Logfile from Brass&Steel. Zach knocks on the door marked 'Number 4B <4B>'. A woman shouts from nearby, "It's open" Harriet is sitting at the kitchen counter, a bright red, stuffed toy dragon, and various electronic gadgets scattered around her. She looks completely out of her depth, but seems determined to soldier on. Zach opens the door a crack and peeks in. "Harriet?" He looks around, spots Harriet and enters into the room proper, carrying her picnic basket and the blanket she left at his place. He looks a bit uncertain. "Hey there, honey. What are you doing?" Harriet beams at Zach. "I'm trying to rig Toby to roar whenever the door is opened, you know?" She presses a button on the dragon's back, and indeed it wiggles its slender neck and lets forth an electronic bellow. "Isn't he cute?" she says as she hops off the stool and goes over to hug Zach, basket and blanket be darned. "How are you doing, Zach?" Zach lets the basket and blanket drop gently to the floor so that he can hold Harriet properly. Mmmmm....hug! He smiles at the dragon. "Yeah, very cute! And I'm okay mostly. You?" Harriet is wearing a thick, longsleeved, flannel shirt, jeans, and sneakers. This wouldn't be all that bad, except that the flannel is plaid...in neon green and pink. The jeans are painted with little smiley faces in every color imaginiable, and the sneakers are an almost flourescent shade of yellow. In short, she's a walking acid trip. But she seems happy. Harriet snuggles happily against him. "I'm good," she says, and smiles up at him. "Would you like something to drink, you know? And do you know how to read Chinese, because that appears to be what the manual is written in..." Zach releases Harriet gently and picks up the basket. "Heh, maybe you should ask Ada? She's real handy with electronic stuff, and for all I know she's even able to read that stuff. Now where'd you like me to put this? I cleaned up allt he plates and stuff, so..." He resists the urge to shuffle his feet. Harriet nods. "I just may do that," she agrees, then opens the closet door. "That stuff can go in here, you know?" She hesitates for a moment, then asks, "I hope you enjoyed it? Even if it didn't go exactly how I'd planned, I was only trying to cheer you up a little..." Zach brings the stuff over and places it as instructed. He is clean shaven today, determined to look his best for Harriet maybe? Or at least determined that just because life is in a grey, hurting and embarrasing place right now, there's no reason to let standards drop. Or something - he's clean shaven at least! He bites his lip and focuses intently on the basket and its placement. *hrm* "Yeah, it kinda went... off. But I did enjoy it, both the food but more importantly the care. I..." /NOW/ he shuffles his feet, just a little bit. Harriet looks at Zach for a long moment, smiles, and gently takes his hand and tugs him in the direction of the cushions. "Let's sit down," she says, softly. "and relax, you know?" Zach turns his head and looks at Harriet. Yup, he ashamed of himself. Or embarrased. Or both. He gets tugged along meekly, and floomp down into a heap of cushions with Harriet. A small shiver passes through him as if he were a drunkard in the last stages of cold turkey, but he regards her with a smile. Never letting go of her hand. Harriet settles down beside Zach, and snuggles up against him. "Zach, you have /nothing/ to be ashamed of, you know? There's no reason to be embarrassed..." she looks at him and smiles, "/Believe/ me." Ooh snuggles! Snuggles good! Zach shifts to get both his arms properly arounf Harriet and holds her tight. He goes just a hint of pink in his cheeks and inwardly curses the Archangel who make him a vessel that can blush. A small smile manifests and he says, "Thank you Harriet. I'll try to stop being such a dufus. I just...." He sighs. Harriet's smile widens just a touch at the extra pink in Zach's cheeks. "You just...?" she tilts her head to one side, and waits for him to finish the sentence. Zach squirms. Enough with that raking the angel over hot coals thing already! "I just blurted it out without stopping to /think/. It's," another pained sigh, "..true though." He caresses her cheek gently. "But remember this, Harriet: It's reefly given, no strings attached, and nothing - NOTHING - expected in return. I wasn't ever going to go that deep into it because I didn't want to stress you out more that what I've already done with....other stuff." Harriet nods, and sighs, herself. She leans against him, resting her