How things unfolded after Neola spoke surprised her. The boy continued to do exactly what she told him not to do. But the little girl was not only entirely ignoring Neola, but conversing with the boy like nothing had happened. The entire reason why Neola chose to insert herself here was because she heard the adorable little girl scream. Neola didn't understand why she didn't get a thank you for standing up to the boy. When the other girl got up, she didn't seemed to be alarmed by the man's presence. Neola could only sigh. Perhaps she was being weird again. Maybe Byakuya was not the best choice for this situation. It wasn't too late to change into someone else, but Neola didn't like changing her persona so frequently. Instead, she decided to think about what Byakuya might do in this situation. Interrogation of everyone around him was most likely, but Neola didn't feel like doing that right now. Maybe Byakuya would simply get fed up and walk in the opposite direction. With any luck, they would forget about her and then she could introduce herself as someone else. Only, her plan was thwarted by the arrival of another boy. Or was that a man?

“Hmmm...” The scruffy boy had already managed to close the distance between him and Neola “Well, If Byakuya was a desirable woman instead of some guy who inherited his daddy's fortune, I suppose he'd look something like you.” He smirked. “But I'm going to wager that you're actually Neola Akiyama, the ultimate celebrity impersonator.”

Neola fret her brow. ”You're rather observant for a commoner. You shouldn't speak so casually with me however.”

“I'm not sure if you do requests.” His smile was growing by the second. “But I'd be a lot happier if you were Sayaka. I'm not really in the mood for femogami right now.”

”It is extreamly rude, even for a neanderthal such as yourself, to tell a woman how she should look or act.”

“Yea yea... Please?”

”Hmph.” At the very least, it was an excuse to transform into someone more appealing to the young girl. Neola twirled in front of him, and when she stopped she was a different person. ”Like this?”



“Oh um.” He placed a hand on the back of his head. “That's actually pretty impressive. ”

”Even if your 'assets' are a bit bigger.”

“Eh?” He raised an eyebrow.

”That's what you were thinking right? I'm a mind reader, you know?”

He raised his other eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

Neola giggled ”I'm just kidding, I just have very good intuition.” Yes, Sayaka's character was one that bounced between playful teasing and vulnerable. Neola felt she had “attacked” the boy a bit too hard, and now it was time to let him get some ground back. ”But really, I do tend to bind my chest when I'm pretending to be smaller people. But there's only so much I can do with this quick change kit. I hope I still met your expectations.”

“Yea, I think girls come in all kinds of great shapes. Though yours is definitely one of my favorites.” He gave Neola one more look before turning to the the smaller girl. “Kara O'Hara right? The ultimate desert chef!” He patted her head. Neola was a bit envious of this new boy, but did her best to hide it. “I hope we can make something delicious later. So long as it's not a souffle, those things are disgusting! But maybe if you made it, I'd like it.” He turned to face the second girl, the one that just woke up. “Lilly Hart, the ultimate hacker right?” the scruffy boy extended his hand. “No need to ask for a hand, heh. A lot of people find speaking to me difficult.” Then he turned to look at the first boy. “Okay, who the hell are you?” Weird, the scruffy boy seemed to know everyone's name and talent except for that guys. Why was that?

Alex Cardona
As you're snapping your fingers to wake up the unconscious girl with pink hair, the small girl asks if you're all in the same boat. As you're about to reply, the girl with pink hair gets up and quickly produces a mechanical proxy to ask you where you all are. That strikes you as odd, but you can imagine why she's using one. For a second time, you address two people at once. "We've all just woken up, and I'm not sure where we are." As you stand up, you notice a particularly hairy man appear, who starts a back and forth with the prickly girl, revealing her as Neola Akiyama, celebrity impersonator. He continues, giving you an introduction of... everyone else. He even swoops awkwardly, offering to help Lilly up. He then demands to know who you are.

You're immediately suspicious, but your suspicion lessens when you realize that everyone here is from Hope's Peak Academy, and that the identity of most of its students are publicly available. You suppose it makes sense that you're the only one who isn't recognized. You're a foreigner, after all. Even still, as the Ultimate Swagger, you can't let that fly.

For a brief moment, the sun stops being a star. Instead, it shape-shifts into a laser pointer, blasting a blindingly powerful beam on your exact location, spotlighting you and only you, leaving the rest of the planet in a woefully dark ice age. Lesser men would spontaneously burst into flames, but you stand with a stalwart grace. With the light focused on you so heavily, you shine with the force of ten thousand suns. When you smile, the whiteness of your teeth ignites the surrounding trees which burn so intensely that they are made into charcoal. "Most people know me as Seth Ryder," you say, your voice flowing into every nearby orifice like a sweet ambrosia, enveloping your surroundings and causing the entire field to bloom with an array of colorful flowers. "but you can call me Alex."

With your introduction done, the sun reverts into a star, the world is illuminated once more, and everything goes back to normal.

"So who are you? You've introduced me to everyone but yourself."

Kara stared at the girl who seemed to grab for quite the cute bunny rabbit. What were bunnies called in japanese...? Usageee? Well, enough put, the girl was using some kind of device to speak so the small girl could only assume she had problems talking. The girl seemed to get straight to the point of where they were, but Kara didn't have a clue. This didn't look like a place you would normally find in Japan, more like a summer camp from USA.

The man that Kara had found so scary before let her know what Kara had been thinking. Now that the young girl got an even better look, she realized he was probably around her age, even with his large size. So they were all the same age... And starting out highschool? Could they also be going to Hope's Peak?

The sound of another man's voice made her head swivel around quickly, using her hands to stand up properly and wipe off the front of her dress. Kara really hoped the dress hadn't been stained as it had been an amazing birthday present from her grandmother. Just when she started thinking that the new person seemed weirdly confident, the girl that had insulted both her and the big man suddenly changed completely!

Kara couldn't help but gawk at her as her demeanor and appearance completely changed. All this emotion was going to make her start feeling bad if she didn't keep it in check. She stared with reckless abandon and hopefully didn't have her jaw too low. The new hairy looking guy suddenly was upon the small girl. He knew her name, but there was no way she could no his. But his confidence certainly helped his charm and Kara didn't stop him from patting her head. It actually made her much more homesick then when she had originally gotten her barings.

But maybe someone who didn't like souffles couldn't be trusted.

He seemed to be very hostile to the man from earlier. Now that Kara knew he had just been trying to wake them up, she felt a little sorry for him. She looked back over at the man, hoping a fight wouldn't insue. Was it just her, or was his smile dazzling?

Remembering the manners her parents had taught her, Kara made a deep bow to the giant man, "Hello Mr. Alex! Thank you for helping me earlier, sorry about my, um, accusation..."

