on_holy_ground | RP - Working In The Garden ~ for my

It was late afternoon, and Darius had decided to do some work in the garden plot on the north side of the church, in order to get it ready for winter. He enjoyed the quiet time that it allowed for him to reflect on the daily happenings, and also found a certain satisfaction in working with his hands.

Kneeling down beside the vegetable garden, he started to remove the crop debris from the plot. He hummed softly as he worked, setting the dead plants aside in order to dispose of them later.

Current Mood: satisfied

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It probably wasn't best to describe how she had gotten to New York from where she had been, with a stop along the way to visit the cat. Not many humans took to well to the idea that she flew. Especially when she looked human herself.

The woman approaching the church looked, just like an average person. A mass of, what could only be described as fuzzy, strawberry blonde hair was done up in a ponytail with a black scrunchie. She wasn't even wearing anything out of the ordinary, just a pair of blue jeans, a black dress shirt over a suspiciously androgynous chest, a multi-coloured scarf, same coloured beanie, and a long denim trench coat. She walked with the aid of a stick and limped badly. But the eyes, the eyes were the most unusual thing there. Despite the fact the woman was pale, and looked very much like she was living out her last few years, or months, on earth, the emerald green eyes shone with the strength and determination that the rest of her body clearly didn't have. Sure, they were behind round wire framed glasses, but that did not dampen their spirit. Oh yes, and she had a backpack, a big blue and black backpack, and a pretty golden cross around her neck.

Gabriel couldn’t help but give a silly little smile as she came up to the front of the church building and began her way around it. For someone who limped and walked with a walking stick, she didn’t make much noise as she approached the man who was clearly, ever so busy with his garden. There were things she could know about him, if she wanted to, instantly. The form that she had taken that day gave almost no hint as to the power of the being inside its fleshy walls. There was another thing she couldn’t help, because a small chuckle escaped the woman’s lips as she slipped the bag off her back and sat down with it, nodding up towards the sky before looking back to the man.

“Lovely day, isn’t it?”

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Darius was slightly startled by the voice from behind him, as he hadn't heard anyone approach, something that was difficult given the cobblestones that made up much of the courtyard. Turning around on his heels he saw the woman sitting on the bench near the garden and smiled softly, if a bit curiously.

"Yes, it is indeed a lovely day."

He then got to his feet, dusting his hands off on the sides of his robes without much thought.

From:

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Taking off her beanie the woman let her hair down and stored the hat and the scrunchie in her backpack as she returned the smile. The poor thing, she must have scared the man half to death. Well, maybe not half to death, but she'd probably scared him at the least. The way he turned around showed that.

"Sorry if I startled you. I just didn't want to ruin the peace. Which is sometimes a hard thing not to do, but it looks like I succeeded." she said, standing up and abandoning the bag on the bench as the moved closer to the man. It really was a pretty garden.

From:

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His smile widened a bit and he shook his head. "Do not concern yourself overly much. I don't consider the peace to be ruined by your presence, as the presence of others often carries it's own kind of peace."

From:

my-gabriel.livejournal.com

She grinned a little and laughed softly.

"I'm not one for concern over matters like these, at least not for very long. And you are indeed right sir, the company of others is, soothing." the woman said, looking from the garden to the man and then pushing a bit of hair back from her face to behind her ear. She had combed it that was clear, the hair was just wild. That was all.

Switching the stick over to her left hand, she looked unsteady for a moment, and perhaps slightly troubled, before she moved even closer to the man. Upon getting within touching distance of him, she stuck out her right hand in greeting with a warm expression on her face that challenged the slight chill in the air.

"Gabriel, pleasure to meet you."

From:

on-holy-ground.livejournal.com

He took note of the seeming unsteadiness when she switched the cane, and he reached out and took her right hand in both of his, squeezing gently before releasing it. "Darius, and the pleasure is all mine."

From:

my-gabriel.livejournal.com

The woman squeezed the man's hand back, blushing when he spoke and nodding quietly. There was the same faltering moment when she switched the stick back to her right hand, as if the very action of moving the item from one hand to another would cause her to topple over like a poorly stacked pile of wooden blocks.

"Not to goo on my feet without this thing, I must confess." she said, indicating the stick with a nod of her head, looking slightly, but not completely embarrassed, if anything at all.

From:

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"May I ask what happened, if you don't mind of course. I don't want to pry."

From:

my-gabriel.livejournal.com

"Football, would you believe. Big boot, big force, back of the knee and there you go." she said, with a vague smile, looking as if she wished to focus no more on the matter than they already had.

