Forced into the Game

ch.3 Oh the fun... of aguing...

~Taylor’s POV~

“Hey! I asked you what you thought!” I had just relayed what we should do about this... Situation. Obviously, she had been zoning out a little much for my liking. “If you can’t keep your head,” I pointed to her head, “In the game, you may as well just go home!” I glared at her and she glared back. Whoever this Delilah chick was, she’d better watch out. If she was going to keep on like this I wouldn’t be able to finish the job, something that almost never happened.

“Jeez, sorry! Reminiscing is my specialty.”

“Oh yeah? I thought that was killing? If reminiscing is your specialty, then maybe you should consider changing your job description to ‘author’.” I nearly shouted, then added, “Idiot,” under my breath.

“Hey! Did you just call her a zombie?!” A white floaty thing that somewhat resembled a person appeared out of her necklace.

“What the-” I murmured.

“That must be her partner-in-crime, Tay.” James muttered from behind me. “I wonder where he’s from...”

“How do you know it’s a he?” I countered. “It could be an it.”

“Excuse me!” The floaty thing said, “I do talk, you know, you could just ask me.” I looked at him strangely.

“I wonder...” I trailed off, morphing my atoms into a similar shape. “Ha! I got it!” I shouted gleefully.

“How on earth!” Delihlah said, astonished.

~Delilah’s pov~

I stood there wide eyed at the pink figure before me. It , or she, I guess, looked just like my boyfriend. I felt anger surging through me. Astral rested his hand on my shoulder, a touch that I didn’t want now. Shrugging off his hand, I hissed at her,” Now who doesn’t have their head in the game?!”

She looked up from examining  her hand. She had a cold look in her eyes. Then, she morphed back, and slapped me. “What the heck was that for?!”

I slapped her back, my bracelet smacking her in the face  in the motion. Her eyes narrowed even more,  and reached in to  take a swing. James intercepted her. I felt Astral’s arms wrap around my stomach as I lunged for the irritating female before me. _“Astral! Let go!”

“If I do, you’ll kill her!”

“That’s the point!”

“Of working together?! I don’t think so!”

“Let go!”

“NO!”

“...”

That was the first time that Astral had ever shouted at me. My eyes watered as I stopped struggling. Astral’s arms left my stomach as he floated away. I frowned at what I saw in-front of me. James and Taylor were kissing. That just aggravated me. I stole a glance at the floating person behind me before clearing my throat. They looked up, and stepped away from each other, bushing madly.  “Are we going to get going, or stand here all day,” Taylor looked at her feet before nodding,” I thought so. We’re going back to the hotel here for tonight, then leaving in the morning.”

I turned around, and started for the steps. I felt Astral come close to me, and I frowned. “I’m sorry, Delilah! Why are you ignoring me? I said I was sorry!”

“Maybe you should shout at me again!”

I stomped off down the steps, barring my head in my hood, so no one would see me cry. I had never felt so bad in my life. I felt Astral shrink back, than heard him mutter something to James.   

~Taylor~

“James? What was that about?” I asked, I didn’t realize that trying to master a new form would cause so many issues!

“You tried to mimic her-uh- boyfriend. I guess she just didn’t like that.” Just then, this Astral walked up to James.

“May I have a word?” He queried, or more like told. “In private.” He added, after getting an affirming grunt from James.

“No problem. Tay, you stay right here, and don’t think about shifting to follow me or anything, or else.” He gave me a look that said ‘I mean it’. I just nodded. Whatever it was, if this was so important that James was willing to talk without me, I guess I had to let him. I just had to trust that he would not run off without me, and I suspected it went both ways. About thirty seconds later, they walked off just out of hearing range.

~James~

“Astral, I’m not sure how this is going to work.”

“Me either. But no matter what, we have to keep them from killing each other.”

“Agreed.”

“I think part of it was her necklace. The griffin-like one. I don’t think she could quite place what is was or something, and that was part of it.”

“But the real fight broke out when she tried mimicking your form.” I gave him a meaningful look.

“Yes, I -er- well, I didn’t realize it would cause so many problems, but clearly I wasn’t thinking straight at the time.”

“Duh. Now let’s get back before she runs off or something.”

“Good idea.”

~Taylor~

They came back about five minutes later, a sign of peace written all over their faces. “You know Taylor, one of the greatest architects ever designed this building.” James told me.

“No, James, you are quite incorrect. One of the worst architects ever designed this. The only reason it is still here today is because of the infinite caretaking it gets.” Astral butted in.

“No! I am Austrian, OK? I would know!”

“And I am omniscient.”

“Oh, really? You couldn’t beat me in a fight.”

“That wasn’t the question. In fact, I doubt you even know what omniscient means or how to spell it!” He accused.

“Really? O-m-n-i-s-c-i-e-n-t. Omniscient. And it is wisdom, infact, there is a form of book writing called third-person omniscient, because the narrator knows the thoughts and feelings of all characters.”

“Oh, so you finnally take to proving me wrong?”

“Yes, actually, I bet I could easily beat you in a fight.”

“As they say in the, well, cheerleading world, bring it on.” And James ran at him, tackling Astral to the ground.

“Delilah!” I screamed. “James is about to kill Astral!” About five seconds later, D was at my side.

“I give James three minutes before he’s pinned.”

“Ha! James will pin Astral in about five seconds! He’s the best guy I know.” I scoffed at Astral’s abilities as, to D’s astonishment, he was pinned in ten seconds. “Wow! James, that’s the longest you’ve ever taken to pin someone!” I gloated over James’s victory as Delilah stood there, mouth hanging open in shock.

“B-but, h-how?”

“Hey, D? If your mouth is open much longer, a bug’ll fly in it.”

“That’s the first person to ever beat Astral!”

“And that’s the first person James has taken longer than a minute to pin.” I commented. “It’s not like Astral wasn’t good or anything, he just wasn’t good enough.” I put the emphasis on ‘enough’.

“ Whatever, let’s just get back to the hotel and plan the hit.” Astral suggested, getting up off his butt and brushing himself off. And because the loser suggested it, we complied. (After all, if he was going to be a sore loser about it, he obviously wasn’t showing it.) And D quickly hid her emotions again.