The Grimoire,

*Cracks open notebook for Necroverse; pulls out pen*


One of the team's big cases involves what everyone believes to be a necromancer, and an incredibly powerful one at that, possibly one of the Old Ones. It is widely accepted that a necromancer can manipulate anything life touches, so they are effectively reality shapers, and this guy has apparently decided to substitute reality in the city for his own maelific version. Needless to say, everyone is kind of fucking panicking

Except for Mal.

Because she sees right through it. The guy isn't an Old One, he isn't even a necromancer
He is an illusionist

Mind you he is still a pretty high-level one, but still just an illusionist. he impersonates an Old One so that he can use that title to gain respect and fear from people, because power and influence are what he desires, and with a little smoke and mirrors it can be his without years of magic absorbtion that may or may not pay off.

It is not revealed to the team until later on, possibly after all is said and done, but Mal actually walks straight up to the guy, after traversing the entire section of town that he transformed, to show him the error of his ways

Auhtzvengraul is not known as a he or she but as an it, implying that it possesses aspects of both as well as neither



Some more possible character names:


Umbrell
Marsh
x-ray omega

Making a list of badass teachers


Professors:
Gabriel
Raphael
Lucifer
Lilith
Medusae

These are just a start.
Anyone want to add a few?

EDIT: Azazel
Jorogumo

Have to have Cthulhu

Oh dear,
how could I have forgotten that one?

Jade has a thought

thought includes two characters:

First, you have a girl; we shall call her catherina. She is fairly pretty, a bit athletic; she might be a member of royalty, might just be popular- either way, she is very well-known. Also, she was blessed with an incredible array of powers, such that she could fight a god if she so chose. But instead of doing harm to people, she tries to help them, often at the cost of her own health and energy.

Secondly we have a mummy. Yes, an undead mummy, but not completely wrapped in white bandages kind of mummy, more of a few scraps of burial shroud and mostly just dry, leathery skin. Oh, and a mask. He is also magically gifted, and incredibly strong and resilient, as befitting a member of the undead. For whatever reason, he watches over her, helps her, and keeps her safe, even and often from herself.
We shall call him Mabon.

I have brought these two to your attention for a reason. Listen to this and picture the scene in your head:




Circling over the city, can't decide if at sunrise or at sunset. Either way the townsfolk have been bery nervous up to this point, because big bad was threatening all of their lives, and probably the world. Zoom in gates of the city, to the road coming into town.
Mabon walks up over the hill on the road into view. In his arms is Catharina. She is covered in cuts and dirt, and is obviously exhausted. In fact, she is sound asleep, passed out in the mummy's arms. But she is in no danger- she is just tired. One of her arms dangles, flopped over the mummy's grasp in swinging freely as he carries her into town. She is smiling softly in her slumber.
Mabon carries her all the way into town, to a temple or some other important place where an authority figure is waiting to hear the good news: that Catharina was successful, and both the town and the world are safe, thanks to her.

In zombifying a computer, the person who makes the zombies needs the computers to work so that they can keep using their computing power.

*stops*
*thinks*

TwistedKnightly zombifies computers and uses their computations.
remember how she tends to get to know people
Even if she doesn't get to know these people really well, she pays attention

Zombified computer goes down

Person gets knock on door
opens door
Twisted is standing there
Hi. Is your computer okay? Do you need some work done on it? Anything at all?
Fixes computer
Leaves
Person: the fuck?
Computer message: thanks

Here are a bunch of things I found on Tumblr that prompted story ideas:

There are still unexplored passageways in the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt.

What would happen if you drank hydrophobic water?

A NASA expert claims that within the next 20 years we will find out whether or not we are alone in the universe

In Denmark & many other countries, it’s not against the law to attempt to escape from prison because it is a human right to be free.

Colour doesn’t exist outside of our brains. It is simply our brain’s interpretation of different wavelengths of light

There’s a treasure pit in Canada complete with booby traps that has been unsuccessfully explored for over 250 years

More than half of the entire world’s population is under 25-years-old.

Memorizing the lyrics to songs can help strengthen your brain and reduce the risk of alzheimers.

The word “listen” has the same letters as the word “silent.”

