[IC] - All the World's a Game

SDM

Finally reaching the gates of the vampires´ home, the fox opened the main door "Is anybody here?" she sadi outloud

The jackal walked through the hall as she was using her aura vision "Where could they put the coffin? the basement should be around here.. there, after the kitchen is the staircase" she spoke already walking towards the desired direction

"I hope she was also revived" the vixen mumbled following her partner

"Whatever," Lujuria said. "I guess I'll just... have a little fun..."

Suddenly, without warning, a snake crawled on the armor.

"And you're going to be my opening act."

That's when the snake crawled up to Isaac's face and hissed at him in a heartbeat. Lujuria chuckled a bit.



"That's pretty much true. No memories of the past. Just the important things... this is odd. But in any case, it doesn't matter."

I got up and put the helmet under my arm.

"I'm taking a load off. Wake me when we're going anywhere." I then headed off to find a room. That's when he met a strange man.

"Oh, excuse me, but have you seen a big green, armored man? I want to talk to him about something."

"John? Oh, yes. Follow me."



"yea, the kings might not like it. They especially want to talk to you, Yukari. Keep them waiting... in any case, bring the damn booze along, we don't have much time," Komachi said. She then faced John.

"Trouble? Well... depending on how the trial goes, she might have her job at stake. We're lucky if she gets off with probation. This is a serious crime that shouldn't be taken lightly. Why?...... No idea. In any case, I wouldn't get too comfortable, John. They might call you down as well."

Komachi stepped on the boat.

That's when Gerard and the strange man came along towards John.

"Hey, John. Mind if I have a word with you?" It was Huey.

Ancient City

If there was one thing Isaac was afraid of, it was needles. Ever since he saw his death in the "eye poker machine", he had been afraid of anything that functioned like a needle. As soon as Isaac saw the snake's fangs, he quickly had his helmet form over his face. He then quickly pulled the snake off of his armor and threw it away from himself. Isaac was breathing heavily over the ordeal, still trying to calm down from the snake's fangs when he finally turned around and looked at Lujuria.

"Stop that sh*t! That's not funny!", Isaac angrily said to Lujuria as he pointed at her.






John felt somewhat guilty over Shikieiki's fate. He was grateful that she allowed everyone to be revived, but didn't want her to lose her job over it. Right before John could ask Komachi a second question, Huey and Gerard walked in.

"Hey, John. Mind if I have a word with you?", Huey asked John.

"What about?", John asked Huey in a slightly curious tone.

Lujuria began laughing.

"Damn, who would've thought you didn't like snakes?"

The snake crawled back up to Lujuria.

"... it's my animal. The snake. We all have one. Gluttony, the hound, Greed the cat, Envy the Chameleon, Wrath the gorilla, Sloth the... well, you know. And me, the snake. Of course there is no pride because master lucifer is pride. Pride, the falcon. The wings fit."

((btw, I forgot to show you what Lust looks like so, uh... here))



((minus the sock puppets))



"So, John, while I was supporting the tech unit, I was doing some personal research. That's when I stumbled across this when I was doing a thorough search of the Pacific coast."

He showed John a picture of a familiar place.



"It's called MSF, or Militaire Sans Frontiers; an army without borders. It's a great place, really. There's a great living quarter, the food is phenomenal, the technology is futuristic -- to an extent -- and the combat unit is something to be very proud of. It's a neat place if you ask me. I was wondering that when all of this is over, you can come join us. You and your friends. It'll be fun. Whaddya think? What's there to lose?"

Ancient City

"It's not snakes, it's... needles...", Isaac said with the sound of dread leaking from his voice.

"I really don't like needles, so please don't do that. I had a very bad experience with that kind of stuff.", Isaac said to Lujuria in a slightly calmer tone.






John looked at the picture, then at Huey. John knew that it would be a good idea to form alliances with other Characters and organizations, but also didn't want to be bound to a particular group or faction. Now all John had to do was figure out what the MSF did. For this, John grabbed his helmet, put it on, and quickly researched the MSF. Thanks to John's enhanced reaction time, John was able to read about the MSF in a couple of seconds.

"I'll possibly join, but I need to know more about the MSF's moral code. They are a mercenary group, which means that their morals are most likely loose. Would they be willing to work for tyrants?", John calmly asked Huey.




Hearing the scientist's description of John, Six decided to follow Huey and Gerard to John's location. Six lagged behind, due to his size and inability to navigate the crowd, but he eventually reached their location. Six then waited as Huey and John talked. He would talk to John after they were finished.

Lujuria walked by Isaac.

"Relax. I won't kill ya. A man like you can handle it," she said as she ran her finger under his chin. Then, she walked off.




"Oh, heavens, no. That's what the intel team is for. Plus, we at MSF have a rather high moral code. We're practically like one giant family, brought together by the legend himself, 'Big Boss.' You have to meet him! He does so many amazing things! He took on several metal gears, survived torture on several occasions, and... Well, you'll see once we get there. Or you can look him up."

Ancient City

Isaac retracted his his helmet and watched as Lujuria walked away. Once she left, Isaac began to walk deeper into the city.

(Pain in my @ss...), Isaac thought as he continued to walk the streets of the former Hell.

As Isaac walked, he thought about his encounter with Lujuria, and how she acted towards him. From the small amount of time that they talked, Isaac could see that she might not have been entirely bad, it was just that she had the habit of toying with people. It was annoying, but at least she wasn't trying to kill him.

