Through some unimaginable feat of social engineering, the proper recreation level is even more crowded than the main space. This part has got to be the real reason for all the lines, ah'd wager. Everyone's excited for the bloodsport, sure, but what they really wanted was to come here. Can't say ah blame them either, how many times do you get the chance to go to a place that had everything you could want? For all his underhanded sleaze, Karl Jak knows two things; how to manage a wide range of folks and how to find the nooks and niches people don't even realize they're missing. If ah had the mind to go looking, ah've no doubt ah could find a restaurant that had good classic Hinterlands cooking. It'd be just about as good as being home, except right down the road would be exotic game meats fresh from the jungles of Kraw.
It takes some doing to get all of this put together, and ah've known enough Arcadian types like Karl to know that all that comes through in the price tags. Us folks who've signed up for a gruesome death get to enjoy ourselves with one of the best last meal deals you could expect in the Crossroads. There’s not a shred of doubt in my mind though, Syntech is making a killing on all the other folks who have just come here to watch the spectacle. But the crowds tell you all the story you need to know. This is the kind of place that people don't mind paying through the nose to be a part of, even if it means emptying the stash they were saving up for something practical and needed back home.
That's something ah don't think anyone gets about people, something ah know ah don't get at the least. If ah was a cold-hearted stick in the mud it'd be where ah start talking about everyone being short-sighted and fools. But ah can't help it, none of us can. We're all so convinced that we'll make it all work out in the end that we don't mind doing something we know is a little bit stupid in the meanwhile.
Ah rub a gloved hand across my face to shake myself out of my own head. That was it. No more planning about anything else besides the Abyss until this was finished. And hell, ah wasn't much of a planner when it came to these kinds of tussles to begin with. So long as ah was careful, ah could afford to enjoy myself a bit before the big show, right?
With my own flavor of optimistic idiocy, ah start to mix my way through the throngs of the comet's preshow. It’s a feast for the senses, to be sure. Sights and sounds and smells every which way you turn. It’d be enough to overload half the folks from back home ah’m sure, it’s a bit of an adjustment for me too after my stint in the hinterlands backwoods, but it feels so good to be back with people again. Ah didn’t even realize ah’d been missing it.
The sound of cheering voices and throbbing subwoofers draws me away from the main avenues of traffic, and into an open air concert of sorts. The lady on stage is wearing some kind of mask, so ah can't tell who it is, but the music is flowing and the crowd is alive! Knowing it's probably a bad idea, ah try to sidle through into the cheering masses. It's a tightly packed press of people from all over the crossroads, all caught up in the spell of music together.
Ah have to keep my wits about me, hood up and pulled forwards as well as ah can while still being able to see. Can't be affording any room for a jostle in the crowd to cause anyone to touch bare skin. Ah'm ill-suited to these sorts of cramped festivities, but arbiters, ah'd give anything not to be! There's something special about this many people all coming together in one place just for the sheer enjoyment of something. You can get caught up in the experience so completely you forget about everything else that's eating you. Crowds are when you can feel the most like you're all the same as everyone else.
There's a blur of motion in front of me and ah throw up a hand by reflex. Ah manage to catch the arm of the over-excited fellow flailing in front of me right before he hits me in the face by accident. He turns around with an angry and confused expression, but the ruddy, drunk color drains away from his face real quick when he recognizes me. Suppose it's hard to keep a low profile when your picture's being played on loop on half the screens on the comet. Ah let go of the arm and he slurs a mumbled apology.
But just like that the spell's broken. Even here in a crowd packed tighter than a barrel of monkeys, people start making space. They'll just press a little tighter against all the other normal people nearby. Don't want to get too close to the dangerous one. Before the next song starts ah turn and make my exit. Leave the crowd for everyone else. No sense in having me there to ruin the performance.
---
Ah end up at a little outdoor cafe sort of deal overlooking the venue. Ah lean over the railing, watching the crowd and the singer both, a sweet tea balanced on the railing next to me. Syntech did their research on making it right, but ah don't find myself all too interested in finishing the drink either way. The hole ah made in the crowd's been quickly filled in again, and ah'm sure everyone involved is havin' a much better time of things now that ah'm over here at a safe distance. Besides, ah can still watch the whole thing from up here.
"Wow. And here I thought she was already looking as sad as she'd get." A giggling voice says loud enough that it's definitely looking to get my attention.
Ah glance over with a scowl to see a pair of nightmares sitting at a nearby table. The girl from the lobby again, and sitting next to her, none other than Lilith of all people. A whole bunch of memories about what happened last time ah tangled with this place threaten to well up, but ah refuse to acknowledge them right now. It made a certain sort of sense that those two crazy people would know each other. The contrast between the two of them would probably be something notable to a more poetically minded sort.
"Dad gum, are you
following me, Sugah?”
"You wish." She replies with a speed that feels instinctive.
"There's a lot of people to watch besides just you." Lilith gives a smug little smirk, but what she’s finding so funny ah haven’t the foggiest.
They do have food and everything at their table. Did ah just not notice them on my way over here?
"Suppose it’s an open space,” Ah admit, a little begrudgingly, “Guess ah'm a little bit jumpy right now."
"You looked more saggy to me." The blonde girl sucks on straw between sentences. "You were all set up to give that guy down there a good takedown, but you let him get away!"
"Ah’m not exactly hankering to snag me the powers of a drunk frat boy." ah snort, then turn back to the performance, "Besides, it would've made a mess of everything. Better to keep out of the mix to begin with."
“Mm, I see. You're looking for something more appetizing to feast on." Lilith taps a finger to her lips, looking only slightly more interested than she did before, "Is that why you wandered over here?"
Part of me just wants to leave, but that’s a cowardly method to be considering before a gauntlet of conflicts. Instead ah turn to face the both of them.
"Care to explain what you mean by that one, sugah?”
“It’s obvious. You want in but you don’t belong.” she says simply.
The statement makes me want to argue with her on instinct, but she’s near bang on the mark.
“You know it’s smarter to stick to the shadows but how could you resist the temptation right there waiting?” Lilith continues lazily, though a hint of a smile peeks onto her face.
”You fit in with us better than any of them.”
“So what? Ah should go around murdering folks for the hell of it?”
“Only if you want!” Toga’s grinning now, her head propped up on her open hands, “There’s nothing quite like the Abyss to try something new.”
"It's about the only thing it's good for." Lilith nods. For the first time in the conversation, she actually looks at me directly, even leaning forwards a bit, "Nobody can hide forever."
Once again, ah can’t find any words to argue back.