A discovery

[norseloki.livejournal.com]

Date: April 3, 2003, afternoon
Status: Public - complete
Setting: The Manor
Summary: Loki discovers some left-overs from the past. Anyone come play?


Loki returned to his room with a contented smile on his face. He had spend some hours rummaging through things from the manor's past, hoping to find something that would prove interesting and maybe even useful.

What he had found was certainly interesting, while its usability, as well as its usefulness, were still in some doubt. What he did not doubt in the least, however, was that he would find out about both soon enough.

He dragged his low table to the corner from where he could keep an eye on the door. Not knowing quite where his so-called friends and family were would keep him somewhat on edge for a long time, he feared. Or at least until he had enough allies of his own to sleep comfortably again. Not that he slept at all at the moment.

Carefully, he put down the four paintball markers he had been carrying on the table and unslung the bag from his shoulder. Then he laid out the paint cartridges he had collected in it, sorted by color. So now he had some firearms, though admittedly not the type he'd been thinking of when he mentioned them to his other self.

He reached into the box with red paint pellets. Yes, that was definitely his color. He took one out, holding it carefully between him fingers in order not to crush it. The ammunition had gone unused for years, it seemed, and the paint inside seemed to have dried up. Maybe applying a little heat would help.

The first attempt went somewhat awry. The heat flowing from his fingers caused the paintball to swell until it no longer fit into the weapon. It brust when he tried, splashing his hand with red paint.

He wiped it on the inside of the light jacket he wore open without as much as a t-shirt beneath, and tried again. A little less heat this time, and more slowly. He stopped when the outside of the ball started to show the first sign of reaction. This one was much better. Of course he would have to try it out to see if it was truly functional again.

Loading the marker, he went to his open window, sighted on one of the trees on the manor grounds, and pulled the trigger. With a satisfied grin at the result, he went back to his table to put the remaining ammunition into a functional state again, before he collected everything and went downstairs.

In the lobby, he put down three of the markers in conspicuous places, together with the paintfall boxes with yellow, blue and green ammunition. Then he retreated to the doorway to watch if anyone would come in and pick one up. The loaded red marker firmly in his hands and ready for action, he leaned against the wall and waited.

Comments

[cattygabriel]

Dilemme solved - Aziraphael himself had taken to the air, and there was a bright green stain on his, er, derriere. Gabriel tried desperately to muffle his laughter.

Loki had raised himself up to shoot at Aziraphael, making a fair target of himself; Gabriel, having sneaked up until he was only a few metres away, quickly fired off two shots right at his back, before ducking again and moving.

[misterbkeele.livejournal.com]

Barnaby hadn't waited to see if his shot connected, skidding down one of the gables to a different part of the roof and nearly dropping the marker in the process. Keep moving, keep moving.

When he looked down again, he bit his lip, not sure whether to wince or grin. This was sufficient revenge for the headshot, but the game most likely wasn't stopping there, especially now that Barnaby wasn't the only one who had taken to the air.

He straightened up, staying hidden no longer being an issue. He had a little time to get his bearings before Aziraphale gained enough height. To his right, there was less cover on the grounds, mostly cleared walkways and flowerbeds, but if he was quick (and lucky) he could get to a row of trees a little way away and back into hiding, and possibly get a glimpse of where Gabriel was.

He fired a shot at Aziraphale's general direction (not even bothering to aim, just to distract him), ran lightly over to the edge, and dove.

[norseloki.livejournal.com]

Even though he had almost expected being shot again after showing himself, Loki had to bite back a yelp of surprise, as two pellets struck him from behind. He whirled around, sending another load after the attacker - that must have been Gabriel - bevore taking cover again.

[cattygabriel]

Luckily, Gabriel was beginning to get the hang of all this, and had moved away immediately after firing. The shot barely missed him, though.

It was like a seesaw - Aziraphael went up, and Barnaby was coming down. In fact, if the demon didn't change direction, he'd likely land right on top of Gabriel. Not wanting to turn into an angel pancake, Gabriel tried to wriggle away as fast as he could without showing himself, which wasn't very fast.

