Young Writers Society

His stomach growling answer Rayden's question, but his hunger would have to be temporarily ignored while he tried to calm down the other members of the group - specifically Helenah and Kiran, who both had very noticeable and upset reactions to both the girl and the way they were being treated by the villagers.

"I will in a minute," he promised. Turning his attention away from Rayden, Lex walked to Helenah. He sat down on the ground near her. Giving her a small smile, he glanced around at the buildings the villagers retreated in.

"It is frustrating," he agreed. He looked back at Helenah. "I'm not sure if this world is like my world, but the people there can be wary of outsiders, too. They're afraid of what we can do - they don't know what we're capable of, or what we'll do with our skills."

"They're hideous in every way." Helenah snapped, her nose scrunching up.

Just as she said that, her stomach let out a low growl, and she winced, clutching her belly.

"I'm coming..." she said, getting up, and walking to Rayden.

"Hey, where'd Ruby go?" she looked around frantically. Spotting her animal friend on a branch, Helenah cooped the bird up, and placed Ruby gently back on her shoulder.

"Please stop screaming, Helen." Ruby chirped, nipping Helenah's ear. Helenah ignored her.

Dae heard the possibility of food, and his mouth started to water at the idea. When had he last eaten? He couldn't recall, but even if it was recently he still desperately wanted some food. He looked up at Dara, silently hoping that she would follow the others to the food.

Kirna calmed down, "So, where to next?" she asked, fairly certain the answer would be right to the food. She could see the looks on their faces, and she had to admit she was kind of hungry too. Though, she doubted anything here would be all that edible to her.

Now that Helenah had left, Lex rose again - even though he had only been sitting for a handful of moments, part of him wished he was still on the ground. He had a feeling that it was because of earlier, but he knew he had to ignore the feeling for now if he wanted to get home.

"I think we should get some food," Lex suggested. He looked over in the direction of the bushes - and in the direction they would need to go afterwards. "We can figure out what we should next while we're eating."

Rayden wasn't overly fond of consuming citrus on an empty stomach, but the berries were delicious. Organic food was kind of a rarity back home, much less fresh organic food. Rayden had half a mind to grab a handful and stuff them into his pockets, but he managed to refrain himself.

There was juice all over his lips, and he sheepishly tried to wipe himself on his sleeve. Back home, he hadn't worried about manners or presentation, but this wasn't back home, and the people here didn't know him as a street urchin.

Speaking of home.

They had a celestial peak to climb.

Lex joined Rayden over by the berries. He wasn't a big fan of berries in general, but he was starting to get hungry - and knew that he needed to eat now if he didn't want to be hungry later. Grabbing a small handful of them from the bush right in front of him, Lex tentatively tried one.

A smile spread across his face.

"These are delicious," he said - eagerly eating a few more. "I wonder if these can grow at home? They would look great outside of the palace..."

It was only after he spoke that he realized he had forgotten to mention that he lived at a palace, but part of him hoped that no one would notice the comment. The word palace made it seem like he lived some rich, opulent lifestyle, but he really didn't. All he did was serve Télos and the End, and hang out with his friends.

...And Aleks.

Who shouldn't have been his own category in Lex's head, but had definitely been becoming one. He told himself that it was because they had gone through that together.

But, deep inside, he knew he was just coming up with excuses.

"The palace?" Kiran inquired, "Are you a member of the nobility?" She then realized that that may not be the best question to ask. If he wasn't, he might be embarrassed to admit it. Then again, if he was a member of the nobility, it might be just as awkward if she'd assumed him to be a servant. Her skin went rosy with sunset shades.

Palace? Helenah turned her head slowly towards Lex's direction. "You live in a palace?" she asked, eagerly shoveling another handful of berries in her mouth. She couldn't be heard though, her voice was muffled since she was eating.

The hunger she had felt before was nothing compared to now. She had just realized how hungry she had become. She hummed as she plucked another juicy berry and popped it in her already-empty mouth. She licked her lips and sighed gratefully.

Ruby poked Helenah's ear with her beak and asked for some berries. She cooped the bird in her hands and gently let it perch on a branch on the berry bush.

At that moment, Dae couldn't care to much about palaces; he had berries on the mind. While his species didn't exactly get hungry, they did get increasingly tired the more they moved about and the less they ate. As it was, Dae had been doing a lot of moving about and not a lot of eating.

Turns out, being a small dragon takes a lot of energy. Who would've thunk it?

His brief time being a bracelet ended as he flew the remaining distance to the berries, changing halfway there into an Eastern dragon. He was still very small - not even a foot long, and the berries rivaled the size of his head - but that didn't seem to matter; he had a look of draconian determination, two little claws, and a bounty of berries to eat.

He caught Dae moving and shifting into a larger form out of the corner of his eye, but he was too occupied with the questions asked to make any comment about it.

"It's complicated," he admitted. A slight blush spread across his cheeks. "I have more say on how the End and the palace are run, but I'm not exactly nobility. I have the say that I do because I'm one of my god's chosen."

He glanced over at Helenah. "And I do live in a palace," he confirmed. "It's really not special - my room just looks like a normal bedroom."

Kiran pulled her hands from her pockets and contemplated the fruit as she responded, "What a 'normal bedroom' is to you may be completely different to what it is to, say, me." If she tried to grab any of them, she'd probably set the whole bunch on fire with her elecricity. "My bedroom, for example, lacks a solid floor." She could ask someone else to hand her some of the food, but that ran the risk of electicuting one of them. "I don't think that's normal to most." It's not like she needed the food, it would just be nice to have. She decided she could go without.

Lex stared at her for a moment before catching himself in the act.

"That is a little different than what I was thinking of," he admitted. "It's normal by the standards of people from my original world. It's not too big but not too small, has a bed, a dresser, and a few little decorations here or there."