Reality

PoeticJustice

I jumped as the person teleported behind me, and was about to reach around and pin her when she teleported away again. “Yeah, I’m ok, sorry for teleporting, you scared me.” I scared her? She shocked me! If she hadn't teleported away she'd be in some kind of vice-grip! I kept my annoyance off my face, though. “I am Maci-Care, but I go by Maci by other people, or Care, or Maci-Care. Just about anything with Maci in it.” Maci-Care...? Ok then. So far the names were pretty bizarre, but I wasn't one to talk. Deciding to just refer to her as Maci, I looked over to my side as the red-headed girl stood beside me. "Nice to meet you, Maci," In all honesty, the red-head kind of threw me off a little... She spoke in utter monotone, but in the fight she had this huge battle hammer thing going for her. Usually, in my experience, the bigger the weapon the louder they spoke. "My name is Spectrum." Ok, I'll be honest, I physically shook a little hearing that name. Seriously?! Wasn't that a rare title?... Oh, wait, it was this person's name. Still, I scowled and looked away when Spectrum looked at me.

"Since I forgot to introduce myself properly earlier.. I apologize." Whatever. It helped me stay on my game, not to be distracted. I wasn't really crying over it or anything. "Are there any suggestions? There may be something over there... It's not promising, but the dessert can kill after too long." Yeah, look at me again and make it seem like I have to come up with all of the choices. Letting out an annoyed sigh, I snapped my fingers and had Nemesis disappear. I didn't need more distractions, and keeping her solid could get annoying... Besides, sometimes I liked her being a silent watcher, not doing anything but observing. But no, that wasn't my point. Basically, I now found myself trying to think of what to do. I didn't know about the others, but I was going to need something to drink soon. Using all that fire... It was stupid, without supplies, but I'd manage. As long as I didn't die from lack of resources. Glancing around I let out a sigh and rubbed the side of my head in annoyance.

"Ok. We have no supplies and no clue what we're doing. Since we're alive we can assume that whoever brought us here wants us to remain alive." I was mostly coming up with this on the spot, but hopefully it would make sense... More or less. Ok, hopefully I wouldn't be embarrassing myself in front of a bunch of strangers. Quickly thinking a little more, I closed my eyes to block out the sun that was starting to bother me a little. The sand was a lot brighter than the dark ash I was used to. "We have to be able to find supplies somewhere, or else we'd already be dead by now." Ok, this was a little bit of a stretch, but it was the best I had.

"Oh bravo, bravo." My eyes snapped open and I summoned my bow, pointing it at the dark shape that had suddenly appeared. It was shaped like a human male. That is, tall, wide shoulders, and a muscled chest... Except that it was made out of marble, black marble, so it was like a talking and moving statue if that made any sense. "You will find supplies, but not here." I lowered my bow a little, but I still had it ready. "I'm Deity, and I'm the one who brought you here."

Shadow

After a few minutes of watching the little group interact, I decided that standing on top of a sand dune like an idiot was not my smartest move. Slowly I inched my way down the hill, trying not to attract any attention, just so that I could get close enough to hear them talking. "I am Maci-Care, but I go by Maci by other people, or Care, or Maci-Care. Just about anything with Maci in it." This one seems too... Bubbly? No, maybe jovial was the word. I shook my head. This heat was starting to get to me. Turning my attention away from the girl and scoped the rest of the group. They all looked okay, I couldn't yet deem any of them untrustworthy, but then again, people can change. For now I would have to deal with them. If I want to figure anything out, I can't do it alone. But, I can't very well show up right now, there is still data to be collected.

"My name is Spectrum." This time it was the red haired one that spoke up. Spectrum and Maci-Care? Strange names. Not that I was one to talk. I could see Oni quietly appearing by my side. He knew I was trying to stay hidden. "What are you thinking Shadow?" He asked as though he knew something. "Oh, nothing. just about how to survive in the desert. I don't do heat." I muttered back. I found myself looking back toward the mountain. That had to be where we had to go. Maybe there would be supplies there.

