Gathering Post

[lcrpg_npc]

The Queen's official birthday celebrations might wait for the better, brighter weather of June, instead of the actual date just passed, but there was no lack of things to do in London this week, even if it was cooler and damper than the week before. St. George's day festivities were scattered throughout the city, competing with celebrations of the four hundredth anniversary of Shakespeare's death. Getting around the city could be even more difficult than usual on Sunday, with multiple streets closed off for the London marathon.

There were exhibits - everything from graphic design to a survey of Sicilian history to the influence of underwear. And the same level of diversity could be found whether you were in the mood for music, theatre, good food, or late night fun. There was something for everyone, and no matter your plans - or lack of plans - you never quite knew what you were going to find, or who might find you.



[Week long gp! Tag in, tag others, and check in daily to see who's joined in.]

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[miss_ives]

Vanessa took the cards back then, setting them down in front of herself. She turned over three of them in between them.

First, the Two of Cups. In her tarot, two cups spilling on either side of a hooded figure.

Then, the Queen of Cups. The crowned woman held a cup in her hand, about to drink, as an eel-like monster loomed over her soulder.

And finally, Judgement. A man, lying on his back, head thrown back, a vulture on his chest, wings spread, ready to feast on him.

"A first meeting, a shared moment," she whispered, fingers hovering over the Two. "A psychic Queen, with her own demons," with her hands above the Queen. "And you," she looked up at him, caught his eyes as her fingertips touched the card of Judgement. "An angel, and yet not." Everything falling into place, and her eyes were wide and steady, frozen, as was her reaction.

[sunsongs]

Maybe it was shock, at hearing it so openly. Or maybe another layer of the strange connection between them. Coby didn't know and didn't have time to figure it out. Even as he said, "Really not," large, black wings unfurled from his back putting lie to the denial.

Maybe it was too early to have left the apartment after all. She couldn't not see them, so while he tried to calm the sudden spike of embarrassment? fear? something else? he didn't try to draw the wings back into himself immediately.

[miss_ives]

Vanessa had been frozen in place, waiting for his reaction in the wake of what she had seen. Her lips parted as his wings unfurled, and she gasped quietly. This was far more than she had bargained for; her faith was wavering, and now this. She stared in silence, unable to put words on the wonder she felt.

No, not the wonder; the awe.

[sunsongs]

That... awe, it wasn't anything Coby was used to. Probably not for more lifetimes than he could count. He ran a hand through his hair, uncomfortable. "Really not an angel. No matter what it looks like from here."

[miss_ives]

"Not really an angel," Vanessa corrected him in a whisper.

[sunsongs]

"That too," he admitted, not entirely sure what he was any more. "But more what I said."

[miss_ives]

Her eyes found his for a brief second, but they were drawn to his wings again almost immediately. She felt as if she were breathing too much, and she both wanted to touch his card again, and dreaded it. She did not feel remotely ready for this.

But when had she ever felt ready for anything life saw fit to throw at her? Her fingers were trembling slightly as she reached for Judgement, and when she touched it, her eyes widened and her breath quickened. She pulled her hand back as if scorched, wet her lips, and found that she had no words for what she had just felt. She managed to stand, and leaned a hand on the back of the couch to make it to the small table with her pack of slim cigarettes.

[sunsongs]

Strange reactions, when it was the two of them, were likely not a good thing. But others were complete habit. So even as Coby asked, "Vanessa?" in a concerned tone, he was pulling a lighter from his pocket and stepping toward her to offer a light.

[miss_ives]

Given the tremor in her hands, Vanessa welcomed the help, and placed a cigarette between her lips before leaning in to touch it to the flame. She exhaled a shaky breath, dragged her eyes away from his wings, and to his gaze. "Thank you."

A few short breaths, a couple of drags on her cigarette, a few steps away, and then she turned back to him, eyes finding his. "I was raised to believe in God. I never did doubt His existence, but perhaps, recently, His intentions. And yet... having faith is different from knowing." And now, she knew Him to exist, through Coby.

[sunsongs]

After lighting her cigarette, he pulled out one of his own. He could use a smoke too.

He watched her, giving her time to regain some composure - composure that had been so important to Vanessa from the time they met - and regretting how much more difficult it was to hide the wings again than to reveal them.

