BZPRPG: Ga-Wahi

IC:"I think you underestimate how much I am hated here. I would be clapped in irons before I even got near them."

IC-Μυσσικι:

Mussiki groaned, rolling his eyes.

"Here, take my staff. They'll know that you're helping me if you show it to them, and even if they still hold a grudge, I'll get you out just fine. Now just do as I asked, please."

IC: Celite

Something seemed odd in her return to the Koro. It was like the air had been charged up, but not with electricity. It felt more like danger. Celite dismissed it as mere paranoia and walked into the marketplace, looking around at the stalls. "Metal, metal, there must be somewhere that sells cheap metal..." She came to focus on a single stall which had what she needed. As fast as her legs could carry her, she went over and quickly asked how much for a fairly large pile of what appeared to be a mixture of broken Rahi joints and Rahkshi parts."That's too much...Fine, I'll only take this cheaper stuff. As long as I can tinker with it, it should be fine." The shopkeeper gave a new price, which was far more affordable for the Vo-Turaga. As soon as the money was exchanged, she had the metal placed in a pouch of leaves and carried it over her shoulder towards her hut.

I should be able to do something useful with this, even if it's nothing more than a new outlet...When she came to her hut, she quickly slid across a large plant barrier that acted as a makeshift doorway before dumping her goods on the table in the middle. She reached for a few basic tools and began to cut apart sections, a basic plan in her mind coming to shape. Naturally, such experimentation should have been easier had she been created as a Fe-Matoran back in the day and not a Vo-Matoran, but her love of experimentation and science had taught her valuable things about basic craftsmanship even if she couldn't practice it often in the past.

IC: Cadias

Cadias frowned. What on Mata Nui could turn.... whatever Vrana had been into what looked like a Toa? If he could use mask powers, then maybe he could use elemental ones as well. Then, maybe he didn't just look like a Toa... maybe he was a Toa.

His thoughts were interrupted when Vrana handed him a bunch of.... dirt. Was it just him, or had he spotted an object hidden amongst the soil?

"Oh, I see. Well, I'm sure it's just a matter of learning to fly in a different way," he said, as cheerfully as he could. "Have you noticed any other strange powers? And... um, what is this?"

IC:

A half-asleep Beynii appeared on-deck, earmuffs hanging loosely on her head.

"Hey Treize... Why is it so loud...?"

IC-Ευτύχια:

 

Waving away some of the listeners who were trying to talk to him, Eutuchia put his guitar back into its case, and slung it over his shoulder. Then he picked up his ukulele, because he didn't trust anybody besides himself with his instruments, and took the short walk down to Hahli's hut.

 

Knocking on the door, he called to the person within: "Hullo, Hahli? It's Eutuchia."

IC:

"You can come in."

To Hahli herself, her hut looked perfectly fine, but the Akiri's workload after the repairs and upgrades to Ga-Koro had blossomed outwards in all directions. It was almost like she lived her life inside a filing cabinet; instead of furniture or sleeping arrangements, there was neatly arranged stacks of completed, irrelevant old paperwork that housed newer paperwork. The only real decoration in the room was an ornamental paper lamp that had once belonged to Nokama; it now sat atop the only real furniture in the hut, a simple mahogany desk towards the back of the hut, with a good view of the sun and a pleasant draft through the window. Hahli herself was in a comfortable looking rolling chair, cushioned and designed to sleep in as well as work in. Though it didn't look like much, and though there wasn't much in the way of Marines standing guard outside the hut day and night, Eutuchia was smart enough to realize that the Akiri of Ga-Koro had her own ways of protecting herself and her home, and they were just hidden in plain sight.

The thought made him gulp despite himself, and that gulp made Hahli look up like someone who'd had their daydream startled, as opposed to someone actually surprised by his presence. After a second she smiled at him with warmth and gestured in front of the desk. The movement was graceful, like an athlete's, but still carried the authority of a leadership figure in it. Ga-Koro had chosen wisely for their Akiri - even if she didn't really believe so.

"Take a seat, friend. Pull up any stack of papers you'd like," she said, the threat of a warm chuckle in her tone.

-Tyler

IC-Ευτυχια:

"I sit far too often," Eutuchia replied, smiling at Hahli. "I think it'd do me good to stand once in a while, and besides that, I don't need myself screwing up any of this work you've been doing." He stepped inside, pulling the door shut behind him, before looking about the room. Paper, stacked almost as high as the ceiling in places, Hahli in her chair nearly hidden by all that was there, the desk itself nearly hidden.

