The Pond, 1 PT, Day 2, 8:35 AM

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Hunger is a strong motivator in any case when it is applied, no matter if it is natural and unnatural. It drives animals to search farther out than they are usually comfortable with and leads them to make risks that they would never do if they weren’t hungry. This motivator is no different for humans, as they act in the same way an animal would in this situation.

At the recommendation of a few people, it was decided that the group split into a couple of smaller groups and search around the pond for any food that they could find as the people who recommended the idea surmised that it would be easier to find food near the pond since it was a large body of water. Of course, the idea that it would be easier to find food near the pond coupled with the fact that the group did not have to move around a lot to find the food, enticed everyone to go along with the plan.

Once the plan was decided, the group split into groups, albeit slowly and clumsily. Since no one knew each other, it was difficult to split into groups. In the end though, the group split up into smaller groups. Though, to everyone in the group, it was clear that almost everyone was only out for themselves.

This selfishness showed itself through who was in each group. The groups were obviously split between races, as early on in splitting the groups up, the businessman decided to try and gather up all the fellow East Asian people of the group and look for food with them much to the distaste of the rest of the group since practically half the group had East Asian features. Trying to stay on the good side of the rest of the group, the businessman then quietly asked each person he was interested in gathering a question that Devin couldn’t hear and picked his group after asking all of them, resulting in about a third of the group coming together in a single group. As for the rest, they split up into smaller groups with much less fanfare but an equal amount of preference.

For Devin, the end result of this process resulted with him being in one of the smaller groups and staying stuck with the mute in a group along with getting paired with the woman with scar and a guy who looked like he was from Eastern Europe.

Before everyone set off, everyone agreed to try and arrive back at the lake by the time the sun was highest in the sky, as the sun was the only way the group could tell the time. Sure, some of the people in the group were wearing watches from when they got transported, but no one knew if the world they were now on followed the same 24-hour rotation period as Earth did.

Which leads us to now, as Devin and his group are now walking through the forest to find anything edible to eat, aimlessly wandering as they do not know what to look for. “So,” Devin, for once, was the first person to speak in the group, “does any of us know what we are looking for?”

While the group knows what they are looking for food, they don’t actually know what the food looks like. Do the fruits look the same as they would back on Earth, or are they different in a manner? What about vegetables and herbs, how would they be able to spot and differentiate them from just regular grass? For Devin, he is looking for something that either sticks out in the trees or some bush that has something hanging from it as he felt it would be too difficult to find vegetables and herbs that probably have the same color as everyday grass. There were other questions that the group had as well, like, “Could the food they possibly find end up being poisonous to eat?” However, those questions ended up being shoved into the back of their minds as the primal need to eat overrid their self-preservational instincts.

“Nope.” The girl with the scar gave a succinct answer while the mute just shook her head, “Just look for something that looks different…” It was quite depressing, none of them had any outdoorsmen experience and now they were thrust into this situation, walking in a forest that is filled with white-leaved trees that they have never seen before, and have to find and eat something that they had never seen before. They didn’t care if it was a fruit, a vegetable, or even a type of grass, they just wanted to eat. Sadly, it was entirely possible that they passed lots of edible plants and didn’t know it.

Continuing their fruitless search, the group of four kept looking. “So,” the Eastern European looking man broke the group’s silence, “I’m fucking starving…”

“Yea,” The British woman cut him off, not amused about how the man brought up their current predicament, “we all are ya eejit.”

The man, not amused with the woman’s response, shot her a look of distaste before continuing. “So how about we talk a bit so we do not have to focus on our hunger?” The man stared directly at the woman while saying this, as if asking her to say something wise-ass again.

Devin internally wanted to step into the conversation right now, but his mind was fighting against itself. ‘I should intervene, right? We are in this situation together, so why do we need to get so hostile to each other over this? But… what if they direct their anger towards me? I don’t want that. But, if I don’t do anything, it’ll just get worse…’ He was stuck between his want to step in and his desire to not stand out.

While Devin fought himself internally, the woman accepted the man’s challenge, staring eyes of spite at the man for a few seconds, before relenting and giving an audible “Tsk” as to get the last shot in.

