Quest for the Crystals [O/C*][Fantasy, Adventure, Lit RP]

[Kintara Wintermoon]

___________{ ♔ }___- -___XenielɸTenebre ♥

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxfor.how.long,will.your.prayersLAST
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxwhen your walls come, falling down
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxthen your reality caves in
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxwhen all that remains


____________☣x x xturnsx x xtox x xashes

Xeniel huffed from the silence of Nathaniel and averted her gaze to the others, her mouth turning into a slight pout and she sniffed. There were three other girls and four guys. Eight Espers. Why were there eight? Couldn't one do the job? Seems like a waste of people. But then again not being an Esper meant they weren't immortal so maybe that was the most waste of people? Hm.

Looking over the others, the most noise was coming from the girl kicking the wall of the church. Why would you kick the wall? If you wanted to open the door you just needed to kick it beside the handle then that should do it. Her bi-colored hair looked so strange to Xeniel; like half of her head was of an old person and the other half was that of a young person. Eh, who knows maybe she was dropped on her head as a baby, maybe that made her hair go all funky. From her angle, her emerald eyes picked out a blue crystal stuck in the girl's hair. An odd decoration that was for sure. When she had been approaching, Xeniel was almost positive that she had heard that girl screeching over something. Ah yes, that's it. Screeching Raccoon. That's her name, yup.

The tall brunette guy with the violin case strapped to his back definitely looked like he had some fancy clothes; maybe she'd see if he had any neat little trinkets on his person at some point. He picked up another bag - from her incredible deductive reasoning abilities identified it as Screeching Raccoon's since she was the only one not carrying anything - then commented quietly about her kicking the wall of the church. "Pff the only curse you need to worry about is the Shandragupta," Xeniel said to him with a wink. "But I don't think you'd want to have your hair fall out and then bleed out from the pores," the words came from her black stained lips happily and followed by a short giggle and broad smile. What is his name? Hmm. Since he has a violin, and he's tall... Music Stick.

One of the other girls was standing off to the side with leather straps around her legs and the glinting steel of daggers in the holsters. Her name instantly came to her: Mongoose. Cause you never poke a mongoose. Out of everyone, she looked like the least happy at the moment - and the most tired. Mongeese normally slept though didn't they? Pondering it for a little, she decided that yes, mongeese did normally sleep. Aside from how tired she looked, she was probably the cutest one here. But maybe that was just her background speaking to her, finding attraction to what she grew up with.

The other girl had short silvery hair but also seemed happy and excited to be here. Her clothing was unique... frilly. Xeniel couldn't stand frills, they were so annoyingly fluffy and irritating having them rub against your skin with every movement you made. Ya know, come to think of it, her hair almost looked like feathers in a way, and she seemed to be one of the most content at the moment... so Dove it is. Tilting her head a little, Xeniel spotted a bot slung over Dove's shoulder - who later introduced herself and said that she had gotten the mark of Air. How could she be so sure of that? It seemed a bit odd to the redhead - hell, she didn't even know what the mark on her cheek was supposed to be but it sure looked like some kind of written language of some sort. To her, ranged weapons were cowardly - used by people that would never feel what it was to take a life with their own hands. They couldn't feel the weight of a heart.

Nathaniel responded to her and she exhaled a puff out from her nose. "Not my fault, he was the one that noticed whatever this is," she answered and put her weight onto her spear as he moved forward out of her leaning arm. Sticking out her tongue at his back as he moved into the church, she didn't deny the claim that she wasn't that great at blacksmithing but she didn't agree with him either. It's not like any of them seemed to want to be an Esper... the group seemed to be split pretty equally between happy and grumpy with Xeniel being indifferent so far.

Following inside the old building, the others had moved to take their places underneath archways. A few were lacking a person but she wasn't sure which one she was so she walked over to stand under the archway of what looked like Shadow or something, shrugging. Were they expected to know what Esper they were just from the mark? Hers was black, so... eh? Plus shadow would suit her considering what she went through back in Halstrogard. A series of thoughts going through her mind lead to a smile on her lips and eventual albeit short outburst of maniacal laughing before she fell silent with a content smile on her face.





______▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ { ☬ }
x x x x ((Location: Church ׺°”˜`”°º×» Interacting with: Peoples. Peoples everywhere.
Art - Left done by The Belletrist - Right done by GRAPHlTE ))

[Cynotastic]

ThoughtTalking

For the most part, Alencia had been ignoring the idle conversations around her. It wasn't important. Her leg continued to swing anxiously against the building. She had waited long enough. Icy eyes remained on the door until finally the knob twisted and the door creaked open. "Augh, finally!" The dual-colored hair woman spoke as she kicked the building one final time then moved off from against the building. Her pack mule approached her before muttering some words. "I don't suppose the Good Pastor would take kindly to you harassing this holy sanctuary. You'll curse us before we even become true Espers..." "Tch, whatever. It's not my fault the man is old and sluggish." She spat in retort to his statement. Moving into the building, she motioned for Alvain to follow behind her and then she stepped into the building.

While she tended to avoid going to the church, the ceremonial room was one of familiarity. Frigid eyes scanned the room upon initially entering. They scaled up the the large elemental marking engraved pillars. Where others had dropped their jaw in awe, Alencia merely grunted and crossed her arms before traveling to the totem which was decorated similarly to how her neck was. There was etchings of a waterfall which descended down the side, as well as large crystalline icicles which jutted out of the floor around the base of the column. Positioning herself in the area that she assumed she was to stand. Then, her arms crossed and she began to tap her foot impatiently again. This whole ordeal takes way too long. She groaned then sighed. Deciding that simply standing there was far too boring, her eyes shifted from the center of the room where a large statue of the patron god of the Yelarians stood, his arms out stretched above his head as though he were, perhaps, holding the weight of the world which could not be seen. From there, her vision shifted onto the door where she watched the other chosen ones slip into the room. They shuffled into the room like a bunch of school children, some happily chattering amongst themselves, but it was dull. It was something Alencia never wanted to take part in, no - socialization isn't important and people are a pain. Her eyes shifted onto Alvain who she rolled her eyes in boredom towards.

Then, once all the Espers had shuffled into the room, the door seemed to close on it's own. All that stood in the room was the eight espers, no Pastor was in sight, and it just made the supposed water esper become even more impatient. "Ugh, the old geezer takes forever." She groaned as she let out a scoff of clear agitation. Finally, there was another creak of the door.

This time, the door at the far end of the all opened up and an elderly man with a long flowing beard and a large bald circle on the top of his head. His face was decorated with wrinkles and excess skin that looked as though it was holding desperately onto his face. He was clad in long flowing robes that fluttered around the ground as he seemed to nearly glide into the room. There was a soft clacking with each step he took, while he approached the center of the room. The sound of his shoes hitting the hard marble floor was being dulled by his robes and on occasion he probably stepped on the fabric which even further muted his steps. As he approached the center of the room, his voice deep, commanding, filled the room. "For those of you who are not before your keystone, please move into the appropriate spot. Be sure to face the center of the room." He explained as he approached the center of the room and stood before the front of the statue. His thick hands reached beneath the collar of the robes and withdrew a small key in which he opened a compartment of the statue. "Once the previous command has been fulfilled, please expose your markings." His voice continued to carry through the room as he reached into the compartment and withdrew a small vial. Circling the statue, his eyes finally rose from the ground and up onto the eight espers scattered around the room. His gaze bounced from each person as his elderly eyes judged every movement and appearance of each person.

After completing his moment of judgement, he approached Alencia who was positioned up near the front of the building. When the old man approached, she pulled the collar of her shirt away from her neck so that the man would be capable of doing whatever he would need to. The Pastor pulled off the lid of the vial and then pushed one of his fingers into the hole where it became wet with the strange substance within the bottle. Removing his hand from the container he spoke "May the Guardians of old be replaced by the Espers of new." And with that, he dropped the liquid onto her marking. There was a hissing sound that escaped as the liquid hit the marking. Within a second, Alencia fell to her knees. As soon as the droplet fell from the Pastor's finger and onto her marking, it felt as though a wave of water had crashed into the Water Esper. Breathing was hard for a moment, and she began to feel like all the air was simply water filling her lungs, the marking ached, but after a moment felt like it froze into an icicle and that the ice was traveling through her very being, freezing her entire skin. While she sat there completely overwhelmed by the combination of sensations that traveled through her body, the Pastor stated, "The Element of Water has been awoken within you, Alencia Brentville." Once that sentiment was finished, the old man traveled down to the next one.

With each man or woman he approached, he repeated the same actions as he did with the Water Esper. First, he would soak his finger in the strange liquid, then prior to dropping it on their Elemental Markings he would utter "May the Guardians of old be replaced by the Espers of new." From there, he would place the liquid on the marking where it would react with it. That reaction would cause whomever was the Esper to feel the affects of their element, and before he would carry on he would state that their element had been awoken and then state their first and last name. It was evident that there was very little ceremony in his actions. It seemed as though this very act had been repeated numerous times and he was only going through the motions. By the time the man had finally finished circling the whole room, Alencia was finally able to recover and stand to her feet. One hand was resting on her neck while she grabbed onto the keystone using it to keep herself steady.

Upon returning the vial back in it's spot, the Pastor closed up the containment and as he did such, he uttered "May the great God lead them down the right path, and may they not dip towards destruction." It was spoken in a whisper, but when he finished he returned to pacing around the statue. "The powers of your respective element has been awoken. It is but a minor bit of power to what will slowly unlock as you complete this journey. Please do not test your powers until you are free of the town. Your next destination shall be to the Castle to the west - Castle Cethiena. There, you shall be able to test your powers and you must conquer trials or else your journey will be cut short. However, I have heard that the espers of the past have scribbled hints and ideas on the walls within the Castle. I wish you luck, and may the current Guardians and God guide and aid thee on your quest." When he finished, he released a deep and slow breath, then his fingers motioned towards the door where they slowly opened.

The small crowd that had gathered prior to the Esper's entering seemed to multiply in size. Cheers and excitement could be heard roaring into the building. Alencia had wanted to be the first to move outside of the building to show how much she had conquered the overwhelming pain that came with her powers being activated. However, she found herself unable to move. The dual-hair colored girl was frozen in place, it felt like her blood had solidified into ice, and that she herself had frozen into an ice stalagmite. Then, seemingly random, she spouted back to life. The Water Esper began to cough and hack, and a surge of water flew out of her mouth. It was like the feeling of drowning that had swept over her had become real and her lungs had filled with water and now it splashed all over the floor. As much as she was prideful of becoming an Esper simply because of the power and the immortality, with this sort of side affect, it was the first time that any sort of doubt flooded into her mind. Breathing heavily. Alencia began to move away from the inscribed keystone and wobbled her way towards the door.


☸ COMPANY:: Espers cyno ☸ LOCATION:: Inside of the Church cyno ☸ EMOTIONS:: In pain, unpleasant cyno ☸ OOC::


Aiolios

Kintara Wintermoon

omaly360

Kairakoi

Caesar The Last Uchiha

Maytime Marionette

[Promise of Bliss]

cynosuralcataclysm11▸LOCATION: Field --> Church cy||no ▸MOOD: Nervous, confused, on-edge


Something was wrong. Well, perhaps wrong was the... well, wrong word. But something was assuredly different. Presea's eyes opened slowly, squinting against the sunlight that warmed her cheeks. She'd fallen asleep in the field again- the one they used to grow crops. If they found her, the farmers would be furious (of course they were furious every time they found her- it had never really been a deterrent more than a mild irritation). She blinked slowly, sitting up on her elbows and looking around. The Shadows were around her: little Yandra snoozing carelessly on her side, Monalise curled in the fetal position, wrapped in her cloak carefully. A few others were littered around her as well, the crop bending beneath their bodies as the slept. She slid her glassy, sleep-dazed eyes over the motley crew. It was her job to make sure they were all safe, that they were all looked after. No one appeared to be any worse off than they were the previous night; they were all dirty, but that was typical. Perhaps today was a good day to take to the river again and clean off. Looking them over, though, no one seemed to have been... well she didn't know what she expected. Them to be stabbed viciously in their sleep? Them to suddenly be jaundiced or otherwise ailing? Presea wasn't sure what she was searching for as she stood, swaying a bit in her barely conscious state, but she would find it. She crept between the wakeless forms, watching their chests rise and fall in rhythm like the lapping of the ripples on the lakeshore. Perhaps it was just her paranoia acting up, the way Ravenor always warned her it did. It was always like this- suddenly, something was just wrong, and she could not leave the lurking beast to hide just out of sight. She would not be felled by what she did not know. But as she worked her way through her troupe, through her dear companions, nothing revealed itself. She knelt down gently beside Iliana, brushing her dark blond hair from her face. She looked peaceful, like she could be dreaming of careless days by the sea, of leisures and luxuries far outside their capabilities. Presea grinned a bit despite herself. You're overreacting. she mused, leaning back on her heels where she crouched beside Iliana. And for a moment, she was convinced. For a moment, the breeze on her cheeks was soft, a tender and comforting embrace of nature. For a moment, the sun shining down on her was not a glaring irritation, but a warm reminder that the troupe could live together for another day, survive just a little longer. For a moment, everything was as it should be.

Until she looked down.

She was wearing what she always did: The outfit was simple, primarily a slate color with accented black. She wore a black half cloak (as close to a uniform as the Shadows ever got) over her shoulders, and at the moment her hood was down, allowing her untamed tresses to spill down her back. None of this, however, caught her eye. No, it was the rip in the fabric of her right leg that alarmed her. The mar eyed her venomously, its inky strokes stark against her pale skin. That... that wasn't there... She eyed it warily, nervously peeking around. No one had stirred at all. Perfect. She stood carefully, lithely dismissing herself from the circle in the crops her crew had forged. She wove through the tall (well, relatively) stalks until she deemed herself far enough from the others to examine the injury further. Had she been branded in her sleep? She couldn't image that she would not have awoken from that.... and did people even do that anymore? She was not certain, but what else could it be? She took a deep breath, gripping the frayed edges of fabric and tugging them apart.

The world stopped. The breeze no longer bowed the stalks. The sun no longer warmed her flesh. She looked at the mark, her incredulous expression morphing into a twisted combination of disbelief and horror. A mirthless laugh exited her, betraying her inner panic. "This is a mistake."

But there it was, gleaming back at her, arresting her body in its wake. The mark of an Esper is undeniable. There was no mistaking it. While she had not been brought up in a proper household, had not been terribly well educated, she was vividly aware of the Espers and guardians. And this...

"A mistake. A mistake. It must be a......a-!"

