Corpus Rahkshi

IC: Jayar / Fourth Tier

 

 

At first Jayar's gaze as he stood by Phogen and Hoto was hard, angry. All he had done to warn her, erased - worse, remembered but rejected - by a few moments of music and two words infused with false emotion. Phogen was too good!

 

Because it wasn't as though that could have been real. Phogen didn't feel genuinely guilty about anything. It had to be all just another ploy, no matter how real it sounded.

 

But what if it wasn't? His gaze softened, now more curious, maybe a touch concerned. What if deep beneath the presentable exterior, buried under endless diabolical schemes, was actual emotion? Perhaps the best way to vanquish Phogen's evils would be to bring out this emotion and nurture it, until light could overtake and replace the darkness Phogen had confined itself to. Kill them with kindness, as the saying went. Was it possible with Phogen?

 

He couldn't say there were many things more capable of killing with kindness than a hug from Hoto.

IC: Squid

 

Squid twiddled his thumbs in the Refectory.

 

OOC: Augh when are you guys gonna return to the school...

IC: Silver - Visorak wilds

 

The Turahk said to leave and, overcome by fear, I staggered to the side, accidentally avoiding a sword slash aimed at my legs. I whirled around to come face-to-face with a tiger-striped Rahk. Wow. Just... wow.

IC: Vitesse

After a fairly successful interrogation, and getting the arrow back, Vitesse went to the Refectory, where she noticed a smaller Rahk, though not Nightmsre small. Perhaps the best and unbiased way to get info on the students gone would be to ask someone other than Vaalku. After getting slop,( blasted Makuta) she sat down at the table where (Squid) was.

IC: Snake - Refectory

I turn away from Dodge for a moment, noticing the rahk that's sitting next to us.

"Uh...Squid, is it?"

 

IC: Torch - Nynrah

"Follow me." I say to Shock, headin' for the mainland. 

IC: Shock

Shock followed Torch, still slightly upset at the fact that the Cordak was broken. "Are there other weapons where your flamethrower is?"

IC: Nightmare

Nightmare walked onto the Beach, The Sound of waves against the Sand Flushed out all other Noise,  "Wonderful." He said, as he Rested in the Sand. For now, now, it was Safe, away from others, away from interrogation, away from thieves, it was good. 

 

IC: Blade

Blade walked back to the Library.

IC Phogen: The edgy, emotionally frayed Phogen was suddenly, and quite unexpectedly impacted with something in a sort of tackle. He tensed quite suddenly, ready for a fight, when he realized that this was a tackle of a different variety. He tryed to make up some excuse for accepting it. It would allow him to use this weakness as another way of solidifying... But... It seemed wrong somehow. That in of itself was frightening to Phogen. She couldn't afford to go soft.

 

Well... Maybe not at school. But here, in the city she might be able to let down her guard a little. Just a little, and wherever it could not be used against her. Blast it all, she was going soft. She needed to do something despicable later to feel clean again.

 

For now, however, he snapped his arms around Hoto and squeezed. Hoto would make a good anchor to reality for now. The slight tremble in his spines ceased, and with the dodge rahk acting as a sort of beacon, Phogen found his way back to reality. He cleared his throat and said "Thank you, Hoto." It was not the confedent voice she was used to, but it had that smooth, cool quality to it once more, despite the lack of volume and shades of shame.

 

The crowd began to clear out, and Phogen, through her closed eyes, heard the clink of widgets as the crowd appreciated the performance and moved on.

IC: Torch - Nynrah

" 'Fraid not, but we might be able to rustle up something in Phantom-On-The-Water or Ghost-On-The-Outcrop...just a worda warnin' - I, er, kinda burnt down a forest here a while back*, so I'm wanted in Malebranche...and you said the matoran were actin' hostile and stuff, didn't you?"

OOC: *He actually did as well

IC: Squid

 

Squid turned around to see another Rahkshi.

 

"Yes, what is it?"

IC Vaalku

 

 

First, he would need some coiled metal strings.. Then, a large cresent shape... And a way to attach them all together and tune the thing... All with one hand. Why couldn't there be another Rahk that wasn't either a kill-them-all or a nutjob?

