Sorana

Mike sighed. Waiting, waiting when he's just found a solution sounded horrifying and he was about to shake his head, to turn around, back to the vendor to see if he could steal the spikes when he paused. Calarian seemed to be honest, maybe he really wanted to help. And what did he plan to do with the spikes anyway? Stab himself? The thought was so ridiculous that he started to laugh. "Sure." He agreed after a short moment and then nodded. "Sure." He could always come back later, without the man, but if he could get a warm meal in the meantime and maybe a dry bed. His hungry stomach was more than appeased by this prospect and Mike fixed himself to relax his shoulders. The whole show idea had been crazy anyway. As crazy as running through a city, searching for a man you can't recall? A voice whispered in the back of his head and he frowned again. Something was wrong. Something more than just a few spikes. Maybe he was nothing more than a madman escaped from hospital.

Mike frowned at Calarian. "You don't understand." he repeated. "I need them. It's not about wanting, I don't have any other choice!" Shaking his head he sighed. "Look, I know how this sounds, but they can fill the holes..." His voice trailed off and he turned, eyes focusing on Nardo. "I don't know." he answered, a hint of exasperation crawling into his voice. "I don't know. How should I? The last days, they were, it's all -" thoughts eluded him again and he balled his hands to fists. "I need them." he reapeated suddenly unsure if it was the truth. Did he really? Or maybe there was something else, something he was missing. Why did he even think that he needed them? Taking a deep, shaky breath he sighed and then shook his head again. "I don't know." he whispered. "all of it is just shadows and movement."

"Sure." Mike tied his eyes away from the spikes, wondering how he might pay for them. But for now, first the question Nardo had asked. "Just leave the market and then follow the main street. There it would the easiest-" Calarian grabbed his arm and dragged him away, interrupting his explanation. He allowed himself to be towed into a more or less empty alley. The question surprised him, partially and at the same time it made sense, far more sense than anything had in a few days. His eyes moved over to the spikes again. It was as if a part of his mind had been cleared and at the same time it was still clouded, difficult to grasp if not to understand. But the spikes, the spikes, he needed the spikes. "I took a gun." he started hesitantly, voicing what came to his mind. "It was a test of some sorts but I was so angry. I don't know why, I just remember the fury, how I pointed it at him, at -" He stopped, grimaced and pressed his fists against his eyes. "I need them." He looked over at the spikes again. "There are holes where, I need to fill, I need to -" with a groan he pressed his teeth together. "They are here, I can nearly hear their voices, the urge to protect, the slyness, the fear, and then there -" shaking his head. "Something is wrong, it doesn't fit, I feel as if, I know that I need them. I need to be, to fill the holes again." Desperation entered his eyes when he looked at him, tried to explain something he couldn't grasp himself.

Zoe took a look at the badge and then gave a slight shrug. It looked official, but who knew, since she had no information about who was supposed to pick them up our didn't really help with her question. She glanced over to Jarias, waited to see his reaction, knowing that she wasn't the best judge of character personally. If he agreed to take the risk she would follow, if not - being alone in this weird place was frightening, maybe even more than blindly following a stranger.

Surprised Mike watched as the two of them took point, immediatly headed over to the vendor. The man frowned, looking up uneasily. "Long nails?" he inquired, his eyes moving over the three of them. A slight sneer moved over his face when he saw Mike, but the finer clothing of the other two seemed to convince him that they were able to pay for his goods. "Lucky you, I think I might have what you need." Reaching under his counter he placed a few long boxes on it. "Do you have any preference regarding the material or the length? I only sell high quality goods, all metals were prepared carefully, the alloys exact. I have different sizes," he opened a box and removed a spike, or a long nail however you wanted to phrase it, "depending on where you want to apply them." Mike's eyes focused on the spikes as he walked closer. "That's it." he whispered, a hunger entering his eyes. "Something less silver looking." his hands clutched the table and he shifted his weight from one foot to the other in a try to stay calm. The vendor carefully placed the spike back into its box and opened another one, presenting the spike on both hands. "Is this more to your liking young man?" he asked, although his eyes and posture showed that he was mostly asking Mike's companions. Nodding Mike looked at it, at a loss for words. The spike, the color, it touched something inside of him, triggered something. Pain, fear. A lab, the smell of something sharp, a man, no a woman, no a man, he wasn't sure anymore. Ko'Tiel. The name, he remembered the name, the bright light. The question. With or without hemalurgy. The fearful sounds of the animals trapped in their boxes. "I need it." he groaned, his voice raw. "Seven. I need seven." He needed to have them back, to fill the holes. He needed to.

