Just a note to say our story is coming. It's delayed, but it is complicated.

- Toby

A two Parter!

Co “T” y

I'm shivering and I can't help but wonder just how I got here. Well, I know it's my own damn fault, but if you had told me two years ago I'd be on a reality TV show to repent for killing someone, I'd ask if you were high or something. But that's exactly what happened.

Nothing that happens on Escape tends to surprise me anymore. I'm in a cave. I don't know how I got here, only that I'm tied up to Reesa. Of all people. She's entirely bad, I'll admit it, but she's annoying all the same because she doesn't know how to shut up. Plus she has to be the center of attention. If I'm having a conversation with anyone but her, she interrupts along with flaunting herself around in clothes barely meet dress code requirements for most places. When she's just being herself though, I don't mind her. And I think that's what frustrates me the most about her. She's not being herself most of the time. It's so obvious. I don't understand all of the insecurity issues.

“Too bad we weren't tied up the other way,” she says and I try to ignore her. She starts rubbing her back against mine and I don't want to think about what she's doing.

“Almost there,” she grunts, and I close my eyes and suppress a groan of disgust. Then I realize we aren't tied together anymore.

I pull away, stretch, and stare at her. “What did you do?”

“Sawed through the knot?” She rolls her eyes, “T, your mind wouldn't be in the gutter so bad if you did something about it. Let me know when, okay?”

“Sure thing,” I sigh and offer her my hand to help her stand. “Thanks.”

“No problem. Now, where are we and what's going on? I could have sworn I fell asleep in the hotel.”

“They'll do that a lot. Take you away in the middle of the night. I'm not quite sure how it works, but you know....” I trail off when I hear a sound not too far away. Sounds like footsteps and growling. I wonder briefly if maybe it's Toby all hulked out again, but it doesn't sound like his growl. It reminds me more of a bear. And of course, there are hunters creeping along the sides of the walls, and I think they're waiting to see what we're going to do. Then I notice they keep approaching this wall of sorts, only to back away. There's a slight glimmer to it. They're being held back by a force field.

“I think we need to go,” I say and drag Reesa to a door. But the bear growling is coming from there. I scowl and look around. There isn't really anywhere else for us to go.

She smiles, “I'm not scared of a teddy bear. Come on.” And she presses onward with more bravery than I would have imagined. I definitely get a lot more respect for her then.

We're wandering through wherever we are and it doesn't take long for us to step outside into the freezing snow. We're surrounded by hunters.

“You can't go this way,” one says. “In fact, you aren't supposed to escape.”

“That's the whole point of the show asshole,” Reesa sneers.

I shake my head, “she has a point.”

“Yes, but that isn't the game for this week. This week, you're the bait.” Another hunter says. A girl. I'm kind of surprised because I thought they were all boys and I've never heard them talk. I wasn't even sure if they were human up until now.

I groan a little, “I don't want to be bait. I-.”

“You don't get a say. You weren't supposed to wake up,” the girl says and comes up to me. She's smiling. It's kind of weird.

“Hey T, maybe if you bang her, she'll let us go? She's totally jonesing for you!” Reesa whispers.

I roll my eyes and open my mouth to say something when there's one swift movement to my shoulder blades and then I go out like a light.

To be continued....

Never Have I Ever

NEVER HAVE I EVER

Reality Blog

CORY

The new girl and I get back from the grocery store. Can I just say it's awesome to have my own body back again? I've missed it a lot. Being tall, and well, me! We got a surplus of cash for our prize from winning the latest challenge, as well as a bonus for picking Reesa up. Interesting girl, I should add. I'm not quite sure what to think about her yet, but then again, I don't know a whole lot about her. She doesn't like to talk about herself. One of those kind of people. She'll deter the conversation away from her by making jokes or hitting on me. Hitting on just about all the guys actually. We'd walk in the store and she'd be like, “do you see how yummy he is?” No, I don't. I don't look at other guys like that. But I'd nod and look at supplies instead. We'd need new car food and adequate entertainment. While we had about three grand to blow, we didn't spend anywhere near that much money. You know, just in case we'd want it later. We have credit cards from the show, but we don't know what the hunters track and use. They'd yet to get us while we were resting at the hotel, but we've always been careful all the same.

The most I know about Reesa is she's nineteen and a little hussy. That's all she talks about. Sex. Which makes me think she's either super insecure, or she's lying to make herself “look good”. Not quite sure what's going on in her head.

“Got a lot of stuff,” Toby says and comes up to check out the goods. “We got room service.”

“I see that.” There's a lot of food, but I'm not going to complain. I've missed being able to eat like normal. Something I'm still getting used to. The doctor's said I had to ease my way back into things, but I think I'm making good progress. Most of it is just getting used to being on my own again and not having do everything T's way. I should add that Coty has a sensitive stomach. He likes to eat a lot of foreign food, but it doesn't always agree with him. Pretty sure he's got some kind of exotic food allergy that's making him sick, but it sure is nice to eat a slice of pizza and not having it come back to bite me later just because he has an issue with grease or cheese or food.

