Punching Lightning In The Face (Tanalth)

[Raijin Arashi]

Raijin looked at the picture and chuckled at the rather childish picture. Then he looked at the actual picture of what she wanted, and nodded quietly. Already, he was calculating in his head how much metal he'd need to build such a weapon, and whether or not he could get rare materials to build it with. Maybe not. But that was a problem to deal with when he had more resources to reach into. By himself, on his own, he could quite easily make a battle hammer.

He tapped a finger against his chin as he replied, "Of course I can make it... There's one reason I'm hesitant to, though... If I arm you, and then you attack the Empire at all, I'll be hunted down along with you. Along those lines, I also don't want to see any Sith running around with copies of my work. I'm vain that way."

[member="Tanalth"]

 

[Tanalth]

Tanalth withdrew the picture from him as [member="Darth Raijin"] explained why he did not want to jump right into building her weapon. His reasons were understandable but Tanalth had no intention of sharing in the first place. This weapon was hers and hers alone, for it would be a tool against Kezeroth in the end. "The Sith can have their own toys." she said, putting her feet up on the table between them. "I don't like to share." she smirked. "So tell me what you need. I can help."​

 

[Raijin Arashi]

Raijin would've smiled back, except that he had no mouth with which to do so. If he hadn't thought that Tanalth was interested before, her answer had assured him of her desire for a weapon. He held up his hands to indicate a length of about four feet, measured what he thought would be proportional to her size, and moved his hands a bit more to a five foot length. He started, "Well, for one thing, I'm gonna need a bigger workbench than what's on my ship. Unless you feel like watching me work, I'm not going to drag you to my place in Sirat Wen."

He put his hands down and continued as he brought up a holoprojector to model the weapon for himself, "I think I'm going to need to build a few miniaturized repulsorlifts, like in a miner's energy hammer, if this thing is going to do much more than give anybody a nasty concussion. And, unless you feel like running away whenever somebody pulls a lightsaber, I'd suggest that we find ourselves something like phrik or cortosis to use."

As he came up with the holographic diagram of the weapon, he finished, "Basically, I'm giving you a huge version of what miners use to smash through metal veins. Except it can block lightsabers, hopefully."

[member="Tanalth"]

 

[Tanalth]

She leaned forward from her seat and watched the holograms appear before her. Given what [member="Darth Raijin"] had in mind she smirked at the possibility of using what was basically a miner's hammer, only larger and far more effective. And when it came to fighting against lightsabers it seemed all the more fitting. They seemed too flimsy for her liking anyway. This would be far better. As he further explained what was needed and where they'd be working she smirked, standing up and shrugging to herself.​

​

"Your place. Mine. Doesn't matter to me. Just as long as you're a better housekeeper than me." After that she added "So where do we find half of this stuff? You got contacts or should I go ask at the store?"​

 

[Raijin Arashi]

Raijin looked around the room and immediately replied, "I think most Sand People are better housekeepers than you Tanalth."

He clamped Inazuma to his back and threw the hooded robe over himself again as he continued talking, "Well, with the exception of the actual metal for the outside, I'm very sure that I can build all of this. I literally just need a good enough workbench. The metal, I'm afraid, will be a bit harder to get. There are a variety of ways we could acquire phrik or cortosis, but that could take some searching, even if we were to ask around the Remnant."

With a shrug, he finished, "Until we get there, all you have to do is not break my toys. And maybe duck a bit when you enter doorways. Even I have to do that when I'm on my ship."

[member="Tanalth"]

 

[Tanalth]

She huffed at all of his comments. She wasn't tidy around the place, so what? And so what if she broke a few doorways now and then? Could have been worse. She could have lived in a gutter. Either way he made it clear they would need to go elsewhere in order to create the weapon she wanted. She sighed and said "Give me a minute." before walking into the next room. When she closed the door it had bumped a little open, meaning [member="Darth Raijin"] would be able to see a bit as she changed from her robe into her usual attire of black pants and a sleeves leather jacket. It would be a few minutes before she returned and said "You just going to sit there, or am I going to have to build this thing myself?"​

 

[Raijin Arashi]

Raijin laughed at Tanalth's grumbling as she went to go change clothes. Out of a somewhat misplaced sense of chivalry, he didn't look in the direction of her room when the door creaked back open. Sure, he wasn't technically male, but he still considered himself a man, and still thought he should give the woman a little privacy.

When she stepped back out and tried to rush him, he gave her as much of a deadpan look as a faceless person can give anybody... That is to say, he tilted his head in just enough of a way to convey exasperation as he replied, "Well, I damn well hope that you'll be able to build one yourself after this. As much as I would enjoy your snark, I'm sure you'd have better things to do than come back to me every time you needed repairs."

[member="Tanalth"]

 

[Tanalth]

She huffed as she started walking out the door, saying "Then I hope you make it pretty damn durable." From there she walked out with [member="Darth Raijin"] from the hotel to wherever his ship was. She allowed him to lead of course but always stayed close to him to insist on now being "behind anyone". The sight of a shard and a hulking red woman walking down the street was, of course, odd to most. Despite the second glances they had Tanalth had not allowed it to bother her. If anything in her mind she figured they were just jealous of how hot she looked or wished they could have even a shot with her. She made it seem more like that as she wrapped her arm around, giving the false impression they were together. She acted ditzy and giggly while saying "Don't we make one hell of a pair."​

 

[Raijin Arashi]

Raijin laughed almost hysterically when Tanalth dropped an arm around his shoulders. She definitely had a sense of humor, however much it grated on other people. The remark about how they looked was... not helpful. It reminded the Shard of some things he didn't need to be reminded of. Like, how nobody stayed around him for long. So, a joke that he normally would've appreciated sort of felt like an unintentional jab. He muttered, "Like anybody who'd want to be with me wouldn't have to be more frakked than you."