 

Someone from the tour came into the room, but he didn't pay much attention.

IC: Snake - Refectory

"I've been in hibernation for some reason an' Dodge here has been playin' Solitaire in solidarity, so I was wondering if ya could answer the question 'What the absolute Karzahni is goin' on?'" 

IC: Squid

 

"I'd love to help answer, but I'm asking the same question right now."

IC: Snake - Refectory

"Why's that?"

IC: Squid

 

"I fell asleep in the courtyard."

IC: Dodge-256

Dodge shrugged.

IC: Shock

"Yup. Although, a small group of matoran shouldn't be too bad, if they come for us. Just look at the camp. Unless that wasn't Rahkshi work back there..." Shock said, slightly quieter. "Phantom on the Water? Ghost on the Outcrop? What is that? A weapons shop?"

 

IC: Vitesse

After realizing these Rahkshi were useless, Vitesse got up, and headed for the gym.

IC: Hoto - Malebranche

 

The hug seemed to help in some small way. Hoto was still trying to get a hold of herself as well after that performance.

 

"W-what... was that?" she choked out at last.

IC: Blade

Blade entered the library, and picked up a Book, and Began to Read.

OOC: Blade open for interaction

IC: Vitesse

Vitesse reached the gym, and a bunch of toa-like targets appeared. I wonder... Vitesse willed the targets to perhaps move towards her. Unfortunately, it seemed that that was too much for the gym. Sighing, Vitesse pulled out her bow, knocked an arrow. She fired at one of the targets, hitting it in the center. The target broke, indicating that she truly hit it. Whipping out another arrow, she started shooting targets, quicker and quicker. Almost all of them hit near the center. Soon, all of about 20 targets laid in ruins. The gym then reabsorbed them. Interesting... Vitesse thought, retrieving her arrows.

IC: Torch - Nynrah

"They're villages." I say as we fly over the forest. "Phantom is where most of the Nynrah Ghosts hang out."

 

IC: Snake - Refectory

"Oh, I'm talkin' about stuff that's happened over the last few days, weeks..." How long have I been asleep? "...months, possibly. I mean, is anyone on an assignment etc, etc?"

IC: Shock

"Ah. The Nynrah Ghosts. Read about them in a weapons book. These are respectable by matoran standards by me- unless they try to kill us." Shock said, flying. "I'm surprised we haven't seen any patrols yet. Guess this whole stretch of land is uninhabited."

IC: Silver - Visorak wilds

 

The Turahk said to leave and, overcome by fear, I staggered to the side, accidentally avoiding a sword slash aimed at my legs. I whirled around to come face-to-face with a tiger-striped Rahk. Wow. Just... wow.

 

IC: Exxan - Backstab (Jungle). 

 

My sword flashed once more; hopefully I'd be able to strike a decisive blow while he was still surprised by my sudden arrival. 

IC: Silver - Visorak wilds

 

Using my Rahkshi reflexes, I leapt out of the way, drawing my naginata and thrusting the blunt pommel at the striped one's own weapon, aiming to disarm him. 

IC Catatonic:

 

Cao came flying toward me, but I didn't have the time to catch him. So doing, I redirected him, sliding under and allowing him to fall less than gracefully to the ground.

 

My only thought was to catch and kill my Prey.

 

I charged through the jungle after Shark, a battle cry tearing forth from my throat as I smashed branches, foliage, and the occasional small tree out of my way.

IC: Exxan - Backstab (Jungle). 

 

I pulled my sword arm back and stepped forwards, unleashing a blast of air from my other hand. 

IC: Silver - Visorak wilds

 

This one I wasn't prepared for. I stumbled back, barely avoiding a fall by sticking my staff into the ground behind me.

"Come at me!" I shouted, digging my naginata out of the earth.

IC: Exxan - Backstab (Jungle).

 

A second burst of air ripped through the space between us, this one carrying to throwing knives with it, aimed for the enemy Rahk's chest. You asked for it....

IC: Hoto - Malebranche

The hug seemed to help in some small way. Hoto was still trying to get a hold of herself as well after that performance.