Then the woman shook her head, smiling and quickly putting the matter behind her and hopefully the man as well.

"I don't mind. I just don't have the best health in the world, that's all."

From:

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He nods, letting it be with that statement, as he wouldn't want to upset her with questions about a past that cannot be changed.

"I don't believe I've seen you here before. Have you come recently to the city, or simply to the church?"

From:

my-gabriel.livejournal.com

"Just arrived here recently, but I've been to New York before. Many times actually. It's one of those places I really do like, so I'm planning to stay for a while." the woman said, part of her face obscured from view by hair blown about in a sudden gust of wind. She smiled, pushing it out of the way, and looked up to the sky quickly before letting her head come down from the raised up position.

"Looks like we're getting an early taste of winter, don't you think? Cold weather but beautiful nonetheless. I love the snow."

From:

on-holy-ground.livejournal.com

He lifts his face slightly, taking in the scent of the wind and the feel of it against his face, noting the direction it's coming from and going to, all from force a force of habit that he hasn't changed in centuries.

"Yes, I to am fond of the colder months. I often wonder how it will be different here in New York from what it was in Paris."

From:

my-gabriel.livejournal.com

The woman turned her face to the wind so that it blew some of her hair backwards. Raising her head a little she closed her eyes and smiled. There had been and would be much colder weather than jus that. That wind just then, it indicated what was to come. The hope of children having snowball fights, the love of young couples shopping, family time spent together around a fire. Even in that great and busy city those things still happened.

"Paris still lives, I assure you. My cat, he is there, and he always has something to tell me about everything. Talkative little fellow." she said, eyes still closed, face still displaying the warmth that happiness brought. The kind of happiness that for her at least, didn't last much longer past that point. Lowering her head Gabriel smiled to herself as sad green eyes studied the ground.

"When you know as many people as I do, you get told a lot of different things about death. Move on quickly, take your time, everybody has a different take on how you should move on. Living the way I do has a price."

And the last sentence was all but a mystery. Possibly.

From:

on-holy-ground.livejournal.com

Darius watches her as he listens, knowing that oftentimes body language tells a story all of it's own, quite independant from the spoken word. He sees the fleeting happiness, and is saddened by just how quickly it seems to pass.

"Yes, Paris still lives, of that I am certain. I think that if Paris were to ever die, that I would somehow know it, regardless of where I might be at the time."

His eyes study her for a moment, and he wonders what it is that she means by that last sentence. It is spoken in a way that says she may be older than she seems, and yet she is not one such as he, as he cannot feel her quickening. That leaves several other possibilities however, as he has often discovered over the past few thousand years.

"Living in any way often carries a price, but the point is that we are living."

From:

my-gabriel.livejournal.com

The woman nodded; gaze still cast towards the ground, eyes still saddened by some unspoken grief. Death, in any form, took a while to get over sometimes. Even she, the great Archangel Gabriel, still had feelings.

When the man started to look at her, the woman's head rose up quickly and she turned herself quietly to face him full on. It was the quickness of the actions that made them able to be mistaken for being caused by insult or paranoia, but the green eyes told that that was not the case. Gabriel was studying too, taking in the man, seeing every detail, resisting the urge to see his past and not giving in to the desire. All she wanted to do was watch, and watch she did, with the intent stare that should have belonged to a far more pressing matter. To her though, it was a pressing matter. She wanted to look at the man and so that was what she was going to do.

"Indeed." she said, still looking at the man, the stare changing to one used to make conversation.

"But while we may be living, people are dying and some are already dead. I mourn the loss of a man living on earth, even though I know he is never truly gone. Foolish perhaps, when I have such knowledge and faith, but I will miss him all the same." the woman said, the jewel green eyes suddenly brimming with that immense sadness again. Angel or human or otherwise, she was someone mourning the loss of a friend and a good companion. Not even the making new friends could help that feeling.

Her spare hand moved up and took a tear on the tip of a finger. Lowering the wetness into view Gabriel looked at it as if she had not known she had even begun to cry. It was a momentary look, lasting for the briefest of seconds before she flung the drop into the garden. The woman then turned around quickly and began to limp away with the unsteady movements of someone who really wasn’t fully concentrating. Comfort wanted, comfort needed, it was all unspoken mysteries.

From:

on-holy-ground.livejournal.com

He was surprised by the initial intensity of her stare, feeling for a moment as though she were trying to look into his very soul. It was disconcerting to say the least, and only strengthened his feelings that she was more than what she appeared.

