To Find One's Purpose

Underlying Insecurities

Since the war ended and the Frontier was liberated, the promised aid from Militia was never delivered. It caused a normal life in the Frontier to become nearly impossible. Without a way for anybody to support themselves, the survivors had no other choice but to leave their homes behind. Only the brave relocated to the Outlands.

The Outlands are a cluster of planets on the fringes of the Frontier that are untouched by war and teeming with resources and opportunities. However, life was cheap and dangerous to live there, as dangers lurk around every corner you may turn. Its pioneers, explorers, and outlaws spent their lives in an endless power struggle through the planets, which made the search for a normal life there more dangerous than it is.

Something that really brought the fun, order, and excitement back after the granted peace were the Apex Games, hosted by supposedly The Syndicate and located in the Outland planets. Those people who would fight for power and land now relocated to the new blood sport the Apex games, where legends from all around the Frontier compete for money, fame, power, and glory.

That's how it has been since a long time now. Everyone enjoys talking about and participating in the games, despite the risk that comes along with the worldly famous blood sport. Champions are starting to get recognized and feared, often avoided if seen outside the arena. One good example of that statement being the very mysterious assassin, Bloodhound. Nobody knows who they are, where they come from, only that they're participants in the Apex Games, and they're good at it. They are often seen as the champion and are a very well-known legend, including the fact that they were one of the very first to participate when the games were just opening up is what makes them so popular among the Frontier.

Before a match begins, the champions of the last game are given the option to say something that will be displayed to all spectators and participants. As a new one is being prepared, the participants simply go on to their daily lives and go back to their homes or jobs.

Well, for Elliott, the word home meant various places. Of course, if we're going by definitions here, it's his home. You know, the one where his mom lives. But that's not really the only place he calls home. To Elliott, he always considered the bar he runs his home as well.

He always loved the atmosphere a bar gives off. The welcoming vibe, a stranger listening to customers, serving them drinks, giving them a shoulder to cry on... sometimes even drinking with them when the situation's appropriate. And of course, the pretty girls. His holographic technology assists him with the drinks, cleaning, and service, while he does the talking himself. It either gets him full on turned down, or a chance. A one night chance. And it stays true to its name, as it never last long for the relationship to progress any further.

One of the more frequent customers was... peculiar, to say the least. Not someone you would find going to a bar, because, well, they aren't human. A robot, actually, that goes by the name MRVN visits the bar often when it has the time to talk to Elliott. The first time MRVN has entered the bar, it was extremely late and Elliott was just closing to go get some needed sleep. From the hour and how empty the place was, the guy's first thought was someone literally sent it to get rid of him. For whatever reason, how would he know. Maybe he wronged some mad engineer when he was drunk at another bar before. He does a lot of crazy shit when he's straight up drunk, and he doesn't even remember half of the things he could've said or done.

He was very skeptical as it sat down and ordered a drink, despite lacking the ability to even consume the drink. It turns out, as the robot started to speak, with the smiley face and very uplifting attitude and sound, this piece of metal was NOT intimidating in the slightest. In fact, it was the equivalent of a child, almost as if it was designed to be one, just in an adult body. Maybe bad design, but Elliott doubts that. It looks like it was very intentional and it was definitely purposefully designed to portray an enthusiastic, positive personality. The squared screen in his chest takes the cake, because it makes no sense for a normal robot to have a mood display, as he saw the smiley face change to a questioning one a few times as it spoke. It could be for the purpose of making it seem more human-like.