i_watch In God We Trust? [Gabriel]
He'd met Death and Laura, two very different females. He'd liked both of them though, to some extent. Actually, like was probably too strong a term. Both were the type of being that he was simply forced to tolerate.
Unlike the blonde with the slit throat in front of him, Bartleby could not kill Death. Nor could he kill Laura, who happened to already be dead. So he'd chosen to help the latter and just tolerate the first and only when he had to. Death made him feel overly guilty and remember too much the details and feelings he was working to forget. He didn't feel that what he was doing, and the methods in which he was doing it, were wrong.
As usual, he deigned it necessary neither to hide the body or his wings when he left the secluded area of the park he'd just committed murder in. This one had been relatively clean and there was no blood on his hands. He'd aimed most of it at the girl's boyfriend who he'd let run off. Maybe he'd learn something from the experience... such as to not have premarital sex ever again.
Bartleby wiped his knife on the grass before standing and placing it back into the sheath he'd fashioned for it around his waist. The part was still relatively empty, even when he walked back out to the path. The trees were thick here, enough so that he didn't want to fly straight through the thick cover of leaves and branches. Instead he began to walk down the paths for a clearer area.
From: i_amthelefthand Date: 05/09/2006 13:48:18
Gabriel was sitting on the path. Not so much sitting, really, as squatting. Looking at something on the ground. He'd felt he murder. The loss of life. And he felt the other angel. But it didn't really matter to him, he'd had no intention of going looking for either.
Of course, when that angel moved onto the path in front of him, there was nothing that he could do aside from standing up. Walking away would have been rude, as would completely ignoring the other.
There was a sigh as he stood up. He didn't particularly want to encounter another so close after having met up with Lucifer, but it seemed there was an unnatural draw going on here.
He didn't say anything. Just stood there. Waiting.
From: i_watch Date: 05/09/2006 14:02:20
Well, at least this one would be relatively without sin. Unless he was mistaken, he'd managed to come across an angel. Bartleby stopped in the path when the pair of black wings came into view.
He noted the wings before the face, before everything else really, for it was the wings that spoke to his status. That was what was important. Because since being thrown out of Heaven, Bartleby hadn't met and angel, besides Loki, that hadn't wanted to kill him
"I hope I shouldn't know you," he said, loudly enough so the man could hear it. "Because I don't recognise you. At all."
From: i_amthelefthand Date: 05/09/2006 14:05:26
Gabriel looked at the cuff of his shirt absently. "You've probably heard of me, but I've taken on a new appearance after some rather... spotty management of time."
He looked up at the other angel, head tilted a bit. So many questions he wanted to ask. So many things he wanted to know about this place that he felt this one might be able to answer. He seemed comfortable here, like he knew the place enough to be.
"I'm Gabriel."
From: i_watch Date: 05/09/2006 14:21:49
"Oh." Was all Bartleby could say to that one. Yes. He had heard of Gabriel. "You. Her little favorite."
This didn't bode well for him. God's favorite showing up to play while he was on Heaven's equivilant of the FBI's Most Wanted list. Great.
"Where's your back up? The troops? The army of Heaven." It would be rather... disapointing, to think that he didn't warrent that after getting the scion that last time.
From: i_amthelefthand Date: 05/09/2006 14:27:47
"I'm nobody's favorite anymore." A hand went to his chest where the scar was. It was automatic. He still wasn't used to this.
Gabriel sighed. "Nobody sent me here for you. There isn't an army coming for you, let alone a singular being. Relax."
The her struck him as a little strange. But he wasn't about to say anything. The Allmighty didn't always show the same face to everybody. It could be chalked up to that.
From: i_watch Date: 05/09/2006 14:34:23
That did little to assure him. Beings lied all the time. He still stood on guard, wings tense and willing to take off through the trees if necessary.
"You've chosen a sojurn to this city over Home then?" Bartleby shook his head. "I think you've made the wrong choice. This place is a bore." It would be nice to know, though, that there was still a home to go back to. Even if one could not get out of this damned place.