According to psychiatric studies, James Bond is the epitome of a psychopath.

Some individuals who claim never to have felt romantic love suffer from hypopituritarianism, a rare disease that doesn’t allow a person to feel the rapture of love

Even though the history of Star Wars is so complex, Yoda’s species was never named.

Small animals such as flies and hummingbirds experience time in slow motion, which is why they can avoid your newspaper swats.

There is an officially recognized School of Wizardry in California – It’s called the “Grey School of Wizardry.”

Pit Bulls were once known as “nanny dogs” because of how kind and protective they were of children.

Caffeine makes you more open-minded to viewpoints that contradict your own.

"Lyssophobia" is the fear of going insane.

Scientists have developed a microparticle filled with oxygen that can be injected into the bloodstream, so we can live without breathing.

Being cold and/or heartless is often a defense mechanism that people use to avoid getting hurt

There are hundreds of 1000-year-old tunnels in Bavaria, and no one really knows what they are for or who built them

You might see an illusion or even a creepy monster if you stare at a mirror long enough. This phenomenon, known as psychomanteum, dates back to ancient Greece, where a person would gaze into a still pool of water to communicate with spirits

During pregnancy, if the mother suffers organ damage, the baby in the womb sends stem cells to repair the damaged organ

There is a calm-looking stream in England that no one has survived falling into
A Boeing 727 aircraft was once stolen out of an airport in 2003. The plane and the two men aboard were never found

Sleeping in a cold room increases your chance of having a nightmare. The colder the room, the more likely you are to have a bad dream.

I was under the impression that British policy was 'to make the world England' ,sir

Humans are bioluminescent. However, the light produced by the body is 1000 times weaker than what our eyes can pick up

An ancient earth may exist within our earth. A team of Harvard scientists believe that the remnants of an ancient eath, dating back to the time another planet collided with ours to produce the moon, may still be lodged deep within ours

There is a theory that states that our universe may be nested inside a black hole that is itself part of a larger universe. And that all black holes found so far in our universe may be portals into alternate realities

Destruction is a form of creation

Nowhere in the fluff it states that the CUSTODES are all male.
Think on that, my friends (and potentially enemies, one never knows) in the fluffy underbelly.
What this means is, while currently there are no female Space Marines, there could potentially be female Custodes, who are, as we all know, a thousand million times cooler than the Astartes.

Judge if you want. We are all going to die. I intend to deserve it.

Had a job predicting the future. Got fired for crying

Two possibilities exist. Either we are alone in the universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying

a story about a girl and boy who fall in love with each other at first sight and then the boy reveals he’s an incubus come to steal her soul and then she reveals she’s a succubus trying to steal his and they laugh and go get drinks together

what if everything you see right now is just a hallucination caused by inhaling oxygen
Is that why when you stop breathing you black out.

Oh god, here's an idea for my vampire-sister story

You know how in most vampire myths the Nosferatu must bed down in the soil of their birthplace? Either in a coffin filled with it, or the actual place?

Well, this girl is smart, and over the centuries she has time and resources

So, through research rigorous and ridiculous, her enemies find out where she was born, and go to find her resting place...
...only to find that her birthplace is gone.
There is a giant hole there, like a strip mine. Mind you, it's all overgrown now, but everything that might have once been her home is long gone.

They occasionally find coffins near where she is, but destroying them never has much effect on her, and she can literally find her anywhere

What happened was that she had her home excavated, and seeded the world with the soil of her birthplace.
Very little across the countries, mostly sprinkled very thin, thicker in places she knew she would frequent, but there is literally no continent upon which she cannot find a place to rest

Her soul was a tattered banner atop blood-soaked battlements, looming over the broken ground and rotting corpses of a seven-centuries-long war

Justin walked into the kitchen, still looking for the girls. Nothing. They were supposed to be here- had something happened?
He turned to go upstairs and found the bifurcated tip of a crowbar staring him in the face.
A light breeze stroked his face; the tool had been swung at full force, and had only just stopped short of striking him between the eyes.
Justin could plainly see the scratches where the crowbar had been used to tear nails out of the floorboards. He dared to look up the shaft.
Holding the other end of the crowbar, staring at him with incredible coldness, was Rachel.
She held his gaze for a good three seconds before finally lowering her makeshift weapon.
"My sister thought you were a burglar"
A heartbeat later the crook of the crowbar cracked him the the sternum, forcing him against the wall. When he could see through the stars, her face was mere inches from his own.
"Don't ever do that again"
Justin had no idea what he'd done that she didn't want him to repeat, so he would play it safe next time and just knock.