Frowning Zoe looked at the two of them. Why contact them? "Because she might as well be from another group, society whatever, than the one that organized for us to come here." she replied clamly, not caring if the woman heard her or not. "And she might be here to prevent us from teaming up with those we are supposed to and instead make us work together with someone else. At least I have no idea why I am here, so I can't decide whether or not it would make sense to contact us here, but I can think of scenarios where such a behaviour wouldn't be out of place." She forced another fake smile on her face and turned to the woman again. "Apologies if I'm overstepping here, but like I said. I have no idea if I can trust you or not and I would prefer to know that before I get into some sort of magical Cinderella carriage with you." @Blessing of Potency

Hesitantly Zoe climbed into the carriage, wondering when someone would strip in some horses, or if they would be pulled by magic. Jarias accepted the explanation as thin as it was and she hesitated, wondered if she should keep quiet, but then stopped, halfway in, halfway out of the carriage. "How do we know that you are, who you are?" She asked, hand clutching tighter around the strip of her bag. "That you were really sent to help us and not to, you know," cringing at her own words she looked down at her feet, but forced herself to look up again. "Lure us into a trap?" @AmazingGoob @eltruT

Jarias was right. The fight had ended too quickly, too easily, something, there had to be a reason why the creature had simply flown off. She lost her line of thought when they arrived at the train station what felt like a few minutes later and she followed the other two outside, instinctively staying maybe a little too close to them. The town where they head arrived was a weird one, as was the person who had greeted them and while Ayra seemed to know a lot more about what was going on, at least Jarias asked the question that was occupying her as well. Who, or what was an Auror? It sounded like a title, or maybe a rank and she found herself holding on to the strap of her bag nervously, inching a little closer to Jarias. All those around them looked strange, wearing weird clothes as if they were going out on Halloween. If it were only one the outfit might have been strange, but with so many styled in the same direction she ended up feeling out of place instead. Remembering Jarias words about the dangers waiting in this part of the world she surely wished that she had taken the bar from the train, especially when a man walked past with a weird creature on his shoulder. It had wings and it's face looked like a devil's with to small eyes - she quickly abetted her glance when he noticed her staring and instead concentrated on following. She wasn't alone and she had been sent here. There had to be a reason, they wouldn't send her into a lair of wolves without a warning. Uneasily Zoe looked the woman up and down, tried to judge her, to place her somehow. "It's the same for me." She added in what hopefully counted as a calm voice. "I have no clue what you are talking about." @Blessing of Potency

========= EDIT: @Somebody from Sel @Condensation

"We search for them." Mike replied with a slight shrug of his shoulders. "It's a market, it changes. And I never tried to buy nails before." He took a deep, calming breath and then started to walk into the market in earnest. The light was dim, created by many tiny, different sources and it was surprisingly crowded. For a few minutes he wondered why, until he recalled the festival and the fact that it was late at night. Both playing together lead to a lot of people either deciding to go here for the pure chill, or having aquired a few goods that were out of the ordinary. He moved through the crowd, unsure where to go, but knew that he needed to get to the places where most thieves like himself had no place and no reason to go. "Over there maybe." he gestured towards a part near the end, where he could see various weapons on display. "With some luck someone over there might have what we need." Something stired and he turned his head around, looked over the crowd. "No," he whispered. "over there." making a sharp turn he started to walk in a completely different direction, towards a small stall set between two larger ones. The one to the right sold fabrials, glowing, sound emitting fabrials while the other one was full of people exclaiming their delight about some animals. But the one in the middle was more or less empty, an older man waiting behind a small counter. There. That one looked good.

