Interesting Place for a Stroll {Aubrie}

[zophiel]

Zophiel noticed the tiniest flinch from the woman he walked with, and decided to shut down his mind from anyone who might be trying to pry. He knew Aubrie wasn't doing it on purpose, but that was worse. Usually if someone is doing it on purpose, they have a certain thing in mind to look for. When it was an accident, they could learn anything.

Zophiel chuckled at her question, "I really don't know. I've done a lot in my time on earth. Everything from teaching an Egyptian Pharaoh the first game to managing my own video game store. I've saved lives and I've taken them. And all of it with the power of a mortal. Well, a special mortal, anyway. " He shrugged, "I'll figure it out someday."

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[Aubrie Carpathia]

Aubrie shook her head, smiling a bit.

"I can't even imagine what it must be like," she said, "to have been alive for so long. I look back on the thirty or so years I've been around, and they seem like plenty long enough." She fell silent as they continued on, ambling through the cemetery with no clear direction in mind.

She was simply enjoying being around Zophiel, honestly. Like Nikita, in him she had found someone that she could possibly spend time with without having to worry about her powers going haywire. True, Zoph was easier for her to pick up on then most angels or demons would be, but it was still "quieter" around him than it was around a normal human, or around a weaker creature like a witch or a shifter. Basically, it was just nice to be able to carry on a conversation with someone, and to feel just a little bit normal for a change.

"Egypt, huh? That must've been pretty exciting, right?" she wondered, watching him out of the corner of her eye. "I mean, to see the great civilizations rising and falling and all that... Makes my childhood in Indiana seem even more boring than it actually was." She smiled at him, starting to feel more at ease again. "Do you mind if I ask you something? It... regards something I picked up from you a few minutes ago."

[zophiel]

Zophiel stuck his hands in his pockets as he walked with Aubrie. Having someone to spend time with was a nice change. Zophiel was paranoid about his lack of power and hardly ventured outside these days. The fact that he was in this graveyard at all was rather surprising considering his recent past. Go to work, come home, triple check the security in his apartment, and then TV and bed. Oh, and lets throw food in there somewhere.

At Aubrie's words though, he thought back on his life and his time in the desert. The Nile had been a sight in its day. Watching the Sphinx being carved from stone had been impressive too. But what he had really enjoyed was watching the humans have fun for the first time. Before him, there were no games. Everyone worked what they could, even the children. With games though, people realized kids should be kids.

Looking at kids now almost made him sick. They were spoiled. The kids back in Egypt appreciated their games.

He mostly remembered Amisi though, and the time they had together. It lasted a few years, but then it ended tragically. When he made it back to Heaven, he was going to find Amisi and never leave her side for anything.

"Egypt was rather hot and dry. But for a while it was great." he shrugged, and looked up at her, "You can ask... but that doesn't mean I'll answer."

[Aubrie Carpathia]

Hot and dry.

Well, Aubrie was certain that was the literal way to describe Egypt, but it wasn't exactly what she'd had in mind. Still, even though it was distant, Aubrie could feel a faint tinge of sadness from Zophiel when the subject of Egypt was brought up. She wondered if maybe she shouldn't ask the question that had been on her mind.

"Never mind," she told him, smiling a bit. "It's fine. Nothing important, really." There, she actually felt better by letting the subject drop. Aubrie had had enough sorrow in her own life to know that when someone brought up the past, it could sometimes reopen old wounds. She wouldn't be the one responsible for doing the same to Zophiel.

"So, you seem to be pretty into the idea of games," she said finally after walking along in silence for a bit. "How strange is it for you," she asked, "to see the sort of things that pass for games in today's world? I mean... It just seems like everything's so wrapped up in technology anymore that no one really plays the classics. Chess, checkers... Hell, even things like Monopoly or Sorry have sort of fallen through the cracks, huh?"

She knew that this subject would probably take the angel's mind back to the past a little bit, but at least it didn't have to do with the mysterious woman that Aubrie had been about to ask about. She was still curious, but she had intuition enough to know that she had probably been an old lover of Zoph's, though Aubrie could sense something else there as well. A sadness and pain intermingled with the happy memories. It was something she'd encountered time and time again in her job as a fortune-teller: the grief of lost love.

Shaking her head, she added, "What's the world coming to anymore, right?"

[zophiel]

Zophiel chuckled, agreeing to what Aubrie was saying about the games. Wasn't he just thinking that? Did she read that, or was it just a coincidence? Whatever the case, he knew she must have seen something about Amisi if she was changing the subject. He was grateful but... in a way, he wished she HAD asked him. He hadn't talked to anyone about Amisi since.... since...

Since Amisi herself had died.

He looked at Aubrie and stopped, slowing and carefully taking her arm and turning her to look at him.

"Go ahead and ask it, Aubrie. It would be really nice to get some of this off my chest. Maybe I'm being too trusting right now, but I feel like i could burst if i don't tell someone. I haven't had someone to talk to about this in so long..."

[Aubrie Carpathia]

Normally Aubrie wouldn't pry about something like this, but he said he wanted to talk, so she asked.

