Roleplays after White Elephant: Part 1

Roleplays Between Contestants
During the break between White Elephant: Part 1 and White Elephant Part 2, the contestants had time to socialize with each other.

Matt
After settling in, Matt walked out of his room with guitar in hand. He decided with his down time, he should at least get a little practice time in. He headed down to the lobby which was empty. He sat down guitar in hand, and began to strum. Eventually he settled on a “Wake Me Up When September Ends” by Green Day, humming along with the lyrics. Just then he heard a door open behind him.

Ry:
Ry paused in the doorway and stared inside the room, feeling a little anxious to have walked in on someone else in here. He thought he could…just draw a little before suffering the humiliation of the show. He clutched the sketchbook in his hands and noted the nice sound of the guitar being strummed to a classic ensemble. Realizing he looked like an idiot, he moved away from the door and moved toward a corner of the room, trying to stay out of sight from the other contestant, Matt was it?

Out of the corner of Matt’s eye, he saw a small red hooded figure awkwardly moving from the door to the corner of the room. “Uhh…what are you doing?” He asked, noting that the other person in the room had moved passed him without so much as a ‘hey’.

Ry halted in his advance toward the other side of the room and cursed softly in Japanese. Turning his head toward Matt, he kept his face neutral at the sight of him. “I was just coming in here to draw…” Lowering his eyes to the guitar, he kept his cool and leaned back against the wall, losing all motivation to sit anywhere in this room now that he was exposed.

“…That’s one of my favorite songs… Well, second to 21 guns by them, but I suppose that sounds dumb or typical of me.” He clutched his sketchbook to his chest and stayed where he was, clearly not moving.

“So…how long have you been playing guitar?” He didn’t usually try to make chit chat, but he should try to look…decent at least right now. Maybe it would come in handy later for him.

Matt shrugged and turned back to his guitar. “I’ve been playing since I was 11, It’s just a hobby…” he trailed off.

He nodded at the sketch book “So, you any good at the art thing?” he asked.

Ry’s eyes went to the floor in thought about how to answer that question. “I’m…okay. I’ve never won any contests with my artwork, but I’ve been drawing since I was young.” He admitted, feeling a little embarrassed by his track record. “It’s…a hobby that I’ve been trying to make not a hobby, I guess, if that makes sense.”

Moving toward a couch, he decided to awkwardly sit down on it. “…” He slowly opened the book and began to etch out the room. “Do you sing, too?” He asked, not bothering to look up from his work, excluding his occasional glances at an object.

Matt eyed him slowly. “Can I? Yes. But I’m not in the mood right now” he said while tuning his guitar. Just then it hit him. He was on television, and he knew his father didn’t support his music. So he decided to change the subject.

"I also play football, basketball, and baseball for my high school, and my football team went to states…" He said with a smirk "just in case your wondering about the rest of my…backstory…" He said with a raised eyebrow.

Ry sat up straight and eyed the guitar and then Matt, looking confused by the sudden change. Why was he suddenly so eager to display his ‘manliness’ to Ry? Keeping his face at a neutral level, he raised a tiny eyebrow at Matt. “Really? Sounds like you have your life all figured out…” He mumbled, pulling his knees up to put his feet on the couch, and continuing his drawing by placing the sketchbook on his legs. “You can tone down the chest puffing, too.”

“Did anyone bust a jaw, break a leg, or get a bloodied nose at states? I find the most entertaining football games are the ones where someone gets hurt…horribly. The best one I’ve seen at my school was one guy who slipped on a mud puddle and slammed his body into the fence, breaking his arm. He had to be carried off the field in a stretcher. It was quite the show.”

"Wow, that doesn’t sound serial killerish or anything…" He murmured, as he continued to tune his guitar. "I know some guy on the other team broke his arm, but it wasn’t a big deal or anything…"

The guys hostility threw him off a bit, but Matt wasn’t surprised by it. He ignored it, and began to strum the cords of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana. He was liking down at his guitar, focused on getting just the right cords. As he played the beginning with no mistakes, a more relaxed warm feeling crossed over his face, like in that moment, nothing else mattered except the sounds coming from his guitar.

“I don’t have any intention of killing anyone; I don’t want to get caught and ruin my chances of getting the million because of arrest. Very dishonorable.” He replied, his eyes stopping on something in the room. “Hm…” He hummed to himself, taking in the chords that came from Matt’s instrument.

The fact that he had a guitar here was actually kind of relaxing. He didn’t know if he should say anything since he was so into the music. This guy was into baseball and football? Hard to believe when his taste in music wasn’t awful.

“You’re kind of a strange jock, you know?” He stated, not trying to distract him from his concentration. He drew a guitar leaning against the edge of the couch, the owner missing, and a vine come through the middle, the side completely decayed away giving chances for the vine to enter. Soon his mind became distracted by the music, causing him to hum along to the beat while he shaded the shadows.

The fact that the thing stopping him from killing anyone was that he would get caught was a little offsetting. Matt rolled his eyes at his comment “well you’re strange period…for the record” he said as he continued to play.

If it weren’t for the fact that Ry had methods of keeping his temper down, he would have been like any other male on this show and snapped back at the comment. He didn’t mean it in a bad way, but he guessed it probably came off that way to Matt’s ears. Though…he really wasn’t surprised by the comment back at him.

“I just mean that your taste in music is nice compared to most of the jocks that blast their music in the parking lot of my school,” he said, looking up from his sketchbook and glancing up Matt. “It’d be a shame to see someone talented on guitar to go and become a big shot asshole in the sports department.”

Matt stopped playing and looked up at him. This guy just was just constantly putting his foot in his mouth. “Well, me and my friends enjoy playing this music in the parking lot of our school, usually before and after games, but still…” Speaking in a matter of fact way.

"You are very quick to judge and generalize people…so what if I’m a hotshot asshole that’s good a guitar. Hotshot assholes go to god schools on good scholarships, and if they are good enough to become professional hotshot assholes, they make multimillion dollar contracts, and have an opportunity to do some good with their fame and money…" He ranted. "So if I were a hotshot asshole…would that really make me not worth your time?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

Ry’s book snapped shut almost immediately after Matt had finished his ran and his head shot up to glare directly into Matt’s eyes. “You want to become a hotshot asshole, huh? Really? Fine, but just so you know…

“Hot shot assholes have been longtime runners of RUINING people’s dreams, hopes, and careers by shoving them down the drain just to get a few extra dollars; hotshot assholes don’t do things out the kindness of their hearts; hotshot assholes may go to good colleges, but they don’t focus on the issues of the world as long as it doesn’t affect them; and hotshot assholes…”

He stopped himself and clutched the sketchbook until his hands turned a white color. “They’re the worst kinds of people! All they ever do to people like me is push me around, shove me down, rip my stuff, bully me until I stay at home and…just never want to wake up! Hotshot assholes. Make. People. Cut.”

He finished chest heaving up and down for a few seconds after he’d finished and he let his glare fall. “To answer your question: it would make you not worth your time.”

Matt shrugged him off “I’m sorry that people don’t know how to treat you like a decent human being…but are you really going to get mad at me? Like I did it myself? I don’t go to your high school, I am not that person” he said, glaring at Ry.

He looked down at his guitar, becoming irritated “I may be a hotshot, and not always the friendliest person, but I’m not a bully and unlike you, I don’t make snap shot judgments about people based on their hobbies and apearence…” He said as he turned away from Ry, and began to play his guitar again.

An apology?

What?

Ry sat back and shrugged slowly and quietly, looking toward the window. “I’m not mad at  you ; I’m mad at what you might  become … There’s a difference between acting like an idiot and being an idiot, you know?” Okay, so using that as an example to back up his claim, probably sounded like he was directly insulting him.

Biting the inside of his cheek, he let out a long winded sigh and glared out the window. What a happy day… What could he say now? Should he even try? Maybe people did have a point about him being down on the lower level of socialization.

"…What kind of person are you?"

Matt shrugged and put his strap around his shoulder. “It’s not something I can tell you to be honest. I think I’m a decent person, but that’s just my opinion….you’ll have to decide that for yourself.”

Matt got up hold in his guitar. “I’m gonna put this sucker away and go for a run I think…” He said calmly, not wanting to argue with this stranger any more. “Later” he muttered as he walked towards the door.

As he got closer to the door he began to play “Scars” by Papa Roach, but as he got closer to the door (thinking he was out of earshot) this time instead of humming, he was actually singing, and he wasn’t half bad.

Ry let his eyes wander from Matt’s receding form to his sketchbook, letting his face soften at the thought of not every jock wanting to throw him to the curb.

The lyrics left a slight sting in Ry’s chest and he clutched his pen tightly until his knuckles turned white. Letting his focus return to the paper, he finished his picture.

The window is busted, revealing a large set of vines slinking in through the holes, finding their way to the couch. A lone guitar leaning on the arm of the couch, shadow becoming a tear drop while the vines have clearly busted through the side of the guitar and snaked their way out through the F-Hole.

"I tear my heart open just to feel…"

Lavender:
Lavender decided to walk around the city with her spare time. As the elevator opened up to the first floor, she heard the strumming of the guitar echoing the lobby. “I wonder who that can be.” she asked herself, following the sound. She eventually wounded up at a closed door. She put her ear against the door, to hear better. “This is it!” Lavender exclaimed. She opened the door to find Matt playing the guitar. “I love this song!” She gasped…maybe just a bit too loudly.

Matt was caught off guard and stopped playing “oh hey it’s….you” he said, having a tough time remembering her name.

"So, are you a fan of Green Day?" He asked as she walked over.

"I guess he forgot my name." Lavender thought to herself. "How dare he!" She walked over to me, arms crossed. "In case you forgot, my name is Lavender." She said a little coldly. "I like Wake Me Up When September Ends and Boulevard of Broken Dreams." She answered, nicer this time. "How long have you been playing?"

Matt smirked “like the flower…got it” he said. He looked down at his guitar, “I started playing when I was 11, and I just never stopped” he said as he said as he strummed. ‘Not much of a Green Day fan if those are the only two songs she likes’ he thought. “So, what brings you here, Lavender?” He asked.

I was about to explore the city,” Lavender answered. “When I heard someone playing guitar. I decided to find out who it was, and it was you!” “Speaking of the city, how do you like it so far?” She asked.

Alexandria:

(To be filled in)

Ry
Ry looked both ways before making his way up the stairs. Nobody would bug him on the roof. He could see the exit on top of the building they were being forced to stay in and he couldn’t resist the temptation to go up there. The view from up there would be phenomenal…and he couldn’t resist the idea of having that in his mind to soon throw on to his paper.

Turning the corner of the first turn, he made his way up the many, many stairs that awaited him. On the last turn, his lungs felt like they’d explode. Deciding to take a break, he quickly assembled his wardrobe malfunction that Chris had forced on them and put his hoodie over his shirt to avoid looking completely idiotic.

Shaking his head quickly, he put his beanie into his pocket and made his way up the stairs, hair blowing in the wind. His eyes narrowed at the sun in the sky and he couldn’t resist a small smile. Sitting down on the ledge, he felt himself immersed in the sunlight. Taking out his sketchbook, he let the view completely infiltrate his mind before taking out his quill pen and letting himself get lost in the simple tracings of his paper.

He was so distracted by the perfect lines of the sunlight in the distance that he didn’t even notice a person coming up from the entrance to the roof.

Mallory:
Mallory bounced up. “Oh, yeah! This is a lot airier than downstairs!” She yelled obnoxiously, looking at Ry happily. “Down there was sooooooo stuffy, I was like ‘turn on the AC’! But it was all the way across the room. So naturally I instead decided to go up to the roof.” She brushed herself off and rubbed at her tattoos, still grinning at Ry. “Yo homie! I’m Mallory.”

Ry’s shoulders tensed up from the surprise of having someone come on the roof and…loudly too. Turning his head, he shot Mallory a glare and pushed his hand into his bag, digging around for his secret weapon against people of her nature. “I’m Ry…” He mumbled, taking his eyes off her and sighing at the not as beautiful sight as it was before at first sight. Whoever this chick was, would be on his bad side if she didn’t shape up in a few seconds.

Mallory grinned wider. “Rad name, Ry!” She said. “You like hiding on rooftops?” She asked, curious.

"I just don’t like people much… They’re loud…and often times cruel." He said, turning back to the scene in front of him, swinging his legs over the ledge calmly.

“Oh. Sorry, bro.” Mallory said, sitting next to Ry on the ledge. “So…are you as STOKED to be here as I am? This season’s gonna be awesome!!”

Ry gave a few more inches between him and the tattooed girl before giving her a soft nod. “I’m not sure how I really feel… My team feels a little wobbly, but we do have a power house that I hope just takes the leadership role; I don’t want to lead or be a burden.”

“I know you feel, brother” Mallory said, scooting closer to Ry. “I really dunno what to think of my team either. We got some awesome players in my opinion, but I’m worried about if we all can really work together as a team, y’know?”

"Yeah… My team has a flirt, a shy kid, a muscle girl, and a prankster… I doubt we’ll get anything done with the flirt, prankster, and power house fighting for leadreship… They’ll probably slow us down big time…"

“My team has a blind girl, a radass-lookin rebel, a dude with shades, and a chick with awesome-ass hair.” Mallory said, counting on her fingers. “They all seem pretty bitchin’, in my opinion.”

“I’m glad you aren’t judging the blind girl,” Ry replied, looking at Mallory in slight shock. “Most of the team looked disgusted or horrified to have her on their team, but I know how it feels to sorta be blind… It’s not easy, but the longer you are blind, the easier it is to experience your surroundings.”

He stared back at the building across the way. “If you have a challenge based on smell, hearing, taste, or touch, then you’ll end up with the advantage.”

“I don’t judge, Ry-ster.” Mallory said, rubbing the tattoos on her right leg. “I agree with you. Arizona’s gonna be the master of rad!”

Ry cringed at the nickname but tried to play it off as if he didn’t care. “You know…if you wanna nickname me, just call me something dark, okay? I’m not…hip…or in style with lingo…”“Well, okay then!” Mallory grinned wider, then stared at him for about five seconds. “Hol-Ry-Wood Undead?” She asked.

“That sounds like a parody or pun of my name, Mallory.” Ry mumbled, rubbing his arm once more awkwardly. “Why not try something more…dark…and based on my looks? Like…freak? Weirdo? Hoodie boy? Beanie?”

“How about…Feathers?” Mallory asked after being deep in thought for a while. She tapped the tattoos on her right leg as she scrunched up her face in concentration. “Do you like the nickname Feathers?”

"It’s a lot better than the first two nicknames," Ry replied, staring down at his book. "I don’t really do nicknames because…ya know, they happen to sometimes be used in malice."

“BRO.” Mallory said, firmly putting her hands on Ry’s shoulders. “Do you know how many peeps have called me Twinkletoes? Dyke? Rich Bitch? Bastardess? That’s right, I know that nicknames can be used to hurt people, but I don’t let that get in the way of being the most awesome person ever! Nicknames only hurt you if you let them hurt you.”

“Most awesome person ever? No, I like being one of those people who don’t let others get too close…” He muttered, scooting back away from her once again. He hated the feeling of others touching him. “I just hate the memories of the names… My biological name is really a bad memory for me….”

“Sorry, bro.” Mallory said. “If it’s any consolation, my black market owner uncle’s name is Illia.” She said.

"I’ve never heard a name like that before…" Ry mumbled, looking at her. "In fact, I can’t judge on names being strange or anything like that… In different areas of the world, your uncle’s name would be very common for males."

“Actually, it’s a Greek girl’s name. It means Trojan. I think. I’ve looked it up and it’s alays a girl’s name. And it isn’t popular anywhere.” Mallory shrugged. “Just wanted to make you feel better about your own name, nobody’s name is terrible unless it’s something like Phone or Justin Bieber.”

"Trojan is a female name?" Ry asked, dumbfounded by that terminology being feminine. "How in the world is that name feminine? The horse was used to halt men to war against the city of Troy. Shouldn’t it at least be unisex? A time of war is both for females and males to die in."

Mallory shrugged. “Hey, I don’t know what God was thinkin’ when he made names, but I’m just as confused.”

Ry’s mouth opened and closed at her statement, unsure of what to say. Wasn’t he supposed to be Buddhist? His family always told him that he was, but he’d never practiced the religion. “Perhaps man made the name what it is through a sociological method? Men wore pink until Hitler ruined it for them—remarkable abilities that man had…too bad he was too crazy.”

Ry glanced up from his thoughts, which were extremely dark and brooding. “Oh? I…remember that I had several reasons for coming here… I have this stupid dream of building my own theater… I want to hang my art in the front hall for people to see and critique.” He thought calmly about it, eyes staring out into the distance. “Famous artists come to my Music Theater and listen to me play my piano and play for large audiences…and at the end of the day, I can just go up to my room on the top floor and stare out at the sky from the large bay window, capturing the sunset and sunrise for my inspiration…”

He dropped his eyes down. “The dream would cost a lot of money…and the million would really help it come true. Ha, I guess it’s a far-fetched idea…”  He tsk’ed softly and looked at Mallory after a few moments of silence. “What about you? Why’d you come here?”

Mallory smiled at the question. “Well, little bro, I came for a shit-ton of reasons like you did. I’m not saying that I came for the exact same reasons, though. I can’t draw a straight line with a ruler and I probably broke every instrument I ever touched, so if I win the million it probably ain’t gonna be spent on that stuff.” She tapped her chin, thinking. “At first I was hoping to just show the world my awesomeness, but I would also like to win the cash to help support my uncle’s gun shop and maybe get my mom some therapy and stuff.” She mentally threw herself off a cliff. ‘Put my mom in therapy?! Nice going, Burgh. Way to trip yourself DOWN THE STAIRS OF AWKWARD!’ The girl fidgeted and rubbed the eye tattoo on her hand with her finger.

Ry glanced up from where he was looking and tilted his head, causing his hair to gracefully go to the left in silky strands. “Gun shop… I always wanted to shoot a real gun; shooting BB guns is getting extremely boring… If I shot a real gun, though… I could feel the inspiration from the power that would come with it.”

“Hm? Therapy? Did she get into a wreck that caused her to have to have some sort of surgery that is mentally making it harder for her to do something that she dreams about?” He shook his head. “You know what? Don’t answer that question.”

Thinking a bit more to recover from his dark questioning, he decided to go for a better one: “Have you ever killed anything with a gun? I heard Americans can shoot whatever they want, excluding humans and endangered species. You’re American, right?”

“I’ve used a ton of guns!” Mallory grinned proudly. “Rifles, pistols, anything with a trigger!” She thought of Ry’s other mention, the one about shooting whatever she wanted. “….Let’s see…for the shooting-stuff question. I once hit a crow with a gun, but that was accidental. I was aiming for a bottle. And I don’t know that much about gun laws, but I know that I’m definitely an American.” Mallory smiled again, but then she stopped grinning as her hair fell into her face once more, and she realized that he had asked about her mother. Even though Ry had told her not to answer it, she still thought of the answer and shuddered a bit. She pictured her mom, sitting on the sofa with bottles of booze scattered about while Uncle Illia told Mallory to go to her room. She could hear the arguing between the two and she would always think that same thing…’Why did he have to die?’ Mallory thought about this, and then snapped back into reality, brushing her hair out of her face again and looking at Ry. “I’m sorry. I spaced out. Did you say something?”

Hitting a crow was kinda lame in Ry’s head because of all the stories he’d heard from online. When he wasn’t submitting his contest art and the other art that he felt too embarrassed to show in contests online, he was searching the web for random things to satisfy his need for the weird. Once he’d heard an American had to hide a bald eagle to avoid being arrested for months…until someone ratted him out. It’d been a fun story, and he really wanted to shoot a real bear like Owen had lied about shooting.

He watched Mallory space out and stared at her for a few moments before looking back at the street below. When she spoke to him, he looked back up and simply shook his head. “I want to shoot a bear one day. I don’t care if it dies, but I want to shoot it.”

Mallory screeched like a startled rabbit and fell on the ground. “Jesus fucking christ!” She yelped. The bottom of her shirt flew up to show her scale and eye stomach tattoos. She pulled the shirt back down quickly and sat up. “What the fizzydiuck just happened?!”

Ry groaned softly, curling up into a pained ball as he came into contact with the floor. He couldn’t think straight anymore now that his head had hit the ground a SECOND time. Slowly moving around to get up, he blinked away a whole lot of skulls that were dancing in his vision. “Wh…What happened…?” He asked, sitting up but having to lie back down when his mind flashed strange colors. “How did I get on the floor?”

Lavender:
Lavender had been eyeing at the roof since they arrived. “The view would be so pretty!” she gushed. “I can definitely work on my plan in peace there. Or maybe write some lyrics. Whichever one.” Lavender grabbed a notebook and pencil and walked up the stairs. She opened the door to the roof, only to see a silhouette illuminated by the moonlight. “I wonder who that can be.” Lavender wondered. She tiptoed to the figure to get a better look. “I think it’s Ry.” She told herself. She sat next to the boy and peered at the drawing. “Whatcha doing?” she asked sweetly.

Ry’s body tensed up at the sound of his teammate’s voice behind him. Which one was she again? It didn’t quite resemble that tough girl’s voice, but… He turned his head and quickly turned back to face his sketchbook. Oh… It was her. She couldn’t be that bad, could she?

It seems like the guys and a few girls had a fascination with her looks, and if he was rude to one of the ‘prettiest’ people in the competition and they lost… He couldn’t afford to be kicked off. Getting kicked off meant going back to his school in shame and being even more of an idiot to them because he was first.

“Just…drawing…” He mumbled softly, looking up at her. If his opinion of her was wrong, then maybe he’d have more than just two people on the team he could handle. Maybe she’ll take the hint once she gets to know him? It’d be in her best interest to know, right?

"Oooh, what are you drawing?" Lavender asked excitedly. Ry was on her team, she had to act sweet to him, even though she can care less of what he’s drawing. "I’ve never been a great artist, so it’s cool to know one!" She gazed at the spectacular view in front of them, sighing loudly. "It’s such a pretty view, don’t cha think?"

“I’m just drawing the view…” He replied, looking at his pen and then back at the sky. He’d never been drawing around other people…who took interest in his drawings. He couldn’t believe that she actually cared, but then again… He really doubted she cared about his artwork. Snapping his sketchbook shut, he stared at the cover for a few moments. “It’s nice….” He admitted, looking up from his cover to stare into the distance. “Why are you up here?” He asked, using his voice in a more delicate manner, so she didn’t take it in the wrong way.

"I wonder why he suddenly shut his book?" Lavender asked herself. She was about to ask, but stopped herself. "I can’t be rude." She mentally scolded herself. "Oh why am I here?" She repeated. "Because it’s such a pretty view, and I just wanted to write what I saw." She lifted her notebook for emphasis. "It would be nice to get some lyrics from my experiences here."

Ry’s interest suddenly spiked up from what she said and held. “You’re…an artist?” He asked, looking toward the notebook in slight curiosity. The idea of more artistic people, besides the writer and photographer, made Ry feel like he wasn’t completely surrounded by imbeciles. “Do you just write about what you feel…or do you add a tone of something else in the mix, like anger?”

Lavender saw the sudden interest in the boy when she mentioned her notebook. “Jackpot” she thought. “I don’t think I consider myself an artist, per se.” Lavender answered. “My lyrics really aren’t that good.” “As for the inspiration, I normally express what I feel, anger included.” She looked at her notebook, silently praising herself that she didn’t write anything about her plan to win in it yet. “But I bet your drawings are amazing! I saw a little bit of the one you were working on, and it looked awesome!”

“Most lyrics don’t start off looking impressive, until you put music with them and apply some level of talent to them. If they just remain on paper, then they’re a poem. I mean, if someone as untalented as Pitbull can become a famous artist with his level of thinking, then I doubt your lyrics are terrible.” Ry clutched his sketchbook tightly, looking down toward the street below. “They really aren’t… They’re mainly just sketches and have never won anything when I’ve submitted them to contests.”

"Too bad I’m terrible with instruments." Lavender said, laughing a bit. "You have to remember that Pitbull raps, so no one has any clue of what he is saying." Lavender flipped to a random blank page in her notebook, and drew a stick figure. "See this? This is the best I can do when it comes to drawing." She closed the book, and laid it down next to her. "Those judges have no idea of what art is if they don’t make you the winner." She lightly punched his arm, out of affection. "I bet they are great!"

Ry moved aside a little from the light punch and rubbed his arm, staring at Lavender in confusion. “How can you measure my expertise when you have only seen this one? I’m just…not that good compared to the better artists of the world today…and the kids at those contests. Of course, I’m never popular with other people, so they might have just…done it based on knowing people… I doubt that, though. People have way better drawing abilities than I do.”

He looked at his sketchbook, contemplating whether or not to show her his sketches. What if they were as bad as he thought? Barely anybody saw his…art. But…for once, he had a person here who actually showed interest. Could he trust her, though? What if this was part of a scheme?

Wait, how would showing her his art be detrimental to him? If anything, it’d be better to show her…right? Slowly, he peeled the book back open and revealed a softly drawn sunrise picture in the front of the book. “Heh… I was really young when I drew this crap…”

"Wow, he’s really trusting me." Lavender thought to herself. "I almostfeel bad that he’s gonna end up heartbroken.” She drew her attention to the now opened sketchbook. “How young were you when you drew this?” she asked out of curiosity. “Because this isn’t bad at all!”

Ry stared down at the drawing in nostalgia, still feeling a little ridiculous about showing the first sunrise drawing he’d ever done. “Well…. I was just about…six? I think I was six at the time I drew it.” He looked toward her notebook and gestured at it. “When did you write your first song?” He asked, then added: “actually, what was your first song about?”

Lavender picked up the notebook and stared at it. “I recently started writing. I started about a year or so ago.” She confessed. “I never wrote a full song before, but I have some of the chorus on a song I’m working on.” Lavender opened the notebook to the first page. “It’s called  Hey, Dad. " She said. The notebook read:  It’s been a long hard road without you by my side Why weren’t you there all the nights that we cried?  You broke my mother’s heart, you broke your child for life.   It’s not okay  But we’re alright

"It’s a work in progress, but what do you think?"

"It sounds like something an artist would actually write. My art doesn’t look nearly as good as that sounds. It sounds like…a symphony of agonizing screams; that’s good in my book, by the way." Ry commented, looking down at the ground below. "You have dad problems? I kinda do, but they’re…smaller than most people."

Looking back up, he snapped his sketchbook shut again, not really wanting to show more drawings. “I wish I could be as good as that is… I’ve been drawing for so long, but I haven’t even reached a reasonable level to be proud of.”

Lavender looked at Ry, needing to see if he looked sincere when he gave the compliment. “Wow, thanks!” Lavender said. “I think that’s one of the first compliments I ever heard that wasn’t based on my looks.” She nervously chuckled, before looking down on the ground and closing her notebook. “Yeah, my dad was never in the picture when I was growing up.” She sadly confessed. “Let’s just say that he would probably still be with my mother if I wasn’t here.” Lavender stayed silent for a few minutes, drying the forming tears from her eyes. “From the two drawings that I saw, you should be super proud of them.”

“You won’t really have to worry about me basing anything on your looks, Lavender,” Ry stated, hoping to drive the point home about his sexuality. “I don’t swing that way,” he firmly proposed.

Ry stared at her and felt a little guilty to make her think about her past… A LITTLE. “Wow… My dad was in the picture when I was young, but he had to work a lot, so… I never really saw him much. He kinda did something when I was younger, but that’s beside the point.”

“Oh, you think so?” Ry asked, looking at the sketchbook again, thinking about trying again with contests. It’d been nearly two years since he’d tried to get recognition for his drawing ability. “I…don’t really feel many emotions.”

"Wait, EXCUSE ME?!?!?!?!" Lavender yelled internally. "YOU DON’T SWING THAT WAY?!?!?! THEN WHY IN THE WORLD AM I WASTING MY PRECIOUS TIME ON YOU?!?!?" Lavender internally calmed down, before reasoning with herself. "He is on my team, he can be a good ally." "Thanks, Ry." Lavender finally answered. "We can go hunting for guys together." She joked. She decided not to push the father-talk anymore, knowing that he probably doesn’t want to talk about it. “I know what he’s going through.” Lavender thought to herself. “It isn’t easy to talk about.” "You-you don’t feel many emotions?" Lavender asked. "What type of emotions don’t you feel?"

Ry’s eyebrow rose slowly and he wondered if she was mentally slapping herself over something she’d forgotten or if she was constipated… He doubted the latter, but he couldn’t tell what her deal was.

“Aha… Not here… None of the guys here are even good enough, but I doubt I’ll help you find a guy because love is…really stupid.” Ry stated, glaring at the building across from them. “It just ends up in hurt and disbelief.”

“I feel…hate, anger, nothing, doubt, suspicion… You know, nothing that would be viewed as liked by society?”

Baroness
The Baroness walked with a quick pace to the hotel in order to change into the hideous looking clothing Chris had provided them with. At one point, she stumbled over a small curve that most people wouldn’t have, just barely catching herself on the pavement with her hands. “Arrr, still need to adjust to me land-legs!” The Pirate lady gave a hearty chuckle at herself with. She quickly stood up and brushed herself off and continued with her walk. When she stopped to catch her breath, she heard a person walking up from behind her.

Ry:
Ry dusted himself off after having slipped on his bathroom floor. Just perfect… He’d only been here ten minutes and he’d been mistaken for CHRIS MCLAME, been put on a team with someone who flirted continuously, and now his bathroom had a leaky pipe. Maybe he could report this to someone… He doubted that Chris knew what a pipe was and he knew that Chef might just bust his pipes and flood his room… What could he—? “Ugh!” He commented, face in the back of the Baroness’s shirt. He should really pay attention when he’s walking… “…Sorry, I guess.” He muttered under his breath, then looked up and realized it was that freaking pirate woman! Oh, god! The last thing he wanted was to be near her… She was probably insane in the membrane. “Uh, hey…”

The tall pirate had barely felt the pressure of Ry having walked into her, mostly because she was still recovering from her little trip. It wasn’t until she heard his voice that she turned around. The Baroness glanced down at the boy. “Oh, ahoy there lad! Sorry, am I in ye way?” She asked warmly, still rather giggly from her fall. “If yer in a hurry I could move so ye can get to where-ever ye need to go smartly!”

