Journey of the Elementals RP (Pm if Interested, Started)

[UnusualStranger]

Seth watched his doppelganger for a moment,not sure of who it was or what was going on. Regardless, there was now a second....him standing there watching him. There wasn't really an expression he could put on him, but then Seth imagined that is what he would probably look like if he was all dark and pulled into existence. However, the real question was what he should do now. Would he follow himself around? Maybe practice with him?

Regardless, he noted that Gabriel was already trying to speak with his, and Drew, probably to spite Fei in some fashion, was already touching his. Not really sure what he should try, he figured he would try something simple. He gave it a small wave for it to follow him to somewhere else on the deck, and walked over to the edge to see the storms as they finally began to leave them behind.

Somewhat to his surprise, his shadow had followed him....kind of. It simply shifted over to the railing where he was and seemed to be gazing over at the storm as well.

Alright, they don't walk, which is interesting. So.....are you a clone? Or another part of me? Maybe just an example? Could I turn you into something like Fei wants to?

Seth was more focused on trying to figure out what he was dealing with, not even paying attention to anyone else any more. Course, that didn't stop him from saying something out loud.

"I think this fellow over by me is alright. Seems to have the right idea how to do....stuff."
[hr]

As Gabriel spoke hesitantly, his shadow, just as hesitantly, raised a hand and gave a small wave. The expression on it's face did not change, and it did not speak.

[hr]

As Drew poked at the shadow of himself, it seemed to respond in kind, giving him a very light poke back. It did not really seem to react to the poke that Drew had given it, the expression on its face not even changing from the blank stare. It simply kept its finger pushing ever so lightly as Drew had.

 

[Mr.Ivebeenframed]

Cale watched his shadow and it did the same to him. Mimicking him in some ways, fazing in another. To his partial enjoyment he watched the other mages around him play with their shadowy doppelgangers. The little one tried to talk to it but it looked like they couldn't really talk.

Cale looked into his with a growing curiosity. Besides water reflections or the odd mirror, Cale never really had a moment to see himself. His tall figure, his physique. Although when he tried to smile at it, this Cale was expressionless. Then he wondered if the figures could also practice their magic as well.

From his pocket, Cale took out a small bag contained with sand. He untied the bag and controlled the sand in front of the shadowy figure, curious if it would take it as well. Cale controlled the sand as a Hydromancer would contort their water. He shifted its shape, made it dense and as thin as air. Curious, Cale parted a significant chunk of sand and moved it towards his shadow wondering if it would also mimic his earth-bending.

 

[UnusualStranger]

As Cale sent the controlled sand towards his shadowy self, the shadow mimicked his movements, even pulling out its own dark sand. However, the sand as it reached the shadow did not seem to have any visible effect, with the shadowy self not even blinking as it drew closer to the face and body.

Though, then his shadow pulled its own sand ball back, and sealed it away, leaving Cale standing there with his sand in front of the shadow.

 

[CounterAttack]

"They can hear us..." Gabriel murmured to himself, glancing around at the other mages and their interactions with their own shadows. He wanted to get closer to his own duplicate, but Fei still held him back. Gabe knew his predicament: he was going to have to say something to her to get her to let go. There was going to be a problem with that.

Gabe knew what he wanted to say. Looking down at her, though, the words just refused to make themselves heard. He couldn't make himself say them. Come on... just do it, you retard, the Hydromancer berated himself. For Alainia's sake, why can't you just open your mouth? It's not going to kill you or anything... Alainia was one of the goddesses of the Elements of Magic: she who was most in tune with Gabriel's own elemental talent: water.

You must simply force the winds to move. The spirit's voice echoed in Gabriel's mind. The Gods weren't going to help with a task this trivial; he had to do it himself if he was to succeed. But he couldn't. That was the issue.

"Force the winds to move," he whispered as he looked back up at his shadow, echoing the spirit's tone of voice. Matching the shadow's blank look with his own determined gaze, Gabe tried to direct his next words to she who held his sleeve. He would find a way... or simply make himself do it.

