#Xia Igarashi

[queermtl]

Queer MTL things to do : November 2024

As the weather grows colder in November, indoor activities heat up all over the city! And like every month, Montréal is stuffed to the brim with events, parties and unique experiences painted in all the colours of the LGBTQ+ rainbow. From drag to community, circuit to underground, here’s some of our picks for the best LGBTQ+ things to do in the city. For further announcements, including those not announced at time of publication, follow QueerMTL on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr! Got an event coming up? DM it our way!

Alors que le temps se refroidit en novembre, les activités d’intérieur nous réchauffent dans toute la ville! Et comme tous les mois, Montréal propose une foule d’événements, de soirées et d’expériences uniques qui font briller toutes les nuances de l’arc-en-ciel LGBTQ+. Entre prestations drag et activités communautaires, festivals bien en vue et événements underground, voici notre sélection des choses les plus gaies à faire dans la ville. Pour rester à l’affût de tout ajout, suivez QueerMTL sur Instagram, X, Facebook et Tumblr! Vous présentez un événement? Écrivez-nous!

LEGEND

🎥 Cinema 👑 Drag 🥳 Parties 🎶 Concert ✊ Activism 🏳️‍⚧️ Trans 🏳️‍🌈 Community 😆 Comedy 🎭 Performance 💪 Sports 👯‍♀️ Dance 🎤 Karaoke 🎨 Arts 📚 Literary / Educational 👠 Ballroom / Vogue

Friday, November 1, 2024

🎨 Pointe-à-Callière’s exhibition Witches—Out of the Shadows runs until April 6, 2025, Pointe-à-Callière 🥳 Pikete returns with Ori Lababy, La Niña Kiwi, Jashim, Culturalex, Anaconda Lasabrosa, Sisi Superstar, Queefy Latina and MCHERRY, La Sotterenea  🥳 GIRLS THEYS RAVE present GTR | Lesbian & Sapphic Halloween with DJs GwineStefani, Dracvla and Medasking, Cabaret Berlin 🥳 Cerise Noire goth night with UN, Esther Splett and DJ JTA, Notre-Dame-Des-Quilles 🥳 BIMBO presents BIMBOWEEN with Ian Jackman, DISKOMMANDER, DJ G3MINI and Esirena, plus a multi-category costume contest, Le Livart  🥳 Psychdelic Babylon presents the Psychedelic Halloween Masquerade with Electric Universe and Phase, Le Sainte-Catherine Hall 🎭 Closet d’Alibabette presents Le Cabaret des Curiosités : Spécial Halloween with La Freak du Show, Demone Lastrange, Sir Vergon, Xtra Dip and others, Centre de médiation culturelle “L’éphémère 💪 Montréal Roller Derby hosts Champs at Champs: Global Championship Roller Derby Watch Party Fundraiser with DJs and crafting, Champs 👑 Mado Reçoit with Mado Lamotte, Tracy Trash, Carmen Sutra, Erica and Nana, Cabaret Mado 👑 Vendredi Fou with Michel Dorion, Bar Le Cocktail

Saturday, November 2, 2024

🎤 Bareoke: Strip Karaoke, Café Cléopatra 👑 Doll Domination featuring an all-trans cast with Esirena, Denim, Jay Show, Casanova, Bijoux, Shasha and Safierce Diamonds, Complexe Sky 🥳 Homegrown Harvest presents Halloween Rave 2024 with WATA IGARASHI, Marie Davidson, Lis Dalton b2b Esme, Xia b2b urmumsfavdj, Hidi, Kris Guilty b2b Gene Tellem, Lexis and Alina b2b Guthrie, venue announced day of 🥳 Queen & Queer hosts their Halloween Dance Party with Sandy Duperval, DJ Mc Coy, Lisa Dalton and Lia Plutonic in B2B and DJ Sam, Bain Mathieu 🎭 Voulez Vous Productions presents an Affordable Costume Making Class with Rosie Bourgeoisie, book for location 😆 Le brunch with Raquel, a queer and trans bilingual comedy show with Raquel Maestre, Kě, Lucy Gervais, Carmina Berbari, Nat Pace, Alo Azimov and Caro Monast, Agenda 💪 Montréal Roller Derby hosts Champs at Champs: Global Championship Roller Derby Watch Party Fundraiser with DJs and crafting, Champs 🥳 🏳️‍🌈 Studio ZX, FANTOM and PUMP present PUMP with DJs FLLEUR, Technique Nado and Syana and rhythmic cardio by Mags, Place du Village 🥳 SUPER TASTE MTL presents 90's DANCE PARTY : Édition Halloween, Ausgang Plaza 📚 L'Euguélionne, feminist bookstore hosts a book launch for Monia Mazigh’s Farida, L'Euguélionne 👑 Jackbox Games with the Gahds with Uma Gahd and Selma Gahd, Bar Le Cocktail  👑 Mado Reçoit with Mado Lamotte, Tracy Trash, Carmen Sutra, Erica and Nana, Cabaret Mado 👑 Drôles de Drags with Miss Butterfly, Ciathanight, Crystal Starz or Emma Déjàvu in rotation, Bar Le Cocktail

Sunday, November 3, 2024

🎭 Ligue d’impro Gailaxie, Cabaret Mado 💪 Montréal Roller Derby hosts Champs at Champs: Global Championship Roller Derby Watch Party Fundraiser with DJs and crafting, Champs 👑 Le Tracy Show with Tracy Trash and Bobépine, Carmen Sutra and Gina Gates, Cabaret Mado 👑 Dimanche Show with Michel Dorion, Bar Le Cocktail

Monday, November 4, 2024

👑 C’est juste lundi, place à la relève !! with Sally-D, Bar Le Cocktail

Tuesday, November 5, 2024

👑 Full Gisèle : Top et bottom with Gisèle Lullaby, Lady Guidoune, Victoire de Rockwell, Clay Thorris and Tracy Trash, Cabaret Mado 😆 Stand Up St. Henri Open Mic focusing on women, non-binary, queer and allied comedians, Impro Montréal

Wednesday, November 6, 2024

🎭 The Poly Mic open mic, Bar Notre-Dame-des-Quilles 📚 L'Euguélionne feminist bookstore hosts a book launch for Martina Chumova’s Je mets mes rêves sur la table, L'Euguélionne 👑 Sasha Baga presents DIVAAS with Pétula Claque and Adriana, Cabaret Mado

Thursday, November 7, 2024

👑 Krystella Fame presents Girls’ Night Out with Crystal Starz and Zahra Bizarre, Cabaret Mado 👑 Butterfly de nuit with Miss Butterfly, Bar Le Cocktail 🥳 L’Orage presents Jeudi diversité !, L’Orage Club

Friday, November 8, 2024

📚 L’Euguélionne feminist bookstore hosts reading and signing with Chanel Sutherland and Murgatroyd Monaghan, L’Euguélionne 🏳️‍🌈 Eros and JAG host the Le VibraFonds 2024—Soirée Bingo!, Longueuil  👑 Mado Reçoit with Mado Lamotte, Crystal Starz, Ciatha Night, Velma Jones and Nana, Cabaret Mado 👑 Vendredi Fou with Michel Dorion, Bar Le Cocktail

