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People you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley


Voidus

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Each step was leaden as he moved away from the waters and the ominous girl who resided in them now. It was an almost physical pain to part from them, but after moving through a pair of abandoned Alleys Voidus felt the connection that drew him to them begfin to thin again. The obsessive need to step into them, to know, began to fade to tolerable levels. Still a distraction, but no longer dangerous at least.

"One trip down Bennington." Voidus said, words echoing between the cold alley walls. "The most dangerous of all of them I think. But the most fruitful as well."

He began mentally compiling the information he had received, shifting each point to an actionable item that needed attending to and prioritized accordingly. The Professor had not always been perfectly methodical in his work, there had been bouts of chaotic, frenzied inspiration. But his best work had always been in this mood. When obsession began to overtake his mind and he became terrifyingly efficient.

"Thank you." Voidus said, a hint of earnesty peering through his coldness. "For staying with me. For helping. You are a good friend Bennington."

Giving a single smile towards the floating creature, Voidus stepped from the Alleys back to the city streets. There was a great deal that had to be done, some of which he could do in the Alleys, but the rest would need to be done here. And most importantly of all...

"An Elsecaller." Voidus muttered, eyes latching onto a passing figure walking straightbacked down the street with a small inkspren perched on their shoulder. "Perfect. Bennington would you like to join me for some more baking?"

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"I've kept a watch over this entire city," the fox said with a distinct smile in their voice. "Or at least the being I originated from did. Compared to that placing a letter in someone's room is a minor affair. Lita." After a moment of thought the fox decided not to discuss their little alleycant talk. Much more useful if people didn't know you could listen in on them, after all.

As they walked the alleys slowly shifting around them, until the finally entered an alley of natural stone. The area around them was dark, with blue light seemingly coming from the distance, the playing light showing that they were in a cavern of sooth, rounded stone which danced through the whole area. In the distance, the soft sound of falling water could be heard.
@Voidus@ZincAboutIt

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"The entire city?" Laurelai asked skeptically. "You must realize how suspicious that sounds when what we are dealing with could only be performed by someone with similar abilities to those you-"
Her voice grew steadily quieter, dropping to little more than a murmur and then cutting off entirely as something about this Alley drew her attention. The smooth stone, the distant deep sapphire glow, but more than anything else it was the steady and distant dripping of water. It drew her, mothlike towards the source of this great danger and she unwittingly hastened her step to move in front of the others.

"-those you claim." She continued absently, barely aware that she was speaking as she floated forwards. "Very suspicious."

The sound soothed her anxieties, promising true relief if she approached. Relief not just from headaches and worry, but from all her uncertainties. All her concerns could be washed away if she just stepped into those waters one more time.

@ZincAboutIt @kenod

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Lita heard the water even before she saw the light - blue light, cool and soft, that shimmered over natural stone. But that sound - the sound was what woke her memory first.

Laurelai had stepped ahead of her, but Lita did not mind for the moment. A picture had painted itself over her eyes, that half-remembered vision now sharpening into something crystal clear. Blue light, and falling water. The smell of wet stone, and soft powdery dust beneath her heel. Yes, this was the place. She stepped closer.

Closer.

The Alley widened out at its end to accommodate the waterfall. Lita knew to expect the waterfall before she even saw it, the glowing cascade of water falling from an impossible height to splash softly into the pool below. It would be so easy to simply step in, to push past Laurelai and the Fox creature and tip her face up into the water, to open her mouth and drink it forever, the sweet endless answer to all her questions. Abandon. Completion. She needed to -

Someone was already in the water.

Lita stopped, her arm shooting out to grip Laurelai’s shoulder, fingers pressing into the silk of her dress with enough pressure to hurt. That was out-of-character for Lita, but something told her that only pain would stop the blonde from continuing forward. 

“Laurelai.” Lita hissed, not looking at her, all attention focused on the little figure beneath the water. A familiar figure, one that had been missing for weeks now, waif-like and soaked in glowing blue, eyes wide as saucer plates - wide and terrible. It was Whisper.

Lita knew she should have asked if the girl was alright, if she needed help. Should have asked anything besides the question that tumbled from her lips. But the time for propriety had ended. Now was the time for answers.

”What are you doing in the Chapel, Whisper?”

