ɴeveʀ ʟeт ɢｏ

[Artesian]

[Ooc: Short one, just to get Stan in the right place.]

~~Stanley Jennesen ~~

Stan was relieved that Jake seemed to be calming down, except for the bit about someone being in their head. Frankly, he wasn't too thrilled about that either, but it wasn't as if she tried to read people, and it wasn't like Stan had anything to hide. Except, maybe she'll learn about how I like chick-flicks - he choked the thought off with a mental curse, and concentrated on Jake's words.

"Just kidnapped off the street?" He shook his head. "They threatened me with a normal prison, so that isn't too surprising." An angry look flitted across his face, gone in a flash like a tropical shower on hot pavement. Prison. "Well, you're welcome. It's good to meet you, too, Jake." He seemed like a good guy, not as complicated as the others. A good friend, potentially.

He was still thinking about Bobbie's suggestion, when Jake accepted, and began moving towards the door. That helped him make up his mind. "Make that two idiots?" he added, following behind Jake, grabbing his backpack and suitcase along the way. He shouldered his backpack, planning on dropping off most of his stuff at their room along the way. No need to bring too much stuff with him. Most of his traveling stuff was useless here, but he wouldn't mind having his knife (who knew what sort of wildlife were out here) and raincoat with him on the trails. "Does anyone else want to explore the rest of this place?"

~~Feeling cheerful leaving the main room with Bobbie and Jake~~

[Nostalgia]

I'm interesting, the best thing since wrestling
Infesting in your kids ears and nesting
"Testing attention please"
Feel the tension soon as someone mentions me
Here's my ten cents, my two cents is free
A nuisance, who sent, you sent for me?

