“Oofh” said Rachael, as the wind was knocked forcefully out of her. She had thought the wall was further away then that, that she’d a bit more time to… Oh. Her head spun a bit as she got her bearings. The building-wall was where she thought it had been. But there was a person-wall a lot closer. And taller. She tried to focus on the details but her head was hurting for a handful of reasons. A snarl from the edge of the dance floor brought her focus in and on to the bestial form of that guy who had flung her across the room. Rae couldn’t remember who he was, or why she was mad at him, but there was one thing she knew. No one should be throwing her across the room. Leaving the mountain of a troll behind, she touched her Watch of Holding. Thinking of the number one slot, she drew out her sword and charged at the wolf-man. In mid leap, however, tight metal bands wrapped around her and stopped her charging. How had she missed a large robot entering the ballroom, but she had. Worse, she

It had been a pleasant evening for Giann and Sammi so far. The food was good, the champagne was plentiful, even for someone as large as Giann, and there was plenty of room on the dance floor. Which was handy, as trollish traditional dances involve a lot of movement. After a few accidental collisions earlier in the evening, everyone was giving them a wide berth, which suited them fine. Neither of them cared for the fancy intricate dances where people were waltzing around, switching partners and all of that. They knew what they wanted, they had it at their fingertips, and why should they care what anyone else was about? The musicians were excellent, some players from the London Symphony, if Jeanette was to be believed. And whether by spell or just song, the music was just right. It drowned out the noise of so many excitable people in the room, and was just quiet enough that the two could talk. “Do you see Neko right now, over by the punchbowl?” For Giann, standing a good foot and a

If I’m not going to show I might as well just tell, to make this go quickly. Rachael, in her inebriated state, picked a fight. She didn’t care with who or what, she just wanted the fight. She sucker-punched a doctor, and jumped on another one, clawing at him in her misplaced fury. If she had punched him a few times, Dr. Eld likely would have gone down, and maybe things would have de-escalated. Instead, though, she made a mistake that she wouldn’t have known about even if she was thinking clearly, as in her fury, Dr. Eld’s tie came loose and was pulled away. That tie was more than a simple decoration of cloth. To meet Jeanette’s strict rules for entry, Logan Eldritch had worked for a week to replicate the binding elements he normally wore as a metal collar into a fashionable item. This allowed him to attend the festival without the arcane energies causing issues. None, at least, that would be attributed to him. You wouldn’t know it to look at him. On the surface, you would expect the

Toby Garmen, MD, was not feeling great. His head was pounding as adrenaline and blood raced through his system. He could hear, as if distantly, the sounds of people yelling and maybe a fight. His cheek was throbbing from where he was hit, but he knew it wasn’t just from the force of the punch. You don’t become the leading expert on Transform Theory without being able to recognize the size. There may have been some spells, carefully crafted, that could pass without notice, but the drunken ire of someone not known for subtly was not one of them. Head pounding, he touched his cheek, then looked at his hand. Transformation spread in odd ways. A purely physical change would spread through connected tissue, but the more magical a change, the easier it was to spread outside of the standard channels. In this case, he could see his hand was slimmer, the skin fairer, and the fingernails beginning to take on a long and manicured appearance. A transgender transformation, then, and one happening