IC Remnants of the Elements

[Toiletprincess]

She frowned, running a hand across her face. "How could Life dominate? Or destroy, for that m-matter? It's not like I'm the Guardian of Flora or Fauna, I'm just, you know, lif-fe," she muttered, looking at her hands as she thought. "Oh no," she whispered to herself mockingly, "super health taking over the world what a shame. I'm not a destructive force at all!"

 

[Timdood3]

Ross snapped back into reality, detecting ignorant sarcasm. "Zwn," he started, "Do you want to know how life can destroy the world? Because nothing can die. If nothing dies, bad things start happening. Imaging a wolf going for a lamb. That wolf is going to eat the lamb regardless. But the lamb is going to suffer immensely. May seem insignificant... But the same thing applies to people. Instead of death from say... Falling off a cliff... They instead suffer from indefinite pain and immobility. Maybe over time they'll heal slightly, but they'd wish they were dead." Ross was pacing violently around the room with wild eyes, and didn't quite know why.

"But those are moral issues, who cares about those. How about we move on to what can actually threaten the entirety of this planet: overpopulation. There's not enough food. Not enough space. People fight over what there is. War. But nobody dies, so the problem stays around. So people are hostile indefinitely while the problem keeps growing as more people are inevitably born." Somewhere in the middle of his speech he'd been throwing his hands around for emphasis and may have knocked over buy not noticed several things around the room.

"Tell me, Zwn. Does that sound harmless and lacking destructive power?"

 

[Toiletprincess]

Zwn watched helplessly as Ross paced violently around the room, knocking over a vase and causing it to smash whilst a photo frame clattered to the floor. She cringed, watching him throw his arms around. "Tell me, Zwn. Does that sound harmless and lacking destructive power?"
The harshness of his words caused her to shrink backwards and recoil in on herself, making herself smaller. If she'd still had her canine ears, they would've flattened against her head in a submissive gesture.

"N-no," she answered timidly, her eyes focused on the ground and her head bowed, "I-I'm s-sorry." She backed against the wall and sat, bringing her knees up to her chest in a protective position whilst keeping her eyes at the floor. Her hard, floor-bound gaze made her seem fixed on staying there and it was doubtful anyone would get her to move.

 

[Timdood3]

Ross looked at Zwn, sitting helplessly on the floor. It had been exactly the reaction he had expected, and yet he felt bad all the same. He sat down next to her, legs crossed, and spoke to her, staring at the floor as she was. "I'm sorry, Zwn. I didn't mean to upset you it's just...Everything has destructive power. Even life. I know you'd never make it that way, and that your Aspect would never make it that way, but there's always potential. But just as everything can destroy, everything can make." His voice was soft, gentle. "Take water for example. Great tsunamis can destroy entire coastlines, but it can also nourish and nurture. Always the negative effects will be more pronounced."

Ross looked up at her, hoping she might do the same. "Except in your case. Except in the case of life. In your case, the positive force outweighs the negative a hundred times. You allow things to live simply by existing. But as a Guardian it's also your job to make sure the destructive forces can't take over. As a Guardian it is your duty to make sure that life stays life and doesn't turn into pain. And you're perfectly capable. But we all have these problems. All of our elements will try to turn destructive unless we stop them."

 

[CaffeinatedKitty]

Before she has a chance to respond to Himinn, Ross takes it upon himself to essentially take a flying leap off the metaphorical handle and thoroughly frighten Zwn.
Avis floats over to her and settles onto the floor slightly behind her, resting a hand on her shoulder. That had been more than unnecessary, and put a fair amount of strain on her opinion of the Guardian.
"..."
An inscrutable expression on her face, she looks up at him.
...
((Timdood3 Toiletprincess Faliara Enderfive Fiestaguy))

 

[Fiestaguy]

"Um... y-yeah. Infinite, I think." Eli quickly pushed the box back to it's original form and nervously looked around to see if anyone else witnessed the miracle. "It's... dangerous though."

Eli put the box back in his satchel and hastily moved on "S-So... how're you?"

((CaffeinatedKitty))

 

[Faliara]

Himinn sighed. "As much as I hate to admit, there's always a way for an element to go off-course. Too much water, and everyone drowns. Too much light, and everyone will be blinded. Too much hope, and it can lead to naivete."

