you're a marionette in the center of all the twisting strings coming from above

[findaconstant]

Daniel has come to know the feeling hanging in the air this evening well; it's part fear, part uncertainty, part resolve. It gives rise to a familiar pattern: something happens, the city copes, its residents push forward. He's one of them. He doesn't know how many friends he's lost, but he recognizes names among the numbers being tossed around.

The

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[pplrunincircles]

Elizabeth cannot really afford to help anyone else die at the moment. It's why she doesn't realize that it's Max, because she's not looking in anyone's eyes. She can't, and she won't let herself feel guilty by making this decision either.

She notices homeless people, pulls out five dollars for the homeless man and then holds out five to the man standing next to him, and-

"Max?" Elizabeth blinks, moving her head up to stare at him. "What's-- I didn't know that was you!" She flails and then moves to wrap her arms around him and hug him tight. "I thought you were another homeless person! You can have the five dollars if you want. I'm so glad you're here. And alive."

[bythatmuch]

"I was wondering why you were giving me money," he chuckles, returning Elizabeth's hug with an extra squeeze. "Hey. I'm so glad you're okay."

Really, he didn't know what to think. He doesn't know what's happening. This is worse than any kind of monster, that's for sure.

"You are okay, right?"

As for the five dollars, he passes it off to his new friend, Kevin. Ten bucks will be enough to distract him apocalyptic thoughts for a little while. In fact, he's going to leave Max and Elizabeth for a while in favor of some coffee.

[pplrunincircles]

"What are you doing hanging out on a street," Elizabeth asks as she pulls away from the hug and looks up at him, searching his face.

She wrinkles her nose at the question. The problem with being an angel is that she can't lie. It doesn't seem important how she is, not with all of these people dying, disappearing, and running off.

"I'm alive," she answers finally, and then offers him a strained smile that's laced intensely with concern. "How about you? Chicago's... getting crazier than normal, I know."

It still feels like she's putting it lightly. Chicago has turned into some kind of hell again. It rivals the plagues. If she wasn't so used to it, if she didn't have a purpose, she'd be hiding in a corner somewhere, but she's not.

[bythatmuch]

"Talking to Kevin," he answers. Because that's what he's doing. Nothing more, nothing less.

...well, it's what he was doing, anyway.

"Now I'm talking to you. Anyway, I'm also alive."

Max has taken to stating the obvious, because nothing else makes sense anymore. He can only be sure of what he actually sees for himself.

[pplrunincircles]

"Okay," Elizabeth says after a moment. The concern hasn't left her face as she searches his. There's something scary about the way that he's only saying what he's doing. "Being alive is good."

She waves a hand away from the street, away from Kevin with his signs. It's not the first apocalypse that Chicago has seen. It won't be the last, but they are still here and that means something.

"We should go get some ice cream. I think ice cream might do us some good, huh? Do you wanna go?"

[bythatmuch]

Max's face lights up at the mention of ice cream. Ice cream sounds like an excellent idea, and he really, really needs a distraction. It's a childish distraction, yeah, but Max feels a bit like a lost and frightened child right now, anyway. It's appropriate.

"I do!"

[pplrunincircles]

Elizabeth manages a smile, too. She hadn't been sure if that was the right thing to say or not. When she's not helping someone die, she seems to say all the wrong things. It's gotten her in trouble with people she cares about in more than one occasion.

"Cool," she says and breathes a sigh of relief. "I know where you can get some really awesome ice cream. Do you have a favorite kind?"

Distractions are something Elizabeth can do.

They're something that she's familiar. Always move. Always have people around her. Being alone is asking for trouble.