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

[Voidus]

It took Laurelai a moment of blinking through the pain before her vision cleared and Lita's face resolved into sharp focus. She didn't seem overly concerned, though she had been staring oddly at Laurelai's hand rather than her head. Likely in an organization such as this Lita could scarcely afford to care about a subordinate being suddenly wracked with pain, the woman had likely seen and administered enough of it to numb her completely.

"Thank you." Laurelai replied, voice slowly steadying. "I... don't quite know what to make of it. Like dozens of images all-"

She cut off as another flash of images set her head to aching. And along with the pain every flash reignited that sense of need just a little brighter. But now instead of a sourceless, unsatisfiable impulse, Laurelai knew exactly what she needed. She hoped that would make it easier to manage, but hope is a fragile thing, easily shattered.

"Apologies." Laurelai repeated, forcing herself not to close her eyes again or look away. "It feels very strange... like a bad Forgery almost where the memories can't quite snap into place correctly."

That was impossible of course, such a poor Forgery would not last long enough to matter. Or at least, not if she was its intended recipient. But whatever it was, Laurelai struggled to understand the intention of it. Was someone trying to have her and Lita visit this... cavern? Likely to spring a trap, but then someone capable of implanting memories and impulses into them surely had an easier method of either entrapping or killing her than this. More likely Lita would be the intended target, Laurelai just an unfortunate piece of collateral.

She rubbed her hand a little nervously as she saw Lita's glance drift there again. Laurelai hadn't noticed any residue from the copper on her finger but perhaps Lita's keener senses could. Still, it hardly seemed worthy of being stared at like this, even if copper was certainly not her colour.

@ZincAboutIt

[+ZincAboutIt]

“Apologies. It feels very strange... like a bad Forgery almost where the memories can't quite snap into place correctly."

Lita tore her eyes away from Laurelai’s hand at those words, resolving her face into a cool, attentive mask. Something about that suggestion tickled the back of her neck, but she put it away.

”I will write down my entire memory of the cavern. Then you should cross-reference it with your own memory. This is important, and if we both remember it, then… I don’t know. Perhaps it’s actually real. I will look into my own records.”

Lita sighed, very suddenly feeling the weight of the day. She longed to lay down to sleep, close her eyes, and forget the strangeness for a few hours. 

“You may go home, Laurelai. Get some rest. Our tasks await us on the morrow. And the next day. And the next… Perhaps I have pushed both of us too far today. Sometimes I can be a bit… relentless.”

The faintest smirk flirted over her mouth before she sighed again, sliding another file out of a drawer and flipping it open. “You did well today; I’m impressed. But everyone needs respite. I shall see you back in the morning.”

She could not help but look at Laurelai’s hand one more time as she spoke, a hollow feeling deepening in her gut. 

What is the matter with you, Lita?

Sleep. She just needed sleep. And some wine. Possibly a lot of wine. Very certainly a lot of wine, actually.

@Voidus

[Voidus]

Laurelai returned Lita's smirk, though with some hesitancy underpinning her satisfaction, and below even that hesitancy she felt the weight of exhaustion pulling at her. The momentary flashes of pain kept it somewhat at bay but Lita was certainly correct that she needed some respite if she hoped to still be useful come the morning. Laurelai had seen spikes that allowed one to remain conscious almost indefinitely if the R&D denizen was to be believed, but she had not received one yet. Nor was she sure that she'd accept one if offered, there was nothing quite so marvelous as a hot shower and a warm bed at the end of the day. Or maybe a cooler shower to help clear her mind.

"Of course, thank you." Laurelai replied, giving a small respectful bob of the head. "I'll compile a report of any differences I notice promptly. And I'll be sure to note what I can down once my head clears up a little, I'm sure some rest will do the trick."

She gave a polite smile and another nod, cutting herself off before she lapsed into needless small talk. Lita surely had more on her mind than such trivialities with a new employee, and Laurelai was already looking forward to that shower. She could almost feel it already, gentle water cascading on her head and back, bringing calm with it.

"Until tomorrow." She said, moving to the door and stepping into the cool air of the Alleys.

She spared one final look through the closing door for the tired redhead, something twinging in Laurelai's mind again at the sight and sending a lance of pain through her. Taking the hint, Laurelai closed the door and moved through the shortest route she could find back home.

@ZincAboutIt

[kenod]

At night, while the two of them slept, a small fox crept through the night. When it arrived at Lita's place it fell apart into thin vines which crept under the door, until finally materializing back into a fox in her room. Similar vines appeared, weaving themselves into a sealed letter. Nodding to itself, it then departed again the same way.

An hour later the same fox appeared outside Laurelai's place, entering the same way, again leaving a sealed letter. Both letters bore a white seal, with an impression of a small, three-tailed fox.

When the letters would be opened they'd both show the same message: If thou seeks enlightenment, follow the three-tailed fox.

@ZincAboutIt@Voidus

[Chaoslink]

Amethyst did not think. He just did as MIND told him to do. MIND always knew what was right. MIND could guide him. And so he followed. Actually, MIND wasn´t the only living piece of neurons in his head. There was this other part that sometimes had a little discussion with MIND. This piece... it knew what had happened. It knew what he was doing now, and it did not like it. But MIND said what he needed to do and so he did. There was one thing Amethyst knew for certain: MIND wanted him to acquire a weapon more potent. A shardblade. And for that he needed him to join... the Dark Alley, even though he knew nothing about so called "Hemalurgy". And cookies. So now he stood in front of the door of the Guild House, and knocked.