"Oh bravo, bravo." I looked back over at the group and now standing in front of them was a large black figure. It looked like a man made out of marble. "You will find supplies, but not here." I narrowed my eyes. Something wasn't right with this one. "I'm Deity, and I'm the one who brought you here." So I, rather, we were brought here by a giant statue? This was a problem. "Oni. Leave." "You're not thinking of attacking it are you Shadow? You don't know what could happen." "You're right, but I do have a hypothesis. I believe that if I take a running start, and reach a speed of about five miles an hour, with my scythe position at a ninety degree angle between my shoulder an my neck, I should be able to strike the target from approximately four feet away and most likely cut him in half. Good enough?" Without waiting for an answer, I summoned my scythe and ran toward Deity, ready to strike. I swung my scythe around to catch him in the upper chest and shifted my stance to be ready for the follow through. But, I was completely caught off guard when I almost hit the ground unable to follow through with my swing. I looked up and momentarily did a deer-in-headlights impression. The blade of my weapon only drove in less than an inch, and there was no blood, no other sign of injury except for the scythe sticking out of his upper arm. I quickly composed myself and tried to pull the blade out and spin to attack his other side, but instead mentally swore. My blade was stuck in whatever this Deity was structured out of. Standing unarmed less than four feet from an enemy, specifically one taller than me, I was not in a good position.

Freakofnature

I waited until the wind, and the dust had died down before peeking out from Tori’s thick fur.

Neh, Tori? What the bloody ‘ell is going on? I grumbled to her. With a snort, and a roll of her ice blue eyes, she uncurled herself from around me and nudged me forward. In fact it was so hard that I fell forward.

Luckily for me, my reflexes kicked in and I managed to do a smooth roll into the sandy, dry, gritty, disgusting ground.

“Damn you Tori.” I accidentally snapped out loud, “butcher that! Hey! Butcher that! Wherever we are, when I get back hom’ ‘s gon’ take a lot more than a pretty pony to replace all this…this…” I threw my hands in the air and glared at her before banishing her from my sight, sending her wherever she went when she wasn’t with me.

Which brought me to another point, where in the fucking bloody hell was I? I opened my mouth to ask a question, but it just so happened that the new girl, the same one who made that blasted dust was talking.

“…Just about anything with Maci in it.” the new girl said in a bit of a dazed voice.

I stepped forward to get a better look at her, hey, I just wanted to know the face of the idiot who made the dust, geez. No need to get your cream crackers in a twist. Err…or I should just say panties. ‘specially when there is only one guy…right. Haha, moving on!

Where was I? Oh yes! Maci was talking! Well after she got finished, the shorter girl, with flaming red-ish hair spoke, scaring the Nellie out of me. So much that I jumped. Only a bit though. That counts right?

“Nice to meet you, Maci,” she said in an extremely boring and monotone voice. I yawned, it was that boring, “My name is Spectrum. Since I forgot to introduce myself properly earlier. I apologize.”

Oh Gods! I pinched myself. Was I still awake? Her voice…it made me want to fall asleep and find the nearest window just so I could jump out and hopefully impale myself on a pole. It was so…bland. I yawned again.

Bloody hell I was so close to falling asleep. So I did the one rational thing that most people would do when faced with such a situation. What was it? Well…

“Are there any suggestions? There may be something over there… It’s not promising, but the desert can kill after too long.”

Kill. Me. Now. Spectrum, Spec, whatever, just shut the hell up! I heard it once, but for all the Gods sake, just keep your mouth shut. It makes me wanna jump out of a building window, kill myself, and then haunt you and drag you to the deepest level of hell. Before going to heaven of course.

Oh right, so what did I do to keep myself awake? Well I slapped myself of course! Right! The smart thing to do. It was either that, or take matters into my own hands. Literally. I was planning on strangling Spectrum.

I raised my hand and stared at the boring girl, “Can you please not talk. Your voice makes me wanna fall asleep.” I supplied with a sugar-sweet tone. With another yawn, continued, “Though your suggestion of going to the mountains wasn’t such a bad one. However, how long will it take to get there? Will our bodies be able to sustain the journey?” I smiled and cocked my head to the side, “Did you think about that? No I don’t Adam and Eve you did.”

“Ok. We have no supplies and no clue what we’re doing. Since we’re alive we can assume that whoever brought us here wants us to remain alive.”
Oh finally, someone with a brain. And a voice that didn’t make me wanna fall asleep, or jump out of a window.

"We have to be able to find supplies somewhere, or else we'd already be dead by now."

I sniffed and ran a hand through my short hair, pulling away in disgust when I felt the dirt and grime. One thing I abso-bloody-lutely hate? The feeling of being dirty.

“Oh bravo, bravo.” My head snapped. I didn’t recognize the voice, but it sure the hell wasn’t the only male we had in the group. Naturally I was on guard.

