Rinse, Repeat

[Crash†]

(Alexis Machina continued from Wash Away My Pain)

The rain seemed to be letting up slightly, but not enough to make Lex any more comfortable. She had already been drenched upon entering the caves, and although she'd dried off during the day her and Kyrie spent down there, she now found herself soaked to the bone yet again. Her long, auburn hair was matted and tangled into many knots, and her makeup had long since washed away. She'd managed to clean off her face with a cloth she'd stored in her bag, so she didn't look like a disaster; but Lex was almost a completely different person without makeup on. The high ridges of her cheekbones accented her piercing blue eyes, which would've been a nice contrast to the rest of her body if her hair didn't render her linto the likeness of Medusa.

After trekking through the jungle for a while she finally broke out into a clearing and spotted the shower facility a few yards away. The island hadn't proved too difficult to navigate for Lex thus far, for which she was thankful. She wasted no time in making her way across the open expanse and entering the shower facility, but it proved no less traumatizing than the caves had been.

The first thing she noticed upon entering was the battered and bruised corpse of Anthony Burbank, almost adjacent to the door. The blood pooling on the floor underneath him was still wet and hadn't quite adopted a smell, which could only mean that he must've died fairly recently. This put Lex on her guard as she made her way around the corner and into the shower facility, but she was by no means prepared for the next sight she saw.

The first corpse her eyes encounted was mutilated beyond belief, to the point where she no longer recognized which of her fellow students it belonged to. The fact that she'd slept through the majority of the first few days on the island (and therefore hadn't heard the announcements) didn't aid her in identifying the body, but it wasn't hard to recognize that his genitalia had been forcefully removed, among other atrocities.

Lex closed her eyes quickly, but not before she'd caught sight of Viktor Kurchatov lying dead in the middle of the floor. She forced her eyes open again to examine the corpse. "Is he...naked?" She wondered silently, deciding not to find out and turning away from the grotesque sight. Lex did have what some would consider a perverted sense of taste, but seeing this went beyond even her scope of art. "And if I'm taking this hard, how are Vera and Kyrie going to deal with it?"

As she turned around she noticed Anthony Burbank's assigned daypack on the ground beside him, and decided to make her way over towards it. Right now she needed some sort of distraction, and this was the perfect opportunity. It seemed to have already been rummaged through, but on the bottom of the bag a silver gleam caught her eye. She reached down and fished through some rather useless supplies before finally removing a pair of handcuffs from the bag. Deciding that it would be better to have them than to have them used against her, Lex replaced the handcuffs into her own daypack and walked outside, waiting for Kyrie and Vera to emerge from the expansive jungle.

[Super Llama†]

Noah made his way through the rain, soaked through and wishing that he had the foresight to bring along some rain gear just in case.

"What a crazy turn of events this is..." He said for what must've been the fifth time now. "Well, look at the bright side, Noah. Five days and you're still alive. You haven't gotten jumped by any of the crazies around here." He stopped for a moment, a bit surprised at his referring to his classmates as crazies. "But it's the truth, though, isn't it?" He had paid attention to the announcements, who had been killed and who killed them. Just the mention of the more gruesome killings making him cringe. "How can these people just turn on each other like this?" He said out loud. Though he tried to remain optimistic, he could feel the anxiety lurking in the back of his mind. The paranoia. The urge to just throw logic and reason to the wind and join in on the insanity. It was them or him, right? There's no reason to hold back and play the good guy, it's doubtful there were many left still surviving like tha-

"Oh, no you don't." He said to those nagging thoughts. "You go back to your little hidey-hole. I can handle this just fine on my own."

As he walked, he carried two of his four assigned kunai in each hand, just in case one of the aforementioned crazies did decide to jump him. He took a moment to look down at them. "What am I, Naruto?" He stopped again, wondering how he knew enough about Naruto to make a reference like that, then just shrugged and decided not to think too much on it, continuing on his way.

Eventually, he came to a building. "Oh, thank God." He couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. "Finally, I can get out of this ra-"

He stopped as he caught a glimpse of something...someone...moving around inside. He carefully took a few steps forward, trying to get a better look at who it was. Failing that, he finally decided to call out to the figure.

"Hey!" He shouted. "You in there! If you're not playing, then relax! I'm not playing either! I just need some shelter from all this damn rain!"