After her introduction, she moved over to where Lilly was, wanting to get out of the two men's ways. She always wanted to sneak a few peeks at the cute rabbit. She then looked over at the scruffy man, who was he to know everyone's names?

@Ryik@BrokenPromise@Vocab

---

---

Despite the semi-argument between the three, Ando quickly tried to shrug off the irritation. He had always been used to crazy fans, idiotic friends, and fights. All things that frequently got under his skin. Usually, he could brush it off and move on with his day. Or most of the time night. This time, however, he just couldn't seem to shrug it off. Maybe it was because of the dangerous situation he was in or the fact that he had no idea where he was or who either of those two people was. Either way, he could see two people exiting the building that he was heading for.

One was a pale kid not much shorter than he was. Maybe 3-4 inches? This guy also had a ponytail which made Ando think of Ponytail except that this guy was a little taller. The other guy looked very calm. Almost to calm. Maybe he was coming off of something. Either way just about the same time Ando noticed the pair they noticed him. Ponytail 2.0 waved to Ando like the situation they were in was just a casual meet up. Ando waltzed up to the pair putting on a fake smile and greeted the two, "Hello. It appears that those two and I weren't the only ones in this situation. Either of you wouldn't happen to know what is going on here?"

Taka Tsuin

Taka cursed under his breath as he trudged through the dry grass, the muttering drowning out the crunching beneath his feet. The encounter with the weird girl and purple-haired punk had left him with a fouler mood than usual. Him also having taken possibly the most inconvenient, backwards way to get anywhere on these campgrounds also didn't help matters. As the boy closed in on the theater, the destination Taka had been fixed on from the start, he could see a girl jumping off the stage. She looked to completely ignore another boy on the stage who was crouched down next to her a few moments prior, making her way off in the direction of Taka's right.

"...! Oi, hang on a sec!"

Taka jogged over to the black-haired girl, seeing as she was making her escape before he even had a chance to ask her anything. It didn't take too long to catch up to this person, as she hadn't gone very far from the stage yet. Once he was only a few steps away, Taka felt a shiver run down his spine as he looked at the girl.

(Damnit! She looks like she's just as bad as that other girl!)

Taka shook his head, trying to get those things off his mind as he addressed the person in front of him.

"Hoy, can I ask a question? Did wake up here just now like everyone else and, uh, do you also have a Super High-School Level talent?"

(...! Fucking hell Taka, couldn't you be a bit subtler?!)

Taka kicked himself mentally, his brow furrowing in response. Combined with the leftover feelings from earlier this made his face contort into a rather unpleasant scowl, unbeknownst to Taka, aimed squarely at the girl he was addressing.

“Riiiiiiiiiiiiight.” Davis said, clearly unamused with Alex's introduction. “Seth Ryder though, that name sounds familiar.” He placed a hand on his chin. “I know most of the ultimates, I commit them to memory. There's no doubt about it, you're one of them...” He sighed. “Unless your talent is just not that interesting?” After staring at Alex for a bit, Davis folded his arms and smiled. He had given up on Lilly taking his hand. “Anyway, my name is definitely one you'll want to tattoo to your memory, if you haven't already. I mean, I'm a little embarrassed I have to introduce myself.” He pointed at himself with his thumb. “Davis Gallo, ultimate conquest. That's right! My talent is winning. The most important talent one could possess.” he sneered.



Kara, the cute girl, was looking at Neola in a most curious way. That wide eyed, open mouth look was often used to display shock. But people experience shock like that for many different reasons. Men look at both ugly and pretty woman in shock. People can be shocked by a gentle kiss, or a painful punch. Something can be shockingly bad, or shockingly good. Without knowing Kara's character better, it was impossible for Neola to really understand why she was making that face. Maybe she... oh, she's looked away. Well, this wasn't the time to get discouraged though. If Davis got away with patting Kara's head, maybe she could do it too. No, maybe if she played her cards right, it would be Kara patting Neola's head! Wouldn't that be special? That seemed more realistic anyway. She couldn't see Sayaka flat out patting Kara's head just because she wanted to. The dynamics for head pats were actually quite complex, but Neola felt it would be best to not spend too much time going over them in her head.

And there it was! A moment! Kara just apologized to Alex. And she even mentioned the accusation. This was Neola's chance to join the conversation. ”Yea!” Neola walked up beside Kara, but kept her eyes on Alex. Well, she tried anyway. Kara was too cute to not occasionally glance at. ”I should apologize as well. I hope you won't hold anything against us.” she giggled.

Huh? Alice looked to her left, where she saw Taka trying for her attention. His efforts were met with success, and Alice was fished in. Partially because this is (probably?) the first person she’s seen since waking up. But also due to his question. Alice was surprised to be immediately recognized as an ultimate. Didn’t the Hopes Peak Academy staff try to keep the whole assassin thing under the rug? Or… Maybe this in and of itself was sponsored by Hope’s Peak. A surprise camping trip to meet new students? How fun! Either way, it would be important to skirt around her talent. Being an assassin was not a great segway to conversation. But what would she say? Obviously she’d have to lie about her talent, as this person has a reason to ask if she has a talents. Would she have to lie about her name too? Maybe not. But she definitely had to play it safe. Alice Parker was a big no. On the off chance that they knew…

On top of that, did Taka mention everyone else? That lent to the surprise camping trip theory. Alice set her mind. She couldn’t spoil this camping trip by scaring everyone with something much more arbitrary than her peers tend to make it out to be.

”I, um, woke up here. Yes. I woke up here, and I if other people have woken up here with no idea what’s going on, then they are in my situation!” Alice responded. As she spoke, she placed her right hand on her hip and lifted her chin up. She flashed a condescending grin for a second, but behind it was hints of a benign smile. ”I am Alice Moffett, the Ultimate Knight! And you?” She exclaimed, practically oozing her confidence in her lie. She smiled again and held her hand out to Taka, ignoring his scowl.

(For those not in the know, I'm temporarily writing for Grnmachine, I'm not just taking over his characters for no reason, hehe)

Hisakawa and Suzuki

"Hello. It appears that those two and I weren't the only ones in this situation. Either of you wouldn't happen to know what is going on here?"

Hisakawa figured the man seemed friendly enough. Very to the point, but Hisakawa liked that—staying focused on the task at hand is important, especially in a situation like this, “No, not at all. We just woke up here only a few minutes ago.” He let the door go as Suzuki walked through, placing his hands in his pockets.

Reo, for his part, leaned against the wall right beside the door, “There’s nothing of interest in there, if you’re curious.” He said, pointing to the door he just passed through, “Just a mess hall. Also, you said there are more people here?”

“Oh, it’d be good to know about them! After all, information is of the essence when you don’t know what what’s going on.” Hisakawa recoiled from the obviousness of his own statement. There were so many infinitely smarter things to say in that moment, “Okay, that was obvious, but you know what I mean.” He said, covering his face with his hands and lowering his head.

