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Alleycity Thread


Ark1002

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12 hours ago, Coda said:

Corenar frowned. If Mike was a natural shapeshifter like a Siah Aimian, his powers weren't based on Investiture and couldn't be spiked out, as far as he knew. Practically worthless. He glanced at the shadow before turning to go.

Snake stayed where she was, observed Corenar as he was leaving, tasted the air again. Interesting how he had simply turned around without another word, the moment she started to speak about him. Most likely her guess had been right - he was new here, maybe looking for an easy target, or maybe not comfortable to admit his missing knowledge. She kept her attention on him, unwilling to be surprised by an attack, and slowly moved farther away from him. Hopefully he would continue to leave. It had been close - too close if you asked her.

Mike continued to stare at Wolf oblivious to Snake and her conversation with Corenar. He had stopped listening at one point or the other, Fox words had hit a nerve. Was it him? Was it really him who was responsible for this? He wondered and then shook his head. It wasn't possible. There was no way, that this was him. He would never hurt his friends, he would never do this. And yet, the thought, it stay with him, while he sat there, watched as the remains of Wolf slowly vanished. Four. Four of them left. Idly he wondered what might happen if they all left, if nothing remained but the pain and the fear. Nothing but the grief and the loneliness.

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6 hours ago, Ookla the Dreamer said:

Snake stayed where she was, observed Corenar as he was leaving, tasted the air again. Interesting how he had simply turned around without another word, the moment she started to speak about him. Most likely her guess had been right - he was new here, maybe looking for an easy target, or maybe not comfortable to admit his missing knowledge. She kept her attention on him, unwilling to be surprised by an attack, and slowly moved farther away from him. Hopefully he would continue to leave. It had been close - too close if you asked her.

Mike continued to stare at Wolf oblivious to Snake and her conversation with Corenar. He had stopped listening at one point or the other, Fox words had hit a nerve. Was it him? Was it really him who was responsible for this? He wondered and then shook his head. It wasn't possible. There was no way, that this was him. He would never hurt his friends, he would never do this. And yet, the thought, it stay with him, while he sat there, watched as the remains of Wolf slowly vanished. Four. Four of them left. Idly he wondered what might happen if they all left, if nothing remained but the pain and the fear. Nothing but the grief and the loneliness.

As Corenar walked into the shadows, he said, "Tell Mike to stop worrying so much. He'll give himself a heart attack." 

As he went deeper into the city, he took a moment to stop and take a small stamp out of his bag. It had been a day, so he had to reapply the mark. The stamp sunk into his skin. He twisted it and removed it. Shrugging his coat back on, he continued forward. 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Xanas walked along the First Alleyway. The cobblestones beneath his feet were dusted with a light layer of flour. There were no other footprints besides his own. Brick walls extended to either side as far as eyes could see, reaching into the dark sky above. A single cart sat with a small lantern next to Xanas, the only deviation of the alley one could see in either direction. Xanas picked up a chocolate chip cookie from the cart. It was still warm, still soft, but nonetheless, there was something about it that felt… stale. He ate the cookie. Once, he had preferred snickerdoodle, but as the years had passed, he had grown to love the classic chocolate chip. It was a reminder of simpler days, of days when science had been a frontier instead of a realm, days before light had entered the Alleys.

Xanas paused for just another second at the cart, then looked toward the Alleyway’s unending length. He’d realized he had been gone for far longer than anticipated. How long, he still wasn’t sure. In a way, walking down this Alley had been mere procrastination on his part, a pretense that not everything had changed. Xanas had always tried to ignore the responsibilities that had been heaped his way. As the Alleys had grown, as Denizens had multiplied, he’d insisted that they had to each find their own way. He’d argued that survival of the fittest was the only law that needed rule the Alleys. He had told himself he was trying to make them strong. That had been a lie. He had been trying to ignore the rules and responsibilities and laws that had tied him, that had demanded he guide others. It had been a long time, even before he entered the Void, since he had entered the daylight in the Alleyverse. Far too long. It was time he rejoined the world.

