Alley 0

[Voidus]

Whisper's eyes wandered back and forth between Lita and Laurelai, still maintaining her tiny smile as she did so. She gave a second small nod of encouragement as Lita finished her message, Whisper's eyes slid back up to connect with Lita's as she twirled her spike once again.

Whisper. She began, this time a little faster than before. Watch things. Sometimes make other people watch things, wrong things.

She gave a third resolute nod, seeming to be satisfied with her own introduction.

Helping other people who watch things now. Tineye means you watch things?

Her eyes shifted to Laurelai who seemed to have recovered from her former soul Forging, the wounds were gone as though they were never there and she held her head up confidently again, though with the occasional glance cast towards the meeting taking place not far away.

Laurelai seemed to have trouble deciding whether she should maintain an upright posture and look down at Whisper or stoop her head so that they were at a closer eye level. Eventually she settled on looking somewhere else entirely, though she spun her own pen in reply still.

Laurelai. As you may have seen I'm a Forger, if a little different from an average one.

Whisper nodded again, copying Laurelai she began staring towards the meeting and seemed to be listening intently as she spun her spike.

Forger watches sometimes. Can use help watching?

The subtle twist of the spike at the end marked the sentence as a question, though she gave no further indication of what exactly she meant.

[kenod]

Kumiko yawned, getting bored. She looked to KanMien, and noticing that they weren't paying attention to her, stood up. Looking around she saw the woman from at the party talking to a few others. Smiling she walked up to them. "Hey," she said, "What are you talking about?"

[xinoehp512 he/him]

Rekaerb's eyes widened as he realized who they were transmitting to.

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

Lita noticed Laurelai and the girl, Whisper, looking back towards the cognitive link while continuing to communicate. She followed suit, giving the impression of rapt attention while spinning her pen.

I do indeed watch things, she sent to Whisper. What exactly had the girl meant by 'make other people watch things, wrong things'? Illusions, perhaps? A Lightweaver? Lita stole another sidelong glance at the girl, but she could see no spren. Perhaps it was hiding? Still banished from Voidus's earlier cognitive dissipation?

She changed tack and sent a message to Laurelai.

I'll need a disguise if I'm to get back into PlasmaCore without getting recognized instantly, not sure about you. Lita felt her mouth flatten a bit into an irritated line at the inconvenience of it all. But, needs must. If Whisper can change my appearance, it will be much easier for me to move about. Don't get me wrong, it was fun to flash my new spikes and look intimidating for once in my life, but I doubt that host will forget my face any time soon. 

@Voidus

3 hours ago, kenod said:

Kumiko yawned, getting bored. She looked to KanMien, and noticing that they weren't paying attention to her, stood up. Looking around she saw the woman from at the party talking to a few others. Smiling she walked up to them. "Hey," she said, "What are you talking about?"

Lita flinched slightly at Kumiko's voice, which had broken her concentration. She fumbled a bit with her pen, bungling the last few words of Alleycant to Laurelai, though she was confident the woman would understand her meaning. Not wishing to alert the TUBA members on the other side of the link to any plans before negotiations were concluded, Lita edged a little further back behind the DA leaders. She turned to Kumiko, voice low.

"We're trying to decide how best to neutralize this PlasmaCore nonsense," she said, "while attempting to avoid being overheard."

Lita spun her Alleycant pen around her finger in a meaningful flourish, realizing as she did so that she accidentally transmitted something like 'armchair waffles exceedingly!'

[kenod]

3 hours ago, ZincAboutIt said:

Lita flinched slightly at Kumiko's voice, which had broken her concentration. She fumbled a bit with her pen, bungling the last few words of Alleycant to Laurelai, though she was confident the woman would understand her meaning. Not wishing to alert the TUBA members on the other side of the link to any plans before negotiations were concluded, Lita edged a little further back behind the DA leaders. She turned to Kumiko, voice low.

"We're trying to decide how best to neutralize this PlasmaCore nonsense," she said, "while attempting to avoid being overheard."

Lita spun her Alleycant pen around her finger in a meaningful flourish, realizing as she did so that she accidentally transmitted something like 'armchair waffles exceedingly!'

Kumiko tilted her head for a few seconds, until she figured out what Lita meant. Blushing, she turned away from the group, looking at the meeting. Patting her pockets she took out a small pen. Um, sorry, she sent. Didn't realize that.

Quote

By the way, is alleycant actually a language of its own, or is it just a way to transmit words in the standard language without being overheard?

