops before he could get into a tirade of denouncing the whole concept of Arena battles when he realized EXACTLY what he was sounding like.]

Damnit. I'm starting to sound like you.

Imagine him sounding like Joji Nakata here...

[gurrenbrigbonded]

"Rejoice, Mercenary!" Matthew says, spreading his hands wide and smiling beautifically. "You begin to comprehend the ways of honor."

He frowns. "Zelibriggen aside, why do you not simply refuse this assignment?"

1

[zaku_for_xmas]

"Hey!" Bernie, like the greenhorn that he is, rushes up to the panicking looking Ryou, and grabbing his arms.

"Are you OK?!"

[lastfeather]

[Ryou twitched a little, then slumped miserably.]

No. I'm not.

[His answer was pretty miserable here.]

[zaku_for_xmas]

"W..what's wrong?"

2) (All Spectation Tags go here.)

[lastfeather]

[With that the Oracle is tearing into a blaze of action, letting loose several missiles as the large laser blade on its left hand charged with energy in preperation for a slash...]

[Ryou however was not having any of this showboating nonsense. The Nevermore raised both its machineguns and unleashed a massive barrage of bullets - the Anti-Missile System kicking in as well. Needless to say Evangel's opening gambit was effectively foiled in the least spectacular way ever - and the pilot of the Blue AC had to quickly pull away to avoid getting torn apart by a hail of bullets.]

[Yeah. Ryou doesn't really seem to care very much here and a lot of the audience is just booing him as Nevermore just WALKED across the Arena, throwing the occasional shot at Evangel who was making all sorts of manuevers across the battleground.]

[azure_savior]

[Yeah, Josh has a good idea of what Ryou's going for, and even if the crowd is hating it, he can't help but grin.]

Well that's one way to rebel.

[hobo_lantern]

*There's at least one person who's cheering him though*

Wooo! Go Ryou!

*Herb is holding a banner with Epimetheus.*

Come on, anyone want to buy a banner? A streamer? A tiny flag for Ryou?