He held a gloved hand forward and pushed the fabric of reality into conformance. The alleyway warped, and the brick walls bent, revealing a street corner, the Alleyway tucked into the darkness between buildings. The sky bled to a fainter black, with stars punctuating the darkness like embers trapped in the amber of space. The Alley faded behind him, ending in just a wall with a small dumpster where the First Alley had been. Xanas stared at the world around him. The city was so… big.

On his left was a tall wooden building that appeared to have been at one point an inn, but now seemed to have been retrofitted as apartments. A power line run up its side, cords running into the various rooms. That has got to be a fire hazard, Xanas thought. On his right, a modern steel office building rose high into the sky, twisting in a manner not unlike the Kholinar windblades, albeit much smaller. There were cars and railways criss-crossing the hill in front of him. People practically infested the scene, children playing games, adults shopping, youths reading messages on those phones Knighthawk Foundry had made years before, though these seemed to be getting better reception than they once had. They had always been irreliable compared to more direct methods of communication. People seemed to make sure not to meet his eyes, not wanting to get involved in Dark Alley business.

He saw a boy with scales on his arms, standing with an almost defensive air around him. He was watching the area around him much closer than the majority of people nearby. Probably just nervous. I would be too, if I looked like him, if everyone could practically read “Former Dark Alley Property here” in my eyes. Xanas loosened the tie on the Blade on his back, ready to draw it, then strode over to the young man.

“You!” he called. “Tell me what is going on. Tell me about this city.” He allowed the Void to tinge his eyes just a little bit, and looked straight into the boy’s eyes. "Tell me everything you know."

@Sorana

 

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Snake whirled around at the voice, her eyes darting from left to right. She hissed when they rested on the stranger, with the huge blade on his back, striding towards her confidently. She straightened Mike's, her back and started to smile at him, when she saw the eyes, recognized what he was showing there. The Void. She remembered it, remembered it too clearly, the pain, the fear, the confusion. It was all there burried beneath her skin, waiting. Memories started to rise, Memories of Ko'Tiel of the strange alley, of his room and Snake decided that this time, someone else could deal with the crazy one. She had handled the last one already. And just like that, Snake vanished.

Mike stared at the stranger, partially surprised that Snake had vanished, but mostly deeply terrified. His skin and eyes returned to human, until he looked just like an ordinary teen from around the corner. He knew who he belonged to, the eyes, the way he walked, it was all there. Taking a step backwards, he pressed his back against a nearby wall, his hands darting to his knives. He wouldn't allow himself to be taken again, not a second time. He would rather die than go back, he would slit his own throat open, before he was strapped to another table, waited for another experiment to start.

"Hello, sir." He started, his voice shaking, while he wonderd if running away, or staying was the better option. He didn't doubt that the man could catch him, if he started to run, so maybe staying was better. Tell me about the city? About what's going on? Probably someone who hadn't left the Alley in quite a while. "I can tell you about the city." He nodded, his hands never quite leaving the handles of his knifes. "Is there anything specific you are interested in?" You never knew with these types. In the end he was interested in good food and Mike started talking about the Invasion. Or he wanted to know where to for the nicest cobblestones and not where the new headquarters of the guilds were located.

Swallowing he looked at the sword again, noticed the way the man held himself, as if he was ready to strike. Mike was no threat, he was only an Underling and his own boss was angry with him and his friend had left him, and the others had vanished. There was no reason to kill him, but there were plenty of reasons to take him. He could his mind whirl around, each thought darker than the previous one, while he slowly convinced himself, that his was no accident, the man had planed this, he was probably working for Ko'Tiel and he most likely was here to kill him, to spike him, or to take him back. There was no other reason, if he wanted to know about the city, he could find all knowledge easily in the alleys as well. Mike looked to the left and right, eyes darting around when he considered to flee again, he was scared, so scared, as if his courage had been lost when Wolf died. "I'll tell you." he added, if only to keep him happy and nice, and don't give him any additional reason to kill him off. "Just tell me what you want to know."

