July 20, 2022

The Kiss steps out into the gravel clearing in front of the entrance to the arena cavern. The same area when they first arrived in Wrath for the original tournament.

There's no door behind them.

They quickly enter the cavern. It's the same cavern as per usual. A slightly claustrophobic tunnel with a natural staircase downwards, lit by torches.

They hear two familiar voices up ahead.

"So, we're really doin' this, huh?"

"Yeah! Why the hell wouldn't we? It'll be fun, Lilith, trust me!"

"Nah, nah. Don't get me wrong. I don't doubt you, it's just..."

"Just what?"

There's a chuckle.

"Don't worry about it, Bel."

Cole is petting Isaac as he walks.

Luna walks ahead of the group, excited about who she just heard.

The others follow behind.

There's a slight grin out of Kade, but he continues to walk anyway. "𝜎𝘩, 𝘁𝒽𝒾𝔰'I𐌠 𝕓𝖊 𝔦ռ𝘵ҽ𝕣𝘦ꮪ𝙩𝖎𝐧𝕘."

The group exits out into the tournament cavern!

It's...

Empty, really.

There's Goliath in the back, taking up a lot of space as per usual. He looks the same as you remember. He's chatting with... someone.

A 21' ft tall albino crocodile. He seems... heavyset. Bulky, but in a "muscular with an unhealthy diet" kinda way? His scales are white, but his forearms and legs seem stained black. His eyes glow a golden yellow and his snout seems kinda.. big. Huh. Sounds familiar.

The arena pit in the center is covered by a large mass of wooden planks nailed together. It seems... sturdy enough.

On said covered pit are a couple of wooden tables. They've got a bunch of papers and pens on them. There are 4 in total.

Belphegor, wearing a more comfortable hoodie and sweatpants compared to the usual jeans and leather jacket, and Lilith, wearing her usual outfit, approach one of the tables, continuing to chat while looking everything over.

The other person in the room ALSO looks familiar! Kind of.

A 6'3, fair-skinned, and athletically muscled man with ginger hair tied back into a messy bun. His face is freckled and his face gives off a naturally worried kind of look.

He's wearing a heavy burgundy coat that drags a bit across the ground over a grey sweater. He's wearing some black, dirt-stained sweatpants as well.

On the middle finger of his right hand, he wears a brightly glowing sunset orange ring. It's as if someone set metal to be permanently white-hot.

He's alone, pen in one hand, clipboard in the other. He appears to be reading the paper repeatedly.

Aside from that? Nobody else. No other furniture. Nope.

Spider glances around. "I don't think I've ever seen the place so quiet."

Melody marvels at the people, mouth agape. "Woah.... pretty people...."

"Nice to see this place be chill for once. It's almost creepy." Luna says.

"It's a good thing I'm not as heavy as lead anymore,” Cole mutters as he looks around.

Harmonia strolls up to the table with the ginger and grabs a paper and pen, waving at the man. "Sup.”

The ginger glances at her, looking her up and down quickly before returning to the paper. "...Hello there? Who might you be? If, you're alright with me asking?" His voice sounds proper just with a hint of nervousness, or worry behind it. Also slightly British? Or Irish? Like a small bit of accent from that general area of the British Isles.

"Oh, I'm Harmonia. What's your name?" She asks, smiling a bit.

Spider shrugs to herself and walks over to where Harmonia is, just sort of hovering.

"..." The man hesitates. "Uriel, nice to meet you." He looks up from his paper and turns to Harmonia, holding out his ringed hand for a shake. "..If you want, that is. Don't feel obligated."

Harmonia shakes it. "Nice to meet you as well!"

Spider glares at Uriel.

Asphodel and Claire are deep in conversation about Homestuck lore.

The ring feels very warm on Harmonia’s skin. Like. A heated blanket kinda warmth? Max setting heated blanket, kinda burning slightly but comfortable if you're cold enough.

He shakes her hand, bringing his hand back to the clipboard right after. "So, you're here to..." He glances at Spider, seeming a bit nervous. "..Uh… Sign up with your friends for the fight, I suppose??"

Luna heads to where Belphegor and Lilith are chatting.

"Mhm!" Harmonia looks to Spider. "Stop that."

