[Golden Voyage: Endurance Test]

''Alright maggots!''

Fantasia flinched—nearly blinking—at the biting shout that uttered from the ginger-haired man. Hoo, boy, it had been an interesting experience aboard the ship so far, and along for the adventure as well. This mysterious but well-endowed character had emerged and announced a glorious quest to the entirety of the world, she had heard; a message broadcasted to even the most forsaken lands in far reaches. Dozens had gathered here for what was dubbed the Golden Voyage, where began the quest of heroes. It was new and exciting and had adrenaline coursing through her veins, and with it a chance to become a true hero. Along the way, though, there were certain 'minigames' created to test the capabilities of such heroes, including Fantasia herself. Today she—among a few others—would be participating in the Endurance Test, where victory could be claimed of course by lasting the longest. So here she was, glancing blankly to the side to her new compatriots, and then back at the aggressor, all of whom were currently nameless to her. There had been an announcement made by the golden-haired Captain of this voyage, but in it never were any of the names of the crew members spoken. That was the crux of it all though, wasn't it? If she succeeded in this grandiose mission, then her name would be worth mentioning, and she would only then be recognized. Until then, she remained but a stranger to the rest, and vice versa.

''You are here for the endurance test. I will be your aggressor today...''

The room was beautiful, a hall fit for kings and queens. There was so much space from one wall to the other, enough to fit her entire house into, but that was perhaps the point it was chosen? The floor was smooth and glossy, clicking every time her shoe tapped against it. Fantasia thought it was marble, though she wasn't an expert on architecture or whatever materials were used to build floors. Fantasia's oceanic blue eyes shifted up towards the ceiling that was also quite shiny, though the sheen was masked by... something to keep it from being too distracting. The walls were quite different, made of metal as most ships tended to be, though lackluster and failing to reflect light well. It was no matter since a lot of the wall was covered up with magnificent paintings and multiple banners. There was an over-arching theme of the color gold here, though whoever designed the place was tasteful enough to thrown in splashes of red and purple, brown and blue, tinges of silver. The little girl of humble origins had only before lived in streets of grime and smoke, rusty buildings surrounding her. When she had first entered this room, it was no surprise the gasp that left her lips, but even still, now that they were beginning to prepare for the Endurance test the awe was still present about her. It shone through her eyes, her curious wandering eyes.

''...Now before we start does anyone have ANY questions?''

Fantasia's hand shot up faster than wildfire, looking like a little kid in preschool waiting to be picked to answer. Realizing the childishness of this action with the judging eyes of others on her, it slowly fell down. She did not, however, keep her silence, opening her lips to speak. ''P-Poison? Have we been injected with poison when we weren't looking? When did that happen? We don't... remember that.'' Very valid questions, indeed, for she couldn't recall something like that ever having happened. Even in retrospect there was not a point in time while she was aboard the ship that it could have been sneaked into her blood stream. She had not fallen asleep, eaten anything, drunk anything, or so much as touched anyone. Perhaps she just misunderstood this man wrong, or maybe they were mind games trying to catch them off guard... to which Fantasia would be impressed! Irregardless, she was ready for this to begin. She felt the comforting weight of her body-sized Claymore hanging on her back, while her plain but elegant cloak wrapped around her body. She was a teenage girl only just arriving toward her sixteenth birthday, and there was no other person in this room who looked more innocent than her, with her unblemished skin and clean blonde hair. But one could not let themselves be fooled, for Fantasia was much stronger than she appeared to be. When it came to a test of endurance, she would be sure to test the mettle of others.

Ship life... Something that seemed to be glorious due to cruise lines, however, it wasn't always fun and games when it came to ship life. Being one of the deck hands of the boat Obzedat found himself doing the oddest tasks in order to earn his stay within the ship. Though, he wasn't too sure if any of this was mandatory or not, as he was just told to do so by someone and just started doing it. Such a gullible fellow he was, but either way it occupied his free time and kept him from pointless gibber with his other shipmates. Whom all seemed to be rather interesting characters, however his inability to speak English correctly kept him at his socially awkward state.

