Young Writers Society

Gisenna had lurked in the shadows for some time, trying to discern what was going on. Most of the people in the room before her seemed to understand one another, but to her, the language they spoke was foreign and strange. The closest language she knew of in Eora to this was Hylspeak, but the architecture did not look like anything she had seen before.

She was planning on charming one of them, when suddenly a mechanical voice rang through the room.
" Univeral Language System activated. Apologies for any inconveniences caused by the delayed activation." the voice reverberated. " Drinks and refreshments stations will become available shortly."

"Well. That was something I have not experienced before, and I've had a debate with an intelligent fungus." Gisenna said, walking from the shadows to reveal herself to the gathered people, rapier and dagger still in hand.

Télos didn't know enough about Earth to know if the newest person's appearance was considering normal, but he decided he was just going to ignore said appearance until someone else - someone who seemed normal by what he already knew about Earth - reacted.

"My name is Télos," he offered. "God-"

He froze.

Maybe it wasn't a good idea to say that part of his usual introduction. They only had the one god, right? Or they had other gods, too, but they mainly talked about the one? Télos really wished one of the chosen were here. He could really use the hints on how he was supposed to act if he was pretending he was from Earth.

Télos awkwardly leaned against the door frame he had tripped through, shoulder pressing against the wood.

"God," he repeated, remembering an expression he had seen and heard used before. "I, uh, can't believe I'm here! I don't know where here is, but I was trying to go into the cafeteria."

He glanced over at the choke hold player and faltered.

"...I was spying," he admitted. Even though she had said it quietly, he had still picked up the last part of what she had said. "I was going to come out, but then I saw you giving her a choke hold and..."

Télos faltered.

"...I thought it would be better to wait before coming out," he said, gaze dropping down to the ground. He knew how bad it sounded between not helping the person getting choked and spying in the first place. But he didn't know where he was, what was going on, or how he was supposed to interact with Earth people, so he thought he might have been a little justified in how he reacted.

Bo stepped into the main room and could already sense the potential chaos unfolding. The shadowy woman had stepped out of the shadows, only looking more mysterious, and some translation protocol or whatever had to kick in just for her, which probably meant there were a lot of different walks of life represented in this room.

He came just in time to witness the awkwardness of a woman releasing another from a chokehold and the guy who fell on his face defending himself after being accused of being suspicious. Or something like that. Bo didn't have the full story. He just got here, but it seemed like everyone else did too.

He walked up to the previously fallen guy's side and waved to the two women on the other side of the room.

"Looks like we all stumbled into this place without meaning to, and it looks like we're all from very different places, but I'm sure we'll be able to figure all of this out."

He smiled and rested his hands in his pockets as he looked around at everyone. "Why don't we start by introducing ourselves? My name's Bo. Nice to meet you guys, even though it's also very freaky and weird how we got here! But that's neither here nor there. Anyways. Who are all of you?"

The man who approached seemed overly cheery, considering the situation they had. all found themselves in, but Amy tried not to worry too much about it now. Her head was clearing now, and she thought about how strange this all really was.

"I'm Amy, she said, a little intimidated by how tall he was, but somehow, he was less scary than the girl that had tried to choke her. "Nice to meet you."

The rest seemed to be introducing themselves, and the chokehold situation was resolving, so Gisenna sheathed her weapons as well.

"Captain Gisenna ze Disteriu. Captain of the Death's Herald, fourth seat of the Consuagla da Principi, and so bloody confused as to where in Hel I am." Her voiced rang proudly. She omitted several of her epitaphs from her past, as many of them weren't even true.

Walking over to the person who had been in a chokehold, she extended a gloved hand. "Nice to meet you too." Sensing a possible reaction at her appearance, she added. "Don't worry. It's not contagious. Just a harsh joke caused by a god."

This was the strangest group of people Evaline has ever seen, and she thought she had seen her fair share weird already in her life.

First there was Télos, who seemed... off. Awkward? Like he was trying to read off a script? She didn't know how to describe it, but she didn't trust him.

Then there was Bo. He was a tall, large man who looked like he survived a war, but he acted so nonchalant and unconcerned about the situation. She didn't trust him either.

Next, Amy. The woman she had approached earlier. She told her to trust her, but for no reason. So Evaline didn't trust her either.

Finally, this Captain Gisenna ze Disteri-what? She was covered is what looked like bruises that never healed, and she said so many words that Evaline didn't understand. Not to be trusted.

So Evaline didn't trust anyone. But somehow, even with a long pause and a dart of the eyes between the four of them, she didn't stop the next words coming out of her mouth: "I'm Evaline."

She quickly looked off to the big room nearby, trying to avoid dreaded small talk that was already happening. "I don't know who you all are or what brought us here, but there ought to be a way out of this place. Maybe in that room over there."

Télos froze at Gisenna's comment.

Whatever had happened to her face had been caused by a god? He paled at the realization. He hadn't realized Earth gods were so vengeful, but apparently they were cruel to players. Why hadn't anyone ever thought of telling him that before?