I grab a mozzarella stick and indulge. T is working on a bowl of pasta in the living room chatting with Ipod. She's eating a burger that's the size of her head. There's ice cream on the counter too, cheesecake, brownies, cookies, I'm pretty sure they ordered the whole menu. But again, we were celebrating. We'd be getting our next clue tomorrow, but we weren't required to actually leave our hotel digs for at least three days. In fact, they encouraged us to take our time heading out, which of course makes me wonder what is up. Why encourage us to stay and not get on with the show? Still, I guess one more day can't hurt.

Yeah, with Ryan gone, I've kind of decided to be the one keeping us all organized. Only instead of ruling with an iron bitch fist like her, I'm a little more open to persuasion. I'm the oldest and wisest of the group. It makes sense.

“What's this?” Toby asks as he pulls out a bottle of vodka I had bought.

I look over at Reesa, “we thought we'd play a get to know you game. Ever heard of never have I ever?”

T stares are me, “So you want to get drunk tonight? Seems like a great idea. Being hungover with hunters chasing us.”

“Eh, you're such a goodie goodie you'll be perfectly sober. And that'll be good to have you drive since you get car sick anyway.” I point out. He sighs, but doesn't say anything more. I grab the bottle and show it to him, “Besides, it's coconut flavored!”

I don't mention that he'll probably have a high tolerance to the alcohol anyway. I've been drinking with his body for five years, so I got it built up pretty good. My own, I need to work on.

“Come on!” Reesa says and digs around the hotel room for some glasses so we can pour shots. Vodka wasn't exactly my first choice, but she insisted. I don't know if she knows what she's doing, but I got tired of arguing with her.

We all sat down in the den area of the hotel room and took a glass. I put about a shots worth in each.

“All right, who goes first?” I ask.

“Whoever had the stupid idea to do this,” T says. Wow, he's grumpy today. I wonder if I missed something while I was gone between him and Ipod. They've got some kind of weird drama. Personally I think they just need to hook up already and move on with their lives. It's clear they wanna bang.

Reesa grins, “Never have I ever had sex.” Wow she's bold and she takes a drink from her shot. I do mine, and watch the rest of the room. Coty looks like he's about to crap himself, Ipod is unamused, and Toby is discretely trying to drink from his glass while no one is looking.

“You do know how to play this right?” I ask him, because last I checked the kid was still pure and virginal.

Toby rolls his eyes, “Yes, I know how to play. What the hell do you think we do back home on the weekends? Drinking games.” Though from what I remember from my talks with the kid, he didn't get out much because of his monster 'condition'.

“Rock on man!” I want to congratulate him but it's clear he's still kind of embarrassed like most newbs are. Being young adds to it too. We'll talk later. I'm sure he'll want to.

Reesa eyes my brother and smirks, “now I know who's corruptible.”

Coty raises an eyebrow and shifts in his chair, kind of towards Ipod, like he's going to use her for cover. Reesa just blows him a kiss and looks at me.

“All right, never have I ever been arrested,” I say and sit back and watch as everyone takes a nice drink.

“How do you know when you're drunk?” Toby asks and blinks a couple of times.

Reesa giggles, “When you have to ask that question, light weight!”

“I'm not a light weight, I was just curious. Gosh, it's only been like two shots. That's nothing. Not a big deal. Chill out. Pour me another!”

I do so, and wait for someone else to ask a question.

“Never have I ever ridden a horse.” Ipod says. Me and Toby take a shot, and everyone else is staring silently.

“What? I went to farm camp,” I say. “Didn't mom make you go?”

“Horses freak me out,” Coty mumbles.

“They're sexy,” Reesa says. “I just never got the chance to since I lived in the city.” She's still making kissie faces at my brother. I don't think she's caught on yet, or maybe she doesn't care that he's not interested.

He sighs and puts down his cup. “Never have I ever been a slut.”

I raise an eyebrow and pour a shot, but then add another three on top of that because it's only appropriate and fitting. If anyone's a slut, it's me. Reesa pouts when she picks up the bottle and finds it basically empty. She drinks whatever remains in a rather suggestive manner and then puts in down on the table.

“Well, that was fun,” she says and gets up, making sure to give us all a flash of her panty covered hoo-ha that's underneath her super short skirt. One of her hands trails over Toby's hair as she walks into the kitchen. “Enlightening. I told you we'd need at least three bottles though babe.”

“Not your babe,” I mumble. Coty is glaring at me from across the room. I shrug. What am I supposed to do about her? It's not like I can kick her off the team, and ditching her would not go over all too well...I don't think.

