And now... owls.
((Link goes to a post in Mayday's journal. Didn't want to spam the comm with a socking.))
After a shower, a good night's sleep and another awkward meeting, Jaime managed to get some breakfast and make his way to the Owlery without further incident ( Read more... )
After a shower, a good night's sleep and another awkward meeting, Jaime managed to get some breakfast and make his way to the Owlery without further incident ( Read more... )
Fortunately, camping out in the Great Hall wasn't all that dull, really. Jaime had taken up a seat in the corner, watching people - and it wasn't just "people" in the technical sense - come in and out of the Hall all morning. The lunch rush had brought a lot of people to the Great Hall, and there were house elves running to and fro between the packed tables of students who were more than likely using the Hall as an excuse to avoid their new spouses (although Jaime didn't know much about that yet). It had been interesting but uneventful, except for that short Asian kid who'd run in shouting something earlier about war and exploding beets. Oookay.
He was a little bit nervous, actually despite the icon keywords, shut up. He'd been disoriented when meeting Lola, and the scarab had been almost mellow around her (as close as it got, anyway), so he'd nearly forgotten about it when they were talking. But now, with it analyzing everybody who walked by (which he ignored since there was no sign of the Reach or their tech), it was hard not to be aware of its presence.
That was why he hadn't bothered to ask anyone out since he'd gotten back home and started to get his life back in shape. The secret identity thing was bad enough. But other superheroes didn't have powers with no manual and a mind of their own, that assessed everyone and their brother as a threat and occasionally made him look crazy by withholding useful information.
Not to mention the creepy part. Couldn't forget that. Even if she was okay with the superhero thing, she'd have to be pretty weirdness tolerant to not be frightened off by the sentient alien biotech in his spine. Man, his little sister had run screaming when he'd accidentally fired the armor up at the kitchen table, what would a girl he hadn't shared a bathroom with for eight years do?
Well, maybe it wouldn't come to that. And worrying about it now really wasn't going to help his chances at not screwing up. Besides, he realized as he finally spotted a familiar face looking around at the crowds of people the Great Hall, he had run out of time to dwell on it.
"Wow," Jaime murmured, reminding himself not to stare and suddenly forgetting about everything that had been bothering him. The scarab's chatter grew quieter, and it seemed to be backing off. He was very glad he'd bothered to get a shower, sleep and change before sending her a message. He was just wearing a long-sleeved blue shirt and jeans and sneakers, but at least they were clean. Scrambling to his feet, he carefully maneuvered around the House-elves who seemed to be unconsciously trying to trip him as he made his way towards her. How long had she been standing there while he'd been moping? Okay, this had to stop.
It took a couple more house-elf dodges and one jump over a bench - were they trying to get underfoot? - before he finally made it through the lunch rush crowd to meet her. "Hi. I didn't know it'd be this busy or I'd have picked a different place. Hope you haven't been standing there too long."
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"It's okay," she said with a little shrug and grin. "I just got here. So," she chirped brightly, "have you eaten?" Because eating was good. Lola was hearing good things about it. "If you haven't, we'll bring snacks."
She had definitely over-dressed. Darn, darn, darn, darn... Okay. Just go with it. No disaster. She could deal. But darn.
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Oh, good, she hadn't been waiting long. "Not really," he answered. "I grabbed an apple, but that was about it." He'd been a little distracted by the two students at his table who were practicing levitation, with varying results. It was fascinating to watch, especially since he'd been doing so at the other end of the table and thus didn't get splattered when they got it wrong. "There was a food fight a little while ago, and I kind of had to stay out of range." Thus, away from the food.
He tugged at his shirt collar self-consciously. "I probably... this is all I had to wear. I got dropped here with pretty much nothing. You look great." Not a line. She really did.
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House-elf! House-elf nearby! Well, there were an awful lot of them around, it being a busy time of day for them in the Great Hall, so Lola waved one that didn't look too stressed over.
"Excuse me," she asked it pleasantly, kneeling to be more at the elf's level. "Could we get a basket or something like that? We'll just take some food with us to go." The creature asked something, and Lola shook her head. "No thanks. We'll grab what we need ourselves. We just need something to carry it in..." The elf nodded, squeaked a "Yes, Miss Lola!" and ran off to fulfill the wish. The angel stood up again, brushing invisible dust off her jeans, and turned back to Jaime.