@18th Shard

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16 hours ago, Sorana said:

"Hello, sir." He started, his voice shaking.... "I can tell you about the city." He nodded, his hands never quite leaving the handles of his knifes. "Is there anything specific you are interested in?" ... Mike looked to the left and right, eyes darting around when he considered to flee again.... "I'll tell you," he added. "Just tell me what you want to know."

Xanas watched the poor kid's breath start coming faster, his pupils dilate, and his voice shake. The scales had vanished pretty quickly.

"Hello, sir," the kid said. "I can tell you about the city." 

Storms. I have scared the living daylights out of him.

"Is there anything specific you are interested in? I'll tell you. Just tell me what you want to know." The kid's eyes kept darting around, and his hands had slipped onto a pair of knives defensively. This was not going to work.

Xanas sighed. "Look, kid, I am not here to spike anything in or out of you. I am not on assignment or anything from the Alleys. I... Storms, I am so out of practice with this." This was so much easier when I could Sooth people. "Kid, I need your help a little bit. I picked you cause you looked like the most likely one of the people meandering around here to be a little more comfortable with the Alleys and all." He stopped and gave himself a second. How did you normally begin conversations with non-work associates again? Introductions, maybe?

"Let me introduce myself. I am Xanas, one of the First Denizens. I was here before the Alleyverse existed. I was here when the Worldspike was placed. I am a scientist, of sorts. Some time ago, I suppose, I was performing an experiment. It involved the Void and Connection and invesiturial relativity and some other Realmatic theory that you would probably need several PhD's to understand. Anyways, the experiment went wrong. I was supposed to be in the Void for a few minutes. I appear to have been there much longer, and just emerged. When I left, there was no city. I wouldn't even have called it a village then. Maybe a hamlet? Anyways, please just tell me what you know about what has happened here."

The kid wasn't running yet, so maybe he was calming down. Maybe. Xanas hadn't dealt with adolescents in a while. The excess hormones tended to make them harder to predict. Horrible for control subjects.

"Although for starters, I can't just keep calling you 'kid'. I hated when people did that to me back on Roshar. And before you ask, no, this is not a trick question, and no, I am not going to know if you lie. I don't know who you are, kid. Though it is kind of obvious you have had at least 3 or 4 animals spiked into you. That's tricky stuff there, can really do weird things to your personality."

Xanas took a second to look at where the spike probably were - the chest. He counted at least 5, though there might be another one or two in there. A few animals and an emotional stability spike probably. He mumbled under his breath. "I remember this one lady who got stuck with a wolf - there was all kinds of problems with it until we figured out how to stabilize her. Hopefully, they balanced it a little better with you." 

Xanas checked his gloves - they were on all the way - then held out his hand. "Sorry if that didn't make a lot of sense, I don't usually talk to others very much. But hopefully, we can just chat like any two normal quasi-humans. So, um, hello, as I said, I am Xanas. What's your name?"

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So Xanas probably sounds like he is just rambling on a bit here, won't give too much of a pause for Mike to interrupt even if Mike wanted to. He is a bit rusty at communication skills. 

@Sorana

Edited by 18th Shard
Adding tag. Also most =/= least.
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13 hours ago, 18th Shard said:

So Xanas probably sounds like he is just rambling on a bit here, won't give too much of a pause for Mike to interrupt even if Mike wanted to. He is a bit rusty at communication skills. 

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Mike would never even try to interrupt a denizen, so that's perfect fine ^_^

I love Xanas, he is a great character.

Mike stared at the hand as if it was a snake. Take it. He had to take it. If he didn't he would offend Xanas and then Xanas would kill him. Kill him. It was strange, but the thought to die suddenly wasn't as horrifying as it had been before. It would be an end, and maybe an end would be preferable to this. Mike looked up at Xanas at the sword, his words only slowly arriving in his brain.

