Xatlantis [M]

[Deleted]

This will be an ongoing series with Xat regulars as the characters. I'm not entirely sure how many chapters it will have, and there will not be an update schedule. As far as the rating goes - when I say mature, I mean there's going to be a lot of moderate swearing, some violence/death, possibly a few sensitive topics. Probably not much romance. It's nothing you can't handle if you're used to Xat, but avert thy eyes if you are young and innocent. For those who will be reading along: you can definitely post comments or let me know about any grammar/spelling errors that you notice. Feedback is seriously wonderful and makes me want to write more. So without further ado…



PROLOGUE

"Aiz, get off, you have your own seat!"

"Did anyone bring a plastic bag? I think Leo's getting motion sickness."

"You should've told them if you didn't want milk in your tea, Dane…"


Whoever thought it would be a great idea to have a big meet-up, let alone put everyone on a plane together, had made a mistake. Getting the group to New York was easy in comparison. Sure, Red had nearly taken a flight to Newark by mistake, and Ray'Shawn came close to getting detained when he started yelling in frustration at the line for security, but still. It was nothing compared to what happened after they were all in the city and had driven from their respective hotels to JFK International Airport.

Chaos. Absolute, unrivaled chaos. A few people had stayed up on chat until well past midnight. They'd woken up late, of course, and those who got to the airport earlier were pretty impatient by the time the stragglers caught up. For some, it was their first time meeting any of their internet buddies, which just led to more delay as they chatted. Security took ages - the line was long due to a malfunctioning scanner, and everyone had to wait while Leo was dragged away and searched (again).

Then they got distracted by food courts and ended up at the wrong gate. Much to the group's dismay, boarding had already started once they found the correct one; there was no time for shopping. With no small amount of disgruntled muttering, they got settled on the plane.

It was honestly pretty small for an international flight. Half the seats were empty, as Greenland wasn't much of a popular destination. There were maybe half a dozen strangers, not counting the plane's crew, so the chat gang took over the back few rows. And they just didn't shut up after that.


Back to the current moment. It was several hours into the journey, half the group was chattering like a rambunctious flock of sparrows, and Leo was looking progressively more pale as the plane shuddered its way through more turbulence. They brought up a hand to rub the bridge of their nose. Just across the aisle, Ray'Shawn was having a heated political debate with Kit, and Leo silently questioned their life choices.

This was never going to work. If everyone here could hardly run a website, how on earth were they going to start their own nation?

[Cloverstar]

This looks like a nice start, especially with the details in the beginning of the group's mishaps at the airport. |D My only actual complaint is that I haven't been mentioned...yet. eue

[Spiderstar]

I like it. Irl I'd probably be like you and just trying not to freak out cuz heights and planes crashing but
You got "Ray'Shawn" well, so I'm pleased.

[Deleted]

Oh wow. Three months. I promise I haven't forgotten about this, it's just taken a bit of a backseat now that I'm actually focusing on writing. I've been working on a lot more non-roleplay stories, which has been really fun and different, so bear with me while I try to balance everything!



CHAPTER ONE

Snow and ice. That was essentially all Greenland had to offer. Sure, it was beautiful, but everyone was beginning to understand why nobody really lived here. Unless you had professionals helping to build a settlement out in the middle of this frozen tundra, it was nigh impossible.

Which wasn't to say that they'd given up. No, with the group's combined efforts, they'd constructed a rudimentary shelter near a lake in a forest. It looked like a log cabin and a Viking-style longhouse decided to have some strange deformed child. Not perfect, but adequate to house the lot of them temporarily. At least it was better than the tents they'd originally been using. During the days, they'd head out to work on various tasks… and when the moon rose, they all came in to warm up and see what variation of stew had been been prepared for dinner.

Well, not all of them. There had been a bit of an incident.

"Anyone see Flurry today?" Janet asked that evening as they all sat around the fire pit. She glanced around expectantly and got a few halfhearted murmurs of dissent.

"She's gone, Koi," sighed Teanna. "You saw what happened. She ran off into the trees as soon as we got here; I don't think she's coming back. It's been a week."

A rather depressed silence fell upon the group. Janet frowned and tried to figure out, for the millionth time, what might have happened to their Canadian friend. What on earth had Flurry been thinking? Survival was tricky enough for the fledgling nation as a whole - there was no way somebody could make it on their own in the wilderness. Unless she'd gotten cold feet about the whole thing and headed back to civilization? Janet supposed that was possible.

Well, there was good news about their current situation. They still had everyone else, first off. Ray'Shawn had reluctantly taken up the role of doctor and he'd handled all the minor injuries fairly well. Aside from that, there had been no real opposition to their nation so far… which was a little surprising. Perhaps the government dismissed their group as a bunch of absolute loons? Janet chuckled softly to herself.

Leo quirked an eyebrow from the other end of Janet's bench. "What're you laughing about?"

"Nothing much. I'm just thinking, it seems likely that we're going to get ourselves killed before this nation gets started in earnest. We're a bunch of kids running around in the woods with no real idea about what we're doing," she replied with a sort of sardonic amusement.

"Hey now, you gotta give it some time! Rome wasn't built in a day," grinned Trick from nearby. Her expression wavered, however, when there was a sudden strange noise from outside.

It sounded like… footsteps? Although they were so rapid that perhaps the sounds were caused by some animal. Whatever it was, it paced in the snow near their shelter's door. Everyone had gone quiet as they listened - usually wild animals stayed away from their settlement. After a while, though, the mysterious creature seemed to lose interest; they could hear it retreating into the distance.

"Wonder what that was," Leo remarked dryly. They stood, opened the door, and peered out… only to stare blankly for a solid minute. When they finally did return from the entryway, it was with a very confused expression.

"We've got a ghost critter or something. There's no tracks in the snow."

Janet stared at them as if they'd grown three heads and started spitting fire. Despite the illogicality of Leo's statement, she could see Sci beaming in the corner of her eye. Janet knew that look by now.

Oh no. No no no. We are not…

"Is that a mystery, then? I love mysteries."