You and I in a little toy shop by a bag of balloons... [Party Thread]

[thewalkin_dude]

((OOC: Enjoy the parade! Comment on the floats, band, politicians, whatever. Mingle! ^^ Also, Flagg gives off normal human psychic-ness to anyone who might be poking around

Comments

[shiksafemnista]

There's a woman in a soft gray pantsuit close at hand for the speech, and near enough afterwards that she'll notice if he's approached by any press and able to intervene should the need arise. She's tall, and at a cursory glance one might think she's an archangel, but look any closer, at the way she moves and carries herself, and that thought quickly goes away.

C.J. Cregg has worked on campaigns a good deal larger than this one, and she's an old hand at this. Just now, Flagg doesn't need her all that much, and she's devoted her attention to scanning the crowd. She doesn't actually expect to see anyone she knows, but there's always that chance - and if Sam or Josh or Toby or Danny or anyone she knew came through the Rift here in Chicago, if they'd be anywhere... it would be here.

She takes a couple steps to one side, trying to catch sight of one man's face, and one foot goes out from under her, slipping on a patch of ice that shouldn't even be there, it's been above freezing all day. She catches herself before she falls, and grimaces

[soldatceryi]

And there's a tall man walking nearby with the assistance of a cane... and still managing not to tumble over on anything. He's near enough that when she starts to slip his first instinct is to reach out and catch her elbow, setting her to rights again just in case she doesn't manage it on her own.

"Those shoes?" he asks, flicking the tip of his cane at her feet and giving her a raised eyebrow or two. "I think they are not so convenient, perhaps?"

[shiksafemnista]

CJ takes a moment to make sure she's absolutely steady on her feet - because she's used to the way things go for her by now, and if she doesn't, she's probably going to have her feet slip out from under her yet again and pull them both down. That done, she smiles at him - she has to look down to do it, but she's fairly used to that.

"It's not the shoes so much as a case of very extremely and persistently bad luck... but the shoes probably don't help." Sometimes she forgets that the temperature difference between Chicago and DC this year is a good twenty degrees, and why does anyone willingly live here, in any universe? "Thank you. There are probably only so many times I can fall down in public before they start considering me a liability."

[soldatceryi]

Ivan lets out a quiet chuckle. "Liability? No, it is not so bad. At least, in America, I do not think your mayors are so scary as some."

Oh, Ivan. If only you knew.

"Is an interesting parade, then," he says. "And an interesting man." He motions to Flagg. "For an interesting city. You think he he can do this?-take out the trash?" Clean up the city. Set the city to rights. Whatever. Ivan lived through a good part of the Soviet Union in Russia; the ones with the biggest answers usually end up causing the most trouble at the end.

[shiksafemnista]

"Well, I'm not saying they're going to have me killed or anything," CJ answers with a smile that quirks into something a bit more wry at the word "interesting". That's one word for Chicago, and probably the safest choice, all things considered. "Interesting" pretty much covers it.

"If I didn't, I wouldn't be working for him. He's the real thing - I've seen it before." He's not quite Bartlett, but she believes him.

[soldatceryi]

"It is good. To have a man you believe in," Ivan says, gesturing to Flagg. "Where I am from it is usually not the case."

Russia is not exactly a breeding ground for political idealism.

"Have you been in this city long?" he asks, now with genuine curiosity. Anyone new here might think the task confronting them was... well, easier than it really was. Only someone who's watched the sheer amount of shit which went down in this city can really know how difficult it would be to change that.

[shiksafemnista]

CJ doesn't even have to pause to think about it - she knows how long she's been here off the top of her head, even though she's more or less accepted that she's not getting back.

"A year and three months. Though I've managed to avoid the worst of it, from what I've heard..." Mostly read, on the journals. "Trust me, I'm well aware of the challenge." She says it with a faint smile, though, not offended by the question - it's a perfectly reasonable question, given... Chicago. Hell, even a Chicago without the Rift...