It was obvious that he was spiked. Probably, especially if the guy was as old as he claimed. He could destroy Mike with a flick of his little finger, and he probably wouldn't care. Mike tried to get his breathing under control and failed, instead he only stared at the gloves, wondered what they might cover, if he would even touch the fingers of a man, or if Xanas himself was an abomination. Fear grabbed his thoughts and dragged them along that road deeper and deeper into his a spiral of fear and memories until he had trouble to inhale at all.

A lady with a wolf. All kind of problems until they stabilized her. Balanced better with him. He started to laugh, a laugh that sounded too loud in his own ears, somehow off and erratic. "Balance." The word left his mouth while laughing. He shook his head, the laugh dying as suddenly as it came. "And you are wrong. It's seven, although I lost one spike, so I suppose there are only six left." Which wasn't entirely true, as Fox hand eaten Squid and killed Wolf. But he doubted that Xanas really cared at all.

His hand shook when he reached out for Xanas', and he gripped the hand a little too tight, unvoluntarily, the fine control of his body momentairly eluding him. "I am Mike." he introduced himself and then considered the request. A denizen with no idea what was going on. And the second one he had stumbled into today. He resumed his position with his back against the wall as soon as he let go of Xanas' hand and then paused, gave the man a chance to say something before he would start answering his question.

@18th Shard

Edited by Sorana
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Xanas smiled, genuinely for once. 

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Mike. Seven... So that means no zinc for stability. Hmmm... I would have used at most 5 animals and then a micro-zinc lynchpin spike, probably with a medallion for allomantic gold handy for the rehab process. The human brain can really only manage to keep track of 7 things at once, so having too much more to keep track of is just irresponsible Hemalurgy."

Xanas looked back up at Mike's face. "Sorry, I get distracted sometimes. The human bindpoint system is just so fascinating to study. But you probably don't want to hear about that now, do you?"

I should probably get Mike a medallion for compounding aluminum, bolster Identity. That might mitigate some of the side effects of those spikes. Or maybe... 

Xanas realized he hadn't pulled his hand back. He returned it to his side. 

"So for starters, Mike. Storms, I haven't had this little of a reference frame in a while. Let's see, you're high school, college age? So first question, fill in the blank, it has been 'blank' years since the Worldspike was put in place. And, second, if you were in a history class, and a teacher asked you to name the most notable events and people since the Worldspike was place, what would you say? Approximate dates are accetable."

Xanas grabbed a crate sitting in the alley nearby and sat down. As Churchill had once said, "Never stand up when you can sit down." Of course, Churchill hadn't been a corpse reanimated by a Voidmade inversion of his own soul, but the principle was the same. 

@Sorana

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"I'm fifteen." Mike replied. School. He was supposed to be there, wasn't he? But no, the assassinations and then he had gone investigate. His teachers would know. They had to, because he was on an official mission, apart from the fact that he had run away from that. So basically he was disobeying orders and he was skipping school and that meant -

Mike stared at the man as he sat down, his words, his ability to speak lost somewhere between his terror and the realization that he was disobeying again. If they sent him back, if Ark learned of it, then he would have to go back and that would mean, that he had to - His eyes never left the man when he tried to focus on the question, sweat covering his hands, his breathing too fast. The world seemed to start spinning around him, slowly at first but then faster and faster until he felt as if standing on a rollercoaster being swept this way and that way.

Squirrel pushed him out of the way, gently placed him back into the darkness and looked at Xanas. She changed his posture, straightened his back and then pulled a crate over, sat down again, mimicking the movement of the one who had sought them out. Light brown fur covered Mike's ears as they changed, turned more sensitive than before. His fingers grew a little longer as well, to make it easier to take hold of branches. Squirrel smiled at their guest, tried to balances Mike's panicked staring a little.