They would hate her. She stiffened abruptly, looking over her shoulder in the direction she had fled from. The Shadow Espers were satirists, firm believers that Espers were just an especially entitled lot that relished in their histrionic tendencies above all else. There was no way that the vetted theological hierarchy would even know she drew breath, much less entrust her (entrust her? Please, condemn her) to become a guardian of anything, besides perhaps a couple renegade orphans, and even then she somehow doubted it. But if they hadn't made a mistake, and she was some sort of... potential guardian of some nonsense... She would embody exactly what her comrades despised. She would be an enemy to their cause, a shameful example of the enemy embodied. She cringed at the thought. Presea did not precisely have a family, but she was not terribly keen on losing the few people she associated with. Had she not had enough disaster in her life? Enough hardship? She was seething now, her hands balled into fists. No, she would not take this lying down...

Besides, there was no time. Regardless of her faith in the accursed thing, she was well aware that they would expect her in the church in town, and quickly. She took a deep breath, steeling herself. It was a mistake, one that the church would surely remedy the moment they leveled their gazes on her. She was underclassed, filthy, illiterate, pathetic, worthless, damaged--, and most certainly not suitable to their purposes. There would be no disappointment when they turned her away, she insisted. It was just.... how it would happen. Doing her best to move soundlessly, she made her way back to the camp grounds, collecting her things in silence. Her bag now draped over her shoulder, menial supply and armaments recovered, she took off running.

For her size, she was a speedy little thing, and it took a bit less than average to make her way from the farm land into town. Just over an hour, she guessed, checking the sun's journey across the sky. She heaved her breath, attempting to recover from the hustle. Presea stood now before the church, collecting herself. She almost never came to this part of town (and when she did, it was generally for nefarious purposes, so she did not tend to linger). The breeze caught her hair, her bangs dancing in the way of her eyes. At least some part of her was excited. She assuredly wasn't. Presea's whole body was buzzing, though, that was certain. She felt nearly sick, electric, rooted momentarily to her spot. Was she really--?

It's a mistake. Now shut up, buck up, and tell them to keep looking.

Presea gave a short huff, nodding to herself. The building was old, but somehow inviting despite it's weathered appearance. The ancient espers in the stain glass gazed down upon her, scrutinizing her as she made her approach. They knew she was not worthy. They knew she was not one of them. Now she simply needed to make the pastors comprehend what the supposed divine already gathered.

She pushed her way through the doors more meekly than she would have liked. Presea was a commanding person, an ice queen, a tyrant. To be so sheepish was unbecoming of a woman of her stature. But nonetheless, that was what she had in her at the moment. The inside of the church was more impressive than its exterior, sporting great wooden archways, ribbed and emblazoned with each of the elements. Her eyes raked over each of them (which even was she supposed to be? In her panic, she had not even thought to absorb such vital information), rapidly taking in all of the novel information before setting on the seven figured in front of her.

Seven.

She was that late?!

Stupendous. Let alone did they screw up on an incredible scale, but now everyone is here to witness it... And today had such promise...

The door creaked shut behind her, but no one turned to observe her entrance. Perfect. Let them remain ignorant of you. They would do well to forget you, beside. They won't see you much longer anyway, Press. Get in, get out, go home. It took a moment for her to realize that their attention was diverted for another reason. An old man stood before them all, his beard longer than any she had seen prior. His skin sagged aggressively- it was uncommon for someone in her walk of life to see anyone achieve such an age, so she was a bit shocked at first to observe him. His robes were exquisite, more fine than she had encountered and billowing about his form as he effortlessly soared into the center of the room.

"For those of you who are not before your keystone, please move into the appropriate spot. Be sure to face the center of the room."

It was a simple statement, and all at once she realized that she was the only one standing away from the intricate arches. She glanced around, her oceanic eyes zeroing in on the empty vassal. Sha...dow....? She scoffed loudly. Her hands flew violently to her mouth, slapping her lips hard enough to echo in the chamber. She was not exactly known for manners or propriety, but it was positively ghastly to be so offensive in a place of worship. She was rude, not a monster, and she would be angry if someone scoffed at her things in her home (granted she had either of those, but she could understand the sentiment). She pinched her lips into a flat, stoic line, her mind racing. She could... she could just step to the alter and tell him quietly when he approached, right? It was... it was simple. Presea swiftly stepped across the room, her flat shoes padding soundlessly across the marbled floor, then turned to observe the proceedings.

"Once the previous command has been fulfilled, please expose your markings."

From there, he approached each of the Espers in turn, reciting the same scripture, performing the same actions. Until finally, he stood before her. Presea struggled (she hoped successfully) to hide her nerves. "Mister Pastor, uh, sir," she whispered, stealing her glance to either side. The others were busy with themselves, not paying her much mind (not that she cared much for what they were doing- she just wanted to ascertain this was truly a more private moment than she had dreaded). "I'm afraid there's been a kinda mess up here..." But her voice lost momentum. Looking at the man now, his steady eyes awaiting the mark, she could almost believe... she could almost allow-

She cocked her knee, exposing the banded brand that had wormed its way around her leg in the night. The pastor unveiled a small vial from his robe, exposing his finger to the odd liquid- she idly wondered if it was in fact liquid- that was stored within. He spoke, "May the Guardians of old be replaced by the Espers of new." The obtuse substance dripped from his grasp, carried by fate from its limbo to her flesh. Her body went numb on impact, the room around her darkening. It was not an oppressive darkness, not something to be feared or struggled against. It was an embrace, much like the one the wind had provided earlier. It was a part of nature that had always been there, but had simply been hidden away, ignored and forgotten. It was familiar, safe, like the brush of unconsciousness just before you drifted to sleep. As it enveloped her, she could feel herself slipping, surrendering herself to the unbidden approach of the darkness around her. As though listening through thick cotton, she heard in the distance, "The Element of Shadow has been awoken within you, Presea Renaldi." So he did know her name... this wasn't a mistake. This splendid, terrifying, life-rending change was not a blunder in the theocratic system. She was... chosen? It made no sense, but she would not resist if it mean feeling this... this...

"May the great God lead them down the right path, and may they not dip towards destruction."

She slumped heavily against the keystone behind her, her chest heaving in deep gasps. She felt light headed all of the sudden, like she had resurfaced too slowly from a deep dive. She allowed herself to drop to the floor, her back pushing hard against the keystone behind her. As she returned to reality, the man continued his soliloquizing, expressing to them the future journey that now lay before them. Journey? Yes, to a Castle- Cethiena, he claimed- where they would be tested for their worth. Their worth? She had never had any before- were they trying to doom her? Her faith in the whole ordeal was surprisingly short lived, even by her standards, but she glared at the pastor nonetheless as he spoke. So me and these... um... guys... gotta shack up and take down a Castle? Good God who uses the word "thee" anymore I thought they retired that crap in the dark ages... Presea was unamused.

A great wave of excitement erupted from the crowd outside, the shouts and hollers assaulting her with their misplaced joviality. Her breathing was normalizing, thankfully, but she had no intention of walking through that door. Some girl was coughing up water, she was not the Shadow Esper, the darkness in the room was not subsiding like she had thought it would, she was not the Shadow Esper, the others were moving toward the doors, and she was not the Shadow Esper.

She stood all at once, vertigo hitting her like a freight train. She ignored it though, supporting herself against the keystone behind her. "This is stupid..." she muttered darkly, her hand flying to her eyes. She rubbed her temples with her thumb and middle finger, her eyes hidden behind her hand. "Who just lets the church ******** up this royally? I can't even say I'm angry more than impressed..." she chided. She was never a loud person, so her voice did not particularly carry her sentiments far, but the room was not so great that she would not be heard. Someone would know she didn't belong. Someone would fix this. Someone. Anyone.


▸COMPANY: Esperscy||no ▸OOC: I hope this is okay! Let me know if I need to change anything!

[Scrivener_Lost]

The door was opening and he had been far too interested in the motion. Far too interested. Indeed. And he wished he had stayed far too interested for as Alencia slipped into the building, a surly husky voice brushed against his ears and sent a shiver of electricity down his spine. "Pff the only curse you need to worry about is the Shandragupta." The muscles in Alvain's back tightened as his back went rigid in response, feeling the hairs on his arms and the back of his neck stand on end. Alencia's bags slipped from his clammy grasp-Oh no!- as he sucked in a breath between his teeth. Violet eyes as wide as saucers reluctantly drifted towards the demoness who spoke to him, his jaw clenched tightly as though expecting to see a devil with glittering fangs smiling at him. He wasn't too far off; when his field of view became obscured with bright flaming tresses and pursed robust lips. But that wasn't the only thing that Alvain could see that was robust about her. His eyes fell upon her well endowed state and he felt a lash of heat cross his face as his eyes flicked away nearly as quickly, practically wincing at the voluptuous appearance of the woman. He reached down to retrieve Alencia's bags from the ground, his hands slipping against the smooth handle once, then twice, and a third time as he practically dug his nails into the stupid lump of baggage before he heaved it up. "But I don't think you'd want to have your hair fall out and then bleed out from the pores." No. No he did not. That would be quite unpleasant. He froze for a split second as he clearly avoided looking at her as his brows cinched together, his mind's eyes playing with the imagery in his head, bloody pores and all. No. No. He quite decidedly he didn't find that an acceptable curse and though he thought himself to be one of the best, if not the Esper with the highest IQ, he had not heard of such a curse. And he had read many books. Even if they were mostly centered around law, government, and economics. This...Shananadragdupta or whatever it was, sounded quite the foul affair and wondered if the woman had simply made up the damned thing to rattle his nerves. And if that was the case, well, she had done her job quite well. "Um...uh...I'm s-sure that is not something...we will run into...will it? Alvain muttered, his voice low and tempered. His voice had hardly risen above a whisper and he wasn't even sure the woman had heard him, let alone would consider answering him with anything other than a mocking laugh.

His attention was drawn by the cascade of Espers as they began to file into the church and he felt himself moving with them like a herd of cattle being driven into a range to be prepared for butchering. Alvain gazed up at the building as the bodies filed in, his eyes wide and observant behind his glasses as they drifted through the beautiful building. It had been quite a length of time since he had returned to this place. Alvain moved slowly along the length of sitting armaments. He soaked in the powerful statues that towered over them, the powerful representations of elements staring down at the young and fresh new bodies that would soon begin their pilgrimage to attain Guardianship. Alvain shifted Alencia's bag into his left hand as he reached out to place his hand on the darkly stained curving pew, hovered for a moment over the rich wood, and then retreated back to the comfort of his other hand around the handle. The germs. He couldn't handle the germs. So many people would have touched everything in this building. Everything was covered in hundreds of peoples' saliva, dermis, and other bodily material. It was not sterile. He skirted away from the pews as he wrinkled his nose in disgust, his eyes trailing down the intricately carved sides and on to the floors where his eyes dragged along the ground before drifting up at the beautiful archways that gracefully represented the elements of the world. He drifted through the church in a semi-hazed state, for as much as he wanted to admire the current beauty of the building, Alvain could only think about the church in a very bland and stoic approach; through the mindset of a notary, of all of the hundreds of tax papers he had read. The church was donated this amount of money, the church purchased this amount of wood for this new pedestal, the church needed a new brick support and used this amount of money, the Stegegi family give this amount of- It had been his first real assignment as a scribe to go through all of the transcripts and create the receipts that would be placed in the coffers. There had been so many. Sure, while it was wonderful from the layman's point of view, to Alvain, it was but another building with far too many taxes and deficits that created a nasty debt in the ledgers if not properly cared for. It had been beautiful once...before her death... But that had been some time ago back when she made things beautiful for him. Instead, now, there was only hundreds upon hundreds of particles of skin and dust and hair and...Nnnnnng...I can't do this... He took a deep breath -The air is so thick in here!- and turned, practically slamming right into a tall archway containing a keystone. As his gaze fluttered upwards, his eyes took in the articulate and beautiful design of the pedestal that heralded out to him; the Keystone of Beasts. He scrunched his features together as he curiously gazed at the smooth stone, his eyes trailing along the symbols and features of this holy artifact. But he did not need a silly piece of stone and ink to tell him about his dictated symbol. No. He already knew of his fated marking. And he did not like it.

The Esper of Animals...how repulsive...to think I am now going to be associated with rodents, vultures, and reptiles...how utterly repulsive. I don't care who anyone thinks they are...no one wants this marking. This is the dunce element of the whole pantheon. The weakest element. The marking that is made fun of. The singular most uncompleted pilgrimage. Pathetic... Alvain tossed a hiss from the side of his mouth as he glared up at the archway that represented his pathetic element. Even father was repulsed by it... The skin wrinkled around his nostrils as he scowled at the icy reaction his father had given him. The man had simply walked out of the dining hall without saying thing. He's ashamed of me...Because I am not a powerful element like fire... He turned and glared over his shoulder at the woman who now stood at the keystone of the flames. Or shadows... Violet eyes flicked to the latecomer. Even water or light would have been better than...than...beasts. He could feel the anxiety building once again as his eyes swept back to the archway and reluctantly fell down to the keystone. He took a nervous breath as he gently lowered Alencia's bag to the floor before rapping his knuckles against each other in nervous fashion, the contact muted beneath the gloves he was wearing. He wanted to touch the keystone and the archway. He wanted to see if perhaps by making that physical breech between his anxiety and the horrid reality of his chosen element, perhaps it would at least give him some sort of comfort. But the germs...the rodents...the disease...the skin flakes...the vultures...no...no...I can't... Alvain's brows arched terribly high onto his forehead as he gazed up at the ceiling again craning his neck too far as he stumbled back, his long coat rustling loudly against his legs as he stumbled out into the middle of the isle just as a door on the far end of the chapel opened to reveal a lumbering old man that hobbled out into the middle of the vestibule. Alvain watched his movements as he reached into a compartment hidden within the confines of the statue that graced the middle of the altar dias. Oh no...oh no...I'm running out of time... Alvain looked desperately at the wooden doors behind them and thought briefly about running. "If you are chosen my precious son, whatever you do, Alvain, do not run. You would only find your life ending early by the hands of the people." Whirling around as the priest spoke, Alvain found his lips to be quite the chewing item as he chomped down upon them as panic filled him. "For those of you who are not before your keystone, please move into the appropriate spot. Be sure to face the center of the room." Augh...no... The young Preston heir felt his boots shift against the grainy texture of the stone floor as he inadvertantly shifted towards his keystone, if not but a few inches away as his mind and body fought for control over his actions. His body was reacting in tandem with the other Espers while his mind told him, everything will be ruined! All of your plans and hard work, everything is about to end! "Once the previous command has been fulfilled, please expose your markings." "E-Expose our markings!? As...as in like...strip?" Alvain squeaked pathetically, his hands shooting to the coat as he gripped the thick buttons in protest, crushing the fabric as his lips pulled back in a desperate show of apprehension and fear. He watched as the pastor sidled between each Esper and doused their element with the strange liquid and all the while Alvain could feel his trepidation grow as he hunched down. No...no...no no no nononononono....

