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Post by CJ on Sept 25, 2013 22:25:11 GMT -5
Fallen leaves decorates the path to Renascence guild. They crunch under the steps of prospective members, eager to join after rumors that this new guild saved the world from a terrible and evil magic.
The Harvest Festival is set to begin that weekend in the town of Elm [PLACEHOLDER UNTIL WE DECIDE ON A NAME]. It is an annual fall celebration, commemorating the hard work of the town for that year, years past and years to come. Once, it was to celebrate the literal harvest. Now, it rejoices in all forms of labor. The festival is filled with food vendors, games and more. It was something that many looked forward to, weeks and months beforehand.
Having not had a respectable guild since the early days of Fable, the town mayor approached Renascence as to whether or not they would participate in the festivites. Elm had a tarnished reputation for Fable's alleged involvement with dark and evil magic and recently with Atrum as a newly established dark guild. People saw Renascence as a breath of fresh air and wanted to support the rookie guild as much as possible.
The mayor, in particular, wanted to reward them for putting a stop to the "Atrum's evil doings on the mountain." It was also agreed that the guild would put on a magic demonstration for the town. They were also allowed to have a booth set apart for recruitment, which the guild would design for themselves.
---
It was night before the Harvest Festival. The sun was near setting, creating an orange glow in the wide open guild hall. The place was littered with arts and crafts, laid out for whoever wanted to use them for decorating the recruitment sign, creating props or working on other activities.
"Hello hello hello!" a peppy voice called out. "This is the guild Renanscence, right?"
Entering through the doors was a tall, slender woman with blond, poofy hair. Her pink lips were locked in a constant purse. Her cheeks were rosy, making the blue of her eyes pop. At first glance, she seemed to be wearing a form fitting baby blue dress. But closer inspection would reveal the light reflecting off the glass armor she wore above her outfit. Even stranger was the glass moccasins she wore on her feet. She appeared to walk so gracefully that the moccasins were under no threat to shatter or break.
Placing her hands on her hips, she glanced at each and every member there. Her eyes were beautiful, but seemed oddly critical.
---
Meanwhile, sitting at her desk in her dorm, Qi was stumped.
Asmoday. The name appeared to be inspired or dervied from "Ashmedai" or "demon." Asmoday wasn't a common name. Then again, Xing Qi wasn't common either. Still, Qi couldn't accept that the name was a coincidence.
She heard the name during a conversation between Pollux and her Celestial Spirit, Monkey. Apparently, there was a powerful mage once named Asmoday, who used to be Monkey's summoner. Her magic was so strong that her disappearance nearly a century ago didn't hinder Monkey's presence in their realm. Before she vanished, she bestowed the name "Janus" to Monkey.
Janus. Two faced. One who looks to the past and the future. Qi found herself smiling at the irony.
But when she asked him about his former summoner, he couldn't recall much at all. Seated on top of her dresser, his tail thumped against the wall as he thought.
"All I remember is a lot of pain. I'd fuddle around with Fable business and then... black. I'd be in the pain again. I'm sorry, I know you're frustrated. The other spirits are getting impatient with me too. If my former master is still around, one of them could be trapped too."
"I'm sorry, Monkey."
"No. It's over now, oo-kee? Got to move on, kee? You know, I've seen that girl with your guild. I'd keep an eye on her but I wouldn't put any blame on her. She's a real piece of work, but she's nothing like the Master I knew. If you were facing my Asmoday, none of you would have been left alive."
Qi might have not been alive anyway, had it not been for Astral Lance and Pollux's sudden arrival. She failed then and she felt was failing now.
"I bet the others could have beat her," she said. "I'm useless. I wonder if they're being nice to me because they feel bad for me."
"Oh, come on, Master-"
"I told you. Don't call me 'Master.' I don't want to be associated with that Mikas guy. Call me something else."
"Oo-kee, right. Ms. Ruby. You know that's not true. You're not at your peak. You've just got a bit more growing to do. You're barely a teenager yourself."
"I'm 18," she frowned.
"What!" Monkey faltered, slipping off the dresser. "I mean, of course you are! I'm joking! It's just that you're so tiny and adorable. I mean, small in stature but respectable. I mean, oh... I'm making this worse..."