"F... f... Fei," he eventually eked out, glancing back down at the girl in question. Almost instantly he felt sick to his stomach, clamping his mouth tightly shut as he tried to hide a retch, averting his eyes. Within seconds he felt the skin of his forehead turn cold and damp from a quickly broken-out sweat, and something foul-tasting hit his throat. Stay down, damn you, Gabriel silently pleaded, hoping not to embarrass himself by throwing up in front of everyone else.

 

[SkyeNeko]

"What?" Fei didn't really pay attention to the fact that Gabriel had spoken to her. She was busy looking at all the other mages and their shadows, before her eyes finally fell on hers. It was so weird for her to see herself without a sparkle in her eyes. "Look, Gabriel, they're so weird looking... they don't even smile!"

 

[Fragrance of Mtn Dew]

Nydia silently pondered the spirits final words to her for a good while. It seemed to imply that her knowledge would bring about disaster, although unintentionally. She could hardly imagine herself causing any serious harm with her magic, but the spirit made a very persuasive argument. She would certainly have to take extra caution in the future. Sadly, the spirit left them before she could ask it any questions but she was able to piece together some information anyway.

Since it seemed to shift personality and appearance to match a different element, Nydia thought it quite likely that it was something born of the magic here. But more than that, when speaking of the magic storm they were traveling through, the spirit had referred to the storm as something it had been a part of creating. Was it the spirit of mages from back in that time? It was possible, but she had no way of knowing for sure now. The spirit had apparently spoken with the Prime Minister on the first trip through, so perhaps he had more knowledge of it? When Nydia turned to look though, she saw that he had departed while they were busy.

With a small sigh, Nydia turned towards the last link she had to the spirit. The shadow of herself. It truly was a remarkable likeness of herself, though everything about it seemed.... Darker. The robes were an almost grey instead of their usual white, the hair was a much darker blonde than her own, and instead of her usual friendly smile it simply stared blankly ahead. It was a bit unnerving to see something so like her, yet so different at the same time. "It said to reach out and touch our shadows... I guess I'll see what happens." Nydia muttered to herself as she reached out and put a hand on her shadow's shoulder.

 

[Lizmichi]

Nat walked over to her shadow and raised her hand then put it to the shadow's face. "Curious, it looks just like me. Nina yours is over here. She looks just as bubbly." Nat joked and smiled some then looked at her shadow. "Something seems to be off though." she said running her hand in the shadow's hair.

Nina looked over at Nat and blinked. "Hey it does look like me." she said walking over to it and poked it in the gut. "I wounder if you're ticklish like I am." she said moving her other hand around seeing what the shadow would do.

 

[Mr. Omega]

Drew continued examining his shadow, now slowly making sparks in his hands to test the capabilities of it. "So you have a name, or can I just start callin' ya Dark Drew? Or DD for short?" He looked over at the others starting to cautiously approach their shadows.

 

[UnusualStranger]

Spoiler: Shadows

Now, I figure it time to let you guys use the shadows as you see fit, but there are a few things you need to know about them, and how they react with you.

1. They can only have physical interaction with you, and even that is somewhat limited. For example, they can tug at you, hold your hand, and other such minor actions, but you won't be getting in a fistfight or killing each other any time soon.

2. The shadow does not have emotions at this point. Meaning that tickles, insults, and other such things to your shadow will more or less have no reaction. Think of it like having a stone guardian. Willing to do all you say, but not having the same emotional attachments that you have.

3. The shadows are indeed their own person to a point. They are stuck following you around, and can ONLY be seen by the mages who were a part of the events of time freeze. This means that anyone else will treat you like you are crazy if you are interacting with your shadow while they are watching.

4. The shadows will do their best to be helpful. Pointing things out, tugging at your arm, keeping their eyes and ears open for anything they gauge as dangerous. While they are lacking in emotions to display, they do share an emotional move-set. Being nervous, confident, or shy in what they do.

5. Shadows CAN interact with one another. They have their own type of realm they are living in, where their actions do not tend to affect your own unless you are the point of their attention.

Any additional questions, message me and we can work something out, or go to the group and ask.

