Sorana

"Are you kidding me?" Zokora flinched when she heard the words, felt the eyes of the two who had just arrived move over the three of them. No, she replied wordlessly. I'm not kidding you. I was sent here as well, and you will have to deal with me. She shot them a defiant glance, nothing but a spark of rebellion against the years of mistrust piling up on each other, against the barely hidden glances and the whisper that followed her through the hallways. Gritting her teeth against the familiar feelings, she lowered her glance unable to confront them, or anybody about it. She couldn't risk loosing her place, not now, not ever. John and Kingston continued to ignore her either, so she stayed where she was. There was no use to try to convince the other two that she was worth the air she was breathing, not after this greeting. So better stay back, imagine a day when she finally, finally belonged. "Hello," a boy said, adjusting his glasses nervously. "Am I late?" Surprised Zokora looked up to find him standing close to her, pushing his glasses back. "No, you are not." she made a vague gesture towards the closed doors. The were shivvering a little, slowly starting to open. "I would say, you are just on time." It would take them a while, but she could already feel the cool air streaming out of them, bringing with it the musky smell of masses of paper. "Hi, I'm Allence." A girl joined them, greeting her as well. "My name is Zokora An'Inera." she replied and forced a smile on her face, hoping they wouldn't start making fun of her any second. People tended to do that. Be nice at first and then discard her, make fun of her. The discussion between Kingston and John appeared to get a little heated but she kept most of her attention on the two talking to her. Better not get involved unless there was no other way. She would only end up being the scapegoat anyway. @kenod @Silva @Emi

"I think so." Althea watched Eiran leave. He had known about the Van before anybody else had done so, there was a high chance he would know if he was walking into danger. Instead she focused back on the two he had left her with. Aln and Ben. The name Ben struck a chord, as if hinting at a memory she had somehow lost. It brought with it a feeling of a quiet boy wearing glases, a healer. The feeling vanished again, left her feeling a little emptier behind, supressing a frown. Ben. She had never known a Ben, and while there had to be many people of that name in the Alleyverse, she was sure she had never met someone in person. Never interacted with one of them as well. Turning her thoughts back on the matter at hand she saw Ben stuff the sphere back into his pocket, after chasing it through the bubble. "Better make sure you keep it safe." she told him with a frown that felt exxagerated. It probably wasn't for anybody except for herself, but the habits of concealing her facial expressions and emotions for years had left their traces, even when she was a little more open now. Having children had changed a lot of things. Meeting Max had changed at least as many. It was a good idea to pretend to be poor, or at least not rich, there was no way they would mistake the three of them for those living in the slums. Not even in costumes. But with sound carrying outside, albeit a little distorted and Eiran leaving, the show could work out well for them. Not poor, but not rich enough to warrant further interest either. Just the perfect mixture. And with the van leaving as well, they hopefully appeared completely harmless. "They are leaving." Brashen whispered in her ear, "and they don't follow Eira either." "It worked." Althea stated, just loud enough for Ben and Aln to hear. "Good idea." @Ashbringer @Rushu42

The knot was particularly stubborn and she grit her teeth when it insisted to stay in her hair. Slowly she started to dissolve it one strand after the other, carefully using the hairbrush only rarely to prevent herself from ripping out some hairs. The rest she did with her fingers, until finally, it came apart and she was able to brush through her hair until it was soft and shining. Lifting her arms she separated a part on top of her head and then divided that one into three strands. She continued to take her time when she started to braid it, added one additional strand after the other, following the curve her head made. "Sagitta, grab your things! Make sure you're physically touching them, okay? I asked Reality to get us where we're going, he might do it any second." Tion's call made her draw her knife in seconds, her braid forgotten, eyes darting around and over the hills to discover a potential threat. Nothing. They were still calm and quiet. Collect her things and thouch them. She picked up her hairbrush and rushed over to her bag, stuffing the brush inside. Her soap was gone and instead her bowl was filled with milky white, soapy water. Shooting Tion an annoyed glance she emptied the bowl, wondering when she would ever be able to eat out if again without tasting nothing but soap. Probably never. The bowl followed her hairbrush and she picked up her sword and coat, holding it all close to her chest.

