When you woke up, you weren't on the ground. In panic you opened your eyes and looked around at your surroundings. You abruptly noticed you were being carried by a rather muscular, blonde man, who must have noticed your sudden thrashing, "you're up?" He spoke in a booming voice that you could almost feel in your chest, "would you like me to put you down?"
Internally something was telling you to stay in his arms, against his strong chest, but your better judgement got a hold on you and you requested to be put down. He, of course, obliged.
"Thanks," you mumbled sheepishly, feeling your face heat up. You were a little apprehensive of this handsome stranger, who was looking down at you smugly. When you looked up at him, you noticed that must have looked pretty sad because as soon as you made eye-contact his smirk turned into a look of concern and he immediately asked you what was wrong. "I'm just a little ..." you paused for a moment, figuring out a good word to explain your behavior until he jumped in.
"I get it," he chuckled quietly at your cherry red face and uncomfortable behavior. "But I still believe it would be in your best interest to come with me to Achievement City, okay?"
You nodded before asking, "Achievement City?"
The blonde had started walking, but turned back to look at you, "oh, uh, it's a little village with five other men; nothing of interest, really. Any other questions?"
You took him up on his offer, "is there anyone else in this world besides you six guys? Are there any women besides me?"
He shook his head. "No, and no." His eyes had been somber until he said something that made his eyes light up with excitement, "but now we'll have a new face around town." He bumped your shoulder, gesturing that he was referring to you. Although you could tell he was trying to be gentle, it still sort of hurt. You lifted up a hand to rub where he had bumped you. "So can I ask your name?" He spoke without looking to you, instead looking ahead of himself.
After you told him your name, he looked up towards the sky a bit, thinking. You snapped him out of his thoughts, "so what's yours?"
He looked over at you and smiled, "Ryan," his voice was very gentle as he said this.
"Oh." After a second of pondering you asked, "what are the other guys in Achievement City like?"
He chuckled to himself, "well you'll just have to see," he spoke in such a mysterious tone, until you noticed you two were standing in the middle of some strange star emblem. Suddenly Ryan shouted out to the houses surrounding you, "Guys! Come out and see our new resident!"
You flinched slightly at his spontaneous noise. But as you looked around yourself, you noticed men exiting from all the houses surrounding the logo.
You took note of each one mentally: a sandy-blonde haired man in green, a black-haired man with a beard clad in futuristic armor, a man with curly red hair in yellow shorts, another black-haired man in a tuxedo and a white masquerade mask, and finally a man with a reddish brown hair and beard reaching half way down his neck. They all surrounded you in an excited fluster, questioning you and Ryan about anything and everything. The noise seemed it may go on forever, until Ryan lifted his hand. Everyone went silent from this one gesture. The terror you could see in everyone's eyes at his simple motion made you a bit nervous and a little uncomfortable.
He began to speak, he told everyone your name and how he found you sleeping in the middle of the forest. "And that's all I know," he finished, "anything you'd like to add?" he looked to you.
You decided that now may not be the best time to tell them of how you died and that you had no idea what was truly happening, so you just told him, "no. Not really. But I'd like to know who you all are," You smiled politely, looking to the crowd of men.
"I'm Gavin," spoke the man in green, who you had just noticed held a very strong English accent. He grabbed your fingers and kissed your knuckles in a very romantic gesture, "it's lovely to meet you," his voice was low and seductive as he spoke the final sentence. You could feel your face become red and your heart begin to race.
The man in armor pushed him out of the way, "I'm sorry about Gavin," he grumbled, clearly annoyed at his antics, "I get the feeling he's just desperate," he scoffed.
You raised an eyebrow, "and you are?" Your voice was laced with a hint of anger that was arguably justified.
He flinched and cleared his throat nervously, looking to you in fear. He was clearly aware of what an angry woman could do. He laughed even more nervously at the glare you gave him, "I'm Geoff, I'm sorta the leader of the group. Nice to meet you." His voice cracked with nearly every word he spoke. He held out a hand for you to shake that you took and shook roughly, still never breaking your scowling eye-contact.
The other bearded man broke the conflict, however, taking your hand and shaking it, "I'm Jack. Please don't murder Geoff. He's a decent guy, really," he protected his friend the best he could, causing you to laugh.
"I won't kill him, I just think an attraction to me is a bit more than desperation," you shot a final glare to Geoff that seriously could have tuned him to stone.
Next the ginger spoke, "I'm Michael." He said bluntly. You reached out your hand fir him to shake but he didn't take it.
Instead, the tuxedo-clad man forced a red rose into your grasp. You shot him a curious look and he bowed over-dramatically, "call me Ray," he said in royal tone.
"Oh my," you looked to him in awe for a minute, none of the other men had been so gentlemanly, beside Ryan.
Ray cracked up loudly, "I'm just bullshitting you, I'm not really like that," he laughed, and the others joined, Jack and Geoff laughing the hardest, and Ryan just chuckling lightly; it even brought a little giggle put of you.
Gavin, however, was still pouting over Geoff pushing him away from you. "So where's she gonna stay then?" He exclaimed, frustration making his accent even stronger.
You all stopped laughing at once and looked to Gavin, then they all turned to you.
Then Geoff screamed, "Shit!" And pulled you away from the group and out of earshot. Then he spoke in a voice that could be confused for a whisper, "so, who're you gonna stay with?"
[Who are you going to stay with, reader? Choose in the next step of your journey, whenever I finish with it, heh heh... (Also sorry if this chapter feels a bit bias toward Ryan. My bad... I: )]