[MacThorstenson]

Ives was resting in a building deep in the alleys, paused from his daily hunt, when suddenly a door that wasn't quite there before rattled with several knocks. Mysteries, bysteries, lysteries, lysterine. Listerine, that would be nice. I could use some Listerine, he half mumbled half thought to himself. Carefully he moved to the new door, grabbing his serrated cleaver he had been using earlier, the only sound he made was a brief grunt as the spikes that lined the inside of his grinning metal mask slid into his face, securing it. Yeah, I could use some Listerine. Wait, no I couldn't. Listerine blistering. I'm allergic to it. No Listerine for me unless I stop listening to me.

There were no windows or glass on his side of the building, and he had no way to know where this door went to. Eyes, no matter how many of them you had, routinely had difficulty seeing through doors. He stood behind the door and after a deep breath, he opened it a crack. On the other side there simply was a person, and the sun. Now that, that was odd. The sun wasn't usually in the alleys. They kept it in the physical realm for most things after all. Almost unaware of the person, he stepped out of the door, staring at the sky. Yeah, this definitely seems to be the Alleycity. But why would the door, ooh- knocks.

He started half muttering half thinking a rhyming verse as he tried to process the fact that he wasn't in the alleys, and quite suddenly too, Knocks and blocks and blocks and knocks, with no more knocks we see the blocks, with all the blocks we need more knocks so when the knocking starts, the blocking stops. 

Ives turned back toward the person, and with the spoken words feeling almost foreign in his mouth he asked "Are you uh, the one who knocked on the door thingy there?" 

@Chaoslink

Edited September 17, 2022 by MacThorstenson

[Chaoslink]

Someone opened the door. The… man? thing? Amethyst didn’t know. He (or maybe it?) asked him:  "Are you uh, the one who knocked on the door thingy there?" Amethyst answered: „Yes, that was me. I want to join the Dark Alley. We will both benefit from it.“

@MacThorstenson

[Voidus]

Laurelai sat up in bed as the early morning light hit her, rubbing her temples. The headaches had been getting worse each day, starting in the mornings and only becoming exacerbated as the day wore on. Likely just the strain of pouring over records and paperwork looking for information and discrepancies, though she had never experienced similar headaches when she worked at the hospital.

Shaking her head, she stood with a groan and headed immediately to the shower. It always helped to ease the pain, but less and less each day it felt. The cool water hitting the top of Laurelai's head send a pleasurable shiver down her spine as she stood there, letting the water cascade down blonde lengths and cling against her skin. It took the edge off, even as it brought about a series of new, flashing images into her mind. Each image was, again, a different version of the same scene. A different Laurelai. Only a few things were consistent across them all, those things felt... important somehow. More real than the rest perhaps. But she still couldn't quite make sense of them. Why did her name feel important? Or the fact that she and Lita had always arrived at the Chapel because of the DA?

With a disappointed sigh, Laurelai turned the tap, halting the flow of water and provoking a sharp, burning pain behind her eyes almost immediately. But the shower was only barely helping now. Every time all she could think of was how lacking it was in comparison. Of how little comfort these mundane waters provided. Of how much she needed to find the Chapel again and sit underneath those droplets forever, finally comfortable.

Laurelai practiced smiling as she towled herself dry and began to dress for the day. She had started doing so days ago in the hopes that she could at least perfect her facade enough that it would be less obvious how tense she was beneath it. Laurelai didn't precisely regret her emotional snap and subsequent burst of poor judgement the other day, but it would not be professional to repeat it. And unlike then, Laurelai now knew precisely what she needed to do. All she needed was to find the Chapel, and everything would be right again. It would help her, calm her, tell her what she needed to know with a whisper more intimate than that of any lover.

"Blue today." She muttered as she picked a dress for herself. "Something Scadrian perhaps. Nothing unprofessional about dressing to impress after all."

She had just slipped into the fine exported Elendel silk when she glanced at her bedside table for the first time that morning, spotting a letter sealed with white wax and her name written atop it. A letter that had most certainly not been there when Laurelai went to sleep last night.

A trap? She mused, examining the letter from a distance. But if it was placed while I was sleeping that seems an inefficient way to cause harm. So the most interesting kind of trap then, the kind of poison that is also sweet honey. Information.

Pulling a pair of gloves on just to be safe, Laurelai snagged the letter, leaving the wax sealed as she left the house swiftly and began her morning commute into the Alleys.

@ZincAboutIt@kenod

[MacThorstenson]

On 9/18/2022 at 11:02 AM, Chaoslink said:

Someone opened the door. The… man? thing? Amethyst didn’t know. He (or maybe it?) asked him:  "Are you uh, the one who knocked on the door thingy there?" Amethyst answered: „Yes, that was me. I want to join the Dark Alley. We will both benefit from it.“

@MacThorstenson

„Yes, that was me. I want to join the Dark Alley. We will both benefit from it.“

"Heh"  Ives muttered, the Dark Alleys would benefit from him joining? That was, in fact, a bold claim. "Well then, I suppose they would want me to do some form of job interview." Thinking back to his own hiring he remembered something about it not being outside and something or other with spikes? Ehh the specifics probably weren't important. "Come inside I suppose," He said over his shoulder as he made his way to the shadowy alley next to the bakery, as opposed to the front door. "Don't lag too far behind. Don't worry about where we are going. Don't make eye contact with things in here, and don't eat the cookies until we get you all spiked up. "And as an afterthought, he added "Also probably don't look up. Like eyes level with the horizon or down toward the ground."

