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The sensation of awareness is what came first; the subconscious realization of existence, the dawning that she was physically located in some environment. Her mind grasped at her thoughts, trying to pull herself out of her feeling of panic, the pounding of her heart echoing in her ears. Calm down. Take it slow. Her inner voice felt foreign, but she had little else to go by. Pale fingers moved, and she could feel the surface that she lay on. Lashes parted and her vision swam, heightening her feeling of being disoriented and confused. She sat upright and blinked, the rustle of cloth bringing her attention to her ornate, red outfit as she ran the tips of her fingers across the edge of her skirt. Her hair was pulled up, but judging by the mass that was tied behind her head, she came to the conclusion that she must have particularly long hair. Her bangs revealed her hair to be a common, sandy hue. Had she been able to see her reflection, she would know that her maroon-red eyes were anything but common.



The pale girl froze at the words, peering into the shadows from whence it came. "Where is this?" She called out to the shadow, her words sounding high pitched and strange to her own ears. And then the questions came bubbling from the depths of her mind. So many questions, pummeling one after another. Where? Why? How? And then who.

"Who am I?" Sifting through her memories was like sand in a sieve; she couldn't quite grasp onto any one memory. There was nothing. She had nothing to base her existence upon. No, that wasn't quite true..

Anua. My name is Anua.



Silence hung heavy between them, and she found herself unable to form the words, and the strange shaking of her hands just wouldn't stop. It took a moment before she was even able to acknowledge that it was fear that had her paralyzed so. Anua mutely nodded her head, hoping to calm her nerves.



Fight? Fight what? Anua couldn't imagine fighting anything, what with the blood draining from her face and all. The tips of her fingers brushed against something, and she peered down to her side where a strange, warm gem lay. It glowed with a red hue, its surface inexplicably smooth as she turned it between her fingers.

She nearly dropped it when the shadowed voice said it was her fear.

"F-fear?" She echoed dumbly, staring at the glow. The way the silhouette spoke the word, however, made her feel like it wasn't quite the same as the sheer terror that she was currently feeling. It felt more important.. like the word should be capitalized.

< Ah, let me explain a little better. There are many kinds of Fear. There is kind, benign Fear, taken from Humans, to help our world. Then there is a terrible type of Fear that would take without considering the balance between Humans and Halloween. You have been chosen to restore this balance of course. Your weapon will help you do this. As a Reaper, skilled in using Fear in weapons, I'm sure you using this weapon is natural to you! Honestly I would have asked the others, but unfortunately you are the only ones that remain. The Humans are counting on you to save them! Good luck! >

Anua's face fell blank as the explanation continued. What weapon? Balance to what? I'm a Reaper? What's that mean? At least one thing was clear: The figure meant for her to fight something.

"Wait, others?" She bolted up to her feet, casting an anxious glance around her as she became alert to the presence of other girls. As she observed them, she noted that many of their faces seemed to mirror her own; confusion, fear. But they seemed to be coming to grips with the situation, speaking more comfortably with one another and wanting to be proactive in finding a solution. Unlike Anua, who still seemed unable to move.

Resisting the sudden urge to bolt off on her own, she cleared her throat and took a meek step toward the group. What was she supposed to even say? Hi, lets go fight things now? Just go up and ask them what's going on.

She reached through the void of her memories, trying to find a polite way to introduce herself. "H-hi. Some weather, huh?" She blurted, forcing a smile on her face that likely came off as more of a twitch.

---
OOC: I'm open to RPing with anyone! Wasn't sure if anyone had plans with others already so didn't want to butt in XD

Jamie, Mairea, Zelda, and Vatachi. It was a start, though she'd somehow made Mairea mad in her request for a name. As long as she didn't start taking shots at Aria with that bow of hers, being mad didn't bother Aria much.

"Don't see why we can't form groups, it's better than wandering around not knowing what we're doing." Aria looked down at her outfit as two-toned girl questioned their appearance. "Seems so... I normally wouldn't be caught dead wearing a skirt", she replied, picking at the fabric of her skirt with a less than pleased expression. She bristled at the mention of the creature. Apparently it hadn't told them anything either. "That little creep, if I ever see it again, it's neck is going to become acquainted with my hands", she growled, flexing her fingers in mimicry. Jamie's comment about being watched made some sense and would be an ideal excuse for revenge. "Yeah, how much you want to bet that thing is just chilling out somewhere watching us squirm while laughing?" Aria was not happy, not at all. That unhappiness seemed to be mirrored by the now cursing plant mage. Aria chose to ignore the ranting since it wasn't directed at her, but at the girl who'd tried to name themselves leader.

At Zelda's comment about information once everyone woke up, Aria's overcame her own anger and she just sighed in resignation. "I hope that's the case, because I'm getting tired of not knowing what's going on."

She looked over to see a new person had shown up, a meek red headed girl. At her question, Aria just shrugged. She didn't really care either way. "You have a name?" she asked, trying to quell her irritation towards the situation, sensing that her normally blunt attitude would only put this girl off.

