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

[Voidus]

4 minutes ago, mathiau said:

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Wait, wasn't Laurelai supposed to be Voidus's daughter? Is the Professor just assuming things or...?

 

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This scene takes place in the distant past, part of backstory stuff. Forgot to add a disclaimer at the start this time, my apologies.

 

[mathiau he/him]

1 minute ago, Voidus said:

This scene takes place in the distant past, part of backstory stuff. Forgot to add a disclaimer at the start this time, my apologies.

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Ok, this makes much more sense now^^

 

[AonEne he/him]

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I’m not obsessed with Voidus Backstory, I don’t know what you’re talking about 

Anyway I have another question , how much time is passing between these flashbacks? And did Voidus and Laurelai get married or are they just dating? 

 

[Voidus]

16 minutes ago, Ookla the Roleplayer said:

I’m not obsessed with Voidus Backstory, I don’t know what you’re talking about 

Anyway I have another question , how much time is passing between these flashbacks? And did Voidus and Laurelai get married or are they just dating? 

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Varying pretty wildly, this would be set a little over a year after Voidus and the Professor first met.

And no they're not married yet.

 

[+Sorana she/her]

Temeria remained standing when he didn't offer her a chair, silently wondered if this was a good, or a bad sign. It certainly was a distinct hint regarding her place here, and she couldn't help but look uneasily over her shoulder to see if there was someone to take her away once she finished speaking. Nothing. She forced herself to loosen her posture a little when nothing else happened and tried to find a good red line throughout her encounter with Mac.

Considering his questions, he wanted to know everything, every little detail, and she wasn't sure if she could remember their conversations well enough to sate that curiosity. Shifting her weight to one of her legs she wondered if she could sum up some parts, and then decided against it. It was probably better to describe the whole picture and only leave the small details away. That way he also had the context oh why they had done, what they had done.

"I met him at his boarding house." She started. "I arrived here," with a small gesture she indicated that she was refering to more than the room. "This morning, so a couple of hours ago. I hadn't exactly planned to go to this world and when I looked for a place to sleep I ended up at the Boarding House. We talked about prices, about where I came from and finally he hired me as a guard."

Grimacing slightly she added, "I was a bit sceptical at first. He talked about in-, invested, that was it, people running around with Stormlight or other powers, and I doubt I could do anything against someone like this, but" her hand moved away from her body, brushing the topic visibly aside, " we spoke openly about it, and from my experience having a guard around usually deters about half of those thinking about making trouble. And I'd done that job before, so there was no reason to decline." It reminded her, that she needed another job. At least she had a place to stay now. Unsecure how to continue, she fell silent and then decided to leave it to him.

"We talked quite a bit, so I don't know if all of it is relevant to you. About his immortality and how he achieved it, about the possibility to gain power, about my journey here, about this world and that some of his colleagues created it around 3000 years ago. That some call him god, but that he isn't, although he kept refering to himself that way, about - " she fell silent, shook her head when she stopped herself from adding alcohol and memories. Mac had told her, that nobody else knew, and there was no reason to spill his secret now. And he had mentioned that his colleagues didn't agree to his way to deal with what he had done, so maybe this wasn't the best topic to bring up. Uneasily she shifted her weight to her other legs and came up with something else. "about technology and that I should be aware of long metal barrels that shoot things than can kill me immediatly."

She looked over at him, "I can elaborate on the different points, if it's neccessary? We left his place afterwards and I think that part might be more interesting." She offered and left the decision to him.

Edited December 19, 2019 by Sorana

[kenod]

Kumiko and KanMien sat down as Temeria started explaining, both of them paying close attention. They looked at each other when she fell silent for a moment, but neither said anything. Kumiko just watched her, while KanMien turned towards Voidus, looking to see how he would respond to all of this.

***

Vita sat in her chair, listening as her glasses read the reports in front of her to her. She sighed as she reached for the next document, wondering why she had to read all of this paperwork. And adding to that was the fact that the whole department was pure chaos right now with discovery of Atium of all things. She sighed again, wondering what kind of mess this would create.

Suddenly she stood up as she felt something appeared close by as it alleytraveled to somewhere close to her location. She didn't like visitors normally, but based on their signature's taste she was quite sure she wouldn't mind this visitor. After all, there was only one person who had a signature as peculiar as this, and Vita always had time for her. Quickly she scanned the room, going over what she needed to get ready for her visitor.

***

Aylitha slowly walked through the alleys, having deliberately traveled some distance away from her destination. After all, it would be rather rude for her not to announce she was coming. The door opened as she walked up to it, Vita already standing in the doorway to welcome her, and soft music flowed out of the room. She paused for a second, the music faintly familiar to her, though she wasn't able to place it, only that it sounded rather classical. In the end she just kept walking, and Vita closed the door behind her.

"Welcome mother," she said with a smile, and gestured towards two sets of pillows laid down on the carpet, a small tray with drinks laid out between them. Aylitha watched as Vita sat down in one of the sets of pillows herself, and then walked over to the second set and laid down as well.

"I thought I told you not to call me that," she said in a mock-serious tone as Vita poured the two of them drinks, and listened a bit more to the music. It really did seem familiar, but she still couldn't place it, and she wondered where she had heard it before. "By the way," she said, "Could you tell me what this piece of music is? I can't seem to place it."

Vita smiled. "It's Dvorak's New World Symphony, Fox-Mom," she said. "I came across it recently, and using Vivaldi as my conversation music was getting rather old, so I decided to change it. Do you like it?" She watched as Aylitha simply stared at her in response to the new nickname, and let out a short giggle. That was one of the downsides of being a fox it seemed, a certain... disability when it came to displaying facial expressions, such as a good glare, for instance. "But what brings you here?" She asked in a more serious tone. "I'm quite happy to see you, of course, but I somehow doubt this is just a courtesy visit, especially so soon after that Atium discovery."

Aylitha fell silent for a bit, extending a small tendril to her teacup, using it to take a small sip. "You're right," she finally said, "this isn't just a courtesy visit. I did want to personally check up on you, and I did have something of somewhat more personal nature to discuss with you, but I am also here for a different reason." Again, a short pause followed. "You see," she said, "I asked Matthieu to add you to the list of people to go down into the caverns and deal with the Atium situation."

