Aubrey woke to a myriad of sensations. Scents of flowers and pine, birds chirping, sunbeams. Oddly strong sunbeams. She sat up, hands spreading out into the grass. "What...?" Sure enough, midday light filtered through a canopy of twisting branches, even though it had been afternoon just now when she'd spotted the wandering figure...

"Nissa?"

Her head jolted from side to side. Other forms surrounded her, some sleeping, some waking. Young forms. "Nissa!" With frantic eyes, she scanned them, heart sinking. None of them were her sister. Even so, she staggered to her feet to check on them - and froze.

This wasn't the same woodland. In fact, this wasn't like any woodland she'd ever seen. Swirls of mist shimmered iridescent colours as it drifted around tree trunks. Birds that looked straight out of fairytale illustrations flitted about. She was even sure she heard the occasional chime from bell-like flowers in the wind. Exactly the kind of world she and Nissa had longed for.

Exactly the kind of world that looked too ideal to trust.

"Ok. What the actual fuck." On reflex, she clenched her fists. Was she dreaming? Had she fallen in the forest and hit her head? She inhaled deeply to clear her mind, the cloying scents overwhelming her instead. This was much more vivid than any dream she'd ever had. Shaking off the dizziness, which reminded her all too much of how she'd felt before turning up here, she ran to the nearest figures.

"Up. Come on, everyone, up," she urged, her voice cutting through the whimsy. "To say something weird's going on would be the understatement of the year."

---

"Up."

As the voice registered, Brenton stirred. The speaker didn't sound like any of his friends, and sure enough, he slowly blinked to see an unfamiliar rough-and-tumble looking girl standing over him. Over him? Wait, what was he doing on the ground?

"Uugh..." He staggered to his feet, hefting up his backpack as it slipped down his shoulders. "Wasn't counting on the impromptu nap, but I'm u..." He trailed off at the sight of the scenery. The campsite hadn't had plant and animal life that garish, or fog with odd sparkles and colours, or lights flickering in the distance. "Yeeeah. Weird is right." He stepped back, surveying the scene. "Guys?" he called. The rest of the camping group were nowhere to be seen, and didn't reply, but many other people lay unconscious.

He hurried forward, swaying and sinking to one knee as wooziness flared. Through the shock, his mind raced for a logical explanation. He had to be in his tent, dreaming. Or one of his friends had smoked something dubiously legal, and he'd inhaled the fumes - there were a few he wouldn't put that past. Or he was crazy. Yeah, reassuring thought there. Whether this was real or not, though, he couldn't just hang around and do nothing.

"Everyone ok?" he called, standing up once more, shrugging off his backpack and reaching for the first aid kit. He wasn't hurt, but it'd be rash to assume nobody else was. "Does anyone need help?"

Annette stretched out in the grass and slowly blinked awake, taking in the sky and trees that she could see from the ground.

Ah. I seem to be dreaming... And I probably shouldn't have fallen asleep listening to music from a Disney film. Ugh.
She pulled herself to a seated position, and two things immediately occurred to her. She had been laying on her satchel, and there we're other, unfamiliar people around. She kept a journal of her dreams, and each of those things were unusual. Together? They were unprecedented.
With that realization, she scrambled to her feet, looking at the other teens around her, and her gaze landed on the other two that seemed to be awake and moving.

"Um, hello? Are you... real people?" She immediately looked away, stunned that she had actually asked someone that.

Dark memories swirled in Freya's sleeping mind.

At the sound of someone's voice calling out, she stirred, like trying to swim to the surface from the depths, nearly drowning on her way up. When she broke the surface and came to her senses, it was with gasps and panted breaths. Damn nightmares. She sat up, bare hands feeling thick undergrowth in the forest floor she'd been unconscious on.

Wait... am I still dreaming? It sure didn't feel like it. She blinked rapidly, trying to slow her breathing, and she finally realized there were other people around, some asleep, some awake, and suddenly Freya felt self-conscious for the panicked state she awoke in. She awkwardly brushed loose hair out of her face, her forehead damp with sweat.

"I'm... I'm okay," she finally answered, looking up at the boy who'd asked from her seat on the ground. She tried to rise, only for a bout of dizziness to come over her, forcing her back to a knee. "At least I think I'm okay."

Nothing about her surroundings looked familiar, like nothing she'd ever seen before, like... not even earthly. She'd seen her fair share of nature documentaries, and nothing like this place ever came up.

"I'm Freya, by the way. Does anyone know what's happening? Anyone remember anything?"

Victor woke screaming, it was strange usually a perfectly quiet sleeper and yet this nightmare was to life like to ignore. Sweat beaded on his forehead, his hand instinctively reached to feel for Venassa who last he had seen her was curled up next to him inside of their tent. It was then he felt it, the slightly breeze, the smell was different to. Hadn't their been a running river next to where they had set up camp. The sound of water was nowhere to be found. He looked down at where Venassa had been...nothing no sign anyone was even there, he looked around wildly suddenly very away they weren't in the right place. Nothing was the same nothing....on top of that there were other people, he crawled back fast till his back hit a tree.

He heard people talking but kept quiet looking around wildly his hands up to his head as he rocked, "Venassa......Venassa." he whispered before standing and trying to ignore the other people. He started to look around wildly around the tree, in bushes and soon he was running around wildly screaming Venassa's name, He grew worried it wasn't like her to just go off. Bright lights floated in the fog around him and he calmed getting lost in them his mind going off to other places seeing other things, he calmed and finally turned looking at all the people. "Wh...Who are you people.....what the hell is this place?" he asked standing away from the bright sunlight rays that filtered through the trees.

