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

[Fatebreaker he/him]

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*veggie tales intensifies*

 

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

1 minute ago, Fatebreaker said:

*veggie tales intensifies*

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If chatting up your required serving of vegetables isn't living the dream then idk what is.

 

 

[Gancho Libre he/him]

"Please..." was all Riathor could say.

[Fatebreaker he/him]

"Hello! New volunteer?"

Stumped jumped, quite literally. He flung himself away from the fellow he had just spiked. "Ambush! I knew it! My metal minds are empty and my kidneys are no good! Totally ruined!" He raised his hands an Soulcast a short stone wall in front of himself to hide behind. Unfortunately, his peg-leg reacted to his use of investiture and began telescoping out at great speed, launching him over the wall to land in a heap.

He panicked and searched his pockets for something to defend himself from whatever had just greeted him so casually. Only the powerful and the ignorant could afford to be casual. The powerful have the strength or the resources to protect themselves from the terrors that filled the world. The Ignorant didn't think there was no reason to not be casual. The educated but powerless knew that everything was terrible and being casual was how you ended up getting eaten by refridgeraptors. 

Stumped continued to pat himself down furiously until he found something in one of his pockets. He whipped a spike from the depths of his lab coat and shouted triumphantly, "Now you're in for it, nameless assailant and foe of the Dark Alley! Behold the power of SCIENCE!!!" And he rammed the spike through his peg-leg. At fiirst nothing happenedd, then he started glowing softly as the bioluminescence spike kicked in. Stumped sighed.

This was definitely going to be a PR thing, he was sure of it. He sighed then pulled out a cookie. "Samples?"

@ZincAboutIt @Gancho Libre

[Gancho Libre he/him]

Riathor looked down at his spike, the one in his leg. Did he... had he told the man what he wanted gone?

But, there was the spike... it didn't hurt as much as he thought it would. Maybe it would help him.

Maybe it would save him.

He reached down and ripped the spike from his leg, then tried burning his metals.

[Voidus]

On 10/04/2019 at 11:13 AM, MacThorstenson said:

 

Mac held the sphere, and focused on the stormlight.

He imagined the biggest difficulty would be being able to conceptualize the investiture as an object, something that could be manipulated, but stormlight was easy. In his mind it had always been similar to fog or mist. That could easily be voidmade. With that settled he moved onto the more difficult aspect, losing control to force it out of this plane of existence.

He looked at the glowing sphere, specifically the stormlight leaking off of it.

He thought of how this could be used to stop him. A radiant could surgebind with this, use it for power that Mac wouldn't have. He let the fear fill him, the fear of being beaten. It wasn't as strong as it used to be, but there was some. He thought about it more. He wasn't scared of the stormlight, that wasn't an issue. He was mad at it.

It could be used to stop him, force him out of his way. 

And nothing should be able to stop Mac. Nothing could stop Mac. But what about the night next to the Worldspike?

His concentration wavered, he was stopped then, but he was supposed to be stopped. Voidus could easily beat him, it wasn't like a little stormlight. When he learned how to do this, to force the stormlight to not exist, it wouldn't be able to stop him.

When the stormlight was gone, then he would be safe. He would be able to continue.

But what if I fail?

The unwanted thought snuck into his mind like an unspiked cookie at a party.

No, I can do this. Once this is gone, it won't be able to hurt me. I will not fail, it's impossible for me to fail. This stormlight could stop me, a demigod.

Nothing can be allowed to exist that can stop me.

With that thought he refocused on the wispy stormlight, drifting away from the sphere. He focused into the sphere, on the stormlight contained in it, and concentrated his hatred at it. Nothing could could exist that could stop him.

He forced the stormlight into the void with a cold determination. Into that emptiness where nothing exists.

A black spot appeared, and the white light rushed toward it, disappearing rapidly.

Nothing can stop me.

Mac breathed a sigh, calming himself down.

It felt like he went overboard, using way too much power to get rid of the stormlight.

"That was actually not as difficult. As I was expecting. Much easier than getting rid of the ball bearing."

