oncertainty

IC: Dolbren - The Iron Mahi [Down the aisle] With that, it almost seemed like Datrox knew what was going on. It was so excellent a riposte. All because, of course, Dolbren hadn't been planning on going anywhere. Excepting the cargo car, just a short distance down the aisle as it was. Somewhere along the way, within the next dozen kio if all went according to plan, Dolbren was going to quit the train proper. Apparently in some kind of mechanical carriage, no ussal required. He had to do something. "Let's walk and talk." His intonation was flat. At once three things happened: Dolbren dropped his gaze down and away from Datrox's eyeline, he sidestepped the other Toa to walk down the aisle, and his smile grew thinner. He was aware of the latter thing, but it would have happened even if he were not. As it was, however, it was something to which he suspected Datrox would pay attention. Always best to know where the other guy is looking. Their conversation was still more back-and-forth than interrogation, a fact of which he was sure Datrox was aware. He kept giving him things. Datrox had looked at the Vortixx again. She looked tired and sickly, and Datrox was worried about her. Dolbren was not so kind that he wouldn't pick that up and use it. "Your friend can come with us too." He hadn't even tried to hide his glance the second time, he had to know Dolbren would notice. That was enough to really smile. Still, despite Dolbren's flippancy, one thing was hard to forget. She was an unknown quantity. Another tick on the tally. Dolbren vs. People who might try to be a hero, 1:2 It would be a mistake to let Datrox's question hang unanswered. And yet there was something more difficult, in the moment, about fabricating something wholesale than lying about details. But, while Datrox must have known he was withholding something, Dolbren could play questions with the best of them. His interest in other people was omnipresent, and genuine. "As for your question: well, pal, haven't you ever wanted to go home?" OOC: @Tarn @Vezok's Friend @Void Emissary @BULiK

I'm putting together some characters for Zakaz/Seprilli, and I'm wondering if playing as a Nakihl is something that is happening? I realize a few characters have picked up some Nakihl powers to varying degree, but seems like there are few full-on blood sorcerers.

IC: Dolbren - The Iron Mahi [Time to play a card] Dolbren reflected for a fraction of a second: had Quoribay said anything about using real names? He could remember flashes of the planning, and he of course had his part in their dance committed to memory. And yet, as is often the case, he found what he needed to be just out of reach. And time was certainly short. Hesitate and he would lose the momentum; lose the momentum and he could lose much more than just that. If he was being honest with himself, he absolutely could not remember now. So, failing that, he had to reframe the question. What was the downside? When they succeeded, the inevitable response would have one more piece of evidence with which to track him down. What was the upside? After all, the downside was at least interesting. And, under the circumstances, it seemed to him to be firmly the right thing to do. Dolbren gave his best attempt at a winning smile, "The name’s Dolbren: once of Po-Wahi, lately of Ko-Koro. Pleased to meet you pal." He stuck his arm out, open handed, a quick swoop down the aisle past his interlocutor and away from himself into a full extension, "Shall we try and help some people?" OOC: @Tarn @Vezok's Friend @Void Emissary and maybe also @BULiK @Perp @Johnny Blocksville @Nato G

IC: Gonrae - Some joint nice enough to have a patio, but not much nicer than that. Gonrae had wondered, when he had first arrived, why any restaurant in Onu-Koro would have a patio. Was the distinction between inside a room and inside a much larger room really so much to make it a selling point? More likely, he supposed, it was started by some deluded expat who thought that people would be taken by the novelty. Gonrae’s heart went out to them, whoever they were; the restaurant was completely empty. He had decided to stay for a while. And stay he had, as a waiter who seemed to consider it quite an imposition wandered out, through sipping the entire volume of a bad drink, and finally as he was left entirely alone. He looked out upon the busy street beside, but his eyes were all but unseeing. It felt appropriate that he be alone. To be sure, the Onu-Koronan engineers he had met with had not been rude. Nor had they been as welcoming as he might have hoped. Despite increased technological cooperation, it had still not been so long since Nuparu’s isolationist tendencies were made manifest in the hermetically sealed iStone. Those attitudes persisted. Though much was now shared, it was well-known among engineers of the other Koros that much still remained hidden. Gonrae himself wasn’t helping that situation, of course. Perhaps he could have done something to foster an arrangement like that between Onu-Koro and Po-Koro, or at least the beginnings of it. Instead he was whiling away the hours. Boredom made him inattentive to the world around, including the time. Keen interest did much the same for him, for that matter. These things on his mind, he yawned. His expression resolved to a scowl that he was too unaware to alter. OOC: Open for interaction.

