Logfile from Brass&Steel. Zach says, "Yes, please. :)" Harriet is just coming out of a nearby sushi bar, a largish take-out box clutched in her hands. She looks down at it with an expectant and pleased smile, dodging pedestrians absently. One of the pedestrians proves to be undodgable. He whistles appreciatively at her and grins a big, happy, roguish grin at her. "Hey there, beautiful!" Harriet looks up at the whistle, and laughs as she sees Zach. "Hey there, handsome," she returns with a smile and a winks. She looks down at the box. "Do you like sushi and sashimi, you know? I've got quite a bit here, my non-chocolate comfort food." Zach hmms and peeks at her box. "You are /such/ a temptress, Harriet. I'm not sure if I'm able to walk away from this one." Clearly, the mechanic is Doomed. Harriet wiggles the box at him enticingly, and indicates a nearby bench with a jerk of her head. "C'mon, Zach. We'll sit down and dive into some rice-and-seafood goodness, you know?" She bumps him affectionately, her hands being too full for a hug, and heads for the bench. Zach grins and trails after the damsel in a thoroughly enticed manner. "So how are you doing, hon? Feeling better?" he asks as he sits down. Harriet mmms noncommitally as she sits down, and opens the box, revealing a variety of freshly prepared sushi and sashimi. She pops a piece of shrimp sashimi in her mouth and makes a happy noise as she chews. Zach smiles and enjoys watching Harriet stuffing herself with yummies. He makes no lunges for the food, though. Harriet raises an eyebrow and offers the box to him, as she swallows. "Surely, you're not going to make me eat this by myself, you know?" She grins at him. "And to answer your question...I am no longer in danger of emotional meltdown, although I admit that I did go by the airport after Cosmo and I finished talking, and study the flight schedules for a while." Harriet is a woman in her early twenties. She's below average in height, and thin and pale, as if she doesn't get out much. She has short-cropped, unruly, dark brown hair, and green eyes. Her round, open face seems as if it's used to doing a lot of smiling. A pair of gold-rimmed glasses perch--slightly askew--on her nose. Harriet is wearing a tie-dyed, man's, long-sleeved shirt, untucked from her rhinestone-speckled blue jeans. Her shoes are quite new sneakers in a particularly bright shade of yellow. Her hair is pulled out of her eyes with a headband decorated with enameled roses. Harriet is also wearing a large, thick denim jacket, which has been patched, whether it needed it or not, with numerous squares of rainbow and tye-dyed cloth. Zach reaches out to ruffle her hair gently. "You look like you need the proteins, miss," he chuckles to her, then sobers as she gives her answer. "I'm glad you're still here. It would be such a shame to lose you, you know." Harriet sighs and smiles at him. "I'm not as terribly delicate as everyone seems to insist I am, you know? And I think I'm glad I'm still here, too." She looks out at the crowded sidewalk with a little frown. "I don't usually hang around after shows, and with the way this one went...I'm not really sure why I'm still here." Zach inclines his head and regards her with fond eyes. "You're about to make it big, Harriet. That was no small thing to get a major gallery interested in your work. I'd say it's worth to stay a while longer. Travelling is good, running away ain't." Harriet smiles back, and nods. She picks up a piece of sushi, and eats it thoughtfully. "You're right, of course," she says at last. "I finally want to stop running, you know? I just don't know why I picked such a weird place to do it in." She looks over at him, just a flicker of eyes. "Speaking of leaving, sort of, may I ask why you left the party so quickly last night?" Zach shifts and drags his left leg up and folds an arm around his knee. "It was a emergency. I had to run. I'm sorry I didn't have time to say bye." Harriet smiles and nods. "S'okay. I was just wondering if it had anything to do with a really loud bang, you know?" She keeps her eyes fixed firmly on the crowds in front of her. Zach nods and relaxes back on the bench. "That was kinda the emergency..." Harriet's eyes glitter triumphantly. "So there /was/ a bang..." Zach blinks. "Pardon?" Harriet smiles at him. "A bang. One that I didn't hear, that Roger didn't hear, but that you, my gallery liasion, and I'm willing to bet, Lucian did, you know?" She tilts her head. "Kinda odd...a really loud sound that only some people hear, isn't it?" She pops another sushi roll in her mouth, and watches him closely. Zach scratches his head and frowns. "That /is/ strange, considering that the media's reported lots of poeple hearing a loud bang from the Regency at about the time the poor kid got murdered." Harriet mmms, and nods. She's still chewing and looking at him. And smiling. Zach says, "Oh bugger! PING!" AutoJudge: Zach rolls: 2 + 6 = 8 . Check die: 2 Zach says, "Nevermind. :)" Harriet snickers. Zach frowns more and seems to think hard about