One flash of light but no smoking pistol

[wagglingfingers]

Romana (the Time Lady, not the fallen angel) has settled into life at the Conrad - as best as you can when your entire species has been wiped out in the blink of an eye. It's taken some adjusting, and, in the process, she's learnt a bit about controlling her new powers, so the next person to hug her won't end up with a jaguar in their face. (To be

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[clockwork_doc]

Doc's in the common room as well, finishing up a book. Specifically, Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. It's always been his favorite, probably because it was the first one of Verne's he read. As to why he's in the common room reading instead of his own room, the common room has comfier chairs.

He finishes off the last sentence and sets the book aside. He's a little stiff from sitting so long, so he gets up and walks about, stretching. Steam hisses from his shoulders and back as he does so, wafting through his ever-present coat. Some of it might waft Romana's way, as it does.

[nolongerfred]

Romana takes note of the steam - she hears it hissing first, then glances up from her book to see the source of the noise. She's fairly certain humans aren't supposed to do that.

"Pardon me," she says to him politely, "but you seem to be, ah, leaking."

[clockwork_doc]

Doc glances over as he finishes stretching, smiling awkwardly. "I know," he says. "I'm partly mechanical in nature -- the steam's a byproduct. I can't control when it comes out, unfortunately." He gives his elbows a brief dirty look. "Sorry if it bothered you."

[nolongerfred]

"Oh, not at all," she assures him. "I just wanted to make sure you were all right." Cyborgs? Yeah, Romana's down with that. Though now her interest has been piqued...

"What sort of power source are you using, then? A boiler seems terribly, well, archaic." And too big and bulky, and difficult to fuel, and...Romana, stop thinking about the details.

[fitz_squared]

There's a guardian angel in the Luna Bar as well, sipping at a glass of Rum and Coke. He's tapping his foot against the stool to some tune in his head, blissfully ignoring the world.

And then he decides he has to go to the bathroom.

This will possibly be the most historic trip to the bathroom ever.

On his way there, he passes the sofa Alex is occupying and notices, out of the corner of his eye, that one of her gloves are on the floor. So, like the gentleman he is, he picks it up and places it back where it belongs.

There. Good deed for the day = done.

[wagglingfingers]

Alex is almost too lost in her own private wine-fogged world to notice the movement, but she just barely registers Fitz's hand. She looks up and smiles at the stranger - it's not often something so normal and polite happens in Chicago, and it's certainly the best thing that's happened to her all day.

Of course, when your day's been spent trying not to think about the times you watched your parents explode, well, it's not exactly a red-letter day. So her eyes might be a little red-rimmed (thankfully, she's lost the cloud of eyeshadow from 1981, otherwise she'd be a mess).

[fitz_squared]

Fitz's smile is a little sympathetic. She looks like she's had a hard day, but his bladder is about to explode, and if he doesn't get to the bathroom right n-

Or he could just fall over, first, which is what's just happened.

He wonders, for a second, if someone punched him in the stomach, because he has no air in his lungs and he feels vaguely nauseous and if he thought his bladder was going to explode before...

And then he realizes, oh.

The narration is sure no one in the bar has heard the exclamation "JESUS TAPDANCING CHRIST" yelled that dramatically ever before.

[wagglingfingers]

Alex is usually the one having these reactions, though, it should be said, in a far more decorous manner. (The narration would like to point out that she fainted after meeting Gene for the first time.) Still, that doesn't keep her from jumping and spilling her wine all over herself.

So now there's a wine-sodden Alex kneeling on the floor next to Fitz, trying to ascertain precisely what's wrong with him as the room spins about her. She really fervently hopes he doesn't need CPR. "Are you all right?" She grabs his wrist, feeling for a pulse.

[clanoftheswords]

Farley sinks into one of the chairs near Romana, for once not totally bored out his mind. A random search through the bookshelves turned up a copy of Agatha Christie's Appointment with Death. He was a fan of hers back in his world (and back when The Big Four was her latest work), and is actually kind of happy that she's done so well. (Or had done so well - he's not getting her hopes up about the woman surviving this long, unless she happens to be an angel...)

He was looking for a chair when he happened to spot Romana. While Bambi's death has forced him back underground, so to speak, he's been more open to talking to new people; it's better than having no one to talk to at any rate...

He indicates the book she's reading with a glance. "Any good?"

(OOC: Sorry about the premature post.)

[nolongerfred]

Romana looks up when the man addresses her, smiling slightly. "A trifle dry for my tastes, but I'm reading it for education, rather than entertainment." She cranes her neck slightly to peer at his book. "Ah, Agatha Christie! I've read a few of her works." Not the whole set, of course, but she has at least a passing familiarity with several famous Earth writers.

[clanoftheswords]

Farley smiles at this, his inner fanboy doing a little jig at meeting another Christie reader. "Yeah, I've read a couple of her books before, though that was back when she was just getting started."

It's the "education" comment that makes him so comfortable with telling her this; it makes it easier to guess what she probably is. He flips back to a list of several of her other Poirot books.

"I'm pretty surprised that she's come so far, actually."

[nolongerfred]

"Oh?" Romana tilts her head to the side a little. "Are you originally from that era, or are you a time traveller?" The ease with which she suggests the latter implies that meeting people who travel through time is a regular occurrence for her.

"Well, she certainly was prolific - not many humans seem to produce so much in such a short lifespan."