And then, the old man was upon him. His old eyes pelted Alvain with impatience as he waited for the young man to reveal the marking. Alvain chewed on his lip as though it were a peice of meat and he were a starving man as his hands moved to the jacket to pluck apart the buttons before shrugging off the heavy coat, the dark navy blue long coat crumpling to the floor as the young heir worked on the ascot and finally, the vest which compressed the long sleeve blouse against his chest. As he pulled away the silky fabric, the intricate design of his marking was revealed nestled against his breast. "May the Guardians-,"Oh no! Nonononononononon-"-of old be replaced by the Espers of new." A brush of the old man's touch imbued with liquid and then, Alvain was not himself. Or at least, he didn't believe he was himself. Hell, he wasn't even sure of what he was in that moment as the liquid activated the Esper's powers within him. His senses exploded with hyper-realism as sight, sound, smell, and even touch amplified by leaps and bounds. He was a light as a bird, heavy as an ox, as small as a bug, as large as an pachyderm, as fast as a wolf, and as slow as slug. He was all of these things all at once, a far off call reaching deep into him and pulling at his heart. A great roiling built up inside him and all at once, he could feel his skin tingling and within a split second, the exposed skin on his hands erupted into a kaleidoscope of brilliant silver fur that transitioned to shimmering blue scales, then erupted into golden feathers, before flattening into bright green snakeskin, and then hardened over with an obsidian beetle case before eventually fading back into human skin. "The Element of Beasts has been awoken within you, Alvain Preston." He was on the floor on his hands and knees when he finally came to, the thrumming of his pulse finally drowning out the wild and frantic sensory overload that had enveloped him. A bead of sweat traced a path from underneath the choppy brown locks down the side of his face and lingering on the end of his chin for a moment before it dropped onto the floor. Ugh...I feel sick... "May the great God lead them down the right path, and may they not dip towards destruction." Angry eyes rolled up to the pastor as he continued to spew out directions. As he brushed past Alvain, he only now realized that the old man was blurry. He blinking in confusion for a moment, he raised his hand to his face and noticed that his glasses were missing. He quickly patted down the stones as his fingers trembled against the fragile frames for a moment before placing them against his face. Already most of the Espers were recovering, muttered hums and grunts filling the air as they struggled to pull themselves together. A few were speaking, but the Preston heir was hardly paying attention as a pillar of sunlight was tossed into the building as the doors were pulled apart and a cheer rose up into the air. He winced against the sudden slaughter of his retinas by the sun before he felt another person wobble by him and he recognized the long dual-colored hair as Alencia. Had he not been mostly blinded by the sun, he would have been surprised that the girl was showing any form of weakness such as stumbling about. However, the only thing that struck him was that, Alencia is moving. I better follow if I don't want to be yelled at. And considering how terrifying and painful the Ceremony of Naming had been, Alencia's fury wouldn't be far from behind. And Alvain knew where her punches would land...Pushing himself to his feet, the newly awakened Esper of Animals gathered the coat in his arms before grabbing Alencia's bag as he shoved the violin case back to its proper location against his shoulder blades before he eventually followed the Esper of Water.

This...is going to be miserable...


〖 Ｌｏｃａｔｉｏｎ: Inside of the Church 〗c 〖 Ｃｏｍｐａｎｙ: All Eight Espers 〗c 〖 Ｍｏｏｄ: Nervous, cautious, anxious 〗c 〖 ＯｏＣ: 〗


"Talking"
'Mofo erizzle.'

[Kairakoi]

Evelyn Δ Kathrine Δ Avila

"Uh, hey. I’m Nathaniel, and I’m…" The tall, blonde, tired-looking guy who had been talking with the red-haired woman with marked with fire on her cheek, introduced himself as the Esper of Light, Showing off the script on his arm beneath his gauntlet. She stopped briefly on her way into the church to take a closer look at his marking. Between his Mark of Light and the Mark of Fire on the red-headed woman's face, Evelyn was aware of how basic the Air elemental marking was on her chest. Evelyn replied to his introduction with a sweet smile and a nod before continuing into the church and taking her place blow the keystone. The other Espers found their way in and were glancing about the room. Each lost as far as what to do next, what was going to happen. The angry girl with the two tones in her hair seemed to grow more impatient with each passing second they waited for direction. "Ugh, the old geezer takes forever." Evelyn sighed, exasperated, but only shook her head. There was no use getting into a altercation with this girl. The way she huffed around like she owned the place, the world, and that poor tall brown-haired man. Evelyn was sure whatever trials lay ahead would bring them together, and bring her ego down with it. Now was not the time, Evelyn would be patient and choose her interactions with her carefully. The girl seemed...fragile somehow-why else could someone be so loud?

The pastor had made his way into the room, standing at the front. He was garbed in robes and commanded them to stand below their keystone. Evelyn was already there, already facing him and the center of the room. As the rest of the Espers moved into their places, some more sure than others of the meaning behind their markings, Evelyn noted their positions and their elements. The old man, reached into a compartment in the statue and as he walked through the room, inspected each person's marking. The tall brown haired man below the keystone of the Esper of Animals expressed Evelyn's thoughts exactly. She had been ready to show the marking to the church in private, but in front of all these people... She decided instead to focus on watching the other Espers until it was her turn. She knew the Red-Head was fire. The girl who had been so outspoken so far was the Esper of Water. Surprising, she would have thought water would have been a calm element-but the ocean was turbulent, she supposed. The robed man dropped water from the vial pulled from the statue onto the neck of the Esper of Water and she came crashing to the ground. It was the first time Evelyn was alarmed by the situation. She wanted to run and help her, but the Pastor just moved on, like it was normal to the next. It was her turn.

"Uhm.. She hesitated, Turning a light shade of pink as the old man insisted to see her marking, Evelyn unbuttoned her blouse a few buttons below her breasts and pulled the sides of her shirt apart to expose the white triangle, the points of which sat equidistant from her sternum in its center. He inspected the mark for only a moment, if she hadn't blushed, it would have been much harder to see. "May the Guardians of old be replaced by the Espers of new." He dropped the water on her chest and she felt all of the air rush out of her lungs, like someone had punched her hard in the stomach. She hunched over, but the feeling lasted only a moment. Vertigo set in, and she felt nothing below her feet, and fire in her lungs as Air rushed in. She was flying, or.. she felt like it anyway. She rose again, holding her chest with both hands. It was the strangest feeling she had ever experienced. She expected new and interesting things to happen in her life, but this had been an odd sensation of pain, and in the same breath, complete freedom. "The Element of Air has been awoken within you, Evelyn Avila." Evelyn thought she had been ready to take on anything, but she had not expected it to feel so strange. Just the awakening laced with pain, put her on edge as she thought about the rest of their journey.

Buttoning her blouse, she looked on at the other Espers as they endured their own powers awakening. To her left was the Esper of Earth, Eirik. Nathaniel, was next, the Esper of light. A girl with long dark hair and bangs had stepped in behind him. Evelyn was surprised she had not noticed her before. Apt, for the Esper of Shadows, to move silently. As the old man moved before her, she tried to argue that there had been a mistake. However, they all knew that if she was here, there could be no mistake. The pastor was wholly unmoved by her plea, and placed the liquid from the vial on the Mark of Shadow on her exposed thigh. For a moment, her eyes appeared to gloss over and her expression became lost. Evelyn imagined what a shadow awakening might be. Based on her face, she was in a world of complete darkness. Her name, he said was Presea. The excited boy with whom she had been talking with earlier stood below the keystone of lighting. His name was Damir. She didn't want to begin to imagine what his awakening had felt like.

The Esper of Animals, was the last to have his powers activated, and it was by far the most terrifying to watch. He shifted trough a series of shapes and skins around different parts of his body. Evelyn held her hand to her mouth as she watched. She had been told of the shape shifting powers of the Esper of Animals in the church lessons, but she had never imagined it like this. It seemed so violent, especially when inflicted on such a quiet man. His name, was Alvain Preston. She recognized the surname, surprised she had not recognized the heir, well, the former heir she supposed, to one of the most wealthy families in the town. She wondered how he felt about being chosen as an Esper. His life had drastically shifted from one responsibility to another. Evelyn had a hard time imagining such a man as him in charge of anything really. The thought wasn't cruel, but he jut seemed... weak-willed. Anyone who would let Alencia speak to them the way he had, how could they take hold of their own lives enough to direct others? Well, they would all need to help him take control now or they would all have to watch him die. The realization that they could all fail and die hit her then for the first time. A wave of terror took hold of her.

The awakening ceremony was complete, and the old man spoke again. "May the great God lead them down the right path, and may they not dip towards destruction." He told them of their journey to come, their infantile power and the castle where they must train next. His words did nothing to calm her nerves. She took several deep breaths, as her mother had taught her in their years of meditation practice together. She found now, that the air in her lungs seemed to excite nerves in her entire body, sending a soothing sensation from her fingers to her toes. And she found calm again. The Doors behind them opened to a roaring crowd. The Esper of Air shielded her eyes from the light that poured into the church, beckoning them forward like moths to a flame. Alencia staggered past her toward the door and Alvain was quick to gather her things. Evelyn felt light on her feet and in her heart as she followed the Esper of Water and Beasts for the door. She stopped by the girl named, Presea, who was muttering to herself, still denying that she had been chosen, even after the awakening.

“But, you have to be...you have the Shadow mark.” She was confused how Presea could still think someone else would be chosen. “I mean...” She shifted her bow on her shoulder and looked back out into the crowd, squinting to spot her family in the sea of faces that had multiplied in the short time the church doors had been closed. “Come on. We gotta get going, right?” The smile she showed Presea was brief. Despite the short exchange with Presea, with no lingering pain, Evelyn passed Alencia and Alvain to the the first through the Doors. She didn't care or notice, she had her family to see before they left for good. Evelyn picked her mother's voice from the crowd with surprising accuracy and met her for an embrace. Her mother had secretly brought a plain silver chain necklace and clipped it behind her neck. For strength, she said. Tears were welled up in her eyes as she waved goodbye from her place back in front of the church with the Espers. If she failed, this would be the last she ever saw her family. She blinked back her weakness and looked toward their new destination, the road to the Castle lay conspicuously unblocked by the crowd.


Espers : Who
The Courtyard : Where
Calm and Uncertain : Feeling
... : OOC

[sorry squids]

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▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ [ The Lightning Guardian ]

✘✘ DOING: receiving powers!! ✘ WHERE: church ✘ WITH: esper amigos ✘ MOOD: excited, in pain ✘dundun

Nathaniel, evidently the Esper of Light, and Evelyn, the sweet girl he had previously simply known as White Hair, spoke their names just as the doors to the church opened. Moments before he stepped in himself, he himself said, "Nice to meet you!" in absolutely genuine acknowledgement of them, but the boy was too damn excitable himself to remember he hadn't properly introduced himself or spoke of his element to them.

As with everyone else, he took his place beneath the keystone for Lightning, an altar adorned with bright bolts of gold and white that seemed to light up even his dark hair. And then, a pause hung in absence of their priest, where that harsh woman had resumed the tapping of her shoes against the cold stone. By this part, for all her annoying screeching and the unpleasant impression she gave within five minute of seeing her, he sort of empathized with her impatience. He wanted the fun stuff to get going, and the room was intense in that way that made Damir particularly uncomfortable, too serious for its own good. It had its own way of dampening his spirit when he was forced to wait, while Dual-Hair's tap tap tapping created a steady beat that bit at his nerves a little more.

The old man he'd known as the pastor for as long as he'd had been alive walked into view, and there was a small rush of relief. He was dressed up like Damir had never seen, with fancy silk robes that Damir never thought he'd come within several feet of, much less see this old man draped in. He spent several moments while they waited tracing over them in a fascination with the symbol of riches. "For those of you who are not before your keystone, please move into the appropriate spot." Curiously, Damir glanced towards the door to see who precisely hadn't immediately rushed towards they own keystone. The rich boy, for one, slunk to his position with that same mousy meekness Damir had witnessed before the doors of the church - and again he felt a small pang of sympathy. Surely once he mastered his... animal powers, apparently, he would show a bit more self-confidence. The other he saw was a woman even younger than him, moving to her own position as quietly as the shadows she was to control. "Once the previous command has been fulfilled, please expose your markings." Damir, assuming that he meant the full thing must be displayed, obediently removed his shirt so that the entire mark, from shoulder-blade to wrist, was in view.

He learned forward a bit so he could properly watch the pastor awaken Water's powers. Alencia collapsed under the pressure, and Damir's eyes widened, watching her and the pastor. He was a kindly man as far as Damir knew, but here he merely watched, announced her name, and moved on to the next Esper, like this was some sort of play with him as the narrator and them as audience participants. One by one, Damir watched their reactions to their powers, as their faces screwed up with pain or blanked out completely and he frowned with a bit of confusion. What precisely did they feel? It was as if Alencia had been hit by a wave, but Evelyn swept up by the air. It was a spectacle of sorts, a bizarrely and backwardly beautiful process that Damir momentarily forgot he too was part of.

Finally, the pastor reached him, and suddenly a small sense of apprehension struck him - just look at how the ones before him had reacted, even Miss High-and-Mighty had been knocked over by what she'd felt. Swallowing it down and blocking out any hesitation, he turned his back to the pastor, humming just a little to bolster his mood again. "May the Guardians of old be replaced by the Espers of knew." With that, the cool liquid dropped on his skin, and it set off a reaction he was certainly not prepared for. It was as if the bones and muscles had wrenched apart and shattered beneath the skin. Even Damir couldn't uphold an excited attitude when all his thoughts and feelings were overwhelmed and shut out by the power surging through him. It felt like his veins had been set on fire and he'd later swear on anything he heard thunder crashing in his eardrums. There were sparks on his tongue and rushing down his throat that burst and spit out more in his stomach. He didn't make any sound - in fact, he couldn't find his voice at all, like it had gone off to run and hide from the crackling. Instinctually, his teeth gritted so fast and so hard it seemed as if they would break, and the clouds rolled over his head, blocking out anything but the rumbling thunder.

As that instant faded, he vaguely heard, "The Element of Lightning has been awoken within you, Damir Braniti." Somehow, even his own name sounded fuzzy and unfamiliar to him, and he had to remember he was being addressed.

