Who will forgive whom? - Tag graylikeme

[open_flame]

What would happen if Liz's yearly distraction mission on the anniversary of the day she killed her family was to try to recruit a watchmaker from Queens to the BPRD?

Featuring the illustrious and amazing graylikeme in the role of Gabriel Gray.




I don’t need to check the calendar. I know what day it is. The worst day of the year. Everyone at the Bureau has been walking on eggshells like they do every year. Don’t mention it. Don’t upset her. Give her an easy mission to make her feel useful and better about herself.

Right.

I grab the file off my bed and read though it slowly. Queens….great. Still, it beats the hell out of sitting around here all day with my thoughts. I don’t want that, even though it’s what they don’t want as well. For once, the powers that be of the BPRD and I agree on something. If I don’t get out of this place and get my mind off what I did in Kansas, I will…do something I’ll regret. Or maybe...I wouldn’t regret it. Been thinking about it enough lately, but I never have the guts to even touch that big gun in the bottom of my dresser. It took a lot of cash and time to find a shop to sell me one without a background check. All that time and energy, and I can’t even work up the courage to pick it up, put it to my head and pull the trigger.

The plane ride is quick. At first I entertain the idea of it just dropping out of the sky, like planes do sometimes. That would make it easy. I wouldn’t even have to lift a finger to end my life. Of course, I don’t want to take the pilot with me, and I can hear Manning bitching in my head about how much it would cost to replace the plane. It’s the little one, not the big jet. I could have driven, but…I guess Manning could spare the puddle jumper before one of the cars. They never want to leave me ALL alone today. Guess they’re not so stupid after all. At least the pilot won’t be following me to Queens. Sad eyes work pretty well to get what you want sometimes.

I distract myself from the thoughts of the day my family died by reading the file over. Gabriel Gray, a watchmaker. He’s been talking to that Chandra Suresh. They say Suresh is a complete wack-job. Lovely. He probably another one of those that thinks we’re to be studied, researched. Like we’re some sort of wonderful evolution that means everything’s going to be OK. Sparkles and rainbows and sunshine and gifts from God and all that bullshit.

It’s not a gift. It’s a curse. We’re not special. We’re…freaks.

Still, this Gabriel has something new. Something the Bureau hasn’t seen before, and Manning wants him. Or wants his power on the payroll, more accurately. Intuitive aptitude. He can see how anything works. Would be a nice skill to have around the Bureau. Maybe he can fix that damn drippy shower finally.

I take a cab to the shop in Queens. Gray & Sons. It looks like an ordinary watch shop. But I know better than most that things are not always what they seem. I step out of the cab, the bits of the watch we had Red smash in an envelope. Like anyone could actually fix this, but we need a cover. Something to get him talking about what he could do and hopefully convince him to come with me back to BPRD. We could use some new blood that doesn’t get killed or quit in less than a month.

I put on that great fake smile I’ve perfected and push the door to the shop open. “Hello?” It looks spotless, like my room. A place for everything and everything in its place. The gently ticking of the array of clocks on the wall is almost soothing, like a meditation or a song. Maybe I should get a clock.

“Mr. Gray?” I move a little farther back in the shop. He’s supposed to be here. Maybe be went out for lunch or something? “Come out come out where ever you are.”

I throw caution to the wind and push back to the rear of the shop. Hopefully he won’t mind that I…

FUCK! My hand is up with a small fireball in an instant, a flick of my wrist spinning it towards the rope tied around the mans neck. He hits the ground with loud thud as I drop the envelope and rush over to him, grabbing his head to make him look at me as he gasps from air. The rope is still circling his neck, those eyes filled with an all to familiar look of pain and regret. We’re both pulling at it, trying to get his airflow back to him. A rope? Never thought of trying it that way. I wonder if it hurts less than a bullet. If the rope was a little longer your neck would probably just snap before you even had time to suffocate..

Do your job, Lizzie!

“ Are you alright?” I try not to sound panicked myself. This is NOT what this was supposed to be. Who the FUCK sends a suicidal girl to go talk to a suicidal man and offer him a fucking job? Fucking Manning! He could maybe have them do a tiny bit more research. We know the guy likes tea, but we didn’t know he wanted to off himself?

He’s gasping for air, looking at me like I’m some kind of devil…or angel. “Hey, come on. Say something.” What’s he thinking? God I wish Abe was here.

