September 13th, 1999, evening

Rook, having already repaid his essence debt, is at the Board. Matt and Bob, delight themselves carnally on the Pearl Street Mall (!! from the GM) and return to the Painted Pot so they could watch king fu movies into the wee hours.
    Arashiel and Jael research in the library, upstairs, and Arabis is just hanging out.
    Arashiel and Jael find that some of the information that they need to go through is restricted. Nevertheless, they clarify a few things about the artifact. It is made by Eli, probably within the first millennia of modern time keeping. Listed as simply 'the Tapestry,' it appears in more footnotes than anything else. There is little concrete information. After following the footnotes, they find a tome on the Tapestry but it is very slim --- Acts of Creation Among the Archangels. The Tapestry is said to harbor life, protect and hold it. Eli somehow managed to weave life into an inanimate object.
    They don't think they can get Yves to help, so they look elsewhere. Arashiel thinks to look for its use in other events. It does appear, disappearing from sight in the late 600's, said to be a work-in-progress at that time. It resurfaces with the Laurentian Soldiers around the time of the Crusades, some five hundred years later. Various factions of hell have shown interest in it prior to its disappearance, but all of them have apparently lost track of it during its prolonged invisibility. No one reports ever seeing it DO anything ...it seems to merely exist. It is referenced in a footnote about artifact cloths, beside a piece of cloth that can show the single thing a person desires enough for which s/he will sell his/her souls. beside an infernal piece of cloth that is apparently a tool of fate.
    Arashiel wonders if the two cloths are the same. "Millicent would certainly have been interested in the infernal one. That would have been quite a tool. But what do living things in a Tapestry have to do with fates?"
    A fine question. The GM smiles knowingly.
    They look more closely and find a name: Cariel, formerly the Angel of Weaving, a Cherub of Creation. She disappeared at the same time as the Tapestry and her heart has not been seen since that time. Eli never answered any questions on this event and she is presumed dead.
    "Can you steal your heart?" Jael wonders. "Is that how renegades do it?"
    "What happened to Irad's heart?"
    "It shattered." Jael looks pensively at the forbidden door. "You know, we could be the last dragon and ki-rin in existence."
    "Unless they still exist in dreams," Arashiel counters, noting Jael's glance. "So, should we sneak in or try and get permission?"
    "Let's keep thinking on that. How about we check the Laurentian line?" Jael is not quite willing to get arrested for breaking into a restricted room in the Library. . . yet. Together, the Cherubim set to work as the evening passes.

September 14th, 1999 early a.m.

Upon returning to the Painted Pot, Arashiel and Jael find semi-dressed, completely unconscious angels on their floor, videos and junk food strewn everywhere. How wonderful. Luckily Cherubim are patient.
    They awaken Bob and Matt (for it is they), Jael asking the latter why he has taken up kung fu. "I thought it would be a good idea ...to expand my horizons," Matt replies. "Besides, it's a goodwill gesture. It will help me get rid of my extra aggression."
    Jael, shaking her head, turns her questions toward Bob. "When you redeemed, what happened to your heart?"
    "It shattered. I took some others with it -- bombed my little section of the Heart Room, and then Eli made my new one."
    The conversation turns to what has been learned about the Tapestry and they settle down to coffee and their own ideas.
    Dawn arrives, and Matt soon leaves to wander the mall. It is not long before he encounters the Lilim (well, she actually finds him, but who's arguing) and strikes up conversation with her, being direct as usual.
    "Giles said I'd find you here."
    "Well, you have. I'm Adrienne."
    "Is there anything you'd like to tell me?"
    "What would you like to know?"
    "Where the Big Nasty is."
    "I'm not sure but I know they're here. They never come in a group smaller than three. I assume they plan to catch me."
    "You can trust me. I won't hurt you or let anyone else hurt you if I can. Can I trust you?"
    "Hey, I could have hooked you but I didn't, ok? Now, I don't want to go Heavenside and get fried and I don't want to get squished by the game."