The chimera threw its head back, its talons closing around a part of the train instinctively. Mean eyes eyed the one daring to oppose her, the one daring to step in front of her and her prey, her food. Wearily she looked at him for another moment and then pushed of, flew back into the sky, up and away from them all. She would go and look for easier prey, no need to get herself killed unneccessarily. @Blessing of Potency

"No, it's fine." she waved his money away. "Mac established this place for people without money, who had arrived here only a short time ago, and I want to stick to that. There is no use to charge you for some dirty towels I can easly clean myself." With a smile she turned around and set the basket back inside. "If you don't mind, I would follow you." she decided. "Make sure he's in no trouble and then I'm gone again - I promise. But this city can be harsh at times, and maybe people running around with a panicked looked on their face aren't exactly a sign screaming that everything is perfectly alright." She forced a nervous smile on her face, her fingers playing with the pommel of her sword. She was intruding, wasn't she? This was far too much, but if she kept quiet, if she closed her eyes and looked the other way, then she was exactly the same as everybody around them. Unlike Mac. He hadn't closed his eyes, he had kept them open ahd tried to help the city, the place. Despite everything, he still had tried to help and she had promised that she would do the same.

Nodding Shana agreed with a humming sound, pointed at the map. "We know the area where they are active. We head over there, pretend to know nothing about enclaves and the like. It will only work, if they haven't seen our pictures before, but given the way they refer to Doc I think it likely that what contact they had was more of a light nature." Still they were in the same city, so there was always a chance of someone recognizing them. Folding the map together she put it in her pocket, lifted the now open letters up and looked them through. Nothing interesting there and while she was sure that they had missed clues or other hints, she wasn't motivated to go on searching. They had a target, that was the sole part that counted. "We could change circumstances." she mentioned towards her cloths. "Everybody knows that Doc is looking after a bunch of students, but if we don't look like students and more like runaways, freedom fighters -" she made a gesture with her hand to indicate that the list could go on and on, "then we might have a chance to be seen as recruits. We are good and have battle experience. If we managed to get recuirted by them, we can make our own picture of the situation. See if it is as bad as the letter suggests." Raising an eyebrow she looked at him, wordlessly asking for his opinion, before beding down and starting to clean the office up. It would do them no good to leave the place like that. It would only serve to make James and the others more suspicious than they already were.

Of course! Rating see below in green

@Archer

@Blessing of Potency

"None of these, to be honest." Wita shook her head apologetically. "I came here, because of the one that attacked you. The Voidbringers -" she paused, started her sentence anew. "as far as I know you fight them, but in the end, I don't want to get involved with that fight too much. I don't know a lot about them, but I am positive that it won't end good for an old woman to get into battle anymore." She smiled wryly at him and took another sip of her tea. "I travelled here from Britain in order to keep an eye on the one toying with dreams, destroying minds and clouding the thoughts of those without power." Setting down her cup she made a small gesture with her hands. "I am sorry, if I disappoint you, but my feruchemy isn't the most offensive that exists. What I can do can be helpful, but not in a direct conflict, especially not with a creature as powerful as that one." "So to answer your question: I am here to get more information about the current situation with the monster, to see what harm she did and, if possible, to maybe help with fighting her. Everything else - I doubt I would be an asset in an open battle." It was true, although only a part of it. If she created a few seals, bound a few creatures she should be able to face off some of the Voidbringers. But she was pretty sure that James would throw her out, close his eyes to her words the moment she mentioned heading to a graveyard and getting out some bones. The dead were dead, they didn't care about what happened to their bones, but she found that this was a stance only a few people shared. Better to keep that one behind closed doors, until it became inevitable.

