Wish You Were Here

[Aiden]

Aiden drove back to the tavern, taking a short while. He crusied through town at the legal speed limit (no, he didn't always speed contrary to popular belief), trying to figure out what human could arrive somewhere in a puff of black smoke. Was it a witch that did this, maybe? A demon messing with this human? He'd heard of demons somehow sending people through time and space, but hadn't experienced it himself. But this girl had no idea what was going on, so...had she pissed off some uber demon somewhere without realizing it? It was strange, but he kept himself quiet for the rest of the ride back to the tavern.

He was a little relieved to hear Teagan called him from the kitchen when they entered the building, because that meant that he had some more help and input on what to do with this girl. He pushed open the door and stepped inside, pausing when he saw another newcomer, a tall teenage guy, standing a few inches over him. He looked between him and Teagan, the guy seemed to know Mariah...so there was more than two of them? How many were there, and was it coincidence that Teagan ended up with one of them too? He wrinkled his brow when the guy spoke to him, and gave Teagan a furtive glance.

Stepping over to his faction mate, he took her aside while he gave the other two a little reunion. "Okay, this guy is?" he asked in a low tone, glancing over his shoulder at the two. "And...just taking a guess here, arrived in a cloud of smoke?" Before she could answer, and set of footsteps entered the tavern, and soon Yuki entered with...someone else. Another girl, tall, long brown hair. She too knew the other people. Allowing Yuki to come into their little pow-wow, he looked at the three again. "Is that Gina?" he asked Yuki. "Okay, so I've got, her, blue hair. Name's Mariah, crashed down in a cloud of black smoke, didn't know what happened. And think about it Teagan," he said, throwing her an unamused look. "Black cloud right as I was fighting a demon, I had every right to shoot her. Anyway, tell me what you've got, and then we'll figure out what to do."

[Teagan]

"Wait-you were chasing a demon?" She frowned in distaste at the faction leader. "Why didn't you tell anyone! We could've been there to help instead of babysitting!" Her eyes drifted over to the other group, which was deep inconversation. If you could call it babysitting, she supposed.

She eyed Mariah as Aiden gave the run down on what had happened. "Shooting her was still a bit extreme. Next time, confim it's a demon before wasting a round on a civilian. You never know who you're aiming at." She shrugged, indicating she wasn't mad...just concerned.

Her turn.

"Meet Blaise," Teagan jerked her hand back to point at the boy. "He appeared while my back was turned. I'm not sure if there was smoke or not, but, an interesting fact..." She turned to Aiden, "...he says he knows you."

[Yuki]

Joining Aiden and Teagan in their discussion, she responded to Aiden's question. "No, that is not Gina. Her name is Felicia, though I did hear the girl mention that name." So...that was Mariah? Yuki looked at the girl with blue hair from the corner of her eye. That was the girl that Felicia had called on the phone. That was also the girl that Felicia said had been shot. So...it had actually been Aiden. And the girl...wasn't involved in some serious, potentially dangerous organiziation of some sort. ...Wait, Aiden had been doing what when he ran into Mariah?

As this thought crossed her mind, Teagan voiced her own thoughts. "For once, Teagan's right! You fool, we could've helped you!" Yuki glared at him, resisting the urge to pin him to the ground. If he was trying to play it off as if he could handle tasks on his own, it was pissing her off. They worked much quicker as a team. She knew he could manage on his own, but it angered her that he didn't at least tell them that he was going on a hunt, or give them the opportunity to assist.

Then, Yuki looked over Mariah and noted the gun wound. "You could have merely paralyzed her with a hit to a pressure point. Injuring a civilian is quite the amateur move," she said in a matter-of-fact tone. Then, Teagan introduced Blaise. Yuki looked over at the tall boy. And that was whom Felicia had been talking to before Mariah.

