Altera Arcana IC

[AnimeLover_Princess]

Zito listened in as Shireen answered the Aquan's questions. she didn't feel like she had much to contribute before the woman joined their party. she smiled warmly in welcome. the primary topic of conversation did not change, still it was Ace. she was quiet until she saw the gentleman take off into the alley "how strange" she muttered.
soon after both of their new companions took off after him. Ace had apparently also asked for anyone wishing to help to step forward. she wasn't exceptionally interested but she looked at Shireen to see how the girl would react to the circumstances "guess it's just us, it may not be smart to follow them" she watched them go into the alley, she glanced at Shireen "should we anyway?"

she looked over at Ace, mainly to see if anyone actually stepped forward to support the man. she didn't move, she still just wanted all of them to so she could go about her business in relative peace. "what do you think? what's he really after?"

@Greenie

 

[Effort]

Exercises were done for the day, stretches and heavy object lifting, an extra mile or two had been achieved, noticeable improvement from when he had first started. People would often seem him running in and around town for seemingly no reason. But in fact the reason was simply to exercise! Now Darius had begun his experiment to modify a spell. This town wasn't much for exploring magical theory, so it took some doing for Darius to find a place big enough and semi-secluded where he could do his experiments in relative peace and safety. "For the good of the people!" he had exclaimed to the owner of this building, it must have been the earnest tone of his voice or fire in his eyes that had done it, for he had managed to rent this place for a steal of a deal. However almost all of his funds went into gathering materials for research and experimentation as well as upkeep and repairs for said building.

Darius leaned down to examine the circle of symbols he had etched onto the horizontal chalk board. The symbols served multiple functions, today he was using them for record keeping and to contain any mishaps of the experiment. Satisfied that everything was in place, Darius put his goggles down over his eyes and placed his hands on either side of the magic circle. In his mind he began to center himself, imagining a pool of water in darkness being lightly disturbed by the noises making their way in from outside but soon the water became still and as he drew his will into reality the pool of water that represented his mind would rumble and as he channeled his will into the magic circle-

BA-DOOM

The sound could be heard across the town, and if no one heard the noise they would see what looked like black clouds billowing up into the sky, dogs were barking, people nearest the building were panicking. Little bits of what looked like black sand fell down from the sky, sprinkling the crowd that had gathered in the center of town several buildings away. Nearest the building, the black cloudy substance billowed out of the windows like a fog that actually had a physical texture but was easily enough swept away. From within, on the first floor, if one could hear past all the screaming and shouting, one could hear Darius coughing and choking in his "lab". Everything would be covered in soot, jars lining shelves with strange things in them, many strange devices and do-dads, a plethora of books with strange symbols written in them. All of it was covered in soot. Darius gathered himself enough to start stumbling his way out of the building into more fresh air, coughing and wheezing along the way.

 

[Neobullseye]

Alcia couldn't help but chuckle at Ace's minor tantrum. Temper, temper... It looks like our local wannabe king doesn't take kindly to stubborn people. Good to know; it may come in use in the future when I want to avoid pressing his buttons... or press them on purpose. A king might be able to get away with it, but right now he's just as much of a commoner as everyone else here.


"True, maybe it is the point', Alicia nodded. "The masses have often shown to be blind to subtlety and details. Thus why they get burned time and time again. And indeed, if they so wish for that to happen, then let them have their wish. It is not our problem, nor our responsibility to help them. Furthermore, if we force the matter, we would be seen as oppressors rather than liberators -- arguably rightly so, even. I'd rather not have that happen, what say you?". I'd rather avoid such a stain on my public image... Alicia turned her head towards the other Avian, noticing he was looking at something else. Following his gaze, she too spotted the priestess and the two people she was talking too. Wait a minute... Wasn't that the priestess Alicia had came looking for in this backwards village in the first place? If so, then she might be a lot more... 'useful' than this Ace person. Not to mention that Alicia got the feeling she had heard everything there was to hear by now. Maybe she should take her leave and follow that priestess instead?