IC: Dolbren - Iron Mahi [Conversational at the door] Close. Close on two counts. However, neither were quite enough. It would take more than stepping up to his face to make Dolbren flinch. He was all too willing to see how far they could make this go. And, while the guy had clocked that something was going on behind Dolbren’s words, he hadn’t quite got it. It was that last remark of his. He had tipped his hand too much in it. Dolbren was perfectly willing to let him see what was going on in the next car, and all the better if he decided to get involved. Dolbren would like to test his blade, but seeing someone try to take on his associates would be a nice consolation. The only thing was, he needed the Mahi’s Sentinel detachment to exit the cargo cars first. Waiting for that had to be only a matter of time, giving Karmine the benefit of the doubt that he had done his job properly on the roof of the train. Until then, though, Dolbren needed to keep things sufficiently on track. A bad pun, he realized, if he had said it out loud. That was all to say, in effect, that this guy was a known quantity when he was standing right here. If he let him into the next car before he knew what the sentinels were doing, though? Well at that point it was hard to say. He held his gaze, although he wasn’t going to bother not blinking. That would be painfully childish. "Pal, since we just met I’ll do you the favour of ignoring what you just said. I don’t know why you would assume things like that about someone. All I’m saying is this: you rushing in with a big sword is probably going to make things worse, not better. I don't mean that to reflect on you, I just think you and I both can do something more productive than that. At least the Sentinels have some training in handling this kind of thing.” Hopefully he would show Dolbren something else he could use. Or, even better, maybe the Sentinels would come charging through the far door. Dolbren had never wished for that before. OOC: @Tarn @Vezok's Friend @Void Emissary most immediately @Goose @BULiK @Johnny Blocksville and all other heisters less so

IC: Dolbren - Iron Mahi [Standing and improvising] At that, Dolbren turned 180 degrees on his heels. His broad-shouldered build made it easy to occupy the window frame, and in this moment he was thankful for it. The Toa who had just spoken to him: red and black armour and a great honking broadsword? He was not part of the plan. And yet, seems it was good that Dolbren had stood up. He could at least stall, and maybe, with a little luck, put things right back on track. It was easy to flash a pleasant smile. Dolbren saw interesting things happening on one side, and the possibility of something else interesting was standing right before him. And if the running calculus in his head had just gone up a digit— Dolbren vs. People who might try to be a hero, 1:1 —well that wasn’t too much to handle. He rubbed the back of his neck, and let his smile slip into a grimace. "Say Pal, I realize that I'm about to seem a bit presumptuous. Great Spirit forgive, perhaps a bit insensitive. but I think someone in the next car is having some kind of a—" He held up his left hand, palm towards himself, swaying as he searched for the right word. After a moment, the gesture resolved into his forefinger pointed at the side of his own head. He twisted the finger in a tight spiral. The gesticulation was a magician’s trick: best to keep their eyes on you. In this case, he didn't want to take any chance that it could be otherwise. "—some kind of a break, if you take my meaning. Something medical. And, I mean, look; that’s just not the kind of problem I know how to solve. But I come to thinking, there have to be sentinels on board, am I right? Maybe they can do something—" He breathed in. "—something nice and nonviolent. Calm the poor guy down." Dolbren shrugged his shoulders, and looked his fellow passenger in the eyes. OOC: @Tarn @Vezok's Friend @Void Emissary @Goose Passenger Car Two is the place to be (albeit relatively in Nikarra's case) @BULiK @Perp @Nato G @Johnny Blocksville @~Xemnas~ and dear fellow conspirators