There were people on both sides of the hallway, their legs outstretched, creating a path down the middle for other students to walk down.
And, of course, the man right in front of Kasha just had to stop and chat with someone, blocking the hallway, Kasha, and everyone behind her.
Kasha was in a respectable mood, so she decided to be polite and clear her throat to signal the man to move off to the side if he wanted to talk. He either didn't hear her or ignored her, because he kept on talking. Hoping he was just finishing his thoughts, Kasha waited. The conversation continued.
She cleared her throat again. The man spared her a glare of annoyance, but he continued right on talking.
Well, that was just rude
Feeling her anger rise, Kasha decided to give him ten seconds to move. At about three seconds to go, it was obvious the man wasn't going to, and Kasha's patience had run out.
So she reached up, grabbed him by the collar of his dress shirt, lifted him up without effort, and deposited him into the lap of his conversation partner.
With that, Kasha readjusted her backpack and resumed walking, ignoring the silent gapes and awkward stares that she was now receiving.


it began slowly- a slight chill that raised the hairs of the arm, a slight crackle of radio signals that could be dismissed as the rattly old air conditioner. Then the shadows deepened, which could have been attributed to the clouds going by outside, or the flickering of the lights.
The door whispered shut, and the blinds slowly closed. Noises dulled, and that was when her classmates' forms began to distort.
But by then, it was far too late...

It seems that most of the time when someone has a robotic prosthesis, they tend to be antagonistic.

Story concept: you have a steampunk/cyberpunk setting and literally every protagonist/friendly character has a major mechanical prosthesis, except for maybe the lead.

Okay, I am finally doing this

I am finally going to try and write out some of these short stories, starting with Alma's detective noir novels

I am hoping to complete one every week, but we'll see how that works out. They might be long enough that they'll need to be moved to the Novel section, but for now they'll be put here in the Grimoire.

For now, here are some notes:

major characters aside from Alma:
the liquor store owner
     the liquor store owner's son
a couple of gang members of various affiliations, particularly one enforcer who thinks she is spicy-->interesting

Alma drinks regularly, not heavily
her apartment is clean, because whatever summoned come out of the holes tend to consume everything organic in it: food, grease, dust, vermin, etc.
     my books are usually pretty well taken care of

Here is a chapter skeleton:
Women in the ghetto with a gun, looking for a certain gang member
another member (from a different gang) calms her down and sends her to the liquor store
alma finds her that night. begins looking for the man who killed her son
Note: woman is dead determined it is the gang member and won't believe otherwise. alma immediately believes otherwise
Note: the husband is a formerly successful businessman
Note: in her investigation, alma finds that apparently both she and her husband are acting 'strangely' and their son was too
Alma finds out/concludes that the mother has secretly been drugging her family for years. son fell off his meds while off at college, and the mother accidentally killed him when he resisted going back on. she repressed the memory and blamed someone she already didn't like- the gang member, who was one of her son's friends
Alma confronts the woman, and the bitch calls Alma stupid and insane before trying to kill her
Alma ends up pressing her right hand into the woman's face, and a sudden horde of spiders eats her
husband is freaking out, and alma calmly explains how it is not his fault, and how he is thinking clearly for the first time in years
a few days, a week later, alma goes back to the liquor store. the husband has stopped by, now that his business is back on track, to deliver payment and buy her a bottle

"Perhaps that is my fault. I immerse myself in the worst humanity has to offer, so maybe I have become blind to those rare flashes of goodness"

"You are one timely motherfucker"


miscellaneous character names:
Dr. Patton
Steve Vogel
Tom Luckeroth
William Myers
Teresa Webb
Joseph Shade

Holy fuck, I actually have the outline of a chapter
will upload tomorrow- it is very late

