Just as it looked like Long was about to take action to force Pepper off, there was a loud grunt of laughter as someone new entered the gym near them. Pepper hadn't seen this tall muscular man around before, but everyone else seemed to recognize him including Long. "You can sit there all day, but nothing's gonna happen," he chuckled at Pepper.

Pepper turned, still not getting off Long, "Oh, I know," Pepper replied with a vicious grin, "I wanted the weight to crush his head."

"Dirt, that would have been funny," the man chuckled as he took off his shirt revealing an ambitious animal print on his chest. But what was perhaps even more interesting than the tattoo was a long scar that ran from the top of his chest, across his belly button, and probably farther.

"Off," Long warned one more time, interrupting their conversation.

"Oooh," Pepper said, genuinely a bit awed as he took off his shirt, "You going for the rabid panther look?" she asked still not getting off Long.

Just as Pepper finished talking, Long suddenly arched his body very quickly which sent Pepper a few feet up in the air. Long let her figure out how to land on her own as he rolled away from the bench gracefully.

"Close," the man explained as if nothing had happened. "More like a rabid saber cat since people call me Tusk."

Pepper did a front flip and landed gracefully before walking over to Tusk. "Tusk, huh? Guess that fits since it looks like a boar ran you through," she chuckled a little darkly, "I go by Pepper, and I must say, I'm very pleased to know that this place isn't entirely full of humorless lamestones."

"Pepper... spicy," Tusk noted as he decided where to begin.

Pepper shrugged, "I prefer firey," she explained as she watched him, "I cause reactions."

"Huh..." Tusk muttered as he turned to Pepper and looked her over. "I'll say. Feel free to try and crush my head whenever you want."

Long, in the mean time, had started working out with another machine that would be more difficult for Pepper to sabotage him with.

Pepper smirked as her eyes drifted down for a moment before meeting his eyes again, "We should fight sometime," she decided.

"Eh, I'm busy the rest of the day," Tusk sighed as he started stretching.

"Boo," Pepper replied, "I wish I was busy."

Tusk shrugged as he went to lift some weights.

Pepper pinched Tusk's rear as she started to head out.

Tusk let one of the weights slip out of his hand on purpose and then caught it again playfully with a smirk.

Pepper was smirking as well and continued to do so as she left the weight room.

Eventually Nic called it quits and went back to whatever he was doing.

Fin fiddled around in the Juttle, alternating between reading and trying to figure out how Frei sorted the clothes.

So Laurel went to find Raven.

Raven was alone in the garden, weeding some plants.

Laurel walked over and squatted down beside him. And since she wasn't a woman of few words, she got right to it. "Did you know Nic's brother is here?" she asked.

Raven paused for a long moment before nodding and going back to weeding.

"Nic thinks we should erase his memory and throw him back," she explained, "What do you think?"

Raven kept weeding, taking some time to think about it. "I'm... not sure," Raven replied.

Laurel fell silent for a moment, "Are you glad you stayed?" she asked after a moment.

--

There was a knock on Yue's door.

Raven nodded. "Of course," he replied.

--

A little while later Yue opened the door. It looked like she was getting ready to give the gym another shot.

"Then doesn't he deserve a chance?" she muttered.

--

It was Zala, she held out a note.

"A chance?" Raven asked.

--

"Hey," Yue told her as she took the note. "What have you been up to?" she asked since Zala wasn't around much.

"I don't think we should send him back right away," she explained, "Nic could use a brother right now... though he stubbornly denies the fact."

--

Zala shrugged a little, clearly she hadn't expected Yue to be somewhat friendly, "Being James' workhorse for the past few days," she muttered.

Raven turned, looking very surprised. "... Why is that?" he asked.

--

Yue blinked blankly, not sure how to respond to that.

Laurel was silent for a long time. But finally she replied quietly, "... It would be a good change... for him to have someone who looks up to him."

--

Zala waved a hand, "Follow the note; you'll see soon enough," and walked off.

"... Hmm..." Raven mumbled, mulling over the thought. "... Maybe," he replied.

--

Yue let out a long sigh. But after awhile she read the note.

"It would," Laurel corrected with absolute certainty.

--

On it was directions. Awkwardly written so clearly from James. Basically containing a series of rights, lefts and straights. He wanted her to come somewhere.

Raven wondered awhile what was going through Laurel's head. He seemed to think he was missing a piece somewhere, but he didn't ask.

--

Yue paced around awhile before changing into something more typical of her and changed her hair. Then she paced some more before changing her shirt and her hair again. But before she could consider making another change she picked up the note and slowly followed the directions.

"Let's be honest," Laurel stated, poking at the dirt, "No one has faith in him here except for me."

--

Eventually, Yue found herself in front of one of the theaters.

Raven blinked, surprised at her words. But he didn't argue; Nic had never been on the best terms with anyone here. He had just come along on Laurel's coat tails.

--

Yue let a few scenarios play through her head before just going inside slowly.

Laurel continued to stab the dirt, "So I'd like to have another person around here that's on his side. Someone who'll want to hang out with him even if Nic gets annoyed."

--

The theater was dimly lit and empty except for James at the very front. He was dressed nicely but not overdressed and was pacing. In fact, this was the most nervous Yue had ever seen him.

"Don't look at me," Raven replied. "He's the one that doesn't like me."

--

Yue kept out of sight for a little while, watching him pace for a short while. Then she slowly came into sight, walking toward him.

"Have you ever really tried hanging out with him?" she demanded, of course not remembering the time they were thrown together.

--

James jumped a little as he spotted her, "... you came," he whispered, a little in shock that she'd actually shown up.

"... Trust me, right now, I'm not the guy you're looking for," Raven replied.

--

"... Zala was very convincing," Yue replied, knowing it was just about as believable as Nic crying tears of laughter.

Laurel sighed, "Sometimes I feel like everyone here gangs up on him," she murmured.

--

James nodded slowly and then gestured for her to take a seat, "Thank you for coming," he replied quietly.