Strengths, Smarts, and Subconsciousness

"Yes."

That much was obvious. Jerica hadn't doubted, from the moment she woke up, that someone was watching them. She'd decided something was definitely off about a bunch of solitary animals forming into a stampede. And that was confirmed the moment that she saw the valley they'd come from ended in a mile-high cliff. As if the rhinos appeared out of thin air -- not to mention the vindictive weather itself. And now, mockery falling from the sky.

"It must be a sorcerer, but I don't know which would be strong enough to conjure a stampede." Jerica hesitated. "Or create a spiteful hailstorm."

A sorcerer? What a strange descriptor, but that wasn't the strangest thing Evaline had witnessed today.

"It must be someone with very strong powers," Evaline added on. "Possibly multiple people. I just don't understand the motive, reason, and mechanics behind it all."

Jerica nodded slowly. She didn't understand, either. But, at least the powers made sense in this context. She didn't doubt at all that it was a strong sorcerer, and she'd buy that maybe it was several of them in cahoots. But, why remained unknown. She might have been able to figure it out if Eve was capable of giving her a straight answer, but it was becoming ever more apparent that she was going to do all the thinking without any help.

"I just wish I knew what realm we're in." Surely that would provide some clues... wouldn't it? Maybe then she'd have an idea of who might be strong enough to do these things to them, and why. But for now, she just sat huddled under the swimsuit, gooseflesh covering most of her body now that night had fallen. "Or, at least, knew who we both pissed off."

Evaline hugged her knees to her chest, staying warm in front of the fire. Her back was still cold from being exposed, though.

She sighed, feeling a question blurt out of her mouth.

"You keep mentioning realms," she said. "What do you mean by that?"

Jerica looked at her thoughtfully. That was actually a reasonable question, and one she figured she may as well answer, since it was becoming increasingly apparent that Eve wasn't from Beirania.

"There are various realms scattered about that you can get to through portals," Jerica answered softly. "The one I'm from is Beirania -- I'm nearly certain that's not where we are now. There's the Ancient Realm. A dragon realm. One I went to had these tiny little people who were barely the size of my fingers -- but very kind. And there's this realm called Earth, but my uncle won't let me go to it, so I don't know what it's like."

The more Jerica talked, the more Evaline was convinced that she was spewing out some fantasy tale. Portals? Dragons? Tiny people? ... Was she being serious right now?

Half the time, she wasn't even sure what she was saying -- especially when she casually mentioned Earth like she wasn't from there. It was honestly getting very hard to determine if she was joking or not.

"Are you..." Evaline began, then stopped to tightly close her eyes and take a deep breath.

This was getting so, so tiring.

"Are you saying you're an alien?"

"I don't know what that is," Jerica answered, staring at her. "So no?"

So... so tiring.

"Extraterrestrial," Evaline said with a strained voice. "You're really trying to convince me right now that you're from some other faraway planet, away from Earth?"

Jerica blinked at her, pretty sure she was making up words at this point. Aliens. Extraterrestrial. Planets.

"Like I'd be from Earth," Jerica scoffed, looking at her with the disgust that she deserved. "Derik says Earth is just this wasteland where no one's happy. I don't deserve that bullshit."

She hesitated, realizing that Eve seemed to think she should be from Earth. "Wait, are you from that hellhole?"

Evaline stared at Jerica without a response for far too long. Was this supposed to be funny? Because this wasn't really funny. She almost preferred her annoying snark instead.

"You're hilarious," she said instead with a blank voice, staring back at the fire. "Great method of escapism you got there."

Jerica blinked at her.

She wasn't quite sure what her problem was. Or, how to convince her. Or even if she cared enough to try to convince her. Jerica herself had had a bit of trouble understanding the various realms until she'd seen a few for herself. But, Jerica didn't know where the portals were here.

"So... you think we're on Earth now?" Jerica questioned after an uncomfortably long silence, ignoring her bitchiness. "Is this what it's like there?"

Evaline glanced around, noting how dusk was finally falling.

"Where else are we supposed to be?" she said now with irritation starting to seep into her voice. "Mars?"

"I don't fucking know where we are," Jerica snapped, mirroring her energy. She was trying to work with her, and the bitch continued to be infuriating. "And you're apparently too focused on being an asshole to actually help me try to figure it out."

Evaline pinched the bridge of her nose, feeling the frustration take over. She was beginning to regret coming over here at all.

"Look, I don't even know what you're talking about," she said, no longer bother hiding the annoyance. She let her hand go and glared at Jerica. "Can you stop being cryptic and mystical, and be realistic for once?"

"And you think I fucking know what you're going on about?" Jerica snapped. "Aliens? Extraterrestrial? Mars? It's painfully apparent that we're from different realms, and you'd rather believe that I'm 'cryptic and mystical' instead of just accepting the fact that there are different realms and helping me figure out which one we're in right now."