ZincAboutIt

I hate to be a wet blanket here but I don't like this idea. I have no clue what any of that is, and adding additional universes doesn't really make very much sense to me. I'd much rather explore the creation of original in-world magic if people want different stuff to play with, though honestly there is already so much to work with here.

Lita leaned a little more fully against the counter, putting her chin in her hand and slipping the Coin back into her sock lest she drop it in truth. She swirled her glass, some of the wine dripping over the rim now that her coordination was deteriorating, and took another sip. I can barely even taste this anymore, even with Tin. Never a good sign. She turned her head to look at Laurelai, who seemed similarly woozy. Her eyes hovered around Lita's face but couldn't seem to find purchase on any one spot. Lita chuckled. "I wish I didn't keep forgetting my own alcohol tolerance," she muttered, feeling herself slide further onto the counter. Lita righted herself a bit with a sigh. "You're asking the hard questions now, Ms. Laurelai, and I'm not the person with the answers. You'll probably want to ask one of them." Lita motioned vaguely to her right, towards the hole in the wall and the city beyond, out where the DA leaders were battling Plasmacore's horrors. "Though maybe even they don't know. I almost hope they don't." Lita looked at the world through the wine in her glass, claret-red and bitter sweet. "Once you know every secret there is to know... what comes next?"

Lita nodded, not missing the slight shaking of Laurelai's hand as she began drinking her newest glass of wine. She made to reach for the bottle before something stopped her. How much are you planning on drinking, Lita? She could feel herself getting drunk in truth now, Tin letting her catch the slow and subtle distinctions, each shade of grey between sober and soused. Lita knew it was foolish to be so cavalier at a time like this; the sounds of the city breaking and burning still filtered in here, through the hush and the smoke. She eyed the bottle, then sighed, sliding it over to her and pouring another half glass. Well, two-thirds. "Something happened, then," Lita said, sipping. "Something nasty. That first red mark in your ledger, I'd be willing to bet." She set the glass back on the bar and gave the Coin a flip, nearly fumbling it in her hand. Last glass, or you'll be painting the floor in your guts soon enough. "Forgive me, but something as unpredictable as a Boon and Bane from the Nightwatcher seems... uncharacteristic for you. I don't know you well, but you seem more like the 'minute detail' type. What made you take the risk?"

Lita slid her now-perfect glass back towards her and poured what was left of the wine out onto the floor, flicking the cigarette out with the end of her finger. She watched as a single small leaf pushed its way out of the back of Laurelai's hand before twirling down to land amidst the rest of the rubble on the ground. You can't think I won't ask now, Lita thought, dipping her chin at Laurelai. It was as good as an invitation, showing such an obvious connection. Even a fool could connect the dots. She smirked a bit, looking over the glass in her hand - a flawless repair. Forgery with no need to carve a stamp, but always at a price. A Curse. "I suspect you're quite familiar with the price of Forging - ahead or otherwise," Lita said, meeting Laurelai's icy eyes and stoking the burn of her Tin, feeling her pupils dilate visibly. I know, the look said. Laurelai wouldn't miss it - she was far too clever. "So you tell me," she continued. "Is the Curse worth the gift? Or can we abandon pretense now and use the official terminology? I believe it's Boon, yes?"

"I - " Lita blinked, stumbling over her words. Go back. She ran her tongue over her teeth, feeling something hollow gnaw at her guts. That knife point she thought she had finally evaded, back to haunt her. Guilt. Lita sucked at the end of her cigarette, then dropped it into the remains of her glass of wine. The embers drowned, whispering a dying sigh that echoed Lita's mood. She let the last breath of smoke curl out of her mouth before speaking. "No." The word hung heavy in the air, true as steel. "There is no going back for me." Lita peered at Laurelai, who had taken a spike and was carving something into the bottom of a candle. The pain and confusion in Laurelai's gaze burnt Lita like fire. Lita knew, she knew she should want to go back to Elendel, to fix it, to wipe it all away. If someone were to give her the chance to go back and undo it all, Lita knew she should take it. But you wouldn't, the voice whispered. If you really cared about your father, you would never have gotten tangled up with Forian in the first place. Truth twisted her mouth, a bitter draught. That she would kill for her father, but not live for him. "Lita Attarre is dead," she said, saying her old name aloud for the first time in years. It sounded wrong, here amidst the ruins of the tavern, amidst the catastrophe and blood and chaos of this city. Too soft, too weak. This place had ruined her - Ruined her in truth. Remade her in blood and metal and rain. 'Know that you will never be what you once were.' Her hand strayed toward her right side, hovering over her new spike. "I don't think my father would much like this version of his daughter." The shadow of a smile touched her mouth - dark and strange. But I do.

