main plot The Taste of Death

[AonEne he/him]

She mused over that. Theoretically, TUBA and the DA had a truce right now. Theoretically. "Smart move. Don't worry, Denizens can be unnerving, but they probably won't hurt you. This location isn't a good one to meet at; where are you?" Not the most reassuring thing to say, perhaps, but there was always the chance.

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

Lita listened to the TUBA member chatter hurriedly to his superior, tin letting her easily pick up the woman’s voice on the other end. 

Terrifying? Lita almost laughed. She was a twenty-four year old Tineye with some brass Feruchemy, only three days into the DA and just barely able to Alleytravel without killing herself. She’d almost certainly been even more terrified of her own guild over the last forty-eight hours than this fellow was.

Perception is an odd thing. Well, might as well cash in on her new-found gravitas, deserved or no.

”Tell her we’re just outside Cartwright’s Boarding House,” Lita said to the TUBAist, smirking just a bit. She winked. “And tell her we don’t have much time for games.” 

@Silva

[Silva]

"C-c-cartwright's Boarding House," he said, relaying what the woman said. 

He turned to her, covering the microphone on his phone. "Really? Cartwright's? THE Cartwright's Boarding House?!" he asked excitedly, terror gone temporarily. Then Eiran remembered where he was and who he was with. The fear returned in full force. "Sorry," he muttered sheepishly. "It's a not all that well known historical site." He uncovered the microphone.

"Seventeenth Alley. About ten minutes from Didgeridoo. 38th sector of the evacuation grid," he told Deteca. "They also said they don't have much time for games."
@AonEne

[kenod]

KanMien looked at the TUBA member. This will take a while, they thought. They looked at Lita. Tineye, right?
"You know, we could just take the phone and talk to them directly." they murmered, keeping their voice low enough only a Tineye could hear them.

@ZincAboutIt

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

Quote

Did I accidentally reference a historical site?? Lol Lita just lived in the boarding house in my own backstory for her, just made up a name.

Lita glanced sidelong at KanMien and tried not to laugh at the mental image of the man’s face should she actually do it. “Good idea,” she whispered. The kandra likely had some augmented hearing of their own.

Curiosity gripped her when the man mentioned her old boarding house was a historical site, but she stuffed it downwards. With a roll of her eyes, Lita darted forward and snatched the phone from the man’s hand. She danced backwards a bit, speaking into the microphone.

”Hello,” she said softly. Pleasantly, but with an edge of ice. “I recognize your voice from the meeting between our guilds earlier. You don’t trust me - that’s fine. Smart, really. I don’t trust you either. But we have some information that you’ll want to hear, and we won’t be giving it to some underling that can barely look at our shoes without fainting. If you are who I think you are, you’ve seen some things - enough to know that if we wanted to kill you, we’d already be dancing on your corpse. Believe it or not, my colleagues and I have no interest in watching this city tear itself to pieces. We have news that you need, and you need it now. Cartwright’s Boarding House. Try to hurry.”

She handed the phone back to the TUBAist and smiled again. “You know what they say,” she shrugged apologetically. “If you want something done right...”

@AonEne @Silva

[Silva]

Quote

Nope. But in a place like this, anything could be one. Eiran just is that person who would know the random obscure ones.

Eiran had no reaction to the phone being plucked out of his hand. He'd seen it happen a few seconds before it did and hadn't thought it worthwhile to prevent it from happening. Precognition was fun, at least when it didn't involve seeing people's deaths. So instead of the embarrassing gaping expression in his vision, he simply smiled. For once he'd known something ahead of them.

"...you do it yourself," he said. "For the record though, I'm not an 'underling'." Eiran glanced down at his watch, nervously. "A frying pan creature should be arriving here very soon, so unless you fancy an encounter with one, let's get to Didgeridoo. 5...4...3...2...1..."

@ZincAboutIt

Edited June 16, 2019 by Silva
Edited to work with Ene's post.

[AonEne he/him]

Deteca listened with a raised eyebrow - Did they steal his phone? - then nodded to herself and spoke. "I'll meet you at Didgeridoo, okay? Oh - and tell the woman who just spoke to me that when trying to intimidate someone, less is more; at least, in my experience. Stay safe, all of you." She shoved her phone in her pocket and poked her head around the corner into the room Tena was in. "I'm heading to Didgeridoo to meet with a couple members of the DA. Want to come?" Her worry about Tena dying wasn't gone, but she supposed everyone had someone they could lose. That shouldn't be the stopping factor when it came to battle.

Well, ideally there wouldn't be battle at all. But the Alleyverse was what it was.

Quote

Ninja'd slightly, but it shouldn't change Silva's post much if at all so I'll post it anyway.

 

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

Lita heard the creature approaching from around the corner as the man began counting down. All her witty remarks flew out the window when she looked down the street and saw it coming towards them.

”Oh hell,” she hissed, feeling the Coin grow hot against her ankle. It’s presence reassured her slightly, though fear still knotted her stomach. She drew the long spike out of her coat pocket and held it tightly in her hand. She looked at Laurelai and KanMien, then the TUBA member. 

