BZPRPG - Ta-Wahi

[Nato G]

IC: Veteran.

 

He had a feeling he was going to regret this. 

[Razgriz]

IC: My solar plexus...

He crumpled to his knees again, wind metaphorically and literally taken out of his sails. At this point, it took every bit of willpower he had to keep a hold of his weapon.

A swordsman never lets go while it's still drawn.

I can't breathe.
He inhaled, breath hitched and lungs obstinate, allowing only a fraction of the normal amount of air in.
Well, I can, but feels like I've got a tree planted in my chest.

Either way, this is bad.

Where was I?

He looked up. Right in front of Saeva. Right.

Cark.

I need to move, now. Come on, go go GO!

And slowly, all too slowly, they went, pushing him upwards and left.
 

[Krayzikk]

IC:

 

... Propelling himself into the still-sheathed sword now held in her hand, drawn in a single smooth motion from her back. The Ta-Toa's blade was designed, quite intentionally, to let her use it without drawing it from its sheath. Even in that guarded state she still rarely drew it, but in this instance it was pressed lightly against the Toa of Jungle's throat. Her opposite hand still hung onto his shinai, preventing its easy use.

 

Saeva's shoulders rose and fell, her breathing ragged not from exhaustion but from pain. Her grin wasn't gone, but it was diminished by necessity. Her stance wasn't entirely steady, nor was her sense of balance, but she also knew that she was still better off than her opponent. For a few seconds they were both still.

 

"Alright, Salvejemono. Let's call this one." The grin widened, ever so faintly. "My mom'd give me so much if I put you in the hospital. She'd give me for landing in one, too."

[Razgriz]

IC: I can still go I can still go DON'T STOP IT HERE

"Heh." He managed after a few moments more, leaning back and away from the sheath pressed into his Adam's Apple. "Wouldn't want to have to explain why I'd've beaten you up so bad to her, anyway."

The bravado was there, but the outcome was lost on neither.

She won. He hated to admit it, but she'd won. At least it was a heck of a fight, right?

...

That was three in a row, now. Had he started to fall behind? What was she doing that he wasn't?

Even with a weapon where she used none, he still couldn't win?

When she finally relinquished the sword from her grasp, he tugged it away and turned, staring a hole into the forest.

"That didn't take very long. We gonna do a little exploring?"

Edited December 11, 2014 by Uncle Chael P. Sonnen

[Krayzikk]

IC:

 

"Yeah. Yeah, we should." Mere seconds after it was clear that the fight was indeed done, Savea planted the point of her sheathed blade into the ground and leaned on it heavily. Without the heightened sense of battle she was beginning to really feel the effects. The Ta-Toa forced her breathing into a slower, controlled pattern and closed her eyes. 

 

When she opened them again the world was a little steadier and she no longer felt so off-balance. She swung her sword back to her back, securing it before letting go. She placed a hand on the left side of her torso, carefully using her power to absorb heat and cool the area to soothe the ache if only a little.

 

"Assuming I can still walk normally, ya monkey."

[Razgriz]

IC: "You and me both. I've seen you shrug off worse, Firefly." came the retort, as he dialed back the power of mask and watched the world grow dull all around him. So too did the throb of his chest, but it quickly returned as the high of battle wore off.

He breathed in deep, and winced. Nothing broken, but definitely something bruised. 

 

He'd live.

With arms heavier than they'd been before, he returned the "blade" to it's own "sheath", a small leather holster that held it in place upon his back.

He rolled his shoulders, trying to exorcise the soreness within. He wouldn't herbalize these aches just yet.

Let them be a lesson.

[Perp]

IC: Torana

 

The Toa of Lightning clapped as the two finished their fight, battered and bruised.

 

"You two can seriously go at it," she quipped. "I'm impressed."

 

She allowed the two a moment to catch their breath.

 

"You..." she turned to Erzu, "...seem to adhere more to form, while you..." she turned to Saeva, "...are a bit more improvisational. Well, that's my take on it at least. But yeah, let's, uh, walk it off."