 

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

16 minutes ago, kenod said:

Kumiko tilted her head for a few seconds, until she figured out what Lita meant. Blushing, she turned away from the group, looking at the meeting. Patting her pockets she took out a small pen. Um, sorry, she sent. Didn't realize that.

It's alright, Lita returned. Better safe than sorry when it comes to counter-intelligence, though. We might be fighting PlasmaCore at the moment, but I hardly trust anyone over there not to mount some kind of heroic front against us as soon as we deal with our mutual problems.

Lita cocked her head towards the TUBA members in the cognitive link. Things seemed to be getting better on that end, actually. The Stranger had... reassembled? Lita tabled her newest dozen questions regarding that for later, then slid up next to Laurelai and Whisper again. She motioned to Kumiko.

Judging from how well you blended in at the party, you'd be a welcome asset if we end up trying to go deep into PlasmaCore. How did you manage it? Lita vaguely recalled the young woman turning into a cat, or... something. 

Quote

I have no idea re: Alleycant. Lita info-dumped everything into her brain via copper medallion, so she knows it... somehow  Not sure if it's its own language though.

 

[kenod]

9 minutes ago, ZincAboutIt said:

It's alright, Lita returned. Better safe than sorry when it comes to counter-intelligence, though. We might be fighting PlasmaCore at the moment, but I hardly trust anyone over there not to mount some kind of heroic front against us as soon as we deal with our mutual problems.

Lita cocked her head towards the TUBA members in the cognitive link. Things seemed to be getting better on that end, actually. The Stranger had... reassembled? Lita tabled her newest dozen questions regarding that for later, then slid up next to Laurelai and Whisper again. She motioned to Kumiko.

Judging from how well you blended in at the party, you'd be a welcome asset if we end up trying to go deep into PlasmaCore. How did you manage it? Lita vaguely recalled the young woman turning into a cat, or... something. 

 

Kumiko thought a bit about the question, wondering how she could best explain it. It's part of one of my abilities, she sent back. I can touch animals and non-human beings and add aspects of them to myself. Before coming there I had touched KanMien, a Kandra, so I got the ability to shapeshift into people. The ability has a number of issues though. I can't retain the abilities of sapient or magical beings permanently, and using multiple abilities at the same time is difficult. She paused for a bit, thinking. We might want to involve KanMien as well. She's supposed to be good at impersonating people, though she says she needs to eat someone before she can shift into them.

Quote

Kumiko doesn't actually turn into animals, she just incorporates some of their features into her body. For example, her cat form has her grow cat ears and a tail, cow/bull form has her grow horns as well as the tail, bird forms have her grow feathers out of her hair, that kind of stuff. Since she needs to use her powers to compensate for a physical disability (a broken spine) she's normally always in fox form, since it's the most balanced. (the abilityshifts her clothing as well, to prevent fridge logic about what happens when you suddenly grow a tail).

As for the language thing, the reason I'm asking is because Kumiko can't speak the alleyverse language, using translator amulets instead. If alleycant is a separate language it means that she can still communicate even if her amulet wasn't there anymore for some reason.

 

[xinoehp512 he/him]

Quote

You know, what's up with the Alleyverse language? It can't be something that people have to learn, because people just randomly appear here able to converse with everyone.

 

[+Invocation]

8 minutes ago, xinoehp512 said:

 

Quote

I've just been treating it like the Outskirts in Five Kingdoms where, due to the strange setup of the world as a merger of other worlds, language is automatically translated.

Most of the time.

 

Edited May 15, 2019 by Invocation

[kenod]

8 minutes ago, xinoehp512 said:

 

Quote

I figure that part of being brought here means that you get an instant connection to the place, giving you the ability to speak the local language, possibly also giving you the ability to speak to language of whatever place you go to if you leave.

In Kumiko's case something simply went wrong, making her unable to understand the local language. My personal headcanon is that the translation effect has happened, but instead of translating to her native language it simply translates to her world's 'main' language, meaning that she hears everybody speaking English, but with the issue that she's never learned English, and can only speak Japanese.

 

[Voidus]

Quote

Alleycant is a language in itself, though the structure would be similar to Alleycommon (Don't think we ever canonised a name) and does have phonetic spelling signals available for things like names, etc.

2 hours ago, kenod said:

I figure that part of being brought here means that you get an instant connection to the place, giving you the ability to speak the local language, possibly also giving you the ability to speak to language of whatever place you go to if you leave.

Quote

Yep. Connection shenanigans are at hand, though again we've never gone into specifics.

Whisper nodded but kept her eyes facing forwards, the spike suddenly spun around one finger, practically jumping around her hand with eagerness.

