This. Friendships are a great thing via electronic means (internet forums and the like), when everyone is straightforward to the extent that privacy can justify. Personally when it comes to friendships via forums, I could care less if someone is hiding their gender, and, though not so much as gender, if they're withholding their age from others. All that really matters is that they are able to intelligently interact, and show at least some level of respect and courtesy. I've made a good handful of friends via forums. I value the times I've interacted with them, and the creativity they opened my eyes to. But could I live my life without them? Yes. When it comes down to it, I don't see my online friendships as being nearly as potent as the ones I physically maintain with people I've met in person. My friends from school, and other from other activities outside of school, are, by all means, on a higher pedestal than the ones that I've made online and never met in person. If I were to meet an online friend in person, and spend time with them, then the depth and value I hold that friendship to would become greater. When it comes down it, those people I've met and been friends with in person will be more likely to remember me ten years from now than an alias I met on a forum. My life, and presence will, I believe, always mean more to that in person friend than it will to the person who's only face is a pixel-made graphic. And I say the same in regards to romantic relations. The potency just isn't there when you try to forge and maintain one over the internet. Am I saying that you can't try and pull it off? Of course not. But when it comes down to it, I think that there's far less meaning behind that sort of romance and one that is forged and maintained in person, and sees a regular physical contact. Personally, I would never romantically pursue someone that I wouldn't be able to spend time with in person.
I can see what Jayn is saying, and I agree with it. Sometimes, emotions can be blocked out by the mind over time. And sometimes, they can even be fostered under the surface of our knowledge, in the subconscious, and only be called out by something that happens either consciously or subconsciously. Fear is probably the most likely of culprits as a "hidden" emotion. We repress memories of things that frightened us (sometimes at a greater, other times a lesser, extent), and we fall to an unawareness of our own fears. Those fears only surface again when we're pushed into a situation in which we need to face those fears in some way.
”Of course. I’d like noting better.” Adrian made his leave, providing Mixt a gentle bow of his head as a paring gift. It wasn’t a common event for Adrian to exchange pleasantries, not to that extent anyways; it was his commitment to put on as thick a mask as he could, to avoid being forcibly removed from the tournament running. He was certain that his natural animosity towards strangers had cut through every layer of his interactions with the two people. From his narrowed gaze at the hooded man, to the masked lack of true respect for the host, his disposition was evident, even if not addressed in earnest. Fortunately for him, they had chosen not to chastise his lack of formality, perhaps as a reward for his attempt to show honest courtesy. He stepped out of the hallway from the throne room into the corridor the young woman had almost floored him moments before. Yet he arrived there only to have forgotten precisely what direction he had come from. Stopping to backtrack his path, the images of his walk played through his mind in an overhead view. He turned right after the spiral staircase, and then headed down the corridor. That was where the young woman had run passed him, almost running him down. And then the hallway into the throne room had been to his right when he arrived there. “So then… that’s right.” He walked down the hallway to his left, wondering where the young woman had gone, and if she was even in the mood to “get to know” her opponents-to-be. “Maybe someone else would be better to start with, but then, I’ve yet to see any of the others.” He thought about it for a moment. It seemed that the woman, whose rush had had him intrigued for one reason or another had stowed away someplace well out of the way of others. He wanted to meet his competition, but not so desperately as to go chasing them around the entire arena complex, or the city around it either. Once more, he backtracked his path, returning to the hallway just outside of the throne area. He would meet with the man who had been so impatient with him moments before. He had some bark, but it was left to debate whether or not the man had the bite to match it. Adrian was determined to find out first had, one way or another. And thus, he awaited the warrior’s exit from the throne.
