There was a few moments of silence.
And then Gill raised his hand like a schoolkid.
Ariza glanced at Gill and gave him a cheerful smile. "Yes, Gill?" she asked, mildly. Jesse had only a couple seconds to wonder how she knew their names (without any introduction) before Gill rather bluntly asked his question.
"Are you human?"
Ariza blinked at the question, looking a bit confused at the sudden ask. "... yes...?"
"Well, if you are human, then how did you get all this power? I mean, you literally teleported us here," Gill started counting off on his fingers, "teleported us around the place so far, and basically can keep us here for two weeks, so..." He paused, before giving her a sheepish grin. "Um, sorry if that sounds rude."
Ariza waved the question off, back to smiling pleasantly. "Ah, don't worry about it. Actually, it's less of a matter of me having the power to do all this, and more of a matter of me calling in, like, half a billion favors from people who, combined together, do have the power to do all this and then teaching me how to keep it running without blowing all the power."
Gill blinked at that, before making a soft 'ohhh' sound and glancing off, apparently seeming satisfied with this answer.
"What types of favors?" Hadrian wondered, squinting at Ariza with a frown. His voice was low and thoughtful, but at the same time he didn't seem to be aware that he'd been speaking at full volume. (Jesse was wondering if he was a sports announcer or something; the way he spoke certainly indicated it.)
Ariza heard, though, and she replied cheerfully, "Well, one of them involved me asking this guy who knows a demon who knows the devil and asking them to do me a small favor."
Everyone stared at Ariza.
Ariza grinned back.
... nobody could tell if that had been a joke or not.
Eventually, Cam stuck her hand into the air, looking extremely nervous about having the black-and-pink haired girl's attention on her.
"Cam?"
"Um-um-um, what- what else can the wristbands do?" The second the question had exited her lips, Cam's face turned a bright shade of red, and she quickly subsided, hands in her lap.
Ariza gave a bright smile. She tended to smile a lot. "Oh, glad you asked! So, I've already mentioned that it keeps you from getting injured, going into restricted areas, and the color indicates what team you're on, yes?"
Everyone gives a small nod of understanding, and so she continued, "Well, there's three other main functions that I feel like I should mention. One, it indicates who you are talking to. You know the earbuds I gave you all?" She tapped her ear, showing that she had a black earbud in there, like all of the other competitor's, except that it was... y'know. Black.
Another nod. Jesse felt like they were all turning into bobble-heads at this point.
"Well, the wristband will indicate who you are communicating with, whether it be me or some other member of your team or, well, generally everyone. You can use the wristband to switch through channels and talk to different people."
Ariza rattled her wristband before continuing, "also, during the game, in certain 'phases', the wristband and earbuds will start using a noise cancelling signal, so you won't be able to hear anything until the signal is disabled."
Ellegaard (the Ellegaard the Redstone Engineer, holy bananas) looked at the wristbands with an impressed expression on her face. Actually, now that Jesse looked around, Harper was now tilting her wristband back and forth, Olivia was examining it closely, the guy in the orange hoodie (SturdyCat? No, Stampy Cat) was moving it around in his fingers, and Xara was touching the wristband as if she was trying to open it up. "That must've taken an amazing amount of redstone," Ellegaard murmured, staring at it in wonder.
"Yep, I ended up having to ask..." Ariza's smile faded slightly. "... an old friend for help."
Several eyes darted around the room at that, but Jesse barely had time to see that Ivor's expression had a flicker of discomfort on it before it had gone back to normal.
Shaking it off quickly, she smiled at them all again. "Anyway, the communication function of the wristbands is basically like calling people on the phone. Pull up a certain person, and you can talk to them until you hang up." A slightly sheepish smile spread over Ariza's face a moment later. "Um, warning...
"The next function is that you can pull up a map of the whole place that indicates where you are. It turns out that the place is kinda confusing to navigate, according to the beta-testers-"
"The what testers?" The Warden asked, but Ariza ignored him and kept talking. Maybe she hadn't caught it.
