Logfile from brass.

There's a sound of thumping and clattering coming from the top of the 
stairs. Someone's working on something. Anyone investigating these noises, 
will find a grim-looking Zach repairing the door to number 4B.

<OOC> Zach says, "How badly was the door mangled?"

<OOC> Harriet says, "Just ripped off its hinges."

	Harriet appears to be a woman in her mid-twenties. She's one or 
two inches above five feet in height, slender and darkly tanned, making 
the bright green of her eyes even more noticeable in her sun-touched face. 
She has shoulder-length, unruly, dark brown hair, with bangs that tend to 
flop over the frames of her glasses. Her round, open face is just a touch 
drawn, pointing to perhaps too many nights spent with not enough sleep in 
her recent past. Nevertheless, she seems to be used to doing a lot of 
smiling, from the tiny laugh lines that crinkle the corners of her eyes. 
Her body is fit, not muscular, but with a certain wiry tone adding 
definition to her shoulders and calves. A pair of gold-rimmed glasses 
perch--slightly askew--on her nose. 

Harriet is wearing an oversized man's T-shirt, a faint oil stain, too old 
to be gotten out completely, is obvious at the hem of the hem of the red 
fabric. The grey, fuzzy sweatpants beneath are similarly over-sized, and 
bunched up at the bottom where they were obviously meant for legs much 
longer than hers. The drawstrings are drawn as tight as they can go. The 
shoes are well-fitting, at least, and a uncomfortably bright shade of 
yellow, where they aren't stained with paint and plaster flecks.

Harriet creeps up the stairwell, making her way towards 4B, quietly. She 
looks a little more rested, and a /lot/ more clean. Although very rumpled. 
The bandages are all gone. She stops when she sees Zach, hesitating for a 
long moment as she watches him.

AutoJudge:  Zach rolls: 1 + 3 = 4 . Check die: 3 

Zach busies himself with tightening the screws in a new door hinge he's 
put up. His eyes are firmly focused on the job, but his ears apparantly 
detects something. As the screw is tightened as much as possible, he 
lowers the screwdriver and slowly looks to the stairs and Harriet.

Zach still hasn't shaved.

Seeing that she's been found out, Harriet takes a deep breath, and starts 
to move forwards again, crossing the space between them rather like 
someone going to the gallows. She looks at him, steadily. "Hi. I'm sorry. 
I love you, and I'm really, really sorry, you know?"
Zach silently drops the 'driver into the open toolbox that stands next to 
him, and puts his arms around Harriet. He may be unshaven, but he /is/ 
clean and unbloody. "Hey you. How are you feeling today?"

<OOC> Zach resonates, wanting a CD1-2...

AutoJudge:  Zach rolls: 4 + 3 = 7 . Check die: 4 

<OOC> Harriet says, "Alas. What is that, again?"

<OOC> Zach wonders if he can choose not to take the +2 for touching?

<OOC> Zach says, "CD4 is 3 best and worst last year."

<OOC> Harriet hmm. I should think so.

<OOC> Zach would rule that, too.

Harriet sighs, and slips her hands up to rest on his hips as she leans 
against the Angel. "Like a bloody idiot, you know? I hurt you, and Cosmo, 
and MeiQin, and Chris. I didn't /mean/ to, but I did. And I did it out of 
selfishness and fear. I failed the test." She rests her forehead on his 
chest. "I had no right to hurt you like that, love."

<OOC> Harriet nods. Okay. So. Best-Becoming a Soldier of God, helping 
Goldie, helping to Redeem Ruby. Worst-Breaking her promise to Zach, 
hitting Zach, failing to protect her friends when they needed it.

Zach holds Harriet tighly and is saying fervent prayers of thanks to the 
Lord. "Let's go inside, love. The door is fixed and all..." He ushers 
Harriet inside, and gabbing his toolbox, he follows her.

Number 4B - Terrace Lofts(#388RhJng)
	A large, bright loft on the fourth floor of the building. To the 
right of the door is a small kitchen area, and a shiny, new oaken table. 
The table has inserts, and elaborate carvings on the sides and legs. Four 
oak chairs sit around it. Nearby is the closet, and the door to the 
bathroom.
	The living area lacks typical furniture, instead holding a 
multitude of huge pillows in a variety of jewel-like colors, and stools of 
all shapes and sizes. Art supplies, and sculptures in various states of 
completion dominate the area. The sleeping area is a 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 on shelf 
of books, one of CDs, and the top shelf is cluttered with framed photos. 
There's a large wall mirror near the bed, and posters for musicals 
plastered all over 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 tidy order makes them unusual in the decor. 
The room smells of flowers, from the numerous filled vases on the table, 
windowsills, and kitchen counter.
	(OOC: +views are set. To see them, type '+view here'.)
Obvious exits:
Front Door <O>

Harriet is ushered! And, this time, at least, she doesn't look all that 
unhappy with it. She looks around the apartment, warily. "Everything 
appears to still be here, you know? That's good..."

