(no subject)

[stillnotfallen.livejournal.com]

Date: April 3, 2003
Status: Public (Aziraphale, Baraq, Gabriel, Loki II) - complete
Setting: The restaurant
Summary: The paintball players get together for some beverages and lunch afterwards.


Aziraphale, wrapped up in a large blanket and sipping on hot tea, reassured for the umpteenth time that the Kraken Bible was again paint-free before returning his concentration to his three companions. 

"So, that was interesting," the angel chattered out, still quite chilly and very damp from having triggered the sprinkler system.  "Do I dare ask how that all came about?"

Comments

[cattygabriel]

"I met Loki in the lobby, and he shot me," Gabriel grinned. "It escalated from there, and we thought it would be best if we went outside to save the furniture. And then Baraq joined Loki and I was outnumbered, and you know the rest."

He scratched at some dried paint on his now multicoloured T-shirt.

[norseloki.livejournal.com]

Loki nodded. "I'm quite new here, though, and I don't think we've met yet, oh warrior of the yellow paint."

He grinned at the being with the book. "What kind of tome is that you#re carrying there anyway?"

[stillnotfallen.livejournal.com]

Aziraphale smiled back at Loki. "My name is Aziraphale," he said with a nod in greeting, "Although I have to admit I like 'warrior of the yellow paint.' Pleased to meet you. I'd shake your hand but mine is quite cold. Your name is Loki, correct? Are you actually from Norway or thereabouts? There's another bloke here named Loki who apparently is from America, so I don't want to make any assumptions anymore."

This one was infinitely better than the other one already, just for asking about the book.

"This is the only rare Bible that this manor has in its library," he explained, "It's called the Kraken Bible. A very interesting read, although it gets a bit confusing at times."

[norseloki.livejournal.com]

"Quite a mouthul," Loki grinned. "I have run into him," he admitted. "I'm not really from Norway. I'm from Asgard. Or, if you go a long time back, from Jötunnheim. I've been travellig, though - even though I didn't get quite as far as the other one apparently has."

He indicated Gabriel with a nod of his head. "I thought he was the librarian. What were you doing with the book?"

The book seemd to be important to Aziraphale. He was there to make allies. For that, he should get to know them, show an interst in them. The sooner he started, the better.

[misterbkeele.livejournal.com]

"I," said Barnaby, hanging his dusty jacket on the back of a chair, "was just saddled into this by these two." He poured himself a glass of lemonade before sitting down.

He gave an awkward cough, looking at Aziraphale's sodden state. "I didn't mean for the sprinklers to be that bad," he said. "I should've thought better about that one."

[cattygabriel]

"Pass the lemonade and a glass, please," Gabriel requested. "Thank you."

He watched Barnaby curiously. The demon seemed almost guilty about making Aziraphale uncomfortable; odd, that. Gabriel didn't think that all demons were out for angel blood and never had, but even with Belial, despite the civility, he could not help but feel a slight twinge of unease. With Barnaby, all he felt at the moment was amusement and curiosity.

"You could have said no and gone on your merry way," he pointed out, trying to hide the laugh that was threatening to bubble up now that the adrenaline rush was dying down. He couldn't help it; they looked utterly ridiculous in his opinion. Four immortals, paint-stained and grime-smeared, sitting around and drinking lemonade after a paintball war. "Although personally I think the sprinklers were a good tactic. I should have thought of it; my attempt at a decoy proved rather a waste."

[stillnotfallen.livejournal.com]

Aziraphale looked to Loki and smiled. "I may not be the librarian, but I do love to read, you see. I have a bookshop in London that I've temporarily left behind. However, Gabriel here took over the library before I even arrived here."

Then he had to gape at Barnaby. "That was you? I thought I triggered them by accident..." He sniffed and sighed, drinking some more tea. "It's just as well, I suppose. It got a lot of the paint off. And you say you think it's a good tactic, Gabriel, but that's because you weren't the one assaulted with freezing water."

[cattygabriel]

"I was there first," Gabriel shrugged, grinning.

He sipped his lemonade, enjoying the cool, refreshing taste. "Come now, Aziraphael, can you say you didn't have fun?"

[misterbkeele.livejournal.com]

Barnaby shrugged, a little irritably, at Gabriel's scrutiny and the look on Aziraphale's face. "Call it morbid curiosity, joining in," he said. "Where did the markers come from, anyway? They seemed a bit on the old side." He took a drink of lemonade, a finger tapping on the rim of the glass.

To Gabriel, he added, "A good tactic? That's awfully charitable, considering I did trip you."

[stillnotfallen.livejournal.com]

Aziraphale gave a fond sigh. "Yes, I did enjoy myself," he admitted. "Well, at least I did for most of it. I suppose I'm not cut out for endurance sports. I really enjoyed stretching my wings for once. They've been itching something fierce lately."

[cattygabriel]

Gabriel rubbed a paint-stained finger along the side of his glass, wiping off some condensation and rubbing his damp finger and thumb together. There was a slight paint-smear left on the glass. He looked forward to a nice long shower, or possibly even a soak in the bathtub.