With that, he disappeared into the darkness, while shouting "So what makes you think you're qualified for this position? Also how did you hear about us I thought we were covert?" over his shoulder.

[Chaoslink]

What in Damnation is this guy?, Amethyst thought. But then, who am I to judge over mental illnesses.  The man asked him: “So what makes you think you're qualified for this position? Also how did you hear about us I thought we were covert?" 
“So, for the first question, I am an assassin. That is something you can always use. But I am not only an assassin, but also a melee weapon expert. And also, I have some strengths that I will tell you, when you take me into the Guild. As to the second one, seems like it’s useful to kill some citizens.”

@MacThorstenson

[MacThorstenson]

On 9/23/2022 at 1:07 AM, Chaoslink said:

What in Damnation is this guy?, Amethyst thought. But then, who am I to judge over mental illnesses.  The man asked him: “So what makes you think you're qualified for this position? Also how did you hear about us I thought we were covert?" 
“So, for the first question, I am an assassin. That is something you can always use. But I am not only an assassin, but also a melee weapon expert. And also, I have some strengths that I will tell you, when you take me into the Guild. As to the second one, seems like it’s useful to kill some citizens.”

@MacThorstenson

As the sounds of the city disappeared, the walls of the alleys stretched up toward the ever present void. Ives turned his attention away from the sweet smells of bakeries and blood, refocusing on his new friend. 

“So, for the first question, I am an assassin. That is something you can always use. But I am not only an assassin, but also a melee weapon expert. And also, I have some strengths that I will tell you, when you take me into the Guild. As to the second one, seems like it’s useful to kill some citizens.” The self proclaimed assassin said.

"An assassin? Why would we need to kill people and let their beautiful spirits fade off into the beyond? No no no NO NO," he cried "we need their souls in spikes you two eyed imbecile!"  He paused briefly, then spun around with narrow eyes, "But you can use a sword right?" Continuing slowly, he reasoned "A sword is like a spike, and spiking is good. Seems good to me." With that he resumed his fast pace, sparing only the barest of glances to ensure that his new friend knew which way to follow him.

"As for being inside the guild, well, where do you think we are?"  He glanced over his shoulder, gesturing down the infinite expanse of cinderblocks and downspouts that made up this particular alley. Their endless repetition broken up only by the occasional door or T-junction.

He led the way to one of the few doors that lined the empty alley, and opened it, revealing a bloodied room with an operating table in the center. Stepping over a corpse, Ives grabbed an instructional book off of the wall. It seemed to be missing several pages, but there were enough of them that he was reasonably sure he could place the loyalty spikes in. 

"When you're ready, step inside and I'll give you the loyalty spikes, then I'll run you over to acquisitions where they can give you paperwork and alley travel trainings, unless you have more questions that is."

[+ZincAboutIt]

Lita had already been at her desk for the better part of an hour when Laurelai arrived, bearing a sealed letter in a pair of gloved hands. She took notice of the blonde’s blue dress - something cut closer to what Lita had once worn back in Elendel than anything she favored now. It was rather fetching on her, which Laurelai doubtless knew already. Lita let her eyes flick up and down the woman’s statuesque form approvingly, obviously enough that someone not burning tin would notice. The outfit was a calculated move, though perhaps riskier than Laurelai knew. Lita was not overly nostalgic for Elendel, but she did appreciate subtle cunning. And she also appreciated that shade of blue against Laurelai’s skin.

”If thou seek enlightenment,” Lita read aloud from her own letter, “follow the three-tailed fox.”

She had found the letter on her nightstand when she’d awoken - from a nightmare, this time. The dichotomy of dreams was beginning to take its toll on her; some mornings she would wake in such blissful satisfaction she’d swear she hadn’t spent the night alone. Other times she was plagued with a sense of deep horror and confusion, a sense of wrongness so profound and physical that she’d actually been ill over the side of her bed, feeling as though she was trying to see through two sets of eyes at once. Both of them her, but only one surviving whatever was coming. 

The letter was a welcome distraction, though how anything had slipped through the warding on her chamber door was a mystery all its own. She’d taken it to R&D - they loved opening strange mail - and when it hadn’t killed any of the interns or the lead researcher Lita had felt comfortable taking it back herself.

She slid the wax seal, which she’d cracked off with a thumbnail, off her desk and held it up to Laurelai.

”This being said fox rendered in wax form, I imagine. We can take your letter down to R&D as well, or you can just open it. I’m eager to compare notes. And then we will need to conduct a bit of a fox hunt, I should think.”

@Voidus @kenod

[Voidus]

"Placed while I was sleeping." Laurelai said, frowning at her own letter. "On my nightstand. I thought it best to be prudent but if whoever placed it wished harm there were certainly easier methods."

Hesitating only a moment before unsealing the wax with a careful flick of her fingers, Laurelai unfolded the letter to read for herself, finding an identical text to that which Lita had read out. She sat opposite the redheaded woman and placed the letter on the table, one gloved hand swivelling it to be easily read.

"Do you know if anyone else received one?" Laurelai asked cautiously. "Just that, 'enlightenment' sounds like it could be those waters. But who could have overheard that?"

She resisted the urge to scan the office nervously for eavesdroppers. Certainly Lita would do a better job at detecting any than Laurelai could ever hope to do herself. But if not then how had someone known? Or was this indeed something more widespread, something that only seemed relevant to their recent revelations? These were the first two thoughts that had presented themselves to Laurelai on her walk through the Alleys this morning but there was one even more disturbing than an unseeable eavesdropper in Lita's office. 

