Dream Dive Nightmare

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~Carnival of the Dammed~

Nexus realized it was Kate she was talking to. It appeared Master Cenota had decided there was no use for the girl. The Carnivale was not for everyone—at least in the work ethical sense. But there were other places the Newcomer could call home. Nexus opened her squid-like skinned arms wide and spoke loud, "Leaving so soon? I have an idea, why don't you travel to Steam City with us? We can part ways then?" She stepped close, tentacles wriggling. It was clear the creature had no concern for personal space, "Steam City might be smoggy and grim, but perhaps you can find… whatever it is you're looking for there?" Nexus was not about to suggest the Sea. That place was filled with cannibals, men who sold children for money. That shore floating city could rot for all she cared.


~The Sea~

The pirate was hoping he could count on Myra's enthusiastic guise in adventure. Usually the poor girl was stuck o the ship, but that was Sydius' selfish desires. She was his slave and his loss if anything was to happen to her, and he wasn't one for losing. He wasn't a kind man, but one driven by desire and egocentricity. It was because of Myra's energy the two had formed a bond the way that they had. Sydius had worn several slaves out before, leaving them nothing but a shell of their former selves. And now Myra's excitement paid off all the more. He would take her along this time for sure.

"We're going to need a bespelled fishing net," Sydius ordered, readying a bag with books and worn silver pieces from the desk in his room. When those vindictive light eyes of his landed on Myra they glinted with sparks of a plan, "And you, my love, are going to get it for me." He tossed the bag her way as a sly smirk crossed his lips, "There's an old man who lives on this bay—he won't sell to me, but someone he's never yet met… He'll sell to you, not for the silver in that bag, oh no, but one of those books. You won't speak of me to him, of course. He's not particularly fond of pirates, especially my kind." He wasn't about to embellish the story between him and this merchant, and his fierce eyes made that clear. He smiled again, "You think you're up for it?"
 
~Carnival~


Thinking for a second, Kate shrugged. "If you are okay with that, I'll be okay with it." She nodded slightly, her face neutral.
 
With a gentle grin and small bow of the head, Myra accepted the quest. "Of course, I am. How will I know it is the right merchant?" She catches the bag and clutches it close to her chest. "Also, should you need anything else while I am away?" Her smile stays pressed to her lips and faint scent of lavender and ginger dances around the room.
 
Carnival


​
She dared not raise her eyes to meet the master's for fear that he may see her anger growing there and lash out in his irritable state. Instead she managed a short bow in quick respect then turned to leave his presence. Ruviet could still feel the anger rising in her chest and forcing the blood in her veins to rush into her hands. She would never think of attacking any of family, let alone the master. Her feet moved on their own as they took her through the carnival to her own lonesome tent placed among the other carnies' dwellings. Ruviet fell to her knees and crawled inside onto her ragged mattress. If Cenota would still take her to the city then he would have to send for her, she was suddenly very tired from the whole situation.
 
~The Sea~

b
Lisani blew the dust off the cover of the old volume that looked like it was about to crumble in her hands before she got the chance to even open it. Laying it gently on the table she gently pried off the fraying leather cover to reveal the first page... A biography of the author. Annoyed she turned the next page a bit to hard and ripped it down the middle.

"For crying out loud!" She snapped to herself as she studied the page, there were a few runes on the page that looked like they had been scribbled in a hurry, they were even written in blood, as if that was the only available ink. One of them looked familiar and as she studied her arms to see why she saw it was the same as one of the runes near her elbow. Lisani restrained herself from shouting in joy as she flipped to the next page.

The next page had ink and was written in one of the common scrips, leaning closer she could smell the blood from the other page and almost got distracted but took a deep breath and flicked her hand in the small cup of water beside her so she could still touch the book. A book about 'the legends of the dark waters'... Lisani took a deep breath, she was no scholar and all this reading and clue solving was not something she was especially good at.

Shifting in her seat she gently flipped to the next page, clinging desperately to her sense of calm.

It read ' There are many species beneath the waters, from singing mermaids to slithering sea monsters too horrible to name. Within these pages you will find a small introduction to 400 of the most common.'

"Is everything alright ma'am?" The young librarian said and she had to question his reaction timing, she had yelled at the book almost five minutes ago.

"Fine, just fine." She said glumly, she had far too much reading to do and his blood smell was distracting her. If only she could just take a few pints of it to-

She shook her head and leaned closer to the book determined to understand what she was and what the damn runes on her arms meant.
 