As Isaac walked, he happened across a bar and decided to order a drink. He needed something to take the load off of his mind. He may have been incredible for a human, but he was still only human. He was vulnerable to all the things a normal human was vulnerable to, like stress.




John took a moment to consider the offer, thinking carefully about his decision. The alliance would be needed, especially if he needed it in the future. John always knew how important Alliances were, but the Devourer highlighted that importance even more. He was curious about this "Big Boss" as well. Thanks to his helmet, John was able to quickly research "Big Boss" and found that he was a very experienced soldier. It would be interesting to meet him, which made John's decision sway closer to joining. They seemed to be a well organized group, and they carefully decided who they would work for. After the moment had passed, John gave his answer.

"Yes, but not as a full time member. I have many different things that I need to do, which means that I'm fairly busy. I won't be living there, but I'll be able to easily teleport to the base. Other than that, I don't see why not.", John said to Huey.

Huey smiled.

"That's great! Oh, and try to convince your friends to stay, too, if they would like. We should be able to find a place for them in the base. But just know that the commander, Kazuhira Miller, might put you all to work. It won't be bad. He might put you in the outer ops unit. Hey, hang on..."

Huey tried to activate the codec.

"I've failed before, but... maybe..."

Then, there came a noise. It was a faint voice.

"HUEY, IS THAT YOU?"

"Hey, Kaz. Sorry I couldn't contact you earlier. I couldn't reach you.

"NO NEED TO WORRY. THERE WAS ACTUALLY A SATELLITE USED BY THIS GROUP CALLED THE NEO-YAKUZA THAT INTERFERED WITH COMMUNICATIONS. BUT IT'S BEEN TAKEN CARE OF. DO YOU WANT A GROUP SENT TO YOUR LOCATION TO PICK YOU UP?"

"That'd be great, but bring some extra choppers. We may or may not have some friends over, and they could really help the base exponentially.

"IS THAT SO? ALRIGHT. WE'LL BE THERE IN... AN HOUR. JUST HANG TIGHT."

"Okay."

Ancient City

As Isaac sat down on a bar stool, an Oni walked over to get his order.

"Hello, what would you like?"

"I'll just take sake.", Isaac said to the bartender.

After a couple of seconds, the bartender gave Isaac a sake dish and left Isaac to his thoughts.

Isaac sat there, thinking about all that had happened, not just with the Devourer, but also with his life, his game. He had to admit, he had some of the roughest luck out of everyone at the party. He never knew his father, had an insane Unitologist for a mother, was barely able to afford college after his mother spent all the family funds on achieving a higher rank in the church, and he had to deal with the Necromorph outbreaks three times. Not only that, his girlfriend died, he went insane, got locked up in a psych ward, and was experimented on. After that, he slowly became more and more insane until he nearly gouged his own eye out with a syringe and had to fight a corrupted version of his dead girlfriend inside his mind. He got into another relationship, but due to the Marker's damage to his psyche, he couldn't move on and Ellie later left him. His house was later broken into by EarthGov and he had to fight destroy even more Markers. Along the way, he had to go to a freezing planet, Tau Volantis, and suffered from severe hypothermia. He then had to fight an entire army of Unitologists and stop them from activating a machine that would warm the planet and revive a colossal Necromorph that turned out to be the planet's moon. He failed and had to kill a Necromorph the size of the moon. He said goodbye to Elly right after they had reconciled and killed the moon-sized Necromorph. Elly thought he was dead and left him on the planet after the Necromprph fell to Tau Volantis's surface, where he was eventually transported to the real world.

Isaac took a sip from the Sake dish, then continued his trip down memory lane.

After that, things got better. He never got into another relationship because people were either wary of his psychological state and because he just didn't feel like it anymore. He picked up a job at NASA, where he developed advanced EVA suits and was eventually brought to the Pentagon, then sent to Hawaii. He met Notori and Zero along the way, but then had to fight Dante and an army of darkness-based creatures from another dimension. Everything then quickly escalated when he later heard that the Earth was going to be attacked by the Devourer and after coming to a foreign land, getting shot, stabbed, torn apart, and having the life sucked out of him, he was finally here, sitting on a bar stool, drinking his sake.

He had to admit, no normal person would have lasted as long as he did. They probably would have put a bullet in their head a long time ago. It still didn't stop Isaac from hating his past. He was strong, but he wasn't strong enough to stay sane, he wasn't strong enough to stop Lucifer, and he wasn't strong enough to move on. How could he move on after all that? Perhaps it was just as well. At least everyone else was fine and happy. They were having a good time, and if they were having a good time, then Isaac didn't have much to complain about.

After reflecting on himself, Isaac looked back down to the sake in the bowl and looked at his reflection.

(Damn, buddy. You look like sh*t.), Isaac thought as he noticed the dark circles under his eyes.

It had been three days since he had last slept, but he didn't feel like sleeping. He just felt like absorbing the atmosphere of the party and peacefully drinking his sake.

And with that thought, Isaac lifted the sake dish and took another sip.







John took his helmet back off as Huey finished the call to MSF.

"I'm not sure anybody's leaving until the party is over.", John calmly said to Huey.

From what John could see, everyone was having too much fun to even consider leaving.