Reo was beginning to get the impression that Hisakawa was a little scatterbrained, even in his slightly more focused state. Though, that could be from the anxiety this situation is obviously giving him. Regardless, he tries to refocus the conversation a bit, “Anyway, I’m Suzuki Reo, and that’s Hisakawa Hiroki, and any information you may have would be very helpful.” He walked up to the man, reaching out for a handshake, “And who are you?”

Damian

Damian, at some point, managed to pull himself back up from slippery slope he was going on. It seemed there was a lot of information he had forgotten, which was definitely unnerving. Well, he remembered his name and where he was supposed to be, and that would have to be enough, for now. He pulled himself off of the bathroom floor, opening the door and taking a look around. Well, it was… certainly a bathroom. Seriously, how the hell did he get here?

Within a few moments he found the exit, and opened it without hesitation. Well, this isn’t Hope’s Peak. Or if it is, they sure did a hell of a lot of false advertising. Well, he certainly couldn’t see any school building anywhere, so he’d have to say this isn’t it. And something about this fence was weirdly sinister...

This situation was… odd, to say the least. But it wasn’t going to do him any good to sit around and be confused. There were a couple of people around him he could see—he supposed talking to somebody might be helpful. There were three people not too far from him, but he decided against talking to them. It just seems that would get a bit too busy. He also noticed a platinum-haired girl walking in the other direction.

He started walking over to the strange girl (well, it was a bit of a jog, since he had to catch up to her), and called out to her when he got in hearing range, “Hey! Hi there, sorry to bother you, but I just kind of woke up here and I was wondering if you knew what exactly was going on?”

Now that he was closer, he could see her a lot better- specifically, the table leg she was carrying around for no immediately obvious purpose, which suddenly made the idea of talking to her seem very dumb. But it was a bit late to un-talk himself out of the situation, so he simply stayed a good distance from her and decided to keep the conversation as brief as humanly possible.

---

---

Ando listened as the two spoke. The fact that two more people experienced just waking up here definitely solidifies the theory that they were captured by a powerful group. He waited for them to finished speaking to respond with what he knew. Before he spoke, however, he noticed someone else exiting the building next to them. He simply watched as the man turned away and started running after the girl. That's when he realized that only Ponytail had said his name.

The purple-haired guitarist turned back to the two and answered their queries. "About those other two I'd have to say they are anti-social at best. Don't get close to them as I believe they'd bite your head off. Don't know the girl's name but the boy said he was Taka Tsuin." Ando then chuckled at a little joke that popped into his head, "He did say he prefers to be called Ponytail though. The only thing I really figured out from talking to them was that we are connected through our high school. Hope's Peak. So, I assume that is what also connects the two of you to us? As for me, I'm - "

Before he said his name, Ando realized that until he knew what the whole situation was he might as well try and keep his identity a secret in case the targets weren't just random Ultimates. He stuck his hand out to shake their hands as he continued, "Davis Gallo. Ultimate Conquest." On his face was such a heartwarming smile. There's no way someone who could seem that sincere would be lying. Could he?

---

After the mess that was Snow’s previous interaction with human beings, her mood had gone downhill rather fast. She was reminded of the narrow-minded ineptitude of every person in existence once more. Right as Snow was willing to give them a chance, they just had to prove her right again. It was almost embarrassing to be part of the same species; humans were truly obnoxious.

It was no surprise then that her face contorted in a nasty frown when Damian made the mistake of approaching her. His question immediately put him on her wrong side. If he was sorry for bothering her, why bother her in the first place? That manipulative nice guy behavior ticked her off even more than the amount of space he put between the two, as the guy was obviously keeping some distance out of fear or shame. In any case, Snow was not even slightly interested in this human, and so she simply turned away and kept walking.

Taka Tsuin

Taka crossed his arms as Alice introduced herself as the 'Ultimate Knight'. He didn't know much about folklore and history, much less of non-Japanese origin, but it still sounded odd to him. She didn't look much heroic, not the slightest bit. Her awkward way of speaking also meant she probably wasn't used to talking to people, but if this is her standard speech pattern, then it's no wonder. Taka didn't have any reason to distrust the girl, though, so he went along with it anyway. He pocketed one of his hands while he used the other's thumb to point to himself.

"Taka Tsuin. Ultimate Cross-dresser. Nice to meetcha."

He dropped the thumb and looked towards his left, seeing a crowd of people off in the distance that were busy talking to each other... or something to that effect, anyway. A few of them looked a lot more panicked than the chick in front of him, so at least there was slight comfort in the fact Taka wasn't dealing with someone like them.

"Nobody's got a damned clue... Not that Snow chick or that purple-haired asshole. This whole thing's a goddamn mess."

The cross-dresser clicked his tongue and looked back to Alice, his expression having softened to a neutral stare.

"I saw you were gonna go to the gate over there. Would you mind if I tagged along? I'd like to get some idea of whatever the hell's going on, but everyone I've talked to's been more worried about blamin' and fightin' each other than actually finding out the important stuff."

@Warpcircuit

Adjusting to the situation has been a bit of a challenge—waking up in the middle of nowhere isn’t exactly a comfortable situation, and it isn’t one that can be easily handled. Not to mention all of these new people, some of whom had not proven easy to get along with. Having oriented yourself to your surroundings, more or less, there’s likely one, pivotal question on your mind—what is going on here, exactly?

Wherever you are, you hear a ring of some sort. Looking around and trying to find where it came from, you see a nearby monitor light up, and a figure you can’t quite make out comes on screen.



As suddenly as the transmission had started, it ended. Well, at the very least, it seems some questions were about to get answered. If you want those answers, you just head over to the amphitheater, right?

Davis and Neola had turned their attention to the monitor. Ignoring the bear that suddenly appeared on screen wasn't really something one could do without a lot of willpower.

”The T.V. Turned on!” Neola said this one the teady bear got done talking.

“Really?” Davis raised an eyebrow. “We wake up in a strange place with no recollection of how we got here, then some kids show mascot tells us to show up somewhere and...” Davis ran a hand over his face. “The T.V. Turned on?”

”O-oh, well, I like TV!” Neola giggled. ”I think I might have broken character a little bit. ” She would have to be careful about that in the future. But a fear of hers was that none of the monitors would turn on. It was very refreshing to know that they might be able to get a few stations.

“It's fine.” Davis closed his eyes and shook his head. “Anyway, ladies.” Davis's eyes opened with a healthy grin. “I think it's fair to assume that if anyone was going to hurt us, they would have done so already. So it should be safe to see what the bear is talking about.” He was already walking. “You can wait here if you'd like, or you can follow me. Doesn't look like it's too far away.” Davis did not look like he was going to wait, but he did shoot everyone a wink before marching forth.

