I send a pestilence and plague....

[sendmyscourge]

Midnight passes again

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[shootsnarkstare]

A very sick unhappy cat is sitting next to a phone booth.

She is mewling miserably, too weak to even wander her way back to her apartment.

Peyton doesn't know what's going on. She just knows that she's miserable. And someone better help her. Now.

[doneanddoner]

Fred doesn't even want to be out right now, really, but she is, and anyway, that's besides the point when she sees the crying cat.

Or hears her, first off.

"Oh," she exclaims softly, crouching down to kitty-level. "Are you okay?"

[shootsnarkstare]

The belabored mewling stops for a moment as Peyton just stares at Fred.

Now, this adorable little cat staring at her like that probably looks like she is looking up at Fred like she's a godsend. Someone who can take her home and love her forever.

Actually, Fred, Peyton's wondering why someone would bother Project Helix-ing her here. It is a train of thought that's very hard to follow with sick-kitty brain, but she doesn't like it one bit. She knows that much at least.

However, she's not entirely sure what to do. She wouldn't trust herself to take care of herself.

[doneanddoner]

And if Peyton was in human form at the moment, this whole exchange would get a lot weirder.

Just the same, the glasses and the slight Texan accent might be a good indication that she's not, you know, some crazy clone or something.

Right now, though, she's checking for obvious injuries. Like maybe a wounded tail or something.

[hey_capn_jack]

Livestock.

J was not terribly worried about livestock, because Chicaco is an urban center and who the hell makes the connection from shapeshifter to livestock, anyway? Shapeshifters are not livestock. They're perfectly sentient people who happen to be animals part-time, and a good number of their shifter forms aren't domesticatable anyway.

That said, when the clock strikes midnight, he sure does feel a shift coming on.

It's uncontrollable. He's had shifts he has to fight against, but this is just an inexorable changing of his bones, a restructuring of his organs and nothing he can do will halt or slow its progress. He's fighting back the rising tide of unease when a larger waves comes and swamps it entirely

[ornobodywill]

From Mac's room comes a loud, sustained ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH sound worthy of a Charlie Brown cartoon, followed by a thud, which is the sound of Mac feeling IMPOSSIBLE UNCOMFORTABLENESS from the ward side of things and tumbling off her bed

[hey_capn_jack]

Her ward didn't want to be a dolphin! HER WARD DID NOT THINK SHIFTER FORM PAIRS LIKE THIS HAPPENED.

J squirms enough to see who's just come skidding in, not that he expects Mac to be too far away when he's slowly being crushed under his own weight. He looks up, or tries to, and makes... a noise. He doesn't even want to know what that noise is classified as, but hopefully it gets across some if not all of I'm SORRY! I'm sure I'm going to be perfectly fine when this plague thing wears off and I understand that it's entirely unfair that you have to suffer through it with me but I had no control over this and it HURTS which I'm sure you know and WHY AM I A DOLPHIN? I - JUST - WHY?

...it's a very eloquent noise, his.

[twdenmother]

Ianto, as instructed, follows the sound of profanity. He's carrying a bucket of water with several towels in, and dreading everything about this.

Upon actually seeing the flailing (and topless) redhead and dolphin, however, his expression undergoes a series of significant changes. For a moment, just a moment, there's wonder, because... Well, because Ianto's always been irrationally fond of dolphins, and J's beautiful, in a way. But the wonder gives way to obvious distress before it can even properly register -- beautiful and in pain, and it hurts, and then he reminds himself that this is J...

And really, that hurts more, but there's no sense in imposing his feelings on this, is there? J isn't Jack, not anymore, and that's not a mistake he can afford to make again. His expression settles into a hardened neutrality, as he offers Mac the bucket.

"Hopefully, these will help. I'll see what I can do about finding a temporary tank of some sort."

[stopdropanddie]

Bristow's been doing very little in regards to the plagues, because there is very little that he can do. He spent the flea plague as a hedgehog, which was not exactly pleasant by any means, but was a lot more dignified than scratching himself all day. And he spent every other day, trying to find ways to subvert the firstborn plague, if only for Sydney's sake- he'll be going too, but it's his daughter he's more concerned about. Per usual.

And then at midnight, he involuntarily became a German Shepherd and here it is midday and not only can he not shift back, he feels like he just got hit by a truck. This is half of all flu symptoms and he's a dog. There was nothing in the Bible about this, dammit.

At the moment, he is laid out in the Kashtta lobby, staring miserably at the door like the world's most pathetic guard dog, all while sneezing every few minutes.

If he's going to be stuck and feel like this, he is going to do something useful... Like watching the door.

Jack officially hates the plagues.

[chimaerasaurus]

Oh Bristow. Where there is a sick animal, there is an Abby, and while there's little she seems able to do she can still try. Particularly if one of the sick animals in question is her boss-slash...ambiguously-parentthing.

Besides, there's some research she's been doing that she needs to tell him about.

"Steady, granddad," she murmurs, approaching from the front and sliding her hand under Bristow's chin. She eyeballs the little girl watching from the edge of the lobby, eyes filled with intense dislike. ...Oooookay then.

"Seems something's going around."

[stopdropanddie]

Jack gives Abby a look. It would be a lot more intimidating if his eyes weren't all watery. He doesn't really move much in protest of the touch, because at this point, it's a lot better on his achy joints if he just sits still and doesn't move much.

"So I gathered," he notes mentally, even his telepathy sounding exhausted and strained. At least, if he's going to be stuck like this, he can still communicate. "I don't remember this being in the Bible."

