"I wasn't very nice. I guess you could say that the world wasn't very nice to me, so I decided that if Life was going to be a bitch then turnabout's fair play. I was pretty good at getting my own way after a while. I learned how to make people Like me. I learned how to make people scared of me. I learned how to make people do what I wanted them to. I liked that kind of strength, and I suppose I was a bit of a teenage megalomaniac. Power is fun, and it makes you feel good."

Valise nodded sympathetically, she knew the dangers of that particular allure all too well.

"Then, after I'd gotten the friends I wanted and the respect or fear I figured was mine for the taking, I noticed Greg for the first time. I know it's probably hard to believe, but a few years ago he wasn't exactly all that noticeable. He kept to himself a lot, and didn't have a many friends. At first I figured it was because he was some sort of weirdo, but after I got to know him a Little better I just think he preferred it that way." She paused for a moment, as something in her eyes clearly showed her prying apart a problem in her head. "It's an odd kind of thing, I guess. To be comfortable with being alone. I mean. sure, in the grand scheme of things I suppose that most of us would like to be with someone. But Greg? I think he was the real deal kind of loner. See, most people who say they want to be by themselves are usually that way because they're hurt, or because they don't have the right gears in their head to get along with people. Greg wasn't Like that. He was just content in his own mind, I think. Until he landed here and Algra knocked him upside the head. In a figurative, as well as a literal sense." She paused again and smiled at the impact the orc woman had had on him.

“Anyway, the truth is that the way Greg used to be? It really pissed me off. I'm not at all comfortable with being alone. I had it all worked out when it came to what would make me happy. I guess it was kind of like chaining myself up to these big pillars of bullshit just so I could hold steady. After a while those chains got heavier and more and more uncomfortable, but I needed them, otherwise I'd just shoot off into the unknown. Then comes along this asshole who flies on past with nothing tying him down and not a damn care in the world." She huffed in exasperation, and then Looked back over to the tables of food.

Without saying anything, she took Valise's empty plate and filled it back up with more of her favoured leaves, and some pickled root vegetables she'd seen the woman occasionally nibble at. After the food was in place, Janette rummaged around under one of the tables before emerging with a hidden bottle of fire water and uncorking it. She took a tentative sniff of the stuff and it made her eyes widen. With a nod of approval, she brought the plate back to Valise and then took a good glug from the bottle herself.

After a brief coughing fit, she started to speak again.

“Christ almighty, what's in this stuff? Tastes like cleaning chemicals. Anyway, where was 17" She took another, smaller, contemplative sip from the bottle and winced as it went down.

"Oh right, so me and Captain Amazeballs didn't exactly hit it off. Although in my defence it did seem like he was one giant, moving, hooded, black sweatshirt. Not exactly a fashion pioneer, our Greg. I wasn't exactly leading a crusade when it started out, but I joined in teasing him Like most of the rest of the people I hung out with.

Then, one summer afternoon I was walking through this park where he used to hang out a lot. I was on my way home taking a shortcut and I happened to notice a bunch of guys playing football." She refocused her attention back to Valise again with a slight frown. "Football's a game you play with two teams trying to kick an air-filled ball into a net at each end of a big field. The more you kick it into your opponents net, the better you're doing.”

Valise dutifully nodded her vague understanding. She had seen humans playing similar field games in their own realms. Janette shifted her gaze back to look out across the field and waited a beat to continue the story. It seemed like she was simply enjoying the memory playing out in her head.

"I see a bunch of guys playing shirts and skins, which is where one team keeps their shirts on and the other takes them off so they know who's playing for which side. Guess who's playing on team skins?" Janette smiled at the thought of Gregory with his shirt off, though there was more than a hint of regret within the expression.

“That's right, our main man. He didn't usually play many sports I knew about, but I figure he was out there sketching or something and they needed an extra man to fill out the team numbers. Anyway, that was the first time I got a look at him without his shirt on, and ho-lee-shit did it hit me like a slap in the face. That long black hair, the chiselled physique, and I think that was also the first time I'd ever seen him smiling properly. I realised that all this time I've been poking fun at the hottest guy in school, and he's some kind of athlete. Sure, he didn't play football as far as I knew, but he moved Like nothing I'd ever seen. I think I might have actually drooled a bit. So I went to sit and watch. I actually hate football, but shirtless Greg was my new favourite sport. Y'know?"

After a moment of silence, Valise realised that Janette was actually asking her and so she stopped eating some pickled root vegetable, and considered her own answer.

"I remember seeing him in his trunks for the first time. He certainly makes quite an impression."

Janette nodded her agreement and actually Laughed a little.

“Damn, I think if the first time I'd seen Greg he'd been in those little trunks I might have just..." Janette trailed off, having been about to say something along the Lines of going to jump his bones right then and there. She'd stopped because she realised that's almost exactly what Valise had done. Though she'd waited for her moment, it was difficult not to sympathise with the woman's attraction.

That moment of sympathy made Janette actually growl with frustration, and she quickly turned away from Valise again to Look back to the opposite end of the glade.

“After the football match was over, I went over to try to talk to him. By the time I got close he was putting his sweatshirt back on. I mean, the sun was practically cracking the pavements by that point, but this guy still can't go without his big hoodie. So there's me, walking along in this hunk-induced trance which makes me treat this guy as if I've never clapped eyes on him before and also forget that I'd maybe, sort of, kinda called him a loser two days ago. I grin like an utter moron, and in my flirtiest voice I say ‘hi' to him, shortly followed by something like 'nice abs.‘ Ugh."

Janette lowered her face into her hands at the embarrassing memory and shook her head. Her hands fell back into her lap and she sighed as she leaned back to lift her gaze toward the heavens whilst continuing to wonder just what the hell she'd been thinking at the time.

"Then Greg scowls at me before shoving his hoodie on, grabbing his bag, and walking off. I mean, I looked back on that moment so many fucking times and I don't think I've ever wanted to go back and punch myself in the nose more than right then. I mean, of course the poor guy was going to want to get away from me. He probably figured I was just setting him up for something. I guess he'd just gotten that used to people like me making fun of him, he didn't remotely guess that I was actually being one hundred percent genuine. Why the hell would he?"

"So what did I do? Did I chase after him and apologise? Did I clarify I wasn't being sarcastic? Did I just do what I desperately wanted to do and drag him off into the bushes to make out with him? Oh no. That wasn't how old Janette worked. This loner turns me down and I just see red right there and then. I storm off after him and demand to know who the hell he thinks he's walking away from. Start screaming that no girl in their right mind would ever want to be with a guy like him. Give him the full on teenage-hormonal beat down, going for all the sore spots I figure a guy like this must have with surgical precision. I can still remember the look on his face when I was finished. He didn't cry, or get angry, or even do anything. He just went pale and..."

Janette's voice caught in her throat, and she sniffled as a couple of stray tears escaped the corners of her eyes. She quickly wiped them away and drew in a steadying breath to push down the upsurge of emotion.

“It looked like a little bit of him just died right in front of me. Even then, it took the wind out of my sails. Then he just walked away leaving me there with a few of the guys he'd been playing football with trying to avoid eye contact with me. After that it just got worse and worse. Before, I'd just mostly ignored him but now I knew what he looked like I guess teenage hormones kicked in and kept refocusing my attention back to my new man-obsession. I started noticing other stuff about him. Like, how much of a talented artist he was. Have you ever seen him sketch something?"

Valise shook her head.

“Huh, you should. He's pretty great at it. It was all dragons, elves, giants and monsters. Not really my thing.” Janette gave Valise a pointed look there.