Sorana

EDIT: @Kings_way Your character looks fine! I have to admit, I'm not entirely sure about the location thread, as that means he/ you are dependent on other players dropping by and taking a look at what he has. I like the idea a lot so feel free to give it a try of course! If the thread ends up a little low on activity, you could always consider to change into some kind of mini-plot. I've got one question: with him being a skeletton: did you consider which weapons might hurt him less/ more than others? Is he invested? How does he react should he end up the target of some investiture? Like a normal person (apart from the fact that he doesn't need to breathe/ eat and the like)? ========= @turtle Thanks a lot for already rating your character! I especially enjoyed your fabrial at 17 points Welcome to the Alleyverse and have fun!

Hello. Wasn't home until something like an hour ago, spend the last four days at a friend's place. I also forgot to think about some kind of character, but I'll see if I something comes to my mind today. Just read through the thread and so far it strikes me as rather usual C1 banter (at least based on the games I played in other forums and those I read here), so I'll wait with voting on anybody a bit, until there is a little more content.

I'll gladly help you build a world according to your plans. Can I suggest to add a few environmental goals apart from the world peace part?

"That is a very good question." Sorana falls silent for a long time, thinks about what might it have been. "I honestly don't know. I tend to avoid scary things, as I'm scared easily. One night, I was alone, there was a loud sound from outside, and I hid in my closet, but when it was silent I knew I would need to check what happened, or I wouldn't be able to get back to sleep. So I walked down and opened the door, took a look. Armed with a kitchen knife - it took me over an hour I think to convince myself to do it."

"Selling sounds awesome." She turned around, waved at a man. "But I need a very special clientele for my goods so I wonder if you can provide me with that?" She doubted it, but she had a few harmless thi gs she could sell easily, even outside of the more darker shaded places. Medicine, light drugs, whatever else she had made mostly for her own needs.

Hello

Waking up Sorana realizes that she most likely has no chance to ever keep up with this. "Truth." she calls, mostly to contribute anything. "Just write the question down and I'll answer it whenever you are awake again I guess?" With a sigh she gets up to her feet. It's quiet now, a strange feeling knowing how much had been going on just a few hours earlier. "Have a good night everybody." she adds and then sits down comfortably, reaching for a book. Quiet actually isn't that bad. More time to read.

========== "Because they were in our way." the man frowned and looked at them as if not comprehending Lewis' point. "You see, we can't take anybody, and we hardly could walk up to the queen and ask to be allowed to use Big Ben for a ritual?" He gave a short laugh at the thought alone. "You're crazy if you think that would have worked. No, we had to do it this way. This is our plan, our journey, our risk. And you-" he lifted his arms towards the ceiling, a wide smile spreading on his face when he took in the tiny, dark ball that had formed up there. "You won't stop us. It's done. The portal's opening and I will leave, I will go away, I will step into the power and then I will crush you midges, I will smash you to pieces and I will be the one people look up to. I will guard the gate, the portal, the rainbow bridge if you want to call it like that." He started to laugh again, watched as the dark ball slowly started to grow, pure excitement on his face.

Started Empire of Gold and I love it. If the ending is as promising as the beginning, it's a worthy conclusion of the series.

Satisfied that everything was going fine within the Boarding House Temeria reached out for a basket. She disliked the strange feeling bags people tended to use in this world. They were loud, felt so thin and they stank a little as well. So she had gotten herself a basket. "I will head out, buy a few things." she told her new employee, knowing she wouldn't be gone long enough for something to go wrong. It would be a first test, to see if the girl could keep up with everything happening. Amber left his candle and joined her when she made a stop behind the bar and reached out for the sword waiting for her. She never went anywhere without her sword. The instinct had been ingrained into her body and soul and she knew she wouldn't stop doing it. If the sword was useful or not, she felt better going around armed. Slinging the belt around her hip she knew that it provided a nearly strange contrast to the dress she wore, but didn't entirely care about that. She had left her uniform behind when she had opened the boarding house and there was nothing more to be discussed about the matter. She stepped outside, basket on her hip, sword comfortably at her side, nearly stumbling into a young man, running past. She yelped in surprise when he suddenly crossed her path, or when she suddenly crossed his, she supposed, her basket with its two towels falling to the ground, rolling away. "I'm sorry." she called out, torn between running after the basket and making sure she hadn't hurt him. @Ashbringer

