Welcome To The Jungle // 4/4 // CLOSED

Carl soon felt like he was falling. Falling. He may not know much of the videogame experience but he was pretty sure it didn't involve falling into the game. He was screaming because what else was he going to do. He was falling from the sky. It didn't take long he hit the ground and lost his balanced. He grunted as he fell to his knees. "What is happening?!" He asked before his hands shot up to his mouth. That was not his voice and looking down these were not his hands. He was very pale and had no color in his skin usually, but now his hands were lightly tan. Standing up, he notice that everything seemed a bit shorter than usual. This definitely wasn't not his body.

Lailah felt that her hair was different, and began to pull at it. Red hair crossed her vision. She dropped it with a yell. "What the fuck is happening?" She whispered. Her voice was not her own. She said it louder. "Why am I Irish?!" She yelled.

"Stop screaming!" Screamed Juno, who then paused. "Wait, who's there?" She slowly and painfully climbed the hill she'd rolled down, trying to appreciate her surroundings as much as she could while actively panicking.

Carl looks up from his hands. He was officially panicking. All he ever wanted to do was skip precalculus and move on with his day. Not be stuck in the middle of a jungle with a body that clearly wasn't his. He paused, trying to clear his mind and level his breathing. Closing his eyes, he tried to listen to the sounds around him to help ground him but mostly all he could hear was someone screaming about being white. His eyes flew open when he realized it was a voice he didn't recognize. Looking around he say that a woman with red hair was panicking. "Hey hey hey. Calm down. Who are you?" He asks while putting his hands out. He takes one step forward not really knowing what he was going to do next.

"What do you mean, 'who am I'? I'm Lailah, but I'm not. I'm white, I'm short and I'm IRISH!" She suddenly realised that she didn't know who the other person was, the one that just asked. "Wait, who are you?"

Juno squinted, reaching the top of the hill. "You're short and white," she agreed faintly. "I'm Juno. But white. At least I'm taller now. I think." She immediately looked for the pros of the situation to ease her panic

Carl almost jump back at the intensity at her words. 'Well at least it is someone tolerable.' He thinks to himself as he puts a name to a face. Or at least who he thought Lailah was. He could always be wrong. At the question of who he is, he decided that maybe his face isn't the same either. Then again, why would it? "I'm Carl. I don't know if you know me but maybe you could calm down so we can figure out how to get out of here. Also find out who the other two are." Seeing as another person just identify themselves, Carl corrected himself. "Finding out who the other person is." Glancing to see a man who didn't seem to have even a faintest clue to show who they are nor were saying. "Oh gods, I hope it isn't the rich girl."

It took a bit longer for Charlene to fall, but when she finally fell into the hard, grassy ground, she found herself in horror. One look at her massive arms, and it was clear her body had changed. She needed no further convincing once she saw the other people. They all looked and sounded different, but by their stupid conversation and the way they all acted, it was clear who each one was.
'What the F–K happened to all of you?' she exclaimed, 'what happened to ME? Where the F–K are we?' She started to feel her hair, which she noticed was incredibly short, and found out that she also possessed a very rough stubble. Her face stood in shock, as she started to hyperventilate.
'Where the F–K are we? Someone better tell me, or you'll ALL suffer, okay?'

"Threats really aren't necessary, only incredibly rude. We're all panicking, and for you to act as though you're the only one who deserves attention is really not cool," Juno answered calmly, fighting down her panic, anyway. "Personally, I think we've somehow been sucked into the game Jumanji, because that's what it felt like to me. What's her name - er, Lailah looks like the avatar she chose before we left, so I'm assuming we now look like our avatars."

"Hold up…" Lailah said, more to herself. "White as fuck skin, some freckles, red hair, Irish accent…" She started to put the things together. She ran over and grabbed Juno, staring up at the now tall male. "What colour are my eyes? Tell me what colour they are." Please don't say green. Please don't say green.

Carl rolled his eyes in annoyance. Of course the rich girl was going to complain and make empty threats. He would be more surprised if she didn’t but that is the last thing they need right now. “My gods, does she ever stop talking?” He mutters under his breath not loud enough for any of the others to hear. After a tall male explains his… her theory, Carl couldn’t help but nod in agreement. “Yeah. By the flora and climate, this is a jungle so going by Occam’s razor we are in Jumanji.” Then the red head, Lailah as she said to be, started to freak out again. She grabbed Juno and started asking for her eye color. “Your eyes are now green just like the avatar. Is that a problem?” Carl answered even though the question wasn’t directed to him. Maybe this would calm her down or have the total opposite effect.

Charlene calmed down a bit, understanding now that she was the avatar she picked, which was alright because she did really like this character, but the only problem was the possibility that they were obese, and therefore, unfit to properly look after animals or help them out. What did 'Animal Guy' imply if this guy didn't look after animals? But she shook those thoughts off, and glared at everyone else, especially Laliah.
'Yeah, the wallflower pansy is right, they're green. What the hell's wrong with green eyes, I've got green eyes, are you trying to DISS ME?' But this was against her favour though, for now her character had dark, brown eyes similar to a dogs.
'Maybe I'll forgive all you nerds if you explain how the hell this could've happened, this is a game for god's sake.'