To go along with all of his daily tasks, Obzedat had also found out something about himself he didn't think would occur. Sea sickness. Yes, that's right on this large ship he was still able to somehow muster up enough saliva in his mouth to make himself nauseous. He had went to the medical bay to receive a patch to place behind his ear, but it turned out that they hadn't received any on their shipment. That or once again someone was just fucking with him and took nothing of it. Either way, his daily meals were all plastered along side the hull. It's not exactly something he would admit, however. Sadly enough the common cure for sea sickness just so happened to be something he was allergic to as well... As a matter of fact, the only thing that he was allergic to, olives. Someone had told him that if he was to eat olives it would dry his mouth a remove the nausea that was imbued into his stomach. However, the headaches would remain, but that was a common occurrence for the dim-witted Obzedat. Always being confused by what was going on around him.

When he came aboard the ship he was informed of several events that would be taking part on the boat, but only one was able to catch his eye: The Endurance Test. Though, he didn't know the exact details to the test he figured it would have something to do with durability and willpower. Two things he knew he had plenty of. However, with his nausea it might even set him back a bit. As of right now he was fine as he had taken a few minutes to force himself to throw up and then stare at the horizon for about an hour before coming to the event, this resulted in him arriving just a minute late.

Obzedat entered the space where the event would be held, which was actually rather nice and was unvisited by Obzedat as of yet. It made him think of how he was going to be have to clean all of these flipping floors after. Which was somewhat of a turn off for him, but at least it would dwindle his time down on this god-forsaken boat. As he walked toward the group he heard the lead call everyone maggots, which to Obzedat's knowledge wasn't exactly a compliment. He raised a brow in interest of know why exactly the little man had said what he did, but decided he wouldn't react to such words. Not yet, at least. He decided he'd stand next to the small blonde-haired girl while the man continued to talk. The man went on to say that there was some sort of poison that was injected into them, but he didn't exactly recall having any injections before coming to the ship and he would have most definitely woken up if someone had done it to him in his sleep. So however it got into his veins...they were good. He finished up his little speech with asking if anyone had any questions to which he didn't exactly have a response to except for wanting to know when it would stop. However, he'd refrain from speech for the time being, he didn't want to embarrass himself right off the bat by asking a question that would soon be answered.

As for the girl it seemed that she would have a question that would seem quite relevant to what Obzedat was thinking of as it was spoke of. It seemed as though she had spoke for everyone when she had said it, which made Obzedat a little glad that she may have noticed he didn't want to speak. However, she didn't really know him so he didn't know how exactly she would know such a thing, so maybe that was just how she was. She just liked to speak for everyone, who knew...either way he was anxious to get started on this test and to have some real fun. Instead of the fun he has had while on his hands and knees scrubbing the decks of lower decks...

Someone spoke her name, causing her to blink and look over to the source of the youthful voice. She didn't announce her name, and yet apparently it was known. As she turned, it would appear as though the massive girth of a very tanned giant would obstruct her view. She had to lean forward, quite a bit, in order to catch sight of the boy with the blonde hair on the other side. Long hair for a male, vivid blue eyes, a lanky frame; this one... didn't ring a single bell in Fantasia's mind. As she met eye to eye with him, she just couldn't match the look of recognition and surprise in his expression. What came in return was just a confused face with one eyebrow raised, for she was legitimately bewildered how she managed to attract such an action from a complete stranger. As for her name, she did not remember giving it out to anyone on the cruise except for the Great Golden God Gilgamesh himself—just like she didn't remember receiving any dosage of poison—but perhaps the boy had somehow looked it up in turn. It was nothing personal honestly. Fantasia didn't mind people knowing her name, it was just that nobody really asked for it, so there wasn't really a reason to divulge the information. So to answer this Len's question: ''Yes, we're Fantasia... And we're doing smashingly, stranger! How 'bout y—''

She jumped in surprise as the harsh voice of their proctor interrupted her drivel and agitated her ear drum. The conversation between the two was swiftly brought to an end as the aggressor shouted beratement upon the Len, chastising him for his transgressions against this endurance challenge. It would seem dialogue between the individual contenders was against certain unspoken rules. Fantasia, the goodie-two-shoes that she were, would swiftly straighten up at attention for the proceedings, the visage of the other youth disappearing behind the goliath that was their reticent third member. Now left in silence, the aggressor could finally begin his test, and it would begin at the snap of his fingers: Fantasia heard something to the far side of the room where they had come in through. It was something about the door, but she did not dare look in that direction for fear that she'd be marked down for it—winning this challenge was quite the desirable outcome for her future as the World's Champion. Fantasia was much more focused on the verdant whip that formed in his hand and was held threateningly above his head for a second. A sickly-looking liquid of the same color with the consistency of syrup was slick down the length of the weapon, and dripping down onto the glorious marble floor to tarnish it. he gave the command to not move, and ever-obediently, Fantasia did not move.