Zach nods and closes the door. The toolbox gets put aside, and then 
Harriet gets embraced and hugged again. "I love you. And I'll love you 
even when you don't want me to."

Harriet hugs back. "I never didn't want you to love me, you know? Please 
don't think that, Arethas." She rubs her cheek along his chest. "I 
just...I needed...thought I needed to go away. It wasn't you," she assures 
him, quietly.

Zach strokes her hair and swallows. "Next time you need to take a break, 
please, tell us. Don't...don't set up a whole show to amke it look like 
you were kidnapped or worse. IF we know you need to take break, and, and, 
you just tell us... We'll /respect/ that."

Harriet stiffens. "I /didn't/ set anything up!" She frowns. "I just didn't 
know what else to /do/! I couldn't stay here...I couldn't try to explain 
to MeiQin and Chris, and it hurt so much, I just went for a walk...but 
once I started walking, I couldn't stop."

Zach strokes her back. "I see. I'm just happy you're still alive. Do you 
want to talk now, or...?" he asks anxsiously.

"I should tell you," Harriet says, and sighs. "But I don't want you to get 
angry, and I don't want anyone to fight over anything, you know? I really 
don't. So you won't, right?" She peers up at him, frowning.

Zach nods by way of great effort and gestures to the chairs. "Should we 
sit?"

<OOC> Zach makes an emote-check for this scene.

AutoJudge:  Zach rolls: 2 + 3 = 5 . Check die: 6 

<OOC> Zach is Serene.

<OOC> Harriet marvels.

Harriet nods. "Probably." She gives him another little wary look as she 
makes her way to a chair, and plops down on it. She sighs. "I've been...a 
little stressed, I guess. Otherwise I wouldn't have taken it so badly, you 
know? It's just, with the thing in Swope--that man's /arm/ was ripped off! 
and everything. I should have been able to protect MeiQin and Chris, you 
know? I should have been able to."

Zach holds up his hand to calm her, looking serene and, well, quite 
angelically patient. "Harriet, can you tell me about Swope from the 
beginning? I /still/ haven't heard a full account about it, save from Baz, 
who wasn't there until the very end."

Harriet blinks, then nods. "I don't know much. I spent most of it 
unconcious. MeiQin and Chris were there through the whole thing, you know? 
Um. We were talking, and someone screamed. MeiQin called 911, and I went 
to see what was wrong...I figured someone was getting mugged, and that if 
someone showed up, the kids would scatter." She swallows. 

"They weren't kids. And they didn't scatter. There were four of them, and 
the man...he already dead by the time I got there. His arm had just been 
torn off and there was blood /everywhere/, you know? They were closing in 
on the woman. I thought that if I could distract them, she could run. But 
it only worked for the three seconds or so it took for one of them to 
knock me cold."

Zach nods. "Did you get a good look at the attackers?"

Harriet shakes her head. "No. It was getting dark. They were large, 
male...scary looking, but not in an obvious way, you know? Not like 
Numinous Corpus scary. According to MeiQin, they chanted, maybe Sung? I 
don't know. Solu...a Kyriotate of Stone...possessed the woman, and 
apparently scared the guys away. Maybe he'll be able to give a better 
description?"

Zach nods. "Okay. So, there were four of them. They were big and scary. 
They sung, and from what Baz tells me, Solu thought it was Form or 
something. They were able to literally rip the arm of a human male. And 
you still think you should have been able to protect MeiQin and Chris from 
these monsters? How?"

Harriet purses her lips. "It's part of what I'm here for, you know? I'm 
supposed to help /protect/ people from the bad guys," she says, simply. 
"I'm just really bad at it."

Zach folds his hands in his lap. "Yes, you need to work on tactics a bit. 
You have the right instincts, and the general idea - but. In a situation 
like this, first priority is to get innocents _away_ from the scene. This 
is normally not done by approaching the attackers. I know that it is a 
horrible thing to abandon someone to a fate like that, but there are 
limits to how many people you can take care of at once. Especially given 
that you do not have any relics, Songs or suchlike that can be used 
offensively?"

