Sorana

I agree with Ene. It depends a little what you define "unwanted investiture effects" (only on himself, on others, in the area). And yes, he wouldn't be able to use non-cosmere powers while burning aluminum.

There is a meaning behind his words, something more than he really says, a little fact about his past that is important enough that he spend several sentences on it, without ever stating it clearly. Even after considering his words for a while, you have no idea what he means. Probably one of the other worlds connecting to this place. You don't know a lot about them, not in general at least. The moment it wasn't about knowledge that benefits your cause you skipped it, focussing solely on your one goal. "Take your time." You say when he finishes his whiskey. "I rarely smoke a whole cigar in one evening, please don't feel pressured by me finishing earlier." You agree to his last words though, we are all products of our environment. It's true and it fits your slight alcohol induced melancholy well. If things had been different, would you still be here, exchanging witty comments with a guy? Would you still find the though of slicing him open to remove a scar that doesn't bother him alluring? Maybe, maybe not. Fact is, you do. "Without our environment, we would be nothing." You agree loudly, don't avoid his eyes when he meets your glance. "We meet someone, we make a decision and we have to carry the consequences. We hope for things that might happen, and while some do, some never will." "I have found, that more often than not, we need to jump and see what happens. We need to take a risk and if we're like stride away prideful with a regard." You mean the words the way you say them, Sloane is a risk you took, and wether you will stride away with a price in your hands remains open. But so far, you don't regret taking it at all.

Shana nodded. "It's Arts time again?" She asked and stood up. Homework. Had they been supposed to do homework? "You've got that class, too, don't you Cassie?" She tried to pull her friend to her feet as well. "And if you don't, you should come along. Mr. Andrews is a good teacher." And he hopefully wouldn't lecture her about being an orphan and that going somewhere might help with maths. Not having to worry about an attack at night would help with maths. The rest was just idle talking. She wasn't really good at creating something, but Mr. Andrews hadn't cared so far. Instead he had been more interested in what she had wanted to express with it, and Shana usually came up with something that more or less went along just well. "We're already late, although he usually lets these things slide." She added more to herself. It didn't change the fact that they should get moving, or the little late turned into after second bell and that would be bad. @AonEne

Ophelia nodded and followed the two of them, to try to gamble for food again. She was hungry, knew that if that didn't work out, then she would have to steal and that made her quicken her steps and stay close. "Do all sailors gamble?" she asked Aoryen curiously, clutching her bag to her side and ignoring the laughter of the young man, although it made her duck her head a little and hope he would forget about them soon.

"Something about a hero." She requested and he shot her a strange look, before starting to sing again. Wita remained where she was, watched Big Ben come closer, left her head on Marcel's shoulder, completely oblivious to the strange look Gabe and Faith shot them. She looked outside, wondered what they might face, what they would have to do when they arrived there. It were idle thoughts, ones she didn't follow through to the end, more a wondering without any expectation. She didn't know, and she would deal with whatever was there, when it was there. When the Van slowed she looked up at the tower looming over them and finally moved, opened the door and got out. "Thank you for the ride!" she called out to the nice people and waved at them happily with her hand.

"A sword of course." Sagitta grinned at him and then held up the Tomahawk. "A sword of this size and length is a short sword. You should definitely wear one of them, as you need a short side weapon." She looked him up and down and then opened the buckle holding her sword to her back. She handed it to Price. "This one, you have to wield with both hands. It's about as long as I am tall. I call it a long sword, as opposed to a longsword, which is wielded with one hand. I know that sometimes they are call two-handed blades as well, but in the end, the name we use at home is long sword." She gestured to its length. "In battle, units with a long sword, usually are heavily armored as well. The focus is not to defend yourself, but to use momentum to break an enemie's line and to bring it's full weight to bear. They heavy armour only add to your momentum and, as you might have guessed already, most opponents with a shorter weapon are dangerous, the moment they are too close. Defending yourself is possible, but it's an offensive weapon, and therefore you need to armour to protect yourself. Usually you will try to kill you opponent, even when you have to accept a blow to do that." She looked over Price. "We've got a long way to go, you physically aren't able to wear enough armour to really use a long sword to its full efficiency at the moment." Walking around him, she judged his stature. "I would suggest you get a padded vest and start wearing that. Get used to something contricting your movement a little. When can add something else to that later on. We will traing with a short sword first. I suspect you will need to rely on feed, be more on the flanks, than the center of a line for a while, while you build up strength. As we have no real line, I will focus on drawing them, then you can come at them from the sides." "So we need a short sword, and if you are interested in the long one, then you need a long one as well. The rest will come with time. We will train daily as soon as we started travelling. An hour in the morning and one in the evening." She clapped him on the shoulder. "You will regret this in two days, maybe three." A grin touched her lips. "But you don't give up. And then the real fun begins. With your instinct thrown into the mix as well - you can be devastating."

