Outside the fortress stood a woman. Or at least she presented as a woman. Her bulbous abdomen, antennae, clawed feet, and slightly misshapen smile made it abundantly clear that she wasn't human. Even were it not for her more attention-grabbing assets, the dark patterns that decorated her face, shoulders, chest, elbows and ankles would have betrayed her status as "other." Not that much of her patterning was visible, as she was bundled up against the winter cold in fluffy boots, thick jeans, a parka, and mittens. Even her abdomen had a knitted cozy.
This woman was taking a moment to stare up and appreciate the Brutalist architecture in front of her, and the wabi-sabi 侘寂 decision to leave the stone walls blackened from fire. The imperfection adds to its beauty, she thought, then shivered, and entered.
Once inside the building, she did not proceed immediately through security. Instead, she took her time to remove her outer layers, until she was dressed only in boots, jeans, and a halter top. The rest of her clothing she piled on top of an older man who had been quietly following behind her and who waited in the lobby while she went through security and into the waiting area.
Her antennae visibly recoiled as the smell hit her delicate sensory appendages, and she frowned with the displeasure of someone who was suddenly intimately aware of the constituent parts of the scent that assailed her.
"Ugh."