01<@Ardweden> [Day: Thursday, August 26. Time: Fifth Period Lunch!] 01<@Ardweden> [You woke from the events last night... not wonderfully rested, really, but not with a complete lack of sleep. The general feeling is waking after a series of very active, possibly bad dreams. Which is more or less accurate, so there you go. The morning went... well, it went.] 01<@Ardweden> [The school year is still new, so work isn't heavy yet, but homework is finally being assigned.] 01<@Ardweden> [The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and you're stuck entering a cafeteria with a number of other hungry students, many of whom are already getting in line for a delicious and nurtitious school lunch. Today is taco day! We love tacos.] 01<@Ardweden> [Session Start.] 06* Tyler looks a bit queasy as he enters the line, he doesn't love tacos. At least not school tacos. 06* Tiffany waits in line a little ways ahead of Tyler, books hugged to her chest. She seems to be glancing around the lunch line for a little bit and being as quiet as possible before eventually settling in. 01<@Ardweden> [The cafeteria, for the record, has white tile and light blue walls - the school's colors - and long white tables that seat eight students each with darker blue swivel chairs that are literally nailed to the floor... thus allowing for a very accurate student per table count.] 06* Tyler spies Tiffany and glances around to see who might be near her that would protect her. 06* Javy queues up, farther back than the other two. He takes a look around to see if anyone else he knows is here. 01<@Ardweden> [There are four pairs of glass doors: two pair to the wall opposite the lines/kitchen, and one pair to each wall perpendicular.] 03* Rabbitface (vortex@pool-98-111-24-104.sctnpa.east.verizon.net) has joined #Megaten 01<@Ardweden> [Nobody's around to protect Tiffany, Tyler! She's totally vulnerable!] 03* Rabbitface is now known as Joan 03* Joan is now known as Hank 06* Tyler digs out a penny and flicks it trying to aim for Tiffany's ass. 01<@Ardweden> [Javy sees... Tyler and Tiffany. He also sees Leah in line waaaay ahead of him. She seems to be talking to another girl.] 01<@Ardweden> [The penny sails through the air and seems spot on, but Tiffany takes a lucky step aside as she's shifting her books and it sails by her to clang on the floor.] 06* Tyler almost curses, but catches himself in time, trying hard to look like he didn't do anything, which of course makes him look like he did everything. 06* Tiffany blinks and looks over at the noise on the floor for a moment. She frowns a bit, but adjusts her armwarmers, tugging them up. She's in cutoffs and fishnets today, though longer than usual cutoffs, so it doesn't look totally trashy. 06* Javy checks behind him, too, and fingers the oboe reed in his pocket uneasily. 06* Tyler is dressed in designer hot topic exclusive grunge gear today. Totally, giving the finger to the man. 01<@Ardweden> [Javy sees a few people from the swim team eating together. One of them looks up and waves.] 06* Tiffany also, luckily for Tyler, doesn't notice his feigned innocence. It's not like he's the only person who'd try something like it. [Me arrives at some point, looking lost. Probably because he is. Or was, anyway. ( or ) 06* Hank arrives at some point, looking lost. Probably because he is. Or was, anyway. 01<@Ardweden> [Javy sees Hank!] 06* Tyler totally isn't the only person that would try it, why after all he has his friends and they tota... okay they'd throw worse things. Maybe. He just waits in line looking bored now hoping to get food that won't make him barf. It's always a horrible day when they try to do ethnic food. 06* Javy waves back to the swim guy, and then cranes his neck to look back in the line again. He's dressed simply, just a grey shirt and khakis. He waves hesitantly at Hank, too. 01<@Ardweden> [The line moves, but not as quickly as hungry people would like. Leah and her friend are now getting their food.] 06* Tyler sighs looking even more bored and eyes Tiffany up again. 06* Tiffany lets out a bit of a sigh and fiddles with her fingers at her collar, her eyes scanning the cafeteria for anyone she knows. Her lips curl into a bit of a frown as she notices the swim team all together but she keeps looking. 