"That said, this is getting rather repetitive. They're just going back and forth at this point. I think I'll be headi-"
It was about this point in time that a very loud explosion drew all attention towards itself, spraying everyone in the direct area with some kind of soot. Luckily for Alicia, her cloak prevented the stuff from getting in her hair. Unluckily for her, a flower pot on a windowsill was knocked off by the blast and landed right on top of her head. The Avian lady staggered back and forth a bit before dropping to her hands and knees, her vision blotted with white and black stains and spinning every which way. All thoughts of taking advantage of the situation were erased from her consciousness, instead being replaced by a splitting headache. If someone were to look at her now, they might spot a damp stain forming on her head about where the pot struck her.

 

[Kagayours]

"Oh? That's very interesting…" the priestess mused as Kiri described her dream. "Looks like there isn't much time to waste." she said plainly. "No, I did not have the same dream as you — but I've been having other dreams. Related dreams. And I do know things — things that I will share in time." she explained, not really explaining very much at all. "And, yes, you specifically!" she exclaimed. "And others, too — including you, Terran girl! Sorry I forgot to mention that earlier."

"Huh? Me?!" Tawny exclaimed. This woman struck her as rather… odd. Tawny had never met the priestess in-person before, but, now she wasn't sure what to think about her. Supposedly the priestess of Atvance had been gifted with powers from Celest, but Tawny would sooner believe it was something from Diana…

"Oh! And I'll be needing your brother, too." the priestess added.

"What?! You mean… wait, how do you even know I have a-"

Tawny's question was cut off as a thunderous explosion echoed through the area. The priestess pulled her cloak over herself as a shield from the soot that rained down. When the explosion had quieted down, the priestess stood staring ahead with wide eyes. "That was the third sign." she whispered.

"Come!" she exclaimed. "We must gather the others — quickly!" she then hurried back into the crowd, beckoning the others to follow.

——

The henchman took one look over his shoulder, and soon regretted it. Three pursuers?! And he thought he was being inconspicuous enough… the boss made it sound like this would be easy.

He pulled up his sleeve and attempted to read the smudged writing that he'd scribbled all over his arm. However, still needing to pull his head up very often to prevent himself from running into walls or passersby, he didn't make very much progress in attempting to recite the spell…

——

Well, it looked like things were winding down. Clay sighed as he began to turn away from Ace and his little spectacle. He still wasn't sure why he allowed the man to chew up so much of his valuable time, but it seemed like the whole town had done the same… Before Clay could continue with his day, however, a loud explosion shook the whole area. Clay flinched as soot rained down on everyone.

"What in the…?!" Then, Clay heard the sound of pottering shattering, and he turned to see an Avian collapse after a flower pot smashed open on her head. "Ah, are you alright?!" Clay gasped, rushing to her side. He crouched down next to her to get a closer look, waiting for any sort of response from her.

 

[Rithas]

The other Avian seemed to getting onto the point of moving on from Ace to the priestess before the large explosion rung across the distance.

"???" His head turned towards the sky. His cloak protecting him from any soot, the soot simply sliding off the cloak. He watched a pot tip itself over a windowsill and gracefully sail through the air onto the head of the Avian woman standing right next to him. He stared, unblinking at her reaction. His icy eyes watching, himself almost expressionless.

He began to laugh.

"Oh, I do apologise...." He uttered mid chuckle. His eyes glanced at the male terran who seemed to rush to her aid. He raised his hand to his cheek, a mistake due to the fact that his hands were the only part exposed to the soot. "It does seem she has split her head open. Certainly an unlucky event. Unpredictable even...." He seemed happy at this occurrence. Overly happy perhaps to a bystander. At an explosion and someone being cracked in the head with a flowerpot.

His eyes switched between the two people kneeling on the floor. Towering over them. He grinned his toothy grin once again at the event that had just happened.

