Young Writers Society

"Minecraftia?" Vincent scrunched his eye brows, "How far from the Kingdom is that? Does everyone dress the way you do?"

Vincent looked around at all the buildings, still in awe at how different they were. "Maybe we should just ask someone."

Télos glanced down at his outfit.

"Some do?" he replied. The villagers and endermen didn't, but they were different than the players. The mobs that lived with Hero were a little different, too, but the shells did share some of the same outfits as the players they were created from. "And Minecraftia isn't close to the Kingdom - I think we might be from different worlds."

He followed Vincent's gaze.

"Also, I'm, er, not really sure we should ask someone," Télos quickly said. "I don't know if they're the reason we ended up here - they seemed pretty clueless - but I don't think they're too friendly. The first thing they did when they met us was tie us up."

"I see." Vincent pondered over the thought for a minute.

Different world? The concept was foreign to him. He was never taught anything about another world back inside the Kingdom. The royal guards made sure to tell him everything he needed to know, so why would they neglect to explain something like this to him?

"So what you're saying is," He looked at Télos, "We have to tie them up and then ask them questions?"

Télos hesitated.

"...maybe but probably no?" he finally said.

He glanced over at the street they had just come from, then looked over at Vincent again. He was starting to get the feeling that their worlds were very different.

"It would be good to get more information," Télos agreed, "but I don't think we need to tie them up. They already don't like us."

Vincent wasn't following, if they didn't have to tie everyone up to get answers, then what was stopping them?

"So we can just... ask them?" He stood up and began walking back to the street they came from, "That sounds easy enough."

Télos rushed after him.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea, either," he argued. He wasn't going to outright admit it, but running off with Vincent when he had might not have been the best idea. They should have waited until later - or until he figured out how to explain why they had slipped away from their guards so quickly. "They might not want to answer us. Maybe we could eavesdrop instead? I can change my form, and you could hide."

He gave him an awkward smile.

"That would work, right?"

Vincent stopped in his tracks and spun around, "Change your for-?"

Before he could finish his question, a burly man popped up behind Télos and smirked at them, "You boys runnin' off already?"

He was taller than the both of them, and definitely seemed to keep active. Oddly enough, he didn't seem angry at them. His face was more playful than many of the other people they had encountered so far. Vincent welcomed the change.

"No actually," Vincent said to him, "We wanted to tie you up and question you."

Wide-eyed, Télos frantically glanced over at Vincent. This was not a good time to admit that. The man before them was more muscular and taller than either him or Vincent. He admittedly didn't look all that angry, but Télos lived with Aleks. He knew a bit about how quickly moods could turn - especially after admitting something like that.

"He's joking," Télos quickly corrected. "We just wanted some answers and information."

Vincent nodded and looked at Télos, "Yes, answers would be nice. Also, do you have any food?"

The man looked between the two of them before he smiled, "You boys are probably starving. Who knows how long ya'll have been out there? Follow me."

He walked past them back into the midst of a few building where the scent of roasting meat filled the air around them. Vincent's stomach began to rumble.

"There you go boys," The man said to them, opening the door to what seemed like a food hall, "Eat, drink, and meet me in the building across the road when your finished!"

Vincent nodded at him and stepped inside, expecting Télos to follow, "What kind of food do you think they eat in this... world?"

Télos hesitantly followed Vincent.

He had a vague idea from what Lex had told him; Earth food was very similar to Minecraftian food. He could smell what had to be freshly baked pumpkin pie among roasted meat - his mouth was already watering at the thought of some warm pumpkin pie.

But he couldn't let himself give in. The person they had run into didn't seem remotely bothered by them appearing being without guards. He also didn't seem bothered by Vincent's reveal that he was going to tie them.

We have to be careful, Télos reminded himself.

"I think they eat human food," Télos guessed. He wasn't sure how else to describe food. He could feel eyes on them as he closed the door behind them, but he gave Vincent a grin in an attempt to seem unbothered by the looks.

...And then he caught sight of the pumpkin pie slices, all perfectly arranged on pristine white plates. He wasn't really hungry, but that pie...

Télos bit his lip.

A little slice wouldn't hurt, right?

Giving one last glance at Vincent, he went to grab a slice.

Human food? Vincent wondered if that meant that in Télos' world they ate other food. Like... dog food.

He watched Télos walk up to a triangular dish and followed his lead. He grabbed a plate just as Télos had and squinted at the sweet smelling food on top of it. Putting his fingers on the side of it, he realized it was not solid enough for him to just pick up and eat like the food he was used to.

Then how?

Pursing his lips, Vincent raised the plate up to his lips and began biting the food right off of it. The taste was definitely one he wasn't used to; soft, sweet, easy to chew. It was delicious.

He looked up at Télos for approval, "Yummm."

Télos stared.

After a moment of hesitation, he grabbed a fork and gave Vincent a very, very awkward smile. Maybe pie wasn't a thing where Vincent was from? That was a sad thought - Télos couldn't imagine a world without pie. If not that, maybe Vincent liked finger food. Télos decided that it wasn't the most pressing thing to focus on right now.

He eyed the room for an empty table. When he finally found one, he gestured at it with his fork.

"Let's go eat there," he suggested.

Vincent looked up from his plate towards Télos as he began heading towards a table. Before he followed, he licked his plate clean and grabbed a second one. Following Télos' lead, he took a seat across from him and began to eat his second slice of whatever he just devoured.

"What is this supposed to be?" he asked in between mouthfuls.

Télos froze with the fork (and a piece of pie) almost in his mouth.

"You don't have pumpkin pie in your world?" he managed to get out, incredulous. His worst fears had been confirmed. Vincent did seem to enjoy it and he thankfully could have it right now, but Télos still couldn't imagine a world where he would have never been able to have pumpkin pie. It sounded like a horrible place to live.

"Pumpkin?" Vincent eyed the dish in front of him, "You mean to tell me this is made of fruit?"

He put his plate down and began to look around the room. There were other dishes scattered around, some more familiar than others.

"Where I'm from we most eat the meat off of the cattle we raise. Some vegetables from our crops as well, but I'm not very fond of them. You seem to be from somewhere similar to this then. Can you tell me, what's that metal thing in your hand?"