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Why couldn't she stop shaking!? This was stupid! She wasn't afraid of a little fear so why was she trembling!? It frustrated her to the point of making her head hurt, why she was paralyzed on the floor in a group of girls. She was stronger than this! So what if she woke up with no memories and no idea of who she was but a name and an outfit covered in stupid hearts and a scythe! She was Aria! She wasn't a wussy kid who needed protecting!

Then why can't you move, dummy?

She registered someone trying to talk to her, and she trembled again. "Scared... too many... people..." she muttered quietly, fighting with herself to snap out of it already! She shuddered and forced her eyes closed. Okay, step one, control over eyes achieved. The girl in front of her asked her name, then got distracted by people behind her.

I'm not afraid, I'm not afraid, I'm not afraid!

"I'M NOT AFRAID!" she shouted. The sound shocked her out of her panic, and she glanced around, clearly embarrased for her outburst. In a much smaller voice - though one filled with more confidence and "tough girl" status - she added, "Uh, sorry. Just needed to yell."

Smooth, Aria, smooth.

"Aria... is my name... if anyone cares," she mentioned offhandedly.

Taika was surprised to hear other voices, and the blonde turned on her heel, fluffy dress wooshing as she did. She gave the other girls a smile and lit up. "Oh! There are others here!" She trotted over tot he other girls. "I'm Taika." She said, leaning on her glaive a little. "And I mean, whether we're all that's left or not - that critter said we had to protect people, and that's good enough for me." And now she had other people right in front of her - that made it seem even more real and necessary.

Aria looked at the blond haired girl as they walked back to the group. She didn't look completely convinced by the pep talk. This bothered Aria for some reason.

"Listen, try not to think too hard on it. I figure once the time comes, you'll be able to figure out how to use that fan. Who knows, maybe it's something that's so amazing that it takes a special method to use it!", she explained, throwing her arms wide to try to emphasize how 'amazing' it could be. She felt a bit silly, but for some reason she couldn't leave the issue alone. Maybe it was a by-product of her time before all this happened, she wasn't sure.

They came up on the group just as one of the girls, Vanessa, introduced herself. "Look at that, perfect timing." Aria chuckled with a cheeky grin.

"I can't help but wonder what happened to the others though and how many of them might have people we knew. Protecting people is all good, but what are we protecting them from? It would have been nice to get some more info from the little creature before it disappeared." Narcissa sighed while rubbing her eyes a little, still feeling a tad sleepy. Probably a bit stressed too, and even though she wouldn't say it out loud, pretty freaked out to be dropped in a unknown place with no memories. Just... stop thinking so much self, that would help things a good bit.

"Groups are good though, at least we've got each other for whenever all this is supposed to get underway." She was trying to something more cheery, but was pretty sure that wasn't it either. Dang.

"Weird is a good word." Anua echoed to the one named Taisa, then caught sight of the other girl's gem. "Oh, they're different colors. What happens if we trade them, I wonder?" On some instinctual level, however, Anua found that she didn't really feel comfortable in letting her gem go. That was strange. "And how does this relate to fighting? Fear.. or whatever that was.."

Peering back over to Narcissa, she quirked a brow at the rather existential philosophical implications. That "what if" they really didn't exist before this moment? Was it memories that made them who they were? But no, the shadowed creature seemed surprised at the memory loss, so surely all of them were something from before now. Without any basis of comparison, however, it was hard to miss what you didn't know.

She had already accepted their jubulently colored frills and skirts as the norm.

"Memories would be nice." The girl mused as she watched Narcissa, "Maybe you were a baker before. Or, maybe a basketball player." It was weird knowing words, but not really having any personal connection to the words. Everything felt alien, but because everything was so strange, it all began to feel normal.




The sudden burst of energy from the bounding feline-eared girl made Anua jump in surprise, her hand clutching one another in an instinctive motion to pull back into herself. "O-oh, uh-" The bombardment of energy and questions threw her off, but she was determined to keep her composure, "I suppose since no one know's what's going on, we're just getting to know one another. Minus the uh, getting to know one another part. Oh! Except names, everyone has a name. What's yours?"

The sudden yell from the blue-clad, dark haired girl made Anua jump again (something she seems to do a lot these days; or is it just this day?). "It's fine, I uh, did the same earlier too. It helps." Her reply wavered, and she tried to gulp through her dry mouth, "Pleasure to meet you, Aria."

She admired the other girl for a moment, for being able to cast away her fear so much quicker. Even though there was still an expression of anxiety on the other girl, her tone of voice held that slightly more confident edge. Anua knew that this would only grow, and she gave a reassuring smile. "So uh, what's your weapon feel like?" It was a shallow question to be sure, but she was curious nonetheless.

Well, that's one way to get Aria to stop being in a panic. The young teen tensed, gripping her scythe and pushing herself into a standing position. She held the scythe blade end down behind her as she glared at the girl with the crossbow. At least she wasn't crying, that was good. She'd just.. had a bit of a tense moment that was all. Yup, that was all.

Anger and cockiness, this was so much better than being scared as s**t.

"Scardy cat? You look like a bloody... moose with those antlers. Whacha gunna do? Ram through me with'em?" said the girl, a s**t-eating grin on her face. Ah how she'd missed this feeling she didn't know she'd missed. It was powerful and sung through her limbs to fight off the crippling fear.

"We were all told the same thing, Moosehead. We're supposed to save humans and fight, and there's all this Fear stuff." Moosehead, yes that was a wonderful nickname for the crossbow wielding girl.

She glanced at Anua, who she'd momentarily forgotten. "Feels like.. a scythe, I guess?"

Another neuron of memory flickered in Esme's brain. Humans, right. Save the humans. She fought to rally herself again, as it seemed that for now the maniacal girl with the crossbow had decided they were friends. Right. No problem! She could roll with the flow, she could deal. Turning, she watched Viridian align her sights onto another victim. And oh god, yeah, there was the bow coming out.

"Do you have to talk to people with that weapon pointed at them? It isn't going to win people over, or make stuff easier, yanno."

Glancing at the object of attention, she did a few wild air mimes at the girl behind Viridian's back, trying to indicate that while yes, the other crazy girl was pointing a bow at her, to remain calm and not ... oh, run away screaming.



gotta crawl off to bed but i'll be back bright n early tomorrow

She woke up.

She woke up surrounded. Anna got up, slowly; her hands tensed, and for an instant a dark seed blackened her palm before her bow sprouted into existence. She held tight to it, her fingers gripping between the thorns.

"H-Hello?"