"I was raised by a couple of... spiritual non-religious hippies, you could probably call them. Believe me, I get the difference between faith and knowing, and the weird of being smacked in the face with either."

[miss_ives]

"Now it all makes sense," Vanessa stated, still holding his gaze. "Your layers. The way you cast Him out." Another Him, one much darker.

[sunsongs]

"Assuming it wasn't those layers than caught his attention that night to begin with." Coby wasn't sure one way or the other.

"But I'm glad there was enough of what I used to be to help. If it makes a difference, these," Coby flexed the wings, but carefully, not wanting to spread them and knock things over, "are a more recent layer."

[miss_ives]

"May I?" Vanessa asked after a beat, holding out her free hand towards the wings, without touching them for now.

[sunsongs]

No one but Anael had touched the wings since they showed up. In fact, no one but Anael had really touched Coby since they showed up - something Coby didn't think of before nodding. "Yeah, go ahead," sounded calm, but he started to tense up anyway. Just to keep his wings still, that was all.

[miss_ives]

Vanessa would have told him that it would be all right, that there was no reason to grow tense. But that would have been a lie, and she did not like to deal in lies. She held his gaze for a beat, nodding slowly, then reached out to touch his wings. A first gentle brush of fingertips against a feather, and then, growing bolder, she carded her fingers around feathers, getting a proper feel for him. Hundreds of scorpions, coursing under his skin.

Her gaze caught his again a couple of seconds later, as intense as ever, her breath short. "A fairy gift."

[sunsongs]

Coby bit his lip, not breathing at all. The wing pushed up into her hand as her touch became less cautious, and when her gaze found his again, his pupils were larger with the first hints of arousal.

"Mysterious ways," he said, not as surprised by her talk of fairies as he maybe should've been.

[miss_ives]

The cigarette abandoned in an ashtray, Vanessa cupped his face with her newly freed hand, searching his eyes and his soul for more. "You still hold the Divine in you," she told him, unable to look away, unable to stop feeling, her pupils blown, her lips parted around an awed breath. "It's beautiful."

[sunsongs]

Anael probably would've said there was something of that Divine in Coby's sudden urge to back Vanessa into the nearest wall and having each other. The hand not holding his cigarette moved to rest on her hip, and he could feel his weight shift about to take that first step.

But he closed his eyes, inhale and then exhale slowly, and then a second time. His voice huskier with more heat. "You should... let go if you want to stop." Another breath. "Sensitive."

[miss_ives]

Part of Vanessa wanted to stop, now, and part of her wanted to take that final step, the dynamics so different now than the last time - but for better, or for worse? "Is it wrong?" she asked, frozen in place, her words barely above a whisper. "For one of the sort you used to be?"

[sunsongs]

"It doesn't have to be," he told her, warming at the thought of Anael, then setting it aside to keep his attention fully on the woman with him. "And I'm not what I used to be."

[miss_ives]

Vanessa finally pulled her hand back, her gaze heavy and solemn as it held his. "What happened?" Traditionally, former angels were supposed to be demons, but he did not feel like one. Could she trust herself, though, and could she trust him?

[sunsongs]

Coby shrugged a shoulder, the wing rising and falling along with the motion. "Curiosity killed the cat. I wanted to be human. So I have been. Many times. I think that counts as mysterious ways."

[miss_ives]

"But it doesn't count as falling," Vanessa stated, a small knot on her brow. She hadn't stepped away, for all that she'd dropped her hand, but she wasn't stepping closer yet, either. Instead, she remembered the cigarette in her hand and turned her head away to take a drag.

[sunsongs]

"It doesn't." There were nuances involved Coby didn't understand, and probably couldn't as long as he was human... or mostly human. "I've been reliably informed there's some tiny spark of what I used to be inside. There's a lot I don't remember and can't understand, but... I think my mortality was supposed to be... a gift."

[miss_ives]

"God is not always merciful," Vanessa told him with a hint of a sad smile. She took that step closer then, and touched tentative fingers to his cheek, rather than his wing again, before pressing her lips to his in a somewhat chaste kiss. She was so attuned to him then, from the tarot, from her need to be, that she had another flash of what it had been like to be him - or rather, them. Her breath quickened, and her eyes fluttered open again to find his. "This is not wrong, is it?"