The Reborn - Finishing What Was Started IC [M]

[Minkasha]

M for all sorts of adult like buffoonery including but not limited to: grim deceptions of death, sensual encounters of the fourth kind, escapism through moralistic means and exploration of a broken heart.

OOC

Universe I: A Marriage Best Left Undone I & II

Once upon a time you were born for greatness. There was destiny, a greater plot and a role that you fulfilled. The weavers of fate spun you in their webs and gave you hope. But then…there was pause. And it lingered, and all time stilled…the quest ended so quickly…so…incorrectly…so…incomplete.

Eventually, your vision turned white, it burned, you screamed into the dying universe but you were forgotten. Somehow, in some cruel fashion, you were liberated from your webs. Left adrift in the sea of nothingness, its waves going to and fro with the corpses of multiverses unsung and undone.

And the light, all four saw the light singularly. They moved through this journey, their minds able wander when their bodies couldn't. Was this god? Had they died? Put perhaps the most frightening question was: would this ever end? Its length of time was tangible, floating in whiteness that had spanned infinitely but gloriously, it felt like a miracle. But even as pleasant as this stasis was, it began to change.

Slowly, just noticeably in the edges of their vision, did all begin to fade. Dimmer and dimmer became what they had learned to accept in that long but undefined time, their internal sense of passing uncertain. Dimmer and dimmer…shapes were starting to come, walls and figures, though just vague.

But in a sudden burst of reality, the light vanished, leaving them dazed and blinded. For Georgina and Vahşi, a letter had appeared in their hands and there was a compulsion to read it. For Baka and Calamity, their bodies felt the sensation of being on their hands and knees, looking down at letters that appeared on the ground below, they too were forced to heed its call.

Ignoring all around them, and even each other, the words came from paper and into their minds. Before they even begin to ask themselves what its vagueness meant or reread it, the letters faded and left them. A new surrounding now pulled to them.

All four were in the same room, a large foyer made of pure white marble. The entrance spanned two hallways long, joined in the center in the square room they were standing in. The marble floors were decorated with sprinkles of black spots, shining off the light of each chandelier that came one after another down both halls. Between the doors were statues of gold taking the shape of naked fit men or women in display poses, end tables with exotic vases and blooming flowers.

The square room itself vaulted up five stories, the stairs that began near the thick decorative marble archway and double doors. Following the stairs, railed with swirling black gothic designs, it made a zig zag pattern from floor to floor. To look straight up at the crossing stairs, they could see that standing in the right spot formed a sigil of two gold dragons, standing with their backs touching and breathing fire out. Moving slightly, they could see the sigil sparkle, and at the feet of the dragons was a banner with the word ‘Nikas’ on it, the letters elegant cursive that flowed perfectly from each set of stairs it spanned.

Along the northern most wall was another large set of marble doors, two men standing strong in firm, guarding it.

Baka and Calamity, in their submissive pose of hands and knees, were wearing similar cloth garments that could only be described as humbling. Calamity was adorned in a white dress that tied together at her shoulders and held at her waist with a thick yarn, yellow belt with tassels. The purple eyed woman wore simple brown sandals with strings wrapping at her ankles, and her hair was pulled back into a simple ponytail.

Baka, wore what appeared to be a giant piece of cloth with a hole in it and short sleeves for his arms. It was tied to his waist by waist by an identical belt, his feet covered by identical footwear. The garment ended two to three inches above his knees, giving him quite a draft as he was positioned. Within their hands was a large sponge, dripping with water and soap from having just been squeezed. There was gray bucket filled with soapy water between the two of them and lined with dry white cloths lying around its edge.

Georgina however was dressed head to toe in money. Her body was accentuated with a skin tight red dress that that came with built in cups attached to a string tied up behind her neck, pushing up her breasts tremendously. The way of her hair was styled, wavy and vivacious, kept the wound at the side of her neck hidden, through the straps of her dress were pressing into it. Dressed on her wrists were bands of diamonds and a bangle of gold and the black heels with a zipper down the front with straps she could have easily guessed were of some high fashion line. On her shoulder was large black purse she was defiantly sure was expensive. She found herself standing proudly, near the double doors that had the two men standing. The clothing of the two men consisted of very loose robes that folded over on itself stylishly across their chests, white with gold edging. On their hips were holsters with pistols and their faces were stern, perfectly straight at the other set of marble doors.

By those doors was Vahşi, adorned in a robe that did not cover his chest but instead had a bunched tail of red silk flowing down his left shoulder to his hips, more red material tied, holding the robes up right below his pectorals. The rest of the robe was white silk, with well cushioned strappy sandals.

As confused and baffled as the four were, the two guards remained stiff, not even looking at them. Between them all was a strange connection; each could feel the relativity of direction and closeness of the other and with all of them having the front of their right forearms exposed could see what appeared to be a small tattoo of the infinity symbol near their wrists.

