BZPRPG - Ga-Wahi

[shadow pridak money gang]

IC:

 

"I wanted to see you," he explained, almost like he wanted to add a duh to the end of that statement. "Somehow, everyone's met up in Le-Koro again. Naona, Dehkaz, Onuzek, Hari, Skyra...all these faces. All our friends. You'll come, won't you?" For once, he looked almost bashful, looking down at Liara's expressionless face; clearly he hadn't considered she might not want to come.

 

"It's just...it's not right without you, s'all."

 

"..." The doctor was quiet for several very long moments, thinking. Her expression didn't change much, not obviously, but it shifted; A note of sadness seemed to appear, buried as deeply as possible and hidden. "I have work, Tillian. Besides, that's not really my place to be."

 

"But...you do wanna come, right?"

 

-Tyler

[AuRon the champion]

IC:

 

"She was going to say ma'am... I have a bit of a problem... And Captain Treize suggested you might be able to help."

[Krayzikk]

IC:

 

"... I'd like to." The Toa admitted, voice quiet. She turned around and busied herself with some paperwork, not looking back. When she spoke again, her voice was tightly controlled, almost perfectly so, but it was too tense to be entirely normal. "It's not my place anymore. Not where I belong. I've been away too long."

 

"... Besides, they don't want me back."

[shadow pridak money gang]

IC:

 

"W-what? What are you talking about? Everyone wants you back, I...want you back, Liara." Tillian seemed to notice the drink in Liara's hands for the first time, staring at the caffeine soup with new eyes. "Is this all you've been doing? Waiting for patients and drowning yourself in coffee, all alone? Is that seriously what you think we want for you? Hari wants to go clothes shopping with you, Skyra wants to apologize, and I just want to be around you.

 

"You're my friend. My best friend. And it was supposed to be me doing all the growing up - not you."

 

-Tyler

[Krayzikk]

IC:

 

"They're better off without me there." Liara still didn't turn around, but her voice had gone deathly quiet, the facade of control rapidly slipping away. Her muscles tensed, and she had stopped sifting through her paperwork, instead standing still in front of her desk. "Much better off."

 

"Everything I get involved with falls apart. I destroyed my own relationship, I destroyed yours both with your best friend and nearly with your wife, and those fractures tore everyone apart. I destroyed mine with you too, not long after." Her control slipped a little further, more emotion filtering into her voice. "When the dust settled, no one was left. Everyone was gone. So I pulled myself together, forced myself to stop drinking, and found stability. And with myself removed from the equation, everything sorted itself out. Picked up the pieces and moved on."

 

"I'd like to go, but I'm okay. It's better that I don't."

[Wade.]

IC: Avier

 

There really wasn't any way for me to dodge that in time. I felt the vibrations ripple through my body, pushing me back and making my ears go pop! It hurt a little, but my temper flared in such a way that I could ignore the pain entirely.

 

In a brief moment of anger, I lashed out, my hand darting straight for the stranger though there wasn't anything to see. Instead, he would feel an invisible force grip him from all sides as I curled my fingers, like some invisible giant firmly held him in place.

 

"Now that wasn't nice."

[shadow pridak money gang]

IC:

 

Sometimes, words sucked.

 

Tillian wrapped his arms around Liara from behind and laid his head down on her shoulder softly.

 

-Tyler

[25K Now!]

IC: Treize

 

"She has another Toa stuck in her head."

[Krayzikk]

IC:

 

For a few moments, silence reigned. The release of emotion that followed wasn't as dramatic as a breaking dam, more like a quiet overflow. The Le-Toa turned around within the embrace and wrapped her arms around Tillian, hugging him tightly. Her eyes were tearing up, and her breathing was quicker than normal, but those were the only outward signs of emotion as she embraced him. Chin resting on his shoulder, she finally broke the silence.

 

"... I missed you."

[- JL -]

OOC: Since this is kinda Kiron's weakness....

