Chapter Two: Theories and Games

When I woke up, it seemed to be pretty late into the night, at the least ten PM. As I rolled out of bed and haphazardly set my glasses on my face, I stretched my back out before leaving the room for the bathroom across the hall. I washed my face before looking in the mirror. Pale, nearly translucent skin was littered with freckles and blue eyes were underlined with bags. Thankfully my thick framed classes hid them most of the time as I didn't trust myself with make up. My lilac hair was unruly and sticking out all over the place due to sleeping. It was typically straight with bangs brushed to my left and fell to my shoulders.

"I look like death," I mumbled to myself as I rubbed at an eye. A yawn left my mouth as I shuffled out of the bathroom down to the kitchen for sustenance. No one seemed to be around, my be-socked feet and baggy pajama pants the only things making noise in the seemingly deserted house. A shiver went up my spine at the thought. I hated silence, so I began to hum as I plucked a soda can from the fridge.

I popped the tab and began to roam around the house. I felt oddly restless after everything that's happened. Nine people were now living with my best friend and I, nine strangers, nine new faces to learn all the quirks and avoid for the better of part of twenty four hour time sequences. Having social anxiety is lovely, I thought. I could just throw them out; but with their origin, I'm not sure if I could trust them to not cause chaos, intentional or not. There's also the added variable of fans or possible government experimentation, so despite the anxiety that would be added upon my already existing ones, I honestly felt the most comfortable letting them stay here.

As I walked near the back door, my thoughts were cut out by a sudden and very urgent whisper-fight. I cautiously grabbed the nearest object (the TV remote which, in hindsight, isn't the best weapon to fight a robber or murder off with) and looked through the window. Instead of the inevitable terror of a human being with bad will towards me, I was met with the sight of Sinbad and Jafar discussing what their next move should be. I opened the door to pop my head out.

"You know, talking about stuff like this outside isn't good," I started to get their attention. They both whipped around to look at me with break-neck speed. "It might sound a little paranoid, but anyone could be listening." Sinbad briskly gained his composure and nodded.

"Yes, very true," Sinbad agreed, "Let's go inside." As the two of them walked inside, I threw my can into the recycling bin and checked the time.

"It's fucking three am," I said as I realized how ridiculously late it was. No wonder nobody was awake; normal humans were sleeping by now.

"Erm, yes," Sinbad supplied to the conversation; he obviously seemed a little surprise at the vulgar language spilling from the five foot, petite, quiet girl. A nervous chuckle left me.

"Sorry," I apologized, despite not really having anything to apologize for, "So what were you talking about?" I was generally curious, especially if they were having issues with anything. I wanted to help with any problems. They were going to be staying with us, and most likely for a while at that, so I felt the need to accommodate them as much as possible.

"It's nothing, really," Jafar voiced rapidly. I got the impression that it was classified Sindria information, so I just nodded.

"Alright, if you say so," I answered. I began to fiddle with my silver ring as I added, "So what do you guys have so far on how you got here?"

"We've come to the conclusion that this is another world that we were sent to for a reason," Jafar said, "We just need to figure out what that reason is." I nodded, it made sense. Something nagged at the back of my mind, something that my mom told me about a long time ago.

"Why don't you guys head to bed since it's so late?" I suggested, "I'll see if I can figure anything out." I could call my mom and ask her about it. Hopefully she won't be busy.

"Right, of course," Sinbad said before walking off. Jafar quickly followed him. I watched as they ascended the stairs, all the while trying to remember the information I had been taught once before.

"Disenchantment of humanity." Something with these words was what I was trying to remember, but my memory loss was winning the battle. Resigning to the fact that I wouldn't be able to remember on my own, I took another soda from the fridge, trudged upstairs, and killed a few hours by wasting time on my computer. The world of YouTube, Tumblr, and games filled my mind.

After I noticed the clock had turned to a little past eight, I grabbed my cellphone and almost immediately found my mother's contact. This shouldn't have been much of a surprise, but it made me realize exactly how little I get out of the house or speak with anyone outside of the only two people I've come to never get enough of.

"Hello? Anything wrong, monster?" My mother's voice said affectionately in my ear after a moment. I smiled at the fact she didn't seem to need to go immediately for her sociology research.

"Hey, Mom," I started, "I needed you to remind me of that one theory with the sociologist who talked about the 'disenchantment of humanity.' My friends and I are working on something."

"Oh, Weber's* disenchantment?" Mom clarified, "He was the one who thought that with the more reliance on science and technology that the world grew to be more dark and serious and depressing. Was that all you needed?" I quickly typed out the message onto a note on my computer.

"Yeah, but how are you?" I asked. I hadn't talked with my mom recently, so a conversation sounded nice. We talked for about fifteen minutes before she needed to go. I double checked my facts. I was happy as my memory was jogged and just decided to go downstairs to talk with the others when a rather large shout from Sharrkan reached my room. I ran as fast as I could to see what was going on. Coming into the living room, I slid towards the back of the couch before finally stopping and realizing what exactly happened.

MarioKart was displayed on the TV, and Jafar and Sinbad seemed to be the only people in the group who picked up the controls quickly and well.

I facepalmed as I looked at the people laughing at the screen and Sharrkan's reaction as he fell of the track, yet again. Yamraiha seemed to be too concentrated on her own score to tease him. Sinbad and Jafar sat beside the two of them, intensely battling for first place. I walked into the kitchen in search of my best friend; she had to have had a hand in this. As expected, she was in there cooking.

"Why did you set them up with MarioKart?" I asked her. Someone was eventually going to die or be strangled. I could just tell.

"Because it's really funny," She answered as if it was the answer to 2+2. My eyes narrowed, but the grin on my face betrayed my thoughts. Logically, they shouldn't be playing. However, it was hilarious to see them yelling and cursing god over animated pixels.

"I hate that you're right," I said.

"I know," She smiled, "but you love me."

"That I d-" I was cut off by the sound of crashing and wood splintering.

Maybe MarioKart wasn't such a good idea anyways.