Eiji Hino

IC: Long Hayn-Fei - Odaiba - Western Wilderness, heading south Hyan-Fei does hear the waver in Kura's voice, sees her turn away just a little too quickly, feels the aura of doubt radiating off her. She can tell that her companion is thinking that roping her into this expedition, or maybe even the expedition itself, was a bad idea. The reiteration once again of her, Hyan-Fei's, intact status sounds even more like she is trying to convince herself that it is a good sign, when in reality, it is almost certainly not a sign at all. Perhaps lingering and looking for survivors is a bad idea. But an even worse idea is lingering and looking for survivors by yourself. After all, in times of danger, the only way to guarantee that someone comes out alive is to have that someone be you. And that is much easier to do with someone watching your back. For this reason, Hyan-Fei does not regret coming along. (Plus, bad idea or no, she finds that she enjoys Kura's company more than she thought she would.) She sees that Kura needs some comforting words; alas, her brusqueness will likely mangle any she could offer. She settles for giving a small smile and an encouraging, if somewhat rough, pat on the shoulder, hoping that that will be enough. Leaving her companion to her task, she retrieves her fishing pole and begins trying to catch their dinner- seated on the bank, feet dipped in the water, in exactly the same pose she was in when their paths first crossed. OOC: @Palm

ayyy welcome back bro

IC: Long Hyan-Fei - Odaiba - Western Wilderness, heading south "If you try tossing me back on there without permission, I'll toss you in the river," Hyan-Fei replies with just enough bluster to indicate that she is likewise teasing. Her serious expression lasts for all of a few seconds more before she starts to laugh along with Kura. But her laugh is interrupted by a small groan of pain as her muscles remind her that they need some relief; she answers their call by doing some lower-body stretches. As she stretches, she looks a question at Kura. Wanting to know what her companion thinks of their first day of journeying so far, she makes her question verbal. "So. Do you still have a good feeling about this?" OOC: @Palm

IC: Chiaki - Ta-Wahi - The Charred Forest The Lesterin's and the gray one's comments are enough to finally break the dam holding my questions back. From the way they phrase it, it sounds like they both started from somewhere else, somewhere they forgot in their journey from there to here, somewhere that they've only remembered since being here. "What could possibly be out there to make you forget something so important?" I ask, mostly to the Lesterin, but also to the gray one and whoever else in the group might also share the experience. "And if you're remembering again here, is whatever made you forget not here?" The idea puts a slight damper on my potential desire to sail off at some point- as bad as I've had it here sometimes, I don't want to forget where I came from. I fumble around in my bag and pull out my notebook of odd magical snippets. The comments, and whatever answers come with them, are too interesting to not jot down. OOC: @Razgriz @Geardirector @Harvali @Snelly @ARROW404 sorry about fallin off the wagon lads

IC: Long Hyan-Fei - Odaiba - Western Wilderness, heading south Is it nearly sunset already? Time must fly when lost in thought or having fun, and Hyan-Fei is not sure which of those applies more to her. Regardless, the time to stop for the day has apparently come, if a little earlier than she would like. But she supposes it would do no good to wander about in the dark when there are dragons and spined things to look out for, and it would do the same to drag her new companion into her bad habit of staying up too late. At the pointed boulder, which looks remarkably like an ancient sundial, Kuar offers her hand and warns about the dismount. Hyan-Fei gives a smile and a small "Hmph" in return, as if to say, "I've got this." She does not, however, have this. As she begins moving to dismount, the muscles of her hips and lower back tweak and seize from the pain of being worked more than usual over the bumps and bounces of Naiana's gait. She begins losing her balance so badly that her still-activated mask power cannot compensate for it, and it is only the last-second grabbing of Kura's hand that keeps her from landing sprawled on her back in the dirt. Back on her feet, trousers dusted off, and mask power deactivated, Hyan-Fei crosses her arms and pouts, fully expecting Kura to giggle at her... less than graceful dismount. OOC: @Palm no worries mate. i think a hearty "welcome back" is in order

bzpower forums stop crashing every month challenge (impossible) (100% fail)