Firekeyblade Spoiler At my first read through of your post, it felt like you had compressed a lot into the short span allotted by the challenge; that you might have overflowed it. But I read it a second time and realized that the job was better done than that. Part of the reason for the initial impression though was the use of a single paragraph. To echo my colleague’s sentiments, you could have gotten away with separating it into two different paragraphs depicting Angel’s perceptions and initial thoughts and the actual process and thoughts of having jumped from the plane. I’d say that the line for the guide could have also been kept on it’s own without being too much of a deviation from the challenge. There were positive things all around. Outside of having compressed things into one paragraph, you stayed well within the confines of the challenge. You’re formatting choice in colors worked well. Your reason for having your character in the plane jumping situation was simple, commonplace, and for those reasons, effective and believable. There was a good point of tension that solidified Angel’s “first time skydiving,” when she didn’t remember how to open it, making it all the more believable. It also acted as a good point of suspense; not only was I left, for the moment, unsure whether she would remember how to open the parachute, but also whether it would actually open when she did. P Spoiler A rather entertaining post, and certainly a creative way to go with the challenge with the character you used. I actually would have expected you to use Faust again for this one. So in the use of KHV-Tan, you surprised me immensely. Using a toy plane was a spark of creativity, albeit being expected in retrospect. I liked the way you wrote the imagery for the character at the start of the post. What follows really brings her small size into a sharp perspective (a pond becomes an ocean, and what I can only assume is a lawn space becomes a large field). It was especially interesting in the fact that it seemed like KHV was, in a sense, under the understanding that she was truly flying the plane herself, unaware that it was being controlled via remote with Faust. The use of Faust as a more secondary character in this post was done well. He didn’t have all that much ‘screen time’ as it were. But he maintained a subtle yet powerful presence as an antagonistic character. I find myself being put off by the character, which in terms attracts me to read posts for him. I think his manipulative nature and KHV-tan’s somewhat naïve qualities make for an entertaining chemistry, especially as of this round’s posts. Miss Me Ni Meinai Spoiler Again, you’ve put out a creative piece of work, and put your own unique twist onto the challenge. You’ve addressed the situation on the whole in an effective manner, though the realism behind it comes off as a bit tainted. I feel that you’ve pressed your luck a bit with the post’s length, and with some certainty, pushed it in terms of fulfilling the criteria of “getting the point across.” The post I’m reading seems to be missing a fair amount of detail, as far as the history is concerned. The challenge was to get the point across with a short post, which generally works best by using simple situations. The situation you’ve presented just seems like it has a lot of complexities that would have been involved in leading to that point, complexities that aren’t really touched up. Why was Nikki kidnapped? Was it random, or plotted out? What is it she was helping the criminals achieve with this “errand?” Those were some of the big questions that I had to ask myself. So in a clearer explanation, I felt that the post needed a bit more information to really hold together. Midnight Star Spoiler You made an interesting and welcome decision to have your character NOT be so frightened, as much as determined to make the jump. It was also a bold move to not have the parachute work on the first few pulls of the cord, which gave the post a good level of tension and uncertainty. If there’s really one thing that I have to say that I can’t quite get into about the post, it is that it doesn’t seem to correlate too smoothly with the character’s defined personality. I understand that her “shut in” sort of nature is one that is stayed by a rather vicarious inner fire. However, I feel that such a personality is one that requires more brooding time. The post could have used just a touch more to cover her having come out to take such a big step, I feel, in order for it to come off as more natural to the character. Marushi Spoiler I can definitely see that you had to cut a bit or more out of the beginnings of your post. But it doesn’t break the post as much as you might think it does. Though I will say that you could have made a few minor tweaks to help it hold more substantially as its own post in its entirety. Regardless, it’s pretty good the way it is. The situation is believable, if not commonplace, so it comes off as somewhat realistic (the only issue is that you don’t typically have parachutes on your average airliner, which seems to be where Tatsuo is). You also could have gotten away with reworking the spacing and paragraph organization just a little bit. The line by the terrorist could have been placed on its own, and then the rest of the post after that would have worked as its own paragraph as well. FuzzyBlueLights Spoiler There were some good parts to your post. It was a real world sort of situation, so very easy to imagine and get into. It was light-hearted, which has been a point of uniqueness in this challenge proper, yet still maintained a sense of nervousness coming from the primary character of the post. There were some awkwardly written passages in