And now it was her turn to explain. "As you heard before, the girl with the brown hair is Felicia. I stumbled into her while I was...out," Yuki said, trying not to reveal anything. "Her introduction was a simliar situation--cloud of smoke with a noise, and then she was there when it cleared. I told her to follow me back to the tavern so that we could investigate the matter further, and she did, albeit in an anooying manner," Yuki scoffed. Then she crossed her arms. "However, it is interesting to note that she had contact with Deacon earlier. ...Perhaps he's the one behind all of this."

[Aiden]

Okay, so that last bit of denial sounded stupid, and Mariah quickly killed that notion. This was no prank...so...how did we even get here? I mean, come on, the supernatural creatures from the show were just that, from the show. Sure, the legends existed, but the monsters didn't. I was sure that even some of the dumbest kids I knew would realize that. I also noticed that Mariah was scowling...at me. I hadn't even seen her and already she was irritated with me?! What the heck had I done? When she answered my mental question, along with the verbal one, my mouth dropped in shock. Aiden...WHAT?! I looked at her stomach and tattered shirt, and then at Aiden, in disbelief. "I...I'm sorry," I breathed, my eyes wide. "Why.....did," I couldn't even wrap my mind around the concept. I mean, Aiden was my character. I made him with logic and rationality, so he wouldn't just go off shooting her...unless he was distracted immensely. Was Ariel around when Mariah landed?

Felicia arrived, and she too was shooting daggers at me. Frowning, I made a mental note to somehow redeem Aiden in the future. I waited for Felicia to answer first before I answered Mariah myself. "I'm fine. Back hurts a bit from my landing, but I'll live." He glanced over at the group of characters, and leaned in close to the two of them. "So...we might be in some trouble. I didn't expect to see Aiden so soon...and I kind of told Teagan I knew Aiden...but see, Aiden doesn't know me."

He rocked back on my heels, and shoved my hands in my pockets. Or, I would have had I been wearing my jeans, as usual. It only now dawned on me that I was still in my work uniform. I stared at it for a moment, and then walked over to the counter, and untied my apron, putting it aside and taking my important items from it--wallet, phone, iPod...my car keys were in the ignition. I hoped no one had taken my car. "Okay, so, any ideas if they ask?" I whispered again, looking at the two girls. And of course, they had to know it was coming. "Anyone hear from Gina?"

[Teagan]

I stepped back after returning Mariah's hug. It had been way too long since I'd last seen her. Although, if I remembered right, it was the last time I had seen the backpack she wore as well. Was that the survival kit we had made for her? Psh. Awesome. Finally would get some legitimate use.

"I was doing fine until I randomly appeared in the middle of one of Yuki's performances," I shrugged in reply. A sly grin broke out on my face. "You guys should've seen what she was wearing. Oh my. Blackmail, anyone?"

The grin faded as Blaise leaned in and explained about his present situation. Normally I would've laughed...but since the guy had just shot Mariah just because she was at the wrong place at the wrong time (and oh-how much so), what would he do to Blaise? "Smooth one, commando. Good luck explaining that. Maybe you meant another Aiden? What?" I protested to their disbelieving looks. "It could happen..."

"Um, well, I didn't quite believe it at the time," I started, tugging absentmindedly on a strand of hair. "But apparently Gina's in Keystone. With Deacon. I think I actually had a full on conversation with him. Looks like I owe him a major apology if we ever come face to face." Heh, my bad. It wasn't my fault that he accidentally existed.

[Aiden]

Crap. Crap crap crap. He slipped. He had lied to them a few times before, but he had never been caught. But he had been so careless, they were distracted by these newcomers and he completely forgot about his lie to them earlier. He went out "following a werewolf" and he just said that he was chasing a demon. He didn't say he was trying to get information on Ariel, they didn't ask. They were more angry that he didn't say anything. He was capable of hunting alone before, he was capable of hunting alone now. "Uh...I...well, apparently I was wrong, and there was a demon behind the curtain, I just so happened to run across it." Weak lie...wait, he was lying again! Kicking himself mentally, he listened to them continue.

