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The Caledonian Sleeper, Just Outside London. Monday, June 6th, 2021. 9:25 pm Cabin 2: Judy and Lulu The overnight train to Inverness had left Euston at precisely 21:15, right on time. Everyone was getting settled in for the eleven hour journey, and Lulu was stuffing her carry-on bag under the lower berth. She'd handled all the arrangements for this part of the Claremont graduates' trip, including booking two Classic cabins with a connecting door for herself and Judy, with Davyd and Micah next door in Cabin 3. Up until this point, she'd been both excited and anxious about the trip by train across nearly the whole of the UK; this included a lot of worrying about tickets, luggage and getting the whole group to the station on time. Now that they were safely on board and the train was under way, she could finally relax a bit. "Okay, that's everythin' squared away for now!" She turned around to take in the rest of the cabin. "Huh. Boy, these rooms are a lot smaller than the ones on Amtrak. Ah suppose it makes sense, on account of how small the UK is; no one has to spend two nights in this little thing." She put her hands on her hips and sighed. "Ah'm gonna go check on Adam, see how he's settlin' in." She went out into the corridor and knocked on the open door of the first cabin. "Hey, hon. You decent in there?" The redhead grinned as she poked her head into the room. Tonight she was very casually wearing an oversized Harry Potter t-shirt, khaki shorts and a pair of light hiking boots. She'd packed a jacket and some pants in case of cooler weather up north.

GM The Painted Desert, Arizona October 4th, 2020 10:00 AM "Sorry kids, grandpa wasn't kidding about this desert being hell during storms." Blue Squad had been told that they would be going on a field trip to Arizona, to the painted desert, to meet up with a Doctor Macedon for a survival class. Leon might have heard about his friends' trip the year before, and how the aging Doctor Macedon had decided to swear off any and all future field trips after yet another trip to the past through the Magic Mesa, but maybe this time would be different? The whole thing had started out pretty well. Doctor Alexandra Macedon had picked Blue Squad up at the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport with an off-road van with enough space for the entire crew, their luggage and Danica's ride. It turned out she was the previous doctor Macedon's granddaughter, and she had been more than happy to take up the task of leading another squad on a survival class. They had reached their dropoff point and then proceeded out into the desert. A few hours later, a sandstorm had started kicking up, slowly growing in strength and intensity. "We gotta find shelter! Anybody see anything?" Doctor Macedon's long brown hair was kicking around her in the wind already, while she fought to keep her stetson secure on her head. Up ahead, the group could see a mountain that just so happened to have a cave.

Claremont Academy Fall 2021 The members of Red Squad had been told their special weekend project was quite a doozy, and they were right - though perhaps not in the usual superpowered way. Escorting selected structural supports and architectural plans from the Centurion's Sanctum to the National Building Museum in Washington was a high honor, even if by all accounts it was just going to involve a trip in a private jet and a short car trip to the NBM. Waiting for them as they reported for their bus ride to the airport was their escort for the day; a woman none of them had met before, not to speak of, but who all of them had heard of. The Patriot, second to bear that title, was a solidly-built Asian woman who looked to be maybe thirty (though really, who could tell the ages of adults well) her face partially obscured by a dark red and blue armored helmet complete with chin guard, eyes hidden by white reflective lenses over the eyepiece. Her armored costume consisted of a blue Kevlar tactical shirt, white stain-repellent trousers, and maroon gauntlets. It's a look obviously inspired by the previous Patriot, with a few upgrades. She was waering a brown leather bomber jacket over the top of the costume with an American flag sewn on the back and white star over the heart. Her tactical boots didn't add enough to her height to make her 5'10" but she's close. Inside her helmet, Ashley was already dreading this, even as she was reminding herself to stow it. You volunteered for this job. That means keeping an eye on the kids, especially the ones Callie is keeping a special eye on. You spend a day with them, talk about working for the government and not hiding in the shadows, it's great. Her red white and blue bike was parked nearby the bus, whose driver was inside grabbing breakfast before they all hit the road. It was early morning for teenagers; Ashley had been up for hours. She stood with her arms folded over her chest and greeted the first student with "Morning. Just wait right there till everyone's here, I don't want to talk over the engine."