the post though, which is the main point on which I’d have to call you out. Mostly, they’re fragments, places where the post would have been clearer if you had used commas instead of periods. The big place where that is evident is in your first paragraph, starting with “But a plan(e),” and ending with “would work,” which would have had a better flow if you had just made it one sentence. I feel that you really didn’t address the actual falling part as well as you could have to satisfy the situation, which gave it a bit of an incomplete feel as far as the challenge is concerned. Britishism Spoiler Short and sweet indeed, I would say. The situation you created out of the challenge is quite unique in a few ways. For one, you’ve taken the element of nerves and fear of jumping and weaved it into a greater, and deeper fear, giving it that extra touch of personality, and a quality of character development from beginning to end; there’s that sense that maybe this post marks a turning point in your character’s life/mindset. And it also added a good flare of meaning in that the character was undergoing this ordeal for the sake of another, and a promise that was made. There were just a few points where the writing itself could have been better. The sentence “obsessed with the sky,” would have been well off being omitted from the post. “The second she pulls the cord, she’ll cheat death,” broke from the past tense of the post, albeit briefly, and the sentence that followed it would have worked more smoothly with an “,and” put in between the two, rather than a period. Ace Sukebe Spoiler Creatively, you’ve done a good job with your post. The use of music mentioned throughout gave a mood setting, especially since the songs are pretty recognizable by title alone. The personas of both of your characters are illustrated pretty clearly through the situation. Though I must say that it seemed over the top on Ruby’s part, since, in her profile, she doesn’t come off as sinister as to just send someone off to her death (more so someone who liked to see people in pain); then, I can’t rule out the parachute as being there to achieve that very end. I feel that a certain sense of realism was lost in the events leading up to Chyeze jumping. It seems like the plane would have already entered into a nosedive be the time Chyeze had gotten to his parachute, which would have made it all the more difficult for him to abandon the crash.
I think my clumsy fingers on my iPhone may have lead to my posting a suggestion for RP Idol onto RP help and suggestions.
Ive been waiting for Loce to post, so I could actually have Adrian find her somewhere.
So..... no tournament then?
All of my critiques are ready. I notice not all of the judges critiqued all of the contestants though.
My body is telling me that I am tired right now. I'm putting my vow that the rest of my critiques will be finished and up as soon as I've gotten some rest. For now, here's the ones I've been able to get done. I hope I've given good enough feedback so far. Terra254 Spoiler There’s not much I have to say right now that hasn’t already been said in regard to your post. The spacing is the big issue here, as the other judges have said. Pretty much all punctuation marks need to be followed by a space before the next word begins (your commas, periods, etc.). In addition, for the future, try to space things out between dialogues and thoughts. For example, you have several spots where you’re switching between characters’ dialogues where their words are literally right next to each other, like: “He said” “she said.” Just remember that when a new person is talking is a place to begin a new line in the post. In addition to that, just remember to include quotations, something you forgot to do in a few places. Using different colors & fonts for distinguishing between characters and such. But you’ve really overdone it here. There’s really no need to change fonts and colors for single words, and on the whole it’s unnecessary to have as many different colors as you’ve got in the post. For the most part, it’s not worth having that sort of formatting in this case, as spacing can always take care of everything there. For the most part, that’s as far as it goes as far as actual mechanical mistakes. Overall, I see a strong effort into the post. There are good speaking parts in the post. However, some big parts of RPing are action and introspective for the characters. The actions and thoughts/feelings of your characters are certainly points to work on in the future when and where possible. Again, as I said before, there was definitely effort in the post. All I would say you really need to do is take more time with it when you can. Kee your drive and you’ll get there eventually. Firekeyblade Spoiler Mechanically, and from a presentation standpoint, the post is quite strong. There only a few minor things that standout as being problematic in any sort of way. The first of those things is the lengthy paragraphs. It’s not to say that a long post is a bad thing; but your paragraphs, to me at least, seem to have the beginnings of a “wall of text” look and feel, which make a post a bit frustrating to focus on and read through. There is at least one spot I know of off the bat where a new paragraph could have been started to a good effect: Where Andrew thinks ‘yikes’ would make for a good start to a new paragraph, and help to avoid creating such a wall of text sort of post. Something I think you did very well was explaining the history behind the events that preceded the chase scene. However, on that same note, I feel that you put a bit too much effort into the why of it explaining that history. As a result, your explanation of the events of the chase