The Slums

[SINIB]

The Slums

A swathe of land on the outer edges of the city that laws forgotten and neglected by the rest of the Nexus. The most outside attention it gets is the occasional elite whom trepidatiously enters the slums when a particularly nasty creature sets up a nest inside them and starts hunting outside its boundaries.The rest of the time, it remains wallowing in neglect, the dilapidated buildings slowly falling apart and being reclaimed by nature. The entire area is walled off with chain-link fencing and barbed wire in an attempt to keep whatever squalid beings who live there from ever escaping into real society.

Almost nobody lives here by choice. Those who do are utterly desperate individuals whom are seeking to escape justice, debtors, a few particularly nasty vampires, or those truly wishing to be forgotten by society. Rumors speak of a black market in the sewers beneath the area where slavers go to peddle their wares, where one can purchase untraced weapons, or illegal poisons. And beneath even that, there are whispers of a great hungry monstrosity sealed beneath the ground, searching for a way to escape.

At one point, this district had a proper name, but by now, after decades of neglect, nobody remembers it by any other name. There is very little publicly available information about the nature of this district or whom lives in it, as nearly everyone who does is unregistered.

[SINIB]

Tsumiko
10:00 am

Days later, nothing significant had changed in Tsumiko's life. She continued living her life, hunting down criminals, hiding away in her house as if she'd never met Thea.

She tried to pretend like everything was okay in order to keep going. She ignored the second thoughts about her lifestyle, nagging her in the back of her mind, scratching at her unpleasantly, causing her headaches. She simply continued existing, because she didn't know how do do anything else. She only knew how to kill; she only knew how to survive. Killing was survival for her.

But is that the only way?

The childlike woman shuddered as she tried to ignore these troubling thoughts and refocused her mind on the matter at hand. Yes, she tightened her trembling grip upon the rifle she was holding, steeling her grip and silencing her thoughts. She looked through the scope and bit her lip, closing one eye as she honed in upon the man whose life she had decided needed to end this morning.

He was a beast of a man, half giant. His cruel disposition and extreme size had enabled him to climb through the ranks of the gang owning this part of the slum to an enforcer of the gang.

She'd seen him beat up innocent people for the sport of it. Rob them of their livelyhoods, and sometimes their lives.

She could feel her fingers trembling again. "He deserves this." She muttered, steeling herself once more, looking into herself, becoming one with the gun.

And then she fired, the large bullet traveling at supersonic speeds towards his unsuspecting head.

Through the scope, she saw his head explode into blood and viscera, chunks of his brain coming out of the other side of his head as the bullet burst through the other side.

Another confirmed kill.

The girl slumped down onto the cold rock, took a deep breath, and blinked back tears. After a moment, she descended into her shadow, fleeing to a safe location so they wouldn't be able to find the culprit.

[Aiden]

Carin
10:00 am

Mortals are so strange to her. They walk around their lives in cages of concrete and plaster, hearing only vibrations in the air and the sounds of their own bodies. They know themselves by assertion, by self-image, pushing their identities against each other in a challenge: I am this! I am me!

… Samantha’s parents found out about the new girl she was dating. The yelling began again, and continued until the crying started. ‘You don't love me at all!’ Sam fled, unheeding of the gentle touch wiping tears from her cheeks...

She doesn’t know when the first prayers began. Their whispers filled her, shaped her in the image they desired. She heard the prayers before she heard herself, and reached out to answer - feelings of warmth, comfort. What little she was, she gave to them. More added their voices and their gifts to her, and she began to recognize who they believed she should be.

‘... and please, look out for my daughter on her way home from school…’ Michael pleaded with hands clasped before a desk on which scented candles slowly burned out. The little girl was already watched, but it was nice to hear him care again...

She was the chorus of a song, a loving refrain of their faith and hope. Their needs and desires filled her as thoughts and feelings did them. She blessed their hearts with love, and knew ‘This is me. I am!’

… taking the left and avoiding the gang… finding the hundred on the ground to meet the rent… a voice and a dream to keep out the memories of the monster’s touch…

It was all she could do for them now. But Carin knew, as she knew herself, that there were more who needed her. She was incomplete as long as others suffered alone. So she reached out to find those precious people who needed consolation, that she might know herself once more.