head on his chest. "You know," she says with a hint of sadness, "you are one of the kindest, truest people I've ever known. And I don't think it's just because you're an angel. It's because you're /you/." Her eyes close. "And I do love you. And I'm very attracted to you. But..." she trails off, helplessly. Zach stills and strokes her head and shoulder and arm gently, slowly. "But you still love Lucian, and I'm... I am not just an angel, I'm a malakite. And a Creationer to boot.." "I still love him," Harriet agrees, and there's a whole world of pain in her voice for a moment, before she pushes it back, and away. She continues, more calmly, "But I don't really see what you being a Malakite or a Creationer has to do with it, you know?" She smiles wanly. "I like Creationers, and Malakim are neat, too." Insane, but since when has that bothered Harriet? Zach flinches as he hears and sees the pain inside her. Reflexively he kisses her forehead and gived her a good, hopefully comforting squeeze. "I'm sorry..." He pauses before explaining, "Malakim are violent, our basic reason to exist is to eradicate Evil. Being with a kite is like being with a SAS soldier, or a Navy Seal or domething. French Foreign Legion even... That's even true for me, though I am as relaxed as we can possibly come. As for the Creationer bit, well that's not a problem when dealing with other angels. But with humans it /can/ cause trouble and hurt sometimes. If we're careless..." Harriet relaxes against Zach, and does seem to be somewhat comforted. "I've noticed," she says, with a touch of dry humor. "And I'll admit that I'm not comfortable with the violence part...even though I know it's neccessary. But," her shoulders move in a shrug, "I did choose this, and I trust you guys. What you're doing is /right/, even if it's not the way I'd prefer to do it..." she blinks, and being Harriet, cuddles even closer. Zach keeps the cuddles coming, and lovingly caresses Harriet bit by bit. Starting with Harriet's Back. Sensing her blink, he wants to know, "What? What is it?" Brynn waves. Harriet looks startled. "Oh, er. It's nothing, Zach," she says. Perhaps it's even true. "I was just thinking about something. I do that on occassion, you know?" She smiles at him. Aria has arrived. Harriet and Zach are cuddling on the cushions in the living room. There's a bright red, stuffed, toy dragon on the counter, with little bits of electronic stuff spread around it. All is calm and quiet. No bleeding, anywhere. Yay. Zach looks puzzled and clearly wants to know more. "I know you do, babe. Um.. What was it? I'm prying, I know..! Knock, knock. Someone's at the door. And that someone wants in! Someone is with the someone who is knocking. "Yes, you are," Harriet says, and smiles to rob the words of their sting. "I don't want to talk about it, Zach." She looks up at the knocking, and calls out, "It's open!" It's rude, but she's /comfy/. Zach looks up at the knocking, stiffening a bit. Damn right he's wary! It had better not be someone delivering pizza! The door opens, and Brynn steps inside. Aria is likely behind her, but maybe not. She could have teleported away. Anyway, the student - Brynn, not Aria, the other student - catches sight of the two, allows her gaze to linger for a moment, then takes a look around in the apartment. Aria is behind Brynn, because she can't teleport yet. That's not until she gets to level 3 and learns the WARP spell. Aria looks around the apartment, a bit more slowly than Brynn. She's holding a painting (painted side facing towards her) fairly nervously. "Um.", she says, "Hi." Harriet straightens when she sees who it is, and climbs to her feet. She smiles, warmly at Aria, and a bit warily at Brynn. "Hey guys. Good to see you, you know? C'mon in and sit down...would you like anything to drink, either of you?" Zach relaxes a little when he sees Brynn. Not that there's any reason to, but at least she isn't delivering pizza! He smiles to them both, trailing a hand gently down Harriet's shoulder and back as she rises. Removing it just before he might earn himself a thick ear. "Hey there Brynn, Aria. How're you guys doing?" "No, I'll be off in a minute," Brynn tells the two. Or three, really. A pair of blue eyes (Brynn's own; she didn't acquire them from some unwilling victim) are aimed at Zach. "I wish to sparr with you soon." Aria blinks, she looks to Brynn, "Oh you're staying.", she grins a little, before looking back to Harriet, "Um, well, water would be nice, I think. Doing alright, Brynn dragged