Everything about this place as he looked around at everything was strange, the trees, the sun, the fog...everything. Victor didn't like it and he looked at the people that were standing up and starting to talk as he stood quietly in the corner trying to avoid them. He hated groups, he didn't like most things with alot of people. Pulling his jacket tighter around him he crouched down and waited, Venassa had to show up soon right? Right? She wouldn't leave him all alone in such a strange place...than again where the hell was he anyways? he never should have left his room.

Oh I Gotta Be Dreaming...

---

You know? He hadn't slept this good since his aunt made that uber thick gumbo last thanksgiving. Though, today was a little sluggish getting up. His body didn't really want to move...It smelled weird as hell too, like wet dirt. The last he recalled, he was coming back from a road trip with the team as there was a tournament across the way. Come to think of it, he didn't feel like he was laying on a bus seat either, this was way more comfortable.

Slowly his eyes opened and he was confronted with all kinds of greenery above. What kind of dream was this? His eyes caught pretty faces on te ground next to him. Must have been one of them good dreams...But they were asleep though. He never seen other people asleep in his dreams before. That was some inception typa shit. Sitting up a little straighter, he saw other folks up and talking.

The reality began to set in as he paid a little more attention to what they were saying. This dream was actually a nightmare; A nightmare about getting kidnapped or lost. While getting somehow Pill Huxtabled and taken to a weird sparkling forrest would be scary as hell, Walé was sure he'd wake up soon. Actually getting up to his feet, he stetched a little bit. Bones popping and joints loosening, he listened to their questions. They all seemed to be "Who are you people?" Or "Where are we?"

Walé's question was: "Brent? Is that you? Bruh, what are you doing in my dream man? You can't be here, I be done said your name while I'm sleeping and nobody on the bus is gonna let me live that down...and..." Walé paused.

"Damn, you old, I haven't seen you since..." He seemed to be going somewhere with that, but he froze. Walé hadn't seen his boy in person since like early elementary school. Now it was starting to get real, because dreams didn't age people. Or...at least he didn't think they did.

In either case, this was starting to feel less like he was asleep. Brent was holding a med-kit and peope didn't need that shit in dreams. A cold feeling was beginning to set in. Oh hell nah. There was no way.

How did he go from a bus to the forest with the Shimmer from Annihilation?

This had better be a dream where he'd wake up and his Aunt Marsha was gonna kick his ass for not getting off the bus on time...and low key, he'd prefer that than whatever this lucid nightmare was.

Hannei was laying face down in the dirt. Her eyes opened and her brown haired head poked up from the grass.

"Pffth, pfta. Phphah." She vocalized, spitting out the vegetation that had crept inbetween her parted lips while she slip. Her ponytail swished from side to side as she glanced around. Her eyebrows furrowed and she sneered. How did she get into the forest? Had she been kidnapped?

Hannei began speaking in frustrated, annoyed japanese. She glanced down into her hand and found it clutched around her RC drone, which was good. At least she still had that. So, maybe she wasn't kidnapped. As she tried to push herself up, though, there was a heavy weight on her back. Grunting, she turned.

It was Aina, fast asleep and snoring, draped across her face down like a blanket. The physically inept twin wasn't strong enough to get the more athletically built Aina off her back. She must have passed out. Again. Swearing, Hannei began slapping her sister lightly on the face with what little leverage she could get.

Suddenly, she realised she had been hearing voices. American voices, it sounded like. Speaking english. If she strained her neck she could see some of them behind her. It looked like she was partially hidden behind some bushes. Clicking her tongue in frustration she began to push her sisters face in an attempt to get her to wake up. Shove, shove, shove. Then she scrabbled her hands and feet in the dirt.

"Eeugh!" She groaned in frustration and disgust at the grass around her, the wet, sticky grass that clung to her perfect clothes. She began to slam and kick the ground with her fists.

"Heeelp! Help me! Help, help, help! Get her off me! Now!" She demanded of the strangers, kicking the rocks in time with her commas. She slapped her sister again, hard enough to make a noise this time. "Wake up! Baka!"

It wasn't a good look to be physically assaulting a narcoleptic, but Hannei was a particular type of person who had a particular relationship with both her sister, and the ground she was trapped against. As in, loved her sister, hated the dirt, and also sometimes really annoyed with her sister. Call it revenge for all the noogies.

---

Marcus groaned as he slowly drifted into consciousness. He heard voices but that couldn't be. No one knew about his quiet place. He had started stirring but hearing a bunch of strange voices in mild panic caused him to become very concerned. He slowly opened one eye to look at who these random people were but saw a kid with glasses sleeping as he had just been. 'What the heck. Who's this kid?' Hearing the voices coming from behind him he slowly peaked over his shoulder to see a bunch of teens about his age nearing on the edge of panic. He turned his head back and started down his dark train of bad possibilities, 'So, assuming they aren't the ones who did this? Where are we though and who could've brought a bunch of teens to a random forest. It feels like a knock off death game... We weren't-- No! Those are just games. But, then why are we here? We aren't--'

But Marcus' quiet pondering was cut short by a sudden screeching. He bolted up from his false slumber ready to make a run for it only to realize the cry for help was just someone who had a human blanket and couldn't remove the ragdoll herself. He stood up, walked towards the twins, and said "Can you stop yelling! I'll get her off of you. Just stop, please." He bent down and slowly lifted the sleeping one off of the screaming one. Laying her down he looked back to Hannei, "Are you going to stop screaming now..." He then smirked quietly adding a cheeky, "Baka." to the end.

