Kari's POV
We had been introduced to Winter and Calypso's elemental friend when we ran into him on our journey through the forest surrounding us (metaphorically unlike before). He wore a black hoodie (with the hood up), black jeans, black boots and black gloves, as well as a neckerchief that almost covered his mouth completely (black, of course). Well... Fan of black, apparently. Dark purple hair poked from underneath, flopping down and flicking just the slightest upwards, and the only bright thing all on him were his strikingly bright turquoise eyes that seemed to shine with some sort of light. It was quite easy to mistake him for a particularly short enderman, especially from the back. Soon after we had arrived at the designated meeting spot, and had a rather awkward scenario with someone that had no idea who we were and what we were doing here.

Silence hung over us for a split-second before Calypso coughed and explained quickly. The Ender girl continued watching us skeptically with an air of wariness as if expecting us to leap at her with a dagger to her throat suddenly.

"Uh... Okay then... So, you're joining us, huh?" She finished, tilting her head slightly in questioning, arms tightly folded as if she had no intention of reaching out a friendly hand of greeting whatsoever. I shifted slightly, wondering if Bren was also uncomfortable underneath her violet and blue skeptical gaze. Jett had shown a similar reaction, but he was relaxed enough. Suddenly I began noticing everyone around was giving us some space, and without even realising it, we were doing the same. Was there this much distrust between us? Then how would this even work, exactly?

"Well..." I paused, thinking. "Er, maybe..."

"This is just a short, partially experimental period, since they worked so well with us in Pokono or whatever that goddamn place was." Calypso remarked drily, appearing behind her with a flickering of what seemed like blurred black and green code and resting an elbow on her shoulder with a relaxed smirk. She raised an eyebrow slowly, no doubt wondering what the heck the rather unpredictable and slightly volatile hybrid was about to do, pushing her headset up slightly in her white and blue tresses. "C'mon, don't be so uptight. Be SLIGHTLY hospitable to our friends, would ya?" There was a slight sarcastic edge to his voice as he said friends.

"Yeah. We're just sticking around for a while... Y'know, advantage in numbers." Bren said after a short glance at me.

"Uh-huh." She didn't look convinced, but shrugged. "Well, I'm sure we'll all benefit one another. Quick question, I hope I'm not being rude, but are you two just so random strangers that you guys (she indicated towards her companions) bumped into while coming here, or...?" She looked from Winter and Jett to Bren and I, her expression clearly demanding an explanation. Winter explained briefly of the proceedings from before, somehow making the whole thing seem more heroic and valiant rather than simply knocking down a rusty old gate. Jett hadn't heard the story yet, and leaned in interestedly.

"Well, that's a relief to know nobody was hurt." I was glad that Freeze seemed less distant, and trusted us a little more.

"Yeah, real lucky. Aether guards are supposed to be well trained," Jett almost sounded like he was complaining. "But they seem a little too stupid... Can't even hit me a metre away."

"Why do you have that rather big purple blotch on your face, then?" Calypso asked with an air of curiosity, appearing on a massive disembodied tree stump that had countless rings on its flat, not entirely smooth surface. The shadow elemental immediately flushed bright red, which was quite noticeable as he had an unnaturally pale complexion that looked like he was feeling quite faint 24/7, contrasting with the black.

"Er... Well..." Winter rolled her eyes.

"The potato story, right." Catching my eye, she sensed our confusion. "He got hit in the face with a sack of potatoes." She said in a purposefully monotonous voice, her mouth twisting into a small mischievous grin as Jett excused himself from the conversation, muttering something about a drink. "He gets hurt real easily, drawback from his powers." She explained. "Though those taters did floor an aether general..."

"Okay..." Bren said slowly, before breaking into a small smile. "I don't even want to know."

"So, do you have any particular desiratination in mind?" Freeze asked me, seeming more relaxed now.

"No, not really. To be honest, we haven't seen a map in forever, and I have literally no idea where the nether we are." She was surprised.

