"Whither lies the road? No road? Into the Wilderness!"
- Nietzsche

Rico thinks. Sitting pensively does not suit him, but he needs to somehow
work out in his head what to do. What to do. He's probably only got a few
minutes before hammer tells the four hangers-on he's back. Still, his back
room in the Champ's suite gives him some solace, at least for a few minutes.

Hm. Thinking is hard. specially with hard decisions ahead. The prison is Rico's
home. And yet, the very place he calls home is now threatening to suffocate him,
the familiar grime, the neverending humdrum of prisoners coming and going, none
posing anything resembling a challenge. The thorny appendages of banality tug and
rend at him. Boredom doesn't cover it any more. Boredom didn't make him forget
everything, and take off in the Stier. He'd been gone for, weeks? No idea. Wandering
about, encountering powerful, yet basically dumb creatures to defeat bore no
resemblance to filling that void that presented itself. Sure, I'm powerful, but so
what? Fewer and fewer people want to challenge me. Damnit, it just isn't FUN anymore.

The silence is broken by the crashing of metal against stone from the next room.
Damnit, how many times have I told Suzarn to watch where he sticks that damn scythe
anyhow? Damnit, he's gonna get such a...

"Champ!". The voice rings out, as Rico throws open the door to the outer room with
a low growl. The four stooges stood there agape, as Rico entered. "What?".

Rico followed their gazes to his torso and legs, that were scarred with the souvenirs
of the last few week's battles. Heh. Some of them ain't gonna look pretty in the morning.

"Champ! You were away for almost a month! Where the hell were you?".

Rico frowns, and stares. "Damnit, Leo, can't a guy take a break sometime? I'm back now, aren't I?".

"Yeah. Yeah, I guess you are, Champ.".