From: i_amthelefthand Date: 05/09/2006 14:37:41
"Choice? I wasn't given a choice. I crawled out of Hell and found myself here. I don't call that much of a decision on my part. Really, I would say that I was sent here, if anything. But I can't even be sure of that. If this is some sort of Purgatory, or some actual place, I have no idea. Nothing is familiar here."
Wow. More words than he'd spoken at once in a very very long time.
Gabriel scratched his head.
"Your distrust is welcoming though." Snide, sarcastic, yep. Just like normal.
From: i_watch Date: 05/09/2006 14:42:41
He wasn't particually ready to admit it, but that had the possibility of being a perfectly valid theory. The evidence pointed to it. Just the other day the place had been rife with lust, one of the deadliest, Death was here, he was here, the woman he'd met had been a walking corpse, and now Gabriel claiming that he'd been in hell before this. Interesting.
"My distrust is perfectly justified," Bartleby retorted quickly. "You're an unknown with wings who's shown up in my terr-- in my vicinity. My experiences with other angels of late have been rather unpleasent. I have every right not to trust one that I don't know."
From: i_amthelefthand Date: 05/09/2006 14:48:20
"One could say that your distrust is a reflection of your own state of spirit." If one wanted to go all spiritual and biblical. Which he really wasn't in the mood for, considering.
"Here. If this doesn't prove it, I don't know what will." Quickly he unbuttoned his shirt and pulled it aside to reveal the thick black scar that sat directly over his heart. The unhealing scar of those who should, by all rights, be dead.
Gabriel let his shirt hang open, caught by surprise at the sight that he'd just shown. He knew it was there, and he knew it was ugly, but he'd not yet really looked at it in the light of the world. The glow of the fires of Hell didn't really do it justice. He ran his fingers over it.
Finally his eyes remembered that there was another there, and slid upward. "It's in there." He said weakly. "But it's not ...." what? Whole? Alive?
From: i_watch Date: 05/09/2006 14:59:33
Bartleby stepped back. "You're the second corpse I've seen walking around this city." Yes, he knew those scars and what they meant. What they hinted at to those who didn't truely know.
"You must've fucked up bad," he commented, eying the scar once more before looking Gabriel in the eye. "I remember the days when you could do no wrong in Her eyes." Though... was he even talking to that Gabriel? Who knew, but either way Bartleby could not imagine a world where Gabriel had been out of favour from the start.
From: i_amthelefthand Date: 05/09/2006 15:02:47
"A mortal woman..." Gabriel shook his head. That's not what she'd been after all, was it? "A succubus. Did it."
Carefully, he buttoned back up.
"Tore it out. It got into the hands of the Fallen, and when he crushed it, it consigned me to Hell."
Was he a corpse? Might as well be, here. Out of the Light. And he was sure he was out of the Light here.
From: i_watch Date: 05/09/2006 15:15:42
"A succubus and the Morningstar," Bartleby gave a short laugh before shaking his head. "Sounds like you've been having fun."
Normally he wouldn't have considered the Morningstar a laughing maner, especially not after being compared to him, but as long as it wasn't in his expense, Bartleby could spare a few chuckles now.
After all, it wasn't every day you saw one of the highest of the angels reduced to this.
From: i_amthelefthand Date: 05/09/2006 15:27:44
"Fun isn't exactly the word I would have used."
Hell wasn't fun. It especially wasn't fun when everybody else was having fun with you, and you were screaming in agony.
He'd pissed off a lot of people in his lifetime, and they all seemed to group in one place. And oh, how they'd delighted in his being there. At their mercy.
What mercy.
It was almost funny.
"Don't hurt yourself laughing."
From: i_watch Date: 05/09/2006 15:33:16
"Didn't plan to," he answered, still chuckling over the situation. "I just find this deeply amusing. I'm sorry, but if you'd seen me at any point in the past month, you'd understand."