And cue blushing... now. "Thanks," Lola smiled, cheeks tinged pink. "I think you look nice," she added truthfully, because well, she didn't have much choice. Being an angel robbed you of any abilities to lie convincingly. Good thing she actually did think Jaime looked nice in what he was wearing... "I mean, your outfit is more sensible. I'm sort of regretting these shoes now." She made a face, stretching out her foot a bit in front of her to give the wedges a critical eye. "Looks good, but not exactly ideal when you're going to be doing a lot of standing and walking around..." Stopping herself from letting her hand go up and twiddle nervously with her hair again, Lola tried her best to let her blush fade away as she talked.
"It sounds to me like you need to go shopping, though," she said with a grin. Shopping was spiffy! Oh, so spiffy! She envied Jaime.
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They were probably on an even playing field, then, since Jaime was a pretty terrible liar unless lives were at stake. "I guess you'll be okay unless we're going to be hiking a swamp. Unless you want to change shoes?" He wasn't sure, but had heard enough rants about women's footwear from Brenda to at least have an idea.
The house-elf came back with a large picnic basket, which Jaime took automatically, figuring he could serve as the pack mule. "Hey, thanks." He surveyed the Hall again. "I think the coast is mostly clear. No one's going to mind if we take stuff from the trays?" It had pretty much been open season when the food appeared.
Oh, Jaime knew that grin, especially accompanied with the word "shopping." Of course, he was used to seeing it from Brenda right before she dragged him or Paco or both along on a shopping trip. He was doomed. "Yeah, but doesn't that require money? I didn't even have my wallet on me. Not like American cash would be any good here, though."
Like logic would work here. Doomed. Utterly doomed.
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"I'll manage in these," she smiled, wriggling her toes. Shoes were important, and these matched her top perfectly. She'd be rummaging around in her wardrobe for ages before finding any that went even half as well with this outfit as the wedges. Yes, some sacrifices would have to be made for style... But she doubted that angels actually got blisters. Lola did appreciate the thought, though. "No swamp-hiking, though. I'll need your word on that, mister." Not that there were any swamps around here, at least not to her knowledge. Still.
She shook her head. "No one minds, trust me. We'll just pick some of the best stuff and then we're heading out." Oh, oh, mozzarella and tomato sandwiches! Mm. Yeah, she was having one. And those strawberries looked nice. Pity about no hot chocolate, but hey. There'd be other times. Lola waved to Jaime to follow her with the basket as she picked out food to bring, methodically working her way through the table. Look at that! Teamwork.
And speaking of other times... The slightly sinister gleam of a shopoholic lit up Lola's eyes. "Oh money, shmoney," she said, waving it away. "You leave it to La Sanchez." She grinned. "I haven't really checked out the nearby stores yet, so I don't know if they only sell wizard robes, but it's just a matter of time." And then, oh yes, he was definitely doomed. Sentenced to go shopping with her. Poor Jaime.
There was a pause as Lola wavered between Doritos and potato chips, and, unable to decide, held up the two bags for Jaime. "Which one?" she asked, with every bit of seriousness that such a difficult decision deserves. Of course he could just pick both. Easier that way.
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Yet.
"Hey, I'm not going anywhere near a swamp if I can help it. That," and here he indicated the sunny weather outside the windows, "is probably wetter than it ever gets back home." It had been raining early in the morning, but the skies were mostly clear.
He kept pace with Lola as she snagged food, pointing out one or two additional things but generally just holding the basket to catch food. As he'd said earlier, he wasn't picky. He did bypass the chicken this time, still mildly weirded out by Steph's cannibal chicken going right for the drumsticks earlier.
Doomed. DOOMED. Oh, man. "I don't want to put you out or anything," he began, then blinked. "Wizard robes? Don't tell me there's a dress code here." He couldn't have figured that out by looking at the crowd. The doom of shopping aside, he really didn't want Lola to have to pay for his stuff. If all else failed, the scarab could make clothes, but that would require firing up the armor again.
...so it was probably going to be shopping. Couldn't be worse than being dragged around by Brenda. For one thing, he didn't think Lola had a scary crimelord aunt who was only leaving him alone because of Brenda.
Oh, look, a distraction. "Doritos," he said immediately. "Wait, why not both?"