"W-what... was that?" she choked out at last.

IC Phogen: "I... I do not know." Phogen relaxed a little, letting Hoto back just far enough for the minium of social good graces. She rubbed he back of her head, still a little aggrivated at the weakness. "I just... I just started playing, making sound for the sake of making sound, and... That happened. I felt it more than I thought it, if that makes any sort of sense. I didn't make the music so much as I let it come out." She found that verbalizing it was helping her process it.

 

Phogen sighed resolutely. "I am sorry, Hoto. I didn't mean to..." Oh this was a fine point. He didn't mean to be that honest? That heartfelt and digustingly pure? Hoto wore the traits well, but on Phogen, such was ugly and, frankly, a little nauseating. He settled on a neutral set of terms that didn'y betray the usual unflappable guile. "...be that embarassingly open."

IC: Sidonas - Crawler

Sidonas still lay face down on the floor of the Crawler, unconscious, his arm still cut up and broken.

IC: Fang - Visorak Jungle (Team Backstab)

 

Fang staggered forward to help Caoutchouc, but before his painfully slow pace could reach the fight, the Elastics Rahkshi was flying through air once more and then right back to the ground. Fang barely managed to pull himself out of the way as first the Silence Rahkshi, and then... Kat barreled past him. Her scream of rage did not bode well for the Doublecrosser.

 

"Kat... wait!" Fang called out weakly. He didn't know what her plans were, but he had seen enough terrible injuries for one day. And they still had Caoutchouc to take care of.

 

 

IC: Hoto - Malebranche

 

Hoto pulled back and sat in front of Phogen with a small grin. More for Jayar's benefit than anyone else's.

 

"It's fine," she said softly. "It was... beautiful. And friends should be open with each other, right?"

IC: Fog was right, Visorak couldn't fly. The Venom Flyers sure could though. It was in their name and everything. A couple of them buzzed up after him, firing more Rhotuka to knock out his flight abilities. 

And four of them descended on the hole in the foliage that had been left by Era, driven as much by hunger as the thrill of a hunt going well. Distracted by their hunt they didn't notice Alpha making her escape

 

* * * * * * * * *

 

The Visorak rounded on the unconscious Sliver and dog-piled Sanu, strands of webbing already being spun and woven to cocoon the pair. Sanu was still struggling, true, but as more and more of the spiders grabbed at his limbs to hold him down his struggles could only grow weaker...

 

* * * * * * * * *

 

A squad of Oohnorak headed back towards the forest. They'd seen Stronghold go down and they were determined to find him

^{IC: Silver - Visorak wilds}

 

Oh Karz. I turned, bracing for impact. The first projectile whizzed in front of my gut, only missing it by a millibio, but the second impaled itself in my shoulder. Ow. Eyes narrowed, I charged at my opponent, first feigning a slash with my staff, but then quickly following up with a left-handed hook. The armored fist flew at the Rahk's face determined to collide.

OOC: Might I ask how long the Oohnorak's effect lasts?

 

IC: Alpha/To the Crawler, Somewhat

I dipped lower into the forest while still flying. I didn't know my way to the Crawler, so I began a small search for footprints. I checked around me, no one. I was lucky. Unfortunately Stronghold was gone. Oh no. That made me a little more frantic.

 

IC: Stronghold/Bush

Being incapacitated like this is annoying. Oh listen, I can hear some Visorak. Oh great.

IC: Sanu

"Ow! That hurts! Why are you doing this! Ow my foot! My... Foot..." He Said, Starting to Tire out from the Flailing.

Well... I'll never taste refectory slop again!

Then again, I'll never taste anything again...

Sanurahk kept trying to find Pros, but the Cons outweighed the Pros, and Before he knew it, he was in a cocoon.

Well, at least if I go out, I'll go out in a warm blanket of webbing.

IC: Era - Backstab (Jungle).

 

I started running through the trees, towards the clearer path I could sense just ahead of me, the one Exxan, Kat and the others had used to get to the Crawler. I could hear four of the creatures who'd shot me down buzzing through the trees behind me, and sent a sonic pulse flying towards the noisiest part of the nearest one: presumably, its wings. 

