The hammer clicks in place, the world's gonna pay, right down in the face of God and his saints…

Jan 21, 2009 19:50

About three blocks from the Conrad Hotel, Dmitri Lang is arguing with a man who's standing on a corner with a sandwich board proclaiming that the end is nigh. She's been there for about twenty minutes. Fifteen minutes before that she was there for about an hour; those fifteen minutes were spent ducking into a coffee shop and getting them both ( Read more... )

dev and ace caulfield, owen harper, babel, dmitri lang, monsters, vincent sterling, npc, susan ivanova

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allmydiredreams January 22 2009, 07:15:38 UTC
Babel's out and about -- she's technically been out and about for a few hours, but a good amount of that time was spent curled on the curb, and she's still a little subdued. But determined to make this outing a good one anyway.

The sign catches her eye before Dmitri or the argument does. She wanders up, peering into Paul's face. Never mind that he's arguing with Dmitri and may or may not have personal space.

"Silly," she says. "It's not for awhile yet. And hi!" This last is delivered chirpily Dmi-wards.

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weareshadows January 22 2009, 15:35:01 UTC
Paul startles, but manages to catch most of the slosh from his cup. He's had a good variety of responses from people on the street here, but this is a new one.

"What?-it is! Nigh, that is!" He stumbles over his own argument, and catches himself. "I know I must sound mad, but I have seen the future! Since coming to this city I have seen it in snatches and fragments and I say something terrible will come!"

"He's predicting this in the middle of Chicago," Dmitri says, apparently at the same time as she's recognizing Babel. "...mijn zoete witte esdoorn! Good to see you out and around, unbeset by the unwashed demonic hordes! How's the stomach? Everything fine?"

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allmydiredreams January 22 2009, 17:50:54 UTC
Babel pats Paul's shoulder, shaking her head a little. "Not saying bad things won't happen," she says. "I'm just talking about the End, and how it's not nigh."

She shrugs, turning toward Dmitri and finishing her argument at the same time. "I can feel that sort of thing. And it's good," she flips up her shirts to reveal nothing but a small scar on her stomach, "shiny and only a little scar."

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nowinprint January 22 2009, 23:46:54 UTC
"Oh, niiiice," Dmitri says, leaning down to look at the scar and then pulling up so Babel doesn't think she has to keep displaying it to the cold air. Paul, for his part, is wondering if he should be here watching girls pull up their shirts. "Now that you've been through a rakshasa attack and an Incident At That Coffee Shop, you are a bona fide Chicago resident. And you've got a neat scar to show off, too!"

Dmitri has no scars to show off. Plenty of scars, but none she wants to advertise.

Paul, after a moment, joins in weakly with "But something terrible is going to happen! To everyone!"

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allmydiredreams January 23 2009, 00:30:13 UTC
Babel pulls the shirts back down (well, tanktop, two shirts, and her lightweight sweatshirt, really) and bundles her jacket back around her, bopping a little on the bals of her feet to keep warm. "Yeah," she says, though the brightness in her voice is slightly dulled, "two birds with one stone, or at least a couple of mochas."

She turns back to Paul, smiling at him. "That's different," she says. "Terrible doesn't predicate 'end of the world'. For one, it doesn't hurt as much."

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nowinprint January 23 2009, 00:41:03 UTC
NEW TOPIC. OKAY. As much as Dmitri is the sort to plow blithely on through conversations because TRUTH WAITS FOR NO TACT, she's not a complete idiot, and she can recognize when there's something it's best not to prod at. She's got a few of those things herself.

Paul beats her to it. "...I admit I may have been a bit hasty in the wording on the sign," he says. "But I've been here for years, now, and every time I think something bad will happen, something bad happens. And this is the worst bad feeling I've had for a long time."

"We've yet to develop a unified measuring system for severity of bad feelings," Dmitri says.

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allmydiredreams January 23 2009, 01:03:26 UTC
Babel tilts her head at the sign, seriously considering it for a moment, and then nods. "I guess you could've probably fit 'bad shit will go down soon' on there, but that's not as catchy."

She turns the headtilt in the other direction, toward Dmitri. "Level of nausea mixed with general unease, adding in levels of increased heartrate and emotions, possibly adrenaline, and taking into consideration any other psychosomatic symptoms," she deadpans, talking very quickly and imitating a professional cool.

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nowinprint January 23 2009, 01:16:04 UTC
"Good in principle, but requires a nuanced and holistic inventory of other environmental factors and general health," Dmitri shoots back. "But I like the way you think."

Paul is scribbling "bad shit will go down soon" upside-down on the top of his sandwich board in a tiny, messy paragraph. Yeah. He's taking notes.

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allmydiredreams January 23 2009, 03:04:52 UTC
"Could rig up charts, extensive ones, to a wall and pin down some of the nuances," Babel replies, still bopping a bit. "We'd have to include something for day of the week, too. If it's Thursday, well..." She shrugs, leaving the sentence dangling.

"Don't write shit. You'll influence the children." This is directed towards Paul. As though Babel hasn't spent hours teaching friends' children nasty words in other languages for kicks on occasion.

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