Standing back up he turned to the others, *sigh* he looked around at the strange group that had been assembled(?) in this strange forest that looks like it's straight out of an isekai or fantasy RPG. Where the heck were they and who were these people? He pulled out his phone and upon seeing he had no signal shoved the object back in his pocket. He then grabbed his GoPro. At this point, Marcus had already started thinking about the various possibilities of what was going on. Everything was unsettling him. He turned to look at the others, "I'm Marcus. I'm assuming everyone is just as freaked out as the screamer and I am?"

@geminironin @Luminosity @Platinum Cobra @DClassified @Ryona Zako @alexfangtalon

Others woke, one by one, understandably just as confused. One even asked Brenton and the punk girl if they were real people - exactly the question Brenton had been wondering about everyone else here. "Yep, I think so anyway. Could have eaten something weird, taken a nap, and dreamed being here." He pinched his arm, feeling a slight sting. "Nope, passed the reality check. Heh, which means I'm not dreaming you up..."

He gave an uneasy smile, trying to quell the rising panic. If this wasn't a dream, where were they all? He took a deep breath, holding on to rational explanations. The colours on the mist had to be a trick of the light through the trees, and the distant glows were nothing other than marsh lights, a natural phenomenon. As for the bells, that could be chalked up to someone's accessories jangling. That didn't explain why or how a bunch of people had randomly ended up here, though.

Gripping the first aid kit and backpack as one girl gasped and flailed, he headed towards her, relaxing once she insisted she was ok. At her question, he thought back to before the onset of the strange sensation. "Hmm... Last I remember, I was camping with friends in a forest that actually made sense, and got light-headed out of nowhere. Weirdest feeling, like being about to faint..." He stopped his search for an apt description. He'd once passed out in a crowded elevator and freaked everyone out, but that had been embarrassing enough without letting it slip to a bunch of strangers. "Or so I'd figure. How about you, what do you guys remembe-"

Frantic yells caught his attention. A guy rushed around, calling for someone. "Hey, hey, breathe," Brenton said as calmly as he could, approaching him. "No idea what this place is, but..." He turned back to the group. "Is there a Venassa here?"

That was when he spotted someone he hadn't expected to see. Someone who addressed him. "Walé? Wow, small world, whatever this world even is." Brenton gave a slight chuckle. "It's been how many years?" He recalled their childhood friendship, the gentle-natured teasing when Walé won at competitions. Considering Brenton had long since moved away, though, how had they both run into each other here? And surely anyone in a dream would be as he remembered them, not any older?

More screams. He hurried towards the source, a girl trapped under a snoring sleepyhead, just as a red-haired boy did. The guy wasted no time in lifting and laying down the sleeper, but neither the shrieking nor slaps from the other girl had woken her. Brenton frowned. Kneeling down, he carefully positioned the unconscious girl's limbs and rolled her onto her side, into the recovery position. "Well at least her breathing's ok, judging by the snoring," he commented, before looking up at the redhead - Marcus. "Yeah, it's not your everyday occurence for sure," he replied, "but if we got in here, there's got to be a way out. By the way, I'm Brenton."

---

@Platinum Cobra @Ryona Zako @Luminosity

Aubrey would have been next to answer Freya's question, if not for a bout of cries. Her head snapped round as a dark-haired guy wildly searched through the overgrowth, calling a name - Venassa. Someone else separated from a person dear to them, with no knowledge of their whereabouts. Aubrey rushed over, even though the guy with the medical kit already tried to calm him. Standing a short distance back so as not to freak out the now-crouching guy further, she spoke up. "Fuck, another disappearance? As for what this place is..." She snorted. "My guess is as good as yours, but I doubt we're in some land of happily-ever-afters." Not exactly comforting, but if something seemed too good to be true, that meant it was.

She whirled round at nearby startled yells. A girl, shrieking in a foreign language - Japanese? - pinned under a rather less alert form. "Is she ok?" Aubrey asked as two guys, including the one who (hopefully) had some medical knowledge, set about tending to the unconscious girl. The other girl, a twin sister as was clear from their appearances, didn't seem too worried judging by the slaps. Finding a sibling annoying and lovable at the same time was something Aubrey could certainly relate to. "Quite the deep sleeper, huh?"

With another deep breath of sickly-sweet air, she turned back to Freya. "Yeah... I was looking for someone. I swear she was there, but the next moment..." Her voice wavered, her tough facade cracking. She glanced around the landscape once more. Still no sign of Nissa. Aubrey dug her fingernails into her palms. Was Nissa somewhere here, or had she just lost her chance to find her? She didn't know which possibility was worse.

She looked over her shoulder, at the boy who'd panicked just now. Could they help each other find their respective loved ones? "Looks like we've both got some searching to do."

Hannei had looked up and blushed, a little embarassed that a boy who was of course, cute, had come to her rescue. There seemed to be a lot of people around and Hannei had pretty much humiliated herself infront of all of them. Red faced as Aina was pulled off of her she got into a sitting position. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever." She mumbled, not bothering to thank anyone.