He definitely couldn't say who he was now. That would be bad. Sure, he could make a sword and armor. Sure, he knew how to fight. But he didn't want to fight, especially when he was sure that Evaline, Gisenna and Bo were all pretty skilled. Evaline had put Amy in a choke hold, Gisenna was a captain, and Bo had a serious height and muscle advantage.

(Which was something Télos could probably match, too, but it had been a long time since he had made himself as big as Bo. He'd be a mess if he tried fighting like that.)

"I'm Télos," he repeated. "I know that I already introduced myself, but I wasn't sure if everyone had heard me earlier, so..."

He faltered, glancing off into the room that Evaline was looking at.

"I'm not anything special," Télos said, voice high in a way that very much showed he was and was doing a terrible job of lying about it - not that he realized it. "But, uh, going into the room sounds good! Maybe it has some food - I'm starving. I was going to get some pumpkin pie earlier, but I ended up here before I could get it."

As if to prove his point, his stomach growled.

Bo patted Telos on the shoulder. "We'll see if we can find you some food." Food that was trustworthy. He wasn't sure if he trusted this place, yet. But everyone in the room seemed okay. He didn't have reason to believe any of them were behind this, and if they were all in the same boat, even if they all had very different personalities then he was willing to give them all the benefit of the doubt for now. It seemed safe to assume that they all just wanted to get home and find a way back. For the time being, anyway.

Now, could he tell that Telos was hiding something? Oh, it was painfull obvious. And Evaline? She seemed pretty cold and closed off. But that was fair, given the situation, and she probably had her reasons. Gisenna? He had no idea what to think about her, but apparently, she was cursed, and the captain of some kind of ship. Amy though, she felt more familiar, not that he could put his finger on it. She seemed like she would be from earth. His version of normal.

"The room sounds like a good idea, Evaline. Let's follow your lead," he said, nodding to her to go ahead.

Evaline shifted eyes at Bo, internally sighing because he just placed her as the assumed leader. She was hoping that by placing attention to the big room, everyone would explore the place while she went off to examine the other doors by herself. She could still do that, but...

Ugh, fine. She turned and headed towards the room, not particularly waiting or beckoning for the others to follow.

She stopped in the middle of the room, looking around. It was like she was in a greenhouse with vines covered all over the walls. It was warm, stuffy, and humid, and the warm lights hung on the ceiling, radiating more heat. It was a bit uncomfortable, but also strangely revitalizing with all the healthy diverse plants around them. Several narrow hallways led into the room, but it was too dark to see what was in there. Tables and chairs sprawled across the room, but it appeared to be empty... except for the random mechanical metal people walking around.

One sneaked up on Evaline holding what appeared to be a bunch of menus, and Evaline was caught so off guard that she instinctively roundhouse kicked it away when she felt it brush past her.

"What is that?!" she said with a shriek, stepping back and staring at the metal automaton in disbelief. She had never seen anything like that before, and although it had some human qualities, it definitely wasn't sentient.

Gisenna witnessed the kick with a mixture of humour and approval. Of course, she had some notes for improvement, but decided to keep those to herself for now.

"I believe these are constructs of some sort." She said, watching another one come across the room to help up its comrade. "Although, these look much less bulky and less prepared to kill than other constructs I've seen."

One of them handed her a paper-like thing, which had a list of beverages (most of which she'd never even heard of) and dishes available. Looking over it only for a moment, she ordered a whole bottle of Vrer Chiora and a plate that just said "Chef's special".

Leaning back against one of the tables, she observed her strange companions again. The one who called himself Telos seemed... off. Like he was not only pretending to be something or someone else, but for some reason thought that the rest of them were also doing the same. Gisenna made a mental note to keep a close eye on him as she adjusted her rapier and dagger to sit more loosely on her sides.

She was about to start her subtle questioning of him, when a construct returned with her order. Pouring a glass of Vrer Chiora, she said: "Well, even if this is a mind prison of a madman or the games of a god, they do know how to make a woman feel at home."

Télos had also never seen the...constructs? before, but he knew what they were. He also knew that players would probably know what they were, too, since it was Lex who had mentioned them to him before. They had been talking while watching some players from a distance. One of that had looked a lot like what was in front of them now: players made of metal instead of flesh and bone. They definitely creeped him out about, but at least he finally knew something he was supposed to know.

"Those are robots," he said, feeling far more prideful than he probably should have been. He tried to remember what Lex had said about them, but the memory was a bit foggy right now. He hadn't paying as much attention as he should have been then. "They do what they're told to."

Télos glanced down as one of them gave him a menu.

"...Which I guess is to serve us?" he hesitantly added. There were multiple things he had never heard of before on the menu - What was a Vrer Chiora? Or a Merlot? Or a wine? - but he thankfully was able to find something he quickly recognized.

He turned to the robot that had handed him a menu, not quite sure how he was supposed to talk to a robot. You were supposed to be polite to them, right? "Can I please have a slice of pumpkin pie and a glass of milk?"