Lita took another breath of smoke and listened to Laurelai speak. She still had yet to look up from her glass, the words coming harder now, like water forced through cloth. At the mention of Laurelai's family, Lita actually placed her tongue between her teeth, keeping herself from saying it. She almost did, anyway. I know who your father is. Something stopped her - a cool, green memory. Dappled shade, and men in colorful robes. A freshly starched collar. 'Better to let her keep her delusion...' The Seven Days War was seventeen years ago, and her father was a god. Could he not have easily found her, should he have wished it? Yet Voidus had done nothing, hidden in his Alleys, doing... whatever it was he did. Even now, now that he was so close, he held himself apart from his daughter. Was it really Lita's business, her duty somehow to reveal this secret to Laurelai? She seemed well-adjusted enough, believing that her parents had died in the war. There was comfort in that kind of surety, the belief that no one was out there searching for her, because they could not. They were beyond that final door, and no point in agonizing over what could have been. How much worse would it be to know that someone was out there, they just had no desire to find you? No desire to know you, only shame and regret? To know that you were a mistake. A shallow splintering sound split the silence that had fallen between them, and Lita was shocked to find a large crack riven through the glass in her hand. One scarlet bead of wine leaked out into her palm, traveling down her wrist in a languid trail. What..? The hot, new fire of Pewter crackled beside her smolder of Tin - somehow she'd begun burning it unconsciously. Lita chided herself, extinguishing the new metal and setting the glass delicately onto the bar, nudging it away should it collapse and spill wine all over her. Well that's something new I'll need to look out for. Lita tapped more ash onto the floor and looked toward Laurelai. "Of course it was hard. He was a good man... is a good man, I suppose. I hope." She watched the smoke hover in the air, choosing her next words carefully. "I'm sorry about your family. I... I don't remember my mother - not that I much want to. Too often, memory is poison."

Lita let one auburn brow travel upwards when Laurelai admitted to killing seven people. She wasn't sure what she'd expected - more than that? Or less? What she definitely didn't expect was Laurelai's sudden, genuine emotion. Lita froze, watching her, forcing herself to become very still. Laurelai's face crumpled slightly as she closed her eyes, recalling something terrible, trying to fend it off. Yes, I know that face, Lita thought, Tin letting her catch the minute twitches around Laurelai's eyes, the way her mouth twisted just a bit at the corners. Disgust, disbelief. "Guilt cares little for legality," Laurelai finished, staring down into her glass as though it were a deep well. "I've never forgotten his face." And the other six? Lita thought. Those all on purpose then, and easier to forget? She kept that query to herself, using the moment of silence to take in another breath of smoke and compose her response. Guilt was not an emotion Lita expected to find in a Denizen of the Dark Alley, but then again Laurelai was a researcher, a woman of learning. It was no real shock to learn that she wasn't overcome with bloodlust - and to accidentally kill someone... That would certainly be its own kind of horror. But how does one accidentally kill someone, especially a person so careful and cunning as Laurelai? Something clicked into place behind Lita's eyes as she recalled the sudden appearance of the pink soap bubbles from Laurelai's mouth back on the street. What else could 'suddenly' occur around this woman? Lita resisted the urge to scoot further back on her bar stool and tipped her head towards the ceiling, watching the smoke twist and writhe into the air above her. She would have to play this very carefully now. Lita had no doubt over the rarity of seeing this much candor from Laurelai - the woman was a vault of ice, and one poorly placed comment would close the cracks tight and flush. There would be no charming the truth out of her, Lita would need to keep trading secrets of her own if she wished to obtain Laurelai's. Anything is attainable, Lita. She wrinkled her nose once, then took a sip from her glass. "After I killed Forian, I kept telling myself that I did what I had to do," she said softly. "I kept repeating it, over and over again, telling myself that there was no other way. No other way to protect my father. I told myself so often that I believed it. A dangerous thing for a spy - believing your own lies." Lita stared out across the bar and tapped her ashes onto the floor. "The truth is, I could have done it any number of ways. I could have sent the ledger book to the conners, I could have taken my father with me and fled, I could have suggested we pin it all on some other poor sod instead." Lita brought her cigarette to her mouth again, fingers shaking slightly. "I killed Forian because I wanted to," she whispered, voicing the truth she'd known in her heart for two years. "And I left my father there - just left him. And I'll never see him again. And no amount of guilt will change that." @Voidus