Life… is strength.
Life… is weakness.
Two sides to the same coin- both conceptual facts, indisputable, and yet completely at odds with one another.
In much the same way: just as life is beautiful, so too is it ugly. Life can be full of wonder, but also dull and lifeless.
Lifeless- now there’s a concept: to exist in a world among the living yet possess no motion, autonomy, sentience, or any other motivating factor to call you own? If that be the case, then you are in Death’s hands now.
Take this man in front of me for example: He is, after all, the reason I am here. Not in a cosmic sense but… you know what I mean. I am standing here in this drizzle-soaked alleyway because he is here, because someone have me a call and asked me to look into the affair of his death- how he died, why he died (if I can), and generally look for a way to get some closure out of this miserable endeavor.
And yes, I am miserable. Not from the cold, not from the drizzle (not in itself anyway) but for… another reason. A reason I won’t go into the details right now, but suffice it to say they help me pat attention.
Notice I said they

I don’t have long- I already heard the scream, so onlookers will be here any second, and the cops will follow soon afterward. I don’t like cops, and cops don’t like people like me (even though they don’t know I exist), so I generally try to keep away from them. It’s not easy in this line of work, and it requires that I work quickly.
So I get to it.
I step forward. My feet squelch in my boots as I creep over the lines of blood that are nearly invisible on the ground. The last thing I need is to get connected contaminating the scene. The first thing I need to do is get a look around.
The blood patterns on the pavement suggest low-velocity attacks. The wounds on the man’s body say bladed weapon. Sharp. Very sharp. And very lazy. Sloppy.
Someone had toyed with this man, bled him onto the asphalt as if he didn’t care if anyone saw
Or knew the person wouldn’t call for help
The man had cried; even though the rain was mussing the lines, the eyes were red, and I can still make the tracks out, wear the tears had traveled. Left corner. Tears of pain. Big surprise there.
This can’t have happened long ago- the body is still warm enough to trickle steam into the air, and my nose can’t detect offal or urine beneath the reek of refuse and rot that pervades the alley, so the bowels can’t have voided yet.
(More investigative/Intuitive/observation bullshit)
Still, something’s missing
Wait
…there! Right there!
Sirens. I hear sirens. Coming closer. Coming here
I’m out of time
I reach with my right hand, bracing against the alley wall with the knuckles of my left, leaning over the man’s body. Reaching…
Come one…
Got it.
I straighten up, prize in-hand, and hop over the blood and puddles, hustling out the back of the alley and into the streets, slowing to a walk as the cops round the corner.
I don’t pause; I don’t even raise my eyes. There are a few other people on the sidewalk, and I just do as they do and go about my business.
And my business at the moment is getting a few blocks away from here.
(I’m a-walkin I’m a-walkin I’m a-walkin.
Thinking/interpreting scene
Lead-in)
The shivers? The shudders? The squelching in my boots? My coat itching my shoulder?
I’m not an addict. I’m not paranoid (…okay, I might be). I’m not OCD (fine, I might be that too)
What I am is in constant discomfort, because the clusters won’t allow me to be otherwise
My name is Alma, and I am a private investigator
My name is Alma… and I am full of holes
Teensy, tiny holes


Notes and schtuff:
aside from the hair on her head, alma doesn’t grow any hair at all; the holes stopped them from growing, which is good, considering shaving would be an ass and a half anymore for her

As for an endgame: NO FUCKIN IDEA
As for clothing:
Cotton- wouldn’t make much difference
Leather- really heavy, and most instances the clusters wouldn’t like
Most clingy fibers- polyesters, latex, spandex, etc- are right out.
Silk would be best, due to its comfort and light weight. But it is really expensive, hard for alma to come by, doesn’t take well to damage, and there is no telling what it would feel like to the holes. Can’t imagine they would dislike it too much, but still
Trench coat is a probably
Tall boots are a yes, particularly rain boots
Ankle-length skirts are a yes
Long sleeves, long pants- yes
Anything short or incredibly tight, or incredibly irritating, is out
Other than that, most of her basic clothing either gets very dirty very quickly, or just gets devoured on a regular basis