"So I incorporated a map that'll indicate where you are at the time, and you can pull up labels of places and all that nonsense. Also, other people will show up on the map, so if you're trying to find someone, that's also pretty handy," Ariza added mildly, touching two fingers to the wristband on her wrist and flicking upwards sharply, resulting in a hovering, blue map above her wrist. She waited until everyone else had tried it themselves, before flicking back down sharply with the same two fingers and shrinking the amp back into her wrist.
"And the final function worth noting is that in each game, you can pull up details from that specific game up. For example, if you were one of the 'murderers', the information that would appear would be your name, your role- the murderer, of course, in this situation- the people still in the game, and which phase of the game is in effect."
Ariza flicks the wristband sharply, knocking another hovering screen with information on it. Jesse barely managed to catch 'Ariza Luca', 'Moderator/Narrator', and 'N/A' before Ariza flicked the wristband again, making it retract back into the wristband.
"This is handy in case you don't quite remember what role you are or what you can do, or if you're trying to figure out who you still need to eliminate and who's on what team. Only in the case of the murderers, though. The innocents are just stuck there." The girl shrugs, glancing back at the wristband. "Beyond that, you can also use the wristband as a watch."
Jesse tilted her wrist towards herself to get a better look, and the time sprang up on her wrist.
Ellegaard looked as if she were in awe of the wristband. The redstone wiring needed for this must be way more complicated than Jesse had initially assumed if Ellegaard was this impressed.
"Any more questions about the wristbands, or just more questions in general?" Ariza asked pleasantly, lowering her wrist again.
This time, Mevia's arm went up into the air, the woman flicking back a lock of pale blue hair as she did so. Ariza nodded, the pleasant smile on her face twitching into a slightly larger one. "Ah, yes, Mevia?"
"What exactly did you mean by 'characters' or 'avatars' or... the 'themes' that you mentioned?" Mevia asked, lowering her arm so that they were resting neatly on her lap this time as her brow furrowed at Ariza.
Ariza's lips twisted as she considered this, tapping the corner of her mouth. "Hmmm... alright, here's a better explanation of that. On the first two days, we will be going with the default 'theme', which is a village that happens to be infested with werewolves, and you all basically just... act like yourselves. Just be yourself for those two days. But on the third day, while we're still staying with the default 'theme', you have to invent a new personality to play the game as- basically, you're a character in that."
"For example, let's say on the third day, I'm a normal villager. In that case, I'd invent a character for myself to fill that role; so instead of being Ariza Luca I'd be... let's see, uh, Quinnetep Anderson, a girl who likes mountain climbing and lived at the top of Celeste Mountain, but then moved to this lovely village filled with werewolves to take a break from the mountain."
"Oooooh, so it's like role-playing!" Romeo exclaimed, eyes lighting up. His cheeks dusted pink when everyone turned to look at him in surprise, and he immediately shut his mouth and sank back into the couch. Xara, who was sitting next to him, looked torn between being amused or concerned.
Ariza tapped her nose and then pointed at him, pink eyes gleaming cheerfully. "Very good, Romeo! Wow, that was a much simpler way of explaining it. I'm dumb." She rolled her eyes at herself. "Anyway, so the 'characters' or 'avatars' is the 'character' you invent to fill the role that day, if that makes sense. Kind of like inventing your own character in Dungeons and Dragons."
"And the themes?" Otto (was that his name? Jesse thought it might've been Octavian or something. Or Octavius?) asked, calmly.
"Gettin' to that. The 'themes', as I mentioned, are basically what the characters will be structured around. As mentioned, the default theme is the village that's infested with werewolves, but each day we'll have a different setting and theme. For example- not saying this'll actually be used, just saying- we may end up having a small, quaint village that is deathly allergic to dogs, and the 'murderers' will be were-corgis that will cuddle their victims to death."