Spider flips Harmonia off, continuing to glare at Uriel.

Kade heads to the empty table to sign.

Uriel is getting visibly anxious at this point, pulling the clipboard closer to his chest. "..Ah. Uh."

"..That's, nice? I wish you well with the..." He glances around to see Spider glaring more and Luna approaching the general table area. "..I'll leave you all to the signing up." He speedwalks away from the table, going the furthest away from anyone in the cavern and sitting down to read the paper some more.

Spider growls at him as he walks past.

Harmonia sighs. "Thanks, guess I can't fucking socialize now." She grumbles, snatching a paper and pen and walking over to Lilith and Belphegor

Belphegor signs her and Lilith's paper without looking, passing it over.

"I'm honest to god really excited for this? Like. Been a damn good while since I had a nice fight!"

"Last time was, uh.." Belphegor sighs.

Lilith signs the paper as well, also not reading, and gives Belphegor a pat on the head.

"Yeah, I getcha."

"But that IS a long time, huh?" She chuckles, blowing some smoke out of her mouth. "Might've gotten rusty~"

Belphegor paps Lilith's hand away. "Oi, don't get like that! I'd fold you like a goddamn church basement tier dollar store folding chair!"

Lilith snickers. "Ok, what? The hell's that even MEAN?"

Harmonia waves. "Hi!"

Luna walks over there. "Hey, there Bel! Long time no see!"

Belphegor and Lilith look over.

Belphegor waves back at Harmonia. "Oh, hey you two!"

Lilith whistles with a chuckle, blowing out some smoke and leaning back on the table a bit. "Daaamnn, Luna. Nice outfit."

Luna struts her stuff, kinda like a model. "Thanks Lilith, it's super comfy too!"

Spider heads over to where Lilith and Belphegor are.

Cole is watching this unfold while still petting Isaac.

"Not my style, but it works on you," Lilith replies.

Claire and Asphodel are talking about the Hiveswap Act 3 leaks from SAHcon.

Kade looks at them.

"Haha, thanks," Luna is a blushy mess right now.

Claire and Asphodel are agreeing on grubscars being cool as well as the troll with the axolotl tail.

Melody walks on all fours like a wolf girl over to Goliath and stares up at him.

Goliath stares down at Melody. The crocodile does too.

"...Did someone leave the brain swapping machine on orr...?"

The crocodile's tail thumps against the ground. "I bet that one's got nice bones, eh?"

Goliath thwaps him upside the head. "Bastard. You can't talk about these ones like that, we talked about it."

He huffs, rubbing the slapped spot. "Damn, alright, alrighht... Can't get on that bot's bad side."

Melody looks at the crocodile and stands up, staring him in the eyes. "Name."

"Rham."

"You will die in-" Her voice becomes ungodly low and she says something that sounds like possessed backward speech? Then she just grins at him and tries to boop his snoot.

"..."

"..."

Rham pets her head. "Alright, kid, whatever you say."

Melody giggles. "Do you know Cerberus?"

"Closer than you'd wanna know, probably," Goliath chuckles.

Rham cackles. "CERBERUS?? One of my most loyal customers and/or providers! You know where he is?? I'd KILL to have him back! That man made me a helluvalotta money!"

"Come with me!" She grabs Rhams hand, leading him over to Cerberus.

"So what's new with you, Asphodel?" Claire asks.

"Not much. I've been busy with work lately." Asphodel replies.

"That's good. I've been busy too. I've been thinking about getting a new job."

"Really? What kind of job are you looking for?"

"I'm not really sure. I just know that I need a change. I'm tired of my current job and I need something new."

"I understand. It can be hard to find a new job, but it's definitely worth it if you're not happy with your current situation."

"Yeah, I know. I'm just not sure where to start."

"Well, if you need any help, let me know. I'm happy to help you look for a new job."

Neither of them is employed.

Melody jumps up and nearly pulls this 21' guy over to grab his hand but he's following anyway.

Cole is staring at the crocodile.

Kade/Cerb had been signing up at the empty table!

"Dad!" She calls to him

Orpheus is on his shoulders. "What's the paper say?" He's trying to read what he's signing.

Rham is grinning.