Someone who has already found the Chapel and entered it. A voice whispered from the back of her mind. Someone who could know everything you do, everything you have done. Every secret moment of your life.

She was not quite able to suppress the slight shiver down her spine at the thought. When engaging in a war of words with someone two things were key, presentation and information. Laurelai rarely felt someone gain the better of her in the former department, barring very tense circumstances, but someone entering a conversation with more knowledge than you was always dangerous. Someone who already knew exactly what to offer you, what to tempt you with, was terrifying indeed.

"I don't believe I spotted any foxes on the way here. Except on the sign for the goldfox tavern, but that one had only a single tail." She continued, speaking more to direct her thoughts away from the prospect than any real need to convey information.

 

@ZincAboutIt @kenod

[+ZincAboutIt]

Lita frowned, then shook her head.

"No one else received one - at least as far as I know. Which is rather far, especially here."

She watched Laurelai scan the room nervously, coming to the same troubling conclusion Lita had herself considered before the blonde arrived for the day.

"As far as someone overhearing us in here, it is unlikely that I would not notice. With, of course, one notable exception that has already proven to be... exploitable. It is possible that one of the Strangers was in here, listening. And their ability to deliver mail unseen is quite legendary. However, they rarely extend themselves outside of the Alleys, and your residence is a reasonable distance away. It is a possibility I will inquire about with R&D. But till I hear back from them, I would still consider this place one of the safest to discuss our current business."

Lita tapped one finger on her desk, staring pensively at the deep mahogany grain for a moment and considering the possibility that her own office - the inner sanctum of her temple of secrets - was vulnerable. Green eyes narrowed, and she drew open a drawer to her right without looking at it and removed a silver case and lighter. She snapped open the case and withdrew a cigarette, placing it between her teeth and lighting the end. It was a rare day that she chose to smoke inside her office, but the lingering feeling of her nightmare, compounded with the idea that someone could be in here right now listening to them, walking into her room to place cryptic notes while she slept - it was too much. She placed the case and lighter back into their drawer and drew in a breath of smoke, savoring the tin-magnified sensation as she stored enough heat to avoid obvious pain in her throat. She let the smoke out in one long sigh, finally looking up and registering Laurelai's final sentence.

"The Goldfox Tavern?" Lita raised an eyebrow, then looked at the clock. It was barely past nine in the morning. "A lovely place to begin our search. At the worst, we can listen for any city gossip we might have missed. And I suppose if we drink enough, we could see three tails on the fox."

She stood, smiling a smile she only half felt. But it seemed right to do something, to get out of this office and back out into the field for a day. "They do a lovely egg on toast, as I recall. And a lovely whiskey-coffee as well. Come along then, Laurelai. Enlightenment awaits."

@Voidus

[Voidus]

Laurelai's eyes widened a fraction in surprise at Lita's decision, certainly Laurelai herself had been a little tempted when she walked past it but it was still morning and they were working. Though it was true that this was hardly a usual working environment, and Lita was hardly a normal employer, so perhaps this was simply normal here. And as Lita had mentioned there were few places better than a tavern for listening in on gossip.

"Every day a new surprise in this place." Laurelai said, a sly grin chasing the surprise out of her expression. "You are certainly not like other employers ma'am, but I do quite like that."

Standing to follow after Lita, Laurelai's attention slid to the redheads eyes, the very subtle redness and the almost invisible bags beneath them. Over the past few days Lita seemed to have the luck of the damned about her sleep, she either seemed to veritably glow with satisfaction or to be plagued by nightmares. But there were any number of explanations for that, perhaps Lita simply had someone warming her bed who was an occasional snorer. And thankfully, whatever her mood, Lita rarely let it actually obstruct their work. And so, beyond simply trying to keep her employer in a good mood there was little for Laurelai to worry about. Enjoyable as she found Lita's company, at the end of the day Lita was her boss, not her friend.

"And I could certainly do with a little 'enlightenment' this morning I think." Laurelai continued, gloved fingers pressing against her temple as another piercing headache began.

@ZincAboutIt

[+ZincAboutIt]

Lita waited until Laurelai had followed her out into the Alley beyond her office before locking the door, slipping the key into a pocket and double-checking the small bag she had grabbed from beside her desk. She drew one finger along the cool metal of her bayonet - it felt right to carry it, despite the fact that she barely knew what she'd do with it if the occasion arose. Lita gave a small shrug and let the thought slip from her mind, turning back to Laurelai with a light smile.

"I'm glad you appreciate my unorthodox management style, Laurelai. I of course had my suspicions... but it is always good to have confirmation of a thing, is it not? And besides, you took the time to dress so nicely this morning. It would be a shame to keep you all cooped up in an office with only an audience of one."

She turned and began walking without waiting for a reply, taking another long breath of smoke and letting it curl languidly out of her mouth as she prepared to Alleytravel.

"Follow closely now, please. You've shown remarkable talent in picking up Alleytravel but it is still very easy to get lost. And I'd hate for you to trail all that lovely Elendel silk in caustic molasses or sentient mud, or whatever else those clever, mad fellows in R&D are making these days."

@Voidus

[Voidus]

Laurelai felt a trickle of heat hit her cheeks. The rush of mixed emotions at the very least provided a distraction from her brewing headache. The trickle of pride and pleasure at the compliment was one she always enjoyed, though the twinge of worry that Lita seemed to have picked up on Laurelai's intentions behind choosing this particular dress were a little less so. Bathing over both of them in an embarrassed glow however was Lita's picking apart Laurelai's own words with a subtle twist.

And now your boss is going to think you are outright flirting with her at every opportunity. She chided herself. An infatuated little thing looking overly much into a single encounter.