There was a click of heels coming from the left hall, and a pouting huff of a higher pitched voice. As the being walked in, the two guards nodded their heads.

"Prigkipissa" The regarded her with great respect.

She was simply stunning. This woman had soft and supple pale skin, lightly blushing cheeks, a soft, small nose and well traced lips, her jaw was soft with a squaring of her chin. The most striking things about here were the crystalline aquatic blue eyes with bold lashes and she had and wispy straight hair that was actually some strangely beautiful fusion of silver with the lightest lavender tint.

The heels clicked louder and Baka saw that they were white with anklet straps, her feet small and toes painted red. He also noticed that she almost stepped on his foot, not even acknowledging his existence. This silver-lavender haired woman was approaching Georgina in a short white night gown embroidered with black lace, the chest was a bit flat, but her figure was short and petite anyways. There was a pain in her gorgeous jewel eyes and she appeared to be on the verge of tears.

“We need to talk about your older brother” She looked over her shoulder at Vahşi before returning her gaze back to Georgina “away from him”.

[The Cockatiel]

Vahşi flinched as the light vanished. He could sense other beings nearby, and could even see one in his peripheral vision, but his focus was compulsively forced onto the letter that had appeared in his hands. The words swirled through his mind like snow in the breeze, but almost before he understood them the letter disappeared. Only a vague, nostalgic sense of longing was left, tempered by pain. In its place were new surroundings, different than the limbo world they'd been briefly trapped inside.

Vahşi's gaze moved quickly around the room as if on instinct. Any fool could have seen that the building was built with absolutely no spared expenses, but Vahşi knew better than most just how expensive everything around him was. The marble floor, frequent chandeliers, golden statues, exotic vases and flowers - all would have been expensive if used to furnish just a single average room. But even the room spoke of spent money, with its high ceilings, decorative stairways, and elaborate sigil.

Despite the expenses given to building and decorating the place, however, it seemed as though money had been saved with personnel. Guards flanked each doorway, true, but other than that there were only three other beings in the place, one of whom was obviously not a servant. Having come to the decision that nobody in the room wanted to kill him yet, Vahşi took the time to admire the woman's clothing and figure.

Within a few moments, however, it came to him that he had no idea what he was wearing himself. It certainly didn't feel familiar; it did, in fact, feel a bit sparse. He glanced down at himself and immediately decided that, although nobody in the room wanted to kill him, he certainly wanted to kill somebody in the room. Although he certainly wouldn't argue about his second chance at life, there was absolutely no way he would keep his mouth shut about this. Unfortunately, nobody around seemed likely to be the mysterious benefactor that had brought him back. The letter, the one had that disappeared, had mentioned its author being in a cage. Besides, even without the letter, it was obvious that the woman by the door didn't exactly know where she was either. Neither of the guards seemed to be at ease, despite their regulation stiffness.

Something clicked on the floor and Vahşi's hand moved to his hip, where he found exactly zero of his weapons. He looked down just briefly enough to confirm that his artificial defenses were gone, noticing a strange tattoo on his wrist as he lifted his gaze to focus on the area where the sound was coming from. It was almost like he could feel other copies of the symbol in the room, three others to be exact, but he didn't pay much attention to that phenomena at the moment. A huffing noise came with the clicking and Vahşi realized the sounds' source was a humanoid just before the woman entered the room.

Vahşi generally wasn't seduced by what some would call 'feminine charms' but he was willing to admit that this woman was more than beautiful. If all freeborn females in this world were like the two he'd seen so far, he wasn't going to object to staying. Even though her hair wasn't particularly a natural colour, and her eyes almost artificially clear and sharp, they tied together beautifully with her complexion and figure. He quickly noted that she seemed distressed about something and was dressed in what looked like nightclothes.

"In case you didn't know, 'him' can hear you," he said to her. Though his voice was refined and he'd obviously had some schooling, there was a gravelly undertone from his years of dealing with the scum of the underworld. "And he wouldn't mind knowing where and when the hell he is, and who with."

[valkoordb]

Baka's vision swam. He was unsure what was going on. He knew instinctively that there was someone beside him, a bit too close for his liking. However he couldn't bring himself to turn. Instead he watched as words on the floor in front of him appeared. The second he had read them, they vanished leaving Baka more than a bit confused. It was then he was able to move and view his surroundings.

As if he wasn't confused enough. He was in a giant room more ornate than he could describe. He looked around at all of the lavish decor. This was far beyond that of his small island home. 'The island! What happened to everyone! Hikari? Taylor? Are they ok? What about Ryuu, Fantome and Lan had gone with him through that door, shouldn't they be here? I have to find them.' He looked around at the people with him, but none of them were familiar.

He looked to his side to see a girl dressed in rags. Then he noticed he himself was in rags. He flushed at the lack of covering they gave his legs, but quickly got over it. He noticed the bucket and sponge in his hand and realized the situation he was in. 'Maybe talking isn't the best thing right now.' He noted the guards as he thought this. Instead he began to wash the floor silently, listening for a hint of information that would help him.

