[color=#0096c8][u][h3]Radcliff[/h3][/u][/color]
[quote][color=#FFD700]“You’re outnumbered and without guns or weapons unlike more experienced kidnappers. Even if you can take us, we can cause chaos and wreck what you find useful in us. So give us a reason to not to resort to violence."[/color][/quote]
Radcliff had to side-eye the kid. He can acknowledge that he was being confrontational himself, but making threats of violence to assumed kidnappers didn't really seem wise. He supposes he can't blame a kid as such, though to have such a dire worldview as to make such threats, with the immaturity to wield them so loosely...

As one of the people standing behind the long-nosed man answered the boy's threats with one of his own, a armor-clad figure simply materialized behind him. There was no better word for it. It was only briefly, but go to the level of holograms for such a hoax beggared belief. The most rational explanation remaining was that they were on some kind of reality TV show that wasn't afraid to either break the law or drug their actors... No, even with drugs, and allowing for the outlandish possibility of subjective time travel by disabling the creation of long term memories, it's a lot of effort to go through for a TV show that could only be controversial and difficult to manage. After all, even if everyone signed up to be here, it was obvious that, should the scenario be repeated with many people, some of them would lash out violently. It didn't make sense. An infinite barracks back in the other room could have been a simple optical illusion, but holograms now? There were no obvious projectors he could see, and the blue fog machine - wherever they're hiding it, would have been liable to interfere. Perhaps it was hidden in the ceiling somewhere, but no points of light stood out.

As the long-nosed man went on with his explanation, it was somehow more outlandish than the best he could come up with. The man said they were dreaming, but as Radcliff crossed his arms to surreptitiously pinch himself again on the bicep, he was having difficulty with basic suspension of disbelief. Refusing to answer the 'how' and 'why' of their arrival here with a boilerplate 'you wouldn't understand' certainly wasn't helping his case.

The man said they were tasked with saving the world, and that the 'real' chosen one turned down the position. That gave him pause, since it conflicted with the idea that this was all some kind of TV narrative. While it would avoid placing unfair importance on any one character, it also implied that they were being set up to fail. While an underdog story might have been more popular, it would also be unacceptably anticlimactic for them to suffer failures, which meant that, if his theory was true, they were either in a snuff film, or... or what?

And if they were in a snuff film, would the correct path forward - fighting and surviving, actually be any different than blind belief?

The idea that he was asleep, that he had just been knocked out and could be awoken, still on the boat, with everyone still okay...

How very serendipitous.

As he began to consider the logistics of going forth with whatever the long-nosed man wanted for now, one of the girls - Ami, was it? And the young boy echoed his thoughts pretty straightforwardly. The weapons they would need to accomplish such a task and, reluctantly, the targets that were involved. Assassination would be the way to go, he supposed.

Ah, right, before he goes further down that train of thought, if they were expected to work together, whether it was him and the others who woke up here or all of them with the long-nosed man, they should know how to address each other at the very least. Two more names were already mentioned. He nodded towards them as he said their names. [color=#0096c8]"Clerval. Safie."[/color] He turned towards the long-nosed man; [color=#0096c8]"My name is Radcliff. How should I address you?"[/color] He then swiveled his head to look at the others in the room. Now was as good a time as any for introductions, and he's pretty sure he was the only one to overhear the girls exchange names.

[color=#fa7d32][u][h3]Flint[/h3][/u][/color]
[quote][color=0000DC]“Allow me to start with your question. This is a place between the worlds of sleep and waking. Physically at least, every one of you is asleep right now. As master of the Velvet Room, it is within my power to bring people who possess a certain gift here. As individuals who possess this gift, I called you here so I might speak with you.”[/color][/quote]
Ah, now things were starting to make more sense. Father Dominic always said he had a gift, though he didn't think remembering dreams was that special. As for why the five of them were needed, though...

[quote][color=0000DC]“The world as you know it is on the precipice of oblivion. Under normal circumstances, I would call on a special individual to save it, but unfortunately they have turned away from that path, and the world, in the current state, is doomed.”[/color][/quote]
[color=#fa7d32]"So, it's simple then. We save the world instead."[/color] Flint nodded to himself. Of course Father Dominic would never purchase a place like this. It makes much more sense that they're simply not in the waking world.

Hmm... [color=#fa7d32]"What are we saving it from, though? A wrathful god? Can gods even be killed?"[/color] He mused, aloud.

Then, derailing the topic, the upset man from earlier spoke up, seemingly having regained his composure.

[quote][color=#0096c8]"My name is Radcliff. How should I address you?"[/color][/quote]
He was clearly talking to the long-nosed man, but then his gaze shifted over him next since he was sitting at the table next to the man. He then looked toward the boy and the two girls. It was an expectant look; an open invitation. They weren't fellow believers, but it seems they would have to save the world together. Getting to know one another was a good idea. [color=#fa7d32]"I'm Flint."[/color] All that being said, he wasn't sure what else to say about himself, and so just didn't say anything else as the moment passed and the others went on to make their own introductions.