Two people answered with green, which made Lailah sink to the floor. "Nooo! I'm a stereotypical Irish person!" She yelled, upset. Then it wore off, and she stood up. "And no, I'm not trying to diss you. I don't give a flying fuck what colour your eyes are. They're brown, by the way. And why are you angry at us? We don't know what happened. We don't know why we're here."

Carl rolled his eyes at the rich girl’s comment before shooting her a pointed looks. “Really? Wallflower pansy? That’s all you got?” He questioned not really wanting an answer. He swears if something doesn’t kill her, he just might. Her overall attitude just rubs him the wrong way. Looking back at Lailah, he watches as she sinks to the ground into a puddle of sadness or whatever. He didn’t really understand why being Irish upsets her so much nor cared, he just hoped she got over it quickly. Which luckily she did and had enough anger to chew out the rich girl. “She has a point. None of us understands what’s happening. And throwing preschool insults around doesn’t help the fact we are stuck in the middle of the jungle. So can you get it together for a few hours or is that too much to ask from you Your Highness?”

(XD. Maybe. Sorry, my character just really hates people like her.)

'Oh… fuck all of you!' she yelled, 'Especially you, Laliah, stop fucking whining about Irish, you chose your fucking character, didn't you? I actually picked a person I liked, and you're the one who seems to going bat-shit crazy. No offense to bats.' She glared at all and everyone again, scoffing rudely at Carl's comments. 'You know what? I don't know how the hell science works anymore if this is possible, but I'm getting out of here by myself. And don't you dare say anything about "not making it on my own", because I'm a fucking wildlife carer, I know how to go through a fucking forest. No offense to forests either.' And with that, she walked away from everyone else and stepped over a fallen log into the brambles of dark emerald bushes, unable to be seen.
Finally, she got away from them all. All those nerds ever do is watch their stupid little games or read their books, dead tree carcasses who dwindled to nothing more then entertainment for their sick minds. Even that jock girl was too focused on a stupid plastic ball and dumb stadiums that resulted from mass amounts of deforestation… she believed. Actually the jock girl was a bit better then the rest, but thinking about her too often made Charlene uncomfortable with herself. Instead she looked at her trail and found it to be full of mud and moss, the usual kind in the jungle. She was rather grateful for her appropriate jungle gear. It was tons better then what Laliah wore for her character.

Carl wanted to roll his eyes again, he really did but that was going to be at least the third time he did it that day. And honestly at this point he might just roll his eyes out of his head. So he just stood there with a glare and no other real emotion plastered on his face. Maybe just maybe, the rich girl would tone down the high and mighty attitude and maybe help them. But no, that was too much to ask. In reality she ditch them and said something about doing it on her own. Carl thinks he might have scoffed out loud. He wouldn’t know as he was trying to wrap his head around why the rich girl thought it was a good idea to split up. Once she disappeared into the flora and plants of the jungle he said the one thing she demanded not to be said, “She is not going to survive out there by herself. Even if she had all the survival knowledge, groups tend to survive better in this type of situation. But whatever. Not my problem. Whatever suits her fancy I guess.”

"Why does she keep acting like I knew what my character looked like? They were just circles on the screen, for fucks sake! I chose this Luna chick because it said she was a 'Killer of Men'. If I'd known she was white and Irish, I wouldn't have chosen her." She looked down at what she was wearing. "I mean, it's not that bad. The pants could be a little longer and a little less midriff, but I've seen Vivajenne wear worse. Don't know what she's going on about."
She waited until Viviajenne was definitely out of earshot. "She's definitely dying out here. This isn't a forest. It's a jungle. Meaning monkeys, pythons, tigers and-" She looked up, fear in her eyes. "JAGUAR!"

Juno backed up, following Lailah's gaze. Shitshitshit. She wasn't feeling scared for some reason, just determined. "Ok, um, I'm not actually sure what to do about a jaguar, because they're fast and strong and um… I guess I could just, like… punch it. Which might not go well," she spoke softly but rapidly.

Carl didn’t say anything as Lailah ranted about not knowing that her avatar was white and Irish. He just had nothing to say and they already lost one member of this dysfunctional group. He wasn’t too keen on losing another. Then the girl started talking about the dangers of the jungle which he kind of tuned out until there was fear in her voice. Confused he looked at her and she was indeed looking at something. That something was a jaguar in the trees staring down at them. Juno offered to punch it in the face but that would exactly work as the jaguar has the high ground. “Uhhh… I say let’s back away slowly, don't run, and if it attacks protect the back of your head. I don’t know, I think I remember reading somewhere they go for the brain to kill. Oh this would so much easier with someone who actually knows animals.”

