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Friday, June 4, 2021 5:56 PM Ryder would have been the first to admit that Shredded Beat, which billed itself as hopefully the first annual festival for local independent and amateur metal bands looking to break out, was a little outside his comfort zone. But Eira had insisted that this was the perfect place to stakeout the mysterious guitarist he and Danica had run into in later February and after a goat-like Ragin had wreaked havoc in the West End the month prior until a few of the Interceptors made short work of it she wanted to be there the next time one of the strange, musical demon constructs appeared. The upperclassman had told him to come dress appropriately but in typical fashion had considered the specifics of those instructions to be self-evident. Ryder had turned to the only fashion expert he knew who specialized in monochrome: Natalia. Which brought him to a milling crowd around the Liberty Park bandshell in a pair of black pants that hugged his legs like a second skin, a sleeveless t-shirt featuring a band name with lettering he couldn't begin to parse and a pre-owned leather jacket Natalia had studded across the shoulders with an insect wing design. He tugged one more time on his leather choker, fastened in front with a small padlock, before forcing his hands back down to his sides. He'd painted his nails an uncharacteristically sombre black and hoped that the sparkly top coat wasn't going to be an issue. He caught one of the other attendees giving him a side eye as they walked by and gave them a terse nod, trying to lower his register for a brusque, "Hey, how you doin'."

Monday, January 11, 2021 3:26 PM "C'mon, this'll be great!" An offhand comment about being a bit underwhelmed by the variety of vegetarian options in the Claremont Academy cafeteria on Utsuwa's part had been all the excuse his roommate needed to drag them into the downtown of the Freedom City. Ryder promised he knew a little place in Riverside that did every imaginable variation on a lentil bowl under the sun and was evidently worthy of quite a bit more effusive praise even after Utsuwa has assured him he was convinced. The street they were walking down had done its best to fit as many businesses as possible into its limited space, street-front real estate divided and subdivided, skinny little stairways leading up to second floors and hand lettered chalkboard signs competing for space with pedestrians and bicycles. The soundscape was no less overbearing, from the halves of cellphone conversations to the wailing toddler in the stroller across the street, from the young woman busking with an electric guitar on the corner to the mishmash of chimes, bells and electric chirps that sounded as every door opened. From the way he was grinning Ryder might as well have been strolling through a meditation garden. "Look at that blue sky! Hope you're hungry bud, I know how you feel about American portion sizes. Here we go!" He stopped in front of a vertical sign with red block letters on a black background reading 'LentALL'.

Saturday, February 27, 2021 10:21 AM "Well, the schedule says it was supposed to be here at quarter after," Ryder confirmed, scrolling down the page on his phone and confirming he was looking at the right day. He and Danica had left the Claremont Academy dorms with plenty of extra time to get to efficiently titled Lab for their 10:30 rendezvous with Eira and whomever was working that morning but after disembarking to switch crosstown buses they'd been waiting a good ten minutes. "Maybe it was a little early and we missed that one?" It seemed unlikely since the other commuters standing at the bus stop had already been there when they had arrived. A stout man with a bald head turning pinkish in the cold winter air was tapping his foot impatiently while a young mother with a stroller covered by a weather shield did her best not to make eye contact with the leather jacket and studded choker-wearing teenager sitting beside her on the only bench, idly tuning a black cherry electric guitar. Even with his bright red scarf sticking out of layers of canary yellow hoodie and jewel tone windbreaker Ryder could feel the cold seeping in and he got the impression Danica was feeling it more acutely. He tossed his phone back into his satchel, catching muted annoyed clicking from within. Craning his neck to look for signs of the bus coming down the street he did some quick math in his head. They weren't far from the Lab now but even hurrying he wouldn't make it there on foot for 10:30 and it would be a pretty miserable walk for his classmate. "Well, guess we get there when we get there, huh?"