IC: Dolbren - Iron Mahi [Standing up in the second passenger car] Dolbren would have been a little bit insulted if he really thought that Quoribay had only asked him to be a heavy lifter. Part of what he was being paid for must, of course, be his discretion. Dolbren had ample reason to believe this. For one, especially in these delicate early moments, his part in the job depended on it. More importantly, Quoribay hadn’t met Dolbren as a strongman. Quite to the contrary, they had found one another in the same moment of pragmatism: deciding that it would profit nothing to go down with the ship that was the Legacy’s vision of Ko-Koro. Dolbren remembered that trek well. Moving across snowy fields, camouflaged among the refugees. Warming his hands by an outdoor fire. The pleasant feeling of having avoided pointless trouble. These images on his mind, Dolbren rose. He slid out from his seat and into the aisle. He was aware that this was less than discreet. Better not to give his fellow passengers any reason to notice him. And yet, he reasoned that he might as well stretch his legs. He might very soon need to move. Thus justified, Dolbren loped down the aisle towards the other end of the car. Part way down, a momentary clanking shudder of the train led him to steady himself on the adjacent wall. He looked to the Toa seated on either side of that compartment, one red and one purple, and smiled apologetically. "My apologies.” Giving a nod to the pair of Toa, Dolbren proceeded to the far end of the car, and peered through the window. He squinted. Through two panes of glass, and small windows at that, he could see relatively little. Even so, it was difficult to miss Karmine. Standing tall in the aisle, crazed and bleeding, weapons drawn. Dolbren gave a small nod of approval, so slight as to be almost imperceptible. Who would have thought the kid had it in him? Would that the rest of the day could be equally surprising. OOC: @Johnny Blocksville @Perp @Tarn and all other heisters, @Goose @Void Emissary fellow second passenger car riders

IC: Aeragot - Ga-Koro Harbour Aeragot knew of only one upside to his particular affliction: it didn't last long. Once back on solid ground, his symptoms started to dissipate almost immediately. Thus grounded, he began again to really think. He turned away from the water, now leaning his back on the guardrail, and scanned the crowds around him. No movement coming precisely his way, which was a good thing. Perhaps the Marines were presently distracted, or else he hadn't piqued any particular interest. Not like anyone could have circulated his description, at least not anyone who wasn’t still on the submarine. All the better, as far as he was concerned; Aeragot had no interest in spending hours answering questions for someone else’s satisfaction. In that interest he figured it was better to get lost in the plunge for a time. Better not to stay too near the scene of the crime, as it were, especially given that one could count the number of orange masks in the crowd on one hand. Aeragot slunk between huddled groups, both Dasaka and Ga-Matoran. He felt faintly thankful for his smaller-than-average frame. He moved quickly, but tried to adopt the disinterested expression of one who wasn't deliberately slipping away. Coming out of the thickest of the crowds, Aeragot walked a ways up the edge of the harbour. He ambled past Dasakan sailors and Ga-Koronan dockhands. He had slowed his pace slightly, reasoning that he was outside the zone of greatest danger, and looked with idle interest upon the varied vessels of the refugee fleet. And then he stopped. He had heard a voice he recognized. He knew that such precision would ordinarily be beyond even him, but it had been mere minutes since he had heard Commodore Umbraline Ayiwah's voice roll louder than life across the bridge of the submarine. He kept walking for a few moments then, in one fluid motion, he wheeled about and drew his gaze across everyone in his immediate vicinity. An old trick, gazing off as if you were looking for something specific then seeming to find it a few degrees past whatever you were actually looking for, but a reliable one. Ayiwah wasn't hard to identify: not only was her uniform evidently of considerable finery, she comported herself in all ways as a leader. When she gave an order, nearby sailors followed it. Though Ayiwah stood backed by several of her fellows, she was speaking to one of Aeragot's countrymen, a Fe-Toa wearing a long. Aeragot was really starting to think those were coming into style. Aeragot didn't hesitate. He walked back the way he came, some paces past the group, and then stood on the water's edge. He rested, leaning against a large bollard. Then, Aeragot stared deep into the distance across the ocean, eyes on the horizon. If asked, however, he could not have described at what he was looking. He was entirely focused on listening in. OOC: @Vezok's Friend @Umbraline Yumiwa @Silvan Haven @The UltimoScorp @BULiK hope I'm not being overly presumptuous — just trying to keep Aeragot involved in interesting stuff!