"As far as I know," she started to speak her voice a tad higher than the one Mike had used previously. "This place was stabilized about 1500 years ago. Sanctuary was turned into Alleycity shortly afterwards, when it was decided that the capital should be close to the worldspike." History hadn't been their strongest subject, Mike was so focused on fighting and his revenge that he hadn't paid as much attention to other subjects as he should have had. But she figured that give or take a couple of years, didn't really matter. His panic made it more difficult to try and find what he remembered about the history of this place. But if Xanas was interested in more details he could ask and she could dive into that matter specifically.

"About 19 years ago the Seven Day War occured. During the war several guilds fought amongst each other, and the worldspike was attacked as well. The war was ended with a huge space ship nuking the city, hence the huge cater you can see." She made a vague gesture south. "Afterwards there was peace for sixteen years, while the guilds worked together to rebuild the city." She paused, then nodded. "About seventeen years after the war Solace, the leader of the Ghostbloods, returned. He called himself Septhis now, turned evil by his powers as an epic. The Ghostbloods split again, some following their old leader, some their new Triarchy, but in the end the Righthand and some others managed to make him confront his weakness and defeated him." That part had been easy. Guild history was something Mike had listened to with more attention.

"The most recent battle," She made a gesture around them, indicated morerecent signs of destruction. "Was an invasion. Plasmacore set up a huge building and even created a portal or something like that, that fed of the Void. Many died, but all guilds worked together for once, and combined their forces to drive them off."

Tilting her head to the side she turned it a little to get a clearer look at him, forgetting that her eyes were sitting in the middle of her face. Quickly she turned her face back and gave a slight shrug unsure what to add. After a while her face brightened when she remembered something else.

"Last year, there was such a great walnut harvest, I still have some hidden around the city."

@18th Shard

Edited by Sorana
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6 hours ago, Ark1002 said:

you completely forgot the Great Game

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nope. Mike's report is incomplete. It grew more consisted after he appeared on screen, which was after the great game, but there are actually several things missing (attack on the church, AC's plan to build an underground, ... ). I think I mentioned in my post, that he doesn't really care about history at all, so more attention is still pretty low. I tried to cover the points that influence current rp more directly, and the invasion that happened a couple of months ago was more important than the great game. It was still supposed to be a rp post, and not a three page retelling of everything we've done so far.

TLDR: Mike forgot, I left it away ;)

 

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Well, after about a month of posting my character and not doing anything, I'm finally actually writing something. It's okay if I post here, right?

The whisper of the wind told Erica many things. Sometimes it would playfully dance, while other times it would lay silent as if holding its breath. Waiting, watching. It told her the feel of an area -- what the people were like, how likely they were to settle for paying full price, things like that. Mother and Aria had told her that it was just her imagination, but there had to be something to it. She liked to believe so, anyway. 

Right now, it gently trailed across her, tugging at a few strands of hair that had come loose from her braid. They tickled her nose, and Erica -- half-asleep -- raised her hand to wave them away. The motion brought her one step closer to the surface of consciousness, however, and she sniffed. It was cold. 

After ineffectually batting at her hair for a time, Erica opened her eyes. She expected to see the roof of a tent, maybe an inn of some sort, possibly the top of a vendor stand, but was instead greeted by a busy street. She jolted up -- fully awake now -- and got to her feet. She checked her knife and vial of brass, and let out a relieved sigh when she found they were still safely stowed away. 

But where was she?

She'd been to many planets, but she didn't recognize anything around her. Was this the Cognitive Realm? People hurried this way and that, but she couldn't find anything that connected these people to any specific place. She scanned her surroundings, but nothing was familiar. Some structures looked... downright odd. What were those large rectangular buildings? 

And then... something else. Something was missing. No, someone.

Aria. 

Erica looked around frantically for her sister, but she was nowhere to be seen. Flashes of memory came back to her -- fighting, screams, the sound of steel clashing against steel. How had she gotten here? And how had she been separated from Aria? 

She felt her brass reserves. There was a little bit left -- hopefully enough for some gentle persuasion. It was time to find some answers, and, hopefully, her sister. She started off down the street, looking for someone who might be able to help her. 