"You must have cared for your father a great deal to risk something like that. I imagine that regardless of what your Lordling might have done that he still had some friends who might want to track down his assassin." Lita glanced sidelong at Laurelai, recalling the many sleepless nights she'd spent in her little flat with the dresser pushed up against the door, the windows triple locked, a dagger under her pillow. Yes, Lita had thought about retribution from her old gang - the terror had consumed her for nearly the first year she'd lived in the Alleycity. But, slowly, it had faded. It seemed as though no one had cared enough about Forian to track his killer across universes. Lucky for me. She was about to tell Laurelai as much when she spoke again. "Was that your first time?" She asked. "Killing." Killing. The word traced an odd line down Lita's back, raising the hair on her neck. Lita rolled her shoulders once to ease the feeling, then poured herself half a glass more wine. She had no illusions about what she'd done, of course, but declaring a thing so plainly... This time, Lita gave in and pulled another cigarette from her coat, using some of the stored heat from her last one to light the end. She pulled a mouthful of smoke into her lungs and let it out through her nose, the twin plumes giving shape to her sigh. "Yes," Lita said, watching Laurelai swirl her wine, watching her watch Lita. "First time for everything, I suppose." Bit cold, Lita, the little voice whispered. Lita took another pull on her cigarette, not letting anything show on her face, nudging her Tin a little higher. "And you?" She asked Laurelai, green eyes dark in the low light - though with Tin that darkness held no purchase on Lita. At least, not this kind of darkness. "Have you killed anyone?" @Voidus

Alright I’ll see what I can do tomorrow. Also, I’ve never made Wiki pages before so if they are awful I warned ya

Not terribly much help but I put Lita in there and I also added a bit more about the Scadrial Thread. I'm a bit leery about chiming in on much else - I've been quite involved in this Era's main plots but I also don't want to step on anyone's toes when it comes to beginning those pages so...

Hi there, you pinged me like a week ago for this? Or Saturday? I'm not sure. I meant to comment but I didn't (mea culpa!) so I'm doing it now. (Also, I can't find the ping... am I going mad? It is possible...) I think the idea is pretty neat. I love a good Faustian bargain type situation, which seems to be what you're going for here. Question: Is the woman the dog? Does she shapeshift? If not, I actually would almost rather read this excerpt from her point of view. You almost never get the POV of the demon. I'm also going to echo the sentiment on the overabundance of detail; it is distracting. Mostly because you are telling not showing me everything. I'd pick one POV or another, then limit it, but that's my personal preference. I always prefer to see through one of the characters, not my own eyes (if you'll forgive a bit of a pun here, given the subject-matter). I'm interested in reading more of this! As always, I love the villain/nefarious character the most. More Lil!

I think it might just be the way in which I enjoy consuming stories. Having to go look for all the parts of old plots and stitch them up was confusing to me. I realize that others prefer it another way. Honestly, I don't care enough to make any significant case for changing anything. It's worth noting that I'd absolutely rather watch one 8-hour-long episode of something than 8 one-hour-long episode. So perhaps I'm just an outlier.

I realize that this would be complete madness but having a "main plot thread" at all isn't my ideal setup. When you have a specific thread set up for the main plot, everyone is sort of stuck there and it's harder to integrate all the other threads. But also, it would make everything even more confusing and harder to keep track of. But still, it would make the story feel more like it's saturating the entire world. Edit: After a few hours I realize that my idea is rather a bad one so please disregard this

I don’t mind at all! I can get you a higher-def version of this also, so it doesn’t show up as pixelated. If anyone wants to use a drawing of mine in the wiki please feel free and don’t hesitate to ask for a clean or larger version especially if you’re using a card image!

I'd like to throw my hat in the ring for the "one thread for main plot" proposition. I think this is a great idea, we wouldn't have to worry about locking multiple threads and honestly, I think it would be way easier for new members to figure out what is going on if there is only one main plot thread to read through. Trying to find multiple parts, order them chronologically, etc. is a pain - I know because I went backwards and have attempted to read through a lot of the old threads. Multiple parts make things harder. Four threads each with 30 pages is the same amount of pages as one thread with 120 pages - and way less searching. I'm a fan of locking the threads on completion, for whatever that's worth. Also, I don't think this is the place to call someone out for stuff that happens elsewhere.

I'm not going to delete anything, and I agree that it's poor etiquette to delete posts that have been commented on. This place is already confusing, adding to the confusion won't make things any better. I realize this is just the meme thread but still, now that the "hide" option is available I don't think we should abuse it.

I don't get it. Why is this sad?

