(no subject)

[diaktoros.livejournal.com]

Date: May 1, 2000
Setting: The Manor grounds
Status: Public
Summary: The new year dawns for the pagan calendar, and you know what that means...


Hermes had been gathering wood all day, depositing it in a large pile in a very clear spot on the rolling lawns. He'd gotten up very early, and had spent most of the morning making little flyers. They were on plain white paper, decorated with a box of crayola markers that he'd produced*; still, Hermes was rather a good hand at doodling (he inherited some art in his blood from Apollo), and soon flyers were posted in the most commonly frequented places of the manor. The godling made it all the more mysterious and fun by simply disappearing the flyers off to their appointed place as he finished them. So he didn't even have to leave his room.

There will be a bonfire starting
at dusk to celebrate the new year.
Please come! There will be music
and other fun things!

All the rest of the day, Hermes was outside, running around with Dog and whatever other creatures were outside, and frolicking about the grounds, laughing and generally having what grown-ups would call 'way too much fun'.

As the sun was setting, he lay on the grass to watch it, hands behind his head. Sunsets always reminded him of his brother, and thus made him a bit serious.

"Someday we'll celebrate the new year in Hawai'i," he said, speaking to Apollo, Eros and Dionysus in the manner that mortals spoke to dead or far-away loved ones. "We'll have a big luau with drums and dancing and lots of fun...someday, I promise."

______________________________
*Unlike most people who could just make things appear from thin air, Hermes literally teleported them from somewhere else. He was the god of thieves, after all.

Comments

[ineffable-angel.livejournal.com]

Thunk!

The angel snorted, waking up with a start. It was cold where he was, surrounded by books, and far too quiet. He had been in the library, fast asleep after taking his tea. The last thing he could remember was laughter and barking somewhere outside on the grounds, perhaps late afternoon.

It was after sunset now, some time after, he realized, looking out at the window. And it was far, far too quiet.

The angel stood, stretched a little, and tucked away all the books on shelves, leaving a small pile of decent ones out in a stack. A manicured hand rubbed his eyes, clearing it of the last vestiges of sleep.

The silence was unnerving.

He left, when the room was tidied, embarrassed to have napped for so long. It was likely he'd even missed supper. Aziraphale went to their room first, finding no Crowley and no note. Odd, but perhaps he was downstairs.

He went down to the lobby, still bothered by the silence of the Manor. Something was happening. He saw the front doors and listened, and finally heard the sounds of... his eyes lighted on a flyer at just that point in time, and the angel blinked. "A festival?" he asked himself silently.

Music was filtering through the doors, louder when he went outside to go look. It was late evening, very dark, but he could smell a fire and see the flickering light not so very far off.

Smiling to himself, thinking he was silly for worrying, the angel crept forward, hidden by darkness and various greenery, for a better look.

It was then that he realized that the flickering light was caused by dancing humans. Ellie was unmistakeable, but the rest of the faces were dark and shifting, shadows. He tried to climb a tree for a better look - still a distance off, you understand, and the last thing he wanted was to be pulled in to.

(The only dance he knew with any style was the gavotte, thank you.)

The angel got up into the tree with little problem, bits of leaves and twigs sticking in his mussed blond hair. He still couldn't see, however, so he made his way along a branch, almost above the dancers.

Aziraphale suddenly made out Crowley's face below him, as one of the mesmerizing dancers, and gasped with shock, and the branch broke. He fell.

[diaktoros.livejournal.com]

Hearing the slight moving of the branches (and getting a little bored with drumming), Hermes got up curiously and wandered over--gasping with surprise when an angel fell out of the tree (this reminded him strongly of a manga he'd read once). Half-catching him, and using that to give him a hug, Hermes also decided to kiss Azi's cheek softly in greeting.

"Hello!" he said with a jubilant giggle, his silver-blue aura like starlight now that it was dark and he was away from the fire. "Nice of you to join us--were you chasing a nymph?" The last was said in a teasing tone of voice.

[ineffable-angel.livejournal.com]

He was still in shock when he landed, arms wrapping around him, taking the brunt of the fall from him, letting Aziraphale get his balance. So it took a moment for the words - and kiss - to sink in.

"Hermes?" he asked in shock, eyes sharpening at the new, and unexpected, face. "A nymph? I..." he glanced around, clinging to Hermes and still wretchedly disoriented, for Crowley. He could only see the other dancers, and he stumbled over the remains of the branch. Aziraphale miracled away the wreckage, barely sparing a glance at it, and then turned back to Hermes.

