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

[Koti~]

“Yeesh, you don't have to threaten me.” Sasha spoke defensively, covering her wrists. She could tell when to back off, even more when people were angry. Physical harm wasn't needed to get the point across. Giving a sigh she gathered up a few more pieces of vines before looking at the sun rays. The light rays finally brushed the horizon, the dm light managing to cast their light across the skies, now pockmarked with stars. Sasha closed her eyes as she allowed the beauty of it to sink in, the cool breeze just now holding the cool dip of the night. It was almost perfect. Back at home it would be a perfect night for a beach party, a few snuck beers and smores.

“If we find civilization, we are so doing smores on the beach.” Sasha spoke as she opened her eyes, just in time to see flakes begin to drift from the plants overhead. The underside of the trees were illuminated from underneath, a soft icy blue that drifted in the air. Mesmerized by the color and slight minty scent she lifted her fingers up to touch the 'pollen?’. Shock ran through her at the coldness of the dust, before her fingers went numb, a sharp tingle emanating from her middle and index finger. She yelped and pulled her fingers back, casting her eyes to Nunya. Despite how comforting the dust smelled, they needed to move.

“We need to move now. That dude completely numbed my fingers on just the touch!” Sasha spoke with worried tones, holding her fingers. The dust had thankfully blown off, but feeling was not returning, not yet. If they got caught out here, things would be bad.

--

“You got a raw deal man. Explains a bit why you're so calm though.” Matt gave a low whistle. He did agree to working more on setting up base, and both ideas sounded good. The thought of watery vines made bedding the better idea at the moment in his mind. Pulling himself free of the hole he began to collect leaves and pine needles as he could. The pines would make the best bedding, while the leaves would prevent them getting poked. With the encroaching night time, he figured beds would be best with having to hunt in the dark. Digging holes were child's play.

“I do agree on the palm leaves, but I don't want to set that up just in case we find better resting grounds.” Matt spoke as he began tossing down the stuff he found, making sure to avoid the fire. It wouldn't do to burn the bedding. Leaving the pile for the moment he headed back out to collect more, the lights finally fading.

The forest bloomed with life, the trees beginning to glow softly, an icy blue dust falling in motes. The heat along his back seemed to push the dust away, but he wouldn't lie that it interested him. The gentle scent of mint filled his mind as he moved closed, curious as to the dust. Reaching his hand out to grab some, he pulled back his hand just before touching the dust. Something in his mind screamed to not touch it. Grabbing a large fallen leaf he held it out to the dust, watching the leaf turn blue and brittle once it touched down.

“That is not good. Whatever this stuff is, it does some serious cold damage to what it touches.” Matt spoke in concern, moving the leaf back over to the fire. The blue coating began to melt away as he got closer to the fire, the leaf springing back to life. It brought new worry to his mind as the leaf fluttered about in the smoke.

“Shit! The girls are out there!” Matt swore as he whirled around, staring off towards were the girls had traipsed back into the woods, under the heavy foliage of trees. They would be right under the dust, the frostbite dust.

“I need to go after them.” Matt spoke, looking into the forest, worry as the dust gave a wide berth for the flames. Grabbing a spare log and wrapping the leaf around it he waved it around the dust, only to watch it smolder in the falling dust. The large fire was what kept them warm and safe, smaller flames unable to protect them.

“This is really not good.” Matt cursed under his breath, looking into the forest, wondering how far he make it before breaking something.

[Vaidia]

Atara snorted as the grew drew back terrified, seeming rather cowed by her ‘threat’. She wouldn’t actually cut off the other girls hands. Slight maiming wasn’t out of the question. Or just a traditional punch to the face. She was a woman of simple tastes when it came to her violence. “I ain’t really going to cut your hands off.” She snorted out another laugh, “The look on your face, though…”

The tall girl was already a good few paces ahead as the other made some remark about the beach and smores. As a now expert beach attendee, she didn’t understand what was it with some people and their obsession with going somewhere where sand could get up their--

The radiant colors from the setting sun seemed to have bled into the landscape, but where the sky was painted in warm hues of orange and reds, the luminescence coming from the trees was in tones of cold blues and green. Atara did not spare much thought to look at the trees, having already gotten far to the point where this was just another damn weird thing about this place designed to annoy her, and therefore not worth her putting much effort.