    "Then let's go for coffee," Matt offers and Adrienne follows, a bit bemused.
    "I don't want you to get caught. I want to help you. There are others here who will help you," Matt continues.
    "And others who won't," Adrienne finishes. "Listen, I would take up a contract with an Archangel if that would help. I don't want to get dragged down to trial, OK?"
    "I'll talk to Novalis."
    "Don't you want to know what I can do?" Adrienne asks, suspicious that he had not yet asked this kind of question.
    "I'm willing to help you for nothing."
    "There's no such thing as a free lunch. That's rule number one," Adrienne counters, coolly.
    "Well, with my kind there is."
    She considers him for a moment more. "I don't want to go Bright. There's a Triad of Games in town. Tell your Malakite." Adrienne's mind quite obviously turns to something else at this point. "Which way do their wings bend?"
    Matt, taken aback, had to think about it. He illustrates.
    "Bah, they never get it right in hell. Oh well ...is he really unfriendly?"
    "I wouldn't even say hi," Matt offers.
    "That's the price ...he's beautiful and yet he hates us."
    "Do you need someplace safe to stay?" Matt asks, changing the subject. *His* Lilim!
    A quick phone call ...why no, given the new arrangements of Elohim Jael is not happy about the idea of a Lilim staying at the Painted Pot *with the Tapestry*. Jael is extremely gratified by the possibility of a redemption candidate, and agrees to call Giles and see what she can do.
    Giles, always on the look-out for a destiny, agrees to let the Lilim stay at the Tether with him, but only if Matt stays there, too, to mind her. Matt's OK with that.
    Arashiel, wandering around to clear her head and have some fun, finds the two and come up to say hi. "Who's the chick?"
    "A new friend. Talk to Jael and she might fill you in." *My* Lilim. *Mine mine mine.*
    The trio indulges in cheesecake, and then Matt and Adrienne go towards the Tether while Rashi heads off on her own quest.
    Once they reach the Tether, Adrienne informs Matt that she has a role as a political science teacher at the university.
    The Giles snags Mad Matt and grills him.
    "Are you telling Rook?"
    "Not about the Lilim, but I will tell him about the bad guys."
    "Someone has to tell him, Matt. If he comes in here and finds her that would cause serious problems. If she's redeemable, then Rook will be well behaved. She is under my protection now. No one will harm her in my Tether. Don't lie to Rook on this."
    Matt, still thoughtful, heads upstairs to find Novalis. She is very pleased with Matt's news.
    Meanwhile, Bob is working on the case for the Tapestry (making an artifact, he is) in the back workshop at the Painted Pot, and Arashiel is reading and watching the Painted Pot from a bench across the street.
    And -- Arabis. She finds a nice flame in a votive candle in a church and *stares*. Yes! A fugitive from justice! Must. . . pursue. . . Easily done -- he's right outside the church. Outside, she see some college frat jerk crumbling up a parking ticket and speeding off. Arabis follows him long enough to get a good look at him and his car before returning for the ticket. She briefly considers what to do, then delivers it to a bike coop on the mall, and makes a mental note to review the case in a few days.
    A short while later, Matt finds Bob: "I've found out that there's a Game Triad in town. They might hunt down people like you. Hide yourself. I'll tell Rook later."
    Bob: "Don't tell Rook that they'll be looking for me!"
    Matt then calls Jael, things are confirmed and reconfirmed, and Jael goes out back to visit Bob. "This news of a triad from hell. Not good. If the Lilim is staying at the Tether then they can't storm it. I'd love to have Rook resonate her." Unspoken: how will Rook deal with a Lilim, these days?
    "If she's a Game plant, she could really be playing us." Bob, ever suspicious.
    "Either way, Rook would know. Are you ever going to tell Rook you're redeemed, Bob?"
    "Once he's used to me. Or should I tell him now? It might be too much news for one day."
    "If you don't and he finds out he's going to be *so* pissed."
