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

[AonEne he/him]

Kios chuckled. “Ah, but how do you know who has won and who has lost?” 

[Guest Coda]

14 minutes ago, AonEne said:

Kios chuckled. “Ah, but how do you know who has won and who has lost?” 

"Whoever gains the most is the true winner," Corenar said, smirking. "Of course, an argument could be made for the one who is satisfied with the result, though if that were the definition, no one would ever win." His evaluation of this man marked him as a person to be trusted more than most, though not on the level of someone actually trustworthy.  

Edited November 25, 2019 by Coda
Typo

[Voidus]

10 hours ago, AonEne said:

Voidus, you’re going to kill me from excitement. The theorizing part of my brain is having a heart attack. DID HE NAME HIS DAUGHTER AFTER HIS WIFE? Then how did he forget his wife’s name? Is that even his wife? Should I ship it? (Laurelus? Voidlai? Voiurelai? Laidus? I’m partial to Voidlai but should I be shipping it at all?) Maybe he just saw the name and liked it, then kept it for later. I’ve done that with characters. Should I be interpreting certain parts of this as shipping interactions or not? Did he actually say he was married or am I misremembering things? By the Alleys, you’ve absolutely slaughtered my train of thought. 

Also, the rest of the scene was awesome, I enjoyed it  are they on Earth? Does Voidus come from Earth? Argh, what have you done to me. This feels very Earth. 

Quote

RPAFO
Glad you enjoyed it though, not the most organic way to reveal backstory but there's a lot there and less opportunities for Voidus to talk to people at the moment. Though hopefully some might still be available.

Blinking a few times Voidus watched the room come back into focus. His attention had been drifting too much lately, too much work perhaps but there were few he could share it with. The Stranger had been absent recently, hopefully they would meet again before a few thousand years past. With Mac having left as well that reduced the number of active Department Heads.

The faint recollection of a cafe still floated in the back of Voidus' mind, and with it he realised a possible solution to his immediate problems. Temporary it might be but a perfect cup of coffee could go a long way towards keeping him alert. But where had the coffee machine been last? R&D? No, that was some time back. It had been found to function perfectly and required no more improvements so R&D hadn't needed to have anything else to do with it other than occasionally sating their own caffeine requirements.

Standing up, Voidus loosened his neck, stretching it to one side before straightening back up and looking towards the door with purpose. He strode forwards and opened the way back into the deeper Alleys to see if he could find the elusive machine that he sought.

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

Vivica looked up at Bennington, who was continuing to loop in sinuous figure-eights as the sounds from the radio crackled and shrieked. She glanced at Grey, then to Sierra, then looked down at her empty coffee cup. They were all out of coffee, it seemed.

This won't do, she thought, scooping up Sierra's empty mug and sliding Grey's off the counter, the cups clinking gently in her arms. She moved around the back of the visual acuity tester, careful not to disturb Grey, pointing at the coffee cups and grinning. She'd be back in no time. Bennington followed her out of the room, curling and uncurling his tentacles with a shrewd glee.

She wended her way back to the break room, then began the process of refilling the machine with coffee grounds.

"Isn't this exciting, Bennington?" Vivica said as she scooped the fragrant beans into the device. "I've only seen this experiment three times before... Or, was it two? Four...?"

She pursed her lips, continuing to scoop coffee grounds until there was a small mountain in the filter.

"Five times?" 

[AonEne he/him]

18 hours ago, Coda said:

"Whoever gains the most is the true winner," Corenar said, smirking. "Of course, an argument could be made for the one who is satisfied with the result, though if that were the definition, no one would ever win." His evaluation of this man marked him as a person to be trusted more than most, though not on the level of someone actually trustworthy.  

“Not quite.” He smiled. “While it is possible for some people to be utterly content in the world, even if for no other reason than that they have spiked it into themselves, I do not define that as winning. You do not have to achieve all you want at once to win - and for many people, gaining has nothing to do with it. For some, winning means losing something.” Kios rubbed a fingernail up and down the icicle as he walked. “What would you want to lose, if you could?” 

