silo

IC: Kathok - Cliffside Kathok hops off quickly and warily, hand already on Rhotuka launcher as he hits the ground. He doesn't actually point it at Drukann, but the distrust in the air is as thick as smog. He doesn't say anything, just standing there and staring, waiting for Drukann to lift off.

IC: Kathok - Cliffside Kathok looks up at his opponent. His arms are starting to ache, but luckily the damaged ship is just coming in to Cliffside. Ah yes, that dilapidated hulk, constantly teetering on the edge of collapse but never trying hard enough. Kathok can't say he likes the place, even if he's stayed there more times than he's willing to admit. He stretches and relaxes his muscles slightly, barred-teeth face like a snarling dog's. What he'll do now, he's not sure. He has to hope that 'Silvana' will head here; after all, it is the nearest settlement to their skirmish, and by quite a way. It's also a good place for a hideout. Now, Kathok has been very careful to stay in the inter-reputation range here: he hasn't got a reputation as weak or strong, while letting enough people know him to not get picked on too readily. I mean, he doesn't really care anyhow, and will often relish the opportunity for a fight. But, as he says, better safe than sorry. And by 'safe', he means 'bludgeoning an unwary enemy round the head rather than a wary one'. Kathok takes this opportunity to think of a Haiku about Cliffside, while his spirits are momentarily up. poor construction work should have built better houses now they'll all fall down Hmmm, that one was a bit gloomy.

OOC: It wasn't actually a Cordak, but I don't suppose it matters too much. IC: Votadox (Psyker) - Combat Arena I wait. After a bit I decide to relax. Now my muscles match the situation: lacking any tension they once held. Much better. I step forwards; then I repeat the motion to form 'walking'. After some time has elapsed I've reached my opponent, or what's left of it. I wonder if it's still self-aware (if you can call what it had 'awareness'). That would actually be quite funny if it is, wouldn't it. I might feel a bit guilty or something, but I honestly can't be bothered to. Instead I wonder if there's a broom somewhere. There are also two other things I wonder. One of them is whether I'll get in trouble. I feel a reasonably decent level of hope that I won't. But I wouldn't say I'm entirely non-apathetic. The second is whether I can get a new fight. That one was both unchallenging and mundane, with a side of irritating. OOC: Can Votadox get reassigned (e.g. to a canon Hunter), or is it too close to the end?

IC: Kathok - Above the Wastes "Right, OK." Kathok says at length. This fool has effectively just listed two out of the three major settlements, and the two that Kathok isn't heading for at that. Even if he's telling the truth it's unhelpful. But Kathok can't expect much better at this point. "I'll save you some trouble and go to Cliffside, then." he continues. He wants to just put this ordeal behind him at this point. Of course when he gets to Cliffside he'll put a bounty up for this dullard or think of some other spitefully amusing revenge, but he can burn that bridge when he comes to it.

IC: Kathok - Above the Wastes "I was trying to get her attention, not kill her." Kathok says severely. "Just tell me what you know and I'll be on my way..."

IC: Kathok - Above the Wastes "Alright, alright..." Kathok says quickly. "But can you at least tell me where she's likely to have gone?" His tone is pretty insistent. "I'm not going to hurt her or anything, don't worry about that..."

IC: Kathok - Above the Wastes "Yes, yes we are!" Kathok says suddenly, still hanging (both physically and figuratively). "Your old friend is involved in a nasty deal, some important people are paying a hefty sum for her." he continues, inventing wildly. His voice is chopped up by the air. "If you help me, we'll both be rich! We're both bounty hunters, aren't we? I doubt I can manage alone..." That last past is a lie, although any knowledge this dolt has to offer will be useful.

IC: Kathok - Above the Wastes This person is being unreasonably reasonable. But Kathok has an idea. "What, exactly, would you be willing to do for a paycheck?" he persists. The implied question is, of course, 'Would you be willing to betray a friend for a paycheck?'...

IC: Snake - The Rebellion, Kaam "Yeah, I'm not sure that we should stray too far from the others..." I say slowly, thinking back to Xara. I'm probably fine with fruit for the moment, although I'm not sure how many days in a row I can eat those annoying red berries we seem to find round here. "I mean we could just scout a short distance, I suppose." It occurs to me that all three of us are here now. I wonder how Jayar is feeling about this situation, but I don't think that now is the best time to ask.

