[Open] Waltz of the Flowers

[dancingonapin]

Who: Aziraphale and anyone else whom he bumps into~
Where: On his way home from the Aquarius district going to the Libra district late at night (nearing but not quite at the 13th Hour)
Summary: A certain angel is getting home late from his job after putting together... a little project of his possibly involving a new job. Feel free to either bump into him (literally), or meet him while he's being hindered by demons. Or comment on how mostly-naked his Persona is.
Warnings: Aziraphale is kind of adorable? Also his Persona Eve is nude with only ivy covering her lady parts.

The angel hadn't been paying attention to the time when he'd finally decided to quit his research that night. Putting together forms and papers, mapping out a curriculum, and amassing several books of prayer, worship, and prophecy written in several different languages- all of which he could read, of course- had been his new project for this week. Two days into this project and he was already beginning to feel the burden of what pursuing a job like this would mean...

But things had been rather quiet working in a library. He enjoyed the quiet, honestly, he really did, but having all downtime and no "uptime" meant the most exciting moments of his day involved snatching expensive books out of children's hands, and the occasional run-in with his "brother." In fact, the most enjoyable time he'd had, surprisingly, was teaching his young pupil Pit how to read and write English. It was hard work, a rough endeavor, but the pay-off of seeing him slowly begin to comprehend what he was being taught was unlike anything Aziraphale had felt. And he did "good" things for people for a living.

Which is where this little project had come in... He wasn't sure if he'd go through with it, still, but he figured it was worth at least looking into. It would be something nice to do aside from library work... And he'd be able to really share his passion with others for the first time in what he could only guess was centuries. (His knowledge on religion, prophecy, angelology, and demonology was incredibly vast, after all, which is where the difficulty in putting together a narrow curriculum came in.)

So with stacks of papers, books, and various folders in his arms, the angel is walking home as the hour approaches midnight, wrapped up in warm scarves and warm coats as he hums a rather fitting tune considering the snowy weather. Aware of the hour and the danger that came with it, beside him floats his Persona, a Greek goddess of a woman with ivy snaking up around her, only barely covering up certain areas of her otherwise naked body. The motherly looking woman is holding an apple in her palms and regarding Aziraphale with fondness, seeming to sway along with his humming as he walks.

Aziraphale may or may not be looking where he's going... he may slip on a patch of ice on the sidewalk and drop all of his books and papers. Or perhaps he's attacked by a demon once the Thirteenth Hour is upon him? Or perhaps you're simply curious to know what he's doing out so late at night with such a... strange looking Persona. Decide how you'll find this angel.

Comments

[meaningdies]

Naoya was walking along as well, Coyote out to protect him and, frankly, to keep him company. He had a lot to think about at the moment, and even if he was only a projection of his mind, Coyote was a bit of a comfort.

However, he froze when Coyote alerted him of the Persona that was floating near the man heading towards them. Even if he hadn't 'said' anything - he knew.

Naoya glared at the approaching man, waiting for him to get closer.

[dancingonapin]

Aziraphale had had his nose stuck quite stubbornly in a book on top of all of the other documents he was carrying, a book on Hinduism it appeared, when Naoya spotted him. It wasn't until Eve alerted him to the presence of an approaching Persona and its user that he looked up at him, smiling at him a little...

That is, until he noticed the very clear angry glare on the boy's face. His smile falls and turns into a bit of a confused frown as he nears him.

"Excuse me, is something the matter?"

[meaningdies]

He chuckled softly, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"I just have to wonder what you've done to make her the reflection of your soul. Considering her past, and the things she did... it's just... ah. Interesting."

[dancingonapin]

"You mean Eve?" Aziraphale stops in his tracks and looks over his Persona curiously. The motherly Persona just floats beside him, yielding no answers to his confused gaze.

"Eve tasted the fruit of knowledge... she became self-aware, aware of the existence of right and wrong, and earned free will for humanity at the price of being cast from paradise.... I'm a little confused as to what you mean, however." He could draw many parallels between himself and the woman he considered an old friend to him, but nothing that would spark hostility in a stranger.

