A young girl lay on the forest floor, her auburn, plaited hair oddly neat for someone who had slept in a forest. She stirred, before opening her fathom-deep blue eyes. She sat up, looking around her. Confusion crossed her features, and she looked on the floor around her. She reached out and found a bag. It was a black messenger bag, with black sequins sewn into the flap. She unbuttoned it and rooted inside. She smiled as her hands found a notebook and pen. They were a form of comfort. Her smile only widened as she found her favourite novel and her favourite bookmark.

But as she realized that she didn't know where she was, her smile slid off of her face. She looked around, and stood up. She wore black leggings, a teal jumper, a white vest t-shirt, and black Converse with a checkered turndown. She picked up her sequined bag and slung it over her shoulder, before heading towards a river. There had to be people near a river. Emily Marx swept her hair over one shoulder, playing with the end of her plait.

Deliah open her eyes, her blonde hair falling elegantly to her sides. Everything seemed vaguely familar, as if she was in a dream but she was wide awake. If anything, the surroundings seemed like they came straight out of her imagination, like on of the stories out of her books. She stood up, finding a ink pen and a notepad. Odd.

Her feet sunk into the slightly damp ground. Deliah sighed and looked around. "Samson? Are you out here?" No reply came. How wierd. I fell asleep in my bed with Samson beside me, and woke up in a forrest without him. She glanced up and saw dark clouds gathering above her head. Oh dear.

“Hullo.”

A boy of about nine years pulled his little, half-dressed body out from the warmth of the river. Upon noticing the girl approaching his safe-haven, he began to pull on his clothes. Gold, twinkling bells sprung to life as he tugged his tunic overhead, shaking his yellow hair to-and-fro as his baby face popped out of the playful collar. The blonde was a young jester, cheeks permanently painted with a clown-like tattoo under his right eye. From his head to his feet he was dressed in a well-fitting suit made out of black and white checked fabric. Dancing around his waist and shoulders were, of course, his magic bells.

“Hulllooooo!” The boy shouted again while waving his arms. His grin confirmed his age—he had lost only a few babies' teeth while others wobbled while he spoke. “My name is Peter.” Tilting his blonde head again, he rose slightly from the ground with only toes scraping the colored leaves of forest floor. “Are you lost?”

Larissa finally awoke when the sun shone through the trees to hit her face. She put her arm over her face to shield her eyes at first, finding to be a bit blinding as she had just woken up after all... Or maybe she was still asleep, as she didn't recall this to be her bed. This was just some unknown place in a forest, at least unknown to her. She remembered having been so tired from the fancy party she went to that she just flopped down on her bed, figuring that she could just change later. Maybe this was just a lucid dream, but she never recalled having any before. But there was a first thing for everything, she supposed, as it just wasn't logical for her to just magically appear here for some strange reason.

As she sat up her hand went over something, she picked it up, seeing that it was a sketch pad. She looked to her side to see if there were any more objects and there indeed were, as there was also a packet of differently colored pens. How convenient, for an artist like her. She picked up the sketchpad and packet of pens and tucked them under her arm as she got up. Seeing as how this was a lucid dream (as she assumed), she might as well enjoy it before she woke up. She went the direction she was facing when she woke up, which was towards the river. As she was nearing it she noticed a girl with an auburn braid and a black bag, when she got closer she noticed that it was sequined. Strange, dreams usually weren't this detailed... But then again, this was a lucid dream, after all. Deciding to converse with who she assumed was a 'dream denizen', she did a small wave and said, "Hello,"

Emily jumped. Suddenly there were two people near the river. One was a brown haired girl, quite pretty. The other was a young boy, barely nine, with clown-like tatoos under his eyes. She smiled nervously, unaware of where she was, and even less aware of who these people were. "Hello. My name is Emily Marx, can you tell me where we are? Yes, I am very lost. This river looks like one I wrote about once. I only ever mentioned it in passing, but it really looks familiar." She addressed both people, playing nervously with the end of her plait. She had fallen asleep in a warm, comfy bed with her favourite book in her hands and wearing her clothes. She had just come in from shopping and she had decided to lie down and read her book. Before she had realized it, she had woken up in this forest.