Vita just sat there for a few seconds, trying to work through what Aylitha had just told her. "Hold on," she said, "let me get this straight. You asked Matthieu, the department head, to add me to the list of people for the expedition?" She shook her head, and out of habit took a small metal bar out her jacket's sleeve and started toying with it, flipping it around to reveal the knife-blade hidden inside. "And why exactly did you do this?" She asked.

"Don't play with your knives when you're talking to people dear," Aylitha said in annoyance. "Really, you should try to get rid of that habit of yours. Even if you don't like talking to people, intimidating them with knives can cause you trouble, especially if you accidentally do it with a superior." She sighed as Vita quickly hid the knife away. "As for why I asked Matthieu to add you to the list," she continued, "I needed someone to keep an eye on some of my own interests down in the caverns. I don't care about the Atium, except for that it can possibly get me some extra funding, but the caverns contain a huge amount of extremely interesting lifeforms, and I needed someone who both has the expertise to deal with the operational aspects of this as well as being familiar enough with Bioscience's interests to ensure we don't have a bunch of researchers destroy the whole ecosystem trying to get some shiny metals."

"Erm, I can see that," Vita said as she remembered the mess she had to deal with the last time a researcher decided that their method was faster than Acquisitions' method. "And I don't really mind doing this, at least it will get me out from under all of this paperwork." She thought for a bit. "Can you tell me something about what's down there? It seems you have at least some knowledge of it after all. Also, do you mind telling me how you got this information? I know there's an Acquisitions agent down there, but given that you've come to me for this I doubt they'd have the knowledge to keep you properly informed on this."

"Of course I can," Aylitha said, secretly hiding a sigh of relief that Vita wasn't upset about her volunteering her for the expedition. "You'd probably like it down there," she said in a lighter tone. "Lots of growths of fungal material around. A lot of the surfaces are covered in bioluminescent fungi, and even the surfaces that aren't covered should have a decent amount of light on them, so getting around should be easy for you. Only a few lifeforms have been discovered as of now, but multiple have displayed some form of innate investure, which is part of the reason we're interested in them. It also seems the caverns themselves might be invested, but that's not my area of expertise." She paused for a bit, thinking. "You'll probably want to be careful though," she continued. "Some of the lifeforms encountered are predatory, and their investure makes them even more dangerous. One of the first lifeforms encountered was a giant worm, big enough to swallow people whole, that was capable of using Soothing to subdue victims."

Vita nodded, a smile on her face. "That sounds quite... interesting," she said, and she meant it. The amount of life down there should make getting around much easier, though she'd probably want to keep an eye out just in case. After all, she didn't want to trip and break her neck because she ended up missing a spot. At the same time, it seemed there were a lot of things down there still left to discover, enough to keep her occupied for quite a while. And even if she had left Bioscience part of her was still immensely interested in figuring out what was going on the lifeforms down there. "Alright," she finally said. "By the way, are you going to tell me about how you know all this?"

Aylitha paused for a bit, wondering what she could tell Vita, and which things she should tell her. "My source is a bioscience researcher who has joined the expedition," she finally said. "You've never met her, she joined only shortly before you left, and the both of you worked in different labs." For good reason, she silently added. "In fact, however, she is an... experiment of mine. She isn't aware of this, and neither are most of the other researchers. You'd recognize her rather quickly if you came near her, but I'd prefer if you didn't tell her. It could cause trouble. Her particular, erm, nature, so to say, allows me to gather information through her without anyone knowing, though my influence over her is rather... limited. Adding to that, while she is a good researcher, she doesn't have the necessary knowledge or experience as a DA member to properly deal with this situation. Which," she said as she pointed her tail to Vita, "is also the reason I came to you."

Vita simply nodded, trying to work through what Aylitha had just said, and she caught herself wondering what this person would be like. She forced herself away from that thought though. She was still just some random stranger, even if she was one of Mother's experiments. No reason to spend any time thinking about that.

Aylitha simply noted Vita's expression, and decided to move on. "Well," she said, "Now that we've gotten that all out of the way, I'll give you some more background information, and after that we can move away from shop talk and catch up on what happened since the last time we've met." She paused for a bit, a small gloom seemingly passing over room. "And after that," she finally continued, "We can discuss a certain proposal I have."

***

A few hours later, when Aylitha had finally left, Vita simply sat amidst the cushions, and tried to wrap her head around her mother's proposal. She could understand the reasoning behind it, but still, the offer had come completely out of the blue, and to just make a decision like that... Eventually they had decided that she would give her answer after this expedition was over, but she still had no idea what to answer, and she could only hope that this expedition would help her get her mind in order.

[18th Shard he/him]

Xanas reached through the darkness, Blade stabbing into the stone above him. It was good to see some things never changed, even when everything around kept peering at you, darkness reaching its evil little fingers out at you, trying to pull you back into the… Stop that. Xanas glared at the dark sky filling the alley. 18-colon-2i, if you even think you can manipulate me into surrendering, you must have forgotten who gave you sentience. A low wind coursed through the alleyway, with an almost mournful, apologetic sound. Xanas hadn’t been able to make alleys like Voidus or Mac could – they were a little better at the whole deity thing than he had been – but he had always been able to convince the alleys that existed to be where he needed them. This one had been both imaginary and complex, which made it hard enough to manage, but more than that, he’d taken one of the walls off. Everyone tried to walk Alley 18:2i on the floor as far from the Void (which had started seeping through the wall-less side) as possible, but to get to Xanas’s lab, you couldn’t do that. You had to walk on the ceiling until you felt the Escher paradox take hold of you, then turn toward the Void. At that point, the straight walk left you turning onto a perpendicular route to his lab. However, it left the way out devilishly hard if you couldn’t Lash yourself anymore. Xanas grabbed the handhold he had just carved, then swung the Blade out again to carve the next one. He stabbed the Blade back into the stone ceiling, then swung forward to the next handhold, grabbing the Blade once he’d passed. He made his way over to the edge of the paradox, then dropped to the floor, happy to not have to hang in the air anymore. His arms couldn’t get tired, but it was so annoying to have to keep swapping hands to use the Blade properly. He held the Blade in his right hand, and stepped into the main Alleyway. Alley 273 was a much more used alley, even had this great taco shop on the corner…

Xanas looked around at the silent alley, watching trash blow on the ethereal wind. It was… empty. It looked like it had been abandoned for years. How long had he been gone? Surely no more than a few months.