Saturday, November 9, 2024

📚 The Violet Hour Book Club reads Alice Winn’s In Memoriam, Librairie Pulp Books & Cafe 📚 L'Euguélionne feminist bookstore hosts a book launch for Eve Martin Jalbert’s Promesse d'un monde encore incertain, L'Euguélionne 🥳 🏳️‍🌈 Studio ZX and FANTOM present Oxygen with DJs Bullshit Artist and Persuasion, Place du Village 🥳 SUPER TASTE MTL and Homopop presents Hot To Go: Chappell Roan & Friends Dance Party, Bar Le Ritz PDB 👑 Jimmy Moore personifies Taylor Swift, Cabaret Mado 👑 Mado Reçoit with Mado Lamotte, Crystal Starz, Ciatha Night, Velma Jones and Nana, Cabaret Mado 👑 Drôles de Drags with Miss Butterfly, Ciathanight, Crystal Starz or Emma Déjàvu in rotation, Bar Le Cocktail

Sunday, November 10, 2024

👑 Le Brunch aux Folles with Misty Waterfalls, Sisi Sinatra and Miss Fountain, Social Verdun 👑 Afternoon Drag Cafe with Itsh and Timothy Toxic, Agenda Co-op Bookstore 🎭 Reines Stones present Sunday Sin Day: Circus of Hell with Quinzy Chase, Sasha Désir, Siren Mayhem and Mina Minou, Wiggle Room 🎭 Ligue d’impro Gailaxie, Cabaret Mado 👑 Le Tracy Show with Tracy Trash and Kiara, Kelly Torrieli and Marla Deer, Cabaret Mado 👑 Dimanche Show with Michel Dorion, Bar Le Cocktail

Monday, November 11, 2024

👑 Vous êtes invité.e.s featuring the wedding ceremony of Val de Freak and Prudence, officiated by Heaven Genderfck with special performances, Cabaret Mado 👑 C’est juste lundi, place à la relève !! with Sally-D, Bar Le Cocktail

Tuesday, November 12, 2024

👑 Full Gisèle : Pop Y2K with Gisèle Lullaby, Saltina Shaker, Sunshine Glitterchild, Lady Boom Boom and Pétula Claque, Cabaret Mado 😆 Stand Up St. Henri Open Mic focusing on women, non-binary, queer and allied comedians, Impro Montréal

Wednesday, November 13, 2024

🎭 The Poly Mic open mic, Bar Notre-Dame-des-Quilles 📚 L'Euguélionne feminist bookstore hosts a bilingual discussion on Mandi Gray’s Suing for Silence: Sexual Violence and Defamation and Kharoll-Ann Souffrant’s Le privilège de dénoncer with the authors in attendance, L'Euguélionne 👑 Dance Again with Amy Haze, Gabriella, Kelly Torrieli, Kitana, Miss Butterfly, Rita Baga and Sasha Baga, Cabaret Mado

Thursday, November 14, 2024

🎭 Slaysians with Manny, Ad’horrible, CC Chanel, EmmÖtional Damage, Jebbie, Justin, Kajol, Khann, Korra Anarch’key, Psyberia, Rameez Karim, Song, Suri Racha and Ken Antonio, Cabaret Mado 👯‍♀️ Montréal Heels Festival, dedicated to the art of dancing in heels, Hôtel Bonaventure Montréal 🎭 Sis Void and Dark Felina present Cabaret Nocturna with Diana Bastet, Celesta O’Lee, Tristan Ginger, Miss Pretty Pretentious, Royal T and Sasha Désir, Cabaret Berlin 🎥 Queer Cinema Club of Montréal and Image+Nation hosts two screenings of Gregg Araki's Mysterious Skin, Cinema Moderne 👑 Butterfly de nuit with Miss Butterfly, Bar Le Cocktail 🥳 L’Orage presents Jeudi diversité !, L’Orage Club

Friday, November 15, 2024

📚 L'Euguélionne feminist bookstore hosts a book launch for Aimée Lévesque’s Parmi les femmes, L’Euguélionne 👯‍♀️ Montréal Heels Festival, dedicated to the art of dancing in heels, Hôtel Bonaventure Montréal 👑 Mado Reçoit with Mado Lamotte, Barbada, Daisy Wood, Peggy Sue, Krystella Fame and Nana, Cabaret Mado 👑 Vendredi Fou : Pants Free Evening with Michel Dorion, Bar Le Cocktail

Saturday, November 16, 2024

🎤 Bareoke: Strip Karaoke, Café Cléopatra 🥳 Lez Dance hosts Soirée entre elles! LEZ DANZE together! with DJ Franklyne, Stock & Soda 🥳 Butch-Femme Prom, Champs Bar 👯‍♀️ Montréal Heels Festival, dedicated to the art of dancing in heels, Hôtel Bonaventure Montréal 📚 L'Euguélionne feminist bookstore hosts the roundtable discussion Littérature et révolution with Sayaka Araniva-Yanez, Liza Hammar, Paola Ouédraogo and Missila Izza, L’Euguélionne 👑 Jimmy Moore personifies Madonna: The Celebration Tour, Cabaret Mado 👑 Mary J. Kay presents Patsy Gallant, Bar Le Cocktail 👑 Mado Reçoit with Mado Lamotte, Barbada, Daisy Wood, Peggy Sue, Krystella Fame and Nana, Cabaret Mado 👑 Drôles de Drags with Miss Butterfly, Ciathanight, Crystal Starz or Emma Déjàvu in rotation, Bar Le Cocktail

Sunday, November 17, 2024

😆 A Very Pretentious Comedy Show #20 with Raquel Maestre, Eve Parker Finley, Lou Laurence, Brad MacDonald, Sara Meleika, Andrina Learmonth, Jason Houle and Sarah Boivin, Café La ligne Verte 🎭 Ligue d’impro Gailaxie, Cabaret Mado 👑 Le Tracy Show with Tracy Trash and Sasha Baga, Pétula Claque and Lady Boom Boom, Cabaret Mado 👯‍♀️ Montréal Heels Festival, dedicated to the art of dancing in heels, Hôtel Bonaventure Montréal 👑 Dimanche Show 19th Anniversary! with Michel Dorion, Bar Le Cocktail

Monday, November 18, 2024

👑 C’est juste lundi, place à la relève !! with Sally-D, Bar Le Cocktail

Tuesday, November 19, 2024

👑 Full Gisèle : Wicked with Gisèle Lullaby, Marla Deer, Johnny Jones, Kiara and Rowena Whey, Cabaret Mado 👑 Lulu Shade and Sally-D present Shade-D Show with Mike Oxlong, Bar Le Cocktail 😆 Stand Up St. Henri Open Mic focusing on women, non-binary, queer and allied comedians, Impro Montréal

Wednesday, November 20, 2024

🎥 Image+Nation Culture Queer film festival, various locations 🎭 The Poly Mic open mic, Bar Notre-Dame-des-Quilles 😆 The Alt Comedy Show #2 with Raquel Maestre, Mike Carrozza, Mason Terry, Sadie Moland, Shawn Stenhouse and Carmina Berbari, Notre-Dame-Des-Quilles 👑 Bobépine presents Céline Dion... en Fête with Victoire de Rockwell, Marla Deer, Jay Show, Clay Thorris and Tracy Trash, Cabaret Mado

Thursday, November 21, 2024

🎥 Image+Nation Culture Queer film festival, various locations 🎭 The L Word Season 2—Live! with Sarah Laurendeau, Marie-Soleil Dion, Florence Blain Mbaye, Marie-Fanny Guay, Camille Léonard, Noémie Lira, Mélodie Noël Rousseau and Geneviève Labelle, Cabaret Mado 📚 L'Euguélionne feminist bookstore hosts the poetry evening À la santé de ce qui nous a pas encore tuées with Emmanuelle Riendeau, Marie-Pier Lafontaine, Marie Darsigny, Rosie Desbiens and Mélopée B. Montminy, L’Euguélionne 🏳️‍🌈 Festival Jouissif Montréal hosts Noël Jouissif, and erotic and other curiosities market, Bain Mathieu 🎭 MainLine Theatre hosts performances of Michel Marc Bouchard’s Tom à la ferme, MainLine Theatre 👑 Contestant Uma Gahd hosts screenings of Canada’s Drag Race Season 5, Bar Le Cocktail 👑 Butterfly de nuit with Miss Butterfly, Bar Le Cocktail 🥳 L’Orage presents Jeudi diversité !, L’Orage Club

