Tori really, [i]really[/i], [b][i]vehemently[/i][/b] hated Alex. It wasn't just that he had a perfect gift for getting under her skin, though that was most definitely a problem. It wasn't just the immensely flippant way he talked, or the fact that his sense of humor couldn't squeeze a laugh from the fucking Joker despite what [i]everybody else ever[/i] seemed to think. If anything, it was the fact that despite both of those factors, he was annoyingly competent at skirting just on the line of what she could take, so she never felt [i]quite[/i] angry enough to try actually hurting him. Not to mention he looked older than she was, and could probably take her in a fight as long as she couldn't use either her Paladin abilities or a knife.

There was Fay, of course. Tori had...mixed feelings about Fay. On one hand, she felt just a hair bad every time she snapped at the slightly older woman; she was just so...so...infuriatingly [i]nice[/i] to everybody. On the OTHER hand, though, that niceness, that selfless kindness (and [i]especially[/i] the kindness directed at Paragon) drove her up the goddamned wall. And so, she reacted to Fay the way she always had, and as far as she was concerned, always would: ignoring her completely and trying to pretend that nice people didn't exist so she didn't feel bad when she yelled at them.

Sage barely even registered on her radar. As far as she was concerned, he was an asshole like the rest, and she would just as rather he never speak in her presence ever again.

Ivory and Kennedy were the only even slightly tolerable people out of the whole bunch. Kennedy was mostly there by virtue of seniority; she'd learned a bit of his life by eavesdropping on conversations, and he'd been pretty much exactly what she'd wanted to be: a college teacher. He also wasn't nearly as much of an asshole as Alex, or as snide as Sage. And Ivory? She was pretty much the closest thing Tori could come to actually liking a person. Someone who didn't beat around the bush like it was a dead horse, who got right to the heart of the matter, but wasn't a condescending jackass when she did. While she didn't go out of her way to socialize with her—in fact, as far as she knew, they'd never actually spoken—she was one of the few people that she didn't go out of her way to [i]avoid.[/i]

Tori's ears were caught by some old guy's outburst, and she groaned as he ranted. [i][color=FFBE28]Can't they just shut up and leave me in peace?[/color][/i]

Then, a beat later: [i][color=FFBE28]Wait...that was Roger, wasn't it?[/color][/i]

She only caught the last part, and the "we will be freed soon!" [i]certainly[/i] got her attention. Her breath caught, and she could feel her hands clenching the arms of the chair. [i]Free[/i]. It was a nice word, wasn't it?

After Kennedy was silenced by an orderly and returned to the chair, she turned around and spoke to the group at large. Most of them had probably never heard her voice. [color=FFBE28][i]With one exception,[/i][/color] she thought acidly as she glared at Alex again. She still didn't regret that threat.

"[color=FFBE28]So, are we going to talk about what just happened?[/color]"

Then, lowering her voice, she turned to Alex in particular.

"[color=FFBE28]Ordinarily, I would go off on you, Alex,[/color]" she bit out, "[color=FFBE28]But there's nothing I can say to you that would be as cruel as just [i]being you[/i].[/color]"