//001 recon.

[stormsworn]

Who: Raiden and you!
When: Now
Where: Citro Plains
What: Raiden scouts out the unfamiliar territories, and finds a place of particular interest in Cosmos territory.
Type: Begins log style, but action tags are fine too.
Notes/Warnings: tl;dr introspection, unstable cyborgs, violence. 8)b

Comments

[mountain_sage]

Saleh could indeed since the commotion up ahead as he walked along the once peaceful plains. He could barely make out the figure from a distance, fighting off the Cosmos mannequins. The figure had to be a Chaos warrior of the mannequins were attacking him. That much was certain. Cautiously, Saleh walked forward to meet the figure, stopping several feet away to give the cyborg enough room to fight his battle.

[stormsworn]

Even without looking, Raiden could tell he was no longer alone, but his attention was fixed entirely on his enemy. He sidestepped a blow from the manikin's shield with unnatural ease and deflected a sword strike with his own katana. Then he slashed his sword downwards, leaving a deep gash across the copy's crystal breastplate. It didn't relent in its assault, though, the False Hero using its shield to knock Raiden into the air. He used the momentum to flip backwards onto the ground, and, not stopping for a second, took the opening and rushed forwards. In the blink of an eye his sword was buried in the manikin's stomach. It collapsed, then exploded into crystal dust.

Unfazed, the cyborg wiped his sword on his arm to clean it of crystal shrapnel. Then he turned his attention to Saleh, coolly assessing if the sage was a threat.

[mountain_sage]

Saleh stood silently, calm for the moment. He had been expecting Raiden to attack, but after a moment, he decided that it wasn't going to happen just yet. Saleh cautiously moved forward slowly, apprehensively. From his own assessment, only two things were certain: This cyborg was a new arrival, and he was on Chaos. So for the moment, he had only one question.

"Why are you here?"

[stormsworn]

Raiden didn't move, but his eyes bored into Saleh's as the sage drew closer and he kept his sword drawn. The tiniest wrong move could give a clue to the stranger's intention of attacking, and the best place to judge that was always an opponent's eyes.

"Going to stop me?" His voice was neutral, flat.

[mountain_sage]

Saleh's eyes widened a bit, in confusion. At the moment, he had no reason to "stop" Raiden, but it all depended on what the cyborg was trying to do.

"Stop you? From doing what?"

[stormsworn]

"This is your turf. Isn't it?" He doubted the man before him could be on Chaos, and so he had interpreted Saleh's first question as an accusation. He's somewhere he shouldn't be, after all.

[mountain_sage]

"Technically, this territory does belong to Cosmos. But we also know that not everyone on Chaos is truly loyal to him. I've no reason to 'stop you' if you have no ill intentions."

Hence the question, why was the cyborg here?

[stormsworn]

How naive was this guy?

"Think like that and you'll get yourself killed."

Never take people at face value. Never trust what they tell you; actions speak louder than words. Never trust without reason to. All things Raiden had learned the hard way, and all things very much coming to the fore of his attitude towards this war. Anyone who would do any less was either a fool, or plain inexperienced.

[mountain_sage]

It was true that actions speak louder than words. While Saleh had no reason to trust this guy, he certainly had no reason to accuse him either.

"Perhaps. I would rather die than accuse someone who has done nothing."

As of now, Raiden has no actions to be judged by.