Laurelai quickly covered the blush with a polite smile and stepped quickly to follow after Lita, wary of being caught alone in one of the Alleys that Lita had mentioned. As they travelled she continued to lose herself in thought, reminding herself that what had happened was a once off event, not to be repeated. And that she certainly did not want to give the impression that she was looking for anything beyond that. Laurelai had no intentions of mixing emotions up with her work.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Stepping under the sign, Laurelai glanced up at it with a smile having finally managed to shake both her intrusive thoughts and her blush. A golden fox posing proudly on a green field stared down at her, only a single tail waving behind it.

"Just the one tail on this one, as I had thought." She commented as she opened the door to the Goldfox Tavern for Lita to enter. "But perhaps once we've had a coffee or two we'll find ourselves enlightened enough to see more."

@ZincAboutIt (Shall we move to the Alleycity thread?)

[18th Shard]

Xanas gently filed the Blade on the table in front of him. The aluminum file, while generally far too soft for ordinary filing, was the only simple method for obtaining samples from physically manifested spren. This Blade, however, was far from simple. It had simply appeared outside his office one evening, for one thing, without provenance or hint of sender. Xanas had heard that a Stranger had malfunctioned in another department, giving a possible explanation for its arrival, but the object itself had far more compelling questions. Firstly, it exactly resembled Tsarik’s typical Blade form. Xanas rarely used his spren as a weapon, and few of those who had ever seen the spren as a Blade were still living. Additionally, the Blade had cracks running through it, flaws and fractures. Xanas had never seen a Blade damaged like this. Inside the cracks, a pulsing white light and inky black darkness interacted, coming into existence and then annihilating nearly instantly, folded tightly like Damascus steel. There wasn’t any Investiture field until you got close enough to the Blade to differentiate the two substances, which implied there was some kind of anti-Investiture involved in it. However, the Investiture didn’t match any known types. There also wasn’t any energy being created by the annihilation.

Xanas gently brushed the shavings of the Blade into a small ceramic dish, then mixed in a few milliliters of solvent. He carefully sucked the solution into a pipette, then added it to a similar solution containing a mix of liquid anti-Stormlight and anti-Lifelight. The suspended particles from the Blade dissolved, producing a few air bubbles and a very slight change in temperature. Xanas made a note, stirred the remaining solution, and then titrated it with liquid Stormlight and Lifelight until he got an entirely neutral solution.

“Slightly more Stormlight than Lifelight required for complete neutralization – about 10 mils. Factoring in the thermal energy output, the mix is almost exactly an inkspren’s composition.” Tsarik listened carefully, frowning.

“How is this?” he asked. “Unaccounted inkspren in the Alleys are not, and the flaws must be from the Alleys.”

Xanas shrugged. “We’ll have to find a way to separate the two substances in the flaws. Until then, we’ll just have another mystery piling up on our desk.”

Tsarik nodded. “I want to see what is under an axon microscope. Perhaps then we may see the structure of the Blade.”

[+ZincAboutIt]

Bennington floated just behind the Professor's head as he contemplated the Alley before him. That last drink had really done something - something quite spectacular. And the Professor had, as well. He was beginning to remember himself, remember the fact that he was much more than a mild, enthusiastic scholar. Bennington turned a lazy, sated circle and contemplated his next drink. Probably not for a bit. At least... what. A day? Maybe? Now that he'd really started, it would be difficult to stop.

Or it would be easy, but he did not particularly wish to stop. He could tell that the Professor did not wish to stop, either. He had not wished to stop in the cafe, not with all that glorious red. Red, red, red - the loveliest color. That was what Vivica always said. 

Vivica. 

Bennington turned another loop, this one more contemplative. He did not care for her, the way mortals cared for things. The way even this god cared for things, however warped that care may have become over millions of years. But Vivica had belonged to Bennington, and had been taken away. Partly of her own accord, but mostly at the hands of another. Another who continued to blind the Professor's eyes, even as he wiped away the paint of falsehood. And that theft was unforgivable. It was enough to provoke even an endless, ageless thing as himself to action, to a sort of rage that had no name. A wrath that had no definition. It was Nothing, but a hungry Nothing. 

Bennington swam before the Professor's eyes, urging him forward. It was time he washed off some more of that paint. He was looking for water, after all. A water that terrified him. A water that lured him. Bennington was curious about both. But more than that, Bennington was starting to get hungry again. Like usual.

Like always.

- - - - - - - - - - 

Vivica stood near the mouth of an Alley and watched the darkness loop and deepen within Professor Lucien Esserethel. Something had happened when he did it - when he remembered. Remembered how to perfectly place a pin of brass through a living heart. It had been such a beautiful thing to watch, even from the Cognitive Realm, where she could not easily see the red. If she tried very hard, Vivica could remember red. Her own, and that of others. So, so many others, other guests, in the other life.

The darkness was tangling with the light inside of him, deep black coils spiraling over and through the white-gold wire. Some bit of it had begun to darken itself, and Vivica watched it happen with a joy unlike anything she had ever known before in her life. In either life. There was nothing more wondrous than this, than watching someone so perfect remember that perfection, bit by bit. Piece by piece. She would have wept, if she had tears. Instead, the wind obligingly tore away a bit of her cheek and neck. It seemed appropriate - the price to witness such a miracle unfold before her unworthy eyes. 

