Gambit

[Maykxor]

Right off the bat, Lance knew the whole conversation was starting to take a rather sour nosedive. Needless to say, he lost interest in it entirely and left the puzzling out of "The Great Abscent Host Mystery" to the more... well.. spitfire spirited types. But the alternative conversations were equally as unapealing. Too many nicities. And if not that, some other form of mask to try to hide behind. Either case, Lance found his chicken more apealing than the banter. Which, given the crowd and circumstance, wasn't surprising. Sure there would be some tension from here on out simply due to the situate they were all in, but that didn't mean Lance had to participate, no he wasn't playing that game. For the moment, he was more content spending the rest of dinner keeping to himself. Hey, at least he tried to be sociable, if they wanted to make a debate out of it, by all means, they could go for it. Heck for all they knew, one of the 'contestants' at the table could have been the host in disguise! Wouldn't that be something. Lance chuckled to himself as his imagination humored the idea however unlikely.

Seeing as how Lance couldn't find anything to gain by remaning at the dinner table, he ate till his stomach's content and left the dining hall so as to prevent any further analysing of his own character, couldn't let others get the upper hand after all. As much as he hated to admit it, Lance figured that it didn't really matter at all how they talked, what mattered was if they could walk the walk. Which could only be tested by their first test in the morning. Lance exhaled a rather exhausted breath the moment he left the dining hall. It just felt a little too stuffy in there and he couldn't quite breath properly. Normally he didn't mind being a room filled with new faces to meet, but one thing he couldn't get over was that sense of 'everybody's holding back' that kept tugging at Lance's heart. At least outside in the fresh air, he had some peace and quiet. The murmurs of the others still reverbrated behind him but Lance shrugged it off and sat on the steps leading up to the structure taking in the fresh cool air. Tonight would be the death of his simple life and be the birth of his noteworthy adventure with others of his peers thinking the very same thing.

[coolcatkim22]

Ann ate her spaghetti quietly. She mostly ignore the rest of the contestants for the rest of the meal. All the while she had this bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. She didn't want to admit it, not even to herself, but she was feeling very unsettled by the game show environment. She hadn't seen sight of one of the producers for the show since she got there. Not even a camera (unless they were hidden). She expected... Well, she didn't know what she expected but not this. This seemed way too, like it was something set up by a ghost almost. It seemed as though ether this was a private game show or a secret organization's game show. As though it was a set up someone did for their own amusement or a test of some sort.
She pulled on her ponytail lightly and brushed off those thoughts. That guy's plan was working (Temero). She knew he was trying to psych people out and it was working on her. She sighed and shrugged mentally. Not much she could do ether way. She'd just have to form some plans in her mind about what she'd do in the event there was something going on (how unlikely it was forever). She spent the rest of her meal thinking of strategies about what she could do to leave this place if she had to.
She finished her meal and grabbed a piece of garlic break to munch on before retreating.
She was about to go back to her room, finish one more chapter of her novel and go to bed when she thought maybe she shouldn't do that quite yet. She should probably talk to some of the other competitors. This might be her only chance to do so and if any of the challenges required teamwork she'd want to have someone on her side. She really didn't feel like it though. She wanted to go read and sleep, but her mind kept tugging on her that she should at least try to talk to someone. In the end, she made a mental agreement to herself that if no one wanted to talk she'd go back to her room with no fuss.
She wandered around, deciding that she didn't want to talk to anybody in the dinner hall (too loud and too many people). She looked around the entire building for others but it seemed everybody else was ether in their room or in the dinner hall. Her last stop was to look outside for somebody where she found Lance. She remembered him being the first one to talk in the dinner hall. He didn't seem like a bad guy, it wouldn't hurt to talk to him for a few minutes.
"Hey." She called standing awkwardly in the door entrance. She'd leave if he didn't want to be bothered, if that was the case she could just go to bed without any further prompting from her mind.

[adriane]

It seemed Cat was doing a lot more debating than making conversation like she had meant to. Once more the conversation was lost into separate murmurs. Fine. If that was how this game would be played, fine. If no one else besides knife-boy wanted to step up to the plate and throw more input in, that was fine. If they would rather sit back and watch the others, fine. That would be their problem once she was at the finish line and they hadn't moved from the start. The only real competitor, it seemed so far, was the boy with the knife. Maybe Lancelot, maybe the girl who was like Skyla. Doubtful, but possible. Still, it didn't worry Cat. This was not a winning competition. It didn't matter who came in first, from what she could tell. You just didn't want to come in last. It was a lot like the zombie apocalypse sayings, she thought vaguely. The ones about tripping someone you're running with so you can get away. You don't have to be fast- just faster than the slowest person. And she was already pretty fast, so this shouldn't be a problem... She realize, glancing around the room, that she might have more of a chance than she had originally thought. Maybe she would last the first few days. She surely wouldn't win it- no doubt one of these guys was hiding some special talent of theirs that would claim victory -but she might just have a chance at putting up a fight to place.

