Beyond the Second World: The first Gate [M] (VaidiaxKoti~) (IC)

[Koti~]

'Did I… what happened?’ The thoughts ran though Sasha's head, sore muscles protesting her body. She shifted her body, trying to understand why her body was so sore. Underneath her sand shifted, grains rolling along her skin. Sounds returned shortly after, the gentle wash of the ocean mixing with a wind whispering through her ears. Opening her eyes she was greeted by the brilliant sun, flooding her eyes like the first light. Sasha had to shut them quick, her head pounding painfully through her entire body. A groan escaped as her body made her prominently aware of how sore she felt.

After another few minutes of lying on a supposed beach, she sat up. A groan passed through her body as she rolled upright, shielding her eyes to look around. Before her stretched the most beautiful ocean she had seen. Crystal clear waves spanned leagues in front of her, shimmering like diamonds under the sun. If not for the pounding of her head, this would be the best inspiration for art ever. Despite the pain she reached for her bag, though her hand grabbed air. Finally taking a moment to steady herself, she saw that something was different.

Her outfit had been changed to a simple white shirt and skirt, a pair of plain boots now adorned her feet.

“This wasn't what I was wearing today?” Sasha questioned herself as she tried to recall why she was wearing different clothes and her bag was missing. Pain flashed through her mind as she looked down at her hands, remembering them soaked red, feeling pain and warmth radiating from the side of her stomach. Fearful of what had happened, she pulled her shirt up, only to see smooth skin. She could still remember vividly, the building collapsing around them, the Earth shuddering beneath her feet as an earthquake racked the building. The steel beam breaking off from the ceiling, as her life flashed through her eyes as a steel pipe speared-!

“Am I in heaven then?” Sasha questioned as she stood up, stiff joints popping as she stood and looked around. Taking her eyes off the ocean she turned around, looking into a forest of palm trees, the woods dense and cooling. She began walking, figuring that the best idea would be to head towards the sturdier ground, the gentle breeze playing with her hair.

“So, you woke up here as well?” A voice caught her by surprise. She turned around, spying the man moving towards her.

“Who are you?”

=======
Matthew
=======

“Oh God's it hurts.” Matt groaned as pain pulsed through him, radiating from his shoulder down. His body protested movement as he began to move his fingers, trying to understand what was going on. Sand greeted him, warm and comforting to his touch. He dug into it, feeling grains pass through it, some getting stuck under his fingernails. As warmth awoken through his hand, smell soon joined him. The wind carried the scent of salt and sand, fresh dirt joining that scent in undertones. Crashing waves assaulted his senses next, the push and pull of water a soothing rhythm.

“Why am I on a beach?” Matt had to question himself, sitting up with some pain as all his joints burned from movement. His hand instantly went to his shoulder, rubbing it slowly as he finally opened his eyes, only to be met by burning sand. The sun lit up the sand on the beach, turning it a glossy white in contrast to the ocean. It looked like paradise as he moved to stand, seeing that his normal jean shorts had been replaced by cotton white shorts and a simple white Tee. This he knew was wrong, as he had been wearing something different entirely.

Pain lanced through his head, remembering the vibrations passing through the building, the earthquake shaking the building apart. It had hit without warning, and ripped the building in half. He had jumped to push a woman to the side, yet he was caught when the building split. He dropped into a free fall, the Earth having opened up to swallow him whole. He didn't know how far he fell, but hitting the ground had only flooded his entire body with pain.

“So I died. If this is heaven, then it kinda bites.” Matt spoke as he rolled his shoulder, wincing in pain. Pulling his eyes from the calm ocean, he looked upon the dense forest of palm trees. Now the dirt smell was understood, he moved towards it. If he wanted to really see if he was in heaven, he would need to see if there was anyone else around. Taking one last look at the ocean, he turned around to see a woman just inside the grass line. She wore a similar outfit to his, her hair a mix of pink and black. Finally someone else here.

