ZincAboutIt

"The Dark Alley..." Lita mused. People didn't usually throw that name around as a casual suggestion. Let it go, she told herself. No use getting yourself nailed to the wall over a little curiosity. Still, one did wonder. Was any one type of killing really worse than another? Was it truly more ghastly than the countless gangs and guilds in this city maiming and murdering one another every day? The Survivor himself made a regular habit of throat-slitting, and people still worshiped him. "You know," Lita said carefully, placing her words like chess pieces, "I've heard so many rumors about them that it's impossible to make any kind of true estimate one way or another. The truth is so hard to suss out, even for a tineye." She drained her glass and set it down, looking up to meet Laurelai's gaze. There's one thing for certain, she thought. I'd rather get spiked through the eye than join a rusting government.

Lita shook herself out of what was probably a very impolite stare. The two people at the other end of the bar had just changed their ages. Atium Ferrings, she thought, piecing that one together. So rare. It was almost like seeing a Faceless Immortal walking around. This tavern is an interesting place. "The 'professional eavesdropping' kind," Lita said to Laurelai. "What can I say, I was born an excellent listener. Excellent vision too - well, excellent when the tin's burning." She took her spectacles off and squinted through them. With her tin on, the world looked absurdly blurry through the lenses. It felt a bit odd to be so open about her talents with a stranger, but she was hardly well-known enough for people come asking for her.

"Lita," she said, scaling back on the tin and looking back to the other woman. "Duties certainly do have a bad habit of getting in the way of leisure, don't they?" Laurelai had a calculating face, and despite the tin Lita almost missed her glancing towards the door just after she had. I underestimated this woman, Lita thought. If she really is a noble, perhaps she'll know someone who needs a good social spy. Then she'd be able to buy more dresses. She felt herself smile at the thought of a new pair of dancing shoes, some earrings... Focus, Lita!

Lita tapped her brassmind as the door swung open, shivering and giving up on storing anymore heat, especially with her tin on. Three men had just walked in, with a fourth not far behind. The first three looked like trouble, the kind of trouble Lita had read about in broadsheets as a girl back in Elendel. They had asked about some kind of Bloodflame Gang. Sounds like a great way to get killed, she thought. With a name like "Bloodflame" though, at least you knew what you were in for. It looked like that fourth man was going to take them out of here. Good, she thought, taking another sip of port and pulling her glasses down to the tip of her nose. She gave the three a quick once-over with a flare of tin. They are definitely trouble.

Lita cocked her head at the woman - her accent was suddenly much more convincing. Maybe you're just going crazy, she thought to herself. Maybe she actually IS a noblewoman. Or perhaps her hearing was failing without tin now, too. Well, she was in it now. She lifted her port towards the woman, then took a drink. "Looking for work," Lita said. "Preferably the kind that funds my rather inconvenient taste for Scadrian port. And yourself?"

Lita watched the newcomer enter and order a glass of port in what she assumed was the woman's best approximation of a Scadrian accent. She burned tin, examining the woman over the rims of her glasses. Not the worst noble accent I've heard, Lita thought, sipping her port. But definitely not the best. People usually overdid the nasal stuffiness of the upper classes, and mixed too much of the southern cities with the Basin accent. Too incongruous. Why this woman even wanted to appear to be Scadrian nobility was another question entirely. If you pretended to be important, people usually assumed you were important. Those kinds of lies were hard to maintain, after a while. This is foolish, Lita thought, but she picked up her glass of port anyway and walked up to the blonde woman at the bar. "My goodness but it's wonderful to meet another Scadrian so far from home," Lita gushed, swirling her port. @Voidus

Lita took a sip of the port, and it was like wrapping her throat in a velvet cloak. "I think I'll be spending more time here, with port like this." She walked back to the empty table and watched the two young people at the next table over. The man's drink truly was a "Mound," a fluffy, massive concoction that could likely get the whole tavern reeling drunk. If he had hoped the young woman would help him finish the drink, he seemed out of luck. The woman was nursing a glass of water and looked like one strong drink would put her under the table - let alone an entire bowl.