He stayed back, waiting to see if the figure would run out and start shooting at him or something. He was confident enough that he was far enough away that if the figure wasn't friendly he could just turn around and run the other way, full speed.

[Neuphim†]

(Vera Lang continued from Wash Away My Pain)

Damn, the pain hurts even more than before. Maybe following along, wasn't the smartest of my ideas... but I'm none too sure of that.

These self doubts rushed through Vera's head as she tracked through the jungle to get to the showers, having lost both Lex, who she saw at the beginning, albeit in the distance, and Kyrie who she left behind in the cave ( Why didn't we stick together? That seems not to be very much in Team spirit!). The aforementioned pain circulated in Vera's leg.

This doubts washed aside when she set her eyes upon the building, at least, a building. With her glasses off and the rain, though decreasing in severity, is still present, the building had no other definable characteristics. On top of that, it was quite a ways off to clarify. Nonetheless, she knew that this was, the one.

This is it... I made it.

That was just as washable as she saw another blur in front of her, talking to himself. That can't be good. She followed him behind, and could've sworn that he was talking about that one show her younger sibling watches.

Maybe this guy is just a wimp! I can take him down if he proves to be hostile...though he may have a weap-

"Hey! You in there! If you're not playing, then relax! I'm not playing either! I just need some shelter from all this damn rain!"

Vera stopped dead in her tracks. Originally, she was afraid that Noah noticed her. It seemed like he was talking to whoever was in the building. must be Lex.

"Hey, man!" she responded, slowly etching her way towards Noah and starting to notice something in his hands, but puts it off. "That's Lex in there and I'm with her along with this other girl Kyrie. We aren't playing either, in fact you should join us!"

[Mitsuko2†]

((From: Wash Away My Pain))

Kyrie hated it when she got left behind. A small pet peeve if you will. However, it was slightly her own fault since she decided it would be a good idea to try and see what freaked out Lexie. Whatever it was, she doubted it was good. Lexie wasn't someone to be scared off too easily. In the time they've been friends, Kyrie had never seen her so... shaken. It was unnerving.

Kyrie pushed through the underbrush with her megaphone (some weapon that was), and looked around, trying to find some sort of path leading to the facility. It seemed to be in vain, until she saw what looked like Vera pushing through an area not too far ahead. She followed, and saw the facility not too far ahead. She saw someone standing in the doorway, and assumed it to either be Lexie or Vera.

She grinned and pushed through, when she heard another voice, this one male. He seemed to be looking att where the person in the doorway was. He said he wasn't playing. Vera soon turned up behind him, and suggested he join them. Kyrie didn't mind to be honest. She approached Lexie, (who else could it be now?), and smiled.

"Hey hunny, sorry for laggin' behind." She smiled, but soon that smiled turned into a grimace. The announcements blared to life, and that never meant anything good. She listened, hoping upon hope that it was as void of kills as yesterday.

It wasn't.

Lenny Priestly had killed Anna Vann. She couldn't understand. He was such a calm boy. How... But that wasn't all. Julia Lauper had been murdered as well, and lenny had also killed none other than Keiji Tanaka. Kyrie's head was swimming. These people were giving in to this madness. It was insane. And Wade Wilson.... He killed FIVE people. But that wasn't the worst news.

Madison Conner. One of Kyrie's dearest friends... She'd killed two people. One of them Paul smith. Kyrie felt the salty tears run down her cheeks and mix with the rain. It was impossible... Madison couldn't kill... could she? Guy Rapide was dead... Mary McKay... So many.... It was disgusting.

Then came the worst. The explosions. The screams. The dead.... Danya killed four people to prove a point. Cross him, and people lose lives. It was horrible. He was crushing all of their spirits... They were all soon going to fall to this game. But Kyrie wouldn't go down withought a fight.

"Lex... How...? How are people doing this?" She cried. "I don't understamnd!"

[Super Llama†]

Noah quickly turned to look in Vera's direction as she shouted out to him, relaxing as he confirmed that she wasn't hostile. "Oh, thank God. It's good to find people who haven't lost their min-"

He was cut off by the sudden screech as the announcements began. "Ugh, I really don't want to listen to this..." He forced himself to, anyway, so he could be caught up on who he should be wary of. He still had a hard time believing that a lot of these people could be capable of taking a life like this. If they could kill someone, what about me? What about them? He glanced over at Vera, then over at Lex, feeling paranoia starting to take over. Suddenly everyone around him started to feel like a potential enemy.