Nope, not a mind reader. His little sister didn't call him the Bottomless Pit for nothing.
Down at the other end of the hall, Exploding Beet Girl went down under a volley of assorted fruits and vegetables, and someone else tackled her. "I think we need to get out of here."
He did stop to snag some chocolate chip cookies. Priorities and all that.
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Hello, was she talking about the weather? Ah, no. No, that was not clever and witty conversation at all.
She let a few bottles of various soft drinks slip into the basket and grinned. "It's no bother. I think there's a fund or something for new students that got sucked into this school without anything to wear. I'm here to help." Oh yeah. That was what angels did! She totally had an excuse for going shopping with him now! Ohh, the devious scheming of Sanchez...
Indeed, why not both? Lola nodded, dropping the bags into the by now almost full basket. "Both it is! Excellent choice, my good sir, I must say." She turned towards the foodfight, frowning, and bit her lower lip. "I hope Tomo's okay over there." She wasn't terribly worried. Tomo was unbreakable. Still, just in case, she sent a tiny dose of good vibes over there, just hoping to make sure that nothing... too horrible happened. She couldn't help it. It was like a reflex. She didn't make a show out of it, though, and the golden shimmers in the air were barely visible to the naked eye.
"Yeah," she said afterwards, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear as she smiled at him. "Let's go. I hope I didn't put too much food in the basket. Is it heavy?"
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He wasn't entirely convinced, although it did make sense there'd be a fund or something like that. "If you say so." Yes, because being devious was second nature to angels, right?
Jaime was settling the bags and closing the lid when Lola turned her attention to the food fight. "Who?" He turned to follow her gaze to where Exploding Beet Girl had gone down. "You know her?" he asked, and then froze as he noticed energy shimmering in the air, moving over to where the combatants had fallen. He blinked, surprised; since he hadn't been looking at Lola when she'd sent out the vibes, he hadn't seen them coming from her. "What was that?"
"A little bit. Wait a second." Pity he only had additional strength when the armor was activated. He set it down on a vacant bench and shifted the heavier stuff around so it was distributed a bit more evenly. "Okay, that's better." It was still a bit heavy, but manageable and he wasn't as likely to drop it on his foot this way.
Suddenly, Exploding - no, Tomo - jumped up again, holding what looked like a book over her head triumphantly, considering she was pretty much covered in food otherwise. "HA! I WIN!" With that, she peeled out of the Great Hall with almost inhuman speed, laughing, with the person who'd tackled her hot on her heels.
Jaime blinked. "Looks okay to me."
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"Yeah, that's Tomo," smiled Lola. "She's a friend." Possibly a wife. She wasn't sure if she was actually married to Tomo as well or if they were both just married to Dwight. Or if it mattered. She grinned as the girl darted out of the room, evidently completely fine. "Good. Sometimes I get a little worried that she'll end up breaking something the way she zooms around, but she just... never manages to get hurt. It's a neat trick."
Okay. Time for confessions. Lola had blushed a little bit when he'd asked about the energy. Oops. She hadn't meant for him to see that. But yeah, okay, he deserved to know what she was. It was an important part of her, and if this was a date like she was suspecting then... Yeah. Then he absolutely should know.
"I'm from Columbia, originally," she began carefully after he had finished with the basket and they could start walking outside. That was more of a theory than fact, because her canon does not specify Lola's exact origin. "I haven't been there in ages, though. Um." She twitched her nose. "This is going to sound a little weird, okay? So just go with it." Okay. Deep breaths. There were weirder stories than hers at Hogwarts, she was aware of that. It all depended on your normal level of weird, though. Saying that you were an angel straight out of Heaven probably did rate pretty high...
"I'm from Heaven," said Lola, checking his reaction. "What you saw just now was angelic energy that I sent out to, well, make sure no one got hurt in the food fight. At least that was what it was meant to do, but the magic at this place can make it go a bit wonky sometimes. Usually I'm able to read minds, too, but that doesn't work here at all. It's all noise most of the time."
Was she babbling? It sounded like she was. She was getting increasingly nervous. It wasn't the first time she told a human what she was, but it was the first time she told a... well, a guy. And she had no idea what his opinion was going to be on the matter.
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He stared at the space that Tomo had occupied a few seconds ago. "And that's normal for her? Wow. Like the world's smallest freight train. She came in an hour ago yelling something about exploding beets and declaring war." He hadn't quite caught all of it, but not for lack of trying.