Harriet winces. "No, not as such. But I didn't /know/ when I went to check 
it out that it would be Bad Guys. There wasn't any Noise, you know?"

<OOC> Harriet grumbles. ICly, had I managed to stay connected, Harriet 
would probably not have been /quite/ that stupid.

"I know," Zach tells her calmly. "But even if they were just four punks, 
they would still have outmatched you. Especially with guns. All else 
aside, Swope Park is well known for being a dangerous place here and 
there."

<OOC> Zach snugs and SMITES your conection. Evil, evil flakycable.

Harriet sighs. "Yes, but we weren't in one of the more dangerous places, 
you know? And generally speaking, muggers will run away if other people 
take an interest." She eyes him. "Do you really think that I could have 
left someone screaming without at least checking it out? Do you really 
think that's a good idea?"

Zach tilts his head and thinks. "You said you saw a man lying on the 
ground, sans arm. Four men were closing in on a woman, and behind you you 
had Chris and MeiQin. Yet you still went on to approach these men?"

Harriet shivers at the memory. "I /told/ Chris to run, and MeiQin was 
calling the police. I didn't want to go into Battle Royale or anything 
with them, but I couldn't leave someone to just be r-ripped apart! No one 
deserves to die like that, especially not an innocent!"

Zach nods and steeples his finger, taking his time. "True. Very true. But. 
You, Harriet, are not a combatant. The only one who expects you to be one, 
is you. Considering your pasifistic nature, this is a paradox. There are 
primarily two ways of dealing with this: Either you learn to be better at 
retreating and pulling those innocents with you away, /or/ you learn to 
use a gun. You start carrying one. And you learn some more 
combat-efficient Songs."

Harriet twitches, and looks down. "I'm not the only one who expects me to 
be one. And I don't /want/ to be one, you know? But I can't just walk 
away. Even if I'm a coward in some respects, I don't want to be one in 
/all/ respects." She doesn't reply to the gun comment, except that her 
hand clenches on the table.

Zach frowns slightly. "There is no cowardice in knowing when to run. You 
win nothing by blindly rushing into danger. That's what we have Malakim, 
Warriors, Windies and other assorted loons for."

Harriet ducks her head. "I know. I /do/ know. But when I saw that man 
lying on the ground like that...I just couldn't bear to think of that poor 
woman, you know? I just lost my head a little, you know? I had to do 
/something/."

Zach gazes at her calmly, and remains serene. "I know, Harriet. And in the 
end, you survived and the woman did too. Neither MeiQin nor Chris were 
harmed. Now you must learn from this, to improve. Just like always. 
Perhaps Cosmo can teach you some Corporeal Songs of use. I only have 
Healing and Dreams to share..."

Harriet is not used to Serene Zach, and eyes him apprehensively. She does 
nod, though. "I know. And I'm not saying that it was one of my finer 
moments. It's not, you know? And Healing would be nice...I think Cosmo 
only know Entropy. Which, while interesting, doesn't have many practical 
uses. Aside from the whole immortality thing."

Zach regards Harriet quietly. "Corporeal Entropy can be used both ways. 
You can subract or /add/ age. But that last one is a very cruel and 
unusual form of attack. Cosmo also has Thunder, as far as I know. The Song 
of Thunder is every bit as unsubtle as the Songs of Entropy, but can buy 
you some running away time if you hit good."

Harriet blinks. "What's Thunder?" she asks, then brightens. "Oh, yes. I 
think I heard about that, you know? It's very...loud, isn't it?"

You say, "It is very, very loud. It creates a sonic explotion on all three 
planes. That means that normal humans hear it too. It stuns people, unless 
you have a very sturdy soul."

Harriet winces. "I don't really want to do /that/, you know? I mean, all 
the bad guys know me anyway, but still. I'd like to not have to explain 
why I've become a human sound bomb to anyone else." She glances at the 
door. "I've already got to explain how someone Brynn's size would rip a 
door off its hinges," she says, glumly.

Zach sits back and hangs one leg over the other. "Thunder is considered a 
last ditch kind of Song. It is something to consider. I would recommend 
it, myself." He pauses and shifts mental gears. "Can you now please tell 
me what happened with the door and Brynn. Had the door displeased her in 
any way, shape or form?"

