[Void] An End, To All Things

[endejester]

"I think we need to hurry." Zac said quietly, assuming the others felt the same thing. "The only stuff they have for their mission statement is right here, nothing for brainstorming or anything useful. It's pretty... halfassed if you had to ask me. I mean I suppose they weren't expecting anyone to have to figure anything out but. It's Like they just expected us to know because they did." He Rubbed at his eyes.

"We're going to see fall out, regardless, and other than it says it needs four people, with a fourth as a focal point, and... Absolutely no shock here, Renard is our Focal Point it seems, we can try with the suggested symbols and hope for the best."  

[Blade Kuroda]

Shun Kuroda

Shun narrowed his eyes as he felt that foreboding feeling in the air. The mention of Renard did remind him of something else, though.

"The Enemy, Renard, had been attempting to do something with magic before all of this. Something that should not have been done. I do not know the extent, but it was implied to me that it would cause stagnation of the world. And somehow Sunny and Ashdown as we know it came from all of this."

He drew in a deep breath. Given Heliodora's warning about needing to stop him from doing as he pleased with magic, he wondered if the Enemy, himself, was going to make an appearance shortly. They were in a space where it felt as if they could do just about anything with magic. Good or bad.

"So. Symbols. Tree, door, scales, shield. Any other ideas? Beyond that, we need to figure out how to actually cast it. And who can cast it."

There was a way to combine all of the above, he figured. Tree in door, with shield on tree, with scales on shield. Though he wasn't sure if three was a magic number here.  

[The Semblance of Unity]

Preacher Maria

She scratched her cheek thoughtfully, trying to keep her hands busy with no knife to fiddle with. Well, she had one, a pocketknife, but it was the principle of the thing.

"How about we set it all up as a heraldic shield thinger? Iffin we do a per pall inverted shape, we can use tha shield to encompass all. Protection is paramount, I guess n' s**t." She moved her fingers in the air, outlining the shape in the air in front of her. "Stick a tree in the bottom bit, fer stabilization and roots n' junk. Then door up there for freedom and, I dunno, doorshit. Scales opposite it to balance it out. Equal parts, yeah, but for differin' reasons with an all-'round protection-y feel." Preacher shrugged.

"'less someone else got a better idea. I feel kinda weird with big dude Renard as a focal. N' we ain't as magical as the other peeps, so I don't think the whole only four people thing matters. We prob need as many focusin' on magic as we can get." Preacher didn't know what else or who else to suggest in any event.

----------------------------

Temperance Clark

"I do carry it, I have to." It was Per's skull. His death was her fault and so she carried that with her, too. Temperance shrugged, turning over the skull in her fingers before placing it back in her messenger bag. Maybe she could string it on a necklace. She watched as America lined up the objects.

Then she frowned. "What's the difference between magic dust and regular dust?" Temperance looked up suddenly, her frown deepening. "I.. feel like something's watching us. Coming. Sorry, it just.." Then Zac spoke, echoing her thoughts. Time was running out.

"Mission: To fix what was broken and rework the cage into..." She trailed off. "I'm not sure..."

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chiickadee

prolixity

blade kuroda

cibarium

lizbot

daekie

kolina

micillia

kitsuneaura

quite uneventful

shibrogane

 

[cibarium]

Eve

After taking notes, and listening more to people's thoughts, Eve produces a tentative sketch and passes it around for people to consider:



"The tree is rooted in your shield," she nodded to Preacher, "and the roots frame a door, creating protection and access. The door, I think, is an expression of trust as well as freedom. I couldn't think of how to work in a scale... so we have branches in different seasons to convey balance over the passage of time. It's not as nuanced as our predecessors, I think, but maybe it's a start?"

She fiddled with her hair a little, in a rare display of anxiety. "As far as a mission statement... I believe part of it is allowing a balanced world to self-actualize. I'm not sure how to phrase the rest."  

[Blade Kuroda]

Shun Kuroda

"Unless Renard is still trying to pull s**t, I do not think he needs to be the focal point. The teens were purposely trying stop him before. Given the circumstances that brought us here... perhaps our focal point should be Sunny. And for the record I do not think we should be rebuilding a cage. Stability does not need to come in the form of a prison."

Shun glanced around, then eyed the little sketch that Eve had made. It was a starting point, though he wasn't sure how to tweak the design just yet.  

[Smerdle]

Chester Poole; 19/19

He listened and he tried to comprehend, but Chester felt much like he had at the ball—clueless and stupid. Better to leave the cages and seals to those who had an inkling of what they meant.

The change in the air urged him to finally move, shuffling closer to Bird Girl from the bonfire, Seven-Eleven, and... he thought her name started with a T, but he was always rather distracted when he went to the doctor and he couldn't be sure. It seemed a shame to call her Blood Girl, but there was nothing else. So many people he knew. So many he did not.

Chester had a number of small, meaningful items in the bag slung across his chest, but he didn't take anything out yet, waiting to see exactly what all of this entailed.

chiickadee

The Semblance of Unity

lizbot

 

[chiickadee]

Chel stuffed the picture back into her pocket.

"All I got with me. Maybe got a penny or somethin' somewhere." Dust off creatures? Handmade inks? Unfortunately Chel was in short supply of all three ingredients.