Lots of people seemed concerned for Aina safety, like they usually were if they didn't know about her condition, so she saw fit to allieve them of their concerns.

"She does this all the time. She's a narcoleptic, and it always happens at the worst possible time. Like now, when we've been kidnapped." She chasisted and complained. Either Hannei was very adaptable and brave, or she was just a bit of an airhead, because she didn't quite seem to grasp the severity of the strange situation she ahd found herself in.

"Waaake up. Wake up." She rocked Aina back and forth by the shoulder, leaning over her. She pulled her completely onto her back, not seeming to care too much about a recovery position. "Wake up wake up wake up wake up-" Suddenly, the unconscious girl snorted and her eyes flew open. She erupted into a sitting position and headbutted her sister along the way.

"Oww!" Hannei whined falling back onto her butt and rubbing her head. Aina briefly rubbed her head before looking over concerned at her sister and began speaking in japanese, extending a hand concerned hand outward. Hannei slapped it away and huffed and said something back, pointing to everyone else in the group.

"English, huh?" Aina asked, glancing around at everyone in the group. Eclectic crowd. Mostly kids her age or younger. After a moment she brought her hand down to rub her reddened cheek. "Did you...were you slapping me?"

"No! Yes! Maybe. You were ontop of me you idiot!" Hannei crossed her arms and curled up into a frustrated ball. Aina narrowed her eyes and thought on this. Last thing she remembered was...being in the alley. Hannei had bumped her head and...now here they were.

"So..." "Yeah, this is a-" "Forest? Is it-" "Magical? Maybe." "Is that-?" "My drone. So-" "We probably weren't kidnapped. Hey-" "Yeah my English is pretty good. See, I-" "Knew it would come in handy, huh?"

Aina smiled and got another good look at the group around her. "Uh. Hi."

"This is Aina." Hannei indicated, shoving her sister on the leg.

"And that's Hannei." Aina jerked a thumb towards her sisters general direction.

"We're twin sisters," The two said at the same time, indicating each other and themselves with their pointer fingers. The two helped eachother to their feet and looked around.

Okay, Aina thought. Weird turn of events. This felt like this still might be some kind of weird panic induced dream, but until she woke up there was nothing to do but go along with it. At least Hannei was here.

We're quite the little group, aren't we?

Freya was an attentive listener, but even for her picking up bits and pieces of information from the rest of the unfortunates stuck here was difficult. Two different people were looking for someone they'd lost; that was easy enough to understand. Freya hadn't lost anyone, being alone when she passed out. She just hoped her friends wouldn't go back looking for her. Would her car still be there? Her things?

Her things. Freya's hands went to her front pockets, finding her phone there. Good, still over half battery. Bad, no signal. She immediately turned it off and slipped it back into her pocket. Otherwise, just car keys without a car to go in, and some useless hair ties.

Back to people-watching. Two of the boys seemed to know each other. She caught one name, Brent. The twin girls were Aina and Hannei, the boy that helped them Marcus... were there more? It was hard to tell if they were missing anyone in the tall grass.

Brent's story seemed similar enough to her own. "Yeah, I... I'd pulled over, I was driving behind some friends of mine but I lost them. Tried to figure out where I was, and then it's like you said: light-headed, and then faint. I've never fainted before in my life."

Freya didn't like the thought of staying here long, wherever here was, but she wasn't the type to take charge of a group this big, especially when all of them were complete strangers to her. She went back to people-watching, lingering on the edges of the group and the clearing, but she couldn't help but feel like someone was watching her, and before long she was more interested in peering into the depths of the woods than listening to everyone else. They all seemed just as confused as she was.

"Yep, I think so anyway. Could have eaten something weird, taken a nap, and dreamed being here... Nope, passed the reality check. Heh, which means I'm not dreaming you up..."

Well, that settled it. Nobody else in a dream would consider the possibility... Also, was he hitting on her with that last bit?

So not the time to be focused on that.

Though, looking around the awakening group, she did seem calmer than many of them. One actually pointed it out, and she turned toward him.

"I wouldn't say I'm freaking out... More intrigued than anything. I remember drifting off at the bus stop listening to music, he," she indicated Brenton, "was off camping, one was on the bus... And she," gesturing toward Aubrey this time, "doesn't even sound like she fell asleep at all. So, unless there's a factor we have yet to consider, it doesn't seem like we have anything in common."

Annette sat down on the grass and steepled her fingers in thought, a habit she had formed intentionally as she liked the air of gravitas it lent her.

"So. Not only should we be considering where we are and how we got here... But why are we all here? Is this some kind of coincidence, or were we gathered?"

A rhetorical question, of course. Coincidence is just a word for people who don't know how to spot a pattern.

Victor shrunk back slightly when two of the people actually came over and started talking to him, he didn't like it. He preferred the darkness and maybe one other person. So many people...so many....it was hard for him yet he managed to choke up a "Another...what do you mean another?" there were more people than just Vanessa missing, weren't they technically the ones that would be missing. Where in the hell were they, from the brief talks he was picking up nobody seemed to know, a few people had the same story of what they were doing before all of a sudden they were here. Though when the twins started talking back and forth he grabbed his head, that would give him a headache from them talking at the same time.