She missed home already. She missed her favourite pyjamas, her favourite cushion, and her cat, Bibs. But this place intrigued her, and despite herself, she wanted to learn more. She knew, that when she got home, it would make a brilliant setting for a fantasy story. And she would get home.

"Hello!" Peter said again to those who were first speaking to him. "Emily..." Green eyes glazed over as he tucked a blonde lock of hair behind his ear. "It's a nice name." He took a breath and crossed his thin arms while considering her question. Honestly, Peter wasn't sure where they all were either--and he had lived there his entire life. Suddenly, he plopped his bottom into the crunchy leaves and put his chin in his hands. "You're in the place where dreams are born," He said after some thought. "You make it and it comes true!" The boy nodded innocently at their notebooks. "What, whom, or where are you looking for? I can help."

He turned to the other girl with the artist's sketchbook and his pink mouth curled into a thin, impish smirk. "And you have many more pens than the others!" Peter observed. "What's your name? Are you the one I can thank for this?" In a long, sweepy gesture he showed off his checkered outfit, golden bells jingling merrily. "I've been looking for awhile for the right person to thank," he sighed. "You see, this costume sets me apart from the others here."

Larissa noticed a person that she had somehow not, well, noticed before, that person being a young boy who had a jester-like appearance to her, minus the cap that they usually wore. Listening to the conversation before she spoke once again, as it would be rude to interrupt, she discovered that apparently the girl she just met who was named 'Emily' was lost and the boy said that they were in a 'place where dreams are born'. Being under the impression that this was just some strange lucid dream, she guessed that the boy must be self-aware. She finally answered with her contribution to the conversation, "Forgive me for not introducing myself earlier, I am Larissa Monicana," She said, saying the last name because of a formal habit and did a small curtsy, "And I can't say for sure if that's my handiwork," Larissa said, taking a closer look at the boy's costume, "But I must say that it's very intricate and well made," She said, figuring that she might as well compliment herself if it did turn out to be her work somehow.

"And I'm unsure of where this is either," She said to Emily in case she might ask her, "But perhaps you should follow the river if it looks familiar to you? Perhaps it might lead to something that could pinpoint where you are," She said.

"You make it and it comes true!" So that was why this river looked so familiar. It was the one she had written about. "Really? I.. I have to see." Emily flopped down onto the river bank, and pulled out her notebook and pen. She wrote a short passage, and closed the book. Within a few seconds, a pure white wolf shot through the forest. It jumped into the river and disappeared in mid-air. Emily smiled, sliding the notebook into her bag. "Strange, but true. This seems to be part of the forest I wrote about in my story. If my inkling is correct, that probably is your clothing design. But how did we get here? I certaintly never wrote myself in here. And you wouldn't have known what this forest looked like to have drawn yourself in..." Emily smiled at Larissa. "Unless you've been stalking me and reading my notebooks."

Deliah sighed, hearing voices in thee distance. Oh, how I wish I was near them, she thought. Then she got swriter's inspiration. She wrote of her main character teleporting to the voices that lie beyond, and too her suprise, it immeadently happened. She blinked and stared at everyone. "Well. This certainly is odd."

"Larissa," Peter said to himself, sweeping a bow as to look more adult. "I'm Peter." His facial expression sunk slightly when he heard that he was not wearing what the girl had drawn--mostly because, he was the only artist creation that he could think of off the top of his head. When the girl complimented him, the blonde whisked a small twirl on one foot. He was very proud of his sense of taste. While he and Larissa spoke, Emily had flopped onto the riverbank and began to write to test Peter's theory. Sure enough--her creation went bolting right through the forest.