He turned a concerned eye towards Hahli, who had leaned back in her chair, looking for all the world as though she were daydreaming again, before his eyes drew themselves towards the small paper lamp. Everybody had their own little mementos to remember Nokama with, in this Koro; it seemed that Hahli had one of the happiest, a paper lamp that Nokama had gotten when the village had been in a quiet moment. With a gentle smile, he turned back to the Akiri.

"I trust you've been well, Hahli?" he asked, forgoing the use of her title. He wasn't keen on formalities, seeking instead to treat most people around him as friends; rather truthfully he did this, seeing as he knew most of the Matoran in the Koro and considered them good friends. "Because I can't help but feel like you've been left to more work than is healthy for any one Matoran."

IC:

"The workload will slow, eventually," she sighed, looking over the small hills, plateaus and valleys of forms on her weary desk. In places they had actually left small imprints in the desk, little sags where the wood had given way to the strenuous, often menial tasks that had grown to mark Hahli's days since her return after Makuta's downfall. Where she had been - what she had done - after Nokama's death and the Daedra's rise to power, which she had been forced to flee from at the risk of her life, had always been one of the great mysteries in the Marine HQ and in the village itself. She refused to speak on it at length, only stating that she'd "been around," but it was clear sometimes in the way she carried herself and the backbreaking work she put herself through for the good of the village. Sometimes, it was joked that she worked so hard for her village because she thought if she'd let up, the Daedra would come back and take the reins for her.

"So what can I do for you?"

-Tyler

IC: Treize

"Trying to catch a criminal," she replied, continuing fire. "Go man the cannons."

IC-Ευτυχια:

"Take a break, or at least get somebody to help you out," Eutuchia shot out rather quickly. It was clear, in that moment, just how concerned he seemed for Hahli. The same as he'd been when she'd nearly gotten killed by the Daedra, when he'd hung around in the village, trying to run damage control and keep the Matoran safe. Not long afterwards he'd lost a few good friends to the Daedra, and he didn't want to see another fall trying to repair the damage they caused.

"Hahli, you were one of the first people to welcome me to the village, and help me get on my feet," the Matoran of Plantlife said quietly, his eyes, his expression, as quickly changing as those of the Le-Matoran his kind were closely affiliated with, shinging with the worry he felt. "It might slow eventually, but right now it's higher even than Nokama would have been able to deal with. It isn't good for you."

OOC: Sorry to steal a bit of the thunder, ZHX, but the setup was just too good not to use. With that said, let's welcome back...Leah

IC:

Splash

Splash

Splash

Splash

Jump

Her right foot came down and found a firm grip on the tan stone, despite the wet surface. She used the left to keep up the momentum of her sprint and with a strong kick of her leg she jumped off of the ledge. Her perception of time seemingly slowed down as the tip of her foot disconnected from the top of the giant carving. A smile crept on her face as she could feel the shifting feeling in her stomach an ears as she moved higher into the air, before gravity gained the upper hand again and inevitably started to pull her down again.

Her Cyan eyes widened as she looked ahead and down. In the distance she could see the sunlight hitting the huts of the villages, reflecting off of the waves on which the whole Koro gently bobbed up and down on Naho Bay. And between her and the shimmering surface of the water below, rippling from the waterfalls pouring into the depths from the openings in the enormous mask behind her, was a hundred feet drop down.

She could feel the tugging at her sides as she brought her feet close together, her toned legs forming a perfect hydrodynamic shape and spread her arms wide. Air rushed in-between her fingers as she started falling, faster and faster and she relished the feeling of the free fall, watching the water come closer and closer.

The water was so clear, that she could peak beneath the waves, all the way to the ground. She could see the white sands at the bottom and the corals growing in-between.A swarm a small fishes raced apart as they noticed the shadow above them approaching fast and This was her natural habitat; a child of air turned Toa of water. This was where she belonged, between the sky and the sea. Here, she was in control.

Less than a second before she hit the surface the Toa of water suddenly rolled forward, tucking her legs in forcefully, rolling herself up. As soon as the salto was complete she threw her arms forward again, fingers stretched straight ahead and perfectly aligned with her spine and legs.

She became a straight line, piercing the waves with the grace of a Mako-shark. With a minimal splash she vanished below the surface, her speed carrying her halfway down to the bottom before she corrected her course and leveled out, bleeding all her speed into the water.

Leah still smiled. For a moment, she just did nothing, closing her eyes and enjoying the feeling of floating weightlessly, suspended in the cool blue all around her. Here, surrounded by her element, she could simply let go and let her thoughts wander...

It had been a little over three months ago…which was not that long of a time, but so much had happened; it felt like a year to her. But the scene playing out in her mind was still crystal clear in her memory...

