“Hah… so this is where we have been running to…” spoke the man in a gentle voice as he jogged across the transparent water with a simple smirk upon his face. His appearance was covered under the stars in this realm… this realm that each led to another one. Each that held a chance of fate, desire, and another destiny within them.

“Oh… so they have come to Kite?” said the small child next to the man with the singular horn on the side of his head as he approached the large tree reaching high into the stars above.

“More like I had to bring them to Kite… but yes, they are here now child. The tree here is pretty is it not?”

“It’s very pretty! How long would it take to reach the top if I were to start climbing it now?” she asked as she looked at it with a gleaming smile.

“I doubt you’d ever reach the top, child… for this tree reaches all of those stars you see above.”

“R-Really…? B-But you told me that this tree is much younger than you, teacher… So how old are you?!”

“Hmmm…” The one horned man tilted his head and looked towards somewhere far away… somewhere that probably only he could see with his eye. After much silence, the little girl pouted causing the man to chuckle, before he gave off an answer. “A long, long time. I’ve been here since there were but only darkness in the skies before us, child.”

“S-So… when there were no stars?”

“That is correct, dearest.”

“Wow… You’re really old then, teacher…”

“Oh come on now… I’m not that old.”

“Weren’t you lonely being here by yourself?”

“No, I wasn’t, for there was a time another by my side. We were like brothers.”

“What happened to him, teacher?”

“…You’ll find out soon enough, child, when those who have entered Kite meet one another. I do hope they’ll make it here safely to this sacred land.”

“I’m sure they will, teacher, because it was you who brought them here after all!”

As the two finished talking, the light from the stars finally began to shine upon the shadow covered man, revealing his entire self as he stood smiling with an innocent smile.



__________________________________________________________________________________________

The world that you were brought into is unlike any that you have seen before. The forest is warm yet cool at the same time, and the air is filled with odd yet refreshing feeling. This world's atmosphere is unlike anything you have seen or sensed before. The air immediately fills your lungs and you can feel yourself being filled with unnatural strength.

You can see birds with unnaturally long beaks that look as if they could disembowel themselves breaking open rocks filled with strange worms, who almost immediately begin to eat them while others watch you with curiosity. Not only that, but you can see what appears to be large monkeys with hooked tails and rabbit-like ears watching you from the branches up above... strange creatures indeed. You are definitely no longer on Earth.

The most strange thing is that you don't see no other humans nearby, despite the fact that you remember a voice telling you that you indeed were brought here with others. Although, there's probably no use complaining about it. For now, you're left to your own devices, and the animals don't seem too hostile so far...

So, new dweller of Kite, your fate is in your hands... what is it that you will do? The options are endless.

Susan woke up lying on a field... her blue eyes opening up to see glimpses of a sky that wasn't hers... peeking through the branches of trees taller than apartment buildings.

She wasn't groggy waking up... it wasn't as if she had been asleep. Her mind was clear and racing with thought as she laid there... one hand grasping tightly her folded knife... the other over her heart, holding her necklace.

So you really... brought me here... she thinks... slowly taking a deep breath... sitting up to look all around, taking in the sights and the environment... so alien and so fantastical.

She slowly stood up... clad in jeans, a tank top and a hoodie on top, with boots on her feet. Her body felt a little off... but her conversation with the strange being that brought her here gave her a hint as to what to expect. Moistening her lips, biting them softly she looked at the path she was meant to take.

However, she didn't start down it immediately... First she had to do something else. Half test... half recon. She picked a good tree right close to the path... before she started to try and scale it. Strength flooding her hands, her legs... she was dexterous before... but now... she was certain she could get some height to better see what she was dealing with.

Rickie blinked twice, and then shut his eyes again. "Fiveminsmore." He groaned, upon seeing the scenery. And then, his eyes opened all of a sudden, incorporating himself groggily. "Wha..." An exclamation escaped his lips. He was apparently in the wild, which was funny, considering how up until yesterday he was in his semi-clean flat sleeping his sorrows away. But that was just the tip of the iceberg. Botany wasn't his expertise but he didn't recognize any sort of the trees who surrounded him. And the monkeys, had they escaped from some sort of transgenic lab or something?.
But what really cemented the sensation was a damn bird breaking a FUCKING ROCK right next to him to eat some sort of ROCK worms. The wizened man slapped himself in the face hard. The stinging pain told this was real. This wasn't his world anymore. He now wanted to kick his younger daydreaming self for wanting to live in a fantasy world... never he had expected for it be fulfilled this way.
The birds didn't seem raptor birds, the beaks pointed they were some kind of grub feeders and were busy eating the worms in the stones. So Rickie concluded it was best to leave them to their own devices. He was in enough clusterfuck as he was. Well, at least he had the small comfort of wearing some sneakers, jeans, a t-shirt and a jacket. It would've been infinetely more embarrassing to end in a brand new fantasy world in pajamas.
"World of endless possibilities...huh." He muttered to himself. "I wish for a sandwich."