Ry shook his head, wet hair slightly spraying the Baroness’s clothing. “This is ridiculous…” He muttered, looking at his wet T-shirt and sighed. “Why is he forcing us to wear these every day? Won’t they get filthy?” He stopped himself from ranting in front of her. “I’m not…in a hurry…” He mumbled seconds later, feeling a little weirded out by her height. “You’re…tall…so you think you’re a pirate, right?”

The Baroness eyed Ry suspiciously, almost like she felt insulted by him accusing her of thinking she was a pirate. She knitted her eyebrows. “Uh Lad, I /am/ a pirate.” She told him with tension hanging like a thread in her voice. She pulled out the rusted compass she had tied around her neck from a ship wreck from the 1800s she discovered. Her eyes widened a bit with excitement, her eyebrows relaxing. “See this bucko? Me n’ me hands back home found this swag back durin’ me first voyage to France!” She then looked at his clothes, noticing his wet T-shirt and ugly khakis. “Yeah, ye’re right about these threads.” She held out the outfit she was carrying with her. “Look at these! What sea dog would be caught with Jack Ketch in these horrid things!?”

Ry returned the same look at Baroness, not believing her for a second. “Oh, you’ve been to France, have you? What was it like there? Did you happen across Normandy? What about the memorials spread throughout?” He decided to add in a small trick to see if she’d catch it. “Did you see Big Ben from where you retrieved the compass?” He knew that a common person would get the reference, but this girl didn’t even look like she knew what common things were. He looked at his disgusting outfit, finding it strange to change from a malicious tone to something more…friendly. Gross. “Do you think he’s really going to force us to wear these every time? Can’t I just…wear my hoodie?”

The Baroness just glared at him. “Uh, matey, I know Big Ben is in London….” She started off with. “Twas not very good if ye tried to trick me with such petty, common knowledge….” She glanced at the clothes in her hand and the jacket she’s had since her childhood. “I haven’t really seen much Total Drama on the movie box befer, but I do know that Chris’ll probably f’erce us to wear ‘em everyday.” She sighed. “I’m gonna miss me ol’ jacket….” the pirate mumbled. She kicked a rock near her foot, the small talk having become a bit awkward. “Arr….so yer a Panda…. have ye met yer crew yet?”

Ry sighed in relief at how dumb she wasn’t. Looking up at her, he made eye contact and stood his ground. “Tell me about France, then? I want to know about this…exciting adventure that led to the discovery of the compass around your neck.” He wasn’t meaning to come off annoyed, but it was just in his nature. Maybe he just wanted something to draw already. “Actually… No, I haven’t met them, but I feel like I won’t like them anyway.. One is a tough girl, so she’ll just talk down—up…whatever to me; one is a flirt; one is loaded with things in his pockets…I don’t want to know what else he could have in there… I doubt I would enjoy him having something like a dildo in there…” He sighed and rubbed his arm. “One of them is also quiet, but I haven’t gotten to know…er…them yet. They’re all really different and I doubt this will give me a great experience with them…”

The Baroness thought about her team. “I barely met me crew me-self…..I think I have that sleepy lubber who I don’t think’ll be much help to the team, and that lass who rolled off the top of the bus. Hopefully she doesn’t do anythin’ too drastic n’ cause our team to lose…..” She began to think deeper. “We also have that red haired lass and that one lad that wrote somethin’ bout me….” She rubbed her arm. “And we..sorta have this on wench. The “Amazing” Alexandria me thinks. She’s amazingly annoying, tis was she is.” The pirate lady deadpanned. “As fer France…..” She began to say. She quickly looked at the sun and saw it was heading slightly west. “I dunno if we have enough time today matey. Chris’ll have me lights n me liver if I don’t get changed befer the challenge…..” She tapered off with.

Ry nodded about each analogy about each player and crossed his arms. “I suppose that one in the glasses has an imagination on him… I doubt it means anything, but I think he could use that to an advantage for your team…unless Chris has ‘duh’ challenges.” He shrugged his shoulders and looked at the sky as well. “I guess so… The time here is going to be stressful, isn’t it? This might be the last time I can talk to you without mentally creating your downfall.”

The Baroness made a perfectly conscious decision to ignore the very last part of what he said. “I just hope I don’t go first matey. Know how ‘barrin it’d be to not even get that chance ta’ compete?” She then turned around to look at the sun again. It didn’t appear to have moved. “I’m sorta’ nervous the rest of me crew won’t pull through. M’sure that most will try ta’ help, but we have the sleepy lad n’ the annoyin’ magician lady…….” The Pirate tried to think of what else to say. “…hmm….one thing about France I can say: They don’t treat….lubbers that they consider “odd” er “weird” very well…..”

“To go first would be the biggest humiliation to me… My peers back at home aren’t exactly accepting of me anyway, so this would just add on to their comments they could say.” Ry stated, looking up at the sun and sighing. “To be kicked off first, though… I actually feel a small emotion of pity for the first to go today.” Whoever it was would probably be so embarrassed…  “My team won’t be much better. We lack on muscle and possibly seriousness… If by any luck we do win today, I might actually cheer.”

"Saddly I hav’ta say we might not win either, less the sleepy lad n’ that show off pull their weight….." The Baroness sighed. "N’ I know how ye feel ‘bout the whole "aren’t exactly ‘ceptin of me" thing." The Pirate racked her brain for what to say. "Kids ‘er… fookin’ arseholes, ta’ put it bluntly matey." The Baroness tone turned dark from the normally energetic pirate.

Ry looked at the Baroness with a more appealing look, though the changes were extremely slight in their being. “Yeah, I can see your team being…extremely unlikely for first, but…you might not be last, if Chris doesn’t get annoyed with Alexandria or Bert and try to ruin your team’s chances…like how he did with Topher in Season 5…or 5 ½.” He said, looking back down at the floor. “Kids…at my school won’t accept me even if I become famous, so I guess Chris will teach me about torture here so I can inflict it on them later.”

"Alexandria annoys me matey, n’ I’ve barely just met the lass." The Baroness sighed at. Her brain was becoming racked with emotions she hasn’t felt in a long time. "T’was it a good idea ta’ come here? Ta compete….?" She thunk to herself. The Pirate felt like she was becoming over whelmed; and she wanted to change subjects as soon as possible. "So anyways….." The Baroness started to, say avoiding eye contact with Ry. She scratched her back out of a nervous habit. "What do ye think of da’ other teams?"

“The other teams have a more genuine blend, if you ask me… They have the bigger males on their team and they have a more serious base than we do… We won’t do well in the battle of ‘quiet’ or ‘tough’, so I hope Chris isn’t going to pit that against us…” He sighed angrily and crossed his arms. “I hate the placing right now, but we MIGHT stand a chance if my teammates prove me wrong.”

The Baroness simply gave a shrug. “I dunno matey, Todd looks a bit on the moronic side n’ Matt is probably all bark n’ no bite.” The Baroness then gave a bit of a chuckle. “Guess we better stop beaten er’selves up over this n’ go wit’ the flow: after all; whatever ‘appens ‘appens!” She tried to reassure Ry with. “Sides, ye have…Kiki me thinks; lass looks like she can ‘old her ground!”

“You don’t have to be smart to lift something heavy for the other members of your team, but I would like to see a couple of those smug jerks get their bodies broken trying to…” He stated, a smug sensation coming over himself at that moment before evaporating into thin air.

“Kiki’s strong, but she does seem to have a temper…and it might lead to use getting off course…or she could have to put something father up…and she can’t reach it because of her height.”

Ry’s eyebrows knit together, thinking on the logic Baroness threw on him. ‘What happens, happens’… Ry couldn’t go by that advice… It just wouldn’t stick in his head to lose so early… Maybe he could jump to final 5, if he was lucky enough.

“I doubt my team will treat me so nicely if we lose…”

"Belay that bilge talk!" The Baroness shouted to the boy. They might be on opposite teams but they have quite a bit in common, and because of that, she’s not going to stand there and let him beat himself up. "Ye have that creepy feller’ wit’ all the bloody spiders; trust me matey, if any’n on yer team are gonna experience the back ‘and n’ go first, it’d be that shark bait!" The Baroness then smiled, hoping it’d make the boy feel better about himself.

“Yeah, but…he probably has way better assets than I do… The weirder the person is…the more likely they are to go.” He made a gesture with his hands to emphasize his point. “Whenever I was forced to play dodgeball, they’d aim for me first because I was less of a fighter, so shouldn’t the same third degree burn apply here?”

He shoved his hands in his pockets. “Besides, he’s probably some sort of comic relief, and you know about comic reliefs, right? They’re always worth keeping around to keep people’s heads up. Nobody will want a kid who thinks about everyone else’s heads on a stake over the class clown.”

The Baroness glared. “Oh please matey, if I was on yer crew I’d gladly keep ya’ over that blaggard” She said, looking into Ry’s eyes to prove she was being genuine about what she’s saying, rolling her hand around to demonstrate how much she disagreed with the statement he just said. “N’s ides, just cause you’re funny dun’t mean you’d be liked. As much as I hate ta’ say it, just cause I be lookin’ like a pirate dun’t mean people ‘gree wit’ me ways.” The Pirate mumbled under her breath.

Ry looked at the Baroness, unsure of how to feel about the whole thing. He was…never really told nice things by people like that. “But…it’s kind of like…the rules of contests… You know, kicking off the comic relief is in ‘bad ratings’, so..I’d probably be forced to face Dennis in some challenge I’d never win and…I’d get voted off because I fail at it…like, being nice to others…or something like that.” He shook his head in disbelief. “I’ll be the first panda gone…”

"Begad! if they want bloody comic relief they might as well be recordin’ a damn show ‘bout me!" She angrily shouted, infuriated at the sight of the poor kid beating himself up. Her face grew flush with anger, her voice cracking a bit. This was…..an unusual feeling for the Baroness. She and Ry were on completely opposite teams, and were in turn enemies. However, she felt…similar to him. They had more in common than she would have thought….and just seeing him feel horrible is dragging her down with his ship. She quickly turned around. "Just…please matey….stop bloody doubtin’ yerself….I’m sure you’ll do fine." She muttered under her breath, a tear forming in her eye. She was in disbelief she was caring this much about an enemy….but in the end she felt it was the right thing to do

Ry’s expression turned to surprise with his tiny eyebrows lifting up in the mix. What? She…was mad at him for stating his feelings about the whole mess? Why would they keep him around when everyone else on his team was…just so much better. His team had a class clown, a flirty pretty girl, a strong girl, and a cute person… And what was Ry? Just some emo kid that loved the thought of others being killed off in a certain aspect. What do you do with someone like him?

Push him around.

Call him names.

Leave invisible scars.

That’s how his life had always been for the past…ten years. Who cared about him except the very few people online he’d met when he’d posted his art? “…I…” He felt speechless.

“I could try…”

"Arr…that’d be a start……" She tried to perk up and say. She knew that tone in his voice…..it reminded her when she was a little girl; pushed around, insulted, battered, bruised; all for the sakes that she was always….different from the rest. And she knew exactly what the boy needed….

………..a friend.

Ry let himself try to understand where the Baroness was coming from… She was different, unique, and quite the loud speaker…so it must stem from some psychological background trauma, right?

Had she always just wanted to be a pirate since birth or did she want this because she felt restrained from where she lived?

Why did she care about Ry so much? They were on different teams, he was weird, and they barely knew each other… She couldn’t care about him, could she?

"…Um, are you…okay?" He asked, trying to sound genuine and not confused by her actions.

The Baroness turned around, a tad bit shocked by his answer. “Cerse I’m okay, why ye be askin’ that?” She asked the small boy, wondering why he had asked that. It was only then that she noticed a tear from her earlier frustration flow down her face. “Blimey, I’ve been sheddin’ me tears!” She thunk in her head. Her eyes grew as wide as dinner plates when she realized she’d been crying. Why was she caring so much about a person not even on her team? Why did she have to relate so much to this total stranger?

Ry glared down at the floor and rubbed his arms again in a slight chills. “Um, you shouldn’t feel so…bad about a person like me. I’m not really a person who deserves pity and all… I just…am really creepy and rude a lot, so people take that and hate it.” He showed little concern for his own self-image anymore. “Look, I want to be positive, but it’s not in my nature to think about myself doing well here. I probably won’t make friends…and I’ll go home with little-to-no experience from this place… It’d be laughable to think that the ‘emo kid who sits under the willow’ would make a friend here. You’re actually really popular, even though Chris can’t pronounce your name.”

"Popular…." The Baroness thought. Oh, how she hated that word. She felt it made her seem like an attention whore; in fact, that’s another word she’s been called many a times. She wasn’t popular; she was far from it. The Pirate was overcome with a mixed bag of emotions…she tried to speak…but the normally energetic young woman had finally been broken and lost her will and control of her vocal chords. She hung her head in shame, sorrow, fury; she hated the way the poor boy was treating himself…and combining this with sudden recollections of the past….had just proven too much.

She didn’t utter a word…. just sluggishly walked past him and started to go on her way to the hotel. She knew she’d be fine after a few minutes of calming herself down…she always was after an attack from the past occurred….she was just highly disappointing in herself that she couldn’t change the boy’s mind. She quietly sobbed as she marched on.

Lavender:
Lavender just finished talking in the confessional, and was quick-walking to the hotel. “I could’ve said less.” she told herself. She walked a few more blocks until the hotel came into view. “Almost there!” she exclaimed. “Nothing can stop-” Just as Lavender was about to finish her sentence, she bumped into someone and fell on the ground. “Watch where you’re standing!” she yelled.

The Baroness’ eyes widened a bit at the impact; she already had just fallen, and now someone practically tried to run her over. It’s not helped by the fact whoever did this is now yelling for absolutely no reason. ” ‘cuse me?” She turned around to say to the girl. The Pirate looked down and noticed that the girl had fallen over. It appears being tall has it’s advantages. Taking pity, she got a closer look. It was her: the girl that most of the guys and some of the girls had been infatuated with looks wise. The Baroness groaned in her head; she didn’t believe in love and relationships and that junk anymore. Still, she felt like cutting the girl a bit of slack, after all, she hadn’t really done anything wrong. And so, she helped her up. “Oh, my apologies there lassie, didn’t ‘xpect to be ran intah’!” The Pirate extended her hand and helped the living Aphrodite up. “Me name’s the Baroness, yer…Lavender, right?”

Lavender accepted the help and started to dust herself off. “Yep, it’s Lavender.” She answered politely. Lavender was still a little ticked that she lost some time, but the pirate seemed sincere, so she let it go. “Is the Baroness a nickname, or did your parents actually give you that name?” She questioned. “The name just seems a little…out there.” She started walking towards the hotel, before turning around. “Come on, pirate! Walk and talk with me.”

The Baroness gave a hearty chuckle. “Nah lassie, ‘course tis not me real name. I’d much rather be called “The Baroness” though. What pirate would go ‘round bein’ called things like “Bob” er’ “Lana” when ye can be called “Blackbeard” or “La Buse?” the Pirate woman answered. So far she hasn’t seemed to be the brainless beauty has presumed she would be; instead of pampered and spoiled brat, that living Aphrodite has been rather polite and optimistic. The Baroness, quickly realizing she had fallen behind, caught up with Lavender.

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense." Lavender agreed. She was never a fan of pirate movies or television shows, but The Baroness wasn’t that bad so far. "I certainly never meant someone like her before." She thought to herself. "I wonder if this is all an act." Lavender stayed in silence for a little bit before making her decision. "So are you, like, a real pirate?" Lavender questioned. "Like, with a whole crew and ship and stuff?"

"Cerse’ I’m a real pirate lassie! There’d be no fun if I was just pertendin’ ta be one just for the ‘elluvit!" The Baroness chuckled. She’s actually starting to like this living embodiment of a Greek Goddess; it’s completely within the realm of possibilities she’s not going to be the type to abuse her looks for wealth and person gain. She began thinking about awful it will be to have to go up against her as enemies when the competition begins. Even with those thoughts, the pirate pulled out a rusty compass, dated to the 1800’s based on an insignia and tied around her neck, from beneath her shirt and showed it off to Lavender. She also pulled a crumpled picture that she kept on her at all time from her pocket. "See this swag round me neck? Found it on me first voyage to France!" The Baroness became even more chipper as she discussed her buccaneering career. "N’ I took this photo from me picture-box wit’ me crew ‘soon as we docked." She then pointed to the people surrounding her in the picture; all of whom were wearing similar purple and golden outfits to the one the pirate arrived in. "Now that me fermalities er’ done, what da’ ye do?"

"That’s actually pretty cool!" Lavender exclaimed. "What do I do? I date guys and break their hearts!" She said to herself. "I can’t say that." Lavender walked for a bit, admiring The Baroness’s relics, before answering. "I live a pretty normal life." She finally answered. "I live in an apartment with my mother and grandmother, go to school, and write lyrics from time to time." "My life definitely isn’t as interesting as yours." Lavender exclaimed. "You said you went to France, how was it there?" Lavender asked. "This is the first time I left the states to another country."

"Thank ye~" The Baroness exclaimed happily before thinking about France again. "France is a…..unusually place. Lubbers seem friendly ‘nough, landscape was a beaut….but we nearly got ‘rested by them bloody police ‘cause goin’ round wit’ a cutlass n’ lookin, ‘coordin to them, ‘like a circus’ is ‘parently ‘illegal’. Good thing one of me mates spoke french n’ got us outta it!" The Pirate began to think even harder, trying to think of something positive to say. "The grub was plenty good, however!"

Lavender nodded politely, even though she only got half of what the Baroness said. “Hmmm” Lavender wondered to herself. “Hey, pirate.” Lavender said, using ‘pirate’ as the taller girl’s new official nickname. “You’ve been around the world, right? Must be hard having long distance relationships, huh?”

The Baroness didn’t mind being called simply “pirate.” She’s been called much worse throughout her life, and the cutesy tone Lavender had said it in hinted at no real harmful intentions. However, the word “relationship” sent a shiver down her spine. She had dealt with one, and that experience was more than enough for her. ” ‘ell no, not this course again.” the pirate thought to herself. Quickly, she tried to gain her cool. “I’ve pretty much gone round the world lassie, but truth be told I ain’t the type fer relationships.” The Baroness tried to say confidently.

"I don’t know how you could do it." Lavender confessed. "Seeing all those exotic guys, and not getting with them! You have a lot of self control, pirate." Lavender detected the lack of confidence in The Baroness’s voice, but decided not to act upon it. “Have to find out the weaknesses, then use them against her later.” She thought to herself. "How are you finding the city so far?"

" ‘orrible!" The Baroness shouted. "There’s nary a sight er’ sound of da ocean!" She gave a chuckle at. "Seriously though, everythin’s been pretty swell so far lassie." The Pirate said, chipper. She quickly glanced over at the outfit Chris wanted her to change into with a slight look of despair. "I hate that I’m gonna’ have ta’ change inta these bloody garbs though; I think they look more atrocious than me first cabin boy Sticky Buns!" The Baroness then thought of what the modern-aged Aphrodite had said about having self control. She didn’t know what exactly she could say without opening a scar in her past, so she let that subject go. " ‘nough bout me, how’re ye enjoyin’ the dreary city?"

"I totally agree with you about the clothing." Lavender answered, glancing over the white outfit in her hands. "This is something I would never wear! You can’t wear white after Labor Day!!" Lavender rolled her eyes, completely disgusted over Chris’s lack of fashion sense. "But what about this Cabin Boy named Sticky Buns?" Lavender asked. "Who picks a nickname like Sticky Buns anyway??"

Ashley:
Ashley was making her way to the hotel when she found herself behind the weird pirate girl. Of course she did something embarrassing and Ashley couldn’t suppress a barking laugh at the girl in front of her. Mocking the girl, whose name she hadn’t bothered to remember, she pitched herself forward, pretending to trip. “Oh man, I’m so clumsy and I talk to myself! Yar har har!” Straightening back up, she wiped her brow in mock exhaustion from being so funny.

The Baroness turned around and looked at whoever had the audacity to mock her. She glanced at the girl, crossed her arms, and squinted her eyes. “Oh lookie here, ‘tis a wannabe mean girl who gets ‘er kicks off at feelin’ the need to run her bloody trap.” The Baroness sarcastically and angirly ranted to the girl that decided it’d be fun to make fun of a harmless mistake. The Baroness quickly pushed her hands to her hips and glared at the tall, somewhat imposing girl, a sure sign she isn’t going to back down.

Ashley innerly groaned. It was another one of those people, the ones who were so stubborn and confident they would just refuse to give in no matter what. Normally she would just walk away and not even bother, showing the other person that they weren’t worth wasting her time on, but since the season had just started that would probably give off the impression that she was weak when it came to confrontation. So, as much as she would rather have left to go and seek out more impressionable people, she straightened up as much was possible, put one hand on a hip, and gave the girl a cold stare. “Oh, I’m not a wannabe anything, not like you with your little pirate thing. Where are you from anyway, Montana? I bet you aren’t anywhere near the ocean.” The girl’s pirate act was actually really weird. Maybe it was a grab for attention or something. She was probably a lot more insecure than she looked. Ashley would be able to get through somehow. Well, one thing was for sure. This girl had picked the wrong fight.

The Baroness continued glaring at the girl. “The bloody hell is a Montana? A washed up popstar?” The Pirate asked the mean chick, still steaming with fury. “I don’t know what yer sayin’, but if ye wanna know where I spend me days, I’m from St. George, New Brunswick, right next to ‘da Bay of Fundy.” She then clinched her fists and stared right at the girl, who was putting her chin up in disapproval. “N’ who are ye ta’ call /me/ a wannabe? I’ve traversed the Atlantic many a times!” The Baroness then pulled out a rusty compass attached to a large string around her neck, and opened it. You could just barely make out that the compass was dated to the 1800s based on a fading insignia. “See this swag? I found it on me first voyage to France, lost in a poor jollyboat rustin’ n’ lodged to a sea spire.” The Pirate then angrily spat out. This girl is managing to really grind her gears; the worst in years. She knew the both of them were in for a rough day.

"What, no it’s a- oh." The girl was from Canada. No wonder she was so weird. Not that Ashley had met many people from Canada before, but they seemed pretty off. The whole maple syrup thing and all that. She was still greatly doubting that girl’s story, the main reason being that the girl had no actual evidence. An old compass from a ship? More like ‘sold in any antique store’. This girl was so obviously faking it, Ashley laughed out loud. "Oh, you’ve really got me there! Your compass has completely convinced me!" She smirked, lowering her eyebrows. "How much did you buy that thing for?"

The Baroness was now officially ticked: How dare this wench accuse her of faking her entire life! If it wasn’t for the fact she left it at home, she’d have absolutely no problems drawing her trusty cutlass on the sea hag. “YE DARE DOUBT ME!?” The Baroness tightened her fists tighter than a lug nut connected a roller coaster to it’s support beams. “I bet ye think this too is fake!?” Our Pirate friend pulled out a crinkled and crumpled picture of her and some people, obviously dressed in a similar fashion to herself, out of her pocket. They were standing on a dock of a small, clearly coastal, french villa. There were plenty of people pointing at them; some taking photos, others looking in a morbid curiosity. The Baroness shoved the photo into the face of the hateful mean chick.

Geez, this girl had a quick temper. Must be part of the whole pirate thing. Anyways, her “proof” was laughable, to say the least. “Yeah, pretty much.” Ashley replied to her outburst. “Have you ever heard of people called ‘cosplayers’? You know, people who pretend to be something they’re not and dress up like them, and walk around and people take pictures of them? …Yeah. And how about ‘Photoshop’? That comes to mind too. Or maybe they don’t have those kinds of things in Canada.”

The Baroness had no clue what the hell she was talking about. She did know one thing though: This girl would just not shut her mouth. She gave a defiant look towards the girl, and spoke. “N’ are you even wearin’ real hair now? Cause yers looks like it came from the back end of a mule: tis even faker than yer baseless guesses ‘bout me ye wench!” Our pirate friend shouted angrily at the heartless witch.

You know what heightens people’s negative emotions? Staying absolutely calm. It frustrated them and made them more prone to giving up after they tired themselves out. Ashley had done this before, and she had an excellent poker face. She resisted the urge to finger her hair (which was in fact her real hair) after the girl’s comment, that would let her know that the girl’s comment had hurt her. So, instead, she did what she was best at, and went right back to insulting the girl. ”Nice insults, where’d you pick those up? On a ‘sea voyage’? Or just from kids making fun of you all the time? And you can’t really call them ‘baseless’ accusations when you’ve given me exactly  zero  pieces of evidence that you’re actually a pirate. The whole pirate thing died out hundreds of years ago, by the way. So if you think it’s cool, it’s not. It’s just weird.”

The Baroness gave a sigh of relief. “Okay good, ye’re ready to talk like a decen’t human bein’ now.” She quickly cooled herself down, glad that the wench decided to talk rationally and calmly now. “I could show ye I actually am a real buccaneer; but saddly there’s no sight nor sound o’ sea. That means I can’t call me hands n’ bring me ship over.” She rationally explain. “Since neither genuine swag nor a photo from me picturebox is nary enough, me ship tis the only way to truly prove, yet I can’t get it. Oh woe is me.” Our pirate put on of her hands in her pocket and continued to talk on and on and on.

Ashley was confused at the girl’s sudden random shift to calmness, but it was obvious she wasn’t really right in the head anyway. “Yeah, what a pity,” she said, referring to the fact that the girl would never be able to prove her pirateness. She couldn’t understand half of what the girl was saying, and she didn’t even want to be here in the first place. She was seriously considering just walking away, but maybe the girl’s abrupt switch meant that she was tired out and would be more prone to breaking with a few well-placed comments. “Yes, woe is you,” she said in a stickily sympathetic voice. “Without your little paddle boat, how can you ever convince me that you’re a real live pirate?”

Matt:
"Hey, are you okay?" Matt asked with a little worry in his tone. "I saw you fall back there? You doing okay?"

He looked at her with her odd clothing choice, thinking maybe she was a hipster or just maybe dressing as a pirate. He waited to hear her answer, hoping she wouldn’t need help walking.

The Baroness heard a strange, male voice shouting after her, and so turned around to see who it was. “Arrr, ahoy there! Thanks fer yer concern but I’m fine!” The Pirate laughed and she did a bit of a jig to prove she’s fine. However, she noticed the look on his face; and it was one she was all to familiar with. “Oh bloody ‘ell, he best not be one o’ those lubbers!” She thunk, ready for the worst.

Matt was a little caught off guard by the pirate dilect. ‘Is that really the way she talks?’ He thought to himself.

He quickly shook it off and smiled “do you always talk like a pirate?” He asked with a laugh.

The Baroness stifled a small chuckle; she was worrying for nothing! The reaction the strange boy gave was relatively calm and tame compared reactions she gets, which was good; for she did not want to have used her fiery temper on the poor boy. “I don’t just talk like one laddie, I am a real swashbuckling corsair!” The Pirate shouted enthusiastically, making a pose similar to drawing a sword out of it’s hilt and thrusting it into the sky.

Benny
Benny slowly paced back and forth in front of the hotel building, unsure of what to do. On one hand, he could stay inside the old, dusty building and find a room to nap in. But then again…an abandoned hotel could have tons of creepy monsters inside.

He looked away from the structure, quickly turning on his heel and walking away nervously. Maybe it was best to go explore the streets instead. At least there would be lots of open space to run if he ever needed to. Should he try to look for supplies? Knowing Chris, the egocentric host probably wouldn’t feed them until next week.

"Food, water, flashlight, batteries…" Benny listed quietly to himself. "A safe place to sleep, fake friends to ditch if I ever get stuck in a horror movie…" He was busy mumbling to himself, not noticing that there was another contestant within earshot.

Ry:
Ry’s eyes adjusted to the sun overhead with his hand over his eyes, thinking about all the places he’d rather be heading to than Mount McVanity over yonder. The abandoned and kind of ruined city was nice, the hotel wasn’t too bad, and his room could use some kind of redecorating…but that was about it.

Eyeing the structure in front of him, having just finished unpacking and dressing, he took a great look at the place he could possibly jump off of if he’d had enough. Lowering his arm to his side, he heaved a heavy sigh. The roof was soon to be on his objective list, but he could wait on it since he needed to gain the upper hand by studying the city a bit more.

"Food, water, flashlight, batteries…" Benny listed quietly to himself. "A safe place to sleep, fake friends to ditch if I ever get stuck in a horror movie…"

Ry’s ears perked up at the sound of that one guy…the sleepy one, who would be puppy chow by the end of the season with Selene on his team, muttering to himself like a crazy homeless man, thinking he was being tracked by the CIA or some shit.

“Um… You okay, schizo?” He asked, not even the slightest bit concerned. “You sound a bit insane, ya know?” He paused, then continued. “What if you’re the psycho serial killer and you don’t even know it yet? All this time you assume that everyone else is out to get you, but you’re the one that holds the knife?”

Stepping forward, he jabbed Benny in the side with two fingers, simulating a knife.

Benny froze at the sound of Ry’s voice. This person…wasn’t on his team, were they? Did it matter? They weren’t in the middle of a challenge or anything, until then everything and everyone was neutral.

"I-I’m fine." He turned around. He opened his mouth to say more but was cut off by Ry’s deep speculation about his self mumbling.

"You sound a bit insane, ya know?" That left Benny wondering if that was what everyone else thought of him. He had read somewhere that sleep deprived people were more likely to turn into psychopaths. That’s not true, I’m not crazy, I won’t go crazy.

