Loren- Ta-wahi
IC: The Toa's perfectly natural question caused Loren to freeze. While he had most certainly not forgotten it, the lieutenant had manged to push that particular fact into a small corner of his mind during his work. After all , how could ones save others lives while they were worried about consumed by sadness?
"They're dead. All dead" The words came out cold and emotionless. "The Guard leaders are trying to pick up the pieces in the aftermath, but its not pretty."
IC: Syvra
Syvra nodded a bit as the vine in his hand began to wilt and eventually decomposed into nothing.
"Well that is truly to terrible to hear. I had hoped the news was false but apparently that is not the case. I am sorry if my question brought up any bad memories but i felt you would be best to ask."
He did not seem to be expressing any emotions about this topic, neither in body mannerisms or his voice
IC: RyzenRyzen had been half listening, half thinking. So, all the Turaga are dead. Wonder why, some people just don't like old village elders.
IC: Tuara Drigton - Ta-Koro BarTuara nodded, "Well as long as it's gone, I think your conversation skills aren't as important."
IC:
"I'm inclined to agree. It's better to be without the Mark and be a bit less social, than be stuck with the Mark, and being social. Which is rather ironic, since I was even less social whilst I had the Mark."
Realizing that he was starting to ramble, he fell silent. After a moment, he sighed. "Ms. Drigton, can I ask you a question?"
IC: Tuara Drigton - Ta-Koro BarTuara just nodded, "Yeah what do you want to know?"
IC:
"What would you do in my place?"
The question lacked context, but after a moment's pause, Jikal began to elaborate. "I can never go home, not after what my Mark made me do. I am universally despised in Ga-Koro which is, ironically, where I've spent the last few weeks of my life. Every villager there wants me dead, and I suspect that if I ever showed my face around here, the reaction would be much the same."
The Vo-Toa's blue eyes were fixed dimly on an unknown point in the distance, staring off into space with no real purpose. "Anyone I've ever cared about is either dead, thinks me dead, or thinks me a murderer. And in a way, they're right. I had to kill the brother of the only real friend I have left right in front of her, because otherwise, he would have killed her."
"There's so much blood on my hands, and sometimes, I'm not even sure what of it I spilled anymore. Life is like a big set of scales, and I've thrown them out of balance. So many lives lost, so many lives ruined. And nothing to be done for me to set them right."
"A load of sins to atone for, and no way to atone. No home to go back to, and an entire island that despises me. In a way, Iris won." The Vo-Toa fell silent, the quiet stretching on for only a minute, but it seemed like an eternity.
"I'm sorry. You don't need to hear this, it isn't your problem. You've had to deal with me enough over the past few weeks."
IC: Tuara Drigton - Ta-Koro BarTuara put her hands on her hips, looking downwards, "I couldn't even begin to tell you what to do, because I can't even begin to know what I'm going to do or have been doing."Tuara sighed."But if there's anybody on this island that should hate you, it's me. But I don't, so if people are going to judge you for what somebody else did, that's their problem and not yours."
Loren-Ta-wahi
IC: The Toa of Sound just nodded and went back to his drink.
If you were sorry then you would be showing something. Oh well, I can hardly go after a guy cause he is not sorry about the Elders dieing.
IC: Syvra
Syvra looked at the loren a bit while he hummed a bit
"So if i were heading to some other koro which one would you suggest?"
IC: RyzenRyzen drank while a hundred things were going on through his head. Turaga dead? Where next? What does Syvra think? Meanwhile, he heard Syvra ask Loren about what Koro they will be heading to. I won't know. Hopefully somewhere nice.
Loren- Ta-koro
IC: "It depends on what you want to do after you leave. Ga-koro is a nice place to head to if you want to find somewhere to stay for a while or if you want to sail somewhere. If you want to learn something I would suggest Ko-koro. It is called the koro of Scholars for a reason. If you want something made that you can't get here then head to Po or Onu-koro."
