Immediately, Tiffany Chang's eyes became fixiated upon the photo.

  All the other teens continued to focus their attention on the game while her mind went adrift, gazing directly into the photo.

  Tiffany: (thinking: Max's father....)

  She gave his face a long hard look.

  He was a handsome man, with a well kept beard, and a charming smile. In the photo, he was with his wife, Julianne and child, Max.

  All three of them smiling. An arm around his wife and a hand on his son's head.

  Tiffany: (thinking: They were all so cheery back then.....)

  And then it dawned on her that Julianne mentioned that he was dead.

  A soft sigh escaped her mouth.

  Tiffany: (thinking: So... this is.... this was... this is ... Max's dad.)

  Another thing she'd remembered at that point was what Julianne Hunter had said about him in reference to Max.

  For a moment, she turned to Max, and then back at the photo.

  Tiffany: (thinking: She said... Max's father had a "nerve.")

  Normal social ideologies were no great mystery to Tiffany Chang, and as such, she could draw two deductions all this information.

  Or rather, a very big one.

  A large part of the reason to Max's nature, was his father.

  Whether genetic, or because he wanted to be more like his father, that was up to debate.

  But in this case, she could simply and aptly say, at the very least, a large part of Max's modus operandi, had something to do with his father.

  She continued to stare at the photo, not minding much of what was going on, as... for some reason, something was still bothering her.

  As for the others....

  Max: ... and that's the point of the game.

  Rose: Oh... so.... you're fighting to win a war?

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  Max: Not just a war.

  He drammatically paused.

  Max: For glory!

  Ken: Hmph.

  Ken himself nodded in agreement.

  Luke: (thinking: Oh boy...)

  Max: Anyway, it's pretty complicated.

  Max had explained the point of the game, but not exactly how to play it.

  Rose: I... I dunno if I'll be all that good at it.

  Max: It's alright. Girls don't play video games like this anyway.

  Rose: Oh... well...

  Luke: It's ok, Rose. After all, games like this tend to get ugly.

  Rose: Hmm?

  Luke: Trust me. You don't wanna see two guys competing in a game like this.

  Rose: Ok...

  At that point, Rose sat down somewhat upsettedly, simply bothered by the fact that she couldn't play the game with Max.

  As for Ken....

  Ken: (sighs) I lost....

  Just a few points below Max too.

  Max: Booyah! I win. Oh yeah, that's right.

  As he celebrated, Ken simply smiled to himself.

  Ken: (thinking: A loss is a loss. That being said... I'll even the score.)

  Rose: Way to go, Max.

  Max: Yeah, I'm awesome!

  Rose: (thinking: I'm so happy he won!)

  Luke simply smiled.

  And then suddenly...

  Ken: Hey, Max...

  Max: Yeah?

  Ken: Best two out of three?

  Max: You got it!

  And the pair sat down to continue playing.

  Ken: Let's use the randomiser this time.

  Max: Sure!

  The randomiser started rapidly shifting between classes.

  Luke: Hey, could I have a turn?

  The two teens paused, having realised that in their competitiveness, they'd forgotten all about Luke.

  Max: Oh yeah.... Sure!

  Ken: I suppose so.

  Max and Ken stood up and handed Luke a controller and started explaining the controls to him.

  Ken: So, you use this to shoot.

  Luke: Ok?

  Max: And this button to use a melee weapon.

  Luke: Alright, what about this one?

  Max: That's a special button.

  Luke: Hmm?

  Ken: It's purpose varies from class to class.

  Luke: Ok?

  Max and Ken looked at each other, the same thought running through their heads.

  This is gonna take a while.

  And Rose, feeling somewhat left out, joined them.

  Rose: Oooh, can I see.

  Max: Sure.

  Ken: Be our guest.

  And the two of them continued to explain the controls to Luke and Rose.

  Max: .... so if your a dextrous class, you get a grappling hook.

  Ken: ... and if your a chameleous class, you get a smoke bomb that makes you invisible.

  Luke: I see...

  Rose: Ok...

  Luke fumbled around with the play box controller for a moment, as he wasn't very used to using one.

  And as for Rose, be it because she suddenly noticed something or because she suddenly realised that someone was missing, who knew?

  But at that very point, she realised that Tiffany wasn't among them.

  From the corner of her eye, she could see her seated, motionless.

  Rose: Tiff?

  And with that ther conversations all stopped, as though they'd all come to the realisation of the fact that Tiffany was missing.

  So, all their eyes turned to her, to find her staring into the wall.