The girl's attention once again turned to Tyler, the boy she had appraised as normal. It was pure instinct. He was thinking about her, so she noticed his thoughts and her smile widened slightly. "Doesn't make me stronger, just happier. You know, lifts my mood a little. I feel a lot less joyful when I'm in a room filled with excited people. Calmness doesn't do anything for me, though. And, as you've probably realised, since I'm answering your thoughts, yes, I am reading your mind right now." He didn't seem prone to freaking out, so she replied to his unspoken questions calmly, counting on him not to cause a fuss.
Then, she was thrown into another mind once more. Bobbie's, this time. The girl was thinking about her brother, dead, presumably, since the feeling of guilt accompanied that memory. She was worried about them knowing, and Miriam flicked her eyes up to the ceiling for a second, exhaling. Why was it that everyone thought she had to reveal their secrets since she knew them? You could say Savannah was blunt, rude, irritating, but you could always trust her. She didn't care for secrets and didn't go around blabbing them, even though she had had many opportunities in her life. Some could come in handy at the right time, so she stored them away in her mind for such a moment, but most were irrelevant, so she didn't see the point in spreading them around.
The earth goddess had already moved on to evaluating the various people in the room, and Miriam listened to her opinions absent mindedly, the corner of her mouth twitching at Bobbie's opinion about her. She had to admit, the female seemed okay to her, staying silent throughout the whole ordeal, not mixing the situation up more, but silently watching the others, just as the war goddess was doing. Well, Ria's motives weren't so peaceful. She needed to know the group to be prepared in case something went wrong and she needed to protect herself or attack. Not them, of course, but if the group was in danger, she needed to know how they thought and who she could depend on in a hard situation. She had already picked out the few people who she would be willing to work with if anything happened; Bobbie, Alessandra, Tyler and definitely James. All intelligent, rational and likeable by her standards. The rest...Well. Jake could turn out alright, but Stanley had definitely been crossed out in her book. As for the last person in their group who hadn't arrived yet, she couldn't say a thing, of course.
As soon as Bobbie moved on to topics which did not interest the half-French girl, Savannah turned to James' mind again. He was the most interesting of them all, the one almost everyone apart from her apparently found annoying. People didn't like information, she had gathered that thanks to years spent in different schools. She was one of the exceptions. She liked knowledge and liked people who possessed it, perhaps simply because they posed a challenge, something new. Like she had told herself hundreds of times during her life, information was power. Miriam pushed away her musings and focused on the boy's thoughts again, her calm face once more showing a smile at James' comment about her. An open danger to him and his source of power. Priceless. From what she gathered, almost everyone in the room sensed some sort of danger in her. Well, it was predictable. If they were able to get into her mind, they would have realised their fear was unnecessary. She meant no harm to them and her evaluation of them was mainly 'just in case'. She always tried to understand the people she came in contact with, plan her next words and moves before she made them. It was a side effect that came with her power - strategy, tactics always came easy to her. She would have been great in war.
"Yeah, not really possible. If you think my name, I'll automatically snap to your mind and check your thoughts. If I look at you, I'll probably get a read as well. It's not that easy to control, sorry." Savannah replied, flapping about with her hand slightly to show Jake she couldn't fulfil his request.
The teenager gladly listened to the knowledge god's story about their origin. She sniffed at his comment about nobody knowing what he was saying. Maybe she had not been attending proper school for the past few years, but she liked learning and she had worked herself to the ground while gathering information about everything she could. It might have been mere coincidence, but she had always liked Ares, annoyed with the fact most people preferred his half-sister over the war god and never gave him much of a chance to say anything. Catching the boy's gaze for a second, Miriam raised an eyebrow at his current thoughts. Ah. So he had realised that the others were judging him. He was moving again and she smirked at his act with the coffee and alcohol. Always nice to have someone like that in a group, right? Willingly, although with a hint of sadness, she followed James out of the room after he spoke, catching as much as she could of Jake's negative emotions before she left.
As soon as the air hit her, Ria shuddered slightly, her mind no longer sifting through others' thoughts and able to rest slightly. It wasn't hard or extremely tiring, since she could more or less control the amount of information passed to her, but she was still more comfortable with a smaller amount of people. She could concentrate better without a crowd, so now she turned her gaze to James, a half-smile on her lips as she looked at him. "I'm not here for a challenge. But I do prefer you out of the whole group, you know. And, just so you're sure, you don't irritate me like you do the others." stopping for a second, the girl glanced behind her to make sure she wasn't about to sit in a patch of mud and placed herself on a rock, stretching slightly before she relaxed. "Maybe I'm strange, but I like knowing things. Information is a gift. It always helps, whether during peace or war. I'm not as violent as my ancestors, I guess. I gather what I can about people I spend time with because it might come in handy one day. I know you know more about what we're supposed to do here than the rest combined. I know they're keeping us here so they can control us, watch our every move to see if we're not a danger to their precious community. I'm also pretty sure the results will be negative, since even people in our little group don't trust me, so we'll definitely be labelled as strange, dangerous and crazy. Now, I presume you know everything about our surroundings as well, and I highly doubt you're just going to sit here for the rest of your life while a bunch of teenagers whine about how much of a know-it-all you are. So, any plans?"

[light.]

[[ I won't be posting much this weekend due to the lack of connection where I'm travelling. I'll post asap on monday c: ]]

[{{ f i a s c o }}]

For those days we felt like a mistake,
Those times when love's what you hate,
Somehow,
We keep marching on.

For those nights when I couldn't be there,
I've made it harder to know that you know,
That somehow,
We'll keep moving on.

There's so many wars we fought,
There's so many things we're not,
But with what we have,
I promise you that,
We're marching on.


-----

A world that sends you reeling from decimated dreams
Your misery and hate will kill us all.
So paint it black and take it back
Let's shout it loud and clear
Defiant to the end we hear the call

To carry on
We'll carry on
And though you're dead and gone believe me
Your memory will carry on.

...

Do or die, you'll never make me
Because the world will never take my heart
Go and try, you'll never break me
We want it all, we wanna play this part
I won't explain or say I'm sorry
I'm unashamed, I'm gonna show my scar
Give a cheer for all the broken
Listen here, because it's who we are
I'm just a man, I'm not a hero
Just a boy, who had to sing this song
I'm just a man, I'm not a hero
I! don't! care!

Pep Guardiola signs off from Barça, leaving novice Tito Villanueva in his place to haunt the grudge-holder Mourinho, leading enemy's team coach.