Leah hesitated as she frowningly eyed the black opening in the wall of the chamber before her. It was not the tunnel or what waited beyond what worried her, that were things she could handle. But it was the prospect of braving the dark walk alone that made her linger.

Behind her she could hear the heavy footsteps of Sulov disappearing down his tunnel as he started down the road back to Onu-Koro. Their task was done here, they had accomplished what they had meant to. The darkness had been defeated. It was time to inform the villages that the threat had ended. But that meant splitting up. Considering the circumstances, Stannis’ words had been rather anticlimactic. But that was just his usual direct manner. No verbiage outside of the prophecies.

One by one, the Toa Maru had filed out, until only two of them remained. Leah looked back over her shoulder catching the Toa of ice watching her silently. She turned around and walked back to where he stood. She wanted to say something, but the right words wouldn’t come to mind.

“So…?” she started.

"Sooooo," he whistled in response. His blue eyes searched her face with no inclination towards any one emotion; rather, they took cues from a variety of feelings, tossed them in a blender, and hit frappe until a cool, vaguely expressive turquoise blend filled the sockets in his face. "It's, uh...it's been a blast and a half, huh."

She smiled slightly, but the exhaustion was clearly visible in her features. She felt tired and her body was aching. Not to mention the parallel cuts running across her back, throbbing slightly. A chuckle escaped her lips. "Aye, it has. I'm leaning more towards two blasts in fact...not sure if it's fully sunken in yet. And we're already going separate ways again..." She let her voice trail off. There was a long moment of silence. Then, without a warning, she pulled the Toa of ice close, into a strong hug.

Reordin wrapped his arms around her waist tightly and embraced her back, helping support her from collapsing just as much as he was comforting her. The other Toa Maru were on the long trek home, and in an almost fitting twist they were each ending the journey just as they had begun it: separately. In the end, the team members Stannis had brought along were not destined to defeat Makuta. The soldiers of the group had interacted casually over the years, maybe had conversations or two, kept workplace friendships and fought together, but for the most part they were strangers. If Stannis were to be believed, they had come together as one when it was necessary; they had been swept up into the palm of something greater and they had been shuffled up and shifted by the fingertips until they were ready to do what needed to be done.

But still, after all this time and thought and experience, Reordin wasn't sure if he believed Stannis. On some deep level he doubted he ever would. After seeing what had become of his predecessor - what had almost become of him - he doubted that he would even want the foresight to know if Stannis was spot on the money when it all was said and done. That kind of foresight, the belief that the only truth is your own belief, was dangerous, and it ate people from the inside. If nothing else, he'd learned that. He liked to think that mindset had changed, but when he looked at Stannis in mid-prophetic spiel, like a preacher getting riled up in a sweltering church, slipping into a fugue state, he still felt that same prickle of disbelief and exasperation. But far from making him roll his eyes as it had once done, now it made him smirk, because he knew.

He hadn't killed that darkness, back there. He'd sucker punched it while it was copping a feel on him, and he left splotches of blood and permanent cracks in the beautiful mask that it wore over its wretched face. But the darkness wasn't going anywhere. But he was working on it, slowly. Maybe if he worked hard enough, long enough, Takua would be right, and he'd be clean again. That'd be swell. But for now...

"We're not done yet, you understand?" he asked, still holding her with the utmost care. "You and me. Nowhere near it."

Reordin didn't know it, but Leah's thoughts were almost the same as his. She didn't quite know what to make of their victory. Because in the end, their combined powers had not been enough to bring Makuta down. They had just worn him down to the point where Stannis had had the time to use his mask. A mask that their leader had not told them the truth about at first. She had known, but kept quiet about it. Because she trusted him.

Still, she was worried. She couldn't help it, but something inside her just couldn't accept that prophecy - or fate or destiny, whatever you wanted to call it - were set in stone. Oreius had been prophecised to betray them...except that he hadn't. The first Toa had been prophecised to defeat Makuta a century ago. And they had all seen what fate had befallen the Mata.

'Perhaps, in the end, prophecy is something that may be...not what should be', she thought. And it was that thought that prevented her from feeling overjoyed at their victory. She had expected to feel like celebrating with the rest of the island, to light fireworks and watch the red star together with Reordin at night. But instead, she just felt tired. At least, until the Toa of ice spoke again.

Leah grinned in response and Reordin noticed - far too late - a mischievous sparkle in her eyes. But by that point, she had already closed the distance between them and firmly planted her lips on his. Right now, in this moment, their wounds didn't seem to matter. His aura shifted from green to deep purple right there, but she didn't need her Ruhaku to figure their emotions out. Finally, she let the Toa of ice catch his breath again.

"Glad to hear it, LT." she said.

"You'll have to come and visit me in Ga-Koro sometime. Or I'll have to make the trek to Ko-Koro..."

