Corpus Rahkshi

[Sergei Rahkmaninoff]

IC: Lucid / Halls, Beach

 

 

Lucid soon became aware that the floor was urgently relaying a desperate need for help.

 

She couldn't quite put her finger on just how the call was being relayed. Everyone knew the floor couldn't talk, after all - it wasn't alive like chairs or flowers, that was for sure! But it was definitely there. Maybe in the echoing sound of her still slightly wet footsteps, or the texture of the stone beneath her feet.

 

Or maybe it was the trail of blood.

 

And while any normal person following the trail would have gone in the direction of fresher blood, Lucid was far from a normal person. Either the urgent distress was calling her in the other direction, or she was just in the midst of a lucky bout of ridiculousness, but her increasingly purposeful strides took her in the direction of the older blood, and a certain auspicious window.

 

She looked out the window. And there, lying upon the rocks - possibly dead, the source of the distress which the benevolent floor had relayed - a battered Rahkshi suit, and beside it, a Kraata. Eyes widened with concern and pity, Lucid leapt out the window and into flight, landing gracefully at his side. He was unconscious. "Do you think he'll be okay?" she asked Jorflaz. The imaginary answer was a fairly certain no.

 

But for the enlightened, a life is too beautiful to give up on, no matter how fragile. And Lucid was either relatively enlightened, or thoroughly silly.

 

"Don't listen to him," she told the unconscious Kraata comfortingly, carefully picking him up by his least injured bits and cradling him, "he's just being overly pessimistic. You'll be fine... you're going to be fine."

 

She looked up to the stars for reassurance of this as she shifted into flight mode, prepared to head to the Infirmary, but they coldly offered none.

[user-402520536]

IC: Drift

 

Drift nodded towards Korvinth.

"Thanks. Your help would be greatly appreciated."

 

IC: Murder

 

Murder shambled through the hallways, dragging her dulled claws against the walls so they generated an annoying screeching sound.

Edited June 19, 2015 by Aerixx

[Makuta Miras]

IC: Malady (Hallways)

 

"Thanks," I mutter. I take a deep breath, the cuts on my chest slowly seeping blood. "Got into a fight with an idiot who..." I inhale sharply as a fresh wave of pain rolls across me. "had a few too many blades. I beat him, of course; wouldn't be worth my weight if I hadn't..." My usual drawn-out, serpentine sibilants turn themselves into choked gasps with my current wounds.

[user-402520536]

IC: ???

 

Where... what?

 

Who?

 

The head raised slightly off the earth, off the minuscule crater etched in stone. Everything hurt.

 

You are Kraata. Rahkshi.

 

Kraata- no, Rahkshi... struggling to sit up. Sits up. Sat up. Pain.

 

You serve Makuta. Feel no pain. Inflict it.

 

Silver armor crushed and scraped. Looking around. Saw rock and water. Get out. Of where?

 

Most recent mission. Find Corpus Rahkshi.

 

Only the last word was familiar. Will be familiar. Head must have turned in the direction of 'Corpus Rahkshi'. Standing up. Moving. Mindless. Built-in directions.

 

* * *

 

Standing in front of a door. Looked up. Will open. Opened and will stalk through... corridors, asking every Kraata- no, Rahkshi one question.

 

"Who am I?"

[Ghidora131]

IC Flabbergaster

 

"Don't stress yourself." Flabbergaster said, taking the spot of Footwork with his arm. "Get to the infirmary and alert Palma in advance. I'll be there in a jiffy."

 

"Who was it you tangled with?" He said ad he helped Malady along.

[Dark_Stranger]

IC--Beat--Gym

"Roughly. Pretty sure we just heat them both up, hammer them together, and cool them in water. Of course, that's probably horribly over simplified, but I'm sure we can figure it out between the two of us."

She wasn't sure what made her look up just then, but her eye was instantly drawn to a very distinctive Rahk on the other end of the gym making a ruckus with some training dummies. What made him stand out so much was his perfectly bisected color scheme--one half red, the other blue.

That, and the fact that his chassis had two heads.

Beat quickly turned back to Blade's forge, but she kept watching the double-Rahk as best she could out of the corner of her eye, observing their fighting style...for later.