06* Hank waves back! And walks over, because he took that at an invitation. "Hey, what's goin' on?" 06* Javy feels his eyes widen as he comes over, and tries to look normal. "Hey. Uh. Not much. Just. Just the line." 01<@Ardweden> [Tiffany finds the usual assortment of suspects, though now she also sees Javy and Hank at the end of the line. And she gets to the front! She has her choice of chicken or beef tacos, crunchy or soft, with the usual selection of taco toppings. Sides are rice, refried beans, and corn.] 06* Tiffany notes herself on line and excuses herself for being distracted, grabbing the tray and holding her book underneath it. She glances back at Hank and Javy for a moment and then gets the crunchy chicken style. Because at least the chicken's more recognizeable than the beef. 06* Tyler sighs and glances around as he waits to head up, obviously bored and looking for some way to relieve that boredom. 06* Hank nods. "Yup, line's cool." He cranes his neck, looking towards the front. "What're they servin', tacos? I lovvve tacos." 06* Tiffany doesn't seem to see Christina just yet or any of the little crew that she does hang out with so has a seat over at an empty table. She manages to slip her book into her bag before doing so fortunately and continues scanning the cafeteria for trouble, brushing her bangs aside. 06* Javy nods, and sticks his other hand in his pocket. "Yeah. Uh. They're okay. My mom's are much better." 06* Tyler will lock eyes with Tiffany with a BIG smile on his face before looking away and going to get his tacos, He just points not really paying attention it's going to be horrible anyway. Yeah? Guess ya can't expect much from school food, huh? 06* Tiffany sighs as Tyler locks eyes with her and picks at her food. She's not in the mood to flip him off right now and focuses on rice and beaniness. 06* Javy laughs, slightly too loudly. "No. No. You can't. And, you'll see. These people shouldn't be making tacos." 06* Tyler will get his food and head off... passing near Tiffany's table but moving on to his own. 06* Hank laughs too. "Lookin' forward to it." 06* Tiffany doesn't attempt to trip Tyler as he goes past, though she is *sorely* tempted. 01<@Ardweden> [Tyler does have tacos, yup! He goes and sits down at his usual table, where Tony and Steve are sitting. Tony looks up and nods with a, "Hey man, how's it going?" while Steve keeps wolfing down tacos. Dude has an appetite.] 06* Javy nods, and tries to figure out what else to say. "Um. You probably are used to better tacos." 06* Hank nods. "Well, when ya live close to the Mexican border ya get to feel the influence." 06* Javy nods again to that, and glances up the line. Maybe they'll get closer soon. 01<@Ardweden> [They are getting closer; they're just a few people away, in fact.] 06* Hank looks ahead as well. "Hey, ya think they got nachos too?" 06* Tyler takes a bite of his taco and makes a face moving the rest of them to Steve's tray "Bored. Bored Bored Bored. Have I mentioned bored?" 06* Javy looks up ahead. "Maybe. Um. Sometimes they do." Yah? They any good? 06* Tiffany looks bored too so she gets her book out again and opens it to the next chapter, propping it up against the tray as she eats her tacos, careful not to spill any on it. 06* Javy shrugs a little, keeping his hands in his pockets. "They're. Well. They're about as good as the tacos." Figures. 01<@Ardweden> [Steve mmrphs. "Thanks," he says as he finishes his current taco.] Dude you're going to die of food poisioning one of these days. So, anything fun? 06* Javy nods, and checks back over his shoulder again. "But at least you'll be full. If... if you like being full of weird tacos." Better than starvin', I reckon. 01<@Ardweden> [Tony shakes his head. "Nah, the period's just gotten started." Some description for Tyler's friends: Steve is super skinny, with very short dirty blond hair and brown eyes. Tony has black hair with a red streak dyed in and brown eyes, as well as freckles. They're both wearing the established anti- establishment sort of style Tyler wears.] 01<@Ardweden> [Javy and Hank hit the end of the line! HOORAY!] 