BZPRPG - Ta-Wahi
Ta
IC:
"You know, I don't think I ever got the full story on that. I just remember that one day I ran into you again and you were a woman."
Given that it was right around the time of all the Mark Bearer madness, very shortly after our marks turned into timers counting down to our deaths...there was quite a bit to try and take in back at that point. "Didn't you say it was something involving Echelon once?"
Mad science. My old favourite.
IC:
"Yeah, that's actually kinda why I'm here. Not about your body specifically- that is, I mean, your guy body, the old body. Well, actually, yeah, about it, not your- ####. Let me take this from the top."
He was on deck, now, and lucky to be red enough that no one could see how flushed he was. Probably. He nodded to Praggos, and held out a hand.
"Hey, I'm Pirok."
IC:
I glanced at him for a moment, before reaching out and shaking his hand. "Praggos."
I don't think I'd ever seen somebody quite so adept at embarrassing themselves since...Skyra herself, probably. A fitting reunion.
IC: Makua — Deck of the Fowadi — Ta-Wahi Coast
The mercenary nodded dutifully as Pirok came on board, spilled words all over the place, and introduced himself to the Ko-Toa he now knew as Praggos.
Makua felt it prudent to continue to keep his mouth shut. This looked like a reunion that could go without his input… for now.
IC: Skyra Daring - Fowadi, Ta-Wahi Coast, Rehu Cove -
Ahah, Pirok! Now it was coming back to me, the Toa team I was briefly part of...yeah that didn't last long huh.
"Yeah that b#####d stole it, but since he's apparently dead now it's not like I can ask him where he put it." I let out a puff of air. "Whatever, doesn't really matter. You know something about it...Pirok? Also, weren't you there at the hospital Praggos? Could have sworn you were around somewhere..." He must of been, it wasn't like I knew any other Toa of Ice, besides this Makua guy of course.
IC:
I turned back to Skyra.
Baffled at her memory.
"You're kidding, right? I wasn't around at all." I turned back to Pirok, my brows furrowed in consternation. "You'll have to forgive her, she took a nasty hit to the head when we were back in Ko-Koro. Makes the memory get a little fuzzier than normal in my experience."
IC:
"Yeah, Skyra, it was just me, you, Merror and…"
Huh.
"No, there was someone else there. That other guy from the Astha."
IC:
"That sounds like a medical condition."
IC: Skyra Daring - Fowadi, Ta-Wahi Coast, Rehu Cove -
"Hold on wait..." I thought real hard about the Toa of Ice that had been at the hospital at the time. "...you sure it wasn't you Praggos? I could have sworn that was you at the hospital..."
IC:
Me, Skyra, Merror, Weta… Elliane!
Wait, no.
What was that guy's name?
IC:
I stared long and hard at the two in front of me, knowing that the other ice Toa was somewhere off the side watching all of this, probably with some growing sense of incredulity to match that I was feeling.
"I haven't the foggiest idea what hospital you're even talking about."
IC:
Hold on…
"####, that was you!"
IC:
"What."
IC: Skyra Daring - Fowadi, Ta-Wahi Coast, Rehu Cove -
"Well of course you don't, as a doctor you've probably been to like every hospital ever, you know the big one in Ga-koro."
IC:
"What."
IC: Pirok (The Fowadi)
"No, no, it's cool, I get it. It's totally understandable to be embarrassed, we've all had to unlearn some stuff – I actually think it's really cool that you and Skyra are still friends, despite everything."
IC:
I quickly looked back and forth between the two of them. Looking for some hint of a joke.
But in their eyes I saw nothing but wide, empty-headed sincerity.
Mata-Nui protect me.
"You have a point with the 'despite everything' part, but we've barely been friendly for a few months now. I'm still surprised she didn't gut me when we saw each other in Ko-Koro."
IC: Skyra Daring - Fowadi, Ta-Wahi Coast, Rehu Cove -
"Our friendship has had it's up and downs, mostly downs, but things are looking up!"
IC: Pirok (The Fowadi)
"I mean, I can understand why. Seems a bit extreme, but you were pretty weird about everything."
IC:
This poor man didn't know how right he was, and yet also how very, very wrong.
"I'm really unsure who you think I am right now."
IC: Pirok (The Fowadi)
"Wait, you mean that wasn't you?"
IC:
"That who wasn't me?! Someone with you when Skyra became a woman? No! The last time I was in Ga-Koro I was getting press-ganged by the marines, and before that I was in a fight in the middle of the Koro trying to help Tillian Juturna!"
No sooner had the words left my mouth than I wanted to groan. Skyra and Tillian had been great friends.
I probably just gave more ammunition to the delusion, rather than trying to defuse it like I'd hoped.
IC: Pirok (The Fowadi)
"Hold on a second, I thought you didn't know what hospital we were in… so how come you remember it was Ga-Koro?"
IC: Skyra Daring - Fowadi, Ta-Wahi Coast, Rehu Cove -
"Face it Praggos your memory is worse than mine." I turned to look at Pirok. "Can you believe this guy? Can't even remember being on a Toa Team." I shook my head.
IC:
"Skyra, you literally just said it was the hospital in Ga-Koro."
IC: Pirok (The Fowadi)
"She definitely didn't. Why would you even have asked if she'd already said it?"
IC:
Unbelievable.
"Because she said it in answer to my saying I didn't have the faintest clue what hospital you were even talking about. You know, like how conversations and questions and answers work. Between reasonable beings."