Lincoln, Freedom City, New Jersey Friday October 1, 2021 (10:23 PM) A cool night breeze blew over the dark empty street corner of a rundown section of Lincoln. Along the block there were a few occupied storefronts, an all-night convenience store, a liquor store and a currently closed pawn shop. But the majority of the storefronts were empty and dark. Above many of the storefronts were low-income apartments, several in equally bad shape as the storefronts. Perched on the third story roof of one of the buildings was a small group of teenagers. Nevermore II had been looking into reports of a local street gang that was causing a considerable amount of trouble for the police. Based on the reports, it sounded as if the gang had gotten ahold of a cache of Foundry tech that had been left behind when Talos had established Rurland. Based on the few reports thus far, it sounded as if the gang had at least a few energy weapons and some personal forcefields among the cache. Of course it was always possible that the gang had access to more Foundry tech. Normally this might have been something Charlie continued to investigate on his own, or perhaps brought Callie in to help as well. But recently Headmistress Summers had been encouraging him to try to include the other members of his intermural team from school in some of his investigations. So, he had brought the other members of Grey Team with him tonight. A couple blocks down the street from where the members of Grey Team were gathered was a dilapidated four story tenement building. Many of the windows of the building were broken out and boarded up and graffiti covered much of the first level exterior. From information Charlie had been able to gather, the gang was using the abandoned building as a base of operations.

Freedom City’s Orpheum Theatre, The Theatre District, Freedom City 11 pm October 31st A hundred years ago it was the pride of Freedom City, a magnificent Art Deco building for those interested in the newest medium of motion pictures. Closed in the ’70s the building had fallen into disrepair and many sadly thought the building would soon be demolished for a newer more practical (but bland) building put in its places. Then a year ago it was revealed that the Summers Foundation had gained the building (through the ownership by Summers Advanced Dynamics) and were planning to restore it to its former glory. Now the building was was opening and in honour of the time of year, the cinema was going to show a series of classic horror movies and someone had the idea to invite the more “monstrous” heroes of Freedom City. With a promise of big donations to various charities from the first night's box office. For now, those invited heroes were being allowed to gather in the foyer to have a chance to socialise among themselves before any other guests were bought in for the movies to begin.

Parkhurst Hotel, Lantern Hill, Freedom City 11 pm October 31st For the last few nights, every magician and sorcerer could feel it, something was clawing its way up through the deepest and darkest dimensions. It created a sense of dread that something very bad was going to happen and soon and it didn’t take a genius to figure out when Samhain or Halloween was when the barriers between worlds were at their weakest. So quickly a plan was quickly put together all of those with suitable magical gifts were summoned, mostly by text and e-mail, to the Parkhurst Hotel to carry out a ritual (at midnight of cause) to hopefully sealing whatever this creature was within the spaces between worlds. That was at least an hour or so however so everyone was gathered in the grand hall with its sweeping staircases doing one of the other favourite things that mages loved to do network and gossip.

Fall 2021 The Espadas School of Self Defence and Swordsmanship! Things were changing in the Espadas household this year between Min's twins, Raina's recent 21st birthday, and now the arrival of the two timelost teens from Burma. Owain and Neko had, in their first weekend, been consciously perfect guests - both ready to volunteer for any task around the house that was asked of them, neither of them in much mood to get into detail about their lives before they came here. (Neko had her own obstacles there, for that matter.) When they returned, they had a little more to say; or at least Owain did. "And so between the two of us, James, and Simon, it seems fele of the class is from some age other than this one!" He was gesturing with his knife as he spoke, thrusting vigorously and speaking loudly. "Who knew this would be the year of people wrested from another age to come to this one? Withal, to answer your question, sir, it goes well. Haven't seen any carrying any particularly fine weapons, but when I do, I'll see what fires their heart." For her part, Neko simply nodded, catching the buckwheat soba noodles around her chopsticks and popping them in her mouth. These were a fair approximation of the food she'd eaten back home, but not quite the same. Her ears and tail were seemingly out of view at the table, though the hair on her head was still a mixed patch of white and brown and was obviously cat hair rather than human. It was nearing the end of dinner; it was almost time for the younger children to head for bed. "It is okay," she agreed after Owain was finished speaking. "My roommate is very nice."