Voidus watched the last of the Stormlight vanish into the void with a touch of satisfaction. Mac had picked it up quickly, faster than planned certainly, though given his previous experience perhaps that was expected. Or perhaps he was simply a natural, after all he had managed to precisely control his Voidmaking at almost the moment he snapped into it. The stress of that situation may have pulled out Mac's innate talents.

"Easier in some ways." He replied, making sure that Mac had properly severed the connection. "Harder to explain or initiate though. Most people innately want to possess nearby Investiture rather than be rid of it, especially those who have had connections to a specific form. Suppressing the urge to simply breath the Stormlight in can be difficult for some."

Voidus pulled another sphere from the pouch, noting that this one seemed to have lost some stormlight already.

"Lost a little from these as well." He said, holding the mark up for Mac to see. "The draw was a little too strong. Though not generalised thankfully, if you'd put too much into it without enough focus then you can send things that you don't intend to. Put in far too much and you can begin to draw fragments of spiritweb out of people."

Voidus let the implications of that hang in the air for a moment. The DA was practised with Hemalurgy, one didn't graduate from being an acolyte without being able to minimise damage to the spiritweb. But random, uncontrolled destruction could lead to severe and catastrophic outcomes beyond simply losing access to Investiture, death was far from the worst outcome when it came to matters of the spiritual.

"This is why we started with something physical, it requires more power so there's less chance of using too much, and the focus comes easier so if you do it's less likely to affect your surroundings."

He poured a number of Marks onto the table before looking at Mac expectantly.

"So, how do you think we should proceed?"

Setting up trials one after another was all well and good, but it would only give superficial experience. To do this properly Voidus needed Mac to be able to intuit his new abilities, to understand them at a deeper level rather than simply explaining them.

[MacThorstenson he/him]

12 hours ago, Voidus said:

Voidus watched the last of the Stormlight vanish into the void with a touch of satisfaction. Mac had picked it up quickly, faster than planned certainly, though given his previous experience perhaps that was expected. Or perhaps he was simply a natural, after all he had managed to precisely control his Voidmaking at almost the moment he snapped into it. The stress of that situation may have pulled out Mac's innate talents.

"Easier in some ways." He replied, making sure that Mac had properly severed the connection. "Harder to explain or initiate though. Most people innately want to possess nearby Investiture rather than be rid of it, especially those who have had connections to a specific form. Suppressing the urge to simply breath the Stormlight in can be difficult for some."

Voidus pulled another sphere from the pouch, noting that this one seemed to have lost some stormlight already.

"Lost a little from these as well." He said, holding the mark up for Mac to see. "The draw was a little too strong. Though not generalised thankfully, if you'd put too much into it without enough focus then you can send things that you don't intend to. Put in far too much and you can begin to draw fragments of spiritweb out of people."

Voidus let the implications of that hang in the air for a moment. The DA was practised with Hemalurgy, one didn't graduate from being an acolyte without being able to minimise damage to the spiritweb. But random, uncontrolled destruction could lead to severe and catastrophic outcomes beyond simply losing access to Investiture, death was far from the worst outcome when it came to matters of the spiritual.

"This is why we started with something physical, it requires more power so there's less chance of using too much, and the focus comes easier so if you do it's less likely to affect your surroundings."

He poured a number of Marks onto the table before looking at Mac expectantly.

"So, how do you think we should proceed?"

Setting up trials one after another was all well and good, but it would only give superficial experience. To do this properly Voidus needed Mac to be able to intuit his new abilities, to understand them at a deeper level rather than simply explaining them.

Mac smiled inwardly. It seemed that he was getting the hang of it.

"Well." He started slowly, "I suppose that I should begin learning finesse with these powers, so as not to damage the spirit web." The question was, how to do that?

He thought back to what he knew of voidmaking thus far and how to access it.