all of the problems i have with the contests can be traced back to the people at the TTV running them. between their almost total lack of transparency, their introduction of arbitrary new rules in the middle of the contests being run, and their inability to take genuine criticism or playful ribbing, they've made the whole thing a disaster for everyone involved. but their biggest offense, in my opinion, has got to be the culture they've cultivated surrounding bionicle lore and canon, which can be summed up as "greg's word is law, we must only operate off of greg's word, therefore we must harass him at every turn for his insights on (insert inane thing here)." why does it matter what the yesterday quest gang's weapons are, which direction the barbs on tuyet's broadsword face, what lariska's cup size is, or whatever other obscure and pointless piece of trivia they're obsessed with now? are these questions really so monumentally important that they have to force greg to take time away from his real life to answer the questions of a handful of frothing neckbeards about a children's toyline twelve years dead? i've said it before and i'll say it again- "don't mess with us bionicle fans, we're devoted to making sure absolutely no intrigue, mystery, or room for creative interpretation exists in our hobby." screw the TTV, screw the canon contests, and screw bionicle canon. just make your own stuff if you're so interested in it, and don't let daddy greg saying it is or isn't allowed stop you. okay, this made me seethe. do you have any earthly idea how entitled and selfish you sound here? there's this thing called "real life" that everyone has- even your precious greg- which is currently being affected by a thing called "a global pandemic." those two things deserve much higher priority and much more devoted time than a toy photography contest where the only prizes are bragging rights and your jpeg on a website. not everyone wants to be, or can afford to be, as single-mindedly devoted to bionicle as you. you make it out as if you are owed more of these trainwrecks. you are not. you are owed nothing.

Hear! Belet’s horn heralds the coming of a new dawn. It praises those still left to Hunt in the day, and it mourns those who have been Hunted in the night. It instructs the weak to become mighty, and it instructs the mighty to reach greater heights. It calls us all to Hunt- for game, for glory, for godhood. To live is to Hunt. To Hunt is to kill. To kill is to live. The Hunt gives, and the Hunt takes away. Praise be to the name of the Hunt! for your consideration: KAIAKAN CLAN- OKHOTNIK EYRIE Jabbar Peak, east of the High Eyrie, is generally regarded as the Okhotnik clan’s territory. A frequent victim of blizzards and avalanches, it nevertheless houses a great many resources for those with the tenacity to Hunt for them. The clan’s decently sized main village consists of many dome-shaped huts made of bone, hide, and fur, able to be collapsed for relocation. Hunters’ huts form a protective ring around the yard, which houses the cookfires, stables, and leaders’ huts. Offshoot “villages”- little more than outriders’ campsites- can be found close by, or far away from, the village, and follow it wherever it goes. The clan frequently travels up and down Jabbar Peak, going where the resources are, never lingering in a spent spot for too long. Their emblem- the skull of a great cat beast, thrust through with a spear- marks every resting place, new and old. Okhotnik was here. CULTURE The Okhotnik clan and its responsibilities are divided into three groups- Hunters, priests, and administrators. Each group is overseen by a chingghis (Kaiakan word roughly translated as “chief”), who are themselves overseen by a chingghis eh-chingghis (“chief of chiefs”). While everyone is expected to know how to Hunt, Hunters Hunt as their primary job. They seek out resources in the region they have settled down in- primarily beasts, to use as food and construction material, but also lumber, valuables, and sometimes other sapient beings- conquer what they can each day, and bring it back to the village. Some Hunters take on the role of outriders, surveying as-yet untouched territory to see if the village will be able to survive there. Priests are charged with conducting religious ceremonies and overseeing other traditional rituals. Administrators are the closest thing the clan has to royalty. They oversee the allocation of resources and manpower, uphold clan law, and in general makes sure that the clan survives another day. Administrators also tend to be the greatest of the clan’s Hunters, and are always at the head of the caravan when the village relocates, ready to act as the first line of defense. TRADITIONS The Okhotnik clan has taken the Kaiakan mantra of survival to its logical extreme and turned it into a religion. Eschewing the idea of cosmic beings that embody good and evil, they instead worship the Hunt- a metaphor for the daily chance to prove that one can weather the constant hardships of life and make themselves worthy of seeing another sunrise. As famous clan scripture says, “To live is to Hunt. To Hunt is to kill. To kill is to live.” Every aspect of clan life is tied in some way or another to the Hunt. The closest thing they have to gods are their folk heroes, whom they exalt as prized trophies claimed by death itself. The chingghis eh-chingghis is expected to be knowledgeable in matters Hunt-related, religious, and administrative. When he dies, his first male heir is tentatively named his successor. The clan is then assembled to witness a ritual of challenge, where the heir and the eligible chingghis fight bare-handed in a ring of stones. The result of the ritual can only be determined by bloodshed. If a chingghis spills the heir’s blood, they become the chingghis eh-chingghis. But if no drop of the heir’s blood is spilled, he remains the successor. There can be- and have been- female chingghis, but the chingghis eh-chingghis is always male. Holders of the former title are addressed with the honorific gol (“sir/ma’am”), and holders of the latter with the honorific tem-gol (“great sir”). ATTITUDES The Okhotnik clan believes that outsiders should remain outside unless specifically allowed in. They see an uninvited guest as a challenge to prove that they are still the dominant force on Jabbar Peak. It is not uncommon to see strange and foreign weapons scattered among their more traditional arsenal, trophies taken from defeated outsiders. When everyone is in their place, however, clan opinions soften somewhat. They at best tolerate the other Kaiakan clans, begrudgingly respect the Skakdi- especially those who have gone the way of the warlord- and view non-combatant types like the Lesterin as pushovers who did not earn their lives through triumph in the Hunt. good evening bzprpg, it's ya boy capMARVELOUS. are things on seprilli happening just a little too slowly for your tastes? do you feel as if your profiles post is missing a certain rustic flair? do you want to take advantage of a currently unexploited niche like the filthy capitalist you are? do you like snow? if you answered yes to any or all of these questions, then congratulations! the okhotnik clan, the first(?) player-created kaiakan clan, is for you! the tl;dr on these guys is that they've basically spent the last however-long-it's-been mucking about in the eyries of seprilli and doing their best to survive- the usual kaiakan shtick. but with all the weird goings-on going on lately, and with a massive clan shake-up on the horizon, just surviving may end up becoming much harder than it already is. if you're interested in making important clan figures, or clan figures in general, graduate from mere npc's to full-fledged characters (and by extension, helping lighten the load of running this entire thing), then don't hesitate! apply now!