”Wait, Alex, you're not a girl, are you?” Neola lifted a hand to her mouth. ”We'll have to tell Davis later, he might have gotten confused. You are a bit on the skinny side.” She scooched closer to Kara. ”Anyway, regardless of what happens, I don't think Kara should be left vulnerable. So someone should stay here with Kara if she isn't going to go to the auditorium.”

All of a sudden the girl was in the air, like one moment she was laying unresponsive and the next thing Hibiki knew she was standing. Then again, the sleepiness encompassing Hibiki's brain was making his blinking time slower. By the time he had blinked again she was gone, which should have made the boy's heart race and adrenaline push him into a fight or flight response, yet Hibiki couldn't be bothered.

Now done with his first task, Hibiki slid off the stage area and started for the closest building to get something to clear his throat. But he passed the lonely tree he spotted the perpetrator of the movement he had seen earlier. Hibiki hesitated before taking a seat next to her, leaning his head against the tree's trunk.

He waved his fingers in front of her eyes, gave a few snaps before giving up and shutting his eyes for a second. His throat was really bothering him though. He gave a huff before seeing how many fallen leaves he could collect in his lap.

Suddenly there was a ringing sound from the amphitheater. Getting up reluctantly and wiping off the leaves from his lap, Hibiki finally moved over to the screen, wiping at his glasses. After hearing the message he gave a relieved sigh, not having to go anywhere was definitely a plus, but again, his throat was rather upset at him, must have been from his acid reflux.

Again he sat down at the tree, waiting for everyone to arrive and wondering what was up with the other girl. He carefully plucked a fallen leaf off of her hair before collecting more of them around him.

@Ammokkx

---

The strange girl seemed a lot friendlier than before, but Kara was still a little hesitant to think of her as a good person. Her actions earlier would normally land her on the naughty list, but this new version of herself was really peculiar. And she really did seem innocent when she giggled like that... Kara would have to see what else she would do, and Neola did seem entertaining in her own right.

As soon as the TV blared on, Kara poked out her head from behind Neola, what was a monitor doing out in the middle of a field anyway. The bear that appeared wasn't exactly to her taste like Lilly's bunny and all too suddenly the small girl remembered where she was. Somewhere she didn't know, surrounded by strangers. A chill slipped down her spine and goosebumps crawled down her arms like hairy spiders wanted to take a bite out of her. The girl's legs started to shake a little and she held onto the front of her dress.

Her hand reached out before she could stop it to steady herself, gripping onto Neola's skirt. "I-I'm really worried but... I think I need to see what's going on..." She felt bad about gripping on so hard to the other girl, but it would be bad for her to fall over and ruin her dress. Davis had said that they probably wouldn't hurt them, but was that just for now? Kara's brain played different scenarios of pain in her head which got her heart to race even faster.

Wait, no! She needed to calm down before-

The Dessert Chef started to pant and pressed her head into Neola's side. It was lucky she wasn't thinking of how embarrassing she was acting or she might have hyperventilated just from that! The poor girl tried thinking happy thoughts, but they were evaporated from her mind as quickly as they came.

Hisakawa and Suzuki

Hisakawa refocused his attention, and as the man spoke, all sort of thoughts were running through his head. It wasn’t great that there were some aggressive people here, though in a situation like this, that should probably be expected. He wasn’t entirely sure how to interpret that chuckle, though. Was there something funny? He didn’t find it funny—then again he probably didn’t have the whole context behind it all. But that doesn’t mean this stranger wouldn’t think it was funny. As he was mulling on it, he couldn’t help but start to feel a little self-conscious about his own hair—after all, he, too, was wearing a ponytail. He didn’t look weird, did he? He knows he isn’t exactly the most attractive guy around, but he had particular issue with the idea that his hair looked bad. Maybe he should have gotten a haircut...

His thoughts wandered back to the situation at hand when the man mentioned Hope’s Peak. So they were all students from the same high school? That was far from coincidental. Hisakawa was beginning to think there might be something bigger going on here. But who would kidnap a bunch of high school students? And for what purpose?

Reo took in the news much more casually. Yeah, perhaps this whole situation wasn’t the best thing in the world, but it’s not really that big of a deal, yeah? After all, there was no real reason to believe there was any sort of danger. He was sure everything would turn out just fine, and everything would explain itself in due time, so there was no need to stress during the meantime. He shaked Davis’ hand, returning his smile in kind.

Hisakawa, too, shook Davis’ hand. Knowing that they were all Hope’s Peak students, though, he got curious, “Hey Suzuki-san, what’s your talent?”

Reo turned his attention from Davis to Hisakawa, “I’m the Super High School Level LARPer.” He answered simply, though not in a disinterested way. Reo was very dedicated to his craft, after all, and held a genuine passion for what he does.

“Oh, interesting.” Hisakawa said in response, despite having absolutely no idea what LARPing is, or even having heard about it. He started wringing his hands, biting the inside of his lips. He could totally just ask, but he didn’t want to seem like an idiot or anything. First impressions were important, after all. Then again, he probably messed that up already, so it wouldn’t really matter if he said something else dumb. And besides, he doesn’t want to lie just to seem more intelligent than he is. It would be kind of manipulative of him to act smarter than he really was, wouldn’t it?

“What about you?” Suzuki asked, and suddenly Hisakawa realized he had missed his chance to ask. Well, he’d have plenty of time to do so later, at least in theory.

“Um, my talent is that I’m a Type A Student.” He relaxed himself, trying to ignore the train of though he was on previously. There were much bigger things to be worrying about anyway.

Reo nodded. That seemed to fit. He once more turned to Davis, “So what exactly does having ‘conquest’ as a talent entale, anyway?” He said with subtle raise to his brow. He didn’t necessarily doubt that was his talent—the guy seemed sincere enough. But he couldn’t help but feel something was up. Maybe it was just because this guy didn’t really seem like a Davis to him. Either way, he figured a talent like that was good place to start.

Suddenly, an announcement came on, informing them of a meeting at the amphitheater.

There was quiet after the announcement, which was soon interrupted by Reo, “Well hey, that was easy.”

“Yeah, seriously. Well, I’m gonna go try and find the amphitheater. You guys coming with?” Hisakawa asked. Suzuki nodded, and the two turned to see the so-called Davis’ response.

Damian

…

Well.

Damian was stunned into silence by the sheer audacity of such a response. Or, rather, non-response. Who the hell does that!? Damian supposed, to some extent, he was grateful that he didn’t have to enter a conversation with someone who was not only holding onto a table leg like a weapon, but was also the kind of person who looks at someone asking for help and then just leaves without saying anything. Damian could try and chalk it up to some reasoning beyond her just being a dick, but somehow there was a very intentional aggressiveness in how she carried that out.