 

[Greenie]

"I dunno," Shireen replied to Zito, shrugging her shoulders as she watched the Aquan and the other lady leave. She then blinked, realizing that Zito had probably meant Ace, who was still standing up on the stage and talking. "Oh!" She chuckled sheepishly, shaking her head. "Oh, prob'ly the same thing most people want, no? Power?"

Or was it something more? It wasn't as if he was the first person to come up with claims that he was the best person to lead everyone... Before her thoughts could process any further, the sound of something much too loud was heard. Shireen instinctively ducked before looking in the direction of the sound. "What in Diana's name was that?!" She made a move to head toward it, though paused, looking to Zito. "Come on!" Perhaps someone was hurt and needed help! Besides that, it wasn't like listening to Ace was doing any of them any good!

If having the crowd there wasn't chaos enough, well, the explosion had certainly caused enough ruckus to last a lifetime. It took a lot to get Shireen frustrated, but this might just do the job. How was screaming and panicking helping anyone at all? Her practical side was begging her to simply walk away as quickly and as far as she could. The helpful and kind part of her refused.

And so she hurried straight into the chaos, to where people where yelling and stumbling, dogs were barking, soot and smoke making her eyes water and her nose burn. She wiped at her eyes, and once her hand was let down, she caught sight of a man stumbling and coughing. Judging by the way he looked, she figured he must have been right in the heart of the explosion.

"Hey there!" she called, though she regretted it as she swallowed a mouthful of smoke. She coughed some before steadying herself enough to head over to the man. "You alright?! What happened?"

@AnimeLover_Princess
@Effort​

 

[Effort]

Once out of the building, Darius fell to his hands and knees. He was having a hard time breathing, his ears were ringing something quite fierce, his goggles had been blackened. Darius noticed when he would exhale what looked like a trail of inky smoke would come out of his mouth and when he would inhale it would be pulled back in. He was starting to get light headed, but Darius was fairly certain he knew what to do.

Taking in as much air as he could he began to focus. In his mind that same pool of water surrounded by blackness was boiling and frothing but as he focused it started to become smooth and still with only a few ripples. He finished the spell, one that he had been familiar with since he was a child. Taking in a great gulp of air, he immediately exhaled, hacking and retching. Small globs of that same inky black smoke spattered the ground in front of Darius. As his body heaved while coughing, only able to do so with the air his spell had provided it, the flecks of matte black smoke began to fade away from the ground.

Finally able to breathe again, Darius took in a proper breath of air, only to inhale regular smoke this time. But it was more air then he had been getting before. Removing his blackened goggles from his eyes he noticed the girl approaching him. He had seen her around before, she did some work with boats or something of that sort. She was talking to him but it was useless, he couldn't hear her through the ringing sound. However, through the mundane smoke that was now clearing, he could see people gathering around in varying levels of disgruntled. The ones that had residence or owned property nearest the building seemed to be the most perturbed by his experiment. Wiping the spit from his mouth from having coughed so hard, he began to pick himself up as the girl approached. "Oh! Be careful of the smoke, it will be clearing soon." Darius wasn't sure how loud he was talking but he felt it was of sufficient volume. "Myself, I am fine, or I will be" he said as he for the first time noticed the blood leaking from his ears "Excuse me a moment please."

Darius turned to the particular set of folks that seemed the most bothered. They'd probably be complaining along the lines of "Damned spell casters and your fancy spell casting!" or "Stop messing with spell theory fool!". Raising his hands to try and abate the complaints he couldn't hear he shouted "All is well! 'Tis just smoke! It will clear up shortly, my apologies. Yes yes I'm sorry. Nobody was hurt that's what matters. I'll take better precautions." Fortunately some of the people in the crowd were people that Darius had helped before with his "fancy spell casting". They began to help placate the few neighbors that were less familiar with him. Turning a bit he noticed the girl still there. "Oh, yes I don't suppose you'd be of the Air affinity would you? Perhaps help with this smoke?"

