5.7.2013 NI is officially 2 YEARS OLD! Thanks guys for making those years amazing!
FOLLOW YOUR INSTINCTS
Welcome! Have you ever wondered what your favorite supernatural TV fandoms would look like if they were all literally interconnected? If Damon from Vampire Diaries heard about Sunnydale becoming a crater? What if 'fighting for vampire rights' in True Blood mattered in the world of Supernatural? Want to find out how your favorite characters will react in a world like this? Join in and don't forget to follow your instincts!
Canons: True Blood, Being Human (BBC), Vampire Diaries, Buffy & Angel, & Supernatural.
Lately, Giles couldn't say that his day were too good. At times, it felt like he had more on his plate than he could handle and it all piled up and became overwhelming. The book shop, the Organization, the Council, the Academy... weren't these a little too much for a man well in his fifties? While Giles was somewhat reluctant to accept his true age, he was also conscious of the fact that the majority of the men his age lived a completely different life: retired, enjoying quiet days with their children and grandsons. As opposed to them, he was still as active as a man in his forties, with plenty of responsibilities and... he was completely alone. It had not be an intentional choice he made for his existence. There was no rule saying that Watchers could not have their own family, that this somehow conflicted with their responsibilities towards the Council. Roger Wyndam-Pryce was a fine example of the fact that one could be a very respectable Watcher and, at the same time, a very respectable head of family.
Somehow, though, it just happened that... Giles missed his chance – or his chance had been brutally taken away from him. In spite of the fact that many years had lapsed since then, he had not forgotten Jenny Calendar, nor his feelings for her. Most of all, he had not forgotten the gruesome sight that Angelus prepared for him at his house or the feeling of his heart breaking when he pieced together the small details: the empty look in her eyes and the slightly unnatural position of her body. To be honest, Giles still blamed himself for what happened. If only he hadn't shunned Jenny for whom she was, if he knew what she was planning to do, maybe then he could have protected her from Angelus. Maybe she would have stood a chance to curse the vampire before it ended the course of her life so brutally and so soon. Plenty of “many”s and “what if”s which recurred much too often.
As the same thoughts started plaguing him again, Giles left his apartment in order to get some clean air and, perhaps, manage to find some other topic – any other topic – to ponder upon. He had no particular destination in mind but, if anything else failed, he could have very well returned at the book shop to sink his thoughts into a book or two. He couldn't tell for certain how many minutes had passed between the moment when he left his apartment and the one when his footsteps came to a halt, his attention drawn by a church he was passing by. A church... a place which made him think of another woman that he had quickly grown fond of, only for her to vanish without a trace. Well, this was going exceptionally well, Giles noted with a sense of irony. He had left his house to take his mind off Jenny and now he was adding Hope to his concerns. Giles couldn't understand why but his footsteps carried him towards the door of the church. Perhaps a subconscious part of him was making the association between Hope and her religiousness and was thinking that he might, somehow, feel a sort of connection to her if she entered? Giles reached forward, to open the door, but someone else opened from the inside, pulling the door open.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - so if you meet me, have some courtesy, have some sympathy, and some taste JUST CALL ME LUCIFER, ‘CAUSE I’M IN NEED OF SOME RESTRAINT use all your well-learned politesse, or I’ll lay your soul to waste - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Many of the religious would have probably liked to entertain the thought that the Devil wasn’t allowed in God’s house. That someone such as Lucifer would somehow burn or be restricted from within the building, when in reality, it didn’t come close. He didn’t feel at all unsettled in the church and there was no disquiet or stirring in him that made him wish to be outside. His skin didn’t burn and he didn’t feel as though God’s wrath was going to reign down on him. In fact, he was positive that God couldn’t have cared less. He wasn’t a demon, nor abomination and hence, churches weren’t anything to be bothered by; nothing uncomfortable at all. There were no restrictions here. In fact, a church had managed to be built right above the door to his cage in the past, the same church that he had risen from within when the door was opened a few years prior. That second rising, Lucifer couldn’t explain where he wound up. It had been a more disorienting experience than the first time; different, essentially. He supposed that the good little church-goers would be unsettled with him being within their holy place. It would startle and send fear through them. Although, of course, they would never know the difference between him and anyone else if they saw him. After all, he wasn’t equipped with a black hat, pointed horns and a beast-like appearance. He wasn’t a beast at all. He was an angel; the same as he always had been. Fallen, technically and by human standards, monstrous, but all angels could be. It was just that not all held his hatred, and his desire to see them burn. And why they didn’t, he would never understand. Except that they didn’t have minds of their own to see the faulty logic their Father had.