"Well, lucky I have one here. Or... A few, actually. Should PROBABLY mention I'm the tracker cartographer and the tracker of the group." There was a bit of hidden pride in her voice, and I had little doubt she was contented with her work. She shoved Calypso off the stump, much to his annoyance, and spread maps over it carefully as if she was wallpapering a wall. I studied them, and found them all connecting and leading in one direction sorta diagonally. They had been following the same route, which was mapped one a larger diagram. It was zoomed out more, and showed more terrain around. It was one of the only original maps; the close up ones seemed to be all made by her. The neat handwriting and labels were consistent throughout them. I was impressed by how organised everything was, and followed the red lines to the next village yet to be looted, which was named Kascnov. These names keep getting weirder I swear...

"Yeah, we do all the stealing 'round here." Winter agreed. "She doesn't like getting in on this sort of business for some reason. Stealing too low?" She challenged playfully.

"No, I just dislike street cons, and burglary isn't my thing either." Freeze replied vaguely. "Kascnov is our next stop, as you can probably see. Fine with going there?"

"Yeah, we're fine. As long as there aren't too many hunters, that is." I added. I wasn't sure if these people PURPOSELY got into danger, but Bren and I try to avoid it as much as possible.

"It's rather remote..." She studied the map. "It is unlikely we'll get too many hunters around that area. It's right alongside the desert, which we may have to travel through next. Jett, who had returned silently and sneakily undetected, made everyone start as he voiced his opinion out loud.

"NO, NOT THE DESERT. ANYTHING BUT THE DESERT."

"I agree. It's freaking hot out there!" Winter protested, visibly shuddering. Calypso laughed,

"Relax. I'll teleport everyone across, okay?" Freeze agreed rather reluctantly, as the desert seemed to go on forever and no doubt it would be painful. "As the aether guards are currently keeping watch on this entire area, and probably raised a few primary safety precautions, it would be advised to do this journey on foot." Bren, who had been rather quiet and no doubt feeling awkard this whole time, cleared his throat quite suddenly.

"Um, just out of interest, do we have any supplies?" There was a split-second of silence before Winter and Jett both simultaneously hit themselves with an open palm.

"Well that's just great. We didn't have time." Calypso said wryly. "Wonder who was too busy getting coffee to think of the little things like essentials?" Jett glared at the creeper hybrid warningly, turquoise eyes flashing.

"Amazing. We're so organised these days," Freeze muttered sarcastically. "Sorry, we're not usually in this much of a mess." She apologised to us. I grinned slightly.

"No problem. I can't even get a map around here, and with the amount of times we've gotten lost before, being in a disorganised chaos is fine with me."

"Especially with him leading us." Bren added sneakily, and I shoved him.

"Alright then, we'll try to kill some mobs for food or something." Winter procclaimed. "Everything set?" She didn't wait for an answer. "Let's go. Keep your weapons out in case we run into any... Trouble." She warned darkly, striding off already. Calypso followed rather wearily, as if he was bored of the proceedings already. Freeze packed up her maps at lightning speed, impressing me with her hand-eye co-ordination and ability to stuff so much paper into a confined space like that. She followed Jett, who didn't bother melting into shadow. Instead he hung behind around the back, allowing her to pass. I looked at Bren, and we did a simultaneous little shrug before joining them. Odd bunch, but who am I to judge? I couldn't have asked for much better company, though.
~~~
Author's Note
Ugh, I gotta practice clarinet after this -_- It's the school holidays dammit, I want a break. I'm listening to Dollhouse by Melanie Martinez while typing this, and it is AWESOME. Yeah, just needed to let everyone know. Also, Enderspi has gone missing. Probably sick, or wi-fi's down or something, or maybe he just wanted some time offline, but still, if anyone has any info, tell me please. I've realised that it's possible none of my OCs are actually that good. Stealing and stuff disregard for the death of others (*looks at Kari and Bren really hard*), being the CAUSE of death, and much more. The bad guys are just worse than the good guys I suppose... Yeah, I'm not a mary-sue author, and I never will be. DON'T DO MARY-SUES KIDS. In my books, being mary-she is basically asking to be killed. I'm aware that I just went on a random, spontaneous tangent... I sincerely apologise for that...
-iVesper