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Day 379

"Ooh~, I could do you one better." Shay smirks. "How about Katfish?"

A heavy breath leaves Eli's chest as he covers his face with the slightest shake of his head.

The girl released a weak laugh with a sigh in response, taking a seat back in the chair behind her as a slight wince overtook her. "Sure, Salmon."

Shay scoffs, attempting to hide his amusement. On the other hand, Eli seems prepared to pipe up when a new voice rings.

"Hey, do you guys know what happened with the new g—"

Both Shay and Eli flinch at the tone.

"What are you two doing?!"

Turning their attention to a doorway, all eyes were on the girl with the stern voice. Her skin was a dusty brown, but sparkled. Her hair was a thick afro in an aesthetic yellow. There was black lining her diminished green eyes, similar to Eli, this girl was an Octoling. She wore a white sweater underneath an open tan trench coat – simply tied around the waist. Her jeans were baggy in a faded blue shade over clean white sneakers. She stood before them with her hands crossed in a hip drop pose.

"Delphi!" Eli nervously laughs. "We were– just, um!"

"Delphi~! Angel, bestie, we're just giving the poor girl a welcome wake up~!" Shay continues, beaming as if he's visibly wearing a halo.

There was a twinkle of cheerfulness in the girl's eyes that was hard to pinpoint against her unamused expression — she didn't seem mean at all. Kat couldn't understand why the boys seemed so jumpy, but then again she really couldn't let her guard down, not again.

The girl, addressed as Delphi, speaks once more with a hard glare at Shay. "You boneheads! Aren't you two supposed to be undercover right now!? Who woke her up?! I promise to cod, if y'all don't stop messing around, I will personally bring my stamp down upon you both!"

"Boss called it off, you didn't hear?" Eli rhetorically asks, leaning forward as his face was full of wonder. "Please don't be mad, this was all Shay's idea, he guilt tripped me into coming along!" Eli wails, throwing his hands up like white flags.

Shay only stands with his arms folded — a smug expression on his face — before he says, "Thanks for having my back, Eel. Look, we were just doing your job, and giving her new bandages."

"I told you, I was going to do it!" Delphi blurts out.

"Shut up, I'm explaining. Anyway! Her stats were a lot better and she was responsive to physical contact. Her heart rate ended up getting kinda wack, while we were finishing up, so I suggested we unplug her from all the machines. So we did."

"Oh my cod." Delphi mutters, placing a hand on her forehead, utterly disappointed.

"Then~ she stopped reacting for a second, but she was breathing on her own. Eli started panicking, thinking we killed her all over again,"

Kat glances at Shay as he speaks, her face frozen with a baffled expression. Her, dead? How? Better question, when?! That was impossible. She was tougher than an Elite Soldier, there's no way she could have died, but everything did still feel foggy, so maybe it was true.

"I don't blame him." Delphi comments.

"So we brought her here to fully wake her up." Shay finishes, discarding Delphi's interjections.

"Why didn't you just leave her in the lab, idiot?" Delphi retorts spitefully.

"I was scared we'd get caught!" Eli cries out.

"You were trying to cover your track?! Are you both nuts!?" Delphi exclaims.

"She's fine though, see?" Shay smiles, gesturing to Kat. "Besides, you're not gonna do anything, Delfina. It's all cap. I'm calling your bluff, you'd never rat us out~! You love us too much~! Besides, what would you even do?"

"What would I do?!" For Delphi's next words she gets close and yanks Shay by the shirt. "The better question is what won't I do? Things'll get real ugly real fast, shrimpy boy." She abruptly releases his shirt before continuing. "But, it's not me you should be worried about, it's the boss. So, don't start crap."

"'Ight, 'ight. Chill. Don't bring him into this, I already know he'll beat my ass if he finds out." Shay states, straightening out his crinkled jersey.

Kat eyes the group skeptically, listening closely to the things they say. Who was this guy anyway? She has a few selective words for him, for instance, why she's here to begin with. Just the thought of this man frustrated her, and she doesn't even know him yet. Maybe she's jumping to conclusions, but he'll definitely be a problem to be dealt with later.

"Also, call me 'angel' again, and see what happens!" Delphi huffs in response, punching him in the shoulder.

"Ow!" Shay exclaims, holding his shoulder.

Eli snickers in response, escorting Shay to the other side of the room.

Ignoring them both, Delfina quickly turns her attention to Kat. "So, you're the newbie, huh?" She began. "The name's Delfina, but the people around here call me Delphi, and you are?"

"Kamari, but I go by Kat."

"Cute name, I like it! So sick of just being stuck with these two dummies most of the time, it's nice to have a new face."

"Thanks?" Kat scoffs.

"You don't talk much do ya', Kat?"

"Well, it depends on the situation."

"We don't bite, I swear. You're safe here… excluding these two knuckleheads." Delphi directs her thumb back at the boys.

"Hey!" They interject in unison.

"Sorry… I just don't know what to say, I guess? I don't even know where I am or how I got here. I can barely remember anything in general."

"Oops! Right! My bad!" Delphi smiles. "I should have assumed no one explained that yet…" She swiftly glares back at the boys, her expression no longer cheerful, in which they both flinch under her gaze. Turning back to Kat, she beams once more, as if she was never mad. "Welcome to The L.O.S.T!" Delphi exclaims in an open armed gesture. "This is where the stranded become found!"

Kat stares at Delphi blankly, awaiting more information. After several seconds of silence, Delphi drops her arms, returning the blank expression.

"Am I supposed to know what that means?" Kat asks softly.

"Hah!" Shay mocks from the other side of the room. "You suck at explaining, Delphi!"

"Shut up!" She barks at him, whipping her head around for a split second. Returning her attention to Kat, she asks, "What is it you want to know?"

"Everything! What does L.O.S.T stand for? What do you mean by stranded? And found? Who found me, and where? Because I can barely remember where I was before! What happened to me? Why have I never heard of this organization before? Who's this boss you guys keep mentioning? Where are we right now? Also, the IV bag, I remember an IV bag—"

"Woah, woah, woah! That's a lot, mama! Take a breather for a second, will ya'?" Delphi interjects.

Kat sits back, unaware that she had leaned forward in her chair to begin with. "Sorry… sorry. I just have no idea what's goin–" Kat's cut off once more, but this time by a voice trailing from the hallway beyond the doorway.

"SHE'S AWAKE?! OH MY COD! SHE'S AWAKE, AND NOBODY TOLD ME!? WHERE IS SHE?!"