He willed the Alley to take him back toward the Worldspike. Alley 273 warped, twisting. Xanas could have traveled instantly, but he’d always enjoyed to walk. Walking gave you a sense of purpose, a connection to the distance you traveled and the things you saw. And you could always leave a trail of cookie crumbs to get back if you wanted.

He saw … change. It was as if he had left these Alleys as children, and they had grown overnight into adults. Grandparents even. There were doorways into alleys with their own flora and fauna that hadn’t even been here the last time he walked by.

He turned a corner and saw the triceratops. Of course. Can’t even go for a walk without a dinosaur wanting to kill me. Xanas hated dinosaurs. There was a reason the universe had thrown an asteroid at them. All brawn and no brain. Half of them couldn’t even be trained to use the bathroom outside the lab. The triceratops lowered its horns – they had been replaced with spikes – and charged. Xanas sighed. He sidestepped the charge, swinging Tsarik through the side of the triceratops. He managed to miss every single limb enough to sever one. The triceratops turned and slammed its head into the wall, just missing Xanas. Its horns caught, lodged in the mortar. Fine, Xanas thought. He pulled off a glove and darkness began to pool on his fingertips. He grabbed the middle horn that was stuck deep into the wall.

“Goodbye, little one. Next time, have better manners.” He grasped the horn, feeling the Investiture bleed out, writhing into the darkness. The horn dimmed to his sight, just a bit. It was no longer a spike. The triceratops started thrashing. That was normal when your brain realized there was a large piece of metal inside it. Xanas jerked the horn a little bit, and the dinosaur fell still. Once, he might have reshaped it into something useful. Once, he might have had a little mercy for the life before him. Now, he was just tired. Dying tended to do that to you, even if you had once been a god.

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

Vivica cradled her three cups of coffee with gentle, firm pressure and slowly shuffled back through the doorways towards Grey and Sierra.

"Quite a day it's been, isn't it?" Vivica whispered, looking up at Bennington. The octopus wiggled three of his tentacles and spun a tight loop, indicating his agreement. She'd have to take some detailed notes on Nox after she and Grey were done with the procedure. It was always nice to meet a new hallucination, especially one as fascinating and complex as Nox.

She nudged the final door to the examination room with her toe, slipping in and setting the coffee down on the counter with quiet efficiency. Vivica took one cup in each hand and set one next to the screeching radio for Grey, then sipped at the other. Sierra looked busy at the moment, and it was never wise to interfere with a subject in the middle of a procedure anyway. Especially this procedure.

Vivica made eye contact with Grey, raising her eyebrows and motioning Bennington back from the arm of Sierra's chair with one finger. She shook her head a little.

How's it going? She thought towards Grey. Telepathy - so convenient.

@Snipexe

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We continuing this? :] 

 

[Voidus]

Voidus listened silently as Temeria spoke, dark eyes never wavering as she recounted her initial meeting with Mac and the topics that he'd touched on. She seemed a little uncomfortable still, but there wasn't likely much he could do to help that. The Alleys were uncomfortable for those not used to them, largely by design. A simple seat and cup of tea weren't going to change things, and might just make them worse.

"He spoke of people calling him a god?" Voidus asked with a faint note of surprise.

It hadn't been something they'd discussed that often, but it came up from time to time. The reverence of many other denizens was bad enough, but when the entire world held you up as some kind of dark god it was inevitable that they'd have their own reactions to it. Voidus himself had always found the position uncomfortable, all too aware of his own shortcomings and limitations. Mac had still been adjusting to it for the most part, he'd gone from confident and sure of his status to doubting and reluctant. Was that revelation the one that had finally caused him to leave?

Let her tell the story herself. Voidus reminded himself. Better to get the first telling as she thinks of it rather than pushing for specifics.

"Nevermind. As you say the next part is likely more relevant. You left his boarding house? Please continue."

As he spoke, Voidus felt a sudden sense of unease. Something fleeting passed by, not a physical form but an... awareness. One that was close and comfortable but also strangely distant. His head jerked to one side as though to catch sight of this invisible presence, but it was gone as suddenly as it had arrived, leaving him staring at nothing but a blank section of wall.

"Please continue." He repeated, eyes still lingering on the wall for a moment before he pulled them back to Temeria.
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In the distant place in a universe of indeterminate distance

"Anything?" The Professor asked with only a faint note of hope still to his voice. "I still haven't but-"

"Nothing." Voidus replied, face twisted into a scowl. "Three months of searching and we're still no closer than we were."

The light in their vicinity dimmed, the harsh sunlight that hit the desert sands around them fading into shadow. The air cooled down as they were surrounded by a heavy pressure that caused a nearby lizard to throw up a cloud of sand as it dug itself underground. But in seconds the pressure faded, the heat and sunlight bore down once again and the ominous darkness that was spreading from Voidus seemed to be but an illusion.

"You said it could take years." The Professor reminded him, though his own expression was also darkened with disappointment. "At least we've eliminated a few possibilities."

Voidus continued to stare into the sand surrounding them, expression still dark and frustrated. One hand clenched into an angry fist before relaxing back to his side, as it did Voidus' expression seemed to suddenly shift back into a hopeful smile, his eyes set with determination as he looked off towards the horizon. The Professor's expression seemed to lift a little as he saw it, tired and frustrated but still hopeful.

"We've crossed a few possibilities off." Voidus agreed. "Every time we narrow down what's left to search. We get a little closer."

The Professor returned his smile before breaking off, he stared back towards the horizon but his brow was furrowed in concern, his eyes faintly glistening with sadness.

"Have you heard anything mew?" He asked. "From home?"

Voidus' expression flickered for a moment, and his gaze followed the Professor's towards the horizon before replacing it with a smile once again, the speed with which his expression changed seeming almost unnatural.

"No, I haven't heard anything." Voidus called back as he turned towards their transport to begin heading to the next location.

[+Sorana she/her]

"Yes." Temeria replied. "And while he said, that he was no god, he continued to refer to himself as one." She turned her head, looked at the spren and then decided to skip over that part. The spren was still here and she didn't want to draw more attention to him, than neccessary. He had followed her here, there was no need to drag him down even deeper into this.