GM Afternoon, September 25th Millennium Mall, Midtown Freedom City It was raining, hard. Like so many other teens, young adults and older, Muirne, Luke, Leon and Charlie had found their way to Millennium Mall to have something to do now that classes were out for the week. Something somewhere dry, hopefully. Bernadette, for her part, happened to be in the mall at the same time. Maybe just a single her, maybe several, or maybe it all depended on the moment. As one would expect on a day like this, the mall was absolutely packed. People everywhere, in stores, in the food court, well... everywhere. The PA system routinely mentioned events like clean up to the toilets on the 2nd floor, a missing child near a toy store, lost phones and the like.

Kord Dormitories, Forth Floor Claremont Academy, Freedom City, New Jersey Saturday, September 4, 2021 After a Summer back in her apartment in New York, along with some time at the Summers family home, Callie had already moved back into the dorm. Now she was sat in the common room checking her social feeds, waiting for new and returning students. Apparently older her wanted her to take some more responsibility so had tasked her with being the floor greeter for the new school year. She was giong to do her best, in was in her blood after all, but she wasn’t going to make an effort until absolutely necessary.

Kord Dormitories, Second Floor Claremont Academy, Freedom City, New Jersey Saturday, September 4, 2021 Like the rest of the dormitories at Claremont Academy, the first floor of the Rita Kord Dormitory was a scene of somewhat controlled chaos. Classes were set to start early next week after Labor Day, so the dorms had opened up this weekend for new and returning students to get moved in. Trying -- with some small amount of success -- to control this chaos was one of the floor's Senior residents, whose towering 6 foot 4 inch height made it easy for him to oversee most everything around him. "Two lines, please, one in, one out... no, no, stay to the right side of the ha- no, your right... Ho! Lift with your knees, not your back! Wait there a moment, I'll- oh, yes, sir, that's right down there, next to last on the left..." Try as he might, there was only so much Heroditus could do to control the Surfacers, but he had grown more accustomed to and accepting of their ways in the past few years.

Kord Dormitories, First Floor Claremont Academy, Freedom City, New Jersey Saturday, September 4, 2021 Like the rest of the dormitories at Claremont Academy, the first floor of the Rita Kord Dormitory was a scene of somewhat controlled chaos. Classes were set to start early next week after Labor Day, so the dorms had opened up this weekend for new and returning students to get moved in.

Kord Dormitories, Third Floor Claremont Academy, Freedom City, New Jersey Saturday, September 4, 2021 The start of another school year was only a few days away, so unsurprisingly the Claremont Academy campus was abuzz with activity as parents and students descended on the school's dormitories. Amid this activity, a pair of teenage girls with bright red hair made their way from the parking lot toward the Rita Kord Dormitory. At first glance, one might have assumed the two girls were twins, except it was not just their features that were completely identical, they were both dressed in the exact same grey and black plaid skirt and white top. In fact, the only difference between the two was that one was carrying a suitcase and had a backpack over one shoulder, while the other was carrying a box. Bernadette O'Connell glanced back at her duplicate that was carrying the box behind her, letting out a slight sigh at the unintended display of her powers. The teen was glad that her older brothers had stayed up in Boston when her parents had driven her down for the start of the year at her new school, as there had been a few times where the family mini-van had gotten a bit too crowded. Hopefully this new school would help her learn to prevent things like that. Reaching the entrance of the building, the redhead glanced up towards the upper floors a moment before looking back down at the letter from the school that had her room assignment. "Alright, third floor, Room 308." She stated to her duplicate with a slight Irish accent, even though it was entirely unnecessary to communicate that out loud. Her other duplicate that was still back at the car with her parents also knew where the floor was located and could guide them up there when with the remainder of Bernadette's things.

GM Wyvaan IV Outer length of the Perseus Arm Lor Time Mark 2002.5 (August 28, 2021 Terran Calendar) Blaster fire streaked past Sitara Shashikala and Maybelle McQueen as they had approached the entrance to a pre-fab warehouses within an industrial zone of a large city that had sprung up on the once sparsely populated fourth planet of the Wyvaan system. Like many of the most hospitable worlds within or near Coalition worlds, Wyvaan IV had seen a massive increase in population in the years since the Incursion through the relocation efforts for those that had been displaced. Despite how recent the relocation efforts had been, many of the relocated sentients had come to view Wyvaan IV as their home and the world had begun to prosper as it joined the Coalition. However, given its proximity to the revived portions of the Stellar Khanate, the sudden growth in population had allowed Khanate criminal syndicates to easily expand their influence to the world. It had been a request from the planetary government that had brought a group of Praetorians to the world to help shut down some of those operations. Sitara had managed to quickly uncover some leads, which had led them to this industrial zone. Apparently the syndicate members were not at all reluctant about putting up a bit of a fight. "Traveller, Quennie, be careful, there are more armed beings approaching from the side streets." Came a message over the comms channel from Magnetar, another Praetorian who had been covering the pair's approach to the warehouse from the air.