Blinking, he realized he had been dozing off for too long. Ry’s movement suddenly caught his attention and he looked up. “S-sorry, I’ll try not to talk so muc—” Unexpectedly, he felt Ry’s finger spike his side, sending a rush of pain and anxiety through him.

"A—Owww!" Benny jumped back, startled. "W-What was that for?"

“Hm?” Ry asked, looking up from his new target of interest: his bag. He didn’t exactly expect Benny to ask why he would poke him in the side. The answer was not in his mind, but the moment had felt right for a jumpscare.

He gave Benny a quick up and down glance, then shrugged his shoulders. “You were being creepy, so I decided to try to continue on with your creepiness by adding into it. Did it not entice your mind to think that maybe you could be the killer?”

Pulling out a pen, he twirled it in between his fingers, staring at the other male. “What if this is all some plan by Chris McVain to have us all killed here? Kinda like a Hunger Games thing? What if Chris is the reincarnation of Hitler and is assuming we’re all Jewish because he heard a prophecy from the stars? What if Chef actually killed someone and we are all his next targets because it was too boring to do it randomly?”

He could have stopped it, but having Benny hear what he was saying just made him feel elated. “You know, you could really use a friend on this place to have your back, not just a fake friend, right? With the way you were just blabbering out loud, you’ll end up getting voted off if someone…of the right maliciousness overhears you.”

Listening to Ry’s theories about Chris were funny. Benny wanted to laugh, but after being tazed, he decided not to say anything about it. Especially since the other was now holding a pencil, he was gonna feel more than a tickle.

"Like I said…I was just talking to myself. Most of it didn’t have to do with being here…" He put his hand where Ry had hit him, wary that he might strike again.

"So..um…what team are you on?" It wasn’t uncommon to forget who was on the other teams, right? As long as he knew who was on his team, he would be somewhat okay. It was still too early for him to make alliances with others from different teams— too much complexity.

Ry looked at Benny, slightly disappointed by the lack of response to his theories and whatnot, but remained neutral in expression. It wasn’t like he wasn’t used to being blocked out by other people, but he’d thought he could share his fun sense of darkness with another.

Moving to the side, he leaned against a pole and shrugged. “The plaidpandas… I’m so intimidating, right?” He asked rhetorically and sarcastically, glaring upward at the fact his team name was so…cutesy.

“…Um, not to sound—actually, I don’t care about the subject of teams, so we’re dropping it, Penguin boy. Anyway, can we go back to the subject of horror? Why are you so drawn to it?”

His face darkened physically and exponentially as he continued, “was it because of one night of trauma? Did you watch one too many horror movies at night while the rain stabbed at your window? Was your house haunted by a poltergeist that held you hostage in your own safe zone, causing every waking minute to be a living hell?” His face lightened back up. “Or is it because you’re a horror movie junkie who just wants to prepare for the worst?”

Ry could see his point there, but he wasn’t as terrified of the inevitable. “You know what helps me sleep at night, Be…Bert? Well, what helps me sleep at night is thinking ‘I’m going to die anyway’.”

"I…." Benny really wasn’t in the mood to talk about horror. But since Ry was so curious…

"Yes, yes, and yes…. When I was 4, I watched a serial killer murder my grandparents. Their screams ring in my ears every night and I had to go through 11 years of therapy." His drowsy expression darkened and there was a pained look in his eyes.

"Other than thaaaat…." He perked up and clasped his hands together nervously. "I guess you could say I’m a horror junkie…My sisters always dragged me into watching horror movies with them."

Ry’s arms flung out at an unusually fast rate and Benny’s arm was grabbed by both arms just as fast. “Oh, really? Death by murder? I’ve never experienced death that wasn’t war, choking, or old age related!”

Okay, so two of those had been dogs, but he didn’t care! Death was death and it happened so much. People don’t really get to hear the gruesome tales of the demised every day, so Ry was going to lap up every detail as if it were the fountain of youth.

A small and yet eerie smile etched itself on Ry’s features as he continued to walk and pull Benny behind, grateful for the fact he wasn’t resisting. If Ry even felt a tug of resistance, then he’d be yanked back and grounded. After this ends, he’s going to be working on building his upper body strength by the tenfold.

“Tell me more…Bert,” He urged, dragging Benny down the street with him. “What was the killer like? Did he get caught? How’d he do it?”

Pausing in his talking, he looked back at him. “…This city could be haunted, too, you know? Lots of dark places for vicious things to hide in.”

"He…he…" Benny was staring down at the pavement, not even trying to pull away from Ry. It had been so long, he didn’t really remember. What he did remember was fuzzy and uncertain. A look of stress furrowed his brow as he tried to remember. All he could see was his grandparents’ glassy eyed complexions as they lay motionless on the floor. Were they really killed by a murderer?

"I don’t….I don’t think he was ever caught. C-Can’t remember how…" He felt Ry’s grip tighten in disappointment and heard him mumble something. Something about monsters hiding in the dark…

"W-where are you even taking me?" Benny glanced up at Ry. They weren’t too far away from the hotel, which was good.

Ry kept his small smile, even though his disappointment was pretty much visible from his drooping shoulders. “Hm…” He thought quietly to himself about what he could do with his newfound hostage. Too bad murder was illegal, but then he’d lose the horror junkie he could talk to…

Damn…

“I don’t know yet.” He admitted, looking back for a few moments, then forward. “We have a lot of time before we become enemies, so I’m just going to—“ glancing up, he noticed something much more appealing than murder: an old movie theater.

“Perfect.” He uttered, dragging Benny toward that. The place was obviously in poor condition—vines growing all over the floor, rats squeaking hostilely as the two boys approached the thing, the ceiling was cracked all over, and part of the roof had caved, blocking a door from being used. Good thing there were two doors.

Ry dragged his victim into the accessible door and threw him forward, crossing his arms and taking in the scenery, effectively blocking Benny from escape. Leaning against the already cracking door, Ry took in a deep breath of the rotted air.

“One time when I came to one of these places, I heard a tale about movie theaters… They say that ALL movie theaters are haunted, even the ones that don’t have any deaths attached to them.” His features once again darkened delightfully.

“They say that the reason for this is because horror movies cause us to release all of our negative emotions, drawing into the places…demons. Demons more fierce than those that manifested in a house full of a murderous past. The negativity lingers and causes the demon to attach to it, making the place a breeding ground for it.

“Running away won’t do because they attack the weaker, more susceptible people in the…” Glancing upward, he eyed the roof, not moving from his spot.

Benny flinched when he heard Ry close the doors behind him. It seemed like there was no escape from this person. He stared up at the lush vegetation that covered the faded posters and inhaled anxiously.

"D…Demons…h-huh?" His voice grew quieter as he walked further into the building, letting his fingers run along the counter top of an old popcorn stand. "I think it’s actually poltergeists that like the negative atmosphere. Or was it actually..?" There was that mumbling again, Benny had completely forgotten about getting rid of that habit.

Examining the rotting carpet patterns, he began to think of a plan. There’s gonna be a challenge soon, Ry wouldn’t try to trap me in here..would he?''Besides that, it was a movie theater. There had to be'' like, at least 3 more exits.

"S-so…did you just make me come here to…" He noticed Ry gaping at whatever was on the roof, and looked up curiously.

Ry barely heard what Benny had said after he’d finished talking and spotted the atrocity above them both. The signs dangling above Ry’s head blocked the most of the dangling object, though, so he couldn’t tell if his speculations were correct or not.

He moved toward where Benny was standing to get a better look at what he could barely see from where he was standing. From his position now, he could tell exactly what was up there. “No…way.” He whispered softly, staring up at the dangling body of someone who’d hung himself.

The body slowly swayed as a gust of wind came in from a hole in the roof. One of the shoes was long gone now, revealing a few bones from where some scavengers obviously tried to find some tasty meat. A sheet was over the head as if the body was attempted to be hidden from the seeing eyes of customers, but it hid very little from view.

“Well, I guess they took low ratings seriously,” he joked, moving backward to marvel at the view in his eyes…eye.

Right there in front of his eyes. A dead body. A rotting corpse, still decomposing as he stared up at it. Benny gazed up in shock at the noose that suspended the figure in the air, and consciously placed his hand to his neck. He could suddenly imagine himself up there, the coarse rope burning at his tender neck, cutting into his throat, struggling to breathe as his entire life flashed before him.

What if the rope decided to snap and the body dropped right in front of him? What if the body reanimated and some demon decided to possess it? Whichever one would happen first, Benny didn’t want to know.

"Let’s get out of here." He spoke clearly this time, not taking his eyes off the body.

“What?” Ry asked, still looking up at the corpse in a dreamy daze, not really paying attention to Benny. Looking over, he could tell that Benny was now terrified…or mortified…scarred? It didn’t matter! Ry could mold him into a stronger, better human being with a love for the sight of death; it helped at funerals.

Wait, was he really going to take a life and try to make it more like his? Well, he already had a dead set of grandparents, so why not make him used to death? SCREW therapy! If Benny was used to the dead and the journey thereafter, then he wouldn’t be frightened to die so easily.

“Leave? Nah,” he looked around the place and jumped over the counter, causing dust to fly up from where he landed. “Leaving would just make this a less of a find and more of a secret.” He stated, digging around behind the counter.

Tossing a few things aside, he came across a gun. Picking it up, he popped up from behind it, face covered in a thin layer of dust. “Wanna see something cool?” He urged, jumping on top of the counter with his hands behind his back.

"Why not? There’s a dead body right up there! This place has bad vibes!" He stopped talking once he saw that convincing the other would be futile. Benny’s eyes followed Ry over to the counter, watching him rustle through the cabinets.

"What did you find, exactly?" He braced himself for the worst. A finger, a leg, maybe a decapitated head?

Ry lifted the gun from behind his back and aimed it straight for the rope right above the dead body’s head. “I’ll show you something really cool in a few minutes.” Squinting his eyes toward the target, he shot three bullets at the ropes.

Two missed and clanged painfully around the target, but the third one hit the rope dead on and sent the body tumbling down to the floor fifteen feet below with a loud THUD!

“Come on,” he once again urged, grabbing Benny’s arm and dragging him toward the dead body on the floor. The sheet had fallen off and drifted slowly to the ground below, landing a few feet from the body.

Benny instinctively took a few steps back at the sight of the gun, and flinched when Ry shot at the body. The noise was louder than he thought, compared to ones in video games. Someone probably heard them…

He certainly didn’t want to know what that horrible  THUD  was. Turning around slowly, he wished he was wrong.

“ Why? " His voice was barely above a whisper. "Why would you do that? That’s…That’s….. disprespectful… " He didn’t move an inch, staring in the other direction, away from the body.

“What’s normal for the spider is chaos for the fly, so take this as we’re the spider…and the rest of society is the fly. Understand?” Ry asked, glancing up from the body. Obviously moving wasn’t in the picture.“Many religious fanatics tote dead bodies around for months and never bury them and other cultures keep the dead ‘alive’ and walk them to their burial. In this culture, is it not disrespectful to just leave a body up where it is and not give it a proper burial?”

Ry stood up and stared at the back of Benny’s head with a calm look on his face. “Death is a part of life, and we’re taught how to view death in different ways. This guy was never found to be dead…probably just forgotten about when the city was abandoned. Do you know how this city was abandoned because I don’t.”

“Should we not create a life story for him to be buried with?” He didn’t actually care about the life of whoever this guy was, but he wanted to get Benny on his side.

Benny didn’t really understand what Ry meant by “this culture”. Canada and the U.S. were cultural melting pots. He could be referring to any type of culture.

"Oh…well— I guess I didn’t think of that..but…" He had only agreed on the whole "proper burial" thing, but still wasn’t so sure about his view of death. Seeing, feeling, emotions, they were all pretty much just electric signals in his brain, right? Being dead was only the absence of it. Benny had tried to imagine the sensation several times. Going numb, can’t see, hear, talk, or breathe. That literal feeling of ‘nothingness’ always seemed to leave him anxious.

"So…what’re you gonna do with the body..?"

Ry let his smile come back to his face and he turned around to face the body, bending down after approaching it. “Well, since he’s just a husk now, he’s nothing more than a piece of meat for scavengers to pick and pry on. Since I’m not a cannibal, I’ll just loot.” He slipped his hand into the corpse’s body to feel around.

“Lots of things to find inside the dead…” He muttered, pulling out two items from the pocket. Turning over a stone in his hand, his eyes widened and he placed it gently next to him, looking pleased.

The second item he held up was a pocket knife. Looking back at Benny, he wondered if he should give it to him or not… If he did, then his team might find out about it later…and that would be awful for him. He placed it next to the rock and gestured for Benny to join him.

“You’re into horror movies, right? Well, looting is important…especially in zombie, apocalypse, or on-the-run type movies. We’re here on a show similar to Survivor, so we must learn to loot what we can—dead or alive. You want to make it far, Bert? Then do what I say: help me loot this body.”

"Ughh…." Ry was right, but that body was way too gross to touch, germs, smell, and whatnot. Technically he didn’t have to, the situation didn’t depend on it. Benny continued watching Ry for a few more moments, wondering what kind of person the dead man was or how the city was like if he carried a stone and a pocketknife with him.

"Ok…I’ll just..check his other side." He kneeled down across from Ry and cautiously searched through the tattered pockets, finding a wallet with money and an ID.

Ry looked over at Benny and nodded slightly, then flipped open the pocket knife to stare at it. The blade was dull and ultimately looked useless to him, but it could be useful for those in-a-jam moments. “Most people easily taken off guard end up being in the canon for those…surprises that Chris throws at them.” He tossed the pocket knife to Benny and sat down now to investigate the jacket pocekts. “Death and Chris are on the same level, you know? Besides, you’re the only male I feel like I won’t want to kick off the cliff.”

“What’s it say?” He asked, gesturing at the ID. If this really was a dead body, then Ry would be mesmerized that Chris would be so inattentive to miss something like this.

Benny wiped the dull surface of the card and squinted the small, fuzzy print. “Uh…He…Henry Fa…? The print’s rubbed off after that.” He handed the ID to Ry and kept looking through the wallet. Useless credit cards, library card, scrap paper of someone’s phone number… and 80 Canadian dollars.

He quietly stuffed the money in his pocket while Ry was busy inspecting the card. Realizing Ry may get suspicious, he left a few dollars back in the wallet.

Ry stared at the ID in confusion and squeezed it slightly in his hands, glaring at the print slowly, eyebrows knit together in frustration now. “What…? Nani…?” He turned the card over in his hands continuously and looked toward Benny. “This is some stupid trick!” He threw the card, though it just caught the air and fell to the ground.

Real dead body! Why couldn’t there be a real dead body in this stupid place?! He stood up in frustration and slammed his foot on the body now, denting into it and making a soft snapping noise come from it. Moving his foot back, he sighed and crossed his arms.

Stopping himself, he noticed something fall out of jacket and on to the floor. “What’s this?” Ry asked, bending down and picking up the object. Squinting his eyes at the package, he looked at Benny. “Cigarettes. You wanna smoke?”

Oh, so Ry never noticed the money. Benny didn’t bother to take back the few dollars he left in the wallet, it wasn’t really worth it. He backed up in surprise when Ry started ranting angrily about the ID and the body. The way the it snapped when he kicked it didn’t sound fake to him. He watched as Ry pulled out a cigarette pack and offered one to him.

"No thanks, I don’t smoke." He never really liked the smell of it, or the thought of inhaling that disgusting smoke. "Do you even have anything to light it with?"

Ry looked at the cigarette pack and shrugged his shoulders. “We found a knife, a gun, and a fake ID.” He reached into the jacket of the corpse and felt around the area, trying to locate a lighter for him to use. He slowly revealed the man did have a lighter and sat down contently, opening up packet in his hands. His eyebrows raised in surprise and a content smile rested itself on his face for once.

He moved back against the wall and pulled out a blunt to rest in his mouth. “You sure you don’t want to try this? It’s great for inspiration and calming your nerves down. Plus, life…moves a little bit slower.” Maybe the body being fake wasn’t too bad after all. Besides, who knows how long until they actually needed to be at Mount McLame.

Admittedly, this was probably a bad idea, but he knew that he couldn’t turn down this offer. “Come on, Bert.” He reached in and took a second one out to offer to him. “From the way you were acting earlier, you could use the calm down.”

"No…I don’t want it." There were healthier ways to calm down. "You can go ahead." Well, he did want it a little. It wasn’t like the cigs were laced with weed or anything but for the sake of his own health, he wanted to wait until he was older. That way, he wouldn’t get hassled by his parents for being underage.

The way Ry described the experience made him wonder if that was how he got his creativity. It must’ve been nice to have the world slow down, his was already slow enough.

Ry’s tiny eyebrows knit together and he shrugged at the other boy. “Suit yourself,” he said, taking the blunt and putting it between his teeth. Pulling the lighter up to meet the end, he lit it and allowed the flames to light it. Lowering the lighter down, he sighed contently, allowing the smoke to enter into his system.

Taking the blunt out, he blew a long strand of smoke away from Benny and coughed softly. “Ah, I haven’t had this kind of treat since that jock fell off my skateboard and broke his dong.” Leaning back against the wall, his head slowly fell against it. “You’re really missing out, but just relax and loot the body while I wait for this to kick in.”

There was no way Ry would be able to get very high off a normal blunt, but after hearing him talk about a jock breaking his dong he thought otherwise. Ry wasn’t gonna help out anymore so Benny checked the remaining pockets of the body and unfortunately, found nothing.

"T…There’s nothing else. Maybe we should go now?" He asked, quietly pleading Ry.

Ry’s eyebrow rose sharply at Benny, wondering if he was afraid of death or if he just didn’t want to be around the thing on the ground. “Listen, Benny, you really need to calm down; you’re not going to be killed or hurt or even touched by anyone in here.” He took another long drag off his lit up blunt and sighed contently. The feeling of elation and relaxation slowly coming to his system again, or he could be imagining it and it not be doing anything.

It wasn’t until thirty seconds later that he noticed the body next to Benny was twitching. How is…that thing moving? His eyes widened as he noticed it sit up and reach out for the other boy. Pushing himself upward, he kicked Benny backward to avoid being clutched by the machine or whatever Chris had put here.

“Fuck!” He yelled, moving away from whatever it was and grabbing Benny’s arm in the process. “Fine, we’ll go!”

Benny had began to grow more accustomed to being around the body. After all, Ry said it was fake. Probably. The old movie theater was nice and quiet, with the exception of Ry breathing smoke in the background. Dark, peaceful, some ambient noise, perfect for dozing off…

It wasn’t until Ry’s abrupt shouting brought him back to his senses. He squinted at him for a moment, trying to process what he just heard. “H-huh? Where are we go— hey hey! Owww!” Ry gripped his arm too tightly  and he tripped as he was being pulled towards the exit.

Ry finally had the mindset of escaping the damned thing that he KNEW Chris was probably controlling, until he felt Benny trip behind him and the weight of Benny yanked him backward and on to the floor below. Hitting the back of his head on the floor, he stared up at ceiling with the twinkling images of decapitated heads in his vision. Turning over slowly, he tried to push himself upward. Was this like a vision of his death? Was this actually a dre—?

He let out a few noises of dismay as he felt the back of his neck being grab. Blinking away the decapitated heads, he began to thrash violently in the grip of the robotic suicidal dead body. The feeling of its fingers pressing into his neck began to hurt slowly but surely.

The robotic body moved over to Benny now and pressed its foot into his stomach to try to pin him down.

He didn’t even realize what happened until there was a pain in his stomach from the robot’s foot. “Oh my god, what the fuck?!” Craning his head back he could see Ry hanging from the figure’s grip. Like how the body looked when we first found it…

At least he knew now it wasn’t an actual dead body, but the sudden pain and movement startled him enough to make him cry. Did he want to cry? Yes. Was it the right time to do that? Absolutely. Though, it must’ve been more painful and horrifying for Ry.

Anxiety and fear seemed to form a tight knot in Benny’s stomach, panicked thoughts of him and Ry being more hurt than they already were now made it even worse.

"G-Get off!" Benny shoved the robot’s foot off, rolling over as it lost it balance and let go of Ry.

The shoving had caused the robot to move backward and trip over the severely crumbled column that sat near the entrance. The worst part had to be the noises that came from that, making Benny’s ears ring from the sheer blast of sounds, unflattering and unnerving.

With his vision being blurred, Ry thought surely it was his time to just let go and accept those pearly gates of hell. The sudden feeling of air falling through his hair made him snap out of it…and it came right as his head hit the ground again, making his beanie fall off and his two feathers slip out of their slits in his hat.

Smack!

The sound echoed through the theater, even though Ry was sure it was just the pounding of his ear drums making the noise sound reverberant. Shakily moving to sit up, he felt something wet on his cheek and rubbed off a small amount of blood that had formed from a crack just above his hair line.

Then the coughing and wheezing for air began shortly after, making him feel like a child with a cold. Moving his hand up to his sore and most likely bruised neck, he felt the warmth that came from the pressure it’d just gone through. “F-Fuck…”

Placing his full weight on his arms, he realized that he’d just used up all his energy to sit up. At that moment, he felt his arms shake and give out, sending him back to the ground to continue his coughing fit.

Was he safe? Where did Benny go? Did he leave him here alone?

Fuck, he did mumble about leaving some idiot behind to be killed instead of him.

Ha, Ry was that idiot, wasn’t he?

Slowly getting up, Benny watched as the robot fell over and let go of Ry. He realized now was the best time to escape, but hesitated when he saw Ry coughing and bleeding. Glancing back and forth at Ry, the door, and the unmoving robot, he quickly made up his mind that there would be just enough time to help Ry and leave.

"H-Hey…are you okay?" Benny quietly shuffled over and helped Ry to his feet. "Y-You’re not bleeding too much, are you?"

Ry blinked his eyes several times and stared at the other in confusion. “Did I die and this my favored dream scenario? Well, that’s okay… Or is this like a second life?” Looking around the place, he sighed and shook his head. “Damn it… This is obviously not another life because I would be much happier and wouldn’t be bleeding.” He stated, eyeing the wall warily and leaning against Benny calmly.

“Wait, you stayed behind even though that’s not what the horror movie survivors would do?” He asked, raising his tiny eyebrow at him, hair falling over his right eye from lack of beanie. His head felt sore and his body felt worse. “Oh, Buddha, we need to get out of here.”

Pointing toward the entrance to the theater, he was about to state that they needed to go ‘that way,’ but before he could open his mouth, the entrance way was blocked by a large cluster of falling rock. “Okay, or…somewhere else?”

He was about to mention the exit he thought he saw to the left, but the fact it was an illusion and the robot getting up from where it had fallen stopped him.

Baroness:
The Baroness heard what Benny had mentioned about “fake friends” and became concerned. She had to think about what to say: he was her teammate, and this revelation, or course, concerned her. “What to say, what the bloody ‘ell do I say?” She thunk. The Pirate didn’t want to seem too confrontational in case she’d turn her own crew against her, but at the same time, she had to bring attention to this. “‘cuse me? What do ye mean ‘fake friends?” She asked aloud. Benny stopped in his place at the realization someone was listening in on him. “Yer a penguin matey! We Penguins need to stick togethah’!” The Baroness spoke proudly. She approached the nervous boy.

Benny turned around abruptly, staring at The Baroness in surprise. ”B-Baroness! I—uh…I didn’t mean our team, of course! ‘Fake friends’ is just for something else! Yeah!” The pirate’s skeptical look didn’t prove that he had convinced her.

"It’s the truth! Penguins are animals that stay in groups! They depend on each other. N-not like those Polar Bears we’re gonna beat, right?" He upped the confidence in his voice, trying to change subject.

The Baroness heard Benny’s apologizes and his words of encouragement, and felt he was being genuine with his feelings. But at the same time, she was looking into his eyes, and noticed a look that showed there was something going on; that he had something major on his mind. She looked skeptical; not because of the words he spoke, but because of the look in his eyes. “What to say…” She thunk, racking her brain for something that wouldn’t sound rude or uncaring. “Ye have somethin’ on ye brain, don’t ye matey?” The pirate spoke sympathetically, concerned with what could be going on with her fellow teammate.

"Ummm…" Benny looked away from The Baroness. "It’s nothing important— just thinking about random stuff." He was glad she wasn’t too suspicious of him anymore. They had only met today and yet she had more concern than anyone he had ever known. I guess it’s just normal for her to care. We’re teammates…it must be a pirate thing.

"I was just thinking about something." He perked up. "Which side of your hands is the front, and which is the back?" He looked at his hands, puzzled. "They say the palm’s in the front, but that’s not always the case!"

The Baroness stared out him, a flat “what” expression imbedded into her face. She wondered. “Is this some-sorta’ mind trick es’ trynna’ pull to keep me from findin’ out what’s truly going on in his mind. “Arr…..I think the palm is front?” She questioned, not knowing what to say. “Say, how ‘bout I join ya’ in plunderin’ swag from these shops while we ‘ave da’ time!” She perked up, having heard that part as well, trying to avoid making her motives for trying to find out what’s really bothering him noticeable, as well as getting to know someone on her team better. She had seen that trick many-a time when some of her crew were worried; almost afraid of may happen, and she wanted to get to the bottom of it.

"So it really is the front…" Benny continued to stared at his hands for a few more seconds. He didn’t think The Baroness would let go of his worries too easily. Oh well. "Oh— and uh, yeah you can come with me." It could probably be a fun experience, better than being alone at least. "So uh, how about we start looking over there?" He pointed to a nearby supermarket. If they were lucky, there’d still be some food that hasn’t expired.

"Great idea matey!" The Baroness said warmly and happily. She began to think of warm thoughts involving devouring citrus fruits; in fact, she would be a damn happy pirate if she could get her hands on some lemon squares. Her stomach began to growl like a ferocious wolf. "God speed Benny!" The Baroness shouted as the two made their way to the abandoned super market.

"H-Hey! Wait up!" There was no need to expend that much energy, they haven’t done any challenges yet. Benny trailed behind The Baroness cautiously, staring at the half empty aisles.

"These shelves barely have anything.." He murmured as he picked up a can of food. "Do you think someone was here before?"

"Fer all I know Chris deliberately took most of ‘da food ta’ punish us." The Baroness shrugged as she pushed an empty box of snack cakes off of one of the shelves. "Say matey, wanna check the ice boxes ‘case they have anythin’?" The Baroness asked with a smile. "There best be some unexpired’ orange juice in em’, that’s fer sure…." The Pirate thought to herself as the two walked to the cold storage section.

He shivered, his mind already depicting several possible horrors that could occur upon opening a freezer. Benny followed Baroness into the aisle, scanning the remains of whatever was stacked in the freezer.

He opened a freezer door and anticipated fog to cloud over the glass, but it never happened. Picking up a carton of orange juice, Benny flipped it over several times in search of the expiration date.

"H-Hey Baroness…I think I found some orange juice. It hasn’t expired yet."

The Baroness’ eyes grew wide with happiness. Orange juice: one of the few food and drinks she ever craves. And it’s unexpired to boot! “Happy days, happy days!” She thunk to herself. The Pirate quickly rushed over to join her fellow penguin. "Arrr, swell job yer doin’ lad!" The Baroness told him happily as she opened another nearby fridge. Inside she was met with a cloud of dust so thick it could have caused the next great dust bowl. Inside, she found a can of biscuits, warm but unopened. " ‘Found some biscuits! ‘we keep this up we be havin’ breakfast!" The Pirate chuckled.

Benny gave only a small nod, still feeling rather awkward in comparison to The Baroness’s outbursts of energy. “I’ll go see if there’s anything else.” He wasn’t really in the mood for dry biscuits today.

Wandering into the bread aisle, he was disappointed to find all the loaves of sandwich breads were covered in mold. All of the soup cans in the aisle next door had expired, but he did manage to find a bag of beef jerky.

"I don’t think there’s anything else here." He called to the pirate. "Should we go check the other stores?"

The Baroness ran over to the boy, 2 cans of biscuits in one hand and a box of Twinkies in the other. “Prob’ly, Chris couldn’t ‘ave pillaged ferm’ every merchant. Who knows matey, maybe we could be feedin the rest of our crew if we get anythin’ else!” Noticing the unusual lack of energy the boy had, she gave a bit of a laugh to perk him up, and then rushed for the exit “GANGWAY!”

"Haha, yeah.." Benny made every effort to catch up with the pirate. She was super fast, and everyone else on the team seemed athletic too. His eagerness disappeared as he realized he would be the one slowing them down…

"Uh…how about we find supplies? Like flashlights and batteries?"

The Baroness stopped dead in her tracks and noticed how far behind Benny had fallen. “Arrrr, bloody ‘ell I left one o’ me hands behind!” She thought. The Pirate didn’t notice that it wasn’t her being too fast, but rather, Benny’s lethargic nature getting the better of him.

"Arr, let’s plunder that ol’ ‘ardware store then n’ see if da’ sutler left anythin’ behind fer us, er’ if that scurvy snake took em’!" The Pirate shouted as she charged in the direction of a store with a faded sign that barely read "Hardware Depot". She silently prayed to herself that she managed to let Benny catch up this time.

Benny caught up with The Baroness in short time, taking in quick breaths to recover. Sure, he was slow now, but later on in the challenges he would have the pirate caught off guard. No point in wasting energy until he really needed to, right?

The hardware store was bigger, giving Benny some hope in finding something useful. “Ah…so…I guess I’ll look over here.” He shuffled over to a stack of boxes. The cardboard thin and worn out, and he was delighted to have found some working batteries.

The Baroness danced around the empty boxes that littered the ground. “Arr bloody- of course Chris took all the swag from this shop too. The poxed snake should kiss the gunner’s daughter if ‘e thinks ‘e can stop me from findin’ things!” The Pirate muttered under her breath as she shook the boxes  to see if she could find anything.

The Baroness sighed as she looked at the wake of her destruction of cardboard box upon box. “I don’t think the bloody man left anythin’ fer us matey….ye have any luck wit ye?”