"Oh, that's adorable..." Jesse twisted around to see Radar blinking before blushing at everyone's gazes now being fixed upon him.
Ariza grinned. "Glad you think so. I probably won't use that theme, but I do enjoy it. Anyway, yeah- the 'themes' are basically where that day's game will be 'set'. While we still have the same game mechanics and roles, they will probably be explained in a different way than they were initially, and will be used as a refresher because, let's face it, there's literally over 100 roles, so it's hard to keep track of them."
"Well, any more questions?"
Stella's arm lifted into the air softly. Ariza nodded at her, and Stella asked, "Ah, I've noticed that some people don't seem to recognize other people, while others do... what exactly is...?"
"Ah. Uh, that's really iffy to explain. Basically you're from different periods of time at the moment."
Everyone stared at Ariza, waiting for further explanation on that because that little statement made almost no sense, but she simply sat there and said absolutely nothing.
At last, the Warden's hand went up. Ariza shifted slightly, leaning her chin on her hand and giving a nod in his direction. "Yes, Warden?"
"Are we allowed to switch teams?"
"No." Ariza's answer was so prompt that it made everyone in the room blink in surprise. Usually she rambled on and on for about ten minutes before stopping.
There was a brief pause, the Warden blinking uncertainly at Ariza.
At last, he gave an awkward cough, arching his eyebrow. "What if we have a very big problem with one of our teammates?" he asked, glancing sidelong at Xara (her gaze darkened as she stared back).
"Unless your teammate actively attempts to kill you- which, by the way, is against Rule 4 and so probably will not be perpetuated- then I unfortunately won't switch your teams. If you have bad blood with one of your teammates, I'd suggest sucking it up and getting over it for the two weeks that you'll be here. It's not forever. You're just going to have to deal with them for 14 days."
Ariza paused after that, before giving a half-apologetic shrug. "Sorry."
Aiden glanced at Jesse sidelong, his celery-green eyes narrowing. Jesse spotted the look and shifted her gaze away from the other boy, cheeks flushing red.
Ariza waited for a good thirty seconds for any more questions to emerge. When no more appeared, she clapped her hands together cheerfully. "Okay! Well, if you all end up having any more questions, please feel free to call me and ask me. I'll be happy to answer any question you'd like! Now, I'd recommend that you get yourself acquainted with the place so you don't get lost. Feel free to explore, and again, if you've got any questions, please feel free to ask."
"Also, meet your teammates and introduce yourselves, and feel free to go to your dorms. ALSO, if you're on the same team with someone you currently have problems with, please talk it out with them, since you'll basically be living down the hall from them and collaborating with them for the next two weeks."
She sat for a moment, before giving them all a grin. "Yeah. Uh, see ya, so long, and g'bye!"
And she clicked out.
There was a moment of silence as everyone tried processing what had just happened, before Jesse glanced down at her gold wristband. Looking around a moment later, she looked to Romeo, who was still sitting next to Xara and looking a little shy, fingering the gold wristband on his wrist. Leaning over, she gives a little wave to him, making him blink at her. "Ah, hi, Romeo..." She gave him a sheepish smile. "I guess we're on the same team?"
"Same here," Stella briefly raised her wrist. Mevia adjusted her own bangle, Ivor glanced at his wrist before huffing, and Harper tugged at the wristband. Aiden glanced at his own silently as well, but said nothing.
That was a small indication to start discussing teams, apparently, and soon everyone was grouping off into their own little clumps to discuss their teams. Axel gave Jesse a small pat on the back as he moved with Olivia to where the others with green wristbands were sitting, and Petra joined the cyan group.
"So," Aiden said all of a sudden, making Jesse look over at the Ocelot, who had shifted over to sit next to her because the gold group was quietly introducing themselves to each other. Jesse, having been here the earliest, had witnessed all of the introductions of this group, so she didn't really have to stick around and listen.
"... so."
Aiden crossed his arms and looked at Jesse, while Stella interrupted in the middle of Mevia's introduction and caused the two women to start arguing. "I guess we're on the same team for this."