 

IC--Footwork--Halls/Infirmary

clickclickclickclickclickclickclick

Footwork managed to slow himself down to a fast walk as he entered the infirmary. "Palma!" he said, doing his best not to raise his voice. "There's an incoming patient, and she's taken a Karz of a beating."

 

IC--Sepulchral--Outside

Sepulchral awoke to a great deal of pain. With a drawn-out, agonized hiss, he attempted to crawl toward his proper body, silently praying that it would still function. After a moment, he realized he wasn't getting any closer. Then he realized he was up higher than he had been when he first landed. Someone was holding him. "Wait!" he choked. "Cannot leave...without my body...weapon..."

Edited June 20, 2015 by Dark_Stranger

[McNugget]

IC: Blade

"I guess." He said, Before noticing something caught Beat's Attention "What is it-Oh" 

[Sergei Rahkmaninoff]

IC: Lucid / Outside

 

 

Miraculously, the battered Kraata stirred as Lucid began her flight towards the entrance closest to the Infirmary. Unfortunately, rather than gratitude, his stirring was accompanied by complaints.

 

"Shh, save your strength," she chided him gently. "Your suit's in no condition to be going anywhere on its own, and I can't carry it. Leaving it was the only way I could get you to the Infirmary quickly, and you need that now. Don't worry though, the stars will keep an eye on it for you until someone else can bring it up."

 

She landed on the ledge outside the door, and backed through it with the Kraata still clasped gently in her arms. Giving the door a brief thanks for opening smoothly in this time of need, she continued on through the halls towards the Infirmary with a surprisingly accurate sense of direction spurred on by the urgency of the situation.

 

 

OOC: Lucid open for interaction in the halls approaching the Infirmary, I guess. Particularly if you'd be willing to go back for Sepulchral's suit and weapon if asked.

[Ghidora131]

IC Flabbergaster

 

Approaching the infirmary doors, Flabbergaster helped Malady inside gently. "Now Palma will take good care of you."

 

Suddenly it was over. That excitement from assisting someone in need was gone. But... He never felt anything like that before Corpus.

 

 

Maybe no Rahkshi was supposed to know that feeling...

 

He slowly walked to the opposite wall and leaned against it, thinking deeply despite the groans the wall produced.

[user-402520536]

IC: ???

 

The Rahkshi should make his way through the students. Many. He does, done. Asking. Replies vary. None are enough. Hope sank deeper into a mental abyss. Will about to giving up. A green camo Rahkshi. One last try.

 

"Who am I?!"

[Dane-gerous]

IC: Rider

Rider looked up. Silver armour, he saw that armour before...and those cyan patterns...no.

nononono.

Rider began to back away, tripping up. 

"I-I-I-I.....I...saw......you're dead........."

The small green Rahkshi passed out.

[user-402520536]

IC: ???

 

The Rahkshi stepped back, startled. What had he done? In the midst of all the confusion, the empty, painless areas that felt wrong without pain, a good feeling rose and swell. It had no place here, but it refused to be extinguished. Recognition. It was a start.

 

He lifted the unconscious Rahkshi onto his own frame, still groggy, and stumbled into the nearest dorm. It was scarcely furnished. He dropped the Rahkshi onto the bed before sitting down himself and waiting. He wanted answers.

 

He needed answers.

[Dark_Stranger]

IC--Beat--Gym

"Yeah." Beat carefully avoided looking at her quarry any more directly, keeping up the appearance of focusing on the heating forge. "They're. ..bigger than I expected."

 

IC--Sepulchral--Outside/Halls

"Oh...stars...lovely."

Seeing that arguing the point any further would be a useless endeavor, Sepulchral let himself go limp. He rolled his eyes, but they simply kept rolling, all the way up into his head, as he fell back into unconsciousness.

 

IC--Footwork--Infirmary

And just like that, as quickly as it had begun, the emergency was over. Footwork noticed that his guide seemed lost in thought, and decided not to rush him. Let the fellow have a quiet moment. It wasn't like they were in any hurry, after all.