"I found some batteries and…a flashlight." He pulled off the bottom compartment of the flashlight and tried to fit some of the batteries into it. "They fit perfectly!" He switched on the flashlight and pointed it at The Baroness.

"Are you sure that he wouldn’t have anything else in here? I mean…the store’s pretty big…"

Lavender:
Lavender was walking around the city, not exactly sure what she wanted to do. She was just minding her own business when she saw a guy walking around. "This should be fun." She thought to herself, snickering at her idea. She quietly caught up to him and… "Hi there!" she exclaimed.

Benny let out a small squeak, turning around to face whatever horrible thing had decided to attack him.

"Oh!" He let out a sigh of relief, it was just another contestant. A normal, human being. "You’re…uh…Lavender, right?"

"Yep, that’s me." Lavender answered. "You’re Benny, right?" She started walking quietly besides Benny, before speaking again. “What brings you out into city?” she asked.

"Um…well…" He paused to think about Lavender’s question. It wasn’t anything complex like calculus, but Benny felt the need to process everything thoroughly before answering.

"Just—wandering around, looking for anything interesting. How about you?"

Dennis
"Heheheheh~"

"Hey! What are you doing?!"

Dennis, now changed into the clothes Chris had laid out for the campers crossed his arms and rudely replied, “None of your beeswax, bub!”

He sat down on the floor in the lobby, peculiarly holding his hand in the air, his fingers curled into an OK signal, to make sure not to touch his palms. He stared up at the two buckets he had set on top of the door. It was an archaic prank, but with a twist; or so he felt.

Now to wait, he thought to himself, as he took his free hand and pulled out a paddleball, letting the ball bounce up and down a few times before hearing someone walk into the lobby.

Ry:
“This place isn’t so bad…” Ry mumbled to himself, making his way down the stairs, not wanting to run the risk of running into anyone else right now.

His room was exactly to his liking, but the floor was already covered with papers from his tedious designing for the bare wall in his room. The only issue: he didn’t have the correct paint color.

Since he figured he had at least thirty minutes to kill before the first challenge, he decided that the stores that were still here could have the right shade of paint: Shangri La. The painted wall would make an excellent addition to his, otherwise barren, room.

Making his way down the hallway, he stopped by the door to the lobby and considered going in there for a minute to check it out. It’d be great to scout out a nice place to sit down and draw at when he was waiting for the paint smell to go down.

Gently pushing the door open, he was taken by surprise by the sight of one of his teammates, sitting on the floor and playing paddle ball. Before he could utter a surprised ‘hello’, he heard the scraping of metal buckets sliding from above his head.

Dennis recognized a teammate as Ry, probably the only person who didn’t end up separating themselves from the prankster when they all arrived at the city.

Ry didn’t seem to notice Dennis at first, and that was fine for the most part. It’d make the surprise so much more delectable in his opinion.

Sure, maybe warning the only person who didn’t have a bad taste in their mouth for him would be the best thing to do; but on the other hand, oh did he need this prankster related pick-me-up.

When Ry finally noticed Dennis and greeted him, the African-Latino boy replied in a fake British accent, “Ello, guv’nah!” He then noticed that Ry had heard the scraping, mostly because Ry gave a more gentle push than most.

"…This could get awkward," Dennis muttered, not bothering to stand up and neither warn Ry in the case he still didn’t know of the water filled buckets nor halt the boy in the chance that he did figure out after all.

Ry’s face scrunched up immediately, focusing on the sound above his head. This was some kind of prank? Halting himself in the nick of time, he glanced up at the buckets, then at Dennis, then at the buckets, and finally behind him. No way.

The problem with Ry’s situation was that no matter how he looked at it, someone was getting water splashed on them. He let go of the door and took a few steps back to avoid being the one to walk back to his room in a sopping wet T-shirt… This would not end up being a wet T-shirt contest.

He moved forward and slammed his foot against the door, causing it to swing forward. The buckets went flying off their perch, but one hit the other and sent it toward Dennis, hitting the floor a few feet from the door and splashing the trickster instead of Ry, though Ry did get water on his shorts and shoes from the second bucket not falling quite as far as the first.

“Cheers.”

Dennis, now sopping wet, looked at Ry. Then back at the buckets. Then back at Ry. He opened his mouth to speak, before closing it. What was there to say? Yelling at Ry that he ruined his prank?

Not if you were Dennis.

"Oooooh," was what came from his mouth, bouncing his paddleball again, using the timing and tempo of the paddleball to simulate clapping, "Not bad, kiddo! Although, if ‘ya swung the door back about three inches more, the buckets would have hit me directly and made me as wet as a fish or something! …Or so I’d think."

"Maybe if I out something like toilet paper under the buckets…" he mumbled to himself, the paddleball’s tempo rising by the moment, "But no… That’d end up makin’ the buckets either fall and miss their mark or make them stay on their perch… Hum…" It was like Dennis was suddenly lost in his own little world.

Ry looked down at the bucket that splashed his feet and then at Dennis, thinking about how insane this was. His face remained puzzled by his reaction. He bent down slowly and retrieved the bucket that had only drenched his shoes.

Looking down at it, he sloshed the water that was still inside around and headed over to the deeply distracted boy. He stood over him for only a moment before letting the bucket tip and drench Dennis in the remaining water.

“You should stay cool-headed for the challenge today,” Ry stated, his voice not losing its monotone edge.

“Also…you could strap the bucket to the wall upside down for a better effect. It’s simple if you do it correctly. After filling your bucket up, flip it over while cover the top with a thick piece of laminated paper to keep the water inside. Once you’ve done that, then you just need to secure the paper to the door so that it slides out from under the bucket…. No matter how gently the person pushes on the door, they’ll still receive water on their head.”

Ry shrugged his shoulders and threw the bucket aside. “I’m unsure if it’d work out all that well, but surely it’d be worth a shot.”

Dennis, still deep in thought, didn’t move when he was splashed with the water. He finally looked up when he heard Ry speak, letting out an amused laugh.

"No need in being so cold, kiddo!" The Black Cupid exclaimed, "Would you rather me have some fun before the challenge or during it? Before? I think so!"

At Ry’s advice, he tilted his head slightly, ” Ooooooh, you might be onto somethin’. You dabble in pranks yourself? Or you just some analyzing whiz kid or some shit like that?”

“As long as you only prank the other team and don’t let the prank catch us up in a trap of sorts.” Ry said, slowly crossing his arms over his chest and staring down at Dennis. “It’d be great to set the other teams back a bit, you know?”

Ry was caught off guard by the next question and he shrugged again, wondering how to define his cruel ways. “Would it technically be a prank if I oiled the bottom of a cheerleader’s shoes before she went out to audition for the squad? Or would it be a prank if I pretended to be a ghost in a dark room and scared a boy into wetting himself? Or would it be a prank if I followed a boy around sayin—No, that one would be considered harassment…”

He cursed softly and let his arms fall to his side, remembering that he was supposed to be doing something. “Are you going to be pranking more people now or do you have nothing better to do?”

"Ohohoho," Dennis chortled, "Ya don’t have to worry bout that! Any… Incidents that may happen during challenges will be tailor made for the other teams! I wanna win too, yeah?"

His eyes lit up when Ry told of his own pranking adventures, before Dennis let out a sustained laugh that sounded between a laugh and a snake’s hiss, “Hehehesss, I can hear the screaming fear in the cheerleader’s voice and practically smell that kid’s piss, heheheh; impressive!~”

He took off his straw hat and let some more water drip out before saying, “I needs-to drip dry I guess. And head to that mountain. Does that count as something to do?”

Ry slowly nodded his head and felt a little pride in his work. “The sound of her face hitting the gym floor was much more satisfying, and the cheerleaders were actually audible compared to most of their actual performances and cheers.” His nose scrunched up at the piss statement. “I’d rather not relive the smell,” he finished that thought it with somewhat of a smile on his face, then it vanished as quickly as it had come.

“Well, yes and no. Well, I don’t think this will be interesting as dumping water on someone’s head, but I want to go and raid a store or a few to see what I can find. I’ve got an art project I’m planning to do in my room after the challenge and I might need an extra pair of hands. I’m only in this for paint, but there could be some joke store here you could raid, too. Also, who knows what Chris has in store for anyone who travels this place alone?”

"Heheheheh, a smacking thud sound, yeah?" Dennis chuckled in amusement, "You know what they say, some of the quietest mother-effers can be the most dangerous, yo. Least I think so."

His eyebrows rose in interest at Ry’s offer, leading Dennis to reply with, “Breaking and entering? Petty theft? I’m all up in that!” Pocketing his paddleball, he gave a salute to his teammate, “It’s a hard decision, but I’ll mill around you for a bit. Sides! All challenges and no play make Dennis bored as all get out.”

“Heh, yeah, it was accompanied by the echoes of the gym walls. No matter how hard I could try to forget it, repetition makes it nearly impossible to do so.”  That was never a bad thing in his mind. Feeling sad, Ry? Just think of the pain and suffering of all those people you either wronged, hurt, or caused to be hurt.

“Dangerous?” He asked, looking at himself through a reflection on the window. “Well, I’ve never heard that phrase before, but I’ll take it into consideration.” He wondered if that would mean Dennis would assume that if anything went wrong, it would be Ry’s fault.

“I’m glad you’re into this,” Ry commented, turning around and heading for the door almost instantly. “I doubt anyone will miss the items in the store, but breaking the city more will make it way more interesting, right?”

Lavender:
"I still can’t believe we have to wear these things." Lavender muttered to herself. "Worst thing is, it’s probably gonna get worse." She walked down to the first floor and opened up the door, feeling a bucket of water fall on her head. "AHHHHHHHH" she screamed. "Where did this come from?!" She asked angrily, looking up. "Did you do this?! You better answer me or I swear, I’ll pull your stupid hat through your head!!"

Dennis watched as one of his fellow teammates, he believed her name was Lavender, walked through the lobby… And fell for his prank. He snickered for a moment before bursting out into laughter.

"Keheheheheh!" he cackled, "Oh, man, I didn’t think it’d be THAT easy to fool someone! This is too friggin’ good, HAHAHAHAHA!"

During his laugh fest, however, he had taken the hand he had been trying not to use and rested it on his cheek… Effectively glueing his hand to his cheek.

"…Aw, you’ve gotta be kidding me," Dennis complained, now having a hand stuck to him, before laughing again, "And what’s this about putting my hat through my head? Lady, my straw hat ain’t done nothing to you!"

Lavender clutched her stomach because of her extreme laughter. “Good job, idiot! Gluing your hand to your cheek!” She continued laughing for a few more minutes before finally calming down. “I’ll forgive you for the prank because of your stupidity.” Lavender said. “Two questions” Lavender inquired, “One, why was there glue on your hand? And two, do you have anything that can unglue your hand from your cheek?”

"Stupidity?" Dennis feigned shock and disdain, but his usual shit-eating grin didn’t disappear, "I’m wounded! But at least I wasn’t the one who walked past a kid with a pocket full’o fake spiders and then asked if he did it or not!"

He then shrugged, “If people would have figured out the buckets were up there, I woulda had a back up plan. Offer them a handshake and gluing my hand to theirs, heheheh. I do have some adhesive remover though. Gonna hurt like hell, but such is the sacrifices for true art!”

He added, “But I didn’t even get to go to plan B with you! Not sure if I’m glad or disappoint, heheheh~”

(Missing Response)

"Well, duh, why WOULDN’T I have a pocket full of spiders?!" Dennis exclaimed, "Who wouldn’t have one?"

He stood up, laying his paddle ball down and digging in his pocket, getting out the adhesive remover, “Well, yeah, but why the rush? You wanna see it in action or somethin’? You a sadist?”

"And if it’s on a mountain, I might not even need my hands," Dennis reasoned with an amused hum, "Maybe it’s runnin’ or some crap like that. You don’t seem like much of the runnin’ type, sooo."

"Any sane person wouldn’t have a pocket full of fake spiders." Lavender answered. She walked closer to Dennis, "Nah, I’m not a sadist, but this would be a nice punishment for ruining my hair." She grabbed the paddle ball and started throwing it at the wall. "Get to it, dude. We don’t have all day!" She started to chuckle at his last statement. "Yeah, I’m not much of a runner, but you don’t seem like a physical type soooooo" Lavender mocked.

Dennis’s smile faltered for a minute when she threw his paddleball. It returned however, when he applied the adhesive remover to his cheek. With a fierce yank, the sound of skin tearing off of skin was heard and Dennis was suddenly free, only with a hell of a red mark on his face.

He didn’t scream, aside from flinching for a moment, and instead let out another cackle, “Heheheheheheh~ Who said I WASN’T crazy? Of course, crazy’s kinda subjective, chick-y.”

He then scanned Lavender up and down before asking, “You actin’ as team leader or somethin’? Our authority maybe? I hate authority.” Despite his blunt words, his wide grin didn’t dissipate. Not even waiting for her to answer, he sauntered over to the wall and picked up the paddleball, beginning to paddle it up and down once more.

"Every team needs a good leader," Lavender answered. "And I’m obviously the most qualified." She smirked a bit. "Ry and T seem too quiet to lead, Kiki seems a bit aggressive, and you’re too much of a jokester." "So it makes sense that I’m the one who leads this team."

"If ya say so," Dennis shrugged apathetically, which stood out compared to his happy demeanor, "As long as you let me do what I want in challenges, lead away."

He then gave an amused snicker, “Y’know, if Kiki’d let you. I could see her leading easy. I ‘unno.”

"As if I’d let you do whatever you wanted to do in challenges." Lavender scoffed. "You would probably just prank Chris and get our whole team disqualified." "As for Kiki, she can be co-team leader if she wants." Lavender answered. "She seems like she can kick some butt if she wants to."

T:
(Missing Response)

Or had they? That was a good question that Dennis posed to himself. Is a prank a prank if someone barely replied?

When T waved, putting back on their hoodie, Dennis gave an unmoving wave back, rocking back and forth for a moment to gain momentum before standing up.

He skipped over to the bored-looking hoodie-sporter, exclaiming, “You barely even flinched! You some meditatin’ guru or something who found inner peace or whatever the crap that means?” Despite his abrasive language, he did seem genuinely interested in how they barely even reacted to getting splashed with two buckets of water.

(Missing Response)

"Dang," Dennis mused, his hand going up to his head and shifting the straw hat that laid there, "You have no idea how sweet it woulda been to prank one of those meditation freaks, y’know?" Despite his apparent disappointment, he gave a laugh.

However, upon being questioned on him doing it, he lied, “Of course not! It was there when I got here.” Of course, he had pretty much already admitted to it to T with his last sentence. Really, Dennis just liked testing his limits with people’s patience; especially since T seemed like someone with a lot of that.

Mallory
Mallory wandered into her room and flopped on the bed. She said something that was muffled by the pillow, presumably ‘fuckin’ awesome beds and shit’, or ‘bombs’. She picked up her bag and carelessly dumped the contents onto the floor. “This is the rad life!” Mallory said happily.

Matt:
(To be filled in)

Lavender:
Lavender had just finished unpacking all of her belongings and decided to explore the hotel a bit. “The hotel looks nicer on the inside than the outside.” she commented. She strolled along the hallway until she heard muffled commotion on the other side of the door. She decided to leave it until she heard ‘bombs’. “Umm” Lavender shakily said while lightly knocking the door. “Please don’t tell me you have bombs with you.”

''Mallory opened the door. “I don’t have'' bombs.” She rubbed her tattoos. “Yet.” She smirked. “You’re Lavender, right?”

"Yep, that’s me." Lavender answered, still a little frightened of her. "You’re Mallory, correct?" She asked, hoping she was right. "Remind me to never get on her bad side." She thought to herself. "I’m still pretty sure that she actually has bombs with her."

“That’s my name, don’t wear it out!” Mallory said, smiling. “Wanna chat?” She asked, leaning on the side of the doorway. She rubbed her tattoos habitually, staring at Lavender with a hopeful look in her dark brown eyes.

"Umm" Lavender said. She really wanted to run out of there, far away from Mallory as possible. But she knew she should make some allies. "Sure, sounds great!" Lavender finally answered. "So, how are you finding the city so far?" She asked.

''“Dude! It’s like totally bitchin rad'' and shit!” Mallory said loudly, pumping her fist in the air. “I’ve always wanted to get put on TV! And now I’m here! It’s like, the most awesomest experience ever so far! Everyone’s totally rad!”

"Yeah, I can’t wait for the cameras to always be on me!" Lavender exclaimed. "How are you finding your teammates so far?"

Ashley
Ashley was sitting in the breakfast/dinner/food in general section of the hotel enjoying a cup of coffee before the challenge. The food here was surprisingly not that bad, and if Ashley was feeling any hungrier, she might have gotten something to snack on. But, as it was, coffee was better. As Ashley sipped her steaming hot drink, she heard footsteps approaching behind her. They probably weren’t trying to sit with her, seeing as she hadn’t made a very friendly first impression, which was just as well. Still, Ashley turned around to see who was walking past her. Maybe if it was someone from her team, she could ambush them into getting in an alliance.

Ry:
Ry slowly made his way into the dining room area of the lounge, looking around the area to try to find a quick snack before the challenge. Sure, he could get a small bite to eat from his bag, but he figured he could snag some of Chris’s snacks that he had here. Staring up, though, he noticed that the snacks were on top of the highest cupboard…. Shoot.

Readjusting himself, he looked down to notice that the girl with the fake smile from before was now staring at him. “…Hi…” He mumbled, moving around her to go over to the counter. Moving his hands up, he placed them on top of the counter and pushed himself upward, trying to get himself on to counter. Sweeping his feet on the surface, he managed to catch hold of something and propelled himself up on the counter top.

He asked, reaching up on his tip toes to grab the box of pocky that he could see in his line of sight. Reaching out to grab it, he knocked the pocky box off and it fell to the floor. “Sh… Chikushō!! Could…you get that for me…?”

Wow, someone sure was short. Ashley snickered a little as the boy had to climb up onto the countertop just to try and stretch up to the food. “What’s the matter? Can’t reach your snacks? Must be hard to reach stuff when you’re about as tall as an 8 year old.” The boy wasn’t actually that short, but it was just too easy of a jab to make. It probably wouldn’t hurt him that much, but that was okay. Once she learned more about him, then Ashley could work on crushing this boy. From the look of his socks he was on the yellow team, so she didn’t have to worry about allying with him. Ashley snickered even more as the boy knocked his box of some sort of food to the ground.

"Yeah, I can get it." Ashley said with a nod and a slight smirk. Swooping down and grabbing the box, Ashley settled back in her seat and popped a stick in her mouth. She didn’t get to eat stuff like this very often, so it was a nice change. "These are pretty good." Ashley remarked, making no motion that she planned on giving the box back.

Ry’s eyebrow twitched in a visibly annoyed way. He turned toward Ashley and crossed his arms. She had a lot of nerve to go around messing with him… He’d grown used to girls like her, though; they were those bitches that could turn anything on him and make him look like he was the guilty one in this circumstance. He’d met with others today, though, so perhaps he could bypass her without much conflict. In fact, he’d only had two circumstances of a near verbal fight breaking out. “I bet it must be hard to have mental capacity of a six year old.” Of course, that jab wasn’t as sharp in his opinion.

Watching her take his only desired snack sparked even more anger in his mind. Those were HIS treats, even though they didn’t really belong to him. Taking a deep breath to bring down the slightly visible anger on his face, he angled himself slowly and eyed the table; it was sturdy looking enough. Taking one step forward, he leaped across the gap between the counter and the table and landed square in the middle of it. “Give me back my treats…”

Wow, what a crafty insult. So original. Well, if that was the way this boy wanted to play, Ashley would be all over that. “Better then looking like I’m from preschool.” She smirked a little and gestured with her eyes at the boy’s insubstantial body frame. “Do they even let you through the doors at your high school, or do they just send you back to your mommy?” When the teen jumped over onto her table, Ashley scooted backwards as her black coffee spilled all over and just missed burning her legs. “Smooth moves, little boy. FYI, I’m not cleaning that up.” Ashley stood up with the box of, she squinted at the label, Pocky stuff still clutched in her hands, and walked back over to the coffee machine, sticking another styrofoam cup into the machine and popping another stick in her mouth.

“With my looks, I’ll look young when I’m old…unlike those wrinkles that crease your face right now.” Ry muttered coldly, hopping down from the table and walking up to stand next to her. This was really pissing him off. ‘Okay, take a breath…’ He encouraged himself and swiped his hand across the coffee machine, sending the cup to the floor again.

“I’ll repeat myself since you obviously lack common knowledge. Give. Me. Back. My. Treats.” He demanded, stretching his hand out. “I don’t have anything better to do now, so you’d be… What am I saying? Smart, intelligent, wise, and anything with values of being above moderate would be an overstatement for you.” He rolled his eyes and glared now at her. “So just hand over my treats before I get mad.”

​Well, now things were certainly heating up. Ashley had to admit that she hadn’t expected the boy to come over and confront her like this, but she could roll with it. “You must get so much satisfaction over calling people ugly. Makes your own face seem less horrible.” Ashley hardly blinked as the boy swiped the cup out of her hands. She’d gotten pretty good at concealing any weaknesses​, and though it startled her to have the cup ripped from her grasp, she could ignore it. Moving right along, Ashley popped another stick into her mouth and realized that the coffee had already started to flow out of the machine, puddling up in the little slated storage container at the bottom. Thinking quickly, Ashley took the box of Pocky and stuck it in the machine, hearing the lovely sploosh of the coffee completely ruining the snack. Then, once the coffee was all poured out, the girl walked over to the trash can and dropped the box inside, hearing the satisfying thunk it made upon hitting the bottom. “Oh, did you still want those?” She questioned with overly innocent eyes and a smile on her face. “My mistake!”

Ry’s eyes widened, not at her comment, but her action with his pocky. Not only did she just dump the most disgusting tasting liquid on them, she dumped them into the garbage can to add insult to injury. Immediately, and faster than they had widened, his eyes narrowed vehemently. “Nande…?” He mumbled, clenching his fists.

This was by far the worst thing she could have done!

Slamming his fist against the coffee maker, he caused it to start pouring out the black liquid. Grabbing a Styrofoam cup, he placed it under the flow and allowed it to fill up. “You…you did not just do that!” He said through gritted teeth.

Walking forward, he clutched the cup in his hands, looking at the steaming liquid. Should he splash her face? SHOULD he? He threw the liquid over his shoulders and snatched a soda off the counter. He won’t resort to third degree burns YET.

He shook the soda extremely fast in his hands and leaned it toward the other girl, then pulled the tab causing the liquid to spray all over the other girl.

(Missing response)

Ry shook his head repeatedly and glared at Ashley for a few seconds before spinning around on his heels and walked away from her. “Fuck you.” He stated, stopping a few feet from her. He noticed the locket in her hands and decided against snatching it out of her hands, even if it was so tempting to hurt her. He didn’t have it in him to take something that could be the only reminder of this bratty bitch’s family or something. But being so…docile just felt so…empty now that he could react to someone without getting detention.

His shoulders shook softly at the thought of actually being able to do something to someone now. All his life had been full of bullies and bitches… He turned around and smirked at her, his hair sticking to his head from the sugars. He was going to make her wish she’d just given him the pocky. Besides, she wasn’t on his team, so why didn’t he just splash her face?

Walking over to the counter, avoiding the puddles on the floor, he reached out and picked up a knife and slashed the nearest bag he could reach, which happened to be the flour. Yanking the contents up, he threw the whole bag at her, dousing her in the fluffy substance.

Dousing the beanie clearly didn’t work. Maybe the boy didn’t care about his hat at all, or maybe he was just beyond caring. Whatever it was, it was frustrating yet interesting. Ashley stood still waiting for the boy to make the next move. He seemed like he was just getting nuttier and nuttier the more they talked, which was just as well. That could be a way to break him, throw him into a blind rage or something.

When the boy picked up the knife, Ashley had to admit that she flinched a little. Thankfully he was turned around, so he didn’t really see that moment of weakness. Ashley mentally scolded herself. She couldn’t afford to look weak at all in front of this kid, even if he was holding a knife. Ashley breathed a sigh of short-lived relief as the boy slashed into a bag instead of into her. Boys were so unpredictable, it was hard to say what that kid might had done. Unprepared yet again, Ashley suddenly found herself in the middle of a fluffy white flour shower. The powder clung to her sticky clothes and hair, even clumping up in some of the wetter places, which was going to be such a pain to wash out. Just as Ashley was glancing around for something to throw at the boy and reaching to the floor to grab a scoop of the flour to toss back at the boy, she suddenly had a bright idea. Straightening back up, the girl headed over to the sink and grabbed a towel dangling nearby, leaning casually against the countertop as she worked on drying off. Nothing made a high-energy competitor become confused and upset then a random break in the action.

Ry sighed in relief and jumped up on the counter to relax himself. The fact that she wasn’t going to retaliate was beyond relieving, but he wasn’t going to let his damn guard down. “What’s the matter? Out of steam?” He asked, raising a tiny eyebrow at her. He didn’t want to provoke her, but he knew that she had the anger coming with how she’d acted. “You could be clean and not in the midst of not getting asked to prom if you’d just given me my treats…”

​Evidently, some people on this cast didn’t react well to the drop in the action, which was a pity because it’d always worked before. Sighing, Ashley tossed the towel back down, not really interested in cleaning up anyway. “Not out of steam, just bored.” Possibly being disinterested would be a way to set the kid off. “​And I don’t know what you mean by not getting asked to prom. FYI, I could go to prom with anyone I want, and I still can. Getting covered in flour once doesn’t mean that I’m like a horrific monster like you are. And I ruined your ‘treats’,” Ashley made air quotes around the word treats because it was a really childish way to say snack, “because I wanted to. That’s why I do everything. So sorry not sorry about your snack. The few pieces I ate were delicious.”

delicious.”

Ry looked at his nails and nodded to Ashley’s statements. “It does get pretty boring to mess with the same person over and over again, so you are a point of repetition.” He commented, looking up from his hand. “What I meant was—well, I don’t know what I meant actually! You and ANYONE at prom? Please, who could you possibly ask that would go with you?” He kept his head down with a small smirk on his face. “They’d much rather sit on the Cradle of Judas than take YOU to prom. Also, I take ‘monster’ as a compliment.” His head was kept lowered, covering his bad eye completely now. “What about that locket? Why is it so important?” The fact that she was still bragging about his snacks made his eyebrow twitch, but he decided to keep that covered so she wouldn’t be able to tell how much it bothered him.”

There were just those kids who understood stuff, and then there were kids like this boy. Ashley buried her head in her palm in frustration before lifting it back up.​ “It’s not that anyone strictly wants to go to prom with me, it’s that they will go to prom with me. Clearly you don’t understand the difference between the two, so I won’t elaborate on it too much, it would just be a waste of my time. Basically, I could ruin anyone, so they can’t say no. It’s really quite convenient.” When Ry brought up her locket, Ashley tensed up a little before realizing that the best thing to do to deflect suspicion would be to pretend she didn’t care at all. “You mean my necklace? It’s a piece of clothing. An accessory. You know, what normal people wear to look nice, not like putting feathers in your hat so you can pretend to be a bird or something.”

Ry rolled his eyes at Ashley and pulled the quill pens from his hat. “Actually, they’re quill pens meant for writing and sometimes drawing when I’m desperate for that thrill of drawing your perfect death place. Also, people who only wear the lockets for fashion are stu—Oh, guess I hit the nail on the head about that one. I may ‘pretend’ to be a bird, but at least I don’t have the miniature brain of one.” He crossed his legs on the counter and reached over to grab another snack from what was closest to him.

He pulled up a small bag of Twinkies and split the bag open. “I guess that explains it for you, though. Also, you want a secret? This is a general statement because you hold no value to my particular interest. No matter how hard you could try to ‘ruin’ me, you’ll never even make a dent; I’ve dealt with people like you of all variations. You’re nothing more than a puppy compared to some of the girls I’ve faced, defaced, and ruined at my high school. Too bad I won’t be able to do that to you… You’ll just do it to yourself!”

(Missing response)

Ry raised an eyebrow at her, wondering if she’d missed the whole point of what he had said a moment ago. After Ashley finished her tidbit, he scoffed at her and shook his head in complete annoyance. He faked a gasp and put his hand to his forehead as if he were a woman back in the old days. “Oh, heavens, nooooo… You didn’t mean that at ME!? Whatever shall I do with my GENERAL statement! Oh, I guess I know what to give you for Christmas, dearest town drunk! I shall give you a BRAIN! I meant it as a generalwarning because you’re going to have to face me one day.” He felt his mouth tremble and then he burst into laughter. “I NEVER KNEW THAT BEING WEIRD MAKES ME WEIRD! I guess being a fake bitch makes you a fake bitch! Oh, I should have known!”

He stopped laughing at her and leaned back against the wall and smirked to himself. “Oh, I suppose you’re right, though! I am weird, but I don’t get humiliated at school because I’m smart, unlike you. I see you in my mind having people you consider to be your friends…but they just. Cant. Stand. Your. Fucking. Face.” Jumping down off the counter, he plucked up the knife again and casually stared at the blade in content silence.

It was like things just kept getting worse and worse. Maybe this kid was mentally off or something, because he sure switched his personality a lot. It honestly didn’t make any sense for him not to be talking directly about them, he sure said ‘I’ and ‘you’ a lot for that being a general statement, but whatever. This kid was hardly worth Ashley’s time, but she’d see this through to the end.

"Oh gosh, I’m going to have to face you one day. I’m just absolutely terrified. Clearly the thought of having a warrior like you trying to deface me is just too much to handle. I’ll totally take that warning to heart and remember it forever." Ashley rolled her eyes, staying as calm as she could while the boy was being all loopy. Everything went over the head of this kid though, so he probably wouldn’t understand anything from what she’d just said.