IC: Syvra
Syvra sighes a bit at he turned and looked at Ryzen
"Where do you think we should go?"
IC: RyzenRyzen looked up."Well, it doesn't really matter. Ga-Koro would be the closest, but Po isn't so far from here. Not sure about Ko and Onu, though."
IC: Syvra
Syvra nodded a bit to Ryzen
"Well Ga-Koro would be more hospitable to us both."
IC: Ryzen"Alright then. Ready when you are."
IC: Tawara, Ta-Wahi Shore
It was there.
The boards had sagged and darkened, the hull had collapsed inward, the mast had fallen and left the sail to moulder. The same scarlet moss that grew on the black rocks of the shore had begun to cover the boat’s surface. But it was there.
Tawara ran a finger along the dark wood. Some of it came away as a black paste on the tip of her finger, and she flicked it off. Less than a year ago, she had arrived, half-conscious, at the Ta-Wahi coast. Her earliest memory was of waking there. Beyond that, there was nothing.
No, that wasn’t quite right. There was something: a harsh, dark thing, blocking the Matoran’s path, constantly burning in the back of her mind. Every time she tried to recall past her arrival at the island, it flung her back. Pain flared up in her head. She wasn’t alone, either—nobody on Mata Nui remembered their past. Yet there was a time when she did remember it. She was sure of it.
And it was written in the notebook she carried, inscribed in a code she couldn’t decipher by a friend whose death she had caused.
Tawara turned away from the vessel and made her way up the coast and into the forest.
IC: Syvra
Syrva looked at Ryzen as he began to rise from his seat. He looked to Loren and offered him a slight nod
"Thank you Loren for your help. I'm sure it has helped us much in our journey."
Syvra began walking towards the door of the bar but gave a minute second to activate his kanohi Mahiki and cast an illusion that made him appear that his armor was a dark blue and white. He turned to Ryzen and grinned a bit
"Well let us be on our way."
IC: RyzenThe duo walked out of the bar and onto the street. Ryzen wondered how to get to Ga-Koro."So, do you have directions? To Ga-Wahi? I'm terrible with directions?"
IC: Syvra
Syvra gave a glance to Ryzen and nodded "Well Ga-koro is north of Ta-wahi so that gives some help."
IC: RyzenRyzen nodded, still not understanding how the know where north is."Then we should get going. We shouldn't be wasting time debating my stupid little questions."
IC: Syvra
Syvra looked at Ryzen and sighed a bit shaking his head.
"No question is stupid."
He looks towards the Gate of Ta-Koro and sighs a bit upon seeing the toa mounted on some rahi
"Well seems we may have to get past that."
IC: RyzenNo question is stupid, huh? Oh Syvra, you just don't know."To get past that...well, they should have no problem letting us out, or..."Ryzen quickly walked up to them, and started speaking in a casual way."Hello, there. Would you mind letting the two of us through?"
IC: Tawara, Ta-Koro Bar
The door creaked as Tawara pushed it open and slid inside the tavern. Her hood down and her bow slung over her back, she began to approach the bar.
And there they were, among the crowd. Jikal and... that other one. Tuara, that was her name. Talking.
Tawara almost walked up to them, almost greeted them and asked what they were speaking of. Almost, but not quite. Instead, she sunk back into the shadows, a small, dark figure standing in the corner of the room.
IC: RyzenThey ignored the two of them. Ryzen looked at Syvra, then shrugged."Well, it looks like we will just go past," he said, turning to the Bo-Toa. Ryzen headed for the bridge, which was down again. I'll create an ice bridge this time, or Suvra will have to try his vine thing. Ryzen could use his Kualsi, but it can only be for one person. He concentrated, and a thick bridge of ice formed over the lava."We got to be fast, or else the bridge will melt."
IC: Syvra
Syvra grinned a bit as he looked up at the guard tower and yelled up at them
"Hey mind raising the bridge. Some people need to get across."
