lexical closure

"Hey, look at that - we match."

Content to smile with a coworker about a similarity, Doug reached out to clap H.B. (gently) on the shoulder, but was greeted with thin air as the other man spun around, declaring, "Not quite! Mine is an enhancement to my shield."

He demonstrated with a brandish of Atomic Hit that sent a heart-shaped array of bi-flag-colored sparks into the air. Of course, egotist that H.B. was, it'd be the only way he'd tolerate unabashedly wearing such a cutesy symbol.

"That's a little ostentatious, don't you think?"

Doug raised an eyebrow at Elma's eggheaded choice of word, but waited for H.B.'s reaction: "Feats of engineering are meant to be ostentatious."

Maybe so, but if they were, the Outfitters tasked with the feat in question would have done it for free. And maybe hemmed the hole in the homosexual flag.

"And what about you, Mia?" Elma asked, straightening Lin's trans and rainbow flags and turning to let Lin tighten the ties connecting their nonbinary and lesbian flags. "Is there something we have yet to learn?"

"Huh? What's up, Colonel?"

"Your flag," H.B. noted drily. "It's blue and purple, but not red."

Out of H.B.'s view, Lin made a bit of a stink-eye. Really cool, outing Mia like that. She was the type of person to have told multiple friends in secret, but forgotten that there was a group context to think of, too, so Lin doubted it was really below the belt, but still, c'mon, dude.

Mia, predictably, wasn't bothered. "OHHHHHH. Right! Yeah, I think I'm bi, but like, I've got BLADE training to focus on, so I don't really care about that right now, y'know? That kind of vibe."

The group was silent (Lisa out of relieved agreement most of all).

Mia glanced around. "Chief?" she prompted.

Now that she'd been called on, Lisa lightly tapped Mia's shoulder, making sure to tug on the flag just a bit as she did so.

"OHHHHHH!" the shout rang out again. "This one's for my dads."