Dissidence

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Metru Nui. A place where the sun is silent.

I suppose it began when the democratic elections we once prided ourselves on ceased. Turaga Dume declared himself king and abolished the Senate, which didn't really bother us at the time. It was stupid of us, we later knew, but Turaga Dume was like a father to us, and taking that into consideration, we did nothing. Slowly, though, the beings who had once populated the streets with such diversity, such life, had been brainwashed. They were idealists, arresting someone for so much as making a dirty joke in a public area. I know a guy who personally stood outside the police station and tied an RC helicopter to his-well, you get the picture. He's serving twenty years in prison now...or was, before they found him hung in his own cell due to "suicide." You get a lot of that in Metru Nui.

My name is Jolek Highwind, and I was a martial artist/all-around funny guy who wandered around Metru Nui looking to do whatever I could in the name of SCIENCE. After the crackdowns and the growing tyranny, though, I started to lay low. One night, after I heard about a friend's death in a holding cell, I went to a bar to drink away my problems.

This is the part where I meet Castor Troy.

Castor was skinny, tall, brash, charismatic, handsome, funny, and too damn fearless for his own good. He wasn't held down by the limits of normal life; rather, he saw beyond all that and could almost predict the future based on a single choice, weighing the consequences in a quarter of a second. His philosophy in life was that anyone could beat the crap out of him at any time, but the stupid bastard on the giving end of the punches couldn't kill him, because of the two of them, Castor Troy was the one with nothing to lose.

Anyway, Castor and I got to talking about the state of things, growing a friendship of sorts and we were about to leave before Castor punched me in the face in an alcholic brain fart of sorts. Now, being the upstanding martial artist that I am, I couldn't have that. So Castor and I ended up getting into a fight, one that left us both bloodied and moaning in the parking lot. A couple of others came and started their own fights. Most sensible people would consider this the part where you stumble home and try to steel yourself for the hangover. But Castor Troy wasn't sensible, especially when said hangover hit.

He bought the bar with all of his life savings and invited all his friends, many of whom had actually survived prison (no small accomplishment these days) and we started up a fight club in the basement of that dingy Ta-Koro bar. Several others began doing the same thing and reporting to Castor, and in two weeks, we had raised a small army, which he later confided to me was part of a mega birthday present to himself.

He's announcing the purpose of his "present" tonight at the original fight club. He's invited me, his best friend, to help him co-lead whatever it is. Thing is, I dunno if I really want to...

-Jolek Highwind

Welcome to Dissidence, an atypical resistance game. You see, you won't be fighting with bullets or knives...at least, not mainly.

You'll be fighting with humor.

That's right. Your job is to stretch the ruling party of Metru Nui thin with the stupidest crap imaginable, bribe or take out as many cops as you can and show the people that they don't have to be afraid. The goal isn't to win, though that would certainly be great; no, the main goal is not to lose.

You'll be fighting cops, Vahki, and in some situations, yourself. But if you can pull it off, you'll be a legend.

Of course, all legends have to die sometime, right?

Fight Clubs

There are several fight clubs in each Metru. The leader of each fight club is a member of a committee that is based in the center of each Metru, each representing the opposite of that Metru's core value.

Ta-Assault
Ga-Chaos
Le-Isolation
Po-Defilation
Onu-Misinformation
Ko-Panic

Any member of a fight club can fufill any kind of assignment related to these six committes, but they have to be approved by a majority of each commmittee. After all, Metru Nui is a democracy, right? The only people who can fufill an assignment without approval from the committees are Castor and Jolek. Either of the two can veto any decision made by a committee.

Locations

Ta-Metru-District of Fire and industrial leader of Metru Nui. The first fight club was founded here by Castor and Jolek, and it was one of the quickest to spread. Mask makers and blue collar workers slam each other into oblivion in bars all around the city.

Ga-Metru-Peaceful district of Water in Metru Nui. This was one of the last districts to have a fight club founded within its borders, but it's caught on like wildfire. Students and sometimes teachers make up the fight clubs here.

Ko-Metru-Philosophy practically wraps itself around Ko-Metru, leading to pent up scholars duking it out in the fight clubs here. This was the last district to have a fight club founded.