“So, you woke up here as well?” He asked, not normally one to approach others, but this situation was not normal itself.

“Who are you?” Sasha questioned him, giving him a sigh.

“Names Matt. Anyone else wash up on shore?” He questioned her, looking back at the beach. Seeing as he didn't see the woman until he hit the grass, it would make sense that they wouldn't see anyone else until they reached the grass as well.

“Not sure.. do you know where we are?” Sasha asked Matt looking back over the beach as well.

[Vaidia]

[Atara]

I guess this is what I get for trying to be the hero…

She had been shot once before, in the arm. When she was just ten, and when some older kid was trash talking her mother. As that was completely out of line, Atara thought to teach the kid a lesson, not realizing he had a gun. Then, she was just glanced by the bullet. It hurt like a bugger, but she still managed to pound the kids face in. Most people underestimated her as a child before it was too late, and they were out a set of teeth. But this time…

The heist had gone terribly wrong, and it was her fault. Serving as a lookout, one of the rival gang members met with her fists, and confessed that the whole thing was a set up to “take care” of her gang. Having no other choice, she did one of the few sensible things she had ever thought to do, and called the police. The whole thing turned into a stand off between the three groups and then…

Atara sat up with a ground. Below her was not the pavement from before. Above her was not any form of crushing concrete. Around her was a place she’d only seen in commercials in the odd cafe she crashed when she had enough money to splurge, or in the odd magazine that she used more often as a flyswatter than reading material. It was… beautiful. So much that she thought to not be angry for a moment.

A moment that did not last long. “The fuck…” she mumbled, slowly pushing herself up. She took quick note that she no longer wore her signature attire, but some entirely plain combination of pants and shirt, like some hospital patient. Perhaps that was were this was. Some new age resort for emotional and physical fuck ups, and her ticket in was...

Atarah could feel her hand pressing into the ground… sand… of the beach. Feel the grains bury themselves to join the other collected dirt beneath her fingernails. This couldn’t be a dream. She didn’t have a big enough imagination to come up with this. Testingly, she grabbed and handful of sand, and threw it up in the air-- only to have it be blown back into her face by the wind.

“The fuuuuuck.” She groaned again, brushing as much of the sand as could out of her face and hair, eyes watering. That was not exactly a brilliant plan. She normally didn’t make the schemes she just… that’s right. Before coming, someone (the police, the rival gang, her own people-- she wasn’t sure who) had shot her, in a far more fatal spot than her arm and in the following chaos, she managed to crawl into an alley, but then the ground started to shake as well and she heard a crack from above as the wall fell down and--

“The fucking…” She collapsed back down again. Her being at some magical get along island was unlikely. She has a significant lack of gunshot wounds and crushed everything for that to be possible. Maybe this was the after life, but there was no way she would end up somewhere so nice with the life she ran. Well, there was no use in moping about it. The youth writhed on the ground a moment more, before standing up with a groan, and looking around again. There were some trees further in on the island, which seemed like a logical place to explore next. She was a dumbass for so long, she might as well try changing something wherever this was.

As her feet hit the grass line, things only seemed to get weirder.

“The. Hell.” Atara said, as two people seemed to appear in front of her-- she ignored the voice in her head that said they were always there. Trying not to be a dumbass apparently came with randomly appearing teenagers. Or hallucinations. “What the fuck is this bullshit?”

---

[William]

It was hot. The young man lurched up from the ground, coughing feverently, and attempting to drag himself away, even as he felt his entire body rail in protest. A moment later, he realised that his surroundings were significantly different from before-- the air was clear, and he was not trapped inside a burning building. Infact, he wasn’t in any sort of building. He remained still a moment, taking in slow deep breaths. Trying to recall his last memories, all the while pushing back his pain.

It had been one of his bad pain flare up days (and still was, it seemed), so he had removed himself to his office to relax for a while. Paperwork had just come in regarding his most recent grant application, one that would let his school have access to some supplies to start a robotics team. He had a friend in that field, so he knew the paperwork was little more than a formality, but formalities were good for PR, and keeping the books clean, which was important for the kids here.