"News flash, freak, not only weirdos like you can actually be smart. Shocking, right?" Ashley put her hand up to her mouth, feigning being totally shocked by the news. "Maybe a certain mean girl standing right here is actually top of her entire grade in academics. But oh no, that can’t be true. If you’re mean, you just can’t be smart at all." Ashley really did excel in academics, but whether or not the kid would believe her was up for debate. "Oh, and I don’t live in a delusion like you. I know I don’t have friends. I have acquaintances, subjects if you want to call them that. I don’t think for a second that any of them care about me, but I don’t care about them at all, so I guess it works out. What about you, kid? Got any other creepy friends?"

Ry left the other subject up for debate on the idea of facing each other; he may be confident that he won’t let her get to him, but he wouldn’t be psychic unless he was hit over the head like the girl from Chakushin Ari 2.“If you’re at the top of your grade academically, then, fine, but I don’t and won’t view you as smart in any other aspect. I mean, what is school but memorization and Google searching?” He added, reflecting on how he’d seen other kids handling their research while he read books in the library. “Actually, I think a lot of people are smart; I just don’t view you as smart.”

Placing the knife back on the counter, he stared at the blade, thinking now on to his drawings while he vehemently tried to ignore the burning question of friends in his mind. It was true that he wanted to have friends to talk to, but they—the kids at his school—didn’t view him as friend-worthy. It wasn’t a big deal, though… “No, I don’t need friends to prosper in my life, nor do I need acquaintances to keep me level-headed.” Though…he did have a couple of online friends from the art he’d posted on a few websites. Do they count? Mentioning them would just bring about more reason for her to criticize him.

Pondering his standing for a few more moments, he decided that he should try to mend the situation a little and keep at a distance. Making her his enemy would be a fairly…stupid thing to do now… If she wanted to, she could target him solely. Lucky for him, he didn’t really reveal his weaknesses to her. Taking a deep breath, he turned around to face her. “You know what? I’m not going to beat a dead horse, so…” He eyed the counter calmly and sighed once more. “Why don’t we start over since we’re going to have to live near each other for this torture fest. I’m sorry I threw soda on you and flour, too.”

Hey, it was worth a shot to try to take down the tension, even if it just meant them taking a ten minute break from fighting. “I’m Ry. I’m a Plaid Panda and I think most people should die in a unique place.” He didn’t bother holding out his hand because he knew she wouldn’t take it.

"Well, that’s just great. Clearly you view smart as being well versed in like ‘nerd culture’ or anime or whatever, so I guess it’s good that I don’t tie in with what you think smart is, because that would be a drastic step down the social ladder for me." Ashley really had no idea what ‘smart’ the kid was referring to if he didn’t either mean street smart or book smart, but whatever. His opinion didn’t really hold much importance anyway.

"You don’t need friends, or you ‘don’t need’ friends because you don’t have them?" Ashley questioned, lifting an eyebrow at the boy. "FYI, those are two completely different things. I hope you enjoy living the loser life though. You do realize that the only way to get anywhere in the world is to have connections, don’t you? And connections require acquaintances, if not friends."

Ashley was just getting used to this nice verbal battle when, suddenly, the boy just flipped around and started offering apologies. Though she didn’t quite know what to make of that, Ashley wasn’t one to refuse a random gift like this one. Might as well just suck up some information now while they boy was feeling all nice, then use it later. And now she finally she had a name for the face. “Ry, huh? That’s kind of a weird name, and a weird way to introduce yourself. Do you do that to everyone you meet?”

Waiting a few seconds, Ashley realized that what she’d just said was in no way a good way to get Ry to talk about himself. Ashley sighed, knowing she’d have to at least offer up something in return. Tersely, she gave the boy a tight lipped smile. “I’m Ashley.”

Ry’s eyebrows scrunched up and he glared at her, feeling the need to get back into the verbal contest after she’d just insulted him more. “F—..” He started, wanting to make another hate statement, but he felt like doing that was just a waste of time and effort on his part. This bitch was obviously just trying to try his patience…and his was dwindling to near emptiness. If he pulled enough of his mind away from it, then he could just distract himself from her.

“If someone attacks me, then I prefer to retaliate.” He stated, eyes narrowing slowly and going back to full length to avoid looking angry. “You took something and ruined it, so I took the measures that mirrored yours… You’re just lucky that I didn’t use the knife…or hit you in the face with steaming hot coffee…”

Taking a long, deep breath he nodded slowly and looked up at her to try to get his mind back to fluctuating thoroughly. “I know you from the introductions that Chris was doing.” He stated, trying to keep his tone sincere.

“It’s…short for Henry, but I really don’t like that name… I just prefer the shortened version of ‘Ry’.” He shrugged slowly and turned toward the counter again to try to find something to snack on that wasn’t sucky.

(Missing Response)

“On the contrary, I wouldn’t think of stabbing you. Like I said, I would take the measures that mirrored yours in value…like your locket.” He pointed at her chest calmly and put his hand back to his side. “You seemed extremely concerned about saving it when I splashed you with the soda.” He shrugged his shoulders and scratched the back of his hand calmly. “I wouldn’t murder you unless you decided to try it on me first; equivalent exchange is a phrase I like to keep in my mind.”

Raising an eyebrow at her unnecessary harshness, he was debating whether or not to call her a ‘whiny bitch’ or ‘an unnecessary cunt,’ but that didn’t seem like it’d fit his terms of truce. “I was just telling you that I knew your name… Actually, I know only those that came after me… I mistook the name of one girl already, so I can’t really say I was paying too much attention on the bus.”

At the mention of why he preferred Ry over Henry, he shrugged his shoulders gently. “Well, I’ll tell you when I know you better, I guess. I just prefer Ry because it runs smoother and doesn’t require a lot of work to write it down on paper when I tell the teachers my nickname.” It wasn’t the full truth, but it was part of it. At one point, he’d considered even just using his middle name, but that would be longer than his first.

“Probably just laziness, but Henry is a common name; so I just wanted to not get confused if Henry was used in my classroom by another, which it was.” Snatching up some skittles that only required him to reach to the farthest corner of the back, he hopped down from the first drawer and looked up at her. He opened the bag and gently plucked a purple one out and placed it on the counter, not liking the flavor.

The locket again. Why couldn’t Ry just let the subject drop? Now she was going to have to lead him off again. “What, this?” Ashley twirled the locket around in her fingers casually. “My easily corrosive hunk of metal I wear around my neck? Naturally I don’t want to spill soda on it. But to be honest, this thing is worth at least a couple of dollars more than the Pocky sticks that you didn’t even own, so maybe you should rethink that whole equivalent exchange thing.”

Well, Ashley obviously hadn’t expected Ry to know the names of anyone who came before him. It’s not like she had known his name or anything, since he came on before her. “Good for you I guess, knowing the names of people after you and not bothering to use them. That shows real memorization.” Ashley still wasn’t 100% convinced that Ry had really known her name and wasn’t just faking it to look smart.

"Oh dear, five letters was too hard for you to write down? I guess since my name has 6 letters, I should’ve cut my name down to Ash or Ley a long time ago, it would be far more convenient. And a word of advice, you don’t have to go around changing your name just to keep from confusing people. For example, when I have another Ashley in one of my classes, they change their name to be Ashley S. or Ashley K. or whatever, and I just keep my name as is. It’s a good way to keep your name normal and not have some weird nickname that’s actually more awkward to pronounce than your real name is." Ry probably got made fun of a lot with a name like that. And honestly, Ashley couldn’t blame people for it because she was wavering on the edge of calling him Rye as in the bread for the rest of the season. Maybe she’d alternate between that and Henry.

Noticing that Ry had just grabbed a pack of skittles, Ashley looked around for a snack of her own. For some reason, the boy was taking out all the purple skittles and putting them on the counter. Maybe he was one of those people who had to sort everything out and arrange it into dumb things like flowers and smiley faces before he ate anything. Rummaging around in the cabinet, Ashley pulled out a pack of M&M’s to rival his skittles. Tearing a corner off the bag, Ashley popped a few in her mouth at once, chewing up the mix of colors.

“That hunk of junk looks like it could be won in a cracker jack box…” Ry stated lividly. “My pocky only is bought in certain places…and sometimes a Wal-Mart if they aren’t being stingy with Asian products.” He gestured at the locket, not really caring about it. “Your locket is worth less than my snacks, so you’re right! It wouldn’t have been right to deprive you of your Cracker Jack winnings.” Honestly, to him, it looked like a piece of junk so found on the side of the road and wanted to call ‘treasure,’ so she kept it and probably makes it sound like some big endeavor.

Taking out another purple skittle, he placed it in the pile, not bothering to look up from the bag. “Believe what you want, Ashley, the fake smiling bitch…” He looked up from the bag after eradicating it of the purple skittles. “Honestly, I expected you to know not to be a bitch on the first day. But, hey, if Heather can get her head shaved, teeth knocked out, have a tooth put back in by people she didn’t know in the Amazon, get hated so easily, and fail ultimately in the end, then why can’t you?” He shrugged. “Why’s it such a big deal to you to try to point out flaws anyway? You have too many in your miniscule brain, so you TRY to make everyone else look inferior? If this matters so much to you, then believe that I didn’t know you name all you want, but that’s not the truth. I already had a talk with your teammate about you, so I used your name prior to this event.”

At mention of his name, he raised an eyebrow at her. “Well, you don’t have to wear your hair like a giant rodent on your head every day, but I guess you do since it’s so hard to just brush it? Ah, but what should I know? I only know how to keep my hair from looking awful.” He knew she was right about the five letters part. “Alright, fine, I just view Henry as an inferior name and hate the sound of it. Honestly, the last person who called me it was slapped dead in the face with my hot cheese sandwich.” He shrugged, not really looking like he cared, though. “You can call me Henry, though, because, let’s be honest here, you’re just going to do it anyway to try to irk me.” He rolled his mismatched eyes and looked back up at her. “You’re not any different than the people at my school, you know?”

Noticing how she quickly went to snatch up M&Ms, he wondered if this was some stupid rivalry that she was proposing, but he shook it off, not wanting to dive into more petty arguments; he already had enough on his platter. Taking out a red skittle, he threw it lightly and caught it in his mouth for the sake of just enjoying SOMETHING here.

(Missing Response)

“Quoth the boy, sometimes, meaning that I sometimes cannot find it in Wal-Mart. This is due to sales not being that high on it in my area; thus, making it rarer than you can understand from where I’m from, or are you ethnocentric that it doesn’t click?” Ry replied back, voice suddenly losing all emotion in it and becoming much more monotone. “I suppose that some areas that have a higher rate of people who enjoy copying what they see on animes or Japan, but my area does not contain that privilege.” He shrugged slowly and calmly popped another skittle into his mouth, enjoying the taste of artificial lime.

Ry raised a skeptical eyebrow at Ashley, not believing her façade one bit. He knew that things like necklaces could hold extreme meaning to people, but he dropped the subject off a cliff to avoid her faking the shredding of her locket in the sink. Dropping his skeptical eyebrow, he shrugged. “You can pick up the locket and put it back on; I, honestly, don’t care about your relationship with it, you know?” He reached out and grabbed it by using the knife to drag it back. Picking it up by the chain, he held it out to her. “Even if it looks like a piece of crap, it can still be worth something to someone.” Dropping it in her hand, he reached to his chest and placed with his own necklace calmly. “Mine just holds my ink for emergency drawing needs.” He was extremely tired of the fighting for now and just wanted to get the girl to climb off her high horse for five seconds. “And I wasn’t trying to get to you…?” He tilted his head in confusion.

“Do what you want, Ashley,” he replied, rubbing his head. “If you don’t feel the same, then fine, but I thought some nice behavior might prove SOME benefit.” He shrugged, looking up at her and then back at his bag of skittles, shaking it around a little bit, then picking out the red one that was on top. He really didn’t need her to tell him where he sat on the social ladder, nor did he care to reply. “Whatever works to brush up your ego, Ash.” He retorted, taking his skittle and popping it into his mouth, he enjoyed another blast of flavor that graced his tongue. It…felt like watching someone sink into lava: a little tart on sounds, but oh so satisfying to experience. “By the way, Gaile is smarter than you’d think from how nice she is… Guess that sucks for you since you were so keen on getting to her first. And, yes, I think everyone has many, many flaws; your flaws are different, like everyone else’s.”

As a matter of fact, Ashley’s hair lay flatter than Ry’s did, and she didn’t wear a beanie all the time to cover it up. “My hair usually looks much better, but when a certain someone spilled soda all over it, it naturally frizzed up a bit. Sorry my hair doesn’t defy nature like your puffy mass does.” Hair really had nothing to do with this conversation, and Ashley had no idea why Ry had brought it up in the first place, but whatever. “Thanks for the permission to use your name, Henry. It’s good that we understand one another.” Ry being okay with Henry made her use of it a lot more boring, but not nearly enough to make Ashley stop. “And you’re no different from the people at my school, so I guess we just even one another out.

Shaking his head at her explanation of her hair, he looked at her dead in the eye and stated, “I know what your hair looked like long before the soda, and my opinion still holds to this moment.” Slowly moving his fingers through his silky hair, it flowed out nicely and fell back into place. “If you think it’s puffy, then that’s your issue, but I never have to straighten it or worry about it becoming a mess in humidity.” He shrugged slowly and crossed his arms. “It’s actually nice hair and holds red extremely well…” He thought more about it and sighed. “I was disappointed that it doesn’t hold many other colors, though…” He slowly transitioned the topic away from gross hair and sighed. “Purple, blue, or green never really held.” Scooping up the purple skittle from the counter, he held them out to her. “Want these? The artificial flavor of purple just tastes gross.”

Wow. There wasn’t even really much to say in response to that thrilling discussion about the distribution of Pocky sticks wherever Ry lived. “If you like Pocky so much, then maybe you should buy it more when it’s in stock. Spend all of your measly allowance on it, and maybe then Walmart will stock it more.” To be honest, Ashley hadn’t really ever seen Pocky before she threw it in the trash earlier, so whatever Ry was talking about with like anime or whatever didn’t make any sense. “Or maybe there’s more people who are like Japanese or whatever where I live, and that’s why its at Walmart. I don’t know why you just assume that you’re like the only person who really likes Pocky, and everyone else is just copying it.”

Ashley numbly extended her hand when Ry brought the locket back and curled her fingers over it when he placed it in her palm. She didn’t know why he did that, but she wasn’t really one to argue. Reaching up, Ashley fastened the clasp back around her neck, the little click it made when it was all hooked together making her instantly feel more secure. She might have been tempted to say thank you, if Ry wasn’t the one who’d made her toss it away in the first place.

"Well fine. You try your approach and I’ll use mine. Let me know how being a pushover works out for you, since that’s all that being nice will get you." Nice people always got used, it was just a fact of life. Ashley would personally much rather be the one in power, rather than be some blissful fool who ended up trusting the wrong person and losing everything. "And don’t call me Ash, Henry. It’s disrespectful." It was highly doubtful that Ry would make any adjustments in his weird nicknaming thing just because she brought it up, but Ashley had learned that if you didn’t tell people not to do things, they’d never change. "Oh, so I guess you talked to Gaile. How nice for you. I’m sure you two are just best friends, but you know, she’s on my team and not yours. I could eliminate her whenever I want if she doesn’t play nice, and I hope you mentioned that." Ashley would let Ry wonder who her allies were. It just brought up that element of suspense and rich feeling of knowing things he didn’t.

"That’s good for you I guess. Might as well start calling you the king of hair since yours is perfect and never has any problems." Ashley rolled her eyes as she said this. It honestly seemed like Ry was gloating about his ugly hair, which was really weird. "If your hair is so great, why do you always cover it with that hat? Kinda ruins the great blessing you have sitting on your head, if you ask me." When Ry extended the skittles to her, Ashley didn’t bother reaching out her hand like she’d done for the locket. She might be okay with getting her own stuff back, but she wasn’t one for charity. "No thanks, I’m not really hungry." Ashley replied as she popped a few more M&Ms in her mouth, the rich taste of chocolate far more then making up for his measly offering.

Ry felt like face palming at Ashley’s comment about him saying people copied him. “I did not say they copied me, idiot. I said they copied what they saw on TV, which is what I do, too, but let’s just assume.” He dropped the skittles on the floor, feeling like he was about to go into his emotionless state. “And I don’t get allowance…so it’s kind of hard to buy things with the money I don’t have.” He turned around, contemplating leaving the room. “Also, it’s not just a Japanese exclusive product, Ashley; people of all cultures enjoy pocky, but the area that I am at doesn’t happen to have high demand for it. If your place does have high demand, then that’s not because of Japanese population, but for personal preference for chocolate covered biscuit sticks.”

Ry didn’t even hesitate to use the nickname again. “Oh, I’m sorry, ASH, does that hurt your feelings to have a name you don’t prefer spoken to you? Oh, I apologize, Ash, you must find it hard to hear, hm? Someone like you deserves to be respected to the highest magnitude! Oh, LAWD, how could I have been so blind?” He sarcastically stated, raising his hands up into the air. Dropping them moments later, he didn’t miss a beat. “When you stop calling me Henry, then I’ll stop calling you a disgusting concept of life.”

“Great to know…” Ry muttered, completely doubting Ashley’s comments about having the power to vote off Gaile. “I’m pretty sure that everyone here likes Gaile a lot more than they like you; the sheer probability of you outlasting Gaile is unlikely….”

“Royal hair goes to Megan Fox’s hair in America… And I just said what problems it has… Do you fail to even comprehend the simplest forms of English?” Ry crossed his arms tightly across his chest, wondering why he was associating with this girl. “To further answer your questions, I cover my hair because I like the feeling of a hat on my head…just like you love your hunk of junk around your neck.” He took the chance and began to walk toward

Well, looks like they were fighting again. The amazing multi-personality Ry never failed to disappoint. Ashley supposed this was just as well, she was getting sick of Ry’s attempts at being decent. “Well, if we’re throwing idiot around, I never said they copied you. You just assumed that’s what I meant, which is pretty arrogant.” Ashley had no idea why Ry even brought up his fancy big words like ‘ethnocentric’ in the first place if he wasn’t trying to imply that Pocky was a Japanese thing, thus being his thing because he certainly hadn’t denied being Japanese. “Well, cry me a river, Henry. Too bad that you don’t get an allowance. You could always, I don’t know, get a job or something. And you’re the one who brought up Japan in the first place, so shut up about how now it’s just about liking chocolate covered biscuits.”

As expected, asking Ry to stop using a nickname only made him use it more, which was only fair. “Okay, fine. Call me Ash all you’d like, and once you stop, I’ll keep calling you a pathetic loser who can’t even keep his own opinions straight. I don’t know how you ever expected to win a reality show, Henry, your attitude is so out of whack that you’re going to throw everyone off.”

Ashley rolled her eyes at Ry’s next comment. “Like you have so many alliances yourself, freak boy. I bet you haven’t even tried yet, unlike myself. Surprisingly, you can be a big jerk and still be in alliances. It doesn’t matter if you’re everyone’s favorite or not, what matters is who holds the power in the team. And that, by the way, is me.”

Ashley had to laugh again about Ry’s hair comment. “Thanks for the example of royal hair that I never asked for, Henry. Your parents must be so proud of your ability to provide useless information. And a flaw surrounded by two things admiring your luscious locks hardly counts as admitting the true hardships you go through every morning.” If Ry was leaving, that worked perfectly well for Ashley. She did so hate being the first one to exit a room. Shaking more M&Ms into her palm, Ashley eagerly awaited the boy’s exit.

Ry stopped in the hallway and turned around to flip off Ashley in annoyance, wondering if she was doing this to get to him. “I don’t NEED people to form fake alliances with me! I’ll do this thing called ‘making friends’ because last time I checked, the people who made FRIENDS lasted longer than the bitch who will likely get her secrets snapped out of her like her ego was YEARS ago!” He stood in the hallway for a long time, thinking on what to say next. “Go fuck yourself, Ashley, because YOU obviously need it to unwind that tight ass attitude of yours! I can’t wait to see you get creamed in the challenge, bitch.” He turned his head and left the room, closing the door as if nothing had even been said. The best part about thinking she’d lose was that he could actually watch her fail and get put on the chopping block. The thought of her getting eliminated was far too delicious for him to actually come true…so he’d have to settle for her losing to his team!

he door, not wanting to be around this bitch any longer.

(Missing Response)

Mika
Mika wandered down alleyway adjacent to the hotel, still donning her regular outfit. No one tells me what to f***ing wear, McLame, she thought to herself, kicking around the cigarette butts and crushed soda cans that littered the alley.

Having already tagged the toilets in the hotel lobby, the bathroom in her room (which was somehow already covered in a thin layer of clothes and other items), and the dumpster a couple of metres behind her, Mika stared up at the great expanse of brick wall beside her. The usual coating of faded posters advertising various concerts and charity events seemed to have missed this particular spot. Considering this is Total Drama Colours, the scenery seems awfully boring. Mika grabbed for the spraypaint that she had somehow concealed in her pocket and set to work, oblivious to (or rather not caring much about) the footsteps growing closer to her. Suck my ass, McLame.

Mallory:
Mallory wandered up to the girl with the spray-paint can. The Demolitionist held her Godzilla figure in her hands, and had gotten lost wandering through the city. She had noticed the hissing of spray-paint and had decided to investigate. “Private-Eye Mallory, on the case!” She had said to herself. Now approaching the girl, Mallory noticed a few more things. ‘She’s on my team!’ She thought to herself. ‘She’s spray-painting a wall! Wow, that’s so cool. She must be hardcore or something. What was her name, was it Mika? I think it was Mika.’ She was right behind the rebel when she yelled, “Hi! It’s me, Mallory!”

Desperately trying to salvage her dignity after jumping at Mallory’s yell, Mika whipped around to face the girl. So that one’s Mallory. Everyone’s names had already escaped Mika’s mind, if for no reason other than that she didn’t really listen when they were being introduced.

Lowering the spray can in her hand and looking up at Mallory, her inflated ego punctured by the height difference and her mind confused by the enthusiasm, Mika said a simple and slightly awkward, “Hey. I’m Mika, and… What’s up?”

“Yo Mika!” Mallory gave a wide grin, looking down at the girl. “Nothin’ much is all that up, I guess. I unpacked, threw my stuff around the room, got Godzilla, so now I’m just sort of wanderin’, y’know?” She looked at the paint can in Mika’s hand. “…We’re you gonna make some sick-ass wall art?” She asked, grinning and raising an eyebrow. “That is so cool! Don’t let me interrupt, but can I watch you work?”

Mika smiled widely and falsely, mostly unaware of the genuine grin of amusement that lurked underneath. “Godzilla? I love that movie. But, uh…” She glanced back over her shoulder at the blank wall.

"Are — I mean," she began, chuckling slightly while not quite meeting Mallory’s eyes, "are ya sureya wanna watch me…” Fuck, what was the word she used again? ”Work? There may be content of an explicit nature.” Explicit nature? You’re literally painting lady parts on a wall. “Like… yeah.”

Mallory laughed and nodded. “I’m totes okay with explicit shit, sis!” She said. “One time, I wrote a naughty word on the bathroom stall and got away with it!” She pumped her fist in the air. “At least until the principal recognized my handwriting…” She frowned, but then smiled again. “Anyways, I’m chill with whatevs!”

"A naughty word? I’m impressed.” Mika couldn’t help but laugh slightly at this comment. Amazing. This kid is incredible. Just. Incredible. “Try painting the female genitalia on the roof of your school next time. They still can’t prove I did it — as far as they know, I was at mandatory band camp for the week. But sure, you can stay.”

Mika turned to start her “art”, trying to be as subtle as possible that she was standing on her toes.

Mallory covered her mouth with her hand. “You were responsible for the giant vagina on Google Earth?!” She yelped. “That was awesome! You see, I was bored and tapping random spots on the Earth and I found this British school with a vagina painted on the roof and I thought that was hilarious!” She took a deep breath. “That means you’re, like, a celebrity! I’m standing next to a celebrity! I’M ON THE SAME TEAM AS THE GOOGLE EARTH VAGINA GIRL!!” She bounced up and down a bit in excitement, sqealing a bit

Ry:
The feeling of his absence of his hoodie was driving Ry insane, but he kept it draped over his arm for now, not going to toss it into his bedroom until he HAD to. Stopping outside of the hotel, finally having gotten away from some annoying cameras that had been shoved in his face during his entire time in there, he heard the familiar and actually calming

SWISH~!

'SHAKE! SHAKE! SHAKE!'

SWISH~!

Of all the noises so far, he felt the most at rest with it, even though he’d experienced a soft and quite talented guitar player earlier.

Taking his time, he moved toward the sounds, finding it in the alleyway right beside the hotel. The tagging was quite well done and he couldn’t resist finding the artist. He HATED the fact that this art was called a crime when it was actually quite the opposite.

Following the trail of graffiti, he eventually found the artist at the end of the alleyway, about to tag the brick wall in front of her. She was the British girl that had come right after him… Michael? Mike? Mer…Erkle?

Stopping right behind her, he glanced at the can in her hand, which she was shaking calmly, and bit his lip in anticipation. “….What are you about to spray on the wall?”

"A giant vagina," Mika declared without bothering to turn around, an unexplained sense of pride in her voice.

Attempting to reach up as high as possible on the wall to begin her masterpiece, but trying not to make it too obvious that she was standing on tiptoe, she tossed her orange mane out of her face to glance over her shoulder at the boy. ''Shit. Did I stand next to this kid? What'' was his name?

"And who are you, again?" Mika asked, grateful for the fact that he wasn’t any taller for her, thus ensuring her inflated ego wasn’t damaged. She turned back to her art and took a giant sweep down with the spray can.

A vagina…? His mouth turned down into a frown at the mention of the thing that deemed him “abnormal” to the standards of males and females and old people everywhere…  Biting his lip again, he shook his head in disappointment. “Why a vagina? All of the other art down the alleyway looks much more compelling.” He gestured behind him, looking more impressed as he glanced over his shoulder.

“If you really want to stick it to someone, then you should attack them more directly.” He turned his head back around and removed his sketchbook from his hoodie pocket just to hold on to. “Are you trying to attack someone?” He asked, leaning his head to the side and looked at the wall.

“Because I think it’d be awesome to have someone make Chris McLame lose his shit on the first episode. Also, my name is Ry.”

"Hm. Well hello, Ry. I’m Mika, and I am painting a vagina because it makes the wall more… interesting. And it’s simply what I do. Ask my headmistress.” She laughed slightly and made another swipe with the can.

"I think you’ll find that when I feel compelled to stick it to someone in particular, I will, but as I haven’t been provoked thus far and I would like to stay in the game for more than a single fucking episode, I am afraid that I must resort to this.” Mika gestured with her free hand towards the wall, tripping slightly on her toes. Fuckitty fuck.

Only just processing the comment made about sticking it to McLean, Mika turned back to Ry, her feet now firmly planted on the ground. ''Hm. It seems this kid as his priorities set out straight.'' Respect. "However, this prospect of making McLame lose his shit, so to speak, is certainly intriguing." Raising an eyebrow, she added, "Have anything in mind?"

“I don’t know who or what your headmistress is, Mika.” Ry stated, raising an eyebrow at that statement. Was a headmistress some kind of mother or second mother or maid or landlord? What the fuck was a headmistress? “Mostly because I’m from a family that doesn’t use that terminology. For any kind of association that isn’t natural to most…or to Canada… I say ‘Oma’ for mom and ‘Otou-san’ for dad, but I really can’t say I’ve ever heard of a headmistress.” He paused, thinking on it and raised his hands, “not saying that it’s not a real thing or less important; I’ve just never heard of it before.”

He looked back at the dumpster and shrugged his shoulders. “Make nice and don’t mess up is the only way you’ll survive here, according to the way things go in the episodes before our time here…”

At the sight of her becoming more interested in his offer of sticking it to Chris, he felt a cruel smirk play on his lips. The idea of making Chris pay for anything he’s going to force them into will be worth it. “Well, I wouldn’t suggest doing what Duncan did in season five because that would just lead to us…or you getting arrested. I was thinking we could find his place that he’s currently relaxing and having the time of his damn life in…just wreck everything that he’s going to use. You know, we can mess with his machinery, replace his toothpaste with spermicide, stuff his pillow cases with mayonnaise…and if you’re itching for your spray paint to be used, then we can ruin his walls in his rooms with messages and…vaginas.”

"Headmistress? It’s like a school principal," Mika scoffed with raised eyebrows. "This continent is fucked up. I thought the way ya pronounced ‘aluminium’ was bad. And on another note, Duncan was such an inspiration…” Her sentence hung in the air as she paused for a moment, trying to imagine the feeling of glory that must come from such a feat.

"But," she began, turning to finally fully face Ry, a grin tugging at the corner of her mouth and her eyes now almost sparkling with excitement, "trashing McLame’s place does sound like an excellent plan. There’s so much shit to pull, and if I — or, uh, we — could figure out where he’s at it’d be so easy to just-!”

''Shit. That sounded, like, cheer-squad excited. I'' don’t get excited.Mika blew her fringe out of her face, trying to look as “chill” as possible by leaning back on the wall behind her — which was further away than she thought. Her knees seemed to give in, and before she knew it, Mika was sitting with her thighs tucked up near her chest on the cold, mysteriously damp pavement.

"Uh… yeah… whatever," she uttered offhandedly, trying to salvage her dignity. "Sounds cool."

Ry wanted to make a comment about how her culture was the strange one in this case…but he didn’t want to get on her bad side when he’d just gotten her into the mood to trash that rat bastard’s home. If he could stick it to McLame, then he and Mika would be more likely to be saved from elimination for being the ones that give high ratings. The idea was farfetched and could be completely wrong, but he HATED the idea of some people making it past him… The only people he’d go out of his way for were Dakota and Benny…but that was only because he owed them as much for not being douchebags.

The fact he’d just witnessed her ultimately fail at her ‘cool’ posing, didn’t even phase him…much like anything else. “Yeah, I know… If we find his ‘cottage,’ then we can completely wreck that place and watch the fire burn as he finds out who it was.”