something. He starts to formulate the thougth a few times, before actually getting it out, "You didn't hear the bang? /Roger/ didn't hear it? But....Oni-mask did? That's..." Zach looks a bit frustrated. "Oni-mask was flying on more than alcohol," Harriet points out, after she swallows. "Apparently, he was one of Domino's customers, you know?" She looks down at the box, and thinks. "It occurs to me that one of the claims made by some proponants of recreational pharmacuticals is that it can put one in touch with alternate levels of perception." She smiles serenely, and chooses another piece of sashimi. Zach ahs. "It probably can. At least some of the stuff, if used properly. Like peyote and coca-leaves." He sighs. "Not that that explains anything, really. Why don't we go somewhere more private and you can tell me what it is that made you stay in Kaycee?" Harriet pages: Preferably before she works around to the glowing? :) You paged Harriet with 'I'm fully expecting that to be one of the reasons. ;P Curiosity. :)'. Harriet closes the box, smiles, and nods. "Sure. Why don't we go to my place, you know? I need to put this stuff in the fridge, anyway, if you're not going to help me with it." She winks in a friendly manner at him, and stands. Zach stands and offers to carry the box. "Let's do that. Lead on, madame!" Harriet hands over the box of goodies cheerfully, and gives him a quick hug, before leading the way. Harriet heads south on Grand. Walk, walk, walk.... Terrace Lofts -- Number 4B A large, one-room loft on the fourth floor of the building. To the right of the door is a small kitchen area, with a round, oak table. Around the table sit four well-padded chairs, with tye-dye cushions. To the left of the door is a closet and the door to the bathroom. Straight ahead is the central area. The living room lacks typical furniture, instead there are a multitude of huge pillows in a variety of jewel-like colors, and stools of all shapes and sizes. Art supplies, and art projects in various states of completion dominate the area. Sketches are scattered all over everything. The sleeping area is a small alcove at the far end of the apartment, holding a queen-sized sleigh bed of cherry, a CD player, and a Macintosh personal computer. A nearby bookcase has one shelf of books, one of CDs, and the top shelf is cluttered with framed photos. Posters advertising musicals adorn the walls. Overall, the apartment is in a state of clean disarray. The bed is unmade, and CD cases are in the oddest places, but there's no trash. The only thing in the room that could be said to be scrupulously neat, though, are the art supplies. Their strict order appears to originate from another person entirely. The room smells of flowers, from the numerous filled vases on the table, windowsills, and kitchen counter. Harriet unlocks her door, and walks in, pausing to shed her jacket and hang it on a handy doorknob. She tosses her keys on the counter and takes the box from Zach. "Make yourself comfortable, while I put this away, you know? Zach sneaks a shashimi out of the box as Harriet takes it away, and pops it into his mouth with a naughty expression on his face. Like a little boy stealing candy. He then goes to floomp down into a heap of pillows, getting comfy. Harriet laughs, and grins at him. "If you'd like a plate with some on it, you have only to say so, you know?" Zach bites his lower lip and manages to look half guilty and half naughty. "Mmm....ok!" He lights up into a sparkly grin. Harriet throws her head back and laughs again, and sticks her tongue out at Zach, before heading off to the kitchen to fix two plates with sushi and sashimi. She brings the plates back and, wonder of wonders, has even dug up two pairs of chopsticks. Zach gets handed a plate, and Harriet scoops another pile of pillows into a comfy nest beside him. "Sushi, a good friend, and lots of pillows. I like this, you know?" Zach chuckles and starts attacking the food with his chopsticks. "I just want to put it on record that I really did try to be strong and stuff! But being invited back here and the whole friend and pillows thing just did me in." He elegantly and with great skill catches a piece of sushi with the sticks and lifts it to it's toothy doom. Harriet chuckles, and watches him eat with amusement. After a moment, she says, "Well, I'm glad you're enjoying yourself, you know?" Her lips twitch. "I'll hold my question until after we've eaten." She then starts in on her own portion, using the chopsticks efficiently, but with less grace than Zach. Zach says, "Kite with chopsticks! Fear! :)" Harriet eeks. "Don't kill me!" :) Zach doesn't kill cute girl. Only spanks a bit! Zach says, "If they've been naughty. :)" Harriet mrfs! With chopsticks? That sounds quite silly. :) Zach says, "Not if you have the Eli-kite attunement it ain't! >:)" Harriet eeks again, but stands resolute! Harriet says, "Or, sits resolute, actually." Zach happily chucks food into his gob. When they've finished eating, he gets the plates and deposits them in the kitchen sink. "Can