Blockbuster (Erebos & +2 Open)

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Okay. Not everything Erebos did had to be cool, alright? Sometimes you need funding for your days off.

Erebos sat lazily behind the concession stand, elbow planted on the glass as his palm propped up his face. He sighed miserably, sliding a bucket of popcorn over to someone who had just finished ranting and raving about how poor his customer service was. Once he offered them a free soft drink with their popcorn, though, they changed tune quick.

Gone was his normal armored outfit. In its place was a pair of long khakis, a dull black shirt, and one of those funny red vests that people in movie theaters seemed obligated to wear. His name was emblazoned on a small gold tag over his right pec, but they'd spelled the name wrong.

Errybose? Really?

"Enjoy your movie. I hear the main guy dies at the end."

Another bag of popcorn slid across the concession. This time Erebos didn't even bother charging them. The manager wasn't looking, and they had plenty of popcorn. Hell, he was pretty sure every time he blinked a new bag of unpopped corn simply willed itself into existence in the store room.

His boredom paused, if only for a moment, when the door was kicked in by a burly Zoanthrope. Gun cocked, he unloaded into the ceiling, before leveling the gun at Erebos while walking up to him. The Oni looked around for a bit, confused, and pointed at himself.

"Me? You're trying to rob... Me?"

Erebos forced out a laugh. Dry and unimpressed, his other elbow slammed into the glass, propping his face up from both sides. He gave the gang a fluttery-eyed stare. "Maybe you should shoot your guns some more. You know, to intimidate me? That'd be kinda fun."

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Tensions at the Movietorium were running high, tensions that went unacknowledged by the large figure rocketing towards it. Their frame was large and imposing, and they were leaving a trail of something that looked like smoke as it poured out of the exhaust pipe on their back. The figure's feet touched down on outside the Filmery, loud clanging that surely would have dragged attention their way— if not for the gunfire that had gone off moments ago.

Looking about, Genki caught sight of a number of things. For whatever reason, a group of zoanthropes were wearing matching outfits and brandishing weapons towards a number of people, one of which was a humble Cinemonger, among many movie goers. However, one of those movie goers was their charge, who they'd not seen in some time due to being waylaid.

"Shoki," they 'shouted,' which amounted mostly just to a raised volume on their audio output. In the same dry tone, they continued on, "I finally caught up with you. I guess you didn't hear me earlier when I asked for help after falling down back there. It's no matter, some kind men and their cranes were able to help stand me back up," with each word a light behind Genki's eyes and on their chassis flashed in lieu of having a mouth.

Genki didn't quite understand what Shoki was doing here now with these Zoanthropes at this flick factory. Speaking of which, though the automaton wasn't paying much attention to the mounting tension in the air, they certainly caught sight of him. And they weren't exactly having it with getting dissed as they had and now this new arrival ignoring them. One of them, Blort, approached the mechanical person and shoved the barrel of their gun at him. "Hey!" Shouted Blort, "You big dumb idiot! We're the—" but Blort's words were cut short.

Genki held their arm up and pushed the gazelle-looking person away before shouting over the crowd again. "Shoki, what should I do with this person?" The person was behaving aggressively, but their attempts at intimidating were pitiful against this unfeeling machine.

"Genki, you found me!" Shoki exclaimed, running over to give his dear attendant a joyful high five. "I was worried you'd get lost on the way to Earth. That left turn at Jupiter is a little tricky. So many moons! You can let the guy go, I guess, if he won't hurt anyone."

Turning to the box office worker, who he now surmised was a denizen of Otherworld given the clever use of shadow magic, Shoki smiled at Erebos . "It's actually a coincidence. Are you a Core Person too? You look like you might be-" His line of questioning was cut off as the rhino zoanthrope charged and knocked him clear through the wall with a charge of his horn, barreling him through several inches of concrete and rebar until he exploded into the confines of a jam-packed movie theater.

YOU PAY FOR THE WHOLE SEAT, BUT YOU WILL ONLY NEED THE EDGE! A narrator's voice boomed as Shoki rolled down an aisle from the momentum of his impact.

FLYING MONKEYS FROM OUTER SPACE, COMING THIS SUMMER TO THEATERS NEAR YOU!

Dusting himself off, Shoki gawked at the movie screen. He'd never seen anything like it! "Wow!" Shoki exclaimed, looking up at the huge movie screen emblazoned with colossal apes battling it out with equally gargantuan robots. "That looks pretty good, huh?" He asked the rhinoceros-looking fellow, but before he could get a clear answer, the criminal charged him again.

Vaulting over him, Shoki touched him with a fingertip, sending the rhino-man flying. Regretfully, he touched him too hard, and he went right through the silk movie screen, ruining the view for everyone who didn't appreciate a humongous backside in the midst of their motion picture.

"Sorry about that!" Shoki exclaimed, but it was too late for an apology. People were panicking, fleeing out the exits. Shoki cringed. He'd have to be more careful about using his god-like strength! 

Before he could figure out a way to calm the panic, a rocket-propelled bazooka round blasted into the Shoki-shaped hole in the wall, heading straight for him. Shoki had seen plenty of weapons like this -- crude and primitive, made for people without any spiritual or magical knowledge. 

Making a quick pentagram with his five fingers, Shoki reflected the explosion away from him. Still, the resultant fireball ruined several very comfy-looking seats. If I don't put a stop to this soon, my new boss is going to be mad.

"Genki !" Shoki called. "Change of plans. Beat these Tunnel Snakes down!"