Believe it or not

[Lovely]

June 28 2009
7:40 a.m.


The sun seemed to be shining brighter today than it had in weeks as Dominick looked out toward the benches in front of the Courthouse, stepping off the bus and starting across the street for them though he saw no tell-tale shadows of the morning light yet. The sun actually wasn't shining at all behind the thick clouds of the early morning rain that recently darkened the street. The bus rumbled away as he darted across and stopped, still feeling the warmth like a 6th-grade crush brightening his cheeks. She'd been the most beautiful sight he'd ever seen and she'd certainly never been on his route before. He'd have remembered. He memorized faces. It was part of his job, sorting through mug shots and records, organizing them on a seemingly-endless task of filing away criminal portfolios. Recently his job had been expanded to sorting files of missing persons as well. He'd never seen her on a billboard, either, but he'd certainly found her and was hoping he'd find her again, sure that she'd looked his way as he boarded and that it was him she smiled at as he slipped off at his stop. Where was she going, he wondered, and why did he even think she could possibly get off at the same stop he did? He didn't know but he had to stop and look, hoping he'd see where she was going.

Scotia was in heels but oddly enough they made no sound to alert the man to the fact that the pretty woman was following him. When he turned she stopped and smiled, seeming surprised for a moment before starting to walk again, heading in the same direction he was. She'd been on the bus waiting for him, her job was to protect him and with the situation escalating, she and her clan had made the decision to become more directly involved involved.

His jaw dropped and suddenly he was looking around again, perhaps for an escape so he wouldn't be caught staring. Embarrassed, he turned quickly and stiffly, awkwardly, started to head into the Courthouse, checking his watch as if seeming to act like he was late, though he was several minutes early... early enough to consider buying a coffee at the cart in the lobby to offer her. He quickly talked himself out of that, scratching his head and trying not to catch his arm in the revolving door as he slipped inside. He glanced over his shoulder as he started for the stairs to the lower level as she came in the revolver almost like a ghost passing through the wall.. she was as elegant as she was stunningly pretty! Dominick almost tripped over a girl in the hall coming toward him with a stack of files and he steadied them both. "Sorry Nancy. Not paying attention this morning," he apologized quietly, offering the girl a sweet but short smile before darting to the stairs to shuffle his way down before he fell down them.

[Lovely]

The girl he knew as Nancy, smiled and shook her head, her gaze catching something behind him, her face registering shock, and she barely noticed anything he said or did after that. She glared past Dom's shoulder for a moment as if she wanted to murder someone and then the expression turned to fear, all in the length of a moment. She scurried away as Dom did and seemed quite shaken herself.

Scotia barely turned to watch the girl depart as she followed Dom down the stairs.

Why did he feel he was nearly running now? This was madness! Why run from a beautiful girl when she probably had business here that had nothing to do with him? "Just speeding tickets, probably," he muttered, stopping at a door halfway down the hall, fumbling for his ID fob to swipe himself into the locked room and the safety it offered him and his shyness. The green light shone as his hand shook the tag in front of the pad and the lock clicked. As soon as he was through the door, the lock shone red and he felt he could breathe again. He stumbled a few feet in and folded down into his chair behind the piles of folders and photos. He buried his face in his hands only now feeling how bright his cheeks must have been.

He was only in his sanctuary, feeling safe and secure while discovering the redness of his cheeks for a moment before the door opened. As it slowly swung in, the girl he'd admired on the bus and who had followed him here, was revealed - she stood there a moment half smiling and peeking into the room. "Oh there you are.." She chuckled lightly and stepped into his little 'hideaway', the door closing itself behind her and the lock clicking once again. She held a cup of coffee from the cart upstairs, fixed just how he liked it, it was a gesture.. to help him relax. She smiled at him and set the cup down on his desk. "You really have to be more careful Dominick. You nearly went head first down those stairs."