Mike shifted his weight again, unsure if he could accept the offer, put himself into this man's debt. If it would be wise. It wouldn't. The moment you were in somebodies dept you had to pay, that was the unwritten rule of the streets. You paid your debts. Your word was the one thing to rely on. You could lie, you could cheat and betray if you were smarter. But if you gave your word, then you gave your word. Looking over at Freya he hesitated and then nodded. "Alright. I will pay you. If not in chrysts then in something else." And maybe some information about those living inthe crater would be enough. He had contacts there, if they ever needed to find someone - he nearly laughed at his own thought. Why would they be looking for someone in the slums? The thought alone was crazy. "His name is Xaver or something like that." he started and then hesitated again. "He is taller than I am, and he - " another pause. "He wears a sword." he knew it, knew it with every fiber of his being. A sword. "It was important that sword. He is light." another description, something he had remembered. "Agile, self-confident. Skilled. Creative." Words, words he knew were the truth, but they wouldn't help. "I can't remember." desperation crept into his voice. "I can't remember, I met him in an alley, he asked for the way, but then - he." Mike stopped, pressed a hand against his forehead, the memory evaporating as quickly as it had come. "I don't know." he added out of anything else. "I will recognize him, but he's, I just don't know anymore. He's important, I need to find him or something terrible will happen, only he can prevent it, there is this darkness, this huge sphere of darkness and I know he can deal with it, but I don't know." he ended with a nearly frustrated shout. Whirling around he walked a few steps away, breathing heavily, trying to calm himself down. "I am sorry." he added after a while. "I would greatly appreciate it, if you could keep your eyes open I know it's not a lot to start with."

She smiled at that, wondered why he hadn't noticed earlier. Usually it was the first thing people noticed before they turned away. White hair, red eyes. It was so easy and yet so complicated. Easy to discard someone when their appearance didn't fit. Brashen sat on her shoulder and she chould hear him hum a few notes into her ear, as if he knew the way her thoughts travelled, distracted her, anchored her in a way only he managed so quick and easily. "They are I suppose." she agreed quietly, "I've never met anyone with eyes like mine before." He was staring at her, his eyes seemed to bore into her, trying to look behind her facade. "It makes we wonder where you got yours, where you are from." She considered her next words carefully, unsure if they were a mistake or not, if there was any other way. "And you are right. I don't like fire anymore." her voice shook a little at the admission, barely hearable but undeniable here, and she felt raw, far too open in front of a stranger. "Guess, I watched too many cities burn to the ground." she tried to act non-chalantly. "This one, Oasis -" she stopped unable to go on to speak the other names aloud and instead made a gesture with her hand to indicate that the list was longer. Meeting his eyes directly she looked at him. "Will you burn this city down, nameless one?" she asked, her voice once again sure and hard. "Will you call fire to burn it all to the ground?"

Not exactly the most recent, but yes, it's spoilery for the later books of the series. I look forward to the one hitting the market in september I think, although I wish he would continue to write the Cinder Spires. I loved the setting of that one, and while I enjoy the Dresden Files, I really would like to know how the Cinder Spires go on.

Pay. "How much do you services cost?" Mike asked hesitantly and shifted his weight uncomfortably to his other foot. Somehow he doubted he would be able to pay them. "I don't mind to tell you - just, maybe let's settle the other parts of it first?" he suggested and tugged on his gloves again. If he couldn't pay him, then he didn't need to spend the time to talk to them anyway.

Sorana sighed. "I'm theoretically here as well." she admitted and then made a vague gesture with her shoulder. "It's weird but I tend to fall asleep when you all wake up. Has to be some strange condition of mine." Sitting back more comfortably she poured some tea into her cup and started to drink it. "But I'm willing to join, if you don't mind my replies taking a little more time."

Cautious. He added to his list of attributes fitting her and smiled when she looked back at him. Good. He followed her inside and closed the door behind him, waving a hand at an Aon placed on the wall nearby, activating it's calm, white glow. Welcoming he gestured towards a table in one corner of the room and sat down himself. The room was empty apart from the two of them. "Why do you want to join?" he asked and pulled out his device, pushed a few buttons until the words of the oath moved over the screen. "Are you willing to be loyal to the guild and to work on our goals?" He shut it off again, didn't show her the words yet, just let her think about her reply for a moment.

Lena walked up to the silvery tower. It was huge, impressive, and she grinned again excited about what was going to happen. She had spend a few hours disguising herself, had used some fake blonde hair to cover her red one, contact lenses to change the color tone of her eyes and a little make up to change the way her face was perceived. It looked a little rounder now, her cheeks slightly pink. Small things, easy to do and hard to spot. At least easy if you had some practice and Lena had successfully changed a few facts about herself for years. Rarely anybody was able to look it through. She was still humming a happy tone, her bag slung over her shoulder, a fresh set of pancakes waiting to be ate inside. It was a good day, a very good day. She opened the door and looked around for someone to greet her, for a place visitors were supposed to go. Swiping her gaze through the room she tried to spot a few guards, note their position. And the kitchen. She also needed to find the kitchen. That part was even more important. @Lord_Silberfarben

