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find_rightbrainTitle: Another 40,000 Coming Every Day
Characters/Pairing: Julia Angelos, a couple random NPCs, mention of Romana Angelos and Claudia Barnam
Word Count: 1002
Rating: PG-13
Summary: News travels quickly among angels. Somehow, Julia's still always the last one to get it.
Notes: Written for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
itsproductivity. I'm considering bringing Julia into the Rift, and decided to play with her a little. So far, I kind of love her.
Disclaimer: All characters actually are mine. The Rift belongs to itself.
News travelled quickly among angels. Sooner or later, it ran along the networks of friends and associates and contacts, and everyone knew when leaders and generals and Firsts rose or Fell or died.
Of course, however fast news travelled, it did no good if you'd dropped out of contact for the past month and a half, on the trail of a Rak about to go Neq.
Katsuo looked at Julia oddly when she waltzed, figuratively speaking, into the main office of the commanders, covered in road dust and limping slightly. Age and lineage gave her that sort of authority, even in Tokyo. Or perhaps especially in Tokyo. The odd look, though, gave her pause. She'd been gone for some time, but not long enough for her to be presumed dead just yet, unless she'd been even worse than usual at keeping up with the world at large.
"I'm not a vampire or a ghost," Julia sighed in perfectly accented Japanese, setting her sword on his desk. He shot her a half-hearted glare, not half as annoyed as he pretended to be, and she knew it - so she carried on as if she hadn't noticed. "Unless you want to feel my pulse just to be sure... why don't you tell me why you're looking at me like that?"
He shook his head a little, and glanced down at her sword on his desk like it deeply offended him. "I expected you to be in Boston."
Concise and to the point, as usual. Annoyingly so. She stepped forward, getting tired of standing on her wounded leg, and instead sat on the corner of his desk. His scornful look deepened, which most people would not have thought possible. Julia knew Katsuo, and knew better.
"Why? Boston's running out of things to kill. I don't know if you'd noticed."
He raised one eyebrow. Very slowly. Julia didn't think a person's eyebrows should be able to move independently like that, but Katsuo didn't seem to subscribe to that belief. "For the funeral."
"The..." She stopped, and drew a breath. Boston. There were only so many funerals she would be interested in in Boston. After a moment, she asked simply, "Who?"
He lowered the eyebrow. His expression softened. "One day you're going to learn the benefits of regular communication. Claudia Barnam was ambushed and killed outside of Boston two weeks ago."
Julia winced, and closed her eyes. "Christ," she whispered. How had she missed the fact that a First had died? Even having been out of contact so long, there should have been someone who could have managed to-
It took her far too long to remember that she'd lost a sister as well as a First.
*
News travelled quickly among angels. The advent of cellphones certainly helped with that.
Something beeped somewhere near her head, and she growled under her breath, rolling out of bed and fully prepared to kill whatever was making the noise before she remembered that that was the sound her phone made. That didn't sound like a ring at all. She should fix that.
Julia flipped open the phone and answered with a groggy, "What?" Traditional phone greetings - well, greetings at all - usually involved a "hello", but whoever it was, if they were calling her, they probably didn't expect that of her.
A voice on the other end answered, but it was crackly with static. So you couldn't get great reception in middle-of-nowhere motels in Mexico. Go figure. She grimaced and started for the door, grabbing her key and pulling on an overlarge T-shirt on the way. The T-shirt hung almost to her knees, and if she wasn't wearing pants... well, it was only for a second.
She closed the door behind her. "Say that again?"
The voice resolved to a familiar one - Adrian, which didn't necessarily mean this call was at all important. If it wasn't, she'd kill him, but he might be counting on the three thousand miles between them now. Guaranteed time for her to cool off between now and when she next saw him.
"Did you hear the news?"
"Do you realize you woke me up?"
He paused. She tapped her foot. "I'll take that as a no..."
"What happened?" she asked slowly, forcing as much patience as possible into her tone. Patience didn't work well when you forced it. It came out a little lopsided.
Adrian paused again, though this time the silence had a different quality to it, wary and pregnant with disaster. That kind of news, then. As an archangel, you got fairly good at sensing it.
"That war that's been going on in Chicago?" His voice crackled again, and she shifted until the signal strengthened. "-might be over. Some sort of battle - well, bloodbath might be more accurate, from what I'm hearing - at some demon complex in Cicero, just outside of Chicago proper... I don't know, it's all very fuzzy, but the point is... uh."
"Uh?" Julia grumbled, considering her bed, and how much she'd like to get back there. Trying not to consider whether or not she had any friends in Chicago now. "Find the point before I find it for you."
"Your mothe- Romana Angelos Fell and was killed in the battle. The angels have her body."
Julia's heart twisted and flipped and dropped into her stomach. Some things were fact, unshakable and unwavering. Things like gravity and seasons and callings. Things like her mother, who was distant and more a stranger than she was family, but who was the First among Firsts, highest of angels, eternal and immortal. Julia would have felt more secure with a sudden absence of gravity instead of this.
She took a breath. She tightened her grip on the phone, until plastic creaked painfully. "I've got a hunt. I can't- I won't be able to attend the funeral. Send my condolences."
Julia hung up the phone, unlocked the door, and went back to bed.