There are some interesting indications about the authorial intent behind Makuta's remarks in that scene in a Tumblr post that Templar Games made a few years ago. They wanted to complicate a simple good/evil dichotomy by positioning Makuta's destruction as the essential correlate to Mata Nui's creation. They say pretty explicitly that In the post, they note that was influenced by LEGO's insistence that the weapons used by the Toa Mata were not weapons, but tools. This being the case despite their obviously weapon-like appearance! And consequently, the action scenes in that game are generally set up so that no one does obviously lethal damage to each other. (Also contributing, according to that post, was the writers' dissatisfaction with the simplicity of a good triumphing over evil conclusion in the wake of 9/11. Somber, but interesting in terms of historical detail on the game's development.) This is all to say that both Makuta and the Rahi were, in the end, not thematically associated with evil. Instead, Templar wanted to position them as destruction or uncreation, a concept which they suggest is just as capable of being good or evil as creation. So I think it is in that sense the Makuta both cannot be destroyed, and is nothing. He is nothing because he is, in some sense, destruction itself, and he cannot be destroyed because so long as creation exists it is necessary that uncreation exists also. The two cannot exist separated from one another. Obviously, a lot of story beats in later years outright contradict this reading. In that respect, your interpretation of that dialogue makes a lot of sense. But, to my mind, the MNOG provides a glimpse of a more thematically rich direction that the story could have been taken. Perhaps another reason why the MNOG has such enduring appeal.

IC: Dolbren - The Iron Mahi [the very back of the second passenger car] With his fellow Ba-Toa's first sounding of what seemed to him a surrogate war drum, Dolbren looked up at the ceiling of the train and smiled. The smile stayed in place as he glanced about the passenger car, his eyes resting for a moment on each of his fellow passengers in turn. He had no need to plaster the expression there; all the nervous energy had left his body as soon as he knew things were really underway. As it was, he felt good. Well, perhaps just a twinge of sadness for the other passengers, so unaware of what really went on just outside of their perception. He was tempted, in the moment, to inform them all immediately. It would be awfully educational to see how they would react when confronted with reality. He didn't heed his flight of fancy. There was work to be done now, and there would be time enough to others to reveal their natures later. Still, he could not keep himself from smiling. OOC: Heist crew, and any non-affiliated passengers in the second passenger car

IC: Aeragot - Bridge of the Chiisai Ryuu Yeah, ok. No surprise, but Lieutenant Ageru Tazera took this kind of thing very seriously. Can't quite get over military protocol to give a thank you. No matter. He'd take the acknowledgment that he came in good faith, and pack things up. As was becoming a running theme today, Aeragot was going to cut his losses. In another running theme, Aeragot held both hands up, palms out. He gave a slight shrug. "Hard to argue with that, Lieutenant. You got it." He looked to Rudra as well. It was hard to see a guy like that go down; all audacity, no malice. Aeragot wouldn't call Rudra's play wise, and if pressed he probably wouldn't even call it right, but who would he be if he didn't respect it? "Thanks for giving me the benefit of the doubt." He spoke with a netural smile, glancing around the room at large. But, with a pointed look to Rudra, Aeragot added a wordless grimace of apology. Then he turned, and stepped out of the submarine's bridge. He gave a polite nod to the Dasaka guards beyond the door. Of course, he only received steely gazes in response, but Aeragot wasn't going to let a tense situation disturb his conduct. One had to comport oneself in a certain way. He enjoyed a glance into the interior of the submarine, his first look at the rest of it given his Kualsi-aided initial entry. Immediately conscious of his prying eyes, however, the Dasaka sailors ushered him along. Aeragot didn't like only receiving the accelerated exit tour, but in this case he had little ground to argue. If he was being honestly with himself, he didn't have the stamina either. His headache, still growing, made that abundantly clear. Even so, just before he was nudged out the door and back onto the pier, Aeragot gazed deep down the line of the Ryuu's hull. He still had prospector's eyes. He had spent years acclimating them to the surface, but he had lost very little in dim light. Had Aeragot been most anyone else, he wouldn't have caught a hint of movement past a series of low bulkheads, and recognized it as a tiny rodent. The creature raised its nose to the air, and rubbed its tiny front paws together. No way it had come over on the ship; Aeragot had seen its siblings a dozen times before, trawling about in alleys and on docks in the early evening. It was thinking of this image that Aeragot chuckled, standing and steadying himself against a rail on the pier. It didn't matter what he, or the Lieutenant, or anyone else did: Mata Nui got in. Though he didn't feel like he could call that much of a win, something struck him about that rodent in the dark. It was evidence, he supposed; whatever it was that was happening, it was at least going to change them all. OOC: @Ghosthands @Razgriz

