Alexander Lozynsky and Nicolai Lebedev

[kabukiman]

-Better wet and alive, than dry and God knews what-says Nicolai in a stoic fashion.

[SuAside]

OCC: Seems awefully like a setup... but...

IC:
Alexander cautiously makes his way over the paving stones and onto the footpath.

[Laraqua]

The rain continues to pour down at a mournful pace. Dripping posters splayed across streetlights pleaded for lost dogs, celebrated 18th birthday parties, and invited people along to some sort of club: Weeping Mothers? Weeping Widows? Even the ink has run due to the slashing rain. As the two make their way down the footpath, movement catches their eye from the direction of the house they had just left. Something moves. Something sharp and with multi-jointed limbs. Or perhaps that was just their imagination. Towards the corner sits a phone booth, all broken glass and bubble gum, imprinted with some gang sign or another.

[kabukiman]

-Let's get out of here and enter in a coffe shop. Or anything with humans.TNicolai takes Alexandre by the arm.

[SuAside]

Alexander does not struggle and goes with the flow. Safer not to call here...

[Laraqua]

Alexander and Nicolai continue down the city streets, barely able to see much before them due to the driving rain that saturates their clothing and trickles down their backs in an oppressive and somewhat depressing manner. There's just something about the rain. All that rain. The clouds are so thick that it could be daytime and no one had noticed. They pass houses and sheds and garages and then quickly, surprisingly quickly, they are surrounded by tall multi-storeyed buildings of glass and steel.

As the two walk along, they hear a scream for up above as a man plummets to the sidewalk in front of them with a loud crack. Blood soon mingles with water and goo that seeps from the crushed face. The sudden corpse has no shoes and his socks are quickly saturated by water.

[kabukiman]

-Alexander. Let's get out of here. Quick.
Nicolai walks faster.

[SuAside]

Alexander shivers and presses on.

Is this another mindtrick? Is this real?

[Laraqua]

The two men gingerly step around the body just as a jogger comes out of the rain and trips over the splayed corpse, tumbling over. The man rises to his feet, turns, and cries out in shock. "Holy shit! What the fuck is that?" He takes a couple steps closer. "You okay man? Oh, fuck!" Then he pulls out his mobile phone.

[kabukiman]

OOC: In what language is the man speaking? English? Russian?

[Laraqua]

OOC: German. You'd catch the words 'okay' if you don't speak at least basic German.

[kabukiman]

OOC: Nicolai don't speak german, so all he understand is "OK".

[Laraqua]

The man certainly sounds upset and anxious. He turns toward the two of you and starts speaking a hundred miles an hour in German so even if you do have ranks in the skill, you'll need to roll it to understand. He gestures to the body and gestures to the roof as he hits a few buttons on his mobile phone.

[SuAside]

"We do not speak german, sir." Alexander says "But you should call the police and we should probably wait in the lobby of the building?"

Since they would no longer need to hunt for a phone, Alexander approaches the corpse to check for vital signs. A futile act, but necessary none the less.

"I am a doctor." he lets the jogger know.

[Laraqua]

"Ja," the jogger says, nodding though clearly not understanding much of what has just been said. He continues his phone call. Hopefully he's calling the police.

As Alexander takes a look over the body he notices a flyer folded up and stuffed in the side pocket. The words: Mother of Awakening can be clearly seen under the neon glow of the nearby streetlight.

[SuAside]

Alexander takes out & reads the flyer. The rain will make short work of it soon anyway.

[kabukiman]

-What do that means?

[Laraqua]

It reads:

"Most of us have suffered the loss of a loved one, and as we age, it is likely that all of us will. Relationships are an essential part of what we, as humans, need to survive, and as we go through life, we will develop strong and significant connections with not just people, but also places and possessions we encounter along the way.

Grief is the emotion we feel when an important relationship ends (or is interrupted). Commonly the ending is caused by death, but grief can also be felt when a relationship is lost as a result of divorce, relocation, fire or theft. We don't grieve for all lost relationships; only those that have, for one reason or another, become meaningful to us over time - people we love or admire (family, partners, friends, teachers), and places or things we treasure (a house you grew up in, a photo, a family heirloom). When these people or things are gone, we often feel grief.

It then goes into a description of how spirituality can help, particularly in a support group, and that the Chapel of the Grief-Stricken Mother provides such a support group. The imagery on the web site involves a lot of wilted bouquets and pictures of depressed people. There is a part of the web page that is member's only and requires both user name and password.

There is also a time and day for the services. Wednesday, three hours before dawn, at 32 Gruber Street, Kreuzberg."

[SuAside]

"Rubbish." Alexander comments and shrugs as he hands the flyer to Nicolai.

[kabukiman]

-It doesn't seem to have help this fellow a lot. Let's go.