[meaningdies]

"I'm well aware of her tale. More than you could know. As for free will... well. She may have earned it for a time, but part of one of her sons now threatens to rip that from humanity's grasp in my world. As for her actions after the Garden, she was hardly the perfect mother. She was essentially a child, and turned away from one of her sons in need."

Coyote bristled slightly, reflecting Naoya's mental state, and padded in front of his summoner, patterns on his fur shifting a bit uneasily.

[dancingonapin]

Aziraphale takes a cautious step backwards. "Of course she was just a child... Not alive for more than seven days and already cast from Eden..." And far too easily tempted. He's curious to know what this boy means by the threatened existence of free will in his world, however... Technically everyone was a son of Adam and Eve, so Naoya's vagueness on that part didn't help him much.

"What do you mean by turning away, though?" As he asks this, Eve is similarly moving slightly in front of Aziraphale to protect him, her stance defensive.

[meaningdies]

"I mean that even when one of her sons was in pain and confused she refused to comfort him despite the fact that he barely knew what was going on!" He can't help raising his voice, or the clearly audible note of pain in his tone.

"He didn't understand what he had done and he had been cursed, and she turned away from him. She refused to believe it was an accident, as he had said. What sort of mother does that?!"

[not_a_leviathan]

Use his Persona, and get stronger. That's what he'd been told. He was familiar with the idea of 'leveling up' from video games, though he hadn't really played... well, any. They weren't Christian enough for his house. Still, the other boys on his baseball team had talked about them, so he understood the concept.

Which is why Lev was out here late at night with Zadkiel, the purple-robed Dominion floating in front of him as a demon approached. He nodded, and the angel let loose with a Gale Slash, ripping through the demon and sending it toppling to the ground.

[dancingonapin]

Annnd unfortunately that Gale Slash has blown up quite a bit of wind, sending the poor angel and all of his documents flying back a little ways down the road. Prioritizing the documents above his own safety, Aziraphale goes scrambling for them as Eve notifies him of a Persona- thankfully not a demon- that was just down the sidewalk.

"That's lovely, Eve, but these papers are getting soaked!" Getting snow on books and papers was only slightly less disastrous than outright dunking them in water.

[not_a_leviathan]

Lev hears the man and runs towards where the voice is coming from, blinking in surprise at the papers and crouching down to help pick them up.

"Sorry... I didn't realize anyone was there. Here, let me help you get those..."

[dancingonapin]

"It's not a problem... but you really ought to be careful where you're aiming your attacks!" The angel looks up and... notices that it was just a kid standing before him. Huh...

"What are you doing out this late? It's dangerous!"

[not_a_leviathan]

"I'm sorry." He picks up a few of the papers, and hands them to the man. "... Someone told me that to get stronger I had to use my persona to fight. So that's what I'm doing."

It hasn't occurred to him that he should maybe have backup... he doesn't trust people here enough to ask anyone for it, anyway.

[dancingonapin]

"Thank you," he says as he shifts the papers and books around carefully. "It's true that to strengthen your Persona you must use it... But really you shouldn't go looking for fights." The angel looks up at his own Persona which is hovering behind him. "Eve here doesn't really fight, after all, she looks after others and assures that I and they are protected, which is what our Personas are for. You're a little young to be out on your own at this hour anyway, and it's not safe to be alone. If you were hurt, who would help you?"

[belfire]

Kazuya finds this angel by how he meets all of the new people in his life - buggy teleporting.

He was nothing but headstrong, and he refused to allow whatever powers this place had to meddle with his hardearned abilities. Did Hinoto-Ri know how long it took him to perfect teleporting? No, it didn't, and he'd be damned before he let him start from scratch again!

He had the foresight to do it close to nighttime, however, where there weren't many people out and about to embarrass himself- I mean, to accidentally injure. Of course, alas, this meant that those who were out at this late hour were free game to Kazuya's temperamental, and downright sadistic teleporting abilities.

Like Aziraphale.

In a burst of electrified energy, Kazuya appeared on the street just a few feet from the angel - sadly, he had been in mid-run when teleporting (as if hoping the 'run up' would somehow help him control it), and his foot landed on a patch of slick ice - sending him yelping and flailing right into Aziraphale as he slipped.