me over here to make sure Harriet saw one of my paintings. I hope we aren't interrupting....?" Harriet moves into the kitchen, patting Toby the Dragon absently on her way by. "One glass of water coming right up, you know? And I'd love to see your work, Aria." She glances over at Zach. "Zach, could you please get one of my easals for her? They're over there," she points. To Brynn, she smiles, and says, "Are you sure you don't want anything to drink before you go?" Zach meets Brynn's eyes and nods. "Sounds good to me. We'll have to set something up." Then he smiles warmly to Aria. "Not interrupting at all, Aria! I'll get that easel in a jiffy!" He gets up and pads over to the corner where Harriet keeps such items and picks one. This he sets up somewhere where there's room for it. "Quite sure." Aside from that, Brynn doesn't say much. Instead, she stands there, which she is good at. She allows her arms to hand down from her side, being an arrogant and annoying creature, which admittedly doesn't have much to do with her current stance. Aria looks at Zach's eyes, and then looks towards Brynn's eyes. And then swallows nervously and says, "Thank you, um, Zach. Harriet. Sory for barging in like this...", it hasn't quite hit her that Zach and Harriet know each other, which is a pretty big coincidence. She looks over to Brynn, "You're not leaving...are you?", Aria says, as if to make sure. Aria is a young college student, around 18 years of age, perhaps 19, who wears a conservative buttoned shirt and a knee-lenghth grey skirt. Her hair a contrast of vibrant red and falls down to the middle of her back. Very long indeed, and it's finely combed so that stray strands are rare. Her eyes are an ambient blue and her skin is slightly tanned, but it seems like the tan is slowly fading away. For footwear, she wears sandles alone, showing her toes to all. Harriet brings the glass of water back into the living room, and holds it until Aria has a hand free. She ignores the eyeplay, to grin at Aria. "Don't worry about it, you know? I've been wanting to see your work for a while now...I'm very glad Brynn brought you by." She steps back and nods at easel Zach was kind enough to set up. "Would you like to put it on that, or just hold it?" Zach goes to stand besides Brynn, beaming quietly at Harriet and Aria. "Why don't we set up a few times for sparring, let them get on with the art bit hm?" he says to Brynn. "Tomorrow," Brynn says, and continues to stand there with much justice. She decides to do something different with her arms, and folds them neatly underneath her chest instead. Aria blinks at Zach. Sparring? ... Oh, Zach must be a gymnast too. Gym sparring! She places the painting on the Easel if, in fact, it arrived. And then she takes a step back, taking the glass from Harriet, saying "Thank you.", and taking a nice long sip, though it doesn't appear that much water is actually going down her throat. It's a painting of Aria's brother! Of course, that might not be too obvious, though the fellow does look like her, though, well, male. He's wearing clothes too, a black vest with a white shirt underneath, and ... blue slacks. Zach leans over for a muttered conversation with Brynn, while Harriet and Aria are getting artsy. Harriet peers at the painting, her head tilted slightly to one side. She smiles and nods. "It's lovely, you know?" she says with approval. She glances at Aria and back at the painting. "A family member was the model?" You whisper "Tomorrow should be okay. I'm waiting to hear back from Trade about doing Tether-work, but I don't think I'm going in tomorrow. What kind of sparring did you have in mind?" to Brynn. Brynn whispers ""I wish to find out how capable you and Cosmo are in a fight. I'll say unarmed combat, no style, until one of us drops or surrenders."" Brynn mutters back. Totally. Aria glances over to Zach quickly and then looks back to Harte, "Er, yeah, you could tell? Um, thank you...er...", aww, Aria's embarrassed, but mostly just nervous. She glances over to Brynn again. Did she just hear what she thought she heard? Alas the day. She looks back to Harriet, "He's my brother." You whisper "Sounds good to me. Where?" to Brynn. Harriet smiles reassuringly at Aria, and tries to distract her from the muttering by asking her intelligent artist-like questions about technique and such...her Player hasn't a clue what those would be, but is pretty sure Harriet would. Brynn whispers ""I was hoping you would know of a place."" Aria is distracted by the muttering! And