@Greenie
@AnimeLover_Princess ?

 

[AnimeLover_Princess]

Zito gasped and ducked as an explosion rang out "what the hell?!" she cried looking towards the source of the noise "What was that?" then Shireen took off, and with a slight sigh, but also a smile because this girl had instantly jumped forward to help these people, she followed after her. she scanned the people they passed, looking for any major injuries but everyone seemed to be mostly alright. it was kinda hard to breathe and she coughed a couple times as she followed Shireen straight to the heart of the explosion. she saw the man there, who looked like he had been right at the center of it, poor guy.

She didn't speak as Shireen asked if he was ok. he claimed to be just fine but he certainly didn't look it. Zito waved at the smoke in front of her face, trying not to cough more, as the man tried to placate his audience. they was some grumbling but a handful of people seemed to be helping calm others down so she looked away from them and back to the man, as he turned back to them.

he asked if they were air magic users and Zito shook her head, she wasn't sure if he could hear her but she spoke anyway "I'm earth I'm afraid, I won't be able to help much with this" she looked to Shireen for the girl's answer.

@Greenie @Effort

 

[Neobullseye]

Lifting her head, Alicia could see a group of identical triplets running at her at the same time, somehow managing to zigzag through each other's paths and even speaking in sync. How did that even... No, wait, she was just seeing double. "Ungh...", she muttered. "Head...hurts..." Maybe If I just close my eyes for a bit, the blobs will go away?
A semi-conscious attempt of this proved that, yes, closing her eyes did indeed make the nausea-inducing warped vision go away. However, it also resulted in her getting even closer to full unconsciousness, and as such the Avian girl quickly reopened her eyes. "Healer... please."
A figment in the back of her mind noticed that the male Avian was just laughing at her predicament. Note to self... Male Avian is jerk. Kick him.

 

[Luma]

Kiri blinked a few times as she watched the priestess make her way through the crowd, as if blinking would bring sense back to the world. A lot of things had happened in next to no time at all, and none of them were expected in the slightest. She herself was part of a vision? Directly following that, a massive accident across the street, the aftermath of which was dotting her hat with black spots. After a few seconds to take in everything that had happened, Kiri finally turned back to Tawny to speak, striding up closer so they could hear each other in the chaos. "Welp...I'm sorta confused, but I think we should go along with this." Turning back to the billowing clouds of black, she continued, "See if you can't find your brother; I'll meet back with you in a minute or two."

With a few wind-aided 'frog-leaps', Kiri traversed the rooftops and hopped back down beside the house leaking smoke. Bracing her back against the outer wall of the nearest residence, Kiri held both her palms out towards the smoke as the air around her began restlessly circling her. After a few seconds, the air appeared to concentrate itself into her hands and cease for a brief moment, before a loud 'BOOM' sound announced a powerful gust of air. The majority of the black fog was blasted away from the building to disperse, along with a few small chunks of loose building, as the backlash pressed Kiri against the wall. That having been done, she gazed upon the scene for a few moments, before turning away to look for Tawny.

 

[Effort]

Staring at the Terran's mouth he tried hard to hear what she was saying. However this only resulted in Darius coming to the conclusion that he need to find, or perhaps make his own, spell that would help him comprehend people when his ears weren't working. Coming back to the situation at hand, he soon inferred that neither of them were Air, otherwise they'd have probably started helping. Or maybe not. Speaking of helping...Darius looked up and noticed the smoke moving away much faster and looked around. Some other Air users noticed the initial person and also started helping to push the smoke up and away from the pedestrians. It warmed his heart a little to see people putting their skills together.