Nothing happened.

"Sudo I wish for a sandwich."

Nothing either.

"SANDWICH!" He raised his tone as he waved his hands as if to trying to summon something. "SANDWICHGEDDON!" He then paused.

"I am the bread of my lunch
lettuce is my dressing and ham is my grub
I have consumed a thousand meals
Incapable of loss, wary of weight gain
Withstood hunger to make dishes, waiting for dinnertime
I have no pangs, this is my sustenance
my whole life was UNLIMITED SANDWICH WORKS!"

He screamed on top of his lungs, only to scare a few of the monkeys away. "Ah forget it, guess it doesn't work that way." He scratched his head, noticing the plumes of smoke that announced at the very least some kind of civilized settlement.If there are others who are in my same predicament, might as well wait there to arrive. They're likely as confused as me and would head there. He breathed deep and marched towards the village.

She stared at the clear blue sky, with nary a sound save for the chirping of the birds and the merry bubbling of a brook nearby.

Juno Aulia stretched out her arms, marveling at the smooth seamless muscles she now owned, and the lack of gut wrenching, puke inducing, stomach pains caused by an allergy to metal slugs punching though her stomach. Without the dream, she would have thought she was already dead. With it, she now thinks she was already dead, but in a strange sort of afterlife.

Standing up, she sought the brook, and washed her face in it.

Sighing, she sat on a rock and pondered her situation. Juno, who was once a mere average looking Italian woman standing at 160 something cm was now standing at 2m, was now impressively decked with muscles, and a large bust to match. Thankfully the shackles on her wrists and ankles doesn't seem to weight much, or at all, despite looking like they were made from cast iron. Quite an odd dream to have, regardless of whether she was dead or not.

"Speaking of dreams...." She reached up to her forehead, rubbing the horn growing out of her head in curiosity. Well,even if this was a dream, it doesn't change the fact someone asked for her help. For as long as she stays in this world, she will lend them her power.

That was, if she knew where to go. Where was a bloody road when you need one? Scratching her head in confusion, Juno simply picked a random direction and started walking.

'It wasn't a dream'

That was the first cognitive thought that entered Johnny's mind when he finally came to. Truthfully, there was still a small part of him that wasn't convinced that he hadn't just been drugged and dumped in some forest. Although something about these woods seemed...different then normal woods. However that could just be because he had never even seen a real forest before, so it was far to early to rule that out.

'I suppose I don't need to worry about getting eaten by wild animals out here. If that was a problem, then it would have already happened while I was out.' Getting to his feet, he did a quick check to see if everything was okay. Shaking limbs, doing a few stretches, ect. Once he was convinced that there wasn't anything noticeably wrong with him physically, he began to take a better look around. That's when he saw the wild life, and the idea that this was really just a normal forest was thrown out. 'What...the...hell?' Since none of these strange creatures seemed hostile (hell, most of them didn't even seem to notice him, or were at the least just ignoring him) he didn't feel the need to panic

'This is insane. I really am nowhere near home. Oh well, not like there's much there for me anyway. I just wish I wasn't so alon-' before he could finish that thought, he saw it. That strange alien creature that floated a few inches off the ground. It wasn't there before. So it had appeared out of nowhere without making a sound. While Johnny was bust being paralyzed in fear at the sight of it, it was just hovering there...watching him. After he was done being frozen in fear, he moved on to his next course of action

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" Running and screaming in fear without looking back. To bad too, because if he had, then he would have noticed that the floating creature had disappeared

Chad sat up and looked around. His head stung a bit, but that soon subsided. “Man, what is this place?” Chad asked, rising to his feet. The birds around him seemed to pay not care he was there. They were too focused on eating. Watching the birds made Chad smile. They looked kinda cute, but he thought they might be dangerous because of their beaks. So he pushed the thought of petting one out of his mind.

