You know Atlanta never looked the same, after she burned to the ground.

[savesomelight]

In the wake of recent disasters, there are a few people around.

Wandering around the Gauche in a state that's more dreamlike than anything is Piper Paxton, who is utilizing the same technique she used during the attack on the Gauche to keep everyone calm. The tension in the air may be palpable, but it's nowhere near as bad as it was when the

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[changingtheodds]

Ruvin watches from the doorway of the common room, hugging one of her books and unnerved by his quick, savage march back and forth across the room. She's scared all right, and seeing the person that so many others defer to looking this tense has put her even closer to the edge. She's never been involved in something like this before. She's never been remotely close to something like this before.

Was she lucky, or just really disconnected from the world?

[thrillofthekill]

Vincent's wings twitch instinctively when he feels he's being watched and he turns around to see Ruvin in the doorway and winces, because... Yeah, he's setting a good precedent here. He wants them to feel safe and here he is, stalking around the common room like he's going to stab the next thing that walks through the door. At least Romana took that shit to the conference room.

He pulls his wings closer to his back in a gesture similar to a dog flattening his ears against his head. "Hey, sorry... Just a bit on edge. You okay, darlin'?"

[changingtheodds]

She nods, hating herself for this unexpected timidity. Where did it come from? It's not her, she's never been this way. She may not blather on as much as some people but to be struck completely dumb by faceless hostility from those who can't possibly know who she is, what she is--

And now she's scared of being That, too. Not like she can change it. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt."

[thrillofthekill]

Vincent stares at the phone which is still playing elevator music at him. "Nah, it's fine. Nobody's answerin' anyway." He pulls his journal out, flips through it once, finds no joy there, and then closes it again.

"You look a little white around the edges. You know, it's okay to be scared- this shit's fuckin' scary, but you don't have to worry while you're down here."

See Vince. See Vince try to be reassuring while he's trying not to throw his phone against the wall.

[changingtheodds]

"Has anything like this happened before? Why... No one has done anything to upset them, have they?"

Yes, Ruvin, because that is how crazy Liberation Front Bastards work. They find the Other and politely wait for them to do something wrong before firebombing them all to hell.

[thrillofthekill]

Vincent rubs his temples. "Don't gotta do anything, really, to get people this riled up over things they don't understand."

Which... Sucks. It really, really sucks, but Vincent's seen the same sort of attitude towards different groups of people for three hundred years with similar backlash. It doesn't make it any less sick and ridiculous.

[changingtheodds]

But Vincent, the world makes sense. And if it doesn't, it's her job to fix that.

Or at least it used to be. "I've been reading. History books and-- People hate the ones that do this kind of thing. The..." What's the word. "The Holocaust, genocides, hate crimes. They're despised by the people who write about them."

[thrillofthekill]

He winces. Yeah, try explaining that the world is not a perfect place and it doesn't make sense. Ever. "Yeah, but that don't mean still don't do it. Hard to argue with someone when they think they're right. They don't care if they're hated, because they figure people'll come to realize they were right."

Like Romana and her crusade against Elashte. Like every archangel's crusade against demons and the reverse. One endless, vicious cycle of hate and rage and pain.

[changingtheodds]

She moves away from the door a bit, shaking her head. It doesn't help that her entire life has fallen under the blanket of a totalitarian order that can manipulate chance--and thus pretty much the whole world. "But they don't even know us. You can't begin to hate something if you don't even--it's... so..." She can't find the words for it, so she'll use some she's learned from Chicago. "Fucked up."

Ruvin looks down and hides her face behind the book.

[thrillofthekill]

Vincent looks at her for a moment, his expression twisting into a grin, in spite of himself. Hey, he can't help it if he thinks it's cute that a sweet, little thing like she seems to be is driven to swearing.

"In an ideal world, that'd be true, and yeah, it's fucked up, but that's the whole goddamn world these days."

[changingtheodds]

Ruvin traces the embossed pattern on her book with a finger. "Is there no one to keep this from happening? Back home..."

Back home. Back home. She needs to stop doing that, stop comparing Chicago to any place that makes sense. "...things like this didn't happen."

The statement sounds silly, even to her.

[thrillofthekill]

Vincent grimaces and shakes his head. "Doubt it. I've been seein' this kinda shit happenin' for three hundred years. Only thing to do is put a stop to it when it does crop up and just hope it don't happen again."

But it always does, of course. No sense sugarcoating it for her.

He takes a step forward, his wings spreading a bit just to stretch. "Sorry you got stuck in a world where they do, then."

[changingtheodds]

"Three..." Oh my. She hugs the book close and stares at the ground. This... this is perplexing. Because assuming the things he's saying are true--home isn't so different. It isn't so different, is it?

And... And, assuming he's not lying...

Why hasn't she heard of things like this happening before?

It takes a moment of the apology to register, and she jumps. "No, I-- I'm just glad it was me, not... Not someone else."

[thrillofthekill]

Vincent draws his wings closer to his back again. He looks up at the ceiling, solemnly contemplative and then turns back to look at her, "Yeah... This joint ain't a place I'd wish on anyone. None of you asked to be here and none of you asked to be in the middle of all this bullshit, and here you are... Ain't right punishing you for what you didn't have no control over."

He sighs and then rolls his shoulders back. "Don't worry so much, kiddo. We'll do everything we can to keep you safe and put an end to this. We've got some good people out here workin' on fixin' this. All you gotta do is stay where it's safe."