kenod

KanMien gave Kumiko a questioning look at Voidus' offer. Kumiko shrugged, and both followed him into the newly created passage. After all, it was definitively more interesting than doing paperwork. Of course, given the nature of the news, coming along might be problematic as well if Voidus decided he didn't like it, but still, knowing what had actually happened would probably be worth the risk. *** Aylitha nodded and tried to hide her relief when Matthieu confirmed her assessment of the time that had passed. "Alright," she said, "thank you." Slowly she stood up and started walking out of the room, her body changing back into a fox, and she slowly trotted down the alleys towards a certain set of rooms. Deep down she started wondering if she was doing the right thing here, while mentally she started preparing for the coming conversation.

"Vita," Ayitha said after a short pause. "Hazel Blackmore. She transfered to Acquisitions... two years ago? Either that or twenty years, but I think it was the first? I might be off by a year or so though." She was sure it hadn't been that long, but some doubt still remained. It had happened before after all. It wasn't a big issue normally, a century doesn't matter when you're immortal, but Vita wasn't, at least not the last time they had met. And if it turned out something like that had happened... She thought about it. It wasn't normal protocol for bioscience, normally you should make your own enhancements, but she could do it, and make Vita immortal. She wasn't sure if she'd give permission, but it wasn't as if that was really necessary, right? It would be easy to do, and she would thank her afterwards. Humans always seemed to hate aging, from what she had seen. Karin didn't, a voice whispered in her mind, and she grimaced. Still, she could always make the offer. At some point Vita would surely see the benefits, right? Suddenly she remembered where she was, and she coughed, a gesture she had aquired a long time ago, though it still seemed a bit strange to her. "Anyway," she quickly said, "if you do add her to the list, could I pay her a visit after this? That way I can explain my end of the situation to her. Afterwards I can come back here to help get you information on what is going on."

I quickly follow Sorana, hoping that if we keep walking for long enough we can find a way out of this desert.

"Currently one of them is actually talking about donating it to a charity, or creating one," Aylitha noted with a small smile. "Besides, destroying it would prove difficult anyway, given its location." She thought for a bit. Matthieu's agent would actually be able to do it, though it would be difficult. The Ghostblood might be able to do it as well, depending on her skill level. Finally she shook her head, trying to get her thoughts back on track. "Still," she said, "that does bring me to the reason I'm here. The Atium itself isn't that important to me, it's not much use in my department's experiments, though I have to admit the additional funds it could create would be ... useful." She smiled, thinking of the new super-lens microscope she could comission with those funds. "Still, Bioscience's main concern is with the lifeforms found in the area, not the Atium. On the other tendril, that does mean that it's best for your subtle method to work, since it will minimize environmental damages, and if it leaves us in control, well, it would be much easier getting my own people access." She shuddered for a moment when she thought of what R&D would do to get the Atium. If they got involved she would be likely lucky if caverns were still underground afterwards. "Anyway," she said in a more serious tone, "I hoped you could add a certain Acquisitions' member to the list of people you're sending down. She has some previous experience with Bioscience and should be able help deal with my concerns regarding this. My current agent lacks the necessary experience to take care of this, and while she's a decent scientist she lacks the mindset necessary for this particular job, and she also lacks the proper knowledge about working together with Acquisitions on this." And she doesn't know she is an agent, of course, She mentally added. "Honestly," she continued, "I'd prefer to keep her out of the loop on this, since it makes it easier to get information on what ACE is doing." She smiled. "Of course, I'm more than willing to give you information on what they're up to." She folded her hands as well, mimicking Mathieu's gesture. "I hope that's alright with you?"

@Ookla the Quill

Aylitha simply looked at him, trying to decide if this was the point to slowly back away or to just play along. Eventually she shrugged though. "I don't know," she said. "It's a tavern, no clue if it even has a name. If it has one it's probably on some sign on the front door." She walked around him, studying him. She knew it probably wasn't a smart idea to try to antagonize him further, but he did remind her of Mithlosch, and she was pretty sure she could deal with whatever he tried.

Aylitha looked at him for a second, thinking. "It was?" She asked. "Alright, that's good to know. Still, I thought I was in this area a few months ago, though I probably didn't visit your office." She lowered her head, bowing in return to Mathieu's gesture, and walked into the room. Along the way her form shimmered, and a second later a young girl stood in her place, walking to one of the chairs and sitting down. "It seems you have been busy," she said, looking at his desk. "Still, I guess that with your agent's discovery that is somewhat inevitable." She tilted her head for a second, as if listening to some inaudible voice. "It seems they're busy down there as well," she continued with a slight smile, "they seem to be having some issue deciding what to do now." She fell silent, hoping to let Mathieu fill in what his department was planning.