Turning his head around, he glanced down the alleyway again. Chris would never plan to keep his ‘cottage’ near where the contestants were, but he knew that it wouldn’t be too far off. Smirking, he turned on his heels and gestured for Mika to follow him. “Come on, I have a feeling I know where to find his precious sanctuary.”

Shoving her spray can into her pocket, Mika jogged slightly up to Ry’s side and walked along next to him. “Youknow? How? And where do you plan on getting spermicide? Do ya know a guy?”

Completely oblivious to the fact that she was babbling — or rather completely oblivious to the fact that she was obnoxious and annoying — Mika kept up the solid stream of crap and questions and occasional swearing as the two emerged from the alley. “So where would his place be anyway? Is it far? If it takes too long we migh’ miss tha challenge, and then I’ll be fucked if mah team loses. If I get booted off this episode, it’s your fault. If you’re kicked off it’s your fault, too. I bet McLame has heaps of portraits of himself like in season 5. That’s so much self-glorification I can defile. It’s gonna be rad. Do ya do this often?”

Ry’s eye began to twitch with the amount of questioning and talking Mika was blabbering to him. If it weren’t for the fact he’d put his bag in his room, then he would have shoved a rock in her mouth to silence her for at least a few moments for him to recollect his mind. “Well, Chris is a conceited asshole, so he wouldn’t want it near us or the mountain he has built… Unless he wants to keep himself concealed, then he’ll be on the other side of the mountain…but there’s some buildings over there that are taller than the most.” He stated, pointing over toward what he was talking about.

The fact that she mentioned spermicide and where to get it, made him want to laugh…almost… “Again, Chris is a conceited asshole, so he’s going to have plenty of things hidden in his room and…mansion with a lot of sexual related things… I wouldn’t be surprised if he was a pedo and had something gross in there, but we’ll make it in time for the challenge. This won’t take all of our time out.”

"That… actually sounds about right about the spermicide. I jus’ doubt that McLame would give a damn if he knocked some chick up. Really, I doubt he’d have anythin’ but a blow up doll to knock up. But it makes sense. Tha rat bastard can live an’ dream, too.”

Mika didn’t even particularly care about being late for the challenge. She’d much rather trash Chris’s place than be one of those early people. You know, the kind who are enthusiasticabout stuff and arrive at the top of mountains before certain challenges start.

Rounding a corner, Mika added, “But how are we gonna get in there? I doubt McLame’d make it easy ta break into his evil lair. Knowin’ his way of doing things, he’d pro’ly have some robot dinosaur with lazer eyes guardin’ his bedroom door. God that’d be cool…”

Alexandria
Alexandria was standing in the lobby, waiting to ambush any foolish contestants on their way outside. The instant they stepped into the lobby, she was entirely certain that she would win them over with her sheer grace and magical radiance, and they would be drawn to her like moths to a flame. Then, once she had assembled a small posse, Alexandria would preform for them! She was quite certain that it would be a huge success, if only someone would come down through the elevator. Having just heaved a large and theatrical sigh, Alexandria’s eyes lit up when she heard a ding from the elevator. Her first audience member had arrived!! Trying to act as cool and composed as she was certain everyone believed she was, Alexandria headed smoothly over to the figure just exciting the elevator. “Hello there, random contestant who’s name escapes the Amazing Alexandria’s memory! It’s quite a pleasure to meet you. Now, the Amazing Alexandria would like it very much if you’d just follow her over here, and she’ll show you something truly spectacular and astounding!!” Alexandria tugged on the person’s arm, sure that they had been utterly convinced to follow her wherever she desired.

Ry:
Ry softly coughed in the elevator, leaning back against the cool metal surface, glad for the calming quiet of the humming noises coming from his descent. This would probably be the quietest moment he’d experience to himself for the next few hours and here on. The soft dinging of the bottom flow made him come back to his senses and he noticed the strange…rejected girl from before standing in his way. The next thing he knew, she was calling him her new audience member and his name escaped her. Before he could even move to get away from her, she had grabbed his arm and pulled him out of his comfortable position in the elevator.

“It’s…Ry…” He said, tugging his arm as hard as he could, which did not even affect the other girl much with her iron grip compared to his kitten yanks. Should he even be nice to this girl? She wasn’t on his team or, in his mindset, someone he’d want to listen to. But….he understood how it felt to be an outcast, even if she didn’t see herself that way. “Right…I’ll watch your tricks.” What’s that worst that could happen?

Gaile
Gaile had just finished hanging up the last of her windbreakers and jumpers in her hotel provided closet. Satisfyingly shutting the doors, she sat on her bed and tried to process everything that was happening. She had just arrived at the hotel and was already preparing for the first challenge! And much to Gaile’s despair, she didn’t really know anyone! This just couldn’t be! She decided to get up and wander the hotel. She made her way to the lobby and took a seat on one of the couches, right next to a person who was VERY unprepared for her to flop down next to them.

Ry:
Ry felt himself being bounced by the new intruder to his personal space and almost screamed out loud when his quill pen scrapped across the page, creating a blob of black on the most delicate part. He gulped down the anger and held it back, not wanting to create an enemy from a ruined picture. His eyes soon turned up to face Gaile’s not showing any sign of hurt that his chest was experiencing. “Um…hi?” He used it more as a question, not sure how to feel at the moment.

Oh, it was that really nice nineties girl… She even befriended that evil bitch girl. It was…probably from obviousness, but Ry could see the evil in that other girl’s features. He’d have to make sure to stay FAR away from that chick during any challenges.

“Oh, you’re that girl that’s into the nineties, right?” He decided to add a more friendly tone since she didn’t seem like the people at his school, but he’d turn bitter if she proved him wrong.

Gaile’s jaw dropped in shock.

"Oh my god, dude. I’m so sorry! Did I ruin it?" she asked in a worried tone and gestured at the sketchbook. She hadn’t even noticed that he had an open pen in his hand, and the though that she may have ruined someone’s art was heartbreaking.

When Ry said “hi”, Gaile felt a bit better about her blunder. Maybe she hadn’t made as much of a bad impression as she thought. He then followed up by asking who she was. Gaile put a friendly smile on her face before answering.

"Hey there! Yepp, that’s me! The name is Gaile! Don’t wear it out. Who are you, dude?" she inquired with a curious cock of her head.

Ry looked at the section that was now a blob and shrugged his shoulders. “I wouldn’t consider myself an artist if I didn’t know how to make do with what I had.” He said, lowering his pen to his side to avoid anymore mishaps with the picture. He just needed a break now to think about what to do to make up for the ruined section.

Looking at her, he nodded slightly at her name, wondering who would name their child that. It wasn’t a bad thought like it sounded because he thought they must be easy-going people to name her after the wind. “It’s a unique name…” He mumbled, blowing on his sketchbook before shutting it.

She wasn’t a bad person, nor was she loud and annoying like most. He may have to reevaluate his first impressions on people. “I’m Ry,” he stated calmly, setting the book next to him on the couch.

She had a way to make him not want to kick her into next Tuesday because it was rare that he’d let something like this go. It would make for a better advantage if he got on people’s good side right now; he could tone himself down later on.

"That’s a rad name. Totally unique. I dig it!" Gaile said in a friendly voice. When she saw that Ry wasn’t about to clock her for destroying his art, she relaxed on the couch and turned to face him. Gaile was ecstatic to be meeting someone new.

"So how are you feeling, dude? You ready to start this whole shebang?" she asked with a sweet grin.

Ry’s mouth tightened into a straight line at her diction. “Shebang… I’ve never heard that word before, but I get what you’re saying.” Weird. Maybe he should consult a dictionary through this season. It seemed like a lot of people here had odd ways of expressing. “I’m not exactly excited about it…probably because of the clothes we’re being forced to wear, and that Chris is still holding on to those…disgusting toilets for the confessionals…” He shuddered at the mental image.

Gaile nodded sympathetically and gestured to the plain white outfit that was sitting in her lap.

"I feel ya, dude. This is way too plain and boring for my taste. I like color and fun patterns! This is just no." she said and dropped the outfit on the table beside her.

When Ry mentioned the confessionals, it was as if Gaile could still smell it. Her nose crinkled in disgust and her eyes squinted.

"Yeah I’m not in love with the confessional either. I just hope that this isn’t the same one from Season 1.. That would be just rank. However, I am pumped to start competing! I can’t wait to see what this season’s challenges will be like!" she finished excitedly.

“I like to be shrouded in black and skinny jeans, not white and khakis. I know they change colors for challenged, but I don’t think I want to wear them everyday. I’m hoping that he doesn’t make us do that because…that’d just be plain disgusting. It’d be more disgusting than watching the Human Centipede on repeat.” Shaking his head, Ry wrapped his hoodie around his waist from where he was sitting.

“I think it is…” He admitted, frown becoming extremely deep from the thought of being in anything that Owen would have been in. “The smell is so old and…disgusting… I don’t think we have a competitor dedicated to ruining our noses and, plus, we have bathrooms in our rooms…”

Taking in her next words, he felt a bittersweet, weird feeling cross over his body. “Yeah, but…this will be the last time we get to see each other as…not enemies before this whole thing spirals out of control. A little advice?”

He didn’t wait for her to respond before continuing, “don’t trust Ashley.”

(Missing response)

“Not enemies…just…not allies? Well…I’ve never been told that I’m more than just a…thing off to the side, so excuse me if I don’t believe it until I see it.” Ry calmly said, looking away for a few seconds, then back at her.

Ry sat back and crossed his arms and nodded to everything else Gaile said, until the very end. This was hard for him to tell to someone who was so…trusting of others. He’d only seen this happen from the outside, but he’d never been on the inside to give advice like this before.

Most girls at his school avoid him like the plague; the other girls make him regret his very existence by talking bad about him in front of his face. He knew they were doing it on purpose, too, from the way they cast a sideways glance toward him every few seconds.

Ry had been well-experienced with girls of Ashley’s nature: evil, conniving, FAKE, but he’d never had to tell someone ever about not trusting them and why not to…

“Look, Gaile, I don’t give advice often to other people because they don’t listen to me anyway, but…I’ll make an exception in your case because you’re not a bitch, idiot, rude, or annoying.” It was a crass way to start off, but he’d never done this before…or done talking to other humans in a heart-to-heartless-creature-from-under-the-willow-tree kind of way.

“Ashley is what I like to call a ‘fake bitch’. They use people that trust them to do their bidding while they sit back and wait for them to take the fall or do exactly what they needed.” He paused to let that sink in.

“I know…that it looks like she’s smiling, but with a little tilt of your head….it becomes a sadistic smirk, plotting your every possible downfall based on whatever weakness she can gather… If she tries to become your ‘gal pal’ or…whatever she calls it, don’t reveal anything that she can use against you: secrets, dislikes, fears, or anything of that nature…”

Gaile shrugged her shoulders after Ry finished his spiel about not believing she wanted to be friends with him. He wanted proof? She’d give him proof.

"Ok. You got it dude." she said quoting one of her favorite 90’s sitcoms. The smile on her face was as friendly and genuine as Gaile could make it.

When Ry offered his advice to her, Gaile nodded,prepared to be open-minded about what  he had to say. Even if she didn’t want to believe it.

Gaile nodded every so often as Ry began talking about Ashley. She was just having a hard time believing that her teammate could have such ill-intent. Still, she couldn’t just let what Ry was saying go in one ear and out the other. She’d remember what he said and be sure to watch out. As Gaile began to think and ponder a bit more, she dropped out of her 90’s lingo and began to speak freely.

"I guess I see what you mean. I’ll be careful and not reveal too much. I appreciate you telling me this, Ry. I really do." she stated serenely. She smiled a tiny smile and twisted her purple scrunchie around her wrist.

Aside from the huge truth bomb that he had just dropped on her, Gaile was glad that Ry felt comfortable enough to actually say how he felt about her. She was glad that he didn’t think that she was like the other people. Gaile understood what he meant. People were not always very accepting of her lifestyle.

Ry’s mouth twisted slightly at her telling him she’d prove it to him. Would she really be willing to do such a thing for a freak show? “You’re not put off that I’m asking you to prove things to me? I mean, when I tell other people that…they don’t exactly take it well. It’s probably because they were trying to get the pity vote on other people just to say they talked to the weird kid who made his art teachers beg to have him removed.” He shrugged his shoulders meekly, letting the air return to a neutral stance. Too much information was never a good thing, even if she looked friendly enough. “I didn’t have that problem with my music classes, though.”

Listening to her actually take his advice made his chest swell slightly, since he’d figured that he’d just watch her writhe in the flames. “I’m glad you’re listening to me because…” He was taken aback by her dropping her 90’s lingo to speak to him on a one-on-one level, so he lost his train of thought almost immediately. Shaking his head moments later, he recovered and looked up at her. “Most people send my advice packing. I’d rather not have you sent packing like Lindsay because she tricks you. If you can see past her treachery, then you can gain an ally through her and it might save you down the road from elimination.”

It did give Lindsay an advantage to have Heather as an ally in the fourth episode…so this might be like that in a way. If Gaile could defend herself, know Ashley, and still pretend to be naive, then Ashley might save her because she’d assume she was too dumb to understand what she had planned. It actually might work for Gaile or it could go terribly wrong. “Just don’t let her shove you into the road no one would travel.” He advised, raising his finger up to show emphasis.

Gaile nodded with a small grin on her face.

"Ry, you seem like a pretty rad dude. I’d be mad psyched to have you as one of my homies. If it takes proving that I’m serious about that, then you can bet your bottom dollar I’ll prove it. And nah. I’m not really bothered by that at all. I dunno. It just seems worth it." she chuckled.

Gaile realized that Ry was backtracking a bit when he started talking about people and his art class. She didn’t want him to feel uncomfortable so she nodded to acknowledge she was listening but decided not to harp on it. He probably was backtracking because he didn’t want to talk about it.

"I’d totally talk to you and chill with you if I went to school with you." she stated quietly.

Gaile continued to listen as Ry spoke about Ashley and how she could be an ally in the future. Gaile also remembered how Heather had helped Lindsay, but had also tricked her into getting eliminated. She didn’t want that to be her. She realized that Ry was right about everything.

"Man. This always happens to me." she chuckled as she remembered countless times where she had been taken advantage of for her kindness and innocence.

"I’ll be careful. I hope you’ll do the same. I’d like to see you stick around for as long as possible." she said

"So. You like music?" she asked him hoping for a more light-hearted change of subject.

Bottom dollar? That’s a phrase Ry had never heard before. “Bottom dollar? Is that like my ass?” His nineties radar didn’t exactly go that far back. “You’re saying that I can bet my ass that you’ll prove it to me? Huh… Well, if you’re willing to bet that, then I’ll believe you…just don’t deceive my trust because that is a road I would rather not you experience.” He stated seriously, not meaning to sound harsh when he said that.

“As long as you’re willing to keep my trust, then I will keep yours…and I never break my promises, even if it’s tempting because I watched that Disney Movie about…the Frog Princess and New Orleans.” He tapped his fingers on the couch and snapped them, making the room echo from the force. “The Princess and the Frog. I watched it about ‘never taking the easy way out’.” This was off charter for him, but it was like he didn’t have to defend himself here.

He paused and raised his eyebrow at her, wondering if that was true. “You’d hang out with the ‘emo under the willow’?”

Kindness was always the easiest thing to take advantage of… No matter how one could say they could handle it… “Yeah, the kindest people are usually the ones that become victimized… It’s what that song means when it says that ‘only the good die young…’ I guess you’re on a tricky road, like No Man’s Land in World War I; if you step in the wrong place, then a landmine will go off, and Ashley will be the one to have placed it there for you…”

Huh? He was now confused and his thoughts transferred to his looks. “But if I stick around longer, then you’ll have a larger chance of losing, won’t you? Wouldn’t you prefer it if I go home because of…the money?”

…Music? Oh, right, he’d mentioned that earlier. “Yeah, I…dig…it?” It was an attempt to communicate like she was, and it couldn’t hurt to update his vocabulary. “I know how to play the piano, ocarina, and can sing…a little bit, not well, though. The piano is probably my best feature when it comes to my personality. I’ve learned how to play old songs, new songs, and even the classical variety of Mozart and Bach.”

Lavender:
Lavender was painting her nails yellow, in spirit of her team, when the tube went flying out of her hands. “What the-” she muttered, turning to her right, to see who she was going to yell at. Lavender opened her mouth, but then quickly closed it when she saw who it was. “It’s that chick who thinks it’s still the nineties.” Lavender thought to herself. “She get’s an extra yelling for being stupid.”

"Oh nuts!" Gaile exclaimed when she saw the bottle of nail polish fall to the ground. She quickly leaned over and picked up the polish, hoping it hadn’t spilled it’s yellow contents all over the hotel’s floor. She then dusted it off a little and handed it back to its owner.

"Totally sorry about that, dudette. Didn’t see you were doing something. What a mad stupid way to give a first impression.." she scolded herself, twisting the purple scrunchie around her wrist nervously.

"I’m Gaile by the way..I haven’t met you yet, I don’t believe." she said quietly.

Lavender grabbed the nail polish remover, inspecting it to see if the contents spilt. “Great.” she muttered sarcastically, noticing yellow staining the floor. “At least it wasn’t all spilt.” She turned her attention to Gaile. “I’m Lavender.” She said nicely. “Don’t worry about the nail polish, I think I have more.”

Dennis:
Dennis was taking a break from pranking contestants and interns that entered and exited the hotel. He was now sitting on the couch, trying to stuff the fake spiders of his back into their pockets.

He jumped a bit when someone flopped down by him. It was a girl who was more than a little enthusiastic. Gaile, maybe? Something like that.

"Didn’t anyone tell ya to warn someone before you flop down next to ‘em?" he asked, but his faux chipper disposition didn’t falter, "If I was on your team, you’d get my vote automatically! Or not. I dunno. Maybe not." While he sounded a bit harsh, he seemed generally fine with her sitting there.

Gaile knew that she probably had scared the boy when she sat down, but the way that he had handled the situation was just too funny for her to just apologize.

"I guess it’s a good thing that I’m not on your team then, eh dude?" she retorted with a giggle.

"My bad if I scared you though. That’s not what I meant to do. I was just looking for some company. It’s been a mad long day already, and it’s not even gotten started yet. And I didn’t wanna be alone. I don’t dig being alone." she explained.

"The name is Gaile. What’s your name dude?" she asked with a friendly grin.

"You’re way too friendly; it makes my teeth rot," another briskly honest admittance, once again made questionable by his ever present grin.

He took off his straw hat and nodded his head in an over-dramatic manner, “The name’s Dennis. Don’t wear it out.” He noticed what he thought was a fake spider in his hat until he noticed it wiggling. “Whoops. Wondered where that thing went.” With little to no stalling, he plopped the hat, spider and all, back on his head.

"So," he nodded, "What’s your spiel, Gaile? I know and you know that Chris knows that the only reason why we’re on the show is because we got something weird that they wanna know, you know? I think."

Mallory:
(To be filled in)

Todd
Todd hurriedly left the building in which they were staying, he wanted to go out and do something, instead of being cooped up in the boring hotel. He walked mindlessly until he came across a tall building a few blocks away from the hotel.

"What do we have here," He muttered to himself while he walked into the run down building. The ground was covered in a thick layer of dust being kicked up with each step, the walls crumbing down around him. As for the roof, a large hole opened up letting dim light through. He searched for stairs to reach the roof but was disappointed when he found them crumbled in a heap, he let out an angered sigh. Todd was about to leave but the sudden light change caught his attention. He looked up, surprised to see somebody looking down the hole in the roof at him.

"Hey!" he shouted, "how’d you get up there?" The figure stayed quite for a moment before replying.

Ry:
Ry sat down on the ledge and stared down at Todd for a few more moments, thinking over the response. It was tempting to just leave the guy in the dust after he insulted him by comparing him to Chris McLean. Dangling his legs over the side of the ledge, he placed his hands gingerly on the ground next to him and casually took a long breath.

“There’s a fire escape on the side of this building that leads up to the top floor. From there, I stacked a trashcan and a box on top of each other and climbed up from there.” He calmly told Todd, voice completely devoid of emotion.

“The view sure is nice up here, if you can get up here that is.” He said in a taunting manner, doubting Todd could make it up in one piece. From the skills he portrayed from before, Ry was skeptical of him.

Todd looked back at the speaker, he noticed it was in fact the guy he thought was Chris. “Hey, before anything, just gonna say sorry for thinking you were the host and all, I could leave,” he pointed a thumb over his shoulder, “if you don’t wanna hang out or something I don’t know dude.” He shrugged and put his hands in his pockets.

Hm… Ry could tell him to beat it and avoid the whole ‘communications’ deal, or he could tell him that it’s okay to come up here and get to know him. Sighing softly, he thought about this for a moment or two.

"Hang on," he said to Todd, pulling his feet up and crawling away from the ledge. The guy apologized, so Ry was feeling more…reasonable.

Standing up and dusting off his dusty clothes, he picked up the rope ladder that was slightly tangled from lack of use and probably from failure to keep it from doing so in the first place.

Keeping his eyes trained on the rope, he managed to free the dirty ropes and made the ladder at least five feet longer. The thing didn’t look too old with decay, so he doubted that Todd could possibly hurt himself climbing up.

Tying the ends to a cinder block and sliding it behind two steam pipes, he threw the ladder down at Todd and peered over the edge. “You can come up…if you want to.”

Todd watched Ry as he tossed a rope ladder over the edge of the hole. He looked at it, questioned its sturdiness but decided to climb up anyways. He pulled himself up the rope ladder. Todd reached the top and hauled himself over the ledge and onto the roof. “Hey, thanks for that.” He brushed down his shirt and walked over to Ry, “So,” a silence filled the air, “what do you think this season will be like?” Todd said, trying to start conversation.

Ry looked up at the taller male and gave a soft shrug at his question. “Honestly, everyone here is so strange compared to me school, excluding the obvious exceptions, so I can’t put my finger on how they’ll all compete, back stab, or hurt each other.” His face remained emotionless as he stated all of this to Todd.

Turning around, he headed for the edge of the building, giving the ledge a swift kick, sending pieces of the side cascading down the side of the structure. He stared at the pavement below and sighed softly.

“Someone could have jumped off this building and run the place out of business…because suicide never leads to positive reviews.” Ry mumbled, turning around to face Todd.

“Erm…” He looked away slightly and then back at him, trying to avoid being looked at like a freak as per usual. “What…about you…?”

He gave Ry a small nod and said, “Well people came on this show to win, so I won’t be surprised what they would’t do, I just hope nobody does anything too rash or something.” He shrugged and laughed, “some people do seem a tad more ‘out there’ than others though.” He sat down on the dusty roof and leant on a near by pipe, “so, is Ry short for anything, I was trying to figure it out, that’s all I’ve heard about you. Care to share?”

Ry stayed put at where he was and looked back up from the ground to look at Todd. “Well, yes, Ry is short for something…” He commented, not sounding annoyed or negative in any way. “It’s short for Henry, but I really hate my first name, so don’t ever call me that…”

Anything else? What? Who, with Todd’s looks, would be curious about Ry’s anything?

“Why are you curious about me? Shouldn’t you be flirting with some chick, watching TV, or learning the newest fads?” He turned around and crossed his arms. “Or plotting to do something to a ‘freak’ like me?”

He looked downward and pointed slowly, trying to stop Todd from doing what he had already done. “Or at least avoid mousetraps?”

(Missing response)

Friend…?

Ry waved his hand and kicked the mousetrap that had already bruised his skinny calf, which annoyed him since the shorts didn’t help hide his bruising…nor did the short sleeve shirt with his scars. Sighing calmly, he shrugged. “It did a little when I first climbed up and managed to have it snap on my bare leg…”

‘It hurt so nicely.’ He thought calmly, looking at his leg. Maybe he could conceal the scars and bruises with his makeup…? Probably.

“Well, if you’re crazy enough to ruin your social life, then I’ll…er…make your acquaintanceship.” Ry added on to avoid looking stupid with a big purple bruise on his calf.

Slowly moving his hands behind his back, he started to speak, “so…” He stopped, not knowing what to say. “Um…what do you exactly want to know about me? Nobody’s ever…asked.”

"Sweet," Todd said, "I don’t know, what do ya like to do back home, I don’t mean like your life story but like, do ya read, do ya cook." He finished resting his hands behind his head, resting back on the pipe.

Todd was happy that Ry was taking to him, he had thought that Ry’d hate him for sure because of the whole awkward situation before hand. He wasn’t sure what Ry would think of him, but if they were friends, that was another person he was happy with.

''Why would people never ask? Todd thought, Ry seems like a good guy.''

Back home… Ry thought about this, a barrage of images of him doing nothing but staring out the window in distress and boredom flooded his mind, but then he turned his thoughts to the better parts of his day.

“Well, in my spare time I draw, play the piano, practice my ocarina, learn new dan—songs from my culture, and practice my kanji.” He rubbed his arm in silence for a minute before adding: “my main hobby is drawing, though…”

Taking a moment to think more, he nodded and looked at Todd. “What about you?” He decided to exclude exactly what he learned, drew, or thought about to avoid looking like a freak. Maybe Todd could save his ass from elimination one day…if he didn’t reveal his true colors yet.

"That sounds really cool." He said, "I just do stuff like, hangout, eat, sometimes I cook for my sister but not often, Ma likes to do that." Todd looked over at Ry and smiled as he remembered his family. "I remember this one time I made my sister this pasta and she didn’t like it so she threw it at me. Pretty funny huh?" He said with a goofy grin.

“My family taught me how to cook when I was younger, so I have to make things for myself when they come home late…. I’m not the most gifted at it, though, so I try to order out with their card numbers more often.” Ry admitted, not feeling any remorse for doing so. Ry tried to offer him a smile, but it faltered on his face since he didn’t often do it. “Was it still hot?” He asked, taking a seat on the crumbling ledge of the building.

Lavender:
"There’s another set of stairs on the other side of the building." Lavender answered. "Be careful, they look pretty beat up." Lavender looked away from the boy to look at the view. "This is probably the best view you’re going to get of the city, well besides our hotel roof." Lavender commented. "Care to join me? I want to get to know the cast better."

"Stupid," He whispered to himself, "of course there’s another set of stairs." Todd looked around for a while until he found the other set of stairs the girl had spoken of. Once he found them he started the climb up 3 flights of stairs. Todd pushed open a door he saw the girl sat on a bench looking out into the city. "Uhh, hey, thanks for the stairs thing. Didn’t think anybody else would be here, not that I don’t want you here, that’d be rude. Argh sorry, I’m Todd and you are?" He held out his hand while he smiled.

Lavender giggled at his antics while accepting his hand and shaking it. “I’m Lavender.” she answered. She pulled away and sat back on the bench. “It took me like 15 minutes to find those stairs, so I was glad to help!” She look at the view and smiled. “The view sure is pretty. Are you excited to be competing this year? I sure am!”

Todd took a seat next to her and  looked out over the city.

"Yeah this is a nice view, as for the season, I’m pretty pumped about it, came to win ya know but I guess everybody did so I’m not that sure on how far I’ll get." He shrugged, "I’ve been hanging out for this season and the whole colors thing should be pretty awesome." He looked back at Lavender, "what about your team mates? I haven’t really talked to mine much but they seem all right."

''"My teammates seem like quite a bunch." Lavender'' confessed. "I talked to them a little bit, they seem all right in my opinion."

Lavender sighed deeply while looking at the city. “You’re right when you said that everyone came to win.” she said. “We have to give it our all.”

"I wonder how long it will take him to fall for me so I can break his heart and get him eliminated." She wondered to herself. "He seems kinda dumb. Shouldn’t be too hard."

Todd nodded at her statement and stood up. “It was nice talking to you Lavender, I gotta go do some stuff back at the hotel, so I might see you round.” He waved at her and walked back down the stairs, they creaked as his weight hit them. Todd reached the bottom of the stairs and walked to where the hole was, he looked. “Cya Lav.” he yelled up, he walked back out of the building getting a hit of cold air as he rounded the corner to get back the the dingy hotel.

"I got nothing else better to do." Lavender said, "I’ll walk back with you." She stood up, and carefully walked down the stairs, only tripping once. She walked out of the building, and caught up with Todd. "When did it get so chilly?" She asked, crossing her arms.

Mika:
Mika panicked for a second and kicked her spray can behind her. “I’m… uh… not defaci—” she began, but stopped herself upon seeing the the genuine inquiring expression on Todd’s face. She chuckled to herself slightly and leaned further down through the hole in the roof.

"There’s a rope in the corner, Joke-ahontas. I climbed." Mika paused for a second to look over at her half finished, uh,  mural, before turning back to the hole, adding, “Where’s your accent from, dweeb? Ireland?”

Derby
After the introductions and team assignments, Derby had gone up to his room to put away anything he could from his messenger bag and to change into the clothes they’d be given. How Chris was able to change the colors of the clothing, which felt comfortable and not electronic, baffled the brunette. "Magic, perhaps? Wouldn’t that be something.." he’d thought to himself.

Now, Derby was curled up in the corner of one of the couches that sat in the lounge area on the first floor, his bag on the tiled floor next to it. He was contentedly writing about the people he’d seen, extremely intrigued by his new peers, and at the possibility of making friends and/or enemies - though he’d rather keep the latter on the low side. Glancing up, he saw another contestant coming into the hotel. A smile grew on his face, giddy to interact with and learn more about his new subjects- er, acquaintances. He closed his journal, placing it back into his navy blue bag before he stood and slung it over his shoulder. He enthusiastically walked over to greet the person with a skip in his step. “Hey~! I’m Derby!”

Ry:
Ry had finally gotten himself to put on the clothes and start to adjust to them, but he couldn’t get over the khakis. Ever since he had been twelve, he’d stuck to skinny jeans and hoodies. Clutching his sketchbook to his chest and enjoying the fact that he was alone for a while. The sky outside was sunny, the air inside was nice, and Ry HATED it. Why couldn’t the place be on fire or the air be acrid? The place seriously was well-held together, and he wanted to make that change…

Sighing loudly to himself, he moved himself toward the front of the hotel. If he could just get to McLea—“Hey~! I’m Derby!”

