entranceway | [video]

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[Gabriel's hanging out in the bar. There's a tall glass of something bright next to him, half-demolished, but he doesn't seem to be paying it too much attention. His attention's on the video itself.

Watch out, Wonderland. You have a bored archangel on your hands. Anything could happen.]

So. Afterlives. Hit me.

What does your little corner of the multiverse believe in? Reincarnation? Sitting on clouds? Being literal soulfood for a dark, malevolent entity? Fiery pits?

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[Gabriel doesn't look at all surprised. This is, perhaps, notable. Or maybe not, in Wonderland.]

So, a really wild party, gotcha. There are so many of those books, floating around. And people always read from 'em aloud. One ancient Goodbye Moon story later, and you've got a problem on your hands.

[Granted, many of those books are locked up in the vaults of the Men Of Letters. But there are still some out there, in tombs and other more accessible places where it's amazing they haven't leveled more towns.]

I'd heard about this book in particular when I was a little girl, it...sort of became my life's pursuit. Obviously I got a bit more than I bargained for.

[What with the plagues, and all that. Evelyn looks at him for a long moment.]

...I don't believe we've met.

Sounds a little bit like destiny, if you ask me. With all the usual downsides.

[Gabriel sort of loathes destiny. Fate, on the other hand, is a hot librarian, and the sheer number of times she's dodged his advances...]

Name's Gabriel. Enchanté.

[Evelyn is familiar with hot librarians. Hell, she used to be one - but career paths change, you understand, field work is far more exciting.]

I'm Evelyn.

[Americans, really. They're all so dreadfully charming in an assertive sort of way. Despite the Biblical name, she wouldn't make any assumptions about it.]

Have you been in Wonderland long?

[Dreadful, smarmy charm is really the only charm Gabriel has. He sticks with it, and it works for him. Generally.]

Couple of months. [Or, you know, most of a year. But angels think of time differently.] Enough to know my way around the place. But not long enough to meet you, I guess, which is a tragedy and a half, if you ask me.

Does flattery usually work well for you?

[She asks mildly, amused and trying very hard not to smile. Some people, honestly. The change of pace is admittedly refreshing, however, and few people are so amiable upon a first meeting.]

Mm, sometimes. Not all by itself.

[He smiles.]

Usually doesn't hurt.

[She almost wants to ask what usually accompanies the flattery, but that might be taken as apparent interest and she is a married woman, thank you very much. Even if her husband is here and she very decidedly has needs.

...Perhaps she should change the subject.]

So what does your world have, regarding the afterlife?

[Colour her interested in the anthropological sense.]

Oh, we've got your standard... well, mostly standard... Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory.

[If he sounds a little weary discussing it, it's because angels don't get to go to any location in particular when they die. Not even Purgatory.

Dad is a dick, sometimes.]

Heaven for people who behave okay, Hell for demons and everybody else, and Purgatory for things that don't fit that bill. Purgatory's also sort of a prison. It's more of a multi-purpose sort of area.

[So...predominantly Christian. That's what it sounds like, at least. Evelyn isn't really a follower of any particular religion, being a staunch advocate of choosing to believe in things that she can see and touch. It's reasonable, rational. It makes sense.]

You speak as though you have firsthand experience of these places, [she observes wryly, finding his tone of great interest.]

Heaven's kinda where I come from, and I've been to Hell once or twice on field trips.

[Dad wouldn't so much as let him put his fingers in Purgatory. Gabriel winks at Evelyn.]

I'm an angel. Archangel, specifically.

[Yeah, he's curious to see if she'll buy it or not. Most don't until he flaunts his wings, so to speak.]

[...oh, he cannot be serious. Evelyn has met all manner of folk in Wonderland, but some of them tend to sound as though they're posturing about their claims. The only difference here is that he seems perfectly serious.]

...Gabriel. Of course.

[This probably isn't the first time he's been met with scepticism.]

Well, I must say, Byzantine frescoes do not do you justice.

[As serious as he gets, at least, without people having to worry about their safety.]

C'mon, did they do anyone justice? Picturing angels as grandmotherly lesbians. Please. [Or just grandmothers with wings.] We only wore robes because that was what our vessels wore. Haven't gone in for robes since they fell outta human style.

[Evelyn could make a snide, scholarly comment about how he hardly emanates Sapphic vibes, but the mention of 'vessels' has her words catching in her throat. Someone almost made her a 'vessel,' once.]

...you're wearing someone. Right now.

[It appears she has skipped over the obligatory disbelief and launched into oh no you are not.]

[Gabriel takes note.

It is, after all, fairly rare for someone to just drop a "no, you're not an angel, you don't fit whatever my picture is." And while he'd normally be delighted, because it gets old, he also takes note of that expression she's got going on.]

Yup. [He raises a hand.] Don't worry, don't worry. My boy fully consented. He had a blast while he was still in here with me.

[Varric had even given him his freakin' sweet tooth. Or at least contributed.]

[Evelyn is a pragmatist and a realist - while the majority of Christian doctrine likes to herald angels as human-like creatures with wings and bright, shiny auras, she knows the old books better. They had many faces and multiple wings, didn't they? A plethora of eyes, a brightness so fierce it could render a man blind.]

They have to consent?

[Her intellectual curiosity piqued, Evelyn moves past the question of whether or not he's still a real angel and instead chooses to take down mental notes about the logistics he is describing.]

So you...you don't just appear in your own form? You have to take- sorry, use another's?

Hey, be grateful, sister. If I were my real self, I probably woulda shorted this thing out. Maybe sent out a noise along the network to deafen a few folks, who knows. Point is, the real me? Too terrible awesome for most of you guys to see.

[Angels can see right past the vessel anyway, and he's really unsure if there are people around who could withstand looking at him. But for the most part? The reactions aren't healthy.]

Fascinating,

[she mumbles unconsciously, because it's really not that often you meet a celestial being from collective folklore.]

Can you still do- [Evie waves a hand.] -Angel things in this form?

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