Aylitha looked up from the cup of lemonade the barkeep had gotten her to look at the new arrival. "You are granted the privilege of serving me," she echoed in her mind. Well, someone sure has a god-complex, she joked. It doesn't really matter if he can back it up now, does it? Karin answered grumpely. Well, someone's grumpy, Aylitha jokingly thought. He kind of reminds me of Mithlosch, she thoughtfully added. And that's a positive? Karin asked in a surprised tone. Not really, Aylitha admitted. Still, he's kind of funny. Karin sighed at Aylitha's tone. Sure, she said, go have some fun. I'm going back to sleep. I'm not interested in having to deal with another Mithlosch. Aylitha sighed and started walking over to the Aldebron, lemonade still in her hand. "And you are?" She asked in a curious tone, looking up at him. @Rushu42

Back in the alleys Aylitha slowly trotted through the strange Alleys. It had been a long time since she had been in this part of Alleys. Or it felt so at least. She was certain she had visited less than two months ago, but her memories told her it had been decades since her last visit. There wasn't anything strange about that though. She just hoped that in this case she was in the time of her first memory, not her second. Otherwise... She shook herself, a tremor going through her body, hair moving as if an unseen wind was moving through it. The search for proper candidate had been difficult. Finding the proper candidate wasn't difficult. After all, she already knew before she started searching. The difficulty was in trying to find someone else who would do. Still, she hadn't found anyone, and as much as she disliked it, she was the proper choice, setting her personal opinions aside. She still sometimes felt her actions had been wrong, that she hadn't cared for her properly. To leave her exposed to what happened to her, to leave her to have to cope with things. It would have been much kinder to simply erase the memories, take in her mind, give her a new world to live in. But then, humans never seemed to do that. For some reason the idea would horrify them, though she had trouble understanding why. After all, a life without pain would be a kindness, right? Still, she had held back. After all, despite her own opinions, she didn't believe Karin would have approved of it. Not back then, at least. Again, a tremor went through her fur, and she stopped in front of the door. A tentacle sprouted from the ground at her feet, knocking on the door. Politeness never hurt one anyway, and it was even more important when speaking to an equal. Like one such as Matthieu, head of Acquisitions. @ZincAboutIt

KanMien gave a nervous look at a Voidus as she stepped aside. "Ah, sorry sir," she muttered. Curious she looked at what was going to happen, hoping it wouldn't be too dramatic, or if it was, not catch her and Kumiko in the blast radius.

KanMien scratched her head, trying to think about the question. "That's a bit of a difficult one," she said. "The Alleys themselves form a separate world that we live in, but at the same time we generally don't live in the Alleys themselves. Our labs and living spaces connect to them, and are part of this world, but aren't alleys themselves. Honestly, I'm not sure if anyone fully understands the nature of this place. Voidus or the Stranger might, though I'm not sure. I think Mac was the one who understood the nature of this place the best, but well..." She shrugged, looking somewhat uncomfortable. "As for what the Alleys themselves are... I guess they're both a location and a connection at the same time. The amount of Alleys is supposedly infinite, but only a small number actually connect to alleys in the real worlds, and the others can shift around in all kinds of ways, to the point that we don't even have any maps, and any navigation needs to be done on instinct, and can only be done by Denizens. And of course, there are other hazards too. Some Alleys don't function according to any known laws of physics, possibly because they're intersecting with worlds that work according to different laws. Others vanish into the void, or are home to beings that have never existed. Yet in others time flows differently, and there are even Alleys with multiple temporal dimensions."

KanMien nodded, glad the woman had time to come with them. "Alright, thanks," she said. "Now I just need to find out where they are," she muttered under her breath. Voidus would be the logical choice in this case, but she had no clue where he was right now. She decided to ask around, and took a pen out of her pocket. Twirling it around she sent a message around, asking if anyone knew of his whereabouts. Who knew, with some luck Voidus himself might answer. In the mean time however, it seemed like they might need to make their guest feel more at ease. She thought for a second. "We don't seem to have introduced ourselves yet by the way," she said. "My name is KanMien, and this is Kumiko." she gestured to Kumiko, who gave a short cough. "Ah, right," she added. "Takamine Kumiko, I mean. Family names seem to be important in her culture, from what she says. For some reason they normally introduce themselves with their family name before their given name." She then looked at the woman expectantly.