Here we go.

[Voidus]

Laurelai's gaze wandered as Lita took point during their conversation, they appeared slightly unfocused, looking not at the actual scenery around her but at some mental imagery as she plotted something out. Occasionally her gaze did focus in on something, appearing to very briefly scan over it before her eyes became distant once more.

Contingencies are always important, especially with the city in the state that it's in now. Likely won't be enough time to get a read on anything that's attacking us so something indirect it is.

She'd just finished something for the nearby building when she heard the last thing the TUBA member said, that one of the creatures was approaching them. Foresight? Or some form of danger sense at the least, and given the timeframe it was likely that it wasn't Atium. Interesting.

She spared the man a curious glance, a little predatory but mostly just curiosity, before turning her attention down the street. She saw it a moment after Lita did, a strange bird-headed creature wielding a metallic frying pan in each hand, flapping its arms awkwardly as it ran towards them.

Good thing it chose that side. She mused wryly. Hadn't found anything for the other side yet.

She sent out a surge of power, watching as the creature ran next to a two story building, almost on top of them now. But a moment later the second story of the building seemed to sag outward, the bricks tumbling to the ground in a tremendous heap. The creature dodged out of the way of the first few that fell but it couldn't avoid an entire wall. A cloud of dust rose around the area where its body lay, buried beneath rubble.

One good side of the seven day war, it did make it plausible for almost any building in the city to have some lingering structural damage and weaknesses.

"So which way?" She asked calmly, turning towards the man from TUBA.

[Silva]

A building collapsed on the creature. Eiran blinked. That was fast. He sent a quick message to Joe explaining the current situation and giving him control of the evacuation group.

"So which way?" the other woman asked him. 

He knew the way from below like the back of his hand. Memorizing the tunnel maps was something he'd figured would be useful in the long run. On the surface was another question. The tunnels did mostly follow under streets to protect privacy of residences, so he wagered a guess.

"Left."

[AonEne he/him]

Quote

Are we staying in this plot thread once we get there, or moving to the Didgeridoo thread?

 

[Silva]

Quote

Probably moving? 

 

[Voidus]

Quote

Not sure if it's going to be an exceptionally long conversation and it would be plot relevant, so might still make sense to keep it here.

 

[Darth Woodrack he/him]

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I agree with Voidus. Unless these characters aren’t coming back to this plot, whatever your doing is RPed here. 

Silva continued to climb up the elevator shaft, until she reached the top of the building, and broke through the door. Then she stopped dead. In the center of the room there was a large sphere, slowly rotating slowly. She looked closely at it and saw that it was almost imperceptibly growing. She surreptitiously flicked a bit of sand towards it, and it suddenly went black and fell to the ground.

“Hey,” Silva said into a com link on her wrist to Black Crusade members in the vicinity, Zokora, and TUBA operatives, or at least there radio channels last year, “There’s something up here, and I think it’s important. It’s growing, and eats investiture,” She shut down the com link and and yelled, “HEY! ANYONE ELSE UP HERE?!”

Edited June 17, 2019 by Darth Woodrack

[AonEne he/him]

Quote

But what if I want to necro a TUBA thread

You're probably right...sadly

 

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

Lita followed Laurelai and the TUBA member, motioning to KanMien to follow as well, though they likely needed no invitation. She wasn't sure how to feel about the kandra - finding out that they were even real was a shock when she first got to the Alleycity, let along actually interacting with one. 

No stranger than the rest of the last few days, she thought, stepping up beside Laurelai.

"That was a fine trick," Lita said under her breath. "According to his superior, we're going someplace called 'Digeridoo.' A tavern of some sort, then?"

She kept her tin up, alert for any sign of trouble, and maintained her grip on her spike, though she had tucked it mostly up her sleeve and out of sight. "I'll admit, I could use a bit of a drink."

@Voidus

[kenod]

KanMien followed the others, hands on their guns. "Yeah, it's a tavern," they said. "Thought that place shut down more than a year ago though. Guess it wasn't."

[Voidus]

Laurelai watched the street ahead cautiously as they advanced, eyes picking out notable points that would be useful in case something else came running down the street towards them. She gave an offhanded nod of appreciation towards KanMien's information.

"Regardless there's likely to be a number of them there." She said softly, voice pitched for Lita's tin-enhanced ears. "Try to keep your tin up in case they try to set anything up."

Adding a warning to be ready to run if needed was probably superfluous at this point. Laurelai could handle uninvested combatants by herself but she stood little chance against a Radiant or a similarly powerful Invested combatant if one came charging straight at her. They were not the most combative forces in the DA, though that was likely to work in their favour if TUBA perceived of them as less of a threat.

But the best case would be if everything went according to plan and they were able to simply deliver their message, glean what information they could and leave.

"Is it far?" She asked a little louder, turning her head towards the man from TUBA. "As I'm sure you can imagine we have something of a busy day ahead of us."

[I think I am here. he/him]

22 hours ago, Sorana said:

"Not neccessarily."

Zokora looked at them.