IC: Long Hyan-Fei - Odaiba - Western Wilderness, heading south Hyan-Fei knows she should probably say something to comfort Kura, tell her that the people of the Long temple are going to be okay, but it would be a lie coming from her. Even if they are her clan, she feels little goodwill for them beyond the standard vague desire that they somehow survive. Her much stronger desire for them is that they change. Flashbacks of her time with the temple mothers dance across her brain- always chastising her for never sitting still, never having detrimental levels of discipline, never staying "rooted." The people of the Long temple dedicated themselves to sitting in one place all their lives, and where did it get them? A front-row seat for the apocalypse. She cannot help but feel a sort of condescending pity for them. Can their rigid discipline hope to stand against Zataka's chaos- if it is truly Zataka? Maybe this will be the wake-up call she feels they desperately need. Maybe this will open their eyes to the need to fight chaos with chaos, and leave the refined behind. Of course, these thoughts are wisely left unsaid. Hyan-Fei settles for a vague, "Like I said, you shouldn't worry. I have a feeling that everything's going to turn out fine, in some way or another." OOC: @Palm

reach dragon through violence

aw sweet time to challenge for leadership in traditional hunter's combat

IC: Chiaki - Ta-Wahi - The Charred Forest I nod in greeting to each newcomer as the Lesterin introduces them, though with my luck I'll end up forgetting their names soon and resorting to calling them by descriptors. Sure enough, all thought of names flies from my head as the Lesterin goes on to mention a wildfire in Le-Wahi- my home turf. I frown. Where in Le-Wahi, I think? Did it get to my old village? I suddenly feel a pang of guilt over leaving. Even though they mistreated me for being friends with a witch, the Matoran there are still my fellows; as a Toa, isn't it my job to help my fellows and leave old misdeeds behind me? The merry jangle of a pouch of widgets jolts me back to the present. It would seem that preparations have begun for the parting of ways, if the gray one offering to play guide back to Ta-Koro is anything to go by. I move to stand beside the newcomers and nod assent, remembering that I, too, wanted to go to the Koro before I got sidetracked by the little scuffle. (I can't help but notice that my eyes keep drifting back to the tree man. What was his name? Something with an L? I've already forgotten, perhaps due to my fascination with him overriding the common courtesy of remembering. Again, maybe it's my sheltered upbringing, but I've never seen such a being before. How much of him is actually tree- is it just his armor, or is it his body too? Was he always a tree, or did he used to be a regular being? If so, how did he become that way? All these questions and more I want to ask him, but fortunately I retain enough common courtesy to know that asking this early into our acquaintanceship would likely be a gross invasion of privacy.) OOC: @Razgriz @Geardirector @Harvali @Snelly @ARROW404

thinking of making one of those kaiakans and mucking about in seprilli. anything significant going on there that i should be aware of?

IC: Long Hyan-Fei - Odaiba - Western Wilderness, heading south For a while they journey on through the easy foothills in amiable silence. Having never really traveled south before, Hyan-Fei takes the slow ride as an opportunity to observe the beauty around her. The river beside them twinkles brightly in the sunlight, the grass gently bows against the breeze, and Kahu flutter cheerfully through the sky. It is sights like these that make Hyan-Fei glad to wander, and sad that they are under threat by some new evil. Her shoulders slump under the weight of these new thoughts. She is just about to try distracting herself by asking Kura if i is too early to learn a fancy riding trick, when she notices her friend also seems upset about something. "What's wrong? Are you still worried that you're not going to find who you're looking for?" she asks. "You shouldn't be." OOC: @Palm

finally got my computer fixed, time to get back on that Gamer Grind Fellas