[Center][h2]Dakota Rhett[/h2]
[sub]November 29th? - ???[/sub]
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Things felt horrible, but simple in a way. Dakota wasn't about to become a prisoner, but also had kept silent. The confirmation didn't help things, as it was frightening to think of staying in a place like this forever. But if it was the case, he didn't want to be chained to a desk. Offering himself up as a prisoner... It wasn't the trial he'd have to endure, but what would such a thing prove, anyways? Giving up his life to be rotting away, not accomplishing anything. That sounded like failure, to him. A bait. Maybe that was the thought process of a less educated mind, but he genuinely did not offer it much thought beyond that.  

This more lucrative method, he wasn't sure if he quite understood what Pondwater intended. He might've questioned it, but words of other individuals brought his silence. Dakota's eyes darted between the guards, noting their willingness to jump at a moment's notice to pounce upon them. What was the point of this cruelty? Obviously the judge had to have some sort of intent with all the violence, as it was what these guards jumped to at the mere thought of an issue like Caelum speaking up. Pondwater's brunt vocal assessment of the man left Dakota with his mouth slightly agape, eyes fixated on the interaction. Dakota looked down at himself, thinking about what he was hearing. Hiding the scars beneath, and covering up shortcomings... He'd done both, from a few people now. Just to try and get his way again, even if someone always came along with the facts to ruin it. 

He tried to not gauge too much on this, though a small but resounding 'No' pretty much caught the room. Dakota's eyes drifted to the smallest figure in the room, realizing how overwhelming this was for himself, let alone for what he assumed was a kid. His body tensed as the guard picked her up, attempting to make himself move. At least they weren't going to swing at her, but still, this was about as uncomfortable as it got. What the hell did he expect from her, exactly? It wasn't like this was normal for them by any means, no matter how common it seemed to him. 

Alina was spared, however, as Nick had a bit of an outburst. The exchange was valiant and vile at the same time, but Dakota barely got to recognize that as the gavel hit the ground. Not having much else, he tried to prepare himself mentally and physically for whatever their judge had to say. Fighting? 

As the guards lined up, Dakota felt pain in his gut. Perhaps because of what happened before, but the thought of their test being one of violence wasn't something that sat right with him. So, what? They won, and took their place? The process of replacing the already applicable with more capable members, pushing them out of what comfort they potentially had. Raising the bar ever higher, expecting anyone they cross to meet that bar. And when they do, they boot out those set under the [i]new[/i] bar. Absolute bullshit.

"This barely made sense to begin with, but now it's crazy." He murmured. As he looked forward, he knew he wasn't exactly going to have much of a choice. If they were willing to kill him, then what exactly could he do? There weren't options for peace now. "I don't get what you guys get out of trying to kill us," He spoke directly to the guards, unknowing of just how worthless that was. "But I'm [i]not[/i] letting you kill me! Screw that!" Hands curling into (admittedly) pathetic fists, he braced himself for potentially another beating.

But what Pondwater had in store was much worse.

The spasming guards exploding into what could only be described as 'monsters' in Dakota's mind were now apparent. Their hollow appearances made sense, if they weren't human to begin with. But these... Things? They were far less believable than the previous forms, and looked much more dangerous. Dakota's will to fight instantly disappeared as he recoiled, unsure of what exactly to do against these things. He glanced about, not seeing much to use as a good weapon. What good would it do, anyways? These things looked vicious, and he wasn't confident at all in handling the previous fight, let alone this one. "Magnificent? These things look like cheap horror movie monsters!" He spat, a bit of an insult Pondwater's way. "You bastard. Even if we won, you'd just make us monsters like them!" No way. He wasn't very strong, but he wasn't about to let himself be a piece of entertainment for this guy. Barney was having a hard time with this, too. And Dakota shared his sentiment that they couldn't fight these things.

As if things weren't chaotic enough, Pondwater ended up being struck. Dakota's eyes darted about, trying to find the source momentarily until it appeared in front of them, piercing that dog-thing's skull with a weapon of sorts. There were so many questions, but Dakota was stuck on one particular thing: While Barney exclaimed remembrance of this girl, Dakota was awe-struck, gushing "What a [i]badass[/i] entrance...!" As his fingers brushed through his hair, scratching at the scalp beneath. She was telling them to run? Dakota wasn't exactly going to say no, but he was still stuck in place. 

A momentary dilemma passed over him as he eyed what was essentially Vincent's corpse on the ground. Breathing, yeah, but not in very good shape. He didn't focus on the girl's actions, instead he dove down to try and shake the terrifying man to his senses. "Hey! [b]HEY![/b] Get up!" He demanded, shaking him more furiously. "Don't know if you see that shit, but there's [i]literal monsters[/i], and we got one chance before they just frickin' eat us!" Vincent being an entire foot taller than Dakota did not help as the scrawny boy tried to pull the man up to get the hell out. Despite what happened, leaving him to die to those... Things, was not morally acceptable by any means. If only Dakota's arm muscles were as big as his heart, then this might seem a little more heroic. 

Goddamn, this guy was heavy. Dakota let out a groan of frustration and effort as he brought Vincent up, and tried to get him moving towards the exit from whence they came. It was a struggle, and he could obviously use some help, but a mixture of worry about the others getting out and knowing the big lug caused them all strife made him just try to carry the burden on his own. [i]'First positive thing since you got here, Rhett! Gotta use it!'[/i] He scolded himself in his mind, a lot of his own stamina going into this ordeal. Not to mention, his feet were already injured, which only piled pain from what weight Vincent needed to lean on him. 

The Shaxes in front of their exit caused Dakota to start panicking. He was moving forward, but unsure of how he'd do anything against them. Barney's charging would be helpful, maybe, if Dakota could do it himself. But no dice in that regard, and he had no sort of weapon, either. This lead him into perhaps the biggest panic he'd been in since arriving, quick mumblings coming off as perhaps obnoxious to his giant and mostly silent passenger as they continued forward. "T-There's no way out behind us, things are exploding, there's evil [b]DEMON[/b] flamingo things that are gonna kill us, we'regonna[i]DIE[/i]!" 

Obviously he was out of ideas. As great of a self-preservation tool as throwing Vincent to the evil birds would be, it's something that wouldn't even pass his mind. He'd be relying on someone else, or his giant physically-gifted three-legged race pal Vincent, for a way past. It was a bunch of them versus a few stupid birds! Surely they could get past some stupid birds. Right?