The minty smell was nice. Reminded her of her Mom and--

The other girl yelped, causing Atara to whirl around, knife at a ready position, eyes wild for a moment before locking onto the other girl and what she was saying.

“Oh.” The woman made a disgusted sound, throwing both arms up into the air by her shoulders. “Oh. Hell. No.” She looked up above her, directly at the pollen that was threatening the curled tips of her hair, causing an unseen (by her) veil of frost form around her head. She only spared the shortest observation, before walking away, her steps twice the length as the ones it took them to get here. “I am not about to get turned to some ice sculpture by some freaky voodoo ice giant pocket lint bullshit.”

Her breath began to come out in rapid puffs of fog, and she found herself ducking her head down-- her tallness was definitely not letting her have any advantages right now. The vines were tangling themselves around her, and she was half tempted to throw them down, but the dryness at the back of her throat banished any such temptation. The knife was firmly gripped in her non vine baring hand.The best seemed to get back with the other two boys, as much as she loathed to admit it. The tiny Asian kid probably would know what exactly this was, and what they needed to do to not die.

Atara did not realize she was moving off the path they came here on and--

---

Will rested his eyes as Matt worked, taking inventory of their situation again. They would still need some form of food at some point. They could likely use the pulp of the vines to help fill their stomachs as well as hydrate, granted the water from them wasn’t tainted, or with the tree being uprooted, there could likely be protein form in the soil. Bugs. Insects. The thought was… not ideal.

“Mm, it would just be for…” Will began to answer Matt, before he too was distracted by the change in the forest. It seemed to come alive in another way, darkness peeling away the shroud to show a more truthful visage of what this place was. It reminded him of a night thriving city coming to life, where daytime was the mask, and here-- the dangerous but wild underbelly. The air was faintly fragrant as well-- mint.

He’d read enough books to know a change like this was cause for caution-- a sentiment Matt seemed to share. Beyond that, he didn’t have a clue what was going on, or what the best thing to do was.

But, he would do his best to figure out what could be done, and address the moment.

Will exhaled, the minty quality of the air biting at his lungs, even as the strange Dust seemed to stay away from the flames. He fought back a cough, before looking seriously at Matt. “You can’t go after them--” He paused to cough slightly again, “--It’d mean three of us in danger. You’re… We’re going to have to believe in them to make it back. They aren’t that far away.”

---

--and it was part of the path that sunk further into the ground, away from the strange anti-ash above them.

It seemed they were going to make it.

[Koti~]

Sasha was quick to follow after Atara to avoid the dust, thankful that she was shorter than the other girl. Just that difference put her even further from the dust. She was still trying to regain feeling in her fingers, watching the dust floating above them, ever creeping slowly closer. It was bizarre, watching the frozen cloud sitting above their heads as they headed down the path, following the general direction towards the dugout. It was curious that the dust had yet to completely fall, drifting lazily through the air just out of reach of doing harm.

“I am not liking this place anymore. Frozen numb limbs suck.” Sasha spoke urgently as she struggled some to keep up with Atara, having to jog just a slight bit to keep pace. It was barely awkward, the girls long strides just more than her walk. Right now she would have to do her best to lead the two of them back to base, though the low road did save them some risk. She was worried that they would be stuck far longer than needed-

--

Matt watched this, reluctant to agree that Will was right. Despite already knowing that. He wanted to make sure the girls were okay, but running out now like an idiot would be dumb. All four of them would be at risk of death with that. Looking back over the woods Matt let out a sigh, letting his shoulders slump as he rubbed his sore shoulder. All of this was just murder on his shoulder at the moment. Looking back to Will made him stop. The man obviously had it worse than him.

“There has to be a way to help them.” Matt bemoaned the situation, frustrated that there was nothing he could change about it, before giving a cold sigh, noting the change in the temp, along with the minty taste. He could see just how it hovered close to the trees, the warmth slowly fading from the ground. He glanced to the fire, then back at the dust.

Then back at the flames.