Characters/Pairing: Julia Angelos, a couple random NPCs, mention of Romana Angelos and Claudia Barnam
Word Count: 1002
Rating: PG-13
Summary: News travels quickly among angels. Somehow, Julia's still always the last one to get it.
Notes: Written for
itsproductivity. I'm considering bringing Julia into the Rift, and decided to play with her a little. So far, I kind of love her.Disclaimer: All characters actually are mine. The Rift belongs to itself.
News travelled quickly among angels. Sooner or later, it ran along the networks of friends and associates and contacts, and everyone knew when leaders and generals and Firsts rose or Fell or died.
Of course, however fast news travelled, it did no good if you'd dropped out of contact for the past month and a half, on the trail of a Rak about to go Neq.
Katsuo looked at Julia oddly when she waltzed, figuratively speaking, into the main office of the commanders, covered in road dust and limping slightly. Age and lineage gave her that sort of authority, even in Tokyo. Or perhaps especially in Tokyo. The odd look, though, gave her pause. She'd been gone for some time, but not long enough for her to be presumed dead just yet, unless she'd been even worse than usual at keeping up with the world at large.
"I'm not a vampire or a ghost," Julia sighed in perfectly accented Japanese, setting her sword on his desk. He shot her a half-hearted glare, not half as annoyed as he pretended to be, and she knew it - so she carried on as if she hadn't noticed. "Unless you want to feel my pulse just to be sure... why don't you tell me why you're looking at me like that?"
He shook his head a little, and glanced down at her sword on his desk like it deeply offended him. "I expected you to be in Boston."
Concise and to the point, as usual. Annoyingly so. She stepped forward, getting tired of standing on her wounded leg, and instead sat on the corner of his desk. His scornful look deepened, which most people would not have thought possible. Julia knew Katsuo, and knew better.
"Why? Boston's running out of things to kill. I don't know if you'd noticed."
He raised one eyebrow. Very slowly. Julia didn't think a person's eyebrows should be able to move independently like that, but Katsuo didn't seem to subscribe to that belief. "For the funeral."
"The..." She stopped, and drew a breath. Boston. There were only so many funerals she would be interested in in Boston. After a moment, she asked simply, "Who?"
He lowered the eyebrow. His expression softened. "One day you're going to learn the benefits of regular communication. Claudia Barnam was ambushed and killed outside of Boston two weeks ago."
Julia winced, and closed her eyes. "Christ," she whispered. How had she missed the fact that a First had died? Even having been out of contact so long, there should have been someone who could have managed to-
It took her far too long to remember that she'd lost a sister as well as a First.
News travelled quickly among angels. The advent of cellphones certainly helped with that.
Something beeped somewhere near her head, and she growled under her breath, rolling out of bed and fully prepared to kill whatever was making the noise before she remembered that that was the sound her phone made. That didn't sound like a ring at all. She should fix that.
Julia flipped open the phone and answered with a groggy, "What?" Traditional phone greetings - well, greetings at all - usually involved a "hello", but whoever it was, if they were calling her, they probably didn't expect that of her.
A voice on the other end answered, but it was crackly with static. So you couldn't get great reception in middle-of-nowhere motels in Mexico. Go figure. She grimaced and started for the door, grabbing her key and pulling on an overlarge T-shirt on the way. The T-shirt hung almost to her knees, and if she wasn't wearing pants... well, it was only for a second.
She closed the door behind her. "Say that again?"
The voice resolved to a familiar one - Adrian, which didn't necessarily mean this call was at all important. If it wasn't, she'd kill him, but he might be counting on the three thousand miles between them now. Guaranteed time for her to cool off between now and when she next saw him.
"Did you hear the news?"
"Do you realize you woke me up?"
He paused. She tapped her foot. "I'll take that as a no..."
"What happened?" she asked slowly, forcing as much patience as possible into her tone. Patience didn't work well when you forced it. It came out a little lopsided.
Adrian paused again, though this time the silence had a different quality to it, wary and pregnant with disaster. That kind of news, then. As an archangel, you got fairly good at sensing it.
"That war that's been going on in Chicago?" His voice crackled again, and she shifted until the signal strengthened. "-might be over. Some sort of battle - well, bloodbath might be more accurate, from what I'm hearing - at some demon complex in Cicero, just outside of Chicago proper... I don't know, it's all very fuzzy, but the point is... uh."
"Uh?" Julia grumbled, considering her bed, and how much she'd like to get back there. Trying not to consider whether or not she had any friends in Chicago now. "Find the point before I find it for you."
"Your mothe- Romana Angelos Fell and was killed in the battle. The angels have her body."
Julia's heart twisted and flipped and dropped into her stomach. Some things were fact, unshakable and unwavering. Things like gravity and seasons and callings. Things like her mother, who was distant and more a stranger than she was family, but who was the First among Firsts, highest of angels, eternal and immortal. Julia would have felt more secure with a sudden absence of gravity instead of this.
She took a breath. She tightened her grip on the phone, until plastic creaked painfully. "I've got a hunt. I can't- I won't be able to attend the funeral. Send my condolences."
Julia hung up the phone, unlocked the door, and went back to bed.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-10 04:10 pm (UTC)Angel families have to be so strange, what with the bizarre potential age differences and the fact that none of them seem to stay together except for, like, the Barnams and Karu's weird dynastic ...thing. And archangels especially seeming to be something more of a solitary breed...
Nice sense of alienation here.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-10 05:49 pm (UTC)