Friday, November 22, 2024

🎥 Image+Nation Culture Queer film festival, various locations 📚 L'Euguélionne feminist bookstore hosts Les disparitions qui nous habitent, a discussion on Sarine Demirjian’s Un froid qui ne me quitte pas and Nada Sattouf’s Requiem d’un après-midi with the authors in attendance, L’Euguélionne 🏳️‍🌈 Festival Jouissif Montréal hosts Noël Jouissif, and erotic and other curiosities market, Bain Mathieu 🎭 MainLine Theatre hosts performances of Michel Marc Bouchard’s Tom à la ferme, MainLine Theatre 👑 Mado Reçoit with Mado Lamotte, Jessie Précieuse, Lady Boom Boom, Celes and Nana, Cabaret Mado 👑 Vendredi Fou with Michel Dorion, Bar Le Cocktail

Saturday, November 23, 2024

🎥 Image+Nation Culture Queer film festival, various locations 👑 Xtra Dip! hosts A Verry Glee(k) Show with Uma Gahd, Casanova, Coco Charlemagne, Champagne, Hollie Woods, Alexandra Moss, Muz’Emma and Psyberia, Bar Le Cocktail  👑 Jimmy Moore personifies Céline Dion, Cabaret Mado 🏳️‍🌈 Festival Jouissif Montréal hosts Noël Jouissif, and erotic and other curiosities market, Bain Mathieu 👑 Mado Reçoit with Mado Lamotte, Jessie Précieuse, Lady Boom Boom, Celes and Nana, Cabaret Mado 🎭 MainLine Theatre hosts performances of Michel Marc Bouchard’s Tom à la ferme, MainLine Theatre 👑 Drôles de Drags with Miss Butterfly, Ciathanight, Crystal Starz or Emma Déjàvu in rotation, Bar Le Cocktail

Sunday, November 24, 2024

🎥 Image+Nation Culture Queer film festival, various locations 🥳 Vol X. rave with Hector Oaks, x3butterfly, Solitary Dancer and Runa & Asha, details at link  👑 Celebrate 15 years of drag with Emma Déjà-vu, Bar Le Cocktail 🎭 Ligue d’impro Gailaxie, Cabaret Mado 👑 Le Tracy Show with Tracy Trash and Victoire de Rockwell, Daisy Wood and Misty Waterfalls, Cabaret Mado

Monday, November 25, 2024

🎥 Image+Nation Culture Queer film festival, various locations 👑 C’est juste lundi, place à la relève !! with Sally-D, Bar Le Cocktail

Tuesday, November 26, 2024

🎥 Image+Nation Culture Queer film festival, various locations 👑 Full Gisèle : Full Céline with Gisèle Lullaby, Nana, Crystal Starz, Bobépine and Gina Hamilton, Cabaret Mado 😆 Stand Up St. Henri Open Mic focusing on women, non-binary, queer and allied comedians, Impro Montréal

Wednesday, November 27, 2024

🎥 Image+Nation Culture Queer film festival, various locations 🎭 The Poly Mic open mic, Bar Notre-Dame-des-Quilles 👑 Marla Deer presents Popcorn Extra Beurre with Gisèle Lullaby, Tracy Trash, Bambi Dextrous, Bobépine, Clay Thorris and Johnny Jones, Cabaret Mado

Thursday, November 28, 2024

🎥 Image+Nation Culture Queer film festival, various locations 🥳 QUARTZ Soirées Lesbiennes presents To The Moon and Back with DJ Lavender May, Club Confessionnal 📚 L'Euguélionne feminist bookstore hosts a book launch for Aimee Wall’s Nous, Jane, L'Euguélionne 👑 Celebrate Canada’s Drag Race Season 5 contestant Uma Gahd’s Birthday with special guests, Bar Le Cocktail  🎭 Zize Dupanier presents Zize, Cabaret Mado 👑 Le Sami Party with Sami Landri and special guests, Cabaret Mado 👑 Contestant Uma Gahd hosts screenings of Canada’s Drag Race Season 5, Bar Le Cocktail 🥳 L’Orage presents Jeudi diversité !, L’Orage Club

Friday, November 29, 2024

🎥 Image+Nation Culture Queer film festival, various locations 🥳 SUPER TASTE MTL presents ABBA and Friends Dance Party: 5th Anniversary, Bar Le Ritz PDB 📚 L'Euguélionne feminist bookstore hosts De corneilles et de tantes / Of crows and aunties: a conversation with Jessica Johns with Catherine Leroux and Éric Fontaine, L'Euguélionne 👑 Mado Reçoit with Mado Lamotte, Gisèle Lullaby, Marla Deer, Sasha Baga and Nana, Cabaret Mado 👑 Vendredi Fou with Michel Dorion, Bar Le Cocktail

Saturday, November 30, 2024

🎥 Image+Nation Culture Queer film festival, various locations 🏳️‍🌈 CASA Cares hosts Q-Hour, spotlighting queer-owned and operated businesses, Concordia University 👑 Mado Reçoit with Mado Lamotte, Gisèle Lullaby, Marla Deer, Sasha Baga and Nana, Cabaret Mado 👑 Drôles de Drags with Miss Butterfly, Ciathanight, Crystal Starz or Emma Déjàvu in rotation, Bar Le Cocktail

OTHERS / LES AUTRES

👠 Twice a month on every second Tuesday, Bring It! hosts an OTA night of ballroom and vogue with commentator and DJ. Follow their Instagram for dates and details.

💪 Montréal Roller Derby hosts regular matches and open boot camps throughout the year. Follow their Facebook page for additional info. 

🤠 Club Bolo—Danse Country Montréal meet on Fridays at the Association sportive et communautaire du Centre-Sud.

👯 Tango/Salsa Queer holds lessons every Saturday, visit queertangomtl.com for information or contact tango.queer@hotmail.com or call +1 (514) 709-4678 for prices and signup information, Espaces des Arts.

🏐 Les Ratons-Chasseurs (Montréal’s LGBTA dodgeball group) holds regular events. Keep an eye on their Facebook for upcoming opportunities to join in and play. 

🕹Montréal Gaymers hosts regular gatherings including board game nights and gaming gatherings. Check their Facebook for what’s next!

🏃🏾Join the Out-Run run and workout club for people relating to the queer / sapphic experience. Details on their Instagram!

🐦 Bird lovers should keep their eye on Queer Birders' regularly scheduled birdwatching events and excursions. Join the Facebook group and get those binoculars at the ready.

[asidian]

Day 31: Risk

February 4, 2037

"No risk, no reward," says Jacob, and shoves his sleeves up to the elbows.

"You're such a dork," Xia tells him, fondly, and leans against the glass at the side of the UFO catcher.

Inside the case, dozens of round shiba plushes stare out with tiny dark eyes, tiny stitched-on mouths adorned with tiny pink tongues. There are black ones and brown ones and pale cream ones, and they all have those curly little tails, just like the real thing.

Jacob feeds the first of his coins into the slot. "Yeah, well, this dork's about to kick some ass and take some names."