Yes. Can make people see the wrong things. She signed back. She seemed to be steadily gaining energy, now bouncing on the balls of her feet in constant bursts of motion. People won't remember.

She seemed to forget herself for a moment, looking directly back towards the others. As she did her eyes seemed to fuzz for a moment, their previous brown changing to a bright piercing green, and then she turned back towards the front.

People won't remember. She signed again for emphasis.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Laurelai's mind continued to spin as she listened to the others speaking, tiny fragments of memory still crept through her consciousness, memories that hadn't actually happened. They'd fade soon enough but sometimes a hasty Stamp was worse than a functional one in that way, the strangeness and sense of oddity about the memory kept them in the fore of her mind.

She squeezed her eyes shut for an instant, just needed a quick reset and she should be okay. Her eyes opened, showing the scene of the meeting still taking place, others standing nearby. And no more memories for now.

Finally.

She traced the conversation back a little way, mind finally catching up to the inputs that it had received. Out of the corner of her eyes she saw the young girl, whisper look towards them and change her eyes.

Useful. She signed to them. I can only change so much, probably enough for me not to be noticed but not enough for anyone else.

Forging other people was difficult, Forging other people in a way that would change their appearance and was believable enough to stick was almost impossible. The most she could usually manage was changing something in the last minute or two, and then only if she was watching them closely.

So we have Lita to watch, Whisper to hide us, I can get some more possibilities and provide help if needed, a Kandra and an Assumer who can copy them to help us blend in more easily?

It seemed like a useful group, a perfect skill set for infiltration really. But still, something on a scale large enough that the entire DA needed to act meant this was unlikely to be a simple infiltration mission. They'd need to be flexible, adapt to whatever changed. Hopefully they could survive.

Do you think there's still time to get a drink first? She asked Lita wryly.

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

Lita felt the corner of her mouth tug upwards at the implication of Laurelai’s question.

Before we saunter into our doom, you mean? Lita sent back. Depends on what you’ve got back in your rooms. And whether or not this madness has reached the tavern yet. 

She tapped the end of the pen against the top of her nose and sighed. Negotiations seemed to be wrapping up. Even as she watched, Voidus dissolved the cognitive link and the TUBA members flickered out of view. 

Lita felt a measure of anxiety at the prospect of the attention of the three DA leaders shifting back towards her now that they were done talking. She forced herself to maintain her typical pleasant, cool demeanor - it wouldn’t do to embarrass herself. Now that the link was closed, Lita shifted her arm and brought out the coin from behind her back and flipped it as she thought.

It’s newly blank face blurred the distinction between heads or tails. In either case, there was nothing.

I do hope that’s not an omen, she thought darkly. Their proposed group of infiltrators was good - far better than any gang she’d worked with before. She hoped it would be enough. The kandra Kumiko had spoken of seemed to have some idea of what was currently happening in the city outside, which was good. She hated going into a job blind.

Tell you what, if I die on this mission you can have KanMien eat me, then go out for a drink with them. Fair? She sent to Laurelai.

[Voidus]

Laurelai arched an eyebrow towards Lita, turning back to face her now that the meeting was over. The joke had been a little morbid, even as jokes in the DA went. But she gave a small smile nonetheless.

Tell you what, why don't we all just stay alive and then have drinks together? She countered.

Her gaze was pulled to a source of Movement as Voidus turned away from the image he'd been facing, letting it dissipate before him. He spoke briefly to the two who were with him before directing his attention towards Laurelai, Lita and the others.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Thanks for that." Voidus said, giving the Stranger a small smile. "Good to see him flinch. I suppose we can leave that problem for another day, having you back certainly simplifies things quite a bit."

He rubbed at one temple for a moment, but then shook his head to clear it. It was a problem for another time, for now they could cooperate to a degree, they could avoid killing forces that were aiding them in any case.

He turned his gaze over towards the new Denizens that he'd been speaking to earlier, the ones who had already infiltrated PlasmaCore once, though not particularly deeply. Still that didn't seem to matter given that they had an experienced Forger with them.

But do we throw them right back into things? The level of danger here is going to be a little different.

He walked towards them, giving them all another appraising glance as he placed his hands behind his back. His eyes paused briefly on Whisper, flickering to the top of her head with a slight frown, but then passed on to the others.

"Well there you have it." He said quietly, not letting his voice carry this time. "It seems that plans are going to begin soon. Given your demonstrations so far it seems that your specialties best align with Mac's department. Check in with him for any guidance."

He paused, seeming to be on the verge of saying something but he simply pressed his lips together again, gave them a small nod and turned back to speak with the Stranger and Mac further.