___________________________________________________________

 

IC: Exxan - Backstab (Jungle).

 

The fist caught me square in the face. Taken by surprise, I fell down onto my back, raising my sword to defend myself. But then I saw something. You fool.... my first knife lay in the dirt behind the enemy rahk, already forgotten in the heat of battle. Focusing my powers on the blade, I manipulated the air around it, sending it flying through the air towards my foe's unsuspecting back. 

IC: Silver - Visorak wilds

 

The knife lodged itself in my back, millibio from my Kraata, but I didn't cry out. A moment's hesitation could cost me victory, and so my staff's blunt end was already swinging down towards the tiger-striped Rahk's gut. My armored hand was ready to defend if he tried anything funny, and I dug my legs deeper into the earth, bracing for a burst of vacuum.

IC: Hoto - Malebranche

 

Hoto pulled back and sat in front of Phogen with a small grin. More for Jayar's benefit than anyone else's.

 

"It's fine," she said softly. "It was... beautiful. And friends should be open with each other, right?"

IC Phogen: The derahk scratched her head and looked away. Honesty... a powerful tool with a painful tendency to backfire. It was a weapon this particular individual never held in her life, at least not without intent to wound. And now it seemed impossible to back out of being honest with this, the first kinsfolk Phogen had seen in a very long time. She decided to shoot for the stands. If she was being honest, then she might as well go big with it. Nobody would believe Jayar and Hoto and Zelnos anyways about this. It was too unfitting of his reputation.

 

She quietly whispered "I fear I have no friends... That I cannot let myself have them. Everybody wants to follow me or have me lead them, but I don't think I will ever have a friend. On some level, I see friends as a liability. They are a chink in your armor for a knife to find, and worse, their betrayals are a method by which to twist the blade. But to have nobody, nobody at all but cronies and employees and enemies and associates is so lonely. So very very lonely. Embittering in a way I cannot put into words. And I would like to have even just one, maybe two I can confide in, to be open to, without fear of my personal weaknesses and essenced immorality and perversely twisted worldview being used against me. I try to do nice things to get friends. In the end I make up some excuse, some justification for engaging in something as foolhardy as altruism. I am so broken that I have to make up an excuse for doing good. So I never do good. And I never have a friend, despite the fact that I deeply wish I had a friend."

 

Phogen covered her mouth and spat out bitterly. "My abyss is too dark and my intelligence refined too heinously for that now, dear Hoto. My soul is a mechanism of evil honed far beyond the title of 'abomination' that seeks out good only to destroy it and laugh long and loud. I do believe I will never have a friend because nobody would be able to stomach me."

IC: Hoto - Malebranche

 

All through that terrible speech, Hoto's eyes widened and her mouth quivered in sympathy. At last, she couldn't take it any more. She jumped forward to place her arms around Phogen again. Apparently she hadn't done enough yet.

 

"D-don't say things like that," Hoto whimpered. "Y-you're one of the n-nicest Rahkshi I've ever met. And... and w-what about... Exxan, or..." The word dragged off hopelessly. "...or me?"

IC: Hoto - Malebranche

 

All through that terrible speech, Hoto's eyes widened and her mouth quivered in sympathy. At last, she couldn't take it any more. She jumped forward to place her arms around Phogen again. Apparently she hadn't done enough yet.

 

"D-don't say things like that," Hoto whimpered. "Y-you're one of the n-nicest Rahkshi I've ever met. And... and w-what about... Exxan, or..." The word dragged off hopelessly. "...or me?"

IC Phogen: The rahkshi was limp in her arms. The shoulders sank and he replied "Hoto... It would mean the world to me if you were my friend." Perhaps not the world, for that was a lofty price for something Phogen knew little of. "But I worry you and Exxan do not understand what you risk by trusting me. I am a backstabber, a cheat, a deceiver, a wretch, and I enjoy every minute of it. I'm not sure even how to be trustworthy or nice for the sake of being nice. I have no clue how to be selfless."

 

The derahk sighed and whispered "I don't know how to be a friend."