The Professor moved through the city quickly, as though he had somewhere precise in mind. Vivica followed behind him, watching in awe as the Light Lines began to behave very strangely at his passing. The lightning, which only ever ran in one direction - toward the Worldspike - now changed. Or perhaps, his steps made their own lightning. And this radiated out. Out into the city, out into the world, meeting with its rival lightning deep within the ground in a resounding crack that felt like reality itself beginning to break. It was beautiful, and perfect, like everything about him. The Professor. Nox. A name he had allowed her to give him. Such a privilege, one Vivica did not deserve, and would never deserve, but one she cherished.

Vivica would have followed him forever, if she could.

But she could not. She could see the mouth of the Alley, but it did not reach her. Something about this realm, perhaps something about her specifically, repelled the Alleys. This rejection hurt more than Vivica had expected, though even that pain was... distant. She did not feel much of anything, anymore. Perhaps it was because she was running out of her to feel. There was a great deal missing now. But she remembered him, still. And really, what more did she need to remember? What need had she of her own life, such a plain and lonely thing, in comparison to the dark and lovely creature before her?

He was going to enter the Alley - it was important to him. And that meant it was important to Vivica, though it wrenched something deep within what was left of her to see him go. To give him up again, so soon after finding him. She stepped closer, closer than she'd ever dared when she was alive. Closer than she'd been allowed in the Cognitive Ward, though oh, how she had wished to. What if she never saw him again, after this? What if the wind simply blew her away before he returned?

Vivica was being greedy, she was being presumptive and rude. But something possessed her, just for a moment, to be selfish. So she stepped forward and placed one spectral hand on Nox's shoulder. Just for a moment - a moment she did not feel. But perhaps, she could pretend to feel it. Pretend that it was enough. Maybe it would have to be.

Then, because she could do nothing else, Vivica sat at the mouth of the Alley and waited for her god to return.

@Voidus

[Voidus]

It was an odd thing, Voidus realised, to feel more yourself after losing your mind. He still wasn't entirely himself, barely any at all really, but he remembered a few important things. He remembered the craft that he has spent millennia perfecting. He could remember his name, or at least the name he had worn the longest. He could remember his exhaustion, not the physical kind that he had now relieved himself of by tapping Charlie's Bronzeminds, but the soul-deep emotional and mental weariness of eternity. And he remembered the Alleys.

He smiled as he stepped into the cool darkness between two buildings, the in-between place where reality could be blurred a little more easily and one realm could cross into another. As he stepped into the Alleys for just a fraction of a moment he felt something brush up against him, like a comforting wind it refreshed and encouraged him, took the edge off of his weariness and gave another reason to keep stepping forwards even as he left the sensation behind.

"Was that her?" Voidus asked his silent, hovering companion. "Whatever is left of her? Or was it just a memory?"

Whether some remnant spark of his friend from the hospital or just his own broken memories of her, Voidus felt a thread of Connection between the two of them. It was a tenuous thing, barely even perceivable to him in his current state and certainly not something he could manipulate. But he hoped it would be enough to keep her tethered here, hoped it would let her spirit weather the journey it was on a little better until he could find a solution.

"We'll have her back soon enough." Voidus continued, steps unfaltering as he slid from one Alley to the next. "But best not to rush and jeopardise things further. I have had a great deal taken from me, knowledge, power, people. I intend to take it all back."

With another step he crossed into a quiet and dim cavern, a peaceful, almost meditative place within the Alleys that would bring him calm if it didn't almost immediately fill him with dread. There, beneath the slowly dripping waters of the Chapel of rain stood a figure that did not appear to have moved since he last saw it. Her face still partially tilted up into the waters and partially tilted in his direction, eyes ever watching and filled with horrific knowledge.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She was hungry, she was tired, and she was dehydrated. But none of that mattered to Whisper as she waited beneath the waters. She could wait an eternity like this if she needed to. Her gods needed her to be here and so here she would be, until they needed her somewhere else or disposed of her. The waters themselves helped as well, a cool and gentle flood of information, providing her answers as soon as she could even formulate a question.

She turned her attention towards an empty section of the cavern, looking even before he arrive to where she knew one of her gods would appear. As he stepped out from the space between spaces she was struck by how different he was from last time. He was covered in blood now for a start, though that was immaterial to her beyond its implication that he had once more realized his place above the petty moralities of those who lived in the city.

He also stood taller, more proudly, even as his shoulders hunched beneath an unimaginably large weight. But it was none of these physical differences that Whisper cared about. It was the whispers. Once, this man had stood as a bastion of silence in a city that was endlessly chattering. He had been a blank spot in the canvas, an antiphase that silenced even the already existing whispers around him with his presence. Now he had whispers of his own. Not even the magic of all the world could suppress those whispers that spoke to him of his past life. And those whispers pulsed against the world around them now, tearing holes in the fabric of lies.

"So I will be taking knowledge back first." Voidus stated, his gaze drifting to the air next to him as he spoke.

Whisper could not see what it was that he spoke to but she knew what was there all the same. The waters had whispered of this to her, of one of her old gods. They had been forgotten to her in this life, but here at least she could remember and worship correctly. She lowered her head slowly, first towards the dark god of the void, and then to the unseen god of madness that was beside him.

Voidus gave the gesture little notice, only raising a hand in which he held a large gemstone, part of a fabrial it seemed though now it had been pulled free. But it was what she needed, it was Light.

"How much of this did you foresee I wonder." Voidus said, looking to the gemstone in his hand. "It seems far too much of a coincidence that tonight I had both a handy piece of brass at just the right moment and now a full gemstone for you to use."

