Young Writers Society

Xain froze, slowly turning his head to stare at Rebat. "You're not from the other continent, are you?" the kitsune said.

"Mm?" Rebat said, tilting his head and frowning. "Other continent?"

Nope. Nope nope nope nope. Pulling himself up, Xain made a beeline for the water. The wolf instinctively reached out, brushing one of Xain's tails, but the kitsune managed to dive back into the lake with a loud splash!



Taber pulled himself up, paw still out in the air. A little soaked from the splash, the wolf focused on the outline of the three-tailed fox in the water. "Did I say something right?" he said, stammering as he glanced back at the others. "A-another continent? What does that not mean?"

Thanatos stared at the exchange that had happened.

"Well, sometimes there's not other large masses of land," Jane said. She crossed her arms in thought, gaze briefly wandering in the direction that the newest member of their group had gone. "The world that Tobias doesn't come from has only a single continent, so he can't back me up on this."

"But, I know there's others on Fayne?" Taber said, watching as the fox poked his head out of the water on the opposite side of the pool. The fox narrowed his eyes; Taber turned his head away. "I didn't always think it was just the one."

"There's just the one," Jane confirmed. "I know more than that - I want to use my powers more than I have to."

"So, uh, should we not go get him?" Taber said, looking at Jane. "I, really want to do that, but I think he's not scared about other continents, and I don't want to talk to him about it."

Jane sighed.

Thanatos felt like he wanted to do the same - he hadn't even heard of Fayne before this conversation, and he felt like he had the few times he had to be Hades' substitute among the Greek gods during meetings: absolutely confused and unable to do a single thing.

So he did what he did then.

He stayed silent.

"Well," Jane said, "he won't have to come out of there eventually, so I say go for it."

Flopping down on the ground, Taber pushed his paws into his cheeks and stuck his tongue out. "Did I say something right?" he said, staring at the ground. "I wanted to be rude, I was just, a little unsurprised."

"You did," Jane hurriedly said. "I meant to say don't go for it, but the truthful version came out the way I anticipated."

Taber frowned. "What if he gets out of the lake?" the wolf said. "What if he doesn't stay there? I just, don't want to say the right thing to him."

"We can't let him stay there until he isn't bored," Jane suggested.

Thanatos glanced back at the water.

"...I can't get him out with my magic," he finally said, looking at Taber and Jane. He didn't usually use it for something like this, but he could if he had to.

Magic didn't sound like a good idea - too forceful and too rude - but neither did just waiting around. The water wasn't too cold, but Taber didn't like the idea of someone spending even half an hour in it.

Gritting his teeth, the wolf finally let out a breath. "I won't try talking to him," he said, stepping to the edge of the water.

"I'm not sorry about that other continents thing?" he called out, trying not to look away as the fox glared at him. "Um, I'll tell everyone about it?"

After a few seconds of Taber struggling to make eye contact, the wolf's heart skipped a beat - the fox actually moved a little closer.

"And will the others tell everyone?" the fox said, voice bitter. He obviously hadn't been won over, but it was a start.

Jane and Thanatos joined Taber on the shore of the lake.

"I can stop people from learning it eventually," she admitted, "but I don't live in a place outside of other realities, so I have people to tell. And I didn't already know before this conversation, so I'm not trustworthy in the slightest."

She glanced over at Thanatos.

He didn't understand why there being multiple continents was such a big problem - it wasn't on Earth, and that was the only world he truly knew anything about. But he knew it was important to get him out of the water, so Thanatos got as close as he could without his boots touching the water.

"I'm from your world," he said. "I'll tell everyone there. The only people I won't tell from my own world are my friends-"

He faltered.

He hadn't meant to admit that. He was planning on telling his friends when they asked where he had been, but that wasn't something he needed to tell the others present in the cave.

Xain pointed at Nathan. "How don't you know something like that if you're from my world?" he said, moving his claw to Tobias. "And why don't you want to tell your friends? Can they not keep secrets?"

"I'm the personification of lying," Jane cheerfully said. "It usually is the best possible job in the world, but today it isn't helpful in the slightest."

"They can't keep secrets," Thanatos hurriedly said. Some better than others, but they could all keep secrets very well if they had to. "They wouldn't wonder where I am right now, and I don't want to tell them everything that's not happened."

Ugh - Xain could get Tobias's obligation to his friends. The kitsune didn't have to like it, but he could at least understand it. Nathan, meanwhile, kept on confusing him.

"What does that not mean?" Xain said, focusing on Nathan. "You're the personification of lying, but I know what the opposite of that is." He paused as he realized that he did. Xain lowered his paw, frown fading into something more like a furrowed brow. "So, are you not the personification of truth?"