Day 1: Introductions

"Fair 'nough. Sandwich stuffed me up anyway," Ruby said, placing her hands behind her back. Her white vest would have to be sacrificed.

Lisa hung back, still looking at the locked doors. She shook her head a bit and smiled once again, catching up to the boys.

"We checked our rooms and the other rooms on this floor. They're all locked though," she admitted.

Dark placed a pie in front of each competitor then took his own and sat down next to his lilacs, pushing the plate he had used for his sandwich out of the way. "Take cover off," he said as he removed the tin foil from his pie. It was blueberry. It seemed cold, having been in the refrigerator.

"All are ready?"

Caleb's room wasn't too far from the study and Martin's energy hadn't yet worn off. Another nap was far from his imagination.
"Sounds like an interesting trip," Martin added, "Don't get too excited, we found out all the dorm rooms are the same."

He listened to Caleb's story and stifled a laugh at the other Jason's unfortunate luck. "Poor Jason." Jason said, shaking his head.

He looked down at Lisa and then up at Martin and nodded. "What those two just said."

"Since it seems you have this under control, I'll gather some paper towels or something! We'll certainly need them!" For once without waiting for someone to comment he ran out of the room to the kitchen.

Jaden noticed Jordan and Claire as they approached the Tea Room. "Hey ladies! Where ya headed?" he called, walking past Miranda and Antoine. "Fancy running into you two."

Aris looked at her own pie, quickly unwrapping it. Cherry. "Heeeeeeh! Great!" She said, her eyes glinting.

She looked like she was about to jump the poor pie, but she held her ground until she was given a go.

Antoine walked calmly along, not breaking his stride as he spoke.

"Well, if this is a mansion, and this is our first dinner here, I'd think we'd have more then just steak or just salad." When Jaden called out to the girls Antoine perked up, looking ahead at the two and smiling.

"Alright. Starting the countdown...now!" she said, taking a deep breath.

"THREE..TWO..." she looked up at all of them and grinned, "...ONE...GO!"

As Cobalt entered the kitchen, alone for the first time, he let himself relax, clearly appearing drained. He paced much slower over to the sink in his hunt for paper towels.

"I see, that makes sense. And I suppose they can't display old buildings in museums either." Jordan laughed softly, "Hypnotists first," she paused half-way through opening the door when Jaden approached them.

"The Tea Room," she had to look down at her map first, "are you heading there too?"

At the moment Rachel said go, Aris bolted for the pie, grabbing it with her hands and shoving her open mouth (and face) into it unceremoniously. She was a rather quick eater, and had absolutely no shame at the ravenous noises she made as she ate. She couldn't stop a few locks of her hair from getting covered in pie.

Ruby tore off the foil, nearly cutting her fingers as she dove face first into the apple pie. She'd never eaten this much this fast but was sloppy and thorough as she devoured the pastry in front of her. Her eyes were shut but she knew her lipstick was long gone and replaced with smeared apple filling. She just didn't care.

She traveled to the zone every night when the techno beats pulsed throughout the club and as she gobbled up her pie, she slipped into the same familiar feeling of not knowing, just doing.

"The Tea Room? Sounds cool, but nah, we're going to the dining room." He was pointing with his thumb up the hallway where the girls had come from. "And hey, you two should join us!" he offered.

"It's almost time to eat anyway, might as well get a head start on the grub, right?"

"Is that so? What a horrid lack of individualism," Caleb criticized. "Do pardon me for my outburst. Personally, I struggle to find my muse in a bland environment. Do you not agree?"

Antoine walked past Jaden to the girls.
"The more the merrier, right?" he gave a very slight grin as he extended the invitation after Jaden.

Dark began breaking the pie apart ever so slightly with his fingers. He looked like he was trying to work around a mess, to no avail. He cupped a piece of pie in his hands, and shoved it into his mouth. However, he simply wasn't fast enough to compete with the other two.

"W-why as fast?" he said in between mouthfuls. "You will choke!" Dark was only about a third done with his pie when he had to give up. "No more! I stuffed!"

Miranda stayed in the back, giving the two other girls a warm smile and a small wave.

Claire seemed to shut down as the two groups converged. "Ungh... To think I almost forgot there were others walking around," she whispered to herself. She turned and stared at the wall instead of the other students. "I... I'll go if Jordan wants to," she decided, crossing her arms and pouting a bit.

"Eh, no environment's bland if you look close enough. Sometimes, you just gotta work to find the meaning in things." he said after a moment of thought. "Don't ya think so?"

"Ughhhh," Dakota rolled off of the couch, finding the floor to be equally uninteresting. At long last she hoisted herself up and made her way to the door, gritting her teeth in preparation for the small talk ahead. She could hear their loud voices again.

She walked towards the large group forming around the tea room. One of them even sounded familiar. "Almost time to eat?" she almost sounded excited.

Cobalt put a bright smile back on his face and went about ripping off pieces of paper towel and dampening them slightly in the sink, gathering an armful and walking back out with pep once again in his step.

Rachel watched the mayhem with glee. "Ooooooh, this is good." she beamed, She then cleared her throat.

"DARK NAKHTI HAS BEEN ELIMINATED! THE TWO REMAINING ARE RUBY NYLUND AND ARIS HANNO! IT'S A TIGHT RACE, AND BOTH THEIR PIES ARE NOW FEELING THE HEAT...IT'S NECK AND NECK!" she said, squealing and announcing everything that the remaining duo did.

Jordan was shocked by their sudden popularity.

"It is really that time already...?" She thought a bit, and soon sensed Claire's uneasiness, "I think we'll check out the Tea Room very quickly. Catch up once we've scanned the room." She shrugged slightly, "Just a quick look around."