01<@Ardweden> [Tiffany drags Javy to wherever she's dragging him!]
 06* Tiffany drags him out into the hallway and goes to the opposite side away 
from the cafeteria before she lets go and looks intently into Javy's eyes, 
whispering harshly. "What the heck were you *thinking*? Really?"
 06* Tiffany glances back at the cafeteria door every once and a while, just to 
make sure no one's trying to follow them out or ditch lunch at a bad time.
 06* Javy stands up straight against the wall, holding the sandwich up between 
them. "I... it's... he should, it's. Tiffany, it's..." He swallows, and looks 
away from her eyes. "It's... I, it was weird, he could help. He was there, he 
knows a lot, and... not, him not, it was..." He swallows again, and looks down.
 06* Tiffany frowns and crosses her arms. "You're lucky your friend doesn't 
think you're insane right now. You know that, right?"
 06* Javy closes his eyes. "He... I... you. I. I trust him. I knew, he'd... 
it's, he'd believe me. And he'd been there. We knew what his dream..." he trails 
off.
 06* Tiffany sighs and rubs her forehead. "I know...I know, Javy. Just...we 
can't just go blurting it out to everyone...we just can't.." She bites her lip. 
"Man, this is going to make joining drama club awkward..."
 06* Javy shakes his head firmly. "It shouldn't. It's... Nate is cool. He... I 
know he, he can take it."
 06* Tiffany frowns. "I'm still mad at you."
 06* Javy opens his mouth to say something, then closes it, his face ashen. He 
nods.
 06* Tiffany sighs and rubs her head. "But...you were trying to do the right 
thing. He is your friend, after all....just....you can't, Javy. You can't just 
*do* that without letting us know. Alright?"
 06* Javy nods again, and opens his eyes a little. "I... I'm not. I mean, I 
won't. He's... he's the only one... that, that I wanted to."
 06* Tiffany breathes. "Okay..." She breathes again. "Okay, okay. Well...on the 
plus side, it's not so bad. But next time someone overhears, we play it off like 
we're talking about a game or something, alright? I mean, uh...well, it's a good 
cover story, isn't it?"
 06* Javy nods. "Yeah... it is. I mean, I can. I'll do that. But... it's... 
you'll see. And he can help."
<Tiffany> Maybe...
 06* Tiffany frowns. "I mean...it's not like there's much we can do about it 
*now*, now is there?" She glances at the cafeteria door as it opens
 01<@Ardweden> [Hank storms out of the cafeteria - just outside, in the hallway, 
he sees Javy and Tiffany having a quiet but intense conversation.  And at least 
one of them spots him!]
 06* Javy nods. "It's... we're... you'll see," he finishes lamely. He doesn't 
see Hank, since he's still in eye-defense mode.
 06* Hank stomps right up to them. "I'm out."
 06* Tiffany frowns at Hank. "Wait. What?"
 06* Javy opens his eyes, surprised. "It's... wait, uh, Hank, I'm sorry, it's... 
I shouldn't have, I know, but it's..." He gulps down some air.
<Hank> I'm sick of dealing with that little prick, and I'm sick of bein' made 
out to be the villain for not wanting to. So I'm done.
 06* Tiffany stares at Hank. "Wait...wha..." Her eyes narrow. "Tyler? What did 
Tyler do?"
<Hank> Acting like his usual jerkass self.
 06* Javy looks suddenly relieved that this doesn't appear to be his fault.
 06* Tiffany frowns. "But....done done? Like...you're not....Hank, that's 
not..."
<Hank> Not what?
 06* Tiffany rubs her head. "I don't know....everything's falling apart. Hank, I 
don't want us to be left with that prick without you. I mean god...maybe you 
should just....uh...hit him in the face and be done with it."
 06* Javy spots Syd coming out now, and boggles. "Is... uh... hey, Syd," he 
manages.
 06* Sydney spots the entire rest of the group and blinks. "Oh. Hey. Everyone."
 06* Hank laughs soundlessly, mostly to himself. "Yeah? How do you think that'd 
go? 'Oh look, that big mean bully is hitting the poor misunderstood boy who's 
always kicking us around because no one understands what a sweetheart he is on 
the inside.' No thanks."