@Voidus @kenod

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"Given the organization you have joined you should have at least an inkling of an idea of what a being with true power is capable of," the fox said to Laurelai. "Or perhaps you haven't figured it out yet. Or perhaps those who reside in the alleys are the ones who have lost understanding. So diminished, so much lost..."

When Lita noticed the presence of Whisper the fox paused slightly in their step, before fading into the shadows. The three of them could handle this from here, at least until they were finished with the water.

@Voidus

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Laurelai was heedless of her footing as she stepped towards the waters, beautiful falling salvation simply awaiting her arrival. It was only a little further, only a few more steps until at last she could receive her answers, receive a reprieve from the pain and worries that had been so persistently-

"Ow." Laurelai rubbed a hand up her arm to the shoulder, long fingers meeting the warmer hand of Lita which caused her to blink out of her focus on the water itself. "Sorry, lost myself a little."

She did her best to look apologetic but that was definitely difficult when her attention was drawn back to the waters so easily, following them down to the pool below and the figure that waited-

The figure?

--------------------------------------------------------------

Whisper gave a haunting smile in the direction of the three approaching figures, her eyes sliding easily past the two women to the fox creature that accompanied them in the shadows. She gave the creature an immediate bow, a little shallower than her earlier one to the pair of gods that had arrived at the Chapel, but appropriate for an avatar. It was only with difficulty that she pulled her eyes from the creature back to the redheaded woman who had asked her a question.

"Waiting." She replied, voice echoing around the room with no obvious source. "I require Light. If you wish to have a conversation here."'

The statement was not strictly true, she had enough Light to speak with for now and would be able to acquire more later. But she knew that both women would be more comfortable if there was an obvious price to their conversation, they were far too suspicious to accept her words if she offered them freely. And she had certain other reasons to request the Light specifically. The god of the Void had brought her enough to sustain and speak, but she needed more if she wished to take any of this knowledge with her when she stepped from beneath these waters.

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Light. She needed light?

Stormlight you idiot, something whispered in her mind. Her own voice this time. Lita took her hand from Laurelai’s shoulder, fingers a bit loathe to part, and dug through her small bag before she found a few spheres at the bottom, diamond broams that she occasionally used for illumination. Lita pulled out three, holding them in her palm, outstretched.

It felt strange to follow the girl’s orders, but something told her that she wasn’t speaking entirely to Whisper - not anymore. The girl was in the water, but the Water was also in the girl. And Lita knew when to push back against power and when to relent. This was a time for the latter.

”Will this suffice?”

@Voidus

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Whisper took a sharp intake of breath, sucking the light in gratefully. The Light flooded into her, and she allowed it to heal some of the damage to her body, the penalty for remaining in these waters such a very long time. But the rest she kept, finally possessing enough to begin the work she had been planning. A dim glow in her eyes formed at the sudden rush of energy, and she turned the two eerily luminescent grey orbs at the blonde woman beside Lita.

She was still not entirely sure how to regard Laurelai, the daughter of Voidus but from when he was a mortal man, not a god. Was she owed respect merely for her relationship? Whisper would protect her at the least, that would be pleasing to her gods, but she had decided for now to treat her similarly to Lita.

"Three Broams. Sapphire." She uttered, voice emerging from all around them.

---------------------------------------

Laurelai stared at the strange girl within the waters, initially curious but that was quickly overtaken by an increasing amount of envy. The calming effect of the waters was beginning to lessen as she simply waited near them, the flow of her tension beginning to reverse and pour back into her and require even more restraint than before not to simply rush into the pool and push the tiny little thing out from them.

She flinched when she was addressed, pulling her eyes from the water to the two shining beacons of silvery light that stared into her. She gave a challenging glance back, trying not to show how unnerving it was to have the contents of her pockets already known. But she was met with utter impassivity, to an almost alarming degree. Reluctantly she reached into a concealed pocket of her dress and pulled the three broams she kept safely tucked in there, for emergencies as either a light source or as currency. Or on occasion simply to add some extra colour to an outfit.

"Very well." She muttered, offering the gems as Lita had and staring as the light was pulled from them, just subtly different enough from the light above them. But similar enough to draw her attention back to the falling waters.