IC: Dolbren - The Iron Mahi [the absolute back of the second passenger car] Despite—or perhaps because of—his Po-Koronan youth, Dolbren had very seldom ridden The Iron Mahi. He hadn’t even been back to Po-Wahi in some time. The heat agreed with him, though, and he was used to the desert. He was used to the boredom too. For a moment he thought those two were closely connected: the desert, and the sense of boredom. Upon further reflection, however, it seemed that they could not be. Tundra and desert weren’t so different, but he didn’t feel like this back in Ko. The landscape wasn’t the common denominator. Instead, it must have been that he was returning home. Stepping back into the old familiar boredom, then. Perhaps he knew these desolate vistas, seen now in blurred motion from the Iron Mahi’s window, all too well. This was all to say that Dolbren was tense. He wasn’t worried, but for now he had little to do but think. He had rushed inside the second passenger car; if things were to go smoothly it was awfully important that he be in exactly the right place. But this meant that, as the train filled up with travellers, he was left wedged into the very back of the cramped car. He was close to the door to the cargo section, to be sure, but didn’t much like to crane his neck past his fellow travellers to see out the window. He wanted to move. Could have been worse, he supposed: at one point in the planning he was going to make the first leg of the voyage sealed inside a packing crate. Coming out of his reverie, Dolbren noticed he had been picking at a crack on the edge of the tray table. He smiled bashfully around, but as far as he could tell no one had been watching. Then he gave a quiet sigh, and looked to the door behind him. He could trust his sense of time enough to say that it wouldn’t be long now. What a glorious opportunity this was: kicking a sand snipe nest, and seeing what treasures were hidden within. Not a very elegant mixed metaphor he supposed, but it wasn't like anyone could hear him.

IC: Dolbren - Obsidian Outpost Dolbren leapt up from his seat, coming forward to stand in line with his fellow Ba-Toa. He breathed in quickly and gave a thin smile. He did find all this interesting; the threats, the conspicuous lack of macho posturing. He appreciated how serious everyone was about the whole thing. And yet, Quoribay and the newcomer, Surdo, were right. Better to get paid first. He gave Karmine a jocular nudge, "Careful pal, last time you were polite and good-natured everyone felt the need to build some tension. Gotta keep things at a nice median of simmeringly hostile civility." OOC: @Johnny Blocksville @Tarn @BULiK @Nato G @Perp @~Xemnas~

IC: Aeragot - Bridge of the Chiisai Ryuu Aeragot almost chuckled. The Lieutenant could say whatever she wanted to make her feel like she was the reasonable one here; that weapon had to be lethal, and she was all too happy to use it. And come on, telling Rudra that if you could act under your own laws this would be a capital offense? This wasn't a war. Some people just did not understand the lighter touch. A keen observer could have read this on his face, if he hadn't covered three-quarters of it with his hand. He rubbed his forehead. The gesture wasn't utilitarian: he was starting to feel it in his skull. Despite himself, he felt that this was good news. Seemed like she was losing a little of the belligerence. If it was replaced with thinking he was some kind of fool, well, he would take that. It seemed like they could agree on something at least. Aeragot liked Rudra. It would be hard not to feel a little sympathy, when you understood monomania the way he did. He wasn't a miracle worker though: Rudra being passed over to the Koro's forces might be the best he could do. "Look pal, I meant what I said. I like to think I know something about people. This isn't going to look good for you with either of those options. But hey, your own head be on it. If we can all walk out of here—emphasis on the walk—well, I don't think I can do much better." OOC: @Ghosthands @Razgriz @Vezok's Friend

