@Airalin
6
Camilla smiled as she finished her ice cream. The flavor was so exotic and strange she felt like a princess just by eating it. Of course Abby was good to have around as well, she was so funny. Adam was even funnier with his little blue face telling everything he knew, he was so helpful. Maybe it was a little strange that future people where walking around but if they were dead then it made sense, time after all isn't even a concept when you're dead. Or perhaps they were dreaming, it didn't really matter either way.

Abby started getting a little mad at Adam sure, but it wasn't his fault he was the Ay-eye of the city. Answering Abby's question on how to deal with Adam Camilla started to speak. Adam cut her off, and then Abby cut him off. Chortling a little at the drama Camilla decided they had things under control and didn't really need Adam.

"Okay Adam thank you, you can go away now." She said, smiling as she did. The little blue ghost vanished in a haze of tiny squares. He was like a bunch of glitter for a moment before the dust turned red and someone else formed.

She was a small red ghost, with long hair and she only had one message. "Do not trust Adam" The red girl said frantically. Then she disappeared just like Adam had.

Camilla stared open mouthed at where the girl had been. Was Adam really bad?

Paris stood in a daze on the sidewalk she suddenly found herself on. She looked down at herself and found that she was not in her favorite dress anymore. She was in a very tight, grey, jumpsuit looking thing. This is the ugliest thing I've ever seen. . . I seriously need to find a dress. ANY dress. She decided to continue walking in the direction she was facing.

As she surveyed the scene around her, she looked up and noticed this place looked like something out of The Fifth Element. Where the HELL was she?! The cars flying above her head made no noise whatsoever and it was eerily quiet. Quiet enough to activate her anxiety. She tried to calm herself down by regulating her breathing and it worked.

As she continued down the sidewalk, she wondered how she even got here in the first place. She had no memory of coming here willingly or being taken so this made her even more confused. She hoped she would find out sooner or later.

@rechonq

Ricardo was entranced throughout the walk. Understandably, he was most surprised by the Atlantis section of the city. What in the world was going on? Trying to wrap his brain around it all was useless. He started to figure that he might just have to start adapting to his surroundings.

The final destination of their walk was much more familiar. They had ended up in a mall, in some normal looking clothing store. Ricardo then noticed the way that Grey was staring at the clothes, as if he had never seen anything like them before today. While odd, this little sign did not spark any further thought. After all, one man's interest in clothing was nowhere near as strange as everything else that had happened.

Now at their destination, Ricardo decided to let Adam leave, "Adam, you may leave us now."

"I understand. Goodbye." Adam then began to dissapear, but before the last of his blue light had time to fade, it turned red. From that red light formed the body of a small girl. She seemed to have but one very ominous message to deliver, "Do not trust Adam." After that vauge warning, the girl vanished just as Adam would.

What the hell was that? Just as Ricardo was about to accept his fate, a little girl had to come and ruin it. All her warning accomplished was putting Ricardo back on edge. He was left speechless as he turned toward Grey to gauge his reaction.

@Balthazar007

Grey was glad to hear that Adam would be going away. The next events were very mysterious though. As Adam just about disappeared, another little girl appeared before them. She gave a quick warning to Ricardo, but he noticed it as well. She said not to trust Adam. It was a quick and simple warning, but effective nonetheless. "Well that's great. I didn't like him, but cryptic warnings aren't going to help either." He wasn't as mad at this one yet. It seemed more like she was trying to get quick or secret message out to them. He wasn't quite sure what he should trust about Adam. He was definitely hiding things, but what he shared seemed honest. He hoped to himself that she would come around again and stay to answer questions.

@Classpet

"Wait," said Abby, calling to the red hologram girl, but she faded nonetheless.

"What is it with these stupid A.I.'s?" demanded Abby, taking an aggravated bite of her ice cream. "They're supposed to be helpful, but half the time their answers beg twice as many questions." Cam had been giggling during Abby's exchange with Adam. That just pissed Abby off more.

"I know you think Adam's on your side," said Abby harshly, "But we were stolen from our old lives by someone, and you can be sure Adam had something to do with it. If we never see our families again, it's his fault." Appetite fading, Abby stood and paced next to the table with her arms folded. The other hologram looked like a rogue of sorts... a virus plaguing Adam;s system. Well, the red girl had been right - Adam shouldn't be trusted, and neither should she.

"I'm going to go find an apartment or something," said Abby. "I'm already sick of these people, and I bet they're giving out rooms for free." She glanced at Cam, wondering whether the younger girl would follow.

@Airalin
7
Cammila continued starring. Now that the red girl had broken the illusion of perspective it was clear how strange things were here.