"To your questions then." The figure, Whisper Lita had called them, replied. "Yes, this is the Chapel that you recall. You have been here before, together. An errant strand of fate brought me here and I stayed that I may be of use. The world has been remade and all of us here with it. Many have broken through this facade already, despite efforts to keep all ignorant, more and more have broken free. The Forgery will not last long."

@ZincAboutIt

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7 hours ago, Voidus said:

"To your questions then." The figure, Whisper Lita had called them, replied. "Yes, this is the Chapel that you recall. You have been here before, together. An errant strand of fate brought me here and I stayed that I may be of use. The world has been remade and all of us here with it. Many have broken through this facade already, despite efforts to keep all ignorant, more and more have broken free. The Forgery will not last long."

An ache began to grow in Lita's side as Whisper spoke, that familiar pain between the last two ribs on her right side, growing until it reached a sharpness unlike any she'd felt before. She winced, then felt herself curl inward, groaning, hand clutching the spot until she fell to her knees and saw stars pop before her eyes. Lita hissed breath in and out between clenched teeth as she braced herself on the powdery damp stone, listening to Whisper and pulling her hand away.

It came away wet, and red.

Lita stared at her hand for a moment, not quite sure what she was looking at until it dawned on her. It's blood. I'm bleeding. But from what?

Without even stopping to think, Lita took the fine point of her bayonet and cut a slit into the bodice of her dress, prying the fabric open until her fingers brushed something cold and hard. Metal, metal between her ribs. A spike? How did a spike just appear in her body?

Rain, and a voice like iron. A white smile stretched too wide on a dark face. Two choices offered, and then pain like fire, pain that flared so high and hard that it rounded the horseshoe bend to kiss the feet of pleasure.

Lita looked back to the figure in the water and slowly staggered to her feet, mind too muddled to feel any sort of genuine fear, especially not when half of her still wanted to step into the water and drown herself. She felt the weight of the copper bands on her arms suddenly, as though something within them was dragging at her. Something told her that tapping those memories all at once would be too overwhelming, would break her and leave her incapable of responding to what was happening. So she asked another question.

"What... what do I need to remember, right now, that will help me most?"

@Voidus

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Laurelai, tore her attention free from the cool blue light of the waters as a splash of red entered her peripheral. A steady trickle of blood dripped from Lita's ribs onto the stone below, painting a ghastly and vivid contrast with the azure of the Chapel. Her eyes slid immediately to the redheads face, a rush of concern momentarily overriding Laurelai's obsessive focus on the waters.

"Lita you're... are you alright?" She asked, turning away from the girl beneath the waters and towards Lita. "We should..."

She paused as a wave of confusion rushed through, overruling both concern and obsession as another piercing pain hit her temples. Lita could look after herself surely, Laurelai should be more worried about herself. Certainly Lita was unlikely to appreciate being fawned over by a Denizen she had only known for less than a month. But something within her chest ached a hollow counterpoint with the sharper pain in her head. It was duller, but deeper somehow, a reminder that something was not as it should be.

-------------------------------------------------

"That depends." Whisper said, lips curling into an amused smile. "Upon what you wish my help with. Remembering your time serving wine in Elendel will help you with one task, for instance. Remembering a ring will help you reclaim a friend. Remembering that weapon will help you gain revenge. But if you wish to shake free from the shackles of your false life then you would be best put remembering the one who lingers now in your mind. The one who gave you that spike. The one whose shadow lingers in your dreams. The god they call the Stranger."

A twinge of pain pierced Whispers chest, dulled immediately by the waters but her mind latched onto it immediately and flooded her with guilt. This was wrong, she knew it was. The Stranger was one of her gods just like these others, and here she sought to undo his work for others, to undermine him and even assist those seeking his doom. But two gods had come to visit her already, and now one more. She could disappoint them no more than she could the Stranger. It was her fault, that even within the waters she could find no better way, no more perfect solution. No way to appease them all.

"The Forgery must be broken, the Lonely God restored." She intoned as the pain deepened. "You must reveal that which you conceal, and the one who is your greatest hope must be driven to despair. Two splintered gods, the first to be whole will prevail."

Something other than the rain from above dripped to her cheek, but Whisper paid it little mind. Physical sensation was a distant thing just now. She needed to feel her guilt, and she needed to serve her gods. Nothing else mattered.

