sunflower

IC: ohmygodtheBOTHOFYOU i just can't "Why thaank you."

IC: "Too late, they already got to me."

IC: Jesika "I bet it beats camping out to hide from the Borg, though." She paused to reconsider, glancing over at Brook. "...Weeell."

IC: He had the distinct feeling that Naona wasn't going to stop until physically forced to do so from pure exhaustion, and it was all too familiar, and just as worrying. "We'll cut between Po-Wahi and Ta-Wahi, it shouldn't take long to reach Naho bay from there."

IC: Dehkaz nodded, following close behind as Naona began her march. "Ga then?" The list of people they knew who weren't already at the frozen village wasn't particularly long.

IC: Dehkaz was the first to break the silence that had between them, though more as a result of the frigid landscape than anything else. That, or the icy scenery has drawn him back into familiar habits. "So, Ko-Koro?" He asked, unwilling to open up the recently closed wound just yet. There were far better things to devote his time and energy towards besides his own peace of mind. Regardless, it was obvious that the uncertainty, the fear, that had laced his voice before was gone. Replaced with a confidence, almost a freedom, that he hadn't expressed for as long as he'd known the toa of Stone. "Or... go and round up some friends to bring the insane cultists camping out there down for good?"

IC: Leli "Yeah, that's specific." She looked over at Tarnok, who returned a weary expression that said it all, before giving her a slight nod. So what if he was telling the truth? Theoretically, Onu-Koro was still dealing with the influx of refugees from the village of Ice with no plans to mount an offensive against the Followers of Makuta as far as she was aware. Besides, she could use some downtime after the understandably stressful experience in the Darkwalk. If this could in some bizarre way help the island at all, it was worth a shot, right? Not like two matoran could make things any worse than they were already. And if the matoran was just running his mouth, blabbering stories and prophecies into the air, then she would just end up spending some time with Tarnok. "Alright... fine. Anything else monumental we should be aware of?"

IC: "Get out of my head, snake." I growled the threat even as I tore through the mental communication that Hakann was compelled to give with the same words. If a duel was how armies based giving up tactical advantages on this island, then I frankly wanted no part. There was nothing to be gained from defeating a powerful foe in this ridiculous show, the Maru would be dead all the same, whether it was from blasting apart his body or running him through with a sword. By Eisen's hand or one of the mercenaries gathered around the site of violence like flies to a carcass, it made no difference. It was if the Fe-toa thought this honor made him any better than the rest of these murderers. No sooner had the Maru made his first move that I began issuing orders to my own Rahkshi, though it was difficult enough to stop them from rushing to tear the Maru limb from limb. Cyclone and chain lightning moved to follow Hakann, partially to assist and partially to watch the pyromaniac. The rest spread out along the area of the battle, poised to strike should Eisen show any signs of being "defeated". I myself kept the explosive energies building in my palm, no sense in giving the Maru time to react.

IC: Leli She was, all things considered, eternally grateful that Tarnok had stepped in when he had, speaking his mind with the unapologetic honesty that she had grown to more than just appreciate. There was that, and she was not entirely confident in her ability to form words at the moment. It had been merely hours since they had left her dwelling, and yet she still couldn't keep it together long enough to make it through a day. For Mata Nui's sake all it had taken was the slightest push, an offhand comment by some raving mystic of a stranger who she'd just met, and everything came crashing down. the mightiest Toa She couldn't- She had to stop, though her mind kept picking through the the matoran's spiel, pausing to reconcile every note that was even remotely... disturbing to her psyche. And now he was going on about Destiny. Her, Destiny. A plan. How was this part of anyone's plan, let alone some deity that had abandoned them to the nonexistent mercy of a dark god that had nearly destroyed the villages of the island more than a few times over. can't stand thi- "What's your point?" She was getting impatient, enough to solidify a single portion of the mess that was her current thought process to get that out. Standing around just thinking wasn't doing her any good, and the Ussalry was the last place she wanted to visibly lose it completely. It was beginning to become hard enough just to keep the facade of intent interest going, breathing steady and eyes focused on the stranger. "No more riddles, what do you want?"