"Hello," he tried, feeling foolish. "Is... this a party of some sort?" He'd gotten his balance back, barely, and tried to pull away a little. Being caught was very, very kind of the god, but the kiss was making him blush deeply, made worse when Aziraphale stumbled over the realization that he was naked to boot. His own clothes were ripped, it was true, but not to this extent.

"You're naked," he informed him, stupidly.

[diaktoros.livejournal.com]

"As I like to be," Hermes answered serenely, smiling. "It's New Year, we're celebrating. Care to join us?" he looked thoughtfully at himself, then the dancers, and smiled as he tapped a long finger to his lips. Turning back to Aziraphale, he said, "Would you like to shed your guise of human? After all, part of the festival is to be your true self." He giggled jubilantly again, out of sheer happiness. "Come on, give me a smile? I'm sure you have a very pretty one."

[chantinellie.livejournal.com]

Startled, Ellie had turned to see who the interloper might be, and had actually brought her arms up in a futile attempt to cover herself when she realized who it was. Aziraphale was probably the one person in the Manor she would rather not see her naked, though she wasn't entirely sure why. (Although Crowley dancing half-naked himself no more than a couple of yards away probably had something to do with it.)

She schooled her expression to calm as Hermes fawned over the angel, not daring to look in Crowley's direction. Oh please, you two, be sensible. Think how it will look. Don't spoil such a lovely night for everyone.

Defiantly, she let her arms drop and waved to Aziraphale to join them, and then returned to her dance. It wasn't as though she could pretend to be modest, under the circumstances, and the less fuss everybody else made about it all, the less it was liable to embarrass the angel.

[ineffable-angel.livejournal.com]

Aziraphale had caught sight of Ellie, and gave her an unsteady I-just-fell-out-of-a-tree embarrassed smile. It was finally then that he realized this was, in fact, a very naked Ellie ohdearshe'dcatchherdeathofcoldthatway, waving at him. His first instinct was to blush, of course, but he was already doing that. His second instinct (if one could call what an angel does instincts) was to look away, and he did so, leaning in close to Hermes to hear him better.

"Pretty?" he asked, tuning back in with disbelief writ in his face. "Hardly. And I do prefer my guise of humanity, if that's quite all right..." Aziraphale glanced at the dancers again, Ellie having melted back into the crowd.

"However, my dear, I believe I owe my rescuer a favour. If you wish me to join the dancers, then I shall." The angel offered him a nervous smile, tugging on his clothes modestly. "But I'm not undressing."

[diaktoros.livejournal.com]

"Oh no no, of course not!" Hermes soothed with his charming smile. "But since you owe me a favour..." he thought for a moment, then smiled brightly. "This is it: Show me and tell me what you are. I know you are a Thingy of some kind, but that's all. I like wings. I hope you have wings..." the last was sort of a ramble to himself, only half-addressed to Mr. Fell.

He giggled again, giving off the aura of being absolutely overflowing with exuberance and joy. "So it's sort of like getting naked, but without the bits that make people blush and things," he finished thoughtfully.

[ineffable-angel.livejournal.com]

Aziraphale laughed, free and unexpected. "'You show me yours, I'll show you mine?'" he quoted, an amusing twinkle in his crinkling blue eyes. "Well, very well. If there's anyone here that is terribly surprised at my wings, I could always say it was a costume."

He coughed, stretching, and began to unbutton his shirt. "It's easier," he explained. "Um, if you would...?" the angel asked him, blushing to the roots of his blond curls. "I don't really enjoy... oh, heavens, it's your favour, never mind." He finished with the buttons, pulling it off and folding it neatly before banishing it to the shared room.

Then the angel took a deep breath, closed his eyes as if to meditate, and within moments a pair of two brilliantly pure wings unfolded from his back, stretching to their full expansion of sixteen feet across and eight feet tall. He reeled them in quickly, mindful of the other dancers and their audience.

"That feels better," he confessed, touching one of his shoulders to massage the cramped and disused muscle there.

"Oh, my dear, by the way," and his halo shone through, brightening the air around him and lightening his eyes to a bright and beautiful blue, penetrating, as he stared directly at Hermes, tall and strong and noble. "I'm an angel."

[diaktoros.livejournal.com]

He'd mentally prepared for wings, but seeing them...he didn't notice the tears running down his cheeks, or that he suddenly latched onto the angel. It took a moment or two to realise that he was muttering words, much less what they were.

"Free...you're free..."