Qi sighed, focusing again on the papers at her desk. She really was getting nowhere on this issue. She wondered if she should talk to the others, or if it was too late to consider that at all, considering Asmoday was now as much of a part of the guild as she was.
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Post by Shark a' Pult on Sept 26, 2013 0:31:41 GMT -5
"What? Oh yeah, this is the place. You from the festival, you need something?"
Alden stood over the big recruitment sign on the floor, so anyone could access it to spruce it up. He was trying to think of how to make it stand out though, in a way to give a good impression of the guild. Unfortunately he was stuck in the process, partly because he wasn't entirely used to the culture of Fiore yet so he didn't know how to emulate billboards and banners here, but mostly because of his lack of magical capabilities. It seemed a no brainer that the guild would have some showy display of magic to attract people, but Alden couldn't help in that department.
"If you're here about the booth, we're not ready yet. Just make sure we have a space, and we'll be there on time."
He wasn't sure who the new person was, the woman with the glass shoes, but he didn't pay her much mind beyond a passing glance, believing her to be an organizer for the event. He spoke to her, as such.
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Post by Hitotsumami on Sept 26, 2013 12:22:52 GMT -5
Elrond was the on the floor, his hands and face splattered with all different colors of paints, as he attempted to create his own sign for the recruitment and the Harvest Festival.
"You know, I've heard of this Festival when I was younger," mentioned Elrond to anyone around. "I heard it's always a lot of fun! I bet we'll get so many new members!"
Just as Elrond said that, a woman appeared at the door wearing... what looked like glass armor, and she was asking about the Guild!
Elrond jumped up as quickly as he could, slipping on his wet poster and flipping a paint bucket on his head. He tossed it off and fumbled his way over to the woman. He cleared his throat, stood up tall, and grinned.
"Yes! As Alden has said, this is Renascence! Do you want to join? Well, sure you do! Go on, choose a room!" He spun around, pumping his arms in the air. "Everyone, welcome our new member! YEAAHH!"
Like always, he was getting ahead of himself.
---
Upstairs, in Alden's room, Asmoday was flipping through some of his stuff, just curiously going through it. Although it was Alden's room, Atrum decided she'd share it with him, weather he'd like it or not.
She went to a window near the huge clock, and looked out at the city. The moon was high above. She'd been told that they'd have a festival tomorrow, and that she should come up with some kind of cool display.
Her specialty was illusion magic, so she felt confident that she could make quite a show.
"This is kinda fun," she giggled to herself.
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Post by Kuro on Sept 26, 2013 17:02:36 GMT -5
"DID SOMEONE SAY FUN"
The clown broke through the doorway and tumbled into the room, his hammer at the ready as he stood in place and looked around frantically. "Fun, fun, fun?! The magic word of the day, of every day, fun! Whooooooo said it? Was it you?", Dofun asked as he bent over backwards to look at Asmoday. The door was in splinters, several of those splinters sticking out of Dofun, who was still holding a hammer and was almost bent backwards in half, looking at the newest guildmate upside down.
"...Fun?"
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Post by Hitotsumami on Sept 27, 2013 21:37:38 GMT -5
Asmoday jumped in surprise as Dofun barged through the door. She looked at the strange man. Even now, she knew very little about him. With his mask and his funny personality, he appeared more like a cartoon character than an actual mage.
But she was not mistaken. She knew he was strong. He was strong enough to send Mikas' magic back at him, and even so strong to copy the sun magic. It was dangerous, so she knew she couldn't take his looks so seriously.
"Greetings, Dofun," she said with a small smile. "Come up here for fun? Hmm, perhaps I could use you, actually. For fun, that is."
Asmoday turned her attention out towards the dim city. "Tomorrow is the festival, and they want me to use my illusion magic to create a big display. Well, I have a couple of ideas, but if you could, say, copy my magic, things might get even more interesting..."
She looked at him with a smile. "Hm, what do you say?"