Oh no. Was someone actually looking to her for help?! Wouldn't it have been better to latch onto Zelda, the girl with the killer melee weapon who seemed to know exactly what was going on? Well, okay, so maybe it was a little naive to assume that everything was going to work out when they had volunteered to fight (supposedly) and forgotten everything. They could have been kidnapped, dressed in these incredibly adorable outfits for no reason, then dumped next to weapons that felt familiar to them all.

Maybe they had lost a fight. Maybe this was their punishment. Boy that was depressing! Mairea decided that she was just going to do what she was trying to advise this poor scared girl to do and follow Zelda. Confidence couldn't really get you in too much trouble, unless it turned into moronic bravado, and that was when she came in. Thwacking someone with your bow tended to get their attention long enough for you to talk them out of doing stupid things. And boy did Mairea love the sound of her own voice!

Patting the stammering newcomer on the arm she nodded. "Sure thing. You have a pretty neat bow too, though mine is bigger." The grin was wide; archers had to stick together! Hopefully this girl was decent at what she did and wasn't one of those point-and-shoot kinds. Stammerers tended to shake. Shaky hands did not a good shooter make. No! No more pessimism! Shaking herself a bit more, she kept talking. "I'm Mairea. That's Zelda and seems to have a grip on what's going on. Should pay attention to her. Hey Zelda, we got another one!" Zelda seemed to be shaping up into quite the leader and Mairea was conveniently slipping into the role of lieutenant.

The girl with the filthy mouth was startling Mairea a bit though. Had she not heard profanity much before? Something inside of her was flinching with every instance of profanity, even the very mild 's**t' being uttered by their Fearless Leader. "Perhaps you can turn that passion to something other than screaming at the top of your lungs? Save that energy in case we need a good fighter?" Though so far, it was part of what had drawn Mairea to the group, did it have to be so foul? "It'll make you a star. Or something." Or something was for sure.

"Melony, right", Aria repeated with a nod of her head. She wasn't sure how to respond when asked about the grouping. 'It felt right' was all that came to mind. Figuring that wasn't a good enough answer, she kept her mouth shut.

Her weapon? Aria pulled out the fan and inspected it. True enough, she hadn't thought to test out how she would fair in a fight while using it. Unfolding it, Aria gave it a few test swipes. Seems it could be fairly useful as a melee weapon, but she felt that there was more to it. "Let me try something" she called to the winged shaman as she put some distance in between them, placing herself into a solid stance. Winding her arm back, she swung her fan with all her might. A powerful gust of wind burst forth from the fan and spread quite far, causing some of the girls in the area to shriek and hold down their skirts. Now THIS was a weapon.

"I think that works..." Aria chuckled, closing her fan and placing it back into her pocket for safe keeping. Maybe she could use it on that infernal little creature? Aria grinned at the thought.

A voice captured her attention, one that was almost as meek as her own, and she turned towards it's source, giving the girl a small and shy smile, before giving her an encouraging wave to come closer to the group. She didn't really know how to respond to the question about the weather, but she could at least behave in a welcoming manner to the newly awoken. It made her feel good to know that she wasn't the only one that might be frightened of what was going on.

Macy couldn't help but overhear Vatachi as she began on a tirade full of bad words in a voice that demanded attention. She flinched back away from it, her reddened face blanching, but when she rose her eyes to the swearing girl, a frown creased her forehead before she spoke.

"Y--you shouldn't talk like that!" Her voice came out a bit high pitched, and a lot louder then she had intended. "Some..some people might not...like it..." Her sudden outburst seemed to fizzle, and she looked down to scuff a fancy black shoe against the floor.

At Aria's question, and Mairea's introduction, Macy quickly turned her attention back towards them. "You..you all have such pretty names! I..I'm Macy" She let herself smile at them both, though it was hard to do so under such circumstances. "B--bigger is not always better." She directed that to Mairea, and somehow just being able to have any small type of camaraderie with the other girl made her feel so much better then before, and she could feel herself able to relax just slightly.

"S--so..nobody else kn--knows what is going on?" She sounded more then a little disappointed and disheartened, and looked over towards Anua again, though she did not yet know her name.

"Did..did he tell you all the same things? About choosing to fight and Fear and humans and..and..H--Halloween?"

Willow blinked several times as she looked around, gripping thorned staff tightly. ....Where the hell did she get this thing?



Will squeaked loudly, jumping away from the voice and holding her staff over her head. ... Wait. What? "I'm... I'm okay... A little confused.. But okay?" Better question was how did she get here.



She shook her head no at the first question. "I would appreciate it. Thank you!" Willow squeaked again.



Wait.. What?! "Fight?!" The young girl stared at the creature with wide eyes. "You can't be serious. You're joking right?"



No. Apparently the creature was not joking. She stared at the item, almost afraid to pick it up. Her eyes flickered back to the creature. "....Fear?"

< Ah, let me explain a little better. There are many kinds of Fear. There is kind, benign Fear, taken from Humans, to help our world. Then there is a terrible type of Fear that would take without considering the balance between Humans and Halloween. >

Willow just stood there. Blinking down at the thing as it explained. "....Oh. Okay then."