What I saw was a black marble, male-looking, talking statue. Weird? Well yeah, but I live for weirdest. I guess I could say “freakiness”, ‘cause my name is Freak.

It(he?) spoke again, “You will find supplies, but not here. I’m Deity, and I’m the one who brought you here.”

I smiled, “Bril! Than you can tell us exactly why we are here, correct?”

I am pretty sure it would have answered me, in fact I believe 100% that he/it would have spoke back. Sadly a girl, not someone I recognized, rushed forward and tried to strike that marble “Deity” thing.

“Bloody twat!” I grumbled, my momentary good mood ruined, “watch it kill us all now.”

However my mood brightened (I have mood swings, don’t judge) when her sword or scythe thing got stuck in its arm and refused to move.

“And that...ladies and gents, is a twat at work.” I giggled under my breath.

Maybe I should lighten up on these people. Should I? Nah..

I kept my mouth shut and watched things happen, as I always did. Partly that was out of habit, but mostly it was out of my experience that people just can't be trusted. I made mental notes of the newcomer's names and appearances, and to keep an eye out for any powers beyond the teleportation thing that girl, Maci, did. This whole thing with everyone here having powers... Are we all connected somehow? Or are we just here at random to play some twisted game? I'd concluded a long time ago that the fact that we were all here was definitely not some freak accident. We all apparently came from completely different worlds; hell, maybe even universes.

Noticing my mind wander, I snapped my attention back to reality (I decided this place was at least a reality; mostly because the burning sensation in my throat felt pretty freaking real to me) and narrowed my eyes at nothing in particular as if I was suspicious of the air and dust around me, which would actually be a pretty reasonable suspicion seeing as this environment was apparently conducive to the existence of massive bronze birds and flaming magma horses. Then I realized nothing interesting was happening except introductions and saying something about needing to find supplies. That was probably the most obvious thing I'd heard all day. If this place even had days... I decided the heat, dehydration, and fatigue from fighting were finally starting to affect my ability to focus, so I gave up on paying attention to the others and let my mind wander again, after saying a quick introduction to the new guys that pretty much only consisted of my name and an implied "No shit we have to find water."

I was just wondering what anyone would want with us in here. Were we just for some twisted for of entertainment, like the rings used to be before they were all closed during the Enlightenment and then razed during the revolt... That had been fun to watch. Fire is... entrancing. My thoughts flickered to how well they were all doing back there. How many of my friends would be dead when-- if I got back? Or were they all already dead, and it was because I was gone? I got that out of my mind by assuring myself I was either trapped here for eternity or whoever brought me here would be able to send me back to exact the moment I left, which I actually didn't remember except something about sleeping in snow. I got back to the present. If this was some kind of game, how would we win? By surviving a certain amount of time? Reaching a specific place? Last man standing? In some ways, I hoped it was the last one because that would at least be quickest. But most importantly... Are we ever going to know who did all this? Better yet, will explain?

"Oh, bravo, bravo." A voice the size and weight of a continent interrupted my thoughts. I vanished instantly. The figure was humanoid, made of black marble, and looked like it had the physical strength to match the sound of its voice. "You will find supplies, but not here. I'm Deity, and I'm the one who brought you here." Freak cheerily spoke to it. Poetic lowered her bow. I saw a flicker of motion in the corner of my eye. Someone else was here, and running at this Deity thing. My brain and body did everything instinctively from there. I felt adrenaline clearing my head. My swords were drawn at my sides. The runner swung a scythe that impacted the marble and stuck there. I was already moving. I went from standing to lunging at whoever it was in just under two seconds. Whoever this was was making the huge mistake of attacking the most powerful being in the world (as far as I could tell), and that was a danger to the rest of us. Fortunately for me, she seemed distracted by the fact that her weapon was embedded in an omnipotent marble statue. I tackled her and dragged her to where Poetic was standing for good measure. I wanted to hear what this thing had to say.

And also to test it a bit... I smirked to myself and decided to see if it would see me and read my mind. And possibly see straight through my thin attempt at being passive-aggressively diplomatic. I think she might want that back at some point... For the sake of entertainment. It would make all of this much more interesting, don't you think? What with the rest of us actually working together, would be fun to see what happens when there's someone around we don't get along with.

