Logfile from Brass&Steel. "I..." Harriet trails off, blinks, and blushes. Finally, she nods. "I'll start thinking about it. It'll take me a few days before I find something I'm comfortable with submitting, youknow?" Someone sees long hours with pencil and paper in her future. Harriet waves! Zach will hang back to get a view of the scene. "Take all the time you need. There is no rush on the matter." Cosmo happily chews on his piece of chicken. And attacks his fries too. The two are in a serious conversation of some sort. "How is your food?" Zach says, "I take it you are sitting at one of the outside tables, yeah?" Zach <-- Angel of Stating the Obvious Harriet and Cosmo are sitting at a table in the corner, eating and talking. Harriet looks down at her hash, and blinks. "Oh, it's good. It always is, here, you know?" Harriet nods. "We are. And eating! :)" Harriet says, "And it's /freezing/ out here. Whatever are we thinking? *grins*" Zach drives into the lot and parks his truck. He hops out, locks it and walks briskly toward the entrance. The man in black never makes it that far however, because lo and behold! He spots familiar people just over there! A change of course is made, one that brings him right over to the Artist and the Suit. "Howdy pardner! Hey there, lady! How are y'both doin'?" asks the Tall One with a big, friendly smile. Cosmo looks up as Zach approaches. He motions for him to have a seat, wiping his mouth with a napkin. "Here, here. Have a seat Zach. It's good to see you." He gives the man a shake, and then settles back onto the seat. Harriet looks up as Zach approaches, and rises to give him a hug. She smiles and nods in agreement with Cosmo. "Please join us, you know? I think the waiter will return sometime..." Zach give Harriet a big, hearty bear hug and sneaks a kiss in on her cheek. Then he looks at this rather strange scene. "Pardon me, but how come you two crazy persons are sitting outside in this temperature? It's effin' /freezing/! Now I can see it with you Cos, but Harriet? Are you like, Russian or Finnish or something?" His smile is of the teasing kind, but his manner is subtly changing into that of the dread jewish mom. Cosmo chuckles a bit at Zach's comments. "I didn't really ask. Would you like to go inside, Harriet?" The cold really doesn't have any effect on him worth mentioning. Besides, he has barbeque chicken. Harriet only now seems to even notice the temperature. "Oh. It is rather cold, isn't it? I hadn't really noticed." She smiles faintly. "It was just quieter out here when I arrived, you know?" She nods to the sounds of music and conversation coming from the shack. To Cosmo's question, she quickly shakes her head. "I'm fine out here, really. If, um, nobody else minds?" Zach plops down on a chair with a rueful chuckle. "Allright then. But if you catch a cold Harriet, it'll be your own fault. You mark my words. So how's your day been so far, hon? You feeling any better?", he asks in mild consern. You paged Harriet with 'How did HArriet seem when he left her this morning?'. Harriet pages: Tired. Drained by all the emotional stuff, but not in an unusual way. She even smiled occassionally. Cosmo says, "Bah. I have to go. :(" [Public] Cosmo waves and heads out. Harriet blinks at Cosmo has to hurry off. She watches him leave with a worried frown before turning back to Zach and smiling. "I'm better. Really. I spoke with Dr. Fell this afternoon, you know? It helped." You paged Harriet with 'Okay. Zach fussed over her, but tried to do it in a non-annoying way. :)'. 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 Thanksgivingish sweater and jeans. The thick, warm sweater shows a fall scene in dark browns, rusty reds, and faded gold, while the jeans are patched in numerous spots with bronze and gold colored cloth. Both jeans and sweater are lightly splattered with dried plaster. 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. Harriet pages: I figured. :) Zach waves after Cosmo and then regards Harriet with some relief. "You did? Oh, that's excellent. Delia Fell might be just the person you need these days. Will you continue seeing her?" he wonders in that warm voice of his, as he reaches out to steal the food Cosmo left behind. Would be a shame to throw it away, and he'll have to pay for it anyway, so... Harriet nods, and watches Zach steal Cosmo's food with a soft chuckle. "I believe I will, you know? She's a very nice person." She smiles, and eats some more hash. "How was your day?" The current time in Kansas City is 7:24 PM, Tue Nov 26, 2002. Zach munches contently on a piece of chicken and shrugs lightly. "It was mostly good. There was enough work to keep me from getting bored, and I got to fondle a couple of vintage cars. They just don't make engines like they used to..." he sighs in nostalgia. "I was loath to leave your side this morning, but.." he tilts his head and lowers his fork, "You do seem on the mend. Even if it is very early in the process still." With a small, shamefaced sigh, he lowers his eyes. Harriet reaches over and hugs Zach fiercely, and not just