networkinthenight | [Backdated to 9/9] @silent

[ It seems to be actually crawling out of Aziraphale's mouth in order to return to the greater sum of itself, which is both horrifying and terrible.

He nearly screams. ]

--Oh! Oh dear God, that's--

[ There is a full-body shiver involved as it sluices off his person. ]

Absolutely dreadful.

Let's--

--We'll come back and get the body to cremate it, dear boy, but I think we should come back with reinforcements. And perhaps some holy water.

Is there even any body left?

[He can't have watched in detail, of course - he'd fallen backward trying to get away, and had closed his eyes to keep the foam from getting into them. As he stands, now, and scans the lakeshore, he doesn't even see a single finger or wisp of hair floating in the water. It hadn't just burst from the belly; rather, it's as if the entire body had itself been foam made solid and human-shaped, and all that's left now are the wet remains as they slip out of clothing and between pebbles to return to the water.

Deeply concerning for future sailing trips, to be certain. But it's not going to stop him from trying. He stoops to retrieve his lantern, and the fishing pole, too.]

Reinforcements sound good, though. I wonder if there are more of those things down there.

I'm not sure, but I'd rather we find out later.

[ Because that was a hot mess, and Aziraphale feels very gross and possibly needs a long shower before they continue on this lil adventure, Rosinante! ]

I really, sincerely hope there aren't any more. In fact - goodness, what had that even been?

[ He's very disturbed by this somehow, even though he'd been cool as a cucumber about the dead body. ]

Not a clue. A spirit of some sort? Something else entirely?

[All he can do is speculate, and he hates speculation. It serves a purpose but needs to be backed up with real information before it can be acted on, and too many people seem to think it's fine to skip that crucial middle bit.

He shakes his head, and sucks at his dwindling cigarette.]

Shame to meet anyone this way, but I appreciate you coming to have a look. I owe you a drink sometime.

A spirit. Perhaps, I do admit that I don't know them well enough.

[ Either way, the moment is thankfully passing and they can move on from it, because Aziraphale doesn't want to think about this for a long time, after they bring people back to come try and carry this off. Nope, he'd really like to erase this from his memory entirely. ]

I wouldn't say no to a drink.

[ He shoots Rosinante a quick smile. ]

--Ah, that's right. I heard around that you'd been trying to map the stars.

They're not like they are on Earth--

[ He takes a look at Rosinante and quickly adds: ]

--Where I'm from, so I was wondering if they looked familiar to you?

[Another Earth person. Earthlander? What do they call themselves? There sure are a lot of them here, anyway. Must be a busy place. Or maybe it's just a common name for planets somehow, since quite a few of these people don't seem to have a lot else in common.

He smiles back down at Aziraphale, though it's a little hollow. That whole experience was disconcerting and he doesn't feel particularly happy, but it's good to make an effort.]

No. I'm not from Earth, but I've never seen this pattern of stars either. I started off wanting to map them but have also been working with Doctor Ingram to see if there's anything else we can learn from them, like this world's rotation speed.

Ah, yes, and what have you learned? I myself am very interested to know. It seems that either our rotation and revolution around this world's sun are such that they are in sync and therefore, we always face away from it.

Actually, that was how our moon was on Earth - I'm surprised we have just the one, here.

[ And he's really fascinated by it, and space in general, which was possibly one of the things he knew better than humans did, having seen the cosmos up close. This, though. This was a strange sky, and strange stars, and he felt so very small standing underneath them.

He wondered how Rosinante felt about the whole thing. ]

We're still working on it. He's the one with all the math know-how. But the map's progressing well enough, when the clouds part. Why's the one moon surprising?

[Sort of strikes him as an unusual thing to say. Should worlds have more than one moon? His only has one, as far as he knows. If there are others, they're small and dark and nobody pays them much attention. There are other planets out there, he thinks he recalls hearing, but maybe that's wrong. Truth be told, aside from what he needed to know for navigation, he never paid much attention to astronomy anyway.