He paused as he arrived, leaning in close to Mac and spoke in an almost silent whisper.

"Do not let anything happen to them." He said, eyes locking with Macs as he spoke.

Then he leaned back and began discussing their plans.
 

Quote

Mac may not be available for much RP so feel free to make some assumptions and skip over the specific handing out of directions here. The DA tends towards organized chaos at best so it's not going to be rigid orders anyway.

 

[AonEne he/him in an enby way]

Quote

Would it be right to assume Voidus didn't notice what Sudiov did?

 

[Voidus]

3 minutes ago, AonEne said:

Quote

Would it be right to assume Voidus didn't notice what Sudiov did?

 

Quote

He can if you want him to for story purposes, but it's a little unlikely.

 

[AonEne he/him in an enby way]

Quote

Oh, I'm fine with it, I just wondered why.

 

[Voidus]

1 minute ago, AonEne said:

Quote

Oh, I'm fine with it, I just wondered why.

 

Quote

He's not particularly looking for it and was a little preoccupied with the presence of his arch nemesis.
Same reason he didn't notice the spren.

 

[AonEne he/him in an enby way]

Quote

I mean, fair.

 

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

Lita caught Laurelai's raised brow at her comment, realizing she'd probably gone a bit too dark with that last quip.

Tell you what, why don't we all just stay alive and then have drinks together? Came Laurelai's reply.

A better idea, Lita sent, smiling a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. The vague shape of their mission was beginning to reveal itself, and it seemed a daunting prospect. She flipped the coin again, then caught it quickly as Voidus moved over towards them. He fixed them with that cold, measuring gaze, then directed them to Mac for guidance on the mission. Lita noticed him give the girl, Whisper, a slight frown before he turned back and walked towards Mac and the Stranger.

Odd, Lita thought. She looked down at Whisper herself. The girl was strange, to be sure, but hardly the strangest person in the room by far. At that thought, her eyes flicked toward the Stranger, and she flipped her coin again. What had he said to her at the beginning of the meeting? He wished to speak with her about the coin?

The thought both excited and terrified her. There was a wealth of secret knowledge hidden within that dark, bottomless eye of his. More secrets than someone could learn in a lifetime. But if even one of them could help her in the coming days, she wanted to know.

"Shall we get our orders and gather everyone in someone's quarters to plan, then?" She asked Laurelai. Speaking aloud felt a bit strange after so much Alleycant. As she spoke, she sent the woman a silent message, twirling her pen with fingers that shook slightly.

I want to ask him about the coin, Lita relayed. She flipped it again in her other hand, meeting Laurelai's eyes and nodding her head towards the three leaders. Her mouth felt like she'd been eating dust. If there's any hidden advantage to this thing, I want to know now, before we go wading into that mess.

@Voidus

[Voidus]

Whisper stiffened as Voidus stared at her, she saw his eyes drift towards the top of her head, noticed the slight crease to his eyebrows when he saw it. His eyes then, mercifully, moved on to the others standing nearby but he'd definitely noticed.

"Tch" She softly clicked her tongue in annoyance before remembering her surroundings.

In an instant her face slipped back into the small, somewhat bashful smile. She averted her eyes from the others around her nad looked around curiously.

He saw me. It shouldn't matter, records are still there anyway, anyone could check if they had a mind to. Knew the risk in coming here anyway but it would have been more suspicious if I didn't. Hopefully he can'r read minds at least, it's always been one of the more unlikely rumours but then again there's too little information to make any reliable deductions.

Her fingers momentarily tensed around the spike before relaxing. She needed to move away from this gathering soon, but keeping connections was important, she'd need to leave on business. Preferably with someone else.

She smiled up at Lita as her spike spun once again, this time she spun it openly in front of them, not seeming to try to hide the communication.

Get mission? Together? Can help.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Laurelai stared after Voidus as he left, watching him whisper something briefly to Mac before straightening again. Had their eyes flickered over here for a moment? She hated being talked about without knowing why. Especially by figures like these. Had it been an execution order? A joke? A complaint?

Her jaw clenched and she managed to barely hold back from grinding her teeth but then directed her attention back towards her immediate surroundings, catching the message from Lita.

A good point, I'd rather not be next to some ancient unknown artifact without knowing what it does. What if it self destructs or something?

She gave a slight smile to indicate that it was a joke, but then again they also couldn't really dismiss that possibility. Life in the DA just came with certain risks.

The young girl, Whisper signed something as well. It was a little difficult to make out through the strangely accented twists and turns but her gaze that continued back and forth between them and the leaders was clear enough that she didn't really need to interpret it.

