Krayzikk

IC: "Hm." Alcohol swirled in his glass and he took another sip. "I always figured quitting would be the hardest decision of my career. Not deciding where to get back in. How about the Gu- the Sentinels' commander?"

IC: Saeva laughed at the shout, planting her feet wide and stretching. The Ta-Toa pushed her shoulder blades together ad arched her back until she felt the muscles loosen up to her satisfaction. She had a moment while Tor swapped out her weapon and another while she settled herself into a proper stance. That was the bit that made her laugh; not because it was bad, but Saeva Sareta had never used a proper ready stance in her life. She pulled out her own sword, taking a moment to make sure its blunt sheathe was properly attached. No sense in letting it fly off and accidentally stabbing the girl herself. That just wouldn't do. She swung it experimentally once, twice, and then it wasn't a test. She stepped in with her right and swung down with the same, laughing like a maniac. "Leeee-eeee-eeet's go!"

Do it. Zakazian fight club.

IC: "It is stupid." But it was what she'd expected, too. Insanity was doing the same thing over and expecting something else, and by that definition Skrihen was definitely insane— but anyone who said so was gonna need a punch. Even knowing the answer she had to try. It was her own duty in a way. A requirement that she try, no matter how hopeless, to get him to take a break. She squeezed back, and took a long drink from her bottle and let out an equally long sigh. "But s'what I expected, too. You never were that smart." She squeezed again and the levity faded from her voice. Her other hand joined her first, enveloping his as she turned on her stool to face him directly. Her eyes met blue, not for the first time but the first with an understanding. An awareness of what was looking back. Not one that she had ever said, but one she knew to be true without ever asked. It had bothered her in Ta-Koro when she met him for the first time after he left. Bothered her because she didn't understand it. Even on the sail to Ko-Wahi, during the trip through the tunnel... Every now and again it twinged, a little neuron at the back of her brain, reminding her of the only time she'd ever really been scared. The moment she'd been closest to death. "Even after they upgraded your brain." But fighting in Ko, seeing him with part of his team— working with him to train the Guards ever since— she was shocked she hadn't guessed at it sooner. The subconscious was good at pattern recognition even when the forebrain didn't quite catch up. She'd met, however briefly, half the Maru at the Hive. Reordin had been a Ko-Matoran, Sulov Koskium the Ussalry Commander an Onu-Matoran; but Leah Maru hadn't been a Ga-Matoran. No one had ever had the Kanohi they did, either, or wielded their powers so thoroughly; it could have been an aberration like any of the others. But without knowing how, without having the slightest idea how it was possible, she got the message her brain had tried to tell her. "Remember how excited you were to run a bar? When you had to stay in Pala?" The Toa asked after a long pause, tilting her head just a little. "I understand your oath. I do. It's a pain, I hate this village, and I would literally kill to see a single tree. Let alone a decent temperature. But I came here to help. I'll stay here to help. Wherever your duty decides it's time for you to go, no matter how stupid, I'll go. But you have to let me." "Whatever else happens, wherever you have to go, whoever you have to go with, don't leave me behind again."

IC: "Welllll," She tucked the frame into a pocket in her jacket, just inside the left breast, and sank onto the stool. Skri downed the last of her bottle and tossed it, underhand, into the same pile she'd shifted aside on her way in. The cap of a new bottle followed it with a flick of her thumb. "There's no making you a Le-Matoran. But if you'd ever take a hint we can get you to Le-Wahi. There's a nicer bar down there, I hear someone's been taking pretty good care of it. Something someone said about making sure it was still standing when he got back." A wink took most of the sting out of what might have been a pretty sarcastic comment and she took a long drink. Something had Reo down a mental blind alley, again, and she was gonna drag him back out. But that took a semi-delicate process. "Tarkahn hired those Kolts, what's there for you to do around here? We've both been working our butts off to get the Guard trained up, but there's only so much we can do with what we got. What gives?"

IC: "The helI you do." The merc laughed, again, and held the frame out for him to take and no doubt hide away forever. "And you absolutely wouldn't freak like that if it wasn't you. Look at you. Little fight club mascot." "Heya, Reo."

IC: "It is." The laughter threatening to break free bubbled in her voice, splitting her face in the widest grin it had held in a long time. Skri snatched the frame off of the wall before Reordin, fully ready to brain her with a bottle, could stop her. She danced back a couple steps, taking a long draught and regarding the picture with unadulterated glee. The face that face that peered out of the frame wasn't glowering, not yet, but she could see the beginnings of one forming. The Matoran was tiny— tinier even than when Reo had been a Matoran in the Sanctum Guard— and couldn't even come close to planting his feet on the floor from the stool upon which he sat. "Oh my Nui, it is. You wouldn't say that if it it wasn't!" The merc cackled, setting her bottle down to hold it in her other hand. "You used to smile!"