And with that the bridge was raised and Syvra punched Ryzen lightly on the shoulder.
"There are easier ways."
IC: RyzenRyzen commanded the bridge to collapse. He turned to Syvra and said: "There may be easier ways, but sometimes there won't be, so always be prepared. Now, since there is a bridge, we will cross."The duo stepped onto the hard, stone bridge. Ryzen felt the heat of the lava underneath, and looked around for anything new, as a habit. After a few minutes, they reached the end."Where to, now?"
IC: Syvra
Syvra paused at this question but simply shrugged.
"Well the most i know is to head north. Now if the landscape is the same as when we came here north should be that way."
He turned to indicate the path they had taken to get into Ta-Koro and then pointed towards the north
"Now if we keep heading north we should get to the border of Ga-Wahi eventually."
IC:
"That is so illegal."
"I must have missed the part where I fell asleep in a prison bunk and woke up in Candy Land," I grumbled in protest to Tank as I finished rolling up my cig and struck one of the little contraband matches I kept in a little compartment I had sewed into the inside of my scarf. The little stick hissed to life triumphantly, sporting a pretty little orange-blue flame spouting from the tip like a shock of hair. "Shut up. I'm in my zone."
There was a monastery-tier hushed quiet in the cell block for several minutes as I took low drags on the joint; Tank watched from across his cell with deep, annoyingly melancholy eyes as he gazed into my tricked out cell. It was currently lacking in any females - Naara hadn't showed up in the past couple days and Tuara had probably fallen into a bottle of scotch overnight - and currently looked like just a cell with nice, probably stolen furniture. A low aura of hazy smoke clung to the floor as I leaned forward, one hand over the right side of my face.
"It's also cheap," the former Mark Bearer said.
"You're telling me," I grumbled. "Prison herb. The worst."
Along with prison food, prison guards, prison company and prison beds, illicit and outlawed materials in prison - amongst the ranks of banned substances was bourbon, smokes, drugs and fun - were about as rough as it could get for an erudite prettyboy with a couple habits to feed and about 40 feet of square footage to nurture them. Tank as backup therapist wasn't doing me much good either; he'd yammer on and on about learning life lessons from this, seeking redemption, how it was a wonder I didn't wear a tutu with all the dancing through life I did. The only real sense of fun I got was in predicting the times of the guard's arrival: in about thirty seconds someone would walk by the cell, snicker, and (depending on if it was a guy or a girl) slide me a slice of bread that wasn't actually stale, along with a paper shot glass of water. A shot glass. Of water.
Kill. Me. Now.
Twenty seconds. I took a brief inhale and put the cig out on the bunk. Tank looked up at the sound of footsteps. Ten seconds.
Nine. Eight. Seven.
Six. Five. Fou-
We fell through the air, enjoying the zero-grav feeling inside our spheres, and landed in the street, smashing a few market stalls. Who knows why they put a massive window above such a thriving marketplace? Not that I was complaining, considering the excellent views on both sides of the glass, but sometimes you have to think about things like a city planner - or, in this case, a bad one. In any case, one or two squashed traders and property damages later, our bouncy blue balls of liberty (Justice? Imagination? Honor? Hope? Pickles? Take your pick...le) rebounded off the stony ground, earning us another massive bound forward, sailing clear over the Ta-Koro walls. We soared with all the grace possible for an oversized bubble over the heads of awed Ta-Koro guards and pedestrians alike...
IC: Ryzen"So, north to Ga-Wahi. From what I heard, it's mostly just a bay, all watery. According to the directions, we just keep going?"Ryzen never completely understood Syvra, but enough to actually trust him, even if it was only a tiny bit. He rarely felt this way before, which astonished himself. Trust is an important thing, Ryzen. Give it wisely. He thought to himself as he continued to walk. Strange thing, to think about this right now. The power of trust can be as sharp as any sword...maybe I should focus on what's happening now. Like heading to Ga-Wahi.