Millenium Mall A summer afternoon in 2021 Charlie had learned a lot during his first year at Claremont. Time travel, juggling life with the rest of the Raven Family and life at the academy, and of course his own unstable little group that he had got together to deal with Casanova and his crew. Last time they'd met? Cas had tried to brainwash Muirne. Something had to be done about it, and well... not like the rest of his friends knew of his relationship with the headmistress. Charlie, Muirne, Leon and Luke were at the Millenium Mall, at a burger joint, sitting around a table. Just hanging out, talking. He hadn't been able to get a hold of everyone, but this should be fine, right? Lowering his burger after a bite, he finally asked the question he'd wanted to ask. "So... y'know that whole New Young Freedom thing that Casanova's got going? How about we start our own team?"

Summer 2021 It was an innocuous enough sound in one of the many bathrooms in Midnight Manor; the sound of running water. Erin had heard water running at odd times before, usually when Aquaria had snuck her way in from the backyard to get more water. But Aquaria was back in her apartment with Jessie and even Trevor was out of the house right now, leaving just woman and cat to deal with the mysterious sound. As she approached the door, she could hear loud, boisterous splashing from inside the bathroom, as if something had filled the tub and was having one heck of a good time in there.

GM Somewhere in Egypt Early August, 2021 Things happened, as they tended to do. A contact at Danger International had informed Veronica Danger about an ancient stone tablet that might be connected to her amulet. She had gone to Egypt, she had found the tablet, one thing had led to another... and now she was riding a bike through the desert, pursued by a group of cars and bikes. She wasn't really sure who was pursuing her, but their leader seemed to be an angry little man with short black hair and a pencil moustache. He was seated in a jeep that leapt across a dune behind Veronica, sweating profusely while he yelled something about somebody just shooting the damn brat.

GM An afternoon in the middle of July, 2021 Claremont Academy For whatever reasons, a group of students had arrived early at Claremont this year, before the classes were even about to start. They came from very different lives, and had very different powers, but for whichever reasons, they were to stay at Claremont, along with a few others, during the summer months. And, despite the summer vacation, they needed someone to show them around, and that job had fallen to Luke and Leon. They had probably complained, but headmistress Summers had promptly shut them down by reminding them about some of their misbehaviour during the past school year. They four new students, Onyx, Effigy, Invisigirl and Freedom Eagle were all ready in normal clothes, waiting for Nightscale and Paper to show them around.

Late July 2021 Freedom Hall Okay thought Ashley, looking at her helmeted face in the women's bathroom mirror. It's just a normal briefing as part of a larger team meeting. You're going to introduce yourself, say you hope we'll have a good working relationship, and tell them what happened with Revere. We're all adults here and we're not going to fight over territory. Under normal circumstances, she'd have gone in without the mask and secret identity, but there was no reason in the world to have the Freedom League looking into the affairs or for that matter recent professional whereabouts of Secret Service Agent Ashley Tran. She took out her phone and texted a quick Going in. Talk to you later, babe. ? to an anonymous number that routed out to the depths of space before turning off her phone, putting it in her jacket pocket, and tugging it down to match the lines of her costume. No use looking like an ass. With that, and with a deep breath, she walked out of the bathroom, walked down the hall, and headed into the Freedom League meeting room.

GM 3:25 AM, 1st of July, 2021 Kingston, North Freedom Criminal activity had recently been on the downturn in Kingston, despite its desperate populace, low police presence, and proximity to the dread Doomforge. Many, especially those outside of Kingston, attributed this to the hideous heat that had been overwhelming the city of late, while others pointed to the hero activity several months prior in the Doomforge giving criminals something to think about. People in Kingston and the FCPD knew otherwise. Unconscious criminals have been discovered bound to streetlamps, ladders, fire escapes, and more. Normally, this would be cause for relief, but the state they have been found in is of great concern - their bodies slashed and cut, pierced with extreme prejudice. Though they have all survived, the fact that their wounds were so vicious has many dreading the dark. The Raven also heard even worse news - scattered about the scenes, and sometimes still sticking out of the criminals were small, sharp shuriken stylized as talons, and the terrified criminals reported being attacked by a cloaked figure with the mask of a raven. Regardless of how effective this new vigilante was, they were causing the innocent to fear as much as the guilty, to say nothing of the fact that they were besmirching the name of the Raven.

