#;trouble

[forgottenangelic]

Of Homes and History

Alternatively: The Thread Where Angel Is a Stupid Bird

@haloofmischief

She’d finally found it. 

It’d taken weeks of searching and more than a few oddly-specific questions towards Rekker... but she’d done it. Looming over the horizon was a floating city--not just any floating city, but the one where her best friend was born and raised. Aberle, angelic town of apples and clouds and snow and all of the most cherished and dreaded memories that Rekker had kept secret from her for all this time. He would have never taken her here, but he didn’t have to. She’d found it.

Angel sped up her pace, blue wings flapping faster and faster as she all but dove towards the city. She could already see herself walking along the orchards, meeting all of the kind angels and seeing all of the cool new things she hadn’t gotten to see yet. 

She grinned, wind whipping at her hair. Faster and faster, she dove towards the ground. She could almost see the people there, she could almost smell the fresh breeze as she--

CRACK

collided with something transparent and solid. Angel’s breath was stolen from her as she slammed full-speed into a clear barrier like a bird hitting a skyscraper. Her vision went black. 

She fell.  

[forgottenangelic]

@haloofmischief​ cont. from this

“Maybe I like to be!” he snapped, tone sharp and full of exasperation. How many more times was she going to bug him about this?

He saw the way she recoiled slightly, the quick flash of hurt in her soft blue eyes. He had abruptly turned on her, snapped at her gentle advice and bared his teeth at her reassurance. He felt a twinge of remorse but the glare remained trained on her face until he looked away and glared at something else.

He knew he didn’t have to be. They went over this a million times. He chose to be. This exile was nothing but self-imposed. This punishment was his own to bear, and he wished people would stop feeling sorry for him because he knew what he was doing. He chose isolation for a reason. She was a prime example of why.

It was only a matter of time before his snaps and growls would result in something worse (again) and in all the gruesome metaphorical imagery, he would catch her helping hand between his teeth and bite, drawing blood and tearing flesh and crushing bone. It was his nature and no one knew that better than he. Isolation was safe. It was occasionally miserable and tormented with grief and guilt, but out here no one else was subject to his tantrums. No one except…

It was just better. He didn’t need to explain it. He liked it out here. That was all there was to it.

Angel bit back the reply that came to her lips, sighing and steadying her breath. She didn’t want to fight him--especially when she knew it wouldn’t solve anything. It stung. It stung every time he snapped and bit at her, every time his words cut deeper than he intended. But getting upset and leaving wouldn’t help that. It hadn’t in the past, and it won’t now. She was soft, sure. Soft and loving and far too naive. She knew it. He knew it. But she was stubborn, too. And she was going to make sure he wouldn’t make the same mistakes he did.

“That’s bullshit, and you know it, Rekker.” She put her hands on her hips, standing her ground. She wasn’t going to let him back out of this one. She was tired of it--all of it. The self deprecation, the irredeemable brooding antihero he claimed to be. It was bullshit, all of it, and she knew it, and he knew it. 

“You can’t lie to me, I’ve known you for too long. You know what I think? One runaway to another? You’re scared. You’re scared of what will happen if you go back. You’re scared that everything you’re saying about yourself is going to be true, and there’s nothing you can fight there. You can’t punch it, so you can’t deal. You’re scared you might be right, and instead of facing it and fixing it, you’re running away and convincing yourself it’s for the safety of someone else, when it’s just your way of quitting.” 

[forgottenangelic]

From One Idiot to Another

@haloofmischief

Teleporting was never a very pleasant endeavor. It wasn’t altogether unpleasant, but the experience of hurtling through space and time with no real sense of control or direction was disorienting when you weren’t injured. Now that Angel was concussed, broken, and bleeding out... she wasn’t sure she’d even make it to the right place. 

The next thing she knew, bitter cold air stung at her cheeks. The portal opened farther above the ground than she had intended-- but she was in the right place. She fell through the sky and landed with a thud in a pile of fresh snow. The impact jostled her ribs, and she coughed, blood staining the white around her a jarring red. 

Stars, she hoped he was home. She hoped he could hear her. She hoped he’d forgive her for being such an idiot. Her magic could do a lot to heal her, but not enough, and not in this weather, when it was hard enough just to stay warm.

Angel tried to get up, tried to stand, but she couldn’t. Her broken arm wouldn’t support her weight anymore, the other still bleeding. She couldn’t even get the breath in her to shout for him. How taunting, it seemed, she’d make it all the way here just to die in the snow. Stupid. She was so. damn. stupid. 

