Maia/Mel socking and a closed rp with Michael

[totallyluminous.livejournal.com]

Backdated to just after Mel's rp.



It doesn't take long to locate Maia. Mel has to admit this is because she cheated a little, and fixed on one of the smaller whirlpools of Dark vibes in the castle before beaming herself over there.

Surprisingly, she finds herself outside again. Mel always figured Maia wanted to stay inside...but then, the last time they met was in Egypt, and she could barely handle the heat herself. Mel looks around, removing her hand from her tags, trying to locate the elusive demon girl, often found in the forests of Borneo, you get the picture.

The way Maia had acted before, Mel half-expects to see a path of dead grass and gruesome insects leading up to her. It doesn't really occur to her this is from the same school of thought that says Mel should be surrounded by cutesy animals at all times. Instead, when she eventually finds Maia, the demon is just lying on her back, eyes closed, as much of her body in contact with the ground as possible, listening to her iPod.

'Maia?'

The demon’s eyes snap open. She rips out her headphones, jamming her iPod into her pocket, getting up and readying herself to run.

'For God’s sake,' says Mel, slightly irritated. 'I’m not going to exactly attack an unarmed girl.'

'And that's why angels are so dumb,' Maia replies, and before Mel can even register the slight shimmer of Dark vibes Maia is charging towards her with her knife held high. Her face is pale, and her teeth are bared, and Mel gets out of the way just in time. Maia skids on the dirt and whirls around, but Mel's already on her guard, already holding that damn sword, already levelling it.

'Seems we’re at an impasse,' she says coolly. 'But I'd have to say that you're definitely going to be in worse shape than me if you start it up again. Let’s talk.'

'Sorry,' Maia says, 'You know the word 'impasse'?'

'Stop acting like a child.'

'No wonder you’re such a prig if Jade was like this.'

'And you shut up about my sister!'

Maia smirks, weighing up the benefits of annoying Mel some more with the chance of being run through with a beam of pure light. 'What did you want to talk about, good fairy? Did you want to have a nice chat about feelings and try and get me to come on to your side again?'

'I’ve given up attempting to think you’d want to, by now. What did you do to Steph? And the woman with the curly hair and acid line in insults?'

Maia looks briefly puzzled, and then she grins widely. 'Oh, Carla! Isn’t she just a peach?'

'Peaches aren’t normally so bitter.' The remark is out before Mel can stop herself, and she scowls. Being around Maia does not do her any favours.

Maia herself looks delighted. Making angel girl lose control is much more fun than getting bitched at by some uppity nurse. 'I just had some fun.'

'Posters? Maia, what--'

'Yeah, like I said, fun.' Her grin spreads. 'Gosh, was there a case of mistaken identity? How awful for you!'

Mel is on the verge of asking about Steph and hoping for a straight answer when Maia speaks again. Her voice is soft, slow and silky. Mel shivers--it’s as if ribbons are twining themselves around her, constricting her movement. She throws out her arms, sword lowered by now. And Maia’s words--instead of simply her tone--meet Mel’s ears.

'Let's face it, Melanie. They mainly only figure out it's not you when I do something you never could. I could have managed saving Sky...'

The emotional kick in the pants has exactly the opposite effect Maia had hoped for. The sword is whipped up once more in her hands. The angel looks positively livid, hair blown behind her, making a halo above her head, and she advances on the demon.

'When I want to fight,' she hisses through her teeth, 'I warn the other party. Unless, of course, they started it. Come on, Maia. If you think you're so tough, take me on. But I’ll always beat you. You pretend to be exactly like me, but there’s something you’re missing—'

'Oh, don’t give me that l-word crap again!' cries Maia, who looks paler when she sees Mel's not afraid to use the sword. 'I followed you here, didn't I? I'm the one who’s going to destroy you and bring you back to Hell as a pet. I’m the one—'

'And why do you want to go back to Hell, Maia?'

The question makes Maia stop in her tracks.

'Is it because with me in tow, you'll finally get out of that rut you've been in? No doubt they'd be overjoyed if you ever brought me in—-for a week or so, you’d be treated like a queen. And then the week would be over, and—'

Her little speech is cut short as Maia flings her knife haphazardly it Mel's direction, and runs off. Mel doesn't need to dodge, but lets it fall and skitter on the grass, watching Maia's retreating back.

