#js rita

[on the leftmost side is Juno, a short (5′5″), stocky black lady with short dark hair in locs, thick stubble, an eyepatch over his right eye, and several scars scattered across his skin. he is wearing a dark pink shirt with medium grey suspenders, and dark grey jeans. he has his head turned to the person next to him (Peter) with a grimace and elbowing him in the stomach. he’s holding up his HCPD board with his other hand, and his nails are painted black.

with his right elbow on Juno’s shoulder, Peter, a tall (6′1″), thin East Asian man with light skin and dark hair swept back, grins forward. he is wearing square glasses, gold droplet earrings, and a suit that consists of a white shirt, tan-coloured tie, yellow waistcoat, brown trousers, and dress shoes in matching yellow and brown. he is wearing white gloves, and the sleeves of his shirt are rolled up to his elbows. his left hand is on his hip while the other holds his board.

next to him is Rita, a very short (4′8.5″) fat black woman with dark hair that tapers into a bleached afro-ponytail. she is wearing a light blue shirt with a pale pattern on the shoulders, and a dark striped blue pencil skirt, dark translucent tights, and blue shoes with small heels. she is wearing pink-framed glasses with yellow-tinted lenses and winking and smiling, holding her board with both hands, which have pink nail polish on.

on her right is Jet, a huge (6′8″) man with tan skin, dark brown eyes and messy dark grey hair pulled back in a short ponytail, and light stubble. he has some light scarring, resembling veins, on his face. he is wearing a dark brown leather jacket, dark grey fingerless gloves, a belt with pouches and a holster attached beige trousers with dark grey kneepads, and dark red boots. he is frowning forward and holding up his board with both hands.

next to him is Vespa, a slight, medium height (5′7″) South Asian woman with dark skin, heavily scarred as if from burns, and dark gold eyes. she has short-ish green hair that gets lighter at the tips and an undercut on her right side. she is wearing a dark grey hoodie, black gloves, dull green leggings with a black holster around her right thigh, and black high-tops. she is scowling forward and holding her board with both hands.

finally on the rightmost side is Buddy, a tall (5′10″) curvy black woman with dark green eyes and bright red curly hair that covers half her face. under her hair, dark grey scarring is slightly visible. she is wearing a form-fitting purple dress, a green translucent shawl, and knee-high dark pink boots. she is wearing red lipstick and looking to her right with a smile, with her left hand up by her face as her elbow rests on her right hand, which is holding her board at an angle.

all of the boards are black with dark grey horizontal lines cutting across them, and have “HYPERION CITY PD” in small lettering at the top. on the bottom row, the same size, is the name of the person holding the board. the single word on the middle row of each board is much larger than the other lettering. all of the text is slightly glowing blue, and has pixelated and abberation effects to make it appear glitchy.

[on the leftmost side is Juno, a short (5′5″), stocky black lady with short dark hair in locs, thick stubble, an eyepatch over his right eye, and several scars scattered across his skin. he is wearing a dark pink shirt with medium grey suspenders, dark grey jeans, and dark purple boots. he has his head turned to the person next to him (Peter) with a grimace and elbowing him in the stomach. he’s holding up a black board with white lettering in his other hand

with his right elbow on Juno’s shoulder, Peter, a tall (6′1″), thin East Asian man with mid-toned skin and dark hair swept back, grins forward. he is wearing square glasses, gold droplet earrings, and a suit that consists of a white shirt, tan-coloured tie, yellow waistcoat with dark grey-lined tail, brown trousers, and dress shoes in matching yellow and brown. the sleeves of his shirt are rolled up to his elbows, and his left hand on his hip with the other holding his own board.

next to him is Rita, a very short (4′8.5″) fat black woman with dark hair that tapers into a bright blue afro-texture ponytail. she is wearing a pastel pink shirt and a medium grey pencil skirt, dark tights, and pink shoes with small heels. her eyes are closed behind her pink-rimmed glasses and she’s smiling, holding her board with both hands.

on her right is Jet, a huge (6′8″) man with tan skin, dark brown eyes and messy dark grey hair pulled back in a short ponytail, and light stubble. he has some light scarring, resembling veins, on his face. he is wearing a dark brown leather jacket, dark grey fingerless gloves, a belt with pouches and a holster attached beige trousers with dark grey kneepads, and dark red boots. he is frowning forward and holding up his board with both hands.