    Feeling around in his jeans pocket he felt a small sphere shaped object. It felt metallic and smooth. The metal was cold. From the top he could feel a chain, which he began to fiddle with as he pulled it out of his pocket. After seeing what it was he smiled even greater than he had before. A gold pocket watch rested in his hands. The pocket watch once belonged to his grandfather. It was handed down to him. Every time he saw the watch it filled his head with memories. Happy memories. Mainly fishing memories. His Grandpa always planned the best fishing trips.

After looking of the pocket watch, and noticing the time had stopped, Chad noticed something was dangling from his neck. He reached around his neck and unlatched it. Now resting in his other hand was his great Grandmother’s locket. The locket was a shining silver. He had only but seen this locket one time. His mother wore it to his great grandmother’s funeral when she died. He didn’t know much about her and had no idea why it came over with him.

Chad put the locket back onto his neck and clutched it tightly before putting the pocket watch back into the little pocket above the big pocket in his jeans. He clipped the chain to his belt. Chad felt like he was forgetting something. Then he remembered. The voice stated that there were more humans but none were in sight. This kinda worried him. Even though he didn’t know the people he hoped for their safety. This caused him to make his way through the crowd of birds in search of soon to be partners.

To wake up, one would have first been asleep.

And although Coco Dolus was not one for sleeping, he found his eyes flickering open. Then, quickly shut. It was a brief glimspe, but he saw it- he wasn't home. For one, the skies weren't that bright, not where he last found himself falling asleep. Second, the city was never that green. It was a jungle, sure, but of concrete buildings and smoke. The last time he'd seen anything so green was the costume he had to wear once upon a time. Before then, in the forests he and his brother passed on their way home- that memory was just a haze though, and it was hard to concentrate on it when the light was burning over his lids.

Coco rolled over, opening his eyes over his own shadow, closing them again as quickly as last time. There was something different. Grass wasn't new, and as his hands grabbed over the greenery, he could almost feel the sun's rays flying off of them. The grass tickled over his calloused fingers, and as he focused on swimming over land, he noticed the difference- the noises weren't the same. There were no shouting, or honking, or shuffling of feet.

Taking a deep breath, Coco took in the smell of nature. Not smoke, or food, or rotting rubbish. It smelled of shit and grass and- Coco took a peek, and this time, instead of closing, his eyes widened. "High quality," he found himself muttering under his breath, as his depth perception seemed... better. Closing his left eye, he found- yep. He could still see.

Picking himself off the ground with ease, he found other smaller things- he wasn't as weary or tired, and his joints didn't hurt as much, and holy sHIT HIS RIGHT EYE WORKED. Glancing up he found the quick flash of light he'd seen earlier except now he watched in awe at the sights of the tall trees and the screeching birds and the colours full of life and vibrancy. Dark and small, Coco almost felt out of place- no, felt really out of place. The overwhelming amount of information traveling to his mind hurt his eyes, but he refused to close them. Even if he wasn't meant to be here, he would relish it before he was taken back to the streets of grey.

"Kumusta," he nodded as a large bird rose it's head and glanced towards him, Coco nodding his head in polite greeting while his eyes took in every bit of light it now could take in. His feet, bare of any shoes and still covered in dust and cuts, slowly started walking past the grass which seemed to hum and wiggle between his toes. As his eyes glanced to the sky, he found a line of smoke- and smoke meant people. Cities. Trash.

The small, childish looking man nodded and started towards it, telling himself and the whispering trees beside him, "That's where we'll go then."

Linnea suddenly sat up, looked around, and had to stop herself from panicking. She still had her duffle bag, which she clutched to her chest in small comfort, but her wheelchair! Her wheelchair, the cursed object that was both her ball n' chain and her source of independence, was missing.
Seeing that the wheelchair definitely wasn't around, Linnea closed her eyes and breathed deeply to calm herself. After a few moments, having calmed down, she began to check her body to both see if she was unharmed and to test out her degrading muscles, a habit she formed over the last year. To her surprise, she felt good. Great in fact! She hadn't felt this good, this healthy in a long time, so she tentatively decided to stand up. She did! She really did! And she was able to stand effortlessly! She felt so happy and giddy that she did a small jumping cheer.