IC: Skyra Daring - Fowadi, Ta-Wahi Coast, Rehu Cove -
"Well admittedly it was a very short lived Toa Team, but whatever, that's separate from the hospital. It's fine if you don't remember." Praggos was more stressed than I thought, his memory was slipping big time.
IC:
"You're sure it wasn't this other Toa of ice standing right next to us that you remember?"
IC: Skyra Daring - Fowadi, Ta-Wahi Coast, Rehu Cove -
"No way, those golden shoulder pads would be pretty hard to miss....they kind of stand out ya know?"
IC:
...
I sighed.
"I need a drink."
IC:
"Enough." Krayn drew in a breath with the air of someone counting to ten inside, reminding himself of vows to be friendlier, and asking Mata Nui for patience all at the same time. At first he had been content to let the situation work itself out. Skyra and Praggos, he had already determined, could go on and on between them for a long while if you let them. But Praggos almost always got tired of the back and forth before she did. However this 'Pirok' was a new element, an unforeseen catalyst; the three of them seemed capable of going on forever. He had spent the past few minutes systematically turning the dial lower and lower and lower but with no true end in sight it was time to step in. "Enough, already. Whether he was or wasn't— and he definitely wasn't— stop confusing each other. It's bad enough when you get confused, Skyra, but that's at least familiar."
It was exactly as hot as he remembered, and he was beginning to regret choosing to take his coat along. But the cool breeze for Praggos' benefit was helping quite a bit. Mostly he suspected it was just lack of practice. Ko-Wahi had been cold, and he hadn't stayed for very long in Po-Wahi before leaving again. And the heat had nothing to do with the dull ache beginning near his temples.
"Mister Makua, if you have other questions I have no problem answering them. Mister Pirok," The tall Toa pointed casually with the finger that had just been rubbing lightly at the side of his head. "I'm sorry to break up your reunion. But I assume you had a reason for finding Daring? You said so, at least. Before you got sidetracked."
IC: Ember - Deck of the Fowadi, Rehu Cove
Ah, youth.
She continued dancing her eyes across the landscape past the bulwark, though no longer taking any of it in.
Her attention was elsewhere.
IC: Pirok (The Fowadi)
"Right, yes. Of course."
The Toa of Fire sighed, and cast down his eyes. When he lifted his gaze, all levity in his expression had vanished.
"It's about Echelon."
IC:
"I doubt it's anything critical about Echelon. He's been dead for a few months now." Krayn raised an eyebrow. "His followers escaped, but the Necromancer is long gone."
IC: Skyra Daring - Fowadi, Ta-Wahi Coast, Rehu Cove -
I pouted and muttered something that wouldn't be recognizable as words as Krayn put an end to our conversation. Mostly I was mad because he was right, as usual.
Anyway, it was time to focus on the reason Pirok had sought be out in the first place. Apparently it was about Echelon, which was interesting to say the least. "Yeah the guy kicked the bucket, did one of his creations escape some lab and is running loose in the jungle or something?"
IC: Pirok (The Fowadi)
"Exactly. Echelon is dead – I'm interested in what he left behind."
He was picking up steam, now; this part, at least, he had clearly rehearsed.
"He had a base, somewhere out in Ko-Wahi – the Drifts, most likely. And in that base are bodies, of people he killed and puppeted, people with loved ones. People who deserve a proper burial. I want to bring them home."
IC: Dehkaz [Ta-Wahi, Charred Forest]
There was a silence that fell over the clearing, Jolek's words meeting the hazy calm which suffused the Charred Forest. While they may have faded from his own perception, it was clear that their impact had not for the Ta-koroan guard. Dehkaz let the moment stretch out, watching the gears turn circles within Highwind's mind.
"There's more to it than standing guard inside a fortress of stone, now more than ever. This is bigger than the villages, bigger than the island."
"Keeping order and protecting the villages from within is no easy task, though not all of us are best served in the guard as such. There is another path, Highwind."
"Swing by the docks sometime before sundown, and I'll show you what I mean."
IC: Rynekk | The Fowadi
"Pirok, right?" Rynekk said, glancing over at the other man. This Pirok was young, maybe even younger than Rynekk, but as lean and strong as anyone who makes a living as a sword, hired or not. But his eyes... they were sharp, focused, as intense as the heat of a forest fire. Rynekk couldn't help but wonder how someone like him and someone like Skyra could possibly have known each other, let alone have been friends.
"Your heart's good, friend," he said, "but the Necromancer's den is undoubtedly dangerous -- and not just with traps. Makuta's greatest weapon is temptation, and his wisest minions know that, too. You don't often go into a cultist's lair and emerge the same person."
Of course, he was thinking of his own lair, from his own dark days: it had been a place of grim science and magicks, where he bred and fed the (then-)rare parakuka and refined his collection of infected Kanohi. Any traveller foolish enough to venture would find themselves assailed on all sides by powers bent on turning them to the way of the Makuta. This was what he spoke of when he spoke to Pirok... as well as, of course, the lair of the c̵͉͕̐h̷̺͂̔i̸̥̣̓̈́l̵̜̂d̷̪̭̾r̴̟̍ê̶̮̞̕n̶̫̘͠ ̸̗̏͌o̶͚͠f̵̪̤̓ ̵̡͐͆t̵̜̅͠ͅh̵̗͑̈́ë̷̹̒ ̷̘̰̂̚s̵̹̀t̴̠͇̀̍a̸̬͔̚ŗ̸̺̓s̴̫̓͆.̸̡̠̓
...what?
"I hate to say this, but it might be best to leave them be," he said, blinking away the lightness in his head. "To focus your attention on the living, not the dead."
OOC: @a goose
-Void