 

IC:

 

Without further ado, we clashed with each other again. Atop the deck of the Inika, our blades became a storm of flashing fury; our armor became colored blurs, dancing atop our ship against the background of the sea and sky. Each of our strikes were blocked, countered, dodged and reversed. When I slashed, Kiron parried. When he stabbed, I sidestepped. Despite our unique movesets and fighting style, we were evenly matched; it got to the point where I was no longer fighting with my mind, but letting my body follow it's instincts. I could almost sense what Kiron was about to do next; each movement he performed, I had a reaction for. The same applied to him - everything I did in my attempts to strike either didn't come close, or left me in the wake of danger from him as well.

 

I wasn't exactly sure whether the commotion was affecting the others under the deck; nor do I think it really made a big matter. My mind - and Reyna's - were solely focused on the combat. We were in sync; two pieces of a puzzle that now fit perfectly together to form a bigger, wider picture. I was fighting, but at the same time I was knowing. I knew where to step to avoid tripping against a rope or metal grating; I knew when I could grab a pole sticking out of the ground as a pivot to control my momentum. When Kiron shrunk, it wasn't me who needed to focus on where he was but Reyna. Wherever I went, I had a simple escape route thanks to the knowledge that my Anxilia gave me. It was like eyes at the back of my head.....a radar for pure situational awareness.

 

Our blades clanged again, my leaf-shaped sword crossing paths against his scimitar. The resultant vibration between the two metal weapons created a soft hum that was both unnerving and evocative. This was a fight - and it was fun.

 

Yet, as I fought against the Toa of Fire, I could sense a slight change in tone. Reyna was giving me awareness, and I was using it in combat. Both my experience in having seen fights, as well as Reyna's ability to sense movement, gave me a slight hunch - I was winning the fight. There were slight lull's in our fight where I expected something coming that didn't - a block that I pulled back from, expecting a burst of fire, only to receive nothing but the cool ocean breeze as my repose. We were winning, even if by a tiny margin, and I could guess very clearly why:

 

We were fighting without Elemental Powers.

 

My Anxilia gave me an advantage that nobody else aboard this ship had - two minds, one objective. The more we both knew that we were achieving the objective, the harder we fought. With her Arthron, no matter how much Kiron disappeared with his Pehkui, we were there for him. Without his Elemental power available to send jetstreams of flame towards me, it felt as though the fight, despite all of it's magnificent glory as we circled each other within a spiralling mayhem of blue and red, was missing something in the ranged compartment.

 

And we didn't relent one bit. The more we thought we could push, the harder we would push. Kiron put up an amazing fight, but with Reyna by my side I could simply fight better without our elements. In a purely physical brawl, Reyna's ability to read Kiron's movements gave us an small yet astonishing edge in combat.

 

Whether it was seconds or minutes since we began our fight, I wasn't sure, but eventually I backed Kiron against one of the large poles that held up a few of our ship's sails.

 

"Well?" I exclaimed between gasping breaths, my blade pressing against Kiron's in a stalemate of power.

 

"Anything above deck is our arena, right?" He asked. I nodded, a bit dumbfounded as to why such a question would arise in this situation. But before I could open my mouth to ask, Kiron quickly shifted position. He shrunk - for a few milliseconds - suddenly removing the resisting force my arm was pressing against, before he promptly enlarged again, except this time he was in position for a side kick that I could barely block in time by twisting my shoulder around to meet his foot. The sudden kick sent me staggering back a few steps, and in these moments of respite Kiron quickly performed a flourish, cutting through a set of taut ropes beside him before he himself grabbed the ends of one of them.

 

Back! Reyna's voice reverberated through my mind, and I immediately followed the command, jumping backwards and avoiding the stack of....whatever it was that fell onto the spot where I had just been standing. Looking up, I noticed that the Toa of Fire had held onto the rope, which had pulled him upwards of the mast. Now standing atop one of the horizontal spars, with a rope in one hand, he pointed his sword at me with a beckon.

 

"I see.....so that's how it is," I muttered with a smile. Sword in hand, I followed suit, climbing up the rigging to reach the same spar Kiron stood upon. "Ready?"

 

OOC: Lets play Feel free to bunny the same way if you think it'll be good.

[NorikSigma]

OOC: This gon' be fun.

 

IC: Kiron

I smiled at JL's words. Without a word, I stabbed forward, only to have my blade turned aside by JL.

 

We fought on the spar with stabs and parries. On the narrow walkway, an over-extemded slash would mean death, even in this sparring match.