because he's warm and it's freezing, either. She tilts her head up to kiss him gently on the cheek. "You did the right thing, Zach," she assures him. "You have to maintain your role, and I needed the time alone, you know? I did some stuff, thought about some things." Zach lifts a hand and rests it against her cold cheek, gently caressing her cheekbone with his thumb. There is an unusual depth of sorrow and seriousness in his green eyes, as they gaze into Harriet's orbs. "I want you to know something Harriet... I do know how you feel about...the losses you've faced. I know grief and I know the anger that can come with it. Don't be afraid to let your feelings show when I'm around, love. I have known such feelings myself. Still do." Harriet sighs, and closes her eyes at the caress. "I know. And yes, I am angry...but mostly not at you or Cosmo, you know? And it's not..." she squeezes him, "it's not real anger. It doesn't mean anything, and it'll pass. Just let me do this my way, okay?" She tilts her head and lays against his chest briefly, before pulling away and sitting back up. Zach nods quietly and gives her hand a quick squeeze before returning to finish Cosmo's chicken. "Of course, Harriet. I'll just...you know...hover a bit." He quirks a small apologetic smile to her. Harriet she pats him on the shoulder, before returning her own attention to the meal. "It's okay to hover, you know? I'm not really used to it...but it's nice." She smiles, looks over at the place where Cosmo was sitting, and a curious, almost apprehensive expression flickers across her face for a second. Zach eyes her and tilts his head a bit. "Something the matter? Uh... I mean something /else/? Er.." His face takes on a rather embarrased look. Harriet eats a bit of hash and rice before answering. "Not really. It's just something..." she smiles, and shrugs, and brightens a bit. "He said he would show me what he looks like. You know, really." Zach sits back and raises his eyebrows at that. "He did? Wow, I hope he takes you somewhere safe to do that. It will make rather a lot of noise that unfriendly ears could hear." Then he smiles, "But it might just be worth it. We look Cool." The smile widens to a grin. Harriet nods, but looks rather confused. "I'm sure he'll take precautions, you know? But...noise? It is loud or something?" Zach finishes chewing and swallowing the last piece of chicken before he answers in a low voice. "Well, yes it is. But not in the conventional sense. You see, we celestials - that's angels and demons - aren't native to Earth. We are strangers on this plane of existence, and don't belong in this part of God's Symphony. So we disturb it with our very presence, making tiny, tiny foreign notes all the time. These are so tiny that they get drowned out by the regular tunes, but as soon as we do stuff like miracles to manipulate these tunes directly - the disturbance becomes louder. When we abandon our human bodies and take on our true forms, it creates a large bang in the Symphony where no bang should be. Other celestials and humans who have had their perceptions opened to the Symphony can hear this. And when we do, we usually make haste to check it out." Harriet blinks, and ohs in understanding. "That makes sense, I guess..." she looks wistful. "But I guess it means nobody's going to be able to model in their real form for me, you know?" She gives him a slight smile, indicating she was joking. Mostly. "I think...maybe Cosmo's not very good at expressing his feelings, and is trying to deal with it in other ways...maybe." She chews her lower lip. Zach quirks a lopsided smile at her wistfulness, "Well.." Then he looks curiously at her. "What do you mean?" Harriet shrugs, and eats more of her food. The plate is almost empty, now, and she looks rather surprised at that. "I didn't think I was that hungry," she mutters to herself. She returns her attention to Zach. "Oh, well, offering to show me what he looks like, you know? I'm sure it's not escaped anyone that I'm a sucker for beautiful things." Zach fiddles with his fork, spinning it around and around with nimble fingers, while he tries to decipher and digest Harriet's words. "Uhm. Sooo..." he slowly forms the words, "You're thinking maybe he fancies you?" Harriet blinks at Zach. "Um. I...hadn't really considered it. I was just thinking he was trying to find some way to do 'penance', you know?" She shakes her head sadly. "I think he feels he needs to..." Zach bliks right back at her. "Well of course he does! As do I. We shamed ourselves something awful by hurting an innocent, you, horribly. And by shaming ourselves, we have shamed our choir-brethren and our Archangels. Now he has to find a way to regain his honour, and the same goes for me." See now the knightly codes of the malakim finally shine through even in this rather laidback specimen. Harriet sighs, and reaches over to hug him again. "It was an honest mistake, you know?" she whispers. "It wasn't anything anyone meant to happen. But if you two need it...it would be cruel to try and stop you. But, for the record," she