Then he felt it. He hadn't noticed before because of the shock of it all, but there was a weird feeling. It felt like the beat of a drum vibrating him, but without any sound. It was centered on his wrist which he noticed had the infinity symbol on it. He then closed his eyes and focused on the pulses, there were three of them. One pointed to the girl beside him, the other two across the room to the two finely dressed man and woman. He was about to ask the girl beside him a question, but fell silent as the clicking of heals passed by him.

His first impression of the woman who passed was flawless. Then she nearly stepped on his hand. His eyes narrowed and he instantly wrote her off. As she walked to the other side of the room to talk to the other woman who was well dressed Baka turned to the girl beside him. He whispered just to where it would barley be heard, "What's going on?" He turned to her with an honest face. Baka wasn't a good at masking his emotions and his face projected confusion.

[G]

She remembered the pain. The world of confusion, the cries that had echoed around her, that she hadn't realised at first were coming from her own mouth. The feeling... indescribable. Empty. Terrifying.

Then the light had shone forth, and she was driven to her knees. Despite her position of prostration, the feeling of hopeful bliss lingered - then the words of the letter filled her again with uncertainty, before it faded out of view.

The next she knew, Calamity Isis Mae Sensibility was staring down at a floor of sheer white stone, shot through with black, blinking rapidly as her eyes adjusted to the shifting light. The marble was cold, it's chill seeping into her legs through the thin cloth of the unfamiliar dress. Water trickled down her forearms, and she stared blankly at the sodden sponge clutched in her hands before dropping it, her face scrunched in an expression of distaste. Eyeing her soapy hands, she sat up, holding them suspended in the air for a moment before reluctantly using her dress to dry them.

Her gaze moved next to the scruffy-haired youth across from her, his face a picture of confusion as he, like her, absorbed the lavish surroundings. He had been brought here, too, then? He was dressed in similar, strange clothes to her, and also held a soaking sponge. What was the meaning of this?! For a moment, she considered the possibility that this was a punishment, a way for Sensibility to shame her into obedience. But the letter... what had it said? The words drifted teasingly just out of reach of her conscious mind, and the girl sighed, lifting her eyes to further explore the room. It wasn't home, wherever she was, and the guards were unfamiliar. They didn't even look at her, or anyone, in fact... until she entered the room.

A single glance told Cal that she was royalty, or at the very least important; the reaction from the previously poker-faced guards confirmed it. Takes one to know one, she thought, her lips twisting into a rather snobbish pout. Not that you'd know it, to look at me now. She sat up straighter as the woman passed, but the stranger offered her no recognition, or acknowledgement of any kind - she simply swept past, making a beeline for another unfamiliar face; an elegantly dressed woman standing a small distance away. As the silver-haired beauty spoke, a third joined the group, and Cal eyed all three with suspicion. Were one, or all of these people responsible for the situation she found herself in?

"What's going on?" the boy beside her hissed, and Cal met his eyes, her expression resolved.

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out."

With as much grace as she could muster from her current position, and dressed as she was, Calamity rose, stepping toward the three with a haughty expression.

[Azazeal849]

The white light flashed and faded. Gina sucked in an involuntary gasp as she was left blinking blindly in the fractal light of the chandeliers. Her arms wavered in an automatic attempt to steady herself, and there was a papery crackle as her hand tightened on something that had appeared in her fist. She looked down to see a scrap of parchment in her hand, scrawled with writing.

Dear Gina,

I have taken you back. Who am I you must be asking…that is a mystery that even I sometimes ponder upon. But it does not matter WHO I am but rather WHAT I want, dear Gina. And what I want…is….freedom. My power I thought nigh unstoppable. But even I have been cast into a cage. I cry out, I send these letters across all boundaries of existence. You’ve been chosen, given redemption through me. Find me…

The words were dark red, the ink flaky and crusted. Blood, Gina realised, but at that exact moment the parchment turned to smoke in her hands and vanished. Her mind racing, Gina groped for the silver scissors that she had hidden inside her sleeve. They weren’t there, and instead of her cotton uniform blouse she felt bare skin and something metallic. She looked down to see her wrist encircled with a glittering diamond bracelet. Her hand dropped to her stomach as she registered that she was clothed in a skin-tight red dress made of a soft, silky fabric, complete with black heels and an expensive-looking purse that hung lightly from her left shoulder.

It’s another one of Their tricks. she thought, her heart rate spiking with adrenaline, It has to be.

She looked around but her fellow survivors had all disappeared, and she was no longer in the gloomy mansion gardens but in a vaulted hall of white marble, her bewildered face reflected back at her by the golden bodies of statues that ringed the chamber. Her hair had been styled into elegant waves falling over one shoulder, and she could feel the halter neck of her dress pressing uncomfortably against the puncture wounds in the side of her neck. The gauze pad that had been there, like her hidden weapon, had vanished.