She caught Lancelot's chuckle to himself, wondered what was so funny and very very briefly if he was insane, and then moved onto her meal. She caught more of he conversation to her left, and recognized the soft giggling and silky tone of voice to be flirting. Cat suppressed a chuckle of her own. Another Skyla and another boy. Well, weren't they all the same? She finished off her meal without much other comment, just a few notes on the others eating and drinking habits. She debating hanging back to check out the room some more- but didn't want any chance of being left there with the boy. After a few others she got up and left, pleased that for once she didn't have to serve or clean up the food. She made a beeline for her room, digging around in her bag for her phone. Pulling it out she checked it- and felt her face fall. No service. She should've expected that. Strange island, strange people, of course there would be no cell service. Frustrated now and with a growing sense of unease, that had started with the boy gripping the knife, she grabbed her pad and pencil and set the two together.

After five minutes of staring at the blank page, she groaned. She had felt it too, the wisps of inspiration, back in the dining hall. They were so close, but nothing would come out. She threw a few lines down on the paper but they were foreign to her, stolen lines from past works that didn't belong in this new sketch. Suddenly unable to concentrate on it, she stood and headed out of the room. Maybe the sea air could push those wisps back out towards her, maybe the moonlight would illuminate what she wanted to draw. On her way out she pulled the door closed and moved to lock it before realizing she didn't have a key. There had been none by the letter, and there was no keyhole in the door. Great, she thought sarcastically. Now there are no locks. The flighty sense in her stomach had grown. Heading back into her room she grabbed her phone and money- the only real valuables she had brought with her -and pocketed them so someone else wouldn't. She headed out to the lobby, moving towards the front doors when she found someone standing in the doorway and another on the steps. The wisps flew back towards her and whipped her across the face until she moved backwards out of sight and settled into a chair in the back of the room. She could see the entrance and the people there well enough, but if they saw her it wouldn't be obvious of her intentions. Without further delay, she set the pencil to the paper and let the strokes flow.

[Maykxor]

Just as he had guessed, the fresh air was exactly what he needed. The minute he took residence on the steps he felt, almost at ease. The nerves of being on a game show forgotten. The awkward intensity of the glares passed around the room previous thankfully waved farewell. While Lance wasn't quite a hippie green lover, nothing could beat the undisturbed presence of a natural environment untouched by foiling human hands. It was sights like this island that Lance never got to see very often in the city. Heck, he didn't think he remembered ever seeing a single tree that didn't have a pretty little fence around it. The voice behind him broke his light concentration and he slid over toward one side of the steps either to allow the girl to pass or to join him. He didn't really care which.
"Hey." He replied in the same tone. "Too much for you too huh? I don't blame you." he shrugged watching a third exit the dining hall. This girl however didn't seem all that pleased to be here let alone chat with others. From his place on the steps, he could see the girl enter the living quarters only to re-emerge just outside. It seemed like she couldn't decide whether to be social or to leave the lot alone but instead chose an uneasy in between. Much like himself.
He turned back to the first girl who seemed at least interested in some form of conversation.
"I don't think I caught your name. Wait. let me guess; Chelsea? Emily? no?... Sarah?" He named off a few just for fun but chuckled finding the game a little pointless. "Nervous about the games?"

[coolcatkim22]

"I'll have to read that book another time." She thought to herself as she stepped down the steps towards Lance. She didn't hate talking to other people, she was just uncomfortable talking to people she didn't know very well. That made making news friends difficult. She just would rather read a book then bother getting into this uncomfortable zone, like that girl behind her. She heard her come in and saw her sitting down out of the corner of her eye. She supposed she would rather draw then get to know new people. She shooed off that idea quickly though. She shouldn't judge people before she knows them. Speaking of which...

"It's Ann." She said while sitting down a step above him and far to the other side.

At least he seems friendly. She thought. She'd interacted with people like him before. A couple were her friends before she graduated high school and she never heard from them again. Probably would be the same with this guy. After the show was over she'd never hear from him again. That was okay though. She didn't expect to make friends here, maybe temporary friends at best.

"You're... Lance, right?" She said recalling earlier that night. "I'm not nervous, exactly. I'm more of... Interested, on what's going to happen. I'm not sure what the people running this show have planned for us, and that gets me... I don't know, excited I guess.
What about you? Are you nervous?