Sorana

"Thank you." Shana pushed the door open and stepped outside. She walked around the corner of the building, her shoulders sagging down when the woman was gone. So she had been wrong, completely wrong. It had just been a normal citizen, and all the rest had happened in her mind. Closing her eyes she tried to get rid of the uneasy feeling in her stomach and then took a few more steps towards the place where she had seen her. There was something on the ground, and she hurried there, picked it up. It was an adress, written on a slip of paper. It hadn't been there for too long, or someone would have stepped on it and additionally, she couldn't recall it lying there when she had looked out of the window. Lifting it up into the air she held it for her friends to see, growing cold when she realized that the adress, was only a street next to Doc's house. @Wyndlerunner @Eluvianii

Attayl raised an eyebrow at her, and handed the key back. "I will go and take a look." She said softly. "You can come along, or go through the side door, but I certainly won't let you go alone." A smiled touched her lips and she brushed her fingers over Nerin's. "You aren't alone anymore. I am here, Brillin is here. We can shoulder the situation together." Concentrating on her bronze for another moment she heard nothing but the pulses coming from Nerin. Drawing her knives she held them in her hands for a moment, before ghosting over to the entrance of the parlor. Her steps were quiet on the cobblestones, the shivvering of her limbs had stopped. Now that she had something to do, she could feel herself settling into a place of calm and concentration, just like she had been taught. Don't let yourself be distracted, focus on the situation. Carefully she neared the package, wanted to take a look at it first. @Invocation

Because I might need a boat But if you have none, I can't steal it from you.

"I'm fifteen." Mike replied. School. He was supposed to be there, wasn't he? But no, the assassinations and then he had gone investigate. His teachers would know. They had to, because he was on an official mission, apart from the fact that he had run away from that. So basically he was disobeying orders and he was skipping school and that meant - Mike stared at the man as he sat down, his words, his ability to speak lost somewhere between his terror and the realization that he was disobeying again. If they sent him back, if Ark learned of it, then he would have to go back and that would mean, that he had to - His eyes never left the man when he tried to focus on the question, sweat covering his hands, his breathing too fast. The world seemed to start spinning around him, slowly at first but then faster and faster until he felt as if standing on a rollercoaster being swept this way and that way. Squirrel pushed him out of the way, gently placed him back into the darkness and looked at Xanas. She changed his posture, straightened his back and then pulled a crate over, sat down again, mimicking the movement of the one who had sought them out. Light brown fur covered Mike's ears as they changed, turned more sensitive than before. His fingers grew a little longer as well, to make it easier to take hold of branches. Squirrel smiled at their guest, tried to balances Mike's panicked staring a little. "As far as I know," she started to speak her voice a tad higher than the one Mike had used previously. "This place was stabilized about 1500 years ago. Sanctuary was turned into Alleycity shortly afterwards, when it was decided that the capital should be close to the worldspike." History hadn't been their strongest subject, Mike was so focused on fighting and his revenge that he hadn't paid as much attention to other subjects as he should have had. But she figured that give or take a couple of years, didn't really matter. His panic made it more difficult to try and find what he remembered about the history of this place. But if Xanas was interested in more details he could ask and she could dive into that matter specifically. "About 19 years ago the Seven Day War occured. During the war several guilds fought amongst each other, and the worldspike was attacked as well. The war was ended with a huge space ship nuking the city, hence the huge cater you can see." She made a vague gesture south. "Afterwards there was peace for sixteen years, while the guilds worked together to rebuild the city." She paused, then nodded. "About seventeen years after the war Solace, the leader of the Ghostbloods, returned. He called himself Septhis now, turned evil by his powers as an epic. The Ghostbloods split again, some following their old leader, some their new Triarchy, but in the end the Righthand and some others managed to make him confront his weakness and defeated him." That part had been easy. Guild history was something Mike had listened to with more attention. "The most recent battle," She made a gesture around them, indicated morerecent signs of destruction. "Was an invasion. Plasmacore set up a huge building and even created a portal or something like that, that fed of the Void. Many died, but all guilds worked together for once, and combined their forces to drive them off." Tilting her head to the side she turned it a little to get a clearer look at him, forgetting that her eyes were sitting in the middle of her face. Quickly she turned her face back and gave a slight shrug unsure what to add. After a while her face brightened when she remembered something else. "Last year, there was such a great walnut harvest, I still have some hidden around the city." @18th Shard

ohhh! Great job! And you're welcome! (do you have a boat?)

