Bad Ju-Ju ( shellyBelly )

[Gabriel Black]

The extraordinary thing about Gabriel Black was that every day was the beginning of adventure. He could go anywhere… and so he did. There were always new things to see, to touch, taste; he had the whole world at his fingertips and with those pale digits he found himself climbing up in the most eccentric of places.
New Orleans was one of those places.

Gabriel’s dark chocolate eyes were wide as they drank in the sea of human beings spilling out of the sidewalks and establishments and out into the street. Traffic was at a stand still, and people cheered and waited patiently for a chance to catch beads tossed by people from elaborate floats passing by. The guileless demon had no idea what Mardi Gras was, nor did he care, at the moment he was content to just bask in the glow of day, surrounded by the warmth of contented souls and the sound of joy. He hadn’t felt warmth or joy for so very long. Was it wrong of him to want to thieve some from the humans every now and again? To feel but a pale shadow of the light happiness shone upon them?

The demon weaved his way through the sea of bodies, drinking in the feel of shoulders brushing against his or a hand at his back ushering him forward. The physical contact starved male reached out and let his own alabaster fingertips whisper against the shining brunette hair of a woman as he passed, and he breathed in through his nose deeply as if he could commit the sensation of that chaste touch through the scent of the fruit shampoo that lingered on his digits.
Perhaps this behavior was unacceptable; considered freaky or ‘stalkerish’ by those humans who lived so completely oblivious to how much they took for granted. The black eyed demon wasn’t aware of what was and was not deemed tolerable manners; he was as innocent to this world as he was hell, or the Underworld from where he came. He traveled everywhere, but belonged no where, really.

A particularly boisterous group of twenty-somethings floated by and Gabriel lifted his gaze, shading his eyes from the blaring sun with a hand to his forehead so he could see them. They were all wearing shimmering beads of deep violent hues and the way the sun glinted off those colors made the demon smile. He brought his hand up in a wave to mimic one of the women on the float and she smiled at him, tossing a handful of those sparkling necklaces.
Gabriel caught them with an absent smile, hanging them around his neck like he’d seen everyone else doing.

It was all very innocent fun. Or so he believed, and Gabriel was one gullible demon.

When the sun descended behind the horizon the lights of downtown New Orleans was still enough to chase the shadows from the street corners.
Gabriel still paced the over flowing walkways, headed no where in particular but enjoying his journey just the same. The crowd had grown even wilder now, and the families had gone back to their rooms for the evening while the night owls came out to party. People were drinking more heavily and loosing their inhibitions, and the traditional exchange of beads for a flash of skin had begun.

Once again, traditions meant nothing to the male, so when a lithe blonde woman with ample cleavage propositioned Gabriel for his beads, he obliged, smiling absently when she lifted her shirt to expose her pale breasts.
It was unfortunate for the demon, or perhaps the angered boyfriend of that flashing femme fatale, that Gabriel didn’t find the behavior strange or disrespectful in the least.
He wasn’t expecting the man to haul back a clenched fist and strike him in the nose. He wasn’t expecting to feel a burst of pain followed by the warm moisture dribbling down until he tasted copper on his lips.

The demon landed on his rear and forced several people to clear the walk to make room for him sprawled out like that; looking as confused as a blind man at an art museum and feeling just as baffled.

[shellylynn]

The festivities of Mardi Gras was something Shelly was definitely looking forward to. A little something for herself. Just because she was there on business didn’t mean she couldn’t enjoy herself a little. If she was forced to travel for the sake of her brother, well this was on him then. She was determined to find herself a good time. How better to do that than to hook up with a few acquaintances and hit up a few parties? Dress in amusing costumes and beautiful colors, hell yes! This was going to be fun!

The celebration started early. Brunch with the girls and with a few mimosas in the system made the world a better place. The sights were amazing to take in. The whole city lit up with color and decor. Balloons, string, flowers, confetti, the buildings were splashed with colors. The people around dressed in amazing wardrobes from wearing feathers and gowns to the nude bodies painted with wonderful art. This was the time to be shameless. The female form was allowed to be shown off and in reward, beads of the rainbow spectrum - and it wasn’t even illegal. Merriment spread as drinks were passed along and the buzz of the alcohol put most tension at ease.

But it was the nightfall that Shelly was most anticipating. Sections of roads closed off for the occasion alone, Shelly found herself among a group of people she had never seen before. Somehow she had managed to lose her girlfriends, or they found an easy fuck and mingled on their own ways. Either way, she was having a blast. She was at ease finding her own way about, getting along with mostly anyone she came by. However, despite requests and how friendly she could get, only a single beaded necklace hung around her neckline, and even that one she had stolen from one of these acquaintances that she had lost. She was not above flashing her knockers but she only privileged the view to someone she found worthy. And thus far, she could only think of a certain dark haired man that she might fancy showing them off to.