 

Truth be told, I was pretty surprised at my own actions. Normally I would not even consider doing what I did, but after so long, the adrenaline rush of battle was so... Exhilarating.

 

Our blades clashed and swung. For every strike JL made, I parried. With every counter I attempted, he dodged. It was tit-for-tat, a whirling stalemate of metal and sound.

 

"Time to try this," I muttered under my breath.

 

I struck forward a few times and almost knocked him off-balance. Taking the opportunity, I raced to the crow's nest.

 

JL recovered in a few seconds.

 

"What-"

 

THis was getting interesting. I leapt onto him, tackling him and we fell off the platform-

 

-onto the sails. The restraints prevented the sail from ripping and slowed our descent. Letting go, I let JL fall. He rolled and slashed quickly at me, before I could recover. I blocked the blow, both of us straining against each other.

 

Back to square one.

[- JL -]

IC:

"Hey, you remember what we said about no elemental powers?"

[Jack Frost]

IC: Barthel Deliresi

By that point the pain was really starting to hit me full force. My whole body felt sore and I felt like I had been used as a punching bag. Probably reduced any stress in him more than it did in me. But I was feeling better, despite having lost two fights in the same day. I grabbed my coat and pulled its four corners together to carry it like a bag. When Liano spoke up I almost felt like laughing at his offer. From what I had seen of others, usually the loser was the one who ended up paying for drinks later.

"I'll never turn down a free drink, but I prefer to drink alone." I walked over to the water and placed my coat outside of it by a bit before sitting a good distance away from Liano. I sat only deep enough in that my arms were still above the water. Then I grabbed something from my coat, a brooch. I enhanced my vision with my mask and looked over the brooch, actually taking a good look at it for the first time since I had acquired it. It was mostly plan, a few small and unvaluable looking gems decorating it with a small light stone in the center. Whoever had it made had strange taste. "You know anyone who would buy jewelry under the table? I'm looking to get rid of some fast."

[Geardirector]

IC: Avier

 

There really wasn't any way for me to dodge that in time. I felt the vibrations ripple through my body, pushing me back and making my ears go pop! It hurt a little, but my temper flared in such a way that I could ignore the pain entirely.

 

In a brief moment of anger, I lashed out, my hand darting straight for the stranger though there wasn't anything to see. Instead, he would feel an invisible force grip him from all sides as I curled my fingers, like some invisible giant firmly held him in place.

 

"Now that wasn't nice."

 

 

IC: Mar (Naho Bay)

 

"There's not room for that in this business" I replied.

 

Magnetism, or Iron, excellent.

 

"But there is room for someone in the mood for breaking a neck or two, if you're interested in a chance to earn something while doing it"

[NorikSigma]

IC: Kiron

"I didnt-augh- use my elemental powers."

[- JL -]

IC:

"Yeah, lets screw that rule. Throw it out the window."

[NorikSigma]

IC: Kiron

A blast of fire blinded JL.

 

"Okay!" Kiron jumped at him from his left.

[shadow pridak money gang]

IC:

 

Til's smile fluttered back onto his face and he squeezed Liara, lifting her up off her feet by an inch or two for a few seconds; his forehead was pressed against hers.

 

"I missed you too." His eyes were blue and guileless, but looked into hers like he might start tearing up, too. "A lot. Like, a lot of a lots."

 

-Tyler

[Krayzikk]

IC:

 

The Le-Toa looked like she was going to protest, something self-deprecating most likely, but she suppressed the response, simply tightening the hug instead. Her breathing was settling again, but she was still quiet, as if not quite trusting her own capacity for words.

 

"... It really has been a while."

[- JL -]

IC:

 

There was a sudden flare in front on me, and from pure instinct I closed it, Reyna kicking in to temporarily become by main sense. Before I could even open my eyes, Reyna had called out Kiron leaping towards me from the side, blade in hand.

 

Grunting, I jumped backwards, slowly opening my eyes again. They still stung a little bit from the heat and intense light from before, but nowhere near if I had forced them to remain open. By now, I could see Kiron standing where I had been, and before he could continue his assault I had fired off a bolt of electricity towards his chest.