Not that he read it. Ever. He just hung around Sloane. A lot.

[chimaerasaurus]

"The Lord set a time and said, "Tomorrow the Lord will do this in the land." And the next day the Lord did it: All the livestock of the Egyptians died, but not one animal belonging to the Israelites died. Pharaoh sent men to investigate and found that not even one of the animals of the Israelites had died. Yet his heart was unyielding and he would not let the people go."

All of this is said while she checks Bristow's ears, his gums and teeth, his eyes, while she feels for and presses her ear against him to hear his heartbeat. It's a reassuring routine, putting her nerves in the back of her mind even while she worries about him. "Never much liked the New International. Gets a bit redundant after a while."

He's too old for this kind of thing. He's too old to be this sick. He's fit, sure, but he's also a dog right now and fuck-all if this doesn't look bad.

Abby hates this. She hates it a lot. "Not as bad as New King James."

[calicoway]

There's a kitten in the Tower who has become more kitten than human but still has enough human sense about him to know that he's dying. As soon as the sickness hit him, he knew. He's HIV+. He can't afford to get sick.

Dying.dying.dying. this is it. this is- didn't get to say- Babel!? J!? Des?! Becky?! Please. Please. Please. Not now. Not yet. Not ready. Need- No one's here. The room is alone. It smells of emptiness and sickness and pain and death. Not of people. Not of love. Not of anything nice at all.

He's curled in a ball in the corner of the lobby, trembling and purring to soothe himself but it's not working much. Panic has set in bringing the human back enough to think, to deal, to fix, but he's stuck as a kitten and getting sicker by the second. The kitten sits up and coughs up vomit, trembling as he stumbles away from it, from the smell, and the sick and he curls into another ball.

Brando, where's Brando? Anybody? Please? Why isn't he here? He said he'd take care of Luke. He said. He said there was family and love and

[theb5mantra]

Ivanova happens to be passing near the lobby when she hears the meow, feels the sheer panic, even through her shields.

Instantly, she comes out, and... Kitten. Kitten who is sick. She knows her plagues: pestilence affecting livestock, and while it might be a bit of a stretch to include pets... Well, these haven't exactly been typical plagues, and there are shapeshifters around.

"It's okay," she says, trying to keep her voice low and soothing. "I'm not going to hurt you. Are you a shapeshifter?"

[calicoway]

It is easier at least to get a better hold on reality when someone else is near. He's not sure why he was thinking about Brando. Brando is dead along with many other people who'd flashed through his mind in an effort to find something to hold on to.

Yes. Luke manages to nod.

Shapeshifter. That's what he is.

[theb5mantra]

"I can get you to the doctors here. I'm Susan Ivanova. And..." she looks at her gloved hands for a moment. "I'm a telepath. If you have someone you need to see, or you have to get word to someone, I can do that, but I'd have to scan you. I won't do that without your consent, but if you want me to..."

She kneels down by the kitten, hoping for some kind of a sign, a clear yes or no.

[pplrunincircles]

Elizabeth has written an entry to Josef. It's about all she had the energy to do. She's lying on a street, pressed up against a wall, and after she's written it, she curls around her journal using her backpack as a pillow. Never mind that the streets still covered in frog guts and there's dead lice littering the sidewalks. She's too exhausted to care, wearing the same clothes she was when she left Tabitha's though she showered at dead people's houses. Just couldn't bring herself to steal their clothes

[destroytheother]

The first plague was the most liberating, in a way. The bloodlust that took over all but drove him mad. But when the inner demon begs to be released, unhinged and unrepentant, Josef always listens.

He lost count as to how many lives he took. The rest of the days have been taken up largely by apathy. Everywhere he looks there is chaos. Everyone is steeling themselves for the final plague. Josef is a first born, and probably one of the few looking forward to it.

He was apathetic, yes. Up until Elizabeth locked something for him in her journal. He didn't want to answer her at first. Didn't want to care. They're all damned as it is anyway. Let her stay where she is. Let someone else go for her, someone that actually can take care of her. He couldn't just leave her there and he knows deep down why that is

[pplrunincircles]

Elizabeth had fallen asleep. She wakes up at the feeling of hot fingers against her face. The heat spreads throughout her face, and she knows she's turned pink before she's even opened her eyes.

"No, I didn't!" She opens her eyes and gives him a very defiant, stubborn look though the blush hasn't left her face. He's still really, really close. "Every person that I helped needed help dying. It's not like I had that much of a choice! I'd start to walk home, but everybody is dying, and it's what I was made to do so I do it. I help them, and it's not so bad when they die cause I'm there. I feel their pain. I answer their questions! I give them somebody to hold hands with when they're scared and bleeding. I'm not going to just say no, no one on this street gets to have help if they're dying cause this might be too much for me right now. I mean geeze-la-Petes."

She pauses realizing how she sounds. Even if it is how she feels, she doesn't want to get in an argument with him especially one that might result in him leaving her here because

[destroytheother]

Josef lifts a brow and it remains lifted throughout her impassioned speech, a smirk lightening his features in response to her utter indignation. It's not about to make him leave her there, but he doesn't understand altruism, can't recognize it for what it is.

He'd expected this reaction reaction from her.

He is also nonplussed about it, Elizabeth. Sorry about that.

"You do sound very appreciative. So appreciate that I'm all aflutter," he answers with a solemn nod, holding out a hand to help get back on her feet. "Come on, Sparky. Keep telling me how wrong I am on the way over."

Josef should probably be freaking out along with the rest of Chicago.

Josef is not quite like most.