Po-Metru-Creative district of Stone and a fight club safe haven. The fight clubs here are filled with carvers and stone masons who want to get out their unused creative energy.

Onu-Metru-Knowledgable district of Earth. Not as many fight clubs here, but the ones that exist are extremely hard to find. Archivists who want to learn about something beyond museum exhibits and actually experience human contact brawl around the entire basement.

Le-Metru-Bustling district of Air. Fight clubs spread pretty quickly in Le-Metru, and are filled with test pilots who want to control their own lives and don't feel like becoming some wall stain in the Moto Hub.

Factions

The Trojans-Castor Troy's group of fighters and criminals. They're not nearly as open with their identities, but they strike from the shadows, mixing humor, aggression, and the will for freedom.

The Mob-The organized crime on Metru Nui. They hate the government just as much as the Trojans do, but they view the fighters as little more than an unorganized group of street thugs.

The Protectorate of Metru Nui-The government, led by Turaga Dume. They're uptight, vicious, and willing to arrest you for any little thing you do. Pretty much everyone will hate you if you play as one.

-Spawn

IC (The Devil's Door):

She couldn't help her staring.

Karzahni, he has nice eyes.

Too late she noticed he was meeting her gaze squarely and looked down a bit, to where the corners of his mouth were upturned in a little grin. He knew her game, all right; she had to change it, and in a way that this "Angel Face" would never expect.

Her gaze flicked to the female bartender...

She stood up. No way would she ask Angel Face for a drink; she didn't want him going near her. "I think I'll get a drink. Want one?" she asked of the other two Toa.

IC (Streets of Ta-Metru):

"What in Karzahni!?" Nova cried, leaning between the two front seats, ignoring Castor and Jolek's looks that told him to get the heck out of their territory. Yes, there was a cop car there, all right.

He swore. "What now? Are they onto us?"

IC: Kartah
Kartah was getting more agravated at the two as they continued their flirting. However, he gained one thing from it, Angel Face, a ridiculus name in his opinion, had brushed his hair from his eyes. Kartah had always prided himself on being able to tell if someone was lying by looking in their eyes.
"How long ago did this new owner come in?" He asked. "And who runs it while he's gone?"

OOC: Grr... I think this is a little behind

IC (The Devil's Door):

Xhana accepted the money and walked to the bar. The woman turned. Yes, she was attractive, all right.

"I'll take two Cokes," said the cop, sorting out the necessary coins, "and some wine."

She looked at her carefully, then at Angel Face where he sat a ways behind her, and raised her eyebrow in an amused, knowledgeable way. "He's a toughie," she said, handing over the three drinks. "Don't expect to get anywhere serious."

"If I expected to," Xhana returned, "would I be ordering wine or beer?"

The bartender didn't reply to that. The Toa of Lightning hadn't expected her to. Taking her drinks, Xhana walked over to the table, handed the Cokes to Angel Face and Kartah (who didn't like alcohol, being very duty-driven), and sat back down with her wine in hand.

With one little, seemingly insignificant difference: In sitting down, she slid her chair to the right around the table, closer to Angel Face, no more movement than would be expecting during sitting down.

Angel Face was talking with another Toa. "Jolek", he'd called him. Apparently the bartender was running the place. She glanced over at her, decided she wasn't a threat if she was busy, and turned back to Angel Face. "You sing?" she asked while running an appraising eye over the new Toa. Apparently this bar was frequented by a lot of good lookers. "I play guitar and piano. Mind if I join in the fun?

And speaking of good lookers... another few Toa had walked in, all male, none really at the level of Jolek and Angel Face but rather handsome nonetheless.

Decisions, decisions.

* * *

The first thing Nova noticed as he walked into the bar was Jolek, chatting up Angel Face, and an attractive female Toa sitting near the blonde. He rolled his eyes. What a player.

Then he noticed the shoulder insignia on the female Toa's armor, and the armor of her male companion. Cops, the both of them. Nova stiffened, but their postures didn't indicate suspicion. In fact, they were talking about the open mic night tonight. Chillax, he told himself, and grabbed a chair from a nearby table and slid it over.

Between Angel Face and the female cop.

She noticed. He didn't, until she glanced at him with an expression somewhere between annoyance and amusement.

"You sing, too?" she asked, obviously trying to roll with the change of events.

