(no subject)

[go-all-fishies.livejournal.com]

Date: July 6, 2000
Status: Public
Setting: Manor gardens, Front desk
Summary: Delirium arrives.

If someone had asked Delirium why she was where she was, presently sitting cross-legged on the grass in front of Lower Tadfield Manor, she would have no answer for them really, except that it felt rather like she should be there.

And anyway she was entertained.

The impressive wreckage of a plane a dozen or so feet away held her attention for good five minutes or so before she climbed to her feet and left it a habitat to a number of small noisy multicolored frogs.

To the human eye, she appeared to be a girl not more than fourteen years old, wild purpley pink hair, shaved on one side of her head, dressed in tattered badly matched clothing.

They would boggle at her for a moment or two, wondering absently if that streak of orange hair was there just a moment ago, and then just as quickly move along, dismissing her with relief, as a runaway or one of those eccentric rocker kids.

Not-so-human eyes would deal slightly better with her rapidly changing appearance. At least in theory.

The personification matter-of-factly ignored the front door and crawled in through an open window that may or may not have been there before. One never knew with her.

She landed, a rainbowed tangle of limbs, beside the front desk with a soft thud and blinked her mismatched eyes at her surroundings.

Comments

[bipolar-uriel.livejournal.com]

Uriel was fairly proud of herself. Although she'd been feeling partly manic for a couple of days now, she hadn't let it break through yet, despite all the new people arriving and causing confusion.

Thus, she did not exactly like it when suddenly, without any apparent reason, she found herself giggling. The next moment, of course, she no more cared.

Suddenly she realized there was somebody beside the front desk. The child was the most peculiar thing she had met in a while. No, not a child -- she had the same air of anciety about herself that all immortals had. And, although she could not exactly explain it, Uriel vaguely felt like this new immortal was responsible for her giggles.

"Can I help you?" she managed to say, trying to make some sense of the creature's aura. Although she was certain she had not met the girl before -- not personally, anyway -- she felt disturbingly familiar.

[go-all-fishies.livejournal.com]

Having her back to the desk, Delirium eventually managed to right herself to a sitting position, palms spread on the floor behind her supporting her, and awkwardly craned her neck backwards, so she was looking up at Uriel. Her face lit into a bright smile when she recognized the speaker. Then abruptly she looked thoughtful, face screwing up in seeming concentration. She shook her head, hair now a brilliant shade of orange, dislodging a few butterflies as she did so. Blue, purple, green.

"Hello lady. Um, I don't think so. How would you help me?" she singsonged, "I mean, um, am I a lot of trouble? I didn't think the frogs would bother anyone. I mean, the plane didn't seem to mind."

[bipolar-uriel.livejournal.com]

Uriel simply couldn't help but laugh. "Well, I don't know how I would help you," she confessed, giggling. "I just wondered, you know, did you have a reason to stumble against my desk or did you just happen to wander here?"

A momentary look of confusion crossed her face, and she was about to ask, "What frogs?" However, she never got the chance, as a butterfly flying past caught her attention.

"Oooh. Pretty!" she exclaimed, reaching her hands out towards the colourful creature. For the moment she had completely forgotten the strange girl.

[go-all-fishies.livejournal.com]

"Oh, I wonder about things too. Like sometimes I wonder if horrific means to make horrible, then why does terrific not mean to make terrible?" she looked confused, and crossed her eyes to stare at a butterfly that had stopped momentarily to hover in front of her face.

The pink butterfly alighted on Uriel's palm and flexed its wings. The purple circled the woman and found a place on top of her head, while the blue one landed gently on the end of the angel's nose.

Delirium grinned. "They like you. So do I, You're a nice lady." she said happily.

[bipolar-uriel.livejournal.com]

Uriel giggled delightedly as the butterflies surrounded her. "So pretty!" she exclaimed, looking at all the butterflies in awe. She blowed gently at the one sitting on her nose, making it fly away for a bit only to land on her shoulder.

She realized then that the girl had talked to her. "And I like you!" she said happily. "You brought the pretty butterflies." After cooing at the butterflies for another moment, she then took on a slightly confused look. "But who are you?"

[go-all-fishies.livejournal.com]

"My name is Del," she beamed. "That's not my real name but um, I don't really like to say my real name an' anyway it changes..." she finished softly, looking troubled for a moment and rocking on her heels.

She recovered quickly. "I know who you are now, though, I think, no, um, I know we've met," she performed a clumsy backroll and spin, managing to land facing her new friend, she was kneeling with crossed arms and smilling face resting lightly on the woman's lap. "You're Uriel.

(ooc: Assuming that she's sitting, I hope.)

[bipolar-uriel.livejournal.com]

"Well, hello, Del." Uriel beamed down at the girl. For some reason she didn't find it odd at all that the girl knew her name. Although she couldn't recall meeting her earlier, Uriel felt that the girl was familiar somehow. There was also something about the girl that disturbed her, but she ignored that. It probably wasn't anything important anyway.