Edited by The Awakened Salad
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Over thirteen hundred years since my experiment then. 

Xanas made up his mind. It had been long enough that he needed more data, and any of his old connections were probably either long dead, insane, or some combination of both. With the probable exceptions of Voidus, Mac, and the Stranger - though the insanity group wasn't necessarily invalid in their cases. Xanas would need to return to the Alleys to get the answers he needed. Besides, he could get Mike those medallions, which might help stabilize him. He seemed to be swapping between his spikes as a stress reliever, which was unhealthy. Relying on anything besides oneself put one at risk once those crutches were removed. For some, it was a spouse, or money, or the power one exercised over others. All faded with time. The only constant currency was knowledge, and even that could grow stale if you let it. 

Xanas looked back up at Mike. "Well, thank you for that. Almost fourteen hundred years have passed since I walked these streets last, then. I'll have to go directly into the Alleys then, to learn what I need to. If you come along, I can help you with some of the instabilities of those spikes - some medallions should help."

He gestured to the side and an Alley formed, warping the cobblestone as it merged with a tiled floorway. He started walking toward it, and glanced back at Mike.

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On 1/18/2020 at 5:33 AM, The Awakened Salad said:

She felt her brass reserves. There was a little bit left -- hopefully enough for some gentle persuasion. It was time to find some answers, and, hopefully, her sister. She started off down the street, looking for someone who might be able to help her. 

Melody glances up at the sound of hurried footsteps. After watching the frantic girl for a second she walks over. “Umm, hi, do you need some help?”

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11 hours ago, Blessing of Potency said:

Melody glances up at the sound of hurried footsteps. After watching the frantic girl for a second she walks over. “Umm, hi, do you need some help?”

Erica jumped at the words, then looked to the side to see a woman standing there. 

“I didn’t hide that I’m lost very well, did I?” She asked, giving the woman a friendly smile. Revealing that she was lost put her at a disadvantage, but it was better to be upfront right now. The woman had already seen that she was confused. Lying about it would only make her seem suspicious. 

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On 19.1.2020 at 0:00 AM, 18th Shard said:

He gestured to the side and an Alley formed, warping the cobblestone as it merged with a tiled floorway. He started walking toward it, and glanced back at Mike.

Squirrel tilted her head to the side, and then shook her head. She placed a foot on a windowsill she could reach and readied herself to run away, to climb up high, higher than her enemies could. "No." She said, her voice shaking. "I don't want to." Her body, Mike was breathing hard and quick and she found her eyes drawn to the Alley, to the cobblestones, to the way it had formed out of nothing. Sweat covered her palms and she wiped them on his pants, she needed them to be dry if she wanted to climb, Mike was so weak and slow, couldn't even jump between treetops anyways.

Run. She knew she needed to run, but running could wake up the predator in the man. With some it was better you stayed and you hid, made yourself seem small. "I, We are perfectly fine, the way we are." She tried to assure him, tried to divert him from the idea to give them medallions. The take them into an alley. "I don't need a medallion." Because it would be no medallion, it would be something else, something different. He would experiment again, and she didn't want him to. She only wanted to get away.

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Xanas looked at Mike, confused. "Mike, if this is about what they've done to you, I can promise, that isn't going to happen again. You really do need some medallions though. Just the fact you are using plural pronouns is evidence of that, it's a fracturing of personality that can be quite irreversible if not quickly mitigated. I promise there won't be an experiments. Think of it as going to the doctor. You're sick and you need help."

Xanas stepped toward Mike. Mike didn't seem like he was listening. "Mike, listen, there are maybe two or three Denizens who are older than me, no one is going to harm you without permission from me." He stopped, the realization catching up. "That's what you're afraid of though, aren't you? Mike, I would never... Mike, have you ever seen a fox caught in a foot trap? Hunters, humans, put them out to catch and kill foxes. There's no way for the fox to get out on its own. The only way for it to be free is for it to let a human free it. It has to let itself be freed. You're in a trap, Mike, those spikes will kill you, one way or another, if you aren't stabilized. You have to trust me."