If she didn’t die from this, he was probably going to kill her. 

[forgottenangelic]

@haloofmischief from here

Rekker had been watching for a few minutes. It wasn’t really hard to miss the boisterous man. Rekker downed the last of his drink and stood. He wasn’t sure at first if he wanted to get involved, but he was getting angry just sitting there. You didn’t just do that to a girl.

When Angel stepped close to him, he slung an arm around her shoulders for good measure. He’d put himself into this position, so he might as well sell it. While Angel talked, he kept his eyes on the guy, smiling a smile that was slightly too crooked to be friendly. Rekker was almost begging this man to say or do one more thing. Just one, then Rekker could crack a glass over the tool’s head.

He kept his arm around Angel until they were in the clear, then he let her go. He slipped his hands into his pockets.

“Yeah. You sure you’re good? I could always go back there and punch him. Ya know, get the message across real clear.”

It was stupid how men backed off when threatened by another guy. Angel curled her nose a bit at the thought. The creep had been completely ignoring her attempts to get away, but at the mere sight of Rekker he’d turned tail and let her be. What was the difference? They were both equally likely to kill him.

“I’m alright. He’s not worth it.” Angel finally said when they were both free of him. She wasn’t sure if she was convincing herself or the angel in front of her. “A few more seconds, though, and I already would have.” She rubbed her arms, still slightly uncomfortable. The spot on her hip he had grabbed felt wrong, somehow. It’d been a while since she was this... unsettled.

“Thanks again. Really. Is there anything I can do to make it up to you? You really saved me back there.” She didn’t know him all that well, it’d been one hell of a coincidence that he’d been in the bar at all. Angel wanted to be sure he knew how grateful she was. 

[forgottenangelic]

⊕

“I knew when I met you an adventure was going to happen.” — A.A. Milne

[forgottenangelic]

💋

THE FIRST 5 ASKS TO SEND 💋 GET A KISS 

“You’re an idiot, you know that?” Angel murmured. She knew he wouldn’t answer, lying comatose on a pile of blankets and pillows she’d fought to get nice for him. Her hands trembled from fatigue as she moved to pat his brow with cool water, like he had done for her many months ago. “A right fool. Scaring me to death. Getting yourself hurt again. We’re going to have a serious talk when you’re lucid.” A sigh, and she brought the rag back to her, setting it down on the bloodied towel she’d need to wash later. 

She looked to the ceiling of the tent, to Dorothy curled up near enough to Rekker to share her warmth. She looked at the books scattered about, the various dried flowers she’d left for him. But each time, she returned to his face, bruised and scraped despite her healing. Unconscious. Wounded. Alive. She’d saved him from that, at least. The more times she did this, the less she was convinced he wanted her to.

Another deep breath, and she swept his damp hair away from his face. On impulse, she leaned in. Her breath tickled his temple as she planted a chaste kiss on his cheek, the only part of him that didn’t seem swollen and bruised beyond recognition. She lingered there, and Dorothy watched with her wide eyes, like cats do. Angel paid her no mind, engrossed in her one sided conversation. 

“One day, you won’t feel like you have to do this. But for right now... I’m just glad I got there in time. You’re an idiot, but I’m glad you’re safe.” 

[forgottenangelic]

@haloofmischief cont from here  Angel laughed at Rekker’s sigh, letting a soft smile creep across her face, knowing he couldn’t see it. She’d been hoping for a race. Maybe a trip across town. Finding him so sore he couldn’t hardly move from bed was certainly a surprise.

Still, it wasn’t as if she didn’t enjoy time spent with him. As far as she was concerned, this was as good as anything else they could have been doing.

She wasn’t exactly an expert on the subject of back rubs, she was just using what little she knew about muscles and tenseness to help break down all of the knots she felt. It was (probably?) the first one she’d given. Not that it seemed to bother Rekker, anyway. Whatever she could do to make his life easier, she would. This time it didn’t even cost her anything.

A thought crossed her mind, and she hummed contemplatively. Angel brought her hands away from Rekker’s shoulders, just long enough to rub them together. She got a little bit of magic circulating, not a whole lot, but just enough to get her fingers glowing lightly blue. She began her ministrations once again, letting the energy soothe wherever she touched. It was gentle, and calming, and warm.

Hopefully, it would fix the issue, and Rekker would be ready to fly before she had to take her leave. (She was still betting on a race she intended to win.)