KanMien looked at her, trying to hide her shock. "He... left?" She asked slowly, trying to make sure she had heard it right. She shook herself trying to regain her calm. "Thank you," she said. "I don't suppose he left any message?" At the same time she wondered what she should do with the news. Nobody in the department seemed to have known about it yet, but everything still seemed to be running as it should right now, and there was no knowing of what that news should do once it got out. Normally she'd have to ask the department head, but he wasn't really available right now. Which likely only left Voidus, if he didn't already know about this somehow. Of course, all this did assume she was speaking the truth. "Do you happen to have some time?" She asked of the woman. "My superior would probably want to talk about this with you."

KanMien nodded, a slight smile on her face. "I guess I'm familiar with him," she said. "He is my boss after all." She looked at her, wondering why she was here. She obviously wasn't a denizen, and if she was a new initiate then Mac would have normally taken care of her personally, at least if he was the one who had recruited her. Then a frown appeared on her face as she thought about the woman's words. "Hang on a second," she said. "Did you just say 'knew'?" As KanMien was talking Kumiko walked further out of the shadows, her tail and ears becoming visible. She gave the woman a somewhat disinterested look, though she did wonder what she was doing here. And, of course, why she and KanMien had to deal with it. Still, she was getting bored, and she figured KanMien would appreciate a distraction from her paperwork as well.

KanMien was working on a set of documents, reading through the incident reports, while Kumiko sat in a corner, reading a weird book she had found in one of the storage warehouses. She frowned as she read through the current report. It seemed to detail an increase in activity in the underworld, something about a new crimeboss. She sighed and put the paper aside, feeling tired. The chaos following the Plasmacore incident was finally done it seemed, but it seemed other things were ramping up again. Crime was ramping up, strange reports about missing buildings and the like, and now reports of Atium of all things being found in some set of caverns below the city. Just as she wanted to sigh again she noticed something though, and stood up. Kumiko looked up at her, curious. "Come on," she told her, stretching out her arms as she walked to the door. "It seems we have visitors." Kumiko smiled and jumped out of the beanbag chair she had been sitting in, walking up besides her, and together they left the room. The two of them walked out of an alley KanMien had twisted in front of them, and when they walked around the corner they found a young woman who looked like she was from Roshar. "You called?" KanMien asked, her voice being carried through the alleys.

I nod and turn around as well, falling in next to Sorana.

So, here's a new character: Hazel Blackmore (Vita): @Voidus, because Epics.

"Yeah," I answer, "that's kind of the issue, isn't it? And even if we can find the way back I'm not sure if we can get there in three hours." I shrug. "Can't hurt though, I guess. At least then we'll be closer to a usable area, and with a bit of luck the gamemakers will show us the way back to make sure we can attend. I mean, if nobody attends it'll be rather boring, won't it?" I start looking around. "Maybe we can just try following our footsteps?"

Karin sighed, feeling frustrated. "No, I don't," she admitted. "Personally, I'd prefer to let the government take care of this place, but they don't have the clout to do so."

Karin nodded. "I understand," she said. "Still, something like this is way above my pay grade. That's something the department heads need to resolve." She shook her head. "Besides..." Her voice trailed off as she looked around at the walls, looking at the mesmerizing lights that came from the crystals, lost in thought, thinking about what would happen to this place, to it's beauty, no matter which guild got their hands on it. Finally she turned back to Althea. "Besides," she continued, a wry smile on her face that looked forced, "do you really think the rest of the city will agree with that? I personally don't mind the idea, if it will avoid a guild-war, but do you really think the other groups would be willing to just let us have this? There are enough people in the city who won't accept this this treasure just disappearing, especially not to group as disliked as the DA. I mean, I'm aware that you have a lot of clout yourself, but do you really think you can convince the Ghostbloods to go along with this? And that's not even speaking about a group like TUBA." She shook her head, looking more serious. "No, I don't think that will be accepted, and no matter how powerful the DA is there is a limit to what we can do to keep this place, at least as long as we don't want to unleash another guild war."

Karin shrugged, thinking back to Corette's message. "That's probably a good assumption." She said. "My department specifically probably isn't interested, they're probably more interested in the ecosystem here, but some of the other departments would love it." She thought for a second, looking at Althea. "Why are you asking?"

Ah, right. I'm not really familiar with that side of the shard.

?

CBST?