The wind user nearest his lab may notice through a window, that little streams of matte black smoke throughout the lab would persist despite the gusts. It was as if it was some how clinging to the surface it had come into contact with but didn't move much farther past it's point of contact. Turning back to the two ladies that had come to check on him Darius thanked them, rather loudly still "Ladies, thank you for checking on this researcher. Now if you'll excuse me, I must go put out the spell in my lab." Mama taught her boy some manners, Darius leaned forward to bow to the ladies before turning about and stumbling his way back to his lab. Slowing down a bit to help prevent likelihood of falling completely. Seeing the girl that had started helping with her Air affinity Darius called out to her "Thank you for your assistance!"

@AnimeLover_Princess
@Greenie
@Luma

 

[Greenie]

Shireen shook her head; she wasn't of Air. She was of Water, but even that she sometimes doubted. Perhaps she just hadn't tried hard enough, but aside from feeling very comfortable around large masses of water, she had never dabbled in magic like she had seen others. She was more of a hands on person. Not that she didn't sometimes wonder if there were things she could do, like other magic users. However, opportunities of actually finding out had been too few, especially with the hard work she was used to.

She jerked momentarily, hearing the loud boom sound. Eyes widening, she looked in the direction to see if perhaps there was yet another explosion. She was rather relieved to see it was the opposite. Apparently, someone had air magic because the air seemed much cleared now than it had just a moment ago.

"Oh, you're welcome, of course!" Shireen heard the man thanking her and Zito. She gave him a cheery grin as he bowed; what a polite fellow! It was rare enough to see them, at least at sea. Maybe it was different on land? Well, she would certainly find out if she stayed her longer.

As it were, she would have probably let the man walk off, but the way he was stumbling made her half certain that he would reach his destination without falling at least once or twice. She rubbed the back of her head in thought before giving a little shrug. "Welp," she said aloud, looking to Zito before looking back in the direction of the man, "not like I got anythin' else to do 'sides wait for the crowd to clear. I'll go make sure he doesn't fall or somethin'."

With that said, Shireen jogged forward. "Hey, er, Mister! I can help you if y'need any."

@Effort
@AnimeLover_Princess
​

 

[AnimeLover_Princess]

Zito watched and saw that some nearby air magic-users were helping to clear the smoke and she smiled and nodded her thanks to any she could see. the man clearly noticed as well. he turned back to them, thanking them for checking up on him, which she frankly thought was a bit of a strange thing to thank someone for as it should be something anyone should do if they see someone who may be hurt. but she smiled and giggled a little as he bowed before turning and walking away. he looked very unsteady.

she looked to Shireen, who seemed to have noticed his unsteadiness as well and said she had nothing better to do, so she was going to help him. Zito smiled and nodded, "I agree completely" she said before moving forward with her companion to follow the man. when said human called out Zito said "I'm not sure he can hear us Shireen" she hurried forward herself and put a hand on the man's arm, trying to stop him. she called out anyway "um sir!"

@Greenie @Effort

 

[Kagayours]

Clay noticed the blood seeping through the hood of Alicia's cloak at the same time that he heard Victarion's callous remark. Surprisingly enough, it seemed like Ace had already lost the competition for asshole of the month. Clay's blood boiled, but he didn't have time to get angry; he had to help Alicia.

"Hey, hold on. I'm a healer… sort of." he told her, trying to sound reassuring, but not doing a very good job with it. He placed his hand against Alicia's wound. I don't think I've ever tried this on an Avian before… he worried. Actually, I don't think I've ever tried this on anyone outside my own family before! Still, he tried to shake the doubt out of his mind and focus his raw magic energy on healing the wound.