[Hiram McDaniels]

Ic: Dekaton

Dekaton walked onto the lily pad and it sank a little. "Attention!" he screamed, while firing two shots into the air above Ga-Koro. "I need some of your money. If you give some to me, there will be no problems. If you don't-" he pointed his gun at a matoran "- this one gets it!"

[25K Now!]

IC: The Seventh

 

"Oi," growled a youthful voice. "Don't you think it's too early to be a prick?"

 

Stepping out of her hut and into the sunlight, a rather sleepy-looking Ga-Matoran stared daggers at Dekaton, her emerald orbs filled with with irritation at the disturbance of her attempts at falling asleep. Dark circles could be seen ringing her eyes even through the sockets of her powerless mask, possibly from crying, but also possibly from a lack of rest. Yet no matter what her situation, it was clear that she would definitely stop the Skakdi from trying to threaten her village.

 

The Seventh had gone through a lot in her relatively short life. She had seen it all, from horrifying evils, to ancient temples with monsters beyond mortal comprehension. She had nearly died hundreds of times. The Skakdi in front of her was nary a minor annoyance, but even then, there was a life at stake, and that meant she needed to be careful.

 

That's new, "being careful" huh.

 

"Alright ugly, here's how it works!" she declared, pointing arrogantly at Dekaton. "You let go of her, and I-"

 

It was at this instant where her newly categorised "foe" would notice the strange lever that sat inconspicuously outside the Seventh's hut. It was quite an interesting sight, but more interesting was the fact that the lilypad Dekaton stood on sunk slightly deeper into the water, the lever having been pulled back slightly by the Ga-Matoran.

 

"-won't dunk you right into the sea," finished the Seventh, her hand still resting on the pad control mechanism.

[Hiram McDaniels]

Ic:dekaton

"Ha! Nice one! I can swim." He said, spraying spit on the ground,"I'll count down for you. 3... 2... 1-

Edited May 28, 2014 by Party Poison

[25K Now!]

IC: The Seventh

 

"That was a distraction."

 

If Dekaton were to look to his right, he would have seen that the Matoran he had been threatening had run off, as there had been nothing holding the victim down.

 

"Have fun in the dunk."

 

She slammed the lever forward.

 

The lilypad promptly sunk rapidly, with Dekaton on it.

[Hiram McDaniels]

Ic: Dekaton

"####!" He screamed. He sank into the murky water, and it was calm for a second. Then he launched himself up and shot a zamor sphere at the seventh."I'll Kill you #####!"

[25K Now!]

IC: The Seventh

 

The Seventh ducked to the side, the sphere slamming into the wall of her house, breaking it open.

 

"I liked that house," she muttered, slamming down on the levers once more, sending the pad shooting upwards from underwater into Dekaton's body.

[Vezok's Friend]

The dark Toa watched, leaning onto the side of a hut, obscured in the shadows. Now only the Onu-Matoran was left. Well - seemingly Onu-Matoran, that is. He continued on his way until he reached one of the outlying platforms the Ga-Koronans used for fishing and just relaxation. A rail had been installed on this one and the Matoran leaned on it casually. Kehua sighed; he knew the game well enough to know when his jig was up. The Matoran had noticed he had been followed. Kehua stepped out of the shadows of the hut and up the where the Matoran looked out to sea. "It a nice night out." he commented. The Matoran nodded. "Indeed it is...in fact, I'd call it perfect."

 

OOC: To be continued

 

 

 

OOC: This takes place the previous night.

 

IC (Kehua):

 

"Right." the Toa replied, not nearly as friendly in tone as the Matoran. He appeared calm, but his right was a tight fist, he could feel the servos whirring and the muscles strain against the metal. The Matoran radiated an aura that made the Toa's sixth sense coil up like a rattlesnake.

 

"I know why you're here." the Matoran said.

 

"Of course you do. They told you. Where are they?" he asked through his teeth.

 

"Wouldn't you rather know where your brother is? Isn't that far more important to you?" the smaller figure asked in return. He licked his lips slightly and Kehua took an involuntary step forward.

 

"Ah-ta-ta-ta." the Matoran cautioned. "Let's not do anything hasty, shall we. After all, if you do me in for good, you're back to square one. That'd be a real shame. Besides, I know who you are, what you are. They told me all about you. Really, the remember you quite fondly. One of the heroes of the crescent moon island, all fallen into darkness. It's all quite futile really"

 

"I'm not going to ask again."