When he was sure he could properly think again without the clouds smothering his senses, his eyes opened slowly and he exhaled a breath he'd forgotten about. He remembered nothing about losing his balance, but the ground was shockingly close and he could feel the sting of scrapes on his hands. "Is everyone feeling okay?" he asked, but his voice was horse and barely on level with a whisper - if anyone had caught it, they'd have some impressive hearing. He had to grab for his axe nearby and use that to get his back on his feet - and the pole wasn't exactly optimal for maintaining balance. He stumbled a little and leaned against the altar, regaining himself slowly, although the crackling in his stomach and ears refused to fade. By the time he thought to look around, the pastor had moved on to the next Esper. Releasing another breath in a sound that resembled an impressed "whoo!" he started glancing about. Everything was still the same as it had before that water had dripped on him, but it all felt charged differently, like a new place with some familiar furniture.

"s**t, that was somethin'," he said to himself, still using the axe to keep himself steady as he bent to retrieve his shirt. Lightning, he remembered, was a heavily offensive element. What coursed through him would not heal like light, couldn't invade the mind like shadows, didn't block like water and air, it simply invaded and incinerated and plain hurt. So, everything he felt as his power woke was exactly what others would feel if he had to subject them to it. Caution, that was a word he'd heard associated with lightning. Teachers spoke of Lightning Espers using caution as much as possible. Well, Damir was firmly confident he could use this properly. He stared where the mark on his wrist ended, where the bolts met and burst, much like they did on his shoulder. He poked at it curiously with the finger on his other hand, trying his damnedest to summon some sort of spark. At that same moment, the pastor began talking again, warning against testing their powers until they were out of reach of their small town, and he retracted his hand with a sheepish grin. "Your next destination shall be to the Castle to the west - Castle Cethiena." A castle! Although it couldn't be storybook palace, an ancient castle was something to look forward to - a mysterious, dangerous structure with little tips from their predecessors for mastering their powers? Incredible! "I wish you luck, and may the current Guardians and God guide and aid thee on your quest." So, that was the end of it. Curtains close, then the intermission, and on to the second act. There was applause outside to match the mood, muffled but audible. Damir, if he were to ever admit it to himself (though that wasn't likely to happen), never thought he'd be the subject of such grand applause - what he knew was that he was a young carpenter and he had a supposed noble father who he resembled a little too much and who had split his family apart and now he was stuck trying to bridge them together - that, essentially, was what anyone would sum him up to be. Espers and lightning powers and adventures were x's, y's, and z's of an equation he hadn't looked at as more than a fantasy. But here he was - and hearing an applause meant for him was more than he had known, ever expected to know. Excited, exhilarated, he intended to relish this new world and make it his own.

Movement, the flicking of shadows and the voives of others, snapped him back to reality. The woman whose name he now knew to be Alencia was already making her way out the door, despite the fact she'd recovered from the experience about as much as he had - there was no way she wasn't still feeling the after effects. He was almost impressed by it - she clearly wasn't letting something insignificant like the toll of awakening of inhuman powers in her still very human body stop her from getting to that castle and becoming the immortal guardian. Hell, it was a little inspiring. Despite the crackling in his stomach, Damir began moving too. In his pocket, he felt the weight of the unfinished wooden pendant from his father, and he dug it out and looped it around his neck. It wasn't a thirty minute trip to the castle - working on this thing would be good for passing the time.

Both Eirik and Evelyn, they were clearly easy-going sorts, and Damir considered checking up on their statuses when the nobleman passed him on his own way out, still slinking along as he had to his keystone before. The man couldn't have looked more down on his luck if a tribe of cannibals burst in through the church walls and named him dinner. Damir walked beside him and matched his excruciating slow pace - and it only just occurred to him the nobleman was actually taller than he'd thought. He seemed only inches tall in the face of that Alencia girl. "Preston, are you okay? You look like you might vomit," he said, blunt despite good intentions. It was quite possible he'd confused the older man's last name for his first. "If it's the bag, I can carry it if it's that much of a pain. Although, I guess you've kinda worn that expression the entire time," he continued thoughtfully. "You hate this whole thing that much?" He glanced down at the bag in Preston's arms. It didn't look that heavy, but if carrying it helped out the man a little then what did it matter? 


✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘

[Sheezur Cannoli]

Nathaniel Lafontaine, Esper of Light

While Nathaniel was one of the first ones to reach his Keystone, he was still waiting for everyone else to get ready. The Wench had practically barged past him to head over to her keystone's spot, where she proceeded to whine and complain about the pastor taking his time. In truth, he was getting up there in age and was possibly still setting up everything that the ritual needed. Nathaniel wouldn't be surprised if the doors were opened early because of The Wench's incessant kicking of The Church. Nathaniel decided that he had enough of her and took the time that they had left to shout over to her. " Shut up already, will ya? Your moaning won't make things go any faster."Nathaniel wasn't exactly the most tolerant person in the world, but she made him look like he had the patience of a saint. Thankfully he emerged before a possible shouting contest between the two could start. With all eight of the Espers finally in The Church and aligned at their respected keystones, the ritual could finally begin. "For those of you who are not before your keystone, please move into the appropriate spot. Be sure to face the center of the room. Once the previous command has been fulfilled, please expose your markings." Nathaniel's marking was already exposed because he was looking at it not too long ago, so thankfully he could skip that step. As for now, all he could do was watch as the four Espers in front of him awakened in could easily be described as looking very stressful.

Nathaniel was the fifth Esper in line to receive the blessing bestowed on them that would grant them their powers. Based on the physical and emotional reactions of all of the Espers in before him, he could tell that the stress that his body would go though would be intense. The kindly pastor of the church finally approached Nathaniel and reached out to take his Nathaniel's and in his own. Facing it so that the back of his hand was pointing the correct way, he spoke the following words before he allowed the liquid from the vial to drip off of his finger and onto Nathaniel's arm: "May the Guardians of old be replaced by the Espers of new." The drops of the holy liquid caused the markings on his arm to shine brightly, so much so that it began to hurt his eyes. Not long after that, felt what can only be described as a wave of energy welling up in his stomach surge throughout his body. The comforting warmth that it brought was almost instantly replaced with the feeling of his entire body disintegrating and reforming almost instantaneously. The feeling was unexplainable; the pain of being ripped apart particle by particle was something he'd never forget, but it only lasted but a moment. He almost felt as if he wasn't the same person as he was a few minutes ago. He snapped back into reality with the sound of the Pastor's voice. "The Element of Light has been awoken within you, Nathaniel LaFontaine." .

When the Pastor finished the ritual by awakening the other Espers, he explained to them that the Eight would have to travel West to Castle Cethenia, where they would undergo the first of many trials they would face. After he finished his explanation, the doors to The Church reopened. The cheers of the entire village roared throughout the town as the Espers emerged from the Church. The combination of the village's excitement and the actual awakening... or rather, he felt like he should call it a 'metamorphosis', was a rather humbling event for the young Heroes. The Wench, whose name was earlier revealed to be Alencia, lost what seemed to be her arrogant attitude as she stumbled towards the door. In fact, everyone looked like they had taken a beating in some way or another from what had happened. Nathaniel went to walk towards the door when he suddenly realized he had forgotten how to move. Maybe his thoughts from before about receiving a new body were in fact true. It took him a moment to get his body moving again, and before he knew it everything came back to him.

When Nathaniel finally did emerge from The Church, he almost instantly noticed that his family was up front waiting for him. His mother, Amelia and her husband Rochefort were standing very proudly among the villagers waiting to talk to their son. Well, technically he was only Amelia's son. While his mother swore up and down that Rochefort was in fact his father and they shared the same blood, Nathaniel knew that it was a lie. There was a saying around this time that went 'Coal before Gold', which in modern day terms would be used to explain the basic idea of how genetics worked: when a person had jet black hair, much like Rochefort did, had a child with a woman whose hair could only be compared to the golden waves of a wheat field, their child should share his father's dark hair color. And yet despite this, Nathaniel's hair was the same color as his mother's, if not a bit lighter. The ending result of this was the mistreatment and disrespect that the family had received from many families among the village: Amelia LaFontaine was a whore, and her son Nathaniel was nothing more than a 'b*****d'. The resulting alienation from this caused Nathaniel to stray away from children his age and spend time at the local pub, where travelers wouldn't know that he wasn't 'the b*****d'. They treated Nathaniel well. His only other place of solace was the local blacksmith, who cared more so for the young man's talent than his social standing.

"Nate, I want you to take these with you on your journey." Rochefort, his step-father, handed him a wallet that had a few gold coins as well as a good amount of silver, and a rather nice hunting knife. "The money is from your mother. As for the knife, it's a present from both Jonathan and I." Nathaniel accepted both of the gifts from Rochefort and attached them to his belt. "I've taught you a bit about hunting throughout the years, and I figured that now more than ever, it will be a very important asset to both you and your companions. Since you won't have many, if not any, opportunities to make some money along your journey, you should make use of your skills to provide." It made sense. The road to Cethiena would most likely be treacherous, and they group would need plenty of food and water, as well as money for lodging whenever they could find a place to stay. unfortunately the money that the group could bring with them wouldn't last forever. As a result, scavenging whatever they could the pelts, whether it was skinning and selling animal pelts to traders or collecting any sort of usable materials from things such as goblins or bandits, they needed money to survive. He hugged Rochefort and his mother tightly before thanking them for everything up to this point. Even if Rochefort wasn't his real father, Nathaniel deeply respected him. "I promise you two that I won't fail on my journey. I'll make the two of your proud." After he broke up the group hug, he returned to the Church stairs while wiping a way a tear from his eye. To his right was Evelyn, who was trying to fight back tears of her own. "You have no regrets now that you've said goodbye, right? Let's hurry up to the entrance of the village while everyone else says their goodbyes. There's no need to waste time dawdling around here while everyone else gets their closure."

Location: In front of the church.
Feeling: Very anxious.
Voiced by: Majima Junji
OOC: None.

[Kintara Wintermoon]

___________{ ♔ }___- -___XenielɸTenebre ♥

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxfor.how.long,will.your.prayersLAST
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxwhen your walls come, falling down
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxthen your reality caves in
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxwhen all that remains


____________☣x x xturnsx x xtox x xashes

Xeniel eventually found herself standing under the archway depicting the element of fire. A great bonfire illuminated darkness with torches surrounding it, a sweeping swirl rising into the tops of the glass. Ignoring the sounds coming from Screeching Raccoon, the earth esper was to her other side and also admiring the stained glass. To be honest, this was her first time actually inside the church - under normal circumstances she avoided pretty much everything religious. The inside of the building was mostly what she had expected, although the lack of hundreds of candles and incense that would be used in weird rituals was strangely unnerving. Maybe the candles would come out later when the priest had to sacrifice people?

Raccoon complained again - the sound of her voice already growing to be an irritating noise to Xeniel's ears. Knitting her brows together and frowning, she could feel the swell of anger starting to bubble inside of her. One of the others called out to somewhat berate her and Xeniel nodded, squinting a little at the girl of water. Soon after that, the priest entered from a door in the back of the hall. The old man looked more like royalty than a man of the people with those fancy robes, and then his voice wanted to gain her complete focus. For such an old turtle, his voice was still pretty youthful. The direction to face the middle of the room garnered a quick spin on her heel before her other foot came down with the butt of her spear to the marble ground. Her emerald eyes followed the actions of the priest, quirking her eyebrow curiously as he procured a key from underneath his robes then used it to open a compartment in the statue. Lifting her hand up, she brushed the left hair of her hair behind her ear so that it wouldn't cover the markings. Remaining motionless after dropping her hand back to her side, she simply stared back at the priest as he looked over all the espers.

Watching curiously as he approached Raccoon and dipped his finger into the liquid then spoke his ritual mumbo-jumbo, a cheshire grin spread across her lips as the girl dropped to her knees and a gleeful giggle came from her black lips at her struggles. Then the priest moved to stand infront of herself and her enjoyment was cut short, replaced by uncertainty and slight repulsion. It didn't matter to the priest though, as he continued with the motions and lifted his finger up to her cheek. Closing her eyes and waiting for whatever feeling was to come, she felt the liquid drip onto her cheek -- and then slowly start running down her skin. Keeping her eyes closed for a few more moments, she was anticipating something, but she didn't feel anything. Opening her eyes and blinking with confusion a few times, the priest had already begun to move on after stating that the fire element had been awoken within her and her name. How did he know her name? Weird.

Glancing over to Raccoon, still struggling on the ground before coughing out water, she turned to look at the other espers. All of them had something happen to them as the liquid hit their marks, whether blatantly obvious like the animal or water esper or more subtle like the shadow one. Of particular note to her was the brief glimpse she got of air's marking - what looked like a triangle from her vantage point scrawled on her chest. Smiling a little and shrugging, either she wasn't actually the fire esper or the liquid didn't do the trick. Lifting her hand up to touch the liquid, she took a step forward to head towards the door to the church and pulled her hand away from her cheek. A line of fire burst into being connecting her cheek to the finger that had touched the liquid and within a heartbeat the flames wrapped her completely as if a cocoon of light and heat. The surprise of it made her take a breath to scream, and all of the fire was drawn into her mouth with the inhale of air. Closing her mouth before a sound could come from her, her eyes were wide as she felt a great warmth spreading within herself and sweat starting to break out over her forehead. Holding her breath for a few moments she had no idea why the fire had occurred or where it had gone, apparently absorbed into her? Cautiously exhaling, she was relived to find that there was no more fire.

The feeling of warmth combined with her relief to make her burst into a large grin, giggling again and very tempted to start skipping around. Her heart was beating hard and each breath heavy and deep, eyes wide with adrenaline. She didn't know it, but that brief burst of fire had caused her many old scars from her trial by fire to appear as tender, raw flesh as if the burns had occurred a day ago. Looking to see where the priest was now, he was just finishing with the last esper and was giving a little speech to them. Had he said anything important to the others? Hm, maybe paying attention would have been a good thing... Her skin tingled with the residual warmth of the split second fire that had coated her body and she cautiously took another step forward, following after the recovering Raccoon. Each step that she took was a flashback to her trial by fire and everything about that memory exploded into her senses; the feeling of the coals on her feet, fire against her naked flesh, heat against her body, difficulty of breathing hot air, stinging of her eyes not just from the heat but the smoke, smell of the burning woods and singeing of hair, sound of fire flickering in the air and popping of the coals. The opening of the church doors stopped the flashbacks; the light from the outside cutting through along with the cheering of the people bringing her focus to the here and now.

