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.

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.