IC:
As night fell over Ta-Koro, Klavier slept but did not sleep. To him, there was no night or day; there was activity and non-activity, people and not-people. Sometimes, he wondered what the concept of 'light' might be like. Would it be like loudness where no sound had existed before? A sudden revealing of all things, a sudden becoming, the lifting crescendo of a piece of music or the smell of baked bread? Rapture? How could the sightful stand it, to see their lives illuminated like the most beautiful poetry revealing cobwebs of thought? To close your eyes every night, only to reopen must be the deepest catharsis, the greatest feeling of release.
Her name was Catalina. Her voice was the sweetest sounding milk after...
"Tell me, boy, what is it you dream for?"
I smiled. "To see again."
"Even more than escape? Even more than leaving this place?"
"No offense, but I would stay here forever if it meant being able to see my captor's face, watching them cut and whip me mercilessly, watching the blood run down in rivulets...I would give anything for my sight again."
Catalina laughed. It was a cruel life but in the silent dark, her laugh was precious. "You must be a sucker for punishment, then. You don't get your eyes, and you don't get to escape. Sucks, huh, boy?"
I spat in her eye, or what I figured to be her eye. The gesture was more important than the actual end result; that was another thing I figured out early down here. "You just wait. Everything comes full circle."
She chuckled. "The circle ends here. Incomplete. No one gets out."
Instead, there was only darkness, Nothing. Except, of course, the visions. The visions of the future. Or what seemed to be the future, at least. That was the confusing part: hallucinations or prophecy? Truth, or delusion? This question had haunted Klavier the majority of his waking life.
"Tonight, the world was on fire again."
"Is that all you're capable of saying?" I called this voice the Angry Man. "You must have some other prophecy. For example, a possible escape route? Or a way of getting extra food? Anything at all?"
I shook my head. "Not in the slightest. All is see...is a city. A glorious, magnificent city. Then a shadow passes over, clouds out the whole sky. Then the firestorm starts. That's it. That's the end."
There was a silence. "Put him back in the cages. We'll see what he says, then."
"PRISON BREAK!"
There was a sudden jolt of recognition, a sudden return to reality as Klavier realized that he had fallen asleep in his reverie. A quick sweep revealed chaos. A cacophony of screaming, noise, and general pandemonium. Also, a certain someone had disappeared from his cell.
Dorian. Fascinating. The vision holds true again.
Klaver stood up, smiling.
He comes.
IC: Syvra
Syvra looked around while he barely payed attention to Ryzen's words. He seemed to be a bit surprised by the barrenness of this land. He did pause in his walking to look at Ryzen
"I say we head north till we found the shoreline. I'm not quite sure if we will be able to find the entrance to ga-koro. I have never been there before."