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Laurelai bore through the pain that was now becoming her near-constant companion to stare at the wide-eyed girl beneath the waters. The girl who had just casually mentioned that not one but two of the city's ancient gods were involved with what they were investigating. Laurelai tried to look into those eyes, to determine some deception or exaggeration in the words she spoke. Some indication that the waters did not give all that they promised, that she was simply an eerie denizen that Lita knew who was making claims beyond her knowledge.

Whispers eyes stared back into hers, meeting Laurelai's usually piercing insight and returning it a hundredfold in return. Glowing eyes of steel were looking deep into her and exposing every deception, every facade and digging out every hidden truth. Laurelai stood frozen in place, pinned for what felt like an endless moment before finally it seemed to relax and lessen. Eerily Whisper did not blink once during this exchange, but something about her eyes shifted subtly into a more patient glance. Waiting.

"You can't mean... actual gods." Laurelai said. "That Lita knew a god."

"You both did." Whisper replied, that strange echoing voice sending a shiver down Laurelai's spine. "To differing degrees. And you have met two now in this life. Or a pieces of them at least. As well as a former god."

"Met... two?" Laurelai repeated, stunned. "Gods? Who could possibly... I would have noticed surely?"

"One noticed." Whisper said. "And just as quickly forgotten. Memory placed for safekeeping so that the second would not steal them from you, a task they now abandon."

"Memory placed for... a coppermind?" Laurelai ventured, stifling down a stab of pain at her temple. "Or some form of Fabrial? But where are they? If we left them for safekeeping..."

Her mind ran through a list of possibilities. Her apartment, Lita's office. Somewhere in the Alleys? Or in the city? Maybe an establishment that they would visit again to remember? The wine bar, or her tailor, or...

"Lita wears hers." The voice interrupted. "And yours was lost."

"Lost?" Laurelai said incredulously. "But that's impossible why would I ever..."

A glint of copper flashed in her memory, a ring that she had assumed was from the Alleys. One that she had placed... back with R&D where it had promptly been resorted back into their stocks.

"That's... well I can just wait for the Forgery to crack then. For my memories to-"

Whisper shook her head immediately in response, not even needing to speak for Laurelai to understand. That wouldn't work. From what she'd been told her memories had already been restored and she had simply stored them into a coppermind. The Forgery breaking would not restore anything that she had already given away.

"Rusts." Laurelai hissed. Her teeth ground together as panic and pain both expanded until they consumed her thoughts. "Storming, rusting, Domi-cursed copper!"

Anger flared up, another rush of emotions to add to the growing whirlpool she was holding. A dozen conflicting impulses, a dozen threads pulling her in different directions. All of them pulled taut and straining. She had struggled with just one thread before, and she only managed now by balancing each with the others, trying to control the amount of pull each exerted. But the pressure from the others was not disappearing, it was building. Building into white-hot lances of pain through her brain that were growing more frequent, more intense. It was too much, too many all at once. Only now did she realise that her vision had been fading into tunnels, she could no longer see Lita, no longer see the walls of the cave. All she could see were the waters and the girl who kept her from them.

"Chapel." Laurelai spat. "Can help. Give it back. I remember that. Remember the waters."

They had given her comfort, given her relief from the pain. Given her all the knowledge she could ever want. No need for a coppermind if she had that again, she could remember what had been lost, remember things that even the world itself had forgotten. She could know everything, if only she retook them.

"Mine." Laurelai whispered, her eyes burning as she met Whisper's calm gaze. "They were mine. Are mine."

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Whisper’s words seemed to add even more weight to the copper bands on Lita’s arms. They dragged at her, leaden and heavy, pulling her mind down, down, down into the polished metal and into memory.

She fell in with little resistance, realizing only as she let go how close she already was to surrendering to those memories. Her eyes remained fixed on the girl in the water, but her sight turned inward now, slipping through a thousand thousand images all constellating around that singular figure. The Stranger. 

But was he singular, in truth? Her memories of him twisted and melded with those of his Shade - identical in form but so different in manner. Different, but not altogether disparate either. Both of them eager to make use of her, both unwilling to take full ownership. A hundred whispered promises in her dreams, and silence upon her waking. The luxury of walking in and out of her life on a whim, plucking her off the shelf when it was suitable. Expecting a knife to sharpen itself, clean itself, polish itself - it was enough to drive someone mad. 