The first thing he noticed was the smell of smoke-- and nothing of the recreational sort. Alarmed, he took his wheelchair out into the hall, which was already filled with smoke. There was an alarm he could pull, but it seemed in the direction that the smoke was coming from. But he was the only one there, so he steeled himself and rolled forward. Before he could make his way there, the ground started to shake, ejecting him out of his chair. He remembered crawling the last few feet to the alarm with a single minded focus, the smoke growing thicker by the moment, before he managed to reach the alarm and pull it, raising his head up into the smoke. He remembered crawling away from there, thoughts in his mind to make sure no one else was trapped upstairs, before the ground began shaking again, and the smoke more intense, and then the fire--

He exhaled deeply. At least he knew the pain he experienced daily was less less than being oxygen starved and burned alive-- assuming that was what he experienced. And this place did not seem to be any sort of afterlife, as he couldn’t imagine carrying any sort of physical malady to a place where souls were supposed to reside.

He hoped that him pulling the alarm was enough to get everyone to safety. It seemed like the fire was only on the upper levels, where the staff offices were, and most everyone else was either teaching or patrolling the halls. And there was the earthquake that happened too-- the building he was in was certainly not built to withstand such a disaster, in fact, something like that should have not happened at all. It had to be enough. He wouldn’t forgive himself if any of his students or staff were hurt. But it was no use letting his worry disable him-- his body did that enough on its own.

“Alright Will, up you get.” Slowly, as his therapists recommended, he rose up again from the ground. He seemed to be on some sort of beach in some tropical climate, by both the warmth and humidity that was laden in the air, and the body of water seemed to a form of ocean, the deep breaths he took leaving a briny taste in his mouth. About five minutes later, he was sitting, looking around at the surroundings, and his own peculiar state. He was not wearing his usual button up shirt and slacks, but some plain attire made of cotton.

The sun was beginning to bear down on him and, as nice as the sight of the crystalline waves playing across the equally diamond like sand was, he needed to make his way to some form of shade. Perhaps try and see if there was some form of civilization nearby. Hopefully friendly civilization that spoke something he knew, and had communication with his home. There was a rather thick forest of palms and other vegetation behind him, which seemed as good of a place as any to go, and likely had a source of fresh water as well.

Slowly, he began to crawl toward the forest, walking certainly being out of the question even if did have his cane with him. It was a slow and noisy process, filled with several grunts of pain, and long pauses to regain the strength to move again, and let his hands cool from the burning of the sands. It was another ten minutes before he reached close to the edge of the forest, where the and became grass. As soon as he reached this point, he realized he was not alone.

There were three other people there, all of them clad in the same clothes as him, and all wearing various confused looks on their faces. One was a rather spritely looking girl with colorful hair like his (although, his was blue streaks), the other a rather sporty looking man around his age, and the third was a rather cantankerous sand covered girl that looked oddly familiar. It seemed like the other two were startled by the presence of the third, and in turn, all of them were now startled by him.

He propped himself up slightly and gave a weak wave, “Names Will. So I take it all of you also got caught in that earthquake and ended up here?”

[Koti~]

“Well, I think that answers your question for sure. Nice to meet you by the way, Will.” Sasha responded, having to take a moment to be serious. The appearance of the sand covered girl, the rather roughneck looking girl had appeared from the beach as well, shortly followed by the man crawling on the ground. When Will had mentioned the idea of an earthquake dragging them all there, it made her look at the other two, wondering if they were dragged into this world in the same way. She sighed and nodded her head, loose hair shivering across her neck.

“Yeah, I was in the college art room, refilling my supplies when the room started to fall apart. I almost escaped, but I was caught by a pipe piercing my side… painfully.” Sasha offered, rubbing her side in a bit of phantom pain. She looked over to the boy again, realizing that he unlike the rest of them he was crawling along the ground. She moved towards the boy, noting the blue highlighted hair.