Flanking the door behind Gina were two armed men in gold-edged robes, but despite her obvious confusion they remained staring rigidly ahead; a living mirror of the golden statues. The only other people in the hall were a teenaged boy and girl who knelt scrubbing the floor, and a shaggy-haired man standing opposite her. Gina’s attention automatically latched onto the man - he was dressed in an incongruous, almost Grecian-looking toga of red and white silk, but he wore the same disorientated expression as Gina herself.

What…? Gina mouthed at him, something making her reluctant to speak out loud. The man groped for something at his hip, and at the same moment a thought came to Gina. She snapped open her purse, and found a smooth, slim-line mobile sitting on top of an assortment of makeup and manicure items. Fishing it out and fumbling for the single button on its topside, she was rewarded by the flat screen lighting up with the unfamiliar letters Μαιμακτηριών - αʹθ. Below that was the text η:δ. Gina stared helplessly at the Cyrillic script, but then she felt a tingle in her wrist and the letters seemed to dissolve and shift, until they read December 19th, 8:04am.

Gina only had a moment to feel alarm about the date - for her it had been August - before she looked closer at the hand holding the phone and saw that a black figure-8 had somehow tattooed itself onto her wrist. She stared, rubbed the mark with her free hand, and snapped her gaze back up to the shaggy-haired man opposite. He too was looking at his wrist, and what’s more so were the two teenagers on the floor.

Gina was still grappling with this new revelation when a sound of footsteps against marble made everyone turn their heads towards the hallway on Gina’s left.

“Prigkipissa.” the two guards nodded from behind Gina, almost making her jump.

A short but striking woman emerged, dressed only in what looked like a lace-embroidered nightgown and white sandals. Her wispy hair was dyed silver-white, and her beautiful, delicate face was on the verge of tears.

“We need to talk about your older brother.” she said to Gina, before looking over her shoulder at the shaggy-haired man. “Away from him.”

Gina didn’t have an older brother, and she felt her heart rate rising again. She hesitated.

Don’t make yourself a target. Just play along until you can figure out what’s going on.

She opened her mouth to respond, but the shaggy-haired man interrupted her first.

"In case you didn't know, 'him' can hear you." he said to the newcomer. His voice was low and gravelly. "And he wouldn't mind knowing where and when the hell he is, and who with."

Oh bloody hell. Gina thought. Just as the petite woman with the silver hair turned back round, the teenage girl on the floor rose and approached them. Perhaps emboldened by the man’s speech, her strong-featured face was determined.

Later! Gina mouthed hard at both of them behind the silver-haired woman’s back, trying to buy them some time. They still had no idea what was going on here, or how much danger they were in. In an attempt to distract the petite woman, she gently touched her upper arm.

“Ignore him.” she told the woman as levelly as she could. She took a step towards the hallway arch, hoping that the woman the guards had called ‘prigkipissa’ would follow. “What’s happened?”

[Minkasha]

It took Vahşi’s lupine senses a moment to understand the scents around, the body odors of those in the room him coming to him first. The woman in the red dress was just caked with perfumes. Secondly his nose picked up the unpleasant experience of...too clean an unnatural fragrance of pine that was easily identified as artificial by his great sniffer. It was all around, along with the shine everything had, it came with the burden of this off-putting smell. But third was much more pleasurable, now that the woman he had spoken to entered he could take in the flowery imagery her unique, yet somehow natural, scent gave off. It was light and gentle, invigorating like mint and elegant, a field of flowers. But the last thing on her mind looked to be the appreciation of her own charms.

The silverlette faced him now, her eyes rapidly blinking, arch shaped brows raised. No longer could she hold back her tears, his words provoking her off the edge. With a graceful flair did she put a hand up to her heart wounded, narrowing her eyes. On back of appeared a symbol tattooed, much like his own upon the wrist. However, hers took a different shape, a circle with a cross stemming from its bottom. Somehow, everyone knew in the room that the symbol, and thus by extension, the small woman, was important and connected in some way to their current predicament.

In the light of the chandeliers, the crystal tone of her eyes nearly made the sapphire color become neon. Her face flashed with anger before she looked at the woman in the white dress. Gina’s attempts to hold attention failed.

The two guards immediately stepped from their position from the door, taking noticeably good care to avoid both Georgina and the silverette, stepping around them respectfully. But that respect was not given to the teenage girl, one of the men clutching the back of her hair. His fingers dug deeply, sending fire to the tugged strands through the surface of her skull.

“You forget your place!” The man yelled in her young face. His other fist struck into her stomach, the air taken right out of her. Throwing her back down to the ground, she slid a little, her left arm and face being covered in soapy water she had tried to liberate herself from. She could feel it soaking into her flimsy dress. “You are a slave of the emperor, you do not approach the royals unless asked” The man spoke down to the teenage girl cruelly.