"I could always use an excuse to go to the beach."

"How about I give you an actual reason instead of an excuse" she said cheekily, stealing another kiss, short and fleeting, before reluctantly letting go of her hold on him.

"I guess there's no use in postponing this any longer...time to spread the good news."

"Yeah. I should get to Ko-Koro soon. It gets cold out at night, you know," Reordin drawled matter-of-factly.

Now it was his turn to pull her in for one last kiss before he let go, his hands slipping from her sides to her arms to her hands, and then dropping down by his sides. Walking backwards into the darkness, trusting himself not to bump into a wall and look stupid or something, he lifted one hand to his mouth and blew her a quick kiss, letting it float precariously in the air between them as two fingers performed a salute and he slipped away into one of the tunnels.

She followed his path for a while, watched as he moved backwards and the darkness tried and failed to swallow him; at last he realized it was selfish - and futile - to try and keep his eyes on her all the way back home, and he turned around. His pace picked up almost instantly, and in moments he was a pinprick of light in her field of vision.

For a second, he was all that was left in Mangaia. He stood in the center of the tunnel like the last pinprick of light on a screen after it is shut off, but before it shuts down - then he took one more step and disappeared, nothing more than an ivory phantom in the cavern's memory.

Leah's hand went up, pretending to catch the kiss in mid-air and pocketing it. She stifled a laugh, but smiled, feeling rather childish right now and noticing that she didn't really care that she did.

Then, she turned around and followed her own path through the darkness, wondering how Ga-Koro would welcome her...

As it turned out, Ga-Koro had welcomed her rather well, despite the circumstances. There had been tension at first. Leah knew she was the new appointed guardian of the village of water, but the title had been tainted in the past weeks, thanks to a group of Toa that had called themselves the Arete. Their plan to take control of the Koro had failed due to their own internal differences and the ensuing battle had been stopped by the even more destructive attack by the legion of Rahkshi.

But the emotional damage had been done. Eventually, through her actions and with patience, they had learned to accept her. The villagers had suffered through much and Leah understood why they had been hesitant to formally bestow the title on her; especially since she technically was an outsider, hailing from Le-Koro. She also understood why the Ga-Koronans had spent the last three months turtling up. Too many had tried to profit from their hospitality, something Hahli was very obviously not going to permit to happen again. Security was as tight as had never been before.

Without Makuta’s constant attacks, the Matoran had truly managed to rebuild the village, stronger and better protected than before; though that did not prevent the odd troublemaker from causing a scene.

Speaking of which…Leah suddenly felt a disturbance in the water, reaching her. A shockwave rippled over her skin and her eyes shot open. Like a shark she could feel where the disturbance had originated. Not too far from here, out in the bay. With a few powerful kicks, she dove back up to the surface, her head poking out of the water just far enough to see a larger boat fire disks at what was little more than a dinghy, powered by a cloud of sand.

She recognized the larger ship, it was flying Ga-Koro’s colours. So, that meant whoever was in the dinghy had done something illicit.

Disappearing beneath the waves again, Leah summoned her powers, a strong current forming around her as she began to swim, covering the distance between her and the two boats within a minimal amount of time.

Suddenly, the ocean right in front of Verak’s captured dinghy rose up. At first it looked like a wave, but it kept rising, higher and higher, until the wall of water was towering well over both vessels, and wide enough to prevent going around it.

Out of the wave’s center, Leah stepped out, onto a pillar of water. She had her staff drawn and sternly looked down at Verak. She recognized his face from a sketch of him back at the marines’ headquarter in the village.

“That’s enough of your taradiddle.”

IC:

"Thank you, Eutuchia, but I'm fine," Hahli said warmly, her tired smile reflecting a maternal benevolence much like that of Nokama in her less guarded moments. "The Koro's military is at its highest rate of competency since the days of Toa Gali, and our recruiting stats are at an all time high. The city looks as lush and active as ever. The greenhouses have only been finished for a couple fortnights and already they're responsible for some of our chief exports, including the best relationship we've had with Le-Koro in months."

Her smile became smaller as she leaned back in the chair, observing Eutuchia from top to bottom for a second like a military recruiter and then reverently selecting a piece of paperwork or two.

"Listen, do you really want to help?"

-Tyler

IC-Ευτύχια:

"After having made my thoughts so blatantly known, I feel an obligation to."

IC-Greek Destian:

 

"Well, nice to see that we've managed to make a rather thriving business," Destian said to Rhow, stepping back up to the counter. "Didn't know the Great Takea would get so popular so quickly."