06* Javy nods, and looks over the food on display. Um. He orders crunchy beef tacos, made up spicy, and rice. 01<@Ardweden> [Javy gets what he ordered, as well as about ten packets of hot sauce.] 06* Hank figures that looks good enough and gets the same thing, dagnabbit. 06* Javy looks at the hot sauce with evident dismay, but takes his tray and scans the room for open areas. 06* Tyler is sitting next to two guys with PLENTY of room at the table besides them. 01<@Ardweden> [Javy sees the aforementioned table with the swim team guys. Tyler does have plenty of room at his table... Tiffany's table is mostly empty; there are just a couple of students at the other end.] 06* Hank motions to Javy. "C'mon," and goes to sit down at Tiffany's table. "'Sup?" 06* Javy sighs internally, weighs his options for a moment, and follows Hank. He tries to sit down a bit from them, a little distance, without being rude. He hopes. 01<@Ardweden> [Hank sits in front of Tiffany, and Javy sits a seat away!] 06* Tiffany blinks for a second and then looks up to see someone actually talking to her that's not putting her down or part of the usual crew. She seems a bit startled for a moment but then loses it for a moment. Though her voice is a bit distant and sounding a bit confused. "Oh. Hey." She closes up her book. 06* Hank asks, "Feelin' better?" before taking a bite of his first taco. The moment of truth... 06* Javy focuses on his tray so he can apply a lot of the hot sauce. 06* Tyler frowns. "So this freaky girl was talking about dreams, got me thinking bout nightmares and shit." 01<@Ardweden> [The taco... does not taste Mexican, or Tex-Mexican. It's not BAD as cafeteria tacos go, but it is a cafeteria taco. And it's not spicy at all. That must be what the hot sauce is for.] 06* Tiffany looks at Hank for a moment, then glances past him to notice Javy, then looks back at Hank. She seems to be considering the question for a bit. "I'm...not sure, really." She digs at her tray. "Still trying to figure things out I guess." She then stops for a moment and glances at him. "It was Hank, right? I'm not imagining that?" 06* Javy puts like four packets of hot sauce on his first taco. 06* Hank looks over to Javy. "Survey says.... meh." Then back to Tiffany. "Yeap, that's me. Hank." 01<@Ardweden> ["Huh, new guy's sittin' with the freak," Tony comments as he pokes at his rice and beans. "Didn't think he'd be the type."] 06* Tiffany picks at her food. "Couldn't think of any other reason why you'd come over here out of the blue. I'm not sure it's the best plan." She then looks over Hank's shoulder a bit. "Why isn't Javy sitting over by the swim team?" 06* Javy nods to Hank's comment, but doesn't say anything. He takes a bite of his taco, and makes a little face. 06* Hank eats more taco. "How you reckon? Y'all are the only people I know." 06* Tyler frowns. "From what I see he likes her. I think he wants to transform her into what he wants." 06* Tiffany frowns slightly and picks up her tray, standing up. "Look, I think you're a nice guy and all, but you're new at this school. You've still got a chance to earn a rep. Don't blow it." She starts to look for another empty table. 01<@Ardweden> ["Dude," Steve says around swallows of his taco, "that's harsh."] You got a better explanation? 06* Javy sits there and tries to be careful about eating his taco so he doesn't get sauce everywhere. 01<@Ardweden> ["Maybe he's just got a thing for freaks," Steve says before taking another bite of taco.] Nah, doubt it. Aw shucks. That's mighty nice of ya, but I reckon I'm gonna stand out here no matter what I do. 01<@Ardweden> [Steve tries to say something in reply, but he just ends up coughing, to which Tony laughs and says, "That's what you get for eating so fast, dumbass." He does smack him on the back, though, in an attempt to help him out.] 06* Javy eats some rice, too, and listens. 06* Hank finishes a taco and starts another. 06* Tyler shakes his head sighing. "So you guys got that english thing done for Friday?" 01<@Ardweden> [Tony snorts, "No. You?" Steve's getting his coughing under control. Yay for not dying in the cafeteria!] 