"Why don't you go on an' make one fer you an' I'll catch up or somethin'." A lame response to homework she couldn't turn in.

im on my phone u know who u are

 

[lizbot]

America Jones

"Biggest difference is this dust is from Other Ashdown. Way I figure it, pretty much everything there has a whiff of magic about it, maybe living things more than the rest. The dust acts as a binding agent of sorts, helps fix the magic and meaning into the object." Her eyes go toward knife. "If there's gonna be blood business with the sigil, that might be its role."

Flipping to the back of her notebook, America tears out two pages in the pack and hands them to Temp and Chel. On each, carefully drawn out by hand, is a sort of shield design, on the back include a list of the three key items she's already gone over. A closer look at the notebook reveals several more pages with the same on them. "This is the shadow shield."

While they study the glyph, America uncaps the ink and pulls out a small brush. Tracing the air above the coin, she goes on, "I like to feel it out a bit until my hand gets the motion down. Not the best artist, y'know?" And then she dips the brush and a steady, careful movement, draws out the glyph onto the coin. "This is the not magic part. You just gotta be careful and have a bit of patience with yourself."

The dust is applied liberally over the wet ink. "I usually fo over 'bout once a week to find more dust. I was a ******** excellent girlscout right up until I was kicked out."

Holding her hand over the coin, America goes on, ignoring the increased sense of urgency with a focused calm. "Now put a hand over mine, each of you, and I'll walk you through the magic." She glances up at Chester lingering nearby, eyebrows raised and smiling, a clear invitation.

the semblance of unity

chiickadee

smerdle

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Preacher Maria

Preacher stared at the paper for a good bit. "This'un a good idea. I like the roots n' stuff. If tha scales're important we can... hmm" Somehow, Preacher managed to produce yet another pen, this one of the multicolored ink variety. She clicked it a few times to get the colors she wanted and sketched something alongside Eve's drawing. Then she passed it back.

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"So I'm thinking run with roots n' branches. Each thing got its one place, but they all interconnected with the branches. The roots reaching out the bottom of the shield for stability n' them arching up to be the base for both tha scales and the door. Door should be right open, I think, if we'd goin' for a freedom vibe." She wrinkled her nose in thought.

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endejester

shun kuroda

cibarium

 

[endejester]

"Honestly right now I'm almost tempted to say we should go for wisdom over freedom. It feels like we could use a good dose of... I don't know, knowing I guess or clarity. What if rather than have the door be open we use a Key... that way there is a day out but metaphorically it can stand for a lot of things."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[Daekie]

"A key, the tree, and the moon, maybe," Alexis says. "The moon is magical, right? I know Luna's used in pagan s**t -- seems like a good enough substitute. Shield seems like it'd be too restrained." They shift restlessly from foot to foot. "We need to get this done. Quick. Somethin bad's gonna happen."

endejester

 

[Blade Kuroda]

Shun Kuroda

"Just using a symbol for the sake of it being magical is not going to help us. It needs meaning too. I also do not know if wisdom in the sigils would necessarily help here. Adoelle and the crown's role was effectively that, from the sounds of it. And neither she nor we have that much more insight for it. Whether things sound too restricting or too liberal, this is why I stressed balance," Shun grunted. With a shake of his head, he folded his arms.

"Do also keep the mission statement in mind. As well as who our focal point is centered upon. The original teens wished to fix the wrongs of what Renard had done. So they created a cage. One that ended up being a prison for us as much as it was for Renard. Our goal is to essentially fix the tears in the world, and to stop Ascension from... obliterating everything, yes?"

Endejester

Daekie

 

[endejester]

“The Moon symbolizes a lot of things, if you or one of us don’t know the meaning, maybe ask to have it looked up or defined before you say no. One of the things it embodies is enlightenment, inner knowledge, different phases mean different things too, it’s also a symbol for the soul, and I’m fairly sure for adaptation as well.”


he took a breath and let it out again before continuing.

“And they didn’t just want to fix what he did WRONG, from what I have learned he nearly tore the whole damned world apart. Sunny is PART of the cage, breaking the cage could very well be part of what broke HER. More than that I think she IS magic, so if we don’t include some symbol -for- that in this we may not keep her from doing anything. I vote the focus stays on Renard, and we include magic as a symbol. And despite my earlier vote I’d say closed door with a key just because we do want a way out, but maybe we don’t want everything to RUSH out since we are sort of doing this in a hurry. But At the very least I’d say yes, moon might not be a bad idea.”

Besides, we never really did get a chance to find out if Adoelle was wise and helpful. She sort of died.”

Blade Kuroda

 

[Blade Kuroda]

"The moon does symbolize a lot of things. It also could mean immortality or well... darkness, or a bunch of other s**t. But if you are going to suggest something that has such a broad variety of different things it could represent, bring up which ones you want to utilize. You also forget that Adoelle was also one of the ones who was pushing us to break the cage. That could very well have been her wisdom and guidance, but I am pretty certain I heard you shouting about not listening to a teenager that wished to die earlier at some point," he pointed out, "...And quite frankly nearly ripping the world apart sounds like something ******** wrong that Renard did."

Shun drew in a deep breath, closing his eyes.

"The problem is that we do not know what Renard was attempting to do with magic. We know more about Ascension. Not a great deal more, but it is still something. Out there, she was all of magic. I have heard that we need to do something about Sunny in order to defeat the enemy. If there is a way to make it so that she is just a normal person, and not the avatar of magic, it would have to be through this, I believe."

He did also recall being told that Sunny must die for them to succeed. But given how many people in here were fond of the girl, he did not bring this up. There was nothing saying about allowing for some sort of rebirth in that regard, anyway.

Endejester