Ooc: There is a considerable amount of time between the bar scene and the present setting. In my book it's been at least a day. Of course, leave it to Tyler to screw the continuity up like he was a member of congress or something. I guess I'll sew all this complete balderdash above into a quilt, though. Ic: Huron sat in the cramped lobby, curled up on a chair like some puppy as he just stared blankly at the opposite wall. His hooded shoulder cape was like a shawl, obstructing others from seeing his face but allowing him a perfect vista to everybody else. It was a one-way mirror, a veil, a superhero mask. Only Huron was no superhero. He never intended to be one nor did he work to become one. He was an outsider, an outlier, a reject. Even the others in the room avoided him. The cautious but authoritative steps of a guard approached him. "Can I help you?" he asked. Huron looked up at the guard and gave him his little eyes. The guard balked but still remained. It was the third representative Huron was referred to, apparently higher on the chain of command than the last two. He decided it was time to see if this one had the balls to stay and work with him on solving the matter. "Yes. Well, I hope you can," Huron said. His minty and silky voice was bittersweet to the guard's ears, both horrifying and pleasing in its cultured softness. "I'd like to visit one of your recently admitted inmates." "Which one?" the guard asked. "It largely depends on who you're referring to." "Probably the most recent one. The prophet?" "Mm," the guard said. "Do you have a relation to the inmate?" "Not yet," Huron answered patiently, "but when I'm finished speaking with him I hope to." The guard seemed to be confused how to take that remark but still remained glued in place; apparently he did have the balls to stand before Huron and not back away in disgust. "First condition: Name?" "I've stated it to your secr--" Say it again, to me." "Huron." "Mmmm, not in my records," the guard said, apparently consulting his mental databank of interesting people, or at least wanted people. "Come with me." The guard walked off and Huron followed closely. They stepped behind the desk and into a stone alleyway with windows of offices on either side, where they stopped. "Next condition: Take off that hood." Huron was only barely taller than the guard, standing but a head higher than the matoran and having a body thinner than his. He was unimposing, and by losing his little cloak he would let down his last barrier of control he held. But time was of the essence and all the checkpoints had to be met precisely so he reached up -- slowly -- and removed the hood, revealing his gawked face. His eyes were tiny in recessed sockets and his mouth was long and wide, almost stupid in appearance but not at all funny. Still, the guard did not react adversely. "Hmm, alright," the guard said, satisfied that Huron was neither a fugitive or a suspect, and gestured for him to follow again. "This garrison houses twenty cells with two beds each, accommodating forty criminals at once with a staff of fifteen. Your pal is in our maximum security ward. Lucky for you, I have access to it. Thankfully for you I have access to that hallway." "Aren't you going to bring backups?" Huron asked, curious. "Do I have to?" he asked, on edge -- then again, he always had been. "No," Huron answered. "MaxSec has its own safeguards," the guard explained. "No, I'm not sharing them. What do you think I am, some kind of supervillain who tells all the secrets of his secret lair with the hero as his only audience?" he asked dryly. "This isn't a comicbook." Huron remained silent during the walk and sharply regarded everything they passed. Lightstone torches, crossbow parapets, probable traps and boobys; the guard was right to say this area was full of its own devices. There wasn't anything to say that there weren't more people manning each station in case of something gone wrong and this guard officer was not at all alone with Huron. Finally they rounded a corner and the officer jangled his ring of keys and opened the well-maintained hatch to the MaxSec ward. Five cells in total arranged in a U formation; only two cells had inmates. On the far side of the room was a cell with two inmates and diagonal from it was the one with the prophet. "This who you came to see?" the guard asked, standing next to Klavier's cell. "Is that Dorian?" Huron asked instead, looking at the cell with two inmates. "I don't think that matters to you," the officer replied sternly. Huron gave a long look into the cell, looking sadly at Dorian Shaddix -- then again, he always seemed to maintain a gloomily forlorn disposition about him. "And who is his fellow prisoner?" Huron pressed. "I'm counting down to three, and if you don't return your attention to my questions I'll put you in a cell, too," was the gruff response. "Hey hey hey, ####face: If the man wants to talk to me, let him ####ing talk to me," Dorian said to the guard, apparently recovered from his tirade at his sentencing. At least, vocally recovered. "I don't mind. Any company is better than these