The Affinities

"Yes, lets." He agreed.

 

As Caeli stood there, all alone, he thought of his parents. What would his life be like if they hadn't died...?

 

"Hey buddy, come on, you too. Your opinion matters too, you know," Andrew called to Caeli as he and Jellal made their way back to the main group. It seemed votes were still being taken. Come on. Come on. It's way better to blend in. he thought desperately.

 

"Hmm?" Caeli looked around to look at who said that. Making contact with Andrew's face he said, "Oh yah sure. I guess we go to a town and lay low for a while. Surely the townsfolk won't know much about wizards? Caeli shrugged.

 

"Well then," Jellal said "It seems unanimous that we go to town. Now we just need to decide who's in each group. I'll take Caeli, Ariana, Keel, and Jo. Haley, you take Andrew, Maddie, and Ulrich. Any objections?" He asked.

 

Ulrich frowned and shook his head as he looked at Jellal. "No," he remarked, not liking the match up. "I prefer if you had Andrew, Caeli, Ariana, and Keel. Haley should take Jo, Maddie, and myself. I apologize, but I don't trust you having a group full of people who will willingly follow your commands." He explained. Deep in the recesses of his mind, Ulrich felt uncomfortable with Jellal's match-up. That spelled trouble and they could defunct and run out on the plan. If worse came to worse, they could die due to their own interests.

 

Caeli shook his head as that he had no objection.

 

Jellal sighed. "Alright fine. Are there any objections to that setup?" He asked once more

 

"Fine by me." Keel replied.

 

Haley was quiet. Too quiet perhaps. She'd been thinking. It sounded like they'd decided to go into town and pretend to be normal. They'd be safe and they'd live a normal peacful life. Everyone was finally agreeing and getting along. But yet, she wasn't completely happy. She wanted to be safe and lead a normal life, she wanted peace, didn't she? They were going into a life where they had to pretend they were somebody they weren't, they couldn't use their powers and one slip up meant all was lost. They'd be effectivly trapped. That was what she didn't like, she valued freedom highly and this would strip her of that. And she wouldn't even have that one place she could go to be herself.

Still, the others had agreed, she couldn't just tell them no. She'd do it, it was her duty to them, she had to look after them. She just wished they had one place that they could go after work and such like to just be theirselves where they could use their powers without fear. She looked up to watch them deciding teams, she was glad Ulrich stepped in. She'd been so distracted she hadn't even noticed that recipe for disaster, with she was slightly annoyed at herself for. "Yes. Just please don't kill eachother, guys", she said quietly towards Jellal and Andrew before continuing. "But we are going to the village first, right? How far away did you say that mansion was, Andrew? It would make a nice place to live while we do this and if what you said was true it would be somewhere where we'd be free to use our powers. But if it's too far away, ah well" She spoke much quieter than usual and without her usual confidence.

 

Jo kept her head down. Her thoughts running rampant in her head. Each echoing the same thing. She had to get rid of that thing in the cave. Jo prayed no one at home would recognize her. Just to be safe, she'd head to the cave first. Getting rid of that thing was top priority. "It doesn't matter who I go with..."

 

Andrew was about to blurt out a 'no way' to Jellal's grouping. However, Ulrich beat him to it. He liked his plan better. Though he wished he wasn't the only one that wasn't recruited into Jellal's rebellion in that group. He would've rather had at least Haley or Maddie to be reasonable with him. But then he would've separated the friends. Guess I'll have to take care of the kiddies. he thought with a sigh. "Don't worry Haley. I'm not as keen to kill Jellal," he said with a smile. He would be just fine without Jo in his group. That would've killed him. In response to Haley's question, he said, "Yeah it is pretty far away. But if you wanted to use your powers once in a while, I think Ulrich could create a place underground." Andrew assumed that Ulrich was pretty decent as making architecture of sorts from earth.

 

Ariana grabbed Jo's hand. She had become attached to the older girl-like an older sister that she never had. "I'd prefer to be with Jo," She mumbled quietly.

 

Ulrich turned to Andrew and laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his head. "I think you may be giving me, a fellow earth-user, too much credit," he remarked nervously. "I'm pretty weak, and the best I can do is use dust. Otherwise, I'm pretty useless!" He laughed, looking around. Despite his jovial expression and his nervous laugh, Ulrich really didn't want to be a main participant in anything. It would only strengthen their ties to him and that idea, more or less, frightened Ulrich.