Whisper gave a tiny smile of satisfaction at the praise, even if she was but an instrument of her gods wills, she did take some pride in how well she had served. She drew in a deep breath, and quickly felt the Light fill her. Immediately it drove her other concerns back, her hunger, exhaustion and thirst quickly abated. With a small sigh of relief, she let some of the Light trickle from her to form words.

"Difficult to use all that the Chapel offers." She spoke, voice echoing from the nearby walls in a grating cacophony. "But I have some talent with patterns at least."

[+ZincAboutIt]

Bennington floated near the man who was returning to being a god. He was no longer the Professor, but he was not yet himself, not in full. Bennington decided to go with the reliable name that both versions of Vivica had given him: Nox. Night. Darkness.

A fitting title. 

Bennington floated beside Nox as he inquired about Vivica’s spirit. He had felt her, moving through the odd simulacrum of the Cognitive Realm that the Strsnger had wrought. Bennington did not like the feel of that place, and he hesitated to look into it. It was not the sort of place to linger , which made Vivica’s presence there a point of concern. But for now, Nox did not appear to be worried. He took them to that place of water and knowledge. The Chapel of Rain.

That was its name. Bennington felt the water whisper it to him as he gazed into the cool blue stream that poured down onto the head of its single occupant. Bennington recognized her from the true world - this little mortal worshipped him there. Bennington had never much understood worship, unless it also involved the consumption of said worshipper’s sanity.

As Nox spoke to the girl, Bennington continued to gaze at the water, which was not really water. It was…everything. It was the manifestation of the greed of thousands growing over millennia. The hunger, the thirst for knowledge, and the terrible price enacted for achieving it.

Bennington did not care for this place, and the waters held no draw for him. But for a creature such as Nox, this was a place both wondrous and perilous. He would have to watch closely, to prevent his own plans from being derailed by a different kind of hunger. Bennington swam a long loop and then flared his tentacles, flushing a deep indigo to indicate danger. As if Nox did not already know. But it was always wise to be thorough.

 @Voidus

[Voidus]

Voidus gave an almost imperceptible nod of agreement at the sudden shift in Bennington's coloration. He was perhaps not as capable as Vivica had been of interpreting the strange creatures attempts at communication but a warning was a simple enough concept to grasp. And one that he most certainly did not need as he felt the draw of the waters on him, already they tugged at his ever curiosity. Whispered to him that it would be so easy for him to remove the small creature that currently received their words and take it for himself. His ever scholarly and scientific curiosity was plucked at once as all the answers he could ever want were only feet away.

"Difficult and dangerous." He stated, keeping his feet solidly where they were. It was far more difficult than he would have liked to admit.

"Very dangerous." The voice agreed, echoing around him as a smile pulled at the small mouth of the girl in front of him. "And very useful. Ask your questions while I still stand beneath the waters."

Voidus frowned at the statement. He was not quite certain how this girl saw him, but something in him grated at what seemed very much to be a demand. But the irritation he felt at those words would only impede him now. He did not have the time to argue.

"My first questions have nothing to do with the waters." He said, voice grave and eyes dark as he stared at the girl. "Who are you and why should I trust you."

"Whisper." The girl said, words escaping her almost before he had finished asking the question. "If a name is required. I am a denizen of the Dark Alleys, in this life and the other. And right now I act as an Oracle for you. I worship the gods of the Alley, and the gods beyond. And while I do my utmost to prove to be of service, I leave the decision of whether to trust me wholly up to you, but at the very least you should use me."

Voidus gave another nod at the statement, glad that she at least had the sense not to presume his good intentions. Especially when so many of his own intentions were still a mystery to himself.

"I intend to." He continued, eyes intent. "I need the fastest way to break this Forgery. I need some resources from the Alleys. I need my memories back."

Again the reply came almost simultaneously with the demand, and he realised indeed that the threads of Stormlight she wove to give reply were already woven when he began to speak, simply giving him time to voice the question that she already knew. He also realized that the immediacy he had mistaken for impatience and rudeness appeared more simply to be an eagerness to be of use. The dark reflection in her eyes that glinted with a hint of worship was enough for him to accept that this was his most useful tool for the moment.

"The Forgery breaks already." The voice stated, echoing from one end of the cavern to the other. "To break it faster would keep you from your other preparations or require you to enter the waters."

He nodded again, accepting the statement as given and already having half-expected such. If he, who had been bound so tightly as one of the cornerstones of this Forgery, had begun regaining his memories then assuredly others had already done so long since, and that process was no doubt continuing exponentially through the city.

"I shall acquire what you need from the Alleys, though I will need to be reminded once I leave these waters." The voice continued, Whisper's face turning with eerie sluggishness to look to him directly. "And your memories will return as the Forgery breaks, that must not be rushed. But as you suspect, some of the resources you require will expedite this progress safely."

His brow furrowed at the words, an innate dislike of having his own plans predicted, especially by one so young as this. But he reminded himself that it was the waters that he really spoke to now, the girl Whisper was merely an intermediary.

"And what you truly need must be the last thing you acquire." The voice continued, cutting off even the question this time. "When your memory is regained two things you will still lack. The first lies at the end of the path we first began taking when we came here. And the other... lies on the weary path. The path you began treading before you even became a god."

[+ZincAboutIt]

"I brought something special today, Vivica. I trust you can keep a secret?"

The Professor's green eyes sparkled with mischief as he grinned at her, reaching into his bag and pulling out a small, white box. Vivica felt herself lean forward, biting her lower lip in anticipation, tapping her toes eagerly against the white tile floor of her hospital room.