Toby sighs and looks at his empty glass. “I miss Ryan.”

“Let's give her more of a chance before making any decisions or judge her.” She shoots the look at Coty. I swear, sometimes they act like they're dating.

She's right. We shouldn't be making too many judgment calls. I still believe it's all an act. I wish she'd share more of her story. Alas, that's something she'll hopefully volunteer on her own in the future.

TOBY

The break was too short. I wanted more time with Moira than I had, but at least I can say we made the most of the brief time we did. Or maybe it only feels brief. Time flies right? Isn't that the saying? All I know is one night I fell asleep, all happy, and snuggling with her, and the next I woke up, upside down mind you, in the middle of a hedge garden complete with creepy animal shapes. A lion's ass is right in front of my face.

“Ugh,” I groan and slowly do the most painful ab crunch in the world as I reach up to undo the knots around my ankles. They're pretty crappily done, so I'm surprised I'm even able to stay tied to the tree thing. I don't know what it is I'm connected to. It's a plant. Maybe one of the animals? All I know is the blood is rushing to my head and it hurts like hell. What I don't realize is that once my ankles are free, there's nothing keeping me stuck to the tree which means guess who fell to their ass and bruised their tailbone? Me.

“That was smart,” I hear a guy mumble from nearby. I look over and see some blond dude I've never met before in my life. Something about him is familiar though. Next to him is an unconscious T, and next to him is Ipod. She's awake, but disoriented.

“Who are you?” I look at the new guy.

“Uh, Cory?” He rolls his blue eyes and shakes his head then T. “Bro, wake up. You okay?”

“Yeah,” T says with a soft groan. “I'm okay. You?”

I stare at Cory? And T, and I see the resemblance, but I can't believe it. “You got your body back!”

I'm thrilled. I like Cory. He's cool people, and now I can talk to him on a regular basis instead of on a schedule. Plus it'll be good to have another body. We were at a disadvantage only having four physical members of the team before. But then I notice someone else is missing.

“Uh, where is Ryan?”

That's when the undeniable voice of Chance Cagney could be heard over a multitude of speakers.

“Hello Team Introversion with a three. It's good to have you back for a second go. Now I'm sure you notice you're not quite at home anymore. Oh, and there's someone new and someone old and someone missing. Now, you have two choices. You can take the smooth, easy path to the exit right in front of you and continue on as if nothing was wrong, or you can find your fifth team member in the maze to your left. Keep in mind though that it is littered with hunters who are eager to taze and torment you. The choice is yours. You have about five seconds to get up before the doors open for the hunters.”

“Well, we can't leave Ryan behind,” I say. As much as I'm torn on if I like her or not. We can't because she's been a part of the team since the beginning. It would be weird without her. Besides, sometimes I do like her. She's not always a whiny bitch.

The others all nod, and I'm glad we're all on the same wavelength. I guess that's why we work well together despite being so different and dysfunctional. We take the left, the doors opening for the hunters to come in right as T staggers out behind everyone else. Kind of worried about the guy because he's not quite with it yet. I mean, I had just woken up and I felt fine enough to run.

There are arrows pointing, in various different directions. And they're different colors too. It takes me a moment to realize that they lead down different paths. Maybe each color is a different trail for us to take? Eenie Meanie Minie Moe has us going down the green one. It takes us deeper into the maze, and that has to be right since Chance said it was going to be long and complicated. Boy was it.

Let's just say there was a pit of some rather gross looking mud that reeks like what I imagine the bog of eternal stench from Labyrinth smells like. Nice touch producers, I gotta say, I'm impressed that was added in. There's a cage around us, I can hear hunters coming in from behind. The mud looks too thick to swim through and too deep to simply walk across. The only option we have is to climb over it via the cage. Fun times right? Cory leads the way. Climbing up and dangling upside down like he's on the monkey bars and crawling across. T is next, and he decides to go about it with just his arms. Guy is a lot stronger than I give him credit for. Ipod looks at me and I motion for her to go first.

“In case something happens. Then I can get you,” I say with a nod. I can feel my body getting ready to start hulking out on me. Not something I look forward to doing ever, but controlling myself was better. And Ipod...she's good at keeping me calm. I know I'd be able to help her no matter what.

She climbs up, going about it in a similar way as Cory. I decide to try out my upper arm strength. Probably a bad idea because I see a laser shoot past me then and down below are a number of hunters.

One actually climbs up the grate after us and I'm more or less amazed at how fast this guy can move. It's not natural. The hunter closes in on me, and in about three seconds he leaps at me, knocking me off the grate and into the muddy pit.

The mud surrounds me. It smells and I gag, taking in the disgusting goo like substance into my mouth. The hunters hands are all over me, I can feel my body start to change, my mind going fuzzy and blank. I'm pretty sure they like to make me freak out just so that I can turn into the monster inside of me. It's great for ratings.

