Morning Amusement

[kunstfeuer]

Kayrel knew it was immature, but she did it anyway. Other members of the Brotherhood had reprimanded her more than once for it, but she found it too amusing to stop. They said it was not a proper use of her talents and endangered their valuable secrecy, but what good was power if you couldn't have fun with it? Besides, it wasn't really hurting anyone.

She sat casually sipping her coffee and pretending to read the paper as she watched a certain spot across the street. Her brown hair was pulled back loosely and tied low on her neck and fell a little past her shoulder blades. She crossed her legs and sat back slightly and smirked contently as another person tripped, looked back, shrugged, and moved on. Her slacks were black and cut straight, no superfluous flare, just simple and neat. The shirt was plain and white mostly covered by a soft yellow button-up shirt folded back to just above her elbows. She preferred simple and elegant to the frills that many women insisted on wearing. She knew that she was not exceptionally attractive and figured why announce it with lace, heavy make-up, and other such ridiculous things when one can quietly blend in and accept being of average looks.

The object she watched was carefully constructed, fine enough that most newly inducted members would not have seen it, which ensured that no untrained person could have detected it. Of course she could see it clearly enough, but mostly because she made it. The object stood near three inches off the ground and was hardly an inch thick, but stretched the full width of the sidewalk. It had taken more than five minutes to build that was mostly because she did not want the placement to be obvious. Others would have been suspicious if she had crouched down to the ground to build it, so she had stood casually, her fingers working next to her side as she coaxed the thing into being before retiring to the café for her morning entertainment.

[Rip]

There was something naturally pleasant about being awake during the morning. How people could sleep til 12, one o'clock in the afternoon he would never understand. Personally, he felt rather like a useless, uncooked noodle if he slept past nine and always ended up lumbering through the rest of the day as if he missed the best part.

Gabrjel was twenty-four on the nose as of four days, six hours and five minutes ago, but regardless of age he acted more like a boy then a man. It wasn't like he looked at all childish- not at all. Infact, all six feet of him towered over plenty of people, and his facial structure was quite angular. It wasn't even in his behavior, as he could look after himself better then the majority of the population. No, what made Gabri Gabri was in his nature, and it was his nature that brought him out that day carrying a little red rose in one hand. The tall, thin Polish boy dressed very old fashioned but also very neat. A clean white, dress shirt, long sleeved and buttoned up the front; simple brown pants with a regular belt; non-extraordinary shoes. His somewhat curly black hair (that never obeyed him no matter what he did) was covered for the most part by an old Irish cap. Nothing out of the ordinary, but a little over dressed compared to his normal wardrobe. Some occasion maybe? His expression was happy and bright, almost eager, and he looked in good spirits and immune to anything that might drag him down.

Except invisible objects, apparently.

The sidewalks weren't especially congested, but people were notorious for somehow forgetting they had plenty of elbow room. Random strangers bumped into Gabri plenty of times (he had apologized each time, of course, his fault or not), so it wasn't a big surprise when he found himself tripping. However, it most certainly WAS a surprise when the little stumble made him fall flat on his face. He laid there a moment, a blush illuminating his cheeks, and he tried very hard to hide his embarrassment. The Pole stood up quickly, brushing himself off and turned about, looking for the cause of his unexpected slip-p. He saw something there alright, but it most defiantly was not a benign little invisible contraption. Rather, Gabri saw a giant snake (at least three miles long), slithering across the sidewalk. No one else noticed the hallucination (how could they?) and Gabri didn't look concerned, as if it was a regular occurrence to see giant snakes. He adjusted his hat with one hand and fixed his shirt with the other-

Wait, the other? Wasn't he holding something?

His grey eyes caught the sight of his little rose going down the storm drain. His face fell as the flower washed down the sewer. "God.... darnet."

[kunstfeuer]

It was a spectacular fall, to be sure, but it was not her intent to do any harm. A stumble and a couple of sly grins into her drink or a trip and a chuckle hidden behind the paper, but the wondrous face plant that unfolded was not what she was prepared for. She bolted upright in her chair, upsetting the small table, which scraped irritably against the concrete and dumped the remainder of her coffee across the table. Temporarily fearing the slopped drink more than the result of Gabri's fall she jumped back, toppling her chair and making a slight scene before casting a worried glance back across the street.