"I can take you with me there using my surge, and get you out that way, should something go wrong."

She explained a tad impatiently.

@Silva @I think I am here.

“Oh, it’s okay, I can just climb,” Wes said, not wanting to get in the lady’s way and stepping into the shaft, grabbing a hold of one of the cables and hanging from it. Finally stepping over the ledge he wrapped his legs around the cable as well and looked down, saw the bottom stretch incredibly down.

Don’t look down.

Wes forced himself to look up, to the gap of light that signalled the next floor. Slowly he moved his legs up and used the force to push himself up, keeping his arms for supports and grabbing onto other nearby cables for balance. One of the things he’d been taught in training was acrobatics, and now he was more grateful than ever.

Approaching the next floor, Wes outstretched his arms, but they were too short to grab on without leaving the cable he was hanging from.

Rust.

How would he get up? He thought about going back down, asking the Ghostblood lady for help but the thought of looking back down sickened him. He thought about shouting but he didn’t want to embarrass himself. How did he get up there? The opening was so close, but he just couldn’t reach it. Storming genetics.

But if he dropped, would anyone really care anyway?

Wes ignored the thought and prepared himself. He’d have to jump, and trust his grip was strong enough to keep him from plummeting downwards. Moving his legs up, Wes outstretched his arms and jumped off the cable, getting just the right distance for him to hit the edge hard with his abdomen, then flail, grabbing something with his hands, his legs dangling into the abyss. Grunting, he pulled himself up, rolling away from the shaft.

“Oh,” he groaned, looking to everyone on the floor. “Hi, everyone.”

[xinoehp512 he/him]

Edahs hopped into the elevator shaft and began ascending effortlessly. Much better, he thought. Turns out having other people help you was a good idea. Who would have thought?

12 hours ago, Darth Woodrack said:

Silva continued to climb up the elevator shaft, until she reached the top of the building, and broke through the door. Then she stopped dead. In the center of the room there was a large sphere, slowly rotating slowly. She looked closely at it and saw that it was almost imperceptibly growing. She surreptitiously flicked a bit of sand towards it, and it suddenly went black and fell to the ground.

“Hey,” Silva said into a com link on her wrist to Black Crusade members in the vicinity, Zokora, and TUBA operatives, or at least there radio channels last year, “There’s something up here, and I think it’s important. It’s growing, and eats investiture,” She shut down the com link and and yelled, “HEY! ANYONE ELSE UP HERE?!”

Edahs paused for a second as the voice echoed down the shaft. There was something up there?

Nekorb absorbs Investiture, he thought. Is it something to do with him?

He began climbing again, swifter this time. Whatever it was, it was probably important.

[Darth Woodrack he/him]

Quote

I assume Wes was on the top floor.

Silva looked down at Wes and said, “Hello friend. Welcome,” before pending down and offering a hand.

@I think I am here.

[Silva]

Freedom followed them up. During her climb she'd shifted through some ages to determine which was easiest. It turned out that her obssession with hanging off things as a child had been good for something.

Before she left the shaft, though, she made sure to return to the slightly older age than normal that she'd been using before.

---

6 hours ago, Voidus said:

"Is it far?" She asked a little louder, turning her head towards the man from TUBA. "As I'm sure you can imagine we have something of a busy day ahead of us."

"Not too far. Two more blocks," he said. Eiran picked up his pace. The sooner they got there, the calmer he'd be and the sooner he could return to assisting with the evacuation.

[+Sorana she/her]

Mike followed Wes and Freedom up to the top floor, then changed back.

He stared in awe at the large thing covering the room.

"What's that?"

He asked, his voice shaking.

@Silva

@Darth Woodrack

=============

Zokora followed the Squad  upstairs, and froze when she saw the Vortex. Stepping closer she felt it pulling on her stormlight and quickly stepped back again.

"Good job finding that."

She told Silva and then made a video for Lusk.

We have a problem. Do you have any information regarding that thing? And maybe inform our allies.

@I think I am here.

Edited June 17, 2019 by Sorana

[Darth Woodrack he/him]

"I think it's something none of us should touch," Silva said, "I'm going to check for other exits and entrances,"

Silva began to patrol the perimeter of the room.

@Silva @Sorana @I think I am here.

[MacThorstenson he/him]

In between the slow rhythmic thumping of the guardians steps one could hear Macs purposeful steps as he made his way closer to the spike, and to the people talking at its base. Coughing lightly to announce his presence, though he knew it wasn't needed, he stopped a few feet away from both of them.

"We have conducted preliminary reconnaissance, and things seem to be dying down inside the building. The evacuation of the city is progressing rapidly and should be complete soon, meaning that we can send in the troops if we decide to invade." He paused for a moment, then glanced up at Voidus. "We sent a team to contact TUBA leaders, and they are performing remarkably well," He looked at Voidus, gauging his reaction. "Laurelai in particular. Yes, she was a good find. Very unique investiture. Anyway, any thoughts about how we should proceed? While my men tend to be on the ground the most you two control the muscle of the DA, so I decided to talk to you guys before making any decisions."

@Voidus @Fatebreaker