Chapter Text
The world was pitch black. There was nothing, just darkness. Existing in a void of nothingness.
But then, there was something. Something under them. It was moving, they could not tell where it was going though. They were barely here.
Eyes of unknown color open slowly. It was still dark. But, they could finally comprehend that they were alive. They could feel the wood under them, the world moving with them.
Above them, light began shining in. It opened up from the center, the darkness receding as more light shown in. They could see. The light was getting closer and closer.
A hand reached up for the light. It was so warm and comforting. Was that their hand? There was not enough thoughts in their brain to think about that train of thought much longer. The sun was so close...
Then it was covered when something peaked over the ledge. It was a face, staring down at them from where the sun was. The light circled around their head, looking like a halo. It complimented the blonde hair of the stranger.
Put into a trance of staring at the stranger, they hardly noticed the ground under them had quit moving up, and the face was so close they could almost touch it...
"Hey, there! Are you doing ok?" A voice popped up from somewhere. It had a strange accent, but sounded soothing. Caring and nice. They liked the sound of that voice. They could fall back asleep to that voice... "Oi! Don't you go falling asleep again!"
Then there was something against their face. It was an annoying feeling, not painful, but bothersome enough that they couldn't drift back to the void. Their eyes were open again soon enough.
The blonde face was a lot closer than they remember it being. Now, they could see its features. Pale skin that perfectly complemented the brown eyes. It was a really attractive face.
"Gee, you're really out of it. That's kinda the usual, though. Not that I would know super well since, well, I've only seen two others come up, other than you of course. And even then, I wasn't really there. I just happen to be here right now since I heard the lift raising," the voice from earlier was back. They could see how the face's lips moved along as the voice spoke.
An unintelligible sound comes from somewhere close. The face seemed to stop it's rambling to stare at them more. As if trying to listen. Another sound comes from somewhere, making the face look confused. It was then they realized that sound was from them.
"Don't you worry, I'm sure one of the others will come soon, help you come back down to reality! Hopefully, one of the more experienced people, can't imagine Skizz or BigB would be much help here..." The voice sounded quiet and warm, like a blanket of stars was being laid on top of them. "Maybe, I should have gone to go get someone when I heard the lift rather than come here. I still could go run and get someone..." The brown eyes that they had been staring into this entire time flick away to somewhere else. They're back on them soon enough, though. "I'd feel bad leaving you here by yourself, though. You look really out of it..."
They provided no answer or reassurance. They couldn't. They were barely lucid as is.
"Don't you worry, I, Jimmy, will keep you company! It sounds awkward just saying my name. I should think of some kind of title for myself..." The voice trails off, before a gasp escapes its lips. "Oh, I should sit you up! Looking up at the sun must be making you dizzy! Plus, orienting yourself is the first step of- uhhhh.. well first step of orienting yourself!" There was a pause, and a look of doubt. "I think."
They felt something grab them, the grip was bordering painful. Its intent seemed to be shaking their world. Soon enough, they were slightly bent, the bottom half of them was still on the wood. Finally able to look down at some of theirself, they could comprehend what they were looking at. Those were their legs. Eyes trailing up their own body, they could see hands, a stomach, a chest.
Human. That's what they were. They were a human, a person.
What they used to see was their eyes. They could change the perspective by moving them or their head. They were able to move. Humans could move.
Their head, which had been hanging forward when their position was changed, moved up. Back arching, cracks coming from it as they stretched. Movement returned to them.
They could finally look at the face- no. Person, who had been with them this entire time.
The person had the blonde hair they took notice of when they first saw the person, and the same brown eyes. Eyes wandering down, they took in the rest of the person. Their body was well built, probably carried heavy things often, or they just had a nice body. They couldn't tell their heights, with them crouching in front of them. They didn't even know how tall they were.
"Hey there," their voice brings them back to their face. "You doing alright? I mean, you're moving around a bit, taking in the surroundings! That's a good sign, right?" They looked hopeful, staring them.
And, yea. They were feeling better. The world was finally crashing down on them. Could finally feel like a human again.
There was something important though. Something missing.
They stared off into space, trying to go back into their memory. Wait, memory... They had none.
No, no. They did have some. They knew they were human. They knew simple stuff, like moving, talking, stuff about the world. But, they don't remember how they know all this.
It felt like they were a baby. In what weird memories they did have, they knew what babies were. Knew that they were the stage of life. Knew definitely they were not one.
"Why, why are my memories so weird?" They found themself asking. Their voice was hoarse, as if they hadn't spoken in a while, making them cringe a little. Speaking also made them take notice how dry their throat was. 'I can't remember... yet can?"
All they got in return was a sympathetic smile from the other person. "Yea, that's how it's been with everyone. We all know some things, but have no memories really of ourselves or our pasts. You'll get used to it eventually."
The blonde stranger approached closer, and they couldn't think of them as a threat, so they allowed the stranger to come closer. "We only know our names since there's a weird rock that has a name that appears whenever we get a new person. Unless you come up in a group, and then you all have to pretty much choose a name out of all the ones that appeared. Thankfully, I came up by myself." They smile at them, their smile was quite infectious as they felt their own lips tug up.
"Oh, I didn't even introduce myself! My name is Jimmy, or that's what I guess it is because of the rock! I go by he/him pronouns, by the way!" The stranger- Jimmy- introduces himself.
What was their name? What about their pronouns? There were so many things they needed to learn about themself! They wanted to go to this rock, find out their name!
Their eyes must have betrayed their thoughts, or maybe they had outwardly expressed their desire to see this mystical rock, as Jimmy moves to stand up, extending out a hand for them to grab. They stared at it for a second before slowly resting their hand on his. In an instant, they were being pulled off the ground and onto their feet.