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:DoNotOptimizeForBrowser/> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--> Although Cenota hated to see her go he couldn't deny that it was a wise choice. His strike at the human left him with a sort of hungry feeling and he wasn't above admitting it was probably unhealthy for those around him. The throbbing pain in his hand only reminded him of his power, the power to control. The feeling of pride was replaced with unease as the pain in his hand failed to subside. The mere concept of a broken hand didn't sit well with him but only a fool would disregard it.

Hesitantly poking and prodding at the swelling lump on the side on his left hand only made him more nervous. He would by no stretch call himself a medic but he was fairly certain you had to rest these sorts of injuries for days at a time. He didn't have days to waste, especially on something as embarrassing as a broken hand. He briefly considered who to go to before ultimately deciding that the best choice would be Nexus.

The sea creature was undoubtedly his closest confidant and one of the few he would feel comfortable discussing the details of this mishap with. Perhaps the idea of him having struck someone hard enough to harm himself would make her laugh; she found amusement in those sorts of things. He headed off briskly in the direction she had set off at, walking quickly as to avoid any unwanted attention. He hoped she hadn't wandered far as he didn't want to answer any unnecessary questions about his swelled hand, which was already getting some odd looks.
 
~Carnival~

Hearing someone approach, Kate backed into a shadow, ready to dissapear if a threat appeared. She still hadn't found whether this place was...dangerous..or not.
 
Alexis stared at him in confusion? This man was not terrified of her superior knowledge about people... But... He wishes to seek for information? To her? It was a curious request -- very curious indeed. This was the first person that ever asked her that kind of information, actually, this was the first time anyone asked her for anything! The surge of information that Alexis was burdened day-by-day was something she kept to herself, and if she was just any other person of this city -- it was something that can drive one insane. But it never drove her insane. It was something that felt right, it was something that she felt that was bound to do. Why? She didn't know why. Despite everything she knew about the people in this place -- she barely knew about herself.

It was the only information she seek to know.

She sat across from the mysterious man, analysing him slowly. "A strange request you have." she murmured, dropping her eyes low on the surface of the table while resting her hands on it gently. "This place is something like a limbo. It's a void. You can never get out of it."
 
Carnival

Ruviet woke suddenly from her sleep. It had been short, she was sure because she still felt very tired. She also felt, however, that she shouldn't be where she was. Yes she had gone there subconsciously but that didn't necessarily mean that was where she should be. Ruviet was often moved by her emotions and not always by logic- not sure she even knew the word- so things often went sporadically for her. She pushed herself up from the lame mattress and made her way slowly from her tent. Her legs wobbled beneath her as she moved gingerly through the forest of tents to where she wasn't sure. It was up to her subconscious.
 
Steam City

Siderious blinked, caught off guard by Alexis' response. Speaking to this automaton was more difficult that he'd expected. Oh well, he thought, the least I can do is try. Gathering himself, he cleared his throat and asked again.

"Perhaps I was a little too subtle. I mean to kill them. I'm looking to find a person, or people, that it would do Nightmare, or at least Steam City, some good to have killed. A 'bad' Person. Do you know of anyone like that?"
 
Kill? What did he mean by... Kill? Did this man... Is this man... A mercenary?

Alexis tilted her head slightly, dropping her gaze down to evade the man's. An unusual request after unusual request -- he was quite the oddity. Of all people, he seeked her out for this. She may know everything about everyone, but she only knew what they had done after it happened and so far -- the man's character in all entirety was still quite unpredicable.

"Define the concept of 'bad'." She proposed abruptly, opening her notebook as she started writing down new records about the people of Nightmare. They came rapidly, there was not a day she wasn't restless. Hours and hours were spent in writing these entries, but they weren't as necessary as they seemed to be. She remembered every single one of them, but writing them down made them seem more fascinating.

"The creatures in this place are complex beings. It's... Difficult to narrow them down into such a mundane category."
 
Steam City

Siderious let out a soft laugh, shaking his head. I'll never cease to be amazed at personality quirks in this place.

"Let me try to narrow it down then. How about someone who regularly takes advantage of the weak, or naive, or helpless. Self-centered, and probably egotistical. And preferably not too hard to find, I'm running on a bit of a deadline." He said, reminding himself he needed to feed tonight.

Siderious looked around, noting that those in the library had returned to their previous tasks.

"And, of course, I'd be more than willing to bring you something you might need as a... favor, for helping me out."
 