[Guest Coda]

20 minutes ago, Ookla the Roleplayer said:

“Not quite.” He smiled. “While it is possible for some people to be utterly content in the world, even if for no other reason than that they have spiked it into themselves, I do not define that as winning. You do not have to achieve all you want at once to win - and for many people, gaining has nothing to do with it. For some, winning means losing something.” Kios rubbed a fingernail up and down the icicle as he walked. “What would you want to lose, if you could?” 

Corenar thought for a long moment. "I would lose the need to sleep. One third of my life is wasted unconscious. Of course, Hemalurgy could make me a bronze Compounder, thus giving me spikes."

Quote

Why the name change?

 

[AonEne he/him]

6 minutes ago, Coda said:

Corenar thought for a long moment. "I would lose the need to sleep. One third of my life is wasted unconscious. Of course, Hemalurgy could make me a bronze Compounder, thus giving me spikes." 

Quote

It’s Ookla season, starting today (Peter Ahlstrom’s birthday) and going until Brandon’s birthday on the 19th. A ton of people change their usernames to ‘Ookla the ______’ for that period of time. Just a fun Shard holiday thing, not mandatory or anything.  

“It’s much easier to simply get rid of the need to, rather than hunting down the powers,” Kios said idly. “And spikes are helpful, but don’t be too eager to fill yourself with them...how much do you know about Hemalurgy’s negative effects?” Of course it was usually more than worth it, but you should still know what you were getting into. 

[Guest Coda]

2 minutes ago, Ookla the Roleplayer said:

“It’s much easier to simply get rid of the need to, rather than hunting down the powers,” Kios said idly. “And spikes are helpful, but don’t be too eager to fill yourself with them...how much do you know about Hemalurgy’s negative effects?” Of course it was usually more than worth it, but you should still know what you were getting into. 

"Damage to the spiritweb, body distortion, cognitive decline, et cetera. It was merely an example." Corenar thought about Compounding idly. Utterly fascinating, especially atium.

[AonEne he/him]

14 minutes ago, Coda said:

"Damage to the spiritweb, body distortion, cognitive decline, et cetera. It was merely an example." Corenar thought about Compounding idly. Utterly fascinating, especially atium.

“Don’t forget being vulnerable to anyone with the power if you have even two,” Kios cautioned. “Rioters and Soothers aren’t rare. And everyone likes to think their mind would be strong, but when it comes down to it...” He trailed off and fixed Corenar with a stare. “You can’t ever count on that.” 

[Guest Coda]

1 hour ago, Ookla the Roleplayer said:

“Don’t forget being vulnerable to anyone with the power if you have even two,” Kios cautioned. “Rioters and Soothers aren’t rare. And everyone likes to think their mind would be strong, but when it comes down to it...” He trailed off and fixed Corenar with a stare. “You can’t ever count on that.” 

Corenar thought about this man's words. He seemed almost... against Hemalurgy. Was this man a secret TUBA agent? "I know the risks," he said. "Learning Hemalurgy does not come with risks. Practicing Hemalurgy does. I wish only to learn."

[AonEne he/him]

Quote

Come now, our secret agents are better than that 

I MEAN WHAT 

“Fair enough,” Kios said cheerfully. “Happy to help.” He stopped walking and turned to face Corenar. “What did you want to learn first? Bindpoints?” 

[kenod]

Quote

If that's the case you'll probably see a couple of other Denizens appear soon...

 

[AonEne he/him]

Quote

Intimidation with ice spikes  

 

[Guest Coda]

1 hour ago, Ookla the Roleplayer said:

“Fair enough,” Kios said cheerfully. “Happy to help.” He stopped walking and turned to face Corenar. “What did you want to learn first? Bindpoints?” 

"Yes," Corenar said calmly. "I trust you have adequate knowledge of Hemalurgy?"

[AonEne he/him]

19 minutes ago, Coda said:

"Yes," Corenar said calmly. "I trust you have adequate knowledge of Hemalurgy?"