Grumbles from her right garnered a glance to the shadow esper, standing with her back against the wall. Extending the tip of her spear out to the girl, she smiled sweetly and cocked her head to the side with her question. "Apple?" a simple offer of the impaled apple with a small bite taken out of it on the end of her spear to the shadow esper. Waiting for three seconds for the girl's response, Xeniel then shrugged and continued her way to head outside, using her left hand to slightly adjust the pack slung over her back. The little Dove had already moved about from her spot, joining the lightning esper in discussing something with Music Stick. Approaching them, she caught the suggestion of who should carry Raccoon's bags and anger flared in her. "Weakening of one does not strengthen the rest," she stated, annoyed and stopping for a moment to look down at Raccoon's bags. A flame had sprung to life in her left hand and the heat from it surprised her, making her reaction to it to shake her hand as if the flame was a liquid on her fingers. Sparks flew with each rotation of her hand and eventually the small flame was extinguished. Turning her gaze to the bag briefly, she saw that there were multiple little singe marks from the sparks that had showered against the bag but not enough to burn through it. Huffing and moving past them to venture to the outside, she looked out at the crowd still wearing an un-amused expression.





______▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ { ☬ }
x x x x ((Location: Church ׺°”˜`”°º×» Interacting with: Peoples. Peoples everywhere.
Art - Left done by The Belletrist - Right done by GRAPHlTE ))

[omaly360]

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Eirik Marson

▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄

►With: all the Espers, joined by an old priest

►Where: In the church, outside the church

As Eirik stepped through the entrance of the church his gaze floated around to the eight archways circling the center of the room. He stood there for a moment as a couple of the Espers moved past him toward the middle of the massive chamber, most of them staring in awe at the architecture within the church. The massive stone pillars lined with the elemental symbols were quite the sight to the Earth Esper, his eye quickly picked up on one of the Earth symbols with its spreading branches and intricate, interweaving roots . It was only after he shook his thoughts back in order that he fully took in the fact he had never been inside the ceremonial chamber. With as close as he was to the church and the orphanage Eirik had never stepped foot into this place. Not that he ever had a need to but the church had been a big part of his life and one would think he would have a chance at a peek into the chamber in his years. Eirik watched as some of the Espers found some spots to stand. His eyes followed one of them, brat girl as she seemed the most confident as to what to do, to where they were standing. Eirik noticed the symbol around her position easily put two and two together to start looking for his position around the circle.

As he started to move in the doors shut behind him as the last Esper entered. Eirik took his position between Red and the cute girl, Evelyn he thought he heard her call herself. He stood there in absolute silence staring at the ground, feeling rather impatient at the time maybe it was excitement, or maybe he was nervous. He decided it was a mix of both these feelings as a door opened to reveal an elderly man. The man looked as if he had done this for too many generations and to Eirik's ear sounded if he was almost bored of saying the same thing over again. "For those of you who are not before your keystone, please move into the appropriate spot. Be sure to face the center of the room." Eirik looked down at the spot he stood, Eirik was not sure why he did this he knew he was supposed to stand here the command just got the best of him. The old man slowly moved toward the center of the room as he continued his slow, wise sounding speech. "Once the previous command has been fulfilled, please expose your markings." This command raised Eirik's eyebrow, he didn't think he would need to show the marking it never occurred to him. Though the command made absolute sense it just seemed a bit weird in front of everyone. Eirik looked around the room as some began to roll up sleeves or just look questioning at the old man. Eirik placed his weapon and bag on the floor behind him and started to unstrap the various pieces of armor he had on. With each one he took off he would attempt to place it gently on the stone floor by his bag with out making a sound but the armor still made a slight clang as it touched the ground which to him always seemed too loud for the moment. As he stood back up from placing the last piece on the ground he removed his shirt and turned to show his mark. The tree practically covered his back with a deep brown trunk running up his spine changing into elegant green leaves reaching his lower neck and shoulders, the roots ran down out of sight into his pants. He looked over his left shoulder to the elderly man as he headed for the Brat girl.

The old man pulled out a vial of weird liquid and once more spoke. "May the Guardians of old be replaced by the Espers of new." As he dumped the liquid over her mark it made a hiss and she fell to her knees. Eirik couldn't help but smile to himself at the sight of the head strong girl collapse over some liquid. "So much for tough girl. He thought as he watched. "Still that looked rather painful. Eirik turned his head away from the group. He heard the man speak once more "The Element of Water has been awoken within you, Alencia Brentville." The process once again repeated with another Esper. Eirik heard the man move to him, he stood there still and at attention, ready for whatever that vial did to the others. Once more the man repeated "May the Guardians of old be replaced by the Espers of new." Eirik felt the liquid hit his back and heard it hiss off his skin. Without a moments notice he collapsed to his knees. Eirik's body felt heavy and he strained to keep even his shoulders up. It felt as if the world itself was on his back. The strain eventually was too much and his arms gave out and with them his body. Eirik let out a muffled cry as he felt the pressure build on top of him. The sensation moved from just a weight hanging on his shoulders into a suffocating feeling as if he had been buried deep in the ground. His only other sense was of a familiar smell, a simple but well known scent of dirt. He remembered it fondly from being a child playing in the woods. The smell grew as it added more familiar scents, grass, flowers, even some fruits all he knew and with each one the weight lifted off of him. Eirik slowly rose to his knees out of breath and sweating. He stayed there and looked up to the old man who spoke once more. "The Element of Earth has been awoken within you, Eirik Marson." Eirik didn't even think about standing at this time, every muscle in his body still ached.

The old man moved on to the remaining Espers. Eirik payed little attention to the others only trying to focus at what he had felt and trying to rest up a bit. Eirik slowly stood to his feet, but not without a good amount of struggle. As he regained his footing the old man had finished and told them of their next task to head to Castle Cethiena to the west. Eirik has heard of it but ha never traveled west of the town. The only two travels he had been on had been to the south and not very far. When the old man finished the doors they had entered opened up. Eirik took his time to throw back on his shirt and armor, all of which seemed to weigh ten times more on his sore muscles. He picked up his weapon and used it as a walking cane to head out of the doors following behind the others. Eirik somehow managed to wobble himself out of the church even beating some of the Espers. He stood on the steps and stared out the doors and into the cheering crowd, who had parted the way to show them the road to the West. Eirik looked over the crowd and quickly picked out The Head Priestess, Chandra, and Timothy. He saw as his two childhood friends tried to approach but were stopped quickly by Nora who then gave a slight bow to Eirik, Timothy and Chandra quickly caught on and gave a bow too. Eirik understood Nora's thought, to speak with friends and family at this time could be dangerous for the journey. He tried his best to return the bow but only stumbled a bit. He gave a smile to his family and the crowd. Eirik took in a deep breath and felt good, sore and beat up but good about what was to come.

He turned to the other Espers spilling out of the church, none of which looked any better then him some even seemed to look worse. He saw some went to their families, he supposed everyone had their way and Nora and his friends understood and that was enough. He looked over the Espers and noticed the Shadow girl had stayed back, Presea he recalled the old man saying. Eirik moved back into the church and passing Evelyn, who just got done talking to Presea. He thought he might try his luck and speak up. "Presea is it? You look... well like the rest of us so kinda beat up. But something a bit more with you, almost like you are lost." He stopped to think over what he said. "That was an awful way to start up talking. The hell is wrong with you?" "Come on, lets get outta this crowd, can't hear yourself think and we have a long journey to get started on. We can talk on the way." He said with a glad smile on his face.

Items on hand: Adventuring Bag
Polearm

OOC: If there is anything wrong with my order or anything just say so and I will fix it.
WOOO GLAD TO BE BACK, AND A LATE HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL, HOPE YOU HAVE A GREAT NEW YEAR.

[Cynotastic]

ThoughtTalking

As she continued to move shakily towards the door, her eyes darted onto the other Espers, ensuring that none of them were already getting ready to stab her in the back. Alencia noticed at this moment that she was one of the worse off ones between the eight. For example, Air - Evelyn, did not seem affected by the whole ordeal in the least and she confidently strode towards the door in tow of Alencia. Then, her icy eyes shifted and rolled onto the last person to enter the room - Presea, the Shadow Esper. The Water Esper knew all too well of this woman, for she and her group of bandit friends had attempted to steal from the Brentvilles in their youth. Naturally, this was one of her favorite stories to tell - how she beat up eight little rascals that all called themselves the Shadow Espers it was fairly ironic that Presea herself was chosen for that particular element. In fact, Alencia found it so humorous that a low chuckle escaped her throat and a smirk crept onto her face for a minute. However, her attention was grabbed by some chatting. Alencia's icy eyes shifted over onto where the voice was coming from and she spotted Damir speaking to Alvain. Her own expression twisted into a snarl as she glared at the Lightning Esper. "Preston, are you okay? You look like you might vomit. If it's the bag, I can carry it if it's that much of a pain. Although, I guess you've kinda worn that expression the entire time." "No," she growled as she turned to face the other elemental Esper instead of the shape-shifter. Initially, she wasn't sure if she was speaking up in retort of what the Lightning Esper had called Alvain, or if it was about the bag. Settling on the bag, she continued to speak. "He can handle the bag. Mind your own business." The Water Esper spat over whatever else the Damir boy was muttering to Alvain. Because, whatever it was, it wasn't important.

Continuing to push forward, she turned back around and finished leaving the ceremonial building. While she was not in the best state to push out of the building, she knew that she needed to. Her arms and legs were aching and they had almost felt as though they were completely fluid below the skin - only being held in a human shape because of her skin which was acting as a thin layer of ice. She still felt somewhat nauseated on top of the pains that spotted her body. Her left hand was holding onto the fabric of her clothes that sat above her stomach as she walked forward. If anything, the looking like they were going to vomit statement that had com from the Lightning Esper was more apt to describe her than him. When she got closer to the door, instead of walking hunched over in pain and discomfort, Alencia stood straight and moved outside. She stood tall, with a irritated expression worn on her face. These people should be bowing before me instead of cheering. She pushed her hair over her shoulder and made sure that she remained with a strong face instead of the weak one she had exposed within the building. After all, today was the last time any of these other villagers would see her like this. For the next time she returned to this area, she would probably no longer be a normal human. No, she would return a hero, inhuman, immortal, and most importantly - even more powerful. Therefore, these weak people would need to see that she was powerful, they would need to remember her strength - even in her moment of weakness. That way, they would be even more fearful when all her powers were awoken.

Walking down the steps that lead up to the building, she moved past the large collection of people. She wanted to get out of town and actually begin practicing the abilities which had been awoken. Pushing past everyone, she motioned for Alvain to continue to follow after her. He was her pack-mule, and therefore really the only important one of the bunch. While, yes, Presea would be good for practicing against while they made it to their destination, she was not as particularly important as Alvain was in her eyes. Her arms were crossed arrogantly over body as her eyes shot glares at random people she shoved her way past. One of those people she walked past was her parents - Brandon and Cynthia Brentville. The woman had opened her mouth, and air escaped. She perhaps even spoke some words, however, Alencia wasn't interested in whatever goodbyes she was going to give her. No, the only positive thing that her parents had given Alencia was the gift of life. Other than that, she viewed them as a useless bunch that only catered to her whims - like servants. Her eyebrows furrowed as she just pushed them away from her and continued on her way out of the gathering

Once she was free of the people who had amassed in front of the building. She cast a glance back behind her and took in the large gathering of people who were still cheering and staring at each of the other Espers which had slowly escaped the building and too trickled into the crowd. Alencia was just glad that the nonsense was done. There was going to be no more piddling around in town for her, no. She wanted to get out of this place now. Whether or not anyone else other than Alvain followed her was of little worry. She was confident that even if it was just the pair of them that were ahead of everyone else, that she could at least manage to keep herself protected. The iffy one would be the Animal Esper. Speaking of... Her eyes darted around and she spun in a circle as she looked for the boy. While they were of the same age, she still viewed him as more youthful - if only because of how easy it was to boss him around. But, it was at this point that she noticed the man hadn't followed after her. Letting out a huff of agitation, she momentarily contemplated returning back into the crowd to collect Alvain - especially considering the fact that he had her bag. "Tch. Whatever." She scoffed as she turned her back to the large collection of people and pushed her hair back over her shoulder.

As much as she wanted to get the pack mule, the Water Esper opted not to. For, as much as she wasn't showing it, Alencia was really quite excited. She just had the elemental power of water awoken within, and now it was a matter of putting those skills to the test. Her mind flashed back to the words she had read from her great grandfather's notes and about the powers of the Water Esper. Initially, his notes said, the Water Esper was fairly weak, mostly able to just kinda create bubbles and very small amounts of water. But, it was what she would be capable of doing after enough practice and the twenty-four hours passed that she was looking forward to. She wold be able to create ice. And, ice was far more sharp than water. Therefore, if she ever found herself in a pinch, she could easily create and freeze the water to make a weapon for temporary uses. Continuing to move forward, she eventually found herself out of town. It was there that she would await for Alvain - most importantly. Then perhaps, she would begin to push forward towards the castle.

As she traveled to the western gate, her mind began to play scenarios that they could encounter on their journey. There were many possible outcomes that could happen before they even finished one evening out in the forest. The Espers could get attacked by bandits, monsters, or they could even struggle to find food. And, while the journey to the castle was shorter than some of the other destinations that one could travel to from Yelaria, it was probably going to be a challenge. For, while Alencia was certain she packed enough of a punch to fight off whatever may attack her - there was still only so much she could account for. Would they even find food on their first night alone? Would they get lost on the way to the castle?

The more Alencia strode through the city and eventually wound up at the West gate, the more possibilities plagued her mind, and the more she actually felt that perhaps, it would be best to travel with the other espers. As much as she didn't like them, or how overly friendly they all seemed to be with each other. She still couldn't help but feel like it wouldn't hurt to depend on them. "But, I won't ever. Depending on another human is weak and pathetic." The Water Esper muttered to herself as she reached the large arching gate. It was constantly open and definitely was nothing fancy - still decorated with festive items from the ceremony the previous night. The gate more was just a break from the wall which encased Yelaria and was nothing fancy. More or less, it was just an easy landmark that she would hope everyone would know to meet her at. Leaning up against the stone structure, she waited.


☸ COMPANY:: People -> No one cyno ☸ LOCATION:: The West Gate cyno ☸ EMOTIONS:: Conflicted, impatient cyno ☸ OOC:: While I moved Alencia out of town, if some of you guys just want to piddle around and collect stuff, talk amongst yourself, whatever you are welcome to. Alencia is just an impatient b***h.

[Promise of Bliss]

cynosuralcataclysm11▸LOCATION: Stairs of the chapel cy||no ▸MOOD: End me, or his incessant talking. Pick one.