Harriet shakes her head. "Just me. She was here when I came home the other 
night, you know? Talking with Chris and MeiQin." She pauses and regards 
him very apprehensively. Zach and Calm just don't fit! "She wanted to 
speak to me. Um. Yeah."

You say, "About what?"

Harriet shifts her gaze to the table top. "She said that I was going to 
let Solu possess me and take care of my 'problems'. That it would only 
take one session, you know? I didn't want to, and she said that I was 
endangering everyone because I didn't want to fight, and that I'd have to 
get over it so that everyone else could get on with their lives." Her 
voice shrinks throughout the recitation. "I told her that I didn't /want/ 
anyone else running around with my body, and she said that I should stop 
being so selfish and that I was a coward. And left." By the end, it's 
barely audible.

AutoJudge:  Zach rolls: 5 + 4 = 9 . Check die: 2 [Emote, and fail.]

Zach sucks in a hissing breath. His serene composure is cracking, and 
anger is showing. "Oh. She said, /that/, did she. Goddamn stupid, stupid 
bitch." He runs his hands over his face and sighs deeply.

Harriet flinches. "She's not! I mean, it's true, you know? I've thought it 
myself. I just...I don't know how to /fix/ it without becoming someone 
else entirely. So, I thought, that if I left for a while, I could try and 
find a way..."

Zach clenches his fists and works his jaws in silent fury. It takes him a 
while to trust his voice enough to speak. "You are not a Soldier of Fire, 
and Brynn had no right to talk to you like that. You were right in 
refusing posession. A Kyriotate posession will send your consciousness out 
in the Marches, while it uses your bosy as a host to move around and do 
stuff. How that should 'take care of' your problem, I have no idea.

Harriet grimaces. "Yeah, but the demons...they'd let me walk up to them, 
you know? Or this body, anyway. I think maybe that was what she meant." 
She doesn't sound happy about that. "And she's just worried. I'm a 
liability."

Zach shakes his head. "No. You. Are. Not. You're an asset. Brynn is like 
quite a few of my Choirmates; she doesn't like humans much at all. That is 
/her/ problem. No matter what you do, you're never going to be good enough 
for her, so let it go. As for the Kyriotate, well, it's still of Stone. It 
would have to somehow get the demons to attack you first, before it could 
whale on them. /And/, not all of these critters are stupid. They might 
very well see that you're not...you, and become suspicious. A Kyrio in 
your pocket is a good thing, a Kyrio in your head is less so."

"With the Calabim, that wouldn't be exactly difficult," Harriet says, 
quietly. Watching him carefully. "But Solu isn't really all that good at 
being, you know, subtle. I just...it /could/ work. But it scares me, and I 
don't want to let my body be used like that. Not for that purpose." She 
shivers.

Zach nods firmly. "And I absolutely forbid it. I will speak to Bazil and 
make sure that this is clearly understood. I am not having my Soldier 
posessed by a Kyriotate we don't know. Especially if he isn't too hot on 
the subtlety. You can't change role and vessel, like an angel. If the 
other angels want combatant Soldiers, then can bloody well go out there 
and recruit some!"

Harriet nibbles on her lip. "I already spoke to Bazil. Um. Late last 
night, you know? I thought...he's /Stone/, and not really...I thought he 
might be a little less biased about stuff. It helped. Quite a lot, 
actually." She sounds guilty as she admits this, her hands fidgeting 
nervously.

Zach's features soften a bit. "You spoke to Bazil? That's good. I'm glad 
he was able to help you. Very good," he says sincerely.

Harriet relaxes, a little. "He's a nice guy," she says, softly. Then she 
rises from her chair and goes to stand next to Zach. "I'm sorry that I 
hurt you, Zach. I should not have run away like that, you know?"

You say, "You're right. You should have left a message and gone somewhere 
safe to rest. But that is now past and hopefully a lesson we all learn 
from. I forgive you. *pause* Now, can you forgive me?"

Harriet ducks her head in acknowledgement of his point. She looks up, 
confused, at the last. "Forgive you? There's nothing to forgive you for, 
you know? You haven't done anything wrong, and I love you." She reaches 
out to touch his hair.

Zach reaches up and takes her hand before she can touch his hair. "I have 
been lax. I haven't been protecting and guiding you like I should. Time 
and time again I haven't been there when you needed me the most. I'm keep 
failing you both as angel and as..."

<OOC> Zach tries to be Manly!

AutoJudge:  Zach rolls: 5 + 6 = 11 . Check die: 4 

<OOC> Zach FAILS!