Standing up finally he walked over holding his arm...."I uh...I mean Venassa was taking me on a camping trip. We had just arrived at the campsite and set up when she went to go get wood. I closed my eyes for just 2 seconds I thought...just 2 seconds I swear suddenly..." he said trailing off and looking around. Suddenly he was here, in this strange place with strange people. He hated it, this is why he never left his room. He was actually mad, mad that his parent's broke up and separated, mad he hadn't just kept his door closed to the world like he wanted to. Venassa had worn him down though, over days she had kept coming and he wanted to see her. Only her, she had managed to convince him like she usually could that he needed some air.

Now look where that left him, alone in a strange place that didn't seem quite right in any sort of way and to top it off he was surrounded by strangers. He checked his phone luckily he had charged it in the car so the battery was good 80 percent, unlucky it showed no signal. He walked around holding it up maybe he might be able to get something...maybe hopefully he wanted to call anybody at this point. The mist seemed to be everywhere with the bright colors dancing around and it was mesmerizing. Victor shook his head he needed to stay focused, stay focused....what had he been doing something with his phone. Why he didn't have a signal, this was pointless, putting his phone away he walked back over to the group. Maybe he could just follow them and get out of this place.

---

---

Yelling was the first thing Julian registered when he sat up, and his hands went up to rub his nose and adjust his glasses out of habit. The second was the number of people around him, all of whom he didn’t recognize. The third was the forest itself, and he felt fear sink its claws in because though he knew next to nothing about forests, he’d seen enough Oregon woodland to know that this forest, with its sprawling trees and vividly-hued flowers, looked nothing like the pine one he’d walked into.

Sitting up, he patted himself down rapidly, exhaling in relief when he found his phone still in his pockets. Pulling it out and turning it on, however, saw his face fall: There was no signal.

“What. The fuck.” His hand dropped, his eyes flicking over the people around him again. They looked around his age, maybe slightly older, and a few struck him more as adults than high schoolers. From what they were saying, it seemed none of them knew where they were either, much less why they were here, and fuck that girl was loud.

Looking over, Julian saw that the girl shrieking appeared to be stuck under another girl—one who was wearing the same clothes as her, but with pink details instead of green. Were they freaky twins or groupies, then, and why had they thought matching outfits was a good idea?

Thankfully, two people had arrived to help her, which meant that she’d finally shut up for a second. Her rescuers were both guys, one red-haired and one brown-haired, and Julian put them down as simps as he stood, pocketing his phone and dusting his pants off. The red-haired one, who’d been closer to Julian when he woke up, introduced himself as Marcus, and the other was identified as Brenton by a tall black guy nearby, who apparently knew him as a kid. Brenton confirmed this, naming the childhood friend as Wale like the rapper, and Julian squinted at the taller guy, wondering if Wale had named himself after a rapper. Given that ‘Wale’ didn’t really seem like a given name, he was inclined to believe so, but maybe he was jumping to conclusions. After all, it could easily have been Wale’s parents who’d named him, and if that was the case… They were some type of boomers.

As he stood, the twins identified themselves as Aina and Hannei, but they were already Pink and Green in his book. Their Japanese sounded fast and fluent enough for them to be natives, but who knew these days. Still, them being here with everyone else was strange, and it was even stranger that no one here looked like a stereotypical Oregonian, but then again what did a stereotypical Oregonian look like anyway? A hiking enthusiast with something against umbrellas?

Two girls, one head to toe in punk rock fantasy and the other freckled and dark-haired, started talking about how they got here, and their words pinged something in Julian. The last he thing remembered was… walking into the forest, which had still been a bit drippy from the rain the previous night. Forced by his mom, who’d unplugged his Playstation in her insistence that he go spend some time outside, he’d been wandering, kicking at stray leaves and branches. It was around then, while he was thoroughly annoyed by his congested nose and muddied shoes, that he’d glanced up at the sun filtering through the trees and then… this.

He swiped at his nose with a knuckle, whispering a curse under his breath as he refocused on the talking few. A girl with purple hair had started speaking, and for some reason she decided to sit down midway, like some pouting kid tired out by their tantrum. Whether or not she was actually mad or tired, Julian couldn’t tell from this angle, and the boy with the longer hair who started talking next was no more helpful. He brought up someone named Venassa, pronounced like some weird combination of Vanessa and not winning the spelling bee, and his story was vague enough to not bring anything new to the table.

“I was walking into the forest from my grandparent’s house, and…” Julian’s mouth went dry as he realized the number of eyes on him, and his brain caught up to him. Shit. Why’d he open his mouth again? It’s not like he had anything new to say, and his story was as useless as Venassa dude’s, and their conversation was going nowhere anyway, and—what the fuck had he been saying before?

Whispering a slew of curses, he focused himself, clearing his throat. “I-I’m Julian,” he said, fixing on a glare that dared anyone to comment as he shut his mouth, intent on not digging his awkward grave any deeper.

---

Looking around things just felt eerily wrong. This couldn't be a dream. Marcus had never had any vivid dreams like this before. Also, none of these faces looked familiar to him, and dreams tended to use faces that came from somewhere. Looking at the twins specifically as he was certain he's only met one Asian person before. But that technically couldn't rule it out. He lived in a very remote place but being on the internet a lot throws the idea of never seeing these faces out of the question. However, the way it seemed that they had such detailed backstories, mannerisms, and characteristics made it unlikely this was a dream. If that was the case then that would mean this weird forest was real. That he was really here.