Did the blonde girl's nature get in the way of allowing her to be a true hero? Was the fact that she was so forgetful, oblivious, and naive a factor that prevented her from ever reaching her potential? Did it not leave something to be desired for a champion of justice? Such questions never crossed Fantasia's mind as the thorn-covered whip cracked against her. She was repeatedly struck until the weapon completely severed her black cloak in half. It revealed newly-formed wounds on her bare arms, where blood flowed out and poison seeped in—she did not flinch from the sting of the assault, but her left eye was slowly twitching closed as more and more of the vicious contaminant entered her circulatory system. Thankfully, her body armor protected her torso and caused the whip to simply bounce off before it could create an even worse injury. But still... for as much physical endurance that Fantasia had, she had no special resistance against poison, and so it was already beginning to bother her. In reality though, all she could do is stand and take it. If this is what was necessary to prove herself as a hero, then this is what she would endure.

A late arrival came to the scene, which slightly made Obzedat feel at ease as he wasn't too sure how he felt about just two people being in the competition. Not only that, but he most certainly didn't want to be defeated by a woman, as he decided he shouldn't under estimate the other contestants by their appearance. It something that he had learned to keep him mind from doing after the many years of fighting opponents that lacked the physical appearance of a warrior, but still held the mindset of one. He knew that a couple of nobodies wouldn't just bring themselves to such an event without knowing they had a chance to survive the longest. However, the twig-like figure that spat such distasteful words at them didn't seem to be pleased by the late arrival of the third contestant. The two contestants on each side of him seemed to know one another and tried looking to each other by peeking around the large mass that was Obzedat. He smirked at their motives for conversation as they were violently interrupted by their host in front of them.

The proctor's words were sharp and seemed to cause the girl next to him to jump slightly in surprise of his sudden eruption. He punished the late one with his words and then scolded him for being immune to poisons. Obzedat didn't exactly understand how that was something worth being scolded for or why they were being tested on their physical durability. He was expecting things to be more of a mental game, but he should have guessed that he wouldn't be right as usual. He had always sought out to think ahead of things, but it seemed that most were more intelligent that he was and were able to grasp things just a bit better. However, he wasn't stupid he just was slower than most as he was more brawn than brains. It only made sense that he would be incorrect in thinking that this would be a mental test, however he felt a little bit better about the entire thing when it came to him announcing he would be inflicting physical pain to all of them. His face was stale, nonetheless, as the words began to spew from the tiny man's lungs.

Obzedat watched as the door was sealed shut by shrubbery at the snap of his fingers and a thorn-like whip appeared in his hand. It was clear that this was going to be the extent of their pain test and Obzedat wasn't exactly keen to being whipped like some sort of peasant. However, he still kept victory in mind and endured as he was told to not move as the whip made its way to their flesh. Each slash left a scorching burn behind with it as the poison began to change the red scars on his back to an odd discoloration. However, the pain was minuet to Obzedat and he had been subject to much worse. The whip not only sliced through the skin, but the thorns dug into to his flesh and ripped it away. He didn't tense his muscles up in the least, instead he removed his upper gi from his torso and tossed the torn piece of cloth to the ground. He clinched his fists as the strikes continued on and tried to keep his mind away from turning around and grabbing the whip in his hand, pulling the boy close to him and popping his head off like a cork. Pain always brought out the dark side of him, but it also was something that he enjoyed all at the same time.

He looked to his left and to his right and figured that if they were to die here he would at least want to know their names. Turning his head to each of them and announced his name.

"Obzedat, I. You names?"

He was more afraid of the two laughing at his broken english than he was at actually being harmed more by the instigator. He hoped they didn't judge him for his lack of proper speech, or for the fact that it seemed like he was a sack of potatoes that lacked a brain. Either way, he'd set his thoughts aside once more and continue to allow the strikes leave their mark upon his body. However, in the end he might just feel dumb for asking as he wasn't listening to their prior conversation and their names could have very well been stated already.