tampered | [log; ongoing]

[log; ongoing]

When; Afternoon of Thursday, 25 September
Rating; PG I'd assume~
Characters; Aziraphale [

mr_phale] and Abby [

caf_pow_girl]
Summary; A.Z. and Abby meet for lunch.
Log;
Abby had been right when she'd said the City always kept things interesting; but in the angel's opinion, trying a new restaurant for lunch was interesting enough. After the unpleasantness of yesterday's curse-- not that he'd been drenched himself, but enough others had been that he was thoroughly shaken-- and the whole Apocalypse conversation, he was really looking forward to having a nice meal with Abby, now that he was 'himself' again.
Insofar as the corporeal form he occupied was himself, anyway; but when you've got control over your outward form, you get accustomed to a body. Like a comfortable old sweater or a broken-in pair of shoes, really. And though he didn't generally change his appearance much, not being able to-- since whatever had turned him female had kept him that way-- had been maddening.
So, for now, he was seated near the front of the Den, keeping an eye out for Abby. She might well recognize him after all-- since, although his body had differed, his facial structure hadn't changed much-- but it was much more likely that he'd spot her first.

[ooc: sorry i'm a little late getting this up! ♥]

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The Den was a place that was great for good food, entertainment, gambling...all that stuff. Though, she rarely ever got to go. And A.Z. hasn't been there. At least, that's what he said. So she's going with that. It just made sense to.

Perky as the last time they met, she entered the restaurant portion and looked around. Her lips pursed as she investigates. No...No...No...

Oh! Maybe that's him. Tilting her head to the side, she wandered over. The face looked similar. That could be helpful.

"A.Z. Right? Did I get it right?"

[ooc: No worries~ I'll still give you loves~]

"You did," he said brightly, standing and offering a hand. Generally cheerful himself, Aziraphale rather liked Abby's perky attitude. Although it seemed a bit at odds with her choice of wardrobe. If you said the word goth to the angel, he'd think of the Germanic tribes, but he was observant enough to notice that the majority of people dressed in black and spikes and studs, et cetera, didn't tend to be so cheerful and friendly.

[ooc: hee, NCIS came on while i was writing, too~ XD annnd now i am watching it. :D]

"Great!" She took his hand and gave it a good, strong shake. "Let's start over now that's you're not genderbended. Hi, I'm Abby Sciuto. Forensic Specialist back home and here. Nice to meet you."

A big smile appeared on Abby's face. A.Z. really had such a friendly face. Cheerful and nice. Just the way she liked people. Though, she liked people with all kinds of personalities. But, cheerful and nice would still be one of her favorites.

[ooc: haha! That's way too cool!]

"A.Z. Phale, used bookseller at home," he replied, slipping back into his seat. "And now, magician, evidently." He gave a light shrug, still smiling. "At least for the moment."

She sat across from him. Magician, huh? "How are you a magician for the moment? I mean, was it accidental or something?" Curiosity. She had plenty of it to spare and then some.

"Oh, well. I studied stage magic some years ago, and the Mad Hatter happened to mention that the City Circus was hiring, and..." He shrugged. The matter was complicated by the fact that he was now working for a prince of Hell, but obviously that didn't bear mentioning.
"It was a lucky coincidence I suppose. Though, I expect I'll open a bookshop here, once I'm able." Not that he didn't like performing. But he was beginning to suspect that he wasn't quite cut out for it. And, well, he did feel a bit bad about the doves.

"A bookstore would be nice. Like, a calm place to just relax with all the insanity that goes on here. Or maybe not. I don't know what your store would be like. I don't run stores after all." She shrugged too. Then leaned forward with more curiosity. "What would your store be like?"

He laughed. "Something like that, I hope." He had been promising himself he'd get better about actually selling books, anyway. "I'm sure I won't have as good a selection as my, er, real store... But calm and relaxing, certainly. A number of people seem interested, so hopefully I won't lack customers."

She shrugged and looked up as a waiter arrived with menus. Looking in hers, she said, "Sometimes just having a place to go is what people like. That's what I've been told anyways."

"Booklovers often enjoy browsing, even if they don't buy anything," he replied agreeably, peering at his own menu. This place was a little larger than his usual haunts, but the food sounded good.
"So you said you were a-- forensic specialist?" he asked, glancing up at her curiously.

"Yep. At home and here. One of the best. That's fact, not bragging." She moved the menu aside once she'd picked something. No idea what it was but it sounded good in her head. Besides, people should try something at least once.

"At home I'm with NCIS. Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Here it's just with the police. But I have my own lab and everything."