she replies with intelligent artist-like answers, except for when she stumbles over things like the tools she uses ect. ect. She doesn't look back to either Zach or Brynn, however. Harriet nods, and says at last to Aria, "Well, this is a very good piece of work, you know? Thank you for showing it to me." She grins at the fellow artist, and bounces on her heels a little bit. "If you don't mind, I'd love to see more of what you've done at some point?" Brynn senses "Zach leans on the wall and muses. "There's planty of places, but if you ask Cosmo I'm sure he'll have something. He trains with a ju-jitsu club I think. We might get to use that place. If not, we'll have to break into some derelict place I guess."" You sense Brynn gives a nod. "I guess so. I'm sure we'll find something." Aria blinks, "You think so?", CONFIDENCE BOLSTER. But alas, Aria is the type of person who hates her stuff no matter what, "Thank you, but... ... You're welcome.", she does keep her mouth shut, kind of. "If I find anything else, um, adequate I'll bring it over, I guess." You paged Aria with 'When you said TN10, did you mean to give ahint of your artist skill level, or did you mean that that painting has a modified CD of 10? <:)'. You whisper "That's settled then. But if I get caled in to work, we'll have to reschedule." to Brynn. "I do," Harriet says sincerely. She gives Aria a smile. "And I'd like to see the stuff you don't think is...adequate, as well, if you feel like showing me at some point. If you'd find it helpful, maybe we can get together sometime and bounce ideas off one another, you know?" She looks back at the painting, and says thoughtfully, "I've got this portrait that I'd like your opinion on, for one." Zach glances over to the artists and the painting as he mumbles to Brynn. Aria pages: er. Not a modified CD of 10. no o_o Aria pages: that's my perception + artistry. Brynn nods once more. "Right." She's apparently finished with the SEKRIT whispering, because she says in a louder voice than before, "I think I'll head back now. Aria, are you staying?" Aria seems to relax, just slightly, "Heh, um, alright. Okay.", she seems at a bit of a loss for words for a few moments before Brynn, thankfully, provides a distraction. She turns, "Er, sure, Brynn. ... See you back at the dorm?" Harriet turns to look at Brynn, and sighs. "Are you sure you have to run off, you know? You could hang around...it could be fun!" She grins at Brynn, cheerfully. Zach smiles again after the banter with Brynn and studies the painting more closely. He nods appreaciatively. "It's a good pice of work that, Aria. You have talent." Glancing over at Harriet, he nods his agreement with her. "Yeah, Brynn. Hang out with us, eh?" "I'm sure," Brynn tells them, and turns away. Then she will verily head over to the door, and place her hand on the knob. Aria looks to Zach, "Thank you.", she pauses, and then adds, "Goodbye Brynn, take care...Hope everything works out okay.", she looks back to Harriet and then looks down to her water and sips some more. Harriet nods, accepting Brynn's decision. It doesn't stop her from going over there and hugging the leaving student, though, and hugging her firmly. "Be safe, you know?" she says, and smiles at Brynn, as she steps back. Zach merely gives Brynn's arm a quick, friendly squeeze. "Okay then Bee. See you tomorrow. Take care." He smiles and moves his hand to straighten the shoulder piece of Harriet's shirt. Not that it needs straighteing, but he kinda needed an excuse to touch her. "Right." Brynn doesn't die from sugar overdose, but it's close. She must escape. And fast! "I'll catch you later. All of you." The promise is nowhere near as sinister as when she tells a demon that, of course, but they'll have to make do. Brynn opens the door, and vanishes outside. All of you. Dun. DUN. DUN!! Aria doesn't hug Brynn though, and instead just watches her leave. She says, "Um ... And thanks for the water.", desperately. Harriet grins at Aria, and doesn't look at all scary. "No problem. Actually, I was thinking of heating up a snack for myself...would you two care to join me, you know?" She reaches over and pats Zach's shoulder. "It'll be yummy, and we even get to eat on cushions." Because she no longer has a table... Zach manages to chuckle and wince at the same time, upon being reminded about the lack of table. "Sure Harriet, anything I can help you with?" Aria rubs the back of her neck, "Same goes for me, can I help you in any way, Harriet?", she looks suspiciously at her