July 3, 2021 In between calling her mother, her sisters, and even Judith Claudia Cahill, who had certainly had enough things kept from her by adults in her life, Ashley Tran was left with the unavoidable reality that she had once again made a promise and she was going to have to live by it. But she wasn't the same woman she'd been when she agreed to be Judy's undercover escort at Claremont - and taking on the role of the Patriot the goddamned Patriot! was a little bigger than acting as an undercover high school student. So she'd reached out to Jill O'Cure, who'd reached out to somebody she knew, which turned out to be the elder statesman of Freedom City's queer hero community. Still doesn't sound right in my mouth, she thought as she studied her reflection in the Uber driver's window. But it's easier than spelling out 'hey I like men and also women.' She had a cut over her left eye and a fading bruise on that cheek, all stuff that the helmet and makeup would cover the next day, and the Uber driver hadn't said anything about it. She wasn't sure if that meant he deserved a bigger or smaller tip, but she left him one anyway as she stepped out onto the Lincoln street. There's only one person to talk to, she remembered Jill saying as she walked up to the front door of Keith LaMarr's apartment building. And okay, he saw you in character, but that was a couple of years ago and you had a whole different look. Her black skirt and white blouse could have been on any office worker, though they perhaps wouldn't have been wearing the blue and purple lapel pin and pronouns badge that she'd picked up at Pride. Even if he does recognize you, what's he going to say about it? Hardly any adult hero actually gives a crap about what goes down at Claremont as long as the kids are all right.

Emerald Spider Downtown Freedom City Around dawn, 1st July 2021 Peri hadn’t expected to explore Freedom quite so quickly, she blamed jetlag that meant she was full of energy at this ungodly hour. Not knowing where to get good Kimchi in this city she’d instead decides to swing arounf the city and get her bearing. She’d alraey found the place where the Air Conditioning conference was going to happen, the reason she was in the city for the rest of the week, and had tried a New Jersey hotdog. It was amazing how excited and yet blasé the local were about superheroes. Sitting on the roof finishing her hotdog she wondered how long it would be until she ran across any, if you watched the news you couldn’t throw a rock without hitting onw and by now she sure sighting of Emerald Spider had already started to make there way to social media.

Late June 2021 The Iceberg A dark, sleek dynamo at five foot three, Kalinda Kaur had moved through the AEGIS base with a bright smile and firm handshake. The Vice-President was known as a critic of law enforcement outside but inside she'd been nothing but professional, even friendly, as she'd met with everyone from Director Bonham to the lowest office drones. She was the sort of protectee that liked to bull ahead of her bodyguards without so much as a backwards look. Luckily they'd spent most of today down in one of the most secure sites in Freedom City. Special Agent Ashley Tran, on special assignment to the Vice-President's detail, had done her best to blend into the agents who occasionally had to jog a little to keep up with 'Desi'. Jim Ward, the VPOTUS's usual detail head, had proved to be philosophical about the whole affair; something Ashley appreciated. This was supposed to be a big day. In just a week now, Paul Revere would make his Fourth of July debut as Patriot II - a new hero for a new generation! The program had been founded in the early days of the Cahill administration but the O'Connor administration had embraced the idea, even if Revere (who had been left quite the blonde, blue-eyed Aryan superman by the DNAscendant treatments he'd been given) wasn't quite the kind of person the O'Connor administration tried to promote. Ashley had heard about the program in its early days, even if her duty to Judith Cahill meant she was never seriously in the running for it. The man who had actually gotten the position? She'd met him, even sparred with him, having been brought in to test his facility with hand-to-hand combat. He was cute, certainly; she liked big, muscular alpha males and the fact that he was a cop wasn't bad. But something else was...not right. - The Iceberg was home to a small studio, where against a curtained backdrop, Revere was practicing his speech. He stood behind the podium and gave the cameras a winning smile as he continued: "Not too long ago, two friends of mine were talking to a Cuban refugee, a businessman who had escaped from Castro, and in the midst of his story one of my friends turned to the other and said, "We don't know how lucky we are." And the Cuban stopped and said, "How lucky you are? I had someplace to escape to." And in that sentence he told us the entire story. If we lose freedom here, there's no place to escape to. This is the last stand on earth. And this idea that government is beholden to the people, that it has no other source of power except the sovereign people, is still the newest and the most unique idea in all the long history of man's relation to man. Whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capitol can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves. You and I are told increasingly we have to choose between a left or right. Well I'd like to suggest there is no such thing as a left or right. There's only an up or down - [up] man's old-aged dream, the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and order, or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism..." "Well he certainly can handle himself in front of the camera," said the Vice-President thoughtfully, "even if he does sound he's Ronald Reagan personified." She looked a little skeptical, but many of the agents in the room looked very interested in what the man had to say. Ashley knew for almost certain that one of the agents, a star-struck young sound engineer from Oklahoma, was actually sleeping with Revere on the sly. She hadn't said anything, but the number of people she could talk to about any of this was damn thin. "Beth, are the defense contractors on schedule?" Ashley knew for sure that they were; Alek and company wouldn't be late without finding a way to let her know, so while the Vice-President (and technical head of the project, answering only to the POTUS himself, who was back in DC getting ready for the holiday) chatted with her immediate staff, Ashley looked around and spotted maybe the only other person in the whole Iceberg whose knowledge of superhuman tactics wasn't theoretical. "Agent Zermeño," she said cooly from behind her shades, "a word?" She cocked her head towards the studio control room door.