He presses down on the button, and the claw lurches into life – judders backward, and then sideways, until it's perched above a little brown dog. It descends from on high, closes its grasping fingers, and promptly drops the dog.

"Taking names, huh," Xia snickers, and Jacob sticks his tongue out at her.

By the third try, he thinks he's got it.

By the fifth try, Xia says, "Man, you really want this thing. Kinda surprised you ain't fishing for the Team Chroma figures, honestly."

By the ninth try, he switches to the cream dog, instead. 

He finally lands it on lucky try thirteen – pumps the air with his fist.

Xia's still leaning back against the UFO catcher, arms folded over her chest, looking equal parts exasperated and fond. When he scoops the little dog out of the prize drop and holds it out to her, her eyebrows go practically up to her hairline.

"What's this?" she says.

"A dog," says Jacob, grin a little crooked. "Ain't you been paying attention the last half hour?"

"I mean," says Xia. "But why?"

"Cause it's your dog," says Jacob, and sets the soft, round little thing on top of her folded arms. "Cause we can't have a real one in the dorms."

Xia opens her mouth, like she means to reply – closes it again instead, brows creased and cheeks flushed, as she unfolds her arms, carefully, to accept her prize.

[biteghost]

sketchpage commissions for the lovely @asidian of their super fun kids, Jacob and Xia!!

[jeinu]

Xia Igarashi, a stubborn and mischievous mech pilot, now with more outfits in this second model sheet commission for @lollerdash!​

[asidian]

Day 12: Stuck

May 22, 2037

The sky above them isn't a roiling mass of crimson clouds anymore.

Below, in the city streets, there aren't any harbingers left but the ones lying on the ground, long black limbs and leathery wings still and crooked amid the rubble. A single burst fire hydrant is spewing water out into the street, making a miniature lake out of the wreckage. Otherwise, nothing moves.

Iyawa's voice comes over the comms, to make it official: "HQ has confirmed that we have no more incoming. Back to the hangar, everyone."

Jacob doesn't listen, though.

Instead he cocks his head a little and turns toward Xia, still grounded there beside him.The massive mech suit she wears is dusty from the collapsed wreckage, streaked black in places from harbinger blood. There's a long scratch down the front plating, but other than that, there doesn't seem to be much damage.

"Hey," says Jacob. "Do you hear that?"

He isn't even sure he hears it, not over the rush of the water from the hydrant. But he approaches the wreckage anyway, to be sure, and there it is again, louder now: someone crying, high and scared and helpless.

Xia follows after him; even in the suit, he can read her body language, the way her head tips down and her shoulders square up when a situation's got her on edge. "I hear it all right," she says. Then, into the comms: "Hey, Eze. Do we have search and rescue on the way?"

A brief pause, presumably as Iyawa opens up the channel to HQ and asks. After a long second, she says: "They are still in the shelters. Estimated arrival time is thirty minutes."

Jacob takes in the rushing water. He takes in the frantic pitch of that little voice, still crying. He says into the comms, "We're gonna be a minute late getting back," and then he splashes down into the miniature lake and heads toward the sound.

They don't have to go far; it's loudest under a crumpled piece of roofing, right in the center of the flooded section, and Jacob can do that math all right. Rubble pressing down and water rising up means that the odds are good whoever's stuck down there doesn't have thirty minutes to wait.

Hurricane's built for speed instead of strength, but Nemesis – Nemesis is power and durability all the way.

"You wanna lift and I'll dig?" says Jacob.

"On it," says Xia, and reaches out to lever up a massive chunk of the collapsed roof.

They don't actually have to dig very far. The little girl is a couple of layers down, trapped in an air pocket that's rapidly filling with water, and no sooner does Jacob shift aside one of the scraps of drywall blocking the way than she takes hold of the arm of his suit, clinging tight.

She's very small – two years old maybe, if that, with dark hair plastered to her face from the water. She's drenched and she's trembling, and Jacob works her carefully free and lifts her up into his arms.

"Where the hell's her parents?" says Xia. There's an edge to it, the way she gets when she's pretending to be pissed so she doesn't let on how upset she is.

Jacob doesn't want to say, not with the little girl's arms tight around him – not when she's sure to hear – but he tips his head toward the rubble, where an adult-sized hand is all that's visible from underneath the wreckage, still and stiff and lifeless.

Xia goes quiet, after that. Then, a moment later: "We gonna take her back with us?"

There's not a whole lot of other choices.

They could wait for search and rescue, but with the roads down, it might take them a while. The kid's freezing, and the less time she has to stay here with the remains of her house and her dead parents, the better. If she was older, Fielding would probably have a fit over them bringing a civilian into an area with confidential equipment, but the girl's two years old, what's she going to do, make blueprints?

So Jacob says, "Yeah." Then, into the comms: "Hey, Eze, make sure they got medics on standby. We're bringing company."

There's a longer pause than usual. Then Eze says: "Copy that."

"Come on," says Xia. "Let's get her out of here."

Jacob nods – swallows hard against the sudden tightness in his throat, aware of how close the girl came to not getting out of here at all. 

"Hey," he says to the kid, very soft. "It's okay. We got you."

She doesn't stop crying, and he can't really blame her. Instead, he tucks her in closer against him, crouches down a little for the extra momentum, and then springs up into the air to fly the both of them back to HQ.

[asidian]

Day 13: Roof

November 11, 2036

Sunset's on its way by now, and the sky is a washed-out shade of eggshell blue. The swath down toward the horizon's the exception, all burnt orange and glowing gold, dotted with little wisps of cloud. It's muted, somewhat, by the faint shimmer of the dome that encases the city, far overhead, but it's still pretty. It sets the skyscrapers into sharp contrast, the endless sheets of windows catching the shades of the sky and reflecting them, over and over, as far as he can see.

It's pretty.

It's a little blurry, from the  stinging in his eyes.

There's a quiet quark from nearby, and he turns to look – sees that one of the crows is here already, the one with the missing foot.

"I ain't even been to the mess hall," Jacob tells it.

It doesn't listen – sidles closer, muttering for food.

It's true, though; he doesn't have anything. He headed here straight from the med bay – snuck out before he was supposed to, because he couldn't stand the glare of the lights and the chatter of voices and the memory of his mother's face, blank and distant, turned away to check the diagnostics.

"For real," says Jacob. "Get outta here."

His head still throbs, and the new stitches in his arm still ache. He's dizzy when he turns too fast, and his eyes are burning. He scrubs at them, rough, with one hand.

The crow considers him silently for a moment. Then it quarks again and sidles nearer still.

"I don't got nothing for you," says Jacob. "So just take off already, and tell your friends, too. I don't got nothing anybody wants." His voice wobbles a little, for some reason. He'd be embarrassed if there was anyone out here but him and the crow.

Then Xia says, "Yeah, well, I'm not looking for leftovers."

He flinches as though struck – turns so fast his head and all the rest of the world start spinning. He didn't hear her open the roof-access door – didn't hear anything at all, until she spoke. His cheeks go hot, and he scrubs at his eyes again, self-conscious.

If she notices, she doesn't say anything – just comes up to stand with him by the overlook, on the opposite side from the crow.

She's quiet for a beat, eyes trained out toward the sunset, and the silence stretches long enough for the world to stop rolling in unsettling, sickly loops. After an endless moment, he turns back toward the view, himself.

The crow mutters at them again, cocking its head to one side.

Silently, Xia reaches a hand into her pocket. When it reemerges, she's holding a breakfast bar – holds it out toward Jacob, like an offer.