“Probably, depending on what you want to know.” Kios shrugged and tossed the piece of ice to the floor. Breaking off a new icicle, he twisted it in his hands, then grinned and looked at Corenar. “Okay, to start with, there are hundreds of bindpoints all over the human body.” He waved at the own form. “You’re not gonna know them all unless you use a coppermind or something - and there are unsealed copperminds existing, but getting ahold of them would be an annoyingly process for outsiders. But two main ones -“ the spike of ice now pointed directly between Corenar’s eyes, then wobbled from one to the other and back “- are the eyes. People don’t forget eye spikes.” He lowered his arm again. “All good so far?” 

[Guest Coda]

1 minute ago, Ookla the Roleplayer said:

“Probably, depending on what you want to know.” Kios shrugged and tossed the piece of ice to the floor. Breaking off a new icicle, he twisted it in his hands, then grinned and looked at Corenar. “Okay, to start with, there are hundreds of bindpoints all over the human body.” He waved at the own form. “You’re not gonna know them all unless you use a coppermind or something - and there are unsealed copperminds existing, but getting ahold of them would be an annoyingly process for outsiders. But two main ones -“ the spike of ice now pointed directly between Corenar’s eyes, then wobbled from one to the other and back “- are the eyes. People don’t forget eye spikes.” He lowered his arm again. “All good so far?” 

"Yes," Corenar said. Obviously people wouldn't remember everything. Eyes were large, exposed, and accessible. Best to remember those. 

[Voidus]

Eventually Voidus discovered the location of the coffee machine, it had taken a little tracking down and he'd been disappointed to find that Laurelai hadn't been in the department of Records when he'd checked, but no doubt she was still safe. He'd know if she wasn't wouldn't he?

His brow furrowed, eyes looking towards a nearby wall of stone as if to pierce through it with his gaze, but he relaxed a moment later. No need to be so intrusive on her daily life, she was likely out on a mission or with friends. Perhaps that one from Mac's department that he'd seen her with, Lita? He should really speak with her at some point.

The Alleys shifted around him once more leading to a nondescript Alley with a plain wooden door set into one of the walls. Voidus strode towards it, rapping on the hard wooden surface three times before opening it and entering inside.

"Excuse me, I'm in some need of caffeine." Voidus said with a tired smile as he turned to survey the interior of the room.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Somewhere at sometime, but like definitely a time that was a while back. A really long while back.

Voidus rapped smartly on the door before letting himself in, it had been a day since he'd last seen the Professor but it looked as though the poor fellow had barely slept. he was already inside his office and practically leapt to his feet when he saw Voidus enter.

"Been keeping well?" Voidus asked conversationally.

"Lasers." The Professor replied confidently, slightly bloodshot eyes staring into Voidus'. "Antiphase with the ambient light to cause it to darken and then some form of Sisyphus cooling for the coffee."

Voidus gave a wry smile at that, not a bad guess all things considered. Though there were some astounding leaps of technology that would be required to perform something like that, let alone where he could actually hide all of these lasers.

"You know when I came to this world I was curious about the lack of Investiture." Voidus began. "It does make it even harder for you to understand probably, and harder for me to demonstrate. I could kill something I suppose but that's a little macabre."

Thinking to himself for a moment he gestured towards the chair that the Professor had been sitting on. He waited until both of them were looking at it before flicking his hand gently and sending a small mote of darkness towards the chair. As soon as it impacted, there was a sudden warping and the chair vanished in an instant.

"Now I suspect you probably still won't believe me until we actually get this started so you can see for yourself." Voidus said. "I don't need your money, I'm not asking you to join a cult or anything. I just need a little bit of your time."

The Professor was carefully examining the space where his chair had been, patting the ground and feeling around in case it was somehow simply hidden. But at last, with a somewhat defeated expression he turned back to Voidus and simply nodded.

"Fine, show me." He said.

"Excellent." Voidus replied, pulling out a small bag which he stared at with distaste. "Why don't we start by destroying some of my least favourite fruits in the multiverse."

