عشرة آلاف سنة

‘You know? They always like to take one day out of the year, remove any responsibility from you -- I know it’s daunting, but the goal is to make sure you don’t have to lift a finger.’ 

He explains, ‘That’s how it should be.’ The archangel clears his throat, brushing off his front where loose bells were dribbling from the bunches of lily of the valley he was holding. “The majority of the year.” The wrapping crinkles beneath his clutch, brown paper painted brightly on the back - fashioned into the shape of leaves, as he offers the [modest bundle] to her. 

“Keeping mothers happy. Caretakers, lovers, wives.” He goes down the list, face pulled taut in a small frown. “If your life partner won’t, that is - your little ones should.” Gabriel carefully fits the bouquet into her arms, “For the short time we celebrated together. I remember; she couldn’t have made it clearer she was happy, she married for love.”

“-- She really loved this day,” he adds breathlessly, “Mothers can find beauty in all things, but they always forget about themselves.”

     She simply soldiered on. Throughout the streets were people she couldn’t recognize, faces uninteresting to her eyes. But in a crowd so large, she knew someone familiar would pop up soon. It was only a matter of how soon which she left to fate’s hands.

Tall, dark and hardly difficult to find in a crowd—there was her guardian angel. ❝Holy smokes!❞ And he looked not a wink different from their last encounter.

But if you’ve manage to escape, it shifts without a doubt to make a place for you to fill again.

Placemarkers are to her advantage, there strictly to create a false sense of confidence upon arrival that will get her frustratingly lost than ever. -- New rifts of familiarity streak the busy sector, painted over with a fresh coat of repair. 

  If your skills sets are sharp, which hers are, the city collapses open around her like a pop-up book - the benefit to shine, making the whole nature of setting foot back here a little less crueler than it really is. 

His shoulders heave, unable to appear truly unhappy as a range of three to five contradicting emotions flicker across his face, countering strongly that anywhere could’ve been better for her than here. 

He looks crestfallen, objecting with whichever opinion won over Upstairs (someone has to be laughing) to watch his hesitance dissolve when he sees that radiant face light up in recognition again, advancing towards him. 

She spots him before he can spot her. 

   With little more than a stated district and a single item, Red had found herself utterly lost as to where she was. It was still a city, after all, even if it all seemed grim and calculated. There had to be another living soul here, she told herself, trying to provide some slim amount of comfort as cool winds swept through streets and alleyways. Arms wrapped around her waist in a feeble attempt to find warmth in this cold place. Up and down she wandered, far away now from the given address,  simply in the hopes of finding someone to help her.

   As what may have been a day came to pass soon, a hazy, greyed out sun coming to begin to set, she had come to realize her recklessness. What was once cold became freezing, she opted to take shelter in the first liveable building she saw. Without much of a clue, she felt worry start to set in. It was whisked away however, as she heard what could’ve been a murmur of a voice. Little clue as to whether it was around the corner or above her, survival instinct had been overwritten with her desire to find another. Even as she called down hallways, she found herself nervously waiting, sitting on the bottom of the first flight of stairs, knees held to her chest. 

   Soon enough that voice had become footsteps, alarming her as she looked to and fro. Finally, she spotted what seemed to be a shadow, approaching from around a corner. Though cautious, she perked up immediately, hopeful someone could point her in the right direction at the very least. As they both had hesitated, she called out one last time, if quieter this time.

It’s different here. The air is frigid, it’s unforgiving, -- all the same, she fits. 

She fits because she’s out of place, she paints the drab backdrop with a streak of blooming red that shivers in place, and - he’s inclined to not say a thing. He waits at the bottom of the stairs, folding a black umbrella, tapping the umbrella against the frame to signal his entrance and leaves it in the doorway. 

“It’s still pouring outside, it doesn’t look like it’ll stop.” He raises his voice a few notches higher, so that it’ll carry up the steps. He peers up to see that she’s still there, if she’s retreated at all from her spot he’ll find her soon -- kicking the rubble out of the way, as he takes the first step that softens his presence.

Jibril’s hands run over a chafing part of the wall, “It’s in your favor if you don’t try to find your way in the streets now. It really is going to come down all night. The rain doesn’t really filter through here, except...” He points at the several vulnerable spots catching droplets in the hallway. 

“You can take the room in the right corner, if you please. You’ll have to share,” Jibril steps past her to peer into the farthest room, “But they don’t take up much space when it comes to the bed.

They will sleep everywhere else, though.” He nudges the door open to a couple strays taking up the humming radiator, three at the foot of the bed as one ginger pads over to where Red is sitting. “You didn’t introduce yourself, I’m guessing?”