two putzes," he said, jerking his thumb between Klavier and Tank. "Yes, that is the man," Huron said without to the guard without looking back, holes simply looking into Dorian's eyes. He didn't speak to the convict, not because he didn't want to but simply he had nothing to say. Whatever he did want to say could be done in a better fashion at a later time. Dorian would be out free shortly anyway. Huron was there to capitalize on the matter. Finally, Huron looked back at Klavier and nodded assertively. "He seems to be sleeping. Can you wake him?" "Yeah, whatever, don't talk to me. I'm used to that now," Dorian drawled. "HEY, WEIRDO," the guard yelled at Klavier. The prophet stirred in his place. Huron could tell the man was sensing, though; his eyelids twitched from either dreams or clairvoyance. The prophet did not stir. "I'll have to get inside to wake him," the guard admitted. "I don't have the key for that. Come with me, we're going back for it." Again, the signal to be followed. As they left the room, though, Huron shot a glance back at Dorian and winked. Things were already being taken care of. They grabbed the key to MaxSec Cell #4 and were approaching the door to the ward when the captain's nose picked up something strange and he hastened his steps. "Freckin' deviants..." he mumbled as he opened the ward hatch and stormed in to admonish and discipline Dorian and Tank. He never made it. Thwack. The guard crumpled to the floor as Grokk stepped from the shadows and revealed himself in full light. The Skakdi terrorist and Dorian exchanged their camaraderie verbosity and left shortly after. A few moments after they left the resounding alarm sounded: "PRISON BREAK!" Klavier stirred at that. Guards shuffled into the MaxSec room and dragged their unconscious ward supervisor out of the room and to a medical bay, though they completely disregarded Tank's shot foot. A toa of iron in their own service repaired the cell bars and was the last individual to leave the room as the force of guards moved elsewhere in an attempt to contain the loosed prisoner. They'd be back shortly, however, to question Tank and Klavier, so Huron had to act fast. Like a cat, he dropped from a little alcove on the ceiling where he was lingering like a spider as the chaos happened in the ward hall. He anded on his feet and strode forward to Klavier's cell, where the prophet himself stood and smiled at the door. "He comes."
"And he came," Huron said as he inserted the key, which he had pilfered from the supervisor when he was flustered, into the lock for the cell. "I don't know you and you don't know me, but I figure we have purposes for each other, starting now. Come, Prophet."
IC: Ryzen"You said that a few times, I think I should know by now." Ryzen saw Syvra look around with a small look of surprise on his face. Ryzen laughed. "What surprises you so much? The heat? The volcanic ashes? The rocky landscape? In Ko-Wahi we have nothing but snow, mountains, and cold. What do they have in Le-Wahi, huh? Only been there once, nothing but trees and pesky bugs. What else? Have to admit, this island is quite boring. Six sections of plain land, that differs from each region. Maybe somewhere else would be really nice."
IC: Syvra
Syrva shot Ryzen a small look before sighing "Yes truly does make you wonder what other places there are out there."
He continued walking towards the north.
"But i doubt we will ever know."
IC: RyzenRyzen followed Syvra, to the north. He thought about Syvra's words. "But I doubt we will never know." Or will we? There may be other places existing, but Syvra had a big point. No one knows, and no one will ever know. Unless they make the effort to do it, no one will, again, even know. Not me, of course. I got other things to think and worry about. Like getting to Ga-Wahi. Ryzen put his thoughts aside, and continued to walk north.
IC: Syvra
Syvra could smell the salt on the air. They were close.
OOC: Hey ryzen you may want to post you next response in the ga-wahi topic.
OOC: In response to the 'chase after the miscreants on the bicycle. Thanks.'
IC: JL
One Toa of Lightning was just trying to enjoy his strawberry ice cream as he crossed the street when what was probably a Skakdi, and a Toa wearing a scarf zipped right past him, out of the close-by jail, and nearly whacked his ice cream out of his hand.
"Watch where your driving, WaterskakmelonToahead!" he shouted. 'PRISON BREAK' came the response from far away. For a second, JL stood in slight confusion as to what had happened. After all, he was never a prisoner. He was a good guy!
Then it dawned on him.
"HEY! WAIT UP! I LIKE THAT WHEELED CONTRAPTION!" He shouted as the terrible driver went up some makeshift ramp into the lava down below. Confused as to why he might commit suicide, JL quickly sprinted towards the gate, where he looked towards the two, one of which now had a watermelon for a hat, as they pedaled away. Seeing as there weren't bystanders in that area, he quickly launched a lightning strike towards where the bike's locale, hoping to at least knock it over so he'd have a chance of catching up.