Welcome to Gaia! ::

"We're missing..." Skuld looked over it, chewing on her pencil. While she was used to giving prophecies, they usually left translation to others. She had gotten better since she started training, but there was still room for improvement.

At least the genii are having trouble, too, she thought, trying to calm her insecurity.

"Plenty...the nature of the threat, the reason it's after us, this Queen of Innocence and her inner fire...this is worse than trying to understand Nate's squawking," Tyler said, obviously getting a little frustrated after days of mincing these cryptic words. For once, he was starting to see Azana's love of just taking things as they came. James had ranted about it often in the labs...and now, finally, after being with her for a couple months, he was seeing Taylor's logic.

Azana took a deep breath, probably more nervous than Sosol was at this point. "Alright, let's begin..."

"That's as good of a start as any," Tyler said, immediately making a list of every woman he had met at the Inn, hoping the others could add to it. He didn't bother to jot down Azana's name...Innocence wasn't a word he'd use in conjunction with her, though that inner fire of hers could be frightening at times.

"That and looking for any hints of who is coming," Skuld said with a nod. "This being on a black throne..."

"Zulma, Crystal, Stacy, Skuld, Stella, Max..." He read off as he continued with names that Azana had mentioned in some of her stories. If everyone else in the prophecy had to do with the Inn...there was a large chance that the person in question was, too.

((And I should sleep. Going to the fair tomorrow.))

D walked over to where everyone was working and began to look things over for himself. He read the article and looked at the picture before looking down at the list. He took up a pencil and wrote down under the last of the list of names 'Emily.' It was a frightening thought, but what was more innocent than a child? He set the pencil down and walked away from the group, the girl who owned the name he just wrote clinging to the hem of his coat as he made his way up the stairs. He lifted Emily up and set her down in her own bed for her to sleep.

He turned and was about to leave when Emily whined. He looked back at her and she was holding her blanket up sheepishly.

"What is it?" he asked and Emily looked at the window. D turned and walked over to it and took a look outside. The world was dark, a few trees were silhouetted against the sky, and his eyes could perceive the green of the life stretching for miles. But he neither sensed nor saw anything of concern and looked back at Emily. The girl was staring at him for his confirmation.

"Nothing is out there," he said simply and the child relaxed in her bed as D turned the light off and walked outside. He made his way back down the stairs and out the door, shutting it behind him. He turned and leapt up with grace, landing silently on the roof and walking over to Angeles, who was looking out at the world, her arms propped on her upraised knees with her fingers laced together.

"How strange of you to seek out company," she said dully as D turned and sat by her to look out across the land with her. He said nothing, and allowed her to continue after a pause, "I've been thinking about the prophecy. That perhaps the fallen kings have something to do with your father."

"Not likely," was D's curt response and Angeles glanced at him before returning her gaze to what was before her. She said nothing more on the matter.

Alex stood from where she had been working and walked over to the work that the others had been doing. She added her own name to the list of women, then 'Ale' as she had heard her been spoken of as well. 'Rose' was the next name Alex wrote down as a name she had heard in passing, then added 'Sofia,' 'Xei,' another 'Alex,' 'Elenora,' 'Matilda,' 'Ayase,' 'Elizabeth,' 'Kage,' 'Zefi,' 'Moriko,' 'Rachel,' 'Jamie,' 'Mitsukai,' 'Serra,' 'Ell.' Those were the ones she knew, and she put the pencil down. If there were any others, she had never met them, or heard them mentioned. She moved back to her table and packed up her laptop before leaving up the stairs for some sleep.

D came down from the roof with Angeles in his arms. He laid her on the couch and moved back over to sit in the corner. He looked over at where the others had been working, the pencil and paper were in a different position, so someone had done something to the list after he had written Emily's name down. He looked back at the table he was sitting at, the unfinished carving on it, wondering if Angeles would ever finish it.

D did not look up as the siren came down. By now he had recognized her scent. Instead he kept his head down, appearing to be asleep, as he thought about what Angeles had said on the roof. He still thought it unlikely that his father was the 'king,' or one of them anyway, that was mentioned in the prophecy. But he had been considering, perhaps the prophecy meant the fall of all of the major leaders, in which case, the one known as 'Louie,' could be involved.

Angeles had awakened silently and was looking up at the ceiling through half-lidded green eyes, "the Queen of innocence does not necessarily mean that she needs to be innocent herself, just that she is the queen of it, a protector, even a teacher perhaps. And the Kings do not necessarily have to be actually kings, but leaders, perhaps not even globally known. If this prophecy is all about the inn we should be looking within for answers."

Angeles sat up and stood from the couch, moving over to the list and looking at it, losing her breath slightly when she saw Emily's name on it, "history says that trying to avoid one's destiny is what ends up leading one straight to it. So perhaps we should not waste our efforts trying to find the answers in order to prevent them, and just look for the answers so that we may be prepared as best we can."

"Sounds like someone woke up on the right side of the bed for once," said the red-headed woman coming down the stairs. Angeles glowered slightly.

"Silence coward."

"Whoops," Alex said flatly as she moved to her seat, "spoke too soon."

"In any case, it is possible the prophecy is set in chronological order. We have the door, what is supposed to be next? It's likely that the events in the prophecy are triggered by it's previous," she paused and thought for a moment before she took up the list and shredded it saying with definition, "the Queen is Xei, I know that for certain. either the next event will be someone coming through that door, or Aris' part comes to pass, and the final act is what will allow the one to come through the door."

What will I lose, though, she thought turning to Xei, I only have so much left.

"What part do you think Aris will have to play in?" Came D's deep voice from the corner and Angeles folded her arms in thought.

"His heart already aches for Ale, and the worst that could happen is that she were to be found dead. Perhaps it would mean that after finding that Ale is lost, Aris tries to move on, but finds it difficult."

"As it should be," said D almost softly and Angeles looked over at him.

((off to work, sorry.))

Fenyx looked at the list. "...You missed Shalmii..." He added his sister's name to the list. He also put a line pointing from Shalmii's name to Rachel's name, saying 'Form taken when possessed by the demon Raia'. He then asked, "What's this for, anyway?"