He looked around and listened to the others piecing together a few similarities. He began occasionally mumbling to himself as the others discussed things. "A lot of us still have our phones but no signal. Hannei has her drone and I have my GoPro so either we weren't kidnapped or it didn't matter?" With this thought he turned his GoPro on and began recording their surroundings. Some people remembered being tired or light-headed. A lot of people being out in nature. He looked to the others, "I was sitting out by a lake when suddenly I got tired. Laid down to take a nap and then screaming and a weird forest. I doubt there's anything to do with where we live. Mainly because I kinda live in the middle of nowhere and am almost certain I've never met any of you. I do pretty good at remembering those I meet in person."

Something about this wasn't clicking. There was absolutely no way he and all of these strangers just woke up in a random forest together with no story behind how they got there other than they just had. He mumbled the word, "Strangers." Then he looked up at the others. "You four. Brent, Freya, Punk Rock, and Meltdown. Each of you said you were with people? You two were camping. No sight of your friends and no sign of this Venessa for you. You were driving and got separated and you were looking for someone? You saw her before waking up here. If that's the case then why do we actually have people who know each other? Are we all supposed to know someone here but something got mixed up? Julian, right, were you alone when you were walking through the woods? Because if not then everyone other than myself, as far as I know, was with, near, or had very recently interacted with someone else before waking up here?"

He started thinking about the whole idea of someone missing. Two people seemed to actively be looking for someone. Two had just been with friends and were separated somehow. One person mentioned being on a bus with another being at a bus stop. Someone had just left their grandparent's house, and the twins were likely together before they woke up here. Then there was him resting by a lake. What was the connection? He turned to look closer at the weird woods themselves. Pretty much everything felt wrong. But the woods were the worst offender. The hairs on the back of his neck rose as if they were being watched. "Well, the saying is that curiosity killed the cat. But maybe we get lucky." He looks on the ground for something small. After finding something he picks it up throwing it into the woods with his GoPro pointed in the direction.

@Platinum Cobra @alexfangtalon

"Another...what do you mean another?"

Silent for a moment, Aubrey closed her eyes. Nissa's disappearance wasn't exactly the easiest subject to talk about. "Yeah," she finally replied through the lump in her throat, shifting her gaze from the panicked guy to Marcus. "My younger sister. Nissa. She's been missing for a month, and just now while I was out... I saw her, in the woods. I know it was her." She bit the inside of her lip, trying to compose herself. "As for my name, it's Aubrey."

She paced around the area, staring into the misty woodland, hoping to catch a glimpse of someone. No human figures besides the others here, all of whom had woken up. Yet somehow, her skin prickled with the feeling that they weren't the clearing's only occupants.

Sure enough, as Marcus threw a stone into the woods, something yowled. Ferns rustled, a small black and white form darting through them, yellow eyes flashing before the creature scampered up a tree and disappeared into the foliage. Shoulders relaxing, Aubrey exhaled. Ok, calm the fuck down, she mentally scolded herself. Just a cat. Just a startled little cat... or is it? "Well, looks like we've fallen down the rabbit hole and met the cheshire cat," she remarked. "Unless it got warped here too, it's got to belong to someone nearby, so civilisation can't be too far away."

She headed once more to the clearing's edge, but froze. If there were people nearby, would they be helpful or harmful? For all she knew, the group had been kidnapped. What if they ran into their kidnappers along the way? Gritting her teeth, she squared her shoulders and stepped forward. They weren't exactly going to get anywhere - or find the other missing people - by sticking around here.

"Let's go."

As she advanced, she thought she caught a glimpse of that feline stare again from the leafy canopy. When she looked up, the animal had retreated once more.

---

@Ryona Zako @alexfangtalon @Typical @Platinum Cobra

Despite the little spat between the two sisters, now Aina was awake, Brenton smiled in relief. "Hey! My name's Brenton, nice to meet you, odd meeting location aside." He surveyed the surroundings again. "Magical? I don't know about that, but this certainly hasn't been the average camping trip, nature walk, or nap for any of us."

To Marcus' questions and comments, he nodded. "Almost always the woods, huh?" he said, glancing from the panicking guy, to Aubrey, to Julian. He forced a laugh. "Well, they don't mention anything like this in outdoor survival 101. Hmm, could someone have somehow drugged us, in such a way we didn't notice until it kicked in?" He shook his head at his own crazy theory. "But yeah, if most of us were with someone... Don't kidnappers usually go for people who are alone? Think this could all be some elaborate prank?"

It didn't feel like that was the case. If Aubrey had seen her sister, who'd been missing for a month... This felt like something much more sinister was going on. Especially with the feeling of being watched.

It looked like he wasn't the only one who suspected they weren't alone, as Marcus threw something into the ferns and started filming. Right away, an animal yelped and scurried to safety, but not the kind of animal Brenton had expected. "Cat? Speak of the devil," he laughed. Looking over from Marcus to Aubrey, he considered her comment. Good point. Unless some cruel person had abandoned the cat here, it had to either live in or have strayed from a populated area.

"Ehh, it'll all be fine," he said, noticing Aubrey's hesitation as he put away the medical kit and approached. "Hey, there's at least one person here who knows a thing or two about the wilderness..." He looked over his shoulder at the other guy who said he'd been camping. "And I take it you do too?"

