Introductions

((By which I mean introducing Chey to the site! So, uh, yeah))

Peter

I fell to my hands and knees, the sound of the shift still ringing in my ears. I had to get out of here... Drawing up my strength, I staggered to my feet and looked around. The first thing I saw was a large, nice-looking building surrounded by an iron gate. Most of the other buildings looked kind of run-down. An urban setting, what a great place for me to be right now... There were some people around, so I decided to get moving to avoid drawing any more attention than I may have already gotten. All I needed was to find some place I could rest--maybe a park or something--before heading out again to regroup. I hoped the others were alright...

(( Thanks, Echo/Winter Dragon. I'm gonna forever call you Echo, sorry, lol. ))

Kinley

We were on patrol-- and by we, I meant the incredibly incompetent Melissa, myself, and Nolan. I had been trying to get Melissa to focus on her section for the longest time before just throwing my hands in the air and marching off, paying attention to my own section. As I was walking, a flash of light made my head shoot up, gun pointed at the ready for any possible thing that could be there. A small group of townsfolk cowered beside me, whispering frantically amongst themselves as they watched the scene unfold. "Quiet!" I hissed, making them scurry off quickly.

Peter. I frowned, lowering my gun and bolting off to follow him. I could recognize that dog anywhere, but I just hoped that nobody else did-- not like they would really be able to tell that she... wasn't exactly there, but it sure was better to be safe than sorry.

((It's cool, haha))

Peter

I heard running footsteps; Ses and I both turned around. My eyebrows raised a little at who I ended up seeing.

"...Kinley?" I asked. "Is that you?"

It could've easily been coincidence. Given how many worlds there were, you were bound to get people who looked like others you knew. I'd definitely done a few double-takes before upon seeing certain faces. Just to be sure of things, I quickly checked the energy signature of the girl in front of me. And...it felt like Kinley's energy. Well then.

Kinley

I rolled my eyes at Peter and nodded at Sesria, his not-really-dog soul, extremely confused about why they were here and how exactly it came to be, but he just attracted unwanted attention on his end, and I had to be the one to deal with it. Awesome.

"No time for questions, Peter, 'cause you done fucked up and now I need to deal with you." I swung my machine gun around to my back, nudging my head in the direction of some taller buildings, just outside of the main areas of town. "'Course, I don't have the heart to do such things I would normally do, so follow me." I reached to grab his arm, locking eyes with him and nodding vaguely to assure him that I wasn't going to hurt him.

Peter

I naturally responded in the most eloquent way possible.

"Uh..."

I planned to just let her lead me wherever. This was her world, so she knew it best. I still couldn't help feeling a little uneasy, though. I didn't particularly think she'd hurt me or anything--it looked like she was trying to say she wouldn't--but I never liked being in positions where I didn't know what to expect. I also felt bad for causing her problems, but it wasn't like I'd intended to come here, so I tried not to let it get to me.

Kinley

Rolling my eyes at the only other thing that exited the darkly-clad boy's mouth, I half-dragged him towards the taller buildings just outside of the city, acknowledging but not answering anybody who inquired what what going on-- they knew it, anyways, although that wasn't the entire truth.

There were twelve of these tall structures; they almost appeared to be like old apartment buildings, except they were all wooden and very run down. A thirteenth building stood at the end of the line, smaller than the rest, and there was a middle-aged man resting on a rocking chair just outside of it. I groaned and shoved Peter ahead of me, towards the seventh building in the row. It had a large black "7" spray-painted on one of the outer walls, and the window just above it was completely shattered. Cigarette butts and broken glass covered the ground around the building-- around every building, as well.

"Go inside, Peter," I told him quietly, "I'll be, like, three minutes."

Peter

"Alright..." I answered.

I really wished I knew what was going on. It would've helped to know anything about her world, but all I had was basically: There's a war going on with people rebelling against a system. Which told me so much. Trying to keep the uneasy feeling down, I walked into the building, Ses sticking close.

