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[mssr-black.livejournal.com]

Date: October 1st, early morn
Status: public
Setting: the road leading to the Manor
Summary: Mssr. Black comes to the Manor...
Rating: PG, but PG13 for those with particularly vivid imaginations.

Sirius Black opened his eyes. As the Veil lifted, and the world once again came into focus, all of his senses returned to him at once.
This was unfortunate because it’s rather a shock to the system to go from a content state of nothingness to the over-stimulation of laying nude in the wet grass of a misty gray morning with a sharp breeze cutting across your skin and raindrops rolling into and out of places they never should have been. He shivered, despite himself.
Without moving, he began to take stock of all the movable parts. Nothing seemed to be broken, or indeed even pained. Sitting himself up, he brushed the grass and mud from what he could reach and looked at the world around him. It certainly looked like the one he’d so recently left.
There was a road just to the side of where he sat. Probably led somewhere, he decided, and anywhere was better than here at this moment.
Good God but it was freezing. Only one thing to do...

No more than a half of an hour later, a large, black, and very wet dog padded up to Tadfield Manor, trying its best to look forlorn and hungry.

Comments

[dontcallmegabby.livejournal.com]

Gabriel straightened up, smiling as animal became man and the presence in his mind was suddenly sharpened - though the question briefly crossed his mind of just why so many of the Manor's inhabitants insisted on wandering about naked.

Still, even as the man sat down to eat, Gabriel could sense something not quite right. There was a weary quality to his character that did not befit his age, something tired and haggard and worn. He had seen more in his time, the archangel thought, than perhaps a mortal should, and still carried about him the sense of something mystic.

He could not help but wonder just what had happened to the mortal - whatever it was that clung to him was unfamiliar, though it lacked the dark tinge Gabriel had come to associate with evil. But the angel said nothing of it, instead giving the man a genuine smile. "Is there anything else I might do for you, Mr. ...?"

[mssr-black.livejournal.com]

Sirius gave the man what he could only hope was an odd look. Sitting across from him was a man of some kind of power, that much was clear. It made him wary, but the overall sense of good (as opposed to evil) was what troubled him most.

To trust, or not to trust.

A long drag on the beer brought a seldom used smile of serenity to his face*.
"Black."

He tore the bread in half, offering some to the man across.

"Thank you for this."

A fresh wind carried a barrage of rain to his back, and he shook himself without thinking.

Aura of calm and good, strange generosity, power sans magic, and bloody beautiful. Toss those together with the flash of imagery from earlier... Hmm. He wondered vaguely if he was dead after all and sent a silent prayer of thanks** to Heaven.

"If you don't mind,... Would you mind telling me where we are at the moment? And I'm sorry... what was your name sir?"




* Altogether unfitting with the haggard appearance, it might have looked to the casual observer to be little short of maniacal.

** The kind of thanks that one says with one eyebrow raised and a note of question tagged to the end.

[dontcallmegabby.livejournal.com]

It was the prayer more than the words themselves that sent a little thrill through the air around them; imperceptible to the mortal, it made the hair on the back of the angel's neck stand up. That was more thanks than could be expressed in words.

"You are very welcome, Mr. Black," Gabriel said. He accepted the bread with a nod, and, though he did not need it, broke off a small piece to eat as a show of good will before continuing. "I am Gabriel, and you're in a place called Lower Tadfield. It's not quite Heaven, despite what it looks like sometimes." He broke off, smiling faintly though his worried thoughts strayed once again to Adam as he wondered just how much of the boy's influence was intentional and how much unconscious.

And which would be more dangerous in the times to come.

Meeting the newcomer's eyes once more, he added, "This is Tadfield Manor. They'll be a room for you inside, I suspect, some clothing, and anything else you'll be needing."

[mssr-black.livejournal.com]

A vague sense of relief washed over Sirius, and yet... the suspicion lingered.

Again, Mother Nature saw fit to remind him of his distinct lack of clothing, and pelted his back with icy cold drops.

Quickly, he finished off the last of his meal, and turned to face this new companion.

"Clothes, hmm? I could go for a bit of that."

He stood, and looked towards the Manor.

"Em... Have you other business to attend to? I'd be rather indebted, well... more so than already, that is, if you'd accompany me. I'm not sure a nude visitor would get the warmest welcome..."

[dontcallmegabby.livejournal.com]

"Of course, Mr. Black, it would be my pleasure," Gabriel said with a smile, standing as well.

"And I do apologize, it was silly of me to forget, but..." He gestured, as one casting a spell, but for Gabriel all it took was the thought to materialize the robe which he then offered to Mr. Black. "It'll do," he added as he helped the man slip it on, "until we can find you something more suitable."

The robe was warmer than it by all rights should have been, and though it was hardly waterproof, when Gabriel led the way towards the manor, not a drop of the lashing rain saw fit to touch them.

[mssr-black.livejournal.com]

As the robe slid over his shoulders, and the rain ceased to beat against his body, Sirius Black thanked Heaven for the second time that morning. While he remained slightly mystified at this rapid turn of events, he was nonetheless grateful.

His mind began to turn towards the man who was leading him gently toward the manor. He was obviously of some talent to pull the robe, the food, and this charm from nothing, and with nothing but a bare suggestion of a wave.

He had questions yet. Why would this man just decide to help him? He'd first appeared as a pathetic looking animal - that part was understandable. Pathetic looking animals are far easier to help than pathetic looking men. But when he'd changed... there was hardly a blink of surprise. Who was he and what was this place that they were in the habit of accepting completely nude, run-down individuals with no obvious means of repayment?

He glanced again at the man called Gabriel. He seemed inhuman in his composure, but genuine at the same time. Sirius had seen the lines of worry flash across that face, and wondered whether he was getting into something perhaps more complex than a bath and a bed. It unsettled him.

The questions hung in the vicinity of his throat, and he might have asked them, but they had reached the door. Gabriel opened it.

Sirius walked inside.