main plot The Taste of Death

[+ZincAboutIt]

Lita stood in a frozen moment, staring into the Stranger’s eyes. The spike in his left socket glowed, and the black well of his right eye deepened into a darkness she had no name for. Eternal, terrible. Powerful.

She felt the lightning before it struck, ozone fizzing on her tongue, lifting the hair on her skin. It split the sky, a white rift in the darkness and rain. The Coin froze in midair, and the image of the spiked skull sparkled with cold finality. Both faces.

“So be it,” the Stranger whispered, and his voice was a vein of metal beneath the earth, a vein of dark blood deep beneath the skin - surging and visceral and inevitable. He moved toward her with the casual grace of a predator who had forgotten what it was to be afraid. The Stranger was inertia, was the step forward. His left hand slid back a fraction, long spike held in practiced fingers. Lita caught the last flicker of lightning along its edge: bright, hard, and sharp.

Then he was before her, and Lita was reminded of their first meeting, when his Shade had offered her the Coin. He had been close then.

He was closer now. Lita felt the air bend before him, rippling against her. She could hear his breathing - measured, but deep. The barest edge of one of his sleeves brushed against the inside of her arm as he crossed the last few inches between them. 

Tin raged within her, but she could feel her reserve running thin. Not much left now. The intensity of her flare slipped the barest fraction, but it was enough. Enough for the emotions she had shoved away to come rushing back in full. The first was terror. For one sliver of a moment she was Lita Attar again: young and lost and woefully out of her depth.

Wait! Her mind shrieked. Wait! Too late.

The spike plunged deep into her, the fragile skin of her torso parting with a traitorous ease. Lita heard it, heard the metal grind against one of her ribs, felt the sound reverberate through her body with a dense wetness. The world slowed around her, and she could have counted each drop of rain in the air. She felt her body curve around the impact, felt her mouth open in a scream. A light mist of blood painted the tattered grey of the Stranger’s coat.

Pain. She had thought she knew agony before. Fool. Everything was pain, hot, thunderous, singing in her ears, sawing her nerves. Lita tasted copper in her mouth, and the world began to blur and darken. Tin raced through her, the last flames of her flare burning higher, hotter, harder, stoked by the Storm. Her mind began unspooling, fleeing from itself, anything to make it end.  

She was still screaming, head tilted back. Rain hit her tongue, mixing with the blood. Over the Stranger’s shoulder, the Coin glittered, the spiked skull grinning its mirthless grin at her.

Let this be a reminder to you… a reminder of Sacrifice.

Her Tin ran out, and darkness consumed her.

@Fatebreaker @Voidus

[kenod]

Kumiko flew down to the ground, landing close to KanMien. She felt her knees buckle, but managed to stay standing. "Hey," she softly said, smiling.
"Hey," KanMien answered, smiling as well. "Good job out there," they gently told her. "You can rest for a bit, if you want to. The others take care of the rest."
Tired, Kumiko nodded, releasing her forms. She collapsed, legs giving out beneath her, and the world around faded away. She felt KanMien catch her, and then her mind faded away as well, falling asleep.

KanMien sighed, smiling, and lifted up Kumiko's body, walking back into the alleys. Absently they noted she was lighter than they had expected. They shifted the alleys in front of them, walking into Kumiko's quarters, and laid her down in her bed. Tucking her in they walked out again, looking for an armory. They took out a pen as well, to send a message to the rest of the group. Phoenix is gone, it went. Kumiko is down, but unharmed. Brought her to her room. Dark Phoenix is still out there. Can't deal with that on my own though. Unrelated message, do we have those ceramic anti-steelpusher rounds in rifle and anti-materiel rifle calibres? Still, as they were walking on they felt uncomfortable, a slight tugging feeling, as if they did something wrong by leaving Kumiko's room. They shook their head, trying to get rid of the feeling.

***

A small bug flew through the air, silently floating on the winds. It was but one of many, all of them spreading out over the city. It settled down close to a small group of people, listening to them, watching them. There weren't a lot of people in the city anymore, which meant that any still there should be interesting to watch. One of them seemed familiar, for some reason.

Back in a different street Aylitha stirred in her cocoon, the Alleystorm disturbing her.

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So the bug is currently listening to Max and Althea's conversation. If you want to it can tell you about Lord Ajax's location.

 

[AonEne]

17 hours ago, Sorana said:

Zokora gave the corresponding orders and followed Pi inside.

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Are we doing anything special or just sheltering?

 

[+Sorana]

7 hours ago, AonEne said:

Are we doing anything special or just sheltering?

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Well... I think that depends a bit on you. I'd love to have some interguild rp, but it depens a lot on what you want to show, and what not. I mean we could even discuss a treaty, or something happens and we have to switch places, maybe to one of the GBs hideouts. There's lots of potential, but I don't want to force you into a rp, your not interested is. So we can just shelter.