"We went to the hall of legends. He explained a little about this city and about the Invasion that happened here a few months ago." With a slight movement of her hand she indicated that she skipped that part. "Once we arrived there, he showed me his statue and then - " She hesitated tried to remember the poem and failed. "Things picked up afterwards, and I don't remember ever detail."

"He was looking for something, and there was a poem of some sorts. I followed him downstairs into the Tomb, where he opened the grave of someone called Devaan. A skeleton jumped out, I smashed it to pieces and it left a ring." She held it up. "I think Mac went down there specifically for the ring, because he knew what it was, showed me it's effect." Taking a step forward she placed the ring on her palm for the others to see. "When he slid it on his fingers, his hair and skin changed. He told me, that it allows you to use the powers of an - Elanian? I'm not entirely sure about the name anymore. In the end he gave it to me, said that I have better use for it, than he has."

Falling silent for a moment her tone changed, when she spoke again, lost the hard edge she had spoken with earlier. "We returned upstairs and I could see that he had come to a decision of some sorts, he had changed."

"He said, that it was time for him to go, like an artist who has to step and leave a painting alone at one point or the other. It was time for him to start another chapter in his life." And he had cried, but she kept that part to herself again, didn't know if he would like for her to spill something as intimate as this. "He gave me this coin," she placed it next to the ring, the side showing Mac facing to ceiling of the room. "And allowed me to stay at his boarding house indefinitely."

Looking up she looked the man still sitting at his table straight into his eyes. "His last words were directed at me." She made a short pause and then quoted. "I won't ask you to live up to my legacy, but I want you to try and be the best you can, try to do what is right and while hardship may follow, know that you are fixing a small part of the world." She closed her fingers around the ring and the coin, moved her hand back to herself. "When we talked at the boarding house, a central part was his perceived failure to create a home for those living here. A better place." She added to set the words into a larger context. She was no god, she knew she had no chance to do whatever it was that he had done. But he had asked her to try to work towards something he had never accomplished in a way that was satisfying for him. And so she would try.

"He left his hat, monocle, cane and a book at his statue. I didn't touch them, if he had wanted for me to take them, he would have given them to me as well. Then he left."

Edited January 6, 2020 by Sorana

[Voidus]

So even Temeria had noticed the contradictions in Mac's attitudes? Voidus smiled into the distance as he listened to that. It seemed that Mac would forever remain a contradiction and a mystery, someone who denied being a god but chided himself for not being able to live up to the ideal of one he held. Perhaps one day, Mac would pull off yet another miraculous return, but something told Voidus that was unlikely.

His attention was brought back at the mention of the Hall of Legends, it had been constructed while Voidus was still inside the barrier around the Worldspike but he'd taken note of it later. There had been some rumours that there was a riddle there that led to powerful artifacts left behind by the founder of the Canton of Combat. Had Mac been pursuing them? And if so, to what end? The ring was certainly interesting, but generating a Connection to the Dor was hardly beyond Macs existing capabilities.

"We returned upstairs and I could see that he had come to a decision of some sorts, he had changed." Temeria continued after a moments pause.

At this, Voidus' eyes brightened and focused more intently. This was what he had been looking for, some insight as to what had led his old friend to take such a drastic decision. He'd already handed the ring to Temeria, had he been questioning himself even then?

There was a slight hesitation as Temeria continued, a moment's tension. Voidus was hardly familiar enough with her to be able to completely read her emotional state just by burning some tin and watching her reactions, but he could tell that there was something she'd felt uncomfortable about. The analogy to a painter definitely sounded like Mac though, so it seemed she wasn't lying at least, and she had volunteered to come here herself. It would be best not to push too far.

He met Temeria's eyes as her resolve firmed and she recited Mac's final words. A personal message, a plea even. One more of Mac's attempts to try to leave the world in a little bit of a better shape. Voidus leaned back as she finished, he smiled wearily, eyes distant once more as he wondered what would become of Mac. The words he had left had seemed personal, directed to Temeria. But they could be taken as much more than that, a message to everyone, the last lesson of Mac.

The silence extended before Voidus finally straightened once again, still tired, still weary. But ready to shoulder the mantle that his friend had left behind until another could take it up. Looking down to the table he picked up the coin, looking it over curiously before sliding it back across to Temeria.

"Mac was one of my oldest friends and colleagues." He said, a melancholy note creeping into his voice. "We're not gods, but we often acted the part and tried to do their work."

He gave a soft sigh before standing up and looking towards the other two Denizens who had followed them in. KanMien and Kumiko had sat silently through the explanation, watching and listening.

"The items he left behind." Voidus said, speaking to them directly. "At his statue, could you retrieve them?"

It was perhaps not fair to ask it of them, the two likely had their own business to attend to. But if he were to ask someone formally, put a request in to acquisitions then it would open the floodgates to other requests to come back, more authorisations and overviews that needed to be completed. Even the thought of such was enough to bring back a wave of lethargy. It felt like an effort to simply drag his eyes back to Temeria.

"It seems that Mac saw something in you." Voidus said. "Something interesting."

Slowly, his gaze shifted towards the luminous figure standing on her shoulder. The humanoid shaped bundle of light stared back challengingly, earning a twitch of a smile before Voidus looked to Temeria once again.

"I have no intention of retracting any of what he offered, the ring, house and coin are all his gifts. I hope that they help you pursue what you may throughout your life, and that you remember his last words to you." Regaining a little vigour, Voidus continued. "I offer my own thanks as well, for coming to deliver his words, and for being there to hear them. I'm glad that he found someone he felt worthy of those words before he left. If there's something you need, feel free to ask it, we have not-insignificant resources and knowledge available and I appreciate what you've done more than you may be able to know."

Reaching into a drawer he drew out a slender silver pen, pulling one end off he revealed the small ruby set inside it before replacing the end and placing it on the table before Temeria.

"A spanreed." He explained. "Should you need to get in touch, we generally use them a little differently but should you need it you can use it as normal to contact me. Or just activate it and move it around a bit if it's an emergency, I should be able to find it."

Straightening his back, Voidus gave a small inclination of his head, a simple nod of thanks but he put the weight of his appreciation behind it. There had been many denizens in the Alleys over the years, many friends among them, many had eventually ended up moving on. It had been nice to receive some final word from them this time.

@kenod @Sorana
 

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Feel free to skip over actually retrieving Mac's stuff, or to hand it off to someone else or refuse if needed.