[stillnotfallen.livejournal.com]

Aziraphale realized now that he ought to have gone to the air fairly early on. He could see everything from here, and more importantly, abandoning the lack of wings meant abandoning the majority of his human form, making him more lithe and aware.

Barnaby's shot didn't even come close, and he could hear Loki's shots early enough that he could dodge them easily. He took aim at Barnaby as he fled the roof and fired, before flapping his wings more to get himself higher to escape Loki's paintball gun's range.

Of course, he couldn't stay suspended in the air for long. He hadn't been flying all that often, and his flight muscles were already starting to protest. But for the moment, he felt in control.

And took the time to miracle the paint on his bum onto another part of his trousers. They still displayed he had gotten hit but without looking like he had had a very peculiar accident.

[norseloki.livejournal.com]

Since Loki had been facing Gabriel, Aziraphale's maneuver was lost on him.

Now that would not do at all!
From his new hiding place, he aimed and shot at the flying angel again.

[stillnotfallen.livejournal.com]

Aziraphale saw it coming and gracefully arched his head back, the ball flying overhead, albeit not by much.

Oh bugger. He was going to have to land soon. Well, if Barnaby could be on the roof...

Flying while facing the direction that Loki had shot at him from, Aziraphale sailed through the air and landed on top of the manor's roof, folding in his wings and ignoring the burning sensation in his back. He really needed to do that more often.

He took a deep breath, readied himself, and ran to the the edge of the roof that Barnaby had just gone off.

[misterbkeele.livejournal.com]

The ball struck where Barnaby's shoulder blades would have been, and the reflexive jerk of his wings turned his glide into a barely-controlled flurry of movement. He gave an exclamation of disgust as he saw who he was careening into, and only just saved himself from crashing into the Messenger.

Barnaby landed with an inelegant clatter of gravel some yards away, skinning his elbows as if he was a seven year old learning to ride a bicycle. By some miracle, he hadn't dropped his gun. He fired twice in quick succession in Gabriel's direction before scrambling up and running full-out towards the trees.

[cattygabriel]

Gabriel, it had to be admitted, was slightly put out at the exclamation of disgust; surely he wasn't that repulsive, even to a demon. Still, he was glad he hadn't been flattened.

He winced as one of the shots made contact with his waist, and just barely managed to avoid the other one, scrambling to his feet - so much for his usual grace - and giving chase.

Aziraphael seemed to be distracting Loki just fine, he noticed out of the corner of his eye, before firing at Barnaby.

[norseloki.livejournal.com]

Hearing the commotion behind him, Loki turned, took just enough time to aim to make sure Barnaby wouldn't be caught in friendly fire, shot and whirled back towards the other Angel.

[cattygabriel]

Gabriel had to remind himself that he was not in the habit of swearing when Loki's shot hit him in the back, sending him staggering forwards a little. He whirled around, firing at Loki before running even faster, beginning to catch up with Barnaby.

[norseloki.livejournal.com]

Loki generally had no misgivings about swearing, but he kept himself back nevertheless, even though more even color was running down his back now. It would have given the new hiding place away that he had rolled into right after Gabriel's hit.

[misterbkeele.livejournal.com]

"Gah! Hey!"

The shot hit him in the small of his back, but he didn't turn and look. Crud crud crud, he was being chased, now what? He had reached the trees, but the twisting roots made the ground uneven and slowed him down.

He fired a shot over his shoulder, skirted around an overgrown patch of brambles, and kept going.

[cattygabriel]

Excellent, a hit. Gabriel sped up, nearly tripping over a twisting root but staying upright. He stumbled slightly as Baraq's shot hit him, even more green paint splattering over his collar and neck.

The edge of the bramble patch caught on his jeans, but he ignored them, pulling away and speeding up even more. He was gaining on his quarry, and a grin began to spread over his face.