Edited June 20, 2015 by Dark_Stranger

[Sergei Rahkmaninoff]

IC: Lucid / Halls, Infirmary

 

 

After a brief eternity Lucid arrived at the Infirmary. "I bring one in great need of your healing," she alerted Palma respectfully, setting the unconscious Kraata gently on an open bed. "I couldn't carry his suit, but it's in need of repair too."

 

 

OOC: Again, if anyone still hanging around the Infirmary wants to offer to help Lucid bring the suit back in, it would be greatly appreciated. By Sepulchral too, probably.

[Dane-gerous]

IC: Rider

He couldn't move. He couldn't even see what was going on. All he could hear was a swoosh as Raptor's Kraata was ripped open.

Over

and

over.

and

over.

 

 

 

It wouldn't stop.

 

 

 

Make it stop.

 

 

MAKE IT STOP

 

 

Please....

 

The scene changed.

Rider was blasted away as a tall makuta struck him with chain lightning. Tears ran down his face as the tall makuta approached his now knocked over body. A foot slammed into his chest, making him cry out. "YOU DO NOT EVER DEFY ME LIKE THAT, BOY." The taller being said, grinding his foot in. "I-I-I'M SORRY!" Rider stuttered, yelping as the foot grinded in. "Good. Now pack your things and go. You're going to Corpus Rahkshi, worm." The small rahkshi nodded, and pulled himself up, limping a little.

 

 

Tears streamed down Rider's face as he dreamt.

Edited June 20, 2015 by Agent Epsilon

[Funkydude527]

IC: Exxan - Beach.

 

"Pretending not to care isn't going to help you feel less lonely," I said softly, reaching out and wrapping a gentle arm around her, holding her close. It felt good, being close to her like this. I'd never been good at expressing myself, being open and caring and earnest. But with Phogen, it was easy. I'd seen her at her most fragile, her must vulnerable. Compared to that, my difficulties were nothing. 

 

"You don't have to hide who you are and what you feel. If you care about people, tell them." I managed a small, sad smile, "Not everyone gets a second chance like this..." 

 

IC Phogen: She swallowed and rested her head on his shoulder. She seemed to harden a bit. "Listen... I have to be Phogen out there. I have to be. Its... Its who I am. I enjoy it. Its... Its where I am most comfortable. But-But-But around you..." She swallowed and looked up at him, blinking. "I cannot hide. Just.." She looked away, trying to quantify all the parts that made them tick, that made them Phogen.

 

They couldn't. 

 

But they also could not give up on their whole life, the drive and the ambition and the intelligence just to chase after some indescribable feeling. It made no sense and it felt wrong. It felt horribly, horribly wrong. It made them ill. It made them dizzy just contemplating it. They looked back at Exxan and calmly said "My destiny lies on a path all its own. That path is one of lying and manipulation and planning and guile and darkness embraced. But it is not evil, at least I do not think it is, and I hope it is not lonely. You are my friend, Exxan. I will try my best to be yours. I intend to be friends with a few I can trust with that privilege, you in their number. But..."

 

Their voice became her voice and hissed out evenly "Do not expect me to bend to some foolish system of ethics or moralizing just because my friends tell me it feels nice."

[Ghidora131]

IC Flabbergaster

 

"Where at?" Flabbergaster said, suddenly snapping out of his trance and nearly bumping into Footwork.

 

OOC: With Special Delivery.

[Click]

IC: Rain - Infirmary

 

Karzahni. Tappy was back. Rain grasped at the pillow under her head and tried to drown out the incessant pattering of the Rahkshi's feet. If he was just going to bring in all these charity cases, maybe it would be best to go...

 

But as she rolled to her feet, someone far worse walked in. Rain quickly ducked down behind a bed, hoping Lucid hadn't seen her. 

[Sergei Rahkmaninoff]

IC: Lucid / Infirmary

 

 

As of yet, Lucid didn't notice Rain, for Flabbergaster was rather filling her field of vision. "It's outside," she told him. "Kind of... over there." She pointed in the general direction of where she'd found the fallen Kraata and suit. "If you'd get it, I'd be gratified, and I'm sure he would too." Now she gestured briefly to the unconscious Sepulchral.

