Religious Recon [Active/Open]

[everythingroses]

Characters: Rosiel, Open
Content: A not-exactly-fallen angel investigating the religious systems that have collided in Manhattan... starting from the top!
Location: A partly destroyed church somewhere in the city
Time of day: Morning
Warnings: Blasphemy?

Comments

[stranglingrose]

What Marluxia was willing to burn for warmth and for ashes for some of his plants expanded by the week, which explained his approaching the church hidden amidst the shrines to Manhattan's more dominant religion. He had a dim recollection of churches having pews made of wood, most of the time, and so here he was.

He hadn't brought his scythe, as it wasn't used to such purposes, but instead a large hammer (he would prefer an axe, but there were none to be found), and began smashing the pews into smaller pieces--very loud work, to be sure.

[everythingroses]

At the first loud sound, Rosiel's eyes flew wide, and he twisted quickly out of the reclining position in which he had been reading to look over the edge of the pew at who had come inside.

He watched the man steadily smashing the wooden pew into pieces, blinking for a few moments, before his fear began to dissipate.

"Are you trying to give me a headache?" he said, hugging his knees to his chest and looking at the man sidelong.

[stranglingrose]

Marluxia honestly hadn't looked up and seen the other man when he came in, and didn't notice him until he spoke. Glancing up and resting the hammer against the ground, Marluxia stood up straight, stretching out his back.

"Didn't see you there," He said--then tilting his head to one side, he looked him over...he seemed vaguely familiar. "Have we met?"

[everythingroses]

Rosiel tilted his head curiously.

"You must have noticed my aura a little bit when I connected with you over the computer. I wonder if I remember yours..."

A slow smile spread over his face.

"The man without a heartbeat?"

[stranglingrose]

A crooked smile spread over his face. So this was the man that Namine had helped, that Namine had liked...

"The very same," Marluxia said, and he just now noticed that his grip on the handle of the hammer was very tight. "You must be the angel."

[everythingroses]

"That's right. I can show you my wings if you like."

He shifted a bit, unfolding his arms so that he could rest his head lazily against one hand.

"Have you got a name, gardener?"

[stranglingrose]

"My name is Marluxia," he said, leaving out his former title--'Graceful Assassin.' He'd abandoned that with his rebellion. "And yours, angel?" He walked away from the pews he had been smashing to sit down in one, leaning back and resting his head in his hands.

[everythingroses]

"Rosiel!" he said cheerfully, watching Marluxia move across the room with an expression that would have been rather cute, if it hadn't been conspicuously hyperfocused on the location of the hammer.

"I'm not offended at all that you forgot my name, Marluxia. So will you tell me the story of how you met Namine?"

[stranglingrose]

Shit. He had forgotten, and he had the sense that Rosiel, despite his words, was offended. Nonetheless, he elected to answer his question.

"I found her, shivering in the cold, and I took her in," Marluxia said simpy, leaving out his motivations for doing so.

[everythingroses]

Rosiel leaned forward, draping an arm over over the back of the pew.

"Well? And then what?"

[stranglingrose]

"Well, then we found out exactly who she was, and there was a great fuss over that--and oh, the things I did to get her assigned to be charge--Could you imagine giving such a sweet girl to the care of that slimy scientist?" Marluxia shuddered at the thought.

[everythingroses]

It wasn't clear whether Rosiel could understand what he was talking about anymore--he had skipped a few details after all, details which Namine probably had not told him on her own.

His face betrayed a flash of impatience, but the smile that soon replaced it was very sweet.

"She doesn't like you very much anymore, does she?"

[stranglingrose]

And the glare that Marluxia shot back was anything but sweet. "Exactly what are you insinuating?"

[everythingroses]

Rosiel fisted a hand in his hair, as though he was slightly nervous. But his smile only grew wider, flashing teeth.

"She doesn't like you. She's scared of you. She likes me."

[stranglingrose]

"Bad things happen to people she likes, you know," Marluxia said in a challenging tone, sitting up straight. "Maimed, mutilated, broken, killed, things like that.

[everythingroses]

Had he frightened Rosiel? It was hard to say. There was visible tension in his hands, and he had the look of someone charged with adrenaline now, his breath a little rapid, his face a little flushed.

Yet Rosiel's reply was almost musical. "Is that why she hates you?"