[color=gainsboro]David's eyes still burned and his sinuses were on fire, but he kept his mouth shut.[/color]  [i]"In a place like this."[/i]  [color=gainsboro]He thought.[/color]  [i]"Most any attention is bad attention."[/i]  [color=gainsboro]He walked down the long hall they were led through, squinting through the pain and trying to avoid looking directly into light.[/color]  [i]"Bide your time, and wash them out when you get an opportunity."[/i]

[color=gainsboro]The guard unlocked the door and led them into a large room where a half dozen other program-attendees were already awaiting.

At a glance they were a big guy and a little one playing video games.  A young girl with plaits who approached the group.  This immediately made David wary, as he questioned the motives of anyone approaching a group of new, and frankly vulnerable, people in a place like this.  There was another girl staring at them with a maniacal grin from the back wall.  A third who was paying them no mind at all.  And a third guy sitting in the corner, apparently sizing them up, much as David himself was.

For some reason, despite doing no more than what David himself was doing in return, this one put him most on edge of all.[/color]

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[quote=From David's Notes In Preparation - (Since Destroyed)][b]Friends[/b]

Find people of similar temperament to your own.  Quiet, balanced.

Alone you are vulnerable.  Two people can watch each others' backs.  Three, can observe angles.

Ideally, Quiet, balanced temperament, thoughtful, observant.  Selfless may be too much to ask for in a place like this, but someone who has the sense to realise the longterm benefit of loyalty and not screwing over friends for short term personal gain in a place like this.

Loud, unreliable, overaggressive, unstable and potentially violent friend is worse than going it alone in a place like this.  They will drag you into things you could otherwise avoid.[/quote]

[color=gainsboro]Despite being in the group, David felt vulnerable.  He felt watched.  A worm amongst a dozen and a half on a rock, waiting for birds to decide he was the juiciest one left to peck at.

Since getting out of the literal Rock would be somewhere between 'not possible' to 'unhelpful', getting off the metaphorical rock would be the next best thing.

He watched as the redhead who had fallen asleep behind him on the bus, the one who'd stirred up no end of trouble in the security line, and seemed to have no sense for what David viewed of their current circumstances, was lured away by the watchful boy from the corner.[/color]

[i]"That one is gonna be the lesson everyone else learns from, I'm sure..."[/i]

[i]"Not your problem, David.  Head down.  Just forget it.  Keep moving."[/i]

[color=gainsboro]One less worm lying on the rock.  A few others had the sense to step away from the group, but didn't seem terribly concerned with the notice they drew.  A loud blonde who blew up over the otter on the bus had drawn the attention from the big guy who was previously playing video games.

Were they targeting the girls?

David's mind ran.  Whilst making a direct move at this point would be dumb, maybe there was still [b]SOMETHING[/b] that he could do to at least slow it down.

He ran his own eye over the group, he almost immediately eyeballed another potential future target, and then noticed the dress.[/color]

[i]"Russian?"[/i]

[color=gainsboro]He wasn't certain, he hadn't heard her say two words to try and glean any kind of accent.  She'd also seemed smart enough to keep quiet and similarly suss out their current situation - much as David had.  There were worse moves he could make.  He walked quickly over to the board games and retrieved something, before returning and approaching the blonde girl with a box.[/color]

[color=slategray]"Chess?"[/color]

[color=gainsboro]She seemed perplexed by the sudden offer.

He tried to explain his reasoning, with as much subtlety as he could muster.[/color]

[color=slategray]"People don't pay any mind... to two people playing chess."[/color]  [color=gainsboro]Before tilting his head in the directions of the two people who had been paying extra attention to people within their group.[/color]