I'm coming up on infra-red, there is no running that can hide you...

[nowinprint]

At the Kashtta, Dmitri Lang is just stepping indoors with a duffel bag and a serious need to have words with Jack Bristow. She's a native Chicagoan, even if it's not this Chicago, and she knows exactly how to deal with threats against Wanderers: shove her hands in her pocket and head wherever she's going with no more indication that she cares than

Comments

[thecellsiam]

Aubs has been restless. Neither the pizza excursion nor some time spent in the Skid earlier has really done a lot to ease the sudden case of cabin fever xe's got. It always crops up when there's signs of danger, xe's noticing; half of xem wants to get the hell out of xes room, the Gauche, Chicago, wherever, and the other half just wants to hole up and never leave xes room. But that half is always there anyway, so xe's indulging the former whim and has wandered into a coffee shop for...well, really, for lack of somewhere else to be, and because it looked slightly less busy than some other places. No matter if there's safety in numbers. Aubs hate crowds, dammit.

So xe's plonked xemself down at a table next to Victoria and is staring discontentedly at the small TV in the corner of the room and ignoring the mug of coffee in front of xem (though it is keeping xes hand quite warm).

[januarywife]

Victoria takes note of the young man who's come in with uncharacteristic disinterest. Of course, the disinterest sluggishly mobilises itself into curiosity as she sees him watcing the TV, and then her eyes travel to the TV itself.

News, of course. The same stock footage of the firebombs, the announcer still talking about how the police are deferring questions and how much information the investigation hasn't yielded. For most people it's faded into the background noise, the low drone of the media clinging to a spectacle because that's what they do.

From the young man's face, however, it has a special meaning for him.

She eases herself out of her own chair, slipping over to his table and taking a seat near enough to keep her voice down but far enough not to intrude. "Horrible," she says, nodding at the TV. "Absolutely disgraceful, these CLF people."

[thecellsiam]

Aubrey jumps when Victoria sits down. It's a mixture of the usual paranoia-and-obliviousness and the added paranoia of knowing the fact that xe's out is dangerous. And then grins the usual trapped-animal grin, though it's a little bit dimmer than usual. Not that Victoria can tell that.

"Yeah," xe says, sitting up a bit more. "Yeah, disgraceful's a word for it. Guess I'm not really surprised except that it took this long for someone to freak out, y'know? Still, 's fucked." A pause, in which Aubs realizes exactly the words that came out of xes mouth in that ramble and xe suddenly looks a lot more uncomfortable. "Er, pardon the french, I'm not thinking."

[januarywife]

Victoria gives him a thin smile. "Believe me, were I not a product of my times..." She winks quickly. "I'd be saying much the same thing. Any group which targets the unfortunate to such an extent... well. Sometimes I think we're not so civilized as we like to pretend."

She sips her tea. Of course, there will be trials. But the world will come to understand and accept the Wanderers in time. She has to have faith in this.

"This is going to seem horribly forward of me," she says, "but do you have a place to stay? I work with a man - the Prophet, if you've seen his journal entries - and we're finding safe places for anyone who needs them." Let him think she's a crazy old lady if he has to. She's terribly concerned for her people, and if there's even a chance she could help...

[allmydiredreams]

Babel is very sneaky. She has been sneaking about the Gauche all day, playing her spy games with herself again to keep herself amused and off the streets, at least until the most recent rash of violence dies down from a boil to a simmer. Or until she can't stand being in one place any longer, whichever comes first.

Oho! She spies a Malek! An oblivious Malek in a sunroom. Babel is very sneaky.

Hey, Malek, have a tinygirl suddenly flopped all over you and giving you an awkward hug. And grinnnning.

[homoraptor]

Malek jumps a bit when she flops on him, making an undignified "Qork!" and then rolling over in an attempt to get her in a bearhug with a couple of good thumps on the back. Malek loves his tiny girlthing.

"Lockt out a post t'scrumfolks," he says. They need no greetings! They are Malek and Babel! "Ja, bet who-so thinks t'mess wit wanderers at a Scrum game gonna get their ass bit. Maybe have all a trip out, cutta the tension, ja? Getch allll t'friends together."

[allmydiredreams]

Babel squees when Malek rolls her into a bear hug and thumps him back before wiggling to sprawl next to him, propping her chin on her hand and poking at the Rubix cube. "Scrum?" she asks. The idea of a trip out sounds like a wonderful idea, and even if she wasn't particularly scared before (though the idea of being beaten to death again isn't all that appealing, really, so she was looking to avoid that even if it's not permanent), bodyguards in the form of fun brotherthings are even better.

[homoraptor]

Malek grins a grin he reserves for the best of all best things. Ahh, scrum: the stimulant for the behemoth masses. Expression of strength, goodwill, and demonhood among behemoths. Great venerable institution of behemoth culture.

You know.

"Scrum!" he says. "You get, ah, some number o'behemoths, all out - rah! - in t'eir monsters, give 'em ball, bout... so big." He indicates something the size of a pumpkin. "Set up goals, ja? Then just... scrum! Good fun. Great time."

[stopdropanddie]

Bristow has, more or less, been stalking around the sixth floor like a predatory cat or a particularly irate wolf ever since Hunt made that journal post. Of course, he knows what he'd do in this situation- he'd find the people responsible and make them pay, but this tactic isn't the sort of tactic that's going to make the wanderers out to be any less hostile, so he has to hang back, waiting to provide tactical advice or whatever other kind of assistance Hunt might need in a pinch.

And when stalking doesn't work, he decides he might as well find some of his team and see if he run through a few hypothetical tactical maneuvers that don't involve shooting anyone on sight or blowing anything up, which is why he's just now coming down the stairs to the lobby.

