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Post by Hitotsumami on Oct 7, 2013 14:02:21 GMT -5
Elrond was flat on his back next to Qi, wiping the sweat off of his face. His tongue was sticking out and his eyes were half closed.
"I can't handle it either," puffed Elrond, sprawling out his legs. "I was never really good in hot weather. I prefer the snow... Ughhh someone help us."
---
Asmoday, who had been watching the scene quite curiously, snapped her fingers and a small rain cloud appeared above Elrond, raining cool refreshing water down on him. Elrond twisted his head and looked at Asmdoay, then collapsed again and the rain cloud vanished.
"Well, it was just an illusion.." She turned her attention towards Rooster and the new girl, Cinder. She would wait to see if Jupiter's threat would work before she tried anything.
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Post by Shark a' Pult on Oct 7, 2013 14:42:27 GMT -5
"You can suggest something for the guild sign, the moment you're part of the guild."
He wasn't about to wait to see if Jupiter's intervention prevented a catastrophe, though he did believe that his actions would likely achieve some result, the stakes were too high. Without a moments hesitation, he stepped in the way of the incoming fireball so that it didn't ruin his handiwork. Striking him square in the chest, the force of the attack knocked him back off his feet and he landed on the sign. The damage was minimal however, better at least that being set on fire.
"Ugh."
Sitting up, the mage hunter was smoking, and he quickly pulled off his cloak. Busying himself with upending the bottle of seemingly endless water on it to hopefully douse any flames still burning, he didn't get a chance to see the illusion of a raincloud.
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Post by CJ on Oct 8, 2013 0:29:29 GMT -5
Qi laughed.
Elrond had always amused her and his suffering with her was enough to make the situation much easier to deal with than before. The addition of the pitiful rain cloud illusion was enough to make her giggle. Asmoday might notice this was the first time Qi ever smiled in her presence.
It wasn't until Jupiter called Rooster "cock" that she nearly lost her breath. It was hilarious to her. As she kept laughing, kneeling on the ground, her skin retained its normal tone. She seemed to grow healthier and healthier as she stopped worrying.
"I get it! I have a pun! She's a cock, like a rooster, but she's also arrogant and bold so she's cocky!"
"NO! I'M NOT... THAT!" Rooster protested, her teeth grinding. "DIE, YOU FILTHY HUMAN!"
Kicking her leg back, she was about to unleash a torrent of flame upon Jupiter, much like she had with Alden and Cinder. But nothing happened. She shook her leg, trying to wisp up some flame.
A clanging sound rang throughout the guild hall. Cinder clapped her glass armored hands together as she approached the group, smirking up at the angry, flame-less spirit.
"You all did a fantastic job fighting that summon! Who would have thought Holder Magic was so linked to the user's emotions? I am truly excited about the possibility of joining your guild!"
"What?" Qi asked her friend. "I don't understand."
In that confusion, her skin began to heat up again. She pressed her hands against her chest as she breathed heavily again.
Rooster landed and stood some distance away. She positioned flight goggles onto her face. With a scowl, she approached the guild members as flames lit up about her again.
A pair of eyes watched the group from one of the windows nearby. A shadowy figure was hunched, demon-like in its form. It paid close attention to Alden, who was pouring his bottle of endless water on the decoration.
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Post by Mise™ on Oct 8, 2013 16:20:56 GMT -5
There was nothing funny about Qi's pun, to put it bluntly; it was really awful, or at least Jupiter didn't find it funny, though apparently Qi herself did.
"Wait a damn second... If you're a her you ain't a cock, but a chick. Then why the hell are you the rooster? Damn, you're stupid." Jupiter didn't quite grasp all of this. One thing was clear however his threat hadn't been that effective, the roosterchickencockkfcnuggetswhatever did seem to slow down a bit for a moment, not due to the threats of course, but something completely different, and after a few seconds it started to heat up again. Jupiter wasn't the kind of man who would make meaningless threats so now he decided to do as he said and threw a stool at the rooster's face.
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Post by Hitotsumami on Oct 8, 2013 21:15:20 GMT -5
Elrond was half fainted, the heat too much for him to handle. He was truly the greatest mage in the world.
Across the room, Asmoday guessed it was now time for her to take action. If simple words weren't enough to stop this wild chicken, then she decided to do what she did best, and that was illusions.