Needa not approved, primarily on account of his late on-screen brother. The only reason Cylund got by as being a Calrissian was because of the fact that the relationship to the suave general is murky at best and little more than antecedent narrative fluff. Events that occurred along the Skywalker story are meant to be known from a third or fourth-hand perspective. Smaller nitpick being his rank, which is too high to have been serving under a Lieutenant. It's an interesting concept, but not one that works as it is now within the current state of the plot.

Honestly, making Dak a full-blown character would be interesting to roll with. And as far as getting attached to characters goes, I personally like to look at the story as a whole, the interaction and conversations born from all these different people running into one another, rather than sticking to the exploits and accomplishments of a single character. Sure, it sucks whenever one of those that I enjoy reading gets offed, and most of the time they are my own characters, but at the same time having a MC doesn't do this kind of collaborative writing any good.

Kaz approved.

IC: Upon us? upon me Leli was listening sure, though she wasn't quite hearing what the stranger was saying. It wasn't registering, not immediately. She felt her pulse pounding in her head, a rhythmic beat that foreshadowed the arrival of each individual word one by one. Time felt as thought it were trapped in sap from one of the century-old trees of her home, and the hand that had been casually held against the cold steel armor of the mechanical sentinel beside her became far more of a handhold for her tenuous grip on reality. The world was spinning before her eyes, or maybe it was just her. Mata Nui. Even within her daze, the name sounded... different coming from the stranger. Not even from the fact that the matoran didn't use it ironically, which had become about the only time it was ever mentioned as of late. He spoke it with a certainty that few referred to a deity with. Four more? what others? who? "What Destiny, what do you mean?" She had a vague feeling that the matoran wasn't talking about the small, uh, issue currently burning its way through her pack. "What could we possibly do?"

IC: The scavengers had appeared to have dispersed; the threat of heavy fire support from the very shuttle they were after looking to be reason enough to not try. Then again, no ever accused them of being reasonable folk, and they could have very well been gearing up for another assault. Regardless, the barrage of fire ended, both from the battered group on the forefront, as well as the one holding base further back. For how long it was impossible to tell, the landing craft was worth millions of credits on the black market, let alone the individual components that could be picked from it's spaceframe. Further back, the half-operation displays that lined the heavy attack craft's cockpit flickered; which couldn't be anything more than an artifact of the nearly demolished state that the B-Wing was currently in. That is, of course, until the data transfer began from the fighter's computer banks. Before any usable information could be moved, besides a few star charts of the local space, a sharp tone sounded. One by one, the scratched screens flicked off, accompanied by the click of the computers shutting down in response to the Lieutenant's brute-force approach of connecting their systems to an Imperial data network. IC: Jenth "I mean, I'm not really doing anything right now or uh, anything," Jenth gave a non-committal shrug, which was about as relaxed as she could possibly get right about then. "If you want, that is. I can totally set up an appointment or something though." She'd never done that before, but hey whatever the two meter lizard wanted.

