Young Writers Society

"Of course," Thanatos answers. "What good is a necromancer who cannot see the spirits?"

As he speaks, the draconic creature takes flight, landing upon its summoner's shoulder.

___________________________

Artemis nods shortly, still nervous but deciding to take the risk.

"Well, I don't think my type of spirit is your type of spirit," Geist said. Tottan probably had no idea what either one of them were talking about, but he wasn't in the mood for playing teacher. Once he found Engel and Sebastian, they could do it. "The last time I checked, I'm perfectly alive. But if we are from different realities, there might be a bit of an overlap."

He stuck his hand out. "Seeing that you've, well, seen me, let me reintroduce myself. Geist of Ishval, third level djinni, at your service."



Engel led the girl back to where Sebastian was. He seemed to be in a middle of a conversation with the man that had shown up prior to the girl, but neither one spoke when they saw the two approach. "She doesn't know what's going on," Engel said. "She has an idea of how she got here, but I don't think she knows where here even is."

Sebastian let out a sigh. "Same story here."

Djinni. It's a word he's heard before, in long-forgotten lore, but he realizes he knows comparatively little. Jay mentioned an old Earth story called the Arabian Nights in which there was a supernatural entity called a djinni, and once another tale about one that had been within a lamp and granted wishes - but, from what he could see, this didn't seem to be the same type of djinni. Most certainly not the latter, anyways, and unlikely the former.

Then there were those other words: third-level. This means nothing to him. It's likely a form of rank, but is that all it is or does it refer to the kind of djinni Geist is? Hard to know.

Thanatos takes Geist's extended hand, accepting the handshake. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Geist of Ishval."
_______________________________________________________________________________

She seems a little more nervous as they approach the others, but stays put. It's obvious by the way she holds herself, however, that she is still quite ready to flee at any moment.

Tottan's eyes glowed with recognition. "Oh! So you're a djinni! This is all very fascinating," Tottan finally commented, having been listening with the intent of understanding.

"And though I can't see through the plane like Thanatos can, here, I find it fascinating that there are different planes of sight. So you're saying, you have a different form that can only be seen in a sort of spirit realm?" Tottan asked, his interest clear in his expression. He'd visited many different planets with different ways to explain things like this. For some of them, this was all lore and fictional. For others, it was more tangible. And for some, it was reality. Though he'd hardly ever witnessed it with his own eyes.

He cleared his throat, and tried to compose himself, realizing that all of the gawking would've been perceived as rude.

"I - I mean, I'm sorry. You likely don't want to have to explain everything. But that said, it's a pleasure to meet you as well, Geist of Ishval." Once Geist had given Thanatos a handshake, Tottan extended one of his own four hands to engage in the same friendly gesture.



He didn't really get a chance to answer Sebastian's question about where he was from, but that was fine. He didn't really know how much information he should've been giving freely to the stranger in this strange city that just appeared with him in it anyway. As he saw the girl approach with the metal man, he leaned forward on the bench to look at her past the other guys.

"Nice to know I'm not the only one who's confused," he said. "I'm Bo. Nice to meet you, kid."

She seems to be caught off guard a bit by the greeting, unsure of how to reply for a moment. "I Artemis. Good meet," she finally says.

Bo smiled widely, and nodded. "Yes. Good meet indeed."

Geist gave Tottan a firm and brief handshake before turning his attention back to the city around them. He still wasn't in a mood to explain things. Which meant that he only had one option left - return to Sebastian and Engel and get them to do everything.

He gestured behind him; it was the direction he had come from. "I've got two friends here, too. One's a state alchemist and the other is a, well, I'd let him explain it. They'd explain it."



Sebastian listened to the two talking with each other. The names they gave to each other were odd, but he had heard his fair share of strange names thanks to Engel and Geist. He looked over at the supposedly armored man beside him. Engel was silent, but he usually was - Geist was the one who liked to do the talking.

"Do you know where to find them?" Tottan asked.



Bo looked between Sebastian and the metal man (if he'd gotten a name, it'd been quickly forgotten) expecting them to say something and take charge of the situation (being soldiers or whatever and all) but with the small lapse of silence, he cleared his throat.

"So uh, Artemis!" He smiled. "You're not from here either, right? I've never been here before, and don't really know how I got here. Apparently this city just appeared out of nowhere though. Pretty freaky, I guess."

She frowns. "City...appear from...not? That...not right. Can't right."

_________________________________________________________

Thanatos simply nods in reply.

Bo's smile faded a little. She was right. It didn't make sense. It wasn't right. "Yeah, I don't like it either." He finally stood, getting up from the bench with a big stretch, his arms reaching up to the sky before he flopped them down. "But I guess we've just gotta figure out what's going on. Which is what these two seem like they really want to do." He gestured to Sebastian and the armored guy, then looked at them. "Still don't have any more answers for you by the way, but I really hope you figure it out. So maybe Artemis and I could figure out a way home, ey?" He turned back to Artemis. "I mean, if you want to go home that is. Uh. Do you want to go home?"

She shakes her head hurriedly, eyes wide. "No!" she says, voice firm.

Bo's brows shot up. "Oh. Well okay then. That's fine too. I get that. I guess uh, you don't have to go home."

Geist thought for a moment. "They're probably that way, if my guess on the direction they went in is right. We separated when the city came into view - I wanted to do some exploring on my own."



Sebastian and Engel looked at each other, their eyes meeting as they tried to determine where exactly the girl had come from. Her speech was odd; it was as if she was either behind developmentally or the language she used was her second language.

"We won't make you go home if you don't want to," Engel promised.

"We could even find you a home here," Sebastian helpfully added. He ran through a list of people in his head; he was sure Grace Hughes would love to have another daughter, and there were countless other families in Central looking for children. "But first we need to figure out how you got here. I think that might connected to why this city appeared."

Tottan nodded. "Well, I would be happy to accompany you in finding your friends in this strange place, if you would lead the way."