Shana watched Nym leave and checked her schedule, realized that Nym was right. It was growing late. She packed her test and their notes away again, but left her hand with Cassie's. "Where do you have to go now?" She asked them and looked at Cassie clinging to her hand. Maybe she could skip the next one and instead continue to talk to them, try to help Cassie. Her eyes moved to Rob in a silent question and then moved back to Cassie. @Ookla the Maybe-Existent @AonEne

Temeria listened to them, talking about an attack, about something they had found somewhere and that they were short on people. She considered to speak up, and offer her support, she was a trained soldier, maybe she could actually help with the attack. She suspected that she was no match to them, but sometimes another pair of eyes made a difference, but then the man's attention turned back to her and she continued to listen for now. His eyes were tearing into hers and she flinched back a little, looked to the side after a heartbeat when she couldn't stand this gaze anymore. He seemed to stare deep into herself and she wished for a second set of armor, only to keep this gaze away and looked over at Kan'Mien and Kumiko. "If you don't find anybody, maybe I could help in exchange for a little money?" She offered and hoped she had kept it vague enough that they could decline without saying a word. She wasn't entirely sure if she wanted to get involved in another battle, and that so soon, but then it was the only thing she knew how to do. She would have to fight again, if only to earn money sooner or later anyway. The prospect seemed threatening, this was one thing she had wanted to stop, the useless killing, the loosing of those standing left and right. Fighting for another one's cause with no stakes of her own. Nothing but fresh meat to be thrown forward, injured or killed. Whatever. It would be stupid to let the opportunity pass. She had to offer. With a deep breath she pushed it all aside and forced her eyes back up to man's face and thankfully inclined her head. "I am sure I can find my way to the Canton, I can simply ask around in the streets." Mac had mentioned the Canton as well, and she had planned to visit them sooner or later, originally to ask for work. They sounded like they might have the money to hire another sword. Although she hadn't seen anybody wearing a sword so far, so maybe they didn't use this kind of weapon in this world. "What is the other option?" She turned her attention back to the matter at hand, the one that was more interesting and more alluring than the prospect of another battle. And there was something else, something she wanted to add without the other two listening. She wasn't sure if the opportunity would arise, or if he cared, but somehow she wanted to. "The unusual one?"

I'm sorry, I can't do this... I have to admit, that I feel stressed, even by the fact that I'm a day late here, and I know that I will miss most of the puzzle releases and I fear that I will too pressed by this. I will take a look at the puzzles on my own, though, they seem very, very interesting again.

"Nothing is permament." You reply softly and snuff out your cigar in the ashtray. "Especially not here. Not in this place of alleys and guilds, in this endless conflict of power and control and experiments." And yet you remain sitting for now, reach for your glass of wine and take another sip, despite the lightness of your head. You need to stop drinking, and soon, the next thing is loosing control of your body and you hate this. Soon. Not yet, but soon. You can get drunk when he is gone. But not now. With a wave of your hand you have Taron take the wine and the remains of your cigar away and turn back to the fire, while you wait for Sloane to finish. You don't repeat your offer, once has to be enough, reign in the temptation to convince him right here and now. "Scared flesh can be healed, if you know what you do." You add mostly to fill the silence. "I find you can do a lot if you know what you are doing." He is frowning again, staring at you intently, as if he wishes he could read your thoughts and you can feel his gaze despite looking at the fire. "Why did you choose to be a detective?" You ask him and level your gaze at him.

Attayl climbed down after him, hurried, somehow caught by a strange fear to be left alone. She caught up to them on the ground, Nerin staring into the mists, Brilling standing close to her. He hadn't said anything again, not since she had arrived on the roof again, although she thought she could hear him talk to Nerin while she was half-way down the ladder. She resumed hugging herself, her eyes followed Nerin's glance into mists and she burned bronze, if only to make sure nobody was watching them. "There is nothing here." She said quietly, after she had listened for a while again unsure if she should comment on Brillin's idea, or simply let it stand where it was. He hadn't spoken to her, so it probably would be best if she kept quiet. There were so many things she wanted to tell him, about killing, about considering to kill, but the way he had stopped really talking to her earlier the moment Nerin had shown up silenced her. She couldn't quite pinpoint why, couldn't see the reason, but the way he had changed topic had been impossible to interpret the wrong way. With a sigh she brushed her hair out of her face, shifted her leg from one foot to the other. "Let's go back to the parlor." She suggested. "Talk and plan. And then we can think of a good way to drag ourselves out of this mess." She didn't wait for them to agree, instead she walked to the next corner, bronze burning comfortably in her core and carefully glanced around it. The street seemed save, with only a few people moving around, none of them suspicious. She could be wrong, but Attayl had learned to trust her instincts when it came to people and so lifted a hand and waved to them, indicated that she saw nothing out of place here.