Maybe it's just another little act of rebellion, given how the people of his home country practically worshiped their twisted concepts of descent from the stars and rulership over everyone lowly enough to have risen from mud instead. Stories based on maintaining a position of power, nothing to do with truth.]

I mean - I guess not really. Planets can have any number of moons, it just strikes me as odd that yours and mine and this one should all just have the one.

Particularly since this one also seems to just have the one face.

It's also quite similar to home, I might add. The architecture is a bit different and the fauna is, of course, quite unique to this place, I would say.

But... all the same. When things could be so different, I find they are... not so much.

[ He doesn't know if he made any sense, but he sure as heaven is rambling. ]

Oh, I'm very sorry. Don't mean to talk your ear off.

No, it's all right. It's an interesting subject. I'd like to hear more about Earth, actually, since so many of you are from there. But let me get cleaned up first, all right?

[He chuckles; an attempt to pass the whole thing off as a lighthearted moment and an opportunity rather than a distraction from whatever the hell he was just witness to. Maybe Will or Rastus knows more about this. Maybe Robin, though he doesn't trust her to give a straight answer. But it can wait until he's had a moment to shake off the shock of meeting his corpse.]

I'm going to head to the inn, but I'll be at the tavern in half an hour or so, if you want that drink sooner rather than later.

Hopefully you won't be gone for awhile, I'll bring someone back to look at this, see if we can salvage anything.

[ He doesn't know how long that will take, but certainly not long if it's as he says and everything has just... schlooped back into the water. Disgusting thought. ]

Certainly I'll come meet up with you later at the inn, and I'll tell you anything about Earth you wish to know.

[ Rosinante doesn't know he's talking to someone who's been kicking around on it for a cool six thousand years. ]

If you don't mind me asking, what exactly were you doing by the water, anyway?

Good idea.

[Salvage, study, whatever they want to do. That kind of science isn't really Rosinante's gig, but he's all in favor of understanding things better. Especially mysterious exploding corpse doubles.]

I was fishing, or trying to. Seemed like a nice way to kill some time and maybe learn about what lives in the lake.

[Instead, he got what's somewhat dead in the lake, so... success?]

Oh.

And here I was hoping we'd find a nice patch of it to go swimming in sometime.

[ Yes, this is going to be extremely unfortunate. ]

Ah well. I'll hopefully see you soon.

[ As soon as Rosinante is out of sight, he'll go back by himself to clean up, only to find that there's nothing left as said, not so much as a disembodied frown.

So he walks back home as a formality, miracles himself clean, and heads on over to the Inn. ]

[Ha ha. If he was ever intending to swim in that lake (he wasn't) then he sure wouldn't now, but he's not the right person to ask anyway. He shrugs it off as the joke it probably is, then waves as they part ways.

But after returning to his room at the inn to shower and change and have a much needed few minutes to just. Sit and smoke and not think about that nightmare, he makes his way back downstairs to the bar, where he spots Aziraphale easily enough from the stairs. At which point he stumbles and falls the few remaining steps onto the floor. Graceful as always, Rosinante. Whether Aziraphale or anyone else tries to help, he gets himself back up, checks his lantern over, dusts himself off, and walks over, though there's a quick detour to retrieve the pillow he usually leaves in a corner of the room. He places that on the floor at Aziraphale's table and sits, and even on the floor his long legs have to bend awkwardly to fit under the tabletop.]

Hope I didn't keep you waiting too long.

[ Aziraphale makes it over in a second, trying to keep Rosinante from falling entirely onto the ground but settling for helping him back up once his pesky legs have made him tumble. It's alright, he knows this feel. ]

Not at all, though I would've happily started without you.

Would you-- surely there's a short chair around here you could sit on instead.

I'm so sorry, this entire town must be so inconvenient for you.

[ Like, how does this guy fit on a bed... Can he close the door when he goes to the bathroom? How does he shower?? ]

It's all right, the pillow's fine. I make do with the rest.