He didn't say more on the subject, because they were almost at the spaceport... And his ship was in the middle of being impounded? He could quite clearly see that somebody had forced the hatch of his yacht open, and that there were security types poking at the engines and opening maintenance panels. He looked at Tanalth, and then at the security people, and then pointed at them as he told her, "See, this is when I feel like people want me to kill them."

Slipping out out the red-skinned woman's grip, he strode towards the nearest guard and smashed him into a wall as the man tried to explain, "But, sir, we were ordered- Ghk!"

Rai shook his head and heard himself laugh, "You people have some kind of a death wish. I swear..," He sighed and called out, "Hey, Ken, we've got company!"

No two-bit spaceport security guard could possibly expect a nexu. Especially a nexu running out of a yacht and chomping down three guards before coming over and licking his owner's face. Raijin laughed again as he pet his favorite predatory feline, "Good boy!"

[member="Tanalth"]

 

[Tanalth]

Coming to the spaceport Tanalth had seen the en around what must've been [member="Darth Raijin"] ship. Obviously he was upset when they were poking around where they shouldn't but Tanalth had stood back and watched the shard deal with this in his own way. To her amusement she could see as he dealt with each of them easily, breaking one's neck and then having his nexy partner, who was riding a yacht it seemed, mow down the others. She squealed with delight before clapping her hands like a schoolgirl and saying "Again! Do that again!" ​

 

[Raijin Arashi]

"You got it, Red!" the Shard called back as he jumped up on Ken's back and pointed towards another bunch of guards as he drew and activated Inazuma, "Ken, sic 'em."

No amount of security could properly protect against the full weight of a predatory cat the size of a bus. Ken trampled, bit, and slashed through the mob of so-called security officials. Across the room, one of them picked up a rocket launcher from somewhere and aimed it... And was promptly fried into ash by an arc of lightning. Clearly, nobody here spoke Atrisian... Raijin meant lightning god... Wouldn't that have been a wonderful hint to not steal the mad scientists' toys?

By the time Ken and Raijin were done, all that was left were the security captain and two of his lieutenants, aiming combat rifles at the Shard's head. As they blasted the head off the droid body, the nexu leapt away, out of its master's path. It knew better than to stick around when Rai's head got blown off. That was always a sure sign of danger.

The officers turned away, about to resume their so-called impoundment, when one of them felt a sudden flash of pain... and then nothing. The other lieutenant was picked up by the collar, and Raijin put the tip of Inazuma's blade to the captain's throat as his secondary vocabulator growled inside his chest, "Did you just knock my head off? You little piece of trash?"

He tossed the lieutenant across the room like a ragdoll, and an audible cracking noise could be heard as Ken caught his snack.

[member="Tanalth"]

 

[Tanalth]

When Tanalth had seen his head go off she at first thought [member="Darth Raijin"] was down for the count. She was proven wrong, as where the foolish men, as the rest of him still fought onward. She watched and nodded like an impressed co-worker before seeing what was left of them tossed aside. One was still alive, groaning in pain, but Tanalth, walking towards Raijin, had stepped on him, taking out the last bit of air in his lungs, before leaving him for dead. "Nice." she said watching Raijin fix himself up. "But next time I get to lead. Can't let you and your buddy have all the fun." She gestured to the nexu. ​

 

[Raijin Arashi]

Rajin laughed loudly as he picked his head off the ground and replied, "You are more than welcome to dance with the cat on the next one, Tanalth."

He walked around the outside of the ship, closing panels and inspecting access points for nasty surprises or damage. There was none. The Shard shrugged as he walked up the ramp and called Ken back over to him. The nexu happily bounded up into the ship as his owned reached out a hand to pet him. Which reminded him of something important. He pointed at Tanalth and called out, "Ken, mark - friend." The feline sniffed the red hand, licked it happily, and pounced on her.

As he stepped into the ship, he explained, "That's just so that he doesn't suddenly try to eat you if he gets excited. Smart cat."

[member="Tanalth"]

 

[Tanalth]

The little cat-like creature had come over once [member="Darth Raijin"] called. Tanalth had followed and held her hand out before he started lapping it. She smirked before he pounced on her. She gave a surprised yelp before laughing aloud and holding him in her big arms. When Raijin mentioned him not eating her she joked "I think you should worry about me eating him first. 'Cause he is just so delicious. Yes you are." She spoke to him in baby talk, as if he were her own pet. As she walked in the ship she still held the little nexu while cuddling it's ears and continuing to baby-talk it. ​

 

[Raijin Arashi]

When Ken had pounced on Tanalth, Raijin was a little bit shocked to see that he was still small enough to hop into her arms. Seeing his giant toothy wildcat in proportion to the even bigger Gen'dai was a little bit of a mind-blowing experience for Rai. He decided to concentrate on putting his head back in its proper place, instead. He slowly managed to reattach the wires, and then finally snapped his head back into its socket. Awesome.

As he walked down to the cockpit, he gestured towards one of the rooms and said, "You can have that room there. Probably the only one with Gen'dai-sized furniture in it, other than out here. Go ahead and look at the toys, too. Might appreciate them."

His exotic weapons collection had survived this far into his life, and it wasn't like he didn't enjoy showing them to people. He just didn't like letting people use them.

[member="Tanalth"]