IC: Aeragot - Bridge of the Chiisai Ryuu Ok. Alright. This wasn’t much to work with, but it was something. Aeragot wasn’t sure what the Lieutenant made of him, but he liked this a lot better than a minute ago. Maybe she wasn’t completely unreasonable. The difference between the two of them was just that, in this case, he was right. "You have to think about how this looks to us. My people, I mean. Your people just show up on our shores, there are a whole lot of you, and you have strange powers, and you’re heavily armed. And look: they're not unreasonable. they’re wary, but for now they’re really just interested. You haven’t done anything to worry them yet, not in a real way.” At least not publicly. He was making a gamble, but he had to assume that she was as in the dark as everyone else, relatively speaking. "But think about how it looks if you drag out one of our people who you just beat to a pulp. What are you going to do, have an execution? It doesn’t matter why you feel justified in that, most people are never going to know what really happened. But they will know that the strangers came and had one of us killed.” He threw an arm back, gesturing through the front window. Despite the impassioned movement, he didn’t let emotion overtly enter his voice. Less risky to stay calm. "People are going to know something is going on; there are probably even journalists out there! ‘Invading force executes Toa’ is going to make even better news than a Koro’s worth of strangers showing up. They’re going to be thinking in terms of sides after that. And—” You can’t plan for this kind of thing, he reflected. Just have to trust that you can make it happen when it matters. "I don’t think you have that luxury. I don’t think your superiors have that luxury. Maybe you can make the Akiri understand. Maybe she’ll agree with you. But this is already bigger than that. I mean, public opinion is what's really going to matter in the long run—” He let a long breath out. For him, the deck of a ship was really not the ideal setting for this kind of thing. OOC: @Ghosthands @Razgriz @Vezok's Friend apologies for the wait all, busy end of semester!

IC: Dolbren - Obsidian Outpost Dolbren shivered in the cold, in spite of himself. He had been in Ko-Wahi long enough, he reasoned, that he should have gotten used to it. Standing in the shallow snow cover in the courtyard of the Obsidian Outpost, the gap between expectation and reality was eminently clear to him. He didn’t know it then, but for the rest of his life he would never feel quite at home in lower temperatures. At that moment, however, he hastened inside. He opened the doors without knocking. He wasn’t sure of the time, but he felt late. He was wrong about that too, as he found out when he leaned into the mess hall and saw only three others inside. He smiled and gave a slight nod to Quoribay. Quoribay, he recognized; that one was something of a known quantity. Minnorak, he knew by reputation and hearsay only. The third figure, the Lesterin, he had no idea. That problem, of course, was easily remedied. He swung out his arms to either side, palms open, closed-mouth smile. “You know, I’m glad I’m not late. I don’t know everyone here, and I’d rather make a good first impression. I’m Dolbren—” Dolbren was unguarded: he said that with an obvious expectation of replies in kind, “—and I’m excited to work with you all. Though I fear you may have the advantage of me; you really weren’t very specific about this plan, Quoribay.” OOC: @BULiK @~Xemnas~ @Nato G

IC: Aeragot - Bridge of the Chiisai Ryuu It couldn’t have been easy, could it have? Aeragot scanned the room. He looked from Lieutenant Ageru Tazera (long name, but saying her rank out loud made things clear enough) to the second Dasaka who had just burst through. She standing in the doorframe and trembling slightly, her hand on her hilt, not making a move yet but obviously poised and waiting for her officer’s order. His gaze then came to rest Rudra, fists wreathed in crackling light and held out in both directions, and Aeragot furrowed his brow. The submarine’s mooring lines had snapped, and this high in the water, well— karz his eyes, he wished he had sea legs. —He needed to focus, a task he could keep up for the time being. Aeragot had dared to hope, for the briefest moment as the door burst open, that Rudra would see his odds were getting slimmer and try to make a break for it. That wasn’t what happened though, was it? Instead, his countryman was basically pontificating. Aeragot agreed that it was strange: a new voice had rolled through the bridge, given them a 5-second lecture, and then dropped out for good. The voice didn’t introduce themselves, but they called the Dasaka foreigners, so they had to be local. Too bad they were so quick to justify retaliative murder; it would have been nice to have someone on the outside trying to calm things down too. As it was, this was rapidly developing into a diplomatic incident. Despite the fact that it was no longer sinking, Aeragot was feeling ever more like he was being forced to go down with the ship. And then, the whole thing had crescendoed into Rudra spouting off about some kind of conspiracy. Brainwashing? Well it wasn’t inconceivable he supposed, but if they could make people do whatever they wanted them to do, why hadn’t they just taken down Rudra that way? They hadn’t been here long, so if they were mesmerizing people it couldn’t take all that much time... It was something to look into. Maybe. For now, try to get this situation dealt with. "Hey look pal, I mean even if you were right—" He nodded back and forth equivocally. "—well, we’re not in a locked room anymore. Don’t you think you should make this less about getting away with it, and more about just getting away?” He watched Rudra carefully. Perhaps if he had powers like the Dasaka, he could be sending him a psychic message. Get out of here, lie low, live to scheme another day. We can all still walk away unscathed. With powers over the earth alone, though, he could only speak aloud. OOC: @Ghosthands @Razgriz

Hey I mean, so far as Aeragot is concerned he's only as morally dubious as the statement "Maybe we shouldn't use lethal force on people who board our submarine without asking," he wants to fight the Makuta just as much as the next Toa And yeah I've already got a character pretty involved in the submarine debacle, this new character would definitely be all aboard with the possibility of a train heist though!

