"If Heaven doth sweeten them, or Hell envenom..." (Open, please)

[Daniel]

Out.

He must get out, lest he wind up like that lout Lucifer. His mind, sent reeling by the close contact he had shared with the Presence, had gained something most people take for granted, but which he had never missed or even wanted.

Free will.

It was driving him insane, and of course, the faithful would scorn him. He was actually curious about the range of such emotions....he had never had access to them. Anger, fear, jealousy, love...all he knew was servitude.

And he was content with that. Why, oh why, had he chosen that moment to enter the Throne room? He would call upon the Name, but he didn't know if he had the right anymore. A few of his fellows had noticed something wrong with him, but he had simply smiled and nodded. How could he know that Gabriel himself would find that strange?!

Reaching the edge of the firmament of Heaven itself, he peered down. Long way, even for a Cherubim. Still, Daniel had to do this. His life, curse the day he was created, depended on it. When he reached the ground, assuming he didn't die (could he die?) on impact, he would figure the rest out. First one foot over the edge, then the other, wings tucked in to keep himself streamlined, for the only way to do this was fast, he quite literally fell from Heaven.

He hadn't had a quandary of this magnitude since the day he was set to guard the Garden and had to explain why he had "misplaced" the fiery sword. The Metatron had simply given him a withering, yet kind, look when he told him of the poor couple that looked so cold and lost.....

-Impact-

Pain! By the Presence, the pain! How did these humans endure such? Almost as soon as he had come to his senses, he realized why he was in such pain. He left without permission. Casting his eyes upward, he sighed. "I apologize, but I didn't want to become an agent of the adversary. Please, allow me to stay here until such time as I can find a way to cleanse this imperfection!" The answer came instantly, a warm breeze ruffling his sandy-brown hair as if to caress his cheek, and the pain ceased. He rose, smiling, and began his journey. He felt a strange mixture of darkness and light up ahead, so perhaps there were answers there.

[♥Allissya♥]

Back home on Earth, there was a group called the Weather Girls, and they had a song. A song about it raining men. When Al was little she would actually sing the song into her hair brush with two of her friends. Who ever thought that there would come a day when it would literally rain a man from the skies? Perhaps if she had not been out making the daily trek from town where she worked back to the Inn she would of missed the sight, but she had not. Those bright leaf green eyes had caught everything, including the fact that not a tall building nor a air craft was hovering. The man quite came from the sky.

Mind your own business you have enough going on, was the first thought that came to her mind, she didn’t need to attempt to help a stranger. But then where would she of been when she first came here, if she had not had someone already here? If people would not of attempted to give her a helping hand, even if she didn’t want to need or want any help? How did one categorize a man that fell from the Heavens? Oh the tangled web we could be weaving with the clashing of unknown things.

Sigh slipped past her lips, as she altered her course, though not by to much so the girl would attempt to temper her attitude, and approach him as if she had not gone out of her way. The warm breeze on this cold day did not happen to hit her, but she did notice the way that the man’s hair had moved. Though she wasn’t close enough to hear the words that had slipped from his lips. The man was looking in the direction of the Inn, which really was the way she needed to go anyways, so she would take long strides towards him. Calling out as she did such. “I hear skydiving from the Heaven’s isn’t the smartest idea.”

[Daniel]

He cast his eyes toward the woman slowly, a peaceful smile breaching his features. "In truth, it is a very, very poor choice of pastimes. Thank you for your concern, dear one." He sensed an aspect of divinity from the woman, thus he felt a kinship of sorts, hence the 'dear one' familiarity.

"Would you mind telling me where I have landed? I've never been on this plai-" He stopped himself short, not wanting to put her off. "I've never been to these lands before. You could say that I needed a break from my day job. How is it that I sense an angelic presence in a mortal? Are you mortal?" A short pause. "Forgive me for my bluntness, I have little experience in speaking to others."

[♥Allissya♥]

She had caught him! That could be a good thing or it could be a bad thing only time would tell. Her lips twitched up a notch of a smile. “I am glad to know my words have not fallen on deaf ears.” She had not experience of sky diving from Heaven, or anywhere else now she started to think on it, something she might have to change. But those thoughts were for later…much later. It could be put that way. Many people used nicknames or terms of endearment and she wasn’t one to think to much on them.