Possibilities for other 'phobics':
**Fear of sharp objects, like tim’s: girl who has glass shards growing out of her skin in layers
Fear of spiders: growing more spider-like
Amathophobia- Fear of dust.
Amychophobia- Fear of scratches or being scratched.
Anthrophobia or Anthophobia- Fear of flowers.
Aurophobia- Fear of gold.
Bogyphobia- Fear of bogeys or the bogeyman.
Chronomentrophobia- Fear of clocks.
Cryophobia- Fear of extreme cold, ice or frost.
Crystallophobia- Fear of crystals or glass.
-Just had a thought: most of the people I am considering only have one phobia to create their body horror. Alma on the other hand incorporates holes, insects, slimes, possession and daemons, being controlled, being touched, infested,  etc, et al. Could possibly explain why she is so much more powerful, in addition to the time aspect
Time aspect= most people in the series have only been dealing with their phobias for a couple of weeks, months, or at the most a year or two. By the time we actually get to that stage of the series, alma has been dealing with hers for somewhere between 7 and 10 years. Fuck everyone’s bullshit
*Genophobia- Fear of sex. Person becomes incredibly physically attractive, getting the attention of pretty much all genders. Noooooo
*Gerascophobia- Fear of growing old.
**Graphophobia- Fear of writing or handwriting. Person is incredibly imaginative, and has many ideas that often go unremembered and forgotten. Writing starts appearing on their skin to remind them, or to belittle them, or encourage them, or anything the phobia decides to do.
*Homichlophobia- Fear of fog.
Iophobia- Fear of poison.
Leukophobia- Fear of the color white.
*Merinthophobia- Fear of being bound or tied up.
well fuck…
Metallophobia- Fear of metal.
Hemophobia, haemophobia – fear of blood

No idea why, but I am listening to Digital Daggers, and feel like it might help me write Alma better

Oh yeah, important note: The holes don't actually prevent Alma physically doing things (this will be explained [or not, as the case me be] in chapter 2). Rather, movement and touching the clusters causes such unsettling feelings that Alma doesn't want to do things

She does, because she has to, but yeah. thing explained

Bianca
     Grand Murderess
           of the Blacklight Hostel District

(all of these words could work individually or alone)

He carried a longblade
     Longblades are uniquely designed for each wielder. the length is the maximum for a given wielder's shoulder draw, and grips and balance are calibrated for the wielder's hands



Short list of current investigations of Alba's that we will actually see (as opposed to hearing mentioned):
-Liquor store owner's son
-story of the gang enforcer (which is actually the one i am currently working on)
-'surgeon killer' who cuts important nerves and blood vessels and watches the victim die slowly and painfully
-the enforcer's girlfriend (gf might be a phobic)
-the police detective comes to alma for help
-liquor store owner's son's girlfriend (why is it always girlfriends? I need to have a boyfriend need saving. or a father. or somebody's uncle-in-law. fuck)

this list is not exhaustive

I really need to get chapter 2 and 3 skeletons up. Don't know why it is taking so long...

Dr. Quinn on campus with a retinue:
quinn in her elegant, victorian goth dress. Beautiful black ensemble: flowing skirt, corset and jacket, and a black lace parasol to keep the sun off her face.
Her main conversation partner is a rough-looking young man in punk-rock attire. Trip pants, ripped concert t-shirt, leather trench coat with all kinds of studs and spikes coming out of it. Hair spiked up and dyed orange. about a dozen piercings.
Two guys and a girl in professional-looking suits (actual suits- the girl is not wearing a skirt). One guy and the girl are in dignified black, the other guy in light tan. Sun glasses and tasteful accessories all around.
guy in a white lab coat, starched and ironed but definitely showing signs of wear. business casual underneath.
While Quinn and the punk guy are the primary ones talking, the others are listening, and chiming in amiably.

they are met on their walk they meet a girl who stops to talk to dr quinn
girl is nervous as fuck, but quinn is patient
girl finally asks her questions, gets answers, thanks quinn profusely, and walks away beaming

(not really sure why i came up with this, but I liked the image)

one of the generations of the vampire-sister's vigil

the young girl is in a senior showcase for choir
she comes out on stage, clad in a black robe, very reminiscent of her guardian's

she walks to the front of the stage and says,
'this is for someone very important to me- i think i understand now...'

and begins to sing this:

Just had a thought, though:

I originally planned, and still do, to have the vampire/sister reunite with her sister and all of the children she looked after all those years, even when she expected, at best, to simply have oblivion, and for the most part accepted that she was doomed to hell

But now i am thinking to myself
after so many years, so many millenia of bloodshed
can she actually handle paradise?
Is it actually possible for her to have a happy ending? or will the life she led prevent her from finding peace in final death?

http://ladylightningzero.deviantart.com/art/Trypophobic-408541311

Honestly, except for siding, this is not at all a bad representation of what alma might look like...