=====================

Althea observed the dark Phoenix again.

"I've never seen that Phoenix before. I don't know what to do about it, but as long as it doesn't start and attacks the city, I wouldn't enrage it anymore. Judging its behaviour it looks like it followed the Phoenix, so maybe it will leave as well."

She inhaled, enjoyed the storm around her, but as usual made sure to keep the joy hidden. Emotions were dangerous.

"We could try and prepare for the attack. Build up some defenses. Eiran told us, where Lord Ajax is,"

she pointed in the general direction.

"So, maybe we could build some traps, construct a battlefield that's in our favour."

@Truthless of Shinovar

@Silva

@I think I am here.

@kenod

@Rushu42

[AonEne]

Quote

Well, if you’re interested...

Pi led Zokora and her people through the tunnel, finally turning off the main one they’d been using for a few minutes and going down another. It didn’t take them long after that to reach people besides a few guarding TUBAists, though he did have to make sure the defenses were off. Luckily no disarming had to be done, and they were able to quickly go deeper. 

As they did, they passed several TUBAists headed in the other direction, back where they’d come from. Most carried bags full of spheres, fabrials, or the like to be recharged in the Alleystorm; some were going to take over from the guards. 

They reached an intersection, and Pi checked his map. He wasn’t worried about the Ghostbloods seeing it - to them it would probably look like a scribble from the Forgotten Language, and be about as decipherable, too. He nodded to himself, looked back to make sure they were all there, and headed down another tunnel. 

A few minutes of brisk walking more, and the group had arrived at the rooms where TUBA had been letting refugees stay. Rooms might have been an exaggeration; in this area, they were little more than deep gouges in the side of the tunnels, enlarging them and providing space off to the side. Cloth walls had been hung in some places for privacy. The residents of Alleycity here were diverse, but most shared something - the look in their eyes. They didn’t know what would happen to them next, and that was not a good feeling. 

“Wait here a second,” Baker Pi said, meeting Zokora’s eyes. Before she could say anything, he swerved off the path and apparently went straight through the wall next to a lamp of spheres. Stormlight fuzzed where he went through the illusion. 

After a moment he came back out and beckoned for them to follow him through. On the other side of the Lightweaving was a real room, one that would still be perhaps a little cramped with all the Ghostbloods in it, but it wouldn’t be housing them for too long anyway - at least that’s what Pi hoped. The disaster in their home above them...soon it would be taken care of, right? 

It wasn’t his job to worry about stuff like that, but it was his job to worry about things like this. Finding a place for allies to stay a while. There were a handful of simple chairs in the room and a desk, which he now bent over, scribing something on the desk’s lone occupant: a spanreed connected to the closest quartermaster. 

“I’ve asked for some food to be sent here,” he explained, looking up at the Ghostbloods. “It’ll probably end up being some form of baked goods, we have a lot of that. Will this room be all right?” 

[Rushu42]

5 hours ago, Sorana said:

=====================

Althea observed the dark Phoenix again.

"I've never seen that Phoenix before. I don't know what to do about it, but as long as it doesn't start and attacks the city, I wouldn't enrage it anymore. Judging its behaviour it looks like it followed the Phoenix, so maybe it will leave as well."

She inhaled, enjoyed the storm around her, but as usual made sure to keep the joy hidden. Emotions were dangerous.

"We could try and prepare for the attack. Build up some defenses. Eiran told us, where Lord Ajax is,"

she pointed in the general direction.

"So, maybe we could build some traps, construct a battlefield that's in our favour."

@Truthless of Shinovar

@Silva

@I think I am here.

@kenod

@Rushu42

Aln frowned at the Dark Phoenix. There was something that didn't quite fit. Why would the Dark Phoenix follow the example of the first? Why had the first left at all? I still don't know where either of them came from, Aln reminded herself. She turned back toward Althea and Max, intending to ask again about it, but realized that she had missed part of the conversation.

"I'm sorry, could you repeat that?" She asked, inwardly berating herself for looking away.

[I think I am here.]

4 hours ago, Rushu42 said:

"I'm sorry, could you repeat that?" She asked, inwardly berating herself for looking away.

“That we’ll set up traps?” Max asked.

—-—

Wes’ dreams were vague and formless, slight pieces of his mind coalescing into tangible shapes only to reduce to nothing, like an easily broken snowflake. Swirls of colour worked past his vision and the image of pain was raw and fresh on his mind. He felt something on his back, he didn’t know what it was, but there was a mirror and he could see it was a bloody mess.

Darkness, and color again. A building, a grey building. Millions of little grey buildings. And so many people, walking down roads and streets like robots, in perfect, unflinching loyalty and organisation. The shapes shifted and formed into a grey featureless blob. The blob swirled and pulsed, and it morphed into something else, a suit.

