Dumat: The Dragon of Silence (nearestvessel) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-12-12 23:18:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | !complete, rapunzel, samandriel |
Who: Samandriel & Rapunzel
What: New friends are made, an adventure is had. Samandriel is reminded that there is still beauty and wonder in the world.
When: 7th December
Where: Their school, a fancy fancy garden
Rating: A for adorable.
Status: Complete
It’d been a while since he’d been asked to accompany anywhere, and honestly, Samandriel was a little worried that his piano skills had gotten rusty with all the time he’d been devoting to more portable string instruments. Of course they hadn’t, but the school upright was badly out of tune. It’d made the young angel very glad that he arrived before either the instructor or the pupil did so that he could work just enough angelic mojo to tune it without getting up.
The lesson was rather simple enough, and not long into playing the same piece over and over again, he was able to let go of at least some of the anxiety building in him simply by virtue of being in this building again. It’d been too many weeks away and he still remembered all too clearly exactly what had happened the last time he’d been here. January. He’d be back officially, full time in January. Perhaps the much more clearly seen light at the end of the tunnel would actually keep him there.
Regardless, when the lesson finished and the instructor departed with final notes to her pupil (and an aside that she was looking forward to Samandriel’s return, especially since it sounded like he’d gotten better,) he smiled up at his seemingly chipper companion. “You have a strong voice,” he said. “Rapunzel is it?”
Rapunzel had an excess of hobbies. It was bound to happen to a girl who was forced to stay in the same house without ever leaving for fifteen odd years, but still. She had countless hobbies and always seemed to be picking up new ones, but it was safe to say one of her favorites was singing. It was just one of those things she’d always been good at, and her talent had been undeniable, even though vocal training had only come later in life.
Now that she was getting actual lessons, she could hardly contain herself. Yes, technically, it was a little late in the game to be taking vocal lessons seriously, and her mother liked to stress over their vegan meals that it was important not to let the lessons get to her head because of course they won’t go anywhere, darling! Still, even if they didn’t go anywhere, Rapunzel loved the thrill and the challenge of stretching out of her comfort zone, and singing was just something she enjoyed. So even if there was no potential career in it, she greatly enjoyed her lessons.
She was jotting down the notes her instructor had given her over her music when she heard the compliment. She looked up and smiled, quite genuine. It was incredibly rare that she wasn’t genuine. “Thank you! Your playing is lovely. I could never! My hands are too small, stretching the chords is so hard.” His playing really was lovely, in comparison hers seemed rudimentary, but it was clear there was no animosity in her tone. She tucked her music into a folder before rising to offer a hand to shake. “Yes, Rapunzel. I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name? Are you a student here?”
“Samandriel,” he said, shaking her hand firmly as he smiled up at her. “I am...sort of. I was, I had to take some time off for a while. I’ll be back officially after the break.” He stood up and pushed in the piano bench. His instinct was to list all the things that were even slightly wrong with his playing, after all he was built for bows and strings and not hammers and keys. Even without any angelic boost, Lucifer could best him at the piano any day. Of course, if given the option to listen to Lucifer play instead of playing himself, Samandriel would take listening to Lucifer any day. If playing included playing with Lucifer, however, well...there was one way to get very close to public intercourse without even being in touching distance of each other.
“She thinks highly of you,” he said, meaning that rather literally as he nodded the direction her instructor had gone. “She wouldn’t keep pushing you if she didn’t think you had a talent worthy of pushing.” He leaned in a little to whisper almost conspiratorially. “You don’t want to know how many weeks she had me sitting in a room playing scales until I not only could do them in my sleep, but I’m pretty sure I was doing them in my sleep.”
She gave him a bright smile back in return. She loved meeting new people, so she was happy to make his acquaintance. Shaking hands had made her a little nervous when she’d first started attending school, with all her mother’s lectures about germs and disgusting things that people did with their hands, but she was mostly recovered from that now. “That’s a wonderful name. Is your family religious?” Rapunzel was, by default, because of her mother. She probably knew the name of every angel in the bible.
Rapunzel did look a little flattered at his words, eyes dropping to her shoes for a second. “Thank you. I’ve never had a private instructor before, but I’ve always loved singing.” And singing music other than hymns was pretty liberating. She wasn’t sure her mother would approve of all the choices her instructor gave her, but it was fun to sing contemporary music. “Sleep scales? No wonder you’re so good at playing,” she teased, a little grin playing at her features.