I get you anything form the fridge before you start the third degree?" Harriet shakes her head. "No, I'm fine. Help yourself to anything you like, though, you know?" She looks over at him, carefully. "And I really only have one question, since I think it covers most of the important stuff." Zach helps himself to a glass of water and ambles back to lower himself down into the pillows next to Harriet. "Okay then. Just one thing first - I want to ask something of you Harriet Davis. Your word of honour on this: You won't run away when you get your answers. May I have that promise from you?" Harriet looks startled, then thoughtful. She closes her eyes, and gives his request long consideration. She looks at him. "You may have to help, a bit," she says, with a lopsided smile, "since sticking around isn't something I'm very practiced at. But you have my word." She extends a hand. Zach takes her hand, gives it a firm squeeze and then kisses it gallantly. "I'll do my very best. Now you may Quiz me." He smiles. Harriet sighs. Now that it's come down to it, she seems to have problems actually asking her question. She stammers a bit, looks away, then back. Finally, she takes a deep breath, and asks, quietly. "Zach...are you human?" Almost as soon as the words pop out, she winces and blushes. "That sounds like such a stupid question..." Zach regards her solemnly while she struggles to ask her question, then promptly melts as she blushes. He is such a hopeless softy, ths guy. He smiles very gently and quietly admits, "Not quite human. I try, but....no. I'm not." "Ah." Harriet looks utterly and completely blank. "Ah." she says again. It's quite possible that her entire vocabulary has been reduced to this. "Ah." Harriet pages: It's one thing to suspect...entirely another to have it confirmed. :P Zach reaches out and takes her hand again, to give her something to hold on to. "Are you okay, Harriet?" he asks in concern. Harriet says, "Ah?" Harriet looks at him, and blinks. Her hands clutch a little at his, not painfully, but certainly firmly. "Ah....yes?" Zach's more...er..cherubic instincts kick in and he moves closer and simply lifts her up in his lap and hugs her firmly. "Take your time, I ain't going anywhere," he murmurs. You paged Harriet with 'Yeah, he got teased a lot in malakite school. :) Too nice and cuddly. :)'. Harriet's arms creep out, and around Zach, to hug him firmly. For a while, that seems to be all she's capable of doing, aside from the little, barely-audible string of "ah"s, in various tones. At last, however, she relaxes her grip. "Well...whoever or whatever you happen to be, Zach, you're one of my dearest friends." She gives a little smile against his chest. "I can deal, you know?" From afar, Harriet awws, and /likes/ the cuddly Malakite! You paged Harriet with 'They kept teasing about him being a Novalis/Eli lovechild. :) *sigh*'. Harriet pages: Well, I could kinda see that, actually...*grins and ducks* Zach sighs in relief and gives her an extra little squeeze and smiles happily. "Thank you, Harriet. It's good to hear. Really good." Long distance to Harriet: Zach ptthbbts! :) Harriet snuggles a bit. "Hey, if nothing else, I stick by the people I care about, you know?" Her voice is still fairly dazed, however. Definitely a couple of 'reality safety brakes' engaged here and there. Harriet pages: Luckily, Harriet's default mode is Supportive and Cuddly. :) You paged Harriet with 'We're a match made in heaven.:)'. From afar, Harriet snickers. Maybe Mrs. Davis had Eli in a closet somewhere? Long distance to Harriet: Zach guffaws! :D You paged Harriet with 'Wouldn't surprise me in the least!'. From afar, Harriet thinks about it. "True, true. Heh, maybe Harriet should ask her about that, next e-mail home: Mom? Did you boink an Archangel at any point?" Zach sticks with safe, warm and cuddly. "And that is one of the many bright and wonderful areas of your soul, my dear!" Long distance to Harriet: Zach giggles and giggles! :) Harriet can just about handle safe, warm, and cuddly. After a while of it, however, she sighs, and chuckles. "I'm afraid I lied, you know? One question...doesn't really cover the important areas at all." She blinks, and takes a deep breath. "I'm boggling...just...wow." Zach grins and chuckles. "Oh well - boggling is good. It jogs your brain in new and interesting ways." Harriet places her hands on Zach's shoulders and pushes back so that she can look into his face. A grin is slowly spreading into full bloom on her face. "This is...I mean, /Zach/...you're not human!" Saying the words appears to send her briefly back into Unreal mode, but she recovers quickly. "That's wonderful...amazing! Wow, you know?" She hugs him again, and bounces a little. Zach regards her with a puzzled but delighted grin and beams. "It is? Do tell! But not so loud the neighbours can hear, mind." Harriet makes a shushing noise at herself, and starts to giggle. She untangles herself from his arms, and dances across the room, laughing and looking at him with eyes that are a bit shocky, but