Temeria took the strange pen and curiously looked at it. It was silver, and shorter than the quills she was used to, additionally there was feather tobe dipped into ink. As the crystal was on one side, she suspected that the other side could be used for writing, although there was nothing there that looked like it might be able to hold ink, or whatever it was people used in this world. She pocketed it, decided that if simply moving it around was enough, she would find a way to use it, if it was neccessary. She could always hold the other side down and pretend she was writing with it. "Thank you." She replied gratefully, suspected that she didn't quite grasp the importance of this gift. She doubted that someone as powerful as he had to be, would hand out means to contact him personally easily, especially not with the offer attached to call upon him in an emergency. "I won't use it lightly." At least not as a call for help. It was dangerous to rely on others to save your hide. She prefered to be strong enough to deal with a situation by herself. And yet, it felt good to have something like that in her pocket, a chance to survive when things went south. Hesitating she considered the other part of his offer. Ask if there was something she needed. They had knowledge and power. Power was one thing, but knowledge. She could do with buckets of knowledge, starting by how to read some of the scripts she had seen around. Looking down at her hand holding the coin and the ring she tried to figure out if she really wanted to ask for something as usual as reading some letters. Her sister probably could teach her that easily, but her explanations around storing something had been vague. Too vague for Temeria to work with them. Slowly she opened her fingers again and lifted them a little, so that he would know what she was talking about. "Do you know somebody that could teach me how to use these? And who would be willing to do so?" She asked carefully, tried to phrase it as open as possible, in case he hadn't planned to follow up on his offer sometime soon. She figured he could always tell her no, but if she didn't ask, then she would never learn and she no intention at all to be dead in a few days because she had been to shy to ask some questions. Only the strong ones could afford to live in ignorance and hope they could brute through a situation as it arouse. And Temeria had never been strong compared to the other soldiers had needed to rely on her training and her mind to survive. @Voidus

This character is approved. As it's a WIP, I won't edit it into the OP yet. Please make sure, you tell me, should you add any more skills/ weaknesses, so that I can take a look at the points again. I will take a look at the other one when I have a minute.

Wita grinned as the bus started to move and they drove through the city. The sweet smoke inside made her feel a little light headed and she smiled at Faith and Kira and Marcel, clapping along when another song was started and Gabe started to play on his guitar. She had never heard it before, but it was music and she loved music. Happily she waved at the fairy again, wondered what she might do now, that they were driving, or if cars were somehow bad for fairies. She lost her thought somewhere along the way, and when Gabe moved on to a slower song, she smiled and rested her head on Marcel's shoulder, content to be here. The night had turned out incredibly well for her. Outside Big Ben was approaching, looming in the dark like the tower always did. And yet, something felt off about the place tonight. Birds were switching course and made a detour to rest somewhere else, even insects had slowly moved awa from the place. Without being able to pinpoint it, those that could easly take another way did so, and others just picked up their pace a little, without even knowing why. @Ookla the Maybe-Existent @Eluvianii

"My, my." The vendor laughed at her. "Well, I will take a look at Azai, thanks a lot." With a grin he held up a loaf of bread and then handed it to his next customer. "Have a great day, little one." He pointedly looked away from them, and continued to sell his bread.

"You're welcome." she replied and the hint of a smile touched her lips. "If you want to, we could spend some time and take a closer look at them, once we're done here." She was about to add something else when she heard a first scream. It seemed to come from one of the walls and she turned, looked around the cave to see if something had changed. The screams picked up and she could hear the murmur of the other scouts, how the turned and stared at the wall. A few turned around and ran away, when the noise picked up, a horrifying mixture of screams and noise echoing through the cave, shaking her to the bone. She worked hard to keep her face calm and controlled, although she knew that she wasn't quite able to hide her worry and the uneasyness the situation caused. Nothing changed apart from that, no animals appeared, no person. She inhaled, until she held just a little bit of stormlight and reached out for the spren around her. They were still there, just as they had before and as noone else of the main scout team left she decided to stay as well, careful she kept an eye on the Underling and on Max. It somehow felt a little like a distraction, but until she was sure, she had to remain alert. They still had to distribute the atium, and then it was waiting. Althea couldn't help but to be annoyed at the prospect of waiting till someone deigned to show up, to take care of things, questioned her decision again and ended up at the same result. It was better to remove it from easy grasp and the best place to do that, was the DA. It was as easy as that, and at the same time she couldn't suppress the nagging voice that wished she had been able to destroy all of this immediatly.

