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When I'm missing you may panic,
you always expect me to be there in need.

You can use me to build cars, trains, castles or spaceships,
the limit is only your imagination.

But if you travel to my origin, don't expect to see me.
Only you will find a lot of other helping means.

Hint 1

I smell like a flower, the sea or fresh air
but I dare you smell me right before I leave the world.

Hint 2

I'm slowly ripped to death, piece by piece
and yet my body is not covered by blood.

Hint 3

Children use me to play the walking dead,
my worst nemesis are cats.

I will provide a hint every time all lines are explained without getting the correct word; each line can be explained separately (title included).

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7 Answers 7

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You are

Toilet paper

Perish by drowning

Toilet paper leaves the world when it's flushed down the toilet, slowly dissolving in the water.

When I'm missing you may panic, you always expect me to be there in need.

People expect toilet paper to be there..

You can use me to build cars, trains, castles or spaceships, the limit is only your imagination.

The rolls are stackable and can be used to build something.

But if you travel to my origin, don't expect to see me. Only you will find a lot of other helping means.

Origin of paper would be a tree. There is no toilet paper in the woods, but perhaps you can use a leaf?

Hint 1

Toilet paper smells nice until it's "death", when it's used. Noone want to smell it then!

Hint 2

Toilet paper roll is slowly killed by ripping more pieces off.

Hint 3

Children cover in toilet paper to play zombies. Also, cats often waste a whole roll when playing.

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Creativity

When I'm missing you may panic,
you always expect me to be there in need.

Writer's block, stage fright, etc.

You can use me to build cars, trains, castles or spaceships,
the limit is only your imagination.

Self-explanatory, with imagination closely related to creativity.

But if you travel to my origin, don't expect to see me.
Only you will find a lot of other helping means.

The origin of creativity is arguably in the human CPU - the brain - in which you will not actually see creativity, though you will find the many various systems which support the helpful means of the brain.

Not sure about the title though, which you note should be explainable as a clue, so I'm at a loss there (for now).

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  • $\begingroup$ It's not creativity, sorry $\endgroup$
    – Zibelas
    May 13, 2016 at 6:48
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Memory

When I'm missing you may panic/You always expect me to be there in need.

You generally expect to remember important routines or events, and you might panic when you realize you can't remember your password or what your late grandmother looked like.

You can use me to build cars, trains, castles or spaceships, the limit is only your imagination.

All skills you possess are essentially in your memory, so to build any of those objects would require remembering any research or training you have done to those ends.

But if you travel to my origin, don't expect to see me. Only you will find a lot of other helping means.

Since memory is exclusively in the past, if you go to where it originated you won't see it again, but being in the same place may help refresh or "jog" your memory.

I smell like a flower, the sea or fresh air but I dare you smell me right before I leave the world.

Memory of a smell, basically. "I dare you to smell me right before I leave the world" could be referring to the smell of someone dead or dying.

I'm slowly ripped to death, piece by piece and yet my body is not covered by blood.

Memories fade over time, losing details. Not being physical, they wouldn't bleed.

Forgot to put this earlier, but "To perish by drowning"

Could refer to being overwhelmed by memories, think of a holocaust survivor visiting Auschwitz or something like that.

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  • $\begingroup$ A nice fit but sadly no.. Since people are still guessing and all tips are used again, I'll add another one $\endgroup$
    – Zibelas
    Aug 5, 2016 at 7:16
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Are you

air ?

When I'm missing you may panic,
you always expect me to be there in need.

You expect air to be every where around you. If there is no air you panic because you can't breath

You can use me to build cars, trains, castles or spaceships,
the limit is only your imagination.

You can make anything "out of thin air"

But if you travel to my origin, don't expect to see me.
Only you will find a lot of other helping means.

I don't really know for this one.

To perish by drowning

When you drown you perish from lack of air.