Now, out of the room, out in the wild, and hazed by the fumes of alcohol he had inhaled just earlier, James stance relaxed, basking in the dark mist of confusion that surrounded him. It was not often when he was left to delve into his own mind, not the facts that surrounded him; James just closed his eyes and let his mind wander into less obscure squalls than astrophysics and biochemistry. Instead, he found himself being shot by the less complicated sports section; one that ominously stayed away from his usually sharp thoughts but attacked him while under the effects of the depressant. How strange. However, James didn't turn away, rather glad that he wasn't being bombarded with new theories that took all his energy and will to go through and understand.

However, his peace was soon interrupted by the sound of sure yet lithe footsteps walking towards him - the gracefull tempo distinguishing the deity as a female - and Miriam's prescence was soon felt in his mind. James paused his balancing from the balls of his feet onto his heels for a moment, and opened his eyes to hear the first words sprout out of her mouth.

"I'm not here for a challenge. But I do prefer you out of the whole group, you know. And, just so you're sure, you don't irritate me like you do the others..."

Well, that's a relief.

A ghost of a smile tugged at James' thin lips, dirty blonde hair whistling in the wind as the storm became ever nearer. "Well, one out of eight is quite a small percentage, considering the fact that we should all know each other somewhat and we have a common cause ahead of us," he said, lifting his left hand out of his pocket and scratching the back of his head nochalantly. "Well, one out of seven. We haven't met Echo yet." James turned his body so that he was half facing the girl and had a three-quarter panoramic view of the grounds, his mind on the grounds ahead of them, making his face turn sideways and allowing for his strong profile to be noted. He had always wondered what would happened if he ever tried to block his thoughts, to create some sort of barrier to prevent Miriam from entering his mind. Not that he was entirely worried about her, more that he was prickled with curiosity about the fact.

"Maybe I'm strange, but I like knowing things. Information is a gift. It always helps, whether during peace or war..."

"Strange? Oh no, I wouldn't say so," he said, allowing for his mind to concentrate more on her willowy figure and face. "Only those that attempted to grasp some sort of knowledge got anywhere with their lives," he mused distractedly. Miriam could be said to boast attractive features, so similar to the Ancient Greek ideal; a willowy, slim figure with dark flowing hair and eyes, a pretty face and that hint of mystery that so many were pulled to - he acknowledged that, like every other figure in this group, none was far from ideal. He now turned to face her completely, sky blue and turquoise gaze pausing three seconds on her pale face. What he was about to say was not an easy thing ot break to anyone, even the most talented mind-reader.

Without a hint of hesitation, James closed his eyes and created a stark image of a conrete wall in the way that it occupied his mind. He didn't want the girl to read what he was about to say, as it relied more on words' effects than reading capacities.

" I know they're keeping us here so they can control us, watch our every move to see if we're not a danger to their precious community...I'm also pretty sure the results will be negative, since even people in our little group don't trust me, so we'll definitely be labelled as strange, dangerous and crazy. Now, I presume you know everything about our surroundings as well, and I highly doubt you're just going to sit here for the rest of your life while a bunch of teenagers whine about how much of a know-it-all you are. So, any plans?..."

"What the Government doesn't know is that they are - unintendidly so - killing their immortal deities." Strider's face held no trace of comedy, so straight and serious anyone might think he was not being true. "Cooping up your god's in a house only serves for them to get away from the world. That's - trully - the last thing you want to do; they'll either eventually get at each other's throats or die becuase humanity does not acknowledge their existence." James sighed, irked by the fact he was having to juggle with keeping this 'wall' up and speaking coherently. "What I mean is that, if humans cease to believe we are out there, we cease to exist. The deities are dying" A solemn pause, by which James opened his bi-coloured gaze to take in the girl's reactions to his blockade. "Take Barbara, Earth Goddess. The was all power and might back in the Prehistoric times. Nothing but Nature ruled the world. Now, humans don't give a fig to what happens to their precious home-land as long as they can consume it. By reducing the amount of natural space in the world they are, effectively, killing their Goddess."

During the Communist regime in USSR, the literacy rate dropped from 56.6% to a startling 18%.