GM The Last Outpost Cantina Outskirts of Dreeda System The Last Outpost Cantina, so named because it was the last watering hole for days in any direction, was having a quiet night for once. The bartender surveyed the scene, which mostly consisted of a few locals sitting at the bar quietly drinking, and a few patrons he didn't know were keeping to themselves, having a quiet conversation in the corner. The overhead fan spun lazily overhead, and muffled music came through the bar's crappy speakers. Yes, it was certainly looking like a pleasant evening. No fights to break up, no guns to confiscate. No rabble tonight!

Early Summer 2021 Strange noises often came from the vast honeycomb hives of the giant bees, towering as they did as probably the tallest artificial structures on this planet these days. Songs and dances like distant rumbling thunder, noises of birth and death and a million other things, one sometimes learned to tune them out. At least until a giant bee comes buzzing in, loud as a helicopter and long as a truck, zooming in overhead and landing in a large green space in the midst of human dwellings, roughly equidistant from the homes of the guardians of this planet. It was Super-Bee, wearing her domino mask large enough to cover the front of a Mack Truck. "HEROEZ!" she buzzed. "I HAVE CAUGHT AN INTERLOPER!" Sure enough, she seemed to be holding a struggling human pinned against the thick, sticky hairs on the side of her leg. "HE CAME FROM ZOME PLAZE WE COULD NOT ZEE!"

Friday, June 4, 2021 5:56 PM Ryder would have been the first to admit that Shredded Beat, which billed itself as hopefully the first annual festival for local independent and amateur metal bands looking to break out, was a little outside his comfort zone. But Eira had insisted that this was the perfect place to stakeout the mysterious guitarist he and Danica had run into in later February and after a goat-like Ragin had wreaked havoc in the West End the month prior until a few of the Interceptors made short work of it she wanted to be there the next time one of the strange, musical demon constructs appeared. The upperclassman had told him to come dress appropriately but in typical fashion had considered the specifics of those instructions to be self-evident. Ryder had turned to the only fashion expert he knew who specialized in monochrome: Natalia. Which brought him to a milling crowd around the Liberty Park bandshell in a pair of black pants that hugged his legs like a second skin, a sleeveless t-shirt featuring a band name with lettering he couldn't begin to parse and a pre-owned leather jacket Natalia had studded across the shoulders with an insect wing design. He tugged one more time on his leather choker, fastened in front with a small padlock, before forcing his hands back down to his sides. He'd painted his nails an uncharacteristically sombre black and hoped that the sparkly top coat wasn't going to be an issue. He caught one of the other attendees giving him a side eye as they walked by and gave them a terse nod, trying to lower his register for a brusque, "Hey, how you doin'."