The day had been spent tearing into a group of traitors that he managed to track. It wasn’t hard, given most demons weren’t smart enough to escape him. Some were; the ones that knew what they were doing and had some power on their hands, they could do it. But others, they almost made it too easy for him to find them and finish them off. He noticed quickly how many loyalists seemed to show back up, probably flip-flopping when they realized that he had returned and had a certain lust for their blood to be spilled. He still didn’t have the blood on his hands of the one that started it all and the one demon that he would relish in getting to slowly tear apart. As fun as it was to tear into the ones that had eventually been smote, it wasn’t as satisfying as it would be when he finally had his hands on a demon called Crowley. The bloodshed was followed by a visit to the church, not for some seeking of faith or whatever could be assumed here. It was curiosity, mostly. To see what lurked inside, praying for something to hang onto. Something that he could potentially crush if he had half of a chance to do so. Religion was a funny thing, really. There was much to be gotten wrong, whereas other parts were distinctly on track. What Lucifer did know was that there was no God protecting the church or watching them. Wherever God was, he was long gone. And well, for the better, really. Because as much as he would love to rage against him, to tell him that he could have done a better job and that he was in the wrong, there was no doubt that his Father could take him out. But, he wouldn’t. Because he did nothing for himself. Angels did it for him, and not even for him anymore, for their own goals that they likened to his. The apocalypse, he knew, was his plan, his fall and his fight with Michael all a part of this great plan that God had lined up in some twisted way. But, Michael was gone and so was God. There was no one he planned to answer to and no one he would have, even if there was anyone. He wasn’t alone, however. As he heard the approach outside the door, Lucifer turned towards it, a curious look giving way to a smirk before he pulled the door open from a distance. “I’m afraid the clergy isn’t in at the moment,” he commented automatically to the arrival. It didn’t matter why they showed, it may very well have been a wrong place, wrong time moment.
It never ceased to amaze Giles how a seemingly small encounter could grow to have such a powerful impact on someone's life. To tell the truth, after he lost Jenny Calendar, Giles had thought that he would never be able to give his heart to someone like he had given it to her (disregarding the argument which pushed them apart during the last days of her life). He had not turned into a hermit; there have been other women in his life, for shorter or longer periods of time, but Giles could not say that the same kind of feelings had been vested into those relationships – not that he had not wished it to happen, simply because that special kind of connection between them had never came to be. Giles was beginning to get used to the idea that he would never feel that spark again, that it had been an unique occurrence which would not repeat itself before he left this world to head into more peaceful realms.
Then, in a sudden and very surprising manner, his theory was proven to be wrong. When he first saw Hope that day, it had not seemed to Giles like more than a casual encounter with a person that made a few hours be more pleasant than they could have otherwise been. Later that day, however, Giles found his thoughts flying back to the woman and the same occurred during the following days as well. After a couple of meetings which he dared not call dates, the head Watcher realized that the connection he had missed with other women existed between him and Hope, that the woman had managed to open the doors to her heart and ease herself in there, awakening feelings which Giles had thought forgotten. Every moment he spent with her had become a very beautiful and warm memory that was now torturing him, as Hope seemed to have vanished without a trace left behind her.