"Don't ask me about that spren." Althea replied calmly. If it really was from the Alleys that tended to be bad news, she knew that with every fiber of her being. The feeling disturbed her, it was too strong to be based on any facts, and yet she was too certain of it, to discard with nothing but a shrug. "But the others - " she made a slight shrug, dismissing them a little to reassure those around her. "Honestly I doubt that they are here because of you. At least not because of who you are. We've drawn attention, and I suspect some continue to keep an eye on us. If they mean any harm, or are simply curious, I have no way to deduce that from standing here, with them outside of your bubble. Chances are high they only watch until we leave, and then resume their drinking." She brushed a strand of her hair out of her face, tried to take the direction Brashen indicated, but the bubble made it hard to determine who he was refering to. "Alternatively they might be thugs. We are two women, and two young looking men, with two of us having used Investiture in the open. Add to that some well looking cloths easily lables us as 'possible targets with some crysts in their bags'." Focussing on him again she spread her hands a little. "There are other possibilities as well. The spren could have contacted whoever it is bonded to, and they arrived, maybe pose a serious threat. Or someone learned of your -" she made a vague gesture with her hands "past and suspects you've got some knowledge in your head they would like to have. But especially the last one is highly improbable. Personally I think it's either spectators, or some looking for an easy grab and run." "Either way, I'm not too fond of strangers observing me, so I think we could maybe move our conversation a little, maybe grab something to eat and see what they do."

Zokora watched John turn away nearly immediatly the moment someone arrived that he knew. It hurt, the way he greeted him, how they launched into a discussion about the other one's, Kingston's powers, John taking notes eagerly. "I'm Zokora." she still replied, wanted to avoid to be called impolite by not replying. She doubted one of the two would even hear it, wrapped up in their discussion as they were, but at least she had said something. Sera buzzed slightly in her pocket and Zokora stood up, unwilling to be the only one sitting around. She was tempted to ask if they knew how many would be coming apart of the three of them, but she kept quiet. No use to ask. She would learn soon enough anyway. Instead she opened her bag and checked its contents again. She had enough spheres to ensure she could use her surges for a while and yes, she still had to practice with them, but they tended to come in very handy anyway. "And this is Sera." she added when her spren climbed up her arm. "It's a pleasure to meet both of you." So much for politeness. She nodded to herself. Consider that part done.

Sagitta took her bag and followed his proposal. If he wanted to clean up after her meal, she wasn't going to argue about that. Judging their current situation they would travel together for a long while - there would be ample oppurtunities when she could do it. Instead she had repacked her bag, taken her sword and followed the direction he had pointed out, looked for the stream. It wasn't wide, but it's water ran more or less clean, with only a little dirt tainting the water a slight brown and it looked deep enough to submerge most of her body. Sagitta undressed quickly and then finished unbraiding her hair, let it fall down openly around her face. She dumped all clothes in a dirty pile on the ground and readied her second set to be put on once she was finished. Last but not least she strapped her knife to her thig and paused. Her scar, while it was still bulky and ugly had healed a great deal. It wasn't tender anymore, the skin less red, closer to her nomal skin colour. Weeks. She had heard both Tion and Intensity refer to her time on the island as weeks, but to see it on her own body was different. Weeks. So be it. At least now she had one thing less to worry about. Lifting her arms up into the sky she streched and then walked into the cold water, taking her soap with her. She started with washing herself, enjoyed the moment alone, without anybody observing her, judging her. Veteran. the word made her feel old, put her in a place she hadn't expected to be for a long, long while. She didn't feel like a war-scared veteran, although she had no idea how to protest this description. If she wasn't a soldier anymore, she was a veteran. The label irked her, but she knew she wouldn't discuss it with Tion. Mostly she wished he would call her by her name, instead of a profession, and if he needed a profession, why not use trader? But then she was no trader either. Traveller. At least the last one was true, although it brought with it a feeling of distances, of a wisdown she had barely touched. Staying inside of the water she exchanged her soap for her dirty cloths, washing them quickly. Her mother would have laughed at the time she spent cleaning them, and the way they coloured the water brown definitely proved her right. Taken by some strange urge to do it right, to succeed at least at this one thing she rubbed and turned and cleaned them until the water around them stayed clear. She spread them out in the sun to dry and hesitantly left the river again, shaking slightly from cold. Dressing again she took her time, made sure the long piece of cloth she used to keep her breasts close to her body was comfortable and didn't itch or rub. It was relaxing to have the time to properly tie her pants and to straighten her socks the right way, before taking on her shoes again. "Soap is here on the stone close to the water." She told Tion when he arrived. "You can put the cup and the bowl in the bag. I'll sit over there and take care of my hair." she offered him some privacy. She didn't particularly care about that, but he had offered her a chance to wash on her own and she would return it. Walking several steps to the side she sat down on a boulder, facing away from him and set her knife down. The sun was warm on her skin and she found herself smiling when she started to work on the seemlingly thousands of knots in her hair. Their problems could wait for a while.

