Young Writers Society

Saki and Hideyoshi exchanged a look.

Saki prided herself on being Quirkless. It was part of who she was, and she wasn't sure she'd take a Quirk if one was somehow offered to her. But using magic wasn't exactly a Quirk - it was a tool, and one that could be useful in battle. Hideyoshi must have been thinking the same thing; his Quirk could only do so much.

"Learning magic sounds good to me," Hideyoshi said, giving a little stretch.

"I would really appreciate learning about it, too," Saki agreed. "But shouldn't figure out what's going on first?"

Emily shrugged, "Yeah, you're probably right. I'm gonna guess that this wasn't just a mishap of the spells department, Imani would have repaired that by now, so..." she sighed, "If this is another super-powerful-dark-one trying to screw up the world for everyone else because of their own issues I'm going to rip someone's throat out," she muttered and hopped to her feet.

"Alright, what I know is this, I'm here, this is probably Earth, I was in the middle of sleeping through one of Kivvien's lectures when I got here, and it's probably after hours if this is Earth," she gestured to the closed storefronts, "That last conclusion was drawn on, you know, the lack of humans."

She frowned, looking around again, "But then, if this is Earth, there should be a night staff..." she walked down from the wall and passed the pair, turning in a slow circle as her eyes searched their surroundings. She was beginning to wonder if she should have gone with Gwenith back in World War II, at least then she'd have some military training under her belt. Then she remembered the 'disguise yourself as a man' bit regretted her decision no more.

"I don't think it's not Earth," Saki said, looking around the abandoned mall as well. "I was brought here by Kurogiri's Warp Gate, and I don't think it can go to places outside of Earth."

"But I don't know what Quirk got me here," Hideyoshi pointed out. "It might have been the same Quirk that brought you here, and something similar to what brought Emily here. It might be able to surpass Warp Gate's limits, and bring us somewhere else - another world, another reality, or even a pocket in reality fabricated by a villain."

Emily's eyes continued to search their surroundings, "How about this, you guys keep throwing around theories while we look for a more out-of-the-way place to hang, sound good?"

There didn't appear to be a night guard, at least not one in this part of the building at the moment, nor a janitor, or any other kind of staff member who might happen to be in a mall after hours. That was a bit odd on its own, but the fact that there were no other vamps here, taking advantage of whatever power-up they got in the turning, was even more surprising. Or maybe vampire gangs died out in the seventies. Emily was the more up-to-date person out there.

Even though they barely knew each other, Kyou and Takano exchanged a look before nodding - it seemed like they were becoming quite the team in the little bit of time they had been here. Standing around had very few benefits. They needed to find a more secure place - one that was comfortable but also useful.

Kyou scanned the area.

There was a makeup salon a few stores down. He recognized the name - not that he had been here before. It was just a fairly popular one that he had seen during his time in America. Readying the little muscles he had, he strode towards the gates blocking entry and began to push it up.

It should have been locked.

But it wasn't.

He was able to easily get it out of the way, and easily slip inside the abandoned shop. There wasn't any need for what was being sold, but there was a need for something within it.

The furniture.

He plopped himself down in one of the chairs, watching as Takano nervously stuck her head in.

"This feels wrong..." she muttered as she slipped inside.

"We're not stealing anything," Kyou pointed out. "And something tells me this isn't a normal mall."

Emily skipped after them and took a seat on the wall, "I agree with Hideyoshi," she commented, "This place shouldn't be completely empty right now. Plus, I'm pretty sure that people don't randomly teleport from other worlds into ransom malls, but then, people still think Cleopatra was beautiful when really she was just scary, so maybe I'm wrong about that."

She started snacking on the crackers again. There was mild cause for concern with the lack of food issue for her. She had already put together that even if she completely drained the undying kid, it wouldn't be fatal, but she set that aside for emergencies. Like, emergancy emergencies.

Why couldn't Earth have developed with its magic like Nerdifae? That way, there might be donated blood on the menu of just about any half-decent restaurant. But no. She was stuck with the options of either feeding on one of the kids before her in a few hours when the hunger started to hit her, or breaking out of this place to feed on something else.

It was times like these in which she remembered that being a vamp was supposed to be a curse.

"I don't think you will able to open it," Nubes said, staring up at Lunis. "Not that there's anything you'd want on the other side."

The panther, claws embedded in gaps in the metal mesh that separated him from a bunch of contraptions with two wheels, shook the said mesh for a few seconds. "Showing this gate what I think of it makes me feel a little bit better about being yanked into this creepy-a** world," he growled, pressing his head against the metal.

"You said the same thing about throwing the flower pot," said Nubes. He looked down at the dirt and pieces of ceramic that littered the ground around Lunis.

Lunis glared at Nubes. "A lot of things make me feel better," he said.

The leopard chose to look away, staring around the corner at the end of the strange hallway where they'd found themselves. Honestly, beyond the polished floors, the plaster walls, the deep reds and greens on both, and whatever separated them from what looked like market stalls, it was a surprisingly dull place. Mostly just a weird, abandoned bazaar. "For what it's worth," the leopard said, "A few people just lifted up one of those gates."

Lunis, head turned halfway back to the mesh, froze.

Striding around the corner, Nubes stopped, gripped the wall, and stared at Lunis. "I was fortunate enough to run into some friendly people the last time this happened to me," the leopard said, "So I think I'd like to try my luck again. In case they aren't so friendly, stay here, if you have the patience to."

Before the panther could respond, the leopard swiveled around and made his way towards the strangers, giving them a wave.

Emily hopped to her feet at the newcomer's approach.

She returned his wave with a grin. He wasn't human, that much was obvious, and he wasn't in any kind of uniform. Together, those facts excluded him from the category of potential staff member.

"Hi!" she chirped, "I'm Emily!" she left the other's to introduce themselves. Most of the time, people preferred that they chose when their identities were revealed in unfamiliar circumstances. This probably counted.

Oh, and he had already run into a friendly...human? Nubes wasn't quite sure what to make of the fangs. Still, she seemed nice enough, and the leopard felt his odds of dying in the next minute drop ever so slightly.

"I'm Nubes," he said, holding out a paw. "I'm guessing you don't know where we are?"

"Not a clue," she admitted, "Where are ya from?"

Nubes shrugged. "A big pile of mud in the middle of nowhere, but I don't think you would find that very helpful, so the world of Fayne. Not that you would find that helpful either, I imagine?"

"No, it's not helpful," she said, "Are there any more of ya?"

She found a comfortable place to sit on the wall and plopped down.

Setting himself down next to Emily, Nubes wrapped his arms around his knees. "Whether there are or there aren't," he said, looking over at Emily, "Do you think they would be of any help either?"

She shrugged, "Safety in numbers. Plus, everyone's got a skillset. You never know who's useful, unless they're the type to try to trick a vamp into eating garlic 'for fun', then they can drown in the abyss." She started chewing on another cracker.

Nubes frowned. "I have no idea what you mean by a 'vamp,' or what garlic has to do drowning, but that is a good point. In my old line of work, it was certainly much harder to take out targets if they were accompanied by friends, bodyguards, or mercenaries."