“I wonder if we’ll have any classes together when you come back! Oh, maybe we can have lunch together, that would be nice. Are you going home now? I can walk you to your car!” Nobody could claim Rapunzel was not enthusiastic when it came to making new friends. In fact, it seemed to turn a lot of people off. She was known for being weird around school, but she just considered herself friendly.
Samandriel blinked several times, always a little astounded when people got the reference of his name. Honestly, it was more than his parents ever managed and he’d never bothered to ask where they’d pulled it from. One day, he might. He doubted it, but he might. And really, it wasn’t like Samandriel was ever a big name angel anyway. Most people tended to go with either humans turned angel or the higher level beings regardless. “They’re not,” he said sheepishly, “it’s...rather ironic all things considered.” But she kept talking and it was really, really charming. Samandriel finally got up and shouldered his bag.
“We might? I doubt it. I’m a senior, but if we have lunch at the same time, I’ll be glad to eat with you. I hadn’t decided if I was going home yet and I don’t really have need for a car.” He weathered all of her questions with near infinite patience. It was refreshing, being surrounded with positivity for a change. He hadn’t realized how much he needed her light until it was right there.
Rapunzel did pause, a little confused, when he told her his parents weren’t religious. Samandriel was kind of an odd name if someone didn’t understand where it came from. Well, it didn’t matter, so she decided not to worry about it. “Why is it ironic?” she wondered, waiting for him to collect his things before turning towards the door. Even if he didn’t need to be walked to his car, she could still walk with him out of the building.
“I’m going to take the bus, but I’d be happy to walk with you,” Rapunzel suggested, giving him a bright smile. Her mother was still unable to leave the house, so Rapunzel was mostly on her own when it came to transportation. She walked plenty of places, but her school wasn’t particularly close to her home. “I’m a Sophomore, but I’m taking some higher level classes. We might be in a few together, you never know!” She was innately positive, so she still believed in the possibility, even if it was slim. “Have you lived in California long? Or are you new here?” It was odd how Rapunzel often felt like both. She’d lived in California for longer than she could remember, but everything felt so new all the same.
She was really adorable, and honestly Samandriel was kind of loathe to leave her light at all for the foreseeable future. “Ah, well,” he cleared his throat, “have you heard much of anything about the dreams some people have here? Things so real that they feel like a life you live completely while you’re asleep?” That seemed the best way to answer the irony question, even if hers just kept keep on coming. Adorable.
“Seventeen years, eighteen in a couple weeks.” Which sounded like an odd answer, but again factoring in the dreams that had become his reality, seemed like a distinction that needed to be made. “You know, you needn’t take the bus if you don’t want to. I can get you home much faster.” Once outside, he managed to find a lovely bench under a tree to go about eating the apple Lucifer sent him out with. He had to start making a habit of eating again soon. People would worry over him if he didn’t look like he was behaving at all normally, and the last thing he needed was an appointment with a counselor who didn’t understand that it wasn’t that he was starving himself, he just simply didn’t require food. Or sleep. Sleep he was still trying for, for Lucifer’s sake.
Oh, right, the dreams. She had heard of them, though only a little. Her friend Ariel had told her about them, had them, even. Rapunzel hadn’t experienced them herself, but the idea that some people had really bad dreams was rather disheartening. She and Ariel had grand plans of making cookies to send to those who struggled through bad ones. “I have heard of them… have you had one? Are they good? I hope so.” Samandriel seemed far too nice to have upsetting dreams.
She took that to mean that he’d lived in California his entire life, and she nodded at the answer. “You must know all the best places in town! I’m still trying to find them, but it’s like an adventure.” She hadn’t gotten tired of searching and trying new places yet, and chances were she never would. Rapunzel didn’t have to be home immediately, so she joined him on the bench. Could get her home faster than that? But he said he didn’t have a car… “Do you have a motorcycle?” she guessed, sounding fascinated. “I’ve always wanted to try riding one of those!”
Samandriel considered all of her questions in the order that they happened, and then decided to ignore most of them (particularly the one where she asked if they were good.) “No,” he said, almost feeling like he was teasing a little sister he never had. It was a wholly new experience. He couldn’t say he minded it, and the little smirk at the corner of his mouth definitely gave that away.
