Welcome to Gaia! ::

Cymbeline began giggling the moment the first trainee entered the room. And that was the end of any remotely serious discourse one would have with this heir. The Insanity crawling through her mind left her with little room for distractions, and the choice to acknowledge them or brush them off as just that was not within her abilities.

Especially here, where there was just so much Insanity!

Famine's heir eyed each of the trainees with sinister delight, the queen of the white walled room evaluating her new subjects as they stood below her. See, they were even offering sandwiches! How kind of the master hunter, their white, disgusting lord to offer his little roachy servants to guard and entertain her. Knights and court jesters all in one!

When she finally took the photos to examine, the laugh she let out was loud enough to rattle her ribs. The staccato clatter provided an eerie counterpoint. "BUSY ENOUGH, and still decorating!" She squealed in maniacal glee, nearly falling out of her chair with amusement. Suddenly her grin was evil, sinister, and her voice was teasing. "Did any of your little insects help?"

"I do miss that lair~ Oh but it is only that much better with the renovations! Nothing grows there, nothing survives, the blighted sands where all will wither and die, slowly... Parched and dry... " Cymbeline slipped into reminiscing, for that lovely home she had not seen in many years.

Thankfully Caelius's presence prevented any other trainees from rising to the provocation as he pushed against the table - just enough to send the Heir of Famine toppling back to the ground, chair landing noisily on top of Cymbeline. He walked over and placed one foot against the base of the chair, pinning the Heir to the ground further, her wing feathers practically splayed horizontal against the ground.

"Do you know what I enjoy about Insanity?" He leaned over, exerting more weight against the chair. "It makes you more naive. Your Insanity is reacting because your Fear is withdrawing, two sides to balance one equation. And while I would be flattered to say you are terrified of us, what you are truly terrified of is losing what you already have. Your status as an Heir. Your new role in Amityville, feeling as if you belonged again, after your Elders abandoned you after the Island. The reason they never contacted you again."

It was simple, the way the Famine Heir acted, to see right through it. She looked at the photos and bluffed through answers he already knew, sitting on her ivory tower, in a throne made of glass hoping the world around her would not come undone: that her clan had indeed moved on without her. That she was now an outcast.

"This is why I had no doubt that you would all follow me here, willingly. Because you were all afraid to lose that something else." While it looked like Caelius had half a mind to turn Cymbeline into the latest Famine Heir doormat, he finally stepped away, pulling out his cell phone. "I would like like to know the location of that map, Heir, if that even is your current status now." A pause. "Please keep our outcast restrained trainees, I do not want to return broken goods, especially ones fragile after damage."

He left just as promptly, one ear pressed against the phone.

Madison's eyes narrowed, trying to translate Famine's ramblings into something that made sense. She could not see the pictures clearly, but the glimpses of color as they changed hands were really all she needed. That and Cymbeline's words. Blighted sands, nothing growing, nothing surviving. Parched and dry.

Desert.

Next to her, Gale tensed, apparently coming to the same conclusion she had - and then Caelius was moving, shoving Cymbeline down off her 'throne'. What he said was interesting too. Famine had come willingly. Heirs, new roles, that school again. Always that school...

And then he left. Leaving them with the crazy. Wonderful. But they had an assignment. They had to have been left here for a reason. True, that reason might just be Caelius being an a*****e, but... maybe they could get something else out of it. He had mentioned taking notes and observation, hadn't he?

"Hey," she said, out loud, voice raised so that the crazy could hear. Casual, but with an edge as coldly amused as she could manage. "You want to play a game?"

... Talk about a gamble.

Entertain her? How the hell were they going to entertain her? She seemed to be the one that would be entertaining. "Yes, sir." Candace said anyway, putting her hands on her hips and just waiting to see what happened. A map? What map?

Decorating? Admittedly Candace was very curious how someone with no lungs or...organs to speak of was able to talk and laugh. She looked a little horrified by the sounds coming from this thing. Was that..place in the sahara her home?

I don't know what everyone's problem is. Like it. Candace grimaced. You would.