You watch as the stub of his cigar extinguishes, wait until the last bit of smoke is dispersed in the air and drink more water before you finally reply. "Because the illusion of perfection is a powerful one." You reply calmly. "We all strive to perfection in one way or the other. If you try to solve a case and discover the truth admist a web of lies, if you experiment to gain knowledge," you make another pause, while you try to come up with words that suit yourself, "or if you never stop working on yourself." They fit, in a way that is surprisingly close and nearly frightening accurate. He doesn't understand, he can't understand, not yet at least. "Actually," you go on, "I think that having nowhere to go, knowing that you reached what you wanted to seems bleak and empty. If you stop having goals because you believe you reached perfection, what will you do with the rest of your time? With the rest of you life?" Standing up you straighten your suit coat, but leave it open. You say nothing, instead only make a deliberate inviting gesture towards the door, leaving the decision to come along to Sloane.

Shana nodded at Edwin's words. "I agree. Best case we have the upper hand for once." She turned around and continued to head down the stairs towards the main exit. "And yes James, of course. I don't want any random citizen dragged into this as well. If she's gone, she's gone. If she's still here, then maybe there is a reason. We could always ask politely if she is a tourist needing some directions." Falling silent she walked until she was standing in front of the doors, only then did she turn around again. "Thank you." She said to the three of them. "For not discarding me as completely paranoid and crazy." It was a little paranoid and crazy to check on some random person. But she had looked up, Shana was sure of that. She had looked up. It could be a coincidence, but there was no reason for it. Not after everything that had happened. @Wyndlerunner @Eluvianii

@kenod @ZincAboutIt

Awed Temeria listened to the explanation despite understanding less than half of it. She was grateful when he stopped program, used words she had heard before to describe what it was. A complex awakened object, called program. Strange, but not as strange as an atrificial spren would be. The way he considered her level of knowledge, how he obviously cared that she undertood a little of what was going on further eased her, She had thought that spren needed something they were attrackted to, like the little one on her shoulder, but maybe it was different when they were created artificially. And it was no spren, that was only a picture for her to understand what it was. Her own spren had perked up and she found herself smiling at it fondly as well, surprised by the smile on the man's face when he watched it. It was strange that it was still here, with no fire, not even a single candle burning close by. Instead it had followed her, followed her through the city, even into a place that her sister considered to be extremely dangerous. It had been years since she had been on Roshar, but it wasn't normal. Spren didn't follow you around and she was more or less sure, that they didn't speak as well. "Do you have a candle for my little friend?" She asked loudly, turning her attention back to the man. Hopefully the spren would like it. So far it had appeared to be happy around fire. She turned her attention back to the program, considered to ask another question, maybe about the ring, or how it was supposed to work, but then she looked away again, instead she looked back to her host. He had changed, appeared to be more lively than a few minutes ago, as if his creation had woken pleasant memories. "I can fetch the items he left behind." She offered. The other two had declined and somehow - if he could do it by himself he wouldn't have asked them to go in his place. And he hadn't asked someone else either. "I don't mind." Remembering his earlier words she made sure to clarify. "Nothing more but a favour, I don't want anything in return. But if it were my friend, I would like to have his things here."

His cigar is nearly finished and you can feel anticipation rise in your chest when he taps it against his ashtray. He will we done soon, and then you will stand up and lead him downstairs. You lift a hand and flick a sign to Taron and he disappears to prepare everything for the two of you. "Perfection is just an illusion of the mind." You reply and take another sip of your water. "There is always room for improvement. To claim something is perfect, is just a cheap excuse to stop trying." Leaning back again, your glass still in your hand you continue. "Change is a part of our world, as central as air, or investiture. To try to stop the change is to try to stop the breathing of our world. Same as nature never stops evolving, constantly improves itself, we have to accept that everything is nothing more than a step towards a slightly different situation." You spread your arms a little in a deliberate gesture, ensuring that your only half filled glass of water doesn't spill over. "But I agree. Upsetting the balance is easy and a risk on its own."

