Rachel had Yips zipped up into her coat, so his head stuck out of the ‘v’ of the zipper’s opening. It was a heavy coat that looked like it could flatten a small child if it were dropped on them, with fur around the collar and hood that was more wooly or shaggy than it was ‘hair’ like I normally associated with parkas. She shrugged at something Cassie said, pulling the ‘v’ of the zipper up against Yips’ throat. He hacked out a cough, which disturbed the other dogs that were lying between her feet and the fire.

Rachel had Cassie, her henchwoman, an older teen with tousled hair and grungy clothes very similar to Rachel’s, with patches sewn into a jacket showing bulldog faces from biker gangs alongside cartoon dogs. She had overdone black eyeshadow that served to bring out how pale her dichromatic eyes were in contrast to her skin, and a spiked collar around her neck.

Cassie had Chastity, her Heartbroken friend, who had invited Rain to sit down next to her. Chastity was splitting her attention between Cassie and Candy, with less attention to Juliette and Imp. Every time she turned toward Juliette and Imp, I could see Rain trying to look as nonchalant as possible with her leaning past him or brushing up against him. Roman and the Tenders helped distract him with questions.

“You’re ignoring me,” Imp said, to the Heartbroken.

“Sorry, Imp,” Cassie said. “I was curious about the clothes.”

“Getting out of those rags?” Juliette asked.

“I’m not much of a clothes person,” Parian said.

“How does that work?” Chicken asked. “Aren’t you the most clothes person that ever personed?”

“I… it’s different. I know things about outfits and fashion, but mostly I like doing what I do for the art of it. It’s like wanting to do makeup for professional photography or special effects instead of doing your own makeup for everyday.”

“I wasn’t aware those two things were different.”

“Cass, please, you’re killing me,” Chastity groaned.

Parian ignored Chastity, leaning forward. The eyes of her doll mask were dark, her voice slightly muffled by the mask being between her mouth and the rest of the world. It didn’t help that she was soft-spoken. “If you do professional makeup, you need to understand skin tones, face shapes, match to the situation and wardrobe. If you’re doing your own, you only have to understand your own, and you need a few basics.”

“Interesting,” Cass said.

“What’s the motivation?” Parian asked.

“Curiosity. I went shopping for Chastity’s birthday present this summer, and I thought about getting her clothing, before realizing how much I didn’t know.”

“What you got me was tres cool,” Chastity said.

“You can always email me.”

“Or ask me,” Imp commented.

“I’ve seen you wear electric blue, neon green, yellow, and hot purple all at the same time,” Tattletale murmured.