"... yep."
"..." The two of them stared at each other for a moment, saying absolutely nothing as they sized each other up like a pair of wild animals. Very well-mannered wild animals.
Aiden shifted slightly. "Look, just to be clear, I don't like you."
"Yes, we've established that from the millions of times you've called me trash, my friends trash, a loser, lame, or stupid," Jesse responded mildly, without skipping a beat. "And I'm not even entirely sure why you bully my friends and me, so..."
The Ocelot let out an irritated huff. "Can you get to the point?"
"I don't know, can you explain why you feel like it's necessary to bully a girl and her friends who, outside of the Endercon Building Competition, interact with one another a total of two times a year?" Jesse replied, crossing her arms and squinting at him.
"If it's really such a big deal to you," Aiden hissed back, trying to keep his voice low as Harper introduced herself again, making Ivor look at her sidelong, "it's because you're physically the most annoying person on the planet."
"I think that's subjective."
"You're nice to everybody, even if they're a complete jerk to you," Aiden continued, ignoring Jesse's comment, "you're way too polite to everyone, and you're happy all the damn time. Heck, you're probably one of the only people who didn't flip the frick out over the fact that we're stuck here for two weeks."
"So you feel the necessity to bully me for it?" Jesse whispered back, keeping her voice very low. "I mean, I've never done anything to you. And I'm not bothering you with being a positive human being."
Aiden opened his mouth to retort, only to find there was none there. He sat there for a moment, mouth slightly ajar, before he clenched it shut, narrowing his eyes at Jesse. He seemed unwilling to open his mouth again.
"Look, I don't even know why you do it, or if it's actually necessary, and we can discuss this later if you'd like," she offered, softly. "But if you don't want to talk about it, that's okay too. Just... can we call a truce? Just for... I dunno. Two weeks." Jesse offered her hand to him, in a sort of awkward 'handshake' motion.
He looked at it for a moment, before taking her hand and giving it the briefest shake possible, his mouth pressed into a thin line as he looked at her. "Truce."
A/N: If you get the human-demon-devil reference, you are awesome. And the 'Quinnetep' reference. And the village with the deathly allergy to cute dogs.
If, at any time, you have a question, please feel free to ask- I will do my best to incorporate it into the story!
And also, yay! We've got a truce. This story will probably get deeper and more emotionally involved than I expected, because I'm going to be experimenting. Yay. Hoped you guys had your questions answered!
Also, in terms of that project last time, on a lot of my other stories I've mentioned that I've been working on a Minecraft: Story Mode fangame with Toni42, and it's finally done! So, you can play it by looking up 'Trust Fall' by Astral Autumn Games, or just go to this link here:
arizaluca . itch . io / trust - fall
Just get rid of the spaces and the link should work!
Responses to reviews!
gollyohgosh: If I wasn't planning on writing anymore, I would tell you guys. I wouldn't just stop randomly unless there was an emergency.
TheAmberShadow: Well, glad to see you again! / xD / Yeah, that's a good point. / Yep xD / Yes. xD / Answered!
MiekoHiroshima: x3 / Answered! / Haha, no, I wish.
Toni42: Lol xD / I think at the moment they're all freaking out about everything else going on; once that kicks in all the 'HOLY SHOOT' about Reuben'll also kick in. / It's really awesome! I think you'd like it x3
LunarTheMooncake: (chuckles) Glad you like it.
SoundMusician60: Ah, that's awesome! Good to see you! / (grins) / Thanks!
EmLee: (thumbs up) / (laughs)
Emily the Avenger: It's a fun game!
AquaK13: Yes, yes I am! x3 / Glad you like it! And nah, that's not weird, I know what you mean xD / Nah, they're sort of just there. / Haha, yeah. That's going to be fun xD / Nope, as far as I'm aware anyway. / Answered!
Hope y'all enjoy! See ya, so long, and g'bye!
x.X. A.L. X.x