Lola's blush confused him momentarily. He really wouldn't have noticed the energy were it not for the scarab. Which meant he shouldn't have picked up on it. He'd already figured there was something weird about her, but hadn't said anything because it was not his business. Oops. "I've had a pretty steady dose of weird already," he assured her. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." Might as well make it easier since he'd gone and opened his big mouth again about something the scarab had picked up. Seriously, couldn't the Reach have built an off-switch into the thing?
It was probably a good thing he'd distributed the weight in the basket, because otherwise the next bombshell would have probably made him drop it on his foot. Jaime opened his mouth to say "You're from Heaven? Isn't that my line?" or something equally lame when the scarab decided to confirm what she was saying. Sort of. Using terms that only the Reach would use (who else used "quantum improbability manipulation" when "magic" was so much simpler?), but it boiled down to exactly what she was telling him. But still. From Heaven?
The first coherent thought he had after his brain shut down and rebooted was, Note to self: DO NOT TELL HER about the time you accidentally burned down that church. Technically, it was the rampaging lunatic who punched the police car's fault, but... nope. Still blamed himself for that. And it was such a good thing she couldn't read minds now.
A very small part of him, the part that was making sense of this place, was noting that was probably why the scarab didn't spaz unnecessarily when she was around. Another small part of him was worried that in comparison, his own story was still bizarre and creepy and he just had no idea where to begin even after this confession. Assuming she didn't know about it already. Years of Sunday school were already getting jumbled up in his head.
But he was going to have to say something instead of standing there looking like he'd been smacked in the head with a two-by-four, because now she looked like she was afraid he would run away. "Um." Okay, he had use of his vocal chords again, that was a start. "Then why are you here?"
As far as braindead questions went, it wasn't the worst.
((Out for the night! Will be limited tomorrow til 7 PM EST - class begins! Gah.))
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The blush did not receed. If anything, her face grew hotter. Well, he didn't appear to be freaking out, which was a plus... Or he just did a really good job at hiding it. There were no doubts whatsoever that he believed her, though, which was a bit unexpected. She wondered what his secret was... Was it weirder than hers? Probably. He was tapped into some power-source that she couldn't pinpoint, and it was making her both extremely curious and a bit nervous. She didn't think that the energy was evil, but since it was something so completely different from everything she knew it was difficult to tell.
Rubbing her cheeks to try and hide the fact that she was blushing - it wasn't working very well - Lola took a deep breath, avoiding looking him in the eyes. "We get these... missions," she began, a part of her wondering if she was allowed to tell him this. This was Hogwarts, though. Different rules applied. "Usually there's this one person that we have to guide. Make sure they find their reason to be on Earth, you know? Their purpose."
She bit her bottom lip again, thinking about how to put this. "In this case it wasn't just one person, but a place. There are a couple more of us around here. We... maintain the balance, I guess." She shrugged, and then looked up into his face, a tiny frown creasing her forehead. "Are you freaking out? Because you're allowed."
There was another question that she kind of wanted to ask him. She wanted to know if this was a date or not. But yeah, that could wait. She didn't want to put more stress on him than she already had. Poor guy.
((Re-posted because I forgot about these comments. =P I feel your pain about school. Horrid thing, getting in the way of RPing...))
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"My definition of normal's being updated by the hour," he added. "And things were already pretty weird before I got here. Unless you already know about that," and seeing her blank look, "or not." It explained why she hadn't run in the other direction, but unfortunately it meant he'd have to try to explain it.
There was no question in his mind that he'd have to tell her the truth, especially after that confession. It wouldn't be fair. The problem was how he was going to explain it (and the less visual aids, the better). "You want to talk about this outside? Where there's less people and it's safe to eat without dodging projectiles?" Just because Tomo was gone didn't mean the threat had passed.
It was probably a good thing she didn't ask if it was a date. Whether or not it was a date would depend on if he could explain the scarab and if the truth wouldn't freak her out. Angel or not, he didn't know much about the thing in his spine; the only reason it wasn't technically evil was because it was defective. And if it still was, he wouldn't blame her for wanting to stay away.
