muse_playground 100. She/He/They doesn't live here anymore.

[sacredeyes]

Peninnah had returned once more to the memorial that had been made of her beloved church. Over the years it drew her back to it’s doors and every time it broke her heart to see the ruins. It was her charge, the place she would have given her life to protect if there had been a way. What chance did one, even a gargoyle, have against bombers in the

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[azira_bartleby]

Aziraphale watched in silence from the shadows of the broken building. He didn't know what drew him there until he saw the shrouded figure standing by the old grave marker, and even then he didn't know why he was there.

"I'm sorry you had to endure such pain alone. I hope you have f-found him once more."

He felt the words, rather than heard them, which piqued his interest even more. Who was this... person? Why had he felt compelled to come to this place? Azira knew that HE worked in mysterious ways, often in ways that were completely beyond any sort of comprehension, and this was an excellent example.

He watched the figure leave the churchyard, then stepped onto the street, following at a discreet distance.

[sacredeyes]

Peninnah walked some time until she came to the old gardens of Bath's Abby. She needed time to rest her legs and think. So much had happened over the past years. It was hard at times to deal with them alone, all the memories. She sat beneath one of the old trees and smiled briefly. They were in fact old but she remembered when they had been put in, little more than twigs poking from the lawn. She leaned back against the trunk and looked up at the Abby. It was beautiful beyond description.

[azira_bartleby]

Azira followed the figure until he/she/it reached one of the gardens of Bath's Abbey. He'd been here many times over the course of his 'life', so he could quite understand what drew the figure to the gardens. If there was one place on Earth that reminded him of 'home', it was here.

The figure sat beneath one of the trees; Azira still had no idea why he'd been drawn to follow him/her/it. He was about to give up and walk away when the figure shifted, a clawed foot appearing out from beneath the robes it wore. Demon!

Azira immediately raised his defenses. He wasn't afraid of battling a demon, even in this frail form, but he would avoid it at all costs, if he could. The form didn't move, aside from covering its foot, which puzzled Azira. Certainly it sensed his presence? He truly did not understand, and sank down in the shadows to watch.

[sacredeyes]

Peninnah shifted beneath the tree to look up at the gargoyles protecting the structure. Briefly she wondered if any of them were "alive". In all her long years nearby at St. James she had never seen another of her kind. She felt lonely and tears welled up in her eyes again. At least when she had been a guardian she had seen the parishioners and the priests. It had been enough though now she had even been robbed of that company.

She wiped her eyes and shifted the wet veil, careful to keep her face covered. Crying was not helping her. All it did was add to the crushing feeling in her chest.

[azira_bartleby]

She shook her head. Not everyone. I was never given a name when I was created.

Azira watched her, his head tilted slightly. "Everyone was given a name. It may not have been a proper name, like Azira or Peninnah, but they were given a name." He shifted slightly, still watching her. "Most of those names were meant as a description, like person..." He pointed at a nearby woman walking down the street.

"Or..." he hesitated, then continued. "Or angel." He pointed at himself.

"Or...?" This time he pointed at Peninnah, his eyebrow raised in a question.

[sacredeyes]

I no longer have a name. Peninnah looked away afraid she might cry again. She wasn't what she was any longer. She wasn't anything.

He does not call me what I once was any longer. Peninnah had to stop talking as her voice caught up. If this man was truly an angel she wondered why he was sent. Maybe she still had more punishment to endure.

[azira_bartleby]

"Everyone, every thing has a name. Even if they no longer remember it, or are called by it."

His voice was soft and quiet. He still didn't know who or what she was, but he understood the sorrow that radiated from her.

[sacredeyes]

Peninnah looked over at the man beside her with obvious hurt in her eyes.

I am nothing that I used to be. All I am now is F-failure. That is all I shall ever be.