Then, as she spoke of her loss and her eyes changed once again, he could see in their depths a sadness that went beyond that of mortals. A sadness that almost seemed to have the weight of the world and more behind it. A sadness that he himself had become familiar with over the long years.

He thought for a moment about letting her go to find what solace that she could, but it was not in his nature to simply let anyone walk away in such a state. So, he stepped forward and laid a gentle hand on the back of her shoulder.

From:

my-gabriel.livejournal.com

The fight not to cry was a poorly fought battle because soon enough there were tears rolling down tired pale cheeks. The woman had not moved very far when she felt the hand on her shoulders. So she stood there, still trying to hold back a sob. Strength was something she was known for, after all, it was not always that she let crying come easily to herself.

The fight not to sound like she was weeping was another fight soon lost for Gabriel soon uttered a small sob. As she made the grief filled sound, the woman turned around and gave the man a hug. It was awkward not only because of the fact that they had only just met, but because if she let go of the stick, picking it up would probably result in her falling over. The world around them, upon that act of contact, just seemed to quieten, but not slow, for the briefest moment. It would depend on the individual to decide whether it really had, or whether it was just a figment of the imagination.

The next sob was quieter still and could be deemed suitable for such a frail body. Such a body could surely only produce so much emotion filled sound, or afford it for that matter. Finding and knowing someone similar was important because they were most often the ones who understood when the weight of everything pressed fiercely at the door.

From:

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His heart went out to her even more as the grief filled sob came to his ears, and as she turned to hug him, he was swift to wrap her into his arms and gently pat her back. It was not an intimate hug such as two people with deep feelings for each other would share, but an embrace that spoke of someone who had lost as well, and who empathized with the loss of another.

For a moment, it seemed as if the world and everything in it empathized with her as well, and Darius closed his eyes and smiled a sad, soft smile. He knew that something had happened in that moment, as he was not one to overlook something that was unusual because he feared the unknown, but instead took it for what it was, a small miracle.

He continued to hold her, his hand gently stroking her back in an effort to give her some form of comfort in a time when such things were almost impossible.

From:

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Then he hugged her back, and in that moment she was sure, without using any of the powers of deducement that she had that did not belong to a normal human, that the man was one of those unique friends. Much like the man who had so recently died, he cared a lot without asking for anything in return, and he had some of the same life experiences as she had. She could also feel that, much like her, he was not exactly all that he appeared to be, but that was all, with that type of good, trustworthy man, she wasn't going to press.

The first drop of rain surprised the woman in some ways. It was not so much that she wasn't thinking, but her mind had been more focused on the relieving act of crying, rather then the weather. She had fallen rather silent, and her tears had slowed, almost to stopping point, but she was still hugging the man, the need and the want for contact speaking more volumes than her words could at that very moment. When the next dozen or so drops hit her head, Gabriel slowly released the man and stepped away from him. For one frightful moment, as she struggled to resume standing on her own and find a place on the ground for the bottom of her stick, it looked as if the woman was about to indeed fall over. She did not, however, and was looking at the man with a slight questioning to her tear streaked expression. The ground was wet now; not exactly the best place for someone who already had enough trouble on their feet when on dry ground. Thus, her look quickly became quite troubled, or even more troubled than it originally was, to be precise.

The comfort that the man had provided by holding her and patting and stroking her back showed in a brief smile and a small but extremely appreciative nod before her thoughts were quickly forced on to other things, just for a few moments at least, so both people could get out of the rain.

“The weather gets funny this time of year. I would call it indecisive, in a way. If you could lend me your hand Darius, it would indeed be much appreciated. It’s not that I can’t walk, oh indeed I can walk, but with my glasses covered in rain, some of my sight thus blocked and the ground being currently as wet as it is you can surely imagine why I do not fully trust my ability to do so.” Gabriel said, speaking up against the rain, her face, eyes and expression still showing signs of that immense sadness, one that had quite not vanished, but looked more at peace than it had done. It was a look clearly displayed despite her progressive transformation into something akin to a drowned rat in a trench coat. At the very least, a slightly drowned rat.

From:

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Darius glanced up as he too felt the start of the rain shower. It wasn't exactly a downpour, but it was more than enough to make things uncomfortable and difficult for his guest at the very least. But it seemed even as he thought that, the rain increased in strength and he too was soon more wet than he would have liked, especially as the smell of wet wool had never really been much to his liking.