Linnea didn't land. At the height of her tiny jump, her body just stayed there, floating in the air. Wide eyed, Linnea immediately started flailing around, causing her body to slowly but erratically rotate into odd angles. Linnea stopped when it became evident that she wasn't going anywhere, panting and sweating a bit from the panicked exertion. This oddly felt good, since she didn't remember the last time she worked herself like this, and it was like her body was screaming out with joyous tears that it was alive and healthy.
This calmed her down a bit and she noticed her bag on the forest floor. If she was gonna float off somewhere, she didn't want to leave with out it, so she reached to pick it up. She was out of reach of her bag, but without thinking, she floated closer to the bag and was able to grab it. Linnea immediately jerked with surprise.
Then it clicked!. She let go of the bag, and willed herself towards the ground, landing gently on her feet. Then, with a smile, she willed herself up, higher and higher until she broke through the treetops. She started giggling to herself, then laughing. A light-hearted and free laugh. She couldn't 'fly' very fast, but it was still the best feeling in the world!

After flying around for a bit and getting the initial joy out of her system, she heard a loud chant. She froze. It was a pretty short chant, but was one of the words sandwich?! Whoever was shouting, it seemed far away, but the sounds in the forest were muffled, so maybe it was closer than Linnea thought. She quickly floated down and grabbed her bag now with the weight of the situation finally crashing down on her. She was a stranger in a strange land. Who knew what manner of creatures or monsters are out here. She needed to be careful. Then she looked down at herself. Wearing a dress seemed impractical, especially in an unknown world, and now that she could fly. Linnea flew up into thicker tree cover, and hoping no one, other than the strange but oddly cute monkey things, were looking, changed out of her dress into a pair of blessed jeans, an undershirt, and an oversized pink dress shirt (one of her brother's favorites before he outgrew it). She put away her sandals since they would fall off. She didn't have any other footwear, but that should be fine since she would be flying most of the time.

It was then she heard a scream. A blood curdling scream of fear. Anxiety rising, Linnea finished rolling up her sleeves above her elbow, slung her duffle bag over her shoulder and flew off. She unknowingly flew past a woman in a tree before she found a small brook. She flew down, drank a handful of sweet water and saw a large horned woman, leaving the brook.
Linnea stared in wide eyed fear. Other than fly away, what was she to do? Strange chants, fearful screams, large monsters. She had to deal with these and also save this land of Kite and her own! Wait, that's right. The voice! It said there were others, and a village nearby!

Letting out a breath she didn't know she was holding, Linnea flew away from the brook, seeking this supposed village.

Kirrian woke up, head throbbing and foggy. His sight wasn't much better, everything was blurred out even when he'd manage to get to his feet. Where is he...? He's hearing a voice, yes, but wasn't he supposed to be playing guitar in a park? The more it talked about dangers the more visibly frightened the college kid becomes. The guitarist pulled the scarf he, luckily, still had on him over his mouth and took a look at his surroundings. Wait... Something's strange. It's as if all this has happened before, even though it hasn't. No... No, that's impossible. Although...

Kirrian tried to mute out everything except for the birds, standing up and walking a bit. No footsteps. He was right. Re-instating the power, he looked around once more. Somethin else... There's a person nearby? It takes some walking, but... There should be. He took off down the road, wary of things around him. He... Was suprisingly not scared for the situation he was in. A bit shake due to suddenly being pulled... But it could always be worse? Soon though, his audio que came. A loud "SANDWICH!" came from the distance, and the full chant became more and more clear. At a certain range though, Kirrian froze up.

Oh right. He's still going to have to talk to this person. Then some rumbling from behind while in his renewed panicked mind set him off, running towards Rickie. He barely shouted "W-Wait!" in order to make them stop, as well.

Stas inhaled. The air was crisper, fresher. That was not the air he breathed when he went to sleep in his tent.
He forced his eyes open and winced at the stinging from the sudden exposure to bright sunlight, sitting himself up. As his eyes adjusted, he saw that he was in a forest rather than the mountain side he had been hiking. Instinctively he checked his knife sheath for his blade, but it wasn't there. He quietly cursed in his mother tongue and checked all of his pockets for whatever he had. In his left pocket was something very familiar, he knew what it was the instant he felt it. He slowly pulled it out, just to make sure. A red ribbon. He did not have that when he was on the mountain hiking trip. Nevertheless he tied it around his neck and tucked it into his shirt, fluffing up his white shemagh to cover it up. He checked himself once more, he was wearing his combat boots, tried and true for just about anything. They were a little beat up though. He wore rather heavy duty cargo pants, tucked into his boots so that they wouldn't snag. His pants were olive green, and he had his kneepads still on. For his upper body, he wore a grey shirt, with a leather jacket with fur on the inside. And of course, his white shemagh that was tied around his neck.

