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Being isolated from the others, Alistair had absolutely no way of knowing he'd suddenly find himself on his back. It happened with a small thud, the pain nothing serious, but it wasn't pleasant, either. He growled in anger, quickly jumping to his feet before he noticed himself now in scenery that was nothing like the tavern he was just occupying. In fact, it looked just like a certain void he'd been to before. Only this time, it wasn't mostly empty. There was a lot of faces, and they were familiar. 

[color=c1ba46]"You guys, what the hell happened this time?"[/color] he demanded out of the others, though they all more or less seemed shaken up. This was not normal, as far as their curse went. They were supposed to return to that 'checkpoint' of sorts, not to some abyss. He was worried something irreversible might've happened, and as he later would learn, that was probably correct. 

[b]”She actually did it?”[/b] a mysterious voice rang out. [b]”I guess we all wanted them out of that situation. So long as I don't take the blame for it, this is acceptable.”[/b] it belonged to some woman Alistair couldn't recognize, who held a flute. But before Alistair could ask who she was, another person, this time a girl who seemed to be fair, spoke. 

[b]”Figures you'd say something like that, Greed! But this is bad! This breaks the deal we had with Talus!”[/b]

The second she mentioned Talus' name, no, even before that, Alistair had instinctively known who they were. After all, he'd just been made aware of their existence thanks to the woman in the tavern. These girls had to be those 'artificial witches' he was told about, that were watching the group. He couldn't let his guard down around these beings. 

[b]"Oh."[/b] a new, doll-like woman said as she closed the distance between herself and Alistair. He wasn't entirely sure what the deal with the transparent hands were, but he didn't like them, that much was certain. They had to be magical in some way. [b]”Hello, Alistair. I, really, like, how, you, achieve, your, goals. I, wish, I, could, work, that, hard, at, anything. But, I, lack, the, ambition, to, do, so.”[/b] 

[color=c1ba46]"That's nice to know."[/color]

Alistair acknowledged her 'compliment', but he did not seem especially happy to receive it. The way she seemed to struggle to put effort into the act of speaking rubbed him the wrong way. Alistair Archibald respected those who worked hard to achieve things in life, so it should come as no surprise that he loathed people who did the opposite. To make things worse, this woman was touching him without his consent, and he wasn't in a playful mood. 

[b]”So, smooth. Better, than, I, thought!”[/b] she claimed. 

The normal reaction from him here would've been to slap her hand away and then yell at her to keep her hands to herself, but consider what she was, Alistair restrained himself. He made no movements, but instead spoke in a calm voice. [color=c1ba46]"Glad to have exceeded expecations."[/color]

What followed was the introduction to yet more of these witches, and it appeared the one who became a little too touchy-feely with him was named Sloth. Considering he'd heard one be called Greed moments earlier, he figured they'd all been named after a sin. What did surprise him was that it was Sloth taking notice of him and not Pride. He wasn't oblivious to his own defining character trait.

Alistair... silently listened to these people interact. But it was difficult. He couldn't say he was enjoying how attached to him Sloth seemed to be. He was beginning to worry those hands would find themselves in places they shouldn't, and if that were the case, he'd remain quiet no more. Somehow, though, he perservered through until Talus had made an appearance. Any ire he had towards Sloth was sucked away as Alistair focused on the black being. 

[color=baddab]”Whoa guys!”[/color] Lord Talus said while waving his arms around.[color=baddab] ”Don't talk about her when she's not here! Plus I think not referring to her by name is really pissing off anyone here who doesn't know who she is! Also I'm Lord Talus, gotta work a name drop in there so that nobody forgets me during my first appearance.”[/color] Alistair wasn't sure why he said that. [color=c1ba46][i]His first appearance?[/i][/color] [color=baddab]”Hah! Alright girls but seriously, do you remember the rules we set up? I know there were a lot of them, but do you remember the first two?”[/color]

Alistair noted that strange line from Talus, and then took in all the information they dumped upon the group. From what he gathered, they were treating this like some sort of game, and the 'rules' they'd agreed upon prevented them from actively interefering with Alistair and the others, at least too often. Because when they did, their checkpoint was moved, and the 'sentinel' was changed. At least this sort of information was being passed to them so they could understand what sort of predicament they were in and how best to approach situations. But it seemed as though something serious happened to the other group while Alistair was away. 

He now noticed that a few of the group were missing, particularly Hiro and Aerith, the former being spoke about between the witches and Talus. His deduction led him to believe that they had died, but this time, they might not be returning. What the hell had happened to the others? Flame's plead was nothing more than confirmation this was true. 

[color=c1ba46][i]How bad did they screw up? I'd just gotten some insight on our situation, too![/i][/color]

Talus glanced at both him and Chieko before speaking, [color=baddab]”But yes, here's all the people who wanted to see you. You two should be excited!”[/color]

Alistair couldn't say he was too excited to meet these witches, because he found it hard to believe that he'd be put through all of that for a reason he would say is 'good'. To die repeatedly, to suffer humiliating deaths because of these individuals... no nothing favorable could ever come from it. 

[color=c1ba46]"You really kept me waiting, huh?"[/color] he remembered his conversation with Talus when they first met. At this point, it felt like it had been seven months since they'd spoke. In reality, it was nowhere near that long. But time only flew when you were having fun, and death wasn't very entertaining, at least when it was you it was happening to. 

Archibald's attention shifted back to Sloth, who hadn't let up since she began feeling him up. She'd asked him to let her know if it was 'too much' but by this point he didn't even care anymore. [color=c1ba46]"No doubt you've been anticipating this for a while now. I won't stop you."[/color] he told Sloth. [color=c1ba46]"But I will ask what the point of this 'game' is exactly. One of you mentioned sharing a love for all of us, but I can't say playing with our lives is doing much to make the feeling mutual."[/color] he asked Sloth, though this could've just as well been to any of them.  

[i][color=c1ba46]Not that I particularly believe in their love.[/color][/i]