Young Writers Society

"It would have been better if they had not been so rash," Thytes said, glancing over at Kynan and Tristan. They shrunk back, smiling awkwardly. Thytes rolled his eyes and turned his head back to look at Amber. "But, given that this place is indeed perfectly safe - as we had all been told - I suppose they were acting wiser than I was."

He stared down at his hot chocolate, moving the mug gently to swirl it around. "I was...unlike myself. I still feel as though I am. I have rarely been so completely afraid of my surroundings and situation, and I apologize if that was distressing for anyone. I will eventually return to my former confidence, but that will take time. Which frustrates me."

Amber smiled thoughtfully at Thytes and took a long swig from her hot chocolate before replying, "First, I believe if anyone is impeding the group, it most definitely is not you." She didn't add what she wanted to, that her fear of fire had already set her apart as less than useful. "As for the situation, I can assure you that you most definitely are not the only one here who is scared. It's a completely natural response to being taken from your world and thrust into another and then taking a portal into yet another." She thought a human thing to do would be to pat him on the back but she didn't feel quite right about enacting it. She settled for another smile as she said, "I don't believe anyone here is as confident as they feel they should be except maybe Magic and those reapers."

"That is a good point," Thytes said. "It would be silly of me to presume that I am the only frightened person here. Yet, I had not expected to be so completely frightened that it would interfere in my ability to act or think properly. This little group has been marvelously effective, with or without me, and I have little complaints with regards to that - I would rather like to be a more capable member, is all."

"Being afraid is alright in a situation like this," Magic suddenly said, taking a sip of their hot chocolate as they headed over to one of the nearby couches. They sprawled across the majority of it with their hot chocolate balancing precariously in their hands over them. "And if Rekune and Blanx hadn't been good people, and hadn't been reapers, I'm sure that fireball you threw would have been pretty useful."

They let out a sigh and leaned their head against one of the couch's arms, staring up at the ceiling above them. "Although I'm not sure how useful that'll be now, seeing that we're still not back to normal."

"What do you mean?" Mage slowly asked.

They turned their head ever so slightly to get a better look at the demon. "We're a little more like ghosts than I said we were earlier," Magic answered. Knight looked incredibly panicked at this realization, so Magic hurriedly continued their explanation. "Ghosts are essentially manifestations of people's souls on another plane. Which sounds really confusing, but it basically means that they can't interact with living people the normal way other living people can."

"That's not making me feel any better," Knight weakly interjected.

"I'm sorry," Magic sheepishly replied, "but that's, uh, basically what's going on right now. Regular people can't see us, and we can't interact, either. What we can interact with are inanimate objects - like the mug of hot chocolate I'm holding, and the hot chocolate I'm drinking - and people that exist on multiple planes."

"That's what reapers are," Rekune helpfully added in. "We can see ghosts no matter what form we're in, and we can also physically interact with them - it's how I can do something like this without going through Magic."

He walked over to Magic and poked them. His finger clearly was stopped by their body.

"Oh dear," Thytes said. He set his hot chocolate on the table in front of him, watching as Rekune poked Magic. A tad rude, but fascinating. "I am rather happy to have some manifestation of my old body, but I would also like the prospect of regaining that ability to interact with others."

Tristan snorted, spilling hot chocolate over the table. The lion rolled his eyes and smacked Tristan on the back of his head. Trying hard not to smile while Tristan almost fell onto the table, Thtyes looked over at Rekune. "I imagine time is of some essence?"

Landon watched intently over his mug from where he sat near Magic. As the explanation of their forms unfolded, he lifted a single hand from his mug and held it up, wiggling his fingers. He was slowly returning to his usual self, which was evident of the smile that tugged at his mouth.

"Cool." he said softly. "I've always wondered what being a ghost felt like."

"It is to some extent," Rekune agreed, "but nothing too major. We just don't want anything bad to happen to your bodies while you're not in them, and the more time they're there, the more likely something bad can happen."

Rekune smiled.

"But, for now, feel free to relax," he said. He gestured at the assortment of couches and furniture throughout the room. "It's going to take some time to come up with a game plan and get permission from the administration - Blanx is working on that last part right now - so you can just hang out here for a bit."

After a moment of hesitation, Mage and Knight found the nearest empty couch and proceeded to lay down together. It was a pretty cute sight, at least in Magic's eyes - Mage was laying with his head in Knight's lap, the dragon running his fingers through the demon's hair as he carefully sipped his hot chocolate.

Magic turned back to Landon. "It's definitely an interesting experience," they agreed. "I've encountered ghosts before, but I've never thought of being one. Which I really should have, considering I can be pretty much anything I want. I just keep up the human appearance because it's usually less of a hassle than any of the other ones."

Landon's eyebrows raised and he slowly lowered his mug, turning to Magic with wide eyes.

"You can be anything you want? What's that supposed to mean?" he blinked a few times and tilted his head. "Are you a shapeshifter?"

After a brief pause, it registered to him that his bluntness may have come off as a bit rude, and he amended with a slightly sheepish smile.

"Sorry." he added softly, though still without self-consciousness.

"It's okay," they were quick to reassure him. They gave him a big grin. "And you can definitely call me a shapeshifter. Basically, I have access to all the magic that's ever existed in the multiverse, and some of that involves form changing. But it's also just the idea of me being a person. Human's usually the best route to go in realities, but I could easily be an alien, or a reaper, or anything else that you could think of off of the top of your head."

"Wow." he murmured softly, and then thought for a moment before turning back to them. "And so what you actually look like isn't a physical manifestation, right? Since you are the Personification of Magic. It would be hard for someone to wrap their mind around your being without forms."

He smiled and took a sip of his hot chocolate, hoping that no harm would come from his simple observations.

"Yup," they confirmed. They leaned back and closed their eyes, trying to imagine the sensation. "I'm just kind of...there naturally. It's hard to describe it if you haven't felt it. I can feel every part of the multiverse at once, whether its through the people in each reality or through the natural magic of the world. It's like one continuous stream."

They could barely tap into that stream right now, but they could still feel the throbbing of all the magic in the multiverse. It was just less noticeable than it usually was.

"How peculiar," Thytes said, leaning forward to look over at Pom. "I apologize if this seems rather crass, but I imagine being...invasive, for lack of a better word, is involuntary on your part? I admit that I am uncomfortable with the idea that you might have felt me, as I am a magic user and all."

Tristan coughed into his hot chocolate. Smiling, the lion started to lean over, trapping Tristan and Kynan against the couch until they both set their hot chocolate onto the table and squeezed their way out. The lion kept his grin as Tristan and Kynan grabbed their hot chocolate and walked over to the kitchen to stand next to Rekune.

Magic faltered.

"I think calling it involuntary is the right way to describe it," they agreed. "And it's not that I really know much about a person outside of their magic - I have to look into that myself if I'm interested."

"Oh- okay." Landon blinked and nodded, setting his mug down. "So magic users are just like... a blip on an unconscious radar for you?"

He tilted his head before having half a mind to wipe the hot chocolate from his top lip.

Taking advantage of the newfound space, Thytes sprawled out over the couch. "Have you?" he said. He didn't know if he'd be more bothered by knowing that Pom had looked into him, or had not. There was quite a lot about himself he was quite proud of.