[Razgriz]

IC: "Not too far off the mark there." he grumbled. Her style gave him fits every time these days, and he had neither the technical discipline and expertise, nor the raw speed to counter her rapid switch-ups reliably. And grit and tenacity was only getting him so far. As with everything else, today'd shown that all too openly.

If there was a way to see her moves coming before she made them...

Maybe if I wore a Calix.

"Let's go, then."

[Timageness]

IC: Verulas and Veteran made their way across the bridge, arriving at the front gates of Ta-Koro. The Bo-Toa smiled as he recalled how he blended in with the guards of a merchant caravan to slip through undetected the last time that he was here, but there were no merchants to blend in with this time, and it was far too late to attempt a stealth approach.

No; this time, if he wanted in, he would have to rely on one of the deadliest weapons in his arsenal: his charming way with words.

The two guards thrusted their weapons towards the pair as they came within spitting-distance of them, the sharpened tips barely inches away from his and the Skakdi's chests threatening to impale them if they moved any closer without being questioned.

"Halt! State your business here in our village," one of them piped up, holding his weapon firmly just in case the Toa of Plantlife was about to try anything funny.

"Greetings, gentlemen," he said with a grin on his face. "My Skakdi associate and I belong to a contingency of guards posted on the other side of the Break, and we recently aided a group of refugees from Ko-Koro who seemed to have been heading this way before we were ambushed by a pair of those unfriendly Makuta-worshipping types. We were able to handle the situation, but several of our comrades, including our healer, were critically injured in the process, and we were hoping that we could convince one of the doctors that we had escorted to come back with us and treat them."

The best lies were always laced with a bit of truth.

Edited December 11, 2014 by timageness411

[Nato G]

IC: Veteran.

 

The Ta-Skakdi raised an eyebrow. Not bad. He quickly realised that he'd completely underestimated Verulas.

 

Clearly he wasn't all snark; there was a bit of smart in there somewhere. 

[Timageness]

IC: There were two reasons why Verulas loved being sarcastic.

True, the hard years of the mercenary lifestyle had made him rather cynical, and that combined with the fact that he was naturally prone to say what was on his mind often lead others to believe that he was purposely trying to push people's buttons to anger them. What most people didn't realise, however, was that he didn't actually care enough about them to rile them up in the first place. The first reason that he loved sarcasm was because he could make people underestimate him; if he was the guy that no one wanted to be around, then no eyes would be watching his every move, and that made him both unpredictable and quite deadly if he had to be. After all, it was much easier to sneak away from those who didn't care that he had left, to steal from those who actively ignored his presence in the first place, and to put knives in people's backs once they had falsely assumed that he was defeated.

The second reason that the Bo-Toa loved sarcasm was that it had trained him to be an excellent liar.

No matter how many snide remarks came from his mouth, all of them were able to emerge as quick and as clean as if he were normally telling the truth. It mattered not whether the words themselves were honest as long as the thoughts behind them at that specific point in time were, and he was currently thinking that the odds of someone at the outpost dying were increasing every second that he and Veteran stood there without access into the city.

The guards looked at each other for a brief moment before nodding, lowering their weapons as they stepped aside.

"Proceed," said the one who was formally standing in front of Veteran.

Edited December 11, 2014 by timageness411

[Nato G]

IC: Veteran.

 

Blinking rapidly in disbelief, Veteran followed Verulas into the city, waiting until the guards were out of earshot before speaking up. "You're bloody good at this, mate." he admitted freely. He'd always been skilled at reading people, but he'd severely underestimated Verulas. He had to admit, it felt good to have someone exceed his expectations for once. "Now, let's go find us a healer." 

[shadow pridak money gang]

IC:

 

Did his eyes deceive him?

 

Could this be?

 

THE GREATEST WOMAN IN HIS-TOR-EE?