IC: Jenth "Uh, not that much really," Jenth replied, before quickly adding, "If the armor's still intact and everything then the systems probably just need a cleanup or something." "I'd have to see what I'm working with first to give you an exact estimate." IC: And they would definitely be searching. If the Imps hadn't picked up the B-Wing coasting down for a landing then he'd gotten the luckiest break of his life. He wasn't going to bet on it though, they had probably already either torn the ship apart looking for information or blew it to bits. The fact that there was a Star Destroyer, even though it could just be a triangle-shaped cruiser based on the average backwater planet bar patron's knowledge of Imperial ship classifications, just made things all the more complicated. He wasn't working with a whole lot at the moment. Time included. "Suppose a, uh, traveler hadn't yet gotten acquainted with the ins and outs of this planet; two capitalistically-savvy rogues with no love of the Empire wouldn't mind the financial opportunity of giving said traveler the grand tour?" IC: When faced with a dark-armored juggernaut that had just taken a barrage of slugs to the chest before standing up to shoot back, the scavengers did the sensible thing and directed their fire towards the cyborg. They weren't expert marksmen by any stretch of the imagination, but it was soon apparent that they had numbers on their side, and it wouldn't take long for them to dial in their shots. With the initial frenzy of the attack gone, it was clear that there were two distinct groups of them. One of which was posted up further back within the rusted hulk of a freighter, the rhythmic thump of a mounted blaster echoing from within the superstructure as the gunner poured red plasma bolts at the squad of Stormtroopers below. The second was much closer, though judging by the lack of damage to the shuttle, they didn't have much more than rifles. While the majority of the second group had focused their fire on Raltz, the first had seen Arkada's advance from afar, and began to direct some of their fire to stop their progress.

IC: Almost prophetically, as soon as Raltz' boots hit the patch of debris-filled mud that constituted "dry land" in the junkyard swamp, the unmistakable sound of blasterfire echoed out from just beyond the shuttle's landing site. The cacophony was accompanied by a barrage of bolts that hit everything from the muddy ground to the armored frame of the shuttle. An Imperial shuttle tended to draw attention regardless of the planet; and one single unaccompanied transport was just too good to pass up for those that roamed the scrapyard. The scavengers had taken up positions among the blown-out spaceframes of the downed starships around, raining down shot after shot to the squad of troopers that had disembarked from the shuttle. If the fact that the offending blaster bolts were of multiple different hues didn't attest to the rag-tag nature of the group, then the repeated sharp crack of a rapid-fire slugthrower certainly did.

IC: "Who are you?" He knows. Leli couldn't help the sinking feeling that one and the other were related.

<3 2019 is going to be a fun year

IC: And then, something had shifted. The stranger before her wasn't just some curious civilian, not with the way that he had locked his gaze on her own, he was... she couldn't identify it. This wasn't normal, though, not with this line of questioning. Leli felt her heart rate pick up, and for a moment she half expected to fall into another panic attack. Not here, not now. Too late. "...Do you mean the Dark Toa? As far as we know, he's holed himself up inside the Sanctum," she continued, voicing her thoughts lest she lose her ability to speak clearly.

IC: Destiny. The word reverberated in her head, sticking with her long after the matoran had stopped speaking. It wasn't by any stretch of the imagination a word she hadn't heard before, though never had it been applied to her. Specifically her, what with the way that the stranger had addressed the topic. Not to mention, well, the faintly glowing stone that she had stuffed within her bag to avoid prying eyes, it had started to shift her perception of the world around pretty drastically. Or you're actually seeing now. "Well, uh, yes," she began, "We can always improve ourselves." "...But two matoran can't take back a village, even with this kind of armor," She tapped the Exo-Matoran standing stalwart behind her.

IC: Leli flinched ever so slightly at the mention of the mechanical terrors that had ripped through the village of Earth, though did her best to disguise the involuntary reaction with a motion. Prominent defender and all that, she couldn't freeze up every time someone mentioned a, uh, Rahkshi. Thankfully Tarnok spoke up for her, though why this matoran wanted their opinions was beyond her. She wasn't too keen on ending up, on some sort of headline on a daily tablet carving. "We haven't been mobilized yet, uh, the Ussalry I mean. As far as I know we're still taking in refugees from the village," Leli replied, frowning as he mentioned dedication to Duty as if it were a foreign concept to either of them. He didn't have the slightest idea what- "I recently got back from clearing out the Dark Walk, if we're going to want a tactical advantage, then that's as good as any."

nearly two years in the making, four-thousand five-hundred and thirty-five words, and whole heckofalot of feels. hubert gets the biggest thank you i can muster and deserves a gigantic round of applause.