"I think," the boy said quietly, unknowingly lifting two inches from the ground. "I may have wrote you here. Or the king." The blonde sighed, lying backwards in midair. "He likes games and I simply want to see him defeated. You might be here for his entertainment, or...well, my security. Can't be sure. The tyrant king is not a very good man." Peter mumbled through pursed lips. "Anything that gets written here stays forever unless he's defeated. And I don't want to turn into what I was written to be." The boy sunk to his feet. "I should be erased before that. " A woman appeared them, blinking in amazement. At her appearance, Peter gave a little shout and was startled higher into the air. "Odd is right!"

Emily clambered to her feet, and stretched. Sudenly, a girl appeared on the bank, startling Emily. Emily was standing near the edge of the river, and the soil was loose and rocky. The sudden appearance of the girl frightened her, and she jumped. Her foot landed on a loose rock, and she fell into the river. The water was shockingly cold and clear. The cold shocked her for a minute, before she swam up and her head broke the surface. She swam towards the bank, where she dragged herself up. She glared at the others, daring them to laugh. She looked around, before sighing and taking out her notebook. It was wet, but she tested her pen on it and it wrote, so she wrote a short passage. She waited a few seconds, but her clothers stayed wet. "N-n-not working." She shivered. She glanced at Larissa. "Don't suppose you can help? Same outfit, please. Just dry!" She glanced around. "I don't suppose anyone could... uh... I don't know... Dry my hair? Using magic writing powers?" She allowed herself a rare grin, before her face returned to her usual peaceful expression.

Larissa watched in interest as Emily proved the theory that they could bring things into existence, watching her creation gracefully jump into the water and then disappear as quick as it had appeared. Of course, this meant that she had the ability as well, she was thankful to be a good artist, as her writing ability wasn't up to par. She could only imagine what horrid creations could come about if she had no understanding of basic autonomy, "I'm not sure, I just randomly appeared not far from here. But I suppose that I'm willing to help with overthrowing this tyrant king, since I apparently have no choice in the matter anyways," She said, deciding to just go with the plot of this 'dream'. It was certainly turning out to be an interesting one, much more interesting than the ones she could remember having. She didn't believe that she was really stuck here, thinking that she could wake up any time she liked. And perhaps if the clothing was made by her, then some of the scenery might as well be made by her too, since she did enjoy making sketches of the outside world as well.

The sudden appearance of a girl snapped her out of her thoughts, "... Hello-," She said to the girl, but then suddenly Emily fell in the river, Larissa being too late to try and catch her hand, but didn't attempt to go into the river to save her, since she was just a dream denizen. She watched her climb out of the river bank, honestly having some sympathy for the poor girl; she knew what it was like to have an outfit ruined by the nefarious water, she was lucky that the water seemed to be clear, "Of course," Larissa said, getting out her sketchpad and whipping out a blue pen before getting to work on making Emily a new outfit, though she couldn't help but put a few... creative liberties on it, like adding frills. Frills were a must.

"Hey...how did you do that?" ask Deliah, watching the girls clothes become dry. She put her pen in her mouth and twirled her blonde hair on her fingers, staring in amazement at the changing world around her. She felt like a young child lost in a world of lights, exactly like the Christmas she always was gawking at as a child. "And what is all of this talk of a tyrant?' she asked, jotting down a few things about snow.

Deliah's eyes brightened as a few snowflakes fell upon her. A wide smile formed on her lips and she realised for once, she was in control. She laughed her childlike laugh and held her hand out for the snow to fall on. "And it's not even cold out," she mumbled.

Emily glared at the new girl. "Uh, I think it's great that you know how to use your powers now, but I'm still cold. I don't need my hair wet and snowy. She rooted in her now frilly bag, and found her favourite hoodie. She pulled it on. "Hey, I think my bag's magic! Does anyone else have a a bag?" She glanced at Larissa, thankful for dry clothes, even if they were a little frilly. She allowed herself a small smile, but there was something nagging at her. She remembered how nice her "friends" had been before they had turned on her. They had spread rumours, tripped her up, and someone had caught one of them trying to graffiti her locker. She was scared that her newfound, however strange, friends would do the same. She shivered, but it was nothing to do with the snow falling onto her purple hoodie. She stared out over the now smooth river. "Huh, it's funny. I used to write to escape from the real world, but now the real world is my writing. Anything I write could affect us." Suddenly she looked up. "Oh, God, did I say that aloud?"