Some story at some point in the future is going to involve all or some of these things:
skeleton swim suit
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=bl_sr_pet-supplies?ie=UTF8&field-brandtextbin=Dexil+Limited&node=2619533011&tag=071-20- color-coded dog leash
beauty and beast pillows
pizza slut t-shirt
bulletproof clipboard- mc weapon
pentagram bikini

Source: thisiswhyimbroke.com

Okay. None of this is done, but I almost lost all of it when Emilie fritzed, so just going to throw it all up now and polish later:

Ala hoped she wasn’t making a mistake.
Her home was on the verge of being overrun by three different factions, and here she was stumbling through the wildest parts of the ancient Krishkin forest. The only thing that kept her going forward as the saw-toothed brambles scratched both her face and her armor was the memory of the conversation she’d had with Bask before she left.
‘Whatever happens,’ he’d said, ‘you must obtain the Witch’s Gauntlet. Powerful our enemies may be, they are not foolish enough to try and take you by force so long as you have that. You must find it, you must!’
The Witch’s Gauntlet- a powerful magical artifact lost to the mists of time. Wielded by the reclusive witches of Krishkin, it was said to possess incredible powers , though what kind varied depending on where you heard the legend. Some said it made the user into a berserker, a bloodthirsty warrior of unmatched strength and ferocity. Ala had grown up hearing how it altered the earth and stone beneath the users feet, bending it to her will. There were even those who said it shielded the user from her own mortality, that death was afraid to go near the Gauntlet, so her soul was never claimed.
Regardless of what power it actually granted, the fact remained that the Witch’s Gauntlet was powerful beyond reckoning, and with it Ala might be able to save her people. That was why the princess was currently trudging through this hells-damned forest in search of a legend instead of on the front lines where she belonged.
The issue was that she was now lost.
Being lost in itself was not immediately bad- you had to be lost to find the witches, as only they knew this forest. However, being lost here meant Ala probably wouldn’t be able to find her way back either. Even if she found the witches and claimed the Gauntlet, for all she knew she could end up in Somina, a 400-mile mountain-circumventing journey from home—
At that moment Ala’s foot caught on a protruding root. She tumbled forward and careened over the crest of the hill.
She was fairly certain that dip hadn’t been there a few seconds ago.
Down the hill’s steep side she fell, crashing into tree trunks and rocks alike, each impact a sharp, smarting injury in its own right, until she finally landed with a sickening thud that drove the air from her lungs.
Ala hurt all over. She couldn’t breathe. She turned on her side, taking the weight of her armor off her lungs. Her sides still grated when she inhaled, causing her to wince and look down to examine the damage. She wished she hadn’t. The plates were dented inward, if not torn through completely. She could not continue wearing it; it would kill her to do that.
Taking a moment to steel herself, Ala slowly began to unbuckle the straps holding her armor together, moving as little as she possibly could to avoid further injury. Several agonizing minutes later, the last of the straps was undone, and the armor reluctantly released her.
Ala remained on the ground several moments longer, trying to pull air in past the stripes of pain in her sides. She put a hand aside of her ribs, and it came away painted red. She gritted her teeth and forced herself into a sitting position so she could pull some bandages out of her pack, hissing all the while.
After what felt like an eternity, she was finally bandaged well enough that she was certain bleeding out and infections were not on the immediate horizons. Now the question was what to do: Ala was certainly in no shape to be fighting, but she couldn’t stay here either. She had come this far- it would be shameful to turn back now. But how in the hells was she even supposed to find the witches-
It was at that moment that a familiar scent wafted past her nose. Acrid, sooty- the scent of warmth and home.
Smoke.
Ala’s head snapped up. Around her rose broken stone pillars and ruined walls, all overgrown and choked in vines, but what drew her eyes was a thin, grey stream of vapour rising from behind a piles of boulders to the east.
Ala rose quickly to her feet- too quickly in fact. The sharp shock pierced her evolving tunnel vision and reminded her of the state she was in. Pausing for a moment, she took stock of her situation and of what she had available to her.
Her armor was useless, but her sword had survived with only a few scratches on its scabbard. Her shirt was covered in blood, and wouldn’t be of much protection, but it was something. Her few potions were still intact, their crystal vials un-shattered, nestled within folds of fabric. Ala took a moment to secure the vials to her belt, pulled on her shirt, and drew her sword. Everything else she possessed would remain here; if she survived she would pick it up on the way back, and if she did not…well, she supposed it wouldn’t be of much concern at that point.
With that, Ala began to advance.