My first impression was that this place looked as run-down as the other buildings, save for that white one. The worn floor had some holes and cracks, which someone had apparently tried to cover with masking tape. The walls had some holes as well, and the stairs didn't look particularly stable. As tired as I was, I didn't exactly want to sit on the ragged sofa for fear it would break or something; I settled for carefully easing myself onto one of the wooden chairs instead. They seemed sturdy enough. Now I just had to wait for Kinley to get back.

Kinley

A few moments passed by as I got into a rather short argument with the middle aged man by the thirteenth building, and then I jogged into my building, seeing an exhausted looking Peter resting on one of the few wooden chairs in the home. They were most likely some of the sturdiest things we had...

I slipped off my gun, tossing it on the sofa, and turning to face Peter. "A'ight, how'd you get here and are you working for the enemy?" I huffed. Hopefully he wasn't working for our enemy-- I figured not-- but I could never be so sure... Besides, I had been double-crossed before, and it was only a matter of time before it happened again. At least I had been the one to find him, and not somebody else, because who knows what could have happened to the kid and his soul-dog.

Peter

"No," I replied. "I'm not even entirely sure who the enemy is. As for how I got here, I just shifted..." I rubbed the back of my neck. "I'm not...entirely sure how, but sometimes when I shift, I wind up in places where there are, uh, different rules than the ones in my world. Anyway...I didn't mean to come here, but I was trying to get away from some Sybek, so I was looking to jump to any world I could. I plan to leave as soon as I'm rested enough to shift again, but I guess I could go right now if you want..."

I silently hoped she wouldn't kick me out. If I were to jump worlds again now, I'd probably pass out upon arrival, which would leave me open for capture by any Sybek in the area. Which might not happen, but it wasn't like I wanted to take that risk. At the same time, though, I felt bad for just being here, because it was possible that Sybek might try to pursue me to this world. I definitely didn't want to cause her those kinds of problems...

Kinley

"Well, good, keep it that way." I nodded as he spoke, my face setting into a frown. Gliding a hand over my hair to push strayed strands from my ponytail out of my face, I released a heavy sigh. "Alright. You could prob'ly stay here for the night, if need be. We don't have any spare mattress, and I'm sure that you don't wanna bunk with somebody 'cause most are boys and they... stink," I made a face, "so y'can take my mattress, Peter. I can sleep with Luka, since he usually crawls in with me anyways."

This was just great-- when the rest of the Alliance members living in my building came back, I sure as Hell would be questioned, and Peter definitely would be, no doubt. But I was trying to be a nicer person, and friends always help out friends had always been what my 'rents would tell me; it even felt like I could hear them saying it to me now.

Peter

"Oh, uh, I don't need to stay the night," I told her. "Just...several hours, I guess. But after that, I can safely leave."

That would've been a bit above the minimum of safety, anyway. I'd lost a lot of energy prior to the shifting, so I needed to work that back up if I wanted to stay at a level where I wasn't passing out or suffering from extreme exhaustion, headaches, and some nausea. But with several hours of rest, shifting again would put me back at the point where I was now--pretty exhausted with mild headaches, but at least nothing more.

Kinley

I shrugged, "'Kay, whatever you wanna do.  It's gonna be nightfall here in a while, so..." I trailed off, hearing a gunshot and a loud curse come from upstairs.  The gunshot shook the entire complex, and I frowned, looking up at the ceiling before looking back down at Peter.  "Hope this doesn't bother you any."  

The truth?  I didn't care if it bothered him.  He ended up in my world, so he was gonna have to deal with what came with it.  Damien was our building's sniper, whose post was on the second floor and attic, both decent vantage points for above attacks, but he had an itchy trigger fingers and often shot whenever he felt he needed to, hence the many bullet holes in the walls, floors, and ceilings of the building.

"Do you want, like, something to drink or something...?"  I watched Peter closely.  "Shift exchange'll be happening soon, too, so I dunno what you wanna do about, uh, that.  People are gonna hound you with questions; I'd avoid Damien, Jake, and Melissa if you could, 'cause they'll get inside your head..."

Peter

"Uh, alright," I said. "Who are they, just so I know...? And, uh, I don't need anything, but thanks." Okay I actually kind of did, but I would've felt bad if I'd asked. "By the way, I don't think anyone else will be able to see Sesria. It seems like only people who've been outside their own worlds can see souls. So she shouldn't be a problem, at least."