delighted, nonetheless. Zach sits up in a lotus position and laughs with Harriet. "So when are you going to ask me what I am?" Harriet laughs and dances a little more, before wandering back, and plopping down on a pillow facing him. She beams. "When I get used to thinking about what you're not." Her eyebrows rise. "I think I can deal with that now, you know? So, lay it on me. What are you?" Zach dips his head a bit and his mouth curl upward in one corner. "First off I need to tell you that this /must/ remain between you and me. I'm forbidden to tell you about all this stuff, unless I firmly belive that you are....ready for it." Harriet nods, the levity leaving her face. "I figured that'd be the case, you know? I won't tell anyone. You have my word." She makes the vow seriously, looking directly into his eyes. Zach nods. "Good. Now, the showing you had yesternight went exceptionally well. It was blessed, to put it simply and truthfully. Given that, I belive you might be ready to hear this. I hope so.." Harriet looks ready to quibble, what with the drugs and the Dead Guy, and all, but obviously feels this is Not the Time. So she simply nods, and listens, visibly steeling herself for whatever he has to say. You say, "I'm an angel. And no, most of us don't come with the funky spotlight effect they use in that tv show." Harriet blinks at Zach. After a very long moment, she blinks again. Apparently, even "Ah" is no longer in her grasp. She makes a vague gesture, and blinks. You say, "So yes, Virginia, there is a God." Zach smiles. Harriet gestures, this time with the other hand, and just gapes. She lifts her hand upward and points. Zach smiles and nods. And thinks, //Geez, I'm starting to act like Yves..// Harriet realizes that she hasn't been breathing for a while, and sucks in a quick breath. "But...I mean...an /angel/? But, Zach, you flirt! You do more than flirt!" Obviously Harriet is having trouble reconciling Sunday School and Zach, as she blinks and stammers at him. If it hadn't been for the lucky fact that Zach has ears, his grin would have reached all the way around his head. And you could have lifted the top of his head right off. "I'm an angel, not a frickin' monk!" Harriet gapes some more. "Yeah, but..." She lays back on the floor and stares blankly at the ceiling. "Okay," she says at last. Her voice is barely above a whisper. "Obviously...half-remembered Sunday School stories aren't going to cut it, here, you know?" She sits up slowly. "So. Tell me what an angel is...really." Harriet pages: One good thing about getting ahold of an agnostic. She's not going to try and make you fit into what she thinks an angel should be. Including non-existant. ;P Zach hmms and shifts into a more comfortable position. "An angel is a being that originates in Heaven. That is were we are created and it's our natural habitat, as it were. We are servant of God, made to work His will within the various facets of reality." That's a start... "Ah." She looks blank for a moment, then nods. "So...God is, well, God? And there really is a Heaven? With, um, harps and stuff, you know?" She blinks, and looks rather confused. But at least she's trying. Zach chuckles and strokes her cheek. "Well yes. Only the harps aren't as ubiquitous as you'd think reading comic strips. You can get all kinds of musical intruments up there if you want. It's Heaven. It's were the blessed souls go when their time here on earth is up." Harriet blinks and smiles at him, looking a little like someone's been hitting her with a bat made of silly putty. "But, it's...real? Really, really real, you know?" Zach nods and beams. "Yup. It's very real indeed. I should know - it's were I come from after all." Harriet grins, and it's radiant. She launches herself into his arms, babbling incoherently, but very, very happily. Zach falls back onto the pillows, babbling Harriet all over him. He laughs and tickles her! Harriet is very ticklish, and immediately falls into laughing convulsions. "Ack!" She sputters, and mock glares up at him, or tries, but the wide grin ruins it all. The grin and the desperate squirming, as Zach mercilessly tickles her into submission! Pillows are soon spread all over the floor as the two extremely playful people romp around acting all goofy. "This isn't fair!" Harriet wails as she tries to escape the tickling og the so-called divine being. Eventually, however, she can do nothing but lay on a bright emerald cushion, pant raggedly, and giggle. Zach props himself up on an elbow next to her and grins hugely. He doesn't seem to be remotedly winded, disgusting person that he is! "All is fair in Love and War, baby!" he laughs and keeps his free hand far away from her to avoid triggering her tickly reflexes. Harriet hmphs, and looks at him with shining eyes. One hand comes up to touch his cheek lightly. "We're not alone..." Her voice is hushed, reverent. "We're really not alone, you know? That's wonderful." Zach leans into her caress with a loving smile all over his face. "Yeah. There are more things both in heaven