Round here, we're carving out our names. Round here, we all look the same.

[archangelet]

Chicago's never been a quiet city, since it became a city at all, and today is no exception. Things are happening, people are doing things.

Steve is in the Coffee Shop. He just got out of a meeting with a loan officer and a guy with a building to lease out. They're both supernatural folks themselves, so they're a bit more appreciative of the

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[weaponof_choice]

Peter's still working on his calculating-doses-of-medication-for-small-children workbook. He's getting really good at all the math, and at figuring out which medications follow which rules.

He glances up to give his eyes a break, and as he turns to pick up his coffee, he spies the stack of medical journals on the next table. He cranes his neck a bit, mouthing a couple of the titles to himself as he reads.

Then he offers the woman studying one a smile. "Excuse me. Hi. I don't mean to interrupt your reading. I was just curious. Are you a doctor? I just started working at the medical center, I was wondering if maybe you worked there too..."

[withpockets]

Donna looks up and then down at the medical journals with a bit of a laugh. "No, sunshine, sorry. Parental research. You know how it is, your kids get sick and you've got to read everything available on the subject."

It's... a little bit of a misleading statement, but it sums up the reason for her reading well enough. She won't mention how she's probably got as good a grasp on this stuff as he does, right now, thanks to that Time Lord brain acting like a sponge.

[weaponof_choice]

"Your kids." Peter's gaze flicks back to the title of the topmost journal, and his face falls, heartbroken. "I'm really sorry. That's terrible."

He shifts in his chair a bit, so he's facing her a bit more fully. "I'm Peter," he says, reaching over, offering a hand. Eager to help and soothe as always. "I'm a pediatric nurse. If there's anything I can do, I'm happy to help..."

[withpockets]

Donna shakes his hand. He might notice that she's surprisingly cool to the touch, moreso than a healthy human would be. "Donna. Thanks, but it's a bit of a... very specialized disorder." Called Nephilism. Or something. "Mostly I'm just researching treatment options for auto-immune disorders. Good to know my options."

She looks from the stack of journals and back at him. "I don't suppose you have any newer reading than this? This is all a few months old."

[movementyouneed]

Hello, Annie. Have a self-professed spiritual counselor, who has appeared beside your table, clutching a cup of coffee.

"It's difficult to know where to begin, isn't it?" he asks warmly. "I don't envy you your position."

[wedontjump]

Annie glances up and frowns. She's... pretty sure she doesn't know this bloke. Actually, she's positive she doesn't know this bloke. So the question is...

"Sorry, do I know you?" It's asked pleasantly enough, but she's totally ready to kick your ass if you're some sort of creep, Rafael, and don't you forget it.

[movementyouneed]

"No, not yet," Rafi admits, with a patient smile and a vague shrug of his shoulders. "Forgive me. Sometimes I get carried away and I forget the important things. Like introductions."

He offers a hand, and another smile. "Rafael Navarro. I'm... something of a spiritual counselor, and a student of humanity. Sometimes, I look at a person, or I walk by them, and I understand things. I'd just like to hear your story. Maybe help if I can. I mean no harm, I promise."

[wedontjump]

Annie laughs a little, and shakes his hand firmly. "Oh, why not? Can't hurt anything, I suppose. I'm Annie, Annie Cartwright."

She gestures to the chair across from her. "Sit down, then. Would you like some coffee?"

[savesomelight]

Piper may have been working on her laser tag tactics (yes, alone- much less likely to be embarrassed that way), but Tay tends to emote very loudly when she's unhappy and it's rather difficult to ignore, so here comes the aforementioned Glasya tiptoeing towards the training room and poking her head in the door so cautiously that only everything above her nose can be seen.

"Are you having a bad day, Tay?" She asks, somewhat meekly. Obvious question is obvious.

[archangelet]

"No," Tay says, her voice tight - not exactly harsh, just... tight - and punches the punching bag again. "I'm having the best day. It's just peachy!"

...yes, Piper, she's having a bad day.

[savesomelight]

Piper cringes and tugs her head back with a sharp meep as if she's afraid that Tay might... Throw something at her. Not that she expects Tay to do such a thing, but, well, people get angry, things get thrown, and Piper likes her nose not broken on accident.

"Thought so," she says, from the safety of the wall just to the left of the door. She lingers there for a moment and then bravely steps into the room.

"Do you...?"

Want me to fix it? That's how that sentence should end, but Piper's still a little freaked out that she keeps doing this.

[archangelet]

Tay stops, suddenly, and grabs onto the punching bag so she can rest her forehead against it. Really, it's holding a lot of her weight in this moment.

She's on the verge of panic, still, again, whatever, and she can't decide.

"I don't know," she says quietly. "I just... I don't know."

And boy does she hate admitting that.

[nothingsodivine]

Sigh.

Des, at least, doesn't get to tapdance into his office today, because the minute he does, he gets whacked in the face with TP, which puts that routune out to pasture pretty damn quickly. He apparently missed Mathias across the street, but upon closer inspection of the window, he realizes that there is a former demon best friend-thing, watching his confused flailing and immediately stalks over there.

...The stalking would be much more effective if he didn't have to pause for heavy traffic.

"Contrary to popular belief, I didn't miss you that much," he quips. He's joking, however. This is how the boys show love.

[cherubstempter]

Mathias continues with that shit-eating grin of his, and takes a bite out of his cone. "Yeah you did. Your life was so boring without me that you got engaged."

Mathias clearly has Ideas about marriage.

[nothingsodivine]

Des just stares, contemplates the amount of sense that makes, runs that back through some mental checklist of reasons why one should never try to make sense of anything Mathias says and winds up just linefacing at him.

"I got engaged, because it seemed the right thing to do at the time, considering our situation, and because I love Martha and want to be with her." He pauses. "It's actually kind of terrifying, really, so don't tell me it's boring, because... It's the opposite of boring."

...Oooh look, Des is articulate. He cares not.

[cherubstempter]

Mathias snorts and eats the last of his ice cream cone before leaning back on the bench and staring up at the sky.

"That's, cool, though," he says finally. "You're less annoying when you're happy." Not that Mathias won't complain (a lot) when Des is walking on air, but it's good-natured complaining, then. Mathias actually likes his best friend being happy.

[crimeatthetime]

Adrian comes up behind Dusty as she's tacking up another one of the fliers, reading through its contents before he says anything.

"See? You're helping, papagayo."

He's not going to mention that journal entry right off--he's not supposed to know about it, wouldn't even know about it if not for Denise.

[please_see_me]

Dusty jumps, and then graces Adrian with a wobbly smile. "Well, it's not really much. People don't usually pay attention to flyers."

She straightens the stack of papers she's been stapling and taping, staring at them for a moment to... compose herself. And then looks up with a bright smile. "So, how you doing?"

[crimeatthetime]

"Maybe, maybe not." He sighs. "I'm fine, Dusty. How are you?"

Without waiting for her to answer, he takes one of the fliers and a bit of tape and looks for a place to stick it up. He won't be surprised if she lies. In fact, he's rather expecting it.

[please_see_me]

"I'm..." Dusty hesitates for a moment, while his back is turned, then quickly says, "I'm fine!"

She might not manage to cover up the grimace before he turns back around.