"This... woman that I keep getting impressions of from you," she began, her voice soft as she watched Zophiel out of the corner of her eye. "She was... special to you?" It sounded like a stupid question once she'd finally asked it, and she frowned. "I'm sorry, it's really none of my business."

Aubrie fell silent after that, letting her eyes roam the cemetery simply so that they wouldn't have to meet Zoph's. She honestly didn't know why she'd been so curious about it, but she though that it might have had something to do with her newly formed relationship with Nikita. Aubrie had never been involved with anyone before--in fact, she'd never even really felt anything for another person--and maybe she figured hearing about Zophiel's own relationship with this woman would somehow give her a clearer outlook on her own with Nikita.

Whatever the reason, she felt bad about asking, and no doubt reopening an old wound that Zophiel had probably spent years, or in his particular case maybe even decades or centuries, trying to ignore or heal.

"Sorry," she said, knowing how lame it must have sounded.

[zophiel]

So, Aubrie really did get an impression of Amisi from him. He figured as much. He could tell she also felt awkward asking. But it had been so long ago that he felt like telling someone, anyone.

"That woman was Amisi.... she was the love of my life." Zophiel dug his hands into his pockets as they walked, "She meant everything to me. Even when she found out that I wasn't... human. Or of her particular religion... she was a priestess for Baast, an Egyptian goddess."

Zophiel sighed, and looked around the cemetery. He still wasn't all that sure of where he was. He shrugged as he thought about it and turned to Aubrie.

"We had relations... and she was supposed to stay pure for her work in the temple. A... brother of mine came to retrieve me and i refused to return without her. Then i found out a little too late that we were found out, and we were actually both killed for that... of course... being what I am... i went back to Heaven... and pitched a fit about it... so i was dropped on my ass back on earth in a new vessel. Been here ever since."

Boy, was that a weight off his chest.

[Aubrie Carpathia]

Aubrie listened silently as Zophiel told his story, nodding finally once he was finished.

"I know it probably sounds pretty lame, but I'm sorry," she said softly, watching him out of the corner of her eye. "And sorry I brought it up, too. I mean, I didn't want to dredge up any bad memories or anything..."

Falling silent, Aubrie let her thoughts wander as surely as her feet were. She couldn't really imagine having feeling so strong for someone that she would risk such a punishment as Zoph had received just for loving them. She'd just learned a long time ago that, with her powers, it was better not to get involved with anyone. It was pretty difficult to maintain a relationship when you couldn't touch someone without getting slammed with all of their life experiences all at one time...

But things were different now, weren't they? She had Nikita, at least... And she'd learned that she could touch people, so long as they were a sufficiently strong enough supernatural creature, so that her touch-reading wouldn't work on them. But would she ever meet someone who had as much of an impact on her as Amisi had had on Zophiel? Aubrie doubted it, and that thought actually saddened her a bit.

She didn't want to be alone forever, after all...

"She must have been a very special person," Aubrie finally said, her voice barely above a whisper. The moment she said it she regretted it. After all, hadn't she just apologized for having brought it up in the first place? Sighing, she said, "I'm sorry, Zophiel. I guess I'm just a bit out of sorts lately... It's kind of hard to focus, that's all. I'll drop it."

[zophiel]

Zophiel shook his head, his hands in his pockets as he thought back on those days. He remembered the days and nights he spent with Amisi. They made love, they played games, and mostly, they just talked. He remembered telling her he'd trade his grace for a mortal life with her. She said they should run away, out of Egypt, away from Baast's temple, away from the Pharaohs, and far from the desert. That had been a perfect dream, a dream of a mortal life with the perfect girl.

That dream had been shattered when their tent was raided. A few days before, one of Zoph's brothers had come to him. Said there was trouble brewing in Heaven. Zophiel said he didn't care, he loved his siblings, but he was in love with Amisi. He wanted no mart of it. His brother warned him that if he didn't return home, he'd never be allowed home. Zophiel had been fine with that... and his brother had rendered him powerless, a lesson he needed to learn.

Then the soldiers came. They were caught. The head Priestess of Baast had the two of them killed. The face Amisi loved was killed. The woman Zophiel loved had been... mummified alive. At least his death had been easier. He had been burned on a pier. He lost consciousness long before the flames started to cause any real pain. Then in Heaven, he was told he had to redeem himself. He'd have some of his power, and one day when he proved himself, he could return. He wanted to return, not because of Heaven, or his siblings, even though he missed both. No, he wanted back so that he could find Amisi.

He sighed heavily, feeling much older than his 20-something vessel. His fingers ran over his yo-yo, and he smirked.

"Change of subject?" He pulled out the yo-yo, "Want to see a trick?"

[Aubrie Carpathia]

Aubrie was struck by a series of random images as he spoke.

They shot through her mind fast as lightning, with an accompanying jolt of emotional pain that seemed fitting for the analogy. Pushing these mental images aside, Aubrie took a few long, deep breaths to get her own emotions under control. It wouldn't do either of them any good to have her picking up his errant psychic pain and then unconsciously projecting it back, creating an endless cycle.

Finally, with her emotions locked down and her powers under control, Aubrie smiled thankfully at Zoph.

"That would be great actually. I think I've put my foot in my mouth enough for one day, right?"