Nat and Nina's shadows largely mimicked their owners, moving and shifting about as they did so, their faces still giving away no hint as to what they thought as the shadow ran her hand through Nat's hair in response, and Nina's lightly poked her back similarly.

Drew's shadow simply shrugged, not seeming to care as Drew let his sparks fly around his fingers, showing off his own sparks as he did so. The sparks flew all the same from the shadows hands, causing no harm to Drew as he did so.

[hr]

Seth shrugged as he noted the shadow mimicking his movements. He turned, noting that the shadow turned towards him as well. As they looked at one another, Seth offered his hand to the shadow, who seemed to understand quickly enough and shook it. Seth wordlessly nodded to the shadow, who nodded back in return. They had reached an understanding, which didn't really require the two to talk to one another. Well, mostly at least, as Seth couldn't help but chuckle at the odd understanding he had made with...himself.

"Well, I think this is going to be one of those trips where I have no idea what is going on, and this guy right here is going to know what is going on." Seth said to the rest of the group, not quite sure what to make of the new situation.

[hr]

As the ship finally cleared the storms and the valley behind them, in front of them lied another type of weather altogether. The entire land ahead of them seemed to be coated in a thin mist. The air noticeably got a little thicker, and somewhat wetter. As they entered this new area, Aaron had come to the front of the ship with the mages.

"Hey, mages. Minister said that you guys were done with....whatever, which was remarkably fast. But, I guess he doesn't waste time when he doesn't need to. Welcome to the Western side of the island. You wouldn't believe how long it took us to develop a way to fly on the other half of the island without the mists." Aaron said, stepping about to look at what they approached. As they got close, he breathed in deep.

"AH, there we go. That is much better. Your air seems so much...drier over there. Not that it is an issue, of course. Just much more comfortable over here."

 

[Mr.Ivebeenframed]

Cale nodded to his shadow and it did the same as they cleared the valley. Cale walked up to a railing and looked down. His eyes tried to pry through the moist mist sticking low to the ground but it was hard to tell what was a tree from a rock. Cale deduced that it was the height and not the mist itself although it would be an interesting feeling.

He looked around, trying to see Nydia among the myriad of mages and people alike.

"Hmph...." Cale said, unable to find her. He turned to his shadow. "You got a crush on her too?" Of course the shadow didn't say anything let alone react. So Cale continued to look as the ground moved beneath them.

 

[CounterAttack]

Gabriel's shadow approached him, its eyes lingering on Fei's hand, the one that held him back, for a moment before going back to looking at Gabe's face. As it got closer, though, Fei tugged him backwards, away from it. She seemed to still be a little scared of the shadow-duplicates. Despite her attempt to keep herself and Gabe away from his shadow, it got closer. It didn't seem to walk... rather, it appeared to glide or something.

The shadow raised a hand and hesitantly reached out to the Hydromancer. Gabriel wasn't sure whether to be afraid or curious about what it would do... the hand hovered for a few seconds before it touched him. Gabriel had had no idea of what to expect, but the finger that pressed against his shoulder felt exactly as if he had just done so himself. Gabriel blinked, and poked it back in the same place with an equal amount of force: the shadow blinked in turn, seeming to mirror his actions.

This was fascinating... an exact duplicate of himself, only in muted colours and wearing robes where Gabriel was not. If they could communicate, perhaps there would be much that each could learn from the other. Gabriel didn't speak, though, not trusting himself to open his mouth.

Seth's voice cut into Gabriel's musing: "Well, I think this is going to be one of those trips where I have no idea what is going on, and this guy right here is going to know what is going on." Gabe didn't know much about that... if the shadows were going to stick around for the entire trip, then Seth might be right. It could be useful to have them around.

 

[Fragrance of Mtn Dew]

As Nydia touched her shadow, it mimicked her movement and put it's hand on her shoulder as well. Nydia waited a moment to see if anything would happen. Nothing. "Yes, well perhaps it was a bit foolish of me to take that so literally." She murmured, taking her hand off of her shadow who did the same. "The spirit said it was a gift. Perhaps it is meant to assist me in some way then. Um, what exactly can you do?" She asked her shadow, hoping it would tell her something about itself.