"You have pretty hair," she commented, fiddling with the colourful hair. "I wish my hair was as pretty." And, at that moment, she had a thought. This thought turned her hair blue, with streaks of green, silver, and purple all over it. "There! Now we're both pretty."

She giggled, delighted at having met this very wonderful girl. She couldn't even recall when she'd last been as happy.

[leucemic-god.livejournal.com]

Loki, with Freki at his heels, made another detour past the lobby to see whether Uriel was still there. It was best to know where the damn not-god was at all times, he'd decided. She knew too much and was too crazy to be trustworthy. Ah, yes she was still sitting down her and had a weird looking girl in her lap.

Wait a minute! Weird looking girl in her lap? And what had happened to Uriel's hair? What were the frogs and butterflies doing in the lobby?

"What is going on here? Uriel?"

Loki went to investigate, but as soon as he set foot into the lobby another dizzy spell hit him. The world tilted, a butterfly suddenly split into three ...

He quickly stumbled over to his old friend the ugly pink chair and sat down. Somewhere in the distance he heard Freki growl and wondered what had upset the wolf. Maybe he ought to check, but hadn't he been going to say something important.

"Red butterflies." he stated. "Don't like red."

[go-all-fishies.livejournal.com]

"Um.. what about orange then?" The butterflies were indeed orange now. And swarming around the pink chair like bees to honey. As best as butterflies can. They're not very menacing insects. Mostly they just fluttered.

Delirium removed herself from her new friend's lap long enough to peer at the new arrival over the top of the desk. Two eyes; one blue, one green, studied him curiously before she stood up for a better look.

She then turned and stuck her tongue out at the wolf. "Bad doggie. Be nice," she scolded, making a face.

[leucemic-god.livejournal.com]

"Not doggie. 'S a wolfie." Loki remembered. "Here boy! Here, no growl at nice girlie."

Freki's ears twitched towards Loki. That was not normal behaviour from his sometimes two legged pack-mate. Something was very wrong here and it came from that young two leg. He whined pleadingly at Loki, but it didn't seem to help.

He turned to growl at the young two leg again wondering whether biting her would fix the problem.

"Lil flames," Loki said staring at the orange butterflies. His vision was beginning to blur and what was that? "Pink wolfies?"

That wasn't normal Loki knew. He was hallucinating. And he was still dizzy. He buried his face in his hands wondering vaguely whether his forehead was really this hot, or it was just another hallucination and put his elbows on his knees to help ground him. If he could feel his legs and arms and keep them close together he ought to be able to stay in control of his body, right?

Well, it made sense to him at the moment.

[go-all-fishies.livejournal.com]

"Hallo wolfie. You're a big doggie. I had a dog once sometime before. He was very um... clever. And you're very clever too I think but you don't like me I wonder. That's not very nice of you I like doggies. I miss mine well, he was my brother's but I still miss him..."

Blinking, she screwed her face up in confusion, trying to remember what exactly had happened to her doggie after all. She vaguely remember being the colors in the carpet. She didn't so much comprehend that she'd spent several months doing so and that Barnabus had most likely wandered away.

She was distracted by the rest of what the god was saying. "Um, are you alright?" she bit her lip anxiously. I'd go over there and do something maybe but you seem nice and the butterflies likes you and I really don't want to hurt you."

[leucemic-god.livejournal.com]

"Nice pink wolfies." Loki decided. "I like wolfies. Why's the room turning around?"

He really wished the room would stay still, or at least give him a bed to lie down on. Moving rooms were fine when he was in bed. He was used to it from ships, though he'd never really had a problem being on a ship when he wasn't in bed.

Then again he'd usually traveled on ships with Odin and Odin had great control over the water and didn't like watching people be seasick. It involved too much whining.

Loki felt like he might be seasick now.

[go-all-fishies.livejournal.com]

"Like um... one of those pretty colored things on a stick that you blow at and it spins?" Delirium inquired from across the room. She was holding a pinwheel that her hair spiraled rainbow to match. "That happens to me sometimes. Sometimes it's hard to keep it all together... like most times," she added quietly.

She continued to study the man curiously, unsure if they'd met before but sensing that he was at least partly in her realm at present. "You look like you need a hug..." she frowned absently.

[leucemic-god.livejournal.com]

Loki pondered that. The lobby didn't quite look pretty coloured to him, but it did spin.

"More like ship 'n storm." he decided. "Big storm."

It was hard to keep everything together, too, like where left and right and up and down were right now.

"Hug? Hug's n ..." No, wait a minute. Something was wrong there. Oh right! "Norse gods don't hug."

He suddenly remembered snuggling up to Odin after a having a nightmare. Norse gods didn't do that, but it sure had felt good.

"Want Odin," he decided. If he was going to get a hug anywhere it was from Odin.