Candace snorted and tried not to laugh as Caelius knocked the chair off the table. Oh fun. Even if she did laugh the whole way down...ugh. Creepy. Ah, but Caelius. How delightful of him to be...Caelius. Yeah. Totally. He sure was good at saying things no one wanted to hear. But her words didn't seem all that upset. Sort of. "She has lost her damn mind.." Candace muttered, looking to each of her fellow trainees. Heh. Robot heart. That would explain so many things.

"Do you fear we will never die?"

Candace tensed, pursing her lips. They couldn't die. ********. Was she just quoting that beast from before or was it really true? She watched her wander off to the mirror like some vain little bird. Or maybe she was going to talk to her reflection. That'd be funny. I want to hug her. Candace chuckled and roller her eyes, Atropos' ridiculous request relaxing her slightly. No. There was a disappointed whine from the weapon and she left it at that. Can I hug her with my blades~? Oh...well..wait. Sorry, no. Caelius wouldn't be happy if we all killed her. There was another whine.

Madison spoke out and Candace raised a brow. "A game, Maddie?" Even with Jordan's hand on her shoulder Candace was curious to see what Madison was up to. Cymbeline did seem the playing type... "Don't you want to know what the game is first before you try to hold her back, Jordan?"

Madison hadn't needed the hand on her shoulder, true, but that didn't mean she'd minded it. When Jordan pulled away, she fought the urge to give Candace an irritated glare. "It's okay," she said, quietly, then looked back at the Horseman. Woman. Thing. And raised an eyebrow. "Not interested, sweetie?"

She could stand here all day. Oh yes.

At the mention of a game, Cymbeline's glance shifted, to regard the little humans in the mirror's dark reflection. Her smile didn't slip for a second.

"Haven't we been playing a game all along?" She muttered, gently, almost teasingly. "A thousand years long. Kings and queens, pawns, knights, bishops... Your world is a tantalizingly sweet checkerboard of light and dark, but is it light and dark who face each other on the battlefield?"

Cymbeline turned, casually striding to the very edge of her restraints where they crackled and sparked against her legs. But she paid them no mind. Pain was nothing, merely a tool used to coerce and deceive, the blackened, decaying pieces of oneself shrieking in agony as they died one by one, travelling through the body like the howl of a banshee, the echo of death itself... Pain was nothing~ And it was beginning to become unclear as to whether Famine's heir kept her distance because she was shackled there, or because she had no reason to go anywhere beyond her current reach.

Her smile was sickly sweet as she spoke again. "Do you know who stand opposite each other, little hunters?"

"I was thinking more like... truth or dare. You know it?" She answered the Horseman's grin with one of her own. "I bet it'd be fun~"

Marcus kept his eyes on the restraints, watching to see if they would go taught and she would lash out. Her voice was like nails on chalkboard in terms of phrases, taunting and mocking in a way. Madison was playing a dangerous game. He could see a dare now. Let her free of the chains. Yeah no, he'd not play the rape game thank you.

Chess, "It is Hunter versus Hunter, dark and light are irrelevant." They might be called hunters, but they were still humans. Still 'prey' who could give them FEAR. A glance at Gale and the suggestion she might be the queen. Blue eye narrowed with distaste towards the horseman. "You're not a queen, not even a knight or bishop or rook." No, she was like the rest of them. "You're just a pawn. A piece that on it's own is weak, rather useless and helpless, but if it can make it to the other side, if it can break past the defenses-" Then she could become whatever she wanted. It was a bit of a stretch he'd admit, but not an utterly illogical one. "Then you might actually be more then what you're worth."

He could hear Dis in his head, telling how to make it 'fun'. Half of the ideas...Marcus wasn't exactly fond of. "Madison, as long as there are some ground rules..." As in, like ******** if he'd let the dare of undoing her locks fly by. Yeah, no. Standing by the door, Marcus leaned back. "The cards are in your hand Madison, let's see if you can draw us an ace from this joker."

Pun time was fun time.