So easy, in moments like this, for there to be a point of weakness. Letting my guard down could do so much damage.

I left the document like it was, so there was room for more revisions before polish. I checked my messages.

Eighteen total messages from Kenzie. Photos of the body part of her costume in progress, some more stream-of-consciousness, she let me know when she was going to dinner, then when she came back. Pizza, apparently. She’d wanted to have her hands free to focus. She also wanted to know what to bring.

Which raised a question about what our exact role would be in things as they happened. Our priorities.

I put that aside. It was for the group to discuss.

Tristan. Last I’d heard, he was talking to the lawyer.

Tristan the Goat:
waiting for legal advisor nat now.
am not optimistic but got video footage from Ls as you recommended.
ugh. if nat keeps me waiting any longer I’ll have to switch for byron.
going to svetas later btw. will update properly around then.

I sent him a message to let him know I’d be at Sveta’s place.

Tristan had been frustrated by Natalie earlier, but we’d try this, because I’d had a small amount of luck after giving her something more tangible to work with than my reports. We’d try bouncing people off Natalie until we found one that worked. If any one member of the group ended up being good at working with Natalie, we’d keep them in that role as legal liaison. If Natalie couldn’t be worked with, we would find someone else.

An email from Byron, twenty minutes after that.

Byron the Blue:
rain left a voice message for me and Tristan. sounded rushed. he isn’t staying at his place tonight. he might go back tomorrow but sounded weird. specifically said he was messaging us to drop details so we would have lead if something happened to him. ominous.

More details to come. Will send you the voice message when I get home to computer and figure out how

Concerning.

A message from Presley, sent via Email and translated to a text:

Presley from the Train:
Can u ask ur friend from the train how she gets her hair so white?

It put a slight smile on my face, when everything else felt so heavy. I made a mental note to ask.

There was also a group text discussion too long for me to search through, mostly Kenzie and Chris, where Chris was asking what forms we needed for him for tomorrow. I scrolled down to the bottom, at which point Tristan was no longer participating.

Creepy Kid:
Blind rage would be a mistake I think. Sudden Shock is quick…
…Or Keen Vigilance. Slow but tough…
…and I’d be able to see and hear most of what was going on.