“It can't fall near heat, but it's getting colder.” Matt spoke the obvious, blinking at himself. Of course the dust couldn't touch heat. It made things cold. Grabbing some of the lumber he had saved he began adding more, growing the flames higher, a much thicker cloud of smoke dancing above them, light flickering underneath the clouds. The effect was almost instant, the dust pushing further away from them. The air was hot, the smoke annoying as it blew into his face, but it warmed things up. Now with the larger flames, hopefully the girls could see it.

“This should last long enough through the night, and let them see where to return to.” Matt spoke, sitting down closer to Will as he watched. The waiting itched at his mind, but there was nothing he could do now to force it. Fate would tell

--

“He made fire!” Sasha cheered as the smoke bloomed into the sky, the lights dancing upon the smoke just barely giving them light. The idea of a warm roaring fire was ideal as the heat dropped more, the clouds creeping ever closer to them. Soon it would be able to hit Ataras head and she didn't want to have to drag the girl with her. There was no way she had the muscle to pull the woman back to camp with her.

“Let's hurry back.” Sasha spoke, picking up her jog in hopes of getting closer to the warmth.

[Vaidia]

The elongated steps progressed from a brisk walk, into a jog, into a loping run. It took about twenty of these quickening paces for Atara to realize the had diverted off the path-- which caused her to stumble momentarily to look back for the other girl to see if she was following (which would be a good sign, as it meant she was heading in relatively the right direction).

In the moment of her stopping, she also caught sight of the smoke. Her mind registered it as a further threat, before the acrid and sharp smell from the smoke cut through the mint, registering as a familiar thing. There had been several house fires in her neighborhood. It was always a gamble if they had been started or caused, something she was rather good at figuring out.

She began to head toward the fire now, as identified by the other girl. It seemed the boys were not useless after all. Atara began to also move toward the warmth (the cold around her head was beginning to make her head hurt and her eyes water), her naturally larger steps letting her veer back in front of the shorter girl. As she did, there was a sudden shift in the ice dust in front of them both, the canopy of a rather leafy tree letting a frigid cascade of the ice dust to suddenly come down right where they would both step next.

There was no time. It was her fault they had walked here.

She would not submit to this moment.

“FUU-”

In one moment, Atara would be seeming to head into the frozen doom, consumed by the frost, and then seem to completely… vanish, vines (but not the knife) left to fling into the frozen dust. In a movement too quick for human sight, an impression of light would be seen moving away from the frost, followed by Atara appearing a few paces away.

“-UUU-”

Atara’s hand darted out the next moment, the non-knife hand darting forward to grab the collar of the other girl’s shirt, manhandling her away from the deadly obstacle as well.

What. The. Fuck.

“-UUaaaaaaaaAA--”

She wasn’t going to question it.

With the shirt of the girl still in her hand, and yanking their heads both down below the arctic mist, Atara made a beeline toward the smoke and, hopefully, safety.

---

Will relaxed as Matt agreed with him to not go out, slumping back against his resting spot. He hadn’t realized he had moved forward at all, but the tingling and electric wave of pain was a rather unpleasantly refreshing reminder that his body rather remain right where it was, thank you very much.

He couldn’t help but feel the beginnings of frustration edge in. He couldn’t waste energy on such emotions. There was too much at stake now.

As he relaxed, he noticed Matt rubbing his shoulder-- more specifically, rubbing his shoulder again. He made a mental note to ask about it later, as it seemed to really be troubling the other man. When the present situation wasn’t so pressing. (Perhaps then, he could be more honest as well).

Warmth.

He had spaced out again, just when he was thinking he shouldn’t. And now he was doing the same, while thinking about spacing out, but now there was a significantly higher amount of warmth against his face. It seemed Matt had added more wood to the fire, which was a brilliant idea, and exactly hat he would have suggested had he not spaced out… drat, there he went again.

The heat and smoke were rather a lot for Will, so he spent his next moment of focus trying to move further from the fire, and was enough to snap out of his momentary stupor. He managed to move just far enough away, when Matt plopped down next to him.

“Brilliant idea. Really Brilliant and--” Will beamed at the other man, before pausing for a moment, looking quizzically out of their hovel of safety. “--Ah, do you hear that?”