06* Tiffany frowns and sighs, sitting back down. "Fine. There doesn't seem to be any more empty tables anyway." She glances over at the empty chairs by Tyler's table and makes a face, but continues. She picks up a forkful of beans. "But you shouldn't make it a habit of it." She offhands without looking at Javy, though the comment's clearly directed at him. "Though I'm surprised to see you over 06* Tiffany here, Javy." 06* Javy shrugs, and sets down his taco. "Nate's not here," he says, explanatorily. 06* Tiffany looks a little disappointed for a moment. "Oh." She pauses as she looks over her taco. "Who's Nate again?" 01<@Ardweden> [Right about now, Javy notices a familiar face leaving the food line, tacos on his tray, and looking around tiredly. It's Nate! He spots Javy at about the same time and starts a-heading over.] 06* Tyler shakes his head. "Of course not, some stupid news cast scrip thing for a story? I hate these creative fun things." 06* Javy looks around, and points. "That's him." 06* Tiffany looks up curiously at the unfamiliar face for a moment. "Oh." She then picks at her food. "Well, I guess you should go over and talk to him then." 06* Javy looks over at her awkwardly. "You want us to go? Um. There's space here. He could sit. There." 06* Tiffany starts for a moment and looks down at her food. "It doesn't matter to me...really..." 06* Hank picks at the rice, evidentally not as fond of it as tacos. "Sure, bring 'im on over." 06* Javy doesn't move to get up, then. He waves to Nate, and picks up his taco again carefully. 01<@Ardweden> [Nate's already heading over. "Hey," he says as he pretty much plops into place in front of Javy, one seat over from Hank and Tiffany. Nate's a little on the chubby side, with brown hair and light blue eyes with wire- rimmed glasses. He's wearing khakis and a t-shirt.] 01<@Ardweden> [He plops down his tray and his backpack, not on top of each other.] 06* Tiffany lets out a longer breath and shakes her head a bit tiredly. "I've been thinking too much about this." Sorry. Dun blame ya. 01<@Ardweden> ["Just bullshit something," Steve tells Tyler. "That's all you do in English anyway."] 06* Javy gives him a curious look. "Hey. Where've you been?" 06* Tyler shrugs. "I like to think I bullshit in most of my classes." 06* Tiffany brushes her bangs to the side again. "No. I'm really sorry. It wasn't too long ago I was the new kid either. I remember what it's like..." 06* Hank shrugs. Reckon I can mope about it, or I can just go with it. Either way ain't gonna change the fact that I'm here now, so. 01<@Ardweden> ["Running late," Nate says with an expansive yawn that he partially covers up. "I was up late, working on stuff... just kinda got carried away."] 06* Javy nods back to him. "Yeah? Working on what?" 01<@Ardweden> ["Just some comics. You know that webcomic I was thinking about starting? About the normal dude and his android buddy? I got some seriously good ideas and just HAD to get them down." He pushes up his glasses and rubs at his eyes. "And then I slept stupid late, like an idiot. How've you been?"] 06* Tiffany nods a bit. "I suppose that's true." She finally looks more thoroughly at Hank then gives him a half-smile. "You've got a pretty good attitude for being moved out in the middle of nowhere." 01<@Ardweden> ["Truer words have never been spoken," Tony comments. He notes the arrival of Nate at the freak table, but does not comment; Nate must not register one way or another.] 06* Javy nods. "Okay. Didn't sleep so well, but I'm getting it. I mean, I'm fine. You have to tell me more later." 01<@Ardweden> ["Oh yeah, totally." And then Nate notices the other people at the table, and he suddenly becomes more animated. "Who's your friends?"] God why did freak get so popular? 06* Hank shrugs. "Reckon I may as well make the most of it." 01<@Ardweden> ["Geeks and freaks," Steve says, pointing out the arrival of Nate. Must be his glasses.] 06* Javy looks a bit startled, and then looks down the table. "Oh. Uh, this is Hank. He's new here. Right?" 06* Hank nods. "Yep. Just in from Texas." I thought they cancelled that show. 06* Tiffany looks over at Nate curiously and just stares at him, not sure exactly what to say. She's got a half taco in hand though. 