"Please." Vivi added when Reval touched his chin and held out her cotton candy a little more. But her brother took his time, let her anxiously shift her weight from one foot to the other. She knew that this was nothing but a show, that since their father had said nothing against her going with him, Reval most likely would have to take her - but she wanted to have him take her because of her. Not because her father said it. She wanted to be strong as well, taken seriously. “I’ll let you come with me,” he said finally, grinning. “And you can keep your cotton candy. If you promise to do all my chores for a week.” Vivi stared at him open mouthed. All his chores for a week. Plus her own she would end up with a week doing little else but chores. It would reduce her dancing time to maybe only an hour daily, especially as her mother insisted on her finishing all homework before she was allowed to do anything else. And he always mocked her for not cleaning the dishes as well as he did. Instead he always pointed out non-existing spots and had her redo everything. the one little red dot, she could have swiped it away using her finger. There had been no need to wash all plates again. Biting on her lip she plucked some cotton candy of the stick and stuck it in her mouth. "I will do all chores you have to do during a week. But I'll spread them out. Half of them the first week, half of them the week after." she bargained and held out her slightly sticky hand for him. "Do we have a deal?" @I think I am here. ==================== He was old. There was no other explanation for his words, for the references both he and Aln made. It didn't really change anything, not here, not in Alleycity where so many worldhoppers lived side by side with those born here. It still felt weird to think of herself as a worldhopper, one of those old, powerful people that were able to break through the borders within the worlds, that were able to travel from one place to the other. Which she was. With enough stormlight it was surprisingly easy, once you knew what you were looking for. Shadesmar would lead you where you belonged. She shifted her weight to her other foot, eyes turning back to the bonfire in the middle of the place. "Do you know why they light a fire?" she asked those around her in an attempt to steer the conversation away from old herolds and a homecountry destroyed by war. She tried to capture first Aln's, then Ben's eyes and quickly, covertly shook her head. If one of them heard and came to the same conclusion, There was a chance Ben would be in grave danger. He had hinted at knowledge about times long lost and knowledge was powerful. So powerful many were willing to kill for it, or worse. She sent Brashen out of the bubble again, to scout and take a look around. Festival night was a night of celebration, but it also was a night used by those who prefered to walk in the shadows. And igven the crowd that had gathered around them only minutes ago she would be surprised if they were being ignored now. After a short while her spren returned and lifted four fingers into the air. "We are being observed." she stated calmly. "By four. I think we should start to move at least until we know what they're up to." @Rushu42 @Ashbringer @Silva

Disappointment swapped over her, stronger than she had expected. She had visited it, so that she a memory, any kind of memory apart from the orphanage, but she hadn't been able to connect these two parts of her live. Adult Althea had walked the streets and had been above all of it, her cloths telling the story of a rich Vorin lady. Child Althea had fought for bread in a dormitory. When he mentioned the Alleys she raised an eyebrow, but didn't adress the topic, granting him his privacy. She didn't like peoply prying into her own personal matterand she had stopped doing the same. Hopefully he knew that she noticed by her obvious reaction - everything else was up to him. "I was born there." She offered as an explanation. "Left so soon, I don't have more than a few, vague memories, so I don't really miss it either." Running from place to place. She found herself nodding at his words, grasping what he was aiming at. "This place can turn into a home for you." Her voice was quieter than before and she looked down at her hands. Remembered holding the spike, too young to grasp what she was doing, knowing only one thing. If she followed her orders she'd have a home." Or the city would swallow him completely spit him out a corpse in one of the conflicts to come. "If you want to - I know people around here in- and outside of the guilds. If you need some work, I might be able to get you a few names." Her hand moved up to the bubble. "Some don't care about ... quirks as long as you do your job. Just think about it - no need to decide now or tomorrow."