Dammit, cut that out. He beat back the paranoia as best he could, but then Danya started exploding collars. Though he had yet to actually see anyone die, hearing those screams of agony had his imagination going. Fear and paranoia came back in full force, and for a moment he could almost swear he heard his own collar beeping. Then, once the announcements finished, fear and paranoia gave way to anger and indignation. Those girls were just trying to survive. They hadn't killed anyone as far as he could tell. And they died without even a chance to defend themselves. They died because some madman decided to kill them off in order to prove a point. He could just imagine that fat bastard, sitting in his chair, grinning maniacally while he pushed the buttons that would take their lives from them.

Gritting his teeth, his feets clenched to the point where his fingernails almost cut into his palms, Noah finally couldn't hold it back anymore.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU!? DANYA YOU SICK SON OF A BITCH!!"

Noah's voice echoed throughout the whole area as he looked upwards, cursing Danya out as if one were to curse God. He stood there for a moment, muscles tensed, before he slowly relaxed himself, taking long deep breathes. Finally, he looked over at the others, the anger seemingly gone from his face. "Uh...s-sorry about that." He said. "I just couldn't help myself."

[Cactus]

((And so we begin...))

Things hadn't been going so well for John Sheppard in the last five or six days, and this 'Survival of the Fittest' was just icing on the cake. He'd woken up with a start after seeing the horrific video, and hadn't taken very long to catch his bearings. Doing a quick inventory check of what he still had with him, he found that the only notable addition to his pack was an autographed picture of - of all people, too, David Duchovney. That just figured. Fighting for your life, and John'd managed to get a picture of Fox Mulder, Eff Bee Eye. Grumbling and putting it away, he'd stolen off into the jungle, hoping to maybe find some of his friends and figure out just how they were going to deal with everything. The whole situation intimidated John, but he had enough resolve to know that dangerous and traumatic situations were better faced with your friends - with those that you trusted. If the whole trip was in this terrible game, then he figured that finding an ally probably wouldn't be that difficult of a proposition.

So off he'd gone, in search of friends, and in search of a way out of this terrible situation.

The first day, he'd ALMOST gone and called out to a whole boatload of people. He'd seen Keith Jackson, Izzy Cheung, and Trey Leyton near the lighthouse, and had almost popped his head in when shooting had started, and John had bolted for the nearest piece of cover. They'd left quickly through the back, and John had instantly decided against joining them. Later, he'd wandered onto a huge mess of people going into a cottage, and had almost walked in when everyone started leaving en masse. He didn't know what the deal was, but it didn't look like a good scene, so he wandered off the other way.

It'd gone like this for SIX days. John had seen and heard more horror than he'd ever wanted to see or hear in his entire life. He'd been witness to the explosion that had killed Gabriel Theobaldt, had listened in on some of SADD's bizarre ramblings about a song, and had narrowly missed becoming Wade Wilson's sixth victim at the lagoon. All throughout, the announcements had highlighted the mass amounts of death that he'd been witness to and had heard about. So many friends had died, and so many friends had gone insane, turning to murder to try and absolve themselves from this twisted idea of a game.

Perhaps the thing that disturbed John the most - out of the whole thing, was the idea of the terrorists. The terrorists that were obviously behind this entire thing - he'd heard about them, of course. It was hard not to in a country that ran most of the world's media. The terrorists had done this many times before, the United States and other countries JUST unable to stop it from happening. He'd heard it on the news, he'd read it in the papers, and now he was living it for himself. The problem was...

"Why doesn't Danya have an accent?"

Sure, voice manipulation techniques were all well and good, but even his stammering assistant hadn't any real accent - of course, now that he thought about it, if he had to pick a place for that bumbling idiot to have been from, he wouldn't have gone to any foreign country, but placed him probably from New England, really. It didn't make any sense to him. If these people were terrorists, then why was it that they sounded just like him?

It was frustrating, really. Maybe the US WAS behind the whole thing? It wouldn't make a single bit of sense, in fact, about as much sense as blaming Canada or Japan for it, but the whole thing was just really off. John lamented this fact as he brushed a few vines out of the way of his face. The jungle itself was thick, and everywhere, and seemed to break only for small clearings. It wasn't the greatest place for a fight to the death, but enough people were getting killed in the clearings that he wondered if maybe he'd been on to something by wandering around. Almost tripping over some vines that layered the ground, John dismissed his earlier train of thought.