PoeticJustice

Freak smiled at the thing. The thing that had just spoken to us and had a humanoid shape, but was made out of some kind of stone. Stone. And had just talked to us. I had been all over my home planet, and we did not have things like this. Was it magic? “Bril! Than you can tell us exactly why we are here, correct?” It (unless it was male, since it could be... But none of the details were good enough to tell from anatomy, and while it had a man's voice you never knew) didn't have time to reply, however, because someone decided to be all gung-ho and attack it. Someone I didn't know. “And that...ladies and gents, is a twat at work.” I didn't know what a twat was, but guessing from context I'd have to agree. And this was coming from me. People thought I had an, attack first, ask questions later policy.

I didn't make any move to stop Okmin as he grabbed the girl, since it was a female who had attacked "Deity" with the scythe, and dragged her next to me. Ok, maybe that wouldn't have been what I would have done, since I usually liked hostile things far away from me, but it was a little too late to complain. I still had my bow at the ready, and I casually shifted so it would be a little easier to step out of the way if she decided to attack me. The others would have to handle themselves, but I did notice that Deity had tilted his head a little, looking at the "wound".

Why, Okmin, to entertain is my speciality, Deity replied telepathically to everyone, though he didn't mention what the two males were talking about. For my part, I managed to not jump straight in the air from panic. It wasn't the first time I'd met someone who could enter my mind, but it was never my favorite power. I didn't like the idea of people getting into my head. My thoughts were my own, thank you very much! Deity, unless I was kidding myself, then turned to me. If he had a face, I had the feeling that he would be smirking. I had the feeling that I was not going to like him very much.

"You are here to play a game. It's quite simple. Find the exit." Ok, he wasn't even doing anything about the giant ass SYCTHE that was buried in his shoulder. Even I would have to be worried about a wound like that, assuming I got past the first blow. And this guy wasn't even looking at it. Then again, he wasn't bleeding and it hardly even went in, but still... You'd think he'd be at least a little concerned. "You'll need all of your weapons, experience, and powers to survive." Well no shit. This was hardly ice, after all. I was close to throwing something at him. Maybe the idiot who had attacked him. "Work as a team. Survive."

"That's obvious," I shot at him with a dark look. I let my bow disappear before motioning towards the others. "We're here as a group and you haven't told us to kill each other yet. So you're assuming we'll work together really well or tear each other apart from madness." Hopefully the former, since I had never been a big fan of killing humanoids... Even though it was in the job description, but I had never really liked my job anyway. Deity just shrugged a little before reaching behind him, pulling the scythe out of his shoulder like he was picking up a toy, and throwing it at the ground at the stranger's feet. The wound, right before our eyes, healed faster than anything I had done before. Anything I had even seen before, and my regen was top-notch... To say the least.

"Any questions?" Oh yeah, like who the hell was the girl. I nudged her a little with a toe, wondering if she was going to do anything.

"What's your name?" I asked.

Shadow

I was so focused on my scythe being embedded in this 'Deity's' shoulder that I didn't even notice the male coming toward me until he tackled me into the ground and dragged me over to the red eyed girl like he was leading me to slaughter. Now I was forced to sit at a strangers feet like a child. "You are here to play a game. It's quite simple. Find the exit." Great, so we were dropped into a desert for someones entertainment. "You'll need all of your weapons, experience and powers to survive. Work as a team. Survive." Ok, so I'm going to have to team up with these people? Easier said than done, they're probably not very fond of me right now, considering I just showed up and dug my scythe into this Deity's shoulder.

I zoned out for a few moments not entirely paying attention to anything until my scythe was thrown and the blade was embedded an inch or two from my feet. At that point I looked up and just barely caught a glimpse of the wound I gave him close up. My mind then started pondering all the possible anatomical explanations for how the wound healed itself so fast and quickly got excited, hoping I would get the chance to dissect something or someone like that. My thoughts were interrupted however, when the red eyed one nudged me with her foot. "What's your name?" I couldn't help but snort. Of all the possible questions that could have been asked, she goes with my name. Important though it may be it could have waited. None the less, I turned my gaze to her, and swiftly jumped to my feet. Pulling a scalpel from my lab coat I lazily twirled it between my fingers, my eyes still one the one who had addressed me. "My name is Shadow. And you," I started, turning to point my scalpel at the one who tackled me, "Got dirt on my lab coat." I looked him over before tucking my scalpel back in my pocket.