He didn't do well breaking his fall and it was worse that he didn't get up right away. Guilt gnawed at Karyel as she watched. Someone asked if she was okay, she muttered "fine" and tilted her chair back to its feet, but she couldn't quite pull her eyes completely away from the poor guy. She had started mopping up the table with a wad of napkins when the impossible happened. He looked straight at it. It was no the casual, if flustered glance back that others gave, eyes rolling aimlessly about trying to discern the cause before giving up. It was a direct stare. As Gabri adjusted his hat Kayrel stared in comprehensively.

[Rip]

He sighed, shoulders slumped. Well, alright. This isn't terribly bad. He could always get another rose. There wasn't a world shortage of flowers, especially not roses. That one had been nice, with a pretty bloom and unruined peddles, but he could find another one. He was sure he had some money left, and if not, well, he’d just have to be creative; that’s all. This wasn’t a difficult problem to work out. But still, Gabri couldn’t help but feel sad to see it washed away by accident.

It was chance he happened to look up and let his eyes linger across the street. The gaze didn’t have a special point or position; he was just trying to remember the shop he bought the flower and recall if the owners had been kind enough for a possible discount. People moved around him as if he were a rock in the current, not bothered and not especially curious about him. The dull eyes settled on a sight very familiar to him, but it caused such a feeling of cold dread that he felt almost sick.

Girl, some girl, staring at him, but that wasn’t the part that worried him. Sitting on her right shoulder was a great black bird, and unearthly creature. There was no shine in it’s beetle-black eyes, and a twisting grin coiled on it’s beak. A crow, a common crow, sitting on the shoulder of a women he never met before. This wasn’t very strange; Gabri often saw crows following people around. They marked those about to die. Or, rather, the ones Gabri was suppose to kill.

That’s how the hallucination went, anyway.

What unnerved him was the knowing stare she was giving him. It was like she knew. Knew what? That Death's familiar was perched right by her head? That a mortal grim reaper was staring back at her? But he didn’t want to judge anyone today!

The wannabe reaper shifted, confused and a little frightened, staring back. He looked like he was struggling with something, even a bit sad, and he ended it with biting the inside of his lip. The boy smiled nervously, politeness ruling out in the end, and he turned, hurrying the way he came. He stepped over the giant snake, where her little invisible contraption would be, and put his hands in his pockets, face burning. Then he stopped. Could she see the snake? Was that it? Or was he just over thinking? Gabri looked over his shoulder, uncertain. God, this was weird, but other people weren’t suppose to see the things he could see. At least, what he thought he could see.

---
ooc: Thought I should mention, there's not an actual bird sitting on her that means she's going to die. Gabri's just a headcase.

[kunstfeuer]

When Gabri's gaze met Kayrel's stare she froze momentarily as if caught in the act ... which she was. Her guilt shifted to concern as she noted his distressed manner, as if he too had been found out. Gabri turned so abruptly that her slight smile in return was probably lost. Brow slightly furrowed she watched him step deliberately over the little wall before he stopped and cast another glance at her. He was making the connection; she was definitely caught. The first look could be blamed on the blatant stare, but the second ....

Straightening, Kayrel gathered the sopping napkins, empty cup, and paper and deposited them in the garbage can. She stopped at the edge of the curb. What was she doing? She was no scout, it wasn't her responsibility to root out those who could preceive Mime structures, but what if he were some sort of rogue, one of the few who broke from the Brotherhood for varied reasons. It was her duty to at least investigate.

A quick glance both ways and she started across the street.

[Rip]

Gabri was good at a few things. He was good hiding, running, cleaning, tripping and apparently giving back rubs. But, one of his greatest, and unfortunate talents, was panicking.

He really didn't expect her to come over. That had thrown a wrench into the whole thing. He had already been so disoriented from the fact that she could apparently see the giant-god-damned snake slithering across the sidewalk. The boy stiffened as the girl crossed the street, mouth hanging open in disbelief. Oh, this had the potential to be very, VERY bad. Teeth found his lip and began to gnaw on it, mind debating furiously on what to do.