Her body hurt. Every inch of it hurt, especially her back where her sword was resting at an uncomfortable angle. With a groan she opened her eyes, and looke around, muscles protesting every movement. Slowly she pushed herself up from where she had been lying on the ground, found Tion sitting nearby, preparing breakfast. Her eyes darted towards the sky when she confirmed her assumption. The sun had rising only a short time ago in the east. "Good morning." she greeted him, her throat raw, her hair falling into her face, stiff from the salt. Finally taking of the sword she joined him at the fire, opened her bag to see what she had left. A wodden cup, and a small bowl. A spoon, that was a little cracked, but hopefully would still serve it's purpose. Her plate had vanished, same as her eating knife and she set away what she held in her hands, to take a look at the rest. A whetstone, her underware and even half a bar of soap. Strangely her water skin was there as well, hanging from its usual place outside of the bag. With a sigh of relief she pulled out her hair brush and started to unbraid her hair, when Tion continued to speak. He apologized, promised to be more careful in the future. For her sake, not for her own. He removed the rabbit without giving her a chance to reply, to tell him that it wasn't neccessary. Eat and then he would try to take her home. She drank a little of the water, mostly to busy herself while she ordered her thoughts, her mind not completely awake yet. "One thing after the other." she started once she set the waterskin down. "First, thank you for making breakfast, and it it's not salted correctly I don't care as long as its food." Reaching out for the rabbit she cut it in two even halves and with a shrug balanced one part of it on her bowl, placing it into front of him and the other part on the cup. "Two, I'm not a soldier anymore." It was the truth, and while the words hurt, they were also cleansing, relaxing. Right here and now, there was no army, she wasn't even in her own country. She was a lot of things, but without her army her was no soldier. The words left her silent for a moment brought with them the question what exactly she was, but she wasn't able to reach any conclusion. "Three. You don't need to apologize. You misjudged a situation - that happens. We got out of it, that is what matters and we're only here because we worked together. At least I wouldn't have been able to escape without you." She blew on a piece of rabbit to cool it down a little before taking a first bite, noticing how hungry she was. Quickly she took a second one, forced herself to chew before swallowing. "Four. While I appreciate to go home, I think there are other matters we should focus on. You mentioned that he wasn't as bad as that, compared to the last time you saw him. That leads me to suspect, that Last word's are true. Something is going on, something is changing the gods, or influencing them, or maybe their changed are the cause for their -" she stopped unsure wether she was still making sense and made a gesture with her hand, indicating that it wasn't that important. "You know what I mean. But if whatever is going on, continues, leaving them all in the same state of mind Intensity is - it doesn't bode well for my country, for any country. Not even for yourself." She shot him a wry smile. "So I suggest the following. We eat breakfast, and then we look for some sweet water to clean up. I don't have a lot of drinking water left and the salt is starting to itch. Once we've done that, or if you want to while we do that, we can consider how to find out more about what is going on." Sagitta took another bite of her rabbit, realizing only now, that maybe he had suggested to take her home because there was no 'we'. Because she was nothing but a liabitlity. So be it, let him speak the words aloud then. Now that she was in Cahaya, she could find her way on her own.

She was early. Zokora nearly cursed herself for not having taken the time to change into something else but her costume, but it was too late now. She had hurried to the Archives, had only taken the time to stuff her mask into her bag, not bothering to change into something more suitable for work. Her skin crawled when she imagined the looks at her cloths, probably everybody else would change first before coming here – despite being a member for nearly two years now, she still felt a bit left out at times. She knew many didn’t trust her, suspect she was nothing but a spy, when she was only looking for a place where she belonged, where she could live in peace and do something that was worth her time. The report. She didn’t know what it contained, probably classified. Or she had simply been left out as happened so often. Let her find out on her own, she was just an unwelcome addition and there were times when she wondered why she was even here. She could have stayed, done her job, it couldn’t have been worse than this. But it had been. And so, after long conversations with Althea, after deciding if it was worth the risk she had left. Had sworn an oath to keep silent about what she knew and had left. And surprisingly nobody had removed her so far. Her eyes moved over to the thick, Aon covered door that lead down into the Archives was, that whatever was waiting down below was dangerous. Dangerous enough that they had decided to call her in to that mission. A stoneward tended to be helpful when facing an uncertain situation. She leaned against a nearby wall and crossed her arms. As soon as the rest of the team had arrived they could start their descent. She had been told that they would need to pass by the first three floors. These were the ones that were used most regularly. Everything below though. She had heard that it was a maze, staircases and huge rooms, leading deep into the soil beneath the city. If there had been a map, it was lost, or at least it hadn’t been shown to her. She had never been down there before, only heard the stories about weird things taking place down there. About creatures and secrets that had been hidden for so long they had forgotten they even existed. Excitement rose like a flower inside of her chest. Excitement and hope. Maybe she could finally prove herself, show them that she was trustworthy.

