Chapter 6: Names and Faces

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The people milled around outside for a bit aimlessly, talking amongst themselves until one in particular spoke up above the crowd.

“Alright people!” said a strong, assertive male voice. “I know we haven't gotten used to who each other is in these new bodies yet- I'm Jeffery. I think we should probably go inside that tower, as it's the only semblance of direction Dan seems to have given us.”

There was a general murmur of agreement and the milling tended toward the direction of the grey skyscraper.

“Awe but it's such a nice day!” protested Toaster-Man. But after a while he too reluctantly went inside to join them.

Everybody went inside, through large revolving doors into an enormously spacious room that clearly took up the entire first floor. The ceiling was high, at least a good ten metres. The walls, when not covered by large round pillars, were covered in windows, the afternoon sunlight streaming in. The main door into the tower was facing the south. The western edge of the circular room was dominated by a large stage overlooked by a balcony with a tiled dance floor in front of it. The east half, walled off somewhat, was an art gallery, decorated with reproductions of the most famous works from Earth. In the very centre of the room was a round elevator, a good five meters in diameter, around which wound a spiral staircase. The entire place was dotted with dozens and dozens of tables.

But in front of them, about halfway to the elevator was a very large, round table that they all found themselves gravitated toward. It had two dozen chairs around it, a far too convenient number to have been a coincidence. Wordlessly they all sat down, strangely quiet for how many they were.

Toaster-Man broke the silence, being the last to arrive. “That's just like Dan,” he said angrily. “He forgot to give me a chair.” He grabbed a chair from another nearby table.

Jeffery then spoke up, ignoring Toaster-Man. “People of Danada,” he said. “We have been given an immense opportunity here. The opportunity to start over. We can do this. We can do it right.”

“Umm, what is it were doing, exactly?” asked a girl.

“That's a good question, Megan,” said Jeffery. Megan looked surprised that Jeffery had remembered which one her body was. Most everyone else was still having confusion.

“That's Megan?” asked the boy sitting to her right. “I thought she was Josephine.

“No I'm Josephine,” said Josephine. “And you're... Charles?”

“No I'm Fredrick,” said Fredrick. “And beside me is Kylie, right?”

“I'm Georgina,” Georgina corrected.

“Actually it's Kyle now,” said Kyle. “I wanted to be female but I got last pick of the bodies, remember?”

“Okay, clearly the first order of business is we need to get these names sorted out,” said Jeffery. We'll go clockwise starting from me: I'm Jeffery.” Jeffery had reddish-brown hair, a prominent nose, and medium skin. He was tall, but not exceptionally so. He enunciated his bass-baritone voice very deliberately.

Charles; A man with sandy brown hair, a long face, light disposition, very short and a high voice. He said his name somewhat hesitantly, but there was a quiet dignity to it.

Josephine; a woman with dark skin, tall and full-figured with curly black hair. She spoke assertively and quickly, in a melodic contralto.

Stephanie; on Earth she would be of asian descent, but there was no Asia here. Short and petite, dotted with freckles. A high, rapid vocal cadence.

Samantha; her body was a twin of Stephanie's. Unlike her sister, she spoke more slowly, but also more melodiously, and didn't stumble quite as much with words.

Georgina; Pale and quiet; her name had to be spoken twice for everyone to hear. She had plain features and a small round face. Medium height and weight, but very long brown hair.

Frederick; spoke with a slight stutter and nervously. Distinct blue eyes that rapidly blinked but pierced like an icicle when they chose to focus. Light-to-medium skin (most of the bodies I had created to be a mix of Earth races). Dark brown hair and long legs.

Megan; somewhat unruly blonde hair with sea-green eyes. A curvy figure and a ditzy but strong mezzo-soprano voice. Taller than average for a woman but not by much.

Toaster-Man sat beside Megan, but you already know him.

Jessica; Short with very straight brown hair and large, wide brown eyes. She spoke very rhythmically, with strong accents, and moved around with a restless energy.

7ollion; his name is pronounced seven-OH-lee-on. He was the only holdout from when everyone had screen names. He affected a British accent (although he was obviously not from Britain). Tall and thin, with a strong but nimble build and jet-black hair.

Nathan; short and muscular, he had shifty grey eyes and a half-smile. His hair was dark and wavy and he seemed weary of this exercise by the time it had gotten around to him, judging by somewhat exasperated manner in which he spoke.

Benny; medium height but lanky, with wild, long blonde hair. He spoke quickly and excitedly, with an accelerando in tempo before realizing how fast he was going and then suddenly and deliberately slowing down.

Kristina seemed rather nonplussed in contrast and spoke in a flowing, almost slurred way. Her auburn hair likewise also flowed down past her shoulders. She was tall with blue-green eyes and an angled face.

Kyle, though he had preferred a female body nonetheless had soft, androgynous facial features. Shoulder-length, muffled blonde hair and brown eyes, tan skin and an Australian or Californian vibe, but that may have more to do with the surfer accent he affected.

Zandria; blue eyes, dark skin. Short and wild with a rapidly varying vocal cadence. She seemed more uncomfortable than most of the people there, restless, opening and closing a fist as if something needed to be held with it.

Zach; eyes blue with a mixture of brown, medium-dark skin, dark brown spiky hair. He moved in circular motions as if dancing to unheard music. He spoke slowly and mellowly, going with the flow much more than his left neighbor.

Allison was candidly lucid, suddenly realizing the ridiculousity of their situation. Her eyes were green, her hair was brown and she was average height and wieght, with an oval face and a thin nose.

Anthony; short for a male with a stubble facial hair, which was remarkable considering how new the bodies were. He spoke with a high, somewhat nasal voice, his face and eyebrows extremely expressive. Unkempt red hair and wide brown eyes.

Richard spoke with a scratchy bass voice. He was tall and burly with very dark brown eyes, and a serious face. He seemed worried about something but perhaps didn't even know what it was himself.

Tessa looked at everyone around the table in turn as she spoke, she was the kind of girl who would be friends with everybody. Midlength wavy blonde hair and an expressive face with a wide mouth that usually wore a smile.

Mackenzie; a man with long curly brown hair. Average height or a bit shorter He was clearly good friends with Tessa and shared similar personality traits. He often laughed when he spoke.

Bethany, a girl with a thin face and deep haunting brown eyes. Slim and tall with long legs, she had a deep alto voice and spoke with conviction and grace.

Michael was content, a ray of sun from a window was hitting him and he missed when it was his turn for a second. He was tall and thin, clumsy in a graceful way, turning missteps into intentional dances.

Finally, to the right of Jeffery was Kimberly, a girl with red-orange hair and many freckles. She spoke joyfully and everyone seemed relieved that the long name ordeal was finally over, especially you, dear reader, I'm sure, but especially me even more for writing this. But it will pay off later, for both of us. Mostly me.

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