 

"Whaaat? Are you serious? If you're able to control dust that takes far more concentration and skill, you know," said Andrew crossing his arms. Making stuff out of earth was the easiest thing to do ever. He didn't buy it that Ulrich claimed he couldn't created a room underground. Hearing Ariana's complaint, Andrew looked around at the group. There were 8 of them, meaning two groups of four. If Jo and Ariana were to become a pair, and assuming the same would be for Haley and Maddie, then that meant the two groups would be unequal in those that are more calm, and those that are more prone to violence. "Sorry, sweetheart, but it doesn't look like that'll be possible. But don't worry, we're probably not going to be separated for long," he said bending down a bit to be more level with the girl. "We'll just take a quick pit stop at Jo's village, rest, eat, and then we'll continue on."

 

OOC: Actually, Fire, there's 9 of us. Ulrich, Andrew, Jo, Ariana, Jellal, Haley, Maddie, Keel, and Caeli.

Ulrich laughed. "Actually, dust doesn't use all that much concentration," Ulrich replied. "Besides, I'm not all that skilled. I always survived through running away, anyway. Dust, alone, is pretty harmless. I can't manipulate my element." He argued, crossing his arms as he kept wearing his lazy smile. As to prove his argument, Ulrich through his arms out and demonstrated effort as he tried to rise two pillars of earth. The best he could manage was rising dirt and a few rocks. Otherwise, he couldn't raise a mound. Ulrich gasped as he relented. "As you can see," he went on. "I couldn't manage to do anything." Ulrich smiled again.

 

Jo stepped in front of Ariana as much as she could and directly in Andrew's face. "My 'pit stop' at home will be much longer than what you suggest. Most likely I'll be behind everyone else once I set out again. I'd prefer to be with someone who actually likes me rather than alone. We'll travel within our individual groups but once we reach the village I'd like Ariana with me...all the time." Her red eyes practically demanded Andrew to listen to her. Despite Jo's determination, she needed someone to be with her.

 

Haley raised her eyebrows at Ulrich, she'd thought of him to be much stronger than that. She still didn't believe he was as weak as he was saying. Although she did believe he prefered to use dust, but she expected he could come up with ways to make that stronger than he was making out. She knew that she could be wrong, so she wouldn't ask too much of him but there was something about him that she just couldn't put her finger on.

Either way, she still wasn't that happy. It sounded like the mansion was too far away and even if Ulrich could make an underground room, she wasn't sure she would use it. She had an affinity with the air, she liked to be free, being forced to go into a claustraphoic little underground room just wouldn't work. She'd still go along with this, of course, but she wouldn't even have anywhere to go just to be herself. Trapped with no escape. She tried hard not to show it but she was dreading it. She was probably wrong and it wouldn't be that bad. She hoped.

 

Ulrich crossed his arms again and analyzed the situation. "Instead of two groups," he said at length, sighing. "I propose there should be three groups of three. Sparky, Andrew, and Keel. Myself, Ariana, and Jo. Haley, Maddie, and Caeli?" He offered. "Nevertheless, it doesn't matter until we get to Jo's village, anyway. So... let's put this into the back of our minds and get going? If we stay here debating this any longer, we'll be far behind schedule. A day or two in Jo's village would be a nice change of pace, anyway." Ulrich remarked, yawning.

 

Oh whoops. I guess I forgot to count myself.

Andrew wasn't convinced. All earth users know it's far easier to control earth through your feet rather than your hands. "If you say so man. But I have trust in your abilities," he said. Hearing Jo's request Andrew narrowed his eyes at her. "Um, excuse me but I don't really trust you to keep yourself and her safe from harm. So if you're not really planning to just stop by the place, what's the deal then? What do you want from your beloved village?" he asked skeptically raising an eyebrow. Well, at least she's asking politely instead of 'OH HEY. I'M TAKING THIS GIRL WITH ME AND IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT I'LL SHOOT YOU GUYS. Which is known as 'kidnapping'. Andrew thought to himself. The girls' relationship was starting to be somewhat troublesome. He also didn't think Jo was that great of a role model either. You know what. Maybe it would be better to just split the group up. No one's going to listen to me anyway. They're all going to party up and be all 'Destroy the humans! Vengeance! Yeah!' thought Andrew as his mind slowly unfurled. He closed his eyes trying hard not to have tears of frustration well up. No...I can't just quit this conversation. Hearing Ulrich's suggestion, Andrew felt slightly better. He would still be outnumbered, but at least Ulrich could keep an eye out for Jo and Ariana. They seemed to take a better liking to him anyway.