"It says-" Kade snaps up from the paper to look over at Rham and Melody with some sort of dumbfounded, emptyheaded sort of look.

Kade covers his face and with a few audible pops of bone and the sound of tearing fabric, Cerberus stands, on two legs, at a moderate size, Orpheus being able to sit on his shoulder much easier now. "ꮋΙ ꭲℌℰꮢ𝑬???"

Melody points to Rham. "He was talking about how nice my bones are!" She says, like a child tattling on a school bully.

Orpheus adjusts his spot on Cerberus's shoulder.

Rham lets go of Melody's hand. "Cerberusss! Eyyy!!!" He fuckin HUGS Cerberus! And then unhugs him, giving his back a pat.

Orpheus has to hold on to one of Cerb's heads not to get knocked off.

"It's been a while, Man! How've ya been??? Collecting em bones?? Designing new pieces?? I'm as ready as ever to take commissions!"

The head Orpheus holds onto is fluffy and comfortable.

The left gives a sheepish grin to Melody "It's probably just a joke-"

Cerberus gets Hugged! And a pat on the back, the main head giving a grin. "𝒮𝛐 it հ𝕒𝘴! 🝌⍺𝒏'𝚝 𝖘𝒶ყ 𝑖'∨℮ 𝚋𝛠𝖾𝙣 𝑐𝘰𐌠│𝖾𝒸𝓉𝑖𝖓𝓰 𝛂𝖘 m𝓪𝗻𝔶 𝓲𝖓 ꭈ𝓮𝓬𝒆𝕟𝓽, 𝑏𝗎𝚝 𝒾'١𝐼 ᖯ𝗲 𐑈ᴜꭈℯ 𝗍𝑜 𐐽ဝmm𝚒𝙨𝑠𝐢𝜊𝖓 𝔶੦ᴜ 𝕨𝓲𝘁Ꮒ α 𝕗𝟈𝗐 𝕚Ꮷеa𝓈 𝙞ռ m𝒾𝚗𝘥."

Melody gets a head pat.

"YEAHHH!!! Business aside, glad to see you again!" He FORCEFULLY shakes Cerb's hand!

Melody purrs and walks over, sitting on Cerberus’s foot. "I like my bones nonvisible. “She whispers to Kade.

Cole is still fuckin staring at this crocodile man

Cerberus fucking SHAKES IT. Strong grip. "𝓨𝞸𝝊 𝛼𝓈 𝕨𝘦۱I. 𝖶հ𝜶𝘁'ꮁ𝑒 𝞬𝒶 𝓭০𝔦𝗻' 𝓱𝜚ⲅ℮?" His foot is also warm.

Kade (the left head) whispers back "Me too."

"Advertizing! Settin up some of my goony bone golems as fodder, case Goli's got an open slot."

"You fighting? Gonna be a great tournament, I swear!" He chuckles, nudging Cerberus with his elbow and pointing towards Uriel. "'Specially with two of those guys around, if ya catch my drift, eh?"

Uriel looks up, giving a nervous look to Rham, before returning to the paper.

Melody looks up and waves at Orpheus.

Orpheus is focused on reading the paper as best he can, giving a small wave back.

Luna is still a fucking blushy ass mess. Turns out compliments are a weak point, who the hell knew?

Lilith and Belphegor are making small talk, but Lilith gives Luna a pat on the head. For fun. And Flavor. And because she's a lust demon who feeds on fluster. Smile.

And commence the blushing, odd noises, and purrs. Lilith’s gonna feed a lot off of Luna tonight.

Harmonia’s chatting with them, seemingly enjoying herself! She points to her horns. "Like the upgrades?"

"Yeah! They're fuckin pretty."

Lilith isn't paying attention to Harmonia, instead grinning smugly while petting Luna. "So, you're a fashionista? Like tryin out new styles?"

Cerberus has a big grin on his expression. "𝖶𝜊𐓶Ӏ𝒅𝓷'𝔱 m𝗶𝗌𝘀 𝙤υ𝐭 𝓸𝓃 𝗌omꬲt𝕙𝑖ոℊ ا𝐢𝓀𝖾 𝘁𝔥𝗂𝑠 𝐟ⲟⲅ ɑ𝘯𝜸𝓽𝙝ⅰ𝑛𝐠, 𝑦੦𝘶 𝐤𝙣𝘰ɯ." He looks over to face Uriel with a hum. "𝛰୦𝐡~! Т𝚠σ σϝ 𝙚m, 𝐡ս𝗁?"