    A reluctant Bob agrees to inform Rook of his origins, and Jael agrees to go with him. . . she needs to talk to Rook, anyway.
    As they depart, Arashiel goes to hunt up Arabis.
    Matt reaches the Board first and Rook, trying to be sociable, takes Matt upstairs to see Rook's religious artifact room.
    Matt: "I have a purpose here so don't pull out a sword or anything. The Game is in town and they are hunting someone who is under my protection and Giles' protection. It's a redeemable Lilim."
    "I understand," Rook said, without much reaction.
    Matt, not knowing how else to respond (Matt . o O Too easy!), thanks Rook and departs.
    He passes Jael and Bob on the stairs. The Creationers have been talking a little about Rook, and Jael's frustration. Bob, being an Elohite, knows how she feels. Pat pat, on Jael's shoulder.
    Upstairs things are a bit constrained. Bob shares his news ("Remember when you asked me about Hellspeak? Um. It's my native language."), full of trepidation, and the Great Scary Malakite says nothing more than "Thank you." Bob is, if anything, perhaps more freaked out by that. He decides to leave, though not before Rook extends the offer of staying at the Board until things calm down. Nice Malakite. Nervous Elohite. Bob leaves.
    Jael and Rook look at each, the walls, anything for a while in silence.
    "Fire and Light ...my Songs. They're Fire and Light."
    "Thank you." Apparently, this is the Rook Phrase of the Day.
    Jael looks hard at Rook for a while. "Just promise me that you won't go into the Marches alone."
    "This is my mission, Jael, and my shame. But ...for you ...I won't go alone."
    "Will you be leaving right away?" so, so quietly.
    "No, I will be doing additional research, possibly on different methods and subjects."
    Tick. Tick. A few more moments pass in silence.
    "I am sorry that I have angered you. I don't understand how, but I did anger you."
    "I'm sorry too."
    Rook finds an interesting place to look that isn't Jael. "When we were by my Heart -- after you and Arabis came for me in Hell . . . I felt things from you as you held me."
    Jael has also found an interesting place to look. The floor. "Yes. Well."
    "I won't forget you came after me."
    "I'd do it again. For more than one reason."
    "Does this have to do with what I felt from you in Heaven?"
    "Yes."
    "I am a different person now. Something jump-started in me ...something from you. I don't know what to do with these things. There was a time I thought to use you as a template for my considerations."
    Ouch. The Cherub who braved Hell cannot look the Malakite in the face. For that matter, the Malakite who survived Hell can't look at her, either. "Well." Gulp. "Let me know if the 'was' changes to an 'is.'"
    "I have faced demons of every variety, stood firm and emotionless before their epithets for centuries and yet you have the uncanny knack for finding exactly the right words to hurt me," Rook murmurs.
    "So do you." Pause. "Haven't you ever wondered why Michael put you here? Here where you are all alone and things have been peaceful?"
    "Yes, I have. Perhaps it is to discover these things, these thoughts and emotions that I am only just now discovering pushing themselves to the forefront."
    The two look at each other for a while, and find that they have mended something important. Rook, not knowing what else to do, first takes Jael back to the religious artifact room, and shows her -- again -- everything he's collected over the years. Then he returns to the refuge of strategies.
    He has a Plan to somehow use the Internet to interfere with the Nightmare Tether's operations in Manitou Springs. Jael is not entirely supportive -- revenge against Seneschals is fairly risky, and Rook's plan to turn some of the religious fanatics in the area onto the Tether (as a place of witchcraft and other evils) makes her skin crawl. fanatics, after all, wiped out her Word. Michael did say Rook could do something, though, yes. Then it's her turn: she tells him about the Tapestry and Adrienne -- will he resonate her?
    He will. They leave and, outside the library, Rook picks some flowers. Jael is uncertain what this means until they go inside. There, she and Rook find Adrienne talking with Matt and Giles. Rook does a very credible imitation of an angel of Flowers, greeting everyone and giving flowers in a happy, bright way. Matt, moved by the mischief of the moment, kisses Rook full on the mouth to thank him for the flower, which almost destroys Rook's act. But a Matt-kiss isn't as bad as, say, torture by demons. . . maybe. . . so Rook bounces over to Adrienne. Giles and Jael have rather bewildered expressions, which no one notices.