“Yeah, I got dragged here by an earthquake as well. Pushed a lady out of the way of cracking ground, only to get caught in the hole myself.” Matt responded, looking over to the other girl. Her bewildered appearance and sand covered clothing put him a bit on edge. Having been a manager for a year, he had picked up how to read people, and the girl was giving him an odd vibe.

“Names Matt, by the by.” Matt offered up as he looked along the beach front, craning his neck to peer around. From what he could see, the ocean and sand stretched far beyond, unable to see any sort of beach front town, or any buildings of any sort. They would need to get some high ground if the reality survivor shows were any basis to go off of. Looking around the group again, he could tell that at least three of them would follow him to some degree, as long as he showed some idea of what he was doing.

“Oh, sorry. My name is Sasha. I'm usually better at introductions, but I think today can be a bit off. Do you need any help Will?” Sasha introduced herself to the group as she finally reached Will, offering a hand to the young man. She had to bite her tongue to ask why he was still damaged, but figured it was from prior to the damage he incurred from what brought them here.

“So, since we're kinda stuck here, I think best would be to head inland and see if there is anyone else on this place. I think we can all agree that if anyone else was here, they would have walked off the beach by now.” Matt spoke, waving his hand at the waterfront. As much as he would love to head either into the ocean for some quiet, or into the woods by himself. Someone had to act as the leader, so might as well be someone who actually had management training.

[Vaidia]

(W)

It was a he suspected. One strange and out of the ordinary event being connected to another. It was good that there seemed to be some form of logic going on, as bizarre as everything else was. He took another deep breath in. The air here was so clean, even with the sultry influence of the sea. That meant there was likely not any big ticket resort near by. Not enough human trash for that.

“That sounds really rough to go through,” Will added after the two relayed their stories. The sandy woman remained quiet, though he could see the agitation growing her like the raising hackles of a dog. She was glaring at the sportly man-- Matt, returning his wary glance with a glare that made such a thing seem warranted. “I was at the office of my school when a fire started. I went to pull the fire alarm when the earthquake started and ah-- blacked out from the smoke, so I don’t know what happened after that. I guess either the fire or smoke killed me.” He shrugged, then winced as the motion caused pain to shoot up his spine.

---

(A)

Just as it seemed things couldn’t get to further levels of bullshit, a fourth person appeared, this one crawling on the ground and looking 100% pitiful, until he casually introduced himself, as if they had all happened to find themselves on the same street corner. She pegged him as likely the most dangerous in terms of if she had to beat up the people here, as she would likely feel bad after, and it was always the wimpy seeming ones that had a trick up their sleeves.

The three went around introducing themselves, and it seemed like they had all run into similar fates. An Earthquake… and then death. The three looked at her expectantly as they finished their stories, but she only glared at the standing male. She recognized the look her had. It was one she had gotten many a time when walking into a store. Usually a security guard would follow her around after that, or she would be straight out asked to leave.

“Ah, you’re covered in sand,” the asian kid said after a moment’s lull in the conversation.

“What did you say to me?” Atara said, breaking her gaze away from the caucasian male.

“Sand,” He repeated, grinning harmlessly, before wiping some of the granules from his own body. She looked down and sure enough he was right. She was covered in a fine layer of white particle shit. She shrugged, causing some of it to cascade off of her. It might come in handy later.

The conversation continued, but Atara did not pay much mind to it. The one that had given her the nasty look was called Matt apparently, and the other girl was named Sasha. All of them seemed like people she would usually make an effort to avoid (and them avoid her as much as possible in turn).

“Thanks, Sasha,” the one name Will said, taking the hand of the rather posh looking girl. “Gotta go slow though. I was given a poor pick in the body lottery when I was born.”

“So, since we're kinda stuck here, I think best would be to head inland and see if there is anyone else on this place. I think we can all agree that if anyone else was here, they would have walked off the beach by now.”

