Redesigned Nat's mask becuase her old one I found irritating to draw.

*Suddenly, everything went silent, as if something was listening or simply went silent. The light became a little dimmer, but didn't disappear.

Someone entered the room, and it was Jeremy, crawling toward Pyro and Eugene.

🧢: What the hell is going on here? I went outside but...

*He was abruptly silenced by Pyro's finger, which pressed against Jeremy's chest to shut him up*

🪓: Don't scream... We need to stay quiet so the monsters don't eat us...

*James whispered quietly, carefully peering out the window, fortunately he was wearing a gas mask and the light didn't affect him, but he didn't notice anyone except the broken wires that sparked and hissed on the ground*

🪓: It's weird, there's no one there, but there's light... And it broke the wires, and it seems like that's what damaged the electricity... Or something like that...

🧢: Yeah, fuck... It feels like something's going on here... I don't give a shit...

*Jeremy abruptly crawled out of his hiding place and looked out the window, trying to see someone, fortunately the light had shifted to another part of the base. He suddenly felt something invisible crawling up his arm and jerking forward so hard that Jeremy almost fell. He threw himself over the windowsill into the street, fortunately James managed to grab him, but not without consequences: Jeremy dislocated his arm and started screaming in pain. Eugene tried to find a target and shoot the creature in the head, guessing where the head should be. He fired, something black sprayed out, and the thing let go of Jeremy's hand. He was dragged inside and the window was immediately closed.

🧢: Faggot!

*Gave Jeremy a hard slap on the back of the head.

You could have died! It's good I shot, I could have not! Because of that asshole, I wasted my only and last bullet!

🧢: *Jeremy didn't respond, but simply cringed in pain and whined quietly, rocking back and forth.

Nikolai's mask

Nikolai hides his face partly because he doesn't want other people to look at him directly and partly because it's a kind of emotional security.

In the beginning he had it on all the time, didn't let anyone see him without it, but then he started getting close with Ivan and John, and in teh privacy of Ivans room (their usual hang-out spot) he felt comfortable enough to take it off.

Later when he started fighting the Megaton pyro Kai he took it off because they (as a deaf person) couldn't understand him with the mask covering his lips. It was easier for him to just take it off. Atthe time he didn't notice how much closer it brought them, when Kai then felt safe enough around him to take their mask off too.

Eventually Kai asks Niko to help them go maskless, and Niko decides he will drop the mask too both in solidarity and because he feels ready and comfortable to do so.