He was missing a whole range of gear, his knife, his compass, backpack, rations, water, to name a few. He sighed and placed his hands on his face, he felt his palms on his face. He was missing his gloves too. This made him sigh even harder. After a couple of seconds he looked up, his eyes fully adjusted this time, and around. This was definitely not the same place where he made camp. He looked to the ground, on his left and saw something peculiar. A spear? He glanced around once more, there was nobody around. Looking at the spear again, he picked it up, not wanting to leave a useful tool behind. He remembered things then, as soon as he touched it. Distant memories, like blurs, he couldn't quite make it out. He also felt cooler. It was a little strange, so he set it down. He warmed up once more. He eyed the spear, then decided to bring it, grumbling in Russian. The spear definitely make the wielder a bit colder. Stas looked up to the trees and eyed strange monkey like creatures, none of which he had ever seen before. They eyed him back. As he woke up he became more and more aware of his surroundings. He heard a quiet banging, like someone was striking a rock. He looked for the source of the noise and found an equally as strange bird like creature, cracking a rock open. Once the bird had cracked the rock open, it revealed worm like insects, which the bird feasted on. Stas was rather unfazed by this, but he did make a mental note of at least some rocks having worms inside them.

The forest was new and strange. He searched his memory, and recalled a voice. Something about meeting up and a village. An objective. He was brought here for a reason, and the village was the rally point, possibly where he would get briefed. He cracked a little smile, now he wasn't aimless. He walked, where he assumed was north and quickly found a dirt road. He planted the butt of his spear into the ground and crouched to get a better read of the dirt road. It was well used, he could make out tracks fairly easily. But now, which way to go? He looked up the road, and down the road, unsure of which way to go.

"huh?" Ricky stopped in his tracks. Had someone talked at his back? He felt observed somehow. It looks like he might have found another person already. Turning his back, he then stared at the newcomer.

Oh bummer, it wasn't a cute girl. Just some lost lad. He breathed deep, trying to piece together something to break the ice. He just wasn't good with people, and he seemed to be the senior of the two, so the responsability of starting conversation and reassuring others was upon him. He put his best game face and tried a small joke.

"Hi. You're not a sandwich. Who are you?" He pieced together. Goddamnit, that sounded stupid... and possibly crazy. He might have seen my UNLIMITED SANDWICH WORKS aswell Ricky chastised himself for not having better words, breaking eye contact briefly due to embarassment.

Johnathans eyes slowly slid open, awoken to the sound of a soothing melody of peaceful wind as it caressed his slightly grimed face, The boy awoke laid back against what appeared to be a large rock, his lower body laid on the wet grass of the forest floor, and for a moment, Johnathans heart ceased to move. Fear engulfed his senses, anxiety controlled him, his breath ceased, afraid of being attacked, afraid if someone was watching him. Why was he here? Where was he? Who put him here? Where is everyone? What time was it? So many questions raced through his mind, is was natural to be scared, natural to be frightened of such a scenario. The last he remembers was being inside his bedroom, fully clothed in his bed, contemplating over his scenario and the next to awaken here...

Johnathans hands trembled, until the cold familiar touch grazed his fingertip, instinctually jolting his hand away, he gasped fearfully, on instinct, his head twisted to gaze immediately at the forest floor. A pair of scissors was neatly beside him, opened, on the tip of each steel side, was a small inch of dry liquid, a familiar look to Johnathan, remembrance of his waking routine.

Tears swelled up in his light blue eyes, before he slowly grasped the pair of scissors by the handle, using both hands to open the blade of the scissors up, Johnathan then placed the opened scissors toward his neck, the blades cold familiar feel ominously touched his feeble, weak, worthless skin, and for the first time since arriving here, he spoke up, his words were muffled however, weak and croaked, so as to not catch anyones attention if someone were to be around him.

