A Day in Root, Rikuto's Perspective
[tl;dr, it was a long and hazy night, full of awesome and eventful stuff we already experienced, but from Rikuto's perspective a lot of it was just going with the course of the evening and paying little mind, until the morning told of regrets, plans, and a call to get down to serious business.]
"I yield." Kurogasa sheathed his shadow-edged katana and turned from the Solar, glancing over his shoulder. "I will kill you - but I will wait to do so until you have truly mastered those swords you wield, and can bring your all." He walked off of the arena floor, not another word spoken.
Rikuto stared baffled, his breathing coming back in check after the pace of combat subsided. His eyes darted between his opponent, his blades, his opponent, the crowd... was this a trick? Was he being set up? A glance around - perhaps he would come from another... no, no - this was truly the path being taken out of this fight.
He looked at his blades, wondering what power and history they concealed - and wondering who now knew. He had to draw them, or the match would have ended in his blood - of that he was certain. He could sense their resonation at the defeat of this opponent; he was not trivial by any standards. He thought to hide the artifact, but the crowd needed attention.
Rikuto rose from his stance and regarded his opponent with mock humor. The crowd hadn't shared that moment - he could save face. "What - giving up so easily? The fight was just getting good; you won't let me have my first match!?" He stood taunting his opponent - knowing full well it would do nothing to stop him. The crowd was split between those who enjoyed his show, and those who knew Kurogasa to have darker plans in store.
Rikuto took up his armor and robe and made his way out as the dying applause from half of the crowd wore down. He gave them a good show, all told, but now he had more to think about... more on his mind. Who was this man? How did he know they would cross paths once more? What about his blades shook the opponent?
And where the hell was he? For now Rikuto sat in a bar in the poorer neck of town, named the Winged Simhata, drinking away the thoughts, laughing and spinning tales with the small crowd who led and followed him to the afterparty. Half of this party was devoted to Steelthorn's awesome fistfight; the rest were either spreading small rumors about Rikuto's fight with Kurogasa, or admiring Volfer's impressive muscles. A name was dropped, a place was mentioned, he found his feet taking him once more to the largest party going in Root that evening - he was promised it would be eventful, yet he hadn't predicted just HOW eventful it would be until he was in the middle of the flow, full of gods knew what things, filling gods knew what people.
He caught some friendly faces here - the guard whose jaw was still healing from their brawl, Emerald Strider, a hundred slaves he made half a mental note to save or entertain or something, Qin'ai... oh!, Qin'ai! He made his way over there slowly. Between a hundred noises and actions, he expressed to Rikuto that he should talk to Nessa, for they had a plan.
[BLAAAAAAAHHH. At this point, I lost an hour or two of writing the rest of this, and had to go back and rewrite it... in worse form. Ah well, bear with me!]
He eventually found Nessa, surprisingly enjoying nothing of the party. An equally eventful conversation directed him to Volfer, who would be shaking up a slaver this evening, if he wanted to join - so long as he got some information, which was their plan. He thanked her for her time, complimented her on her attire (for she was truly dressed to kill), and made his way off into the haze.
Somehow, he found his way to Volfer, and somehow, the two of them found the slaver they were looking for, back in the poorer parts of town. Soon enough, they had whisked him off into a secluded alley, and soon enough they had broken just about everything in him they could break before he finally began to give them what they wanted. Kurogasa worked for the Black Blades, Raina Sand-Serpent's family was being kept in the palace, his business was at XYZ location (which was surprisingly under attack), he answered a few questions of interest to Volfer... and, damn did that hurt.
It wasn't long before he could only utter cries of pain, agony, and misinformation, and surprisingly enough, Rikuto and Volfer came up with a PLAN for disposing of him! At this point, Volfer largely led the scene, and Rikuto did not mind - not even when they left two men dead, and another thoroughly traumatized.
Once more, their feet found their way through the night, to another random inn of Volfer's choosing - this one named the Winged Simhata. They took their place at the bar, and got a few drinks to wind down the night. The two of them reminisced on their evening, both the battles they engaged in by arena and the way they handled that guy, laughing over how far he flew. They really were alike, those two - cut from the same cloth, coming from similar backgrounds, they shared much of the same passion: spreading freedom from the Realm's tyranny in the Threshold. It could be no coincidence that they met, and would work together in perhaps the grandest battle yet in the Second Age... in their first months of Exaltation.
It had been a long day, all told, and finally, he was in need of a catnap. The innkeeper insisted the room was already his; he made no note of it, assuming it must've been on account of the business his arena match had brought in. He made his way upstairs, waving to Steelthorn in passing as though it were completely natural for her to be there, at whatever inn he was staying by night, and continued on to his room. He slept alone that night, at peace between his thoughts and the haze of substances clouding them. He could remember nothing of that night he wasn't okay with.