IC: Votadox (Psyker) - Combat Arena My fingers twitch. In a sickeningly fast instant, my steely death-block is almost charged. Wonderful. I aim down the sight. My world is a blue metal tube, my mouth a grin. Then I fire again, directly at the funny pile of sand. I've got to keep my enemy on his toes, you know. Keep him in shape. My muscles tense.

IC: Snake - The Rebellion, Kaam "Uh," I say after a few seconds, "What food is there exactly round here? I haven't been on one of these trips for a while..."

IC: Kathok - Above the Wastes "Cease hostilities?!" Kathok replies viciously over the wind. "You attacked me!" But his stubbornness is wearing thin, though he'd hate to admit it. He doesn't know where this 'Silvana' is: it would probably be best to stay in the air and search, but he's bored of this slog of a fight. He needs to find some way of getting to her, and better yet convincing this brat that he should conveniently leave the premises... Kathok stops for a second in his lightning-fast thoughts. Why is he even doing this? On an unsubstantiated suspicion? On a whim? Out of curiosity, out of boredom? Just for the sake of finishing the job he's started? Kathok decides that it's probably a mixture of the lot, and moreover that it doesn't matter at all. He's here now: he hasn't got where he is today by looking back. On the other hand, 'where he is today' doesn't seem to be too fantastic... No. Doubt is for cowards, real fighters like Kathok live on good, thick resolve. "Whose side are you on?" he blurts out, still clearly bitter. "Who do you work for? You owe me that much information at least!"

IC: Snake - The Rebellion, Kaam Rested? Not exactly, says my bitter inner monologue. But I might as well make myself useful, so I haul myself up and drag myself out, hoping Shield will follow behind me.

IC: Kathok - Above the Wastes Kathok can't help himself: "Why did you attack me?!" he roars back. Any fool could see he's still furious, but at least he's not attacking, at least not yet.

Actually that's a shout. I'll do that from now on.

Well, I couldn't include an IC as I found issue with your post, and posting in this topic seemed redundant to me when it specifically concerned our interaction. Your post says "Snapping his blade into the air- directly up- Lukasi splashed into sand once again, raining all over Votadox". So he clearly let go of the blade, unless you're contradicting his profile, which says "he cannot deform and reform parts of his body" and "he cannot move while in this state". Your post implied the sword was aimed for Psyker, yet now you're claiming it wasn't. So unless you were hoping for Psyker to try and catch the sword (which contradicts the fact that it is "huge" and Psyker using it is "out of the question") I don't really see the point of the move at all. This contradicts your post: as already mentioned, you said Lukasi moved the blade "directly up" - this would mean it was already over Psyker, unless you're implying he just threw it away in a random direction. This isn't mentioned in your post at all, unless "he then decided to thrust him violently forwards" was referring to Lukasi being pushed. But it sounds more like you're saying Lukasi is the one doing the pushing: especially since the paragraph up until that point was talking about Psyker from Lukasi's perspective. Yes: it's more a swirling, multi-directional attack than an outwards detonation ("cloud of [...] hammering wind"). This contradicts your post: it says "a tempting offer of a weapon", as well as there being no mention of the weapon's size. It seems like the size description was only added when it was convenient for Lukasi. Even if the weapon worked like this, Lukasi wouldn't have been able to anticipate the effect of the weapon and use its momentum to his advantage. Even a normal explosion would just injure you, not fling you in whatever direction you chose. As it is, the weapon works as described above and so wouldn't even have an effect like this. But again, there's no mention of this as a reason for his speed in your post. Exactly, you said "raining", not 'moving through'. From Lukasi's profile: "he cannot move while in this state". Momentum alone wouldn't be enough to accurately carry him through, especially not with two shape changes and starting from a standstill. Here's a second. Let's recap: in his first second, Lukasi landed on the ground, turned around and simultaneously ducked to dodge what is effectively a bullet and avoid its blast. The jump should have been impossible for a being who is described as finding it hard to pick up a toa ("not with the greatest of ease"), not to mention the strange ability to drastically change direction in mid air. But I was willing to let it slide until I heard it had only taken one second to spin and dodge. Then, in less than a second, Lukasi ran forwards, threw his sword (or dropped it upwards (?)), dissolved into sand, somehow moved over or through Psyker, reformed and finally, after standing upright, turned around and punched Psyker in the back of the head. Side note: even if you were going by the blast carrying Lukasi forwards, that's in direct contradiction to him being able to instantly stop, turn and punch - so your explanation makes no sense. This is simply impossible, especially for a being of Lukasi's size. His profile says "he's clumsy at anything aside from crude repairs" in regards to metalwork: it's a fair assumption that this is a clumsy character, unless you're implying that he's clumsy when doing metalwork, but extremely dexterous in every other occupation. But this is a moot point anyway. I have my doubts that even the most agile of characters could pull off what you're describing, and given Lukasi's size I'd say he's far from the most agile of characters. The problem is this: Lukasi is unreasonably fast and acrobatic, disregards momentum or lack thereof, and contradicts his profile and earlier posts as him. He completed an action in less than a second that should have taken multiple seconds and multiple posts. Psyker has a Mask of Respulsion, and would have easily repelled Lukasi. As it is, your post seems to be dangerously close to an autohit.