Mike stared at the hand as if it was a snake. Take it. He had to take it. If he didn't he would offend Xanas and then Xanas would kill him. Kill him. It was strange, but the thought to die suddenly wasn't as horrifying as it had been before. It would be an end, and maybe an end would be preferable to this. Mike looked up at Xanas at the sword, his words only slowly arriving in his brain. It was obvious that he was spiked. Probably, especially if the guy was as old as he claimed. He could destroy Mike with a flick of his little finger, and he probably wouldn't care. Mike tried to get his breathing under control and failed, instead he only stared at the gloves, wondered what they might cover, if he would even touch the fingers of a man, or if Xanas himself was an abomination. Fear grabbed his thoughts and dragged them along that road deeper and deeper into his a spiral of fear and memories until he had trouble to inhale at all. A lady with a wolf. All kind of problems until they stabilized her. Balanced better with him. He started to laugh, a laugh that sounded too loud in his own ears, somehow off and erratic. "Balance." The word left his mouth while laughing. He shook his head, the laugh dying as suddenly as it came. "And you are wrong. It's seven, although I lost one spike, so I suppose there are only six left." Which wasn't entirely true, as Fox hand eaten Squid and killed Wolf. But he doubted that Xanas really cared at all. His hand shook when he reached out for Xanas', and he gripped the hand a little too tight, unvoluntarily, the fine control of his body momentairly eluding him. "I am Mike." he introduced himself and then considered the request. A denizen with no idea what was going on. And the second one he had stumbled into today. He resumed his position with his back against the wall as soon as he let go of Xanas' hand and then paused, gave the man a chance to say something before he would start answering his question. @18th Shard

"I don't know if she had red eyes." Shana replied. "She was down on the street, how was I supposed to see." She noticed her tone turning slightly desperate. "But something was off. Maybe it was the way she was standing there, maybe it was the way she looked, I don't know, I only know that something is wrong and I would like to see what it is, instead of ignoring it." "James." She greeted her friend and smiled at him, before explaining the situation. "I saw someone in front of the school and something felt off. Please, just let us take a look and if she's gone or everything is fine, then maybe I am wrong, but my gut tells me, that I am not. And if I'm not and we ignore her, then she might lead even more to our house and then it will never end at all. All these attacks they were so specific, they know where we live, they know what we do and I, I just want to make sure that we don't get ambushed on our way home." @Eluvianii @Ookla the Maybe-Existent @Wyndlerunner

Snake whirled around at the voice, her eyes darting from left to right. She hissed when they rested on the stranger, with the huge blade on his back, striding towards her confidently. She straightened Mike's, her back and started to smile at him, when she saw the eyes, recognized what he was showing there. The Void. She remembered it, remembered it too clearly, the pain, the fear, the confusion. It was all there burried beneath her skin, waiting. Memories started to rise, Memories of Ko'Tiel of the strange alley, of his room and Snake decided that this time, someone else could deal with the crazy one. She had handled the last one already. And just like that, Snake vanished. Mike stared at the stranger, partially surprised that Snake had vanished, but mostly deeply terrified. His skin and eyes returned to human, until he looked just like an ordinary teen from around the corner. He knew who he belonged to, the eyes, the way he walked, it was all there. Taking a step backwards, he pressed his back against a nearby wall, his hands darting to his knives. He wouldn't allow himself to be taken again, not a second time. He would rather die than go back, he would slit his own throat open, before he was strapped to another table, waited for another experiment to start. "Hello, sir." He started, his voice shaking, while he wonderd if running away, or staying was the better option. He didn't doubt that the man could catch him, if he started to run, so maybe staying was better. Tell me about the city? About what's going on? Probably someone who hadn't left the Alley in quite a while. "I can tell you about the city." He nodded, his hands never quite leaving the handles of his knifes. "Is there anything specific you are interested in?" You never knew with these types. In the end he was interested in good food and Mike started talking about the Invasion. Or he wanted to know where to for the nicest cobblestones and not where the new headquarters of the guilds were located. Swallowing he looked at the sword again, noticed the way the man held himself, as if he was ready to strike. Mike was no threat, he was only an Underling and his own boss was angry with him and his friend had left him, and the others had vanished. There was no reason to kill him, but there were plenty of reasons to take him. He could his mind whirl around, each thought darker than the previous one, while he slowly convinced himself, that his was no accident, the man had planed this, he was probably working for Ko'Tiel and he most likely was here to kill him, to spike him, or to take him back. There was no other reason, if he wanted to know about the city, he could find all knowledge easily in the alleys as well. Mike looked to the left and right, eyes darting around when he considered to flee again, he was scared, so scared, as if his courage had been lost when Wolf died. "I'll tell you." he added, if only to keep him happy and nice, and don't give him any additional reason to kill him off. "Just tell me what you want to know." @18th Shard