Xanas looked around the area, searching for something that could help him but wouldn't kill Mike. Sometimes, the fox needed to be sedated to be freed. His eyes caught on one of the power lines nearby.

@Sorana

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Two or three Denizens who are older than him. Squirrel froze, eyes darting up on the wall of the building. He was old, she had known, but to hear him state it out loud, to listen to his words, how he claimed that nobody would stop him, if he didn't want to be stopped. She shifted her weight and -

Mike shivvered in the darkness. An old denizen. He had listened had hidden somewhere admist the dark, the black, tried to ignore the stench of blood all around. The arguments were lost on him, his fear shaken brain doing nothing but screaming alarm, alarm, alarm. The man was here. He was here to take him back into the alley. Medallion or no medallion, he was going to take him back to that place, to the strange sky whirling above and the pain and the smell. He huddled down, pressed his head against his knees and wished he could vanish, he could leave

She moved again, shaken by Mike's fear. It left her nearly unable to move and she slowly moved her weight to his foot, looked up again, judged how far the next handhold was away. "I'm not fox." She insisted, her voice strong, coloured with a hint of desperation when he compared her to fox, to the murdering, sly being waiting for her to make a mistake. Permission from him. There was no reason for permission, he would harm them by himself. Everything else was just a lie. They had made a mistake and now they would pay the price. He was here, because Snake had run away from the tavern, had stopped looking for the traitor. She readied herself and jumped, used the windowsill to propell herself up and reached out for the next one. She would flee. Staying here would mean dying.

@18th Shard

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Xanas watched as Mike jumped to a windowsill, then launched himself toward the next one up. At that rate, he would be able to get lost in the city fairly quickly. I really miss Lashings the most, I think. Why coudn't the spren bonds have held? Now I have to cause collateral damage.

Xanas unsheathed Tsarik, then ran forward, cutting through the support beams holding up this side of the building. The brick facing began to fall away, and the wood began to crumble inward. Fortunately, the building had not been built to modern codes. Though Xanas probably should send a memo to Cam about the mess. Well, maybe not. Don't want to get involved in that kind of paperwork right now. I'm pretty sure my insurance policy ended when I died. Mike tumbled backwards off the window ledge, landing on his feet remarkably in the alleyway. Xanas reversed Tsarik and cut through the power line now freed from the building's side, giving himself about 20 feet of usable length. Xanas guessed this one was probably a low energy wire, under 200 volts running through it. That was still a dangerous amount of electricity for most humans, particularly if in extended contact. Most people couldn't last very long if too much current passed through the core, and Mike had metal in his chest, which wouldn't help. Xanas would have to draw on the Void to make sure the contact was brief. Sheathing the Blade, he pulled off a glove.

Squirrel turned toward Xanas, and made a run for the front of the alley. Staying here would mean death. Her death, maybe Mike's as well. Run. She had to run. Flee from this predator. She couldn't go back, couldn't get trapped again. The man wasn't talking anymore. Terror and adrenaline surged through Mike's body. Squirrel looked from side to side, trying to find a way out, to escape this dark figure. She didn't know how to use the knives Mike had hidden in his sleeves, but there had to be a way out-

Xanas whipped the wire at Mike, simultaneously sending a surge of the Void across the wire, a dark surge of nothingness which disrupted the current momentarily. You aren't killing this boy, Xanas thought. Another part of him chided himself for personifying the inanimate energy. The electricity arced through the spikes in Mike's chest, running down into the ground beneath him. Mike stopped running and fell to the ground, unconscious. The wire cracked, the current sparking near Xanas's hand. He dropped it to the ground. I should probably check if he's alive, I suppose, Xanas thought. He checked Mike's pulse, which was still pulsing. Xanas found he really didn't care at the moment. Though the boy had been far too much of an annoyance to just leave behind. He sighed, then picked up Mike, dragging him toward the mouth of the Alleyway. Florescent safety lights were intermixed with Stormlight lamps on the wall. Xanas stepped into the Alley, Mike towed behind him. The Alley closed.