Running down the stairs was an older man in his forties, wearing something much like Baka was. His hair was balding, sharp jags in the hairline at each side and his lined face showed hardship. Stepping before Vahşi, he bowed, getting on his knees and bending down at the hip so his face nearly touched the ground, completely submissive before the man.

“Welcome home, how may I be of service?” Entering all their ears were the sobs of the small woman in the nightgown.

“You’re upsetting the Akraiean prigkipissa!” The other elegantly dressed guard hissed to his counterpart. The man, still staring down at Calamity put two fingers up to his ear, to an earpiece.

“I need additional staff…for management” the guard spoke softer, regretfully.

“Is the emperor so cruel!?” Her voice high with emotion, now she shot a glare at Vahşi before running to Georgina. “Why are your brothers so horrible!?” she wailed, running back down the left hallway where she had come from. Even through all the drama, the man at Vahşi’s feet did not move at all, waiting for command.

Baka, had been ignored the entire time, though he was only a foot away from the struck Calamity. The silverette’s scent lingered in the room, even as she was fleeing. But the sense of importance she had for all four of them remained.

[Azazeal849]

Gina couldn't stop her mouth from falling open in shock.

“You are a slave of the emperor, you do not approach the royals unless asked.” the man spoke down to the teenage girl cruelly.

Mortified, Gina took a risk and stepped forward. The guard had, after all, stepped respectfully round her and referred to royals, plural.

"That's enough!" she said, snapping to try and stop her voice from faltering.

The guard froze, stopped and stepped back. "Yes, lady Georgina." he said smartly before rising and taking a step back from the stricken girl.

It was too late for the silver-haired woman though, who had burst into tears.

“Is the emperor so cruel!?” she sobbed, her voice high with emotion. She shot a glare at Vahşi before running to Georgina. “Why are your brothers so horrible!?” she wailed, running back down the left hallway where she had come from.

“You’re upsetting the Akraiean prigkipissa!” the other elegantly dressed guard hissed to his counterpart. The man, still staring down at Calamity, put two fingers up to his ear, to an earpiece.

“I need additional staff…for management.” the guard spoke softer, regretfully.

Gina swallowed, and decided to push her luck further.

"I'll deal with her." she told the guards, pointing at Cal. She coughed to clear her throat before shifting to point at Baka. "Him as well."

She raised her eyebrows at the two, gesturing them up before turning her head to look down the corridor where the 'prigkipessa' had disappeared.

"You'd better come too..." she told the shaggy-haired man, who was still looking down at the older servant prostrated at his feet.

Taking Cal by the wrist, she hurried out of the vaulted chamber as quickly as she dared. As soon as they were out of earshot of the two guards by the door, she paused and rounded on Cal and Baka.

"I don't suppose you know any more about what's going on than I do?" she asked them quietly, hugging her elbows.

[G]

She had barely made it half the short distance to the trio when the guards made their rapid approach, and a hot rush of pain exploded through her scalp. Her head was wrenched backward, and a cry of pain escaped her lips, her eyes a mask of confused terror as she looked up into the livid face of the man who held her.

"You forget your place!" he was screaming at her, calling her 'slave.' Her muscles constricted in protest, and her first instinct would have been to narrow her eyes at him in a poisonous glare - had they not been swimming with painful tears. Then his fist met her stomach, the air driven sharply from her lungs, and she gasped - not enough breath left to scream again.

Thrown bodily to the floor, she remained where she had landed, a crumpled heap on the damp marble. The young princess struggled to catch her breath, not daring even glance back at her assailants. The pampered girl had witnessed more than her share of inflicted pain - but it had always been someone else, the victim. The servant.

Where in the hell where they?

A hand touched her wrist, and Calamity flinched; half-expecting another blow. But none came, and when she looked up, it was at the face of the young woman that with royal airs had approached - putting on some airs of her own, it seemed. But as obvious as it had been to the raven-haired heir to her realm (though whether that still meant anything seemed questionable at this point) that the first woman had been royalty, despite her shaken demeanor, so it seemed the opposite with this woman - though she played the part well enough, it seemed, to get the three of them away from the guards, it seemed just that - a part she was playing.

Her question confirmed it, and Cal just shook her head.

"Clearly, if I had known the delicacy of the situation, I might have approached it... differently. Still, it is them I feel sorry for, really. When my mother finds out about this!" she gestured her pale face, where the hint of a dark bruise was already forming on her left cheekbone, its tones a dimmer reflection of her striking, violet eyes. Her pouting lips were slightly bloodied on the same side. The words were an attempt at a brave face, but Cal had a sinking feeling they were empty; something told her she would not be seeing Sensibility again... the tyrannical woman would never allow someone to call themselves 'Emperor,' under her rule. Wherever they were, it was a long way from home.