“They know you’re new.” 

He hears this greeting chirped somewhere -- He can’t see from behind the bouquet, offering to carry one too many -- just because he could fit 500 roses in his arms. Too chipper to be a canary, too rude to be a lady, a massive mane of the sun that tickles his wrists hints that she’s not so lost, the golden locks flit just in and out of sight.

He assumes it’s a girl.

“What now. -I volunteered,” He yields with much regret, ”Oh, there you are.” 

 Gabe peers over the flowers and admits it’s a girl, she’s just ...nearing up on adulthood, her persuasive skills are in check, but he doesn’t have time for this.

“I’m making an errand. They don’t know what rose count is arriving, if you help me get there you can have ...a bunch of fifty. As many as you can carry without making the bouquet look underwhelming.”

He nudges her in front of him, herding her in front with a few insistent taps to her ankle. 

   “Wait. First off, a confident girl like you. Why are you pandering for flowers.” He lifts the bouquet clear over his head, looming over her with 6″ 6 of his shadow. “What’s your name again?”

To say Colette was unnerved was an understatement. Perplexed. Distraught. Disturbed even. Just how did she end up in this just so wrong world right after she’d seen her world go right?

It’s obvious as she is that she’s lost her way, allotting Gabriel a brief slit in the air for him to exhale. He watches the lamb scramble on her feet and take in her surroundingly with a newly renewed light, wondering how long it’ll last on her.

   Dawning on him, as it always does was the responsibility of scraping together all the good will. He had one calling, specifically assigned to him-- to help. Just a small tap to usher her in the right direction, that would do.

He’s barely touched the ground, he doesn’t count the days he’s been here, every time he’s dropped back here he doesn’t question it anymore -- he’s been gifted a few smiles, he wouldn’t mind waiting for.

   Talk about productive. For an archangel that lacks in the areas initiative, conviction, he can’t let a lamb incoherent trot off into ...uncharted destruction. Gabe snags her gently by her cuff, “You can get to know the area once you know leads to which.”

My muse(s):

Do I know your muse(s):  yes | no | a little | tell me about your muse

Setting: our verse | my verse | your verse | modern | alternate universe | other

Pre-established relationships? yes | no | depends on the relationship

Possible relationships: friends | classmate | co-worker | roommate | family, real or adopted | dating or blind date | married | friends with benefits | unrequited love | lending a hand | teacher - student | rivals | allies | partner-in-crime | enemies | protecter - guarded | business partners | spy - infiltrated | manipulator - manipulated | star-crossed | first meeting | other 

I’m in the mood for: fluff | angst | horror | romance | humor | crime | hurt / comfort | action | supernatural | slice of life | crack | dark threads | light threads | any genre | multi-para | shorter para | one-line | any length | plotted threads | unplotted threads | other

alternatively send ‘ + ‘ after the symbol for the roles to be reversed where possible !

My muse(s):

Do I know your muse(s):  yes | no | a little | tell me about your muse

Setting: our verse | my verse | your verse | modern | alternate universe | other

Pre-established relationships? yes | no | depends on the relationship

Possible relationships: friends | classmate | co-worker | roommate | family, real or adopted | dating or blind date | married | friends with benefits | unrequited love | lending a hand | teacher - student | rivals | allies | partner-in-crime | enemies | protecter - guarded | business partners | spy - infiltrated | manipulator - manipulated | star-crossed | first meeting | other 

I’m in the mood for: fluff | angst | horror | romance | humor | crime | hurt / comfort | action | supernatural | slice of life | crack | dark threads | light threads | any genre | multi-para | shorter para | one-line | any length | plotted threads | unplotted threads | other

     Maybe that was why he had such an easy time passing right by her face, one hand dropping a fancy watch before her feet. She wasn’t a FOOL to be had, in fact her time spent with ‘clients’ may have given her an advantage against some others. It was clear to see this stranger wanted to grab her attention but she did allow him the pleasure.

     Not moving from her standing position, green eyes watched carefully as he stood to full height and let her know what was his. ❝Well, yeah…❞ She muttered in a bit of a miffed mood. ❝Not like it fell from the SKY, huh?❞ That was where an upward tilt to her lips came in and showed her amusement at the joke.

     Soon after her remark was made, however, the peculiar man spoke up once again. Taken aback by the sudden comment, her eyes widened in slight and she stepped back a pace. ❝I–❞ She cut off her own voice with confusion, not sure WHAT the man wished to gain from her.           ❝Are you offering me a job? You’re awful perceptive — it’s actually freakin’ me out right now, guy.❞ Shaking her head nonetheless, the brunette formed a deeper frown than she had in the beginning and let her hand be taken by his.