Turning around on spot, she was gestured by a blonde to ‘show ‘em’ the goods. She smirked and only delighted him a wink and an air kiss. Words of ridicule followed after her but she turned on her heel and left feeling as though she’d just kicked him in the balls. For a grown man, such shameful behavior. The night was full of these encounters but she mingled her way through, still managing to have a wonderful time. By the end of the hour she had somehow accumulated two more beaded necklaces. Quite pleased with herself, she thought about giving one of them away as a gift.

Twisting her fingers in them and letting the rough surface glide across her fingers, up and down, the wind was nearly pushed out of her when a fellow shoved into her back, launching her forward into the people in front of her. She wondered when that was going to happen. It was bound to, like fate, in such a large group, someone was going to fall, no less get punched for looking at his girl the wrong way. Shelly reached forward, grabbing whatever was in front of her to keep her balance. Unfortunately the female in front of her was wearing a low cut shirt with no support. So with one slight tug, the front of her shirt slipped down and exposed her breast. Shelly stopped herself in time, falling but a mere inch away from that woman’s breast from violating her. Cries of pleasure came ringing but Shelly only quirked her brow at them and laughed. Instead, she grazed her hand lightly over the woman’s breast and slipped her shirt back up to cover. Though she had to admit her flesh was soft, she didn’t care for them as much as she did hers.

Now, turning to find the person at fault for nearly making her suffocate by boobies, her eyes were drawn to a pale figure on the ground. The crimson that bled from his nose contrasted drastically. “Damn, think the guy got jealous much, eh?” her Canadian accent coming through. “I think you should’ve shared your beads with him too,” she gave him a crooked grin. “You alright?” resting a hand on his shoulder, she kneeled down to his level. “Should get up, or you might get us both trampled.”

STATS
TAG ;; gabriel black
MUSE ;; bah-horrible
WORDS ;; xxx
CLOTHES ;; in costume
THOUGHTS ;; meh.. i know tis really bad
ANYTHING ELSE ;; shelly was being poo poo head but i didn't want you to wait any longer...

[Gabriel Black]

Gabriel brought his pale fingers to his face, startled that when he pulled the curious digits away they were colored by his blood. The guileless demon; ever confused by the peculiar actions of humans, wondered why the male had reacted the way that he had when Gabriel had only given the female what she had requested. And how kind of the woman to have shown him her beautiful body. The demon had always found the female form quite attractive; intriguing in the way it was so very different from his own. Where as men were hard and tough, women were soft and gentle. Their voices like music. Their arms open…

Just like the chocolate haired female that suddenly appeared at his side as he mused there on the sidewalk.
Gabriel looked up into her striking jade colored eyes and tilted his head to one side. Her words bewildered the ingenious demon, for he knew naught of the emotion which she spoke of. Jealousy, greed, adoration; they were all unfamiliar to him. He had felt such things stirring in his chest once before; glorious sensations that had filled him with colors of the rainbow, but all had been stolen by the one that kept him on a leash. The choice to feel had been thieved from him. Emptiness kept Gabriel from letting those detrimental feelings wound him as they had before.

Her voice was entrancing and the side-ways smile just as magnetic, and he peered absently at the hand on his arm and was moved by the gentle weight of it there.
Gabriel pulled himself up to stand and glanced back unaffectedly at the couple who had started the trouble. They were arguing back and forth and one other male was having to hold the boyfriend back. He was drunk and gunning for a brawl and the demon had tickled his trigger.

“But I have others. I would have given him one if it was asked of me.” Gabriel lifted an alabaster hand to the colored beads hanging about his neck and gave a slight tug. “Perhaps it was the color of her beads that so offended him.” He arched a black brow at the male who had turned on his friend by now, and a play of fist against face and face against the concrete had begun.

His face was impassive when it was turned back to Shelly, and blinking, he let his black orbs drift down her frame and back up to that lovely olive stare. For an ephemeral moment there seemed a brightening of his dark gaze, but like a ghost it was gone no sooner than it had appeared. Gabriel was shoved slightly forward and into the russet haired woman, but still, he was unaffected. “You belong on one of those.” He lifted a pointed digit and directed her attention to a multihued float passing by; this one carrying a band of bright, lively dancing ladies.

“Have you fallen off of one?”

