"I thought we told you Shyest over there had to do it, Spangly? You can flirt all you want, there ain't no guys gonna' help you." the cowardly guard said.

Deathstar sneered at one of the guards, looking at him with disgust. Deathstar tore a piece of cloth from her burlap dress, and tied it around her face to somehow block the smell of rotting flesh. She stood back as Ted dropped the body into the deep hole, "If I have to bury another body...."Deathstar said outloud venting her frustration and anger by shoveling the dirt over the body rapidly. "If I die, just burn me, spare me the shame of body being buried in this hell hole" she stop shoveling for a moment trying to catch her breathe.

"You know, lupus. It's a disease that causes your immune system to attack healthy tissues and cells instead of sick ones." Pitbull said.

"Sorry to hear about your mom, hoping living well with the disease and all, do she know your in here?" Deathstar asked while still resting from digging.

"ah. That's a shame, because that was a really cool name. Sorry about your mum." Ted thought over others from Fever's list. "How about Lycan? It's simple, informative, and pretty much the same, without being a disease. Well, a real one." Ted shrugged at Deathstar's comments. "I somehow doubt that the guards are going to allow us to play with fire. I think we should focus on getting out of here and setting the guards on fire." Getting out... it seemed like it shouldn't be possible, but there were other X-men out there, and they were probably rallying other mutants to them. They could well be on their way right now.

Haddix shrugged at the others' attempts at sympathy. "Don't worry about it," he said. He spat on the ground and stomped the head of his shovel into the dirt

"If I die, just burn me, spare me the shame of body being buried in this hell hole"

He couldn't help but smile at the girl's utter detest of this place. He understood it on a certain level, but even after this short time together, he could see the glaring difference between himself and Deathstar. Not that it would stop him, necessarily...

Dear God, man! Even here you're thinking of sex!

Well, yeah, but a month of being around all dudes will do that to ya...

He shook his head in order to keep from staring at the girl and began shoveling again. He took up humming a tune, eventually singing lowly and quietly to himself: "I remember Dublin City in the rare old times..."

"How about Lycan?

"Sounds okay I guess..."Deathstar said with a puzzled look on her face. Deathstar couldn't focus on the conversation because her mind was in a different place, something or somebody was in her head, and Deathstar wasn't the kind of person to reveal her emotions. She took another slow glimpse of Pitbull , she couldn't help herself, he was attractive and his fearless personality kept Deathstar's red eyes on him. Why do I fall for these type guys, Deathstar thought to herself while staring into space in a daze.

"I somehow doubt that the guards are going to allow us to play with fire. I think we should focus on getting out of here and setting the guards on fire."Ted said snapping Deathstar back to reality. "Uh! yea!....focus...fire...right!",Deathstar wasn't paying attention and it was evident.

"I remember Dublin City in the rare old times..."

"Dublin City!, never been there, how is it there? is it as luxurious as it is in here?" Deathstar said with a smirk on her face. "I'm pretty sure your girlfriend is missing you right now" Deathstar quickly went mute, slightly embarrassed because she asked a personal question. Ugh! I'm such an idiot the expression on Deathstar's face was vivid despite her trying to hide it.

Ted decided to keep quiet; he had seen the way those two were looking at each other. It was cute. In a weird, stuck in a graveyard, over-bearing-guards sort of way. But cute all the same. Deathstar asking about Haddix's girlfriend, a obvious ploy. She was just trying to find out if he had one. He smirked to himself as he kept his head down and worked. Those two liked each other, but from what he could tell of them they weren't going to admit it anytime soon.

Mathew stayed quiet and was making good progress with the grave. He noticed what they were saying, what they were doing - he stored it all in his head for future reference. He had to admit, however much he often ignored the complications of other people's love lives, Pitbull and Deathstar made a good couple. He could only imagine what the children would be like.... Starbull? Deathpit?

He was collecting and reading between the lines - he could hear the hopes in everyone's voice, and the pride when they spoke about the X-Men. He vaguelly wondered how long Ted had been in America, that he should feel so passionately about the team... he wondered if he'd ever feel that way about a particular group of people. He smirked. Sure he would... while he was taking them for everyone they were worth.