looks up at him, seriously, "I think you are both extremely honorable, and I have never stopped thinking that for a moment." Her voice and eyes are solemn. Zach bows his head slightly in a curiously formal acceptance of Harriet's words. "Thank you for the kind words, my dear. But that was no mistake. It was carelessness and sloppy thinking on our part. We both knew about your previous experience, and we never even once stopped to /think/. I don't know what kind of experiences Cosmo has made for himself, but I.... I /knew/." It is quite clear that this whole mess has hit Zach very close to home indeed. Harriet pulls Zach closer so that she can give him a proper cuddle. "Everyone screws up, Zach. And I imagine that it was a rather..." her breath catches in her throat, and she has to pause for a moment before going on, "busy time. You can't think of everything, you know? Not even you can do that, I imagine." She cuddles firmly. "I forgive you. But I know you need to find some way to forgive yourself, even if I don't understand quite why. I'll help you, either of you, in any way I can with that." Harriet pages: No wonder we need a Elohite...everyone's falling all over themselves to apologize to each other! Oh the shame! To have a human making excuses for his inexcusable failiure! Hopefully none of his bosses are listening to this. Zach sighs and squeezes Harriet tightly. "I love you, Harriet Davis," he tells her hair and gently kisses it. Harriet sighs, and hugs him back just as tightly. It's possible that a there is a certain lack of giving in to her point of view, but it's okay. "I love you, too, Zach." A rather throaty chuckle. "Or whatever your real name is, you know?" Zach laughs quietly at that and lifts her chin with his index finger, so their eyes meet. "I will tell you my true name at some point, but not just yet." He then strokes the tip of her nose and frowns. "You're ice cold, Harriet! We should find somewhere warm to go. I'm not in favour of you getting pneumonia, you know!" Harriet smiles up at him. "I like Zach. It's pretty neat, you know?" She crosses her eyes to watch his finger stroke the tip of her nose, then nods. "If you like. I haven't really noticed." She watches her breath puff out into the night air. "I suppose I should have. Where would you like to go?" Zach shrugs and offers, "We could go inside here, pop over to the Bluebird, or go to either of our respective flats to cuddle, chat and get you a hot shower and some cocoa to get your warmth back?" No there is no lewdness apparent. Just an honest suggestion and an offer. "Back to my place?" Harriet says, and digs through her pockets for cash and to pay the bill. As she lays the money on the table, she flexes her fingers, and frowns at just how numb they are. "I have cocoa there." She looks down. "I don't think I'm quite up to the Bluebird, yet, you know?" Zach nods and puts some money on the table to cover for Cosmo's meal. He then drapes an arm around Harriet's shoulders and starts walking them toward his truck. "I know. I think hot shower and cocoa is the optimal course to take just now." He pulls a pair of leather gloves from his pockets. "Here, put these on." They are much to big for her of course, but warm. Harriet fumbles with the gloves, but does eventually manage to get them on...where they sag and bag like an elephant's skin. She smiles down at them. "Thanks. I, uh, brought my car," she says, and nods in that direction. "So I could meet you there?" Zach says, "How big is Harriet's car?" Harriet says, "It's a small sedan. Enviromentally friendly. Zach can fit in it, but he'll have to scrunch a bit. :)" Zach eyes her car and then smiles. "Or I can tow it and we can ride together in the truck?" Harriet looks to her car, then back to his truck, and smiles. "You could do that...although your truck might refuse to tow a fuzzy diced car, you know?" Her eyes sparkle up at him a little in the parking lot lights. Zach groans slightly and sighs. "Oh. You still have Them... Well, my truck will do as it's told. Even that." He grins back at her. "Lemme get 'em lined up." He then goes about getting the truck over to Harriet's car, securing the lines and making sure nothing will come apart. He holds the door open for Harriet so she can climb into the truck. "Entrez vous, madame." Harriet purses her lips in mock irritation. "There's nothing wrong with my fuzzy dice. They're pink and sparkly, you know?" She watches the arcane procedure of towing preparation with interest, and barely perceptible shivers. When Zach opens the door, she climbs in with grateful haste. The inside of Zach's bright yellow truck is already starting to warm up, as he put the heater on full blast when he started the engine. And as Harriet will soon discover - this truck also has heating in the seats. Zach hops in behind the wheel and off they go! VROOOM! 