Bartleby paused and smiled, realising that even if he hadn't been in hell, Gabriel still didn't know who he was. He might have recognised him if he'd been in the form he'd taken while trecking to New Jersey, but this one was new and while it had it's similarities, the two really looked nothing alike.
"I'm Bartleby, by the way. The name might ring a bell." He didn't care whether it did or didn't. The latter would have been better anyway.
From: i_amthelefthand Date: 05/09/2006 15:37:02
Gabriel rolled his eyes up. Toward Heaven. It was habit.
"You. That's why all the paranoia."
He shook his head.
"I think it's safe to assume that if you're here, you're forgotten."
He might have meant it to be comforting, but Gabriel wasn't known for doing things like that. And he knew it.
"I'm still not here for you. Despite the name."
From: i_watch Date: 05/09/2006 15:46:38
Bartleby nodded. "Yes, me. And I wouldn't be too sure about being forgotten. As soon as you make waves you'll be remembered again, believe me. You'd think they'd have forgotten about us in Wisconsin too." Because really, that was its own special sort of purgatory.
"It's good to know you're not out to kill me, at least," he said with a shrug that indicated it might not have mattered that much. "What have you been doing then, if not hunting the fallen?"
From: i_amthelefthand Date: 05/09/2006 16:16:21
Ah Wisconsin. It was a horrible place that everything except the most extreme was lost. It was the Hell of being Ignored.
"I was in Hell, but I think I mentioned that. Not hunting, being... in Hell. I'd not recommend it as a vacation spot."
There was a bench not far off. Gabriel started toward it.
"You seem to be making some pretty large ripples here. At least I can feel them. Are you trying to get attention? The lost child seeking?"
From: i_watch Date: 05/09/2006 17:27:15
"Well, I've not met many other celestial beings here, so I'm going to assume for now that you and another lady are the only ones who can feel anything." He hesitated a bit before deciding to follow Gabriel.
"I'm not vying for attention, I'm simply doing a job." He was going to have to explain this again, he could tell. Though perhaps he'd know at least know who Loki was.
From: i_amthelefthand Date: 05/09/2006 17:32:41
"Then you weren't aware that Lucifer is here?" Gabriel pointed lamely in the direction from which he'd come. "Seems to be somewhat powerless here, though. No horns..."
He shrugged.
"I feel others here too." Maybe it was just that Bartleby wasn't high enough on the food chain, so to speak, to have that ability. But there were clearly others here who should be able to feel what he was doing.
Gabriel sat on the back of the bench so he could avoid squashing his wings.
From: i_watch Date: 05/09/2006 17:50:36
"Lucifer is... here?" Bartleby looked at Gabriel sharply. "You've seen him?"
That meant any number of his minions could be here as well. The triplets were dead, as was Azreal, he'd gotten that impression from the Muse, but there were others... "Who else... what else, have you felt here?"
Gabriel was right, Bartleby could only sense a person's humanity and from that their sins. He couldn't pick out beings from miles away, meaning that the other angel had the advantage.
From: i_amthelefthand Date: 05/09/2006 18:01:57
"First one I met. Don't worry." Gabriel pointed to his own head. "No horns. Seriously."
He went quiet to feel out again. "Another pair. Angel and demon." He closed his eyes. He couldn't feel personalities or names like this, but he could tell what was there. "Reapers. Death." Gabriel scratched his head. "Pseudo immortals. Powerful things. Cherubim."
His eyes opened again and he looked at Bartleby. "There's a lot here. A mix."
From: i_watch Date: 05/09/2006 18:09:34
"Death and I have made an aquaintance. I assured her we'll be seeing plenty of each other." But the others listed made him stop and wonder. Another angel and demon... it would be too much to hope that that angel was his friend. Selfish too, if this really were some sort of purgatory.
He'd never wish this on Loki. He deserved what they both knew the afterlife was truely about. Not an uncertain existance.