Whatever. He didn’t need to get wrapped up in whatever her deal is, so it was best to just leave her be. Hopefully, he could find someone who wasn’t so… abrasive.

It was at that moment an announcement came on. Well, at least there was somebody willing to give him information. He went on to find the amphitheater, and hopefully learn what exactly is happening.

Neola wasn't sure how to feel about being leaned on by the small girl. Was she tired? The air of stress around everyone wasn't something that Neola was feeling. It was pretty outside, and it seemed like everyone forgave her for acting like a big meanie. So there was no reason to really think anything bad was going to happen. But wait...Wait... Was this an invitation for... a head pat?

Neola's palms were sweating. Should she? They had just met after all. Not even properly introduced. Yet this globe of gold hair was staring her directly in the face. It looked so soft and welcoming. Yet she could not bring herself to pat Kara on the head. It felt too sudden. W-well, we'd better get going then! Neola placed a hand on Kara's shoulder and walked after Davis. Even this felt a little weird. But if she felt comfortable this way, who was Neola to judge?

---

Step by step, slowly as possible, Aurel traversed farther and farther away, passing by some guy with a guitar. The thief didn't really feel like giving him the time day, only briefly gazing at the musician with the tilt of his head before moving forward. He didn't bother looking back, a small shudder shooting down his spine as he heard the lady with white hair forcibly demand answers, causing him to tightly clench his fists till the point of discomfort.

But before he took another step, he plainly stopped, here and there; it was as if sweet nectar of answers poured into his ears as the large guy approached the duo, making a certain claim over going to a specific school, namely Hope's Peak. His jaw dropped, his throat straining to say something before quickly ducking behind one of the buildings, the thief's eyes not even leaving his targets for a second as he peered from his spot.

Blinking, his lips curled slightly into a frown as he stared at the trio of teenagers, ears perked and ready to absorb any more information that escaped their lips. The only thing he got out of it all was that the irritated ponytail boy was known as Taka Tsuin and that the unpleasant girl with a table leg also was heading to Hopes Peak.

Now he could definitely confirm that this was no coincidence that he and guitar boy were just ultimates; the other girl was too, which meant the irked short boy was also an ultimate as well... at this point, it wouldn't be hard to guess that if he walked into another person, they would also be like him as well...

Either that or they were captors, just as the ice queen said, making him press his back hard into the building, slowly letting his fists flow free before clenching an invisible stress ball once more. It wouldn't be hard to guess that the first thing she would do if she ran into him was bash his head in and he preferred not to stir up the crowd and preemptively ran back onto the path before dashing down it while they were still busy.

It didn't take a very long time as he breathlessly slowed down to a jog as he reached a fork in the road; one path lead straight down to some different buildings with a rather large office that looked rather out of place at the end... it looked to fit more in an urban setting which caused Aurel to raise an eyebrow and squinted damningly at the place. Why was something like this there?

Before he decided to investigate the peculiar office, there was something more curious to study.

The gate.

Pivoting around, his eyes drifted around the gate, studying each portion of it. To be frank, it reminded him of one of the gates you would see at a prison - difficult, but not impossible to climb... except he was not touching that gate. As soon as the thief heard the sizzle and crackle of the gate, he flinched back a bit, wincing a bit while looking to the side.

He wasn't cracking the code, no doubt about that as he somberly stared over at the control pad. If the gate was lined with electricity, then...

Suddenly, his ears perked up, no different than a deer listening for a predator. Whipping his head, he noticed someone walking down the beaten path he just traversed. Eyes widened as he saw who it was - the ice queen with her weapon of choice. Unblinkingly, he stood still, no different than a deer in the headlights. The only thing that moved with the lady was his own eyes, carefully calculating her every step and how long until she would arrive.

Despite trying to walk elegantly, Snow's movements clearly indicated signs of someone who's in a foul mood; the expression on her face equally as agitated. If Aurel wasn't hiding in plain sight and Snow spotted him, she might have turned around immediately, but it looked like she was too busy with her thoughts to care either way.

It didn't take Snow long to reach Aurel...and walk straight past him to the gate, it was unclear whether she was unaware of his presence, or simply ignoring him. Her march stopped in front of the keypad, the puzzled look on her face a clear indicator of what she was thinking of before pressing a few buttons...no success. Then, her eyes shifted towards the gate itself; as she took a few steps towards the center of the road, she lifted her free hand and reached out for the fence.

As the woman completely ignored, or missed him, the tense, rigid stone statue that Aurel had become began to erode away. A soft sigh permeated the air around his lips as he quietly sucked in more air as his arms became slack to his sides. Rubbing the back of his head, he turned once more to study the contraption, pondering on a few possibilities as he lifted a hand to his mouth, chewing away at his finger.

His head shifted towards the offices down the road, albeit briefly pondering on attempting to break into that... wonder if there was any makeshift things around here he could substitute as lockpicks?

That train of thought didn't last long as the sounds of clicking around the fence invaded his mind; no doubt that the ice queen was attempting to crack the code... or try something as Aurel returned to focusing on the fence. Of course, this little lady was going to continuously distract him with her "antic," one of which caused his ayes to widen in insurmountable terror as his jaw tightened.

Instead of analyzing situations, he was more busy rushing forward to keep this girl from electrocuting herself! The thief's arm shot out like a bullet, latching onto the girls arm that was reaching for the friggin' gate with a tight, blood-stopping, iron grip. Following that, he quickly yanked the white haired woman away with a "disgruntled," stony look on his face.

Despite the rescue, he braced himself over what would happen next as he stumbled back with the girl, his other arm hanging a bit back as his fingers rhythmically moved back and forth, akin to the way a spider would walk.

Suffice it to say, Snow was not amused by the combination of being jump scared, touched, and thrown in the span of a second. If she didn't know any better, she'd think she was being assaulted; but because the assailant was so quiet, it looked more like an assassination than anything. Yet surrendering to death was not in Snow's library of options, so she thought the best way to defeat this problem, was by flailing the table leg at Aurel with no control whatsoever.

That was to be... expected. The first swing went wide to the side, nearly hitting him as he felt a weak whiff of air pass by his face. The next one almost actually got him, forcing him to deftly, duck, causing him to wince and frown as he tumbled back more with the girl due to how sudden the ducking was. The next swing was the perfect time to strike however; with a glint in his eye, his arm shot out like a bullet, nimbly plucking the wooden leg from the girls hands. A small sigh escaped his lips as he slowed down to a halt when moving back, looking back up at the weapon he was holding high in the air.

If no one actually knew any better, it would almost look like he was the one that was assaulting the girl... well, it was better than her almost hitting him as the only thing he could feel were the whiffs of air that brushed passed his face as the ice queen tried to... scare him off. Of course, he would of normally flinched from the attempted hits at him, but he turned to face the girl before staring off to the side.