She looked towards Light. "If it snowed in the desert, anyone that lives there would be thoroughly unprepared to deal with the cold, and would freeze to death. On top of that, there would be panic over the weather not acting as it should, and people would be screaming witchcraft and burning anyone with a trace of magic in pyres."

Himinn couldn't help but recall her own fall, in a previous life. She bit her lip. Not the time, Himinn.

 

[Timdood3]

Ross stood up and dusted himself off. He surveyed the room and saw thing laying everywhere, broken. It looked like someone had been knocking everything over in rage. "We need to go out and find these ...whatever we want to call them. There's no use sitting here in a room talking about it while they're destroying the world we've worked so hard to build. And this room is a mess." He turned and started toward the door. He turned the handle and opened the door a crack when he realized and turned to face his companions once more. "Err. Where do we find these things?"

--

Ketten wandered the empty halls hoping to find someone, but really it was pointless. She didn't expect to find anyone at all, let alone a target. Everyone was downstairs. Enjoying themselves. Like she should be.

She was about to give up when she heard things hitting the ground, and voices. It didn't necessarily sound like violence, but she could surely still investigate. She pressed her ear to the door where she heard the voices. The nearby rooms were rather ornate and well furnished. Perhaps someone important was inside? She sensed a lot of people were in the room, and from what she could tell, they were talking about something pretty important. "There's no use sitting in a room talking about it while they're destroying the world we've worked so hard to build." What?! These people build the world? Well, a world. Probably some small scale experiment or something. Before she had time to consider further, the door began to open. Through the crack, she peered inside and saw a little girl sitting on the floor, maybe crying, a girl sitting behind her, staring at...Ross? What was he doing here? Those were the only three people she could see inside, but she knew enough of the lore of the world that that alone was enough for the pieces to fall together.

She whispered under her breath, wide eyed, "They're Guardians." Questions raced through her mind, but she didn't have time to consider them. They were about to come outside and see her. And who the hell knew how that would end. She ran into the nearest open room, hoped it was empty, and shut the door to a crack to peer out to get a better look at the rest of the Guardians. And Ross. So she was right. The strange man in the blue robes....He was the Guardian of Water.

 

[CaffeinatedKitty]

"...you do realize that's your fault." She says flatly, before turning her gaze to Erien. "Would I be right in guessing that they appear near large concentrations of their particular element?"
...
((Nnnnnnnn I hate how short this is but I wanted to get something posted before I went to sleep Timdood3 Enderfive Toiletprincess Faliara Fiestaguy))

 

[Toiletprincess]

Mynaeia - Zwn
=====================​

She nodded, sniffling and letting her legs fall into a crossed postion. "M-maybe I can help a little, I have been awake for possib-bly the longest out of all of us," she interjected softly, seemingly still nervous about getting yelled at or chastised again.

Lividus
====================​

As she was about to exit the large hall, she noticed a, cloaked make their way up the stairs and into the mansion itself. Curious, she crept after them, continuing to make sure her face is well concealed by her hood. As she watched, the woman, she was guessing, pressed her head against a door where there seemed to be a commotion occurring- before ducking away as the door creaked open slightly. Following the girl's lead, Lividus snuck into a room away from both the girl's sight and the sight of whoever was about to leave that room, leaving a small crack in the doorway in order to watch.

 

[Enderfive]

Erien

As he predicted in his own mind, the news wasn't exactly received well. Some, like Himinn and Ross understood the situation the minute they heard him talk, and others, like Zwn, predictably took it as an attack on themselves. Which, of course, it wasn't at all. Erien decided to just let them play it out, better have all thoughts out now rather than have people keep things to themselves and then explode when it was least needed.

He straightened again from the slouch he'd fallen into during the argument and sat up in the armchair he'd occupied when both Ross and Alouette said something he needed to respond to.

"Yeah, I guess they have a good chance to be around relatively large concentrations of themselves, if you get what I mean. At this point, I'm guessing they need a sort of a proxy to act through, some poor kid that they've somehow managed to possess, perhaps. Sort of like anti-guardians; instead of the person controlling the element, the element would be controlling the person." He felt a faint magical presence somewhere nearby. Perhaps a mage of the University had come to attend the ball.