Okay, so they had Blaise, Felicia, and Mariah, who were all connected, and all appeared in a cloud of black smoke. It still didn't make any sense. But what Teagan said caught him off guard. "What?" He glanced over at Blaise, studying. Nope, never seen him in his life. "Really? He knows me?" He crossed his arms, and turned to the group.

"Alright, what were you three doing before you poofed?" he asked, and then added something else. "And you," he said, nodding slightly towards Blaise, "how is it that you know me?"

[Casey]

I held up my hand to Blaise, “Apology accepted, but I think we officially win the argument in regards to his mental health.”

When Blaise spoke again I just stared at him, and I think my face was full of horror and disbelief and possibly anger. Seriously? Did no one know the rules regarding dimension hoping and suddenly meeting you characters. First of all you play dumb, don’t say more than you should know, and lastly never say you know someone who obviously doesn’t know you. I am so going to have to teach everyone the basic rules of sci-fi and fantasy when we get back. Not enough time to know.

“Okay,” I pressed the heel of my right hand into my eye socket, “you two, just don’t talk, more so to Blaise. We need to stop digging our own graves and that means no talk regarding SNS.” I sighed and gently bumped my forehead with my fist, “Just give me a second try and come up with a plan.”

Without another word I sat down on the ground cross legged and crossed my hands in front of me. Closing my eyes I began running through situations in my head, trying to find one that would end with the least amount of gun fire. I’d seen thousands of bad sci-fi movies, read tons of books, knew fantasy, myths and came up with stories ideas (not many good) almost once a week. This was what I did, and know I was in a universe I helped create with two friends and fleshed out with even more. Damn, why was it so hard to do now? Thing was, I could craft myself an exit maybe but Felicia and Blaise (and Gina in Keystone) needed to get out too. Also we probably need the hunters to help us get back to home port. Even more so my belief that no plan survived contact with the enemy meant I had more of an outline then a definite plan.

“Okay,” I finally sighed,” I think I have an idea or two but I’m going to need you guys to go along with just about whatever I say. Add enough to what I say to sound convincing but not enough to trap us in a corner. More importantly don’t try and sound convincing, that’ll show you lying even worse and we all ready have to get it passed someone’s super observant ‘friend’.” I glanced at Blaise, “Don’t say anything that is common place in the show. Answer questions like you’ve been pulled over, look straight ahead, don’t show any fear, and only answer the question. Give a yes or no, and only add what you need to, don’t say anything more.”

I put a hand on Blaise’s shoulder and gently guided him down to my height, “Did you say anything else that would show that you know more than you let on? Any names, events, the like?” I pulled him closer and lowered my volume,
“If not I want you to look at Aiden like you’ve never seen him before. He didn’t tell you his name and I already may have set up something. We all heard short girl say his name and I told ya’ll he shot me, so they can assume we know it but still try and give him a chance to say it. If you do feel the need to say anything just say odd or something like that and let me spin a few threads.”

I released his shoulder, “And both of you please pray that this works. If Gina calls and we find out she spilled her guts, we are so screwed.”

Then I heard Brody again. I looked at my two friends before meeting the faction leader in the eyes, “I personally was sitting in my dorm but I already told you that.”

“Remember when I said it was freaky that your name was Aiden?” I don’t know how, but I think I actually sounded as casual as I could considering I was speaking to the guy that just shot me instead of a hunter that kill me with his bare hands, “We got this friend back home, well he’s actually Blaise’s friend. Let’s just say you two have a lot in common personality wise. Until today we thought he was one of a kind.”

[Teagan]

I blinked as Mariah dropped to the ground, deep in thought. As glad I was she had taken the first step to getting out of the mess...did we really want to get out of this mess? I mean, besides the 'Mariah got shot' thing...opportunity had knocked on our doors with the most interesting opportunity since Baron's Marriage and Budget assignment.

No talk regarding SNS? I bit my lip, something nagging me. What was it? Something about not being able to talk about SNS? ...oh crud.

Before I could open my mouth, Mariah stood back up and did what she usually did when she panicked: spewed rapid fire commands relayed in a low and strict tone. Look straight, don't talk, cops, pulled over...I couldn't follow it all!