"Of course I can keep a secret, Professor," she giggled, chewing her lip a bit too hard and tasting a drop of blood on her tongue. That only served to make her more excited as she watched him slowly open the lid of the white box to reveal two perfectly frosted cupcakes.

"Ta-da!" The Professor said, sweeping his opposite hand before the box with a flourish. 

Vivica gasped in delight, laughing and clapping her hands at the sight. "Oh Professor, they're wonderful!"

Professor Esserethel smiled even wider, her joy seeming only to amplify his own. "Of course they are - I couldn't let today go by without bringing something extra special, Vivica."

Vivica cocked her head, trying to remember what day it was. "Today is... special? Is it a full moon? A bank holiday? Oooh - did someone important die today a long time ago, people do love to commemorate those days."

The Professor's brows knit together slightly in a frown. Vivica stifled the impulse to reach out and smooth away that crease in his forehead, feeling anxiety pool in her belly; nothing should cause him distress, least of all her.

"Today is your birthday, Vivica," he said gently, then smiled again. Softer this time. One of his special smiles - warm, patient. So very patient. The sort of smile that stayed with Vivica for days, even days alone. Even days when she had been unpleasant and needed to be strapped into her bed. Vivica felt some of that warmth carry through the air and brush her cheeks, warming them too.

"Oh." Was all she said. Her birthday. "I already received my extra pudding for today."

"Was it the chocolate kind? The sort you like?" The Professor inquired.

Vivica shook her head. The Professor frowned again, muttering under his breath.

"...have to talk to the staff here, food preferences ought to be accounted for, especially on such a landmark day..."

"It's alright," Vivica said, smiling again. "It was nice of them to give me anything extra at all. It's just my birthday."

"And why wouldn't that be important?"

Vivica cocked her head, sighing a little. "Because it isn't real, Nox. I'm not real."

The Professor paused in the middle of lifting one perfect, beautiful cupcake out of the box and onto a plate. Vivica could just see beneath the cloud of white frosting to the cake below. Red velvet. She smiled again, joy filling up her face enough that it threatened to leak out of the corners of her eyes.

"This is real. You are real, Vivica. This world would be far poorer if you were not. I know I would be."

Vivica felt some of that joy streak down her cheek to wet her hair; she wiped it away quickly, not wishing to make him frown again. Not him. Not her Professor.

He smiled his warm, special smile and set the plated cupcake before her as though it were the most important duty of his life. "Happy birthday, Vivica."

And though she knew better, that day at least, Vivica felt real.

- - - - 

Vivica clung to the memory - a false memory. Or was it really false, if it had happened - even in a lie? The way she had grown to care for Nox during this time - to love him - that was real. It was perhaps the realest thing left of her, holding onto the thread connecting them with desiccated fingers. So many holes now, so, so very many. So much that had been torn away, a vicious price exacted in revenge for her refusal to disappear. Vivica was inconvenient even in death. But someone had to look out for Nox until he had everything returned to him. Everything of importance. And when he'd found all that, perhaps he could come searching for her. If there was anything left to find.

The idea terrified her. Not death - she was already dead, after all. But the possibility of disappointing him, of depriving him of something he might want, was unthinkable. She felt horribly presumptive imagining that she might be important to him. But just in case - just in case...

It was best to stay. To wait. To hold on just a bit longer for a chance at being real again for him.

[Voidus]

"... will be the option with the highest chance of success." Whisper concluded.

Voidus, seemingly now accustomed to the manner in which she spoke, gave a hesitant nod at her words. Almost all of his questions now answered, though he seemed unsure what to make of some of the answers that he had been given.

"The last matter then." He said, dark eyes holding hers. "Will be how to pull you from those waters. This was very useful, but I have more need of a denizen with unrestricted access to the Alleys than an Oracle now."

Whisper felt a flush of satisfaction at his words, his confirmation that she had been useful and would be given the opportunity to be so again. Almost it was enough to elicit a gasp from her, but that would lose some of her precious Light.

"I will leave shortly." She said, wearing her usual smile. "But I can manage to do so myself."

"Shortly?" Voidus replied with a dissatisfied frown. "And by yourself? Why? And how?"

"Others will be arriving soon." Whisper replied, eyes flickering to an empty space in the cavern. "I will need to be here for that, and you should not be. The time for that meeting has not quite come."

Voidus' expression darkened a little further, not for the first time irritation flared on his face, a look that would have terrified her into submission even if he had not been her god. But not today, her work was too important, even for this. If he still held this irritation once he regained himself then she would happily allow him whatever retribution he desired. For now however, he was far weaker, more vulnerable. For now he needed to be protected more than he needed to be feared.

"It is almost time." She said simply, facing him fully so that he could read the inevitability in her words. With a final click of the tongue and a last, longing glance towards the waters of the Chapel, Voidus stepped back. He gave her a parting glance, one of suspicion and also trust. A wary alliance that they had struck, but it was perhaps the only one he could manage for now.

[+ZincAboutIt]

Bennington felt something akin to relief as Nox stepped away from the Chapel and the girl who acted as the mouthpiece for its waters. This was possibly the most dangerous place for him to linger; the temptation would only increase the longer they stayed. He spared a single glance for Whisper, considering visiting her when the Forgery broke and she recalled her reverence of him. Variety in one's diet was important, after all. But that was a thought for another time. For now, he swam ahead of Nox, towards the route back into the Alleys. Anywhere else but here.

They had much to do, and Bennington still had plenty to drink, plenty more cracks to widen in Nox's mind. It was a service, really. Not that he needed such platitudes. But it was polite to give something back in kind; Vivica would have approved. 

@Voidus