Naturally, several hours later I return to my normal state of mind. Like usual, I can't remember much of anything that I did during my monster mayhem. My eyes open and I'm looking up at a perfect blue sky. A girl is leaning over me, and for a moment I think I see Moira.

“I missed you,” I say quietly. Then I realize it's not her, and I start to miss her even more.

The girl is someone I've never seen before in my life. She's got red hair, one of those baby doll faces, and perky boobs that are popping out of her shirt. The only reason I notice them is because they were passing out of her shirt.

“Aww shucks, you missed me?” A soft southern twang says. “And we haven't even been properly introduced.”

“She's not Ryan,” I say. “What the hell!”

“My name is Reesa, so that's kinda close right?”

“Get off of me,” I mumble.

“She's our new team member. Ryan went home.” Ipod's voice comes into my mind.

I stare at her and shake my head. “Great.”

“We have our next clue,” Cory adds. “And keys to a hotel. Something about a reward being there.”

“Cool, you can catch me up there.” I didn't want to hear about being a monster then. All I wanted to do was get back, log onto my laptop, and make sure Moira was okay. If Ryan got sent home, maybe she got to stay back too?

Finale!

RYAN

"No Mom, I'm not coming home during the break...yes beacuse I'd rather spend time with Moira." Toby paced during his conversation. I guess this answered where he was going. Whatever he wanted I suppose.

"What about you?" T asks me. "Going home?"

"No," I say, because there's nothing for there anyway. Though I don't know where I'm going to go, and I hope he offers some kind of guidance.

"Ipod?"

"No" She signs. I know that word. "I'm going to travel." She finishes in thought speech.

"Same." Coty says.

"You should come with me." I know she's offering it to both of us, but she really only means him.

"I'll catch up with you somewhere if I can? The producers want to have some kind of a meeting with me? And they said I might not be done with whatever they have planned until a week or so." He shrugs. I'm a little disappointed. I want to spend more time with him and his brother, but I'm also sure the producers have something good for him since he was voted the MVP.

Ipod stares at me. "Just us girls then?"

I think this over, part of me wanting to be alone. At the same time, this would be good for me. Female time is always a plus, and I need to get my head in order before we start our next round of challenges.

I nod. "Sounds great."

Voting Time

Voting Time
(continued at Team Promethiad)

Toby walked to the bonfire with the rest of his team. He was tired, but glad to be

done with this final challenge. The bonfire in the middle of the jungle was all too familiar

to Survivor and he couldn't help but laugh about that one. Ryan gave him a weird look

for it of course, but she didn't have a sense of humor. Both her and Ipod clung to Cory.

He couldn't help but wonder if they were avoiding him because of his

second occurrence of turning into the monster. They were being more weird than usual.

All of those feelings faded however when he saw Moira enter with her team.


It was time for voting. Moira was relieved that the challenges were over-for now.

After this, they would be getting a break. They didn't know for how long. They were all

tired and a light film of soot covered their skin. The volcano was still erupting and the air

was heavy with the soot.


Moira laughed as she entered the clearing where a giant bonfire was blazing. It

reminded her all too much of another show. She looked around for Toby's team and

smiled as she met his eyes across the fire. She wandered over and sat down next to him,

not caring what either of their teams thought. "Looks a little familiar, doesn't it?" she

murmured to him.


"Yeah. I'm kind of hoping I get voted off the island." He sighed and watched as

Chance Cagney came out, looking as chipper and annoying as ever.


"Congratulations! You have survived our first run of challenges. We do in fact

have a winner but we would like to extend the opportunity to change things up a bit. As

you know, the rules originally said only one could win. We are willing to offer all of you

a chance at the thing you desperately desire. The catch? You have to compete for longer,

and we decide how long that will be. Majority rules will be the deciding factor. I will

hand each of you some paper and you may write your decision now as well as who you

think should be declared the ultimate player from your team."


As Chance passed around the paper and pens, Moira wondered what she should

do. If she stayed, that might be more of an opportunity to be with Toby--as long as he

stayed as well. If he left now, he might not get "healed" of his monster power. Making

sure no one was paying attention, she leaned over and whispered in Toby's ear: "What do

you want to do want to do?"


He sighed, unsure of what to do or think. "If it means you being okay, I'm willing

to keep going for as long as it takes." He wrote his vote, putting Ipod as his team's most

valuable player. She'd done so much for him.


Moira quickly wrote down her vote to stay. If Toby was staying, she was staying.

She paused as she tried to think about the most valuable teammate. Definitely not Lily or

Jesse. Neither one had really done anything. It had to be Will. He had saved her when she

was trapped in the funhouse at the fair, and he had come back for her and carried her

through the desert when she had fallen and sprained her ankle. She had to vote him MVP,

despite the growing drama between them. She sighed as she wrote down his name,

hoping it wouldn't come back to haunt her.