01<@Ardweden> ["Hey, cool. I'm Nate Dobrovsky," Nate says with a smile while offering his hand for Hank to shake. "I'd say I'd show you around town, but you've probably already seen everything there is to see."] 01<@Ardweden> ["Did they?" Steve asks, "Damn." "We must be watching reruns," Tony offers.] 06* Hank shakes. "Hank Morris." 06* Javy takes the opportunity to apply more hot sauce to his other taco. 06* Tyler shakes his head. "So there's gotta be something else going on here" 01<@Ardweden> ["So what're you doing in from Texas?" Nate asks as he picks up a crunchy taco.] 01<@Ardweden> ["Naaaah," Tony replies with a yawn, "Just another boring day in the neighborhood." Steve: "Speak for yourself, dude. I got tacos."] Ain't much of a story, really. We moved is all. 06* Tiffany sees that the moment has past and goes back to finishing her taco and the rest of her food. Steve, buddy, pal, those aren't tacos. 01<@Ardweden> [Nate shrugs. "All right."] 01<@Ardweden> [Steve looks up at Tyler, now on his last taco. "No way, they totally are! They're taco-shaped and everything!" Tony snickers.] 06* Javy finishes applying his hot sauce, and starts crunching it. A bunch of the filling falls on the rice, and he colors a little. Thank god who ever you marry doesn't have to cook. 01<@Ardweden> [Tony chimes in: "Are you kidding, man? She'll have to cook like crazy."] 06* Javy tries to cover by looking a bit more down the table. "And, uh. That's Tiffany. You know her?" 01<@Ardweden> ["Yeah, sort of. Never caught her name, though." Nate smiles and waves. "Hey, Tiffany."] 01<@Ardweden> [And now Nate has a bite of his taco! He looks at it, then applies two packets of hot sauce.] 06* Tiffany shrinks slightly as she's caught mid-eating and dabs the side of her mouth with the napkin, careful not to catch on her hoop. She holds up her hand and swallows. "Heya." 06* Tyler laughs. "Nah she'll just have to burn things and put them on a plate." 01<@Ardweden> ["That's cooking," Tony reasons. "Kind of." Steve looks offended. "Dude, that is not fair. I hate the taste of carbon."] 06* Hank gives up on the rice. "Ugh. This stuff's gross." 06* Tiffany sighs. "Yeah. I'm gonna dump the rest of it, I think. "Um. Thanks for sitting with me." She goes to pick up her tray, knocking her book off the table and frowns, looking at it and stopped in place. 01<@Ardweden> ["Cafeteria food. It has felled many a lesser man," Nate says philosophically before having another bite of his taco. He looks over at the book, but his hands are full of taco at the moment.] 06* Hank doesn't look at the book, nor try to pick it up, what with being on the other side of the table from it. 06* Javy starts, and sets down his taco, trying to spot where the book fell. But he's also off on the other side of the table. 01<@Ardweden> [Finally, Nate puts his taco down and goes to help with the book thing!] 06* Tyler shake his head. "I don't think you taste anything, steve. Really." 01<@Ardweden> ["Also not fair! If I didn't taste anything, how could I like food?"] 06* Tiffany watches Javy looking for it for a moment. "Don't worry about i--" She then watches Nate go for it and accepts the book back, holding onto it under the tray. From the cover, tt looks like a general book on greek mythology. "Um. Thanks." 06* Tyler looks pointedly at Steve. "I'm not convinced you like food. You just ate THAT." 01<@Ardweden> ["Sure," Nate says with a grin. "You into mythology? It's awesome stuff, isn't it?"] 06* Tiffany looks at Nate in a bit of a panic but it's only for a second as she clutches the book tightly. "I'm--uh...a little bit." She seems to be blushing. "I just got a bit more curious about it lately..." She glances at Javy and Hank for a moment. "Wanted to check something out..." Huh. Find anything interesting? 06* Javy colors across his cheeks a little, and looks down at his plate at that. Um...well...hold on... 01<@Ardweden> [Nate tries to ignore Tiffany's blush, but then he notices Javy's blush too, and he looks back and forth at them as he sits back down.] 06* Tiffany tries to fumble through the book with the tray. But then when that fails, she sets the tray down and flips the book to a certain page. She then holds the book out to Hank. Apparently there's a big section on Medea on that page. "Here." She looks at him pointedly. 