Rikuto awoke with a splitting headache. He could remember nothing of that night he was okay with. Had he really cavorted with a hundred slaves and demons in a Dragon-Blooded den? Had he and Volfer really killed a man, and been so obvious about it? Hi, Steelthorn - wait, what are you doing here!? Ah, well; regretting the past would get nothing done, and he had good reason to check out mentally for the evening.
Rikuto rubbed his temples and followed Steelthorn downstairs, chatting idly about bedroom relations and their arena matches. He complimented her on what he caught of the fight - for indeed, this had been the first time he'd seen her in melee combat since that fateful day with his tribe in exodus, and she had her sword at that time.
An hour later, after breakfast was over, the rest of the Circle started finding their way to this random inn, one by one. It continued to unnerve Rikuto to no end; he had seen Shen and Perfect Soul coming and going, met by his twitching eye, and now the entire Circle was happening by the inn and stopping to talk. He sighed and shook his head with a smile, as fate would simply have it this way.
And so, they began to share their tales of the night before, each perhaps more eventful than the last.
-> Everyone knew of the afterparties that awaited the three arena warriors. Steelthorn had begun revealing her song to stir revolution in Root, and it was catching on.
-> Qin'ai and Rikuto spent much of their night "together" at the largest party, mostly of little consequence... but opening the doors to opportunity.
-> Nessa too was at this party, and here she poisoned "dozens" of Realm notables, of which about eight died. She also proceeded to gain favor with an overworked bureaucrat, one who might turn on the Realm with some effort. Currying this favor required a lot of paperwork, so she hired a mousy Black Blade of the perfect social persuasion as a liaison, one going by the name of Mouse (with Nessa.)
-> Qin'ai masterfully gained the trust (and blackmail) of an Immaculate Monk, one who wanted nothing to do with her order and could be easy to sway to our cause. Hearing of how she disgraced her vows stirred something in Rikuto, but he was uncertain of it.
-> Their teacher had spent much of the night spreading those symbols they had seen around town, building interest in the cult of masked bodyguards following them around in the shadows.
-> Rikuto and Volfer shook down a slaver, which ultimately ended in his death - but not before he gave over some important information, which... Rikuto was still fuzzy on. Kurogasa worked with the Black Blades... something something... screams of pain... it was all still a blur.
-> Emerald Strider must have crossed paths with the slaver before they had, for she had disrupted his place of business - slaves were freed, they had understaffing issues, and the whole place may well have been ruined.
-> Steelthorn's performances must have garnered her some attention, for it seems she'd spent the night with a mousy suitor. Qin'ai and Rikuto applauded her, for while the morning after may have been awkward, the night must have been an amazing one - if only anyone could remember. As they slowly started to put the pieces together... they decided to quickly get on to the next point of conversation and let events unfold on their own.
As everyone else was wrapping up the final points, Rikuto was staring wistfully off into the distance. Perhaps the most important scrap of information from the night before had slipped his mind, and now crept back. He asked if anyone else had figured this out - for the slaver had mentioned that Raina Sand-Serpent's family was being kept in the palace. Every eye in the Circle shot to him for a tense moment, before everyone burst into laughter. A fitting end to a fitting night, and now all attentions could turn to attending matters at hand, to make another impressively memorable night. Today, they would secure Raina and her family, if it was safe to do so before deposing the rulership. Another tale for legend - just another day in the lives of Solars.
Seeing things clearly now, and being ready to see to real business with regards to the Black Blades and House Nukoze, Rikuto was in a better frame of mind to address his thoughts. Aside from all the cloudiness he had been pursuing, a few things now stood at the forefront.
-> His life was in danger from Kurogasa and any of his agents. Nobody could identify the make of his blade, in either component; shadow magic and some strange metal seemed alloyed, whatever that meant, and he likely wasn't some pithy Exigent with obscure powers.
-> It was clear they needed all the resources they'd gathered, for they were truly about to start a revolution among a city as large as this, and expect to leave unscathed.
-> It was nothing amazing, but Rikuto had scouted and cleared by a local Beastfolk tribe to allow Raina's family to use a secluded cottage in the woods while the turmoil wore down. Despite the circumstances and his moving performance to convince them, it was customary for his tribe to now owe theirs, and he would find some amends in the near future.
-> Rikuto could hardly bear the tragedy of slavery so prevalent in Root. He needed to find some way to sow the seeds of doubt, to perhaps convince at least some businesses to find other goods to traffick in; seeing people as a resource was only shades away from pure evil, barely above the Fae and demons. In essence, it was... Anathema work. Perhaps Steelthorn could help with this... if only she felt strongly enough.
-> Rikuto would soon revisit his tribe, and he was still at a loss for words on how to regard them. Kitara was still a mystery to him, if it was even her... that they were all safe and knew their path was all he could hope and ask for. Having defied the Realm, it was only a matter of time until the people he fought to defend would once again be his tribe.
They had a lot of work cut out for them... the only thing left to do was start on the next project.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:40, Wed 03 Feb 2016.