[The Cockatiel]

"Wait here for me," Vahşi told the man bowing in front of him, managing to drop his confusion and use an authoritative tone. He had absolutely no idea what was happening but he wasn't intending to let things stay that way. The silver-haired woman, whose flowery scent had whirled through the room, had left in some sort of emotional breakdown. Unfortunate, perhaps, but at the moment he wasn't going to chase after her.

His next words were for the guard who had requested additional staff. "The next time something happens, you will bring the incident to me, and me alone," he said. "Or I will be requesting management for you." It was a gamble, but what or who was Vahşi if not a gambler? Hopefully, if he was lucky, he wouldn't get a knife in the back. He was willing to bet, or guess, that he had some standing, considering the fact that he hadn't been struck for speaking, that the guard had mentioned royals in plural form, and that there had been a man bowing to him.

The guard started to reply but Vahşi held up a hand to stop his words. He crossed the room, keeping a haughty look and stride until he came around the corner. It didn't take long for him to follow the quiet words of conversation and find the three others that his mark had connected him with. Although he had no trouble following them, he did almost run over the young woman who had been struck. He sidestepped, pivoted on the ball of his foot, and stepped back before briefly scanning each of the three with a look. None carried any weapons, and their body language indicated no attack. His clenched muscles relaxed from an active to a dormant state - ready to be called upon at any moment but not visibly ready for attack.

"Do any of you know anything?" he asked. Judging by what already happened, he was more than willing to say the answer was negative, but he asked anyway. The girl who had been struck in the main room seemed to be the only one injured. "Like how we can get out of this ridiculous clothing or where our belongings are?" There were a dozen other questions he wanted to ask, but they could be saved for a later date when anyone actually knew what was going on. However, he had asked the two most important ones. Whatever he was wearing, it was not something he wanted to stay in. However, based on the clothing and architectural styles he'd seen, he didn't think he was going to be able to change anytime soon. Still, he was hoping his things were somewhere. It wasn't like he'd been dropped into a world fully grown but without any belongings.

[Azazeal849]

"Still, it is them I feel sorry for, really. When my mother finds out about this!" she gestured her pale face, where the hint of a dark bruise was already forming on her left cheekbone.

Gina stooped to examine the girl's bruise, thinking back to her first-aider's training and glad to be faced with a problem that she knew how to deal with. Calamity flinched again, as though she might pull away from the older girls' scrutiny, but after a moment's suspicion she stood still, tilting her chin toward the ceiling obstinately.

"Are you from West Hills too?" Gina asked, trying to recall if she had seen Cal's face among the younger students. The girl had very distinctive violet eyes, and her cheek was slowly turning a similar colour. "We'll have to find you some ice for that..."

"It's fine." Cal cut her off, though the gratitude at the first bit of compassion she had received in this place was not entirely hidden by the tone. "It wasn't as bad as it looked." She lifted a hand to gingerly touch the darkening skin, and the involuntary wince that followed betrayed her brave face a little.

"Let's just worry about figuring out where we are... and why I'm being treated like a... like a... slave." The word stuck in her throat a moment, as if difficult to say. And where in Serroc was 'West Hills?'

The three broke off as they heard rapid footsteps behind them. At that moment the shaggy-haired man came running down the hall, almost running into Cal.

"Do any of you know anything?" he asked. "Like how we can get out of this ridiculous clothing or where our belongings are?"

Gina began to shrug apologetically, but then she remembered something.

"No," she said as she snapped open her purse and dug the phone back out from under a palette of eyeshadows and a pair of gold-stamped Gucci sunglasses. "But I might have something that can help us find out..."

Cal's face was pure bewilderment as she looked between the object that the other girl held and her expression of concentration. The object appeared to be a small rectangular box, some unknown light beaming from within it.

"But how will that help us find anything? Is it..." again she paused - another word she seemed to find difficult to say aloud. "Is it magic?"

"Magic?" Gina repeated, nonplussed. Then it occurred to her that the girl might have been concussed by the guard's punch.

"Where are you from?" she asked, hoping that the simple, direct question would allay her worry.

Cal's back straightened as she responded, the gesture unconscious. With a tone of indignation at having to be asked (when was the last time someone had not recognised her? Even dressed as she was - Alexander's rebels had known her as the Princess even in the peasant garb she had been wearing before) and her chin still tilted upward at a proud angle, she said:

"I am from Serroc, of course. Where else would I live, in the woods? The future ruler of Serroc, as a matter of fact."

Though if she'd ever see the place again was something she was starting to question. Would that be so bad? The thought surprised her, and she frowned. She had never wanted to become her mother. Perhaps this was her chance, to be someone else; a possibility that had never occurred to her before. Clearly, her mothers' claim that Serroc was the only civilised place left - the rest of the world a vast expanse of chaotic, Fae-ruled woodland - was untrue.

The girl seemed coherent enough, but Gina could only meet her proud declaration with a blank expression. “I’m afraid I’ve never heard of it.” she admitted.