Asmoday snapped her fingers, and suddenly the Guild would seem to fade away until it was gone completely. In it's place, it would appear that everyone was miles up in the blue sky, falling down to earth. It would even feel that way as wind blew across their bodies.
"Chickens can't fly, right?"
With this, she hoped to scare Rooster, or at least temporarily catch it off guard long enough for someone else, like Dofun or Alden to calm her down, since they were the ones aware that this was just an illusion. Cinder and perhaps Infintialis might freak out at the sudden change of scenery, being unaware of Asmoday's true magic.
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Post by Shark a' Pult on Oct 9, 2013 13:11:44 GMT -5
By the time everyone was seemingly falling from the sky, the fire on his cloak had been extinguished. It was jarring at first, the visual transition, but Alden couldn't help but notice that despite the appearance of falling he could still feel the floor beneath him. Maybe if he were standing, he wouldn't have noticed through his boots, but he was sitting down so it was hard to miss.
Seeing Jupiter's action, he took cue and rose to his feet. In one consistent action, he got up and spun as he went, grabbing his shield from his back and letting it go when he had made a full rotation to fly at the summon spirit like a frisbee. He didn't much care for the accuracy of it, as he could simply recall it to his hands if it missed.
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Post by CJ on Oct 10, 2013 15:53:47 GMT -5
"No! You're stupid!" Rooster clearly cleverly shouted back at Jupiter. She dodged the stool, just barely. She was about to lash out in further anger at him when Asmoday's illusion of the sky poured in.
Qi let out a yelp as she felt herself hurtling toward the Earth. She had seen a great deal of magic at her time in Renascence, so it wasn't all too hard to believe she had been teleported right into the sky.
But then she noticed Alden's and Asmoday's feet. They were firmly placed on invisible ground. No, they were on the ground. She was on the ground.
Sighing, she smiled in relief, despite her suffering under Rooster's influence. Looking to the side, she noticed Cinder laughing in delight as the illusion of wind blew through her blond curls.
Rooster wasn't flapping her wings. She too fell in the illusion, but she seemed to be content, as though she was relaxing in a chair, falling through the air.
"You stupid human!" Rooster sneered at Asmoday. "Of course I can fly! We spirits aren't subject to abilities of the animals we share our name with. Since when have you seen a sheep fly or a monkey raise the dead?"
In her distraction, Alden's shield hit her right in the back of the head. She fell forward, unconscious.
"Oh, dear."
With Cinder's help, Qi got up and tended to Rooster. She looked as though she was about to cry, upset and embarrassed over the whole experience.
"I'm so sorry, everyone. This is all my fault. If I only I was in control of my magic like you guys..."
"Wonderful! Stupendous!"
Qi's apology was interrupted by the appearance of three mages, who walked right into the front of the guild.
Among them was an extremely tall, muscular woman with a long braided ponytail. Her small eyes were sparkly and precious, contrasting her otherwise harden appearance. Walking side by side with her was a average sized person of unknown gender, dressed in dark black robes. A mask depicting a minimalist red eye covered their face.
Leading them was what could be described as a fraction of a person. He was a short man, who was missing an eye, an arm and a leg. Fortunately, he somehow acquired a metal hook for an arm and a peg leg. His eye patch appeared years old but the rest of his clothing looked new and somewhat expensive.
"That was a marvelous display, mages of Renascence!" he announced with pomptous flair. "Might I now extend my offer to- OH MY WORD WHAT IS GOING ON?!"
The mages began to fall, succumbing to Asmoday's magic without prior knowledge of it.
"BOSS, WE'RE FALLING RIGHT OUTTA DA SKY!" the woman shouted, flailing her arms.
"I CAN SEE THAT! SO THIS IS HOW IT ALL ENDS. WE'RE DYING BEFORE WE CAN EVEN INTRODUCE OURSELVES!"
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Post by Hitotsumami on Oct 11, 2013 14:37:52 GMT -5
Asmoday, now seeing that Rooster had been taken care of thanks to Alden, watched with humor as the three strange people walked into the Guild and immediately fell into the illusion. She chuckled and then snapped her fingers, and just like that the sky vanished, being replaced by the wooden floors and walls of the Guild.
"Elrond, it appears we have guests."
Now that Rooster was out of commission, Elrond jumped back up to his feet, glad that the heat had died down. He took a deep breath and rushed over to who appeared to be the leader, the very short man. Elrond grabbed his metal hook of a hand and viciously shook it.