Lita smiled gratefully. "Ooh, yes, please!" She placed a few more chrysts on the bar. "By the Survivor but I do miss Scadrian wine."

Lita felt herself blush after her somewhat dramatic outburst, and she flopped into a seat at an empty table towards the fringes of the tavern, fretting. That new fellow's bead of atium got her attention, however, and she wasn't the only one. The bartender whisked it away with practiced ease. As well he should, Lita thought. She extinguished her tin and immediately began filling her brassmind, grimacing as the familiar chill washed over her. She tugged her wrap closer, pushing her glasses further up her nose, and walked back to the bar. "Alright," she said to the bartender, trying to keep her teeth from chattering. "I'd like to warm up from the inside out, now. Do you have any port?" @Invocation

Lita glanced at the board before cradling the cup of choc in her hands and getting up from the bar. "I appreciate it, Lena," she said. "Good luck with your shadow over there." She nodded towards the butler and walked towards the notice board. Lita sighed, finished her drink, and tore a scrap of paper off one hanging sheet, writing her qualifications down: Tineye, poison-mixing experience/antidotes, covert surveillance, espionage. Contract work only, no direct kills, no combat. Ask for Lita A. She tacked it up in a corner of the board and made to leave, but turned at the last minute and addressed Lena. "It's inevitable, isn't it? Joining with one group or another? I know the kind of game I'm playing, and it's the kind where I end up dead unless I've got friends. It's just... if we're all simply assets in someone's arsenal, how can we ever be sure that those 'friends' won't kill us first?"

Lita nodded. Assets. She'd poisoned the first man who had used her as an asset, and then she'd run headlong into the employ of a dozen others. "I've heard Sel is beautiful," Lita said, "but dangerous to get to. Something about dead gods?" She wiggled her fingers through the air. "Anyway, I don't suppose you know someone who could use an excellent listener? A girl sees and hears some fascinating things with a little tin."

Lita chewed her lip a bit, the pain sharper and cleaner with her tin on, and looked at the woman. She seemed pleasant, but there was a subtle undercurrent of danger about her. No different than everyone else in this rusting city, she thought. "Scadrial," she finally said. "From the Basin." Lita glanced at the butler, impressed. "This fellow must have it bad for you," she said. "Most men that court me usually just send flowers, not servants."

Lita raised an eyebrow, taking another sip of her choc. It was rare she met someone with a name even close to her own. She gave the tavern another glance, half-expecting someone named Lora or Lana to jump out of the woodwork and introduce themselves as well. "And you," she said. "I'm Lita. Never been here before, but word on the street is this is the place to get a job when your skillset is... less than conventional."

"Thank you," Lita said, sipping the hot liquid. She nestled deeper into her fur wrap, savoring the taste. Was there anything better than eating while burning tin? There were so many flavors in food that she could never have picked up without it. "So," she said, setting down the cup. "I hear this is the place to advertise for hire. Where might I do that?"

Lita felt a smile slip onto her face. "I'd love some choc," she said, recalling the first time she had tasted the sweet, earthy drink. It wasn't quite the taste of home, not her home - not Elendel. But it was the taste of good company. Lita looked over the tavern's occupants, noticing a woman drinking some kind of light-purple concoction like it was her solemn duty. She could smell it from where she stood, tin letting her pick up the sharp sting of intoxicating drink. "That kind of day, is it?" Lita said casually, tipping her head at the woman's cup. @Sorana

Lita pulled her glasses down to the tip of her nose and burned tin, eyeing the tavern door over the rims of her round spectacles. They said this was the place, she thought, clutching her fur wrap tighter with a slight shiver. She tapped brass and some warmth trickled back into her body, chasing the tin-enhanced cold out of her bones. Lita settled a little deeper into her wrap, sensitive skin feeling the myriad tiny holes that moths had eaten into the soft mink fur. She needed a job, or it would be more moth holes and more cold and definitely no more imported Scadrian wine. With a tiny huff, she pushed open the door and ducked inside. It was surprisingly crowded, especially up at the bar, but the atmosphere was more welcoming than she had expected. Lita walked up to the barkeep, setting a few chrysts onto the counter. "Do you have anything warm back there, by chance?"