"Righto, Emily!" Peter said, flicking his eyes to her with a grin. "The sad thing is that you can't make it go away." The boy's voice grew strangely more mature as he turned to the girl who had created the snow. "Ever. That snow cloud will stay unless somebody writes a reason for it to go. Of course, it won't really be gone--hope you know." He sat back down and rubbed his hands through his hair and drew them back to inspect their size. Small, chubby fingers had suddenly gotten quite a bit longer and upon realizing, Peter had noticed an ever so slight change in his voice. Waving it off, he sighed.

"We need an introduction." He said sharply, jutting a finger at the girl who made the snow. "I don't know your name." Thrusting his hand out to her, he flashed a big grin. "I'm Peter. Who're you?"

"Oh, I'm Deliah," Deliah answered, flustered. She hadn't meant to do any damage, she just wanted some snow. It would never be gone? That was, well, amazing. She couldn't help but smile like a small child. "I believe you just got older!" Deliah exclaimed, now noticing the boy. She looked down at her feet, trying to avoid the gazes of everyone.

"Anybody there?" A female voice cried.

Larissa was about to answer Deliah's question, mainly out of politeness, but then saw that the girl had figured it out herself as evidenced by her making it snow all of a sudden... Though as pretty as the snow was, it was rather inconvenient, especially since she didn't have very winter-friendly clothes and began shaking, "... I suppose I should make everyone a winter outfit?" She said, "And no, I don't think I have a bag..." She said, but then noticed something hanging off of her arm; it was a violet red handbag with gold frills sewn onto the edges, "... But I guess I do now," She said, liking the pleasant surprise of the bag and put her pens into it, "And nice to meet you, Deliah," She said, doing a small curtsy towards her.

"... But, is it possible to draw them out of the way?" Larissa asked, getting her sketchpad out again and getting out a yellow pen, trying to draw a sun. She noticed that Peter seemed to get... maturer? It seemed that she wasn't the only one to have noticed, Deliah had pointed it out. But her drawing was suddenly interrupted by a female voice crying out, she looked around, there seemed to a lot of people popping up around here, "... Hello?" She said, looking around once more before going back to her drawing.

Emily shivered. "Let me have a go. I think my fingers are turning blue." With numb fingers, she picked up her pen and began to write. She grew warmer, but the snow cloud didn't move. "Huh. So heating this place up doesn't work. However, my fingers are now saved from hypothermia." Sh glanced at Delilah. "Hello. I'm Emily Marx." She looked at Peter. "Does that happen a lot around here? I mean, like growing up suddenly. 'Cause I don't want to be eighteen before I get out of here." She stood up. "Well if the bags are magic, we should have warmer clothes in here." She rooted in her bag, and soon drew out a scarf and gloves. "See?" She pulled the gloves on and wrapped the scarf around her neck. "Hah, I bet by the time we're finished here, it'll have gone through all the seasons. Speaking of which, how the hell did you know there was a tyrant, Larissa? I remember writing one into my story. Oh, God." Suddenly an idea hit Emily. "You-you don't think that's why we ended up here? To complete our stories?" Emily gradually realized that someone had called out. "Hello?" She called, raising her voice so she could be heard.

Kira McAdams rejoiced that there were human around. She had called out, and they replied. Two reponses. She yelled, with more volume this time, "I'm in the forest! Help!"
Kira shivered as she waited for the people to respond. Was this some kind of sick joke? She was in a forest, snow everywhere. She'd only seen this kind of place during her mother's "explorations" to find something to write about.
She was terrified, as her older brothers had scared her about bears and foxes in the mountains. She was surrounded by pine trees, and therefore she did not know what could possibly be behind those tall, green trees. Maybe a bear, which was hungry. She gulped. She had always been scared of bears, after the one tale about a couple in Canada. Matthew, her older brother, had said that the man was dead instantly, and the woman was eaten alive by the bear. It still haunted her.
She pulled out her thesaurus and hugged it tight, tears welling up, hoping that the people will come and rescue her soon.