[Umbra of Chaos]

Ariel
10:00 AM

It's true that this place was beautiful. There was a sun, a bright moon, a sky full of stars. The angles of the Euphrates did not charge across its territories, the locusts did not swarm up with too human faces to sting people to madness, and there was grass. This world abounded with life, more than enough for to feed everyone. Ariel had always wondered if they could have done better. That if humanity had the tools, peace, and prosperity they could wipe out everything that was wrong with them. She had always hoped they could rise above these necessary cruelties, the inequalities across their cities, if only the world was kinder.

But it wasn't the world. It was the people.

It felt wrong to be here. Her first set of wings shone like a star surrounded in the mire of the slums. It almost felt cruel, showing people something so beautiful. Still, some found comfort in it, and that comforted her as well. But that wasn't why she was here.

With her eyes Ariel could see sin. A look told her the sins of man. Thief, murderer, rapist, adulterer, and how many more? How many times over could one man ruin others? So she donned the mantle of the Accuser, far enough away that none would know the mark of sin, and brought judgement upon them one at a time. Some were destroyed. Many were in fact. They were crushed under the weight of judgement, and their strength or gangs could not protect them. But some... some found repentance in that darkness. In the midst of the darkness, they truly repented and were saved. Their dreams were peaceful, the insects and parasites fell from their flesh, and their torment had ended. Not guiltless but saved.

Again she sat on the ruins of a building, surveying her tormented target in his house. He had killed before. Many, many times. Perhaps he even enjoyed it. Could someone like that truly find forgiveness?

With a troubled look, the archon opened the book given to her and began to read. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool..."

[SINIB]

Tsumiko

10:15

Tsumiko descended into her shadow, the previous familiar she'd entered from quietly disappearing back into the aether. She dove deeper into the thick mess of shadow, swimming towards her home, and after a moment, she arrived.

The girl was spat out of the shadow monster living in her house holding tightly to her gun. She walked over to the wall and gingerly hung it up. She knew that she could easily project an exact replica, but...

A forgery just didn't feel the same as the real thing, despite how infinitely close she could make it to the original.

The girl sat down on her couch and just sat for a while, decompressing from her night's work.

[Aiden]

Carin

10:15 AM

Even a goddess has their limitations. Foremost among those limits is the free will of mortals: Carin could not make people do things with her powers. She could plead with them, or bribe them, or even threaten them, but nothing in her abilities allowed her to just make choices for them. Most of the time she was okay with this - people were happier when she didn't tell them what to do. Sometimes though she just knew something bad was about to happen and tried to inspire them to do something else, anything else to avoid that. Usually it worked out well for Carin and her follower!

This time it hadn't. She had tried to get Samantha, whose parents didn't understand her at all to stay on the main street instead of going down that alley. Carin knew that Samantha had been trying to take a shortcut to one of the goddess' shrines to hide out and pray for guidance, but she could go a few precious minutes instead of taking that risk.

Sam hadn't listened. The bullet went in, and her purse was gone. It was only fortune that meant the mugger was too busy to finish the job or 'have fun', and so had run off immediately after getting what he wanted. And so Sam stumbled along, holding herself up against the alley wall, and shuddering in pain. She held her hand against the wound trying to stop the bleeding to little avail.

And so she prayed, trembling in fear and pain, "P-Please, get help...!"

Right before Samantha lost consciousness, a mere block from her original destination, a soft voice answered "I will." A pair of small arms wrapped around the teenage girl and caught her before she could fall.

Of course, then she had to find someone who could treat a gunshot wound in this part of town.

[SINIB]

Tsumiko

Just as Tsumiko was finally going to sleep, her leaden eyelids slowly closing as she prepared to sleep in the first time in at least a week, a cry for help shocked her out of her oh so desirable slumber, pulling the girl back to the reality of her existence.

She jumped up, not because she'd heard a gunshot, no, that was all too common in these parts.

She'd heard somebody cry out for help, and she needed to respond.

She reached over to the cabinet, opened a drawer, and then pulled out a needle and inject it into her arm. A stimulant, to allow her to keep going. She took it out, feeling its powerful effects as the crests worked to purge it from her body. It would only last a short while, but it was enough.

She ran out of her door, looking around for the injured person.

Hoping she wasn't too late.

[Aiden]

Tsumiko

Just as Tsumiko was finally going to sleep, her leaden eyelids slowly closing as she prepared to sleep in the first time in at least a week, a cry for help shocked her out of her oh so desirable slumber, pulling the girl back to the reality of her existence.

She jumped up, not because she'd heard a gunshot, no, that was all too common in these parts.