(“Or crawled.” Will interjected, but this was not something Atara paid much attention to.)

“And who put you in charge?” Atara spat, giving a thick browed glare toward Matt as he played like some team captain wannabe. She knew what she was saying was bait. She couldn’t help it, desire for a new beginning be damned. That was before she saw the rabble she was grouped with, and if there was going to be a play for dominance, she was going to make that play now.

[Koti~]

Sasha looked between them, already feeling the tension growing. Looking at Atara only made her feel annoyance and minor anger growing under the skin. Looking towards Matt brought the same annoyance, yet tired acceptance. They had barely been here for an hour and already there was group infighting. She didn't want them to be at each other's throat when they were on an unknown island with nothing but some cloth clothing.

Matt on the other hand was keeping his eyes on the woman, returning her hard gaze and allowing his mind to work. Already he could feel the pressure of having g to fight his way through the woman's anger issue. This was why he hated working with unknown people. On his shift, he knew them all and they knew the goal of the night. He could work the shift without having to make major changes. They got through it, with a relaxed workplace that got the job done.

“I'm not trying to be in charge, but we need to move. It's just us four on an unknown land without any seeable city of town. If you wish to take command, be my guest.” Matt spoke, giving a wave over the group. He would rather let the woman take command, at least someone would. He could already tell that Sasha and Will were not the best suited for leading the pack. Sasha appeared to preppy to lead the party, despite her willingness to help. Will was definitely out if his body could barely handle himself.

“Hey, what are we then, lemmings?” Sasha questioned the two of them, trying to respond with the same level of annoyance at the two arguing over them leading the group without their input. Even though she didn't personally want to take a part of leading, just being left out was not a nice thing.

“I honestly don't care who takes lead at this point, as long as we get moving.” Matt let out an annoyed sigh, just wishing they could get a move on. The longer they wasted arguing around the beach, the less they could hopefully find a town before the sun fell, if the sun fell here. They didn't know anything about the place they woke up on.

“Man, I thought death would be a lot simpler than this.” Matt grumbled to himself as he rolled his shoulder, feeling it pop and crack while looking over the group. They would need to get their collect shit together to at least find civilization in the world, after that they can their own way, but needs must.

[Vaidia]

(The phantom pain from the gunshot wound was still there, like the lingering terror from a nightmare before waking erased the memory. She had plenty of time to relish being shot and all its potential implications, before the much swifter end of being crushed came to be. It seemed strange in many ways to live in a world without that pain now, as it had become everything moments prior.)

“Your acting like someone that thinks they in charge.” Atara snapped, crossing her arms. “And I don’t appreciate the assumption that you’re the most qualified here.” Honestly, she thought all of them were worthless for a situation like this. She wasn’t polished, but her smarts were for surviving the streets. The others looked polished, and not much else.

“Well, if I may interject, we do need to get moving,” Will piped up from the ground. It seemed the pecking order needed to be established before they could do anything. They all seemed rather young, so there needed to be some lines drawn out. Something they didn’t have much time for, as he was going to slow them down. “This is some form of wilderness. Priority would be to find a fresh water source, and shelter. Hopefully there will be a river further inland-- but I wouldn’t count on it being too close. So, what was your name, miss--?”

Atara looked down at the boy, who looked at her with curiosity, head tilted slightly to the side like some questioning puppy. But his eyes had a different look to them, and it was one she also felt was dangerous. “Miss none of your fucking business.”

[Koti~]

“Alright miss Nunya, nice to meet ya.” Matt responded to her, giving her a snarky look as he looked back towards Will. He was being the most sensible. They needed water and a place to survive until they could figure out more and hopefully what in the balls was going on. He let out a sigh and rolled his bad shoulder, already annoyed by all of this.