 06* Hank glances over his shoulder at Sydney. "What?", he says demandingly.
<Tiffany> "Fuck you, Hank. Tyler's an asshole and a wimp. No one's going to give 
a rat's ass if you hit him at the school. It'll be the teachers who'll care." 
She frowns. "Or Josh and his little posse...."
 06* Sydney looks slightly startled, like she wasn't really expecting him to be 
mad at her, even if he was mad in general. "Well, I came after you, but..." She 
stops as Tiffany starts speaking.
<Hank> Could've fooled me.
 06* Tiffany then looks at Sydney. "What'd you *do*?"
 06* Javy looks like he's working something out in his head. He shifts the 
sandwich to his other hand.
 06* Sydney puts her hands up. "I didn't do anything! Tyler came over after you 
left and he was all creepy and mad because he somehow figured out Nate knew, and 
then Hank threw stuff at him and left, and then I came after Hank!"
<Sydney> If I was supposed to do something else, then I don't know what it is!
 06* Tiffany slaps her hand over her forehead. "Oh Christ. Tyler knows Nate 
knows too now?"
<Javy> Is... who's with Nate now? If... if we're, uh, we're all out here?
<Sydney> I think he's by himself.
<Tiffany> With Tyler.
 06* Sydney sighs. "I really don't know how Tyler figured it out."
<Tiffany> Who cares? Tyler knows. Nate knows. Hank wants to quit. It's all going 
to shit now anyways.
 06* Tiffany eyes Hank. "You *still* want to quit. Right?"
 06* Sydney looks at Hank. "Wait, you want to quit? Really?"
<Hank> Well I sure as hell don't want to work with Tyler. He nearly fucked up 
with Nate, he nearly fucked up with Tony, and for some reason y'all still think 
he's vitally important to our success.
 06* Javy eyes Tiffany, opens his mouth, and closes it again. He bets it was the 
yelling with Nate at the table that tipped Tyler off, but he's not going to say 
that. He does eat a bite of the sandwich hastily, though.
 06* Sydney looks at Hank. "I don't want to be Tyler's friend. I really don't 
want to be his *anything*. But he did get picked with the rest of us, so there 
has to be *some* reason."
<Tiffany> Fuck no. But you *really* want a loose cannon like Tyler out there 
messing things up all alone?
<Tiffany> I mean if nothing else, at least with him *with* us, we know what the 
hell he's *doing*.
 06* Tiffany sighs. "But Hank's right. If Tyler doesn't *know* he fucked up or 
how badly he did, that's a problem for us."
<Tiffany> And I've never seen Tyler give two fucks about anyone other than his 
own ego.
 06* Tiffany frowns. "...except Tony."
<Hank> So let him hang out with Tony then. 
<Sydney> I don't know how to communicate to Tyler how badly he's doing.  Because 
I think as Hien, I want to bite him.
 06* Hank cracks his knuckles. "Reckon I can get the message across."
 06* Tiffany eyes Hank. "So you're going to let people die then. Or go into a 
coma. Because you can't fucking keep your cool for a moment around a little 
prick like Tyler for a few seconds. Is that it?"
 06* Javy watches this, and quietly eats his sandwich while he can.
 06* Hank glares at Tiffany. "Don't even try. You're the one risking their lives 
by bringing that little shit along."
 06* Tiffany frowns, then goes to slap Hank.
 06* Hank gets slapped. He stares at Tiffany in shock, a hand going to his face. 
Then his expression hardens. "Aight, I can see you've made your choice."
 06* Hank pushes past and heads down the hallway.
 06* Tiffany glares at Hank. Then loses it for a moment as she realized what 
just happened. "Wait! Hank!" She runs after him.
 06* Hank ignores Tiffany!
 06* Tiffany yells out. "Remember what the Walrus said! You're acting like a 
child!"
 06* Javy is super glad he finished his sandwich, because he totally would have 
just dropped it there.
 01<@Ardweden> [Javy keeps his mind on the prize.]
 06* Javy watches Hank run off, otherwise speechless. He looks at Syd, eyes 
wide.
 06* Sydney takes a deep breath, then lets it out sharply. "I don't know why the 
hell he thinks we're choosing Tyler over him."
<Sydney> Or why we should even have to... dammit.