Harmonia grins. "Sisyphean Abaddon is terrible but these horns are a banger addition soooo,"

"Uhhh immm y-yeahn and also emrmmm iget elemental magic in this form-,," Luna is terribly flustered, oh no...

Spider chuckles, probably worth noting that she's standing near the group.

"Only two left, after all! Bet ya can assume the other. Creepy bastard." Rham says.

Belphegor seems a bit disheartened. "Oh. I see!" She sighs, looking at the ground. "...Been thinking about him too much for my own good, haha."

Lilith chuckles. "Reallyyy~? That's nice! Bet you'd put on a good show down in Lust. There's a market for hip new clothes and accessories. Big Mall's been dying ever so slowly, It'd be nice for some revitalization in the scene! It's too..." She scoffs. "Boring, right now." She blows some smoke into the air. Pink and strawberry scented, for the unaware.

Luna’s blush intensifies. "idlove tooo,, could be funn.."

Harmonia puts a hand on Belphegor's shoulder. "We're gonna get him out, okay? He's alive, just... trapped right now."

Melody is looking at Uriel curiously.

Cole walks over to a empty table and stares at the paper, readying to forge a signature

"𝕿'm s𝞾𝙧𝛠 𝐥 𝔠𝙖𝙣 ⍺𝓼 𝑤℮١Ɩ. τ𝒉𝒶𝐭'ℓꓲ Ꮟ𝑒 𝗮𝗻 𝕚𝘯𝘁ℯᴦ𝕖s𝖙𝖎ռᶃ o𝙣𝚎!" Cerberus says to Rham.

"Rreally?? You've talked to him??" Belphegor looks up to Harmonia.

"Oh, I'd say it'd be fun for sure." Lilith chuckles, giving Luna another pat on the head. "Just ring me up whenever you're interested, Enoch's got my number, so you've got it too~"

"Definitely! God forbid you go up against 'em, might get.." Rham snickers. "Messier than usual, if you catch my drift." He leans in and whispers to Cerberus. "I've heard they can bleed fire... Weird, ain't it? We'll just have to see if it's true or not, though! ...Now, uh… I've got business to attend to. Nice talkin' to ya, Cerberus!"

He hurries over to COLE GENESONE.

Uriel is just reading his paper, fidgeting with his ring a small bit.

Harmonia nods. "He developed this... technology. Talked to us through Limbo. Hell we've even talked to Lucifer a bit..." Harmonia says quietly, hoping no ones listening in.

"𝞖𝛠𝕙𝙚𝗁, 𝗹'𝘐׀ b𝖊 𝗸𝜚ℯ𝐩𝒾𝗇𝗀 𝓽Ꮒ𝔞𝓉 Ꭵ𝗇 𝒎𝐢𝙣𝑑. 𝞃ɑ𝘬𝓮 𝒄ɑᴦꬲ! 𝔟ʋ𝖙 𝔞𝕝𝓈𝗼.." Cerberus calls out to him before he's fully out of earshot. "𝐘𝚶𐓎 Ⅾ⏽𝔇ꓠ'Т H𐊆𝘼ꮢ Տ𝑯ℑ𝝉!!"

Cole is reading the paper like a old man.

"YEAH, YEAH! PRIVATE BUSINESS IS PRIVATE, I KNOW!" Rham yells and snickers, giving a "Forget about it!" gesture to Cerberus, and SHAKES Cole Genesone's HAND

"Now HERE'S the man of the hour."

Lilith looks over to Belphegor. "They're talkin in the boomer demon language again, Bel."

Belphegor is trying to process what Harmonia said. "..yyeah, yeah. I'll translate it later. Is it... What..? How is that even possible?"

The paper is just generally about what potential harm may come to you from participating in the tournament, asking for 2 signatures on one paper. For a team.

Cole's grip is firm as he snickers and he stares this crocodile man in the eyes as best as he can.

"That's how mafia is."