Blinking his eyes several times in slight surprise, he turned his head to face the boy, Derby. “….Umm, hello.” He mumbled, backing a few steps away from the other boy. “I’m….Ry?”

Baroness:
The Baroness meandered her way into the hotel’s lobby to both find her room and to change into the outfits Chris had prepared for the contestants to wear. She hated the outfits with a burning passion; after all, her outfit happened to be part of what defines her as a pirate rather than just an average teenager. Still, the pirate thought it would be much better to follow the rules than to get kicked off before she even gets the chance at the money. She began to head to the elevators when she was assaulted by the sounds of a greeting.

She looked down once the boy had said hello to find a familiar sight: she recognized the boy’s cheerful face from when her team had gathered around. She had a hunch what his name was, but ultimately forgotten in the end. “Ahoy there lad!” The pirate smiled with pride. “Ye’re a Penguin ain’t ye?”

Derby felt excitement run through him like electricity. Yes! It was the pirate girl! Of all the people he’d seen, she was one that had stuck in his mind, her appearance and speech so unique that she was unforgettable. He rocked in place, unable to fully contain his energy.

"That I am!" He replied cheerfully, smiling up at the girl. "You are too, right? And you’re the Baroness?"

Mallory:
Mallory turned, looking at the boy. Her body was covered in tattoos of degons, fire, scales, and eyes. She was very proud of these tattoos, and she liked how her outfit showed them off. “Yo, bromie!” She said, waving at this stranger. “Name’s Mallory, yo!”

Jill
Jill looked around the room sadly.

”Way to go, Jill, that was your first impression and you blew it. No-one’s gonna like me now…” She paused, ”Well, Gaile seemed to like me. Maybe Dakota too. But I bet they’re the kind of people who like everyone.”

She sighed wistfully as she unpacked her things. After a few minutes, she stopped, then pushed her half-empty suitcase under her bed, making a mental note to continue putting her stuff away later. She stepped out the stuffy room and started to walk. Out of nowhere, she thought she’d heard a noise.

”Hello?” She called, ”Is anyone there?”

Ry:
Ry muttered a series of curses and bent down to collect his satchel and the belongings that fell out of it. The first rule of carrying a suitcase, a bag, and new clothing was to not try to hang your already sewn several times bag on the back of the suitcase handle.

Reaching out, he grabbed his ocarina and shoved the instrument back into the ripped bag. “Why do I keep sewing it up instead of getting a new one?” He asked himself, snatching up several pens that had rolled to the edge of the hallway.

Pausing, he looked up toward the sound of one of the contestant’s voice. “….” He stared at her in silence and looked toward his ramune drink that had rolled next to her feet. Looking from the drink to Jillian, he pointed at it slowly. “Um… Hello, J…June, was it? Could you grab that…?”

”Oh, this?” Jill asked, kneeling down to pick up the drink. ”…It’s Jill, by the way… my name, I mean”.

"Y….Yeah," Ry replied, standing up and reaching out for it. "That’s my favorite drink, so I’d be a little…annoyed to have it go missing." Looking at the bottle, he took it from her with both hands out of habit.

"Have you ever had a ramune before?" He asked, glancing down at the marble closed lid. "They’re one of the best and intricately closed drinks I’ve ever tasted. In fact, they’re great for taking your aggression out, too."

Mentally he envisioned slamming his hand on the bottle and it representing a button to electrocute a group of high school kids he particularly hated.

"For people like me, who conceal, don’t feel, it’s great to have something to let my anger out on…besides the drawings of people’s ideal dying location and whatnot."

"Y….Yeah," Ry replied, standing up and reaching out for it. "That’s my favorite drink, so I’d be a little…annoyed to have it go missing." Looking at the bottle, he took it from her with both hands out of habit.

"Have you ever had a ramune before?" He asked, glancing down at the marble closed lid. "They’re one of the best and intricately closed drinks I’ve ever tasted. In fact, they’re great for taking your aggression out, too."

Mentally he envisioned slamming his hand on the bottle and it representing a button to electrocute a group of high school kids he particularly hated.

"For people like me, who conceal, don’t feel, it’s great to have something to let my anger out on…besides the drawings of people’s ideal dying location and whatnot."

Jill froze. Ideal dying location? That certainly didn’t seem like a barrel of fun. She didn’t say this out loud, of course. ”Ahah… u-um… dying locations, yeah…” Jill cut herself off, painfully aware of her mumbling. She tried to change the topic. ”Ah, no, I’ve ne-never actually drank ramune before… too much fat in it…”

Way to make casual conversation, Jill, she cringed to herself.

Ry took notice of the awkward way she seemed to shy away from him after he told her what he thought and sighed internally. It was so hard to not look like a freak in people’s eyes. “Well… Wait, fat?” He asked, looking at his drink in confusion, taking in all the Japanese character on the thin paper wrapping around the bottle. “Oh, you mean the sodium in here? Well, yeah, I guess it can bloat you if you’re not careful.” He removed the paper from around the top of the glass and slammed his hand down on the small T shaped top, knocking the marble inside with a loud POP! “Do you want to try it at least? I’ve got about sixteen more in my suitcase.”

Jill plucked the bottle carefully out of Rys’ hands, ”I, um, suppose I’ll try a bit…” Though she had no interest in drinking this sugar-based drink, she would do so just to please him. ”Um, it- it’s certainly strong, I suppose” It was beyond strong. It was disgusting.

Ry looked at the drink in her hand and nodded slightly, though he never thought it was strong to his taste buds. “The carbonation is the worst part of any drink, huh?” He asked, not certain of where the strong flavor lay in her judgment. He figured it must be one of those moments where something is commonly liked, but there are still people whose taste buds despise the taste, feeling, or way the name sounds. He figured this from his disliking of peanut butter. “You don’t like it, do you?” He calmly asked, not wanting to sound like a fan who would slit someone’s throat over their perfectly reasonable opinion. “I can respect that.” He glanced upward, noticing her height now.

"You’re gay??" Dakota gasped, purely out of sheer suprise. That was the second queer person he’d learned of this year! Oh how is his world expanding. He stared at Ry who didn’t at all SEEM gay. He didn’t at all match the sterotypes he’d seen in television and movies. Then again, neither did Lium. Dakota looked thoughtful. Did that mean that anyone could be gay? You didn’t have to look or dress or sound a certian way. Without thinking, he raised his camera and snapped another picture of Ry before finally speaking up again, "……Does being gay feel different?"

Ry seemed surprised by the sudden questioning and the flash of the camera when Dakota snapped a picture of him again. “Oh, well, yes I am. It’s kind of a thing that just happened to me at one point in my life. I actually didn’t know the difference when I found out that I liked guys. In fact, I thought it was just what you do since I lived in an accepting nation, then my counselor in Hawaii told me that being gay was ‘unnatural’ and that she wouldn’t ‘tolerate my behavior’ or how I ‘made the other students and staff uncomfortable’…” He paused, realizing he’d rambled again. “She blamed me for a fight that I didn’t start or provoke just because I admitted my sexuality to this guy…” Tapping his foot in thought, he looked at Dakota. “There’s nothing wrong with being attracted to the same sex or both sexes; it’s just some people will try and make it look bad.”

Jill tried to shrug in a casual sort of manner. ”Well, I guess a high calorie, carbonated drink isn’t good for me anyway… I heard that they, um, the ramune, I mean, is all the rage in Japan… Is that where you’re, um, from?”

"If 90 calories is too high for you, then I am concerned about your eating habits…though I can’t say much since I’m underweight." Ry commented, not stating it condescendingly. "Well, no, I’m from Toronto… My dad’s family moved to America after The Bay of Pigs Invasion, and my dad joined the military and moved to Canada where he met my mom, who just moved from Korea. And I can speak English, Japanese, and Korean… Wait, what were we talking about again? Dead places? Oh, wait, the drink. Oh, my mom likes to order them online, so I get to have them every week."

Baroness:
(To be filled in)

Ashley:
(To be filled in)

Selene
Selene looked up at the looming hotel and hesitated, bouncing up and down a bit on the balls of her feet. No. No way. Too tall, too enclosed, too dark. She didn’t need to change. She was fine like this. Besides, she didn’t know how to change into anything else. She hoped she’d recognize her team after they changed into other things.

Selene took one last look at the looming building, then turned and headed down the road to the west at a rapid trot. Maybe she’d be the first to Mount McLean. …She was probably the best at mountains. She liked them.

Just then, a flash of motion in the corner of her eye caught her attention. Was it a rat? It was probably a rat. A heartbeat later, she had crashed into the trash can and flipped it over, digging to see if she could find the rat. She LIKED rats. They tasted like garbage. …So did garbage, for that matter. She popped a bottle cap into her mouth to chew on and continued digging, Mt. McLean completely forgotten.

Matt:
(To be filled in)

Ry:
Ry’s eyes drifted from his course to the sight of that animal girl chewing on something next to the trash can. He slowly rubbed his arm and stared at the sight in momentary confusion, wondering what he should do.

This girl wasn’t on his team…and he really didn’t care much for her, but the way she was chewing reminded him of how he looked when he chewed on those sucker sticks after he’d finished the lollipop. Could he just let her continue to eat that and sleep at night?

Actually, he could…but it just didn’t feel morally right to allow her to eat garbage, even though he doubted that she did it out of misery. Calmly sighing, he made his choice.

Making his way over, slower than he’d like to admit, he stopped in front of the trashcan. Honestly, he knew this was going to be the biggest regret of his life, judging from how she’d attacked that class sleeper kid. “In my culture, we say ‘itadakimasu’ before eating… Also, we don’t really eat garbage.”

He shuffled around in his satchel bag and retrieved a full bag of beef jerky; his mother had forced him to pack it, even though he found the whole bag gross. “Here, why don’t you just eat this?” Pausing, he pulled it back and ripped off the top so she wouldn’t eat the bag.

Selene took the bag, and happily started nomming on the jerky.

"Hi!" she chirped between mouthfuls, "I’m Selene. I saw a rat. I chased it. It got away. It’s gone."

She tilted her head, examining the boy in front of her. He wasn’t on her team. “You’re not a penguin. Why come you shared? I like you.”

Ry jerked his thumb toward the building in the near distance. “I was actually heading over there…and I just don’t think it matters until we’re actually fighting each other in one of Chris McLame’s challenges.”

He kept his eye on the bag, not taking his view from it, not exactly wanting to look at what Selene could have planned next displayed in her eyes. “If you’re hungry, then why don’t you just come to the hotel? You’re going to have to wear that…fashion burial sooner or later. I don’t know what Chris could have planned, but he might hold it over your head and say that you could be eliminated for it.”

Keeping steady, he moved his hand out and took the bag away from her and took the ‘DO NOT EAT’ packet out of the plastic and shoved it in his pocket, unsure if she’d actually eat it. “Do you want some advice? Keep the bag with you; it could come in handy, you know?”

Selene didn’t object to him taking the little packet out of the bag; just watched him with curiosity.

"No hotel," Selene replied, shaking her head. "Not going there." It took her a minute to remember why.

"…Going to Mt. McLean. I might be first!" She hopped up from her overturned pile of garbage and started off down the street at a steady pace again.

Ry took hold of Selene’s arm and tried to halt her in the process, but he ended up being dragged behind her in the process; having such a weak upper body was such a bother sometimes… “Selene, wait,” he urged, moving his feet now to avoid being dragged, tripped, or stumbling.

“If you go to Mount McVanity now, you’ll end up getting the boot for ‘not wearing the proper attire in your contract that YOU signed.’” Weirdly enough, he had already memorized some of the things Chris would say to them.

“You need to put on the clothes first!” Looking back toward the hotel, he nearly tripped over a rock in front of his foot but quickly regained his composure. Keeping his tone completely monotone, he continued: “You do know how to change clothes, right?”

“Look, I guess… I can sympathize with you about the whole stupid nature-loving aspect because I’m an idiot when it comes to being indoors, but you can still make your room more to your liking, right?”

“How about…we make some renovations—changes to your room? You can bring in grass, plants, animals, keep the window open… I think there’s a platform near every room, so you can jump out of the room and down on to it when you want to be outside quickly. We can also take the door down if you don’t like the idea of privacy much?”

Lavender:
Lavender, now changed into the white outfit Chris gave everyone, started to walk to Mt. McLean. “No way am I gonna break a sweat trying to be the first one on the mountain.” she deadpanned. As she was about to turn a corner, she saw a pair of legs hanging from a garbage can. “There are some weird people in this cast.” Lavender whispered, walking toward the garbage can. “Umm what are you doing?” she questioned.

Selene turned and looked over her shoulder at Lavender, a can in her mouth. The wild child hadn’t changed in to her new clothes yet, and didn’t appear to have any intention of doing so.

She spat out the can, and kept digging, “There is a rat. I saw it. It’s in here. I’m hungry.”

"Did you just say that you want to eat a rat?!" Lavender asked in complete disgust. She looked at Selene, realizing that she is still in her normal attire. "Instead of searching for a rat," Lavender explained, "How about you go to the hotel and get changed? I’m sure there is some actual food in there."

Alexandria:
Alexandria was making her way to Mt.McLean after having gotten changed. Her new clothes weren’t quite as show worthy as her old ones had been, but she did get to keep her cape, which significantly improved her overall appearance. Waking down the empty street, void of any civilians who might like to see her magic show, Alexandria suddenly heard a metallic clink as something fell on the ground. Maybe it was a person who had dropped something, or a fun animal companion which would make her magic show more exciting for younger audiences!! Zipping over to the noise, Alexandria realized that it was a human who was… digging in the trash? That was certainly unusual, but Alexandria never judged a potential audience! “Greetings girl in the trash can!” She called from the entrance to the alley, standing so that she was framed in the light. “The Amazing Alexandria has a proposition for you which involves you watching her magic show in exchange for…” What could Alexandria promise this girl which she would actually want? “For… food! And, of course, for the entertainment value!!”

"Hi!" Selene replied, tilting her head to the side at an angle that made her pigtails seem to perk up, "I like food. You’re weird. Are you a penguin? I’m a penguin. What are penguins? I don’t know."

Selene still hadn’t changed into the new clothes, instead leaving them on the ground where Chris had handed them to her.

Alexandria was quite flustered by this girl, who certainly wasn’t someone she would’ve picked to be her audience. Nevertheless, the show must go on!! “Why yes, the Amazing Alexandria is a penguin, quite the best team!! Now, she would love to show you her magic show and will give you some food later, even though you called her weird despite the fact that you are currently eating trash and sitting in a trash can.”

"Okay," Selene said. She disappeared back into the pile of garbage without giving Alexandria another look. When she spoke again, her voice was a bit muffled; god only knew what she had in her mouth this time. "What is a magic? Is it food? Can I chase it?"

This girl would be a hard nut to crack, but Alexandria had complete confidence in her persuasion abilities. “No, magic isn’t exactly food, however, it is very similar to food in that it fills you up with wonder! So, the Amazing Alexandria is sure that, since magic is similar to food and she will allow you to eat… whatever it is you’re eating right now during her performance, that you are convinced to come see it!” There, that was sure to have worked!

Dakota
After getting completely settled in and writing the number of his room in sharpie on the back of his hand, Dakota decided to take a stroll through the hotel. He grabbed his backpack, slung it over his shoulder and began to putter about with camera in hand. Every few feet he’d stop to take a picture of a picture on the wall or a window, even just the maids cart. He brought with him all the film he could possibly ever use so he wasn’t worried too much about running out.

The small boy made his way into the elevator, snapping a quick picture of the inside before hitting the button to the lobby floor. Today he was going to spend getting acquainted with his surroundings, and possibly some of the other contestants.

Ry:
Ry patted his disgusting and outright appalling attire down to get rid of the wrinkles in the fabric and sighed begrudgingly. Why in the world they would have to do this was beyond him… He’d never been forced to wear something this…out of date. Well, he could count his school uniform, but that was still in fashion at many schools like his.

The idea of having a room to himself during this season was a lot better than the idea of sharing a cabin with these guys. His team looked calm on one end, then completely off kilter on the other. The middle ground was that Kiki girl… The other girl, Lavender, was a bit of a flirt, which he hoped would be toward the others rather than him.

He kept his eyes on his, which he had stacked with books, papers, pens, and paints, and smiled contently to himself. This wasn’t all bad, even though he’d have to go to his team soon enough… Standing up, he glared at his horribly bare wall.

“I’ll pain that later… Maybe I can get some supplies from outside for after the challenge.” Turning his head, he nodded toward the door and headed out.

Take the stairs?

Take the elevator?

…Elevator this time.

Holding his hand out, he tapped the button and wait patiently for the doors to ding open for his entrance. Pausing, he noticed the boy from before, who had snapped a picture of Chris when he’d arrived.

'…Don’t make eye contact…' He thought to himself and entered into the elevator, clutching his sketchbook to his chest and standing at least two feet away from the other boy.

When the elevator doors opened, Dakota looked up at Ry as he stepped in. He was never any good with introductions so there was an awkward silence between them as the elevator made it’s way down to the lobby. Dakota shifted nervously, attempting to remember who the person next to him was and if they were on the same team. He glanced over at Ry, taking a deep breath before finally just saying. “I… uhm…. I like your hat….”

Ry’s eyes darted over to look at Dakota before he even thought about it. “Oh, um…thank you?” He responded, feeling a little confused by the compliment. “I like your camera… Is it a…” Crap, Ry was never good with cameras because he was always drawing what he saw, excluding people, and never taking active photos! The only photos he had were his yearbook pictures, his mother’s forced pictures, and baby pictures; he never took his own pictures…or took a—god forsaken—“selfie”. “Nikon?”

Dakota giggled awkwardly, glancing down at the camera in his hands, slowly shaking his head. “It’s actually a Canon. Though they all kind of look the same so it’s an easy mistake.” He said, looking back to Ry and took note of the notebook he was holding. Was he an artist? He always thought drawing was an interesting thing to do, though he could hardly even scribble to save his own life. After another long moment of awkward silence he just kind of blurted out, “So you draw?”

“I’ve never actually tried to take pictures before, so I…really couldn’t tell you much about cameras or webcams…or anything that isn’t an eyeball staring at an object.” Ry admitted, unashamed by his ignorance of cameras. The thought of just…taking a picture irked him, but at the same time enticed him. If a moment was caught forever, then he could draw it…but then he’d only have that moment to look at and feel. Feeling one moment was just too painful for him to let happen.

He lived in hours of moments because he never had the same thing going on when he drew what he saw. The scene shifted several times, revealing a newer and more…diverse scene for him to draw down. In the end, he always had a dark and twisted image to be proud of…all of them except for sunsets and sunrises.

“Oh, yeah, I draw…it’s not really as interesting or as rewarding as being a photographer, though. You probably are respected for all the photos you’ve done in the past… Um, have you ever travelled somewhere really exciting?”

(Missing response. Go ot Dakota’s blog)

“Untrue,” Ry stated, looking at Dakota with his full attention now. “You’re wrong about that; being a photographer is harder than anything. I draw what I feel—normally disturbing things—but you have to sit for hours in one position, until you finally have the aim, lighting, view, and pose that gives you the perfect shot.” Ry could never take a picture to save his life, but he knew the complications of the process.

“Even a simple picture of someone could end up being a difficult process… If the angle isn’t right, then the person looks bad, disproportionate, and the picture might end of being blurry from the life that moves behind them.” He rubbed his arm, looking down at the sketchbook in his arms.

The fact that someone wanted to see his…angry journal meant that he had to be careful about what he showed them. “My art…isn’t exactly…peaceful or happy, you know? If you couldn’t tell from my weird look, then I’m warning you now. Also, they have no pictures of people because I lack the ability in that aspect.”

Human anatomy… It was his worst area… Showing anyone his attempts at human art would make everyone on the earth want to laugh themselves to death. “It’s…too embarrassing…but my art of the scenery isn’t so bad.”

Dakota fell silent. He never really thought about all the work that went into taking a photo. It was just something he did, second nature really. But still, he didn’t really see how it was any more difficult then drawing. Though I guess different things are harder for different people. Dakota took pictures and Ry draws things.

"That’s fine. I don’t mind unpeaceful or unhappy things. If it’s your art I’d really love to see it." Dakota replied, looking to Ry with a slight smile. "And you don’t even have to show me a lot. Just your favorite… well, you know, if you don’t mind!"

“You actually want to see unsettling images? Haha…ha…ha… You’re funny.” Ry commented, showing no muscle movement in his face to show that he was actually laughing at this. “I’ve never met someone who would be willing to look at my grotesque images willingly… I’ve had teachers take my drawings and beg the principal to have me removed from their class, but after I managed to freak out the teachers enough, they tried counseling again… That didn’t work either, so… If I’m able to freak out grown adults, who’ve managed to get through images of plagues and death masks, then it’s just…weird to hear a teen with happier thoughts saying they’d love to see my stuff.”

Ry had nearly been kicked out of all his art assigned classes in middle school and some of high school. The staff had to just get used to Ry because he wasn’t technically drawing anything too inappropriate. Opening his book slowly, he revealed one of the first images he drew out of spite: a crumbling bridge.

“Huh, I remember this one to be a lot worse…” Ry mumbled to himself, flipping the page over and staring at a description on the back. “Oh, I never added those things.”

‘It’s probably for the best to start out small..’ He thought to himself, showing the decaying bridge to Dakota. “I’m actually hoping to see a bridge like this around the city.”

(Missing response)

Ry felt sort of nervous watching Dakota’s eyes bear down on his drawing, but he relaxed when he finally spoke again. “Skill?” He’d never expected someone to say that he was skilled in art…but it felt rather nice to his unbeating and emotionless heart. “Oh, thank you.” He whispered, slowly shutting the book and hiding it behind his back again to look down at the young boy rustling through his bag.

The thought rushed across his mind of what he could be bringing out. Maybe it was some sort of Grand Canyon picture that he was proud to have taken a picture of and Ry would hear about how they were going to build a bridge there… Hm…using the winning money on a bridge across the Gr—No, you have your goals! He briskly chastised himself.

“What a—?” He stopped and squinted at the photo Dakota produced and held up. He examined the small bridge and placed a finger on the bridge. “I wouldn’t think this was taken by someone who was just a hobbyist,” he admitted. Then his ears perked up at the mention of a dead body. “You actually saw a dead body?”

Some people have all the luck.

“…It was the cops that took the photo, wasn’t it? They always ruin the fun of snagging an amazing bloated, deceased being.” He half-joked to the other boy. “Next time, though, you can take two and hide the second one in your room for a souvenir.”

Another thought quickly flashed across his mind. “Hey, why do you like to take pictures all the time?” It was mainly out of curiosity because so many people got their starts at different ways. “My reason for drawing was a coping mechanism, but everyone has different beginnings.”

"No need to thank me, it’s true." Dakota smiled to Ry, for one reason or another he was warming up to him really fast. "Your art is really amazing and it takes a lot of skill to do what you do. Even if people think it’s weird and creepy, it’s still great and deserves praise." Dakota said, giving a quick nod as he shut his own book.

"Though to be honest," he said thinking back to the photo he took last summer, attempting to remember what happened to it. "….I don’t know who it was who took the photo away. I think it was my mom? Though it could have been a police officer. It’s hard to remember." Dakota’s smile slowly started to leave his face and he looked down at his feet. "I take pictures because they’re my memories. I have a horrible memory and taking pictures of everything is the only thing that really helps me remember. People, places, things… If I don’t take that memory with my camera it will be gone the next day."

Ry’s face lit up in a slight blush at the compliments Dakota was giving to him. Did he really deserve them? All his life he’d never had someone say anything about his art, excluding the ‘oh’ing and ‘awe’ing of the judges that would come by his stands at contests. “You…think that?” He asked, voice barely above a whisper.

After hearing about the other part of Dakota’s beginning, he quickly shut off his mind from his center and felt a twinge of sadness for Dakota. “You…can’t remember things that well…? Well, I have a decent memory…but that’s beside the point. What about tomorrow? Will you be able to remember who I am or what my name is?” He’d never met someone with a memory like this before. Sure, he’d met the idiots who would rather not listen and retained no information, but this was a literal medical issue. He could never imagine having his memory gone by the next day. “Um, when we’re not competing…and all…you could come to me and ask questions about the day before if you’d like?” What else was Ry going to be doing? Hanging out with friends? Ha, like he’d manage to make any!

"Yes, I really do think that. Your art is great."

Dakota looked back to Ry, he had a nervous sort of embarrassment on his face as he forced a smile. “If you wouldn’t mind doing that for me it should be really helpful.” Dakota said, awkwardly fidgeting in place. “Though if you don’t mind, taking a picture of you would really help as well. Though if you don’t want your picture taken I completely understand. Not a lot of people do.”

Ry’s eyes shut and he took a long and much needed breath to bring down his infuriating blushing. How often did he get these kinds of comments? Never. Nobody had ever really accepted his creepy art, not even his own family did.

In the mere minutes he’d been in the elevator with this kid, he’d bonded with him quicker than he had bonded his leg. After skidding across the pavement when he fell off his skateboard, he’d had to immediately try to cease the bleeding, so he’d bonded his leg up in mere minutes, including the disinfectant needed.

Okay, that was probably a lacking simile, but he couldn’t think of anything else that he’d done faster than that.

Opening his eyes, he nodded at Dakota and let a small smile grace his lips. “Of course I will help you remember things.” The thought of having no way to remember something just haunted his mind. “A picture of me? Well, sure. If it’ll help you remember me, then you can take as many as you need or want. Just…not when I’m in pain or sleeping.” He half-joked, rubbing his arm. “I don’t think it’ll be very appealing to look back on in those cases.”

"When you’re in pain, of course not. Though when you’re sleeping it could be cute." Dakota paused, scratching his head awkwardly as he thought over what he just said. "That sounded a bit weird, didn’t it…?" He began to laugh the awkwardness away as he held up his camera, taking a small halfstep back to get Ry in the shot better as he looked through the viewfinder and focused in on him. "Whenever you’re ready just say cheese!"

Ry held up his index finger and his thumb and inch apart to indicate how awkward that sounded. “But it…coulda been worse. I mean, I’ve been told that I look… Never mind.” He shook his head, blocking out the memories of him getting pummeled in the face by a dodgeball. Jerks like to mock weaker people. How was it that he got in trouble for kicking the ball back at them and hitting them in the gr—Focus, Ry.

Taking a step back, he adjusted himself so he wouldn’t look awkward in the camera angle. Holding up one hand, he made it into a peace sign, despite it being typical of his race. “Um…” He looked at the camera and slowly put on a smile. “…Cheese?”

Dakota adjusted the angle a bit and made sure that he was focoused on Ry. By the time he said ‘cheese’ Dakota snapped the picture, smiling to himself as he lowered his camera and looked to Ry. “That should come out great! Though I need to find a place where I can develop them.” He noted,

Ry relaxed himself after the picture and slowly nodded in agreement. “Well, this place is abandoned, so there’s bound to be a place to be able to develop photos…I’m sure this place still has electricity in some stores.” He looked up at the elevator, wondering how long they’d been in there. This had been one of the longest elevator rides he’d ever taken.

…Though, it had given him a chance to meet someone that wasn’t an asshole, annoying, rude, conceited, boring, or just plain quiet. He’d have to draw this place later…even though it’ll contain blood-soaked floors and grungy walls. Nodding his head while he thought, he looked at Dakota and quickly snapped out of it.

“Sorry…just sometimes get lost in thought about what I’m planning to draw next; it happens more than I think it does; that’s really embarrassing… Once we get out of this elevator, we could explore the city and try to find a place for you to develop them.”

(Missing response. Go to Dakota’s blog)

Ry hit the elevator door opening button, letting the doors slide open in front of them. This place…needed a tune up if this was how the elevator liked to work. “I’m sure there’s some old photo shop.” He mumbled, walking out of the elevator to just be in a less condensed area.

“Well, I…” He’d really have to get used to telling people that didn’t mind his thoughts. “I plan to draw the elevator…but have a much darker sense around it because…it’d be so boring to just think of life being happy all the time. At least…that’s how I feel; the grass should be on fire and the air should be more acrid, then maybe others would understand the sufferings of my and mind.”

"I don’t really see how life being happy would be boring… " Dakota said, puttering slowly behind Ry. "Though I suppose that’s just the way you look at things." He began to crack a small smile. He really did think that even though Ry had a darker perspective on life, that he was very interesting.

Ry slowly made his way out of the front of the hotel, maneuvering his head to look back at Dakota. “Perhaps it’s because I’m an outsider looking in… I just don’t find happy life very appealing anymore; bullies and jerks made it hard to view the ‘happier’ life as better than my version.”

Ry turned around and faced Dakota, pointing toward the grass. “To me, the grass will always look amazing on fire, but…that’s just me. My view on life is extremely…skewed? So…just…I just wanted to warn you before you found out how much of a freak I am.”

He turned back around and pointed down the road. “Also, I think we should try that way first for the photo shop.”

"I doubt I’ll ever think you’re a freak, Ry." Dakota said, shuffling to catch up with the other male and match pace with him. That same warm smile was still on his face. "You’ve had some bad experiences that give you a bit of a different outlook on life, yeah? It’s just a part of what makes you, you. And I don’t see anything wrong with that."

Ry’s tiny eyebrows rose and his eyes widened in shock at what Dakota said to him. What? What?! He was…defending his choice of life, not saying it was creepy or…serial killer-esque? “…You…” He started, stopping his pace now, completely invested in the newly established shock. “You really mean that….?” He asked, voice barely above a whisper now. Could Dakota….really….mean something so nice about him?

Dakota paused, looking back at Ry. There was a lot of things he was unsure of in this moment. Why Ry seemed so shocked, and why he had the overwhelming urge to go over and hug him. Which he did, with a smile on his face. “Of course…!” Dakota replied, his thin arms wrapping around Ry. It was probably just a habit he didn’t realize he picked up from his brothers- hugging it out. “Why would I not mean it?”