Having seen many dreadful things in his lifetime, it was completely impossible for Giles not to imagine the absolute worse regarding her disappearance. There was a high chance that something got to her, perhaps a vampire that suddenly got a craving for human blood when she happened to be alone outside at night, possibly returning for a late day spent in the high school library – quite an interesting coincidence that she happened to be a librarian as well, Giles always noted with the same tinge of sadness in his heart. To think of what could have happened to her horrified Giles, therefore he tried not to dwell on the thought too often. It was one of the times when he knew too much for his own good, so he preferred setting knowledge aside for his spiritual comfort. Walking past the church, however, stirred a feeling of frustration in Giles. He remembered Hope to be a very religious woman. Admitting that she was right in her belief that there was a God out there, then why hadn't it protected her, a woman whom was so devoted to faith as she was? It did not feel fair or right and he did not imagine that going inside the church would help him find any answers or feel any better. Yet, Giles reached for the door and it opened before him, a frown settling on his expression as he gazed inside the church and saw that no one appeared to be in the immediate proximity of the doors. Did a current of air open them or...? Giles stepped inside, his eyes on the man inside. ”Oh? I didn't realize the church was closed to public, especially since the doors were unlocked”, Giles commented, still feeling uneasy to think how they simply opened in front of him.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - so if you meet me, have some courtesy, have some sympathy, and some taste JUST CALL ME LUCIFER, ‘CAUSE I’M IN NEED OF SOME RESTRAINT use all your well-learned politesse, or I’ll lay your soul to waste - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The faith of the religious was curious at times, especially given the lack of contact from the God that they claimed to worship. It was empty faith in a lot of cases and a lot of the time they seemed to get things very wrong. Not that he was bothered to correct it. Humanity and its beliefs had never been something that Lucifer put a lot of weight in. It didn’t matter to him what they believed in. It didn’t change how he felt about them or what he wanted to be done to the group as a whole. And what sometimes perplexed him more was the willingness to follow an absent Father that the angels were so willing to put themselves into the position of. Though, for the most part, it wasn’t always their fault. Angels weren’t given free-will. They weren’t allowed to choose for themselves and in reality, they were mindless soldiers, built to carry out orders and to follow God’s will. Though, for Lucifer, his experience had been completely different. He wasn’t there to mindlessly follow. He had a mind of his own and one that could see the error in what he was meant to do and instead, chose his own path. Lucifer saw no reason to follow God when he didn’t agree. But, that was why he was banished, wasn’t it? He didn’t follow. One thought against their Father was considered a crime, really. For angels, disobedience was the worst crime and Lucifer more than paid the price for it. It didn’t make him see any error in how he behaved, however. In fact, he thought that he had reacted completely within the realms of how he should. He didn’t take any of it back. There were no regrets. The only regret he had was not being able to fight hard enough. He didn’t win the war in Heaven.
And he would have rather not fought it at all. But, again, that wasn’t a choice that he was given. When he said that he wouldn’t bow to humanity and when he looked to Michael for support that was the end of it. There would be no support and he was to be beaten down and cast out for it. And Lucifer had his followers and those that had been willing to fight for him; that he had managed to make see from his side. And there still were angels, he was sure; that he could pull to him and that would fight alongside of him. He wished all of them would, frankly. He didn’t want to have to kill his brothers and sisters. It was really the very last thing that he wanted to do, but that didn’t mean that he wouldn’t. It didn’t mean that by fighting against him that they pinned his hand and he had to. Lucifer didn’t take responsibility for their deaths, really. If they died because they went against him, then they should have thought better of it. Lucifer wasn’t there to strike out against the angels if he didn’t have to. But, as it stood, he did. Because they weren’t on the same side anymore and hadn’t been for a very long time. “It’s not closed,” Lucifer replied from where he stood. He made no move to close in or to make it appear as though he had opened those doors through any physical contact. It was interesting to watch the human assess the situation and frankly, he wasn’t about to kick him out of there. No, it would probably be more interesting if he stayed. “It’s always open to the public.” Or so, it seemed to be. He just simply wasn’t going to find anyone of the church to help him, if that’s what he sought. Actually, it was interesting to see what the human sought in an empty church. Perhaps solace, since many seemed to find it here, regardless of how rational it was. “It just so happens that no one else is here.”