"And here I am, offering exactly the same to Eiran only a couple of minutes ago." Althea relaxed a little when the guild leader did nothing else but offer to show Ben the place. She knew her way around the city, had lived here for nearly as long as she could remember her childhood. Eiran opened up about his name again and she noted that little fact down as well, partially inclined to trust his instincts. He had been right about the Van so maybe he was right about these two as well. She would always keep her eyes open, be prepared and make sure she wasn't walking blindly into a trap, but who knew. There were decent people in this city. You only needed to meet them. Her eyes moved over to the fire, and she knew her pupils would break the light a little, giving away their crystalline structure. There was still a part within herself that cringed at the thought of showing them off like that, but a larger one had stopped caring a long time ago. She was who she was. "We considered to start at the Hall of Legends." She added for Aln's sake, but never stopped looking at Byron, another question on her lips. "Or maybe the festival itself would be even better." He was from Roshar and had arrived here only recently. Maybe he had knews. When she had travelled there with Max, they had spent so much time on the market, and then in the highstorm, that she'd missed to get some actual news. "How is the situation on Roshar?" she asked carefully. "Especially around Iri?" @Silva @Ashbringer @Rushu42

Vivi happily took her cotton candy and used her fingers to pluck a part of. She put it in her mouth and smiled when it melted, leaving pure sweetness behind. She grinned and lifted it to her mouth, took a bite. A small part of it sticked at her nose and cheeks, but the fluffy part that she managed to bite off made it worth. Laughing she used her sleeve to wipe her face. "I'll go with Rev." she decided quickly. Adult stuff was boring, but maybe she could convince Reval to do something funny. Maybe he would even jump over the fire with her. "Who do you want to meet?" she asked him, excited to meet his friends. They were as old as he was, as incredibly cool. Her own friends would envy her, when they learned that she managed to spend the festival night with some of his friends. Monica had a crush on him, for as long as Vivi knew her, and she sometimes suspected that they were only friends because it gave Monica a chance to drop by and say hi to Reval. Looking at him she realized that he hadn't asked her to come along, had only spoken about himself. Knowing that she sometimes went on his nerves by tagging along when he was doing 'boy's stuff', she hesitated moved from one foot to the other. Looking up at him, she put on her best nice face and smiled. "I'll be nice, I promise. And I won't disturb you at all." Looking at her cotton candy she pursed her lips in thought and then offered it to him heavy hearted. "And you can have my cotton candy." =============== Althea frowned when he asked who she was again, but figured that maybe he hadn't heard her earlier introduction. Or maybe he wanted to know more, although without introducing himself first it felt a little rude to ask about personal details. Still she watched the guild leader out of the corner of her eyes. She had appeared to know him and she wasn't taking a chance that he was a close friend. He had watched them all before asking his question, so maybe they weren't that close and he was only an associate of her. The guild leader's reply hopefully would help with that. She made sure she could see all three of them, trusted Brashen to keep his eyes on the Van moving away from their position. He would warn them in time if there was some kind of danger. "My name is Althea Tenira." She repeated her name and considered what to add. Leave her family away, better not to risk anything, so something general about work would do and to tell them that she was a local wouldn't hurt as well. "I research Invesiture, live here in Alleycity." A little short, but she wasn't too keen on giving personal details away. Back to the current situation instead, that was a little more harmless. Eiran hadn't told them his name, so she decided against spilling that one. It was his decision what he wanted to tell a stranger and she wouldn't take it away from him. "We noticed something was off about the Van and decided to take a closer look, lest it posed a danger to those celebrating here. I wasn't able to read the licence plate, but it's walls are definitely reinforged." She didn't mention the conversation Brashen had heard, or anything about Eiran's suspicions. "Paranoid." Brashed whispered in her ear again and she gave a mental shrug. Trust had to be earned. It was as easy as that. "And to hand the questions back, who are you?"