So it was a compliment. Warmth spreads inside of your chest at the confirmation. Of course your servants tell you, that you look great. If course your sister told you that she admires your skin and your hair. But they are family. Their compliments and shallow as water. This one though. The short sentence without any flourished words around it, this is a real compliment. And while you itch to ask what he likes best, you hold back, let the fact that Sloane likes how you look be enough for the moment. Instead you watch him, as he falls silent for a while, thinking about something and then change the topic completely. Surgery. Or more specifically, your knowledge about surgery. "That is absolutely possible." You reply and answer to his smile with one of your own. So he made the connection betwen your body and your profession. "It is a very fascinating field of study." You add, still smiling and lift your cigar to your lips again, falling silent while you inhale, draw the thick smoke into your lungs and only continue to speak after you've exhaled. "There are so many connections inside of a body, muscle sinew, bones, joints, and they all interact with each other. If you chance a little thing, you might need to change a lot of other things as well." Your eyes wander to his right shoulder and you lean a little forward. "I could take a look at your scar." You offer, careful not to sound too eager, although the thought of Sloane half dressed lying on your operation table makes your heart jump. "I am pretty sure, I am able to do something about it."

"Yes, it's perfect." She replied and lifted her free hand to touch the handle with her fingers. It was still there. A familiar weight on her back. She didn't plan to draw it here, in the stables, it would only make the animals go crazy, but it was here. And as soon as she had some space, she would be able to train again. Whenever she wanted. What she wanted. As long as she wanted. She smiled at him as well, already planning his training in her head. They needed to build up some muscle first, and he might be better with a lighter, quicker weapon, they would need to spend some time decided whether he should go for a one-handed or a two-handed weapon. Combine the experiments with getting him into shape and working on his footwork probably. She let got of his hand, slightly embaressed, that she was holding onto him again and took a step back, looked at the equipment they had gotten. "You should go and get your own. I will show you how to wear it and you should start doing so now. The sooner you get accustomed to the weight the better."

Nodding at Rob's words Shana started to gently brush her thumb over Cassie's hand. "He is right." She looked at her. "We will get through it. No matter how dark the night looks." With a sigh she used her left hand to fiddle her test out of her bag. It took her a bit, but she didn't want to let go of Cassie's hand, and finally she placed the test on the table in front of them. Over and over the paper her teacher had written comments in red, and Shana only really looked at it for the first time. It was .... devastating. It hadn't even been close to passing. "Well, at least I can't complain that it was close." She said with another sigh and turned it, so that the others could take a look. "But if anybody could explain to me what I was supposed to do, I would be grateful. I need to get this into my head sooner or later."

Shana smiled at her, reached out for her hand and gave it a friendly squeeze. "I worry about all of you. It's why I am here. To make sure you are save." She sighed. "And I know that I should sleep more. But I just lie in bed and am tense and listen to every single sound outside, worry that I might miss an attack." Her fingers brushed over the crosses indicating cameras. "Wall or no wall, I really think we should get some cameras and movement sensors. At least it would make it harder to sneak up on us and if we had an alarm inside, we could reduce the risk of being taken unawares." Looking up at Nym she found herself grinning as well. "Don't worry, none of us will judge you for talking strangely or going crazy at one point or the other. A few days ago I burnt a door down when I was angry, and nobody even looked strangely my way." Her grin vanished and she found her voice turning earnest. "It's up to you. But these guys can be the best family in the world. Because we all face the same problems. Because we all - have our issues to deal with." She was looking down when she finished her sentence, not meeting the eyes of anybody around the table. Instead she picked up her pen again and pretended to be focussing on their ideas around the house. @Ookla the Maybe-Existent @AonEne @Ookla the very snazzy