As he headed further forward, though, it became even clearer this was quite another kind of wilderness. He stared through the fog. Some of the lights came from craggy hollows in hills. Again, perfectly natural, he told himself. Bioluminescent mushrooms weren't uncommon in caves, or so he'd heard... but surely they weren't that bright? Not that he was about to investigate the cause of the glow any time soon.

From the distance, a terrified cry pulled him from his thoughts. A child's cry.

---

"Somebody help!"

Water churned in the lake as a young boy flailed, fingers raking though the bank's mud. "Please! Somebody!" His desperate stare turned in the direction of faraway voices.

Below his kicking feet, two forms rose. Small, green-skinned, humanoid forms. Teeth like needles glinted through the murk. Hands grasped.

He looked back at them, glimpsing something at the bottom. Several objects rolled against each other from the movement. Off-white objects.

Bones.

Freya jumped at the yowling of the cat, and exhaled an annoyed breath. Great, let's just start throwing rocks at everything... She really wasn't sure what to make of most of her new companions. They didn't seem like people she'd be friends with normally, but then again, Freya hadn't had much luck making any new friends lately.

Aubrey seemed level-headed enough, though, and Freya was in full agreement with her decision to get a move on. She caught up and fell in a half-step behind on Aubrey's left, slowing to match her pace. "Not sure that cat was tame..." She shook her head, wondering why she'd led with that. "Um. I'm sorry about your sister. I'll try to keep an eye out for her." She didn't know how many of the others were simply going to look out for themselves. Most, probably, and it'd be the smart thing to do, Freya guessed. Not her way, though.

A few moments later, a cry cut through the air, a young person's. Freya exchanged one glance with Aubrey, and then she was off, accelerating to a run and expecting that at least a few of the others would be behind her. Were there more of them, scattered elsewhere? Was it Aubrey's sister?

No, as it turned, it was a young boy, trapped on the muddy bank of a lake. The greenery surrounding it was far more than just green, but Freya was distracted by the green-skinned creatures harassing the child. "...what the fuck?" Freya said breathlessly. There was no time to question it. They looked like vicious little shits, and the boy seemed terrified. Freya wasn't the most imposing of the group physically, but she was the first to arrive, and wasn't just going to stand there.

She'd played soccer when she was little, and it was those memories that she channeled as she charged forward, boots sinking an inch into the mud with each step. She wound up, and made to kick one of the goblin-things right in its pointy teeth.

---

So, Aubrey's sister went missing a month ago and then she saw her in the woods. Now she was here. But wait, she had been missing for a month. Why would she have shown up now and how does that lead to Aubrey being here like the rest of them? '...' No! Stop thinking about that. She must be an outlier from the rest of us. Whoever or whatever did this just tested whatever gimmick they had on her before grabbing the rest of us. But no, if that was the case that doesn't rule ou- STOP! I absolutely cannot think about them being here. That would just be stupid.

While he had been reflecting on what Aubrey said, Marcus had missed what he had even spooked out of it's hiding space. According to some of the others, it was just some cat. Whatever. He could just watch the video back later and get a close look at it.

As Aubrey took charge and instructed the others to move Marcus fell right in line. He had some thinking to do and having someone else lead gave him the time to do this action. But the moment of reflection did not last long as a piercing scream cut through the silence like a knife through all those cakes that don't look like cake. At first, Marcus was startled. He felt like screaming would eventually happen again, but not from so far away. Which meant there were others. At this realization, Marcus on instinct rather than thought darted in the direction of the cry right behind Freya. She was a little faster than him so she easily got there first.

Marcus had to do a double-take looking at these creatures. They looked exactly like something out of a video game. However, they look much more real than could ever be displayed on a screen. Freya ran forward kicking one of them in the face. Marcus, however, was not the kind of person to play sports so his general physique, while well kept, was not very athletic. But, as almost every weeb who owns a katana has done, he has practiced swinging that weapon around a time or two. Not skilled but let's just say he knows how to smack things. So, Marcus, while dropping his GoPro, grabs the biggest stick he can see that he knows he'd be able to swing and tries to crash it down on the other mini-martian's head.

Aina looked at Brenton and smiled. "Hey, Brenton. You're an American?" She asked quietly, listening to his voice with a tilt of her head.

Hannei, however, scoffed. "Of course it's a magical forest. I've never been in a forest my whole life, I live in Japan. I was in Japan and now I wake up in magical forest. Not that hard. Everyone here is a westerner, too, just like in all the magical forests. We've been taken away to a magical forest. Obviously." She explained condescendingly yet earnestly. She twiddled with the three wheeled drone in her hands, shoving the controller in her pocket. In her mind, there was no other explanation. To be honest, if anyone was going to get taken away to magical forest, it would be her. Some people were arrogant and dumb and thought it would be a prank or a kidnapping but they just don't want to see what was right infront of them.

Perhaps the two sisters had an "advantage" in coming to this realisation as the land they found themselves in was so utterly foreign to them. Green and blue, massive trees, forest as far as the eye could see. It was like they were on another world. If one woke up on Mars, would one not assume they were on Mars? This place was a textbook magical forest.

Aina frowned but then glanced up at the cat. "Why are you throwing rocks at cats?" She asked, offended on the feline's behalf.

Hannei and Aina stuck together, trailing behind the group.

"We need to find the magical portal out of here." She said nonchalantly, kicking at a nearby root.