It was fueled by will power, which in this case was powered by emotion. He could try to have more control by letting off on the throttle? On one hand then he would have less power to work with. If Voidmaking was like a bike, he didn't want to go so slowly that he couldn't stand up. On the other he didn't want to over do it and crash into a rock. He needed to get the balance just right. Hopefully this would work.

It would work. 

But what if it didn't?

It would work; extrapolating information was his greatest strength. It would work.

Looking at the pile of marks, he started to gather his hate. His desire for them to cease to exist. Once it was there, he reached out to them, but restrained himself. He didn't drag them into the void, instead he gently, but firmly latched onto one of the marks, and focused on that stormlight, then pulled just that into the void.

He grinned with satisfaction, that he had stolen a single enemy and destroyed them completely. Then he carefully reached out and destroyed another. And another. It wasn't his favorite activity, but he did like it.

It was less of a hammer and more of a scalpel. Like a spy instead of a Juggernaut. He continued through the pile, picking each one randomly, then draining the investiture. 

He experimented different ways, trying instead of holding back the hatred, he would try to provide barely enough. It ended up being harder, like trying to sew when your hands were cold, so he went back to tempering back the over abundance of will power. While this felt a bit like trying to walk on tiptoes, it made finesse much easier.

After the last Mark was drained, he let out of a breath and sat down. Wiping a little sweat from his forehead.

"How did I do?" He asked.

[Voidus]

Voidus watched silently as first one Mark was drained, then the next, then the next. A steady progression of lights dwindling one after the other. The first was slow, steady and cautious, a measured approach that seemed to be intended to evaluate. That was good, caution was always necessary, jumping in blindly and at full power was exactly what they were trying to avoid right now.

After the first Mark the speed seemed to steadily increase as Mac's confidence and finesse grew, but never so fast that it got out of control again. Mac seemed to have learned his lesson and had a good grasp of his limits. He truly seemed to take to his abilities like a natural, sensing when he was pushing too far, experimenting quickly to see what worked best and then refining his technique.

Voidus' lips curled into a thin, pale smile as Mac finished the last of them and then sat down to gather his breath. He seemed to still have enough left to continue, he'd controlled the power well and it wasn't so taxing that his reserves were gone.

"How did I do?" Mac asked.

"Better." Voidus said simply, picking one of the Marks up and looking it over. "Controlled, precise, and without waste."

He smiled again as he spoke, recalling the number of times he'd had to repeat that phrase to new acolytes as they began to learn the science of Hemalurgy. They were lessons which all members had been taught at some point. But this was a level beyond even the level of control needed to precisely pierce the tiniest of bindpoints. And failure could be even more catastrophic.

"If you feel you've mastered stormlight then we can try something a little less obvious. Allomancy perhaps?" He suggested. "Are you still able to continue?"

Unlike Surgebinders or Allomancers the ability to sense how much power you had left was not inherent in Voidmaking. Mac would need to learn through experience when he needed to stop, or use less. Unlike Investiture there was no hard limit, Mac would be able to continue to Voidmake until he lost the will to continue. Or until he died.

[MacThorstenson he/him]

10 hours ago, Voidus said:

Voidus watched silently as first one Mark was drained, then the next, then the next. A steady progression of lights dwindling one after the other. The first was slow, steady and cautious, a measured approach that seemed to be intended to evaluate. That was good, caution was always necessary, jumping in blindly and at full power was exactly what they were trying to avoid right now.

After the first Mark the speed seemed to steadily increase as Mac's confidence and finesse grew, but never so fast that it got out of control again. Mac seemed to have learned his lesson and had a good grasp of his limits. He truly seemed to take to his abilities like a natural, sensing when he was pushing too far, experimenting quickly to see what worked best and then refining his technique.

Voidus' lips curled into a thin, pale smile as Mac finished the last of them and then sat down to gather his breath. He seemed to still have enough left to continue, he'd controlled the power well and it wasn't so taxing that his reserves were gone.

"How did I do?" Mac asked.

"Better." Voidus said simply, picking one of the Marks up and looking it over. "Controlled, precise, and without waste."