 

His natural calm forgotten in the wake of inhuman fanboyism, the barrel-chested Toa of Earth stormed ahead like a bull, so fast and heavy that Erzu was ready to duck out of the way and let him headbutt a tree with all the momentum he'd built up - but the newcomer put one foot forward, slanted diagonally, and skidded to a halt on one armored knee before...Saeva? His eyes betrayed nothing behind his bell pepper-shaped mask.

 

"SAEVA SARETA," he half-boomed, half-squeed in a voice deep as a Madu explosion. "Habaneros dias! Another glorious victory. And another valiant fight, Erzu Salvajemono! Truly, my ancestors would smite me from above if they knew how fortunate I was to come across you on this day!"

 

-Tyler

[Krayzikk]

IC:

 

...

 

...

 

...

 

"Erzu? Torana? The is going on?"

[Let's Henshin!]

IC: 

 

"Kane Ra sounds good." I replied before placing my order, internally I also took note that two of the suspicious characters were now behind Ril and I. I'm sure it didn't mean anything, but being careful never hurt. 

[25K Now!]

IC: Ril

 

"Definitely," replied the guardsman, his own order placed. "It's like sex except not like sex."

[Let's Henshin!]

IC: 

 

I didn't feel like that remark justified a response, so I refrained.

[25K Now!]

IC: Ril

 

"Anyway," continued the Fire Toa, switching tacks to a topic more suited for public consumption, "how do you like your steaks?"

[Let's Henshin!]

IC: 

 

"Medium Well of course, a nice blend between the dryness of well done and the raw juiciness of rare." 

 

I knew a couple of peopled who'd disagree, but I had feeling they didn't have a sense of taste. 

[25K Now!]

IC: Ril

 

"I've always been a well-done type of guy."

[Let's Henshin!]

IC: 

 

"Fair enough, my brother was like that as well. Something about not wanting to get messy."

[25K Now!]

IC: Ril

 

"Guy must be pretty careless with a knife and fork."

[Let's Henshin!]

IC: 

 

"He had a habit of slipping up, eyes spent too long watching others to focus on his utensils. Mainly girls."

[25K Now!]

IC: Ril

 

"Too busy looking for a fork to actually use a fork?"

[Let's Henshin!]

IC: 

 

I burst out laughing, no doubt annoying quite a few of the other patrons, but it was worth it. Oh god it was great, this guy had nailed Dor in a single sentence. Man, it had been while since I last had a good laugh. I clasped a single hand on Ril's shoulder as my laughter finally subsided, "Thanks man, I needed that." 

[25K Now!]

IC: Ril

 

He mock-bowed, pleased at the success of his joke. "You're welcome; after all, Aronis Ril is at your service."

[Krayzikk]

OOC: Sorry, folks, but you kinda earned this one. The Guard's a bit more genre savvy than that.

 

IC:

 

Ta-Koro was already on high alert following the attack. Its guards walked the streets in force, patrolling the village while safeguarding repair of the damage done during the attack. Veteran and Verulas had walked into a village on alert. Unnoticed by them, however, one of the Guards previously manning the gate quietly broke away, following behind them at a distance. As the duo proceeded further into the village the Guard paused and exchanged casual-looking words with one of the other officers on the street. 

 

A subtle nod accompanied, and he turned to issue quiet orders to his comrades. Two Guards broke away, moving down familiar short cuts that would bring them back onto the street just in front of the duo. Meanwhile, the two remaining Guards moved up from behind. Neither set betrayed their movements, their actions inconspicuous in Ta-Koro's current state.

[Razgriz]

IC: ...

"I... I've got no idea." Erzu said numbly, completely snapped out of his self-criticisms by the outlandish event.

What was even worse was that he'd heard that voice before. In a crowd, not speaking directly, but he'd sworn that he'd heard it--

Realization hit him like a ton of bricks.

"Have you been following us all the way from the Crucible?" he asked, suspicion masked by his utter disbelief.

[shadow pridak money gang]

IC:

 

"Following?" Behind the pepper mask, keen eyes lit up in disbelief. "Spirits, no. I live around here. Or, at least, I do these days. I'm a crimefighter."