“-CKingHeeeEEEElllllLLL!” There was a shout that was obviously a continuation of many other expletives, followed by the sound of several heavy placed footsteps of increasing volume a ferocity, and then the two bodies of the girls as they all but crashed into the shelter, narrowly missing the fire.

There were several more curse words from Atara, but that had little bearing on the moment.

They had made it.

[Koti~]

Matt moved into place as soon as he heard the cussing. He knew it was Nunya, followed by a half dragged half running Sasha behind her. Crossing his arms he braced himself as the two girls ran into him, dogpiling them into the pile of leaves and pine needles as they fell away from the fire. He glad he did or they would have been a lot more squished on the ground. Giving a groan he pushed the girls off and to the side, letting out a pained sigh as he sat up. The girls were fumbled into a pile for a few moments, Sasha now decorated with a purple flower design.

“Glad to see you both alive.” Matt spoke as he looked them over. He could see how Sasha shivered, covered in blue spots and clutching the vines. He was glad that they had managed to complete their tasks, but he had to wonder what it may have cost them. The second important thing he saw was the crude knife that Nunya held. Seeing that it was a stick and some sort of metal claw thing. Now he had to worry what the hell traveled along the island and forest.

“First few questions. One, are you two okay? Two, why did it start dusting like that? And three, where the hell did you find that?” Matt asked in importance. He didn't expect much honest answer, but Sasha may provide some actual answers.

“So.. so very cold.” Sasha responded after she had managed to right herself. She was stunned by the sudden duet blanket that had fallen from the tree, not even given the time to yell out the girls name. She gripped the vines closer as she scooted towards the flames, the dust billowing off from the heat. Her body still tingled all over, and she didn't dare move to far.

“We were collecting vines, and when the sun fell, the dust started drifting down from the palm leaves. The knife thing was a claw that Nunya tripped over, so I made it into a knife for cutting the vines. Is very effective.” Sasha responded as she settled down to the fire. She pulled apart the vines finally as her body finally felt normal-ish.

“I managed to get eight. We would have had more, but they got dropped due to the dust.” Sasha mentioned as she laid the vines out. Matt looked over them and the flowers that had managed to survive on them, and let out a relaxed sigh. They only had one for each, one tonight and one tomorrow. The real worry was the dust settling around them, and if it would last into the morning.

“Well, that's something. With what we got, that means two for each of us.” Matt took charge, knowing that as long as they spread up the food, they could keep their strength up until they found a better source of food.

[Vaidia]

There was a brief moment of chaos tinged confusion-- a great tangling of limbs and elbows jammed into stomachs and yelled exclamations (which was mostly swearing, on Atara's part) before the two girls were officially safe. Or as safe as they could be in a strange death island with a chilling night time intent.

Will watched the three others in silence. Matt seemed to be taking charge again, which was good to see he wasn't too cowed by his earlier attempts not going smoothly. Perhaps it was because Ms. Nunya was too busy still partially writhing on the ground, continuing to swear up a storm in the form of 'how many conjugations of the word "fuck" can be made in one single minute'. Will was honestly impressed.

He focused his attention away from the other girl for a moment, making sure Sasha was also fine. It seemed the girls were successful in their endeavor, which was reassuring. He eyeballed the vines and, while the flowers were concerning, the liquid seeping from the ends seemed to be clear and thus, okay to 'drink'.

"I'm glad your both are alright, really I..." Will's voice trailed off as he began to listen more closely to Ms. Nunya, and her current tirade. He raised in his brows, torn between patient amusement and practical annoyance. “Ah, Ms. Nunya. You are alright?”

This seemed to catch the woman’s attention enough to get her out of her current rant, she turning her wild eyes to look at him.

“This place doesn’t make any fucking sense. First it goes all ‘Mr. Freezes Vacation ISland’, and then… You saw it right? I’ not going crazy” She looked over at Sasha as she spoke, expression slightly haunted. “I was going to collide into the giant ass cloud of frost and then…”

Atara shook her head. Water droplets danced out from her hair, the frost that was there melted from the fire.

“Naw, forget it.” She mumbled. “Wasn’t my damn fault the vines got dropped.” She turned away moodily, realized she was in the hole she was so previously adverse to, and let another explosive and artful combination of curses.