“*Sigh*, well I guess we can start with names?” The man turned his attention away from the woman, not wanting to deal with her any more than he needed to. “I guess I will start it off,” he points to himself, “my name is Arunas, I guess it is nice to meet you three.”

“Heh…” the woman gave a little deprecating laugh, not to mock Arunas and his self introduction, but at the situation that they were in. “Shitty way to meet eh? Name’s Caitlin.” She then slightly smirks at Arunas and gives him a nod before looking at Devin.

“Ah… um… Devin, name’s Devin.”

‘Fuck… I messed up.’ Even though Devin knew he was next, he still screwed up his self-introduction due to his nervousness.

After Devin introduced himself, the group went silent as Arunas and Caitlin waited for the fourth person of their group to introduce herself, not knowing that she was mute. The group kept walking as Arunas and Caitlin waited for the mute to say her name, something that possibly would never be known again.

“So… what’s your name?” Everyone looked at the mute, with Arunas and Caitlin waiting for the mute’s answer. The mute looked at the other two and started to try and sign, before quickly stopping and putting her hands down, realizing that they most likely wouldn’t understand what she was trying to say anyways.

‘Should I step in here?’ Devin was unsure of what to do. He didn’t want to speak for the girl, but may as well would be forced to since the other two did not know that the girl could not speak.

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“Are ya gonna tell us your name,” Caitlin raised her eyebrow, one half confused, one half annoyed that the mute wasn’t saying anything, “or are ya just that shy?”

The mute raised her arms, putting two fingers to her mouth and shook her head, trying to signify that she could not speak.

“Why are ya tryin’ do right now, pantomime?” Caitlin didn’t catch on to what the mute was trying to do, getting more annoyed.

“Ah…” not wanting the situation to get any worse, Devin decided to finally speak up, “I’m pretty sure that she can’t talk.”

“Can’t talk or won’t talk?” Caitlin turns her attention towards Devin, which causes him to get goosebumps on his arms. Devin had a feeling that Caitlin would have an aggressive and hostile attitude, but having her attention focused on him confirmed what he had thought before.

“Can’t, I’m pretty sure that she is mute.” The mute nods her head to affirm what Devin said.

Caitlin turns her attention towards the mute, “I guess there is no way for us to know your name then?” The mute hesitates for a moment, pondering the question before stopping, causing the rest of the group to stop as well.

“What are ya doing?” Caitlin asks this as mute proceeds to look around, walking towards a tree and grabbing a small rock that was near it. The mute then walks back to the other three, kneels down, and starts to try and write something in the dirt using the rock.

“Are ya trying to write your name?” The mute looks up at Caitlin and quickly nods before looking down to finish what she is writing. On the ground, roughly written, there are six letters, “Verena.”

“Verena… is that your name?” Verena looks at Devin, smiles, and nods her head.

To Devin though, Verena’s smile entranced him, as it was one the most relieved and genuine smiles that he had ever seen before, as if a great burden was lifted from her shoulders. ‘Why did she get so happy from me just saying her name?’

“Verena eh? Nice to meetcha then.” “Nice to meet you Verena.” Caitlin and Arunas both gave Verena a cordial greeting as she stood back up.

Introductions finished, the group started to move again, except for Arunas, who was still looking in the same direction he was looking when Verena knelt down to write her name. He was craning his neck, looking at something.

“Hey, wait a moment.” Arunas said this and started to move towards a green, medium sized bush, a type of bush that the group had passed by many times since they started looking for food.

“What’s up?” Caitlin, Devin and Verena stop, curious as to what Arunas is doing.

“Is it just me, or… is there something in that bush?” Arunas doesn’t stop moving towards the bush, now in front of it. He crouches to get a better look inside of it. He looks inside of it for a few more moments, before his eyes widen in both surprise and jubilation. Giving a quick laugh, he quickly shoves one of his arms inside of the bush to grab something.

The action catches the rest of the group by surprise. They all think along the lines of, ‘Has he found food?’ Minds quickly filling with jealousy and hunger, they also make their way towards the bush to see what Arunas pulls out.