“What would you say if I told you that I wasn’t named for or after anyone?” he asked, looking a little mischievous in order to hide his wariness. Almost anyone else he’d told either shared his dreams, had known him for forever, or was some other sort of person who was experiencing certain Changes. “That the reason my name is funny is because my parents gave me the name that has always been mine without even knowing it.”
What could be faster than a car and a motorcycle but a teenager could use? Rapunzel rocked back into her seat, trying to think. It was like a puzzle, but she was missing some of the pieces, because she really couldn’t imagine anything going faster. She turned towards Samandriel, like it was a game and she was going to figure it out if it killed her!
Wasn’t named after anyone? How was that possible? Meaning his parents had made up the name and it was coincidentally the name of an angel? Her expression shifted a little as he gave her another hint. Always been his…
“Does… you’re an angel?” Rapunzel said, eyes lighting like fireworks were going off behind them. She clasped her hands together, clearly enraptured. “Really?” Most teenage girls would probably laugh, roll their eyes, and walk away. Rapunzel was not most teenage girls. With the dreams going around the area, you could dream to be anything. Why not an angel? “You’re not teasing me? Oh, my mother would love to meet you.” Rapunzel tapped the cross about her neck, almost reverently.
“Why would I tease about that?” Samandriel asked, frowning a little. It was that kind of joy that was beautiful, the delight at angels that he never saw in his dreams. That was the reminder that he needed, that angels were beings who were meant to do Good and watch over humanity and not succumb to the petty infighting that his brothers seemed to be so prone to. “Shall I take you home then?” he asked, taking another bite of his apple. Lucifer would be cross with him if he didn’t finish it (alright not cross, but Samandriel would get a slightly withering look for his troubles and another reminder that he was going to have to remember how to fake human again sooner rather than later.)
“Or anywhere, really. Anywhere at all. I should probably warn you that it gets a bit disorienting the first few times. Angel flight, I mean.” You got used to it. Or you were Dean Winchester and you looked like you were about to throw up no matter how many times you’d been saved the trouble of driving. Samandriel really didn’t understand that man some days.
Rapunzel couldn’t imagine an angel being a bad thing, except for the fallen ones. Though, to be fair, she only had experience with angels from the bible. She had no idea what they were actually like. “Well… around school, people like to tease,” Rapunzel said in limited explanation. She’d gone so long locked in her house, unable to see a lot of the world had to offer. To say she was gullible was not an exaggeration, and her fellow students liked to take advantage of how easily she’d believe anything.
“You can fly” She settled back in her spot, astounded. He looked just like a normal teenage boy, she could hardly believe it! But if he was offering… “I would love that! You can really carry both of us?” She had a million questions she wanted to ask, but it was probably just easier for him to show her. “We can go home, or… I don’t know, anywhere you want to take me. I don’t need to go home right now.” Disorienting, whatever, she’d survive. Who would pass up experiencing flight?
“It’s not like birds fly,” Samandriel said, understanding all too well the way kids at school tended to bully each other. He made a mental note to look out for her when he was back full time. He’d learned a thing or two about actually standing up for himself the past few months, and it wasn’t like anyone was really expecting him to be the person he was before anyway. “Angel flight is more instantaneous than that.”
A final bite of his apple and Samandriel decided that halfway done would have to be good enough. He set it at the base of the tree for the squirrels and other things to eat before he brushed his hands off on his pants and stood. He offered his hand to her. “Anywhere it is.” She seemed like she’d like a castle or something like it. Something ancient and half ruined that she could explore and he could keep her safe. “When’s your mother expecting you home?”
Rapunzel bounded up to take his hand, clearly far too excited about the potential adventure. She was fascinated by exploration of parts of the world she’d never seen; and sadly enough, that could just be around the block when she’d spent so much time sheltered. “I have to be home by nine, or she’d get worried,” Rapunzel told him, but that left plenty of time.
Her automatic assumption was that they’d go somewhere nearby. The idea of the flight being instantaneous was incredible, but she wouldn’t let that stop her from trying it. Who could say that they’d had an angel fly them somewhere? Not many people, probably! Though chances were if she tried to tell anyone, they wouldn’t believe her. “Do I have to do anything?” She didn’t want to mess it up, after all.
“Nope,” he said, cheerfully. He held eye contact (no matter how unnecessary it was, it seemed to be a general comfort for people flying the first few times,) and with the great sound of wings flapping, they took off. A breath later and Samandriel looked around to find them in what appeared to be a very old Belgian manor house.