 

[+Sorana she/her]

Temeria took the strange pen and curiously looked at it. It was silver, and shorter than the quills she was used to, additionally there was feather tobe dipped into ink. As the crystal was on one side, she suspected that the other side could be used for writing, although there was nothing there that looked like it might be able to hold ink, or whatever it was people used in this world. She pocketed it, decided that if simply moving it around was enough, she would find a way to use it, if it was neccessary. She could always hold the other side down and pretend she was writing with it.

"Thank you." She replied gratefully, suspected that she didn't quite grasp the importance of this gift. She doubted that someone as powerful as he had to be, would hand out means to contact him personally easily, especially not with the offer attached to call upon him in an emergency. "I won't use it lightly." At least not as a call for help. It was dangerous to rely on others to save your hide. She prefered to be strong enough to deal with a situation by herself. And yet, it felt good to have something like that in her pocket, a chance to survive when things went south.

Hesitating she considered the other part of his offer. Ask if there was something she needed. They had knowledge and power. Power was one thing, but knowledge. She could do with buckets of knowledge, starting by how to read some of the scripts she had seen around. Looking down at her hand holding the coin and the ring she tried to figure out if she really wanted to ask for something as usual as reading some letters. Her sister probably could teach her that easily, but her explanations around storing something had been vague. Too vague for Temeria to work with them. Slowly she opened her fingers again and lifted them a little, so that he would know what she was talking about.

"Do you know somebody that could teach me how to use these? And who would be willing to do so?" She asked carefully, tried to phrase it as open as possible, in case he hadn't planned to follow up on his offer sometime soon. She figured he could always tell her no, but if she didn't ask, then she would never learn and she no intention at all to be dead in a few days because she had been to shy to ask some questions. Only the strong ones could afford to live in ignorance and hope they could brute through a situation as it arouse. And Temeria had never been strong compared to the other soldiers had needed to rely on her training and her mind to survive.

@Voidus

[kenod]

Kumiko looked at KanMien and nodded to her, and KanMien in turn nodded to Voidus, and both stood up to leave, Voidus and Temeria continuing their talk. But just as they reached the door KanMien's pen started twitching in her pocket as a message came through. She paused as she listened to it, while Kumiko curiously studied the pen, trying to read the message. Slowly a frown appeared on her face as the person on the other side kept talking, when abruptly the message was cut short and the pen was suddenly wrenched downwards.

She looked at Voidus. "My apologies sir," she said in a cold tone, "but it will be a bit before I can take care of your request. Apparently a group of people have decided to attack the Woodwyrd. Not only that, but it seems they're overwhelming the guards currently there. With your permission I'd take some people over there to take care of it." She didn't mention the final part of the message, of who had dared to attack the place. Chaos marines. Subconsciously she rested a hand on the grip of her gun, her other hand clenching into a fist, as she remembered what had happened the last time chaos marines had been around in force.

Kumiko looked at KanMien, concerned. It wasn't often that she acted like this, especially nowadays. Not sure what to do she softly touch her arm, hoping she would calm down. KanMien looked down in surprise, and then slowly relaxed her hand, nodding to Kumiko in thanks. Quickly she focused back on Voidus, hoping he wouldn't notice what had happened.

***

Aylitha walked through the alleys and knocked on the door to Matthieu's office, then softly opening it and stepping in and sitting down on one of the chairs. "Hazel is ready," was all she said.

Quote

I guess we can simply skip the rest of this to ItD?

 

[Voidus]

"The Woodwyrd?" Voidus asked. "Elsa's usually managed to avoid being entangled into any conflicts."

His brow creased as he looked past the pair and into the distance, but he quickly gave a tired shake of his head. There was no point in trying to micro manage every little uprising that took place. There were plenty others who could take the situation in hand, and one who had already volunteered to do so.

"Please do." He said. "Take who you need, but with the news about an Atium cache there may be some competition in finding people."

He gave a weighty sigh and turned back to Temeria, giving an apologetic nod before looking at what she held in her hand. The coin that Mac had given her, and the ring that they had found. There were certainly plenty in the DA who could teach AonDor to someone with the ability to use it. The coin would be even simpler, though Temeria would likely need some explanations of the potential dangers of over-storing health and how exactly a metalmind worked. But the question was, who would be available to give such lessons? Much as Voidus might wish to return to the days where he had the time to simply share his knowledge with someone else, it was no longer practical. Others in the DA had their own research and operations to run.

For a moment his mind flitted to a familiar blonde haired young woman before he dismissed the idea, even if Laurelai was available she had not shown a particular preference for teaching. And while she had some experience with Selish Investitures she was no Elantrian. Who else then? Preferably someone who could be more easily accessible than most Denizens tended to be.

"I can think of a few." He said slowly. "The easiest for you would likely be those in the canton of combat. I could show you there if you'd like? There is one other who comes to mind, but that may be an.... unusual experience for you."

His eyes met with Temeria's as he spoke and he stared intently into them. Voidus still felt tired more than anything else, but also curious about this young woman, curious as to what Mac had seen in her. What had she made him realise that caused him to leave as he did? And underneath the weariness and curiosity, Voidus still felt the pain. Long since tempered by the parting of so many others, but Mac's loss was still a harsh blow. The last in a series of thousands of cuts that had built up over the near eternity of life that Voidus had held.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the distant past on a distant world

"Why haven't you been answering her calls?" The Professor asked.

He was unusually angry as he stormed into the room, glaring down with a red face at Voidus as he sat at the table pouring over a map. Voidus looked up with a slightly bemused expression, equal parts confused and amused as he stared patiently back into the Professor's eyes.

"Answered who's calls?" He replied.

"You know who." The Professor said flatly. "Laurelai. I've heard she's been trying to talk to you for days. Weeks."

He stared defiantly back at Voidus, trying to read the other man's expression. But Voidus' face revealed nothing as he gave a soft sigh, looking away. He seemed to think deeply about something before managing to look back at the Professor, still staring challengingly at him.

"Do you have any idea how long I've been alive?" Voidus asked.

The Professor stood, taken aback by the unexpected question, but quickly regained his frustration.

"No I don't. You're as evasive about your past as you are at answering direct questions."