After a bit, Mel makes the sword disappear and picks up the dagger gingerly. Well, that's one less weapon in Maia's arsenal, and probably the weapon she used the most...but what now? What happens with the demons here? Will these stupid, clumsy scuffles keep repeating themselves? If Maia gets lucky one day...that way almost certainly leads to pain, gore, and possible detention.

Michael will know. Michael will know what to do.



Dear Michael,

I just had an encounter with Maia and as a result have got a knife from Hell in my possession. I don't really want to keep it. Can it be destroyed?

Melanie Beeby

Comments

[cosmicteddy.livejournal.com]

Michael followed the owl back to Mel's room. The bird had seemed so eager to show him, so Michael didn't have the heart to simply beam over there, which he could easily have done. He thought about the mystery of Maia as he walked, wondering how much she knew about herself and how much of her could be saved... That was a riddle.

He knocked carefully on Mel's door, while the owl perched itself happily on his shoulder. Mmm. Archangel energy.

[totallyluminous.livejournal.com]

Mel answers the door by opening it just a crack at first, suspiciously, and then smiling when she sees Michael. He has that effect on people.

'Come in!' Wow, it was a good thing she'd actually made the bed that morning. Before she opens the door properly, Mel kicks a bundle of clothing under said bed, cursing that she can't do anything about the mismatched collection of novels and spellbooks scattered about the room. 'Um, do you want anything? Tea, or coffee, or...something?'

She hopes he won't say yes, because all she has is a stash of hot chocolate (not Lola's, at that). As Mel pulls the door all the way open, the knife is visible; it is on her desk with nothing surrounding it. Mel doesn't want anything contaminated.

[cosmicteddy.livejournal.com]

"No thank you, Mel, I'm fine," smiled Michael and entered her room. Some people might have thought it odd to find the headmaster in one of his student's private rooms, but that wasn't really the case at the Angel Academy... Especially not when the student in question was currently in the possession of a dark object.

Michael approached the knife. "So this is the one..." he said with a little sigh. The knife shone dully in his presence, as if protesting being near such a powerful angel. Michael still picked it up, his hand shining in a dull gold, as if he'd produced a glove out of light to shield him from the dark energy.

"Was there a fight?" he asked, holding up the knife to examine it more thoroughly. Quite a simple weapon, but devestating if it were handled by the wrong person, of course... They had several of these, kept safe in the lower levels of the school library.

[totallyluminous.livejournal.com]

'Nearly,' Mel says grimly. 'I mean--I tried to talk to her and she just ran at me with it...and then I got my swo--then I held her off,' Mel says, not sure she should have a sword in any case, 'And tried to talk to her, and she just...chucked it at me, and ran off.'

Michael's handling of the dagger makes Mel look at her own hand. She wasn't stupid enough to touch the blade, but she didn't shield her hand, and now it itches.

She pokes at her palm, dotting little jets of green healing light at it. 'She's going to have more stuff, isn't she? And sooner or later one of us is going to make a mistake.' Her voice cracks a little. She doesn't want to keep fighting if she can help it. Hogwarts was meant to be safe from all that.

[cosmicteddy.livejournal.com]

"There are limits to Maia's power," said Michael, turning the knife over and forming a force-field around it. It vibrated, like the air on a hot day, barely visible and caught the bad vibes beaming from the weapon before they could do any harm. "She lost her means of communicating with Hell when she arrived here, and that counts for a lot. I believe it is safe to say that yes, she will find what she needs eventually, but it will be difficult for her while here."

He let go of the knife, and it floated in a faintly shimmering bubble a few feet above the ground. "I will be taking this with me on my next trip to Heaven, to make sure it's safely locked away. This is at least a weapon Maia won't be using again, I can promise you that."

The archangel looked up and smiled. "You will be able to deal with this, Mel. Maia still can't touch you in your room; she's not strong enough to penetrate the barriers to it. And you know how to be careful."

[totallyluminous.livejournal.com]

'But around the school? Michael, she nearly ran me through when I just wanted to talk. If she sees me with my back turned and she's got a weapon, she'll use it! Do I have to go around with a warning system?'

It's unangelly. It's the part of Maia that she got too close to, and the knife didn't help. Recognising this, Mel pours healing vibes into her palm until it stops itching, and then continues.

'What do you mean that 'she'll find what she needs'? What does she need? Besides impersonating me and trying to make my life difficult.'