The chronology of the memories was out of joint, scenes from her life spilling out in an order that made no sense. The Stranger appearing in the Chapel that first time, when he had been so close to killing her. The Stranger walking on air over a burning city to rip another monster apart. The Stranger whisking her and Laurelai away into the heart of his laboratory, tempting them with the promise of everything they could ever want in exchange for their help. The Stranger driving a spike of steel into her side, eyes cold and pitiless as she was unraveled and remade in an instant. 

A recent memory floated to the surface of her thoughts, that of two women in the 11th floor suite of the Grand Hotel, hair damp from washing, laughing and crying as they recalled themselves in truth. Two friends, and a plan to store their recovered memories in bands of copper to keep themselves safe. Copper on Lita’s arms, and a ring for Laurelai. A ring that she no longer wore - that empty space on her finger which had caught Lita’s eye. The spark of horror, of realization, that had almost pulled her out of the Forgery again just recently.

It pulled her up out of the memories now, gasping as she turned towards Laurelai - her closest friend. Her only friend. A friend who did not know her, now. And might never know her. Lita caught the bare end of Laurelai’s words, saw her move towards the water. Water that would take ahold of her mind like a vice, refusing to let go. Lita would watch her friend die here in this place, if she did nothing now.

”Laurelai,” she called, voice pitifully thin with pain and disorientation, though echoing across the walls. “We’ll find the ring. Just…please. Don’t go in there again.”

@Voidus

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The girl, Whisper, took no actions as Laurelai approached. She did not speak to dissuade her or move to defend herself. She only waited with an infuriating smile. Expectant. Laurelai scowled at her, reaching into one of the pockets of her dress her hand wrapped around something cool and hard. The hilt of the carving knife she used, it was sharpened to cause precise, neat cuts in stone. But it would cut skin and flesh just as easily if it needed to.

Eyes like a winter blizzard locked with the glowing grays of Whisper in the waters. A silent storm of tension springing into existence between them.

"Laurelai" A thin voice called out from behind her. Almost inaudible but for the echoes that carried it. “We’ll find the ring. Just…please. Don’t go in there again.”

The voice was a distant thing. Barely even recognized as her vision constricted until all that she could see was blue. Faintly she recognized it as Lita's, calling to her. So different in tone than it had been earlier. Less confident, a plea rather than a command. But even if she was Laurelai's employer, that was simply a relationship of convenience. They both had things to offer one another and so they had exchanged. But these waters offered so very much more. Whatever could motivate her to abandon this simply because Lita had called her?

The pressure in her mind spiked again, sending a lance of pain that caused her to fumble a step. But that was fine. All she needed was to keep moving, one step after another. Reach the waters, and when she got there...

Laurelai collapsed on her next step, the smooth stone ground seeming almost to fly up to meet her as greedy claws tore her mind apart with gleeful malice. Her vision faded entirely it felt, all she was aware of was the light. And the pain.

"What. Is this?" She asked, her own voice quickly losing its aggression as she stifled a whimper.

"A conflict." The eerie voice retorted, seeming undisturbed and serene. "One Forgery with another. An Identity that cannot coalesce."

Laurelai shook her head then winced as the motion produced another wracking pain. She squeezed her eyes tightly. The light dimmed, and she could feel the welcoming embrace of something that offered release. Not the waters, something simpler and more personal. Unconscious perhaps. Or maybe madness. She suspected that she would not know until she took that offer.

Everything was so difficult now. The world was terrifying, filled with monsters and strangers who claimed to be friends. There was pain, everywhere. What choice did she have? She could not continue for long like this, sooner or later she would need to find respite.

"You are broken, Laurelai Esserethel." The voice continued. "As are you, Lita Attar. Fitting creatures to reside in a world such as this. A beautiful lie. Only when examined closely can you see the flaws, the cracks beneath the surface."

Every word was a dagger into her eyes. Every thought they provoked was a noose around Laurelai's neck, slowly constricting tighter and tighter. There was too much happening, all at once. She just needed... a rest.