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Post by Mise™ on Sept 28, 2013 5:56:47 GMT -5
Some time had passed since Jupiter had joined the guild. He had quickly claimed one of the rooms in the guild house as his, though there was nothing really special about it. He had also donated his magic fax machine to the guild, which he said he had used to receive mission offers, though not all missions were sent this way. As a person Jupiter was pretty much the same as he had been before, short tempered and prone to getting in trouble. Also now finally his business cards had the correct name for his guild; the error he had made took him surprisingly long to notice. While the others were busy making the preparations for the upcoming harvest festival, Jupiter had left the guild house behind and was now climbing down the cliff towards ocean, in search for something. It wasn't that Jupiter wasn't going to participate in the festival at all, it was just that he wasn't the type for preparations, much preferring to improvise things, which usually was a recipe for disasters. ”So it was here, like uncle Matt had said.” Jupiter thought as he moved some rocks revealing a cave behind and then entered it. It wasn't a very deep cave, in fact it was only about 10 meters long, and only barely beneath the guild house. It was very dark in there, as should be expected. To bring light to the room Jupiter used his marbles to reflect the sunlight from one marble to the next, until the cave was illuminated. In there was a gravestone and on it was text that read 'Sah 'Saturn' Turner', who had died at the age of 42, about 100 years ago; two years after the disbandment of the previous guild that resided here, Fable, which he had famously been a member of. ”Why would anyone be buried in a place like this?” Jupiter wondered. It really was odd why there was a grave there, in a place no one would ever find unless they knew where to look. ”I guess he wanted to be buried near the guild, but why in the hell down here?” ”What's this?” Jupiter wondered as he saw something a bit further down this small cave. It was another gravestone, which read 'Red Mercury', who apparently had died at the same time as Saturn, but had been a bit older, dying at the age of 45. How he could have missed it until now was one of life's great mysteries. ”Who the hell is this? I think I've heard of someone named Mercury before... Maybe he was another member of Fable...” Jupiter was wrong however; there had never been anyone of that name in Fable. ”There's no damn treasure in here... Not very surprising.” Jupiter spoke to Saturn's grave. ”Where the hell did you hide all of your fortune? I heard you had a lot of money, but you left nothing to us, dammit. I did find your damn safe and after spending hours busting it open all it had was two lousy bottles of wine, I think it was known as Screaming Eagle. In my anger I broke those. Who the hell leaves wine in a damn safe?” ”There really ain't much else for me to do here...” Jupiter figured and decided to leave this hidden graveyard behind. ---
Since they had saved the world a few new members had joined Renascence and among them was a man known as Infitialis, who at the moment, sat around one of the guild's many tables, looking depressed, which was how he always looked. He had a gray and messy hair, was dressed mostly in gray and he both looked and sounded a bit foreign, having an unusual accent. ”Oh we should prepare for the festival. This will be good... Oh wait it won't, everything will go horribly wrong. We shouldn't even attend.” Infitialis was always like this; he would say that something very negative and then just disappear to be miserable somewhere else, just like he did this time.
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Post by CJ on Sept 28, 2013 8:20:58 GMT -5
"I am not from around here," the woman responded to Alden with a sly smirk. "But I am glad you will be ready for the Harvest Festival."
She stifled a laugh at Elrond's excitement. He certainly was something, contrasting greatly from the business oriented Alden and especially Infitialis, who looked incredibly depressed.
"Ah, every one is jumping to conclusions. You all have a lot to prove to me before you can ever consider me a member of your guild. I am not one to trust reports and rumors when I have not seen the evidence with my own eyes."
Indeed, it didn't seem like she was very impressed. After all, these three were apparently her only examples of Renascence.
"I am called Cinder Ellington, Servant of the Glass. I am here for one purpose. No, two. Two purposes. No, three. Oh, blah blah blah."
Placing her hands on her hips, she walked over and shook her head in disappointment at the Elrond's poster in particular.
"Now, where is your guild master? Surely it is odd that a normal member would assume I would be welcomed immediately amongst you."
---
Qi sent Monkey to his realm after they couldn't come to any more conclusions. Excited to get back to work on Harvest Festival decorations, the small mage made her way slowly down the dorm hall. She never minded having to rely on her cane, only when she joined Renascence. It was just one more thing that separated her from the rest.
At the very least, she could help the others in decoration. It was a small thing, but it made her feel included.
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Post by Shark a' Pult on Sept 28, 2013 23:36:35 GMT -5
"Where is the guild master she says, that's a good one. Prepare to be disappointed."
If she came all this way to give them a test, chances are she came to the wrong guild, or heard something about Renascence that she shouldn't have. Either way, there wasn't much Alden could do on the matter, so he turned his attention back to the big guild sign. Moving a plank of wood lightly with his foot, he turned his head to try and look at the display from another angle.