"Mys!" I whispered harshly, throwing a quick glance toward the characters, not happily noting they were huddling on their own. That didn't bode well. "Forget whatever Blaise said; remember the conversation you and I had? The one in which I was trying to tell you where we were? And...we mentioned demons, Casey, rock salt and Keystone? We've pretty much already narrated half of their storyline."

I shook my head, "But we're also focusing too much on the negative. We could just be hunters. It wouldn't be hard to prove it, either. Heck, we can answer any question they ask. As long as we don't have to actually fight or what not, we're set, right? We CAN get through this and we will."

Aiden's voice snapped our attention back to the other occupants of the room. My eyes met Mariah's, trying to get the point across. "Don't panic."

...alrighty, her story was easy to support. No one had actually mentioned his name was Aiden in front of me before, so I feigned surprise. "Really? Last thing we need is another Aiden. One is enough." Hm, I should probably amend that. "Unless you're in a math class too right now and care to explain the variance equation. For some reason our friend gets it better than I do. But he's too busy to tutor, so if you have free time, it'd be appreciated." I shrugged. So what. Not the best I could've come up with, but it worked, right? ....hopefully.

"Before I poofed?" Is that the technical term for it now? I raised an eyebrow, slightly amused. "Homework. Boredly doing homework, and next thing I knew..." I threw a glance at Yuki, wondering what would happen if I mentioned exactly what the next thing I knew was. Probably something dangerous. "...boredom didn't preoccupy my thoughts anymore."

[Jefferson]

Reason's why Deacon shouldn't shoot us? Reason numbers one through ten: I don't want to die, being pretty much the only reason I could come up with at the moment. Fear and excitement were both both filling inside of me, but a giddy smile was all I could show. If Mariah could only see me now, she would call me a fan boy, no wait, fan girl. I couldn't help but think, probably because her own character was threatening me with a gun. If Jefferson were here things would be slightly different, for I knew how to handle Jefferson. Everything he was about to say, everything he thought, his movements, and his lack of control over his own powers would come as an advantage toward me, but instead I'm stuck with two brothers that aren't even Sam and Dean.

"The reason you shouldn't kill us is because you wouldn't kill a human. If you don't believe we are human, then test us. How we came here is beyond me dude. One second I'm crashing on my bed, the next I'm with the psycho barman holding a gun, and his equally psycho little brother. Now tell me, ain't life peachy when you have a gun pointed at your face." Great! The second I decide to pop back into reality, if this was reality, I decide to open my big mouth and bluntly say things normal people usually keep locked up inside.

"I am so dead now aren't I? If your going to shoot me, I just have one favor to ask: not the face!"

[Aiden]

I tried to repress my sigh, but I don't know how well I did so. Out of our core group...well, the only group on the site, the one person that I most wanted to make sure was okay (though, no offense to the others) was halfway across the country. Great. Perfect. Peachy. And if this was as real as it felt, that meant that going to get her would take as long as it would normally. Awesome. I tried to push that fact to the back of my mind for now, because we still had to get past Aiden, thanks to my slip up. Mariah's words vaguely registered in my head; my mind was elsewhere, obviously, and it wasn't until Felicia began speaking that I slowly, but surely, came back to...alternate reality.

"I swear, what is it with you guys and his mental health?!" I hissed, a delayed reaction. Aiden was not, NOT bipolar. All of the threads we had done were with him in some sort of bad mood, we hadn't done any leisurely threads, and the character wasn't theirs, how could they possibly know?!

He started talking. Oh no. Not good, not good, how could they possibly pull this off?! Come on, it was Aiden, and Yuki, and...if they really thought about it, they should have known they'd be screwed. Trying to keep my mouth shut, I unscrewed the cap on the bottle again, and took a drink of water. It tasted...fresh. Fictional water was much better than regular water. Wait, what were they talking about? I didn't go to school with Felicia, how could I possibly know the same Aiden? Heck, Felicia didn't even know the guy, only by name. Giving them a strange look, I shook my head. "Sorry about my friends, here. They don't know what they're talking about. See, there is this site that we started, and I ma--" I was cut off by someone before I could continue on. Aiden was my character, he deserved to know the truth! Why were they silencing me?!