"Just... apply pressure... That's all it takes... Then you wont hurt anyone again... Then... This world could finally be relieved at your non-existence..."

Johnathan sat there motionless, silence filled his head, intelligence wavering, but as despair swallowed him, he was too much of a coward in his own mind to die. Once again, like so many days before, Johnathan pulled the scissors back and slid them into his jean pockets once he closed them shut, depression pounding at his chest with grief and regret. Worthless, that's what he thought of himself as, a worthless piece of nothing. That was all Johnathan could think. Nobody exactly cared for him, it was fitting. But he was a selfish, puny creature, and like puny creatures, they keep going, regardless of their own desires.

Johnathan slowly stood up onto his feet, folding his arms together in a way one would hug themselves, he limped and struggled to move on, holding his head in agony. Great, just what was needed, another chronic Migraine... All he could do was keep going, his right eye shut, clenched to control the pain of his Migraine pulsating in his forehead, another pain he had to put up with, and so fearfully, sick in his stomach, with agony in many forms, he walked, not caring about the pain of the blisters on his feet, he had to move, nobody would care if he was in pain anyway, he thought to himself.

It was then Johnathan came to a dirt road after travelling a while, his ribs ached from moving too much, as he spotted a peculier looking individual @skyrte, fear sank deep once he got a look of his features, he looked just like any other person, but that's what bothered him... What if he was just like every other person? Johnathan had nothing to defend himself with, but this man looked strong... Maybe he could protect him? With that, Johnathan approached, not masking his movements before he called out to the man, stuttering and whimpering in his words, obviously afraid.

"P- please don't hurt me... I- i'm lost... I-"

Johnathan had to gulp down vomit from speaking, his heart pumped loudly, afraid of what would become of him now that he spoke, but it was too late to go back now, he made sure to stay at far enough a distance to not upset or anger the man, despite being 6 foot 1 inches tall, he had very youthful features, which made him look a little more younger in his teens. Stas could clearly tell Johnathan was afraid, his arms and legs trembled, and he clearly wasn't an athletic type, weak in all manners.

"I-i'm sorry..."

With a crash the tree fell down, scaring off the myriad of fauna from the area.

She had her suspicions, but by that simple test of strength, Juno was very convinced she had just turned into one of those Oni people like in those mythology books she was fond of reading. She seemed to be an amalgamation of several types of Oni, or perhaps one she had no idea about. Perhaps that was why these solid iron shackles barely weighted anything. She had a feeling she could just peel it off, but there wasn't any real inconvenience to them, so she just let them be.

Breathing deeply, she continued on her way, wondering if she was ever going to find this village. Juno supposed she could ask for directions, but the one humanoid looking person she happened to glance at, but from the way they swiftly departed, she assumed they weren't in the mood for conversation.

"P- please don't hurt me... I- i'm lost... I-"

Juno whipped her head around at that, alert instantly. It didn't sound too far. Moving quickly, she crashed through the underbrush, quickly finding the dirt path, and the two persons on it, one looking obviously distressed. She didn't know what sort of situation this was, so she fell back on her police training.
"Stop! RPD!" Almost by instinct, she raised her hand to pull out her badge, before realizing she wasn't in uniform, and her badge was somehow pinned to the hem of her skirt, so she simply brought attention to her badge by pulling it out slightly. How strange to be clothed such when she came here, but still have her badge. If this was a dream, well, it seems she can't and won't stop being a cop even then. "Alright, sir? I'm going to have to ask you to put down that spear, and tell me whats going on."

Juno wished sincerely she had still had her piece right now.

Oh, they actually did wait. Good. Help is good. Now uh... WHAT THE HELL DOES HE SAY TO THIS PERSON?! Kirrian attempted to keep as much of a straight face as possible, and, to his astonishment, they started the conversation! Good. Kirrian was a bit... Terrible with them. "H-Hi. N-No, I'm not a... Sandwich... As much a-as I'd like to tell otherwise." They had a slight stutter in their voice, their hands trembling a little. "I-I'm Kirrian. It's... It's good to know t-there are other people he-here... You're also not, uh, from around here, are you?" The boy nervously shufles with his feet after asking that stupid question. Why did I ask that? Of course he will be! ...But will he? I-... I don't know... those words floated around in Kirrian's head, them now pulling their scarf up to cover their mouth. At least... At least that comforting feeling was still there.