"Even I am not safe. There will come a time when the common masses will have no need for knowledge as the State will handle all they need to do. It will be then when I shall disappear." A look of startling passion showed in James' usually calm gaze, and his lips pursed into a fine, wry line. "We cannot let them. We can't just sit around and expect to die slowly." James looked away, suddenly weary, tired. "But without the other's support, we can do nothing. We have to be in this together, sadly. Had this not been so, I'd already be imparting lessons in libraries or preaching in the streets," he said, voice now slightly sarcastic. "They - at the moment - do not understand the full extent of what I can do. If I passed out right this instant, all of the worlds communication system would crash, along with a good portion of it's powerstations and networks," he said , defeated. "Until they don't understand the full extent of what they can do, until they don't get the bigger picture, we will get nowhere."

He wondered if James would be offended if he told him that his Mom was a big fan of his previous feminine self. Probably.

and

Now that was... odd. I wonder if he's got some mental thing that they didn't let him bring his normal drugs for?

and

I think I'm just going to call that smart guy Athena since I didn't get his name.

[[These absolutely made my day. Sorry about that mistake; I just realized the Greeks were.. 5000 BC? and Romans followed around 500 BC.Jeez you guys post so fast, it's really hard to keep up ^^''

Also, I'm posting like this to make my writing make somewhat more sense ;P ]]

[{{ f i a s c o }}]

-.bump.-

[light.]

[[ guys, sorry for this long "hiatus", but now I'm back. Hopefully I'll post tonight. So...everybody is now leaving the living room, right? ]]

[111misc]

{Yea, I'm pretty sure. ^^}

Bobbie smiled in her own, hard, warm way, dark eyes still untouchable, and glanced between the two boys who'd offered to accompany her into the woods. "Two idiots? Well, I don't know, sounds like a lot for me to handle," she joked mildly, finding their depreciating humor rather attractive and comical, "I'll manage somehow, as long as it's only mental, though," she nodded, opening the door as she spoke, already eager to leave, "I can deal with the insane, it's the physically crippled people I have a hard time dealing with. There's nothing to do when someone can't walk or climb a tree with you," she said as nonechalontly as if everyone did that for fun, not just her. Well. As far as Bobbie knew, they did. From a young age she'd been rather isolated from her peers, being such a somber child, and all. Not to mention scared of her own shadow, because of what she could do back then, and how she didn't understand it.

Breezing through the glassy doorway into the outside world she belonged in, a stab of bitterness burned her chest. It was not towards the Air God, either, who, the more she glanced at sideways, Bobbie decided she could live with, as long as he didn't do anything stupid enough to piss her off right away. No, it wasn't towards him, but out of the corner of her blue-black eyes the golden haired girl caught the dark hair of Miriam and the cynical look of James, leaning against the wall, by themselves, talking in soft, intrigued voices.

It was not the mindless rage Bobbie had felt the first time she'd set eyes on Stan, for their opposite natures, and it was not the fear and disapointed anger that she'd felt when even she had first walked into the room with the others teenagers because they all gave up so much, it was something much deeper and more concience then that. It was an epiphany Bobbie had then, in between friendly words to the two other boys, which she flung rather carelessly at them, in an effortless, uncaring way. As if she was going with or without them, but hey, if they wanted to hang on for the ride, she just hoped they had a strong enough grip. Between those uncaring, simple sentences, Bobbie felt a wave of bitterness wrack her frame silently and unnoticably.

War. Knowledge. The epiphany had been brought on by the thought that how ironic, that these two should congregate together? Neither can exist without the other. It was Bobbie's own opinion that innocence was bliss. And knowledge was power. And power was conflict. And conflict was war. And war was death and pain. She hadn't realized it until now, the strange feeling of disgust. But now Bobbie understood.

When the earthquake in Japan occurred, Bobbie had fainted at her school. She had come down with such headaches it was hard for her to open her eyes. She felt like she was dying, when it happened. Bobbie remembered, as she cast her eyes down as to avoid anyone else's curious gaze, when she was young, and would constantly complain of pains in her fingers, like they'd fallen asleep. They would get worse and worse, and no pill or movement could fix it. Even today, her fingers always tickled. The difference was she'd gotten used to it by now. And Bobbie knew why they hurt, too, because every day, every hour, every minute, she is being bombarded with axes and saws and knives. Slashed and beaten down. Burned. Ruined. Wasted. The fire in California, it made her back feel burned for weeks, until it was more or less under control by man. The rain forests, being cut down for years, Bobbie had never known for sure, but she was almost positive that was what made her hands ache in silent pain. And if you went back to the root of all her pain, of all the worlds pain, there were two things...