"Greetings! Grettings! Welcome to Renascence, the best guild! Better than even the side thread, even though I haven't read it! I'm sure you're here to join us, right?" Elrond spun around, pumping his fists into the air. "Everyone, welcome our new members!"
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Post by Kuro on Oct 11, 2013 17:27:11 GMT -5
Dofun had been cackling the entire time, too busy laughing his guts out at the highest volume to even raise a finger to help. For the whole time, he pounded on the floor and rolled around in his mirth, seeing the entire spectacle with Rooster as a rather marvelous comedy. And then everyone fell out of the sky! Well, it looked like it at least. It would have been better if they actually were.
And voila! Three new audience members and they immediately start flailing about! Dofun laughed even harder at their panic, and then of course, Elrond told of the arrival of their "newest guild members". Through his best effort, Dofun spoke through short breaths and giggles.
"I, hahaha, I, hahahahahahahaaaa, I think that, eh heh, I think that they're here for another - AH HA HA HA HA HA HA - purpose, ah ha! I think. Heh. H-hello new audience members! Eh heh, ha ha, eh heh."
He stood up shakily, his eyes hidden behind his mask. The bells at the ends of his braids of hair jingles as he tilted his head this way and that, looking at the new arrivals.
"So! Welcome to our show, soon to be in comic book form! Whooooooooo might you lucky audience members be?"
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Post by Mise™ on Oct 12, 2013 6:40:47 GMT -5
All of a sudden it looked like Jupiter was falling from the sky. He was confused and surprised about this at first, but still tried to act all tough, like crashing to the earth was a no big deal. A bit later, however, Jupiter realized there was something else going on and that he wasn't really in any danger and then the falling ended as suddenly as it had started.
A bit earlier three strangers had entered the guild building and as usual Jupiter didn't trust people he did not know very easily and once again had his suspicion on these people. He wasn't as wary of Cinder as at least Qi seemed to know her, but from their initial reactions it seemed like no one knew these people.
"What do ya want?" Jupiter sounded a lot less friendly than Elrond or Dofun when speaking to these strangers.
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Post by Shark a' Pult on Oct 15, 2013 4:29:58 GMT -5
"Letting people in just like that?"
Alden didn't know what to make of the new arrivals, though after Cinder's little entrance, he had a feeling that they were mages and that they were probably here with an interest to join. Or to challenge, he couldn't be sure, as he didn't know how these magical types usually operated.
"That easily..." he muttered to no one in particular.
Taking the chance to put his burned cloak back on, he maintained a disdainful gaze upon the new strangers lest they try anything. An unfortunate side-effect of his profession, trust did not come easily for him. At some point while observing, he thought to himself how willing Elrond was to absorb anyone and everyone into Renascence, and what this could mean for the guild. He kept these thoughts to himself of course, but noted them as one of the reasons he would end up leaving sooner or later, once the person he was waiting for showed up.
Erstwhile, he gave the banner a glance every now and then, still a bit stumped on how it should stand out at the festival.
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Post by CJ on Oct 15, 2013 11:15:06 GMT -5
"Oh yeah," the hook handed man laughed with Elrond, "the side thread's a bit of a doozy but it's great once you start reading it. Ain't my style but those cool cats sure know how to write."
Turning back to the large woman and the mysterious mage, he blushed and scratched the back of his head with his hook.
"Can you believe it? We've found ourselves a new home! I can't wait to make friends and go on all new adventures- wait a minute."
The man frowned and tapped his only foot on the floor. He turned around and shook his head in disapproval.
"We're not here to join your guild. We're here to do business. From what I understand, you, Elrond Vir, and your guild defeated the evil guild that had been roosting in this town for a long time now. Some even say you saved the world.
"I want to be associated with that kind of reputation. But not all of my colleagues and I are mages. Instead of going on adventures like you folk, we sell items to equip magic to those who unfairly are born without it."
The man blew a whistle and grinned ecstatically. Behind him, his two lackeys spread their arms out in a cheesy, dramatic fashion and wiggled their fingers.
"We are Narthan's Magical Item Mart, where anyone can be a mage! Only about 10% of the population works in guilds and other magical occupations. The rest don't utilize magic or don't have it at all. Our products give you the advantage you need to stand out amongst the competition or to fend for yourself in danger, with or without magical blood."