"But this world is now breaking. Step into these waters and you may break along with it, shattering into irrecoverable pieces. Or, you may return to the other world, the true world. And both of you will have a chance to receive that which you truly want."

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On 3/26/2022 at 0:06 AM, ZincAboutIt said:

Lita connected them to three more completely unrelated Alleys before linking them up somewhere in the R&D department. 

"So, Department Head. Quite the promotion," Laurelai said, speaking for the first time since they started their flight, her voice somewhat strained from their run. "Seems to have been less painful than your last one."

"You haven't seen my in-tray," Lita said, smiling despite the pounding of her heart. She flared her Tin, looking behind them for any signs of shadows behaving oddly. "One more jump." Lita gripped Laurelai's hand tighter and wove a new path, taking them clear across the city into the very outer Alleys, where the sky was no longer a boiling Void but blue and clear and real.

At the sound of voices, Deteca glanced up. The door connecting this lab to the alleyway outside was half-open to let in fresh air - as fresh as air could be in these particular Alleys, which she usually found to be either not very or too much in a way that felt unreal - and from just beyond it she caught a glimpse of a couple forms. They looked humanoid, which wasn't a guarantee in here, and sounded feminine. 

They also sounded almost rushed, as though running from something. And...was that the Head of - 

Storms, her experiment was melting. She'd been working on this one for the last, well, she didn't always bother keeping track of time when in the Alleys and working on something, which was most of the time these days. For a while, anyway, and damn if she was going to start this particular portion over again when it was days away from completion. 

Deteca went back to her work. 

Some time later - a day? two? ...a week (surely not a week)? she was on to the next project: devising Alleycant pens that could be charged by an Elantrian and then later used by someone else to draw Aons. She was sure it was a good idea; there had to be potential in ettmetal's ability to replicate Investiture beyond what Southern Scadrial had figured out. But trying to figure it out herself was admittedly taking a lot of time. 

Deteca was alright with that, though. It might take a while, but she had nowhere else to be in the world. 

Quote

Don't talk to me about how long it took me to write this or its quality :P just wanted to get in one canon post establishing Deteca's state in the Forgery. 

something something caustic molasses 

 

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Lita crossed the floor of the cavern before she had time to consciously think, pushing away the disorientation and the ache of recalled abandonment in favor of a brighter, more fervent emotion: fear. The sight of Laurelai collapsed on the floor brought Lita's heart into her throat, tin swelling its frantic beating into thunder as she watched her friend lay there whimpering into the damp stone. She knelt down beside Laurelai, hands shaking slightly as she placed one on the blonde's shoulder, as if to check that she were still real. The touch caused Laurelai to flinch, though whether it was to Lita specifically or simply the general overwhelm was unclear.

Whisper's words made little sense to Lita; she had never been any sort of scholar. An identity that cannot coalesce? Two competing Forgeries? It sounded to Lita as though Laurelai had somehow Forged herself on top of what the Stranger had done to them all. What sort of consequences would that have?

This sort, Lita thought, watching Laurelai slip further and further away from lucidity. The ring, they had to find the ring - but it could be anywhere. Where would Lita even begin? She and Laurelai had Alleytraveled through miles of Alleys since Lita noticed the ring's absence, never mind the time that Laurelai spent on her own. It would be impossible to comb that much of the city before Laurelai succumbed to whatever was happening. There was nothing that could be done, no one who could - 

Lita's head snapped around to look at Whisper, placidly standing there beneath the water, steely eyes wide and unceasing in their observation of everything. Everything at once. Hope flared hot and sudden as metal within her, the warmth kindling her tenacity, her drive, her willingness to do whatever it took to achieve what she wished. It chased away the skulking paralytic of terror, the numb inevitability of loss. There was one person, at least, who knew precisely where to look.

"Where is it?" Lita breathed, and though her voice was nearly lost beneath the echoing trickle of water, she knew Whisper would hear her. "Where is the ring, Whisper? Tell me."

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Whisper stared unblinking at Lita's green eyes. The spymistress of the Dark Alley was ordinarily a difficult woman to read, but nothing could be hidden from the Chapel. The Chapel let her hear the pleading in her voice, the edge of desperation that even another tineye would struggle to catch. What Whisper had once referred to as 'whispers', incoherent and impossibly faint hints of some larger plan that she could never decipher, were as easy to read for her now as a book in her lap. She felt every recalled memory, saw every flash of an amicable conversation of tea at Laurelai's apartment, heard every peal of inebriated laughter at a wine bar, every friendly smile as the two passed by each other in the Alleys.

