(Untitled)

[nestingdevil]

Who: The Troublesome Four; Inspector Javert | chose_death, Gabriel | trickster_mk2, Naomi Hunter | scientize, and Greed | nestingdevil
What: The gathering of four very different individuals on a dinner "date." It's to discuss business and deal deeds, really.
Where: Starting Point ➥ Devil's Nest
When: Monday Evening.
Rating: Considering the very nature of these people, pushing R.

Comments

[scientize]

[2/2]

[The silence that descended between them lasted at least a full minute and a half before Naomi finally found her voice again, pure venom rising up in her tone as she glares across the table at the angel, not moving a single inch from her seat through his entire tirade.]

Mercy?! You think you were showing him mercy by indulging him in that completely preposterous display!? By playing the part of the 'angel of judgement' and bestowing your divine forgiveness on a man who doesn't even believe in pardoning. [When angered, Naomi has a rather terrible habit of lashing out and insulting the one she's so set on being upset with. It's something Javert has had to deal with it many times in the past and something that Gabriel will have to get used to if they are to remain friends after this.]

And a sinner? [The woman actually laughs at that, though it is very far away from the attractive, bright laughter he is used to hearing from his dear friend.]

He's the only good man I've ever known. And considering the difference in time between us, maybe one of the very few truly good men to ever exist. He's definitely better than either you or I could ever hope to be. [That may seem like a bit of a tall order, comparing a mere mortal to an angel of the Lord, but Naomi is absolutely certain in her statement. She's been close enough to Gabe to see how cruel he can be at times, something she can relate to completely. He may be an angel, but he's anything but heavenly.

With a deep breathe and a quick look behind her at the still shut bedroom door, her tone lowers again. There is still a fierce edge to her words and expression, but when Naomi glances back to Gabriel, there is at least a spark of control in her gaze again.]

He's never sinned a single day in the last fifty-two years of his real life and the last three that have come after that with me. And he never would. He's slightly unstable at times, but he is a good man and he doesn't deserve to be toyed with. It would have been better for you to tell him that judgement was out of your power in this place. [The stare she levels on him should speak volumes.] Because that's the truth, isn't it?

You were so thrilled to get your wings back last month, but I assume that most of the other powers you possess as an angel haven't been completely returned. You'd be showing them off left and right if you had, just like I would.

I'm not asking you to fix him, I've learned to handle his moods well enough by now, but you need to stop messing with him. We're not your playthings. I don't give a care what you do to anyone else in this godforsaken place, but my husband is off limits. If you were to push him off the edge into killing himself again, I'd never forgive you. [And from the dark way her tone dips down there, that should be easily taken as a threat.]

[trickster_mk2]

[Gabriel sits, and he watches, one of those expressive eyebrows raised as her face twists. Gabriel doesn’t need to see her hands under the table, he doesn’t need a Naomi Hunter Manual to see there was a lot of bile rising under that very pretty surface. And it was going to explode in his direction. But bile and spite he could live with. And frankly? If he didn’t like Naomi, he’d already be laughing at her.

He lets her spit it out, all those words, her judgement on an angel. It really was funny. Here she was, an insignificant human, albeit a sharp and attractive one, telling an angel, a freaking Arch-Angel, how to do what he’d been made for. When she had no idea of what, if any purpose in life she was to serve.]

Naomi , you’ve made a terrible, terrible mistake. I was made not to give a fuck about what you believe. [It’s said brightly, and now the angel reaches for that coffee. Got to cover the slight shake in his hand. Not fear, not anger, but the Grace welling up inside him, charging and drawing in on itself.]

And in all honesty, you can judge him, and me, however you like. It isn’t for you to decide if he’s a good man or not. He’s just good stacked up the rest of the men you’ve ever known. [And that would be the perfect moment to say something more. But Gabriel at least isn’t that nasty. Not yet.] Although I’m inclined to believe you. Maybe he is a good man.

But unless he starts believing that, then frankly? He’s just damning himself, and no Absolution will help him...

[And then, at the very very end, there’s that threat. Gabriel has always operated on the fact that he doesn’t need to be forgiven by anyone but his father, and yet.... he’s always hated when the innocent (or at least, innocent in comparison) bystanders blame him. When those who should not be punished don’t forgive. Why should he care? He has no idea, but that is how he is. How his Father shaped him.

The twitch in his fingers becomes more noticeable now, skin starting to burn from the inside out, light filling him as he laughs. It’s a nasty, ageless laugh from somewhere in the darkness, something in the depths of Heaven and the pinnacles of Hell. He’s stood now, the chair slamming back not against the floor, but the far wall. The cup he’d been holding is gone, banished somewhere.

Oh, little girl. I’m not playing with your husband.If I was playing, little girl, he’d be so much worse than this. Crawling on his hands and his knees over devils and demons, blind to you and anyone else. If I really wanted to fuck with you and your husband? Oh sweetheart, you should just pray that I never had reason to, capiche?

I tried to help him, for all his sins and all his stupid beliefs. In the end that doesn’t matter. Judgement will find him. By his own hand or not.

[scientize]

[It was all Naomi needed to hear.

Though there is the slightest of unpleasant twitches on her face at Gabriel's angelic theatrics, the woman's grimly serious expression doesn't fade under his burning gaze. She sits silently, dark eyes focused intently on the angel all through what he has to say.

And that was that.

With everything out in the open between them, Naomi's face turns away from his, her gaze focused elsewhere, as if the mere sight of Gabe disgusts her.]

Get out. [Her tone is firm and resolute. This conversation and friendship are over.] Never come near us again.

[trickster_mk2]

[Now if that wasn't what she was building up to, Gabriel would have eaten his hat. He would have gone out especially and bought a hat to eat.

Whatever. He straightens up, inclining his head to her politely, all cold manners know that seem far more reminiscent of Javert's time. The angel doesn't bother heading to the door, but raises a hand ready to snap.]

Thank you for inviting me over, Madame Javert.

[And snap, he's gone.]