The more Coco walked through the forest, the stranger he felt. At times, he felt as though his body was burning and though he briefly wondered if he had a fever, he countered it with the fact he still felt amazing- no headaches or aches. The burning was almost relaxing, actually.

Other times, especially under the shadows of the trees, Coco's temperature would suddenly drop. He heard a small shrill scream behind him, and resting his hand on a tree, the dark skinned boy looked back, only to find that his steps had left behind a mix and match of trails varying from ice covered grass to grass that had been completely singed.

The shrill shriek had come from a smaller type of bird that had gotten stuck in the ice, it's large eyes bulging as it continued to screech.
"Shit," the young man muttered as his hands left the tree, failing to see the ice he had accidentally left behind, starting towards the bird. He tried to channel the heat from before, at the same time trying to calm the bird- Coco didn't want anything attracted to bird meat coming towards him.

As he tried to pry off the leg, the ice eventually melted and the bird thanked him with a peck on his hands. The little thing caused more damage than Coco expected it to, the small man falling back with a grunt, holding a bleeding hand. "Fuck you,too," he said, before getting up and flipping off the sky, wincing again when he realized too late he'd used his hurt hand for it.

Barely having collected himself, Coco heard a string of speech bounce around the trees- nearby it seemed. He headed towards the noise instinctively (talk meant people and people meant food), stopping when a woman's voice shouted a- "Stop! RPD!"

Perhaps it was best he wasn't there just yet, Coco thought, backing away slowly. While it was good that people thought of him as a child half the time, cops usually wanted to call his parents or something. Better avoid it for now, reasoned Coco to himself as he started sneaking around and away from the noise.

Edwin was sitting outside on the grass finishing off the smallest details of a clay tiger, using his small scalpel to emphasise the stripes, when his vision slowly faded, blurring at the edges before falling unconscious and hearing a voice. When his vision returned Edwin wasn't all that troubled, thinking his tiredness was getting the best of him and to be honest he didn't really pay much attention to what the voice said since he wanted to finish off his little tiger. Refocused on his little tiger, posing it so that it was min-roar. Happy with how it turned out Edwin breathed a huge sigh of all the emotion he built up while crafting his latest creation.

To Edwin's huge shock the little tiger breathed in his sigh and roared so loud that defied the tiger's palm size. Leaping from his palm the Clay Tiger dashed away and when Edwin leapt up to chase it he cracked his head on a low hanging branch that certainly wasn't there before, namely because Edwin wasn't sitting under a tree when he started. Now more confused than ever Edwin scrambled up and scooped up his fallen scalpel, sheathing it before putting it in his pocket.

Running in the vague direction of his escaped predator Edwin stumbled through trees and bushes before running onto a dirt path in an explosion of twigs and leaves.
"Stop! RPD!"

Hearing a rather authoritative voice shouting the word stop had Edwin obey out of instinct. He then knelt down on the ground and interlocked his fingers behind his head.
"Umm... officer? This might sound strange, but you wouldn't happened to have seen a little tiger made of clay run by? It's only about the size of my palm." turning his head Edwin saw that the female officer was not only rather tall, but also facing away from him. Coughing in embarrassment Edwin slowly got to his feet and brushed the dirt off his jeans. Noticing the spear wielding man beyond the officer Edwin eloquently put his feelings on the situation.
"Oh dear."

"Uh." Rickie raised an eyebrow. Thank god, this particular person didn't really care how bad had been his first impression. Of course he wasn't a sandwich. Looking right and left. Then to the woods. Then to his feet. Then to Kirrian.

"Okay, I'm not hallucinating. Probably."

He took a deep breath, and then pinched his nose. Where the hell are we? Obviously the sttutering newcomer has no idea either.

"Oh, sorry, I uh... was doing some research." He paused. "On sandwiches?" He shook his head. "Whatever, it isn't important."

He then looked at the young man in the face, and extended a hand, steeling himself. "I'm Rickie, nice meeting you Kirrian." He said, while looking at his surroundings. "I don't know about you, but you seem we could use a way out of this forest. I saw smoke before of us, we might want to try following that." Rickie said, awkwardly skipping small talk while deciding he would try and see if they could travel together. Four eyes saw more than two. And speaking of which, why was he seeing well despite not wearing his glasses? He decided not to give much attention to it now, but that had to be investigated later on.