The fear in the girl's voice urged Emily to her feet. She looked around, searching for the girl. "We have to help her." Her voice came out sounding like somebody else's. She brushed some snow from her sleeve, and headed for the forest. 
    As she plunged into it's depths, she realised what horrors could await her. She scribbled a few sentences into her notebook, and a dagger appeared in her hand. She headed back towards where she had awoken. "Hello?!" she yelled, letting her voice echo.

Larissa frowned when she found that simply drawing something warm didn't work. She nodded to Emily about the bags being magic, getting out a coat and put it on herself, now at least feeling warmer than before, "Well actually, Peter mentioned there was one," she said, thinking about it some more, "... But then again, I did draw some backgrounds of tyrant king's castle, even designed some armor..." She said.

"Wait!" She called to Emily, but once again it was too late as she had already gone into the forest. She thought that the idea of just going into the forest was foolish, it didn't help that the forest looked foreboding and it wasn't getting much warmer with the sun she drew, "... I suppose I might as well go in anyways," She said and sighed, her breath being like smoke in the frosty air. But before she went in, she decided to draw herself a weapon, as you never know what could be in these lucid dream forests. So she drew herself a bow and went into the forest. She almost decided to turn back but then found Emily and went right to her, preparing her bow the best she could in case anything should come upon them, "Are you alright?" She called out to the girl.

Emily gave Larissa a small smile. The forest seemed to loom over her, and she imagined that she could see leering faces in the trees. She sang quietly to herself, the modern songs sounding oddly out of place in the leering forest. "At first, I thought this was a dream. But I couldn't imagine this. This is too real. I couldn't imagine the cold, or the feeling of the dagger in my hand. Or the fear of this forest." She said, breaking the silence. "Or maybe I knocked myself out and am in a coma. But I doubt it. Just, somehow... I know this is real." She shivered. Her breath stood out against the trees. She rooted in her bag, and found a flask of hot chocolate. She began to drink it, the sweet taste calming her fear. It warmed her breath and her hands and gave her a homey feeling that contrasted from the icy trees. "Where do you think she is?"

Kira kept on holding onto her thesaurus. Soon, she heard voices. A "Hello?!" and a "Are you alright?". She couldn't help but sigh in relief. At least she could get some help.
"Yes, I'm alright... I probably will be for another ten minutes." She called out shakily, a higher pitch than usual.
"This must be some kind of dream," She muttered. There was no way that this, this situation could be real. First, she lived in a fairly warm climate, it was rare that it was this cold. She cursed herself for wearing gym shorts and a t-shirt, but then again, the last thing she remembered was playing basketball with her brothers.
And it left her empty-handed, with the exception of her tiny thesaurus, which she always held dearly. For some reason, when she was young, to her the little thesaurus was like a teddy bear to young girls. She was never able to throw the thesaurus away.
She felt her fingers getting numb, she could barely control them. Her feet were extremely cold, too. She had heard once that when one's frostbite gets into a serious state, they could cut off the body part. She preferred having her limbs attached.
Again, waiting, she hugged her thesaurus, and hoped they could get there before she actually died of hypothermia.

Emily heard a reply and shoved her flask into her bag. She sprinted through the undergrowth, slashing at tree branches that scratched her face. After a few minutes, she arrived in the clearing where the girl was. She skidded to a stop and opened her bag. "Larissa! Hurry up!" She yelled, rooting out a blanket. She pulled it out and wrapped it around the girl. "I'm Emily. What's your name?" She delved back into her bag and found a coat, hot chocolate and a hoodie. "Put these on. And drink this, it'll help." She raised her eyebrows when she saw she was wearing shorts. "Obviously not from the same time zone as us then. We all woke up here." Emily rooted in her bag and found some anti-septic wipes. As she waited for Larissa to reach them, she cleaned the scratches on her face and arms. "Come on, get up and walking. You won't have to worry as much about hypothermia."