He watched as the others put their votes in the box and sighed, reaching for her

hand to hold her close. He needed the extra comfort right now.


"Well teams, it's unanimous! Everyone wants to continue with the competition,"

Chance announced, looking gleeful.


This actually surprised Toby. He'd have thought for sure that at least Ryan would

want to pick a winner and bail. He squeezed Moira's hand, unsure of what this would

mean for them now. What happened next?


"You have three months to prepare. See your families. See the world. Whatever

you do, figure out why you're here." Chance said.

Volcano!

IPOD

T and Ryan are missing, and all Toby and I have is a small blip of a GPS coordinate and a map to find them with. Toby is worthless at reading maps. I'm a little more than worthless at it. The whole time he drives all I can think about are Chance's words.

"I'd hurry because the longer you wait, the less treasure you will find, and I'd hate for the next time you see your comrades to be in a hospital."

Guilt racks my stomach because I don't want to last thing T hears from my being something so angry. Okay, so he's not going to die or anything, but I still pissed him off to the point where he left and thus he was put in harms way. He wouldn't have been taken otherwise.

I can't believe I was such an idiot and lead him on. Not like I did it on purpose or anything. Still, I feel like the scum of the earth. I have a boyfriend, so why should I care what he does or doesn't do with Ryan? I believe him when he says they only slept, but it's not my business. I don't care. I don't. He's a great guy, sweet, and hot as hell, but I have a boyfriend. We've been together for over a year. I love him, and when I get back the first thing I'm going to do is finally pounce him. So yeah, Coty can do whatever he wants with whoever. Even if I'm way cuter than Ryan, and he could do way better. Again though, not my business.

Toby speeds like a demon and we find ourselves at the base of a rather impressive mountain. And it's smoking.

He groans. "Volcano."

I sigh. Of course we'll be going out with a bang.

Where are you? It's a vain effort, but it's worth a try. I take one of those hunter demobilizing flashlights and hand it to Toby before taking one for myself. I had a feeling we'd need them. I gesture for us to move forward through the forest covering the volcano. The map said to head due North from where the GPS parked us. And we hiked. Neither of us said a word. Occasionally Toby hummed but for the most part it was completely silent. Which is good because I needed to hear.

"Team one is coming into position. Ready your weapons."

I swallowed hard. Weapons?

"Toby?" He turns to face me. "They're going to hurt us."

"I'll keep you safe." He whispers before taking my hand and pushing forward. I think this is the first time I've ever seen him be so mature and caring before. Maybe he realized though that he had to finally man up. And that's when the bullets started flying at us. None of them hit us, but I could hear them whiz by my head, along with the loud bang from the gun firing. "What the hell?"

"Run." I suggest, and agrees because he starts bolting, dragging me along with him. I struggle for a moment and trip over branches and rocks on the ground. Finally I start catching up and keeping my footing.

"Ow!" Toby screams and grabs at his arm. "I've been hit!"

It's then I realize they're using rubber bullets on us. I see it bounce off of him, and I know enough to know these hunters aren't far away from us.

"We need to find a big rock. That's what's on the map!"

"I keep getting hit by...ow!" Poor guy is taking the entire attack basically, and then I realize what they're trying to do and I gasp, especially when I notice Toby's arm starting to change shape and color. His skin is turning into a dark shade of purple, and his hands are no longer soft and fleshy but rough and like leather.

I let go. "We should separate. Lead them away so I can get the others."

"What are you...." He stops and stares at his arm. "No, not now!"

"Focus. I know you can."

"I'll try but...." He trails off and veers off to the right, out of my sight. I never know what he's going to say, and all I can hope for is a clear run to the rock. I see it, and there's no one in sight. I can barely make out the entrance of a cave. I venture forward and into the dark. I have the light from my phone, and a mini key-chain flashlight to guide me.

"T? Ryan? Can you hear me?"

"Ipod?" I hear Ryan's voice echo through out the cave. I do my best to pinpoint the direction of the source and continue moving forward.

Then I see movement from the side. It's subtle and I almost miss it, but thank goodness I did notice it because when I saw it move again I also saw the familiar black suit of the hunter. With my anti-hunter device ready, I'm set to point and shoot at anything that tries to get in my way. I blast the hunter, and listen to the satisfying thud on the ground. Moving a few feet forward, I see Ryan's dainty feet, and a slouching pant leg that looks like it belongs to T.

I rush over and get to work, untying them. T is unresponsive to any shaking or pleading I give him. He's out like a light.

"We need to carry him out." Ryan says and slips an arm under him. I do the same, and I'm surprised he's not as heavy as I thought he would be. He's a boy. I thought they were all like, three million pounds.

"Where's Toby?" She asks.

"Changing." And I hope he's keeping the rest of the hunters distracted because I don't know what we're going to do if they appear now. Of course, anything bad that can happen, will. At the front of the cave is, I kid you not, five hunters.