"Knowledge." Whisper said. "Has a price. A price I pay happily for those I serve, and that which they have requested of me. But none have requested this but you Lita. This is your own request."

Thin lips curled into a smile as she saw another series of memories flash past, this same phrase, how often had it been repeated? She saw the objections rising in Lita's mind, her her argument before she could even make it.

"No." Whisper said, cutting off the redhead. "Her father did not request this of me. And indeed would it be in his best interests? A broken daughter who thinks him a stranger? And I certainly do not think that it is for his sake or his goals that you ask this. No, this question is yours Lita, meant to benefit only yourself. And Laurelai. So. Are you willing to pay the price?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Laurelai dragged her bleary eyes towards the shadow in the azure light. The girl in the waters. She was saying something, talking to someone. Each word took a torturously long time to enter her mind, be understood, and then placed in the context of its fellows. But there were some words that she recognized. Her name for instance, repeated a few times both by the shadow, and another person had used it... moments ago. Called to her. Someone who was outside of her field of view. They were talking about her.

That was... bad? She wasn't quite sure. Some inner instinct told her that it was. That people talking about her ended with problems. But the specifics wouldn't come to mind, every tim she tried it felt like ascending a staircase of air. She expected to feel solid footing only to enter a free fall.

But her father... they had mentioned 'her' father. Laurelai's? But why were they talking about him? Lucien Esserethel was many things but relevant to the Dark Alley was not one that Laurelai had ever thought of.

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  • 2 months later...
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Welcome to Era 6

If there was a party in the Alleys, Kalten didn't know where it was.  And that was fine by him.

The young man tugged at his collar, more out of habit than anything else, and admired his new office. It was fairly small, and still bore a faint scorch mark on one far corner where his predecessor had managed to remove themselves from existence. He thought he'd been told it would be cleaned, but perhaps an electrified spiking left a mess beyond the average Investiture, or perhaps it was just a reminder. In the center sat a large desk with a Stormlight wick for lighting and fabrials, a fairly simple (but filled) inbox and outbox, and a few bottles of wine. Well, most of them were wine. A few his favorite whiskeys. Then there was that one which... he'd deal with later. He'd need to get a better storage system, for the paper and the alcohol.

That wasn't really the extent of the office, Kalten knew. It was its own Alley, one that could largely be expanded and molded to his liking, as much as any Alley could. But that needed Alleymatics, and his first venture at Department head couldn't very well be requesting Alleymatics send someone over for renovations.

Department Head of Public Relations of the Dark Alley.

Most people would say it didn't feel real. You didn't get any higher than that, not without working against some of the oldest beings the universe had ever known. And that wasn't liable to be tried again. This was the top of the top of the best of the best. With nothing to do but fall.

For Kalten, it was very real.

He locked his office door and sealed the Alley, then sat at his desk, splaying his watch over the Storm-lit bar. He wasn't burning copper, so it should let him know if anyone overly angry was outside. First on the pile, a man who claimed a shadowed cat had stolen the inside of one of his ears. Kalten gave that a look for about five seconds before marking it for a subtle memory alteration, and a request for R&D to look into shadowed cat creations. Either they did make it and it got loose, or they soon would, but it would be better to know whether this individual had been a Hemalurgy victim or was just off his rocker.

Kalten knew what was happening. He knew that despite all his former-coworkers-turned-subordinates' exultations of his knowledge, that he was chosen to lead their Department because they thought he would maybe survive a few meetings with the other Heads. But he had survived. And here he was, with the Vigil going on in the Alleycity. So many of the Department Heads were out and about, celebrating their success. And Kalten was here, de jure one of the most powerful people still in the Alleys. Possibly the most powerful, if Mac was out and about.

He briefly thought of seeing where that power could go. Then he reached into his desk, grabbing a small sliver of copper, pricking his finger and then swallowing the piece, extracting and burning that thought away.

In the future he could see where that power could go. For now, hopefully it would be enough power to work for ten minutes before somebody bothered him.

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