[shellylynn]

Gazing at the man in front of her, Shelly felt an odd sensation come over her. Looking into those dark eyes, she felt as though the world of emptiness was hidden behind them. Lost and confused, but she managed to push her odd feelings aside to the fact that the man had just been punched in the nose. A little dazed was a good sign that he was still alive and well. A slight laugh accompanied her smile as his confused demeanor tickled her funny bone and his words fooled her into thinking he was just joking. “Perhaps,” her voice was lively with the festivities and her concern for him ebbed away.

She eyed the fellows that had started a brawl and in fear that somehow they would turn back to her new friend, she urged him with her own body to move away from them. But it was not an easy task, as the crowd seemed to thicken for a chance to see who was fighting. And in result, Gabriel was pushed into her. Welcoming his body as she embraced him lightly, she gave him a smile indicating that run-ins were all a part of parties and having fun. She tried to make the whole ordeal a light matter. Letting out another laugh, she reached forward and held him lightly by the elbow. “Yeah? You think so?” she gazed down at herself, as if she’d forgotten what she was wearing. “I’ll take that as a compliment, and perhaps a beaded necklace,” she winked at him. “Now, lets get you cleaned up for the next bloke to hit you, eh?” she teased him lightly.

STATS
TAG ;; gabriel black
MUSE ;; bah-horrible
WORDS ;; xxx
CLOTHES ;; in costume
THOUGHTS ;; meh.. i know tis really bad
ANYTHING ELSE ;; *pokes mah head*

[Gabriel Black]

Shelly’s laughter tickled his insides as much as his bemusement tickled her funny bone. The unfamiliar sensation drew up the corners of his lips as if she were the puppet master and his visage the marionette.
Once again Gabriel was met with the soft weight of the woman’s hands upon his arms, but this time she took the demon in an embrace that seized his breath; it had been so long since he’d had physical contact he had forgotten how intriguing it could be. She was as warm as the sun, and her smile radiated a light he could feel like a glow upon his pale skin.

The festivity moved around them like water; bodies parting and granting them a moment of peace while the dark haired woman gazed down to remind herself of the attire to which Gabriel referred. The smile on his lips had faded a little, for the down tilt of her shimmering smile cast him into the shadows.
Shadows were what the demon loathed; though he did not know what this emotion was. He was terrified of them; though once more this human sensation was unfamiliar. It was cold, and barren, and dark. And yet, the shadows were the only companion the demon had. It was very sad really. He molded the darkness into things he found beautiful, but no matter what the shape or size, they always held a passageway to evil for him.

The delicate pressure of her fingertips on his elbow brought Gabriel’s gaze back up and her shining beam distracted him from thoughts of darkness. He nodded in response to her suggestion, putting his fingers to a nostril and glimpsing at the scarlet there once more. This kind of thing was likely to draw attention to him and the demon would rather not have that. He had always been content to simply watch; anything else was much too dangerous. For them.

But he felt a spasm within. As if those strings really were attached to his limbs and she held onto them with fragile digits. He did not want to be alone right now. Though he didn’t understand the feeling; he rather enjoyed her company and her light.

“If the necklaces are an invitation for blokes to batter a person, I would rather not burden your chest with them either.” Gabriel told her absently and used her words as if they were his, lifting a pale hand to the beads and bringing them over his dark head. They moved through the crowd now like riding a wave, floating with the mass, negligent to their destination. “What is your name? I am called Gabriel.”

[shellylynn]

Shelly’s outward approach to life did not differ from most people. She wanted only to have a good time and surround herself with good-natured people. Who ever wanted differ? Even for a being like Gabriel who may not understand his surroundings and his emotions innately must crave for loved ones and their various forms of comfort and touches. To be a human was to be surrounded by others, and to support one another. Even when shunned from society a person craved for what they might not know. And Shelly was the type to crave this attention on a constant basis. She molded herself to be able to appreciate a variety of people that came through her life. She could take a person and praise them for what they offered this world and show her appreciation for their contribution to society and to the culture.

So, she graciously smiled back at Gabriel and let out a light laugh. The handsome pale man that stood before her as if the world was as light as a feather. He did not challenge the douche bag that had punched him, he did not fight against Shelly’s will to guide to guide him away, he let things be as it was and took it with grace upon himself. Or, at least that’s how Shelly perceived it as. She could not be aware of the darkness that might plague the man’s mind nor could she know that his mannerisms were a result of something bigger, something much darker.