Will remained patiently silent, which wasn’t a challenge in his current state. He was at and beyond his limits. Even his curiosity at Ms. Nunya’s dilemma was hard to maintain. He knew he may be able to get more information about what happened to her with some prodding and Matt had his own issue which he needed to find out about and he couldn’t forget about making sure Sasha wasn’t made to feel neglected and there was the need for them to survive this but he was tired so tired so tired…

(he had fallen asleep).

[Koti~]

Matt gave a sigh as he looked over to Will, allowing for Nunya to continue her swears unhindered. Her ranting at least proved that she was healthy and alive. Sasha was still crowded around the fire, trying to get as much warmth as she could. Things had for the most part settled down and with a source of food, they could hunt for better lodgings and and food tomorrow. Matt gave himself a moment to get himself together before looking over the last two still awake.

“I think now would be a decent time to sleep. I'll take first shift of watch, as I'm used to being up late.” Matt spoke in a collected tone. He was already bracing himself for whatever Nunya may toss at him about taking charge. Already his mind was working through the possibilities of having to fight the girl if she choose to weild the knife, especially since she was already in the hole.

“Hey, thank you for the save,” Sasha spoke as she rested her hand on Nunyas arm. She could understand the woman's paranoia, even now feel it. Even more it was starting to bother her, along with the ridiculousness of being caught in their situation.”But for now, can you please put a rest to it. It's already been an insane day and we're all stuck in the same boat. Cursing and snapping doesn't make this whole insane situation any better. Let's just get some sleep and try better tomorrow.”

Sasha blinked some as she pulled her hand free, a bit taken by surprise at what she had just done. She usually did her best to keep her empathy in check, but this was different. It seemed as if she had just taken the emotions upon herself. Now paranoia was picking in the back of her mind, along with a dwindling annoyance and exhaustion niggling at the edges.

“Oookay then. I'll wake one of you when it's a good time to switch? Seem fair?” Matt spoke after regaining his senses. He never figured that Sasha would be the one to snap from the most insane. Guess the proverb was true to watch the quiet ones. Matt could only hope that this wouldn't be a daily thing each night weird things happened. If basic ideas like this happened, he wondered how bad Will would snap.

“I can agree with this for now. I'm..gonna try and get some rest.” Sasha spoke up once she had moved over to the faux bedding for the night. While not the most comfortable, it would do better than the hard ground.

[Vaidia]

Atara found herself glaring at the wall after her tirade, both not wanting to have to look at the insufferable trio she was stuck with, and wanting to hide away her expression. She was... shaken. Again. It was like she was a giant game of jenga, with parts of her life being pulled out and away and stacked up on top of her to create some monstrosity of an unstable tower. But, she refused to fall. Let this mad world try and take her down. She would spit in its face.

Grunting, Atara kicked at the wall, feeling the caked on dirt chip away from the underlying brick. As she did so, several insects scurried away from the holes-- which she paid little mind too. She kicked the wall again after the bossy boy spoke, kicking off another hunk of dirt. She mimicked him mockingly under her breath, but couldn’t deny the logic behind what he was saying. She often had to set watches back home with the other abandoned kids she watched over-- usually with her taking the longest watches. Did this boy really think he knew anything? She turned around to lip off at him (officially), but was met by the hand of the other girl resting on her arm.

Atara felt the urge to swat at the other girls hand as it brushed against her arm, but stopped firstly as her swatting arm was also her knife holding one, and she didn't quite loath the other girl so much as to want to chop her arm off (who knew? The odd knife could rend flesh at the single moment of ill intent and she reALLY DIDN'T FUCKING-)

Second was the sudden... it was odd. She suddenly didn't feel like she was one batshit dropping away from a crazy train. Or one pig short of going completely ham on the next fucker that looked at her wrong. It was. Disconcerting. So much she forgot what she was going to say to Matthew a moment before.

"Right," Atara said finally, giving an almost vacant stare at the other girl's hand. What was she doing again? She continued to stare at Sasha a little longer, her expression still confused. “Right. Fine.”

Her gaze trailed back over to Matthew. A pang of annoyance returned to her. She exhaled with a disgusting amount of disdain. “Go ahead and play it tough. Wake me up when you feel ready to wimp out. I’m going the fuck to sleep.”