"In any case, my ship's in Destern and it has the vase I managed to trap Magic into on board, so we know where at least one aspect is currently and it's very likely near a second aspect, since the sea is kind of the largest concentration of water you could find anywhere. If no one has any other ideas, I suggest we seal Magic properly back into me and try and deal with Water as well, then we can worry about the rest. Also, if you know of any great leaders rising lately, through the use of some element, that would also probably be worth checking out. Other than that, I don't really have any ideas. Not really quite sure what to do with Fear here," he finished, pointing his gaze towards Takot/Fear.

((Toiletprincess Timdood3 Faliara CaffeinatedKitty Fiestaguy Naoh))

 

[Naoh]

For a moment, Takot was lost, swimming in an ocean of thoughts that he could not, or perhaps refused to comprehend. He had only understood parts of the conversation, as if he had been listening underwater. Then, like a rubber band pulled taught and then released, he snapped back into reality. He was in a room filled with other guardians, and slowly their names returned to him. Now things were beginning to be clear again.

Takot saw Zwn huddled on the floor looking dejected. What happened?... "Tell me, Zwn. Does that sound harmless and lacking destructive power?" the words echoed through Takot's mind. Oh. "Not really sure what to do with Fear here." He looked up for the first time, blinking a few times. He opened his mouth, but he couldn't form words to respond. He wasn't sure how to respond, or what he was even responding to. Instead, he walked over to Zwn and sat down next to her. He looked at Erien. "I-" he rubbed his head. "I'm sorry, what was the question?..."

(( SORRY IT TOOK ME SO LONG GUYS ))

 

[Enderfive]

Erien

He studied Takot critically. "Are you back to yourself now?" Not waiting for an answer, he proceeded to explain, "Fear took you over for a while. Considering what we were just discussing, do you think it's safe for you to be with us?"

And then after a very short pause, " ...did you even hear any of what we were talking about?"

((Naoh and others))

 

[Fiestaguy]

"It gets way below freezing point at night anyway." he mumbled to no-one in particular.

He sat up and thought: 'Escaped parts of my element possessing someone, huh? Wonder where I heard that one before...'

Meanwhile, Takot seemed to have missed the entirety of the conversation in favour of his alter ego. "Good job, Takot." he sighed. Light contemplated verbally drilling the situation into the confused guardian's brain in a rather violent and unsavory manner, but ended up dismissing the idea to prevent his shoddy reputation from sinking even deeper.

'So that guy was possessed by an element, huh? So that's why he managed to create that ridiculously bright flash... That might also explain why he's a manical psychopath. I guess.' Paying no heed to the irony of his mental statement, he watched the situation in front of him unfold.

((@AGroupOfFatPenguins))

 

[CaffeinatedKitty]

((Warning for slight blood in the first part))

Adler knows the second he touches it that picking up this ring was a bad idea.
He's frozen where he knelt, and when he moves again it's not under his own volition.
He stands, slipping the ring on, and immediately:
"Hello."
He stretches, and when he stands straight again he only gets a moment of warning.
"I am sorry, my child, but this is the only way."
He doesn't realize what's happening until it's too late, and can't do anything but scream as great silvery wings rip out of his back, tearing flesh like paper and spattering the rock behind him with blood. His eyes burn as if he's staring straight into the sun, and it feels as if flame is crawling across his entire body in bright silver curls.
"Stop, stop stop stop..." He sobs, and not even the thing that's controlling him can keep him silent.
He curls in on himself, breath ragged with sobs, burning tears pouring down his face.
And then, with a feeling like something snapped inside him, all the pain is gone and he's looking at himself from the outside.
His body straightens up, wiping away the silvery tears on its cheeks, and looks straight at him. "I must apologize."
With a yell, he tries to tackle it--but he phases right through.
What?
Looking down at his hands, Adler realizes he's transparent.
Hey, give me my body back!
"I'm afraid I can't do that. See, if I am to make Flight the primary element of the world, I need to be corporeal; your body will have to do. It did already have much of the necessary power."
Flight combs "their" hair back with "their" fingers. "So you'll have to wait until I can create my own. This is mine for now."
They turn their face to the sky, fluttering their newly-formed wings. "Don't worry, you'll have it back one day."
Adler floats there in shock. This...being can't be the Guardian of Flight...?
No, none of legends said that she was a ghost... And surely she wouldn't be this cruel?
Dazedly, he trails after them. Maybe he'll wake up and find that this is all a dream.