“I have an idea then. Why not split up and look the forest over for water and shelter. We can look through the woods as a group and return here before the sun sets.” Sasha responded as she bent down to lift Will up. She grunted a bit, thankful that the boy was light. She could sense something in his emotions, a tingling as she managed to lift him into a standing position.

“I'm sorry, but that's a rather dangerous option. A really dumb one too.” Matthew responded after giving her a flat look. This wasn't a Scooby Doo skit where they would somehow magically find a spot to rest. Even more, they didn't know the rules of the land, so who knew what kind of creatures or people they would find here. At least the woman before him had better sense than to offer that. They needed a plan and they were going to end up running out of options here. As much as he disliked allowing a delinquent to be in charge of people's lives, letting her take some lead might help.

“Fine then. If you want to, you can lead.” Matthew conceded the reigns to her. He might actually be able to enjoy the forest. It made the best option for the moment, though he would step in before it got out of hand. He didn't want to risk people dying on the mysterious place.

“Then let's try a place to make into a home for the time being, near a water source as Will suggested.” Sasha spoke, hoping to keep the moral up, she didn't want to make things more tense as her body continued to feel the tingle through her body, along with a small amount of pain washing through her shoulders and back, if only by small amounts.

[Vaidia]

Oh why did all of this have to happen on a bad pain day. Never mind the fact the didn’t have any of the medications that helped keep his disease from spiraling out of control. He might as well be useful why he could be-- and worry about the consequences later. He read a few different books about wilderness survival once when he was bored, so he could advise, even though he was unlikely to provide much physical labor.

“Miss Nunya is going to bust your pretty little face up if you push it much further,” Atara uncrossed one arm from her chest, cracking the knuckles in an impressive display. She was being quite civil, she thought. She gave one entire warning to the little shit (granted, he was taller than her), before further actions were taken.

Will looked back over to the imposing girl. She still looked quite familiar to him, although he couldn’t place it. Maybe she was a relative to one of her students? He’d figure it out sooner or later, he knew. Dying and waking up on a seemingly deserted island was enough to throw anyone off their game. He grunted a ‘thanks’ as the far more friendly girl helped him up, and took a moment to focus on not causing too much strain to his body.

“You think I want to be saddled with looking after your sorry asses?” Atara snipped back to Matt, as she gave a wild a sweeping look around to the group. They were a rather pathetic gathering. She probably would be better off on her own. But.

“I think you’d do a great job.” Will said, his voice slightly strained. If he was being realistic with himself currently, he would need to be carried. But he would attempt walking first. Perhaps this world had magical healing air. It certainly was better air than in the city. “You seem to have great instincts.”

“...Fucking hell, fine.” Atara looked toward the woods. She filed it away for her to marvel at the sight later, when she didn’t have to play babysitter. Never before had she seen so much green. “Y’alls better keep up.” With this, she started toward the woods, sand cascading off her body with each step.

[Koti~]

“Alright then, lets get a move on.” Matthew replied with a sigh, following behind the renegade into the forest. They would need to stick together in this place, and right now she was as best an option as any, well… not Will yet. The breeze inside the woods was refreshing and cool, shadows dancing with the leaves and trees.

They walked for a few hours inside the forest, Sasha having traded spots with Will to keep up the pace. Shadows had begun to extend further, the green tinted forest growing with hues of red and orange. The wind carried a bite of cold air as the evening pulled on, no signs of a shelter or source of water having made itself known. Will trudged onwards, wanting to keep the moral high, as he could tell Sasha had begun to flog from the trek into the forest.

“Is there any chance that we are not just walking in circles?” Sasha questioned while burying a whine in her voice, the red hues starting their descent into more purple colors. Night would be setting upon them soon, and none knew the creatures of that might lurk in the dark. Wishing nothing more than to rest, she leaned up against a rather large tree, the palm trees having given way to more in oak and pines, even a very few ever greens.