[Teagan]

For once she was right? Yuki had obviously not kept track of the amount of times Teagan had correctly identified situations. She frown a bit in distaste as Yuki and Aiden continued talking. While she did hold curiosity as to what exactly her Japanese factionmate did during her random times out, she wouldn't inquire any further; what if they asked what she occupied her own time with while they were gone?

They would never let her out of their sights if either Aiden or Yuki knew what she did while they were away.

In her defense, security cameras were a necessity...even if only she had access to them. But, as for now, what they didn't know couldn't hurt them. Until Yuki sat in her chair again, that was. Teagan made a mental note to reposition one of her cameras so that she could get a clear shot of Yuki's face when she fell victim to the prank.

"Yeah, that's what he said," she shrugged. "Didn't care to elaborate earlier though." But that problem should be solved soon enough, Teagan smirked, watching the boy fiddle with the water bottle. Couldn't he drink it already? Suddenly the girl Aiden had shot dropped to the found in a meditative pose. What in the world was she doing?

Teagan masked a brief flash of annoyance from sliding across her face. These strangers acted like they owned the place! First Blaise appeared and, unable to give a straight answer, proceeded to talk to her like he knew something she didn't, then he put all of his items on the counter, and this Mariah drops down like it was the middle of her room! What would their third friend do- start cooking something in the kitchen? Felicia-was it? Teagan severely hoped not. Yuki already held a grudge against the girl for some reason, and while that didn't necessarily mean the girl was a bad person (because few people could stir any other emotion in Yuki), it wouldn't start the two groups off on the right foot.

Aiden turned to the newcomers, and Teagan leaned against the counter. This was going to be good. She couldn't wait to see how Blaise explained knowing Aiden when Aiden had never laid eyes on him before. Unfortunately, the other two answered first. She studied them silently. Mariah was comical in the way she answered-straightforward and unemotional. Hiding something, Teagan sang in her head, very amused. She internally cringed when Felicia mentioned math. That wasn't a lie-no one could fake the pain a boring math class brought. Her interest piked as the tall girl sent a nervous glance toward Yuki. So whatever Yuki did with her time, it was something she would inflict pain on other for knowing? Interesting...

And....

FINALLY! Teagan felt overly victorious as Blaise took the long awaited sip from his water bottle. Now she could get something straight out of him. Opening her own water bottle, Teagan drew a long sip, nearly choking at the end in laughter as Felicia warningly jerked his arm, sending a death glare his way. Someone here wasn't telling the truth.

Thanks to her though, they would find out. And when -if- Aiden and Yuki discovered why Blaise couldn't lie, they would realize her genius. Maybe Yuki would even give up her one night of cooking for that month to return the favor. "What was that guys? I didn't quite catch the ending."

Teagan took another sip of her pure, untainted water. Victory tasted sweet.

[Yuki]

If I had found any of this amusing at all (which I didn't think I had, what with the fainting and whatnot), that amusement was quickly dwindling. We were at "The Wesson,"...and Deacon, and Art, they were here. And now Saul. It was like SNS, coming to life. Or rather, our lives had been brought to SNS. This was more than an elaborate prank. In fact, it was so elaborate, it seemed in fact real. Hm. Seemed. 'I know not seems,' that's right. I couldn't use that word anymore without my teacher's voice going through my head. So then what? What verb would be a better substitute? Because I definitely didn't wanna use 'was,' and not just because doing so would make it a passive sentence, but because it would designate reality to the situation I found myself in.

What, what? What the heck am I talking about? I shook my head, trying to cast my thoughts away. Where was I going with that anyway? I took a deep breath and exhaled as Saul began to defend himself, and then looked over at him in disbelief. Oh man. "Saul!" I whispered harshly. "I don't think it's a good idea to call Deacon a psycho barman."

