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

[nowinprint]

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

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[duology]

Ace has decided that Dev has spent far too much time lately geeking out about the library, so now Ace is in front, and hoping to actually get real things done today. First on the agenda is to find an apartment--maybe near the Conrad, to take advantage of the free food and services. But Ace doesn't think she can take another week of that many people, no matter how nice some of them are.

So she's heading off to look at an apartment when she hears the yelling. She lingers nearby, watching the argument for awhile until she gets the gist of what's going on. If she were in Dmitri's position she probably would have simply walked away, or punched the guy out by now--but since she's not, she finds the entire thing amusing.

After a little bit she finally approaches.

"Best thing to do in this situation is to shut him up with a fiver and a coffee. That or kick him in the shins and run."

[nowinprint]

Dmitri glances at the homeless man. Then glances at Ace.

"Now why would I want to kick Paul in the shins?" she asks. "We're closing in on a statistical schema for predicting the rate of drop bear attacks through the newer Grant Park regions."

Paul takes the moment to sip his coffee. There's a lot of talking to be done with this one. His throat can use the warmth.

[duology]

Ace blinks at the two of them for a moment.

"Bear attacks. ...Hm. What about comparative statistics on bear attacks versus velociraptors? Or homicidal chipmunks. I saw one of those, and I've heard about velociraptors--haven't heard about the bears. Though back in my world, they were 'America's number one threat,' so there is that. Not sure if it's the same here."

Though if Stephen Colbert doesn't exist in this world, then there truly is no God.

[nowinprint]

Dmitri raises her eyebrows, turning to Paul.

"The lady raises a good point. While I think we can agree hat the drop bear menace is on the increase, an increase in bears is not conclusive evidence of the end of the world."

Paul finishes his swallow. "Yesyesyes," he says, making a rough gesture with his cup. "The end has nothing to do with bears. It ends in darkness and suffering. But surely you can see at least in part that things in this city, that things in this world, are getting worse, much worse! As for velociraptors and chipmunks..." He trails off for a moment in a way he might imagine is dramatic.

Dmitri looks back at Ace. "See, he's either a precog, a clairvoyant, or he's making this up," she says. Paul closes his eyes in what's hopefully mock-despair. "The really interesting crapshoot is: which?"

[tenantsofshade]

In the sub-basement of the Kashtta, the Rift flares again, though not with any dramatics. From it comes a sort of very faint half-sigh, half-moan, and the dirt of the floor nearest greys out a little, as if obscured by fog or ash. With the trailings of mist come a jerking, stumbling figure, contorting and writhing with what could be pain or madness.

It doesn't register much difference between where it came from and here -- it doesn't see so much as sense, and while the oppressive presence in this place is different from the oppressive presence in the other, it's not all that different. So it takes to stumbling around the room, blindly, coughing and creaking and moaning to itself.

[der_weevilkonig]

Of all the basements in all the world, horrible hell-monsters just HAVE to walk into this one

[tenantsofshade]

Something new. Not in the room it's in, but it senses Owen a bit before he calls, lurching over toward the ladder at the other end of the room. Its cough-creak is more insistent -- enemy, enemy! -- and its movements a bit jerkier.

It paces, as well as something like it can pace, at the bottom of the shaft, waiting for the enemy to come down. They always climb down.

Meanwhile, Owen? Your earpiece has probably started freaking out suddenly, and is busy trying to deafen you with static, just so you know.

[der_weevilkonig]

"Gah!"

Owen hits the button to shut off the earpiece entirely, which works. Mercifully. Any anomaly that's going to cause static to spit out of speakers like that is bad enough without the added potential of it turning on the things from a distance.

And he's beginning to think that he really should not be going down there alone.

Then again, the alternative, as his earpiece has been compromised now and it's not like anyone listens to the damn things anyway, is to just wander around the Tower poking his head into offices while leaving something Wrong and possibly dangerous to its own devices, so to hell with options.

He pauses on the choice between the ladder and the lift, and then reflect that he really wishes he had more of an idea what was down there, and-

Wait.

He could.

Given that denying this whole building-talks-to-him thing is never going to fly...

He closes his eyes. Directs a So, any chance you want to tell me what's going on? at the building, or at least thinks it very loudly in his own head, and then tries to hone

[thrillofthekill]

"No, Leo, as a matter of fact I do not think that goin' off to the Catskills, because there's some family of Raks makin' like the Sawney Bean family is gonna do wonders for my stress levels. Okay, it might do wonders for my stress levels, but that don't fuckin' change the fact that I got shit that needs doin'- Leo, take the other call if it's your wife. 'Cause if you don't take it, she'll come after you with a chainsaw again, I promise. Yeah, I know that for a fact. Okay

[nowinprint]

Dmitri catchessnatches of that conversation with half an ear, which is enough to give her a vague sense of appreciation for this guy's conversational skills before he stops and addresses her. She turns, taking him in, and - aha, aha! Isn't that an infamous face?

An infamous face with the good grace to call her an Angel of Knowledge, which leaves a fuzzy feeling on top of her stomach. She grins, offering a hand.

"Chicago's first imported AoK at your service sah. I take it you're none other than Vincent sterling, reigning archangel in these here parts?" She waves a hand at Paul. "Yeah, we argued semantics a good six and a half points ago. Think I got him argued down to 'unidentified but terrible things are probably nigh', except we both agreed that didn't have the same visual impact."

Paul opened his mouth to respond, but sometimes it's hard to know exactly how with Dmitri there making you both look crazier than you actually (probably) are.

[thrillofthekill]

Vincent takes her hand with gusto, grinning. "That'd be me. Mitzi told me about you- had to give me the fast and nasty version, because I think she was afraid of causin' my brain to explode if she gave me too much at one time after the coma, only then she forgot and had to do it anyway." And he's not slightly annoyed about that. Nope. Not at all. He can handle this without being coddled, dammit.

He looks over at Paul and then looks back at Dmitri. "Ain't Chicago kinda famous for 'terrible things' happenin' biweekly or somethin'? It ain't exactly a big surprise."

[nowinprint]

"Well, hey, it's a fast and nasty world," Dmitri says, and then pauses for a half-beat, because she doesn't want to know how nasty Mitsuki got with that briefing.

Oh, yeah, ex-Angel of Knowledge, decided she wanted a bit of extra insurance after getting dragged off to some hellhole in construction Chicago and tortured for a couple of weeks...

Fortunately Paul takes that half-pause for what it is: a rare opportunity into which a word can be inserted. "It is!" he agrees. "But there's been a definite trend in my - well, in what I see. And I see things getting worse. I think."

It's all rather vague, even in his head.

[allmydiredreams]

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.

[weareshadows]

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?"

[allmydiredreams]

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."

[nowinprint]

"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!"