...best first impression ever.

[dancingonapin]

Aziraphale had barely a split second to brace himself as the yelling and flailing boy went sliding right into him, knocking all manner of books and papers out of his arms as he went toppling to the ground. "Oof!!"

Eve chimed up that there was a person nearby only seconds later. "I realize that, Eve, thank you!" he muttered as he sat up in the snow. "Are you alright, sir??"

[belfire]

"Ow, fuck..." Kazuya groaned, rolling in the snow in over exaggerated pain. He was barely hurt - he was durable! - but his pride had certainly took a beating. He finally flopped lifelessly in the cold snow, his rolling having effectively tangled him up in his cape and headphone cords. He really needed to stop doing that.

"--...yeah. I'm just dandy," Kazuya replied after a pause, turning his head slightly to see who it was he rammed into. "Sorry about knocking you over. You can step on me in revenge if you want."

[dancingonapin]

"Why on Earth would I do that? I wanted to make sure you hadn't broken anything... I honestly don't know where you came from, actually." As if in response to Aziraphale's concern, Eve casts Healing Wave on the pair, mending any possible bruises or scrapes. The angel scrambles a bit for his papers and books, brushing snow off of them with a bit of frustration as his Persona offers a hand to Kazuya.

Aziraphale did want to help the fallen boy and Eve was just acting accordingly... it's just that these papers needed tending to before any snow happened to melt and waterlog them, ruining his hard work for the day.

[belfire]

Kazuya sniffed, his gaze wandering over to the Persona hovering at the man's side. He narrowed his eyes, squinting intently at the woman - something tugged at his memory, but only in a sort of vague, deja vu kind of way. He lost interest after a moment and started to slowly untangle himself from his cape and headphone cords.

He was going to strangle himself one of these days he swore-

"I was teleporting. Sort of went awry because, tch, of this- urgh, fuckin' cord - this stupid place's power messing- okay I'm stuck," he grunted, his head dropping back to plop into the snow. "I'd be laughed out of my throne if everyone could see me now."

[dancingonapin]

Aziraphale looks up from his stack of papers, putting the last book safely on top, and just sort of smiles in amusement...

"Let me help." Shifting the stack into one arm, he touches the cord of the headphones with his free hand, and suddenly everything becomes untangled from him.

[ontheirside]

Gabriel finds his brother with amusement. Really, Aziraphale, you have far too much stuff going on here. With a flick of the Archangel's hand, he lifts some of the books out of the other angel's arms. Why actually lift something when he doesn't have to?

The Persona gets a once over and Gabriel smirks. "Interesting company you're keeping. What are you doing out so late?"

[dancingonapin]

Oh right, speaking of that 'brother' of his, there's the devil now. Aziraphale is initially surprised by the books floating out of his arms and lightening his load, but is completely unsurprised when he realizes it's Gabriel's doing.

"I was working late, though I could ask you the same thing. What do you happen to be doing out here so late?"

[ontheirside]

He smirks and just lets the books float, perfectly content to follow Aziraphale wherever it was he was going. What else had he to do?

"Call me fidgety, but I like to wander sometimes. What, exactly, do you work on?"

[dancingonapin]

"Well I work at the university's library, though it was less library work and more research that's kept me so late. Those books you just took from me are part of that. I'm putting together a curriculum."

And he's not taking his eyes off of those books, he wants them back safely in his arms. If Gabriel bent one spine out of place...

[ontheirside]

Relaaax, little bro, he's definitely just letting them hover...directly out of Aziraphale's reach, but hover nonetheless. Gabe's eyebrow raises at the word 'curriculum.'

"You're gonna teach? What subject, exactly? 'How to function among the Heavenly Host?'"

[dancingonapin]

Aziraphale is going to try to subtly snatch the books back from him, while he answers his question.

"Good guess, and I suppose that could be a second purpose to the class, but not quite. I'm trying to apply for a position as professor of prophecy and theology." His two most favorite things in the world. "I've come to realize that I like passing on knowledge to others. It's... fulfilling."