"Wood and nails aren't a problem, but there needs to be something to make it stand out. I wonder what the festival policy on fire is..."
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Post by Hitotsumami on Sept 30, 2013 10:39:11 GMT -5
Elrond's face continued to light up at everything the woman said. "Cinder Ellington? What a name! Cinder Ellington of unlimited purposes! Yes, suits you well for my Guild!"
However, when Cinder asked where the Guild Master was, Elrond was taken aback. "Perhaps you are not suited for my Guild... Oh, what am I saying? Of course you are! My name is Elrond Vir, the Guild Master of Renascence!"
Elrond then spun around and pointed towards a door that lead to a hallway. "Now, let's find you a room."
---
Asmoday chuckled and nodded at Dofun. She had just told him her plan, and she hoped that the clown would agree to it. After all, it sounded like something he'd want in on.
"A lot of fun, yes?" asked Asmoday. "That's the word of the day, after all."
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Post by Kuro on Sept 30, 2013 13:25:17 GMT -5
Dofun shook his head furiously at the offer, laughing in glee as he did so. "Fun, fun, fun, yes! That's the word of every day, ha ha! It's been too long, too long, TOOOOOOOO LOOOOOOONG since i've had a proper, celebrated, festive performance in front of an audience!" His eyes sparkled in awe and nostalgia behind his mask. "Ah, takes me back to my glory days, yessssssss. I'll be more than happy to help you out! You and me, we'll blow them away! Ah ha ha ha ha! I love it!"
He leaned on his hammer and looked at Asmoday. "Sooooooo, just what did you have in mind, hmmm? I'm up for anything you say."
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Post by CJ on Oct 1, 2013 14:55:43 GMT -5
"Mister Vir," she smiled kindly. "I am not joining your guild before proper evaluation, but if I was, I would need more than a mere room."
It seemed Alden was right. Elrond wasn't exactly respectable in Cinder's eyes. Before the two could open the door, Qi came into the room. She gasped at the sight of the glass mage.
"Xing Qi!" Cinder cheered.
"Cinder!" Qi exclaimed. "What are you doing here? Do you know Elrond?"
"Oh no," she laughed, smirking at Elrond, "he and I were getting acquainted. Did you not get my letter? I am selling glass art at the Harvest Festival so I decided to visit you and your guild while I am here."
Leaning on her cane, she frowned terribly.
"I'm so sorry, Cinder. Your letter probably hasn't been processed yet. The Post Office was ransacked during the chaos not too long ago. We haven't gotten any mail in a week or so."
"Really? That is awful. Oh! It appears as though you have new keys!"
Cinder gently took the cane away from Qi. She smiled at the golden artifacts.
"Oh, yeah. I did. I might not be a weakling much longer if I manage to get some more."
"Weakling? Goodness. Elrond, I am sure you have noticed but Xing Qi does not give herself enough credit for anything. Let us see, if I remember what you taught me, this is Horse, Snake, Monkey... haha, I cannot believe you got this one of all the ones to get! This is the height of hilarity!
Qi face-faulted, reaching her hands out to her cane.
"Wait, Cinder! Don't-"
"Rooster!"
A bright glitter of light erupted in the middle of the group. A child as tall as Qi appeared amongst them, looking like some sort of fiery angel. Her hands looked like bird talons. Her wings were sanguine. Her black pigtailed hair flared upward in bright red tips. Her combat armor looked corny and completely out of place with her sport sneakers.
"I'M NO ROOSTER!" she shouted, her face scrunching up in anger.
"Oh, are you a Chicken then?" Cinder asked with a cute, innocent look.
"I AM THE PHOENIX."
As the summon's flaming aura grew stronger and stronger, Cinder kept egging her on.
"That is not what your key says. It most definitely says Rooster."
"DON'T MAKE FUN OF ME!"
Rooster make a dashing start toward Cinder, who laughed loudly and ran the other way into the guild hall, as though she was merely playing tag.
"Hahahahaha! This summon is incredible!"
"Mercury's Fury! SPEED FIRE!"
Kicking the air, Rooster created a torrent of fire balls that blasted throughout the hall. Not only did they threaten to destroy the decorations, but also the guild house itself.
"Glass-make: Gorgeous Wall!"