He hesitates, and then takes it. His fingers pick at the wrapper – break off the corner of the breakfast bar to set out on the top of the ledge. 

The crow snaps it up, immeasurably pleased, and Jacob breaks off another piece, bigger this time, and gives it that one, as well.

Xia has turned to look at him. The sunset glints off her glasses, making it hard to read her expression, but her voice is a little strange when she says, "It's for you, too, y'know. You don't always have to give everything away."

He can't quite meet her eyes – glances out toward the city scape in the distance, instead. He doesn't trust his voice, just now, but he manages an unsteady sort of nod. 

When he bites into the breakfast bar, he finds that it tastes like cinnamon and apples, crumbly and unexpectedly sweet.

[asidian]

Day 15: Helmet

July 6, 2036

Nemesis is down.

It's never happened before; the suit is massive, and it can take a ton of punishment. He's seen Xia tank a claw swipe from a  harbinger the size of a bus and not even flinch.

So when he turns to look for her and the skies are clear of the red-and-black outline of her suit, and then he turns to look below him, and there's Nemesis, down on the street, among the rubble, he kind of feels his throat close up.

"Oh, Jesus," he says, and doesn't even bother to check if the comms are open, but probably they aren't, because no one asks what's up.

He slices through the harbinger in front of him, something long and black and snakelike, and then he's darting off toward the ground.

He reaches Nemesis in the same instant that an amorphous creature like a floating black jellyfish does. It's all wobbly flesh and peering eyes, and Jacob cuts it down, turning urgently toward his downed partner.

"Status report," he says, shaky, and the results scroll onto his HUD; no power in the suit, but signs of life within. Suddenly, he feels like he can breathe again.

He touches down next to the massive bulk of Xia's suit – fends off something with claws that look like spider legs. Into the comms he says, "Hey, can I get some help over here? Nemesis is down."

"Injured?" says Iyawa.

"Not sure," says Jacob. "She's out of power."

"We are on our way."

An instant later, Nova and Sentinel are in the air above him. While Iyawa blasts her way through  a line of writhing harbingers, Ryota just hovers for a long moment, presumably running a med scan. His voice comes over the comms, after a beat: "She's in one piece. It's a suit malfunction, not a body malfunction."

The last of that tight knot inside Jacob loosens and dissipates, even as he says into the comms: "Can you guys buy me a sec? I might be able to get her back in the air."

"Consider it done," says Iyawa, and then casually explodes a creature twice her size.

They've got it covered, so Jacob leaves them to it – turns back toward Xia.

The helmet is dented in, which is probably a bad sign, but he knows where the catch is – flips the manual release and pulls the front of Nemesis open, so Xia at least has a visual of what's going on.

She's awake and alert, mouth pressed together in a tight line. She takes her glasses off when she pilots – she explained to him, once, about how the HUD corrects for her vision – but that only means that now she's stuck squinting up at the fight going on above them, likely unable to see most of it.

"We're good," Jacob tells her. "Nova and Sentinel got us covered."

"Power and comms are both down," says Xia. Her tone tries for flat and factual, but it wavers a little, around the edges.

She doesn't need to say that she can't move the suit; Nemesis is massive, and without power, trying to budge it would be like dragging a truck bare-handed.

"I'm gonna try and plug you into mine," says Jacob, and opens up the armor panel on his arm. "If that don't work, we'll get you outta here and back to HQ, and you can use a practice suit till your prep team can figure out what's wrong."

Her eyes are tracking something in the air above him, squinting to better try and make it out. There's an earth-rattling explosion and the shattering of glass, and half a harbinger splats to the ground perhaps twenty feet from them.

Jacob doesn't turn to look. He undoes the manual release on the armor of his other arm – takes it off, so that he can work without a metal shell encasing his fingers.

He knows what he's looking for; they've been drilled in field repairs often enough, and he's spent plenty of time with his Ma's blueprints and in Yoshioka's workshop. He pries the wiring free, and the small black box they're attached to; then he opens up a panel in Nemesis' chest, to see what he can see.

Sure enough, it looks like she took damage in exactly the wrong spot; the wires are split, too dead to be sparking, and they aren't attached to any sort of power source any more. He takes a breath, and he ges to work.

"How's it going?" says Xia after a minute or two, voice a little strained. She's peering up at the sky more intently now, and Jacob glances up after her, to see that the number of harbingers have tripled.

"Think we're just about in business," he says, and he twists the last of wiring into place. "Try that?"

When Nemesis lifts its massive leg, he grins so hard his face hurts; below him, Xia's grinning back, the expression fierce and bright.

"Gimme half a sec," says Jacob, "and you'll be back up in the air."

It takes longer than half a second to close the paneling and get her helmet relatched, but it's no more than a minute, all told.

Xia calls into the comms, "You guys miss me?" 

Nemesis's grenade launchers make an absolute disaster of the newest batch of incoming harbingers, and Jacob leaps up into the air to join her, blades drawn and ready at her side.

[asidian]

Day 30: Slither

April 5, 2038

They're just about done.

The only creature he can see that's still moving is one way down on the ground, slithering along on its stomach and bleeding black ichor from its wounds. Even as he watches, it falls as still as all the others, one more monstrous corpse in a a street piled with them.

For the first time in what feels like hours, Jacob takes a full breath.

He regrets it almost instantly; his ribs scream in protest, reminding him that they still haven't healed from the sortie five days ago. His arm still has stitches from the one two days after that, and the bruise that stretches from chest to thigh all down his left side is going to be hanging out for a couple of weeks still, at least.

Still – they pulled it off. One more battle in what seems to be an endless stream of battles is behind them, and here they are on the other side, still standing.

"HQ has confirmed that the area is clear," says Nesreen, over the comms.

"Of course it's bloody clear," says Ian. "We took care of it, didn't we?"

They did take care of it. All that's left now is to head back to HQ and ditch their suits, and then try and sneak in a couple hours of sleep.

As they wheel back toward the Caeli building, looping between skyscrapers as the clean-up crew deploys on the streets below, Jacob falls in beside Nemesis's familiar black and red bulk.

It takes him a beat or two to realize Ari's trailing them, the gold and white lines of his suit streaked with harbinger blood.

"Are you two okay?" he says into the comms, tone tentative. "Y-you've been awfully quiet."

"Kinda got cracked ribs, dude," says Jacob, with an apologetic little laugh that he regrets instantly when it sends pain shooting through him. He has to pause for a moment to catch his breath, before he can continue. "Those things don't exactly heal up fast, nanotech or no."

Xia doesn't reply, and Jacob turns her way.

Ari does too, apparently, because a moment later, he says, "Miss Igarashi?"

"I'm fine," says Xia, tone sharp. "What do you want me to say?"

She puts on a burst of speed to outdistance them, and for a moment Jacob hesitates to chase after her. Then he gives Ari a little I've-got-this wave and picks up the pace to catch up.

He doesn't think she got injured; probably she's just as run-down as he feels. If they make it back to the hangar before everyone else, they can be out of their suits in time to ditch out on the debrief. If they really hurry, maybe they can catch a nap up on the roof before Yamashita decides they need another sortie.

[asidian]

Day 29: Patch

March 1, 2035

"It can be anything we want?" says Mayu.

She's sitting cross-legged on the floor of their new dorm; they all are, the six of them, clustered in around the paper in the center. Ryota's holding the pen, because he says he can draw; he's already got a shield shape sketched out there on the blank white canvas.

"That is the instruction we received," says Iyawa. She's holding hot tea from a vending machine cupped between her hands, but by her expression every time she takes a sip, odds are good it's not great tea.

