August was starting to think this was going to get stranger as time went on. She tried to absorb all the information as best she could. Then turning to the new girls, she said, “Hello, my name’s August,” then, out of curiosity, she asked, “Where are you from?”
She saw Caesar had noticed her eye dropper, and was surprised when he didn’t ask about it. Although, she was grateful for it. She kept her hands in her pockets as she turned her attention to the girls.
"Um, I'm from a little town way up north,next to the Fire Mountains, But Acording to Azizia I was born in a small settalment of Dragon's in Eayen's Valley whitch is behind the Fire mountains." Scale drew a small map in the air with her finger, "We're one of the independent town's, out side of the three kingdoms. Technecally we're in the middle of The Twisting Forrest. In other words, we don't get a lot of visiters." Scale replied
"I was born on some island in the East Blue, but I grew up in the mountains of the Goa Kingdom with my brothers." She tapped her bad foot on the ground. "When I was 17, I joined a pirate crew. All ladies. 2 years later, I joined my brother's crew instead. Then, we left the East Blue, and went to the Grand Line. It gets complicated from there."
“Wow, I don’t think I’ve heard of those places before,” August replied. “I come from Wyoming, in the United States of America.” She thought it was necessary to say the whole thing.
She was starting to think they weren’t in any of these places anymore. Would these people care that she was a witch, if they came from wildly different places than her her own? She glanced around at the caves and crevices around them, the chant of ‘be focused, stay on guard’ ever present in her mind.
Azami tilted her head in confusion. "The United… States? I've never heard of that kingdom. Is it in the West Blue?" She pulled out her journal, scribbling some notes. "And what's 'Wyoming'? Are there pirates? Do you have a map?"
“It’s probably not anywhere you know of, that’s for sure,” she glanced at the journal Azami had pulled out. “It’s not really a kingdom, it’s a nation, country, whatever. Wyoming is a state within it. There aren’t any pirates there, at least, in the way we think of them. I don’t have a map with me, sorry.“
Caesar wondered if there were portals that came up bringing the girls here. If deities exist, then maybe other magical things exist too. Maybe this place is sort of special after all.
He pulled out his phone trying to find a picture of the US map; he thinks he has one from awhile ago. Finding it, Caesar turned the brightness up a little before turning it to show Azami. "Here's the country we're in. Then this should roughly be the place we're at right now.", he pointed before pointing over," And that's Wyoming over there."
Azami raised her eyebrows in shock. "That's cool! What is that thing?" she queried, gesturing at the phone. Azami pulled out the snail-thing and took a picture of the map, tucking it into her journal. "Is this place anybody's territory?"
Caesar let a chuckle escape his throat as he saw Azami's reaction. He briefly looked at his phone before explaining, "It's a smart phone. You can use it to text people and look up maps or anything on the internet." His attention went to the snail-thing watching the girl take a picture before putting it away. In a second he was about to offer just sending it to her before remembering that she most likely doesn't have a phone.
"Dewey said that the place was abandoned by the government.", he stated,"I assume it technically is still theirs? Right August?"
“Oh, I didn’t hear that part,” August turned to Caesar. “I don’t know. I’m not a big expert on that kind of stuff.”
August looked around the area again, wondering for what reason the government abandoned the place. Did they just not need it anymore? Or was it something else? What were they even using it for? She wanted to voice her thoughts, but thought it wasn’t the right time.
(Eek hi yes I'm alive, kinda lost inspiration for the longest time.)
"I-" Elara started to say softly. She had stayed silent, listening to those around her as she gazed out at the horizon. She was starting to get slightly overwhelmed by all this new information. Someone who'd never heard of the United States? More new people? She sighed. Life was very confusing, and she didn't like it.
Dewey spoke up. “Yup, abandoned by a government. They’ve got lots of other places though, all over the world, so I don’t expect for them to run out any time soon.” He glanced off to the side.
“I was born in a place called The Remnant, although no one here’s going to know what it is given it doesn’t exist yet.” Dewey begins to walk again, this time stumbling over something. The previous warnings that he called out earlier flash within mind, but luckily, he’s still on pretty flat ground, albeit with some rocks. Although what he tripped on was no rock - Dewey had realized, with a barely audible ’oh,’.
Speaking of remnants..
Dewey decides he’d better leave that thing in the ground for now.
August had not noticed Dewey’s stumble with the ‘rock’. She had noticed Elara however, and went over to her. She looked lonely and overwhelmed, and August was starting to feel the same way. And besides, considering their current situation, it was better to make friends rather than enemies.
Her hands went behind her back, a little nervous. “Um, hi, I’m August. Sorry I didn’t notice you before. Are you alright? What’s your name?”
"Oh, I'm Elara. I'm fine for now, I guess. And that's alright, it's nice to meet you though-" Elara cracked a small smile. "So, I heard you're from Wyoming?" she asked, trying to make small talk.
“Yep, born and raised. Too bad I don’t remember anything else,” she shook her head. That face kept popping up in her mind. A blonde braid, brown eyes. But the rest was fuzzy. Infuriatingly fuzzy. She pulled herself out of her thoughts.
“Anyway, where are you from?”
"Neat," Elara nodded. "California," she said, answering August's question.
(oof sorry for the one-liner i can barely think of anything but i don't want to leave you hanging for like,,, 5 days)
(Hehe yeah I feel you. Have no idea what to say either)
They were quiet for a few moments. August, though she reveled in the silence, thought she should say something. These people couldn’t help her if she didn’t say anything, right?
“The only thing I can remember is a face. Covered in blood. I think she was important to me. But I don’t remember if…” she trailed off. Something must have happened to her. She just couldn’t remember what.
"I-" Elara didn't know what to say to that. She looked away and withdrew from the outside world, merely becoming a shell. Everything she said, was spoken only inside her head. Everything she did, they were only figments of her imagination. She supposed it might look a little odd, her just standing there, as still as a statue, barely moving except for the small rising and falling of her chest as she breathed.
Whoops. Maybe Elara was the wrong person to share that with. August reached out and gently touched her shoulder.
“Oh I’m sorry. That came out of nowhere. I just… can’t keep it to myself anymore. I want to remember, if I can. I thought talking it out would help. Do want me to leave you alone?”
Elara visibly jumped when August's hand touched her shoulder. She took a few steps back, then realised it was only August who had touched her. "Oh- I'm sorry, I must have thought you were someone else… it's okay, just,,, a little sudden I guess. I'll be fine," Elara said, forcing a smile onto her face. I'll be fine… she repeated to herself. Even though it was her, she didn't know what exactly was bothering her. Was it August? Was it what she had mentioned? Or was it… no, she was not going to think about it. She'd think about it when she had to, and now wasn't one of those times.
August looked at her with concern, then said, “Ok, just tell me when I’ve made you uncomfortable or something like that.”
She went silent. She was afraid of saying something wrong. She couldn’t help but wonder what she’d done to make Elara so shaken up. But, she thought, it wasn’t her business. Best to put it out of your mind.
(Hello?)