(hah, oh dear, Charlene totally bailed the others, but don't worry, she'll be back)

She walked on ahead, rather glad that her character didn't start to huff and puff after the trek. Eventually, she stumbled upon a rather large pond, curiously surrounded by sand and with water that seemed rather light blue. A quick glance upwards showed that the trees parted away from this spot, showing the sunlight and bright blue sky.
'Sweet, an easy drinking place' she thought to herself, 'I was sort of worried I was to find perspiration off a plant or something.' She knelt down to cup some water into her hands, but suddenly, the sand underneath her slipped, and she splashed into the pond, which actually turned out to be rather deep, and the edges seemed to be much farther then they weer before. She tried to swim to the bank, but she felt her ankles, knees and arms all lock up, and her body freaked out weirdly and horrifically.
'OH MY GOD, NO… wait… CAN MY CHARACTER NOT SWIM?' Her anger drove her to splash around more, but the character stayed in place. This was horribly unfair, she believed, because at home, she *always swam in the gigantic pools of her mansion to practice life-saving for animals, a skill not really abundant but useful for her volunteer time. Soon, a gigantic whirlpool started up with absolutely no reason, and Charlene found herself being sucked in. She tried desperately to swim away, but somehow found herself going deeper. She had to give in, otherwise she was never going to escape.
'HELP! HELP ME!' she screamed, 'PLEASE HELP ME, HELP ME, MY PERSON DOESN'T KNOW HOW TO SWIM!'

The jaguar jumped down and landed in front of the trio, baring its teeth. "I think we should just run. It's gonna catch us anyway, but at least then we'll be trying to avoid the death. So….Run!" Lailah yelled, sprinting away. Much to her own surprise, she was running quite fast, faster than she ever could before.

"Listen, I don't like to criticise, but I plan in which we almost certainly die seems like a terrible one," Juno yelled, running after Lailah, because now that she had run, they all had to die.

Lailah looked around for a way they could escape. She spotted something that might not necessarily be a way for them to go, but a way to make an escape. "Keep running!" She yelled to the others, then ran to what she spotted. It was a vine, and one that was sturdier than it looked.

Carl put his arms out to steady himself just in case he got attacked. Of course nobody listened to him because obviously his plan sounds stupid in a stressful situation. So they ran, leaving him behind. Now he had a spilt second to decide if he should follow or stick with what he said. But the moment the jaguar’s eyes landed on him, all thoughts went out the window and he ran. Carl was never athletic so he was surprised on how quickly he caught up with the girls.

Lailah pulled hard on the vine. It snapped, and was much thicker and longer than she was expecting. "Hey!" She yelled at the jaguar. "Over here!" The jaguar's head locked onto her, its eyes glinting. "Yeah, come get me!" She twisted the vine into a lasso of sorts, making sure it was strong. "God, I hope this works," She breathed to herself, watching as it got closer. Right before it reached her, Lailah tossed the vine lasso and looped it around the jaguars neck. This distracted the jaguar, and she pulled herself up onto its back.
"How did that work?" She marvelled, then placed a hand calmly on the jaguar's neck. "And why are you calming down. By all means, it should be impossible. There's probably a reason for it."

Juno leaned against a tree, staring at Lailah. "That… should not have worked," she agreed, shaking her head. "But great job, um, not letting us all die. Um, I'm going to go and try to find the other girl, because I have a feeling that it's not really possible to survive this place solo."

Carl pauses next to Juno when Lailah grabs a vine. It was long and thick but he didn’t know how it would help their jaguar situation. Watching intently, just in case he had to run again, he starts to get her plan. Tie the rope into a some sort of leash contraption and subdue the jaguar. But that seemed crazy to even attempt and Carl wanted to voice this but decided that his chance of survival rested on the decision of him letting the girl concentrate. Somehow someway it worked! The loop caught onto the jaguar and instead of fighting harder it calmed down. After that the other person in their trio suggested to go looking for the rich girl. This caused Carl to groan. “I don’t think she wants to be found. She left on her own free will so…”

Juno frowned. "And yet, our chances of survival without someone who knows about animals while we are in an actual jungle is somewhat smaller than I'd like for it to be. You're welcome to stay here, but I'm going to find her. She's not nice, but we're going to need her," she responded calmly.

Carl pulls a face of uncertainty as he weighs out his options. On one hand he could stay here, most likely by himself, and take his chances that there isn’t another animal attack. The chance of that not happening are very slim but he wouldn’t have to deal with the rich girl. On the other hand, he helps search for the girl and sticks with the group and like Jeno said that girl does have extensive knowledge of animals. It would be helpful to the entire group’s survival to have that knowledge, that is if it’s given willingly. There is also a high chance of complaints and unneeded accusations for the rich girl so that would be a con. Carl takes a few moments to internally debate before sighing. “Fine. Whatever. Let’s go find her but I would like to make it known that I am only doing this because it benefits the group. I hate to think of the next low blow insult she will think of once we meet up again.”