Ry’s body instinctively tensed up from the contact from Dakota, making him lose his train of thought. The hugging wasn’t the worse part, but just Ry’s shock from the fact that Dakota didn’t tell him he was joking. “People aren’t exactly…understanding like you.” He replied, patting Dakota on the back awkwardly from the contact. He couldn’t help feeling rude…but touching just wasn’t something he liked at all.

Taking a few moments to collect himself, he eventually relaxed in the hug and tried to think of something to add. “You…sure are a strange guy, you know? Most wouldn’t want to be near the guy that people mumbled about being the ‘next person to cause a mass school shooting.’”

Dakota pulled back, frowning when he looked to Ry. He was so negative and everything he said made him worry about how he’d been treated up until this point. “Its absolutely awful that anyone even say that to you! I just… I don’t know what kind of meanies you’ve been talking to up until this point but I’ll never thibkk that kind of Hong about you, Ry. You’re artistic annd creative and interesting.”

Ry gave Dakota a small smile, feeling a small tug at his chest at his words. “Well, I can see how they’d assume that with how…quiet, weird, and weirdly dressed I am… I just fit the profile of the kid who’d snap…” He tried to play it off as cool, but he couldn’t deny that the words did make him feel insignificant, even though he’d learned to stop caring. “You’re pretty cool, Dakota… I’m actually glad I came here now. At my school, I have no friends, so I just kind of am used to people not liking me off the bat…but you kind of broke that thought process. Hm…”

He thought about it, though, and wanted to add on that it could just be because he wanted to get Ry to get close to him so he could stab him in the back…but Ry couldn’t see Dakota doing that to him… Maybe that girl, Ashley, would…but he doubted that Dakota would betray him willingly. “Hey, can we make a promise?”

"Absolutely!" Dakota blurted quickly before taking a small moment to pause and think it over. "Actually, wait…. That depends on what you want the promise to be. I can’t just promise anything, you know!" He giggled, his smile returning. "So what is it?"

Dakota was so eager to let on to the promise that Ry nearly took a step back in surprise. Most people just straight up say no. “Well, the promise isn’t really that important…” He looked down at the ground and rubbed his arm. “I just wanted to promise that we won’t let this…thing turn us into backstabbing monsters… If I tell you anything, then you won’t tell anyone and vice versa, you know? I just don’t want to make a friend, but then the thought of the million push us to be…you know?”

(missing responose)

“Then it’s settled!” Ry stated, holding out his hand with his pinky extended. “No matter what happens, we’ll never let anything change our view of each other, and we’ll keep anything we say to each other, between each other.” He paused, looking toward the cameras in disdain. “The cameras will ruin it, but we won’t.”

He looked back at Dakota, knowing the pinky promise probably looked ridiculous here, but his culture thrived on it. “My father has a saying when we promise on the pinky: ‘yubikiri genman, uso tsuitara hari senbon nomasu, yubi katta.’ It means ‘Pinky promise, if I lie, I will drink 1000 needles, and cut my pinky.”

Dakota wrapped his pinky with Ry’s, smiling brightly once again. He did this gesture before with his brothers. “What language is that?” He asked curiously as he began to rock back and forth on his feet, he just couldn’t get off his happiness high from making a new friend.

Ry smiled softly as they made the promise, then returned his face back to his neutral expression as his smiles don’t and never have really lasted long. “Oh? It’s Japanese; I’m able to speak fluently in Japanese and Korean, so…it might be…part of the conversations we have. Sorry, it might be annoying after a while to hear…” He put his hands behind his back and tilted his head. “Do you know how to speak any languages?”

When Dakota saw the smile on Ry’s face he suddenly became absolutely thrilled. His smile seemed like it was something special, and the glee from seeing Ry smile was apparent on his face. "Yes. I’m fluent in Spanish. My family comes from Cuba and both my parents speak it more then they do English. Though me and my brothers stick to English." Dakota noted with his cute little grin. "And that is very okay! Languages are fascinating. I may just ask you to translate a lot though. Huh… Japanese, Korean and English. That’s impressive! Which is your first language?"

Ry wondered about something in his past when he realized how cool Dakota was: did he really need to resent the idea of having a sibling? Dakota was really nice, supportive, and had everything he lacked… He wasn’t used to this aspect of people, but he wondered if he should keep his view on the younger brother hating he’d kept for so long. If he had a younger brother like Dakota, then he would have been so much more…happy in his life. Maybe he would have never picked up the razor. He just..seemed so happy to see him smile, which most people found creepy.

"Cuba? Were you born in Cuba with Castro?" He paused, not exactly sure on his Cuban history. "Impressive? Ahah, I never thought about it that way." It almost made him smile again. "Well, my first language… I think my mom taught me Korean when I was first born and my dad taught English and Japanese, but I’m pretty sure my dad wanted to try French… He told me that he tried to teach me, but he said something about a duck…and I just didn’t pay attention anymore. So…he stuck to his guns. Unfortunately, I have some weird accent that I’ve been articulating to avoid since I’ve been 10."

Stopping himself, he shook his head. “Sorry, that must have been a boring story you didn’t need to hear.”

Dakota shook his head. “Oh I wasn’t born there. My mother and father left after my oldest brother was born. I was born in Florida.” He smiled sweetly. Dakota didn’t think about the troubles his parents went through to get to america. Just that they had a semi alright life.

Dakota giggled when Ry began about how he’d been learning languages and the whole duck thing. “I thought you had an intresting accent. Heh… I think everything about you is intresting.”

“Living in Communist Cuba…” Ry mused to himself about Dakota’s parents. It must have been so hard on them to stay in such a place AND to board a dangerous boat with an infant to go across the ocean… Ry wondered if his parents would have done the same for him had his family come from North Korea instead of South, though he was born in Canada, so it wouldn’t matter… “I could never survive in a place like that, so I think your parents are pretty met—courageous to have done such a feat.”

Florida… He’d only lived in one state in the United States, so he really didn’t know what that area was like. “I’ve only lived in Hawaii, so I don’t know what Florida is like. Is it nice there?” The sentiment behind Dakota’s last statement made Ry want to smile again. Why was he so nice to a freak? Didn’t he know that Ry could ruin his reputation somehow? “It shows still??” He asked, putting his hand on his mouth.

(Missing response)

“Well, if we get the film developed, then maybe I can write on the back of the photo to help you remember the small things.” Ry suggested, looking up, noticing they had walked about halfway down the road. Adjusting his beanie, he gestured to the left with his head. “I think that’s the photo store.” Then he let Dakota’s last comment sink in, realizing he’d never really had to live in poverty, even though he’d dealt with family problems. “Seven kids? Your family has seven kids in it…? I could never have that many siblings! And to stay steady on that kind budget? Huh… Your family is really something… I always hated the idea of a sibling.”

As Dakota and Ry puttered along, he began to start taking pictures of some of the buildings around him, talking with Ry almost made him forget that’s what he came out of his room to do today. Every few minutes he’d stop to take another picture. “Yup. I’m the youngest….. and smallest.” He said, smiling slightly as he walked along side Ry, “I like having so many brothers. It’s less lonely. Though why don’t you like the idea of having siblings…?”

Ry took notice of Dakota taking pictures every few moments and guided him toward the photo shop when he wasn’t taking a picture. “I’m the smallest of my house, but I’m a only child… Well, my parents aren’t exactly the most…gracious parents with children. They’re always busy, never are home, and could barely manage to make an impact on my life. To keep me from crying all the time, my dad got my piano when I was seven.” An embarrassing fact to state, but he didn’t care. “The thought of having a sibling just meant I’d have to hear more noise…and I’m not the best with people.” He rubbed his arm slowly, looking away.

Dakota looked at Ry, slowly raising a camera and snapping a quick picture of him as he looked away, only to continue after with. “Well I suppose that makes sense. Not everyone is big on having siblings….” Dakota shrugged, he could never really imagine what it would be like to be an only child. Even if his parents were always working he’d have his older brothers constantly babying him. Sometimes he forgot that’s not what normal families were like. There were strained relationships, only children, families who hated each other or just kept to themselfs. He shook his head, getting his mind away from a dreary topic. “So you play piano then?”

Ry turned to look back at him, considering the idea of being in a family of seven in his case. From how he turned out, his family must care a lot about him, never making him feel like a burden they never wanted. “Well, I started when I was seven, playing the usual stuff of scales and Mozart…and maybe a small bit of Bach, but I’ve been playing for ten..or eleven—I can’t remember exactly—years now. For all I know it could have been when I was five…hehe. The most challenging song I’ve ever played would have to be…Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.4 Finale flute part converted to piano… Ah… I remember struggling on the second measure and wanting to give up. But that was when I was…ten? No, maybe eleven.” He sighed softly, looking at Dakota now. “I can’t believe how long ago that feels… Now I’m doing those kinds of songs like they’re the simplest pieces to be laid at my fingertips. Do you play any instruments?”

Dakota shook his head. “No. I tried to learn the flute once but I was never really any good at it. Music is hard and I can never remember any of the notes.” He gave a lighthearted laugh, smiling as he looked to Ry. “Though playing piano must be fun…! If we ever stumble across a piano out here I’d really like to hear you play sometime! ….. If you don’t mind!”

"Music is never easy because we interpret it in different ways, and some artists love to put little twists and turns that even make them writhe when they try to play it… Though today, I hear, you can just put notes in and make something up that no human can actually play; it’s disappointing to say the least." The ramblings again… ‘Stop rambling…’ Ry chastised himself, looking at Dakota with soft eyes. "The flute, huh? I never really played the flute before…" The thought of Dakota never being able to play an instrument made him feel a tug of guilt in his chest for saying he knew how to play something like Tchaikovsky… “Sure, if…we find one, then, I’ll play you any song that I can remember, find, or made up out of boredom… Okay, the last one might be a little hard to play for an audience.”

(Missing response)

Ry slowly lifted a photo off a shelf, staring at it, barely recognizing that Dakota had kept talking. He looked over at the boy and nodded while he talked about his brother in a band. “He stays up late to practice? I guess I can’t really say much since I do that, but a piano is kinda soft…while drums might make person go insane.” He walked over to the dark room and glanced inside, curiosity peeking for him since he’d never been in one of these. “Has he ever booked any cool shows?” He asked, looking out of the room and back at Dakota while he was searching his needed chemicals. “Well, if you can remember; if you can’t, then that’s okay.”

Throwing the random picture over his shoulder, he heard it land with a thud on the desk behind him, somehow unhurt. “I wonder if I could ever pick up the habit of taking great pictures… I could be one of those photographers who takes those dead body pictures.”

"It drives her nuts." Dakota giggled, stopping what he was doing to dig through his backpack. He pulled out a blue album labled ‘family’ and set it down on the table, flipping through the pages until he landed on one photo of his brother with his band, and his twin brother next to him. "The one holding his fist in the air triumphantly is Zeke. This was their first concert! It was at….. uhm…. Actually I can’t remember the place…." He mumbled, going back to what he was doing. With all the supplies he collected, he began to set up.

"Also I think that would be called a crime scene photographer….. Huh. I could see you doing that."

Ry moved over to where Dakota had set the photo album down and stared at the pictures, admiring the family. “Twins…? I’ve always wondered what it’d be like to have a twin… Although, I probably would go insane if that were the case.” He paused, staring at the background and the instruments, wanting to take in everything about a family setting he’d never been accustomed to. “Your family must…get along really well, huh?” He touched the picture, then looked at the next one, trying to remember each family member’s face.

“Crime Photographer… Ha, if I lose this contest and my dreams are crushed, then I might just end up taking pictures of dead bodies.” He leaned on the counter and crossed his arms. “It would be an interesting job to see how some people can precisely commit a murder. Oh, I hope I can find one that gets away with it.”

Dakota wondered into the next room, beginning to set up the chemicals for his dark room. He had turned his bedroom into a dark room, so he knew this procedure by heart. He was only setting up, so he didn’t need to worry about light getting in as he spoke with Ry. “Well, if you can’t get along with your family, then what’s the point…? Family is forever!” While it’s true that Dakota got along with all his brothers, he was blissfully unaware of the fighting behind the scenes. Perks of being the family baby.

After a moment he turned back to look at Ry curiously, “What are you hoping to do if you win the money…?”

“Heh…” Ry said almost devoid of any emotion in that. If you can’t get along with your family, then what’s the point? What’s the point? He wondered that every day when he woke up alone in his house and had to feed himself. He knew his mom and dad were always busy, but even on their days off, it seemed like they’d rather be AWAY from him than near him. The thought of a family being so close that they actually protected each other made him slightly jealous. Why couldn’t’ his family be like that? On days off, why couldn’t he just go to the park or maybe a diner for poutine? He sighed and slowly shut the photo album, looking toward the dark room.

“Well, I’m planning to open a music theater…” He almost smiled fully at the thought. “I would make it a large blue theater, so you can’t miss it. And the auditorium would be behind two double mahogany doors, my paintings are in the front for once…along with other artist’s paintings that I’ve been buying over the years. At six PM, I’d play the piano and other artists would perform up on stage…” He stopped, sighing softly. “I’d also make it that the top floor is my home with a large bay window of the Toronto skyline. It’s a really dumb dream to have, but I just…really want a place where I can feel like art is accepted of all demographics.”

There were a few clanks and the sound of shuffling around, Dakota emerged from the dark room with a bright smile on his face. “That is such an amazing dream to have, Ry!” He said brightly, beaming at Ry. “That definitely sounds like something that could become a well known spot! Like the space-needle in seattle! Or the great wall of china! ….Or the MOON!” Dakota looked as though he would sprout dog ears and a tail at any moment and that tail would just start wagging non-stop. He really loved hearing about peoples dreams and hopes for the future. Ry’s in particular, was a very cool one to him. “Even if you don’t win Total Drama, you’re so talented I’m sure your dream will come true!”

“You really think it could become as well-known as the moon?” Ry asked, eyes wide with shock that someone wasn’t criticizing his dream or just brushing it off as if it were just some sort of—well, he could understand—competition to one-up him. He closed his eyes momentarily, a blush going across his face from the fact that his dream was being…pushed upward. “I’ve been dreaming of this place since I was seven… I dreamed of my own place to just…have the echoing noises of music flowing up to my room. It’s so weird to say out loud, but I like the hauntingly beautiful noises of music from a distance… When I was seven, I walked past a marching band field and the music just flowed softly to my ears… I want that kind of feeling when I try to sleep at night.”

He opened his eyes and looked at Dakota. “Well, thank you for having such high faith in me… I think I’ll let you be a guest of honor and have all around access to anything in the building, even if it’s not very good.” He stopped and rubbed his arm, thinking on another thought. “Hey, what about you? Do you have a dream?”

"I do believe it can be as well known as the moon!" Dakota’s smile didn’t falter for a second. He smiled brightly and confidently at Ry, "And I believe that you have what it takes to make this dream come true no matter what! I just met you today, Ry, but you seem like the kind of person who can make things happen. I believe in you." He gave a final nod of conformation. He really, truly did believe that Ry’s dream would come true. It was only a matter of time.

When the subject changed to his own dream, Dakota’s expression softened. From cheery to thoughtful in no time flat. “Well….” He muttered, “I’m not completely sure, to be honest. I just know I want to help people. Maybe a doctor or a therapist…. or a life coach! I still have some time to decide, but I know whatever I do, I want to help people!”

Ry wanted to argue that he had failed so many times with his artwork; submitting them to contests only to be beaten by someone who drew abstract art… The only place he’d found support was online, but they could like anything, and they didn’t know he was just some loser. All they knew about him was that he was “DarknessAndStormsCollide,” and that he drew in his spare time. “Those words have never been said to me before, Dakota…”

Listening closely to Dakota’s dreams, he put a hand on his shoulder. “You’ll get there, and you’ll be helping some of the most influential people; they’ll look back at the person who saved them from themselves.” If Dakota ever became a person who could help, he might actually consider going to him…but to lay his problems on someone like that? He felt selfish for thinking it and shoved it out of his mind. “Behind every great man or woman is a story of survival, and you’ll be the reason they survived. I like your dream a lot. I hope you win if I don’t.”

Dakota squirmed a bit in front of Ry, a soft smile on his face. “Well everyone needs some encouragement, Ry. Especially you! I think if you got some encouragement and positivity I just…. I don’t know! I think it would do you good.”

He reached his hand up, smiling warmly as he placed his hand over Ry’s on his shoulder. “To be honest… I hope you win more then I do. That probably sounds really stupid, I know. But… I really want something good for you! Your dreams to come true. Make no mistake, I’m still going to dry my darndest to win, but I’m silently rooting for you.”

Ry gave Dakota a small smile, then returned it to its normal neutrality. “Encouragement…” It was something that nobody had bothered to give to him before. Other people here seemed really nice about it, but he’d never been actively told that his dreams matter at all. “Ah…thank you, Dakota.” He mumbled now, looking toward the floor, feeling like he’d received something he shouldn’t.

“I’ve always felt like my dream was something…that was meant for someone who earned it, but your dream sounds like it will cost a lot of money, too…since college likes to press a giant bill for those who want to help others.” He sighed softly, not understanding why it was required to go to college, but you couldn’t afford it unless you worked for seventeen hours a week for tuition. “I am rooting for you to win, Dakota…so if I get kicked off, I want you to not let anyone take advantage of you, okay?”

Dakota tilted his head to the side, “Get taken advantage of….?” He questioned before shaking his head. “Oh no, I doubt that would happen. Everyone I met so far seems nice!” He said. Dakota was a very naive boy. He was never sure when someone was fake or mean, and he usually had his brothers to look after him. It would be so easy for him to get taken advantage of here.

Ry let his hand slide off of Dakota’s shoulder and he shook his head. “Dakota, have you ever watched this show? People here are the fakest people you will ever meet. Did you ever meet Ashley? She’s not to be trusted, Dakota. Please, please, please…just don’t trust her, okay?” He was nearly begging Dakota to trust him. “I know that you have a lot of reasonto trust her, but it’s vital that you don’t let her use you! If you get used, then she can easily pin blame on you.” He looked toward the windows and back at him. “You’ll have to believe me when I say that about her! If I get kicked off, then don’t trust anyone too much, okay? I worry because your view on people is…a lot more upbeat than mine.”

(Missing response)

Ry bit his lip at the question and nodded slowly, thinking on the subject. “Let’s just say she kind of…took something of mine when I was trying to get it desperately.” He sat down at the nearest seat. “We broke out into a fight when she dumped hot coffee onto my snack and dumped it into the trash when I asked for it back…” He sighed softly, putting his head into his hands. He looked up again. “She even admitted that she would use Gaile and could convince the team to get her kicked off if she needed to… She’s bad news, Dakota. I want you to trust me on this, okay? Promise to not let her take advantage of you? Or at least trust me when I warn you of when she is using you.”

After a very long, very quiet pause before nodding. He was visibly upset but said nothing of it. He really didn’t want to believe that Ashley would be a bad person. Though right now, he had every reason in the world to trust Ry. “Alright…” He muttered, “I trust you, Ry….. I’ll be careful….”

Ry’s shoulders sagged momentarily from the fluctuating guilt that rose up in his chest. “Look, I…I just don’t want her to vote you off or hurt you.” He admitted to him. “You’re probably the nicest person I’ve met here…or anywhere, so I’d probably lose it if someone did hurt you.” He wasn’t sure how long their friendship would last or if it would just lead to Dakota finding someone who hated Ry, then slipping him that ‘I’m sorry, but…’ look as he and his scoffing pal left him feeling betrayed and hurt…but he wanted to hope that wouldn’t happen. “Um…why don’t we talk about something else, though? What is it like in your family? Mine doesn’t talk to me, so I’ve only seen people and their families being happy together from afar… What’s it like?”

When Ry brought up his family, it’s like he completely flipped a switch and Dakota happily moved onto that subject. “Oh my family is very nice! My parents aren’t home a whole lot but my brothers take care of me well! They like to call me Koda. Everyone close to me does! ….Well… I’m only really close with my brothers actually… So I guess only my brothers call me that…” He giggled slightly, beginning to rock back and forth on his feet happily as he spoke. “Lets see…. Uhm… Oh! My brother Lium recently got a boyfriend, you know! It’s a secret from Mama and Papa because he’s scared of what they’ll think. He’s only ever told me actually… I was just looking for someone to tell because ah… Well it’s not weird to you, right? A boy with a boy… I don’t think it is and I don’t think he should be afraid of telling our parents…. but what do you think?”

Ry calmly listened to Dakota’s description of his family, feeling a large pang of jealousy sweep through his mind. Why couldn’t his family be like that? Well, his family was a lot more accepting of sexualities…so he couldn’t complain there. He paused on the thought, shoving an unpleasant memory from his head from when he lived in America. Thinking on what Dakota said next, he simply shook his head. “Well, I’m gay, so a boy and a boy don’t bother me at all.” He only hated the word ‘love’ when it came to relationships, but he wouldn’t bring that up to Dakota when he just got him in a good mood. “I’ve known my sexuality since I was about 11? so your brother sounds completely normal and justified in his actions and life choices. I just hope he finds out better than I did.” He half-joked, but not really joking.

"I learned something today!" Dakota noted cheerily, moving to take this reel of film out of his camera, he always liked getting his photos developed right away as to not forget anything.

Ry sat back and thought about how cheerful Dakota was. Was he straight himself? Well, it didn’t matter… He just blindly accepted his brother’s sexuality as if it were just something that you should do, and he never ratted him out….even though they’re on international television, but he wouldn’t mention that. “Do you know your sexuality?” He asked, looking up from his thoughts. “I mean, don’t be ashamed or anything if you’re straight or don’t know; there’s nothing wrong with either option.”

Ry sat back and thought about how cheerful Dakota was. Was he straight himself? Well, it didn’t matter… He just blindly accepted his brother’s sexuality as if it were just something that you should do, and he never ratted him out….even though they’re on international television, but he wouldn’t mention that. “Do you know your sexuality?” He asked, looking up from his thoughts. “I mean, don’t be ashamed or anything if you’re straight or don’t know; there’s nothing wrong with either option.”

Dakota paused for a moment, this was something he never really thought about before. He always liked girls, so he was straight, right? He never put much thought into other sexuality besides gay and straight. Gay was still pretty foreign to him. Though now he couldn’t stop thinking about it. He’d think boys looked cute in the same way girls did…. Though would he mind holding their hands? Or giving them a kiss on the cheek? Honestly, all this thinking made his head hurt. “I…. uhm… don’t know…”

Ry shrugged and looked up at his new companion. “That’s okay; nobody really thinks about it and then it just throws itself in your face. Mine was in sixth grade, but yours could even be when you’re thirty or tomorrow, who knows?” Ry thought about something for a few moments, then stood up. “Hey, how do you develop photos? I’ve never tried because I’m bad at taking pictures, but I could learn…so if you need me to, then I can run off and do it for you.”

Dakota smiled, this was something he could explain anytime. It was so burned into his head. How to take photos, how to develop them, it’s the only thing he knew. “Well the photos have to go through three different chemical baths. The developer which is one part concentrate and three parts water, the stop bath, which stops it from developing more then it needs to. Stop bath is one part vinegar and three parts water. And finally, their is fixer which is 0.8 parts fixer powder and three parts water. All the chemicals have certain amounts of time they have to sit for, and there is lots of other stuff…ah! I could ramble on and on about developing them!”

Ry kept his mind open to try to process the information that Dakota was throwing out at him like a professional. “With your knowledge, I’m surprised you aren’t employed somewhere to develop film for people professionally. The only thing I know how to measure is a ramen cup up to the film line…or food that has specific instruments. I can’t improvise for cooking, nor baking, nor without instructions telling how to improvise.” He snorted at his own idiocy.

“I wonder if I’ll be developing photos for you one day…or if you’ll be wishing that’d you done it yourself!” He joked, not really joking but putting it in a joking manner. “Ah, if we find a dead body here, can we take a picture of it? Or maybe we can take a picture of the things Selene kills…”

Dakota giggled boyishly, “Well if I applied for a job maybe I’d get one. I just turned 15 though… I can’t actually get a job until I’m 16.” He noted before giving a small nod. “If we find one, okay! Though we’ll have to make a few copies. The last time I took a picture of a dead body it was taken away…. ah…. I think…. I can’t really remember….”

"You did say they did, so I’ll believe you, until we find a photo that says otherwise," Ry told him, trying to sound supportive. "We can take pictures from all angles, and I’ll hide a few if the police come to claim them. I really don’t want the cops ruining all the fun, and if war ‘heroes’ can keep photos of people they killed, then we can keep a few pictures of a dead body that nobody’s claimed in…who knows how long?"

Ry wanted to ask about America and its job policies, but he wondered if that’d be rude. “You have to wait until sixteen? I got a job working during the summer at fourteen, but I guess if you’re American, it’s different, huh? I just know my providence will let a fourteen year old take a job if it doesn’t interfere with school. I got a job at a skateboard shop for a while, and I actually earned enough money for a pretty killer board. I brought it with me if you want to try your hand at skateboarding.” He offered, though he doubted Dakota would really care much more the skateboard; he looked more like a roller blade or scooter kind of person, but looks can be deceiving, which he learned with this kid and liked about him.

"Well I think it has something to do with child labor laws….. I don’t really know." Dakota shrugged, smiling to Ry. "Well… I’ve tried to skateboard once! …….Though I think I fell….. I don’t really know. My brothers just won’t let me try again because it’s dangerous."

"A part of life, Dakota, is to get hurt and get back up," Ry told him, absentmindedly playing with the nearest item to him, which was a broken piece of glass. "My family, and many others, has a saying: ‘fall down eight times, get up nine. It’s kind of inspirational," If I really believed it “and it goes to show you how you can never give up. I’ll teach you how to skateboard and you can teach me how to develop film, deal?”

(Missing Response)

Ry nodded and set down the piece of glass, slowly getting up from the chair. This kid was actually kind of cool to hang out with. Even though he’d never say it out loud, he’d love to have had a brother like Dakota…if he were forced to have a bratty sibling. If they were anything like Dakota, then he wouldn’t go insane. He just hoped that he didn’t have a breakdown on this show or something.

‘If you do, then grab all the photos and burn them… That way, if you do something crazy, he won’t remember you.’ He thought to himself, nodding with the thought. It was something he’d prefer since Dakota would be the only one that would be affected by his rash actions.

Shaking from his thoughts, he nodded at Dakota again, unsure about his reason for it. “Sure thing,” looking over at a clock that was surprising still ticking, he gestured at it. “Well, we’d better hurry on the teaching before we’re late for the…’enjoyable’ hike up Mount McLame to do whatever that ass wants us to… Oh, I’m going to enjoy drawing him a nice pit of la—No, he deserves much worse…”

Matt:
(Information to be filled in)

Lavender:
Lavender had just finished changing into the white outfit that Chris gave to the contestants. “This outfit is hideous” Lavender whispered to herself with a scowl on her face. “How am I suppose to look hot in this?!” Lavender walked over to the elevator and pressed the button to open the door. When the door opened, she saw a thin boy with a camera too big for him. “It’s that camera guy.” Lavender said to herself. “Camera= paparazzi. Hmm” She strutted in the elevator and tapped the boy on the shoulder. “Hello there!” She exclaimed.

When his shoulder was tapped, Dakota looked up from his camera that he’d been fidgeting with. His eyes met with Lavender’s and the first thought that occurred to him was "Why is a girl as pretty as her talking to me? Are we on the same team?"

A small smile snuck its way onto his face. “Hello!” He said in a friendly tone.

"Hi!" Lavender exclaimed. "Your name is Dakota, right? I’m Lavender!" She quickly eyed at the camera before pushing a button on the elevator. "I’m guessing you’re into photography. That’s really cool!" Lavender smiled. "Ugh why isn’t he taking a picture of me?" She asked herself. "This city sure is an interesting landscape, huh?"

Dakota watched Lavender as she pushed the button. “Well… yeah. I suppose I am into photography. I mostly just take pictures for the memories.” He said, shifting a bit as he glanced her over. “Speaking of… you wouldn’t mind me taking your picture right now, would you….? If that isn’t weird.”

"Finally!" She thought to herself. "It’s not weird at all!" Lavender answered. "I would love to!" She started doing random poses, but stopped. "Is there any particular pose you want me to be in?" she asked.

Dakota shook his head, smiling as he looked through the view finder and began to focus in on Lavender. He couldn’t help but think about how pretty she was. He wouldn’t find it hard to believe that she’d get her picture taken all the time. “Just pose however feels best for you. I’m not picky.” He said, waiting for her to get comfortable before taking the shot.

After a few seconds of thinking, Lavender decided on a simple pose. She crossed her right leg in front of her left. She then placed her left hand on her hip, and her right hand in back of her head. “Thank you for being my paparazzi, Dakota.” she snickered to herself. She showed off her best smile, her pearly white teeth shining through. “Cheese!” she exclaimed.

Dakota smiled, pressing down on the button and snapping a picture of Lavender. Nobody he’d met had ever really been as enthusiastic about getting their picture taken as her, it was nice. Dakota pulled the camera away from his face, grinning at the girl in front of him. “That should come out great! Would you like me to give you a copy once I get it developed?”

"That would be amazing!" Lavender exclaimed. "Thanks, Dakota!" She ran up to him and hugged him. "He’ll be easy to manipulate." Lavender thought to herself. "I can taste that million."

Dakota’s eyes blinked into a wide stare, a slight blush spreading across his face. It wasn’t very often he was hugged by anyone except for his family. At least, not that he could remember. So he was a little caught off guard. “No problem!” He said, a small smile making it’s way onto his face. “I could take more pictures of you anytime if you want! I love sharing memories with people!”

"I can’t believe how easy this is!" Lavender exclaimed to herself. "I got this little guy wrapped around my finger, and a paparazzi!" Lavender pulled away from Dakota and smiled. “Aww, you are too sweet, Dakota!” Lavender gushed. “Have you taken pictures of anything else yet?”