06* Hank reads. 01<@Ardweden> [Steve puts a hand over his heart. "I swear I love food. Even bad food. But I love good food more. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right?" And he finishes his taco.] Think you might be interested in this too, Javy. 06* Javy definitely doesn't look at the page right now. He takes out his latest reed, and sets it on the tray next to his plate. "I, uh. I'll look when he's done." 06* Tiffany sighs as she brushes the bangs aside for a moment. "She sounds like an awful person. So I was kind of curious..." 06* Tyler shakes his head. "I'm very unsure about that. So, you two want to come over after school? Play some games? Not looking forward to more boredom." 06* Hank raises an eyebrow. "Explains a lot." 01<@Ardweden> ["Oh yeah, I'm in," Tony says. Steve just sort of nods, his face full of food.] 06* Tiffany looks at Hank for a moment. "Yeah. That's what I thought too." She murmurs for a second. "That or it explains nothing at all. It's confusing." 06* Javy fumbles with his fork for a beat before he goes back to eating the rice. Which isn't the most fun activity. "You know this stuff, too?" he asks Nate. 01<@Ardweden> ["What stuff?" Nate asks between taco bites.] So... wait... Guy leaves her for another woman, and she reckons the best way to get revenge is kill that woman and her own two kids, then she hightails it out of there? 06* Javy gestures at Hank. "That stuff." Why didn't she just kill the guy? 01<@Ardweden> [Nate looks confused for a moment, then says, "Oh, that's the Medea myth? Yeah, some." Now he looks a little embarrassed. "I mean, remember when we had to do all of that Greek mythology stuff for Freshman English? I kind of... kept doing it."] 06* Tiffany looks on at Hank. "Good question. It doesn't say she was sane when she did it." 06* Javy looks surprised, and interested. "Yeah? How much?" 01<@Ardweden> ["I dunno... not a lot... I mean, it's not a HUGE thing. Just a thing. I was curious, y'know? Figured there was more to it than just a list of major deities that had their names changed when the Romans rolled into town."] 06* Hank nods. "Yeah. Reckon you'd have to be pretty crazy to kill your own kids just 'cause their dad was a deadbeat." 06* Javy nods. "I just didn't get into it. Um. Like that, anyway. It was interesting. Just. It didn't grab me." 06* Tiffany actually giggles a little at Hank's comment but checks herself. "Yeah. Really." 01<@Ardweden> [Nate looks over at Hank. "Hey, she's not completely unsympathetic, you know. She gave everything up for that guy."] Yeah? An' what exactly did her kids do to her? From a lot of what I read about greek myths, it doesn't sound like they really cared all that much about their kids. 01<@Ardweden> ["Nothing, but to be fair, she also killed her brother for Jason, and *that* was heroic." More taco for the Nate!] Also says she was a witch too. 06* Javy nods in support of Nate, and knocks off most of the rest of his taco. 06* Hank points at the book. "Nope, this says here that there's another version where her brother came after them, and Jason killed him." 01<@Ardweden> ["Sure, and there are versions where she didn't kill her kids." Nate yawns. "I am way too tired to be arguing about this stuff."]] 06* Hank shrugs. "Ain't sayin' the guy was right either." 06* Javy looks at Nate, curious again. "Why are there so many versions?" 01<@Ardweden> ["Nah," Nate says with another yawn. "Thing about Greek tragedy is that there's almost never a right or wrong. There's just a bad or worse. Huh? Oh, 'cause of oral tradition, probably."] Usually there's something about fighting fate or the will of the gods too. It's pretty bleak really. 06* Tiffany shakes her head. "Anyhow, I've been...kinda reading up on it while I've had time." 06* Javy nods, and finishes his taco! "Maybe you can, uh. Tell me more about that, too." 01<@Ardweden> ["'kay, sure."] All I know 'bout it is nobody ever comes out of one of those things for the better. 01<@Ardweden> [And Nate goes on to talk about oral tradition and how he thinks that applies to mythology, or at least what he read at the beginnings of those books on mythology.] 01<@Ardweden> [Session End!]