"Dublin City!, never been there, how is it there? is it as luxurious as it is in here?" Deathstar said with a smirk on her face. "I'm pretty sure your girlfriend is missing you right now"

He didn't stop shoveling, but he also cracked a pretty broad grin. "What girlfriend?" he asked. He thumbed his nose and looked up at Deathstar, still smiling a little. "And as for Dublin, I haven't been there since my last vacation with my folks, when I was 16, but its beautiful." He rubbed the back of his neck a little bit and began shoveling again. Well, at least there's a shot in hell, he thought. Let's hope these X-men pull through.

(ooc: hope you don't mind me butting in. If it's innapropriate just give me the say so.)

Johnny trudged slowly over to the makeshift gravesites of his fellow mutants, a sole guard following closely yet absent-mindedly behind him, escorting him to his prospective labour. He stared intently forward as he made his way towards the other diggers, who were seemingly digging while carrying on a conversation amongst themselves. The guard lazily prodded Johnny forward every few steps with the tail-end of a shovel. Without complaint Johnny took the poke on his lower back and continued to move forward. He had made it his goal to lay low and cause as little of splash in the camp as possible, in order to focus the guards wrath on the more notable of the captives and off of himself. So far this endeavor seemed to have been successful, as was apparent by his distracted sole escort. The occasional jab was nothing compared to what could have been in store for him, and senseless abuse seemed to be a part of the guards’ job description, so he couldn’t fault his escort for living up to expectations.

Johnny didn’t relish the prospect of digging graves. It wasn’t so much the grim reality of the task, death had never been much of a fright for Johnny. Rather it was the actual digging that turned him off of the task. It was a dirty, tiresome chore that would likely leave him smelling to the high-heavens, and leave stains on his already terribly drab clothing. However it certainly seemed easier, and definitely lower-profile than many of the other jobs available, and would hopefully give him a chance to escape the hordes of inmates located in the dorms whose presence he could no longer take. Besides, cleanliness and fashion perhaps should not be overly important in this place.

He studied the other diggers from a distance, making out what he could of them. There were a surprising number of them already there. Did really that many people die here? Perhaps he should start worrying a little bit more, or at the very least attempt to make some acquaintances. The overseers of the digging operation were watching their wards with relaxed interest, occasionally barking a command, but seemingly content to let them speak to one another as long as they were working at a brisk enough pace. That meant that human interaction was going to be required of Johnny, not particularly one of his most enjoyed activities. However, this was likely fortunate, for friends in these situations could be invaluable, and truly mindless labour could be overrated he supposed.

Finally the two-man procession came upon the area where the rest of the diggers were located. Johnny grinned awkwardly at them as he waited for further instruction. Seemingly expected, his guard escort half-heartedly lashed out with his boot, kicking Johnny in the small of his back from behind, sending him sprawling face first into the dirt, and threw the shovel down beside him before walking over to consult with the other guards. Inaudibly the guards spoke for a moment, before the escort turned and began to walk back from where he had come from. Johnny slowly climbed back to his feet, patting himself down and attempting to dust off the majority of the compiled dirt, and then picked up the shovel beside of him, his grin never leaving his face.

“So, what are we talking about?” his slight accent called out while he chuckled slightly, and turning slammed the spade of his shovel into the earth.

Ted looked up as a new smell approached. Then he looked down as said smell hit the dirt. The guy scrambled to his feet, and was surprisingly wearing a smile. "Hey there, you new? There seem to be lots of new inmates recently; I'm Ted." He held his hand to shake. "These are Deathstar, Pitbull, Shya, and Matthew. You have a name?" He grinned as he dug up some more dirt.

Having been told to lower to take care of a body by her self, Shya had left the group to get the young boy who was to be buried. She wasn’t nearly as strong as Ted, so this took her much longer. The boy was dead, but he was still a boy to Shya. And she tried to be as respectful with his remains as possible. Trying not to drag hi feet, or scuff his hands. Then there was the matter of measuring where the empty hole was. She found the edge, and her guard snapped his fingers in frustration. Again she hadn’t done what he what he expected. A pretty astonishing record for a blind girl.

Meanwhile the conversation had continued and there was another new comer to the grave digging. Seemed like a party was starting. Who had ever heard of a party at a grave yard? She began covering the body of the boy back up, Briane, that was his name. (sorry if there is a Briane here. Trying to think of names that are simple but not taken.) She’d remembered him by his hair. Quietly she tucked that name in the back of her memory to tell Sara to add to the list.