"Now then." I said, turning I grabbed my scythe and let it vanish from my grasp in a swirl of black shadows. "You all know my name. Might I inquire yours?" I kept my voice steady, best not to show my weariness to these people. I see some of them as a bit of a threat and I'm sure they see me the same way. Not exactly the best way to make a team, now is it. I thought to myself.

Freakofnature

I was lost in thought. You could say that I guess. If you wanted. If I had to be honest, and I guess I should be, I was just…not paying attention. These…twats, were…in a right sense…just that. Twats. Why should I have to pay attention to them? The chances that they would have something productive to say was close to nil, so I just dazed off and didn’t have any reaction to anything for a couple of minutes. It was nice. Peaceful. Kind of. I still had to find a way to sorta entertain myself so my thoughts were a full on jumble of sh…uff like that. Did you check that? It’s like a mix between shiit, and stuff. Shuff. I bobbed my head a bit and chuckled at nothing in particular. Well nothing the others could see that is.

I’m not sure what made me snap out of my daze/doze/hodgepodge thoughts. Wait…that’s a downright lie. I know exactly what snapped me out of my musing. That…damn Deity, it-thing-that-I-didn’t-like-but-gave-me-answers-so-I-didn’t-say-anything-to-piss-it-off-in-case-it-just-shot-fire-out-of-its-finger-and-killed-me. Which he should have done to that girl. Whatever her name was. Twat.

“You are here to play a game,” it began. Well fuck. A game? No, get me out of here! Was all I wanted to scream at it, but I let it continue, “It’s quiet simple. Find the exit. You’ll need all of your weapons, experience, and powers to survive. Work as a team. Survive.”

I snorted and tossed my hair, “Well aren’t you a bright one there,” I muttered to myself, “Of course we’re gonna need to stay together. I ain’t goin’ Jack Jones over here. Screw that.”

“That’s obvious. We’re here as a group and you haven’t told us to kill each other yet,” Poet began to speak, and I nodded in agreement with what she said. For a reason she didn’t piss me off too much, “So you’re assuming we’ll work together really well or tear each other apart from madness.”

I sighed, could that…thing leave so I could go and find shade so I could then rest and see if I could find a way to contact…home. Home. I missed home. I was the only one from…wherever you want to say I am from. If I thought about it, I was really Jack Jones out here. It terrified me.

But back to the present. There was no time, no reason, no…well there was no way I was about to show my sadness for my home planet. I would hide that, thank you.

“What’s your name?” Poet asked the girl, and it was then that I looked at her. Actually looked at her.

She was tiny like me, at most she was only an inch taller. Her gray-silver hair was only a few shades darker, and a little off the ‘blonde/white’ color. However, unlike my emerald green eyes, her gray eyes shone dully in disinterest at the question. All of this however, only added to how pale she was. It was like a ghost. A small, and though she was menacing looking she probably wasn’t, ghost.

The girl snorted and I torn my gaze back to her face, yawning as I did so. Dammit, this sun was getting on my nerves. Though my eyes were squinted, I didn’t miss the movement as the silver-haired-girl lazily pulled out a scalpel from her lab coat pocket. Now I knew I was a little off my own trolley, but this…a scalpel? Really? Isn’t that a little too…too dangerous? Crazy twat. Dangerously crazy twat.

“My name is Shadow. And you,” she swung around to point the…dangerous weapon thing at Okmin, who I assumed had pushed her to the ground, or something like that, “God dirt on my lab coat.”

Oh big deal. That thing is a piece of cloth that will indeed be destroyed by the end of the day, if not sooner. You think you’re so cool…just a poxy prat.

Ah yes…how I need to fix that filter between my thoughts and my mouth. Luckily, I believed her to be not paying any attention to me and I gave a slight sigh at that fact. Hopefully she really didn’t and live would go on. Hopefully.

“Now then. You all know my name. Might I inquire yours?”

No…git. You don’t need to know my name. If I was home…I would wish that someone pushed you and you bashed your head open. So go find a way to do that.

Yes, that stayed in my head. So unless she had magical mind reading powers, she could not know that. Right?

Well…anyways…

I smiled and took a small step forward, extending my hand forward, “Nice to meet you Shadow. While I do think that to be such an odd name, mine is no better,” I gave a slight incline of my head, “You may call me Freak.”

God…how I hated her. Ugh…she just got on my…UGH! I didn’t like her. But that wasn’t my problem. Just my thoughts. Hopefully they would get over it and let me rest in peace for a bit. Tough wishing, I know. But what else could I do?