[cosmicteddy.livejournal.com]

"This is a large place, Mel. People come and go, and members more or less involved with the Opposition may appear at any time. Weapons are not hard to come by, but ones that are capable of hurting angels are few and far between, in this world." Michael paused. "Maia is afraid of you. My advice is to be cautious, but don't let this take over your life."

The owl hooted lovingly at the archangel, and flew out through the window. It was hungry. And though angels were lovely to sit on, they could not feed you. Michael watched it leave, half-smiling back, and then turned to Mel again.

"Have you been training your martial arts lately?" There was no judging in his voice, just curiosity.

[totallyluminous.livejournal.com]

'Er...no, not martial arts specifically...I was more...well, you know...concentrating on magic...' Mel finishes, getting her wand and waving it as she mumbles. The covers on her bed immediately throw themselves onto the floor. Mel shuts her eyes in embarrassment and wishes the earth would swallow her up.

It's obvious she won't get an answer as to what Maia needs. Mel kicks herself about not doing that dawn vibes session when she had the chance.

[cosmicteddy.livejournal.com]

Michael looked stern, or as stern as was possible for him. It wasn't a lot. His voice was firm, but his eyes were too lovely to be able to pull off stern. Still, the archangel was not someone who's opinion you neglected... "I am glad you are practicing magic, but don't neglect your angelic training in favour of it. It's very important that you maintain the Link between you and Heaven, especially in a time like this. One of the best ways of doing that is to keep training your martial arts."

He tactfully didn't mention the covers. He was just that considerate.

[totallyluminous.livejournal.com]

Mel nods timidly, hastily putting the wand back on her desk. 'You think that will give me an edge over Maia?' she asks quietly, not daring to look into those eyes that blaze with cosmic intelligence and trying to keep out of her mind she's read maybe a chapter of the Angel Handbook.

[cosmicteddy.livejournal.com]

"It certainly won't hurt." The dark knife disappeared somewhere into Michael's wrinkly suit, and he struck his hands together as if wiping off any vibe residue from his fingers. "Magic is not an angel's first weapon, after all. It's the connection with everything around her that's the key to her strength."

[totallyluminous.livejournal.com]

'That includes people,' Mel points out, drawing strength from the fact she helped Zel...and maybe Steph...the last time she met them both. 'Maybe I need to work on animals and natural forces, but people...I think I'm doing alright at.'

[cosmicteddy.livejournal.com]

Michael smiled. "That's good, Mel. But still. Keep your fighting skills up-to-date, that's my advice." He paused. "I believe Lola and Brice would benefit from very much the same thing, actually. Perhaps you three should get together for a training session?"

It was a casual suggestion, but he did feel that it was really necessary. Mel was the one who'd been living away from Heaven the longest, after all. And Maia was specifically targeting her.

[totallyluminous.livejournal.com]

Mel gets the very definite feel that's an order, not a request--to use that terminology, in any case.

'I'll ask them,' she says wearily. It's not 'ask' she means, either. 'Have you heard about Lola? She got into A Midsummer Night's Dream.' Apropros of nothing but to remind him that they are teenagers sometimes, weird as that may seem. 'I'll ask them,' she repeats, and sits on the bed, looking wan.

[cosmicteddy.livejournal.com]

He brightened, pleasently surprised. "She did? Well that's wonderful! I expect we'll all be invited to the great opening!" And he'd have to get Lola some flowers, naturally! He did know that they were teenagers, but they were students as well. Students of his, in fact, when they were in Heaven. Here, he expected them to do their equivalent of homework, which was keeping up the Link.

Mel's light-levels were drooping. Hm. This whole ordeal was taking its toll on her, the poor girl... Michael went up to her, putting his hand on her head. "I'm sorry that I must ask so much of you," he sighed.

[totallyluminous.livejournal.com]

Mel never did do that well with homework...

'Hey, you're just trying to make sure nobody gets hurt,' she replies, a million volts of energy whizzing through her system. 'You're headmaster, after all.'

[cosmicteddy.livejournal.com]

"Yes. I am." And he smiled, and the room seemed to light up. "But I try and do my best not to stress my students too much. Unfortunately in this case it's necessary."

He sighed and stood up. "I'll take the knife away for you. If there is anything else, you know where to find me. I'm never far away."

[totallyluminous.livejournal.com]

'Thanks, Michael,' Mel says, feeling the Light levels go soaring and smiling gratefully. 'I'll try not to stress you too much.' Her eyes travel from his crumpled suit up to his slightly jet-lagged face, and stops when they meet his own eyes.