"If you think you're up for it?" She said cautiously. "Though we'll need to find this Kandra as well, any idea where they might be?"

She turned towards Kumiko at that, asking about KanMien's whereabouts.

Did you want some privacy? She sent privately to Lita. Or some support?

@ZincAboutIt @kenod

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

The message took Lita a bit by surprise. Support? She thought, giving Laurelai the slightest smile. Support was the last thing she had expected to find here in the Alleys, and while this place was indeed strange and terrifying, it wasn't nearly as viciously cut-throat as she had anticipated. They seemed to look after their own here, or at least, leave each other largely to their own devices. 

A larger, more cowardly part of her than Lita cared to admit wanted to accept Laurelai's company, but an even more insistent portion knew she needed to ask her questions alone.

Don't lie to yourself, came that small voice. You want to ask your questions alone. Lita chewed her lip, knowing it for the truth. These kinds of secrets, these were what she had come for. And she didn't wish to share them. It made her a bit guilty, but then, Laurelai had plenty of secrets of her own, plenty of things she likely hoped to tease out of the fabric of the world and spin into something new.

Lita twirled her pen. Privacy, I think, she said. Fingers crossed I don't get disintegrated. She managed a weak grin. I'll contact you when I've learned what there is to know. 

Lita took a deep breath, then set her sights on the three leaders speaking. She wasn't so foolish as to attempt to eavesdrop again, so she kept a respectable distance as they spoke, turning off her tin for what felt like the first time in days. Her vision suddenly fuzzed to vague shape and color, and she pushed her spectacles further up her nose so she could see. The lack of metals made her feel even more vulnerable as she stood and waited for some kind of lull in conversation. She sent Laurelai one more message.

Maybe find some wine, if you can? Honestly after this conversation I imagine I'll drink anything.

She took another deep, measured breath, then flipped the coin. "Anything is attainable, Lita," she whispered to herself, and waited for the right moment to catch the Stranger's eye.

@Fatebreaker 

[Fatebreaker he/him]

Voidus, Mac and the Stranger spoke in hushed tones, outlining various strategies.

“Yes, the Chrono Unit should be ready, but I’d rather use the Dreadbeasts. The collateral damage would be exponentially higher, but this would be a perfect excuse to run field tests.”

Voidus gave him a pointed look. The Stranger sighed.

“Maybe not in the first wave then. At least let me send out the autonomous fabrials I’ve been working on.”

Voidus nodded, “All execpt the mark 004, you know they had a tendency to rampage. We need to remain focused on our priorities here, if we’re to maintain maximum efficiency.”

The Stranger had to agree. Voidus has always been better at prioritizing and organizing than he. He inclined his head in deference, then noticed the new Denizen looking at him with a mixture of determination and terror. Good, that showed she was brave without being stupid. An admirable combination.

“Excuse me, gents, I’ll be right back.” He strode towards her and tried to keep his grin from growing too wide, as that seemed to unnerve people. 

“Lita, was it? Coin bearer, Sercret Snatcher, and    Denizen debutant? From what my Shadow has told me, you’ve had an eventful time as of late. I’m sure you have questions, but we’re rather short on time, so let’s avoid any ‘Who are you?’ ‘What happened to your eye?’ or ‘Did you really  kill a great shell by eating it’s brain?’. Let’s stick to questions relevant to current and or recent events.”

@ZincAboutIt

Edited May 17, 2019 by Fatebreaker

[Voidus]

Quote

For anyone who was curious, the answers to those questions are:
"Me.", "I had some dust in it but it's gone now... oh you meant the other eye." and "No, it saw me and died of a heart attack, I ate its brain as an afterthought."


(These responses may or may not be canonically accurate, I leave it to the opinion of the reader to decide.)

 

[Fatebreaker he/him]

Quote

^^^ spot on as usual

 

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

Lita blinked at that last hypothetical question. 

Well now I want to know, she thought, slightly peeved. Still, he was right about the lack of time. She held up the coin, and her hand shook a little.

"What is this, Sir?" She asked, then amended. "Besides a coin? I think it grew hot to warn me of danger, earlier. Is there anything else I should expect or... um... avoid while carrying this?"

Why did the faces disappear? How do they change? Have you been living inside this coin for the last however-many years? Will this kill me or my companions on accident during our highly-dangerous espionage mission?

That last question took forefront in her mind at the moment, though a thousand others chased each other around her brain. There were so many things that he knew.

Focus, Lita. The secrets she needed to chase right now were in PlasmaCore. Mission first, unraveling the mysteries of the world later.

@Fatebreaker