He smiled again as he spoke, recalling the number of times he'd had to repeat that phrase to new acolytes as they began to learn the science of Hemalurgy. They were lessons which all members had been taught at some point. But this was a level beyond even the level of control needed to precisely pierce the tiniest of bindpoints. And failure could be even more catastrophic.

"If you feel you've mastered stormlight then we can try something a little less obvious. Allomancy perhaps?" He suggested. "Are you still able to continue?"

Unlike Surgebinders or Allomancers the ability to sense how much power you had left was not inherent in Voidmaking. Mac would need to learn through experience when he needed to stop, or use less. Unlike Investiture there was no hard limit, Mac would be able to continue to Voidmake until he lost the will to continue. Or until he died.

Mac thought for a moment, he felt a little drained, but nothing he couldn't handle.

"I think I could try Allomancy, but what exactly would I be doing? Would I be removing someone's ability to use allomancy? Or suppressing it? Or making so they couldn't steelpush on certain coins? How does that work?"

[Voidus]

"It can be difficult." Voidus began, standing and pacing around the room as he explained. "The imagery is less clear than for something with an obvious physical manifestation such as Stormlight."

He pulled a small metallic ball from a pocket, a ball bearing much like what they'd used previously. With a small flick of his wrist it was tossed upwards and just as it began to fall its momentum suddenly stopped. Allomantic force keeping it suspended at the pinnacle of its arc.

"Physical metals have something to visualize at least, but if you focus overly much on the object that is being pushed then you might end up destroying that instead. Prevent it from being pushed on? Possible, but difficult. How would you visualize a possibility? How do you hate something that has yet to happen?"

He paused for a moment, watching Mac's expression.

"Your limits are only as low as you set them." He said, allowing the ball bearing to drop another foot towards the ground before stopping it. "But if you set your sights high..."

The ball began to travel upwards, fighting against the force of gravity as it slowly rose back to its previous position.

"You can accomplish more than you might think, but you also run the risk"

With a sudden, violent burst of momentum the ball rocketed upwards, vanishing from sight as it accelerated to tremendous speeds and slammed into the ceiling. The ceiling cracked around the site of impact, and a small shower of metallic dust trickled down. All that was left of the ball bearing.

"Of over exerting yourself." Voidus concluded. "So, rather than possibilities let's focus on problems. I'm going to soothe you, you try whatever you need to in order to stop me."

He gave a moment for Mac to think through his options before reaching out, attempting a general soothing rather than anything specific. If Mac proved adept enough then they might be able to focus on specifics, but starting broad would probably be easier to start with.

[MacThorstenson he/him]

On 4/28/2019 at 7:12 PM, Voidus said:

"It can be difficult." Voidus began, standing and pacing around the room as he explained. "The imagery is less clear than for something with an obvious physical manifestation such as Stormlight."

He pulled a small metallic ball from a pocket, a ball bearing much like what they'd used previously. With a small flick of his wrist it was tossed upwards and just as it began to fall its momentum suddenly stopped. Allomantic force keeping it suspended at the pinnacle of its arc.

"Physical metals have something to visualize at least, but if you focus overly much on the object that is being pushed then you might end up destroying that instead. Prevent it from being pushed on? Possible, but difficult. How would you visualize a possibility? How do you hate something that has yet to happen?"

He paused for a moment, watching Mac's expression.

"Your limits are only as low as you set them." He said, allowing the ball bearing to drop another foot towards the ground before stopping it. "But if you set your sights high..."

The ball began to travel upwards, fighting against the force of gravity as it slowly rose back to its previous position.

"You can accomplish more than you might think, but you also run the risk"

With a sudden, violent burst of momentum the ball rocketed upwards, vanishing from sight as it accelerated to tremendous speeds and slammed into the ceiling. The ceiling cracked around the site of impact, and a small shower of metallic dust trickled down. All that was left of the ball bearing.

"Of over exerting yourself." Voidus concluded. "So, rather than possibilities let's focus on problems. I'm going to soothe you, you try whatever you need to in order to stop me."