There were times when Giles wondered whether he was not too engrossed in his occupation. Truth was that he had spent far too many years too count among the supernatural. His grandmother had been a Watcher, his father had been a Watcher as well and other members of his family also had connections with magic. Given these circumstances, Giles coming into contact with magic from an early age had been nearly inevitable, no matter how much his relatives tried to shield him and ensure that he would enjoy a proper, carefree childhood. He could say that the instant in which he discovered that magic existed in the world had sealed his fate: he was to become a Watcher and nothing he had done in order to avoid that fate had worked. Giles might have rebelled, he might have been Ripper for some good years, but he returned to what he was supposed to do. Since he embraced his calling, Giles had seen many unusual things, things which ordinary people would only think of in their worse of nightmares. Vampires, demons of all kinds of species, apocalypses – these were common words in Giles' vocabulary, common occurrences in his life. The head Watcher could not recall a day in the recent years which had gone by without something uncommon crossing his path. In a way, his eye was trained to notice the unusual, the pieces of the puzzle which did not fit, signaling that something was wrong and the supernatural forces were at work. It must have been why he was dwelling so much on the peculiar circumstances in which the doors of the church opened for him upon his approach.
Giles was not really the kind of man to believe that a current of air was the perfectly plausible explanation for their opening and it would not be easy to convince him that nothing was out of place about their opening. As soon as he was inside the church, the head Watcher looked around for anyone that could have opened them for him, then headed away, yet it seemed that the only person inside the establishment was the man in front of him, who showed no signs of having rush to the door and then back to his current position. No, to Giles he looked like a man that had been standing in that position for a while and this could not puzzle him more than it already did. ”Always open?”, Giles repeated with a hint of disbelief in his voice. In a somewhat metaphorical meaning, it made sense to him that a church would be open all the time, for the ones that needed to come close to God but, from a pragmatic point of view, Giles thought that even the house of God closed its door for the night. Could this have been a more peculiar church or was there a deeper meaning behind this man's words? Another question that was not going to give Giles any peace any time soon. ”Interesting...”, he commented out loud before taking a cautious step closer to the man. ”Are you the priest?” For some reason, he didn't really think that the other man looked like a member of the clergy, yet he still asked the question. However, the very thought that the answer would be a negative one was enough to send shivers down Giles' spine. An urge to turn around and leave as soon as possible took over him, yet he tried to fight against it, still intrigued by the mystery of the doors opening seemingly on their own accord.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - so if you meet me, have some courtesy, have some sympathy, and some taste JUST CALL ME LUCIFER, ‘CAUSE I’M IN NEED OF SOME RESTRAINT use all your well-learned politesse, or I’ll lay your soul to waste - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - It vaguely interested him how humanity had changed, from superstitious to critical thought and a suspension of belief in the unexplainable. Now, there had always been those types, that would have scoffed at the supernatural for thousands of years, but many hadn’t. And very recently humans had reached a certain height in lack of belief for anything that couldn’t be explained through science. Now, it wasn’t all of them. There were plenty of cultures believed in the most extreme, outlandish ideas (though not all were untrue either). But, then the vampires came out and people believed in them, not only did they believe, but they seemed to accept their presence, where only a couple hundred years ago they would have been on a mass hunting expedition to weed out the evil. In such recent history, humans had brutally murdered one another on superstitious ghost hunts. The problem was, when it was a mass attack like that, they were rarely ever right. And now, they embraced vampires almost. They held their arms out to them as if they were one of their own. Which, Lucifer honestly didn’t care so much about beyond the strangeness of it. If they trusted vampires and managed to get themselves killed, he wouldn’t be one to mourn. He would encourage it. Humanity proved to him, again and again, what they were. They were weak and not only weak, but monsters in their own right. They weren’t that different from vampires, aside from the physical nature of it. Humans murdered one another, they destroyed the planet, destroyed themselves and still thought they were worthy of it. Lucifer saw what they were from the beginning. He saw precisely what they were capable of. They could give his demons a run for their money—in fact, Lucifer was aware of a number of humans that were worse than any demon of his. And naturally, demons came from humanity and hence the similarities weren’t a far stretch. Humanity wasn’t perfect and it was not in God’s image. Because, how could his image have ever been so… Low? They did not surpass the angels. And when Lucifer finished them off, he would have proved that. Humanity didn’t stand a shot, not as far as he was concerned. But, those were schemes and ideas for another day. They had no standing here, not with the newcomer into the church. Instead, that was where his focus turned and stayed.