    The Malakite and the Lilim resonate each other -- and Rook discovers that she can either be redeem, or become one of the most horrific, demonic inquisitors in hell. She is generally honorable, though able to hedge.
    Exit Rook. Matt, also fairly shocked by Reasonable Malakite, goes back to Adrienne. Jael is oversensitive on Rookish subjects and is irritated with Matt for the kiss. Mad Matt does not care. She goes after Rook.
    "One would have thought that one angel of Flowers would be enough. Is there any entire pack of you here?" Adrienne asks. Matt declines a straight answer and sends her off to explore her new room. Then he goes to find Rook and Jael.
    Keeping in mind his recent conversation with Jael, Rook modifies his usual format of delivering suggestions and tries, politely, to tell Matt to check into the resources of the Novalis Tether in Denver. There might be some drugs there that would be useful. Matt promises to do so.
    Meanwhile. . . Arabis and Rashi find each other. Arabis is planning on staying in a homeless shelter later, and Rashi helps her find one. Rashi tells the Ofanite what's going on, and the pair go up to the Tether to see the new Lilim. Arabis, naturally, is suspicious. They made their way to the Tether, each intent on their own thoughts.
    Arashiel sees Jael and Rook a short ways away, is surprised to see that they are either completely silent or talking amicably. Apparently there had not been the bloodshed she assumed. Arashiel goes to play frisbee while Arabis sits on the ledge outside the Tether, watching intently for the Lilim. No luck. She returns to the crematorium to bask in its heat.
    Amiable Jael asks amiable Rook why he is mad at Arashiel. "Because she followed you? Is that why you're mad?"
    "I am not going to think about that one too much because I don't want to reach certain conclusions," Rook said, even though both know that there could be only one conclusion.
    "That's what she does."
    "Attuning to a Malakite is a mistake."
    Well, yes. "You are very stubborn, Rook."
    "And so are you. We share a lot in common," Rook points out quietly.
    "We do."
    Back to the Board. And then -- it is time for Mad Matt's first lesson. The pair watch, Rook appraising and Jael amused.
    Across town, Arashiel finally tires of her game and heads inside. Not a shock -- there's a Lilim in there. Adrienne is still surprised by Rook's visit and the number of Flowers angels in Boulder. "How many of you are there in this city?" she asked.
    "The number keeps changing," Arashiel evades.
    "Well, so far I've seen four of you plus a Seneschal. . . "
    Time for a subject change! "What can you tell me about Triads?"
    Game Triads are described -- the collars, the torture, the public executions on Hell Media. . . Adrienne says she thinks she is in trouble for helping a Sister who redeemed.
    Meanwhile, Bob works his evening shift. Paranoia marks his every moment. Suddenly -- he sees a handsome man across the room. Horror!! Our nervous Elohite goes to resonate, carefully busing a table nearby the Mysterious Stranger. MS is feeling satisfied, relaxed and curious as to why Bob the bartender is cleaning the table. Bob decides to leave the dirty dishes, even after cleaning the table, just to confound the man.
    Across town, after Matt's lesson had finished, Rook and Jael went to see Giles once more, confer about Adrienne, brief Giles, and ascend to do more research. The target: the Laurentian Soldier line. They learn that Children of the Grigori are quite possibly the ancestors of the Laurentian soldiers. These descendants of angels had come to serve Laurence, a source of irony and amusement to Jael.
    This accomplished, the return to earth and go their separate ways. . . no, really -- they part ways. No one is willing to discuss the real feelings. . . Sexual tension is hell on earth.
    Jael retreats to the Painted Pot, and to Arashiel's admittedly greater experience in such matters. Arashiel thinks Jael will need a great deal of patience - something Jael does not possess in abundance.
