OTA

[whispersoflove]

Coby wasn't home, and hadn't left a note for him, so Anael was walking through the streets of London to get to Alcuin's home, enjoying the chill in the air, the way his breath fogged on the way out, the ebb and flow of love in the hearts around him. Hands in his jacket pockets, he paid no mind to the odd looks he occasionally received for wearing nothing but a denim jacket over a t-shirt in this weather.

It began as an itch in his back, a barely there scratch where his wings would be. He did not think much of it, only shifting his shoulders the way he normally did when the urge to let them out came over him. But then the itch burrowed deeper, and increasingly hotter, until it was more of a burn than anything else, and his lungs were alive with it.

He'd hurried into a side street with little foot traffic and leaned against a wall there, his breathing short and heavy. He tried to cloak himself, but he couldn't keep a hold on the miracle through the pain he was so unused to, and he collapsed to his knees as he heard words in a rough language that scraped against every fiber of his being, a language of Hell. His wings wouldn't come out and he folded to his side on the wet ground, seeing shadows on the other side of the street. They were all saying the words, out loud and right into his mind, and one of them came forward, a pair of boots stopping right in front of him. They pulled his t-shirt collar down and drew a symbol between his collarbones, their fingers red with - blood? The symbol felt like it was searing into his flesh. Anael cried out, physically as much as spiritually, praying out to God with all of his being.

The words ceased suddenly, pain abating slightly, and the dark figures dispersed as someone ran over to him.

Comments

[old_man_gavril]

Something weird was happening. Gavril was used to weird, but this was weird.

Fortunately for whoever it was getting assaulted with whatever the hell they were doing, Gavril had noticed the guy acting a bit weird before he'd slipped off. These others, though, they registered to his senses as humans. And he wasn't about to let any of this bad juju go down.

Shifting was done so infrequently by him that it was sort of like slipping out of a tight space, or out of a pair of jeans that was just a little too tight. And so when his human form melted, growing into a mass of rippling black fur and muscle and near-glowing blue eyes, he felt the familiar rush of slipping on his hunter's skin.

Almost immediately, the group scattered, and Gavril lunged forward, more focused on dispersing them than hurting anyone. And fortunately, nobody stuck around to see to trying to harm him. When he turned, one of them was knelt over the man for a moment, but he snorted, and the shadowed figure took off in a hurry.

He cast a look about to make sure everyone else had dispersed, glad this was a secluded spot. His form shrank down to his human one as he approached the man on the ground. "Hey, hey buddy," Gavril said, panting just a bit. "You alright?" he asked, offering a hand.

[whispersoflove]

"N-no," Anael answered, honest as always. He was still hurting, although the pain in his lungs and back was gradually diminishing. The brand was not growing any less painful, however. He saw a hand held out to him and put his in it, clammy as it never usually was. His eyes managed to focus on a tanned face with kind, old eyes.

[old_man_gavril]

"Do you need a doctor?" Gavril asked, wondering if he'd been physically injured by the fall. Though he did, gently, try to ease the man to his feet. If he thought he could stand, he could stand. But the clamminess was worrying.

[whispersoflove]

"No," Anael replied immediately, with more force, gaze rising to meet the man's again. He was leaning on him heavily as he tried to get his feet back under him. "Not a doctor. A church. Is there - a church nearby?"

[old_man_gavril]

"You're in London, mate, there's a church somewhere nearby, I'd bet on it," he said, trying to keep his tone a bit light while he helped the guy up. Gavril was strong; he didn't even notice the guy leaning on him.

"Whatever mojo they worked on you, it must have hit you hard," he added. "How are you feeling?" His money was on 'bad,' but whatever information he could give, it might help out, well, whoever they were going to go to.

[prince_of_nymphs]

Fin had felt something- A sharp pull. He was using his magic sight as little as possible now, ever since his heart had begun acting up, but it sharpened as he neared the source of the strange energy in the air, offering a sight of a strange mist- And then Anael.

Anael on the ground, clearly in pain.

"Anael?" he called out, letting his magic return his vision in full as he rushed over and crouched at his side. "...Anael, are you alright? What happened?"

[whispersoflove]

The pain lighting up Anael's chest subsided as the dark figures retreated, but for that of the brand on his skin. Someone was talking to him, and he managed to focus in enough to recognise - "Fin?" He focused on the question he'd asked, reaching out for him. "I - I don't know. It hurts."

[prince_of_nymphs]

Fin took hold of the outreached hand, helping him up. Fin was slight and frail, but in that moment he was shockingly solid.

"What hurts? Where?" he asked gently.

[whispersoflove]

"Everywhere," Anael answered, unable to differentiate his spiritual from his physical pain for a moment. With Fin's help, he sat up, and took a moment to sort through the sensations. He tugged down his t-shirt collar and swiped a couple of fingers over the mark between his collarbones. His fingertips came away red, but there was a dark mark on his skin, of the symbol that had been drawn there. "Here..."

[prince_of_nymphs]

"Fuck," Fin whispered. "Come on, let's get you up. We're not that far from mine. Let's get you cleaned up, and- And see what we can do about- ...What's happened," he settled on, not sure what to make of the mark on the angel's skin.

[sauntereddownward]

Crowley would deny rushing, that might imply he had a thought to help. Which he didn't¹. It was just that he was curious. He'd heard the language and recognized it for what it was. And, of course, there was the angel. All in all he knew this couldn't be Good. And so he didn't rush so much as bear down on the fleeing figures at a vigorous clip.