It appeared that he was gazing somewhere else, yet he had a stone cold face, as well as a frown. Only one question escaped Aurel's smooth, yet callous sounding voice as he addressed the girl.

"... do you want to die?"

That question made Snow's body feel a hundred pounds heavier. It was obvious from the expression of the boy and the tone of his voice; he was ready to kill her. That combined with his ability to easily catch her off guard and dodge all her blows managed to scare Snow a bit. Almost enough to break her now fragile barrier of confidence. How embarrassing, this human was actually outclassing Snow.

"Who's asking?" She spoke as if nothing happened, and simply scoffed at Aurel.

Aurel closed his eyes for a second, huffing back and shaking his head off to the side as a response. Without missing a beat, Aurel turned his head to finally face her; the way he looked at the ice queen was if she was transparent and was looking through her. His formerly hardened vision softened just a bit as he raised his arm higher and higher into the air.

... and with out warning, he did it.

The thief swung his arm by the woman's face, caused a small gust of wind to pass by her cheeks. As his arm came down, the chunk of wood left his hands as he tossed it at the fence. Suddenly, it crackled to life as a sizzling sound permeated the air. Looking behind her, he frowned and eyed the wood as it crinkled and crumbled into black debris within the span of two seconds before falling to the ground.

Aurel just sighed, acting completely unfazed by the turn of events as his heart stirred a bit.

"Someone who knows that touching electric gates is a stupid idea," he spoke flatly as his iron wrought grip around the girls wrist was released with the end of that demonstration. Looking at the trees to the side, his hardened face now appeared relaxed, almost bored as he crossed his arms and rapped his fingers across his skin.

As hard as she tried to remain calm, as soon as that table leg was heading for her head, she unconsciously yelped. Only seconds later did she open her eyes, hearing the crackling noises from behind her. Her eyes widened upon seeing the now charred piece of wood, but narrowed when looking back towards Aurel. He was lecturing her, and he was right; that frustrated Snow immensely. But then again, if he was this competent, then maybe he could be of use. But still...

"I-I knew that, I don't need someone like you to tell me what to do." She obnoxiously said with her arms folded. "But since you figured it out too, I'll let it slide. Now..." Snow started walking towards Aurel, only stopping until after she invaded his privacy. "Today is your first day attending Hope's Peak. You get out of bed, brush your teeth, and eat your meal." She said as she started circling around Aurel. "Whatever talent you had, they wanted, and now you're in front of their main building. But suddenly!" She stood behind Aurel now. "You wake up in this place with no memory of how you've gotten here. You get up, start exploring, and then you meet me." And with that she stood in front of him again. "Did I get that right?"

As soon as Aurel saw the girl striding towards him, he slowly began to slide his left leg back, scraping the ball of he shoe against the ground as if there was a heavy weight attached to it. He slightly angled his head to squint at her, his arms becoming rigid as his now opened fingers readied themselves to snatch something to try and throw the girl off guard, if she tried anything on him.

Of course, as soon as the ice queen got straight up to his voice, he silently uttered one thing, "personal space."

That was followed up by her slowly circling him, like a hawk or a vulture as she listed off myriads of generic things that he might of done in preparation for this whole trip. Aurel always avoided eye contact with her, swinging his head in another direction when their eyes would almost meet, keeping a soft frown as his arms began to loosen up. Sighing, he closed his eyes before placing his hands behind his head and stretching.

"Rather perceptive for someone who almost electrocuted themselves," he grumbled as he let some of his guard down, huffing as she correctly assumed most of what he did.

Regardless, that's the gist of it, save that I passed by you and those two Ultimate's you were conversing with," he nodded, taking in a breath of crisp air, almost fresh air that was diluted by the dissipating smell of cooked wood. "At least, I'm assuming you three were all Ultimates too based on the way you spoke," he brought a finger to his lip, tapping at the flesh before chewing on it.

"Taka Tsuin, the Ultimate Guitarist or Musician I'm guessing, and then there's you," he released his finger, pivoting slightly around to point at the frilly looking, yet harsh woman.

"... what's your name and talent anyways," Aurel said in a mellow tone, seemingly looking past the girl again with a flat stare.

Snow looked to her side, seemingly in thought, before Aurel's questions caught her attention again. She looked at him with suspicion shortly before finally relaxing a bit.

"Snow...I'm-" The sudden activation and subsequent announcement from a mysterious figure interrupted her. After listening to it intently, she lifted her arm to twist a strand of hair around the index finger. Whatever crazy scheme they had planned, it was definitely a trap; and yet not showing up wasn't allowed either; quite a dilemma.

"Know that voice?" she asked, her undertone still slightly dismissive.

Just before he could get a full answer, one of the... screens? What the hell, there was a screen attached to one of the buildings, which was rather out of place, more so than the office-like buildings placed near them. He turned his attention to it, only to find an unfocused silhouette on the screen. He winced, raising both of his hands up to cover his ears, slightly cringing away from the screen as a squeaky, nasally, annoying voice made their announcement.

Aurel was able to power past it for the most part, listening to the best of his abilities over what the he or she was say. Once it was over, the thief let out an exasperated sigh as his arms slumped weakly down to his sides. Honestly, he was glad to hear Snow's voice again over that high pitched sound, as harsh and irritated hers sounded.

"No... and I'm gonna pray that 'voice' was just a voice changer, jeez," he groaned, rubbing the side of his head as he winced.

But regardless, while this obviously seemed like a trap, it could also be as it said on the tin - what's going on here and how to get out. He tightly clenched his fists for a moment, raising one of his clenched hands to chew on an index finger. Eyeing the environment for a few seconds as if the green heralded some sort of answer, a small huff escaped his lips as he held his head in place with a hand.

"... regardless, maybe we should go see what this person has to say to us," he monotonously spoke, but not before raising up a finger. "But, we figure out a way to stay outta sight if this is some sorta trap... how does that sound... Snow," he whisper the latter portion as he looked along the trail they hadn't traversed down that did not lead to a huge looking office complex.

It seemed like Aurel had a bright idea once more; perhaps having him tag along wouldn't be as bothersome as Snow initially thought. His calm attitude and low amount of speech suited her as well...yes he would make a great assistant. As soon as Aurel finished his words, Snow started walking down the road towards the theater.

"Have you found the amphitheater already?" she said, her gaze still locked on the road.

As soon as she turned to leave, Aurel followed suit along side Snow, keeping his own eyes locked on the road. He... assumed that this would be a much quieter trip as his eyes drifted around, analyzing the area about for a brief moment before the woman caught his ear. Faintly rolling his head to the girl, he placed both of his hands into his pockets, fidgeting with the nothingness as he plainly shook his head.

