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... )
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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