in the present moment seemed to suffer to a similar extent. That is to say, the chase scene could have been a bit more elaborate in terms of what might have happened along the way (i.e. any obstructions the characters might have run into along the way). But overall, it was a good post, and an enjoyable read. Britishism Spoiler *Gasps* Despite that you effectively interacted with a character of another person (which is of course, against the rules), you’ve put out a very strong post. As stated previously by my fellow judges, you do have a bit more of a novel writing sort of approach to it, but on the whole it works. Also, of course, the markings you used to split the post aren’t entirely necessary, as an extra space between the paragraphs. And actually, on my read through of it, they gave the piece a fragmented feel, like I was being sent through different, albeit related scenes, as opposed to just one solid flow of events. Not that it’s particularly bad (in fact you made it work), but it certainly affected the fluidity, and it’s something that might not work for all readers. One thing that I think you could have actually done without was the final paragraph of Jen in the hospital. While the rest of the post is divided up, the pieces are still linked with the common events. The last paragraph doesn’t seem to fit entirely into that. It’s sort of like you’re starting something different, like starting a new chapter in the story, but that that chapter is really just a short bit of follow up. It just seems to me that it would have been better off if it was the beginning of another post entirely, or it’s own post entirely. In conclusion though, your writing is very strong, and your story telling mature. Valhallavator was indeed a clever word and worth a merit of humor and witty wordplay. You displayed a very fine attention to detail, and a good balance between dialogue and the actions of your characters (actions of course being rather key in a situation like this one. Good work. Midnight Star Spoiler There’s plenty of good stuff in this post. Your color schemes worked well, being visible, but not terribly overbearing. Though, after a while of reading, the teal coloring can get pretty painful to the eyes. Not really bad, but try to find the softer colors anyways. The paragraphs are spaced out well so it doesn’t look very clumped and annoying to read through. An interesting choice you made compared to some others is that of not having your characters fight, but rather choose to flee.. The one thing I can really point out about it that’s not really hitting (from where I’m standing) is Iona’s presence. It would have been good to see her get a little more written out as far as her fleeing the Viking with Ryan. Miss Me Ni Mienai Spoiler An interesting take on the situation, to say the very least, and certainly with its spark of originality. It does a good job with setting the environment of the event, and has a unique flare in that effect. Though it was certainly made for the sake of a horror sort of display, you also did a fair job putting a bit of a comedic twist (albeit darkly so), with the Viking’s lack of balance and control running into the wall. Your color-coding choices worked well against the forum skin without being hard on the eyes. The paragraphs were spaced well, and at that, done so consistently. There are really only two things that I can majorly call out from the post. The first is to do with your color-coding. It would be best to avoid switching between colors too quickly. If you’ve got a paragraph that covers all of your characters, then just leave the color at the joint coloring (in your case, the off white color). The other is more of writing thing. In your first paragraph for Nikki, the use of the ‘huffs’ and ‘wheeze’ and the like comes off as bit shaky from a writing standpoint. A more mechanically stable way to indicate her shortness of breath might have been to use ellipsis (…) or dashes between her words, and then, as you did, explain that she was out of breath after the fact. master of keyblades Spoiler So I’ll start wit the not so good things here. On a not so serious note, there are a few errors in the writing. Namely, there was a minor spelling error in saying “closet room” rather than “closest room.” A bit more serious of an ‘error’ is in your second paragraph, with “pulling him away from the wall as best as she could.” At that spot, the wording is just a bit awkward, and diminishes a bit from the overall flow of the post. Your coloring to the text works for the default skin, though the dark gray works less well. It seems that you really rushed the events of the Viking chase with your post too; it didn’t really seem to be given the time to develop and build in tension, and seemed over before a lot happened. To that effect, it seemed like it wasn’t really all that important an event, just some random aside that might not have fit into a larger scheme of events as much more than random instance. Otherwise, it was a good bit of work. The spacing was, of course, done well in typical RP/writing manner. Marushi Spoiler The first and clearest thing that I’m seeing as a bit of a problem you’re your post is the spacing. Your paragraphs, the last two specifically, are overbearingly long, making them essential wall-of-text, which get bothersome to read through. Clear spaces to put space between paragraphs/text blocks are when a new person begins speaking. Otherwise, you’d do well to space out different paragraphs on the basis of where things seem to transition. For example, when you have “Laughing, the freak reached out and punched him,” would be an excellent point to have a separate paragraph, as it takes account for a different character. Outside