[entropyoptimism.livejournal.com]

Destruction hadn't paid attention to the funny feeling in the back of his skull all morning, attributing it to the extremely loud rock'n'roll he was creating. He'd bought the electric on a whim, but this was fun! Eventually, however, he had to take a coffee break, and that was when Barnabas cautiously ventured back into the room.

"Well, now that that's out of your system," he remarked, "There's a jet in the garden covered in little frogs. I think Delirium's here."

Destruction paused, coffee mug in mid-air. "Well, well. Fancy that."

***

As he reached the front desk he thought he saw the tail end of a trenchcoat at the other door - but he was immediately distracted by Barnabas, who had spied Delirium. The shaggy dog rushed forward, barking joyfully, bowled the girl over and began to lick her face enthusiastically.

[bipolar-uriel.livejournal.com]

Uriel had originally planned to go with Loki and the blond man, unaware of how distracting her rambling was, but she'd been distracted by a colourful butterfly. By the time she had stopped chasing it, the two men were gone. By then, however, there was another target for her attention.

"Destruction!" she called out, delighted. "Haven'tseenyousinceFriggaBlotnicetoseeyouhaveyoubeenwell?" came out of her mouth with a single breath.

[entropyoptimism.livejournal.com]

Destruction smiled at Uriel in concern. The angel was really - oh, but of course, if Delirium was here. His sister probably wasn't even aware of what she was doing. Still, it was safer than a depressive episode.

"Hi, Uriel." He said. "I have been well. I see you've met my sister."

[bipolar-uriel.livejournal.com]

"She's your sister?" Uriel asked excitedly. "I never knew! She has all these pretty butterflies and such, and she has such pretty hair, and she is nice and she wants to be my friend!"

She smiled brightly. "You know, I haven't had a real friend since Michael. Not after he Fell. And before that I never had anybody but him. I'd like to have real friends but nobody wants to be friends with me and I just have my brothers and they don't even have pretty pink butterflies or anything. They're just boring and sulking and always lying or cheating or something but I love them anyway even though Loki won't even believe that."

[entropyoptimism.livejournal.com]

Destruction bit his lip. He had spoken to Wednesday after Uriel's suicide attempt, but now it occurred to him that maybe it would have been a good idea to talk to, well, Uriel.

"Hey..." He began. He found he wasn't, for the first time in a long while, sure what to say. This probably wasn't the best time for making explosive jokes... ok, of course.

"Uriel." He sat on the edge of the desk. "Do you remember the time I drew that picture of you? In the grove of trees, when I'd just arrived here?"

[bipolar-uriel.livejournal.com]

Uriel frowned, trying to remember. And, after a moment, she did remember.

"Oh, sure! I was drawing there and you came there too and wanted to draw me drawing. And I burned my own drawing and I changed my hair long for a while and killed that bird. You drew a pretty picture of me. Why do you ask?"

[go-all-fishies.livejournal.com]

Sometime during the exchange between Loki, John, and Uriel, Delirium had climbed up onto the desk and sat cross-legged, half paying attention to what was going on across the room, half occupied with organizing a sort of noisy frog choir.

She stopped short, however, when something, a very enthusiastic furry something, knocked her flat on her back.

"Doggie!" she cried excitedly and then squealed in delight as Barnabus showered her in doggie kisses. She responded by wrapping her arms around her old friend just as enthusiastically, essentially pulling the dog into a very affectionate, albeit awkward, hug. She buried her face in his fur and nuzzled happily.

[entropyoptimism.livejournal.com]

"Sure, sure, doggie, doggie." Barnabas grumbled affectionately. "You're the one who decides to be a quantum paradox for half a year and when you run into me in some hotel in the British countryside all you've got is doggie."

[go-all-fishies.livejournal.com]

"A quantum... whatsit?" Her voice was muffled by Barnabus' fur. Grinning, Delirium pulled back far enough to look the talking dog in the face and scratched him behind the ears. "But I do have a doggie! I mean um... you're right here, aren't you?" A look of confusion flitted across her features and her hair spiraled purple and green.

[entropyoptimism.livejournal.com]

"Nevermind," Barnabas said, rolling his eyes. "Oooh, just a little to the left."

[go-all-fishies.livejournal.com]

Delirium didn't even bother to shrug. She didn't have to. The matter already more than forgotten. She beamed at him, convinced, for now, of his tangibility, and obliged. "I met a lot of interesting people while you were gone... or did I go away? ...but none said the kind of clever things you say, doggie.." she babbled happily, attention completely focused on Barnabas.

In some remote corner of her tangled mind, she registered her brother's presence as well. But then, by her logic her brothers and sister were a lot of places. And being easily distracted as she was, it should have been no surprise that while Destruction and Uriel talked several feet away, she hadn't noticed them yet. Not really. Right now she seemed to be concentrating on making up for half a year's worth of missed affection towards her furry friend.