Even the United States, with all of their awful politicians and corruption wouldn't stoop this low. Sure, Japan's done something like it, but the US has been so against it that it just doesn't add up. Can't completely say they're okay though, they're really doing a piss-poor job of saving our asses!

As the clearing parted, John wrenched himself free of his thoughts. He'd been alone for six days, and he was going a little stir-crazy. He was usually a guy who liked to talk to his friends, to other people, and didn't like to be alone for a long period of time. Sure, privacy was nice sometimes, but six days? It was a little much. This is whyfinally, after all kinds of wandering around, John finally made the decision to investigate one of the buildings. He'd heard all of the announcements of death that Danya had read out day after day, and had tried to avoid seeing bodies. Of course, thanks to what he'd been thinking of (or trying not to think of) as the 'Wade Wilson debocle', that goal had been permanently destroyed. Wade'd been a pretty decent guy in school, and while John knew that he'd had medical problems in the past, he was always the kind of guy who would say hey and didn't seem like the violent type. So as the washroom building stood in front of him, John finally figured - the hell with it, and decided he would check it out.

While he was lonely, and hoping not to find his own death, John was also soaking wet, and had been outside throughout the entire rain storm. His body was shaking a bit, and his teeth chattered. While he'd been completely alone the entire ordeal, he looked probably about as bad as some of the others who'd been fighting for their lives already. Stepping up to the side of the building, he was about to turn the corner when he heard a loud exclaimation of anger and hatred towards Danya.

Boy, that WAS loud...

Gripping the side of the building, John silently hoped that nobody inside was a shotgun-wielding maniac, and slowly came around the corner, revealing three people standing in front of the building. Looking them over, he saw that he recognized all three, but names didn't immediately fly to faces. Likely, that was because none of them were in his immediate social circle, but he liked to know who other people were, just in case. Obviously the three weren't expecting company, but John had definitely had enough with being alone. Putting up his hands in a non-threatening gesture, he looked over the three and managed a weak smile.

"Uhh, hey folks. Didn't mean to drop in, but...I've been wandering around for six days and haven't seen a soul that wasn't getting shot at. I don't suppose you'd want to let me come in for a bit? I'm not playing, if that's a concern. Unless the dashingly-good-looks of David Duchovney are enough to startle you into an early grave..."

Gulping a little bit, he tried to close his mouth so his teeth wouldn't chatter so much. The figuretive ball was in their court now, and John silently hoped that none of them would decide to take a big knife, pop the ball, and throw it right back in John's face.

[Crash†]

The shower facility had become much more crowded than Lex had anticipated, and fast. The first person that broke out of the brush was a boy. She saw him, and after trying to put a name to his face for a good ten seconds eventually gave up. She really didn't recognize him at all. He was asking for shelter, and truth be told, Lex really didn't want to oblige. She'd already felt as if she was forced into taking Vera in, and now another one? It was way too much responsibility for her. Kyrie was really the only person on the island who was worth travelling with in her opinion...except for maybe Keiji, but he'd made himself scarce days before and she hadn't seen hide or hair of him since.

Soon afterwards Vera broke free of the foliage, and although Lex was hoping that she'd just come inside quietly and ignore the other figure, she ended up inviting him to join them before Lex had the chance to say otherwise. If she was annoyed before, she was now seriously agitated. Who did Vera think she was? She'd barely even spoken a sentence to them and met them only hours before, and now she was inviting people to parade around the island with them as if their predicament was like an act in the fucking cirque du soleil. Lex was sick of it, and sick of her, and planned on making her thoughts known.

"Uh, hell no. What the fuck are you thin-..."

Before she had the chance to protest the PA system broke the tension in the air and replaced it with a sense of foreboding. The morning announcement had marked the start of day six, and the announcements were as grim as ever. Danya had evidently returned, and he delivered the news of the day with a sinister sense of satisfaction. By the time he'd finished rattling off his list, twenty-five more people had been confirmed dead. Two from day four that the incompetent prune on the announcements had forgotten, nineteen from yesterday, and four that he'd killed just for fun. Of the girls, Lex recognized only one; Trinity Sparks. She was, after all, the first person Lex had encountered when she woke up on the island. Her bone-chilling screams made Lex's skin crawl, but that wasn't the worst part of the announcement for her. Not by a long shot.