His breath left him and he was certain his heart did, too. The door reader had not buzzed or alerted him but her voice did. "H-.. how do you know my name? How did you get in here? This is a secured room!" He was frightened, cornered, angered a bit that the alarms hadn't seemed to work. "Must not have shut the door completely," he surmised out loud, though he was certain it showed red and armed. All the while he marveled at the sudden appearance, his hands slid down to the desk to hold him upright and keep him from rolling away or scurrying to the floor.

"Your name is on your badge.. there." She gently pointed out the ID badge that hung from a lanyard around his neck. Her smile was soft as she folded her hands in front of her. "..and I came through the door.. you just watched me walk in. Now stop asking silly questions and start asking important ones... oh and drink your coffee.. it's just how you like it."

[Lovely]

He glanced down at the plastic card that had flipped around. His name was on it, but hard to read at a distance, at least he thought so. Looking back at her, his expression was full of curiosity and doubt. He'd been moving very quickly, but perhaps at that moment, she could read it well enough. "So it is," he agreed, but then he was confused all over again just as when she'd smiled at him on the bus. It -was- him she was smiliing at just like now. "Coffee?" He hadn't remembered getting a cup. Perhaps he had. He didn't know now, but kept looking at her as he gradually eased himself back in the chair.

"So it is." She repeated his words quietly, the soft smile still on her face as she stood there watching him look at her and wonder about his coffee. She chuckled and nodded to the cup he seemed to have forgetten or missed seeing her set there for him. "I thought it would be a nice gesture.. since I was introducing myself to you for the first time."

Slowly his eyes shifted, looking toward the desk and his many files and the steaming cup there smelling sweet of too much sugar.. just like he liked it. "Y-... you were on the bus. I've never seen you before and today, you're there... I mean - here -.. and why... why me? I mean, what business do you have with me?" He was hopeful on so many levels and equally fearful, glancing around as if waiting for a coworker to jump out with a camera or something.

"I was waiting for you.. on the bus this morning. I've been watching you for awhile now.. from a safe distance. It seems that distance isn't safe any longer and I needed to be closer." She came around the desk to the side he was on, perching herself just on the edge of the desk. Her lovely slender legs crossed at the ankles and her hands resting in her lap, she didn't disturb any of the piles or papers on his desk as she sat there. "I shouldn't be happy that I have to get closer, considering why I must.. but I can't help it.. I've always thought you were adorable."

His cheeks deepened a shade again and he chuckled nervously, the doubt registering deeper as well with a shake of his head. "Don't tease me like that... please," he said quietly, looking away. If she was patronizing him because he spent so many hours down in this room alone, he wasn't sure he could stand it. "Not sure I understand any of that, really. What distance? From where? Surely I'd have seen you before if you could see me, right? It's not like I go out so much."

"Ohh Dominick.. I wouldn't tease you about that." She spoke softly, sweet and gentle like her smile and her sparkling blue eyes. "From everywhere.. and no, you couldn't see me. You weren't supposed to." She reached over to brush her fingers over his cheek and down under his chin to keep him from shying away too much.

[Lovely]

His heart jumped again. She was stalking him? HIM?! Her touch made him jump back a little, making his chair roll and have to catch it and himself. The touch was warm and icey at once, a tingle in it he could scarcely describe other than blessed breezes on a too-hot day. It gave him a chill that wasn't entirely pleasant and his blush began to turn pale. "Why not? Who are you? W-why have you been watching me at all? I'm here on time, I get everything filed ahead of schedule," he began to feel light-headed and defensive. Was the recording clerk keeping tabs on him now? "This is about me dozing off three weeks ago, isn't it? I'm sorry, I had a cold. I told them that."

She watched him with concern and pulled her hands back toward herself as he jerked himself away and started to go on about things. "No.. no.. Dominick please.. it's not about any of that. I'm not here because of work.. you do a good job." She pouted a bit, trying to find the easiest way to tell him why she was there, though there really was no easy way. "My name is Scotia.. of the Diremoon clan. I am here because.. " She didn't want to scare him. ".. to help you. It's what we do and usually we do it from a distance, people don't even know we're helping them or that we're there. But things have changed around here recently and we can't go unseen anymore.. we need to be directly involved.."