"You seem to be making-" "No assumptions. Facts. That's the only way out. It's how we got here." "I saw you faint, and then I passed out-""Ontop of me! I fainted. That's your-" "My thing? Maybe this is all-" "-a dream? You wish. I-" "You can't tell when-" "-can tell when I'm dreaming. I'm a lucid dreamer." "Are not." "Are too." "Are not!" "Are too!" "Threepio." The girls giggled.

Aina and Hannei froze up when they heard a scream. A boy was pleading for help and being attacked by- "Goblins! Goblins! It's a magical forest I knew it! The goblins are going to eat that little boy! Then they're going to eat us!" Hannei pointed and frantically bounced up and down, with an almost excited tone of voice.

"Get away from him you freaks!" Aina shouted, following Freya into the action. She waded into into lake and reached out for the boy, a little grossed out by the mud. Her heart was racing. "We'll save you, take my hand! Quick, quick! Hurry hurry hurryhurryhurry!" Her voice was raised and her purple-tipped fingers reached out for the child asking for help.

Staying out of the conversations was something Victor did best at, he just stood back and listened to everyone not really wanting to be involved and just wanted to get the hell out of wherever they were at. Though he wanted to chuckle when one of the twins spoke of a magical portal, what did they think this was a comic book or television show? Suddenly a scream was breaking almost all of them into moving towards the sound, Victor was one of the last person to get into the clearing and saw everything that was happening around.

Creatures were coming out of the muck and starting to attack them, 2 people were trying to fight back and it seemed like it was going well. Victor saw a boy crying out in the water, and one of the twins was reaching for him. He didn't really know what to do, but something made him feel like he needed to help the other people with the creatures. They were the bigger threat, the guy and girl that were fighting back seemed like they were taking care of themselves just fine.

So Victor ran up and grabbed a rock off the ground throwing it at one of the creatures to try and get it's attention away from going after the twins that were trying to get the boy out of the water. "Anytime you want to grab him. We will try and keep them off of you." he shouted at the twins. "Somebody help them." he said grabbing another rock off the ground to throw it. He cringed and ground his teeth together feeling a sharp pain on his leg and looked down to see one of the creatures scraping it's sharp claws across his leg. He brought his leg back and shot it forward hard wanting to get the thing away from him.

The pain was immense as he tried to push through it and he could feel the warm blood dripping down his leg and soaking into his jeans. Throbbing pain shot through his leg and he wanted to stop but adrenaline was surging through his body and he needed to save the kid, it wasn't really like him but he couldn't exactly watch other people being hurt or god forbid not being able to save the kid.

@Luminosity @Platinum Cobra @geminironin @Ryona Zako @alexfangtalon @Typical




Right away, Brenton rushed towards the sound. Was this the sister Aubrey was talking about? Instead, when the lake came into view, so did a young boy thrashing in the water - and two green-skinned, sharp-toothed creatures. Brenton's eyes widened. Ok, there was no rational way to explain THAT.

With no time to think on it anyway, he sped up his sprint, taking action alongside the others. Freya's attack hit home, earning a garbled screech from the target. Spitting out oil-dark blood and two of its teeth, it flailed and grasped its long fingers at Freya's ankle, while the other creature fared little better as Marcus' branch swing knocked it back into the lake. When it tried to climb out, Brenton gave it a swift kick in the forehead.

To his bewilderment, the little boy stopped struggling and laughed. Not a sound of relief, but of amusement. "Well, that wasn't very nice," he said, eyes turning eerie pale blue as they flicked around Aina and the others with a mock accusing look. At once, the rest of his body transformed, the air shimmering as he swelled and contorted into a monstrous horse. Pondweed-mane dripping, white scales all over his body glinting as he moved, he lunged to grip Aina with his teeth.

Before Brenton could process the situation, he grabbed the utility knife from his pocket, flipping up the blade even as it felt unwieldy in his hand. "Leave her alone!" He knew how to chop through branches and vines, but defending against wild animals wasn't something he'd had to master. As clumsy as his desperation strike was, though, the horse whinnied as the blade swiped across its front leg. Flesh hissed as if the metal were hot, burn marks spreading over scaled skin.

Surprise flashed across Brenton's face, but he kept enough of his wits about him to call to the others over the chaos.

"Run!"

---

Aubrey had known this place had to have a sinister side beneath the sparkle, but this was something else. "Get away from that kid, you bastard!" she yelled, stomping on a lake goblin's hand before it could reach Freya or harm the boy - just as said 'kid' turned out not to be quite who or what he seemed.

She gasped as the trick became apparent, the boy's true, equine form showing. She was sure she'd seen illustrations like it before, but this wasn't the friendly water horse of storybooks...

Kelpie.

Not that it mattered what it was called. What mattered was getting the fuck away from it. Springing into movement, she glimpsed the knife slash across its leg, the red welts as if from a burn. Through her whirling thoughts, something else from the folktales came to mind. Iron. Of course...

"Quick! Does anyone have anything made of iron or steel?" she called, wrapping her arm around the torso of an injured Victor to support him. With her free hand, she unhooked her belt chain, ready to use it as a makeshift whip if necessary. Hauling the wounded guy along as fast as she could, she glanced over her shoulder. The kelpie started to clamber from the water, as did its two goblin friends, and Aubrey could only hope against hope their injuries would slow them down.