Scene 3 - November 5th

Interior Testing Facility, Early Afternoon

Quinn Kaufman

For days, I had just... drifted.

Dad’s will had been emailed to me on the night of the 31st, timestamped at around the time I had met Holly and Simone for the party - it seemed he had sent it to me after Doctor Yaffe had told him it was time. I spent most of the 1st and 2nd arranging his funeral - he had set some money aside for it, and specified exactly what he wanted in the message.

Going through the funeral had helped - seeing how many people were there, either to pay their respects to my father or to support me, as Holly had promised to do, had meant a lot, even though I had had difficulty feeling it at the time - as had spending the entirety of the 3rd sleeping.

The 4th had been filled with legalities and phone calls and emails - there was a lot of paperwork to go through to register myself with the DMO and to join the Journeymen - or rather, I had learned, ‘the New Venice MLED Junior Heroic Agent team’. No wonder MLED-sponsored teams got nicknames - it was for simplicity as well as to match the tradition of superheroic teams that had existed since before the DMO was founded, and which still existed today in some cities.

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Plus I had had to call the college and let them know why I was going to be missing a week of school. That conversation hadn’t been pleasant. They already knew that dad was dead, of course - I supposed he must have had a message set up to go to them as well - so it was a lot of awkwardness as they tiptoed around the subject and I, still largely enfolded in grayness even though I was trying to push through, simply barreled through it like a bull in a china shop.

I was still staying at the Compound. I... hadn’t been back home yet. The thought hurt too much to even consider. I knew I would have to go eventually - if only to pack up my essentials and get clothes and toiletries of my own instead of the stuff I had bought from the gift shop, all branded and themed after various MLED heroes - and Holly had volunteered to accompany me, but... for now, it was enough, and I could continue avoiding it.

Today, having finished the paperwork shortly before lunch, it was time to go through powers testing. I had messaged Simone to ask her to pick up the PA4 from home, and was waiting for her - or for the power testers, whoever arrived first - in a large, gym-like room.

As no one seemed to be coming, however, I closed my eyes, and just... waited.