brother, and then looks back to Harriet, "Cushions? Sounds good.", she grins, just a little. Harriet laughs. "Well, it'd help if you'd both tell me what you want, you know? I was kind of thinking of making an omelette for myself, but you're a vegetarian, right, Aria?" She raises an eyebrow. "What would you prefer? I have the makings for strawberry shortcake, and pasta salad, and some other stuff." Harriet is going to have to go in about twenty minutes. It's late here, and I'm starting to do that cute swaying-at-the-keyboard thing... Zach smiles. "Nothing for me, dear. I'll just steal a small nibble of your omelet when you're not looking. I'm dieting!" Aria nods to Harriet, "Yeah, but don't let me disrupt your plans.", she drops her arm, looking over to Zach, boggled for a moment. "Salad sounds nice though.", one could swear that's all she eats. OR MAYBE SHE EATS MORE. Harriet snickers at Zach. "Dieting. Riiiight," she teases, gently. Then she nods. "One salad and one omelette coming right up, you know? Y'all make yourselves comfortable, and let me know if you need anything, hmm?" Thus, Harriet stakes out the kitchen as HER territory. No one else's! So there. Zach looks disappointed and gives Harriet the big puppy eyes treatment. He LIKES kitchens. Aw. He especially likes /this/ kitchen 'cause it's got a Harriet in it, and he likes Harriets even more than he likes kitchens! Aria says, "Thank you, Harriet.", she looks over to Zach, "...Nice seeing you again, Zach. You doing alright?" And Harriet likes omelettes and salads where she can identify all the parts, so Zach is gently but firmly shooed out of the kitchen, and Harriet goes about making foodstuffs, and listening in to the conversation, of course. Zach smiles to Aria and wanders over to a cushion. Plop. Setteling himself in it, he nods to her. "Yeah, I'm okay. How about you? How's the university world treating you?" Harriet is going to bow out, now, because she's getting really sleepy. :) Feel free to stay as long as y'all like...Harriet will be making things and generally puttering around. Zach hugs! Thanks for the RP! :) Harriet hugs both. "Thanks for the RP!" Aria hugs! G'night! Aria looks over to Zach, "Oh, it's alright.", she smiles slightly, "Nothing special happening. What were you talking about with Brynn?" Zach twinkles a smile, though he's still got a slight air of weariness or tiredness about him. "Oh Brynn wants to train ju-jitsu and kickboxing, so we're gonna get together with Cosmo Willingham and start sparring." Aria nods slowly, "I had no idea Cosmo was into that kind of thing.", she pauses for a little bit, "Or you, really, for that matter." Zach chuckles and relaxes. "Oh I've trained various budo sports for years, and Cosmo's a menber of a local club that specializes in brazillian ju-jitsu. He even promised to teach Harriet some!" He grins and glances to Harriet's bustling presence in the kitchen. "But then there's no reason for you to have known all that. We hardly know each other, doll." Aria blinks, "-Brazillian- Jujitsu? .... It -sounds interesting.", she chuckles a little, looking over to the kitchen, "Well, yeah, but ... I mean ... You guys didn't really seem like the jujitsu types. I know you can't judge a book by its cover, but it still is pretty surprising." Zach spreads his hands in a smiling gesture of 'Surprise!', then enquires, "So what kind of types did you think we were then?" in a curious voice. Aria says, "I thought you were a writer and ... I guess I didn't really think much about Cosmo, but he just seemed different than that, I don't know." Zach looks surprised, but perhaps a little flattered. "You thought I were a writer? Wow. I didn't think I emitted much of those intellectual vibes. I'm a mechanic by profession, and I play the guitar. Cosmo's a suit, but he's one of the cool suits. At least I think so." Aria says, "Well, maybe it's because I met you in a cafe.", she winks, "But I think you'd be a good writer. I don't know you well, so don't hold me to it though.", she pauses for a moment, "A cool suit?" Zach nods. "Yeah, a cool suit. He's real down to earth and a good guy, no yuppie and not overly conservative. I like him!" Aria nods slowly, "I forget, what 'suit' work does he do again?", she grins again. Zach has to pack up and go to work.. <:) Thanks for the rp. I'll pose Zach's response, then we'll just assume they go on chatting, yes? Zach tilts his head and shrugs a bit. "He manages some sort of fund, so he's an accountant-lawyer kinda shirt." Zach waves and hugs!