"I've had a lot of practice." Voidus said as he gave another amused smile at that, nodding along in agreement which served only to bristle the Professor even further in his anger. "But truth be told I don't actually know either. At a certain point you only count the decades. Then the centuries. And then, well at a certain point I lost track altogether."

"What does any of that have to do with the question?" The Professor interrupted.

"I'm getting to it. Let an old man prattle sometimes." Voidus said, still smiling. "If I've lived that long, how many people do you think I've known over that time? Once again, I don't actually know myself. I remember some of them, some names, faces. Probably misremember a lot of them actually, and so many others that I've forgotten entirely. Thousands? Millions? I don't even know the scale let alone the number."

The Professor calmed slowly, still visibly angry, but also curious. He stared patiently into Voidus' eyes, waiting for the man to continue.

"And as you can tell by how many I've introduced you to, none of those people are still with me." Voidus said, eyes breaking off and staring into the distance. "I've lost more people than you've ever known. Maybe more people than there are alive here today. Do you have any idea how that makes me feel?"

"I-" The Professor stammered "I couldn't even ima-"

"Nothing" Voidus interrupted, still speaking in the same quiet, vaguely amused tone. "Absolutely nothing. Maybe I'm just numb to it by now, maybe I was always like this. I don't know anymore."

"But this is someone you love." The Professor said after a moments pause. "She's about to give birth to your child, surely that must be difficult."

"Maybe I'm afraid to find out." Voidus said, voice dropping to a faint whisper. "Because what do I do if I can't even muster up enough emotion to care about that anymore?"

The room faded into silence as Voidus stared off into the distance and the Professor stared at Voidus, looking into his eyes and trying to understand the inscrutable man before him.

[Snipexe he/him]

On 1/2/2020 at 9:11 PM, ZincAboutIt said:

Vivica cradled her three cups of coffee with gentle, firm pressure and slowly shuffled back through the doorways towards Grey and Sierra.

"Quite a day it's been, isn't it?" Vivica whispered, looking up at Bennington. The octopus wiggled three of his tentacles and spun a tight loop, indicating his agreement. She'd have to take some detailed notes on Nox after she and Grey were done with the procedure. It was always nice to meet a new hallucination, especially one as fascinating and complex as Nox.

She nudged the final door to the examination room with her toe, slipping in and setting the coffee down on the counter with quiet efficiency. Vivica took one cup in each hand and set one next to the screeching radio for Grey, then sipped at the other. Sierra looked busy at the moment, and it was never wise to interfere with a subject in the middle of a procedure anyway. Especially this procedure.

Vivica made eye contact with Grey, raising her eyebrows and motioning Bennington back from the arm of Sierra's chair with one finger. She shook her head a little.

How's it going? She thought towards Grey. Telepathy - so convenient.

@Snipexe

 

Quote

With apologies to both Zinc and Shard, yes

Grey rolled his eye at Sierra’s rejection of the inevitable. The choice has already been made, the fates having been decided when the radio first whispered to life. All that this had truly determined, besides the initial connection, was the nature of her boon, and agony of her bane. He noted Vivica's approach and question. "Good timing, we were just about to begin the fun bit." He removed the vision acuity tester from Sierra’s head, careful not to catch her hair in the device. It did tend to be a pain to remove, it was the number one complaint about the procedure. From those who were sane anyway. The insane tended to complain about the chair. He fixed his gaze on Sierra and let out a silent sigh. "Look alight, I'm sorry about what's going to happen next, that said, it is going to be pretty funny to watch, so if I leave in the middle to go get popcorn, I do hope you'll forgive me." The snap of blue latex gloves punctuated his remarks. He felt around in his pockets for a mild tranq, there had to be one somewhere around there. People often tried to escape when they realized the waiver they had signed before entering the study had been rather vague about what kind of mild inconveniences they might experience. 

"Looks like there's not any tranqs for you, so you'll be fully conscious for the lovely lightshow that's soon to come. Any last words before you get metaphysically ripped to pieces?"

@Shard of Thought

[Zephrun’s Imperium they/he]

Sierra gave him a weird look, feeling unsure, as she had been through most of everything. This day had been undeniably odd. Nothing quite made sense anymore. She was too numb to be scared or off-put by Grey's odd words, instead mostly just glad the awful staticy noises had stopped. She supposed she had decided that the whole lot of people here were either geniuses or insane. If they were geniuses, great, maybe she'd actually be able to do something with herself from now on. If they were insane, even better, they might kill her and get everything over with. Or perhaps this was all simply a dream and she'd wake to find that Theresa had never left and she hadn't murdered her just an hour ago. She ultimately came to the conclusion that if she was dreaming, this was quite the hellish nightmare. 

"Let's do it," she said, curious of what was to come. For as much of a nightmare as her life was, she dearly hoped she wouldn't wake up. This was her life. Today she would either die or be born. She didn't care which. 

@Snipexe

[Snipexe he/him]

"Oh Jolly, that makes things soooo much easier." Grey was, honestly, surprised. He had not expected to see Sierra embrace the procedure with such fervor. He snapped his fingers, the sound emanating despite the blue rubber that coated them. The chair and all associated apparatus vanished, leaving the room empty, besides the single coffee cup that had fallen to the ground. He cracked his knuckles, flaring his lab coat behind him even as he did so. It did always pay to have a bit of drama. "Step back please." He crouched down, then gazed around the room, shifting his head as he did so to counter for lack of depth perception. He nodded. He wouldn't need a guide for this one, he could eyeball the pentacle himself. He focused, then soulcast a fingerprint of blood on the tip of his index finger. Breathed in, then out. Then planted his finger on the ground, and drew the eldritch symbol. The circle and the lines were the easy bit. You could practice those. The symbols that formed the true connection, well, they were not to be trifled with. With his other hand he slipped a small pocket copy of Human Resources Guide to the Occult from his pocket. He laid it on the ground, then flipped through the blood and goop soaked pages to the one that listed the various symbols and their meanings. He picked the ones he needed, then began the drawing process, careful to draw the symbols perfectly. The 5 cardinal points were used to address the being that rested in the space between Alleys, and the rest were used to form Connection.

@ZincAboutIt @Shard of Thought

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

Vivica helped to usher Sierra back from the center of the now-empty room, and kept an eye on Bennington, who was edging quite close to the spilled coffee. She gave a quiet, sharp 'tsk' and the octopus halted before swimming sulkily back through the air to her side. She watched Grey work with mounting excitement, admiring his precision as he drew the necessary symbols. The gloves on his hands made little sense to her - why wouldn't you want to feel the blood between your own fingers, running down the backs of your hands and up your sleeves? The thought filled her with an intense longing.