 

"No, you won't." the Matoran said, his eyes glaring red. In the darkness, the blade he's produced from seemingly nowhere caught a tiny shimmer of moonlight, the next instant, he'd rammed the shiv between the armor plates of the Toa's abdomen.

At least, that was the intent. The fact that his hand passed straight through the armor as well had not been expected.

 

"Forgot to mention that detail, did they?"

 

He looked up at Kehua towering over him. His eyes stared the Matoran down for a heartlight's blink, then he stepped back, deactivated his mask of intangibility and seized the Matoran around the arm and throat with his hands. There was a snapping sound as the wrist broke under his grip, the shiv falling onto the lilypad. The Matoran whimpered.

 

"Now then. Let's take it from the top, friend, and in a lot of detail."

 

Kehua lifted the smaller figure up and began making his way back towards the huts. They had a lot to talk about before sunrise, and time for the Matoran was running out.

 

----------------

 

It was early the next morning when the Marines on patrol found the body of the merchant on one of the many piers of the village of water. A rack used to dry out nets had been turned into a horrible display shelf, the Matoran stuck to the bamboo construction by half a dozen fishing spears driven through his torso and his head hung at an odd angle, as if the joints in his neck were no longer connected and it was only hanging from the muscles and skin. Two of the Matoran soldiers immediately hurried to block access to the pier due to the gruesome sight, while the other two remained, trying to figure out how to move the body. As one approached it, his foot hit against a piece of driftwood.

 

Picking it up the guard read: The shadows will fall.

 

----------------

 

In another part of the village, Dekaton's Zamor was intercepted by a sphere of metal attached to a rather long chain. The large Toa stepping into view wielding the meteor hammers looked grimly at the criminal in the water. "Awful big words for a small fry like you."

[Athmos]

IC: Shomdud

 

“The ground is squishy,” the Turaga muttered, jumping up and down on the pad softly, “It’s frigging squishy. What’s up with this? Are they expecting to fall into the water and drown?”

He narrowed his eyes at the Ga-Matoran walking around him, and pulled down his cloak. “It’s so squishy, I can feel the water under me, like some sort of water-bed. Ain’t nobody goes to sleep on a water bed. It’s like drowning all night. This,” he bent over even further to poke the pad, “is a safety hazard, and somebody needs to get this fixed, pronto.”

He looked back up and grabbed one of the Ga-Matoran by the shoulder, spun her to face him, and began, “You! Do you work here? Silly question, I bet you live here too! On this,” he pointed at the pad, “squishy floor. I gotta tell you, this won’t do.”

The Ga-Matoran, face full of uneasiness, gently moved the Turaga’s hand off her shoulder. “Sir, I’m not in charge of the upkeep of the pads, I think you-”

“Nononononono, I’ll do the thinking. You obviously haven’t found this issue until now,” the Turaga said, waving a hand in disapproval. He paused for a second, than started again, “Name’s Shomdud. Call me Duddy, everybody calls me Duddy, except people that don’t know me, ya know? What’s your name, gal?”

“Em....Sir?”

“Sir? That’s an awful name. Did you pick the short stick on Naming Day? Mata Nui have mercy!” Shomdud looked at the sky in disbelief. “Really Mata Nui? Naming this poor Matoran ‘Sir?’ I know you could have done better, and I’m sure you’ve done worst, but I’m pretty sure this nice Matoran doesn’t need a name like that.”

“My name is Truara.” the Matoran piped up, turning a slight shade of red from the attention she was getting from other Matoran.

Shomdud looked back down at her, his pink eyes gazing hard at her. “Lying about our names, are we? No matter, I’m sure people lie about a lot of things on this island.” He rubbed the chin of his mask for a second, than he began to speak again, “Listen, Sir Truara, who would I go talk to about this squishy ground problem?”

“The...pad makers?”

“The pad makers? Sounds like an awful band. I was in a band once, you know? I played percussion, with some friend in Le-Koro, may Mata Nui bless their souls. They all died in an elevator accident. It was pretty bad.”