Sephirem (Seph)




Shady’s is a liquor store in the Backstreets. It stays open all night and virtually everyone comes here. Surprisingly the name isn’t actually ironic. I mean, sure there are some… unpleasant people who hang around here , but…
Nevermind
I cut across the street and right up to the doors. A couple of big, thuggish types are smoking at the curb, but they pay me no mind. No one who comes to Shady’s does.
That’s one of the things I like about this place
One of the doors is propped open tonight, so I walk right in, reflexively ducking my head from the camera aimed at the entrance. I know it doesn’t work, but it pays to keep on edge.
There is a promotional stand right in front of me- a fall beer special, pumpkin and ginger additives. About 6% alcohol by volume.
I’m not a big beer drinker. Then again I’m not a big anything drinker. What am I doing in a liquor store then?
Visiting.
There is a man at the front counter, having a case of generic beer rung up. There’s no one else in here at the moment, so I’ll get my chance soon. I start walking up the stacks.
The air in here is a bit musty, a bit hoppy. I can smell liquors of all sorts blended in the air, alongside cardboard, ammonia-based floor cleaner, rust, and wood shavings. Faint hints of decay (probably a mouse in the walls), old sweat, and mold also hang in the between them.

Man at the counter: sweat (unwashed), grease (more specific?), copper, iron, lead (very faint), mildew, excrement. A plumber, then.



Where to start throwing in new characters:
Shade- very first story; can’t have it without him
Shade’s son- mentioned first story, introduced maybe 2 or 3, around when his girlfriend goes missing.
Dom- probably between 2 and 4. Have to build up trust pretty quick
Enforcer- story one
Phobics- probably not until story six or eight. Have to build up to there.

Psychological progress for Alma:
Getting to talk to more people, trust in more people
Looking people in the eye
Living with people, with the big note that in the privacy of her own home alma doesn’t really wear all that much. If she is around other people, the clusters are going to be constantly visible
Talking to people
Taking off her glove in front of other people should be a big one
Touching people should be a really important one.
Sleeping with someone should be a big struggle, as she is concerned that if she allows someone to be that close to her while she is not in control of the clusters, that person will die, that the hivemind will kill them


Alma will not have an easy time talking about her past issues, especially where the clusters are involved. When it comes up in story, she tends to brush over it and try to change the subject.
The only place where that changes? When she is talking to the Dom.
There, she is forced to talk about them, fully and completely. Often for the better, but it should be noticeable.
Example: alma mentions Shade’s son and how she saved him in the first story, but she kind of just moves on. Later on in the series, when the Dom is asking how alma and shade met and how they are so close, alma finally tells the story in full about how she saved shade’s son and showed shade her clusters
Possible thing: since most of these stories are supposed to be short, maybe the sessions between alma and the Dom should be their own stories. Not ALL of them, but some of the major ones. Sure, there can still be detective work involved, but for the sake of the therapy session it will take a back seat, storywise


I know you mean well, and that is why I can’t let you do this. You want to do good, to help people, and you honestly believe that what you are doing is going to be beneficial. But your willingness to help others has blinded you to the truth of the action, and whether I like it or not, I have to stop you.