of spacing issues, you did a good job with the post. The events were paced relatively well, and the conflict with the Viking was achieved with a fair amount of build up. In terms of presentation, you chose some pretty good working colors; the only one that really didn’t go over too well was the red, which was sort of hard to read, though less so since it wasn’t very prevalent in the post. P Spoiler The majority of your post gives a strong showing. There’s a lot of energy present within it. I could really see Faust’s cutthroat personality filtering through in his actions, and you also did reasonably well in keeping him true to his age; the character just felt very alive within the post. You made an interesting and seriously unique choice giving it less of a horror flick sort of scene with the Viking, and more of an action-adventure, like Pirates of the Caribbean in some ways, with the nautical setting. Visually, the world itself came alive as much so as the character did, even though you didn’t spend much time describing it. The things that I would like to point out though that detracted somewhat from the post were a lack of presence for your second character, and the four day time lapse. Your second character doesn’t seem to slide well into the formula. She just sort of appears first as a caged creature of some sort, and it seems she just magically gets into Faust’s pocket without any real how or why. And her presence is a bit too minimal; you could have at least outline their first conversation, maybe explaining when KHV-tan stowed away on Faust’s person. As for the time lapse, I feel that it doesn’t really work for the post as something that would be seen in an RP is all, since in most RP settings, doing so would result, likely, into a full RP time skip, which generally isn’t very friendly to do to people (unless it was planned for). Tummer Spoiler There’s really not much I can think of to point out about this post. It is pretty solid on the whole. What I find interesting about it is that the Viking doesn’t actually have a lot of “screen time” so to speak. Yet in the long run, this works wonders for the post regardless. The sense of urgency is there with a ‘no looking’ back attitude displayed in the characters. The largely unseen presence of the Viking makes for a pretty edgy atmosphere, and very creative post. I’ve said it many times today, but your post is presented very well. Spacing is organized and consistent. I notice that you’ve chosen to minimize the use of alternative colors, which is a different, but good call, as it means that the majority of the post will default to something that can be read on all forum skins. The only thing I’d have avoided was the red and pink colors for the dialogue, as those could get hard to read. It’s not too bad though, since it’s very minimal. FuzzyBlueLights Spoiler It’s a more than decent presentation, and certainly an entertaining one. Your spacing was smooth and organized between paragraphs. For the most part, your choices in color-coding were considerate, though maybe a bit loud. The blue color isn’t the best choice as far as color. Against the darker skins, it’s pretty much blotted out by the background that it’s posted against and all but impossible to read without highlighting. I can’t say that it was necessarily bad, but it was certainly different as to how you chose to place and pace the events of the chase. Placing the event at its tail end worked, mostly because it was pretty easy to infer from the rest of the post how the chase itself had gone before reaching the end. The placement of your post in the chain of events actually gave it a lighter, more relieved feel, as opposed to one of tension and fear. I’ve said it to a few others, and I’ll say it to you too, the ending of your post some dilutes from its possible value in an RP, mainly because it skips a rather large increment of time which could adversely effect things. Ace Sukebe Spoiler Alright. There’s definitely a large amount of effort in this post, and it certainly goes through a lot from beginning to end. I can see a reason to despise both characters; Chyeze for his apparent sole interest in impressing the girl, and Ruby for her apparent selfishness for the material (as displayed in the post of course). The inborn tensions between the two, and their inevitable arguing make them pretty interesting to read. I can definitely see an interesting weaving of betrayals made between the two. Unfortunately there are some things that need to be called out in terms of presentation and post content. Spacing was a slight issue. Writing-wise, it generally looks more professional to use switching between character dialogues as a point of changing paragraph (and I base this comment on the way I see books written). Your color choices were OK, being a little on the dark side against the default skin (which is black in color). Also, I feel the value of your cliffhanger at the end (with the Viking pulling himself up) is lessened by the fact that he is, apparently only half a body, and certainly can’t do much harm. It just doesn’t make sense to tear a person in half and have them pull up like they’re going to do something big when they should obviously just drop dead. It would have been better to just leave the guy dead and end the post like that.
It won't be that way throughout. For future rounds, if it's permissible, I'll be writing my critiques as people put up their posts, so that...
I'll most likely have everything readied by tomorrow night.
Sorry; I only just got yesterday's PMs. Some things came up IRL that I had to tackle.
You mention in the judging criteria that font coloring is judged using the default skin. Which forum skin is the default?