Well, if it's not again the site rules, I would prefer to use our existing hospital instead of a new one. I do have scenes planned there and am nearly done writing them and I would prefer to be able to have them happen. I won't be able to do that with a new place. As Ene said, it's one of our few named locations, and I personally don't see the point in creating a new one. It will always be a location that is used for a while and then will have to rest aside when nobody is in need of it. If I remember correctly, we might even have had some insane people there already, although I'm not entirely sure of that. Our hospital saw several different plot lines, to simply throw it away feels a little sad to me, especially as it has been around for nearly two years now. For me we are also writing the history of this city, and while exchanging our taverns has become something like a tradition, I like the thought that some places, like the harbour, the hall of legends, and said hospital are around and witness what we do. It also leads me to a different question. While I can see that we might IC build a second hospital, what do we do with threads like The Harbour? The city has only one, and that has been established. If we now go with a new hospital, what do we do if someone needs the harbour again? Create a second thread, and therefore a second harbour that hasn't existed so far? In the end the most important thing is, that we have such a place. I like the possibility, because I also think people are more likely to get their characters injured if they know, that they can control some NPCs at a hospital and get them fixed again. We do have one. The question is wether we continue with what we have or create a new place.

The hospital could always be completely written by those with characters there. For a while some healer characters used to work there, and were tagged, but usually all npcs can be controlled by whoever wanted to do it. And I would be the one to run it, now that's Ax is mostly inactive, I think. But again, I certainly don't want to break any site rule. I'd rather throw my plans away than do that.

Regarding the hospital: I'm with Ene, I have to admit I also thought that the point of location threads was to reuse them when they are needed again. And especially that thread never had more than scenes in it anyway, so plot continuity wouldn't be an issue for me. Especially now with E5 we could have changed it according to new needs. I have to prefer I also like if we can create no only stories for our characters, but also for the city and its places. Addtionally now with E5 at least I loose some potential scenes I've lined out, as the hospital played a vital role in some of character's backstories. But in the end it's easy, if it's against the rules to reuse it, it's against the rules.

With a curse Sagitta reached the mast, noticed that the shadow she had thought to be Tion, was instead a part of the sail, they hadn't been able to secure in time. She stopped, tried to see him in the water, but there were only the parts and pieces of the hull, the water covered by foam, the wind pushing it with force against the rockes. A shivver ran through the small remaining part of the deck she was holding on to, and then, with a sound as if it was screaming it broke apart as well. She dropped completely into the ocean, the ice cold water taking her breath away for a moment, her eyes burning from the salt. Darkness all around her she felt as if she was floating, arm flailing wildly around her in a vain attempt to swim to the surface. Some unseen force dragged her around, over the surface of a rock, leaving many tiny cuts on her arms and legs that immediatly started to burn. Sagitta tried to discern where the surface was, her body urging her to take a deep breath. Darkness, only darkness around her. Darkness and the rocks that suddenly appeared now and then next to her. The clung to one of them, the protest of her arms lost beneath the rising fear and the burning of her lungs. Up, but where was - her sword. It was pulling her down, so up was the other way. Using the rock she pushed with her legs and arms, her instinct adding more force to that single push and she moved, shot through the darkness. Her head broke through the surface, her hands instinctively clinging to the rock as well, despite the bloody cuts its surface let on them. Everything was better than ending back in the ocean. She gulped down air, shaking and shivvering in the water, heared Tion call out to her from afar. Never quite letting to of the rocks she started to move along them, over them, the water still throwing her this way and that way. Finally she reached the shore line she wiped the water out of her eyes, saw a tree standing only a little bit above her. Bruised and battered she made her way up, stopping every few feet to cough up more salty water she had swallowed. Freezing in the rain and the wind, legs shaking so badly she was barely able to walk in a straight line, she had no idea how long it took her to finally reach the shelter of the tree. Exhausted she dropped to the ground next to him, hugged herself for any resemblance of warmth. Her sword poked into her back in an umfortable angle but she was too tired to care about that. Instead she tried to force herself to keep her eyes open to watch for danger, to remain alert. Her eyes dropped shut when her body claimed the rest it so absolutely needed.

Hello! During one of our discussions we somehow came up with a side plot set in the TUBA archives. Our goal is, to find a report that has gone missing and it is our quest to find out what happened to it, secure it and transport it safely back to the surface. The thread will work like that: The TUBA archives are like a maze, full of documents, reports, contracts and everything else you can think about that has something to do with bureaucracy. Our idea was, that as our characters advance deeper into them, everybody participating comes up with an idea or two what is happening in the next one room. A short writeup to describe the setting for everybody and then we all deal with the situation and afterwards go on. That really can be everything you can come up with. From strange creatures, to biting books, to blood rituals - feel free to through in anything you can think of (or any reference). When we run out of ideas, we will find the report (or not). If you'd like to participate but don't have a TUBA character, feel free to claim, that your character was hired by TUBA. They will be asked to sign an NDA about everything they see down there, a document detailing, that TUBA won't come up for any damage taken by them or their personal belongings, and of course a general working contract. Just putting this here, so that if there are any questions from those who aren't in the pm, you can ask them before the thread goes up. There are enough interested, that we will definitly start it, but wanted to give everybody a chance to participate and maybe think about their character upfront.