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

Vivica looked up at the voice, realizing that she’d beed staring at the wall for... a while? Yes, it has probably been a while. She grinned at the newcomer, who looked a little familiar though she couldn’t quite place him. 

Another hallucination? She thought, looking up at Bennington. Well, it had been that kind of day. 

“Coming right up!” She sang as she poured water into the machine and pressed ‘START’. That done, she turned her full attention to the new fellow.

”Hello!” She chirped, twisting the coppermind ring on her finger and cataloguing this newest apparition for later review. “I don’t think I’ve seen you before. I’m Vivica, and this is Bennington.”

Vivica gestured to the octopus, who looped and gave the tall blonde a curious gaze. “Now, don’t be jealous - either one of you. There’s plenty of room for all of you.” She waved a finger at both in turn, grinning even wider and smearing her nose with more blood. Always more blood...

Edited November 27, 2019 by ZincAboutIt
Typo

[Voidus]

Voidus nodded gratefully to Vivica as she turned the machine on. Her stare lingered a little as it ran over him, but she didn't seem to recognise him. That was always a relief, a chance to interact on a normal level for a change. If only for a short while before other business called him away, or someone told them who they were talking to.

He felt his tension deepen again at the thought, but a small shake of the head dismissed it and brought his attention back to Vivica He ran through a list mentally but didn't recall meeting her before, that wasn't exactly surprising given that she hadn't recognised him either. She definitely struck an interesting appearance, even as those in the Alleys went. Fully human as best he could tell, but that expression, the waves of metallic smelling blood drifting from her. She was definitely one of the interesting ones.

He follwoed her gaze as she addressed some other figure, but didn't see anything. Even with a brief flare of tin, a pulse of bronze and a peek into the cognitive realm. He eyed the empty space curiously.

Either something particularly special, or a hallucination, or just a lie? Some act to put people off guard or test them?

He felt his smile twist into genuine enjoyment, the first he'd had in some time now. And began patting pockets down until he finally retrieved something, a long silvery spike that certainly did not seem like it should be able to fit in the small breast pocket that he had pulled it from. Without hesitation he plunged it into a bindpoint just above the liver, narrowly avoiding several organs with expert precision.

He felt an intense rush of vertigo, as though he had just been thrust forward at great speed only to find that the ground wasn't moving. The mildly uncomfortable experience of having his perception of reality altered and then suddenly, clear as day he saw the octopus that was drifting about, watching Voidus curiously.

"An interesting use for these, we'll have to update records and suggest some further studies." Voidus muttered to himself as he examined the now-visible hallucination.

"Good day Bennington." He said. "Will you be joining us for coffee?"

 

Quote

Details of how this spike was obtained can be found in the DoR if anyone's curious.

 

 

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

Vivica cocked her head as she watched her newest hallucination spike himself with something she did not recognize. She blinked once, twice, thrice, then looked up at Bennington with a giggle.

”Bennington doesn’t do very well with coffee,” she said. “He’s always getting into trouble - aren’t you?”

Bennington wiggled his tentacles, narrowing his eyes. Vivica raised an eyebrow at him. “Don’t you look at me like that.” She turned back to the new man. “Forgive me, I’ve been so rude,” she grinned apologetically. “Do you have a name? It’s ok if you don’t, that happens all the time. We can discover one together!”

With a cheerful ping! the coffee maker began dispensing a fragrant stream of black liquid into one of the cups.

”Did I already tell you my name? I did, didn’t I? Right?”

[AonEne he/him]

7 hours ago, Coda said:

"Yes," Corenar said. Obviously people wouldn't remember everything. Eyes were large, exposed, and accessible. Best to remember those. 

Kios began gesturing to different bindpoints and kept talking about where each was. 

Quote

I’m sorry, I’m tired tonight and still want to try writing some other stuff, but didn’t want to hold you up any longer. Just assume he talked about most common positions. 

Edit: cool spike 

 

Edited November 27, 2019 by Ookla the Roleplayer

[Voidus]

"Vivica?" Voidus offered with a smile, he inclined his head slightly towards her. "You did. As for my name... well I've had a few, but discovering another couldn't hurt."