"Diremoon? Should I know what that is? What am I doing that I need help with? It's not like scanning and filing is so hard," he explained, not sure what is was she was referring to.

"You probably wouldn't know of the Diremoon.. but as your kind usually give two names, I thought it would be better if I also used such an address. It doesn't matter.. you may know me as Scotia and that is all we really need." She ran her finger in a circle over her knee and sighed softly. "I'm not here to help you with filing or scanning, though I could do those things.. I'm here to protect you."

"From what? The correction fluid?" He laughed and looked around again, wondering a great deal now about this elaborat set-up. It didn't explain how she walked so quietly or seemed to nearly walk through the walls - or open locked doors that had no lock to pick.

"From what keeps making this stack on your desk so large." She told him in a quiet voice that was completely serious, the concern in her eyes genuine. Her gaze remained on his face, unfaltering and there for him to meet if he so chose, he asked and she answered.

The stack she indicated was the newly acquired assignment of missing persons reports he was to sort and keep up to date for the detectives working the cases. Each was confidential and other than the recording clerk and the commissioner, no one knew he had the files. Maybe she didn't know that and was digging for information, herself. "Long as there's someone breaking the law... not sure you're the superhero type, though. Vigilante, maybe? Here to save my day from my paperwork?" Something edged out the humor, making his sarcasm falter along with the grin that worked itself flat. Her expression was unnerving and serious in ways that scared him. Who or what did he need protecting from?

[Lovely]

"Here to keep you from becoming part of the paperwork." She spoke again in that quiet serious voice as she had before. "I'm not a vigilante.. or a superhero.. the closest description you'd understand is guardian angel.. except minus half of the angel part.. I'm not exactly an angel.. my parent's were once."

He glanced back at the coffee. He hadn't had any, so he was sure he wasn't drugged, but the way she spoke confused him and made him wonder if his fever from his cold had come back. "That's... that's very funny. I'm sure you enjoy making fun of me," he said quietly, looking down again, feeling very strangely in an uncomfortable spotlight. He tried to smile and take this in stride, but the corners of his mouth seemed to be drawn in different directions. "Sorry I ever mentioned those things at the Christmas party... Charlie won't let me forget it, I guess."

He believed yet when presented with statement that what he believed was real, he became skeptical. She chuckled softly and shook her head. "What would I have to do to make you believe me? Do I have to show you my wings?"

He looked up suddenly. He was somewhere between mystified and annoyed. Beneath that she'd see he was scared, not wanting to find she was lying. He very much wanted to believe, but the rational part of him still told him it was impossible. He held his breath a long moment, then slowly let it out with a nod and his decision. "Fine. Yes. Then I won't feel guilty asking security to take you back to the lobby when you can't," he said, holding in what was left of that breath and hoping he hadn't offended her. If she was truly all she'd said, she'd know what was really in his mind full of hope and wonder.

"Very well.. I hope you won't be disappointed." She said as she slipped to the floor and walked a few paces away from his desk, so as not to knock things over. Her shoes didn't make any sound as she moved, she turned to face him and winked. There was a slight ripple in the air around her as the illusion faded and she allowed him to see her as she truly was. Her large wings were not pristine white but tainted lightly with grey and black, making them almost speckled. Her top changed slightly as well, a low cut back, to allow her wings to be out and to move.

He gripped the chair tightly. "This isn't happening," he gasped out, though he chuckled. It wasn't Halloween and this didn't appear to be anything she could make out of smoke or reflections. "Alright.. I might be convinced, but... what's after me? Besides you?"

"We're not sure exactly what they are.. but they are the same things that have put most of the people into the files you work with, for the last several months. You're special and unfortunately that puts you in danger as they target the special ones.. the gifted ones." She looked sad as her gaze went to the stack of files on his desk. "There are only a few of us who know and we've been trying to help.. but.. We can't be with everyone.. and we only know of a handful who are definitely on the list.. you were on the list."