((At least I can still workninja. And I don't know if you saw the update to the permissions post, but until canon contradicts me I'm classifying the scarab's alignment as Chaotic Neutral thus making it blatantly obvious I play D&D, if you're wondering how it should ping Lola. I should be on after 11:30 PM GMT, but I think that's after midnight your time and don't want you to stay up waiting for tags.))
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So, his life had been pretty weird before? Her interest was piqued even further, and her lips twitched into a bit of a careful smile. "Yeah, outside would be good. We'll find a calmer place." Lola thought for a moment, running through her mental list of Places To Go. The lake was a good bet. The ground might be a little damp, but it was one of the calmer places on the school grounds, and it was such a nice day. Perfect for the game called Revealing Weird Things About You!
"The lake is nice," she said, gesturing at the door. "Come on!" The angel began to walk again, glancing at him occasionally, not for the first time at Hogwarts wishing that she could still read minds. Clearly Jaime was used to weird things. The question was just how weird. And she wondered what his story was, if she was going to be able to deal with it... Lola had experienced a lot of strangeness, fighting demons and dark powers. She hoped that she wouldn't freak out about this. Whatever it was that was off about Jaime, he deserved to have her stick around. After all, he was still here after hearing her confession...
Suddenly they stepped into sunshine, the chills and shadows of the castle melting away into warmth. It was a wonderful autumn day, the morning's rain only remembered as shallow puddles in the road leading off into Hogsmeade, and Lola couldn't hold back a contented sigh. She always felt better outside. The energy from plants, trees in particular, was very similar to her own angelic energy, so it was like being sudddenly surrounded by green, frothy healing vibes, that soothed her and made her feel much better about this whole thing. She wouldn't have minded strolling towards the forest and say hello to the trees, but yes, better to head for the lake.
So she did, trying to be casual and like she hadn't basically said, "I am a celestial being with wings and a halo who's work consists of making people happy," just now. As she strolled, keeping her pace slow so that he wouldn't have to run with the heavy basket, she pointed out Places To Know.
"So that way is the Quidditch pitch," she explained lightly. "And following the road you can get to Hogsmeade, which is this groovy little wizarding village." She decided then and there that she wasn't going to tell him about the tent village unless he asked. She was being weird enough as it was without the added element of an unwanted husband and a beet farm. Lola gestured at the forest looming in the distance. "That's the Forbidden Forest. Never been in there myself, but I hear it's got unicorns."
Her eyes sparkled in almost childish delight, here. She'd never seen a unicorn, obviously, not even in Heaven.
((Okay! *makes notes of this* Good information to have... And I just want to say that this RP is making me kind of happy. =) ))
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Jaime had accepted that Lola was an angel, but he hadn't let the idea sink in to the point where it brought up a lot of painful questions. Most of which began with "why." This was probably a good thing. Besides, if she didn't know his story, then she wouldn't be able to answer a lot of them. He wasn't entirely sure how the scarab had confirmed her story, but the response essentially came down to If we can scan for magic and see astral projections, we ought to be able to see angels. The scarab hadn't been able to pin that down until Lola essentially told it what to look for. Which made sense. Around here, there were a lot of possibilities to cover.
Outside was good. Nature was good. Even when it wasn't this mellow, even when the trees were attacking him, the scarab had no interest whatsoever in "damaging nature." They also weren't surrounded by hordes of students who all pinged his unconscious radar out here. It felt suddenly good to be out in the open air, as if the Great Hall had been stifling but he hadn't realized it until now. The weather was colder than he was used to this time of year, but the cool breeze seemed to help clear his head.
He made special note of the way to the Quidditch pitch, since he'd agreed to meet Steph there the next day. "That's the village? Somebody mentioned it at my Sorting, but nothing about what was actually there."
Note that the words "shopping" or "buying" were not in that sentence. He doubted she'd actually forget the shopping promise, really, but there was no point in dropping reminders. Besides, that would be putting off the Revealing Weird Things About You game. Lola had basically dumped her own Big Secret on him, hoping it wouldn't scare him off. He hated lying to people he cared about, which was the main reason he sucked at lying in general - so he could not just keep a lid on his own secret. It wouldn't be fair. He just had to figure out how to go about it.
Fortunately for Lola, he only peripherally noticed the tent village and didn't comment. "Unicorns. Really? Why is it forbidden? To keep people from going in after them?" He'd never seen one either, but then, there were still a lot of things he hadn't seen.
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