Shelly was aware of the evil in this world and she tried so very hard to hide herself. Cursed with gifts beyond her control, she hated herself for being what she could not change. Bombarded with stories of the supernatural by her great-grandfather, she’d come to believe that all were evil and that included herself. She hid from her fear and from behind her responsibilities to her family, she hoped that one day she would be normal, or one day when she was not tempted to use her powers.

“Gabriel, eh?” she repeated, glancing quickly over her shoulder and she wrapped her hand around his elbow again as she pulled him to the side- quite successfully pulling out of the mass of people and into a small pocket of open space behind a pillar. The momentum had her pressed against the structure as Gabriel’s body knocked lightly into hers. She glanced sideways and laughed. What a night it was turning out to be but nothing that begrudged the girl in the least. “Gabriel,” she said again with a calmer tone as she gazed back at the dark haired man. “Shelly,” she smiled up at him, letting out a breath.

STATS
TAG ;; gabriel black
MUSE ;; bah-hum-bug
WORDS ;; xxx
CLOTHES ;; in costume
THOUGHTS ;; meh.. i know tis really bad
ANYTHING ELSE ;; shelly was being poo poo head but i didn't want you to wait any longer...

[Gabriel Black]

For a moment, the demon that usually watched the world with child-like, curious eyes was immune to everything save the gentle pressure of her fingertips on his arm and the careful method that the woman led him away from the throng of partiers. Wide mesmerized shadow colored eyes traveled down the olive length of arm that was reached toward him, moved up and across a bird like chest that rose and fell with delicate breaths of air, finally lifting to a glorious smile that filled Gabriel with a warmth he hadn’t felt in so long he had long since lost track of the passing days, months, years.
Time did not only stand still the instant his obsidian orbs met her divine jade ones, but rather slid its hands around him in a comforting embrace; granting the demon time to forget he was not like her, like any of them, and that some how he belong right here in this ethereal moment.

They had escaped the thunderous horde; hidden behind a wide column that stood proud and old as the building which it was attached to. The female leaned back against it and Gabriel inadvertently tilted forward, inhaling sharply as his body fell against hers. She was softness and warmth and a sudden volt of electricity tingled deep within him; rousing the demon as if he’d been dead instead of wandering the earth in a waking slumber.

“Yes, Shelly.” He responded her question, wholly unaware that it had been rhetorical. “Gabriel… like the archangel, though I am no angel.” The demon had said this once before when having given his name to someone they had compared him to the powerful seraph and messenger of God. Though similar to his heavenly kin in the way he had power beyond human comprehension, he was all darkness whereas angels were supposedly light. Not that he’d ever met one. His maker had often warned him that such a divine creature would likely exterminate him on the spot for the curse of his mere existence. Gabriel, though so far immune to the sensations life could bring him, was not so desperate to be stripped of it.

And the demon mimicked the contented upturn of the woman’s lips; dropping his gaze reticently to the concrete beneath his feet a moment before lifting them to her face once more. He rolled carelessly on the balls of his feet, backwards, and then forwards, unaware of the desire, but absently hoping that his frame would whisper against hers again. And it did, and another surge drifted through him; this time more intense that the one before it. But instead of finding his balance like he’d done so easily before, the clumsy black-eyed demon tripped further, negligently grasping at the pillar for support but finding her wrist instead. They dove slowly for the shadows caused by the fall of night and garish light shining from opposite the column, and kept falling as those earthly shadows gave way to the path between that human world and the Twilight.

When they landed with a soft thud on the gray ground, it was with a horrified gasp that Gabriel discovered what he had done. Whereas they had been in the cheerful company of a thousand celebrating humans g, now they were surrounded by hungry shadows thirsting to drink the essence from the beautiful woman that lay underneath his awkward frame. To steal her light and replace the luminance with gloom.

The Twilight was a place devoid of happiness. It was the reverse of the human world they had just fallen from; New Orleans as it would appear if there were no color in the world, a desolate waste land that blew with a bitter, wintery wind but blanketed the pair with a stifling, oppressive heat.
To Gabriel it was his birthplace. A place that suited an emotionless demon to a fault. To humans however, it meant death. Death of happiness and hope and the soul.

The black-eyed demon turned his wide, bewildered onyx eyes on Shelly unaware they had lost all white of the sclera. His mouth was parted in a soundless howl as he scrambled off of her, crab crawling backwards to give her room to move.

“I…didn’t mean to. It was an accident!” The young demon implored, sitting upright and taking in her reaction to the sudden change in location.
How long would it take for the shadows to pounce their prey? How long would the oppressive misery of the place consume her?

Gabriel’s gaze darted wildly, but he could find no way back up. She would die here, and it would be his fault. Again.