She laughed. "Will do." she grinned and took the card, stuffed it into her pocket. Phone number. So he expected she had one of these things to give him a call. With a slight shrug she decided to care about that part later - these phones were boring. Everybody could call you and know where you were. She prefered a meeting in a dark place, a mask over her face - her grin widened when she recalled one of these meetings. They had all worn masks or disguises, had called themselves the Bureau. They had told her to spy on their enemies, but she had grown bored at one point or the other and then the others had died or vanished and only she was left. Sebastian, he was the one stupid enough to attack the Ghostbloods in their base. And that Haunt guy, the ghost. The next time she saw him, she would rip him apart. "See you later aligator." she called, although she had no idea what an aligator was. Still she liked the rhyme of the phrase. Humming a happy tone she walked out of the door, flicked her fingers against the blade of the knife still stuck inside of the wood. Reaching into her bag she pulled out an apple and looked at it fondly. Apples, she liked apples ever since she had poisoned a whole floor using nothing but apples. Biting into the soft, slightly sour fruit she walked along the street, a happy spring to her steps. It was time to test a few poisons.

"No, nothing." he smiled again and got to his feet. Organized and to the point. If she managed to complete this assignment Cassie would make a fine addition to their ranks. And if not - well with her gone they could set someone in place to buy the shop. The idea to be able to track the ressources of a part of the metalborn within this city was an amazing one. "Like I said, if you need support, just give us a call, we'll send someone over." he repeated, meaning every word. They weren't TUBAists who seemed to do nothing but cuddle each other every day, but they did look out for each other. Within some borders. But they would try. "And here." he pushed the remaining pouch to her, containing nothing but some chrysts of different values. "Should you need to spend some money. If you need more, that can be organized as well." Walking over to the door he opened it, before continuing to speak. "I look forward to the design, once you have been able to craft it." he touched a hand to the rim of a non-existing hat. "Have a good day and hopefully see you soon."

@Ashbringer

You don't like fire. Althea took another sip of her wine to cover up the whirlwind that rose inside of her chest at these words. So he'd noticed. Of course he had. Despite the place he had been in, he had to have been to miss her freaking out. It was about fire, but it was also about something else, about the desperation. About the helplessness of watching, unable to do something. About the complete loss of control. Deliberatetly she set her glass down when she noticed her grip being a little too strong. Somehow it all came down to Sephtis, to him and to Max. To the burning City of Oasis, to the blood that had been shed there after Max lost control. To the underground headquarters where Sephtis had manipulated her mind, to the planets he had destroyed, to the burning city where they had faced them down. To the woman they had used as bait. "I used to fire." she disagreed quietly. "I loved to sit in front of a hearth and watch it burn. I loved to light candles when taking a bath." She had loved these things. Not that she did them anymore. It was better, but better was far from good. Her eyes left his face, but never quite his figure and she itched to touch him, to feel his cloths under her fingertips. To see if he was real or not, to make sure he was really there. "I told you back in the Van." she forced herself to lift her eyes. "I never wanted to hurt you. I only wanted to know what was going on." Suddenly she felt tired, tired of all this dancing around, of all these words. If she had simply turned him into a statue none of this would have happened. The building would be intact and well, its inhabitants alive and she would have celebrated this night together with Max. He had used the building as a diversion to get away, obviously hadn't considered the damage he had done. Mari edged towards his back and Althea was relieved to see her, relieved that she wasn't alone. "Why do you ask?" she question him instead, deciding to buy Mari more time. Max. It seemed as if he had been right after all. @kenod

I started the Giver of Stars yesterday and I am already halfway through. It's about the Pack Horse Library Project. (For more details about that one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pack_Horse_Library_Project) So far it's an easy read, captured me quickly and what I like - it's only one book, not another longer series. The characters are well developed and you can follow them as they grow, as they change according to their tasks and learn how to stand up for themselves. It's not as deep as SA, by far not as complicated, but I enjoy it a lot.

"If you ask like this." his raised an eyebrow, slowly pushed himself off the wall and walked over to her, his knife resting calmly in his palm. "I would never say no to another show of your skills." Walking over to the door he unlocked it with a set of keys to cover up on the fact that his tattoo was enough and then gestured for her to step inside. "But maybe we should continue our conversation inside?" He remained standing next to the door, waited to see if she would agree to step through first, enter their territory. Her skill with her knives - he suppressed the smile that touched his lips at the way she had spun them around in the air. Glorious. This woman was exactly to his liking. "Welcome to the Ghostbloods." he added and bowed slightly, never quite taking his eyes off her. It wasn't exactly their headquarters, but for now it would do. And after her initiation, maybe he could hand her her first assignment as well. See if she was as good working in the field, than she was at showing off.

"How can I reach you?" Lena asked while he read, not bothering to wait until he had finished. "I think I could go and take a look at these Traders, see who they are and if they have any protection in place." Tapping a finger gently against the message she grinned again. They had to get going. Doing nothing but standing around was boring. "And you should go and find that shadow. Whoever they are, they seem to be an interesting person." @Gears