Exasperated, Presea dropped her hand. She peered around the room, taking in what those around her were doing. Recovering, for one; it seemed that everyone in the cathedral had been hit with the same freight car that had pummeled her a few moments prior, not one of them quick enough (at least, quick-witted enough) to stay the hell out of dodge as far as the church was concerned. She had tried, she reasoned; she had tried to spare the church the embarrassment of siring her sorry a** in as a blessed disciple... or whatever it was that they expected of her. A vicious growl met her ears, and her eyes combed the room for the source of the voice. Her eyes settled on a familiar girl with monochromatic hair; Alencia. She suppressed a dark chuckle at the sight. Now there was a mugging she couldn't forget. The girl had been stupid to walk alone through their territory; Alencia hadn't exactly been the typical noble blood that she and her fellow Shadows tended to target, but there had been slim pickings as of late and it had appeared she would at least have some sort of valuable trinket lining her pockets for them. Nine of them, one of her; it had all seemed so cut and dry. Instead, the girl had surprised her; of course, the Shadows handled themselves with ease in response to her 'fighting talents', and they took her down with little efforts by number alone. Of course, Presea was certain that she could have handled her alone... blindfolded... with a gimp leg; but that could have just been hubris talking. Still, it surprised her that the hotheaded brat had been picked for what she had considered to be such a relaxed, soothing element. The brat, she believed, was more suited personality-wise to something such as fire or lightening- something as loud and annoying as she could be, but with enough moxie and fervor to demand Presea's begrudged respect despite her mind's knowledge of how she should loathe the girl. It took a rare individual, though, to be so flippantly cocky when faced with a veritable army of despondent child-thieves. And for that, Presea could say that she was, in some very, very small part of her mind, grateful to see a familiar face such as hers among the gathered. Even if she knew there was exceptionally little chance of them seeing eye to eye, or really getting along almost any instance, at the very least it would be a comfort to know one of her supposed allies... even if they spent the majority of the time fighting. Hell, perhaps she'd have a kick a** sparring partner. While Alencia had lost so entirely in her fight with the Shadows, she at least put up a decent fight in the face of adversity; it was something that her Espers held in high regard: the veracity and courage to stand your ground.

The Shadow Espers. Oh great... In the madness of "awakening her powers" or what have you, she had nearly entirely forgotten about her comrades, her friends waiting for back in the fields outside the city. What would they say...? She grinned wryly, shaking her head. She knew what they'd say. More like what they'd do to be plain; they would shun her, reject her, despise her for embodying all that their institution objected to. The horrendous theology of the town was just another aspect of the society that barred them from a proper and normal life. Street urchins remained street urchins, aristocrats aristocrats, and Espers... well, they became Guardians, and Guardians were about as far from street urchins as you could get; she somehow doubted that their earlier camaraderie, their solidarity and unity under the oppression of society, would extend to her now that she had joined the vetted elite in power and popularity. It was a shame, and the knowledge of it managed to cast a dark veil over soul. She should never have come here. She had no business throwing her lot in with such an unreliable, unscrupulous crowd like the ones around her. She had had a life, a family- people who cared about her and treated her like their own flesh and blood-, a functional way of life... Now, it was all gone, wrenched from under her like a tablecloth from beneath a fine set of tableware- everything was still in tact, but the piece that brought the entire display together had simply been removed in one swift snap of the universe's wrist. She gave a small, defeated sigh. Presea had seen how spiteful the group had been when their elder, Ailea, had fallen in love with a noble; hell, she had been one of the spiteful ones. Somehow, going off to gallivant the countryside with the Espers seemed significantly more unforgivable than marrying rich...

But it was just that, wasn't it: unforgivable, unredeemable. Whether she turned tail and ran now or not, she had no place with the Shadows as long as she bore the mark of the true Shadow Esper. If this had all been some cosmic joke as she had first suspected, wouldn't the priest have dismissed her as much as looked at her? Wouldn't he have recognized the error immediately and turned her away? Surely that had to be true... surely this could actually be something to invest in, something to work for. She couldn't go backward, not now. Nothing lay behind her now but a bridge in flames, wrought by the tumultuous fury of the abhorrent natural order. But in front of her, if she chose to be optimistic about something for once in her life, stretched incredible possibilities, a wealth of opportunity to succeed, to honor the faith that had been put in her as a chosen Esper, a chosen Guardian. She had the potential to be someone people could be proud of, satisfied to have as their guardian... or at least, she could attempt to not suck at it... As a guardian, she would have more sway, more respect in the community. Perhaps she could even find a way to make the newfound glory to assist those she was leaving behind so surreptitiously. Certainly that had to be possible. She smirked. Yes, there had to be a light somewhere in the darkness; somewhere in the shadows, a pinprick of sun beamed over her, guiding her to what she knew she must do. Of course, she could do it alone. The Espers were a group, but the Shadow Esper was a solitary unit, and needed to overcome her own trials in order to achieve her goals. No, she would not lean on any of her company outside of absolute necessity. Hell, if she played her cards right, it was possible they wouldn't even notice her or bother her at all. Even if they did, she would just have to shuffle them off quickly and pursue her goals. Since she seemingly had been chosen by whatever moronic deity or higher power had decided to make a fool of her this time, Presea would simply have to attempt to be worthy of the position... she found it somewhat doubtful, but she had to have some kind of hope considering denying it outright had done her no good. She peered around, assessing her surroundings. If she was lucky, perhaps she could manage to sneak out of the chapel before one of the chummier Espers sought to make light conversation...

Presea was not quick enough. "But you have to be... you have the Shadow mark." The woman's narrowed blue eyes sliced over the speaker. She gave her a cursory once-over, finding that the girl before her left something to be desired; Presea was unable to determine just what it was, but part of her wondered just from her intonation if it wasn't a realistic outlook on life. How difficult was it to comprehend that some people did not belong, and were at least reasonable to understand the way the world worked enough to be self-aware? But still the silver-haired girl looked to her in confusion. Presea's disinterested glower seemed to be affecting the poor thing as she shifted nervously under her gaze. She peered out the threshold, searching for something. Was this the sort of thing that families came to celebrate? Their beloved children being condemned to either kill someone or be killed themselves in the process? Yes, this sounded like a perfect situation to applaud. She would think it was a situation families mourned- it was undeniable that they may never see their child again. Was being chosen by the church that sought after that people would willingly throw their children to the wind in a ditch effort for some sort of fabled glory they would never themselves reap? She was perplexed by the entire affair. For someone like her, it did not matter if she never returned (not that she had any intention of dying, but she realistically needed to acknowledge the possibility), but the people around her had a home, they had a family... and yet they felt honored, they looked pleased to turn their lives over... it made no sense. "I mean... Come on. We gotta get going, right?" The young girl smiled at her quickly, then ducked away and through the open threshold. Presea rolled her eyes. The girl was so... bright. It was irritating, to be sure. Hopefully she would not have to appease that girl too often... "Yes, let's hold hands and skip to our doom together with great haste!... thrilling..." she muttered under her breath. Such plucky people irritated her to no end; she had no intention of facilitating a rapport with someone like that- it would only end in irritation.

She had wasted enough time here. Presea pushed herself from the keystone behind her, turning to make her exit. The sooner she departed, the sooner she could find some escape from the swelling chants of the crowd outside. She turned her eyes to the door, stopping short in shock at the spear-point that met her eyes. Her heart leapt in alarm, eyes widening as she registered why- the spear donned a shining apple, a punitive bite missing from one side. Her eyes normalized, her countenance adopting its typical guarded indifference. "Apple?" It was a simple offer, one that Presea could not determine as authentic or not. The tall woman had no obvious reason to be facetious, but the thief was always wary of new potential adversaries. She pushed the spear gently to the side and out of her face. "I think I'm good." she replied curtly. The woman shrugged, looking nearly less invested in the exchange than Presea had been. With that, she turned and took her leave, and the Shadow Esper looked after her in confusion. The mark on her face had been striking, intimidating, and her long hair shone with the same brilliance as a blazing fire. Ah, so this was why Alencia had been skipped over on the fire front- yes, this woman did seem to fit the whole 'furious flame' motif that Presea had expected the element to embody. At first glance, the woman seemed level-headed, unobtrusive.... yes, perhaps she could stand her...

"Presea, is it? You look... well like the rest of us, so kinda beat up." Or perhaps they were all blubbering idiots... Who simply approached someone and thought 'You know what I should tell her? I should tell her she looks terrible. That will build some stellar rapport.'? As he spoke, she felt her expression fall from distant to positive deadpan disinterest, willing him with her vacant, empty eyes to just. stop. talking. But it seemed that he couldn't help himself as he went on, "But something a bit more with you, almost like you are lost." Is this guy for real? she thought to herself, quirking a brow. His hapless floundering was laughable, nearly as laughable as his presumption to know anything about her. She looked him up and down once, measuring him in her mind. She had heard the phrase "better to keep your mouth closed and be thought a fool than open it and remove all doubt." It seemed he had never heard it, yet it would no one as much good as he. She took a deep breath, containing her natural hostility for the moment. He at least seemed well meaning... so he was just an idiot. Her patience was likely to run thin with him in the future (potentially near future depending on his next statement), but for now she could be... cordial, she supposed. "You do lay the grace on thick with that tongue of yours. You must have a girl aching for you at every port." To be fair, the poor boy looked taken aback at what he said himself. Perhaps her cordiality could use some work. She scoffed a bit, smirking. Hell, she was tactless, she knew, but apparently still managed to put more thought into her own speaking than this moron. He managed to shake off his stumped expression, continuing. "Come on, let’s get outta this crowd. Can't hear yourself think and we have a long journey to get started don. We can talk on the way."

She turned to face the door, dread creeping across her expression. All of those people... something about being under the prying eyes of the city, the heavy gaze of the people she had absently seen, stolen from, and forgotten, just seemed daunting. She'd have to stand before them as a chosen protector. What a humorous idea. The lady who had plagued the town as a leech for nineteen years was now to watch over it in arguable divinity. Presea snuck a glance to the back of the church. A back exit...? But no, even if there was one it was doubtful that she would reach it. Her bottom lip jutted out in disappointment, turning back to the man in front of her. "I'm not terribly chatty, sir." she told him, reaching back and pulling up her cloak hood. If nothing else, she could hope to avoid being recognized as she weaved through the crowd. "But if you can keep up, I don't mind letting you talk at me if it makes you feel like I'm listening." She did not wait for him to reply. Without so much as another look to him, she pushed herself forward, exiting the temple. So many had already ducked out of the building, fanning out to... well, whatever. Probably meet with their families, gather supplies, or what have you. She had no such need. What she needed was to get moving already. In their haste, however, no one had determined just where to meet. She supposed she could thank them for that- if everyone got separated, perhaps she did not have to concern herself with keeping her distance. Perhaps they would just... never find her. She chuckled at the thought. That would be positively sublime. It was probably an absent hope, though; the Castle they sought was to the west, and only one road lead where they needed. That left her heading for the West Gate. She sighed heavily, her eyes combing the crowd below. They did not seem to be terribly taken by her arrival. Perfect, she could duck away without much intervention. She stole a quick glance behind her, idly curious if the fool had decided to tail her so aptly, then shrugged it off and began descending the stairs.


▸COMPANY: Eirik (?)cy||no ▸OOC: Let me know if I need to change anything!

[Scrivener_Lost]

This was not good. Not at all. Alvain was caught in a whirlwind of thought as his feet carried him without prompt, his arms laden with his heavy long coat and Alencia's bag. The spear of sunlight from the open doors sliced into the previously darkened interior of the church creating a bright sheen on his glasses that made it quite difficult to see. But that was far from his mind as another drop of sweat eked out from underneath his hair, his knees attempting to buckle underneath him. No. He was going to keep moving. He felt foul. He felt...different. The awakening had not been at all like his mother had explained it to him, nor did he recall any of the lessons during school regaling the exact effects. It was terrible! I'll have to propose an addition to text, he thought begrudgingly to himself. He itched. Itched everywhere. His hands, his face, his legs, his chest especially was driving him crazy; he felt as though his skin were crawling and it was terrible. Everything is terrible. Becoming an Esper was terrible. Seeing all these people after years of only associating himself with the principalities of Government was terrible. And knowing that his entire lot in life was changing was terrible. The worst. Of all the elements...why couldn't I have something actually worth having? That awakening was...terrifying. Is that...is that what my powers will be like? Ugh. I can't do this. This is all terrible. Horrible, foul, terrible-"Preston, are you okay? You look like you might vomit." Alvain blinked as his mind returned from the bitter encampment in his head as he shot a sour glance at the boy who dare to speak to him so flippantly. Alvain's eyes rolled directly in front of him as he trapped a breath in his chest, his nose wrinkling in distress as he debated on whether or not it was worth speaking to him. He sucked in air through his nostrils before clenching the muscles in his jaw as his gazed drifted to the right before rolling into the floor, looking everywhere else aside from Damir before he raised his chin and peered at the young man from the corner of his eye. "W-well, how astute of you," Alvain spat. He furrowed his brow deeply as he pulled his coat in tightly against his chest as though to protect himself from the whelp and prevent the...wait...what element is his? The Animal Esper felt the hair rise on the back of his neck again, though this time not from the terrible sickening transformation, but out of realization. "The Element of Lightning has been awoken within you, Damir Braniti." Violet eyes widened behind the frames of his glasses as he felt his breath seize in his chest. Lightning! Ooohh nooo.... He tucked his jacket in closer as he took a half-step away from Damir only to have Xeniel approach them from behind, her overwhelming...presence overcame any sense of nervousness that had been filling him. Alvain's eyes drifted over her large presentable cleavage before drifting up into the rafters (the only safe place to look) as a red blush washed over his face. Damir was speaking to him again, "If it's the bag, I can carry it if it's that much of a pain. Although, I guess you've kinda worn that expression the entire time," but his thoughts were focused on just exiting the church without making himself out to be a bigger fool than he already felt.