and on earth than most philosophers have ever dreamed of. But the angel-human ratio is very skewed. There are far, far more humans than there are angels on Earth. And we're supposed to work in secrecy - that's God's law." Harriet nods. "I can understand that," she says, and then frowns slightly. "Actually, no, not at the moment, but I trust you." She looks at him seriously. "I won't tell anyone, really I won't, you know?" She appears to be thinking about something. "Are you the only one...I mean, around here, at least?" You say, "The only angel? No. But as far as I know I'm the only angel of my particular choir around here." Harriet raises an eyebrow. "Choir? You sing?" She blinks. "Well, I guess you would...but, okay," her brows knit together, "so, you're not the only person I've classified as really strange, no offense." She smiles, and chuckles. "I mean there's Lucian, and he's certainly no..." things that she's been trying really, really hard not to think about suddenly go click, click, click through her mind. Her hand makes a flat little sound as it hits the carpet. She looks at him. "...no? No." Uh-oh. Oh dear. Yikes. Here we go. Zach takes a nice, deep breath and finishes Harriet's sentence for her, "..no angel." The words fall like lead on their own account. Even if he tries to keep them neutral. Zach has this nasty feeling that is will be worse than when Hachilah yelled at him and called him an unreasonably stubborn oaf... Harriet shakes her head, and scoots back from him. "No. No, Zach. No..." She huddles in on herself, shaking her head. "No. That's just not possible, you know? He's...no. No, no, no." She shudders. "That's...no!" She jerks upright and glares at him. Harriet patpats. "It'll be okay. Not right now, however...since I have to leave, and need a good reason to kick him out. ;P" Zach sits up slowly and reaches out a hand to her. "I am sorry, Harriet. So very sorry. He's a broken angel. His heart rests in darkness..." There is pain and sorrow in his eyes, and deep worry. Zach heh:) Nice spot! :) Harriet says, "Angst! Gotta love it." Zach says, "Mmmm! Angst! :)" Harriet shudders again and leaps up from the floor. She points a finger at Zach. "No, Zach. This...no. He's /Lucian/. Yes, he can be a bit of an arrogant pain in the ass at times, but..." She begins to pace, jerkily, like a puppet in the hands of a insane puppeteer. "That's not possible. It's just not." Her voice breaks. "I love him!" Zach says, "Are you gonna get online later tonight? If not, I can just leave Zach here. I need to go to bed now anyway. :)" Harriet says, "I'll be on later tonight, probably around midnight." Zach says, "Okay, then I'll get thrown out. :)" Zach stands up and reaches out to touch her. He looks absolutely mortified and gravely concerned. "I know you do. And I am sorry to hurt you like this. But remember your promise, please - don't run." Harriet stops, and looks at him with wild and empty eyes. For a long moment, she does look remarkably like a rabbit, trembling and ready to spring into a mad dash. Then her eyes slide closed, and she takes a deep breath. "I promised, and I won't break that promise." Her voice is firm. "And we're still friends, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave now. I need to think about this, you know?" She tries to smile at him. "I need to sort this all out." Zach opens and closes his mouth in agonized indecision. "Ah.. Yes. I understand. This is rather a lot to handle. Just... Be very careful next time you see him. Very careful... And - would it help if I sent someone over to check up one you. See that you're okay? Another human who's been through what you're ging through now?" Harriet looks away. "I won't tell him what you told me. I will, at some point, have to talk to him, though." She shudders, and looks utterly miserable. "And, please don't send anyone over. I'd rather deal with this on my own, for a while, you know?" She does smile at him, then, even if it's only a shadow of her usual expression. "I won't do anything foolish, Zach. I just want a little time to myself." Zach walks over to her, stroker her cheek and kisses her on the brow. "I respect that, Harriet. Take care of yourself, and call me if you need anything. Anything at all." Zach takes a step back. "I'll come by tomorrow evening to see if you're allright, mkay?" Harriet nods, and gives him a quick, fierce hug before walking over to the door, and opening it. "I'll deal. Somehow, I'll deal, you know? Be safe, Zach," she says, and watches him with sad eyes. At his last words, she takes a deep breath, and nods. "Yeah, okay. I'd...like that." As he walks out the door, he turns and fixes her with intense, green eyes full of love. "And Harriet - the Divine was present at your showing. Not just represented by this humble servant in front of you. The event /was/ blessed. Remember that, even if there was tragedy for one of the guests later." He gives her hand a quick squeeze and takes off. Harriet whews. "Intense! Thanks for the RP! Now, I'm late, and must run." *HUG* <<<>>>