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. "I /like/ your truck," Harriet says as she opens the door and steps into her apartment, which is nice and toasty warm. "I mean, heating in the seats? That's really nice, you know?" After having parked both cars, Zach follows Harriet up to her flat. He chuckles at her. "I like my truck too. I used to live in it, you know? Go take a nice, hot shower hon. I'll make cocoa in the mean time, ok?" He takes off his jacket, and readies to gallantly help Harriet with hers. Harriet nods, and allows Zach to help her with the jacket, after she peels off the gloves, and places them on the table with a care that she reserves for other people's things. "Cocoa's in the cabinet to the left of the fridge, you know? Marshmellows, too, if you like them." She rummages through a drawer or two for a suitable set of pijamas, and hugs him again, before ducking into the bathroom. Zach happily goes about the cocoa-making ritual. He doesn't quite have the insane skill level at this that the cherubim have, but he does remarkably well anyway. Soon the aroma of hot cocoa spreads subtly around the studio. He puts marshmallows in a cup and looks in her fridge searching for cream. As he moves around, he hums happily. Ah, the joys of being in a kitchen! He can find cream, amazingly enough! And after about ten minutes, the sounds from the bathroom move from that of shower to those of someone getting dressed. Harriet walks out, barefoot and in pijamas of pale blue silk, with her glasses clasped loosely in one hand. She wanders into the kitchen, and smiles at the humming, fuzzy presence that is probably Zach. "Smells good." Zach grins to her and and fills a big mug with cocoa for Harriet. "Do you take it with whipped cream, marshmallows, both or just plain?" he wants to know. Harriet slips her mostly unfogged glasses on. "With marshmallows, please." She leans against the counter, her arms hanging loosely at her sides, just watching Zach with the tiniest of smiles on her face. Zach hands her the mug filled with hot cocoa and marshmallows, makes one with whipped cream for himself and then leads her over to a huge nest of pillows that he has prepared for her. Big warm blanket included. "Here you go, honey! Nest, blanket, hot drink, cuddly angel, candles.. Oh! And extra marshmallows." He gets them too, before he joins Harriet. You say, "Enjoy." Harriet takes the cocoa and lets Zach lead her around to the nest, and the blanket. Which is promptly cuddled. "Thank you," she says. "You're a rather amazing sort of guy, Zach. You know that?" As she sits down, and begins to relax, the stress and strain of the last couple of days reasserts itself in her face. She takes a deep breath, and lets it out slowly, before sipping from the cocoa. "It's very good." Zach joins her in the nest and wraps her in the blanket and himself around the package that is the enblanketed Harriet. He starts to gently rub her shoulders. "Good. I'm glad you like it." Rub rub. "I /like/ to fuss around my loved ones." Harriet leans against Zach, closes her eyes, and sips cocoa. It's amazing how one can manage to go to Heaven without dying, on occassion. "I'm not complaining," she murmurs. "It's just...different. Usually I'm the one doing the fussing, you know?" Zach smiles to the back of her head and keeps the shoulder rubs coming. "Yeah I know. But you deserve to be the fussee from time to time, so try to get your head around it, mkay?" he advices mildly and warmly. He moves the massaging upwards to her neck and the base of her skull. Harriet moves her head forward, baring more of the back of her neck to his skillful hands. She takes another drink of the hot cocoa, and sighs. "I'm trying." She thinks quietly for a moment or two. "This isn't how I dealt with this kind of thing last time, you know?" Zach takes his time softening up knotted and sore muscles, one at the time. "No I suppose not... How /did/ you get through it?" Harriet draws her knees close to her, in an unconciously protective gesture. "Not well," she admits. "Robert's...the note he left...although I know he didn't mean it to be that way, it could have been interpreted that he thought I was sleeping around on him." Underneath his hands, her muscles suddenly tense and lock. "I /never/ did that. I never even thought about it. But some people...people who I thought were my friends...they were grieving too, and they said some things..." she trails off, her face pinched with pain. Zach stops the pressure massaging for a bit and just keeps his hands on her neck to warm it. He really has quite warm hands. Slowly he starts stroking the tense mucles to gently persuade them to unlock. "Oh honey... That's terrible. That's the dark side of grief and pain, lashing out..." His voice is sad and he too has stiffened, but imperceptibly so. Harriet sighs. "I know. Now, anyway. At the time...I pretty much limped the two months to graduation. I only stayed because I thought I'd go mad if I didn't keep doing something." The muscles eventually start to relax again. It's an old pain, after all. "As soon as I knew I'd pass all my classes, I left. Just tossed my clothes in my car, and ran as far away from people as I could. I ended up in Virginia, leased a cabin for six months with my savings. I think I might