He paused by the angel now that he was unencumbered by the villains and the demon stood over him, smoking².

"What's all this now?" he asked, more calmly than he felt.

1. Demons didn't, as a rule, help. That denoted a virtue none of them had.
2. Smoking was something he did out of habit, though sometimes he found he needed to smoke because of stress. Stress of feeling the need to go against his nature and be helpful, or, worse, kind.

[whispersoflove]

While the burn in his lungs had diminished, that on his skin had not, and Anael's hand cradled protectively over the brand, trying to think and feel through the pain. He looked up at Crowley and needed a moment to recognise him for who, rather than what, he was. "Did you have a part in this?" he asked, shakily sitting up against the wall, unsure he would be in any state to defend himself against the demon, if he had given up his status quo principles and allied himself with the more proactive among his kind.

[sauntereddownward]

"Oh, please," the demon scoffed. He took a drag and the smoke from his cigarette coiled up around his head like an infernal halo. "I don't like to get my hands dirty but I certainly wouldn't send ruffians to attack an angel. That's idiotic, foolhardy, and rude¹.

He stepped forward, fag between his lips, and he offered Anael a steady hand.

1. Crowley's brand of evil was consummately polite and painfully honest.

[whispersoflove]

Anael hesitated for a second, then put his hand in Crowley's and forced himself up to his feet with a grimace, immediately leaning heavily back against the wall. "I don't suppose - you'd help me to the nearest church?"

[sauntereddownward]

"My dear, that would be almost the last thing I would want to do," he replied, but then slipped his arm around the angel to bear his weight. If someone were to have seen them and blinked they might have only imagined they saw the pair because with just a thought and a bit of Will, Crowley transported them to the doors of a neighborhood chapel that he wasn't particularly opposed to¹.

"I'll just wait outside..." he said, lingering in the doorway².

1. The priest was a genuine fellow, nearly incorruptible, and when he was at the park he was always kind to the ducks. Crowley could appreciate that. 2. It is commonly known that if one lingers in doorways an observer has the right to question one's upbringing.

[akatawitch]

It was a complicated swirl of forces and feelings that had Sunny running to Anael before she entirely realized that she was running. A friend in trouble. A man who had been kind to her before dying, then rising again and spreading new wings to the sky. The faith of her childhood that she laughed at but, well...

Angels didn't fall.

They could Fall, but that was another matter entirely.

She knelt beside him, all but collapsing to her knees for how quickly she dropped down. "Anael?"

[whispersoflove]

Anael wasn't very used to physical pain at all, and while this was more than just that - while the brand seemed to sear into his soul, into his Grace - it was still highly disorienting. It took Anael a few moments to focus on the witch beside him, and he could only thank a prayer of thanks to God for sending her his way. "Sunny," he managed, instinctively reaching out for her, a hand cradled protectively over the brand on his skin.

[akatawitch]

"Shhh..." Sunny reached out a hand to stroke his hair, her eyes blurred with tears that she immediately blinked away. They were useless right now and it wouldn't do Anael any good for her to get upset. No, right now she had to be alert, in case whatever had harmed him was still out there. Anything that could do this to him could probably kill her. "What can I do?"

[whispersoflove]

Anael forced himself to sit up, trying to remember not to hold her hand too hard, but unwilling to let go of it. Her fear was threaded through her love, but it was the latter he tried to focus on, past the pain. "Church. Is there a church nearby?"

[akatawitch]

Sunny nodded and helped him sit up. "I think so, yeah. D'you think you can walk?" Well, really first they had to get him standing, but better to aim for some optimism.

[sunsongs]

Coby was on his way to Scandals when he felt the familiar itch of his wings wanting to unfurl. As he'd learned control over his wings, the feeling had come less often, except when he was would up, or there was something very, very wrong. After Vanessa just a few days ago, he was almost scared to think what could be causing it now. But not so scared he went the other way. His pace picked up, and the itch along with it, and when the taste of iron filled his mouth, he broke into a run, around the side of a building onto the scene on a side street.

Anael.

"The fuck!" punched out of him as the dark figures ran off, Coby ignoring them to rush to Anael's side. He dropped to his knees, one hand stroking over the angel's hair as the other supported him at the shoulder. "Anael," the name a breath, barely any sound making it past the lump in Coby's throat.

[whispersoflove]

Anael felt Coby more than he heard him, and his own, "Thank you, God," was barely audible, even to his own ears. He reached out and found Coby's forearm, fingers curling around his jacket as he worked through the pain to look up and find Coby's gaze. "Are they gone?" The pain was lessening in his lungs, if not where his collarbones met.

[sunsongs]

"Yeah." Coby's voice was gravelly raw, like it got smoking too much or singing too much, but this time it was feeling too much and wanting to rip apart the ones who'd done this to Anael. But that was second on his list, below taking care of his beloved angel.

"They're gone," and more gently, "What do you need, love?"

[whispersoflove]

There was fierce violence to Coby's love right then, and Anael was glad that Coby was not giving in to it. He was not sure that he could have taken that right now. Just hold me, he wanted to answer, but he needed to do something about the brand on his collarbones. "Church," he blurted out quietly. "Take me to church?"

[sunsongs]

In some small part of the back of Coby's brain, Hozier began to sing, but Coby's focus was all on Anael. "Yeah. Of course." There had to be one close in a city this size, and he pulled out his phone to find the closest, barely taking his eyes away from Anael to do it. "Can you walk?"