How long had it been since she'd practiced all her bindpoints? Ages, she was sure. It had been a while since she'd been in the thick of it, but it felt so good to be back in a lab, experimenting, pushing the limits, ripping the foundations of reality like wet paper. Vivica grinned at Sierra, a proper grin, wide and hard and full of too many teeth. Sierra had plenty of blood, didn't she? Plenty indeed, and did she really need all of it? Vivica's hand was halfway into her pocket for a spike when she stopped herself.

This is Grey's experiment, not mine, she reminded herself sternly. He was so nice to offer his coffee maker, and to help Sierra. It wouldn't do to exsanguinate the girl before she's been properly divested of her sanity and reduced to metaphysical mince. That would just be rude. Besides, perhaps once the procedure was done, she and Viv could finally find something to talk about.

That thought brightened her, and she took a pen out from behind her ear and began scribbling onto her notepad, drawing out the rough outline of Grey's circle, taking note of what was going on. This was going to be fun. It was already fun! 

What a beautiful day, she thought contentedly, and waited for Grey to split reality like an egg.

@Snipexe @Shard of Thought

[+Sorana she/her]

Temeria listened to them, talking about an attack, about something they had found somewhere and that they were short on people. She considered to speak up, and offer her support, she was a trained soldier, maybe she could actually help with the attack. She suspected that she was no match to them, but sometimes another pair of eyes made a difference, but then the man's attention turned back to her and she continued to listen for now.

His eyes were tearing into hers and she flinched back a little, looked to the side after a heartbeat when she couldn't stand this gaze anymore. He seemed to stare deep into herself and she wished for a second set of armor, only to keep this gaze away and looked over at Kan'Mien and Kumiko. "If you don't find anybody, maybe I could help in exchange for a little money?" She offered and hoped she had kept it vague enough that they could decline without saying a word. She wasn't entirely sure if she wanted to get involved in another battle, and that so soon, but then it was the only thing she knew how to do. She would have to fight again, if only to earn money sooner or later anyway. The prospect seemed threatening, this was one thing she had wanted to stop, the useless killing, the loosing of those standing left and right. Fighting for another one's cause with no stakes of her own. Nothing but fresh meat to be thrown forward, injured or killed. Whatever. It would be stupid to let the opportunity pass. She had to offer.

With a deep breath she pushed it all aside and forced her eyes back up to man's face and thankfully inclined her head. "I am sure I can find my way to the Canton, I can simply ask around in the streets." Mac had mentioned the Canton as well, and she had planned to visit them sooner or later, originally to ask for work. They sounded like they might have the money to hire another sword. Although she hadn't seen anybody wearing a sword so far, so maybe they didn't use this kind of weapon in this world.

"What is the other option?" She turned her attention back to the matter at hand, the one that was more interesting and more alluring than the prospect of another battle. And there was something else, something she wanted to add without the other two listening. She wasn't sure if the opportunity would arise, or if he cared, but somehow she wanted to. "The unusual one?"

Edited January 8, 2020 by Sorana

[Zephrun’s Imperium they/he]

Sierra, resigned to her fate (whatever it might be) watched with interest, trying to perhaps pull meaning from the drawn symbols. She didn't recognize any of it, but she supposed it didn't matter. The blood in itself, however, both interested her and made her feel uneasy. It wasn't that it made her feel unsafe - she had been around the stuff plenty of times - but rather, brought back images of her dead sister. Seeing it all over Vivica was fine, but seeing it on the floor, all about her... It seemed that blood followed her wherever she went. Sierra felt her stomach rumble and turned her thoughts away from such things. 

@Snipexe @ZincAboutIt

[kenod]

14 hours ago, Sorana said:

Temeria listened to them, talking about an attack, about something they had found somewhere and that they were short on people. She considered to speak up, and offer her support, she was a trained soldier, maybe she could actually help with the attack. She suspected that she was no match to them, but sometimes another pair of eyes made a difference, but then the man's attention turned back to her and she continued to listen for now.

His eyes were tearing into hers and she flinched back a little, looked to the side after a heartbeat when she couldn't stand this gaze anymore. He seemed to stare deep into herself and she wished for a second set of armor, only to keep this gaze away and looked over at Kan'Mien and Kumiko. "If you don't find anybody, maybe I could help in exchange for a little money?" She offered and hoped she had kept it vague enough that they could decline without saying a word. She wasn't entirely sure if she wanted to get involved in another battle, and that so soon, but then it was the only thing she knew how to do. She would have to fight again, if only to earn money sooner or later anyway. The prospect seemed threatening, this was one thing she had wanted to stop, the useless killing, the loosing of those standing left and right. Fighting for another one's cause with no stakes of her own. Nothing but fresh meat to be thrown forward, injured or killed. Whatever. It would be stupid to let the opportunity pass. She had to offer.

With a deep breath she pushed it all aside and forced her eyes back up to man's face and thankfully inclined her head. "I am sure I can find my way to the Canton, I can simply ask around in the streets." Mac had mentioned the Canton as well, and she had planned to visit them sooner or later, originally to ask for work. They sounded like they might have the money to hire another sword. Although she hadn't seen anybody wearing a sword so far, so maybe they didn't use this kind of weapon in this world.

"What is the other option?" She turned her attention back to the matter at hand, the one that was more interesting and more alluring than the prospect of another battle. And there was something else, something she wanted to add without the other two listening. She wasn't sure if the opportunity would arise, or if he cared, but somehow she wanted to. "The unusual one?"

KanMien looked Temeria. "You might want to think twice about that," she said. "They already managed to take out our guards after all. I don't know if you have access to any Investure or special skills, but even if you did it would likely be rather dangerous for you." She shrugged. "Still, if you still want to go, and you think you can contribute something I don't mind taking you along, as long as Voidus agrees." She looked at Voidus, waiting for a response from him.

Quote

If you want to participate in this I'd suggest asking about it in the ANF thread, given that they don't really want people to participate without their permission.

