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Four or five students sat around each of the black tables, absorbed in various group projects, with a few extra people hovering around the machinery at the back of the room.

He approached the nearest group, but as soon as he got close, three people left. Only Lance and a guy he didn’t recognize stayed, but after a moment of apparent confusion, the stranger followed the others.

“Popular as ever,” said Lance.

“You’re... not going with them?” said Hector.

Lance looked at him for a long moment. “You could’ve really screwed me over, you know.”

Hector didn’t say anything.

“Let me know if you need help with something,” said Lance, and then he left as well.

With the whole table to himself, Hector glanced around again. Only the new members spared him the occasional look, and he could see a couple of them asking the others about him.

‘What’s with this atmosphere?’ Garovel said. ‘It's annoying.’

‘It doesn’t matter...’

‘Want me to suck their souls out through their eyeballs?’

‘You can’t do that.’

‘No. I could try, though.’

He smirked faintly.

‘I’ll get you to tell me what happened sooner or later.’ At Hector’s persistent silence, he changed the subject. ‘Anyhow, are you sure you can make something for your head here?’

‘It won’t be anything amazing, but yeah... I just need some materials.’ He paused, blinking. ‘Shit. I completely forgot...’

‘Hmm?’

He looked toward the corner storage room, around which was a caged enclosure with a hatch and a countertop. ‘I’m an idiot. The materials aren’t free... If I want some metal, I’ll have to pay for it... or steal it, I guess... but I really don’t want to do that again...’

‘Aha. That time already, huh? I was wondering when we’d need to find some startup capital.’