He was somewhat curious as to how the conversation would unfold, curious as to how this woman thought with such a unique view of the world. The spike helped with that of course, but all it did was allow him to perceive things in the same way as her, it wasn't quite the same as being able to read minds. He'd also have to remember to take it out before too long, they had some unpleasant side effects if left in for too long.

"I'm having trouble coming up wit any inspiration however." Voidus said. "Perhaps you could give me some ideas and we could work from there?"
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Sweat beaded on the Professor's face as he frowned in concentration. Voidus watched intently, eyes eager to see if this attempt would be successful. The air in the room was darkening ever so slightly, almost imperceptibly compared to Voidus' earlier displays, but it was enough to show the progress that had been made. And in the Professor's hand was an even denser patch of darkness, the concentration of the will that he was bringing to bear.

Without sound, the darkness suddenly vanished. Voidus raised a hand to clap on the Professor's shoulder in sympathy for the failed attempt when he noticed that half the pineapple that the Professor had been staring at had now vanished completely, leaving the other half rolling on the table, a small amount of juice leaking from within it. Voidus gave a smile and clapped the Professor on the back multiple times. With his other hand he absently waved towards the half-destroyed fruit, obliterating the rest of it.

"And there you have it." Voidus said, beaming from excitement. "Not completely yet, but I physical materials are always the hardest. But no point in starting off easy, jump in the deep end I say."

The Professor stood, panting, sweat still beading down the sides of his face. His posture slowly slumped as though about to collapse but he managed to hold his footing. He lifted his hands up to look at them, seeming to expect a feeling of wonder, or achievement or suspicion that he had somehow been tricked again. But instead all he felt was...

"Empty?" Voidus interrupted. "That'll happen, especially with something big like this. Not to worry, give it a bit of time and you'll be back to yourself."

"What if we kept trying?" The Professor said, tone unusually flat. He didn't seem too eager to actually continue, or too eager to do much of anything really.

"Well for one you probably just wouldn't." Voidus replied. "Lack of motivation to try and all that, but if you did then there's a good chance you'd deplete all of your willpower and eventually stop breathing."

Voidus' tone barely changed, he still held the same satisfied grin. But the words that he spoke hung ominously in the air, and even in his current lethargy, the Professor found himself shuddering.

"Why are you doing this?" He asked, a small amount of curiosity managing to creep its way back into his voice. "Why teach me this?"

Voidus gave the man an impressed stare, surprised that he could even muster the energy to wonder at the answer, let alone actually ask it.

"Well to put it simply, there's a problem I'm currently facing and it's not one I can deal with by myself." Voidus said. "So I'll need your help to deal with it, once you've learned a little more perhaps you'll be able to give me some ideas about it and we can work from there. The universe is going to be destroyed."

The Professor blinked, not seeming to be sure if this was a joke, or if he hadn't understood somehow. But staring at Voidus' still smiling expression he felt the reality of it hit him. Voidus was perfectly serious about this, this was no con or exaggeration.

"Shall we get some more coffee?" Voidus asked lightly. "I met a lovely Barista there last time, I do hope she's still there. The ability to make a good coffee I've found, is almost as rare as what I'm teaching you."

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

3 hours ago, Voidus said:

"I'm having trouble coming up wit any inspiration however." Voidus said. "Perhaps you could give me some ideas and we could work from there?"

Vivica nodded, then set the now-full cup of coffee on the break room table and swapped another one beneath the coffee maker.

"Of course I'll help you," she said, taking the pencil out from behind her ear and slipping her little notepad into her hands. She started jotting down names immediately, her bloodshot blue eyes flicking up to the new fellow and back down every few seconds. "There's any number of ways we could go about this, focusing on some of your more striking qualities."

Vivica looked up at Bennington, then pointed to a name she'd scribbled down. The octopus gave a little twirl and then moved over to circle the new apparition in  wide loops, getting a good look at him from all angles. As he did that, Vivica grinned at the man.