     A WATCH — the watch he’d deliberately told her not to touch. Well, that’s how she interpreted anyway.

 ever since his beginning, a tide-keeper that freezes everything as he knows it. a piece of jewellery, also a jealous heart once it realizes it’s makeshift moved its owners, makes his heart cease and his smile drops.

- First the vital powerhouse panics, stops pumping life to the rest of his reach. Then lurches out of hostility because - it’s not been even half a minute, but she suggests the sky. Gabe wrings his perspiring hands out, including the clinging rose-gold and her heavy bracelets getting in the way. 

He’s not trying to hold onto her hands, that’s simply not what Jbril is about. But he does grow paler the moment he comes to terms with chaste-do us part token he’d just released on the girl. 

“Actually.” 

-- He starts, That’s not a gift. The words never find their way out. He can’t explain why he let her hold it, much less keep it -- but now that she was inspecting it... She was testing it -- and him, for legitimacy. 

He’s never been so sure he’d get a mean cut from high above if they heard of his new found charity. Gabriel was never reknown for his generosity, so while only he could hear himself, he lets a bloodcurdling scream - raises his blood pressure three times what it should be. 

For a shock-stricken mute, he’s doing pretty well it would seem. He clenches his fist so he doesn’t grab for the watch, it was officially known a gift for now.  

 Actually, if you don’t give that back, my time might be ---

“Looks like we are. out of time!” The adult erupts with a comedic flair, sniping for a -- giving her the most smitten affectation if it weren’t for how he looks like - he’s about to pass-out. 

   He tries not to think about it too hard. Nothing good ever came of not taking matters of your own -- when your lifespan just might be in someone else’s hands. That and, forsaking your known rights by giving your trust over is the common enemy. 

First, he ought to not make it so visible that he’s holding his breath -- It almost makes him seem human.

“-- Romy. Walk with me.” He reaches around her back, helping her pocket the watch and clamps his hand over her knuckles. “Keep that safe, let nobody see you with it.” 

“You don’t want to just go anywhere to sleep tonight, do you?” He looks over her like a meandering child, corners of his mouth pulled into a taut frown. “That is, if -- I take it you have a home to go back to.” His voice grows stern.

“They do have shelters, places that will take you in. But I’ve an extra bed,” one that never gets used, period. “That I don’t use, -- at all. Ever.” 

Sooner than she realizes it, they’re at the high floored suite. But he’s already giving her instructions. Like they’ve met before. 

Like he has nothing to lose.

“Figure out where you’re going to sleep, and not some district forgotten. Then you can sleep somewhere else tomorrow night.” He removes his hand from her back, holding up a copy of three keys. 

      He shows her the best worst thing, by showing her his keys. First: acceptance, secondly, trust she won’t steal anything, and thirdly: if she’s going to steal from anyone, it best be from him. 

Might as well.

“This one’s for me to let you in,” He tabs though each of them as he indicates their purpose, “this one’s to let yourself in,” He smiles unassumingly back at her, “and this one.” 

“This one, is in case you lose yours.” 

“I can vacate the flat if you don’t feel at ease, everything which is mine -- is yours also.” He takes a single one for himself and tosses two to her, “Come with me and I”ll hide the spare in your plain sight.”

Whatever the man wanted wasn’t clear, but he seemed an open, believing idiot if any. 

“If you choose to stay.”

   “And if anyone is to knock.” He takes a red eye pencil to scrawl a number on her wrist, “Unprofessional. So sorry.” He adds in, supplying a receipt and hashing the number out on the slip of paper. “You call here.” 

“Don’t answer to anyone you don’t know.” Which should be everyone. ...until tomorrow, entirely unsure of what it’s doing. He smiles unmistakenly, sealing the receipt with clear nail polish, shaking it out to dry. “You can tell people where you’re staying, if you want visitors.” 

“But for now, freshen up. Make a list of things you want, and I’ll drop by in an hour. After that, I’ll be back by 3.” He lets the receipt crumple in her hand, firmly squeezing. “I’ve the room with the window you can see something. The rest are blocked off -- not much to look at.”

“Don’t ever take a fence down until you know why it was put up.”

“The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep.”

“Two roads diverged in a wood and I - I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”

“In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.”

“Freedom lies in being bold.”

“The brain is a wonderful organ; it starts working the moment you get up in the morning and does not stop until you get into the office.”