 

He bowed a little deeper and then stood up to his full height, stretching out and smiling widely.

 

"Strictly speaking, I'm the Red Hot Chili Pepper, but uh...folks just call me Redhot."

 

-Tyler

[Krayzikk]

IC:

 

"But you were at the Crucible." Saeva paused, still staring. After a moment she shook her head and sighed. "This day's gotten too weird. I don't understand this ."

[Razgriz]

IC: "Oh." he said, visibly less tense and standing up a bit straighter and putting the arm away from the sword. He seemed very earnest. Not much being hidden there, despite how... outlandish the claim was.

Maybe it was because this little group of theirs was outlandish themselves.

"Oh, okay."

Redhot, huh? Interesting name, he thought, politely straying from his preferred venue of "what."

"Nice to, uh, meet you then. So you know us from it, at least, right?" he inquired, cautiously approaching the rest of the group.

"I'll say... Didn't figure we'd have hardcore fans." he agreed, in what was probably the most blatantly naive statement he'd ever made.

Edited December 11, 2014 by Uncle Chael P. Sonnen

[shadow pridak money gang]

IC:

 

"Well, 'bout a year or two ago I heard Sulov Maru pocketed some stir-crazy Vortixx and stole his tech after he tried shooting the place up," Redhot answered. "I hail out of Onu-Koro, so I know him by reputation. I started visiting on and off ever since. Just this summertime I watched Saeva here break a guy's arm, pour herself a beer with the arm, and then drink it before knocking the man out. It has to have been...the coolest thing I've ever seen."

 

-Tyler

[Razgriz]

IC: "I always told you that that one was just cruel." 

[Perp]

IC: Torana

 

What in the great name of Mata Nui...

She put a hand up.

 

"I'm just going to stand back here and nod and smile as if I know what's going on, okay?"

[Razgriz]

IC: "Yeah, that sounds like a good plan. You have fun with it."

Edited December 11, 2014 by Uncle Chael P. Sonnen

[Timageness]

IC: Verulas' smile disappeared as their way forward was cut off by two of Ta-Koro's finest. He turned his head slightly, taking a quick glance behind them and noticing two more at their rear.

So much for that plan...

"Apparantly not good enough," he mumbled under his breath. "Looks like the healer will have to wait." 

[Nato G]

OOC: Ugh, this is what happens when I let Verulas do the talking. 

 

IC: Veteran.

 

"Can I help you fine fellows?" the one-eyed skakdi stepped calmly forward to greet the nearest of the guards. "We were just goin' off to find a healer to help our buddies, like we told you at the gate. Now could ya please bugger off so we can do that?" 

 

IC: Natharius.

 

Natharius continued sitting at the table, watching Septima wait for the other two to move away from the bar so she could order. These two were taking forever. They seemed to be spending more time joking and laughing then actually ordering food. He cursed, wiping sweat away from his forehead with his sleeve. 

 

He hated this city.

[Krayzikk]

IC:

 

"I was having a bad day, and me off." Saeva said in defense of her actions, scowling. She carefully rotated her shoulders one at a time, eyeing the group around them. " said some very impolite things. And it was just his arm. A trip to the hospital and he was back to try again next day. Didn't go any better for him."

The Ta-Toa put one hand up, obscuring her lips as she mock-whispered to Torana. "Torana, if this guy's a loon, we bolt."

 

IC:

 

"You offered no identification. And the only Guards stationed outside of the Wahi are a detachment with the Ihu-Koran Highlanders." The speaker was a lean Ta-Matoran, the same one from the gate, who stood coolly in observation of the two beings currently encircled by his allies. He ignored Veteran completely, staring both down in silence for a moment.

 

"We've all had a very, very bad day. You have impersonated Guard officers when entry to the village is not barred to begin with. You also clearly lack knowledge of Guard protocol, furthering cementing your deception."

"Explain yourselves."

[Razgriz]

IC: He threw a mint leaf at her.

[shadow pridak money gang]

IC:

 

Redhot smiled widely.

 

-Tyler