"You 'nearly' argued with someone? That, I'd like to see," said Arix.
"I wouldn't. I must be slipping."
"Nah. You put up with a lot more than I would."
"I'm not putting up with it very well, though. I've been restless lately. I should find something to do."
"Besides your research?"
"Yes, very funny. Research isn't real work."
"No no, I was being serious."
"Oh. Well, yes, then. It's not going anywhere at the moment."
"Huh. Sorry."
"You're secretly gloating."
"Only a little," said Arix, frowning. "Alright, do you have any other ideas?"
"No. I'm supposed to be keeping a low profile, remember? That rules out a lot."
"Mm."
"You think I'm being paranoid?"
Arix thought about it. It was unlikely that the empire cared particularly about one priest who'd been keeping his head down. Then again, it hadn't been Arix coming downstairs for lunch to find thirty of his confreres dead on the floor and the courtyard full of the Imperial Guard. That made an impression.
The Empire was still young. Not counting the short-lived candidates during the bloody power struggle in between rules, there had only been two emperors, Strandquist and his uncle(?). There were adjustments that had to be made and things that had to be learned. Such as, one does not speak out against the will of the emperor. Even if the emperor orders the death of all void-eyed humans. Quiet, unobtrusive protesting was allowed. The occasional unfortunate being could flee the city to die(?) in the Outlands. But you did not publicly protest (as the Church of the Creator had,) and you did not openly harbor large numbers of the void-eyed (one of Ithaka's crimes.)
Arson, however, was totally fine. As long as you had a reason to suspect the area was infected, or said you did.

"Oh hello," said Arix, drawing his sword as a zombie limped out of an alley ahead. Red watched him, staff ready. Since his experiences outside the city (Red still wasn't clear on what had happened, especially since Arix had generally refused to talk about it after the first few days) he seemed less eager to fight anything that looked at him funny. He seemed tense when about to go into a fight and he fought sloppily—although, that was understandable. He was still adjusting to using his non-dominant arm.
The zombie noticed them and began to haul itself in their general direction. Arix bounced nervously, then flinched as the zombie suddenly jerked backwards with a gurgling shriek.
"Sorry, did you want to get that one?" Arix and Red looked up. A man in a loose brown coat was perched on the façade of a building, hands twined loosely around his short bow. He dropped down and came forward to join them. In the light, he had a thin, pleasant face with a perky look, sea-grey eyes and short golden hair. Arix squinted.
"I know you… Kiko?"
"Yeah! Memory been a bit funny for you lately?"
"Just a bit."
"Well, if you can remember Kikoskia, you can probably remember more important things, of which there are several. Good to see you out again, but why at this hour?"
"We could ask you that as well."
"Oh I'm always up late. I keep bad company, remember?"
"We're going to get donuts."
"At Sammy's? Excellent! Mind if I join you? I'm looking for some lost kids, and they're probably where the pastries are."
"Rufert?"
"That's one of them."
"Sure. Good to see you being still alive. I mean, glad you're not dead. I mean, I didn't think you were, dead, you're a good fighter, I just—"
"No no, I understand, I'm glad to be alive as well. I am also glad to see you being not dead. Being not dead is generally a good sign."
"It is."
"I'm so glad we understand each other!"

Red smiled at Arix and Kiko's banter. They seemed to get along well, and he was glad. Arix hadn't been out much. Red had met Kiko before, briefly, when Arix had dragged himself back to the city nearly dead. Kiko had hung around a bit asking how Arix was until he started to improve. At the time Red hadn't been sure if it was genuine concern or base curiosity, but it was looking like the former, now, which made him happy. Red decided that he didn't much mind being out late if it meant that Arix met a friend. He needed to talk to more than one person. Frankly, Red himself could get tired of Arix and only Arix and constantly Arix. He probably annoyed Arix as well, though he didn't know how. Their personalities were very different.