"Is open, is it not," says Sasha, and the Japanese words come slowly, as though he has to think them through before he speaks them. "Is too… what is the word?"

"Permissive?" suggests Ryota.

"Awesome?" suggests Jacob.

"Asking for trouble?" puts in Xia. "I mean, what if we wanted a middle finger or something?" She half-turns toward Jacob. "That's a thing, right? Everyone does it in the movies."

"That's totally a thing," says Jacob. "It means, like. Something really rude." His eyes dart toward Iyawa and Ryota, who seem like they're not exactly the something-really-rude type.

"We will not implode from a bad word," says Iyawa, with gentle amusement. She already knows what it means, from the look on her face, and Jacob wonders whether they learn English in school, in Nigeria. "Do tell us."

"Right," says Jacob. "It, uh. It means 'fuck off.'" 

He switches to English for the "fuck off" part, and evidently Mayu's heard the phrase before, because her eyes light up. "That's it. That's the one!"

Ryota rolls his eyes. "Who are we even telling to fuck off?"

"Fielding," says Mayu, at the same time Sasha says, "The harbingers." They share a look, and Mayu starts to snicker. Sasha's smile turns crooked and bemused.

"No, no," says Ryota. "We need a more subtle fuck off." He says "fuck off" in English, too, the words heavily accented. 

"Stick an explosion on there," says Xia, smug. "They'll get the picture."

Ryota starts sketching; the explosion takes shape on the paper beneath his hand.

"Is not interest," says Sasha. "Interesting? Needs more than only this."

"So we spice it up some," says Jacob. "Stick something cool in front of it."

"Like an alien," says Mayu.

"We're fighting aliens," says Xia.

"Like a dinosaur," says Ryota. "Code for we're gonna make you extinct."

"That is, in fact, the kind of message we want to convey," Iyawa muses, and takes another sip of her tea.

"It ain't a middle finger," says Mayu. "But I guess it counts."

"What is this word," says Sasha. "Dinosaur?"

"Really big lizards," Xia tells him. "That lived a long time ago and completely kicked ass."

Sasha nods, thoughtful. "Is динозавр," he says. "Will make fine image."

Ryota starts to sketch a T-Rex on top of the explosion – finishes in remarkable time. It's pretty good, actually, a silhouette with its mouth open and roaring, and there in the background, something huge is getting blown to hell. 

"Oh, wow," says Xia, leaning in for a better look.

"Just picture this thing on our flight patches," says Jacob.

"It's missing something," says Mayu. "Needs to be cooler."

She makes a grab for the paper – plucks the pen from Ryota's hand over his squawk of protest. "I wanna hear the coolest things you can think of, go."

"Revenge," says Iyawa, serenely, and sips at her tea.

"Taking out a blue dragon when you're the only party member left standing," says Ryota.

"Submarines," says Sasha. "And also sunglasses."

"Riding a motorcycle off a cliff," says Xia.

"Ooh," says Jacob. "Or a skateboard!"

"Who can even draw a motorcycle?" says Mayu, and sketches in a skateboard under the T-Rex's feet.

"I can," says Ryota, pointedly, and everyone ignores him.

"I think we've got a winner," says Mayu, and she holds up the sketch of Blitz's team patch, in both hands, above her head.

It's majestic. It's monumental.

"It's perfect," says Jacob. 

He can't even wait to see Fielding's face when they hand it over.

[asidian]

Day 25: Splat

June 21, 2035

There are people in the the window of the 22nd floor. Jacob can't hear them, but they're reaching out to him, fingers spread wide and faces upturned toward where he maneuvers through the air, fending off harbingers.

A woman has crawled out onto the ledge, trying to get away from the fire flickering in the building behind her. He can't reach her, yet – can't take his eyes off the fight for more than half a second, if he doesn't want claws the size of a butcher knife to slice him to ribbons.

He twists, and he turns; he dodges and slashes. He says into the comms, voice shaky: "We still got civilians in here. Can I get some backup?"

There's no answer. There's nothing but static, and he still can't shake this thing.

He takes a slash across the chest and leans into it, because there isn't any time to play keep-away anymore – lunges forward, instead, and plants his blade in the center of the creature's forehead.

Black ichor spouts from the wound, and he shoves it off, rough and shaky – turns toward the building, instead.

More people are out on the ledge, now, and the woman is barely holding on. She's in officewear, a tidy skirt and heeled shoes, and he feels his heart lurch out of his chest as she takes a step further, and the heel catches the wrong way, and she starts to go down.

Jacob rushes toward her.

Hurricane is built for speed, and he pulls out all the stops – darts around the next harbinger that tries to block his path, rather than engage.

The woman falls, and falls, and falls, and he knows by the time he's twenty feet away that he's not going to make it.

She hits the ground in a blossom of crimson, like a halo of red all around her, and –

– and that's when he wakes up, heart pounding in his chest, cheeks wet and sticky.

"What," says Xia's voice from the next bunk over, still muzzy with sleep. "What is it?"

For a long couple of seconds, he can't say anything at all. He can't even find it in him to be embarrassed, that he must have cried out in his sleep and woken her.

He scrubs at his eyes with the back of a hand – takes a shaky breath in.

"S'nothing," says Jacob. "It was just a dream."

[asidian]

Day 23: Leak

April 2, 2038

The rain on the tarp stretched out between the HVAC and the roof's stair access is deafening. It sounds loud as thunder, even before the thunder hits, and then it's even louder.

The tarp's leaking in one corner, and Jacob's not surprised; it would take a hell of a lot, to stand up to a downpour like this one, and it's the cheap blue kind from the hundred yen shop, so it barely had a chance.

But here in the center, it's still holding up, somehow. Here in the center, he and Xia are perched on their folding chairs, watching as the storm pounds the rooftop, but they're warm and mostly dry, in battered hoodies and jackets, a blanket they stole from the supply cabinet that services the dorms spread across their laps.

Somewhere in the distance, lightning flashes, and it illuminates the sky, a single streak of brightness. Xia passes him back the thermos with the tea, and he holds it between his palms for a second, just to feel the warmth of tt, before he takes a sip.

When he turns to pass it back to Xia, he catches sight of her in the stormlight: face upturned toward the sky, lips slightly parted, like she means to ask a question. A few stray droplets of rain speckle her glasses, and she looks – tired. As tired as he feels.

The words are out before he can stop them, almost too soft to be heard under the pounding of the rain: "We could go somewhere."

Xia half turns toward him. "What, like karaoke?"

Not like karaoke.

He means out. 

Away.

Out of Tokyo, to take their chances in whatever's left of the surrounding area. To become one of those stragglers living off the land, rolling the dice every day on whether they get to see the next sunrise.

He thinks about it sometimes – wonders how long they'd last. Wonders how many dawns they'd get to see, before their clock ran out.

He wonders how many they've got left, now.

The lightning flashes, and it illuminates the city beneath.

In an apartment building twenty blocks away, someone's leaning out on the balcony, to watch the storm. It's too far to make out any details, but Jacob can see the silhouette clear enough: an ordinary, everyday person living their ordinary everyday life, set into stark relief against the electric glow of living room lights.

All at once, he remembers why they can't go, and he's ashamed.

"Or – or that ramen place," he manages. "You remember? The one with that weird parfait."

The smile that quirks Xia's lips is a little lopsided. "Who could forget that place?"

Jacob leans in against her, so close their shoulders brush, and he offers her back the tea. "We should go again," he says. "See if they still got it on the menu."

"Yeah," she says. When she takes the thermos, their fingers brush, and her hand is very warm against the chill of the pounding rain. "Soon as the storm lets up, some."