It was strange the way it worked. But so far, anyone who'd been somewhere extradimensional was able to see and hear souls, even though they weren't soulbonders themselves. And didn't have souls in the same sense. Which still seemed...weird to me (to say the least) if I thought about it too much. In any case, it wouldn't work for a Non if they were just going to another plane in my multiverse, but outside of that where the rules were different... Though the different rules weren't something I liked to think about too much, either.

Kinley

I thought about how to describe them for a moment, absently chewing the dry skin on my bottom lip as I did so.

"Melissa is the only Asian in the building, Damien'll be the only one that comes downstairs, and you'll just... know Jake." I shrugged, taking another nervous glance up at the ceiling, "You sure? We get more rations than we're supposed to, 'cause Dad gives them out."

Just a few moments after I ended my sentence, Damien came bounding down the stairs, which made the weak wood release groans and vague cracking noises. I frowned as he stopped in his tracks and shot a dark glare at Peter, flicking his black hair out of his nearly-black eyes. Damien glanced from me to Peter, and then shook his head, walking into the kitchen.

"Christ, Dame, it's not like that..." I sighed heavily. Oh, let the games begin.

Peter

Wouldn't have been the first time someone assumed something like that about me and another person. It'd happened with at least Kira before, too. Though if there were other instances, I couldn't exactly remember them.

"Oh, by the way," I started to Kinley in a low voice, "if they ask where I came from, what do I say? I don't know anything about this world..."

Kinley

Pulling up one of the other wooden chairs in the room, I sat facing Peter to hear him better. His question made me hum in thought, quickly trying to come up with a believable plan for if this ever did happen, of which I was pretty sure it would.

"Just... say that you were sent in from Jazenti, which is the neighbouring town, to see how the fellow rebels are doing. I'll tell Nolan 'bout this, too, since he's the head of our bunk." I crossed one leg over the other and studied the boy in front of me closely. "You actually kinda look like you're from there; they've got way better attire than us, so it should be good."

I was beginning to hear laughter and shouting, pounding footsteps and the knocking of guns together, as the shift-change was beginning. It would still be a couple of minutes until the rest of our bunk members would enter, though, because they always stopped to chat with Dad.

Peter

"Jazenti, got it." Repeating it would keep me from forgetting. That'd be awkward. "Is there anything else I need to know? Like, what's the purpose of this building?"

I just felt so lost here. For most worlds I visited, I at least knew stuff about them prior to coming. But not this one. I hadn't even talked with Kinley very much before, aside from a few brief conversations here and there. The most notable interaction I ever had with her, she shot me in the shoulder. It wasn't very pleasant.

(( omg, I actually completely forgot about her shooting him in the shoulder until now, lol. ))

Kinley

"This building? The walls around is?" I frowned, looking around. "This... and the other eleven buildings, are, I guess barracks. We're the rebels protecting those in a rebel town, so of course we gotta be on the perimeter. We'd be all around, but we're right next to the sea, and they can't ambush us from there. Land mines are a couple yards away from these buildings, so, ah, be wary of that..." I didn't feel like telling him that one or two would explode on a daily basis.

There was a crash from the kitchen and the sound of splintering wood. Damien's husky voice growled and released a quick string of swears. "We're gonna, uh, need a lotta tape!" I rolled my eyes, debating on whether or not I should go and help, or stay and talk to Peter.

Of course I chose the latter. "Damien's got... anger issues. Part of the reason why you should be real wary of him; he'll actually try t'kill you with no regrets. Melissa's just incompetent and annoying, and Jake'll sexually harass your mind." I sighed heavily. "They're not all bad people, though; Nolan's super understandin' and Luka's my little brother and Wen secretly is a sweetheart and I think you'd really like Jane." Sometimes I had a problem with not knowing when to stop talking, although, I believed, this was one of the first times Peter had ever heard me talk that much.

