(Zoe is trying to remember if they are supposed to tell them about the new moon maw lady thing. She thinks no?)

"Just one, I think. We were hoping to get - proof of concept, let's call it - on Cast Out the Black Pharaoh while we're here. We're still working on timing and so on but will have a more final plan in a few days; do you know of any compelling reasons not to try to close the mouth in Malta within the next week or so."

"Montgomery Donovan might kill you and thus end our budding partnership. I assume your-- Knights of Malta-- have a way of dealing with this?"

"--We would like to work with them as well, if they're amenable."

"Yep, that's accounted for." Not via Martin but that is really not his secret to tell as of right now. "And there's only the one left, everyone else died in the Congo some years ago, but I'll pass that along."

"All right. Nice speaking with you."

After they leave the Emporium, Zoe waits until it seems like they're alone.

"Sorry for leaving so abruptly earlier, I know it probably looked weird. I hope it didn't make things harder with the Emporium?"

"....it didn't seem weird at all actually. I don't think I even noticed."

"Oh, phew, I'm glad. I noticed Nephren Ka lurking around the park and thought it would probably be a good idea to keep him occupied."

"...You don't say!"

"He's very put out about us Cast Out The Black Pharaoh. Or at least, about me learning it? Also he had a lot of negative things to say about The Thing With A Thousand Mouths. Apparently it's unaesthetic."

"He didn't happen to confirm he was Nyarlathotep while complaining about our spell to cast him out, did he -- huh."

"I don't think he literally said but he was like 'you don't see me learning spells to cast you out' which seems pretty suggestive to me.

I offered we could Cast Out the Mouth Thing instead if he knew how to do that. He considered it but didn't bite."

"I wonder why he keeps...." None of the verbs that come to mind are good. "Showing up around you."

"Apparently, he likes my acrobatics act."

"...I think I could have gotten him to go for it if I'd had a better trade to offer? I said I could do a private show and he said he thought I was too busy. ...Maybe I should have just said I could make time in my schedule for him."

".........If this whole thing eventually ends with the Liar himself helping us fight the Mouth because it's unaesthetic I think I'll just give up on understanding anything that happened during this part of my career. I can see the trajectory from here to there and it's completely absurd and it's giving me a headache."

"To be fair he also said he disagrees with ... the aesthetics of some parts of him? I forget his wording. Apparently there is a tentacle monster in the Congo that is him but also gauche."

"If it's just that he likes your acrobatics act that seems like a hell of a coincidence.

On the other hand, it is possible and indeed probable that I'm just paranoid because Hickering kept mentioning ocean legends in the islands my family comes from."

"Well, that's all he's deigned to tell me. And he does come to all my shows."

"Sure. But-- on the first hand I really don't like the implications if we've all been involved in --" vague gesture -- "this, for years."

"What, like he... guided us, that our enemy handpicked who was going to be up against him?"

"I'm not actually especially clear on what the implications are, I just know I don't like them."

"He certainly knew about me long before Mrs. Winston-Rogers did."

"I wonder if Carrie had anything like that. Or Anemone.

Did he say anything else?"

"He said that ants kill fifteen humans a year. And that he's been around for five billion years but everyone dies except Azathoth. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to make of that."

".....last time you saw him, he said it was fun watching humans run around like ants about to get stepped on, right? Which makes the ants thing.... a thing."