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Moving to the Alley thread after this. 

 

@Sorana

Edited by 18th Shard
Added quote box.
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On 1/21/2020 at 0:22 AM, The Awakened Salad said:

Erica jumped at the words, then looked to the side to see a woman standing there. 

“I didn’t hide that I’m lost very well, did I?” She asked, giving the woman a friendly smile. Revealing that she was lost put her at a disadvantage, but it was better to be upfront right now. The woman had already seen that she was confused. Lying about it would only make her seem suspicious. 

“No.. not really.” Melody says, “where you trying to?”

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...
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This thread moves to Era 5.

Mike walked through the streets, his hood drawn into his face. His eyes moved from left to right, noting those that moved past him and the ruins of the houses all around him. The city was celebrating. A bitter laugh escaped his lips, his stomach grumbling in agreement. There was nothing to celebrate. Nothing. Celebration was for rich people, for those dressed in finery, caring about nothing else but how they looked. It was for those who belonged to a guild, for those thinking themselves above everybody else.

He continued to eye those around him, noted their scrawny faces, their ripped and dirty cloths. They lived here in the ruins left by a war years ago, by a war that happened before he had been born. Lifting a hand he wiped a drop out of his face, glad that he had managed to wash his hair and body before the water stopped running again. It had been a little dirty, but the feeling of water running over his body, cleaning away dirt and grime - it had made the little bit of dirt and rust easily worth it.

His steps carried him over the muddy road, his pants and shoes dirty from the dust. He avoided those that lived here, knew that they had as little to eat as he had, knew that they had no money to spend. But there were others. Those in the rich quarters of the city, those that had gone to celebrate. Their homes were his target. Nothing but a few locks between him and some food, between him and a toilet - and he definitely would look for jewellery and maybe he would even find some money. Beneath the pillows, behind pictures, in drawers or in a closet. Most were astonishingly uncreative when it came to hiding things. Once he had even discovered a trap door beneath a carpet. To credit to man owning the house - he had nearly missed it. the trap was so cliché, he hadn't expected anything like that. Not outside of a movie.

Drawing his cloak tighter around his body to ward of the evening chill Mike hurried on. Hopefully tonight would be a good night.

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Feel free to interact with him, should you want to, but there is no need to.

 

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  • 4 months later...

Aln walked through the familiar streets of the Alleyverse, allowing the chill of the gently windy morning to push aside any lingering grogginess. Remnants of the previous day's festivities could be seen scattered on street corners, from decorations to abandoned masks. At her side followed Everest. "What sort of places are you in the mood to see?" asked Aln. "I spend most of my time in the quiet corners of the city, but I'm still familiar with the major landmarks."

@turtle

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1 minute ago, turtle said:

Everest shrugged. "I prefer more quite places too, but I also think that I should probably become familiar with the larger landmarks of the city." 

@Rushu42

Aln nodded. "Reasonable, though rather indecisive. I guess just a general tour is in order." She turned down a side street. "This is the fastest way to the city center. If you're looking for a place to eat, there's a Rosharan restaurant that I'm fond of..." she trailed off, staring at the buildling in front of her. It was not a Rosharan restaurant. 

What? The sense of wrongness from earlier began to rise again as she looked around. This was the right place, surely. She remembered coming here with... Temeria? No, that couldn't be. She hadn't seen her sister in 10 years. As far as Aln knew, she was dead. But Aln could remember meeting her in the Alleyverse. She had carried a sword. Aln stumbled, steadying herself against a wall, head swimming. This isn't right. Why isn't any of this right?

"Aln?" Her spren sounded frightened. "What's going on?" But Aln had no answer to give him.

@kenod

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