She'd been here hours and the time hadn't changed, the sky was bright as ever. She didn't even feel tired and now that she thought about it she'd been walking for hours as well. Nor did she feel full. She wasn't hungry either, but considering all the new delicacies she'd had she ought to have a stomach ache at the very least.

"I don't know" whispered Cam to Abby's first question, despite it being rhetorical.

"I know you think Adams on your side," raved Abby. "But-" tried Cammila only to be cut off.

And then Abby mentioned families. Cammila could feel tears swelling in her eyes, if she wasn't dead she'd been acting so stupid, and if she was dead it wasn't really that much better. All of the sudden she missed her mother, and her father, her siblings even her fiance who she'd never met before.

Wiping tears from her eyes as they came she followed Abby. It was either that or cry alone in the strange world, Cammila had only chosen the lesser of two evils.

Whatever! Ricardo's internal frustration with the situation came to climactic boil. He almost yelled out, but instead, let out one deep sigh, remembering why he came here in the first place.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed some plain black t-shirts and gray jeans. A few isles away, shoes were waiting to be tried on.

Ricardo mumbled as he left his new companion, "I'll be right back. I need to get some new clothes."

Ricardo ended up picking out two pairs of everything: shirts, pants, shoes, you name it. He then went over to the changing room to see which ones fit the best. After only a few minutes in the room, Ricardo emerged, wearing his trademark style, all black except for dark gray pants.

@rechonq

"Alright," he said, calling out to Grey, "how about we try to find out what's going on around here? But how?"

Ricardo left for a moment and returned from deeper within the store wearing some rather dark clothing. The gray jeans were the lightest color, but even then, they were pretty dark and bland. All of the darkness clashed against his pale skin pretty hard, but it still worked for him all the same.

He came back asking how to figure out what was going on, but even Grey was at loss where to go now. Adam wasn't answering any good questions, and the vague girl left before giving her name. "It'd be really nice if we had that girls name. It seemed like she might be more helpful than Adam." His face brightened up as he thought up an idea just before finishing his statement. "Hang on one moment." He thought it was unlikely to work, but worth a shot nonetheless.

"Hey Adam! I have a question for you." The blue man came out and greeted Grey normally, but it still annoyed him a little anyways. "Hey, can you tell us the name of the little girl that has an aura like yours that's red instead of blue?" He figured if she knew his name, maybe he would tell hers as well.

@Balthazar007

Abby hadn't been counting on her tag-along to cry at the thought of never seeing her family again, but as she left the ice cream shop, searching for an apartment in a random direction, she questioned why she wouldn't consider the possibility. Cam, was, after all, a little girl - of course she would be afraid to never see her parents again. But Abby hadn't been thinking about that when she'd made her severe comments about Adam. So she was left to watch over the girl, gritting her teeth in frustration. Things would be so much easier if she could just explore the city on her own.

Adter brooding and barely taking in her surroundings for a while, Abby took a deep breath and stopped. "Look, I'm sorry," she said, blushing. "I'm sure we'll find a way back to our families... we'll just have to do it in spite of Adam." She frowned. Of course, her declaration of confidence was a boldfaced lie; they clearly weren't even on the same plane of existence as their previous homes. How on earth would they figure out how to get back?

Biting her lip, Abby glanced upward, at the skyscrapers looming overhead. That gave her an idea.

"Hey, want to try to get rooms way up high, with a good view?" she asked. Being from the distant past, Cam had probably never been in a building more than a few stories tall before; surely seeing the world from high above would be exciting to a kid like her. It had better be, 'cause otherwise, Abby had no clue what to do with the little girl.

"Hey, can you tell us the name of the little girl that has an aura like yours that's red instead of blue?" He figured if she knew his name, maybe he would tell hers as well.

Adam took a moment to process the question before responding with, "I'm sorry, I don't understand your question."

What? That was a clear question. Why couldn't Adam answer? Ricardo fired of another question in annoyance, trying to contain his . "What was unclear about that question Adam? There was a little red hologram of a girl that appeared after you disappeared. Do you know her?"

Ricardo completely forgot that asking Grey's copy of Adam was useless. Instead of responding directly, Ricardo's own copy of Adam reappeared. But this Adam was just as unhelpful. "I'm sorry. I don't understand your question."

Ricardo looked away in a calm rage. It seemed as if Adam must have something wrong with his systems. The more he thought about it the more it made sense. Adam was just a program. The little girl was probably a program as well. But she was more like a virus, one that Adam couldn't detect.

"Hey Grey," Ricardo admitted, "I don't think we are going to get anything out of Adam about the red hologram." Turning back to his own Adam, Ricardo sighed, "You may leave us now."