Bad memories came crashing down in force, and he lost control, weeping quietly. His wings weren't attatched. His wings could be taken away. They could weigh him down easily, trap him...but Thingys didn't have that. The wings were all attatched, and the worst that could happen was that they'd get cut off and it would become human.*

Hermes' silvery aura wavered, the halo and the pagan light crossing paths and not liking each other one bit.

_______________

[ineffable-angel.livejournal.com]

"Free? I'm not- Oh, my dear, shhhh..." he soothed, gathering Hermes against him comfortingly, half-cradling him like a child. "Shhhh. I didn't think it would upset you this much."

Their heads were pressed against each other, about cheek-to-cheek as the god began to cry on his shoulder, small shoulders shaking. Aziraphale felt sympathy rise in his heart and crest as he rubbed the god's back carefully.

(It was, all in all, a very odd position for an angel to be in.)

Arms still occupied, he turned down the halo, bringing the wings in close. "All right? I'll put them away if you would prefer... Deep breaths, dear. Deep breaths. There you are..."

[diaktoros.livejournal.com]

Through the crying, one idea became very, very clear: Hermes did not want the wings to go away. A long hand reached out and stroked them, and a small voice said, "No...don' go 'way..."

If the wings, if the warm feathers touching him, went away, he was sure the world would end, or Ares would find him, or something horrible. "No please..." he sobbed, clutching the angel and trying to obey because this was Mr. Fell giving instructions. He wanted very badly to obey anything Mr. Fell said to do.

[chantinellie.livejournal.com]

Ellie's dance brought her swinging around to face Aziraphale again, and her breath caught in her throat at the sight of him, standing there so straight and tall with his radiant white wings out, golden hair and blue blue eyes, enveloped in holy light. The last time she'd seen an angel like that up close, arrayed in his full glory--

She turned away with swift tears stinging her eyes, only to see the young girl whose name she still didn't know, swaying and spinning in a carefree, sweetly naive dance that contrasted starkly with her own seductive rhythm. Though Ellie remembered that she had danced that way once, too, eons before. In a place filled with white light, before a shining throne.

Dizzy with the juxtaposition of such wrenching memories against the overtly pagan backdrop, she turned instinctively toward the only person present who might share them in some measure, wondering what Crowley made of it all.

[anthony-crowley.livejournal.com]

Enveloped completely in the music, it was some time before Crowley realized that the beat was off, the notes felt flat, something wasn't right. He halted, dazed, and looked around, trying to get his bearings as he returned to his usual state. The first thing he saw was Ellie staring concernedly at him. Then he saw why. Aziraphale, in full angelic form no less, was apparently snuggling with the naked blue kid. A thief indeed. Crowley felt a curl of jealousy wind its way behind his eyes and he walked coolly over to the two engrossed in one another.

"Aziraphale," he said mildly, as though he'd unexpectedly met an nodding acquaintance on the tube.

[diaktoros.livejournal.com]

Hermes froze, and his nude state (as well as his slender form) made his tense muscles stand out very obviously. He didn't let go, he didn't say anything, he barely even breathed.

If you hurt him I'll kill you. was the only coherent thought in his mind, and the ferocity of it scared him, so he closed his eyes and held the Principality tighter, arms around his waist. Hermes' back was used to all sorts of pain. He could handle it; and his body would shield Mr. Fell's.

[ineffable-angel.livejournal.com]

Aziraphale blinked.

In only a few minutes, he'd gone from falling out of a tree, to making a god cry, to being approached by Crowley, to being clung to by said god. (At least, the angel decided, glancing at the god's face, he wasn't crying anymore.)

"Um," he said, freezing as well at the look on Crowley's face, and the too-quiet tone of his voice. The angel let go and tried to pull away, but Hermes' arms gripped him too tightly. He'd obviously misunderstood Aziraphale's intentions. The angel could see Crowley's restrained stance in the edge of his vision. He wasn't the only one.

A small thread of panic wound its way down his spine as humiliation reddened his cheeks. Slowly, he reached around and undid Hermes' grip, brought the god's hands around to his front, and clasped them together. "Terribly sorry," he said quietly, eyes on Crowley as he spoke. "But enough. Please.

"Yes?" he finally answered, turning to his waiting lover. "Did you want to say something?"

[diaktoros.livejournal.com]

Hermes let himself be unwound, but didn't move from his spot. For the angel's sake he wound himself in a soft linen chiton again. He waited, tensed to breaking, for this to play out. So far nothing had happened, but he wasn't going to leave, especially when an argument or fight was going to happen.*

_______________________

[chantinellie.livejournal.com]

Alarmed at the abrupt escalation in tension, Ellie left her space by the fire and came up behind Hermes, touching his shoulders lightly. She couldn't guess what had him so worried, but worried and protective he clearly was, and his lingering would only exacerbate things. Surely he didn't think Crowley was going to attack Aziraphale?