OOC: Ghidora, I'm a bit confused by your last post. Let me get this straight: Lukasi has just avoided the blast I mentioned in my post, charged forwards, thrown his sword at Psyker, turned into sand, moved forwards as sand, flowed under his legs, then reformed to punch him in the back of the head...in a time frame short enough for Psyker to not be able to intercede? So, so far he's tried to jump on Votadox, then landed, turned around, dodged a bolt (despite his height) and avoided its blast in the space of a second. And now his latest attack: to put it lightly, it must be insanely fast for Votadox not to have time to respond. But this is a character described as clumsy in its profile. There's also the question of why the sword is suddenly so big that Votadox using it is "out of the question" whereas before it was supposed to bait Votadox into moving towards it and using it. But that issue seems relatively small. My main concern is how on Earth Lukasi can move so fast that he can A) land, turn, dodge and charge forward in a second and B) how he can run forwards, throw the suddenly giant sword, dissolve, resolve and punch Votadox in the back of the head so quickly that he can't respond.

IC: Votadox (Psyker) - Comat Arena I sigh internally, which is easier than sighing externally. My opponent is as thick as a pile of sand. Oh wait. Haha. Its lumbering form has spun. I imagine it thinks it's being efficient, or even graceful. The thought makes me so sympathetic towards it that I almost break down in tears. As it is, I simply wait. A brief fraction of a second, to be exact. It's an incredibly mundane fraction of a second, it's true to say. But by its completion the bolt has detonated on the wall just behind my opponent. The result is a ball of bludgeoning air appearing behind my enemy. Half of the sphere is round its hulking bulk of a body. The word 'sudden' might be used by beings less perceptive than me. My opponent's inelegant twirl took seconds. So now I'm reloading and re-aiming my weapon. Just waiting for the moment when it'll be ready. In the meantime, I amuse myself by watching the result of my assault.

IC: Votadox (Psyker) - Combat Arena Finally, an event is taking place. My muscles are, as usual, poised. I tend to keep them that way permanently these days. Better safe than sorry. My arenaceous amigo leaps forwards, and initially I think he's aiming for me. I'm disappointed, and a little dejected. Nevertheless my pre-poised muscles respond. Fight or flight. Or in my case, a tasty blend of both. After a small fraction of a moment has passed, I can trace my granular challenger's trajectory: he's looking to hop down upon me and crush me in the same bargain. Time slows, so to speak. I rush forwards reflexively. Meanwhile, my body elects to spin on its heels. Therefore my form swings to face my sabulous adversary behind me. He, of course, won't be facing me. Impudently lazy yet lightning fast, I draw my weapon. It too follows an arc. Its barrel turns up, it's nose flares with anger. Its torso shuders as it lets loose a bolt at my ungainly enemy.

IC: Snake - The Rebellion, Kaam "Yeah." I reply passively. I keep on feeling like I should add something to the conversation, but I'm honestly feeling more than a little depressed about the whole situation. I need something to occupy my mind: these last seven or eight days have all been the same, trudging boredom shot with moments of terror as we think we're being followed or watched or hunted. It wears you out, but more than that everything...blurs. I honestly can't tell if we've been here seven days or eight days, and that thought scares me a little. What if I'm losing my memory? What if I'm losing my edge? I snap out of the thoughts before they take me over, noticing another of my compatriots opposite me. "Maybe we should ask Cao what he thinks?" I suggest to Shield. "He usually usually cuts to the point..." Although he's been weirdly quiet lately. He seems to have somehow changed... I sidle over to him, glancing at him before speaking confidentially, the others' argument droning on in the background. "What d'ya think we should do?" I ask plainly enough.