Adam politely nodded his head in understanding and began to disappear. Once again, the little girl appeared just as the last of Adam's light had gone. She had a different warning this time. "Adam knows more."

Ricardo tried to call out to her but she disappeared without any hesitation. What was even more curious was the reaction that Grey's copy of Adam had to her appearance, or lack of reaction. It was as if he did not see or hear her despite being merely a few feet away.

8
Camilla trudged along, the new things of this world no longer interesting to her now that the consequences had been made clear. This world despite all its glammer couldn't be anymore than a show. On one hand this explained a lot, why she was never hungry or full or tired. On another hand it begged questions of who and how and why. It brought to mind philosophies told to her by her older brother, especially ones that questioned reality as a whole.

Her clambering mind track was brought to a halt when Abby finally apologized. Wiping tears away with her hand Camilla managed a small "it's okay," then nodding yes when offered to go way up high to see the city. She had only now began noticing how tall the buildings really were, she had been ignoring the fact or perhaps denying it subconsciously. She'd never seen buildings taller than three stories let alone been in one, the idea was both interesting and terrifying.

Grey, was rather confused and still hated Adam. He denied knowing who the little red girl was. He didn't like how the Adams wouldn't talk to anyone else, but to the one they were talking. As Ricardo's Adam came and went, the little red girl gave another warning. "Well yeah, I could have guessed he knows more, but he's not telling us anything."

Grey got a few more ideas. He noticed Adam paid no attention to red girl, but thought he'd try asking anyways. "So Adam, what do you think of the girl, that just came and left right there?" No matter what answer he gives Grey was planning on dismissing him afterwards. "Ok, you're dismissed again."

"Um, okay, let's go, then," said Abby, looking around. There were tall buildings everywhere, but she wasn't sure which of them she would be allowed to stay in. Instead of guessing, she entered the first store she found - it looked like a convenience store of sorts - and asked the clerk for help. The man offered her directions with a wide smile she couldn't help but consider sarcastic. Suppressing the urge to slap him, Abby left, navigating along wide streets with a concerned frown on her face.

Eventually, she found her way into a wide lobby with couches arranged in one corner. This ought to be the place. "Welcome to the Reeza Hotel!" said the woman behind the desk. "What can I do for you?"

"Um... I'm looking for a room. For two, I guess..." said Abby, "We'd prefer something high up."

"Very good!" said the woman, taking a key off a peg on the wall behind her. "You may take the elevator on the right to floor 37."

Of course, she didn't ask for any money. That was something Abby would have to find a way to exploit later.

"Come on," said Abby, gesturing toward the elevator. "We're going to take a ride way up high. I'll even let you press the button."

Grey got a few more ideas..."So Adam, what do you think of the girl, that just came and left right there?" No matter what answer he gives Grey was planning on dismissing him afterwards. "Ok, you're dismissed again."

Grey's Adam reappeared and responded just the same as before. "I'm sorry, I don't understand your question."

It seemed as though Grey was less interested in what Adam would say and more interested in seeing more of the little red girl. He promptly dismissed Adam, mere seconds after hearing his response.

His plan worked, making the little girl appear yet again, with yet another cryptic warning. "Adam lies." The message was short but effective none the less. Ricardo wanted to call out to her but knew it would be of little use. She was gone as quick as she appeared.

Ricardo stood silent for a moment before an idea popped into his head. "Hey Grey, let's go see what's at the edge of this city. Maybe there will be a way to sneak out. We just gotta walk until we reach a fence or something. There might be a way through, around, over, or... something!"

The frustration in his voice was more than apparent. A part of him knew there would be no reward at the end of their travels, but he had to do something. He couldn't just stand there.

@Airalin
9
As Abby led the way into the small store Camilla picked apart the scenery. Now that she was looking it all seemed to perfect, nothing designated with the chaos of natural beauty. Inside she found strange foods, at leaat she thought they might be food, covered by a strange paper. Nothing held any interest to her though, the glamer of it all had been ruined.

Abby had gotten directions, though she looked like she might hurt the clerk, and it was time to leave. Offering a "thank you," and "good bye," Camilla followed.

The women at the Reeza hotel seemed extra happy to offer them a room on the 37th floor. And then the pair for onto the 'elevator'.

Just a short bit of information about Camilla's life; there aren't elevators when she is from. Not even one.

Abby offered to let her press the button, an action Camilla neither found wholey intriguing nor loathsome. She simply didn't understand what it implided. As the door shuddered closed she peered around, why were they in a box, they needed to go up. Then the small room shifted and began whirring.