[Lovely]

Dominick snickered and was sure the air was being sucked out of the room. He felt dizzy and lost. "Great. If you don't know... how are you going to protect me from it? That's assuming I buy into this...," he paused, about to say 'fairy tale' but the wings she presented weren't light-hearted gossamer and her explaination wasn't fluffy bunnies and rainbows, either. She presented WINGS! Real ones as far as he could fathom, not a trick and if they were real, what did that mean about the rest of it? He was beginning to feel not at all well. The heat in his face had risen to the top of his head and seemed to shower him into a shaking fever. What grip he could get on the desk allowed him to inch forward in his chair and reach for the cup that rattled in his hand. He steadied it with the other and took a sip, slowly, knowing the girl at the cart tended to make the drink scalding to stay warm through morning debriefings.

"That's exactly why I'm here.. showing you my wings and being honest with you about who and what I am. I'm doing this so that I can protect you better. As I said we normally work from a distance, but now.. I'm right here and you know I am.. if the other come for you, they will have to get through me. Don't think it will be easy for them to get through me."

The drink was perfectly heated and didn't seer his lip as he expected. He took a hearty gulp to wash down the dryness. Slowly the cup was set down as he gathered his thoughts. He could run, but where? As elastic as his legs currently felt, he wasn't sure he'd make it to the stairs let alone anywhere out of the building. She could pass through locks with a smile - where could he hide? "Are... are they like you? Whatever they are? I didn't imagine it, I know what I saw. You walked through the glass like it wasn't there and the door... it was locked. I know it was," he said, choking back the fear that she was going to affirm it. "Are you a ghost or... are you really an angel?"

Her wings folded neatly behind her but were still visible as she came closer to him and set her hands on his shoulders. "I'm neither actually.. and what's out there doing this is not like us." She started to gently massage his shoulders, hoping he wouldn't pull away. "I'm the child of a fallen.. angel.. both my parents were actually. So I'm not an angel the way they were.. I'm not sure how else to explain it."

He nodded. He didn't quite grasp it, but somehow he could manage to accept it. "So.. I suppose my question should really be - why am I so important to get your attention? And... please, don't say it's because... what did you call me? ... Adorable? I'm serious. What would something be after me for? I'm a clerk. I know my way around a copy machine and a stapler. How important can I be?"

"I already told why.. because you're special.. gifted and you were on the list. We were able to recover part of the list of targets and well.. the ones we know are on it, we've been focusing on." She explained, realizing he may have missed a few points in trying to take everything in.

"No one here knows," he said softly, growing more pale and beginning to wonder if she wasn't actually one of the ones after the others, someone on the side she was saying she was against. "But someone does know... at least you do, so ... I guess I believe you. What happens now? Am I stuck here in this room or...?"

[Lovely]

"Stuck in this room? Why would you be stuck?" She continued the massage as it seemed to be keeping him somewhat relaxed for now. "You came to work like you normally do.. I understand if you need sometime to take it in.. would you like me to take you home?"

"I can't go home. I just got here. I was sick already this month. You see these piles? I... I can't. I mean, I'd love to, if you're going to keep doing that. It feels nice, but...I can't just leave," he explained, showing the pride in his mundane work that was more than just something to pay his bills.

"Okay.. you don't have to.. I'm just as happy to stay here with you.. and I'll keep doing this." He might be able to tell from her tone that she was smiling as she said the last. "You're dedicated.. you care.. it's not a bad thing. It's part of what I find attractive about you."