By this point, Truara stepped away from Shomdud and slipped into the crowd. “Ah, geez,” Shomdud smacked himself on the forehead, “there I go, scaring another nice Matoran off with my stories. Probably should go see whoever is in charge about this squishy ground problem. Eventually this village will sink, and they will be crying, ‘If only we listened to Shomdud!’ Yeah, that’s how it’ll go.” With this thought in mind, he slipped into the crowd, hopefully to find a figure of authority.

 

 

OOC: Shomdud open for interaction.

[Hiram McDaniels]

Ic dekaton

"Karz!" He bellowed after being flung back into the air. He knew he could handle this though. In the air he did a flip and dove down into the nearest lily pad, crushing some reeds. Sure, this matoran knew some tricks, but so did he.he laid there, acting dead. A matoran slowly walked over and looked. He sprung up and choked her with his hand "if you give me any more trouble, I snap this one's scrawny little neck"

[Void Emissary]

OOC: Y'all should probably read this delectable jam, written with the wonderful Wotz and the magnificent Vorex, as it will automatically make you all better people guaranteed.

Note: The following events take place several months prior to Rynekk's rejoining of the Fowadi.

IC: Rynekk and Lyna -- Underground Temple

"Years?" I repeated, following the sound of her footsteps deeper into the darkness. "You've been down here for years?"

"No, I'm just trying on the starved and half-dead look for fun," Lyna snapped, rolling her eyes. "Yes, I have spent my fair share of the years down here. The whole 'oppression by Makuta' thing never really suited me anyway, I appreciated the break."

"Ah."

My contribution to the conversation was followed by a long and uncomfortable moment of silence.

"Well. Nice place you've got down here then. Very cozy."

"It's not mine," she explained as they walked, looking up at Rynekk. "But I think it's time for some questions on my part. For instance, why are you so bloody tall? Seriously. That's bloody unnatural."

"Nothing unnatural about it, miss. To be honest, I'm actually a tad on the short side as far as Toa go," I said, softly chuckling. "But don't go telling anyone about that, if you catch m'drift."

Lyna considered a number of questions in the silence after Rynekk spoke. She considered asking what a Toa was, in what world Rynekk could believe himself to be short, and possibly for the details of whatever it was he'd ingested to lend his mind to such thoughts, but eventually she ditched those in favour of something simpler. "You aren't from around here, are you?"

Rynekk's response never came, as his concentration on the conversation had been suddenly displaced by the majestical cavern before them.

It was a huge, cleanly carved cylinder of a chamber. On the opposite wall, a small waterfall fell from a crack in the wall to a small pond on the ground at the bottom. Tiny fish that fed upon microbes darted about the pond, seeing by the light of the fluorescent plants that surrounded the water in clumps. Luminescent flowers and fungi climbed all the way up the walls, suspended from a gigantic blue fluorescent column was a circular platform, in the centre of which was another sarcophagus, standing on its feet. A stairway led from this and spiralled around the curved wall of the cave to the small landing, on which stood the pairing and their almost comical height difference.

"Well, as a matter of fact," was what I'd started to say before stepping into what I can only describe as the cavern to end all other caverns. At that point, I just stopped talking, starting gawking, not ashamed to say it.

I wondered if Lyna had seen this place before; I assumed that it was the case, but I still glanced down at her to watch her reaction.

Lyna gave every impression of caring little for the surroundings. It was actually a clever facade, of course, hiding her actual feelings toward it. The fact of the matter was, she couldn't help but have the same response every time she saw the place.

She actually didn't care at all.

Well, Lyna looked suitably unimpressed with our surroundings, and if this was any other time and place I might've tried to hide my own feelings of wonder and amazement from her keen eyes. But I was far too tired, far too hollow, and far too desperate for any scrap of beauty I could find to care much about the judgements of others. And this place certainly was beautiful; so much so that I almost forgot about Stendhal and Tadris and the Prophecy and all of the things that I couldn't stop remembering.

But then I saw the sarcophagus on the pedestal, standing imperious like a preacher at his pulpit, and I was pulled back to reality. My face turned grim, despite myself my eyes filled with morbid wonder, and as though controlled by a puppeteer's strings, I began walking up the carved stairs to their summit.

"You open that thing, I'm pretty sure I'm allowed to denounce you as a walking cliché," Lyna warned. From a safe distance.