"Shit." Ryan whispers.

We stop and stare. The hunters have guns pointing at us. All hell breaks loose in a matter of seconds because we're shot at, the bullets pelting us wake up T, who flails and basically punches me in the arm hard. I drop him, he covers his head and a strange psychic shield covers us. We're protected but still out numbered and the hunters move forward towards us. That's when the cavalry shows up. Toby in all of his monster glory stomps in, grabs the hunters and tosses them out as though they weighted nothing. Then he continues towards us. Ryan cowers back, protectively leaning over Coty.

I flinch as I watch this, unsure of why exactly, but instead of hiding from him I move forward.

"Thank you Toby. You should come back to us now. We miss you."

He growls, reaching out to grab me. I take his enormous clawed hand and give it a squeeze. He recognizes me, I know, I can tell by the way he looks at me. "Go home."

"Yes, we'll go home now. Then you can rest. I promise."

The Set Up

N/A

TOBY

I wake up with a groan. Yeah, I was kind of up late last night talking with Moira online. I would have much rather preferred to do it in person, but her team was kind of uptight and mental. It's not fair because she's so close and I can't even see her? What kind of bullshit is this?

We're all staying in a suite which is nice because it means we each get our own room. It's nice to not have to share a bed for a change or sleep on a couch. My own, big, large, glorious bed. Sigh. I pass Ryan's bedroom on the way to the bathroom and notice she's sharing it. What's even more curious is that she and Coty are basically spooning. His arms are around her, cuddling her tightly, and she's all passed out contentedly. I wouldn't have pinned them as an item at all. I shrug, and go to take a piss. That's when things got a little chaotic.

"What happened? What am I doing here?" I hear T practically yell. Guy's having a meltdown. So maybe it wasn't him who was into her. I guess it was the other one. Even that didn't make sense though because Cory is so...cool. Really, he could do a lot better than Ryan.

"Nothing happened." She says.

"We didn't...."

"No, we didn't do anything. Just fell asleep. I had a bad night, Cory helped me through it. That's it."

Uh huh, not sure I'm buying it as completely innocent. I mean, maybe nothing happened, but something happened if you know what I mean.

"I-." T starts. "Ipod!"

That's when I got out of the bathroom just in time to see him bolt out of Ryan's room, grab a hold of Ipod who's on her way to the kitchen, and they're signing something fierce. I can pick up a few words. I'd been trying to study up on the language, but it's fast and hard to follow sometimes. Most of it is common sense though. She's pissed, that much is clear by the huge frown on her face. He's desperate because his eyes are wide and almost pleading as he explains whatever to her. I'm pretty sure I see something that resembles "boyfriend", and I get the jist of the fight.

T's got it bad for Ipod. I can tell by the way he gawks and looks all dopey every time they talk. I think she's interested in him too, but in denial. If it wasn't a big deal that he woke up in Ryan's bed because she had a boyfriend and didn't care, she wouldn't be so damn pissed. That's just my opinion though. No one has to listen to me.

Finally T responds verbally as Ipod turns away from him. "I know, but I thought something was happening. You can't tell me I'm the only one noticing."

I don't hear her reply because she's no doubt doing her thought speaky thing and guarding it well. He's right though. He's not the only one noticing either.

He sighs and leaves the room. "Well if it ever does matter, that's what really happened. Just thought you should know."

She stomps off to the balcony, slamming it shut on her way out. I get why she's frustrated. She's got a boyfriend. From what I know of the guy, he sounds kind of like a dick, but she says she loves him anyway. They have a pretty deep history together after all, but T and her obviously have a super tight bond. Whatever right?

Ryan comes out and she's all ready to go and run or something. I guess we have some free time since we haven't seen any instructions yet, so she leaves the room. I decide now is a good time to take advantage of the shower, and take a nap. Yeah, I know, I just got up. Whatever.

I wake up several hours later to Ipod shaking me.

"Something is wrong. I haven't seen T or Ryan for a while."

"Maybe they're getting frisky." I tease. She scowls and looks like I just stabbed her in the stomach with a knife. Yeah, she's into him. "I'm kidding. They're probably each doing whatever."

"We need to find them. We have an envelope. It's time."

"Oh!" I get up immediately and go to the kitchen where a large manilla envelope is waiting. She didn't open it without us, but I wasn't going to hold back. Hello, it could be important.

"Ryan isn't going to like this." But she doesn't stop me either.

I shrug, obviously I don't care. I tear it open and dump out a bunch of papers. They're maps. Inside is a DVD.

I stick it into our entertainment system and we both watch. Chance Cagney appears on our screen.