Knowledge and war.

That type of epiphany, that everything she suffered was at the hands of these two people's 'elements,' was like the dawn erupting over the hills. Bright and shining, almost blinding, but beautiful too, in it's crimson light. How interesting, she couldn't help think, curious, as she turned her entire, stony gaze on the two teens, talking. It was Bobbie's way not to think about things when they first appeared to her. Something would come up in her mind, she would remark silently on it's intrigue, file it away to mull over in the quiet of the forest or the dark of her bedroom, when she had time and space to do so. But now there was too much going on, and Bobbie, though with such a horrid discovery about the world on her brain hard to push off, managed to focus her thoughts back on the task at hand, after only a moment or two. And she turned silently away from the gods of war and knowledge, her true enemies, she would realize much later (ever so much more then air, which, though her opposite, was, in its own way, a part of her), and back to the boys she was talking to.

"Right, so, West to the river, or East, in the deeper forests?" She asked, pointing in the directions for enphasiss. Now, with this excitement of her find rattling in her bones, all Bobbie felt like doing was pounding some grizzly's face in with rocks and playing around. Of course, Bobbie's idea of playing around was probably more brutal, and more then likely, more fatal, then most other's ideals. Still, Stan and Jake didn't know that, did they?

x

nαтʋяɛ nɛvɛя ∂ι∂ вɛтяαʏ тнɛ нɛαят тнαт ℓσvɛ∂ нɛя

[shudder]

[Posting tomorrow. Exams this week :p]

[my Lalia]

Mood:
calm
With:
Taylor, Alex, Bobbie and Stan
Where:
Leaving the House to explore the grounds
Saying:
"Learn to swim in shallow waters and you will not drown in deep water."

Jake couldn't help the small smile that reached his lips when Bobbie said that she could handle insane and stupid but not the cripples, though her eyes were hard like stone he was glad that she knew how to joke.
"Well you should have no worries with me, I'm perfectly able not sure about him though," Jake said cocking his head in Stan's direction. He smirked down at Stan before looking back up, he noticed a change in Bobbie even if it was slight. He knew that the two others were in her line of sight, he could sense them though he wasn't sure how far they were but he knew they were there. He wondered what had caused her eyes to go from stone to pure rage and disgust, Maybe I should do some more inward thinking, maybe then I will understand. He thought as he didn't quite understand where everyone's emotions were coming from, but to him at the moment everyone seemed bi-polar. Not that he cared he had been in the company of much, much worse before.

Jake looked at Stan and raised an eyebrow as he saw him grab a rain coat and a knife, he understood the knife part but not so much the rain coat. "It's not going to rain on us you know." He said with the up most certainty, which made a small shiver down his spine since it still freaked him out a little that he knew it wasn't going to happen. "Though you could bring it, if you really wanted to." Jake said playfully before shaking his head and looking back at Bobbie and the others.

Jake walked towards the door and stopped two feet away from Bobbie and looked down at her, she was pretty and he couldn't help but think that his people prayed to her. The thought brought a smile to his face, he remembered the elders say respect mother earth and she will be kind to you. If only they knew, he wanted to reach out and touch her at that moment but didn't, it was funny that he was so close to what his people sang songs to and told grand stories about and here he was standing next to here.
"Tuwa." he said the word for earth without thinking and said it so softly that it could of been mistaken for something a lover would do, though he didn't intend it to be that way. He watched her for a moment longer before he shook himself mentally as she turned back and asked if they wanted to explore the wood or go down to the river. Jake felt the pull of the river as soon as she said the words, he would love to go down to the river but he was going to let her deside.
"Lead the way Tuwa and I will follow... I mean Bobbie." He said as he flashed his white teeth again in a smile, he had no idea if she would be offended by him calling her Tuwa, he hoped not since he ment it with great respect. He looked over at the others who hadn't said much and wondered if they wanted to come or not.
"You guys coming to?" He asked, though his eyes stayed on Alex a little longer than they did on Tylor. He couldn't understand why he was drawn to her maybe it was her power, maybe it was something that water liked or hated, he wasn't sure.

