GLORIA IN EXCELSIS WTF

[myironeyes]

[Public, video, backdated to the middle of the flood]

[Marsh is wearing an incredibly cheap-looking tinsel halo, and, incongruously, seems to have subsequently manifested actual wings, which rustle softly behind him. Faint, lovely music can also be heard, like delicate wind chimes or distant hymns.]

BE NOT AFRAID.

[He says this very solemnly, which is not unusual for Marsh. He also seems to have deep resonances and echoing reverberations in his voice, which is.]

BE OF GOOD CHEER.

[He frowns, very slightly. He doesn't understand why he's saying this. But - well. It seems like someone should encourage happiness, after everything that has been happening.


[Open Spam]

[Marsh is drifting around the barge. He still has his black cloak, so it's impossible to tell if he's actually floating or just moving very smoothly. Rooms are a little brighter when he enters them, though the light doesn't seem to come from anywhere in particular. Whoever you are, whatever you've done, whether you're sad or happy, Marsh is going to be kind to you right now. And he may or may not do minor miracles.]


[Private to Ned]

MAY I COME SEE YOU?

Comments

[Private]

[myironeyes]

I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT IT IS.

[Private]

[deadly_ned]

You're an angel.

[Private]

[myironeyes]

WHAT ARE ANGELS FOR?

[Private]

[deadly_ned]

For spreading good will and cheer.

And...foretell of the Second Coming when the world ends in fire by playing on trumpets but to be fair I think Revelations should be taken with a grain of salt.

[Private]

[myironeyes]

OH.

WELL, THAT HAPPENED ALREADY. MORE OR LESS.

I WOULD PREFER THE FORMER TASK IN ANY CASE.

[Private]

[deadly_ned]

You also get to hang out on the tops of fir trees come Christmastime.

[Private]

[myironeyes]

TREES ARE BEAUTIFUL.

WHEN IS CHRISTMASTIME?

[Private]

[deadly_ned]

Two months from now. I don't think the wings are going to last until then.

[Private]

[myironeyes]

AH.

[Oh well.]

I HAVE MISSED YOU.

[Private]

[deadly_ned]

I would have written. But I was busy being kidnapped.

[Private]

[myironeyes]

I DID NOT WANT TO LISTEN.

I AM SORRY.

[Private]

[deadly_ned]

There's nothing to be sorry about.

[Private]

[myironeyes]

[If he had not been so angry, or so stubborn - maybe he would have been able to change things. But there's no real point to dragging it up now.]

NEVERTHELESS.

ARE YOU OPPOSED TO COMPANY NOW?

[Private]

[deadly_ned]

I'm not opposed.

I'm in the infirmary.

[Private]

[myironeyes]

SHOULD I BRING ANYTHING?

[Private]

[deadly_ned]

Can you bring Digby's ball? He's not been getting much exercise lately.

[Private]

[myironeyes]

I WILL.

[And he shows up shortly afterward, distant music and unlocalizable glow and all, with the ball in one hand and a book in the other, each of which he sets down on the bedside table after a modicum of shuffling and determining that he cannot comfortably sit down with his new wings.]

[Private]

[deadly_ned]

[The Piemaker, as ever, is by Alpha's bed. He sits stonefaced and solemn as Marsh enters, looking up and giving him a distant, disconnected nod.

Digby, on the other hand, trots over to Marsh fully expecting a game of fetch.]

[Private]

[myironeyes]

[It's probably a bad idea in the infirmary. But it would make Digby happy. So he rolls the ball instead of throwing it, carefully down an unused strip of floor. Serendipitously, nothing will go wrong.]

[Private]

[deadly_ned]

[Nothing did go wrong; Digby happily chases after the ball, bending down to pick it up in his mouth and walk it back to Marsh]

Thank you for bringing the ball.

[Private]

[myironeyes]

I DIDN'T MIND.

[He takes it, and rolls it again. It's sort of soothing.]

I DIDN'T WANT TO SEE YOU WHEN I WAS ANGRY. I DIDN'T WANT TO SAY ANYTHING I WOULD REGRET.

[Marsh sometimes says really, really bitchy things when he's angry. And he hasn't been that angry with another human being in a very long time.]

[Private]

[deadly_ned]

[Digby is diligent, and goes after the ball for however many times Marsh feels up to rolling it. He too is careful not to bump into recovering patients, an alarmingly astute animal]

I would have deserved it.

[Private]

[myironeyes]

NOT REALLY.

[Are you going to argue with an angel Ned, are you?]

[Private]

[deadly_ned]

[He can't argue. He doesn't have it in him.

So instead he sinks down further in his chair, leaning his head against the wall to look over his sleeping, deaf and blind inmate]

[Private]

[myironeyes]

I WOULD FORGIVE YOU, BUT I DON'T KNOW WHAT I WOULD BE FORGIVING YOU FOR.

SOMETIMES TERRIBLE THINGS HAPPEN.

[Accept the ball, roll again. Even as an angel, this is hard to say. But it's true. Maybe it's even TRUE.]

EVEN WHEN YOU THINK YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN ABLE TO STOP THEM. THAT DOESN'T MAKE IT YOUR FAULT.