Erien confirms Avis's guess, and she nods. "If you think that's the best course... How many of us do you think will need to be there?"
Even after Takot sits down nearby, she stands and offers her hand to Zwn. "If it's that dangerous, we should probably try to track them all down as quickly as possible."

"Dangerous how? You can't just say something like that and try to change the subject!" She yelps, a little too loud, and covers her mouth. "Really!"
...
((Wheeeeee Fiestaguy Toiletprincess Enderfive Naoh Timdood3 Faliara))

 

[Timdood3]

Seconds stretch into minutes, or at least it felt that way, as the door that had once opened shut once more and Ketten had time to process what she had seen and heard. There are Guardians in that room. And something is trying to destroy the world. That much is clear. But...Why? Why would the Guardians be here. Let alone here in this place. Why have they awoken? The Water Guardian surfaced nowhere near here, why did he come all this way? Ketten considered that maybe since the door had shut she could go back and try to hear more. Or even enter the room....No, that's insane. Surely they'd kill her. Right?.....Right? Still, the urge was there.

Think, Ketten, and think very carefully. If you leave this room again you put yourself at serious risk of being caught. She thought the words, but had no idea if she meant being caught by the Guardians or by her pursuers. She had no idea which was worse. If you don't, you'll continue to know of this world ending mystery with nothing you can do and nothing more you can know of it. With that, her mind was made. She hesitated slightly, but pulled the door open and stepped lightly into the hallway. She pressed her hand to the wooden door, hoping the affinity would let her extend her consciousness. Unfortunately, she had no such luck. This wood has been dead a long time, it had no conscious to take.

Still, though, she could hear. A male, probably a young man or an old boy, respectively, had apparently spaced out; he sounded confused. ". . .Fear took you over. . ." Suddenly her blood, rather the fluids carrying nutrients throughout her body, ran cold. She didn't know why. But the mere mention of the Guardian of Fear ruined her spirit. Out of everything she knew and had studied of the Guardians, she'd never heard anything good about the Guardian of Fear. She froze in place, and she felt paranoid. She felt a pair of eyes on her. No...This wasn't paranoia, this was real. She was being watched.

The spriggan backed up, letting her spectator get a good look-- whether that was a good or a bad thing she didn't know-- and looked around for any opened-just-a-crack doors. Most were either wide open or sealed closed, so the one that wasn't was pretty obvious. She walked inconspicuously down the hall, all thought of Guardians and cataclysms lost to her for now. When she was perpendicular to the open door, she leaped sideways, throwing herself into the down with as smooth a motion as possible. She felt resistance, the door was thrown open and both Ketten and a cloaked girl tumbled to the floor together. Straddling the figure, Ketten asked but one simple question. "Who are you?"

((Toiletprincess ))

 

[Enderfive]

Erien

"Yes, regaining control over our elements is definitely a priority. I can probably utilise the University resources and manpower to track the aspects down, but I'd have to be careful while doing that to not give away my true purpose... or identity. The University leadership isn't evil, but they're not selfless either. If there's some gain to be sniffed out of this situation, they can probably find a way, and we'd want to avoid that.

"As for how many there should be... I don't know. The more, the better, but I won't stop any of you from pursuing your own elements, since that's also necessary and will probably win us some time. The only concern I have about this is that I've definitely lost so much of my power that I can't seal my element back into myself on my own, so I'm guessing the same applies to you. The more there are Guardians helping to perform the necessary rituals, the greater the chance that we'll actually succeed. Failure can have negative consequences, too."

((CaffeinatedKitty Toiletprincess Timdood3 Faliara Fiestaguy Naoh))

 

[Toiletprincess]

Mynaeia
==​

She smiled timidly, taking Avis' hand and getting to her feet, "Thankyou."