Gabriel tried to go flying in the early morning at least once every two days, and it would probably be polite to ask Aziraphale to join him. But... he was fond of Aziraphale, yes, but somehow flying had always seemed a somewhat private activity to him, and he could count on one hand the number of individuals he would go flying with and have fingers to spare.

"I think you did well," he smiled at the other angel, before turning to Barnaby. "Charitable? I can accept a good idea when I see one, even if it's from the other side. Besides, I did tackle you first, so I can hardly be annoyed."

[norseloki.livejournal.com]

"The basement," Loki answered. "I found them in the basement. They were there with a lot of other junk one should go through one day and see if there's anything else around that might be fun."

He grinned at each of the three in turn. "I think I missed something there - aren't you kind of at war with each other? How can you get out of shape while you're fighting a war?"

[misterbkeele.livejournal.com]

Barnaby shifted in his seat at the talk of flying, listening to the drying paint crackle and flake off his clothes. "Perhaps," he said in response to Loki. "Maybe we could look on a day that we don't look like walking Jackson Pollock paintings."

At the god's other statement, he gave the angels a searching look, not too sure what to say. "It's something of a cold war, at the moment," he said at last. "Though the situation seems poised to change at any moment now."

[cattygabriel]

"Well, this is supposed to be neutral ground, anyway. He can't touch you here, but you can't make the first move either," Gabriel pointed out. "He's the god of thunder, right?" Gabriel himself had some power over thunder, as did Uriel; he idly wondered what it would be like if all three of them were angry and confrontational, unlikely though the scenario was.

"Is anyone else hungry? A small snack sounds nice to me, and it is nearly teatime, isn't it?" He carefully wiped his hands, damp from the condensation on the glass, on the napkin before beckoning to the waiter, mentally reminding himself to choose something light for dinner as well. Moderation at all times.

[norseloki.livejournal.com]

"I'd never!" Loki assured the angel. "What made you think such a thing?"

Except that, of course, he would if he thought he stood a chance at winning.

"Food sounds good, though." He grinned. "Who's paying?"

[stillnotfallen.livejournal.com]

Aziraphale frowned as he tried to mentally examine his current financial situation. Well, Aziraphale was never considered rich, but he certainly could pay for snacks for four people.

Hopefully.

He always frowned on miracling money, especially since it was rather officially Frowned Open as well, but considering one of the Frowners was right here...

"I wouldn't mind paying," he said uncertainly.

[cattygabriel]

Gabriel shrugged. "I don't know; I've learnt not to put much store by the mythological versions of events. None of you are anything like what I'd expected." Not that he'd known what to expect in the first place.

He sensed the uncertainty in Aziraphale's voice. Gabriel thought about his own financial situation; it seemed like cat food and kitty litter made up his main expense, really. He himself tended to eat lightly. Tea for four seemed quite affordable. "I'll pay," he cut in.

[norseloki.livejournal.com]

"None of us?" Loki asked Gabriel. "Who's that? I thought you had some kidn of history with those two."

He indicated Aziraphale and Baraq. Probably, the angel had meant the other Loki. He wasn't quite sure yet if he wanted him to be an us, though.

[cattygabriel]

"I do," Gabriel nodded, signalling to the waiter before turning back to Loki. "I meant, you know, the gods." He gestured to Loki. "I have met one or two gods before, but I'm never quite sure what to expect." He shifted in his seat, uncomfortabl.

The waiter approached and set menus down before them.

[misterbkeele.livejournal.com]

"Even accounting for myth, stories change when they change hands, anyway," Barnaby said neutrally. "It's as bad with the stories they tell about our and their people." He indicated himself and the angels with a small hand gesture.

"I'll cover my own costs, if it's all the same," he added, ordering lox on a poppyseed bagel. He didn't like to be in debt, even something as small as a meal.

[norseloki.livejournal.com]

Loki studied his menu, then ordered a snack. He still had plans for the night.

"You have no idea how much stories can change," he said. "At times it's difficult to tell what's real from what's, well, not."

His eyes left the menu and settled on Gabriel. "Why not just expect them to be regular people, like you and they are?"

[stillnotfallen.livejournal.com]

Aziraphale valiantly resisted the urge to snort at the allegation that any of them were anything approximating 'regular.' Whether or not he succeeded is up to debate.

[cattygabriel]

Gabriel raised an eyebrow at Aziraphael's reaction, ordering a slice of coffee cake.

"As regular as people can be?" He shrugged. "Well, if the first god you meet is Bast... I suppose I'm just not sure how to react to you, or how you would react to us. Or how you're so very different from the stories. Your American counterpart and I, for instance, didn't exactly get along well at first, though that was more due to misinformation on my part."

[norseloki.livejournal.com]

"I never met Bast," Loki said. "And I fear my American counterpart and I don't get along very well either. How am I so different from the stories? And please - do keep in mind that the victors write history, and I most definitely was not that when last I checked."

His shudder was not faked. There was a reason he spent the nights prowling the ground rather than sleeping after all.

[stillnotfallen.livejournal.com]

"Fancy that; someone doesn't like that pseudo-god from the Colonies," Aziraphale murmured from behind a cup of tea. "Perish the thought."