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

[stillnotfallen.livejournal.com]

Now he had triggered the manor's sprinkler system and was soaked head to toe, his curls sogged and his clothes sticking to his skin. Deciding that apparently the Lord was pulling a Job on him, Aziraphale decided to stand there and take it, resisting the urge to beat his head on a tree or fly back to his room, curl up in bed and never leave.

Aziraphale sighed, letting his head hang limply. At least there weren't any children around, he thought musingly. He spat a bit of water out of his mouth.

[cattygabriel]

Gabriel knelt behind a bush and let his senses extend, searching for Loki's aura. He didn't know it very well yet, but he knew what American Loki's aura felt like, and he doubted anyone else would be in the grounds unless they liked having paint-splattered clothes.

There.

Inching forward slowly, he pointed his paint-gun at the bush.

[norseloki.livejournal.com]

Loki had a hard time believing the angel actually came straight towards the place where he was hiding. It was unfair! How could he know?

Well, spotted he might be, but at least he wasn't defenseless. He raised his marker's muzzle slightl to aim for Gabriel's shoulder rather than his chest. if he was lucky, the other one would take a second before he got off a shot of his won after being hit on such a relatively short distance.

He did not watch to see if he even hit, but instead burst out from his current bush and dove for cover behind another one, closer to the wall.

[cattygabriel]

Gabriel was about to fire when Loki's shot hit his shoulder. He winced, stumbling, and accidentally fired in a random direction.

"Ow."

He sank down behind a bush, rubbing his arm, before taking aim and firing at the spot where he presumed Loki was.

[norseloki.livejournal.com]

Loki dug somewhat deeper into the shrubbery he was now hiding in, moving backwards carefully and slowly so as not to create too much of a disturbance around him. Then he remained motionless for a while and cocked his head to listen.

[cattygabriel]

Well, now that Loki was hiding, all Gabriel could do was... either wait for him to come out, or fire at the bush repeatedly and probably not hit him, or make him come out.

He sank deeper into his own bush too, quietly, thinking. He knew where Loki was, roughly - he could sense him - but that wasn't much help at the moment.

He could take to the air and shoot Loki from above, but that would make him an obvious target and he didn't want his wings to get hit.

Or... he could cause a distraction, to draw him out. He frowned in concentration, tracing a symbol in the air with a finger, and a small, slow and rather localised breeze picked up, rustling the leaves in a direct path, almost as though someone were crawling from his position to somewhere to the right of Loki. A blink, and the paint-stained, soil-streaked black jacket he wore was in the decoy position; a hint of it could be seen through the shrubbery. He glanced down at himself, amused that the front of his white shirt was barely white anymore, but the back was still somewhat pristine, having been protected by the jacket. Not any more, though.

Now all he could do was wait and hope that Loki would show himself as he went for the bait.

[norseloki.livejournal.com]

Loki saw the angel crawling through the bushes. He wondered why he'd suddenly turned so obvious. Was he tiring?

Ah, but maybe... maybe he was offering himself as bait, with the other angel hiding somewhere, staying still and intending to take him down before he could change his position after firing!

He had no idea where his own team mate was, so he stayed quite still for a while, scanning anything that might provide some cover for hints that there was a second person around.

[cattygabriel]

Gabriel shifted minutely, slightly annoyed. Either Loki suspected it was a trap, or he was just being cautious. Gabriel hoped it was the latter.

He stayed very still, hoping Aziraphael and Baraq wouldn't approach, and twitched a finger. The jacket moved slightly, as though its nonexistent occupant was shifting into a better hiding position.

[norseloki.livejournal.com]

Gabriel twitched a bit and moved the leaves, but Loki continued to scan the rest of the bushes and possible hiding places. He already knew where Gabriel was, after all, and the angel could hardly shoot him from that position.