Lividus
==​

Lividus watched as the woman put her hand to the door and listened before she froze in place, seemingly frightened. She backed up and looked around before making her way rather casually down the hallway. As the woman vanished from her sight, Lividus was about to crack the door open more before she felt a mass force the door open and caused her - and the woman who had shoved the door - to tumble to the floor. The woman straddled her and looked down at her before simple asking "Who are you?"
Lividus blinked.
At first, that was all she did. The silence that followed was excruciating.
"Livid-- Liv. My name is Liv," she replied, mentally slapping herself for almost speaking her full name to a stranger. What sort of impression would a girl whose name meant 'Wicked' who was watching them from behind a door give to a stranger? Not a positive one, that's a certainty. "I was just looking for a bathroom and I saw you acting sort of suspicious, I was hoping you wouldn't steal anything," she continued innocently.

 

[Naoh]

Takot shook his head. "I- I'm fine. I just had a bit much to drink..." He was worried. Maybe Fear was unstable after all, but Takot had always been in control for the most part. Fear had never really given him reason to worry about him, he seemed fine where he was. Takot groaned. He couldn't remember what he was going to respond to Endal with, so he chose to just be quiet.​

 

[Timdood3]

Ketten glared down at the girl beneath her. Both of their hoods had fallen in the impact, so there was no hiding. "All of the bathrooms are downstairs. And," Ketten made a 'who, me?' gesture with one hand and a face of mock offense, "I would never steal. I was just looking for someone." Ketten stared hard into the girl's eyes. "Tell me. What were you really doing up here...Liv." She made sure to add a delay and I hint of knowing malice to the girl's name.

(Toiletprincess )

 

[Toiletprincess]

She scowled, narrowing her eyes as the Spriggan spoke in a mocking tone. She stared back coldly, though she could only see through the one eye anyway. "Alright, Spriggan, I watched you scale the stairs and followed you. Generally people are meant to stay in the ballroom, are they not?" She hissed annoyedly, narrowing her eyes. The runic marking on her left eye pulsed a deep purple briefly with her anger. "So if you wouldn't mind, I would appreciate if you got the fuck off of me."

(Timdood3)

 

[CaffeinatedKitty]

Avis nods in acknowledgement before pacing over to the window, hands tucked between her wings and the curve of her back. Glancing out at the sky, she absently notes that it's relatively clear; no clouds to weigh her wings down with moisture.
Split up or stick together? Each option has potential rewards and potential consequences.
She half-turns so she can see both the room and the window, idly lifting her feet from the floor to bob slowly up and down. Perhaps it would be better to go off on her own for once.


Adler has no idea where Flight is going.
He has no idea how to stop following them, either.
It's as if he's a balloon at the end of a string tied to their wrist; no matter how hard he tries to float in the other direction, or even stop moving at all, he's dragged along behind them.
They've been flying for not quite long enough to reach the neighboring village, and he decides that maybe- maybe- if he tries to talk to them, they'll listen.
Um. Hello?
He tries, and they turn easily- too easily- to look at him. "Yes?"
Now that he knows they can hear him- can see him- his first reaction is anger. He can't stop himself from lashing out- this being, this-- creature not only possessed him, but kicked him out of his own body, and being polite is the last thing on his mind.
First of all, what the fuck?!
You steal my body and then have the audacity to act as if nothing's wrong?!
What is wrong with you?!
He opens his mouth to continue, but they interrupt.
"You'd rather I chose a different option, then?"
Would I?! I'd rather you choose the option that doesn't involve turning me into an incorp-
Abruptly, he's frozen, and they nod indulgently. "I suppose it's n̥̬͍o̲͓̯͚͘ţ̜̭ t͏̲̩o̢o̲͓̯͚͔͘ ͎̦̘e̵͍̤̫̦ar̢͇l̰͍y̜̰͚ t̥̫͉o̴͚ c̤̦̘h̡͓͇̳͚̕͠a̛͉̹̠n͘g͏̶͉̮͓̤e ̸̡͇͟s̻͔͜͝o͖͖̺m̴̴̡̭͙̳͝͡e͍̩͍̖ t͡͡͏̧̝̩̝͎̫͖h̗̲͓̪͡į̵̗̞͉̟́͟͠n̶̢͟ģ̸̶̖̝̯͙͕̗͚̫ͅs̷̡̞͙̳̯̯̖͉͍̭̪̭͡."
A feeling almost like cold is swallowing him up- his eyes widen- and then he doesn't feel anything but that somehow-
somehow-
he's
f a l l i n g.
...
((Adler why
you're only making things harder for yourself
Fiestaguy Toiletprincess Timdood3 Enderfive Naoh Faliara))

