"Fuck."

Does she kick a wall. Does she kick a wall while Norma is right there.

She knows kicking the wall is a bad idea.

She kicks a wall anyway.

"It's okay. You'll prevent the apocalypse anyway."

Her foot hurts. A bit.

She kicks the wall again. (Lightly. She tries for lightly. She doesn't actually want to break the wall.)

She fails to not break the wall.

"We should retire for today, I think."

"I – I don't know that that's a good idea, if he's out there."

… Stupid wall.

"Even if he's out there tonight, we won't find him—you can cover a larger area of the city with crosses, if you want, but the prophesied end of the world won't come today."

Eva looks like she's going to argue, then pauses, takes a deep breath, and exhales.

Then does it again.

"… I just wish they weren't doing this."

She laughs.

Eva sighs, puts a hand to her face, and eyes the wall.

"Know of any sturdier walls?"

"Perhaps, but it would probably be unwise to tell you where to find them."

Eva sighs.

Then she gets a pencil out of her pocket and draws a cross on the wall. "Not sure it'll work but I don't have varnish on me right now."

"That will not work, I'm afraid."

"What's wrong with pencil?"

"I'm not wholly sure, but it's not sufficiently—religious—to count."

"But varnishing invisible crosses onto walls is?"

"Yes," she shrugs.

Evelyn blinks and then sighs. "Do other holy symbols work, too? I don't know any conveniently less obtrusive ones but still, could be good to have a wider repertoire around town?"

"Yes, any religious ones do."

"Might research into them." Shrug. "Maybe pencil works differently for different ones."

"I believe it has to do with whether someone of faith would consider it valid, were they to see it."

"… Maybe we'll be lucky and some particular faith reveres pencil? But okay, probably not the best avenue for research."

"Likely not."

Sigh.

"So what's next?"

"Next is, I believe, us returning to our homes and finding a different way to avert the prophecy."

Nod. "Books or more patrolling? … Or both."