It was time to cut the chase.

"What are you up to?" Alexis said buntly, leaning across the table with a surveying gaze. This man wants to use her knowledge for something... Something even her data didn't record. What she possessed was power... Power to know everything about anyone. It was a burden, but it was something she would protect. "Why would a stranger like you be so fascinated with such information?"

She paused.

"Are you perhaps, attempting to be somesort of vigilante? How silly."
 
Siderious leaned forward, teeth gritted.

"It's not silly. I have to kill to survive, so I at least try to use it to the best possible ends. Why not help people, right?"

Seeing nothing he could know as recognition in the automaton's eyes, he stood up, threw the unconscious man over his shoulder, and left the building.

Once outside, he turned right and headed toward the nearest medical clinic, to drop the man off before he woke up.
 
CARNIVAL​

Ruviet stumbled on for hours as her legs grew tired but her feet refused the ache forming in them. The dragging of her feet led her far beyond the tents until she had no clue where she was anymore. Her eyes were set off in a distant stare as she moved onward. "I can't... I can't be upset at the master- but I am! But it's his palace, his grounds, his rules. She was so...different... I could fix her if he had only let me..." She tripped over a stump while lost in a cloud of confused emotions and fell to her knees. Her locks fell into her face as she leaned back onto her toes in a crouching position. The fleshy tail that had once taken her as a blemish swayed cat-like behind her. "I could have made her worthy..." Ruviet looked up at the sky and sighed aloud, the rush of emotions finally calming down to let her breath. "Master..."
 
As the man left the premises and Alexis only could stare at him wondering why he wanted it so bad.

But there was also something that haunted her and it was why she wanted to protect this information so terribly, why she did want to protect it so terribly? It was knowledge and everyone wanted knowledge. Was it because of morality? Was it because of the heroicism? The responsibility of information of everyone in this land? Pathetic, really. Morality was non-existent in this land. But why did she have such delusional beliefs when everyone else didn't share it?

With that thought in mind she began to pack up her things -- books, notebooks, maps, sketches, and such. All these thing were packed up in black leather body bag hung across her chest, swinging lightly as she pushed open the library doors -- looking at the dark sky above her. It looked the same every day she went out of this place, and there Alexis realised that she had been living in vicious circles. A routine she followed religiously.

Routine she realised she was insanely bored of.
 
After literally dropping the unconscious man off on the secretary's desk, Siderious moved towards the rear offices of the small clinic he'd walked to.

"You can't go back there!" The portly young receptionist yelled.

"I just need to speak to Doctor Kang, I'll be just a minute."

He reached the office he needed in seconds. The clinic was slow, so he knew she'd be in there. He opened the door and stepped inside.

"Yes?" the Doctor said as she looked up. She was a petite thing, with strikingly black hair, and skin to match. The only part of her that caught the light at all was her blazing red eyes.

"Oh, it's you," she grumbled as she looked back down at her work. "What do you want?"

"I need a bit of a drink, Doc."

"You know the price, and you could have asked Dizzy out front. What. Do. You. Want?"

"I'm short on cash, or I wouldn't even come here. And I'm getting close to frenzy."

"Not my problem. The BloodBank's a business, same as any other, you've got to pay for the goods."

Siderious sat heavily in the chair in front of her desk. Leaning his head into his hands, he continued softly, "Sarah, I can't go frenzy again, not after last time. Please, just a little to tide me over."

Doctor Kang looked up sharply. "No, my debt to you was paid off long ago. Go catch some pickpocket if you're so desperate. Now get out of here before I call security."

Siderious twitched with sudden anger, the hunger making him less stable. He fought for control, and rushed out of the office, and the clinic without a word. Turning left, he quickly ran off down the street into one of the poorer districts in the city, hoping to find a meal and fast.

He turned down an alley he knew to be "owned", and took out his favored rapier, Abigail.

"Well, old girl, let's hope we can find some trouble," he said as he stepped slowly into the shadowed walkway.
 
There was something so mysterious about the night time.

Mysterious -- yet so incredibly enticing. The sky gleamed stars so small they looked like gems that stood still, only to be uncovered and recognised as a ball of fire that burned an immense blaze. But these stars... These stars weren't real. They felt empty. They were not the stars she was looking for.

Venturing the darkest paths of the alleyway, her mechanic figure glowed against the shadows -- igniting a path that glazed the rocky roads, with whispers sang by the children of the night. It was peaceful, just like every other night.

But... was it just any other night?
 
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