The guy jumped back a bit from Rickie suddenly extending his hand, but it didn't take very long for Kirrian to realise it was just for a handshake, which he accepted. "R-Right. Yeah, it might be wise to t-travel together. I wonder if there are others..." That last bit was just a mumble, soon after the bleached-hair guy shaking his head. He pulled back his hand and started walking towards the smoke Rickie mentioned. "Oh, uh, Also? Let me keep an, uh, ear out for D...Danger. I seem to be able to... Uh... Focus better on my hearing." Obviously they couldn't tell rickie he could just mute out certain aspects of the enviroment. That'd be crazy. He shifted his focus to three things: Voices, Footsteps, Danger. Kirrian paused for a bit to let Rickie catch up before continuing on his way.

Stannis Krolikov, Juno Aulia, Johnathan McKenna, Edwin Gordon
Unknown Forest, by an unknown dirt road.
@The_written_John@GreenGoat@McFazzer

---

"P- please don't hurt me... I- i'm lost... I-" Someone said, Stas looked towards the voice and saw a terrified man a little ways away. In his teens Stas guessed, the terror on the newcomers face reminded him of the middle east. Of scared children that were running from gunfire, or a missile strike, an occurrence that happened far too often than he would like to admit. Stas stood up and waved at man, "He-"

"Stop! RPD!"
Stas instantly froze, he recognized the authority in the voice and at first thought that a military police had somehow followed him. His second thought was that she was police, as PD typically meant Police Department. "Alright, sir? I'm going to have to ask you to put down that spear, and tell me whats going on." She requested. Stas, at this point had his hands up, his left hand loosely holding the spear. He slowly and carefully crouched back down and placed the spear on the ground. Putting both hands back up, he turned to the police officer. Finding out that she had no gun. She did have a badge however, pinned to her skirt. She had a large horn on her forehead, and red eyes. Stas' reaction was one of mild confusion. He glanced at the other, terrified man and kept him in his peripherals. Stas looked back at the strangely clad police officer. He had never heard of a cop wearing a skirt and tee shirt while on duty, and the shackles. He put his hands down.
"I uh... thought you had your sidearm." He plainly replied, glancing at her horn from time to time, "Stannis Krolikov, formerly of the 75th Ranger Regiment, United States Army Rangers." He introduced himself. "I was hiking, went to sleep for the night, woke up, got lost and then found this dirt road. Not long after he found me," Gesturing to the scared man down the road with his head, "Then you showed up."

Soon after another man appeared out of the brush, Stas heard him say "Oh dear".
"We have a guest." Stas loudly whispered to the officer, so she could hear him despite the distance between them.

In the middle of his slow and well paced backing away, Coco found his hairs standing up at the sound of rustling foliage, his body turning sharply. What he found was no little bird (thank God, he'd gotten sick of those), but rather a small ... tiger? Curiousity caused Coco's head to tilt as he leaned forward for a closer look and- yes, that was a tiger. The only time he'd seen one was in a cage the City Man's friends brought in once, but he was sure the stripes were a tell-tale sign. The colour was a bit different thou-

Coco flinched back at the tiger's sudden release of a growl, the hand he hadn't realized he'd been reaching forward quickly pulling back. "Good kitty," hushed the small man, crouching lower to try and seem less intimidating (something which he wasn't used to doing given that, well, he usually wasn't all that intimidating), reaching a hand to try and console the small feline.

The response he received was nothing short of welcoming. The clay tiger roared, leaping forward to try and ward Coco off, the dark skinned man releasing a surprised yelp. Before he knew it, in the panic, his body had heated up once more, and when he pulled his hand away accidentally brushed against the tiger's ear. Coco held his hands close to his chest, having fallen back on his bottom, looking over the tiger in panic only for it to change to curious shock.

The little thing was... meowing(?), its ear having hardened and causing it to tilt to the side. It wobbled awkwardly towards Coco before its ear landed on the ground with a soft and solid thud, Coco's hands having cooled down and reaching over his 'o' shaped mouth. Did he do that? Oh crap he totally did that.

"Hey, hey, I'm sorry," he said, starting to crawl towards the tiger once more (but at a distance where he knew both of them were safe), "Are you okay? I'm sorry- can you talk? Also I don't know how to fix you, sorry." A beat. "But it was mostly your fault for trying to pick a fight."