Luna nods in understanding, though it's incredibly difficult with how flustered she is right now. Also, she tries to call over Spider to sign up with her, but it comes out like "sppppiiiiiiisghgshgsdefrrrr" oh god what a mess.

Spider just bursts out laughing at that, though not in a mean way.

Harmonia shrugs. "I don't know. I do know that he's alive and... not injured? Saying well would be an overstatement I think." She says.

Rham raises his eyebrow in a way that calls for a vineboom sfx.

Oh? A multilingual mafia man of surprises, eh? He cackles, patting Cole's back.

"You'll be a great business partner, Jeansone."

"W-well that's the best news I've gotten in a couple of years??!!" Belphegor replies to Harmonia.

Lilith rolls her eyes at Belphegor, instead looking at Luna with a snicker. "Cat's got your tongue or something, Lunes~?" She's having fun.

Spider chuckles to herself as she walks over to Luna and Lilith. "Yeah?"

Cole coughs slightly with the back pat. "I’m fuckin old man you can't do that to me.” He chuckles

"weesigniup?" Luna says.

"Sorry? I didn't quite catch that.” Spider grins evilly at Luna as she twitches an ear.

Harmonia smiles warmly at Belphegor. "I'm glad!"

Luna glares at Spider, knowing exactly what she's doing. And then with one word after the other, she slowly gets out "We... signing... up?" Each word was one hell of a struggle for her, turns out being pet by a pretty demon lady is a huuuuuuuuuge weakness.

Such is the life of a cat.

"If you can tear yourself away from Lilith then sure.” Spider’s still grinning.

Luna tries to release herself from Lilith, mostly cuz getting this out of the way is kind of a priority for her, even if the pets are almost too good.

Rham chuckles. High spirits tonight! "Old, eh? Never too old to get RICH!"

Belphegor is still trying to process everything.

Lilith grabs her and Bel's paper and boops Luna on the nose. "Oh, don't worry~ I'm sure you two will be seeing me in the arena." She chuckles, blowing some smoke in Spider's face with a grin. She walks off, handing her paper in to Goliath, and striking up a chat with him.

Orpheus reaches for the paper. "Cerb, a little help here..??"

Cole snickers. “Yeah, never too old to get rich! Well, richer, but you know what I mean!"

Luna's face is completely skrungled from the boop.

Cerberus lifts the paper to Orpheus's face, it's in the palm of his hand. "𐊖𝝄rr𝝲."

Kade looks over to Melody "Hm? What do you mean?"

Spider mutters something, shaking her head at Lilith as she walks away before turning to Luna. "Shall we?"

Luna nods, the blush finally retreating. "Please."

Spider heads over to the table and grabs a piece of paper, she gives it a read before writing her name down and turning to Luna. "Want me to put yours down?"

"Nah, I can do it. For the first time ever, I can actually write a last name down."

Harmonia starts writing her and Claire’s names on a paper.

Luna grabs a pen and writes Luna Grey in really nice cursive. "Much better than the last name I was supposed to get anyway."

Belphegor is just kinda standing there, arms crossed, thinking.

Lilith and Goliath chat. Uriel hands in his paper and quickly heads out of the front door (there's a flash of sunset-like fire from the tunnel soon after.)

Rham ruffles Cole's hair. "That's what I'M saying! Good thinkin, good thinkin."

"And people call me stupid smh. I have the approval of someone poorer than me.” Cole snickers.

Rham cackles. "Whaaat? You're kiddin me here, Jeansone! I'm RICH! Richest person in Wrath!"

Melody grabs a form to sign her and Asphodel up.

“Not for long, there's always a bigger wolf.” Cole threatens.

"Yeah!?" Rham takes out an INCREDIBLY LARGE TIGER SKULL... Extremely well preserved! High quality! Wow! 10/10! Limited-time offer! "You dethrone me, where'll ya get stuff like THIS, eh, hotshot?!?!"

Cole snaps and a golden large tiger skull appears in his hand. “My fingers.”

Rham drops the skull and he looks as if he'd make 47 boowomp sfx in quick succession. "I." He huffs and clears his throat. "A skilled businessman, I see! Ya know your stuff. Good! That's potential. We'll be keeping in touch, Jeansone. Very much in touch."