have said two or three sentences the entire time." She takes a long drink. "I just sculpted, and tried to pretend that the rest of the human race didn't exist." Zach breathes out and pulls her closer, moving his fingers to her temples and her forehead. He gently pushes her head back to rest on his chest, then starts massaging her temples, scalp and face with his fingertips. "That is one way of dealing," he murmurs. "Sometimes it's easier to express yourself through the work that you do and the things you make, rather than with words. For artists that goes double. But how do you feel about those months in hindsight? Was it what you needed?" "It helped," Harriet says, her eyes closing as Zach's fingers move to her temples. "I could scream or cry, or work until I literally dropped, all without worrying about what other people thought, you know?" She rubs the back of her head against his chest, gently. "But I was alone. I thought I deserved to be, at the time. But it hurt as much as it helped." Zach nods to himself. "Solitude has its points, but it will only protect you from other people. Never from yourself... And you have been alone ever since, haven't you?" Harriet stiffens slightly. "No, of course not," she says, perhaps a little too firmly. "I've been around lots of people, you know? Moving around the country...I haven't been alone. There are people everywhere." Zach moves his hands down from her temples and then embraces her tightly, giving her a good squeeze. "You know what I mean, Harriet. Being around people is all good and well. With your personality you've probably even connected and bonded with quite a few people in the years since that horrible thing happened. But then you've moved on, and I don't think you did it because you really needed the change. See, I work for the Archangel who deals with that sort of thing, and I can spot the difference between running /from/ and running /to/. That's why I asked that promise from you before I told you what I am. To stop you running /away/." Harriet remains tense and unhappy in Zach's embrace, her face slightly flushed. She doesn't say anything, though, just worries at her lower lip, and stares fixedly at a nearby pillow. Gently, gently Zach rocks her while holding her close to him like a child. "I know this Harriet, because I have been there. Right on the edge of destruction, in such pain that I broke the Pax Dei attacking a fellow angel in Heaven when they refused me a new Vessel. I had just watched the love of my life be ripped to pieces and annihilated without being able to protect her. So I went insane instead..." He sighs. "Such pain can only be visited upon you through those you love. It's a natural reaction then, to keep a distance ever after. And to remove yourself from these loved ones when you start fearing that the bonds are getting to deep. But it's not the way God intended it to be. I didn't get through it alone, Harriet. I had help from those around me, they didn't allow me to run away or to hide. It took years before I was allowed out of Heaven again, but in the end I healed. Though the scars are still tender and will never disappear. Neither will yours, but they will stop bleeding." Harriet sucks in a deep breath, and lets it out with care. Checking to make sure her cocoa isn't going to be knocked over, she turns in Zach's arms and slides her own around him to clutch him tightly. "I'm so sorry," she whispers. "I can't even imagine..." Words fail her, and she just hangs on, her hands stroking his back. After a while, tears start to trickle from her eyes. Zach keeps on rocking her gently and rubs her back to encourage her. "It's okay, honey. You're safe here. Just let go," he whispers. "We've got all the time in the world... All the time in the world..." Harriet shudders, and cries. "It hurt...a lot," she says, eventually. "And then, just when I thought, 'okay, I can do this again'..." She buries her head in his chest. "Did you know...he told me he loved me? It was the one time I ever caught him in a lie..." The words are barely audible, muffled as they are by Zach's shirt. Harriet says, "And the /only/ Will role Harriet has ever made since getting on the grid. Good timing. :)" Zach admires! Harriet says, "Not with a CD 6, though. Unfortunately. :)" Zach strokes her hair again and again. "I think that must be the epitome of rotten luck. To fall in love with a balseraph serving Factions. Of all the powers of Hell, Factions is the worst posssible one you could have encountered. That Prince and his demons seek to isolate people, destroy all bonds of love, loyalty, friendship, trust..." He sighs and rests his chin on top of her head. "I am so sorry I wasn't able to protect you from him..." he says qietly. Zach says, "quietly even" "You tried," Harriet reminds him, quietly. "You warned me. But I thought it was just because you two didn't get along, you know? I didn't listen. He was so..." she sighs, "so still. And I gave him a statue, and it was like no one had ever given him anything before," her voice, even now, is wondering. "He just sat and