He snickered again, letting his head fall forward slowly, stretching under her fingers. If she was on the other side, she had every opportunity already to simply do him in and leave. She knew what he was and she'd made it clear he couldn't hide, at least not from her. He reached forward to his note pad and tore off a sheet, ripping the torn spiral egde off and setting it down. He crumpled the rest into a loose ball and laid it atop the paper ribbon then uttered a few words while his hand hovered above the pieces. In a faint glow, the paper appeared to melt and fuse into a perfectly shaped paper rose, the petals still showing the lines but having the velvety appearance and curl of its fragrant cousin. "Hm. Not perfect, but under pressure, it's not bad. For you... the pretty girl on the bus," he said, holding his creation up for her.

"Nothing in this world is perfect.. it's beautiful.. thank you." She reached with one hand to put it around his and gently take his creation, she was smiling in that soft sweet way again. As she took the paper flower from him, she leaned down to kiss his cheek.

He turned at the spark of the kiss on his cheek, backing away a little, stunned. "Sorry. I'm.. not at all used to... any of that," he said, looking down again at his empty hands that still trembled a little. He knotted his fingers together into his lap. "Which.. it's kind of strange. I mean -that- they do know about. Most everyone does. Never seen me with a girl. Now.. if you're here and well, close... like that... they'll talk. They're going to wonder," he explained, worried now about her being embarrassed to be seen with him.

Scotia laughed as she tenderly held the flower in her hands, her amused and surprised expression lifted to his face as she perched on his desk again. "If you're worried about people talking about you I can very easily make myself unseen in public.. I'd rather not but if it makes you more comfortable I will. I say let them wonder.. let them talk but then again I'm sort of used to it."

"I didn't want them talking about you...like that. The way the guys talk here in the briefing room, you'd think we were in a football locker room. They're horrible, no sense of respect at all. I mean, you're an -angel-... or sort of one."

[Lovely]

"Sort of one is a long way from being one.. My parents suffered the biggest disgrace their kind can.. I'm quite used to being talked badly about.. I have several siblings.. we're not exactly popular amoung those who have not been cast out and even of those who have.. we stand out as our family is the largest of it's kind." She shrugged, seeming to study the flower in her hand as if utterly charmed by it. "Men discussing my physical features, what they might like to do with me, or what they think you might be doing with me, doesn't bother me at all. It's very kind of you to think of me and to worry over my feeling and my honor.. see you're simply adorable, you can't help yourself." She giggled and started to lean to kiss his cheek but stopped herself. "I am sorry, I should consider your feelings as you have mine. I don't wish to make you uncomfortable."

He held his breath as if he was scared for her to kiss his cheek again. He didn't dislike it, but he was so overwhelmed, he was still certain he could faint any moment. When she backed away, he tried to smile, but again it went crooked. "Being around people in general makes me uncomfortable," he admitted. But was she really a person for that to matter now? Of course she was! He chided himself for even thinking she wasn't and it showed in his expression that he was warring with his thoughts. "It's not you.. it's me not ... well never being .. 'appropriate' I guess is the word. I say things others don't understand usually because I see things others don't I suppose. Wait.. I'm not the only one who -can- see you, am I?"

"I can make it so you're the only one who can see me or I can make it so no one does.. but as I am right now, anyone can see me.. though, I'm not sure that is any less confusing." She chuckled to herself and shook her head, reminding herself he wasn't used to such creatures as herself showing up and having direct conversations with him. "I'll try not to add to your discomfort.. but in general we show our affection freely with one another and it's hard for me not to.. but I'll try."

"I don't want to appear to talk to myself. I've done that too often already. If I appear to be having conversations... well, I'm sure it won't be good for my position here, either. I'll try not to be so uncomfortable, instead," he said, trying even now to warm up to the idea that she was really in the room and that she was truthful in what she'd said, not just goading him on to embarrass him.

"Settled then.. I shall remain visible as I am now.. and your co-workers will be left to wonder about the lady with you.. though I should probably keep my wings out of sight." She rolled her shoulders and the air rippled around her again as the illusion fell into place once more. "I do wish we could have met under more pleasant circumstances.. but I can't tell you how happy I am to finally get to talk to you."