 

[Neobullseye]

A flash of pain shot through Alicia's head when the Terran pressed his hand against the wound in her head. Her first reflex was to bat what her body perceived as the source of the pain, namely Clays hand, away, but a combination of both dizzyness and the whisper of logic stating that this would be a bad idea stopped her from doing so. Soon after, the pain gave way to a soothing sensation as the Terran's magic started to heal her injuries, begetting a sigh of relief from Alicia. Of course, just because her wound closed didn't mean that the stains in her cloak hood would magically disappear too, but that was a problem that could be easily solved later.
"Ahhh... Thank you, sir...", Alicia muttered as she tried to get up, only to stumble back and have to seek support against the wall. Okay, that was a bad idea... still, at least I can sort of stand now. But what just happened? Did someone strike me in the head? No, that doesn't make sense; nobody would attack someone else in broad daylight with hundreds of witnesses around, let alone leave his target alive. But then what...
Looking around, the true culprit of her head injury was quickly found; a shattered flower pot, which had somehow managed to fall right on top of her head. But why did it fall? It probably had something to do with the loud explosion she had hear. Speaking of which... "...What happened just now anyway?", Alicia asked the people around her. "I heard a loud bang, then the next thing I know this thing landed on my head. Does anyone know what caused that blast?"

 

[PoetLore]

Roxanne was trying to run as fast as she could and still maintain some semblance of cover, but that wasn't working very well. Sh huffed and moved into t he open, "To hell with it," as she ran. She could see Raymond and the man he was chasing but there was still a bit of a gap between them all. Suddenly she heard a loud KABOOM and instinctively crouched down and covered her head. What such a maneuver was supposed to accomplish she had no idea but it happened before she could even think. "WHAT was THAT?" she asked Calder as she turned to look at him and saw the big billowing black cloud rising up over the city center.

She checked around to see if anything was coming their way or if any of the smoke appeared to be coming their way. But she could not see or hear anything. "Are you ok?" she asked Calder.

Seeing it wasn't going to harm them where they were she nodded to Calder and stood again and waited to see if Calder was ok. She was hoping that those ahead of the were also slowed by the explosion so they didn't lose any ground. This was the craziest day she ever remembered in Atvance that was for sure.


@zombieturtle

 

[Eru]

Raymond was continuing to chase the man who'd began this wild chase. As they ran through narrow streets, Raymond thought he had caught sight of more pursuers behind him, but couldn't pause to check whether they seemed friendly. Up ahead, the man had his sleeve pulled up and appeared to be trying to read something upon it. Raymond hoped this didn't bode ill.

Suddenly, while they were all still running a fair bit apart from each other, a massive explosion sounded nearby, causing the ground to shake. Raymond tripped and fell forward head-over-heels, but turned this fall into a tumble, keeping his momentum. He landed upright, having paused only for a moment to recover, but in that short amount of time his target had again sped ahead of him. Even worse, he could hear the footsteps of the other unknown persons closing behind him.

Looking around quickly and again breaking into a sprint, Raymond spied a townswoman lifting a large tub of water to empty it along the streetside. As he passed the woman, Raymond called to her, "I'll dispose of this for you!" Using his magical skill, Raymond manipulated the water from the tub as he passed, and pulled it onto his own footwear. The water became attached to the bottoms of his soles, magically shaping itself into two amorphous blobs that caused Raymond to speed along the street, but made corners significantly harder to handle. Still, Raymond was now closing the distance fast between himself and the man ahead. Almost there, he prayed silently.

 

[Effort]

Darius was indeed oblivious to the offers of help until the Terran girl got his attention. He looked at her and saw that she was speaking, then noticed the other girl. They didn't seem irate, they must not be demanding anything. Judging by the looks of concern they must have noticed he was wobbling a bit. Were they trying to help? "Oh very sorry I couldn't hear you, the explosion must have burst something in my ear" he gave a vague wave at the drying blood on his ears. "If I could just get to my lab that would be very helpful, thank you." With the help of the two girls steadying him, he successfully made it to the lab. It was basically a small warehouse, the first floor had a couple book covered tables and shelves along the walls with a couple windows. Mid way along the left wall was a sparse staircase that lead up to a landing on the second floor. While he was assisted into the lab he caught a scent of something. He could be heard making sniffing sounds, until his head turned toward the Terran girl. Identifying it was her, he made a thoughtful "Hm" before proceeding inside as if nothing had happened.

