Unreachable

~Chapter Four~

Grian's POV
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Grian, Cultie, Scar, False, Doc, and Cleo all sat around a large, circular table, situated in what was designed to be a homely diner. Stress soon came back from getting all seven of them a bite to eat, then sat down herself. A short silence followed, before False stood up. "Okay," she said, facing pointedly at Cultie, who was calmly staring back at her. "You want to explain to us what the heck you were going on about back there?"

Now that he wasn't about to die, Grian was able to get a good look at these two new people. False wore a white, striped shirt, jean shorts, and brown combat boots. She now had a comically large hat and an eyepatch over her left eye. Huh, it seemed like she had a bit of a pirate theme going on. All she needed was an earring and she'd be se- oh, no, she had one of those, too. Thorough, this girl was.

Stress, on the other hand, was completely different. Her outfit resembled that of a scientist. She wore an ankle-length white coat over a simple blue-and-white striped shirt and black leggings. Her hair was done up in a bun—though it didn't fit very well, considering how short it was. The last thing Grian noticed was a pair of goggles that hung around her neck like one would wear a necklace. He mustn't have noticed that in the wildness that was before.

Now, the brit turned to the hooded person who sat next to him, picking apart a piece of chicken while he matched False's glare. He popped a piece in his mouth, chewed, swallowed, and leaned back in his chair. "Well, I'm a world-hopper. My offer to you is to unlock all of your memories and then continue gathering all of your scattered friends together." He said this all so calmly, like this wasn't at all unusual. "What else is there to explain?"

Momentarily too stunned to speak, False raised a hand, then pressed it into her head. The air of confusion radiating off of her was almost palpable. Grian understood; he had also been as confused as her when Cultie first explained everything (maybe he should learn to be a bit less blunt). As far as he could recall, though, he was not quite as... angry. To Grian, the pirate-impersonating girl seemed upset at Cultie about the very notion of something else coming before her life now.

Stress's reaction wasn't at all like False's. Granted, she didn't seem to have much of a reaction in the first place. The scientist's hands were folded over an untouched plate of salad. Her voice was smooth when she commented, "How do we know you're telling the truth? For all we know, it could all be an elaborate hoax." She looked uneasily down at her food.

Grian opened his mouth to speak, but Cleo interrupted. "I'm sorry, did you not see us fall from the sky?" she pointed out. She had been quiet up until this point, but now she sat up straight in her chair, challenging the other two. "Did you not see the chat messages? It's pretty clear that we're not from here," the zombie girl said, glaring at False.

Stress shrank into her seat, becoming suddenly intensely focused on her meal. "I'm sorry," she replied, not meeting the eyes of anyone else at the table. "But you have to understand that it's a bit far-fetched. You all suddenly just... appeared in our world, then your cult leader friend–"

"Why does everyone call me that?!"

"–...then your friend claims to be recruiting a bunch of amnesiacs to...well..." She looked up at Cultie, who was no longer eating his food. "What even is your goal here?"

...Huh. That was a good point, actually. Grian hadn't even considered that. He had never even thought to ask him. A motive... That was a really good point. Why was Cultie doing all of this? The gremlin couldn't think of any reason for the hooded person to go about this whole ordeal, especially since he didn't have any ties to them. He did say when he first dropped into Grian's world that he was just exploring, after all. But then again... Something didn't add up about this person. Suddenly, all eyes were on him. All the food on the table was left untouched.