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"Seriously? Giant fire breathing horses of doom? Where the hell did those come from? Actually. No. Don't answer that. Probably along the lines of those shadow things. Still. That's pretty wild. How do you even fight something like that?" he replied to Vanessa. Deryk was trying to imagine this all. His thoughts didn't dwell on giant ponies for long as Bix and a few others spoke about how everything was more or less a simulation and that they had been in those pods all this time.

"Wow, this is more like the Matrix than I originally thought," he remarked before pausing. Quickly, he felt the back of his head to make sure there weren't any sudden holes there. There were none.

"But that does explain how we were all able to die and still be alive right now. Kinda handy really. Just.. still would not want to experience death again, no."

"Yeah... I mean. I don't really recall any friendships being made during the trial, so what else could there be, other than hostility?" If he had made friends, he was sure he'd be glad to see them again. But no. The lack of friendly memories led him to believe that there was no such thing.

He raised his head off the desk, looking directly at Wilson when he mentioned his family.

"Yeah, but look at this way. At least you know you'll be doing something to protect them, eh?" Though to be fair, he had been thinking something along the same lines himself. It sucked really, that the cost to protect their loved ones was to give them up completely.

((Entering))

Wash had come into the room, and, like everyone else, had taken a moment to adjust to the harsh lighting.

As he took a seat somewhere near the front, he idly listened to the other's conversation. He didn't really remember anything about horses, or fighting. He wasn't sure why everyone here hated them so much anyway- he'd ridden a few as a child.

The answer to one of their questions, however, made his ears ring and his blood run cold.

They'd been out for months.

Months. He'd been dead to the world. He knew he would never see his family again anyway, but somehow losing that much time sleeping away hurt. He'd left to make a difference for them, not to just snooze while the world kept turning. And what was worse - he hadn't been in the trial with the others, had he? What if he'd been out for YEARS?

He gripped the edges of his desk until his knuckles turned white, and tried not to think of all the things he'd miss back home. Wash had a lot to lose, coming here, and he didn't fully realize it until that moment.

Eva really wished that the sulky boy would stop staring at her like that.

She supposed she had brought it upon herself by deciding to converse with him. Shifting uncomfortably in her seat, she gave a little nod when he told her his team. "Zeta, hm? I...I don't think I recall seeing any orange people either." Maybe in the lounge where she had appeared after she died? Eva wasn't so sure, though--eventually, there had been so many people in there that she had given up trying to keep track of all of them.

But really, no, she wished that he would stop staring at her like that. And would it kill him to look friendly or smil--oh god why was he smirking?

"...Yeah, I...I guess it was. Stepped on a mine, and the next thing I knew..." She made an action with her hands that...could have passed for an explosion. "At least it was quick."

"Don't think there's such a thing as a painless death," Eva responded, leaning her elbow on the table and propping up her chin as she stared back at him, "It probably looked instant to those watching, but I felt every millisecond of that explosion." It had burned like hell, though when Otto answered, she found herself considering whether a mine or a bottomless chasm was worse. She finally came to the conclusion that they both sounded pretty damn unpleasant.

God, this was a morbid topic to be talking so casually about. She wasn't entirely sure why she was sharing at all, but maybe it was because the common link that tied her to all of these people was...well, the trial on the island. They were just sharing their individual experiences to pass the time and get their mind off of other stuff.

...Stuff that Otto had just brought up.

Eva glanced at him in surprise, and then she looked away, her gaze falling onto the table. She didn't seem to notice the "babe" part--if she had, Otto probably would have earned a glare for that. Instead, she simply gave a halfhearted shrug. "Just...thought it was about time I stopped being scared and actually did something. I've been worrying my parents for years." She fell silent, and then looked back up to deflect the question back to him. "You?" Looked like that had been as much as she had been willing to share.

"Not that I realized that until after." She retorted, making a face at him. She probably wouldn have done a lot of things differently had she known that they didn't actually die.

She blinked at his short answer, and then sighed. Well, she wouldn't prod--perhaps it was too personal of a reason, or maybe it was just like everyone else's reason for coming here. Whatever the case, she wasn't so interested that she was going to pursue the matter, especially since Otto seemed like the type who would just become increasingly more defensive and irritated if she tried.

Nope, Eva wasn't really interested in setting off this ticking time-bomb. Being blown up once was enough.

When he broke the stare, she too looked away, her gaze sweeping over the others who occupied the room. Her eyes paused on one person--Wash--and she noted the way he was gripping the edges of the desk. Frowning, she lifted her head off of the palm of her hand. "Hey. Are you alright?" Maybe he was just nervous about everything that was happening?

Bix let them all process everything he said. The variety of reactions was pretty interesting to observe. It was confusion straight to determination straight back to confusion with a bit of worry mixed in. One of the guys seemed pretty sour though, a bit of an a** as far as Bix could tell, but maybe he was just a loner. Maybe he had a bad time during his trial? Only time would tell really.

"Beta-5.. uhh.. Gale? if it's Gale then yes. I know you wouldn't know that obviously.." Bix laughed as one guy inquired. Perhaps the hunter was acting a bit too easy going? Should he be more 'doom and gloom'? More solemn? "Anyway.. don't panic, chill out, calm down all those good things. You are definitely getting more info than we got already and I am sure someone is about to come in here. One of two things will happen: You will get a whole lot of info all at once.. OR.. you will get little to no info." The albino hunter shrugged.

"That's just how it works around here. There's quite a lot of people but we mostly stick together. I mean.. the ones from the last batch." They never got sent to do assignments with other groups so it was only natural.