 

[Voidus]

"I appreciate the offer, but we should have this handled amongst ourselves." Voidus said to Temeria, nodding in agreement to KanMien's statement. "If you were interested in working with us then you're most welcome to join our organisation, but we don't hire outside mercenaries to clean up our mess."

He gave another apologetic nod of the head but was also unmoving on the issue. The DA did not rely on others to fix their problems, especially not a mercenary, no matter how helpful that mercenary may have been with other matters. Remaining insular and self-contained in these kinds of matters was one of the only reasons the balance between the DA and the other guilds had been maintained all these years, the DA kept to themselves and the others didn't intrude on their business.

"But there is plenty of work available in the city for your skillset." He continued. "Especially should you manage to develop further with these gifts. I'm sure you won't have too much trouble finding someone willing to pay for your services."

Voidus watched the spren again, it seemed to have perked up a bit at the prospect of fighting, looking curiously around at each of the inhabitants of the office. But it maintained it's position on Temeria's shoulder and didn't seem likely to part with her anytime soon. It didn't seem like she was aware of what the spren was, what it might mean, but if a bond did develop between them then Temeria would certainly find no small number of offers, likely invitations from other guilds as well. Radiants were more common than some other forms of Investiture but they were still in short enough supply that there was some competition for their services.

"As to your potential instructor." Voidus said. "It's more of a construct than a person. Not dissimilar from an Awakened item, just more complex."

Showing would likely be more useful than telling, so with one hand Voidus quickly sketched a complex symbol in the air, silvery light bursting forth from the tip of his finger and hovering in its wake. With a series of quick, efficient strokes he finished the Aonic formula. It shone brightly for a second before vanishing from the room. Silence stretched out as nothing immediately happened, but just as it seemed someone was about to break the tense silence there was another flash of bright, white light.

As the light faded a figure was left at its center, still giving off a faint luminescent glow. It was formed into a human shape but with no clearly defined features, its body made entirely of Aons, thousands and thousands of Aons linked into an enormous, ever-changing chain.

"Good day." The figure said, giving a deep bow to each of the people in the room. "How may I be of assistance?"

[+Sorana she/her]

9 hours ago, kenod said:

If you want to participate in this I'd suggest asking about it in the ANF thread, given that they don't really want people to participate without their permission.

Quote

In fact I don't (and I tried to subtly write it into my post, with her not really wanting as well). But Temeria has no idea how to pay for her next meals, so it felt logical for her to ask.

Temeria accepted the decline of her offer with a pang of relief that made her shoulder's sag down a little. She had planned to stop fighting the wars of other people and she still hoped she would be able to stick to her decision. And the rest, she could deal with the rest later. More interesting was his offer to join this organisation, and she filed that away for later use, hoped that nobody expected her to decide anything right now. She wanted to choose who and what to fight for, and she needed more information than her conversation with Mac for that.

A motion at the side of her head caught her eyes and she turned her head to watch the spren, who seemed to have perked up at something, was watching the room and everybody in there. He made no move to leave either and she was glad that he stayed. He was one of the few familiar things she had seen in this world so far, even her sister was a stranger she had no idea how to deal with. Her worries dissipated for the moment, when she watched him draw flowing lines into the air. Fascinated she watched as they hung there for a moment and then vanished. Nothing happened for a while and she had already opened her mouth to ask if she was missing something, when a flash of bright light illuminated the room.

Startled she jumped backwards, reached for the handle of her sword and shifted her weight to her back foot while the light left a figure behind. It had no real face, but instead was formed of many little symbols. They vaguely reminded her of the one Mac had drawn into the air when he had slipped on the ring and now that she thought of it, the man probably had used something like them to call the creature here in the first place. In awe she watched as the figure bowed to each of them, its body moving so much like a human's body would, that she found her eyes drawn to the ever shifting symbols, that so easily formed the movement you

"You can speak?" She blurted out when it adressed them as well and immediatly closed her mouth again. Quickly she shot a look towards the other three and then condensed her curiosity into another, more useful question. "What are you?"

[kenod]

KanMien looked at the being Voidus had created, curiosity momentarily taking over. Seeing this Kumiko sighed and gave her a light elbow in the side. She looked to Kumiko, startled for a second, then quickly realized what happened and stiffened to attention. "I'll go then," she quickly said to Voidus, swiftly moving out of the office, quickly sending messages to other people trying to get enough people together to deal with this. And well, if she couldn't, there were always the abominations. After all, the Woodwyrd wasn't close to anything important, and it seemed the chaos marines were already causing enough collateral damage that a few monsters wouldn't matter much. She shook her head as she kept walking, alleys twisting in front of her. She just hoped they would get there in time.

Edited January 9, 2020 by kenod

[Voidus]

The glowing figure paused at the question, turning towards Voidus and waiting for his nod before it gave another bow. It held this position, Aons whirling over its body in complex patters as it replied.

"Yes, I am capable of speech, vocalising the output of process results." The figure said. "I have also been given a semblance of personality to ease communications and reduce sensations of discomfort. I am a fragment of a much larger program, designed to interface with those who approach the primary program and to detain those who attempt to access it without authorisation. At a more basic level I am an Aonic program, a collection of interlinked Aons drawn by my creator using a connection to the Dor and filtered through cognitive interpretations of-"

"That'll do." Voidus interrupted, causing the figure to immediately silence itself as Voidus continued. "It's something like a very complex Awakened object, like a lifeless but not animated by Breath. Or I suppose you could think of it as an artificial spren, a relic from a time when I had the leeway to spend time on projects like this."

Voidus gave the figure a nostalgic smile, losing himself in fond memories before coming to again with a small shake of his head. He reached his hand up once more, this time directly into the figure. Tiny symbols crowded around the finger like excited animals rushing towards food scraps, they followed the finger as it traced out another complex sequence of lines in bright silvery light. A few seconds later the finger withdrew from the figure, leaving new symbols behind to join the others as they shifted back and flowed around the figure once more.

"This program is constructed from the same form of Investiture as that ring grants, and while it's not entirely self-aware of its own construction it is certainly capable of instructing in the basics. Ordinarily it wouldn't interact with those from outside our organisation but it should respond to you now."

He gestured towards it once again, offering to allow Temeria to interact with it if she wished. As he did so he smiled at the spren on her shoulder which had seemingly lowered its guard and was watching the glowing figure with some interest, seemingly having perked up when it heard Voidus mention spren.