IC: "It's my cooking, man," said Iraanus, appearing behind them. "I'm telling you." The Ga-Skakdi had, in the beginning at least, taken upon himself the task of preparing every dish to leave the kitchen. By now, of course, he'd taught a few of the other Horde members the basics of the culinary arts and gotten a few Matoran working for them, which had lightened the workload immensely. Clearly, though, he still took a great amount of pride in his work.

"Three months, and already we've done all this," he said, waving at the room behind him. "Incredible, isn't it?"

OOC: What up, guys. First post this season.

IC:

Like she was flicking a Bamboo Disk, the Akiri of Ga-Koro flicked the papers she had just given a cursory scan into the air between them, letting the Bo-Matoran musician snatch them out of the air before they fell into her desk and were drowned amidst the clutter. She watched him scan over the figures, smirked as his brow furrowed every now and then at what he was reading - or attempting to read - from the report.

"Greenhouse status reports," she explained. "Namely, they're reports from one of the greenhouses producing Flax. Le-Koro just put in an order so they can revamp their elevators and one of them is running behind for some reason. If you're interested, you can check it out. I'd do it myself because I'm good with the stuff, but I have other things to do up here."

-Tyler

IC-Ευτύχια:

"I'm not frowning because I don't know what it is," Eutuchia replied after a moment. As Hahli looked at him, shooting him the unnecessary question of "Then what's confusing you?" through the look, he smiled.

"I wrote this!" the Matoran of Plantlife exclaimed, then frowned again. "I'm just wondering why I wrote it so pretentiously."

IC:

"...Right."

Hahli blinked once or twice with wide yellow eyes that clearly expressed her confusion, and then she narrowed in on a form that had no signature on it yet. With a subtle flick she popped her pen up into the air and then began using the tip to trace the words on the paper as she read them. After a second of thought and a purse of her lips, and something muttered to herself that Eutuchia couldn't pick up besides "panels," she signed the form and buried it in a pile of similar looking forms.

"So. You down?"

-Tyler

IC-Ευτύχια:

"I'm a Matoran of Plantlife and an excellent gardener, remember?" Eutuchia asked, rhetorically, with a smile. "The greenhouses are my second home." After a quick moment of reading through the report to jog his memory about it all again, he nodded to himself, his head perking up when Hahli began speaking again. And then, after a moment, speaking to him.

"So. You down?"

"Of course!" the Matoran replied brightly. "But if you're slumped on the desk or in your chair with eight hundred finished and filed reports to one side and no unread ones on the other when I come back, I'll be mad."

IC:

"A girl has to have a hobby," Hahli grumbled, rifling through one of the drawers of her desk and moving her hand through paperwork. "I know I kept it...here we go."

She plucked a small bag full of ensign badges from the drawer and then lifted one out. They were similar to those of Ta-Koro but a large waterdrop with a trident stretching vertically from top to bottom, with the left and right points of the trident stabbing upwards into empty air. She spun it around in her hand for a second, inspecting it and letting it catch the light, before tossing it over to Eutuchia.

"That should get you into the actual greenhouses themselves," she said. "Just inspect the Flax, see if there's anything not running up to regulation, and if there isn't, see if we can improve it somehow."

Noticing the Bo-Matoran's look, almost as though he were asking how he was supposed to know regulation, Hahil smirked mischievously, picked up a large, heavy manual, and tossed it at him.

-Tyler

IC-Ευτύχια:

Weighing the book in his hands, as he was just about to leave, Eutuchia turned back to Hahli.

"One last question," he said, grinning, and holding up the manual. "When, exactly, did you become a sadist?"

IC:

"Classified information. Go and check on the greenhouse," Hahli replied with a deadpan face as she turned back to her paperwork and scooted a new batch of paperwork to the one empty space on the desk. As she was no longer technically a Marine, she did not have to give the customary dismissed; though she was too kind to really admit it, the refocus on the paperwork was a clear sign that the Matoran should go and do his thing.

-Tyler

IC-Ευτύχια:

It was a good thing, then, that Eutuchia was done with his conversation with Hahli. Rolling his eyes he stepped outside, before taking the shortcut to the greenhouses: swimming.

With a beautifully executed triple-backflip dive that would have made even the best Ga-Matoran divers jealous, Eutuchia swam under the lilypad Hahli's hut was situated upon, surfacing the on the other side and making his fast way over to the flax gardens.

Ten Minutes Later

"Note: All flax plants must be at least one meter tall prior to harvesting.Plant must have a stem at least .65 cm in circumference, or approximately a diameter as wide as that of a Makuta Fish's scale.

All plants must have healthy blooms; all unhealthy plants are to be immediately removed and checked for disease/sold as firestarter to the Ko-Matoran. Signs of disease include: miscoloration of blooms, wilting or thin stem, browning, mold."

