Welcome to Metropolis 42

[Yami-Dokuro]

Private roleplay between me and Muser

You may post first Muser

[Muser]

The heavyhearted twin suns began to slowly set over the staggering city-territory of Metropolis 42, as if the suns themselves felt the shame of what M 42 had become and yet could do absolutely nothing to change it, except rise in the morning and set at dusk. Perhaps they rose and fell so regularly to try and bring a semblance of order to the worlds and subsequently the sprawling cities they brought a few fleeting moments of warmth to. For on the planet Hulias 4, upon which M 42 rested uncomfortably, the days only lasted a scant eight hours. The planet then spent thirty-two more hours bathed in twilight and came under the watchful eyes of its four moons. The suns themselves seemed weary of watching over Hulias 4 and its capital city of M 42, and the days were beginning to feel colder and colder as the decades slipped by.

The city-territory itself was thriving, almost akin to a vicious and dominating disease that ate away at its surroundings and grew corpulent and content with its position at the top of the food chain. From its extremely humble beginnings as a mere terra forming colony, to the industrial super titan it now was, M 42 had become the dominant city not only on Hulias 4, but in the entire planetary system. The majority of the known Universe was at war, and when they needed weapons to tear each other to shreds, or vaporize one another down to the most basic of atoms everyone came to M 42. Everyone. Factories were more numerous than housing districts, and the harsh sounds of industry rattled on throughout the day and the night, constant shifts of workers filing in and out of the different manufacturing plants and factories. Their life had become routine, their faces stained black and the rough calluses on their hands told the stories of their employment better than any words could.

Their only respite from the factories came housed within the numerous Gigantus Domes that acted as the center of each section of the massive city. There the citizens of M 42 could watch their teams battle against teams from within their own city, from the other submissive planets in their system, and even teams who traversed the vast expanses of space in-between galaxies, searching for fame and fortune in one of M 42's many tournaments. The most prominent game on M 42 had to be Usulian Rules Yallikball. It involved thirty players on each team, eight wildly coloured balls and a lot of luck. The roar of a crowd watching Uuslian Rules Yallikball made the nearby factories shake like a Class Eight Space freighter had just lifted off in the factory's bathroom facilities. Each standard Hulian year, roughly calculated at four hundred days per cycle, the High Tournament was held and was said to be the pinacle of achievements for a sporting team to earn in its career. Hundreds of teams competed each year for the title of High Champions, and the fighting was always ferocious. The High Tournament simultaneously brought out the best in all who watched and participated, and of course, also brought out the very worst.

Violence and competition made M 42 great. The blood and sacrifice of its people made it happen.

[Yami-Dokuro]

His heart throbbed as he sprinted along the playfield, sweat dampened his brow, raising his hand to wipe the sweat away his eyes widened, "SPIKE!!!" A pitch black ball was spiked down at the man but he wouldn't be hit that easily, activating his photon shielding device on his right wrist, he leaped in the air deflecting the incoming ball and grabbed ahold of the goal, a golden ball the size of a ping pong ball. Sirens blared as another goal was scored, "Red ball!! 2 Points to M 42 West." The man broke back into a sprint using his thruster boots to flip over a few defenders and stopped inches from the goal, the goalkeepers photon shield would be hard to get past but he could do it, "INCOMING!!!" He turned to see a blue ball hurtle towards him, kicking his thrusters online he flipped over the ball and kicked it towards the goalkeeper followed by the golden ball. The goalkeeper dropped his shield and grabbed the ball, quickly discarding it he tried to raise is shield in time to deflect the golden ball but it was far too late, the sirens rocked the stadium and probably the nearby factories, "GOLDEN BALL!!! M 42 WEST WIN!!!" The stadium roared with screams from fans...

The game was long over and now most of M 42 was retiring to bed, leaving the grand stadium behind him, the man walked down the streets of M 42 towards the residential district.