"No; I've only been two places so far," Aurel murmured, retrieving a hand from his pocket, shaping it up to be a V. "The gate and the bathroom I woke up in," hmm, that did make him think of a few things, namely how many people there were here.

Tracing the air briefly, he pulled his hand back into his pocket before his own eyes began outlining the fence, tracing each portion out as he pursed his lips temporarily.

"Sixteen," Aurel suddenly blurted out, albeit softly, turning his head to firmly focus on Snow. "I'm guessing there are sixteen of us Ultimate's here in total based on how many stalls there are in the bathroom," Aurel pulled out a hand, tapping the side of his cheek as he shivered a bit as a crisp wind brushed over his shoulders.

"I see." Snow lowered her pace until she was walking right next to Aurel. "I want to have an advantage over them, tell me your name," She prudely commanded, looking him in the eyes. "Your talent as well."

The eye contact Aurel met with Snow only lasted for a second before he instantaneously broke away from it, hands becoming more agitated as his fingers fidgeted around very noticeably in his pockets. He frowned, looking to the side with a faint blushing tinge coating his face as he stared back onto the trail and blinked for a bit. While the thought permeated his brain over an "advantage," he didn't know what to make of it all...

While suspicious... well...

"Aurel... Aurel Fuchs," he muttered, unable to deny his name since she did politely introduce herself... surprisingly based on what happened back near those storage sheds, or whatever. He slowly began to stop playing around with the nothingness in his pocket as he looked up for a moment, tilting his head to look over at the girl.

His mouth opened for a moment before he slowly bit down on his bottom lip, looking in the opposite direction of Snow. The fidgeting began to start up again as indents and small hills formed in his pant pockets again. For a moment, he went silent, hesitating to speak out. He bit down harder to the point where if he did it even further, his lip would probably bleed.

With a small sigh, he gulped and looked down before hoarsely murmuring his "talent."

_{"... I'm the... the Ultimate Thief..."}

With that said and done, it felt like his heart was going to burst out of his chest saying that, steadily bring his head back up, no longer staring at the dull, dirt path. "... wh-what's your talent?"

Slowly but surely, the ice queen finally cracked a smile, although it was a bit sinister looking. She gave him a short glance before returning her now soft expression to the road ahead.

"Ultimate hair-stylist." She looked at Aurel again, but this time with an annoyed frown. "You're an idiot, telling me your name and talent." Her gaze pressured Aurel as if she was pushing him to the ground with sheer will, yet their was no malicious intent behind it. "But you will not be telling anyone else, not until they can be trusted." As soon as the words left her mouth, she removed Aurel from her attention completely.

A small, minuscule, unnoticeable flinch was how reacted to her calling him an idiot for revealing some information over his name and talent... hm. Unblinkingly gazing down at the ground, he pursed his lips for a moment, pressing a finger onto his chin and slowly tapping it upwards as he steadily began turning his head away from Snow. Eventually, the tapping stopped.

Instead, he now was pointing a weak finger gun at Snow that was more on the accusatory end. "You just told me your name and talent as well Snow," he murmured, rolling his head ever so slightly like a pendulum before focusing down on the hairstylists neatly organized snow white hair. Huffing through his nose like a bull, his eyes looked off to the side for a brief second, then back.

“If I were you, I would stay clear of anyone you come across, they’re more likely our captors than captives... I think that's what you said when speaking with them, right," his voice was wispy; rather than asking, it sounded more like he was musing on something as he went on, becoming silent as he studied her hair again, squinting as he traced each portion, searching for an answer to a question he didn't ask yet.

"I'll stay silent, but..." Aurel slowly pulled away his finger from the ice queen, sluggishly drawing out the way he moved his arm away, as if to emphasize the point, before eventually placing his index finger on his chest.

"Why trust me?"

"Because-" A slightly confused look appeared as Snow had no clue how to answer that. She had relied on nobody other than herself for so long, it was nigh impossible to even consider leaning on others. And now this kid wanted her to ask why she trusted him. It took her quite a while to come up with a response, her cheeks turning brighter shades of red with each passing second, until finally:

"You didn't harm me...when I attacked you." her Embarrassed eyes darted between Aurel and the road ahead; she clearly wasn't used to these talks.

Looking over, he noticed the glowing redness in her cheeks; at this rate she - no, they would both become tomatoes at this point as Aurel quickly turned to look away. His lip was trembling a bit as he thought of a way to respond to this, but no, his head was becoming a wee too clouded at this point. Eventually, though, he did smile a bit to no one in particular, confiding in himself, at least for now anyways.

For all the way he observed the way she acted earlier around those two, this was... somewhat pleasant.

"... er, well, you were acting in self defense anyways, a-and," he slightly revolved his head stuttering a bit along the ways. His visage was much more visible now with a small glimmer of a grin painted upon his lips, his 'cool' exterior softening just a bit. "... and I never intended to s-see you hurt, either through my reaction or the f-fence..."

Clasping both of his hands together as if praying, he hoisted the two to the ground as he began fidgeting about, unable to say anything else as he took quick glimpses around, trying to take the subject elsewhere.

"... uh, h-hey, I think we might nearly be here," Aurel spoke up, jabbing a hand in the direction of a stone structure, nearly ivory in color if not for the discoloration of gray and such here and there. The structure looked to tower above even the buildings he saw earlier, probably going up two stories if he had to guess. Of course, that was accompanied by a stage as well with the same types of hues and shades.

Pausing, he moved an arm to point out where they needed to go, thrusting his finger back and forth as he began deviating from the path, looking back to see if she was following after him. While looking back, he mouthed the words "slowly" to her, motioning for her to keep close to him.

Although Snow usually wouldn't stand for anyone ordering her around, the present situation completely had Snow's attention. She was closely following Aurel's footsteps, occasionally nearly tripping while trying to keep up. As soon as she spotted people, she tugged on Aurel's shirt, her expression a mixture of caution and curiosity.

"We know that boy, he's the one I first saw when I woke up." Snow was trying her hardest to observe what was going on, it seemed like Taka was talking to a girl; but it was too far away to see the details or hear anything. "Those four look our age, they must be a few of the kidnapped kids too."

Squinting, Aurel nodded as he saw the ponytailed boy converse with a girl who looked to be draped from head to toe with clothes that were inky black and less modest than Snow. He couldn't tell much outside of their general stances and what they were wearing, but he was guessing they were breaking the ice rather well...

Other than that, he could guess how Taka got there as he began shifting, slower and slower. Once they were close enough to the stony wall, the thief retracted his focus back as he began reaching out towards it, pressing his hand against the stands. Cold and coarse were two ways to describe it as he gingerly ran his fingers across the semi-chapped rock.