"So then you know no more than I do about why we're here." Bartleby sighed. For all the power being of a higher order gave Gabriel it was of little help now.
From: i_amthelefthand Date: 05/09/2006 18:14:46
"There's no Light here, and therefore no Answer." Gabriel looked down at his nails. "Which is why it was assumed this was a Purgatory of sorts."
It didn't surprise him at all that Bartleby had already met up with Death. With so many of them floating around, it just sort of made sense.
"We can only make the most of what we've got. Do what we're supposed to do however we can do it." Wise advice, which he should follow himself.
From: i_watch Date: 05/09/2006 18:30:33
"Don't you sound sage," he said, laughing again. "Well, I don't know about you, but I have a job. I'm doing what I should. I don't know if you're going to find a job equivalant second in command to God down here, but I wish you luck. Wandering gets boring after a while, and," he pointed in the general direction of the City and to the wall past that.
"Take my advice. Don't try to leave, unless you like premature molting. I lost a good deal of feathers trying."
From: i_amthelefthand Date: 05/09/2006 18:36:01
"I hadn't even thought of it, but now I definitely won't try." Gabriel was rather attached to his wings and his feathers, and didn't want anything to happen to them. Plus, well. If he had any sin in him, it was Vanity. And abundant.
What could he do? Bartleby was right. It wasn't likely he'd be able to find a way to take up his old job here. In that way, the lesser angel had the advantage.
From: i_watch Date: 05/09/2006 18:46:07
"You always were capable." Whether or not Bartleby meant that was left for Gabriel to decide. Was there possibly a tiny bit of bitterness that Gabriel (and really every other angel) had done nothing to prevent he and Loki from being expelled?
Possibly. But Bartleby would keep that to himself.
"I'm sure there's a church that needs a brooding angel to stand on it's rooftop somewhere," he smirked slightly.
From: i_amthelefthand Date: 05/10/2006 06:04:31
He was capable.
That much was true.
"Ha. Ha." Gabriel said in response to the church comment. Although... no. No. His lurking days were over. Weren't they?
He shook his head.
"Is it the fate of every angel to end up here and... Bitter?"
From: i_watch Date: 05/10/2006 06:37:45
Bartleby raised an eyebrow at that. "Bitter? What would possibly give you that idea?" Not that it took much to figure that out.
He shook his head. "No, not every angel ends up here. Or at least, it doesn't seem that way at the moment. I can think of a few who are missing." Except he wouldn't, because that would only serve to swing his mood in a downward direction.
From: i_amthelefthand Date: 05/11/2006 20:59:55
Gabriel nodded softly.
There were a lot of them that weren't here. And probably wouldn't find themselves here any time soon. He was aware of who Bartleby was thinking of. How could he not be? How could anybody not be? You knew one, you knew the other.
Gbairel had never had a companion like that.
Maybe it was because of his station. Maybe it was because he was too close to God. Or maybe he was just an unloveable asshole.
Which was most likely? The last. Of course. And he was well aware of it.
He'd been a prick his whole life. A brat. A snob.
He didn't feel badly about it, not in the least. But when he thought about companionship, he wondered if that was the only thing keeping him alone.
Perhaps lonely?
Gabriel didn't want to think about that.
He shook his head.
"One of us needs to find something to occupy himself with." He studied Bartleby for a long moment.
"I'm sure I'll see you around."
From: i_watch Date: 05/12/2006 16:17:33
"Well," Bartleby raised an eyebrow. "As I said, you're capable. I'm sure you'll find something to take over." He was laughing when he said it, but one never knew. Anything was possible.
He didn't make any move to leave or follow when the other angel turned to leave. There was no need, and the walk out alone would most likely do him good. Too much time in other's company tended to just depress him. He briefly remembered his talk with death.
"I don't doubt you'll make sure of it," Bartleby said with a small smirk to Gabriel's back. "You always did."