"Aloha Introversion with a three! I hope you are enjoying your stay in beautiful Hawaii. I'm sure by now you are wondering where your other team members are. The hunters gathered up anyone who left the hotel room today and brought them to X marks the spot. I'd hurry, because the longer you wait, the less treasure you will find, and I'd hate for the next time you see your comrades to be in the hospital. Aloha."

The screen went black and I turned off the TV.

"They're missing?" I ask Ipod. She bites her lip and nods. We had to rescue them before they got hurt. We did. This makes me more than a little nervous. Ryan and T were always super dependable, and a lot stronger players than I had ever anticipated them being. Our whole team as a whole functioned a lot better when we were all together and on the same page I noticed. Now it was just me and Ipod. The guy who had an unreliable power, and the girl who couldn't communicate effectively. Crap.

I go to grab my bag and start filling it with all of the necessary stuff. I'm determined. "Let's do this."

Thickening

"Keep me safe inside your arms like towers.
Tower over me."

CORY

We go to our hotel room and it’s late. Ryan basically demands we all stay in tonight despite most of us wanting to go out and play. We need to focus, or something. I think it’s lame. For most of us, this is our first time in Hawaii! It’s beautiful here, and we have to spend our first night, possibly our only free night, in a hotel room? Bogus. Something about her is off though and has been ever since we stepped onto the airplane.

“Hey, you okay?” I ask her when I finally get her alone. She’s unpacking her bag, just enough. She always unpacks it just enough.

“Yes.” is her stiff reply.

“You don’t seem it.”

She pauses and then stares up at me. “Do you remember me Cory?”

I stare back at her, shocked and confused because I didn’t think she’d make the connection from that night. Of course I had, but I didn’t want to say anything to her about it. Especially not without my body.

“Cory? I know you’re there. You’re glowing.”

“I know. Yes, I remember you.” I say, not allowing anymore silence to pass between us. I can’t avoid this forever after all.

“Why didn’t you say anything to me earlier?”

“What, that I was the guy who hooked up at you at a club, what, three years ago?” I shrug. “I didn’t think you’d care, or remember either.” Truth was, it was because I was afraid. Most of my hook ups I dont’ remember, but Ryan is more or less unforgettable. Along with that, she’s the last girl I was with in my own body. Of course I’m always going to remember that night. But I don’t say anything about any of this. I’d rather not have her pity.

“Of course I remember.” She mumbles. “You say that like I hook up with lots of random men.”

“I don’t know. I tend to not want to assume either way when it comes with that sort of thing. The point of the hook up is to be anonymous. After all, I didn’t know your name until now.” I say softly.

“Yes, I know.” She sighs. “Never mind, forget I mentioned it then. Go back to your anonymous world.”

“Ryan.” I sigh as well and I go to put a hand on her shoulder. She stares up at me and she has tears in her eyes. I don’t get it. At all. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m overwhelmed. It’s nothing.”

“Talk to me.”

“I’ve said everything I have to say to you.”

I sigh, and pull her into a hug and she starts to cry. Big, tough girl Ryan, crying in my arms. I frown and sit her down on the bed with me. She curls in and just sobs. Thankfully everyone else is away, so she doesn’t have to feel anymore embarrassed. I mean, I don’t know for sure, but just what I know of Ryan, I know she wouldn’t want everyone else to see. She probably didn’t even want me to see, so in a way I feel kind of honored.

We lay back in bed, she’s crying, I’m holding her, and it’s kind of nice. it’s silly, i know, but this is the sort of thing that always had me wanting a relationship. Being needed and thought of as important. It’s not like have commitment issues. I’d commit if I found the right girl. She could be that, but right now it’s kind of hard to have that sort of relationship when I don’t even have my own body.

“If it makes you feel better, I was going to go back to find out who you are when I get hit with the car.” I say quietly. “I wanted to know you.”

She stops for a moment and our eyes meet. “That was how you became like this?”

I nod, and she breaks down into more tears. Shit, that wasn’t what I was going for. “I-.”

“Don’t apologize.” She says in-between sniffles. “Please don’t say anything more.”

So i don’t. Instead I hold her until she falls asleep, and somewhere in there I fell asleep as well. I didn’t realize what big of a mistake that was until the next morning when Coty took over. But that is a whole other story.

The One Where Everyone Finds Out

THE ONE WHERE EVERYONE FINDS OUT

Continued at: http://promethiad.blogspot.com

Moira smiled to herself as she answered Toby’s email. It was good to hear from him
finally. It felt like forever since they had run into each other at the carnival. She was
afraid to hope that she might run into him in Hawaii. It was a big island. Even if his team
was sent there, it wasn’t likely that they would be able to find each other.

She wondered if she had time to run to the bathroom before takeoff. They had slept in the
car the night before with Adrian driving and she hadn’t gotten a chance to brush her hair
yet. She grabbed a hairbrush out of her bag and stopped a flight attendant, who told her
to go ahead but hurry up. She stood up and headed for where the flight attendant had told
her to go.