Here, Dmitri, have a Bristow.

[nowinprint]

And here's Dmitri closing in on him.

"Bristle and Brimstone," she says, but her voice is clipped, terse. "You want to know how fucked this is? I mean, turn-it-up-to-eleven degrees of fucked? Rift activity's been going on since the beginning of recorded history. Yeah, there's been a huge spike in recent years, but it's not like it started up yesterday. And, sure, big spike in wanderers means a corresponding spike in crazy wanderers, but it's not like people were blowing things up after any of the crazy Wanderer shit did go down. You know what was the immediate triggering event for this sudden backlash is? Nothing. Zip zilch null nol nada. So, and I bet you're here already, if there's no actual triggering event for a sudden massive coordinated vigilante uprising, you think it might be going on someone's signal? Think it's worth checking out?"

She does this, sometimes; just appropriates someone's time and assumes they'll be attentive if she doesn't give them a chance to point out they've got somewhere else to be.

[stopdropanddie]

Jack steps off the last stair and just stops, listening with an expression of such aggravated restraint (not at her- the whole situation is enough to give him a coronary) that he might have an aneurysm at any moment in protest of his withheld anger. And, well, if Dmitri isn't technically one of his kids, she ought to be at this point.

"I can't find a flaw in that line of reasoning." And yeah, the thought occurred to him, but he kept it to himself out of sounding like some old CIA dog working under conspiratorial assumptions. "What do you suggest?"

Because 'checking it out' isn't good enough. They don't have a lead, they have nothing but a set of initials and...

"Wait." He holds up a hand before she can answer. "The base assumption appears to be that they can't tell who is a wanderer and who isn't, and that they're merely going on certain leads, odd behaviors, possibly hearsay, since I doubt most of us aren't particularly covert who we express our natures to. Would you agree with that assessment?"

[nowinprint]

Dmitri pauses on that. Hm. That's the question, isn't it?

"...difficult to say," she says. "On the one hand, someone's got to have told someone something at some point, and god, if that wasn't the most infuratingly vague... never mind. I'd be tempted to say it's a demon stirring things up. Glays, maybe a capricious teme. Sorta their style. Chicago does its damnedest to ignore wanderers; someone's gotta have put an idea in their head. Still, if this was a demon or angel conspiracy, they wouldn't be firebombing buildings, they'd be rounding us up off the streets. So, yeah, maybe they have one or a couple guys running with them who know Wanderers on site, but I'd bet most of the grunt work is for kids who make probably-not-so-educated guesses."

[sensi_doctor]

JD used what remained of his money to pay for a cab to take him from the tower to the Gauche. He thought about finding Nate to say goodbye, but then figured that probably made him ridiculously girl-y and unnecessary. It was hard enough deciding to leave as it is.

He's scared out of his mind getting out of the taxi cab, with a backpack on, carrying a big stuffed dog in his arms as he goes. He may be paranoid enough to believe that something is waiting for him around every corner to mess with him.

JD wanders around in the Gauche for a while trying to find someone that doesn't look scary to talk to. The last time he was here it was with Malek and things happened that- Oh. Speaking of Malek. JD has wandered into the sunroom.

"Uh..." He stands there wondering how he should start saying words. "Hey!"

[homoraptor]

Malek can, if he tries very hard, get three blocks of one color to line up in a row. He's not been making much headway on this cube.

He doesn't quite hear JD come up, but when JD calls, well, it's a person! He rolls over to see who it is, and-

"Lah!"

-it's the fun kid from the bar!

He hops to his feet, tossing the rubix cube at JD and trusting his reflexes to be sufficient to the task of catching it. "Lookit ja, back, eh? Best place to be, roughs comin' after Riftcomers. Order 'nother pizza, celebrate you got in, eh?"

[sensi_doctor]

JD smiles. He forgot how hard it is to be awkward around Malek, even if he feels all tense and awkward on the inside.

Unfortunately, JD has next to no reflexes so he has to drop Rowdy in his attempt to catch the cube and he still fails at catching it. He picks it up as fast as he can trying to play that off as if that didn't just happen.

"Yeah. I- Just for now. I was at the tower, but they have like three doctors over there so I'm a doctor and I thought if anything happens that maybe all the doctors should be spread out. I don't know if you know how I can get a temporary room or anything?"

He grins. "Yes! Pizza! I love pizza!"

Despite how filled with questions about himself as he was after his encounter with Malek, he did have an amazing time! And definetly found out that he so loves being with guys. He just hasn't admitted that to anyone else yet.

[homoraptor]

"Good kid," Malek says. "Yah, temp room, pernant room, all sorts. Any place or stay wit' me. Actually gots th' two rooms - long used to share. Don't no more." That gets a momentary pout, but Malek moves on quickly. Gotta put that pain behind you, and move on to... "Pizza! Good places t'deliver, ja? Dun hafta go out. 'n' I c'n talk t' old El about what for doctors here, and wot. Good time. Innerduce y't'some friends o'mine. Met Babel? Tay, like? Great kids."

Malek had no questions about either himself or JD. Questions, by and large, do not find Malek's mind a cozy place to be. He just takes life as it comes, and life is bringing him some nifty things today.

[charminglioness]

Lily Evans is also in the sunroom, playing with a Rubix of her own.

The difference is, hers is magical; if you don't solve it fast, the colors start changing and it totally throws off your game.

She's having fun, swearing cheerfully at it every few minutes or so.

"Bloody Hell! Would you please stay blue for three minutes? Please?"

[homoraptor]

Malek, wrestling his own rubix cube into submission, looks up and chortles just as the colors shift. "Game's bit against yeh, innit? Never seen one like 'at 'fore. Where's got, eh?"