A Life of Loss - Laonin's return to the Alleycity

[Karnatheon he/him]

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At the recommendation of Koloss, this is going to be a solo thread for me to post about what has happened to Laonin since he disappeared from the Alleyverse several years ago, ie I stopped playing, and how he makes his way back. This way it doesn't clog up the main story thread. If any of this interests you and you want to read what led up to this, The Forge is where Laonin came from. 

The Forge, somewhere near the Mistwarrens, Era 3

Laonin stepped out of his home and onto the street, carrying a small toolkit. He looked at his surroundings, proud of what he and his friends had accomplished together. This street had once been dirty and filled with ruins, now it was clean and well maintained. Houses and apartments lined the streets, and there was even talk of starting up a new school for the locals. He saw people walking around and chatting with their neighbors, couples out for a stroll, and families spending time together. This of course was just a small section of the Alleycity. There were plenty of other areas of the city that were doing just as well, or better. Industrial areas churning out new products, gizmos, and gadgets. Densely populated areas of the city that many people called home. There were, of course, still areas that needed fixing, but it wasn't just him doing it anymore. He had his friends, his allies, and even strangers that were all working together to improve the city, to bring it to new heights. 

Letting his introspection fade, Laonin began walking down the street. He waved at passersby, most of whom recognized him. There wasn't much in the way of vehicles in this part of town, but he kept an eye and an ear out for them just the same. As he walked he began whistling a jaunty tune. After a while he realized he had made a wrong turn, and would need to correct his course. The fastest way would be to cut through one of the nearby alleys, so he did so. As Laonin stepped into the Alley out of pure instinct, he came to the realization that this was a needless risk, but it was already too late, he had accidentally entered The Alleys, the domain of the DA. As his perception of reality began to go awry, he shut his eyes. He had heard too many tales of men wandering into The Alleys only to emerge with all traces of their sanity stolen away from them. He was lucky he made it to the Alleycity intact the first time, he didn't want to chance it again. His other senses were assaulted by an incomprehensible barrage of noises, sensations, and feelings. Time became immeasurable, did he stand there for days, weeks, years, or merely seconds? As the rest of his senses told him things were reassuming some semblance of normality, he opened his eyes.

 

Unknown location, Unknown Planet

Laonin stood at the entrance to an alley, looking out on an unfamiliar landscape. Ruined buildings as far as the eye could see. Some covered in moss, some simply destroyed, but as far as he could tell, all abandoned. Looking behind him he saw more of the same, the opening to the Alleyverse had closed as quickly and unexpectedly as it had opened. Looking up at the alien sky, he wasn't sure how much daylight he had left. Did the sun set in the East, the West, or something else entirely? And even then, which was was North? Knowing that he would need shelter, and not being the type to simply stand there and mope, Laonin began scouting.

Due to the work he had been doing in the Alleycity he was fairly experienced with traversing ruins. He knew which building to stay away from entirely and which might be sturdy enough to walk into. It took some time, but he eventually found one stable enough that he was confident it wouldn't simply crash down on him in his sleep. Based off what he had observed, whatever planet he was on was at least advanced enough to make use of electricity, but beyond that he had no real clue as to the nature of his whereabouts. He had thankfully been headed out to continue work on an old apartment building that needed fixing, so he had his necessities with him when he entered the Alleys. Laonin managed to scrounge up enough wood to start a fire using one of his Fabrials. Given that he was likely not on Roshar, and definitely no longer in the Alleycity, he would need to use his Fabrials very sparingly. No Highstorms meant no Stormlight, and no Stormlight meant no Fabrials, so once he ran out of juice they would simply be a fashion statement. Once he had a fire going, he made sure it had enough wood on it to last for a while, and then set out to find something soft to use for bedding, and maybe something to eat.

Some time later Laonin returned to find his fire had died down a bit, but was still going. He piled more wood on it to keep it going, and looked over what he had found. A couple tattered blankets and some canned food weren't much, but given the circumstances they were more than he had hoped for. Not knowing how long he would be stuck here, but knowing he needed to keep up his strength in order to survive, Laonin ate one of the cans of food for dinner that night. Piling up some leaves, Laonin fed the fire some more, setting it up so the coals would still be there in the morning, and then lay down and covered himself in the blankets, hoping it wouldn't get too cold tonight.

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There will definitely be more of this to come. I might write some more this weekend, I still need to figure out what I want to happen and how to write it. Also, just in case any of you ever see this, I just want to thank those who continued to post in The Forge after I left. It really meant a lot to me personally to see my contribution to the Alleyverse live on and take on a life of its own. If you do ever see this, feel free to let me know. I likely won't be posting in that thread going forward just because the RP takes place in the main thread now, and I was requested not to necro it.