He shrugged. "Kind of. Actually, I write songs. Just..." He noticed Jolek and Angel Face raising eyebrows at him, and said, "I've never actually played them in front of an audience."

IC (The Devil's Door):

The other cop left, leaving the female cop (he had called her "Xhana") to drink with the others.

Nova's thoughts moved from why the Toa of Lightning was staying to Atherac's words. He shrugged a little, honestly somewhat embarrassed. "I generally write slower stuff," he said, "but I think it's good. I guess. I'd like you guys to be the judge of that."

The female cop looked over the Toa of Fire again; he looked hard at the table. "I could help out there," she remarked, taking a sip of her wine. "Do you need a piano player?"

"I play it myself," replied Nova.

"Guitar?"

He frowned at her, trying to read her eyes. Her bright eyes... and suddenly he noted that he'd met her gaze for a good few seconds. He broke eye contact for a second to regain his bearings. "Um... yeah, I could use a guitarist."

OOC: Poor shy Nova.

OOC: Creepwave, Castor, Jolek, and Nova secured the Vahki and drove back to The Devil's Door. Sorry, but your character wasn't invited back, seeing as he somehow followed Nova all the way and isn't a member of the Fight Club.

IC (The Devil's Door):

Nova stumbled a bit on his way to the piano on the small stage beside the bar. The female cop had followed him, he noted uneasily; giving her what he hoped was a comfortable smile (and feeling awkward immediately afterward), he shuffled in his pouch for a paper, checked the title -- yes, it was the right one -- and handed a copy to the cop.

"That's the guitar part," he said. "It's pretty simple; you oughta be able to follow." He glanced back at those bright yellow eyes, glanced just as quickly away. "I didn't catch your name."

"Xhana." Amusement underlined the cop's tone. Nova grimaced. Mentally, of course.

"Hi -- I'm Nova." He held out a hand for her to shake. She took it. They shook for a second longer than normal before the Toa of Fire pulled away again and made his way to the piano, his eyes fixed solely on the arrangement of black and white keys.

He glanced back, saw the bartender hand Xhana a guitar, and glanced back to the keys. Come on, Nova. Chillax.

Setting the sheet music above the keys, he positioned his hands over the right notes and played a few in practice. Okay, so the piano was in tune.

Chillax!

He swallowed and nodded to Xhana.

She started off with a gentle guitar melody, going up and down every four notes. Nova counted off four measures, and then began to play.

First it was just his right hand, gently pressing the appropriate keys and holding them. Eight measures later and his left hand joined in. The chords seemed to fly from his mind to his hands: D minor, D minor, C major, G major second inversion.

The microphone above the piano beckoned. He took a deep breath and, quietly, began to sing. Each line he dragged out over two measures, slowly.

How many days have gone by
Since I first saw myself cry
In the mirror
Alone
I've never forgiven myself since
I broke my facade of innocence
Naivety
It left me

Nova's finger nearly slipped on the G major second inversion. The sweat collected under his Kanohi. This... this was a lot harder than drinking beer.

And then he lost himself in the ballad and played harder, just enough to make the crowd lean forward in watchful anticipation. Each line lasted only one measure now as the words sped from his mouth, through the speakers, like the words were flooding out of him.

Maybe someday...
Maybe someday I'll grow up
Maybe someday...
I just might know enough

Because the truth, it stings
And the lies, they hurt
And the real world
Doesn't care
If you're all alone
Or taking the blame
With someone
Else...

His voice trailed off. The piano quieted down. The only sound was Xhana's gentle strumming on the guitar.

And now my hope, it's gone
And my dreams, they died
But my soul is there
Just staying alive
If only I
Could drink my health
With someone
Else...

The guitar faded. Nova let his hands fall from the piano.

Silence.

Then loud clapping from the several patrons in the bar. Xhana herself clapped over the guitar. As the bartender returned the guitar to its case, Nova stood up and inclined his head to the crowd in a sort-of-kind-of-bow and stepped off the stage, returning quietly to his seat by way of the bar, and hiding his face behind another glass of beer.

Xhana sat by him, touched his arm lightly. "That was amazing," she said.

Nova nearly choked. Thank goodness he hadn't been swallowing at the time.