He gave a moment for Mac to think through his options before reaching out, attempting a general soothing rather than anything specific. If Mac proved adept enough then they might be able to focus on specifics, but starting broad would probably be easier to start with.

Mac quickly thought over his options. What could he latch onto the most. It would be the lack of control. The thought that someone was going to be able to influence him. 

He noticed, in the side of his mind, that entering this state of hatred was becoming much easier. As he practiced he could summon the willpower and strength necessary quicker and quicker as his natural inclinations against emotion broke down.

When the soothing came he responded. Targeting the soothing itself, forcing it down, turning it into the void. Nothing would be able to influence him. But in order to stop the soothing, he would need to strike at the source. Concentrating on maintaining the Voidmaking, he reached out and visualised the source of the soothing, Voidus. He pictured his allomatic brass and reached out to suppress it.

In Mac's mind, it was like casting a blanket over a light. The light was the soothing leaving Voidus, coming to get Mac, and the blanket was the voidmaking. Supressing the light and Voidus' alomancy.

Mac let down his original defense of Voidmaking the soothing directly and instead focused all his attention on suppressing the brass. He still made sure not to over do it, as he didn't want to damage anything important. Like his bosses soul.

[xinoehp512 he/him]

A man stood at the entranceway to a dark alley.

His heart raced as he considered what he was about to do. This was bold, very bold. He almost hadn't expected to succeed when he set out- and yet, he had.

Cautiously, ever so cautiously he stepped into the alleyway. "Hello?" he called out. "Is anyone there?"

[Fatebreaker he/him]

Stumped felt his jaw drop as the man ripped the spike out of his leg. While not a critical bind point, that would certainly cause some hefty spiritual damage. He might not survive, his mind certainly wouldn’t, barring DA intervention. He was about to ask the man if he was trying to kill himself when he heard someone at the entrance to the alley.

Hearing the voice, Stumped looked up from the weeping man who was currently curled up on the ground. 

Another visitor? Spikes and spoons, this is getting ridiculous! I didn’t sign up to be a PR rep! I have photons to bottle, musculature to reconstitute, cookies to bake!

He didn’t say any of this however, but rubbed a hand over his bald scalp and turned towards the voice. Maybe the other acolyte present would be able to handle this. He didn’t even have a single personality spike on him. However, as a Denizen of the Alleys he had a responsibility to make sales whenever the opportunity presented itself. “Welcome to the Dark Alley, *cough* baked goodness you can trust. Would you like a, um, a cookie?”

@xinoehp512 @Gancho Libre @ZincAboutIt

 

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

Vivica whirled around at the sound of the voice, hand straying to her pocket where she kept one of her sharper spikes.

Don't be silly, she told herself. It's just a new visitor. This isn't like the ferrets.

Speaking of ferrets, she was covered in gore, though that could hardly be helped. She sighed, then realized with a shock that Zook had gone. In his place floated a small pink octopus emitting a soft glow.

"Oh," Vivica said, smiling. "Hello Bennington. It's nice to see you today." Bennington wiggled his tentacles cheerfully, then began swimming loops in the air. What a nice surprise. Bennington was one of her favorite hallucinations, as far as hallucinations went. Bolstered by this turn of fortune, Vivica turned towards the mouth of the Alley and stepped up next to the R&D member, who she now recognized. She slipped a singular ginger snap out of one of her inside pockets, looking it over for pieces of ferret. It looked clean, which was a relief. Blood didn't really pair with ginger - something she'd learned a few years back.

"Yes, welcome," she said, doing her best not to think about all that wide, open space outside the Alleys. "Why don't you come in? We have an awful lot of cookies down here - all sorts, really."

@xinoehp512 @Fatebreaker @Gancho Libre

[xinoehp512 he/him]

Rekaerb stepped into the alleyway fully. He opened his mouth to ask whether or not the cookie was spiked, then closed his mouth. This was the DA. Of course it was spiked.

He sighed. "I'll take a cookie. But that's not what I'm here for."