I typically take my time with posts, either because I'm in a creative fog, or because I really want the post to be something special; sometimes, I experience both at the same time, which makes it an even longer process. It's not uncommon for me to spend hours, to even days working a single post. I like to stew on it, kind of like writing the angry letter and holding on to it, because it might not be relevant or substantial the next day. It helps me to think about the post I'm going to make before I actually start the post, so I at least have an idea of what I want to write before I sit down to write it. Of course, I can also pump out posts in about ten to twenty minutes when it comes to faster RPs; it really does boil down to the RP's pacing in the end. If I know I'm going to be RPing with people that will be posting a lot in a short period (like twenty posts out in less than an hour on a daily basis, which I consider a fast pace), then I just type away and hope that it works out in the end (usually, I'll try to keep it from having effects on the overall plot when I do this). On the other hand, if I happen to be in an RP at a more moderated pace (around a post or two ever day or two from each RPer), then I will take a more leisurely and thoughtful approach, so as to maximize on its worth to the RP's plot to a higher degree. I've encountered this quite often, and it gets rather frustrating. As someone who likes to cap off with at least 2 paragraphs per post, I find it to be a put down when I've worked on a post for an hour, trying to make a powerful moment for my character and another, and the rest of the players have pushed out some twenty posts in short paragraphs that somehow covered the span of a massive event in an RP. It really comes down to that circumstance though. I mean, if I'm working on a big post, and I see two players going back and forth with their characters locked in a jail cell together, then I'm cool with it, since it doesn't really push the whole group forward. But when it IS a major event in an RP, like a large scale battle, or a climactic revelation (the "I am your father" sort of moments), then that's something I can't stand, simply because I had an idea for it that was blatantly unaccounted. I prefer the moderately paced RPs, where people get in their posts maybe once every two days, and then maybe three or four over the span of a weekend. It just suits my habit of spending more time on posts than the RPs that churn out forty posts a day. Most of the time, I find the that former yields stronger, more meaningful posts than the latter, as in the latter, people tend to cut corners, or take a minimalistic approach to the driving moments of the RP's progression. If I were managing an RP, I would be apt to require that people spend time working their posts together. My range of posting pace would be about a post every day or two at the shortest, to a post per week at the slowest. I haven't created an RP in a while, but my belief on that is that if you've only spent a day writing it up, then it's not ready to be unveiled. It should take at least a week to get all the bolts and screws into an RP's foundation. Personally, the deeper the RP is to go, the more time there should be plotting it out and fine tuning its presentation. I've literally had ideas sitting in my head for a year at this point that I haven't been able to get the way I'd like them to.
I'm waiting for some of the newer people to post first, so we don't get too far ahead of them. Being that this is based in the KH universe, could we, by chance, set a few boundaries on time-based magic (like "stop" and such)?
The hooded man had been first to speak up, and the first to take a stab at Adrian. The frustration in the man's voice was certain, but the young warrior didn't particularly care for that feeling; not from someone he didn't know. He gave that man no reply in words. He merely glanced at him as though to say "hold your horses," and looked to the one known as Mixt, to whom his gaze grew more patient and honorable.* "I'm sorry," he said more respectfully bowing his head quickly. "You owe me nothing for the pleasure of my presence. You see, it wasn't your for pleasure that I came this way. I was informed that this throne room might prove a point of congregation amongst the combatants in the tournament. I would assume, based on the present company," he nodded his head towards the hooded man before continuing. "And*the one that just burst out through the halls, that my information was accurate. It is, after all, my opponents that spike my interest as of now. "But I can see now that my presence is of little consequence or favor at the moment. If you wish for me to leave, then I will more than happily do so."