Althea waited until the Van straightened again, continued to drive away. Nobody broke out of it, nobody attempted to near it. She signaled Brashen to stay outside and keep looking at it, then turned to those that had started to stop to spectate. With a smile on her face she politely asked them to leave, told them that there was nothing to see, and while some ignored her, at least most turned around and slowly walked back to the fire, or left the place through adjacent streets. She waited for a little while longer, with the leader of the scholar's guild and Eiran taking care of the injured one, she didn't worry about him, not with someone able to use progression at hand. Only when she was sure that for now, no danger was waiting in some corner she relaxed a little. And now. She could leave. turn around and leave the three behind. Messing with another guild, especially leader - she doubted anything good could come from it. In the end someone would scream treason, or the woman realized who she belonged to and decided to keep her around for questioning. Althea supressed a sigh at her own worries. She rarely cared about the guilds, they weren't that powerful anyway, but their leaders, they were something different. You didn't manage to lead a guild with nothing but charity in your head. It might be your goal - but the path there was a bloody one. Always. And if only because the city and its politics forced one war after the other on you. Considering her options for a moment she finally took a step forward and into the bubble. Polite she had to be polite, make sure she said nothing that could be used against her. Self-confident, make sure she wasn't discarded as a mere pawn to use, but present herself as an asset. If she mana "Hello." she greeted those inside calmly and then turned to the man. "I apologize for not checking on you earlier, but as I saw that you were taken care of, I took the time to ensure the Van was continuing on its way. Which it is for now." Her eyes moved over to the guild leader and she inclined her head respectfully before she added. "We suspect, that there might be a prisoner inside of the vehicle and that maybe a break-out is planned. But as nobody used that chance or left the Van I think it is safe to assume that they are still inside. Additionally The Van didn't suffer any obvious damage from this accident." Althea noticed a slight formal tone entering her voice, calm and neutral, as if she was reporting to one of her superiors. @Ashbringer @Rushu42 @Silva ========== Vivi hopped from one leg to the other, listened to her father talk and talk and talk and talk. Don't do this, don't go into the dark places. The only thing missing was, that he wasn't asking not to jump into the fire. Her eyes rested on the fire for a moment. Jump above the fire. It was large enough that the flames were as high as her head, but if she started to run early enough and then jumped, moved through it fast enough so that the flames didn't burn her. Later. When her father was gone, then she would tackle this. For now she was hungry and he had promised to get them some food. She rushed after her family towards the right side of the place, when she noticed that she had been left a little behind again, moved through the crowd. For a moment she couldn't see them, only masked people dancing and laughing and drinking. She was wearing her own mask too. It was a new one, and she loved it. It was yellow and it had glitter all over it. Especially the glitter she liked a lot. Looking around she tried to find them, a sense of dread rising in her chest. Alone. She had lost them and was alone. Throwing her hair back she told herself, that she was old enough to deal with it, that she was strong, but she only felt alone. This wasn't funny anymore. Her hands shook a little and her eyes started to burn, but she grit her teeth. Her father wouldn't cry because he was temporarily alone. He would find a solution. Reval would find a solution. Only she was standing here, useless and about to cry like a toddler. Climbing on a nearest stall, despite the owner's protests she was able to see the different people, moving through the crowd. She saw the dancers close to those playing music. Fear reached out for her throat when she couldn't make them out, when her eyes swept over the crowd again and again, until she finally saw them close to the food stalls. Hopping down again she hastily she pushed herself through slips in the crowd, was small enough to use spaces the adults could use anymore and finally she saw the two of them again. Running over she grabbed her fathers hand and held on tight, no wishing to be lost again soon. Instead she looked up at him with wide eyes, smiling, her fear already forgotten.. "Can I get some cotton candy?" @I think I am here. =============== Zokora neared the festivities when her device made a soft buzz and she frowned took it out. Her face nearly fell when she read the message. A missing report. There was a missing report. All thoughts about the masquerade left her mind and instead she turned around, hastened back. She had to get to the Archives. Now. The needed to find this report.

