Buildings and bridges are made to bend in the wind to withstand the world...

[shealone_stands]

A car loaded with teenagers pulls up in front of the Conrad. Finding parking in downtown Chicago is never easy, and Buffy is not willing to wait. She springs out of the car and races into the lobby - only to realize that while she knows the basement is where they keep the wanderers, she has no idea how to get there. Um.

The Doctor is wandering

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[burnslikesnow]

Metis is just minding his own business, really, wandering the streets and waiting for inspiration to hit, like he do. He finds himself somewhat near the Conrad and briefly debates going to check it out before deciding it's probably a bad idea. So he's heading away from it now, toward the nearest bus station that will take him back out to Cicero. He spots a rather roughed-up man walking toward him and--

Well, the smell of demon blood is pretty distinctive, and there are similarly distinctive black splatters on the man's face and down his front, and it doesn't take an idiot to figure out what all this means. Metis freezes instinctively. Then he moves off to the side to let Martin pass, hoping he won't notice him; though part of Metis can't help but be curious. Mostly because he would like to know if Chicago's status as the Switzerland of the Great Lakes region has just been revoked. He hasn't been here quite long enough to really know how things work here.

[astrongerbeacon]

Blood still pumping with adrenaline, Martin's paying extra attention to his surroundings right now, and he notices when people shy away from him. To those who don't know about the supernatural, demon blood's easily mistaken for oil, but when people are recognizing it...

He eyes the man for a moment. He doesn't feel, to Martin, like another angel, a wanderer or any kind of supernatural, which leaves demon. Something rises in his chest momentarily, not quite anger, not quite hunger, but pure and uncompromising instinct. Kill him, kill him, kill him NOW-

Martin chokes it down. "I'm not going to pull out a gun and shoot you in the face, if that's what you're worried about. ...I mean, unless you do the same thing first." Actually, he won't be pulling out a gun at all, as he decided to not carry a concealed weapon for once today (never making that mistake again), but the demon doesn't need to know that.

[burnslikesnow]

Metis shifts his position so that he has an exit behind him and an exit to the side, in case he has to run. His heart is pounding and his wings are burning and screaming to be let out. He should run, just set everything on fire, burn the angel and everything around him to the ground and run.

Somehow he manages to screw his face up into a semblance of a smile.

"No, I, ah...have no real desire or intention. To do that. I was just going home." His eyes flick to the side. "Never had much interest in fighting and all that..."

[astrongerbeacon]

Martin twitches his wings a little. He can see the demon tensing, and can't help but tense himself in preparation for an attack that may not be coming. That would be just like his life, to get into a spat with another demon so soon after the last one.

"Then we're fine. I've really had enough of fighting today myself." And he doesn't want to fight before he at least sees a healing angel or Grace about the arm. He doesn't think it's broken, but he might have sprained something, and a fistfight with another demon won't help that.

He smiles tightly, lifting the hand of his uninjured arm palm-up in an attempt to reassure him. Alright, maybe the fact that he's flecked with black blood that's just barely cooled might not be the most reassuring thing to a demon, but there's only so much he can do about that right now.

[burnslikesnow]

"Good," Metis says quickly, forcing himself to relax a fraction. It's not going to help anyone if they just stand here bristling at each other until it sets one or both of them off.

He looks the angel over again and notices for the first time that he's actually injured as well. Metis raises an eyebrow.

"You, ah...might wanna get the arm looked at," Metis says before he realizes how inane that sounds. It's not like the guy doesn't know he's injured, unless he's one of those macho idiots. Never mind that a demon telling an angel who probably just killed a demon to get some medical help seems...strange.

[astrongerbeacon]

Martin chokes back a laugh at that, too startled to really have any other reaction for a minute. It's just such a bizarre thing to hear from a demon, especially when a few seconds ago they were both standing here bristling at each other.

"Yeah. I'll... do that. Because before, I really wasn't sure, but now that you mention it..." The sarcasm comes from pain, that's all. Don't worry about it, Metis.