He smiled at her, nodding and offering her his arm as any true gentleman would in this same situation. "I have every confidence that you can get around quite well when it suits you, but such weather can be treacherous for anyone, especially with these cobblestones walks."

Glancing into her eyes, he was glad to see that there was now a measure of peace there to combat the intense sadness that still remained. He had lost enough friends and companions over the years, for one reason or another, that he knew how hard that peace could be to obtain.

From:

my-gabriel.livejournal.com

Nodding, the woman hooked her left arm into the man's right and grasped his wrist lightly.

"Sometimes I just stand in the rain. It's honestly no worse than a shower those times, but on other occasions, I do prefer to get under shelter." she said as they began to moved forwards, the man guiding her and for the most part leading her in the act of walking. However, she had to get her backpack, so with what she could still see of an almost utterly blurry world, the woman moved over that way.

Letting go of the man for a few seconds, Gabriel felt around on the seat for a second, then located a large smudge of blue and picked it up. Slinging it over that left shoulder she found the man's arm again and took it exactly as she had done before. A gentle grasp, not to hurt, or restrain, but just for support. That kind of understandable and altogether needed contact seemed to calm her eyes just a little, little bit more.

"You'll have to lead the way, I only came around from the front, and am not yet clued in to the secrets of this great building." she said with a little half smile as a drop of water fell off the tip of her nose.

From:

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He walked slowly giving her plenty of time to find her footing on the wet cobblestones.

"I too sometimes enjoy standing out in the rain. I was particularly fond of doing so in Paris in the late spring, when the rain was warm and light and gave the entire world a sense of newness." He paused as she reached for her backpack, holding back an offer to help only because he knew that most people preferred to do things on their own if they could, and knowing that she would ask for her assistance if she needed it further.

He smiled as she took his arm again, and slowly started towards the north side of the building closest to them. "There are not too many physical secrets at St. Julien's, although she does have a few here and there." Once they reach the wall, he shows her an alcove that has a door that is cleverly hidden from plain sight, which he opens to allow her to enter. "This goes down a short hallway that leads to the rectory, and then on to the chapel from there."

From:

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Letting go out the man, the woman stepped into the building and made her way down he hallway. She stopped just after entering the rectory, hovering there, dripping wet, unsure, in a way, of where to tread. A chair and a tissue would be good, tissues she had, a chair, hopefully, wouldn't be something that she would walk into.

"Paris is a lovely, lovely place at any time of the year. One of the large reasons why I keep going back, because it's so pretty." Gabriel said, smiling a little to herself as she replied to a long past comment. It had needed replying to, for the beauties of Paris could never be talked about enough. It never seemed to stop growing, or delivering to her, more surprises.

"I'll go wherever you want me to Darius, because I wouldn't dare want to intrude on anywhere. My immense thanks for letting me in though. Rain is fun and all, but when unprepared for it can be a bit bothersome."

(OOC: Gack! Sorry and much more apologies, but life has been particularly sucky for like, forever. Exams and school and work and so on and so didly forth. Hopefully, you get what I’m trying to say and understand the meaning. And sorry again! Remember, I love you, cause you rock, and own a very cute, loveable character.)

From:

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Darius moves past her carefully, pulling a plain wooden chair from the table with the chess set near the center of the room and offering it to her. "You couldn't possibly intrude here, as this is the house of God, and I am mearly keeping it for him."

He smiles as he pulls another chair close for himself as well. "And yes, PAris is one of the truly enchanting places that this world has to offer. I find that I often miss it since I have moved here, and think that I shall have to return before long."

From:

my-gabriel.livejournal.com

Gabriel laughed a light, soft chuckle, nodding her dripping head up and down just a little. With her glasses foggy and also dripping with rainwater, she felt for the chair and upon removing her coat, she sat down on it. Letting the walking stick fall to the floor, the woman folded the coat and put it on top of her stick before she opened her bag and took out a little pocket pack of tissues. Taking one out, she began a somewhat fastidious cleaning of her glasses, and when they were clean she replaced them on her face, blinking a little quickly as her world came back into focus.

"I could take you back you know." she said as she wrung out her hair, letting most of the drips that still clung to it drop onto the already wet jacket. Luckily, the clothes under the trench coat hadn't gotten that wet, but still, the already pale face had gotten a little paler, and she was shivering slightly, while making a concerned effort to try and keep her hands still. They were cold, and clasped together not only to keep them still, but to keep them warm.