Alright, so he could stay out of sight just by standing still, but Snow was another thing... before he could even concern himself with getting the scoop on whether or not anyone else was there, he began analyzing the area around him. For one, there were a multitude of trees facing away from the back of the theater, as well as a few bushes and other foliage scattered about. Instantly, he spotted it, his eyes lighting up as he slid towards the bush that was hugging up against the amphitheater wall.

The leaflets didn't look to be clustered in three, as well as other factors such as lack of being "hairy" as a descriptor. Sighing slightly, he did his best to silently remove any sort of branches, leaves, and vines, making a small opening Snow could slide into temporarily, whilst allowing her to keep her head poked out. While this did cause some rustling in the process, it was masked by the crisp and windy air which caused other plants to rustle alongside it, camouflaging the sound.

Crouching into the bush, Aurel looked over to Snow and began to airily whisper to Snow. "Crouch in here," he exited the bush, slowly crouching to peek around the corner of the stadium. "... I'll give you some updates on who shows up, alright? Just try your best to stay inconspicuous," he murmured, holding up a thumbs up for a brief second before steadily inching his head around the stands to study anyone who decided to meander into his sight lines...

The only thing noteworthy anyone would be able to see would be a part of his goggles, white hair, and his eyes... if anyone was able to spot him at all.

"I'm not hiding in that bush, no way." Even though her disgusted look wasn't aimed at Aurel, there was no denying the words. She was too pretty, her dress too delicate, to stain it with dirt and grass marks. She'd rather reveal herself than crawl on the ground. But luckily there was a nice big tree sitting right next to the bush, just the right size to hide Snow. At that distance, the two could clearly hear what everyone at the theater was saying, so whenever the announcement would play, it would also reach their ears.

Taka Tsuin, the Ultimate Cross Dresser. He seemed like a nice fellow — although a little aloof — and Alice thought that he seemed like a nice enough fellow that he wouldn’t have anything to do with her predicament. There was just one thing...

Alice may have been accepted to Hope’s Peak on the basis of murder, but she wasn’t some low life scum that would let Taka get away with ignoring her handshake. Common courtesies were the foundation of a new budding relationship and the handshake was the very epitome of meeting a new person. Between it’s casual intimacy and deceivingly simple design, the handshake was the ultimatum of meeting a new person.

Alice was slowly accumulating rage at this essential desecration of something that she valued so much… but much to Taka’s benefit and Alice’s dismay, she was interrupted by Monokuma.

”...I will see you all bear-y soon!”

As the high pitched roar of Monukuma’s introductions came to an end, Alice immediately decided to head back to the ampitheatre. She was just a little irked that having just made her way to the Gate, she now had to turn all the way around and return. Huh… for some reason Alice felt like she was forgetting something. But she immediately turned on her heel in the opposite direction of the gate.

She looked back at Taka, ignoring his request to go to the gate. Her gaze rested on Taka’s own ”It’s not just me, everyone has gotta be curious why they’re here. You don’t know why you're here, you would’ve said something if you did! So we’ve gotta check out the theatre, c’mon! “ Alice said, more as a statement than a question of whether Taka would follow her — and started heading back towards the amphitheatre under the assumption that Taka would follow.

@Ammokkx

Lilly couldn't be quite sure what had transpired in those few minutes, but for what it was worth, she wasn't exactly best comfortable with it. So many people appeared, it was hard to keep track of who was who. There was... the Beardie one, the Small One, the Weird One, and the Other One. Did they have names? Probably. But she'd need a bit more than single introductions to memorise them.

What she could surmise, though, was that people had come and gone, and in what seemed like an instant Lilly had, once again, been left to sit on the grass alone. She looked around again to check where people were, and caught her fellows making their way off in another direction - Beardie in the lead, with Shortie and Weirdo in tow. She clutched her rabbit tight. This was no time to be sitting around! There were places to explore, after all!

As quickly as she could, Lilly lifted herself from the ground, brushing down her skirt from dirt as soon as she was at full height. Since they left her, maybe she wasn't welcome in their convoy... Naaaah, there was no way! She'd only known them for a couple of minutes, no way did they dislike her already. Or maybe they did? No, that was the wrong attitude! The Walls would always say, people deserve second chances. Unless they did really bad stuff.

Her legs carried her forward quickly, skipping up along besides Neola and Kara, before surpassing them. She wasn't the athletic type, but skipping was fun. She kept skipping and skipping, eventually meeting pace with Davis, and then even skipping ahead of him too! Truly, skipping was the pinnacle of human based transportation. No silly cars or trains or buses or planes!

Planes? Planes were fun, a lot more so than any of the other kinds of transportation. Lilly round herself breaking into a small run, arms outstretched like a small child pretending to be an aeroplane. Despite the announcement, the situation, the strangers, she appeared to be having plenty of fun - lips turned upwards in a smile as she ran back the way she came, coming to a stop in front of Davis.

From behind her back she pulled out her phone like device, holding it in front of her chest as to get maximum volume.
_{"How do you know me?"} A small pout formed on Lilly's face as the volume came out quiet, muffled by the open space. Her fingers found the small buttons on the side, and she tapped the screen once again.
"How do you know me?" it repeated, as looked up to the man, still smiling.

Conquest was more than just a right to victory. It was a right to a worthwhile victory. Something that was worth putting your heart and soul into. Finding the bear's designated location had a clear reward associated with it. Davis would know more about what was going on. Therefor, he knew he would get there. Getting there first however was not important to him, even if he did appear to be momentarily in front of everyone. When Lilly got up and skipped in front of everyone, himself included, he did not break into a run to catch up with the skipping girl. She could take the lead. There was nothing special to be gained from arriving first. Not that he was aware of, at least. But then she stopped in front of him. Directly, in, front, of, him. She had made herself an obstacle before the mighty conqueror. Did she know what she was doing? Could Lilly even begin to fathom the position she had put herself in? She was mouse standing before a lion, the wind blowing at a mountain, an asteroid hurdling towards the sun. This was not a favorable position for Lilly, and she would soon regret her actions.

If Davis desired it.

“A bit of a delayed response.” Davis stepped past Lilly. Perhaps she simply needed time to type up a response. But she had avoided shaking his hand, allowed all sorts of pleasantries to be exchanged right over her head, and it was now that she decided to approach him? He still planned on answering her question regardless. “We're ultimate students. I simply committed your name and face to memory because I felt you had an interesting talent.” Lilly would have no difficulty skipping after or even beside Davis, because he wasn't moving especially fast. “Same with the other two. Hacking, making deserts, and becoming other people are all talents I can respect.” Davis glanced over his shoulder with a grin. “I'm not sure if being 'suave' can really be considered a talent. But I suppose time will tell.” He looked to Lilly. “Why, do not many people know you?”

@Vocab