Not that she was scared. Just intelligent enough to know how to handle these situations.

"Hmm."

With a unintelligible noise somewhere between a snort, a huff, and a sigh, I turned around to face Lyna, where her face was unreadable as always.

"Well, let's be fair; you could call me many, many worse things," I said, managing a weary grin. "And besides, do you have a better idea of how to handle a sarcophagus?"

"Look at what I've been doing for the past couple of centuries and take a wild guess." Lyna paused. "The right guess is yes, by the way, in case you feel like getting snarky. The idea is 'leave it the ##### alone'."

"If I leave it alone, a friend may die," I snapped. "Not like I really have a choice, now do I?"

"That's what people do. The only response to death is to delay it, and I recommend you take care of delaying your own before anyone else's." Lyna's expression had become harsh, her somewhat playful snark dying in an instant. "The only thing saving people will do is make it more painful when they die anyway. I've been down that road, and there's no such thing as winning when you play that game."

I might've asked her what she had meant, but I was far too scared and far too angry and far too self-centred to consider that for more a second, and a retort was bubbling out of my mouth like foam on a rabid dog so I couldn't have anyway even if I'd wanted to.

"This was never a game to be won," I said, my voice cold. "You don't know it, but my life is nothing but a string of mistakes and bad decisions, and whoever is at risk down here -- whoever -- is worth a thousand times what I am. There's blood on my hands that'll never wash away, and the least I can do is use them for something at least a little worthwhile. If whoever's down here dies somewhere along the line, then fine; at least they'll have had a chance to live. That's the least I have to ensure. And if I die in the process, well ######, maybe the universe can breath a little easier.

"Besides, Toa don't have a great history of delaying death. Why break the tradition now?"

A faint, almost undetectable breeze seemed to whisper Rynekk's name as it passed through the chamber from an unknown source.

Lyna was ready to snap out a retort when the breeze caught her off guard, the sudden sussurus chilling her to the bone. She wondered if Rynekk was expecting a reply, but in all honesty she no longer cared. She didn't know the significance of the name, but she did know one thing: she had never felt a breeze before. There was no such thing as a draught down here, or she would have found it and followed it to its source. That breeze was something entirely new, and Lyna was bloody terrified by it. "I don't know who you are, mate, and I don't know what a Toa is or whether or not you've made enough mistakes for your life to be worthless, but you came in here and started walkin' toward sarcophagi and now we've got draughts driftin' through a virtually undisturbed and inescapable temple. On the one hand, that's left me #####-scared, but on the other you got down here, and any kinda wall-whistling is an implication of an escape route. So... you want to open that coffin, you go right ahead. I'll be right back here to catch your corpse when it tumbles down the stairs."

Oh ######.

"Glad we have a plan," I said, and like the moron I had been, was, and would probably continue being until whatever was in that box killed me, I continued my ascent towards the sarcophagus. The wind whispering my name hadn't exactly bolstered my spirits any, but at least it gave me a sense that I was headed in the right (if not necessarily the safest) direction.

Then I stopped, though I didn't turn, and said, "Lyna, if I don't come back, follow the tunnel that you found me in. It'll bring you to the surface. If you meet a woman named Plagia -- she'll probably be breaking someone's face in a bar or something -- tell her that Rynekk's dead, and that if she wants to hate him forever he'd be perfectly all right with it."

"Hey," Lyna called up after a short pause, smirking slightly. "You be careful up there. Remember, pointy end at face height or below, won't do much good if you aim it too high in a life-or-death situation."

"Aw c'mon now, give me some credit. I may be next to useless at most things, but I do know how to kill a man, awful as that may be," I said, smirking back despite myself. "As for you, you better get headed to the surface. I'd hate to keep from seeing the world again. It's a brand new place, trust me; you'll love it."

"Well. I'll see you on the surface then," Lyna smiled, throwing a salute at Rynekk before turning around to head back the way they had come. He seemed nice enough, she thought. Shame. Nice people have an awful habit of dying around here.

I watched as Lyna walked further and further away from me, until the sound of her footfalls was a memory and I was all alone again. I suddenly wished that I'd asked her about her life, that I'd told her about mine, that the last good person I'd probably ever meet could say more about me than that I'd said hi and then died. I wanted a longer conversation, an infinite moment, a never-ending human experience. I remembered what she'd said about delaying death, and I realized that no matter what I said, I wanted that.