[Naota Takizawa]

IC (As Tangirahk): "So this is the cauldron? Well, it's a good meeting spot, but I prefer the library." Said the rahkshi of sonics. "Now, can we please play some music? We have wasted precious daylight dawdling and putting off practice."

[Nato G]

IC: Exxan - Beach.

 

"I'm not wanting you to change who you are," I assured her, sighing happily, "I just want you to be yourself - your real self. At least some of the time. If you live your whole life surrounded by lies, you'll lose sight of the truth." 

 

I paused for a moment, just to look at her. Strange as it sounded, she was the only real friend I'd ever had. Even after everything I'd done, all the mistakes I'd made, she was still here, right by my side. 

 

So I just sat there, one arm around Phogen, listening to the soft crashing of the waves..

[Ghidora131]

IC Flabbergaster

 

"Of course." Flabbergaster replied, and swiftly exited the door.

 

"Day's getting busier and busier. Um, would you assist me one more time? I have to locate a Rahk suit outdoors." He said to Footwork.

[Funkydude527]

IC: Exxan - Beach.

 

"I'm not wanting you to change who you are," I assured her, sighing happily, "I just want you to be yourself - your real self. At least some of the time. If you live your whole life surrounded by lies, you'll lose sight of the truth." 

 

I paused for a moment, just to look at her. Strange as it sounded, she was the only real friend I'd ever had. Even after everything I'd done, all the mistakes I'd made, she was still here, right by my side. 

 

So I just sat there, one arm around Phogen, listening to the soft crashing of the waves..

 

IC Phogen: She leaned her head back into the small of his neck, letting the surf engulf her metal ankles. As much as he sounded like a doddering old turaga, there was truth to his words. 

 

So she let him hold her, and leaned into him, feeling at peace.

[Nato G]

IC: Exxan - Beach.

 

"So, um, I've always kind of wondered...." I spoke up after a while, "....what's your dad like?" The Makuta of Metru Nui.... leader of the Brotherhood... scariest being in existence.... Clearly he'd been a major influence on Phogen's upbringing.

 

And one of these days, I'd probably wind up meeting the guy... 

Edited June 20, 2015 by Of Australian Origin...

[Dark_Stranger]

IC--Footwork--Infirmary/Halls

"Of course!" Footwork didn't like admitting it, but the infirmary made him rather uncomfortable. He eagerly accompanied Flabbergaster out the door and down the hall.

Edited June 20, 2015 by Dark_Stranger

[Ghidora131]

IC Flabbergaster

 

Converting into flight mode, he was soon out the door and trying to not fly off the steep edge. Once on his own two feet, he looked down the rocky edge for the suit.

[The UltimoScorp]

IC Grim:

 

"Your strategy to disarm is effective, take away a weapon and it becomes useless" Grom noted as she grabbed his arm.

 

Her fist was stopped easily enough by their buckler. He turned his arm, in an attempt to grab and throw his opponent away. Their staff had longer reach, and they'd found that the mace was less suited than they'd like.

 

Flexibility in battle was important for Adaptation Rahkshi.

[Funkydude527]

IC Phogen: "He's..." 

 

Phogen blinked out at the horizon.She tried to summarize what he dad was like. And there was a great struggle to do so. her father, her father, her father... A being that structured his life to defy description that she was being asked to describe. An enigma she barely knew and a legend so mighty that stories of his works filled both the dark turaga tales used to frighten matoran and military textbooks on how to wage war. He was a being that had presence in an oppressive way. His domination of a room could be secured in his absence simply by saying his name. He was a titan of subtlety, a myth of harsh reality, a being who had evolved beyond the need for flesh and blood.

 

Sounding hollow and distant, Phogen whispered "He's my hero, he knows he defeated Mata Nui, and he has a capacity for planning that can make any intelligent being feel like a pawn, his pawn, as soon as those eyes of his turn their way. I got the sense that he didn't simply know the words that were about to come out of my mouth, but... made those specific words come out. He... He can be whatever he wants to be to you, and will be, and you will believe every last second of it."