A long story short, a walk through dimly lit corridors seemed to be all Adrian needed to get his head cleared. Already, a plan was forming in his mind, though only in a generalized skeleton manner. He could win the tournament; it would be easy if the rest of competition was at the same level as the people he had fought to get to the final stretch. From there, it was certain that he'd be able to pick up some material or informational means by which he could carry out his task. Once that was taken care of, he needed only a fair amount of time in which to venture. Eventually, he'd be able to backtrack to home, and follow whatever trail there was to be followed. That sounds solid, he told himself as he rounded the corner that brought him to the inner-most hall. He noticed immediately that the lighting for the hallway he had entered was more luminous and effective. The lamps that decorated the walls and ceilings were more numerous and expensive than they were elsewhere in the stadium's innards. Further down the corridor as he could see, a carpet had been placed over the floor, and two guards stood perched on either side of a small archway. Certainly that was where the host of the events would be found, if not a high-society type. If it was true that the other competitors would seek an audience with the tournament's host, then, Adrian knew, that well-kept and guarded corridor would be the place to catch one or two of them. His pace quickened as he stepped forward along the corridor. Each fall of his foot seemed to speed him up, and intensify his spirits. He wanted to see his competition, to study them, and more so know them; it would make life far less stressful down the road.* He arrived at the flanked archway, and exchanged official glances with the guards, glances that said that he was par of the event, and allotted access to places commoners weren't. Through the archway was a staircase, spiraling gently up towards an unknown destination. He lingered, and took a hesitant step forward before stopping himself to think about it. It might not have been as helpful as he thought it might be to meet wry the others in a place other than a battleground. What was there to see in place where fights weren't apt to break out? "You going up there or not?" one of the guards snapped. "Yeah... I suspect I will," Adrian said coolly. He proceeded through the archway, and up the spiraling stairs up to a second floor level. Looking to the left and right, he proceeded to walk in the latter direction down the hallway towards an opening that seemed, by the light comic through it, to lead out to his destination. He kept walking, and albeit being nearly run down by a frantic young woman, made his way to the throne area, where the man he recognized as the tournament host accompanied by a masculine figure adorned in a black hooded coat. "Seems this is a popular place," he muttered.
Still grumbling his displeasures with his “long lost” brother under his breath, Adrian swept across the corridor floor, picking up the letters, however short, and stuffing them back into his pocket, less neatly than they had previously been. He leaned his back forcibly against the wall, and stood with his head bowed down. Drawing breath, he tried his best to calm his nerves down. There had to be a clue to his brother’s fate hidden somewhere in the notes he had written, some way to track him down, or at least determine that he was still alive and well. Although the last note was penned over a year ago, Adrian maintained that there had to be some way to arrange all the strips of paper into something coherent and informative. Maybe when I win this tournament, I can ask that host of ours to lead me in the right direction, he thought. No. That wouldn’t work. He’s never been to my stretch of this reality before. He wouldn’t know anything about my misadventures, outside of whatever I might have made known when I entered. But then, I could still make a request to suit the need more readily. “Hey! You there!” Adrian looked off to his right as a stern voice called from down the corridor. Fifty feet away from him stood a man dressed in a Romanesque armor, brandishing a spear in one hand, a shield in the other, and apparently holding a short sword at his waist. Despite the classically threatening aspects of the man’s appearance, Adrian let off an unconcerned air as he replied to his call. “Yeah? What is it?” he asked, not really looking at the warrior. “You’re the one that’s been making al that noise around here?” the solider questioned, and wasn’t, by any means put off by Adrian’s spitting words. “Yeah. That was me. What of it?” Adrian replied again. “There’s an infirmary just down this hallway,” the soldier said, indicating the hall he had come down. “There are people they’re trying to get some rest. They’d appreciate it if you could keep it down out here while they recuperate. Think you could do that?” “Yeah. I suspect I could. In fact, I don’t really think I can stand being in this hallway any more. You know where I can find someone else with this tournament? You important enough to know that?” Adrian hollered to the soldier, blatantly being noisy against the request. He could see the man’s face growing more stern, his glare seeming to narrow down the hall as though he’d charge down in a rage. But to Adrian’s surprise, the warrior was more adept than to charge a person on the grounds of a coax. “I do happen to have an idea where you could find others,” the warrior said in a voice of reserved anger. “You’d be best to make your way to His Majesty’s throne up in the arena. I hear that warriors enjoy getting a peak at His Majesty after successes in battles. Now get out of here, and keep your noise down so people down there can rest quietly.” The soldier then departed down the hallway, having had enough of Adrian’s button pushing. Adrian opted to do the same, departing down his corridor, in search of where “His Majesty’s” throne was. He didn’t’ quite have a bearing on the direction he needed to go in, but imagined that if he stayed in the inner halls, he’d find a staircase or something that stuck out enough as one marked for royalty.
Naturally, I'll be willing to judge outside of my own matches. How do intend to manage to actual tournament rounds? Separate threads? Or are we...
-Glitch posted same message like five times-