@Sorana Thank you! I am actually unsure of how to contact characters "in character." Do I just corner you in one thread or another lol? Also, I think Lena and Lita should meet, seeing that they share at least half their names with one another.

Thank you so much! I'm really excited to get started!!

Thanks! I want to give her some room to grow or collect cool things that might up her investiture rating. I really like this character and I don't want to have to edit her very much on the outset. I generally like characters that are more behind-the-scenes and not super powerful. Plus if she had Pewter I would have to make her fight, and I hate writing combat lol. She's got a good opinion of emotional allomancy so she may go in for H-Zinc, or maybe H-Brass which would let her compound. We'll see!

I know I'm really excited actually! It's a banner day for me, literally doesn't get any better. Storms jk, @beantheboy12 I am blushing over here :3

Hi I'm super new to this and wildly inexperienced but I gather this is the place to post character profiles. See below, and please let me know if I need to alter anything! I tried to hide the text like others have been doing - not sure if I actually managed it.

@theBolda Are you asking if it's Shallan's necklace or Adolin's mothers? Because Shallan's necklace was described as having thick silvery links, not being long and thin iirc. I'll admit though, it's been a while since I've read WoR.

I'm guessing this is why the Bondsmith order is so essential, to guide everyone to go in roughly the same direction, just approached from different angles. I can only imagine how difficult things were if there happened to be a generation without at least one Bondsmith around. Thanks for the very wise answers!

Yes, this is also one of my main confusions. You make a good point though, in that the organization of the KR and the Oaths aren't the same thing. Still, forced organization seems kind of pointless if you can have different orders doing such disparate things. Who cares if the Skybreakers are all organized, if they are simply organized against humanity? I guess now that the Knights Radiant have reformed, we will get to see them in their most contemporary re-formation with the needs of the current day. Since all the magic systems in the Cosmere seem to work by intent, perhaps the very fact that Roshar now equates surgebinding with the Knights Radiant makes it so, no divine intervention required. It's all about perception.

Hello! Fairly new to the Shard and this is my first post. I apologize if this topic has been covered but I searched and couldn't find a direct answer. I have recently finished my third listen of Oathbringer and started thinking about greater implications of Odium's creepy new dagger. If Ishar is killed (for real) by this dagger, will the requirement of Oaths become removed from the nahel bond? Since Honor is dead, it seems like the rules of being a Radiant are already starting to flex and bend more and more, what with the Skybreakers literally fighting for Odium, or Malata and her very anti-social spren who seem largely intent on destruction for its own sake. However, it seems like the first Oath is still required for the bond to form, regardless of the difference of other higher Oaths. Since Ishar was the one who decided to implement the Knights Radiant and lay down this codification of Oaths, would his death lead to the relaxation of this requirement? Would we get the problems on Roshar that Nohadon speaks of in Dalinar's flashbacks, with surgebinders that can bond spren in a more private contract between just the two of them, allowing someone who is less-than-nice to wield great powers? Would this in turn actually cause the destruction of Roshar - as feared by Honor in his last days - due to surgebinding? It seems like Honorspren have always largely been rather strict with their bonded human partners, but I get the sense other spren wouldn't be nearly so choosy or demanding unless they had to be. And if Ishar isn't the one holding the collective Radiant spren to the necessity of Oaths, then what is? I get the impression that the spren aren't exactly all in a unanimous vote with one another about most things. What else, aside from divine/semi-divine will, could cause all of them to agree on Oath requirements? The other option could, of course, be that Cultivation would hold everyone to the Oaths regardless of Ishar living or not, but she's so mysterious and rarely seems interested in interfering with humans in a large, authoritative oversight kind of way. I'm really hoping one or more of you clever people have some answers or ideas!