Zach chokes and his eyes fill with tears. He doesn't dare complete that 
sentence.

Harriet makes a little eeping noise, and squeezes his hand, edging even 
closer to him. "No, Zach. No. You've never failed me, you know? Never, 
never, never. I /love/ you. I don't /tell/ people when I need them, it's 
not your fault for failing to read my mind!" She squeezes his hand again, 
and reaches out with her other arm to hug.

Zach shuts his eyes closely together, fighting to keep from sobbing. The 
veins and tendons on his neck and throat are standing out, plainly showing 
how much he's straining to keep it together. "I am not around enough, not 
steady enough..."

Harriet moves to straddle his legs, since hugging any other way is just 
painfully awkward. If he doesn't push her off or anything, she bends 
forward to kiss his closed eyelids, her hand grasping his tightly. "Zach, 
you are here. When I need you, you are here, you know? I adore you for who 
you are...I never asked for 'steady', and it would hurt me if you tried to 
change yourself to be what /you/ think /I/ need. I need /you/. Exactly as 
you are, my love, my Arethas."

Zach lets go of her hand and puts his arms around her, pulling her to him. 
His eyes open, and the pain and sorrow in them is plain for to see. The 
tears that threaten to trickle down his cheeks are kind of telling too. "I 
do not deserve a love like yours. I am blessed beyond reason, for the 
second time in my life. I love you." He kisses her fervently, then 
withdraws and looks her straight in the eyes. Now his green orbs are 
ablaze with an intensity that Harriet probably hasn't seen before. Not in 
/him/. "I need you to witness something for me. Will you do it?"

Harriet welcomes the kissing, returning it with a slight edge of 
desperation. When he withdraws, and asks his question, she blinks. "O-of 
course, you know? Whatever you need, Zach." She studies him. "What is it 
that you need me to witness?"

Zach breathes in and out a few times to steady himself. A tension is 
building in him, and almost vibrating out in the room from him. "This," he 
tells her. "A defining of my heart." He takes her hands, kisses them and 
looks up. In firm words of inherent power, voice going oddly songlike, he 
says, "I shall not give up on love." And he emits a small gasp as the last 
word it uttered.

Harriet stares. In a awed, hushed voice, she asks, "Did you just...did you 
just do what I think you just did, you know?"

Zach shivers slightly, and lowers his eyes. His features soften a bit and 
he manages a small smile for Harriet. "I am not entirely sure what you 
think I did. But I'll tell you: I just took a new Oath. My fifth."

"Good lord," Harriet murmurs. She just stares at him for a while, then 
reaches out with her free hand to trail the tips of her fingers across his 
cheek. "It's...It's a good Oath, you know?" she offers, inadequately, but 
with the depth of feeling in her voice turning it husky and rough.

"Yes, it is a good oath. It's been with me for so long... It was well 
about time to manifest it." Zach leans slightly into her trailing fingers 
and turns his head to kiss them if he can.

Harriet doesn't move the fingers away, letting Zach kiss them. Then she 
smiles, and trails the tip of one over his lips. "I'm honored that you 
asked me to witness it, you know? Thank you."

Zach smiles back at her, looking closely at her with a mixture of love and 
wonder in his eyes. "Considering how much love you fill my life with, I'd 
say it was a given. I can hardly believe I've been blessed like this, not 
only once but /twice/ in my life. I will never give up on you, even if 
there should come a time when I have to withdraw from you, Heaven forbid."

Harriet sniffles, and her own eyes start to fill up with tears. She leans 
forward, resting her head on his shoulder, and planting little kisses on 
the fabric. "You're such a wonderful person, you know? I mean, that sounds 
stupid, I know, but it's /true/. I love you, and I want to be worthy of 
you. Always."

Zach cradles Harriet in his lap, wordlessly. "You are more than worthy. I 
am honoured to know you. And even more honoured to /know/ you, in the 
biblical sense, you know..." He smiles a little and arranges himself and 
Harriet so he kan kiss her.

Harriet giggles and wiggles to help with the arranging. "In addition to 
being a wonderful person, a beautiful angel, and a marvelous 
boyfriend...you're also an incorrigable /flirt, you know?" She tilts her 
head up to kiss him, happily. And never mind that they both probably taste 
a little salty.

"Love is my religion, and flirt is one of the most vital sacraments of 
love," Zach tells her piously. After that, there isn't really much more 
use for words. Other sacraments come into action all by themselves.

Fade to black...