His eyes gloss over with wetness, his face twisted up in pain as he leans in closer to me. I don’t know what to do or say or even think. Does he want…a hug? Would a hug even help? Hugs are supposed to help right?

“Forgive me.” He wheezes as I pull him close to my chest, without really meaning to.

Forgive him? For what?

Comments

[graylikeme.livejournal.com]

I press my eyes closed, my lower lip trembling. I can't help but think that this is a miracle, maybe some sign, some divine intervention. God doesn't want me dead and he sent me this girl to save me. Because it has to be a miracle, why else would the rope snap, why would she be here when customers are so rare these days?

I sit up, my back against the counter, rubbing my throat slightly. It's going to be sore for a while and yes, it's painful, but it's a sign that I'm still alive, delivered back into a life where there might be some hope after all. I didn't think that God was paying attention and now... maybe he is?

"I was asking forgiveness, because... because I've done something unforgivable." Death had seemed like a cleansing fire, inevitable.

[graylikeme.livejournal.com]

Liz shows me her ability and it'd be lie to claim that it doesn't catch my eye. She can create fire out of nothing and it's beautiful, I can feel the power of it, no matter how briefly she keeps it up, my eyes flickering from it and to her face. It'd be easy to pin her to a wall, steal it all from her, she hated it for a while, didn't she?

I bite my lip and almost pull away when she takes my hand, though I control myself. It almost feels like she's going to burn me for a moment, her hand is so warm. Has she noticed, read it in my eyes? But no, she keeps talking. Liz does seem to be good at that and it's a relief when there's so much I don't want to talk about myself.

And I am paying attention to what she's saying, what her group seems to know about me. It's much more than what Chandra knew. He didn't think I was special enough for him, but these people...

"I don't..." I swallow, I don't have to be alone. I don't want to be alone either. They can figure it out, maybe they can help me control it. "Don't have to be alone? Really? What if I deserve to be?"

[graylikeme.livejournal.com]

I shrug. "I've had it ever since my dad left, more or less, since my mom wanted nothing to do with it. But I've really only worked here the last few years, I had to learn the profession properly first." I slip the keys in my pocket and look around, thinking that she probably has a car around here somewhere.

"My place isn't that far away, so if you want to walk there and back again, we can do that." I don't mind either way, it'll be a chance to clear my head a little. I'd say a chance to get some fresh air, though I think it's probably a little fresher inside the store than here.

I'm keeping my head down, avoiding the sunlight where she only slips sunglasses on.

"I don't... do the whole... picking up girls thing. No need to rush on the glasses." I'm much too awkward for that. If it hadn't been for Liz saving my life, I might have been too embarassed to talk to her as well.

[graylikeme.livejournal.com]

I listen to the stories Liz are telling me with a blank expression, nodding slowly. It's vampires, followed by tooth fairies, followed by stories about ghosts and I don't know what to think. It doesn't matter what I think, actually. It passes the time and it makes Liz less nervous, I can tell that much. I matter to one person, making one person feel better. I think I like that.

So what if the stories makes me question her sanity, just a little bit? Liz seems so sweet and if there -really- is something to these stories? I'll deal with that later, can't think about it now.

The plane lands without incident and I breathe out a sigh of relief. "We're here already. This... is actually the furthest I've ever been from home." Maybe I should be ashamed about that.

[graylikeme.livejournal.com]

"That has to be different, right? You got to know the game rules." But I already know that it isn't different. I can see the possibilities in this ability and Chandra, he didn't even think I had one, nothing special. I slip my hands in my pockets, glancing over at Abe and Liz. This is such a strange place to find myself in and I think I'm only scratcing the surface.

I've only barely thought that when there's a commotion, a cat running through the room with something in its mouth. I blink. Was that a... candy bar that it was carrying?

"Give it back!" There's a rumble and I instinctively step back. Someone or something is charging after the cat and whatever it is, it's going to be something big.

I didn't anticipate the chock of seeing the demon run into the room though, that is a little too much.

[graylikeme.livejournal.com]

Liz's expression does tell me more than I want to know about what the distraction is and how she feels about what he says. "This distraction is going to bed as soon as I know where that bed might be, actually. No need to worry about me, mister demon sir."

I'm pretty tall, but standing up he's still taller than me. I'm not going to be intimidated though, I refuse to be, even if I was scared before. "Liz, could you just... show me where my room will be? I won't be a bother after that, I promise."

Well, unless there's monsters hiding in my room as well.