[center][img=http://i61.tinypic.com/2i74yzm.jpg] [img=http://i60.tinypic.com/2s7yrvb.jpg][/center] The guy with the spear was pretty hostile, wasn’t he? “Prick,” Numair muttered under his breath. Mr. Cuddles looked sadder by the second, but who wouldn’t be gloomy upon being called ‘Yogi’? Okay, maybe he was overreacting; the nobodies probably didn’t recognize the inside references Inadi was throwing, but Numair sure did and he was the one getting upset. His eyes narrowed when the other man went so far as to suggest a fight and thankfully Toby interrupted before the hotheaded surfer could do or say anything that would hurt the Hooded Figures’ cause. A short stretch of silence followed Toby’s outburst, which Numair broke by saying, “Hey, thanks for the vote of confidence.” What a sweet kid. Gary could certainly learn a few things from him. The other humans started to react in a domino effect after that; Sacha was the one who answered their questions with some help from Luke and C. [i]"No offense, but why do you suddenly want to help us? Last time you hit one of our friends on the head and tried to take the list. If you really wanted to help us, couldn't you have told us from the beginning? Then again, you also saved us from the witch. Why did you do that?"[/i] Uggghhh could somebody please take the role of ‘middleman’ from him now kthanks… [i]Hey cutie, we're a little confused right now, but we don't want to fight, so if you could just clear it all up?"[/i] “I think he forgot that we asked first,” Gary whispered as she elbowed Numair. The surfer grabbed a caramel apple from a nearby plate then gave it to her, and the girl was distracted once more. He grinned back at Lesley and straightened up in his seat, the sour expression on his face quickly disappearing as he turned to Harper. “Harper, right? I kept calling you Harp before. So here’s the thing. I apologize on behalf of Gary, but seriously she’s a softie if you get to know her. Uh, asides from that… You do realize you lot were in Delirium’s territory most of the time? Heavy surveillance. Even [i]we[/i] weren’t that stupid to bust in the castle and induct you guys into the Loco Order. Next! The witch,” The tanned young man leaned back against his seat and sighed. That witch was bad news for everyone. “Well. We couldn’t just leave you there to die, right? Although we did, I get it,” his gaze turned sharp and he suddenly scowled, “but don’t blame us for your comrades. We’re not superheroes and if we arrived too late to ‘save the day’, then boo hoo. Don’t pin [i]that[/i] on us. I’ve had enough of that shit back home.” [i]"They are. Are...are your memories gone?"[/i] “Not much. I’d say I still remember my last name, but yeah… Minor details went whoosh,” Numair waved his hand away dismissively as if to make his words sound less ominous. “This one though,” he gently prodded Gary with his other hand and she glanced up, irritated, “she’s pretty much going down the deep trench.” “I don’t scuba dive, Numnums,” The pink-haired human muttered before she returned to her meals. “Point made,” he replied. The talk about turning into a bunny guard sobered the group up. [i]“How long did they have? ...how long do we have?”[/i] The really pale girl from the SSF seemed really shocked, though he couldn’t blame her for it. When the HF first told him, he almost went catatonic… or maybe that was a side effect of the painkillers he had ingested by that time? “Like Sacha said, it varies per person but…” Numair’s voice trailed off and his eyes shifted to the side in uncertainty. Gary wiped her mouth and raised her hand. “Liara and Caleb were the last in our group to go down, around… Hmm. A little over when the next train arrives? For you guys- and for us too, I guess- it’s…” She separated her thumb from her other fingers and squeezed down in the universal gesture of “tiny”. Despite the gravity of the news she just imparted, Gary didn’t seem to be bothered much… or at least that was what it looked like from the distance. All who were nearby could see her tapping the surface of the pole in a quick and irregular fashion, something she did under duress. A red-haired chick suggested splitting up the items in some sort of “trust” alliance compromise thing. Numair’s eyebrows knitted together as he frowned. Her terms were pretty unfair and since he was the only sane- er, the [i]sanest[/i] as of current- one in the Hooded Figures, he was the one who often stopped the others from getting duped. This was a prime example of said one-sided negotiation. “Two. Two items. And the pole is out of the question. Don’t even think about it, seriously,” The surfer extended his arm and pinned Gary back as an agitated snarl ripped out from her throat. “I’ll also enter that as a part of the compromise- nobody touches Gary’s pole because none of us have the right to, okay?” Besides, it would prevent the humans from having a vital organ ripped out and the Hooded Figures- er Sacha- from cleaning up the gore. “Oh, mother of- C, what do you think? I’m done negotiating. I suck,” Numair raised his hands in the air when Jasper interjected with the “[i]our[/i] rules must be followed” bit. Despite the humans being wary of the HF springing some trap on them, the Hooded Figures themselves were just as cautious. Well, [i]at least[/i] Sacha and Numair are. “I push for two items left with us instead of one, plus a sub-tenet banning anybody from stealing or utilizing Gary’s pole without her express permission. That last bit is for the safety of everyone involved, okay? The rest is up to you, but that’s what I’m going to agree with in case the lot of them decide to throw their dice with us,” The surfer’s handsome face was filled with distress and a little bit of irritation, as he was expecting a violent reaction to his and Ace’s laying down the groundwork from… well, Inadi or the others..