Doc Allen- serial killer who thanks the world did him a disservice by not making him a real doctor. Sadist who enjoys making people die slowly
Candleblack
One of Alma’s close housemates happens to find the missing left-hand glove and starts wearing it
Mine Not Mindless
They are people, not sideshow attractions!
A council- a large, luxurious meeting spire
Oh no, you misunderstand- these gloves aren’t for protecting your health, they are for protecting mine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YM0jeG2EiPM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-bq5VyHWEo

Alma music

The clusters taking over the things Alma values most: Her senses
Special senses in this case, as touch is not only universal, but the clusters have kind of taken it away already
In what order is alma most terrified of losing herself? Probably something like this:
Voice: even with her appearance so disturbing and her touch taken from her, she can still speak with others of her own accord. Take this away, she can’t lead even a semblance of a normal life. This should probably be the first one taken after touch, after she has made her many connections and inadverdantly built supports.
Vision: alma’s ability to solve mysteries relies heavily on what she can see, and most her life after having her vocal interactions stolen is to observe others, namely her friends and loved ones. Taking this will be a heavy blow to her psyche.
Important to note that none of these senses are gone; quite the opposite in fact. The problem actually stems from them being over sensitive. Also, alma is terrified because each sense stolen from her only allows her to understand what the holes allow her. Her touch is oversensitive because it makes her uncomfortable, and she is terrified that the holes will devour anything she puts too much stock in.
It isn’t LOSING the sense that she fears so much as it is living afterward, only being able to hear or see or smell what the holes allow her to
Hearing: without the ability to touch or see those she cares about of her own accord, alma’s hearing is the last thing she can take solace in. once she can no longer hear their voices, she will be trapped in her own head, cut off from the outside world
Smell: this one has been left till last for a reason, because it is the sense alma most takes for granted. While it is probably her most prominent sense throughout the series, it probably is so for a reason- she doesn’t think much of it. However, once the holes start eating her nasal conchae, she realizes in a flash how precious it is to her, and shock that she will never be able to properly smell leather or perfume or her housemates’ musks forces her to understand just how much she truly had to lose, and how alone she now truly is.

Vision: tiny holes, even smaller than usual, begin appearing on the ciliary body on the posterior of the iris, at the base of the suspensory ligaments. The ligaments get pulled down into the holes, dilating alma’s eyes, forcing her to take one final picture of her own accord (of her friends and loved ones gaping in horror) before they lay claim to her optics. Holes appear all along the interior of the eye proper, greedily sucking up her vitreous body, before giving way to larger holes sprouting in her orbits. these holes dissolve her eyeballs completely, replacing them with the same kind of vitreous, black ooze that the rest normally spout, but keep it restrained to her eyes.
Hearing: the tiniest holes imaginable dot her membranous labyrinth. Alma doesn’t even realize something is wrong until her balance starts to shift, and by then the process is already gone. A single hole is all it takes- a single hole in each tympanic membrane, and her hearing is gone. As she screams in the silence of her own head, she can feel the holes taking over the rest of her auditory organs, filling her eustacain tube with thick, black goo
Smell: her inferior nasal conchae begin to itch. Being familiar with the sensation by now, Alma cannot do anything to stop it as her sinuses are flooded with acidic, black fluid. For a moment it feels as if she is suffocating, drowning, until the growing cluster reaches her larynx, completing the pathway between the two. All she has left now is her mind, and she is certain the clusters will come for it soon, too.


Deeper, more intimate than a kiss…
This was actually meant to be part of a darker ‘end’ to the story. Basically, the clusters devoured alma whole, took her away from the here and now of the world we know. The family/friend circle is kind of lost, but trying to tough it out. Suddenly, the dom starts getting holes, the same as alma. Suddenly, out of nowhere, alma shows back up, and actually interacts with the dom’s clusters, in the fashion described above, and for lack of better terminology ‘pulls them out’
Honestly, don’t see this event occurring, if for nothing else because, as a slice of life series, there isn’t supposed to BE an end. Also because that forces me to make assumptions about this universe that I don’t feel like making



Honestly, not sure I will have the clusters take any senses from alma. It would be interesting, and would be great character development and plot advancement, but it isn't absolutely necessary
hell, i could make numerous books, like 'book 3' actually has several different versions, each outlining a distinct possibility for a given plot arc