She'd heard somebody cry out for help, and she needed to respond.

She reached over to the cabinet, opened a drawer, and then pulled out a needle and inject it into her arm. A stimulant, to allow her to keep going. She took it out, feeling its powerful effects as the crests worked to purge it from her body. It would only last a short while, but it was enough.

She ran out of her door, looking around for the injured person.

Hoping she wasn't too late.

Carin

The young goddess had just finished making strips out of some cloth in Samantha's backpack to wrap and put pressure on the bullet wound. Carin knew enough from inspiring children to do well on their homework that she just needed to get her stable enough to make it somewhere someone could do more.

She was lucky, too, that she had at least enough power to make sure the bullet didn't go through something... too important. She shivered in disgust at thinking of some part of one of her followers as less important than another.

Just as she was picking Sam up to move her, the little goddess saw someone else enter the alley. "Oh, good! I wasn't expecting anyone else! Please, help me get her somewhere she can be helped."

Carin smiled, full of hope.

[SINIB]

Tsumiko

Just as Tsumiko was finally going to sleep, her leaden eyelids slowly closing as she prepared to sleep in the first time in at least a week, a cry for help shocked her out of her oh so desirable slumber, pulling the girl back to the reality of her existence.

She jumped up, not because she'd heard a gunshot, no, that was all too common in these parts.

She'd heard somebody cry out for help, and she needed to respond.

She reached over to the cabinet, opened a drawer, and then pulled out a needle and inject it into her arm. A stimulant, to allow her to keep going. She took it out, feeling its powerful effects as the crests worked to purge it from her body. It would only last a short while, but it was enough.

She ran out of her door, looking around for the injured person.

Hoping she wasn't too late.

Carin

The young goddess had just finished making strips out of some cloth in Samantha's backpack to wrap and put pressure on the bullet wound. Carin knew enough from inspiring children to do well on their homework that she just needed to get her stable enough to make it somewhere someone could do more.

She was lucky, too, that she had at least enough power to make sure the bullet didn't go through something... too important. She shivered in disgust at thinking of some part of one of her followers as less important than another.

Just as she was picking Sam up to move her, the little goddess saw someone else enter the alley. "Oh, good! I wasn't expecting anyone else! Please, help me get her somewhere she can be helped."

Carin smiled, full of hope.

Tsumiko

Tsumiko silently shoved her out of the way. Politeness could wait. Talking could wait. Action had to be taken now.

She projected a small medicinal knife and pressed it against the girl's flesh. "This will hurt." She muttered, ripping off a piece of her clothing and gagging the girl in order to prevent her from biting her tongue off. She'd learned about that necessity the hard way.

And then, she dug into the wound in order to extract the bullet, doing her best to avoid anything immediately fatal.

She could just pour mana into fixing any less critical fuckups.

[Aiden]

Tsumiko

Tsumiko silently shoved her out of the way. Politeness could wait. Talking could wait. Action had to be taken now.

She projected a small medicinal knife and pressed it against the girl's flesh. "This will hurt." She muttered, ripping off a piece of her clothing and gagging the girl in order to prevent her from biting her tongue off. She'd learned about that necessity the hard way.

And then, she dug into the wound in order to extract the bullet, doing her best to avoid anything immediately fatal.

She could just pour mana into fixing any less critical fuckups.

Carin

Carin didn't have to let this girl push her away like that, it would have been trivially easy to just not move. But the goddess didn't want to get Samantha hurt, and she recognized the look on that face too. That... really familiar face.

All she could do was watch as Samantha regained consciousness and cried out into the makeshift gag. Carin bit down on her bottom lip, and reached out to take her follower's hand. Give her something to squeeze and make it simpler to give her luck a boost too.

A goddess' blessing to smooth over any sloppiness.

[SINIB]

Tsumiko

Blood covered Tsumiko's hand as she slit the girl open wide enough to see inside. She reinforced her eyes, and then she saw the offending object. She shoved her hand inside, pulling it out and dropping it onto the cracked cement beneath them.

And then she dropped the knife into her shadow, never to be seen again. She placed her hand on the girl's side, took a deep breath, and looked into rin's power. She dug deep into the crest, finding the exact spell she needed, and accessed it, casting it and pouring mana into the girl's wound, feeling herself get ever drowsier from the experience.