((Yup XD He hadn't really spoken to her too much prior to that, so that's largely what he remembers her for, haha. "She shot me in the shoulder once. Also she had to escape through a window one time and I lied to the people chasing her"))

Peter

"I see..." I responded. Most of what she'd told me was pretty useful information, especially the parts about the land mines and the guy who'd potentially try to kill me. Those were definitely good things to note. There was one other thing I wanted to know, though. "Another question... Uh...when you say 'sexually harass your mind'...what exactly do you mean?"

I didn't want to have to deal with sexual harassment. Again. There were a lot of things I'd put up with, but that was not one of them. At least it didn't sound like he'd be trying any physical harassment... I'd had enough of people putting their hands on me where they did not belong. But if she just meant rude, inappropriate language, that I could mostly handle.

(( Yes, Kinley has psychotic breaks when things get too stressful and loses it, and she also is chased very often xD ))

Kinley

"He'll... He, like, is nice at first, but then'll weave his way into your mind and throw question after question at you, with results in turning very sexual very quickly. He tries to confuse you, and he has a hard time lettin' things go, and it's all in the effort to get somebody to bed with him." I rolled my eyes at the thought.

Jake had both a girlfriend and a boyfriend at the time, both of which still didn't know he was dating them both. His quick words and his surprisingly careful actions when flirting with them paid off considerably, but I still felt fairly bad for Jane, his girlfriend, because she was actually very sweet and didn't deserve some scum like that.

Standing up, I shrugged. "Anyways, somebody usually ends up getting into a fight with him, so he'll stop eventually. Just ignore him, 'cause I know you probably don't have the capability of being mean." I walked into the kitchen, getting two glasses of water-- one for myself, and one for Peter.

Peter

...She was kind of right. I wasn't sure if I actually had it in me to be mean. I could be a bit harsh, at best. Although, if he were to bother me too much, I wouldn't be afraid to tell him off. I'd try ignoring him first, however.

"Thanks," I said as I took the glass. Even though I'd said I hadn't needed anything, I was glad she got this. I tried not to drink it too quickly, but I was pretty dehydrated, so it didn't take me long to finish.

Kinley

It was interesting, watching Peter as he moved.  Wait, no, that sounded weird; I meant... Watching people's movements that they did multiple times a day and didn't even notice usually piqued my interest.  It was my job to study people, although only for figuring out if they were lying or not, but I sometimes caught myself staring at a person with no exact reason behind it.

Frowning slightly at the short amount of time it took for him to drink his water, I sat back down.  "You lied earlier.  You needed something; don't be afraid to ask next time, Peter."  

And that was when Luka, Nolan, and Jane came jogging inside, covered in mud and blood and sweat.  I made a face as Luka came over to me and took the glass of water right out of my hand, taking a long drink.  "Uh, get your own?"  He just chuckled in response and patted my hair, making me roll my eyes.

Peter

I didn't know who that guy was, but he seemed kind of rude. It bothered me a little, though I didn't let that show. Instead, I just continued speaking to Kinley.

"Ah, uh, alright..." I rubbed the back of my neck. "In that case, uh...could I get some more?"

I always felt bad about asking for things, no matter what they were. And I felt weird when people did things for me. I couldn't explain why--that's just the way it's always been.

Kinley

I nodded, but before I could get up, Nolan was over Peter in a second, taking his glass from him.  "I can do that for ya!"  He grinned, prancing off into the kitchen.

Sitting there awkwardly for a moment, I shrugged.  "Uh, the dark guy who's gettin' you water is Nolan, the head of our building...  This dirty kid here is my brother, Luka."  Luka grinned and waved at Peter, before heading into the washroom to clean himself up.  Nolan returned not too long after with Peter's water.

"So... Who're you, eh?"  He asked, folding his arms over his chest and looking down on Peter.  I watched the two interact for a few minutes before turning to look over at Jane, watching her closely as she hug herself by the door.  Gesturing for her to come over, she hesitated a moment, and then brought up a chair to sit with Peter and I.

Peter

"I'm Peter," I told Nolan. I wasn't sure how much I should say at once, so I just settled for that. "Nice to meet you. Thanks for the water." I gave the girl who'd just joined us a small wave, then drank from my glass--not as quickly this time as before.