“Oh! You are in New Haven. Not to far from Rhy’Din…but I can tell you your not on Earth.” Earth was where she was from, partially, well okay where she grew up. She didn’t know if Rhy’Din was a planet or just a town, so she gave him what information she had. She gave him a wry grin. “I understand about needing a break from a day job.” She was a workaholic, and her boss loved it, it ended up being such a good thing for him. Though if she took a vacation even a mini vacation she would be at a loss. She blinked, lashes kissing before her bright leaf green gaze landed on the man. “Partially.” She answered him slightly wary. She wasn’t quite secure in what she was just yet, and not having full control of things, she decided it was best not to just blurt things out.

She took a few steps to see if he would fall in, or if he would stand still, because she was wanting to get to the Inn. “As you just sky dived from the Heavens are you looking for a place to stay while you’re here on vacation?”

[Pazuzu]

Things were not going as planned. Pazuzu had been back in the field for a week now and still had yet to make headway on his mission. Ignoring the obvious option of checking into that wooden shack masquerading as an Inn he had instead chosen to stake the place out dressed as a homeless man and sat on the road that lead to the Marketplace. He was in perfect position for anyone to see him if they stepped out the Inn. But who would paid attention to a dirty man in rags?

So far he discovered that this place was a breeding ground for freaks, all the non-humans he saw coming and going. There should be a law against it. Not to mention that the place held a seeming blatant disregard for any child labor laws of the land. He'd counted at least three children so far but who knew how many more there were trapped inside. It disgusted him. Where Pazuzu was from the place would have been shut down already if it'd ever been built at all. Who the hell built with wood anymore? Brick and concrete was stronger and looked better too. This stupid looking place looked like it'd fall in with one good windstorm!

He was getting away from the point. He'd been there a week and yet there was no sighting of Target A nor Target B among the freaks that paraded in and out of the place daily. There was no other option: he needed to get closer. The time for Pazuzu to join the inn had come.

Wouldn't you know that as soon as he decided to get closer some ruckus would be going on outside? He didn't see the man fall and as it was cold outside that lady there likely thought him a rock with how he had been curled on himself on the ground - no fault of her own, people kept their eyes focused where they were going and not to small subtle things in the area. Lucky for him.

He stepped into the conversation as he approached and put a slump to his shoulders and drag to his walk even. "Would they help a man like me?"

[Daniel]

He smiled serenely, feeling at peace from his sudden recovery. "I seem to be without a home for the time being, my friend. Your offer is very kind. Do you think they would mind giving me a place to sleep, and a little understanding if I am unable to do so easily?" He paused, looking a little sheepish. "I've never slept before, you understand. Tell me, the gnawing feeling in my abdomen...is this what humans refer to as hunger?"

He broke off when the man began to speak. He sensed...something...from the man, but he was not able to pass judgement on him. That task had, for the length and breadth of eternity, fallen to the One. His wings tucked back to curve against the contour of his back, and he smiled to the man. "If they are kind enough to accept me, I am sure they would not mind. Oh! I apologize, I am used to being known by all in my presence...in the Presence. I am...Daniel. Yes, that will serve as well as anything."

He was incapable of lying overtly, a by-product of who and what he was, but he could assume a name to cover the fact of his true name, the one the One had given him upon his creation. Another smile formed. "I assume by your aspect that you are the product of an angel who formed a bond with one of the children. Is she Cherubim?" He was not being rude, far from it. He simply had a curious nature, and did not know the word nor the deed of decorum.

[♥Allissya♥]

Al looked at the man whom had fallen from the sky. It's Raining Men was still going through her head, and at least the man it had rained was not to hard on the eyes, it would be her luck that the day it rained a man for her, he would be less then appealing. "Oh, I am sure that you can get a place a sleep. Though I can't say that anyone will notice your lack thereof, if you have difficulty with falling into such a state." A simple shake of her head, before she continued. "The gnawing could very well be your stomach asking for you to fill it." It could be a few other things as well.

It was then that they were joined by the other man, the man that had not fallen from the sky, so he got a brief look from Al. Her attention had gone back to the first man. "Daniel." She repeated his name, already placing him in one of those neat little compartments in her mind. Then because the man was including the one that she disliked on the spot, due to a few reasons, some were obvious like him butting into the conversation, others like the sense of someone that liked to do bad things to others, were not. The Skydiver might not be one to give the man the cut, but Al would.

She continued to talk, perhaps the man would listen and perhaps he wouldn't that was his own call, she was her own person and she was expressing her free will at that very moment. "Not exactly Daniel, not exactly." That was all he was going to get, as she spoke on, to him. "The Inn will let you do odd jobs for your room, or you can pay with some form of currency at the end of your stay." She looked straight to Daniel then. "If that man wants a room, he will have to find someone else to assist him." That was that, and if Skydiver and Not So Nice didn't like it, tough.