It simply stared blankly at her. "You cannot speak? Can you understand me at least?" This question was answered with a nod at least, but the blank vacant look remained. Nydia nodded as well and smiled, though the smile was not returned by her dark counterpart. "Very well then. Now let's see... Can you use magic?" She asked conjuring a ball of light in her hand to demonstrate. The shadow nodded again and raised it's hand, conjuring a ball of light of it's own though it's light seemed to be much dimmer than her own.

Processing the information she had just received, Nydia began to pace back and forth on the deck. It seemed that all her companions had a shadowy counterpart as well now and they didn't seem particularly harmful. But what was their purpose? Nydia lacked the information to answer that question and her shadow was silent on the matter as well. "Hmmm. Well, I suppose the answer will reveal itself eventually. For now, I'll need something to call you. If you're me... Well, I suppose Nydia will do then. Pleased to meet you Nydia! I'm Nydia." She said with a slight giggle and bowed to her shadow, a gesture that her shadow returned.

Her strange conversation with herself was interrupted by Aaron returning to the front deck. Now that he had mentioned it, Nydia did notice that the air felt much different than what she was used to at the Academy. Wanting to take a look at the new land they had journeyed to, Nydia stepped over towards the railing with Shadow Nydia in tow and gazed out at the mist obscured horizon. It was then that she noticed she was standing near Cale and his shadow. "Ah, isn't this a wonderful view? It truly does feel as though we're not at the Academy anymore." She said to him with a gentle smile as she took a deep breath of the unfamiliar moist air.

 

[Mr.Ivebeenframed]

"Exactly why I was so ecstatic when I was accepted into this voyage." Cale said proudly. "That was quite a fight wasn't it? With those dragons... I've only read about them in text but not to experience them in real life. And that spirit too, it was mighty kind of him to give us these shadows." Cale said all of that without stopping to take a breath. It had been awhile since Cale could vent on what he had seen.

"Sorry if I'm talking to fast but I feel like I'm living a tale right now! Fighting mystical creatures, talking to mysterious spirits and all that stuff. What do you think of all this?"

 

[SkyeNeko]

As soon as the ship passed the storms, Fei's attention snapped from the shadows to the air. There was... water in it. "OOH MY GOSH GABRIEL do you feel that?!?" She experimentally held out a hand and pulled some of the humidity from the air, condensing it into a small ball hovering in her palm. Her shadow seemed curious as well, coming closer and staring.

Her revelation came just in time: the dragons and the ghosts and the shadows had fallen out of her interests. Now she ran around the deck in a frenzy, laughing and giggling as she pulled water out of the air. Back at the academy, she had been restricted to the pools of water and her own reserves. The possibilities were endless now! But who would she practice with? While her shadow had followed her around, also occasionally drawing murky water from the air, it was immune to the squirts of water she sent its way. The water went through, completely missing its intended target. This won't do. she thought with a pout. Then she spot a new target among the crew.

"Gabriel! Come on, let's practice!"

 

[SkyeNeko]

Spoiler: ignore

good news: i didnt lose my post
bad news: i got a nice double post instead.

 

[UnusualStranger]

Seth turned to look at Fei as she began to run about. It took him a small bit to understand what exactly was going on until he realized what they were in. Mists, which were filled with tons of water. And in this land there seemed to be no end to the stuff. Course, he could only imagine how much more restricted his flames might be here....but it shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Right Shadow? You can read my thoughts or something too....right? Cause that would make having conversations with you a lot less awkward when it is just me thinking to myself.

The shadow didn't seem to respond to him, so Seth shrugged and watched as Fei continued to run around going nuts over all this water she was now living in.

"I hope that we are getting close. I mean, it has been a bit of a trip and I am happy with all this flying stuffs. But some solid ground and simple times would be nice." Seth muttered, largely to himself as he glanced over the edge again.

[hr]

Aaron, after getting a few good breaths of home, chuckled after hearing Seth's low muttering.

"Almost there mages, if you are wondering. We have some small distance to go yet, and dock in our own area since we are on the Prime Minister's ship. Won't take much longer, and I can direct you to your rooms for the rest tonight, for it will likely be a little bit late to be getting back. Besides, I'm sure you with all your magics and stuff got tired or...something."