Pretend not to speak English?
That was rude.
Ignore her?
That was rude too.
..Stare and hope she'll go away?
ALSO, RUDE.
Just get it over with and kill her?
...rude and, also, very stupid in a public place.

Damn, I'm going to run?

Gabri watched her and her crow, who was bouncing up and down excitedly, chattering away. He had the distinctive feeling it was making fun of him, one of those intuition types of things that people like him got used to. Distress boiled in his belly until it made his throat hot and his body jittery. Finally he turned, half tripping over himself, and fled. He was sure he looked ridiculous and that people were staring, so he dashed into the nearest convince- some little thrift shop. It was his unfortunate luck (which, all things considered, was quite unfortunate) that a rather hefty woman happened to be leaving through the door at the same time the Pole wanted to enter. There was a cry, a crash, a long series of hurried 'I'M SORRY's, and finally what sounded like a banshee having a fit.

[kunstfeuer]

Kayrel paused as she watched Gabri's ungainly retreat. It was not her intention to scare the poor guy, but perhaps he had something more to hide. Once she reached the far curb, and Gabrjel had crashed into the the thrift shop she bent a moment and quickly dismantled the low wall. It took longer than she would have liked, but it had, after all, been finely crafted.

(occ: still working on it, I'm out of town at the moment with limited access)

She walked hurriedly after Gabrjel, not wanting to draw too much attention by running after the poor guy, but not wanting to lose him either. With the ruckus that arose as Gabri dove into the shop Kayrel winced. So much for a quiet questioning, the guy was going to bring the whole town on top of them with his panicked retreat.

It was easy to find the store he had run into, the wailing woman was a good beacon. Kayrel stepped in and strained to look over the heads of those who began to gather to see if she could spot him.

(occ: School ate me and spat me back out, sorry for the delay)

[Rip]

ooc: Saaame. Glad your back

With her bags of ultimately useless stuff spilled onto the floor, the hefty woman in the flower dress unleashed a rage in the form of an ordinary, black purse. A big black purse. A big black purse that Gabri would swear on his life was filled with bricks and cement blocks. The crowd must have found the entire ordeal hilarious- seeing a man who must be over six foot tall shrinking away from a dumpy, elderly lady (one of those ladies with 50 cats at home, some would assume). Despite feeling his masculinity evaporating, he kept apologizing and tried to hurriedly scoop up the trinkets. It must be hard, after all, for the woman to bend over, and this was technically his fault.

Whether the woman knew he was trying to help or not, she drew back an arm and, with a furious bark that might have been a curse, smacked him good across the back of the head. Gabri, who could not comprehend how one person could be this unlucky, tripped and dropped everything for the second time. He looked up, about to apologize again (and maybe suggest she stop scrambling his brains so he could help) when he saw that face in the small crowd he'd gathered. The Pole paled considerably, looking like an escaping prisoner who just had the searchlight shined on him, and with a higher pitched 'sorry' he dashed further into the store. He'd feel bad about making old ladies crack their spines picking things off the floor later. When he didn't have to worry about potentially breaking promises.

Gabri found the library-like shelves of old books kept in the back of the store and pressed his back against it. Not a very good hiding spot, but at least there didn't seem to be many people, except a few children who were busy scanning Where the Wild Things Are. He slid down, wrapped his arms around his knees, pulled his legs to his chest and sighed.

[kunstfeuer]

(occ: Ah, finals week!)

Kayrel just caught sight of him as he turned to retreat farther into the store. She cursed softly under her breath as she squeezed through the confused people in the entryway. Definitely not how she had hoped to spend her day, but she managed to make it through the crowded space as the woman wailed, though it appeared the gathered people were a bit hesitant to help her out, it might have been the walloping Gabri got for trying to help after he ran into her.

The scene slowly began to resolve itself as Gabri disappeared into the depths of the store. Kayrel considered her options, which were limited. There was no way she could discretely block the exit, too many people gathered around to run into the barriers. She stood a moment and gazed towards the back of the store, reaching out briefly she erected a rather crude barrier in front of the back door. It was probably locked or attached to an alarm, but one couldn't be too cautious.

