[color=00DEDA]"Woah woah, let's slow down a little, Negasonic Teenage Dickhead!"[/color] Alex said, raising his hands in a placating manner. [color=00DEDA]"I'm pretty sure I apologised just then, and I was even so kind as to explain that it was the drugs screwing with my filter, not your insanely bullyable personality."[/color]

He quickly turned to Fay, who he knew wouldn't hate him enough to lie about it.

[color=00DEDA]"I did actually do that, right Fay? Because I know I sometimes get my thoughts and words mixed up and just assume I said something when I didn't, but I'm [i]pretty[/i] sure I did this time.[/color]

And then he turned back to Sage, a kindly, almost parental expression that was only... Oh, maybe ninety percent fake and mocking.

[color=00DEDA]"I mean, listen. We've all been in your position. Puberty can be tough, especially when you have a complete and utter lack of social skills like you and I, but that's no reason to let it make things worse. Don't let your first period make you a monster, because as soon as you let that happen, then you give me the strongest weapon of them all... You make my jokes [i]accurate[/i]."[/color]

And then he turned to Fay again, an apologetic expression that... [i]might[/i] have been a few more percent serious than the one he'd used with Sage.

[color=00DEDA]"And I'm [i]dreadfully[/i] sorry Fay, I ignored your question before. But to give you a short answer, it very well may. Apart from going into anaphylactic shock if I don't get at least one death threat a day, the constant insults help keep my mind sharp, stop it from fading into mush like good old... I wanna say Robert? Which by the way, that was pretty fucked up. I'm sure [i]that[/i] won't become a major plot point later on. But besides that, yeah, I don't have the character development to be nicer yet, or at least not without disguising it under numerous, meticulously personalised insults." [/color]

He looked to Tori, who had said something particularly inaccurate, and decided he was probably [i]legally[/i] required to correct her.

[color=00DEDA]"Ah, Vic, while on many layers, you may be right, there are so many others where you couldn't be more wrong. However, instead of gracing everyone here with one of my trademark lectures, I'll keep this one brief. True, I may be a miserable sack of shit with little to no reason to continue my life, but everyone else's life in this place is more miserably than mine, because I don't have to listen to myself talk. [i]You're[/i] locked in here with [i]me[/i] and all that shit..."[/color]

He turned back to Sage when he spoke again, a twinge of actual responsibility daring to try and poke it's head up.

[color=00DEDA]"Now just hang on a moment there Elliot Rodger, I know you're the closest we have to the plucky teenager of the group, but if you think you'll be able to talk to the guy after he's been taken away by the guards, then I've somehow been giving you [i]too much[/i] credit this whole time. At best, they call you a retard and turn you away without beating the shit out of you. [i]At best[/i]. Besides, we probably won't even have to do anything. In comics, this kinda shit usually works itself out." [/color]

Immediately after finishing that last sentence, he turned to look at Kennedy.

[color=00DEDA]"And before you say something like "This isn't a comic book, this is real life", I want you to A; think about how many shows, movies and comics say that exact line, word for word, and B; notice the fact that we're in a government facility designed to experiment on innocent prisoners with superhuman powers, so, you know, it's not even a very original one! It's basically X-men!"[/color]

However, before he could continue, he paused.

[color=00DEDA]"Oh, but I interrupted your anniversary speech! Sorry about that, let's hear it before someone else starts saying something retarded instead of me and Angst Hiroshima hogging it all."[/color]