Young Writers Society

Loki knew throwing a stick at the harpy was a bad idea, but he decided it was best not to say anything about it right now. He was more concerned about the boy that suddenly showed up out of nowhere and how angry the harpy sounded. There was also the snake that was way too comfortable sitting on his shoulder.

"There's always a way," Loki said, rushing after the guy he still didn't know the name. He didn't know why he was so certain of that, but whoever he was when he had his memories seemed pretty certain of that fact. He absentmindedly reached a hand up for his locket. He ran his fingers over a tiny symbol he had been too distracted to notice. Finding ways in and out of places he wasn't supposed to be felt like it was just right for him. Like his entire life was built around it.

Poised to pounce, Tarkin paused as voices came within earshot. Were there....humans here? Other humans? He didn't come out of the hunting crouch, but he listened carefully. He understood the language they were speaking...Basic, whispered some distant memory. Men and a woman, from the sound of it. Were they running from the bird?
How big was this thing that a group of humans felt the need to flee?

Tarkin crept forward through the underbrush, resolving to follow the group and observe from out of sight for now. If he joined them outright they would likely slow him down, but perhaps they had shelter that he could take advantage of.

Bobby followed closely behind Queenie as she stayed loosely with the group. The kid looked bad. Like they hadn't eaten in weeks, or brushed their hair properly, or even gotten a proper change of clothes. It was just layer upon layer of donation-bin garbage, all patched up and dirty.

Queenie turned her attention from that depressing sight to the group at large. Neither of the other people she was with dressed like they'd ever have to worry about missing a meal, or a banquet, for that matter, back wherever they were from. They held themselves with a grace to match.

Queenie herself wondered, absently, if whatever past she was forgetting involved the riches she predicted these two enjoyed.

Moving alongside the group at an even pace and remaining out of sight, Tarkin sized up each individual carefully.
The first in the group was a dark young man with a haggard look in his eyes. It was evident from the tattered clothes that he had been here quite a long time.

The second was another young man, probably around Tarkin's age. He was dressed sharply, though the style was unlike anything Tarkin could recall seeing. There was simultaneously roguish and elegant air about him, likely due to the combination of the outfit and the jaunty stubble.

The third and fourth members of the party puzzled Tarkin nearly as much as the second man's clothes did. They didn't look as if they belonged together at all, yet they stuck close. The young teenager, timid and withdrawn, looked as if they'd been yanked off the backstreets of Coruscant (where was that again?), but the girl looked to be of middle class, perhaps even upper-middle. Neither of them wore clothes that were recognizable to Tarkin.

All in all, the little group appeared to be unarmed, inexperienced, and as lost as Tarkin was. The snappily dressed fellow certainly had no place here.
Their motley look suggested that they, too, had arrived here impromptu. The fact that they were lost could prove advantageous to Tarkin, perhaps. He could act as a guide, being knowledgeable of forest survival in general, and in return they could provide him with a pack. Safety in numbers was one of the first rules his granduncle had taught him.

Making up his mind, Tarkin straightened from his low crouch and stepped out in front of the group.
"Pardon me," he said with a polite (if a bit wan) smile. "You seem a little lost."

Loki jumped as the other man suddenly appeared.

The snake, seemingly just as surprised as Loki was, immediately burrowed underneath Loki's shirt with a startled hiss. Maybe he should have been more concerned about a snake sitting on his shoulder underneath his shirt, but Loki weirdly wasn't that scared. When he thought about it, the snake had barely crossed his mind when he thought of how dangerous the First Jungle was.

He had thought it might be poisonous, but it hadn't bit him. It hadn't lunged at him. It hadn't even tried going for anyone else. It had just stayed with him. He could have guessed it was some kind of pet, but their connection felt different.

Like they were...friends?

Loki furrowed his brow in confusion.

"We are," he confirmed. The man looked like he was more prepared for this place than Loki was, but he was also pretty sure that everyone here was in the same situation as he was: they had lost their memories and only knew their names.

As he spoke, he absentmindedly reached a hand up and gave the snake a little pat on the head with his fingertip when it popped out from underneath his shirt. It just felt right.

"May I offer my assistance? I'm afraid I haven't been here very long, but I've navigated a fair portion of the area already. If you're trying to get somewhere I may be able to help." Tarkin approached the man who had spoken, offering him a mostly clean hand. "To whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?"