She let out a sigh before she felt a deep rumble beneath her from the tree, before the tree began to give. The roots began to rip free of the earth, the tree much older than it had appeared. She squeaked as the tree began to drop down, the cracking wood filling the air as ground and sod filled the air around her. Beneath her the ground began to crumble away, darkness filling the air around her, for all but a moment.

“Sasha. Huh?” Matt had begun to move as the ground fell, trying to save the girl as fast as he could, only to be stalled as the girls head still poked a fair bit above ground, the tree roots having cast darker shadows than the surrounding. Underneath the tree was a shallow tunnel, the tree having been twisted around it into a wall. While shallow, the tunnel was deep enough to provide some shelter, and more than roomy enough to accommodate the four.

“I think I found a place to hold up.. for a bit at least.” Sasha tried to make light of the moment, letting out a nervous chuckle from the spot that she rested in.

[Vaidia]

The trek was a long and slow one. Slow mostly because of Will, which he knew even though none of the other three (surprisingly also the still unidentified Ms. Nunya) seemed to want to voice acknowledgement of. As soon as the got far enough in the forest, he grabbed (or, more exactly, had Matt help grab) a sturdy enough stick to help him move with more ease-- although he still needed support from Sasha.

Normally Will would be perfectly interested in dictating all he facts about the local flora (fauna having yet to make a significant appearance beyond the usual buzzing flies and birdsong that was both strange and familiar, like listening to a half recognizable song from the next room over). It all was close enough to what he knew about, and several things would be a wonderful source for water. But he was just too tired. To focus. Beyond walking. And the occasional cheerful statement to Sasha.

Atara spent most of her time a good number of feet in front of the group, enough distance to keep her from having to directly interact with them, but close enough still for them to see her. It was perhaps a good thing, as a forest floor proved to be much more tricky to maneuver than even the most trash ridden of abandoned buildings. She found herself inclined to following paths that were already slightly clear and worn, although there was still a significant of brush that she had to plow through, small branches occasionally scratching her drawing thin lines of blood that dried instantly, but attracted flies (why did this damn place have to be that close to earth?) all the same. It made the marvel significantly less, and the slow moving company only served to frustrate her more.

It was a few hours in when he entire group seemed to be at their wits end, and night made its presence known early through the canopy of trees in brilliant jewel tones of maroon and amber. It was during one of the many breaks that things seemed to deteriorate, and was during one of the times that Atara was decently close to the rest of the group.

The other girl managed to let (another) complaint, and Atara was ready to fire back a justifiably annoyed response, when a great groaning followed a rather dramatic WHUMP, as the tree fell to the ground. As it did, Atara stepped back, feeling something twinge inside as she did so, before she instinctively planted herself down onto the spot. If any damn tree was to fall on her, she would teach it a lesson. Luckily, the whole incident was numerous feet away from her, meaning little cause for concern-- except for the fact the Sasha seemed to found some hole in the ground.

“Oh. Hell. No.” Atara said after one moment look the the apparent ‘shelter’. “I’m not getting into that thing. What if it rains?” She had heard too many stories that the friend of her friend named Jamal’s cousin’s best mate’s uncle’s twin named Larry about sleeping in a drainage area and drowning. She was not about to meet the same pseudo fate here in the god forsaken hell of bloodthirsty plants and boring fashion choices. “I ain’t going in there.”

“You don’t have to. And, uh, you are okay, right, Sasha?” Will piped up from the spot he was deposited. He was so very tired. And everything hurt, more than usual. His skin had a glossy sheen of sweat over it, and he looked rather ashen. He hadn’t had to push himself this hard since he had a run in with his last physical therapist, who he swore had a grudge against him. “But, it will have to do for tonight. I don’t think I can go any further. Good news is I think I saw some familiar looking plants back a bit that can be used for water since we’re in a pinch, assuming this place is related enough to earth. The tree hole should also let us dig enough to find some clay for later, and thankfully there are mostly pine trees now, so gathering tinder for fire won’t be too hard, and ah… I think that’s all I got right now.” Even talking was getting troublesome.