Keiji. He was the only boy Lex had ever met that was as unique and commanded as much of a presence as she did. For the brief hour or so they'd spent together, Lex felt human again. She felt comfortable...she felt feminine. He presented limitless potential for her, and now he was dead. She'd heard Danya mention a suicide and Lenny Priestly, but she was so overcome by the news that the details hadn't really registered with her. She never would find him again, and whatever opportunity or spark they had between them was now long gone.

"I don't get it either," Lex spat out through gritted teeth in response to Kyrie's question. She didn't have it in her to be compassionate at the moment. In truth, she rarely did. Now more than ever she was irritated, and combining the new boy's blatant outburst with the arrival of yet another guy, Lex moved from being irritated to being pissed off in a rather short timespan.

"Why, oh WHY didn't I get a gun? All I wanted was a fucking shower..."

Lex turned on her heel, and without saying a word to address either of the boys, entered the shower facility. She was fuming right now, and it was written all over her face. If anyone decided to mess with her at the moment they were dead, and she didn't need to speak to communicate that effectively.

[Neuphim†]

Vera understood Noah's hatred. She couldn't stand the smug bastard or the fact he is killing off fellow students, one by one. People, that only a short while ago, had only the impressions of joy and bliss. But at the same time, she was frightened by this side of Noah.

What would happen if snaps like that to us? Plus he has knives or something, while I have a bottle of Advil. Wait, maybe that'd work...

She took out her 'weapon' and handed a couple tablets to Noah.

"Here. It makes sense that you're mad...but please...can you control it? It would be cool if you weren't if you control your anger that's all."

She tapped him on the shoulder.

"You can do it, man."

"Uhh, hey folks. Didn't mean to drop in, but...I've been wandering around for six days and haven't seen a soul that wasn't getting shot at. I don't suppose you'd want to let me come in for a bit? I'm not playing, if that's a concern. Unless the dashingly-good-looks of David Duchovney are enough to startle you into an early grave..."

Vera turned over to the new arrival and couldn't help herself but laugh at the above comment, especially at the last comment. Even if it's a tad lame, it's good to see that humor can still exist in such a horrible place.

"Hehehehe, oh no! Mulder! Hehehehehe..." she sighs out, "But yeah, sure. As long as it's okay with Lex and Kyrie..."

She turns over to see that with a sort of vigor, Lex rushed into the facility.

Oh no...

Vera slowly walks over to Kyrie, not tying to cause any alarm.

"Umm," Vera began to whisper to Kyrie, "I screwed up, didn't I? I'm so sorry, Kyrie... I just... I don't know." Vera looked at the facility, with it's door closed from Vera's eyes. "Lex doesn't want me with you guys, does she?"

[Super Llama†]

{{Sorry if I'm jumping the gun posting ahead of Kyrie like this}}

Noah took another deep breath, a bit surprised at how easily his outburst had come. He had gotten really good at holding in his anger over the years, but it seemed that wandering the island for as long as he had, the constant threat of someone coming after him, guns blazing, having to listen to the daily announcements listing the dead and the (often gruesome) ways they died, was causing him to unravel.

Stuff like this can really do some crazy shit to people, huh?

He snapped back to reality as Vera tapped him on the shoulder. He turned to look at her, noticing the tablets of Advil she was handing out to him. "Phew, where were you when I first got here?" He grinned and took the Advil, pulling a water bottle out of his bag. "I woke up with a headache so bad I thought someone had exploded the back of my head when I was out." He popped the tablets into his mouth and took a swig of his water. "Thanks." Though he was still visibly shaken, it seemed he was back to the way he was before.

He quickly looks around in John's direction as he hears his voice. He too can't help but laugh a bit at his comment. "I dunno. David Duchovny doesn't really do it for me. Now if it was Chuck Norris, I'd probably be shitting myself in terror."

He shakes his head a bit and looks back towards the building, noticing Lex storming off inside. "Yeah...I'm not really getting the feeling that I'm welcome here."

[Mitsuko2†]

Kyrie was caught off guard at the scream that came from the boy near Vera. She stared at him in bewilderment, before moving to calm him. That scream could very well have caught the attention of a player, and that would spell the end for all of them. She was about to respond to his outburst, when another male voice from behind her caught her attention.

"Well... I've never been one for looks." She said sarcastically to the boy. He didn't seem that interested in harming any of them, and no one in their right mind would carry that picture around, so she assumed he was a safe bet.