Carefully she scoured the store, pretending to peruse as she searched. When she reached a point where there were fewer people (most of them had migrated to see what the fuss was about in front anyway) she quickly built, she hated being so sloppy, but this guy wasn't just going to sit still and allow her to ask a question or two. His avoidance was irritating and she could forgive herself of some sloppiness if it meant she'd get some answers. With his panicked retreat he wasn't just some kid who hadn't been found by the scouts. He must have been a part of the Brotherhood before, or at least had some experience with them, why else would he run?

She neared the books in back, quickly building and dismantling the barriers as she narrowed her search. Once she passed the back door she dropped that barrier, but kept the two that enclosed the corner she was searching.

Elsewhere in the store there were one or two rather confused people rubbing their heads or noses as they tried to figure out what they had run into just a moment before, but was now gone.

(occ: Finished and ready for response!)

[Rip]

I'm so sorry for not responding to this yet. School has been absolutely rediculous, but midterms end tomorrow so I'll be able to respond regularly. I'm really sorry this kinda has been crawling along. Speedyness is coming, I swear.

[kunstfeuer]

(occ: No prob. I know how it is, I just finished Tuesday.)

[Rip]

ooc: AHAHA!!! ALL IS WELL NOW!!! I will post like buzz lightyear

---

Gabri had no association with any secret mime organizations. Actually, Gabri had no association with any organizations at all. He was too quiet for clubs and most everything that involved alot of people. He really wanted nothing more then to keep to himself, bother no one, and happily go on with his life. Some people though, some people just couldn't let him be. He had befriended a few of those people, but most of them bothered him. They pinched and nagged and followed and prodded until he either lost them or lost himself. The later was never good... for the other person.

He might have killed the girl. Cut off her head or bashed her face in, maybe drowned her or thrown her down a sewer. It was her time to die anywhere. The crow on her shoulder said so. He might have, if it were any other day. But it wasn't any other day; it was that day, and Gabri had promised. Cross your heart, hoped to die, stick a needle in your eye... He had promised and he wouldn't break it. It was too important, and he knew it would eat him from the inside out if he ruined the trust, even if the person he promised was gone forever.

Instead of going into preditory mode, he just hung his arms over his knees and glanced around nervously. Gabri, for being such a tall man, had a surprisingly mouse like composure and was known to jump at his own shadow. Then again, where most people would see a shadow, he saw something entirely different.

At the moment, his shadow was spread out to his left in the shape if a snake. Not a cobra or a viber but a constrictor, and it was slithering along the carpet with the slight sound of scales scraping against the carpet. He watched it and swallowed, feeling a dull throb in his temple, and finally, when he wrentched his head away, he saw the woman.

It didn't look like she saw him. That was good. He could just keep quiet and ignore her and she would go away. Too bad Gabri was very, very bad at doing rude things (excluding murder, which was only rude if it wasn't that person's time to die). "Please, it's not nice to chase people."

[kunstfeuer]

Kayrel stopped sharply at the sound of his voice. She stood there a moment, taking in the scene of the poor man curled up next to the bookcase. It was a bit pitiful looking with his lanky frame bunched up and folded there on the floor. For a moment she blinked uncomprehensively, but with a soft shake of her head brought herself back in the moment.

Now faced with him she was not quite sure how to proceed. Ask him if he can see the barriers currently in place? Certainly if he could see something so finely crafted as her small wall, the ones she had made in a rush should be plainly visible. Are you running from the Brotherhood? A possibility, but that mark was definitely obvious as well. She didn't consider that her aggressive approach earlier might have caused his retreat, nor could she possibly believe that someone who could see Mime structures possibly be outside of the Brotherhood. She settled with a simple "Who are you?" And waited for a response, slightly tense and at the ready.

(fin.)

[Rip]

Oh, i'm sorry, I didn't see that you finished. I'll get on this ASAP

[Ripewrwer]

Oh crap, I thought I responded here! Please feel free to smack me with a purse filled with bricks. I have prep period tomorrow- I'll get this up tomorrow I swear and if I lie you can use elephants instead of bricks