"Your height is quite impressive - definitely my tallest visitor to date. 'Stratos' could work for that, or we could go with something Alethi - those Alethi really are tall. I met an Alethi fellow once, wandered right into an Alley where I was walking. He had the most lovely violet eyes. I think... I think I might still have them somewhere..."

She chewed her lip for a moment, seemingly lost in thought, before the coffee maker sputtered a little. Vivica blinked, then swapped out another cup before continuing on. "We could, of course, go with all that nice blonde hair you've got there - almost silvery. One of the Earths has some lovely blonde mythological figures, I always liked those stories. Let's see... we could call you Finn, perhaps? Finn, who ate the Salmon of Knowledge and knew all that there was to know in all the world! Now, that would be a thing. Can you imagine? God-like knowledge? That would be amazing. You know there are actually a few people around here who are basically gods. I've never met any of them personally, though I guess one leads the R&D Department again so I should probably meet him at some point..."

Bennington continued to loop around the new man, moving closer.

"Of course, we could go with those eyes of yours - nice and black. Can't even see the pupil actually - that's rather fun, isn't it? Noctus, maybe? Or Nox? Or we could go with a Parshendi name, they've got those black eyes, all glassy like polished jet, aren't they? But then, I don't want to offend you - you're no Voidbringer, after all."

Vivica giggled, sneezed into her elbow, and swapped out another cup before beaming at the new man one more time.

"So," she said, clutching a cup of coffee before her face and taking a sip. "Any favorites?"

[Guest Coda]

On 11/26/2019 at 11:33 PM, Ookla the Roleplayer said:

Kios began gesturing to different bindpoints and kept talking about where each was. 

Corenar filed the knowledge away in his mind. It made sense, though he'd have to verify this knowledge with another source. Trusting a person to not be wrong was like trusting a Denizen to not spike you. "I thank you."

Quote

Sorry for not responding earlier. Life is annoying. I assume Corenar now knows the bindpoints listed on the Coppermind.

 

[Voidus]

A disturbance from his pocket distracted Voidus during the list of names that Vivica had begun musing about. He'd sagged a little at the mention of godlike entities but it seemed that Vivica didn't ascribe such qualities to him at least. That was something.

Reaching into the pocket he pulled a sleek silver pen out, the tip vibrating slightly as he held it indicating an Alleycant message. Those were rare, Mac usually dealt with anything that relied on such clandestine communications, Voidus usually needed to communicate through official channels and records in order to placate HR's endless demands for proof of compliance with every project. But then now that Mac had gone, perhaps it was someone from his department wondering who they were meant to report to.

"Nox struck me as intruiging." He replied to Vivica, allowing his hand to drop to one side as he received the message. "It's nice, simple. Easy to remember."

He paused, eyes narrowing as he stared at the air over Vivica's head. He payed closer attention as the message continued on, arriving at the expected request of who they were meant to report to, but it was the first part that had caught his interest.

Please repeat. Voidus signed back. Did you say they found Atium down there?

His other hand raised to his breast pocket once more, fishing around until it found a small ring of Aluminium. Tapping from the store there he also drew heavily on a goldmind, aligning his body with the new identity that he drew from the ring. The surface of his arms rippled, the skin bubbling and bulging out in a dozen different places. New appendagess began to sprout forth until there was barely anything left visible of his original arms.

Pens and spikes were past from one arm to the next until all two dozen or so held their own implements, each spinning rapidly from one finger to the next. Messages being sent out to various denizens to advise them, to field agents to begin preparing to enter the caverns, and to the Records department to see if there had been any similar findings previously, in addition to requesting the locations of both Lita and Laurelai. With all the communications happening simultaneously, one request for a status update should pass unnoticed.

"Not that I'm opposed to Finn either, and we do have so few Parshendi names around the place so perhaps there's some merit to that as well." Voidus said, continuing on the conversation without breaking further stride. One of the dozen hands raised a pen to his chin, tapping thoughtfully.

@ZincAboutIt