"I am Calamity Isis Mae Sensibilit.... uh, Cal."

The shaggy-haired man introduced himself as Vahsi, from a place called Merriweather.

Definitely not West Hills students. Well, Gina thought, twisting her mouth, There goes that theory.

Unless these three were also figments of the illusion, something was going on here beyond the ghosts of West Hills. And even Samnite's mirrors weren't this vivid.

"What about you?" Gina asked, turning to the other teenager.

Baka spoke for the first time, still hesitant to speak for some reason out of character, and said: "I'm Baka. From a place called Destiny Islands."

Serroc…Merriweather…Destiny Islands. What is this, Final Fantasy?

Gina looked from one to the other. “I’m Gina.” she said, somewhat lamely. “Er…from Leicester.”

Baka, Cal and Vahsi gave her the same blank look that she had just given them.

Baka merely listened to everyone else speak. Something inside him was telling him to keep his mouth quite for the time being. Though thoroughly confused and desperate for answers, He didn't reply to any of the general statements. I might as well let the situation settle a bit before I get involved. Everyone who knows me knows I tend to cause quite the ruckus.

“And none of you recognise this place?” Gina ventured without optimism. When they all shook their heads, she realised that they were going to have to suss it out for themselves.

She looked back at her phone, swiped the touchscreen experimentally, and was relieved to find that there wasn't a passcode. Perhaps royalty had too much security following them around to have to worry about something as mundane as having their phone stolen. Instead, the screen lit up with a black chevron logo and the text Lambda Industries, followed by a familiar series of app tiles. Gina hovered her thumb over the screen for a moment before starting with the phone's recent texts.

The first to grace her eyes from the electronic screen was from the sender 'Bestie love', the message saying: Hey Gigi, I heard you got to blow Mr. Adonis '12!?!? I'm so jealous!! Pictures?? The second was from an 'Alexandre' promising that they were to meet tonight at 8pm and he was going to bring the 'goods' if she brought the 'fun'. Scanning even faster only blurred her vision with more sleazy texts and nude pictures of fit men. And from what the phone showed, she - or rather 'Gigi' - was an enabler to it all.

"Well, fuck me." Gina murmured quietly to herself. She couldn't deny getting up to some slightly mad shit back when her life had been simple - passing round joints at Katie's house parties, borrowing Izzy's ID to get into Zanzibar and Mosh, and having her dad absolutely lose it with her for stumbling in wasted once too often - but her alter ego seemed to have her beaten hands down.

A quick scan of her emails revealed only purchase confirmations for clothes and accessories, all of them in the triple-digit price range. Her Twitter page on the other hand, under the name of @GelaGoddess, was the most shocking because it was full of pictures - unquestionably of her, but in situations Gina had never been in before in her life. One shot showed her posing in a blue bikini on the deck of a yacht in the middle of some sun-drenched bay, with her arms around two stunningly attractive young men. Another showed her dancing in a classy nightclub, wearing a dress she wouldn't have been able to afford even if she's convinced her mum to combine both her Christmas and birthday presents to pay for it. The crowning jewel though had to be the profile picture at the top of her page: a selfie against a mirror surface, caked in more makeup than she had ever worn and giving her best sexy face. The page revealed her actual name to be Georgina Nikas.

Nikas, Gina thought, suddenly remembering the dragon flags that had been hanging in the central chamber. She glanced back at her phone, and for the first time noticed the comments ranked up below her Twitter photos. There was a jarring mix of praise and slut-shaming distributed through the threads, and a few posts in vitriolic capital letters screaming that her family were all tyrants who the posters hoped would die and rot in the underworld.

Gina felt her cheeks prickling in spite of herself as she held out the phone for her curious fellows to see.

"Apparently that's me." she grimaced as she scanned her Following list, hoping to recognise either the faces of her companions or the mysterious prigkipessa.

"Georgina Nikas?" Cal read the name aloud, wondering briefly where it had appeared from on the small square of light that adorned the box’s front.

“Normally it’s Georgina Wright,” Gina answered, “And I don’t own a boat.”

Still holding the phone out for the others to see, she tapped the small Chrome icon to try and find some recent news. The top hit took her to a website called eKathimerini, which was splashed with alarmist headlines. 'The Divine family in distress! Says Itanos is damned!' 'Gela Empire pushes claim on the Crete!' 'Akrai and Itanos peace treaty over! The royals divorced!'

The latter article was accompanied by a picture of an enraged man, caught in mid yell against the background of a blurred crowd. The man appeared to be in his late thirties, with long sideburns and cold sapphire eyes, but what drew Gina's attention to him was his hair - shining silver with hints of purple, just like the woman who had fled the vaulted chamber. Tapping the headline, Gina discovered that the man was apparently Vangelis the Great of the divine family Lambros, patrician of somewhere called Akrai. Judging by the text of the article, there seemed to have been some sort of fiasco between Vangelis' relative Panos Lambros and a man called Nero Drusus, who had somehow shamed Panos on several occasions. This so-called sacrilege against Panos, and by extension the holy Lambros family, had caused those faithful to Vangelis to condemn Nero's home nation - another city-state named Itanos. Something called the Gela empire was taking advantage of the discord.

