Fantasy Worlds Away Official

[Wren93]

After helping Cordelia up he looked back at Juniper, still processing her question. He looked thoughtful for a second. After a minute he spoke. “I didn’t go too far. I woke up about fifty feet that way.” He pointed to the east. “I didn’t really notice anything that stood out to me.”

 

[Connie]

"Then we should go that way!" Cordelia eagerly suggested, pointing in the opposite direction...right into a forest. She couldn't see any better options, but she did feel dwarfed by the great oaks clustered along the skyline.

 

[Wren93]

Jacques shrugged and looked at Juniper. “What do you think? I don’t think it matters too much which way we pick, though an unfamiliar forest seems sketchy.” If he was honest with himself, there was another reason he didn’t want to go that way. He could already feel the claustrophobia settling in. He was fair though, if he was outnumbered, he would suck it up and go through the forest.

 

[jonah_darden]

"Trees are a good cover, at least?" She offered up, already setting her steps in motion to enter the vast, thick forest. On the other end of where Jacques had pointed to seemed to be a mountain, and no version of herself, pink with horns or not, was going to climb an entire mountain. Walking through these trees seemed a lot more manageable.

 

[Wren93]

Jacques let the tiniest of sighs escape his lips. He gazed momentarily at the daunting forest. His eyebrows furrowed as he had a thought. He knelt down and pulled his bag off his back again. “Alright,” he said without looking up as he began emptying his pack. “We’ll go through the woods but we need to be smart. We should compare our supplies and explain our skill sets more. We should know where we collectively stand in terms of survivability.” After his bag was quite empty he looked up expectantly at his female companions.

 

[jonah_darden]

This man was a great deal more rational than Juniper considered herself to be. "I have excellent veterinary skills. I think this would translate well to being a medic, so I can be in charge of that," she offered, hesitantly looking for any objections. She knew she didn't have much else to offer, as most plants would be assumed to be foreign, so her knowledge in that area would be useless.

 

[Connie]

Cordelia pursed her lips at Juniper taking on the caring role. 'Here we go' she thought, preparing herself for their judgemental silence at her offerings. Ever since she skipped college for the nanny's training school, everyone in her life had treated her as a half wit. Steering away from conflict, she had learned to smile and take it, but she still had to steel herself for the inevitably hurtful looks.
Furrowing her brow, Cordelia reached into the pockets of her apron, willing there to be something useful inside...and sheepishly she pulled out a pen and her mandatory hair tie.
"I..." she trembled. 'It's just a job interview' she urged herself mentally, and she took a deep breath, squeezing her eyes shut to avoid their expectant stares, before she spoke again. "I'm a hard worker," she began, noticing their expectancies deflate, "And I'm willing to do anything and everything. So if there are any busy tasks we need done, gathering or mending clothes and such, I'll gladly do it. A-and I keep the peace," she continued, fumbling for further strengths, before she noticed the look on Jaques' face and pressed her lips together once more. 'So you can offer nothing, nothing useful, and nothing' she thought to herself, as she gazed up at her party, trying not to let her fear of being abandoned here alone.

 

[jonah_darden]

"You're worth far more than just a tie-breaker or an extra pair of hands." Juniper put her hand on the woman's shoulders, hoping to calm or reassure her. She could see the anxiety filling the poor woman's body, just as it was in hers. Juniper's strength wasn't really in her medical skills, but in her over-ride protocol that allowed her to help those around her. "Besides, someone's gotta keep Jacques here in check!" She hoped her joke would ease some of the tension in her group.

 

[Wren93]

Jacques smiled wryly and with empathy. He gestured to the contents of his bag, a meager assortment of tools. “Do I look like I’m gonna be very useful here?” he asked with dark humor. “I’m just a mechanic. The only thing I have going for me here is my desire to stay alive. And really that’s all any of us have. You’re not useless. We just have to work together and watch each other’s backs.” He packed up his bag once more and stood up. He sighed. He hated speeches and public speaking in general. He wasn’t the leader type, he was used to keeping to himself. And now he was in a situation like this? People depended on him and he on them for their lives? This was an introverts worst nightmare. “Look,” he spoke again. “We are all stuck in the same situation. Pretty much any kind of skill or experience we have going for us is going to be crucial in some way. We just gotta, you know, stick together alright? I got your backs if you got mine ya know?” He stuck out his hand flat out in front of them, waiting. The soft fair skin of his face turned bright red as he looked off to the side and rubbed the back of his head with his free hand.

 

[Connie]

Cordelia winced a little at Jaques overt use of the word useless, but perked up with the pair's encouragement. Maybe letting her worries show was a good thing this time. As Jaques held out his hand she saw his neck turning a shade of crimson, maybe she had misjudged him. Clearly his social tact was lacking, but maybe that was more out of nervousness and inexperience than aggression.
Eagerly, Corrie placed her hand on his, exclaiming, "Right!" As she excitedly stuffed her meager belongings back into her apron pocket.

 

[jonah_darden]

Juniper smiled proudly as they discovered that he did, indeed, have a soft side. "Jacques is right. All we have are the skills we learned." She was glad to see their little group doing better than they were previously. "Alright then, group. Into the forest we go." She started making her way into the forest.

 

[Wren93]

Jacques took one last wistful look at the open plain. Then he sighed and squared his shoulders and followed the girls toward the tree line. As he walked he suddenly gasped as he felt a strange pulse course through his body, almost like for a split second his entire being was trying to dissolve at the core. It wasn’t exactly painful just unpleasant. It passed so quickly he wondered if he had imagined it. He tried to keep his face stoic as he barely hesitated in his stride.