Lita snorted a bit at Laurelai's evasion of her question, taking a small sip of wine. I've hit on something important, she thought, taking note of the split-second tension that rippled through Laurelai before she'd given her quip of an answer. Lita has halfway through re-tooling the question when Laurelai spoke up again. "You said that even spies could be honest, so tell me. That first day we met, when Mac was speaking to you and you told him about your... former employer. Was that the whole story? You heard that he was trying to frame your father so you killed him?" Forian. Lita chewed the inside of her cheek for a moment, swirling the wine in her glass. "The whole story?" The low light reflected off the wine with a dark gleam. She flicked her eyes back towards Laurelai, both irritated and impressed with the woman. It was rare that Lita met someone who was her equal in the art of conversation. "You don't ask for much, do you?" Lita considered letting the matter lie - Laurelai had evaded her question after all. Why not do the same? But then again, Lita's past was of little danger to her here. Her father was safe: an ordinary man, unremarkable, possessing no great secrets or powers, and tucked away in another universe altogether. Laurelai didn't seem the type to hold his safety over Lita's head. And some honesty might go a ways towards figuring out her strange talents. Lita sighed, then took a somewhat deeper drink of wine, turning the Coin over and over in her other hand. "My father ran a Soothing parlor in Elendel," she said slowly, softly. It had been a long time since she'd thought about this in its entirety. The whole story. "For all his subtlety, he was completely blind to what was going on around him. I was his eyes and ears, running drinks, keeping tabs on who was who, what was going on. No one knew I was a Tineye, they just thought I was a Brass Ferring. It worked well enough, for a time. Then, we started getting a new crowd in the parlor - some minor nobles, a few high-ranking conners. Father was thrilled at the income, relieved that we were finally starting to get some 'respectable folk' in the back room." Lita sniffed ruefully. Oh Father, always willing to believe the best of someone. She flipped the Coin once, then continued. "I was nineteen when I met Forian - well, met him properly. His little club had been meeting in our back room for some weeks, and I'd taken to listening in. People like to think they're safe in a Soothing parlor - aluminum in the walls, you know. Useful against a Tineye listening in. Unless, of course, the Tineye is inside the parlor serving you brandy." Lita smirked. "Unsurprisingly, Lordling Tekiel was not the upstanding citizen my father thought him to be. He and his friends were running quite the tidy little smuggling operation," Lita waved her hand dismissively. "Guns, black powder, some opiates - the typical contraband. Anyway, one night I stayed late serving them drinks; Father had gone up to bed. Forian wasn't a subtle man, he'd been eyeing me for weeks. He gave me a proposition, and I gave him one in return. Told him I wanted in, told him I was a Tineye. It wasn't hard to convince him after that." "We worked Elendel's upper ring for a good few years, but Forian started getting sloppy. Made a few bad deals, and made more than a few enemies. We were pretty sure that someone in the Constabulary was getting close to sniffing us out. Forian was a wreck, he was convinced that his own family would put a hit out on him if what he was doing came to the light. I believed him - nothing riles the nobility quite like getting their name dragged through the mud." Lita considered lighting another cigarette, but decided against it. She sighed again, tapping the edge of the Coin against the bartop. "One day, he came to me with an idea. 'I've solved it,' he said to me. All we had to do was pin the smuggling on my father, you see. We'd still been meeting in the back room, and sometimes we kept part of a haul there, down in the cellar. My father would take the fall, and we'd get off free and clear. It was almost too easy." Lita felt a muscle spasm once in her jaw, and she drained the last of her wine. "I spent the next week making my preparations, then sent my father off to his favorite pub. Closed the parlor and invited Forian, told him I wanted to discuss things. Then, I fixed him a glass of brandy, like always." Lita felt her mouth splinter into a sharp smirk. "Well, this glass was a little different than usual. Cyanide does tend to cut the night short." The image of Forian's face floated before her vision for a moment, and Lita was surprised at the absence of her usual sorrow over his death. She'd loved him...hadn't she? Hadn't she? "I made sure everything was in place - his ledger book, my confession, all of it. I sent a runner about a death at the parlor, ensured my father was away all night, and then I was in the wind," she finished with a shrug. Lita set the glass down on the bar and licked her fingertip, running it around the rim of the glass. The note rang out hollow and eerie - a fitting sound. She looked over at Laurelai. "And that's the whole story." Or enough of it, anyway.

New comic panel! Also, because I can:

Ah, too boring a question for you, then? Lita thought, watching Laurelai raise a brow. Well just you wait. "Growing up here sounds plenty interesting," Lita said truthfully, taking one last breath of her cigarette before pulling all its residual heat into her brassminds and flicking the crumbling end away. She tipped her head back and watched the smoke curl up from her lips to hover above them like the Mists back in Elendel. "As I'm still rather new here, perhaps I'm simply ignorant of normal customs. Is it typical for one to suddenly start spitting out pink soap bubbles while walking down the road?" Lita took care to watch Laurelai closely, keeping her Tin up to catch any subtle hints in her face or voice. Sure, they were being open with one another - as open as two people like themselves could be, anyway. But this was the game. And Laurelai had to know that Lita would ask eventually. She'd likely be disappointed if Lita left the question unasked for long enough. Rusts, Lita would be disappointed in herself. You've seen me bleed, for the Survivor's sake, Lita thought peevishly. It's high time I get to see a bit of what's inside you. Of course, she did know something about Laurelai - a secret so tremendous that she barely let herself think about it for too long. And all it took was a little flared Tin and a careless god. Lita allowed herself a little smile and took another drink.