Anything in the morally dubious to evil range happening that could use some extra muscle? I'd like to introduce a semi bad guy character and get him involved in some interesting stuff, without necessarily approaching some other ethically ambiguous characters as if he just has a criminal element detector.

IC: Aeragot - Bridge of the Chiisai Ryuu Aeragot winced when he caught sight of the Vo-Toa’s wound. He eyed the Dasaka and her weapon, now held menacingly forth. Seems like he had to adjust his evaluation of both: no way that thing was non-lethal, and it didn’t seem like that bothered her much. Perhaps his countryman wasn’t the one most likely to ignite the situation after all. The guy definitely didn’t deserve capital punishment for this one, though Aeragot granted that he ought to have expected the Dasaka wouldn’t much like someone trying to pinch their submarine. He gave the officer a placative smile as he too circled around, open hands still held to either side. He stopped between the two others, forming the third point of a rough equilateral triangle, keeping both in view. The bridge wasn’t tiny, but as he felt the familiar weight of the blade slung sheathed across the back of his waist, it was starting to feel a little cramped. Not that he was going to put down the cards and fold yet, but he saw the possibility more clearly now. He looked from one of his fellows to the other, and spoke quietly but with clear projection. "For what it's worth, I’m Aeragot—” he gave a slight nod at his own declaration, “—and I’m thinking we should just wait a moment, and not do anything hasty." OOC: @Razgriz @Ghosthands @Rahisaurus @Vezok's Friend

IC: Aeragot - Bridge of the Chiisai Ryuu Aeragot gave a small smile. Of course he knew what the Vo-Toa was saying. It had been a long time since he had been home, but he wouldn’t disagree with that assessment of Nuparu either: the engineer would accept the submarine gladly, and he probably would build a whole fleet of the things. Probably would have done the same thing even before he was Akiri. And returning to Onu-Koro as some kind of hero? Well of course that was appealing. And yet. And yet Aeragot knew himself. Money wasn’t going to do it for him, and while he wouldn't mind doing right by the people back home, this wasn’t the way he would make it happen. It would probably bother him if he went through with it, anyway. He noticed something as well. He was feeling sicker again, and faster. He knew that ordinary waves, the kind that always made him feel this way when he was on the water, travelled along the surface of the ocean only. The boat had been getting steadier as it went downward, but now he was really starting to feel it. He couldn’t speculate on why it was happening, but it wasn’t much of a leap from there to figure that they were surfacing again. That would probably give the Dasaka a chance to retake control. Ok then. The Vo-Toa hadn’t hurt anyone so far, and Aeragot hoped he was being genuine when he said he didn’t want to. Maybe all three of them on the bridge could get out of this unhurt. This wasn’t him trying to save the others, no; Aeragot didn’t like to feel like he was standing above anyone like that. The way he saw it, they were all three working together on doing that, even if the other two might not know it yet. So let’s keep talking. "You figure you can sail this thing out of here, then? Find one of those undersea caves and get to that place we’re both thinking of? Don't you think you might need some help that actually knows how to use it?” OOC: @Razgriz @Vezok's Friend @Rahisaurus @Ghosthands