Loki felt like the guy he had run into first was a better group leader, but he also didn't want to be rude and not shake the man's hand. He stopped giving the snake little head pats and reached out a hand of his own. It wasn't dirty in the slightest, but he didn't mind messy things. He felt like he hadn't always been in the cleanest of places.

He shook the man's hand.

"I'm Loki," he said. "Loki A. Lias. And, er, I wouldn't mind the help. But I'm not really the group leader, so you'll want to check with everyone else, too."

"I mean, what do we even define as 'group leader'?" wondered Amoku, "If you guys are talking about me, I would say I'm more like the 'travel guide'."

Amoku then turned around and toppled over.

As he tried to get up, Amoku found he was stuck-- stuck on something on the ground. Glancing back, he found his foot was stuck on some kind of shrub.

"Oops."

On second thought, perhaps they would make better bait.
"May I ask what you were running from?" Tarkin asked patiently. It seemed to have fallen behind by now, but he wanted to be prepared for when it eventually caught up.

Queenie leaned against a nearby tree and watched the newcomer with an assessing eye. Bobby was hovering around Queenie as usual, but occasionally he'd move a little closer to the stranger.

Every time Bobby so much as shifted and inch nearer the stranger, the hairs on the back of Queenie's neck rose. She imagined snapping his neck should he so much as glance at Bobby.

"There's a harpy," Loki said, giving a quick glance over his shoulder. "She was already mad at us, but then..."

He looked over at the man he had run into first. He still didn't know his name.

"...our...guide?...threw a stick at the harpy."

Catching a glimpse of movement out of the corner of his eyes, Loki turned again. The boy that had appeared just before they went running off into the woods again was slowly inching towards the newest member of their group. Loki tried to think about why he would get so close to a stranger, but he kept pulling a blank.

Ari was lost. Or perhaps not; could one be lost if they had nowhere to go? One place was as good as the other, Ari supposed. She continued trudging through the jungle, random thoughts flitting through her head.

A few days ago she had awoken in this endless landscape of green. A brilliant white duck had greeted her and told her about the First Jungle and the "Master" who wanted to "spice things up." Personally Ari didn't like the sound of that; it sounded dangerous, and besides, she always drank her soup plain. (She had wondered briefly how she knew about soup, but then dismissed the thought for more urgent matters. For one, what to do about the duck.)

The duck was rather small, and cute in an i'm-fuzzy-but-don't-touch-me kind of way. Ari had always wanted a pet (even a mysterious talking one), so she conjured up a tomato as an offering of goodwill. The plump red fruit shined in the sunlight. But to Ari's dismay, the duck had simply waddled away and disappeared into the greenery. Perhaps it sensed her intentions and decided (rather correctly) that being Ari's pet would not be a good thing.

Anyways, Ari had wandered the jungle alone for next few days. She was able to conjure up tomatoes, so she didn't starve, but somehow Ari was aware that there were tastier foods in the world. But she couldn't be sure which world. Not here, that was for sure.

Something strange happened on her fifth day of wandering, though. Ari was siting in a tree with thick foliage when she heard... voices. Voices and footsteps, heading her way. She concealed herself within the leaves and watched as a group of people had a tense conversation. Ari nearly gave herself away when one person toppled over a shrub on the ground, but she managed to choke down her giggles. Ah, she missed talking to other humans.

With that in mind, Ari climbed down the tree and introduced herself to the group. "Hello fine people, I am Arilee-- Ari for short. Would any of you like a tomato?" She held out a perfectly ripe tomato on her open palm. "It's not poisonous, I promise!"

Tarkin had been about to ask what in Force's name a harpy was, but at that moment a girl appeared out of practically nowhere, offering a "tomato." There was flora here he had never seen before, and he'd spotted what she called a tomato more than a few times, but in his experience eating bright red fruits was less than wise.
"I beg your pardon," he said with a tight smile. "How do you intend to back up such a claim, miss?"

Bobby glanced between the two newcomers and the bright red fruit resting in one of their hands. He recognized it, somehow. And he was hungry.

"I'll take it," he said meekly.

Ari smiled and handed Bobby a tomato, then conjured one up for herself. After taking a bite, she asked, "So, what's all this I hear about a harpy?"