Shaken the young girl scooched closer to Abby "is it supposed to do this?"

Grey's plan worked, but it seemed that as the girl came repeatedly, her messages got shorter and spoke the same message anyways. Neither of them had any time to ask her any questions before she left either. Although now she said Adam lies, but if he was going to be stubborn that doesn't matter.

Ricardo had come up with a good idea anyways. "Yeah, that sounds like a fine idea. Every city has it's limits. This one must surely have limits as well." He began out the door with Ricardo and set off down the street.

@Classpet

Abby faked a smile as Cam drew nearer to her. "Yup! It would be way too tiring to walk up to the 37th floor, so we don't. Basically, this little room we're in is a machine that carries people up and down. You press the button for the floor you want to go to, and it takes you there."

The elevator stopped with a pleasant 'ding', and Abby strolled out, into a carpeted hallway with doors lined on either end. She glanced at the key she had been given, checking the room number, and followed a series of little signs until she stood in front of their room. Inside, two large, fluffy-looking beds were backed against a wall. Abby nodded appreciatively at the wide-screen TV opposite them as she strode into the room. She stopped on the other end, in front of a tall window.

Her heart leapt as she glanced downward.

Abby had been to the city a few times before, but rarely did she stop long enough to appreciate just how tall some of the buildings really were. People moved along the streets below, appearing as little more than specks. In the distance, Abby spotted a few neighborhoods that looked like they were pulled from different times and places throughout history. Was that a pyramid? This city was far stranger than she had expected!

"Take a look," she said, unable to keep all of her awe from her voice.

Grey and Ricardo walked through neighborhood after neighborhood. Modern cities, ancient clay cities, you name it. But it had lost it's appeal. Ricardo was simply walking as straight as he could. Eventually the city would have to end, at least he hoped.

Ricardo also noticed something else as they walked. He wasn't hungry or tired yet. After all the walking and everything else that had happened recently, his stomach should have been aching. The sky also began to give him the creeps; it hadn't changed in the slightest since he arrived.

All these thoughts circled around in Ricardo's head. The more he thought about them, the more he became agrivated. Finally, he took a deep breath and sighed; what would worrying accomplish? For now, he just needed to get out of this place.

The silence between the two men lasted a while before Ricardo realized that he knew little about his new companion. He glanced over to Grey as they walked. "So, where are you from Grey?"

@Airalin
10
The elevator's soft dig announced that the doors were opening and the two were aloud off into a large hallway lined with doors. The area seemed to stretch on infinity in both direction, though Abby seemed to know just what to do. In fact she seemed to understand a lot of things better, or at the very least be more used to them. Camilla pondered if this was due to her age or if it was because she was from the united states, maybe both. Distracted for a moment as Abby unlocked the door and entered the room Camilla forgot her plight.

It was a luxurious room, fit for a queen, or well two, there were two beds in one room for some reason. There was another one of the magic rectangles as well, this one long and tall but thin. She'd seen them around the city, pictures dancing across them showing little people. She slid her hand across the cold smooth material of the screen amazed at how impossibly flat it was. She could see her own reflection and her fingerprints on it.

At Abby's beckon call she scurried over to the window. The glass panel was the only thing separating her from the sky, it was like flying and falling while she could still feel her toes on the soft carpet. There was city for miles, buildings covering every inch of land as far as the eye could see. To the far right she could see her home, a small glade surrounded by towers. Except it wasn't her home, it was just a city that looked like her home. It was just a place lost like her inside the silver jungle of the city. Far out she could see the deep blue horizon of night that would never come.

Her curiosity returned to her. Out of all the unknown places in the city which was most like Abby's old home. "Hey, Abby, what is the united states?" Camilla questioned, "I mean where is it, not just in the Roman empire cause that's just about the whole world. You are from somewhere in the Roman empire, right?". These feeble questions were the best she could come up with.

Grey was very enthralled with all of the different sights he got to see. Each block was like a new wonder in which to take. As far as Grey knew they were walking straight. They took no turns and he couldn't feel any twists in the streets.

It seemed like they were going forever though. It still didn't bother him to walk forever though. He wondered how he wasn't tired in the least, and he wasn't hungry either. He was almost always hungry. He hadn't eaten anything either. He wondered how he wasn't hungry right now.

Ricardo decided to chime in with his question, waking Grey up from his musings. He thought for a moment on how he should answer this question. "Yes, I am from the land of Britain. I'm a sailor from that time, but I suppose I am more specifically a privateer. From the looks of this place it seems time may be an issue as well. I was in the year 1467 when I was taken to here. Where are you from, and you seem to know what Adam and the other girl are. What did you call them? Hallow somethings?"