IC: Aeragot - Bridge of the Chiisai Ryuu That was really something unexpected. Aeragot prided himself on staying cool under fire. He barely reacted when the enterprising Vo-Toa had fired off a crackling bolt into the great glass window behind him, though a keen observer might have noticed Aeragot’s eyes widening for a moment through the angular eyeholes of his mask. However, Aeragot did tense involuntarily when Commodore Umbraline Ayiwah’s voice came rolling from nowhere throughout the bridge. It was only a moment before his mind started going again. Might have assumed that she was projecting from outside of the locked door, but the voice wasn’t muffled at all. Not to mention, he realized with amusement, the other side of that door was probably completely underwater by now as well. That left a couple of options. Could be a mask he was unfamiliar with; that was possible, but unlikely. Maybe this was another manifestation of the Dasaka’s powers. He certainly was no expert on that matter. In any case, he had no idea whether this link was two-way: best to act as if it was, then. Not that it made much difference in what he was going to say, but it was good to keep in mind. Aeragot looked to the Vo-Toa, holding his hands out to either side, palms open and facing forward. "Look pal, I appreciate the offer. I get the impulse too, though wealth just isn’t my vice." He meant what he said: it was nice for someone to offer to cut him in mid-heist. All the same, he expected the guy would cut him out just as happily, given the chance. On account of this distrust he stayed in a fighting stance, ready to move, even as his body language otherwise signalled deference. "But stealing the most recognizable vessel on the island right now? How are you gonna fence this thing, when the buyer would have to not mind having a whole navy after them? I just want us all to get off the ship alive—" His eyes flicked over to the Dasakan officer for a moment: she was still circling, probably to keep him in sight. No surprise there, he was only now giving her any reason to trust him. "—and I’d rather no one got hurt in doing it." OOC: @Ghosthands @Vezok's Friend @Rahisaurus @Razgriz

OOC: Just going to use BZP time and say this is happening moments before Leah gets over, depending on how fast the Chiisai Ryuu is sinking. IC: Aeragot - Ga-Koro (Pier to Chiisai Ryuu) The submarine was sinking fast, the crew still on deck probably weren't going to want to discuss how much a civilian wanted to get on board, and if Aeragot took the time to ask them he wasn’t going to be able to get in anyway. On the other hand, the great deck window wasn’t yet so far underwater that he couldn’t see clean through. If he wanted to do something, he had to make a call. Aeragot stared into the now-underwater bridge, and focused. He appeared just inside the bridge, back to the front window, without a sound. The floor was angled beneath him, and he held his arms out to either side to steady himself. He scanned the room for what was immediately important: tall, seafoam green Toa on one side, Dasaka in a smart-looking coat with some kind of energy whip—he had heard they could do something like that, but it really was another thing to see it up close—on the other. Didn’t take much to guess who was supposed to be on the bridge, though he supposed it might be rude to assume. Smell of burnt wood and melted protodermis, not exactly a good sign. Even with it mostly submerged, he could feel the back-and-forth motion of the waves working their way through the hull of the submarine, and he winced. He ought to have taken that into account. All the same, he slid one foot outward, assuming a moderately wide stance. No sense in getting knocked down when one didn’t have to. He took a breath: "I don’t mean to interrupt anything, but I’m realizing only now that there might be seriously differing opinions on what I should do to help here.” Too light of an opener? Probably. Not much he could do about it now. OOC: @Ghosthands @Razgriz @Vezok's Friend

I'm thinking of introducing a Lesterin character on Seprilli, is your posse taking applications?

IC: Aeragot - Ga-Koro (Docks) All at once a shudder went through the crowd, Ga-Matoran and Dasakan alike, and a great din of mass movement rose up among them. This, Aeragot could tell, was something. Anyone else could have told this too, but they wouldn’t have been quite so pleased. At that moment Aeragot did not wade into the shifting crowd, for while he exceeded the majority of its members in height the combination of the Dasaka returning to their vessels and the Matoran jockeying for a better view would have made getting to the other side challenging. Instead, he peered over and past them, staring at an open spot at the edge of the huge lily pad platform. Aeragot concentrated for a moment upon that spot, and his eyes unfocused and blurred until, for the briefest moment only, his vision failed. And then, he travelled without moving. At the edge of the platform, Aeragot grinned behind his Kanohi Kualsi. He could see what was going on now, and it was interesting. The submarine, previously surfaced and sitting above the water, now was trimmed by the bow. Observing the vessel for a moment, he noted as well that it was sinking at a not-insignificant rate. It was a good question, and he was going to have to get closer to find out the answer. Again he concentrated on a spot, this time the edge of the pier alongside which the submarine was sinking. Again, a moment later, he was gone. Then Aeragot stood before the submarine. He admired the vessel, it really was beautifully crafted when you got up close. He smiled, in an excited reflex: maybe it was time he got to figure something out. And help some people, of course. OOC: Hope it's all good if I get involved in this one!