 06* Sydney pounds a fist against the wall.
 01<@Ardweden> [That poor wall!]
 06* Javy nods. "It's... I..." He looks down the hall. "I... we need to choose 
both." He starts at the pounding.
<Sydney> (Thankfully, it is Sydney pounding and not Hien.)
 06* Sydney sighs again. "I know. I would love for whatever power on high that 
chose us to say, 'Hey, this is why Tyler is one of you.' But it's not like 
they've been giving us any other answers, so."
 01<@Ardweden> [The locker speaks up, in a lovely Walruscat voice, "Why Sydney 
my dear, I believe we've given you plenty of answers."]
 01<@Ardweden> [... Not really.]
 06* Sydney says softly, "I'm good at following. That's what I do."
 06* Javy nods. "He... um. There must be... some, some reason." He looks over at 
her. "You... what?" He looks confused.
<Sydney> Nothing.
 06* Javy looks unsure. "You... uh. It, uh, it sounded like..." He trails off, 
and then tries, "You sure?"
<Sydney> Yeah.  For what it's worth, if we were going to tell anyone I'd have 
put Nate at the top of the list.
 06* Javy looks relieved. "That's... so you're not mad?" He leans back against 
the wall. "Thanks, Syd."
<Sydney> I'm not mad at you and Nate, yeah.  I can understand why.  I've wanted 
to tell Rhi a few times and she's not directly involved... and if the powers 
that be are listening, I'd like her to *stay* not directly involved, thank you 
very much!
 06* Javy nods fervently. "Yeah, it's... it's not fun. Knowing it's your 
friend... like, all... and you don't know the best way to even try. Just getting 
them out."
<Sydney> How much does he remember?  Like... does he remember the end?
 06* Sydney shudders a bit.
<Javy> Yeah. He... from when we showed up, to the end. Everything. Like really 
clear.
<Sydney> Ooof, that's not good, given how things ended.  But he's okay?
 06* Javy nods. "Yeah, it's... it wasn't a problem. At all. I think."
<Sydney> He did much better than I did, then.
<Javy> Maybe... I mean, we know it's not just... just a dream. So... so it's 
scarier. For us.
 06* Sydney looks down the hall at where Hank and Tiffany went. "When I signed 
the contract, I was thinking we'd be all heroic and stuff. Saving people. It's 
not that easy, though." She looks back at Javy. "Or maybe I play too many video 
games."
 06* Javy looks at her. "But... we are saving people. I mean... we... none of us 
were friends. Before. Right?" He swallows, and hurries along. "So it's, it makes 
sense, it's... it's hard on us, and we don't have, there's nothing, no ties to 
fall back on, it's just us, trying our way. And, uh, I... we... we screw up. But 
we're helping."
 06* Sydney smiles. "I am glad to have met you, and Nate, and Tiffany, and Hank 
if he decides not to leave. Even Tony doesn't seem like such a bad guy, and even 
if he were a total prick, we'd have saved him anyway, right?"
 06* Javy gains some color back in his face, finally. "Yeah. Uh. We would have. 
For sure."
<Sydney> So, we were talking earlier and the shop's going to be open tonight.  
The moon's right for it.  I still plan on going.
 06* Javy perks up a little at that. "Really? Uh, I had... I lost track. And... 
are they going too?"
<Sydney> I'd guess Tiffany is going regardless.  Hank... well, I guess that 
depends on how Tiffany does.  And I'm not sure if Tyler knows.
 06* Javy nods, and looks back towards the cafeteria. "Maybe we should... I 
mean, if we're not chasing. Then. Then, let's go back in. Maybe?"
<Sydney> Might as well.  We have a few minutes before lunch ends.
 06* Javy nods gratefully. He cranes his neck to look down the hall, seeing if 
he can spot Hank and Tiffany or not.
 01<@Ardweden> [Far down, Javy sees Hank sitting on the steps and Tiffany 
standing, looking like she's about to walk back down the hall.]
 06* Javy watches for a beat, and then nods to Syd. "Okay. Let's go back. I 
think... Tiffany, she, uh, she can probably handle it."
<Sydney> I trust her.
<Javy> Yeah. So... let's, um. Let's go back.
 06* Javy turns and heads back into the cafeteria!
 06* Sydney follows!