IC: "Give her my best, as always." Jaller nodded. "I may be busy for a while here. I trust your judgement if something comes up, and Angel's if you need instructions from the top. He can handle it in my absence."

IC: Vana tensed when the new lord of Khy;Barr crouched before her, a subtle contraction of her muscles to readiness. The small Rahi she had resurrected turned, rearing up on its tiny back legs and stayed deathly still. It was a moment utterly fraught with tension, one in which the Lesterin hung on the very brink of violence. Not because she expected to win. But because she would, she was certain, not be the only one to lose. Her eyes met with his, the tension peaked— Crack. And the chain snapped. A single link, nearly dead center of the length between her wrists, broken with the slightest twitch of his fingers. First she was relieved she would live another day. Then her eyes widened, infinitesimally, at the gravity of her new situation. Then she laughed. It was a genuine sound, full of glee and mirth but rusty and inflected from long disuse. It was as though her body was remembering in that moment how to laugh, just as her shoulders stretched and rolled. Her hands were free. The manacles remained, clinking with her every move, but who cared? They were no longer joined, and the sound as they broke had been gleaming silver. A peal of perfect sound, ringing in her ears and her eyes. "As you command, my lord," The Lesterin said as her laughter abated, closing her left hand on the wooden staff on the stone floor next to her. For so long it had been her leverage, an aid to her movement without the hands to balance herself. Now she could brace with her own hand, clawed fingers of her right gouging the floor as she pushed herself to her feet. There was a genuine happiness to her eye, an unusual spring to her step. She dropped the ovuk-taht on the floor, as promised, and ground it beneath her heel. "Where to, and how quickly?"

IC: The De-Toa laughed, just a little. "I'm not sure when you became the optimist between us, sir," Krayn said, taking a long drink from his glass. "But it seems deeply unnatural. That's probably the best segue I'll get. Between you and me, not to be repeated, how are you feeling about the new Akiri? I haven't been here long, not since Hewkii was in charge. And I have to tell you, seeing her continue his... voracious expansion doesn't fill me with confidence."

IC: "Haven't slept that well in a few weeks, Leah, but somehow I'll manage." The Menti flashed the Maru a brief, small grin. But the severity of the situation was obvious, so that small bit of levity aside she focused more intently on her friends. The Hogo— Karoru, she needed to remember that— looked aghast, for reasons she couldn't quite pin down. So she did the obvious thing, and elbowed her lightly in the ribs. Under cover of Daijuno's helpful head, of course, to prevent anyone from seeing such an undignified solution. "Dai? Who're you looking for? I don't have the whole list, but if you can give me a description... Caste, species, clan, all that. If she's here we'll find her." The same hand that had patted her on the head now patted her on the back, a gesture of comfort rather than irreverent greeting. Then she squinted. "Umbraline Sato. Well I'll be f— Hem. It's been a long time. I'm glad to see you made it off of the Archipelago."

IC: "Sooooo this is where you've been getting to," A voice commented curiously with the sound of shifting glass. There was no broom to hand but a vine easily swept the shards nicely to one side, clear enough that there was no risk of piercing her boot. "I wondered." The bar wasn't exactly a tourist attraction. Especially not with the sorry state it was in now. But it wasn't hard to see where the charm had been in its prime, and where Reordin Saporta had drawn from when he decorated the Sanctum Guard Only back in Pala-Koro. They weren't identical, not by any stretch, but he'd clearly been channeling the dingy bars of his own youth. It brought a small smile to her face. She picked up a bottle for herself, out of the pack on the table beside her, and popped the cap off with her thumb to take a drink. "Figured you must have found a hideyhole, Rrrreo. Just wasn't sure whe-" Skri paused, pivoting to look at a frame on the wall and squinting. "Is that you?" OOC: @Haman Karn: A Magical Girl

IC: A beat. "Well, only if you promise not to stab me with that thing. I got a blunt edge, y'know, but that thing ain't." IC: "More than I expected." Jaller stayed silent a moment longer, mulling it over, then nodded. "I hear a telegram coming through, probably from Hahli. I'll work the Dasakan issue, if you have something you want to check out regarding the Rahkshi by all means. Just stay safe."

IC: .:Ooh, Dai is irritable today. I know the spot, tell her to keep her shirt on.:. At a brisk pace the Menti continued, altering her course slightly to where the other Menti— a Hogo, imagine that— had indicated. Her Marine-style jacket flapped loosely in the breeze while the swords bounced lightly at her hip. Daijuno she spotted and recognized easily, and by garb if nothing else she spotted the Menti she had just 'spoken' with. The third member of their little trio was a familiar face from her first day ashore. Gradually, easily, she came to a stop near the three and waved a greeting. Rude, perhaps, instead of the traditional bow, and easily plopped a hand down on the top of Dai's head. "Morning, Dai. Hogo Karoru, I presume. Maru Leah."

