Monday, he remembered the email from Franny and wrote back saying that he would love to spend a bunch of money doing backbreaking manual labor in the cold north of Great Britain. Could she let him know as soon as possible so he could look into what was involved in getting an entry visa organized? He found a local place online that specialized in fancy clothes for re-enactors and fantasy con buffs and visited them. He might be leery about openly playing the superhero card, but he decided that he could at least afford a fancy outfit or two to wear! And no masks! Sheesh, that was so old hat and silly.

Franny sent him back a link to a website that led him to a page where he could apply to be part of the dig team as a volunteer. Hmm. At least the accommodation was pre-organized. He just had to get to Carlisle by the due date. Hmm. Right. Time to confer with the folks about his travel plans. Apply to the British Consulate in Los Angeles for a travel visa. And then, Saturday night, he hit a different casino in San Diego but kept it small and only came home with an extra two thousand dollars.

The following week, he liaised with the costume outfitters and finalized his purchases. He gained two identical pairs of boots, very seventeenth century in style. Inside they were made of modern materials, including waterproof lining, steel caps, and shock-resistant innersoles, while on the outside, they were black leather, calf-high, with fold-down tops that stood out a little rather than being flat like British top-boots. Very swashbucklery!

He acquired several pairs of denim trousers that were cut to look medieval or at least non-descript anyway. Internal stretch material at the waist meant they stayed up regardless, even though a tied cord ostensibly held them up. Four dress button-up shirts, with some laced frill stuff at the cuffs, two in white and two in black. Two cloth vests, one silky black to wear with the white shirts and one black with gold floral patterns, very Maverick, to wear with black shirts. A leather vest with metal studs offered a more medieval look giving him a third option. He was thinking that he might perhaps try visiting Urasmian. Maybe.

To round all this off, a modern style black, soft leather jacket, button-up, with a hood that was pointed so that it sat well out from his forehead and hung down a little, thus putting his face in permanent shadow. A long full cloak, very Assassin’s Creed but in black, with a similar hood to the jacket, rounded out the new wardrobe he had acquired. Back home, he played around with a light absorption spell placed on the hoods, which made the area underneath very dark, rendering it very hard to make out his face in any detail. He dressed in the white shirt version of his outfits and decided that he liked the look. He could even wear it to Condor Con without looking stupid. Well, not compared to some of the outfits that would be on show there!

He decided to go back to Vegas the following weekend and played at different casinos than he had on the first trip. Many of the casinos had smaller table stakes than those he had played at the first time, but when he flew out on Monday, he had made another thirty thousand dollars, twenty-six in three different cashier’s cheques and four thousand in cash. He worried that sooner or later, the Casinos would get wise to him and ban him from playing. He had tried a little craps, but that had been very hard. Trying to manipulate the dice on the mat without it looking hokey was just too difficult! Maybe he would have to practice that more. Or find some way to make money. Hmmm.