next to him is Vespa, a slight, medium height (5′7″) South Asian woman with dark skin, heavily scarred as if from burns, and dark gold eyes. she has short-ish green hair that gets lighter at the tips. she is wearing a dark grey hoodie, black gloves, dull green leggings with a black holster around her right thigh, and black high-tops. she is scowling forward and holding her board with both hands.

finally on the rightmost side is Buddy, a tall (5′10″) curvy black woman with dark green eyes and bright red bushy hair that covers half her face, on which side there is also a grey streak running through it. under her hair, dark grey scarring is slightly visible. she is wearing a form-fitting purple dress, light grey elblow-length gloves, and knee-high dark pink boots. she is wearing red lipstick and looking to her right with a smile, with her left hand up by her face as her elbow rests on her right hand, which is holding her board at an angle.

all of the boards are black with dark grey horizontal lines cutting across them, and have the words “HYPERION CITY PD” at the top. on the bottom row is the name of the person holding the board, so; Juno Steel, Peter Nureyev, “Rita”, Jet Siquliak, Vespa Aurinko, Buddy Aurinko. each board has a single word in the middle row, and in a line they spell out: “BE GAY DO CRIMES IN SPACE”

“As long as we’re clear that nothing leaves this room,”Buddy added. She said everything with a kind of languid grace, and gave theuncanny impression that nothing anybody said was going to surprise her.

Nureyev grinned and looked over his glasses at her. “That’sthe only fun kind.”

Juno rolled his eyes. Rita leaned over to him and whispered,“I’ve always wanted to play this game.” She was sitting cross-legged on thefloor, like him, hugging a pillow instead of sitting on it. She was reallygetting into this whole ‘sleepover’ idea. As if they hadn’t been living on thesame cruiser for a month or so.

“Everyone in?” Buddy cast a glance around at everybody. Hereyes lingered on Vespa, who nodded. Then on Jet, as he brought over a tray ofshots that he’d started preparing as soon as she’d suggested the game.

He shrugged, “I did say I would stick with you no matterwhat.”

She laughed, and Juno didn’t know the history, but he suspectedthat the promise had stronger ties than just drinking games. “Okay,” she said,pretending to consider her first question. “Never have I ever… jumped from amoving car.”

This was going to be a hell of a game.

He, Jet, and Nureyev all reached for a shot, and so,surprisingly, did Rita. “Are you serious?” he asked her.

“Absolutely!” she replied, “Oh, boss, it was like somethingoutta an action movie—”

“I think,” Nureyev interrupted, though not unkindly, “webetter leave the stories for a few more rounds. Just for the sake of the game.”

Vespa, who was nestled in close to Buddy, cracked a smile,and despite the relatively short amount of time he had known her, he alreadyrecognised it.

“Never have I ever been a private eye,” she said.

He groaned as he took another drink, and was surprised tosee Nureyev and Rita’s hands move in to grab one too. He might’ve argued thatRita’s brief stint of Private-Eye-ing while he was sick did not count, but he found he couldn’tquite part his eyes from Nureyev’s.

He winked, and before Juno could even recover from that, heknocked down the shot, cleared his throat, and announced, “Never have I ever forgottenmy alias on a job.”

Buddy tutted, and then reached for a glass and muttered, “NowI’m feeling targeted.”

Rita hummed thoughtfully for her turn. “Never have I ever… kisseda stranger!”

Everyone took a drink except for her and Jet – even Vespa.Juno glanced at Nureyev as he drank, but their gaze only met for a split secondbefore they both hurriedly looked away.

He sucked on his tongue and tried to think of something hehadn’t done. You were supposed to pick things that you thought other peoplemight have done, but with this group, who knew? He half-shrugged, accepting hisfirst thought in lieu of any better options. “Never have I ever tried poledancing.”

Somehow he wasn’t surprised that Nureyev took a drink. “Betyou’d all like to see that,” he pumped his eyebrows, and though he wasn’tlooking at him this time, Juno’s cheeks went hot.

“Never have I ever,” Jet said. He took a considerable pausebefore he finished, “Told a lie.”