 

She continued, telling a story of her long, long distant childhood. "When I was very, very young, he let me watch him interrogate a Dark Hunter they captured. And the instant that hunter entered the room, my father had him numbered. The hunter expected him to be a cartoonish villain, the kind that loves the sound of their own voice and schemes aloud. And my father was that. And like some puppetmaster, the Dark Hunter said that my father would never get away with this, that the attack would fail, the usual garbage. And then, he gave the hunter an opening to attack with his rhotuka. Instead of taking the chance, he boasted about how the Dark Hunters would win, he bragged about how their tactics were superior and that the Brotherhood would crumble without proper leadership. Then my father gave him the clearest possible shot imaginable, and even summon a spinner before he disintegrated he laucher with his heat vision."

 

She swallowed. "He teleported behind the Dark Hunter and twisted his head clean off. I saw into the Hunter's eyes, and the fear and anguish and utter sense of brutal miscalculation there felt like a opiate high to look at. But my father is not a Makuta that requires such trivialities for sustenance and fulfillment. In fact, I don't even think he heard the crack. I think he won in the end, and was content with that sensation alone."

 

She said, her voice twinged slightly with pride. "He is my father, and I love him."

[Nato G]

IC: Exxan - Beach.

 

I had no words. That Phogen could love something so dark and twisted and evil, and someone like me at the same time absolutely boggled my mind. I was starting to realise that no matter how much time I spent with her, I'd never fully be able to understand how Phogen's mind worked. Perhaps she didn't truly understand it herself...

 

I finally found my voice. "So... uh... how exactly would he react if.... if he found out about.... you know.... us?" 

[Funkydude527]

IC: Exxan - Beach.

 

I had no words. That Phogen could love something so dark and twisted and evil, and someone like me at the same time absolutely boggled my mind. I was starting to realise that no matter how much time I spent with her, I'd never fully be able to understand how Phogen's mind worked. Perhaps she didn't truly understand it herself...

 

I finally found my voice. "So... uh... how exactly would he react if.... if he found out about.... you know.... us?" 

 

IC Phogen: "He wouldn't care. As long as you weren't a hindrance to his plan or a security risk." Phogen was fairly dismissive about the whole thing. She knew her father didnt care about her at all, and that even if he did, he would probably see Exxan as a pet of hers that was politically beneficial to keep around.

[Nato G]

IC: Exxan - Beach.

 

"I imagine a rahk whose own sister was sent by their Makuta to kill him might present a security risk," I sighed dejectedly, "perhaps I'm better off hiding for the rest of my life. Everyone thinks I'm dead anyway..." 

[Dark_Stranger]

IC--Footwork--Outside

Footwork scanned the bottom of the cliff for any sign of the unfortunate Rahkshi. "I, ah...think we might have to fly down into it if we're going to find the suit."

[Ghidora131]

IC Flabbergaster

 

He thought for a second.

 

"I might not make it back up." He paused to see if Footwork caught his drift. "You check down there, and I-"

 

"Oh. there it is."

 

He pointed to the ground far below. It had taken a nasty beating, dented everywhere and several parts speared by the jagged rocks. "Think you can haul it up by yourself?"

[Dark_Stranger]

IC--Footwork--Outside

"I'll give it a shot." Footwork dropped deftly to where the suit lay, and carefully freed the areas where it had been impaled. He then slung his cargo over his shoulder and began the slow, laborious ascent.

[Ghidora131]

IC Flabbergaster

 

"Careful." He called out, looking around to make sure no other Rahks were present.

 

He reached out his hand to grab Footloose when he was close enough.

[Dark_Stranger]

IC--Footwork--Outside

Footwork reached out gratefully as he reached the top, allowing Flabbergaster to help reel him in.

 

OOC: Last post for the night.

[Ghidora131]

IC Flabbergaster

 

Flabbergaster easily hefted the Rahk upwards along with the damaged suit. As soon as he was on his feet, he laid the suit on the ground and looked it over for damages.

[Wyrd Bid Ful Araed]

IC: Palma rolled her eyes at Rain's behaviour but said nothing as she plucked glass out her back. The painter may have been more than a little psychotic, but she was injured. Unlike that tap-dancing eccentric who'd just come by...people trying to rest and he'd caused a racket like that.

Oh no, he was back!