Responding to Dofun, he introduced himself and his lackeys.
"I am Narthan and with me are Pink Petal and Susano-san. I know you all think Susano-san is the coolest member of our team. Focus groups and survey polls composed completely of 8 to 13 year old boys have shown us that he is most likeable of the group of characters I work with for his mysterious nature and undefinable personality that people can project onto."
Pink Petal leaned down and whispered in Narthan's ear.
"Boss, if ya put me in da spotlight for a little while maybe I would get more votes?"
"Pink Petal," he growled in annoyance, "our fair and completely unbiased polls show that people don't like you and that is precisely why you can't be in the spotlight. It's bad enough that I let you keep the spoils of our last mission. Now shush."
Smiling facetiously, he rubbed his good hand and his hook together.
"We're here to present one of you with a fantastic new product! We're willing to give it for free as thanks for saving Elm and, more importantly, to help get our name out in the magic item business sphere. Now, who among you uses holder magic?"
"Xing Qi possesses holder magic!" Cinder shouted gleefully, gripping the summoner's arm and waving it about.
"I do use holder magic," Qi confirmed with a sad smile, "but not the kind they're looking for. Even though I don't have a gift like Elrond, Jupiter or Dofun, I possess magic that can be transferred into conduits like summoning keys. I think he's talking about someone Alden, who uses mitems that do not require magic to use to their fullest effect."
"We've got a try hard over here!" Narthan exclaimed with a haughty laugh. "Joking aside, that's exactly the kind of person I'm looking for. Who's this Alden? Do you think he'd be interested in one of our fine, free products?"
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Post by Hitotsumami on Oct 15, 2013 11:51:27 GMT -5
Elrond looked delighted when it seemed like the group of three were going to join his guild, but looked disappointed when he learned that wasn't the case. Still, he listened to what they had to say.
Elrond's imagination went wild when the group started talking about magical wares. He imagined staffs that could control the elements, or a magic mirror that could see into the future, or a golden ring that could summon spirits!
Elrond stepped up. "Oh, uhm... I also cannot use magic, just like Alden here! I am merely a man. I definitely need some really cool stuff!"
Asmoday felt more relaxed when she found that these three weren't joining the guild and were merely salesman. She found out quite quickly that Elrond wasn't the most reliable, so she took it upon herself to keep an eye out of new members. When it came to what they were going to sell, she also kept an eye on that. You can't trust anyone that quickly.
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Post by Shark a' Pult on Oct 16, 2013 3:29:09 GMT -5
"If you can call it magic, but sure, I guess that sounds like me."
If people were throwing his name around so freely, he couldn't remain an observer so the mage hunter spoke up. Of course he didn't exactly hold high hopes for this lot, but they hadn't given any reason to be hostile towards them at least. Perhaps even, they might not be a complete waste of time.
"I'm more accustomed to taking what I need rather than it being given, but it couldn't hurt to look see. What I want to know is, why are only... holders, you called it? Why only them, why couldn't everyone here benefit from what you're offering?"
Normally, if the things they were offering were free, then Alden's interest would have dropped faster than the side guild's posting rate. That said, it had been quite awhile since he'd gotten something new to use, and since his time at the guild his usual array of items had been rather lacking. He had hoped to get something out of the sun incident, and using a bullet on Samson ideally would have netted him something quite powerful. Unfortunately in the process of saving the world apparently, whatever item he may have gotten from the rogue mage was destroyed, and only a few lifeless shards remained.
For the time being though, he didn't let his hankering for something a little more new and perhaps useful, get the best of him. His suspicions were somewhat arisen when it seemed almost too convenient that the strangers offering free magic items immediately sought out the person who was known for relying on such objects.
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Post by Mise™ on Oct 16, 2013 13:16:57 GMT -5
Jupiter still wasn't trusting towards these strangers. It seemed like they were selling something, but then they weren't and were giving it for free. In other words something very shady.
They were also looking for someone with holder magic and Jupiter had that, the magic to move the marbles wasn't from him, it was from the marbles itself. That did not mean that Jupiter didn't have magical powers himself though, he had several times more than most mages, but was just never taught how to properly utilize them. Regardless he did not speak on this matter, and instead just angrily stared at the salesmen.
Jupiter's guild mates were, however, a lot more eager to talk to these fools and even willing to try their services. "I should have guessed, I'm surrounded by idiots."
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