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

[open-flame.livejournal.com]

I watch him explore Brooms study as I try and figure out how to show him the next "big thing" on the agenda of big things. He's facinated by the books as i expected him to me. I bet he'll want to read them all after the initial shock of everything wears off.

"Hello." A gentle voice comes from the tank as I watch Abe Sapien press his fingers to the glass of his tank, watching Gabriel closely. I know what he's doing and shoot him a warning look to get him to pull his hand off the glass. No mind reading the first day, Blue. I think hard as I look at Abe.

"Um...Gabriel? Someone you should meet." Oh, man I hope this doesn't freak him out.

[graylikeme.livejournal.com]

I'd picked up a book, ignoring the dirty fish tank, but the addition of a new voice does catch my attention. "Oh, sure." I look over at Liz, just a little surprised when there's no one there. "Where did..." My eyes widen when I realize that there's actually someone in the fish tank and they're not... They're not normal at all. It's some kind of creature.

"Hello." It speaks again, turning slightly in the tank. "You must be Gabriel, I heard you'd be coming in. I'm Abe Sapien, no need to be alarmed." It sounds more like it... he is in a tea party than floating in some tank, he's polite and gentle and I can't find my own voice.

"I..." Manners kick in, no matter how worried the sight of him might make me. "Pleased... pleased to meet you."

[open-flame.livejournal.com]

The look on Gabriel's face is about the same as everyone else had the first time they met Abe. At least he's polite. Not like the last guy the FBI sent in who screamed and ran off. He used to be a marine too. We still won't let him live that one down.

"Abe is one of our more...special....special agents." I smile at Abe though the glass. "He's the one who's read all these books." I gesture around the room, trying to grasp onto something 'normal'.

"Many of them I have read more than once, Liz." Abe says in the tone of voice that would accompany a smile. If he could smile. He really can't. "I trust you have many questions, Gabriel." Abe turns his attention back at our newest recruit.

Understatement, Blue

[graylikeme.livejournal.com]

I breathe out slowly, trying to grasp the reality of this. Yes, that's an actual fishman in there. I've seen the 'Creature from the Black Lagoon once' and he does remind me of the titular monster there. But he's real and he sounds as polite as I'm trying to be. It's mind-boggling, it truly is.

So. Questions, questions... They're all clamoring to get out first, causing me to blink and stutter a bit before managing to get one out.

"How is it that you can see to read through the water? I mean, eyes that function well in water don't usually manage to be able to distinguish something as small as letters on a page at a distance." It's not the most obvious question and given that Abe is an impossible creature already, it's probably a stupid question as well. But since I believe in science and not in magic, I'm curious.

[open-flame.livejournal.com]

Abe presses his webbed hand to the glass and says in that same friendly tone you'd expect a smile with. "How are you able to understand most everything, my friend?"

"Abe's special, too. " I interject with a nod. "He's a telepath and when he's close to an object, he can read it. That's how the books work, I think."

"The proper term is psychometry, and that is not entirely accurate." Abe nods and kicks his legs a bit as he begins to sink a little. "My vision is quite different than yours. I am the only of my kind so a more...invasive investigation would be impossible." Abe says matter of factly. No one gets to dissect anyone here. Broom makes sure of that.

"It would be far easier if the books were in here with me, but that would destroy them."

[graylikeme.livejournal.com]

Liz is calm enough, he doesn't seem terribly dangerous, only unusual. Telepathy, psychometry... It's things that Chandra talked about. It gives me a little pang of doubt, thinking about him, but for all that he knows, I ran out on him and never returned. I suppose that's for the best. He didn't think I had anything special to begin with, so it's more than likely safer that he continues to believe that.

"You can't come out of the tank and read? Do you have gills?" I have to move in a lot closer to see if he does and I do it without thinking about it, only curious now that the initial shock has faded. "I suppose you could have some sort of breathing apparatus to help with that problem."

Hang on... what did he ask about? "I don't understand everything, but I have a talent with watches, I guess. It's nothing special, watchmakers are supposed to be able to do what I do."

(( Sorry for the delay, Liz is very 'blah' lately))

[open-flame.livejournal.com]

"I do have a device to assist with out of water missions, actually. It was especially designed for me by the scientists here." Abe sounds proud. He should be, he helped design that thing. It's a shame it looks like a toilet seat, though.

My eyes lock on Gabriel when he says what he says. "You're ability, Gabriel. It's more than just watches. You have...an innate understanding of how most everything works. Intuitive Aptitude."

Wow, Suresh really is working from the ground up on this one, isn't he?

"Abe, where's that little toy?" I answer my own question when I see a Rubik's cube sitting on Broom's desk. I pick it up and hand it to Gabriel. "Abe been working on this for almost 30 years." I smile and looks at Abe. I hope he doesn't mind, but Gabriel would probably understand better with a hands on demonstration.

"I bet you can solve that in a few minutes." I say to Gabriel encouragingly.

[graylikeme.livejournal.com]

I blink at her and then turn the Rubik's cube around in my hand, looking at for a moment. 30 years and she thinks that I can solve it? I've never even tried one of these things, but I guess now is as good a time as any. I start working on it, twisting the cubes this way and that, sliding the colors into place, something telling me how it should go.

It's surprising how easy it is. I hand it back to Liz, feeling a little shaken. "I didn't know I could do that." Gabe. You figured out a human brain, just by touching it and looking at it. But that was... it was still different.

I didn't even feel like myself when I did that.

"I suppose that can come in handy."

[open-flame.livejournal.com]

"Incredible." Abe has his hand pushed on the glass of the tank as he watches Gabriel make short work of the cube. "Most fascinating."

I smile at Gabriel. "You've got quite a talent. I think it will come in really handy in the field. Lock, mazes, puzzles. We run into those every day and...your ability is going to make you one of the most sought after agents. I bet you anything."

I don't mean to gush but I have to admit I'm almost jealous. His ability, though passive, is one of the most useful we've ever come across. "I bet you'll always beat Professor Broom at chess games, too."