[Pazuzu]

(I apologize for the delay in my response. RL is a hassle.)


What. The. Hell? Was she freaking kidding him with this sh!t? He'd butted into their conversation as she had stated but how the hell did that justify the iceberg attitude he had gotten in return? Chalk it up as another reason Pazuzu hated this freaking town and the whole damn continent. The heavy, solid feel of that semi-automatic handgun resting snugly against his back was starting to grow heavier and for a few brief seconds he entertained the notion of pulling it out and shooting the woman through the skull.

If only.

He could practically feel the heat of Mael's glare from here and as asinine as he thought the mission shooting this woman would bring about the end of it very swiftly. Although there was also the possibility that the death of the woman would earn him a return across the sea to consider. . .

No. The moment of his fantasy was over and he took the opportunity to push roughly past the woman and shoot her a look in his wake- cold, hard; it was the look of a man who had killed before and had no qualms whatsoever of adding another one to the list. Someone who liked to do bad things to others indeed.

It was a pity. The man whose wings earned him the label of 'freak' in Pazuzu's book had been kind and as such deserved some civility in return. As he brushed past the man he directed a silver stare into his eyes. "If that is the attitude this place brings about on you then I wish you luck." Then he was gone.

[Daniel]

A new emotion welled up in the breast of the Cherubim. Anger. It almost frightened him, since that was one of the emotions that had led Lucifer to his fall. However, this was overshadowed by the hate and ill-will emanating from this mortal. "Pardon me, youngling, but there is no need to be so rude. Would you throw yourself so willingly into perdition? Is this avarice, or sheer stupidity?"

After a moment, he sighed, feeling the burden lift from his shoulders, and turned back to the young woman. Halfling, mayhap, but as close to a kindred spirit as he was likely to find at the moment. "Forgive me, dear one, for my outburst. Between the two of us, I am very new to the thing you call emotion. Especially anger. My apologies to you. Him, however.....he means to do someone harm. I know not whom, but he means to do it, and soon. He bears watching, I am afraid. He has the blood of the innocent on his hands already, and I do not think he would hesitate to add to that."

A deep sigh came from his breast. "This must be why the Father is so busy with this plain so often. Mortals, it would seem, are their own worst enemy. Free will is not the gift some would have you believe. Of course, you probably already knew that." He smiled, holding out a hand. "Would you care to lead me to this place you call inn?"

[♥Allissya♥]

Al was glad the other man left. There was not a rule that stated she had to be nice to people. There was not a rule that stated she had to offer rooms to people that the inn to people. It was not Al’s inn, she merely resided there. The man reeked of evil, not evil of being but evil of the soul, and she was not going to be kind to him. He wasn’t even cute. She had no use for evil, sexy evil was something completely different, evil such as the man that had been there a moment ago, nada.

She would give Daniel a smile. “I could have been nicer, but I too sensed something that I do not have the patience to deal with right now. I just need to get back to the Inn, so I can get my presentation ready for my boss.” She had been spending quite a bit of time working on the presentation.

Even though they had a confusion going, it was fine, when he held out his hand, she looked at it a moment before she took her hand and placed it in his. Then she was tugging him along. Chatting just a bit as they went along. “Once we get to the Inn, I will not be able to get you a room, but I am sure someone will be around that can.”

It would not take long for them to get to the Inn, and she was not wanting to hold him up to long. Once inside she rang the bell on the desk. “Someone should be with you shortly. Sorry I can not assist you further. If something happens you can come find me in my room.” With that she slipped away and made her way to the stairs, leaving him in the hands of a desk worker.

[Daniel]

Hmm. "So you sensed it as well? He has no good intent, that one. He reminds me of...well, that isn't important now. This inn....do many live there?" He was new to curiosity, therefore a bit bewildered. "I apologize for asking so many questions." Hands laced behind his back, he fell into stride beside her for the remainder of the walk, listening intently to her words.

As soon as she spoke the last bit, he inclined his head, smiling. "We will meet again, young one." It wasn't a wish or anything, he simply knew they would meet again. And so, he would simply stand at the desk to which he had been led, waiting patiently.

[Daniel]

~Epilogue~

Daniel found that, in the week he had been left standing in the room, he was no longer a perfected being. He was, as it turned out, prone to becoming bored and a little angry. Therefore, he felt it best that he exit the inn with all due haste. After all, he wouldn't want to get in anyone's way.

((You guys really know how to make someone feel welcome. Thanks. Oh, and some non-sarcastic thanks to the player of Allissya. Thanks for making an effort.))

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