Toby was just finishing in the bathroom when he opened the door and ran straight into
her. “M...Moira?” he asked quietly. He almost had to pinch himself because this was
almost too good to be true.

“Oh my God, you’re here!” She threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly
without stopping to think. She pulled back quickly and looked around to make sure none
of her teammates had noticed. They were sitting too far back to see. “You’re being sent to
Hawaii too?”

“Yes,” he said, and ran his hands down her arms. “I'm here, with you. We should sneak
and sit in two other seats together! This is a long flight you know.” He winked, being
playfully suggestive of course.

She looked around again. The flight wasn’t full. They might be able to manage it. “Let’s
do it! But do you think we can sneak past everyone?”

He shrugged. “I don't see why not? My team is kind of oblivious and dumb. I don't think
they'll mind. If anything, I'll say you were a random hook up?” Though he did hate that
idea too.

She lifted an eyebrow. “Random hook up, huh?”

He shrugged. “I figured it'd get one of them to sympathize with me and not ask too many
questions. But I can tell them you're my girlfriend? I'm not scared of the truth.”

“Me either.” She hesitated for a moment. “The show seems to know about us anyway.

Who cares if they know, right? Besides maybe it'll keep Lily off my back. She thinks I'm
making you up.” She laughed. “And maybe it'll get Will to stop freaking hitting on me!”

“Oh well in that case, let's make it a show?” He said and smirked. “Just a thought.”

“Sounds good to me. What do you have in mind?”

“Come sit with me.” He said and grabbed her hands in his own. “We'll take it from
there.”

She felt a jolt when he took her hands. It felt so good to be with him again. “I can see the
look on Lily's face already when she sees me with you.”

He laughed. “I mostly just want to kiss you because I missed you so badly.”

She smiled. “Then by all means, let's remedy that.”

He nodded, and took her hand. With slight hesitation, he leaned in to kiss her lips gently.

The 'put on seatbelts' light turned on again and they were being ushered back to seats
so they could get ready for take off. He wasn't going to complain about relocating since
he got stuck next to two loud and annoying kids. He did find a seat nearby all the same
though.

As Moira followed Toby through the plane, she couldn't help but laugh at the shocked
look on Lily's face as they passed her. No doubt she'd be back at their seats harassing
them as soon as the seatbelt light went off.

She sat down next to Toby, still holding his hand. It was going to be a long flight to

Hawaii and she couldn't believe that she got to spend it with him. She buckled her
seatbelt and then hesitantly leaned her head against his shoulder. She didn't think he'd
pull away, but being around him again made her feel nervous--in a good way.

He put his arm around her, obviously staking his claim on her, and a lot of the nerves he
felt last time when they were together were no longer there. The more time he spent with
her in person, the easier it was to have those feelings of them belonging together.

“This is my first plane ride,” he whispered to her.

“Actually, mine too,” she admitted. “I'm sort of scared. I'm glad you're here.”

He nodded and gave her hand a squeeze. “Well, this is the first of many firsts we'll
experience together?”

She smiled and squeezed his hand back. “I like that idea.”

He closed his eyes as they got ready to take off, deciding to think about what he'd
implied, hoping he hadn't just opened up a bad can of worms, instead of thinking about
the plane and how it could easily blow up in mid-air.

She snuggled closer to Toby as the plane began to head down the runway. Her entire
body went tense as the plane lifted off the ground. “We're going to be all right, aren't we?
We're gonna get there okay?” She needed his reassurance.

“Duh,” he said, and soon they were in the air and he could relax a little more. If he didn't
think about it, it wouldn't bother him. The seatbelt sign turned off.

Sure enough, the moment the seatbelt light turned off, Lily came marching down the
aisle. “So, who's this, Moira? Abandoning your team for some random guy?”

Moira rolled her eyes. It was finally the time for truth. “No Lily, this is my boyfriend
Toby.”

He waved, grinning at her. “Hello.” She was right, the girl really was obnoxious.

Lily glared at him. “And here I thought she was making you up.” She looked at

Moira. “So, how did you manage to arrange for your little boyfriend to be on our flight?”
“This wasn't planned. Totally a coincidence,” Moira answered.

Lily frowned. “I don't understand.”

Toby rolled his eyes, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to bother explaining it all. Would
she even understand? “No she's not making me up. We've been dating for what? Six
months? Eight? What do you want to count as our first date? When I saved you from
the troll, or when you fried the warlock in the caves?” He stared at Lily, daring her to
challenge him.

Moira laughed. “The troll works.”

“What are you two talking about?” Lily asked. “You sound crazy.”

Moira sighed. She would have to spell it out for her. “Toby's on the show too. That's why
he's on the plane.”

Lily's eyes grew wide. “The guys are so not going to like this!” She quickly turned and
fled back up the aisle to her seat.