[misterbkeele.livejournal.com]

Crap. He was slowing down, all the running and flight from before getting their revenge, especially now he had fully returned to his human form.

"Will you—knock it off?" he demanded over his shoulder.

[cattygabriel]

"No," Gabriel called, laughing as he began to draw level with the demon, adrenaline pounding through his veins. He leapt over another knarled old root protruding from the ground, and tackled Barnaby.

The momentum resulted in them rolling briefly in a tangle of limbs before Gabriel pinned him to the ground, paint-gun pressed to his chest.

"It would seem that you're out of the game," he stated, grinning, trying to catch his breath. "Nothing personal."

[misterbkeele.livejournal.com]

Somewhere in in the tackle, Barnaby had lost his own gun, which... limited options rather more.

This was sort of embarrassing.

"Well-played," he muttered. "Now please get off."

[cattygabriel]

Gabriel got to his feet, offering Barnaby a hand.

"Well-played yourself," he grinned.

[misterbkeele.livejournal.com]

Barnaby sat up with leafmould and twigs stuck in his hair. This wouldn't do.

"Right," he said and took the proffered hand. He then yanked hard, dragging the angel into the soil while pulling himself upwards. Somewhere, someplace, you could perhaps hear a voice saying, psych!

The demon took off running once again, only pausing to scoop up his marker a few feet away.

[cattygabriel]

Gabriel was trying very hard to hold in his laughter. He himself hardly cut a dignified figure anyway, with the soil and red and green paint streaking his clothes, making him look like some sort of personification of Christmas festivities. There was red paint, soil and leaves in his hair too.

"Oof!"

He remembered crashing into a tree, taking Uriel's proffered hand and yanking the other archangel down as well. A taste of my own medicine, he thought wryly, sitting up and brushing some leaves out of his hair.

At least the demon hadn't taken his gun. He got to his feet and took off after Barnaby.

[stillnotfallen.livejournal.com]

Aziraphale watched all of this from his position on the rooftop, and it did pass his mind to try to get Gabriel to join him, but that wouldn't be fair to Loki. However, Aziraphale staying on the roof wasn't fair to Gabriel.

He squinted to try to clear his vision a bit better - Gabriel had taken off after Barnaby, but where was Loki? Gabriel had shot towards something, hadn't he, but at this height it was difficult to determine if he had, in fact, been aiming at Loki, or if he had only thought he had been aiming at Loki.

Aziraphale sighed. He hated taking risks like this, but there was nothing else for it. Stretching out his wings again, he gracefully jumped from the rooftop, landing where Barnaby had not long before, and set off in the direction of the other three beings.

[norseloki.livejournal.com]

Wonderful - now everyone was running away from his position! Well... he would make the best of the situation!

Loki wiped his sleeve over his face, trying to get rid of some of the paint and only managing to smear it even more. Getting rid of some of the paint wouldn't be a bad idea, he mused.

He took of his jacket and placed it so that someone running past might just believe they caught a glimps of him, hiding in the bushes. then he found himself a proper high place in good view, aimed at where he supposed someone shooting at the decoy would stand, and settled down to wait.

[misterbkeele.livejournal.com]

Barnaby left the trees, vaulting over a low wall separating two pathways. He was running slower now, pacing himself. He wasn't sure where Loki was now, didn't know the god or his kind enough to be able to pinpoint his aura, but it was probably best to get back to the thicker shrubs and cover of where the game had started.

[stillnotfallen.livejournal.com]

Aziraphale found himself chasing down Gabriel, who was chasing down Barnaby. Figuring that Loki was nowhere near the playing field and from the sight of things Gabriel wasn't going to catch up to Barnaby, the younger angel called out as loud as he dared, "Gabriel!"

[cattygabriel]

Gabriel might have caught up with Barnaby. Eventually.

He slowed down and turned. "Aziraphael?" He glanced down at the green paint on the Principality's pants. "I see you performed a miracle."