The air smelled like salt, a little like fish and algae. Despite the late hour it was still loud, ships being loaded and unloaded, dockworkers scurring around, calling out to each other. Mike passed them all, felt calmer, more comfortable now that he was close to the ocean, a part of him happy to be here, despite the nagging feeling of another, even lager, fragmented part, that water, especially salt water wasn't exactly what was to be prefered. But for now it suited him fine and he found himself smiling, despite the urge and the need crawling through his heart and soul. Maybe things would be alright, maybe they would work out in whatever way he that he wanted, no needed them to. He closed his eyes for a short moment, aware of the three that were following him. It had been a surprise that they had decided to come along and an even greater surprise that a third one, a man he didn't know had readily agreed to accompany him as well. He moved through the crowd, tempted to reached into the pocket of a rich looking woman whose part brought her too close to him, but then kept the urge in check. Not with the other three following him around. Not as long as he didn't know if they were alright with a little rule bending now and then. Turning around a corner he left the docks behind and followed a narrow alley. The houses were poor, as were those within close range and yet he couldn't help but feel a little envious at the fact the whoever lived here probably had power the whole day, and that the roofs seemed to be in good shape as well. At least in good enough shape to keep the rain out. These people didn't need to go and look for another place to sleep when it rained heavily if only because sleeping in knee deep, stinking mud wasn't comfortable. Nor healthy, but he didn't have the money to care about that. Health was something for the rich. His stomach growled again when he passed a house whose inhabitants were obviously cooking some fish and he quickened his steps, moved past it, eyes firmly set on a small, unconspicious looking door further down the alley. He was no regular customer, most of the good too expensive for him, but he visited now and then to sell a few things nobody else would buy. Jewellery that was easily recognized, and one day he had even managed to get his hands on a fabrial. He'd sold it here, proabably for a small part of its real worth, but it had still managed to feed him nearly two weeks. And he had gotten a new pair of shoes on top. And then there were the few times where he'd been actually paid as a courier to organize items that were hard to come by. If he could find a some spikes, it would be here. Without hesitating he opened the door, despite the uneasy feeling sitting inside of his stomach. Show fear and they knew you were trespassing. Stay calm and pretend you belonged and everything was fine. Behind the door was a corridor, leading to yet another door. It was narrow, only one person at a time could pass through, which was its intention after all. He knew that there were guards on both sides, monitoring who entered. Brawls and fights weren't exactly forbidden but if too many goods were damaged it was bad for business. And if there was one thing everybody down here agreed on, it was the fact that they were only here for business. He stopped in front of the next door and knocked in a quick series. It was opened within a few heartbeats and he nodded at the man on the other side. The guard looked him up and down, noticed his daggers, but didn't mention them, instead waved him on. "Brought some friends?" he asked and Mike nodded, "Was neccessary." he replied mostly to say something and then headed down a few steps, into the market itself. It was crowded, a hall full of stalls, with people heading this way and that way, nearly everybody armed. Some argued over a price, some tried to sell something, others simply looked around. Only a few were wearing masks, new ones probably, and he noticed how a few vendors avoided them completely. There was no need to hide your face, not down here. What happened in the market, stayed in the market. It was as neutral a place as you could find. At least the most neutral one, that he knew of. @AmazingGoob @A Windrunner @Elend Venture

Hello just some quick feedback, Ene and I are discussing what to make of a Truthless character, as we never had one so far. Sorry that it takes us a bit, our time zones don't align too well. Could you please tell me which three oaths your character spoke so far? I couldn't find it here, or in the discussion thread and I need it to rate the character correctly. Is there a in-character reason you decided to make Division stronger by removing the "need to touch something"? Regarding the Truthless: if they don't know who holds their Oathstone, how are able to follow whatever orders the other person tells them? IS there some kind of communication, or can they simply do what they want to?

They were going to come along. Mike nodded, a quick, short motion that make his neck crack a little. "That way." he pointed at the door and then, carefully stepping around the puddle in front of his feet he walked out of the tavern. The air outside was cool, nearly cold enough to make him gasp and his movements became slower for a few moments, until he had adapted, warmth spreading throughout his body. His cloths were just barely warm enough for the cool wind that moved between the houses and whispered in the streets, but for now they would work. And it wasn't as if he had a second set anyway. "Down that road." he pointed down the road to their right. "It's a bit, but within walking distance." And he wasn't able to pay for some faster transport, so there was no real choice apart from walking. @AmazingGoob @A Windrunner

Wita placed the sugar bowl on the table and added first a little cream to her tea, stired it thrice and only then added some sugar. There was no real reason to do it like that, but it had become a ritual she enjoyed. Offered some time to focus, some calm. When she finished stiring the second time she looked up at James again. "The pleasure is mine." she inclined her head. "I have to admit, that while I have a rough concept of what Knight Radiants are, I am not too familiar with the different orders and their ideals. You'll have to forgive my lacking knowledge in that regard." For a moment she fell silent, unwilling to start talking business yet. There was no need to rush things. Leaning back in her chair she took a first, tiny sip of her tea, enjoying its taste. Delicious. He really had a hand for these things. "What is this place?" she finally asked, skipping around the Unmade as a topic. It could wait, at least for a little bit, it could wait.

Glad to hear that your are better and that your life calmed down! I am definitely good with going on with the plot and I'm excited to see what you have in mind!