Isn't This a Bit OFF..? (Zacharie X Reader)

Exploring Zone 2

You contined to sit in your room and draw for a while, jotting down every little idea that came to mind. When you had filled the page with your art, you observed it, finding that most of everything was random.

"Oh well, I suppose I'm out of inspiration. Might as well go explore this place some more, it seems like a sort of confusing area." You stood up, leaving your supplies strowed out all over your desk and stuffing your phone and iPod in your pocket. Thinking that it was a nice day and you may have wanted to stay out for a while, you grabbed a backpack and packed it with a stack of blank paper and a pack of pencils and colored pencils, just in case your inspiration decided to return later on. You then walked to the door and exited, locking it behind you.

Looking forward and taking a deep breath, you began to retreat, forcing yourself to forget the fact that there of course may be spectres close by. Your hands grasped the straps of your backpack as if it were going to fall off and you had to hold it in place.

You looked around, seeing that there were residents out and about the area- you heard that they were known as Elsen, and they were much different than normal humans. Back where you lived before, there were few Elsen, so you didn't know much about them other than the fact that they were very shy, timid, and hesitant about almost everything. Your conversations with Elsen never lasted long since the people were always so not used to conversing with you-they always kept to themselves, and you didn't like the idea of bothering someone who didn't want to talk, so you mostly kept your distance.

After walking a bit, you came upon the library at the center of town- it was a surprisingly large building, one that seemed to tower millions of stories above you. The architecture was pretty plain, other than the height and all of that, though the most noticeable thing out of all was the bright fuchsia coloring of the entire building-not to mention the whole town itself.

Shrugging to yourself mentally, you entered the monstrous library, taking a look around to adapt to your new surroundings. What was fuchsia outside was now deep blue on the inside, another noticeable color that was dark instead of light. Even the stair cases were blue and the books and bookshelves.

An unsurprisingly worried looking Elsen stood behind the front desk. You approached, only to be spoken to by the person.

"Please be... Um... Careful... On the third floor..." The Elsen spoke shakily, obviously scared to talk just like the others of his kind. You were confused at his statement, but issued a question.

"Why? What's going on?"

"The building... It's infected with spectres... From the third floor and up..." The strange sounding wheeze in the Elsen's voice had always seemed to send chills down your spine, but you had to get used to it eventually.

"...Okay.... Thanks for the advice..." You turned your back to the Elsen and then allowed your feet to carry you to the left staircase, hesitating before traveling up and to the second floor of the library.

"It's only the second floor, and I shouldn't be here long. I guess I don't need to go to the third one anyways." You made your way to a bookshelf and looked through the titles, eventually selecting one at random and opening it to a page in the middle. Your eyes scanned the words and the opposite page, giving you enough time to realize what it was at least about.

From what you could tell, it was written about a masked man who slew a toad king-it didn't really pique your interest, so you closed it and set the book in it's rightful spot back on the shelf.

Suddenly not feeling like reading anymore, you stretched gently in order to not bring pain to your injured shoulder and yawned, then left the second floor of the building, followed by exiting the entire building itself. Your fingers found the straps of your backpack again, then you began to walk away.

After about 30 minutes of exploring the area, you had already discovered that there was an amusement park in Bismark, yet you had no idea how to get to it because of the gap in the metal ground that was occupied by the ocean of plastic that separated everybody from accessing the entrance.

You had left, and were now on the east side of Zone 2, in front of the entrance to the Elsens' residential area. You had no desire to go in-besides, you wouldn't be allowed to go in anyway because of your lack of wearing a tie. Instead, your back was turned to the residential area, and you were facing the fenced off ledge that revealed the sea of plastic. You found a spot and sat down, since you were quite tired of walking in the first place.

After several minutes of just observing the liquid plastic, you took your backpack off your back and opened it, taking out paper and a pencil. You had only just started to outline a drawing when you felt your phone buzz and you took it out of your pocket to figure out why it did what it did.

Someone had texted you-the number wasn't in your contacts, and it was unknown to you. The message read: 'Good day, ______, how are you enjoying your stay in Bismark of Zone 2?'

Confused as to how this person knew your name, you glanced at your hand, only noticing a phone number on your hand that was written in black. You then looked back at the sender's number on your phone screen. The two number's matched, and you realized that it was Zacharie, and you had forgotten to add him to your contacts.

You quickly replied with: 'Oh, Zacharie! I like it so far, at least.' It was true, you weren't the type of person who would lie.

'That's absolutely wonderful! If I may ask, where are you? I just happen to be somewhat curious of your whereabouts.' Zacharie's next answer was retrieved by your phone.

'I'm sitting in front of the residential area, facing the plastic.'

'Oh... you may want to get away from there.'

'Why?'

'The residential area is overrun by spectres...'

'...And I'm JUST figuring this out!?' You felt your heart stop as your brain absorbed the words of the merchant's last message, then you quickly stuffed everything but your phone back into your backpack.

'I wouldn't tell you something that wasn't true.. Hang on, I'll be there in a few minutes, I feel like I should guide your steps for a while before you get yourself into trouble again.'\

Your mouth gaped open. The last thing you wanted was to have to have someone guide you, as if you didn't know what you were doing. But after thinking for a minute, you decided that it was maybe best, and that he was probably right that you had no idea what you were doing.

'Fine, I'll see you soon.' You then slid your phone back into your pocket, and sat there waiting for the arrival of your new temporary 'guide.'