It took a minute for them to get their bearings straight. They had barely known what feet were not too long ago, much less having to actually use them. But, thankfully, their body seems to have remembered how they worked as it kept them standing. And Jimmy's hands on them keeping them steady helped.
"To the rock we go! If, if you feel like you're going to fall or feel bad, or anything, just let me know! We'll probably see some of the others on the way there! They'll know what to do better than me..." Jimmy sighs, expression becoming downcast. He seems to realize that this wasn't the time for it as he shakes his head to clear it, and offers them a smile.
"Ok, let's get you out of here!"
Getting out of the platform wasn't very hard. All they had to do was step on a couple of barrels, Jimmy behind them the entire time, making sure they wouldn't fall.
Soon enough, they were out of the platform thing, and into the strange place. They couldn't help but stare in awe at the large stone walls that were surrounding the place. There were vines growing on the walls, yet they looked mostly intact. The clearing seemed large yet small at the same time. There were trees on their right, but there were small buildings and farms scattered around.
"Welcome, officially, to the clearing! We just call it a clearing because... uhhh... Well, I actually don't know why. They just always called it that when I came up so I never thought to question it!" The blonde chuckles nervously, scratching the back of his head. "Well, it doesn't really matter what it's called at the end of the day. Let me show you around on our journey to the rock!"
Jimmy takes the lead and they are quick to follow, listening intently as he pointed and explained things.
"So that's the community house! That's where all the leaders meet up every two weeks to discuss matters, as well as where we put any resources that need to be shared with everyone. Like food and whatnot!" The building was large and circular. It was clear to them that it had at least three floors, all of which likely had different uses. "Sometimes we're all called in there for really important matters. Well, that's never happened, not while I've been around, but that's what I've been told!"
"Oh, the lift! How could I forget to explain that?" The blonde sighs again. "Right, so where you just came up from is the lift. It comes up every once in a while to give us new things, like people, seeds, animals. Stuff like that!"
"Ok, next up are the farms over there. The farms are run by the farmers, obviously. We have four of them, Tango, their leader, Mumbo, Etho, and Gem. Each group of people has a leader, which are the leaders I mentioned earlier. Tango was one of the first two people in this place. Most of the leaders are the people who actually made their group.
"Like, we have the builders and resource gatherers. They're run by Lizzie, the other person who was up first. Then there's Joel, Scar, Bdubs, and BigB who are part of that group. They just collect materials and make things that people need. Then there are the runners, led by Martyn. Pearl, Grian, Cleo, and I are part of that group. Beyond these walls is a maze, so we all go in there and explore, looking for an exit. Joel used to be a runner but after he died once, Lizzie got anxious about him going in so he joined her group." Hold up, someone died? Isn't death supposed to be permanent?
"What? Died? How is he still here then?" They ask the obvious, because how does Jimmy think it's ok to just skip over that? Seriously?
"Oh, we all thought that too. A lot of us cried for days as that was the first time someone died. But after a week, he appeared in his bed. We all had heart attacks thinking he was a ghost or something!" Jimmy laughs as if remembering a funny memory. "But then we went to the rock and saw Joel's name that had once been lime colored had turned yellow. We got to speculating that we had three lives because of the big three engraved on the stone. But yea, that's that story!"
"I see..." They didn't really fully understand. To be fair, it was troubling for everything you once knew to get thrown out the window. With time, they'll likely come to terms with it better.
"We have one last group, the medics, overseen by Impulse. Only him, Ren, and Skizz are in that group. They make sure that everyone in the community is ok, but when they aren't doing that they are helping out with the farmers or resource gatherers." Jimmy finishes explaining the groups.
They couldn't help but notice that there was an even amount of leaders, which felt weird. Couldn't that mean that ties happen when voting on issues a lot? They felt like asking, but decided against it. There was always another time to ask these things. For now, there were more pressing matters for them.
"Which one will I be part of?" They ask, head tilting to the side a bit. They couldn't exactly remember what they used to do, and doubted that any of them did. So how was it decided?
"Oh, once you get fully settled, you'll spend a day helping out with each group and then see which one suits you best! Or whichever one you really want to do!" He answers, breezily. "Like, I chose to be a runner even though I was better at helping with the medics. Well, not that much better... But that's neither here nor there. Oh! Look, that's the rock!"
Their head whips towards where Jimmy pointed. It was, in fact, a boulder. From where they stood, the could faintly see green here and there on it, there was yellow on one part too. They couldn't exactly read any of it. Not yet.
"Whoa-" They grabbed Jimmy's arm and started running over to it, the blonde barely trailing behind. Honestly, it was quite impressive that they were able to drag someone so much taller than them, but they paid no mind to that. They were about to find out their name!
"What is it? Where? What's my name?" They ask him, once they were at the rock. They walked around the rock, staring at all the names, most of them green. Three of them were yellow, more than the one they were expecting. At least they knew Martyn, Grian, and Joel were not their names. They should know all the other names but remembering all those names when Jimmy was telling them, but there were way too many to remember all of them.
Jimmy seemed to be checking out the rock himself. Under his breath, they could hear him mumbling to himself all the names and putting faces to them. They watched until one seemed to trip Jimmy up, and their eyes immediately went to it.
Scott .
"Well, I don't know anyone named Scott," Jimmy spoke up after a couple of seconds. Their eyes lit up and they stared at the name. Their name.
"Scott," they say out loud, testing the name. Their smile widens after. The name felt so right. So them. They were Scott!
But, thinking to themself, now having a name, what more about them is there? They don't really know their pronouns, but feel quite masculine. Even the name made them feel more so.
"I think I like more masculine pronouns for myself," he continues. Yea, this felt much better for them.
Jimmy was looking at him with a big smile on his face. "Well, it's nice to properly meet you, Scott!"
"You as well, Jimmy."