[Aiden]

Tsumiko

Blood covered Tsumiko's hand as she slit the girl open wide enough to see inside. She reinforced her eyes, and then she saw the offending object. She shoved her hand inside, pulling it out and dropping it onto the cracked cement beneath them.

And then she dropped the knife into her shadow, never to be seen again. She placed her hand on the girl's side, took a deep breath, and looked into rin's power. She dug deep into the crest, finding the exact spell she needed, and accessed it, casting it and pouring mana into the girl's wound, feeling herself get ever drowsier from the experience.

Carin

This was... gruesome. Carin noticed a hot tingling feeling at the corner of her eyes, but let it be even when it trickled down to her cheeks. And she whispered, "Fear not. She's making you better, Samantha. Your prayers were answered."

Just not by you, a whisper of heresy said as it slithered out of her heart of prayers.

That... did not matter.

Samantha's crying starting to slow was what mattered.

[SINIB]

Tsumiko

Tsumiko sullenly ignored the girl's screams as hot flesh regrew, body parts and organs fused back together and her skin melded, the scar itself disappearing. It was only once she was done, once she removed the gag, did her eyes flash with fury as hot liquid streamed down her cheeks.

Samantha felt a hard slap against her cheek, hard enough to immediately feel a welt coming on. Then she felt the other girl pean against her, pressing her forehead against hers. "What the hell were you thinking, you idiot! Don't ever cut through an alley again! You almost died! Is whatever you were doing worth killing yourself over? Of course it's not, I'll answer that for you!"

Tsumiko grabbed her shoulders and squeezed. "You're lucky I was here to save you, but what about next time? You have to make sure there isn't a next time!"

[Aiden]

Tsumiko

Tsumiko sullenly ignored the girl's screams as hot flesh regrew, body parts and organs fused back together and her skin melded, the scar itself disappearing. It was only once she was done, once she removed the gag, did her eyes flash with fury as hot liquid streamed down her cheeks.

Samantha felt a hard slap against her cheek, hard enough to immediately feel a welt coming on. Then she felt the other girl pean against her, pressing her forehead against hers. "What the hell were you thinking, you idiot! Don't ever cut through an alley again! You almost died! Is whatever you were doing worth killing yourself over? Of course it's not, I'll answer that for you!"

Tsumiko grabbed her shoulders and squeezed. "You're lucky I was here to save you, but what about next time? You have to make sure there isn't a next time!"

Carin

Samantha let out another cry at the sudden manhandling and striking, blubbering in confusion. "I-I-I didn't, I just, please don't hit me...!" She tried to push Tsumiko away, but she wasn't strong enough. She definitely wasn't strong enough to get away from this crazy magic girl who was beating her up and invading her space and, and-!

And then Tsumiko felt a hand on her shoulder. A very firm one. "That is enough. She learned her lesson when she received a bullet wound."

Carin gave Samantha a Look, though. "She is right, of course. We will talk later."

[SINIB]

Tsumiko

Tsumiko sullenly ignored the girl's screams as hot flesh regrew, body parts and organs fused back together and her skin melded, the scar itself disappearing. It was only once she was done, once she removed the gag, did her eyes flash with fury as hot liquid streamed down her cheeks.

Samantha felt a hard slap against her cheek, hard enough to immediately feel a welt coming on. Then she felt the other girl pean against her, pressing her forehead against hers. "What the hell were you thinking, you idiot! Don't ever cut through an alley again! You almost died! Is whatever you were doing worth killing yourself over? Of course it's not, I'll answer that for you!"

Tsumiko grabbed her shoulders and squeezed. "You're lucky I was here to save you, but what about next time? You have to make sure there isn't a next time!"

Carin

Samantha let out another cry at the sudden manhandling and striking, blubbering in confusion. "I-I-I didn't, I just, please don't hit me...!" She tried to push Tsumiko away, but she wasn't strong enough. She definitely wasn't strong enough to get away from this crazy magic girl who was beating her up and invading her space and, and-!

And then Tsumiko felt a hand on her shoulder. A very firm one. "That is enough. She learned her lesson when she received a bullet wound."

Carin gave Samantha a Look, though. "She is right, of course. We will talk later."

Tsumiko

Tsumiko turned towards Carin and frowned, releasing samantha. "Did she? I'd like to believe that, but what proof do you have? Do you know how many times I've seen somebody make the same foolish mistake, regardless of what they've 'learned'?"

Tsumiko's left eye flashed light blue, while the right flashed deep red, for just a moment.