It would be easy to walk away.

I looked back at the sarcophagus. Remembered Tadris.

No, it wouldn't be. Not really.

Tendrils of stone reached out from the ground, jamming their heads underneath the lid of the box, and just like before, they pried it off.

...

-Void

[Wade.]

IC: Avier

 

I don't trust this guy, but if money's a possibility, I'm willing to take a chance. My grip, however, did not relent.

 

"Gonna need a few more details than that."

[Geardirector]

IC: Mar (Naho Bay)

 

"I work for someone's who's hiring, hiring people with skills like yours for accumulating fortune and power."

 

A whirr as my eyes narrowed to inspects his assets more closely

 

"We're gathering a team, still in its infancy, but we've got a big platform to launch ourselves off of, and only those among the best will be allowed to stay the course"

[Athmos]

IC: Shomdud

 

 

"Mata Nui help these poor folk, they don't even know how to write directions down." Shomdud muttered, looking at a tiki pole near a crossroads in the village. One way pointed back to the land-based village, the other towards more pads. The other two weren't any help, as he was looking for the Akiri's office to complain about the squishy ground.

 

He reached out, after pulling his long sleeves up to his arms, and spun the tiki pole around a few times. "Maybe there's something on the back." To much disappointment, there wasn't. With a grunt, Shomdud left the now-incorrect facing tiki pole as it was while he headed off towards the docks. After all, being a village of water, shouldn't the Akiri be near their greatest assets?

 

A short time later, Shomdud was walking amongst the sailors and marines of Ga-Koro, though most ignored him. "Busy fellows, ain't they?" he said to nobody in particular. Maybe he would get on a boat and go for a trip somewhere. He had heard word of a strange land beyond the sea, but, "Phooey!" he said, "Nothing exists out there."

 

"Maybe I should join a pirate crew. I can sail and tie knots," he mused, "After all, at my age, what's to lose?"

 

OOC: Shomdud open for interaction.

[25K Now!]

IC: The Seventh

 

"Snap her neck, and there's zero chance you're ever leaving the village except for in a coffin!"

[Hiram McDaniels]

Ic: Dekaton

"Ha! I'd like to see you try!" with a twist of his fingers, he snapped her head back and dropped her on the ground. he shot a few more times around the village before scampering off. Well, he accomplished one of his goals, he terrorized something. Now this was his favorite part; The escape.

[25K Now!]

IC: The Seventh

 

"... What?"

 

The Seventh moved over to the groaning Matoran on the ground, whose neck was probably hurting quite badly from the absolutely terrible attempt at a neck snap.

 

"You okay there?" she asked awkwardly.

 

"i can't feeel my faaaace."

 

"I'll take that as a yes."

 

Looking over towards the general direction that the Skakdi had scampered off to, the Ga-Matoran promptly started running after him, her mind filled with thoughts on how she wished she could have been born with longer legs.

[Snelly]

IC: Darien

 

Dekaton might have very well escaped, if a row of tall vines hadn't suddenly sprouted up, blocking his path and threatening to grab him if he got too close. The only way of escape was back the way he came.

 

"I suggest you quit while you're ahead. It will be a lot less painful for you." A tall blue and green Toa said from behind him, brandishing his rapier at the Skakdi.

 

"I'm Toa Darien of the Marines. If you surrender now, I promise no harm will come to you. Otherwise I'm gonna have to break your spine." He sounded almost apologetic about it, except for the fact that he smirked when he was done.

[25K Now!]

IC: The Seventh

 

The Seventh skidded to a halt behind Dekaton, breathing heavily.

 

"You're paying for my wall!"

[NorikSigma]

IC: Kiron

Kiron fell backwards and dodged the bolt as it arced over him.

 

Recovering, Kiron slashed forward, letting out a stream of fire from his sword, hoping to blind JL. He followed up with another slash.

[Hiram McDaniels]

Ic: dekaton

"Well then, this just got more interesting" Dekaton was cornered between a toa, a matoran, and some plants. Plants! He started working his way up the snarling ivy, cutting parts off here and there in an attempt to climb over it and away