"Well...it's certainly less chaotic then the Nexus that's for sure." I muttered as I looked at the sight before me.
Honestly it looked like a mini version of the Nexus, just far less confusing if you get what I mean. There was still mayhem here and there, buildings and structures that just seemed completely out of place, environments that seem to defy the laws of physics, however it was far more orderly to put it mildly.
In fact I'd been here for about two minutes now and I hadn't seen anything explode or any buildings randomly disappear to be replaced with something else. This alone was surprising considering that in the Nexus such things were considered as normal as the appearance of rain on a stormy day.
As for how we had actually gotten here to begin with, well, that was rather simple really. Turns out that travel between the Nexus and the Outposts can be done through the same thing that you use to travel to different worlds, the Hub.
"Brain brain, brain brain brain." (,,•o•,,)
"Indeed, this place is far nicer than that barbaric and frankly unrefined mess of a place that we just came from." Gringus nodded in agreement.
"So...what now?" Iris asked as she glanced around.
"First, let's find some place to sit down so that we can make a proper plan for the day." Yennora hummed as she stepped forward taking the lead.
"Onwards!" Anna purred with her usual excitement.
"I have some time to spare before I must head off to my appointment, so I'll stick around for now." ED72 mused.
"Very good." Basil said with a grin while patting his friend on the back. "Let us be off then."
Making our way through the streets I took a moment to analyse my surroundings more thoroughly, and honestly, compared to the insanity that was the Nexus this place was almost peaceful. Yes, there was still a somewhat chaotic and physics defying feel to everything around me, sure, however it was far calmer and orderly to say the least.
In the Nexus you practically couldn't walk anywhere without seeing examples of the complete lawlessness that ruled that constantly changing realm. There was always shit getting blown up, people fighting each other in broad daylight or someone getting murdered in the middle of the street and everyone just acting like that is a completely normal everyday occurrence. Here though? I've only seen a handful of brawls break out so far and those were relatively tame compared to what I've seen in the Nexus over the rather short amount of time I've spent there.
Anyway, we eventually stopped at a small looking cafe that was off to the side of the main road. ED72 and Basil went to buy some drinks and stuff for everyone, while they did that the rest of us all started making plans for the day.
"So then, let's try and figure out where we'll be heading first." Yennora said as we sat down, the chairs we were sitting on began shifting and warping to fit our individual body shapes.
"How about we shop a bit? I'm honestly interested in what kind of stuff they sell around here." Iris was the first to make a suggestion followed by Brain.
"Brain brain, brain!" (˵ ¬ᴗ¬˵)
"You? In a dress?!" Gringus said, sounding horrified at the idea.
"I...I wouldn't mine s-some sight seeing..." Sapphire muttered, she was slowly getting better, however she was still rather skittish all things considered.
Lucius was the next to speak up, and honestly what he said peaked my interest somewhat. "I definitely want to go to the arcade, that's for sure."
"There's an arcade here?" I asked curiously, after all there was no way it was some normal average arcade, right?
"Yeah, Anna told me about it." He responded while glancing over at the feline in question.
"It's lots of fun, you can win a bunch of cool and useful prizes, you can literally enter the games and do all kinds of things depending on the game you enter." She said while scratching one of her ears with a paw. "There are literally games from all across the omniverse, so I guarantee you won't get bored."
(I wasn't much of a gamer in my past life considering that I was always moving from place to place but still, I have to admit that does sound interesting.) I thought, tapping my claws against the table we were sitting around.
"The one that's owned by Unity, right?" Decker mused, getting a nod from Anna in return. "Hmmm, haven't been there in a while..."
"Brain brain." (☆‿‿☆)
"I-it might be fun." Sapphire nodded nervously.
"What about you?" Merciless asked while looking over at me. "Is there any place that you would want to go?"
It took me a second to respond as I wasn't expecting her to suddenly ask me out of the blue like that. "Honestly, I'm fine with whatever." I muttered with a shrug.
I was just going to leave it at that before I remembered something. "I would like to check out the place you guys mentioned however, that one place owned by the breeders or whatever they're called."
"Brain brain, brain brain brain?" (•؎ •)
"No, I don't think they would appreciate you trying to eat the brains of their merchandise." Yennora mused with a slightly exasperated smile on her face.
"Brain..." (╥﹏╥)
"So then, where do we go first?" Anna asked, causing a momentary silence to fall over our little group.
(This might take a minute.) I thought as the debate began.
We did come up with something akin to a plan, we would first head around to various shops and places on our way to the arcade. Once there ED72 would separate from us to head off and get whatever business he needed doing done while the rest of us would head inside and split up somewhat, once he got back sometime later we'd figure out what to do afterwards.
Still though, even with a basic plan laid out there were a lot of things to do and see. Honestly it would more than likely take some time to get everything we wanted to do done. but that was fine really, after all we weren't exactly on a time limit. Anyway, we continued debating for a little bit longer, Yennora and Anna were arguing somewhat over which route we should take, Decker didn't seem to care much at all however, not that this was a surprise to anyone.
Overall it was going smoothly, how long that would last for was anyone's guess though. Eventually ED72 and Basil return carrying various things with them, a fact that singled the end of our little planning session for now.
"We have returned my friend!" Basil announced with a booming laugh. "And we bring snacks!"
"Yay!" Anna purred happily.
"So, have you decided upon a course of action for our temporary stay here?" ED72 asked as he sat down, it was Yennora who answered his question.
"We have, somewhat anyway." She hummed in response.
"Oh? Care to share." Basil grinned curiously.
"Well you see..."
As Yennora began to explain, my thoughts turned elsewhere. (After this trip I'll start my second expedition, I should keep a look out for anything that could help.)
(For now though let's just focus on enjoying myself...)