[asidian]

Day 20: Sprout

February 19, 2038

Jacob's waiting for his crops to sprout so he has enough resources for the next campaign when a soft voice speaks beside him.

"Shouldn't you be in bed?"

It's Xia, words barely more than a whisper.

Jacob glances up from the screen of his phone – takes in the look on her face, the dark smudges under her eyes. Her posture's cagey, and she shifts her weight from one foot to the other, uncertain.

He knows that look – wonders what the nightmare was about. Wonders if it was anything like the one that woke him, throat closed and heart pounding, half an hour ago.

He doesn't ask.

Instead, he says, "That kind of night, I guess." He keeps his voice low, mindful that the rest of Team Phoenix is still sleeping – or pretending to, at least.

There's enough space for Xia to sit down next to him, but Jacob makes a show of scooting over, anyway – pats the floor beside him.

"Here," he says. "C'mere. Come help me storm a castle."

Xia hesitates – glances toward the bunkbeds, where their teammates lie still and quiet.

Then she nods and slips in next to him, so close their shoulders brush, and they huddle in around the little rectangle of light in an otherwise darkened room.

[asidian]

Day 11: Sour

May 22, 2036

They're midway through fighting a green dragon when Ryota says, "Okay, new rule."

He puts a tupperware container on the table in between them, right there on the map containing the outline of the dungeon. It's the room they just left, ominously covering the exit.

"Every time someone rolls a one, they have to eat one of these."

Whatever they are, they look innocuous enough: packed in a little tupperware container, small and squidgy and round. 

"What's the catch?" says Jacob.

"His mother made them," says Iyawa, somehow managing to make the words sound ominous.

"Doesn't she run a bar?" says Xia. "I thought you said she could cook."

"Oh, she can cook alright," says Mayu. "That just means she can crank it up to 11 when she wants."

"Is bad?" says Sasha, uncertainly. "Being at 11?"

"Why don't you find out?" says Ryota, sweetly. "You're up, Kozlov."

Kozlov doesn't find out, though. His cleric heals Gork up to half HP, instead. Xia doesn't find out, either, or Iyawa, or Mayu. They hack and slash their way through the fight, getting their asses thoroughly handed to them, right up until it's Jacob's turn.

He lets his d20 fly, and there it is, staring right back up at him: a 1.

The room breaks into muffled pandemonium. Mayu pounds the bunk bed beside her with her palm, and Xia slings an arm around his shoulder and  shakes him, and Ryota is saying that he knew someone would hit it eventually, and Kozlov is laughing, helpless, in that understated way of his.

"Quiet!" says Iyawa, in a forceful stage whisper that still somehow manages to cut through the chaos. "We are long past lights out!"

That seems to settle everyone down.

Ryota reaches out to take hold of the container of pickles -- makes a big show of it, holding it out toward Jacob like he's presenting some kind of jewel on a cushion.

Jacob plucks one of the little balls out, carefully. It even feels squishy, and he squeezes it between his fingers experimentally.

"What even is this thing," he asks, dubious.

"Pickled plum," says Xia. 

"But dialed up to 11," adds Mayu, and waggles her eyebrows.

"Good luck, my friend," says Sasha, solemnly.

"Go on, Cross," says Ryota. He returns the tupperware to its spot on the map, and he closes up the lid again. "Down the hatch."

"But mind the pit," Iyawa adds. "Don't bite straight in."

So Jacob minds the pit, and he doesn't bite straight in. He pops the entire thing in his mouth, instead.

Probably he makes some kind of face. Certainly the rest of his team are trying desperately to stifle laughter.

He's had pickled plum before, but only a little bit, a formless smear of fruit pressed into the backs of riceballs. He's never seen them whole before, and he's definitely never had one plain.

It's sour like nothing he's ever tasted has been sour, and Jacob used to eat those crazy Warhead candies by the pack when he was a kid, so many that his tongue got sores from them. He sucks at the plum like it is candy, working the fruit off the pit. It's a little bit gelatinous, and it's eye-wateringly, atomically sour. It's sour as if someone had to distill sour into a single experience, to record it for all humanity, and somehow crammed it all into a single point not much larger than his thumbnail.

Jacob coughs and wipes at his eyes, which are streaming. He fumbles for the tissue box, pulling one free to spit the pit into, now plumless.

"Holy crap," he manages, a little breathless. "Your mom, dude."

"Right?" says Ryota, with a narrow sort of grin. "She taught me everything I know."

Then he proceeds to spend the next round beating them all down into single-digit HP, so as far as ruthlessness goes, he probably has a point.

[asidian]

Day 10: Pick

July 7, 2037

The pet shop's bright and cheery and immaculately clean.

There aren't as many puppies in the display window as there used to be, Jacob's pretty sure, but with the way rationing's been going, maybe it's harder getting pet food, lately. Either that or everyone wants company for the end of the world. It's probably one of those.

The ones they've got left are extra cute to make up for it, though. He doesn't know a whole lot about dog breeds, but there's a little brown puffball, and a black one that's about as big as his palm, and one of those weiner dogs.

He leans in as the puppies yip in their tiny voices, tails wagging like crazy – runs his fingers back and forth in front of the glass so the weiner dog can chase them. It's wriggly and clumsy and terribly excited, and he can feel his smile go all crooked.

When he turns to look, Xia's got that grin on her face, bright and wide and about a thousand watts, the way she always gets around dogs; out beyond her, Mayu's watching them both with an eyebrow raised, and out past her, Sasha's talking to a little gray kitten in Russian. Jacob can't understand the words, but by the sound of them, they probably translate to something like, "Who's a good girl? You're a good girl. What a good kitty you are."

"You're all such nerds," says Mayu, and rolls her eyes.

"Dogs are like the anti-nerd," Xia tells her, fast enough to be defensive – but she must be too distracted to be really defensive, because she doesn't even take her eyes off the puppy with the curly tail. "Get a dog and your cool level automatically goes up."

"For real," says Jacob. "Dogs're awesome. There's guard dogs and seeing-eye dogs, and those dogs that bring you booze up in the arctic."

"Cats are also very cool," says Sasha, solemnly. "All good villains have cat to stroke."

"What?" says Mayu. "There's no dogs that've got booze."

"Those ones do," says Jacob. "They're huge, like big as a person, and they got special booze-holders on their necks for when people get too cold."

"Sounds fake," says Mayu.

"Sounds awesome," says Xia.

"They are сенбернар," says Sasha. "Perhaps not as big as all people, but as big as Mayu, for certain."

"Hey!" says Mayu, and reaches out to pinch him.

Xia snickers at her – ignores the "do not touch" signs and reaches in to scratch the nearest puppy behind the ears, to its utter delight. Its little tail goes wild, and Jacob leaves off playing with the weiner dog to watch the way Xia's face lights up.

Sasha's watching, too – makes a considering hum. "Is this the one you would pick?"

"Huh?" says Xia, distracted.

"If you got puppy," says Sasha. "It would be this one?"

"You kidding?" says Xia, and the corners of her eyes crinkle with the smile, behind her glasses. "I'd get all of them."

"And Mayu?" says Sasha.

"There any left?" says Mayu, and folds her arms, leaning against the wall. "Igarashi took em all."

"Is hypothetical," says Sasha.

"Fine, fine," says Mayu, and thinks for a minute. After a beat, she admits, a little reluctant: "I guess a rabbit wouldn't be that bad."

Sasha makes a soft hum, as though considering. "This would suit you," he says. "A rabbit."