“Forgive me my nonsense., as I also forgive the nonsense of those that think they talk sense.”

“The best way out is always through.”

“I’m not confused. I’m just well mixed.”

“Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired.”

“By working faithfully eight hours a day you may eventually get to be boss and work twelve hours a day.”

“It’s a funny thing that when a man hasn’t anything on earth to worry about, he goes off and gets married.”

“The middle of the road is where the white line is - and that’s the worst place to drive.”

“You can’t get too much winter in the winter.”

“I’d just as soon play tennis with the net down.”

“What we live by, we die by.”

“Some say the world will end in fire, some say in ice.”

“Education doesn’t change life much. It just lifts trouble to a higher plane of regard.”

“The world is full of willing people; some willing to work, the rest willing to let them.”

“You don’t have to deserve your mother’s love. You have to deserve your father’s.”

“Nothing can make injustice just but mercy.”

“Thinking isn’t agreeing or disagreeing. That’s voting.”

“Most of the change we think we see in life is due to truths being in and out of favor.”

“If society fits you comfortably enough, you call it freedom.”

“I never dared to be radical when young for fear it would make me conservative when old.”

“We love things we love for what they are.”

“The only certain freedom’s in departure.”

“The artist in me cries out for design.”

“You have freedom when you’re easy in your harness.”

“To be a poet is a condition, not a profession.”

“A successful lawsuit is the one worn by a policeman.”

“To be social is to be forgiving.”

“They would not find me changed from him they knew - only more sure of all I thought was true.”

“Humor is the most engaging cowardice.”

“Pressed into service means pressed out of shape.”

“One aged man - one man - can’t fill a house.”

“If we couldn’t laugh, we would all go insane.”

“Forgive, O Lord, my little jokes on Thee, and I’ll forgive Thy great big one on me.”

“I’m not a teacher, but an awakener.”

“I hold it to be the inalienable right of anybody to go to hell in his own way.”

“Happiness makes up in height for what it lacks in length.”

“I’m against homogenized society, because I want the cream to rise.”

“Poetry is what is lost in translation.”

“The first thing I do in the morning is to make my bed and while I am making up my bed I am making up my mind as to what kind of a day I am going to have.”

“I had a lovers quarrel with the world.”

“Good fences make good neighbors.”

“One could do worse than be a swinger of birches.”

“Nothing gold can stay.”

    Odd as the man was, Merlin actually ENJOYED a little company to his sorrowful day — especially after the lights shut off. If not for the gentle hand that held his shoulder, Merlin might have assumed the other simple vanished.❝S-She?❞ He piped up at the other before crawling into a sitting position.     ❝Er, yeah, can I ask who SHE is–?❞

    Now, he wasn’t scared or anything… Okay, maybe he was a little shaky at the possibility of an angry woman chasing after the man beside him — not that he wasLITERALLY shaking!

   ❝There’s a dangerous woman after you and y’come into THIS box? Thing’sALREADY a bad place, but gettin’ stuck here…❞ He mumbled the next sentence while fumbling around for a rail to help himself up with. ❝Pretty vulnerable now.❞

    Still, the younger of the two shook his head at the question he was asked. ❝Actually, I live here.❞ A pause as he stood from the ground with the help of the railing and his acquaintance. ❝Not HERE, here — just a few stories up.❞ Even as he spoke, the other one happened to find himself a rail to hold onto as well.

   Well, maybe it would be best to describe the action as STANDING ON THE HANDRAIL. Light soon poured into the cage of theirs, even if it was hardly anything to go by. Merlin blinked his bright eyes at the sudden adjustment, his attention falling onto the individual afterwards.

“She.” He enunciates, “Is going to get us out of here. -- Goddess. of Misfortune, likes the jumpy types like you.” He smirks, “Complete this small set of tasks for me and we could be out of here in the following half hour.”

He has a decent plan to get them out, but as he’s sending the jittery boy up there, -- smaller reach, a more tactile motion with dexterity Gabe doesn’t have, if he just doesn’t lose his nerve. ·

“You see that RED lever up there?” His stress level going up, unknown to himself as he rakes his hand through his hair. He steadies the younger man with one arm, holding him by his shaking ankles -- squints at the open hatchet as he mouses his way up there.

Making sure Merlin makes it up without slipping, Gabe gives him a wry smile and a thumbs-up that means - nothing. It means nothing from an adult sending a child that knows less than him about the situation altogether, but it’s a ‘good job, now sit still’ reaffirming through appearance.

He has to be losing points with his fellow “brethren” keeping the angelic score.