"Hmn." He perused his own menu for a moment more. "So you... solve crimes?" Aziraphale pictured something vaguely James Bond-like, not entirely certain what forensics entailed. "That's a lot more exciting than collecting books. Selling books," he amended quickly, shutting his menu.

"I analysis the evidence so that way the field people can kick ass and bring in the bad guys. That's putting it simply though." Abby just beamed at him. There were plenty things she could brag about but number one most likely being her forensics. "It's great. Girls usually avoid forensics. Like it's an icky plague."

"I can see how it might not be the most, er, ladylike of professions," he replied, nodding. "But it must be interesting. Why did you choose to go into it?"

"Because it looked more interesting than anything else. And I've never gone with the norm," she answered. Though, it's obvious that she doesn't go with the norm just from her personality and what she's wearing.

He nodded, glancing up as the waiter came to take their orders.
"So how long have you been in the City?" he queried, after the man left with their menus. Aziraphale chuckled. "Here I am making all these grand plans to open a new shop, and for all I know I could be gone tomorrow." Somehow it didn't seem likely, but people did seem to appear and disappear randomly.

She took a moment to think about that before answering.
"Five and a half months now. Though, I left at one point and came back. So...two separate times really." Abby's face wrinkled into a slight frown as she considered that. Yep, that was right. "How long have you been here?"

"Only a couple of weeks. Though I ran into a friend who'd been here for about a month, shortly after I arrived... Which is strange, because I was speaking to him just before I ended up on the street."
He hadn't even tried to figure out the spacetime logistics of this place, once it had been made clear that there was no voluntary way out; it was really easiest to simply accept it.

"The whole spacetime thing of this place is super weird. You can show up here and see someone who's from your future. Or dead. Or...Lots of things. It's weird. But, kinda cool too."

Like Tony. He was from her past. Probably a couple years. That was freaky when Abby first came across that. She'd gotten used to it by now. But still. Weird.

He nodded. "So I've been told, though I haven't met anyone I didn't know from my own world. I don't think. I mean, I don't know if I'd be able to be sure." Which was probably for the best. "I'm not sure I'd really want to meet anyone from my own future, unless I was certain they had only good news." He laughed. A little cryptic, maybe, but he was fairly certain she could sympathize with the sentiment, right?

"I'm from Tony's future. I keep forgetting what he knows and doesn't know." She shrugged then smiled. Those were unusual moments. But, at least they were usually only awkward. "Otherwise, I don't think anyone else I know is here. And if they are, they need to stop hiding."

"I can imagine that would be awkward. Crowley-- that's the friend I mentioned-- seems to have come from the same time as I did, more or less." He hadn't asked, but he figured it would have come up in conversation by now if they were seriously out of sync. "Other than that... Well, who can say? It's only easy to tell whether someone's from a drastically different reality."

"That's for sure. They're still lots of fun though." Another though hit her then. Resting her chin on her hands, she smiled. "I was wondering. What does A.Z. stand for?"

"Er."
So far no one had bothered to ask him that, and he hadn't really thought about it. The angel tried not to seem flustered and made a mental note to ask Crowley how he'd decided on Anthony. He regretted not realizing until he'd already said it that Phale was not the best shortening of his name to begin with.
Aziraphale winked and smiled, doing his questionable best to be charming.
"Come now, if I don't keep a few secrets, you'll realize too quickly how boring I really am."

Hm. He didn't want to tell her for some reason. And that made her want to know more. Like, why didn't he want her to know? Frowning, she tilted her head to the side as she studied him.

"You're so not boring. And there was hesitation before you went into the whole charming act. I took a classes on reading people in college. A couple of them. So, is it some big secret that people aren't supposed to know about? Because I'll stop asking then. I'll still want to know but I won't ask anymore."

Oh, dear. He laughed a little, sheepishly. Well, she was sharp; he didn't doubt her comment that she was one of the best in her field.

"It's just-- Sort of a long story." He smiled, somewhat apologetically. "I'll tell you... Another time." When he'd had some time to think about it and decide on something that began with Z and didn't sound like rubbish.

"Okay. I'll let it go. For now. But you do owe me a story because of this." And subject dropped, moving on.

"What did you order?"

"Fair enough, my dear." Probably best if it wasn't a story involving Genesis 25-27, but, well. He had some time to think about that.

"The smoked-salmon eggs Benedict. And you?"

"French omelet. No idea what's in it but I figured I'd try it. Never hurts to try something. Unless it's poison. Then you have a problem." Another shrug came from her. Normally she had a favorite at places. But it didn't hurt to branch out once in awhile.