< You have been chosen to restore this balance of course. Your weapon will help you do this. As a Reaper, skilled in using Fear in weapons, I'm sure you using this weapon is natural to you! >

...Well that explained one thing.. Now if everything else could just.... make sense. ....Hold up. "Reaper?"



Willow's eye twitched. "What do you MEAN 'only ones who remain'?!" She screeched.

Some genius child just alerted them all that she wasn't alone. Bravo. Zelda clicked her tongue at the new girl and gave a sort of nod that maybe sorta was a little like a "hi". Kinda. "We do, don't we. Well hi there, welcome to the end of the world or something," Zelda muttered to the bow girl. "Tell me what I should call you just in case, or I'll just call you something really stupid."

Oh goodie, the loudmouth was spouting off again. "You know what a brain is, how precious," Zelda remarked dryly. "In case you forgot how to work it, I'll tell you this much: it doesn't look like anyone knows what's going on, okay? So I'd say we all have a problem. I don't care really how you talk, I just hope you know how to back it up when we're called to fight." But Vatachi's last statement was strangely . .. friendlyish, so Zelda took a breath to grudgingly reply in kind with a nod. Just a nod. And a star from Mairea maybe.

Some chick, Melony, mentioned using their weapons, to which the girl shrugged. "This isn't a color-coordinated gem thing as far as I know, so it's not like you have to be looking out for a group. I like my odds better with people is all, like Aria here says. Frankly though -" Zelda grasped the chain and began to twirl the scythe in a vertical wheel lazily. "I feel good about using this thing, don't know about you." She wasn't about to start hitting people to prove it.

"Weather? What is this, an awkward school ice breaker?" she asked the red-gemmed sorceress. She sighed, realizing she was probably coming off strong but this was a weird situation and she was annoyed okay"Look. Hi. How are you doing. Oh that's good. I'm just busy waiting on a stuffed white fox cat thing to tell me what to do too, because apparently the world can wait a few extra minutes. Just peachy." Arghhhhh.

She was rubbing her head when she turned to Ms. Trippy and her friend as if to ward a headache. A lot of names to remember and faces too . . . Maybe she would have to resort to stupid nicknames just to keep everyone straight. "Look I'm not trying to be rude, I'm just trying to get organized, see what we can do before that thing comes back and gives us the real instructions. So what does your pal have? A . . ." She glanced at what was at the girl's side. A book. Awesome, she could tell them some lame story about history and bore them to death or something. "Oh. Look, just give them papercuts or smack things around, I don't know," Zelda told her with a shrug. "A weapon's only as useful as your imagination. There's not . . . something written in there, is there?" What if it had a clue?

And then someone screeched and Zelda just about had it. "What the f*** do you think it means, stupid?"

[ Zelda. 15. Mage: Steel Element. Weighted chains with a curved scythe at one end. Violet Gem. ]

Anua winced at the cacophony of voices, though a small gaggle of girls could hardly be classified at that tumultuous a level of sound. Straightening her shoulders, Anua felt comfort in the one thing she could answer, "I am Anua." She smiled at the metal-fan weilding girl, but could tell that the other wasn't particularly pleased. Who wouldn't be, in this situation.

Well, might as well make the best of it. Or at least that's what the logical voice in Anua told herself. In actuality she felt her knees lock up again. She turned her focus back to the conversation, wondering how she could employ herself as a useful voice and distract herself enough to stop freezing up.

The one named Zelda seemed to have a point. Thinking back on it, it was a silly thing to have said, what with her not actually knowing anything about the weather. At the time, it seemed like it should have been a common phrase. If that wasn't, then perhaps some other form of greeting was acceptable, "Oh, uh, is your day going well?"

She belatedly realized that she should probably stop blurting out the first thing that came to her mind.

Anua listened for a moment longer, trying to catch each girls' names as they spoke it to one another. The one named Macy had turned to her, and Anua gave a weak smile, her voice quiet and unobtrusive, "It sounds like we all heard the same thing, then. There was mention of a weapon..? Is that yours?" She glanced pointedly at each girls' hands, wondering how she was supposed to find her own.

The pale girl turned when she heard another voice call out a friendly Hey! She noted the other girl wore a similar red coloring with glasses perched atop her nose. Anua said a hello, but realized her lips had moved without the words coming out.

She was frustrated with herself. Frustrated at the situation. Frustrated at all the frustration. Inhaling deeply, Anua clenched her hands and yelled out, "HELLO MY NAME IS ANUA!"

It didn't come out as a yell so much as a hoarse, breathy sentence, but it made her feel better about herself nonetheless. With a successful greeting under her belt, Anua allowed a bit of curiosity to pique through her persistent veil of fear.

"Perhaps we should walk around and see what's here? Maybe we'll find other girls as well? Perhaps it'll make everyone feel better to have something to do.." Her suggestion wasn't aimed at anyone in particular, her eyes darting from one person to another.

She accidentally made eye contact with another, and promptly bowed her head and admired the ground beneath her shoes.