Shana slowed her steps for her friends to catch up, nervously holding on to her bag. "There was this woman." She explain. "She was standing in front of the school and she was looking at me. As if she knew where I was, who I was." Shaking her head she continued to walk down the stairs. "We were in a building, somewhere behind the windows, I have on idea how she was even able to make eye contact - and thinking about it, I have no idea why I knew that she made eye contact." "Rob and I discussed earlier, that maybe there is a spy in or around the school, they targeted only us at the prom. What if she belongs to them, and we simply never noticed." Even she could hear the slight paranoia seeping into her words. "I just want to take a look, see if she's still there. And then we might be able to ask her some questions, who she is, why she is here." She stopped, turned around and looked at them. "We should do that, shouldn't we?" She asked, her voice quavering a little when she suddenly felt stupid. Run out of class to talk to a stranger on the street? The woman could simply have looked up and met her eyes by accident. @Eluvianii @Ookla the Maybe-Existent

You could meet my character. He's currently there in a street, looking real bad. A teen, although at the moment his skin is partially covered by scales like a snake would have, and his eyes have changed according to snake as well. He's a tad crazy but he grew up in the city and get you a full rundown. And here is a description: https://alleyverse.fandom.com/wiki/Alleyvillage After the seven day war, the nuking of the city left a huge crater and destroyed a huge part, but around the building of the canton of combat is an area that is visibly older than the rest, as it was protected.

"No, thank you." Shana shook her head and stood up. "I'm fine." It was a blatant lie, but she didn't really care about that anymore. She stood up, cast a last long glance out of the window and froze. A woman was standing there. She was looking up, directly into Shana's face and while Shana couldn't see her eyes - it felt as if she knew, that Shana was here. For a moment they locked their eyes, and Shana cringed a little, then slowed her breath, her body tense and ready. Her hand opened and closed as if to hold on to a weapon and then she ripped her gaze away from the woman. "I've got to go." She said hastily, dumped her things into her bag and hurried towards, the door, touched Nym's, Rob's and Edwin's arm on her way out. It was a silent question wether they wanted to come along and she could feel tension build up inside, while she hastened along the hallway. @Ookla the very snazzy @Ookla the Maybe-Existent @Eluvianii

Shana opened her fingers, the snapped bloody tool falling to the ground. She ignored it, instead inhaled just a tiny bit to heal her hand, when her teacher had turned her back again, was walking away. She had seen the words, but she hadn't said anything had simply walked away. Of course. They weren't fance. They were nothing, but something unfinishined, something she had needed to see. Reaching out for the clay she kneaded it in her hands again, almost hastily got rid of the words, of the doom they promised, of the rest she couldn't understand, couldn't quite grasp. She formed a new tile, took the new etching tool and tried to come with something, something worth etching it into this piece of clay. Rob Ben Cassie James Nym Doc Jason Edwin Staring at the names she gingerly placed the etching tool aside and carefully picked the tile up. It probably wasn't what her teacher had aimed for, but she didn't care. Instead she added small flames around them, framed them, a wordless promise to try to keep them save. She would fight for them, because it was right. No condition, no exemption. She would fight for them, and if she failed, she would die. She brought her tile to the front, placed it on a rack to signal that she was done and then returned to her seat. Picking up the bloody etching tool she threw it away. Her teacher had seen that she had destroyed it - if she made a note of it, or not wasn't up to her. Cleaning her desk she looked out of the window, silent, unmoving for once. It was rare that she sat down, that she did nothing for a moment but right here and now it felt good.

It's beautiful! I love it!

Lena nodded and then turned around to leave the room. She stopped a pupil walking by outside, asked after the room and listened to the description, hoped that she had understood it correctly. Apparently it wasn't far, just along the hallway and then twice to the right. She waited for the others to join her, unsure if they should even try talking to this guy at all. What use was there? This guild was nothing but a huge failure. And yet, they were here,and to leave without taking a look at that stamp was nothing but another opportunity lost. @Ookla the Maybe-Existent @Silva

okay sorry, I might be nitpicking here, but I like to really understand what power someone is aiming for. Yep, that's the 40

You watch him continue to smoke his cigar, silently acknowledging your words. He seems a little out of place in your stool, with his blacks and whites, as if all colour vanished from the spot where his is and left only this man behind. Taking your time you use the light of the fire to watch how he holds the cigar, how his hair reflects the flickering light. He looks young, about your age and you suspect that he might be as old as you are, give or take a year. Shaking your head your continue to leave your eyes on him. "I disagree." You state simply, "If you aren't willing to change the formula, you will never move past your current success." You reach out for the glass of water Taron left for you, admire your hand as it closes around the cool glass. The movement makes your suit coat fall slightly open, showing more of the cream coloured shirt you wear beneath. You like the buttons of this shirt, they have a soft, gently shimmer to them as if they they are gently highlights of the otherwise plain shirt. Leaning back again you take a sip of the water and then rest the glass on the armrest, before you continue to speak. "When you change a formula completely you can only guess at the results. And while wild speculation can be a nice experiment on its own," you make a small, deliberate gesture with your free hand visibly discarding that option, "You need to keep some factors within borders you can control, so that you are able to take a step in the right direction." "And then there are those risks, that you can't really grasp at the beginning. Situations that draw you to them, that call to you until you take a risk that has the potential to destroy you completely." @Ookla the Maybe-Existent