“God does not shut his doors on anyone.” Lucifer said, although his words were serious, they weren’t genuine. In fact, it was a ridiculous comment, because naturally God did shut some out. His Father had shut him out after all. And whether or not the church ever closed for the night, Lucifer wouldn’t have known. He imagined it may, though, then again, some did remain with their doors open throughout the day and night, as if to serve as a sanctuary for those that needed it. But, really, it didn’t matter to him either way. He didn’t care that much about religious practice. And now, he watched Giles with a certain amount of curiosity, his vessel’s eyes following him as he came closer, simply watching. He wondered if he had any inkling as to what he was in the church with or if there were any instincts present at all. Some people had them; those deep-seeded instincts that told them when they were in the presence of danger. Some listened and some didn’t. And others were just completely without. Lucifer did nothing that would prove himself as menacing, but in reality, he did not hold enough ill will yet to be bothered with menace as it was. While Lucifer could spend his time slaughtering humans and making their lives hell, he liked to think things through much more than that. He could be petty (and some argued that he was), but there was a difference between killing for sport and fun and killing because it was necessary. Of course, they weren’t mutually exclusive. Destruction was fun. And the death of humans? Well, it was absolutely towards the top of his list. “A priest?” Lucifer couldn’t help but chuckle at that. “The clergy would probably be outraged with your assumption.” A clue that he wasn’t close to a part of them, but no real answers. It was a part of a game, a newly invented game, just to toy with the human that happened upon him.
Intriguing statement, to say the least. God does not shut his doors on anyone. Yet, Giles could think of quite a few examples of situations in which God did exactly that. The fallen angel, Lucifer, Adam and Eve – only to dwell upon some of the most famous examples. There were many others and the majority did not consist in cases which had been noted down in the book in which so many people believed without a trace of doubt, no. How many times had Giles not heard individuals saying that God had turned His back on them when they were in a very unpleasant situation? Of course, some of them tended to exaggerate the gravity of the situations they found themselves in and use that phrase without real reason but there were cases in which it really seemed that divinity – assuming it was real – did not wish to gaze down for a moment and lend a much needed helping hand. Giles supposed... he could say he had found himself in such situations before, in Sunnydale. Were he a religious man, he would have considered that finding his dear Jenny on his bed, with her neck broken and her spirit long gone from her body, had been a clear indication of the fact that God did turn his back on him for the fact that his life had not been lived by the laws written down in the Bible; he would have thought that Buffy's death had been another sign of divinity's determination to allow his life to be a chain of losses and tragedies. Well... the head Watcher blamed the Powers That Be for all of these tragedies – a somewhat similar entity to the God described in the Bible, he supposed.
Fighting the urge to sigh, Giles gave a light pinch to the bridge of his nose, right under his glasses, to help himself bring his thoughts back on track, namely back to the intriguing man that was making rather ambiguous statements. ”I'm sorry, I cannot help but wonder how serious you are when you say that”, the Watcher commented with a small, bemused smile on his lips. He was in the house of God, where he expected to meet people that were truly devoted to their faith, therefore capable of believing in an entity that loved all humans and aided them in need. And yet, the fact that someone could stand there and claim that with such a serene look on their face... it seemed almost surreal and Giles was wondering if there was any trace of sarcasm in those words. Yet, sarcasm in a church... Either he was too tired and could not focus really well or there really was a piece in the puzzle that did not fit too well in the larger picture. It irked Giles that he could not place his finger on what was seemed out of the place and made his senses tingle, that he was unable to tell whether it was something that came from him or from the outside.
The Watcher advanced closer to the intriguing man, tilting his head to the side slightly as the stranger commented on the possible outcome should the clergy have heard his assumption. Giles frowned slightly: ”Oh, why would they?” At first glance, he could see no immediate reason why his words could constitute an insult towards the church. The fact that the man claimed otherwise could only serve to spike Giles' curiosity even further and he finally uttered the question which rested on his lips for the past minutes: ”Who are you?”
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