He wasn't entirely sure the robot got it, but it turned away like it did. Télos was going to consider that a success. Just as he was feeling even more proud of himself for successfully interacting with said robot, Gisenna's last comment finally registered.

Télos froze in the middle of pulling out a chair to sit down in.

Games of a god? This really wasn't going to end well. Télos had been worried because he wasn't from Earth, but he was starting to think that there was a much bigger potential offense he could cause.

He quickly sat down in the chair and hid his face behind the menu - which the robot thankfully hadn't taken away from him. "Is there any difference?" he said, giving a nervous laugh. "Between, er, madmen and gods?"

The greenhouse apparently doubled as a restaurant, and the menus were served to them by robots that seemed like something out of the Jetsons. Even if it was weird, Amy thought it was kind of cool.

Even if she was still kind of freaked out by how she ended up here, they could figure that out after they ate. Besides, the menus themselves were normal. Maybe this was a new restaurant she somehow ended up in. But that still didn't explain why she'd woken up in the ice cream shop, or the hallway, or the strange people that seemed just as confused.

Amy ordered a burger and fries, and then, she looked at the drink menu. As much she knew she should have ordered soda---

"Heineken, please."

The beer would dull her feelings. And besides, with food, it wouldn't be that bad.

Huh. So they were in some kind of restaurant with robots to serve them. This... well at least this was nicer than some of the other things he'd been thrown into. It definitely beat being turned into a ghost or ending up on a creepy cruise ship. At least, so far.

Still... he kind of just wanted to go home. But he could wait it out. It had been a long day at work, and well, he was hungry. Getting something to eat would be nice. And he couldn't complain about the venue. Being surrounded by plants in a greenhouse was a cool aesthetic for a restaurant.

He pulled up a chair at the same table as Amy and picked up a menu. It had a really wide range of foods and drinks available. Kind of reminded him of Cheescake Factory. He hoped it wasn't as expensive as the Cheesecake Factory, though.

Speaking of, he didn't know how the others would be paying. It would be rude not to, even if this was a weird where-the-heck-am-i situation. He patted his side pocket, thinking about how much was in his wallet. What kind of money did they take here? Cash or card?

He guessed he'd find out when they got the bill.

"I'll have the orange curry, please," he said to the robot server. "Extra rice, and a side of pita bread. And just water for now, thank you."

The robot just kind of did a little confirming beep before hurrying off behind a counter that looked like it led back into the kitchen. Which begged the question: were there robot cooks?

That wasn't that important though.

"Hmm," he hummed in response to Telos's [admittedly very odd] question. "Some gods can be madmen, and some madmen are not gods. Things aren't that cut and dry."

Then he turned to Evaline, who still looked a little shaken up.

"Do you want to sit with us?" he asked. "You don't have to eat if you don't want to."

Was no one else horrified of the thought that there were metal people walking around? While everyone else was ordering food (or at least, Evaline assumed it was food; she had no idea what some of these items were), Evaline stood there still staring at the metal "robot" as it lifelessly stood back up and returned to work.

So strange... but also, they could be really useful... Hmmm...

The others had seated themselves around a table as if they were all best friends gathering for lunch, and Bo extended the invitation out to her.

The situation was so bizarre, she wanted to laugh. She couldn't remember how long it has been since she met someone she didn't personally know, never mind sit down and eat with them like all was right in the world. Admittedly, she was intrigued by the whole thing, but part of her was convinced that this was all a set-up or trap.

So why was she walking over to the table?

She hesitated in front of the chair before finally deciding to gingerly sit down, a frown never leaving her face. Maybe... she could use the people here to find a way out of this place. Or be one step ahead of them. Somehow. She didn't really know what she was doing at this point.

A robot walked over to her with a menu, but Evaline didn't want it. At first she ignored it, but it wouldn't go away, and it was making her so anxious. She swatted the menu away, careful to touch as little of it as possible. The menu fell to the floor but the robot still stayed there, giving her a lifeless look.

And Evaline stared back, trying to hide the panic she was feeling. What was it waiting for? Why was it staring at her?!? GAAAAAH GO AWAY

"I..." she said, but her voice cracked a little. "I won't have anything."

And then the robot turned and walked away.

She sat back on her chair with a wave of relief washing over her, but then she stood up straight and turned her attention back to the others as other robots arrived to deliver some of the orders.

Even though he knew Evaline already didn't like him and was probably avoiding the menu for a reason, Télos went to get her menu off of the ground. He tucked it behind his and thought about what Bo had said. He couldn't help but give a tiny sigh of relief as he hid his face back behind the two menus. At least one person here didn't think gods were the reason they were here - and didn't hate gods, either.

Right after the sigh left his lips, a robot returned with his pumpkin pie and milk in hand.

"Thank you-" Télos started, but was cut off by the robot taking the two menus and turning around. He froze in his chair. He felt weirdly exposed now that he had lost the safety of the menus.

After a moment of hesitation, he took a bite out of the pumpkin pie.

He let out a content sigh.

"This tastes delicious," he said, grinning. He took a big gulp of his milk before eagerly digging into the rest of his pumpkin pie.