"It's all right," she murmured in his ear, hoping to draw him away so that the other two could sort out their issue uninterrupted. "Aziraphale will be fine. I promise."

[diaktoros.livejournal.com]

He didn't believe her, and it was evident in the look he turned on Crowley. It was a warning, and despite his lack of skill in combat, Hermes was determined to not let Azi come to harm--or if he did, to avenge him with all the terrible wrath of an Olympian.

Giving Azi one last hug, he let Ellie pull him away, ears perked for signs of danger.

[chantinellie.livejournal.com]

Tugging Hermes back toward the fire, Ellie drew him in close, moving coaxingly with the beat of the drum. "Really," she insisted, "there's nothing to worry about. Before they came here, they were Adversaries since...well, probably before you existed."

The youthful god did have such a splendid, strong corporation, she thought, becoming distracted by her own effort to distract Hermes. "Aziraphale is gentle because he chooses to be. Trust me, he knows how to handle Crowley."

Sliding back under the thrall of the music, her body begged his full attention, freed from the need for restraint now that the angel was here to look after his own interests.

[anthony-crowley.livejournal.com]

Directing a narrow, appraising glance at Hermes, Crowley dragged his eyes back to Aziraphale.

"Just suprised to see you here," he said calmly. Shirtless, wings out, halo on, and being tightly embraced by another man, was the unspoken addendum. "I didn't know that you and Hermes were... friends."

[diaktoros.livejournal.com]

Hermes scowled at Crowley's tone.

"If you're that insecure, maybe you should get some therapy," he snapped, before Ellie managed to pull him away. His pretty, harmless form had changed to something more akin to the legendary temper, and the look he flashed Crowley was severely warning.

[ineffable-angel.livejournal.com]

Aziraphale gave Ellie his most grateful look as she took Hermes by the arm, leading him away with little fuss.

"Well, my dear, we are friends. Have I missed something or am I not allowed to have friends? If I recall correctly aren't you friends with Ellie? John? Half a dozen others?" Humiliation made him angry and offbeat; guilty when he wasn't certain he should be guilty. His wings flexed behind him, mostly from the stiffness of being reeled in so tightly for too long. It startled Aziraphale momentarily because he'd quite forgotten they were out, and he quite lost the thread of argument for a moment. But only a moment.

"Was it my attire? We're both shirtless," and his blue eyes, visible in the light of the bonfire, flicked down for the barest half-second. His gaze flicked back up to Crowley's cold face and grew angry (and defensive) again. "What, precisely, is the matter with you?"

[anthony-crowley.livejournal.com]

Ignoring the comment the god had tossed his way, Crowley watched the angel's wings bend and stretch. They always were the truest indicators of his feelings and Aziraphale probably never realized how much he gave away with them. He raised his eyebrows, surprised.

"What, precisely, is the matter with me? Hey, all I said was your name and that I didn't know you were friends with Gainsborough over there. Am I not allowed some curiosity when I see you being groped by a naked kid? Especially since you're suddenly showing more skin in public than you have for centuries? Why are you being so damn defensive?"

Crowley was hurt by Aziraphale's icy tone. Was the angel trying to accuse him of something so that he'd overlook his actions? The demon refused to feel guilty, however. He'd done nothing more than dance and speak politely to his lover. He thought he was being quite calm, all things considered, but now he was starting to wonder just what Aziraphale was trying to hide.

[ineffable-angel.livejournal.com]

The feathers twitched, uncomfortable and undeniably nervous. None of this showed on Aziraphale's face.

"Do you want to know what happened? I fell out of a tree and he happened to catch me. He asked to see my wings, and I thought that perhaps since the atmosphere was so relaxed it would hardly matter. I took off my shirt so it wouldn't be ripped. When he cried - could you not see the teartracks? - I only tried to comfort him. Why, Crowley, are you jealous?"

[radishesncorks.livejournal.com]

Out of the corner of her eye, Luna noticed a bright glow that was separate from the red crackle of the fire. As she spun round giddly, the effect was like that of a strobe light, only less painful. In the flashes she caught a glimpse of wings. Large wings.

Like that green-eyed ...angel, Luna thought to herself. Two and two. And two. She was beginning to think that she was the only mortal in the Manor (not that she would be far from wrong) besides Loki (ok, here she was just plain wrong). Humming to herself, she continued dancing merrily to her own tune.