At the thought of his element and everyone else, realized just how much they need him and he need them. Without me they would be nothing. Earth would die without me, war also needs me, fire needs my help to help control it, wind..... well I need wind but his storms are almost always acompanied by me. Light, darkness and knowledge I have no idea what they would need me for. He thought, though his thoughts were jumping alot at that moment from one thing to another but one stood out slightly. He didn't know why it stood out, maybe it was because he was so close to Bobbie at that moment. But knew that he needed her and she needed him, she needed him to help her grow and keep life on her and to keep all life from tearing her apart. And he needed her since if she were to die he would not be, they were intertwined as many of them were but they were closer though fire was close to him as well, though that was more of a love hate relationship.
Jake's thoughts jumped again to all things he heard about how water destroyed places like Japan and India a few years back, he wondered if he caused that to happen. During that time he was running wild and doing some things that he now regretted, but he wondered if his actions some how affected Bobbie to cause those earthquakes which helped him cause those tsunami. The thought sickened Jake a little bit as he never wanted to hurt people, though during those "dark times" he didn't care.

Jake shook himself mentally again, thinking too deeply made him a little tired and he didn't want that to happen since he wanted to explore the grounds. I better leave the thinking to Athena. He smirked at the name Athena knowing that she was no longer a she but a he. At least I have always been a dude. He thought still smirking, knowing that "Athena" probably knew what he was calling him.

[Artesian]

~~Stanley Jennesen ~~

Stanley laughed at Bobbie's sarcastic joke. "Well, no worries on that score. I've been climbing trees since I was a little kid," he told her, letting the door bang shut behind him, after Jake and Bobbie had exited the Great Room Of Awkwardness. He added, to himself, Now, climbing is just fine. Falling is not. Stan generally had excellent balance, but falling seemed to hurt him more easily than anything else. The ground was hard, he thought. Obviously. Perhaps it was even harder for him, with the whole air connection? He shrugged, pulling the supplies out of his backpack. He strapped on the knife, and tucked his cellphone in his pocket. Not that it would do much good here, but perhaps he could find a spot with a tiny bit of signal.

He was about to tie the jacket around his waist when Jake spoke, with more self-assurance and confidence than he'd heard out of the teen yet. It's not going to rain on us, you know. He slowly stuffed it back in his backpack. "If you say so..." he glanced at Jake, wondering if the teen knew what you needed to stay alive out in the wilderness. A coat could be a lifesaver, literally, as could a knife. He shrugged and straightened up. "I guess you know what you're talking about," he answered, following Jake out the door.

The brisk wind from the plains was invigorating. He grinned as the wind chilled his teeth, sending tingles through his face and brushing his face like a playful slap. He could hear Bobbie talking about possible directions for a hike, despite the wind blasting his ears. He frowned, noticing the way the wind was funneling, tossing itself against the walls of the house... but strangely, not bothering Bobbie or Jake. Her hair was just lightly teased by the breeze, while his own was threatening to scratch out his eyes. It was... slightly annoying, really, but fun at the same time. It's like cats, like how they twin around your feet and trip you just because they want to be near you. He blinked, nudging the thoughts from his mind.

Jake responded, telling Bobbie to lead the way. No, to lead and he will follow. That's different. Some part of him noted Jake's eyes, and the way he watched Bobbie. Yup, I see something there. he thought, pleased. Hmm. Water and Earth. Stan had always been good with people, and he could see what way the wind blew, metaphorically speaking. He hoped it would work out, somehow... both Bobbie and Jake were certainly nice people, although Bobbie - frankly - still unnerved him. She had a serious attitude that made him think of the way the granite felt the first, last and only time he'd attempted rock-climbing.

"I'm going to drop my bags off at the room," he told Jake. "I'll catch up with you later. The river sounds good to me," he opined, over his shoulder. He headed off around the house to the far dorm, marked on his map with a large circle in sharpie.

[OoC: Sorry for this fail-of-a-post. Finals are here, and brain not work so good after a day of studying. Hopefully, Stan'll be out of it for a bit while he drops his bags off, so I won't hold anyone back by being unreliable about posting for the next two weeks. Also, I just wanted to say I'm really enjoying everyone's characters. Everyone's so unique and realistic. ^.^]