"Yes." Temeria replied. "And while he said, that he was no god, he continued to refer to himself as one." She turned her head, looked at the spren and then decided to skip over that part. The spren was still here and she didn't want to draw more attention to him, than neccessary. He had followed her here, there was no need to drag him down even deeper into this. "We went to the hall of legends. He explained a little about this city and about the Invasion that happened here a few months ago." With a slight movement of her hand she indicated that she skipped that part. "Once we arrived there, he showed me his statue and then - " She hesitated tried to remember the poem and failed. "Things picked up afterwards, and I don't remember ever detail." "He was looking for something, and there was a poem of some sorts. I followed him downstairs into the Tomb, where he opened the grave of someone called Devaan. A skeleton jumped out, I smashed it to pieces and it left a ring." She held it up. "I think Mac went down there specifically for the ring, because he knew what it was, showed me it's effect." Taking a step forward she placed the ring on her palm for the others to see. "When he slid it on his fingers, his hair and skin changed. He told me, that it allows you to use the powers of an - Elanian? I'm not entirely sure about the name anymore. In the end he gave it to me, said that I have better use for it, than he has." Falling silent for a moment her tone changed, when she spoke again, lost the hard edge she had spoken with earlier. "We returned upstairs and I could see that he had come to a decision of some sorts, he had changed." "He said, that it was time for him to go, like an artist who has to step and leave a painting alone at one point or the other. It was time for him to start another chapter in his life." And he had cried, but she kept that part to herself again, didn't know if he would like for her to spill something as intimate as this. "He gave me this coin," she placed it next to the ring, the side showing Mac facing to ceiling of the room. "And allowed me to stay at his boarding house indefinitely." Looking up she looked the man still sitting at his table straight into his eyes. "His last words were directed at me." She made a short pause and then quoted. "I won't ask you to live up to my legacy, but I want you to try and be the best you can, try to do what is right and while hardship may follow, know that you are fixing a small part of the world." She closed her fingers around the ring and the coin, moved her hand back to herself. "When we talked at the boarding house, a central part was his perceived failure to create a home for those living here. A better place." She added to set the words into a larger context. She was no god, she knew she had no chance to do whatever it was that he had done. But he had asked her to try to work towards something he had never accomplished in a way that was satisfying for him. And so she would try. "He left his hat, monocle, cane and a book at his statue. I didn't touch them, if he had wanted for me to take them, he would have given them to me as well. Then he left."

I have no idea where to go. Tired and afraid, I take @kenod's hand and then hand him all my equipment. "I will draw their attention. Run the other way. The water in the bottle is safe, this ring shows you where someone is, the other one forms into a sword." I step forward for a hug, a forced smile on my face. "I expect you to give them back when we meet at the center." I say loudly and then turn my head so that they can't see my lips moving. "Take care of my family?" I ask and quickly pull back to cover the fact that I spoke at all, make it seem like a tight hug between friends. Turning around I run into the churning mess, hop up and down, yell and try to get as far away from kenod as possible.

You turn your head, look over at him. "Few would. It's considered a masterpiece. Unique." And most of the time, nobody knew it, or had no way to detect it. It wasn't like you were consisting of gears and cables. Looking at him, you lean back into your seat again, muse over his other words. You carry your body well. "Was that a compliment?" You ask him and a smile creeps back on your face. It's nice to hear that he appreciates what you have created. Your father gave you even skin and a nice face, but the muscles, the soft glow of you skin and your healthy hair are the results of year-long training and hard work. So many think that beauty is a natural gift and while that might be true for some, most of the the time it can be achieved if you are willing to spend some time. Despite your usual facade, you are waiting for his reply, wonder if he meant it, or only set the words in the room because he noticed that you care for this. You reach out for your wine to cover for your excitement, take a sip and deliberatetly place it back on the table. Turning your body a little around you rest one ankle on your knee in a comfortable position and rest your head against the cushion.

Attayl stared at Lance for a while, surprised by his harsh words, by the way he dealt with Nerin. He should know that she was an outsider, unused to the cruelties and the dealing. She hadn't earned this treatment. Nobody had. Lance seemed worried, but even that was no reason to snap at Nerin like that. Or maybe it was. No matter what, she would be safer away from him, and leaving Nerin alone was no option either. She waited until she could hear Nerin and Brilling talking, before she whirled around as well and started to climb up the ladder. Her fingers were still cold and it took her a while, taking each rug carefully after the other. Her arms were hurting when she finally made it to the top, only to hear Brilling talk about killing. Killing them all. Wide-eyed she pulled herself onto the roof, knelt down to ward off the cold wind and gripped a nearby tile tightly. Kill them all. Brillin. The one who had looked at herself strangely when she had only hinted at killing someone, was openly talking about erasing everybody? Freezing Attayl stayed quiet, wordlessly placed a hand on Nerin's arm in silent comfort. If neccessary, she would kill them all. Let Lance think she was a helpless girl - she had survived so far, she would live to see the day when she would leave the city. And her friends would as well.