Through the clearing smoke there could be seen on the shelves jars and tins. Some of the jars appeared empty with labels that read: Baby's Laugh, Summer Breeze, Duck's Quack, Baker's Bread, Meadow Scent, Meadow Scent II, and various other preposterous sounding things to keep in a jar. Aside from Darius' cool nick-knacks, what looked like individual tendrils of inky black smoke were scattered about the room, not floating away or dispersing but seemingly attached to whatever surface it had made contact with. Less obvious until walking into the room were dark granules, like black sand, scattered all over the floor. "Much appreciated ladies, I can take things from here."

Using the shelves to steady himself, Darius made his way to the table in the middle of the room where the biggest portion of inky black smoke clung, almost looking like a black flame. Reaching his hands out he closed his eyes and began to mutter. As he was muttering the spell, the smoke began breaking apart and dispersing. What remained in the circle of blackened chalk runes on the table was a small pile of that same black sand material. After the smoke had gone Darius knelt down and began straightening up, collecting scattered papers, stacking fallen books.

@AnimeLover_Princess
@Greenie

 

[Rithas]

The Terran announced that he was a healer. "Alas, the mortally injured is saved" He looked back towards the origin point of the sudden explosion. Then again, it didn't seem to be too bad. There wasn't any screaming, well, much screaming. Nothing seemed to be suddenly sprouting into flames. It all seemed to be getting back into routine.

A shame, really.

The other Avian seemed to be getting better, somewhat confused certainly. The natural reaction of many to a flowerpot falling on their head. It seemed for a moment that she would fall over, but she simply leaned against a wall. He closed his eyes, the other Avian asking what in the world just happened.

"An explosion of smoke, with no fire or~" Victarion paused for a moment. "Large amount of panic from the public. Dare I say from this being a village, I would assume it's some fool experimenting. They do love inconveniencing people." He glanced to the broken pot. "And injuring poor you. Have you perhaps gotten a hex placed against you? Then again, one just for flowerpots seems rather specific." The way his tone was, one couldn't tell if he was actually concerned about this possibility or not. His icy eyes sharpened. He pointed in the direction of the explosion. "You could always give the potential cause of your unfortunate accident a...talking to."

 

[Turtle of Doom]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Calder dashed down the alley, his muscles almost entirely unused to being used so vigorously on land. The air seemed to weigh down on him and his legs were sluggish and refusing to respond as quickly as he wanted them to. Slowing to a jog, he allowed the redhead to get pretty far in front of him.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]His breath was coming in frantic little puffs, and his heart was racing. His body was going to overheat if he kept pushing that way.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Something needed to give. Instead of slowing though, he pulled as much of the moisture from the air as he could, adding to the coat of glistening water already shimmering around his body, this time making sure to coat the bottom of his feet and he started swimming through the streets.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]His feet gliding over the ground, unhampered by things such as friction and slowly he began to cool. The water flowing over his skin helped tremendously and he finally caught up to Roxanne. Just as he reached her an explosion rocked the ground beneath him, and if it hadn't been for the water cushioning his feet he would have fallen.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]His eyes darted around and settled on the black cloud of debris that had sprung rose into the air and his eyes widened. That doesn't look good, was the only thought he had time for before rushing forward even faster. He didn't want that to rain down on him, and he was going to try to outrun it.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]He failed, of course. And the inky black granules seemed to be drawn to the water that he held around him. He tried not to breath, but it wasn't so simple and the debris flowed through his gills, filling his lungs and causing his concentration to shatter and the layers of water around him to splash back to the ground.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Calder faltered, leaning up against the side of a building, coughing and spitting the black gunk onto the ground. Waving a hand at Roxanne he tried to urge her forward without wanting to take the time to talk. But she'd already asked about his well being once so with difficulty he managed to speak through gasping breaths.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Go on," he sputtered, "I'll catch up."[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]@PoetLore[/BCOLOR]