Sammy's Hot Buns was a corner store with a bright lantern hung below the sign, showing an orange cat curled around a pair of steaming breads. It had windows on both sides, giving it a very open feel, but it was also safe, as the windows were barred with steel, thin and unobtrusive but strong. No zombies would be interrupting their coalsteam break. Golden light blazed from the windows, visible from far down the street. Sammy got up early to bake the pastries for the next day, and as long as he was awake, the café was open.
Arix fiddled with the zombie-proof latch, and Red mentally added a tally to his Decent Guy estimation of Kikoskia when he didn't offer to help, but let Arix fumble it into place himself and fling the door open.
"—Wouldn't be such a jerk about other people's work—"
"It was a bug, Rufert."
"If you weren't so fookin useless!"
"I was—"
"You murdered it!"
"I caught it for you."
"You cracked the exoskeleton! It's useless!"
"You know what, you can shut up—"
"You absolute, fucking,"
"Don't care"
"FLOUNDERING cunt!" Rufert, the shorter of the two men standing inside, paused to catch his breath. His pale hair fell into his eyes, which were large, pale, and full of curiosity. At least, they would be under normal circumstances. At the moment they were bulging with resentment.
"…." Klyka, the other, looked down at him blankly. His own hair, also pale, was shorter and stuck up. His eyes were a bright green. A crumpled-looking beetle with a bright shell lay on the floor between them. Klyka, still staring Rufert in the face, lifted one foot and stepped deliberately on the beetle. There was a crunching noise. Rufert's eyes got even larger. He opened his mouth, but seemed at a loss for words. Klyka turned away, walked to the bar, and sat down with his back to him.
"Fuck you," said Rufert finally, looking at the flattened beetle. A blob of cookie dough landed in his hair and he flinched. "Eaaugh!"
"Enough," said Sammy, pointing a wooden spoon menacingly first at Rufert, then Klyka. "Tone it down. Both of you. Children come here."
"It's two in the morning," said Klyka. Sammy glared at him.
"The stench lingers." Klyka looked unamusedly at him and sipped a cup of tea.

The three men in residence noticed the three from outside when Kikoskia, who'd been trying with slowly failing efforts to stifle his laughter, began snickering audibly. Sammy looked up with a grin.
"Oh hello! Kiko, right? And—Erix?"
"Arix."
"Erix, right. Sorry, it's been a while since you've been in, hasn't it?" he glanced at the loosely dangling sleeve. "Life been a bit rough?"
"It's Arix."
"Erix?"
"….Forget it."
Kikoskia, whimpering with laughter, finally caught his breath. "So here's where you two have been hiding out."
"Ya." "Found us."
"Did you save anything for me?"
"What, you think we've got money for you?" Klyka turned his head just enough to shoot a glance over his shoulder. "Buy your own donuts. Actually, you can buy us some while you're at it."
"And Red," said Sammy, grinning, "I definitely know you."
"Hello Sammy." Red had been spending a lot of time sitting in the café lately, spending money he didn't feel like he had earned on superfluous food and drink, meditating on life, trying to avoid the drama at the rectory, and in general being a completely useless excuse for a human being. Sammy was friendly and the refreshments were always good. It was a pleasant place to sit and feel like an utter failure.
Arix and Kikoskia and Rufert, he noticed, were all sitting at the bar with Klyka, ordering coalsteam. Looked like they weren't planning on sleeping at all that night. Arix looked over his shoulder. "Are you joining us?"
Red joined them.

A/N: Whew. Better now.
Now, I'm still up doing reading assignments, and it's late, so I can't say anything for what I'll be like in the morning after I write this…
Edit: Totally fine. I'm making scones later!

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER!
There are several characters named after YouTubers in this chapter. Things to know:
1) I know next to nothing about the real human beings they correspond to.
2) My characters are my characters and share only the names (and as far as my own ideas of them go, the voices) with their namesakes irl.
3) I'm only doing this as a friendly tribute to the real people. Said Mythos characters are not meant to imply anything whatsoever about the real people they are named after. If you wish, you may completely ignore the fact that they are at all related to YouTubers.
Thanks. It's just… YouTuber fanfiction tends to weird me out sometimes, so I wanted this to be clear.
There are three based on less-popular YouTubers in the same friendgroup. Kikoskia is my favorite and has an awesome vanilla MC LP. Rufert always plays MC but doesn't record. Klyka is just here for the hell of it.
He did get shouted at by Rufert in pretty much this manner in a Cthulhian tabletop game.
There's also a reference to another internet dude. Immaterial internet cookies to the first reviewer who guesses who the orange-cat-loving baker is a reference to. Hint: His nickname is only a few letters removed from his in-story name. And that's all I'm going to say because he doesn't need my publicity, he's already got a fandom. Deservedly, I'll admit.

Thank you, Lewis Forkin, that is indeed what we are here to do. If you are impatient for new material you could read some of my old stories. And make an account (that's not your real name!) so I can properly thank you!