IC: Real rich to call her unintelligible. The colors blended, now. Melded and fought for control, washing out the yellow and burying it in reds and and blues and vibrant amber. The colors wreathed her, wreathed them, and they had nothing to do with the ovuk-taht. No, she always saw them. Their hue and their shape, their intensity and their vibration, they gave her such wonderful insights into the minds around her. The voice said everything, obviously, but it said everything too. The pitch, the speed, the extra little quiver in a word when she was getting under their skin. Verak's always sounded that way, certainly, but it was useful for other, less susceptible sorts. "I'd love to help, Lenfiddich, but alas." Her manacles clanked again, intentionally brought tight just as she brought the ovuk-taht to her lips for another drag. "I can't help so much with so little room to move. I do remember Gerrack;Dii, come to that. And I remember the fool that used to be one of your colleagues, Chief." Vana's lips curled back in a smile that showed just a little too much teeth for a Lesterin. "I remember the sound his neck made when I broke it. It was such a lovely, silver sound. And I saw the sun just fine when your Skathi leader trembled putting in my chains." Another drag. "I'd happily help, Lenfiddich, if the boss would dispense with my restraints for a time. And if you could find it in your heart to share a little brew, I'd dispense with the smoke too. I think Verak needs it more than I."

OOC: Jaller to follow later. IC: Saeva flashed her pal a thumbs up, tossed a couple widgets on her table, and pivoted for the door. There was a spring back in her step, an outpouring of positive energy as the dynamo was given an outlet to burn off some restlessness at last. Outside the Magma Lounge wasn't peeeeerfect, but it would work fine. Even with those new RRF folks it'd take a while for anyone to really want to respond to a street fight outside the Lounge. There were almost always more important things to do. Like count how many bricks were in one of the city walls. Long as she wasn't breaking anything who cares? "Aaaaalright, Sparky," The Ta-Toa proclaimed, doing a one-eighty in place to face her opponent sparring partner. "Know the rules?"

IC: "Before Makuta was defeated," The glass, shifted in either direction, moved the refracted sunlight across the bulkhead next to him. "I understood exactly what I needed to do. The island wasn't perfect. But I understood how it worked. Rahi I could fight. Cultists I could find and root out, missing persons cases I could resolve. It was grim work. It didn't end. At least I could tell when I made a dent. Since he was defeated..." Krayn took a long drink. "I thought the world was supposed to get better when Makuta was defeated. But we've almost gone to war with each other. New threats popped up where his followers had been, and one of our Koros actually fell under their sway. If something like him is back, I'm not sure the island can handle it anymore."

Honestly, at this point I can't even remember exactly what he was arrested for so you can say he was released

IC: .:I don't know, my lady.:. I answered honestly. She deserved that, no matter how much I wished I had better new. And how badly I felt to have left him behind. .:His plan was to draw off the... Rahkshi? While we pushed for the Docks. He intended to remain on the Archipelago with the people that had to stay behind. No one said he was killed, but with how chaotic communication was before we left...:. I drew in a deep breath, suppressing the urge to pat her on the back. .:If anyone could have made it it's Rayuke. I won't count him out until I see it for myself.:. IC: "No invasion. More like refugees. Though, if we were buttering you up for an invasion we could have done it a while ago." Even that simple a joke was hard won under the circumstances, but it would have been unheard of before her voyage to the island. She considered waiting, but... "I'm late already, White, I'll meet up with you down there. See you soon." Sinshi began moving slowly, but accelerating with every one of the half dozen steps before she reached the balcony and pushed off on the last, arching forward out and over the street. She would have liked simply to roll but for obvious reasons the swords at her sides forbade that. So more simply she dove, planting both hands on the lilypad when she reached the street and carried with her the momentum to spring again to her feet and take off towards the docks at a swift jog. .:Daijuno, you out there?:.

Too late. You showed up. Your only chance was to stay away, and now... You're here forever

IC: "I could go back up on the wall, I suppose." Yellow. Yellow tinged the smoke wafting about with every word, and that meant Verak. Feebly pulsing yellow always seeped from his words. But courage he'd summoned at last. With difficulty. Every step seemed to cost him, and he came to a stop far— comically far— away. But turning to face her took greater spine than he'd managed before and she felt obliquely proud of him. Vana eyed the other Lesterin and drew in a long drag, intentionally blowing out a long plume in his direction. "But someone would have to put me back up there. Good luck finding the help." The chains on her wrist clanked as she suddenly pulled them taut, her wrists a scant few inches apart. In the fingers of her left hand she held her ovuk-taht, and in her right a box of najin matches. "I've not been assigned any quarters. I'm sure I could clear a few Skathi from a room, stake my claim. But I can hardly strike a match with my hands bound, can I?" "Right here is the only place I can get a light, unless you'd care to unshackle me." Hufffff. "You're always so tense. Want one? Take the edge off?"