Only dropping someone off though, that was lucky. He vanished again soon after. But he and his portly friend had dropped off another patient. With Rain seen to, Palma switched to Malady, patching up her various ailments

 

 

IC: Outside the walls of Corpus Rahkshi, on the grounds around the Causeway, the two Makuta so recently spotted by the escapees made their landing after their long journey. Their auras of darkness, shielding them from light and from prying eyes, dissipated into nothing as they stood on safe ground.

One was...very much like an ocean. Huge and vast. Untold hidden, and probably unpleasant, depths beneath the surface. An air of relentless strength that would wear down continents and crush mountains. In terms of just physical appearance he was a towering figure, dwarfing the students, his companion next to him, probably Tridax and even some of the building from the neighbouring village. There were no extraneous additions to his armour, no unnecessary spikes or pointless frills as some Makuta were fond of doing, which just drew attention to the imposing physique and powerful musculature he had bestowed upon himself. Even the black and red coloration was simple, a base of black with red plates, no whorls or stripes or eye-watering colour-clashes. The crimson mask on his face was simple too, a more or less rectangular block with the only adornment being a quintet of spikes that fanned out from the chin, the world's most lethal beard. The wings that stretched from his back were four-fold and the only ornate thing about him, a quartet of bird-like pinions arranged almost as a cross, two reaching above his shoulders while two curved towards his knees. It would take only a second to notice every single 'feather' on them was actually a blade of wicked sharpness. 

The second Makuta was more slightly built, an hourglass frame suggesting a female. She had alighted upon the earth without the ground-shuddering thud of her companion and even now seemed to stand upon in on tip-toes, her dragonfly wings a pair of crystalline mirrors that looked far to delicate to support her weight...but had the distinctive gleam of a razor's edge. Coloured mostly green, a glaring contrast to the scarlet titan next to her, she had highlighted or enhanced it with shades of dark blue and black to provide contrast and shade along her curves and angles, making her look starker and sharper. Her mask was a contrast of the insect and the equine; a long, almost muzzled mouth that gave way to a mane of crests that swooped towards her back seemed to take inspiration from the horse Rahi that populated the world...but the eyes were most definitely taken from a Kopen or Rama. Big and bulging, made up of tessellating hexagons, a pattern that repeated itself upon the Kanohi's various crests. Her torso was similarly decorated along the sides, the hexagonal patterns looking more like mail than plate and suggesting greater flexibility than her heavily armoured cohort. Along the front her torso was largely obscured by two armour pieces like crescent moons, a pair of scythe-like hooks that started at her hips before arching to her shoulders. Where her companion had a pair of solid-looking boots for feet she had a set of vicious claws, thankfully lacking on her hands, that scarred the ground where she walked. With the constant twitching of her wings and the shimmering reflections cast from her eyes she always appeared to be a hive of motion, frenetic energy barely contained within her. 

Icarax and Gorast.

There could be no mistaking the two. Whatever form they took, the same raw malice and sheer power radiated off them. Two of the most lethal and dangerous individuals in the Brotherhood, if not the entire universe. And they had both just landed on Corpus Rahkshi's doorstep. 

Icarax looked around, before spotting Flabbergaster. The normally smooth facade of his Kanohi seemed to rumple in disgust at the Rahkshi's obesity.

 

You. Take us to Tridax.

 

It was not a request. It was barely even an order, more a statement of what reality was going to be like in the near future and that Flabbergaster had better accept it. Whatever business the warriors had with Tridax was clearly of deadly seriousness

 

 

OOC: Possibly a bit unlikely that Flabbergaster is near the Causeway while retrieving Sepulchre's armour but hey, it was only specified that it was thrown into the sea so I'm applying a bit of artistic licence

Edited June 20, 2015 by Wyrd Bid Ful Araed

[Dane-gerous]

IC: Scout

"So, Torch. What do YOU do for fun around here?"

Edited June 20, 2015 by Agent Epsilon

[In Between the Shadows]

OOC: Just quickly popping back in

 

IC: Zelnos & Yuna | Infirmary

 

After having a brief catch-up with each other, Yuna fell asleep from her 'condition' while Zelnos took over Rain, looking for any small shards Palma might of missed.