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ONE HOUR AND THIRTY MINUTES LATER...

Lex is at the portal gate, waiting for the others to arrive. He has a large tweed suitcase with him, and square glasses with useless lenses. The red strapped watch on his wrist reads 12:30 AM, and his foot is tapping out of rhythm.

< Calm yourself, whelp. Your anxiety is annoying to listen to. >

Lex nodded slightly, stilling his foot. "Just a few more minutes..."

Lydia was on time. Well, actually she was early and just sort of hanging out as she'd had nothing to do in the last hour and a half. A tote bag was slung over one of her shoulders, and her suitcase was held in the other. A pencil was tucked behind each of her ears, and her mass of curls was held back from her face by a hair clip on each side.

She didn't have much to say, and no real questions to ask. She rocked back and forth on her heels while she waited for everyone to arrive so that they could set off, a dreamy smile on her lips.

-----

Finn was not long behind Ripley, carried his own duffel bag but he had wondered if his suitcase might have been a better choice since it would have held more. There was a perpetual smirk on his lips much like there always was, though something in his demeaner seemed a bit lighter then it had an hour and a half ago. He was dressed nice, and his hair was combed back and styled.

He caught the tail end of Ripley's question and glanced towards Lex, still smirking and curious to hear the answer.

Lex gave Ripley a rather smarmy look, eyeing him up and down along with Finn. "You clean up well." He remarked toward the latter Hunter, nodding his smirking approval. His gaze shifted back to Ripley, nodding at the man as well. "A good question."

He rubbed the back of his neck, actually unprepared to answer Ripley's question. To be perfectly honest, Lex hadn't thought about being followed too much - he figured the FEAR candy distributor, if they wanted conflict, would approach them at school. He had to think on his feet, try and pull some bullshit out of thin air. It came naturally, of course - such things did after working in nightclubs for many years. "We'll take different paths and arrive at different times. Our security guard can always check to make sure no one is following us with intent after we leave the school's main gate."

Lex shrugged, leaving it at that. He was research, not subterfuge.

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Oliver had arrived neatly on time, so neatly he was able to join the lineup heading through the portal without any word to spare. He had his own duffel bag slung across one shoulder, but rather than looking prepared and confident, he was frantic and out of breath.

On the other side of the portal, the boy scurried to Lex's side and tried to keep pace with the taller man.

"Lex...!" He hissed nervously. "Lex! What d-do I say, a-about my face! I-it's n-not normal t-to have a scar like this! What do I do!" Oliver hadn't considered his recently-marked appearance during preparation for the assignment, but now it was certainly cause for panic. High school had been hard enough the first time without a disfiguring scar!

She had appeared at some point, quietly, of course, like usual, and trailed along with everyone else. Claude drifted to fall into line with Chance as they arrived. She'd turned in all her pirate stuff for this mission. No rings, no earrings, no head scarf, no pirate clothes. She brought out her only pair of jeans, a t-shirt with a pineapple printed on it, and her red pea coat.

Finn gave Lex a look with a slightly raised eyebrow before saying. "I always look ******** fantastic." Before he went back to waiting for the moment when they would leave, slightly disappointed with the answer that Ripley received as it really meant that their was no way in hell he was getting out of having to share a room with a great many other people he would prefer not to have to share a hotel room with.

Plus the whole added work for the security guard, aka himself.

If he got a moment where he wouldn't be overheard, he'd lean towards Ripley and murmur. "After this, I think we should go on that little trip I mentioned." Because he needed to get away from this place, away from it's people, and have some incredibly adult related alone but not completely alone time.

----

On the other side of the portal, Finn let out a soft sigh. "So much for only taking cold vacations." He muttered, loud enough for anybody to hear, really. It didn't matter that the wind could still hold a bite or that the ocean was less then appealing at this time of year. Compared to the "true north" this was nothing.

At the mention of walking, Finn shrugged his duffel bag higher onto his shoulder, sliding a thumb around the strap, ready to set off on this aforementioned long walk, not finding the idea of it daunting in the slightest except the for the fact that he might begin to sweat in his nice clothes.

In the span an hour, as she tried to give her boyfriend more lessons on how to sound like an American, she grew anxious for an unnamed reason. Gale had seen her struggle that morning to get dressed, seeming to "glitch": catching herself in repetitive motions, absentmindedly forgetting what they were talking about as her mind wandered, a strange look dawning in her eyes. She thought she had been ready for a mission again, that maybe she just had to push herself to get past it this time, but she hadn't and she couldn't.

Abruptly she told Gale she had to drop the mission fifteen minutes before it was time. No other reason was given, but he had been with Stormy long enough to recognize the symptoms of an episode, and she didn't bother trying to give any pretense other than that. After letting Lex know with profuse apologies and promises to make up for the sudden decision, she took Gale's hands into hers and gave him the usual treatment before a mission: a squeeze, three kisses (forehead, nose, and lips), and an I love you, good luck, be safe. While this mission didn't look as dangerous as the norm, she treated it as somberly as if they knew the group was going into the belly of the beast.

And when it was safe, when her back was turned and the bedroom door closed behind her, the unreasonable tears began. It made the search for cigarettes much harder.

---

Getting off duty, Dawson checked Twitter with a sigh of relief as he flopped into a chair in the common room and let his phone charge in the nearby socket. It was impossible to do so in the basement, so he stole slots where he could to keep the battery going. Curiously, he saw someone requesting an extra participant in a mission. A Mr. Claude's Brother (??) someone to be exact. While Dawson still thought he was too hoity toity for his tastes, he'd never actually met the guy. Not to mention his schedule was surprisingly open after that last shift.

After some back and forth where he got the details and agreed, Dawson pushed himself to his feet, popped his shoulders, and went to retrieve his things.

---

Jack took the extra time checking his suitcase and making sure he had everything he'd need. A week. He'd have to room with that many people for a week. The very thought agitated him on a bone-deep level because at the end of the day he desperately needed his space, but he couldn't afford to buy his own room out for that long. Maybe someone else would offer to split with him.

He was wearing the sunglasses Finn had given him on his birthday, his go-to ones for any outside activity that had a chance of too much light really, and was quiet as he took in their surroundings. He'd never been to California before; the visits to Lake Michigan didn't exactly compare to The Golden State's coast.

He stood not far from Ripley and Finn and for the moment just listened as the rest filed in.

---

Dawson arrived a little later than the rest, which he sure was already a mark down on his record. Great. But it had been important to negotiate the safety of his beard (which couldn't possibly allow him to pose as a young high school student), and so he arrived with a thick scarf that covered his neck and lower face almost completely. He'd chosen to add a winter hoodie so that he could throw his face further in shadow, and naturally his baseball cap (with a shark logo on it) had to accompany him on any venture. The trainee looked like a rookie hooligan, which he supposed was better than a twenty-year old country boy trying to pose as a young teen from Cali.

"S-Sawry f'I made ya wait, everyone," he mumbled as he reshouldered his dufflebag; there was also an L.L. Bean backpack filled with even more of his things, most of which were snacks because of course.

Jack raised his brows and looked to the sky, asking why.

"Oh! Hi, Lydia!" Dawson chirped with a smile--well, his face wrinkled like he was behind the scarf anyway. "Hi, Lydia's friend! Heyyyyy, Freddie, nice t'see ya. Who's yer--"

He stopped when he realized it was Claude and just sort of stared.

All Chance said to Claude was a mild-mannered <******** you" in relation to her shirt. Dawson got a little wave and a much more pleasant greeting, and Jack was given a smile and a nod as Chance lowered his book.

"Is it time to go yet?" he asked mildly, glancing around.