Steve Rubi, a star player of M 42 West and also a worker at the local Metropolis Bullets 4 U. Steve had always dreamed of being a star Yallikball player and his dream was almost fulfilled, the only thing left for him to do was to win the High Tournament but with the way the war was going it looked as if the High Tournament might be cancelled.

[Muser]

Ice cubes clinked their way into a small glass cup, followed shortly by a splash of dark brown liquid and a few drops of a similarly dark green liquid. Moments later a stylish metal rod was dipped into the liquid, stirring the coloured liquids and the ice together. The glass then stood alone, the ice cubes swirling around for a number of seconds before they slowly came to rest, bobbing silently as they floated in the liquid mixture. A pale skinned hand reached for the glass and long, slender and well manicured fingers curled around the cup, lifting it towards waiting lips. A quick tilt, and just a sip of the mixture was already trickling its way over an anxiously awaiting tongue and plummeting down the throat following it.

Elias Oakanus sat back in his lounge chair, sinking into the expensive leather upholstry and watched the game of Yallikball with thinly veiled boredom. He exhaled impatiently as the other occupants of the super suite jumped to their feet and cheered suddenly, a siren blaring loudly to announce that another goal was scored. Elias took a larger sip of his drink this time, letting the powerful alcohol slip its way down his throat. He understood perfectly the need for these spectacles of masculinity and vulgarity. The games served two purposes as far as Elias was concerned. The first was to give the unwashed and unintelligent masses of this planet, this galaxy even, a brief rest from their near thankless labours in the factories and forges in and around the city-territory. Something entertaining and shiny for them to watch, with loud noises and bright colours to distract them from their tribulations. Elias nodded politely as a man sharing the suite nudged him with his elbow, pointing towards the scoreboard. The second reason for the games, and the reason Elias sat here now, was to impress current and prospective clients. A tactic as old as the human race itself, dating back over nine millennia to ancient Earth, when the human race was just beginning to reach towards the stars.

"Oh man! Did you just see that play, Elias? Man!" The speaker, a somewhat portly man with thinning black hair and a dark moustache, came up and clapped Elias on the back, forcing Elias to sit forward and pretend to look down upon the playing field. "That Rubi is some player! There hasn't been a player like him on the West since... oh, I can't remember!" Elias just nodded and smiled politely, reaching perhaps a little too quickly for his drink. The man moved off to celebrate with a few more excited occupants of the suite and Elias was left to his drink and his impatience. The last seconds of the game seemed to tick away at an agonizingly slow pace, and when the final siren rang, Elias said his goodbyes, made arrangements to meet the clients for a meeting during the third hour of sunlight, and left the stadium.

Two hours later, and the elevator doors to his penthouse suite were sliding open, revealing a short marble hallway and two impressively large metal doors. A control panel was built into the right hand door, and Elias stepped towards it. He leaned his face in close and a small neon green laser beam scanned his right eye, and with a small adjustment, his left eye. Then Elias placed his right hand on a pad just below the scanner, and a similar green laser scanned his palm. With a loud click, the door opened slowly and a soft, pleasing metallic voice welcomed Elias Oakanus home. The door closed securely behind him with another click, as Elias stepped into his living room. Huge glass windows adorned the opposite wall, laying most of Metropolis 42 out before him. With an exhausted sigh, he stepped towards them, staring dispassionately out at the twinkling lights and the smoke and the endless sea of buildings. His wife approached him from behind and slowly slipped her arms around his waist, resting her chin on his shoulder. Her soft lips pressed themselves once to his pale neck. Her subtle perfume wafted up into his nostrils as he inhaled another breath. His hands rested gently on hers, his perpetually cold hands raising goose bumps on her smooth, bath-warmed skin.

"You smell of foreign booze and other men." She spoke softly, unable to hide the mirth in her voice. "You wouldn't happen to be cheating on me, would you, my love?" He allowed himself a small smile, the corners of his lips turning up ever so slightly. His eyes met the reflection of hers, her blue eyes the brightest lights shining upon the glass windows.

"Not today." He replied, as her hands carefully began to work on the knot of his tie. "Not today."