“Huh,” he said, glancing around. “Next time make sure I have a more concrete destination in mind instead of just something old and pretty that my friend might like.” Because that was what she was, of course. His friend.
He wasn’t kidding that it was instantaneous. It was sort of like a very slow blink and suddenly she was somewhere else, with enough fluttering in her stomach to tell her how quickly it had happened. “Oh my,” Rapunzel said, green eyes widening, but there were more important things to focus on than how she felt a little dizzy! He was right it was a little disorienting, but she was more interested in where they were now.
It didn’t look like anything she’d ever seen before, and she gasped. “It’s … where are we? Are we even in California anymore?” She had never imagined anything like this happening when she woke up this morning. Rapunzel was almost concerned this was a dream. “I’ve always wanted to do something like this. I want to see the world. It’s so beautiful, thank you.” Rapunzel had spent so much time locked in her own home, actually seeing the beauty in the world was absolutely enthralling. She shook her head when he spoke of a more concrete destination. “Oh, no. This is beautiful! Can we go inside? Or look in the gardens?” She had no idea where they were but of course she wanted to explore.
“Belgium,” Samandriel said, smiling at her as he laughed fondly with her enthusiasm. “We can go anywhere you’d like, just be careful. I can heal you just fine if you get hurt, but I’d like to avoid that if possible.” It was a preference everyone seemed to be on board with. There were a lot of ways in which Samandriel stepped away from the typical angelic bullshit and focused on the mission they actually had: humanity. They were god’s children just as much as angelkind was, and even now, the young angel didn’t understand why parts of heaven were so dead set on bringing about the Apocalypse in the first place.
Humanity wasn’t done yet. It was clear in the wonder in the eyes of people like Rapunzel. If ever he needed a reason to embrace his angelhood, it was right here. Maybe going back to school wasn’t going to be so painful after all. “Come on,” he said, still smiling while he nudged her playfully. “Let’s go inside.”
He’d taken her to Belgium? How was this possible? She wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry. “I’ve never been out of California before,” she told him, heart pounding like a drum. “I’ve always wanted to, but … and now I have. Thank you. Really.” He didn’t know exactly how much it meant to her to finally be out into the beauty of the world, out of everything she knew. Not that she knew very much, really, she’d only been out in the world for a few months now. It didn’t matter, it was like being handed access to a dream and it was probably the nicest thing anyone had ever done for her.
Sometimes a nudge was all you needed. She fell into step, though it was hard to focus when she wanted to look at everything at once. “Have you ever been here before?” She wondered, fingers trailing over a wall in the garden. “It’s so beautiful.” She had listened to his warning about being careful, she didn’t intend to be reckless… though, it did happen sometimes. Rapunzel wasn’t great about thinking before leaping. Clearly, since she’d agreed to go off into the world with an angel without batting an eyelash.
Still, she didn’t regret it.
“Not in this life,” Samandriel said, strolling casually with her. “In the other one, yes, but a very, very long time ago.” Some part of him remembered this land before they were told under no uncertain terms were angels allowed to leave Heaven and visit Earth. It was like his feet ached to be bare against the dirt again, to run and laugh like he had when he was young. Strange, how even though he knew he was impossibly old, there was no part of him that felt his age. Neither the age he was nor the one his paperwork said he was fit him. There was still an innocence in him, one he was aware of despite torture and heartbreak and even death.
Everyone had been right, he realized in that moment walking with Rapunzel and watching her discover the ornate garden. Samandriel didn’t have to put forth any effort to be Good. He simply Was. How it took him this long to truly realize it, he didn’t know, but he was glad for it anyway. “Thank you,” he said, after a bit of quiet to just enjoy their environment. “I didn’t realize how much I needed this too.”
It was fascinating to think about, that he could remember a different life entirely. That he could go to a place that he’d seen in another life, and another time. It sounded so mystical and magical, like something out of a book or in a movie, and he was living it. Rapunzel could hardly believe she’d met an actual angel but it was impossible to dispute it, as far as she was concerned.
She was pausing just to enjoy the feeling of the sun on her face (the sun really was lovely, more people needed to enjoy it!) when she heard his thanks. She glanced at him, a confused cast to her bright green eyes. “What? I didn’t do anything, did I?” Still, never one to be rude, she gave him an easy smile. “You’re welcome. I’m happy to help.” Maybe even angels needed to have their moments of humanity.