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  • $\begingroup$ The origin part is that there is no known origin of air $\endgroup$
    – bb216b3acfd8f72cbc8f899d4d6963
    May 12, 2016 at 17:50
  • $\begingroup$ It's not air, sorry $\endgroup$
    – Zibelas
    May 13, 2016 at 6:48
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You are

Fresh water

When I'm missing you may panic,
you always expect me to be there in need.

We need water, and we expect it to be available from its usual source - you turn on the tap, shower, spigot, well, and you expect it to be there when you need it.

You can use me to build cars, trains, castles or spaceships,
the limit is only your imagination.

Water is used intensively in manufacturing processes. It is an incredibly useful substance. In a more artistic sense, water can be used to create anything you can imagine in the form of ice sculpting.

But if you travel to my origin, don't expect to see me.
Only you will find a lot of other helping means.

This one I'm not sure about because the origin of water on Earth is uncertain. The hypothesized locations of water (space - comets, meteorites; of internal - volcanic activity, hydrate minerals) aren't places you'd find obvious water if you traveled to them. If you traveled to those places (which is a stretch in itself, so again, I'm not sure about this clue) you would find other helping means in the form of useful minerals and energy.

Another interpretation of this could be the origin of potable water, the most major of which ultimately being the ocean where rain begins, and which is a place where you will not find potable water. At the ocean though, there are helpful means for sustenance in the form of fish.

To perish by drowning (third)

Well, simply, what do you find when you are perishing by drowning?
You are overwhelmed with water.

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  • $\begingroup$ The questioner has in fact asked other earlier questions with "(first)" and "(second)" in their titles; click on their name to see their account info, where you can find their questions. $\endgroup$
    – Gareth McCaughan ♦
    May 13, 2016 at 15:45
  • $\begingroup$ Oh yeah - I enjoyed one of Zibelas' earlier riddles! Thanks for pointing that out @GarethMcCaughan. $\endgroup$
    – cr0
    May 13, 2016 at 17:33
  • $\begingroup$ It's not fresh water either, sorry $\endgroup$
    – Zibelas
    May 15, 2016 at 8:16
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You might be

Food ?

To perish by drowning

Eating food makes it "drown" in your stomach

When I'm missing you may panic, you always expect me to be there in need.

We've gotten used to always having food available

You can use me to build cars, trains, castles or spaceships, the limit is only your imagination.

You have to eat to stay alive, and staying alive is required for building those things

But if you travel to my origin, don't expect to see me. Only you will find a lot of other helping means.

I don't quite know how this one fits. Maybe the word "helping" is used in the sense "another helping of food"

I smell like a flower, the sea or fresh air but I dare you smell me right before I leave the world.

Again, can't quite figure out the first part, but you can't smell something while you're eating it

I'm slowly ripped to death, piece by piece and yet my body is not covered by blood.

This I think refers to biting and chewing

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  • $\begingroup$ It's not food, sorry $\endgroup$
    – Zibelas
    May 15, 2016 at 8:16
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Are you:

Oxygen?

When I'm missing you may panic, you always expect me to be there in need.

A lack of oxygen - such as getting the wind knocked out of you - causes panic. You always expect that taking a breath will provide oxygen.

You can use me to build cars, trains, castles or spaceships, the limit is only your imagination.

Oxygen is a chemical building block of many items, including silicon dioxide - silicates are the major component of sand, as well as many other materials. Many polymers include oxygen, and space ships include oxygen for fuel and for breathing for humans.

But if you travel to my origin, don't expect to see me. Only you will find a lot of other helping means.

Oxygen is created by fusion of lighter elements within stars. If you were to go to a star, you wouldn't see much oxygen, but you'd see a lot of the lighter building block elements.

To perish by drowning

Drowning is fundamentally the lack of ability to breath oxygen.

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  • $\begingroup$ Similar to the air answer, sorry it is not Oxygen $\endgroup$
    – Zibelas
    Aug 5, 2016 at 7:17

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