Shrugging his shoulders, Aaron went back to looking in front of the ship. His eyes taking in all the surroundings, obviously noting things that the mages could not through the misty skies.

Meanwhile, a Soldier, who had a mechanical arm, approached the decks that the mages were on. After looking about for a moment, his eyes settled on Alexander.

"Ah, there ya are. I been meanin to thank ya ever since they told me ya mages did some damn fine work. Hear you used some of that stuff to patch me up, which I really wanted to show some gratitude for. Is there anything I can do for ya?" The man offered, obviously quite grateful to be alive, as his arm did show some scorch marks from where it had been obvious some burns had gotten to him.

 

[CounterAttack]

Gabriel both saw and felt the mists spread across the airship... it was slightly comfortable, he thought, being in at least some degree of water that was more apparent than vapour in the air but still above ground. Physically being in a body of water, or standing in rain of any kind, was his preference, but it was nice all the same.

Fei seemed to have similar thoughts, he noticed. The younger girl was running about the deck as if she were on a sugar rush or something, her shadow in tow. Gabe shot a look at his own shadow, who simply gave him another blank look before observing Fei's shadow for a few seconds. Continuing to study it, Gabriel wondered what it was thinking, or even if it did think. Presumably it had some form of consciousness, as it was the one who had initiated the up-close meeting through a simple gesture. But it stayed silent, which puzzled him.

Gabriel looked back at Fei just in time for her to beckon to him. "Gabriel! Come on, let's practice!" He was entirely unsure of such an action, working together with her, when he couldn't say a word without retching. Perhaps he could go with it without saying anything, though.

The Hydromancer swallowed a couple of times to clear the foul taste from the back of his tongue, and looked once more at his impassive shadow in the hope that it would provide some form of confidence. It did no such thing, however. In no way reassured that he would be fine, Gabriel took a deep breath to try and calm his nerves and walked in the direction of Fei's voice. It was a little difficult to see with all the mist, but that was a fair trade for the comfort of the water in the air.

 

[Mr. Omega]

"Oh yeah. Our 'magics and stuff' tend to tire us out..." Drew said, trying not to be too obvious with the sarcasm, and trying even harder not to start snickering. When the other soldier came along, Drew turned to him. "Actually, I do have a request. Do I have permission to go to the engine room?"

After all the excitement and strange events, he wanted to see something that had piqued his interest at the start of the journey. Maybe now with his new shadow and some his sudden burst of energy, he might find inspiration.

 

[Fragrance of Mtn Dew]

Though the memories brought back by the mention of their earlier battle caused her to feel nauseous again, Nydia managed to force a smile at Cale's enthusiasm. Once again, it seemed his excitement at the prospect of this journey far outstripped her own. She turned towards Shadow Nydia for a moment to regain her composure and take a few deep breaths. Contrary to herself, Shadow Nydia simply stared blankly out at the horizon. If she had any knowledge of what had just gone on here it did not bother her, unlike Nydia herself. I wonder what other aspects we share beyond appearance? Will she develop a personality and emotions similar to my own eventually? Such a mysterious being...

Pondering the nature of Shadow Nydia for a moment took Nydia's mind off of the previous battle long enough for her stomach to settle. Having regained her composure, she turned back to Cale to and answered his question. "Well, I must say I could do without more battles like that one." She said with a weak laugh before moving off of that subject. "But I did find that spirit incredibly interesting. I wish I could've spoken with it more. And I wish I could learn more about Nydia here... She hasn't spoken a word. It seems as though the more I've experienced and learned lately, the more questions I have that remained unanswered."

 

[Sehnsucht Engel]

Phebe saw the other mages interacting with their shadows. She looked at her own, from top to bottom. It was as tall as she was. It didn't have any notable physical features. It was just black.

She didn't feel like she had any use for the shadow. She could survive without it. She didn't know how to treat it either, like an equal or just ignore it?

Phebe remembered how she had gotten the shadow. She threw a punch at the shadow's shoulder, taking her previous anger out on it instead of someone else.