[burnslikesnow]

Metis rubs the back of his head, though he remembers to move slowly in case Martin thinks he's...going for an evil hairpin or something. He allows for a lopsided smile, though it fades pretty quickly.

"Can I, ah..." He pauses and starts again. "This is probably a weird question, but...can I ask what happened? I thought Chicago was...well. Neutral. Switzerland."

[astrongerbeacon]

"Don't worry about it, the treaty still holds. I dunno if you've read it, but there are allowances for crazy rakshasa." Pause. "And crazy archangels, to be fair. No one's leading an army - I report this to my CO, he makes a note of it, everything should be... okay."

This was not what he planned in his day. Getting attacked by one demon and then explaining the treaty to another. "Mind if I ask what kind of demon you are?" Rakshasa are pretty easy to pick out, and behemoths... some of the others are a bit fuzzier, though, and to most archangels, it doesn't much matter.

[burnslikesnow]

"Ah...I see. Good to have allowances like that. Considering...how anti-treaty some people can be." Lord, was there ever an uproar back in Niagara Falls when word of the treaty arrived. Interestingly, about half of both the demon and angel population did support the thing, which is a lot more than Metis would have expected even ten years ago. The times they are a-changin', hopefully. The debates were massive, however, even between races.

Metis blinks a little at the question, tensing fractionally, mostly because--well, no angel except for Monica has ever bothered to ask. Humans and supernaturals and other demons ask all the time, but angels never care enough, even the more "liberal" ones. Metis can't tell if it's a friendly move or a tactical one.

"Uh. Afreet." Metis wonders if it's better not to comment, but considering Martin asked first... "And you're an archangel, I'm guessing."

[astrongerbeacon]

Ah. That explains... a little, at least. Martin's never quite sure what to make of afreet - they're so rare, he doesn't see a lot of them, and a lot of the ones he does meet seem way too inclined to set him on fire, but that's just because he usually comes across them in war zones. Besides the fire thing, though, they always seemed... surprisingly un-demon-like

[burnslikesnow]

It's okay, Martin. Metis is just weird.

"A little." Metis smiles wryly. "Don't know many other kinds of angels who could take a Rak. Except a First or a really pissed off Guardian, but...probability and all." He shrugs, relaxing slightly. Unless something really stupid happens, it looks like no one's gonna have to die here. Well, no one else, that is.

"Yeah...only been here a few months, haven't really had a chance to, ah...mingle with the community. But thanks for the advice." He pauses, wondering if he should pursue the topic anymore with this guy, but...hey, while he's here, might as well. "I know about Tay, but do the Barnams, uh, visit regularly?"

[astrongerbeacon]

Oh boy. Martin doesn't even know how to answer that question. Long centuries of conditioning tell him that you don't share information with demons, no matter what the issue. Martin being... well, Martin, on the other hand, urges to tell him about the probable apocalypse looming on the horizon.

He settles for a shrug, a wince at the twinge as his arm shifts, and a rueful laugh. "Not yet, though I'd be... watchful, if I were you. Having a daughter in the land of demons makes a Barnam tetchy, is all."

That is the understatement of the century, but apart from the instinct to avoid sharing intel with demons, he does not want to start a rumor that gets all the demons into a defensive panic, if this guy happens to mention it to anyone else.

[burnslikesnow]

Metis raises an eyebrow; he knows code when he hears it. Never mind that he's pretty sure Tay mentioned something like this, the time they spoke over the journals.

In any case, all signs point to crazy in the near future.

"I see. I'll keep that in mind." Yeeeeah, time to get out of here. "I, ah...should probably go."

He takes a step away. Then, as an afterthought, "Uh. Thanks for not trying to kill me, eh?"

[astrongerbeacon]

Martin snorts and nods. He can see that that little evasion didn't exactly work, but it's the best he can do. He starts to turn away, off toward the Conrad again.

"You're welcome. I guess. Thanks for not setting me on fire." He wishes he had a life where he didn't have to say things like that.