A suit of a man, standing over Wes, Wes’ bloodied back. “That’ll teach you,” Mr. Itiah said, and the voice carried on, and suddenly Wes felt a warmth and everything faded to darkness again, a warmth like when he’d tapped that goldmind. And he felt happiness, like if he was wrapped up in a warm blanket, and he was protected. He was protected, and appreciated.

And with a little smile Wes woke up.

[Truthless of Shinovar]

Quote

Oh crap!! I’ve been gone for too long!! I went to a place I thought I had WiFi, but there was none

Could someone fill me in on what’s happened in the plot?

Tels suddenly stopped daydreaming, snapping back into reality. Aln was here, for one thing, but everything else seemed relatively the same.

”Aln, it’s a pleasure to see you. I assume you come to help with the Phoenix somehow?”

Edited July 20, 2019 by Truthless of Shinovar

[+Sorana]

11 hours ago, AonEne said:

“I’ve asked for some food to be sent here,” he explained, looking up at the Ghostbloods. “It’ll probably end up being some form of baked goods, we have a lot of that. Will this room be all right?” 

Zokora followed him through the tunnels. It was strange to enter them, even stranger to see them in person. Illusions, refugees, soldiers. It was fascinating. She knew that a lot of trust was extended to them, that they were allowed to see all of thim, it was a huge step. One Althea would be interested in. Worry crossed her mind, when she remembered Althea. She had left, as soon as she had been freed. Something with the Phoenix. It was good, that she would take care of it.

Zokora nodded in reply to his question and checked her connection, existent, but not perfect. Well, it would have to do.

"Yes, it's perfect thank you."

She smiled at him gratefully, and then walked over to him, placed the tablet on the table in front of him.

"In case you want to check on the evacuation."

She offered.

"It's going good. Well, as good as was to be expected. In case of an attack, is there a place you want me to send my men to? Where are they the most effective?"

@AonEne

=====================

Mike continued to look out into the storm. Seom was snoring, Wes fast asleep as well. His hand drew a knife and he started to play with it. He was tired as well, the failed assassination, then everything going on here, it was a lot. Still he forced himself to stay awake, to keep an eye on the street. Wes and Seom relied on him to keep them safe. He turned when he heard Wes move, wake up with a smile on his face. And he smiled at him as well, glad that he wasn't alone.

Walking over, he sat down next to him and hugged his knees.

"I'm glad you're here."

He told him quietly as to not disturb Seom.

"And I hope you know that, despite you wanting to use a title, I never officially gained. I can accept that, I don't want to impose on you, if you are more comfortable calling me sir, then do it. But I am glad, that you are here."

@I think I am here.

====================

Quote

The DA's Phoenix is gone, only Ark's character in Phoenix form is left. The storm is still here. We were discussion how to best prepare for an attack and to defend the city.

@Truthless of Shinovar

[Truthless of Shinovar]

Quote

Ahh, thank you!!

 

[+Ark1002]

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NEW THREAD GOING UP SOON

Get your responses in soon, or forever hold your peace!

 

[AonEne]

“An attack on the tunnels? It would probably be best if you stayed close to here, to protect the citizens of Alleycity in this area, as you could get lost pretty quickly otherwise,” Pi mused. “And thank you for offering, but you can keep the tablet in case you need it.” He held up his phone. “I can monitor things through this.” 

*** 

Out of the corner of her eye Deteca saw something flash, and went to idly look at the other DA denizens - one of them was the Stranger, she noted carefully - and her gaze latched onto them just in time to see one stab the other deeply with a spike. She froze for a second, feeling almost paralyzed. The Stranger didn’t take out the spike, like she assumed he’d do if he had intended to take the woman’s powers, and was instead leaving it in. 

The female denizen dropped to the ground, splashing in the pooling rain, her agonized screams suddenly cutting off as she fell unconscious. Deteca looked wildly from the Stranger to Voidus to Mac off by the side, then to the other young woman who’d been standing by the first, then back at the spiked body just lying there on the road. She looked dead, for storms’ sake, and Deteca couldn’t stop her feet from moving. 

She reached the woman and, flinching away from the blood, picked up her wrist. Pulse. Did she have a - yes, there it was, she was alive. Taking out the spike would be dangerous...assuming she even wanted it out. Had she been spiked of her own free will, or not? Well, either way, that was one battle Deteca doubted she could win. If the DA wanted her to be spiked, then she would be. 

Deteca’s head darted back up. “She needs Regrowth or unsealed gold! Or -“ Did the Dark Alley have other ways of healing? “She needs help.” 

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Sorry if I’m interfering, but you just spiked someone in front of a TUBAist, that’s not going to go over without SOME commotion  

 

[+Ark1002]

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Oh yeah Alleymods could one of you lock this

@Voidus @MacThorstenson @Nohadon