With a slightly apprehensive half-smile, Eutuchia looked to the flax garden, overflowing with the plant that he'd been assigned to check over, and yet at the same time apparently running far behind in production. And it was empty of Matoran other than himself, at this time of day.

"Maybe I need my own assistant."

IC: Captain Iraira

"That could be arranged," A woman's voice replied from behind, causing the matoran of plant-life to turn in a semi-circle. Before him was a toa, her body slightly hunched beneath the heat lamps so that her Hau melt into her shoulders. As she strode forward in her hunched posture, the toa said;

"I am Captain Iraira. It is a pleasure to meet you, erm..."

IC-Eυτύχια:

"I know we never spoke much, but your memory must be regressing," Eutuchia jokingly replied. "Eutuchia, Akiri Hahli's newest assistant. Status: annoyed over multitudinous flax plants."

IC: Viloz

If I was popular in Le-Koro, I'm downright notorious over here. When I'm not working the kitchen at the Great Takea, you can locate me wherever there's a card game to be found. I've made name for myself in Ga-Koro's small gambling world for the past three months, emptying pockets faster than you can say 'Hey, where's my money?'. The smart ones know to avoid me yet there's always the big risk takers out there, yearning to smear my face in humiliation and take all the cash I got. Bragging rights too of course. Well sorry to disappoint but this is my turf now. Poker, blackjack, you name it, I'll rob you blind fair and square before you know it.

Do I keep my earnings all to myself? It'd be selfish of me if I did...which I do from time to time. Most of it goes to the Great Takea however, helping to keep it on its feet.

The clinking sound of widgets signalled my arrival at the bar as I strode in with the grin of a shark plastered to my face, a small sack held in my hand. Approaching my fellow comrades, I set the bag down on the counter in satisfaction.

"This is all I could scrape from the locals today. It's not much but it'll do."

IC: Iraira

"Multitudinous, multi...Oh yes, of course," Iraira muttered underneath her breath as she studied the gardens surrounding the two conversationalists. At the recognition of the word a light seemed to come into the Captain's eyes that had been previously vacant. "Ah! YOU! Unfortunately to say, I found more merit in remembering your penchant for music than your zeal for paperwork."

Iraira beamed and patted the matoran on the shoulder, a jeweled, conch shell necklace swaying like a hypnotic bobble before his eyes. She glanced around the greenhouse, raising herself as tall as she dared, then let out a call. "Oi! Lipa, come over here. Hold on, she'll be here in a moment. She's good with growing things, and running messages. Fast feet, that matoran."

As if on cue a sporty marine turned the corner, her hands wrapped tightly around a bag of potting soil, mask slightly coated in the material. "Yes 'Vipe?"

"This is Eutuchia. Help him out with inventorying and general maintenance of the flax, will you? The Akiri sent him down to join us."

Eutuchia blinked at the somewhat hostile tone Iraira had used in the last sentence, but otherwise attempted to ignore the remark. Captain Iraira removed her hands from his shoulders and began to stride through the raised metal racks which held the plants. Lipa moved forward as well, catching Eutuchia inbetween the two women as they walked.

"So tell us Little-one, what's become of the outside world?"

IC-Ευτύχια:

"About as much as you would expect," the Matoran of Plantlife replied, eyeing Iraira warily, though covertly, in such a way she couldn't see; one did not become a performer like himself without being able to do what you wanted with nearly every part of your body, after all. "Hahli's killing herself under mounds of paperwork, trade between here and Le-Koro is booming, and most of the Koros seem about ready to pounce at each other, though I can imagine some alliances are starting to form, likely through trade." He sighed.

"This is a time darker than that which plagued the villages only a few decades ago," he muttered. "Matoran pitting themselves against each other, every friend now a foe."

IC: Treize

"Actually Beynii, we should be fine. Go help out our new crew member."

IC:Liara, upon seeing the arriving Le-Toa, instantly looked away, taking a step back from all parties present. The last time she had spoken with Skyra wasn't exactly a pleasant memory, though less because of what had actually happened, and more because of the tone of the event. At the time, she had more or less ruined his life in the midst of saving it. He (She?) hadn't been openly angry, more just... Confused. Empty.

Combine that with the massive events that had occurred before then and since then, and you had a mess that really wasn't going to go well if broached.

"Afternoon, sir."

IC- Verak - Near Ga-Koro

IC: Skyra

“Yeah, and it’s trying to eat my fingers! Here take him!” I forced the bear into Tillian’s arms, the bear cub growled at me, I growled back.

"I thought this little guy died in the fire!" Tillian exclaimed happily, taking Skyra the bear cub back and petting him; instantly the little guy was placated in the Toa of Gravity's arms.