    So Bob leaves his workplace and returns to his own apartment. . . and finds someone waiting in the car outside. Bob's own paranoia has saved him - he came home circuitously, and this noticed the car parked where an unsuspicious, trusting angel would never have spotted it. Bob cannot quite resist a resonance roll, though. . . so he sneaks up to the car, tempting Fate and the GM to her limits. Ping. Car-man is bored and impatient, convinced that his target will never come home in this decade. Bob, panicking, rushes to the Painted Pot and rousts out the Cherubim.
    They head out, though not before Jael attunes to Bob (over his protests) and they call Rook (after much discussion -- there is a move to make it Cherubim Night Out, but they relent in the knowledge that Rook will be hurt if they deny him his fun). And. . . let's face it. . . Jael's car is full of pottery bits, and it sounds like a derelict even when it isn't. Not a sneaking car.
    Once Rook arrives (quite promptly -- Kill demon? OK. On my way. . . ), they formulate a plan. Rook and Bob will sneak up on the man and try to resonate him. If they think they have a demon, they will fry him. Rook then assumes his Stealth Vessel (cheep, cheep) and perches on Jael's shoulder while she drives his car (now that MUST be love). Never one for inefficiency, Rook suggest a few ideas he's had about the Tapestry to Rashi.
    Arrival. Sneaky Bob and Stealth Rook approach the guy in the car and resonate. His most noble action is to inflict punishment on those who deserve it and his most ignoble is to disobey a superior's orders. His greatest virtue (by Rook's standards -- they are reversed for the man) is that he once killed someone quickly and mercifully, and his greatest sin is that he has never shown an ounce of compassion since then. Bob's resonance reveals (damn Elohim and Malakim. . . ) that were the man to see Bob, he would take Bob into custody at once. Satisfied as to his infernalness, Rook hits the man with a Celestial Song of Forbidding, and binds him to his vessel.
    As Bob retreats and Arashiel comes forward to engage the man, he gets out of the car. Hiding behind the right side of the car, Rook assumes his human vessel and then blow out a tire on the car to prevent the possibility of escape. Arabis, far away in her homeless shelter, hears the beginning of disturbance in the Symphony and heads out to investigate (they are playing without me!).
    Sizzle. The demon, realizing what the angels have done, tries to use his resonance, fails, and mangles a nearby tree. Rashi breaks out that lightsaber of hers (OOC, Rashi's player is beaming -- *finally* gets to use the blessed thing!) and starts doing the Jedi thing. Bob, prudently hiding behind another car, hits the demon with a Celestial Song of Draining to prevent it from using Songs. Jael blinds it with a Light Song and the Calabite (suffering from the GM's clearly cursed dice) continues attacking the tree. Arashiel rolls a Divine Intervention (again?!?!) and lops of the man's arm (see the cantina scene from Star Wars, to totally mix the genres). Rook, feeling the battle is well in hand (tee hee!), picks up the arm and beats the demon with it, inflicting less damage perhaps but delivering more satisfaction. Arabis arrives and adds her attacks. Poor Arabis -- the only strike the unfortunate demon gets in is on her. Jael runs to take care of her. Rook decides to remove the demon's ability to choose targets, and goes for its eyes, pulling out one and destroying the other. Arabis changes out of the battered raven vessel and takes after him with her axes. Arashiel goes celestial to do damage to the demon's celestial form with the handy-dandy lightsaber. Together, Rook and Arashiel destroy both the vessel and the demon permanently.
    After the battle, though they knew that a horrible noise had been made in the Symphony, they are gratified by the effectiveness of this work, though Arabis is disappointed that Rook had killed the vessel before they could have questioned it. The wicked angels concoct a plan for explaining the body, the missing arm, and the mashed up tree and car: they run the car into the tree, body inside it, and then set it all ablaze. Can you say Symphonic cacophony?? Rook assures the others that he would have Matt come to look at the tree the next day and fix it right up.
    Then they all go their separate ways.
    Maybe.

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