IC: Clickety clack, clickety clack. The little Rahi was nimble and clever, turning tricks at her every command. What a magnificent little beast. It had probably gotten too close to the smelters, if she were to guess. Its bones looked scorched. But it was still intact enough to skitter about at her whim so it had probably broken free just long enough to die. A grim fate not uncommon on Zakaz. Freedom was fleeting but it was all, in the end, there really was to fight for on this rock. The power to be free of someone else, to breathe the air truly the master of one's own fate before descending into Kino-Ur or the Pit. Or whatever truly hellish existence awaited the dead. Assuredly there was no peace. After all, in death everything became her servant. The tiny beast skittered closer at her command and placed what had been its little paws on the edge of a small piece of paper to pin it in place. She rolled the other edge herself and extended the bundle to it, allowing it to carry the paper back towards the smelters that had killed it and ignite the end. When it was returned to her hand she allowed the wretch its rest, whatever that might be, and brought the roll to her lips with bound hands. Haaaaaaaa. That was something at least. Whatever the new master of Khy;Barr might be at least she'd been allowed her cactus after he'd had her cut down. The previous had been content to leave her up on the wall. She didn't know what point it served. He didn't want her dead. He wanted her skills. And he didn't dare. There were too many whispers. Concerns that her pact with something Else might wreak some havoc on the world when she passed, or perhaps a fear that she simply wouldn't die. That like that most famous Nakihl she would persist after he body had ceased. Nonsense, of course. Whatever the Skathi said she was no Nakihl. Nor was she a slave no matter what her previous- or current- master believed. Her servitude was a temporary arrangement, a transitive state of being that had come and gone before. Warlords came and went and still she remained. Perhaps that was why the man had her suspended. He recognized, no matter what he said to his band, that he was not truly in control. Upon the wall, immobilized, was the only place he could see her. Monitor her. Keep her far, far away from him until he had need of her and then return her to the wall as quickly as possible. The Skathi remembered how they came to power, deep in the tales they passed down was a warning; what had happened once could happen again. What bluster. Hufffffffff. Vana truly wished that they would give up on the manacles, though. She eyed the chain between her wrists lazily, watching the smoke curl off the end of the dried cactus between her fingers. Enough slack to allow her a little movement. Not enough to allow her any room to maneuver. Her shoulders had begun to roll in, before long it would affect her posture. They could at least bind them behind her back for a few hours a day. Allow her to stretch them back out. "Someone," She said aloud, puffing again and blowing the smoke back into the room in front of her. "Could at least let me stretch. Won't do the man in charge any favors if I pull something as soon as I do his bidding, now will it?"

IC: "Had the time to." He responded, accepting the glass and sinking into the offered chair. Felt good to sit. Not realizing that he could have had a ride from Forsi to Ostia was more than a bit irritating but he supposed the walk had been good for him. Blasted off the last of the rust, worked the weariness out of his limbs. Until he actually arrived at least. Now he was exhausted. But it was the exhaustion of exertion, not a general weariness like he'd felt in Ko-Wahi. "Had the fresh air to. Not sure exactly how much help it was." "Got my head on straight." Krayn shrugged a little, idly vibrating the glass in his hand. Up and down the frequencies, looking for the one at which it resonated easily. Not to break it just for something to do. "But I haven't got any better idea what to do than before. That, at least, these problems make easy. If he really is back I've got to fight. Figuring out where and how, that's harder."

IC: "It's been awful." I smiled ear to ear. "They won't let me out on deck, for fear I'd fall overboard. Staying below makes me nauseous. I never got seasick when I could see, but without my eyes I spent the whole trip getting nauseous as soon as we hit some chop. I think I've developed claustrophobia since I've been aboard. The food is awful, no one wants to talk to me, and I've had to look after a bunch of Dashi. Do you know how hard it is to tell a specific set of Dashi apart from any other with radar? Dasaka I can differentiate on 'feel', but these foreigners?" Several cautious steps took me over, roughly, to the bed. Patting the air in front of me found the exact spot and I sank onto the edge, clear of the Chojo's legs. "How are you feeling, my Lady?"

IC: "I was hoping, Commander," Krayn nudged Dehkaz lightly with an elbow, directing his own attention away from Kale and the new recruit. "To pick your brain about Po-Koro's leadership a little. And the Sentinels'."