“I wonder what it tastes like…” I didn’t mean to say that out loud, it was more of a passing thought.

"WHAT."

I gave Tillian a nervous smile. “Relax tiger I was only kidding.”

"If you say so," Tillian agreed reluctantly, eyes narrowed at the sudden use of the word 'tiger' from...Skyra.

"Why are you looking at me like I'm an alien?"

"Because you just stated you want to eat my bear. Plus we haven't talked this long in months."

"I've been busy...you know...Gukko Force duties, Toa duties, slicing coconuts..."

"I'm less important to you than cutting open hairy fruit substitutes with sour milk inside?"

"Hey it's not like that! I even saved you some of the milk..." I gestured at my canteen.

"Is it sour?"

“I…don't know…let me check…” I took a sip…and then started gag. “Oh gawd…”

"You didn't even taste it before offering me some?"

"I just did!"

"And you almost died. Are you okay?"

I tried to get the taste out of my mouth, it was so horrible. Why did I even try to keep this stuff? I was also starting to feel sick. “I think I need to lie down…”

"Take deep breaths," Tillian sighed. "I'll grab you some coffee."

"Too bad there isn't any doctors around...I'd ask for a pain pill..."

"Liara's floating around somewhere."

"Besides, you don't need pills for milk."

"How do you know that? Are YOU a doctor?" Hearing Liara's name also perked my attention, I hadn't seen her in so long. "Wait...was that who you were talking to before?"

"Naw. That was just some lady that I bumped into walking home with my surfboard. And while we're at it, yeah," Tillian replied, affronted. "I have medical training. I saved Emotia's life. And Onuzek's."

"Oh. Right." I said, feeling sheepish. It was then I decided to fall onto the sand and lie on my back. I reflected on how both of those names now belonged to dead people.

"Yeah."

"Uh...sorry we kissed, by the way."

I felt my heart come to a halt, I'd been dreading this conversation that I knew would inevitably come up. "Oh r-right...that...thing...thing that happened..." I was suddenly a nervous wreck, that wasn't like me at all! I really hated this. "Don't...don't worry about it...I mean I can't remember what happened after that...kiss...since I passed out and all..." I didn't want to admit I remembered kissing him back, I just couldn't.

"Right."

"What's the cub's name anyway?" I said, trying to change the conversation.

"Skyra. Emotia named it," Tillian said casually, picking his surfboard back up off the ground and polishing it.

"Is it a girl or a boy?" This question was important to me for some reason.

"It's a boy."

"Haha he's got such a girly name!"

"..."

"Are you serious?"

"Am I ever?"

"You seemed pretty serious when you couldn't force a syllable out without blushing."

"T-That was just...it was nothing!"

"You're doing it again."

I rubbed my eyes, "You're making my head hurt...or is that the milk?"

"That might be the sour*** coconut milk you just blindly drank."

"If...If I die...name a bear cub after me..."

"Already done."

"Want a goodbye kiss?"

I felt my face get warm.

Til snickered.

I huffed loudly, sitting up, trying to maintain some sense of dignity. I glanced at the other Le-Toa for a moment, I felt a bit rude for making her just stand there...

Hold on a second... "Liara!?" I hadn't recognized her at first, she had quite different armor from what I'd last seen her in. But now that I was actually paying attention, her general mannerisms, the way she presented herself, yes it was her.

IC: VoutokVoutok's face swelled up and contorted with fury as the bolts were simply shot out of the sky by redirected discs."You've GOT to be kidding me..."Voutok loaded the first of the last three bolts left in the quiver and hopelessly gave the command to light it before firing it. He watched it soar through the air and, unlike its predecessors, it struck the sail, piercing a small hole. Voutok awaited the glorious sight of the whole thing catching fire-Then the next second a cannon shot demolished a good chunk of the ship, and to top it all off a pillar of water shot up in front of the ship and extinguished whatever infant fire had started, and the Toa Maru of Water was clearly about to take care of the problem...and likely all the credit."Oh COME ON! Karz it all--karzing Maru yoinked the karzing...karz it" Voutok sighed, turned aroud, and with a rhythmic sing-song waving about of the hand and bitter-sarcastic tone of voice, continued, walking away as he did so."Lovely chatting with you people, adieu, adios, farewell, good day, see you later, maybe, no use staying around. I'm just going to go back to my patrol..." As he passed Lenat, he sternly handed the crossbow and quiver to Lenat without losing his passively-frustrated walking pace."Thanks for letting me borrow that, good luck with the gunblade, let me know how it goes, see you tomorrow, bye.""I am NOT going to stick around and end up just a witness. Everyone knows that when a Marine is just a witness and did not do anything productive in an event, they're ALWAYS left with the paperwork for the convict." was the gist of what went through the De-Matoran's mind. And so, he resumed his patrol, feeling little more than frustration at yet another missed opportunity to actually be productive in important events.It didn't help that his patrol route has him basically circling around the same area of the recent event for the next five hours (thus all but forcing him to observe as the occurrence continued), aside from the constant walking increasing his awareness and giving him a quiet inconspicuous method of blowing off steam until he has to clock in at HQ.[OOC: Eh *shrugs* he deserved it for wasting all those crossbow bolts.]

