Erin’s heart thudded as she asked, hollowly, “You are setting me up on a date with a strange man? As a favor to you?” Her voice seemed strange and distant, but wholly her own.

Janette’s smile fractured into nervous rather than optimistic. “No! No, I mean. Not exactly. I wanted you to come to dinner with me and Tyson and Rex on Friday night. I am not - exactly - asking you to go on a blind date with someone I don’t even know. I mean, I wanted you to come with me and meet him. It's more so he doesn’t feel like a third wheel, and to make him feel welcome to Meridian City.”

Erin took a sip of the excellent tea, pointedly ignoring the awkward silence that permeated the air between them for a moment. Erin wasn’t really afraid anymore, angrier than she had been in a long time. “So you are setting me up on a date with a man you don’t know so he doesn’t feel awkward?” She took a breath. “Do you know how that makes me feel? I don’t even know Tyson that well.”

Erin might not want to be a Pawn, but she had her pride. If she was just going to play along with the Plot, she might as well be herself as long as she could.

Janette winced, seeming to realize that Erin’s words were not entirely unfounded. “I- sorry, Erin, I don’t mean to put you on the spot like that. It’s kind of terrible, given how distant we’ve been. It’s just I figured it would be a good way for you and Tyson to get to know each other too and it has been a long time since we’ve hung out.”

Erin thought about this a little, noticing Janette’s pitiable, but clear chagrin. Erin wondered if she was going to push the Plot too far and become Puppeted at some point. She didn’t have to wonder hard. She already felt the beginnings of electricity tingle on her skin, like the Plot was lolling itself out of its slumber. It began to burn at her fingertips, washing over her like a breeze.

Erin pushed the tea aside carefully. She was still furious, but she kept it contained by short, precise motions.

Erin stared at Janette. 

No. 

Erin stared at ‘Janey’. 

Janette would never ask this of Erin. Janette would know better.

Janey didn’t. She was a mechanical Puppet. She expressed happiness, she expressed sadness. She existed. Janette was dead.

Erin opened her mouth to refuse. To tell Janey that she was gay and had no interest in dating some dude, let alone one who likely was looking for a conquest in a new world, and someone rescue from villains and monsters a few times before she died dramatically. 

The buzzing was speeding up her arm and across her back. She knew it would make her say something if Erin didn’t beat it to her mouth. She couldn’t be honest. The Plot wasn’t letting her. She changed tack. 

“How important is this to you?” If she went on the date, her chances of becoming a benign, good, and otherwise docile Puppet were high. Refusing a Protagonist was asking the Plot to make her into an antagonist.

Janey bit her lip, an utterly adorable gesture she shared with the non-existent Janette, but that failed to penetrate Erin’s ire. “I meant it when I said it was a big favor. Tyson seemed pretty concerned about his friend feeling welcome, and he asked if I had any ideas. You are my best friend, and pretty much the only person I could think of.” Janey stared at Erin, as if she were Janey’s only hope.

Erin’s breath caught as she tried to get the next part out, not believing that she needed to come out to ‘Janey’. Again.

“I don’t date men.” Her jaw buzzed harder, but she wouldn’t spit out a retraction and remain herself. The Plot would have to take her. She was shocked she managed to say that little bit.

Janey winced, and said, “No, I know you aren’t dating. I-, sorry. I forgot, Erin. It really doesn’t have to be a date.”

Janey didn’t get it. She didn’t understand. “No, I’m…” Erin trailed off, her throat seizing up of the Plot’s accord. It was like she couldn’t breath until she changed tack again. It wouldn’t let her be honest. 

She strained on several approaches before trying to say something else. In what sounded like a strangled noise that startled the people two tables over, Erin managed to say, “I won’t be going home with the guy. I will drive myself. And, as far as I am concerned, I am just going as your friend, and he is coming as Tyson’s. I’m sorry if that’s not good enough for the favor… but I am not going on a date.” The Plot rose to the back of her throat like she might get sick, but she spat out the last of what she knew she needed to say. “I won’t do a date, Janey. It will just be dinner with friends. That’s all.” 

Her throat still buzzed, but it didn’t force her to say something else, like it was wary of her negotiations now, and didn’t want to waste the effort of forcing a Puppet to negotiate with a Pawn. 

Of course, the Plot might have something else to say about Erin’s willful attitude on Friday. No one fights the Plot and wins. That she managed this was something she’d never heard of before.

When Erin finished, Janey seemed sincerely relieved, blind to how Erin seemed to struggle with all the words. “Oh really? Thank you, Erin! That’s all fine, really! Tyson said he just wants to have another Meridian City local around, just so that Rex isn’t lost in a new city with only himself and me to rely on. You have no idea how much it means to me, though, really! And it's been forever since we’ve been out and about.”

This was going to be a long, terrible week, Erin realized. “Why doesn’t Tyson have Rex hang out with his friends? You shouldn’t have to corral this party.”

“They were all busy this Friday, and Tyson said that he was going to get everyone else together on Saturday. This is supposed to be something more casual, as it will be Rex’s first night in the town. I do mean it, I really appreciate it, Erin.”

Erin smiled thinly, as she asked, “Just tell me more about Rex. I don’t want to walk into this blind.”

Janey was more relieved than stressed, and answered, “Well, his name is Rex Magnum. He just moved…”

She resigned to learn what Janey knew about ‘Rex Magnum’ - which was about the most blatant, and most idiotic, Protagonist name she’d ever heard. Unfortunately,  Janey didn’t know much about him, other than he was an old friend of Tyson’s. He moved here from the West Coast, having created a chain of successful gyms there, and was about to start his empire here in the east. He was a big guy, former athlete and apparently a real charmer, though Janey hadn't met him yet either. 

Erin never heard the person’s name before, but she’d have to look him up later. Maybe he really did come from the West Coast. She wasn’t quite as knowledgeable about their many, many Protagonists. Meridian City was not a small metropolitan area - with nearly four million people in the metro alone. But when compared to Hollywood, Duwamps, and Vancouver, Meridian City was just the biggest stop between Baltimore to Miami in terms of popularity.

Still, she’d have surely remembered that name, ‘Rex Magnum’, especially since it was sure to make its rounds on the forums as a huge joke.