"Good to hear it, i will be looking forward to making an offer with you.” Cole sets the skull on the table and signs the paper, forging Isaac's signature.

"...." Isaac watches him forge it but says nothing.

Rham walks 10 paces away from Cole and disappears into a pool of Tar which materialized suddenly underneath him.

Goliath sighs. "I hate when he does that."

"𝑴mm. 𝖘١ꭎr𝞺аᏏl𝚎." Cerberus comments.

Cole takes his paper up to Goliath. "I bet you also hate it when I turn crows into Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Goliath snickers. "Nah. That shit was 𝗚𝗢𝗟𝗗!" He takes Cole's paper, looks at the signatures, then EATS it.

Lilith walks over to Belphegor and grabs her hand. They seem to be having a quiet, personal talk.

Harmonia hands Goliath her paper.

"I zoned out, where the fuck are we?" Isaac whispers to Cole.

Goliath looks at Harmonia's signatures and eats the paper.

"Good, now have you considered hiring me to be a fryer for your kitchens.” Cole then whispers to Isaac. “Oh ya'know just the Wrath ring of hell I'm kinda well known here.”

“Huh?”

Melody brings Goliath her paper too and smiles at him. "You are very terrifying."

Cerberus is trying to sign the paper in the palm of his own hand while holding it up so Orpheus can read.

Luna takes hers and Spider's signup forms over to Goliath. "Here ya go!" There's a goofy smile on her face.

"Where the hell you seeing a kitchen around here, Genesone, huh??" Goliath asks.

He snickers and eats Melody's paper after reading the signatures, giving Melody a scratch on the head with his Giant Fucking Building Sized Claw. "Awww... Thanks, Melody."

Orpheus huffs, reaching for the paper. "Gimme, I'll just sign it for us."

Goliath reads Luna and Spider's paper and eats it.

Melody giggles and purrs. "You know me??"

Cerberus hands it over to Orpheus.

“I see people. I have delusions. I see people that aren't there. A kitchen is not a long stretch, bitch.” Cole says to Goliath.

"I read your signature." Goliath replies to Melody then pokes Cole.

Goliath is poking Cole.

Orpheus signs the paper.

"Oh true." Melody tries petting Goliath’s... face? Neck? Whatever is within petting range.

Cole is poking Goliath back with a mentally demented smile.

"𐊱𝖍⍺𝙣𝑘 𝞬૦ս, 𝚋℮ﺎ๐𝓋𝞎𝘥~" Cerberus’s closest head gives Orpheus a nuzzle and purrs, while he heads over to hand the paper to Goliath.

Isaac stares at Kade and Orpheus

Orpheus blushes. "You can be so adorable for a monster who's killed more than I can count, haha.." He nuzzles back.

Goliath EATS the paper. "Never expected to see you of all people in a serious relationship, Cerb."

“Lol, lmao." Cole snickers then whispers to Isaac. “Just don't worry about it, I am literally a demon of this ring."

"Youre a demon???" Issac asks.

“Part demon yeah.”

The head purrs more in response to the nuzzle being returned. Cerberus gives a big grin in response "𝘚၀m𝝔t𝙝i𝚗𝕘 𝕟eꮃ 𝒕σ 𝚝𝒓у ໐𝔲𝓉. Ⲛ໐𝐭 𝑡𐓪 𝒎𝗲𝓃𝖙𝖎𐓪𝖓 ⍺ bеɑ𝓈𝕥 𝔦 -" He's unable to continue his sentence.

Goliath cackles.

Orpheus seems a bit puzzled, gnawing on Cerb's ear. "HEY WHAT?? No come on spit it out what were you gonna say!!!"

Cerberus gives a grin, ear flicking and pressing a muzzle against Orpheus a little. "ꬽ𝐡, 𝓷𝙤𝐭𝐡𝖎𝒏𝐠~!"

".." Orpheus huffs. "Fine!"

Melody walks back to Orpheus and Cerb and sits back on Cerb’s foot.

The heads grin and Orpheus gets a small scritch on the head. Melody gets a soft tail landed on her and she pets the tail!!

Cole strolls out of the cavern with Isaac on his shoulder still, the rest following soon after him.