"It's fine. You can stay." She smiled, but was once again caught off guard as Lexie fumed off into the showers. Kyrie had been friends with the girl long enough to know that letting her cool down was the best approach to these moods.

Vera approached her and asked if Lexie wanted her to leave. Kyrie frowned.

"No... she doesn't want you to leave. She's just... tired I suppose... Don't let it get you down." She smiled and winked at the girl. "Don't worry. I wont ever ditch you guys. Lexie's a bit hotheaded, but it grows on you. Don't sweat it. We're all friends here."

[Cactus]

As John listened to the awkward chuckles and watched serious expressions turn into half-smiles, it dawned upon him as to how serious things actually were. He'd seen things that he couldn't bear to dwell on for any more than a few minutes, but the longer that John and his classmates managed to stay alive, the more they would become irrevocably changed because of it. It was becoming abundantly clear by the moment that the more he strove to survive, the worse of a person he was likely to become. It was well-documented that people would stoop to a series of brand-new-lows when faced with a survival situation, and this frightened John to no end.

I don't really know who I can trust anymore. Anyone could have lost a friend, or a loved one out here, and gone crazy! I guess...the only way to get through it with my sense of humour intact is to roll with the punches.

Smirking a bit, and shrugging his shoulders, John extended his hand in front of him. None of the them seemed dangerous, but he couldn't say for certain. Everyone...'seemed' friendly, but then again, any one of them could have been hiding murderous intentions. One had stormed off into the showers, looking furious, which worried John a little. She looked like a tough cookie, a larger girl who probably had all the reasons in the world to want to murder half the football team, not to mention half the male population in the whole school.

It's so insane, those guys are like brothers to me, but all the same, they can be so damn cruel to people who just don't deserve it!

Glancing around at the three in front of him, John figured that while he wasn't on a first-name basis with anyone, maybe...just maybe that should change. After all, he wasn't really that intimidating, and aside from people who wanted to bash his head in because he so happened not to enjoy the vag, nobody seemed to have any issues with him.

Means I'm nobody's first target, but hey...collateral damage, right?

"I'm John Sheppard...it's nice to finally run into some friendly faces. I haven't exactly been having a whole lot of luck in that department, and some of the things I've seen...well, I'd much rather forget about..."

John shook his head a bit, and tried to avoid recalling what he'd witnessed.

"I'm on the football team...I'm the backup kicker. Y'know, if I seem familiar. I'm not...a crazy psychopath. Or a rock star. Just a backup kicker." John smiled, and winked at the girls. "Sorry to disappoint."

At Kyrie's comment, John raised an eyebrow and nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, the picture isn't even...early nineties Duchovney, it's like...NOW...Duchovney, which is...old. And has a saggy face...which really just isn't that attractive. At all. But like I said, it's a useless weapon, so unless you're an anti-semitist or something, I'm not really too much of a threat to you guys..."

Glancing around at the group of them, John wondered if finding a group of people was a good idea. He didn't know them, and they could turn on him whenever, but...it was far more his tendancy to trust than not.

"So, look...ladies...and, uh, dude...I was wondering if you guys wouldn't mind some company? I've been wandering around alone for the last six days, and I'm beginning to get a little tired of my own company, if you catch my drift..."

John raised an eyebrow.

"How about it? You think your friend over there's going to mind too much?"

[Mitsuko2†]

"She won't mind... And if she does, it's too bad. I won't send anyone out to be slaughtered..." Kyrie stated with a grim smile. She felt cold, and slightly disturbed after the announcement. She figured she should go check on Lexie.

"Wait here ya'll... I'm gonna check on her." With that said, she went in, gasping and holding her mouth at the sight of the dead boy. She looked away and called out for Lex.

"Hey... Lexie? Hun? You okay?"

[Neuphim†]

At Noah's comment, Vera turned and faintly smiled , "I know! Same here! When I figured out that I got this 'weapon'," she shakes the Advil bottle," I thought it was a blessing in disguise. Now, just promise not to burst out like that too often, sweetie. I don't have an infinite amount-"

Vera turned her attention immediately back to Kyrie when she responded, though she didn't want to be disrespectful of Noah. Vera released a relieved sigh, though she could've guessed that.

I should really stop that, though. I'm a team player, after all. Not a leader. I should just left these two lead us. I bet they will do a better job anyway!