"I'm not sure, either..." Aziraphale wasn't quite certain how to reply to the second half of her statement. Because, well, it was perfectly true, just a little strange. Why would you try poison? It was entirely beyond him.
Plus, he was a little preoccupied running through names in his head, now-- trying to find one he liked. It was more complicated than one might expect.
"I doubt it will be anything too outlandish, though. So. Other than lending your sharp analytical skills to the police," he added with a grin, still a little embarrassed that she'd seen through him so easily, "what do you do to amuse yourself around here?"

[ooc: omg, so sorry about the tag dropping..!! >_>; I've had a nasty cold and collecting my brains enough to be coherent has been tough D:]

"I hang out with friends a lot. Whatever they happen to want to do at the time." She sat back with a proud look on her face. And hey, she was proud of all her friends.

"Every Saturday I'm at Lux. My friend Gren performs there. So I make sure to go see him. Other times I hang out with my dog. His name is Jethro Jr. and he's a German Shepherd."

[ooc: omg...are you feeling any better?]

He nodded. "Lux is, er, a pub of some sort?" This was his best guess, based on mentions of it on the Network, though he hadn't been himself.

"I haven't explored that much, yet," he explained. "Since I've not been here long and was-- well, it was a bit awkward being out and about while I wasn't myself." Aziraphale laughed.

[ooc: ahaha, yeah, much better, thanks. ^^; just had a head full of goo instead of brainmeats for a few days :3]

She nodded in response. "It's a bar/pub type place with a specialty for jazz. I like it there. And Gren is really good." Now she leaned forward like what she was going to say was a big secret. "Even if he doesn't say so."

Then she sat back again. "Anyways, you were a pretty lady. A good-looking guy too. You have a very friendly face. That's really nice."

Jazz was probably one of those sorts of music that he couldn't identify and didn't really understand. Be-bop. Not that he had anything against it. He just wasn't musically inclined.
"I can't say I'm terribly familiar with jazz... Perhaps I'll come have a listen one of these evenings, though," he said pleasantly. Worth giving it a shot; after all, learning to dance had been fun once he'd gotten into it, and he'd been disappointed to see the gavotte go out of style.
"Thank you, my dear," he replied to the latter, smiling. "I thought I looked rather ridiculous, as a lady. Friendly-looking or not. Really, though, it gave me a great appreciation for the tribulations of ladies' fashion."

"And people think we wear things like that for nothing." She grinned in spite of it all. "As for jazz, I'm not familiar with it either. I only kind of got into it because Gren plays. Even then, I still really only like if it's him playing it. I'm a fan of his."

"To be perfectly honest, my dear, I don't entirely understand why you do." Well, he did, to an extent; a lot of recent fashion was literally Hellish, and was designed to be that uncomfortable. What he didn't get is why people had gone along with it. The whole concept of sex appeal was pretty much lost on the angel.
"What instrument does your friend Gren play?"

"For example, the bra. If I don't then these girls will do all sorts of not pretty things. That's not to say I haven't gone without one though." Perfectly comfortable to talking about her breasts, she pointed to them as she explained the example. It was easier if she did, after all.

"Anyways, Gren plays the sax."

"Er." He wasn't really accustomed to this kind of frankness, but, well. Girl talk. Okay. Having spent a week as a girl, Aziraphale supposed he was adequately qualified for girl talk, more or less. "I was thinking more of the shoes," he clarified. "With the heels and such."

She blinked a few times. "Heels? Because they make legs look good. And platform boots..." She pushed her foot out to show off the one she was wearing. "...are just cool."

He peered curiously at the boot, still not entirely getting it. Though it was impressive, in its own strange shoe-like way. Fashion was still a mystery to Aziraphale.

"I don't really know. I think legs look quite nice as they are. Er. I mean, not that high-heeled shoes and boots and all don't look nice, but I have to imagine there's a way to be both comfortable and... er.. attractive. You know?"

"Note to self: A.Z. is not one to go to for fashion advice. Ever."

She grinned. It was really funny that he just didn't get it. At all. Fashion's fashion because someone liked something. That's all.

He laughed. "That, my dear, might be the wisest comment ever made."

Really, it was just a matter of perspective, and talking to Crowley could very easily spoil anyone's opinion on the fashion industry. Besides, Aziraphale recalled the actual beginning of fashion-- the time when, well, clothes started being a necessity for human beings, the poor things.

"It's not just looks people. It's brains too."

She gave a bow from her seat then sat back as their food arrived.

"Oh! Food's here. It looks good too..."

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