But the heat of embarrassment was replaced with the cherry hued warmth of momentary shame as Xeniel spoke her frustrations. "Weakening of one does not strengthen the rest." Alvain let his eyes fall from the rafters as it turned into a bitter scowl as it drifted over the pair that were speaking to him. He glared at both of them for a moment before he opened his mouth to respond with heated earnest, only to watch as a flicker of flame burst in Xeniel's hand and the woman act with surprise. She's surprised? She's surprised!? She is the Fire Esper! She needs to control...ah! Alencia's bag! Alvain mewed in shock as Xeniel dismissed the tongue of fire with a flick of her hand, raining sparks down upon Alencia's bag. "Wha-aagh! What are you do-" "You hate this whole thing that-" "No."Alvain froze in his kneeling position on the floor, his hands stuck in mid-motion as he attempted to brush away the signs of the fire kissing the material of Alencia's personal luggage. She is going to kill me! She is going to kill me! Alvain winced preemptively, just waiting for the girl to rain upon him blows as she had done when they were younger. "He can handle the bag. Mind your own business." Alvain was well on his way turning his lip into chewed beef as he waited with bated breath until Alencia was beyond the church doors before he slowly stood with a final brushing of her bag, tucking his coat under his arm as he glanced at Damir with an apologetic look. Though, he was unsure of which he was more sorry for; Alencia's words or perhaps how pathetic of a companion Damir and the others would have to deal with while they traveled. He set his jaw as he lowered his head and quickly strode out of the church with a frantic pace, his boots smacking against the floor as he hurried out into the fresh air. The church had been so stifling. So suffocating. So...terrible. As he walked out into the mezzanine of the church steps, he paused as his eyes fell over the large crowd that had gathered. Alvain's lips parted as violet eyes sailed over the faces of the town; some familiar, most strangers. But he could tell from the sheer numbers that nearly everyone was here. He watched as hands clapped jovially at his and each consecutive introduction of the Espers brought a fresh wave of applause and cheers. For those who were well known in the city, the voices rose to a feverish pitch. For those of lesser means or of hardened states, a simple murmer of appreciation. It was expected, after all, that the Espers would receive such a reception. As it should be. For these eight would be more or less taking on a pilgrimage that would either ultimately end in death or servitude to a higher power which would strip you of your humanity. And as he gazed out at the crowds that cheered loudly for the well-known Preston heir, Alvain could only feel fear. Because no matter what happens...Yelaria will know our fates. If we try to return home prematurely, these...people will strike us down...if we fail...these people will know of our shortcomings...and no one will ever remember you... Alvain swallowed as he slowly descended the steps, his shoulders bunched up as he gazed uneasily from one person to the next. All of these people were here to see them off and offer up congratulations.

His eyes followed tiny Evelyn as she rushed into the embrace of a woman. Her mother... He thought enviously as Nathaniel approached his father and mother. He watched these people and their children, feeling a deep dark pit of hatred and jealousy fill him. They were loved. Desired. Wanted. And they would be missed. Violet eyes drifted to Eirik as Alvain watched a small group of friends bow. A bow. Alvain huffed. And there was Alencia's mother, her words of love simply cast aside in the icy wake of her daughter as the girl strutted out of the gathering. His brows wrenched together in an arch of pity and sadness as he stared at the man and woman for a moment, a stinging bubble of hatred for the Water Esper as she so blatantly cast aside their love and affection. What I wouldn't do to see my mother's face in the crowd... He thought with venomous jealousy as his eyes continued to pick up various actions of love and his ears consumed multiple words of affection. And though he knew he was not the only Esper missing a parent, or both, he cared little for their wants and needs as he simply thought about his own hurt. He wanted to see his mother. He wanted to embrace her like Evelyn had held her own mother. He wanted to share comforting words with her and allow her to soothe his fears. But that will not be... And he knew it. He could also feel the bitter regret continuing to consume him as he thought about the missed opportunity to visit her grave in the rose garden before he left the grounds. If not mother...perhaps even father would have been acceptable. But he could not see the rigid man amongst the crowd. He could not see the cold hard eyes that had stared at him his entire life. He could not see the man who controlled Yelaria from the shadow of the Mayor. Swallowing heavily, Alvain let his eyes fall to the compressed dirt path as he turned to follow it to the gate. He would have to find Alencia soon or else she would most assuredly find him and reprimand him for straying too far from her. The young heir was only able to take a step or two before a familiar carriage pulled up near the back of the crowd. Several people parted the way as the door swung up and from the comfortable depths of the vehicle, Thomas Preston gazed over the crowd of people until his eyes found Alvain. "Alvain." At the mention of his name, the young heir straightened his back and lifted his chin, as he had been taught when being addressed by his father or men of higher class. He swallowed nervously as his father waded through to crowd, finding himself quite unprepared for his original wish to be granted. Now, he wanted nothing to do with the man. Stepping up to his son, the Adviser in the royal red pressed suit gazed down at the newly awakened Animal Esper, the man several inches taller than his son. "So. You are now an Esper." Alvain swallowed as his father's eyes curiously rolled to the items tucked in his arms before meeting with Alvain's gaze once more. "Yes, Sir." "Hmm. I see. So you will be departing now." Alvain nodded curtly. "Yes, sir, to Castle Ceth-" Alvain's words died on his tongue as his father held up his hand while shaking his head. "Do not tell me. It is bad luck," he responded with a subtle sigh at the end of his words. Alvain gazed at his father for some time before his felt the need to stare at some very interesting grass growing between the cobblestone. Then a warm and foreign presence gripped Alvain's shoulder tightly. Almost painfully. "Your mother knew this day would come. She always did. There was never a doubt in her mind that you would not be chosen," his father muttered. Alvain felt the muscles in his jaw tighten as he wrenched his features tightly together as he felt both anger and sorrow pull on him. "Now that you are an Esper, you have a duty to uphold. Including your fellow Espers. You all owe it to this village...nay, the world to succeed in your tasks or die trying. Make sure you remember this, Alvain. Do not come back to me a failure. Do not let your mother's dreams and hopes die with her." The hand removed itself from Alvain as the Adviser gave him a final squeeze before turning and walking back to the carriage, leaving the young heir-no. No longer was he an heir. His father had just denounced him as such. He was now just an Esper. A token to be played with by the Gods to fulfill their whim.

"You hate this whole thing that much?"

Alvain took a series of short sharp breaths before his eyes drifted upwards to the carriage where it was already pulling out of the crowd and making its way to the Mayor's place of residence. He huffed heavily before he placed Alencia's bag on the ground as he pulled the long coat over his frame, the weight of the jacket comforting as well as the presence of the rapier on his hip. Plucking the woman's bag from the ground, he cast one last dismissive envious glance at the people gathered before heading towards the perimeter of the town. Walking through the village instead of being on horse or in a carriage was much more troublesome than he anticipated with all of the damned roots growing into the streets, grabbing at his ankles and forcing him to trip. It was so much more dirty as well; bugs flying in his face, dirt caking on his heels, and debris littered along the roadsides. It was all terrible. Completely terrible. He didn't enjoy walking this length of distance by any means. And when he approached the tall archway that served as the Western Gate, Alvain was huffing quite loudly as his eyes picked out a familiar presence lingering at the opening to the village. He stood at the crest of a small sloping hill as his violet eyes lingered on Alencia, the terror of his very being. His boots scraped along the road as he paused, his eyes peering down at the girl as he continued to hold her bag. This is stupid...all of this is terrible...why should I have to deal with her? Why should I have to force myself to be around those fools? Why did I get picked to be the weakest element? Do I hate this whole thing that much...? Yes! I hate it well enough! He breathed in through his nose before releasing it. I am only going because mother would have wanted me to... But if he could not convince himself, who would? As he reluctantly took a step forward, the Esper of Beasts found himself slowly succumbing to the inevitable whip and lash that would come from Alencia as he finally caught up with her. He trudged on, closer and closer, with his feet dragging as though they were made of lead. Eventually, he stopped a few feet in front of the Water Esper as he let his eyes take in her impatient appearance as she leaned against the stone gate. He took another cautious step closer before dropping his eyes to the ground. "First one here," he muttered to her. "You always have to be first, don't you?" He remarked, gazing down at the toe of his boot as he dug it into the freshly churned dirt. He blinked rapidly as he attempted to garner was little of his fading courage he had, his eyes darting about nervously. "Maybe...ah...you should carry your own bag. F-for security purposes, of c-course! I have a habit of dropping things..."



〖 Ｌｏｃａｔｉｏｎ: Yelarian Gates 〗c 〖 Ｃｏｍｐａｎｙ: Alencia 〗c 〖 Ｍｏｏｄ: Nervous, cautious, anxious 〗c 〖 ＯｏＣ: 〗


Cynosural Cataclysm



"Talking"
'Mofo erizzle.'

[Kairakoi]

Evelyn Δ Kathrine Δ Avila

One by one the Espers were beginning to trickle out of the Church past her. She had returned to the front door area, assuming other Epsers would be going on the next leg of their journey together. Alencia has stormed right out of the square, followed by the Shadow Esper, Presea. She had heard the girl mutter something to her when she was leaving, and she still had no idea what it was as she watched her stalk off. It was a shame she was intent on being alone and so grumpy. Evelyn was sure they could be good friends if she would just open up. Alencia too, though she had already disappeared. Her tall brown-haired punching bag of a shadow followed, carrying her bags. On the one hand, she was happy Alencia had someone like him who would put up with her holier-than-thou personality. She seemed like the type who might have trouble making friends. But on the other, she was sure that if he had the bravery, he would sooner not carry her bags for her like... like her servant. He came from a noble family, right? Wouldn't someone like that usually find such a thing degrading? He spoke with his family before leaving. She wondered what his father must think of him, watching his son carry someone else's bags. She let the thought leave her mind. It was really none of her business anyway.

She touched her new necklace, her eyes panning around the square watching the other Espers walk away from the crowd. She really didn't want to make the journey to the Castle by herself. The only other Esper who seemed to have her idea was Nathaniel, the tall, handsome blonde man who had introduced himself rather clumsily earlier. She had seen him talking with a man before he joined her. Like her mother, the man had given something to Nathaniel. She assumed then, that must be his father. She did what she could to not look back at her family. She was afraid of the journey ahead. Intrigued, but frightened. "You have no regrets now that you've said goodbye, right? Let's hurry up to the entrance of the village while everyone else says their goodbyes. There's no need to waste time dawdling around here while everyone else gets their closure." She rubbed her eyes, cramming the welling tears back in the ducts they came from. No one liked a crybaby. What good was a cry baby on a quest? She nodded, "No regrets. But..." There was one thing. "I need to get something before I leave, or I'll never forgive myself." Her face was a mask of serious thought. "Join me?"

Evelyn had noticed the absence of a familiar face in the crowd. She intended to say goodbye to a dear friend, and maybe pick up a little something for herself. They were walking away from the West Gate where the other Espers were surely heading, but it wasn't much further. They may only be a few minute behind if Lucas didn't talk too much. She felt a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. It was a terrible thing to hope that her friend would not want her to stay and chat. Hopefully he would be busy. Maybe she would leave out that she might not be coming back... She realized she had been silent for at least two streets now. "Oh! It's right up here..." She pointed to a small shop. The air, as they approached, grew warm and smelled of baking breads and buns. Lucas' shop was not busy this morning. She should have known, most of the townsfolk were probably still just dispersing from the square. Soon though, the smell of bread would bring the villagers flocking his way. At least she would get her pick of the litter. She shifted her bow on to her left shoulder and pulled her pack around with her right. She hadn't left much room. This excursion was a last minute plan. There was enough for a few buns, or maybe a small loaf. She pulled out her purse and stuck a finger in, pulling out a piece. The baker had a relationship with her Aunt. Their family farm supplied much of his wheat. In return, he offered the entire Avila family a steep discount on his goods. "Lucas!" She called in a sing-song voice into the back of his shop.

A thin, muscular, balding man covered in a fine white dust came out into the stand, wiping his hands with a rag. "Evee, How are you this morning. Were you at the square this morning? Did you see who was chosen? So much for not talking about the espers. Her smile slid off her face, "I saw. Lucas, I was really hoping to get one of your cakes before ... we leave" His face read only confusion, and hers read pain. Perhaps it was a mistake to take this detour. "Ah yes, and who's this lad then? Did you want to get something too?". Evelyn looked up at the Esper of Light, allowing him to introduce himself or not as he chose. Returning to the conversation, she pointed at a small loaf of bread littered in seeds. "Could I get that one, please, and that cake... you know the one I like most... with the flowers. I couldn't leave town without having your cake one more time. A sudden wave of understanding seemed to hit Lucas all at once, right in the face. We need to get moving, Lucas. The others are probably waiting for us." He fetched the cake and loaf, wrapped in a thin cloth and gave the man her coin. The look on his face said he might have given it back if Evelyn hadn't started to walk away. "Thanks Lucas. Goodbye! Say goodbye to your wife for me!" She waved over her shoulder, not daring to look back once she had turned around. If I look back, I am lost. It was a phrase that seemed to be becoming her mantra. A sad phrase.

"Thank you, for coming with me, Nathaniel." She said quietly, without looking up from the road, as they strode thought the streets toward the West Gate. She hadn't expected her trip to the baker would have been so full of emotion for her, and she hoped it hadn't been too awkward of an experience for Nathaniel. She had only just met him after all. The feeling of the warm bread in her pack gave her comfort, like a fire lit in her heart. It wouldn't be there forever, but it would be long enough to give her the strength to leave home for the first time. "Who knows the next time we could get some good food, right? I almost want to eat it now while it's warm." A joke, she was still full from her send off breakfast with her family. She was almost back to her excited cheery self by the time the shop was out of sight. They were almost there, perhaps a few houses away and around a corner from the site of their impending departure. c It was also sort of a sly way of trying to figure out if Nathaniel was planning on taking off on his own too. She was nervous about making the trip, but to embarrassed to admit it or ask for company from this man who was still, more or less, a stranger. If it hadn't been that they were both chosen, she doubted she would have ever felt remotely comfortable in this situation.

As they rounded the last corner, she could see that the Espers who had so quickly vacated the square were all still piddling around the Gate. It was something of a relief. There is strength in numbers, especially when those numbers where Espers, she supposed. Alencia was there already, with Alvain. She wasn't thrilled that they were the first there, Evelyn would have liked a bit more of a buffer between that awkward situation and herself. She might end up saying something to them she would regret. She hated to see a person used like that. If He had seemed at all happy about the situation, or excited about Alencia as a human being, she could probably overlook the whole thing. But mostly, the way he was tense around her, it was more like he was scared than in love. But maybe she's just a bulldozer kind of lover... Bringing her thoughts and eyes back from their lock on Alvain's thin figure, She saw Presea was lingering by the gate as well, and it looked like Eirik was not far behind her. With a deep meditative breath, the Air Esper slowed her stride, falling a step behind Nathaniel, and letting him take point the rest of the way to the gate. She had never been outside the walls of Yalaria before. The expanse of land beyond the gap in the wall was intimidating.

Breathe...


Nathaniel, mostly. Other espers some. : Who
Just about the West Gate: Where
Foolish, Frantic, Eager : Feeling
... : OOC

[Sheezur Cannoli]

Nathaniel Lafontaine, Esper of Light

All of the Espers had finally left the Church, and while he was beside Evelyn he observed each of them a bit more to see what he could learn. The most important thing he noticed was that they were all at least attempting to converse between themselves. Communication and trust, especially in a situation like this, was key. Nate wanted to get along with all of the other Espers, but knowing little to nothing about any of them didn't help. Even Xeniel, whom he had known for a few years now, was someone he considered an enigma. However from what he had seen so far, the two who seemed to be the easiest to get along with were Evelyn and Damir. And considering Evelyn seemed to be less busy, for lack of a better word, than Damir he decided he would try to approach her first. That leads us to our current situation.