 

[Connie]

At the edge of the forest, Cordelia skipped cheerfully into the trees, trying to pretend she wasn't terrified by the density of the forest as she kept her pace and ran her hands along the ancient trunks. She was hoping that by pushing onward excitedly she would help the others feel more calm. Plus, if she didn't have a moment to take it all in, she wouldn't be intimidated by the magnitude of the woods.
"So do you think we should be looking for like berries and stuff?" She called out behind her, trying to act like this would be an easy task, "Or do you guys think there could be a civilisation on the other side of the woods?"

 

[jonah_darden]

Juniper didn't really have an answer. She knew what she hoped, and she knew that she was often wrong about reality. "If you see anything, point it out. We can try to decide if something's worth the risk of trying a random berry." Juniper thought a bit before adding, "There may be someone else out there. If not, we'll need anything we can get."

 

[Wren93]

Jacques frowned. Cordelias happy energy in contrast made him feel like he was a depressing pessimist. But he felt like they needed to be careful and if someone had to be the raincloud he guessed it might as well be him. “Honestly, I think we should count our lucky stars we got sent to a world where the air is breathable. We should be careful, we have no idea what the plant and animal life is like here. For all we know everything around us could be poisonous.” Jacques knew he was being harsh, and he wasn’t trying to crush anyone’s spirit, if anything he was secretly terrified and just trying to keep his cool. This whole situation was still on the verge of breaking his brain. As they crossed the threshold into the line of trees nothing really happened. The sun shone brightly through the leaves casting green dappled shadows on the ground. Jacques could hear birds singing. As he looked around in trepidation something new and strange poked him in the back of his mind. He pushed it away impatiently but it persisted. Finally some kind of dam broke and a new sensation washed over him. He couldn’t explain it but somehow he was aware of some kind of unseen energy or aura all around them. It felt warm and welcoming. He realized he could tell that the forest itself was not malevolent and he felt safer.

 

[oooo]

Diedrich woke up, looked at his hands and stared perplexingly.
"What the fuck"
One minute he was... Wait, what was he even doing before this? His hands did not look the same. They were far more calloused and he was wearing medieval-like clothes, and come to think of it, a heavy backpack sitting snugly on his back. Huh. He grasped his hair.
"Black not brown huh..."
Okay this was a little bit too wild. Wait, what was he doing again? Engineering, something something school. He had been in his university dorm and went to bed. Now this? It might be a dream, seeing as he wouldn't remember it afterwards. In fact, maybe this has happened multiple times and he felt a bit of deja vu. But this also felt too real and it didn't feel like things appeared when he thought about them and his ability to simply glanze at things without becoming disoriented or confused and the grass beneath his boots - neat, he had boots - felt too real. He was in a forest. A pretty regularly looking forest, all things considered, sort of looking like any forest he might have been in before. His mind ultimately wouldn't be able to dream of things it hadn't seen, so for now this was a dream, all things considered. He wandered through the forest for a while, convincing himself it was a dream despite the very real sticks breaking under his soles. He spotted what looked like an elf - something his mind knew what was - with light brown hair in what looked like an 80's maid outfit and seemingly some people behind her.
"Oh, hi, are you real?" He said towards the figure, seemingly without anxiety.

 

[jonah_darden]

Juniper turned around to look at the new person, startled but somehow pleased to see another person. She put herself between this newcomer and Cordelia, "Of course we're real." Her voice conflicted with her defensive posture, as it was just as happy as ever. She just felt a little protective of her new group, and wanted to ensure their safety above all.

"Are you... new to this place, too?" she couldn't think of a better way to word it, but it worked well enough. She watched the new man with interested eyes, hoping to have another one like them.

 

[Connie]

Cordelia stopped in her tracks, hearing an unfamiliar voice. She felt her heart palpitating as she turned slowly to see a strong presence before her, but Juniper protectively inserted herself between them before giving Cordelia a chance to panic. She felt a wave of relief as she was given time to process this new situation, but somehow still didn't feel totally comfortable with the way Juniper was so openly spilling their situation to this stranger. She'd only known them a few minutes, but she felt herself wanting to sink back into the relative normality of their little trio, as this newcomer could introduce all kinds of conflict. She tried to focus on Jaques warm presence behind her, suddenly glad to have him there and melting away all her initial defensive judgements about him. They were a squad now and this new...man? Elf? ...being wasn't part of it mere moments ago. She wanted to cower behind Juniper, clutching her shoulders, and to feel Jacques' hand on her so she knew he was still there to defend. Instead, she settled for freezing between the two of them, praying this being was friend not foe, and clutching to the thought of being held by their presence, not their bodies. Shw needed to be brave now, coping with new people was seemingly part of her life from now on.

 

[Wren93]

Jacques tensed visibly. His mind processed what seemed like a million things at once. He registered Cordelias anxiety as well as Junipers calm and control, the latter he felt grateful for. He registered the newcomer and the fact that Jacques could somehow sense that this person harbored no ill will towards them. He was starting to get used to this new ability. He noticed the clothes. Very different, yet somehow befitting this world. Was he a native? They could clearly understand him. He heard Junipers response to the man from far away. The mans question. ‘Were they real?’ Was he a displaced as well or just having a bad trip? No. He looked sober. How many people got sucked to this world? How long had this guy been here? Jacques stood tensely, trying to relax, as he awaited the man’s reply to Junipers question.