 

[Timdood3]

Ketten nodded in acknowledgment and stood up. She offered a hand to the spy and smiled. "I'm no thief. I'm not certain that I can say the same of you, but I really don't care if I'm honest. It's not my job to stop you. Besides, I have other goals to attend to. For example." The Spriggan walked out into the hallway, went halfway between the room she'd just left and the room she knew the Guardians were still in, plucked her dagger from her leg and stabbed herself in the side. She felt no pain, but she screamed as if she felt the burning of a thousand suns exploding inside her body. "Help! Someone help! She fucking stabbed me!"

--

Ross listened to Endal/Erien/Whatever his name was anymore speak with only mild interest. He was too busy imagining what it would be like to try to control a vicious vortex of water ripping through Natovicci. Surely he could have before, but he was weaker than he was....At the same time....The other Guardians wouldn't be able to help him. Sure they might be able to swim decently well, but there's no way the could preform their magic underwater, even if they could breathe. He sighed to himself and heard a scream. Already being at the door, he was the first one into the hallway.

He saw a figure writhing on the ground in agony shouting almost incoherently about being stabbed. On closer inspection, it was Ketten, the Spriggan that had accompanied him (Or vice versa, he really didn't care.) And she did appear to have been stabbed, and there was a very shady looking girl in a cloak who looked like she'd both have and know how to use daggers. He really didn't know how to approach the situation, so he just watched. He supposed he'd at least wait for the other Guardians to see what he was seeing as well.

 

[Naoh]

Takot sat up suddenly at the sound of someone screaming, and quickly jumped up to see what was wrong. Seeing Ross by the doorway, Takot popped his head out the door to see what was happening. There, on the ground was the tree woman he had- talked to?- Takot couldn't remember. He looked at the knife, then at the girl, then at the knife. "A- are you okay?" Takot asked, not really taking the time to ponder how stupid the question was.

 

[Toiletprincess]

Lividus
================​

Her annoyance wavered as the Spriggan offered a hand to her. Lividus took it cautiously and stood up, holding her hood. The Spriggan then walked out into the hallway, pulled out a dagger, stabbed her side and screamed bloody fucking murder. Oh for fuck's sake. "Help! Someone help! She fucking stabbed me!" The door at the end of the hall opened and a man came into the hallway, accompanied by another younger looking boy. "A- are you okay?" he asked the Spriggan. No doubt she was the one they would blame. She was stood there, hood over her face and a stabbed woman in the hallway. Who would stab themselves anyway?
Usually, Lividus always had an unsettling calm to her. Nothing seemed the bother her. But after being tackled by a suspicious tree lady who then fucking stabbed herself, followed by the noble's daughter and a group of people walking out to investigate, needless to say her facade slipped a little. "What the FUCK. Oh my fucking guardians. Are you fucking kidding me?" She begun, running a hand through her hair, "I don't even use weapons I don't own weapons I'm FUCKING HOMELESS I didn't stab her I don't even know her." The girl's colourful rambling was followed by her unclipping her cloak and throwing the hood off of her, putting her hands up, "I don't even have proper depth perception I'm blind in one eye how would I even, she stabbed herself I swear."

Mynaeia/Zwn
==========​

Hearing a scream from the hall, Mynaeia hurried out the door of her room to see a spriggan in the middle of the hallway, a dagger in her side and a purple cloaked girl off in a branching room. "What h-happened here?" she asked, kneeling next to the injured woman and looking directly at the cloaked girl. The girl begun to ramble and threw off her cloak in panic, holding her hands up infront of her.

((Timdood3 WHAT THE FUCK TIM everyone else in that vicinity ))