Atara trudged away from the main part of the fire, sparing only one quick glance at Will. The Asian boy didn’t look all that well, the fire only serving to enhance the pallid and drawn expression that lingered even as he slept. She wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t wake up in the morning-- it had happened to some of the sick kids before.

But who knew. Death in this world was also probably just as fucked up.

[Koti~]

Matt watched them, letting out a quiet sigh as Nunya finally fell asleep. He clasped his hands together, bringing them to rest under his chin to prop on his knees. Watching Will sleep, he was tempted to move the boy, but the minor shivers sent through the boy said otherwise. His eyes wandered over Sasha, curled into a ball on her side, her back facing the flames. The bright bubbly girl who snapped at the end of the day. Then there was the wild girl, who still wouldn't give up her name. She had been the worst of them all. Always trying to take the lead while turning them away. Finding anything she could fight over with them. Now she was even armed with a weird knife made of deities knows what. It was a horrid idea.

What through him for a worse loop, was how she just gave up at the end. No fighting him keeping guard, only minor threats before heading off to sleep. To cause such a stir for so long, only to give it up at the end. He could only hope she would remain relaxed for however long they were here. Maybe even give up her name to him finally.

Matt let out a sigh as he slipped his head between his hands, staring down at the dirt. He bit his lower lip, fighting back a scream that threatened to tear his throat to shreds. What was he even thinking, trying to be the leader of these people. Will was much smarter, proving to know what to do. Sasha had the bubbly charm to keep most going, even if a little misguided. She could probably charm her way through most danger given the time.

Then there was Nunya, able to brute her way through anything. She was clearly the best option, strong and determined enough. If this were a cheesy reality, Will would be the plucky sidekick, Sasha the mascot of the, and Matt on the side. That wasn't the point though, and this wasn't a TV show. They were thrust into an alien world with its own backwards rules, and death.

How the hell was he supposed to lead them?! Sure he was a manager of a local fast food joint, but it was at night, with the biggest threat running out of chicken nuggets. He was just a wash out baseball player looking over a bunch of potheads and having to deal with rude guests. Now he had to fight with whatever this place could throw at them. He was just holding it together, and there wasn't a thing he could do to alleviate his problem.

For now, he would keep watch over them, and just make sure that they didn't die. It was all he could do. Once they got a lay of the land, they could hopefully make a better plan of action for this all.

[Vaidia]

The sleep that claimed him began with a complete void of darkness. Normally his mind wandered quite quickly in his sleep-- and he often dreamed lucidly, using the extra moments of cognizant thought to pick apart the happenings of his day under the eclectic palate of a dreamscape. But now, there was nothing, his mind too tired to even conceive nightmares easily pieced together from the woes of the day. Or, so he thought.

Warmth. No-- fire. Burning. He was burning again. Flesh stinging as it danced and peeled itself from his body, blistering and blackening as he was held suspended by the impossibility of taking a breath-- he had too high a tolerance for pain to have his mind surrender so quickly-- so he was choking, burning, every moment a new agony he never though to imagine and then...

Will gasped as he shot up from where he lay by the fire, throwing his body in a futile lurch that managed to only carry him a few inches away from the flame. Some instinctual part of his mind kept him from screaming out, or perhaps it was the remaining notion of him not being able to breath.

He exhaled. Inhaled.

The air was clean. He was not burning alive (again). Will focused on breathing, memory flowing into him of the proceedings of the past day. It would make more sense if that was the dream, and what he experienced in his nightmare was real. Fire and Brimstone for someone like him.

It seemed like night had officially come. It was a relief that this place was normal enough to have night. He kept himself still a moment longer, letting his mind recalibrate from the blind panic from before. He didn't have the time to waste on something like that, because who knew how much time he had left (but he was always so short on time).

"Ah," Will said, his voice scratchy. Despite the rude awakening, the slight amount of rest he got seemed to be enough to recharge him slightly. He managed to prop himself up with little issue, and saw Matt was still awake. Probably keeping watch, which was the smart thing to do. And probably Matt's idea as well. The two girl's were nearby, and seemed to have fallen asleep quite alright. "Thought I'd wake up to this being the dream. How long have you been keeping watch?"