"Gela..." Gina murmured, thinking back to her alter-ego's Twitter profile. Gela Goddess.

Lambros, Akrai, Gela and the rest were words that meant precious little to Gina. Wherever she was, for all its similarities, it clearly was not the world she had just left. Wikipedia, thankfully, still existed, and she was able to look up the Lambros family - from a quick skim of the page, she learned that the Lambros family were said to be descendants of the ancient Greek god Dionysus; throughout history, their bloodline had always had the silvery-purple hair that Gina had taken to be hair dye, supposedly evidence of their divine blood. They had many followers, and those who took Dionysus as their patron god by extension took the Lambros family in the highest regard. In general it appeared that their divinity wasn't even questioned, though scientists who had wished to study their blood had apparently been denied on multiple occasions. The Lambros family tree was minimal, even though the small graphic that represented it seemed to go back for hundreds of years. It didn't spread out, only grew down; it seemed that whenever a generation of the Lambros had multiple children, only one was recorded as carrying on the bloodline.

The family ruled the city-state of Akrai in what the map told Gina was modern Greece. By all accounts the city was small and peaceful, and renowned worldwide for something called 'Lambros wine' - the highest selling wine in the world.

Still trying to make sense of it all, Gina punched her alter-ego's name into the search bar on a whim. Searching Georgina Nikas pulled up an entire page dedicated to her, which was an odd feeling even though the page was comparatively small. It was topped with another picture of Georgina that she had never taken, this time all dolled up in a sparkling ball gown. The text of her page focused mostly on her being the daughter of Atreo Nikas and Chloe Nikas, and the middle sister to Lycus and...Vahsi.

"There you are." Gina said, pointing. "Looks like we're brother and sister. Here at least..."

The page went on to say that Gina's parents had been the former rulers of the Gela city-state. Former, because her older brother Lycus had murdered them and taken the throne for himself. That was a year ago and, apparently, the murder was openly known. The fact had not removed Lycus from his seat.

"Fuck me." Gina breathed a second time. If that was the brother that the prigkipessa had been talking about, then no wonder she had been upset. Whatever place they had landed in, it was clearly in crisis. She exhaled slowly, and turned to the others. "Okay, I'm going to try and find the girl. She obviously wanted to talk to me about something."

Baka looked at the phone briefly before turning away. The information on it didn't really help with his confused state. However a very loud grumble from his stomach, which drew some looks from the others, reminded him of something.

"So does anyone have any food? I've not eaten anything except a paopu fruit in the past two days."

Gina blinked at the unexpected tangent, then twisted her mouth sympathetically, having spent the last few days surviving on stolen food to avoid the drugs that had been lacing their school meals.

"Not on me, sorry. But if we're supposed to be royals I'm sure we can get hold of some." She gathered her immaculately waved hair over one shoulder, thinking. "Vahsi, that other girl didn't seem to want to talk to me with you there - maybe you could find some food while I try and ask her what's going on? Try and make it something you've prepared yourself."

Just in case. she thought. Paranoia died hard when she wasn't even sure where she was.

Cal's stomach growled at the mention of food, the desire to eat distracting her from the unfairness of the situation. They had been plucked from their lives and into new ones, and the girl who was taking the lead seemed to be royalty. She, on the other hand, was a slave. The teen didn't quite understand how Gina had discovered all this from the small box in her hand, but she seemed to trust the information she gleaned from it. Having no other source of knowledge on hand, Cal would have to trust it too. Besides, she couldn't think of a better course of action than the one Gina had suggested.

“What about Baka and I?” she asked, “If we're…” Her nose wrinkled as she voiced the next word, as if it came with a bad smell, “…slaves, we should appear to be so. I have no desire to add to this.”

She gestured her cheek, which had grown darker now; the skin slightly puffy where it had swelled to protect her eye.

"One of us should go with each of you. I don't think we should all separate."

Gina nodded. “I think you’re right. How about you stick with me so we can keep an eye on that bruise, and Vahsi and Baka can get food.”

It occurred to her that they could use a method of keeping in contact – assuming that phones were a thing in Serroc, Merriweather and Destiny Island. The way the other three had been looking at hers suggested that they weren’t. Gina glanced at Vahsi, tilting her smartphone towards him. “Do you have a phone on you? One of these?”

The man shook his head. Gina bit the side of her tongue. “Okay, so much for that idea. Alright then, we’ll meet up back here in half an hour. Okay? Cool.”

She exchanged nods with the others, and took off uncertainly down the marble hallway to look for the prigkipessa.