[Gancho Libre he/him]

Riathor gritted his teeth as he found the metals still inside of him. It hadn't worked!

His mind... wasn't working like it normally was...

He hadn't had his powers taken away. He had had powers added.

"Please!" he yelled, trying to get their attention. "I don't need more! I need you to take it from me!"

@Fatebreaker @ZincAboutIt @xinoehp512

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

Vivica handed the gingersnap to the newcomer before turning back towards the man on the floor. It was rather incredible that he could still speak after ripping the spike out of his leg. She looked down at Stumped.

"Pretty demanding isn't he?" She muttered. She shook her head, then looked at the visitor. 

"What have you come for, then?" She held up a finger as if to forestall an interruption. "If someone's been talking up the Pewter ferrets, I should tell you now that you'll be disappointed. They - ah - well, the experiments are still in early stages..." Vivica looked down at her blood-spattered lab coat. "Or maybe it's that pocket chasmfiend someone in R&D was working on? Something else?"

She patted her pockets, then took out a spike the size of her little finger and squinted at it. "You know... I'm not entirely sure what this is. Those storming Pewter ferrets broke my label-maker... shall we find out together?"

Vivica hefted the spike and grinned brightly at the visitor.

@xinoehp512 @Fatebreaker

[xinoehp512 he/him]

The visitor took the cookie. "I came here... to learn, I suppose. I've always wondered how the alleys work, and today I decided I ought to come and find out."

He put the cookie in his mouth and began to chew it.

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

Vivica watched the man chew with barely-concealed enthusiasm.

"Oooh, a recruit? Well that's fun, isn't it? I don't think I've ever recruited anyone..."

She turned to her right, where Bennington continued to swim through the air, glowing with a soft, comforting light. "Have I ever recruited anyone, Bennington? I'm sure I'd remember something like that... do you think anyone else remembers?"

Vivica looked at her coppermind ring, then back at the visitor. She slipped the spike back into her pocket. "We've had a few new recruits lately, actually, and there's news that the Stranger might be returning. You've certainly chosen an exciting time to join up!" 

She tried to brush some of the blood on her hands off onto her lab coat, but only succeeded at smearing it around. Shrugging, she stuck one hand out to the visitor, then looked up at Bennington.

"People still do this, right? Shake hands?" She asked. Bennington wiggled his tentacles in what could have passed for a shrug, then began swimming around the visitor's head. Vivica sighed. "I'm Vivica, research assistant. And you are?"

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Bennington isn't real, he's a hallucination. Anyone else would just see her talking to thin air. Vivica knows she's crazy, she just rolls with it.

@xinoehp512

[xinoehp512 he/him]

The man took the hand gingerly. "My name is Rekaerb. I'm... many things."

He ignored her mention of 'Bennington'. Probably just another example of the strangeness of the Alleys.

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

9 hours ago, xinoehp512 said:

The man took the hand gingerly. "My name is Rekaerb. I'm... many things."

He ignored her mention of 'Bennington'. Probably just another example of the strangeness of the Alleys.

Vivica smiled again, wider this time. "A pleasure!" She said. Then, as if only just remembering something, she slipped her left hand into her coat and pulled out another spike. She shook Raekerb's hand, then pulled him towards her.

"Almost forgot," she said, grinning, then stabbed the spike down into his shoulder, through his clothes. "Loyalty spike. Standard issue, I'm afraid. Don't worry, you'll hardly notice it after a while."

 

[xinoehp512 he/him]

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What does the spike do, again?

 

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

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Makes you loyal to the DA, above all other loyalties, I believe.

@xinoehp512

[xinoehp512 he/him]

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Yes, but how?

 

[Voidus]

2 minutes ago, xinoehp512 said:

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Yes, but how?

 

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By spiking it out of someone else and into you.

On 10/18/2018 at 3:37 PM, Voidus said:

The sudden shift to her mind felt jarring but also somehow natural, as though this sudden affinity for the Dark Alley had always been a part of her.

For an in-character response to it from era 2.