[Yuki]

This was turning out to be a huge mess. Here were these three individuals--Felicia, Blaise, and Mariah--who appeared out of thin air, quite literally, and had no idea how they had been transported from their previous location to where they were now. Considering the context of the situation, and the fact that the location they were taken to was the spot of none other than three hunters, their arrival had to deal with the supernatural. But the three appeared to have no knowledge concerning the latter. They all knew each other, however. That fact had to be related to why they had appeared at the tavern. As for how they had gotten her, that remained a mystery. It didn't seem as if any of them had done anything to trigger such a thing, all three had been relatively idle.

When Felicia had come to the part were she "poofed" right in the middle of her performance, Yuki had glared at her menacingly. If she so much as uttered a word or gave a hint of what she had been doing, or what she had been wearing, returning home would be the least of the child's concerns. She'd never hear the end of it from Aiden or Teagan. She got enough looks of confusion from them when she watched anime and read manga. If they found out she was cosplaying and singing in cafes where anime clubs gathered...it would be their source of jokes for weeks, especially since she normally patronized casual socialization in groups of any sort. Normally, they were annoying gatherings, not worth attending. However, an anime club was different. But how could she explain that to them? The answer was simple: she wouldn't. That girl would keep quiet, as if her life depended on it. Which it quite earnestly did.

Yuki had been curious to see how Blaise knew Aiden, because Aiden clearly did not recognize him. Had Blaise lied, or did Aiden just not remember him? The answer was supplied within a few minutes of talking to them--apparently, it had been a misunderstanding. Different Aiden. Yuki eyed them suspiciously. Something wasn't right. Blaise began to talk in a defensive manner, but the two girls silenced him. They were hiding something. Why would they lie to the three hunters? Yuki could understand why Blaise would lie about knowing Aiden, for he could have used that as an excuse to get Teagan to not kick him out of the tavern, or to make matters less suspicious. That had functioned until Aiden himself arrived and declared he did not know him. So when his two friends had covered up for him, why had he spoken out and insisted they were wrong?

Nothing made sense. Too many questions, not enough answers. "Okay, you three have been brought here by unknown means, and though we do not know how," she said, looking back at Aiden and Teagan, "we intend to find out." There was something tugging at Yuki's mind, however. Midst all the confusion, one factor did not correspond. Neither of the hunters had ever met the three teenagers, and yet...

"Felicia," she said, turning to the girl, "why did Deacon contact you earlier?"

[Teagan]

What on earth was Blaise thinking? He he completely ignored the last five minutes of dialogue? Mutton-head; who let their mind wander at a time like this? Taking the role of damage control on myself, I jerked Blaise backward with the hope of shaking some sense into him. My glare wasn't entirely difficult to interpret.

Intuition told me that the conflict ion in stories hadn't passed by the Portland faction unnoticed. The question reaming was who would call us on it? And how would we respond? Mariah and I could stumble through any situation without much issue, but Blaise clearly had a screw or two loose. Before I could get any further in thought, Yuki turned to me and a shiver flew down my spine. Did she had that reaction with everyone?

"Deacon?" Ah, crud. I should've known Yuki would've remembered that little detail. Time to play innocent. "I told you earlier-he's just some guy that called because my friend was in trouble. Apparently she fainted in his bar and I was trying to figure out how to get out there when you interrupted me."

[Casey]

Art shot Deacon a look that was a cross between “What are they smoking?” and “Can I please shoot the talkative one?”. Deacon shook his head and took a step forward.

“While those are all very good reasons not to shoot you, and I would’ve have gone for the face mind you,” Deacon said slowly, “that doesn’t explain a lot of what’s going on. So if you would be nice enough to explain how you know so much about us-“

“-seeing as that we’ve never met you,” Art supplied.

“You might want to start. Otherwise human or not, I will shoot you,” Deacon said flatly, “just in the kneecaps.”