Vera wanted to say something but John began his introduction. She waited, as it slowly dawned on her who he was. Vera remembered back in the day, nearly a year ago, of a John that she had a crush on. She is fairly certain that his surname was the same, though she wouldn't bet her life on it. It was weird, Vera didn't even know where the crush came from. She was walking in the halls, and when she turned a corner, she bumped into another student. Instead of being an asshole and start mouthing off, he was polite, sweet and checked if she was okay. When she learned from her fellow track members that he is really gay, she was a bit sadden. In her heart, she knew that he was too nice to be otherwise.

When her mental wanderings ceased, Vera noticed that Kyrie went inside. Taking advantage of the situation, Vera clapped her hands together as she began, "Well, considering as you introduced yourself, I think we should have ourselves a... umm, a introductory cir- triangle! But, first!" Vera takes out her glasses out of her dufflebag, blowing on them and wiping it up a bit with her sleeve. She puts them on with much finesse and an explosion sound. Yeah, an explosion sound. Vera is interesting. She stared at the pair with a fake philosophical look.

"...Oh my god. Not only do we have new members, but they're such hotties to boot! I mean, seriously! I'll need to keep myself from making out and sexing up both of you!" Even though she did have a degree of joking around, Vera meant it. Noah was in pretty good shape for a RPGer and she used to have a crush on John. "Anyway, my name is Vera Lang. I was part of the track team and I'm very fast. And- no, fast like that, naughty, naughty- I'm ready help out whoever to get off this island. Which leaves-" Vera snaps her finger, which she points at Noah. "you, hottie. Of course, unless you want me to call you 'hottie' from her on out."

[Super Llama†]

"John Sheppard, huh?" Noah spent a few moments wracking his brain to see if he could come up with anyone he remembered by that name. "Hmm...sorry, doesn't ring a bell. Then again, I never really paid attention to sports all that much."

He couldn't help but crack a grin again as Vera appeared to be hitting on him and John for a moment. Even if it was just joking around, he certainly couldn't say he didn't appreciate the effort. "Well, thank you very much. Under different circumstances I'd love to take you up on that offer if you decided to go through with it." He said, returning the witticism. It was nice to meet up with people who could still keep a sense of humor even in a situation like this. He had decided that being ultra-grim and serious here would just make it easier to crack under the pressure, something he had almost fallen victim to.

"Though I guess you should know my name first." Noah continued. "I'm Noah. Noah Jacobs. Class clown, Leo, and..." he looks down at the kunai in his hand. "...ninja, apparently." He gives a shrug. "Though Hottie does sound like an appealing name, you can just call me Noah for now."

[Crash†]

"Hey...Lexie? Hun? You okay?"

Lex felt far from "okay" at the moment. In fact, at the moment, everything seemed to be going wrong for her. Her original intention had been to play the game, especially granted how terrible the majority of the population of Southridge constantly made her feel, but Kyrie and Keiji had both managed to unintentionally dissuade her from that course of action. Now, however, her and Kyrie's reunion had been ruined owing to the latter's overly benevolent nature, and Keiji was dead. Lex was irritated and frustrated in every possible way, and the contorted expression on her face communicated that quite clearly.

"I came here to take a fucking shower. The last thing I wanted to do was babysit a bunch of pricks who couldn't even bother to say 'hey' to me not even a week ago." The response was absolutely vile, but fairly well-justified. Lex had always been the target of incessant slander at Southridge, both for her appearance (mainly her weight), and her demeanour. Why should she have to take care of a bunch of the same prats who took pleasure in making her life a living hell?

"Look, I don't mind having you around Kyrie, you know that..." She started, trying to ease herself up a bit. "But I'm not about to turn the two of us into walking targets by taking in a bunch of those assholes. If you trust everyone you see here, Kyrie, you're going to get yourself killed." Lex put stinging emphasis on the last part of her sentence, indicating Anthony Burbank's corpse with her eyes. "You heard the announcement, his own cousin killed him. He couldn't even trust his own family, so how do you expect to trust them?"

Satisfied with the point she'd tried to make, Lex began making her way out of the shower facility, but turned one last time to face Kyrie. "Looks like I'm not taking a shower now...I don't want to bathe in testosterone. I'm not staying here with all of them. You can come with me, or you can stay here, I won't mind either way."

With that, Lex turned and headed outside again, disappearing into the foliage and completely ignoring all of the students who'd gathered at the showers. Looks like she still hadn't managed to catch a break.

(Alexis Machina continued elsewhere)