[He waves one of the usual bartender spirits over to request a glass and some whisky because it sure has been a day already, then looks to Aziraphale.]

I found it really unusual when I first arrived here that other than Daylight, no one else here matches my height, and that most things seem intended for people like you. I guess Earth doesn't have a lot of variation, does it?

It certainly does, but I'd think nearly all adult humans fit comfortably between five to about six and a half feet, with several people taller and a handful smaller. No one as tall as you, of course.

I had noticed that this world is very much like someplace on Earth.

Is everyone in your world this tall?

[ He also orders something strong, stiff, and possibly tasting of rocket fuel. He definitely needs to take the edge off of that day. ]

[Doesn't sound like a lot of variation to him, but he understands the relativity. Variation within a very small window, perhaps. To the question, though, he shakes his head.]

Not everyone, but I'm nothing that remarkable, either. Maybe around half the humans and fishmen I've seen are closer to your height, and then there are some closer to mine, and there are plenty even taller. Twelve, fourteen, twenty feet and up. Giants are even taller.

Fishmen and giants... I can't say we have any of those at home.

Were you perhaps hoping to find one in the water? I think perhaps there might still be giants. Giant spirits, anyway.

[ if this were still Earth, Aziraphale would be absolutely fascinated. But unfortunately, they're in Beacon. ]

Just trying to find anything at all, giant or otherwise. Though I have to say, something more fishlike would've been appreciated.

[There's that dry sarcasm of his that turns up on occasion. He just tosses back a drink as if to punctuate that statement.]

I heard that from someone earlier, though, Earth is all humans. Well, and then animals and stuff. Must be lonely.

Ah, no! Humans are-- very fascinating.

[ Other, Aziraphale. ]

--Other humans. Yes.

[ Because he is not, and in fact, he is neither giant nor this size, and this just happens to be the body he's inhabited for six thousand years. He hadn't owned one before that, but that was also before time was invented, so it was hard to know how long he'd spent in that form. ]

Not lonely at all! Though I imagine - giants and fishmen. Yes, I would very much like to meet one. Are they all so different, as humans are?

[Other humans, indeed. He's quick on the uptake, and the correction is almost more obvious than the initial slip. Not human? He sure looks it, but people look to be all sorts of things they're not, sometimes.]

The few I've seen, yeah. They don't come up to the surface often. Old feuds, you know.

[To put it extremely mildly, but he doesn't really want to go into the whole history of war and slavery and oppression with someone he's only just met. That has to wait until he's at least a few drinks in.]

Mind if I ask what you are, if not human?

[Might as well just be blunt about it.]

[ Oh boy not this again. Dammit Aziraphale, why are you so bad at this? ]

--I'm.

Well, you see, I was sent to blend in with humans and so I haven't. I'm not very used to telling people who I am, and I.

[ He looks around to make sure no one's listening. ]

I ...suppose it's rather unfair, you wouldn't be able to do that, but I would.

[So whatever he is, he's not typically open about it even here. Rosinante nods, sympathetic and encouraging, then snaps his fingers.]

Silent.

[There's a faint blue-tinted shimmer to the air for a moment, and then anyone else around the bar, carrying on with their own private conversations, or the occasional chirping and squeaking of the spirits that tend the bar - all cease to make any sound at all, though they still certainly look like they're talking.]

It's all right. I think we've all got things we're not used to being able to talk about. Want to try again? They can't hear us.

Oh. What a lovely trick.

[ He looks around and smiles. He still doesn't particularly want to do this but he feels as if Rosinante has put some trust in him, and he doesn't want to disappoint. Mostly, he doesn't want to be unfair, or to take advantage of anyone's trust.

Smiling, he has a trick of his own. ]

Ah, yes, do busy yourselves with whatever you were doing before.

[ Anyone who might have been looking their way is suddenly not, and not going to notice much of anything.

Which is when Aziraphale takes off his coat, and lets a pair of fluffy white wings unfurl. ]

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