IC: Cadias

Cadias stared at the dirt, perplexed. Was something supposed to be happening? He glanced up at Vrana's face, watching as a look of disappointment replaced his expression of concentration. Cadias glanced down at the dirt in his hands, frowning as he wondered what Vrana had been hoping to achieve.

Then, the sapling pushed its way out of the soil, growing rapidly. Cadias couldn't help but grin.

"A Toa of Plantlife, then? Wow," he said. "I see that you're still working on mastering your powers."

IC: Vrana

The Toa of the green nodded in agreement with Cadias, before taking back both the dirt and the plant, and throwing both into the water around the lily pads "Is this what controlling plasma feels like? I feel so... powerful."

He looked down at his hands, and then towards the lily pad that he and Cadias were standing on. The hints of an idea were starting to take form in his mind, to come alive as more realization of his powers dawned. "Maybe I can move this entire village..."

OOC: No, he most certainly can not, and I am well aware of that. He couldn't even move a small sized (Like, about a foot diameter) lily pads more than a few inches. It is merely the power going to his head a little. Just getting this out of the way. XD

IC: Cadias

"Yes, it does make you feel powerful." He summoned a wisp of plasma, watching as it weaved in and out amongst his fingers. "The power to burn, to kill, to destroy, in the palm of your hand." His voice took on a distant quality, like he was becoming lost in thought. Then he shook his head, and the wisp vanished.

He couldn't help but laugh at Vrana's suggestion. "You could try, but I doubt you'd succeed. Based on what you've said, you probably haven't exhausted your elemental energy for the first time yet. It's a rather humbling experience."

Looking around, he realized that he and Vrana were beginning to attract some stares from the villagers. Two strange-looking Toa talking with each other didn't sit well with them. "Maybe we should... uh, get dinner. I'm starved! My treat. Come on, there's an inn that way."

Walking toward the inn, Cadias lowered his voice. "Some things happened in this village while we were away, things that made the villagers very suspicious. It'd be a good idea to be careful."

IC: Zacax"I know I wasn't of much help, but I might as well do something," Zacax said as he finally came, spinning his blades and tying up some rope around the handle. Rarely did he get envolved into anything like this, but he decided to change his mind, the whole island had changed, seemed like a good time to as well.

IC: Vrana

As he followed after Cadias, he glanced at the people that his friend had been speaking of, those that were staring. It seemed to unnerve Cadias so greatly, but to him it merely brought back memories. These were the glaces he had seen every day for as long as he had stayed near the villages. It was a look of worry, a look of fear of the unknown. This time, the unknown may be the actions of the two Toa, but he could remember when it had been his appearance that had brought about the exact same looks. He had learned to ignore them long ago.

"I can't eat as I once did..." Vrana spoke up, talking to himself as much as Cadias. "I can't eat meat anymore, it makes me feel sick unless it has been cooked. Why is that?" He decided to ignore the worry Cadias had shown about the vilalge. There would be time to talk of that later, a time when his friend had calmed himself.

IC: Cadias

Cadias walked into the inn and sat down at one of the tables. He sighed in relief. He didn't like the attention, or the distrust that was caused by his simply being a Toa. His darkly colored armor didn't help much, either. He frowned thoughtfully.

"I'm not sure. There are many mysteries of the body. It must be very unsettling. Has your opinion of cooked food changed at all?"

OOC: Couldn't think of a good reason for Cadias to know a lot about the digestive system and so on, so I'm afraid that Vrana will never know for sure. XD

OOC: I understand completely. XD

IC: Vrana

He walked over to the table as Cadias was sitting down, taking a seat for himself. He bent himself forward over the table, as if compensating room for the wings that had one been on his back. He never liked the smell of inns, but now he found it barely phased him, his senses dulled down to the levels of a Toa.

"I don't care to say I like it, it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth after eating it. But there is one food that I have taken a liking too. Fruit is something I never would have expected to taste as it does." He commented, slowly sitting up in his chair as he realized the reflexive leaning. "Do the stares disturb you, from those outside who were watching us?"