Evelyn looked like she was having a tough time with everything that was going on. He couldn't blame her however; for eight young people like their group to just suddenly leave homes and embark on journey like the one that was given to them was frightening. Even for Nate, who had spent years sitting in the local tavern listening to stories and telling himself every night, 'One day, I'll go on an adventure just like them...' It truly was a shocking development. Now that the time for him to embark had come, he was having second thoughts. Could he really leave behind this life that he had lived so comfortably in and become an Esper? Why him? Why was he chosen? Weren't there much better choices among the other young adults in the town of Yelaria? And of all things, he was supposed to follow in the footsteps of the Espers of Light? Nate only managed to snap out of his reflection period due the sound of Evelyn's voice. "No regrets. But.. I need to get something before I leave, or I'll never forgive myself. Join me?" Join her? Maybe she didn't want to go alone? It's not like he had anything else to do, considering most of the other Espers weren't ready to leave yet either. "Sure, if you'd like." Well, if she didn't want him to tag along she wouldn't have asked, now would she have? The walk to their destination was rather quiet. It didn't exactly bother him, but it was a bit awkward. Evelyn finally broke the silence after a minute or two of walk, pointing out a small store to him.

The store that Evelyn had led Nate to was a bakery in town that she seemed to be fond of. Upon entering, the two were greeted by rather burly man who seemed to be close to Evelyn. The two chatted briefly before he asked Evelyn about Nate. "Ah yes, and who's this lad then? Did you want to get something too?" The man, whose name Nate now knew to be Lucas, turned to Nate to ask him who he was. To be honest, he had seen the man around the tavern every so often but until now he had no name to put with the face. "I-I'm Nathaniel, and I suppose you could say I'm a friend of Evelyn's." He said, stuttering a bit. He didn't know why he was so nervous; I suppose it was because he had never actually gone shopping with any woman other than his mother, and even then that was a long time ago.

The second question that the baker asked Nate was if he wanted to purchase any of the baked goods. In truth, he had no idea where Evelyn was taking him and had just decided to tag along. Of course now that they were at a bakery and he had been asked something like that, he felt the urge to actually by some bread. He wasn't necessarily that hungry to begin with, but he thought that walking out of the store without buying a thing would be rather rude. "I suppose I'll take two of the plain ones." Nate reached into his pocket and pulled out a silver piece and handed it to Lucas. In return, the baker handed him six copper coins and a cloth holding the two loaves back. He places the coins into his wallet before taking the cloth in his right hand. After the transaction was done, Evelyn said her goodbyes to Lucas before exiting the store. As Nate was about to follow suit, he heard Lucas call out to him. "Listen... I don't much about you, but... Please, watch over Evelyn. She's really a good girl and a valued customer here. Make sure she comes back to Yelaria." He paused at the door before turning his head towards Lucas in order to answer. "...I'll do everything in my strength to do so. That's all I can promise."

As Nate exited the store, he noticed that Evelyn was waiting just outside for him. I guess she really didn't want to go here alone. He could tell based on both her expressions form earlier and the promise he made to Lucas that this was all really hard on her. As the two started to walk to the Western Gate of town, Evelyn thanked Nate for accompanying her on their stroll. "It's alright. I mean, if you didn't ask me to go with you, I probably would have left town without a single piece of food on my possession. So really, I should be thanking you for taking me there." Nate gave Evelyn a nice smile as they continued walking. "Though if I could give you a request, I'd prefer if you would just call me 'Nate' from now on. The only person who still calls me by my full name is my mother. Even Rochefort and the Blacksmith call me Nate." He felt that the sense of familiarity between all of the Espers was important. They were comrades on a journey after all, and while having a nickname was nothing that big, it was a nice way to start a partnership. Actually, a friendship.

The two continued down the road as it seemed like things at the church were starting to die down. While it wasn't everyone, it seemed like quite a few people were walking on the streets again, either to get back to their jobs or to attempt to beat the usual morning rush when it came to buying bread, meat or fish for dinner that night. "Who knows the next time we could get some good food, right? I almost want to eat it now while it's warm," Evelyn mentioned to Nate. It was true; until they reached the next town after visiting that abandoned castle, they would be living off the land for a while. That meant no beds, not much food and possibly very little shelter. They would have to rely on their own survival skills from that point on. While feeding yourself in the wild was already a bit of a task, trying to feed eight of them enough to survive almost felt impossible. He was starting to feel a lot more thankful to Evelyn about buying the bread. "You won't have to worry about that. I'm confident in my cooking skills. I promise that we'll eat like royalty, even while traveling."

Nate and Evelyn arrived together at the Western Gate, where half of the crew had already seemed to have gathered. In front of them were Alencia and Alvain, who were once again in their normal positions: with Alencia still bossing Alvain around. It wasn't fun to watch Alvain struggle the way he did, but he needed to handle this on his own. Soon enough they would all be struggling on this journey: Clawing, scratching and persevering to accomplish their fate as Espers. He needed to realize that they were all equals in this manner. "We should leave them to their own devices, Evelyn. I disagree with the way that she treats him, but Alvain needs to figure all of this out on his own." While he said he wouldn't interfere in Alvain's business, it didn't mean he couldn't indirectly help him by starting something of his own. He walked over to the group and stared at Alencia, looking her up and down. "I'm surprised that you haven't set out on your own, Wench. For someone who likes to call her equals things like 'peasant' and 'worthless', you sure don't look any more special than the rest of us." Saying that to Alencia felt pretty good. He wasn't sure if she'd insult him back, or even acknowledge him, but perhaps seeing someone standing up to her would give Alvain some confidence. After he was done saying what he thought, he turned back to Evelyn and called her over to where he was. "Come on, Let's take the first step out of town together! After that, it will all feel natural. As long as we're all together, you don't need to feel alone."


Location: At the Western Gate of Town
Company: Mostly Evelyn, but now with Eirik, Alencia, Alvain and Presea as well.
Feeling: Nervous, but excited.
Voiced by: Majima Junji
OOC: None.

[sorry squids]

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✘✘ DOING: various ✘ WHERE: church to west gate ✘ WITH: various ✘ MOOD: mostly bewildered, attempting to cheer self back up ✘dundun

It was very hard to say if Preston's biting response to Damir's observations was an attempt to appear stronger than he felt, or if he was simply too irritated to respond with anything coming close to friendliness. When he spoke, Damir realized that the voice sounded somewhat muffled, quieted thanks to the crackling in his ears. "W-well, how astute of you," he said, a retort that may have been more powerful if the noble's tongue hadn't tripped up, or if his eyes had settled literally anywhere, on Damir or otherwise. As if the words alone weren't enough to curve Damir's lips into a bewildered frown, the man actually appeared afraid of him. He had dismissed Preston's earlier avoiding his eye as shyness or introversion - after all, the guy wasn't precisely the most outgoing creature here - but some realization had struck him, and he studied Damir like one would a bear from a distance. I'm not going to attack him or anything. Perhaps he was going to vomit - should they see an doctor before they leave?

Really, though, the response to his offer was far more than he had expected. What he thought he would hear is a "yes" or a "no." Well, he did receive the latter, merely from someone else. "No," said Alencia, very simply, stating the obvious answer. Just, no. "He can handle the bag. Mind your own business." He wasn't sure when she had begun paying attention to anything but the church doors, but there she was, once more glaring at him with that hateful rogue-wave gaze. Did she possess no other expression in her repertoire? Again, Damir met her eyes with little fear but plenty of curiosity and befuddlement. Did Preston here have no autonomy? So long as she wasn't the one carrying it, did it truly matter in whose hands she left it? They were all going to the same place anyways - actually, of all of them, he could most easily imagine the newly-made Animal Esper making a break for it and running off to some other small town, never to be seen again, and yet he'd been selected as Alencia's personal bellboy. Whatever... makes her happy... I guess, he thought with what wasn't quite good will. After all, to him it didn't quite matter that it wasn't his business, since he only wanted to help.

Xeniel, too, had her input. "Weakening of one does not strengthen the rest," she snapped. "I was thinking more along the lines of strengthening one of the others since I won't be weakened by a bag -" His tongue stopped without warning when she proceeded to, to the shock of Alvain, Damir, and Xeniel herself, nearly set the bag on fire with her new powers in a fit on anger. Damir stepped back with widened eyed, startled, as embers sparked on the ground beneath them, singeing the edges of the bag's flap and coloring it black. He felt the heat in his feet, too, as the embers nearly seemed to spread on the stones and bak to his shoes. The place only started to smell of smoke when, suddenly, the source of the flames calmed and stalked off, crimson hair fluttering behind her. Damir shot Preston a look basically just asking for some explanation of the event, although he was probably only slightly more enlightened than the Lightning Esper himself, and with merely an apologetic look, Preston moved on walked on ahead, with nothing close to an answer to his final question.

His voice found that he was able to ask aloud, incredibly belatedly, "What just happened?" Were these two women truly so invested in who carried the damn bag that it warranted such a hostile reaction? What the hell was going on? He shook his head, mildly frustrated; he was just trying to help someone out, there was no reason for Alencia or Xeniel to involve themselves. He supposed if he wanted to try to be optimistic, at least Alencia was civil about how she was controlling the man's every move. The sound of the audience outside washed over him, clashing with his dampened spirits and producing a conflicted mood of agitation and eagerness to just move on. With a second and final shake of his head - this time to unsuccessfully put whatever that was behind him - he moved towards the light that was breaking into the darkness of the church.

When Damir wandered back through the church doors - wandered because, although he disliked admitting such things, being yelled without understanding why tends to leave a little less spirit in anyone's step - he got the same feeling from the crowd before the church as he had the church itself, like in his absence there had been a startling and silent change in everything but looks. They applauded and celebrated the awakening of the Espers, and Damir, in response, waved his hand high and gave them all a flashy showman's grin, a speechless declaration of his plan to become a full-fledged Guardian, with no fear and no insecurity to touch him. Regardless of if others refused to celebrate the opportunity granted them, he certainly would no matter how often he had to have that strange liquid dropped onto his back. His legs were still weak in their steps and he still felt the sparking in his stomach, but he refused to let it stop him. Refusal of the inconvenient and denial of weakness, those were what Damir, in the deep blackness of his mind where ideas could never form into solid thoughts, considered to be his biggest strengths.

He spied his mother in the crowd with his boss from the carpenter's, Duane. . Duane immediately ruffled the Esper's hair with one large hand, the same way he had the day Damir entered his workshop asking for work. "Who'd've thought, Ivana was right! Her boy was given the highest honor!" Damir responded with his sunny smile, showing off the bolts along his left arm to the man with pride. "I thought I was crazy takin' in a kid still in school, but you were good, strong worker. Did anything I asked." 

"Including skip school or stay out overnight to meet deadlines you set," said Ivana pointedly. 

"And he never minded a bit, did he?" It wasn't hard to say who had reinforced Damir's sense of cheerful blamelessness  in his later years. "Ah, we're gonna miss having this one around - my kid can't do those finishing touches like you can. Those upper-class types loved the way you included their sigils or put extra designs on their orders; they're gonna miss you too, even if they don't know it."

"Well I'll come back when I'm done becoming Guardian," Damir pointed out, eyes flicking between them. "I'm not gonna be gone forever." If an adult - say, his mother, or his boss - were to judge his expression, they'd perhaps call it innocent.

His boss took Damir's words as a joke, letting out a hearty laugh. "Who'd ever heard of a Guardian spending his days doing grunt work in some small town? We'd both get crap as long as we lived if we tried that. You've got a new path, boy, celebrate it." With a clap on the back, the boisterous man didn't allow his goodbye to his worker be too long or too solemn. Making those words his final goodbye, Duane became one of many to leave as the crowd slowly split apart and several went on with their lives. Ivana was rarely anything less than a cool head, but when she hugged her son goodbye, her grip was right and she kept her embrace short - it felt like a goodbye squeeze. His mother was never one to face sad events for long, so she left her parting words very simple. "Do yourself proud, Damir." Although he had stated very explicitly he had full intentions to return once he he finished his quest, it felt very much like a final goodbye, as if perhaps Damir Braniti was a dying presence, replaced or reincarnated into The Lightning Esper. When he blinked, he chill of tears lining his eyes stung, threatening to fall to his cheeks. Ivana, too, kept her tears from falling, and their goodbye ended as solemn and quiet as Damir had always hated.

Nikola's goodbye was about as short as Ivana's - neither, Damir supposed, wanted to dwell on the fact their son was leaving town. Nikola, perhaps just less optimistic than Ivana about Damir's ability to take care of himself or others, ensured Damir had everything he needed for days of journeying, including some extra savings that could buy him bread if hunting and foraging ever failed. His final advice and gift were already given - although he suspected from the vague irritation in his son's expression the advice had yet to really reach him - and so all that was left was for Nikola to shove the boy out towards the west (metaphorically) and hope Damir conquered the castle as he was so damn sure he would. With one final hug to his father and another wave to the remnants of the crowd in front of the church, Damir left for the west gate.

Damir was, in most senses outside the physical, a child. Those who thought him childish or instinctually referred to him in their heads as a boy were not wrong for doing so. Naive, senseless, living under the assumption that he could not lose so long as he tried harder, it hadn't quite sunk in prior to his goodbyes that nothing was the same. The people he cared about were still there, but they were quickly becoming something far off, foreign even. And Damir, too, he would become foreign, the embodiment of Lightning, it's protector, one who kept balance with the other elements. These weighed on his mind as he left for the West Gate, leaving him surprisingly muted and thoughtful, and it was hard to not think about it when all the shaking of his head couldn't get the crackling out of his damn head. In fact, electricity ran throughout his body constantly and the sparks kept spitting in his stomach in a way that made eating sound very tedious. As he arrived to the West Gate and picked out the heads of several of their fellows, from the black and white of Alencia to the silver of Evelyn and the sunny blonde of Nathaniel, the meaning of those sparks in his stomach bit at him despite his efforts to ignore it. He wanted to be a Guardian about no less, but now the concept of "consequences" and "effects" was beginning to manifest itself, and he couldn't say it left a good taste in his mouth.

He had spoken without thinking, as he was most prone to, when asking the Animal Esper if he hated this twist in their fates, and although he didn't receive an answer on that one due to other events, he could guess basically amounted to yes, yes he did. The reasons inherent in Preston's loathing, the little details, weren't ones Damir could imagine from a silent response, or really much at all without a detailed explanation, and really he's still couldn't imagine downright despising the Guardian tradition, little inklings of his possible reasons began worming their way into his head. It was a curiosity, something Damir both wanted to delve into headfirst and avoid entirely because of the way it clashed with his own world view.

He supposed, really, as much as he disliked it, it was just another thing to think about on the way there.


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