Rooster's fire only served to melt the glass wall Cinder put up in front of her. The summon shrieked as Cinder struck a taunting pose. She began to fly after her as the mage ran circles around the hall. With every flap of Rooster's wings, bits of fire rained down on the floor. Some even threatned to hit Infitialis nearby.
Alden might have wondered what the festival's fire policy was, but he would learn today Renascence's policy.
Meanwhile, Qi didn't seem like she was able to stop the situation.
"Hot," she muttered, kneeling on the floor. "So hot."
The summoner's skin was pink. Beads of sweat poured down her face.
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Post by Shark a' Pult on Oct 2, 2013 20:27:08 GMT -5
Everything was burning around Alden, but he seemed quite deep in thought. He just held his chin and turned his head from side to side, trying to examine the sign from different angles and how it could be improved.
"Maybe... some little bits of colored glass? If they reflected some of the light..."
Whereupon some of the fire caught to the sign, the mage hunter was yanked back to reality and his expression was a mix of anger and worry. Using his boot to try and stamp out the fire on the sign, he grabbed at his necklace and began to shake the bottle attached. A continuation of this uncouth display by the summon and the prospective member, would warrant something akin to a fire hose blast in the face.
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Post by Hitotsumami on Oct 3, 2013 11:24:38 GMT -5
(Kuro I PMed you with Asmoday's plan)
After telling Dofun about what she wanted to do, she hopped off her seat, closed the window, and made her way to the ladder that lead to the third story floor. "Well, I think that'll work, don't you think Dofun? Now, let's go downstairs. I saw someone enter a few moments ago. We should introduce ourselves."
And so Asmoday stepped down the ladder then took the stairs down to the first floor where she saw the rest of Renascence's mages gathered around. Infintialis was at the table, looking as depressed as ever. Alden was having trouble with some fire. Guild Master Elrond and Qi were speaking with a new woman.
Asmoday thought to herself that the numbers were growing, and wondered just how many they'd gain after the festival. However, the Guild soon became threatened as the new mage started battle against what appeared to be one of Qi's summons...
---
Elrond was about to start bargaining with Cinder about joining the guild (offering half the open rooms), but before he could, a fight broke out between her and Rooster!
Fire flew, some striking the ground. Elrond gasped and attempted to stomp it out, but to his surprise, the fire seemed to go out on its own, and the charred floor beneath would repair itself on its own. He would have mentioned this to the rest of the Guild, but there was more important things to tend to.
"Calm down you guys!" said Elrond, but it didn't seem like it would work. He looked over at the rest of the guild. "Uh...?"
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Post by CJ on Oct 5, 2013 23:22:32 GMT -5
Stopping in the middle of the chase, Cinder actually paused and looked over Alden's design. She pressed her delicate hand to her chin, pondering the piece of work.
"These are excellent colors you are using here. This will really get the attention of the right people! Might I suggest a few things though? It seems you could improve on... oh, dear."
"DON'T IGNORE ME!"
Rooster flapped her wings in place above the two. She was burning in anger, and physically too. Her pigtails billowed upward with the flames that surrounded her body. The summon spun around vertically in the air, creating a fire ball with the motion of her leg.
The fireball would hit as Cinder was in the process of making a glass wall with her magic. The wall would only be finished enough to protect Cinder, though not Alden or his creation, unless he or someone else did something.
---
Breathing heavily, Qi knelt on the ground, leaning on her staff.
"Elrond... someone..."
Her skin was burning. A normal person would burn themselves if they made contact with her. It seemed to be a side effect of Rooster summoning herself to their plane. Clearly Qi didn't know how to control the summon with magic alone.
"She doesn't like to called Rooster... if someone could speak to her... calm her down..."
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Post by Mise™ on Oct 6, 2013 2:21:45 GMT -5
"What the hell is going on?" Jupiter returned to the guild house and was greeted by a quite a sight as all hell was breaking loose there and Jupiter himself wasn't even the cause of all the mayhem this time, at least he didn't think he was. How could he?
"Don't ya worry, I got this!" Jupiter told Qi. He was going to try to calm down the rooster, but apparently he wasn't allowed to call it a rooster so he needed to come up with something else. "Hey, cock!" Yes that works. "Quit that crap or I'll break your damn nose." This probably wouldn't help the situation, but at least Jupiter was trying.
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