"Sorry." Shana echoed Rob's words and walked over to her table. They had obviously missed the new teacher's introduction, but as the woman didn't introduce herself again, she figured it could wait until later. She tied the apron around her back and then walked over to one of the few free seats left. She set down her bag and walked over to the etching tools. She wasn't entirely satisfied with her pottery, but she knew that it wouldn't get any better soon, and she didn't feel like frustrating herself even more than neccessary. Rob asked about creative designs and she skipped that, instead sat down at her table after waving in Edwin's direction in greeting. The most important words someone could say. Her first instinct was about writing something down like Live your life, Love your friends, something a normal teenager might write down, maybe even I love Ben, or best friends forever. Slowly she formed the clay to the shape of a tile and then picked up an etching tool. Idly she started to draw some vague shapes around her tile, figured she could start with a border of some sorts while she thought about the words. Suddenly they came to her naturally, as if she had known what to etch all along and she found herself exchaging the etching tool for another one, with a sharp ending. I will fight for what is right, she etched into the soft clay, her words crude, and blunt without any flourishes. They were like blows with a weapon, like a fist hitting you square in your face. There was something missing, and she could see Mahad walk closer curiously, when he looked at them. Shana lifted her head, looked around the room, felt that the missing part was close, so close that she could nearly pinpoint it. Instead a shivver ran over her back again when she watched her friends and classmates, cold seeped into her heart. Something would go wrong, she knew it, something would go incredibly wrong and the words, the words had something to do with it. Unable to complete them she stared at them in silent horror, her hand tightening around the tool until it snapped with a high, eerie noise, scratching open her hand. She didn't feel the pain, insteand she continued to stare, tried to grasp the rest of this, tried to understand the horror, the desperation attached to these seven words. They were harmless, there were what she wa already doing, she was fighting. But she was fighting for others, this, this set her fighting in a different context, into a larger one, not for a person, but for a thing, for what was right. But what was right, what was right, and which condition could turn fighting for what was right into something terrifying. Mahad looked at her, perched on her table the little dragon started at her as she sat there, her hand slowly crushing the tool in its tight grip. Something was missing, this was too early, unless she understood them completely it was too early. It wasn't the right time, it was - incomplete. The true weight behind these words, was still missing completely.

ahh sorry, my wording was completely off here, and I'm probably overthinking this. Let's say your character ends up in a firestorm consisting of Investiture, can you stop the effect this storm has on you (=not be burnt) , or are you more thinking along the lines of rioting (= powers that target you specifically). If I interpret your became made aluminum correctly, then you can decide wether Investiture has an effect on you or not, no matter if it's targeting you specifically or not? In that case, I'd go with something around 40.

Temeria accepted the decline of her offer with a pang of relief that made her shoulder's sag down a little. She had planned to stop fighting the wars of other people and she still hoped she would be able to stick to her decision. And the rest, she could deal with the rest later. More interesting was his offer to join this organisation, and she filed that away for later use, hoped that nobody expected her to decide anything right now. She wanted to choose who and what to fight for, and she needed more information than her conversation with Mac for that. A motion at the side of her head caught her eyes and she turned her head to watch the spren, who seemed to have perked up at something, was watching the room and everybody in there. He made no move to leave either and she was glad that he stayed. He was one of the few familiar things she had seen in this world so far, even her sister was a stranger she had no idea how to deal with. Her worries dissipated for the moment, when she watched him draw flowing lines into the air. Fascinated she watched as they hung there for a moment and then vanished. Nothing happened for a while and she had already opened her mouth to ask if she was missing something, when a flash of bright light illuminated the room. Startled she jumped backwards, reached for the handle of her sword and shifted her weight to her back foot while the light left a figure behind. It had no real face, but instead was formed of many little symbols. They vaguely reminded her of the one Mac had drawn into the air when he had slipped on the ring and now that she thought of it, the man probably had used something like them to call the creature here in the first place. In awe she watched as the figure bowed to each of them, its body moving so much like a human's body would, that she found her eyes drawn to the ever shifting symbols, that so easily formed the movement you "You can speak?" She blurted out when it adressed them as well and immediatly closed her mouth again. Quickly she shot a look towards the other three and then condensed her curiosity into another, more useful question. "What are you?"