"Don't be so sure I haven't heard you. I just didn't know it wasn't only a voice in my dreams. Murmurs, though, not to worry about anything I may have heard," he grinned, watching the wings vanish to leave the gentle girl beside him. "I'm not so special if you can do that. A few conjurer's tricks is all I have."

[Lovely]

"That's not all you have.. far from it.. that is all you have discovered.. so far." She corrected him softly, shifting to sit on her hands to keep herself from reaching out to touch his cheek or brush her hand over his arm. She set the paper flower in her lap to keep it safe as she kept herself from being affectionate - physically. "I wouldn't be here.. well not to protect you, if you didn't have great potential."

The pride he kept hidden shone out as she tried to peel it out of him. Potential was for those who could further their studies and he'd done so much hiding he'd limited himself, knowing he had to be careful. He didn't partake in black arts or blood rituals and didn't want to mistakenly be associated with those things. He wished to bend nature and mimick it and foster it, although he did on occasion dabble in alchemy and the search for gold. He'd nearly burned down his apartment trying that and hadn't approached it since, but if he were stronger, maybe someday he could attempt it with the right help. He relived the fascination of those remembered events and smiled. "Looks like I still have a lot to learn with that, too. I just have to be careful of the people who might see that too."

"Yes." She smiled at him and shifted to keep her hands beneath her legs, she was nearly facinated with him and quite excited to be this close and have him know she was there. "There is always more to learn. It is a wise man knows this and accepts it." She complimented him softly and swung her legs lightly where she sat. "Perhaps.. I could help you learn some things?"

"More often I'm called a wise-ass than a wise man, Scotia," he sighed, looking at her strangely now. "Perhaps you can. You know, the one thing I might need help with most... is explaining you. Sure I can say I met you on the bus one fine, sparkling summer morning, but what about the rest? Whatever am I going to tell my mother about you?"

Her head tilted to the side and she looked at him with a curious and questioning expression. "Whatever do you mean? Why would you need to tell her anything else? It is the truth mostly.. I wouldn't want you to lie to her.. but what more would she need to know about me?"

[Lovely]

"She's looking for the part that isn't the 'mostly'," he chuckled. "Like where your father works, are they in good money and good health, where you work... although I could say you're a charity worker with the hospital and your parents are... well, gone, I suppose. I'm not very good at telling stories."

"Tell her I'm a champion of the people.. I work for a small non profit organization.. My parents died when I was young on a mission in South America.. I was raised by my eldest brother who is a doctor and my eldest sister who works from home for many charities. We have plenty and we want for nothing.. Do you think she will approve of that? It is the truth so you won't have to tell her any 'tales'." Scotia smiled at him, curious as to why he was so concerned about what to tell his mother about her.

He nodded and unknotted his fingers to grab his coffee. His hands weren't shaking as much now. "To hear you tell it, it certainly sounds true and realistic. Me... I'd stammer all over it and end up telling her you're an angel anyway. She wouldn't think I meant your kind, but just a sweet girl."

"I don't think I'd mind if she thought I was just a sweet girl." She admitted quietly slowly easing her hands out from beneath her legs, she picked up the flower again and let her hands rest in her lap. "I almost wish that's all I was.. so that's how you'd see me."

"Give me time," he suggested, a little defensive, but smiling. "Don't ever wish yourself to be less magnificent than you are."

"So sweet.." Her hand lifted and hovered near his cheek but she kept from touching him and simply gazed at him with a soft almost sad looking smile. "It can be terribly lonely being what I am... being alone. Or worse being this close to someone you think is wonderful and they have no idea you're even there.. "

"It's okay. I mean... that," he said, glancing to her hand and trying not to jerk away this time since he was expecting it now. "I can sort of imagine that. Being so close, but never... well you know. Like on the bus, smiling across the seat but still being invisible in a way."

Once he told her it was okay, she gently pressed her hand against his face, lightly cupping his cheek. "I suppose it is a little like that.. only magnified.. Before today you never saw me smile at you when you got on the bus.. but I have, everyday for weeks."