IC: Snake - The Rebellion, Kaam "Yeah..." I reply to Shield uncertainly, looking over to Kat, who is by this point in the middle of an argument. None of our options seem good, but I'm not sure if it's a good idea for Kat to try and take responsibility for all of us. I mean, I don't really mind not being in charge or anything like that, it's just it's probably not very healthy for her to have to constantly worry about us. Still, I can't really talk since I'm opting to stay away from the conversion at the moment, especially while it's so heated. Fang's voice, particularly, seems edged with malice when someone mentions his Makuta. Well, he's not unique in that, I suppose. Not many of us can say with conviction that we love our creators. "What do you think we should do?" I ask fairly quietly, turning back to Shield.

IC: Snake - The Rebellion, Kaam I look up to see Shield edging over to me. Of course now that he's here I can't actually think of anything useful to say, so I just reply with a slightly weary "Alright, I suppose...". I pause for a second. "I'm sorry if I woke you up. I'm still having...dreams, y'know?" It might sound selfish, but a part of me hopes he is too, if only so that I can talk about them to someone. Then I remember that Shield probably understands them perfectly already.

IC: Votadox (Psyker) - Combat Arena I stare at the pile of sand for a few moments. "What's a 'mother'?" Then I think for an instant about the fact that a pile of sand is trying to convince me I'm related to rocks. Let me say that again. A pile of sand is attempting to explain my relation to stones. I reflect inwardly on the situation. I reflect on its surreality. My genuine confusion turns to amusement. My amusement turns to glee. I am, indeed, fighting an enemy which spontaneously turns into sand. I am fighting a being which turns into sand. Repetition: my enemy converts into sand at any given moment. That's its special power. It turns into sand. I just hope there isn't a gust of wind. Or at least not one in my direction. That could involve some actual risk: my eyes might get stung by the sand, for example. If the wind was fast enough, that is. That could involve some actual, albeit mild, danger. If I acted intentionally recklessly, perhaps. If I rubbed my face in the sand, I suppose. Or if I set up a fan on the other side of the sand. Or if I imported some more sand, just to up the ante. That could well lead to my eyes being slightly, briefly stung. As it is, though, I'm just staring at a pile of sand.

IC: Snake - The Rebellion, Kaam I stand, groaning internally. I'm too tired for this, but at the same time I feel like we have to keep moving or we'll pause so long that we lose our confidence...though it seems we've lost most of it already. I feel a bit disheartened at times by recollections of Visorak: all that time, while I was curled up in hibernation, the others were fighting and building friendships. I sometimes think I would have risked my life for the friendships alone. "From what I remember," I say thoughtfully, "The Continent is pretty empty. In which case a compass might be more immediately necessary." It wasn't a particularly useful thing to say, but I felt like I had to say something - if only to prove that I still exist...

IC: Snake - The Rebellion, Kaam I turn at the sound of voices near me, taking my hands away from my eyes. The forest is almost as dark, with only the Moon's frosting and a deep blue stippling of sky visible between the canopy above. Half turned as I am, body sprawled on the ground under a blanket, I listen in to the conversation. I'm too tired to engage with it at the moment, but I let the words drift in as I wait for my breathing to return to normal. While I listen I think about my own problems. Something that's been on my own mind recently is the Kaita. I feel like I should talk more to Shield and Jayar: directly after the Kaita (well, after I'd got over my paranoia...) there was a sense of camaraderie I'd never felt before. But over the last week or so I feel like I've lost track of them, not had time or motivation to sit down and really, properly talk to either of them. I must understand them better than anyone else here, and vice versa, yet I haven't spoken to them much more than anyone else. My mind wanders for a second to Xara. I'll be honest, I never knew her that well, but...It's funny, sometimes the farther removed from a person you are, the more you like them. It's like you suddenly remember how much you have in common, even if you don't enjoy their actual company. Me and Xara didn't really know or like each other, it's true, but we shared a common goal and...well, maybe that's more important than anything else. And there's the simple fact that we've lost one of our own. It reminded me how...mortal we are. It reminded me how strong a force simple, stupid accident can be. I wonder where she is now... And then I think for a moment about Kat, and more generally the future of this situation. But just considering it gives me a feeling of dread, like I want to push the thought away as quickly as possible. I've never been very good about thinking of the long term. So I turn back to the conversation.