"And I bet you want a cat," says Jacob, watching the way Sasha reaches in to stroke the kitten between its ears. Odds are good he's not just ignoring the sign; he knows some kanji, but not a whole lot.

"How bout you?" says Xia, who by now has just blatantly lifted the puppy out of its pen. It wriggles and squirms, licking at her chin with its tiny tongue. "You never said."

"I mean, you got all the dogs, yeah?" says Jacob. "I pretty much got visiting rights, anyways."

"If I've got to say, you've got to say," says Mayu. "Them's the rules."

Jacob hesitates for a beat, at that. They're on duty too much for a pet, after all. Who would make sure it had food and water, next time he gets stuck in the med bay?

And besides – he might be stupid, but he’s not a complete idiot. He knows the odds. There’s going to come a day, probably not too far from now, when they go out on a mission and just don’t come back.

But if he could – if there was time – he thinks he might like a bird, maybe one of the pastel puffballs in the cage by the register, something that could sit on his shoulder and ride along with him from room to room, keeping him company.

It’s not like he needs that, though. He's already got the crows up on the roof that wait for him in the evenings, watching him with their heads cocked and muttering in their funny voices. They're good, too. 

And even better –  if he ever stops dropping off scraps, they'll know how to take care of themselves.

Maybe he takes too long to answer, because Xia's nudging at him with her elbow, then, almost conspiratorially. "It's the weiner dog, ain't it?" she says.

"It's totally the weiner dog," says Jacob – and then squawks, as Xia reaches her puppy-free hand into the pen and lifts the little weiner dog straight out to place in his arms.

He can already hear the store attendant heading their way, calling out "Excuse me!" in an agitated tone.

But the puppy is very warm, and very soft, and it reaches up to press its wet little nose into his cheek.

[asidian]

Day 7: Fan

February 12, 2036

They're waiting for the train to Akihabara when Jacob makes a decidedly undignified squeak, grabs Xia's arm, and shakes her.

"Dude," he hisses, in the world's worst stage whisper. "Oh my god. Look. Look!"

She turns to follow the frantic direction of his stare.

There are a couple of kids that look around elementary school age, waiting with their mother on the platform. The girl has some trading cards in her hand, and her brother's pressed in close  beside her, to peer around her arm for a better look. They're bright-eyed and animated, talking stats and strategy and rarity. And on the cards themselves –

"Is that us?" Xia hisses back, eyes going wide.

"That's totally us," says Jacob. "Holy crap, look at your card art, that's whatshername, she did the art for Valiance and Justice."

There on the card, captured in loving detail, Xia's mech suit is poised with one arm raised. The red and black paint gleams in the light of the sun – or perhaps the light of the explosion that's going off in the background, doubtless caused by Nemesis' grenade launchers, which are still open as though they've just deployed.

"I look like I'm about to bash some heads in," says Xia, shock giving way to a grin that's wide and wolfish.

"You look badass," says Jacob. He's all but bouncing on his feet, trying to get a look at the stats on the bottom. "You think Nemesis has knockback? Nemesis had better have knockback."

Xia laughs, the sound somehow teasing and pleased both at once – nudges at him with her elbow. "You're already building a new deck in your head right now, huh."

"Dude, you know it," says Jacob. "No way I ain't having a Blitz deck." He reaches out to poke at her, casual, his own grin no less excited than the chatter of the children holding the cards. "I'm totally making you play with me."

"Oh yeah?" says Xia. "Guess it's a good thing we're already headed to Nerdtown."

As though on cue, the train pulls up to the platform. The doors slide wide, and the kids and their mother board.

Jacob's still grinning so hard his cheeks hurt. "Nerdtown, here we come," he says, and practically drags Xia onto the train.

[asidian]

Day 5: Raven

February 21, 2038

They get the information out of Egawa, when no one else will give it to them – slip into the hangar late at night, when the guards change, and hit her up while she's running diagnostics on Hurricane.

It's surprisingly easy, considering how thoroughly they've been stonewalled up until now, but all it takes is a couple of circumspect questions on Xia's part and, when that fails, some outright begging on Jacob's.

Egawa doesn't know the room number, but she can point them to the right wing of the psych ward, and honestly? That's all they really need.

Especially because they realize, as soon as they set foot in the hallway, that they recognize the screams.

They barely sound like Shimamura, but there's an edge to them that Jacob thinks he recognizes – that same frantic desperation she displayed while she was busy trying to blow his arm off.

He exchanges a glance with Xia – can see in her creased brow and the set of her mouth the same dread that twists his own stomach. He's just starting to wonder where the staff response is when he hears the footsteps – sucks in a  gasp, and grabs Xia by the arm, and tugs her back into the supply alcove, there in the shadows.

A woman in a crisp white uniform strides by: Dr. Ito, face an emotionless mask, heading for the direction of the screams. From somewhere down the hallway, a door opens and then closes. A few minutes tick slowly by, and the noise at last subsides.

They wait for the click of the door opening up again – wait for Dr. Ito to pass by the other way, and for her footsteps to disappear off down the hall.

Then they share another glance and move as one, creeping down the hallway.

The first room they try is empty; so's the second. But the third has Shimamura's information on a chart outside the door – Shimamura Mami; Codename: Black Whisper; Team Chroma.

Inside is Shimamura herself, and she looks awful.

The restraints are fabric, so they're probably not cutting into her, but they they encircle her arms and torso, holding her to the bed. Her hair's been cropped short, messy strands of raven-wing black that stand out against the stark white of the psych ward sheets. There are dark smudges under her eyes, and the lines of her cheek and jaw are sharper than they were the last time Jacob saw her.

She's not asleep yet, but there's an IV hooked up beside the bed, and from the way she's fighting to stay awake, odds are good there's a sedative in it.

"Hey," says Jacob, voice soft. He hesitates, and then takes a couple of cautious steps nearer the bed, dredging up what he hopes is a reassuring smile. "How you been?"

Shimamura's eyes roll toward him, showing too much of the whites around the edges. Her mouth works, like she can't find any words. Then she says, in a voice raspy from screaming: "I see you."

"Hope so," says Xia, and steps up beside him. "Last thing you need on top of everything's eye surgery, right?"

"I see you both," says Shimamura, a surprising amount of venom behind the words. "You think you're free, but you're not. There are footholds where you close your eyes, and you're not going to touch me. You're not. I'll – I can reach my scope when I'm sleeping, 3,000 meters isn't far enough. You'd better run, I won't let you – I won't let you take me apart –"

It feels like someone kicked the floor out from under him; his stomach gives a lurch, as she starts to talk, and then it just stays in freefall. Jacob's smile flickers and fades.

"Hey," says Jacob, softer this time – gentle. "No one's taking you apart. We ain't gonna touch you. Okay?"

"Yeah," says Xia. Her voice has gone a little shaky, and honestly, he can't blame her. He feels a little shaky. "We're just swinging by. Everyone says get well soon, is all. They wanted us to pass it along."

"I see you," says Shimamura. Her words are a little slurred now, with the onset of sleep – the sedatives kicking in, doubtless. "You think you've got me fooled, but I know better. Peel off your skin and there's nothing underneath, and you never wanted me to win anyway – they always set me up to fall. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair."

Jacob watches the way she struggles against the restraints, and he thinks about how Shimamura used to dominate the shooting range during training. He thinks about the way her long, dark hair always used to be pulled back with butterfly clips. He thinks about her in the cafeteria, scooting her tray over to make room for her brother.

He thinks about her brother's memorial service, a month ago now.

"Yeah," says Jacob, softly. "Ain't nothing about this is fair."