stared at it for a long time, and kept touching it. I'd never seen anyone react like that." You say, "Sad thing is, I think you're right. It was probably the first time in his existence that he was given a gift freely with no hidden catches. they just don't do that where he comes from. It's a pity he chose to exploit this rather than explore it. But then that is what 99 per cent of them will do. Redemtions happen but they are rare compared to the sheer number of demons." Harriet nods, and cuddles. "It's just so sad," she whispers. "He could be so much more than he is. I can't understand why anyone would want to stay where he is, feeling like he does." She shivers reflexively, thinking of it. Zach sighs heavily. "Nor can I. Lucian seemed to be convinced that he and his were some kind of noble partisans. That they are in the right. That's one part of it. Raw naked selfishess is another big part of it, as is the propaganda they get brainwashed with down there. The horror stories they get told about Heaven and God and angels are... Just incomprehensible. But I don't understand it. Not one bit." "He thinks that if they win, he gets to build his own little universe, exactly how he wants it," Harriet says, keeping to one of the less offensive things that Lucian had said in their conversations. "I don't think he has any idea what he'd put in it if he got his wish, though." She sighs, and snuggles close. Zach huhs and cuddles her, kissing her brow. "If they win, and they won't, then Lucifer will still control them and their little worlds. The Princes will still dick them around. All that'll change is that what little hope they now have will be lost for ever." Harriet frowns, and tightens her grip for a moment. "They won't," she repeats firmly. "Never. But," she sighs again, "it's just so /wrong/. They're lied to so badly, you know? It hurts just thinking about it." Zach nods. "Yes, it does. But do not forget that they have free will too. They make their choices just like you and I do, and many of the Princes and the original Fallen /chose/ to turn their backs upon God, Heaven and their fellow angels. Lucifer had to work hard with some of them, but there were many many ears that eagerly listened to his suggestions and his poison. Even today angels Fall and become twisted mockeries of themselves, trapped in hate, lies and petty selfishness." He shudders and hugs her closer. "And all the time they prey upon humanity, seeing humans as no better than cattle to be exploited and milked for Hell's own foul purposes." Harriet shivers, as well. As Zach hugs her closer, she squirms into a new position that allows her to stretch out, and still wrap her arms around him. She yawns, and rests her head against him. "I still don't understand why, if they hate us so much, they even bother coming up here, you know? What did we do to deserve them?" "They are trying to prove that God is wrong about humans. They are trying to prove that humans aren't worthy of His love, of Heaven. That's what the War is all about; humanity. They work to lure, push and fool you into Hell. To have you fall to your Fates. We work to show you they way to Heaven, to your Destinies." Zach caresses her jawline with his fingers and shifts to settle more comfily. "And in the shadows of your realities angels and demons fight each other by the sword, by the gun and by manipulating events to foil the other side's plots and workings. All the time....always." Harriet tilts her jaw into his caress, and makes a wordless little sound. She lies there, in silence for a long while, her eyes closed as she thinks it over. "How very strange it all is." She yawns again, relaxing almost against her will into a drowsing state. "I'm glad you're here...all of you." Harriet keeps falling asleep on Zach. Perhaps he should transfer to Dreams. ;P Zach bends down to kiss her just so, on the mouth. He smiles to her and then plants a small kiss on the tip of her nose. "And we're glad to be here. It is an honor." Zach says, "Funny you should mention that.... :)" Harriet hrms? Zach's player whispers to Harriet's player: "He's got a Dream Song..." ;P Harriet's eyes blink open briefly at the kiss on the mouth, then slide close again as she smiles at the one on the nose. She sighs and lets herself relax completely into sleep, absently noting as she does that Malakim make excellent pillows. Harriet grins. "Oh, my." When Harriet has fallen soundly asleep, Zach carefully moves her over to her bed and tuck her in. He tucks himself in together with her, making sure that she gets to keep her malateddy. He can do the dishes in the morning. Harriet giggles. Malateddy... Harriet hugs, and notes that Harriet's Player needs to crawl off to bed, as well. "Thanks for yet another great scene!" Zach says, "Thank /you/! This was much fun and good er..mood? Ambience? :)" Harriet grins. "Much fun. Now Harriet just has to try and find a new Oath for Cosmo that /she/ can live with. At least it'll keep her mind off Things." Zach says, "Eh?? :)" Zach says, "Oh god! Don't tell me the dude's Oath-Angsting?! Gah! :)"