“Hahaha… ah! Fuck!” As Arunas pulls his arm out of the bush, some of the bush’s branches catch themselves on his arm and slightly cut it, revealing that the branches have small, inward facing thorns. But that isn’t what catches the eyes of the rest of the group. It is the two, round, dark red fruits that are a little bigger than strawberries in Arunas’ hand that has the group’s attention.

For a moment, there is utter silence. Devin and Caitlin are so focused on looking at Arunas’ semi-successful heist of the bush in awe, greed and hunger that they forget to breathe for a few seconds. Arunas is in such a shock that there is something that he can eat right in the palm of his hands that his mind barely even acknowledges the many bleeding scratches that are laden along his arm. They just want to gorge on the possibly edible piece of fruit that is in front of them.

Before any of the other’s can try and snatch the fruit, Arunas shoves the fruit into his mouth, rapidly chewing it and not caring that some of the fruit’s juices are pouring from the corners of his mouth. He practically moaned in pleasure too, his hunger finally being sated. The others look in envy and hatred, as they also want food for themselves, but realize that it will be impossible to grab from Arunas now that the fruit is now in his mouth. They then quickly look to the bush with a collective thought. ‘If there were two, there is going to be more in there.’

With no moment’s hesitation, and a bit of jostling, the other three surround the bush and crouch up to it. Not even caring about the inward leaning thorns that were on the branches, they shoved their arms in, fishing for any fruit that they could get their hands on. If someone were looking at them now and compared it to their old world, they would compare it to four homeless people dumpster diving behind a restaurant that just threw out their food for the night or how a regular Frenchman fought for cake right before their aristocracy fell.

Devin was lucky enough to almost instantly get his hands on a small grouping of the fruit. Moving his other hand towards the grouping as to ensure neither of the other two could get their hands on his rightful bounty, he violently grabbed as many of the fruit as he could before quickly pulling his arms out of the bush. His arms screamed in pain as he did this, as the thorns cut into his arms, deeper than the cuts that were carved into Arunas’ arm. But he didn’t care about that, nor the fact that they were starting to bleed, what he cared about was stuffing his mouth and stomach.

Not wasting a moment, he stuffed the fruit in his mouth and, like Arunas before him, moaned in pleasure as a near euphoric explosion of flavor erupted in his mouth. How could he describe this fruit, these gems paid in blood? The fruit itself was chewy, easy to bite into and through, and inside the fruit’s outer coating was a fleshy interior that was just waiting to release its juices. As the juices started to flow, Devin couldn’t help but silently cry in happiness. The flavor of it was just delectable, being somewhat of a mix between a strawberry and a kiwi. He didn’t know why he thought those two fruits were the closest comparison, but that was the best his mind could do at the moment. As he swallowed, he felt the juices flow through his throat as if he were parched and had just drank a glass of cold water and practically felt the fruit arriving in his stomach. Sure, his mind might be *slightly* overstating how good these fruits are, but his body just gave his mind two tall, grandstanding birds, savoring every morsel.

Finishing his appetizer, Devin was not even close to being sated. So, how could he resist waiting for the main course? He reached into the bush again, with only one arm and a little more care this time, now that there was something in his stomach, to look for more fruit.

It took a little longer to find something in the bush, since Caitlin and Verena had grabbed their appetizers while Arunas was already into his main course. Eventually though, his hand found a fruit and grabbed onto it. With a bit more care, since his arms were already burning in pain, he pulled his arm out. It wasn’t careful enough though as his arm returned to his view again though this time with shallower cuts, barely breaking through the epidermis. There weren't as many berries in his hand as there were during his first grab, but that didn’t matter to Devin, fresh food is fresh food at this point.

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Before the group even knew it, they had cleaned out the bush. Not a single berry remained for them to grab, not that any of them minded. They had eaten as much as they could, not caring if their stomachs would be bloated later on. They grabbed as much as possible, as quickly as possible and ate it as fast as possible. When the berry supply of the bush started to run low, the hands of several people who each person could not recognize started to slap each other, though they didn’t think to vocally argue towards each other as that would mean pulling attention away from their goal of obtaining fruit.

In the end, they were lying on the ground near the bush happily, with bellies full of berries. But they also had arms littered with cuts, with many of the cuts still bleeding or having just finished bleeding. Still, despite the pain they were in, now that their minds had time to process the pain that they were in, they were happy.