@bees? =========== The bubble, the Van. She inwardly cursed herself for not seeing it earlier. The man had been burning cadmium for a while now, his bubble potentially large enough to enclose a part of the street. The same street the Van was going on. The allomancer wasn't looking up, completely focused on the card he was holding in his hands, not noticing the car that was nearing him, about to hit his bubble "He's in his way." Althea stated and started to move, despite knowing that she was already too late. She was still rushing towards the man sitting on the ground when the Van hit the bubble, was jostled around, pushing the allomancer out of his way. It wasn't far, as the man had sat down close to where she and Eiran had been standing, and she only spared him a fleating glance. He appeared to be floating through the air, although she knew that for him time would pass at normal speed. One way or the other, jumping into the bubble now would only jostle him further instead of help him land on his feet. He had no way to notice in time should the Van come his way again, not within his bubble still around him. And she she moved between him and the car in a protective stance. A slight feeling of satisfaction spread in her chest, when she realized that at least a part of her gut feeling had been right. She inhaled more stormlight, readied herself to soulcast either a protective structure in front of him, or to elsecall them all out of the way. "He's on the ground." Brashen informed her and she gave a slight nod, not changing the way she was looking. As long as the Van was potentially dangerous she wouldn't turn her back to it. "Someone is checking on him." She nodded again, speaking loud enough that whoever was behind might be able to hear her. "Tell me if they need help." @Rushu42 @Ashbringer @Silva

Sagitta felt herself drift away several times, the exhaustion of her body overwhelming. She tried to wrap her body somehow between the rail and the rudder, hoped that the rope would be enough to keep her aboard. Every now and then she was jostled awake by a thunder, by an especially huge wave. Then she drifted off into dreams full of storms, of drowning, of running, of an angry god chasing her all over the continent. At one point she dreamt of her mother, scolding her, telling her she should have done what the god had told her to do. A loud crash ripped her out of her half-waking, half-sleeping state and she instinctively clung to the rudder only to feel it give way, her arms reaching into nothing. It was enough to get her mind working again and she looked around, oriented herself. They had crashed, the ship was breaking apart, the hull already more or less gone. She drew her knife and cut through the rope tying her to the boat, then she hastened over to the place where they had stored her bags. There was no way she could save her armour, but maybe she was able to reach her bag. The deck shivvered under feet, started to break into two halves, the storm still raging above. "We need to go!" she shouted to Tion while she reached into the little storage space. Water was moving down below and for a short moment she feared that she wasn't able to save anything, then she saw one strap that had caught itself on a piece of wood. Pulling the bag up, she felt pure relief at the thought of the stone she used to hone her blade and a second set of underware. With some luck, maybe her bar of soap hadn't dissolved completely. She slung the strap over her shoulder, sorted it with the straps of her sword and cursed when a huge part of the remaining deck groaned again, this time accompanied with loud cracking sounds. She didn't stop to watch the part with the rudder break off, instead took the few missing steps to Tion and towards the shore.

I'm sorry, I thought I'd explained in our pm when you asked about how to transfer her to the AV, but obviously I might have been a bit vague. Please don't be sorry about asking questions! At first your character does have a rating, because I always make one to get a feeling about their skills and the distribution of their points. I simply didn't copy it into the thread, as I was on mobile and you were so exctied to get started, so I figured I'd approve her, so that you can get started even when I'm asleep. Copying things around on my mobile is a bit complicated and regularly I lose my whole post about it. As you can see from the rating, your character is exactly at the 150 points limit. You didn't use more than 100 points for Investiture related skills (which we added to avoid characters having no other skills but Investiture related ones). You've done an awesome job toning her down a little! What does that mean for you: you can hop into the rp and start writing and interacting with the others. If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to ask them!

Not really remembering, not yet

Hey Darth, I personally agree with Voidus. Actually looking over your character sheet, my rating of his weaknesses would even have been a tad lower. As I tried to explain before, we do try to vote on weaknesses as similar as possible and discussed some guidelines and some base directions to keep us oriented. If you want to submit the character as an OP character, you are welcome to do so. In that case I'd like to ask you to fill out the OP character sheet, so that we can put it up for discussion and then voting.

Excited to take a look at this character! I'll get back to you with a rating soon. ======= Edit: @Quitecontrary Your character is approved! I'll add her to the character list.