Ted had introduced her to the new comer and the blind girl gave a nod. “Before I left, one of the conversations were on nick name. People just call me Shya.” She shrugged, leaning on her shovel for a moment. “And Ted, For your nick name, I don’t know what it should be, but maybe something a little deceiving. Almost cutesy.”

Deathstar attention switched from Pitbull the candy of her eyes to the newcomer, he seemed a bit reluctant walking toward the dig site. As the guards made their way in their direction, she quickly picked up her shovel, and resume digging not wanting the guards to have a reason to pick a fight with her. "Looks like we have another one", she said softly as she watched the newguy fall into the dirt. "You didn't break nothing did you?, she asked, attempting make fun out of a bad situation.

Mathew's skin prickled as the new arrival... arrived. He looked up and made light conversation, all sweetness and smiles.

Mathew couldn't help but sneer.

He knew the look on that guy's face. He wore the same expression everyday in this hell hole; it was fake and alluring, trustworthy and utterly deceptive. He kept digging the hole, watching the others as they made an effort to be sociable. He mentally composed his own bearing, making himself slack and inconsequential, no threat whatsoever. He didn't know who this new one was, but he didn't like him already. There was only really room for one Fever in the camps... but then, he hadn't decided if he'd take that name or not yet. It was strange, considering that back in England he'd have felt a complete goof for taking one of these codenames; now he was here in the camps he felt a goof for not having one

He stuck his shovel into the ground and inclined his head to the left, studying the man and trying to learn as much about his as possible in as small a time as possible. What irritated him was that he was plucking the courage up to broach the subject of rebellion to the others... now he had an unknown variable to deal with before he even thought of that again.

He sighed. Well, back to the drawing board. The only real way of gauging the level of threat the new guy imposed was by a little tete a tete by the graveside. Mathew could handle that.

He smiled at the man in his meekest, most ingratiating way.

"Welcome to Beverly Hills," he said in a small voice.

"Cutesy? How threatening would I be with a name that would be described as cutesy? No, i want something cool; saying "Pups saved the day" just doesn't seem right." Pups? Where had that come from? Ted dug some more, shovelling dirt into a pile. "I still like Lycan. I think that could work quite well. Does what it says on the tin." He laughed, which caught the attention of the guards. He quickly got to digging, but too late; one was coming over. The guard grabbed him, and smacked him in the stomach. "That'll teach you to be cheerful, freak." The guard went back to the others, looking smug. Ted gasped for breath, swearing under what little breath he had.

Haddix nodded at the new guy as he got up. Seemed that was the customary way to show up at work: on your ass. At any rate, his arrival released some tension as Shya moved a boy to a grave.

A fuckin' kid? And here I thought we'd progressed since the '40s.

He moved over to help Shya with filling the grave in, plunging his shovel into the mound of dirt from the open grave. This put him closer to the pile of corpses, and the smell got much, much worse as he did. "Damn, lady. How do you put up with it?" he asked her as he shoveled. Beyond the smell, it bothered Haddix that he was throwing dirt on a corpse that couldn't possibly have hit puberty yet. He shook it off and started shoveling again.

It was amazing to see Ted take a hit like that in stride. Pit Bull wasn't so sure he could do the same. He'd trained for years to be a fighter. Taking a beating in this place was one thing. Cheap shots are an entirely different thing. When you're taken off guard, your first instinct is to lash out with all the ferocity in you. Haddix wondered what Ted would be like in the octagon. He imagined him dwarfing Bob Sapp, ripping him to shreds. He'd be a promoter's wet dream is what he'd be.

Pit Bull used thoughts like this to shield him from the task at hand, trying his best not to let his anger get the best of him, because if it did, he knew he'd be the next one in the hole.

Shya gave Haddix a nod as she heard him approach and start helping her. “Thank you.”

"Damn, lady. How do you put up with it?"

“I don’t know about anyone else, but to be honest, I don’t.” She paused bfore picking up her shovel. Letting her mind wonder to the last time to talked to her brother. He once asked her a similar question when she expressed interest in becoming a veterinarian. He’d actually talked her out of the idea, but it had once been an interest.

She lifted her shovel once, then twice, stabbing at the dirt to loosen it. Also using the time to sort of think. “I put up a front out here, then fall apart later.” The guard who had just come by and taken the cheep shot on Ted strode past Shya and she let her head bow, rushing to push the dirt into the hole, onto the boy.